“God bless Her Majesty, Elizabeth,” returned Greville pointedly.
“Thy mother waits thee, Francis, in her tiring-room,” interposed Lord Stafford hastily. “Come to me anon. Greville, no more of this an thou lovest me.”
The tutor without another word withdrew from the room accompanied by his pupil.
“Was it not strange, cousin, that I should have thought our guest a priest?” queried Francis when they were beyond the portals of the door. 26
“Nay; the habit doth not always proclaim the monk,” quoth Greville sententiously. “You spoke truer than you knew when you called him ‘father.’”
“Is he in sooth then a priest?” asked the girl curiously. “Why comes he then in such array? Are not priests always welcome in my father’s house?”
“Is it not within thy ken that an edict hath been passed making it treason for priests to be found within the kingdom, and felony to harbor them? And, forsooth, there is much reason for such a law. So many have been the plots against the Queen’s Majesty that much precaution must be taken to preserve her from them.”
“Would evil befall my father should it come to the ears of the queen that he had given a priest entertainment?”
“I make no doubt of it, child. Therefore it behooves us to be silent respecting the matter. But, by my life, girl! we dally too long. Away! and set a guard upon thy lips. If thou canst carry so weighty a matter sub silentio then will I deem thee better than the most of thy sex.”