Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1857-09-04

there were women with their babes in
the surging tide of life, over whom the
passing shadow of death would soon be
flung. Bearing back the throng, a troop
of horses, their polished helmets and
sharp sabres glittering in the sunlight, !
curvetted and pranced beneath the gall
lows. On the platform stood the sheriff
and his attendants, and the prisoner with
the fatal rope around his neck and the
handkerchief in his right hand.
"One moment longer !" cried Luke,
clinging in desperation to the arm of the
dread minister of the law. q One mo-
ment longer, by your hopes of Heaven !
Look there ! see you that cloud of dust?
1t is a horseman riding hither at the top
of his speed. He waves paper in his
hand. 1t is Sir Robert Ashland with a
reprieve! joy! joy father. You are
saved p
Reprieyed, not pardoned !" said the
sheriff, as he lifted the cap from the dead
ly pale face of Farmer Horton, and al
lowed him to look once more upon the
light of day.
In the meanwhile Sir Robert had dis
mounted from his reeking steed, and as
cending the ladder, stood beside the sheriff
and handed him the document that sus-
pended the execution of the sentence. He
was paler than the prisoner, and leaden
semi-circles gave preternatural effect in
his sunken black eyes.
g Luke y said he, have kept my
word. Horton-you are free man."
g But how did you obtain this respite
Sir Robert ?" said the sheriff.
By swearing that had discoved a
clue to the commission of the murder
! by pledging my word that the assassin
= should die upon the scahold."
{" But who is he? Where is he ?
asked the sheriff.
"He stands before you p cried Sl
Sir Robert Ashland.
Are you mad !'' said the sheriff.
"I am not mad replied the baronet.
Into your hands l surrender myself
and command you to take me into Gus
tody. 1t will not be for long, though
Hear me. On that fatal night, burnin!
with the injury and shame I had received
followed in the path Of my enemy.
had no weapon but by chance l stumbled
on the horn-handled knife that Farme
Horton had lost. The temptation wa
not thrown away on me. As l clutche'
the weapon, l hugged the thought Of re
venge to my heart. Ispurned.my hors
after the retiring foe. l overlook him a
the cross road seized him in his saddl
Il stabbed him to the heart, and hurled hin
v to the ground. His horse galloped hom
riderless. / made a wide circuit and fe
II in with party returning through tn
s. wood from the village. The rest is know
0r how Horton by sad chance, cam
r upon the body and recognized his knii
le how we surprised HIM in the very az
y, as all exclaimed. You know his tri'
Id and his sentence-but you know not th
De pangs of conscience, the agonies OF IT
We morse, the imperious demands Of prid
and honor, that have contended in 10
~ bosom since the fatal night. 1t is ovC
now-the confession is made. My ow
ed lips have blasted name that came dow
to me from the Conquest unsullied /
he dishonor. Luckily it dies with me-ft
| am the last of my race"
at Luke wrung his hands as he listent
ng to this mournful tale.
"My benefactor," he cried, "wou
ne that l might die for you !"
to "Live to be happy" said the baronC
Is :" But forget not how low one hour
Is evil passion has brought me-
'r- Help help!' cried Luke, he
ay faIling-his limbs are giving way und
him."
he The sheriff caughttbe unhappy man
at his arms. The surgeon who was in ;
tendance felt his pulse.
On, % Good heavens r' he exclaimed, :"
Or is dying !''
res Right, doctor, right l' said the bar
or net, feebly. promised to die on I
me scaffold-but not by the halter. /
,nt by my own hand poisoned. Anoth
'"' crime, you will say, Ay, ay, one crir
- brings on another-but | owed it to 1
our ancestry the hangman-neyer. Dai
- ness-death, now J"
- A shudder passed through his fran
and then be lay motionless-liieless,
1t was not until many months af
ght this tragic scene that the good old rec
Sir united the hands Of Luke Horton a
wn Amelia Freeland, before worthy co
- pany, in the old village church. i
trials they had undergone chastenedtb
the Joy, but they were evidently so fitted
each other that every heart in to
,f a throbbed with pleasure, as they entel