'Ha; I perceive,' replied the youth, 'this is a book I should have thought would never have been sold, at least, not until the death of her to whom it was given. It is Edward the Fourth's gift to his mistress, Jane Shore. How did you come by it?' 'Lord Latimer, your father's friend, purchased it at the new bookseller's in Ludgate; and knowing my taste for anything new, or old, in such works, sent it to me as a present and token of his esteem.' 'I thought, father,' said Ellen, 'that you told me this wretched woman was no more; that she died two years since, under the severe penance inflicted upon her by the order of the Protector.' 'Hush!' said Wolsey, 'hush! call not Richard, the Protector! call him King, or you will be deemed disloyal. I would, on purpose to share your accusation, call him murderer, not protector.' 'You would be a traitor, then, according to your own showing,' replied Ellen: 'but is not Jane Shore dead?' 'It was reported that she was. That she did penance is certain; that the king, in the days of his protectorate, did accuse Hastings of secretly plotting with this woman, whom he called a wicked witch, to afflict his person with decrepitude, is equally certain. But I hear she is still alive, and that Richard, though he persecuted her so unmercifully, has pardoned her, and given her in marriage to Thomas Hymore, who compassionated her sufferings and petitioned for this mercy.' 'Alas! beauty is a dangerous possession,' added Ellen, 'where the laws of God reign not in the heart. I am glad to hear she is a penitent. May mercy be with her!' 'This is certainly the signature of Edward. [Illustration: Edward's signature] R. E. to J. S. Rex Edvardus, ad J. S. It is valuable, as the first book having numbered pages, and a great acquisition this will be to science. I sigh, my lord, to think how this country is torn asunder by faction. When I last left Worcester, I can assure you men were there ripe for revolt. Richard is detested, his vices are so glaring, and his cruelty so great, that he reminds me more of the tyrant Domitian than of a Christian king.' 'Christian, indeed!' exclaimed the ardent Wolsey. 'Christian? He has murdered three relatives, who stood between him and power, and could Richmond but be reached, his neck would soon be stretched upon the block. I hope he will escape! nay, more, I hope to live to see the day when he may be King of England.' 'Hush! hush! young spirit,' added De Freston. 'Though we be five stories from the ground, you would soon be five feet under it, could Richard gain any knowledge of your language.' 'Yet I assure you,' added Latimer, 'these were things are openly discussed at Oxford, though each man, since the death of Buckingham, fears a traitor in his servant.'