'Why do you say, if Mary is allowed to reign,' I exclaimed, 'when she is reigning already?'

'Not yet!' cried Sir Hubert, in confident tones. 'Not yet! There are some who will never lay down their swords whilst they can wield them on behalf of Lady Jane.'

'A few doubtless,' exclaimed I. 'But, oh, what can a few do against so many, many others?'

'It is on the rightfulness of our cause that we rely,' said my dear knight. 'There is a saying, Margery, that if you give a man rope enough he will hang himself, and of course it holds good with a woman also. Mary has already pounced on a bishop and imprisoned him—or her followers have—and soon she will begin to burn Protestants alive. Then, by that blaze, the nation will awake to see what they are doing and the whole of Protestant England will rise as one man, and deposing Mary, put down papistry with an iron hand.'

'And meanwhile,' I said, 'my dear Lady Jane? And Master Montgomery, too,' my thoughts reverting to the good curate, who had taught me so many lessons of truth and righteousness at home, 'and you, my dear one, what will become of you?'

'If Mary reigns, the life of Lady Jane hangs on single thread,' Sir Hubert answered, oracularly. 'If papistry is upheld by the ruling power, your friend, Master Montgomery's life is not secure for a single day, or an hour. And, as for me, I am well aware that by refusing to submit myself to Mary, I am liable at any moment to be apprehended for high treason!'

I gave a great cry, for I knew that the penalty for high treason is death, and it took my beloved some time to quieten me. When, at last, I was calmer he said, 'if it were not for you, I should not care about myself. But, in any case, I am sure you would not wish to hold me back from doing my utmost to re-establish Lady Jane as Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland.'

'But the thing is beyond you!' I cried. 'You and a few others can never, never compass it—you will only spend your life, your precious life in the vain effort.'

And I looked around, with a frantic desire to see some one who might come to my help and assist me to persuade this dear, hot-headed, valiant knight not to cast himself into the gulf yawning between my dear Lady Jane and her crown.

The glory of the sunset was over now, the monarch of the skies having sunk out of sight, and the radiance of his setting was momentarily waning. A slight river mist was rising and stealing over the land, like a hazy veil obscuring, though not concealing its rich and brilliant green. Rooks cawed in the trees hard by, as if they were having some earnest debate upon affairs of importance in bird-land, and the distant baying of the watch-dogs up at the house reminded us that, though apparently alone, we were not far from a big residence. No one, however, appeared to be in sight on land, and looking across the darkening water I only perceived a barge, which seemed to be stationary on our side of the river, a little higher up. A few men were upon it, but they were too far apart and too insignificant in appearance to avail me anything, and I looked up to Sir Hubert, whose eyes were resting upon me, with a yearning look of love.