Nottingham looked at him with contempt.
"Will Your Majesty forsake your friends?" he asked sombrely. "Where do we stand if Your Majesty resigns the position we asked you to accept?"
"Sir," said Halifax firmly, "the Prince of Orange cannot go back on what he hath undertaken."
William leant forward, resting against the table; his eyes filled with tears, and he gave a short cough as if he caught his breath.
"You ask too much of any man—to rule this country under the disadvantages that whelm me," he said faintly. "I was not made to be cabined in these small factions——"
"We cannot do without Your Majesty," said Halifax sharply. "Are all your glorious deeds and achievements to end in this, sir?"
The King put his hand before his eyes and sobbed heavily.
"O God," cried Godolphin, in bitter distress, "what pass is here?" He turned on the others. "Is this to what we have brought the Prince who saved us?"
The tears were in his own eyes, and his voice was broken.
Halifax spoke to Caermarthen.