第232页 / 共1118页

Our fugitives for a while continued their flight, rapidly and

silently, utterly overwhelmed by the fatigue of their flight, by

their late anxiety, by vexation and disappointment at their

failure, and a confused apprehension of some future danger. As

the sound of the bell died away on the ear, they slackened their

pace. Agnes, gathering breath and courage, first broke the

silence, by asking Renzo what had been done at the curate's? He

related briefly his melancholy story. "And who," said she to

Menico, "was the devil in the house? What did you mean by that?"

The boy narrated that of which he had been an eye-witness, and

which imparted a mingled feeling of alarm and gratitude to the

minds of his auditors,-alarm at the obstinacy of Don Roderick in

pursuing his purpose, and gratitude that they had thus escaped

his snares.