And when it was done, I cried, facing them all in my joy before I descended: "And there it shall stay: and hereafter they shall say whose it was."
"'They,' Mistress Drayton?" cried the Prince. "Who are 'they'? Thy children?"
And I wished heartily then for a more lowly station. But princes will be answered, and, for all the shame I felt, I answered the Prince of Orange.
"Yes, Your Highness," I said. "The children of Royston and Drayton shall say—shall say that it is—
"The sword of the Prince of Orange?" says His Highness, willing to help me in my confusion.
"Not so, I hope and pray to God," I answered. "May He grant that it then be the sword of their King."
And this is the story of the sword that was his that is the King. For my own, it did not end there, nor is it ended yet.
THE END