seemed to them all gradually a faint brightness appeared in the east and the air which had been very warm all through the night felt cool and chilly though there waa no daylight yet the darkness was diminished and the stars looked pale the prison which had been a mere black mass with little shape or form put on its usual aspect and ever and anon a solitary be seen upon its roof stopping to look down upon the preparations in the street this man firom forming as it were a part of the jail and knowing or being supposed to know all that was within became an object of as much interest and was as eagerly looked for and as pointed out as if he had been a spirit by and bye the feeble light grew stronger and the houses with their sign boards and stood plainly out in the dull grey morning heavy stage crawled firom the inn yard opposite and travellers peeped out and as they rolled away cast many a backward look towards the jail and now e sun s first beams came glancing into the street and the night s work which in its various stages and in the varied fancies of the on had taken a hundred shapes wore its own proper form � a and a as the warmth of cheerful day began to shed itself upon the scanty crowd the murmur of tongues was heard shutters were thrown open and blinds drawn up and those who had slept in rooms over against the prison where places to see the execution were let at high prices rose hastily fix m their beds in some of the houses people were busy taking out the window for the better accommodation of spectators in others the spectators were already seated and the time with cards or drink or jokes among themselves some had purchased seats upon the house tops and were already crawling to their stations fix m and garret window some were yet for good places and stood in them in a state of gazing at the slowly swelling crowd and at the workmen as they rested against the � affecting to listen with indifference to the proprietor s of the commanding view his house afforded and the surpassing of his terms a fairer morning never shone from the roofs and upper stories of these buildings the of churches and the great cathedral dome were visible rising up beyond the prison into the blue sky and in the colour of light summer clouds and showing in the dear atmosphere their every scrap of and fret work and every and all was brightness and promise excepting in the street below into which for it yet lay in shadow the eye looked down as into a dark where in the midst of so much life and hope and renewal of existence stood the terrible instrument of death it seemed as if ttie very sun to look upon it but it was grim and sombre in the shade than when the day being more advanced it stood confessed in the glare and glory of the sun with its black paint and its dangling in the light like it was better in the solitude and gloom of midnight with a few forms about it than in the freshness and the stir of morning the centre of an eager crowd it was better haunting the street like a when men were in their beds and perchance the s dreams than the broad day and thrusting its presence upon their waking senses five o clock had struck � six � seven � and eight along the two main streets at either end of the cross way a living stream had now set in rolling towards the of gain and business and forced a passage through the of the throng and onward in the same direction some of these which were public and had come from a short distance in the country stepped and the driver pointed to the with his whip though he might have spared himself the pains for the heads of all the passengers were turned that way without his help and the coach windows were stuck full of staring eyes in some of the and women be seen glancing at the same thing and even little children were held up above the people s heads to see what kind of toy a was and learn how men were hanged two were to die before the prison who had been concerned in the attack upon it and one directly afterwards in square at nine o clock a strong body of military marched into the street and formed and lined a narrow passage into which had been indifferently kept all night by through this another cart was brought the one already mentioned had been employed in the construction of the and wheeled up to � the prison gate these preparations made the soldiers stood at ease the officers to and fro in the alley they had made or talked together at the s foot and the which had been rapidly for some hours and still received additions every minute waited with an impatience which increased with every of st s dock for twelve at noon up to this time they had been very quiet comparatively silent save when the arrival of some new party at a window hitherto gave them something new to look at or to talk of but as the hour approached a and hum arose which deepening every moment soon swelled into a roar and seemed to fill the air no words or even voices could be distinguished in this nor did they speak much to each other though such as were better informed upon the topic than the rest would tell their neighbours perhaps that they might know the when he came out by his being the shorter one and that the man who was to 