"But what have I done to inspire you with such a feeling of thankfulness?" asked Catharine with astonishment. "How have Ideserved that you, the powerful and universally dreaded favorite of the king, should dedicate yourself to my service?""What have you done?" said he. "My lady, you have saved my son from the stake! They had condemned him--that handsome noble youth--condemned him, because he had spoken respectfully of Thomas More;because he said this great and noble man did right to die, rather than be false to his convictions. Ah, nowadays, it requires such a trifle to condemn a man to death! a couple of thoughtless words are sufficient! And this miserable, lick-spittle Parliament, in its dastardliness and worthlessness, always condemns and sentences, because it knows that the king is always thirsty for blood, and always wants the fires of the stake to keep him warm. So they had condemned my son likewise, and they would have executed him, but for you. But you, whom God has sent as an angel of reconciliation on this regal throne reeking with blood; you who daily risk your life and your crown to save the life of some one of those unfortunates whom fanaticism and thirst for blood have sentenced, and to procure their pardon, you have save my son also.""How! that young man who was to be burned yesterday, was your son?""Yes, he was my son.""And you did not tell the king so? and you did not intercede for him?""Had I done so, he would have been irretrievably lost! For you well know the king is so proud of his impartiality and his virtue! Oh, had he known that Thomas is my son he would have condemned him to death, to show the people that Henry the Eighth everywhere strikes the guilty and punishes the sinner, whatever name he may bear, and whoever may intercede for him. Ah, even your supplication would not have softened him, for the high-priest of the English Church could never have pardoned this young man for not being the legitimate son of his father, for not having the right to bear his name, because his mother was the spouse of another man whom Thomas must call father.""Poor Heywood! Yes, now I understand. The king would, indeed, never have forgiven this; and had he known it, your son would have inevitably been condemned to the stake.""You saved him, queen! Do you not believe now that I shall be forever thankful to you?""I do believe it," said the queen, with a pleasant smile, as she extended her hand for him to kiss. "I believe you, and I accept your service.""And you will need it, queen, for a tempest is gathering over your head, and soon the lightning will flash and the thunders roll.""Oh, I fear not! I have strong nerves!" said Catharine, smiling.
"When a storm comes, it is but a refreshing of nature, and I have always seen that after a storm the sun shines again.""You are a brave soul!" swirl John Heywood, sadly.
"That is, I am conscious of no guilt!"
"But your enemies will invent a crime to charge you with. Ah, as soon as it is the aim to calumniate a neighbor and plunge him in misery, men are all poets!""But you just now said that poets are crack-brained, and should be hung to the first tree. We will, therefore, treat these slanderers as poets, that is all.""No, that is not all!" said John Heywood, energetically. "For slanderers are like earth-worms. You cut them in pieces, but instead of thereby killing them, you multiply each one and give it several heads.""But what is it, then, that I am accused of?" exclaimed Catharine, impatiently. "Does not my life lie open and clear before you all? Do I ever take pains to have any secrets? Is not my heart like a glass house, into which you can all look, to convince yourselves that it is a soil wholly unfruitful, and that not a single poor little flower grows there?""Though this be so, your enemies will sow weeds and make the king believe that it is burning love which has grown up in your heart.""How! They will accuse me of having a love-affair?" asked Catharine, and her lips slightly trembled.
"I do not know their plans yet; but I will find them out. There is a conspiracy at work. Therefore, queen, be on your guard! Trust nobody, for foes are ever wont to conceal themselves under hypocritical faces and deceiving words.""If you know my enemies, name them to me!" said Catharine, impatiently. "Name them to me, that I may beware of them.""I have not come to accuse anybody, but to warn you. I shall, therefore, take good care not to point out your enemies to you; but I will name your friends to you.""Ah, then, I have friends, too!" whispered Catharine, with a happy smile.
"Yes, you have friends; and, indeed, such as are ready to give their blood and life for you.""Oh, name them, name them to me!" exclaimed Catharine, all of a tremble with joyful expectation.
"I name first, Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury. He is your true and staunch friend, on whom you can build. He loves you as queen, and he prizes you as the associate whom God has sent him to bring to completion, here at the court of this most Christian and bloody king, the holy work of the Reformation, and to cause the light of knowledge to illuminate this night of superstition and priestly domination. Build strongly on Cranmer, for he is your surest and most invariable supporter, and should he sink, your fall would inevitably follow. Therefore, not only rely on him, but also protect him, and look upon him as your brother; for what you do for him, you do for yourself.""Yes, you are right," said Catharine, thoughtfully. "Cranmer is a noble and staunch friend; and often enough already he has protected me, in the king's presence, against those little pin-prickings of my enemies, which do not indeed kill, but which make the whole body sore and faint.""Protect him, and thus protect yourself.""Well, and the other friends?"
