Once and twice thou hast been a boat to carry me on my way, and to save my useful life.

A third time thou mightst well be serviceable, not by thy will, alas! but by God's, my poor brother"; and he mockingly caressed my face with his abhorred hand.
"Still, this must even serve, though I would fain find for thee a more bitter way to death"; and he gently and carefully drew the pillow from beneath my head.

"This leaves no marks and tells no tales, and permits no dying cry." He was looking at me, the pillow in his hands, his gesture that of a tender nurse, when a light tap sounded on the door.

He paused, then came a louder knock, one pushed, and knocked again.
"Open, in the name of the Dauphin!" came a voice I knew well, the voice of D'Aulon.
"The rope of Judas strangle thee!" said Brother Thomas, dropping the pillow and turning to the casement.

But it was heavily barred with stanchions of iron, as the manner is, and thereby he might not flee.
Then came fiercer knocking with a dagger hilt, and the cry, "Open, in the name of the Dauphin, or we burst the door!" Brother Thomas hastily closed the wooden shutter, to darken the chamber as much as might be.