"
The cardinal sat down, and for a few moments appeared lost in deep
reflection; he then arose, and telling Patch he should return presently,
quitted the chamber. But the jester, who was of an inquisitive turn, and
did not like to be confined to half a secret, determined to follow him,
and accordingly tracked him along the great corridor, down a winding
staircase, through a private door near the Norman Gateway, across the
middle ward, and finally saw him enter Doctor Sampson's dwelling, at
the back of the north ambulatory. He was reconnoitring the windows of
the house from the opposite side of the cloisters in the hope of
discovering something, when he was caught, as before mentioned, by
the king.
Wolsey, meanwhile, was received by Doctor Sampson at the doorway of
his dwelling, and ushered by him into a chamber on the upper floor,
wainscoted with curiously carved and lustrously black oak. A silver
lamp was burning the on the table, and in the recess of the window,
which was screened by thick curtains, sat a majestic lady, who rose on
the cardinal's entrance. It was Catherine of Arragon.
"I attend your pleasure, madam," said Wolsey, with a profound
inclination.
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