rs, it will be worth all the
risk and labour we have undergone to gain it."

"Hast ever had speech with the cardinal before?" asked Magdalen,
trembling a little at the thought.

"I have been in his company at times, but received nothing but a
fleeting glance or a passing word of courtesy. I have watched him
in converse with others many times. He hath a stately presence, and
a great gift of speech. He can win hearts by the grace and
kindliness of his address, or he can send men away quaking in fear
by the flash of his eagle eye and the stern rebukes which fall from
his lips. And none can know beforehand which will be his fashion of
receiving a petition, and particularly such a petition as ours.

"In God's hands must we leave the issues. But at least for such a
man as John Clarke it must surely be right to adventure somewhat. I
will go with Anthony. Together, I trust, we shall succeed."

"And we at home will pray day and night for your success," answered
the young wife, clinging to her husband, from whom she must make up
her mind to part on an errand that might be fraught with peril;
"and surely I think that God will hear and answer us, and give you
grace and power to intercede."

So as soon after Easter as Anthony was fit for the saddle the two
friends started off together on horseback for London, whilst the
wife and the betrothed stood to watch them away, waving them a
farewell, and hiding from their eyes the starting tears, which were
only allowed to fall when the sisters were left alone together.

Chapter XVII: The Clemency Of The Cardinal

The great man sat in his private closet, with the ivory crucifix in
the corner before the prie dieu chair, a wonderful picture of the
annunciation on the wall, where he could see it every time he
lifted his eyes, and a table piled with papers before him, though
piled with a certain method and order which enabled him to lay his
hand in a moment upon any required document.

He wore the scarlet robes of his office, and a scarlet skullcap was
on his head. His features were those of the ascetic and man of the
world. The skin was pale and slightly sallow, like old parchment;
the hair was turning white, and was thin upon the temples. The
clear-cut features were impressive, both in outline and in
expression, and the eye was as the eye of the eagle, so keenly
penetrating and far-seeing that many had shrunk before its gaze as
before the sharp thrust of a rapier.

Arthur C