Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1903-04-24

willing that he should die rather than
themselves bear the consequences of
their own folly. Do not delay, | be-
seech your majesty. Eat not another
morsel, | pray you. until this brave
man, who has so truly served you, be
taken from his prison and freed from
his sentence of death Come. come.
my king, this moment, and all that
have, my wealth, my life, my honor.
are yours for all time"
The king remained moment in
thought. with knife in hand
"Caskoden, | have never detected
you in a lie in all the years | have
known you. You are not very large in
body, but your honor is great enough
to stock a Goliath. believe you are
telling the truth. | will go ut once to
liberate Brandon, and that little hussy.
my sister, shall go to France and ell
joy life as best she can with her old
beauty, King Louis. | know of no
greater punishment to inflict upon her.
This determines me. She shall coax
me out of it no longer. Sir Thomas
Brandon, have my horses ready, and
will go to the lord mayor, then to my
lord bishop of Lincoln and arrange to
close this French treaty at once. Let
everybody know that the Princess
Mary will within the month be queen
of France" This was said to the
courtiers and was all over London be-
fore night.
l followed closely in the wake of the
king. though unlimited, for | had de-
termined TO trust TO no one, not even
his majesty. until Brandon should be
free. Henry had said he would go
first to he lord mayor and then TO
Wolscy, but after we crossed the
bridge he passed down Lower Thames
street and turned up Fish street hill
into Grace Church street on toward
BishOpsgate. He said he would stop
at Mistress Corvallis and have Il
pudding and then on to Wolsey. who
at that time lodged in a house near the
wall beyond Bishopsgate,
l well knew if the king once reached
Wolsey's it would be wine and quoits
and other games, interspersed now
and then with a little clustering talk
on statecraft for the rest of the day.
Then the good bishop would have in q
few pretty London women, and dance
would follow, with wine and cards
and dice, and Henry would spend the
night at Wosey's and Brandon lie an
other night in the mire of his Newgate
dungeon.
| resolved to raise heaven and earth,
and the other place, too, if necessary,
before this should happen. So l rode
boldly up to the king and with uncov
cred head addressed him: Your maj
esty gave me your royal word that you
would go to the lord mayor first, and
this is the road to my lord bishop Of
Lincoln. In all the years have known
your majesty, both as gallant prince
and puissant king, this Is the first re-
quest l ever proffered, and now l only
ask of you to save your own noble
king"
These were bold words, but did not
care one little farthing whether they
pleased him or not. The king stared
at me and said:
"Caskoden, you are perfect hound
at my heels. But you are right. l had
forgotten my errand. You disturbed
my dinner, and my stomach called
loudly for one of Mistress CORVALLIS
buildings, but you are right to stick to
me. What friend you are in case OF
need, Would had one like you"
Your majesty has two of whom
know-one riding humbly by your roy
al side and the other lying in the worst
dungeon in Christendom."
With this the king wheeled about
and started west toward Guildhall.
To the lord mayor we accordingly
went without further delay. He wa.
only too glad to liberate Brandon wher
he heard my story, which the king hat
ordered me to repeat. The only hest
fancy was from u doubt of its truth.
The lord mayor was kind enough t.
say that he felt little doubt of m!
word but that friendship would Otter
drive man to any extremity, ever
falsehood, to save a friend.
Then | offered to go into custody my
self and pay the penalty, death, TO
helping convicted felon 10 escape IT
told not the truth, to be confirmed o
denied by the princess and her frs
lady in waiting. l knew Jane and wa
willing to risk her truthfulness with
out a doubt-it was so pronounced a
to be troublesome at times-and as t
Mary-well, / had not doubt of he
either. If she would but stop to thinl
out the right, she was sure to do 1t.
My offer was satisfactory, for wha
more can a man do than pledge his lif
for his friend? We have Scripture 70
that, or something like it.
The lord mayor did not require m,
proffered pledge, but readily consente
that the king should write an order fo
Brandon's pardon and release. Thi
was done at once, and we-that Is,
together with the sheriff's sergeant an