The Earl of Sudley, Thomas Seymour, had borne off the prize of the
day, and conquered his opponent, Henry Howard. The king had been in
raptures on this account. For Thomas Seymour had been for some time
his favorite; perhaps because he was the declared enemy of the
Howards. He had, therefore, added to the golden laurel crown which
the queen had presented to the earl as the award, a diamond pin, and
commanded the queen to fasten it in the earl's ruff with her own
hand. Catharine had done so with sullen countenance and averted
looks; and even Thomas Seymour had shown himself only a very little
delighted with the proud honor with which the queen, at her
husband's command, was to grace him.
The rigid popish party at court formed new hopes from this, and
dreamed of the queen's conversion and return to the true, pure
faith; while the Protestant, "the heretical" party, looked to the
future with gloomy despondency, and were afraid of being robbed of
their most powerful support and their most influential patronage.
Nobody had seen that, as the queen arose to crown the victor, Thomas
Seymour, her handkerchief, embroidered with gold, fell from her
hands, and that the earl, after he had taken it up and presented it
to the queen, had thrust his hand for a moment, with a motion wholly
accidental and undesigned, into his ruff, which was just as white as
the small neatly-folded paper which he concealed in it, and which he
had found in the queen's handkerchief.
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