“Then he will wrong me,” replied Anne; “for I do love him. But of what account were a few years of fevered happiness compared with endless torture?”
“I will befriend you in spite of yourself,” vociferated Herne, seizing her arm; “you shall go with me!”
“I will not,” said Anne, falling on her knees. “Oh, Father of Mercy!” she cried energetically, “deliver me from this fiend!”
“Take your fate, then!” rejoined Herne, dashing her furiously backwards.
And when her attendants, alarmed by the sound, rushed into the chamber, they found her stretched on the floor in a state of insensibility.
VII.
How Herne appeared to Henry In the Home Park.
On that same night, at a late hour, a horseman, mounted on a powerful steed, entered the eastern side of the home park, and stationed himself beneath the trees. He had not been there long, when the castle clock tolled forth the hour of midnight, and ere the deep strokes died away, a second horseman was seen galloping across the moonlit glade towards him.
“Has all been done as I directed, Suffolk?” he demanded, as the newcomer approached him.