“Hum!” replied the ambassador. “This must be nipped in the bud. I have another husband in view for her.”
“Your master, Philip of Spain, I’ll be sworn,” said Pembroke—“a suitable match, if he were not a Catholic.”
Renard made no answer, but he smiled an affirmative.
“I am glad this scheme has reached my ears,” observed De Noailles, who overheard the conversation—“it will not suit my master, Henry II., that England should form an alliance with Spain. I am for Courtenay, and will thwart Renard’s plot.”
Having received the whole of the prisoners, Mary gave orders to liberate all those within the Tower who might be confined for their adherence to the Catholic faith.
“My first care,” she said, “shall be to celebrate the obsequies of my brother, Edward VI.,—whose body, while others have been struggling for the throne, remains uninterred according to the forms of the Romish church. The service shall take place in Westminster Abbey.”
“That may not be, your highness,” said Cranmer, who formed one of the group. “His late majesty was a Protestant prince.”
“Beware how you oppose me, my lord,” rejoined Mary, sternly. “I have already committed Ridley to prison, and shall not hesitate to commit your Grace.”
“Your highness will act as it seems best to you,” rejoined Cranmer, boldly; “but I shall fulfil my duty, even at the hazard of incurring your displeasure. Your royal brother professed the Protestant faith, which is, as yet,—though Heaven only knows how long it may continue so,—the established religion of this country, and he must, therefore, be interred according to the rites of that church. No other ceremonies, but those of the Protestant church, shall be performed within Westminster Abbey, as long as I maintain a shadow of power.”
“It is well,” replied Mary. “We may find means to make your Grace more flexible. To-morrow, we shall publish a decree proclaiming our religious opinions. And it is our sovereign pleasure, that the words ‘Papist’ and ‘Heretic’ be no longer used as terms of reproach.”
“I have lived long enough,” exclaimed the Duke of Norfolk, falling on his knees—“in living to see the religion of my fathers restored.”
“The providence which watched over your Grace’s life, and saved you from the block, when your fate seemed all but sealed, reserved you for this day,” rejoined Mary.