able to entirely fill a woman's heart. In my breast there was still
room for ambition; and since I could not be a happy wife, I would at
least be a powerful queen. Oh, everything was so well devised, so
nicely arranged! Gardiner had already spoken of me to the king, and
inclined him to his plan; and while I was hastening at his call from
Duma, hither, this little Catharine Parr comes between and snatches
him from me, and overturns all our schemes. I will never forgive
her. I will find a way to revenge myself. I will force her to leave
this place, which belongs to me, and if there is no other way for
it, she must go the way of the scaffold, as did Catharine Howard. I
will be Queen of England, I will--"

She suddenly interrupted her soliloquy, and listened. She thought
she heard a slight knock at the door. She was not mistaken; this
knock was now repeated, and indeed with a peculiar, significant
stroke.

"It is my father!" said Lady Jane, and, as she resumed again her
grave and quiet air, she proceeded to open the door.

"Ah, you expected me, then?" said Lord Archibald Douglas, kissing
his daughter's forehead.

"Yes, I expected you, my father," replied Lady Jane with a smile. "I
knew that you would come to communicate to me your experiences and
observations during the day, and to give me directions for the
future."

The earl seated himself on the ottoman, and drew his daughter down
by him.