He kissed Isabella on the forehead, impressed another kiss on the brow of the statue by which she knelt, and left the chapel followed by Ratcliffe.  Isabella, almost exhausted by the emotions of the day, was carried to her apartment by her women.  Most of the other guests dispersed, after having separately endeavoured to impress on all who would listen to them their disapprobation of the plots formed against the government, or their regret for having engaged in them.  Hobbie Elliot assumed the command of the castle for the night, and mounted a regular guard.  He boasted not a little of the alacrity with which his friends and he had obeyed a hasty summons received from Elshie through the faithful Ratcliffe.  And it was a lucky chance, he said, that on that very day they had got notice that Westburnflat did not intend to keep his tryste at Castleton, but to hold them at defiance; so that a considerable party had assembled at the Heugh-foot, with the intention of paying a visit to the robber’s tower on the ensuing morning, and their course was easily directed to Ellieslaw Castle.

CHAPTER XVIII.

     —­Last scene of all,
     To close this strange eventful history.—­As you like it.

On the next morning, Mr. Ratcliffe presented Miss Vere with a letter from her father, of which the following is the tenor:—­

“My dearest child, The malice of a persecuting government will compel me, for my own safety, to retreat abroad, and to remain for some time in foreign parts.  I do not ask you to accompany, or follow me; you will attend to my interest and your own more effectually by remaining where you are.  It is unnecessary to enter into a minute detail concerning the causes of the strange events which yesterday took place.  I think I have reason to complain of the usage I have received from Sir Edward Mauley, who is your nearest kinsman by the mother’s side; but as he has declared you his heir, and is to put you in immediate possession of a large part of his fortune, I account it a full atonement.  I am aware he has never forgiven the preference which your mother gave to my addresses, instead of complying with the terms of a sort of family compact, which absurdly and tyrannically destined her to wed her deformed relative.  The shock was even sufficient to unsettle his wits (which, indeed, were never over-well arranged), and I had, as the husband of his nearest kinswoman and heir, the delicate task of taking care of his person and property, until he was reinstated in the management of the latter by those who, no doubt, thought they were doing him justice; although, if some parts of his subsequent conduct be examined, it will appear that he ought, for his own sake, to have been left under the influence of a mild and salutary restraint.