Oliver Cromwell crumpled up the letter with a gesture of, for him, unusual agitation.
"So it is over!" he muttered. He gazed at his wife with eyes that did not see her; drops of sweat stood out on his forehead and his lips quivered.
"What is over?" asked Elisabeth Cromwell, in terrified tones.
He drew himself together with an effort.
"The reign of Charles Stewart," he replied simply.
CHAPTER IX
BY WHAT AUTHORITY?
The Lords having rejected the ordinance for bringing the King to trial, the Commons, always under the influence of the army, declared themselves capable of enforcing their own act by their own law, "the People being, under God, the original of all just power."
Charles was hurried from Windsor to St. James's, and the day after his arrival in London put on his trial for having endeavoured to subvert his people's rights, for having levied war on them with the help of foreign troops, and with having, after once being spared, endeavoured by all wicked arts to again involve the kingdom in bloody confusion.