"And what did you there?"
"I gave the message."
"What was that?"
"… That Mr. Babington was her servant always; that he regretted nothing, save that he had failed. He begged her to pray for his soul, and for all that had been with him in the enterprise."
(It appeared to him that he was astonishingly voluble, all at once. He reflected that he must be careful.)
"And what did she say to that?"
"She declared herself guiltless of the plot … that she knew nothing of it; and that—"
"Now then; now then. You expect my lord to believe that?"
"I do not know…. But it was what was said."
"And you profess that you knew nothing of the plot till then?"