"Tush!" said the king, petulantly, "the noblest part of a king's
nature is his pride as king!" Again he strode the chamber, and again
halted. "But the earl hath fallen into his own snare,--he hath
promised in my name what I will not perform. Let the people learn
that their idol hath deceived them. He asks me to dismiss from the
court the queen's mother and kindred!"

Hastings, who in this went thoroughly with the earl and the popular
feeling, and whose only enemies in England were the Woodvilles,
replied simply,--

"These are cheap terms, sire, for a king's life and the crown of
England."

Edward started, and his eyes flashed that cold, cruel fire, which
makes eyes of a light colouring so far more expressive of terrible
passions than the quicker and warmer heat of dark orbs. "Think you
so, sir? By God's blood, he who proffered them shall repent it in
every vein of his body! Hark ye, William Hastings de Hastings, I know
you to be a deep and ambitious man; but better for you had you covered
that learned brain under the cowl of a mendicant friar than lent one
thought to the counsels of the Earl of Warwick."

Hastings, who felt even to fondness the affection which Edward
generally inspired in those about his person, and who, far from
sympathizing, except in hate of the Woodvilles, with the earl, saw
that beneath that mighty tree no new plants could push into their
fullest foliage, reddened with anger at this imperious menace.

"My liege," said he, with becoming dignity and spirit, "if you can