So she talked on, and Emlyn, listening, did not dare to tell her the truth:  that here she feared for the life of her child, dreading lest that news might bring about the death of both of them.  So she let her be, and fell back on her own wits.

First she thought of escape, only to abandon the idea, for her mistress was in no state to face its perils.  Moreover, whither should they go?  Then rescue came into her mind, but, alas! who would rescue them?  The great men in London, perhaps, as a matter of policy, but great men are hard to come at, even for the free.  If she were free she might find means to make them listen, but she was not, nor could she leave her lady at such a time.  What remained, then?  So to contrive that they should be set free.

Perhaps it might be done at a price—­that of Cicely’s jewels, of which she alone knew the hiding-place, and with them a deed of indemnity against her persecutors.  Emlyn was not minded to give either.  Moreover, she guessed that it might be in vain.  Once outside those walls, they knew too much to be allowed to live.  And yet within those walls Cicely’s child would not be allowed to live—­the child that was heir to all.  What, then, could loose them and make them safe?

Terror, perhaps—­such terror as that through which the Israelites escaped from bondage.  Oh! if she could but find a Moses to call down the plagues of Egypt upon this Pharaoh of an Abbot—­those plagues with which she had threatened him—­but although she believed that they would fall (why did she believe it? she wondered), she was as yet impotent to fulfil.

Now Thomas Bolle!  If only she could have words with that faithful Thomas Bolle, the fierce and cunning man whom they thought foolish!

This idea of Thomas Bolle took possession of Emlyn’s mind—­Thomas Bolle, who had loved her all his life, who would die to serve her.  She strove in vain to get in touch with him.  The old gardener was so deaf that he could not, or would not, understand.  The silly Bridget gave the letter that she wrote to him to the Prioress by mistake, who burnt it before her eyes and said nothing.  The monks who brought provisions to the Nunnery were always received by three of the sisters, set to spy on each other and on them, so that she could not come near to them alone.  The priest who celebrated Mass was an old enemy of hers; with him she could do nothing, and no one else was allowed to approach the place except once or twice the Abbot, who was closeted for hours with the Prioress, but spoke to her no more.

Why, wondered Emlyn, should less than half-a-mile of space be such a barrier between her and Thomas Bolle?  If he stood within twenty yards of her she could make him understand; why not, then, when he stood within five hundred?  This idea possessed her; these limitations of nature made her mad.  She refused to accept them.  Night by night, lying brooding in her bed, while Cicely slept in peace at her side, she threw out her strong soul towards the soul of her old lover, Thomas Bolle, commanding him to listen, to obey, to come.