done! Ha! Lord Hastings is here,--he is ever humane and
pitiful. Dare we confide in him?"

A bright gleam shot over Hilyard's face. "Yes, yes; let me confer with
him alone. I wait him here,--quick!" The lady hastened back. Hastings
was conversing in a low voice with Sibyll. The dame of Longueville
whispered in the courtier's ear, drew him into the hall, and left him
alone with the false friar, who had drawn the cowl over his face.

"Lord Hastings," said Hilyard, speaking rapidly, "you are in danger,
if not of loss of life, of loss of favour. You gave a passport to
one Warner to see the ex-king Henry. Warner's simplicity (for he is
innocent) hath been duped,--he is made the bearer of secret intelligence
from the unhappy gentlemen who still cling to the Lancaster cause. He is
suspected, he is examined; he may be questioned by the torture. If the
treason be discovered, it was thy hand that signed the passport; the
queen, thou knowest, hates thee, the Woodvilles thirst for thy downfall.
What handle may this give them! Fly! my lord,--fly to the Tower; thou
mayst yet be in time; thy wit can screen all that may otherwise be bare.
Save this poor scholar, conceal this correspondence. Hark ye, lord!
frown not so haughtily,--that correspondence names thee as one who hast
taken the gold of Count Charolois, and whom, therefore, King Louis may
outbuy. Look to thyself!"

A slight blush passed over the pale brow of the great statesman, but he
answered with a steady voice, "Friar or layman, I care not which, the
gold of the heir of Burgundy was a gift, not a bribe. But I need no
threats to save, if not too late, from rack and gibbet the life of a
guiltless man. I am gone. Hold! bid the maiden, the scholar's daughter,
follow me to the Tower."

CHAPTER IX. HOW THE DESTRUCTIVE ORGAN OF PRINCE RICHARD PROMISES GOODLY
DEVELOPMENT.

The Duke of Gloucester approached Adam as he stood gazing on his model.
"Old man," said the prince, touching him with the point of his sheathed
dagger, "look up and answer. What converse hast thou held with Henry
of Windsor, and who commissioned thee to visit him in his confinement?
Speak, and the truth! for by holy Paul, I am one who can detect a lie,
and without that door stands--the Tormentor!"

Upon a pleasing and joyous dream broke these harsh words; for Adam then
was full of the contrivance by which to repair the defect of the engine,
and with this suggestion was blent confusedly the thought that