"
The gaoler knocked. Robbie's time had expired. "How short these last
moments seem!" said Ralph; "yet an eternity of last moments would be
brief. Farewell, my lad! God bless you!"
The dalesmen shook hands. Their eyes were averted.
Robbie took his leave with many tears.
Then rose again the voices of the unseen choir within the chapel. The
organ pealed out in loud flute tones that mounted like a lark, higher,
higher, higher, winging its way in the clear morning air. It was the
chant of a returning angel scaling heaven. Then came the long sweeps
of a more solem harmony. Peace, peace! And rest! And rest!
CHAPTER L.
NEXT MORNING.
Next morning at daybreak the hammering of the carpenters had ceased in
the Market Place, and their lamps, that burned dim in their sockets,
like lights across a misty sea, were one by one put out. Draped in
black, the ghastly thing that they had built during the night stood
between the turrets of the guard-house.
Already the townspeople were awake. People were hurrying to and fro.
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