LORDS AND LOVERS



  Pem.                 He alone can do it.
Lord Albemarle, and my new-graced son,
Will 't please you walk within
  Alb.                     We are your servants.
         [Exeunt Richford and Albemarle, left]
  Pem. Now, Winchester
  Win.                  You sent for me, your grac
I have made haste.
  Pem.          Ay, you'd trot fast enough
To see me die.
  Win. Nay, sir, I hope you've called
Me to your service.
  Pem.           So I have, my lord.
A task unfinished I must leave to you.
Here is the key to yonder cabinet.
Pray you unlock it . . . and take out the packet
Your eye's now on.
  Win.           This, sir
  Pem.                    Ay, that is it.
'Twas Henry Second, grandsire of this Henry,
Gave me that packet. Sir, you know the tale
Of princess Adelais who journeyed here
As the betrothed of Richard, Henry's son.
Alack, she never was his bride. Some say
That Henry loved her . . . I know not . . . but she
Returned to France, her reason wandering.
"If she recover," said the king to me,
" Give her this packet; should she die, break seal
And learn what you shall do." She did not die,
Nor can I say she lives, so sad her state.
Her age was bare fifteen when she left England,
Her face a lily and her eyes a flood;
She now must be midway her fifth decade,
A time, I've heard, when subtle changes work
Within the mind. A beauteous soul! 0 God,



ce.



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