used to give the keys his head would be cut off,
and the little princes would be killed just the same. So he agreed, and
went away sorrowfully.

Then in the dark of the night Sir James Tyrrell took with him two
men--rough, odious men, called Dighton and Probyn, who would have killed
anyone for money. One was a gaoler at the Tower, and the other was
Tyrrell's own groom, and the three crept up the dark winding stair to
the room the boys were sleeping in. Even those rough men were horrified
at what they had come to do when they saw those two beautiful boys with
their curling golden hair falling on their shoulders and their faces
close together, sleeping so sweetly. But they remembered the money they
were to have if they succeeded and the anger of wicked Richard if they
failed, and they took up great pillows and held them down over the boys'
faces until they were smothered. Perhaps the boys did not suffer at all,
but just dreamed away into death.

When it was done the men showed the two bodies to Tyrrell, who was
waiting, and then, hurrying down the heavy stone staircase, they pulled
out some of the great stones at the foot, and buried them there and
covered them up with stones. So that no one knew certainly what had
become of the princes at the time. But two hundred years after, in doing
some repairs, workmen came upon the bones of two boys, just about the
sizes of the two little princes, at the foot of the stairs, and so the
secret came out. And now, if you visit the Tower, you can see the very
spot where they were buried.

Well, that is the end of the story of Edward V., and perhaps he was no
more unhappy dying as an innocent child than if he had lived to be a man
and ruled England for many years. But wicked Richard did not enjoy the
throne he had gained by so many murders; for he only reigned two years,
and then he was conquered by another Henry, a relation of Henry VI., who
married Elizabeth, the boys' sister, and they two were the next king and
queen.

CHAPTER XII

TOURNAMENTS AND PAGEANTS

In the last chapter I spoke about the young nobles who played with the
little princes, and of their sports. In this chapter I will try to
explain how very different the lives of boys were then from what they
are now.

It was the fashion then for the sons of nobles to be taken from their
homes when they were about twelve and sent to some other nobleman's
house, to be brought up there and educated. These boys were ca