me to resign the allegiance of
my natural sovereign and to draw my sword in his behalf! If I do this
I am to have his gracious favour and protection. If not, I incur
sequestration, banishment, and ruin. He thinks Beaufort's loyalty is
to be bought like a packman's ware, or bullied out of him by ruffling
words. The descendant of John of Gaunt is to render fealty to the brat
of a wandering playwoman!'

Several of the company sprang to their feet, and a general buzz of
surprise and anger greeted the Duke's words. He sat with bent brows,
beating his foot against the ground, and turning over the papers upon
the table.

'What hath raised his hopes to such mad heights?' he cried. 'How doth
he presume to send such a missive to one of my quality? Is it because he
hath seen the backs of a parcel of rascally militiamen, and because
he hath drawn a few hundred chawbacons from the plough's tail to his
standard, that he ventures to hold such language to the President of
Wales? But ye will be my witnesses as to the spirit in which I received
it?'

'We can preserve your Grace from all danger of slander on that point,'
said an elderly officer, while a murmur of assent from the others
greeted the remark.

'And you!' cried Beaufort, raising his voice and turning his flashing
eyes upon me; 'who are you that dare to bring such a message to
Badminton? You had surely taken leave of your senses ere you did set out
upon such an errand!'

'I am in the hands of God here as elsewhere,' I answered, with some
flash of my father's fatalism. 'I have done what I promised to do, and
the rest is no concern of mine.'

'You shall find it a very close concern of thine,' he shouted, springing
from his chair and pacing up and down the room; 'so close as to put an
end to all thy other concerns in this life. Call in the halberdiers from
the outer hall! Now, fellow, what have you to say for yourself?'

'There is naught to be said,' I answered.

'But something to be done,' he retorted in a fury. 'Seize this man and
secure his hands!'

Four halberdiers who had answered the summons closed in upon me and laid
hands on me. Resistance would have been folly, for I had no wish to harm
the men in the doing of their duty. I had come to take my chance, and
if that chance should prove to be death, as seemed likely enough at
present, it must be met as a thing foreseen. I thought of those old-time
lines which Master Chillingfoot, of Petersfield, had ever held up