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292 debtor, and, for such he fancied himself, persecuted son.

Stupified in their turn by the sudden and unlooked for catastrophe, and believing De Brooke to be either dead or dying, these ill-omened visitors, fearful of consequences, were hesitating how to act, when Robert, alarmed and terrified by the noise of the fall, rushed wildly into the apartment. Scared at the sable apparition, which their guilty, alarmed consciences suggested could be no other than Satan himself or one of his emissaries, the two worthies held no longer consultation, but quitted the chamber with even less ceremony than they had entered it, leaving De Brooke to his fate, or what seemed worse, to the tender mercies of him whom in their confusion they had identified with the enemy of mankind.

Scarcely, however, had the fugitives,—who had never once cast "a lingering look behind",—recovering their first consternation, found the prison-gates interposed between them and the object of their terror, than they recollected that De Brooke was usually attended by a black servant, whom their fears had prevented from recognising in the person of Robert. Being more ashamed of their past fears and precipitate flight than of their