"I fear that's but too true," said Turpin, for it was the highwayman whose grasp confined Ranulph.
"Must I see her borne away before my eyes?" cried Ranulph. "Release me—set me free!"
"Quite impossible at present," returned Dick. "Mount and away, Sir Luke," continued he; "never mind me. Leave me to shift for myself."
"Eleanor!" cried Ranulph, as she passed close by his side.
"Ranulph!" shrieked Eleanor, with a loud scream, recalled to consciousness by his voice, "farewell for ever."
"Ay, for ever," responded Luke, triumphantly. "You meet no more on earth."
He was about to pass through the panel, when Eleanor exerted all her remaining strength in a last futile attempt at liberation. In the struggle, a packet fell from Luke's bosom.
Handassah stooped to pick it up.
"From Sybil!" exclaimed she, glancing at the superscription.
"Remember my promise to old Barbara," roared Dick, who had some curiosity, as the reader knows, to learn what the package contained. "The time is arrived. Eleanor is in your power—in your presence."