who has injured you go thus unpunished?" asked the
king. "No, no, my ladies; it shall not be said that there is a man in my
kingdom whom I have let escape when so richly deserving punishment. We
will, therefore, impose some other punishment on him. He calls himself
a poet, and has often boasted that he could make his pen fly as fast
as his tongue! Now, then, John, show us in this manner that you are no
liar! I command you to write, for the great court festival which takes
place in a few days, a new interlude; and one indeed, hear you, John,
which is calculated to make the greatest growler merry, and over which
these ladies will be forced to laugh so heartily, that they will forget
all their ire!"

"Oh," said John dolefully, "what an equivocal and lewd poem it must be
to please these ladies and make them laugh! My king, we must, then, to
please these dear ladies, forget a little our chastity, modesty, and
maiden bashfulness, and speak in the spirit of the ladies--that is to
say, as lasciviously as possible."

"You are a wretch!" said Lady Jane; "a vulgar hypocritical fool."

"Earl Douglas, your daughter is speaking to you," said John Heywood,
calmly. "She flatters you much, your tender daughter."

"Now then, John, you have heard my orders, and will you obey them? In
four days will this festival begin; I give you two days more. In six
days, then, you have to write a new interlude. And if he fails to do
it, my ladies, you shall whip him until you bring the blood; and that
without any condition." Just then was heard without a flourish of
trumpets and the clatter of horse-hoofs.

"The queen has returned," said John Heywood, with a countenance beaming
with joy, as he fixed his smiling gaze full of mischievous satisfaction
on Lady Jane.

"Nothing further now remains for you to do, but dutifully to meet your
mistress upon the great staircase, for, as you so wisely said before,
the queen still lives."

Without waiting for an answer, John Heywood ran out and rushed through
the anteroom and down the steps to meet the queen. Lady Jane watched him
with a dark, angry look; and as she turned slowly to the door to go and
meet the queen, she muttered low between her closely-pressed lips: "The
fool must die, for he is the queen's friend!"

CHAPTER XVI. THE CONFIDANT.

The queen was just ascending the steps of the great public staircase,
and she greeted John Heywood with a friendly smile.

"My lady," said he aloud, "I