r, as the two stood in the king's anteroom, and as Catharine's
cheerful chit-chat and the king's merry laugh came pealing to them
from the adjoining room. "No, no, Gardiner, she is too powerful and too
crafty. The king loves her very much; and she is such an agreeable and
refreshing recreation to him."

"Just on that account we must withdraw her from him," said Gardiner,
with a dark frown. "He must turn away his heart from this earthly love;
and after we shall have mortified this love in him, this savage and
arrogant man will return to us and to God, contrite and humble." But we
shall not be able to mortify it, friend. It is so ardent and selfish a
love.

"So much the greater will be the triumph, if our holy admonitions are
successful in touching his heart, Douglas. It is true he will suffer
very much if he is obliged to give up this woman. But he needs precisely
this suffering in order to become contrite and penitent. His mind must
first be entirely darkened, so that we can illuminate it with the light
of faith. He must first be rendered perfectly isolated and comfortless
in order to bring him back to the holy communion of the Church, and to,
find him again accessible to the consolations of that faith which alone
can save."

"Ah," sighed Douglas, "I fear that this will be a useless struggle. The
king is so vain of his self-constituted high-priesthood!"

"But he is such a weak man, and such a great sinner!" said Gardiner,
with a cold smile. "He trembles so much at death and God's judgment,
and our holy mother the Church can give him absolution, and by her
holy sacraments render death easy to him. He is a wicked sinner and has
stings of conscience. This it is that will bring him back again to the
bosom of the Catholic Church."

"But when will that come to pass? The king is sick, and any day may put
an end to his life. Woe to us, if he die before he has given the power
into our hands, and nominated us his executors! Woe to us, if the queen
is appointed regent, and the king selects the Seymours as her ministers!
Oh, my wise and pious father, the work that you wish to do must be done
soon, or it must remain forever unaccomplished."

"It shall be done this very day," said Gardiner, solemnly; and bending
down closer to the earl's ear, he continued: "we have lulled the queen
into assurance and self-confidence, and by this means she shall be
ruined this very day. She relies so strongly on her power over the
king's dispos