“Why so I am, Alva,” replied the King, smiling. “Her Majesty refuses me nothing.”
“Except the matrimonial crown, Sire,” said the Duke, bluntly. “She will not give you that. Neither will she place the supreme power of government in your hands, nor cause you to be declared presumptive heir to the crown.”
“She dare not do so, Alva,” observed Philip, coldly.
“I know not that,” said the Duke. “For such a result all should be dared.”
“Her Majesty will accede to my wishes in due time,” said the King. “Should there be an heir to the throne, all difficulties will be removed.”
“Ay, if there should—but the event may never occur,” cried Alva, impatiently. “Again I say, why wait? With such a prize within your grasp, why hesitate to seize it? Oh! that your Majesty would leave the work to me.”
“I could not trust you,” said the King. “You would ruin all by precipitancy. My plan is slow, but sure. Farewell, my lord Duke. The saints give you a good journey to Brussels. Commend me in all love and duty to the Emperor, and say that in due time I trust he will have a grandson.”
“Would I could add that heresy were completely extirpated from the realm, and the papal supremacy re-established,” observed Alva.
“That will follow immediately on the arrival of Cardinal Pole,” said Philip. “Most of the English nobles and men of wealth, as you know, have shared in the monstrous spoliation of the Church that occurred during the two previous reigns, and these persons will never acknowledge the supreme authority of the Pontiff, unless their ill-gotten possessions are secured to them. Until this point be conceded by his Holiness, the Lord Chancellor assures me it will be futile and even dangerous to propose the measure. Mauriquez has been dispatched to Rome to argue the matter with the Pope, and, till the question be decided, Cardinal Pole must be detained at Brussels. This you will explain to the Emperor.”
“Humph!” exclaimed Alva. “I half hope the Pope may refuse your Majesty’s request, and then you will be compelled to have recourse to me to force these robbers to disgorge their plunder. ’Tis a dreadful wrong to the Church.”