But the dying man who lay before them made as though to smile. "I charge you all to witness," he faintly said, "how willingly I render to Caesar's daughter that which was ever hers."
Then Exton fretted, as with a little trace of shame: "Who would have thought the rascal had remembered that first wife of his so long? Caesar's daughter, saith he! and dares in extremis to pervert Holy Scripture like any Wycliffite! Well, he is as dead as that first Caesar now, and our gracious King, I think, will sleep the better for it. And yet—God only knows! for they are an odd race, even as he said—these Plantagenets."
THE END OF THE SEVENTH NOVEL
VIII
The Story of the Scabbard
"Ainsi il avoit trouvé sa mie
Si belle qu'on put souhaiter.
N'avoit cure d'ailleurs plaider,
Fors qu'avec lui manoir et estre.
Bien est Amour puissant et maistre."
THE EIGHTH NOVEL.—BRANWEN OF WALES GETS A KING'S
LOVE UNWITTINGLY, AND IN ALL INNOCENCE CONVINCES
HIM OF THE LITTLENESS OF HIS KINGDOM; SO THAT HE
BESIEGES AND IN DUE COURSE TRIUMPHANTLY OCCUPIES
ANOTHER REALM AS YET UNMAPPED.
The Story of the Scabbard
