Garlick," she said; "last year; and was one
of those who spoke for his banishment."
* * * * *
And then, on a sudden, Mistress Alice moved in her corner, where she sat
with the widow of her brother.
"And what of her Grace?" she said. "Is it true what Dick told us before
supper, that Parliament hath sentenced her?"
Robin shook his head.
"I hear so much gossip," he said, "in the taverns, that I believe
nothing. I had not heard that. Tell me what it was."
He was in a torment of mind as to what he should say of his own
adventure at Chartley. On the one side it was plain that no rumour of
the tale must get abroad or he would never be able to come to her again;
on the other side, no word had come from Mr. Bourgoign, though two
months had passed. He knew, indeed, what all the world knew by now, that
a trial had been held by over forty lords in Fotheringay Castle, whither
the Queen had been moved at the end of September, and that reports had
been sent of it to London. But for the rest he knew no more than the
others. Tales ran about the country on every side. One man would say
that he had it from London direct that Parliament had sentenced her;
another that the Queen of England had given her consent too; a third,
that Parliament had not dared to touch the matter at all; a fourth, that
Elizabeth had pardoned her. But, for Robin, his hesitation largely lay
in his knowledge that it was on the Babington plot that all would turn,
and that this would have been the chief charge against her; and here,
but a yard away from him, in the gloom of the chimney-breast sat
Anthony's wife and sister.
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