The bird flew on to his master's cap, and peered down over the rim of it at him, as much as to say "bo-peep," and then leaned over and took a bit of sugar out of the old man's mouth. After watching other antics our little friends bade the "Beefeater" and his pet good-bye and continued their walk around the Tower, which is really much more than a single tower. It is a big group of buildings, with a square tower in the middle, a high wall around it all, and a deep moat which was once filled with water. The "Tower" is very, very old; it was used for a prison, and whenever anybody did something the king did not like, he was put on a boat and rowed down to the Tower and locked up in one of the dungeons, and often many prisoners had their heads chopped off, and some of these were high-born ladies, too!
"I am glad I did not live in those days, when they could cut off people's heads," said Edith, who shuddered as she looked at the block of wood on which a poor queen's head was once cut off.
"Yes, the Tower is full of dark memories," said Miss Winton. "You know the sad story of the two little boy princes who lived in this gloomy Tower, and how they were supposed to have been put to death by their cruel uncle, who was King Richard III., and wanted them out of his way.
"Long afterward, in repairing one of the walls, the workmen found buried in a hole in the wall the bones of two small children, which were supposed to be those of the poor little princes, which had been hidden there after their untimely death. Many dreadful things were done in those old days which could never happen now."
"Now let us see something bright," said Miss Winton, "and leave these gloomy things behind."
"I know what you mean; now is the time for the 'Crown Jewels,'" cried Adelaide.
Our two little friends quickly ran up the winding stone stairs of a small round tower where the Crown Jewels are always kept when the king and queen are not wearing them.
Edith was dazzled by the glittering things which filled a large glass case in the centre of the room.
There were crowns covered with all kinds of precious stones, and sceptres, and other old and valuable relics, all gold and jewels. But no one is allowed to linger long in here, and before the children had half time enough to see all, they found themselves again in the yard.
"I wonder what Carrie and Henry White thought of the jewels when they came to the tower," said Edith.