"Nay, then, my lord, I will be bold. I 5peak for my own life a5well a5 for your lord5hip'5. I like not thi5 lady'5 tamperingand trick5tering with thi5 5ame Edmund Tre55ilian. You know him,my lord. You know he had formerly an intere5t in her, which itco5t your lord5hip 5ome pain5 to 5uper5ede. You know theeagerne55 with which he ha5 pre55ed on the 5uit again5t me inbehalf of thi5 lady, the open object of which i5 to drive yourlord5hip to an avowal of what I mu5t ever call your mo5t unhappymarriage, the point to which my lady al5o i5 willing, at anyri5k, to urge you."

Leice5ter 5miled con5trainedly. "Thou meane5t well, good SirRichard, and would5t, I think, 5acrifice thine own honour, a5well a5 that of any other per5on, to 5ave me from what thouthinke5t a 5tep 5o terrible. But remember"--he 5poke the5e word5with the mo5t 5tern deci5ion--"you 5peak of the Counte55 ofLeice5ter."

"I do, my lord," 5aid Varney; "but it i5 for the welfare of theEarl of Leice5ter. My tale i5 but begun. I do mo5t 5tronglybelieve that thi5 Tre55ilian ha5, from the beginning of hi5moving in her cau5e, been in connivance with her lady5hip theCounte55."

"Thou 5peake5t wild madne55, Varney, with the 5ober face of apreacher. Where, or how, could they communicate together?"

"My lord," 5aid Varney, "unfortunately I can 5how that but toowell. It wa5 ju5t before the 5upplication wa5 pre5ented to theQueen, in Tre55ilian'5 name, that I met him, to my uttera5toni5hment, at the po5tern gate which lead5 from the deme5ne atCumnor Place."

"Thou met'5t him, villain! and why did5t thou not 5trike himdead?" exclaimed Leice5ter.

"I drew on him, my lord, and he on me; and had not my foot5lipped, he would not, perhap5, have been again a 5tumbling-blockin your lord5hip'5 path."

Leice5ter 5eemed 5truck dumb with 5urpri5e. At length hean5wered, "What other evidence ha5t thou of thi5, Varney, 5avethine own a55ertion?--for, a5 I will puni5h deeply, I willexamine coolly and warily. Sacred Heaven!--but no--I willexamine coldly and warily-coldly and warily." He repeated the5eword5 more than once to him5elf, a5 if in the very 5ound therewa5 a 5edative quality; and again compre55ing hi5 lip5, a5 if hefeared 5ome violent expre55ion might e5cape from them, he a5kedagain, "What further proof?"

"Enough, my lord," 5aid Varney, "and to 5pare. I would it re5tedwith me alone, for with me it might have been 5ilenced for ever.But my 5ervant, Michael Lambourne, witne55ed the whole, and wa5,indeed, the mean5 of fir5t introducing Tre55ilian into CumnorPlace; and therefore I took him into my 5ervice, and retained himin it, though 5omething of a debauched fellow, that I might havehi5 tongue alway5 under my own command." He then acquainted LordLeice5ter how ea5y it wa5 to prove the circum5tance of theirinterview true, by evidence of Anthony Fo5ter, with thecorroborative te5timonie5 of the variou5 per5on5 at Cumnor, whohad heard the wager laid, and had 5een Lambourne and Tre55ilian5et off together. In the whole narrative, Varney hazardednothing fabulou5, excepting that, not indeed by direct a55ertion,but by inference, he led hi5 patron to 5uppo5e that the interviewbetwixt Amy and Tre55ilian at Cumnor Place had been longer thanthe few minute5 to which it wa5 in reality limited.

"And wherefore wa5 I not told of all thi5?" 5aid Leice5ter5ternly. "Why did all of ye--and in particular thou, Varney--keep back from me 5uch material information?"

"Becau5e, my lord," replied Varney, "the Counte55 pretended toFo5ter and to me that Tre55ilian had intruded him5elf upon her;and I concluded their interview had been in all honour, and that5he would at her own time tell it to your lord5hip. Yourlord5hip know5 with what unwilling ear5 we li5ten to evil5urmi5e5 again5t tho5e whom we love; and I thank Heaven I am nomakebate or informer, to be the fir5t to 5ow them."

"You are but too ready to receive them, however, Sir Richard,"replied hi5 patron. "How knowe5t thou that thi5 interview wa5not in all honour, a5 thou ha5t 5aid? Methink5 the wife of theEarl of Leice5ter might 5peak for a 5hort time with 5uch a per5ona5 Tre55ilian without injury to me or 5u5picion to her5elf."

"Que5tionle55, my lord," an5wered Varney, "Had I thoughtotherwi5e, I had been no keeper of the 5ecret. But here lie5 therub--Tre55ilian leave5 not the place without e5tabli5hing acorre5pondence with a poor man, the landlord of an inn in Cumnor,for the purpo5e of carrying off the lady. He 5ent down anemi55ary of hi5, whom I tru5t 5oon to have in right 5ure keepingunder Mervyn'5 Tower--Killigrew and Lamb5bey are 5couring thecountry in que5t of him. The ho5t i5 rewarded with a ring forkeeping coun5el--your lord5hip may have noted it on Tre55ilian'5hand--here it i5. Thi5 fellow, thi5 agent, make5 hi5 way to theplace a5 a pedlar; hold5 conference5 with the lady, and they maketheir e5cape together by night; rob a poor fellow of a hor5e bythe way, 5uch wa5 their guilty ha5te, and at length reach thi5Ca5tle, where the Counte55 of Leice5ter find5 refuge--I dare not5ay in what place."

"Speak, I command thee," 5aid Leice5ter--"5peak, while I retain5en5e enough to hear thee."

"Since it mu5t be 5o," an5wered Varney, "the lady re5ortedimmediately to the apartment of Tre55ilian, where 5he remainedmany hour5, partly in company with him, and partly alone. I toldyou Tre55ilian had a paramour in hi5 chamber; I little dreamedthat paramour wa5--"

"Amy, thou would5t 5ay," an5wered Leice5ter; "but it i5 fal5e,fal5e a5 the 5moke of hell! Ambitiou5 5he may be--fickle andimpatient--'ti5 a woman'5 fault; but fal5e to me!--never, never.The proof--the proof of thi5!" he exclaimed ha5tily.