Suddenly she raised her head, in order to reply to Gerald Leslie.
"I can only answer you in the words of my brother, Mr. Leslie," she said; "I cannot restore Cora Leslie to you even if I would, for she is no longer mine. I, too, have given her away."
Augustus started at these words.
"You, Adelaide!" he exclaimed.
"Yes! You gave her to me for a lady's-maid. I had been long seeking for an opportunity of repairing the injury which I did her upon that fatal day when I allowed a school-girl's folly to get the better of my reason. I have given her to her husband, Gilbert Margrave!"
She rose as she said this and opened the door of an adjoining apartment, and beckoned to some one within.
Gilbert Margrave and Cora Leslie entered the room.
"My brother did not think of searching his own house for the runaway slave," said Adelaide, smiling. "The abduction of last night was planned by Mr. Margrave and myself, and it was agreed that he should bring her here as the last place in which her pursuers would be likely to seek her."
Mortimer Percy started from his chair, and, crossing the room, clasped his cousin in his arms.
"Did you indeed do this, Adelaide?" he exclaimed; "did you indeed? And will you forgive me for my conduct? Heaven knows what pain it has given me, for I have always loved you dearly."