Poor creature! poor creature! what will they do wi' un, I wonder." "Why chop his head off, to be zure," replied the soldier. "Oh the blood-thirsty villains!" cried Amy, "would they dare to do zuch a thing as that'n ?" -She let go hold of her lover, and pressing both hands upon her bosom, exclaimed, "How my poor heart do thump and thump, as if it were gooing to break through!" For some moments she strove to suppress her emotions, but another glance at the wan, motionless Duke, and the self-reproaching thought that she had been the cause of his seizure, completely overcame her; she burst into a passion of loud ungovernable weeping, and walked rapidly back to the cottage, sobbing violently, trying in vain to dry her eyes with the corners of her apron, and utterly deaf to the consolations of her lover, who walked by her side, reminding her of the two hundred pounds he should have, and urging her to fix the day of their marriage. A cordial having been poured down the Duke's throat, he soon recovered, and being placed upon a horse, was conveyed to Pool, and thence under a strong escort to the Tower of London. On the following morning he was taken by water to Whitehall, ignominously led through the palace with his arms pinioned behind him, and conducted to the apartments which had formerly been Chiffinch's, where he was presently visited by the King, accompanied by his two secretaries. Monmouth fell upon his knees, and implored his life in the most abject terms, even making an appeal to the King's bigotry, in his distrust of his clemency, by offering to become a Catholic. Preserving a stern silence James gave him a declaration to sign, acknowledging the illegitimacy of his birth. He obeyed; the King then desired him to name all his accomplices, and when he refused to purchase life on such base terms, loaded him with reproaches, until the Duke started from the ground in a transport of passion, and quitted the royal presence with the air of an equal. Relying on the flatteries of a fortune-teller, who assured him that if he outlived a certain day he was designed by Providence for great things, Monmouth wrote to his uncle to implore another interview; but the notorious Colonel Blood, who seems to have possessed the inexplicable power, both in this and the preceding reign, of perpetrating with impunity whatever atrocity he chose, whether directed against the King, his courtiers, or his crown, obtained possession of the letter, and having ascertained its contents, carried it to Sunderland. The latter fearing that he might himself become implicated in his confessions, should the prisoner obtain another interview, destroyed the paper, and on the following morning the unfortunate Duke, being escorted to the place of execution by the Guards which he had once commanded, was beheaded upon Tower Hill, in the midst of an immense and sympathizing multitude of spec tators. CHAPTER IX. To Chloe's study shall we go? PREVIOUSLY to the seizure of the Duke of Monmouth, the German who had accompanied him had been also apprehended at the opposite extremity of the enclosures. As no others had been seen to enter them, and the principal objects of pursuit were at all events secured, the harassed troops were withdrawn, leaving the neighbourhood of the sequestered covert, which had recently been the scene of so much bustle and anxiety, to the rural gossips who were gathered here and there in little knots, eagerly discussing the occurrences of the morning, and particularly the good fortune of Amy's lover, and her approaching marriage, an event that excited among them a not less lively interest than the fate of the unfortunate prince. Reuben in the mean while remained in his lurking place, tormented with a thirst which the green berries could not any longer relieve, and yet compelled to endure his imprisonment till the darkness should enable him to escape. cupy the intervening time, he drew from his pocket the Bible that had been entrusted to him by the dying combatant at Sedgemoor, and upon opening it, he saw inscribed upon the first leaf -" Joel Wardrop, the gift of his dear father, Malachi Wardrop;" but without any address or other clue that might enable him to perform the request of its late owner. By the dim light admitted into his hiding-place, he contrived to read it for some time, and when the deepening To oc |