Harleigh, who saw that her face was convulsed with horrour, fiercely planted himself in the midst of the passage, vehemently exclaiming, 'Infernal monster! by what right do you act?' '_De quel droit me le demandez vous?_'[6] cried the man; who appeared perfectly to understand English. [Footnote 6: 'By what right do you enquire?'] 'By the rights of humanity!' replied Harleigh; 'and you shall answer me by the rights of justice! One claim alone can annul my interference. Are you her father?' _'Non!_' he answered, with a laugh of scorn; '_mais il y a d'autres droits!_'[7] [Footnote 7: 'No; but there are other rights!'] 'There are none!' cried Harleigh, 'to which you can pretend; none!' '_Comment cela? n'est-ce pas ma femme? Ne suis-je pas son mari?_'[8] [Footnote 8: 'How so? Is she not my wife? Am I not her husband?'] 'No!' cried Harleigh, 'no!' with the fury of a man seized with sudden delirium; 'I deny it!--'tis false! and neither you nor all the fiends of hell shall make me believe it!' Juliet again fell prostrate; but, though her form turned towards her assailant, her eyes, and supplicating hands, that begged forbearance, were lifted up, in speechless agony, to Harleigh. Repressed by this look and action, though only to be overpowered by the blackest surmizes, Harleigh again stood suspended. Finding the people of the inn were now filling the staircase, to see what was the matter, the foreigner, in tolerable English, told them all to be gone, for he was only recovering an eloped wife. Then, addressing Juliet, 'If you dare assert,' he said, 'that you are not my wife, your perjury may cost you dear! If you have not that hardiness, hold your tongue and welcome. Who else will dare dispute my claims?' 'I will!' cried Harleigh, furiously. 'Walk this way, Sir, and give me an account of yourself! I will defend that lady from your inhuman grasp, to the last drop of my blood!' 'Ah, no! ah, no!' Juliet now faintly uttered; but the man, interrupting her, said, 'Dare you assert, I demand, that you are not my wife? Speak! Dare you?' Again she bowed down her face upon her hands,--her face that seemed bloodless with despair; but she was mute. 'I put you to the test;' continued the man, striding to the end of the gallery, and opening the last door: 'Go into that chamber!' She shrieked aloud with agony uncontrollable; and Harleigh, with an emotion irrepressible, cast his arms around her, exclaiming, 'Place yourself under my protection! and no violence, no power upon earth shall tear you away!' At these words, all the force of her character came again to her aid; and she disengaged herself from him, with a reviving dignity in her air, that shewed a decided resolution to resist his services: but she was still utterly silent; and he saw that she was obliged to sustain her tottering frame against the wall, to save herself from again sinking upon the floor.