Among other causes, too, of his admiration for Cromwell, was the
latter's extraordinary business capacity. There was hardly an affair of
any importance in which he did not have a finger at least, and most of
them he held in the palm of his hand, and that, not only in the mass but
in their minutest details. Ralph had marvelled more than once at the
minutiæ that he had seen dotted down on the backs of old letters lying
on his master's table. Matters of Church and State, inextricably
confused to other eyes, was simple to this man; he understood
intuitively where the key of each situation lay, and dealt with them one
after another briefly and effectively. And yet with all this no man wore
an appearance of greater leisure; he would gossip harmlessly for an
hour, and yet by the end had said all that he wished to say, and
generally learnt, too, from his companion whoever he might be, all he
wished to learn. Ralph had watched him more than once at this business;
had seen delicate subjects introduced in a deft unsuspicious sentence
that roused no alarm, and had marvelled at his power to play with men
without their dreaming of what was going forward.

And now it was Master More that was threatened. Ralph knew well that
there was far more behind the scenes than he could understand or even
perceive, and recognised that the position of Sir Thomas was more
significant than would appear, and that developments might be expected
to follow soon.

For himself he had no shrinking from his task. He understood that
government was carried on by such methods, and that More himself would
be the first to acknowledge that in war many things were permissible
that would be outrageous in times of peace, and that these were times of
war. To call upon a friend, to eat his bread and salt, and talk