. "You see,
Jane, I am not merely your father, but your master also. And you will
obey me, will you not?"

"I will obey!" said she, almost inaudibly, as she kissed the hand with
the fatal ring.

"You will be to Catharine Parr, as you have expressed it, the serpent,
that seduces her to sin?"

"I will."

"You will beguile her into sin, and entice her to indulge a love which
must lead her to destruction?"

"I will do it, my father."

"I will now tell you whom she is to love, and who is to be the
instrument of destruction. You will so manage the queen that she will
love Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey."

Jane uttered a scream, and clung to the back of a chair to keep from
falling.

Her father observed her with penetrating, angry looks. "What means this
outcry? Why does this choice surprise you?" asked he.

Lady Jane had already gained her self-possession. "It surprised me,"
said she, "because the earl is betrothed."

A singular smile played about the earl's lips. "It is not the first
time," said he, "that even a man already married has become dangerous
to a woman's heart, and often the very impossibility of possession adds
fuel to the flames of love. Woman's heart is ever so full of selfishness
and contradiction."

Lady Jane cast down her eyes, and made no reply. She felt that the
piercing and penetrating look of her father was resting on her face. She
knew that, just then, he was reading her soul, although she did not look
at him.

"Then you no longer refuse?" asked he, at length. "You will inspire the
young queen with love for the Earl of Surrey?"

"I will endeavor to do it, my father."

"If you try, with a real and energetic determination to succeed, you
will prevail. For, as you said, the queen's heart is still free; it is,
then, like a fruitful soil, which is only waiting for some one to sow
the seed in it, to bring forth flowers and fruit. Catharine Parr does
not love the king; you will, then, teach her to love Henry Howard."

"Yet, my father," said Lady Jane, with a sarcastic smile, "to bring
about this result, one must, before all things, be acquainted with a
magic spell, through the might of which the earl will first glow with
love for Catharine. For the queen has a proud soul, and she will never
so forget her dignity as to love a man who is not inflamed with an
ardent passion for her. But the earl has not only a bride, but, as it is
said, a mistress also."

"Ah! you consider it, then, perfectly