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174 might have escaped from that rude detention of which his wife was then witness.

Anxious to discover the bent of her husband's steps, with an involuntary movement she had thrown open the casement. In apparent expostulation with those rough men, De Brooke slowly approached towards home: he perceived his wife—that form so dear to his view, yet which thus presented communicated a deeper sadness to his soul; essaying to surmount it, he waved his hand in token of peace; the hue of his countenance, however, bore but little analogy to the action.

"But one moment is all I ask, to say a few parting words to my wife." These last sounds, as they fell audibly on the ear of Mrs. De Brooke, penetrated her very soul.

Her husband knocked at the door—it was opened—the men pushed forward after their captive; fearful to lose sight of him, they pursued him even to the apartment of Mrs. De Brooke. Alarmed, confused at an intrusion so unceremonious, a faint apprehension of the truth stole across her, that those men, so daring in their aspect, were civil officers sent to arrest the person of her husband; and yet her total ignorance as to such proceedings obscured her suspicions, and caused