“What!” said the king, “you have nothing remaining from the income of your office?”
“Not so much as one hundred gold crowns,” replied Sir Thomas.
“More,” said the king thoughtfully, “you are an honest man.”
“I endeavor to be so, sire.”
“It grieves me that you leave me. Why approve not of my marriage?”
“Because, sire, you may not have two wives at once.”
“Begone!” said Henry VIII.…
And Cromwell found the king in a state of excitement impossible to describe.
“I regret it! I regret it!” he exclaimed. “This will work me evil! A man of such integrity, such worth! No one can doubt it. I have done wrong in sending him to
the Parliament; it was plain that he would refuse me.”