, which now poured into every window; the actual wounds of some,
visible by the blood streaming down their splendid dresses; the
horror-stricken looks of the groups clinging to each other for hopeless
protection; and the actual semblance of death in others fainting on the
sofas and floors, and all this under an incessant roar of musketry--made
me often wish that I could give way to the gallant impatience of my
friends within the mansion, and take the desperate hazard of plunging into
the midst of the multitude.

But a new danger awaited us; a succession of shrieks from one of the upper
apartments caught my ear, and on rushing to the spot, and forcing my way
through a crowd of women half frantic with alarm, I saw some of the
outbuildings, immediately connected with the mansion, wrapped in a sheet
of fire. The insurgents had at last found out the true way to subdue our
resistance; and we obviously had no alternative but to throw ourselves on
their mercy, or die with arms in our hands. Yet, to surrender was perhaps
only to suffer a more protracted death, degraded by shame; and when I
looked round me on the helplessness of the noble and beautiful women
around me, and thought of the agony which must be felt by us on seeing
them thrown into the power of the assassins who were now roaring with
triumph and vengeance, I dismissed all thoughts of submission at once, and
determined to take the chances of resistance while any man among us had
the power to draw a trigger. In rushing through the mansion, to make its
defenders in the front aware of the new misfortune which threatened us, I
happened to pass through the ball-room, where the corpse of its noble and
brave master was. One figure was standing there, with his back to me, and
evidently gazing on the body. All else was solitary. Of all the friends,
guests, and domestics, not one had remained. Loud as were the shouts
outside, and constant as was the crashing of the musketry, I could hear a
groan, which seemed to come from the very heart of that lonely bystander.
I sprang towards him; he turned at the sound of my step, and, to my
surprise, I saw the face of the man whose share in the insurrection I had
so singularly ascertained. I had a loaded musket in my hand, and my first
impulse, in the indignation of the moment, was to discharge its contents
through his heart. But he looked at me with a countenance of such utter
dejection, that I dropped its muzzle to the ground, and demanded