. Mr. Whitbread shook
his head in answer and so did the others. Then I saw Mr. How make a
sign; the hangman came forward again (for he had stepped back just now);
and the roar died suddenly to silence.

Then I understood that the pardon was offered only on conditions which
these men could not accept--and indeed they turned out afterwards to be
that they should confess their guilt--and my anger at that bitter
mockery swelled up so that I could scarcely hold myself in. But I did
so.

Then the hangman climbed once more into the cart, and, one by one with
each, he adjusted the rope, and then pulled down the caps over their
faces, beginning with Father Whitbread and ending with Father Fenwick.
Then he got down from the cart again; and the murmur rose once more to a
roar.

I kept my eyes fixed upon the five, caring for nothing else; and even in
that horrible instant my lips moved in the _De Profundis_ for their
souls' easy passage. Then I saw old Father Harcourt suddenly stagger,
and then the rest staggered; and I saw that the cart was being pulled
away. And then all five of them were in the air together, beginning to
twist to and fro; and I shut my eyes, for I could bear no more.

CHAPTER XI

It was not till we were coming down St. Martin's Lane on the way to
Whitehall, that my thoughts ran clear again, and I could think upon the
designs I had formed. Until then, it seemed to me that I rode as in a
dream, seeing my thoughts before me, but having no power to look within
or consider myself. One thing too moved before me whenever I closed my
eyes; and that was the slow twisting frieze of the five figures against
the blue sky.

* * * * *

I spoke suddenly to James as we went.

"You will leave me," I said, "at the Whitehall gate; and go back to my
lodgings. Procure a pair of good horses at the Covent Garden inn; and
say we will leave them at any place they name on the Dover Road."

He answered that he would do so, and it was the first word he had spoken
since we had left Tyburn. At the palace-doors I found no difficulty in
admittance, for it was the hour for changing guard, and a lieutenant
that was known to me let me in at once; so I went straight in and across
the court, just as I was, in my dusty clothes and boots, carrying
nothing but my riding-whip. My mind now seethed with bitter thoughts and
words, now fell into a stupor, and I rehearsed nothing of what I should
say to His