king after him, with an expression on his face not
unlike that which a triumphant demon might be supposed to exhibit.

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Note 1. Henry had previously conspired against the King three times,
and had even plotted the death of his own father. His father sentenced
him to death, and if Richard had not interposed, Henry would not have
lived to depose his benefactor. "How true is the saying," cried poor
Richard in his agony, "that we have no greater enemy than the man whom
we save from the gallows!"--See Creton's MS. Bibl. Imp. 8448-2
_Ambassades_.

CHAPTER NINE.

AN OBDURATE HERETIC.

"Great your strength, if great your need."

Henry Kirke White.

In the evening of the same day, the council sent a physician to report
on the prisoner's health. Not gentle Master Simon, but a stern,
iron-handed, iron-hearted man, from whom Margery and Alice shrank
instinctively. The physician reported that the Lady Marnell had
undoubtedly been very ill, but was now better, and ailed nothing but
weakness; he accordingly recommended that the examination should take
place, but that the prisoner, in consideration of her extreme debility,
should be indulged with a seat. Master Simon tried hard to obtain a
little further postponement; but this time the powerful Abbot was
against him, and he gained nothing by his motion. So, on the morning of
the 17th, Margery rose from her sick-bed to appear before the council.
Lord Marnell, who had lately shown her extraordinary kindness, as though
with the view of undoing, so far as lay in his power, the evil which his
rash, though well-meant conduct had originally created, assisted his
wife into her litter, and rode beside it during the short journey. On
arriving at the door, where they found a steep flight of steps to mount,
Lord Marnell would not allow Margery to try her strength, but carried
her up in his arms. He knew, and so did she, that she would need all
the strength she could muster for the trial which was to come. The
council-chamber was hung with red cloth, and the benches appropriated to
spectators were filled to overflowing. For one moment Margery shrank
back at the sight of so many strange faces; and a faint tinge of colour
mounted to her pale cheek as Lord Marnell led her forward to her chair.
In the president's seat was the Archbishop of Canterbury, and on his
left hand Abbot Bilson. Several abbots,