"But I don't understand it," at length murmured Robin; "I can't see it:
how could he possibly suffer Sir Willmott Burrell to place him in
confinement?"
"It was not he at all," replied Barbara; "it was Major Wellmore, and he
is at the Place now."
"Death and the devil!" exclaimed Robin, at the same instant pressing his
back against the wall beside which he stood: it instantly gave way, and
Barbara was alone--alone in that wild and most dreary-looking place.
She summoned Blanche, but Blanche was far away over the cliffs,
exploring, under Crisp's guidance, the nooks and intricacies of the
hills and hollows. She would have called still louder, but her quick eye
discerned not now a shadowy figure, but Sir Willmott Burrell himself,
within a distance of two or three hundred yards, and approaching towards
her. She was concealed from his sight by a projection of the cliff: but
this she never considered, alive only to the feelings his appearance at
once suggested. She had noted the spot where Robin had disappeared, and,
urged by terror, flung herself against the same portion of the wall,
with such success, that it gave way before her, replacing itself so
suddenly that, in an instant, the light of the bright stars in the blue
heavens was shut out, and she stood in total darkness, within the recess
that had so mysteriously opened to receive her.
When she became a little collected, she distinctly heard the sound of
voices at no great distance, and groping about in the same direction,
discovered a narrow flight of stairs, which she immediately descended,
imagining that she was following the course which Robin had pursued. Her
progress was soon arrested by a door, which she attempted to shake, but
in vain; she leaned against it, however, or rather sank down upon the
steps, worn out by fatigue of body and anxiety of mind. She could not
have lain there a moment, when the door opened, and Robin literally
sprang over her in his haste to re-ascend. She started from her position
on perceiving before her the well-remembered figure of the Buccaneer,
who was about to mount also, evidently with as much eagerness, though
with less activity, than Robin Hays.
The sight of a stranger at their most secret entrance, even though that
stranger was a woman, sent Hugh Dalton's hand to the pommel of his
sword, but it was as quickly stayed by Robin's cry of, "It is Barbara."
The Buccaneer had just time to catch the fainting form of his daughter
in his arms, and the wild and reckless seaman was so overpowered by the
unexpected meeting, that he thought not of inquiring how she had
obtained admittance. We have observed that women in the inferior ranks
of society continue much briefer time in hysterics, swoons, and
such-like, than the highborn and well educated, who know how to make the
most of all matters of the kind. Barbara rapidly revived, and as rapidly
urged Robin to heed her message, and to take her away, informing him in
the same breath, that she had pushed against that portion of the wall
where he had so strangely disappeared, because she had seen Sir Willmott
Burrell approaching the spot with determined speed.