The Prince turned over the stained and bloody coat and found the Anglican Prayer-book.
“I wonder why I brought it,” said the Englishman vaguely.
William seated himself beside the bed and began turning over the unfamiliar leaves.
“The prayer for the departing,” murmured Matthew Bromley.
The Prince put his hand to his forehead; his head was so heavy that he could hardly hold it up, and the scanty light scarcely permitted him to read the foreign print.
Matthew Bromley closed his eyes.
William had never looked on death before to-day, but he did not fail to mark that it was very near.
“What shall I read?” he asked.
“For the … sick.”
Mr. Bromley moaned a little.