“Give me the letter,” she said again.

He sat down, excusing himself, and fumbled with his boot; and by the time that he held it out to her, she was in the thick of the conflict.  She knew well enough what it meant—­that there was no peril in all England like that to which this letter called her friend, there, waiting for him in Fotheringay where every strange face was suspected, where a Popish priest was as a sheep in a den of wolves, where there would be no mercy at all if he were discovered; and where, if he were to be of use at all, he must adventure himself in the very spot where he would be most suspected, on a task that would be thought the last word in treason and disobedience.  And, worst of all, this priest had lodged in the tavern where the conspirators had lodged; he had talked with them the night before their flight, and now, here he was, striving to get access to her for whom all had been designed.  Was there a soul in England that could doubt his complicity?...  And it was to her own house here in Derbyshire that he had come for shelter; it was here that he had said mass yesterday; and it must be from this house that he must ride, on one of her horses; and it must be her hand that gave him the summons.  Last of all, it was she, Marjorie Manners, that had sent him to this life, six years ago.

Then, as she took the letter, the shrewd woman in her spoke.  It was irresistible, and she seemed to listen to voice that was not hers.

“Does any here know that you are come?”

“No, mistress.”

“If I bade you, and said that I had reasons for it, you would ride away again alone, without a word to any?”

“Why, yes, mistress!”

(Oh! the plan was irresistible and complete.  She would send this messenger away again on one of her own horses as far as Derby; he could leave the horse there, and she would send a man for it to-morrow.  He would go back to Fotheringay and would wait, he and those that had sent him.  And the priest they expected would not come.  He, too, himself, had ceased to expect any word from Mr. Bourgoign; he had said a month ago that surely none would come now.  He had been away from Booth’s Edge, in fact, for nearly a month, and had scarcely even asked on his return last Saturday to Padley, whether any message had come.  Why, it was complete—­complete and irresistible!  She would burn the letter here in this hall-fire when the man was gone again; and say to Janet that the letter had been from a travelling priest that was in trouble, and that she had sent the answer.  And Robin would presently cease to look for news, and the end would come, and there would be no more trouble.)

“Do you know what is in the letter?” she whispered sharply. ("Sit down again and go on eating.”)

He obeyed her.

“Yes, mistress,” he said.  “The priest was taken from her on Saturday.  Mr. Bourgoign had arranged all in readiness for that.”