Part 46 (2/2)
The crowd caught up the cry; and ”He is innocent! he is innocent!”
pa.s.sed from man to man. A young female was now seen forcing a pa.s.sage through the dense ma.s.s. The interest became intense; every one drew closer to his neighbor, to make way for the bearer of unexpected tidings, who, arriving within a few yards of the scaffold, again called out in shrill tones, which found an echo in every benevolent heart--”G.o.dfrey Hurdlestone and William Mathews are the real murderers.
I heard them form the plot. I saw the deed done!”
”d.a.m.nation!--we are betrayed!” whispered G.o.dfrey to his colleague in crime, as they fled from the scene.
All was now uproar and confusion. The sheriff and his officers at length succeeded in quieting the excited populace, and removed the prisoner once more to his cell.
”I trust, my son, that the bitterness of death is past,” said the chaplain, who accompanied him hither. ”The G.o.d in whom you trusted has been strong to save.”
”And where, where is my preserver?” asked Anthony, rising from his knees, after returning humble and heartfelt thanks to G.o.d for his preservation.
”She is here,” said Mary, kneeling at his feet. ”Here to bless and thank you for all your unremitted kindness to a wretch like me. Oh! I feared that I should be too late; that all would be over before my feeble limbs would bring me to the spot. I have been ill, Mr. Anthony, dreadfully ill; I couldn't speak to tell them that you were innocent; but it lay upon my heart day by day, and it burnt into my brain like fire. But they did not comprehend me; they could not understand my ravings. At last I stole from my bed, when they were all absent, and put on my clothes, and hurried out into the blessed air. The winds of heaven blew upon me and my reason returned; and G.o.d gave me strength, and brought me here in time to save your life. Yes, you are saved. Blessed be G.o.d's name for ever. You are saved, and by me!”
The poor girl, overcome by her feelings, burst into a fit of hysterical weeping, and suffered the chaplain to lead her from the cell and place her under the protection of the jailor's wife.
CONCLUSION.
Little now remains of my sad tale to be told. G.o.dfrey and his infamous accomplice Mathews were apprehended, convicted and condemned, and suffered for their crimes on the very spot which had witnessed the rescue of Anthony Hurdlestone from a death of unmerited infamy.
The sole survivor of a rich and powerful family, Anthony left the condemned cell in the county jail to take possession of his paternal estates. But it was not on a spot haunted by such melancholy recollections that the last of the Hurdlestones thought fit to dwell.
The Hall was sold, and pa.s.sed into the hands of strangers; and after remaining two years abroad, Anthony once more returned to his native sh.o.r.es, and led to the altar his betrothed bride--the beautiful and talented Juliet Whitmore.
The young Squire's character had been fully vindicated to the world, and his wealthy neighbors took every opportunity of courting his acquaintance; but a change had come over Mr. Hurdlestone, which the caresses of the great and the smiles of fortune could not remove. He never forgot the sad lesson he had learned in ---- jail, or the melancholy fate of his nearest relatives. He had proved the instability of all earthly pursuits and enjoyments; and he renounced the gay world, and devoted his time and talents, and the immense riches which heaven had entrusted to his stewards.h.i.+p, in alleviating the wants and woes of suffering humanity. In the wise and virtuous Juliet he found a partner worthy of his love. One in heart and purpose, their unaffected piety and benevolence rendered them a great blessing to the poor in their neighborhood, who never spoke of the rich Squire and his wife without coupling their names with a blessing.
Amongst his peers, Anthony Hurdlestone was regarded as a singular wayward being, whose eccentricities were to be excused and accounted for by the strange circ.u.mstances in which he had been placed. It was a matter of surprise to all, that the son of the miser, Mark Hurdlestone, should know how to use, without abusing, his wealth; that, avoiding the selfish idolatry of the Gold Wors.h.i.+pper and the folly and extravagance of the spendthrift, he dedicated to the service of G.o.d and his fellow-creatures the riches that, in his father's case, had ill.u.s.trated the truth of the heaven-taught proverb:--
”How hardly shall a rich man enter the kingdom of G.o.d!”
THE END.
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