Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/343

[To the workmen hanging the curtains from the canopy.
Can we make too much haste—At that height—good!—
[To Enoch.]When for my Lord Protector we erect
A throne?
Second Workman. A throne? The ceremony's for to-day?
The Master Workman.Ay.—Luckily the platform's well-nigh done.
[To Enoch.]Ah! we have never—
[To the workmen nailing the boards.
Ah! we have never—Ho! you, there—less noise!
[To Enoch.
Done aught in such hot haste, save on that night—
Enoch.What night?
The Master Workman.Have you forgot—'twas eight years since—
The night of January twenty-ninth
And thirtieth.—A dark and bitter night?
Then, too, we wrought for my Lord Oliver.
Second Workman.
Did we not build the scaffold of King Charles
That night?
The Master Workman.
Yes, Tom.—But is it thus we 're wont to speak
Of the becrowned Barabbas, th' English Pharaoh?
Enoch [as if mustering his recollections.
I see it now.—We set the scaffold close
Against the wall. No rough-hewn framework that,
Whereon dog Jews to hang and witches burn;
But a black scaffold, well and stoutly built,
As was most meet. 'Twas level with a window.
No ladder to ascend. 'Twas most convenient!
The Master Workman.
And strong, to bear all Herod's progeny!
No stronger timbers Robin could have found.