ns
of climbing to it. Do not wait longer, kind friend, or you may find
yourself in trouble.'

'Good-bye then, my brave heart,' he whispered, and the honest grey eye
and corner of ruddy cheek disappeared from the casement. Many a time
during the course of the long evening I glanced up with some wild hope
that he might return, and every creak of the branches outside brought me
on to the chair, but it was the last that I saw of Farmer Brown.

This kindly visit, short as it was, relieved my mind greatly, for I had
a trusty man's word that, come what might, my friends should, at least,
have some news of my fate. It was now quite dark, and I was pacing up
and down the little chamber, when the key turned in the door, and the
Captain entered with a rushlight and a great bowl of bread and milk.

'Here is your supper, friend,' said he. 'Take it down, appetite or no,
for it will give you strength to play the man at the time ye wot of.
They say it was beautiful to see my Lord Russell die upon Tower Hill. Be
of good cheer! Folk may say as much of you. His Grace is in a terrible
way. He walketh up and down, and biteth his lip, and clencheth his hands
like one who can scarce contain his wrath. It may not be against you,
but I know not what else can have angered him.'

I made no answer to this Job's comforter, so he presently left me,
placing the bowl upon the chair, with the rushlight beside it. I
finished the food, and feeling the better for it, stretched myself upon
the couch, and fell into a heavy and dreamless sleep. This may have
lasted three or four hours, when I was suddenly awoken by a sound like
the creaking of hinges. Sitting up on the pallet I gazed around me. The
rushlight had burned out and the cell was impenetrably dark. A greyish
glimmer at one end showed dimly the position of the aperture, but all
else was thick and black. I strained my ears, but no further sound fell
upon them. Yet I was certain that I had not been deceived, and that the
noise which had aroused me was within my very chamber. I rose and felt
my way slowly round the room, passing my hand over the walls and door.
Then I paced backwards and forwards to test the flooring. Neither around
me nor beneath me was there any change. Whence did the sound come from,
then? I sat down upon the side of the bed and waited patiently in the
hope of hearing it once again.

Presently it was repeated, a low groaning and creaking as though a door
or shutter long disused