And he paused, appalled at what Henry had said and astonished at his own energetic denunciation.
The king felt, as by a violent shock, all the force of that exclamation, and, dropping his head on his breast, he remained stupefied, like one who had just been aroused from a painful and terrible dream.
Just at that moment the cabinet door was thrown violently open, and Lady Anne Boleyn entered precipitately. She was drowned in tears, and carried in her arms a hunting spaniel that belonged to the king.
She threw it into the centre of the apartment, evidently in a frightful rage.
“Here,” she cried, looking at the king—“here is your wretched dog, that has tried to strangle my favorite bird! You never do anything but try to annoy me, make me miserable, and cause me all kinds of intolerable vexations. I have told you already that I did not want that horrid animal in my chamber.”
In the meantime the dog, which she had thrown on the floor, set up a lamentable howl.
The king felt deeply humiliated by this ridiculous scene, and especially on account of the angry familiarity exhibited by Anne Boleyn in presence of Sir Thomas More; for she either forgot herself in her extreme excitement and indignation, or she believed her empire so securely established that she did not hesitate to give these proofs of it. She continued her complaints and reproaches with increasing haughtiness, until she was interrupted by Dr. Stephen Gardiner, who came to bring some newly-arrived despatches to the king.
Henry arose immediately, and, motioning Sir Thomas to open the door, without saying a word, he took Anne Boleyn by the hand, and, leading her from the room, ordered her to retire to her own apartment.
He then returned, and, seating himself near the chancellor, concealed, as far as he was able, his excitement and mortification.
Sir Thomas, still more excited, could not avoid, as they went over the despatches, indignantly reflecting on the manner in which Anne Boleyn had treated the king, on his deplorable infatuation, and the terrible consequences to which that infatuation must inevitably lead.