Again; did he not _then_ manifest a disposition, remarkable even in _him_, to act in diametrical opposition to the ordinary way of men, which is so well expressed by the sarcastic, cynical, yet only too true saying, that “the world is ready enough to laugh with a man, but it leaves him to weep alone.” And this, when “a compassionate silence” (save in extraordinary circumstances) was the utmost that Justice and Charity alike would prompt even a Priest and a Jesuit (nay, even a Priest and a Jesuit of the type of Edward Oldcorne) to display towards the wretched, erring victims of that “_ineluctabile fatum_,” that resistless decree of the Universe——“The guilty suffer.” Now, I submit, with sure confidence for an affirmative answer, to the judgment of my candid readers——of my candid readers that know something of _human_ nature, its workings, its windings, and its ways——the question: Whether or not it is not merely possible, but probable, that Mrs. Abington _divined that stupendous secret_, through and by means of the subtle, yet all-potent, _mental sympathy_, which must have subsisted betwixt herself and the disciplined, exalted, stately soul, who, as a Priest——aye! as a very Prophet——this high-born lady, or at least her spouse, had “counted it all honour and all joy” to have harboured, as a beloved spiritual Father, “elect and precious,” for no less than sixteen years?[120] CHAPTER XXXVII. Let us finally consider the Evidence and the deductions and suggestions therefrom which tend to prove that _subsequent_ to the dictating of the Letter by the contrite, repentant Christopher Wright, _and subsequent_ to the penning of the Document by the deserving, beneficent Edward Oldcorne, each of these two Englishmen, aye! these two Yorkshiremen, _were conscious of having performed_ the several functions that these pages have attributed unto them. Let us take, then, the case of Christopher Wright first. Now, the Evidence that tends to show that Christopher Wright was conscious of having been the revealing plotter and dictating conspirator[121] has been already mainly set forth, but let me recapitulate the same. It is as follows:—— (1) That either Thomas Winter must have gone in search of Christopher Wright, or Christopher Wright must have gone in search of Thomas Winter, in order that it might be possible for Stowe to record on p. 880 of his “_Chronicle_” the following allegation of facts:—— “T. Winter, the next day after the delivery of the Letter, told Christopher Wright that he understood of an obscure letter delivered to the Lord Mounteagle, advising him not to appear at the Parliament House the first day, and that the Lord Mounteagle had no sooner read it, but instantly carried it to the Earle of Salisbury, which newes was presently made known unto the rest, who after divers conferences agreed to see further trial, but, howsoever, Percy resolved to stay the last houre.”[122]