Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-29
CHAPTER VIII.

ana now 1 Will uhclasp a secret DOOR,,
Now, Master Bare quilted the White
Tower and Bartholomew Fail was muster
ing his wsrders and Master CYL. the
keeper OF the beasts, went hurrying out
upon his business, but all the merry hour
they had passed with him. Even the con-
stable had returned to the tower by this
time and, what with the going and com
ing Of horsemen. the mounting Of cannon
and all the hasty counterpart. none had
leisure to think Of aught but his own safety
and the means whereby he might secure 1t.
From his chamber, now dimly lighted by a
single lantern. Roy listened to the loud cries
of command, the jsngling tocsins. the
thunder Of hoofs, the b~abbling tongues, and
content to know that the crisis of his day
had come, none the less a pregnant anxiety
Of 1t remained and would not be quieted.
Shrewd as he was he would not hide from
himself that he had taken e.! upon a single
throw. The hazard of the night might yet
betray him, he said. Every hour which
passed and found him without compact
quickened the peril and warred upon his
secret. That which he had ridden to Lon
don to tell might already have been told by
others. He had come to say, II carry a
secret to London and will barter It for the
freedom we can give me-" But IL this secret
c Olu u . lApot "ha llbhN
Of ransom remained to him? An unbridled
horde marched upon the city and might yet
march upon the palace. wit and courage,
readiness and resource were needed TO save
Mary's throne that night. He remembered
those he had seen at the palace and asked
himself where such wit might be looked for,
such resource discovered. From Gardiner
that woman In petticoats who paled at a
loud word and dawdled to discuss a woman
faith when the honor of a kingdom was in
peril? From Bonner. the gloomy fanatic,
who dreamed already OF fire and burning?
From my Lord Howard, who whimpered for
lack OF the troop he could not raise? From
all the sycophants and faint hearts who
clamored for a legate and would kneel TO
their own shadows IL place were to be got
thereby? A sorry crew, indeed! And yet
not sorrier than the men who followed
their, the unwilling mercenaries the hasty-
gotten bands which served Mary for her
army! set me In Sherwood with a hum
bred Of mine, and I would scatter them as
chaft!" the outlaw said. The clamor from
without answered the taunt. He remem-
bered how far he stood from Sherwood and
his home.
An hour passed and upon that an hour,
and still none came to him; and still he
heard the tolling bells. the murmur Of the
voices. None might charge him with fore
boding II, at such a time, he said that the
night was lost, the hazard misthrown. All
had been ventured, all staked vainly. Wyatt
would enter London at dawn and that would
be the end of 1t. You shall Judge his mood
when, in such circumstance and impotence,
his brooding thought was turned as at an
unspoken summons, and the door OF his
chamber being thrown wide open, he beheld,
not Master Bare, whom he had looked for,
nor the lieutenant he had commanded to
COM to him, nor any Of those who recently
had kept the masquerade, but my Lady Bar
bara herself, heralded by two that carried
torches and followed by others that swung
lanterns in the gloom, So flushed she was,
so quick to run to him, so full Of Joy, that
in his perplexity he could but cry, Thou"
and. pressing her close to him, believe, in
deed. that the new day had dawned.
"Thou!-thou. In this place! Nay, dear
heart. 1t Is not thou, for assuredly 1
dream-"
He put the question all wonderinsly, but
she, though she had a thousand words Of
love to utter. spake none OF them; but
drawing back from his embrace she said: