played a smile, half contemptuous and half languid; the high, arched
brow and delicately chiselled aquiline nose gave to his face an
expression at once bold and thoughtful. The eyes alone were not in
harmony with his face; they were neither languid like the mouth, nor
pensive like the brow. All the fire and all the bold and wanton
passion of youth shot from those dark, flashing eyes. When he looked
down, he might have been taken for a completely worn-out,
misanthropic aristocrat; but when he raised those ever-flashing and
sparkling eyes, then was seen the young man full of dashing courage
and ambitious desires, of passionate warmth and measureless pride.

He approached the king, as already stated, and as he bent his knee
before him, he said in a full, pleasant voice:

"Mercy, sire, mercy!"

The king stepped back in astonishment, and turned upon the bold
speaker a look almost of amazement.

"Thomas Seymour!" said he. "Thomas, you have returned, then, and
your first act is again an indiscretion and a piece of foolhardy
rashness?"

The young man smiled. "I have returned," said he, "that is to say, I
have had a sea-fight with the Scots and taken from them four men-of-
war. With these I hastened hither to present them to you, my king
and lord, as a wedding-gift, and just as I entered the anteroom I
heard your voice pronouncing a sentence of death. Was it not
natural, then, that I, who bring you tidings of a victory, should
have the heart to utter a prayer for mercy, for which, as it seems,