"Sir," said Halifax firmly, "the Prince of Orange cannot go back on what he hath undertaken." William leant forward, resting against the table; his eyes filled with tears, and he gave a short cough as if he caught his breath. "You ask too much of any man—to rule this country under the disadvantages that whelm me," he said faintly. "I was not made to be cabined in these small factions——" "We cannot do without Your Majesty," said Halifax sharply. "Are all your glorious deeds and achievements to end in this, sir?" The King put his hand before his eyes and sobbed heavily. "O God," cried Godolphin, in bitter distress, "what pass is here?" He turned on the others. "Is this to what we have brought the Prince who saved us?" The tears were in his own eyes, and his voice was broken. Halifax spoke to Caermarthen. "This is like to be the end of us, my lord," he remarked. "Cry ’finis’! for the play is over now." The King continued to weep; his whole frail figure was shaken with his passion. The last cold daylight was over his gold broideries and the crimson bracelet round his wrist. Caermarthen was pacing to and fro in a kind of frenzy. "What is to do!" he asked himself. "What is to do!" and he clutched the cambric ruffles on his bosom. Godolphin again dropped on his knees before the King and took William’s cold left hand to his lips. "Your Majesty will not leave us," he murmured, in a quivering tone. The King lifted his great eyes, blurred, yet bright, with tears. "If I stay," he answered, "it is on certain terms—I will not be the puppet of factions." He stopped, exhausted; he composed himself and flushed feverishly; his speech was interrupted by continual and painful coughing. "I will not be a party to persecution." He clenched his thin hand on the smooth curved arm of his chair, and spoke with a force and energy that gripped and almost frightened his listeners. "A measure must be passed to prevent it—and I must go to The Hague next spring." "Ireland——" began Caermarthen. William caught up the word. "I will go to Ireland—since ye think so much of that wretched country I will get it——" Even in the midst of their relief that they had moved him the ministers were shaken at this resolution. "Your Majesty cannot be spared from London," exclaimed Halifax. "I shall prorogue Parliament before I leave," answered William fiercely. "That or nothing, my lords. I do not stay here to be King Log——" They bowed before his terms as they had done in the crisis of ’88; only Shrewsbury, who saw the downfall of his party in the prorogation of a Whig Parliament, made a feeble protest. "Fever is epidemic in Ireland—the health of Your Majesty——"