. Henry II . red gloom ofthe dim evening Becket was not at first visible, andhe could easily have escaped into the darkness of thecrypt or by the neighbouring stairway to the safety of the roof, but hearing cries of Where is the traitor ?Where is the archbishop ? he stepped forward,saying, Here am I, no traitor but the priest ofGod. And I marvel that you are come into thechurch of God in such guise. What will ye with. me ? To their threats of instant death he repliedI by commending his soul to God, St. Mary, St.,i Denis, and St. Elphage, and their endeavours todrive or drag him out of the chur
. Henry II . red gloom ofthe dim evening Becket was not at first visible, andhe could easily have escaped into the darkness of thecrypt or by the neighbouring stairway to the safety of the roof, but hearing cries of Where is the traitor ?Where is the archbishop ? he stepped forward,saying, Here am I, no traitor but the priest ofGod. And I marvel that you are come into thechurch of God in such guise. What will ye with. me ? To their threats of instant death he repliedI by commending his soul to God, St. Mary, St.,i Denis, and St. Elphage, and their endeavours todrive or drag him out of the church he resisted withi all his strength, striking William Tracy a blow which almost felled him to the ground. Tracy repliedwith a cut at his head, but Edward Grim, one ofthe only three clerks who had remained with theirmaster, intercepted the blow with his arm. Althoughmost of the force of the stroke was spent on EdwardGrim it drew blood from the archbishops second blow, from Reynolds sword, drove Becket. THE MURDER OF BECKETFrom Harl. MS. 5102) 1170] THE STRUGGLE WITH BECKET 99 to his knees, and with the third he fell with his armsstretched out towards the altar of St. he fell Richard le Breton struck him againwith such violence that his sword broke upon thepavement, crying, Take that for the love of mylord William, the kings brother, Richard havingserved the young William, whose early death wasattributed to the foiling of his matrimonial schemesby Becket. As the assassins turned to leave thechurch, one Hugh Mauclerc, whose name is unknownto history save for this infamy, thrust his swordinto Beckets gaping skull and scattered his brainsupon the pavement. Thus fell Thomas Becket, theobstinate and imperious archbishop, and thus rosefrom his dead body Thomas of Canterbury, martyrand virtual patron saint of England. Having wreaked their vengeance on the archbishop the murderers turned to the plunder of his of value they seized, sending oft a parc
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