willingly accept this doom; and shall accompany them in their deaths; but with this assurance, that I shall pass with them into eternal life.'

9. Rising to her feet, and gathering up her robes, she slowly left the court.

317

CHAPTER VII.

LORD ROCHFORD.

1536.

1. WHEN Anne was gone, her brother Rochford was arraigned before the same selected list of enemies. Young, bright, handsome, he appeared to court inquiry and defy attack. Like Anne, he had to make his own defence. No witnesses were called. No evidence was given against him as to either incest, conspiracy, or compassing the King's death. Some female talk about the King was mentioned; talk which, if it were reported truly, was annoying, but not treasonable. Not one word of it was proved; and Rochford, in his dealing with the lawyers, spoke so well, that Chapuys says the betting in court was ten to one, that he would be acquitted. 'Guilty or not guilty?' asked his uncle Norfolk. 'Guilty,' replied the peers. Then Norfolk sentenced him to be drawn to Tyburn, hung by the neck, cut down alive, ripped open, quartered, and beheaded. 'Since I am to die,' said Rochford, I will say no more.' He merely wished that all just

debts might be discharged before his property was seized.

2. Led back into his dungeon, he was left alone some time, till he was faint with the reaction of his nervous flight. Then Norfolk, and some other members of the Council, came to see him, hoping to surprise him in a weaker mood. They found him calm and pensive, waiting to know the hour when he must die. Norfolk inquired if he were ready to confess? Every one,' said his uncle, 'knows that you are guilty; every one condemns you; it is vain to stand out any longer.' Rochford sat and heard these words. His eyes were bent, his face was sad. At length he raised his eyes and spake: My lords, I only wait my end, the pain of which will be but short and sure. Pardon me my broken speech. Do not suppose I fear to die. My sister has to share this misery. On my conscience I assure you we die innocent. You, my lords, to-day are high and mighty; but for many years past you have seen me such as you are now. Your turn may come. If you judge me truly, you will say that I am free from guilt. May God Almighty of His goodness give you grace to do what is right!' A councillor spoke about the Queen. 'My lord,' he answered 'I have always treated the Queen as a sister and as a lady.' He could use no purer terms. 'You have been found guilty!' growled his uncle, losing temper. To be found guilty,' said Rochford, 'is a different thing to being proved guilty.'

3. From Rochford's dungeon, Norfolk and the

councillors went to see the Queen. She was a woman, broken in her health, and overwhelmed by misery and shame. Some word, some movement, might betray her. Norfolk told his niece she was condemned to die; but she received the news. with sad and tender smile. The councillors hinted that she would do better to confess her fault. 'My lords,' she answered, 'I have done nothing against the King.' They talked of what the King had done for her. 'All that is past,' she said, 'and I have laid down everything the King has given me my title of Lady Anne, of Marchioness of Pembroke, and of Queen of England. I am now no more than Anne Boleyn.' Carles remarked that some of these councillors felt ashamed of what they had to do. When pressed still more, Anne simply said, 'My lords, on salvation I have committed no offence.'

my

4. The prisoners asked no other favour than a little time, in order to confess their sins, receive the sacraments, and die in peace with God. That favour was denied. An order came from Henry, that the gentlemen should die on Wednesday; hardly thirtysix hours after Rochford's sentence had been given. Such haste seemed horrible to men about to die, who had not yet had time to see a priest. Kingston rode to court and spoke to Henry of his prisoners. Might they have time to see their chaplains and prepare for death? Henry appointed Cranmer to receive the Queen's confession. As to Rochford and the other prisoners, he left the thing in Cromwell's hands. But

time he would not grant. The four gentlemen, he supposed, were to suffer on the morrow; Rochford must suffer with them; not an hour would he allow, unless they would confess their fault. Even Kingston's stony heart was touched. 'I look,' he said. with horror, 'that my Lord of Rochford will die without confession!' In the Constable's creed, to execute a man without confession was to kill his soul. Going back to Rochford's cell, the Constable told his prisoner what the King had said, and begged him to prepare for execution early on the following day. Rochford made no complaint. 'I will do my best to be ready,' said the young poet.

5. A dangerous spirit was abroad, of which the Savoyard took note. There are very few who do not question and condemn the forms which have been used in trying and condemning these gentlemen,' wrote Chapuys. 'Strange words,' he said, 'are spoken of the King, and people will be more excited still when they hear of what has passed, and what is passing between the King and Mistress Jane.' This dangerous spirit in the people led to one more effort to seduce the King's servant. Norreys was young in years; his family was rising in the world; and two sweet orphans clung about his heart. One word, and he was saved for them. In that dark moment, when to do the right thing seemed so costly, and the wrong thing seemed so profitable, might he not argue with himself, that since the Queen, however innocent, was lost to life, and since his honesty