the temper of these noble women, and makes
them deaf to the voice of nature!"

"It is indeed such a sin," said the Duchess of Norfolk, in a solemn
tone; and, approaching a few paces nearer to the king, she continued:
"Sire, I accuse the duke, my divorced husband, of high treason and
disloyalty to his king. He has been so bold as to appropriate your own
royal coat-of-arms; and on his seal and equipage, and over the entrance
of his palace, are displayed the arms of the kings of England."

"That is true," said the king, who, now that he was certain of
the destruction of the Howards, had regained his calmness and
self-possession, and perfectly reassumed the air of a strict, impartial
judge. "Yes, he bears the royal arms on his shield, but yet, if we
remember rightly, the crown and paraph of our ancestor Edward the Third
are wanting."

"He has now added this crown and this paraph to his coat-of-arms," said
Miss Holland. "He says he is entitled to them; for that, like the
king, he also is descended in direct line from Edward the Third; and,
therefore, the royal arms belong likewise to him."

"If he says that, he is a traitor who presumes to call his king and
master his equal," cried the king, coloring up with a grim joy at now at
length having his enemy in his power.

"He is indeed a traitor," continued Miss Holland. "Often have I heard
him say he had the same right to the throne of England as Henry the
Eighth; and that a day might come when he would contend with Henry's son
for that crown."

"Ah," cried the king, and his eyes darted flashes so fierce that even
Earl Douglas shrank before them, "ah, he will contend with my son for
the crown of England! It is well, now; for now it is my sacred duty, as
a king and as a father, to crush this serpent that wants to bite me on
the heel; and no compassion and no pity ought now to restrain me longer.
And were there no other proofs of his guilt and his crime than these
words that he has spoken to you, yet are they sufficient, and will rise
up against him, like the hangman's aids who are to conduct him to the
block."

"But there are yet other proofs," said Miss Holland, laconically.

The king was obliged to unbutton his doublet. It seemed as though joy
would suffocate him.

"Name them!" commanded he.

"He dares deny the king's supremacy; he calls the Bishop of Rome the
sole head and holy Father of the Church."

"Ah, does he so?" exclaimed the king, laughing. "Well, we sha