"Thomas Seymour, Earl of Sudley, you are now, as ever, imprudent and hasty," said he.

"You beg for mercy without once knowing whether she for whom you beg it is worthy of mercy." "But I see that she is a woman," said the intrepid young earl.

"And a woman is always worthy of mercy, and it becomes every knight to come forward as her defender, were it but to pay homage to her sex, so fair and so frail, and yet so noble and mighty.

Therefore I beg mercy for this young maiden!" Catharine had listened to the young earl with throbbing heart and flushed cheeks.

It was the first time that she had seen him, and yet she felt for him a warm sympathy, an almost tender anxiety.
"He will plunge himself into ruin," murmured she; "he will not save Anne, but will make himself unhappy.