Great Britain -- History -- Stephen, 1135-1154 -- Fiction; Murder -- Fiction; Revenge -- Fiction; Serfs -- Fiction
A great cheering came from below as the execution party came out on the
battlements, a fierce roar of execration.
While they were fitting his neck with the rope, Hyla looked down. The
castle was spread below him like a map, very vivid in the bright light.
Hundreds of tiny white faces were turned towards him. Outside the walls
he saw a great camp with tents and huts, among which fires were just
being lit to cook the evening meal.
At last, on the edge of the coping they let him kneel down for prayer.
Lord Fulke had not yet sounded the signal, down in the court-yard, when
they should swing him out.
He did not pray, but looked out over the lovely countryside with keen
brave eyes. Freedom was very, very near. FREEDOM at last! The soldiers
could not understand his rapt face, it frightened them. As he gazed, his
eye fell on a round tower at the far end of the defences. Down the side
of the tower a man was descending by means of a rope. Although at this
distance he appeared quite small, something in the dress or perhaps in
the colour of the hair proclaimed it to be Lewin. The executioners saw
him also.
"God!" said one of them. "There goes our minter to Roger. The black
hound!"
He bent over the edge of the abyss and shouted frantically to the crowd
below, but he could convey no meaning to them. The little moving figure
on the wall had disappeared by now, but a group of men standing at the
moat-side showed that he was expected.
Hyla saw all this with little interest. He was perfectly calm, and all
his pain had left him. Already he was at peace.
A keen blast from a trumpet sounded in the courtyard below, and came
snarling up to them.
There was a sudden movement, and then the two hosts of the besiegers and
besieged saw a black swinging figure sharply outlined against the ruddy
evening sky.
Justice had been done. But may we not suppose that the death notes of
that earthly horn swelled and grew in the poor serf's ears, pulsing
louder and more gloriously triumphant, until he knew them for the silver
trumpets of the Heralds of Heaven coming to welcome him?
Deo Gratias.
THE END
* * * * *
Letters of a Business
Woman to Her Niece
BY CAROLINE A. HULING
_Editor of The BOOKSELLER and Latest Literature_
These letters were published serially in an
Eastern Magazine, attracting considerable
attention and adding materially to its circulation.
They embody suggestions in the
preparation for business life, getting and
keeping a position, ethics, dress, conduct,
the investment of savings and the management
of a business, getting and giving
credit and other important matters of which
young women are generally ignorant. There
is nothing of this nature on the market,
and a large sale is anticipated for the book.
Miss Huling has utilized the experiences
of twenty years in business life, in these
letters which are designed to be helpful to
younger women.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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