An ugly look came into his face.
'Sir Hubert will hang on our gallows to-morrow morning,' said he, slowly.
'No! no!' I cried. 'You dare not do such a thing! The law——'
'Has no power against me here, in this lonely country, amongst my servants and dependents,' he interrupted. 'The officers of the law will have their eyes directed towards Queen Mary, and that other foolish young woman, who aped——'
'Do not speak about Queen Jane in that way!' exclaimed I. 'Unless,' I added, 'you mean me to hate you even more than I do.'
'I shall speak as I please,' he muttered sulkily, 'What I mean to tell you is this. Out here in my own country, at this time when all the fighting-men are otherwise engaged, I can do almost what I like, and if I choose that Sir Hubert shall die, he shall.'
The horrible conviction came upon me as he spoke, that it was true; in the then distracted state of England, even a big crime, such as murdering Sir Hubert, could be done by a powerful miscreant like Sir Claudius, with impunity.
Still in desperation I cried out—
'You dare not! You dare not!'
'I dare,' he returned, 'for, look you, if he appealed to the law, I could but turn him over to the law, accusing him as I did so of high treason. They would behead him then, sure enough. Yes, I say, they would behead him.'