A slight pause followed his entry, when the Earl of Leicester, turning towards the Queen, broke the silence.
“Your Highness,” he said, “hath been pleased to order Sir Walter Raleigh hither, in order that he may himself deliver, in his own words, what he hath already reported to you. I do profess, as the matter hath been said to involve a new Popish plot, that I hold it should be inquired into with the utmost diligence.”
“I am so minded myself,” answered the Queen. “Advise us what thou know’st of the business, Sir Walter.”
Thus addressed, Raleigh proceeded, in a low but distinct tone, to narrate the several particulars exculpatory of Sir Edgar de Neville, in reference to the charge he had been arrested on, which he had already made known to the Queen. As his narrative progressed, he remarked that Lord Burleigh paid especial attention, above that awarded by the other councillors, to its various details; and he was at a loss to conjecture what his marked notice might lead to. Nevertheless, he was no way embarrassed, and he brought his account to a close without once hesitating.
“A passing strange tale, by my faith!” said Lord Leicester, sneeringly, when his narrative was finished. “I marvel, Sir Walter Raleigh, ’twould ever win an advocate in thee.”
“’Tis anent all reason,” said Sir Francis Walsingham.
“Methinks, fair gentlemen, these argue more for its thorough investigation,” remarked the Earl of Sussex. “I will even avow, on my part, that, if it win credit from Sir Walter Raleigh, it will be credited by me.”
“Certes, the word of so loyal a gentleman deserves a fair inquiry,” observed the Queen, with a frown. “What sayst thou to it, my Lord Burleigh?”
“That the statement of Sir Walter Raleigh is true, my liege,” answered Burleigh.
The Queen looked surprised, and the councillors, on either side of the table, and Sir Walter Raleigh, also, turned a glance of inquiry on his venerable face.
“It is even so, my liege,” resumed Burleigh, after a pause. “A similar account, wherein fair mention was made of Sir Walter, was rendered me yesterday, by a person of high trust; and I had purposed to have reported it to your Highness to-day. Howbeit, when Sir Walter was summoned hither, methought I would first hear his testimony, and then leave it for the judgment of your Highness.”