really thought of all such matters as
these, and send my reports regularly to Rome; that I was to place myself
at the King's service in any way that I could--in short that I was to
follow my discretion and do, as a layman may sometimes even more than a
priest, all that was in my power for the furtherance of the Catholic
cause.

Now it may be wondered perhaps how it was that I, who was so young,
should be entrusted with such matters as these. Here then, I am bound to
say, however immodest it may appear, that I have had always the art of
making friends easily and of commending myself quickly. I had lived too
in the societies of both Paris and Rome; and I had the accomplishments
of a gentleman as well as his blood. I was thought a pleasant fellow,
that is to say, who could make himself agreeable; and I certainly had
too--and I am not ashamed to say this--but one single ambition in the
world, and that was to serve God's cause: and these things do not always
go together in this world. Last of all, it must be observed, that no
very weighty secrets were entrusted to me: I bore no letters; and I had
been told no more of affairs in general than such as any quick and
intelligent man might pick up for himself. Even should I prove
untrustworthy or indiscreet, or even turn traitor, no very great harm
would be done. If, upon the other hand, I proved ready and capable, all
that I could learn in England and, later perhaps, in France, would serve
me well in the carrying out of weightier designs that might then be
given into my charge.

Such then I was; and such was my mission, on this fifteenth day of June,
as I rode up with James my man--a servant found for me in Rome, who had
once been in the service of my Lord Stafford--to the door of the
lodgings engaged for me in Covent Garden Piazza above a jeweller's shop.

* * * * *

It was after sunset that we came there; and all the way along the
Strand, until we nearly reached the York Stairs, I had said nothing to
my man, but had used my eyes instead, striving to remember what I could
of seven years before. The houses of great folk were for the most part
on my left--Italianate in design, with the river seen between them, and
lesser houses, of the architecture that is called "magpie," on the
right. The way was very foul, for there had been rain that morning, and
there seemed nothing to carry the filth away: in places faggots had been
thrown down to enable c