VII

I scarcely have the heart to write down all that befell Master Richard;

and yet what it pleased God's Majesty that he should suffer, cannot

displease Him to write down nor to think upon.... [There follows a

curiously modern discussion on what I may call the gospel of Pleasure,

which is a very different thing from the gospel of Joy. The former, as

Sir John points out, disregards and avoids pain, the latter deals with

it. He points out acutely that this difference is the characteristic

difference between Greek and Christian philosophy.]

Master Richard was taken back again by two of the men-at-arms into the

parlour where he had lately seen the King, and was allowed to stand by

the window, looking out upon the river, while one fellow kept one door,

and one the other.

He strove to keep quiet interiorly, keeping his eyes fixed upon the

broad river in the sunshine and the trees on the other side, and his

heart established on God's Will. He did not know then what kind of a fit

it was into which the King had fallen, nor why it was that himself

should be blamed for it; and when he spoke to the men they gave him

nothing but black looks, and one blessed himself repeatedly, with his

lips moving.

There came the sound of talking from the inner room, and once or twice

the sound of glass on glass. Without it was a fair day, very hot and

with no clouds.

Master Richard told me that he had no fear, neither now nor afterwards;

it seemed to him as if all had been done before; he said it was as if he

were one in a play, whose part and words are all assigned beforehand,

as well as the parts and words of the others, by the will of the

writer; so that when violence is done, or injustice, or hard words

spoken, or death suffered, it is all part of the agreed plan and must

not be resisted nor questioned, else all will be spoiled. It appeared to

him too as if the ankret in the cell were privy to it all, and were

standing, observing and approving; for Master Richard remembered what

the holy man had said as to the five wounds marked upon the linen, and

how he would not need to wear them much longer.

* * * * *

After about half-an-hour, as he supposed, the voices waxed louder in the

other room; and presently one came out from it in the black dress of a

physician. He was a pale man, shaven clean, a little bald, and very

thin. It was that physician that died last year.

He said nothing, though his face worked, and he beckoned sharply to

Master Richard.

Master Richard went immediately across the floor and through into the

further room.

There were a dozen persons gathered there, all staring upon the King,

who sat in a great chair by the table. Two or three of these were

servants, and the rest of them, with my lord cardinal, the nobles that

had been in the palace at the time of the King's seizure. My lord

cardinal was standing by the chair, very stern and anxious-looking; and

all turned their faces, and there was an angry whisper from their

mouths, as the young man came forward and halted; and the physician shut

to the door.

But Master Richard did not observe them closely at that time; for he was

looking upon the King.

The King sat very upright in his chair; his hands rested on the carved

arms; and his face and eyes were as if made of Caen stone, chalky and

hard. He was looking out from the room, Master Richard said; and Master

Richard knew at once what it was that he was seeing. It was that of

which the holy youth had spoken; and was nothing else than the passion

and death that came upon him afterwards. The words that the King had

heard had opened the eyes of his soul, and he was now seeing for

himself.

Before that any could speak or hinder, Master Richard was on his knees

by the King, and had laid his lips to the white right-hand, seeing as he

did so the red ring on the first finger. My lord cardinal sprang forward

to tear him off, but the King turned his stony eyes; and my lord fell

back.

Then Master Richard knew that he had not given the whole message; and

that our Lord had not intended it at first. The message of the passion

and death was to be first; and the second, second--first the wound, and

then the balm.

So he began to speak; and these were the words as he told them to me.

"My lord King," he said, "Our Lord does not leave us comfortless when He

sends us sorrow. This is a great honour, greater than the crown that

you bear, to bear the crown of thorns. That bitter passion of Christ

that He bore for our salvation is wrought out in the Body which is His

Church, and especially in those members, which, like His sacred hands

and feet, receive the nails into themselves. Happy are those members

that receive the nails; they are the more honourable; it was on His feet

that He went about to do good; and with His hands that He healed and

blessed and gave His precious body; and with His burning heart that He

loves us.

"My lord King; men will name you fool and madman and crowned calf; it is

to their shame that they do so, and to your honour. For so they named

our Saviour. All who set not their minds on this world are accounted

fools; but who will be the merrier in the world that is to come?

"And, last, our Lord has bestowed on your highness an honour that He

bestows upon few, but which Himself suffered; and that, the knowledge of

what is to be. In this manner the passion is borne a thousand times a

day, by foreknowledge; and for every such pain there is a joy awarded.

It is for this reason that you may bear yourself rightly, and that He

may crown you more richly that our Lord has sent me to you, and bidden

me tell you this."

* * * * *

All this while Master Richard was looking upon the King's face, but

there was no alteration in his aspect. It was as the colour of ashes,

and his eyes like stone; and yet Master Richard knew very well that his

grace heard what was said, but could not answer it. (It was so with him

often afterwards: he would sit thus without speaking or answering what

was said to him: he would go thus to mass and dinner and to bed, as pale

as a spirit: he would even ride thus among his army, with his crown on

his head, and his sword in his hand, dumb but not deaf; and looking upon

what others could not see: and all, as those about him knew very well,

began from the hearing of the message that Master Richard Raynal

brought to him from God's Majesty).

While Master Richard was speaking the rest kept silence: for I think

that somewhat held them for pity of those two young men--for the one

that sat in such stiff agony, and for the other near as pale, and red

with his own blood, that spoke so eloquently. But when he had done and

had kissed the white hand again, my lord cardinal came forward, pushed

him aside, and himself began to speak in a voice that was at once

pitiful and angry, crying upon the King to answer, telling him that he

was bewitched and under the power of Satan through the machinations of

Master Richard, and blessing him again and again.

Master Richard stood aside watching, and wondering that my lord could

speak so, and not understand the truth; and he looked round at the

others to see if any there understood. But they were all dumb, except

for muttering, and gave him black looks, and blessed themselves as their

eyes met his; so he committed himself to prayer. [Sir John preaches a

little sermon here on internal recollection, and the advantages of the

practice.]

It was of no avail; the King could not speak; and presently the

physician, Master Blytchett, [this is an extraordinary name, and is

obviously a corruption of some English name, but I do not know what it

can be, nor why it was retained, when all others were erased.] came

and whispered in my lord's ear as he knelt at the King's knees. My

lord turned his head and nodded, and Master Richard was seized from

behind and pulled through the door. The man who had pulled him was one

of the servants. I saw him afterwards and spoke with him, when he was

sorry for what he had done; but now he spat on Master Richard fiercely,

for the door was shut; and blessed himself mightily meanwhile.

Then he spoke to the man that kept the door; and said that Master

Richard was to be taken down and kept close, until there was need of him

again; for that the King was no better.

So Master Richard was brought downstairs, and through the guard-room

into one of the little cells: and as he went he was thinking on the

words of our Saviour.

_Si male locutus sum, testimonium perhibe de malo: si autem bene, quid

me caedis?_ ["If I have spoken ill, give testimony of the evil, but if

well, why strikest thou me?" (John xviii. 23.)]