y beautiful, very magnificent to look upon; at once
a woman and queen; at the same time resplendent and modest, with a
bewitching smile on her rosy lips; and yet commanding respect in her
proud and glorious beauty. None of Henry's queens had so well understood
the art of appearing in public, and none remained so much the woman
while doing so.

As she now stood before the large mirror, which the Republic of Venice
had sent the king as a wedding-gift, and which reflected the figure of
the queen sparkling with diamonds, she smiled, for she was obliged to
confess to herself that she was very beautiful to-day; and she thought
that to-day Thomas Seymour would look upon his love with pride.

As she thought of him, a deep crimson overspread her face, and a thrill
flew through her frame. How handsome he had been at the tournament that
day; how splendidly he leaped over the barriers; how his eye flashed;
how contemptuous had been his smile! And then, that look which he
directed over to her at the moment when he had conquered his antagonist,
Henry Howard, and hurled the lance from his hand! Oh, her heart was then
ready to burst with delight and rapture!

Wholly given up to her reverie, she sank in her gilded arm-chair and
cast her eyes to the ground, dreaming and smiling.

Behind her stood her women in respectful silence, waiting for a sign
from their mistress. But the queen no longer thought at all of them; she
imagined herself alone; she saw nobody but that handsome, manly face for
which she had reserved a place in her heart.

Now the door opened, and Lady Jane Douglas entered. She, too, was
magnificently dressed, and sparkling with diamonds; she, too, was
beautiful, but it was the pallid, dreadful beauty of a demon; and he who
looked upon her just then, as she entered the room, would have trembled,
and his heart would have been seized with an undefined fear.

She threw a quick glance on her mistress lost in revery; and as she saw
that her toilet was finished, she made a sign to the women, who silently
obeyed and left the room.

Still Catharine noticed nothing. Lady Jane stood behind her and observed
her in the mirror. As she saw the queen smile, her brow darkened and
fierce fire flashed in her eyes.

"She shall smile no more," said she to herself. "I suffer thus terribly
by her; well, now, she shall suffer too."

Softly and noiselessly she slipped into the next room, the door of which
stood ajar, and opened with hurri