pleasant in their turn, when youth
is passed, like the mellow suns of autumn. 'Thereby indeed,' he
apostrophised her, 'the savour of youth reneweth itself again and
again.... "_Anzi rinuova come fa la luna_," in the words of Boccace.'

Her fair and upright beauty made Viridus acknowledge how excellent a
spy upon the Lady Mary she might make. Papistry and a loyal love for
the Old Faith seemed to be as strong in her candid eyes as it was
implicit in her name. The Lady Mary might trust her for that and talk
with her because of her skill in the learned tongues. Then, if they
held her in their hands, how splendid a spy she might make, being so
trusted! She might well be won for their cause by the offer of liberal
rewards, though Privy Seal's hand had been heavy upon all her
kinsfolk. These men of Privy Seal's get from him a maxim which he got
in turn from his master Macchiavelli: '_Advance therefore those whom
it shall profit thee to make thy servants: for men forget sooner the
death of a father than the loss of a patrimony_'--and either by
threats or by rewards they might make her very useful.

She had been minded to mock him in the beginning of his speech, but
his dangerous pale-blue eyes made her feel that if he were ridiculous
he was also very powerful, and that she was in the hands of these men.

Therefore she answered that youth indeed was a pleasant season when
health, good victuals and the love of God sustained it.

He surveyed her out of the corners of his eyes.

'Seek, then, to deserve these good things,' he said. He stayed some
time longer directing her how she should wear her clothes, and then in
the gathering dusk he dwindled stealthily through the door.

'It is to make you like a chained-up beast or slave,' Margot said to
her mistress.

'Why, hold your tongue, coney, after to-day,' Katharine answered, 'the
walls shall hear. I am a very poor man's daughter and must even earn
my bread if I would stay here.'

'They could never tie me so,' Margot retorted.

Her mistress laughed:

'Why, you may set nets for the wind, but what a man will catch is
still uncertain.'

It was cold, and they piled up the fire, waiting for some one to bring
them candles.

A tall and bulky figure, with a heavy cloak cast over one shoulder in
the Spanish fashion, but with a priest's cap, was suddenly in the
doorway.

'Ha, magister,' Katharine said, knowing no other man that could visit
her. But the firelight shone upon a he