people dancing to
music that he cannot hear. She must have welcomed the moment when they
left the table, and she could show off the skill she had gained since
her marriage on four musical instruments, on which, to please her
husband, she practised daily--for no man ever lived who was as clever
as Sir Thomas in coaxing people to do as he wished. Quite meekly, though
she had a quick temper, she bore his teasing remarks as he watched her
'binding up her hair to make her a fair large forehead, and with
strait-bracing in her body to make her middle small, both twain to her
great pain'; while she on her part was frequently vexed that he 'refused
to go forward with the best,' and had no wish 'greatly to get upward in
the world.'

* * * * *

Yet, in spite of the modesty which vexed his wife so much, More's fame
grew daily wider. The king, Henry VIII., who at this time was at his
best, had always kept an eye on him, and soon bade Wolsey seek him out.
Now More and Wolsey were so different in their ways and in their views
that they could never have become real friends, for while Wolsey was
ambitious, More was always content with what he had, and never desired
to thrust himself into notice. At first he resisted the cardinal's
advances; but rudeness was impossible to him, and as there was no means
of checking Wolsey's persistence, he had to put aside his own feelings
and appear both at the cardinal's house and at court. Indeed, such good
company did Henry find him that, as quick to take fancies as he was to
tire of them, he would hardly allow the poor man to spend an evening
alone, so sir Thomas in despair gave up being amusing, and sat silent,
though no doubt with a twinkle in his eye, resisting all the king's
efforts to make him speak, till at length everyone grew weary of him,
and his place was filled by some livelier man.

How Sir Thomas laughed, and what funny stories he told about it all,
when he had gained his object, at his own table.

[Illustration: Sir Thomas sat silent.]

So the years slipped by, and brought with them many unsought honours to
sir Thomas. Several times he was sent abroad on missions which needed
an honest man, as well as a shrewd one, to carry them through. Sometimes
he was the envoy of the citizens of London, sometimes of the king
himself, and he was present at the wonderful display of magnificence
known to history as 'The Field of the Cloth of Gold'--the meeting of
F