“Some distance down the southern side, my lady. We will come around to it presently, when I will show it to you.”
They were now making the circuit of the Outer Ward, passing up the west side.
“There, sir, are the old buildings once appropriated to the Mint, which is now removed to a handsome edifice on Tower Hill, which I will show you,” said the guide, turning to General Lyon.
And the General and Dick gave him their attention.
But Anna and Drusilla were not interested in the mint, and remembered Tower Hill only as the scene of the execution of Lord Guilford Dudley.
Passing on, the guide pointed out many objects of interest; the two strong bastions—the Legge Mount and the Brass Mount—defending the north-western and north-eastern angles of the outer wall; the Iron Gate and Tower at the south-eastern angle; the site of the ancient Well Tower, and the remains of the Cradle Tower. Thus they came at last to St. Thomas’s Tower, which guards the Traitors’ Gate.
“There it is, ladies and gentlemen,” said the guide.
“Oh, how many fair and stately heads have passed under that awful arch!” murmured Anna.
As for Drusilla, the time for talking of these things was passed with her. She was too deeply impressed for speech.
General Lyon and Mr Hammond instinctively uncovered their heads in the presence of this dread monument of human suffering.