he Winchester Tower, and lingered for a short time on the bastion
commanding that part of the acclivity where the approach, called the
Hundred Steps, is now contrived. Here he cautioned the sentinels to be
doubly vigilant throughout the night, and having gazed for a moment at
the placid stream flowing at the foot of the castle, and tinged with the
last rays of the setting sun, he proceeded to the royal lodgings, and
entered the banquet chamber, where supper was already served.

Wolsey sat on his right hand, but he did not vouchsafe him a single
word, addressing the whole of his discourse to the Duke of Suffolk, who
was placed on his left. As soon as the repast was over, he retired to
his closet. But the cardinal would not be so repulsed, and sent one of
his gentlemen to crave a moment's audience of the king, which with some
reluctance was accorded.

"Well, cardinal," cried Henry, as Wolsey presented himself, and the
usher withdrew. "You are playing a deep game with me, as you think; but
take heed, for I see through it." "I pray you dismiss these suspicions
from your mind, my liege," said Wolsey. "No servant was ever more
faithful to his master than I have been to you."

"No servant ever took better care of himself," cried the king fiercely.
"Not alone have you wronged me to enrich yourself, but you are ever
intriguing with my enemies. I have nourished in my breast a viper; but I
will cast you off--will crush you as I would the noxious reptile."

And he stamped upon the floor, as if he could have trampled the cardinal
beneath his foot.

"Beseech you calm yourself, my liege," replied Wolsey, in the soft and
deprecatory tone which he had seldom known to fail with the king. "I
have never thought of my own aggrandisement, but as it was likely to
advance your power. For the countless benefits I have received at your
hands, my soul overflows with gratitude. You have raised me from the
meanest condition to the highest. You have made me your confidant, your
adviser, your treasurer, and with no improper boldness I say it, your
friend. But I defy the enemies who have poisoned your ears against me,
to prove that I have ever abused the trust placed in me. The sole fault
that can be imputed to me is, that I have meddled more with temporal
matters than with spiritual, and it is a crime for which I must answer
before Heaven. But I have so acted because I felt that I might thereby
best serve your highness. If I have aspired to the p