with precipitate haste, and entered her boudoir, where Earl Douglas was
waiting for her.

"Well," said he, stepping toward her with his soft, lurking smile, "has
he consented?"

"No," said she, gnashing her teeth. "He swore he would never enter into
an alliance with the Seymours."

"I well knew that," muttered the earl. "And what do you decide upon now,
my lady?"

"I will have revenge! He wants to hinder me from being happy; I will for
that make him unhappy!"

"You will do well in that, my lady; for he is an apostate and perjurer;
an unfaithful son of the Church. He inclines to the heretical sect, and
has forgotten the faith of his fathers."

"I know it!" said she, breathlessly.

Earl Douglas looked at her in astonishment, and continued: "But he is
not merely an atheist, he is a traitor also; and more than once he has
reviled his king, to whom he, in his pride of heart, believes himself
far superior."

"I know it!" repeated she.

"So proud is he," continued the earl, "so full of blasphemous
haughtiness, that he might lay his hands upon the crown of England."

"I know it!" said the duchess again. But as she saw the earl's
astonished and doubting looks, she added, with an inhuman smile: "I know
everything that you want that I should know! Only impute crimes to him;
only accuse him; I will substantiate everything, testify to everything
that will bring him to ruin. My mother is our ally; she hates the father
as hotly as I the son. Bring your accusation, then, Earl Douglas; we are
your witnesses!"

"Nay, indeed, my lady," said he, with a gentle, insinuating smile. "I
know nothing at all; I have heard nothing; how, then, can I bring
an accusation? You know all; to you he has spoken. You must be his
accuser!"

"Well, then, conduct me to the king!" said she.

"Will you allow me to give you some more advice first?"

"Do so, Earl Douglas."

"Be very cautious in the choice of your means. Do not waste them all
at once, so that if your first thrust does not hit, you may not be
afterward without weapons. It is better, and far less dangerous, to
surely kill the enemy that you hate with a slow, creeping poison,
gradually and day by day, than to murder him at once with a dagger,
which may, however, break on a rib and become ineffective. Tell, then,
what you know, not at once, but little by little. Administer your drug
which is to make the king furious, gradually; and if you do not hit
your enemy to-day, think that