have
kept mine."

It even seemed to him, as the boats neared each other, that he heard,
from the other wherry, something like a stifled scream or groan; and
when the momentary bustle was over, he asked the warder who sat next
him, what boat that was.

"Men-of-war's-men, on a frolic, I suppose," answered the warder. "I know
no one else would be so impudent as run foul of the King's boat; for I
am sure the fellow put the helm up on purpose. But mayhap you, sir, know
more of the matter than I do."

This insinuation effectually prevented Julian from putting farther
questions, and he remained silent until the boat came under the dusky
bastions of the Tower. The tide carried them up under a dark and
lowering arch, closed at the upper end by the well-known Traitor's
gate,[*] formed like a wicket of huge intersecting bars of wood, through
which might be seen a dim and imperfect view of soldiers and warders
upon duty, and of the steep ascending causeway which leads up from the
river into the interior of the fortress. By this gate,--and it is the
well-known circumstance which assigned its name,--those accused of state
crimes were usually committed to the Tower. The Thames afforded a secret
and silent mode of conveyance for transporting thither such whose fallen
fortunes might move the commiseration, or whose popular qualities might
excite the sympathy, of the public; and even where no cause for especial
secrecy existed, the peace of the city was undisturbed by the tumult
attending the passage of the prisoner and his guards through the most
frequented streets.

[*] See note, "Fortunes of Nigel."

Yet this custom, however recommended by state policy, must have often
struck chill upon the heart of the criminal, who thus, stolen, as it
were, out of society, reached the place of his confinement, without
encountering even one glance of compassion on the road; and as, from
under the dusky arch, he landed on those flinty steps, worn by many a
footstep anxious as his own, against which the tide lapped fitfully with
small successive waves, and hence looked forward to the steep ascent
into a Gothic state prison, and backward to such part of the river as
the low-brow'd vault suffered to become visible, he must often have felt
that he was leaving daylight, hope, and life itself, behind him.

While the warder's challenge was made and answered, Peveril endeavoured
to obtain information from his conductors where he was likely to be