are the friend and confidante of the queen, and I the harmless courtier,
who tries, now and then, to gain a smile from the king by some kind and
merry jest. That is all. Good-morning, then, Jane, and good-night. For
you must sleep, my child, so that your cheeks may remain fresh and your
eyes bright. The king hates pining pale-faces. Sleep, then, future Queen
of England!"

He gently kissed her forehead, and left the room with lingering step.

Lady Jane stood and listened to the sound of his footsteps gradually
dying away, when she sank on her knees, wholly crushed, utterly stunned.

"My God, my God!" murmured she, while streams of tears flooded her face,
"and I am to inspire the queen with love for the Earl of Surrey, and
I--I love him!"

CHAPTER IX. LENDEMAIN.

The great levee was over. Sitting beside the king on the throne,
Catharine had received the congratulations of her court; and the king's
smiling look, and the tender words which, in undertone, he now and
then addressed to the queen, had manifested to the prudent and expert
courtiers that the king was to-day just as much enamored of his young
consort as he had been yesterday of his bride. Therefore, every one
exerted himself to please the queen, and to catch every look, every
smile, which she let fall, like sunbeams, here and there, in order to
see for whom they were intended, so that they might, perchance, by this
means, divine who were to be the future favorites of the queen, and be
the first to become intimate with them.

But the young queen directed her looks to no one in particular. She
was friendly and smiling, yet one felt that this friendliness was
constrained, this smile full of sadness. The king alone did not notice
it. He was cheerful and happy, and it seemed to him, therefore, that
nobody at his court could dare sigh when he, the king, was satisfied.

After the grand presentation, at which all the great and noble of the
realm had passed in formal procession before the royal pair, the king
had, according to the court etiquette of the time, given his hand to his
consort, led her down from the throne and conducted her to the middle
of the hall, in order to present to her the personages in waiting at her
court.

But this walk from the throne to the centre of the hall had greatly
fatigued the king; this promenade of thirty steps was for him a very
unusual and troublesome performance, and the king longed to change to
something else more ag