'You did threaten me!' he said doggedly. 'I was minded to be betimes.'
'Why, end it all, now and here,' the King said. 'Here is a folly with a silly wench in it.'
'Here was a treason that I would show your Highness,' the Bishop said doggedly.
'Sirs,' the King said. He touched his bonnet: 'God in His great mercy has seen fit much to trouble me. But here are troubles that I may end. Now I have ended them all. If this lady would not have her cousin to murder a cardinal, God, she would not. There are a plenty others to do that work.'
He pressed one hand on Cromwell's chest and pushed him backwards gently.
'Get thee gone, now,' he said, 'out of earshot. I shall speak with thee soon.—And you!' he added to Winchester.
'Body of God, Body of God,' he muttered beneath his breath, as they went, 'very soon now I can rid me of these knaves,' and then, suddenly, he blared upon Katharine:
'Thou seest how I am plagued and would'st leave me. Before the Most High God, I swear thou shalt not.'
She fell upon her knees.
'With each that speaks, I find a new traitor to me,' she said. 'Let me begone.'