leave her all alone.  And yet I must go, Amyas.  It is not merely that my heart pants, as Sidney’s does, as every gallant’s ought, to make one of your noble choir of Argonauts, who are now replenishing the earth and subduing it for God and for the queen; it is not merely, Amyas, that love calls me,—­love tyrannous and uncontrollable, strengthened by absence, and deepened by despair; but honor, Amyas—­my oath—­”

And he paused for lack of breath, and bursting into a violent fit of coughing, leaned on his brother’s shoulder, while Amyas cried,

“Fools, fools that we were—­that I was, I mean—­to take that fantastical vow!”

“Not so,” answered a gentle voice from behind:  “you vowed for the sake of peace on earth, and good-will toward men, and ’Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.’  No my sons, be sure that such self-sacrifice as you have shown will meet its full reward at the hand of Him who sacrificed Himself for you.”

“Oh, mother! mother!” said Amyas, “and do you not hate the very sight of me—­come here to take away your first-born?”

“My boy, God takes him, and not you.  And if I dare believe in such predictions, Doctor Dee assured me that some exceeding honor awaited you both in the West, to each of you according to your deserts.”

“Ah!” said Amyas.  “My blessing, I suppose, will be like Esau’s, to live by my sword; while Jacob here, the spiritual man, inherits the kingdom of heaven, and an angel’s crown.”

“Be it what it may, it will surely be a blessing, as long as you are such, my children, as you have been.  At least my Frank will be safe from the intrigues of court, and the temptations of the world.  Would that I too could go with you, and share in your glory!  Come, now,” said she, laying her head upon Amyas’s breast, and looking up into his face with one of her most winning smiles, “I have heard of heroic mothers ere now who went forth with their sons to battle, and cheered them on to victory.  Why should I not go with you on a more peaceful errand?  I could nurse the sick, if there were any; I could perhaps have speech of that poor girl, and win her back more easily than you.  She might listen to words from a woman—­a woman, too, who has loved—­which she could not hear from men.  At least I could mend and wash for you.  I suppose it is as easy to play the good housewife afloat as on shore?  Come, now!”

Amyas looked from one to the other.

“God only knows which of the two is less fit to go.  Mother! mother! you know not what you ask.  Frank!  Frank!  I do not want you with me.  This is a sterner matter than either of you fancy it to be; one that must be worked out, not with kind words, but with sharp shot and cold steel.”

“How?” cried both together, aghast.

“I must pay my men, and pay my fellow-adventurers; and I must pay them with Spanish gold.  And what is more, I cannot, as a loyal subject of the queen’s, go to the Spanish Main with a clear conscience on my own private quarrel, unless I do all the harm that my hand finds to do, by day and night, to her enemies, and the enemies of God.”