404 Colonel Vernon; or, Q APRIL 



" Can it can it be possible !" she exclaimed, " that my Vernon is to 

 die, and to die for having saved the brave men under his command ?" 



" Such is my fate summon your fortitude in the last sad hour ; and 

 in the days which are coming, when this poor form shall rest beneath the 

 peaceful sod, remember Vernon." 



" Oh ! speak not thus ! Tell me not that there is no hope of mercy." 



ee Nay, Isabel, court no vain delusion : before yon sun declines, I shall 

 be no more. Had it been my lot to fall in the field, my last moments 

 would have been cheered by the thought that my death, even if not 

 illustrated by triumph, was that of a soldier; but it is sad to suffer 

 as a culprit : to know that my Isabel will be pointed at as the widow 

 of a recreant, and that my boy will succeed to an inheritance of shame/* 



ff The thought is madness, and I, / am the wretched cause of all ! 

 But for my voice my fatal eloquence it had been yours to live to 

 hope, to happiness, and to glory ! But will the monsters give no pause 

 for further inquiry ?" 



" By my especial desire the preparations for the final scene have been 

 expedited. Be firm be yourself, my Isabel ; and let it be some conso- 

 lation to that bleeding heart, to reflect, that if Vernon have failed in his 

 duty, he yet can prove that he fears not to die." 

 . " But tell me not that we meet for the last time." 



" Subdue agitation, nor let your emotion shake me in this important 

 hour. When the fatal ball shall have done its part, if the enfranchised 

 soul may seek what it loved on earth, mine shall still hover near you ; 

 when the evening star beams with lustre on that bright eye, let it repre- 

 sent my spirit ever waking to guard Isabel from harm ; and when the 

 gentle breeze of spring softly agitates those ebon ringlets, believe that it 

 is Vernon thus signifies his presence." 



" Oh ! misery !" 



et And when life's duties performed, my Isabel reclines on the bed of 

 death, I, so faithful love dare hope, will still be near to sustain the faint- 

 ing sufferer, to usher her into a new state of being, and to join her unsul- 

 lied spirit as it journeys to heaven." 



" Yet tell me not that we part so soon, that yet a few moments and we 

 must separate for ever/' 



" No : it shall not be for ever. In a happier state of being, above 

 the sky, among the spirits of the perfect just, we yet shall meet. Our 

 love was never earthly in its character, and it shall prove immortal." 



It was at this moment that Herbert, who, as one of the king's chap- 

 lains, was then in attendance at Oxford, entered. 



" Reverend Sir, you are welcome," said Vernon. " It was you who, 

 in the most blissful moment of my existence, wisely admonished me, that 

 I should hold myself prepared for an awful change, and much I thank 

 you for coming now, to fit me for my passage." 



Herbert turned aside to conceal the tears which he could not repress. 



" My object," he at length said, " in coming hither, was to assist this 

 fair one through the trying scene of the day. A holy man waits in 

 another apartment to administer to you all the sacred consolation, which 

 religion can yield to a weak mortal in his last hour." 



" And must he go now ?" Isabel wildly demanded. " If the mur- 

 derous sentence is to be executed, let me perish by his side." 



" This may not be," cried Vernon. " Were it even permitted by 

 authority, the solemn duties which devolve on the only remaining parent 



