Page:MaryTudorHugo.djvu/95

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514
MARY TUDOR

side. And then, when he went the uprising was not what it has since become. It was a fine revolution, do you know!

Jane.You are sure that he is safe?

Joshua.And that he is awaiting you now, under the first arch of London Bridge, where you will join him before midnight.

Jane.Dear God! he will be anxious, too.

[She spies the Queen's shadow.

Heaven! what is that, Joshua?

Joshua [taking her hand, in an undertone.]Silence! 'tis the lioness watching.

[While Jane gazes in terror at this black silhouette, a distant voice is heard, apparently coming from above, uttering these words slowly and distinctly:

The Voice.He who walks behind me, covered with a black veil, is the high and puissant lord, Fabiano Fabiani, Earl of Clanbrassil, Baron of Dinasmonddy, Baron of Dartmouth in Devonshire, who is to be beheaded at the Market of London, for the crimes of regicide and high treason.—God have mercy on his soul!

Another Voice.Pray for him!

Jane [trembling.]Joshua! do you hear?

Joshua.Yes. I hear such things every day.

[A funeral procession appears on the staircase, coming down. At the head a man dressed in black, bearing a white banner with a black cross. Then Master Æneas Dulverton, in a black cloak, with the white constable's staff in his hand. Then a party of halberdiers dressed in red. Then the headsman, his axe over his shoulder, the edge toward the man who follows him. Then a man entirely shrouded in a long black