at I mean to do should fail--my daughter
must seek another home and another protector. Were Miss Cecil to become
the wife of Sir Willmott Burrell, under _their_ roof Barbara should not
bide--the kite's nest is a bad shelter for the ring-dove."

"Where would you take her?--who would protect her?" inquired Robin
earnestly.

"Faith, I know not. I'll to Sir Robert Cecil this day--speak to him
about some matters of our own, and then be guided by circumstances as to
the disposal of my daughter.--My daughter! that word sends the blood to
and from my heart in cold and then in hot gushing streams! But, Robin,
you must not tarry; close watch shall be set for this dangerous imp, to
prevent farther mischief; and if Springall's conjecture should be
right--yet it is most wild, and most improbable!--What disguise will you
adopt in this pursuit of our heedless friend?"

"As yet, I know not; I must suit it to the times and to the persons I
encounter; a pedlar's will do me best at present; a pack is a fitting
nook for concealment. Dear Captain, look well to Jeromio; he never meant
you honest."

"I believe you are right, Robin; and yet why should I quarrel with men's
honesty? they have as good a right to label mine with the foul word
'spurious.' This damning thing within my breast, that saints call
conscience, how it has worked me lately! Poison is nothing to it: but it
will soon be over, if the boy were safe, and my own Barbara would but
pray for me, after the fashion of her mother." He paused, then striking
his forehead violently, as if to banish thought, continued, "You go to
London straight?"

"Ay, sure, and have secreted the invoices you spoke of, for the good
merchant beyond St. Paul's, who ordered the rich velvets, counting,
perhaps, upon a coronation."

"I hope he has a better chance of selling them than that affords. Noll
will hardly dare it; his name--Protector--gives as much power, and 'tis
as a fencing-master's guard, ever at hand to turn aside the sneers
against his ambition. Thought'st thou of the pearls for my Lord
Fauconberg's rich jeweller?"

"Ay, master, they are safe; those I will myself deliver; though, from
what the journals say, his Lordship has small need of new trimming.
'Twas the public talk, when you made me act the respectable character of
spy in Sir Willmott Burrell's service--at the court, sir, they talked of
nothing else--how the King of France, with his own hands, made him a
present of a gold box, i