, ay, and patience in
adversity, such as, Heaven forbid, thy mother should ever know."

"Amen, and verily amen," said Humfrey. "Deem you then that she hath
not worked her own woe?"

"Nay, lad, what saith the Scripture, 'Judge not, and ye shall not be
judged'? How should I know what hath passed seventeen years back in
Scotland?"

"Ay, but for present plots and intrigues, judge you her a true woman?"

"Humfrey, thou hadst once a fox in a cage. When it found it vain to
dash against the bars, rememberest thou how it scratched away the earth
in the rear, and then sat over the hole it had made, lest we should see
it?"

"The fox, say you, sir? Then you cannot call her ought but false."

"They tell me," said Sir Richard, "that ever since an Italian named
Machiavel wrote his Book of the Prince, statecraft hath been craft
indeed, and princes suck in deceit with the very air they breathe. Ay,
boy, it is what chiefly vexes me in the whole. I cannot doubt that she
is never so happy as when there is a plot or scheme toward, not merely
for her own freedom, but the utter overthrow of our own gracious
Sovereign, who, if she hath kept this lady in durance, hath shielded
her from her own bloodthirsty subjects. And for dissembling, I never
saw her equal. Yet she, as thy mother tells me, is a pious and devout
woman, who bears her troubles thus cheerfully and patiently, because
she deems them a martyrdom for her religion. Ay, all women are riddles,
they say, but this one the most of all!"

"Thinkest thou that she hath tampered with--with that poor maiden's
faith?" asked Humfrey huskily.

"I trow not yet, my son," replied Richard; "Cis is as open as ever to
thy mother, for I cannot believe she hath yet learnt to dissemble, and
I greatly suspect that the Queen, hoping to return to Scotland, may be
willing to keep her a Protestant, the better to win favour with her
brother and the lords of his council; but if he be such a cur as thou
sayest, all hope of honourable release is at an end. So thou seest,
Humfrey, how it lies, and how, in my judgment, to remain here is but to
wring thine own heart, and bring the wench and thyself to sore straits.
I lay not my commands on thee, a man grown, but such is my opinion on
the matter."

"I will not disobey you, father," said Humfrey, "but suffer me to
consider the matter."

CHAPTER XVIII.

CIS OR SISTER.

Buxtona, quae calidae celebraris nomine lymphae
Forte mihi post h