gravely; "was it well-knit person or comely countenance which placed De Senlis in the king's grace? go to, De Garennes, it were meeter trusting to a broken weapon or a headless arrow in these times, than to fair feature or high gait.'

Little more passed that night in the castle of Winton: De Carteny visited the dungeon of Northumberland ere he retired to rest, and De Garennes looked that all was meetly ordered for the morrow; and at an early hour, none were waking save the wary guard, the shriven prisoner, and the good priest who bore him company.

CHAP. III.

"But now he stood, chained and alone,
The headsman by his side;

The plume, the helm, the charger gone-
The sword which had defied

The mightiest, lay broken near,
And yet no sign or sound of fear
Came from that lip of pride;
And never king or conqueror's brow
Wore higher look than his did now."

A Death and a Departure.

ONE hour before dawn on the following morning, the lord De Garennes led the imprisoned Northumberland forth from his dungeon. Environed by guards, the unfortunate Saxon followed the wary and almost noiseless steps of the three nobles, as they advanced with caution to an eminence beyond the walls of the town. He was richly habited in his robes of authority, and trod firmly and with unshaken forti

tude. As the silent and melancholy band neared the spot on which the career of Northumberland was to terminate, they passed beside two swordsmen, dimly revealed by the pale gleam of a lamp, sheltered from the gusty wind by the thick mantle of him who held it, and whose faint light, choked by the dark covering, shed a lugubrious gleam on the two soldiers and their appalling occupation. When the death-band advanced, they trod so softly, that the swordsmen were unconscious of their approach: and at the moment when Northumberland fixed his eye steadily on them, the stooping figure of the second resumed its usual height, now rendered doubly striking by the light in which it was seen, as the man cast out the last portion of earth from the shallow and ill-hollowed grave of the Saxon. For a moment the heart-blood of the lord Waltheof froze in its citadel; but it was a passing weakness, and he turned away, nor deigned to bestow a second thought on his ill-ordered obsequies. When De

Garennes halted his guard on the appointed spot, he signified to his prisoner, that they had reached the scene of his execution. Northumberland bent his head in silence; for a moment an internal prayer engaged his soul, which was abridged by De Lacy, who urged his colleague, De Garennes, to terminate the deathscene, ere the awakened citizens of Winton rose to save their countryman.

"Bear with me yet a moment, my lord of Lacy," said the captive, in a low, firm tone: "believe me, could I yet preserve existence, I would scarce seek to do it. And yet-my children" and the firm voice faltered for an instant-" my fatherless, motherless babes!" He made a transitory pause, and then resumed, as he withdrew the costly 'broidered mantle from his shoulders, and tendered it to De Garennes-" My lordly jailor, may the blessing of England's unhappy son rest on you, for the gentleness wherewith you have borne yourself towards him in captivity! Mine are but sorry legacies," he

added, with a forced smile;

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yet this hath been held a goodly piece of needlecraft; and the gemmed dagger, of which your own blow shivered the blade, hath a ramlike guard; take them, my lord—they are the last bequests of Northumberland: but may your good right hand be withered, when it first raises that weapon against a Saxon heart!"

"When I seek battle with a Saxon," replied De Garennes, as he received the gifts, "I will choose a fitter weapon."

"And now," resumed the lord Waltheof, "beseech you, suffer me to utter a last prayer for you, and for myself."

"Look that your devotion be not lengthy, as it is ill-timed, my lord of Northumberland," cried De Lacy.

"How say you, young noble,” asked the captive" is devotion ill-timed, even in the hour of death? But I cry your pardon; I waste moments that were better usited in prayer;" and as the Saxon spoke, he cast himself upon his knees, and