And you have kept it all this while!" "I obeyed Your Majesty's commands," I said.
"Well; and you have delivered it to the right person." (He tossed the papers altogether upon the table and turned to me again.) "Now, sir; I had no real doubt of you; but others were not so sure; and I consented to this to please them; so now that all has been done, I can use you more freely, if you will: I have more than one mission which must be done for me; and if you like it, Mr.Mallock, you may have the first." "Sir; I must go to France immediately.

The hunt is up, after me, too." "What do you mean by that ?" he said sharply.

"The hunt! What is that ?" "I would not weary Your Majesty with it all; but the truth is that the fellow Dangerfield, who came after me here, came yesterday with a magistrate and near a dozen men, to Hare Street to take me.

I eluded them, and came to London." "You eluded them! How was that ?" Well; I told him as shortly as I could; and he laughed outright when I came to my Cousin Dolly's part in it.
"Why: that was very wittily done!" he said.

"The minx!" I did not much like that; but I could not find fault with the King.
"And I was at Tyburn this morning, Sir." "What! At Tyburn!" "At Tyburn, Sir; and I was so sick at heart at what I saw there--five of Your Majesty's most faithful servants murdered in the name of justice, that I would not have cared greatly if I had been hanged with them." His face darkened a little; but not with anger at me.
"It is a bloody business, as I have said," he said gently.