I am inclined therefore to assign the alteration of the name which Fawkes gave in his examination of the 17th to some day shortly before the 28th, and to think that the sending of the 'King's Book'[128] to press took place on some day between the 23rd, the date of Thomas Winter's examination, and the 28th. If so, the retention of the name of Robert Winter amongst the diggers, and that of Keyes amongst those made privy afterwards, needs no further explanation.[129] Cromwell once adjured the Presbyterians of Edinburgh to believe it possible that they might be mistaken. If Father Gerard would only believe it possible that Salisbury may have been mistaken, he would hardly be so keen to mark conscious deception, where deception is not necessarily to be found. After all, the Government left the names of Winter and Keyes perfectly legible under the pen-strokes drawn across them, and the change they made was at least the erasure of a false statement and the substitution of a true one. CHAPTER IV. STRUCTURAL DIFFICULTIES. From a study of the documentary evidence, I pass to an examination of those structural conditions which Father Gerard pronounces to be fatal to the 'traditional' story. The first step is obviously to ascertain the exact position of Whynniard's house, part of which was rented by Percy. The investigator is, however, considerably assisted by Father Gerard, who has successfully exploded the old belief that this building lay to the southwest of the House of Lords. His argument, which appears to me to be conclusive, runs as follows:-- "That the lodging hired by Percy stood near the southeast corner of the old House of Lords (_i.e._ nearer to the river than that building, and adjacent to, if not adjoining the Prince's Chamber) is shown by the following arguments:-- "1. John Shepherd, servant to Whynniard, gave evidence as to having on a certain occasion seen from the river 'a boat lie close to the pale of Sir Thomas Parry's garden, and men going to and from the water through the back door that leadeth into Mr. Percy, his lodging.--[_Gunpowder Plot Book_, 40, part 2.] "2. Fawkes, in his examination of November 5, 1605, speaks of the window in his chamber near the Parliament House towards the water-side. "3. It is said that when digging their mine the conspirators were troubled by the influx of water from the river, which would be impossible if they were working at the opposite side of the Parliament House."[130] I think, however, that a still closer identification is possible. On page 80 will be seen a frontage towards the river, marked 'very old walls, remaining in 1795 & 1800,' of which the line corresponds fairly with that of the house in the view given as the frontispiece to this volume.