“Of a truth, wife, I conceive thee not. Thou art here in the Tower dungeon, and thou lookest for no good outcoming, and lo! thou art calm and peaceful as if thou wert on King Henry’s throne! What means it, Madge?”
“I trow I am much happier here than I should be on King Henry’s throne!” answered Margery, with a smile. “Christ is with me, good husband, and where Christ is, is peace. ‘Pees I leeue to ghou, my pees I ghyue to ghou; not as the world ghyueth I ghyue to ghou’ (John xiv. 27). ‘These thingis I haue spoken to ghou, that ghe haue pees in me. In the world ghe schulen haue disese; but triste ghe, I haue ouercome the world?’” (John xvi. 33.)
When Lord Marnell quitted Margery that evening, he hastened to Court, and attempted to gain the ear of the King. Since the deposition of his friend and master, King Richard, he had never appeared there. He was consequently a stranger to the pages and porters, who tried to get rid of him as politely as they could. At length Lord Marnell caught sight of the Earl of Surrey, who with some hesitation consented to introduce him into the privy chamber. Henry listened to Lord Marnell only until he comprehended the nature of his plea; then met him with a frown and an angry—
“Pardon a Lollard? Never!”
“Please it, your Grace, your noble predecessor, King Richard, though no Lollard, would have granted me at once, in consideration of my long and faithful service unto him.”
“I am not Richard of Bordeaux, but Henry of Bolingbroke!” was the haughty answer, as the King turned round abruptly, and quitted Lord Marnell.
“By our Lady of Walsingham, I wis full well that” replied the latter, sotto voce.
As Lord Marnell quitted the palace, he met in the corridor with the Prince of Wales, (Afterwards Henry V) who stopped and saluted him, and Lord Marnell at once begged for his intercession with his father. The Prince readily promised it, but on learning particulars, the son’s brow darkened as the father’s had done. He was very sorry, but he really could not ask the King’s pardon for a Lollard. Lord Marnell would have given his whole fortune to undo his own work of the last eighteen months. He had never dreamed that Abbot Bilson would have summoned the archbishop to his aid, nor that Margery would have stood half as firmly as she had done. He only knew her as a fragile, gentle, submissive girl, and never expected to find in her material for the heroine or the martyr. Lord Marnell tried to procure the mediation of everybody about the Court; but all, while expressing great sympathy with him, declined to risk their own necks. Even the King’s sons said they dared not comply with his request. Prince Thomas (afterwards Henry V) was extremely kind—very much grieved that he could not help him; but Prince Humphrey (Duke of Gloucester) turned scornfully from him, and Prince John (the great Duke of Bedford) coldly bade him take heed to his own safety. The Earl of Somerset, the King’s half-brother, shook his head, and said he was already suspected by the King to be a Lollard himself, and such an application from him would probably seal his own doom. Lord Marnell applied to the Queen (Jeanne of Navarre, the second wife of Henry IV); but she seemed most afraid of all to whom he had spoken, lest she should incur the King’s anger, and possibly endanger herself.
The interval between the day of the examination and that appointed for the execution passed drearily to all parties. Lord Marnell, notwithstanding all these repulses, exerted himself unremittingly to procure a commutation of the sentence, at least to beheading; but in vain. The King was inexorable. If the Lady Marnell had chosen to ally herself with Lollards, she well knew what she was doing, and must abide the consequences. Vainly did Lord Marnell represent how young and inexperienced she was; in vain did he urge that the Act which made the Lollards amenable to capital punishment had been passed since her indictment, and only a few weeks before. Henry was not naturally disposed to hear his pleasure called in question; and Abbot Bilson had had possession of the royal ear already.
When Alice returned from Marnell Place on the evening of the 26th of February, Margery saw, by the expression of her face, that she had heard something which shocked her. She asked what it was.