so long desired by Campeggio,
came from Rome, and Henry saw that the churchmen had cheated him after
all. His rage knew no bounds; and the Cardinal's enemies, led by Anne and
her kinsmen, cleverly served now by the new man Stephen Gardiner, fanned
the flame against Wolsey. He might still, however, be of some use; and
though in deadly fear he was not openly disgraced yet. One day the King
sent for him to Bridewell during the recess, and was closeted with him for
an hour. In his barge afterwards on his way home Wolsey sat perturbed and
unhappy with the Bishop of Carlisle. "It is a very hot day," said the
latter. "Yes," replied the unhappy man, "if you had been as well chafed as
I have been in the last hour you would say it was hot." Wolsey in his
distress went straight to bed when he arrived at York Place, but before he
had lain two hours Anne's father came to his bedside to order him in the
name of the King to accompany Campeggio to Bridewell, to make another
attempt to move the Queen. He had to obey, and, calling at Bath House for
Campeggio on his way, they sought audience of Katharine. They found her
cool and serene--indeed she seems rather to have overplayed the part. She
came to meet them with a skein of silk around her neck. "I am sorry to
keep you waiting," she said; "I was working with my ladies." To Wolsey's
request for a private audience she replied that he might speak before her
people, she had no secrets with him; and when he began to speak in Latin
she bade him use English. Throughout she was cool and stately, and, as may
be supposed, the visit was as fruitless as others had been.

Wolsey was not quite done with even yet. He might still act as Legate
alone, if the Pope's decretal deciding the law of the case in favour of
Henry could be obtained from Campeggio, who had held it so tightly by the
Pope's command. So when Campeggio was painfully carried into
Northamptonshire in September to take leave of the King, Wolsey was
ordered to accompany him. Henry thought it politic to receive them without
open sign of displeasure, and sent the Italian Cardinal on his way with
presents and smooth words. Wolsey escorted him a few miles on his road
from Grafton, where the King was staying, to Towcester; but when next day
the Cardinal returned to Grafton alone he found the King's door shut
against him, and Norreys brought him an order that he was to return to
London. It was a blow that struck at his heart, and he went sadly w