the
gaoler, and, possessing himself of his keys and cloak, started forth
once more. After wandering for a long time, chance at last brought him
to a secret door, which led into St. John's Chapel in the White Tower.

While these events were in progress Cicely, despairing of her lover's
safety, sought an audience of Queen Jane, and poured out her story.
Moved by compassion, the queen gave directions for a search to be made,
and, delighted by the grace and charm of Cicely, appointed her one of
her attendants. Lord Guildford Dudley, procuring the assistance of
Magog, burst open the door leading to the subterranean dungeons beneath
the Devilin Tower, and eventually discovered Nightgall, who made a full
confession of his crime as the price of his release.

Cholmondeley's arrival in St. John's Chapel was opportune. Renard, with
Pembroke by his side, had just demanded the resignation of the crown by
Queen Jane, and the queen, helpless but courageous, had ordered Lord
Pembroke to arrest the Spaniard. Pembroke had refused to move, and at
this juncture Cholmondeley stepped forward, and, advancing towards the
ambassador, said, "M. Simon Renard, you are the queen's prisoner."

The Spaniard drew his sword, and, with the assistance of the Earl of
Pembroke, kept Cuthbert at bay until they were both able to slip through
the secret door.

Next day, Queen Jane was forced by the Privy Council to resign her
crown, and that same night, accompanied by Cuthbert and Cicely, she
escaped by a secret passage from the Tower, and, taking a boat, made her
way to Sion House. Here, the following day, she and her husband were
arrested, and learnt the news that the Duke of Northumberland was in
captivity, and that Queen Mary had ascended the throne. Once more Lady
Jane was led back to the Tower, and as she entered by the Traitors' Gate
she saw Renard standing hard by, with a smile of bitter mockery in his
face.

"So," he said, "Epiphany is over. The Twelfth Day Queen has played her
part."

_III.--The Price of Pardon_

Simon Renard's influence was now for the time supreme. At his
instigation the Duke of Northumberland was tricked into a confession of
the Roman Catholic faith on the scaffold, and then executed. Ambitious
that Mary should marry Philip of Spain, he contrived by intrigue to kill
her affection for Courtenay, the young Earl of Devon, and succeeded so
successfully that Courtenay was placed under arrest, and the Princess
Elizabeth,