KENILWORTH - Penn State University

Sir Walter Scottship the justice to address myself first to you.”The thrill of astonishment which had penetrated toLeicester’s very heart at hearing that name pronounced by thevoice of the man he most detested, and by whom he conceivedhimself so deeply injured, at first rendered him immovable,but instantly gave way to such a thirst for revenge asthe pilgrim in the desert feels for the water-brooks. He hadbut sense and self-government enough left to prevent his stabbingto the heart the audacious villain, who, after the ruin hehad brought upon him, dared, with such unmoved assurance,thus to practise upon him further. Determined to suppressfor the moment every symptom of agitation, in order to perceivethe full scope of Tressilian’s purpose, as well as to securehis own vengeance, he answered in a tone so altered by restrainedpassion as scarce to be intelligible, “And what doesMaster Edmund Tressilian require at my hand?”“Justice, my lord,” answered Tressilian, calmly but firmly.“Justice,” said Leicester, “all men are entitled to. You, MasterTressilian, are peculiarly so, and be assured you shall have it.”“I expect nothing less from your nobleness,” answeredTressilian; “but time presses, and I must speak with you tonight.May I wait on you in your chamber?”“No,” answered Leicester sternly, “not under a roof, andthat roof mine own. We will meet under the free cope ofheaven.”“You are discomposed or displeased, my lord,” repliedTressilian; “yet there is no occasion for distemperature. Theplace is equal to me, so you allow me one half-hour of yourtime uninterrupted.”“A shorter time will, I trust, suffice,” answered Leicester.“Meet me in the Pleasance when the Queen has retired to herchamber.”“Enough,” said Tressilian, and withdrew; while a sort of raptureseemed for the moment to occupy the mind of Leicester.“Heaven,” he said, “is at last favourable to me, and has putwithin my reach the wretch who has branded me with thisdeep ignominy—who has inflicted on me this cruel agony. Iwill blame fate no more, since I am afforded the means oftracing the wiles by which he means still further to practiseon me, and then of at once convicting and punishing his villainy.To my task—to my task! I will not sink under it now,since midnight, at farthest, will bring me vengeance.”419