“Thou needest not to answer, boy, on the condition that thou tell to me all that passed the first time that you saw Babington.”
“I cannot do that, sir.”
“’Twill be the better for thee,” warned the secretary. “We have knowledge that thou and thy father did meet with Babington at an inn in Salisbury. For thine own sake, thou wouldst best reveal what took place. Reflect! Thine own safety depends upon it.”
“I will not tell, Sir Francis,” returned Francis bravely.
“Have a care, boy. There are ways of extorting confessions from unwilling lips.”
“I do not misunderstand your meaning,” returned the girl with white lips, “but I cannot tell.”
“I WILL NOT TELL, SIR FRANCIS”