some frightful dream of violence and struggle than the slow, languid
recovery from the faintness of a swoon. Yes, henceforth, to sleep was to
couch by a serpent,--to breathe was to listen for the avalanche! Thou
who didst trifle so wantonly with Treason, now gravely front the grim
comrade thou hast won; thou scheming desecrator of the Household Gods,
now learn, to the last page of dark knowledge, what the hearth is without
them!

Gabriel was strangely moved as he beheld that proud and solitary despair.
An instinct of nature had hitherto checked him from actively aiding
Lucretia in that struggle with his father which could but end in the
destruction of one or the other. He had contented himself with
forewarnings, with hints, with indirect suggestions; but now all his
sympathy was so strongly roused on her behalf that the last faint scruple
of filial conscience vanished into the abyss of blood over which stood
that lonely Titaness. He drew near, and clasping her hand, said, in a
quick and broken voice,--

"Listen! You know where to find proof of my fa--that is, of Dalibard's
treason to the conspirators, you know the name of the man he dreads as an
avenger, and you know that he waits but the proof to strike; but you do
not know where to find that man, if his revenge is wanting for yourself.
The police have not hunted him out: how can you? Accident has made me
acquainted with one of his haunts. Give me a single promise, and I will
put you at least upon that clew,--weak, perhaps, but as yet the sole one
to be followed. Promise me that, only in defence of your own life, not
for mere jealousy, you will avail yourself of the knowledge, and you
shall know all I do!"

"Do you think," said Lucretia, in a calm, cold voice, "that it is for