e!"

"Ah, I guessed it, then," said the king with a laugh. "Now speak,
my little bloodthirsty queen, whose head will you have? Who shall be
brought to the block?"

"Sire, it is true I ask you for the head of a person," said Catharine,
in a tender, earnest tone, "but I wish not that head to fall, but to be
lifted up. I beg you for a human life--not to destroy it, but, on the
contrary, to adorn it with happiness and joy. I wish to drag no one to
prison, but to restore to one, dearly beloved, the freedom, happiness,
and splendid position which belong to her. Sire, you have permitted me
to ask a favor. Now, then, I beg you to call the Princess Elizabeth to
court. Let her reside with us at Whitehall. Allow her to be ever near
me, and share my happiness and glory. Sire, only yesterday the Princess
Elizabeth was far above me in rank and position, but since your
all-powerful might and grace have to-day elevated me above all other
women, I may now love the Princess Elizabeth as my sister and dearest
friend. Grant me this, my king! Let Elizabeth come to us at Whitehall,
and enjoy at our court the honor which is her due." [Footnote: Leti,
vol. i. p. 147. Tytler. p. 410.]

The king did not reply immediately; but in his quiet and smiling air
one could read that his young consort's request had not angered him.
Something like an emotion flitted across his face, and his eyes were
for a moment dimmed with tears. Perhaps just then a pale, soul-harrowing
phantom passed before his mind, and a glance at the past showed him the
beautiful and unfortunate mother [Footnote: Ann Boleyn] of Elizabeth,
whom he had sentenced to a cruel death at the hands of the public
executioner, and whose last word nevertheless was a blessing and a
message of love for him.

He passionately seized Catharine's hand and pressed it to his lips. "I
thank you! You are unselfish and generous. That is a very rare quality,
and I shall always highly esteem you for it. But you are also brave and
courageous, for you have dared what nobody before you has dared; you
have twice on the same evening interceded for one condemned and one
fallen into disgrace. The fortunate, and those favored by me, have
always had many friends, but I have never yet seen that the unfortunate
and the exiled have also found friends. You are different from these
miserable, cringing courtiers; different from this deceitful and
trembling crowd, that with chattering teeth fall down and worship me
as