The King's Achievement

ss than consternation in England and of furious indignation on the Continent. It was evident that greatness would s

read aloud in her name by Dr. Capon, who from the pulpit opposite the platform where the penitents were set, preached a vigorous sermon against credulity and superstition. Ralph had read the confession over a couple of days before in Cromwell's room, a

further than ever in the direction of a breach with Rome, and had transferred the power of nomination to bishoprics from the Hol

course of this had found himself compelled to deal sharply with the Franciscans, who were at the same time the most popular and the most papal of all preachers. In the following out of th

known, and Ralph had a piteous letter from his father, entreating him to give some explanation of the course of a

e more than what other reigns have brought about in declaring that the Prince is temporal lord of his land. But, however that may be, what do you advise that your brother should do? He is to be professed in August, unless it is prevented, and I dare not put out my hand to hinder it, until I know more. I do not ask you, dear son, to tell me what you should not; I know my duty

e from the exposure of the Holy Maid on whose advice he had gone to Lewes, and that if his fathe

, in sifting the evidence offered by the grand visitors to show that the friars

*

ated marriage with Henry's elder brother, and involved, though the Carthusians did not clearly understand it so at the time, a rejection of the Pope's authority as connected with the dispensation for Katharine's union with Henry. In May their scruples were removed by the efforts of some who had influence with them, and the whole community took the oath as required of th

re for the first time of what was finally impending

f such testimony poured in from the spies in all parts of the country, relating to the deepening dissatisfaction with the method of government; and Cromwell, as the King's adviser, came in for much abuse. Every kind of manifestation of this was reported, t

the morning, and was on the point of leaving,

, "I have something

had just left, Cromwell took up a pen, and

-but what folk fear is going to happen. It seems to the people that security is disappearing; they do not understand that their best security lies in obedience. And, above all, they think that matters are dangerous with regard

in, but there was no mo

he we

that his Grace has not yet done all that he intends. There is yet one more ste

upon him, and he nodded, making

s that Christ never gave them, and it is time that they be reminded that England is free, and will not suffer their domination. As for the unity of the Catholic Church, that can be attended to later on, and on firmer ground; when the Pope has been taught not to wax so proud. There will be an Ac

and leaned back in his chair

" said Ralph, in a

his master, still watching him. "I need not te

was, as always, sharper than that of the individual, and that these uneasy strivings everywhere rose from a very definite perception of danger. The idea of the King's supremacy, as represented by Cromwell, would not seem to be a very startling departure; similar protests of freedom had

sm in Church affairs that was a reality rather than a theory-in which the Bishop of Rome while yet the foremost bishop of Christendom and endowed with special prerogatives, yet should have no finger in national affairs, which should be settled by the home authorities without reference to him. No doubt, he told himself, a readjustment was needed-visions and f

s own household at Chelsea. For a month none of his own people, except his servant, was allowed to visit him,

nd beads on a little table beside it, and his narrow window looked out through eleven feet of wall towards the Court and the White Tower. His books, too, which his servant, John Wood, had bro

would not forget an old friend, even though he could not take yo

ou would take i

ore smiling, "no more th

rid

could not please Beatrice more than by visiting her friend, and he himself was pleased and amused to

gain, and mentioned how many had ta

her matters. If I would not do it for my daughter's sake, who begged me, I would not do it for the s

and began to speak of other thi

," he said, "and I hardly supp

monk; so God hath compelled me to be one, and treats me as one of His own spoil

ts. The Lieutenant, Sir Edward Walsingham, who had been his friend, had told him that he would very gl

that I liked his cheer well enough as it was, and i

at he was writing. It was a treatise called

more a prisoner than I was before; I know I am, b

e just written and was ast

or stumbling at a stone; while God's prisoner, that hath but his one foot fettered by the gout, lieth groa

*

and was silent and moody as he went. He had been half touched and half enraged by More's bea

the thought that one was fastened in at the will of another; deplored the plainness of the prison fare, and the folly of her husband in refusing an oa

gized for the plai

I cannot help it. I have not the heart nor the me

mn eyes fill

from the group in the garden to where Beatrice Atherton

at the delicate instinct, that she did not wish to appear as intimately interested in the news from the Tower as those who had a b

glanced up and down again without cea

used the needle," h

mend," she said, withou

she would make such an answer and so swiftly; and at such a time, when tragedy was round

ers and the movements of her wrist as she passed the needle in

I said?" said

r head witho

bring you news a

please,"

r him," went on Ralph, dropping his eyes, and

e is not much. I shall

and the L

used and then

t, might finally alienate her. Even his gestures, the tones of his voice, his manner of walking, were important elements. He knew now that he was the kind of person who might be acceptable to her-or rather that his personality contained one facet that pleased her, and that he must be careful now to keep that facet turned towards her continually at such an angle that she caught the flash. He had sufficient sense, not to act a part, for that,

her own aloofness just now that it would seem a profanity, so he preserved silence instead, knowing that

nothing for him real

we

is hands, silentl

aid again, bendi

oking down at her,

liberately, "anything, I think, for

*

knew, too that she would not have said as much to anyone to whom she was indifferent. Of course, it was hopeless to think of bringing about More's rel

after him more than o