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122 your circumstances; but it is my duty to see that no communication takes place between yourself and the ladies involved in the suspicion of treasonable practices. Your farewells must be made in my presence." And how did Ethel feel?—like a wretch, under sentence of death, who, at the very scaffold, receives a reprieve. She was only alive to the joy of her release: for a moment, she thought of nothing but her own escape. "Thank God!" exclaimed she to the utter dismay of the two bridesmaids within hearing; and, throwing herself on her knees, she hid her face in her hands, and uttered a hurried and passionate thanksgiving.