Amongst the number were the Duke of
Shoreditch, Paddington, Hector Cutbeard, and Kit Coo. At the moment
of the king's entrance, they were talking of the approaching execution.
"Oh, the vanity of worldly greatness!" exclaimed Bryan, lifting up his
hands. "Only seven years ago, last Saint George's Day, this lovely queen
first entered the castle with the king, amid pomp and splendour and
power, and with a long life--apparently--of happiness before her. And
now she is condemned to die."
"But if she has played the king false she deserves her doom," replied
Shoreditch. "I would behead my own wife if she served me the same
trick--that is, if I could."
"You do right to say 'if you could,' "rejoined Paddington. "The beheading
of a wife is a royal privilege, and cannot be enjoyed by a subject."
"Many, I wonder how the king could prefer Mistress Jane Seymour, for
my part !" said Hector Cutbeard. "To my thinking she is not to be
compared with Queen Anne."
She has a lovely blue eye, and a figure as straight as an arrow,"
returned Shoreditch. "How say you, master?" he added, turning to the
king; "what think you of Mistress Jane Seymour?"
"That she is passably fair, friend," replied Henry.
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