ecome mine."

"I am grieved to hear it, my liege," replied Jane Seymour, "for I never
can be yours, unless as your queen."

Again Norris hazarded a whisper to Anne Boleyn, which was answered by
another nervous grasp of the hand.

"That is as much as to say," pursued Jane, seeing the gloomy reverie
into which her royal lover was thrown, "I can give your majesty no hopes
at all."

"You have been schooled by Anne Boleyn, sweetheart," said Henry.

"How so, my liege?" demanded Jane Seymour.

"Those are the very words she used to me when I wooed her, and which
induced me to divorce Catherine of Arragon," replied Henry. "Now they
may bring about her own removal."

"Just Heaven!" murmured Anne.

"I dare not listen to your majesty," said Jane Seymour, in a tremulous
tone; "and yet, if I dared speak--"

"Speak on, fearlessly, sweetheart," said Henry.

"Then I am well assured," said Jane, "that the queen no longer loves
you; nay, that she loves another."

"It is false, minion!" cried Anne Boleyn, rushing forward, while Norris
hastily retreated, "it is false! It is you who would deceive the king
for your own purposes. But I have fortunately been brought hither to
prevent the injury you would do me. Oh, Henry! have I deserved this of
you?"

"You have chanced to overhear part of a scene in a masquerade,
madam--that is all," said the king.

"I have chanced to arrive most opportunely for myself," said Anne. "As
for this slanderous and deceitful minion, I shall dismiss her from my
service. If your majesty is determined to prove faithless to me, it
shall not be with one of my own dames."

"Catherine of Arragon should have made that speech," retorted Jane
Seymour bitterly. "She had reason to complain that she was supplanted by
one much beneath her. And she never played the king falsely."

"Nor have I!" cried Anne fiercely. "If I had my will, I should strike
thee dead for the insinuation. Henry, my lord--my love--if you have any
regard for me, instantly dismiss Jane Seymour."

"It may not be, madam," replied Henry in a freezing tone; "she has done
nothing to deserve dismissal. If any one is to blame in the matter, it
is myself."

"And will you allow her to make these accusations against me without
punishment?" cried Anne.

"Peace, madam!" cried the king sternly; "and thank my good-nature that
I go no further into the matter. If you are weary of the masque, I pray
you retire to your own apartments. For myself, I shal