"And this be my last word to you Geraldine," said Henry Howard, panting for breath: "Go hence under the burden of my curse, and live--if you can!"She unveiled her head, and raised her countenance toward him. Acontemptuous smile writhed about her deathly pale lips. "Live!" said she. "Have we not sworn to die with each other? Your curse does not release me from my oath, and when you descend into the grave, Jane Douglas will stand upon its brink, to wail and weep until you make a little place for her there below; until she has softened your heart and you take her again, as your Geraldine, into your grave. Oh, Henry! in the grave, I no longer wear the face of Jane Douglas--that hated face, which I would tear with my nails. In the grave, I am Geraldine again. There I may again lie close to your heart, and again you will say to me: 'I love not your face and your external form! I love you yourself; I love your heart and mind; and that can never change; and can never be otherwise!'""Silence!" said he, roughly; "silence, if you do not want me to run mad! Cast not my own words in my face. They defile me, for falsehood has desecrated and trodden them in the mire. No! I will not make room for you in my grave. I will not again call you Geraldine. You are Jane Douglas, and I hate you, and I hurl my curse upon your criminal head! I tell you--"He suddenly paused, and a slight convulsion ran through his whole frame.
Jane Douglas uttered a piercing scream, and sprang from her knees.
Day had broken; and from the prison-tower sounded the dismal, plaintive stroke of the death-bell.
"Do you hear, Jane Douglas?" said Surrey. "That bell summons me to death. You it is that has poisoned my last hour. I was happy when Iloved you. I die in despair, for I despise and hate you.""No, no, you dare not die!" cried she, clinging to him with passionate anguish. "You dare not go to the grave with that fierce curse upon your lips. I cannot be your murderess. Oh, it is not possible that they will put you to death--you, the beautiful, the noble and the virtuous Earl Surrey. My God, what have you done to excite their wrath? You are innocent; and they know it. They cannot execute you; for it would be murder! You have committed no offence;you have been guilty of nothing; no crime attaches to your noble person. It is indeed no crime to love Jane Douglas, and me have you loved--me alone.""No, not you," said he proudly; "I have nothing to do with Lady Jane Douglas. I loved the queen, and I believed she returned my love.
That is my crime."
The door opened: and in solemn silence the lieutenant of the Tower entered with the priests and his assistants. In the door was seen the bright-red dress of the headsman, who was standing upon the threshold with face calm and unmoved.
"It is time!" solemnly said the lieutenant.
The priest muttered his prayers, and the assistants swung their censers. Without, the death-bell kept up its wail; and from the court was heard the hum of the mob, which, curious and bloodthirsty as it ever is, had streamed hither to behold with laughing mouth the blood of the man who but yesterday was its favorite.
Earl Surrey stood there a moment in silence. His features worked and were convulsed, and a deathlike pallor covered his cheeks.
He trembled, not at death, but at dying. It seemed to him that he already felt on his neck the cold broad-axe which that frightful man there held in his hand. Oh, to die on the battle-field--what a boon it would have been! To come to an end on the scaffold--what a disgrace was this!
"Henry Howard, my son, are you prepared to die?" asked the priest.
"Have you made your peace with God? Do you repent of your sins, and do you acknowledge death as a righteous expiation and punishment? Do you forgive your enemies, and depart hence at peace with yourself and with mankind?""I am prepared to die," said Surrey, with a proud smile; "the other questions, my father, I will answer to my God.""Do you confess that you were a wicked traitor? And do you beg the forgiveness of your noble and righteous, your exalted and good king, for the blasphemous injury to his sacred majesty?"Earl Surrey looked him steadily in the eye. "Do you know what crime I am accused of?"The priest cast down his eyes, and muttered a few unintelligible words.
With a haughty movement of the head, Henry Howard turned from the priest to the lieutenant of the Tower.
"Do you know my crime, my lord?" said he.
But the lord lieutenant also dropped his eyes, and remained silent.
