“Sir, will you grant me my request?”
“Let us hear what it is, first.”
“Sir, when you have told me to obey an order did I ever answer, ‘Let me see that order’?”
“If, however, your wish should be one impossible to fulfill?”
“When you have cherished a wish and have charged me with its fulfillment, have I ever replied, ‘It is impossible’?”
“But a request preferred with so much preparation——”
“Ah, do not fear, sir,” said Mordaunt, with apparent simplicity: “it will not ruin you.”
“Well, then,” said Cromwell, “I promise, as far as lies in my power, to grant your request; proceed.”
“Sir, two prisoners were taken this morning, will you let me have them?”
“For their ransom? have they then offered a large one?” inquired Cromwell.