rm that they doubtless
reflect the fact that he really found her pleasant. "He had never," he
assured them, "felt so much joy in his life as when he beheld the sweet
face of his bride, and no woman in the world could be more agreeable to
him."[6] The honeymoon was a short, and could hardly have been a merry,
one; for Arthur was obviously a weakling, consumptive some chroniclers
aver; and the grim old castle by the river was not a lively abode.

Before the marriage feast were well over, Henry's avarice began to make
things unpleasant for Katharine. We have seen how persistent he had been
in his demands that the dowry should be paid to him in gold, and how the
bride's parents had pressed that the jewels and plate she took with her
should be considered as part of the dowry. On Katharine's wedding the
first instalment of 100,000 crowns had been handed to Henry by the
Archbishop of Santiago, and there is no doubt that in the negotiations
Puebla had, as usual with him, thought to smooth matters by concealing
from both sovereigns the inconvenient conditions insisted by each of them.
Henry therefore imagined--he said that he was led to believe it by
Puebla--that the jewels and plate were to be surrendered to him on a
valuation as part of the second instalment; whereas the bride's parents
were allowed to suppose that Katharine would still have the enjoyment of
them. In the middle of December, therefore, Henry sent for Juan de Cuero,
Katharine's chamberlain, and demanded the valuables as an instalment of
the remaining 100,000 crowns of the dowry. Cuero, astounded at such a
request, replied that it would be his duty to have them weighed and valued
and a list given to the King in exchange for a receipt for their value,
but that he had not to give them up. The King, highly irate at what he
considered an evasion of his due, pressed his demand, but without avail,
and afterwards saw Katharine herself at Baynard's Castle in the presence
of Dona Elvira Manuel, her principal lady in waiting.

What was the meaning of it, he asked, as he told her of Cuero's refusal to
surrender her valuables in fulfilment of the promise, and further exposed
Puebla's double-dealing. Puebla, it appears, had gone to the King, and had
suggested that if his advice was followed the jewels would remain in
England, whilst their value would be paid to Henry in money as well. He
had, he assured the King, already gained over Katharine to the plan, which
briefly was to