e?"

"You are my king and lord," replied Henry, calmly, "but the Parliament
have determined that you are to be kept in confinement for the
present, until they can decide in respect to the charges laid against
you."

Here the king uttered a dreadful imprecation, expressive of rage and
despair.

[Illustration: HENRY OF BOLINGBROKE--KING HENRY IV.]

He then demanded that they should let him have his wife. But Henry
replied that the council had forbidden that he should see the queen.
This exasperated the king more than ever. He walked to and fro across
the apartment, wringing his hands, and uttering wild and incoherent
expressions of helpless rage.

[Illustration: PONTEFRACT CASTLE, KING RICHARD'S PRISON.]

The end of it was that Richard was forced to abdicate the crown. He
soon saw that it was only by so doing that he could hope to save his
life. An assembly was convened, and he formally delivered up his
crown, and renounced all claim to it forever. He also gave up the
globe and sceptre, the emblems of sovereignty, with which he had been
invested at his coronation. In addition to this ceremony, a written
deed of abdication had been drawn up, and this deed was now signed by
the king with all the necessary formalities. Proclamation having been
made of Richard's abdication, Henry came forward and claimed the crown
as Richard's rightful successor, and he was at once proclaimed king,
and conducted to the throne. Richard was conducted back to the Tower,
and soon afterward was conveyed, by Henry's order, to a more sure
place of confinement--Pontefract Castle, and here was shut up a close
prisoner.

Things remained in this state a short time, and then a rumor arose
that a conspiracy was formed by Richard's friends to murder Henry, and
restore Richard to the throne. A spiked instrument was said to have
been found in Henry's bed, put there by some of the conspirators, with
a view of destroying him when he lay down. Whether this story of the
conspiracy was false or true, one thing is certain, that the existence
of Richard endangered greatly the continuance and security of Henry's
power. Henry and his counselors were well aware of this; and one day,
when they had been conversing on the subject of this danger, Henry
said,

"Have I no faithful friend who will deliver me from this man, whose
life is death to me, and whose death would be my life?"

Very soon after this, it was known that Richard was dead. The
universal belief