The Return of the King Read Online Free Page B

But it was Denethor who first withdrew his gaze.
    ‘Yea,’ he said; ‘for though the Stones be lost, they say, still the lords of Gondor have keener sight than lesser men, and
many messages come to them. But sit now!’
    Then men came bearing a chair and a low stool, and one brought a salver with a silver flagon and cups, and white cakes. Pippin
sat down, but he could not take his eyes from the old lord. Was it so, or had he only imagined it, that as he spoke of the
Stones a sudden gleam of his eye had glanced upon Pippin’s face?
    ‘Now tell me your tale, my liege,’ said Denethor, half kindly, half mockingly. ‘For the words of one whom my son so befriended
will be welcome indeed.’
    Pippin never forgot that hour in the great hall under the piercing eye of the Lord of Gondor, stabbed ever and anon by his
shrewd questions, and all the while conscious of Gandalf at his side, watching and listening, and (so Pippin felt) holding
in check a rising wrath and impatience. When the hour was over and Denethor again rang the gong, Pippin felt worn out. ‘It
cannot be more than nine o’clock,’ he thought. ‘I could now eat three breakfasts on end.’
    ‘Lead the Lord Mithrandir to the housing prepared for him,’ said Denethor, ‘and his companion may lodge with him for the present,
if he will. But be it known that I have now sworn him to my service, and he shall be known as Peregrin son of Paladin and
taught the lesser pass-words. Send word to the Captains that they shall wait on me here, as soon as may be after the third
hour has rung.
    ‘And you, my Lord Mithrandir, shall come too, as and when you will. None shall hinder your coming to me at any time, save
only in my brief hours of sleep. Let your wrath at an old man’s folly run off, and then return to my comfort!’
    ‘Folly?’ said Gandalf. ‘Nay, my lord, when you are a dotard you will die. You can use even your grief as a cloak. Do you think
that I do not understand your purpose inquestioning for an hour one who knows the least, while I sit by?’
    ‘If you understand it, then be content,’ returned Denethor. ‘Pride would be folly that disdained help and counsel at need;
but you deal out such gifts according to your own designs. Yet the Lord of Gondor is not to be made the tool of other men’s
purposes, however worthy. And to him there is no purpose higher in the world as it now stands than the good of Gondor; and
the rule of Gondor, my lord, is mine and no other man’s, unless the king should come again.’
    ‘Unless the king should come again?’ said Gandalf. ‘Well, my lord Steward, it is your task to keep some kingdom still against
that event, which few now look to see. In that task you shall have all the aid that you are pleased to ask for. But I will
say this: the rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in
peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task, though Gondor should
perish, if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For
I also am a steward. Did you not know?’ And with that he turned and strode from the hall with Pippin running at his side.
    Gandalf did not look at Pippin or speak a word to him as they went. Their guide brought them from the doors of the hall, and
then led them across the Court of the Fountain into a lane between tall buildings of stone. After several turns they came
to a house close to the wall of the citadel upon the north side, not far from the shoulder that linked the hill with the mountain.
Within, upon the first floor above the street, up a wide carven stair, he showed them to a fair room, light and airy, with
goodly hangings of dull gold sheen unfigured. It was sparely furnished, having but a small table, two chairs and a bench;
but at either side there were curtained alcoves and well-clad beds within