Again, it was said that he had had part in
attempts to free the Queen of the Scots, even from Fotheringay itself;
and had been in the castle court, with a number of armed servants, at
the very time of her execution. Again, if he allowed that he had been
present, even though he denied the armed servants, the rest might be
presumed. Finally, since he were a priest, and had seen her Grace at a
time when there was no chaplain allowed to her, it was certain that he
must have ministered their Popish superstitions to her, and this was
neither denied nor affirmed: he had said to this that they had yet to
prove him a priest at all. The very spectacle of the trial, too, had
been remarkable; for, first, there was the extraordinary appearance of
the prisoner, bent double like an old man, with the face of a dead one,
though he could not be above thirty years old at the very most; and then
there was the unusual number of magistrates present in court besides the
judges, and my lord Shrewsbury himself, who had presided at the racking.
It was one of my lord's men, too, that had helped to identify the
prisoner.
But the supreme interest lay in even more startling circumstances--in
the history of Mistress Manners, who was present through the trial with
Mr. Biddell the lawyer, and who had obtained at least two interviews
with the prisoner, one before the torture and the other after sentence.
It was in Mistress Manners' house at Booth's Edge that the priest had
been taken; and it was freely rumoured that although Mr.
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