Having said this in a melancholy but firm accent, he left the dressing
apartment.
"I am glad thou art gone," thought Varney, "or, practised as I am in the
follies of mankind, I had laughed in the very face of thee! Thou mayest
tire as thou wilt of thy new bauble, thy pretty piece of painted Eve's
flesh there, I will not be thy hindrance. But of thine old bauble,
ambition, thou shalt not tire; for as you climb the hill, my lord, you
must drag Richard Varney up with you, and if he can urge you to the
ascent he means to profit by, believe me he will spare neither whip nor
spur, and for you, my pretty lady, that would be Countess outright, you
were best not thwart my courses, lest you are called to an old reckoning
on a new score. 'Thou shalt be master,' did he say? By my faith, he may
find that he spoke truer than he is aware of; and thus he who, in
the estimation of so many wise-judging men, can match Burleigh and
Walsingham in policy, and Sussex in war, becomes pupil to his own
menial--and all for a hazel eye and a little cunning red and white, and
so falls ambition. And yet if the charms of mortal woman could excuse
a man's politic pate for becoming bewildered, my lord had the excuse
at his right hand on this blessed evening that has last passed over us.
Well--let things roll as they may, he shall make me great, or I will
make myself happy; and for that softer piece of creation, if she speak
not out her interview with Tressilian, as well I think she dare not, she
also must traffic with me for concealment and mutual support, in spite
of all this scorn. I must to the stables. Well, my lord, I order your
retinue now; the time may soon come that my master of the horse shall
order mine own. What was Thomas Cromwell but a smith's son? and he died
my lord--on a scaffold, doubtless, but that, too, was in character.
And what was Ralph Sadler but the clerk of Cromwell? and he has gazed
eighteen fair lordships--VIA! I know my steerage as well as they."
So saying, he left the apartment.
In the meanwhile the Earl had re-entered the bedchamber, bent on taking
a hasty farewell of the lovely Countess, and scarce daring to trust
himself in private with her, to hear requests again urged which he found
it difficult to parry, yet which his recent conversation with his master
of horse had determined him not to grant.