rdinary
events that had led to his present respite from death. In the
interrogations that had, during the first moments of excitement, been
put to him, in regard to the letter, he was not told its import; from
what quarter it had come; nor how it affected his fate. He only knew, by
the result, that it had suspended the purpose of his immediate
execution; and he saw that it had produced great agitation at
head-quarters. He found, moreover, that this, or some other cause, had
engendered a degree of exasperation against him, that showed itself in
the retrenchment of his comforts, and in the augmented rigor of his
confinement.

Agitated with a thousand doubts, his mind was too busy to permit him to
close his eyes during the night that followed; and in this wakeful
suspense he could sometimes hear, amongst the occasional ramblers who
passed under his window, an allusion, in their conversation, to a
victory gained over the royal troops. Coupling this with the name of
Sumpter, which was now and then uttered with some adjective of
disparagement, he conjectured that Horse Shoe had probably fallen in
with that partisan, and was, peradventure, leading him to this vicinity.
But this conclusion was combated by the fact that there seemed to be no
alarm in the camp, nor any preparations on foot either for instant
battle or retreat. Then the letter--that was a mystery altogether
impenetrable. There was only one point upon which his mind could rest
with satisfaction: of that he was sure--Horse Shoe was certainly at the
bottom of the scheme, and was active in his behalf.

The whole of the next day passed over in the same state of uncertainty.
It was observed by Butler, with some stress upon the circumstance, that
Captain St. Jermyn, who had heretofore evinced a disposition to make
himself busy in his behalf, had absented himself ever since the trial;
and he thus felt himself cut off from the slightest exhibition of
sympathy on the part of a single individual in the multitude of fellow
beings near him. Indeed, there were various indications of a general
personal ill-will against him. The house, in which he was confined, was
so constructed that he could frequently hear such expressions, in the
conferences of those who inhabited the rooms below stairs, as were
uttered above the lower key of conversation, and these boded him no
good. Once, during the day, Colonel Innis visited him. This officer's
countenance was severe, and indicated anger