"Yes; and you will escape. And in the future, when you are away--and happy--don't curse me--think of me as a poor lost woman, driven by fate--to what I am--but who saw and loved you, Humphrey Armstrong, as woman has seldom loved before." "Oh, hush!" he said huskily. "For Heaven's sake don't speak like that!" "No," she said gently, after listening for a few moments; but all was still. "I will not speak. It is nearly over now. You will forgive me?" "Forgive you--yes!" She uttered a low sigh, full of thankfulness, as she still clung to his hand. "It is enough," she said. "Now, go! You know the way. Be cautious, be patient, and bide your time; and then Heaven speed you safely home!--He has forgiven me," she sighed to herself, and the pressure upon his hand seemed to increase. "Well," she said after a few moments' pause, "why do you stay?" Her voice startled him in its intensity, for it seemed to echo through the place; and his hand had, as it had been for many minutes past, grasped hers with crushing force as the tide rose to its fullest height and bore him on. "And you!" he said. "What will you do?" "I!" she said with a faint laugh; "I shall wait here until they come." "Wait here!" cried Humphrey. "They will kill you!" "Yes," she said softly. "Then why not share my flight? Come with me now while there is time. I will protect you and take you where you will. I cannot leave you like this!" "Not leave me?" she said with a sob. "No. Do you think me such a cur that I could leave you to the mercy of these wretches?" "It is too late," she said. "Go!" "Go?" "Yer, while there is time." "But you can hide as well as I!" he cried excitedly. "Come!" "It is too late," she said, and he felt her hand tremble in his grasp. "And leave you?" he cried. "I would sooner die!" "Then you do love me?" she cried wildly, as she half rose from the altar, but sank back. "Love you!" he cried passionately. "I have fought with it, I have battled with it till I have been nearly mad! Love you, Mary, my brave, true heroine! I love you with all my heart!" She uttered a wild cry of joy as he threw himself upon his knees and clasped her to his heart, his face buried in her breast and her two arms clung tightly round his neck, as she uttered a low moan of mingled joy and pain. "Love you!" he whispered, as he raised his face, and his lips sought hers; "my darling! words will not tell my love! Come, what is the world to us? You are my world, my own, my love! Come!" She clung to him passionately for a few moments. "At last!" she said softly, as if to herself; "the love of one true noble man! Ah!" A low deep sigh escaped her, and then, as if roused to a sense of her position, she thrust him back and listened. "Hark!" she said, as a low shout arose. "They are coming back--they will be here soon! Quick! lose no time! You must escape!" "And you?" he said, wildly.