Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/475

 I57I-] THE RIDOLFI CONSPIRACY 461 experiment was to be tried again more severely, and he was left in the darkness to reflect on what was before him. One more ingenious refinement was yet behind. Doctor Story was still in the Tower waiting for execu- tion. It had been ascertained that Baily was unac- quainted with Stor} r 's person, though he regarded him, like the Catholics generally, as a confessor and a saint. There appeared one night by the side of the straw heap on which Baily lay extended,, the figure of a man who said that he was Story himself, admitted into the cell by the kindness of a gaoler, to console him in his sufferings. The deceit could be successfully maintained, for the counterfeit was Parker, the treacherous friend who had betrayed Story in Flanders. In the character of a ghostly father, and an experienced conspirator, Parker recommended Baily -to dig below Burghley's mines. He persuaded him that so much was already discovered that it was useless to persist in complete denial. By deciphering his own letters he told him that he would gain credit with Burghley, while he would leave him no wiser than he was already. He might offer to be a spy upon the Bishop of Eoss, while in fact he would be a spy upon the Government, and would serve the cause of the Queen of Scots more effect- ually than ever. 1 del Obispo de Ross y ver las cartas j MSS. Simancas. con cifra, le ban dado tormento aun- I l Baily in writing afterwards to que no muy rezio y esta en la Torre.' I Don Guerau to say what he had con- Don Guerau to Philip, May 9 | fessod, adds innocently, 'He'hecho