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too, for so tradition tells, though the truth could not 

 then be safely spoken, that poor Rosamond did not 

 deserve the harsh aspersions of St. Hugh. It was 

 believed that King Henry had married her in early life, 

 but secretly, and without such witnesses as might avail, 

 to have her constituted queen of England. Henry him- 

 self, when driven nearly to distraction by the rebellion of 

 his acknowledged sons, spoke unadvisedly certain words, 

 that confirmed the belief of the simple-hearted nuns. 

 He said to one of the sons of Rosamond, who met him 

 at the head of an armed company, " Thou art my legiti- 

 mate son; the rest have no claim on me."* 



Rosamond was told, most probably by the queen her- 

 self, of King Henry's conduct, for the queen, having 

 seen him walking one day in the pleasure-grounds at 

 Woodstock, with the end of a ball of silk attached to his 

 spurs, and wondering greatly at the circumstance, 

 resolved to follow him. She took up the ball, and when 

 he went away, she followed warily, the silk meanwhile 

 unwinding, till at length he suddenly disappeared in a 

 thicket belonging to the celebrated labyrinth of Wood- 

 stock. The queen went no further, and kept the matter 

 to herself. She, however, took advantage of his absence 

 on a distant journey, and having threaded the mazes of 

 the labyrinth, she began searching the thicket into 

 which the king had disappeared. Finding a low door 

 carefully concealed, the queen caused it to be forced 

 * Lingard. 



