efore all was done.... You have come for the
news, I suppose, mistress?"

He eyed her genially and approvingly. He had heard a great deal of this
young lady in the last three or four years; and wished there were more
of her kind.

"That is what I have come for," said Marjorie. "We have Mrs. Thomas over
at Babington House."

"She'll be of no great service to her husband," said the other. "She
cries and laments too much. Now--"

He stopped himself from paying his compliments. It seemed to him that
this woman, with her fearless, resolute face, would do very well without
them.

Then he set himself to relate the tale.

It seemed that little Mrs. Thomas had given a true enough report. It was
true that Topcliffe had arrived from London on the morning of the
arrest; and Mistress Manners was perfectly right in her opinion that
this signified a good deal. But, it seemed to Mr. Bassett, the Council
had made a great mistake in striking at the FitzHerberts. The quarry was
too strong, he said, for such birds as the Government used--too strong
and too many. For, first, no FitzHerbert had ever yet yielded in his
allegiance either to the Church or to the Queen's Grace; and it was not
likely that Mr. Thomas would begin: and, next, if one yielded (_suadente
diabolo_, and _Deus avertat_!) a dozen more would spring up. But the
position was serious for all that, said Mr. Bassett (and Mr. Biddell
nodded assent), for who would deal with the estates and make suitable
arrangements if the heir, who already largely controlled them, were laid
by the heels? But that the largeness of the undertaking was recognised
by the Council, was plain enough, in that no less a man than Topcliffe
(Mr. Bassett spat on the floor as he named him), Topcliffe, "the devil
possessed by worse devils," was sent down to take charge of the matter.

Marjorie listened carefully.

"You have no fear for yourself, sir?" she asked presently, as the man
sat back in his chair.

Mr. Bassett smiled broadly, showing his strong white teeth between the
iron-grey hair that fringed his lips.

"No; I have no fear," he said. "I have a score of my men quartered in
the town."

"And the trial? When will that--"

"The trial! Why, I shall praise God if the trial falls this year. They
will harry him before magistrates, no doubt; and they will squeeze him
in private. But the trial!... Why, they have not a word of treason
against him; and that is what they are after, no doubt."

"