“It is likely that he, too, may be arrested.  This is evidently a deep plot, and your father thinks that, although the papers alone may not be sufficient to convict my father, the spy we had in our house will be ready to swear that he heard your father, and mine, and the others, making arrangements for the murder of William of Orange; and their own word to the contrary would count but little against such evidence, backed by those papers.”

They talked together for half an hour, and were then summoned to supper.  Nothing was said, upon the subject, until the servitors had retired, and the meal was cleared away.  Mr. Jervoise was, like Sir Marmaduke, a widower.

“I have been thinking it all over,” he said, when they were alone.  “I have determined to ride, at once, to consult some of my friends, and to warn them of what has taken place.  That is clearly my duty.  I shall not return until I learn whether warrants are out for my apprehension.  Of course, the evidence is not so strong against me as it is against Sir Marmaduke; still, the spy’s evidence would tell as much against me as against him.

“You will go up, Harry, with your friend, to Pincot’s farm.  It lies so far in the hills that it would probably be one of the last to be searched, and, if a very sharp lookout is kept there, a body of men riding up the valley would be seen over a mile away, and there would be plenty of time to take to the hills.  There Charlie had better remain, until he hears from me.

“You can return here, Harry, in the morning, for there is no probability whatever of your being included in any warrant of arrest.  It could only relate to us, who were in the habit of meeting at Sir Marmaduke’s.  You will ride over to the farm each day, and tell Charlie any news you may have learnt, or take any message I may send you for him.

“We must do nothing hastily.  The first thing to learn, if possible, is whether any of us are included in the charge of being concerned in a plot against William’s life.  In the next place, who are the witnesses, and what evidence they intend to give.  No doubt the most important is the man who was placed as a spy at Sir Marmaduke’s.”

“As I know his face, sir,” Charlie said eagerly, “could I not find him, and either force him to acknowledge that it is all false, or else kill him?  I should be in my right in doing that, surely, since he is trying to swear away my father’s life by false evidence.”

“I should say nothing against that, lad.  If ever a fellow deserved killing he does; that is, next to his rascally employer.  But his death would harm rather than benefit us.  It would be assumed, of course, that we had removed him to prevent his giving evidence against us.  No doubt his depositions have been taken down, and they would then be assumed to be true, and we should be worse off than if he could be confronted with us, face to face, in the court.  We must let the matter rest, at present.”