tion."

"The time has not yet come when one may assail the Seymours," thought
the earl. "The king is yet attached to them; so he will feel hostile
toward the foes of the Seymours. Let us then begin our attack on Henry
Howard--that is to say, on the queen."

"Who accompanied the queen besides?" inquired Henry the Eighth, emptying
the golden beaker at a draught, as though he would thereby cool the
fire which already began to blaze within him. But the fiery Rhenish wine
instead of cooling only heated him yet more; it drove, like a tempest,
the fire kindled in his jealous heart in bright flames to his head, and
made his brain glow like his heart.

"Who else accompanied her beside these?" asked Earl Douglas carelessly.
"Well, I think, the lord chamberlain, Earl of Surrey."

A dark scowl gathered on the king's brow. The lion had scented his prey.

"The lord chamberlain is not in the queen's train!" said John Heywood
earnestly.

"No," exclaimed Earl Douglas. "The poor earl. That will make him very
sad."

"And why think you that will make him sad?" asked the king in a voice
very like the roll of distant thunder.

"Because the Earl of Surrey is accustomed to live in the sunshine of
royal favor, sire; because he resembles that flower which always turns
its head to the sun, and receives from it vigor, color, and brilliancy."

"Let him take care that the sun does not scorch him," muttered the king.

"Earl," said John Heywood, "you must put on your spectacles so that you
can see better. This time you have confounded the sun with one of its
satellites. Earl Surrey is far too prudent a man to be so foolish as to
gaze at the sun, and thereby blind his eyes and parch his brain. And
so he is satisfied to worship one of the planets that circle round the
sun."

"What does the fool intend to say by that?" asked the earl
contemptuously.

"The wise will thereby give you to understand that you have this time
mistaken your daughter for the queen," said John Heywood, emphasizing
sharply every word, "and that it has happened to you, as to many a great
astrologer, you have taken a planet for a sun."

Earl Douglas cast a dark, spiteful look at John Heywood, who answered it
with one equally piercing and furious.

Their eyes were firmly fixed on each other's, and in those eyes they
both read all the hatred and all the bitterness which were working in
the depths of their souls. Both knew that they had from that hour sworn
to each oth