“Is this your final resolve, my lord?” rejoined Catesby.
“It is,” replied the Earl.
“It must content us,” observed Garnet; “though we hoped you would have lent your active services to further a cause, having for its sole object the restoration of the church to which you belong.”
“I know not the means whereby you propose to restore it, father," replied Mounteagle, “and I do not desire to know them. But I guess that they are dark and bloody, and as such I can take no part in them.”
“And you refuse to give us any counsel or assistance?” pursued Garnet.
“I will not betray you,” replied Mounteagle. “I can say nothing further.”
“I would rather he promised too little, than too much,” whispered Catesby to Garnet. “I begin to think him sincere.”
“I am of the same opinion, my son,” returned Garnet.
“One thing you shall do, before I consent to set you free, on any terms, my lord,” observed Guy Fawkes. “You shall engage to procure the liberation of Viviana Radcliffe from the Tower. You told Tresham you could easily accomplish it.”
“I scarcely knew what I said,” replied Mounteagle, with a look of embarrassment.