Gardiner raised up the kneeling maiden, and forced a smile. "It is
well," said he, "I doubt not of your zeal. You are a true handmaid
of the church, and she will love and reward you for it as a mother!
It is then decided. The queen is--"

"Is a heretic," whispered Lady Jane. "Woe to her!"

"And will you be true, and will you faithfully adhere to us?"

"True, in every thought of my being, and every drop of my heart's
blood."

"So shall we overcome Catharine Parr, as we overcame Catharine
Howard. To the block with the heretic! We found means of bringing
Catharine Howard to the scaffold; you, Lady Jane, must find the
means of leading Catharine Parr the same way."

"I will find them," said Lady Jane, quietly. "She loves and trusts
me. I will betray her friendship in order to remain true to my
religion."

"Catharine Parr then is lost," said Gardiner, aloud.

"Yes, she is lost," responded Earl Douglas, who had just entered,
and caught the last words of the bishop. "Yes, she is lost, for we
are her inexorable and ever-vigilant enemies. But I deem it not
altogether prudent to utter words like these in the queen's drawing-
room. Let us therefore choose a more favorable hour. Besides, your
highness, you must betake yourself to the grand reception-hall,
where the whole court is already assembled, and now only awaits the