Her mother shook her head. "To do that would inevitably bring trouble. Your father is a favourite with the King, and, because of that, we dare not think of retiring from his service; for it would certainly bring down suspicion if we only asked to be allowed to give up this service. I tell you, the King is not the good-tempered easy-going man he once was. It is whispered, too, that he is growing tired of the new queen. She brought him a daughter—the little Lady Elizabeth—which disappointed him, and he will put her away somehow." This was said in a whisper, for fear a servant should enter the room unawares; but the lady wanted to convince her daughter, that it would not be safe for them to rouse the anger of the King, that she might not urge her father to retire from the Court.
When the meal was concluded, Sir Harry said: "Now I have something to show you. I have made myself a withdrawing-room, somewhat after the pattern of one at the Palace. I never allow a servant to enter it, for I have to write for the King many things that are private." As he spoke Sir Harry led the way to a distant wing of the house, and admitted them to a room on the upper floor.
Instead of being hung with arras, behind which listeners could conceal themselves, this room was hung with stamped leather, lined with a thick padding of wool, that was securely fastened to the walls; and, when they had entered, an overlapping piece was drawn over the door, so that no one could hear a word that passed within.
Lady Guildford breathed a sigh of relief as the door was secured. "Now we can talk freely and without fear," she said.
"Is it possible that such a room as this is necessary in a gentleman's private house here in England?" said Sir Miles Paton, in a serious tone. "Of course I have heard of such rooms being needful in Italy and other outlandish places, but—"
"Aye, but our Vicar-General has lived in Italy, and seems to have brought many of the Italian methods with him to govern our English folk," answered Sir Harry.
"But the Parliament?" said Sir Miles. "I know my master, the Cardinal, would fain have governed the kingdom without the help of Parliaments, but the want of money for the King's wars and pleasures compelled him to summon them; and is not Parliament defence enough?"
Sir Harry shook his head. "Wolsey hated the Parliament and all its ways, but Master Cromwell has now gone a step further, and made the Parliament a means to do his will, and crush out all that remains of English liberty."
"And yet this same man has given to the English people the right to read God's Word in their own tongue! I cannot understand it," said Sir Miles Paton.
"Aye, I trow many are puzzled by Thomas Cromwell's doings. He has been everything by turns,—from a mercenary in the army of Italy to the man next in power to the King of England, whom he has made equal to the Pope in all matters of faith and belief, and absolute ruler in Church and State. No other king in this realm has ever dared to assume such power as our present lord; and with this growing power he grows more evil, and arrogant, and selfish every day."