"Too far!--Is to warn you that you are
about to take a wanton to your bed--and that you will bitterly repent
your folly when too late, going too far? It is my duty, Henry, no less than
my desire, thus to warn you ere the irrevocable step be taken."
"Have you said all you wish to say, madam?" demanded the king.
"No, my dear liege, not a hundredth part of what my heart prompts me
to utter," replied Catherine. "I conjure you by my strong and tried
affection--by the tenderness that has for years subsisted between us--
by your hopes of temporal prosperity and spiritual welfare--by all you
hold dear and sacred--to pause while there is yet time. Let the legates
meet to-morrow--let them pronounce sentence against me and as
surely as those fatal words are uttered, my heart will break."
"Tut, tut!" exclaimed Henry impatiently, "you will live many years in
happy retirement."
"I will die as I have lived--a queen," replied Catherine; "but my life will
not be long. Now, answer me truly--if Anne Boleyn plays you false--"
"She never will play me false!" interrupted Henry.
"I say if she does," pursued Catherine, "and you are satisfied of her
guilt, will you be content with divorcing her as you divorce me?"
"No, by my father's head!" cried Henry fiercely.
Pages:
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312