rmed all he had said before,
and commented with a great deal of dexterity upon Butler's statement,
particularly in reference to such parts of it as the prisoner's repeated
refusal to answer had left in doubt. After a protracted examination upon
this point, the trial was at length closed, and Butler was ordered back
to his apartment in the farm-house.

Here he remained for the space of half an hour, an interval that was
passed by him in the most distressing doubt and anxiety. The whole
proceeding of the court boded ill to him. The haste of his trial, the
extraordinary nature of the charges, and the general unsympathizing
demeanor of the court itself, only spoke to his mind as evidences of a
concealed hostility, which sought to find a plausible pretext for making
him a sacrifice to some private malevolence. He was therefore prepared
to expect the worst when, at the close of the half hour, St. Jermyn
entered his chamber.

"I come, sir," said the officer, "to perform a melancholy duty. The
court have just concluded their deliberations."

"And I am to be a sacrifice to their vengeance. Well, so be it! There
was little need of deliberation in my case, and they have soon
despatched it," said Butler, with a bitter spirit, as he paced up and
down his narrow chamber. "What favor have these, my impartial judges,
vouchsafed to me in my last moment? Shall I die as a common felon, on a
gibbet, or am I to meet a soldier's doom?"

"That has been thought of," said St. Jermyn. "The commanding officer has
no disposition to add unnecessary severity to your unhappy fate."

"Thank God for that! and that the files detailed for this service are to
be drawn from the ranks of my enemies! I will face them as proudly as I
have ever done on the field of battle. Leave me, sir; I have matters in
my thought that require I should be alone."

"Your time, I fear, is brief," said St. Jermyn. "The guard is already at
hand to conduct you to the court, who only stay to pass sentence. I came
before to break the unhappy news to you."

"It is no news to me," interrupted Butler. "I could expect no other
issue to the wicked designs by which I have been seized. This solemn
show of a trial was only got up to give color to a murderous act which
has been long predetermined."

At this moment, the heavy and regular tap of the drum, struck at equal
intervals, and a mournful note from a fife, reached the prisoner's ear.

"I come!" exclaimed Butler. "These fello