He felt displeasure and disgust at the scoundrelly
disguise which he was under the necessity of assuming; but when he
considered the bloody consequences which law attached to his rash act
of violence, the easy and indifferent temper of James, the prejudices
of his son, the overbearing influence of the Duke of Buckingham, which
was sure to be thrown into the scale against him; and, above all, when
he reflected that he must now look upon the active, assiduous, and
insinuating Lord Dalgarno, as a bitter enemy, reason told him he was
in a situation of peril which authorised all honest means, even the
most unseemly in outward appearance, to extricate himself from so
dangerous a predicament.
While he was changing his dress, and musing on these particulars, his
friendly host re-entered the sleeping apartment--"Zounds!" he said,
"my lord, it was well you went not straight into that same Alsatia of
ours at the time you proposed, for the hawks have stooped upon it.
Here is Jem come back with tidings, that he saw a pursuivant there
with a privy-council warrant, and half a score of yeomen assistants,
armed to the teeth, and the horn which we heard was sounded to call
out the posse of the Friars. Indeed, when old Duke Hildebrod saw that
the quest was after some one of whom he knew nothing, he permitted,
out of courtesy, the man-catcher to search through his dominions,
quite certain that they would take little by their motions; for Duke
Hildebrod is a most judicious potentate.
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