The soldier loosed the cord, setting the prisoner free. Leicester pointed to the curtain. ‘Within call,’ said he. ‘I’ll trust him.’
Granton disappeared, and the two were left alone together. The moment that was so, their eyes met in steady challenge.
‘I might answer,’ said my lord, in a low voice, ‘would I could trace my better self therein.’ He seemed to ponder on the face before him in a darkly brooding way. ‘So,’ he said, ‘you would not kill me?’
He received no answer but the same steadfast look, nor seemed to expect one.
‘Nor,’ he added, ‘design me any evil?’
‘I have told you,’ was the reply, ‘my sole design is and ever has been to forget you live.’
Again a silence ensued, until suddenly Leicester spoke again:—
‘What is your purpose, tell me, in seeking to be introduced at Court?’
‘I do not seek.’
‘What! it was not for that you were persuaded to leave your retreat?’