“She must die!” said Gardiner in a short and quick tone. “She has for once escaped from our snares; we will tie them all the tighter next time!”
“And I already hold in my hand the threads out of which we will form these snares,” said Earl Douglas. “We have to-day falsely accused her of a love-affair. When we do it again, we shall speak the truth. Did you see the looks that Catharine exchanged with the heretical Earl Sudley, Thomas Seymour?”
“I saw them, earl!”
“For these looks she will die, my lord. The queen loves Thomas Seymour, and this love will be her death.”
“Amen!” said Bishop Gardiner, solemnly, as he raised his eyes devoutly to heaven. “Amen! The queen has grievously and bitterly injured us to-day; she has insulted and abused us before all the court. We will requite her for it some day! The torture-chamber, which she has depicted in such lively colors, may yet one day open for her, too—not that she may behold another’s agonies, but that she may suffer agonies herself. We shall one day avenge ourselves!”
CHAPTER XXVI. REVENGE.
Miss Holland, the beautiful and much-admired mistress of the Duke of Norfolk, was alone in her magnificently adorned boudoir. It was the hour when ordinarily the duke was wont to be with her; for this reason she was charmingly attired, and had wrapped herself in that light and voluptuous negligee which the duke so much liked, because it set off to so much advantage the splendid form of his friend.
But to-day the expected one did not make his appearance: in his stead his valet had just come and brought the fair miss a note from his master. This note she was holding in her hand, while with passionate violence she now walked up and down her boudoir. A glowing crimson blazed upon her cheeks, and her large, haughty eyes darted wild flashes of wrath.
She was disdained—she, Lady Holland, was forced to endure the disgrace of being dismissed by her lover.