The six sisters of the valleys : an historical romance - University Library

226 THE SIX SLSTEES OF THE VALLEYS.
to meet her tliat night. He might have
been betrayed, and she might be captured.
Oh, agony ! he did not remember that
he had entrusted the secret to any one.
Malvicino must have told the Marquis
about Dagot's death, and he might have
set a trap to capture Ardoine if he had dis-
covered their proposed interview. Ardoine
would think him a perjured deceiver, and
would erase his memory from her heart if
it lingered there at all ! She
would look
upon it all as a Papal ruse to ensnare a
heretic. She might be now on her mother's
grave waiting for him. Ah ! if she were
taken. Those golden tresses mi^ht be cut
off by some base galley slave ; that cheek
might become haggard from want ; those
graceful limbs might be crippled for life
that form of symmetry might be broken on
the wheel, or perish in the loathsome
dungeon; or, worse still, she might be
cast into the convent, to subserve the
passions of some cowled hypocrite.
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