Page:The Queens of England.djvu/351

JANE SEYMOUR. 311 of the king, that no suspicion of his growing tenderness for an- other dawned on her mind until the fearful truth broke on it by detecting her rival in so familiar a position with Henry, and so unresistingly receiving his caresses, that no doubt could be left that this habit of dalliance had been of some date. Other au- thors assert that the discovery was made by Anne's seeing a val- uable ornament worn by Jane, which, wishing to examine more closely, Jane betrayed so much embarrassment, that the queen, growing suspicious, snatched it, and found it to contain the portrait of the king; but we incline to the first statement. The queen was then about to become a mother and such was the shock her frame sustained by the discovery of the infidelity of her husband that the consequences took place which are re- corded in the life of that queen. Henry is said to have waited beneath a tree in Richmond Park, where he sought shade from the sun, surrounded by his train, on the morning of the 19th of May, 1536, when the sound of the gun that announced the severing of the beautiful head he had once doted on from the fair body so fondly prized, struck on his eager ear, which thirsted for the signal that he was free. He uttered an exclamation of joy, commanded the hounds to be let loose, the chase to commence, and took the route toward Wolf Hall, where his future bride awaited his presence. Did no shudder pass over her frame when she greeted the self-made widower ? Did her hand not tremble when it met the clasp of that which had so lately signed the death warrant of Anne Boleyn ? Had she no womanly thought of how often she had beheld that hand fondle her late mistress, whom he once loved so passionately ? Such thoughts, we fear, were far from Jane Seymour at that meeting. She saw in her burly lover but the instrument to crown her ambition, him who was to elevate her to the throne she longed to ascend. The following morning Henry led her to the altar in the parish church nearest her father's seat in Wiltshire, where the nuptials were solemnized, in the presence of several of the king's favorites. After the wedding feast the party proceeded to Mar- well, a residence wrested from the church by Henry and granted to the Seymours. Thence they went to Winchester, where, after remaining a few days, they directed their course to Lon- don, where, on the 29th of May, Jane was presented as queen to her subjects. Loud were the congratulations, and exaggerated the compliments lavished on the bride and bridegroom by their obsequious courtiers on this occasion ; and, when parliament