"Poor Overbury!" said Seymour; "I have no cause to love him; but yet I cannot help pitying a man cast down by that bitterest stroke of adversity, the falsehood and ingratitude of a friend." "I pity him too," replied Killigrew, "which was the cause why I stayed to speak to him. I know not what he has done to injure or offend you, sir, that you say you have no cause to love him, but he seems most anxious to see you, which, indeed, I was coming to tell you. Though I cannot advise you to give way to his request, for by so doing, perhaps, you may injure yourself with the Lieutenant of the Tower, who, it seems, already dreads he shall be dismissed for the short conversation I had with his prisoner." "Oh, Wade is a good friend of mine," answered Seymour, "and is under some obligations to my house. What did Sir Thomas say?" "As near as I can recollect," replied Sir Robert Killigrew, "that it would be a great consolation to him if he could speak with you or the Lady Arabella. But take care what you do; for I cannot but think that it is rash to make the attempt. The King's orders are most strict, that no one, not his nearest friends, not his own father, should have a moment's interview with him." "I will see him, nevertheless, if it be possible," answered Seymour. "The man who could refuse consolation, however small, to a poor captive shut out from human intercourse, must have a cold heart indeed, let the risk be what it may. I am sure you do not regret your captivity for such a cause, Sir Robert?" "I regret my captivity, whatever be the reason," replied the Knight; "but yet I would do the same to-morrow, I confess." "Well, I will go watch my opportunity," replied Seymour; "no one can tell what changes may be made; but if they remove him to the Bell Tower, beneath the lantern, or to one of the dungeons, the occasion will be missed." "Farewell, then, for the present," replied Sir Robert Killigrew; "I had better not accompany you." "Perhaps not," said Seymour. Bidding him adieu, and then taking his way towards the tower in which Sir Thomas Overbury was confined, he passed once or twice under the windows without looking up, seeing that there were several persons in the open space between the walls. At length, Overbury's window opened, but Seymour marked what he did not, that there was a workman wheeling a barrow round the other side of the tower, and, taking another turn, he came back again, and looked around. "Hist, hist!" cried the prisoner; "speak to me for a moment, Mr. Seymour." "I will be back in an instant," replied the other, "when I make sure that we are not observed." In a few minutes, he again paused beneath the window, the sill of which was nearly level with his head, but a little above, and, looking up, he said, "Now, Sir Thomas, the workmen have gone to dinner; there is no one on the walls--what would you say?"