"For God's sake, madam, spare my father in your report," said Janet;

"let my services, however poor, be some atonement for his errors!"

"I were most unjust, dearest Janet, were it otherwise," said the

Countess, resuming at once the fondness and confidence of her manner

towards her faithful attendant, "No, Janet, not a word of mine shall do

your father prejudice. But thou seest, my love, I have no desire but

to throw my self on my husband's protection. I have left the abode he

assigned for me, because of the villainy of the persons by whom I was

surrounded; but I will disobey his commands in no other particular. I

will appeal to him alone--I will be protected by him alone; to no other,

than at his pleasure, have I or will I communicate the secret union

which combines our hearts and our destinies. I will see him, and receive

from his own lips the directions for my future conduct. Do not argue

against my resolution, Janet; you will only confirm me in it. And to own

the truth, I am resolved to know my fate at once, and from my husband's

own mouth; and to seek him at Kenilworth is the surest way to attain my

purpose."

While Janet hastily revolved in her mind the difficulties and

uncertainties attendant on the unfortunate lady's situation, she was

inclined to alter her first opinion, and to think, upon the whole, that

since the Countess had withdrawn herself from the retreat in which she

had been placed by her husband, it was her first duty to repair to his

presence, and possess him with the reasons for such conduct. She knew

what importance the Earl attached to the concealment of their marriage,

and could not but own, that by taking any step to make it public

without his permission, the Countess would incur, in a high degree, the

indignation of her husband. If she retired to her father's house without

an explicit avowal of her rank, her situation was likely greatly to

prejudice her character; and if she made such an avowal, it might

occasion an irreconcilable breach with her husband. At Kenilworth,

again, she might plead her cause with her husband himself, whom Janet,

though distrusting him more than the Countess did, believed incapable

of being accessory to the base and desperate means which his dependants,

from whose power the lady was now escaping, might resort to, in order to

stifle her complaints of the treatment she had received at their hands.

But at the worst, and were the Earl himself to deny her justice and

protection, still at Kenilworth, if she chose to make her wrongs public,

the Countess might have Tressilian for her advocate, and the Queen for

her judge; for so much Janet had learned in her short conference with

Wayland. She was, therefore, on the whole, reconciled to her lady's

proposal of going towards Kenilworth, and so expressed herself;

recommending, however, to the Countess the utmost caution in making her

arrival known to her husband.




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