rd," said Piers Exton, "since you will
not ever eat again."

"Is it so?" the trapped man answered quietly. "Then indeed you come in
a good hour." Once only he smote upon his breast. "_Mea culpa!_ O
Eternal Father, do Thou shrive me very quickly of all those sins I
have committed, both in thought and deed, for now the time is very
short."

And Exton spat upon the dusty floor. "Foh, they had told me I would
find a king here. I discover only a cat that whines."

"Then 'ware his claws!" As a viper leaps Maudelain sprang upon the
nearest fellow and wrested away his halberd. "Then 'ware his claws, my
men! For I come of an accursed race. And now let some of you lament
that hour wherein the devil's son begot an heir for England! For of
ice and of lust and of hell-fire are all we sprung; old records attest
it; and fickle and cold and ravenous and without fear are all our race
until the end. Hah, until the end! O God of Gods!" this Maudelain
cried, with a great voice, "wilt Thou dare bid a man die patiently,
having aforetime filled his veins with such a venom? For I lack the
grace to die as all Thy saints have died, without one carnal blow
struck in my own defence. I lack the grace, my Father, for even at the
last the devil's blood You gave me is not quelled. I dare atone for
that old sin done by my father in the flesh, but yet I must atone as
befits the race of Oriander!"

Then it was he and not they who pressed to the attack. Their meeting
was a bloody business, for in that dark and crowded room Maudelain
raged among his nine antagonists like an angered lion among wolves.

They struck at random and cursed shrilly, for they were now
half-afraid of this prey they had entrapped; so that presently he was
all hacked and bleeding, though as yet he had no mortal wound. Four of
these men he had killed by this time, and Piers Exton also lay at his
feet.

Then the other four drew back a little. "Are ye tired so soon?" said
Maudelain, and he laughed terribly. "What, even you! Why, look ye, my
bold veterans, I never killed before to-day, and I am not breathed as
yet."

Thus he boasted, exultant in his strength. But the other men saw that
behind him Piers Exton had crawled into the chair from which (they
thought) King Richard had just risen, and they saw Exton standing
erect in this chair, with both arms raised. They saw this Exton strike
the King with his pole-axe, from behind, once only, and they knew no
more was needed.

"By