'Madam,' said the duke, 'actuated by that reason and also by the wish to preserve the kingdom from the disputes the illegitimacy of his sisters might occasion, our late monarch made his will, passing them over and bequeathing the crown to his true legitimate heir who, he was well aware, held the true faith. He, therefore, in his will ordered the Council to proclaim you queen.'
Every vestige of colour left my dear lady's face, and she looked round affrightedly as if for some way of escape, making a gesture of dissent, though no word fell from her lips.
She was only sixteen years of age, and anything more opposed to her disposition and love of retirement and study could not well have been proposed.
'And in the case of your having no children your sisters Catherine and Mary are to succeed you,' went on the Duke of Northumberland.
Still Lady Jane said not a word, but the look in her eyes made me press forward nearer to her, saying in my heart, 'If I had only prepared you for this!'
The attendant nobles fell upon their knees, declaring that Lady Jane Grey was queen, and vowing that they would defend her rights to the death, if necessary.
It was such a sight as you have never seen, all those high-born lords upon their knees before a slim young girl, who only a year before was a child, and she staring at them with wide eyes out of a fear-stricken, pallid countenance.
The tension only lasted a few moments and then, with a piercing cry, my dear Lady Jane fell to the floor.
I was on my knees by her side before any one else, and was trying to raise her head when there was another commotion in the hall caused by the entrance of her mother, the Duchess of Suffolk, who had come over from Sheen House, on the other side of the river, accompanied by the Duchess of Northumberland and the Marchioness of Northampton. These great ladies swept down upon us, and would have ordered me away, there and then, if looks could have done it, but I would not leave my mistress to their tender mercies, and continued to support her head on my lap, so that I could not be removed without disturbing her.
In a little while she came round out of her swoon, and then, seeing her mother and mother-in-law, began to entreat them and the Duke of Northumberland very pitifully not to lay the burden of royalty upon her, declaring herself to be a most unfit person to reign in Edward's place, and saying over and over again that, in spite of all that had been said, the Princess Mary and, after her, the Princess Elizabeth were the rightful heirs to the throne.