ously as if
to enquire.

Ralph grew excited; he scarcely knew why. He had seen hundreds of such
crowds; it might mean anything, from a rise in butter to a declaration
of war. But there was something fiercely earnest about this mob. Was the
King ill?

He leaned further from the window and shouted; but no one paid him the
slightest attention. The crowd shifted up the street, the din growing
as they went; there was a sound of slammed doors; windows opened
opposite and heads craned out. Something was shouted up and the heads
disappeared.

Ralph sprang back from the window, as more and more surged into sight;
he went to his door, glancing at his papers as he ran across; unlocked
the door; listened a moment; went on to the landing and shouted for a
servant.

There was a sound of footsteps and voices below; the men were already
alert, but no answer came to his call. He shouted again.

"Who is there? Find out what the disturbance means."

There was an answer from one of his men; and the street door opened and
closed. Again he ran to the window, and saw his man run out without his
doublet across the court, and seize a woman by the arm.

He waited in passionate expectancy; saw him drop the woman's arm and
turn to another; and then run swiftly back to the house.

There was something sinister in the man's very movements across that
little space; he ran desperately, with his head craning forward; once he
stumbled; once he glanced up at his master; and Ralph caught a sight of
his face.

Ralph was on the landing as the steps thundered upstairs, and met him at
the head of the flight.

"Speak man; what is it?"

The servant lifted a face stamped with terror, a couple of feet below
Ralph's.

"They--they say--"

"What is it?"

"They say that the King's archers are about my Lord Essex's house."

Ralph drew a swift breath.

"Well?"

"And that my Lord was arrested at the Council to-day."

Ralph turned, and in three steps was in his room again. The key clacked
in the lock.

CHAPTER VII

A QUESTION OF LOYALTY

He did not know how long he stood there, with the bundle of papers
gripped in his two hands; and the thoughts racing through his brain.

The noises in the street outside waned and waxed again, as the news
swept down the lanes, and recoiled with a wave of excited crowds
following it. Then again they died to a steady far-off murmur as the mob
surged and clamoured round the Palace and Abbey a couple of