back as quickly as he
could. He sat a while, listening to the thresh of the rain and the cry
of the wind; for, up here in the high land the full storm broke on him.
(The hut was wattled of osiers and clay, and kept out the wet tolerably
well.)

He could see nothing from the door of his hut except the dim outline of
the nearer crag thirty or forty yards off; and he went presently to bed.

* * * * *

He awoke suddenly, wide awake--as is easy for a man who is sleeping in
continual expectation of an alarm--at the flash of light in his eyes.
But he was at once reassured by Dick's voice.

"I have come, sir; and I have brought the mistress' letter."

Robin sat up and took the packet. He saw now that the man carried a
little lantern with a slide over it that allowed only a thin funnel of
light to escape that could be shut off in an instant.

"All well, Dick? I did not hear you coming."

"The storm's too loud, sir."

"All well?"

"Mistress Manners thinks you had best stay here a week longer, sir."

"And ... and the news?"

"It is all in the letter, sir."

Robin looked for the inscription, but there was none. Then he broke the
two seals, opened the paper and began to read. For the next five minutes
there was no sound, except the thresh of the rain and the cry of the
wind. The letter ran as follows:

III

"Three more have glorified God to-day by a good confession--Mr. Garlick,
Mr. Ludlam and Mr. Simpson. That is the summary. The tale in detail
hath been brought to me to-day by an eye-witness.

"The trial went as all thought it would. There was never the least
question of it; for not only were the two priests taken with signs of
their calling upon them, but both of them had been in the hands of the
magistrates before. There was no shrinking nor fear showed of any kind.
But the chief marvel was that these two priests met with Mr. Simpson in
the gaol; they put them together in one room, I think, hoping that Mr.
Simpson would prevail upon them to do as he had promised to do; but, by
the grace of God, it was all the other way, and it was they who
prevailed upon Mr. Simpson to confess himself again openly as a
Catholic. This greatly enraged my lord Shrewsbury and the rest; so that
there was less hope than ever of any respite, and sentence was passed
upon them all together, Mr. Simpson showing, at the reading of it, as
much courage as any. This was all done two days ago at the Assizes;