“I am surprised to hear it,” rejoined Topcliffe, “for they were once well known to you. It is the head of Guy Fawkes. Of all the conspirators,” he added, with a bitter laugh, “he was the only one who died truly penitent. It is reported that this happy change was wrought in him by Viviana Radcliffe.”
“Heaven have mercy upon his soul!” muttered Garnet.
“I will tell you a strange tale about Catesby,” pursued Topcliffe. “He was buried in the garden at Holbeach with Percy, but an order was sent down by the Earl of Salisbury to have their bodies disinterred and quartered. When Catesby's head was severed from the trunk, to be set on the gates of Warwick, fresh blood spouted forth, as if life were in the veins.”
“You do not expect me to believe this idle story?” said Garnet, incredulously.
“Believe it or not, as you please,” returned Topcliffe, angrily.
On arriving at the fortress, Garnet was lodged in the large chamber of the Beauchamp Tower, and allowed the attendance of his servant, Nicholas Owen, while Oldcorne was equally well accommodated in the Constable Tower. This leniency was the result of the policy of the Earl of Salisbury, who hoped to obtain disclosures from the two Jesuit priests which would enable him to strike the decisive blow he meditated against the Papists. But he was unsuccessful. They refused to make any confessions which would criminate themselves, or implicate others; and as none of the conspirators, not even Tresham, had admitted their connexion with the plot, it was difficult to find proof against them. Garnet underwent daily examinations from the Earl of Salisbury and the commissioners, but he baffled all their inquiries.
“If we cannot wring the truth from you by fair means, Mr. Garnet,” said Salisbury, “we must have recourse to torture.”
“Minare ista pueris,” replied Garnet, contemptuously.
“Leave these two priests to me, my lord,” observed Sir William Waad, who was present at the examination, which took place at the council-chamber in his lodgings,—"leave them to me,” he said in a low voice to the Earl, “and I will engage to procure a full confession from their own lips, without resorting to torture.”
“You will render the state an important service by doing so,” replied Salisbury, in the same tone. “I place the matter entirely in your hands.”