Page:The Queens of England.djvu/364

 324 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. their own advancement. Thus Katharine, entirely at their mercy, was forced to receive their communications ; and her- self, ignorant of the art of writing, was compelled to admit Francis Derham into her household as her own private secre- tary, to prevent exposures of the letters they addressed to her. Lady Rochford, the*very person whose intrigues had been the ruin of her cousin, Queen Anne Boleyn, was moreover Kathar- ine's principal lady in waiting; through her intervention Katharine had a long interview with her relative Thomas Cul- pepper, whose object seems to have been to expostulate with her on her imprudence in admitting Derham again into her confidence, but who from the lateness of the hour selected became involved in the suspicions attached to Katharine. After the first burst of passion and indignation, Henry summoned his council, and caused the persons from whom the information which implicated Katharine had been received, to be strictly questioned. After this, the criminal parties were apprehended, when Derham confessed boldly "that a promise of marriage had been exchanged between himself and the queen, many years previous to her union with the king ; that they had lived as man and wife while he was in the service of her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk ; that they were regarded in that light among the servants in the family; that he was accustomed to call her wife, and that she had often called him husband, before witnesses ; that they had exchanged gifts and love-tokens frequently, in those days ; and that he had given her money whenever he had it." Since Katharine's marriage with the king, he solemnly denied that any familiarity had taken place between them. The king's feelings may be imagined, at finding that the idolized Katharine was so entirely unworthy of his affection. He would not encounter an interview with her, nor send any message ; but the council in a body waited on her, to inform her of what had occurred. Katharine vehemently asserted her innocence ; but, on being left to herself, fell into fits, which were so violent as to endanger her life. Afterward, when she found the testimony of others had made it fruitless to deny her guilt, she signed a full confession, upon which she . was attainted, together with Lady Rochford, of high treason, by an act of Parliament, which also declared most of her family guilty of misprison of treason. This act contained the extraordinary clause, that if in future the king, or any of his