They may burn mine husband and banish me before a month. And what is to come of Thekla?"

"Dear mother," said Thekla, gently, "they will not put G.o.d in prison."

"They may put there every servant that He hath," said she, bitterly.

"I think you know, dear heart," replied Isoult, "that so long as we have any shelter to offer unto her, Thekla shall not be without one."

"But how long may be that?" she answered; and, burying her face in her handkerchief, she began sobbing.

Isoult hardly knew what to say, but she heard Mr Rose's step, and awaited his coming. He greeted her kindly, and then turning at once to his wife, said, "Sweet heart, why weepest thou?"

"Mrs Rose feareth we may all be prisoned or execute afore a month be over," said Isoult, for Mrs Rose was sobbing too heartily to speak.

"Truth," he answered. "What then?"

"What then?" she cried through her tears. "Why, Tom, art thou mad?

'What then,' to such matter as the breaking of our hearts and the burning of our bodies? 'What then!'"

"Then," said he, gently, "thou art not ready (as Paul was) 'not only to be bound, but also to die' for the Lord Jesus? Is it so, my Marguerite?"

"I know not what I were ready to do myself," she said, "but I am not ready to see thee nor Thekla to do so."

"Well, sweet heart," said he, "methinks I am ready. Ready--to be confessed before the angels of G.o.d, and the Father which is in Heaven: ready--to wear a martyr crown before all the world: ready--to reign with Christ a thousand years! Is that matter to be wept for, Marguerite?"

"There is something else to come first," she said, shaking her head.

"There is so," replied he. "To confess Christ, ere He confess us: to be envied of angels, that have no such means of showing forth His glory: to give a very little thing for the Redeemer who gave all He is, and all He hath, for us. Is that, also, matter for tears?"

"Ah, Tom!" said she, smiling through her tears, "thou turnest it all to the contrary. But thou knowest what I mean."

"The brighter and better way," he answered. "But I do know thy meaning, dear heart. And in truth, it is hard, and the flesh is weak. But remember, our Lord knoweth that as well as we. He hath not forgotten the days of His flesh, when He offered up prayer, with strong crying and tears, to Him that was able to save Him from death; though there were one thing (and that the worst thing) in His sorrow, that there can never be in ours. The way may be rough and stony--but, mind thou, it is only very short."

"When it may last for all the life, Tom! Hard prison, and scant fare, and loneliness, and bitter mourning! Methinks the death were better than that."

"Very short, still," repeated he, "to the endless days of eternity. The days of the journey be few indeed, compared with the number of those to be spent in the Father's House. And, sweet heart, even should we be forced to go that journey apart, we will strive to look forward to the glad meeting in the Home."

"Apart!" she echoed drearily, and her tears came streaming back. "O Tom, Tom!"

"I meant not to make thee weep again," he said, tenderly; "and yet there is no good in shutting our eyes on a sorrow that must come, though there be little use in grieving over such as may never come. It is not yet come; and when it so doth, it is only a little while. Only a little while, my Marguerite! 'In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world!'"

Thekla ceased her spinning, and coming forward to her mother, she pa.s.sed her arm round her, and kissed her brow.

"Mother!" she said, sweetly, "it may be G.o.d will let us go to Him together. Need we mourn for the night ere it be dark! It will be so sweet to go to Him. Will it not help us to bear almost any thing, to know that presently thereafter we shall see Christ, and be with Him for ever?"

Mrs Rose was crying more quietly now, and Isoult rose to depart. Mr Rose said he would help her to mount, and she fancied that he wished to speak with her in private. And so she found it; for no sooner had he shut the door, than he said--

"Mrs Avery, what do you touching Robin's orders?"

Isoult replied as she had done to Mrs Underhill, and added that she meant to talk the matter over with John, when she could do so quietly.

"But, Mr Rose," she said, "your three years be already gone."

"Friend," he answered, his lip quivering, "had I made it three hundred years, maybe it had been the better."

"I pray you say not that you will not give her unto him!" cried Isoult-- for she guessed what that would be to Robin, and perchance to Thekla.

"I will say no such thing," he answered. "It should seem that Robin's orders can now scarce be had; and if it were so, I tell you the truth, mine heart were the lighter. Thekla must choose for herself. She is now of ripe age to _know_ what is for and against the same; and if she would have rather Robin and what may hap than to leave both, I will not gainsay her choice. But if she seeketh mine avis.e.m.e.nt--"

"You will say her nay?" asked Isoult, fearfully, as he hesitated.

"Can I say any thing else?" answered Mr Rose in a low voice. "Were it worse for Thekla to be let from wedding him, or to be roughly parted from him ere they had been wed a year--perchance a month? If Robin should choose not to endeavour himself for the priesthood, then of force is there no such difficulty. But can I look forward to the parting that must ere long come between my Marguerite and me, and lightly choose the same doom for our child?"

Mr Rose's voice fell, and his face changed so painfully that the listener could scarcely bear to see it.

"Think you that must come?" she said in a voice hardly above a whisper.

"It must come, if the Queen continue as she hath begun," answered he, in a low voice. "It may not be for long, if the Lord only try us, to humble us, and to prove us, whether we will keep His commandments or no: it may be for all this life. Beyond this life, it cannot be. The keys of Heaven and earth are in the hands of Jesus Christ, not in those of Mary Tudor!"

No more was said for that time. The friends clasped hands and parted.

But when Isoult and John had their quiet talk together, she found that he had already been thinking on the subject; and had conversed with Robin.

"I did somewhat marvel," she admitted, "seeing the three years for the which Mr Rose did covenant were run out in June, that Robin made no motion thereunto. But verily I did think he should speak the first."

"He hath spoken, dear heart," said John, "and I did entreat him to await a season the upshot of this matter, till we should see who should succeed the King, and what manner of government we were like to fall under. And I pressed him with much of the same reasoning that (as I hear) Mr Rose hath given thee."

"And what saith he touching his priesthood?"

"I think he hardly knew what to say."

When all else had gone to bed, John and Isoult took Robin aside, and John told him what Mr Rose had said. Robin's eyes filled with tears.

"Then," said he, "it comes to this; I must either give up mine orders, or give up--"

He uttered not, nor did they need, the name of Thekla Rose.

"But one other point, Robin, leave not out of thine account," said John.

"It may be thou canst not receive orders."

"Why, then," replied he, "if I cannot, I cannot. But when shall I know that I cannot?"

"When all the Protestant Bishops are in prison, I take it," said John, smiling.

"Were it not better, Robin," suggested Isoult, "to fix thee a time, not unreasonable distant, whereat, if thou mayest not hap to receive orders afore, thou shalt resign that expectation, and be free to wed?"

"Good and wise counsel!" cried John. "Thou hast hit the nail on the head. Thinkest not so, Robin?"

Robin sat silent for a moment. Then he said,--"Ay--if Mr Rose agree thereto."

"We will ask him that," answered John, "so soon as we may."