"What, art thou jealous of Isabella?" replied he, "that you wish to
be present at our interview!"

"Good heavens! my Lord," said Hippolita, "what is it your Highness
means?"

"Thou wilt know ere many minutes are passed," said the cruel
Prince. "Send your chaplain to me, and wait my pleasure here."

At these words he flung out of the room in search of Isabella,
leaving the amazed ladies thunderstruck with his words and frantic
deportment, and lost in vain conjectures on what he was meditating.

Manfred was now returning from the vault, attended by the peasant
and a few of his servants whom he had obliged to accompany him. He
ascended the staircase without stopping till he arrived at the
gallery, at the door of which he met Hippolita and her chaplain.
When Diego had been dismissed by Manfred, he had gone directly to
the Princess's apartment with the alarm of what he had seen. That
excellent Lady, who no more than Manfred doubted of the reality of
the vision, yet affected to treat it as a delirium of the servant.
Willing, however, to save her Lord from any additional shock, and
prepared by a series of griefs not to tremble at any accession to
it, she determined to make herself the first sacrifice, if fate had
marked the present hour for their destruction. Dismissing the
reluctant Matilda to her rest, who in vain sued for leave to
accompany her mother, and attended only by her chaplain, Hippolita
had visited the gallery and great chamber; and now with more
serenity of soul than she had felt for many hours, she met her