the Princess and Theodore.

"Good heaven! we are overheard!" said the Princess. They listened;
but perceiving no further noise, they both concluded it the effect
of pent-up vapours. And the Princess, preceding Theodore softly,
carried him to her father's armoury, where, equipping him with a
complete suit, he was conducted by Matilda to the postern-gate.

"Avoid the town," said the Princess, "and all the western side of
the castle. 'Tis there the search must be making by Manfred and
the strangers; but hie thee to the opposite quarter. Yonder behind
that forest to the east is a chain of rocks, hollowed into a
labyrinth of caverns that reach to the sea coast. There thou mayst
lie concealed, till thou canst make signs to some vessel to put on
shore, and take thee off. Go! heaven be thy guide!--and sometimes
in thy prayers remember--Matilda!"

Theodore flung himself at her feet, and seizing her lily hand,
which with struggles she suffered him to kiss, he vowed on the
earliest opportunity to get himself knighted, and fervently
entreated her permission to swear himself eternally her knight.
Ere the Princess could reply, a clap of thunder was suddenly heard
that shook the battlements. Theodore, regardless of the tempest,
would have urged his suit: but the Princess, dismayed, retreated
hastily into the castle, and commanded the youth to be gone with an
air that would not be disobeyed. He sighed, and retired, but with
eyes fixed on the gate, until Matilda, closing it, put an end to an
interview, in which the hearts of both had drunk so deeply of a
passion, which both now tasted for the first time.