t now He will forgive me if I slay thee.' And she had Culpepper's
dagger in her hand.

'For,' she said, 'I stand for Christ His cause: I will not be undone by
meddlers. Hold thy peace!'

The Lady Rochford opened her mouth to speak.

'Hold thy peace!' the Queen said again, and she lifted up the dagger.
'Speak not. Do as I bid thee. Answer me when I ask. For this I swear as
I am the Queen that, since I have the power to slay whom I will and none
question it, I will slay thee if thou do not my bidding.'

The old woman trembled lamentably.

'Where is the King come to?' the Queen said.

'Even to the great gate; he is out of sight,' was her answer.

'Come now,' the Queen commanded. 'Let us drag my cousin behind my
table.'

'Shall he be hidden there?' the Lady Rochford cried out. 'Let us cast
him from the window.'

'Hold your peace,' the Queen cried out. 'Speak you never one word more.
But come!'

She took her cousin by the arm, the Lady Rochford took him by the other
and they dragged him, inert and senseless, into the shadow of the
Queen's mirror table.

'Pray God the King comes soon,' the Queen said. She stood above her
cousin and looked down upon him. A great pitifulness came into her face.

'Loosen his shirt,' she said. 'Feel if his heart beats!'

The Lady Rochford had a face full of fear and repulsion.

'Loosen his shirt. Feel if his heart beats,' the Queen said. 'And oh!'
she added, 'woe shall fall upon thee if he be dead.'

She reflected a moment to think upon how long it should be ere the King
came to her door. Then she raised her chair, and sat down at her mirror.
For one minute she set her face into her hands; then she began to
straighten herself, and with her hands behind her to tighten the laces
of her dress.

'For,' she continued to Lady Rochford, 'I do hold thee more guilty of
his death than himself. He is but a drunkard in his cups, thou a
palterer in sobriety.'

She set her cap upon her head and smoothed the hair beneath it. In all
her movements there was a great swiftness and decision. She set the
jewel in her cap, the pomander at her side, the chain around her neck,
the jewel at her breast.

'His heart beats,' the Lady Rochford said, from her knees at Culpepper's
side.

'Then thank the saints,' Katharine answered, 'and do up again his
shirt.'

She hurried in her attiring, and uttered engrossed commands.

'Kneel thou there by his side. If he stir or mutter before the King be
in and