A great lump came into my throat. When all others had deserted me, there still remained one friend, who was with me to the last. "I am glad that in my life I have been able to be of service to thee," I replied. "'Twill perhaps balance that long list of errors and harm that I have brought to many. The memory of it will be sweet to me at the last. Give my best wishes and regards to thy wife, and tell her that she has chosen well. Farewell!" Stepping closer to me he looked around him; the jailer stood in the hall, fumbling impatiently with his keys. "Do not despair," he whispered in my ear hurriedly. "Thy friends will not see thee die. Be watchful." And with this he hurried from the room; a wave of the hand to me, and then the great door creaked on its hinges, and I was alone. I threw myself upon my bed. What did Steele mean when he said that my friends would not see me die? Perhaps they would make one more attempt to persuade the Queen to pardon me. They did not know her as I did, if they had the courage to try again. Her mind when once made up was as adamant, and they might probably go to the gallows for their pains; for Elizabeth was of an imperious temper, and brooked no restraint. He could only mean to use persuasion; they could do nothing by force, even though he could raise a band who were so reckless as to attack the Tower. Its walls were high and strong, and were garrisoned by hardy veterans commanded by a warworn general, who had only to hold them at bay for a few moments, until reënforcements arrived from the city. Perhaps he only meant to cheer my spirits, and to arouse me from the gloom into which I had fallen. An hour passed; a man knocked at the door, but he bore only a message from old Sir Henry, saying that a priest waited below to pray with me, should I desire it. "No," I answered, "tell him that I shall have no sniveling priest around me. If I die, it shall be like a man, undaunted and unafraid." And I turned my face to the wall. Below in the courtyard I could hear the sound of hammer and saw, as they reared the gallows on which to-morrow I would take my last leap. The workmen with jest and laughter were discussing the execution. "He will meet it like a man," I heard one say, "for old Giles told me that he fought the Dons like a demon." It availed me little now, I thought as I lay there; my life's book was about to be finished and closed, and they would forget that I had fought for my land, and risked my life in her cause.