Fully sensible of the peril of her situation, her extraordinary courage did not forsake her; for Anna, though somewhat peculiar in her religious opinions, was perfectly sincere, and even at this awful moment felt unshaken, confidence in the protecting care of Providence.  Though a foreigner, she possessed great command of the English language, and her style, notwithstanding its singularity and quaintness, was well calculated to overawe the rude and lawless band into whose hands she had fallen.  With a calm and steady gaze she met the eye of the ruffian, who brandished his weapon before her, and said, ’I pray you do not commit this great wickedness, nor shed the blood of a helpless woman, who has never injured you.’

‘Oh, come,’ interrupted the man in a surly tone, ’let’s have none of that gammon, for it’ll be of no use.  If folk will meddle in others folk’s concerns, they must take the consequences; we’re not such fools as to put the rope round our own necks, I can tell you.’

‘Nay, but hear what I have to say,’ repeated Anna, eluding the man’s grasp as he endeavoured to seize hold of her; ’my coming here was no fault of my own, and I promise not to betray you.’

‘Oh ay, a likely tale,’ said the man with a brutal laugh.  ’We’re all for ourselves in this world, and no mistake; so we shall just put you where you can tell no tales, old girl.’

‘Stop; hear what she has to say:  you shall; you must,’ cried a young woman who started up from a table at the further end of the cellar, at which she had been seated, with her face buried in her hands, during the foregoing colloquy.  ‘I tell you, Jack,’ she continued, advancing into the midst of the group, and laying her hand on the man’s arm, ’you shan’t touch that woman:  you won’t; I know you won’t.  Bad enough you are—­we all are, God knows—­but there’s no blood upon our hands yet; and,’ added she, lowering her voice, ’blood will speak, you know—­remember.’  The man’s countenance fell as the girl uttered the last words; he relaxed his hold of the knife; and Anna, taking advantage of his indecision, and the relenting expression she thought she read in the dark faces round her, related her simple story, dwelling particularly upon the danger the corners would incur were she missing, and their security in case she was allowed to proceed on her journey, after seeing her friend the clergyman.  Taking courage from the attention of her hearers, she even ventured to remonstrate with them upon their dangerous mode of life, and entreated them to abandon it, and seek their subsistence honestly.