"Though other proof might be deemed superfluous," said Sir Payan, "yet, my lord, when I came to the part where he calls your grace a butcher's cur" (and the knight dwelt somewhat maliciously on the words), "my zeal and affection for your grace's service made me instantly resolve to track this Osborne Maurice on his journey, after escaping from prison. In person I could not do it, for a fall from my horse laid me in my bed for three weeks. But I took care that it should be done, and found that he returned straight to my Lord of Buckingham's; from thence he went to the Benedictine Abbey at Canterbury, where he seems to have been sent to escort a Lady Katrine Bulmer to the court. Then, passing by Rochester, he had an interview with the chief of the rioters at Hilham Green. Your grace will be at no loss to know how, and by whom, that memorable tumult was instigated. There he pretended to save a good simple priest from the mob; but, by the clergyman's own account, they gave him up at a single word from this Maurice, which shows what was his influence with them; for they were, the moment before, about to hang the man they yielded so quietly after. The priest is at my lodging here. This was the traitor's last adventure before arriving at the court, where, either by some sorcery or other damned invention, he has bewitched the better judgment of the king, so that none is so well loved as he. Perhaps he waits but an opportunity to put his dagger in our royal master."
"Heaven forbid!" cried Wolsey. "We will instantly set off for Richmond. Without there! Let the barge be prepared directly: Sir Payan, you have saved the realm, and may claim a high reward."
"The reward I most affect," replied the knight, in a well-acted tone of moderation, "is simply to remain in quiet possession of that which I have. Life is now wearing with me, your grace, and I covet not greater charges than those which I enjoy. Let me but be sure of them."
"Rest tranquil on that point," replied Wolsey. "I will look thereto."
"There are, indeed," continued Sir Payan, "some hereditary estates, which, though they should be mine, are held by another; and on that score I may claim your grace's assistance before I endeavour to recover them; for I put my whole actions in your grace's hands, that, like a mere machine, I may move but as you please."
"What estates are these, Sir Payan?" demanded Wolsey, with something very nearly approaching to a smile, at the peculiar line of the knight's cupidity. "If they be truly yours, doubt not but you shall have them."
"They are those estates in Cornwall," replied the knight, "lately held by my cousin, the Earl de Grey, which have since passed to Constance, his daughter; though, by all custom of succession, according to their tenure, I hold them to pass directly in the male line."
"Nay, nay, Sir Payan," cried Wolsey, with a curl of his lip; "this is too much! Constance de Grey is my ward, and shall not lose her estates lightly. She is, indeed," added he, thoughtfully, and speaking to himself more than to the knight, though not a word was lost to his attentive ears; "she is, indeed, somewhat wilful. That letter, in which she refuses to wed her cousin, though calm and humble, was full of rank obstinacy. The fear of losing her estates, however----. But we shall see. Sir Payan, I must hold my opinion suspended till such time as you lay before me some proofs of the matter. And now tell me: think you, in this plot of Buckingham's, is there any other person of high rank implicated? Indeed there must be, for he would never undertake such daring schemes without some sure abettors. Sir Payan, these lords are all too proud. We must find means to humble them. It may be as well to let this arch-traitor Buckingham proceed for some short time, till we find who are his accomplices. But, for this Sir Osborne Maurice, he shall to the Tower to-night, for therein is the king's life affected."
"Might it not be better, in your grace's good judgment," said Sir Payan, "to take the duke's person at once? For assuredly, as soon as he hears that his minion is committed, he will become alarmed, and find security in some foreign land."
"He shall be so well watched," said Wolsey, closing his hand tightly, as if he grasped his enemy, "that were he no larger than a meagre ermine, he should not escape me. No; we must let him condemn himself full surely. But, Sir Payan, are you prepared to accompany me to Richmond?"