witness; I always thought he loved her most unmeasuredly. However, if this accusation of the villanous Irish traitor, Blood, prove founded-the axe will rid her not only of a man she abhors, but make her the richest woman in England. She is his cousin, Mr. Pepys, and heir to his title and vast possessions, he having no lawful issue."

"Good Lord!-and who knows-mayhap she is at the bottom of it all!" said Pepys, turning up his eyes. "Good lack, the wickedness of women! (craving your ladyship's pardon)-But perchance the poor earl may be as innocent as myself. From all that I hear, he has only his popish religion, a wicked woman, and the mad fury of the rabble against him.”

"Enough and to spare to bring him to the sawdust," said Sir John.

"Marry, the earl is too obstinate," replied the lady; "he hath ever refused to divorce his wife, though she swears she will die sooner than return to him. They say she was forced to marry him, too, by her old savage of a father, and Howard, I know, was her first love; and first or second loves are very hard to root out, Mr. Pepys.-But, good lack! now I remember, I promised to show you

my Italian violets on the south terrace. Prithee, Sir John, will you go with us?"

"Nay, wife, I must take my rounds—you know it is the hour," he replied, with affected cheerfulness; "I dare trust Mr. Pepys with your ladyship, though the times are not so virtuous that a man should trust his own brother-but Mr. Pepys is married, and I could avenge me—ha, ha, ha!”

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Ha, ha, ha!" echoed the guest, rising, and with courtly grace assisting the lady to put on her mantle and hood. "But that were a poor revenge, Sir John, seeing how marvellously your lady hath the advantage of mine in beauty!"

Then offering his arm with a deep bow, and carrying his plumed hat in his hand, Mr. Pepys stepped forth into the corridor, with my lady-lieutenant's white hand reposing on his velvet sleeve.

Sir John looked after them for a moment, shaking his fist with affected playfulness, and then threw himself into his chair with a deep sigh, when his eye suddenly encountered the motionless figure of the warder behind. He instantly attempted to sing, but with such bad success that, annoyed at his own failure, he began to rate the

fellow for a lazy, loitering, prying rascal; and having commanded him to remove the viands, he left the apartment, ostensibly to perform his duties in the fortress, but in reality to steal along the corridor to a narrow window which overlooked the south terrace.

CHAPTER II.

THE STATE PRISONER.

DUVAL, meanwhile, followed his conductor through a series of passages and gloomy apartments, into a narrow basement-floor, where Edwards paused to point out some low planks under a little staircase which they were about to ascend. Here, he said, were discovered the bones of Edward V. and the young Duke of York, murdered by their uncle Crookback. He added, that the Lord Aumerle was lodged in the suite above, and that the building in which they stood was called the Bloody Tower, from the many sanguinary deeds which had been wrought in it.

Ascending the little staircase, Edwards unlocked an iron door, secured by many bolts and a massive chain, which admitted them to a small dark chamber, scantily furnished, overlooking a courtyard below. There was another door opposite, slightly ajar, to which the old man crossed and knocked. No answer was returned, and, motioning his companions to follow, he opened it and walked boldly in, observing that ceremonies were for courts, not prisons. A somewhat unexpected sight, however, induced him to pause and sink his voice into a lower key.

The chamber in which they found themselves was large, but exceedingly gloomy, being lighted only by a high barred window, through which the evening sun fell slantingly, and threw all objects but those it touched into deep shadow. Beneath this light stood a desk on which were a silver crucifix, a massive candelabra, and writing materials scattered about. At the table, half concealed in a huge arm-chair, sat a stately form, his head supported on his hand, and apparently so lost in meditation, that he noticed neither the knock nor the entrance of his visiters. He was dressed in black velvet, trimmed with glittering jet ornaments, as if in