Page:Wren--The young stagers.djvu/90

72 "You'd better not," said Mary Stuart truculently, as she knelt and placed her head upon the block, "or I shall shed tears copiously.  They'll be your tears."

"Kindly bleed on to that thtraw, your Liege," requested the Executioner.

"I shall bleed just where I please," replied the Queen. "I shall bleed as much as I can too, and I hope it'll squirt all over the place. I hope it'll spoil Queen Elizabeth's carpet and furniture and make a mess on the wall-paper. Perhaps that'll teach her not to be so fast. She's too fond of chopping people's heads off. You can tell her I said so. So there," and the unfortunate Queen laid her head upon the block.

The Headsman struck, and for the next minute the decapitated Queen appeared to be directing a stream of blood (much as a fireman does a stream of water) in an intelligent though truncated effort to make a little go a long way, and also to cover a wide area.