The dusk of the twilight had melted away beneath the moon which had just risen, and the hoary rime glittered from the bushes and the sward, breaking into a thousand diamonds as it caught the rays of the stars.

On went the horses briskly, their breath steaming against the fresh air, and their hoofs sounding cheerily on the hard ground.

The rapid motion of the carriage, the bracing coolness of the night, and the excitement occasioned by anxiety and the forethought of danger, all conspired to stir the languid blood of Lord Mauleverer into a vigorous and exhilarated sensation, natural in youth to his character, but utterly contrary to the nature he had imbibed from the customs of his manhood.
He felt his pistols, and his hands trembled a little as he did so,--not the least from fear, but from that restlessness and eagerness peculiar to nervous persons placed in a new situation.
"In this country," said he to himself, "I have been only once robbed in the course of my life.

It was then a little my fault; for before I took to my pistols, I should have been certain they were loaded.

To-night I shall be sure to avoid a similar blunder; and my pistols have an eloquence in their barrels which is exceedingly moving.