"And thou," replied Cromwell, "that thou dost not underestimate thine own strength and power."
They came out into the ill-lit street, down which the sleet was sweeping in icy spears; the close, stale odours of the city encompassed them, and the bitter damp struck through their mantles and made their flesh shiver.
"Methinks," said Cromwell, "this dark air is full of portents and heavy with forebodings. Thou knowest, Mr. Pym, that we stand in a little mean street, in the cold and darkness, in the midst of a distressed and oppressed city, yet I tell thee the Lord hath us by the hand and will lead us yet into the freedom and light of great spaces, there to work His will."
CHAPTER IX
JOHN PYM AND THE KING
"This is Lord Falkland's advice," said the Queen, "and I do wonder you should so listen to one who was but lately in the forefront of your enemies and even now is close with them."
"It is the advice of the moderate men," returned Charles, with a sneer on the adjective, "and I must listen to them. Patience, my dear, my beloved. If I could win John Pym it were worth some sacrifice of pride."
"Things run more smoothly in your favour now," retorted Henriette Marie, "and you have no need for these concessions. Was not our welcome to London fair enough? And do not your friends in the Lords grow daily?"
"But the party of John Pym groweth daily also," said the King grimly, "and therefore have I sent for him."