Lily shuddered and remained silent.
"Pray, miss," said old Peter, who had been examining the window curiously, "how did you get the iron bar out of this here window? You don't look strong enough to have wrenched it out."
"The woodwork was rotten," she answered, quietly. "I pulled the bar out at the first effort."
"Peter," said old Haidee, "go into the third room from this and see if the bars are strong in that window."
Old Peter hobbled out on his errand, and Haidee said, shortly:
"I did not think you would try to give us the slip, miss, or I would have warned you long ago about old Nero. There is no use trying to escape from here—you are as secure in this house as if you were in your grave. Grave perils await you the moment you step over this threshold. Old Nero was but a foretaste of what you may meet with, so I advise you to marry Mr. Colville, and content yourself."
"I will never, never marry him, Haidee," said the young girl, sadly, yet dauntlessly. "And you need not try to frighten me from trying to escape, for I shall use every endeavor to that end. I can but die, and death is preferable to what I must endure in this house."
She lay back and closed her eyes wearily.
Peter Leveret entered and reported the bars as strong and tight in the third room.
"You may sit here by the patient, then, while I go and prepare that room for her reception," said his wife.