“You are very shrewd, sir,” he said. “I do not know how to answer that at this moment; but I have no reasonable doubt but that there is an answer.”
Ralph was delighted with his advantage, and pursued it eagerly; and after a few minutes had won from More an acknowledgment that he might be willing to consider the taking of the oath itself; it was the other clauses that touched his conscience more. He could swear to be loyal to Anne’s children; but he could not assent to the denunciation of the Pope contained in the preamble of the Act, and the oath would commit him to that.
“But you will tell that to the Commissioners, sir?” asked Ralph eagerly.
“I will tell them all that I have told you,” said More smiling.
Ralph himself was somewhat doubtful as to whether the concession would be accepted; but he professed great confidence, and secretly congratulated himself with having made so much way. But presently a remark of More’s showed that he appreciated the situation.
“I am very grateful to you, Mr. Torridon, for coming and talking to me; and I shall tell my wife and children so. But it is of no use. They are resolved to catch me. First there was the bribe; then the matter of the Maid; then this; and if I took a hundred oaths they would find one more that I could not, without losing my soul; and that indeed I do not propose to do. Quid enim proficit homo?”
There was a knock at the door a moment later, and a servant came in to beg Mr. More to come downstairs again; the Commissioners were ready for him.
“Then good-day, Mr. Torridon. You will come and see me sometimes, even if not at Chelsea. Wherever I may be it will be as nigh heaven as Chelsea.”
Ralph went down with him, and parted from him at the door of the Commissioner’s room; and half-an-hour later a message was sent out to him by Cromwell that he need wait no longer; Mr. More had refused the oath, and had been handed over to the custody of the Abbot of Westminster.