“You shall be forced back, Mistress, if you continue perverse,” cried the Queen, sharply.
“Hold, Madam!” exclaimed Pole. “In this instance let me have my way. I would win back this maiden by gentleness, and not by coercion. I would appeal to her reason and judgment, and not to her fears. Her cure may be the work of time, because the disorder under which she labours is obstinate, but I do not think it will baffle my skill.”
“If I could be persuaded by anyone to return to the faith I have abjured, it would be by your Eminence,” said Constance, yielding to the kindly influence of his manner.
“You see, Madam, I have already made some little impression,” observed Pole to the Queen. “Mildness is more efficacious than violence. As she was enticed from the fold, so must she be lured back to it.”
“Well, have your way with her,” replied Mary. “Where is the other prisoner, Derrick Carver?”
“In a dungeon beneath this room,” replied Pole. “He was placed there in order that no communication should take place between him and Constance Tyrrell. They have not seen each other since they were brought to the Lollards’ Tower.”
“Such were my orders,” observed Philip.
“It is well,” rejoined the Queen. “They shall see each other now. Let him be brought before me.”
