ccupied,
with a small straw pallet. Leaving her a lamp, Fenwolf locked the door,
and placed the key in his girdle.

IV.

How Sir Thomas Wyat was visited by Herne in the Cell.

Made aware by the clangour of the lock, and Fenwolf's exulting laughter,
of the snare in which he had been caught, Sir Thomas Wyat instantly
sprang from his hiding-place, and rushed to the door; but being framed
of the stoutest oak, and strengthened with plates of iron, it defied all
his efforts, nerved as they were by rage and despair, to burst it
open. Mabel's shrieks, as she was dragged away, reached his ears, and
increased his anguish; and he called out loudly to her companions to
return, but his vociferations were only treated with derision.

Finding it useless to struggle further, Wyat threw himself upon the
bench, and endeavoured to discover some means of deliverance from his
present hazardous position. He glanced round the cell to see whether
there was any other outlet than the doorway, but he could discern none,
except a narrow grated loophole opening upon the passage, and contrived,
doubtless, for the admission of air to the chamber. No dungeon could be
more secure.

Raising the lamp, he examined every crevice, but all seemed solid stone.
The recess in which he had taken shelter proved to be a mere hollow in
the wall. In one corner lay a small straw pallet, which, no doubt, had
formed the couch of Mabel; and this, together with the stone bench and
rude table of the same material, constituted the sole furniture of the
place.

Having taken this careful survey of the cell, Wyat again sat down upon
the bench with the conviction that escape was out of the question; and
he therefore endeavoured to prepare himself for the worst, for it was
more than probable he would be allowed to perish of starvation. To a
fiery nature like his, the dreadful uncertainty in which he was placed
was more difficult of endurance than bodily torture. And he was destined
to endure it long. Many hours flew by, during which nothing occurred to
relieve the terrible monotony of his situation. At length, in spite of
his anxiety, slumber stole upon him unawares; but it was filled with
frightful visions.

How long he slept he knew not, but when he awoke, he found that the
cell must have been visited in the interval, for there was a manchet of
bread, part of a cold neck of venison, and a flask of wine on the table.
It was evident, therefore, that his ca