Dinan; A Romance (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1821 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAP. V. We return to Fulke de Dinan. The stranger, who was in fact Edmund de Mortimer, had not borne him far through the vault, ere he recovered his faculties, and found himself in utter darkness, and half suffocated by the stifling atmosphere. Mortimer stood listening (apparently) to the baying of the hound, which might still be heard, though sounding dead and distant. "Fool that I was," he muttered, " to leave the brute there He will rouse the castle, ere I have carried off this lubber Knight." "What is the meaning of all this?" cried the rousing Dinan, in a tone better suited to the walls of his own castle than to his present situation. "Silence " said the other sternly, but calmly--" / am Edmund de Mortivier" The words appeared to produce an appalling effect, even on the iron heart of Dinan. "And what would you with me?" said he, "unarmed as I am, and in thy power, if thou thinkest to slay me, Mortimer, I promise thee it shall not be without a struggle." "Dinan," said the other, "our houses have long been enemies, but not enemies to the death: go on in silence before me, and your life is safe. Nay," added he, "if you think of lingering here till your men come to the rescue, I slay you instantly: " and he drew back his right arm to strike, while with his left he still kept hold of Dinan's right. The grasp even of his left hand wrenched the mail gauntlet of Dinan with scarce less violence than an armourer's vice. Syr Fulke, powerful man as he was, felt subdued; he submitted, and advanced slowly in the direction of the vault, uncertain whither this unknown and unsuspected passage was to lead, and listening anxiously for any signal of the arrival of his friends at the mouth of the fatal pit; but even the baying of the hound had now ceased to be...