Eagerly she listened for some sound from the valley, that might inspire this hope, but in vain; by the silence which reigned over it, interrupted only by the barking of cottage dogs, as if they bayed the moon, she was at length convinced that care and industry had already retired to repose.
he late hour to which her father prolonged his nocturnal rambles, and the timidity of their servant, gave her little reason to hope deliverance through their means: scarcely suffering herself to breathe, she continued a long time in a state of greater agony than she had ever before experienced. At last she heard a step; but her almost fainting spirits were soon recalled by a conviction that it was not approaching her; and in the next minute she caught a glimpse of a figure (the same she was sure she had seen in the chamber) descending a winding path near the balcony. Her strength and courage immediately returned, and with a quickness that scarcely permitted her to
