"You will not?" exclaimed he, with a hollow, threatening voice. "You dare rebel against the holy commands of the Church? Have you, then, forgotten what you promised to the Holy Fathers, whose pupil you are? Have you forgotten that the brothers and sisters of the Holy League are permitted to have no other will than that of their masters! Have you forgotten the sublime vow which you made to our master, Ignatius Loyola? Answer me, unfaithful and disobedient daughter of the Church! Repeat to me the oath which you took when he received you into the holy Society of the Disciples of Jesus! Repeat your oath, I say!"As if constrained by an invisible power, Jane had arisen, and now stood, her hands folded across her breast, submissive and trembling before her father, whose erect, proud, and wrathful form towered above her.
"I have sworn," said she, "to subject my own thought, and will, my life, and endeavors, obediently to the will of the Holy Father. Ihave sworn to be a blind tool in the hands of my masters, and to do only what they command and enjoin. I have vowed to serve the holy Church, in which alone is salvation, in every way and with all the means at my command; and I will despise none of these means, consider none trifling, disdain none, provided it leads to the end.
For the end sanctifies the means, and nothing is a sin which is done for the honor of God and the Church!""Ad majorem Dei gloriam!" said her father, devoutly folding his hands. "And you know what awaits you, if you violate your oath?""Earthly disgrace and eternal destruction await me. The curse of all my brethren and sisters awaits me--eternal damnation and punishment.
With thousands of torments and tortures of the rack, will the Holy Fathers put me to death; and as they kill my body and throw it as food to the beasts of prey, they will curse my soul and deliver it over to purgatory.""And what awaits you if you remain faithful to your oath, and obey the commands given you?""Honor and glory on earth, besides eternal blessedness in heaven.""Then you will be a queen on earth and a queen in heaven. You know, then, the sacred laws of the society, and you remember your oath?""I remember it.""And you know that the holy Loyola, before he left us, gave the Society of Jesus, in England, a master and general, whom all the brethren and sisters must serve and submit to, to whom they owe blind obedience and service without questioning?""I know it.""And you know, likewise, by what sign the associates may recognize the general?""By Loyola's ring, which he wears on the forefinger of his right hand.""Behold here this ring!" said the earl, drawing his hand out of his doublet.
Lady Jane uttered a cry, and sank almost senseless at his feet.
Lord Douglas, smiling graciously, raised her in his arms. "You see, Jane, I am not merely your father, but your master also. And you will obey me, will you not?""I will obey!" said she, almost inaudibly, as she kissed the hand with the fatal ring.
"You will be to Catharine Parr, as you have expressed it, the serpent, that seduces her to sin?""I will.""You will beguile her into sin, and entice her to indulge a love which must lead her to destruction?""I will do it, my father.""I will now tell you whom she is to love, and who is to be the instrument of destruction. You will so manage the queen that she will love Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey."Jane uttered a scream, and clung to the back of a chair to keep from falling.
Her father observed her with penetrating, angry looks. "What means this outcry? Why does this choice surprise you?" asked he.
Lady Jane had already gained her self-possession. "It surprised me,"said she, "because the earl is betrothed."A singular smile played about the earl's lips. "It is not the first time," said he, "that even a man already married has become dangerous to a woman's heart, and often the very impossibility of possession adds fuel to the flames of love. Woman's heart is ever so full of selfishness and contradiction."Lady Jane cast down her eyes, and made no reply. She felt that the piercing and penetrating look of her father was resting on her face.
