lmost reeled from weakness.
He was in no fit state for another day's riding; and when Freda
added her voice to that of Arthur, he consented to put off his
journey until after Easter.

Yet he looked straight into her eyes in making this concession, and
added firmly:

"But when the time comes I must go. And thou wilt bid me Godspeed,
my beloved; and if this journey should perchance bring me hurt--if
I should not return to thee therefrom--thou wilt not grieve over it
too much. Thou wouldst not withhold me, Freda?"

She looked into his eyes. She knew that peril might menace her
lover. It was as though he would, having once escaped, put his head
again into the jaws of the lion. None could say, if he and the
cardinal met, what might be the result to the impulsive but not
always discreet Dalaber. It seemed as though some power from within
urged him to make a confession, different from the one he had so
recently signed. It seemed as though his conscience would not let
him rest--as though he felt that he had been guilty of some act of
treachery towards his Lord.

Freda understood. She would not hold him back, though her eyes
filled with tears as he put the question.

"I will never withhold thee from what thou dost deem the right path
to tread, my beloved," she answered. "I will trust thee in the
hands of the all-loving Father, and pray that He may deliver thee
out of all peril. Be not rash. That is all I ask. Be as Master
Clarke--gentle, faithful, true, pure of heart and blameless of
speech. I ask nothing more of thee. Be true unto thine own better
self, and thou wilt be supported and upheld through all."

Arthur and his wife spoke much of the proposed journey.

"Wilt thou risk aught by it, my husband?" asked Magdalen, with a
tender anxiety in voice and look.

"I risk but little--nothing, perhaps; and right glad am I to
proffer this petition for our dear friend and teacher, Master
Clarke. It may be we shall fail in what we seek to accomplish, and
it may be that Anthony may fall once again under suspicion, and be
cast into prison as a heretic. No man can forecast these things,
and he will not seek to save himself this time.

"He has suffered already from tampering with his conscience.
Perchance I overbore him too much. It is hard to know what a man in
such straits should do. But I will seek to safeguard him all I can,
and bring him safely back. And if we win our petition, and gain
liberty for those three sick prisone