and he was
hobbling down the street on the arm of a young man. When I arrived at
Yarmouth I went out into the streets about a little business I had with a
bookseller, before taking horse. I heard a great commotion down near the
docks, at the entrance of Bridge Street; and hastened down there; and
there I saw pursuivants and seamen and officers all gathered about a
carriage, and keeping back the crowd that was pressing and crying out to
know who the man was; and presently the carriage drove by me, scattering
the crowd, and I could see within; and there sat old Dr. Storey, very
white and ill-looking, but steady and cheerful, whom I had seen the very
day before in Antwerp. Now this is very grievous for Dr. Storey; and I
pray God to deliver him; but surely the Duke and the King of Spain must
move now. They cannot leave him in Cecil's hands; and then, Sir Nicholas,
we must all be ready, for who knows what may happen."

Sir Nicholas was greatly moved. There was one of the perplexities which
so much harassed all the Papists at this time. It seemed certain that Mr.
Stewart's prediction must be fulfilled. Dr. Storey was a naturalised
subject of King Philip and in the employment of Alva, and he had been
carried off forcibly by the English Government. It afterwards came out
how it had been done. He had been lured away from Antwerp and enticed on
board a trader at Bergen-op-Zoom, by Cecil's agents with the help of a
traitor named Parker, on pretext of finding heretical books there
arriving from England; and as soon as he had set foot on deck he was
hurried below and carried straight off to Yarmouth. Here then was Sir
Nicholas' perplexity. To welcome Spain when she intervened and to work
actively for her, was treason against his country; to act against Spain
was to delay the re-establishment of the Religion--something that
appeared to him very like treason against his faith. Was the dreadful
choice between his sovereign and his God, he wondered as he paced up and
down and questioned Mr. Stewart, even now imminent?

The whole affair, too, was so formidable and so mysterious that the
hearts of these Catholics and of others in England when they heard the
tale began to fail them. Had the Government then so long an arm and so
keen an eye? And if it was able to hale a man from the shadow of the
Cathedral at Antwerp and the protection of the Duke of Alva into the
hands of pursuivants at Yarmouth within the space of a few hours, who
then