fearlessness; so that few royal brethren ever loved better than
Henry and John of Lancaster.

'It was well and kindly done, John,' said Henry; 'and thou hast come at a
good time; for, thanks be to God, the pain hath left me; and if it were
not for this burthen of heaviness and weariness, I should be more at ease
than I have been for many weeks.'

But as he spoke, there was that both in his face and voice that chilled
with a dread certainty the hearts of those who hung over him.

'Is my wife come? I could see her now,' he wistfully asked.

Alas! no. Sir Lewis Robsart, the knight attached to her service,
faltered, with a certain shame and difficulty, that the Queen would come
when her orisons at Notre Dame were performed.

It was his last disappointment; but still he bore it cheerily.

'Best,' he said. 'My fair one was not made for sights like this; and
were she here'--his lip trembled--'I might bear me less as a Christian
man should. My sweet Catherine! Take care of her, John; she will be the
most desolate being in the world.'

John promised with all his heart; though pity for cold-hearted Catherine
was not the predominant feeling there.

'I would I had seen my child's face, and blessed him,' continued Henry.
'Poor boy! I would have him Warwick's charge.'

'Warwick is waiting admission,' said Bedford. 'He and Salisbury and
Exeter rode with me.'

The King's face lighted up with joy as he heard this. 'It is good for a
man to have his friends about him,' he said; and as they entered he held
out his hand to them and thanked them.

Then took place the well-known scene, when, looking back on his career,
he pronounced it to have been his endeavour to serve God and his people,
and declared himself ready to face death fearlessly, since such was the
will of his Maker: grieving only for the infancy of his son, but placing
his hope and comfort in his brother John, and commending the babe to the
fatherly charge of Warwick. 'You cannot love him for his own sake as
yet; but if you think you owe me aught, repay it to him.' And as he
thought over the fate of other infant kings, he spoke of some having
hated the father and loved the child, others who had loved the father and
hated the child.

To Humfrey of Gloucester he sent stringent warnings against giving way to
his hot and fiery nature, offending Burgundy, or rushing into a doubtful
wedlock with Jaqueline of Hainault; speaking of him with an elder
brother's fa