h with
him?'

I smiled and shook my head.

'How shall we make this traitor find his tongue?' he asked furiously,
turning to his council.

'I should clap on the thumbikins,' said one fierce-faced old soldier.

'I have known a lighted match between the fingers work wonders,' another
suggested. 'Sir Thomas Dalzell hath in the Scottish war been able to
win over several of that most stubborn and hardened race, the Western
Covenanters, by such persuasion.'

'Sir Thomas Dalzell,' said a grey-haired gentleman, clad in black
velvet, 'hath studied the art of war among the Muscovites, in their
barbarous and bloody encounters with the Turks. God forbid that we
Christians of England should seek our examples among the skin-clad
idolaters of a savage country.'

'Sir William would like to see war carried out on truly courteous
principles,' said the first speaker. 'A battle should be like a stately
minuet, with no loss of dignity or of etiquette.'

'Sir,' the other answered hotly, 'I have been in battles when you were
in your baby-linen, and I handled a battoon when you could scarce shake
a rattle. In leaguer or onfall a soldier's work is sharp and stern, but
I say that the use of torture, which the law of England hath abolished,
should also be laid aside by the law of nations.'

'Enough, gentlemen, enough!' cried the Duke, seeing that the dispute was
like to wax warm. 'Your opinion, Sir William, hath much weight with us,
and yours also, Colonel Hearn. We shall discuss this at greater length
in privacy. Halberdiers, remove the prisoner, and let a clergyman be
sent to look to his spiritual needs!'

'Shall we take him to the strong room, your Grace?' asked the Captain of
the guard.

'No, to the old Boteler dungeon,' he replied; and I heard the next name
upon the list called out, while I was led through a side door with a
guard in front and behind me. We passed through endless passages and
corridors, with heavy stop and clank of arms, until we reached the
ancient wing. Here, in the corner turret, was a small, bare room, mouldy
and damp, with a high, arched roof, and a single long slit in the outer
wall to admit light. A small wooden couch and a rude chair formed
the whole of the furniture. Into this I was shown by the Captain, who
stationed a guard at the door, and then came in after me and loosened
my wrists. He was a sad-faced man, with solemn sunken eyes and a
dreary expression, which matched ill with his bright trappings a