to influence some of the members of the Courtmartial by personal appeals;—a devotedness to his cause, which, while it incalculably heightened Walter's attachment, rendered the severing prospect of death still more embittering to his soul. Alas! she had no arguments so cogent as the hopes excited or the fears awakened by the insidious whisperings of Seagrave, and the trial had no sooner begun than it became manifest to all, that the offender would be sentenced to the extreme penalty of military law. In anticipation of this event, it had been determined, as a last resource, to prepare a petition to the King, and to procure the signature of as many people of distinction and loyal gentry as it was possible to obtain. Paul Mapletoft drew up the paper, couching it in such respectful, yet earnest and appropriate terms, that it constituted a most affecting appeal for clemency; and Edith being anxious to see her friend, took it over to Hales Court, not only to procure Mr. Shelton's name, as well as that of Father Bartholomew, but to bespeak the good offices of the former in getting it put into the King's

own hand, through the medium of his relative, who held an office immediately about the royal person.

On her arrival, she learned that Mr. Shelton was absent, and that Agatha having been hastily summoned to a poor woman, one of her pensioners, who had been taken suddenly ill, had hurried to her cottage, just beyond the extremity of the lawn, whence she might be expected to return immediately.

"I will wait for her in her own room;" said Edith, and she accordingly proceeded up-stairs, when, upon entering the chamber, she saw a miniature and an open letter lying upon the table at which Agatha had apparently been sitting. What was her astonishment, her agitation, at discovering that it was a striking likeness of Stanley Forester !" It is he! it is he!" she ejaculated" and this letter dated from Helvoetsluys, is doubtless, also, from Forester-He has escaped, he is safe-thank Heaven! thank Heaven! Oh, how my heart leaps! Oh, what a happy, happy moment is this!"

She sank panting into a chair, and without

balancing, in the agitation and surprise of her feelings, and her anxiety to learn the particulars of Forester's escape, the propriety of perusing a letter not addressed to herself, she snatched up the paper, exclaiming-" Brave, gallant, fortunate man! let me see how he contrived to elude the foes, and avoid the perils that beset him on every side." Her hands shook as she raised the paper to her glistening eyes, and read as follows.

"Helvoetsluys.

"A dear and valued coadjutor, who carries to the West of England duplicates of the letters with which I have been entrusted, and whose mission, I hope, will be more successful than my own, is upon the point of departure from these shores, which I only reached last night. May I flatter myself that I have friends in Somersetshire, who will not be sorry to learn, that after more hair-breadth 'scapes than I have time or inclination to enumerate, I breathe once more upon a free soil, with the pleasant consciousness of safety. May all the blessings that

an impassioned and grateful heart can dictate, or your unparalleled virtues merit, descend upon you and yours; and oh !-(kind Heaven accord my prayer!)-may you never never suffer for the generous magnanimity you have all evinced! If I mention not names, if I allude not more distinctly to the past, you will interpret the reasons of my silence.

"Wonder not that I should elude my numerous foes, closely and hotly as they pursued me both by land and sea; for is not my life ten thousand times more valuable to me now than ever it was before? Oh, peerless, incomparable woman! dear, adored Miss Shelton ! when you pardoned me for declaring my presumptuous passion; when you condescended to confess your regard for the poor proscribed wanderer; when you did not forbid me to look forward with hope to the happy, happy day that shall see our country liberated, and myself not only cleared from every aspersion, but restored to that universal honour and respect which I have only forfeited in the estimation of tyrants and their minions; when you tacitly admitted, that at this glorious

epoch I might aspire to a still higher happiness, to an ecstasy, a beatitude which none, none but yourself can bestow, you conferred such an additional charm upon my existence, that methinks I felt instantly endowed with a supernatural power to defeat the machinations of mine enemies, and to snap asunder their toils, even as a lion scatters the threads of gossamer that cross his path. Nothing can delay the arrival of that auspicious day; nothing can prevent the emancipation of my oppressed country-the great, the darling, the sole object of my life, until the sweet and glorious hopes of love came to share the devotion of my heart. All is prepared-the cry has gone forth upon earth, -it is heard in heaven, and soon shall our noble nation, rising in its irresistible might, like a giant refreshed with wine, shake from its shoulders for ever oppression and misrule.

"Will you be offended with me, my preserver, my benefactress, you who have thus incalculably enhanced the value of the life you saved, if I venture to solicit your acceptance of