“I will not see Cranmer,” cried Norfolk, sharply. “He is my abhorrence. If he be forced upon me I will shut mine ears to his discourse, and utter no word in reply.”
“What is to be done with such a stiff-necked bigot?” exclaimed the lord protector, shrugging his shoulders. “Compassion is thrown away upon him.”
“If the duke’s long services cannot procure him any mitigation of his sentence,” remarked the constable, “at least let him enjoy his opinions undisturbed. Here, in this dungeon, they can harm no one save himself.”
“I love his Grace of Norfolk sufficiently to feel great concern for the welfare of his soul,” observed Edward. “I do not despair of opening his eyes to his errors, and rescuing him, even at the eleventh hour, from perdition. The separation of one so eminent from the communion of Rome would redound to the honor of the Reformed Church, and I have set my heart upon effecting it. The greater the difficulty, the greater will be the merit.”
“I am glad to hear your Highness announce such praiseworthy intentions,” said Hertford. “They are sure to give satisfaction to the majority of your subjects.”
“Again I implore your Majesty to forbear,” cried Gage. “You are ill advised to commence your rule with persecution.”
“How, Sir John!” exclaimed the lord protector. “Do you dare impugn my counsel?”
“Ay,” rejoined the constable, firmly. “Moreover, I dare bid you take heed, lest you pull about your ears the house you have but newly reared. Body o’ me! I dared speak my mind to King Harry, of whom I stood in some awe; and think you I shall not dare to utter it to your Highness, of whom I stand in none? Nay, marry, but I will.”
“Sir John! good Sir John! I pray you moderate yourself,” cried Norfolk. “If I should unhappily be the means of dragging you into the pit into which I have fallen myself, it will aggravate my affliction. Let my enemies work their will against me. I can bear it all without a murmur. But let me not feel that I have harmed a friend.”
“Let me join my entreaties to those of Sir John Gage, that your Highness pursue this matter no further for the present,” said Sir Thomas Seymour. “Above all, let not any warmth of temper which the worthy constable may have displayed prejudice him in your eyes.”
“Nay, if my wise father could overlook Sir John’s impetuosity, in consideration of his worth, I am not like to be more particular,” replied Edward. “But he should reflect that by over-zeal he may injure his own cause.”
“Rebuke so just and yet so temperate, proceeding from lips so young, shows what may be expected from your Highness’s mature judgment,” replied the constable. “I thank you for the lesson, and will lay it carefully to heart.”
“Let me not be backward in acknowledging that my own hastiness occasioned Sir John’s display of temper,” said the lord protector, “and therefore your Majesty’s just rebuke applies to me as well as to him. I pray you to forgive me, good Sir John.”
“Nay, your Highness makes more of the matter than it needs,” rejoined the constable, heartily.
“Since they are all making friends, the real cause of the quarrel will be overlooked,” whispered Xit, who was still with the royal party, to Sir Thomas Seymour.
“Peace, knave!” cried the latter, sharply.
“My indiscretion, I trust, hath not prejudiced the duke’s cause with your Majesty,” said Sir John Gage. “If so, I shall deeply lament it.”
“Set your mind at ease on that score, good Sir John,” returned Edward. “Second thoughts, they say, are best, and on reflection, I have decided upon leaving his Grace of Norfolk to the free indulgence of his own religious opinions, erroneous and pernicious as I feel them to be. If any change comes over him, I shall hail it with the liveliest satisfaction—with the joy of the shepherd at the return of a lost sheep. Means shall not be wanting towards this end, and good books shall be provided for him. It grieves me that I cannot hold out any promise of liberation to his grace. So long as he entertains these opinions he must remain a prisoner. It might be injurious to the well-being of our Church to let so powerful an enemy go free.”