"My little sister!" said he. "I saw you, then, in the orchard. And was it you that saved the life of the Stadtholder of Holland?"
"So they say," I replied, doubtfully, wondering at the joy I saw upon his countenance.
"I am glad of it," he said, "right glad of it, indeed." And with that he heaved a great sigh of relief.
"Glad!" I cried. "Glad, you say! How can that be, when you yourself were one of those that would have slain him?"
"With them indeed I was," he said; "but I had no part in the planning that foul plot, and took none in its attempted execution. Had I even known the wickedness that was toward, I would not have obeyed what I deemed of all earthly commands the most terrible. By the happiest stroke of chance they did move my lodging to the chamber where is the sliding panel that gives upon the stair by which I have now reached you. Old Mr. Nathaniel Royston did show it me when I was but a little lad and you unborn. But he brought me no further than this chamber. I do remember," my brother continued, with a note in his voice that seemed to mark the man's sadness to recall a merry childhood, "I do remember that he said, with his kindly chuckle, he must not show the rest of the secret to one that like enough would some day prove a Jesuit in disguise. Though he spoke in jest, he was a good prophet. And now, child," he said, with rapid change to a manner more urgent, "you must show me what he would not."
"If you mean the secret way from the house," said I, "I do not know it; nor I would not show it if I did. I am here on guard duty till Captain Royston return."
"Sister," said Philip, speaking with voice and words so solemn that heart and ear were enchained till he came to an end,—"Sister, King James and his cause are dear to me. Holy Mother Church and her cause are yet more dear. But dearest of all (God forgive me!), dearest of all to me now, little sister Phil, is our dear father's honor and the honor of his house. It is no shame to him or to the Drayton name that I should work or fight for King James; none if I should spend my life to bring the dear land back to the true faith. But what one of us will hold up his head again if the name must be made foul, and stink in the nostrils of men, for a base plot of treachery and assassination? Therefore, child of my father, for the name's sake, let me go."
With that he made to pass me and reach the door into the gallery, but I stepped between and took him by the arms.
"Do not move," I said; "not one step, lest I call on the guard." And he stood like a statue of stone, while for a few moments, stretched by the gravity and tension of my thought into the seeming of hours, I was silent, and then: "Philip," I said, "if you are innocent of this wicked thing, why are you in England?" And in a few words he told me of the mission on which he was come. Then said I: "Will you now give it up—this mission—and return at once into France, if I let you go?" And, seeing that he shook his head, "Come," I said; "be quick. It is that or naught. Swear it, and you may go for me. The Captain will be upon us soon, and then it will be too late."
"Yes," he answered.