rent to Tom; and he was
perfectly penitent, and determined to wash out his sin by entire
obedience for the future.

Miss Walladmor then proceeded to give her instructions to Tom; but
suddenly she was interrupted by a tumultuous uproar of voices in the
great court. This was succeeded by a violent hurrying of feet from all
parts of the castle: and conscious that they were now exposed to
immediate intrusions, Grace suddenly dismissed Tom; whispered a word or
two in his ear; and then, snatching up the lamp and flinging the shawl
about her mistress, lighted her back as rapidly as possible to her own
apartments.

The interruption had arisen from Mr. Dulberry. That intense patriot was
incensed at the apprehension of a prisoner on political charges or
presumptions which he conceived to be in the highest degree honorable
to their object. Still more was he incensed that, instead of being
committed to the weak gaol of Dolgelly, from which it would have been
easy for a party of patriotic friends to deliver him, the prisoner had
been shut up in a fortress so secure as the Falcon's tower of
Walladmor, strengthened as it now was by two troops of dragoons. This
again was one of the worst features of the transaction: martial power
had usurped the functions of the civil authorities: and the
constitutional jealousy of all purists upon matters of Magna Charta
was, he conceived, summoned to the case.

He had accordingly walked up to the castle; and, upon being challenged
by the sentinel, had demanded to speak with Sir Morgan Walladmor: but,
as he accompanied this demand with a torrent of abuse against the
worthy baronet and much political jargon in relation to the prisoner,
the sentinel refused to let him pass, and assured him that he would
fire if he should attempt to advance. Mr. Dulberry retreated to a
station behind an angle of the castle which he conceived not to be
within musquet range; and there, stretching his head round the corner,
commenced a political lecture upon the Bill of Rights as affected by
the use of soldiers in riots; thence diverging to the "Manchester
massacres," "Londonderry's hussars," "hoofs of dragoons," and other
topics by no means calculated to win a favourable attention from his
present audience. Some of the dragoons were loitering about the gate:
others were soon attracted by the violence of Mr. Dulberry: and a party
of them, taking advantage of the dusk, slipped round into the rear of
the reformer--seized