anding round the sickbed of the
King of England, listening to the broken utterances which fell from the
lips of that old and wellnigh worn-out warrior. Those who thus stood
round him were his favourite knights and barons, not a few of whom were
moved to tears as he spoke.

"I have sinned, and I have had my punishment. My kingdom is gone, and
my glory. Henceforward Henry Plantagenet will be the name but of a
vanquished and feeble old man. The one whom I loved, and would have
forgiven as many times as they had asked forgiveness, have all, save
one, left me and turned against me. I am like a man, wrecked and
tempest-tossed, clinging for hope to a single spar. Yet I bless Heaven
for that. Ruin I can submit to, dishonour I can survive, defeat I can
endure, while yet there is one child left to me of whom it can be said,
`He loved his father to the end.' And such a son is John. I charge you
all, honour him as you honour me, for though I have sworn to yield the
crown of England to his brother, Normandy, and all I possess besides,
belongs to _him_. But where is he? Why tarries he? A week has passed
since he was here. Where stays he?"

Before any of the attendants could reply, a knocking was heard without,
and entrance demanded for the messengers of Philip of France. "We are
come," said they, "from our sovereign with the articles of treaty
between yourself and him, arranged at your late conference, and which
now await your ratification."

Henry motioned to them to proceed to business; and as each article was
read--declaring his allegiance to the crown of France and his cession of
his own crown to Richard--he inclined his head mechanically in token of
his assent, manifesting little or no interest in the proceeding. But
his attention became more fixed when the article was read which provided
for the free pardon of all who had in any way, secretly or openly, been
engaged in the cause of his rebel son.

He turned in his bed towards the reader, and said: "A king must know the
names of his enemies before he can pardon them. Read me, therefore, the
list of those who have rebelled, that I may forgive them each and all,
beginning with the noblest, down to the meanest."

He lay back on his bed, and half closed his eyes as he listened.

The messenger of Philip then said, "The first and foremost of your
majesty's enemies is John Plantagenet, your youngest son."

He sprang with a sudden cry of pain into a sitting postur