University of Virginia Library

3. CHAPTER III.

The morning that succeeded the tempestuous
night described in our last chapter, was one of uncommon
beauty and brilliancy. Not only had all
traces of the storm disappeared, but there was a
buoyancy in the atmosphere whose exhilarating influence
was apparent in all the varied forms of life
that thronged the pavé of the great metropolis.
Most true is it that the early dawn saluted not with
its balmy kiss the cheek of fashion's votary, for over
the lids of these favoured children of opulence and
gayety the sceptre of Morpheus still waved in triumph.
But if to such the volume of Nature, which
unfolded the secrets of her loveliest hour, was a

“sealed book,” there were a sufficient number astir
to feast the eye of one unaccustomed to the oppressive
crowds that almost gorge the leading avenues
of New-York during the hours devoted to
fashionable promenading. To the sons and daughters
of industry, therefore, in default of more dignified
worshippers, did Aurora dispense her choicest
gifts.

The spruce and dapper clerk, with head erect,
acknowledged the influence of the hour by a smirk
of added assurance and satisfaction; to the merry
laugh of the careless apprentice it appended a
snatch of some half-remembered ditty; the mechanic,
wending his way to his daily employment,
paced the street with unwonted vigour; the housemaid,
as she brushed the dust from the sidewalk,
smiled, and ogled the younger male passengers with
eyes sparkling with glee; the milkman aroused the
attention of his customers with a more cheerful
milk ho! than was his wont; and long, loud, and
sonorous did the song of the sweep come wafted on
the breeze.

The beams of the morning sun had not yet penetrated
the streets of the gay city, but the vanes
that crowned her lofty spires glittered like golden
arrows, and the topmasts of the floating palaces that
thronged her quays were gilded with its radiance.
From every lane and avenue the pleasant hum of
human voices ascended like an anthem to the heavens,
to which the heavy and continuous roll of innumerable
carriage-wheels formed a not unmeet accompaniment.

Although the balmy breath of spring is
redolent of pleasure, and comes freighted with the
perfume of unnumbered flowers, yet to the hectic
cheek of the consumptive hers is the fickle and
treacherous smile that fascinates to betray.

There lingers in our heart of hearts the memory
of one dearer than the lifeblood that courses through
the veins, to whose peerless form the embraces of
the siren brought the mildew and the worm! But
the advent of autumn, with health and contentment
beaming in her smile, is ever welcomed with unalloyed
delight. Again our footsteps bound over
those hills that gave back their echo in boyhood;
the many-coloured leaves, that render an American
forest in autumn so brilliant, flash and sparkle anew
in the sunbeam; the chirp of the squirrel is heard
among the branches; the jay, with throat unmusical,
cries loudly from her perch; the robin whistles in the
hedge, while the harsh scream of the peacock, and
the varied cadence of the feathered brood in the
barnyard, swell the chorus of nature's melody.

Far different were the sensations of the prisoner
when the door of his cell opened, and a grim voice
bade him follow to the police court. It is the peculiar
province of this tribunal to investigate the preliminary
proofs that tend to criminate the real or
supposed offender against the majesty of the laws,
although the benefit of exculpating testimony is not
denied the accused.

The presence of the magistrates, who, like the
Venetian council of three, at the period alluded to

composed a full bench in the police court; the gravity
and solemnity of manner, and the subdued whispers
of the crowd that assembled without the bar,
attested the magnitude of the charge on which Glenthorne
was arrested, being that of deliberate assassination,
to which heinous crime was added the
supposed murder of the poor youth who accompanied
the officers that apprehended him. Like great
men of towns and villages, who experience the
nothingness of power when in the presence of the
great man of the city or capitol, so the parti-coloured
group of offenders who surrounded the prisoner
were on this occasion completely merged in the absorbing
interest attached to the more important culprit.

“My eyes!” whispered an unwashed loafer, who
was charged with violating the eighth commandment,
to his fellow, “what a devil of a looking sodger
he is. If he ain't a rum un, there's no moss-bunkers
in the Bear Market. I'll swear that the
halter's bought what'll hang him.”

“Hush! hush!” said the party addressed, “you
don't know what you may come to yourself.”

The magistrate who took the lead in the examination
was somewhat beyond the middle age; his sinewy
frame was cast in a mould of peculiar strength
and activity, and the piercing survey to which the
prisoner was subjected from the penetrating glance
of his dark full eye, afforded slender hope of escape
from the proofs that were to be arrayed against
him.

Having for years occupied a judicial seat at the
same tribunal, he had become familiar with all the
deceptions and subterfuges to which a wily criminal
resorts, in the hope of eluding the vigilance of his
judges; and if, in long exploring the darker recesses
of the human heart, he had lost somewhat of the
sublime attribute that presumes innocence until
guilt is established, there was beneath the stern exterior
an active benevolence, that ever afforded the
panoply of his protection and support to the victim of
malicious accusation.

The magistrate on his right had probably passed
his fiftieth year, and to a tall and commanding person
he united a suavity of manner and kindness of
heart that went far to temper the more stern justice
of his associate.

True it is that the oft-convicted offender, who
was familiar with the secrets of the police court,
rejoiced when, on entering its precincts, he only
encountered the calm countenance of the merciful
judge; for conclusive indeed must have been the
testimony that doomed him to suffer the penalty of
his crime.

Disposed at all times to tender good advice to
the delinquents brought before him, his more prompt
associate frequently protested against his occupying
the precious moments in lecturing those whose
obtuse moral perceptions, he insisted, could only be
reached through the medium of bolts and bars.

The third dignitary, although considerably younger
than either of his associates, appeared more ad

vanced in life than was really the case, from the
silvery hue that his hair had prematurely assumed.
His form was symmetrical, but rather inclining to
corpulence, and his countenance grave and dignified.

On the minor details of the testimony arrayed
against the prisoner, it is needless to dwell.

The witness Maddox testified to the murder of
a young woman in humble circumstances many
months previous, in a distant part of the Union;
and although a skilful member of the bar, who volunteered
to defend the prisoner, entered into a rigid
and searching cross-examination, yet no material
discrepance was elicited in the testimony. This
witness being dismissed, the surgeon who attended
the wounded youth was produced on the stand.
The learned gentleman stated that the ball had
passed through the breast, and lodged in the back
near the spine; and although he had succeeded in
its extraction, he yet a pprehended a fatal issue, expressing
his conviction that the patient could not
survive the day.

During all these proceedings the prisoner stood
erect, with arms folded, and the occasional convulsive
movement of the muscles of his face was the
only external evidence that indicated the struggle
within.

The testimony being closed, Glenthorne was requested
to make such statement of the circumstances
connected with the charge on which he
was arraigned as he might deem important, being

first advised by his counsel that he was not required
to answer any questions except such as he
should think proper. To all queries, however, he
refused any reply, stating that he had firmly determined
to make no effort to prolong an existence
which had long since become burdensome. The
only request he made was to be indulged in a few
moments' conversation in private with his disconsolate
mistress, and the officers were directed to
grant them an interview in an apartment adjoining
the court-room.

After a brief conference, the exclamation “Remember!”
was heard in the powerful tones of the
prisoner's voice, when the parties re-entered the
hall of justice. The magistrates again offered the
accused an opportunity of exculpation, which he
declined, and impatiently solicited a removal to his
prison.

“Mr. Haydon,” said the magistrate to a veteran
officer, whose prowess and skill in arresting criminals
were proverbial, “have the prisoner removed
to his cell, and see that he is properly secured. I
shall look to you, sir, to ensure his safety.”

“I'll answer for his forthcoming with my life,”
was the sententious response of the faithful official;
when, raising his staff of office and motioning the
crowd to give way, this terror of evil doers and
his assistants escorted the culprit to his dungeon in
the Bridewell prison.

The individuals comprising the dense crowd
that had collected now slowly departed to their

several avocations; and so ephemeral is the influence
of the most interesting or absorbing event that
occurs in a populous city, that it is doubtful whether
this impressive scene occupied the thoughts of one
among the thousands that had assembled to behold
it, for an hour after its close, if we except the lonely
female whose fortunes were so fatally linked with
those of the prisoner.

To her the world, with all its cares, duties, and
pleasures, was hereafter to be a blank; and as she
returned to her dwelling, which but yesterday
teemed with the endearing associations that cluster
round even the most cheerless home, she felt, in all
its force, the extent of her destitution and her
misery.