'The king is very ill now,' she continued, after a slight pause, 'and the Duke of Northumberland is with him.'
'Is the duke one of those who favour Lady Jane Grey's being made queen?' I asked.
'Yes. And I will tell you why. He sees so clearly what devastation and woe will come upon this kingdom if a Papist is again upon the throne; and on the other hand how blessed and prosperous it will become under good Protestant governance.'
'Lady Jane Grey is a Protestant, then?' I asked.
'Certainly, and withal so wise and virtuous as to stand out far above all other women in the world.'
I thought if that were so she would not like to step before the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, but I dared not say it, for, with all her sweetness there was something imperious about Lady Caroline so that I felt she would not brook dissent from a young girl like me.
She seemed to be a little piqued with my silence, and getting off the bed, stood beside it to say, as if closing the discussion—
'For the enlightenment of the people in our neighbourhood and to instil the truth into their minds my husband has invited Sir Hubert Blair here, purposely to speak to a congregation to-night, which he intends getting together, of our tenantry and people in the neighbourhood.'
That touched me more nearly than the other matter, and I felt myself colouring deeply. 'Has Sir Hubert skill thus to speak?' I asked.
'Certainly; he is a very able man, and always speaks out manfully for the right. In Spain, when he went with his friend, Sir Thomas Wyatt, who accompanied his father on an embassy, he saw much of the horrors of papistry and the terrible Inquisition, and he is going to tell the people about it to-night, that every one present may be stirred to do his utmost to keep it far from our land.'