My resolutionwas so white-hot that it made me
calm.
I must hear more about it beforeI answer
you.
Im sure I beg your pardonfor intruding on
you.
It was as if he was for the first timeseeing
clearly the man before him.
We shall havesomething to say to each other, my
lord, when you are fit forspeech. Pon my honour, youre a well-plucked attorney, he
said. Sir Turnour, himself atruthful man, bowed to veracity in another.
He laughed, butnot pleasantly; his laugh had
discomfort in it, and fear, and asharp anxiety.
He had no mind to havehis private chamber treated
as a taproom. Not a minute could bewasted, for I had a sense that whatever evil was
coming would comesoon. His appetite had mysteriously gone, and even the excellent
port didnot improve his spirits.
I would lick your boots, sir,and think I did
honourably. Lord Belses is not nowin my house and never has been. Very dirty and
dishevelled, for he had been among the sheughs andcraigs of the
burnside.
The rain had abated a little, and I could see
perhaps fifty yardsaround me.
I turned to the window, and at first I saw no
better chancethere. The baronet had recovered his composure which had been
momentarilydisturbed by Belses story. When he haddrained it he lay back again upon
his pillow, and a faint colourreturned to his cheeks. I had information in Scotland
that he was at your house. When he had been assisted into his boots, Sir Turnour
buckled underhis coat a brace of pistols.
I bid you good-day, Sir Turnour, and I wish
youspeedily better luck in your mission. Then someone called for a light anda lamp
was set on the table.
Some say the Deils deid and buried in Kirkcaldy,
Bob quotedoracularly.
I could not mistakethe large mottled face and the
thick, grey, tufted eyebrows.
I met Cranmer first eighteen months ago in Italy,
and for a littlewe travelled together. I had thought that I was dealing with a
gentleman.