"T. H. White - The Once and Future King" - читать интересную книгу автора (White T.H)

purgation, it would be impossible to find the necessary number of peers for a Queen."
Agravaine smiled.
"We don't know much about the new law," he said smoothly, "but we thought that when an assertion
could be proved, in one of these new law-courts of yours, then the need for personal combat did not
arise. Of course, we may be wrong."
"Trial by Jury," observed Sir Mordred contemptuously, "is that what you call it? Some pie-powder
affair."
Agravaine, exulting in his cold mind, thought: "Hoist with his own petard!"
The King drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. They were pressing, flanking and driving him
back. He said slowly: "You know a great deal about the law."
"For instance, uncle, if Lancelot were actually found in Guenever's bed, in front of witnesses, then there
would be no need for combat, would there?"

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"If you will forgive my saying so, Agravaine, I would prefer you to speak of your aunt by her title, at
least in front of meтАФeven in this connection."
"Aunt Jenny," remarked Mordred.
"Yes, 1 believe I have heard Sir Lancelot calling her by that name."
" 'Aunt Jenny'! 'Sir Lancelot'! 'If you will forgive my saying so!' And they are probably kissing now!"
"You must speak civilly, Mordred, or you must leave my room."
"I am sure he does not mean to be presumptuous, uncle. It is only that he is upset about the dishonour to
your fair fame. We wanted to ask for justice, and Mordred feels so deeplyтАФwellтАФfor his House. Don't
you, Mordred?"
"I don't care a damn about my House."
The King; whose face had begun to look more haggard, sighed and retained his patience.
"Well, Mordred," he said, "we had better not start wrangling about smaller things. I have no longer the
resistance to be rude about them. You tell me that my wife is the mistress of my best friend, and
apparently you are to prove this by demonstration, so let us stick to that. I take it that you understand the
implications of the charge?"
"No, I do not."
"I am sure that Agravaine will, at all events. The implications are these. If you insist on a civil proof,
instead of an appeal to the Court of Honour, the matter will go forward along the lines of civil proof.
Should you establish your case, the man who saved you both from Sir Turquine will have his head cut
off, and my wife whom I love very much, will have to be burned alive, for treason. Should you fail to
establish your case, I must warn you that I should banish you, Mordred, which would deprive you of all
hope of succession, such as it is, while I should condemn Agravaine to the stake in his turn, because by
making the accusation, he would himself have committed treason."
"Everybody knows that we could establish our case at once."
"Very well, Agravaine: you are a keen lawyer, and you are determined to have the law. I suppose it is no
good reminding vou that there is such a thing as mercy?"
"The kind of mercy," asked Mordred. "which used to set those babies adrift, in boats?"
"Thank you, Mordred. I was forgetting." "We do not want mercy," said Agravaine, "we want justice."
"I understand the situation."
Arthur put his elbows on his knees and covered his eyes with his fingers. He sat drooping for a moment,

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