"Ponder well upon my offer, and deeper upon my threat; respect the first, and--fear the second. Life, honour, power, and happiness are in my right hand; trial and torture, disgrace and death, the stake and the gibbet, are in my left. Here, love the most tender and most true; there, revenge revelling like an unchained fiend! Think, think, oh! for mercy's sake--for pity's sake; and for the love of God, think, ere thou dost for the last time pause or repel me." Trembling, and scarcely able to restrain her tears-- "Sir Adam Otterburn," she replied, "I despise alike these offers and those threats; for if not a villain, and a cruel one, thou art (and, Heaven protect me!) assuredly a madman." His countenance became livid, and his eyes sad. "Then so be it--a _madman_! Then, as a madman, let me have but one soul, one thought, and one desire--vengeance! the deep, thirsty vengeance of madness, of jealousy and despair!" Terrified by his aspect and his fury, Jane had withdrawn to the farthest end of the apartment, when a new gust of passion seized him, and he sprang towards her. "There is but one way left me now. Am I a child, a boy, a fool, that I trifle with thee, who art pitiless as a panther, and inanimate as marble?" he exclaimed, as he seized her, and endeavoured to encircle her with his arms; "in this house thou art completely in my power as in the midst of a desert, and now--and now----" "Mercy!" cried Jane, filled with a sudden sense of new danger, as she endeavoured to elude his wild grasp, and the gaze of his large, dark, gloating eyes, and prayed aloud for safety and protection. "Ay, invoke and cry, and pray to God or to man, as thou pleasest; but will either hear thee?" "Vipont! Vipont! "Ha! ha! the hand of Birrel is in his heart." "Archibald!" she panted, sinking down against the wall, and overcome with terror. "Oh, Archibald, my brother, my brother!" "_Here!_" cried a voice like a trumpet; the arras was torn aside, and a man sprang forward--there was a flash as a poniard was buried in the breast of Redhall, and the black velvet of his doublet was stained with red, a cloud of darkness descended upon his eyes; and as he fell weltering in his blood, Jane was borne away by the strong intruder. CHAPTER XXX. SANCTUARY! SANCTUARY! "A strange emotion stirs within him--more Than mere compassion ever waked before;-- Unconsciously he opes his arms, while she Springs forward, as with life's lost energy."--_Lalla Rookh_. The Earl of Ashkirk, on finding that he was actually possessor of a small steel knife, could scarcely repress his joy till nightfall, or refrain from indulging in a merry song; so his exuberance expended itself in whistling, and drawing on the walls a variety of caricatures of Redhall hanging upon a gallows, invariably appending to his face an enormous nose; for that feature of the lord advocate, though straight and singularly handsome, was, to say the least of it, somewhat long and dignified.