, and then, when I failed, he came behind me, and struck me down,
and now he wants to swear away my life. Take down all I say.'

'If it is your intention,' said the magistrate, 'to confess the crime
with which you stand charged, you may, upon producing sufficient
evidence, criminate whom you please.'

'Evidence!--I have no evidence but myself,' said the woman. 'I will
swear it all--write down my testimony--write it down, I say--we shall
hang side by side, my brave lord--all your own handy-work, my gentle
husband.'

This was followed by a low, insolent, and sneering laugh, which, from
one in her situation, was sufficiently horrible.

'I will not at present hear anything,' replied he, 'but distinct answers
to the questions which I shall put to you upon this matter.'

'Then you shall hear nothing,' replied she sullenly, and no inducement
or intimidation could bring her to speak again.

Lord Glenfallen's deposition and mine were then given, as also those of
the servants who had entered the room at the moment of my rescue.

The magistrate then intimated that she was committed, and must proceed
directly to gaol, whither she was brought in a carriage; of Lord
Glenfallen's, for his lordship was naturally by no means indifferent to
the effect which her vehement accusations against himself might produce,
if uttered before every chance hearer whom she might meet with between
Cahergillagh and the place of confinement whither she was despatched.

During the time which intervened between the committal and the trial
of the prisoner, Lord Glenfallen seemed to suffer agonies of mind which
baffle all description; he hardly ever slept, and when he did, his
slumbers seemed but the instruments of new tortures, and his waking
hours were, if possible, exceeded in intensity of terrors by the dreams
which disturbed his sleep.

Lord Glenfallen rested, if to lie in the mere attitude of repose were
to do so, in his dressing-room, and thus I had an opportunity of
witnessing, far oftener than I wished it, the fearful workings of
his mind. His agony often broke out into such fearful paroxysms
that delirium and total loss of reason appeared to be impending. He
frequently spoke of flying from the country, and bringing with him all
the witnesses of the appalling scene upon which the prosecution was
founded; then, again, he would fiercely lament that the blow which he
had inflicted had not ended all.

The assizes arrived, however, and upon the