Friday’s dawn came in stealthily, with a mist that foretold1 heat, masking the windings2 of the river. The King’s standard on the White Tower hung in folds against the pole, and haze3 covered the city, a silver fog through which the towers and steeples struck, sending their wind vanes and fleches to glitter in the sunlight.
Knollys and Walworth the Mayor were on the platform of the White Tower soon after dawn, peering down like hawks4 into the dark spaces outside the walls. What would the mob’s temper be? What manner of sunset would follow this stealthy dawn? There was much movement down yonder. All through the night a restless murmur6 had risen from the streets and alleys7. Seen through the haze, the square of St. Catharine looked like a stagnant8 pool swarming10 with tadpoles11.
Soon after dawn hundreds of peasants came crowding to the gates and walls. They crowed like cocks, and the conceit12 seemed to please them.
“Cock-a-doodle-do!”
“Up, all slug-a-beds! St. George and the King!”
They took up the cry.
“Ha, for King Richard and the Commons! Send us out our King.”
Other great lords joined Knollys and Walworth on the platform of the White Tower. They stood in a group, close to the drooping13 standard, listening to the cries of the mob. Their faces were very grave and grim.
“To-day’s game is a game of chess, sirs, and it is the King’s move. Knights14, castles, and bishops15 are of no account.”
Salisbury struck the standard pole with his fist.
“St. George and King Richard for Merrie England! That is our cry. The lad shall serve. Let these hinds17 march to Mile End, and meet the King face to face. We will send our trumpeters to the outer gate. Now God in heaven alone knows what this day will bring.”
It was six o’clock when trumpets18 sounded from the outer gate and a herald19 wearing the King’s coat stood out against the sky line. Thousands of heads came crowding forward. The herald held up his hand for silence, and his big voice carried.
“St. George and King Richard for England! Ye Commons and good men all, take heed, and hear the words of the King. ‘I will come forth22 and speak with my people, and meet them face to face. None shall stand between us. I, Richard the King, am King!’ Therefore, sirs, march you to Mile End peaceably, in good order, like honest fellows. The King will ride out and bring you banners. Shout for St. George and King Richard!”
And shout they did, like madmen.
The King’s company gathered in the great court, while the King heard Mass in the chapel23, Simon of Sudbury serving at the altar, little thinking that it was to be his last Mass. Salisbury, Warwick, Knollys, Walworth, and Cavendish were with the bastard King. He walked in their midst down the stairway, and they held close to him when he came out from the gloom of the entry into the full June sunlight.
His banners were gathered below. Trumpets blew; the men of the guard tossed their pikes. All eyes sought the King. He was in red and white, a light gold crown set upon his velvet24 cap, his sword at his side, a rich collar of gold about his throat, his gloves studded with jewels. He stood there for a moment at the head of the stairway in the midst of the great lords, his face white in the sunlight, the proud face of a King.
A great silence held. Those who gazed upon him wondered. It was a King who had come out to them—not a cringing25, frightened boy. The weak figure had stiffened26; the eyes were furtive27 no longer; the mouth was straight and purposeful.
But no idle gazing was to be suffered. The great lords kept close about their King, and stood round him while he mounted his white horse. He looked at no one, spoke28 to none, but kept his soul for the great adventure. The trumpets blew, the banners swayed; King Richard, at the head of his lords and gentlemen, rode forward to meet the Commons.
Cavendish rode a little behind the King and on his left, a grim man with watchful29 eyes. Salisbury and Warwick were close at his heels. Knollys and Walworth rode with the main company, shadowing the King’s half-brothers, Sir John Holland and the Earl of Kent.
There was a moment’s halt under the arch of the outer gate, for one of the bars had jammed in its socket30; and while the porters were tugging31 at it Knollys came pushing forward till his horse was close to the King’s.
“Sir, a word in your ear.”
He leant over.
“Sir, you have two half-brothers, you remember, apt to be hot-headed fools. I have caught them giving each other strange looks. The mob does not love them.”
“Sir, it would be better to rid ourselves of them. Take your chance, or shall I bid them save their skins?”
“Send the young hounds hunting it! The two young meddlers!”
Knollys bit his moustache.
“I carry the King’s orders. A word to them—that their heads have been asked for! We will wait our chance on the way, and smuggle35 them into the city to hide.”
“Good, very good.”
One of the porters who had been peering through the grille came to them with a white face.
“Sirs, the crowd is great without.”
“Tsst! they have marched to Mile End.”
“Sirs, not the Kentish men.”
Fulk waved him aside.
“Well, am I afraid of my own people! Open the gates. Let the trumpets blow. Now, sirs, for St. George and Richard of England!”
The gate swung back and the young King on the white horse rode out into the sea of heads and faces. For the moment a great silence held—the silence of a mistrustful crowd whose goodwill36 hangs upon the flash of an eye or the set of a head; but this lad with the crown rode out proudly. His eyes were steady and fearless, and he smiled at the crowd.
“Good sirs, well met.”
His courage captured them. The cock of his head, the braced-back shoulders, the blue metal of his eyes, these things counted. These rough fellows from the fields shouted tumultuously and crowded about him.
“King Richard for Merrie England!”
Fulk stood in his stirrups.
“Sirs, I am Richard your King. To Mile End! Follow my banners.”
The crowd made way for him, and he passed with his company of lords and gentlemen, who rode close together and scarcely looked at the crowd. The banners swept under the arch of the gate, and the men of Kent were on the move—all save a few who seemed to stare and loiter as though a King and such a company were not to be seen more than once in a lifetime. The porters were closing the gate when these loiterers gathered suddenly, rushed in a body through the barriers, hurled37 back the half-closed gate, and struck down the guards and porters. They stood there shouting and tossing their weapons.
The tail of the King’s company was not fifty paces away, and some of the riders faltered38; white faces looked back over half-turned shoulders.
“S’death—they have taken the gate behind us!”
“Ride on, ride on, sir. Look not back.”
Fulk had not faltered. He looked at the Kentish men who crowded round him, and smiled.
“Shout for King Richard, sirs.”
Fulk rode on, to behold41 a marvel42—a marvel that wiped the crowd of faces away from before his eyes. Halfway43 across St. Catharine’s Square a wagon44 was standing45 in the thick of the press, with a swarm9 of brown figures clinging to it to get a view, and in the front of the wagon, like a red torch burning amid brushwood, stood Isoult of the Rose.
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1
foretold
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
windings
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| （道路、河流等）蜿蜒的，弯曲的( winding的名词复数 )； 缠绕( wind的现在分词 )； 卷绕； 转动（把手） | |
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3
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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4
hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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5
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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6
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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7
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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8
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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9
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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10
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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11
tadpoles
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| n.蝌蚪( tadpole的名词复数 ) | |
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12
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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13
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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14
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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15
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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16
bastard
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| n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子 | |
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17
hinds
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| n.（常指动物腿）后面的( hind的名词复数 )；在后的；（通常与can或could连用）唠叨不停；滔滔不绝 | |
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18
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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19
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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20
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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21
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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22
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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23
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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24
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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25
cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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26
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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27
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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28
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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29
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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30
socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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31
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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32
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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33
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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35
smuggle
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| vt.私运；vi.走私 | |
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36
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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37
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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38
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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39
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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41
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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42
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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43
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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44
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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45
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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