he taverns, that I believe
nothing. I had not heard that. Tell me what it was."

He was in a torment of mind as to what he should say of his own
adventure at Chartley. On the one side it was plain that no rumour of
the tale must get abroad or he would never be able to come to her again;
on the other side, no word had come from Mr. Bourgoign, though two
months had passed. He knew, indeed, what all the world knew by now, that
a trial had been held by over forty lords in Fotheringay Castle, whither
the Queen had been moved at the end of September, and that reports had
been sent of it to London. But for the rest he knew no more than the
others. Tales ran about the country on every side. One man would say
that he had it from London direct that Parliament had sentenced her;
another that the Queen of England had given her consent too; a third,
that Parliament had not dared to touch the matter at all; a fourth, that
Elizabeth had pardoned her. But, for Robin, his hesitation largely lay
in his knowledge that it was on the Babington plot that all would turn,
and that this would have been the chief charge against her; and here,
but a yard away from him, in the gloom of the chimney-breast sat
Anthony's wife and sister. How could he say that this was so, and yet
that he believed her wholly innocent of a crime which he detested? He
had dreaded this talk the instant that he had seen them in the hall and
heard their names.

But Mistress Alice would not be put off. She repeated what she had said.
Dick had come up from Dethick only that afternoon, and was now gone
again, so that he could not be questioned; but he had told his mistress
plainly that the story in Derby, brought in by couriers, was that
Parliament had consented and had passed sentence on her Grace; that her
Grace herself had received the news only the day before; but that the
warrant was not signed.

"And on what charge?" asked Robin desperately. Mistress Alice's voice
rang out proudly; but he saw her press the girl closer as she spoke.

"That she was privy to the plot which my ... my brother had a hand in."

Then Robin drew a breath and decided.

"It may be so," he said. "But I do not believe she was privy to it. I
spoke with her Grace at Chartley--"

There was a swift movement in the half circle.

"I spoke with her Grace at Chartley," he said. "I went to her under
guise of a herbalist: I heard her confession and gave her communion; and
she declared publicly, befor