the whole of the officers off duty, when the court
proceeded to deliberate on the evidence, and pass sentence
on the accused.




CHAPTER VII.

Although the young and sensitive De Haldimar had found
physical relief in the summary means resorted to by the
surgeon, the moral wound at his heart not only remained
unsoothed, but was rendered more acutely painful by the
wretched reflections, which, now that he had full leisure
to review the past, and anticipate the future in all the
gloom attached to both, so violently assailed him. From
the moment when his brother's strange and mysterious
disappearance had been communicated by the adjutant in
the manner we have already seen, his spirits had been
deeply and fearfully depressed. Still he had every reason
to expect, from the well-known character of Halloway,
the strong hope expressed by the latter might be realised;
and that, at the hour appointed for trial, his brother
would be present to explain the cause of his mysterious
absence, justify the conduct of his subordinate, and
exonerate him from the treachery with which he now stood
charged. Yet, powerful as this hope was, it was unavoidably
qualified by dispiriting doubt; for a nature affectionate
and bland, as that of Charles de Haldimar, could not but
harbour distrust, while a shadow of uncertainty, in regard