"Rally, my dear Charles, rally," said Sir Everard,
affecting a confidence he did not feel himself; "indulge
not in these idle and superstitious fancies. I pity
Halloway from my soul, and feel the deepest interest in
his pretty and unhappy wife; but that is no reason why
one should attach importance to the incoherent expressions
wrung from her in the agony of grief."

"It is kind of you, Valletort, to endeavour to cheer my
spirits, when, if the truth were confessed, you acknowledge
the influence of the same feelings. I thank you for the
attempt, but time alone can show how far I shall have
reason, or otherwise, to lament the occurrences of this
night."

They had now reached that part of the ramparts whence
the shot from Sir Everard's rifle had been fired. Several
men were occupied in digging a grave in the precise spot
on which the unfortunate Murphy had stood when he received
his death-wound; and into this, when completed, the body,
enshrouded in the cloak already alluded to, was deposited
by his companions.




CHAPTER IV.

While the adjutant was yet reading, in a low and solemn
voice, the service for the dead, a fierce and distant