ho, during this short scene, had despatched a
messenger to his room for the purpose, now advanced to the poor girl,
bearing a short but elegantly mounted dagger, which he begged her to
deliver as a token of his friendship to the young chief her brother. He
then dropped on one knee at her feet, and raising her hand, pressed it
fervently against his heart; an action which, even to the untutored
mind of the Indian, bore evidence only of the feeling that prompted it,
A heavy sigh escaped her labouring chest; and as the officer now rose
and quitted her hand, she turned slowly and with dignity from him, and
crossing the drawbridge, was in a few minutes lost in the surrounding
gloom.

Our readers have, doubtless, anticipated the communication made to
Major Blackwater by the Adjutant Lawson. Bowed down to the dust by the
accomplishment of the curse of Ellen Halloway, the inflexibility of
Colonel de Haldimar's pride was not proof against the utter
annihilation wrought to his hopes as a father by the unrelenting hatred
of the enemy his early falsehood and treachery had raised up to him.
When the adjutant entered his apartment, the stony coldness of his
cheek attested he had been dead some hours.

We pass over the few days of bitter trial that succeeded to the
restoration of Captain de Haldimar and his bride to their friends;
days, during which were consigned to the same grave the bodies of the
governor, his lamented children, and the scarcely less regretted Sir
Everard Valletort. The funeral service was attempted by Captain
Blessington; but the strong affection of that excellent officer, for
three of the defunct parties at least, was not armed against the trial.
He had undertaken a task far beyond his strength; and scarcely had
commenced, ere he was compelled to relinquish the performance of the
ritual to the adjutant. A large grave had been dug close under the
rampart, and near the fatal flag-staff, to receive the bodies of their
deceased friends; and, as they were lowered successively into their
last earthly resting place, tears fell unrestrainedly over the bronzed
cheeks of the oldest soldiers, while many a female sob blended with and
gave touching solemnity to the scene.

On the morning of the third day from this quadruple interment, notice
was given by one of the sentinels that an Indian was approaching the
fort, making signs as if in demand for a parley. The officers, headed
by Major Blackwater, now become the commandant