A room in the lodgings of the Earl of Derby, in Paris, three years later

SCENE VI.  A room in Conway Castle, six months later

SCENE VII. A room in the Tower of London, a month later

ACT I

SCENE I

The corridor outside the council chamber in the King’s Palace of Westminster, February 1385. In the middle are the double doors of the chamber. To the left of the door, in the rear wall, is a large mullioned window, through which a pale spring sun is shining. The corridor is wide, and deserted except for two PAGES who, half kneeling, half sitting on the floor down stage, are throwing dice. One page is fair and slender, the other square and dark.

FAIR PAGE. That is the whole of last month’s allowance gone.

DARK PAGE. There is always next month’s.

FAIR PAGE. Very true. Your throw.

DARK PAGE. (_playing with the dice and glancing at the door_). How much longer do you think they will be! They have been two hours there at least. What can they find to do?

FAIR PAGE. Contradict each other. And when they are tired of contradicting each other they contradict the King.

DARK PAGE. It seems a waste of time. I wish they would stop it. I’m hungry.

FAIR PAGE. (_glancing at the door_). So is the Duke of York, I expect. He will shepherd them out to dine presently.

DARK PAGE. (_preparing to throw_). At any rate, Robert de Vere will be funny about them at supper to-night, and I am on duty. That is a pleasant thought. (_Throws_.)

(_The door of the chamber is burst open impetuously, and RICHARD emerges, furious. The noise of the roughly opened door is drowned in the exclamations of the two pages as they read the DARK PAGE’S throw, and the door is shut quietly from inside, so that the pages are unaware of the King’s appearance. RICHARD stands a moment raging silently. He is at this time nineteen; a slender, delicately made youth with a finely cut, expressive face, and the fair colouring and red-gold hair which made his mother famous as the Fair Maid of Kent._)

(_His eye comes to rest on the two absorbed figures bent over the dice, and curiosity and interest gradually replace the anger in his face. He tiptoes over until he can lean over and watch._)

DARK PAGE.