“Fear not I shall forget it,” replied Catherine, with some tenderness. “Go! and Heaven prosper your efforts!”
And with a profound obeisance, and a look of unutterable devotion, Sir Thomas withdrew.
Though Catherine was by no means so sanguine of the success of Seymour’s scheme as he and his sister appeared to be, she nevertheless prepared for the part she might be called upon to play. The rest of her attendants were hastily summoned by Lady Herbert, and were informed that their royal mistress was dangerously ill. With every demonstration of grief, the weeping women gathered round the couch on which Catherine had extended herself, and would fain have offered her restoratives; but she refused their aid, and would not allow her physician to be sent for, declaring she desired to die. In this way full half an hour was spent—an age it seemed to the queen, who was kept on the rack of expectation.
At length, and just as Catherine’s heart had begun to sink within her, a noise was heard without, and Lady Herbert whispered in her ear, “It is the king! My brother has succeeded.”
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Chapter IV
HOW THE DESIGNS OF WRIOTHESLEY AND GARDINER WERE FOILED BY THE QUEEN’S WIT
Presently afterwards, a double door communicating with the gallery was thrown open by two henchmen, giving admittance to a gentleman usher, wand in hand, and glittering in cloth of gold and tissue, who announced the king’s approach: and in another minute Henry appeared, moving very slowly and with great difficulty, supported between Sir Thomas Seymour, on whose shoulders he leaned, and a man of large frame, and such apparent strength, that he seemed perfectly able to lift the unwieldly monarch from the ground should he chance to stumble.
Sir John Gage—for he was the stalwart personage on the king’s right—had a soldier-like air and deportment, and that he had seen service was evident from the scars on his cheek and brow. His features were handsome, but of an iron cast, and singularly stern in expression. His beard was coal-black, and cut like a spade. He was attired in a doublet of tawny-colored satin, a furred velvet cassock of the same hue, and orange-tawny hose. He was armed with rapier and dagger, and below the left knee wore the Garter. Appointed master of the wards and Constable of the Tower in 1540, soon after the fall of Cromwell, Sir John Gage was likewise made, at a later date, comptroller of the household, and filled these important offices to the king’s entire satisfaction. His rough, blunt manner, and fearlessness of speech, contrasting forcibly with the servility and obsequiousness of his other courtiers, pleased Henry, who would brook some difference of opinion from his own, provided he was firmly convinced, as in this instance, of the speaker’s honesty.
The king paused for a moment at the doorway to recover his strength, and during this interval his looks were anxiously scrutinized by Lady Herbert; but nothing favorable could be read in his bloated and cadaverous countenance. He was enveloped in a loose gown of crimson velvet, embroidered with gold, and lined and bordered with minever, and made of such length and amplitude that it concealed his swollen person. If Lady Herbert failed to discover anything but what was formidable in Henry’s inscrutable countenance, she gathered hope from her brother’s significant glance, and whispered in the queen’s ear as she feigned to raise her, “Be of good cheer, madam. All goes well.”
By the help of his supporters, Henry once more put himself in motion, and advanced slowly towards the couch on which Catherine was laid, surrounded by her women, and apparently almost in a state of insensibility. He was followed by Doctor Butts. The king had not gone far ere he again halted from weakness and want of breath, and, on recovering, he ordered Butts to see to the queen, and send away her noisy and wailing women.
On approaching Catherine, the physician instantly comprehended the trick put upon the king, but so far from betraying it, he lent his best aid to carry out the stratagem. Causing her to breathe at a phial, he fixed his eyes meaningly upon her as she revived, as if counselling her how to act.