“I felt sure your Lordship would come round to my views. That confession is a terrible weapon, and has already been used with great effect. Your Lordship will easily understand on what occasion.”
“Ah, I see!” exclaimed Warwick. “Bring that document to me if you can, Ugo; bring it, and name your own fee. Immediate steps must be taken with the admiral. I will consult with my colleagues forthwith. He must be arrested, and his papers seized.”
“But the document in question may fall into wrong hands,” said Ugo. “Your lordship must proceed with the utmost caution. My lord is vigilant and alert, and will not be easily taken. He never moves without a guard, and has more than three hundred armed retainers at Seymour House, who will defend him to the last. If he escapes, and flies to Sudley or Holt, the insurrection will break out, and the whole country will be in a flame. A civil war will be the result. His arrest should be made when he is wholly unprepared.”
“It shall be so,” rejoined Warwick. “Yet, if he be arrested now, what proof shall we be able to bring of his guilt? Will you bear evidence against him?”
“If I am interrogated by the council I must needs answer,” replied Ugo. “But the best course to pursue will be to arrest Sir William Sharington, master of the mint at Bristol, and question him as to his dealings with my lord. If he proves obstinate, the rack will make him speak, and you will then have good grounds for arresting the admiral. Sharington has clipped gold and silver, coined base money, and committed other frauds at my lord’s instance and for his benefit.”
“You are right, Ugo. We will begin with Sharington. Officers shall be despatched forthwith to Bristol to arrest him, after which he shall be clapped in the Tower.”
“Be careful not to alarm the admiral, my lord, or your plan will be defeated. I must now take my leave, or I myself may incur suspicion. Rely on my watchfulness. If I can purloin Butt’s confession, your lordship shall have it.”
So saying, Ugo withdrew.
| Go to Table of Contents |
Chapter VII
HOW SIR WILIAM SHARINGTON WAS EXAMINED BY THE COUNCIL AND PUT TO THE TORTURE
Feeling that no time ought to be lost, Warwick sought out the Lords Russell and Arundel, Sir William Paget, and some other members of the council on whom he could rely, and without further explanation at the moment than that he had discovered that Sir William Sharington had been guilty of treasonable frauds, which were likely to implicate a personage of importance, he at once obtained their sanction to his arrest.
The warrant was signed, and given by Warwick himself to the officers, with special instructions, and such despatch was used that ere the following morning Sharington was brought up to London and lodged in the Tower.
On the same day, Warwick and the council repaired to the fortress, and assembling together at the lieutenant’s lodgings, had the prisoner brought before them. He resolutely denied the charges brought against him, and could not be got to make any admission tending to criminate the admiral.
Determined, however, not to be foiled, Warwick, who, as we have said, conducted the examination, menaced him with the rack, but as even this threat proved ineffectual, he ordered him to be taken to the torture-chamber, and the question ordinary and extraordinary to be applied.
On this Sharington was removed by the officers.
The council remained where they were, awaiting the result of the application; but more than an hour elapsed before the gaoler reappeared.
“Well, have you subdued his obstinacy, good Master Tombs?” cried Warwick. “Will he speak now?”
“Ay, my lord; we have made him alter his tone,” replied Tombs. “But it required some shrewd turns of the rack to shake him. Your lordships must needs go to him if you would interrogate him, for his joints have been so stretched by the engine that he cannot move.”
Upon this, the council adjourned to the torture-chamber; a large vault, constructed of stone, and situated midway between the Beauchamp Tower and the Devilin Tower. It was approached by a subterranean passage communicating with the lieutenant’s lodgings.