By the time that she had with uneasy thoughts laid her fair cheek upon her pillow, her mother’s servant brought a draught; a suspicion again crossed her at this novel proceeding, sufficiently alarming to determine her not to take the potion; but dislike of contention, and a wish to discover whether there was any just foundation for her conjectures, made her, she said, almost instinctively, and in contradiction to her usual frankness, pretend to swallow the medicine.  Then, agitated as she had been by her mother’s violence, and now by unaccustomed fears, she lay unable to sleep, starting at every sound.  Soon her door opened softly, and on her springing up, she heard a whisper, “Not asleep yet,” and the door again closed.  With a beating heart she expected another visit, and when after an interval her chamber was again invaded, having first assured herself that the intruders were her mother and an attendant, she composed herself to feigned sleep.  A step approached her bed, she dared not move, she strove to calm her palpitations, which became more violent, when she heard her mother say mutteringly, “Pretty simpleton, little do you think that your game is already at an end for ever.”

For a moment the poor girl fancied that her mother believed that she had drank poison:  she was on the point of springing up; when the Countess, already at a distance from the bed, spoke in a low voice to her companion, and again Idris listened:  “Hasten,” said she, “there is no time to lose—­ it is long past eleven; they will be here at five; take merely the clothes necessary for her journey, and her jewel-casket.”  The servant obeyed; few words were spoken on either side; but those were caught at with avidity by the intended victim.  She heard the name of her own maid mentioned;—­“No, no,” replied her mother, “she does not go with us; Lady Idris must forget England, and all belonging to it.”  And again she heard, “She will not wake till late to-morrow, and we shall then be at sea.”——­“All is ready,” at length the woman announced.  The Countess again came to her daughter’s bedside:  “In Austria at least,” she said, “you will obey.  In Austria, where obedience can be enforced, and no choice left but between an honourable prison and a fitting marriage.”

Both then withdrew; though, as she went, the Countess said, “Softly; all sleep; though all have not been prepared for sleep, like her.  I would not have any one suspect, or she might be roused to resistance, and perhaps escape.  Come with me to my room; we will remain there till the hour agreed upon.”  They went.  Idris, panic-struck, but animated and strengthened even by her excessive fear, dressed herself hurriedly, and going down a flight of back-stairs, avoiding the vicinity of her mother’s apartment, she contrived to escape from the castle by a low window, and came through snow, wind, and obscurity to my cottage; nor lost her courage, until she arrived, and, depositing her fate in my hands, gave herself up to the desperation and weariness that overwhelmed her.