Then a little after noon, at the time when I saw his image at the door of his cell, stretching himself as if after labour or sleep, he had his release.
Now this is the one matter of which he did not tell me fully, nor would he answer when I asked him except by the words, "_Secretum meum mihi_."
["My secret is mine."] But this I know, that he saw our Lord.
And this I know, too, that with that sight his understanding came back to him, and he perceived for himself that Charity was all. He perceived, also, that he had been striving, and amiss. He had striven to bear his own sins, and for those few hours our Lord had permitted him to bear the weight. He who bears heaven and earth upon His shoulders, and who bore the burden of the sins of the world in the garden and upon the rood, had allowed this sweet soul to feel the weight of his own few little sins for those few hours.
When he saw that he made haste to cast them off again upon Him who alone can carry them and live, and to cry upon His Name; and he understood in that moment, he said, as never before, something of that pa.s.sion and of the meaning of those five wounds that he had adored so long in ignorance.
But what it was that he saw, and how it was that our Lord shewed Himself, whether on the rood, or as a child with the world in His hands, or as crowned with sharp-thorned roses, or who was with Him, if any were; I do not know. It was then that he said "_Secretum mihi._" And when Master Richard had said that, he added "_Vere languores nostros ipse tulit; et dolores nostros ipse portavit._" ["Surely He hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows" (Is. liii. 4.)]
He lay silent a good while after that, and I did not speak to him. When he spoke again, it was to bring to my mind the ma.s.ses that were to be said, and then he spoke of the Quinte Essence, and said that it was to be mine if I wished for it; and all other things of his were to be mine to do as I pleased with them, for he had no kin in the world.
And after he had spoken of these things the King came in timidly from the parlour, and stood by the door; I could see the pallour of his face against the hangings.
"Come in, my lord King," said Master Richard very faintly. "I have done what was to be done, and there now is nothing but to make an end."
The King knelt down at the further side of the bed.
"Is it the priest you want, Master Hermit?" he asked.
"Sir John will read the prayers presently," said Master Richard.
I heard the King swallow in his throat before he spoke again.
"And you will remember us all," he said, "before G.o.d"s Majesty, and in particular my poor soul in its pa.s.sion."
"How could I forget that?" asked Master Richard, and by his voice I knew that he laughed merrily to himself.
I asked him whether he would have lights.
"No, my father," he said, "there will be light enough."
It would be an hour later, I should suppose, after Master Blytchett was come back, when he put out his hand again, and I knew that he wished for the prayers.
Now there was only starlight, for he would have no candles, and the moon was not yet risen. So I went across to the parlour door, and as I went through I could see that the chamber was full of persons all silent, but it was too dark to see who they were. I asked one for a candle, and presently one was brought, and I saw that my lord cardinal was there, and ... and ... [The names are omitted as usual. This discreet scribe is very tiresome.] and many others. It was such a death-bed as a king might have.
So I read the appointed prayers, kneeling on my knees in the doorway, and I was answered by those behind me.
When I had done that, I stood up to go back, and my lord cardinal caught me by the sleeve.
"For the love of Jesu," he said, "ask if we may come in."
I went back and leaned over Master Richard, taking his hand in my own.
"My lord and the rest desire to come in, my son," I said. "If they may come, press my hand."
He pressed my hand, and I spoke in a low voice, bidding them to come in.
So they came in noiselessly, one after another; I could see their faces moving, but no more--my lord cardinal and the great n.o.bles and the grooms and the rest--till the room was half full of them.
The door was put to behind them, but I could see the line of light that shewed it, where the candle burned in the parlour beyond; and I could hear the sound of their breathing and the rustle once and again of their feet upon the rushes.
Then I knelt down, when the others had knelt, and waited for the agony to begin, when I should begin the last commendation.
My children, I have prayed by many death-beds, but I have never seen one like this.
The curtains were wide, and the windows, behind me, that he might have breath to send out his spirit; and without, as I saw when I turned to kneel, the heavens were bright with stars. This was all the light that was in the room; it was no more than dark twilight, and I could see no more of him than what I saw before, the glimmer of his face upon the pillow and his long hair beside it. His fingers were in mine, but they were very cold by now.
But he had said that there would be light enough, and so there was.
It may have been half an hour afterwards that the room began to lighten softly, as the sky brightened at moonrise, and I could see a little more plainly. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be breathing very softly through his lips.
Then the moon rose, and the light lay upon the floor at my side. Then a little after it was upon the fringes of the coverlet, and it crept up moment by moment across the leopards and lilies that were broidered in gold and blue.
At last it lay half across the bed, and I could see the King"s face very pale and melancholy upon the other side, and Master Blytchett a little behind him.
And presently it reached Master Richard"s hand and my own that lay together, but my arm was so numbed that I could feel nothing in it; I could see only that his fingers were in mine.
So the light crept up his arm to the shoulder, and when it reached his face we saw that he was gone to his reward.
Of his Burying
_Quam dilecta tabernacula tua: Domine virtutum._
How lovely are Thy tabernacles: O Lord of Hosts.--_Ps. lx.x.xiii. 1._
XVI
It was upon the next day that we took Master Richard"s body down again to the country, and there was such an attendant company as I should not have thought that all London held.
The King had ordered a great plenty of tapers and hangings and a herse such as is used....
[The MS. ends abruptly at the foot of the page.]