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 plain, only to assure their safety. He had parted from them, worn with care, and jaded with fatigue; he now saw them refreshed and blooming, though still timid and anxious. Under such an inducement it will cause no surprise, that the young man lost sight, for a time, of other objects in order to address them. He was, however, anticipated by the voice of the ardent and youthful Alice.

"Ah! thou truant! thou recreant knight! he who abandons his damsels in the very lists, to abide the fortunes of the fray!" she cried, in affected reproaches, which her beaming eyes and extended hands so flatteringly denied. "Here have we been days, nay, ages, expecting you at our feet, imploring mercy and forgetfulness of your craven backsliding, or, I should rather say, back-running—for verily you fled in a manner that no stricken deer, as our worthy friend the scout would say, could equal!"

"You know that Alice means our thanks and our blessings," added the graver and more thoughtful Cora. "In truth, we