The pageant of London - v. 2 Author:Richard Davey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: hopeful. Although at times she says she is sure to be executed, and admits that she will have deserved her death. None the less she dresses sumptuously, wears ma... more »ny jewels, and is as haughty and defiant as ever." On the afternoon of February 10, 1542, the Duke of Suffolk and the Lord Privy Seal went to Sion to fetch her to the Tower. She fully understood that her end was near, and at first made a great show of resistance, and it was only with considerable difficulty that she was persuaded to follow them. The Lord Privy Seal went first, in a great barge having twenty-four oarsmen. Then came the Queen in a little covered boat, with four ladies and four oarsmen. The Duke of Suffolk followed in a huge State barge, with a hundred armed men on board. It was nearly dark by the time this curious water procession reached London, and quite so when the Queen's barge "shot" London Bridge, otherwise she might have seen the severed heads of her companions in trouble, Culpepper and Dereham, which were spiked over the central arch. The Duke of Suffolk was the first to land at the Tower Stairs; he treated the fallen Queen with the utmost deference, and even accorded her the usual royal honours. Katherine was dressed in rich black velvet, and walked with a firm step to the apartments allotted to her. On the Sunday night she was informed that she was to be beheaded on the following morning. She immediately sent for the block, and spent some time in rehearsing the terrible scene in which she was so soon to take the most prominent part. She actually laid her head over the horrid piece of wood, and then, rising up, declared merrily " she could go through the dread ordeal with grace and propriety!" At ten o'clock on the Monday morning she was escorted, with much the same state as Anne Boleyn, to a sca...« less