"Ah! but you live in a little Utopia, while we in Greenwich have to live as the great world will let us," said Sir Harry.
"That may be; but you Greenwich folk are making laws and rules by which the great world is governed; while few will ever hear of our little world of Paton beyond Woodstock and Oxford. Some of my old University friends are interested to know how we fare in our little kingdom of 'nowhere,' but I am afraid the kingdom of England is too much disturbed; and the fate of my dear friend, Sir Thomas More, has chilled many hearts."
"Ah! he was a just man, and a learned," remarked Sir Harry; "but he was no friend to the reformers."
"Nay, but he desired to see the Church reformed," said Sir Miles, quickly. "Why, it is to his help and encouragement of Erasmus that we got our Greek New Testament. Tyndale could never have given us the New Testament in English if it had not been for Erasmus; and who but Sir Thomas More and a few like-minded men, who desired to see the Church reformed and purified, helped with their wealth and sympathy the learned Dutchman in his work."
"And yet, he tortured and sentenced to death several of our reformers, for reading and expounding the English New Testament."
"Yes, yes; I have heard of it," said Sir Miles, with a sigh. "It is a mystery no man can understand. That he acted according to his conscience, and believed he was doing God's service, is proved by the way he withstood the king's assumption of supremacy; for he gave his life for the vindication of the Pope's right to rule in the Church."
"Ah! and he condemned Master Tewkesbury to death for his faith in the New Testament," retorted Sir Harry. "What say you to that, my son?" Sir Miles could only shake his head sadly. It was a mystery—part of the tangle, in the meshes of which everybody seemed to be struggling in this great world just now—and thinking thus, Sir Miles was not sorry that his father-in-law did not seem disposed to carry the talk any farther, and the withdrawing-room was locked up, and the gentlemen went to their chambers without further discussion of the thorny subject.
The next morning Sir Miles went early to Westminster, and despatched all his servants and horses, with their baggage, by road to Greenwich, warning the men to say little to any stranger they might meet on the way.
The little party were not sorry to leave the hostelry, for the idle loafers who hung about the stables of the inn had turned the speech and manners of the country folk into jest, and more than one fight had already taken place; and although the Paton servants had succeeded in giving their opponents a good drubbing, after the approved Oxfordshire manner, still they were looking sulky and out of humour, for they were no match in the use of their tongues, and the flouts, and jeers, and sneers of the Londoners left them smarting inwardly. So they were thankful enough when their master appeared, and ordered them off to Greenwich without delay.
Having seen them safely on the road, Sir Miles bent his steps once more to "The Sign of the Golden Fleece," for he was anxious to know how his friend Monmouth fared, and also to hear the latest news concerning Master Tyndale, for no tidings had reached him concerning this old friend for the last year or two. It was part of the price he had to pay for devoting himself to the improvement of his own tenantry, that news of those whom he had known in the great world outside rarely reached him; and now it seemed that the caution necessary in sending letters, would make his position still more isolated, and so he was the more anxious to get what news he could concerning old friends, while he was in a position to do so.