“Pardon! pardon!”

“Thou mayest well sue for pardon, false jade; but to win it is another matter.  Say, vile girl, whom I blush to call my daughter—­say how oft hast thou thus gone forth to meet thy lover?”

“Father—­father, revile me not thus!” cried the girl, beside herself with agitation, fearful of betraying Cuthbert’s near presence to the Gate House, lest the angry man should contrive to do him some injury or gain some hold upon him, yet terrified at the accusations levelled at her own head, which seemed to bear some show of reason.  “Father, have pity; drive me not to despair, as thou didst drive my brother.  I am so lonely and so miserable.  Pity me! pardon me!”

“Answer my question, base girl.  How oft hast thou done this deed before tonight?”

“Never before, my father, never before!  Ah, do not be too hard upon me!  I have done no wrong—­I swear it!”

“Keep thy false oaths for thy false lover!” cried the angry man; “I will have none of them.  Thou hast passed me thy word once, and I believed thee, and thou hast played me false.  I will never believe thee again—­never, never!  Thou hast made thy bed, and thou shalt lie upon it.”

And with that the angry man flung the kneeling girl from him with such violence that she fell against the wall, and striking her head sharply, sank stunned and unconscious at his feet.

“Serve her right well, the false minx, the evil jade!” spoke the heartless father, as he strode back to his own room without so much as going across to the girl to know if she were severely hurt.  “She will be safe enow for this night.  She will not seek to go forth again.  She shall smart for this bare-faced defiance.  I will not be set at naught by both of my children.  I will not—­I will not!”

When Petronella awoke from what seemed to her a long dream, she found herself in her own bed, tended by the deaf-and-dumb servant, who was sitting beside her and watching her with wistful glances.  A glad smile lighted up the woman’s face as Petronella made a sign that showed she recognized her; but no speech was possible between them, and the girl was too weary to care to ask questions by means of the series of signals long since established between them.  She turned her eyes from the light, and fell asleep again like a tired child.

For several days her life was more like one long sleep than anything else.  It was some while before she remembered any of the events immediately preceding this mysterious attack of illness; and when she did remember, the events of that night seemed to stand out in fearful colours.