"'Nay, madam,' he replied, 'I am but the lackey messenger, and therefore am far beneath the honour of being consulted in this matter.'
"'Leave me, thou insolent cur!' I cried; 'How darest thou to stand before my face and mock me? A pretty servant of God art thou, to side with one who hath the position of power, against what thou knowest to be right. Be assured, sirrah, that thou shalt be reported to thy master, the Pope at Rome, for thy disgraceful conduct in thus seconding a powerful villain against a defenceless woman. Now leave me, thou knave, and tell that slave of Hell, the Lord Protector, to send to me to-morrow, and he shall have mine answer, as to whether he shall have my little son or no!'
"Then, sir, he left me," said her Majesty, quietly, as she heaved a great sigh, as though even the memory of this Churchman's departure were a relief to her. "But here's the day come around when I must give my final answer to Gloucester's messenger;" she continued, "and which it is to be I am not yet determined. If I do refuse to hand my dear son over to the boar, he, verily do I believe, will carry out his threat, and tear him rudely from me. 'Twas with the thought of getting advice from thee—for thou hast had good opportunities for observing the hump-back's habits lately—as to what course I had best take, that I did so anxiously await your coming."
"Ah, madam," I replied, "thou dost honour me over much by asking advice of one which hath had so little experience. Yet, since thou hast so honoured me, I needs must tell the truth. Therefore do I say this:—My natural impulse is to offer what resistance thou canst, in case the Duke doth make use of force. Yet, what little of the cooler stream of reason I have within my blood doth tell me how vain must be the effort to save the little Prince from falling into the Protector's hands, backed as that villain is by such powers as the nobles that surround him.
"Now, shouldst thou grant the Duke's request and hand the little Prince over to his Highness, his position could not be worse than it now is, granting of course, that the Duke of Gloucester dare to carry out his threat, which, I am sad to say, I fear he would not hesitate to do. Then, if thou dost decide to oppose force by force, the result of which, unhappily, must be a victory for the Protector, the little Prince might not receive the same consideration that he should were he to go to his uncle peaceably."
"Ah, yes, Sir Walter, thou art right," replied the Queen; "yet I had hoped to hear that my tender babe had still a chance of escaping the tusks of the bloody boar."
"May I crave thy pardon, madam?" said Harleston, who had approached whilst the Queen was speaking. "Methinks I have a plan which, if thou hast time to carry it out, may yet keep the little Prince from falling into the hands of his uncle."
"Let me hear it, for the love of Heaven!" cried the Queen, to whom any suggestions of a chance of saving her son from Gloucester was as a voice from Heaven.
"Well, madam, it is this," continued Harleston. "With all expediency let thy son be conducted from this place, without the knowledge of the Duke of Gloucester. No doubt my Lord of Dorset knows of some place, either within the kingdom or across the channel, where the little Prince need have no fear of falling into the Protector's hands."
"Now, by my soul, that is well thought of!" cried the Marquis, as, in his delight, he slapped Frederick on the shoulder.