登陆注册
15313700000069

第69章 CARDINAL WOLSEY(5)

"Tremble, then, Anne Boleyn!" cried Catherine, "tremble! and when you are adjudged to die the death of an adulteress, bethink you of the prediction of the queen you have injured.I may not live to witness your fate, but we shall meet before the throne of an eternal Judge.""Oh, Henry, this is too much!" gasped Anne, and she sank fainting into his arms.

"Begone!" cried the king furiously."You have killed her!""It were well for us both if I had done so," replied Catherine."But she will recover to work my misery and her own.To your hands I commit her punishment.May God bless you, Henry!"With this she replaced her mask, and quitted the chapel.

Henry, meanwhile, anxious to avoid the comments of his attendants, exerted himself to restore Anne Boleyn to sensibility, and his efforts were speedily successful.

"Is it then reality?" gasped Anne, as she gazed around."I hoped it was a hideous dream.Oh, Henry, this has been frightful! But you will not kill me, as she predicted? Swear to me you will not!""Why should you be alarmed?" rejoined the king."If you are faithful, you have nothing to fear.""But you said suspicion, Henry--you said suspicion!" cried Anne.

"You must put the greater guard upon your conduct," rejoined the king moodily."I begin to think there is some truth in Catherine's insinuations.""Oh no, I swear to you there is not," said Anne--"I have trifled with the gallants of Francis's court, and have listened, perhaps too complacently, to the love-vows of Percy and Wyat, but when your majesty deigned to cast eyes upon me, all others vanished as the stars of night before the rising of the god of day.Henry, I love you deeply, devotedly--but Catherine's terrible imprecations make me feel more keenly than I have ever done before the extent of the wrong I am about to inflict upon her--and I fear that retributive punishment will follow it.""You will do her no wrong," replied Henry."I am satisfied of the justice of the divorce, and of its necessity; and if my purposed union with you were out of the question, I should demand it.Be the fault on my head.""Your words restore me in some measure, my liege," said Anne."I love you too well not to risk body and soul for you.I am yours for ever--ah!"she exclaimed, with a fearful look.

"What ails you, sweetheart?" exclaimed the king.

"I thought I saw a face at the window," she replied--"a black and hideous face like that of a fiend.""It was mere fancy," replied the king."Your mind is disturbed by what has occurred.You had better join your attendants, and retire to your own apartments.""Oh, Henry!" cried Anne--" do not judge me unheard - do not believe what any false tongue may utter against me.I love only you and can love only you.I would not wrong you, even in thought, for worlds.""I believe you, sweetheart," replied the king tenderly.

So saying, he led her down the aisle to her attendants.They then proceeded together to the royal lodgings, where Anne retired to her own apartments, and Henry withdrew to his private chamber.

II.How Herne the Hunter appeared to Henry on the Terrace.

Henry again sat down to his despatches, and employed himself upon them to a late hour.At length, feeling heated and oppressed, he arose, and opened a window.As he did so, he was almost blinded by a vivid flash of forked lightning.Ever ready to court danger, and convinced, from the intense gloom without, that a fearful storm was coming on, Henry resolved to go forth to witness it.With this view he quitted the closet, and passed through a small door opening on the northern terrace.The castle clock tolled the hour of midnight as he issued forth, and the darkness was so profound that he could scarcely see a foot before him.But he went on.

"Who goes there?" cried a voice, as he advanced, and a partisan was placed at his breast.

"The king! " replied Henry, in tones that would have left no doubt of the truth of the assertion, even if a gleam of lightning had not at the moment revealed his figure and countenance to the sentinel.

"I did not look for your majesty at such a time," replied the man, lowering his pike."Has your majesty no apprehension of the storm? Ihave watched it gathering in the valley, and it will be a dreadful one.If Imight make bold to counsel you, I would advise you to seek instant shelter in the castle.""I have no fear, good fellow," laughed the king." Get thee in yon porch, and leave the terrace to me.I will warn thee when I leave it."As he spoke a tremendous peal of thunder broke overhead, and seemed to shake the strong pile to its foundations.Again the lightning rent the black canopy of heaven in various places, and shot down in forked flashes of the most dazzling brightness.A rack of clouds, heavily charged with electric fluid, hung right over the castle, and poured down all their fires upon it.

Henry paced slowly to and fro, utterly indifferent to the peril he ran--now watching the lightning as it shivered some oak in the home park, or lighted up the wide expanse of country around him--now listening to the roar of heaven's artillery; and he had just quitted the western extremity of the terrace, when the most terrific crash he had yet heard burst over him.The next instant a dozen forked flashes shot from the sky, while fiery coruscations blazed athwart it; and at the same moment a bolt struck the Wykeham Tower, beside which he had been recently standing.Startled by the appalling sound, he turned and beheld upon the battlemented parapet on his left a tall ghostly figure, whose antlered helm told him it was Herne the Hunter.Dilated against the flaming sky, the proportions of the demon seemed gigantic.His right hand was stretched forth towards the king, and in his left he held a rusty chain.Henry grasped the handle of his sword, and partly drew it, keeping his gaze fixed upon the figure.

"You thought you had got rid of me, Harry of England," cried Herne, "but were you to lay the weight of this vast fabric upon me, I would break from under it--ho! ho!""What wouldst thou, infernal spirit?" cried Henry.

同类推荐
  • 辛白林

    辛白林

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 李文襄公奏疏与文移

    李文襄公奏疏与文移

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 烦躁门

    烦躁门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 陀罗尼集经

    陀罗尼集经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 老君音诵戒经

    老君音诵戒经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 外国文学简编(亚非部分)

    外国文学简编(亚非部分)

    本书在东西方文化冲突交融的大背景下,站在世界文学的高度上,将亚非文学作为整体来考察,注意到亚非文学在发展的成熟阶段,内部形成三大文化体系,并相互影响。根据亚非文学发展的这些特点,采取历史断代的编写方法,分为古代、中古、近代和现状四编。每编在简要阐述这一时期文学发展特征之后,列专章专节评述有较突出成就的国家(民族)的文学及其代表作家、作品;对作家的评述,着重于创作道路和创作倾向的分析,对有代表性的作品予以重点评介。
  • 冥月,忆前忆后

    冥月,忆前忆后

    〖说明这部小说一部分是我之前发在某一个贴吧里过了,在贴吧里看过了的人望不要介意,在贴吧里未完结的文我会在这边完结了的〗“冥哥哥,快来追月儿。”六岁的月儿对着七岁的欧阳冥说到?“月儿慢点,小心摔着”七岁的欧阳冥是满满的担心的语气。?“不好,这样冥哥哥就会追倒月儿,月儿才不会上当”由于……
  • 落跑王妃:彪悍王爷请抓牢

    落跑王妃:彪悍王爷请抓牢

    一个现代社会的少女穿越到古代一个太师的千金身上,在她刚苏醒的第一时间,知道了自己即将要嫁给一个素未谋面的王爷。开玩笑,老娘牙也没刷,脸也没洗,这初来乍到的,你们突然告诉我要嫁人?门也没有啊!老娘打不过你们,还不会跑么!!!!
  • 山水走笔

    山水走笔

    《山水走笔》:这是一部游记作品集,分为山水情怀、漫步贵州、畅游余庆、异域风情共四部分,作者在领略大美河山的同时,还不忘与历史、自然、朋友进行对话。
  • 灭世狂诀

    灭世狂诀

    花有开放凋零。人有生老病死。世上万物均有新生消亡。世上的一切冥冥之中都有安排。花用有限的生命绽放属于自己的美,纵然身历风吹雨打也无所谓。人用有限的生命追求属于自己的梦,纵然宇宙灭亡也无所谓。宇宙会破灭,但人的梦想仍在。
  • 快穿之虐渣系统

    快穿之虐渣系统

    一个普通的中学生意外死亡去做虐渣任务洛千钰表示很无奈。不过……妈的,咋在第一个任务就出不来了?就这样在第一个任务过一生?渣男婊子,现在只能来虐你们才能让我高兴起来了!
  • 科技帝国之崛起

    科技帝国之崛起

    一个高智商的,无限努力却依然是屌丝的高中生,在得到一个九级文明所谓的文明传承基地后,又将给自身,民族,国家乃至整个世界带来怎样的变化~~~~~~“地球太小了,宇宙那么大,我想去看看”姜宇一手指着无垠的天空,一手开启了人类大航海的时代~PS:轻松加愉快的赚钱,随便再提升一下地球的整体科技。
  • 邪魅王爷家养冷妃

    邪魅王爷家养冷妃

    她,一个冷冷的杀手,被恋人亲手杀掉,穿到了一个孩子身上,遇到了他……
  • 钓客

    钓客

    冰冷的石板,昏暗的空间,这里是大夏赫赫有名的黑狱。黑狱没有狱守,这是一件众所周知的事情,但很少有人知道其间的理由。而即便是知晓理由的寥寥人中,除却那几位涉足其中者,也极少有人会相信那个理由……很懒的笔者便直接用了开篇第一段……
  • 龙枪刀神

    龙枪刀神

    在十万年前诸天大陆有有着无数强者,但是一万年前种族大战爆发,无数强者陨落,一万年后的今天,一个身怀上古四大神龙的五爪金龙血脉的少年,身怀白帝传承,白虎和金龙,横扫大陆