the explanation which I gave you only this very hour,
and in private, to be made the public instrument of my
condemnation? Am I to die because I had not firmness to
resist the prayer of my captain and of your son, Colonel
de Haldimar?"

The president looked towards the governor, but a significant
motion of the head was the only reply; he proceeded,--

"Prisoner Halloway, what plead you to this charge? Guilty,
or not guilty?"

"I see plainly," said Halloway, after the pause of a
minute, during which he appeared to be summoning all his
energies to his aid; "I see plainly that it is useless
to strive against my fate. Captain de Haldimar is not
here, and I must die. Still I shall not have the disgrace
of dying as a traitor, though I own I have violated the
orders of the garrison."

"Prisoner," interrupted Captain Blessington, "whatever
you may have to urge, you had better reserve for your
defence. Meanwhile, what answer do you make to the last
charge preferred?--Are you guilty, or not guilty?"

"Guilty," said Halloway, in a tone of mingled pride and
sorrow, "guilty of having listened to the earnest prayer
of my captain, and suffered him, in violation of my
orders, to pass my post. Of the other charges I am
innocent."