Lord Digby withdrew, and five minutes later the Puritan soldier was ushered into the old, now disused, state chamber of Henry VIII, hung with fine Flemish tapestries representing the 'Seven deadly Sins' and lit by mullioned windows looking on the Park.
Charles was already there, walking up and down; he had changed his dress since Cromwell had left him, and now wore black velvet with cherry-coloured points and gold tags; his fingers played nervously with the long gold chain which thrice circled his chest.
In the light, already slightly dim, of the large room, the grey look of his face and hair was more apparent; it was almost as if some faded carving had been joined to a living body, so extraordinarily lifeless and without light was that immobile face framed in the long, waving, colourless locks.
But in the eyes, swollen and lined, an intense vitality gleamed; the dark pupils sparkled with force and emotion under the tired, drooping lids as Charles stopped in his pacing and turned about to face Cromwell.
"I had not expected this," he said, with a haughtiness which seemed to disguise some straining passion. "What more have we to say, sir? Methought you were to come to-morrow."
"To-morrow might have been too late," said Cromwell. He spoke in his usual quiet, almost melancholy, fashion; his heavy voice held the usual deep note, enthusiastic, mournful.
He stood bareheaded, in his dusty leathers and silk scarf, his falling boots, soiled spurs, and plain tuck sword, his head a little drooping, his tanned face reddish from the ride through the autumn air.
Behind him the Gothic figures on the tapestry twisted and glowed through branches and sprays of flowers and a luxurious profusion of rare birds and uncouth beasts.
"Too late for what?" asked Charles, still endeavouring to conciliate his powerful foe, and now, he hoped, ally, still barely able to conceal his angry pride at the lack of ceremony with which he was treated, the manner in which this man came before him, his great disgust and repulsion at having to deal with such fellows at all.