“Should it be so, I should decline the dignity,” replied the Cardinal. “You, my good friend, who know my sentiments perfectly, are aware that I have little ambition, and that all my exertions have been directed to the welfare of our holy Church. This cause I can best serve by remaining here, and I trust Heaven may spare me for the complete fulfilment of my task. I do not delude myself with any false hopes. I shall never behold Rome again, and it is from this conviction that I would not hinder your return.”
“I will remain with you to the last,” rejoined Priuli. “My life is linked with yours. Nothing but death can divide us.”
At this juncture an usher announced the Lord Chancellor, and the next moment Gardiner entered the room. Both the Cardinal and Priuli rose to receive him. After courteous but grave salutations had passed between them, Gardiner remarked, “Your Eminence desires to speak to me about those recusants who were yesterday excommunicated by the ecclesiastical tribunal, and delivered to the secular power. I may as well state at once that nothing can be advanced in arrest of the judgment certain to be passed upon them. They obstinately persisted in their heresy, and firmly refused to subscribe to the doctrines of the Church.”
“I grieve to hear it,” replied Pole. “Yet I trust they will not be severely dealt with.”
“They will be dealt with as they deserve—they will be burnt at the stake,” rejoined Gardiner.
“But not without time allowed them for reflection, I trust, my lord,” said the Cardinal. “Undue severity will injure our cause rather than serve it. These men will be accounted martyrs, and held up as an example to others. Policy, therefore, would dictate milder measures.”
“Mild measures have been tried, and have proved ineffectual,” rejoined Gardiner. “We must now make a terrible example of these obstinate and dangerous heretics.”
Again the usher entered, and this time to inform the Cardinal that their Majesties had arrived at the palace, and were already in the courtyard. Hereupon Pole instantly arose, and followed by Priuli, repaired to the ante-chamber. Scarcely had he entered it, when the royal pair, preceded by Sir John Gage, and attended by several officers of the court, appeared at the outer door. The Cardinal immediately hurried forward to bid them welcome, and thank them for the distinguished honour conferred upon him by the visit.
“Had I been aware of your coming, gracious Madam,” he said to the Queen, “I would have been at the gate to receive you.”
“It is not a visit of ceremony,” replied Mary, “therefore we did not deem it necessary to send intimation of our design. If your Eminence is at leisure, the King and myself will gladly pass an hour in your society, and profit by your counsels.”