Audrey looked serious for a minute or two. She had learned to venerate this tutor, for she had heard on all sides since she had been here that he was one of the most learned men in England; and learning was the passport everywhere now, so that although he might be only a tutor to Master Walsh's children at present, he might, by-and-bye, be received at Court, and rise to the highest dignity in Church and State, and so be able to help forward her interests and those of her family.
So Lady Audrey was careful how she answered him, for he was of good birth like herself, and she could not tell him that in championing the cause of the poor he was speaking for those to whom he himself belonged, as she would have liked to do. So she set about it in a more gentle manner, conceding all that he said about the cunning and hypocrisy of the monks and friars.
"Then why should we not warn the poor against falling victims to their guile?" asked Tyndale, quickly. "The rich can protect themselves better against the extortion of these foxes than the poor and ignorant can. Why should they not be told that God is ready and willing to pardon all sin, if we on our part will earnestly strive and endeavour to overcome it, or give it up? Why should the poor be left to believe that penances and masses are necessary to gain the release of the soul from Purgatory, and starve themselves almost—as they sometimes do—to secure the prayers of a priest to mitigate the pain of some dear one who has passed away?"
"But the rich have to pay for masses as well," said Audrey, thinking of the quarrelling that had gone on between her own and her husband's family as to who should pay for the requisite number of masses to be said for the release of his soul from Purgatory. She did not tell Master William Tyndale about this, for she had wit enough to see that it did not redound to the credit of either side, and she thought she might be asked why, if she believed that masses for the dead were necessary, she did not deny herself some luxury in dress or appointments, and send the money so saved to the monastery, that the time of poor Jack's stay in Purgatory might be lessened.
Altogether, she found herself on the horns of a dilemma, and was not sorry when the children, who had been sitting at their feet listening, suddenly asked some question on a totally different subject, which she eagerly took up as an escape from the present discussion.
She had been some months now at Sodbury Hall, and Master Tyndale began to hope that she too might be one who would help to make known the glorious news of the Gospel of the love of God. But after this talk the two mutually avoided further conversation on the subject, for Lady Audrey did not want to be made uncomfortable by such home truths as Master Tyndale was apt to apply in his arguments; while he, on his side, thought that the less he saw of the fascinating little lady the better it would be for his future work, which was gradually forming itself in his mind, and from which, he prayed God, he might never be turned aside,—to become a translator of the New Testament into English, and get it printed, either in London or at one of the great printing presses on the continent.
She had some precious fragments of the Word of God which she could read, and which the Holy Spirit could enforce in His own good time; but for the mass of the English people there was no such provision, and their souls were starving for lack of the Bread of Life. So in the midst of his teaching, preaching, and the opportunities society gave him of making known the truth to his master's friends, he made some sort of a beginning to translate the New Testament, using not only the Greek, but also the Latin translation of Erasmus, that the English version should be as perfect as possible.
But it was slow work, and he began to see before the summer of this year—1522—was over, that he should have to make some change in his life if ever it was to be completed, and the haunting dream of his life fulfilled, by the Testament being not only translated and written, but printed in English!
Some thought of this had doubtless entered his mind before the visit of Lady Audrey, but since he had seen the fragments of the Gospel she possessed, and heard the story of Miles Paton, it had become almost a passion that possessed him, to do this work himself for his country, so that what now seemed the wildest dream might be actual fact, and the Bible be the possession of ploughmen and shopkeepers, as well as of the students at the universities.