Had his cousin ceased to
trust him?
Sir Walter wondered. Looking into that lean, crafty face, he
considered King's unquenchable mistrust of the man, bethought him
of his kinsman's general neediness, remembered past events that
shed light upon his ways and nature, and began now at last to have
a sense of the man's hypocrisy and double-dealing. Yet he reasoned
in regard to him precisely as he had reasoned in regard to Manourie.
The fellow was acquisitive, and therefore corruptible. If, indeed,
he was so base that he had been bought to betray Sir Walter, then
he could be bought again to betray those who had so bought him.
"Nay, nay," said Sir Walter easily. "It is not lack of trust in
you, my good friend. But you are the holder of an office, and
knowing as I do the upright honesty of your character I feared to
embarrass you with things whose very knowledge must give you the
parlous choice of being false to that office or false to me."
Stukeley broke forth into imprecations. He was, he vowed, the
most accursed and miserable of men that such a task as this
should have fallen to his lot. And he was a poor man, too,
he would have his cousin remember. It was unthinkable that he
should use the knowledge he had gained to attempt to frustrate
Sir Walter's plans of escape to France.
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