to give satisfaction, though very natural seemed to me not a little
curious.

Prayers, which had been interrupted for a moment, while the last awful
ceremony was in progress, were resumed. As he read them, I saw the
clergyman fix his eye on the executioner with a peculiar expression. He
drew his handkerchief from his pocket, and passed it slightly over his
upper lip. This was the fatal signal. A lumbering noise, occasioned by
the falling of part of the apparatus, announced that it had been obeyed.

In that moment, a rush from the scaffold forced me from the door.
The sheriffs, the under-sheriff, the ordinary, the gentleman who had
assisted him in preparing the sufferers for eternity, and several other
persons quitted the platform as expeditiously as possible, that they
might not behold the final agonies of the unhappy men. Sir Thomas took
me by the arm as he passed, and signified that he wished me to accompany
him. I did so. Again I marched through the passages which I had recently
traversed. Two minutes brought me to the door of the room to which I had
first been conducted. Here my friend accosted me with his natural
firmness of tone, which before had been considerably subdued by humane
emotions, and said--

"You must breakfast with us."

I started at the unsentimental idea of eating the moment after quitting
so awful a spectacle, as that which I have attempted to describe. But
I had not sufficient energy to resist the good will which rather
unceremoniously handed me in. Here I found the other sheriff, the
ordinary, the under-sheriff, the city-marshal, and one or two of the
individuals I had previously met, already seated.