Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 4).djvu/239

 "Oh! heavens (cried the stranger), if we are discovered, we are lost!—Fly—regain your chamber, if possible, without delay; and as you value your safety, as you value your life and mine, keep secret our interview."

Madeline started from the ground—"Oh! tell me ere I go (she cried), when I may expect you."

"Away, away (said the stranger), a moment's delay may be fatal!"

Madeline could no longer hesitate about departing, and swiftly and lightly she descended the stairs; at the bottom she paused to listen and look down the passage, but she neither heard any noise, nor beheld any object: she was therefore proceeding with quickness when suddenly she heard an approaching step.

From the words of the stranger, she believed destruction inevitable if discovered in her present situation; she therefore deter-