Within the Hollow Crown (47 page)

   But the real murderers were pressing him hard. If only Robert were here now! Doubling by the steps, Richard slipped on a stream of blood and a tall man with a face like a goat slashed at his left arm with an axe, severing a muscle. The pain was excruciating. But those interminable marches in Ireland and Wales must have toughened him. He reached up to the wall bracket and threw the torch to the stone floor, grinding it out with his heel.

   With the room plunged in darkness, the advantage was his again. He could hear his assailants stumbling and cursing as he eluded them, moving catlike in his soft leather shoes. Six paces from pillar to chair, and he had picked up the trailing houppelarde. He let the fat man come within almost an inch of him, then threw it over his head and stabbed him.

   It was then, leaning against the wall to get his breath, that he noticed the open door. So confident had they been that they had not thought to shut it, and even the meanest castle servant must have shrunk from the night's foul deed. From where Richard stood, it was only an arched oblong of faint light; but it was the way to freedom. If only he could reach it and turn their borrowed key on his assailants. Outside were the stars and the night air to cool his sweating body, and some wild chance of joining his friends.

   He began to tiptoe cautiously along the wall. Only Exton and the goat-faced man were left. But their eyes were becoming accustomed to the gloom. The goat-faced man was after him, between him and the door. He was crouching to spring. Richard's right hand shot out into the darkness and toppled the heavy iron brazier against him. He went down clutching the table cloth. Wine, dishes and candlestick crashed over him. And, trying to free himself, he clutched at Richard's wrist. At his only usable wrist, so that he was powerless to shake him off. Richard set a foot upon his throat—pressing, pressing…The goat-faced man's breath whistled in his windpipe, but still his frantic fingers were fast as a steel trap. Freedom was only a few yards in front, but Exton was somewhere in the darkness behind. Exton had heaved himself up onto the chair. Exton was swinging his cudgel upwards to strike. Richard struggled desperately to free himself. He dug his foot into the yielding flesh. God, would the man never die! Just as the clutching hand on his wrist slackened, Exton's cudgel came down on his head. Exton was a champion in the lists, and there was no need to strike twice.

   Richard's whole world reeled. His knees sagged beneath him to the stone floor. A rush of blood beat at his eardrums. But out of the engulfing darkness he could still see the open door. And the light was growing brighter—an ineffable light, more splendid than the stars. It showed him the way to unimagined freedom. With an effort which was more of the spirit than of the body, he got to his feet and staggered a few steps towards it. He heard his own voice, glad and unafraid, cry, "Anne! Anne! I'm coming…"

1. The author has divided the story of Richard's reign and life into three parts. What subtitles or descriptions would you apply to each of these parts?

2. As a Plantagenet, Richard has a long heritage of courageous warriors and brave knights to follow behind—his grandfather Edward III, his father the Black Prince, and Richard I—but he chooses a different path. In what ways is Richard different from his forebears?

3. In addition to the many legendary kings in his past, Richard is haunted by the ill-fated Edward II. How does this dual tension affect him?

4. In what ways is Richard's youth in part 1 a boon to his perspective as king? In what ways is it a hindrance?

5. When the king and his young friends learn of the beginnings of the peasants' revolt in chapter 3, we clearly see the divide that existed during the Middle Ages between the nobility and the commoners. How does this seemingly innocuous conversation inform the kind of king Richard becomes?

6. In part 1, Richard thinks he is coming to London to face his friends in a tournament. Instead, he comes face to face with a mob of peasants, a truer test of his abilities as a warrior and a

7. In chapter 8, Sudbury tells Richard that the things one does on the spur of the moment are "a true indication of character." Do you agree? Who else in the book shows his or her true character in spur-of-the moment actions?

8. When his mother dies shortly after he sentences his halfbrother, John Holland, to death, Richard blames himself. Is he in some way responsible? Which of Joan's sons should really feel responsible for her death?

9. In chapter 17, when Richard learns of the rumors being spread about his relationship with Robert de Vere, he reacts by appointing de Vere duke of Ireland. What might have been a more reasonable or effective way for Richard to try to disprove the rumors?

10. In chapter 22, we learn of Robert's surrender and abandonment of his forces when ambushed by Bolingbroke. Which of Robert's earlier actions foreshadow this unexpected cowardly side of his character?

11. In chapter 23, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, says of Richard, "I often feel he is two separate people. The gay, charming one he shows to us, and some more somber personality he keeps chained somewhere deep down below the surface." What are some moments in the story when we see the "two Richards"?

12. Even though Richard did not kill Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, directly, is he still guilty in some ways for his uncle's murder? How so?

13. In general, history has not remembered Richard II very favorably (see Author's Note). Based on the account given in Withi
n

Margaret Campbell Barnes lived from 1891 to 1962. She was the youngest of ten children born into a happy, loving family in Victorian England. She grew up in the Sussex countryside and was educated at small private schools in London and Paris.

   Margaret was already a published writer when she married Peter, a furniture salesman, in 1917. Over the next twenty years, a steady stream of short stories and verse appeared under her name (and several noms de plume) in leading English periodicals of the time, including
Windsor
,
London
,
Quiver, and others. Later, Margaret'
s agents, Curtis Brown Ltd., encouraged her to try her hand at historical novels. Between 1944 and 1962, Margaret wrote ten historical novels. Many of these were bestsellers, book club selections, and translated into foreign editions.

   Between World Wars I and II, Margaret and Peter brought up two sons, Michael and John. In August 1944, Michael, a lieutenant in the Royal Armoured Corps, was killed in his tank in the Allied advance from Caen to Falaise in Normandy. Margaret and Peter grieved terribly the rest of their lives. Glimpses of Michael shine through in each of Margaret's later novels.

   In 1945 Margaret bought a small thatched cottage on the Isle of Wight, off England's south coast. It had at one time been a smuggler's cottage, but to Margaret it was a special place in which to recover the spirit and carry on writing. And write she did. All together, over two million copies of Margaret Campbell Barnes's historical novels have been sold worldwide.