At eleven o’clock Von der Lancken came back from seeing Von Bissing. He brought a refusal. The Governor-General had acted “after mature deliberation” and refused to listen to any plea of clemency. For an hour longer the two devoted Ministers pleaded for the woman’s life. It was in vain. There was no appeal. “Even the Emperor could not intervene.” Edith Cavell was doomed. At midnight her friends departed in despair. CHAPTER XI THE LAST SCENE. The most beautiful moments in Edith Cavell’s life were those which preceded her martyrdom. At eleven o’clock the British chaplain in Brussels, the Rev. H. S. T. Gahan, was admitted to the cell in which she had spent the past ten weeks. He found her calm and resigned. She told him that she wished all her friends to know that she gave her life willingly for her country. And then she used these imperishable words:-- _I have no fear nor shrinking. I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me._ _I thank God for this ten weeks’ quiet before the end. Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty. This time of rest has been a great mercy._ _They have all been very kind to me here. But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness to anyone._ After this the chaplain administered the Holy Communion. The clergyman repeated the words of “Abide with me.” She joined in at the words: Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee. In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. At two o’clock in the morning they led her out with bandaged eyes to the place of execution. The firing party stood ready with loaded rifles. At this last moment her physical strength was not a match for her heroic spirit. She fell in a swoon. The officer in charge of the soldiers stepped forward and shot her as she lay unconscious. Before the day dawned her body was laid to rest in the land occupied by her enemies, whom with her last breath she forgave. CHAPTER XII. EDITH CAVELL’S MESSAGE. The circumstances of Edith Cavell’s death became known in England on Trafalgar Day. The news reached the public through the newspapers the following morning. No one who was in London that day will ever forget the sense of horror that ran through the land. From early morning a dense crowd of people thronged round the only tangible symbol of her martyrdom, a wreath of laurels placed among those of the sailors who died for England. The armless Nelson looked down from his column upon the memorial of a weak woman who had borne witness to his immortal message. The seaman and officers who had died in the long-drawn-out Trafalgar, welcomed her, as it seemed, to their company. And in the mist and rain of a London October day the true spirit of England leaped again to life.