“You will repent it when it is too late,” replied Herne. “Once removed to the Tower I can no longer aid you. My power extends only to the forest and the castle.”
“Will you take me to the king at Hampton Court?” said Anne.
“It would be useless,” replied Herne. “I will only do what I have stated. If you fly with me, you can never appear again as Anne Boleyn. Sir Henry Norris shall be set free at the same time, and you shall both dwell with me in the forest. Come!”
“I cannot go,” said Anne, holding back; “it were to fly to a worse danger. I may save my soul now; but if I embrace your offer I am lost for ever.”
Herne laughed derisively.
“You need have no fear on that score,” he said.
“I will not trust you,” replied Anne. “I have yielded to temptation already, and am now paying the penalty of it.”
“You are clinging to the crown,” said Herne, “because you know that by this step you will irrecoverably lose it. And you fancy that some change may yet operate to your advantage with the king. It is a vain delusive hope. If you leave this castle for the Tower, you will perish ignominiously on the block.”
“What will be, must be!” replied Anne. “I will not save myself in the way you propose.”
“Norris will say, and with reason, that you love him not,” cried Herne.