given vent, Edward once more stretched himself on his cushions, and
merely muttered--

"Deserved his fate--a traitor. Is Gloucester mad--or worse, disloyal?
No; that open brow and fearless eye are truth and faithfulness alone. I
will _not_ doubt him; 'tis but his lingering love for that foul traitor,
Bruce, which I were no true knight to hold in blame. But that murder,
that base murder--insult alike to our authority, our realm--by every
saint in heaven, it shall be fearfully avenged, and that madman rue the
day he dared fling down the gauntlet of rebellion!" and as he spoke, his
right hand instinctively grasped the hilt of his sword, and half drew it
from its sheath.

"Madman, in very truth, my liege," said Aymer de Valence, Earl of
Pembroke, who, high in favor with his sovereign, alone ventured to
address him; "as your grace will believe, when I say not only hath he
dared defy thee by the murder of Comyn, but has had the presumptuous
folly to enact the farce of coronation, taking upon himself all the
insignia of a king."

"How! what sayst thou, De Valence," returned Edward, again starting up,
"coronation--king? By St. Edward! this passeth all credence. Whence
hadst thou this witless news?"

"From sure authority, my liege, marvellous as they seem. These papers,
if it please your grace to peruse, contain matters of import which
demand most serious attention."

"Anon, anon, sir earl!" answered Edward, impatiently, as Pembroke,
kneeling, laid the papers on a small table of ivory which stood at the