But, O! let us not plunge deeper in guilt if it can be avoided." "But how _can_ it be avoided ?" cried Lord Roos.

"Will _they_ listen to our prayers?
Will _they_ pity us?
Will _they_ hesitate at our destruction ?" "I know not--I know not," replied the Countess, bewildered; "but I stand appalled before the magnitude of the offence." "They will _not_ spare us," pursued Lord Roos; "and therefore we cannot spare them." "In my turn I bend to you, William," said the Countess, sinking on her knee before him, and taking his hand.

"By the love you bear me, I beseech you not to harm your wife! We have wronged her deeply--let us not have her death to answer for.

If the blow _must_ fall, let it be upon the mother's head.

I have less compassion for her." "Lady Lake deserves no compassion," replied Lord Roos, raising the Countess, and embracing her tenderly, "for she is the cause of all this mischief.