hion all through the dark days of
the previous winter when he had been so much with them. They were
always looking for a day of release, always dwelling on the bright
prospects of the future. But some instinct told Cuthbert that there
was a difference now in the fashion of their talk, and he was made
uncomfortable by it though he scarce knew why.

He rose to go.

"I have but just returned. I have many visits to pay. I will come
again anon," he said.

"Ay, but come not too openly. Let us not be seen consorting
together. And as thou walkest the street, keep thine eyes and thine
ears open and attent, and learn ever what men say and think. If
thou hearest aught of moment, bring it to us. Every whisper may be
of value. And now farewell. Come not again by day, but slip in by
the door in the archway when all be wrapped in gloom. So it is
safest."

Cuthbert drew a deep breath of relief when he stood once again in
the fresh air. He walked rapidly through the familiar sunny streets
and strove to forget the impression made upon him by the recent
interview.

"Plots, plots, plots!" he muttered--"nothing but dark plots, and
the hope that things will thus be set right. I misdoubt me if it
will ever be by such means. Poor souls! I pity them with all my
heart; but I like not their ways. They are not the ways of truth,
of uprightness, of equity. Methinks I had better hold aloof and
have no dealings with them. They seem to think because I like
them--the men themselves--and mislike these persecutions even as
they do, that I am one with them and understand their ways and
their deeds. But I do not, I do not, and I think not that I ever
shall. I will go mine own way, and they must go theirs. It were
best not to meddle too much in strange matters. Now I will go and
seek honest Jacob. From him methinks I shall get as warm a welcome,
but a welcome that is not tinged with these mysteries and dark
words."

Chapter 22: Whispers Abroad.

"Have naught to do with them, Cuthbert! I like them not."

"Yet they be good men, and stanch and true. Thou hast said so
thyself a score of times in my hearing, good Jacob. Why should I
avoid them now? What have they done amiss?"

Jacob passed his large hand across his face, and looked at Cuthbert
with an expression of perplexity.

"They are Papists," he said at last, in a slightly vague and
inconclusive fashion.

Cuthbert laughed aloud.

"Why, that I know well; and I am not scared by the na