with a black silk
cap to put his hair under, which was rather long and very grey and thin;
and he did it. And then his man disposed his waistcoat and shirt,
pulling them down and turning them back a little.

Then my Lord looked this way and that for an instant; and then went
forward to the black baize, and kneeled on it, with his man's help, and
then laid himself down flat, putting his chin over the block which was
not above five or six inches high.

Yet no one moved--and the headsman stood waiting in a corner, with his
axe. One of the sheriffs--Mr. Cornish, I think it was--said something to
the headsman; but I could not hear what it was; and then I saw my Lord
kneel upright again, and then stand up. I think he was a little deaf,
and had not heard what was said.

"Why, what do you want?" he said.

"What sign will you give?" asked Mr. Cornish.

"No sign at all. Take your own time. God's will be done," said my Lord;
and again applied himself to the block, his man helping him as before,
and then standing back.

"I hope you forgive me," said the headsman, before he was down.

"I do," said my Lord; and that was the last word that he spoke; for the
headsman immediately stepped up, so soon as he was down, and with one
blow cut his head all off, except a bit of skin, which he cut through
with his knife.

Then he lifted up the head, and carried it to the four sides of the
scaffold by the hair, crying:

"Here is the head of a traitor," as the custom was. My Lord's face
looked very peaceful.

* * * * *

I rode home again alone, thinking of what I had seen, and the innocent
blood that was being shed, and wondering whether this might not be the
last shed for that miserable falsehood. But even after that sight, the
thought of my Cousin Dorothy was never very far away; and before I was
home again I was once more thinking of her more than of that from which
I was just come, or of that to which I was going, for I was to see His
Majesty that evening and so to France next day.

PART III

CHAPTER I

It was on a very stormy evening, ten months later, that I rode again
into London, on my way from Rome and Paris.

* * * * *

Now, here again, I must omit altogether, except on one or two very
general points, all that had passed since I had gone away on the day
after my Lord Stafford's execution on Tower Hill. It is enough to say
that I had done my