of this leave till the night before his execution. This was a
sacrifice which it required his utmost fortitude to make; and it had
left him to a sense of the most desolate loneliness, insomuch that,
when, late in the evening, he heard his prison door unlocked, he lifted
not his eyes toward it, imagining that the person who entered could only
be the gaoler, who was particularly repulsive in his countenance and
manner. What, then, was his surprise and momentary delight when he
beheld before him his only daughter, and felt her arms entwining his
neck! After the first transport of greeting she became sensible that, in
order to palliate his misery, she must put a strong curb upon her own,
and in a short time was calm enough to enter into conversation with her
father upon the subject of his present situation, and to deliver a
message from the old earl, her grandfather, by which he was informed
that an appeal had been made from him to the king, and means taken to
propitiate Father Peters, his Majesty's confessor, who, it was well
known, often dictated to him in matters of state. It appeared evident,
however, by the turn which their discourse presently took, that neither
father nor daughter were at all sanguine in their hopes from this
negotiation. The Earl of Argyle had been executed but a few days before,
as had also several of his principal adherents, though men of less
consequence than Sir John Cochrane; and it was therefore improbable that
he, who had been so conspicuously active in the insurrection, should be
allowed to escape the punishment which his enemies had it now in their
power to inflict. Besides all this, the treaty to be entered into with
Father Peters would require some time to adjust, and meanwhile the
arrival of the warrant for execution must every day be looked for.

Under these circumstances, several days passed, each of which found Miss
Grizel Cochrane an inmate of her father's prison for as many hours as
she was permitted. Grizel Cochrane was only at that period eighteen
years old; she had, however, a natural strength of character, that
rendered her capable of a deed which has caused her history to vie with
that of the most distinguished of heroines.

Ever since her father's condemnation, her daily and nightly thoughts had
dwelt on the fear of her grandfather's communication with the king's
confessor being rendered unavailable for want of the time necessary for
enabling the friends in London to whom it w