"What's brought you hither, Marian?" to get for response, "You, John; your life's in danger." "How? From what?" "Treason. Even now--at this minute--there are conspirators armed and ready to start out into the streets, with a cry for the King." "But where?" "Some in the house of Yeomans, others at Boucher's. They have expectation of help from the outside; that's why they're gathered now." "How do you know it, Marian?" "Don't ask me, John; God help me! To think my own father is one of them--my brother, too! But your life is dearer to me than either. And you will lose it if you don't listen to my warning." "Dearest Marian, I not only listen to, but believe in it. More, I'll take instant action to stop this conspiracy you speak of, trust me for that." She could trust him, and did; saw that to leave him unfettered, and free for the action intended, she should no longer remain there; and pulling the hood down over her face, though not till after two pairs of lips had met under it, she lightened the cloak around her shoulders, and hurried away from the bridge-head. Heart full of sweet thoughts, thrilled by them, the young merchant-soldier stood looking after the graceful figure till it waned and was lost in the dim light of distant lamps. No wonder he should so long continue his gaze. She was one of Bristol's fairest daughters; daughter, too, of one of its richest merchants, and proudest; her father a man who would have seen her hurled from the parapet of that bridge, and drowned in Avon's stream, rather than know of her having stood upon its head, and said what she had said to John Birch. Whatever the reflections of John Birch himself about this jealously-guarded daughter, they seemed to pass away soon as she was out of sight; though not the warning she had given. This was with him still; and so vividly realistic, he lost not a moment in acting up to it. A word or two with his sergeant of guard--orders earnestly enjoined--and away went he from the bridge, with face turned towards the Castle, and step hurried as man could make, almost a run! CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. IN COUNCIL OF WAR. The man who had succeeded Colonel Essex in the governorship of Bristol was well, even enthusiastically, affected to the Parliamentary cause. Beyond that, he was altogether unfitted for the trust reposed in him. A lawyer before becoming soldier, he better understood the marshalling of arguments than armies, and, though a man of grave, serious thought, his passionate temper gave offence to friends as foes, oft thwarting his best intentions. Fortunately he had around him men of greater military capacity and experience, by whose counsels he was, to some extent, controlled--officers who had seen service in the Low Countries, Sweden, and Germany--among them Sir Richard Walwyn.