easily and pleasantly, sure that you will be believed, by token of
the missive you bear to Master Dalaber of Stalbridge."

Garret's face was very set and thoughtful.

"Well, I will do it; I will try it," he answered. "It may be that
it comes from the Lord. I like it not altogether; but it may be I
have work to do for Him there. At least I will not tarry here,
where I may be a source of peril to others. So, with the first of
the morning light, I will go forth, and get me well on my way to
the south ere the hue and cry begin."

There was no sleep that night in Anthony Dalaber's lodging. The
news spread through the little brotherhood that Garret was in
peril, that he was about to leave Oxford; and all through the night
furtive visits were being paid him by those who desired his
blessing, and to wish him well on his way.

As for Dalaber, he wrote his letter with a shaking hand,
recommending his friend, one Edmund Thompson, as a curate to help
his brother in his parish. Yet all the while he felt a strange
sinking at heart which he could not explain or account for. And
when, in the grey light of the dawn, he said adieu to his friend,
and saw him vanish through the just opened gate and out into the
dim murk of the frosty morning, there came over his ardent and
impulsive spirit a strange sense of desolation and sinking; and
when he returned to his chill and lonely rooms, the first thing he
did was to fling himself upon his bed and break into tearless sobs,
the revenge of an exhausted nature.

"Cui bono? cui bono?" was the voiceless cry of his heart, and at
that moment it seemed as if everything were slipping away, even the
faith and the love which had upheld him for so long.

Sleep surprised him as he thus lay, and he slept deeply for some
hours, awaking somewhat refreshed, but full of anxious fears, both
for the safety of his friend and for his own future.

It was scarcely possible, he argued, that, should Garret's
movements be inquired into by the proctors and others, he could
fail to fall under suspicion, as, having been much in his company,
he would be doubtless suspected, and perhaps apprehended; and a
shiver of natural fear and horror ran through him at such a
prospect.

What had better be his course now? He mused of this as he got
himself some food; and while he was thus musing the door opened
hastily, and Fitzjames appeared, looking heated and nervous.

"Hast heard the news, Dalaber?"

"What news ?--not t