Eudora arose, and slightly bowed in acknowledgment of the sheriff’s presence, and then resumed her seat. But far from surmising the nature of his business with her, she flushed with a transient hope that the paper he carried in his hand might possibly be a commutation of her sentence—a respite, or even a pardon! While her face flushed and paled, her heart beat, and her pulses quickened with this hope, the sheriff slowly unfolded the document, and said:
“I have a necessary duty to perform, Miss Leaton, and must request you to give your attention to the reading of this paper.”
Something in his manner banished Eudora’s new hopes, and brought back her vague fears, and while she gazed with eyes dilated by terror, the sheriff commenced in a distinct voice, and read, with all its plain, clear, cruel details, the warrant for her execution.
But before the reading of the warrant that consigned her to a speedy, public, shameful, and violent death, was completed, Eudora’s fortitude gave way, and with a piercing shriek she fell to the floor.
“There, I hope and trust, with all my heart and soul, as you’ve finished her and put her out of her misery now!” sobbed Mrs. Barton, as she hastened to raise Eudora.
The sheriff, having done his painful duty, retreated from the cell, attended by the gaoler, and leaving Eudora to the care of the wardress.
Mrs. Barton lifted the swooning girl, and laid her upon the bed, and applied such restoratives as she kept at hand for her recovery. It was a long time before the deadly swoon could be broken by the pungent stimulants that were used. But at length Eudora, with a shiver, opened her eyes. Alas! return to consciousness was only return to thought, to memory, and to agonizing terror. Sobs, shrieks, and spasms that could not be controlled, expressed the anguish, despair, and wild affright that shook her life and reason to their foundations.
Mrs. Barton did all that the most tender nurse or mother could have done for her relief. She voluntarily remained with her through the whole of the afternoon and the night; but her endeavors to ameliorate the sufferings of her charge were all in vain. And in the morning, finding Eudora still pallid, collapsed, and shuddering, upon the very verge of dissolution, Mrs. Barton, when relieved from her long watch, hastened to the office, and said to the gaoler:
“I doubt my prisoner is a-dying sir; and though it might be a mercy to let her die and go out of her misery, yet mayhap it’s our duty to send for the medical man.”
The gaoler immediately arose, and beckoning the wardress to follow him, hastened to the condemned cell, and after gazing mournfully upon the stricken girl for a few minutes, he said: