ll to make preparations for his journey,
that the instant he returns he may be able to set forth."

"Wisely spoken, lad," answered Lady Anne; "you have well repaid the care
we have taken of you. While I am seeing that such garments as my lord
may require are put up, do you go and tell the factor, John Elliot, to
have the horses in readiness; and let James Brocktrop know that he is to
ride with his lord. Tell him not where, but that he must be prepared
for a long journey."

All these arrangements were made before the return of Master Gresham: he
had been presiding at a meeting of the Mercers' Company. Seldom had he
appeared so much out of spirits, even before he heard the account Ernst
had to give him. The merchants of London, he said, were universally
against this Spanish marriage. They were too well acquainted with the
affairs of Europe, and with the character of the Emperor and his son,
not to dread the worst consequences to England. The cruelties exercised
over the inhabitants of the Low Countries had driven numerous skilled
artisans to England; but if Philip was ruler here, they would be afraid
to come, dreading lest the same cruelties might be exercised upon them
in the land of their adoption.

Lady Anne interrupted these remarks by bringing forward Ernst. The
merchant listened calmly to the account given him by the lad.

"The warning is from a friend," he remarked; "it should not be
disregarded. Yet I have no fancy to fly away like a traitor or
criminal: I would rather remain and stand the brunt of any attack made
on me."

"Oh, my dear lord, be not so rash!" exclaimed Lady Anne. "If the Queen
desires again to establish the Romish faith in England, surely she will
endeavour to remove all those who, from their rank or wealth and sound
Protestant principles, are likely to interfere with her project."

Ernst added his entreaties to those of the Lady Anne, assuring his
patron that the man who had spoken to him had urged instant flight as
the only sure means of escaping the threatened danger. Master Gresham
at length yielded to the entreaties of his wife; and having put on his
riding-dress, and secured his arms round him, accompanied by his
faithful attendant James Brocktrop, he took his departure from his
house. He was soon clear of the City, riding along the pleasant lanes
and open fields towards the north of London. Ernst ran behind the
horses, keeping a little way off, for a considerable distance,