to entreaty; and in the name of that life which I had
preserved to him, and of that deep gratitude which he
had ever since borne to me, conjured me not to prevent
his departure. 'Halloway,' he urged, 'your life, my
life, my father's life,--the life of my sister Clara
perhaps, who nursed you in illness, and who has ever
treated your wife with attention and kindness,--all these
depend upon your compliance with my request. 'Hear me,'
he pursued, following up the impression which he clearly
perceived he had produced in me by this singular and
touching language: 'I promise to be back within the hour;
there is no danger attending my departure, and here will
I be before you are relieved from your post; no one can
know I have been absent, and your secret will remain with
Donellan and myself. Do you think,' he concluded, 'I
would encourage a soldier of my regiment to disobey a
standing order of the garrison, unless there was some
very extraordinary reason for my so doing? But there is
no time to be lost in parley. Halloway! I entreat you
to offer no further opposition to my departure. I pledge
myself to be back before you are relieved.'"

"Gentlemen," impressively continued the prisoner, after
a pause, during which each member of the court seemed to
breathe for the first time, so deeply had the attention
of all been riveted by the latter part of this singular
declaration, "how, under these circumstances, could I be
expected to act? Assured by Captain de Haldimar, in the
most solemn manner, that the existence of those most dear
to his heart hung on my compliance with his request, how