heard: but if you hear the noise of feet or strange voices
in that chamber, have a care to lie as squat [quiet] and close as ever
you can. So may you safely hover [lie concealed]; for the cleverest
soldier of them all shall be hard put to it to find you here, if it
please God."

Would it please God? Did no memory come to either of those well-read
priestly refugees of a familiar question--"Shall the throne of iniquity
have fellowship with Thee?"

"A tight fit this, for two!" said Hall.

"Ay, it is. There hath not been above one here aforetime. But it is
the safest hilling [hiding-place] in the house. Good-day, holy Fathers,
and God keep you safe!"

While these scenes were enacting in one part of the house, in another
Sir Henry Bromley was introducing himself to the lady of Hendlip Hall,
and, with plumed hat in hand, apologising for his intrusion, and civilly
requesting her permission to examine the house. A kindly,
tender-hearted man was the commander of this searching party, but at the
same time a conscientious one, and a determined Protestant.

If anything could be more considerate and cordial than Sir Henry's
appeal, it was to all appearances the spirit wherein it was received.
Mrs Abington begged her visitor not to speak of intrusion. His Majesty
the King had no subjects more loyal than every man and woman in that
house. It was really a source of pleasure to her that her abode should
be scrutinised in the most critical manner, and her perfect innocence
and submission to law thus made manifest. The lady at once delivered
her keys--she did not say that a few of them were on a separate bunch--
and requested that no quarter might be given. Appearances were so
charming, and innocence apparently so clear, that they might have
deluded a more astute man than Sir Henry Bromley.

Sir Henry, however, had come to do his duty, and he did it in spite of
appearances. Lord Salisbury had furnished him with minute instructions,
which pointed decidedly to probable need of caution in this respect. He
was to search for a suspected vault at the east end of the dining-room;
for a similar erection beneath the cellars; for ingenious closets
squeezed in between the walls of upper rooms; for possible holes in
corners and chimneys, wainscots which could be pierced by gimlets,
double lofts, and concealed chambers in the rafters. Sir Henry set to
work. "Madam," said he to Mrs Abington, "were it not more to the
conveniency of