"I could bring others from Bridgewater, who saw me set out that
morning upon the crupper of Master Pitt's horse."

His lordship smiled. "It will not be necessary. For, mark me, I
do not intend to waste more time on you. Answer me only this: When
Master Pitt, as you pretend, came to summon you, did you know that
he had been, as you have heard him confess, of Monmouth's following?"

"I did, My lord."

"You did! Ha!" His lordship looked at the cringing jury and uttered
a short, stabbing laugh. "Yet in spite of that you went with him?"

"To succour a wounded man, as was my sacred duty."

"Thy sacred duty, sayest thou?" Fury blazed out of him again. "Good
God! What a generation of vipers do we live in! Thy sacred duty,
rogue, is to thy King and to God. But let it pass. Did he tell you
whom it was that you were desired to succour?"

"Lord Gildoy - yes."

"And you knew that Lord Gildoy had been wounded in the battle, and
on what side he fought?"

"I knew."

"And yet, being, as you would have us believe, a true and loyal
subject of our Lord the King, you went to succour him?"