“Summon our maids of honour, and let her be instantly cared for,” said Mary, with a look of ill-disguised satisfaction. “My lord,” she added to Courtenay, “you are forgiven.”
The earl hastily, and with some confusion, expressed his thanks, while, in obedience to the queen’s mandate, Elizabeth was removed.
“And now, my lord,” said Mary to him, “I must pass from my own affairs to those of my kingdom. I will not detain you further—nor you, M. De Noailles. But I must crave your attendance, my lord, for a few minutes,” she added, turning to Gardiner, “and yours, M. Renard.”
“Your highness may always command my best counsel,” replied the latter, in a slightly sarcastic tone, “provided you will act upon it.”
“Farewell, my lord,” said Mary, extending her hand to Courtenay, which he pressed to his lips. “I shall walk upon the Tower Green in an hour, and shall expect you there.”
“I will attend your majesty,” replied Courtenay. And accompanied by De Noailles, he quitted the chamber.
“You have had a narrow escape, my lord,” remarked the French ambassador, as they traversed the long gallery together.
“So narrow that I thought I had lost all chance of the crown,” replied Courtenay. “It is the work of that perfidious Simon Renard. But if I live an hour, I will requite him.”
“You are the victor, my lord,” returned De Noailles. “Maintain your present position, and you may defy his utmost malice.”
“Tarry with me a moment, M. De Noailles,” said Courtenay, “and you shall see how I will avenge myself upon him.”
“Prudence, my good lord, prudence,” replied De Noailles. “Your rashness has already put you once in his power. Do not let it do so a second time.”
“I will punish his treachery, if it costs me my life,” replied Courtenay.
|Go To Table Of Contents|
CHAPTER IX
OF THE DUEL BETWEEN COURTENAY AND SIMON RENARD; AND HOW IT WAS INTERRUPTED
MEANWHILE, a long discussion was carried on between Mary and her councillors, as to the best means of effecting the entire restoration of the Romish religion.
“I have a letter from Cardinal Pole,” observed the queen, “wherein his eminence urges me to adopt no half measures.”
“It will not be safe to do so as matters now stand, gracious madam,” replied Gardiner. “You must proceed cautiously. The noxious weed, heresy, has taken too deep a root in this country to be forcibly extirpated. I need not remind you of the murmurs that followed the celebration of mass in the chapel in the White Tower, for the repose of the king your brother’s soul—of Cranmer’s vehement opposition, of the lord mayor’s remonstrance, because mass was sung in another chapel in the city, of the riot for a similar cause in Smithfield, of the dagger thrown at Doctor Bourne, when he preached at Saint Paul’s Cross, and inveighed against the deprivation of our prelates during the late reign. Your majesty did wisely to declare, at my suggestion, that although your conscience is stayed in matters of religion, yet you meant not to compel and constrain other men’s consciences. Abide by this declaration a little longer. The two chief opponents of our religion, Ridley and Latimer, are already prisoners in the fortress, and Cranmer will be speedily brought hither.”
“So speedily, my lord, that he shall be lodged within it to-day,” replied Mary. “The order is already signed for his committal on a charge of high treason for counselling our disinheritance, and aiding the Duke of Northumberland with horse and men against us in the revolt of the Lady Jane Grey.”
“When will your highness have him arraigned?” asked Gardiner.
“After our coronation,” replied Mary; “when Lady Jane Grey and her husband shall also be tried.”
“Suffolk is already liberated,” remarked Renard; “and yet he was more deeply implicated than Cranmer.”
“True,” replied Mary; “but he is not so dangerous.”
“The counsel of my master, the emperor,” rejoined Renard, “as I have more than once stated to your highness, is to spare none of the rebels, above all, the Lady Jane Grey, who, though she may have been the instrument of others, is yet in the eyes of the people the principal offender.”