"I am—I am;—but fly—fly—and I forgive every thing; only let us fly!"
"Alas!" cried Marianne; "he has but too much reason for his agony. The enemy have entered the city."
"What will become of us?" ejaculated the friar. "Fiend! monster! barbarian!" cried he, addressing Cheops, and seizing him roughly by the arm; "deliver us! It was thy accursed counsels which involved us in ruin. Save us!"
"My counsels that led you to ruin!" returned Cheops, with one of his bitter laughs; "say rather, your own passions. Did I urge you to murder Claudia? Nay, did I not save Elvira? Did I not warn you that the throne and misery were inseparably connected? And have not all my promises been fulfilled to the very letter?"
"Yes, yes; to the letter," returned Father Morris; "but not in spirit."
"By the sacred hawks of Osiris kept at Edfou! I swore Rosabella should be Queen, and you her favourite minister."
"Talk not of what is past," cried the priest impatiently; "tell me how to act. The foe is at the gates of the palace."
"Did you not say there was a secret passage, leading from this chamber?"
"There is! there is!" cried Father Morris, with rapture; "we will there lie concealed, and may surprise them."
Cheops laughed:—"Am I still your foe?" asked he, with his usual bitterness.