IX

'Why, sometimes,' Throckmorton said, 'a very perfect folly is like a

very perfect wisdom.' He sat upon her table. 'So it is in this case,

he did send for me. No happening could have been more fortunate.'

He had sent away the man from her door and had entered without any

leave, laughing ironically in his immense fan-shaped beard.

'Your ladyship thought to have stolen a march upon me,' he said. 'You

could have done me no better service.'

She was utterly overcome with weariness. She sat motionless in her

chair and listened to him.

He folded his arms and crossed his legs.

'So he did send for me,' he said. 'You would have had him belabour me

with great words. But his Highness is a politician like some others.

He beat about the bush. And be sure I left him openings to come in to

my tidings.'

Katharine hung her head and thought bitterly that she had had the

boldness; this other man reaped the spoils. He leaned forward and

sighed. Then he laughed.

'You might wonder that I love you,' he said. 'But it is in the nature

of profound politicians to love women that be simple, as it is the

nature of sinners to love them that be virtuous. Do not believe that

an evil man loveth evil. He contemns it. Do not believe that a

politician loveth guile. He makes use of it to carry him into such a

security that he may declare his true nature. Moreover, there is no

evil man, since no man believeth himself to be evil. I love you.'

Katharine closed her eyes and let her head fall back in her chair. The

dusk was falling slowly, and she shivered.

'You have no warrant to take me away?' she asked, expressionlessly.

He laughed again.

'Thus,' he said, 'devious men love women that be simple. And, for a

profound, devious and guileful politician you shall find none to match

his Highness.'

He looked at Katharine with scrutinising and malicious eyes. She never

moved.

'I would have you listen,' he said.

She had had no one to talk to all that day. There was no single

creature with whom she could discuss. She might have asked counsel of

old Rochford. But apart from the disorder of his mind he had another

trouble. He had a horse for sale, and he had given the refusal of it

to a man called Stey who lived in Warwickshire. In the meanwhile two

Frenchmen had made him a greater offer, and no answer came from

Warwickshire. He was in a fume. Cicely Elliott was watching him and

thinking of nothing else, Margot Poins was weeping all day, because

the magister had been bidden to go to Paris to turn into Latin the

letters of Sir Thomas Wyatt. There was no one around Katharine that

was not engrossed in his own affairs. In that beehive of a place she

had been utterly alone with horror in her soul. Thus she could hardly

piece together Throckmorton's meanings. She thought he had come to

gibe at her.

'Why should I listen?' she said.

'Because,' he answered sardonically, 'you have a great journey

indicated for you, and I would instruct you as to certain peaks that

you may climb.'

She had been using her rosary, and she moved it in her lap.

'Any poor hedge priest would be a better guide on such a journey,' she

answered listlessly.

'Why, God help us all,' he laughed, 'that were to carry simplicity

into a throne-room. In a stable-yard it served. But you will not

always find a king among horse-straws.'

'God send I find the King of Peace on a prison pallet,' she answered.

'Why, we are at cross purposes,' he said lightly. He laughed still

more loudly when he heard that the King had threatened her with a

gaol.

'Do you not see,' he asked, 'how that implies a great favour towards

you?'

'Oh, mock on,' she answered.

He leaned forward and spoke tenderly.

'Why, poor child,' he said. 'If a man be moved because you moved him,

it was you who moved him. Now, if you can move such a heavy man that

is a certain proof that he is not indifferent to you.'

'He threatened me with a gaol,' Katharine said bitterly.

'Aye,' Throckmorton answered, 'for you were in fault to him. That is

ever the weakness of your simple natures. They will go brutally to

work upon a man.'

'Tell me, then, in three words, what his Highness will do with me,'

she said.

'There you go brutally to work again,' he said. 'I am a poor man that

do love you. You ask what another man will do with you that affects

you.'

He stood up to his full height, dressed all in black velvet.

'Let us, then, be calm,' he said, though his voice trembled and he

paused as if he had forgotten the thread of his argument. 'Why, even

so, you were in grievous fault to his Highness that is a prince much

troubled. As thus: You were certain of the rightness of your cause.'

'It is that of the dear saints,' Katharine said.... He touched his

bonnet with three fingers.

'You are certain,' he repeated. 'Nevertheless, here is a man whose

fury is like an agony to him. He looks favourably upon you. But, if a

man be formed to fight he must fight, and call the wrong side good.'

'God help you,' Katharine said. 'What can be good that is set in array

against the elect of God?'

'These be brave words,' he answered, 'but the days of the Crusades be

over. Here is a King that fights with a world that is part good, part

evil. In part he fights for the dear saints; in part they that fight

against him fight for the elect of God. Then he must call all things

well upon his side, if he is not to fail where he is right as well as

where he is wrong.'

'I do not take you well,' Katharine said. 'When the Lacedæmonians

strove with the Great King....'

'Why, dear heart,' he said, 'those were the days of a black and white

world; now we are all grey or piebald.'

'Then tell me what the King will do with me,' she answered.

He made a grimace.

'All your learning will not make of you but a very woman. It is: What

will he do? It is: A truce to words. It is: Get to the point. But the

point is this....'

'In the name of heaven,' she said, 'shall I go to gaol or no?'

'Then in the name of heaven,' he said, 'you shall--this next month, or

next year, or in ten years' time. That is very certain, since you goad

a King to fury.'

She opened her mouth, but he silenced her with his hand.

'No, you shall not go to gaol upon this quarrel!' She sank back into

her chair. He surveyed her with a sardonic malice.

'But it is very certain,' he said, 'that had there been there ready a

clerk with a warrant and a pen, you had not again seen the light of

day until you came to a worse place on a hill.'

Katharine shivered.

'Why, get you gone, and leave me to pray,' she said.

He stretched out towards her a quivering hand.

'Aye, there you be again, simple and brutal!' His jaws grinned beneath

his beard. 'I love the air you breathe. I go about to tell a tale in a

long way that shall take a long time, so that I may stay with you. You

cry: "For pity, for pity, come to the point." I have pity. So you cry,

having obtained your desire, "Get ye gone, and let me pray!"'

She said wearily:

'I have had too many men besiege me with their suits.'

He shrugged his great shoulders and cried:

'Yet you never had friend better than I, who bring you comfort hoping

for none in return.'

'Why,' she answered, 'it is a passing bitter thing that my sole friend

must be a man accounted so evil.'

He moved backwards again to the table; set his white hands upon it

behind him, and balancing himself upon them swung one of his legs

slowly.

'It is a good doctrine of the Holy Church,' he said, 'to call no man

evil until he be dead.' He looked down at the ground, and then,

suddenly, he seemed to mock at her and at himself. 'Doubtless, had

such a white soul as yours led me from my first day, you to-day had

counted me as white. It is evident that I was not born with a nature

that warped towards sin. For, let us put it that Good is that thing

that you wish.' He looked up at her maliciously. 'Let that be Good.

Then, very certainly, since I am enlisted heart and soul in the desire

that you may have what you wish, you have worked a conversion in me.'

'I will no longer bear with your mocking,' she said. She began to feel

herself strong enough to command for him.

'Why,' he answered, 'hear me you shall. And I must mock, since to mock

and to desire are my nature. You pay too little heed to men's natures,

therefore the day will come to shed tears. That is very certain, for

you will knock against the whole world.'

'Why, yes,' she answered. 'I am as God made me.'

'So are all Christians,' he retorted. 'But some of us strive to

improve on the pattern.' She made an impatient movement with her

hands, and he seemed to force himself to come to a point. 'It may be

that you will never hear me speak again,' he said quickly. 'Both for

you and for me these times are full of danger. Let me then leave you

this legacy of advice.... Here is a picture of the King's Highness.'

'I shall never go near his Highness again,' Katharine said.

'Aye, but you will,' he answered, 'for 'tis your nature to meddle; or

'tis your nature to work for the blessed saints. Put it which way you

will. But his Highness meditateth to come near you.'

'Why, you are mad,' Katharine said wearily. 'This is that maggot of

Magister Udal's.'

He lifted one finger in an affected, philosophic gesture.

'Oh, nay,' he laughed. 'That his Highness meditateth more speech with

you I am assured. For he did ask me where you usually resorted.'

'He would know if I be a traitor.'

'Aye, but from your own word of mouth he would know it.' He grinned

once more at her. 'Do you think that I would forbear to court you if I

were not afraid of another than you?'

She shrugged her shoulders up to her ears, and he sniggered, stroking

his beard.

'You may take that as a proof very certain,' he said. 'None of your

hatred should have prevented me, for I am a very likeworthy man.

Ladies that have hated afore now, I have won to love me. With you,

too, I would essay the adventure. You are most fair, most virtuous,

most simple--aye, and most lovable. But for the moment I am afraid.

From now on, for many months, I shall not be seen to frequent you. For

I have known such matters of old. A great net is cast: many

fish--smaller than I be, who am a proper man--are taken up.'

'It is good hearing that you will no more frequent me,' Katharine

said.

He nodded his great head.

'Why, I speak of what is in my mind,' he answered. 'Think upon it, and

it will grow clear when it is too late. But here I will draw you a

picture of the King.'

'I have seen his Highness with mine own eyes,' she caught him up.

'But your eyes are so clear,' he sighed. 'They see the black and the

white of a man. The grey they miss. And you are slow to learn.

Nevertheless, already you have learned that here we have no yea-nay

world of evil and good....'

'No,' she said, 'that I have not learned, nor never shall.'

'Oh, aye,' he mocked at her. 'You have learned that the Bishop of

Winchester, who is on the side of your hosts of heaven, is a knave and

a fool. You have learned that I, whom you have accounted a villain, am

for you, and a very wise man. You have learned that Privy Seal, for

whose fall you have prayed these ten years, is, his deeds apart, the

only good man in this quaking place.'

'His acts are most hateful,' Katharine said stoutly.

'But these are not the days of Plutarch,' he answered. 'And I doubt

the days of Plutarch never were. For already you have learned that a

man may act most evilly, even as Privy Seal, and yet be the best man

in the world. And ...' he ducked his great head sardonically at her,

'you have learned that a man may be most evil and yet act passing well

for your good. So I will draw the picture of the King for you....'

Something seductive in his voice, and the good humour with which he

called himself villain, made Katharine say no more than:

'Why, you are an incorrigible babbler!'

Whilst he had talked she had grown assured that the King meditated no

imprisoning of her. The conviction had come so gradually that it had

merely changed her terrified weariness into a soft languor. She lay

back in her chair and felt a comfortable limpness in all her limbs.

'His Highness,' Throckmorton said, 'God preserve him and send him good

fortune--is a great and formidable club. His Highness is a most great

and most majestic bull. He is a thunderbolt and a glorious light; he

is a storm of hail and a beneficent sun. There are few men more

certain than he when he is certain. There is no one so full of doubts

when he doubteth. There is no wind so mighty as he when he is inspired

to blow; but God alone, who directeth the wind in its flight, knoweth

when he will storm through the world. His Highness is a balance of a

pair of scales. Now he is up, now down. Those who have ruled him have

taken account of this. If you had known the Sieur Cromwell as I have,

you would have known this very well. The excellent the Privy Seal hath

been beknaved by the hour, and hath borne it with a great composure.

For, well he knew that the King, standing in midst of a world of

doubts, would, in the next hour, the next week, or the next month,

come in the midst of doubts to be of Privy Seal's mind. Then Privy

Seal hath pushed him to action. Now his Highness is a good lover, and

being himself a great doubter, he loveth a simple and convinced

nature. Therefore he hath loved Privy Seal....'

'In the name of the saints,' Katharine laughed, 'call you Privy Seal's

a simple nature?'

He answered imperturbably:

'Call you Cato's a complex one? He who for days and days and years and

years said always one thing alone: "Carthage must be destroyed!"'

'But this man is no noble Roman,' Katharine cried indignantly.

'There was never a nature more Roman,' Throckmorton mocked at her.

'For if Cato cried for years: _Delenda est Carthago_, Cromwell hath

contrived for years: _Floreat rex meus._ Cato stuck at no means. Privy

Seal hath stuck at none. Madam Howard: Privy Seal wrote to the King in

his first letter, when he was but a simple servant of the Cardinal,

"I, Thomas Cromwell, if you will give ear to me, will make your Grace

the richest and most puissant king ever there was." So he wrote ten

years agone; so he hath said and written daily for all those years.

This it is to have a simple nature....'

'But the vile deeds!' Katharine said.

'Madam Howard,' Throckmorton laughed, 'I would ask you how many broken

treaties, how many deeds of treachery, went to the making of the Roman

state, since Sinon a traitor brought about the fall of Troy, since

Aeneas betrayed Queen Dido and brought the Romans into Italy, until

Sylla played false with Marius, Cæsar with the friends of Sylla,

Brutus with Cæsar, Antony with Brutus, Octavius with Antony--aye, and

until the Blessed Constantine played false to Rome herself.'

'Foul man, ye blaspheme,' Katharine cried.

'God keep me from that sin,' he answered gravely.

'--And of all these traitors,' she continued, 'not one but fell.'

'Aye, by another traitor,' he caught her up. 'It was then as now. Men

fell, but treachery prospered--aye, and Rome prospered. So may this

realm of England prosper exceedingly. For it is very certain that

Cromwell hath brought it to a great pitch, yet Cromwell made himself

by betraying the great Cardinal.'

Katharine protested too ardently to let him continue. The land was

brought to a low and vile estate. And it was known that Cromwell had

been, before all things, and to his own peril, faithful to the great

Cardinal's cause.

Throckmorton shrugged his shoulders.

'Without doubt you know these histories better than I,' he answered.

'But judge them how you will, it is very certain that the King, who

loveth simple natures, loveth Privy Seal.'

'Yet you have said that he lay under a great shadow,' Katharine

convicted him.

'Well,' he said composedly, 'the balance is down against him. This

league with Cleves hath brought him into disfavour. But well he

knoweth that, and it will be but a short time ere he will work again,

and many years shall pass ere again he shall misjudge. Such mistakes

hath he made before this. But there hath never been one to strike at

him in the right way and at the right time. Here then is an opening.'

Katharine regarded him with a curiosity that was friendly and

awakened: he caught her expression and laughed.

'Why, you begin to learn,' he said.

'When you speak clearly I can take your meaning,' she answered.

'Then believe me,' he said earnestly. 'Tell all with whom you may come

together. And you may come to your uncle very easily. Tell him that if

he may find France and Spain embroiled within this five months, Privy

Seal and Cleves may fall together. But, if he delay till Privy Seal

hath shaken him clear of Cleves, Cromwell shall be our over-king for

twenty years.'

He paused and then continued:

'Believe me again. Every word that is spoken against Privy Seal shall

tell its tale--until he hath shaken himself clear of this Cleves coil.

His Highness shall rave, but the words will rankle. His Highness shall

threaten you--but he shall not strike--for he will doubt. It is by his

doubts that you may take him.'

'God help me,' Katharine said. 'What is this of "you" to me?'

He did not heed her, but continued:

'You may speak what you will against Privy Seal--but speak never a

word against the glory of the land. It is when you do call this realm

the Fortunate Land that at once you make his Highness incline towards

you--and doubt. "Island of the Blest," say you. This his Highness

rejoices, saying to himself: "My governing appeareth Fortunate to the

World." But his Highness knoweth full well the flaws that be in his

Fortunate Island. And specially will he set himself to redress wrongs,

assuage tears, set up chantries, and make his peace with God. But if

you come to him saying: "This land is torn with dissent. Here heresies

breed and despair stalks abroad"; if you say all is not well, his

Highness getteth enraged. "All is well," he will swear. "All is well,

for I made it"--and he would throw his cap into the face of Almighty

God rather than change one jot of his work. In short, if you will

praise him you make him humble, for at bottom the man is humble; if

you will blame him you will render him rigid as steel and more proud

than the lightning. For, before the world's eyes, this man must be

proud, else he would die.'

Katharine had her hand upon her cheek. She said musingly:

'His Highness did threaten me with a gaol. But you say he will not

strike. If I should pray him to restore the Church of God, would he

not strike then?'

'Child,' Throckmorton answered, 'it will lie with the way you ask it.

If you say: "This land is heathen, your Grace hath so made it," his

Highness will be more than terrible. But if you say: "This land

prospereth exceedingly and is beloved of the Mother of God," his

Highness will begin to doubt that he hath done little to pleasure

God's Mother--or to pleasure you who love that Heavenly Rose. Say how

all good people rejoice that his Highness hath given them a faith pure

and acceptable. And very shortly his Highness will begin to wonder of

his Faith.'

'But that were an ignoble flattery,' Katharine said.

He answered quietly:

'No! no! For indeed his Highness hath given all he could give. It is

the hard world that hath pushed him against you and against his good

will. Believe me, his Highness loveth good doctrine better than you,

I, or the Bishop of Rome. So that....'

He paused, and concluded:

'This Lord Cromwell moves in the shadow of a little thing that casts

hardly any shadow. You have seen it?'

She shook her head negligently, and he laughed:

'Why, you will see it yet. A small, square thing upon a green hill.

The noblest of our land kneel before it, by his Highness' orders. Yet

the worship of idols is contemned now.' He let his malicious eyes

wander over her relaxed, utterly resting figure.

'I would ye would suffer me to kiss you on the mouth,' he sighed.

'Why, get you gone,' she said, without anger.

'Oh, aye,' he said, with some feeling. 'It is pleasant to be desired

as I desire you. But it is true that ye be meat for my masters.'

'I will take help from none of your lies.' She returned to her main

position.

He removed his bonnet, and bowed so low to her that his great and

shining beard hung far away from his chest.

'Madam Howard,' he mocked, 'my lies will help you well when the time

comes.'