"Nay," said the Queen, "nay, my Lord Cardinal and good cousin, the hour matters not and your voice brings comfort to my soul! Speak all that your heart bids you say, I listen." Then the Cardinal addressed himself to his task. "I come, madam, on a matter of life and death, on behalf of one who was tried and condemned in the Court of the Star Chamber to-day—by name Ralph Jefferay. The youth was found guilty of 'conspiracy,' yet am I sure that, though he may be guilty on this charge in a strictly legal sense, yet is he absolutely innocent morally; so loyal to your royal person is he at heart, that when the cruel sentence was pronounced, he cried out in loud tones—'God save the Queen!' The poor youth's offence is one of assault and nothing more, let me tell you briefly the circumstances of the case." Then the Cardinal rapidly recounted the episode of the Chiddingly woods. "Mark, Madam, I beseech you, that no blood was shed, though the Pursuivant threatened him with dire punishment, being at the moment absolutely at his mercy." The Queen listened attentively, but she made no observation. Pole's heart sank within him, he felt that he had not yet convinced his noble auditor's judgment, nor had he deeply moved her feelings. Was it possible that the King had forestalled him, representing the matter as a heretical plot and Ralph as a wild incendiary—a "Hot Gospeller," in fact? Once more the Cardinal's soul appealed to Heaven for help, nor did he appeal in vain! In warm and earnest language he set forth the brothers' exploit on the Thames and their narrow escape from a violent death. "Oh, Madam," he cried, "as I looked upon his pale, scarred, but noble face this day in the Star Chamber, a deep sense of pity took possession of me. He had atoned for his offence! It could not be that one so young, so brave, so nobly daring should suffer a felon's doom, and I besought Heaven to have mercy on him." The sound of a gentle sob reached his ear, and he looked on the Queen's sad face. Yes, she was deeply moved at last! "Stay, my Lord Cardinal," she said in a low voice, "I have heard enough. God spared that young man's life—shall we be less merciful?" Then it was that she sent for Philip, and in a few minutes he was at the door, the Ambassador, at his request, accompanying him. With Castilian courtesy Philip knelt and kissed the Queen's hand, then, rising, he repeated the salute on her forehead. The Queen's face flushed with pleasure, for she dearly loved her husband—alas, he was all that she had to love in this world! Then she marked the presence of the Ambassador, and extended her hand towards him as he knelt humbly to kiss it. The Cardinal stood aside, he had made lowly obeisance to the King as he entered. "Your Majesty sent for me, I await your gracious pleasure," said Philip in low tones.