He was asking that question when the men again passed out of sight.
"Good-night, beloved," said Margaret, throwing her arms around her
lover's neck, as he gathered her closer to himself. A fear had come
that something tragic and terrible might happen before they met
again--if ever they did meet. That presentiment of coming trouble
made her kiss Herman as, in spite of her whole-hearted love, she had
never done before.
"You are late, my child, and I was growing anxious," said her father
when she had lifted the latch and entered the room where he was
sitting before an open book which contained the account of his sales
in the printing-shop.
"I have been hindered, but I will tell you all," the girl exclaimed,
going to his side to give him the answer from John Cropper.
"Father," she went on, when he had made a note of her message in the
book that was in front of him, "do you know Master William Tyndale?"
The printer's face paled at the unexpected question, and the pen
dropped from his fingers on to the open page. The impulse came to
prevaricate, but after some hesitation the answer came slowly.
"Yes, my child; I know him."
"Do you know a man named Cochlaeus, father?" she asked, when that
answer came, and almost before she had ended her question Byrckmann
sprang to his feet, with a cry.
"God be our helper! Why do you mention that man's name?"
His face betrayed the intensity of his fear.
"Sit down, dear, and I will tell you," said Margaret, dropping on a
stool at the hearth, where, when he should sit, she could see his
face.
The printer sank into his chair, when he had turned it to face the
fire, looking down at his daughter with eyes that were filled with
terror. She saw that his body trembled as an aspen leaf shivers on
its tree, when she told him what she had seen and heard in Cropper's
house. When her story ended he rested his elbows on his knees and
buried his face in his hands, and for some time not a word was
spoken. Margaret's hand lay gently on his knee, and sitting thus in
silence, wondering, yet almost afraid to speak, she gazed into the
fire, save when for a brief moment now and again she watched her
father furtively.
Horror gathered about her in those waiting moments, for her
imagination revealed some terrible pictures in the fire. She saw a
dungeon there, and in it were some dark-robed Familiars. Around were
all the instruments of torture, and a red fire glowed in which were
thrust the implements that were to do some deadly work. And
presently into the chamber came two men, their hands chained, and
about them were four Familiars. But it was these two chained ones to
whom she looked, for she knew them. One was William Tyndale--the
other was her father!
Her father's voice helped her to smother her cry of anguish at a
picture which seemed so real.
"My child, if Cochlaeus were to come to this house it would mean ruin
for us all, and death for me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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