ashed on
my mind; "the heir, in the event of my life lapsing?"

Basset nodded an assent.

"You played a deep game, sir," said I, drawing a long breath; "but you
never were near winning it."

"Nor you either," said he, throwing wide the door between the two rooms;
"I hear a voice without there, that settles the question forever."

At the same instant, Major Barton entered, followed by two men.

"I suspected I should find you here, sir," said he, addressing me. "You
need scarcely trouble my worthy friend for his bail; I arrest you now
under a warrant of felony."

"A felony!" exclaimed Basset, with a counterfeited astonishment in his
look. "Mr. Burke accused of such a crime!"

I could not utter a word; indignation and shame overpowered me, and
merely motioning with my hand that I was ready to accompany him, I
followed to the door, at which a carriage was standing, getting into
which we drove towards Newgate.

CHAPTER XXXVI. THE PERIL AVERTED

If I have dwelt with unnecessary prolixity on this dark portion of my
story, it is because the only lesson my life teaches has lain in similar
passages. The train of evils which flows from one misdirection in early
life,--the misfortunes which ensue from a single false and inconsiderate
step,--frequently darken the whole subsequent career. This I now thought
over in the solitude of my cell. However I could acquit myself of the
crime laid to my charge, I could not so easily absolve my heart of the
early folly which made me suppose that the regeneration of a land should
be accomplished by the efforts of a sanguinary and bigoted rabble. To
this error could I trace every false step I made in life,--to this cause
attribute the long struggle I endured between my love of liberty and my
detestation of mob rule; and yet how many years did it cost me to learn,
that to alleviate the burdens of the oppressed may demand a greater
exercise of tyranny than ever their rulers practised towards them. Like
many others, I looked to France as the land of freedom; but where was
despotism so unbounded! where the sway of one great mind so unlimited!
They had bartered liberty for equality, and because the pressure was
equal on all, they deemed themselves free; while the privileges of class
with us suggested the sense of bondage to the poor man, whose actual
freedom was yet unencumbered.

Of all the daydreams of my boyhood, the ambition of military glory
alone survived; and that lived on amid t