“You here again!” cried Fawkes, angrily, and not unsuspiciously. “Do you play the spy upon me?”
“I have watched for you for the last ten nights,” replied Chetham hastily. “I knew not where you were. But I found your boat here, and I hoped you would not cross the water in any other.”
“Why all this care?” demanded Fawkes. “Has aught happened?—Is Viviana safe?—Speak, man! do not keep me longer in suspense!”
“Alas!” rejoined Chetham, “she is a prisoner.”
Guy Fawkes laying the train
“A prisoner!” ejaculated Fawkes, in a hollow voice. “Then my forebodings were not without cause.”
“How has this happened?” cried Catesby, who had listened to what was said in silent wonder.
Chetham then hastily related all that had taken place.
“I know not what has become of her,” he said, in conclusion; “but I have heard that she was taken to the Star-Chamber by the Earl of Salisbury,—for he, it appears, was the companion of Topcliffe,—and, refusing to answer the interrogations of the Council, was conveyed to the Tower, and, I fear, subjected to the torture.”