Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-16

her board and gowns. Neither did her
own father. Incredible as it may SEEM
the girl on the very threshold of a
throne was reduced to the extreme of
penury. Her maids were unpaid. her es-
tablishment shabby. and she wrote home
that in the four and half years she had
been in England she had had but two
new gowns. At last Ferdinand disgorged
the remaining 100000 scudos; the Pope
had issued the needed dispensation au-
thOriZing her marriage to her dead huS-
bands brother. There was no reason why
the marriage should not be solemniZed.
but Henry VII invented reason after rea-
son for delay, until at last his genius for
diplomatic procrastination was suddenly
stilled by death. That was In 1909. more
than four years after the time set for the
marriage.
Eighth Henry Delays Marriage.
Henry VIII was eighteen years old
when he assembled the throne, a ruddy,
pleasure-loving boy. Katherine was TWEEN
ty-four. The contract of marriage made
on his behalf when he was but twelve
years old was hardly binding upon him
in the days of his comparative maturity,
and for some time Katherine waited in
an agony of apprehension lest he should
ignore it and cast her back upon the
world which had treated her so harshly.
Her queen mother had by this time died.
and her father was still pottering wit
his scudos and leaving his daughter to
shift for herself. 1t was a period of sore
anxiety for Katherine. and it was ended
when Henry, moved by one of the few
honorable impulses of his life. asked the
woman, who had waited long. to
marry him at once. In 1909 they were
married and duly crowned at Westmin-
Ster.
There followed for Katherine a period
of happiness all the more joyous for the
long season of privation and neglect that
had preceded it. Her husband was young
six years younger than she-handsome,
CHEEKY and devoted. In affairs of state
he deferred continually to her elder judg-
ment, and she was a true power at a
court which was one of the gayest of it's
age. But the first rift within the lutte
came when her first child came prema-
turely, stillborn. Henry, though disap-
pointed. passed the matter off with a
coarse jest. year later a son was born,
but the rejoicings of the court were hard
ly ended when the little prince, already
provided by his father with an establish
ment of his own, died Five children in
all Katherine bore to Henry One only.
Mary Tudor. known later as Bloody
Mary" passed the period of childhood.
! To Henry this was a cruel disappoint-
ment. He yearned for a man child, and
his irritation was not decreased by the
i fact that an illegitimate son grew and
thrived apace. Why he asked gloomily
"should all my legitimate sons die, while
this one lives and grows sturdy and ro-
bust?' 1t was then that he became pos
sessed with the idea that he had sinned
in marrying his brothers widow and that
Katherine's failure to present him with
an heir was the punishment imposed, by
God. All other services done for him by
his queen. even when in his absence she
organized an army and decsvely de-
feated the Scots in the battle of Flodden
Field, could not blot out his resentment
This grew to fever heat when Ferdinand.
with whom he was engaged in war with
France, concluded a dishonorable treaty
without consulting him. A treacherous
, father-in-law, barren wife Henry
thouht was his lot, and he resolved to
correct 1t.
Became Morbid on Subject.
He became fairly morbid on the subject.
and apparently sincerely believed he was
accursed because he had married his
brothers widow. Accordingly he planned
he hv r;nU