There was a rustle along the benches.  Some there had heard of the fact, but no more; some had heard nothing of either the man or his death.  Two or three faces turned a shade paler; and then the silence settled down again.  For here was a matter that touched them all closely enough; since up to now scarcely a priest except Mr. Cuthbert Maine had suffered death for his religion; and even of him some of the more tolerant said that it was treason with which he was charged.  They had heard, indeed, of a priest or two having been sent abroad into exile for his faith; but the most of them thought it a thing incredible that in England at this time a man should suffer death for it.  Fines and imprisonment were one thing; to such they had become almost accustomed.  But death was another matter altogether.  And for a priest!  Was it possible that the days of King Harry were coming back; and that every Catholic henceforth should go in peril of his life as well as of liberty?

The folks settled themselves then in their seats; one or two men drank off a glass of wine.

“I have heard from a good friend of mine in London,” went on the priest, looking at his paper, “one who followed every step of the trial; and was present at the death.  They suffered at Tyburn....  However, I will tell you what he says.  He is a countryman of mine, from Yorkshire; as was Mr. Nelson, too.

“’Mr. Nelson was taken in London on the first of December last year.  He was born at Shelton, and was about forty-three years old; he was the son of Sir Nicholas Nelson.’

“So much,” said the priest, looking up from his paper, “I knew myself.  I saw him about four years ago just before he went to Douay, and he came back to England as a priest, a year and a half after.  Mr. Sherwood was not a priest; he had been at Douay, too, but as a scholar only....  Well, we will speak of Mr. Nelson first.  This is what my friend says.”

He spread the paper before him on the table; and Marjorie, looking past her mother, saw that his hands shook as he spread it.

“‘Mr. Nelson,’” began the priest, reading aloud with some difficulty, “’was brought before my lords, and first had tendered to him the oath of the Queen’s supremacy.  This he refused to take, saying that no lay prince could have pre-eminence over Christ’s Church; and, upon being pressed as to who then could have it, answered, Christ’s Vicar only, the successor of Peter.  Further, he proceeded to say, under questioning, that since the religion of England at this time is schismatic and heretical, so also is the Queen’s Grace who is head of it.

“’This, then, was what was wanted; and after a delay of a few weeks, the same questions being put to him, and his answers being the same, he was sentenced to death.  He was very fortunate in his imprisonment.  I had speech with him two or three times and was the means, by God’s blessing, of bringing another priest to him, to whom he confessed himself; and with whom he received the Body of Christ a day before he suffered.