“Then it was that the end came.

“I was observing Master Raynal very closely, wondering whether he were mad or deaf, and on a sudden he lifted his eyes, and his lips closed.  He appeared to be looking at my lord, but it was another that he saw.

“I cannot describe to you, Sir John, what that change was that came to him, save by saying that I think Lazarus must have looked like that, as he heard our Saviour Christ’s voice calling to him as he lay in the tomb.  It was no longer the face of a dead man, but of a living one, and as that change came, I perceived that my lord cardinal had raised himself in his chair, and was staring, I suppose, at the young man too.  But I could not take my eyes off Master Raynal’s face.

“Then on a sudden Master Raynal smiled and drew a great breath and cried out.  It was but one word; it was the holy Name of JESUS.

“I perceived immediately that my lord cardinal had stood up at that cry, but then he sat down again, and he made a motion with his hand, and the men that held Master Raynal wheeled him about, and they went through the crowd towards the door.

“My lord cardinal turned to me, and I have never seen him so moved, but still he could not speak, and while we looked upon one another there was a great uproar everywhere—­in the court and in the palace.

“I stood there, not knowing what to do, and my lord pushed past to the window.  He, too, cried out as he looked down, and then ran from the room, and as I was following there broke in one by the door behind the chair.

“‘Where is my lord cardinal?’ he cried; ‘The King has sent for him.’

“Well, the end of the matter was that they brought Master Raynal back again, wounded and battered near to death.  The crowd that had been attendant for him had set on him as he came out—­they should have sent more bill-men before to keep the road, and the King met him in the way (for he had come to his senses again), and turned as white as ashes once more, crying out that his own craven heart had slain one more [If this king was Henry VI, the reference may be to Joan of Arc.  But Henry was only a child at the time of her death.  At the best this can be only conjecture.] servant of God, but I know not what he meant by that.  Master Raynal was taken to the King’s bed-chamber, and my lord came after.  And the King has been with him, praying and moaning ever since.”

Then I put one question to the priest.

“My lord cardinal?” I said.

“No man but the King has seen my lord cardinal since yesterday.”

* * * * *

We sat a while longer in silence, and then Master Blytchett came in to see me.

Of Sir John’s Meditations in Westminster Palace

Et existimabam cognoscere hoc:  labor est ante me

And I desired that I might know this thing:  labour in my sight.-Ps. lxxii. 16.