'But, at the same time, I shall not conceal from thee that I do not approve of those heretical tenets which upstart preachers are now everywhere disseminating. I love the truth, and am glad to find that yesterday thy friend Bilney recanted his bold heresies, and has returned to the body of the church a penitent.' '_Bilney recanted!_' was the involuntary exclamation of all. 'Bilney recanted! 'Yes, I am informed he did penance, and stood at Paul's Cross weeping.' 'Weep he will do,' replied De Freston, 'weep he will do, bitterly. That man has an honest heart. He loves truth purely for truth's sake, and in a moment's fear he has forsaken the truth. I am sure he will repent of this step more than of any he ever took in his whole life.' Ellen wept. She wept to see her father's earnest emotion, and she felt as if something of life and happiness had left her. 'Let not the Lady Ellen weep,' said the Cardinal. 'I shall not condemn thy father because he speaks boldly. Thou needest not be afraid; I am thy friend and his. I pray thee, weep not.' Tender words from great men are apt to make tears flow the faster. Ellen's mortification was extreme; for she had hoped the firmness of faith in this good man would not have been shaken by any terrors. She sighed, but spake not. It was not in Wolsey to triumph over the sufferings of any one, and much less over those of a woman, and that woman one whom he loved in his youth, and for whom he then felt such a sincere respect that he would rather spare it a pang than create it one. He was sincere in his hope that, as Bilney had been so intimate with Lord De Freston, and had been so much admired by him, that, in mentioning his recantation, he should prevail upon him likewise to recant privately before Tonstall, without any further exposure. He had not succeeded, but had rather created in that venerable nobleman's mind an additional argument for his own firmness. De Freston sighed and said-- 'Great minds are overcome by terrors, where little minds are often supported. Bilney has been a leader, a master-spirit, one to whom men have looked for example as well as precept. I do, therefore, grieve the more at his defalcation, and take it as a warning to myself, lest, in the hour of adversity, I should fall away. 'O, my Lord Cardinal! I loved that man as I used to do thyself. I had great hopes of him. I had formed the highest expectations of him, and even now I will not despair of him.' 'Nor I either; I think he will become an ornament to the church.' 'And so do I; but not to the Church of Rome.' 'To what church then?' 'To the church of Christ.' 'Is not the Church of Rome the church of Christ?'