Page:The Queens of England.djvu/379

 KATHARINE PARR. 339 superior knowledge and wisdom on all matters, that he became disarmed, and upon her artfully declaring that when she had previously pretended to dissent from his opinions it was solely to turn away his thoughts from his boddy ailments and to acquire some portion of the vast knowledge in which he so far excelled all others, he embraced her with renewed affection, forgetful that, but a few days before, he had signed the order for her arrest, a preface in all human probability to one for her death. Henry's anger fell heavily on those who had planned the destruction of Katharine, which they never would have dared to do had he not encouraged it by censuring her in their presence in a moment of petulance ; and, no sooner had her well-timed submission and adroit flattery restored her to his favor than he visited on others the blame, of which conscience might have told him he merited even a larger share than they. Katharine never revealed to the king her knowledge of the danger she had incurred, a great prudence on her part ; nay more, when Henry bitterly reproached the Lord Chancellor, calling him by the most opprobrious names, she endeavored to mollify his anger, and to plead for her enemy, without appear- ing to know how or why he had displeased his sovereign. The Bishop of Winchester, the mover of the plot against the queen, Henry would no more see, and ever after spoke of him in terms of hatred. It must have been a difficult task for Katharine to conceal from her capricious and cruel husband the dread and insecurity under which she labored from the hour in which she discovered how nearly she had approached the terrible fate to which he had doomed her. Her life after this must have been, during the remainder of his, an unceasing scene of anxiety, distrust and circumspection. She must have trembled, lest the utter- ance of a sentiment, or even a word, might excite the king's anger and risk the uncertain tenure by which she held exist- ence. Nevertheless, she continued as tender a nurse and as cheerful a companion as if she knew no dread, and Henry's affection and confidence in her was for the time restored. How loathsome must the proofs of this rekindled fondness have been to its object may easily be imagined, when the state of the king's bodily suffering and mental anxiety are consid- ered. With a bloated person, that rendered every movement not only impracticable but even the attempt a torture, and an ulcerated leg that exhaled the most offensive odor, the queen must have thought a crown dearly purchased at the price of