young man was not of course deceived by this shallow falsehood, and from that moment administered the medicine to the patient with his own hands, and kept the bottles which contained it locked up in his cabinet.  “On the very morning of my aunt’s death, I surprised him shutting and locking one of my cabinet drawers.  So dumbfounded was I with horror and dismay at the sight, that he left the room by a side-door without observing me.  You have now the key to my conduct.  I loathed to look upon the murderer; but I would have died a thousand deaths rather than attempt to save my own life by the sacrifice of a father’s—­how guilty soever he might be.”

Furnished with this explanation, and the affidavit of Edwards, I waited upon the judge, and obtained not only a respite for the prisoner, but a warrant for the arrest of Captain Everett.

It was a busy evening.  Edwards was despatched to London in the friendly custody of an intelligent officer, to secure the person of the foreign-looking vender of subtle poisons; and Mr. Sharpe, with two constables, set off in a postchaise for Woodlands Manor-House.  It was late when they arrived there, and the servants informed them that Captain Everett had already retired.  They of course insisted upon seeing him; and he presently appeared, wrapped in a dressing-gown, and haughtily demanded their business with him at such an hour.  The answer smote him as with a thunderbolt, and he staggered backwards, till arrested by the wall of the apartment, and then sank feebly, nervelessly, into a chair.  Eagerly, after a pause, he questioned the intruders upon the nature of the evidence against him.  Mr. Sharpe briefly replied that Edwards was in custody, and had revealed everything.

“Is it indeed so?” rejoined Everett, seeming to derive resolution and fortitude from the very extremity of despair.  “Then the game is unquestionably lost.  It was, however, boldly and skilfully played, and I am not a man to whimper over a fatal turn of the dice.  In a few minutes, gentlemen,” he added, “I shall have changed my dress, and be ready to accompany you.”

“We cannot lose sight of you for an instant,” replied Mr. Sharpe.  “One of the officers must accompany you.”

“Be it so:  I shall not detain either him or you long.”

Captain Everett, followed by the officer, passed into his dressing-room.  He pulled off his gown; and pointing to a coat suspended on a peg at the further extremity of the apartment, requested the constable to reach it for him.  The man hastened to comply with his wish.  Swiftly, Everett opened a dressing-case which stood on a table near him:  the officer heard the sharp clicking of a pistol-lock, and turned swiftly round.  Too late!  A loud report rang through the house; the room was filled with smoke; and the wretched assassin and suicide lay extended on the floor a mangled corpse!

It would be useless minutely to recapitulate, the final winding-up of this eventful drama.  Suffice it to record, that Mr. Frederick Mordaunt was, after a slight delay, restored to freedom and a splendid position in society.  After the lapse of a decent interval, he espoused Lucy Carrington.  Their eldest son represents in this present parliament one of the English boroughs, and is by no means an undistinguished member of the Commons House.