Throughout the whole
of the proceedings subsequently instituted, he had acted
and spoken from a perfect conviction of the treason of
the unfortunate soldier, and with the fullest impression
of the falsehood of all that had been offered in his
defence. The considerations that influenced the minds of
his officers, found no entrance into his proud breast,
which was closed against every thing but his own dignified
sense of superior judgment. Could he, like them, have
given credence to the tale of Halloway, or really have
believed that Captain de Haldimar, educated under his
own military eye, could have been so wanting in
subordination, as not merely to have infringed a positive
order of the garrison, but to have made a private soldier
of that garrison accessary to his delinquency, it is more
than probable his stern habits of military discipline
would have caused him to overlook the offence of the
soldier, in deeper indignation at the conduct of the
infinitely more culpable officer; but not one word did
he credit of a statement, which he assumed to have been
got up by the prisoner with the mere view of shielding
himself from punishment: and when to these suspicions of
his fidelity was attached the fact of the introduction
of his alarming visitor, it must be confessed his motives
for indulging in this belief were not without foundation.
Pages:
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647