"Oh! forgive me--forgive me!" ejaculated the young man, cruelly embarrassed. "Dazzled by your beauty--driven mad by your caresses--intoxicated, blinded with passion--I could not command myself--I had no power over my actions." "Attempt no apology!" said the lady, with a calm and tranquil bitterness of accent that showed how profoundly she felt the outrage--the atrocity, that he, whom she loved so tenderly, had dared to meditate against her: "attempt no apology--but leave this room without an instant's delay, and without another word. Within my reach is a bell-rope--one touch of my finger and I can call my servants to my assistance. Save me that exposure--save yourself that disgrace. To-morrow I will tell you my opinion of your conduct." There was something so determined--so cool--so resolute in the manner and the matter of this address, that Montague felt abashed--humbled--beaten down to the very dust. Even his grovelling soul at that moment comprehended the Roman mind of the woman whom he would have disgraced: a coward when burglars menaced her life, she was suddenly endowed with lion-daring in defence of her virtue. The crest-fallen young man again attempted to palliate his intrusion: with superb scorn she waved her hand imperiously, as a signal to leave the room. Tears of vexation, shame, and rage, started into his eyes, as he obeyed that silent mandate which he now dared no longer to dispute. The moment the wretch had left the boudoir, the lady sprang from the bed and double-locked the door. She then returned to her couch, buried her head in the pillow, and burst into an agony of tears. CHAPTER XXII. A WOMAN'S MIND. When Louisa entered the boudoir on the morning which succeeded this eventful night, nothing in Walter's countenance denoted the painful emotions that filled her bosom. She narrated the particulars of the burglarious entry of the dwelling, and Montague's opportune arrival upon the scene of action, with a calmness which surprised her faithful attendant. The truth was, that the attempt of the robbers upon the house, and even the danger in which her own life had been placed, had dwindled, in her own estimation, into events of secondary importance, when compared with that one atrocity which had suddenly wrecked all her hopes of love and happiness for ever. The usual mysterious toilet was speedily performed; and, with a firm step and a countenance expressive of a stern decision, she descended to the breakfast-parlour.