whatever sort or name, to rule his kingdom as independent of his subjects in reality as he is in right; for this water-commanding engine, which God hath given me to make, shall be the source of such wealth as no accountant can calculate.  For herewith may marsh-land be thoroughly drained, or dry land perfectly watered; great cities kept sweet and wholesome; mines rid of the water gathering from springs therein, so as he may enrich himself withal; houses be served plentifully on every stage; and gardens in the dryest summer beautified and comforted with fountains.  Which engine when I found that it was in the power of my hands to do, as well as of my heart to conceive that it might be done, I did kneel down and give humble thanks from the bottom of my heart to the omnipotent God whose mercies are fathomless, for his vouchsafing me an insight into so great a secret of nature and so beneficial to all mankind as this my engine.’

With all her devotion to the king, and all her hatred and contempt of the parliament and the puritans, Dorothy could not help a doubt whether such independence might be altogether good either for the king himself or the people thus subjected to his will.  But the farther doubt did not occur to her whether a pre-eminence gained chiefly by wealth was one to be on any grounds desired for the nation, or, setting that aside, was one which carried a single element favourable to perpetuity.

All this time they had been standing on the top of the keep, with the moonlight around them, and in their ears the noise of the water flowing from the dungeon well into the sky-roofed cistern.  But now it came in diminished flow.

‘It is the earth that fails in giving, not my engine in taking,’ said lord Herbert as he turned to lead the way down the winding stair.  Ever as they went, the noise of the water grew fainter and the noise of the engine grew louder, but just as they stepped from the stair, it gave a failing stroke or two, and ceased.  A dense white cloud met them as they entered the vault.

‘Stopped for the night, Caspar?’ said his lordship.

‘Yes, my lord; the well is nearly out.’

‘Let it sleep,’ returned his master; ’like a man’s heart it will fill in the night.  Thank God for the night and darkness and sleep, in which good things draw nigh like God’s thieves, and steal themselves in—­water into wells, and peace and hope and courage into the minds of men.  Is it not so, my cousin?’

Dorothy did not answer in words, but she looked up in his face with a reverence in her eyes that showed she understood him.  And this was one of the idolatrous catholics!  It was neither the first nor the last of many lessons she had to receive, in order to learn that a man may be right although the creed for which he is and ought to be ready to die, may contain much that is wrong.  Alas! that so few, even of such men, ever reflect, that it is the element common to all the creeds which gives its central value to each.