"If such a thing were to
happen, which I hold impossible, she should expiate her offence on the
scaffold."
"Give me your hand on that," said Catherine.
"I give you my hand upon it," he replied.
"Enough," said the queen: "if I cannot have right and justice I shall at
least have vengeance, though it will come when I am in my tomb. But it
will come, and that is sufficient."
"This is the frenzy of jealousy, Catherine," said Henry.
"No, Henry; it is not jealousy," replied the queen, with dignity. "The
daughter of Ferdinand of Spain and Isabella of Castile, with the best
blood of Europe in her veins, would despise herself if she could
entertain so paltry a feeling towards one born so much beneath her as
Anne Boleyn."
"As you will, madam," rejoined Henry. "It is time our interview
terminated."
"Not yet, Henry--for the love of Heaven, not yet!" implored Catherine.
"Oh, bethink you by whom we were joined together!--by your father,
Henry the Seventh--one of the wisest princes that ever sat on a throne;
and by the sanction of my own father, Ferdinand the Fifth, one of the
justest. Would they have sanctioned the match if it had been unlawful?
Were they destitute of good counsellors? Were they indifferent to the
future?"
"You had better reserve these arguments for the legates' ears
tomorrow, madam," said Henry sternly.
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