The Tower of London 38

The Tower of London 38

Then again taking off his mitre, the bishop arose, and laying his right hand upon the head of the Duke, recited another prayer, concluding by signing him with the cross. This done, he resumed his mitre, and seated himself on the faldstool, while Northumberland, in a loud voice, again made a profession of his faith, and abjuration of his errors--admitting and embracing the apostolical ecclesiastical traditions, and all others--acknowledging all the observances of the Roman church----purgatory--the veneration of saints and relics--the power of indulgences--promising obedience to the Bishop of Rome,--and engaging to retain and confess the same faith entire and invio-lated to the end of his life. "_Ago talis_," he said, in conclusion, cognoscens veram Catholicam et Apostolicum fidem. Anathematizo hic publiée omnem heresem, procipuè illam de qua hactenus extiti._" This he affirmed by placing both hands upon the book of the holy gospels, proffered him by the bishop, exclaiming, "Sic me Deus adjunct, et hoc sancta Dei evangelia !_"

 

The ceremony was ended, and the proselyte arose. At this moment, he met the glance of Renard--that triumphant and diabolical glance--its __EXPRESSION__ was not to be mistaken. Northumberland shuddered. he felt that he had been betrayed.

 

VII.-HOW THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND WAS BEHEADED ON

 

TOWER HILL.

 

 

 

|Three days after Northumberland's reconciliation with the Church of Rome, the warrant for his execution was signed by Queen Mary. The fatal intelligence was brought him by the lieutenant, Sir John Gage, and though he received it with apparent calmness, his heart sank within him. he simply inquired when it was to take place, and, being informed on the following day at an early hour, he desired to be left alone. As soon as the lieutenant was gone, he abandoned himself wholly to despair, and fell into a state bordering on distraction. While he was in this frenzied state, the door of his cell opened, and the jailor introduced Gunnora Braosc and a tall man muffled in the folds of an ample black cloak.

 

"Wretch!" cried the Duke, regarding the old woman fiercely. "You have deceived me. But the device shall avail you little. From the scaffold I will expose the snare in which I have been taken. I will proclaim my Protestant opinions ; and my dying declaration will be of more profit to that faith than my recent recantation can be to yours."

 

"Your grace is mistaken," rejoined Gunnora. "I do not deserve your reproaches, as I will presently show. I am the bearer of a pardon to you."

 

"A pardon!" exclaimed Northumberland, incredulously.

 

"Ay, a pardon," replied the old woman. "The Queen's highness will spare your life. But it is her pleasure that her clemency be as public as your crime. You will be reprieved on the scaffold."

 

"Were I assured of this," cried Northumberland, eagerly grasping at the straw held out to him, "I would exhort the whole multitude to embrace the Catholic faith."

 

"Rest satisfied of it, then," replied Gunnora. "May I perish at the same moment as yourself if I speak not the truth!"

 

"Whom have we here?" inquired the Duke, turning to the muffled personage. "The headsman?"

 

"Your enemy," replied the individual, throwing aside his mantle, and disclosing the features of Simon Renard.

 

"It is but a poor revenge to insult a fallen foe," observed Northumberland, disdainfully.

 

"Revenge is sweet, however obtained," rejoined Renard. "I am not come, however, to insult your grace, but to confirm the truth of this old woman's statement. Opposed as I am to you, and shall ever be, I would not have you forfeit your life by a new and vile apostacy. Abjure the Catholic faith, and you will die unpitied by all. Maintain it ; and at the last moment, when the arm of the executioner is raised, and the axe gleams in the air--

 

when the eyes of thousands are fixed on it--sovereign mercy will arrest the blow."

 

"You awaken new hope in my bosom," rejoined the Duke.

 

"Be true to the faith you have embraced, and fear nothing," continued Renard. "You may yet be restored to favour, and a new career of ambition will open to you."

 

"Life is all I ask," replied the Duke ; "and if that be spared, it shall be spent in her majesty's service. My pride is thoroughly humbled. But the language you hold to me, M. Renard, is not that of an enemy. Let me think that our differences are ended." "They will be ended to-morrow," replied Renard, coldly.

 

"Be it so," replied Northumberland. "The first act of the life I receive from her highness shall be to prostrate myself at her feet : the next, to offer my thanks to you, and entreat your friendship.''

 

"Tush," returned Renard, impatiently. "My friendship is more to be feared than my enmity."

 

"If there is any means of repairing the wrong I have done you," said the Duke, turning to Gunnora, "be assured I will do it."

 

"I am content with what your grace has done already," rejoined Gunnora, sternly. "You cannot restore the Duke of Somerset to life. You cannot give back the blood shed on the scaffold--"

 

"But I can atone for it," interrupted the Duke.

 

"Ay," cried Gunnora, her eyes flashing with vindictive fire, "you _can_--fearfully atone for it."

 

"Ha !" exclaimed the Duke.

 

"Your grace will not heed her raving," remarked Renard, seeing that Northumberland's suspicions were aroused by the old woman's manner.

 

"You can atone for it," continued Gunnora, aware of the impression she had produced, and eager to remove it, "by a life of penance. Pass the night in prayer for the repose of his soul, and do not omit to implore pardon for yourself, and to-morrow I will freely forgive you."

 

"I will do as you desire," replied the Duke.

 

"I must now bid your grace farewell," said Renard. "We shall meet to-morrow--on the scaffold."

 

"But not part there, I hope," replied Northumberland, forcing a smile.

 

"That will rest with your grace--not me," replied Renard, in a freezing tone.

 

"Will you accept this from me?" said Northumberland, detaching a jewelled ornament from his dress, and offering it to Gunnora.

 

"I will accept nothing from you," replied the old woman. "Yes,--one thing," she added quickly.

 

"It is yours," rejoined the Duke. "Name it ?"

 

"You shall give it me to-morrow," she answered evasively.

 

"It is his head you require," observed Renard, with a sinister smile, as they quitted the Beauchamp Tower.

 

"You have guessed rightly," rejoined the old woman, savagely. "We have him in our toils," returned Renard. "He cannot escape. You ought to be content with your vengeance, Gunnora. You have destroyed both body and soul." "I am content," she answered.

 

"And now to Mauger," said Renard, "to give him the necessary instructions. You should bargain with him for Northumberland's head, since you are so anxious to possess it." "I shall not live to receive it," rejoined Gunnora.

 

"Not live !" he exclaimed. "What mean you ?"

 

"No matter," she replied. "We lose time. I am anxious to finish this business. I have much to do to-night."

 

Taking their way across the Green, and hastening down the declivity they soon arrived at the Bloody Tower. Here they learnt from a warder that Manger, since Queen Mary's accession, had taken up his quarters in the Cradle Tower, and thither they repaired. Traversing the outer ward in the direction of the Lantern Tower, they passed through a wide portal and entered the Privy gardens, on the right of which stood the tower in question.

 

 

 

[Ill 0209]

 

 

 

As they drew near, they heard the shrill sound produced by the sharpening of some steel instrument. Smiling significantly at Gunnora, Renard instead of opening the door proceeded to a narrow loop-hole, and looked in. He beheld a savage-looking individual seated on a bench near a grindstone. He had an axe in one hand, which he had just been sharpening, and was trying its edge with his thumb. His fierce blood-shot eyes, peering from beneath his bent and bushy brows, were fixed upon the

 

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weapon. His dress consisted of a doublet of red serge with tight black sleeves, and hose of the same colour. His brow was lowering and wrinkled--the summit of his head perfectly bald, but the sides were garnished with long black locks, which together with his immense grizzled moustaches, bristling like the whiskers of a cat-a-mountain, and ragged beard, imparted a wild and forbidding look to his physiognomy. Near him rested a square, solid piece of wood, hollowed out on either side to admit the shoulder and head of the person laid upon it. This was the block. Had Renard not known whom he beheld, instinct would have told him it was the headsman.

 

 

 

[Ill 0210]

 

 

 

Apparently satisfied with the sharpness of the implement, Manger was about to lay it aside, when the door opened, and Renard and Gunnora entered the chamber. The executioner rose to receive them. He had received a wound in his left leg which had crippled the limb, and he got up with difficulty.

 

"Do not disturb yourself," said Renard. "My business will be despatched in a few seconds. You are preparing I see for the execution to-morrow. What I have to say relates to it. The moment the Duke's head is laid upon this block," he added, pointing to it, "strike. Give him not a moment's pause. Do you hear?"

"I do," replied Mauger. "But I must have some warrant ?"