At this time Pole was living at a house in the country, which Henry had given him. One day he received at this charming retreat a communication from the Duke of Norfolk. ‘The king destines you for the highest honors of the English Church,’ wrote this nobleman, ‘and offers you at once the important sees of York and Winchester, left vacant by the death of Cardinal Wolsey.’ At the same time the duke asked Pole’s opinion about the divorce. Reginald’s brothers, and particularly Lord Montague, entreated him to answer as all the catholic world had answered, and not irritate a prince whose anger would ruin them all. The blood of Warwick and the king’s revolt against Rome induced Pole to reject with horror all the honors which Henry offered; and yet that prince was his benefactor. He fancied he had discovered a middle course which would permit him to satisfy alike his conscience and his king. He went to Whitehall, where Henry received him like a friend. Pole hesitated in distress; he wished to let the king know his thoughts, but the words would not come to his lips. At last, encouraged by the prince’s affability, he summoned up his resolution, and, in a voice trembling with emotion, said: ‘You must not separate from the queen.’ Henry had expected something different. Is it thus that his kindnesses are repaid? His eyes flashed with anger, and he laid his hand on his sword. Pole humbled himself. ‘If I possess any knowledge, to whom do I owe it unless to your Majesty? In listening to me you are listening to your own pupil.’[126] The king recovered himself, and said,—‘I will consider your opinion, and send you my answer.’ Pole withdrew. ‘He put me in such a passion,’ said the king to one of his gentlemen, ‘that I nearly struck him.... But there is something in the man that wins my heart.’ Montague and Reginald’s other brother again conjured him to accept the high position which the king reserved for him; but his soul revolted at being subordinate to a Tudor. He therefore wrote a memoir, which he presented to Henry, and in which he entreated him to submit implicitly the divorce question to the court of Rome. ‘How could I speak against your marriage with the queen?’ he said. ‘Should I not accuse your Majesty of having lived for more than twenty years in an unlawful union?[127] By the divorce you will array all the powers against you,—the pope, the emperor; and as for the French ... we can never find in our hearts to trust them. You are at this moment on the verge of an abyss.... One step more, and all is over.[128] There is only one way of safety left your Grace, and that is submission to the pope.’ Henry was moved. The boldness with which this young nobleman dared accuse him, irritated his pride; still his friendship prevailed, and he forgave it. Pole received the permission he had asked to leave England, with the promise of the continued payment of his pension. [Sidenote: Catherine Leaves Windsor.]