SCENE VI.--_An audience room in the Castle. Enter_ MORDRED, SIR

AGRAVAINE _and other_ Knights.

_Mordred._ ’Tis a delicate business we be come upon, Though one of grave importance, therefore I Will stand i’ the background, thou Sir Agravaine, Being a kinsman not o’ the sinister side, May speak the plainer. Let it fall on me. Yea, I will answer with my body here.

_Sir Ag._ Yea, I will put it plainly to the King, And show the evil placed upon our house, And that foul insult tendered King and kingdom, By overbearing Launcelot and the Queen.

_Other Knights._ Yea, we are with you.

_Enter a_ Page.

_Sir Ag._ We would see the King.

_Exit_ Page, _enter_ ARTHUR.

_Arthur._ What means this sudden assembling of knights At this strange hour?

_Sir Ag._ We would bring a matter to thy hearing, King, Of grave import unto thyself and us Of thine own household, who’d uphold thy pride. Yea, one affecting the dignity of this land.

_Arthur._ What be this matter?

_Sir Ag._ The matter is one which toucheth thine own honor, And hath to do with Launcelot and the Queen.

_Arthur._ Dost thou insult thy King? (_Draws._)

_Sir Ag._ Nay, thou dost insult thyself and us, Doth thou not listen!

_Other Knights._ Yea, King, ’tis true.

_Arthur._ ’Tis treason, damnable treason ’gainst my Queen, ’Gainst myself and ’gainst this noble kingdom.

_Sir Ag._ Wilt thou hear me, King?

_Other Knights._ Yea, hear him.

_Arthur._ Then I will hear thee further, but ’tis plain, You prove this on your bodies to the death. If this strange lie be not as true as Heaven, Each man who thinks this damnéd treason dies!

_Knights._ ’Tis just King, we will prove it on our bodies.

_Sir Ag._ We think, Lord Arthur, thou art over-blind To certain things that compromise thine honor, And some of us have reason to suspect Sir Launcelot holdeth commerce with the Queen.

_Arthur._ Stop! Catiff!

_Sir Ag._ Wilt thou not hear it?

_Arthur._ Have ye forgotten that my name is Arthur? Or is this nobleness a vanished dream? ’Tis damnable!

_Sir Ag._ We would prove this same upon our bodies, By taking of them in the very act.

_Arthur._ No more! by heaven, no more! I say, no more! Or by my crown, I’ll cleave thy catiff tongue, And spatter thine evil brains on yonder pavement, That dared impeach my royalty of such dis-honor.

_Sir Ag._ Nay, King, we will die for the truth of this matter.

_Knights._ Yea, Lord Arthur, we are so prepared.

_Arthur._ Nay, ye are mad, blind, besotted mad.

_Sir Ag._ Nay, King, here is Sir Mordred who will show The truth whereof we speak. [MORDRED _comes forward_.

_Arthur._ Ha! And it is thou that art at the bottom o’ this matter!

_Mordred._ Sire, I would but do my duty to this kingdom, And to the honor of your kingly place. Sir Agravaine is over-blunt in speech, And speaketh sudden on a cruel matter; Yet he hath but the right in this grave question, Nor doth dishonor thee in this respect More than do any of these royal knights, But rather would show wherein thine honor lieth. If dishonor lies therein, it doth not lie On them who’d prove the evilment suspected, But rather on those who by their treasonable act Hath brought this shame upon us. It would seem That thou dost love Sir Launcelot even more Than the unsullied honor of thy Queen.

_Arthur._ Nay! Speak no more! Thou hast insulted Arthur. If but one thousandth part of this be true, Then is great Arthur’s glory brought to ground.

_Mordred._ Sire!

_Arthur._ No more of words! What wouldst thou have me do?

_Mordred._ Sire, we would that thou give the opportunity To prove the cruel substance of our coming By taking the doers in the very act, And trapping Launcelot in the Queen’s apartment.

_Arthur._ Go on! Death! Speak on! Accursed me!

_Mordred._ If thou wilt go abroad this coming night, And advertise thy going, and grant to us Sufficient knights to make the matter proof, We will fulfil this matter with our lives.

_Knights._ We will.

_Arthur._ And it hath come to this!

_Mordred._ Sire, wilt thou grant this?

_Arthur._ Yea, I will grant it, but by Arthur’s honor, The knight returning from such vile ambushment Without full proof unto the open world Of that which spills the sea of Arthur’s glory, Shall die the foulest death this kingdom lends! On this condition only do you go.

_Mordred._ Yea, we accept the conditions.

_Knights._ Yea, we do. [_Curtain._