n a rich man, like him of
Arimathy, cared for his burying, and strewed herbs and bay leaves and
myrtle upon his body.

There was the matter, too, of the bees that I had seen. [Sir John lays
great stress upon the bees; I cannot understand why. He says that they
betokened great wealth and happiness.]....

* * * * *

And again there was the matter of the seven days that Master Richard
fulfilled from the time of his setting out from his house, to the time
that he entered into his heavenly mansion. Seven days are the time of
perfection; it was in seven days that God Almighty made the world and
all that is in it; there were seven years of famine in Egypt in which
Joseph gathered store, and seven years of plenty. [I cannot bring myself
to follow Sir John through the whole of the Old and New Testaments.]....
And it was in seven days that Master Richard Raynal completed his course,
from the sowing of the wheat and wine on Corpus Xti, to his joyful
harvest in heaven....}

* * * * *

I thought, too, at this time of many other things, such as you may
suppose--of Master Richard's little cell in the country which would
never see him again (for I did not know at this time what the King
intended of his grace), and of the beasts that awaited him so
lamentably, and then of this great room hung all over with royalty
whither it had pleased God that his darling should come to die. I
looked, too, very often upon Master Richard as he lay before me, upon
his clean pallour, paler than I had ever seen it, and his slender
fingers roughened by the spade, and his strong arm, and his smiling
lips, and his closed eyes that looked within upon what I was not worthy
to see, and I wondered often what it was that he was saying to our Lord
and the blessed, and what they were saying to him, and I prayed that my
name might be mentioned amongst them, lest I should be a castaway after
all that I had heard and seen.

When it was dark (for I dared not kindle the candles) the King came in
again, and as he came in Master Richard spoke my name, and moved his
hand towards me on the coverlet.

How Master Richard went to God

_Transivimus per ignem et aquam: et eduxisti nos in refrigerium._

We have passed through fire and water: and Thou hast brought us out into
a refreshment.--_Ps. lxv. 12._

XV

The King presently kissed Master Richard's hand and asked his pardon and
his prayer