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　　CHAPTER III.

　　"Pierre! Pierre!—Quick! Quick!—They are dragging me back!—oh, quick, dear Pierre!"

　　"What is that?" swiftly cried Isabel, rising to her feet, and amazedly glancing toward the door leading into the corridor.

　　But Pierre darted from the room, prohibiting any one from following him.

　　Half-way down the stairs, a slight, airy, almost unearthly figure was clinging to the balluster; and two young men, one in naval uniform, were vainly seeking to remove the two thin white hands without hurting them. They were Glen Stanly, and Frederic, the elder brother of Lucy.

　　In a moment, Pierre's hands were among the rest.

　　"Villain!—Damn thee!" cried Frederic; and letting go the hand of his sister, he struck fiercely at Pierre.

　　But the blow was intercepted by Pierre.

　　"Thou hast bewitched, thou damned juggler, the sweetest angel! Defend thyself!"

　　"Nay, nay," cried Glen, catching the drawn rapier of the frantic brother, and holding him in his powerful grasp; "he is unarmed; this is no time or place to settle our feud with him. Thy sister,—sweet Lucy—let us save her first, and then what thou wilt. Pierre Glendinning—if thou art but the little finger of a man—begone with thee from hence! Thy depravity, thy pollutedness, is that of a fiend!—Thou canst not desire this thing:—the sweet girl is mad!"

　　Pierre stepped back a little, and looked palely and haggardly at all three.

　　"I render no accounts: I am what I am. This sweet girl—this angel whom ye two defile by your touches—she is of age by the law:—she is her own mistress by the law. And now, I swear she shall have her will! Unhand the girl! Let her stand alone. See; she will faint; let her go, I say!" And again his hands were among them.

　　Suddenly, as they all, for the one instant vaguely struggled, the pale girl drooped, and fell sideways toward Pierre; and, unprepared for this, the two opposite champions, unconsciously relinquished their hold, tripped, and stumbled against each other, and both fell on the stairs. Snatching Lucy in his arms, Pierre darted from them; gained the door; drove before him Isabel and Delly,—who, affrighted, had been lingering there;—and bursting into the prepared chamber, laid Lucy on her cot; then swiftly turned out of the room, and locked them all three in: and so swiftly—like lightning—was this whole thing done, that not till the lock clicked, did he find Glen and Frederic fiercely fronting him.

　　"Gentlemen, it is all over. This door is locked. She is in women's hands.—Stand back!"

　　As the two infuriated young men now caught at him to hurl him aside, several of the 'tles rapidly entered, having been attracted by the noise.

　　"Drag them off from me!" cried Pierre. "They are trespassers! drag them off!"

　　Immediately Glen and Frederic were pinioned by twenty hands; and, in obedience to a sign from Pierre, were dragged out of the room, and dragged down stairs; and given into the custody of a passing officer, as two disorderly youths invading the sanctuary of a private retreat.

　　In vain they fiercely expostulated; but at last, as if now aware that nothing farther could be done without some previous legal action, they most reluctantly and chafingly declared themselves ready to depart. Accordingly they were let go; but not without a terrible menace of swift retribution directed to Pierre. Pierre: Or， The Ambiguities