he turning-point of her life, where she must risk
everything to avoid sinking into the abyss.

But Lady Jane also had arrived at such a decisive moment of her
existence. She, too, said to herself: "I must at this hour risk all, if
I do not want to lose all." She saw Henry Howard's pale, expectant face.
She knew, if the queen now spoke, the whole web of their conspiracy
would be revealed to him.

She must, therefore, anticipate the queen. She must warn Henry Howard.

"Fear nothing!" whispered she to him. "We were prepared for that. I have
put into her hands the means of escape!"

"Will you now at last speak?" exclaimed the king, quivering with
impatience and rage. "Will you at last tell us where you were on that
night?"

"I will tell!" exclaimed Catharine, rising up again boldly and
resolutely "But woe be to those who drive me to this! For I tell you
beforehand, from the accused I will become an accuser who demands
justice, if not before the throne of the King of England, yet before the
throne of the Lord of all kings! King Henry of England, do you ask me
whither I went on that night with John Heywood? I might, perhaps, as
your queen and consort, demand that you put this question to me not
before so many witnesses, but in the quiet of our chamber; but you seek
publicity, and I do not shun it. Well, hear the truth, then, all of
you! On that night, between Monday and Tuesday, I was not in my
sleeping-apartment, because I had a grave and sacred duty to perform;
because a dying woman called on me for help and pity! Would you know, my
lord and husband, who this dying woman was? It was Anne Askew!"

"Anne Askew!" exclaimed the king in astonishment; and his countenance
exhibited a less wrathful expression.

"Anne Askew!" muttered the others; and John Heywood very well saw how
Bishop Gardiner's brow darkened, and how Chancellor Wriothesley turned
pale and cast down his eyes.

"Yes, I was with Anne Askew!" continued the queen--"with Anne Askew, whom
those pious and wise lords yonder had condemned, not so much on account
of her faith, but because they knew that I loved her. Anne Askew was to
die, because Catharine Parr loved her! She was to go to the stake, that
my heart also might burn with fiery pains! And because it was so, I
was obliged to risk everything in order to save her. Oh, my king, say
yourself, did I not owe it to this poor girl to try everything in order
to save her? On my account she was to suffer these tor