Page:The Queens of England.djvu/378

338 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. tained on her part with perfect good temper and an avoidance of aught which might be deemed offensive to the king, had, nevertheless, displeased him. The not adopting his opinions on all subjects was a sin of deep dye in his eyes, but the advo- cating her own was deemed an unpardonable one. He ex- pressed his dissatisfaction in the presence of the Bishop of Winchester, one of Katharine's bitterest enemies ; and he, emboldened by this encouragement, ventured to disclose all that his enmity could suggest to the disadvantage of the queen, expressing, at the same time, his wonder that she dared to oppose one allowed by all to be so well versed and deeply grounded in theological points as the king. Thus, by the most lavish flattery, he increased Henry's overweening vanity, and awakened his ire that any one dared to wound it, and so effect- ually did the wily prelate work on the worst feelings of his master, even going so far as to accuse the queen of evil inten- tions towards him, that Henry yielded to persuasion that ar- ticles of impeachment against her, and all the ladies of the court whom she most trusted, should be drawn up ; that the most rigid search should be made in their apartments, in order to discover some books or papers that might serve to implicate the queen, who was to be arrested and conveyed to the Tower.. These articles, with the order for her arrest, to which her life might be the sacrifice, were fortunately dropped, accidentally, in the palace, by Chancellor Wriothesley, after Henry had affixed his signature to them, and were found by one of the queen's household, who immediately delivered them to her. Unsuspicious of the danger that menaced her life, the discovery which now burst on her must have filled Katharine with a terror and dismay which the consciousness of her own inno- cence of any crime could not dispel. The shock brought on a severe illness, during the paroxysms of which Henry's hard heart relented, and he condescended to visit her, for which favor she expressed such gratitude that he was moved ; and when, the following day, the queen visited him in his chamber, he so well concealed his displeasure as to treat her with great kindness. Nevertheless, he introduced the subject of religion, on which, had not Katharine been warned, she might have sealed her own doom, by once more maintaining the argu- ments which had previously angered him. But now, on her guard, she assumed suah an entire submission to his sentiments, and so judiciously flattered his self-love, by admitting his