The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 290: what you’re looking at

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farewell. Within the hour, Kate was seated in a | was limited, would expire. Don Christoval urged post-chaise, issuing forth from the Spanish capital that it was but for this one om the high road to Barcelona. CHAPTER CXLVIIL BED RUSSELIW Aurrover the of Oatelonia had the power to 4 the execution of Ned Rus- sell’s sentence for three weeks, he had not granted poor week he sought the delay; and if nothing favourable transpired in the mean time, the sentence must then as & matter of course be carried into execution. Still the Captain-General shook his head, refusing to Don Diego would not leave him: he comply. y gaining & portion of what he asked. To be brief, the Captain-General consented to s compromise be- the clamour of the public on the other. He ac- corded s farther delay of three deys,—adding em- phatically that at eleven in the forenoon on the Saturday ensuing, the culprit must be executed, if no counter-instructions of any sort should arrive from Madrid. More than this Count Christoval not obtain; and therewith he was forced to we should observe, he had seen almost daily during the fortnight which had elapsed since his arrival at Barcelona,—he mounted his horse and set out on the highway towards Madrid. The distance pre- | between Barcelona and she Spanish capital is above that, { station and of at the expiration of a fortnight, he sent for Don 1, and assured bim that he dared the appointment for the night—which appointment, as the reader has seen, was in reality to be kept by the Minister’slady. Count Christoval besought and implored that the Captain-General would suf- fer the dictates of mercy to ride dominant above execution, he should eo fatally render ioe that wayein the enpital. "It was tou way in the capital. It was upon a Wednesday that these representations were made: that day week the full period of three weeks, to the Captain-General’s discretionary power — Cee oa GES o> a —_ ~~ = —— —a ar ——g three hundred miles ; and therefore Don Diego did not entertain the hope of reeching Madrid and returning to Barcelona within the prescribed in- terval. But he adopted his present for two reasons. In the first placa, he thought it pro- beble that Miss Marshall—if she had obtained the pardon—would, in her loving seal and tender anxiety, be ing with it herself to —the more eo, as he had led her to suppose that .| there was still another clear week of respite for Ned Russell. If therefore she were upon the road, he hoped to meet her: he would receive the pardon from her hands—and to make everything sure, would gallop back day and night until he reached Cea ap once more. In the second piace, he reasoned that she might have entrusted the precious document to s courier; and knowing that these individuals are apt to tarry and. drink on the way, he resolved to make inquiries at every mounted whom he might meet, to ascertain if the hoped-for paper were upon the road to Barcelona. It was in the forenoon of Wednesday that he thus set out: and being an excellent horseman, as well as accustomed to the fatigues of travelli he journeyed at a rapid pace. Resting as little as possible, and obtaining a fresh steed as often as circumstances would permit, he accomplished ninety miles by midnight,—which, considering the nature of the Spanish roads and the sorry animals used for posting or for couricrs, was remarkably good. Allowing himself but s couple of hours to recruit the | calona, he encountered a courier whom he stopped, and to whom he put the same inquiries he had It was the one which Kate had sent off in the latter part of the previous day, after her inter. re Eee THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. (COL (C DOO CS (COL