-----------------------------------------

Note 1. She signed her deposition by a mark, while her servant Roger
Neck, wrote his name.

Note 2. Examination of Ellen Bright, Gunpowder Plot Book, article 24.

CHAPTER SIX.

WAIT A MONTH.

"Alas, long-suffering and most patient God!
Thou needst be surelier God to bear with us
Than even to have made us."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

The conspirators had just concluded their bargain, and decided that the
cellar must be stored with materials in all haste, to be ready for the
meeting of Parliament on the seventh of February, when like a bomb-shell
in their midst fell a royal proclamation, proroguing Parliament again
until the third of October. To go on now, especially in haste, was
plainly a useless proceeding.

A short consultation was held, which ended in the decision that they
should part and scatter themselves in different places. Fawkes
particularly was enjoined to keep out of the way, since he was wanted to
appear as a stranger when the moment arrived for action; he therefore
determined to go abroad.

The rest dispersed in various directions: Percy was left alone at the
house in Westminster, where he beguiled his leisure by having a door
made through the wall, where the mine had been, so as to give him easier
access to the vault under the House, and better opportunities of
carrying in the combustibles unseen. They agreed to meet again, ready
for work, on the second of September; and before parting, one other was
admitted to their fellowship, to whom was confided the task of aiding
Fawkes to accumulate the store of powder. This was Mr Ambrose
Rookwood, of Coldham Hall, Suffolk.

Before Fawkes left England, he accomplished one important piece of
business, by carrying into the vault beneath the House all the wood and
coals hitherto stored in Percy's cellar. Among it was carefully hidden
the gunpowder also in waiting, billets of wood being heaped upon the
barrels. The door was then locked, and Fawkes took the key, marking the
door on the inside in such a manner that its having been opened could be
detected thereafter. The wife of the porter, Gideon Gibbons, the next
door neighbour, was placed in charge of Percy's house, in which no
tell-tale combustibles had now been left. Keyes was made again
custodian of the house at Lambeth.

These arrangements being complete, Percy went to see his wife, whom he
had left in the country, and Fawkes, emba