The
executioner threw a black cloth over the bleeding trunk, and held
up the grizzly head by the hair; and Sir Norman could have sworn
the features moved, and the dead eyes rolled round the room.
"Behold!" cried the executioner, striking the convulsed face with
the palm of his open hand, "the fate of all traitors!"
"And of all spies!" exclaimed the dwarf, glaring with his
fiendish eyes upon the appalled Sir Norman. "Keep your axe sharp
and bright, Mr. Executioner, for before morning dawns there is
another gentleman here to be made shorter by a head."
CHAPTER XII.
DOOM.
"Let us go," said the queen, glancing at the revolting sight, and
turning away with a shudder of repulsion. "Faugh! The sight of
blood has made me sick."
"And taken away my appetite for supper," added a youthful and
elegant beauty beside her. "My Lord Gloucester was hideous
enough when living, but, mon Dieu!, he is ten times more so when
dead!"
"Your ladyship will not have the same story to tell of yonder
stranger, when he shares the same fate in are hour or two!" said
the dwarf, with a malicious grin; "for I heard you remarking upon
his extreme beauty when he first appeared.
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