"Better she died CAELEBS and SINE PROLE," said Mumblazen, with more
animation than he usually expressed, "than part, PER PALE, the noble
coat of Robsart with that of such a miscreant!"
"If it be your object, as I cannot question," said the clergyman, "to
save, as much as is yet possible, the credit of this unhappy young
woman, I repeat, you should apply, in the first instance, to the Earl
of Leicester. He is as absolute in his household as the Queen in her
kingdom, and if he expresses to Varney that such is his pleasure, her
honour will not stand so publicly committed."
"You are right, you are right!" said Tressilian eagerly, "and I thank
you for pointing out what I overlooked in my haste. I little thought
ever to have besought grace of Leicester; but I could kneel to the proud
Dudley, if doing so could remove one shade of shame from this unhappy
damsel. You will assist me then to procure the necessary powers from Sir
Hugh Robsart?"
The curate assured him of his assistance, and the herald nodded assent.
"You must hold yourselves also in readiness to testify, in case you are
called upon, the openhearted hospitality which our good patron exercised
towards this deceitful traitor, and the solicitude with which he
laboured to seduce his unhappy daughter."
"At first," said the clergyman, "she did not, as it seemed to me, much
affect his company; but latterly I saw them often together."
"SEIANT in the parlour," said Michael Mumblazen, "and PASSANT in the
garden."
"I once came on them by chance," said the priest, "in the South wood,
in a spring evening. Varney was muffled in a russet cloak, so that I saw
not his face. They separated hastily, as they heard me rustle amongst
the leaves; and I observed she turned her head and looked long after
him."
"With neck REGUARDANT," said the herald. "And on the day of her flight,
and that was on Saint Austen's Eve, I saw Varney's groom, attired in his
liveries, hold his master's horse and Mistress Amy's palfrey, bridled
and saddled PROPER, behind the wall of the churchyard."
"And now is she found mewed up in his secret place of retirement," said
Tressilian. "The villain is taken in the manner, and I well wish he may
deny his crime, that I may thrust conviction down his false throat! But
I must prepare for my journey. Do you, gentlemen, dispose my patron to
grant me such powers as are needful to act in his name."