"You have been long in answering my summons," said the queen; "but I
could not expect greater promptitude. Time was when a summons
from Catherine of Arragon would have been quickly and cheerfully
attended to; when the proudest noble in the land would have borne her
message to you, and when you would have passed through crowds to
her audience-chamber. Now another holds her place, and she is
obliged secretly to enter the castle where she once ruled, to despatch
a valet to her enemy, to attend his pleasure, and to receive him in the
dwelling of an humble canon. Times are changed with me, Wolsey--
sadly changed."
"I have been in attendance on the king, madam, or I should have been
with you sooner," replied Wolsey. "It grieves me sorely to see you
here."
"I want not your pity," replied the queen proudly. "I did not send for you
to gratify your malice by exposing my abject state. I did not send for
you to insult me by false sympathy; but in the hope that your own
interest would induce you to redress the wrongs you have done me."
"Alas! madam, I fear it is now too late to repair the error I have
committed," said Wolsey, in a tone of affected penitence and sorrow.
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