Before his departure for his embassy to France, he had, in collusion with the King, held a secret legatine court, together with Archbishop Warham, and had cited Henry to appear, and answer the charge of having lived unlawfully for eighteen years with his brother’s widow. A second sitting of the court was held on the 20th May, and a third on the 31st. Thus were the proceedings opened, but Henry, fearing that the authority of the two archbishops might not be weighty enough to bring the affair to a crisis, proposed that the question, whether a man might marry his late brother’s wife, should be submitted to the most learned bishops in England, counting on their subserviency to obtain the answer he wished. But the bishops were less amenable than he expected. Most of them replied that with a papal dispensation such a marriage would be perfectly valid. All this time, Henry imagined that his secret had been kept; but Katharine was well aware of what was pending. On the 22nd June he broached the subject to her, telling her that he had been living in mortal sin, and that henceforth he would abstain from her company. He asked her to remove to some place at a distance from the court. Katharine, greatly agitated, burst into tears, and would neither admit the reasonableness of his doubts nor agree to live apart from him. In the actual state of affairs, Henry could do no more, and for a time nothing was changed. Anne was almost constantly at court, and the divorce was now openly spoken of, but was extremely unpopular. No one believed in Henry’s scruples, but Anne played her part with tact, and her power increased daily. To give some colour to the proceedings, Henry and Wolsey had trumped up an ingenious story. They declared that during the treaty for Mary’s marriage with Francis or the Duke of Orleans, the Bishop of Tarbes had expressed a doubt as to her legitimacy.[69] This story was made to do duty in England, but no trace of the Bishop of Tarbes having made such a remark is to be found in France, nor was any use made of the pretext in the subsequent trial at Rome.[70] It is in distinct contradiction with the well-known fact that the bishop was in favour of the marriage, and did all he could to bring it about. Moreover, during all the long and tedious discussions between the two kings at that time, not a word transpired, even when Wolsey went to France, of Henry’s intention to repudiate Katharine, not a doubt was expressed of Mary’s legitimacy. Henry always alluded to his daughter at that time as heiress to the throne. But on Wolsey’s return, matters at once assumed a different aspect. Elated with the success of his embassy, the Cardinal of York seemed to have the world at his feet. He had all but married Mary to the King of France, who was in need of nothing more than of England’s friendship. As soon as this union was accomplished, Henry’s marriage might be successfully broken, and a new