Then a surging movement began, and the monk was swept away to the left by the packed crowd round him.

There were faces lining the wall and opposite, and all were turned one way.

A great murmur began to swell up, and a woman beside him turned white and began to sob quietly.
His eyes caught a bright point of light that died again, flashed out, and resolved itself into a gleaming line of halberds, moving on towards the right above the heads, up the slope to the scaffold.

He saw a horse toss his head; and then a feathered cap or two swaying behind.
Then for one instant between the shifting heads in front he caught sight of a lean face framed in a flapped cap swaying rhythmically as if borne on a chair.

It vanished again.
The flashing line of halberds elongated itself, divided, and came between the scaffold and him; and the murmur of the crowd died to a heart-shaking silence.