ridgefield seems to thee thy true home," he
said, putting strong restraint on himself to say and do no more, while
his heart throbbed with a violence unawakened by storm or Spaniard.

"Tell me of them all," she said. "I have heard naught of them since we
left Tutbury, where at least we were in my Lord's house, and the dear
old silver dog was on every sleeve. Ah! there he is, the trusty rogue."

And snatching up Humfrey's hat, which was fastened with a brooch of his
crest in the fashion of the day, she kissed the familiar token. Then,
however, she blushed and drew herself up, remembering the caution not
to forget who she was, and with an assumption of more formal dignity,
she said, "And how fares it with the good Mrs. Talbot?"

"Well, when I last heard," said Humfrey, "but I have not been at home.
I only know what Will Cavendish and my Lord Talbot told me. I sent
Diccon on to Bridgefield, and came out of the way to see you, lady," he
concluded, with the same regard to actual circumstances that she had
shown.

"Oh, that was good!" she whispered, and they both seemed to feel a
certain safety in avoiding personal subjects. Humfrey had the history
of his voyage to narrate--to tell of little Diccon's gallant doings,
and to exalt Sir Francis Drake's skill and bravery, and at last to let
it ooze out, under Cis's eager questioning, that when his captain had
died of fever on the Hispaniola coast, and they had been overtaken by a
tornado, Sir Francis had declared that it was Humfrey's skill and
steadfastness which had saved the ship and crew.

"And it was that tornado," he said, "which stemmed the fever, and saved
little Diccon's life. Oh! when he lay moaning below, then was the time
to long for my mother."

Time sped on till the great hall clock made Cicely look up and say she
feared that the riders would soon return, and then Humfrey knew that he
must make sure to speak the words of warning he came to utter. He
told, in haste, of his message to Queen Elizabeth, and of his being
sent on to Secretary Walsingham, adding, "But I saw not the great man,
for he was closeted--with whom think you? No other than Cuthbert
Langston, whom Cavendish called by another name. It amazed me the
more, because I had two days before met him in Westminster with Antony
Babington, who presented him to me by his own name."

"Saw you Antony Babington?" asked Cis, raising her eyes to his face,
but looking uneasy.

"Twice, at Westminster,