iron and his bitter murderous tongue, and the scaffold and the knife—­this is daunting to any man.  I made no mistake upon the matter.  If this were Dangerfield himself, my life was ended; he would not have come here, so far, and with such caution; he would not have been at the pains to smell me out at all, unless he were sure of his end; and, indeed, my companying so much with the Jesuits and my encounter with Oates, and my seeking service with the King, and for no pay too—­all this, in such days, was evidence enough to hang an angel from heaven.

This passed through my mind like a picture; and then I remembered that it was no more than a step on a paved path.

“If it is they,” I whispered, “they will be round the house by now.  We had best look from a dark window.”

But my Cousin Tom seized me suddenly by the arm in so fierce a grip that I winced and all but cried out; and so we stood.

“If you have brought ruin on me—­” he began presently in a horrid kind of whisper; and then he gripped me again; for again, so that no man could mistake it, came a single step on the paved path; and in my mind I saw how two men had crossed from lawn to lawn, to get all round the house, each stepping once upon the stones.  They must have entered from the yard.

In those moments there came to me too a knowledge, of the truth of which I neither had nor have any doubt at all, that my Cousin Tom was considering whether he might save himself or no by handing me forthwith to the searchers.  But I suppose he thought not; for presently his hand relaxed.

“In with you,” he whispered; and made a back for me to climb up into the hiding-hole.  I looked at my Cousin Dolly, and she nodded at me ever so gently; so I set my foot on my Cousin Tom’s broad back, and my hands to the ledge, and raised myself up.  It was a pretty wide space within, sufficient to hold three or four men, though my clothes and a few books covered most of the floor; but the only light I had was from the candle that my Cousin Dolly carried in her hand.  As I turned to the door again, I caught a sight of her face, very pretty and very pale, looking up at me:  I remember even now the shadow on her eyes and beneath her hair; and then the door was put to quickly, and I was all in the dark.

* * * * *

It was a very strange experience to lie there and to hear all that went on in the house, scarcely a hand’s-breadth away.

I lay there, I should think, ten minutes or a quarter of an hour before the assault was made; and during that time too I could tell pretty well all that went on.  There remained for a minute or thereabouts, a line of light upon the roof of my little chamber from the candle that my Cousin Dolly carried; (and that line of light was as a star to me); then I heard a little whispering; the light went out; and I heard soft steps going upstairs.  Then I heard first the door of my Cousin Dolly’s chamber close, and then another door which was my Cousin Tom’s.  Then followed complete silence; and I knew that the two would go to bed, and be found there, as if ignorant of everything.