The ladies and lords of the court laughed and chatted away.
John Heywood stood, with throbbing heart and in breathless anxiety,
behind the curtain, close by Gardiner, who had folded his hands and
was praying.
While Gardiner prayed, and Douglas accused and calumniated, the
queen, suspecting nothing of these plots they were framing against
her, was in her toilet-room and being adorned by her women.
She was to-day very beautiful, very magnificent to look upon; at
once a woman and queen; at the same time resplendent and modest,
with a bewitching smile on her rosy lips; and yet commanding respect
in her proud and glorious beauty. None of Henry's queens had so well
understood the art of appearing in public, and none remained so much
the woman while doing so.
As she now stood before the large mirror, which the Republic of
Venice had sent the king as a wedding-gift, and which reflected the
figure of the queen sparkling with diamonds, she smiled, for she was
obliged to confess to herself that she was very beautiful to-day;
and she thought that to-day Thomas Seymour would look upon his love
with pride.
As she thought of him, a deep crimson overspread her face, and a
thrill flew through her frame. How handsome he had been at the
tournament that day; how splendidly he leaped over the barriers; how
his eye flashed; how contemptuous had been his smile! And then, that
look which he directed over to her at the moment when he had
conquered his antagonist, Henry Howard, and hurled the lance from
his hand! Oh, her heart was then ready to burst with delight and
rapture!
Wholly given up to her reverie, she sank in her gilded arm-chair and
cast her eyes to the ground, dreaming and smiling.
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