But if Mary’s position was fraught with danger, Anne’s was still more so. The woman for whose sake Henry had quarrelled with the Pope, risked a war with the Emperor, banished his wife and daughter, executed Fisher, More and the London Carthusians, had now ceased to charm, or even to please him. He scarcely spoke to her for weeks together, and those who understood his methods began to look about for the new favourite. She was none other than Jane Seymour, one of Anne’s ladies, whom Chapuys describes as “no great beauty, over twenty-five years old, of middle stature, and so fair that one would call her rather pale than otherwise”. As for her virtue, he will not pledge himself, considering that the lady has so long frequented the English court;[153] she has, however, one title to his goodwill, inasmuch as she has taken up the Princess’s cause warmly. Anne’s enemies were careful that the fallen favourite should be informed of her new cause for dread; and the transports of joy with which she had welcomed the news of Katharine’s death were soon turned into mourning. She was frequently seen to weep, “fearing,” said Chapuys, “that they might do with her as with the good Queen”. Now, at the eleventh hour, it occurred to her that by conciliating Mary, she might avert her own doom, and she therefore sent her word that if she would “lay aside her obstinacy, and obey her father, Queen Anne would be the best friend in the world to her, like another mother, and would obtain for her anything she liked to ask”. If Mary wished to come to court, she would be exempted from holding the tail of the Queen’s gown, and should walk by her side. Lady Shelton, Anne’s aunt, besought the Princess with hot tears to consider the matter, but Mary remained firm. Anne’s rage and despair almost deprived the now wretched woman of reason, when she found that all her efforts to win her were unavailing. She wrote to her aunt, who, as if by accident, left the letter in Mary’s oratory, where the Princess could not fail to see and read it. These were its contents:—