h fleet will be here before
summer to relieve us of all troubles, as of all heretics, too. Her Grace
will have to turn her coat once more, I think, when that comes to pass."

Mr. John glanced at him doubtfully.

"First," he said, "no man knows whether it will come. And, next, I for
one am not sure if I even wish for it."

Mr. Bassett laughed loudly.

"You will dance for joy!" he said. "And why do you not know whether you
wish it to come?"

"I have no taste to be a Spanish subject."

"Why, nor have I! But the King of Spain will but sail away again when he
hath made terms against the privateers, whether they be those that ply
on the high seas against men's bodies, or here in England against their
souls. There will be no subjection of England beyond that."

Mr. John was silent.

"Why, I heard from Sir Thomas but a week ago, to ask for a little money
to pay his fines with. He said that repayment should follow so soon as
the fleet should come. Those were his very words."

"You sent the money, then?"

"Why, yes; I made shift that a servant should throw down a bag with ten
pounds in it, into a bush, and that Brittlebank--your brother's
man--should see him do it! And lo! when we looked again, the bag was
gone!"

He laughed again with open mouth. Certainly he was an inspiriting man
with a loud bark of his own; but Robin imagined that he would not bite
too cruelly for all that. But he saw another side of him presently.

"What was that matter of Mr. Sutton, the priest who was executed in
Stafford last year?" asked Mr. John suddenly.

The face of the other changed as abruptly. His eyes became pin-points
under his grey eyebrows and his mouth tightened.

"What of him?" he said.

"It was reported that you might have stayed the execution, and would
not. I did not believe a word of it."

"It is true," said Mr. Bassett sharply--"at least a portion of it."

"True?"

"Listen," cried the other suddenly, "and tell me what you would have
done. Mr. Sutton was taken, and was banished, and came back again, as
any worthy priest would do. Then he was taken again, and condemned. I
did my utmost to save him, but I could not. Then, as I would never have
any part in the death of a priest for his religion, another was
appointed to carry the execution through. Three days before news was
brought to me by a private hand that Mr. Sutton had promised to give the
names of priests whom he knew, and of houses where he had said mass, and