Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/184

164 In treating for peace with a great nation it was dangerous to hold a secret correspondence with intriguing women. Paget was cold. The messenger grew feverish.

'O,' he cried, 'help now; for herein resteth the deliverance of France out of the tyranny of the Pope, and the conservation of your liberty.'

'If there were peace,' asked Paget, 'would the King your master leave the Pope?'

'I say not so directly,' he answered; 'but Madame d'Estampes and the Queen of Navarre say it cannot choose but follow.'

But Madame d'Estampes and the Queen of Navarre were not the French Government. 'I am of gross understanding,' Paget replied. 'I can advise nothing, nor set forth any other practice, but after a rude and plain fashion. Let us enjoy Boulogne; pay us that you owe us, and assure us of our pension.'

A few days after, Sturmius returned. He had seen the King of France himself, and with great difficulty he said that he had prevailed upon him to consent really and truly to pay his debts to England—the amount of arrears to be assessed by the Germans; to leave Boulogne as a security in the hands of the English; and either to force the Scots to observe the treaty of 1543, or, if they refused, to leave them without support or encouragement.

Had this been a bonâ fide offer on the part of the