consented to introduce
him into the privy chamber. Henry listened to Lord Marnell only until
he comprehended the nature of his plea; then met him with a frown and an
angry--

"Pardon a Lollard? Never!"

"Please it, your Grace, your noble predecessor, King Richard, though no
Lollard, would have granted me at once, in consideration of my long and
faithful service unto him."

"I am not Richard of Bordeaux, but Henry of Bolingbroke!" was the
haughty answer, as the King turned round abruptly, and quitted Lord
Marnell.

"By our Lady of Walsingham, I wis full well _that_" replied the latter,
_sotto voce_.

As Lord Marnell quitted the palace, he met in the corridor with the
Prince of Wales, [Afterwards Henry V] who stopped and saluted him, and
Lord Marnell at once begged for his intercession with his father. The
Prince readily promised it, but on learning particulars, the son's brow
darkened as the father's had done. He was very sorry, but he really
could not ask the King's pardon for a Lollard. Lord Marnell would have
given his whole fortune to undo his own work of the last eighteen
months. He had never dreamed that Abbot Bilson would have summoned the
archbishop to his aid, nor that Margery would have stood half as firmly
as she had done. He only knew her as a fragile, gentle, submissive
girl, and never expected to find in her material for the heroine or the
martyr. Lord Marnell tried to procure the mediation of everybody about
the Court; but all, while expressing great sympathy with him, declined
to risk their own necks. Even the King's sons said they dared not
comply with his request. Prince Thomas [afterwards Henry V] was
extremely kind--very much grieved that he could not help him; but Prince
Humphrey [Duke of Gloucester] turned scornfully from him, and Prince
John [the great Duke of Bedford] coldly bade him take heed to his own
safety. The Earl of Somerset, the King's half-brother, shook his head,
and said he was already suspected by the King to be a Lollard himself,
and such an application from him would probably seal his own doom. Lord
Marnell applied to the Queen [Jeanne of Navarre, the second wife of
Henry IV]; but she seemed most afraid of all to whom he had spoken, lest
she should incur the King's anger, and possibly endanger herself.

The interval between the day of the examination and that appointed for
the execution passed drearily to all parties. Lord Marnell,
notwithstanding all these repu