ieves he has with the queen; it will then be in his power to punish
his enemy for his criminal passion, which is worthy of death!' And as
I thus spoke to the woman, sire, she said with a sad smile: 'It is a
disgraceful and dishonorable part that you assign me; but I undertake
it, for you say I may thereby render a service to the king. I shall
disgrace myself for him; but he will perhaps bestow upon me in return a
gracious smile; and then I shall be abundantly rewarded.'"

"But this woman is an angel!" cried the king, ardently--"an angel whom
we should kneel to and adore. Tell me her name, Douglas!"

"Sire, as soon as you have forgiven me! You know now all my guilt and
all my crime. For, as I bade that noble woman, so it came to pass, and
Henry Howard has gone to the Tower in the firm belief that it was the
queen whom he just now held in his arms."

"But why did you leave me in this belief, Douglas? Why did you fill my
heart with wrath against the noble and virtuous queen also?"

"Sire, I dared not reveal the deception to you before you had sentenced
Surrey, for your noble and just moral sense would have been reluctant to
punish him on account of a crime that he had not committed; and in
your first wrath you would also have blamed this noble woman who has
sacrificed herself for her king."

"It is true," said the king, "I should have misjudged this noble woman,
and, instead of thanking her, I should have destroyed her."

"Therefore, my king, I quietly allowed you to make out an order for
the queen's incarceration. But you remember well, sire, I begged you
to return to your apartments before the queen was arrested. Well, now,
there I should have disclosed to you the whole secret, which I could not
tell you in the presence of that woman. For she would die of shame
if she suspected that you knew of her love for the king, so pure and
self-sacrificing, and cherished in such heroic silence."

"She shall never know it, Douglas! But now at length satisfy my desire.
Tell me her name."

"Sire, you have forgiven me, then? You are no longer angry with me that
I dared to deceive you?"

"I am no longer angry with you, Douglas; for you have acted rightly. The
plan, which you have contrived and carried out with such happy results,
was as crafty as it was daring."

"I thank you, sire; and I will now tell you the name. That woman, sire,
who at my wish gave herself up a sacrifice to this adulterous earl, who
endured his kisses, h