n. We have done with her
forever; and never shall she again behold our face, or again hear our
voice. She is sentenced and damned, and the royal mercy has nothing
more to do with this sinner. A curse on the adulteress! A curse on
the shameless woman who deceived her husband, and gave herself up to a
traitorous paramour! Woe to her, and may shame and disgrace forever mark
her name, which--"

Suddenly the king stopped and listened. The noise that he had heard
just, before was now repeated louder and quicker; it came nearer and
nearer.

And now the door opened and a figure entered--a figure which made the
king stare with astonishment and admiration. It came nearer and nearer,
light, graceful, and with the freshness of youth; a gold-brocade dress
enveloped it; a diadem of diamonds sparkled on the brow; and brighter
yet than the diamonds beamed the eyes.

No, the king was not mistaken. It was the queen, She was standing
before him--and yet she still lay motionless and stiff upon the floor
yonder.

The king uttered a cry, and, turning pale, reeled a step backward.

"The queen!" exclaimed Douglas, in terror; and he trembled so violently
that the paper in his hand rattled and fluttered.

"Yes, the queen!" said Catharine, with a haughty smile. "The queen, who
comes to scold her husband, that, contrary to his physician's orders, he
still refrains from his slumbers at so late an hour of the night."

"And the fool!" said John Heywood, as with humorous pathos he stepped
forward from behind the queen--"the fool, who comes to ask Earl Douglas
how he dared deprive John Heywood of his office, and usurp the place
of king's fool to Henry, and deceive his most gracious majesty with all
manner of silly pranks and carnival tricks."

"And who"--asked the king, in a voice quivering with rage, fastening his
flashing looks on Douglas with an annihilating expression--"who, then,
is that woman there? Who has dared with such cursed mummery to deceive
the king, and calumniate the queen?"

"Sire," said Earl Douglas, who very well knew that his future and
that of his daughter depended on the present moment, and whom this
consciousness had speedily restored to his self-possession and
calmness--"sire, I beseech your majesty for a moment of private
explanation; and I shall be entirely successful in vindicating myself."

"Do not grant it him, brother Henry," said John Heywood; "he is a
dangerous juggler; and who knows whether he may not yet, i