n his dear Aragon should be rendered
subordinate to other interests.

The encouraging talk of Henry's marriage with Juana, with which both
Katharine and Puebla were instructed to beguile him, was all very well in
its way, and the King of England became quite joyously sentimental at the
prospect of the new tie of relationship between the houses of Tudor and
Aragon; but, really, business was business: if that long overdue dowry for
Katharine was not sent soon, young Henry would listen to some of the many
other eligible princesses, better dowered than Katharine, who were offered
to him. With much demur Henry at length consented to wait for five months
longer for the dowry; that is to say, until Michaelmas 1507, and in the
meanwhile drove a bargain as hard as that of a Jew huckster in the
valuation of Katharine's jewels and plate, which were to be brought into
the account.[16] It is easy to see that this concession of five months'
delay was granted by Henry in the hope that his marriage with Juana would
take place. The plan was hideously wicked, and Puebla made no secret of it
in writing to Ferdinand. "No king in the world would make so good a
husband to the Queen of Castile, whether she be sane or insane. She might
recover her reason when wedded to such a husband, but even in that case
King Ferdinand would at all events be sure to retain the regency of
Castile. On the other hand, if the insanity of the Queen should prove
incurable it would perhaps be not inconvenient that she should live in
England. The English do not seem to mind her insanity much; especially
since it is asserted that her mental malady would not prevent her from
childbearing."[17] Could anything be more repulsive than this pretty
arrangement, which had been concocted by Henry and Puebla at Richmond
during a time when the former was seriously ill with quinsy and
inaccessible to any one but the Spanish ambassador?

In the meanwhile Katharine felt keenly the wretched position in which she
found herself. The plate, about which so much haggling was taking place,
was being pawned or sold by her bit by bit to provide the most necessary
things for her own use; her servants were in rags, and she herself was
contemned and neglected; forbidden even to see her betrothed husband for
months together, though living in the same palace with him. The more
confident Henry grew of his own marriage with the Archduchess Margaret, or
with Queen Juana, the less inclined he was t