So saying, he led her down the aisle to her attendants. They then
proceeded together to the royal lodgings, where Anne retired to her
own apartments, and Henry withdrew to his private chamber.
II. How Herne the Hunter appeared to Henry on the Terrace.
Henry again sat down to his despatches, and employed himself upon
them to a late hour. At length, feeling heated and oppressed, he arose,
and opened a window. As he did so, he was almost blinded by a vivid
flash of forked lightning. Ever ready to court danger, and convinced,
from the intense gloom without, that a fearful storm was coming on,
Henry resolved to go forth to witness it. With this view he quitted the
closet, and passed through a small door opening on the northern
terrace. The castle clock tolled the hour of midnight as he issued forth,
and the darkness was so profound that he could scarcely see a foot
before him. But he went on.
"Who goes there?" cried a voice, as he advanced, and a partisan was
placed at his breast.
"The king! " replied Henry, in tones that would have left no doubt of the
truth of the assertion, even if a gleam of lightning had not at the
moment revealed his figure and countenance to the sentinel.
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