Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 142: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

648 was not yet his wife, and might never be if he proposed to continue lording her as he had begun. “Very well, Mistress Yes-and-No,”’ said Bunyan, releasing her hand as if he forever renounced her. ‘Then must I even do that which I had rather ye had done your- self. But an a wife be stubborn, a husband must even act on her behalf, whether it please or displease. Very well!” And forthwith, speaking for his wife- elect, as keeper of her conscience, so to speak, Bunyan repeated the story which he had probably shaken out of her when he hunted her up at the manor after dashing out of the prison—not to sleep, but to serve me, as I now perceived. He told all that he had not already re- lated—of his encounter with Richard Eve- leigh in the garden and his own stupidity in not seeing that he was the king until later, when he appeared in his majesty’s dress. He described the whole scene—as Ruth had undoubtedly pictured it to him and as the maid had seen it from the hall door of the manor—between the king and me, with Joyce, Falconer, the maid and the mysterious intruder as minor characters in the drama. Clearly it was made to appear that, no matter how foolhardy I had been and mis- taken in my method of approach, I had been, in another sense, more than doing my duty when I was shot down by the myste- rious unknown. | Now, throughout this recital, knowing the tragic climax to which it was leading, I had been keeping a sharp eye on Master Slythey. At first he had been nervous. Then, when Ruth betrayed her fear of him, he had gained in self-confidence. Thereafter his whole air had been that of a man wait- ing to see how the wind blows. This wind- watching, so as ever to trim his sails accordingly, was, I now see, a leading trait . in the man’s character. But his nervousness reappeared when Ruth’s story—as repeated by Bunyan— came nearer to that shot. I could see he was terribly discomforted, that he eyed the door and would have tried to escape had not two of Okey’s men been on guard there. nS 7 y Google ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ° He was shaking like a jelly when Crowwell asked, not Bunyan, but Ruth directly: “And who was this traitor in the dress of an Ironside who shot down Trooper Brooke on behalf of Charles Stuart? Maid, will ye answer me that question?” “I can answer truly,” said Ruth, “ that I do not know. I saw not his face clearly— so suddenly he appeared from that other door—and the smoke from the pistol—and instantly the king did command me out, Jest perhaps I did recognize the man and might speak of my knowledge afterward.” At this Slythey drew a deep, audible breath of relief. And by that I knew that he knew the identity of the “ Roundhead ” who had aided the king’s escape. I began, also, to see that it was no wonder he had been able to inform in detail of the king’s ride by Sibbertoft. But why had he not prevented it—informed Cromwell of the planned escape before it was too late to spoil the game? I wondered if it was possible that Slythey himself had been double-dealing, rynning with the fox while he hunted with the hounds. But such a charge, unsustained, would hardly count against his denial. Ruth had not recognized the Roundhead, and apparently Mistress Joyce, for reasons of her own, had not shared with the maid her probable knowledge of the man, and his Share in the planned escape. Then, too, Ruth had made no charge even implicating Slythey. The latter was not even under suspicion! Cromwell sat in deep thought for a while. He took no counsel, asked not any opinion of the officers with him; which was exactly like the man. His boring eyes moved from face to face. and finally settled on mine with a smile of ~——what was it—amused pity? I know now that his mind had arrived at the point where it was less concerned with passing fresh judgment upon me than ‘in getting at the bottom of the escape of Charles, or, rather, the identity of those besides Mistress Eveleigh, who had aided that escape. While I had done a foolish thing in not informing my officers of the king’s where- abouts, Cromwell—who, of course, knew rE Y(G@ J EOOO