"Cast yourself at the King's feet, tell him all; and when you have said the last words, 'The princes, thy sons, be dead; thy daughter also, she likewise is dead'—then pause and say in a loud voice, 'Remember Wales!'"
The child was dismissed. He passed behind a curtain, then through the door into the royal presence.
All without stood hushed, trembling with emotion, hardly breathing, none looking on another.
Then, in the stillness, came a loud and piercing cry; a cry that cut to the hearts of such as heard it like a stiletto.
In another moment Henry staggered forth, blanched, and as one drunk, with hands extended and lifted before his face, and in a harsh voice, like a madman's shriek, he cried: "It has come. The judgment of God! I am a dry and a branchless tree, blasted in the midst of life—blasted in the hour of victory." Then he reeled to a table, threw himself on his knees, laid his head on his hands, and burst into tears.
None moved. None ventured near him. The Bishop of London was there—but he felt that no words of his were of avail now.
So they stood hardly breathing, watching the stricken man, who quivered in the agony of his bereavement.
Presently he lifted his face—so altered as to be hardly recognizable, livid as that of a corpse, and running down with tears. He turned towards Nest and said—"Go, woman, go—it shall be as thou hast desired. I am judged."
What had occurred needs but a few words of explanation.
When the White Ship started the captain assured Prince William that such was her speed that she would overtake the King's ship, and even pass it and leave behind the royal squadron. The signal was given, and the White Ship left the harbor, impelled to her utmost speed by fifty excited rowers; but she had not proceeded far before she was driven violently against a reef, which stove in two planks of her starboard bow. Prince William was put into the boat, and was already on his way towards the land when, hearing the cries of his sister from the sinking vessel, he ordered his rowers to put back and save her. He was obeyed; but on reaching the wreck such a rush was made by the frantic passengers to enter their boat that she was swamped, and the whole crowd was swallowed in the scarcely troubled sea. William and Richard, the two sons of Henry, and their sister Matilda, and three hundred others, chiefly persons of exalted rank, perished on this occasion.