distance off; a clangour of arms, as the sentries saluted, was heard;
the demoiselles retreated through the arch, and mounted the stair
conducting to the very room, then unoccupied, in which tradition
records the murder of the Third Richard's nephews; and scarcely had
they gained this retreat, ere towards the Bloody Gate, and before the
prison tower, rode the king who had mounted the captive's throne. His
steed, gaudy with its housing, his splendid dress, the knights and
squires who started forward from every corner to hold his gilded
stirrup, his vigorous youth, so blooming and so radiant,--all
contrasted, with oppressive force, the careworn face that watched him
meekly through the little casement of the Wakefield tower. Edward's
large, quick blue eye caught sudden sight of the once familiar
features. He looked up steadily, and his gaze encountered the fallen
king's. He changed countenance: but with the external chivalry that
made the surface of his hollow though brilliant character, he bowed
low to his saddle-bow as he saw his captive, and removed the plumed
cap from his high brow.

Henry smiled sadly, and shook his reverend head, as if gently to
rebuke the mockery; then he closed the casement; and Edward rode into
the yard.

"How can the king hold here a court and here a prison? Oh, hard
heart!" murmured Anne, as, when Edward had disappeared, the damsels
bent their way to Adam's chamber.

"Would the Earl Warwick approve thy pity, sweet Lady Anne?" asked
Sibyll.

"My father's heart is too generous to condemn it," returned Anne,