

The Spanish Headsman. 45 



the General : " you being responsible for the consequences. What further 

 would you?" he added, sternly and impatiently, seeing the Colonel yet 

 linger and hesitate to speak, " He presumes, Sir, to tender you all his 

 wealth his entire fortune, so that his youngest son might be spared." 

 " Indeed/' said the General 5 " it is no extraordinary exertion of genero- 

 sity, as his property is already at the disposal of King Joseph. But/' he 

 continued, after some moments of reflection, while an indescribable 

 expression of savage triumph lightened up his features " I perceive 

 all the importance attached to his last request, and shall even go beyond 

 it. Let him then purchase the continuance of his name and family, that 

 it may exist a memorial of his treason and its penalty. But it shall be 

 on my terms ; mark me, I leave his fortune free, and grant like 

 pardon to such one of his sons as shall assume the office of executioner. 

 J have said it, begone ! and let me hear no more of him or his." The 

 General turned from Victor towards the chateau, where dinner for himself 

 and staff had been just served ; leaving the Colonel thunderstruck. 



His brother officers eagerly hastened to satisfy an appetite provoked 

 by fatigue, but he had no thought but for the wretched prisoners -, and 

 summoning resolution again to meet them, he slowly entered the ball- 

 room, where the father and mother, their three sons and two daughters, 

 sate bound to their rich and gilded chairs ; while the eight servants of the 

 house stood with their arms tied behind their backs, mute and motion- 

 less, their looks turned on their superiors, as if to derive a lesson of 

 courage or resignation from their bearing. At times a hasty exclama- 

 tion disturbed the silence, attesting the regret of some bolder spirits, at 

 having failed in their enterprize. The soldiers who guarded them were 

 stern and silent, as if respecting- the misfortunes of their enemies ; and 

 Victor shuddered as he looked upon the mournful spectacle of their dis- 

 tress, where but so lately joy and gaiety presided ; and compared their 

 afflicted state with the gaudy trappings which yet adorned the walls, as 

 in mockery of the dreadful doom which they were sentenced in a few 

 minutes to undergo. 



Ordering the soldiers to loose the bonds of the others, he hastened to 

 the release of Clara j and while every eye was turned towards him with 

 intense interest, he freed her beautifully moulded arms from the cords. 

 Even in that moment of sorrow, he could not but admire the loveliness of 

 the Spanish girl, her perfect form her raven hair her long, dark eye- 

 lashes and an eye too brilliant to be gazed on, suffused as it was with 

 tears of anguish or indignation. " Have you succeeded >" she whispered, 

 as he bent over her j and her look strove to penetrate his inmost thoughts. 

 An involuntary groan was Victor's sole reply ; and to avoid her ardent 

 gaze, he threw a wild and piteous look upon her brothers and her parents, 

 and again on her. The eldest son, Juanito, was about thirty years of 

 age, short of stature, and scarcely well formed j but these defects were 

 redeemed by a countenance eminently Spanish, proud, fierce, and dis- 

 dainful, teeming with all his country's gallantry. Filippo, the second, 

 was about twenty years of age, and bore an extraordinary resemblance to 

 Clara. Raffaele, the youngest, was eight years old ; a mild and passive 

 creature, with much of patience or endurance in his gentle features. The 

 venerable countenance of the aged Marquis, and his silver hair, offered a 

 study worthy of Murillo. As he contemplated the mournful group, 

 Victor knew not how to announce the General's determination. Com- 



