The Sub-Prior had not long left the apartment, ere Mysie had devised a
scheme for Sir Piercie Shafton's freedom, daring, indeed, but likely
to be successful, if dexterously conducted. It was necessary, however,
that she should remain where she was till so late an hour, that all in
the tower should have betaken themselves to repose, excepting those
whose duty made them watchers. The interval she employed in observing
the movements of the person in whose service she was thus boldly a
volunteer.
She could hear Sir Piercie Shafton pace the floor to and fro, in
reflection doubtless on his own untoward fate and precarious
situation. By and by she heard him making a rustling among his trunks,
which, agreeable to the order of the Sub-Prior, had been placed in the
apartment to which he was confined, and which he was probably amusing
more melancholy thoughts by examining and arranging. Then she could
hear him resume his walk through the room, and, as if his spirits had
been somewhat relieved and elevated by the survey of his wardrobe, she
could distinguish that at one turn he half recited a sonnet, at
another half whistled a galliard, and at the third hummed a saraband.
At length she could understand that he extended himself on the
temporary couch which had been allotted to him, after muttering his
prayers hastily, and in a short time she concluded he must be fast
asleep.
She employed the moment which intervened in considering her enterprise
under every different aspect; and dangerous as it was, the steady
review which she took of the various perils accompanying her purpose,
furnished her with plausible devices for obviating them.
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