Instantly they were torn away by the officers, and one of them was
kept in a tight grip, but the other broke loose, saying she would
die with her mother; and before she could be stopped she had flung her
arms about her mother's neck again. She was torn away once more, and
with her gown on fire.
Two or three men held her, and the burning portion of her gown was
snatched off and thrown flaming aside, she struggling all the while to
free herself, and saying she would be alone in the world now, and
begging to be allowed to die with her mother. Both the girls
screamed continually, and fought for freedom; but suddenly this tumult
was drowned under a volley of heart-piercing shrieks of mortal
agony. The king glanced from the frantic girls to the stake, then
turned away and leaned his ashen face against the wall, and looked
no more. He said, 'That which I have seen, in that one little
moment, will never go out from my memory, but will abide there; and
I shall see it all the days, and dream of it all the nights, till I
die. Would God I had been blind!'
Hendon was watching the king. He said to himself, with
satisfaction, 'His disorder mendeth; he hath changed, and groweth
gentler. If he had followed his wont, he would have stormed at these
varlets, and said he was king, and commanded that the women be
turned loose unscathed. Soon his delusion will pass away and be
forgotten, and his poor mind will be whole again. God speed the day!'
That same day several prisoners were brought in to remain
overnight, who were being conveyed, under guard, to various places
in the kingdom, to undergo punishment for crimes committed.
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