"
She clutched his arm. "You told him what I had said?"
"It was indiscreet, perhaps. Yet, how was I to know . . . ?" He
left his sentence there. "I but expressed my chagrin at your
decision on the score of the Archduke--hardly a wise decision, if
I may be so bold," he added slyly.
She caught the suggestion of a bargain, and became instantly
suspicious,
"You transcend the duties of your office, my lord," she rebuked
him, and turned away.
But soon that night she was closeted with Dudley, and closely
questioning him about the affair. My lord was mightily vehement.
"I take Heaven to be my witness," quoth he, when she all but
taxed him with having procured his lady's death, "that I am
innocent of any part in it. My injunctions to Blount, who has
gone to Cumnor, are that the matter be sifted without respect to
any person, and if it can be shown that this is other than the
accident I deem it, the murderer shall hang."
She flung her arms about his neck, and laid her head on his
shoulder. "Oh, Robin, Robin, I am full of fears," she wailed, and
was nearer to tears than he had ever seen her.
But, anon, as the days passed their fears diminished, and finally
the jury at Cumnor--delayed in their finding, and spurred by my
lord to exhaustive inquiries--returned a verdict of "found dead,"
which in all the circumstances left his lordship--who was known,
moreover, to have been at Windsor when his lady died--fully
acquitted.
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