Oh, Geraldine, thee would I choose, wert thou the daughter of a peasant; and I would not hold my escutcheon tarnished, if for thy sake I must draw a pale athwart it .-- But hark! It is striking four! My service begins! Farewell, Geraldine, I must to the queen!" And while he betook himself to his dressing-room, to put on his state robes for the great court feast, the Duchess of Richmond returned to her own apartments, trembling and quivering with rage.

She traversed these with precipitate haste, and entered her boudoir, where Earl Douglas was waiting for her.
"Well," said he, stepping toward her with his soft, lurking smile, "has he consented ?" "No," said she, gnashing her teeth.

"He swore he would never enter into an alliance with the Seymours." "I well knew that," muttered the earl.

"And what do you decide upon now, my lady ?" "I will have revenge! He wants to hinder me from being happy; I will for that make him unhappy!" "You will do well in that, my lady; for he is an apostate and perjurer; an unfaithful son of the Church.

He inclines to the heretical sect, and has forgotten the faith of his fathers." "I know it!" said she, breathlessly.
Earl Douglas looked at her in astonishment, and continued: "But he is not merely an atheist, he is a traitor also; and more than once he has reviled his king, to whom he, in his pride of heart, believes himself far superior." "I know it!" repeated she.
"So proud is he," continued the earl, "so full of blasphemous haughtiness, that he might lay his hands upon the crown of England." "I know it!" said the duchess again.