In The Days Of Queen Elizabeth

Two ladies of the train of the Princess Elizabeth were talking softly together in an upper room of Hunsdon House. "Never has such a thing happened in England before," said the first. "True," whispered the second, "and to think of a swordsman being sent for across the water to Calais! That never happened before." "Surely no good can come to the land when the head of her who has worn the English crown rolls in the dust at the stroke of a French executioner," murmured the first lady, looking half fearfully over her shoulder. "But if a queen is false to the king, if she plots against the peace of the throne, even against the king's very life, why should she not meet the same punishment that the wife of a tradesman would suffer if she strove to bring death to her husband? The court declared that Queen Anne was guilty." "Yes, the court, the court," retorted the first, "and what a court! If King Henry should say, 'Cranmer, cut off your father's head, ' and 'Cromwell, cut off your mother's head, ' they would bow humbly before him and answer, 'Yes, sire, ' provided only that they could have wealth in one hand and power in the other. A court, ye