e warrant hath been
signed, and is on its way to Berwick, to give his body to the hangman
and his soul to Satan--his death is sealed."

"Oh, no, no, no!" shrieked a voice of sudden anguish, startling all who
heard, and even Edward, by its piteous tones, and the form of a page
suddenly fell prostrate before the monarch. "Mercy, mercy! for the love
of God, have mercy!" he struggled to articulate, but there was no sound
save a long and piercing shriek, and the boy lay senseless on the
ground.

"Ha! by St. George, beardest thou me with traitors in my very palace,
before my very eyes?" exclaimed the angry monarch, as his astonished
courtiers gathered round. "Put him in ward; away with him, I say!"

"Pardon me, your highness, but this is needless," interposed the
princess, with a calm majesty, that subdued even the irritation of her
father, and undauntedly waving back the courtiers, although perfectly
sensible of the imminent danger in which she was placed. "If there be
blame, let it be visited on me; this poor child has been ill and weakly
from many causes, terrified, almost maddened, by sounds, and sights of
blood. I deemed him perfectly recovered, or he had not attended me here.
I pray your grace permit his removal to my apartments."

The king laid a heavy hand on his daughter's arm as she stood beside
him, and fixed a gaze on her face that would have terrified any less
noble spirit into a betrayal of the truth; but firm in her own
integrity, in her own generous purpose, she calmly and inquiringly
returned his gaze.

"Go to, thou art a noble wench, though an over-bold and presuming one,"
he said, in a much mollified tone, for there was that in the dauntless
behavior of his daughter which found an echo in his heart even now,
deadened as it was to aught of gentle feeling, and he was glad of this
interruption to entreaties which, resolved not to grant, had lashed him
into fury, while her presence made him feel strangely ashamed. "Do as
thou wilt with thine own attendants; but be advised, tempt not thine own
safety again; thou hast tried us sore with thy ill-advised entreaties,
but we forgive thee, on condition they are never again renewed. Speak
not, we charge thee. What ho! Sir Edmund Stanley," he called aloud, and
the chamberlain appeared at the summons. "Here, let this boy be
carefully raised and borne according to the pleasure of his mistress.
See, too, that the Countess of Gloucester be conducted with due respect
t