1830.] The Warning Vdce. 407 



acquainted with all the sad incidents which had caused the loss of 

 Bletchington House ; and eventually I satisfied his royal mind that, 

 faithful to his duty, Vernon had only capitulated, when that duty for- 

 bade him to sacrifice the lives of gallant men by useless resistance." 



" I cannot thank you, Sir, with my tongue, for my bounding heart 

 is striving to burst forth to do that office. Yet tell me, if Vernon be par- 

 doned, why is he not here ? and why I shudder while I recal it why 

 was he taken hence ?" 



" As yet he knows not that he is to be spared. The king suspects 

 that your beauty and distress, had some undue influence on his mind, and 

 therefore willed that, to make a salutary impression on the young 

 soldier, all the preparations should go on for the execution. It is only 

 at the last moment, that his pardon will be announced/' 



" Indeed ! My poor Vernon ! Then even now he thinks that we 

 shall meet no more ? O ! what a storm of joy, will he prove !" 



Here the sound of a drum was heard : it ceased abruptly. 



" What means that sound ?" inquired Isabel. 



" That is the muffled drum. The sound is now repeated, and will be 

 so at intervals ; such being the custom at a military execution." 



" I hear soft, but solemn music/' 



" That is the psalm tune, which makes part of the ceremonial when 

 the prisoner approaches the awful spot, destined to be his grave/' 



" The sounds are mournful, but yet soothing. Ah ! what had they 

 been, had I not learned that Vernon is not to die ? Though ever intre- 

 pid, I know his fond heart is sad at leaving me. Yet I repine not that 

 he is deceived, reflecting how vast, how pure, his joy will be anon, 

 when he shall learn that he is not to be consigned to the gloom of the 

 sepulchre ; but that, restored to those he loves, he may still look on the 

 green fields, the blue sky, and all the glories of nature." 



" Objects still more dazzling and sublime," said Herbert, " I hope 

 will occupy his mind the goodness of that Deity, who " 



" Who spares his being ! O ! yes, kind Sir ! reprove me not for 

 dwelling on objects, glorious to the mortal sense ; for to contemplate 

 these will be devotion ; as what can my Vernon see of the Creator's 

 magnificence, which will not remind him of his mercy ?" 



" So would I hope." 



" Sir, methinks it is past hoping. My breast glows with ineffable 

 delight, and is overflowing with rapture. But hark ! I hear a step. 

 He comes ! Now, my soul, give thyself up to bliss !" 



" Yet still, my child, remember, that they who boast felicity " 



" Not now, Sir not now. Say not that I can be too happy, when 

 Vernon, snatched from death, returns to greet his Isabel. Surely, in 

 this blissful moment, exultation is reason is religion." 



One entered. 



" Colonel Sidney !" Isabel exclaimed, " I thought I expected " 



" To see Vernon, Madam. That pleasure will be yours immediately. 

 I came to announce it, in order to prepare you. Such at least is the 

 excuse I make to myself for leaving him as I did. But, to confess the 

 truth, the scene was too much for me, and I should have cried like an 

 urchin under the whip at school, had I not beaten a retreat." 



" And what is now doing ?" 



" You shall hear. The scene was made as terrible as possible. First, 

 his coffin was carried before him, and placed on the edge of a grave, which 



