The creatures round them, the rabbits, the
pigeons that flapped suddenly out of all the tall trees, the tits that
fluttered on and chirped and fluttered again, all seemed united against
Anthony in some dreadful league. Anthony himself felt all his powers of
observation and device quickened and established. He had lived so long in
the expectation of a time like this, and had rehearsed and mastered the
emotions of terror and suspense so often, that he was ready to meet them;
and gradually his entire self-control and the unmoved tones of his voice
and his serene alert face prevailed upon Isabel; and by the time that
they slowly turned the last curve and saw Robert on his black horse
waiting for them at the corner, her sense of terror and bewilderment had
passed, her heart had ceased that sick thumping, and she, too, was
tranquil and capable.
Robert wheeled his horse and rode beside Anthony round the sharp corner
to the left up the road along which he had trotted just now.
"There are three of them, sir," he said in an even, businesslike voice;
"one of them, sir, on a brown mare, but I couldn't see aught of him, sir;
he was on the far side of the track; the second is like a groom on a grey
horse, and the third is dressed like a sailor, sir, on a brown horse."
"A sailor?" said Anthony; "a lean man, and sunburnt, with a whistle?"
"I did not see the whistle, sir; but he is as you say."
This made it certain that it was the man they had seen in the inn
opposite Greenhithe; and also practically certain that he was a spy; for
nothing that Anthony had done could have roused his suspicions except the
breaking of the bread; and that would only be known to one who was deep
in the counsels of the Catholics.
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