There is now, however, nothing to fear; the ruffians are gone." "God bless me!" said the squire; "why, is that Captain Clifford ?" "It is; and he conceives himself too fortunate to have been of the smallest service to Mr.and Miss Brandon." On having convinced himself that it was indeed to Mr.Clifford that he owed his safety as well as that of his daughter, whom he believed to have been in a far more imminent peril than she really was,--for to tell thee the truth, reader, the pistol of Tomlinson was rather calculated for show than use, having a peculiarly long bright barrel with nothing in it,--the squire was utterly at a loss how to express his gratitude; and when he turned to Lucy to beg she would herself thank their gallant deliverer, he found that, overpowered with various emotions, she had, for the first time in her life, fainted away.
"Good heavens!" cried the alarmed father, "she is dead,--my Lucy, my Lucy, they have killed her!" To open the door nearest to Lucy, to bear her from the carriage in his arms, was to Clifford the work of an instant.

Utterly unconscious of the presence of any one else,--unconscious even of what he said, he poured forth a thousand wild, passionate, yet half-audible expressions; and as he bore her to a bank by the roadside, and seating himself supported her against his bosom, it would be difficult perhaps to say, whether something of delight--of burning and thrilling delight--was not mingled with his anxiety and terror.

He chafed her small hands in his own; his breath, all trembling and warm, glowed upon her cheek; and once, and but once, his lips drew nearer, and breathing aside the dishevelled richness of her tresses, clung in a long and silent kiss to her own.
Meanwhile, by the help of the footman, who had now somewhat recovered his astonished senses, the squire descended from his carriage, and approached with faltering steps the place where his daughter reclined.
At the instant that he took her hand, Lucy began to revive; and the first action, in the bewildered unconsciousness of awaking, was to throw her arm around the neck of her supporter.
Could all the hours and realities of hope, joy, pleasure, in Clifford's previous life have been melted down and concentrated into a single emotion, that emotion would have been but tame to the rapture of Lucy's momentary and innocent caress! And at a later yet no distant period, when in the felon's cell the grim visage of Death scowled upon him, it may be questioned whether his thoughts dwelt not far more often on the remembrance of that delightful moment than on the bitterness and ignominy of an approaching doom.
"She breathes,--she moves,--she wakes!" cried the father; and Lucy, attempting to rise, and recognizing the squire's voice, said faintly,-- "Thank God, my dear father, you are not hurt! And are they really gone ?--and where--where are we ?" The squire, relieving Clifford of his charge, folded his child in his arms, while in his own elucidatory manner he informed her where she was, and with whom.

The lovers stood face to face to each other; but what delicious blushes did the night, which concealed all but the outline of their forms, hide from the eyes of Clifford! The honest and kind heart of Mr.Brandon was glad of a release to the indulgent sentiments it had always cherished towards the suspected and maligned Clifford, and turning now from Lucy, it fairly poured itself forth upon her deliverer.

He grasped him warmly by the hand, and insisted upon his accompanying them to Bath in the carriage, and allowing the footman to ride his horse.