"O George!" said Montagu, admiringly, "what pity that the Church
should spoil such a statesman!"

"Thou art profane, Montagu; the Church spoils no man,--the Church
leads and guides ye all; and, mark, I look farther still. I would
have intimate league with France; I would strengthen ourselves with
Spain and the German Emperor; I would buy or seduce the votes of the
sacred college; I would have thy poor brother, whom thou so pitiest
because he has no son to marry a king's daughter, no daughter to wed
with a king's son--I would have thy unworthy brother, Montagu, the
father of the whole Christian world, and, from the chair of the
Vatican, watch over the weal of kingdoms. And now, seest thou why
with to-morrow's sun I depart for Calais, and lend my voice in aid of
Clarence's for the first knot in this complicated bond?"

"But will Warwick consent while the king opposes? Will his pride--"

"His pride serves us here; for so long as Clarence did not dare to
gainsay the king, Warwick in truth might well disdain to press his
daughter's hand upon living man. The king opposes, but with what
right? Warwick's pride will but lead him, if well addressed, to defy
affront and to resist dictation. Besides, our brother has a woman's
heart for his children; and Isabel's face is pale, and that will plead
more than all my eloquence."

"But can the king forgive your intercession and Warwick's contumacy?"

"Forgive!--the marriage once over, what is left for him to do? He is
then one with us, and when Gloucester returns all will be smooth
again,--smooth for the second and more important nuptials; and the