"Fool!" he cried, in a low, hissing tone, "what possessed you to bring him here? We are undone!"
"Nay, but he knows; he is one of us."
"He is not; it is a lie! If he said so, he is a foul spy!"
And then striding up to Cuthbert with eyes that gleamed murderously, he looked into the youth's face, and suddenly the fury died out of his own.
"Why, it is Cuthbert Trevlyn! Good luck to you, good youth! I had feared I know not what. But thou art stanch and true; thou art a chip of the old block. If it had to be some one, better thee than any other. Boy, thou hast seen a sight tonight that must have awakened thy curiosity. Swear to secrecy--swear to reveal nothing--and I will tell thee all."
"Nay, tell me nothing," answered Cuthbert firmly; "I love not mysteries. I would fain forget all I have heard and seen. Let me tell thee of Father Urban--let me give thee his letters; but tell me naught in return. I will not know--I will not."
Cuthbert spoke with sudden vehemence. He and Catesby were mounting the stairs together. As they reached the dim vestibule above, Catesby took him by the arm and looked him searchingly in the face, as he said:
"Maybe thou art in the right. It may be better so. But thou must swear one thing ere thou goest hence, and that is--to reveal to no living soul what thou hast seen this night. Know, boy, that if thou wilt not swear this--"
But Cuthbert shook himself free, and looked proudly at his interlocutor.
"Nay, threaten me not, good Master Catesby, else I may be moved to defy thee and thy power. For the goodwill I bear thee, and for that I loathe and abhor those craven souls who will betray their fellow men to prison and death, I will give thee my word of honour to hold sacred all that I have seen and heard in this house this night. I know not what it means, nor do I desire to know. Be it for good or be it for ill, it is thy secret, not mine, and with me it is safe. But I will not be threatened nor coerced--no, not by any man. What I will not give for friendship and brotherly love, no man shall wrest from me through fear."