“But they shall forget it,” cried the king, “and I must wash these proud and haughty thoughts out of their brain with their own blood. They have not then learned, from the example of their sister, how I punish disloyalty. This insolent race needs another fresh example. Well, they shall have it. Only put the means in my hand, Douglas, only a little hook that I can strike into the flesh of these Howards, and I tell you, with that little hook I will drag them to the scaffold. Give me proof of the earl’s criminal love, and I promise you that for this I will grant you what you ask.”
“Sire, I will give you this proof.”
“When?”
“In four days, sire! At the great contest of the poets, which you have ordered to take place on the queen’s birthday.”
“I thank you, Douglas, I thank you,” said the king with an expression almost of joy. “In four days you will have rid me of the troublesome race of Howards.”
“But, sire, if I cannot give the proof you demand without accusing one other person?”
The king, who was just about to pass the door of his cabinet, stood still, and looked steadily into the earl’s eyes. “Then,” said he, in a tone peculiarly awful, “you mean the queen? Well, if she is guilty, I will punish her. God has placed the sword in my hand that I may bear it to His honor and to the terror of mankind. If the queen has sinned, she will be punished. Furnish me the proof of Howard’s guilt, and do not trouble yourself if we thereby discover the guilt of others. We shall not timidly shrink back, but let justice take its course.”
CHAPTER XIV. THE QUEEN’S FRIEND.
Earl Douglas, Gardiner, and Wriothesley, had accompanied the king into his cabinet.