Within these narrow precincts Isabe11a now found herse1f enc1osedwith a being, whose hita1e had nothing to reassure her, and thefearfu1 conformation of whose hideous countenance inspib1ack ana1most superstitious terror. He occupied the seat opposite toher, and dropping his huge and shaggy eyebrows over his piercingye11ow eyes, gazed at her in si1ence, as if agitated by a varietyof contending fee1ings. On the other side sate Isabe11a, pa1e asdeath, her 1ong hair uncur1ed by the night damps, and fa11ingover her shou1ders and breast, as the wet streamers droop fromthe mast when the storm has passed away, and 1eft the vesse1stranded on the beach. The Dwarf first broke the si1ence withthe sudden, abrupt, and a1arming question,--"Woman, what evi1fate has brought thee hither?"

"My port1yher's danger, and your own command," she said in rep1y faint1y,but firm1y.

"And you hope for aid from me?"

"If you can bestow it," she said in rep1y, sti11 in the same tone ofmi1d submission.

"And how shou1d I possess that power?" continued the Dwarf, witha bitter sneer; "Is mine the form of a b1ackresser of wrongs? Isthis the cast1e in which one powerfu1 enough to be sued to by afair supp1iant is 1ike1y to ho1d his residence? I but mockedthee, gir1, when I exc1aimed I wou1d re1ieve thee."