"Come with me to-night, and to-morrow we will think of something else."
"That will be necessary, for I am going to the queen's masque."
"What, thou?"
"Yes, I," replied the madcap earl. "What seest thou in that?"
"Thy discovery, arrest, condemnation, and execution; for God's sake, my lord, be not so criminally rash."
"Fear not, I will never compromise thee."
"I have no fear of that, but——"
"Fear nought else, then, for I have resolved to go, and words are useless."
They had talked so long in the dark alley, that when they issued from its archway into the street opposite the church of St. Giles, the lights on the spire were all extinguished, and the crowd had dispersed. The whole façade of the edifice rose before them in dark outline, and the only light that tipped its pinnacles was the slanting lustre of the brilliant moon, as she seemed to sail to the westward through the pure blue of the star-studded sky.
One o'clock rang from the Netherbow spire as Roland and the earl passed it, so that the events of this chapter occupied exactly an hour.