"You shall have a better one
from us, I have no doubt."
Mr. Thomas leaned over the table and took the paper. He examined it very
carefully; then he handed it back. His father laughed again as he took
it.
"You are very cautious, my son," he said. "But it is wise enough....
Well, then," he went on to the carpenter, "you are willing to do this
work for us? And as for payment--"
"I ask only my food and lodging," said the lad quietly; "and enough to
carry me on to the next place."
"Why--" began the other in a protest.
"No, sir; no more than that...." He paused an instant. "I hope to be
admitted to the Society of Jesus this year or next."
There was a pause of astonishment. And then old Sir Thomas' deep voice
broke in.
"You do very well, sir. I heartily congratulate you. And I would I were
twenty years younger myself...."
II
After supper that night the entire party went upstairs to the chapel.
Young Hugh Owen even already was beginning to be known among Catholics,
for his extraordinary skill in constructing hiding-holes. Up to the
present not much more had been attempted than little secret recesses
where the vessels of the altar and the vestments might be concealed. But
the young carpenter had been ingenious enough in two or three houses to
which he had been called, to enlarge these so considerably that even two
or three men might be sheltered in them; and, now that it seemed as if
the persecution of recusants was to break out again, the idea began to
spread.
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