ding his
head in approval, and rising from his chair with an air of relief that
the business of the evening was settled. "Let us," he continued,
filling up the cups, "drink success to our compact."

"Ah!" cried Fawkes, pointing to the wine as it flowed from the
flagon's mouth, "A most fitting color be the draught;" then, as he
raised the tankard to his lips, "A toast, Sir Thomas, I will offer
thee. May we be as willing to give our blood when asked, as this good
flagon to yield its red cheer to us! And now I must set out for home,
and 'tis with a lighter heart than when I came. Dost thou wish my
presence here to-morrow?" he inquired as they reached the door.

"Thou mayst call on the stroke of ten, or thereabouts. Until then,
farewell."

The host watched the form of his guest disappear in the darkness, and
shutting the door, returned with a thoughtful step to the chamber
wherein they had been sitting. Filling a cup with wine and raising it
on high, he exclaimed with a laugh: "Troth, Master Fawkes, I did drink
to thy health awhile ago; now I will quaff a flagon to thy daughter.
Here is to one, Mistress Elinor, the fairest, the sweetest wench in
all England, and for one warm kiss from whose lips Sir Thomas Winter
would right gladly face grim death. Marry," he mused, setting down the
cup, "thou hast done, mayhap, a good stroke for the cause, in bringing
this bloodhound Fawkes from out of Spain, but young Monteagle, beware;
for if I be judge, the Spanish treatment of a heretic leaves but
little for the burial."

CHAPTER VI.

THE WISEST FOOL IN CHRISTENDOM.

The Royal Court of King James, at Whitehall, was furnished and
embellished with all the luxury which love of show and the power of
the owner could command. Choicest tapestries draped the walls, carpets
of marvelous softness covered the floors. In the King's bedchamber
stood an elaborately carved bedstead canopied with perfumed velvet
cunningly wrought in silk and gold. Upon its front glittered the royal
arms of England.

Reared as he had been in the plainness of Scottish simplicity, the
wealth and lavish display in the English manor houses where he had
rested during his journey from Edinburgh delighted and enchanted him
in the highest degree. Vain, fond of indolent diversions, and prodigal
in expenditures, he at once surrounded himself with the choicest
products of the weavers, decorators and artisans of the Continent.

In a chamber of this palace, on th