een graciously pleased to allow me to be your confidant; envy
me not, then, a share in your noble work also. Not with you shall Anne
Askew find refuge, but with me. Oh, come, Anne, follow your friends. It
is life that calls you, that opens the doors to you, and desires to call
you by a thousand names to itself! Do you not hear them, all those sweet
and alluring voices; do you not see them, all those noble and smiling
faces, how they greet you and beckon to you? Anne Askew, it is the noble
husband that calls you! You know him not as yet, but he is waiting for
you there in the world without. Anne Askew, there are your children,
who are stretching their tender arms out to you. You have not yet borne
them; but love holds them in her arms, and will bring them to meet you.
It is the wife and the mother that the world yet demands of you, Anne.
You ought not to shun the holy calling which God has given you. Come,
then, and follow us--follow your queen, who has the right to order her
subject. Follow the friend, who has sworn that he will watch over you
and protect you as a father!"

"Father in heaven, protect me!" exclaimed Anne Askew, falling on her
knees and stretching her hands upward. "Father in heaven! they would
tear away Thy child, and alienate my heart from Thee! They are leading
me into temptation and alluring me with their words. Protect me, my
Father; make my ear deaf, that I may not hear them! Give me a sign that
I am Thine; that no one has any longer power over me, save Thou alone! A
sign, that Thou, Father, callest me!"

And as if God had really heard her prayer, a loud knocking was now
perceived at the outer door, and a voice cried: "Anne Askew, awake! and
hold yourself ready! The high chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester
come to fetch you away!"

"Ah, the rack!" groaned Catharine, as with a shudder she buried her face
in her hands.

"Yes, the rack!" said Anne, with a blissful smile. "God calls me!"

John Heywood had approached the queen and impetuously seized her hand.
"You see it is in vain," said he, urgently. "Make haste then to save
yourself! Hasten to leave this prison before the door there opens."

"No," said Catharine, firmly and resolutely. "No, I stay. She shall not
surpass me in courage and greatness of soul! She will not deny her God;
well, then, I also will be a witness of my God. I will not in shame cast
my eyes to the ground before this young girl; like her, I will frankly
and openly profes