1540
he stood, a sorry figure, upon the scaffold in the Tower. He had been a
sinner, he confessed, and had travailed after the things of this world;
but he fervently avowed that he was a good Catholic and no heretic, and
had harboured no thought of evil towards his sovereign. But protestations
availed not; and his head, the cleverest head in England, was pitiably
hacked off by a bungling headsman. Before that happened, the repudiation
of Anne of Cleves was complete, and a revival of the aristocratic and
Catholic influence in England was an accomplished fact.

CHAPTER VIII

1540-1542

THE KING'S "GOOD SISTER" AND THE KING'S BAD WIFE--THE LUTHERANS AND
ENGLISH CATHOLICS

During her few months of incomplete wedlock with the King, Anne had felt
uneasily the strange anomaly of her position. She accompanied Henry in his
daily life at bed and board, and shared with him the various festivities
held in celebration of the marriage; the last of which was a splendid
tournament given by the bachelor courtiers at Durham House on May-day. She
had studied English diligently, and tried to please her husband in a
hundred well-meant but ungainly ways. She had by her jovial manner and
real kindness of heart become very popular with those around her; but yet
she got no nearer to the glum, bloated man by her side. In truth she was
no fit companion for him, either physically or mentally. Her lack of the
softer feminine charms, her homely manners, her lack of learning and of
musical talent, on which Henry set so much store, were not counterbalanced
by strong will or commanding ability which might have enabled her to
dominate him, or by feminine craft by which he might have been captivated.

She was a woman, however, and could not fail to know that her repudiation
in some form was in the air. It was one of the accusations against
Cromwell that he had divulged to her what the King had said about the
marriage; but, so far from doing so, he had steadily avoided compliance
with her oft-repeated requests for an interview with him. Shortly before
Cromwell's fall, Henry had complained to him that Anne's temper was
becoming tart; and then Cromwell thought well to warn her through her
Chamberlain that she should try to please the King more. The poor woman,
desirous of doing right, tactlessly flew to the other extreme, and her
cloying fondness aroused Henry's suspicion that Cromwell had informed her
of his intention to get rid of her. Anne's