is a heretic!" repeated the king;
"and yet we have sworn to exterminate these atheists from our land."

"She very well knows that she is secure from your wrath," said Gardiner,
with a shrug of his shoulders. "She relies on the fact that she is the
queen, and that in the heart of her exalted husband love is mightier
than the faith."

"Nobody shall suppose that he is secure from my wrath, and no one shall
rely on the security afforded him by my love. She is a proud, arrogant,
and audacious woman!" cried the king, whose looks were just then
fixed again on the chess-board, and whose spite was heightened by the
remembrance of the lost game. "She ventures to brave us, and to have a
will other than ours. By the holy mother, we will endeavor to break her
stubbornness, and bend her proud neck beneath our will! Yes, I will
show the world that Henry of England is still the immovable and
incorruptible. I will give the heretics an evidence that I am in reality
the defender and protector of the faith and of religion in my land, and
that nobody stands too high to be struck by my wrath, and to feel the
sword of justice on his neck. She is a heretic; and we have sworn to
destroy heretics with fire and sword. We shall keep our oath."

"And God will bless you with His blessing. He will surround your head
with a halo of fame; and the Church will praise you as her most glorious
pastor, her exalted head."

"Be it so!" said the king, as with youthful alacrity he strode across
the room; and, stepping to his writing-table, with a vigorous and fleet
hand he wrote down a few lines. Gardiner stood in the middle of the room
with his hands folded; and his lips murmured in an undertone a prayer,
while his large flashing eyes were fastened on the king with a curious
and penetrating expression.

"Here, your highness," the king then said, "take this paper--take it
and order everything necessary. It is an arrest-warrant; and before the
night draws on, the queen shall be in the Tower."

"Verily, the Lord is mighty in you!" cried Gardiner, as he took the
paper; "the heavenly hosts sing their hallelujah and look down with
rapture on the hero who subdues his own heart to serve God and the
Church."

"Take it and speed you!" said the king, hastily. "In a few hours
everything must be done. Give Earl Douglas the paper, and bid him go
with it to the lord-lieutenant of the Tower, so that he himself may
repair hither with the yeomen of the guard. For this