"No; he on that occasion confessed that he was not of royal blood." "Was he the only impostor obliged to relinquish his pretensions in that reign?" enquired Mrs. Arabin. The answer that he was the second, solved the mystery. Annie next took her turn, and gave an account of the meeting of two kings. It was in another country, although the ground on which it took place belonged to the English; the different suites were lodged around their respective masters. At the moment I have selected, the two latter appear to have been wrestling; one has been conquered, and has fallen; he is of a fresh and ruddy complexion, and of an athletic form, which shew great expertness in his companion to have vanquished him." "It is certainly an uncommon thing," said Willie, "for two monarchs to fight like schoolboys; is it really in English history?" [Illustration: Wolsey arriving at Leicester.] "Yes. I have merely related facts; they gave more than one proof of their familiarity, and one had a few days before gone to the other early in the morning whilst he was yet asleep. This unceremonious visit seems to have produced the freedom of intercourse I have just described." "Whom can you mean, Annie?" "I think I can tell you," said Emily; "the incident you have mentioned was at the time believed to be a mere jest, but the vanquished never entirely forgave his opponent; they were a French and an English king." "You have discovered the truth," replied Mrs. Macdonald, "and I will now continue. A cavalcade has approached an abbey; a sick man, scarcely able to bear the exertion, is mounted on a mule; he shows every symptom of approaching death, but even then his former life might be traced in the troubled expression still visible on his face; his days have been spent in intrigues. The entreaty for admission into the monastery is granted, and the abbot kindly receives him. He is lifted from the mule, and carried to his bed, from which he never rose again." "The only similar instance I can now remember," said Edward, "is that of Charles V., and this would be the history of Germany instead of England." "You have," rejoined his aunt, "guessed the period of my account nearer than you think. Charles V. went to the monastery of St. Justus some time before his death, which was in the year 1558; the person I have brought before your notice was taken to Leicester Abbey almost in his last hours, and it was twenty-eight years before the emperor's death." "I think," added Mrs. Arabin, "both were more than once concerned in the same schemes and intrigues." "Was not your hero disappointed of becoming a pope, mama?" "I see by your question that he is known to you. This prelate's ambition and consequent life of struggle, affords one of the strongest lessons in history, and his latter days were rendered miserable by the passions of his earlier career. I think, Mary, you must remember his rooms at Hampton Court."