He could perceive that both Askerne and Monkton looked grave, earnest, and anxious, for they knew more of the charges against him than they cared to tell. "At what hour does the court assemble to-morrow?" he asked. "Ten, Kennedy." "Who is the president?" "Colonel Colquhoun Grant, of the King's Light Dragoons--a hussar corps." "Where does it meet?" asked Quentin, wearily. "In one of the rooms of the Alva Palace. Now we cannot stay above ten minutes, Quentin. We are both in orders for the court, which of course is a mixed one, and this visit, if known, might cost us our commissions perhaps; but I know Monkton's servant to be a sure fellow." "Sure, sir," repeated the soldier, "I should think so! It was to _my_ poor wife and child that Mr. Kennedy--the Lord reward him for it!--gave his blanket on the night we bivouacked at the Escurial," added the man, in a broken voice; "the night I lost them both--never to see them again." Askerne now asked Quentin many questions concerning his recent wanderings; the answers to some of these he jotted down in his note-book; and he gave much good advice for his guidance on the morrow, adding, with a sigh of annoyance, that he feared there was a deep scheme formed against him, and that, as several outrages had been committed by our retreating troops, it was not improbable that he might be sacrificed to soothe the ruffled feelings of the Spaniards. "What leads you to think so?" asked Quentin. "This subpœna, which Monkton's servant picked up in a wine-house and brought us," replied Askerne, opening a letter and reading it, as follows: "Head-quarters, Alva-de-Tormes, December 4th. "SENOR PADRE,--A general court-martial having been appointed to be held here, for the trial of Mr. Quentin Kennedy, serving with the 25th Regiment, upon sundry charges exhibited against him; and the said Mr. Kennedy having represented that your testimony will be very material in the investigation of some of the articles of charge, and having requested that you may be officially summoned as a witness, I am to desire you, and you are hereby required, to give your attendance here to-morrow, at ten o'clock in the morning, at which time it is conceived your evidence will become necessary. "I have the honour to be, &c., &c., "LLOYD CONYERS, Staff Captain, "Deputy Judge Advocate. "El Senor Padre Trevino." "This is some trickery!" exclaimed Quentin; "Trevino is the ruffian of whom I have spoken more than once; the man's doubly my enemy. Well, well! save myself, it matters little to any one what becomes of me," he added bitterly. "I have no kindred--not a relation that I know of in the wide world, and save yourselves, no friends now to regret me or to remember me, save one of whom I cannot speak. It is thus better as it is." "How?" asked Askerne, who grasped him firmly by the hand.