That it was this man, above all others, that
should have come; this man, who stood to her mind, by a mere chance, for
all that was most dreadful in the sinister forces arrayed against
her--this brought misery down on her indeed. For, besides her own
personal reasons for terror, there was, besides, the knowledge that the
bringing of such a man at all from London on such business meant that
the movement beginning here in her own county was not a mere caprice.
She sat silent then--seeing once more before her the wide court of the
Tower, the great keep opposite, and in the midst that thin figure moving
to his hateful business.... And she knew now, in this instant, as never
before, that the chief reason for her terror was that she had coupled in
her mind her own friend Robin with the thought of this man, as if by
some inner knowledge that their lives must cross some day--a knowledge
which she could neither justify nor silence. Thank God, at least, that
Robin was still safe in Rheims!
II
She sent him off after a couple of hours' rest, during which once more
he had told his story to Mistress Alice, with a letter to Mr. Thomas's
wife, who, no doubt, would have followed her lord to Derby. She had gone
apart with Alice, while Dick ate and drank, to talk the affair out, and
had told her of Topcliffe's presence, at which news even the placid face
of her friend looked troubled; but they had said nothing more on the
point, and had decided that a letter should be written in Mistress
Babington's name, offering Mrs.
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