406 Colonel Vcrnon ; or, APRIL, 



serenely resigned, while it is possible that her tears and prayers may save 

 him to whom her faith is pledged, from being murdered ?" 



" This language you must not hold. Vernon has been sentenced by 

 a competent court, and even his death should not be named a murder." 



" Nay, but it is murder the foulest murder, and may avenging 

 furies pursue those who have willed it ! may a God of justice, hurl 

 his red lightning on the blood-hounds ; and may each wretched mon- 

 ster's dying prayer for mercy, be visibly rejected, that the sinner, even 

 here, may see the world of torments in which the great actors in a world 

 of crime, will find their eternal home. For the king " 



" Hold !" exclaimed Herbert, who had previously attempted, but in 

 vain, to interrupt the course of her despair. " Sin not against Heaven, 

 by impiously arraigning its vicegerent on earth. Late repentance, 

 were this persisted in, would overtake thee, and gnaw thy bosom's 

 inmate with remorse. His majesty is all goodness." 



" If it be so, then why am I, with coldly cruel admonition, and even by 

 force, restrained from seeking to know and to acknowledge it ?" 



" For reasons good, which I now attend to unfold, if your impetuous 

 sorrow will give them audience." 



" I want not to know the reasons by which heartless men, can bring 

 themselves to approve of shedding guiltless blood." 



" Nor are such likely to gain utterance from my tongue. Yet will J 

 vindicate the goodness of my king : he would not suffer the innocent to 

 perish, and his ear is ever open to the voice of supplication." 



" Yet but now you said, that with respect to my beloved Vernon, his 

 mind was made up, and that nought could save his life." 



" Daughter, I told you that to petition the king would be of no avail. 

 This do I now repeat, and with fullest confidence with irrevocable firm- 

 ness ; because and now, poor mourner! let thy heart be prepared 



for the words which linger on my tongue will thrill it to its core." 



" Ha ! is it so ? Because so thou art about to say Vernon, my 

 brave husband, has already met his cruel fate. Break, wretched heart ! 

 my husband is no more !" 



" It is not so he still lives." 



" But is now, even in this moment, to die !" 



" He lives, and is so I hope destined long to survive." 



" Indeed ! Blest sound ! Welcome chains and dungeons, so his life 

 be spared \" 



" He will be restored free as he has ever been, enthralled only by 

 those chains which love and Isabel, have twined around his heart." 



" Thy voice is gentle, but still I tremble at thy words. Yet thou 

 thou who art a holy man, would not mock a weak sufferer. But I fear 

 my feelings delude me, and that I have imagined sounds to come from 

 thy lips, which were not uttered." 



" Be tranquil and be happy ; Vernon is not to suffer." 



fe Oh, blissful tidings ! Then let my heart swell with rapture ! But 

 say what meant your speech lately ? Even now it tingles in my ears, 

 as it burst on my startled sense, when, like the life-devouring kamsin 

 of the desert, it seemed to burn and blast me as it came, while you 

 announced, that the king would not be moved." 



" This did I tell, because he had already pardoned Vernon." 



" Bless him, Heaven !" 



" It became my duty, being in attendance on his majesty, to make him 



