ror lest he should
be suspected of complicity with the rebellion; a proceeding which of
course roused suspicion instantly, and sealed not only his own fate, but
that of his daughter, Lady Jane Grey. The latter was beheaded on the
twelfth of February, the former on the twenty-third. For weeks the
prisons were full, and the gallows perpetually at work. The Londoners
were in so excited and frightened a state--is it any marvel?--that when
the phenomena of a mock sun and an inverted rainbow occurred on the
fifteenth, they were terrified beyond measure. There was enough to
terrify them on the earth, without troubling themselves about the sky.
No man's property, liberty, or life was safe for a moment unless he were
a devout servant of holy Church; and even in that case he held them by a
frail tenure, for private spite might accuse him of heresy, and then for
him there was little hope of mercy. One after another, the few who had
hitherto remained staunch either fled from England, fell from the faith,
or suffered at the stake.

These being the awkward circumstances of the case, Mistress Winter
thought it desirable not only to gild Saint Thomas, but to put on a
cloak of piety. The garment was cheap. It was not difficult to attend
evensong as well as matins, and that every day instead of once in the
week; the drama performed in the Cathedral was very pretty, the music
pleasant to hear, the scent of the incense agreeable. It was easy to be
extremely cordial to Father Dan, and to express intense subservience to
his orders. This kind of religion was no inconvenient bridler of the
tongue, nor did it in the least interfere with the pride of the natural
heart. Humiliation is one thing, and humility is quite another.

Dorothy began seriously to consider whether she should take the veil.
Her disposition was a mixture of the satirical and the sentimental.
There would be a good deal of _eclat_ about the proceeding. It was
pleasant to be regarded as holier than other people. Nevertheless there
were drawbacks; for Dorothy was not fond of hard scrubbing, and was
uncommonly fond of venison and barberry pie. And she had a suspicion
that rather more scrubbing than venison generally fell to the lot of the
holy sisters of Saint Clare. But the idea of the implicit obedience to
authority which would in that case be required of her decided Dorothy to
remain "in the world." She thought there was more hope of managing a
husband than a la