PANSHAWE. 137

" Here yon may remain in safety," he observed, " till
I obtain the means of proceeding. In this spot yon
need fear no intruder ; but it will be dangerous to ven-
ture beyond its bounds."

The meaning glance that accompanied these words
intimated to poor Ellen, that, in warning her against
danger, he alluded to the vengeance with which he would
visit any attempt to escape. To leave her thus alone,
trusting to the influence of such a threat, was a bold,
yet a necessary and by no means a hopeless measure.
On Ellen it produced the desired effect; and she sat in
the cave as motionless, for a time, as if she had herself
been a part of the rock. In other circumstances this
shady recess would have been a delightful retreat during
the sultry warmth of a summer's day. The dewy cool-
ness of the rock kept the air always firesh, and the sun-
beams never thrust themselves so as to dissipate the
mellow twilight through the green trees with which
the chamber was curtained. Ellen's sleeplessness and
agitation for many preceding hours had perhaps dead-
ened her feelings ; for she now felt a sort of indifference
creeping upon her, an inability to realize the evils of her
situation, at the same time that she was perfectly aware
of them all. This torpor of mind increased, till her eye^
lids began to grow heavy, and the cave and trees to
swim before her sight. In a few moments more, she
would probably have been in dreamless slumber; but«
rousing herself by a strong effort, she looked round the
narrow limits of the cave in search of objects to excite
her worn-out mind.
She now perceived, wherever the smooth rock afforded



138 FANSHAWE.
