"We live--God be
praised for it--under a noble and high-minded king, who beholds the
blood of his subjects with as much pleasure as he does the crimson
of his royal mantle, and who has never yet shrunk back when a death-
warrant was to be signed."
"But this time he will shrink back," said the old duchess. "He will
not dare to rob the noblest and most powerful family of his kingdom
of its head."
"That very risk will stimulate him," said the Duchess of Richmond,
laughing; "and the more difficult it is to bring down these heads,
so much the more impatiently will he hanker after it. The king hates
them both, and he will thank us, if we change his hatred into
retributive justice."
"Then let us accuse both of high treason!" cried Arabella. "The duke
is a traitor; for I will and can swear that he has often enough
called the king a bloodthirsty tiger, a relentless tyrant, a man
without truth and without faith, although he coquettishly pretends
to be the fountain and rock of all faith."
"If he has said that, and you have heard him, you are in duty bound
to communicate it to the king, if you do not want to be a traitoress
yourself," exclaimed the young duchess, solemnly.
"And have you not noticed that the duke has for some time borne the
same coat-of-arms as the king?" asked the Duchess of Norfolk. "It is
not enough for his haughty and ambitious spirit to be the first
servant of this land; he strives to be lord and king of it.
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