woman is yet a
queen, and even in the criminal I will still recognize the queen. The
lord-lieutenant himself must conduct her to the Tower. Hasten then, say
I! But, hark you, keep all this a secret, and let nobody know anything
of it till the decisive moment arrives. Otherwise her friends might take
a notion to implore my mercy for this sinner; and I abhor this whining
and crying. Silence, then, for I am tired and need rest and sleep. I
have, as you say, just done a work well pleasing to God; perhaps He may
send me, as a reward for it, invigorating and strengthening sleep, which
I have now so long desired in vain."

And the king threw back the curtains of his couch, and, supported by
Gardiner, laid himself on the downy cushion.

Gardiner drew the curtains again, and thrust the fatal paper into his
pocket. Even in his hands it did not seem to him secure enough. What!
might not some curious eye fasten on it, and divine its contents? Might
not some impertinent and shameless friend of the queen snatch this paper
from him, and carry it to her and give her warning? No, no, it was not
secure enough in his hands. He must hide it in the pocket of his gown.
There, no one could find it, no one discover it.

So there he hid it. In the gown with its large folds it was safe; and,
after he had thus concealed the precious paper, he left the room with
rapid strides, in order to acquaint Earl Douglas with the glorious
result of his plans.

Not a single time did he look back. Had he done so, he would have
sprung back into that room as a tiger pounces on his prey. He would have
plunged, as the hawk stoops at the dove, at that piece of white paper
that lay there on the floor, exactly on the spot where Gardiner was
before standing when he placed into his pocket the arrest-warrant
written by the king.

Ah, even the gown of a priest is not always close enough to conceal a
dangerous secret; and even the pocket of a bishop may sometimes have
holes in it.

Gardiner went away with the proud consciousness of having the order
of arrest in his pocket; and that fatal paper lay on the floor in the
middle of the king's chamber.

Who will come to pick it up? Who will become the sharer of this
dangerous secret? To whom will this mute paper proclaim the shocking
news that the queen has fallen into disgrace, and is this very day to be
dragged to the Tower as a prisoner?

All is still and lonely in the king's apartment. Nothing is stirring,
not ev