He had hoped in vain for some note, some message from her; but he had not dared to ask any one as to her fate.

Perhaps the king desisted from punishing her likewise.

Perhaps his murderous inclination had been satisfied by putting Henry Howard to death; and Catharine escaped the scaffold.

It might, therefore, have been ruinous to her, had he, the condemned, inquired after her.

Or, if she had gone before him, then he was certain of finding her again, and of being united with her forevermore beyond the grave.
He believed in a hereafter, for he loved; and death did not affright him, for after death came the reunion with her, with Geraldine, who either was already waiting for him there above, or would soon follow him.
Life had nothing more to offer him.