seconding
a powerful villain against a defenceless woman. Now leave me, thou
knave, and tell that slave of Hell, the Lord Protector, to send to me
to-morrow, and he shall have mine answer, as to whether he shall have
my little son or no!'

"Then, sir, he left me," said her Majesty, quietly, as she heaved a
great sigh, as though even the memory of this Churchman's departure
were a relief to her. "But here's the day come around when I must give
my final answer to Gloucester's messenger;" she continued, "and which
it is to be I am not yet determined. If I do refuse to hand my dear
son over to the boar, he, verily do I believe, will carry out his
threat, and tear him rudely from me. 'Twas with the thought of getting
advice from thee--for thou hast had good opportunities for observing
the hump-back's habits lately--as to what course I had best take, that
I did so anxiously await your coming."

"Ah, madam," I replied, "thou dost honour me over much by asking advice
of one which hath had so little experience. Yet, since thou hast so
honoured me, I needs must tell the truth. Therefore do I say this:--My
natural impulse is to offer what resistance thou canst, in case the
Duke doth make use of force. Yet, what little of the cooler stream of
reason I have within my blood doth tell me how vain must be the effort
to save the little Prince from falling into the Protector's hands,
backed as that villain is by such powers as the nobles that surround
him.

"Now, shouldst thou grant the Duke's request and hand the little Prince
over to his Highness, his position could not be worse than it now is,
granting of course, that the Duke of Gloucester dare to carry out his
threat, which, I am sad to say, I fear he would not hesitate to do.
Then, if thou dost decide to oppose force by force, the result of
which, unhappily, must be a victory for the Protector, the little
Prince might not receive the same consideration that he should were he
to go to his uncle peaceably."

"Ah, yes, Sir Walter, thou art right," replied the Queen; "yet I had
hoped to hear that my tender babe had still a chance of escaping the
tusks of the bloody boar."

"May I crave thy pardon, madam?" said Harleston, who had approached
whilst the Queen was speaking. "Methinks I have a plan which, if thou
hast time to carry it out, may yet keep the little Prince from falling
into the hands of his uncle."

"Let me hear it, for the love of Heaven!" cried the Queen, to