Page:The Wanderer (1814 Volume 1).pdf/453

 Harleigh seemed himself to require the aid that he was called upon to bestow. He looked at Elinor with a mixture of compassion and horrour, and, taking possession of the poniard, "Unhappy Elinor!" he cried, "into what a chaos of errour and of crime have these fatal new systems bewildered thee!"

The revival of Elinor was almost immediate; and though, at first, she seemed to have lost the remembrance of what had happened, the sight of Ellis and Harleigh soon brought it back. She looked from one to the other, as if searching her destiny; and then, with quick impatience, though somewhat checked by shame, cried, "Ellis! have you not mocked me?"

Ellis, covered with blushes and confusion, addressing herself to Harleigh, said, "Pardon, Mr. Harleigh, my seeming presumption, where no option has been offered me; and where such an option is as wide from my expectations as it would be from my desert. This terrible crisis must be my apology."