The King lay breathing with difficulty and he seemed to be dying when Harry arrived.
He knelt by his father's side. The King looked at him with glazed eyes and murmured his name.
Tather, I am come,' said Harry.
'Where am I?' asked the King.
'You are in the Jerusalem chamber in the Abbey,' Harry told him.
The King smiled faintly. 'They told me I would die in Jerusalem,' he said. 'Send in the crow^n.'
It w^as brought and laid beside him on a cushion made of cloth of gold.
The King seemed satisfied.
He closed his eyes.
Those about him watched him closely.
'It is the end,' said one.
'He is no longer with us,' said another.
Harry knelt at his father's side and looked at that face made hideous by the disease from which he had suffered. Joanna knelt at his other side. She raised her eyes and looked across her husband at Harry.
He is the King now, she thought.
Harry said: *It is all over,' and one of the attendants placed a silk towel across the King's face.
'It is for you to take the crown, my lord,' said one of Harry's followers.
He picked it up and even as he did so the King moved as though aware of what was happening.
The towel was removed from his face and Henry opened his eyes and looked straight at his son who was standing be-
side him with the crown in his hands.
'What right have you to it, my son,' he said, 'seeing that I had none?'
Harry answered promptly: 'Sire, as you have held it and kept it by the sword, so will I hold it and keep it as long as I shall live/
'I am not yet dead,' he said. 'They would have sent me off before I am ready. But my time is near. Do as you will but now recommend me to God and pray that He will have mercy on my soul.'
The King took the sacrament and closed his eyes; but even now he lingered on.
'Harry,' he said, 'come close to me. This is our last farewell. I love you well. I am proud of you. Always deserve that pride, my son. Look at me now. I was once strong as you are now. Think, in the midst of your glory and prosperity, of the kingdom to which I go and whither you must come. Love the Lord God and fear him. Be not too fond of ease but engage rather in the things of God and in those pleasures and sports which have in them nothing of the foulness of vice. Pay my debts and may God give you his blessing, laden with all good things that you may live iDlessed for ever and ever.'
Harry was deeply moved. He promised his father that he would endeavour to be all that he would wish him to be.
The King smiled and lay back.
This time there was no doubt that he was dead.
Harry had become King Henry the Fifth.
OLDCASTLE
The night was stormy. There were few people in the streets but those who were might have seen a cloaked figure hurrying along towards the Abbey. None would have guessed that it was the King of a few hours. Purposefully he strode, ducking his head against the wind until he came to the doors of the Abbey.
He entered and as he did so a monk came towards him.
*I would speak with you, brother. I would confess my sins and ask absolution,' said Henry.
*My lord!' cried the monk, for there w^as no mistaking the authoritative tones of the new King. *At this hour ...'
'Enough of the hour. I have urgent work. Come. Take me to the confessional.'
Tollow me,' said the monk.
So Henry followed and there in the confessional he went down on his knees and burying his face in his hands he said: 1 have lived a life of dissipation. I have been a diligent follower of idle practices. I swear by God and all his saints that from this day I shall alter my course.'
'The Lord will hear your resolution, my son,' said the holy man. 'You are young. You have years ahead to make recompense for past follies.'
*I must tell you of the heinous sins I have committed. I have been wicked, profligate, a frequenter of low taverns and an associate of robbers and prostitutes. I have been a slave to
vice. I have turned my back on virtues. I have caused great anxiety to my father. I have been wanton in my ways.. /
'Repent,' said the monk. 'Truly repent. You are young yet. You have a lifetime before you.'
1 have lived on this earth for twenty-six years, Father, and I have committed more sins than the average man commits in three score years.'
'Take heart, my son. You have opportunities ahead of you. Devote your life to the service of your country. Eschew your fleshly desires. Put on the mantle of a King and a virtuous King and the barren willow will be converted into a fruitful olive.'
'Give me your blessing and let me confess to you that you may know^ all.'
There were a few seconds of silence and then the King began to talk of those nights he had spent in the lowest taverns of East Cheap, of the orgies in which he had played a major part. He wished to conceal nothing. The holy man must know how low he had sunk.
The monk listened and at the end of the King's recital, he said: 'Go your way. Your sins will be washed away by the good deeds you will perform.'
But the King w^as not yet satisfied.
'My father died in great remorse,' he said. 'And I who have inherited his crown must share that remorse. He believed at the end that he had no right to the crown, that he had taken it from Richard and that he would have to pay for this action. Richard's death ...'
'That is a heavy sin to lie on any conscience,' interrupted the monk. 'If the King your father murdered his predecessor ... he cannot hope to enter the kingdom of heaven.'
'He did not murder Richard by his own hand. He did not mean him to die, mayhap. But Richard died at the hands of those who served my father. If he did not actually kill him, he believed he shared that guilt. It hung heavily on his conscience.'
'And you, my lord, you knew nothing of this?'
'I was recently returned from Ireland. The crown passed into my father's hand while I was in that country. I knew nothing of Richard's death save that it had to be for the safety of my father.'
* 'Twill not be laid at your door, my son. Ease your con-
science by giving Richard a royal burial/
1 will have him laid in this Abbey. It is his rightful place/ *Go in peace, my son. Change your ways. Throw off the
cloak of vice and \\Tap yourself round with that of virtue. Serve
your people well, for in that way you will best serve God.' When the King came out into the night he felt uplifted.
Harry the dissolute Prince had been replaced by Henry the
resolute King.
The Coronation was to be on Passion Sunday, the ninth of April in that year 1413.
The King was already beginning to astound all those about him by his serious demeanour.
Many said it would not last. They would soon have Harry filling the Court with his dissolute companions. This dedicated role was one which was new to him but they had to admit that he played it with skill.
He had not seen his drinking companions for days; and they had left Court on his suggestion. He was in close touch with his uncles the Beauforts, and gave Henry Beaufort back the Chancellorship from which he had resigned on being nominated to the Bishopric of Winchester. The Earl of Arundel had been a great favourite with his father but Henry did not share his father's devotion to the man, although he realized that the head of such a powerful family must not be offended. He was appointed Treasurer. Henry did public penance for his father's sins and everyone knew that what he really had in mind was the compassing of the crown for he had had Richard's body removed from Langley and buried in Westminster Abbey; and he announced that on coronation day he intended to grant a general pardon to all prisoners except those who had been imprisoned for murder or rape.