The steward sniffed his indignation, but the answer satisfied him for the time; and the messengers and tipstaves being engaged at the farther end of the hall in shepherding their prisoners on the side of the house-door, and being crowded upon besides by gentlemen whom they feared to offend, had no notion of what had happened or that their tale was not complete. Someone had lowered and lighted a round lanthorn that hung in the middle of the hall; but the light hanging low, and being intercepted by the heads of those before us, barely reached the corner in which I stood. Still I knew that this was but a respite, and my relief and joy were great, when a cry of "Price! Price!" was raised, and "Price! Who is he? His Grace wants Price!" passing from lip to lip, the steward thrust me forward, and called to the nearest to make a way for me; and this being done I was speedily passed through the crowd to a door at the farther side of the hall, where two servants who stood on guard there, having satisfied themselves that I was the man, I was admitted. I knew that I was not yet out of the wood. Moreover I had cause to doubt how I now stood in the Duke's favour, or what might be his intentions towards me. But at least I had escaped from the hall and from the steward whom I had begun to regard with a mixture of fear and hatred; and I prepared to face the ordeal before me with a courage that now seems astonishing. However, for the moment my courage was not to be proved. The room in which I found myself was large and lofty, lined for the most part with books, and adorned with marble busts, that gleamed ghostly in the obscured corners, or stood out bright and white where the radiance of the candles fell on them. In the middle of the rich dark carpet that covered the floor stood a table, furnished with papers, pens, and books; and this, with three inquisitorial chairs, set along the farther side of it, had a formidable air. But the three persons for whose accommodation the chairs had been placed, were now on their feet, standing in a group before the hearth, and so deeply engrossed in the subject under discussion that, if they were aware of my entrance, they took no notice of it. The Earl of Marlborough, the more handsome and courtly of the two noblemen whom I had seen pass through the hall, a man even then of a great and splendid presence and address, though not what he afterwards became, was speaking, when finding myself unheeded, I gathered my wits to listen. "I have no right to give advice, your Grace," he was saying in suave and courtly accents, "But I think you will be ill-advised if you pay much attention to what these rogues allege, or make it public." "No man will be safe!" urged his companion, with, it seemed to me, a note of anxiety in his voice. "Better hang them out of hand," responded the Earl blandly. And he took snuff and delicately dusted his upper lip.