appalling was the appearance of the demon, that Henry stood still to
gaze at him, while Bouchier and his men remained irresolute on the
stairs. In another moment, the Duke of Suffolk had gained the platform,
and the arquebusiers were seen near the head of the stairs.

"At last, thou art in my power, accursed being!" cried Henry. "Thou art
hemmed in on all sides, and canst not escape!"

"Ho! ho! ho!" laughed Herne.

"This shall prove whether thou art human or not," cried Henry, taking
deliberate aim at him with the dag.

"Ho! ho! ho!" laughed Herne. And as the report rang through the room, he
sank through the floor, and disappeared from view.

"Gone!" exclaimed Henry, as the smoke cleared off; "gone! Holy Mary!
then it must indeed be the fiend. I made the middle of his skull my aim,
and if he had not been invulnerable, the bullet must have pierced his
brain.

"I heard it rebound from his horned helmet, and drop to the floor," said
Bouchier.

"What is that chest?" cried Henry, pointing to a strange coffin-shaped
box, lying, as it seemed, on the exact spot where the demon had
disappeared.

No one had seen it before, though all called to mind the mysterious
hammering; and they had no doubt that the coffin was the work of the
demon.

"Break it open," cried Henry; "for aught we know, Herne may be concealed
within it."

The order was reluctantly obeyed by the arquebusiers. But no force was
required, for the lid was not nailed down; and when it was removed, a
human body in the last stage of decay was discovered.

"Pah! close it up," cried Henry, turning away in disgust. "How came it
there?"

"It must have been brought by the powers of darkness," said Bouchier;
"no such coffin was here when I searched the chamber two hours ago. But
see," he suddenly added, stooping down, and picking up a piece of paper
which had fallen from the coffin, "here is a scroll."

"Give it me!" cried Henry; and holding it to the light, he read the
words, "The body of Mark Fytton, the butcher, the victim of a tyrant's
cruelty."

Uttering a terrible imprecation, Henry flung the paper from him; and
bidding the arquebusiers burn the body at the foot of the gallows
without the town, he quitted the tower without further search.

XII.

How Wolsey was disgraced by the King.

On the following day, a reconciliation took place between the king and
Anne Boleyn. During a ride in the great park with his royal brother,
Suffolk not