It was in vain that the duke and duchess urged considerations of the harm which would befall Protestantism if Princess Mary reigned, and of the dissensions which might rend the land if the legitimacy of the queen were doubtful; the Lady Jane only said—
'Other wrongs do not make a wrong right. I am sure Princess Mary is the rightful queen, and I should be a usurper if I were to take her place.'
Again and again she said the same thing, praying and beseeching them not to force her to become queen.
'Think you,' she said, 'that the great God who made heaven and earth cannot take care of Protestantism and this beloved England of ours without the help of a young girl like me? Do you think that by doing what my conscience tells me is wrong I can advance the cause of the High and Holy One?'
But it was all in vain. They would not listen to her. Their minds were set upon making her queen, more for their own advancement than for the good of their country, and in their eyes she was a child who was to be made to do the thing that they pleased.
When she became ill with terror and distress and crying we took her to her bedroom, and when she implored that they would leave her there alone with me the Duchess of Suffolk said, 'No, I shall stay with you myself.'
'And so shall I,' said the Duchess of Northumberland.
Then they turned me out of the room, together with Mistress Ellen, that they might the better take poor Lady Jane in hand, and we heard a pitiful cry from her as the bolt of the door was slid, leaving us on the outside and her within alone with them.