Not till all was sealed, and a guard had been stationed at the doors, would the Commissioners taste any dinner, and then their conversation was brief and guarded, so that Humfrey could discover little.  He did, indeed, catch the name of Babington in connection with the “Counter prison,” and a glance of inquiry to Cavendish, with a nod in return, showed him that his suspicions were correct, but he learnt little or nothing more till the two, together with Phillipps, drew together in the deep window, with wine, apples, and pears on the ledge before them, for a private discussion.  Humfrey went away to see that the sentries at the staircase were relieved, and to secure that a sufficient meal for the unfortunate captives in the upper stories had been allowed to pass.  Will Cavendish went with him.  He had known these ladies and gentlemen far more intimately than Humfrey had done, and allowed that it was harsh measure that they suffered for their fidelity to their native sovereign.

“No harm will come to them in the end,” he said, “but what can we do?  That very faithfulness would lead them to traverse our purposes did we not shut them up closely out of reach of meddling, and there is no other place where it can be done.”

“And what are these same purposes?” asked Humfrey, as, having fulfilled his commission, the two young men strolled out into the garden and threw themselves on the grass, close to a large mulberry-tree, whose luscious fruit dropped round, and hung within easy reach.

“To trace out all the coils of as villainous and bloodthirsty a plot as ever was hatched in a traitor’s brain,” said Will; “but they little knew that we overlooked their designs the whole time.  Thou wast mystified in London, honest Humfrey, I saw it plainly; but I might not then speak out,” he added, with all his official self-importance.

“And poor Tony hath brought himself within compass of the law?”

“Verily you may say so.  But Tony Babington always was a fool, and a wrong-headed fool, who was sure to ruin himself sooner or later.  You remember the decoy for the wild-fowl?  Well, never was silly duck or goose so ready to swim into the nets as was he!”

“He always loved this Queen, yea, and the old faith.”

“He sucked in the poison with his mother’s milk, you may say.  Mrs. Babington was naught but a concealed Papist, and, coming from her, it cost nothing to this Queen to beguile him when he was a mere lad, and make him do her errands, as you know full well.  Then what must my Lord Earl do but send him to that bitter Puritan at Cambridge, who turned him all the more that way, out of very contradiction.  My Lord thought him cured of his Popish inclinations, and never guessed they had only led him among those who taught him to dissemble.”

“And that not over well,” said Humfrey.  “My father never trusted him.”

“And would not give him your sister.  Yea, but the counterfeit was good enough for my Lord who sees nothing but what is before his nose, and for my mother who sees nothing but what she will see.  Well, he had fallen in with those who deem this same Mary our only lawful Queen, and would fain set her on the throne to bring back fire and faggot by the Spanish sword among us.”