At that time, he loved not merely his wives, but his friends and servants also--specially Cromwell, the all-powerful minister.

He then resided at Whitehall, and Henry in the royal apartments of the Tower.

But Henry was always longing for his favorite; and so Cromwell one day surprised him with this subterranean passage, the construction of which had occupied a hundred men a whole year.

Ah, ah, the king was then very much moved, and thanked his powerful minister for this surprise with tears and hugs.
There passed scarcely a day that Henry did not go to Cromwell through this passage.

So he saw each day how the palace of Whitehall became more and more splendid and glorious; and when he returned to the Tower, he discovered that this residence was altogether unworthy of a king; but that his minister lived by far more magnificently than the King of England.