BECKET.
Shall I too pass to the choir,
And die upon the Patriarchal throne
Of all my predecessors?
JOHN OF SALISBURY.
No, to the crypt!
Twenty steps down. Stumble not in the darkness,
Lest they should seize thee.
GRIM.
To the crypt? no--no,
To the chapel of St. Blaise beneath the roof!
JOHN OF SALISBURY (_pointing upward and downward_).
That way, or this! Save thyself either way.
BECKET.
Oh, no, not either way, nor any way
Save by that way which leads thro' night to light.
Not twenty steps, but one.
And fear not I should stumble in the darkness,
Not tho' it be their hour, the power of darkness,
But my hour too, the power of light in darkness!
I am not in the darkness but the light,
Seen by the Church in Heaven, the Church on earth--
The power of life in death to make her free!
[_Enter the four_ KNIGHTS. JOHN OF SALISBURY
_flies to the altar of St. Benedict_.
FITZURSE.
Here, here, King's men!
[Catches hold of the last flying MONK.
Where is the traitor Becket?
MONK.
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