offer, with
thanks. Have you formed any plan for your proceeding?"

Oswald repeated the substance of what he had said to Roger.

"I think, perhaps, you are right," Mortimer said, "and that you may
have more chance of getting safely through, on foot, than if you rode
with but a small force to escort you. When you are ready to start, I
will speak to you in private, touching some things connected with your
journey."

When Oswald returned, Mortimer said to him:

"You see, Master Oswald, the position is by no means simple. There can
be no doubt that the king regards me with no favourable eye. He holds
my nephews in his keeping, and doubtless imagines that I bear him ill
will. As their uncle, he supposes that, should at any time a party be
formed to place the Earl of March on the throne, I should be the leader
in the matter; though assuredly I have never given him any reason to
doubt my loyalty.

"I say not that I approved of the deposition of King Richard; and
indeed I have not, like Lord Grey and many other nobles, among them the
Percys, been a warm supporter of King Henry's cause. I hold myself
altogether neutral, in that matter. I saw that nothing would be more
ruinous, for the country, than that a boy like my nephew should mount
the throne; and had a party been formed to make him king, instead of
Henry, I would have taken no share in it. Nevertheless, there is no
getting over the fact that, by right, the Earl of March is King of
England, and there is no saying what may come about in the future; but
assuredly, at the present time, I am as ready to do my duty towards
King Henry as are those who are louder in their expressions of
attachment to him.

"Nevertheless, I am well aware that the king distrusts me. As you see,
he has not, these three times that he has invaded Wales, come near
Ludlow. He has not summoned me to join his banner; nay, more, has
strictly ordered me not to send a man-at-arms to join him.

"I own that this letter troubles me, somewhat. Why should it not have
been carried to Shrewsbury, instead of being brought hither? It has,
indeed, come from London, and those who sent it may not know that the
king would move by Shrewsbury, and not by this line; which would,
indeed, be more direct for him in advancing into Montgomery and
Cardiganshire. On the other hand, it may be a snare. If I send it not
forward, he might blame me greatly for holding it back. If I send it
forward, and perchance it falls, on th