She buried her face in her hands and burst into tears--"Cruel, cruel," she said, "of the king, of the queen, to let him die." "It was the Parliament which hunted him to death," said Harry, bitterly. "And the king did try to save him." "The Parliament is wicked, and hated him, and I don't care what they did," said Lettice, looking up with a flushed face; "but the king, oh, Mother, you said the king would never let Lord Strafford die. What is the use of being a king if kings can only _try_ to do things like other people. I thought kings could _do_ the things they thought right. He was faithful to the king, was he not, Mother?" "A devoted servant to the king Lord Strafford surely was," said Lady Lucy, "whether a good counsellor or no. I did not think the king would have given him up. Did no one plead for him?" she asked. "He pleaded with a wonderful eloquence for himself," said Harry Davenant, "that might well-nigh have turned the heads of his bitterest enemies, and did win the hearts of every one who heard him." "But the king did try to save him?" said Lady Lucy, clinging to this. "The king called his privy council together," said Harry Davenant, "last Sunday, when the bill of attainder had passed through the Lords and Commons, and said he had doubts and scruples about assenting to it, and asked their advice. Dr. Juxon, Bishop of London, counselled him never to consent to the shedding of what he believed innocent blood. But the rest of the council advised him to yield.-- And the king yielded." "Some people," he continued, "think the king was justified by a letter the earl wrote him on the Tuesday before, wherein he offered his life in this world to the king with all cheerfulness; nay, even counselled the sacrifice to reconcile him to his people, saying, 'To a willing man there is no injury done.'" "Oh, Harry," said Lettice, "the king could give him up _after that_?" "It is said the earl scarcely believed it when he heard it, and that he laid his hand on his heart and exclaimed, 'Put not your trust in princes.'" "And well he might!" exclaimed Lettice, her tears dried by the fire of her indignation. "Hush, child, hush!" said Lady Lucy. "The king made another effort to save him," Harry continued; "he wrote to the Lords recommending imprisonment instead of death; and at the end of the letter he added a postscript: 'If he must die, it were charity to relieve him till Saturday.'" "A miserable, cold request!" exclaimed Lettice, vehemently; "more cruel than the sentence." "I would have expected this from his father," murmured Sir Walter, "but not from the king." Then turning from a painful subject, he added, "The earl died bravely, no doubt."