She could hear the stern command of
the King from within, prohibiting their entrance.
"You see," said the Queen, appealing to Edith, as if she had
exhausted all means of intercession in her power; "I knew it--the
King will not receive us."
At the same time, they heard Richard speak to some one within:
--"Go, speed thine office quickly, sirrah, for in that consists
thy mercy--ten byzants if thou dealest on him at one blow. And
hark thee, villain, observe if his cheek loses colour, or his eye
falters; mark me the smallest twitch of the features, or wink of
the eyelid. I love to know how brave souls meet death."
"If he sees my blade waved aloft without shrinking, he is the
first ever did so," answered a harsh, deep voice, which a sense
of unusual awe had softened into a sound much lower than its
usual coarse tones.
Edith could remain silent no longer. "If your Grace," she said
to the Queen, "make not your own way, I make it for you; or if
not for your Majesty, for myself at least.--Chamberlain, the
Queen demands to see King Richard--the wife to speak with her
husband.
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