And they passed on, pausing now and then to gaze upon the armed and mounted effigy of some knight or king, famous or, perhaps, infamous in history or tradition, until they reached the last one in the line—James II.—after whose day fire-arms came in and armor went out.
And so they passed from the Horse Armory to Queen Elizabeth’s Armory, occupying an apartment in the lower floor of the White Tower.
At the upper end was an equestrian effigy of the Royal Fury of Tudor, who cut off her lovers’ heads as her father before her had cut off his wives’. She was dressed in the preposterous costume of her court, mounted on a carved charger, and attended by her page. She was most appropriately surrounded by curious chains and manacles, ingenious instruments of torture, and judicial implements of death.
Conspicuous among these was the thumb-screw, the rack, the headsman’s axe, and the heading block upon which the old Lord Lovat and his companions had been decapitated.
Here, on the north side, was also a small, heavy door leading into a deep and narrow dungeon cut in the thickness of the wall, and having neither air nor light except that which entered by the doorway.
“In this dismal hole the accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh passed the long years of his imprisonment, and here he wrote his History of the World.”
“He had leisure enough for such a stupendous work; but I don’t see where he got space or light from, or how he could possibly have lived in such a dark, damp den,” said Dick.
“Oh, you see, sir, it is to be supposed that he was only locked in there at night, and had the freedom of the hall during the day.”
They next ascended the stairs to the second floor, and visited the ancient Council Chamber, where the old Kings held their Court at the Tower. This was the place of Anne Boleyn’s trial. Then on the same floor was St. John’s Chapel, the most perfect specimen of Norman architecture in the country.
All these things Drusilla saw as in a dream. She was thinking only of her husband and the cold stare with which he had met her eyes.