“There, you are better now, gracious madam,” he said.
“You waste your skill upon me, good Doctor Butts,” Catherine replied, in a faint voice. “I am sinking fast. Nothing but the king’s forgiveness can revive me, and that I shall never obtain. One kindly word from him would soothe my agony and reconcile me to my fate. But since I may not see him, tell him, good sir, that I died blessing him; that I have never knowingly disobeyed him; and that to feel I have offended him, albeit unwittingly, has broken my heart.”
“Madam, your words have already reached the king’s ear,” replied Butts, “and I doubt not will be favorably received.”
“Ay, Kate,” cried Henry, “I come to bid thee live.”
“Your Majesty here!” exclaimed the queen, slightly raising herself. “Then indeed I shall die content.”
“Talk not of dying, Kate,” rejoined he. “Our physician shall bring thee round.”
“A few words from your lips, my liege, will accomplish more than all my art can effect,” said Butts.
“Raise me, I pray you,” said Catherine to the physician and Lady Herbert, “and let me throw myself at the king’s feet to implore his pardon.”
“Nay, by Our Lady, there is no need of it, Kate,” cried the king, with some show of kindness. “Set me a chair beside the queen,” he added, “and bring me to it. Soh! Kate,” he continued, as his commands were obeyed, ye see your error, and repent it?—ha!”
“Most truly, my gracious lord and husband,” she replied. “Yet while acknowledging my fault, and humbly entreating forgiveness for it, I must needs say that I have erred from inadvertence, not design. ‘T was but a seeming contradiction of your Majesty that I ventured on. I argued but to draw you forth, as well to benefit myself by your able and unanswerable expositions, as to make you forget for awhile the pain of your ailment. This I did at the instigation of Doctor Butts, who will bear me out in what I say.”
“That will I,” cried the physician. “I counselled her Highness to argue with your Majesty—yea, and to contradict you—in the hope of diverting your thoughts from yourself, and giving you a brief respite from suffering.”
“Then thou art the true culprit, Butts,” cried the king. “By the rood! but that I need thee, thou shouldst pay the penalty of thy folly. Thus much thou art freely forgiven, Kate; but other matter yet remains to be explained. Art thou a sectary and sacramentarian? Hast thou received letters and prohibited books from Anne Askew?”
“Whence comes this accusation, sire?” rejoined Catherine. “From my mortal enemies the Lord Chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester. Let them prove the charge against me, and I will submit without a murmur to any punishment your Majesty may choose to inflict. But I defy their malice.”
“Enough!” exclaimed Henry; “thou hast removed all my doubts, and we are perfect friends again. Content thee, Kate—content thee! Thou shalt have ample vengeance on thine enemies. I swear it—on my bead!”
“Nay, I entreat your Majesty be not angry with them,” said the queen. “I am so happy in the restoration to your love, that I cannot harbor a vindictive thought. Pardon them, I pray of you.”
“They deserve not your generosity, Kate,” rejoined Henry. “But thou art not forgiven for thy share in this matter, Butts,” he continued. “Look you bring the queen round quickly—look that she suffer not from this mischance—look to it well, I say.”
“I have no fear now, my liege,” replied Butts. “Your Majesty has proved the better physician of the two. Under the treatment you have adopted, I will answer for the queen’s perfect recovery.”
“That is well,” Henry rejoined. “Ha! what noise is that in the gallery? Who dares come hither?”
“Your Majesty forgets,” remarked Sir John Gage.
“Right, right, I had forgotten. ‘Tis Wriothesley and Gardiner. They shall see how we will welcome them. Admit the Lord Chancellor and the Bishop of Winchester, and those with them,” he roared.
As the order was given, the folding-doors were again thrown open, and the two personages mentioned by the king, entered, followed by a guard of halberdiers. Wriothesley held the warrant in his hand. On beholding the king, they both stopped in much confusion, perceiving at once that the tables were turned upon them.