a woman, and sent her to
show the men where to stable the horses, while Anthony and Isabel and the
maid dismounted and came in with her to the house.

There, they talked over the situation and what was best to be done. Her
husband had ridden over to Wrotham, and she expected him back for supper;
nothing then could be finally settled till he came. In the meantime the
Manor Lodge was probably the safest place in all the woods, Mrs. Kirke
declared; the nearest house was half a mile away, and that was the
Rectory; and the Rector himself was a personal friend and favourable to
Catholics. The Manor Lodge, too, stood well off the road to Wrotham, and
not five strangers appeared there in the year. Fifty men might hunt the
woods for a month and not find it; in fact, Mr. Kirke had taken the house
on account of its privacy, for he was weary, his wife said, of paying her
fines for recusancy; and still more unwilling to pay his own, when that
happy necessity should arrive; for he had now practically made up his
mind to be a Catholic, and only needed a little instruction before being
received.

"He is a good man, father," she said to Anthony, "and will make a good
Catholic."

Then she explained about the accommodation. Isabel and the maid would
have to sleep together in the spare room, and Anthony would have the
little dressing-room opening out of it; and the men, she feared, would
have to shake down as well as they could in the loft over the stable in
the barn.

At seven o'clock Mr. Kirke arrived; and when the situation had been
explained to him, he acquiesced in the plan. He seemed confident that
there was but little danger; and he and Anthony were soon deep in
theological talk.

Anthony found him excellently instructed already; he had, in fact, even
prepared for his confession; his wife had taught him well; and it was the
prospect of this one good opportunity of being reconciled to the Church
that had precipitated matters and decided him to take the step. He was a
delightful companion, too, intelligent, courageous, humorous and modest,
and Anthony thought his own labour and danger well repaid when, a little
after midnight, he heard his confession and received him into the Church.
It was impossible for Mr. Kirke to receive communion, as he had wished,
for there were wanting some of the necessaries for saying mass; so he
promised to ride across to Stanfield in a week or so, stay the night and
communicate in the morning.

The