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you had betrayed us to the king?"

A breathless silence followed the question--everybody seemed to hold

his very breath to listen Even the queen leaned forward and awaited the

answer eagerly, and the many eyes that had been riveted on Sir Norman

since his entrance, left him now for the first time and settled on the

prisoner A piteous spectacle that prisoner was--his face whiter than

the snowy nymphs behind the throne, and so distorted with fear, fury,

and guilt, that it looked scarcely human Twice he opened his eyes to

reply, and twice all sounds died away in a choking gasp

"Do you hear his highness?" sharply inquired the lord high chancellor,

reaching over the great seal, and giving the unhappy Earl of Gloucester

a rap on the head with it, "Why do you not answer?"

"Pardon! Pardon!" exclaimed the earl, in a husky whisper "Do not

believe the tales they tell you of me For Heaven's sake, sparethe table with his clinched

fist, until all the papers thereon jumped spasmodically into the

air-"confess at once, or I shall run you through where you stand!"