"I wondered," said Percy in a careless manner, as though he did not much care whether he got it or not, "whether you might let me the cellar for the same purpose? I think to lay in wood and coals for the winter, and my own cellar is scarce large enough, for I am a Northern man, and love a good fire. This cellar of yours, being so close by, should be greatly to my convenience, if you were willing." "Well, to be sure, and it would so!" assented innocent Mrs Bright. "You see, I can't speak certain till my master comes in, but I'm sure you may take it as good: he mostly does as I bid him. So we'll say, if Mrs Wyniard be content to accept the rent from you, you shall have it at four pound by the quarter, and give me forty shillings in my hand." [Note 2.] "Done," said Percy, "if your husband consent." "I'll see to it he doth," she answered with a capable nod. The bargain was struck: Andrew Bright did as he was told, and Percy was to become the occupant of the cellar without delay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note 1. She signed her deposition by a mark, while her servant Roger Neck, wrote his name. Note 2. Examination of Ellen Bright, Gunpowder Plot Book, article 24. CHAPTER SIX. WAIT A MONTH. "Alas, long-suffering and most patient God! Thou needst be surelier God to bear with us Than even to have made us." Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The conspirators had just concluded their bargain, and decided that the cellar must be stored with materials in all haste, to be ready for the meeting of Parliament on the seventh of February, when like a bomb-shell in their midst fell a royal proclamation, proroguing Parliament again until the third of October. To go on now, especially in haste, was plainly a useless proceeding. A short consultation was held, which ended in the decision that they should part and scatter themselves in different places. Fawkes particularly was enjoined to keep out of the way, since he was wanted to appear as a stranger when the moment arrived for action; he therefore determined to go abroad. The rest dispersed in various directions: Percy was left alone at the house in Westminster, where he beguiled his leisure by having a door made through the wall, where the mine had been, so as to give him easier access to the vault under the House, and better opportunities of carrying in the combustibles unseen. They agreed to meet again, ready for work, on the second of September; and before parting, one other was admitted to their fellowship, to whom was confided the task of aiding Fawkes to accumulate the store of powder. This was Mr Ambrose Rookwood, of Coldham Hall, Suffolk.