“I mean that Thomas Rainford is pardoned!” exclaimed Lady Hatfield: “I mean,” she continued, the wildest astonishment having sealed the lips of all who heard her,--“I mean that the sentence passed upon him months ago is dissolved--annihilated;--and here is the royal decree--bearing the Sovereign’s seal--and countersigned by the Secretary of the Home Department! ’Tis a full pardon for Thomas Rainford!” Thus speaking, she handed Lord Ellingham a paper: but it fell from his hands--for his half-brother had sunk senseless upon the floor. Water was speedily procured and all the usual means adopted to restore him. It was, however, some time ere he gave signs of life; and then, beckoning Georgiana towards him, he said in a faint tone, “May the great God above us bless you--for you are an angel!” It was undoubtedly an immense alleviation of the general sorrow to learn that Rainford had received a full pardon for all those offences which had drawn down on his head the sentence of death pronounced at the Old Bailey; and the Earl of Ellingham, having now hastily glanced over the paper which decreed this act of royal mercy, submitted it to the examination of Mr. Dykes. “Well, my lord,” said that officer, “I see and hear plain enough that one of the charges on which I held Mr. Rainford prisoner, is knocked on the head; and I’m glad of it--’specially as ’tis the most serious of the two. But I must still keep him in custody, he being the man who kidnapped Sir Christopher Blunt and Dr. Lascelles----” “Wait--one moment!” exclaimed Rainford, a sudden thought flashing to his mind and restoring him to the wonted energies of his character. While all present watched his movements with breathless interest, he hastened to a writing desk standing on a table in a recess; and thence he took a pocket-book, which he opened, and the contents of which he scanned rapidly as he turned over the various papers one after the other. “Here it is!” he cried triumphantly at last; and, drawing forth a slip of paper, he handed it to Lord Ellingham, who mechanically read it aloud:-- “We acknowledge a sense of deep obligation to the bearer of this memorandum, the said bearer having rendered us special service; and we hold ourselves bound to grant him any boon which he may demand at our hands, so that it be not inconsistent with our royal honour, nor prejudicial to the interests of the State. “Given this 3rd of March, in the year 1827. “GEORGE REX.” (L.S.) “You are saved, Thomas--you are saved, in all respects!” exclaimed Mr. de Medina, pressing with affectionate warmth the hand of his son-in-law, while tears trickled down the old man’s venerable countenance. “All this is so truly astonishing,” cried the Earl of Ellingham, “that I am bewildered. How you, my excellent friend--my sister,” he added, turning towards Lady Hatfield, “obtained the royal pardon for Thomas Rainford, I well know--indeed, I have all along known.”