Catholic World, Vol. 24, October, 1876, to March, 1877: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and ScienceVarious
Religion
Catholic World, Vol. 24, October, 1876, to March, 1877: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
She saw Kingston advance toward her father, and say he arrested him in
the name of the king; and then take his hand to express the regret
with which he executed this act of obedience to the king. “The
coward!” she thought; “he sacrifices his friend.”
She saw her father approach her, to clasp her in his arms, to bid her
adieu, to tell her to return home, to watch over her sisters, to
respect her mother, take care of Henry Pattison, for his sake. She
heard all this; she was almost unconscious, for she saw and heard, and
yet remained transfixed and motionless. Then he left her. Kingston
conducted him, the guards surrounded him, he passed through the door
leading into the interior of the Tower; it closed, and Margaret was
alone.
She stood thus for a long time, as if paralyzed by what had just
passed before her. She put her hand upon her forehead; it was burning,
and she could recall nothing more. By degrees animation returned, and
she felt she was cold. She looked around her; she saw the clerk still
seated at his desk, writing. Absolute silence reigned; those great
walls were gloomy, deaf, and mute. Then she arose. She saw the day was
declining; she thought she would try to go. Roper was waiting, and
perhaps uneasy. She cast a lingering look at the door she had seen
close upon her father; she set these places in her memory, saying: “I
will return.” She then went out, and slowly descended to the bank of
the river, where she found Roper, who had charge of the boat, and who
was astonished at her long absence.
“Well, Margaret, and your father?” he said, seeing her alone. She
drooped her head. “Will he not return?”
“No,” she replied, and entered the boat; then she suddenly seized the
hands of Roper. “He is there――do you see?――within those black walls,
in that gloomy prison. The guards have taken him; they seized and
surrounded him; he disappeared, and I am left――left alone! He has sent
me away; he told me to go. Kingston! Cromwell! O Roper! I can stand no
more; let us go.” And Margaret sank, panting and exhausted, upon the
forepart of the boat. Roper listened and looked at her.
“What! he will not return?” he repeated; and his eyes questioned
Margaret.
But the noble and beautiful young girl heard him not; with her eyes
fixed on the walls of the Tower, she seemed absorbed in one thought
alone.
“Farewell, farewell, my father!” she said. “Your ears no more hear me,
but your heart responds to my own. Farewell, farewell!” And she made a
sign with her hand, as though she had him before her eyes.
“Is it true, Margaret, that he will not return?”
“No! I tell you he will not. We are now all alone in the world. You
may go. You may go quickly now, if you wish.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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