Page:Tales of my landlord (Volume 4).djvu/120

"O, this precious Basil shall turn cat in pan with any man! He was displeased with the government, because they would not overturn in his favour a settlement of the late Earl of Torwood which gave his own estate to his own daughter; he was displeased with Lady Margaret because she shewed no desire for his alliance, and with the pretty Edith, because she did not like his tall ungainly person. So he held a close correspondence with Burley, and raised his men with the purpose of helping him, if he needed no help, that is, if you had beat us yesterday— And now the rascal pretends he was all the while proposing the King's service, and, for aught I know, the council will receive his pretext for current coin, for he knows how to make friends among them. And a dozen scores of poor vagabond fanatics will be shot, or hung, while this cunning scoundrel lies hid under the double cloak of loyalty, well lined with the fox-fur of hypocrisy."