ination of solid stubbornness and active energy, which, at
the battle of Barnet, made him no less formidable to encounter than the
ruthless sword of the mighty Edward.

"So, prince," said the duchess, "this new gentleman of the king's is,
it seems, a Nevile. When will Edward's high spirit cast off that hateful
yoke?"

Richard sighed and shook his head. The duchess, encouraged by these
signs of sympathy, continued,--

"Your brother Clarence, Prince Richard, despises us, to cringe to the
proud earl. But you--"

"I am not suitor to the Lady Isabel; Clarence is overlavish, and Isabel
has a fair face and a queenly dowry."

"May I perish," said the duchess, "ere Warwick's daughter wears the
baudekin of royalty, and sits in as high a state as the queen's mother!
Prince, I would fain confer with thee; we have a project to abase and
banish this hateful lord. If you but join us, success is sure; the Count
of Charolois--"

"Dear lady," interrupted Richard, with an air of profound humility,
"tell me nothing of plot or project; my years are too few for such high
and subtle policy; and the Lord Warwick hath been a leal friend to our
House of York."

The duchess bit her lip--"Yet I have heard you tell Edward that a
subject can be too powerful?"

"Never, lady! you have never heard me."

"Then Edward has told Elizabeth that you so spoke."

"Ah," said Richard, turning away with a smile, "I see that the king's
conscience hath a discreet keeper. Pardon me, Edward, now that he hath
sufficiently surveyed his shoon, must marvel at this prolonged colloquy.
And see, the door opens."

With this, the duke slowly moved to the table, and resumed his seat.

Marmaduke, full of fear for his ancient host, had in vain sought an
opportunity to address a few words of exhortation to him to forbear all
necromancy, and to abstain from all perilous distinctions between the
power of Edward IV. and that of his damnable Nature and Science; but
Catesby watched him with so feline a vigilance, that he was unable to
slip in more than--"Ah, Master Warner, for our blessed Lord's sake,
recollect that rack and cord are more than mere words here!" To the
which pleasant remark, Adam, then busy in filling his miniature boiler,
only replied by a wistful stare, not in the least recognizing the Nevile
in his fine attire, and the new-fashioned mode of dressing his long
hair.

But Catesby watched in vain for the abstraction of any treasonable
contents in the e