“Bear her away,” said Audley instantly.
“Officer, lead that woman out!” exclaimed Cromwell in a voice of thunder.
“My daughter, my cherished daughter, follow Pierre Gilles! My friend, take her out!” cried Sir Thomas.
“I will not go!” exclaimed Margaret, bracing her feeble feet against the long stone slabs.
“Will you suffer a varlet to lay his hands on you, Margaret?” said Pierre Gilles, whose tears streamed down his cheeks and stifled his voice.
“Yes, anything! If I leave him, they will let me see him no more.”
“Sheriff, do you hear?” cried Cromwell.
“O Master Cromwell!” exclaimed Margaret, falling on her knees and raising her suppliant hands toward him. “But, no,” she said, immediately rising again, “I will not descend so low! Implore him? You may annihilate but never demean me!” And casting a withering glance upon Cromwell, she seized the arm of Pierre Gilles, and, dragging him away, left the place without even looking toward her father.
This scene created some disturbance in the horrible assembly, and a moment of silence and hesitation followed, when Cromwell made a sign to the lord chancellor not to let it be prolonged.
Audley then began to pronounce the formula of the sentence, but Sir Thomas interrupted him.