Matilda Montgomerie; Or, The Prophecy FulfilledRichardson, Major (John)
History
Matilda Montgomerie; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled
Richardson, Major (John)
United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Fiction
Preceded by their companion, Captain Granville and Grantham entered the
piazza leading to the officers' rooms, several of which were completely
pierced with twenty-four pound shot, known at once as coming from the
centre battery, which alone mounted guns of that calibre. After
surveying the interior a few moments, they passed into a small passage
communicating with the room in question. On opening the door, all were
painfully struck by the sight which presented itself. Numerous
shot-holes were visible everywhere throughout, while the walls at the
inner extremity of the apartment were completely bespotted with blood
and brains, scarcely yet dry anywhere, and in several places dripping to
the floor. At one corner of the room, and on a mattress, lay the form of
a wounded man, whom the blue uniform and silver epaulettes, that filled
a chair near the head, attested for an American officer of rank. At the
foot of the bed, dressed in black, her long hair floating wildly over
the shoulders, and with a hand embracing one of those of the sufferer,
sat a female, apparently wholly absorbed in the contemplation of the
scene before her. The noise made by the officers on entering had not
caused the slightest change in her position, nor was it until she heard
the foot-fall of Captain Granville, as he advanced for the purpose of
offering his services, that she turned to behold who were the intruders.
The sight of the British uniform appeared to startle her, for she
immediately sprang to her feet, as if alarmed at their presence. It was
impossible they could mistake those features and that face. It was Miss
Montgomerie. He who lay at her feet, was her venerable uncle. He was one
of the field officers who had fallen a victim to Gerald's fire, and the
same ball which had destroyed his companions, had carried away his
thigh, near the hip bone. The surgeons had given him over, and he had
requested to be permitted to die where he lay. His wish had been
attended to, but in the bustle of evacuation, it had been forgotten to
acquaint the officers commanding the British guard that he was there.
The last agonies of death had not yet passed away, but there seemed
little probability that he could survive another hour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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