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They are you are here, or, I will assure you, you will overheard be snapt. Why?" quoth the Doubters. "Why!" quoth the old gentleman; "why! because both the Prince and Lord Secretary, and their captains and soldiers, are all at present in town; yea, the town is as full of them as ever it can hold. And besides, there is one whose name is Will-be-will, a most cruel enemy of ours, and him the Prince has made keeper of the gate, and has commanded him that, with all the diligence he can, he should look for, search out, and destroy all and all manner of Diabolonians. And if he lighteth upon you, down you go, though your heads were made of gold."

And now, to see how it happened, one of the Lord Will-be-will's faithful soldiers, whose name was Mr Diligence, stood all this while listening under old Evil-Questioning's eaves, and heard all the talk that had been betwixt him and the Doubters that he entertained under his roof.

The soldier was a man that my lord had much confidence in, and that he loved dearly; and that both because he was a man of courage, and also a man that was unwearied in seeking after Diabolonians to apprehend them.

"And

Now, this man, as I told you, heard all the talk that was between old Evil-Questioning and these Diabolonians; wherefore what does he but goes to his lord, and tells him what he had heard. sayest thou so, my trusty?" quoth my lord. "Ay," quoth Diligence, "that I do; and if your lordship will be pleased to go with me, you shall find it as I have said." "And are they there? quoth my lord. "I know Evil-Questioning well, for he and I were great in the time of our apostacy; but I

know not now where he dwells," "But I do," They are said his man, “and if your lordship will go, I will apprehended lead to his den." "Go!" quoth my you the way lord, "that I will. Come, my Diligence, let us go find them out."

So my lord and his man went together the direct way to his house. Now this man went before to show him his way, and they went till they came even under old Mr Evil-Questioning's wall.

Then said Diligence, "Hark, my lord, do you know the old gentleman's tongue when you hear it?" "Yes,' "" said my lord, "I know it well, but I have not seen him many a day. This I know, he is cunning: I wish he doth not give us the slip." "Let me alone for that," said his servant Diligence. "But how shall we find the door?" quoth my lord. "Let me alone for that, too, "said his man. So he had my Lord Will-bewill about, and showed him the way to the door. Then my lord, without more ado, broke open the door, rushed into the house, and caught them all five together, even as Diligence his man had told him. So my lord apprehended them, and led them away, and committed them to the hand of Mr True-man, the jailor, and commanded, and he did put them in ward. This done, my Lord Mayor was acquainted in the morning with what my Lord Will-be-will had done overnight, and his lordship rejoiced much at the news, not only because there were Doubters apprehended, but because that old Evil-Questioning was taken; for he had been a very great trouble to Mansoul, and much affliction to my Lord Mayor himself. He had also been sought for often, but no hand could ever be laid upon him till now.

They are brought to trial

Well, the next thing was to make preparation to try these five that by my lord had been apprehended, and that were in the hands of Mr Trueman, the jailor. So the day was set, and the court called, and come together, and the prisoners brought to the bar. My Lord Will-be-will had power to have slain them when at first he took them, and that without any more ado; but he thought it at this time more for the honour of the Prince, the comfort of Mansoul, and the discouragement of the enemy, to bring them forth to public judgment.

But, I say, Mr True-man brought them in chains to the bar, to the town-hall, for that was the place of judgment. So, to be short, the jury was pannelled, the witnesses sworn, and the prisoners tried for their lives: the jury was the same that tried Mr No-Truth, Pitiless, Haughty, and the rest of their companions.

And first old Questioning himself was sent to the bar, for he was the receiver, the entertainer, and comforter of these Doubters, that by nation were outlandish men. Then he was bid to hearken to his charge, and was told that he had liberty to object if he had aught to say for himself. So his indictment was read; the manner and form here follows:

"Mr Questioning, thou art here indicted by the name of Evil-Questioning, an intruder upon the town of Mansoul, for that thou art a Diabolonian by nature and also a hater of the Prince Emmanuel, and one that hast studied the ruin of the town of Mansoul. Thou art also here indicted for countenancing the King's enemies after wholesome laws made to the contrary: 1. Thou hast questioned the truth of her doctrine and state; 2. In wishing

that ten thousand Doubters were in her; 3. In The inreceiving, in entertaining, and encouraging of her dictment enemies that came from their army unto thee. What saiest thou to this indictment?

guilty or not guilty?"

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Art thou

'My lord," quoth he, "I know not the meaning of this indictment, forasmuch as I am not the man concerned in it. The man that standeth by this charge accused before this bench is called by the name of Evil-Questioning, which name I deny to be mine, mine being Honest-Inquiry. The one, indeed, sounds like the other, but I trow your lordships know that between these two there is a wide difference, for I hope that a man, even in the worst of times, and that, too, amongst the worst of men, may make an honest inquiry after things without running the danger of death."

Then spake my Lord Will-be-will, for he was one of the witnesses: "My lord, and you the honourable bench and magistrates of the town of Mansoul, you all have heard with your ears that the prisoner at the bar has denied his name, and so thinks to shift from the charge of the indictment. But I know him to be the man concerned, and that his proper name is Evil-Questioning. I have known him, my lord, above these thirty years, for he and I (a shame it is for me to speak it) were great acquaintance when Diabolus, that tyrant, had the government of Mansoul; and I testify that he is a Diabolonian by nature, an enemy to our Prince, and a hater of the blessed town of Mansoul. He has, in times of rebellion, been at and lain in my house, my lord, not so little as twenty nights together, and we did use to talk then, for the substance of talk, as he and his Doubters have

Mr Dili- talked of late.

True, I have not seen him many a

gence day. I suppose that the coming of Emmanuel to gives Mansoul has made him change his lodgings, as this evidence indictment has driven him to change his name; but this is the man, my lord.”

Then said the Court unto him, "Hast thou any more to say?"

"Yes," quoth the old gentleman, "that I have, for all that as yet has been said against me is but by the mouth of one witness; and it is not lawful for the famous town of Mansoul, at the mouth of one witness, to put any man to death."

Then stood forth Mr Diligence, and said, “My lord, as I was upon my watch such a night at the head of Bad Street, in this town, I chanced to hear a muttering within this gentleman's house. Then thought I, what's to do here? So I went up close, but very softly, to the side of the house to listen, thinking, as indeed it fell out, that there I might light upon some Diabolonian conventicle. So, as I said, I drew nearer and nearer, and when I was got up close to the wall, it was but a while before I perceived that there were outlandish men in the house; but I did well understand their speech, for I have been a traveller myself. Now, hearing such language in such a tottering cottage as this old gentleman dwelt in, I clapt mine ear to a hole in the window, and there heard them talk as followeth. This old Mr Questioning asked these Doubters what they were, whence they came, and what was their business in these parts, and they told him to all these questions, yet he did entertain them. He also asked what numbers there were of them, and they told him ten thousand men. He then asked them why they made no more manly assault upon