"Ay, sure, and have secreted the invoices you spoke of, for the good
merchant beyond St. Paul's, who ordered the rich velvets, counting,
perhaps, upon a coronation."
"I hope he has a better chance of selling them than that affords. Noll
will hardly dare it; his name--Protector--gives as much power, and 'tis
as a fencing-master's guard, ever at hand to turn aside the sneers
against his ambition. Thought'st thou of the pearls for my Lord
Fauconberg's rich jeweller?"
"Ay, master, they are safe; those I will myself deliver; though, from
what the journals say, his Lordship has small need of new trimming.
'Twas the public talk, when you made me act the respectable character of
spy in Sir Willmott Burrell's service--at the court, sir, they talked of
nothing else--how the King of France, with his own hands, made him a
present of a gold box, inlaid with diamonds, that had upon the lid, on
the outside, the arms of France, composed of three large jewels, and, in
the inside, the monarch's own picture;--the Cardinal Mazarine, too, gave
him a dozen pieces of the richest Genoese velvet; and then his Lordship,
not to be outdone, made him a gift of equal value;--and then, I forget
me what was the next--and the next--and the next--and the next; but it
was mighty fine trafficking, that I know."
"Ay, Robin, 'nothing for nothing' is the statesman's motto. Now, give
you good speed and success! You can send to me almost from any part of
the kingdom in a few hours. Spare no efforts for his freedom--Jack
Roupall's confession proves but too truly, that Sir Willmott is sworn
against his life; and, till that ruffian is done for, or quieted, there
is no safety for Walter. I have sent Jack on private work to the West;
so he is out of the way--that's one comfort. Great interest have I in
the boy; next to my own child, there is nothing I love so much. And now,
Robin, farewell!"
When Robin bade adieu to his mother, she began to weep and wail, after
the natural custom of mothers, high and low. "Ah! you are ever on the
rove; ever on the wander! You will be on your ranges, some of these odd
days, when I depart this life; and then you'll never know what I have to
tell you."
"If it were any thing worth telling, you would have told it long ago;
for a woman cannot keep a secret, that we all know."
"Ah, boy! boy! God bless you, and good-by! I wonder will that wench,
Barbara, think to send me a bit of the bride-cake? I warrant I have a
sweet tooth in my head still, albeit I have but two." And after some
more idle talk, and much caressing, they parted.