CHAPTER VI.
I CONTINUE MY NIGHT ADVENTURES.
If the prisoner were retaken in a week, the Earl,
my papa, would have a pardon! This was indeed
a grim fiat to take to bed and sleep upon. What
was this rebel to me that I should be so concerned
for him? Why should he not perish at Tyburn for
his deeds, as had been the fate of more considerable
men? He was but a baker's son. I had only exchanged
a glance and a few broken sentences with
him in all my life, yet never once did I close my
eyes that night but I saw him in the cart and the
topsman preparing to fulfil his gruesome offices.
More than once had curiosity prompted me to sit
at a window with my friends, as was the fashion,
and watch these malefactors hang. A kick at space,
and all was over! But this handsome youth, with
the fiery look, a baker's son, who had committed
crimes against the State—must he, a child, be
strung up in ignominy? Brooding on this horrid
matter through this interminable night, I grew so
feverish and restless that sleep was banished utterly.
At last I could endure my bed no more. I rose
and covered up my nightrail with a cloak, relit the
