King Philip was at dinner at Whitehall when news came to him that the Cardinal’s barge had shot the dangerous rapids formed by the narrow arches of London Bridge. Rising from the table at once the King descended to the landing-stage of the Palace as the state barge was approaching it. With uncovered head and respectful mien Philip greeted the great English Churchman with more honour than he might have shown to any sovereign prince, leading him on his right hand through the alleys and galleries to the entrance to the hall, where at the head of the stairs stood Queen Mary. Making a profound obeisance to the huge uplifted cross which preceded her husband and Pole, she advanced to meet them, Pole kneeling at her approach. Curtseying low and kissing her kinsman the Queen assisted him to rise, and then between him and her husband she led the way to the canopy, where for half an hour in polyglot converse, for Pole had lost some of his English, and Philip knew little Italian, Mary must have been for once in her life happy.[77] Nothing could exceed the honour shown by the Sovereigns to Pole, for it was Philip’s policy to win him over entirely to his side, and Mary was overjoyed at the prospect of the full reconciliation of her country with the Papacy on conditions that seemed to promise general harmony. The people, too, who knew Pole’s history, welcomed him warmly. He, like Mary herself, had been unjustly used, and his family judicially murdered; he was virtuous, upright, and honest,[78] and above all, in the eyes of the populace, he represented an English force strong enough to champion the cause of his countrymen, if needs be, against the Spanish faction. Pole was lodged at Lambeth Palace, from which the unhappy Cranmer had been sent to the Tower, and on the day of the Cardinal’s arrival in London, Mary offered him the primacy, an offer which Pole for the moment put aside until, as he said, he had done his errand as papal ambassador. For the next three days Pole and the Sovereigns were closeted for hours together settling the preliminaries for the formal return of England to the papal fold, and Philip himself on one occasion, breaking through all the traditions of his house, crossed alone to Lambeth and remained with Pole for the entire afternoon. [Illustration: CARDINAL REGINALD POLE, PAPAL LEGATE AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AFTER A PAINTING BY SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO]