Part 142 (2/2)
”However perfect master he was over hier to escape him I could not see the expression of his countenance, but I felt the arm tremble upon which my hand was placed
”'Then you shall not leave this place,' said he
”'Very well,' cried I, 'then the place of my punishment will be that of my tomb I will die here, and you will see if a phanto that threatens!'
”'You shall have no weapon left in your power'
”'There is a weapon which despair has placed within the reach of every creature who has the courage to use it I will allow er'
”'Come,' said the wretch, 'is not peace much better than such a war as that? I will restore you to liberty this moment; I will proclaim you a piece of iland'
”'And I will say that you are the sextus I will denounce you before men, as I have denounced you before God; and if it be necessary that, like Lucretia, I should sign n it'
”'Ah!' saidMy faith! everything considered, you are very well off here You shall want for nothing, and if you let yourself die of hunger that will be your own fault'
”At these words he retired I heard the door open and shut, and I rerief than by the ed ht passed aithout ain But I also kept my ith him, and I neither ate nor drank I was, as I told hier
”I passed the day and the night in prayer, for I hoped that God would pardon ht the door opened; I was lying on the floor, for an to abandon me
”At the noise I raised myself up on one hand
”'Well,' said a voice which vibrated in too terrible a nized, 'well! Are we softened a little? Will we not pay for our liberty with a single proood sort of a prince,' added he, 'and although I like not Puritans I do them justice; and it is the same with Puritanesses, when they are pretty
Come, take a little oath for, for at that abhorred voice I had recovered all th, 'on the cross I swear that no promise, no menace, no force, no torture, shall close my mouth! On the cross I swear to denounce you everywhere as a murderer, as a thief of honor, as a base coward! On the cross I swear, if I ever leave this place, to call down vengeance upon you from the whole hu accent that I had never yet heard 'I have an extraordinary means which I will not employ but in the last extremity to close youra word you th to reply to hihter
”He saw that it was a merciless war between us--a war to the death
”'Listen!' said he 'I give you the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow Reflect: promise to be silent, and riches, consideration, even honor, shall surround you; threaten to speak, and I will condemn you to infamy'
”'You?' cried I 'You?'
”'To interminable, ineffaceable infamy!'
”'You?' repeated I Oh, I declare to you, Felton, I thought him mad!