people, who dare not call her a
heretic--the people call her 'the Protestant.'"

"Is it, then, really believed that it is Catharine who protects Anne
Askew, and keeps her from the stake?" inquired the king, thoughtfully.

"It is so thought, your majesty."

"They shall soon see that they are mistaken, and that Henry the Eighth
well deserves to be called the Defender of the Faith and the Head of
his Church!" cried the king, with burning rage. "For when have I shown
myself so long-suffering and weak in punishing, that people believe me
inclined to pardon and deal gently? Have I not sent to the scaffold even
Thomas More and Cromwell, two renowned and in a certain respect noble
and high-minded men, because they dared defy my supremacy and oppose
the doctrine and ordinance which I commanded them to believe? Have I not
sent to the block two of my queens--two beautiful young women, in whom
my heart was well pleased, even when I punished them--because they
had provoked my wrath? Who, after such brilliant examples of our
annihilating justice, who dare accuse us of forbearance?"

"But at that time, sire," said Douglas, in his soft, insinuating voice,
"but at that time no queen as yet stood at your side who called heretics
true believers, and favored traitors with her friendship."

The king frowned, and his wrathful look encountered the friendly and
submissive countenance of the earl. "You know I hate these covert
attacks," said he. "If you can tax the queen with any crime, well now,
do so. If you cannot, hold your peace!"

"The queen is a noble and virtuous lady," said the earl, "only she
sometimes permits herself to be led away by her magnanimous spirit. Or
how, your majesty, can it possibly be with your permission that my lady
the queen maintains a correspondence with Anne Askew?"

"What say you? The queen in correspondence with Anne Askew?" cried the
king in a voice of thunder. "That is a lie, a shameless lie, hatched up
to ruin the queen; for it is very well known that the poor king, who has
been so often deceived, so often imposed upon, believes himself to have
at last found in this woman a being whom he can trust, and in whom he
can put faith. And they grudge him that. They wish to strip him of this
last hope also, that his heart may harden entirely to stone, and no
emotion of pity evermore find access to him. Ah, Douglas, Douglas,
beware of my wrath, if you cannot prove what you say!"

"Sire, I can prove it! For La