at You will receive me in the
number of Your servants; for although this sentence had been notified to
me, I was afraid, from the manner in which they have dealt with me for
nineteen years, of not yet being so near as I am to such a happy end,
thinking that your queen would not dare to lay a hand on me, who, by the
grace of God, am a queen as she is, the daughter of a queen as she is,
crowned as she is, her near relative, granddaughter of King Henry VII,
and who has had the honour of being Queen of France, of which I am still
Dowager; and this fear was so much the greater," added she, laying her
hand on a New Testament which was near her on the little table, "that, I
swear on this holy book, I have never attempted, consented to, or even
desired the death of my sister, the Queen of England."

"Madam," replied the Earl of Kent, taking a step towards her and pointing
to the New Testament; "this book on which you have sworn is not genuine,
since it is the papist version; consequently, your oath cannot be
considered as any more genuine than the book on which it has been taken."

"My lord," answered the queen, "what you say may befit you, but not me,
who well know that this book is the true and faithful version of the word
of the Lord, a version made by a very wise divine, a very good man, and
approved by the Church."

"Madam," the Earl of Kent returned, "your Grace stopped at what you were
taught in your youth, without inquiry as to whether it was good or bad:
it is not surprising, then, that you have remained in your error, for
want of having heard anyone who could make known the truth to you; this
is why, as your Grace has but a few hours longer to remain in this world,
and consequently has no time to lose, with your permission we shall send
for the Dean of Peterborough, the most learned man there is on the
subject of religion, who, with his word, will prepare you for your
salvation, which you risk to our great grief and that of our august
queen, by all the papistical follies, abominations, and childish nonsense
which keep Catholics away from the holy word of God and the knowledge of
the truth."

"You mistake, my lord," replied the queen gently, "if you have believed
that I have grown up careless in the faith of my fathers, and without
seriously occupying myself with a matter so important as religion. I
have, on the contrary, spent my life with learned and wise men who taught
me what one must learn on this subject, and