“While the Duke of Somerset continues governor of your person, nothing can be done,” said the admiral. “The first step is to remove him from the office. To this the council will never consent unless strong pressure is brought to bear upon them, and this can only be done by parliament. Have you copied that letter, of which I sent you a draught by Fowler?”
“I have—it is here,” replied the king, giving him the paper. “But will this message be attended to, think you, dear uncle?”
“It shall be attended to,” replied the admiral. “If I can once free you from the lord protector’s grasp, all the rest will be easy. With me for your governor, you shall indeed be king. You shall not be shut up like a caged bird, and be deprived of the society of those you love. No unnecessary restraint of any kind shall be imposed upon you. You shall mingle as freely with your subjects as your august father was wont to do. And it shall be my study to form your character on the best and noblest model, so that when you do come to reign you may be a great and good king.”
“A good king I will be—a great king, if it shall please Heaven to make me one,” rejoined Edward. “They tell me you are not so earnest for the Protestant faith as the lord protector, and that you favor the adherents of the old religion.”
“Who has told you this, sire?” demanded the admiral.
“My preceptors,” replied the king.
“It is not true. I am as heartily in favor of the Reformation as Cranmer himself, but policy requires that I should stand well with the Romish party. But let me once have the care of your Majesty, and you shall not complain of any lukewarmness on my part in the cause of religious reform. The queen my wife, and your cousin Jane, shall aid us with their counsels.”
“Nay, there cannot be a more ardent reformer than Jane,” observed Edward, smiling. “I pray you commend me heartily to her, and to the queen your consort.”
“I will not fail to do so,” replied Seymour. “I trust your Majesty will soon see them both at Chelsea—or here. I will set about the work to-morrow, and let you know how I prosper.”
With this he was about to retire, but ere he could do so he was stopped by the sudden entrance of the lord protector, accompanied by the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, Lord Russell, Sir William Paget, and Sir John Gage. For a moment the admiral was taken aback, but quickly recovering himself, he drew himself up to his full height, and regarded his brother with a glance of defiance.
“Soh! you are here, my lord, in direct defiance of my injunctions,” cried Somerset.
“My uncle is here at my request,” cried Edward, throwing himself between them. “I sent for him.”
“Your Majesty will not be able to screen him,” observed Somerset. “I am too well informed of his plots. He will be brought to account for his treasonable designs.”
“Treasonable!” exclaimed Edward. “Nay, your Highness, the admiral has been guilty of no treason in coming to me.”
“He will have to answer to the council for what he has done,” rejoined the protector, “and it will be for them to decide whether his designs are treasonable or not. I charge him with a flagrant disobedience of my commands and authority—with constantly laboring and studying to put into your Majesty’s head a dislike of the government of the realm and of my doings. I charge him with endeavoring as much as in him lies to persuade your Majesty, being of too tender years to direct your own affairs, to take upon yourself the government and management of the realm, to the danger of your own person, and the peril of the whole kingdom. Let him deny those charges if he can.”
“I will answer them at once,” replied the admiral, boldly. “It is no treason to be here with the king my nephew in disobedience to your Grace’s mandate. I deny that I have sought to create a dislike of the government in my royal nephew’s mind; but I will not deny that I have said that his affairs might be better managed, and that he himself ought to be better ordered—and that I would do my best to have him better ordered.”