He sat down suddenly, and looked at me very heavily and penetratingly.
"Sir," he said, "you are going to hear the truth at last, I said we had not much time. Well; we have not."
"Then let me have the truth quickly," I said.
He took his eyes from my face. I was glad of that; as I did not greatly like his regard. What, thought I, if I be alone with a madman?
"Well, sir," he said, "we are driven desperate, as you may have guessed. I say, we; for you have identified yourself with our cause a hundred times over. My Lord Shaftesbury is gone; my Lord Essex is hanging back. Well; but those are not all. We have other men besides those that have been urged on and urged on, and now cannot be restrained. I have tried to restrain them myself"—(here he gulped in his throat: lying was not very easy to this man, I think)—"and I have failed. Well, sir, I must trust you more than I have ever trusted you before."
Again he stopped.
Then all came out with a rush.
"Not half a mile from here," said he, "along the Newmarket road there be twenty men, with blunderbusses and other arms, waiting for His Majesty and the Duke, who will come to-morrow."
"But how do you know?" cried I—all bewildered for the instant.
His head shook with passion.