"So, fellow, thou hast dared to speak disrespectfully of us--ha!" cried
Henry.

I have spoken the truth," replied the butcher fearlessly. "I have said
you were about to divorce your lawful consort, Catherine of Arragon,
and to take the minion, Anne Boleyn, who stands beside you, to your
bed. And I added, it was a wrongful act."

"Foul befall thy lying tongue for saying so!" replied Henry furiously. "I
have a mind to pluck it from thy throat, and cast it to the dogs. What
ho! guards, take this caitiff to the summit of the highest tower of the
castle--the Curfew Tower--and hang him from it, so that all my loyal
subjects in Windsor may see how traitors are served."

"Your highness has judged him justly," said Anne Boleyn. "You say so
now, Mistress Anne Boleyn," rejoined the butcher; "but you yourself
shall one day stand in as much peril of your life as I do, and shall plead
as vainly as I should, were I to plead at all, which I will never do to this
inexorable tyrant. You will then remember my end."

Away with him! " cried Henry. " I myself will go to the Garter Tower to
see it done. Farewell for a short while, sweetheart. I will read these
partisans of Catherine a terrible lesson."

As the butcher was hurried off to the Curfew Tower, the king proceeded
with his attendants to the Garter Tower, and ascended to its summit.

In less than ten minutes a stout pole, like the mast of a ship, was thrust
through the battlements of the Curfew Tower, on the side looking