He paused and appeared to reflect.
'In an hour she shall be here. Give me leave to use my thumbscrews....'
'Aye, but Winchester,' Cromwell said.
'Why,' Throckmorton answered confidently, 'in an hour, too, Winchester shall be with the King in the King's Privy Chapel. There will be a make of prayers; ten minutes to that. There shall be Gardiner talking to the King against your lordship; ten minutes to that. And, Winchester being craven, it shall cost him twice ten minutes to come to begging your lordship's head of the King, if ever he dare to beg it. But he never shall.'
Cromwell said, 'Well, well!'
'There we have forty minutes,' Throckmorton said. He licked his lips and held his long beard in his hand carefully, as if it had been a bird. 'But give me ten minutes to do my will upon this lady's body, and ten to write down what she shall confess. Then, if it take your lordship ten minutes to dress yourself finely, you shall have still ten in which you shall show the King how his Winchester is traitor to him.'
Cromwell considered for a minute; his lips twitched cautiously the one above the other.
'This is a great matter,' he said. He paused again. 'If this lady should not confess! And it is very certain that the King affects her.'
'Give me ten minutes of her company,' the spy answered.
Cromwell considered again.