He preached in some shrouded and
locked room in London one day; and the next, thirty miles off, in a
cow-shed to rustics. And his learning and his subtlety were equal to his
eloquence: her Grace had heard him at Oxford years ago, before his
conversion; and, it was said, would refuse him nothing, even now, if he
would but be reasonable in his religion; even Canterbury, it was
reported, might be his. And if he would not be reasonable--then, as was
fully in accordance with what was known of her Grace, nothing was too
bad for him.
Such feeling then, on the part of Protestants, found its fellow in that
of the Catholics. He was their champion, as no other man could be. Had
he not issued his famous "challenge" to any and all of the Protestant
divines, to meet them in any argument on religion that they cared to
select, in any place and at any time, if only his own safe-conduct were
secure? And was it not notorious that none would meet him? He was,
indeed, a fire, a smoke in the nostrils of his adversaries, a flame in
the hearts of his friends. Everywhere he ranged, he and his comrade,
Father Persons, sometimes in company, sometimes apart; and wherever they
went the Faith blazed up anew from its dying embers, in the lives of
rustic knave and squire.
And she was to see him!
* * * * *
"He is here for four or five days only," went on Anthony presently,
still in a low, cautious voice. "The hunt is very hot, they say.
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