back, and I will bless you for your kindness. Wish me
farewell now, and see that she does not come again." Tom wrung me by
the hand, and turned away to conceal his distress. I nodded my head in
assent, for I could not speak for emotion, and followed Stapleton and
the soldiers who had taken Mary out. As soon as she was recovered
sufficiently to require no further medical aid, I lifted her into the
post-chaise, and ordered the boys to drive back to Brentford. Mary
continued in a state of stupor during the journey; and when I arrived at
my own house, I gave her into the charge of the gardener's wife, and
despatched her husband for medical assistance. The application of Mr
Wharncliffe was of little avail, and he returned to me with
disappointment in his countenance. The whole of the next week was the
most distressing that I ever passed; arising from my anxiety for Tom, my
daily exertions to reason Mary into some degree of submission to the
will of Providence--her accusations of herself and her own folly--her
incoherent ravings, calling herself Tom's murderer, which alarmed me for
her reason; the distress of old Tom and his wife, who, unable to remain
in their solitude, came all to me for intelligence, for comfort, and for
what, alas! I dare not give them--hope. All this, added to my
separation from Sarah during my attendance to what I considered my duty,
reduced me to a debility, arising from mental exertion, which changed me
to almost a skeleton.

At last the court-martial was held, and Tom was condemned to death. The
sentence was approved of, and we were told that all appeals would be
unavailing. We received the news on the Saturday evening, and Tom was
to suffer on the Tuesday morning. I could no longer refuse the appeals
of Mary; indeed, I received a letter from Tom, requesting that all of
us, the Dominie included, would come down and bid him farewell. I hired
a carriage for old Tom, his wife, Stapleton, and Mary, and putting the
Dominie and myself in my own chariot, we set off early on the Sunday
morning for Maidstone. We arrived about eleven o'clock, and put up at
an inn in close proximity to the barracks. It was arranged that the
Dominie and I should see Tom first, then his father and mother, and
lastly, Mary Stapleton.

"Verily," said the Dominie, "my heart is heavy, exceeding heavy; my soul
yearneth after the poor lad, who is thus to lose his life for a woman--a
woman from whose toils I did myself