Morgan.—­“I tell you plainly, that if you are in heart the same man that you seem outwardly to be, I doubt not but her Majesty might easily be persuaded to conceive a gracious opinion of you.  For mine own part, I will surely advertise Sir Francis Walsingham of as much matter as this present conference hath ministered.

“Hereof,” said the Colonel—­when, according to his promise, faithfully recording the conversation in all its details for Mr. Secretary’s benefit, “he seemed not only content but most glad.  Therefore I beseech your honour to vouchsafe some few lines herein, that I may return him some part of your mind.  I have already written thereof to Sir Philip Sidney, lord governor of Flushing, with request that his Excellency the Earl of Leicester may presently be made acquainted with the cause.”

Indeed the brave Welshman was thoroughly converted from his suspicions by the earnest language and sympathetic presence of the fallen statesman.  This result of the conference was creditable to the ingenuous character of both personages.

“Thus did he,” wrote Morgan to Sir Francis, “from point to point, answer all objections from the first to the last, and that in such sound and substantial manner, with a strong show of truth, as I think his very enemies, having heard his tale, would be satisfied.  And truly, Sir, as heretofore I have thought hardly of him, being led by a superficial judgment of things as they stood in outward appearance; so now, having pierced deep, and weighed causes by a sounder and more deliberate consideration, I find myself somewhat changed in conceit—­not so much carried away by the sweetness of his speech, as confirmed by the force of his religious profession, wherein he remaineth constant, without wavering—­an argument of great strength to set him free from treacherous attempts; but as I am herein least able and most unworthy to yield any censure, much less to give advice, so I leave the man and the matter to your honour’s opinion.  Only (your graver judgment reserved) thus I think, that it were good either to employ him as a friend, or as an enemy to remove him farther from us, being a man of such action as the world knoweth he is.  And to conclude,” added Morgan, “this was the upshot between us.”

Nevertheless, he remained in this obscurity for a long period.  When, towards the close of the year 1585, the English government was established in Holland, he was the object of constant suspicion.

“Here is Aldegonde,” wrote Sir Philip Sidney to Lord Leicester from Flushing, “a man greatly suspected, but by no man charged.  He lives restrained to his own house, and for aught I can find, deals with nothing, only desiring to have his cause wholly referred to your Lordship, and therefore, with the best heed I can to his proceedings, I will leave him to his clearing or condemning, when your Lordship shall hear him.”

In another letter, Sir Philip again spoke of Sainte Aldegonde as “one of whom he kept a good opinion, and yet a suspicious eye.”