ABB. Yonder he stands: I know not what he is.
[Still he stands staring.
QUEEN. Jesus have mercy! Oxford, come not nigh him.
OX. Not nigh him, madam? yes: keep you away.
ABB. Come in, good queen; I do not mean to stay. [Exit ABBESS.
QUEEN. Nor I to stir before I see the end.[359]
OX. Why star'st thou thus? speak, fellow: answer me.
Who art thou?
BRAND. A bloody villain and a murderer!
A hundred have I slain with mine own hands.
'Twas I that starv'd the Lady Bruce to death
And her young son at Windsor Castle late:
'Tis I have slain Matilda, blessed maid,
And now will hurry to damnation's mouth,
Forc'd by the gnawing worm of conscience. [Runs in.
OX. Hold him, for God's sake! stay the desperate wretch.
MAT. O, some good pitying man compassionate
That wretched man, so woful desperate:
Save him, for God's sake! he hath set me free
From much world's woe, much wrong, much misery.
QUEEN. I hear thy tongue, true perfect charity!
Chaste maid, fair maid, look up and speak to me.