"
BYRON.
Time passed slowly on, and no proof appeared to clear Arthur Stanley's
fame. All that man's judgment could counsel, was adopted--secret
measures were taken throughout Spain, for the apprehension of any
individual suspected of murder, or even of criminal deeds; constant
prayers offered up, that if Arthur Stanley were not the real murderer,
proofs of his innocence might be made so evident that not even his
greatest enemy could doubt any longer; but all seemed of no avail.
Week after week passed, and with the exception of one most mysterious
occurrence, affairs remained the same. So strong was the belief of the
nobles in his innocence, that the most strenuous exertions were made
in his favor; but, strong as Ferdinand's own wish was to save him, his
love of justice was still stronger; though the testimony of Don Luis
might be set aside, calm deliberation on all the evidence against
him marked it as sufficiently strong to have sentenced any other so
accused at once. The resolute determination to purge their kingdom
from the black crimes of former years, which both sovereigns felt and
unitedly acted upon, urged them to conquer every private wish and
feeling, rather than depart from the line laid down. The usual
dispensers of justice, the Santa Hermandad--men chosen by their
brother citizens for their lucid judgment, clearness of perception,
and utter absence of all overplus of chivalrous feeling, in matters of
cool dispassionate reasoning--were unanimous in their belief in the
prisoner's guilt, and only acquiesced in the month's reprieve, because
it was Isabella's wish.
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