ed thee at
Olney?"

"As thou for the king who dishonoured thee at Shene!"

Warwick frowned, and there was a moment's pause; at last, said the earl:
"Look you, Robin, I would fain not have on my hands the blood of a man
who saved my life. I believe thee, though a fanatic and half madman,--I
believe thee true in word as rash of deed. Swear to me on the cross
of this dagger that thou wilt lay aside all scheme and plot for this
rebellion, all aid and share in civil broil and dissension, and thy life
and liberty are restored to thee. In that intent, I have summoned my own
kinsman, Marmaduke Nevile. He waits without the door; he shall conduct
thee safely to the seashore; thou shalt gain in peace my government
of Calais, and my seneschal there shall find thee all thou canst
need,--meat for thy hunger and moneys for thy pastime. Accept my mercy,
take the oath, and begone."

"My lord," answered Hilyard, much touched and affected, "blame not
thyself if this carcass feed the crows--my blood be on mine own head!
I cannot take this oath; I cannot live in peace; strife and broil are
grown to me food and drink. Oh, my lord! thou knowest not what dark and
baleful memories made me an agent in God's hand against this ruthless
Edward!" and then passionately, with whitening lips and convulsive
features, Hilyard recounted to the startled Warwick the same tale which
had roused the sympathy of Adam Warner.

The earl, whose affections were so essentially homely and domestic, was
even more shocked than the scholar by the fearful narrative.

"Unhappy man!" he said with moistened eyes, "from the core of my heart
I pity thee. But thou, the scathed sufferer from civil war, wilt thou be
now its dread reviver?"

"If Edward had wronged thee, great earl, as me, poor franklin, what
would be thine answer? In vain moralize to him whom the spectre of a
murdered child and the shriek of a maniac wife haunt and hound on to
vengeance! So send me to rack and halter. Be there one curse more on the
soul of Edward!"

"Thou shalt not die through my witness," said the earl, abruptly; and he
quitted the chamber.

Securing the door by a heavy bolt on the outside, he gave orders to his
squire to attend to the comforts of the prisoner; and then turning into
his closet with Marmaduke, said: "I sent for thee, young cousin, with
design to commit to thy charge one whose absence from England I deemed
needful--that design I must abandon. Go back to the palace, and s