It was so mysteriously connected
with English blood, that in Calais only Englishmen and no Frenchmen
were attacked by it. Since then the sickness had twice appeared
among the English. Now it returned and broke out in London.
The King, who had said that "no one but God could separate him from
Anne," was alarmed, and did not know what to think--whether it was a
warning or a trial. The symptoms of the sickness were perspiration
and a desire to sleep; but if one yielded to the desire, one might
be dead in three hours. In London the citizens died like flies: Sir
Thomas More lost a daughter; the Cardinal, who had come to preside
at Hampton Court, had his horses put to the carriage again, and
hurried away. Finally one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting was attacked.
Then the King lost all presence of mind, sent Anne home to her
father, and fled himself from place to place, from Waltham to
Hunsdon. He reconciled himself to Katherine, lived in a tower
without a servant, prepared his will, and was ready for death.
Then there came the news that Anne herself had been seized by the
sickness. The King had lost his chamberlain, and now wrote letter
after letter. Then he fled again to Hatfield and Tittenhanger.
But Anne recovered, the pestilence ceased, and Henry resumed the
divorce proceedings.
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