"Methinks I see the face of Everychild!" he mused. "Methinks that always the face of Everychild shall gaze upon me with horror and contempt because I slew this gentle lad. Nay, by my faith, I will not!"
He thrust Arthur from him. "Go your way!" he cried. "Though there were a thousand King Johns, it shall also be said that there was one Hubert de Burgh. If heaven has set no bounds to duty, then I owe a duty to myself as well as to the king. And if a child must needs teach me that there are things more terrible than death, then let me learn a lesson from this child who has the soul of a prince, though he may never wield the scepter of a king. Go free, boy. King John may have a thousand murderers, but it shall also be said of him that he had for chamberlain one who was a man."
With the tread of a soldier, undaunted and unashamed, he left the room.
For a moment Arthur lifted his face with an expression of intense relief; but little by little his eyes darkened again and his head drooped.
"He has spared me—yet to what end?" he mused. "I have escaped for the moment, yet in a few days—on what day none may tell—a new jailor, a poisoned cup, a summons up a broken stairway in the dark, a ride on the river in a mist … Ah, woe is me! How shall I really escape?"
He stood disconsolate a moment, and then it seemed he saw Everychild for the first time: Everychild, who came toward him, slowly yet with assurance.
"You shall come with me," said Everychild.
And the prince replied indulgently, "With you, Everychild? But whither are you going?"
"I fare forth to find the truth," said Everychild.
Arthur replied: "It seems you should be a prince if you would find it soon. I shall find the truth before you, Everychild."