"Your lordship bade me see that all was
covered."
"Aye, aye. And I bid thee so again. On thy life, leave no
footprints by which we may be tracked. Bayley is not the only
physician in Oxford. About it, then, and swiftly. Time is the
very soul of fortune in this business, with the Spaniard
straining at the leash, and Cecil and the rest pleading his case
with her. Succeed, and thy fortune's made; fail, and trouble not
to seek me again."
Sir Richard bowed, and took his leave. As he reached the door,
his lordship stayed him. "If thou bungle, do not look to me. The
court goes to Windsor to-morrow. Bring me word there within the
week." He rose, magnificently tall and stately, in his bedgown of
embroidered yellow satin, his handsome head thrown back, and went
after his retainer. "Thou'lt not fail me, Dick," said he, a hand
upon the lesser scoundrel's shoulder. "There is much at issue for
me, and for thee with me."
"I will not fail you, my lord," Sir Richard rashly promised, and
on that they parted.
Sir Richard did not mean to fail. He knew the importance of
succeeding, and he appreciated the urgency of the business as
much as did my lord himself. But between his cold, remorseless
will to succeed and success itself there lay a gulf which it
needed all his resource to bridge.
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