Q: In this task, you are given two sentences in the English language (Sentence 1 and Sentence 2). Your task is to identify the connecting word between the two sentences.
Sentence 1:In the meantime , Catherine , ever more independent of counsel , continued to pursue her ambitions for her children . Sentence 2:However , her use of the religious strains of the times to play one faction against another gradually got out of her control .
A:
however