ot. Thou wert in his way, and he had thee removed
from England. He is strong now and fears thee no longer, and has had
thee sent ignominiously home, seizing hold of the idle suspicions of a
woman as a pretext."

"I see now," said the Knight, "reasons for her conduct, which at the
time seemed inexplicable. But what reported Celestina to him?"

"Recollect you your offer to join the congregation?"

"It was but a stratagem."

"But so could she not understand it. Besides, she mistrusted thine
intimacy with Winthrop, and his influence over thee."

"I loved the man for his gracious qualities, heretic though he be; but
he never influenced me."

"The intense zeal of Celestina, guided only by her womanly instincts,
was unable to comprehend thy feeling. She communicated her suspicions
to the Father, and it was his pleasure to receive them as truths and
act accordingly. It was the father who wrote the letters, signing
thereto feigned names, and charging thee with crimes as feigned. It
was he who, to avert suspicion from our order (for news had come that
the jealousy of the prick-ear'd heretics was aroused, and that they
were on sharp look-out for Catholics,) hesitated not to slander the
Sister, his own confidential agent, trusting, by the magnitude and
foulness of the charges, so to fill the minds of your judges, that
other surmises would be thrust out, and thus the ground be preserved
for further operations."

"I understand," said the Knight, "that my successor has departed."

"He has gone. Sister Celestina, in her elevation, forgets her
temporary humiliation, and Sir Christopher Gardiner--"

"Is the victim of a woman's suspicions and of a monk's policy. Albert,
I thank thee; my mind is now at ease, and I shall no longer beat the
air in vain attempts to discover my accusers; unsubstantial figments
of the Father's imagination. But why told you me not on my arrival in
London, when I did so eagerly search for the infamous varlets who had
attempted to attaint my honor, and when vain, of course, were my
exertions?"

"I was not then permitted. And now, I rely upon thy discretion to bury
the secret in thy breast. Any other course might be fatal to us both."

"Fear me not," said Sir Christopher. "I have been examining my heart,
and find I bear no malice against the holy Father. It was time we
should be removed, and the means, though harsh, were politic; for
suspicions of our being Catholics were rife, and what may sound
stra