They
suborned certain evil-doers, whose names I do not know, by promises
of pennies and of land. These men they conveyed to the king's court,
arrayed in ragged raiment, the better to spy in what fashion
they might draw near his person and carry out their purpose. The
malefactors came to Verulam, but for all their cunning and craft of
tongues, in no way could they win anigh the king. They went to and fro
so often; they listened to the servitors' talk so readily; that in the
end they knew that the king drank nothing but cold water, that other
liquor never passed his lips. This water was grateful to his sickness.
It sprang from a well very near his hall, and of this water he drank
freely, for none other was to his mind. When these privy murderers
were persuaded that they might never come so close to the king's body
as to slay him with a knife, they sowed their poison in the well. They
lurked secretly about the country, until it came to their ears when
and how he died, and then fled incontinent whence they came. Presently
the king was athirst, and called for drink. His cupbearer gave him
water, laced with venom, from the spring. Uther drank of the cup, and
was infected by the plague, so that there was no comfort for him save
in death.
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