Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/185

Rh One of the ladies of Hermioneher name was Paulinawho was very fearless and outspoken, declared she would take the babe to Leontes to see if the sight of it would not move his heart to pity. So, with the infant in her arms, she pushed her way through the attendants who surrounded the king, and knelt at his feet, holding up the child. Leontes looked wonder-struck at her audacity, and told Antigonus, the husband of Paulina, who was among the lookers-on, to take his wife away. But Antigonus, though a brave man and a soldier, dared not oppose his wife when she was doing what she thought right, and he did not move even at the king’s orders. Paulina, having the king at her mercy, rated him with a sharp tongue, and told him to take up his innocent child and let his wronged wife be set free. All this time the baby lay smiling up in its father’s face, while the lords around listened to Paulina, secretly glad of the way in which she talked to the king.

Leontes only grew more angry, and said the child should die. When every one plead for its life, however, he changed his purpose, and said, since Antigonus was so interested in the child, he should take it away from his dominions, to some remote or desert place, and leave it there, exposed to chance or the mercy of the elements. So Antigonus bade farewell to Paulina, and