“I know not,” replied Mauger—“All! there—there it is.” And he pointed towards the church porch, from which a figure, robed in white, but unsubstantial almost as the mist, suddenly issued. It glided noiselessly along, and without turning its face towards the beholders. No one saw it except Mauger and Sorrocold, who followed its course with their eyes. The carpenters continued their work, and Wolfytt stared at his companions in stupid and inebriate wonderment. After making the complete circuit of the scaffold, the figure entered the church porch and disappeared.
“What think you of it?” demanded Mauger, as soon as he could find utterance.
“It is marvellous and incomprehensible, and if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I could not have believed it,” replied the churgeon. “It must be the shade of Anne Boleyn, she is buried in that chapel.”
“You are right,” replied the executioner. “It is her spirit, there will be no further respite. Jane will die to-morrow.”
XLI.—OF THE UNION OF CHOLMONDELEY WITH ANGELA.
The near approach of death found Jane as unshaken as before, or rather she rejoiced that her deliverance was at hand. Compelled to her infinite regret to hold a disputation with Fecken-ham, she exerted all her powers; and, as upon a former occasion, when opposed to a more formidable antagonist, Gardiner, came off victorious. But though defeated, the zealous confessor did not give up his point, trusting he should be able to weary her out. He, accordingly, passed the greater part of each day in her prison, and brought with him, at different times, Gardiner, Tunstal, Bonner, and other prelates, all of whom tried the effect of their reasoning upon her,—but with no avail. Bonner, who was of a fierce and intolerant nature, was so enraged, that on taking leave of her he said with much acrimony—“Farewell, madam. I am sorry for you and your obstinacy, and I am assured we shall never meet again.”
“True, my lord,” replied Jane; “we never shall meet again, unless it shall please God to turn your heart. And I sincerely pray that he may send you his holy spirit, that your eyes may be opened to his truth.”
Nor had the others better success. Aware that whatever she said would be reported to the disadvantage of the Protestant faith, if it could be so perverted, she determined to give them no handle for misrepresentation, and fought the good fight so gallantly that she lost not a single point, and wrung even from her enemies a reluctant admission of defeat. Those best skilled in all the subtleties of scholastic argument, could not perplex her. United to the most profound learning, she possessed a clear logical understanding, enabling her at once to unravel and expose the mysteries in which they sought to perplex her, while the questions she proposed in her turn were unanswerable. At first, she found Feckenham’s visits irksome, but by degrees they became almost agreeable to her, because she felt she was at once serving the cause of the Gospel, and taken from her own thoughts. During all this time, Angela never for a moment quitted her, and though she took no part in the conferences, she profited greatly by them.