"I have heard from a good friend of mine in London," went on the priest,
looking at his paper, "one who followed every step of the trial; and
was present at the death. They suffered at Tyburn.... However, I will
tell you what he says. He is a countryman of mine, from Yorkshire; as
was Mr. Nelson, too.

"'Mr. Nelson was taken in London on the first of December last year. He
was born at Shelton, and was about forty-three years old; he was the son
of Sir Nicholas Nelson.'

"So much," said the priest, looking up from his paper, "I knew myself. I
saw him about four years ago just before he went to Douay, and he came
back to England as a priest, a year and a half after. Mr. Sherwood was
not a priest; he had been at Douay, too, but as a scholar only.... Well,
we will speak of Mr. Nelson first. This is what my friend says."

He spread the paper before him on the table; and Marjorie, looking past
her mother, saw that his hands shook as he spread it.

"'Mr. Nelson,'" began the priest, reading aloud with some difficulty,
"'was brought before my lords, and first had tendered to him the oath of
the Queen's supremacy. This he refused to take, saying that no lay
prince could have pre-eminence over Christ's Church; and, upon being
pressed as to who then could have it, answered, Christ's Vicar only, the
successor of Peter. Further, he proceeded to say, under questioning,
that since the religion of England at this time is schismatic and
heretical, so also is the Queen's Grace who is head of it.

"'This, then, was what was wanted; and after a delay of a few weeks, the