declaration, cried -

"Look, my Lord! see, Heaven itself declares against your impious
intentions!"

"Heaven nor Hell shall impede my designs," said Manfred, advancing
again to seize the Princess.

At that instant the portrait of his grandfather, which hung over the
bench where they had been sitting, uttered a deep sigh, and heaved its

breast.
Isabella, whose back was turned to the picture, saw not the motion,

nor knew whence the sound came, but started, and said -
"Hark, my Lord! What sound was that?" and at the same time made

towards the door.
Manfred, distracted between the flight of Isabella, who had now

reached the stairs, and yet unable to keep his eyes from the picture,
which began to move, had, however, advanced some steps after her,

still looking backwards on the portrait, when he saw it quit its
panel, and descend on the floor with a grave and melancholy air.

"Do I dream?" cried Manfred, returning; "or are the devils themselves
in league against me? Speak, internal spectre! Or, if thou art my

grandsire, why dost thou too conspire against thy wretcheddescendant,
who too dearly pays for - " Ere he could finish the sentence, the

vision sighed again, and made a sign to Manfred to follow him.
"Lead on!" cried Manfred; "I will follow thee to the gulf of

perdition."
The spectre marched sedately, but dejected, to the end of the gallery,

and turned into a chamber on the right hand. Manfred accompanied him
at a little distance, full of anxiety and horror, but resolved. As he

would have entered the chamber, the door was clapped to with violence
by an invisible hand. The Prince, collecting courage from this delay,

would have forcibly burst open the door with his foot, but found that
it resisted his utmost efforts.

"Since Hell will not satisfy my curiosity," said Manfred, "I will use
the human means in my power for preserving my race; Isabella shall not

escape me."
The lady, whose resolution had given way to terror the moment she had

quitted Manfred, continued her flight to the bottom of the principal
staircase. There she stopped, not knowing whither to direct her

steps, nor how to escape from the impetuosity of the Prince. The
gates of the castle, she knew, were locked, and guards placed in the

court. Should she, as her heart prompted her, go and prepare
Hippolita for the cruel destiny that awaited her, she did not doubt

but Manfred would seek her there, and that his violence would incite
him to double the injury he meditated, without leaving room for them

to avoid the impetuosity of his passions. Delay might give him time
to reflect on the horrid measures he had conceived, or produce some

circumstance in her favour, if she could - for that night, at least -
avoid his odious purpose. Yet where conceal herself? How avoid the

pursuit he would infallibly make throughout the castle?
As these thoughts passed rapidly through her mind, she recollected a

subterraneous passage which led from the vaults of the castle to the
church of St. Nicholas. Could she reach the altar before she was

overtaken, she knew even Manfred's violence would not dare to profane
the sacredness of the place; and she determined, if no other means of

deliverance offered, to shut herself up for ever among the holy
virgins whose convent was contiguous to the cathedral. In this

resolution, she seized a lamp that burned at the foot of the
staircase, and hurried towards the secret passage.

The lower part of the castle was hollowed into several intricate
cloisters; and it was not easy for one under so much anxiety to find

the door that opened into the cavern. An awful silence reigned
throughout those subterraneous regions, except now and then some

blasts of wind that shook the doors she had passed, and which, grating
on the rusty hinges, were re-echoed through that long labyrinth of

darkness. Every murmur struck her with new terror; yet more she
dreaded to hear the wrathful voice of Manfred urging his domestics to

pursue her.
She trod as softly as impatience would give her leave, yet frequently

stopped and listened to hear if she was followed. In one of those
moments she thought she heard a sigh. She shuddered, and recoiled a

few paces. In a moment she thought she heard the step of some person.
Her blood curdled; she concluded it was Manfred. Every suggestion

that horror could inspire rushed into her mind. She condemned her
rash flight, which had thus exposed her to his rage in a place where

her cries were not likely to draw anybody to her assistance" target="_blank" title="n.协作；援助；帮助">assistance. Yet the
sound seemed not to come from behind. If Manfred knew where she was,

he must have followed her. She was still in one of the cloisters, and
the steps she had heard were too distinct to proceed from the way she

had come. Cheered with this reflection, and hoping to find a friend
in whoever was not the Prince, she was going to advance, when a door

that stood ajar, at some distance to the left, was opened gently: but
ere her lamp, which she held up, could discover who opened it, the

person retreated precipitately on seeing the light.
Isabella, whom every incident was sufficient to dismay, hesitated

whether she should proceed. Her dread of Manfred soon outweighed
every other terror. The very circumstance of the person avoiding her

gave her a sort of courage. It could only be, she thought, some
domestic belonging to the castle. Her gentleness had never raised her

an enemy, and consciousinnocence made her hope that, unless sent by
the Prince's order to seek her, his servants would rather assist than

prevent her flight. Fortifying herself with these reflections, and
believing by what she could observe that she was near the mouth of the

subterraneous cavern, she approached the door that had been opened;
but a sudden gust of wind that met her at the door extinguished her

lamp, and left her in total darkness.
Words cannot paint the horror of the Princess's situation. Alone in

so dismal a place, her mind imprinted with all the terrible events of
the day, hopeless of escaping, expecting every moment the arrival of

Manfred, and far from tranquil on knowing she was within reach of
somebody, she knew not whom, who for some cause seemed concealed

thereabouts; all these thoughts crowded on her distracted mind, and
she was ready to sink under her apprehensions. She addressed herself

to every saint in heaven, and inwardly implored their assistance" target="_blank" title="n.协作；援助；帮助">assistance. For
a considerable time she remained in an agony of despair.

At last, as softly as was possible, she felt for the door, and having
found it, entered trembling into the vault from whence she had heard

the sigh and steps. It gave her a kind of momentary joy to perceive
an imperfect ray of clouded moonshine gleam from the roof of the

vault, which seemed to be fallen in, and from whence hung a fragment
of earth or building, she could not distinguish which, that appeared

to have been crushed inwards. She advancedeagerly towards this
chasm, when she discerned a human form standing close against the

wall.
She shrieked, believing it the ghost of her betrothed Conrad. The

figure, advancing, said, in a submissive voice -
"Be not alarmed, Lady; I will not injure you."

Isabella, a little encouraged by the words and tone of voice of the
stranger, and recollecting that this must be the person who had opened

the door, recovered her spirits enough to reply -
"Sir, whoever you are, take pity on a wretched Princess, standing on

the brink of destruction. Assist me to escape from this fatal castle,
or in a few moments I may be made miserable for ever."

"Alas!" said the stranger, "what can I do to assist you? I will die
in your defence; but I am unacquainted with the castle, and want - "

"Oh!" said Isabella, hastily interrupting him; "help me but to find a
trap-door that must be hereabout, and it is the greatest service you

can do me, for I have not a minute to lose."
Saying a these words, she felt about on the pavement, and directed the

stranger to search likewise, for a smooth piece of brass enclosed in
one of the stones.

"That," said she, "is the lock, which opens with a spring, of which I
know the secret. If we can find that, I may escape - if not, alas!

courteous stranger, I fear I shall have involved you in my
misfortunes: Manfred will suspect you for the accomplice of my