The King Orgulous 275

Talisso fell backwards, thrusting with his
feet and thrashing the ground with his hands;
his crown fell from his head and rolled away ;
his face grew set and white; and then he lay
straight and rigid.

“ Hast thou filled his mouth ?”

“ His mouth, Lord, is filled,” the Angel
answered.

This was the dream of Desiderius.

When citizens came running to the palace,
and the Archbishop learned how the gates
had been surprised and the castle taken,
he lost no time in casting about what he
should do. He sent messengers to summon
the Council of the Elders, and bade his men-
at-arms fall into array. Then he hastened
to the High Church, and, after a brief prayer
before the altar, girt on the great sword of
St. Victor, threw over his purple cassock the
white mantle of the Saint, and putting on
his head a winged helm of iron, made his
way to the castle where Talisso awaited his
capture.

“Stay you here,” he said to his men-at-
arms when they reached the portals, “and if
by God’s blessing work fall to your hands