at an instant's notice: but, thank God! there was no necessity for their services. A confused cry had, some few minutes before, been heard from the extremity of the crowd, which stretched round a large building, so as to be unable to catch any view of what was going on at the gaol; but turning the opposite way, on hearing sounds from that direction, they beheld a startling sight-a post-chaise and four, with a horseman riding beside it, all at full gallop; and inside the chaise was a man waving something white. "Stop! stop!-stop the execution! A reprieve! a reprieve!" was shouted by both the person inside the chaise and the horseman without. The cry was instantly caught, and presently an unusual thundering sound was heard from the vast concourse, echoing the word " Reprieve! reprieve! reprieve!' Round the outskirts of the crowd was in a twinkling seen dashing along towards the back of the gaol, where stood the chief entrance, the postchaise, with its occupant, and the accompanying horseman, each of whom bore a precious document, even under the royal sign-manual, both having been separately despatched from London, to prevent all possibility of accident; and just eighteen minutes before the prison clock struck nine, the two authoritative acts of mercy were in the hands of those to whom they were addressed, the representative of the_High_Sheriff, and the Governor of the gaol. Ay, there had been no miscarrying there was no mistake! The swords, carbines, and muskets of the expect ant soldiery were not, thank God! to be turned upon the vast honesthearted English crowd which stood outside, shouting, till their voices were well-nigh cracked, "Hurrah, hurrah! God save the King!" On hearing all this, Captain Lutteridge hastily dismounted, and got sight of one of the documents which had proved of such prodigious potency. He quietly read it all over, and then | somewhat quickly returned to the yard, and mounted his horse. "My lads," said he, addressing the soldiers, "hearken to me, do you see. His Majesty the King, whose servants we are, hath been pleased to reprieve the prisoner, of his own good will and royal pleasure; whereupon, my lads, we may by-and-by return to our quarters, and in your hearts you may say, Long live King George; '-though that, doubtless, you do always; for you serve the best and greatest king on earth, that is certain." The Captain was even meditating for a moment an extravagance-viz. to give his men leave to shout "God save the King!" but discipline and a sense of dignity repressed any such exuberant manifestation of enthusiasm. He looked, however, at their pleased faces with great inward satisfaction; and a smile nearly stole over his grave rigid features, as he said to himself, Those lads of mine are good lads; and methinks I know one that will make another of them, if this man that was to have suffered be he whom I have seen about Milverstoke. Piff! paff! If I can only catch hold of this Ayliffe, I'll have him pretty quickly clapped on horseback, and in the ranks-and a better trooper than he will make, is not to be seen. I'll warrant me he'll do a trifle of good service for his most merciful Majesty! But the Captain was here reckoning without his host. It was true that a pardon had arrived for poor Ayliffe, but only a conditional one, and that condition was- - transportation to the colonies for life! When the astounding news of his deliverance was communicated to him whom they suddenly snatched out of the gaping jaws of death, the hangman had just completed pinioning the prisoner's hands. "Loose those cords," said the Under Sheriff, as calmly as he could; and, holding in his hand the document on which he was acting, he approached Ayliffe, and said, "Adam Ayliffe, his Majesty the King hath sent thee a pardon under his own sign-manual, | soon come to himself. Nay, lad, don't on condition that thou be transported for life. God save the King: so thou well mayest say!" The prisoner staggered back for some paces before the cords could be loosed, as ordered by the Sheriff. Come, lad! come, come!" quoth the executioner, following him, "take it steadily take it quietly, lad! Thou'st plenty of time to think on't now, I assure thee, both here and elsewhere!" But Ayliffe still staggered back, with the appearance of one stunned by some sudden blow. Then he sunk, with a half-stupefied air, on his knees, with his hands clasped together. From this position the executioner raised him, and seated him on a form which was near. In a few moments' time his face was covered with a clammy sweatone, indeed, which had suddenly burst through every pore of his body. His grim attendant took out his pockethandkerchief and wiped Ayliffe's face gently. be frighted-I've done with thee ! Ayliffe gazed vacantly at him, as the hideous functionary slunk awayall present seeming to breathe more freely when he was gone. Old Ayliffe had fallen senseless on the floor the moment that he had heard the Sheriff's announcement, and lay there for some minutes quite unobserved; those present being sufficiently occupied with the person principally concerned in that day's tragic and agitating proceedings. The rescued prisoner, however, by-and-by recovered himself sufficiently to think of his venerable parent: but by the time that he was fully conscious of what had taken place, alas! he found himself the solitary tenant of a cell in the prison, whither he had been conveyed, almost unconsciously, by the Governor's order, for security's sake. In answer to his loud and agonising cries, he was presently informed by the Governor He soon obeyed his master, and in that his father was not well, having a few moments' time returned with a been somewhat overcome by the sudcup of water. Ayliffe, however, secmed denness of that which had just taken to recoil from the sight of it, and, place. The truth was, that the poor as though with a choking sensation, old man had lain insensible so long, in hastily motioned off the hand that spite of all that could be done for him, held it to his lips; and there was hor- as to alarm the gaol doctor for his ror in his eye. At length he opened safety. He was treated with all imahis mouth with a sudden gasp, and ginable kindness, and taken to a heaved a mighty sigh-and another-chamber in the prisoner's part of the and another. gaol-lying on the very bed which had been occupied, some few months before, by his unhappy son. "Fetch him some water, Gregory," said the executioner to his man, who in truth had not yet quite recovered his own wits, which had been scattered by the suddenness of the affair. "This is right," quoth the executioner, patting him on the back; "he'll CHAPTER XVI. THERE was yet another person then within those gloomy walls on whom the marvellous occurrence of that morning had produced an overwhelming effect, and that was Mr Hylton; to whom alone was attributable, under Providence, the deliverance of Adam Ayliffe from the ignominious and horrible death which, to all human appearance, had been inevitable. Impelled by an irresistible impulse, and fortified by an unwavering conviction of the prisoner's innocence, Mr Hylton on the Friday evening, as a last resource, had, relying on the King's well-known sternly independent character, written a letter to his Majesty, under cover to a nobleman, then in London attending Parliament, and with whom Mr Hylton had been acquainted at College. He earnestly entreated his lordship to lose not a moment in securing a personal interview with the King; or, at all events, the delivery into his Majesty's hands of the letter in question, touching, as it did, life and death; its object being to save from execution, on the Monday morning, a man who was, in the writer's opinion, as innocent of the death of which he had nevertheless been found guilty, as the Secretary of State himself, to whom application on behalf of the convict had been unhappily made in vain. Mr Hylton's letter to the King was expressed in terms of grave eloquence. It set out with calling his Majesty's attention to the execution, six months before, of a man, for a erime of which three days afterwards he was demonstrated to have been innocent. Then the letter gave a moving picture of the exemplary life and character of the prisoner, and of his father; pointed to testimonials given in his favour at the trial, and added the writer's own; together with the most emphatic and strong conviction which could be expressed in language, that whoever might have been the perpetrator of this atrocious murder, it was not the prisoner doomed to die on Monday. It then conjured his Majesty, by every consideration which could properly have weight with a sovereign intrusted with authority by Almighty God to govern according to justice and mercy, to give his personal attention to the case then laid before him, and act thereon, according to his Majesty's own royal and clement judgment. This letter Mr Hylton's noble acquaintance, happening to be absent from town for a few days, travelled thirty miles, at great inconvenience, to lay before the King; who did not receive it till past midnight, at St James's, and after he had been in bed | for upwards of an hour. On hearing, however, from the nobleman who brought the letter, that it was one of a very urgent nature, concerning life and death, those who were intrusted with guarding the royal repose caused it to be broken by the delivery of the packet. His Majesty instantly got out of bed, and, after hastily glancing over the letter, ordered Lord Farnborough to be sent for immediately, with directions to bring along with him all the papers which he had, or could lay his hand on, relating to Adam Ayliffe, then lying under sentence of death for the murder of Lord Alkmond. His Majesty had paced his chamber many times, somewhat impatiently, before his astonished minister arrived: for the latter, being in bed when he received the royal summons, had had to go from his private residence to his Lord Farnborough said something rather faintly about a constitutional monarchy " 'Ay, ay," said the King, catching the word, "but I am also a conscientious King, my Lord. My advisers may be impeached in Parliament if they give me evil advice; but I have to answer to the King of Kings; and none but a King can tell a King's feelings in these matters. God only knows what I suffered some half a year ago, in a matter of this sort--eh, my Lord? What say you to that? Have you forgotten it ?" office, in order to get the documents | science do verily doubt whether he required by the King, and had expe- ought to die." rienced great difficulty in finding them; all clerks and others being, as might well be supposed, out of the way. Immediately on his entering the King's antechamber, Lord Farnborough encountered his Majesty, who with bluff earnestness begged him to be seated at a table, duly furnished with lights and writing materials, and then the King requested to be informed of the whole facts of the case; to which he paid great attention. When Lord Farnborough had, in his usual terse and emphatic fashion, given his own view of the matter, assuring his Majesty, with expressions of profound respect, that a clearer case for hanging there never had been, if justice were to be any longer administered in the country; his lordship appeared confounded when the King said, very thoughtfully, that he was by no means so clear on the subject as his lordship "I won't, I WON'T, my Lord. There seemed; and in fact felt so uneasy on are features about this case that I the matter, being one of life and death, don't like; and, in short, I shall not that he could not return to bed with have this man die. Transport him out deciding one way or the other. for life, if you please; then, if we be Lord Farnborough assured the King wrong, he may return: BUT- there that he need feel no anxiety whatever are paper, pens, and ink; pray, my on a matter which was exclusively Lord, let it be done instantly, for time within the province of his ministers. is precious; I will put my hand to it "But look you, my Lord Farn-now-and then methinks I shall sleep borough," quoth the King, somewhat soundly till morning." hastily and sternly, "suppose you and I differ on this matter? So, so, because you are my servants, my Lord Farnborough, I am to be your puppet, eh ?-to register your decrees, nolens volens! By those that begot me, and those before me, but II will show you otherwise! Look you, my Lord, and all of you that serve me, I am set over my people to protect them, and am answerable for them to Him who set me over them and if it cost me my crown, look you, as I must answer for it hereafter, I won't see the humblest creature calling me King deprived of his life, even though according to law (which can't give back life taken wrongly), if I in my con "Not at all, please your Majesty: but I take leave humbly to represent, Sire, in the matter now before your Majesty, that your Majesty, as the guardian of the laws, has no discretion herein, but must allow the law to take its course.' "Pardon me, Sire," began his lordship, with an air of vast deferenceNo, no! not you—I have nought to pardon you; 'tis another I mean to pardon "Sire, this really is one of the plainest cases of guilt' "Did you not say the very same thing to me, my Lord, on the occasion have just spoken of?" inquired the King with stern solemnity: "did I not then say I had doubts? but I yielded to your certainty, my Lord! And what followed?" "Please your Majesty, we are all frail; all human institutions are liable to error Therefore," said the King quickly, "ought we the longer to doubt in matters of life and death, my Lord.” "I do assure your Majesty that this interference of your Majesty will give | corpse from the gallows which was at great dissatisfaction "To whom? Where? Why?" inquired the King with great dignity. What is that to me, when my conscience is concerned, who have sworn an oath, when God Almighty placed my crown on my head, to cause law and justice, IN MERCY, to be executed in all my judgments? Who swore that oath, my people or I? I did, and, with God's assistance, will keep my oath. And as for my people, they are a brave and virtuous people, and won't obey me the less because I will not again let any one die on a gibbet hastily." Lord Farnborough remained with his eyes earnestly fixed on the King, and his pen in his hand, which hung down by his side. "Let it be done, my Lord," said the King, peremptorily: and his Minister obeyed. Within a couple of hours' time, down went the messengers of mercy, whose arrival has been already duly told. The King went to bed very comfortably; the Minister returned to his, most exceedingly uncomfortable with, as it were, a bee buzzing in each ear, and tickling, even to stinging, his consequence both personal and official; expecting to be questioned pretty sharply in Parliament on what had taken place. He resolved, however, that then he would loyally uphold his royal master's act at all hazards, and give him full credit for the noble spirit in which he had acted; and he would ask, what if it should afterwards turn out that, but for the King, this man would have been hanged innocent? And who should gainsay the propriety of the King's reference to the painful occasion of a former fatal and irreparable miscarriage of justice? When Mr Hylton entered the cell where Ayliffe sat, now not fettered, the latter sprung from his seat, and then dropping on his kness, embraced those of Mr Hylton, crying like a child. Yet he knew nothing of that last interference of his exemplary benefactor, which had saved him, at the eleventh hour, from swinging a dishonoured that moment being taken down. "God has been very, very merciful towards you, Adam," said Mr Hylton, "and your spared life will be a monument of that mercy! Adam, now that no power on earth can again place you in jeopardy on this charge, I ask you, as in the immediate presence of your merciful God, are you innocent?" "Oh, Mr Hylton! oh, kind and most beloved sir! how can you ask? Do you, then, doubt? Have I not just been standing half-way in eternity, and almost face to face with Him that was to judge me; and could I stand there with a lie on my lips? Ay, I am innocent as my own poor crippled child." Here he burst into an agony of weeping. Well, well, Adam, you must forgive me. I ought not, perhaps, to have asked you such a question-I feel that I ought not; but you know not yet the immense responsibility which I have incurred on your behalf, and in reliance on your word. Adam, once for all, I tell you that I am as thoroughly persuaded of your innocence of this awful crime, as I am of mine own; and may God himself, if it please His infinite wisdom, one day make it plain to us, even here, in this life." Ayliffe answered, with a look and a manner eloquent with injured innocence, "Amen yea, Amen! Amen! sir!" And then, burying his face in his hands, uttered aloud a few words of fervent prayer and praise, to which Mr Hylton reverently responded. "And now for Sarah, sir. Oh, Sally! Sally! Sally! shall we, then, meet again!" exclaimed the poor prisoner, in a passionate and frantic manner. Adam, try to be calmer; it is very natural that you should be excited" Why, sir, Is she dead?" said Ayliffe, in a whisper that echoed through the soul of Mr Hylton, who was also startled by the wild despairing eye which was staring at him. "She is not dead, Adam," replied Mr Hylton; "and I go hence to see her." Ayliffe burst into bitter weeping, and sobbed, "Oh! that I might go with you, sir, to see her dear, pre |