"To Roehampton?" said his companion, after a word or two of regret.
"No, to Eyford."
For a moment his Grace of Devonshire was silent; and my lord without looking at him had the idea that he was startled. At length as the coach went by London House, "I would not do that--just at this time," he said, quietly.
"Why not?" asked my lord.
"Because--well, for one thing, the King's service may suffer."
"That is not your reason!" quoth my lord, stubbornly. "You are thinking of the Fenwick matter."
Again the other Duke delayed his answer: but when he spoke his voice was both kind and earnest. "Frankly, I am," he said. "If you know so much, Duke, you know that it would have an ill-appearance."
"How?" said my lord. "Let me tell you that all Sir John knows or can know, the King knows--and has known for some time."
This time there was no doubt that the Lord Steward was startled. "You cannot mean it, Duke," he said, in a constrained voice, and with a gesture of reproach. "You cannot mean that it was with his Majesty's knowledge you had a meeting with Sir John, he being outlawed at the time and under ban? That were to make His Majesty at best an abettor of treason; and at worst a viler thing! For to incite to treason and then to persecute the traitor--but it is impossible!"
"I have not the least notion what your Grace means," my lord said, in a freezing tone. "What is this folly about a meeting with Sir John?"