and bade him not speak of it; and that night I put on some more
ointment; and the next morning another sore was broken out, between the
finger and the thumb, so that I could not hold a pen without pain; and
it was then, for the first time, that I remembered what I had sworn."

He had his features under command again, but I could see, as he looked
at me, that his eyes were still full of emotion.

"Well, Mr. Mallock; I was in a great way at that; but yet I dared tell
nobody. I wore my glove all day, so that no one should see my hand; and
that evening when I went in to see Her Majesty, what should I see
hanging up on the wall of the chamber but the pictures of the five men
whose warrants I had signed!"

Once more he stopped.

Now I remembered that I had heard a little gossip as to the King's hand
about that time; but it had been so little that I had thought nothing of
it. It was very strange to hear it all now from himself.

"Well, sir," he said, "I am not ashamed to say what I did. I kissed
their pictures one by one, and I begged them to intercede for me. The
next morning, Mr. Mallock, the sores were healed up; and, the morning
after, the stiffness was all gone."

I said nothing; for what could I say? It is true enough that many might
say that it had all fallen out so, by chance, that it was no more than a
strain at tennis, or a humour in the blood, as the physician had
thought. But I did not think so, nor, I think, would many Catholics.

"You say nothing, Mr. Mallock," said the King.

"What is there to say, Sir?" asked I.

"What indeed?" he cried, again with the greatest emotion. "There is
nothing at all to say. The facts are as I have said."

Then there came upon me once more that passionate desire to see this
strange and restless soul at peace. Of those who have never received the
gift of faith I say nothing: God will be their Judge, and, I doubt not,
their Saviour if they have but been faithful to what they know; but for
those who have received the knowledge of the truth and have drawn back
from it I have always feared very greatly. Now that His Majesty had
received this light long before this time, I had never had any doubt;
indeed it had been reported, though I knew falsely, that he had
submitted to the Church and been taken into her Communion while he was
yet a young man in France. Yet here he was still, holding back from what
he knew to be true--and growing old too, as he had said. All this went
throug