THE DEVOTED DAUGHTER. loudly at the door, as they sat at dinner, and to warn him to appear the next day before the Com- missioners. The family were at first in great con- sternation, but he soon reassured them by explaining the jest. In sad and sober earnest, however, on the morning of the 13th of April, 1534, the real pur- suivant entered the house, and summoned him to appear before the Commissioners that day. Having offered up his prayers in Chelsea Church, and taken an affectionate farewell of his wife and those children who were there, though he dared not permit them to accompany him to the gate, lest his firmness should fail, he entered his boat with William Roper and four domestics, and, with a heavy heart, went towards Lambeth. On his way, as though he had doubted his own resolution, he whispered in the ear of the young man, " I thank our Lord the field is won ! " It was useless to struggle with so powerful an antagonist as the King, and, after a delay of four days, he was committed a close prisoner to the Tower of London. Upon his arrival there, the Lieutenant, who was, happily, a personal friend of his, apolo- gised for the meagre fare the place afforded ; to which Sir Thomas playfully replied, " Assure your- self, I do not mislike my cheer : but whenever I do, then spare not to thrust me out of doors." Margaret's agony at the situation of her father is easy to conceive. By the most incessant impor- tunity, she obtained permission,-when he had been 17
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