ether the next
will still belong to us?"

"No! it is no longer yours," yelled the king, as he sprang like a roused
lion from his seat. "Your hours are numbered, and the next already
belongs to the hangman!"

A piercing shriek burst from Geraldine's lips. Then was heard a dull
fall.

"She has fainted," muttered Earl Douglas.

"Geraldine, Geraldine, my loved one!" cried Henry Howard. "My God, my
God! she is dying! You have killed her! Woe to you!"

"Woe to yourself!" said the king, solemnly. "Here with the light! Here,
you folks!"

The door of the anteroom opened, and in it appeared four soldiers with
torches in their hands.

"Light the candles, and guard the door!" said the king, whose dazzled
eyes were not yet able to bear this bright glare of light which now
suddenly streamed through the room.

The soldiers obeyed his orders. A pause ensued. The king had put his
hand before his eyes, and was struggling for breath and self-control.

When at length he let his hand glide down, his features had assumed a
perfectly calm, almost a serene expression.

With a hasty glance he surveyed the room. He saw the queen in her dress
glistening with gold; he saw how she lay on the floor, stretched at full
length, her face turned to the ground, motionless and rigid.

He saw Henry Howard, who knelt by his beloved and was busy about her
with all the anxiety and agony of an acknowledge of her love openly and
frankly; whether her heart had the power to burst that iron band which
the deceitful rules of the world had placed around it; whether she
would acknowledge her lover when he was willing to die for her. "Yes,
Geraldine, I wanted to do it, that I might finally know which feeling
is stronger in you--love or pride--and whether you could then still
preserve the mask of indifference, when death was hovering over your
lover's head. Oh, Geraldine, I should deem it a fairer fate to die
united with you, than to be obliged to still longer endure this life of
constraint and hateful etiquette."

"No, no," said she, trembling, "we will not die. My God, life is indeed
so beautiful when you are by my side! And who knows whether a felicitous
and blissful future may not still await us?"

"Oh, should we die, then should we be certain of this blissful future,
my Geraldine. There, above, there is no more separation--no more
renunciation for us. There above, you are mine, and the bloody image of
your husband no longer stands between us."

"