“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, here passed to their deaths the beautiful Queen Anne Boleyn, the fair Queen Katharine Howard, the lovely Lady Jane Gray, the courtly Norfolk, the accomplished Burleigh, the venerable Thomas More——”
“And hundreds and hundreds more—the victims of tyranny and bigotry,” said General Lyon cutting short the list.
“That’s so, sir,” admitted the guide. “Ah, if you had lived in those days!”
“Did you?” inquired Anna, turning upon him.
The guide smiled.
“I almost think I did, ma’am, sometimes—what with living here, and what with going over the history so many times a day. This way, ladies and gentlemen.”
And he led the way from the Traitors’ Gate straight across the ward to an imposing gateway defended by the Bloody Tower, leading through the embattled wall that encloses the inner ward.
“This tower,” said the guide, “is the scene of the murder of the two young princes, sons of Edward the Fourth, assassinated by order of their uncle, Richard the Third.”
“Can we enter and examine it?”
“The interior is not shown. It is occupied by some of the officers of the guard as private lodgings.”