e, and
trembling in every fibre, and with a voice half choked, cried, "Who says
that?" Then glaring wildly at the envoy, he whispered, "Read it again!"

"The first and foremost of your majesty's enemies is John Plantagenet,
your youngest son."

"Can it be true?" gasped the poor father, in helpless despair. "Has he
also deserted me? Then let everything go as it will; I care no more for
myself, nor for the world."

So saying, with his heart broken, he sank back upon the bed, from which
he never rose again.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

ARTHUR OF BRITTANY, THE BOY WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN KING OF ENGLAND.

The fierce storm beats down on the gloomy Norman Castle of Falaise, in a
deep dungeon of which lies imprisoned the boy Prince Arthur, lawful heir
to the crown of England, but now, alas! a helpless victim of the cruelty
and injustice of his bad uncle, John Plantagenet, the usurper of his
throne. The thunder peals so loudly, and the wind rages so angrily,
that Hubert de Burgh, the warden, does not for a long time distinguish
the sound of a knocking and shouting at the outer gate of the castle.
Presently, however, in a lull of the wind, his ears catch the noisy
summons, and he instantly gives orders to his men to let down the
drawbridge, and admit the new-comers. These were three in number: one
attired as a king's messenger, and mounted on a richly caparisoned
horse; the other two in the garb of common men, and on foot. When they
had come into the presence of the warden, the king's messenger said--

"I am charged by His Majesty King John of England to deliver to you this
letter, and require your faithful discharge of its commands."

So saying, he handed to Hubert de Burgh a sealed letter, which the
latter eagerly broke open and read. As he read, his face clouded. It
was a long letter, and couched in vague terms, but its substance was
this. That whereas the peace of England and of King John's possessions
in France was constantly being disturbed by the partisans of the young
Prince Arthur, desiring to see him king instead of his uncle, and taking
up arms to enforce their claim, it was necessary, in order to put an end
to this rebellion, that the young prince should be rendered unfit for
governing; and as no people would be likely to choose a blind boy for
their king, Hubert de Burgh was instructed to have Arthur's eyes put
out; and the two men who had arrived with the king's messenger were
come, so the letter said,