"The King's Grace is the King's Grace, and may do as it liketh him," said Dr Thorpe, a little testily; "'tis yonder rascally Council whereof I speak, and in especial that cheating knave of Warwick. I would we had my Lord of Somerset back, for all he is not a Lutheran, but a Gospeller. He never thrust his hand into my pocket o' this fashion." "Ah!" replied John, laughing, "touch a man's pocket, and how he crieth apace!" "A child newly burnt dreadeth the fire, Jack," answered the old man. "This is not the first time we have had the King's coin pulled down. I am as true a man to the King as any here; but I have taken no oath to that dotipole [blockhead] of Warwick; and if he play this game once too oft, he may find he hath fished and caught a frog." "I count," suggested John, soberly, "that my Lord of Warwick's testers shall not pass for any more than ours." "What matters that to him, lad," cried Dr Thorpe, "when he can put his hand into the King's treasury, and draw it out full of rose nobles? The scurvy rogue! I would he were hanged!" John laid his hand very gently and lovingly on the old man's shoulder. "Would you truly that, friend?" said he, softly. "A man meaneth not alway every thing he saith," replied Dr Thorpe, somewhat ashamed. "Bring me not to bar, prithee, for every word, when I am heated." "Dear old friend," John answered, softly, "we shall stand at one Bar for every word." "Then I shall look an old fool, as I do now," said he. "Sit thee down, lad! and hold that soft tongue o' thine. I can stand a fair flyting [scolding: still a Northern provincialism] or a fustigation [beating], but I never can one of those soft tongues like thine." John sat down, a little smile playing round his lips, and said no more. One day in October, Mr Underhill dined at the Lamb. He brought news that at Hampton Court, that day, the Earl of Warwick was to be made Duke of Northumberland; the Marquis Dorset [Henry Grey, husband of the late Duke's elder daughter], Duke of Suffolk; the Lord Treasurer [William Paulet, Lord Saint John], Marquis of Winchester; and Mr William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. "Duke of Northumberland!" cried Dr Thorpe, fairly roused at this news. "Duke of Blunderhead! Had the King made him Duke of Cumberland I had little marvelled. Wherefore did his Grace (saving the reverence due) not likewise make me Duke of Truro or Marquis of Bodmin? I have been a truer man unto his Highness than ever my Lord of Warwick, and have done the kingdom a sight less harm." "Less harm, quotha!" laughed Mr Underhill. "Why, friend, if all were made dukes and marquises that have done no harm to the kingdom, we should have the Minories choke-full of noble houses." "We should have mighty few of the Lords keeping their titles," said Dr Thorpe, grimly. A few days later, Dr Thorpe, having gone to the barber's near Aldgate, returned with a budget of news, as was usual when he came from that quarter.