y.

_Bridget:_
Do you think father is right, grandmother? Saying that it had to be?

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
Yes, I do think so.

_Elizabeth:_
He betrayed his own people. It was that.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
There could be no safety or hope while he lived.

_Bridget:_
Yes. He betrayed his own people. That's it.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
Kings must love, too.

_Elizabeth:_
When your father wanted to give him back his throne, a little simple
honesty in the King would have saved all. But he could not come to that.

_Bridget:_
The drums have stopped.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
Is Henry with your father?

_Bridget:_
Yes.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
What is the time?

_Elizabeth:_
Nearly one o'clock.

_Bridget:_
It must be past one.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
Oliver will be the foremost man in England.

_Bridget:_
Henry says he could be king.

_Elizabeth:_
That he would never be. I know.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
He will have to guide all.

_Bridget:_
Don't you wish it could have been done without this, grandmother?

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
When the world labours in anger, child, you cannot name the hour.

_Bridget:_
But Henry thinks it is right, too.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
If this be wrong, all was wrong.

_Bridget:_
Yes. Thank you, grandmother. That is what I wanted. It was necessary.

_Elizabeth:_
Henry meant to come back before the end, didn't he?

_Bridget:_
He said so.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
It's very cold.

_Bridget:_
I think it will snow again.

_Elizabeth:_
What are the drums beating again for?

_Bridget:_
Perhaps--I don't know. Will you have another shawl, grandmother?

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
No, thank you.

(IRETON comes in.)

_Bridget:_
Has anything happened?

_Ireton:_
Not yet. In a minute or two. At half-past one. It's three minutes yet.

_Bridget:_
Is father there?

_Ireton:_
Yes.

_Elizabeth:_
Not alone?

_Ireton:_
No. Fairfax and Harrison--five of them.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
The King--very brave, I suppose?

_Ireton:_
Yes. That was inevitable. We are old campaigners.

_Elizabeth:_
Oliver says that he has been noble since death was certain.

_Ireton:_
Yes.

_Bridget:_
If he had but lived so.

_Ireton:_
He made life ignoble. He would have made it ignoble again, and always.
He was a king and he despoiled his people. When that is, kings must
perish.

(There is a movement and sound of voices in the streets. IRETON opens
the window. ELIZABETH and BRIDGET stand with him.)

_Ireton:_
Yes. It is done.