s yourself are at fault, Sir Walter, in that you trust those about
you," the Frenchman insisted.

Sir Walter stared at him, frowning. "D'ye mean Stukeley?" quoth he,
half-indignant already at the mere suggestion.

"Sir Lewis, he is your kinsman." De Chesne shrugged. "You should know
your family better than I. But who is this Manourie who accompanies you?
Where is he come from? What you know of him?"

Sir Walter confessed that he knew nothing.

"But I know much. He is a fellow of evil reputation. A spy who does not
scruple to sell his own people. And I know that letters of commission
from the Privy Council for your arrest were give' to him in London ten
days ago. Whether those letters were to himself, or he was just the
messenger to another, imports nothing. The fact is everything. The
warrant against you exists, and it is in the hands of one or another of
those that accompany you. I say no more. As I have tol' you, you should
know your own family. But of this be sure, they mean that you go to
the Tower, and so to your death. And now, Sir Walter, if I show you the
disease I also bring the remedy. I am command' by my master to offer
you a French barque which is in the Thames, and a safe conduct to the
Governor of Calais. In France you will find safety and honour, as your
worth deserve'."

Up sprang Sir Walter from his chair, and flung off the cloak of thought
in which he had been mantled.

"Impossible," he said. "Impossible! There is my plighted word to return,
and there are my Lords of Arundel and Pembroke, who are sureties for me.
I cannot leave them to suffer by my default."

"They will not suffer at all," De Chesne assured him. He was very well
informed. "King James has yielded to Spain partly because he fears,
partly because he will have a Spanish marriage for Prince Charles, and
will do nothing to trouble his good relations with King Philip. But,
after all, you have friends, whom his Majesty also fears. If you escape'
you would resolve all his perplexities. I do not believe that any
obstacle will be offer' to your escape--else why they permit you to
travel thus without any guard, and to retain your sword?"

Half distracted as he was by what he had learnt, yet Sir Walter clung
stoutly and obstinately to what he believed to be the only course for a
man of honour. And so he dismissed De Chesne with messages of gratitude
but refusal to his master, and sent for Captain King. Together they
considered all that the