r it if he drew a dagger
on me, whilst you might not notice the pin with which he secretly wounds
me. And what was his coming here to-day other than a new assault on me?
He knows very well--and I have never made a secret of it--that I am an
enemy to this Roman Catholic religion the pope of which has dared to
hurl his ban against my lord and husband; and that I seek with lively
interest to be instructed as to the doctrine and religion of the
so-called reformers."

"They say that you are a heretic," said the king, gravely.

"Gardiner says that! But if I am so, you are so too, my king; for your
belief is mine. If I am so, so too is Cranmer, the noble Archbishop
of Canterbury; for he is my spiritual adviser and helper. But Gardiner
wishes that I were a heretic, and he wants me likewise to appear so to
you. See, my husband, why it was that he laid those eight death-warrants
before you awhile ago. There were eight, all heretics, whom you were to
condemn--not a single papist among them; and yet I know that the prisons
are full of papists, who, in the fanaticism of their persecuted faith,
have spoken words just as worthy of punishment as those unfortunate ones
whom you were to-day to send from life to death by a stroke of your pen.
Sire, I should have prayed you just as fervently, just as suppliantly,
had they been papists whom you were to sentence to death! But Gardiner
wanted a proof of my heresy; and therefore he selected eight heretics,
for whom I was to oppose your hard decree."

"It is true," said the king, thoughtfully; "there was not a single
papist among them! But tell me, Kate--are you really a heretic, and an
adversary of your king?"

With a sweet smile she looked deep into his eyes, and humbly crossed her
arms over her beautiful breast.

"Your adversary!" whispered she. "Are you not my husband and my lord?
Was not the woman made to be subject to the man? The man was created
after the likeness of God, and the woman after the likeness of man. So
the woman is only the man's second self; and he must have compassion
on her in love; and he must give her of his spirit, and influence her
understanding from his understanding. Therefore your duty is to instruct
me, my husband; and mine is, to learn of you. And of all the women in
the world, to no one is this duty made so easy as to me; for God has
been gracious to me and given me as my husband a king whose prudence,
wisdom, and learning are the wonder of all the world."