r own."

At a signal from his hand, the brilliant cortege withdrew, and Catharine
was alone with the king.

Her heart beat so wildly that it made her lips tremble, and her bosom
swell high.

Henry saw it, and smiled; but it was a cold, cruel smile, and Catharine
grew pale before it.

"He has only the smile of a tyrant," said she to herself. "With this
same smile, by which he would now give expression to his love, he
yesterday, perhaps, signed a death-warrant, or will, to-morrow, witness
an execution."

"Do you love me, Kate?" suddenly said the king, who had till now
observed her in silence and thoughtfulness. "Say, Kate, do you love me?"

He looked steadily into her eyes, as though he would read her soul to
the very bottom.

Catharine sustained his look, and did not drop her eyes. She felt that
this was the decisive moment which determined her whole future; and this
conviction restored to her all her self-possession and energy.

She was now no longer the shy, timid girl, but the resolute, proud
woman, who was ready to wrestle with fate for greatness and glory.

"Do you love me, Kate?" repeated the king; and his brow already began to
darken.

"I know not," said Catharine, with a smile, which enchanted the king,
for there was quite as much graceful coquetry as bashfulness on her
charming face.

"You know not?" replied Henry, astonished. "Now, by the Mother of God,
it is the first time in my life that a woman has ever been bold enough
to return me such an answer! You are a bold woman, Kate, to hazard it,
and I praise you for it. I love bravery, because it is something I so
rarely see. They all tremble before me, Kate--all! They know that I am
not intimidated by blood, and in the might of my royalty I subscribe a
death-warrant with the same calmness of soul as a love-letter."

"Oh, you are a great king," murmured Catharine. Henry did not notice
her. He was wholly buried in one of those self-contemplations to which
he so willingly surrendered himself, and which generally had for their
subject his own greatness and superbility.

"Yes," continued he, and his eyes, which, in spite of his corpulency
and his extremely fleshy face, were yet large and wide open, shone more
brightly. "Yes, they all tremble before me, for they know that I am
a righteous and powerful king, who spares not his own blood, if it is
necessary to punish and expiate crime, and with inexorable hand punishes
the sinner, though he were the near