and quicksands."

Rachel tossed her head, but was too wary to be drawn into an
argument with the man of books. She could air her father's opinions
second hand with an assumption of great assurance, but she was no
hand at argument or fence, and had no desire for an encounter of
wits.

But Cuthbert stepped eagerly into the breach, and the two men
became engrossed in talk. Cuthbert heard of acts of tyranny and
oppression, cruel punishments and ruinous fines imposed upon
hapless Romanists, guiltless of any other offence than of growing
up in the faith of their forefathers. He heard, on the other hand,
of Puritan preachers deprived of their cures and hunted about like
criminals, though nothing save the crime of unlicensed preaching
could be adduced against them. Cuthbert's blood was young and hot,
and easily stirred within him. He began to understand how it was
that the nation and this great city were never at rest. It seemed
to him as though he had stepped down out of a region of snow and
ice into the very crater of some smouldering volcano which might at
any moment burst out into flames. The sensation was strange and a
little intoxicating. He marvelled how he had been content so long
to know so little of the great world in which he lived.

The party broke up all too soon for him; but after the guests had
gone he had yet another interview to go through with his uncle,
after the womenkind had been dismissed to bed.

Firstly, Martin questioned the boy closely as to the circumstances
of his past life--his relations with his father, his training,