"That is not true, my lady!"
"It is true!" said the duchess, haughtily and saucily. "It is true,
sire, for the Earl of Surrey has confessed to me myself that it is
the queen whom he loves, and that Geraldine is only a melodious
appellation for Catharine."
"He has confessed it to you yourself?" inquired the king, with
gasping breath. "Ah, he dares love his king's wife? Woe to him,
woe!"
He raised his clenched fist threateningly to heaven, and his eyes
darted lightning. "But how!" said he, after a pause--" has he not
recently read before us a poem to his Geraldine, in which he thanks
her for her love, and acknowledges himself eternally her debtor for
the kiss she gave him?"
"He has read before your majesty such a poem to Geraldine."
The king uttered a low cry, and raised himself in his seat.
"Proofs," said he, in a hoarse, hollow voice--"proofs--or, I tell
you, your own head shall atone for this accusation!"
"This proof, your majesty, I will give you!" said Earl Douglas,
solemnly. "It pleases your majesty, in the fulness of your
gentleness and mercy, to want to doubt the accusation of the noble
duchess. Well, now, I will furnish you infallible proof that Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey, really loves the queen, and that he really
dares to extol and adore the king's wife as his Geraldine. You shall
with your own ears, sire, hear how Earl Surrey swears his love to
the queen."
The scream which the king now uttered was so frightful, and gave
evidence of so much inward agony and rage, that it struck the earl
dumb, and made the cheeks of the ladies turn pale.
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