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ZULMIERA, THE HALF-CARIB GIRL.
said the romantic girl, directing Raphe's attention to it, " sleeps one, who, next to yourself, I love most on earth ; and scornfully, harshly as her father has treated me, she must and shall be saved ! Mark me, Raphe, an' thou lovest me, guard the Lady Bridget as thou wouldst a sister. Wild spirits will be abroad ere the glad sun shall set and rise again, or yon pretty stars be peeping at us ; and though I think they will care for mine as they would me, still, Raphe, I would have thee prepared. When all is over—when you and I but I need say no more, except that Bridget shall not then be ashamed to love the despised, the scorned Zulmiera," and as she spoke, she threw back her graceful head with the air of a Cleopatra, while the bright crimson mantled in her cheeks, and increased the lustre of her eyes. " What mean you, Zulmiera ?" inquired the young cavalier, as soon as he could make himself heard ; for her utterance during the preceding speech had been so rapid, and her manner so excited, that all his former attempts to interrupt her had been useless. " What mean you, dearest Zulmiera ? Why this flashing eye—this agitated mien ? Is it because yon king-killing, canting Puritan, called you servant, that these wild dreams (for I know not what else to term them) are floating through your brain ? Never heed him, dearest ; you will soon be my bride, my acknowledged wife ; and then let me see who dare call you servant, or taunt you with your birth ! Know that I love one tress of this black hair"—and he drew her fondly towards him— " better than all the fair ringlets and fairer skins of England's boasted daughters. But draw your mantle closer round you, and let us to our former seat, where I will relate to you all my plans.—You know," resumed Raphe, as they gained their resting-place upon the old tree, " that after the unfortunate battle of Naseby, upon which bloody field my brave father fell, fighting for his lawful sovereign against those long-eared Roundheads, (to which sect our notable governor belongs !) my widowed mother, seized with an irrepressible panic, fled from England, carrying me, then a