Henry's attendants kept constantly reminding him, by hints and insinuations, that as long as Richard lived he could not reign peaceably, until worn out with care and anxiety he wearily asked one day while sitting at table: "Have I no faithful friend who will deliver me of one whose life will be my death, and whose death my life?" After such a speech from the king it was not likely that Richard's life would long be spared. His attendants began to treat him with so little ceremony at last that the royal prisoner remarked upon it one day when he was dining; whereupon he was informed that King Henry had given new orders.
"The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee together!" { 250}exclaimed Richard in a passion, striking the attendant who had answered with a carving-knife. At that instant eight armed men rushed into the room; Richard started up, seized the weapon that the one nearest to him, held, and defended himself so valiantly that four of the attacking party were slain outright. Then while he was fiercely warding off the blows of three others, the leader of the band jumped upon the chair Richard had occupied while dining, and dealt him a blow on the back of his head that killed him instantly.
[[A.D. 1339.]] Thus fell the son of the Black Prince at the early age of thirty-two, and Queen Isabella was made a widow before she was thirteen.
The King of France was suffering from an attack of insanity, therefore could take no steps for the restoration of his daughter, but the French council requested Henry IV. to allow her to return to her native land. He refused, saying "that she should reside in England, as all other queen-dowagers had done, in great honor; and that if she had unluckily lost a husband she should be provided with another who would be young, handsome, and in every way deserving of her love, that person being no other than the Prince of Wales." But Isabella mourned her murdered spouse so sincerely that she rejected the gallant Henry of Monmouth and no longer felt any pride in being Queen of England.
When Charles VI. recovered, he sent ambassadors to inquire into the condition of his daughter in England, and to make arrangements for her return. But it was not until late in July, eighteen months after the death of Richard II. that his widow was restored to her parents. Henry had seized her jewels and dower, and refused to give them up.