The terrors of Lucy, as she surveyed their approach, were great; but, with a mind and spirit beyond those commonly in the possession of her sex, she was enabled to conquer and rise above them; and, though her heart beat with a thick and hurried apprehension, her soul grew calmer the more closely approached the danger.  Her alarm, to the mind of Ralph, was now sufficiently justified, as, looking through a crevice in the narrow apartment in which he stood, he beheld the malignant and hell-branded visage of Rivers, peering like a dim and baleful light in advance of his companion, in whose face a partial glimmer of the lamp revealed a something of reluctance, which rendered it doubtful how far Munro had in reality gone willingly on the task.

It was, under all the circumstances, a curious survey for the youth.  He was a man of high passions, sudden of action, impetuous and unhesitating.  In a fair field, he would not have been at a loss for a single moment; but here, the situation was so new, that he was more and more undetermined in his spirit.  He saw them commissioned with his murder—­treading, one by one, the several steps below him—­approaching momently higher and higher—­and his heart beat audibly with conflicting emotions; while with one hand he grasped convulsively and desperately the handle of his dirk, the other being fully employed in sustaining the almost fainting form of his high-souled but delicate companion.  He felt that, if discovered, he could do little in his defence and against assault; and though without a thought but that of fierce struggle to the last, his reason taught him to perceive with how little hope of success.

As the assassins continued to advance, he could distinctly trace every change of expression in their several countenances.  In that of Rivers, linked with the hideousness that his wound conferred upon it, he noted the more wicked workings of a spirit, the fell character of whose features received no moderate exaggeration from the dim and flickering glare of the lamp which his hand unsteadily carried.  The whole face had in it something awfully fearful.  He seemed, in its expression, already striking the blow at the breast of his victim, or rioting with a fiendish revenge in his groaned agonies.  A brief dialogue between his companion and himself more fully describes the character of the monster.

“Stay—­you hurry too much in this matter,” said Munro, putting his hand on that of Rivers, and restraining his steps for a moment as he paused, seemingly to listen.  He continued—­

“Your hand trembles, Rivers, and you let your lamp dance about too much to find it useful.  Your footstep is unsteady, and but now the stairs creaked heavily beneath you.  You must proceed with more caution, or we shall be overheard.  These are sleepless times, and this youth, who appears to trouble you more than man ever troubled you before, may be just as much awake as ourselves.  If you are determined in this thing, be not imprudent.”