ut of that gloomy Tower. She therefore begged permission to go
to see him. At first even this was refused her, but she gave the guards
money, and at last they let her into the Tower. What a meeting that must
have been, and how cheered the husband must have been to think of the
strong love that had made his wife do so much for his sake!

But they had little time to talk about what was past, for they had to
arrange for the future. Brave Lady Nithsdale formed a plan, but to carry
it out it was necessary to get the help of two other women. She found
one in a Mrs. Mills, in whose house she was lodging, and after some
difficulty she found another, a friend of Mrs. Mills, called Mrs.
Morgan. Now, by this time it was the day before that fixed for Lord
Nithsdale's execution, and everything depended on getting him out of the
Tower at once. Lady Nithsdale told her companions of her plan, which was
to make her husband walk out boldly through the guards dressed like a
woman; and for this end she made Mrs. Morgan, who was a little fair,
slim woman, wear two sets of clothes one over the other, and one set she
meant that Lord Nithsdale should wear. Mrs. Mills was a big, stout
woman, with fair eyebrows and fair hair, and Lady Nithsdale hoped that
when her husband came through dressed in woman's clothes the guards
would think he was Mrs. Mills. When they arrived at the Tower, the poor
wife got out and asked to be allowed to take a friend in to say farewell
to her husband, and she was told she might take one lady in at a time.
Accordingly, she and the thin Mrs. Morgan went in, and while they were
in the cell where Lord Nithsdale was, Mrs. Morgan took off the extra
clothes she had brought and left them for him to put on. Then she
hurried back and told Mrs. Mills to come in. Lady Nithsdale ran to meet
Mrs. Mills, who pretended to cry very much, and kept her handkerchief up
to her face; and when she got into the cell they waited a little while
and talked, for they hoped the gaolers, having seen some ladies passing
backwards and forwards, would now forget how many had gone into the
cell. After a time Mrs. Mills went out again, and Lady Nithsdale kept
calling after her to tell her that she wanted her maid, and that the
maid must come quickly, and then she went back again to her husband. She
had painted his dark eyebrows fair, and she had put rouge on his cheeks
and dressed him up in her own petticoats and the clothes Mrs. Morgan
had left; and s