I, but the queen, that he kisses in my arms!"

"Yes, to-day, it will still be so, Jane; but I swear to you that to-day
is the last time that you are obliged to receive him thus."

"The last time that I see him?" asked Jane, with an expression of alarm.

"No, Jane, only the last time that Henry Howard loves in you the queen,
and not you yourself."

"Oh, he will never love me!" murmured she, sadly.

"He will love you, for you it will be that will save his life. Hasten,
then. Jane, haste! Write him quickly one of those tender notes that you
indite with so masterly a hand. Invite him to a meeting to-night at the
usual time and place."

"Oh, I shall at last have him again!" whispered Lady Jane; and she
stepped to the writing-table and with trembling hand began to write.

But suddenly she stopped, and looked at her father sharply and
suspiciously.

"You swear to me, my father, that no danger threatens him if he comes?"

"I swear to you, Jane, that you shall be the one to save his life!
I swear to you, Jane, that you shall take vengeance on the
queen--vengeance for all the agony, the humiliation and despair that you
have suffered by her. To-day she is yet Queen of England! To-morrow she
will be nothing more than a criminal, who sighs in the confinement of
the Tower for the hour of her execution. And you will be Henry's seventh
queen. Write, then, my daughter, write! And may love dictate to you the
proper words!"

CHAPTER XXX. THE FEAST OF DEATH.

For a long time the king had not appeared in such good spirits as on
this festive evening. For a long time he had not been so completely the
tender husband, the good-natured companion, the cheerful bon-vivant.

The pains of his leg seemed to have disappeared, and even the weight of
his body seemed to be less burdensome than usual, for more than once
he rose from his chair, and walked a few steps through the brilliantly
lighted saloon, in which the ladies and lords of his court, in festive
attire, were moving gently to and fro; in which music and laughter
resounded. How tender he showed himself toward the queen to-day; with
what extraordinary kindness he met the Duke of Norfolk; with what
smiling attention, he listened to the Earl of Surrey, as he, at the
king's desire, recited some new sonnets to Geraldine!

This marked preference for the noble Howards enraptured the Roman
Catholic party at court, and filled it with new hopes and new
confidence.

But one ther