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The Earl called a page, and sent him to the captain of the guard with the
order--
"Let the mob be halted, and inquiry made concerning the occasion of its
movement. By the King's command!"
A few seconds later a long rank of the royal guards, cased in flashing
steel, filed out at the gates and formed across the highway in front of
the multitude. A messenger returned, to report that the crowd were
following a man, a woman, and a young girl to execution for crimes
committed against the peace and dignity of the realm.
Death--and a violent death--for these poor unfortunates! The thought
wrung Tom's heart-strings. The spirit of compassion took control of him,
to the exclusion of all other considerations; he never thought of the
offended laws, or of the grief or loss which these three criminals had
inflicted upon their victims; he could think of nothing but the scaffold
and the grisly fate hanging over the heads of the condemned. His concern
made him even forget, for the moment, that he was but the false shadow of
a king, not the substance; and before he knew it he had blurted out the
command--
"Bring them here!"
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