"Ah, say'st thou," said Grasp, "not a thousand yards from this house? As sure as my name is Grasp, your words point at the strangers who have been for the last two days playing at hide-and-seek at the Checquers. Am I right, good sir?"
"You are," said Neville.
"Now, praise be to my sagacity," said Grasp, "I all along suspected those mysterious men of being evil-doers. There is treason and concealed villany in their very shadows as they glide about. What is the nature of their designs and their intent, good Master Neville? are they emissaries of the Spaniard? or are they——"
"Let it suffice, their intentions are dangerous to the safety of the Queen, and they are secretly drawing into their conspiracy many Catholic gentlemen in this county who are discontented with the present government. Nay, five of them are sworn by the most binding oaths to sacrifice themselves to the service of taking the life of the Queen."
"Oh, the villains!" said Grasp, rubbing his hands with delight at the prospect of being accessory to the discovery of a conspiracy of so much magnitude. "Oh, the caitiffs! a plot to destroy our blessed Queen, and ruin the nation! now that's what I call worth living to hear of. I'm a made man, that's clear."
"Nay, but," said Neville, "we must go warily to work, good Grasp; and I must damp the exuberance of thy glee a trifle, inasmuch as this business is likely to implicate and deprive thee perhaps of a client of thine."
"Ah," said Grasp, his countenance falling a little, "that's rather bad, who is the man?"
"Sir Hugh Clopton."
"Thou hast taken my breath away," said Grasp, recoiling a pace or two. "Sir Hugh Clopton, whom men call the good Sir Hugh, engaged in such a bloodthirsty and jesuitical plot as this? Are you quite sure, honoured sir, of the correctness of what you utter?"
"I am quite sure that some of those engaged and deeply pledged to assassinate the Queen have been in hiding at Clopton Hall within the last two days. Nay, I shall be able to identify several of the best Catholic families in this county, as having been in correspondence with emissaries in Scotland, not only to assassinate Elizabeth, but to set the Queen of Scots at liberty, and place the crown upon her head."