ed by the Earl of Lincoln and
his attendants; the rooms above being devoted to Swartz, Lovel, and
Fitzgerald, with their trains. Below were the guard-rooms and offices
assigned to the staff, with the war stores and munitions belonging to
the expedition.

In the same chamber with the king lay his confessor and chief adviser,
one Simon, a wily and ambitious priest, who was the prime agent, if
not mover, in this attempt to overturn the reigning power. No other
individual was suffered to remain through the night in the king's
apartment.

It was about the first watch, as before mentioned, when the guards and
attendants were alarmed by loud cries from the royal chamber. They
hastened to the door, but it was bolted, and their apprehensions for
that time were allayed by the voice of the priest assuring them that
the king was safe, but that an ugly dream had awakened him. Lincoln,
whom this tumult had quickly brought to the spot, retired grumbling at
so unseasonable a disturbance. Scarcely had an hour elapsed ere the
cries were repeated. Unsheathing his sword, the proud Earl of Lincoln
marched angrily to the door, and swore a loud broad oath that he would
see the king or burst open the barrier. With him came others from the
rooms overhead, so that the priest was forced, however unwillingly, to
open the door, and Lincoln, accompanied by his friends, beheld the
young pretender in bed, pale, and with a rueful countenance, still
retaining the traces of some deadly horror.

"What hath disturbed your highness? We would fain know the cause of
this alarm, and punish, ay punish home, the traitor!" said Lincoln,
darting a furious look at the confessor, to whom he bore no good-will.

"Nay, friends, I shall--I shall be well presently. I beseech you be
not disturbed. 'Tis a dream,--a vision that hath troubled me. I
thought I was in the Tower--in my prison chamber--and the tyrant came
and grasped me by the throat. With that I jumped up, and as Heaven is
my witness, I saw a dark figure slip through the floor by yon grim
buttress, behind which is the private staircase to the summit."

Every eye was turned towards the corner of the chamber near the bed,
on the outside of which a winding staircase ran up from below, but
they were ignorant of any communication from these stairs into the
king's chamber. Lincoln examined the buttress with his sword, and
Swartz, the Fleming, with his fingers, but there was no apparent
opening or crevice that co