“We are hiding a number of books belonging to various brethren and confederates,” spoke Garret, as the task went on.  “By a providential warning our brother, Dr. Barnes, received timely notice of visitation at his house, and the books were hurriedly carried hither in the dead of night.  You have heard, perhaps, of his arrest?”

“No,” answered Clarke; “we have but just arrived, and the last fifteen miles we came by water in a wherry.  The man knew naught of the talk of the town, save that a great burning of books is to take place on the morrow at Paul’s Cross.”

“Ay,” spoke Garret, with a grim compression of the lips, “a mighty burning of forbidden books will take place there.  But mark, my friends; had those books yonder been found in Dr. Barnes’s house, not books alone but the man himself would have been burnt upon the morrow.  The cardinal plainly told him so; and as it is, he has signed a paper which they call a recantation of heresy.  Let us not judge him harshly.  His friends pleaded, and his foes threatened, and the flesh shrinks from the fiery trial.  He will read this confession or recantation tomorrow at St. Paul’s, and help to fling the precious books upon the devouring flames.

“Ah me!  Let us not judge him!  Judge nothing before the time, till the Lord come.  Oh, would that Ho would come Himself, to bring to an end this dark night of persecution and terror, and take the kingdom and the power and reign!”

And again the voices of the brethren answered, “Amen!”

“Are there any others who take part in this strange pageant on the morrow?” asked Clarke, after a brief pause.

“Yes; five honest fellows from the Stillyard, who have been detected in bringing books up the river and landing them.  They are condemned to appear tomorrow, and to assist in the holocaust with their own hands.  Being humbler men, they are dealt with more lightly; and men all agree in this, that the cardinal would rather persuade men to escape, and make the way easy for them to abjure what he calls their errors, than drag them to the stake.  But he will not shrink from that last step, if he think the welfare of the church demands it; and there are others who bear a yet more cruel hatred towards all who would be free from the shackles of falsehood and superstition.  And much power belongs to them.  God alone knows what is coming upon this realm.”

“But God does know; let that be enough!” spoke Clarke, with the quick lighting of his clear blue eyes which gave him such power over his hearers.

He and Garret were men of markedly contrasted types—­the one all fire, restlessness, energy; the other calm, contemplative, intensely spiritual.  Both were alike filled with a deep faith, a deep zeal; one the man of action, the other the man of meditation and devotion—­yet deeply attached one to the other, as could be seen by the way they looked and spoke.

“Ay, verily, let that be enough; let us remember that the day must come that He who will come shall come, and shall not tarry.  Let Him judge; let Him make inquisition for blood.  Let our care be that we who are called and vowed to His service are found not called alone, but chosen and found faithful.”