‘Oh,’ supplicated our heroine, not thinking in the despair of the moment, of the uselessness of appealing to the flinty heart of the wretch, ‘do not consign me, I beseech you, to that dismal apartment again, take pity upon me, a deeply injured woman as I am, and suffer me to escape. Believe me, you shall be amply rewarded for such an inestimable service.’ ‘Oh, no,’ returned the ruffian and a malignant grin overspread his countenance; ‘it won’t do, I’m not to be caught in that way; I can very well understand what my reward would be, but they must catch me before they give it me. Ha! ha! ha! Come, come, you must come with me, or I must use force—that’s all about it.’ Poor Inez clasped her hands in the intensity of her grief, and finding that it would be useless to entreat any further, with a despairing heart, she slowly retraced her footsteps to the chamber from which she had so recently escaped, followed by the wretch. On opening the door they found the old woman stretched at full length upon the floor; and it was evident that it was from her that the noise had proceeded, which so unfortunately aroused the man, and prevented her escape, at the very moment when the chance was before her. It was some time before the thief could arouse the old woman to sensibility, and when she did so, he commanded her sternly to follow him. ‘Hey day!’ cried the hag, rubbing her eyes, and looking with stupified amazement at our heroine, who had sunk despairingly in a chair, and leaning her elbow upon the table, and her head upon her hand, was weeping bitterly; ‘what’s the matter now?’ ‘What’s the matter!’ reiterated the man, ‘why, that through your infernal stupidity, the bird had nearly flown.’ ‘Ah—what, do you mean to say that she had nearly escaped?’ croaked forth the old woman, and she looked more savage than ever at Inez. ‘Yes, I mean to say that she would have escaped,’ replied he, ‘and a pretty scrape we should then both have got into.’ ‘Why, where was I at the time?’ ‘Fast asleep, and a safe prisoner in this room, locked in.’ ‘Locked in!’ ejaculated the beldame, ‘oh, I see it all now, that confounded gin got the better of me, and you too, I think, and, therefore, one is as much to blame as the other. We ought to thank our lucky stars that it has turned out as it has. But the artful jade, to lock me in, to—to—’ ‘There, that’s enough,’ interrupted the fellow, ‘you would stand talking here all night. We will leave the lady to her own reflections, which, doubtless, will not be very pleasant. Blodget will be home shortly, I expect, and, should he find us together, he might suspect something wrong. Good night, my lady, and when you next try to escape, you had better use a little more expedition with your caution. Come, we must see and arrange this business somehow or another.’