The Lord Protector spoke up—
"Let the small varlet be stripped and flung into the Tower."
But the new king, the true king, said—
"I will not have it so. But for him I had not got my crown again—none shall lay a hand upon him to harm him. And as for thee, my good uncle, my Lord Protector, this conduct of thine is not grateful toward this poor lad, for I hear he hath made thee a duke"—the Protector blushed—"yet he was not a king; wherefore, what is thy fine title worth, now? To-morrow you shall sue to me, through him, for its confirmation, else no duke, but a simple earl, shalt thou remain."
Under this rebuke, his grace the duke of Somerset retired a little from the front for the moment. The king turned to Tom, and said, kindly—
"My poor boy, how was it that you could remember where I hid the Seal when I could not remember it myself?"
"Ah, my king, that was easy, since I used it divers days."
"Used it,—yet could not explain where it was?"
"I did not know it was that they wanted. They did not describe it, your majesty."
"Then how used you it?"
The red blood began to steal up into Tom's cheeks, and he dropped his eyes and was silent.
"Speak up, good lad, and fear nothing," said the king. "How used you the Great Seal of England?"
Tom stammered a moment, in a pathetic confusion, then got it out—
"To crack nuts with!"
Poor child, the avalanche of laughter that greeted this, nearly swept him off his feet. But if a doubt remained in any mind that Tom Canty was not the king of England and familiar with the august appurtenances of royalty, this reply disposed of it utterly.
