king is bound, I yield to the voice of my people. Go home, then, at
once; the queen dispenses with thy fair daughter's service, the damsel
accompanies thee. A boat awaits ye at the stairs; a guard shall
attend ye to your house. Think what has passed within these walls has
been a dream,--a dream that, if told, is deathful, if concealed and
forgotten hath no portent!"

Without waiting a reply, the king called from the anteroom one of his
gentlemen, and gave him special directions as to the departure and
conduct of the worthy scholar and his gentle daughter. Edward next
summoned before him the warder of the gate, learned that he alone was
privy to the mode of his guest's flight, and deeming it best to leave
at large no commentator on the tale he had invented, sentenced the
astonished warder to three months' solitary imprisonment,--for
appearing before him with soiled hosen! An hour afterwards, the king,
with a small though gorgeous retinue, was on his way to the More.

The archbishop had, according to his engagement, assembled in his
palace the more powerful of the discontented seigneurs; and his
eloquence had so worked upon them, that Edward beheld, on entering the
hall, only countenances of cheerful loyalty and respectful welcome.
After the first greetings, the prelate, according to the custom of the
day, conducted Edward into a chamber, that he might refresh himself
with a brief rest and the bath, previous to the banquet.

Edward seized the occasion, and told his tale; but however softened,
enough was left to create the liveliest dismay in his listener. The
lofty scaffolding of hope upon which the ambitious prelate was to
mount to the papal throne seemed to crumble into the dust. The king
and the earl were equally necessary to the schemes of George Nevile.