, "I care little. The character of a
man is like a garment, which, when soiled, may be washed and restored
to a likeness of its pristine beauty; that of a woman resembles white
paper, whereupon if a drop of blood has ever fallen, it may never be
erased. But what are the accusations devised against me?"

"Sir Christopher," answered Winthrop, with some hesitation, "it were
hardly orderly to communicate them to you now. Before the Council,
perhaps, should you hear them first. And yet see I no reason why, in
harmony with the merciful spirit of our law, they should not be
disclosed. We desire to overpower no man by surprise, or to deprive
truth of a single aid. You shall know."

Here Winthrop entered into the particulars, which it is, we trust,
unnecessary to set down, as the reader is supposed to be already
informed of them. He mentioned the contents of the letters from
England, but did not exhibit them, concealing nothing except what
appertained to the examination of the Lady Geraldine, all inquiries
respecting which he either evaded or directly refused to answer.
Courteously, indeed, was it done; nor could Sir Christopher deny that
the information was rightfully withheld. It was only in accordance
with the usual proceedings of courts of justice, when those who are
considered accomplices are examined apart from one another, in order
that they may not, by a knowledge of each other's answers, be better
able to frame their own.

To every accusation Sir Christopher opposed a steady denial. "That
falsely suspected as I am," he said, "of other crimes and
misdemeanors, I should also be deemed an usurper of a title that does
not belong to me, surprises me not. But grant me time to send home (as
the English in the colonies affectionately call England to this day,)
and I will prove my knighthood honorably won upon a stricken field, by
irrefragable testimony. I will not deny that I have the honor of an
acquaintance with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, but I am in no sense his
agent, nor in any wise hold communication with him, save as a friend.
For the note-book found at my lodgings, and deemed conclusive proof
that I am a Catholic, I aver that the memorandum therein contained
refers not to myself but to one whom it concerns not you that I should
name; and it furnishes no evidence against me, except what arises out
of the fact that I acknowledge one who is of Rome to be my friend."

"Whatever my private thoughts," said Winthrop, "it were