rocure my release.

"I knew how she must suffer and search for traces of me, fearing I had
been murdered and my body thrown into the river or buried in some secret
place.

"That night the friar lay down upon the floor and called;

"'Edward Hawkwood are you awake?'

"'Yes.'

"'Has the swelling and soreness left your joints?'

"'Yes, I feel about well.'

"'In a day or two they will torture you again and continue doing so each
week until you confess, express repentance and do what they ask. This I
advise you to do, else in the end they will torture you to death, or
leave you forgotten to die in your dungeon.'

"'I at least have this to be thankful for that you are not unkind.'

"'If it were suspected that I treated you other than a caged beast your
jailer would be changed and severely punished.'

"'Discovery is impossible, since you only talk with me at night.'

"'I am not so sure; there are always spies in our brotherhood and all,
from the scullion to the prelate, are under surveillance.'

"'I am sorry to learn that, as I hoped to prevail upon you to deliver a
message to my wife, telling her where I am confined.'

"'Were I caught in the effort, I should be tortured to death, or
confined indefinitely in a dungeon. Should your friends attempt your
rescue or ask your release you would be murdered and dropped into come
deep secret pit to destroy all evidence, when all would deny that you
had been held a prisoner.'

"'My wife will give you a hundred florins if you will but give her a
note telling my place of confinement. I have been but a few months
married; she loves me dearly and is no doubt crazed by my
disappearance.'

"'I wear this cowl and robe and beg as a mendicant on the street yet
have always wished to be a soldier fighting to free Tuscany from
tyranny; the tyranny not only of the oppressing noble families, chief of
whom at this time are the Albizzi, but of the church with whom they are
allied. I have suffered too much in mind from disappointment to care for
the physical discomforts of others; and had you not been a soldier of
renown, fighting against those influences which I condemn, I would have
looked upon your imprisonment as incidental and your suffering without
sympathy. I know how little I can do and that little at great personal
risk, which, if discovered, will be not only your death warrant but my
own. I will not carry a written message to your wife, but will stand
near your home, pretendi