omeward--homeward--if not to his
palace, yet to the Tower, and to the grave. Go, go, Douglas, and attend
to all this for me! And send me here directly my merry fool, John
Heywood. He must pass away the time for me till the feast begins. He
must make me laugh and be gay."

"I will go and fulfil your orders, sire," said Earl Douglas. "I will
order the feast, and impart your commands to the queen and your court.
And first of all, I will send John Heywood to you. But pardon me, your
majesty, if I venture to remind you that you have given me your royal
word not to betray our secret by a single syllable, or even by a sigh."

"I gave my word, and I will keep it!" said the king. "Go now, Earl
Douglas, and do what I have bidden you!"

Wholly exhausted by this paroxysm of cruel delight, the king sank back
in his seat, and moaning and groaning he rubbed his leg, the piercing
pains of which he had for a moment forgotten, but which now reminded him
of their presence with so much the more cruel fury.

"Ah, ah!" moaned the king. "He boasts of being able to sleep when he
pleases. Well, this time we will be the one to lull this haughty earl to
sleep. But it will be a sleep out of which he is never to awake again!"

While the king thus wailed and suffered, Earl Douglas hastened with
quick, firm step through the suite of royal apartments. A proud,
triumphant smile played about his lips, and a joyful expression of
victory flashed from his eyes.

"Triumph! triumph! we shall conquer!" said he, as he now entered his
daughter's chamber and extended his hand to Lady Jane. "Jane, we have at
last reached the goal, and you will soon be King Henry's seventh wife!"

A rosy shimmer flitted for a moment over Lady Jane's pale, colorless
cheeks, and a smile played about her lips--a smile, however, which was
more sad than loud sobs could have been.

"Ah," said she in a low tone, "I fear only that my poor head will be too
weak to wear a royal crown."

"Courage, courage, Jane, lift up your head, and be again my strong,
proud daughter!"

"But, I suffer so much, my father," sighed she. "It is hell that burns
within me!"

"But soon, Jane, soon you shall feel again the bliss of heaven! I had
forbidden you to grant Henry Howard a meeting, because it might bring us
danger. Well, then, now your tender heart shall be satisfied. To-night
you shall embrace your lover again!"

"Oh," murmured she, "he will again call me his Geraldine, and it will
not be