“But how is the signal for it to be given, my lord?” inquired Ugo.
“Thou shalt hear. My first object is to secure the person of my royal nephew—as from him all decrees must emanate and having the king with me, I can defy opposition. At one time I thought of carrying him off to Holt, but there are many, and almost insuperable, difficulties in that design, which compelled me to abandon it, and I have since conceived a bolder plan. I mean to obtain possession of the Tower, Ugo, and to keep the king within it till all shall be accomplished.”
“A bold plan indeed!” exclaimed Ugo. “But how does your Highness hope to obtain possession of the Tower?”
“Through the instrumentality of Sir John Gage,” replied the admiral.
“What, has Sir John Gage joined your Highness?” cried Ugo.
“He will do,” replied the admiral, smiling significantly. “We will suppose the Tower gained—no matter how or by whom,” he said, “and the king secured within it. My first business will be to issue a proclamation to the effect that, it having been discovered that the document purporting to be the will of his late Majesty is false and fraudulent, the council appointed by that instrument is dissolved, and the lord protector deposed from his office. Furthermore, that the lord protector being charged with high treason and other heinous crimes and misdemeanors, shall, with his abettors, be brought to speedy trial. This proclamation will be the signal for the rising.”
“Should it be made, it will doubtless produce the effect anticipated by your Highness—but how will you prove the charge you intend to make against the lord protector?—how will you show that the king’s will was fraudulently prepared?”
“By producing the confession of Doctor Butts, who aided in the scheme,” said Seymour. “Thou mayst remember that I intrusted a packet to thee some while ago, Ugo, charging thee to deliver it to the queen in case of need. That packet contained the confession.”
“Indeed!” he exclaimed. “Would I had known it!” he added, to himself.
“Butt’s confession did me some service then,” continued the admiral, with a laugh. “But it shall do me more ere long. What will the people say, think you, when they learn that the lord protector has risen to greatness by means like this? Will they support him? No! his cause will instantly be abandoned; his followers will shrink from him, and deliver him up to justice.”
“It may be so,” rejoined Ugo, thoughtfully.
“May be!—I tell thee it will!” cried the admiral. “Let Somerset look well to his seat, if he would keep it, for many hands will ere long be eager to pluck him from it.”
“Your plan promises well, I must needs own, my lord,” said Ugo. “But you have not—as far as I understand—yet gained over the constable of the Tower.”
“But I shall do so,” rejoined the admiral. “I will forthwith set about the task. Sir John is now at the Tower. I will go thither at once, and thou shalt accompany me.”
“I pray your Highness to excuse me. I have some slight matters of mine own to see to.”
“Well, as thou wilt. But get thy business done, as on my return I may need thee.”
Ugo bowed, and assisted his lord to put on his cloak, after which the admiral, attended by a dozen stalwart retainers armed to the teeth, without whom he now never stirred abroad, proceeded to Whitehall stairs, where his barge was waiting for him, and entering it, ordered the men to row to the Tower.
On arriving at the fortress, he found that Sir John was at the lieutenant’s lodgings. Proceeding thither, and stating that he desired to speak with the constable in private, he was shown into a large chamber, wainscoted with black oak, where state delinquents were usually examined, and where Sir John shortly afterwards joined him.
After a little preliminary discourse, the admiral opened his business.
“It is a matter of the utmost importance on which I have come to you, Sir John,” he said, “and concerns the welfare of the king and the security of the realm. You may remember that you and I were excluded from the late king’s presence when the will was signed, or rather stamped?”