Cavendish himself started at this; for, though his master knew that he kept account of all the events of his life, and employed himself in making memoranda of what happened in the course of his secretaryship, he rather desired to record that day, above all others, as one in which his master shone with the most conspicuous splendor. 'What would my lord have me say of this day?' 'Simply that I kept at home all the day. I have little stomach for the company of princes, Cavendish, but I shall be glad of thine. 'Ah! Mr. Secretary, the King has taken what he gave me, and he is welcome to it, for it is his own; and in my hands it has suffered no injury. My gold and silver is kept clean, and is fit for a king's table. But I have many things for thee to do, my worthy secretary, before we meet at our mid-day meal. You have made out a true inventory of all in my house?' 'Of everything, my master.' 'Good, then, make a true copy thereof. I give thee the things thou didst ask for, the handsome gold box in which the seals of my office are preserved; enter it not into the inventory. 'I give thee, also, Henry the Seventh's purse, which he gave to his poor almoner; and if all he gave with it had not long been handed over to his son, thou, Cavendish, shouldst have had it with its store. Note it not, but let it be a bauble preserved for the Royal Giver's sake. Henry VIII. will not leave me any memorial of himself but the remembrance of my long service. 'But tell me, Cavendish, didst thou ever see easier, gentler, or more graceful dignity in woman, than in the person of that lady now a guest in our house?' 'I never did, my lord: I thought so when I saw her, long before your arrival, nay, when she supported her father in Canon Street Prison. She is a gem of inestimable value. A princess in right of herself, at the same time that she is a servant to her husband.' 'On my word, Mr. Secretary, if the ladies knew what a discerner thou wert of true feminine dignity, they would perhaps strive to comport themselves with great carefulness before so nice a critic.' 'They would, therefore, assuredly fail, my lord; for when females try so much, or make so great an effort to appear what they ought to be in our eyes, it is a sign that they attempt to be what they really are not. The Lady Latimer has no such finesse about her. She is all she seems to be, and tries not for a moment to assume to be thought anything of. Her carriage is simplicity, the bearing of innocency; and in my eye she is handsomer, far handsomer, than Anne Boleyn.' 'Hush! this is treason as well as flattery in my house, and if reported, might disgrace thee. Thou art not yet sufficiently noble game for royal arrows to be shot at. Time, however, may come, when aim may be taken at thyself. A nobler quarry is at present in view.