All were penetrated with curiosity to behold a
man who had several times appeared to them under the most
appalling circumstances, and against whom the strongest
feeling of indignation had been excited for his barbarous
murder of Charles de Haldimar. It was with mingled awe
and anger they now awaited his approach. At length the
captive was seen advancing from the cell in which he had
been confined, his gigantic form towering far above those
of the guard of grenadiers by whom he was surrounded;
and with a haughtiness in his air, and insolence in his
manner, that told he came to confront his enemy with a
spirit unsubdued by the fate that too probably awaited
him.
Many an eye was turned upon the governor at that moment.
He was evidently struggling for composure to meet the
scene he felt it to be impossible to avoid; and he turned
pale and paler as his enemy drew near.
At length the prisoner stood nearly in the same spot
where his unfortunate nephew had lingered on a former
occasion. He was unchained; but his hands were firmly
secured behind his back. He threw himself into an attitude
of carelessness, resting on one foot, and tapping the
earth with the other; riveting his eye, at the same time,
with an expression of the most daring insolence, on the
governor, while his swarthy cheek was moreover lighted
up with a smile of the deepest scorn.
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