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The next moment she was within the miserable place, faintly lighted by the small lantern Arthur had brought, and with a cry she flung herself upon her knees beside the pallet bed on which Dalaber lay, and called him by his name. Arthur meanwhile stood sentry without the door. "Freda, my love!" he cried, bewildered at sight of her, and with the fever mists clouding his brain.
Having been made aware that he had already fled from Oxford, I gave no credence to the young man's words, and this seemed to anger him, for he told me plainly that Master Garret had come to the college, and had knocked many times at my door in my absence, and then coming away, had asked where Dalaber lived; and being directed to his door by this same youth, he had knocked till he obtained entrance, and had been shut up with him a great while.
Dalaber was not unconscious of the besetting faults and failings of his temperament an impulsive self confidence, followed by moments of revolt and lassitude and discouragement.
Dalaber would fain have been off that moment, but he saw the force of Arthur's words; and, in truth, the long strain was telling heavily upon him, and as he stood he almost reeled from weakness. He was in no fit state for another day's riding; and when Freda added her voice to that of Arthur, he consented to put off his journey until after Easter.
"Master Garret visited me yesterday," he answered quietly, "and went forth from my chamber after a short while, when we had offered prayer and supplication there together." "And whither went he?" "I know not, unless to Woodstock, where he spoke of having a friend among the keepers," answered Dalaber, repeating the fiction he had spoken to the prior.
"Then I trust that on your account, friend Anthony, my fears are needless. I would that I were not anxious also for our beloved friend and master, John Clarke." "Is he in peril?" asked Dalaber, with a startled look. "He had no great dealings with Master Garret." "No; and for that I am thankful. But there are other causes for fear.
"He spoke of Master Clarke," answered Freda, lowering her voice. "He is fearful of danger to him." "Danger for Clarke!" cried Dalaber, almost hotly. "But he has never had aught to do with the sale or distribution of forbidden books. He knows of it, but he takes no part in it. What can they urge against him?" "They only whisper it as yet, but Arthur says they suspect him of heresy.
It was a rash step he was taking now, but somehow that thought excited in him no anxiety. He felt a great longing to see his friend Dalaber again, to explain matters afresh to him, and to start forth free from all trammels and disguises. He was not, however, rash in exposing himself to recognition by the way, and kept to those secluded byways which had served him so well on his other journey.
"He will betray none " began Dalaber; but Cole broke in with a scornful snort. "I would not answer for him. He is a strange mixture of strength and weakness, devotion, constancy, and nervous fear. He " "He will not betray any, for he is no longer a prisoner. He has escaped from the commissary's house. He is miles away from Oxford by this time. Heaven send he quickly escape beyond the seas!"
He attended many of John Clarke's lectures; he discoursed much with Dalaber, for whom he had a sincere friendship and admiration; but he did not see why there should be strife and disruption.
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