The following morning they had an interview with the council, when they stated that, never anticipating any such demand, they could not possibly comply with it on the instant; but the engagement had been nothing. The instrument which they had brought with them declared the princess free from all ties whatever. If the king really required the whole body of the documents, they would send to Cleves for them; but, in the meantime, they trusted he would not refuse to accept their solemn assurances. [Sidenote: Monday, January 5.] [Sidenote: He exhibits his reluctance to the lady, but in vain.] [Sidenote: He must put his neck into the yoke,] [Sidenote: And marries Tuesday, January 6] Cromwell carried the answer to Henry; and it was miserably unwelcome. "I have been ill-handled," he said. "If it were not that she is come so far into England, and for fear of making a ruffle in the world, and _driving her brother into the Emperor and French king's hands, now being together_, I would never have her. But now it is too far gone; wherefore I am sorry."[546] As a last pretext for hesitation, he sent to Anne herself to desire a protest from her that she was free from contracts; a proof of backwardness on the side of the king might, perhaps, provoke a corresponding unwillingness. But the impassive constitution of the lady would have been proof against a stronger hint. The protest was drawn and signed with instant readiness. "Is there no remedy," Henry exclaimed, "but that I must needs, against my will, put my neck into this yoke?" There was none. It was inevitable. The conference at Paris lay before him like a thunder-cloud. The divorce of Catherine and the crimes of Anne Boleyn had already created sufficient scandal in Europe. At such a moment he durst not pass an affront upon the Germans, which might drive them also into a compromise with his other enemies. He gathered up his resolution. As the thing was to be done, it might be done at once; delay would not make the bitter dose less unpalatable; and the day remained fixed for the date of its first postponement--Tuesday, the 6th of January. As he was preparing for the sacrifice, he called Cromwell to him in the chamber of presence: "My lord," he said openly, "if it were not to satisfy the world and my realm, I would not do that I must do this day for none earthly thing." [Sidenote: His dislike increases to aversion, and his hope of children is frustrated.]