Page:The Queens of England.djvu/328

 288 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. for her rival, transferred to Anne Boleyn the obsequious dem- onstration of respect which they had previously paid to Kath- arine. The great mass of the people, however, swerved not from their allegiance to their queen, and so strongly manifested their dissatisfaction at the neglect and injustice which she ex- perienced, that it was found expedient that Anne should leave the court for a time^ How impatiently she submitted to this step was proved not only by her angry declaration when it oc- ' curred, "that she would return no more," but by the sullen silence which she maintained, not deigning to return any an- swers to the loving and submissive letters addressed to her by Henry during the two months she remained in the country. The humiliation of her compelled absence from the court so offended the pride of Anne, that to soothe her, a magnificent residence was prepared for her in London ; but even with this peace offering she long resisted the pressing requests of the king and the commands of her father, ere she consented to re- turn to court. The mansion provided for her was Suffolk House, on which Henry expended a large sum, to prepare it for Her reception. So impatient was her royal lover for her arrival that he wrote to urge her to abridge by two days the time named for that event. When Cardinal Wolsey busied himself in procuring this dwelling for Anne, which was near York House, his own abode, and probably selected because of its con- venience for Henry's constant visits to her, he little anticipated that he was preparing the way for the final loss of that stately pile, which he lent to the king on the occasion, but of which Henry ever after kept possession. While Anne Boleyn was impatiently anticipating the divorce which was to enable her to ascend the throne she so ardently longed to share, the disease known by the name of "sweating sickness" broke out, and caused universal alarm in the court. Henry, who had only just completed his pedantic treatise on the illegality of his marriage with Katharine, a production of which he was not a little vain, making no slight merit to Anne of the labor which it cost him, was struck with such superstitious dread by this alarming epidemic that he consented to the rep- resentations of Wolsey to send Anne to her father's seat in Kent. To her he pretended that this step was taken in order to preserve her from infection, while in truth it was the result of his own superstitious fears, as was proved by his effecting a reconciliation with his queen, his belief in her sanctity leading him to think that near her he would be safe.