reechoed in every direction, and directly a party in
the well-known uniform of the Virginians came sweeping round the point
of a rock, and drew up at a short distance.

Dunwoodie dashed by the party of dragoons, threw himself from his
charger, and advanced to her side. His manner was earnest and
interested. In a few words he explained that he had been ordered up,
with a party of Lawton's men, in the absence of the captain himself,
to attend the trial of Henry, which was fixed for the morrow, and
that, anxious for their safety in the rude passes of the mountain, he
had ridden a mile or two in quest of the travellers. A short half-hour
brought them to the door of the farm-house which the care of Dunwoodie
had already prepared for their reception, and where Captain Wharton
was anxiously expecting their arrival.

The friends of Henry Wharton had placed so much reliance on his
innocence, that they were unable to see the full danger of his
situation. The moment at length arrived, and the different actors in
the approaching investigation assembled. The judges, three in number,
sat by themselves, clad in the vestments of their profession, and
maintaining a gravity worthy of the occasion and becoming their rank.
In the centre was a man of advanced years, and whose whole exterior
bore the stamp of early and long-tried military habits. This was the
president of the court; and Frances, after taking a hasty and
unsatisfactory view of his associates, turned to his benevolent
countenance as to the harbinger[100] of mercy to her brother. There
was a melting and subdued expression in the features of the veteran,
that, contrasted with the rigid decency and composure of the others,
could not fail to attract her notice. His associates were selected
from the Eastern troops, who held the fortresses of West Point[101]
and the adjacent passes; they were men who had attained the
meridian[102] of life, and the eye sought in vain the expression of
any passion or emotion on which it might seize as an indication of
human infirmity. In their demeanor there was a mild, but a grave,
intellectual reserve.

[Footnote 100: messenger.]

[Footnote 101: a stronghold on the Hudson.]

[Footnote 102: middle age.]

Before these arbiters of his fate Henry Wharton was ushered under the
custody of armed men. A profound and awful silence succeeded his
entrance, and the blood of Frances chilled as she noted the grave
character of the whole pro