‚JA 
SHORT STUDIES. 
Becket’s face flushed. Fitzurse went on: ‘We 
bring you the commands of the king beyond the 
sea; will you hear us in public or in private?’ 
Becket said he cared not. ‘In private, then,’ said 
Fitzurse. The monks thought afterwards that Fitzurse 
had meant to kill the archbishop where he sat. If 
the knights had entered the palace, thronged as it 
was with men, with any such intention, they would 
scarcely have left their swords behind them. The 
room was cleared, and a short altercation followed, of 
which nothing is. known save that it ended speedily 
in high words on both sides. Becket called in his 
clergy again, his lay servants being excluded,! and 
bade Fitzurse go on. ‘Be it so, Sir Reginald said. 
‘Listen then to what the king says. When the peace 
was made, he put aside all his complaints against 
you. He allowed you to return, as you desired, free 
to your see. You have now added contempt to your 
other offences. You have broken the treaty. Your 
pride has tempted you to defy your lord and master 
to your own sorrow. You have censured the bishops 
by whose ministration the prince was crowned. You 
have pronounced an anathema against the king’s 
ministers, by whose advice he is guided in the 
management of the Empire. You have made it plain 
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