meet her in disguise on the following morning, as early as four
o'clock; or, if that should prove impossible under the circumstances of the
case, would send a faithful servant; - that one or other of them would attend at
a particular station, easily recognised by the description added, in a ruinous
part of the boundary wall, in the rear of the convent garden. A large travelling
cloak would be brought, to draw over the rest of her dress; but meanwhile, as a
means of passing unobserved through the convent grounds, where the Landgrave's
agents were continually watching her motions, the nun's veil was almost
indispensable. The other circumstances of the journey would be communicated to
her upon meeting. In conclusion, the writer implored Paulina to suffer no
scruples of false delicacy to withhold her from a step which had so suddenly
become necessary to her preservation; and cautioned her particularly against
communicating her intentions to the Lady Abbess, whose sense of decorum might
lead her to urge advice at this moment inconsistent with her safety.
    Again and again did Paulina read this agitating letter; again and again did
she scrutinize the handwriting, apprehensive that she might be making herself a
dupe to some hidden enemy. The handwriting, undoubtedly, had not all the natural
freedom which characterised that of Maximilian - it was somewhat stiff in its
movement, but not more so than that of his previous letter, in which he had
accounted for the slight change from a wound not perfectly healed in his right
hand. In other respects, the letter seemed liable to no just suspicion. The
danger apprehended from the Landgrave tallied with her own knowledge. The
convent grounds were certainly haunted, as the letter alleged, by the
Landgrave's people, - of that she had just received a convincing proof; for,
though the two strangers had turned off in pursuit of the messenger who bore
Maximilian's letter, yet doubtless their original object of attention had been
herself; they were then posted to watch her motions, and they had avowed
themselves in effect the Landgrave's people. That part of the advice, again,
which respected the Lady Abbess, seemed judicious, on considering the character
of that lady, however much at first sight it might warrant some jealousy of the
writer's purposes, to find him warning her against her best friends. After all,
what most disturbed the confidence of Paulina was the countenance of the man who
presented the letter; if this man were to be the representative of Maximilian on
the following morning, she felt, and was persuaded that she would continue to
feel