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diff --git a/old/cgdln10.txt b/old/cgdln10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85cc0fa --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cgdln10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12042 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Caged Lion, by Charlotte M. Yonge +#2 in our series by Charlotte M. Yonge + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +The Caged Lion + +by Charlotte M. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk +from the 1912 Macmillan edition. + + + + + +THE CAGED LION + +by Charlotte M. Yonge + + + +PREFACE + + + +When the venture has been made of dealing with historical events and +characters, it always seems fair towards the reader to avow what +liberties have been taken, and how much of the sketch is founded on +history. In the present case, it is scarcely necessary to do more +than refer to the almost unique relations that subsisted between +Henry V. and his prisoner, James I. of Scotland; who lived with him +throughout his reign on the terms of friend rather than of captive, +and was absolutely sheltered by this imprisonment throughout his +nonage and early youth from the frightful violence and presumption of +the nobles of his kingdom. + +James's expedition to Scotland is wholly imaginary, though there +appears to have been space for it during Henry's progress to the +North to pay his devotions at Beverley Minster. The hero of the +story is likewise invention, though, as Froissart ascribes to King +Robert II. 'eleven sons who loved arms,' Malcolm may well be supposed +to be the son of one of those unaccounted for in the pedigrees of +Stewart. The same may be said of Esclairmonde. There were plenty of +Luxemburgs in the Low Countries, but the individual is not to be +identified. Readers of Tyler's 'Henry V.,' of Agnes Strickland's +'Queens,' Tytler's 'Scotland,' and Barante's 'Histoire de Bourgogne' +will be at no loss for the origin of all I have ventured to say of +the really historical personages. Mr. Fox Bourne's 'English +Merchants' furnished the tradition respecting Whittington. I am +afraid the knighthood was really conferred on Henry's first return to +England, after the battle of Agincourt; but human--or at least story- +telling--nature could not resist an anachronism of a few years for +such a story. The only other wilful alteration of a matter of time +is with regard to the Duke of Burgundy's interview with Henry. At +the time of Henry's last stay at Paris the Duke was attending the +death-bed of his wife, Michelle of France, but he had been several +times in the King's camp at the siege of Meaux. + +Another alteration of fact is that Ralf Percy, instead of being +second son of Hotspur, should have been Henry Percy, son of Hotspur's +brother Ralf; but the name would have been so confusing that it was +thought better to set Dugdale at defiance and consider the reader's +convenience. Alice Montagu, though her name sounds as if it came out +of the most commonplace novelist's repertory, was a veritable +personage--the heiress of the brave line of Montacute, or Montagu; +daughter to the Earl of Salisbury who was killed at the siege of +Orleans; wife to the Earl of the same title (in her right) who won +the battle of Blore Heath and was beheaded at Wakefield; and mother +to Earl Warwick the King-maker, the Marquis of Montagu, and George +Nevil, Archbishop of York. As nothing is known of her but her name, +I have ventured to make use of the blank. + +For Jaqueline of Hainault, and her pranks, they are to be found in +Monstrelet of old, and now in Barante; though justice to her and +Queen Isabeau compels me to state that the incident of the ring is +wholly fictitious. Of the trial of Walter Stewart no record is +preserved save that he was accused of 'roborica.' James Kennedy was +the first great benefactor to learning in Scotland, and founder of +her earliest University, having been himself educated at Paris. + +The Abbey of Coldingham is described from a local compilation of the +early part of the century, with an account of the history of that +grand old foundation, and the struggle for appointments between the +parent house at Durham and the Scottish Government. Priors Akefield +and Drax are historical, and as the latter really did commission a +body of moss-troopers to divert an instalment of King James's ransom +into his own private coffers, I do not think I can have done him much +injustice. As the nunnery of St. Abbs has gone bodily into the sea, +I have been the less constrained by the inconvenient action of fact +upon fiction. And for the Hospital of St. Katharine's-by-the-Tower, +its history is to be found in Stowe's 'Survey of London,' and +likewise in the evidence before the Parliamentary Commission, which +shows what it was intended by Queen Philippa to have been to the +river-side population, and what it might have been had such +intentions been understood and acted on--nay, what it may yet become, +since the foundation remains intact, although the building has been +removed. + +C. M. YONGE. + +November 24, 1869. + + + +CHAPTER I: THE GUEST OF GLENUSKIE + + + +A master hand has so often described the glens and ravines of +Scotland, that it seems vain and presumptuous to meddle with them; +and yet we must ask our readers to figure to themselves a sharp cleft +sloping downwards to a brawling mountain stream, the sides scattered +with gray rocks of every imaginable size, interspersed here and there +with heather, gorse, or furze. Just in the widest part of the +valley, a sort of platform of rock jutted out from the hill-side, and +afforded a station for one of those tall, narrow, grim-looking +fastnesses that were the strength of Scotland, as well as her bane. + +Either by nature or art, the rock had been scarped away on three +sides, so that the walls of the castle rose sheer from the steep +descent, except where the platform was connected with the mountain +side by, as it were, an isthmus joining the peninsula to the main +rock; and even this isthmus, a narrow ridge of rock just wide enough +for the passage of a single horse, had been cut through, no doubt +with great labour, and rendered impassable, except by the lowering of +a drawbridge. Glenuskie Castle was thus nearly impregnable, so long +as it was supplied with water, and for this all possible provision +had been made, by guiding a stream into the court. + +The castle was necessarily narrow and confined; its massive walls +took up much even of the narrow space that the rock afforded; but it +had been so piled up that it seemed as though the builders wished to +make height compensate for straitness. There was, too, an unusual +amount of grace, both in the outline of the gateway with its mighty +flanking towers, and of the lofty donjon tower, that shot up like a +great finger above the Massy More, as the main building was commonly +called by the inhabitants of Glenuskie. + +Wondrous as were the walls, and deep-set as were the arches, they had +all that peculiar slenderness of contour that Scottish taste seemed +to have learnt from France; and a little more space was gained at the +top, both of the gateway towers and the donjon, by a projecting +cornice of beautifully vaulted arches supporting a battlement, that +gave the building a crowned look. On the topmost tower was of course +planted the ensign of the owner, and that ensign was no other than +the regal ruddy Lion of Scotland, ramping on his gold field within +his tressure fiery and counter flory, but surmounted by a label +divided into twelve, and placed upon a pen-noncel, or triangular +piece of silk. The eyes of the early fifteenth century easily +deciphered such hieroglyphics as these, which to every one with the +least tincture of 'the noble science' indicated that the owner of the +castle was of royal Stewart blood, but of a younger branch, and not +yet admitted to the rank of knighthood. + +The early spring of the year 1421 was bleak and dreary in that wild +lonely vale, and large was the fire burning on the hearth in the +castle hall, in the full warmth of which there sat, with a light blue +cloth cloak drawn tightly round him, a tall old man, of the giant +mould of Scotland, and with a massive thoughtful brow, whose grand +form was rendered visible by the absence of hair, only a few remnants +of yellow locks mixed with silver floating from his temples to mingle +with his magnificent white beard. A small blue bonnet, with a short +eagle feather, fastened with a brooch of river pearl, was held in the +hands that were clasped over his face, as, bending down in his chair, +he murmured through his white beard, 'Have mercy, good Lord, have +mercy on the land. Have mercy on my son,--and guard him when he goes +out and when he comes in. Have mercy on the children I have toiled +for, and teach me to judge and act for them aright in these sore +straits; and above all, have mercy on our King, break his fetters, +and send him home to be the healer of his land, the avenger of her +cruel wrongs.' + +So absorbed was the old man that he never heard the step that came +across the hall. It was a slightly unequal step, but was carefully +hushed at entrance, as if supposing the old man asleep; and at a slow +pace the new-comer crossed the hall to the chimney, where he stood by +the fire, warming himself and looking wistfully at the old Knight. + +He was wrapped in a plaid, black and white, which increased the gray +appearance of the pale sallow face and sad expression of the wearer, +a boy of about seventeen, with soft pensive dark eyes and a sickly +complexion, with that peculiar wistful cast of countenance that is +apt to accompany deformity, though there was no actual malformation +apparent, unless such might be reckoned the slight halt in the gait, +and the small stature of the lad, who was no taller than many boys of +twelve or fourteen. But there was a depth of melancholy in those +dark brown eyes, that went far into the heart of any one who had the +power to be touched with their yearning, appealing, almost piteous +gaze, as though their owner had come into a world that was much too +hard for him, and were looking out in bewilderment and entreaty for +some haven of peace. + +He had stood for some minutes looking thoughtfully into the fire, and +the sadness of his expression ever deepening, before the old man +raised his face, and said, 'You here, Malcolm? where are the others?' + +'Patie and Lily are still on the turret-top, fair Uncle,' returned +the boy. 'It was so cold;' and he shivered again, and seemed as +though he would creep into the fire. + +'And the reek?' asked the uncle. + +'There is another reek broken out farther west,' replied Malcolm. +'Patie is sure now that it is as you deemed, Uncle; that it is a +cattle-lifting from Badenoch.' + +'Heaven help them!' sighed the old man, again folding his hands in +prayer. 'How long, O Lord, how long?' + +Malcolm took up the appeal of the Psalm, repeating it in Latin, but +with none the less fervency; that Psalm that has ever since David's +time served as the agonized voice of hearts hot-burning at the sight +of wrong. + +'Ah yes,' he ended, 'there is nothing else for it! Uncle, this was +wherefore I came. It was to speak to you of my purpose.' + +'The old purpose, Malcolm? Nay, that hath been answered before.' + +'But listen, listen, dear Uncle. I have not spoken of it for a full +year now. So that you cannot say it is the caresses of the good +monks. No, nor the rude sayings of the Master of Albany,' he added, +colouring at a look of his uncle. 'You bade me say no more till I be +of full age; nor would I, save that I were safe lodged in an abbey; +then might Patrick and Lily be wedded, and he not have to leave us +and seek his fortune far away in France; and in Patie's hands and +leading, my vassals might be safe; but what could the doited helpless +cripple do?' he added, the colour rising hotly to his cheek with pain +and shame. 'Oh, Sir, let me but save my soul, and find peace in +Coldingham!' + +'My poor bairn,' said his uncle, laying a kind hand upon him, as in +his eagerness he knelt on one knee beside the chair, 'it must not be. +It is true that the Regent and his sons would willingly see you in a +cloister. Nay, that unmanly jeer of Walter Stewart's was, I verily +believe, meant to drive you thither. But were you there, then would +poor Lilias become a prize worth having, and the only question would +be, whether Walter of Albany, or Robert of Athole, or any of the rest +of them, should tear her away to be the lady of their fierce ungodly +households.' + +'You could give her to Patrick, Uncle.' + +'No, Malcolm, that were not consistent with mine honour, or oaths to +the King and State. You living, and Laird of Glenuskie, Lilias is a +mere younger sister, whom you may give in marriage as you will; but +were you dead to the world, under a cowl, then the Lady of Glenuskie, +a king's grandchild, may not be disposed of, save by her royal +kinsman, or by those who, woe worth the day! stand in his place. I +were no better than yon Wolf of Badenoch or the Master of Albany, did +I steal a march on the Regent, and give the poor lassie to my own +son!' + +'And so Lilias must pine, and Patrick wander off to the weary French +war,' sighed Malcolm; 'and I must be scorned by my cousins whenever +the House of Stewart meets together; and must strive with these +fierce cruel men, that will ever be too hard for me when Patie is +gone.' His eyes filled with tears as he continued, 'Ah! that fair +chapel, with the sweet chant of the choir, the green smooth-shaven +quadrangle, the calm cloister walk; there, there alone is rest. +There, one ceases to be a prey and a laughing-stock; there, one sees +no more bloodshed and spulzie; there, one need not be forced to +treachery or violence. Oh, Uncle! my very soul is sick for +Coldingham. How many years will it be ere I can myself bestow my +sister on Patie, and hide my head in peace!' + +Before his uncle had done more than answer, 'Nay, nay, Malcolm, these +are no words for the oe of Bruce; you are born to dare as well as to +suffer,' there was an approach of footsteps, and two young people +entered the hall; the first a girl, with a family likeness to +Malcolm, but tall, upright, beautiful, and with the rich colouring of +perfect health, her plaid still hanging in a loose swelling hood +round her brilliant face and dark hair, snooded with a crimson ribbon +and diamond clasp; the other, a knightly young man, of stately height +and robust limbs, keen bright blue eyes and amber hair and beard, +moving with the ease and grace that showed his training in the +highest school of chivalry. + +'Good Uncle,' cried the maiden in eager excitement, 'there is a guest +coming. He has just turned over the brae side, and can be coming +nowhere but here.' + +'A guest!' cried both Malcolm and the elder knight, 'of what kind, +Lily?' + +'A knight--a knight in bright steel, and with three attendants,' said +Lilias; 'one of Patrick's French comrades, say I, by the grace of his +riding.' + +'Not a message from the Regent, I trust,' sighed Malcolm. 'Patie, oh +do not lower the drawbridge, till we hear whether it be friend or +foe.' + +'Nay, Malcolm, 'tis well none save friends heard that,' said Patrick. +'When shall we make a brave man of you?' + +'Nevertheless, Patie,' said the old gentleman, 'though I had rather +the caution had come from the eldest rather than the youngest head +among us, parley as much as may serve with honour and courtesy ere +opening the gate to the stranger. Hark, there is his bugle.' + +A certain look of nervous terror passed over young Malcolm's face, +while his sister watched full of animation and curiosity, as one to +whom excitement of any kind could hardly come amiss, exclaiming, as +she looked from the window, 'Fear not, most prudent Malcolm; Father +Ninian is with him: Father Ninian must have invited him.' + +'Strange,' muttered Patrick, 'that Father Ninian should be picking up +and bringing home stray wandering land-loupers;' and with an anxious +glance at Lilias, he went forward unwillingly to perform those duties +of hospitality which had become necessary, since the presence of the +castle chaplain was a voucher for the guest. The drawbridge had +already been lowered, and the new-comer was crossing it upon a +powerful black steed, guided by Father Ninian upon his rough mountain +pony, on which he had shortly before left the castle, to attend at a +Church festival held at Coldingham. + +The chaplain was a wise, prudent, and much-respected man; +nevertheless, young Sir Patrick Drummond felt little esteem for his +prudence in displaying one at least of the treasures of the castle to +the knight on the black horse. The stranger was a very tall man, of +robust and stalwart make, apparently aged about seven or eight and +twenty years, clad in steel armour, enamelled so as to have a +burnished blue appearance; but the vizor of the helmet was raised, +and the face beneath it was a manly open face, thoroughly Scottish in +its forms, but very handsome, and with short dark auburn hair, and +eyes of the same peculiar tint, glancing with a light that once seen +could never be forgotten; and the bearing was such, that Patrick at +once growled to himself, 'One of our haughty loons, brimful of outre +cuidance; and yet how coolly he bears it off. If he looks to find us +his humble servants, he will find himself mistaken, I trow.' + +'Sir Patrick,' said Father Ninian, who was by this time close to him, +'let me present to you Sir James Stewart, a captive knight who is +come to collect his ransom. I fell in with him on the road, and as +his road lay with mine, I made bold to assure him of a welcome from +your honoured father and Lord Malcolm.' + +Patrick's face cleared. It was no grace or beauty that he feared in +any stranger, but the sheer might and unright that their Regency +enabled the House of Albany to exercise over the orphans of the royal +family, whose head was absent; and a captive knight could be no +mischievous person. Still this might be only a specious pretence to +impose on the chaplain, and gain admittance to the castle; and +Patrick was resolved to be well on his guard, though he replied +courteously to the graceful bow with which the stranger greeted him, +saying in a manly mellow voice and southern accent, 'I have been bold +enough to presume on the good father's offer of hospitality, Sir.' + +'You are welcome, Sir,' returned Patrick, taking the stranger's +bridle that he might dismount; 'my father and my cousin will gladly +further on his way a prisoner seeking freedom.' + +'A captive may well be welcome, for the sake of one prisoner,' said +his father, who had in the meantime come forward, and extended his +hand to the knight, who took it, and uncovering his bright locks, +respectfully said, 'I am in the presence of the noble Tutor of +Glenuskie.' + +'Even so, Sir,' returned Sir David Drummond, who was, in fact, as his +nephew's guardian, usually known by this curious title; 'and you here +see my wards, the Lord Malcolm and Lady Lilias. Your knighthood will +make allowances for the lad, he is but home-bred.' For while Lilias +with stately grace responded to Sir James Stewart's courtly greeting, +Malcolm bashfully made an awkward bow, and seemed ready to shrink +within himself, as, indeed, the brutal jests of his rude cousins had +made him dread and hate the eye of a stranger; and while the knight +was led forward to the hall fire, he merely pressed up to the priest, +and eagerly demanded under his breath, 'Have you brought me the +book?' but Father Ninian had only time to nod, and sign that a volume +was in his bosom, before old Sir David called out, 'What now, +Malcolm, forgetting that your part is to come and disarm the knight +who does you the honour to be your guest?' And Sir Patrick rather +roughly pushed him forward, gruffly whispering, 'Leave not Lily to +supply your lack of courtesy.' + +Malcolm shambled forward, bewildered, as the keen auburn eye fell on +him, and the cheery kindly voice said, 'Ha! a new book--a romance? +Well may that drive out other thoughts.' + +'Had he ears to hear such a whisper?' thought Malcolm, as he mumbled +in the hoarse voice of bashful boyhood, 'Not a romance, Sir, but +whatever the good fathers at Coldingham would lend me.' + +'It is the "Itinerarium" of the blessed Adamnanus,' replied Father +Ninian, producing from his bosom a parcel, apparently done up in many +wrappers, a seal-skin above all. + +'The "Itinerarium"!' exclaimed Sir James, 'methought I had heard of +such a book. I have a friend in England who would give many a fair +rose noble for a sight of it.' + +'A friend in England!'--the words had a sinister sound to the +audience, and while Malcolm jealously gathered up the book into his +arms, the priest made cold answer, that the book was the property of +the Monastery at Coldingham, and had only been lent to Lord Malcolm +Stewart by special favour. The guest could not help smiling, and +saying he was glad books were thus prized in Scotland; but at that +moment, as the sunny look shone on his face, and he stood before the +fire in the close suit of chamois leather which he wore under his +armour, old Sir David exclaimed, 'Ha! never did I see such a +likeness. Patie, you should be old enough to remember; do you not +see it?' + +'What should I see? Who is he like?' asked Patrick, surprised at his +father's manner. + +'Who?' whispered Sir David in a lowered voice; 'do you not see it? to +the unhappy lad, the Duke of Rothsay.' + +Patrick could not help smiling, for he had been scarcely seven years +old at the time of the murder of the unfortunate Prince of Scotland; +hut a flush of colour rose into the face of the guest, and he shortly +answered, 'So I have been told;' and then assuming a seat near Sir +David, he entered into conversation with him upon the condition of +Scotland at the period, inquiring into the state of many of the +families and districts by name. Almost always there was but one +answer--murder--harrying--foray; and when the question followed, +'What had the Regent done?' there was a shrug of the shoulders, and +as often Sir James's face flushed with a dark red fire, and his hand +clenched at the hilt of the sword by his side. + +'And is there not a man in Scotland left to strike for the right?' he +demanded at last; 'cannot nobles, clergy, and burghers, band +themselves in parliament to put down Albany and his bloody house, and +recall their true head?' + +'They love to have it so,' returned Sir David sadly. 'United, they +might be strong enough; but each knows that his fellow, Douglas, +Lennox, March, or Mar, would be ready to play the same game as +Albany; and to raise a rival none will stir.' + +'And so,' proceeded Sir James, bitterly, 'the manhood of Scotland +goes forth to waste itself in an empty foreign war, merely to keep +France in as wretched a state of misrule as itself.' + +'Nay, nay, Sir,' cried Patrick angrily, 'it is to save an ancient +ally from the tyranny of our foulest foe. It is the only place where +a Scotsman can seek his fortune with honour, and without staining his +soul with foul deeds. Bring our King home, and every sword shall be +at his service.' + +'What, when they have all been lavished on the crazy Frenchman?' said +Sir James. + +'No, Sir,' said Patrick, rising in his vehemence; 'when they have +been brightened there by honourable warfare, not tarnished by home +barbarities.' + +'He speaks truly,' said Sir David; 'and though it will go to my heart +to part with the lad, yet may I not say a word to detain him in a +land where the contagion of violence can scarce be escaped by a brave +man.' + +Sir James gave a deep sigh as of pain, but as if to hinder its being +remarked, promptly answered, 'That may be; but what is to be the lot +of a land whose honest men desert her cause as too evil for them, and +seek out another, that when seen closer is scarce less evil?' + +'How, Sir!' cried Patrick; 'you a prisoner of England, yet speaking +against our noble French allies, so foully trampled on?' + +'I have lived long enough in England,' returned Sir James, 'to think +that land happiest where law is strong enough to enforce peace and +order.' + +'The coward loons!' muttered Patrick, chiefly out of the spirit of +opposition. + +'You have been long in England, Sir?' said Lilias, hoping to direct +the conversation into a more peaceful current. + +'Many years, fair lady,' he replied, turning courteously to her; 'I +was taken when I was a mere lad, but I have had gentle captors, and +no over harsh prison.' + +'And has no one ransomed you?' she asked pitifully, as one much moved +by a certain patience on his brow, and in his sweet full voice. + +'No one, lady. My uncle was but too willing that the heir should be +kept aloof; and it is only now he is dead, that I have obtained leave +from my friendly captor to come in search of my ransom.' + +Lilias would have liked to know the amount, but it was not manners to +ask, since the rate of ransom was the personal value of the knight; +and her uncle put in the question, who was his keeper. + +'The Earl of Somerset,' rather hastily answered Sir James; and then +at once Lilias exclaimed, 'Ah, Uncle, is not the King, too, in his +charge?' And then questions crowded on. 'What like is the King? +How brooks he his durance? What freedom hath he? What hope is there +of his return? Can he brook to hear of his people's wretchedness?' + +This was the first question at which Sir James attempted to unclose +his hitherto smiling and amused lip. Then it quivered, and the dew +glittered in his eyes as he answered, 'Brook it! No indeed, lady. +His heart burns within him at every cry that comes over the Border, +and will well-nigh burst at what I have seen and heard! King Harry +tells him that to send him home were but tossing him on the swords of +the Albany. Better, better so, to die in one grapple for his +country's sake, than lie bound, hearing her bitter wails, and unable +to stir for her redress!' and as he dashed the indignant tear from +his eyes, Patrick caught his hand. + +'Your heart is in the right place, friend,' he said; 'I look on you +as an honest man and brother in arms from this moment.' + +''Tis a bargain,' said Sir James, the smile returning, and his eyes +again glistening as he wrung Sir Patrick's hand. 'When the hour +comes for the true rescue of Scotland, we will strike together.' + +'And you will tell the King,' added Patrick, 'that here are true +hearts, and I could find many more, only longing to fence him from +the Albany swords, about which King Harry is so good as to fash +himself.' + +'But what like is the King?' asked Lilias eagerly. 'Oh, I would fain +see him. Is it true that he was the tallest man at King Harry's +sacring? more shame that he were there!' + +'He and I are much of a height, lady,' returned the knight. 'Maybe I +may give you the justest notion of him by saying that I am said to be +his very marrow.' + +'That explains your likeness to the poor Duke,' said Sir David, +satisfied; 'and you too count kindred with our royal house, +methinks?' + +'I am sprung from Walter the Stewart, so much I know; my lands lie +Carrick-wards,' said Sir James lightly, 'but I have been a prisoner +so long, that the pedigree of my house was never taught me, and I can +make no figure in describing my own descent.' And as though to put +an end to the inquiry, he walked to the window, where Malcolm so soon +as they had begun to talk of the misrule of Scotland, had ensconced +himself in the window-seat with his new book, making the most of the +failing light, and asked him whether the Monk of Iona equalled his +expectations. + +Malcolm was not easy to draw out at first, but it presently appeared +that he had been baffled by a tough bit of Latinity. The knight +looked, and readily expounded the sentence, so that all became plain; +and then, as it was already too dark to pursue the study with +comfort, he stood over the boy, talking to him of books and of poems, +while the usually pale, listless, uninterested countenance responded +by looks of eager delight and flushing colour. + +It seemed as though each were equally pleased with the other: Sir +James, at finding so much knowledge and understanding in a Scottish +castle; and Malcolm, at, for the first time, meeting anything but +contempt for his tastes from aught but an ecclesiastic. + +Their talk continued till they were summoned to supper, which had +been somewhat delayed to provide for the new-comers. It was a simple +enough meal, suited to Lent, and was merely of dried fish, with +barley bread and kail brose; but there were few other places in +Scotland where it would have been served with so much of the +refinement that Sir David Drummond and his late wife had learnt in +France. A tablecloth and napkins, separate trenchers, and water for +hand cleansing, were not always to be found in the houses of the +nobles; and in fact, there were those who charged Malcolm's delicacy +and timidity on the nisete or folly of his effeminate education; the +having the rushes on the floor frequently changed, the preference of +lamps for pine torches, and the not keeping falcons, dogs, swine, and +all, pell mell in the great hall. + +Lilias sat between her uncle and his guest, looking so fair and +bright that Patrick felt fresh accesses of angry jealousy, while the +visitor talked as one able to report to the natives from another +world, and that world the hateful England, which as a Scotsman he was +bound to abhor. Had it been France, it had been endurable, but +praise of English habits was mere disloyalty; and yet, whenever +Patrick tried to throw in a disparaging word, he found himself met +with a quiet superiority such as he had believed no knight in +Scotland could assume with him, and still it was neither brow-beating +nor insolence, nothing that could give offence. + +Malcolm begged to know whether there had not been a rare good poet in +England, called Chaucer. Verily there had been, said the knight; and +on a little solicitation, so soon as supper was over, he recited to +the eager and delighted auditors the tale of patient Grisel, as +rendered by Chaucer, calling forth eager comments from both Patrick +and Lily, on the unknightliness of the Marquis. Malcolm, however, +added, 'Yet, after all, she was but a mere peasant wench.' + +'What makes that, young Sir?' replied Sir James gravely. 'I would +have you to know that the husband's rank is the wife's, and the more +unequal were their lot before, the more is he bound to respect her, +and to make her be respected.' + +'That may be, after the deed is done,' said Sir David, in a warning +voice; 'but it is not well that like should not match with like. +Many an evil have I seen in my time, from unequal mating.' + +'And, Sir,' eagerly exclaimed Patrick, 'no doubt you can gainsay the +slander, that our noble King has been caught in the toils of an +artful Englishwoman, and been drawn in to promise her a share in his +crown.' + +A flush of crimson flamed forth on Sir James Stewart's cheeks, and +his tawny eye glanced with a fire like red lightning, but he seemed, +as it were, to be holding himself in, and answered with a voice +forcibly kept low and calm, and therefore the more terribly stern, +'Young Sir, I warn you to honour your future queen.' + +Sir David made a gesture with his hand, enforcing restraint upon his +son, and turning to Sir James, said, 'Our queen will we honour, when +such she is, Sir; but if you are returning to the King, it were well +that he should know that our hot Scottish bloods, here, could scarce +brook an English alliance, and certainly not one beneath his birth.' + +'The King would answer, Sir,' returned Sir James, haughtily, but with +recovered command over himself, 'that it is for him to judge whom his +subjects shall brook as their queen. Moreover,' he added, in a +different and more conciliatory voice, 'Scotsmen must be proud indeed +who disdain the late King's niece, the great-granddaughter of King +Edward III., and as noble and queenly a demoiselle as ever was born +in a palace.' + +'She is so very fair, then?' said Lilies, who was of course on the +side of true love. 'You have seen her, gentle Sir? Oh, tell us what +are her beauties?' + +'Fair damsel,' said Sir James, in a much more gentle tone, 'you +forget that I am only a poor prisoner, who have only now and then +viewed the lady Joan Beaufort with distant reverence, as destined to +be my queen. All I can tell is, that her walk and bearing mark her +out for a throne.' + +'And oh!' cried Malcolm, 'is it not true that the King hath composed +songs and poems in her honour?' + +'Pah!' muttered Patrick; 'as though the King would be no better than +a wandering minstrel rhymester!' + +'Or than King David!' dryly said Sir James. + +'It is true, then, Sir,' exclaimed Lilias. 'He doth verily add +minstrelsy to his other graces? Know you the lines, Sir? Can you +sing them to us? Oh, I pray you.' + +'Nay, fair maid,' returned Sir James, 'methinks I might but add to +the scorn wherewith Sir Patrick is but too much inclined to regard +the captive King.' + +'A captive, a captive--ay, minstrelsy is the right solace for a +captive,' said Patrick; 'at least, so they say and sing. Our king +will have better work when he gains his freedom. Only there will +come before me a subtilty I once saw in jelly and blanc-mange, at a +banquet in France, where a lion fell in love with a hunter's +daughter, and let her, for love's sake, draw his teeth and clip his +claws, whereupon he found himself made a sport for her father's +hounds.' + +'I promise you, Sir Patrick,' replied the guest, 'that the Lady Joan +is more hike to send her Lion forth from the hunter's toils, with +claws and teeth fresh-whetted by the desire of honour. + +'But the lay--the hay, Sir,' entreated Lilias; 'who knows that it may +not win Patrick to be the Lady Joan's devoted servant? Malcolm, your +harp!' + +Malcolm had already gone in quest of the harp he loved all the better +for the discouragement thrown on his gentle tastes. + +The knight leant back, with a pensive look softening his features as +he said, after a little consideration, 'Then, fair lady, I will sing +you the song made by King James, when he had first seen the fair +mistress of his heart, on the slopes of Windsor, looking from his +chamber window. He feigns her to be a nightingale.' + +'And what is that, Sir?' demanded Lilias. 'I have heard the word in +romances, and deemed it a kind of angel that sings by night.' + +'It is a bird, sister,' replied Malcolm; 'Philomel, that pierces her +breast with a thorn, and sings sweetly even to her death.' + +'That's mere minstrel leasing, Malcolm,' said Patrick. 'I have both +seen and heard the bird in France--Rossignol, as we call it there; +and were I a lady, I should deem it small compliment to be likened to +a little russet-backed, homely fowl such as that.' + +'While I,' replied the prisoner, 'feel so much with your fair sister, +that nightingales are a sort of angels that sing by night, that it +pains me, when I think of winning my freedom, to remember that I +shall never again hear their songs answering one another through the +forest of Windsor.' + +Patrick shrugged his shoulders, but Lilias was so anxious to hear the +lay, that she entreated him to be silent; and Sir James, with a manly +mellow voice, with an exceedingly sweet strain in it, and a skill, +both of modulation and finger, such as showed admirable taste and +instruction, poured forth that beautiful song of the nightingale at +Windsor, which commences King James's story of his love, in his poem +of the King's Quhair. + +There was an eager pressing round to hear, and not only were Lilias +and Malcolm, but old Sir David himself, much affected by the strain, +which the latter said put him in mind of the days of King Robert +III., which, sad as they were, now seemed like good old times, so +much worse was the present state of affairs. Sir James, however, +seemed anxious to prevent discussion of the verses he had sung, and +applied to Malcolm to give a specimen of his powers: and thus, with +music, ballad, and lay, the evening passed away, till the parting cup +was sent round, and the Tutor of Glenuskie and Malcolm marshalled +their guest to the apartment where he was to sleep, in a wainscoted +box bedstead, and his two attendant squires, a great iron-gray Scot +and a rosy honest-faced Englishman, on pallets on the floor. + +In the morning he went on his journey, but not without an invitation +to rest there again on his way back, whether with or without his +ransom. He promised to come, saying that he should gladly bear to +the King the last advices from one so honoured as the Tutor of +Glenuskie; and, on their sides, Malcolm and Sir David resolved to do +their best to have some gold pieces to contribute, rather than so +'proper a knight' should fail in raising his ransom; but gold was +never plenty, and Patrick needed all that his uncle could supply, to +bear him to those wars in France, where he looked for renown and +fortune. + +For these were, as may have been gathered, those evil days when James +I. of Scotland was still a captive to England, and when the House of +Albany exercised its cruel misrule upon Scotland; delaying to ransom +the King, lest they should bring home a master. + +Old Robert of Albany had been King Stork, his son Murdoch was King +Log; and the misery was infinitely increased by the violence and +lawlessness of Murdoch's sons. King Robert II. had left Scotland the +fearful legacy of, as Froissart says, 'eleven sons who loved arms.' +Of these, Robert III. was the eldest, the Duke of Albany the second. +These were both dead, and were represented, the one by the captive +young King James, the other by the Regent, Duke Murdoch of Albany, +and his brother John, Earl of Buchan, now about to head a Scottish +force, among whom Patrick Drummond intended to sail, to assist the +French. + +Others of the eleven, Earls of Athol, Menteith, &c., survived; but +the youngest of the brotherhood, by name Malcolm, who had married the +heiress of Glenuskie, had been killed at Homildon Hill, when he had +solemnly charged his Stewart nephews and brothers to leave his two +orphan children to the sole charge of their mother's cousin, Sir +David Drummond, a good old man, who had been the best supporter and +confidant of poor Robert III. in his unhappy reign, and in embassies +to France had lost much of the rugged barbarism to which Scotland had +retrograded during the wars with England. + + + +CHAPTER II: THE RESCUE OF COLDINGHAM + + + +It was a lonely tract of road, marked only by the bare space trodden +by feet of man and horse, and yet, in truth, the highway between +Berwick and Edinburgh, which descended from a heathery moorland into +a somewhat spacious valley, with copsewood clothing one side, in the +midst of which rose a high mound or knoll, probably once the site of +a camp, for it still bore lines of circumvallation, although it was +entirely deserted, except by the wandering shepherds of the +neighbourhood, or occasionally by outlaws, who found an admirable +ambush in the rear. + +The spring had hung the hazels with tassels, bedecked the willows +with golden downy tufts, and opened the primroses and celandines +beneath them, when the solitary dale was disturbed by the hasty +clatter of horses' feet, and hard, heavy breathing as of those who +had galloped headlong beyond their strength. Here, however, the +foremost of the party, an old esquire, who grasped the bridle-rein of +youth by his side, drew up his own horse, and that which he was +dragging on with him, saying - + +'We may breathe here a moment; there is shelter in the wood. And +you, Rab, get ye up to the top of Jill's Knowe, and keep a good look- +out.' + +'Let me go back, you false villain!' sobbed the boy, with the first +use of his recovered breath. + +'Do not be so daft, Lord Malcolm,' replied the Squire, retaining his +hold on the boy's bridle; 'what, rin your head into the wolf's mouth +again, when we've barely brought you off haill and sain?' + +'Haill and sain? Dastard and forlorn,' cried Malcolm, with +passionate weeping. 'I--I to flee and leave my sister--my uncle! +Oh, where are they? Halbert, let me go; I'll never pardon thee.' + +'Hoot, my lord! would I let you gang, when the Tutor spak to me as +plain as I hear you now? "Take off Lord Malcolm," says he; "save +him, and you save the rest. See him safe to the Earl of Mar." Those +were his words, my lord; and if you wilna heed them, I will.' + +'What, and leave my sister to the reivers? Oh, what may not they be +doing to her? Let us go back and fall on them, Halbert; better die +saving her than know her in Walter Stewart's hands. Then were I the +wretched craven he calls me.' + +'Look you, Lord Malcolm,' said Halbert, laying his finger on his +nose, with a knowing expression, 'my young lady is safe from harm so +long as you are out of the Master of Albany's reach. Had you come by +a canny thrust in the fray, as no doubt was his purpose, or were you +in his hands to be mewed in a convent, then were your sister worth +the wedding; but the Master will never wed her while you live and +have friends to back you, and his father, the Regent, will see she +has no ill-usage. You'll do best for yourself and her too, as well +as Sir David, if you make for Dunbar, and call ben your uncles of +Athole and Strathern.--How now, Rab? are the loons making this way?' + +'Na, na!' said Rab, descending; ''tis from the other gate; 'tis a +knight in blue damasked steel: he, methinks, that harboured in our +castle some weeks syne.' + +'Hm!' said Halbert, considering; 'he looked like a trusty cheild: +maybe he'd guide my lord here to a wiser wit, and a good lance on the +way to Dunbar is not to be scorned.' + +In fact, there would have been no time for one party to conceal +themselves from the other; for, hidden by the copsewood, and unheeded +by the watchers who were gazing in the opposite direction, Sir James +Stewart and his two attendants suddenly came round the foot of Jill's +Knowe upon the fugitives, who were profiting by the interval to +loosen the girths of their horses, and water them at the pool under +the thicket, whilst Halbert in vain tried to pacify and reason with +the young master, who had thrown himself on the grass in an agony of +grief and despair. Sir James, after the first momentary start, +recognized the party in an instant, and at once leapt from his horse, +exclaiming - + +'How now, my bonnie man--my kind host--what is it? what makes this +grief?' + +'Do not speak to me, Sir,' muttered the unhappy boy. 'They have been +reft--reft from me, and I have done nothing for them. Walter of +Albany has them, and I am here.' + +And he gave way to another paroxysm of grief, while Halbert explained +to Sir James Stewart that when Sir Patrick Drummond had gone to +embark for France, with the army led to the aid of Charles VI. by the +Earl of Buchan, his father and cousins, with a large escort, had +accompanied him to Eyemouth; whence, after taking leave of him, they +had set out to spend Passion-tide and Easter at Coldingham Abbey, +after the frequent fashion of the devoutly inclined among the +Scottish nobility, in whose castles there was often little commodity +for religious observances. Short, however, as was the distance, they +had in the midst of it been suddenly assailed by a band of armed men, +among whom might easily be recognized the giant form of young Walter +Stewart, the Master of Albany, the Regent Duke Murdoch's eldest son, +who was well known for his lawless excesses and violence. His +father's silky sayings, and his own ruder speeches, had long made it +known to the House of Glenuskie that the family policy was to cajole +or to drive the sickly heir into a convent, and, rendering Lilias the +possessor of the broad lands inherited from both parents, unite her +and them to the Albany family + +The almost barbarous fierceness and wild licentiousness of Walter +would have made the arrangement abhorrent to Lilias, even had not +love passages already passed between her and her cousin, Patrick +Drummond, and Sir David had hitherto protected her by keeping Malcolm +in the secular life; but Walter, it seemed, had grown impatient, and +had made this treacherous attack, evidently hoping to rid himself of +the brother, and secure the sister. No sooner had the Tutor of +Glenuskie perceived that his own party were overmatched, than he had +bidden his faithful squire to secure the bairns--if not both, at +least the boy; and Halbert, perceiving that Lilias had already been +pounced upon by Sir Walter himself and several more, seized the +bridle of the bewildered Malcolm, who was still trying to draw his +sword, and had absolutely swept him away from the scene of action +before he had well realized what was passing; and now that the poor +lad understood the whole, his horror, grief, and shame were +unspeakable. + +Before Sir James had done more than hear the outline of Halbert's +tale, however, the watchers on the mound gave the signal that the +reivers were coming that way--a matter hitherto doubtful, since no +one could guess whether Walter Stewart would make for Edinburgh or +for Doune. With the utmost agility Sir James sprang up the side of +the mound, reconnoitred, and returned again just as Halbert was +trying to stir his master from the ground, and Malcolm answering +sullenly that he would not move--he would be taken and die with the +rest. + +'You may save them instead, if you will attend to me,' said Sir +James; and at his words the boy suddenly started up with a look of +hope. + +'How many fell upon you?' demanded Sir James. + +'Full a hundred lances,' replied Halbert (and a lance meant at least +three men). 'It wad be a fule's wark to withstand them. Best bide +fast in the covert, for our horses are sair forfaughten.' + +'If there are now more than twenty lances, I am greatly mistaken,' +returned Sir James. 'They must have broken up after striking their +blow, or have sent to secure Glenuskie; and we, falling on them from +this thicket--' + +'I see, I see,' cried Halbert. 'Back, ye loons; back among the +hazels. Hold every one his horse ready to mount.' + +'With your favour, Sir Squire, I say, bind each man his horse to a +tree. The skene and broadsword, which I see you all wear, will be +ten times as effective on foot.' + +'Do as the knight bids,' said Malcolm, starting forth with colour on +his cheek, light in his eye, that made him another being. 'In him +there is help.' + +'Ay, ay, Lord Malcolm,' muttered Halbert; 'you need not tell me that: +I know my duty better than not to do the bidding of a belted knight, +and pretty man too of his inches.' + +The two attendants of Sir James were meantime apparently uttering +some remonstrance, to which he lightly replied, 'Tut, Nigel; it will +do thine heart good to hew down a minion of Albany. What were I +worth could I not strike a blow against so foul a wrong to my own +orphan kindred? Brewster, I'll answer it to thy master. These are +his foes, as well as those of all honest men. Ha! thou art as glad +to be at them as I myself.' + +By this time he had exchanged his cap for a steel helmet, and was +assuming the command as his natural right, as he placed the men in +their ambush behind the knoll, received reports from those he had set +to watch, and concerted the signal with Halbert and his own +followers. Malcolm kept by him, shivering with intense excitement +and eagerness; and thus they waited till the horses' hoofs and clank +of armour were distinctly audible. But even then Sir James, with +outstretched hand, signed his followers back, and kept them in the +leash, as it were, until the troop was fairly in the valley, those in +front beginning to halt to give their horses water. They were, in +effect, riding somewhat carelessly, and with the ease of men whose +feat was performed, and who expected no more opposition. Full in the +midst was Lilias, entirely muffled and pinioned by a large plaid +drawn closely round her, and held upon the front of the saddle of a +large tall horse, ridden by a slender, light-limbed, wiry groom, whom +Malcolm knew as Christopher Hall, a retainer of the Duke of Albany; +and beside him rode her captor, Sir Walter Stewart, a man little +above twenty, but with a bronzed, hardened, reckless expression that +made him look much older, and of huge height and giant build. +Malcolm knew him well, and regarded him with unmitigated horror and +dread, both from the knowledge of his ruffianly violence even towards +his father, from fear of his intentions, and from the misery that his +brutal jests, scoffs, and practical jokes had often personally +inflicted: and the sight of his sister in the power of this wicked +man was the realization of all his worst fears. But ere there was +time for more than one strong pang of consternation and +constitutional terror, Sir James's shout of 'St. Andrew for the +right!' was ringing out, echoed by all the fifteen in ambush with +him, as simultaneously they leapt forward. Malcolm, among the first, +darting with one spring, as it were, to the horse where his sister +was carried, seized the bridle with his left hand, and flashing his +sword upon the ruffian with the other, shouted, 'Let go, villain; +give me my sister!' Hall's first impulse was to push his horse +forward so as to trample the boy down, but Malcolm's hold rendered +this impossible; besides, there was the shouting, the clang, the +confusion of the outburst of an ambush all around and on every side, +and before the man could free his hand to draw his weapon he +necessarily loosed his grasp of Lilias, who, half springing, half +falling, came to the ground, almost overthrowing her brother in her +descent, but just saved by him from coming down prostrate. The +horse, suddenly released, started forward with its rider and at the +same moment Malcolm, recovering himself, stood with his sword in his +hand, his arm round his sister's waist, assuring her that she was +safe, and himself glowing for the first time with manly exultation. +Had he not saved and rescued her himself? + +It was as well, however, that the rescue did not depend on his sole +prowess. Indeed, by the time the brother and sister were clinging +together and turning to look round, the first shock was over, and the +retainers of Albany, probably fancying the attack made by a much +larger troop, were either in full flight, or getting decidedly the +worst in their encounters with their assailants. + +Sir James Stewart had at the first onset sprung like a lion upon the +Master of Albany, and without drawing his sword had grappled with +him. 'In the name of St. Andrew and the King, yield thy prey, thou +dastard,' were his words as he threw his arms round the body of Sir +Walter, and exerted his full strength to drag him from his horse. +The young giant writhed, struggled, cursed, raged; he had not space +to draw sword or even dagger, but he struck furiously with his +gauntleted hand, strove to drive his horse forward. The struggle +like that of Hercules and Antaeus, so desperate and mighty was the +strength put forth on either side, but nothing could unclasp the iron +grip of those sinewy arms, and almost as soon as Malcolm and Lilias +had eyes to see what was passing, Walter Stewart was being dragged +off his horse by that tremendous grapple, and the next moment his +armour rung as he lay prostrate on his back upon the ground. + +His conqueror set his mailed foot upon his neck lightly, but so as to +prevent any attempt to rise, and after one moment's pause to gather +breath, said in a clear deep trumpet voice, 'Walter Stewart of +Albany, on one condition I grant thee thy life. It is that thou take +the most solemn oath on the spot that no spulzie or private brawl +shall henceforth stain that hand of thine while thy father holds the +power in Scotland. Take that oath, thou livest: refuse it, and--' +He held up the deadly little dagger called the misericorde. + +'And who art thou, caitiff land-louper,' muttered Walter, 'to put to +oath knights and princes?' + +The knight raised the visor of his helmet. The evening sun shone +resplendently on his damasked blue armour and the St. Andrew's cross +on his breast, and lighted up that red fire that lurked in his eyes, +and withal the calm power and righteous indignation on his features +might have befitted an avenging angel wielding the lightning. + +'Thou wilt know me when we meet again,' was all he said; and for the +very calmness of the voice the Master of Albany, who was but a mere +commonplace insolent ruffian, quailed with awe and terror to the very +backbone. + +'Loose me, and I will swear,' he faintly murmured. + +Sir James, before removing his foot, unclasped his gorget, and +undoing a chain, held up a jewel shaped like a St. Andrew's cross, +with a diamond in the midst, covering a fragmentary relic. At the +sight Walter Stewart's eyes, large pale ones, dilated as if with +increased consternation, the sweat started on his forehead, and his +breath came in shorter gasps. Malcolm and Lilias, standing near, +likewise felt a sense of strange awe, for they too had heard of this +relic, a supposed fragment of St. Andrew's own instrument of +martyrdom, which had belonged to St. Margaret, and had been thought a +palladium to the royal family and House of Stewart. + +'Rise on thy knees,' said Sir James, now taking away his foot, 'and +swear upon this.' + +Walter, completely cowed and overawed, rose to his knees at his +victor's command, laid his hand on the relic, and in a shaken, almost +tremulous voice, repeated the words of the oath after his dictation: +'I, Walter Stewart, Master of Albany, hereby swear to God and St. +Andrew, to fight in no private brawl, to spoil no man nor woman, to +oppress no poor man, clerk, widow, maid, or orphan, to abstain from +all wrong or spulzie from this hour until the King shall come again +in peace.' + +He uttered the words, and kissed the jewel that was tendered to him; +and then Sir James said, in the same cold and dignified tone, 'Let +thine oath be sacred, or beware. Now, mount and go thy way, but take +heed HOW I meet thee again.' + +Sir Walter's horse was held for him by Brewster, the knight's English +attendant, and without another word he flung himself into the saddle, +and rode away to join such of his followers as were waiting dispersed +at a safe distance to mark his fate, but without attempting anything +for his assistance. + +'Oh, Sir!' burst forth Malcolm; but then, even as he was about to +utter his thanks, his eye sought for the guardian who had ever been +his mouthpiece, and, with a sudden shriek of dismay, he cried, 'My +uncle! where is he? where is Sir David?' + +'Alack! alack!' cried Lilias. 'Oh, brother, I saw him on the ground; +he fell before my horse. I saw no more, for the Master held me, and +muffled my face. Oh, let us back, he may yet live.' + +'Yea, let us back,' said Sir James, 'if we may yet save the good old +man. Those villains will not dare to follow; or if they do, Nigel-- +Brewster, you understand guarding the rear.' + +'Sir,' began Lilias, 'how can we thank--' + +'Not at all, lady,' replied Sir James, smiling; 'you will do better +to take your seat; I fear it must be en croupe, for we can scarce +dismount one of your guards.' + +'She shall ride behind me,' said Malcolm, in a more alert and +confident voice than had ever been heard from him before. + +'Ay, right,' said Sir James, placing a kind hand on his shoulder; +'thou hast won her back by thine own exploit, and mayst well have the +keeping of her. That rush on the caitiff groom was well and shrewdly +done.' + +And for all Malcolm's anxiety for his uncle, his heart had never +given such a leap as at finding himself suddenly raised from the +depressed down-trodden coward into something like manhood and self- +respect. + +Lilias, who, like most damsels of her time, was hardy and active, saw +no difficulties in the mode of conveyance, and, so soon as Malcolm +had seated himself on horseback, she placed one foot upon his toe, +and with a spring of her own, assisted by Sir James's well-practised +hand, was instantly perched on the crupper, clasping her brother +round the waist with her arms, and laying her head on his shoulder in +loving pride at his exploit, while for her further security Sir James +threw round them both the long plaid that had so lately bound her. + +'Dear Malcolm'--and her whisper fell sweetly on his ear--'it will be +bonnie tidings for Patie that thou didst loose me all thyself. The +false tyrant, to fall on us the very hour Patie was on the salt sea.' + +But they were riding so fast that there was scant possibility for +words; and, besides, Sir James kept too close to them for private +whispers. In about an hour's time they had crossed the bit of table- +land that formed the moor, and descended into another little gorge, +which was the place where the attack had been made upon the +travellers. + +This was where it was possible that they might find Sir David; but no +trace was to be seen, except that the grass was trampled and stained +with blood. Perhaps, both Lilias and old Halbert suggested, some of +their people had returned and taken him to the Abbey of Coldingham, +and as this was by far the safest lodging and refuge for her and her +brother, the horses' heads were at once turned thitherwards. + +The grand old Priory of Coldingham, founded by King Edgar, son of +Margaret the Saint, and of Malcolm Ceanmohr, in testimony of his +gratitude for his recovery of his father's throne from the usurper +Donaldbane, was a Benedictine monastery under the dominion of the +great central Abbey of Durham. + +It had been a great favourite with the Scottish kings of that +glorious dynasty which sprung from Margaret of Wessex, and had ample +estates, which, when it was in good hands, enabled it to supply the +manifold purposes of an ecclesiastical school, a model farm, a +harbour for travellers, and a fortified castle. At this period, the +Prior, John de Akecliff, or Oakcliff, was an excellent man, a great +friend of Sir David Drummond, and much disliked and persecuted by the +House of Albany, so that there was little doubt that this would be +the first refuge thought of by Sir David's followers. + +Accordingly Malcolm and his companions rode up to the chief gateway, +a grand circular archway, with all the noble though grotesque +mouldings, zigzag and cable, dog-tooth and parrot-beak, visages human +and diabolic, wherewith the Norman builders loved to surround their +doorways. The doors were of solid oak, heavily guarded with iron, +and from a little wicket in the midst peered out a cowled head, and +instantly ensued the exclamation - + +'Benedicite! Welcome, my Lord Malcolm! Ah! but this will ease the +heart of the Tutor of Glenuskie!' + +'Ah! then he is here?' cried Malcolm. + +'Here, Sir, but in woful plight; borne in an hour syne by four carles +who said you had been set upon by the Master of Albany, and sair +harried, and they say the Tutor doth nought but wail for his bairns. +How won ye out of his hands, my Lord?' + +'Thanks to this good knight,' said Malcolm; and the gate was opened, +and the new-comers dismounted to pass under the archway, which taught +humility. A number of the brethren met them as they came forth into +the first quadrangle, surrounded by a beautiful cloister, and +containing what was called Edgar's Walls, a house raised by the good +founder, for his own lodging and that of visitors, within the +monastery. It was a narrow building, about thirty feet from the +church, was perfectly familiar to Malcolm, who bent his steps at once +thither, among the congratulations of the monks; and Lilias was not +prevented from accompanying him thus far within the convent, but all +beyond the nave of the church was forbidden ground to her sex, though +the original monastery destroyed by the Danes had been one of the +double foundations for monks and nuns. + +Entering the building, the brother and sister hastily crossed a sort +of outer hall to a chamber where Sir David lay on his bed, attended +by the Prior Akecliff and the Infirmarer. The glad tidings had +already reached him, and he held out his hands, kissed and blessed +his restored charges, and gave thanks with all his heart; but there +was a strange wanness upon his face, and a spasm of severe pain +crossed him more than once, though, as Lilias eagerly asked after his +hurts, he called them nothing, since he had her safe again, and then +bade Malcolm summon the captive knight that he might thank him. + +Sir James Stewart had been left in the hall without, to the +hospitality of the monks; he had laid aside his helmet, washed his +face, and arranged his bright locks, and as he rose to follow +Malcolm, his majestic stature and bearing seemed to befit the home of +the old Scottish King. + +As he entered the chamber, Sir David slightly raised himself on the +pillow, and, with his eyes dilating into a bewildered gaze, +exclaimed, 'My liege, my dear master!' + +'He raves,' sighed Lilias, clasping Malcolm's hand in dire distress. + +'No,' muttered the sick man, sinking back. 'Good King Robert has +been in his grave many a day; his sons, woe is me!--Sir,' recovering +himself, 'pardon the error of an old dying man, who owes you more +than he can express.' + +'Then, Sir,' said James Stewart, 'grant me the favour of a few +moments' private speech with you. I will not keep you long from +him,' he added to Malcolm and Lilias. + +His manner was never one to be disputed, there was an atmosphere of +obedience about the whole monastery, and the Prior added - + +'Yes, my children, it is but fitting that you should give thanks in +the church for your unlooked-for deliverance.' + +Malcolm was forced to lead Lilias away into the exquisite cross +church, built in the loveliest Early English style, of which a few +graceful remnants still exist. The two young things knelt together +hand in hand in the lornness of their approaching desolation, neither +of them having dared to utter the foreboding upon their hearts, but +feeling it all the more surely; and while the sister's spirit longed +fervently after him whose protection had been only just removed, the +brother looked up to the sheltering vaults, lost in the tranquil +twilight, and felt that here alone was his haven of peace, the refuge +for the feeble and the fatherless. + +Their devotions performed, they ventured back to the outer hall, and +on their return being notified, they were again admitted. Sir James, +who had been seated on a stool by the sick man's head, immediately +rose and resigned his place to Lilias, but did not leave the room and +Sir David thus spoke: 'Bairns, God in His mercy hath raised you up +the best of guardians in the stead of your ain poor Tutor. Malcolm, +laddie, you will ride the morn with this gentleman to the true head +of your name, your ain King, whom God for ever bless!' His voice +quivered. 'And be it your study so to profit by his example and +nurture, as to do your devoir by him for ever.' + +'Nay, father,' cried Malcolm, 'I cannot leave you and Lily.' + +'If you call me father, do my bidding,' said Sir David. 'Lily can be +safely bestowed with the good Sisters of St. Abbs, nor while you are +out of Albany's reach is the poor lassie worth his molesting; but +when I am gone, your uncles of Albany and Athole become your tutors, +and the Prior has no power to save you. Only over the Border with +the King is there safety from them, and your ruin is the ruin of your +sister.' + +'And,' added Sir James, 'when the King is at liberty, or when you +yourself are of age, you will return to resume the charge of your +fair sister, unless some nearer protector be found. Meantime,' he +laid one hand on Malcolm's head, and with the other took out the +relic which had had so great an effect upon Walter Stewart, 'I swear +on this holy Rood of St. Andrew, that Malcolm Stewart of Glenuskie +shall be my charge, not merely as my kinsman, but as my young +brother.' + +'You hear, Malcolm,' said Sir David. 'You will strive to merit such +goodness.' + +'Father,' broke out the poor boy again, 'you cannot mean to part us! +Let us abide as we have been till I am of age to take my vows! I am +not fit to serve the King.' + +'He is the best judge of that,' returned Sir James. + +'And,' added Sir David, 'I tell you, lad, that I shall never be as I +was before, and that were I a whole man and sain, riding back to +Glenuskie the morn, I should still bless the saints and bid you +gang.' + +Rarely did the youth of the fifteenth century venture to question the +authority of an elder, but Malcolm was only silenced for a moment, +and though by no means understanding that his guardian believed his +injuries mortal, he threw himself upon the advice of the Prior, whom +he entreated to allow him to judge for himself, and to remain to +protect his sister--he talked boldly of protecting her after this +day's exploit. But Prior Akecliff gave him no more encouragement +than did his uncle. The Benedictine vows were out of the question +till he should be eighteen, and the renunciation of the world they +involved would be ruinous to Lilias, since she would become his +heiress. Moreover, the Prior himself was almost in a state of siege, +for the Regent was endeavouring to intrude on the convent one Brother +William Drake, or Drax, by his own nomination, instead of the +canonical appointment emanating from Durham, and as national feeling +went with the Regent's nominee, it was by no means certain that the +present Prior would be able to maintain his position. + +'Oh, go! yes, go, dear brother,' entreated Lilias. 'I should be far +happier to know you in safety. They cannot hurt me while you are +safe.' + +'But you, Lily! What if this villain Drax have his way?' + +'He could not harm her in St. Ebba's fold,' returned the Prior. 'The +Abbess herself could not yield her; and, as you have so often been +told, my young Lord, your absence is a far greater protection to your +sister than your presence. Moreover, were the Tutor's mind at rest, +there would be far better hope of his recovery.' + +There was no alternative, and Malcolm could not but submit. Lilias +was to be conducted before daybreak to the monastery of St. Abbs, +about six miles off, whence she could be summoned at any time to be +with her uncle in Coldingham; and Malcolm was to set off at daybreak +with the captive knight, whose return to England could no longer be +delayed. + +Poor children! while Sir James Stewart was in the Prior's chamber, +they sat silent and mournful by the bedside where their guardian lay +dozing, even till the bell for Matins summoned them in common with +all the other inmates of the convent; they knelt on the floor of the +candle-lit church, and held each other's hands as they prayed; Lilias +still the stronger and more hopeful, while Malcolm, as he looked up +at those dear familiar vaultings, felt as if he were a bird driven +from its calm peaceful nest to battle with the tossing winds and +storms of ocean, without one near him whom he had learnt to love. + +It was still dark when the service had ended, and Prior Akecliff came +towards them. 'Daughter,' he said to Lilias, 'we deem it safer that +you should ride to St. Abbs ere daylight. Your palfrey is ready, the +Mother Abbess is warned, and I will myself conduct you thither.' + +Priors were not people to be kept waiting, and as it was reported +that the Tutor of Glenuskie was still asleep, Lilias had to depart +without taking leave of him. With Malcolm the last words were spoken +while crossing the court. 'Fear not, Lily; my heart will only weary +till the Church owns me, and Patie has you.' + +'Nay, my Malcolm; mayhap, as the Prior tells me, your strength and +manhood will come in the south country.' + +'Let them,' said Malcolm; 'I will neither cheat the Church nor +Patie.' + +'It were no cheat. There never was any compact. Patie is winning +his fortune by his own sword; he would scorn--' + +'Hush, Lily! When the King sees what a weakling Sir James has +brought him, he will be but too glad to exchange Patie for me, and +leave me safe in these blessed walls.' + +But here they were under the archway, and the convoy of armed men, +whom the exigencies of the time forced the convent to maintain, were +already mounted. Sir James stood ready to assist the lady to her +saddle, and with one long earnest embrace the brother and sister were +parted, and Lilias rode away with the Prior by her side, letting the +tears flow quietly down her cheeks in the darkness, and but half +hearing the long arguments by which good Father Akecliff was proving +to her that the decision was the best for both Malcolm and herself. + +By and by the dawn began to appear, the air of the March night became +sharper, and in the distance the murmur and plash of the tide was +heard. Then, standing heavy and dark against the clear pale eastern +sky, there arose the dark mass of St. Ebba's monastery, the parent of +Coldingham, standing on the very verge of the cliff to which it has +left the name of St. Abb's Head, upon ground which has since been +undermined by the waves, and has been devoured by them. The sea, far +below, calmly brightened with the brightening sky, and reflected the +morning stars in a lucid track of light, strong enough to make the +lights glisten red in the convent windows. Lilias was expected, was +a frequent guest, and had many friends there, and as the sweet sound +of the Lauds came from the chapel, and while she dismounted in the +court the concluding 'Amen' swelled and died away, she, though no +convent bird, felt herself in a safe home and shelter under the wing +of kind Abbess Annabel Drummond, and only mourned that Malcolm, so +much tenderer and more shrinking than herself, should be driven into +the unknown world that he dreaded so much more than she did. + + + +CHAPTER III: HAL + + + +The sun had not long been shining on the dark walls of St. Ebba's +monastery, before the low-browed gate of Coldingham Priory opened to +let pass the guests of the previous night. Malcolm had been kissed +and blessed by his guardian, and bidden to transfer his dutiful +obedience to his new protector; and somewhat comforted by believing +Sir David to be mending since last night, he had rent himself away, +and was riding in the frosty morning air beside the kinsman who had +so strangely taken charge of him, and accompanied by Sir James's tall +old Scottish squire, by the English groom, and by Malcolm's own +servant, Halbert. + +For a long space there was perfect silence: and as Malcolm began to +detach his thoughts from all that he had left behind, he could not +help being struck with the expressions that flitted over his +companion's countenance. For a time he would seem lost in some deep +mournful reverie, and his head drooped as if in sadness or +perplexity; then a sudden gleam would light up his face, as if a +brilliant project had occurred to him, his lips would part, his eyes +flash, he would impel his horse forward as though leading a charge, +or lift up his head with kindling looks, like one rehearsing a +speech; but ever a check would come on him in the midst, his mouth +closed in dejection, his brow drew together in an anguish of +impatience, his eyelids drooped in weariness, and he would ride on in +deep reflection, till roused perhaps by the flight of a moor-fowl, or +the rush of a startled roe, he would hum some gay French hunting-song +or plaintive Scottish ballad. + +Scarcely a word had been uttered, until towards noon, on the borders +of a little narrow valley, the merry sound of bells clashed up to +their ears, and therewith sounds of music. ''Tis the toon of +Christ's Kirk on the Green,' said the squire, as Sir James looked at +him for information, 'where we were to bait. Methought in Lent we +had been spared this gallimawfrey.' + +''Tis Midlent week, you pagan,' replied Sir James. 'These good folk +have come a-mothering, and a share of their simnels we'll have.' + +'Sir,' entreated the squire, 'were it not more prudent of you to +tarry without, and let me fetch provisions?' + +'Hoot, man, a throng is our best friend! Besides, the horses must +rest.' + +So saying, Sir James rode eagerly forward; Malcolm following, not +without wonder at not having been consulted, for though kept in +strict discipline by his uncle, it had always been with every +courtesy due to his rank as a king's grandson; and the cousins, from +whom he had suffered, were of the same rank with himself. Did this +wandering landless knight, now he had him in his power, mean to +disregard all that was his due? But when Sir James turned round his +face sparkling with good-humour and amusement, and laughed as he +said, 'Now then for the humours of a Scottish fair!' all his offended +dignity was forgotten. + +The greensward was surrounded by small huts and hovels; a little old +stone church on one side, and a hostel near it, shadowed by a single +tall elm, beneath which was the very centre of the village wake. Not +only was it Midlent, but the day was the feast of a local saint, in +whose honour Lenten requirements were relaxed. Monks and priests +were there in plenty, and so were jugglers and maskers, Robin Hood +and Marion, glee-men and harpers, merchants and hucksters, masterful +beggars and sorners, shepherds in gray mauds with wise collies at +their feet, shrewd old carlines with their winter's spinning of yarn, +lean wolf-like borderers peaceable for the nonce, merry lasses with +tow-like locks floating from their snoods, all seen by the intensely +glittering sun of a clear March day, dry and not too cold for these +hardy northern folk. + +Nigel, the squire, sighed in despondency; and Malcolm, who hated +crowds, and knew himself a mark for the rude observations of a free- +spoken populace, shrank up to him, when Sir James, nodding in time to +the tones of a bagpipe that was playing at the hostel door, flung his +bridle to Brewster the groom, laughed at his glum and contemptuous +looks, merrily hailed the gudewife with her brown face and big silver +ear-rings, seated himself on the bench at the long wooden table under +the great garland of fir-boughs, willow catkins, and primroses, hung +over the boughs of the tree, crossed himself, murmured his Benedictus +benedicat, drew his dagger, carved a slice of the haunch of ox on the +table, offered it to the reluctant Malcolm, then helping himself, +entered into conversation with the lean friar on one side of him, and +the stalwart man-at-arms opposite, apparently as indifferent as the +rest of the company to the fact that the uncovered boards of the +table were the only trenchers, and the salt and mustard were taken by +the point of each man's dagger from common receptacles dispersed +along the board. Probably the only person really disgusted or amazed +was the English Brewster, who, though too cautious to express a word +of his feelings, preserved the most complete silence, and could +scarcely persuade himself to taste the rude fare. + +Nor when the meal was over was Sir James disposed to heed the wistful +looks of his attendants, but wandered off to watch the contest in +archery at the butts, where arrow after arrow flew wide of the clout, +for the strength of Scotland did not lie in the long-bow, and +Albany's edict that shooting should be practised on Sundays and +holidays had not produced as yet any great dexterity. + +Sir James at first laughed merrily at the extraordinary screwings of +visage and contortions of attitude, and the useless demonstration of +effort with which the clowns aimed their shafts and drew their bow, +sometimes to find the arrow on the grass at their feet, sometimes to +see it producing consternation among the bystanders; but when he saw +Brewster standing silently apart, viewing their efforts with a scorn +visible enough in the dead stolidity of his countenance, he murmured +a bitter interjection, and turned away with folded arms and frowning +brow. + +Nigel again urged their departure, but at that moment the sweet notes +of a long narrative ballad began to sound to the accompaniment of a +harp, and he stood motionless while the wild mournful ditty told of +the cruelty of the Lady of Frendraught, and how + + +'Morning sun ne'er shone upon +Lord John and Rothiemay. + + +Large tears were dropping from under the hand with he veiled his +emotion; and when Nigel touched his cloak to remind him that the +horses were ready, he pressed the old man's hand, saying, with a +sigh, 'I heard that last at my father's knee! It rung in my ears for +many a year! Here, lad!' and dropping a gold coin into the wooden +bowl carried round by the blind minstrel's attendant, he was turning +away, when the glee-man, detecting perhaps the ring of the coin, +broke forth in stirring tones - + + +"It fell about the Lammas tide, +When moormen win their hay, +The doughty Earl of Douglas rode +Into England to catch a prey." + + +Again he stood transfixed, beating time with his hand, his eyes +beaming, his hips moving as he followed the spirit-stirring ballad; +and then, as Douglas falls, and is laid beneath the bracken bush, +unseen by his men, and Montgomery forces Hotspur to yield, not to +him, but + + +'to the bracken bush +That grows upon the lily lea,' + + +he sobbed without disguise; and no sooner was the ballad ended than +he sprang forward to the harper, crying, 'Again, again; another gold +crown to hear it again!' + +'Sir,' entreated Nigel, 'remember how much hangs on your speed.' + +'The ballad I MUST have,' exclaimed Sir James, trying to shake him +off. 'It moves the heart more than aught I ever heard! How runs +it?' + +'_I_ know the ballad,' said Malcolm, half in impatience, half in +contempt. 'I could sing every word of it. Every glee-man has it.' + +'Nay--hear you, Sir--the lad can sing it,' reiterated Nigel; and Sir +James, throwing the promised guerdon to the minstrel, let himself be +led away to the front of the inn; but there was a piper, playing to a +group of dancers, and as if his feet could not resist the +fascination, Sir James held out his hand to the first comely lass he +saw disengaged, and in spite of the steel-guarded boots that he wore, +answered foot for foot, spring for spring, to the deft manoeuvres of +her shoeless feet, with equal agility and greater grace. Nigel +frowned more than ever at this exhibition, and when the knight had +led his panting partner to a seat, and called for a tankard of ale +for her refreshment, he remonstrated more seriously still. 'Sir, the +gates of Berwick will be shut.' + +'The days lengthen, man.' + +'And who knows if some of yon land-loupers be not of Walter Stewart's +meine? Granted that they ken not yourself, that lad is only too ken- +speckle. Moreover, you ye made free enough with your siller to set +the haill crew of moss-troopers on our track.' + +'Twenty mile to Berwick-gate,' said Sir James, carelessly; 'nor need +you ever look behind you at jades like theirs. Nay, friend, I come, +since you grudge me for once the sight of a little wholesome glee +among my own people. My holiday is dropping from me like sands in an +hour-glass!' + +He mounted, however, and put his horse to as round a pace as could be +maintained by the whole party with out distress; nor did he again +break silence for many miles. + +At the gates of Berwick, then in English hands, be gave a pass-word, +and was admitted, he bade Nigel conduct Lord Malcolm to an inn, +explaining that it was his duty to present himself to the governor; +and, being detained to sup with him, was seen no more till they +started the next morning. The governor rode out with them some ten +miles, with a strong guard of spearmen; and after parting with him +they pushed on to the south. + +After the first day's journey, Malcolm was amazed to see Sir James +mount without any of his defensive armour, which was piled on the +spare horse; his head was covered by a chaperon, or flat cap with a +short curtain to it, and his sword was the only weapon he retained. +Nigel was also nearly unarmed, and Sir James advised Malcolm himself +to lay aside the light hawberk he wore; then, at his amazed look, +said, 'Poor lad! he never saw the day when he could ride abroad +scathless. When will the breadth of Scotland be as safe as these +English hills?' + +He was very kind to his young companion, treating him in all things +like a guest, pointing out what was worthy of note, and explaining +what was new and surprising. Malcolm would have asked much +concerning the King, to whom he was bound, but these questions were +the only ones Sir James put aside, saying that his kinsman would one +day learn that it ill beseemed those who were about a king's person +to speak of him freely. + +One night was spent at Durham, the parent of Coldingham, and here +Malcolm felt at home, far more grand as was that mighty cathedral +institution. There it stood, with the Weir encircling it, on its own +fair though mighty hill, with all the glory of its Norman mister and +lovely Lady-chapel; yet it seemed to the boy more like a glorified +Coldingham than like a strange region. + +'The peace of God rests on the place,' he said, when Sir James asked +his thoughts as he looked back at the grand mass of buildings. +'These are the only spots where the holy and tender can grow, like +the Palestine lilies sheltered from the blast in the Abbot's garden +at Coldingham.' + +'Nay, lad, it were an ill world did lilies only grow in abbots' +gardens.' + +'It is an ill world,' said Malcolm. + +'Let us hear what you say in a month's time,' replied the knight, +lightly: then dreaming over the words. + +A few days more, and they were riding among the lovely rock and +woodland scenery of Yorkshire, when suddenly there leaped from behind +a bush three or four young men, with a loud shout of 'Stand.' + +'Reivers!' thought Malcolm, sick with dismay, as the foremost grasped +Sir James's bridle; but the latter merely laughed, saying, 'How now, +Hal! be these your old tricks?' + +'Ay, when such prizes are errant,' said the assailant and Sir James, +springing from his horse, embraced him and his companion with a +cordiality that made Malcolm not a little uneasy. Could he have been +kidnapped by a false Englishman into a den of robbers for the sake of +his ransom? + +'You are strict to your time,' said the chief robber. 'I knew you +would be. So, when Ned Marmion came to Beverley, and would have us +to see his hunting at Tanfield, we came on thinking to meet you. +Marmion here has a nooning spread in the forest; ere we go on to +Thirsk, where I have a matter to settle between two wrong-headed +churls. How has it been with you, Jamie? you have added to your +meine.' + +'Ah, Hal! never in all your cut-purse days did you fall on such an +emprise as I have achieved.' + +'Let us hear,' said Hal, linking his arm in Sir James's, who turned +for a moment to say, 'Take care of the lad, John; he is a young +kinsman of mine.' + +'Kinsman!' thought Malcolm; 'do all wandering Stewarts claim kin to +the blood royal?' but then, as he looked at Sir James's stately head, +he felt that no assumption could be unbecoming in one of such a +presence, and so kind to himself; and, ashamed of the moment's +petulance, dismounted, and, as John said, 'This is the way to our +noon meat,' he let himself be conducted through the trees to a glade, +sheltered from the wind, where a Lenten though not unsavoury meal of +bread, dried fish, and eggs was laid out on the grass, in a bright +warm sunshine; and Hal, declaring himself to have a hunter's +appetite, and that he knew Jamie had been starved in Scotland, and +was as lean as a greyhound, seated himself on the grass, and to +Malcolm's extreme surprise, not to say disgust, was served by Lord +Marmion on the knee and with doffed cap. + +While the meal was being eaten, Malcolm studied the strangers. Lord +Marmion was a good-humoured, hearty-looking young Yorkshireman, but +the other two attracted his attention far more. They were evidently +brothers, one perhaps just above, the other just below, thirty; both +of the most perfect mould of symmetry, activity, and strength, though +perhaps more inclining to agility than robustness. Both were fair- +complexioned, and wore no beard; but John was the paler, graver, and +more sedate, and his aquiline profile had an older look than that +borne by Hal's perfectly regular features. It would have been hard +to define what instantly showed the seniority of his brother, for the +clearness of his colouring--bright red and white like a lady's--his +short, well-moulded chin, and the fresh earnestness and animation of +his countenance, gave an air of perpetual youth in spite of the scar +of an arrow on the cheek which told of at least one battle; but there +were those manifestations of being used to be the first which are the +evident tokens of elder sonship, and the lordly manner more and more +impressed Malcolm. He was glad that his own Sir James was equal in +dignity, as well as superior in height, and he thought the terrible +red lightning of those auburn eyes would be impossible to the +sparkling azure eyes of the Englishman, steadfast, keen, and +brilliant unspeakably though they were; but so soon as Sir James +seemed to have made his explanation, the look was most winningly +turned on him, a hand held out, and he was thus greeted: 'Welcome, +my young Prince Malcolm; I am happy that your cousin thinks so well +of our cheer, that he has brought you to partake it.' + +'His keeper, Somerset,' thought Malcolm, as he bowed stiffly; 'he +seems to treat me coolly enough. I come to serve my King,' he said, +but he was scarcely heard; for as Hal unbuckled his sword before +sitting down on the grass, he thrust into his bosom a small black +volume, with which he seemed to have been beguiling the time; and +John exclaimed - + +'There goes Godfrey de Bulloin. I tell you, Jamie, 'tis well you are +come! Now have I some one to speak with. Ever since Harry borrowed +my Lady of Westmoreland's book of the Holy War, he has not had a word +to fling at me.' + +'Ah!' said Sir James, 'I saw a book, indeed, of the Holy Land! It +would tempt him too much to hear how near the Border it dwells! What +was it named, Malcolm?' + +'The "Itinerarium of Adamnanus,"' replied Malcolm, blushing at the +sudden appeal. + +'Ha! I've heard of it,' cried the English knight. 'I sent to half +the convent libraries to beg the loan when Gilbert de Lannoy set +forth for the survey of Palestine. Does the Monk of Iona tell what +commodity of landing there may be on the coast?' + +Malcolm had the sea-port towns at his fingers' ends, and having in +the hard process of translation, and reading and re-reading one of +the few books that came into his hands, nearly mastered the contents, +he was able to reply with promptness and precision, although with +much amazement, for + + +'Much he marvelled a knight of pride +Like book-bosomed priest should ride;' + + +nor had he ever before found his accomplishments treated as aught but +matters of scorn among the princes and nobles with whom he had +occasionally been thrown. + +'Good! good!' said Sir Harry at last. 'Well read, and clearly called +to mind. The stripling will do you credit, James. Where have you +studied, fair cousin?' + +Cousin! was it English fashion to make a cousin of everybody? But +gentle, humble Malcolm had no resentment in him, and felt gratified +at the friendly tone of so grand and manly-looking a knight. 'At +home,' he answered, 'with a travelling scholar who had studied at +Padua and Paris.' + +'That is where you Scots love to haunt! But know you how they are +served there? I have seen the gibbet where the Mayor of Paris hung +two clerks' sons for loving his daughters over well!' + +'The clerks' twa sons of Owsenford that were foully slain!' cried +Malcolm, his face lighting up. 'Oh, Sir, have you seen their +gibbet?' + +'What? were they friends of yours?' asked Hal, much amused, and +shaking his head merrily at Sir James. 'Ill company, I fear--' + +'Only in a ballad,' said Malcolm, colouring, 'that tells how at +Yuletide the ghosts came to their mother with their hats made of the +birk that grew at the gates of Paradise.' + +'A rare ballad must that be!' exclaimed Hal. 'Canst sing it? Or are +you weary?--Marmion, prithee tell some of the fellows to bring my +harp from the baggage.' + +'His own harp is with ours,' said Sir James; 'he will make a better +figure therewith.' + +At his sign, the attendant, Nigel, the only person besides Lord +Marmion of Tanfield who had been present at the meal, besides the two +Stewarts and the English brothers, rose and disappeared between the +trees, beyond which a hum of voices, an occasional laugh, and the +stamping of horses and jingling of bridles, betokened that a good +many followers were in waiting. Malcolm's harp was quickly brought, +having been slung in its case to the saddle of Halbert's horse; and +as he had used it to beguile the last evening's halt, it did not need +much tuning. Surprised as his princely notions were at being +commanded rather than requested to sing, the sweet encouraging smile +and tone of kind authority banished all hesitation in complying, and +he gave the ballad of the Clerks' Twa Sons of Owsenford with much +grace and sweetness, while the weakness of his voice was compensated +by the manlier strains with which Sir James occasionally chimed in. +Then, as Harry gave full meed of appreciative praise and thanks, Sir +James said, 'Lend me thine harp, Malcolm; I have learnt thy song now; +and thou, Harry, must hear and own how far our Scottish minstrelsy +exceeds thy boasted Chevy Chase.' + +And forth rang in all the mellow beauty of his voice that most +glorious of ballads, the Battle of Otterburn, as much more grand than +it had been when he heard it from the glee-man or from Malcolm, as a +magnificent voice, patriotic enthusiasm, and cultivation and +refinement, could make it. He had lost himself and all around in the +passion of the victory, the pathos of the death. But no such bright +look of thanks recompensed him. Harry's face grew dark, and he +growled, 'Douglas dead? Ay, he wins more fields so than alive! I +wish you would keep my old Shrewsbury friend, Earl Tyneman, as you +call him, at home.' + +''Tis ill keeping the scholars in bounds when the master is away,' +returned Sir James. + +'Well, by this time Tom has taught them how to transgress--sent them +home with the long scourge from robbing orchards in Anjou. He writes +to me almost with his foot in the stirrup, about to give Douglas and +Buchan a lesson. I shall make short halts and long stages south. +This is too far off for tidings.' + +'True,' said Sir John, with a satirical curl of the lip; 'above all, +when fair ladies brook not to ink their ivory fingers.' + +'There spake the envious fiend,' laughed the elder brother. 'John +bears not the sight of what he will not or cannot get.' + +'I'll never be chained to a lady's litter, nor be forced to loiter +till her wimple is pinned,' retorted John. 'Nor do I like dames with +two husbands besides.' + +'One would have cancelled the other, as grammarians tell us,' said +Harry, 'if thy charms, John, had cancelled thine hook nose! I would +they had, ere her first marriage. Humfrey will burn his fingers +there, and we must hasten back to look after that among other +things.--My Lord Marmion,' he added, starting hastily up, and calling +to him as he stood at some distance conversing with the Scottish +Nigel, 'so please you, let us have the horses;' and as the gentleman +hastened to give the summons, he said, 'We shall make good way now. +We shall come on Watling Street. Ha, Jamie, when shall we prove +ourselves better men than a pack of Pagan Romans, by having a set of +roads fit for man or beast, of our own making instead of theirs half +decayed? Look where I will, in England or France, their roads are +the same in build--firm as the world itself, straight as arrows. An +army is off one's mind when once one gets on a Roman way. I'll learn +the trick, and have them from Edinburgh to Bordeaux ere ten years are +out; and then, what with traffic and converse with the world, and +ready justice, neither Highland men minor Gascons will have leisure +or taste for robbery.' + +'Perhaps Gascons and Scots will have a voice in the matter,' said +James, a little stiffly; and the horses being by this time brought, +Sir Harry mounted, and keeping his horse near that of young Malcolm, +to whom he had evidently taken a fancy, he began to talk to him in so +friendly and winning a manner, that he easily drew from the youth the +whole history of his acquaintance with Sir James Stewart, of the +rescue of his sister, and the promise to conduct him to the captive +King of Scots, as the only means of saving him from his rapacious +kindred. + +'Poor lad!' said Harry, gravely. + +'Do you know King James, Sir?' asked Malcolm, timidly. + +'Know him?' said Harry, turning round to scan the boy with his merry +blue eye. 'I know him--yes; that as far as a poor Welsh knight can +know his Grace of Scotland.' + +'And, Sir, will he be good lord to me?' + +'Eh! that's as you may take him. I would not be one of yonder Scots +under his hands!' + +'Has he learned to hate his own countrymen?' asked Malcolm, in an +awe-stricken voice. + +'Hate? I trow he has little to love them for. He is a good fellow +enough, my young lord, when left to himself; but best beware. Lions +in a cage have strange tempers.' + +A courier rode up at the moment, and presented some letters, which +Sir Harry at once opened and read, beckoning his brother and Sir +James to his side, while Malcolm rode on in their wake, in a state of +dismay and bewilderment. Nigel and Lord Marmion were together at so +great an interval that he could not fall back on them, nor learn from +them who these brothers were. And there was something in the +ironical suppressed pity with which Harry had spoken of his prospects +with the King of Scots, that terrified him all the more, because he +knew that Sir James and Nigel would both hold it unworthy of him to +have spoken freely of his own sovereign with an Englishman. Would +James be another Walter? and, if so, would Sir James Stewart protect +him? He had acquired much affection for, and strong reliance on, the +knight; but there was something unexplained, and his heart sank. + +The smooth line of Watling Street at length opened into the old town +of Thirsk, and here bells were ringing, flags flying from the +steeple, music sounded, a mayor and his corporation in their robes +rode slowly forth, crowds lined the road-side, caps were flung up, +and a tremendous shout arose, 'God save King Harry!' + +Malcolm gazed about more utterly discomfited. There was 'Harry,' +upright on his horse, listening with a gracious smile, while the +mayor rehearsed a speech about welcome and victories, and the hopeful +queen, and, what was still more to the purpose, tendered a huge pair +of gauntlets, each filled to the brim, one with gold, and the other +with silver pieces. + +'Eh! Thanks, Master Mayor, but these gloves must be cleared, ere +there is room for me to use them in battle!' + +And handing the gold glove to his brother, he scattered the contents +of the silver one far and wide among the populace, who shouted their +blessings louder than ever, and thus he reached the market-place. +There all was set forth as for the lists, a horseman in armour on +either side. + +'Heigh now, Sirs,' said Harry, 'have we not wars enough toward +without these mummings of vanity?' + +'This is no show, my Lord King,' returned the mayor, abashed. 'This +is deadly earnest. These are two honourable gentlemen of Yorkshire, +who are come hither to fight out their quarrel before your Grace.' + +'Two honourable foolsheads!' muttered Harry; then, raising his voice, +'Come hither, gentlemen, let us hear your quarrel.' + +The two gentlemen were big Yorkshiremen, heavy-browed, and their +native shrewdness packed far away behind a bumpkin stolidity and +surliness that barely allowed them to show respect to the King. + +'So please you, Sir,' growled the first in his throat, 'here stands +Christopher Kitson of Barrowbridge, ready to avouch himself a true +man, and prove in yonder fellow's teeth that it was not a broken- +kneed beast that I sent up for a heriard to my Lord Archbishop when +my father died; but that he of Easingwold is a black slanderer and +backbiter.' + +'And here,' shouted the other, 'stands honest William Trenton of +Easingwold, ready to thrust his lies down his throat, and prove on +his body that the heriard he sent to my Lord Archbishop was a sorry +jade.' + +'That were best proved by the beast's body,' interposed time King. + +'And,' proceeded the doughty Kitson, as though repeating a lesson, +'having vainly pleaded the matter these nine years, we are come to +demand licence to fight it out, with lance, sword, and dagger, in +your royal presence, to set the matter at rest for ever.' + +'Breaking a man's head to prove the soundness of a horse!' ejaculated +Harry. + +'Your licence is given, Sir King?' demanded Kitson. + +'My licence is given for a combat a l'outrance,' said Henry; but, as +they were about to flounder back on their big farm-horses, he raised +his voice to a thundering sound: 'Solely on this condition, that he +who slays his neighbour, be he Trenton or Kitson, shall hang for the +murder ere I leave Thirsk.' + +There was a recoil, and the mayor himself ventured to observe +something about the judgment of God, and 'never so seen.' + +'And I say,' thundered Henry, and his blue eyes seemed to flame with +vehement indignation, 'I say that the ordeal of battle is shamefully +abused, and that it is a taking of God's name--ay, and man's life--in +vain, to appeal thereto on every coxcomb's quarrel, risking the life +that was given him to serve God's ends, not his own sullen fancy. I +will have an end of such things!--And you, gentlemen, since the +heriard is dead, or too old to settle the question, shake hands, and +if you must let blood, come to France with me next month, and flesh +your knives on French and Scots.' + +'So please you, Sir,' grumbled Kitson, 'there's Mistress Agnes of +Mineshull; she's been in doubt between the two of us these five +years, and she'd promised to wed whichever of us got the better.' + +'I'll settle her mind for her! Whichever I find foremost among the +French, I'll send home to her a knight, and with better sense to boot +than to squabble for nine years as to an old horse.' + +He then dismounted, and was conducted into the town-hall, where a +banquet was prepared, taking by the hand Sir James Stewart, and +followed by his brother John, and by Malcolm, who felt as though his +brain were turning, partly with amazement, partly with confusion at +his own dulness, as he perceived that not only was the free-spoken +Hal, Henry of Monmouth, King of England, but that his wandering +benefactor, the captive knight, whose claim of kindred he had almost +spurned, was his native sovereign, James the First of Scotland. + + + +CHAPTER IV: THE TIDINGS OF BEAUGE + + + +Malcolm understood it at last. In the great chamber where he was +bidden to wait within 'Nigel' till 'Sir James' came from a private +conference with 'Harry,' he had all explained to him, but within a +curtness and brevity that must not be imitated in the present +narrative. + +The squire Nigel was in fact Sir Nigel Baird, Baron of Bairdsbrae, +the gentleman to whom poor King Robert II. had committed the charge +of his young son James, when at fourteen he had been sent to France, +nominally for education, but in reality to secure him from the fate +of his brother Rothsay. + +Captured by English vessels on the way, the heir of Scotland had been +too valuable a prize to be resigned by the politic Henry IV., who had +lodged him at Windsor Castle, together with Edmund Mortimer, earl of +March, and placed both under the nominal charge of the Prince of +Wales, a youth of a few years older. Unjust as was the detention, it +had been far from severe; the boys had as much liberty as their age +and recreation required, and received the choicest training both in +the arts of war and peace. They were bred up in close intercourse +with the King's own four sons, and were united with them by the +warmest sympathy. + +In fact, since usurpation had filled Henry of Lancaster's mind with +distrust and jealousy, his eldest son had been in no such enviable +position as to be beyond the capacity of fellow-feeling for the royal +prisoner. + +Of a peculiarly frank, open, and affectionate nature, young Henry had +so warmly loved the gentle and fascinating Richard II., that his +trust in the father, of whom he had seen little in his boyhood, had +received a severe shock through Richard's fate. Under the influence +of a new, suspicious, and avaricious wife, the King kept his son as +much at a distance as possible, chiefly on the Welsh marches, +learning the art of war under Hotspur and Oldcastle; and when the +father and son were brought together again, the bold, free bearing +and extraordinary ability of the Prince filled the suspicious mind of +the King with alarm and jealousy. To keep him down, give him no +money, and let him gain no influence, was the narrow policy of the +King; and Henry, chafing, dreaming, feeling the injustice, and pining +for occupation, shared his complaints within James, and in many a +day-dream restored him freely to his throne, and together redressed +the wrongs of the world. Meantime, James studied deep in +preparation, and recreated himself with poetry, inspired by the +charms of Joan Beaufort, the lovely daughter of the King's +legitimatized brother, the Earl of Somerset; while Henry persisted in +a boy's passionate love to King Richard's maiden widow, Isabel of +France. Entirely unrequited as his affection was, it had a +beneficial effect. Next after his deep sense of religion, it kept +his life pure and chivalrous. He was for ever faithful to his future +wife, even when Isabel had been returned to France, and his romantic +passion had fixed itself on her younger sister Catherine, whom he +endowed in imagination with all he had seen or supposed in her. + +Credited with every excess by the tongue of his stepmother, too +active-minded not to indulge in freakish sports and experiments in +life very astounding to commonplace minds, sometimes when in dire +distress even helping himself to his unpaid allowance from his +father's mails, and always with buoyant high spirits and unfailing +drollery that scandalized the grave seniors of the Court, there is +full proof that Prince Hal ever kept free from the gross vices which +a later age has fancied inseparably connected with his frolics; and +though always in disgrace, the vexation of the Court, and a by-word +for mirth, he was true to the grand ideal he was waiting to +accomplish, and never dimmed the purity and loftiness of his aim. +That little band of princely youths, who sported, studied, laughed, +sang, and schemed in the glades of Windsor, were strangely brought +together--the captive exiled King, the disinherited heir of the +realm, and the sons of the monarch who held the one in durance and +occupied the throne of the other; and yet their affection had all the +frank delight of youthful friendship. The younger lads were in more +favour with their father than was the elder. Thomas was sometimes +preferred to him in a mortifying manner, John's grave, quiet nature +prevented him from ever incurring displeasure, and Humfrey was the +spoilt pet of the family; but nothing could lessen Harry's large- +minded love of his brothers; and he was the idol and hero of the +whole young party, who implicitly believed in his mighty destinies as +a renovator of the world, the deliverer of Jerusalem, and restorer of +the unity and purity of the Church. + +'Harry the Fifth was crowned,' and with the full intention of +carrying out his great dream. But his promise of releasing James +became matter of question. The House of Albany, who held the chief +power in Scotland, had bound Henry IV. over not to free their master; +and it was plain that to send him home before his welcome was ensured +would be but tossing him on their spears. In vain James pleaded that +he was no boy, and was able to protect himself; and vowed that when +the faithful should rally round his standard, he would be more than a +match for his enemies; or that if not, he would rather die free than +live in bondage. Henry would not listen, and insisted upon retaining +him until he should himself be at leisure to bring him home with a +high hand, utterly disregarding his assurance that this would only be +rendering him in the eyes of his subjects another despised and hated +Balliol. + +Deeming himself a divinely-appointed redresser of wrongs, Henry was +already beginning on his great work of purifying Europe in +preparation for his mighty Crusade; and having won that splendid +victory which laid distracted France at his feet, he only waited to +complete the conquest as thoroughly and rapidly as might be; and, +lest his grand purpose should be obstructed, this great practical +visionary, though full of kindness and generosity, kept in thraldom a +whole troop of royal and noble captives. + +He had, however, been so far moved by James's entreaties, as to +consent that when he himself offered his devotions at the shrine of +St. John of Beverley, the native saint who shared with the two +cordwainers his gratitude for the glories of 'Crispin Crispian's +day,' his prisoner should, unknown to any save the few who shared the +pilgrimage, push on to reconnoitre his own country, and judge for +himself, having first sworn to reveal himself to no one, and to avoid +all who could recognize him. James had visited Glenuskie within a +special view to profiting by the wisdom of Sir David Drummond, and +had then been at Stirling, Edinburgh, and Perth. On his way back, +falling in with Malcolm in his distress, he had conceived the project +of taking him to England; and finding himself already more than half +recognized by Sir David, had obtained his most grateful and joyous +consent. In truth, James's heart had yearned to his young cousin, +his own situation had become much more lonely of late; for Henry was +no longer the comrade he had once been, since he had become a keeper +instead of a fellow-sufferer. It was true that he did his best to +forget this by lavishing indulgences on his captive, and insisting on +being treated on terms of brotherly familiarity; but though his +transcendent qualities commanded love, the intimacy could be but a +semblance of the once equal friendship. Moreover, that conspiracy +which cost the life of the Earl of Cambridge had taught James that +cautious reserve was needed in dealing with even his old friends the +princes, so easily might he be accused of plotting either with +Henry's immediate heir or with the Mortimers; and, in this guarded +life, he had hailed with delight the opportunity of taking to himself +the young orphan cousin of kindred blood, of congenial tastes, and +home-like speech, whom he might treat at once as a younger brother +and friend, and mould by and by into a trusty counsellor and +assistant. That peculiar wistfulness and gentleness of Malcolm's +look and manner, together with the refinement and intellect apparent +to all who conversed with him without alarming him, had won the +King's heart, and made him long to keep the boy with him. As to +Malcolm's longing for the cloister, he deemed it the result of the +weakly health and refined nature which shrank from the barbarism of +the outer world, and he thought it would pass away under shelter from +the rude taunts of the fierce cousins, at a distance from the well- +meaning exhortations of the monks, and at the spectacle of brave and +active men who could also be pious, conscientious, and cultivated. +In the renewed sojourn at Windsor which James apprehended, the +training of such a youth as Malcolm of Glenuskie would be no small +solace. + +By the time Malcolm had learnt as much of all this as Sir Nigel Baird +knew, or chose to communicate, the King entered the room. He flung +himself on his knees, exclaiming, with warm gratitude, as he kissed +the King's hand, 'My liege, I little kenned--' + +'I meant thee to ken little,' said James, smiling. 'Well, laddie, +wilt thou share the prisoner's cell?--Ay, Bairdsbrae, you were a true +prophet. Harry will do all himself, and will not hear of losing me +to deal with my own people at my own gate. No, no, he'll have me +back with Southron bows and bills, so soon as this small trifle of +France lies quiet in his grasp! I had nearly flung back my parole in +his face, and told him that no English sword should set me on the +Bruce's throne; but there is something in Harry of Monmouth that one +MUST love, and there are moments when to see and hear him one would +as soon doubt the commission of an angel with a flaming sword.' + +'A black angel!' growled Sir Nigel. + +'Scoff and chafe, Baird, but look at his work. Look at Normandy, +freed from misrule and exaction, in peace and order. Look at this +land. Was ever king so loved? Or how durst he act as he did this +day?' + +'Nay, an it were so at home,' said Baird, 'I had as lief stay here as +where a man is not free to fight out his own feud. Even this +sackless callant thought it shame to see two honest men baulked.' + +'Poor Scotland!' sighed James. 'Woe is the land where such thoughts +come readiest to gray-haired men and innocent boys. I tell you, +cousin, this precious right is the very cause that our poor country +is so lawless and bloody, that yon poor silly sparrow would fain be +caged for fear of the kites and carrion-crows.' + +'Alack, my Lord, let me but have my way. I cannot fight! Let +Patrick Drummond have my sister and my lands, and your service will +be far better done,' said Malcolm. + +'I know all that,' said the King, kindly. 'There is time enough for +settling that question; and meantime you will not be spoilt for monk +or priest by cheering me awhile in my captivity. I need you, +laddie,' me added, laying his hand on the boy's shoulder, with all +the instinctive fascination of a Stewart. 'I lack a comrade of my +own blood, for I am all alone!' + +'Oh, Sir!' and Malcolm, looking into his face, saw it full of +tenderness. + +'Books and masters you shall have,' continued James, 'such as for +church or state, cathedral, cloister, or camp, shall render you the +meeter prince; and I pass you my royal word, that if at full age the +cowl be your choice, I will not gainsay you. Meantime, abide with +me, and be the young brother I have yearned for.' + +The King threw his arms round Malcolm, who felt, and unconsciously +manifested, a strange bliss in that embrace, even while fixed in his +determination that nothing should make him swerve from his chosen +path, nor render him false to his promise to Patrick and Lilias. It +was a strange change, from being despised and down-trodden by fierce +cousins, or only fondled, pitied, and treated with consideration by +his own nearest and dearest friends, to be the chosen companion of a +king, and SUCH a king. Nor could it be a wile of Satan, thought +Malcolm, since James still promised him liberty of choice. He would +ask counsel of a priest next time he went to confession; and in the +meantime, in the full tide of gratitude, admiration, and affection, +he gave himself up to the enjoyment of his new situation, and of time +King's kindness and solicitude. This was indeed absolutely that of +an elder brother; for, observing that Malcolm's dress and equipments, +the work of Glenuskie looms, supplemented by a few Edinburgh +purchases, was uncouth enough to attract some scornful glances from +the crowd who came out to welcome the royal entrance into York the +next day, he instantly sent Brewster in search of the best tailor and +lorimer in the city, and provided so handsomely for the appearance of +young Glenuskie, his horse, and his attendants, that the whole floor +of their quarters was strewn with doublets, boots, chaperons, and +gloves, saddles, bridles, and spurs, when the Duke of Bedford +loitered into the room, and began to banter James for thus (as he +supposed) pranking himself out to meet the lady of his love; and then +bemoaned the fripperies that had become the rage in their once +bachelor court, vowing, between sport and earnest, that Hal was so +enamoured of his fair bride, that anon the conquest of France would +be left to himself and his brother, Tom of Clarence; while James +retorted by thrusts at Bedford's own rusticity of garb, and by +endeavouring to force on him a pair of shoes with points like ram's +horns, as a special passport to the favour of Dame Jac--a lady who +seemed to be the object of Duke John's great distaste. + +Suddenly a voice was heard in the gallery of the great old mansion +where they were lodged. 'John! John! Here!--Where is the Duke, I +say?' It was thick and husky, as with some terrible emotion; and the +King and Duke had already started in dismay before the door was +thrown open, and King Henry stood among them, his face of a burning +red. + +'See here, John!' he said, holding out a letter; and then, with an +accent of wrathful anguish, and a terrible frown, he turned on James, +exclaiming, 'I would send you to the Tower, Sir, did I think you had +a hand in this!' + +Malcolm trembled, and sidled nearer his prince; while James, with an +equally fierce look, replied, 'Hold, Sir! Send me where you will, +but dare not dishonour my name!' Then changing, as he saw the +exceeding grief on Henry's brow, and heard John's smothered cry of +dismay, 'For Heaven's sake, Harry, what is it?' + +'This!' said Henry, less loudly, less hotly, but still with an agony +of indignation: 'Thomas is dead--and by the hand of two of your +traitor Scots!' + +'Murdered!' cried James, aghast. + +'Murdered by all honest laws of war, but on the battlefield,' said +Henry. 'Your cousin of Buchan and old Douglas fell on my brave +fellows at Beauge, when they were spent with travel to stop the +robberies in Anjou. They closed in with their pikes on my brave +fellows, took Somerset prisoner, and for Thomas, while he was dealing +with a knight named Swinton in front, the villain Buchan comes behind +and cleaves his head in twain; and that is what you Scots call +fighting!' + +'It was worthy of a son of Albany!' said James. 'Would that +vengeance were in my power!' + +'Ay, you loved him!' said Henry, grasping James's hand, his passion +softened into a burst of tears, as he wrung his prisoner's hand. +'Nay, who did not love him, my brave, free-hearted brother? And that +I--I should have dallied here and left him to bear the brunt, and be +cut off by you felon Scots!' And he hid his face, struggling within +an agony of heart-rending grief, which seemed to sway his whole tall, +powerful frame as he leant against the high back of a chair; while +John, together with James, was imploring him not to accuse himself, +for his presence had been needful at home; and, to turn the tenor of +his thought, James inquired whether there were any further disaster. + +'Not as yet,' said Henry; 'there is not a man left in that heaven- +abandoned crew who knows how to profit by what they have got! but I +must back again ere the devil stir them up a man of wit!--And you, +Sir, can you take order with these heady Scots?' + +'From Windsor? no,' said James; 'but set me in the saddle, let me +learn war under such a captain as yourself, and maybe they will not +take the field against me; or if they do, the slayer of Clarence +shall rue it.' + +'Be it so,' said Henry, wringing his hand. 'You shall with me to +France, Jamie, and see war. The Scots should flock to the Lion +rampant, and without them the French are mo better than deer, under +the fool and murderer they call Dauphin. Yet, alas! will any success +give me back my brother--my brother, the brave and true?' he added, +weeping again within the ABANDON of an open nature and simple age. +'It was for my sins, my forgetfulness of my great work, that this has +come on me.--Ho, Marmion! carry these tidings from me to the Dean; +pray him that the knell be tolled at the Minster, and a requiem sung +for my brother and all who fell with him. We will be there +ourselves, and the mayor must hold us excused from his banquet; these +men are too loyal not to grieve for their King.' + +And, with his arm round the neck of his brother John, Henry left the +room; and before another word could be said, Sir Nigel was there, +having only retired on the King's entrance. The news was of course +all over the house, and with an old attendant's freedom he exclaimed, +'So, Sir, the English have found tough cummers at last!' + +'Not too honourably,' said James, sadly. + +'Hout, would not the puir loons be glad enow of any gate of coming by +a clout at the man's brother that keeps you captive!' + +'They have taken away one of those I loved best!' said James. + +'I'm no speaking ill of the lad Clarence himself,' said Nigel; 'he +was a braw youth, leal and bold, and he has died in his helm and +spurs, as a good knight should. I'd wish none of these princes a +waur ending. Moreover, could Swinton have had the wit to keep him +living, he'd have been a bonnie barter for you, my Lord; but ony way +the fight was a gallant one, and the very squire that brought the +tidings cannot deny that our Scots fought like lions.' + +'Would Douglas but so fight in any good quarrel!' sighed the King. +'But what are you longing to ask, Malcolm? Is it for your kinsman +Patrick? I fear me that there is little chance of your hearing by +name of him.' + +'I wot not,' said Sir Nigel; 'I did but ask for that hare-brained +young cousin of mine, Davie Baird, that must needs be off on this +journey to France; and the squire tells me he was no herald, to be +answerable for the rogues that fought on the other side.' + +'We shall soon see for ourselves,' said James; 'I am to make this +campaign.' + +'You! you, my liege! Against your own ally, and under the standard +of England! Woe's me, how could ye be so lost!' + +James argued on his own conviction that the true France was with poor +Charles VI., and that it was doing the country no service to prolong +the resistance of the Armagnacs and the Dauphin, who then appeared +mere partisans instead of patriots. As to fighting under the English +banner, no subjection was involved in an adventurer king so doing: +had not the King of Bohemia thus fought at Crecy? and was not the +King of Sicily with the French army? Moreover, James himself felt +the necessity of gaining some experience in the art of war. +Theoretically he had studied it with all his might, from Caesar, +Quintus Curtius, and that favourite modern authority, the learned +ecclesiastic, Jean Pave, who was the Vauban of the fifteenth century; +and he had likewise obtained greedily all the information he could +from Henry himself and his warriors; but all this had convinced him +that if war was to be more than a mere raid, conducted by mere spirit +and instinct, some actual apprenticeship was necessary. Even for +such a dash, Henry himself had told him that he would find his book- +knowledge an absolute impediment without some practice, and would +probably fail for that very reason when opposed to tough old seasoned +warriors. And, prudence apart, James, at five-and-twenty, absolutely +glowed with shame at the thought that every one of his companions had +borne arms for at least ten years past, while his arrows had no mark +but the target, his lances had all been broken in the tilt-yard. It +was this argument that above all served to pacify old Bairdsbrae; +though he confessed himself very uneasy as to the prejudice it would +create in Scotland, and so evidently loathed the expedition, that +James urged on him to return to Scotland, instead of continuing his +attendance. There was no fear but that his ransom would be accepted, +and he had been absent twelve years from his home. + +'No, no, my Lord; I sware to your father that I'd never quit you till +I brought you safe home again, and, God willing, I'll keep my oath. +But what's this puir callant to do, that you were set upon rearing +upon your books at Windsor?' + +'He shall choose,' said James. 'Either he shall study at the learned +university at Oxford or at Paris, or he shall ride with me, and see +how cities and battles are won. Speak not yet, cousin; it takes many +months to shake out the royal banner, and you shall look about you +ere deciding. Now give me yonder black cloak; they are assembling +for the requiem.' + +Malcolm, as he followed his king, was not a little amazed to see that +Henry, the magnificent victor, was wrapped in a plain black serge +garment, his short dark hair uncovered, his feet bare; and that on +arriving at the Minster he threw himself on his knees, almost on his +face, before the choir steps, there remaining while the De profundis +and the like solemn and mournful strains floated through the dark +vaultings above him, perhaps soothing while giving expression to the +agony of his affliction, and self-accusation, not for the devastation +of the turbulent country of an insane sovereign, but for his having +relaxed in the mighty work of renovation that he had imposed on +himself. + +Even when the service was ended, the King would not leave the +Minster. He lifted himself up to bid Bedford and his companions +return; but for himself, he intended to remain and confess, in +preparation for being 'houselled' at the Mass for the dead early the +next morning, before hastening on the southern journey. + +Was this, thought the bewildered Malcolm as he fell asleep, the +godless atmosphere he had been used to think all that was not +Glenuskie or Coldingham--England above all? + +Indeed, in the frosty twilight of the spring morning, though Henry +was now clad in his usual garb, sleeplessness, sorrow, and fasting +made him as wan and haggard as any ascetic monk; his eyes were +sunken, and his closed lips bore a stern fixed expression, which +scarcely softened even when the sacrificial rite struck the notes of +praise; and though a light came into his eye, it was rather the +devotion of one who had offered himself, than the gleam of hopeful +exultation. The horses stood saddled at the west door, for Henry was +feverishly eager to reach Pontefract, where he had left his queen, +and wished to avoid the delay of breaking his fast at York, but only +to snatch a meal at some country hostel on his way. + +Round the horses, however, a crowd of the citizens were collected to +gaze; and two or three women with children in their arms made piteous +entreaties for the King's healing touch for their little ones. The +kind Henry waited, ungloved his hand, asked his treasurer for the +gold pieces that were a much-esteemed part of the cure, and signed to +his attendant chaplain to say the Collect appointed for the rite. + +Fervent blessings were meantime murmured through the crowd, which +broke out into loud shouts of 'God save King Harry!' as he at length +leapt into the saddle; but at that moment, a feeble, withered old +man, leaning on a staff, and wearing a bedesman's gown, peered up, +and muttered to a comrade - + +'Fair-faced, quotha--fair, maybe, but not long for this world! One +is gone already, and the rest will not be long after; the holy man's +words will have their way--the death mark is on him.' + +The words caught James's ear, and he angrily turned round: 'Foul- +mouthed raven, peace with thy traitor croak!' but Bedford caught his +arm, crying - + +'Hush! 'tis a mere bedesman;' and bending forward to pour a handful +of silver into the beggar's cap, he said, 'Pray, Gaffer, pray--pray +for the dead and living, both.' + +'So,' said James, as both mounted, 'there's a fee for a boding +traitor.' + +'I knew his face,' said Bedford, with a shudder; 'he belonged to +Archbishop Scrope.' + +'A traitor, too,' said James. + +'Nay, there was too much cause for his words. Never shall I forget +the day when Scrope was put to death on this very moor on which we +are entering. There sat my father on his horse, with us four boys +around him, when the old man passed in front of us, and looked at him +with a face pitiful and terrible. "Harry of Bolingbroke," he said, +"because thou hast done these things, therefore shall thy foes be of +thine own household; the sword shall never depart therefrom, but all +the increase of thy house shall die in the flower of their age, and +in the fourth generation shall their name be clean cut off." The +commons will have it that at that moment my father was struck with +leprosy; and struck to the heart assuredly he was, nor was he ever +the same man again. I always believed that those words made him +harder upon every prank of poor Hal's, till any son save Hal would +have become his foe! And see now, the old bedesman may be in the +right; poor pretty Blanche has long been in her grave, Thomas is with +her now, and Jamie,'--he lowered his voice,--'when men say that Harry +hath more of Alexander in him than there is in other men, it strikes +to my heart to think of the ring lying on the empty throne.' + +'Now,' said James, 'what strikes ME is, what doleful bodings can come +into a brave man's head on a chill morning before he has broken his +fast. A tankard of hot ale will chase away omens, whether of bishop +or bedesman.' + +'It may chase them from the mind, but will not make away with them,' +said John. 'But I might have known better than to speak to you of +such things--you who are well-nigh a Lollard in disbelief of all +beyond nature.' + +'No Lollard am I,' said James. 'What Holy Church tells me, I believe +devoutly; but not in that which she bids me loathe as either craft of +devils or of men.' + +'Ay, of which? There lies the question,' said John. + +'Of men,' said the Scottish king; 'of men who have wit enough to lay +hold of the weaker side even of a sober youth such as Lord John of +Lancaster! Your proneness to believe in sayings and prophecies, in +sorceries and magic, is the weakest point of all of you.' + +'And it is the weakest point in you, James, that you will not credit +upon proof, such proof as was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the +place of my father's death.' + +'One such saying as that, fulfilled to the ear, though not in truth, +is made the plea for all this heart-sinking--ay, and what is worse, +for the durance of your father's widow as a witch, and of her brave +young son, because forsooth his name is Arthur of Richemont, and some +old Welsh rhymester hath whispered to Harry that Richmond shall come +out of Brittany, and be king of England.' + +'Arthur is no worse off than any other captive of Agincourt,' said +Bedford; 'and I tell you, James, the day may come when you will rue +your want of heed to timely warnings.' + +'Better rue once than pine under them all my life, and far better +than let them betray me into deeming some grewsome crime an act of +justice, as you may yet let them do,' said James. + +Such converse passed between the two princes, while King Henry rode +in advance, for the most part silent, and only desirous of reaching +Pontefract Castle, where he had left the young wife whose presence he +longed for the more in his trouble. The afternoon set in with heavy +rain, but he would not halt, although he gave free permission to any +of his suite to do so; and James recommended Malcolm to remain, and +come on the next day with Brewster. The boy, however, disclaimed all +weariness, partly because bashfulness made him unwilling to venture +from under his royal kinsman's wing, and partly because he could not +bear to let the English suppose that a Scotsman and a Stewart could +be afraid of weather. As the rain became harder with the evening +twilight, silence sank upon the whole troop, and they went splashing +on through the deep lanes, in mud and mire, until the lights of +Pontefract Castle shimmered on high from its hill. The gates were +opened, the horses clattered in, torches came forth, flickering and +hissing in the darkness. The travellers went through what seemed to +Malcolm an interminable number of courts and gateways, and at length +flung themselves off their horses, when Henry, striding on, mounted +the steps, entered the building, and, turning the corner of a great +carved screen, he and his brother, with James and Malcolm, found +themselves in the midst of a blaze of cressets and tapers, which +lighted up the wainscoted part of the hall. + +The whole scene was dazzling to eyes coming in from the dark, and +only after a moment or two could Malcolm perceive that, close to the +great fire, sat a party of four, playing at what he supposed to be +that French game with painted cards of which Patrick Drummond had +told him, and that the rest seemed to be in attendance upon them. + +Dark eyed and haired, with a creamy ivory skin, and faultless form +and feature, the fair Catherine would have been unmistakable, save +that as Henry hurried forward, the lights glancing on his jaded face, +matted hair, and soaked dress, the first to spring forward to meet +him was a handsome young man, who wrung his hand, crying, 'Ah, Harry, +Harry, then 'tis too true!' while the lady made scarcely a step +forwards: no shade of colour tinged her delicate cheek; and though +she did not resist his fervent embrace, it was with a sort of recoil, +and all she was heard to say was, 'Eh, Messire, vos bottes sont +crottees!' + +'You know all, Kate?' he asked, still holding her hand, and looking +afraid of inflicting a blow. + +'The battle? Is it then so great a disaster?' and, seeing his amazed +glance, 'The poor Messire de Clarence! it was pity of him; he was a +handsome prince.' + +'Ah, sweet, he held thee dear,' said Henry, catching at the crumb of +sympathy. + +'But yes,' said Catherine, evidently perplexed by the strength of his +feeling, and repeating, 'He was a beau sieur courtois. But surely it +will not give the Armagnacs the advantage?' + +'With Heaven's aid, no! But how fares it with poor Madge--his wife, +I mean?' + +'She is away to her estates. She went this morn, and wished to have +taken with her the Demoiselle de Beaufort; but I forbade that--I +could not be left without one lady of the blood.' + +'Alack, Joan--' and Henry was turning, but Catherine interrupted him. +'You have not spoken to Madame of Hainault, nor to the Duke of +Orleans. Nay, you are in no guise to speak to any one,' she added, +looking with repugnance at the splashes of mud that reached even to +his waist. + +'I will don a fresh doublet, sweetheart,' said Henry, more rebuked +than seemed fitting, 'and be ready to sup anon.' + +'Supper! We supped long ago.' + +'That may be; but we have ridden long since we snatched our meal, +that I might be with thee the sooner, my Kate.' + +'That was not well in you, my Lord, to come in thus dishevelled, +steaming with wet--not like a king. You will be sick, my Lord.' + +The little word of solicitude recalled his sweet tender smile of +gratitude. No fear, ma belle; sickness dares not touch me.' + +'Then,' said the Queen, 'you will be served in your chamber, and we +will finish our game.' + +Henry turned submissively away; but Bedford tarried an instant to +say, 'Fair sister, he is sore distressed. It would comfort him to +have you with him. He has longed for you.' + +Catherine opened her beautiful brown eyes in a stare of surprise and +reproof at the infraction of the rules of ceremony which she had +brought with her. John of Bedford had never seemed to her either +beau or courtois, and she looked unutterable things, to which he +replied by an elevation of his marked eyebrows. + +She sat down to her game, utterly ignoring the other princes in their +weather-beaten condition; and they were forced to follow the King, +and make their way to their several chambers, for Queen Catherine's +will was law in matters of etiquette. + +'The proud peat! She is jealous of every word Harry speaks--even to +his cousin,' muttered James, as he reached his own room. 'You saw +her, though,--you saw her!' he added, smiling, as he laid his hand on +Malcolm's shoulder. + +The boy coloured like a poppy, and answered awkwardly enough, 'The +Lady Joan, Sir?' + +'Who but the Lady Joan, thou silly lad? How say'st thou? Will not +Scotland forget in the sight of that fair face all those fule +phantasies--the only folly I heard at Glenuskie?' + +'Methinks,' said Malcolm, looking down in sheer awkwardness, 'it were +easier to bow to her than to King Harry's dame. She hath more of +stateliness.' + +'Humph!' said James, 'dost so serve thy courtly 'prenticeship? Nay, +but in a sort I see thy meaning. The royal blood of England shows +itself to one who hath an eye for princeliness of nature.' + +'Nay,' said Malcolm, gratified, 'those dark eyes and swart locks--' + +'Dark eyes--swart locks!' interrupted the King. 'His wits have gone +wool-gathering.' + +'Indeed, Sir!' exclaimed Malcolm, 'I thought you meant the lady who +stood by the Queen's table, with the grand turn of the neck and the +white wimple and veil.' + +'Pshaw!' said James; 'the foolish callant! he hath taken that great +brown Luxemburg nun of Dame Jac's for the Rose of Somerset.' + +However, James, seeing how confounded the boy was by this momentary +displeasure, explained to him who the other persons he had seen were- +-Jaqueline, the runaway Countess of Hainault in her own right, and +Duchess of Brabant by marriage; Humfrey, duke of Gloucester, the +King's young, brilliant brother; the grave, melancholy Duke of +Orleans, who had been taken captive at Agincourt, and was at present +quartered at Pontefract; the handsome, but stout and heavy-looking +Earl of March; brave Lord Warwick; Sir Lewis Robsart, the old knight +to whose charge the Queen had been specially committed from the +moment of her betrothal; and a young, bold, gay-looking lad, of +Malcolm's own age, but far taller and stouter, and with a merry, +half-defiant, half-insouciant air, who had greatly taken his fancy, +was, he was told, Ralf Percy, the second son of Sir Harry Percy. + +'Of him they called Hotspur?--who was taken captive at Otterburn, who +died a rebel!' exclaimed Malcolm. + +'Ay,' said James; 'but King Harry had learnt the art of war as a boy, +first under Hotspur, in Wales; nor doth he love that northern fashion +of ours of keeping up feud from generation to generation. So hath he +restored the eldest son to his barony, and set him to watch our +Borders; and the younger, Ralf, he is training in his own school of +chivalry.' + +More wonders for Malcolm Stewart, who had learnt to believe it mere +dishonour and tameness to forgive the son for his father's deeds. A +cloistered priest could hardly do so: pardon to a hostile family +came only with the last mortal throe; and here was this warlike king +forgiving as a mere matter of course! + +'But,' added James, 'you had best not speak of your bent conventwards +in the Court here. I should not like to have you called the +monkling!' + +Malcolm crimsoned, with the resolution never to betray himself. + + + +CHAPTER V: WHITTINGTON S FEAST + + + +The next day the royal train set forth from Pontefract, and ere +mounting, James presented his young kinsman to the true Joan +Beaufort--fair-haired, soft-featured, blue-eyed, and with a lovely +air of graciousness, as she greeted him with a sweet, blushing, sunny +smile, half that of the queen in anticipation, half that of the +kindly maiden wishing to set a stranger at ease. So beautiful was +she, that Malcolm felt annihilated at the thought of his blunder of +last night. + +As they rode on, James was entirely occupied with the lady, and +Malcolm was a good deal left to himself; for, though the party was +numerous, he knew no one except the Duke of Bedford, who was riding +with the King and Lord Warwick, in deep consultation, while Sir Nigel +Baird, Lord Marmion, and the rest were in the rear. He fell into a +mood of depression such as had not come upon him since he passed the +border, thinking himself despised by all for being ill-favoured and +ill-dressed, and chafing, above all, at the gay contempt he fancied +in young Ralf Percy's eye. He became constantly more discontented +with this noisy turmoil, and more resolved to insist on returning to +the peaceful cloister where alone he could hide his head and be at +rest. + +The troop halted for what they called their noon meat at the abode of +a hospitable Yorkshire knight; but King Henry, in order that the good +gentleman's means should not be overtasked, had given directions that +only the ladies and the princes should enter the house, while the +rest of the suite should take their meal at the village inn. + +King James, in attending to Joan, had entirely forgotten his cousin; +and Malcolm, doubtful and diffident, was looking hesitatingly at the +gateway, when Ralf Percy called out, 'Ha! you there, this is our way. +That is only for the royal folk; but there's good sack and better +sport down here! I'll show you the way,' he added, good-naturedly, +softened, as most were, by the startled, wistful, timid look. + +Malcolm, ashamed to say he was royal, but surprised at the patronage, +was gratefully following, when old Bairdsbrae indignantly laid his +hand on the rein. 'Not so, Sir; this is no place for you!' + +'Let me alone!' entreated Malcolm, as he saw Percy's amazed look and +whistle of scorn. 'They don't want me.' + +'You will never have your place if you do not take it,' said the old +gentleman; and leading the trembling, shrinking boy up to the door, +he continued, 'For the honour of Scotland, Sir!' and then announcing +Malcolm by his rank and title, he almost thrust him in. + +Fancying he detected a laugh on Ralf Percy's face, and a sneer on +that of the stout English porter, Malcolm felt doubly wretched as he +was ushered into the hall and the buzz of talk and the confusion made +by the attendance of the worthy knight and his many sons, one of +whom, waiting with better will than skill, had nearly run down the +shy limping Scotsman, who looked wildly for refuge at some table. In +his height of distress, a kindly gesture of invitation beckoned to +him, and he found himself seated and addressed, first in French, and +then in careful foreign English, by the same lady whom he had +yesterday taken for Joan of Somerset, namely, Esclairmonde de +Luxemburg. + +He was too much confused to look up till the piece of pasty and the +wine with which the lady had caused him to be supplied were almost +consumed, and it was not till she had made some observations on the +journey that he became at ease enough to hazard any sort of answer, +and then it was in his sweet low Scottish voice, with that +irresistibly attractive look of shy wistful gratitude in his great +soft brown eyes, while his un-English accent caused her to say, 'I am +a stranger here, like yourself, my Lord;' and at the same moment he +first raised his eyes to behold what seemed to him perfect beauty and +dignity, an oval face, richly-tinted olive complexion, dark pensive +eyes, a sweet grave mouth smiling with encouraging kindness, and a +lofty brow that gave the whole face a magnificent air, not so much +stately as above and beyond this world. It might have befitted St. +Barbara or St. Katherine, the great intellectual virgin visions of +purity and holiness of the middle ages; but the kindness of the smile +went to Malcolm's heart, and emboldened him to answer in his best +French, 'You are from Holland, lady?' + +'Not from the fens,' she answered. 'My home lies in the borders of +the forest of Ardennes.' + +And then they found that they understood each other best when she +spoke French, and Malcolm English, or rather Scotch; and their +acquaintance made so much progress, that when the signal was again +given to mount, the Lady Esclairmonde permitted Malcolm to assist her +to her saddle; and as he rode beside her he felt pleased with +himself, and as if Ralf Percy were welcome to look at him now. + +On Esclairmonde's other hand there rode a small, slight girl, whom +Malcolm took for quite a child, and paid no attention to; but +presently old Sir Lewis Robsart rode back with a message that my Lady +of Westmoreland wished to know where the Lady Alice Montagu was. A +gentle, timid voice answered, 'O Sir, I am well here with Lady +Esclairmonde. Pray tell my good lady so.' + +And therewith Sir Lewis smiled, and said, 'You could scarcely be in +better hands, fair damsel,' and rode back again; while Alice was +still entreating, 'May I stay with you, dear lady? It is all so +strange and new!' + +Esclairmonde smiled, and said, 'You make me at home here, +Mademoiselle. It is I who am the stranger!' + +'Ah! but you have been in Courts before. I never lived anywhere but +at Middleham Castle till they fetched me away to meet the Queen.' + +For the gentle little maiden, a slender, fair-haired, childish-faced +creature, in her sixteenth year, was the motherless child and heiress +of the stout Earl of Salisbury, the last of the Montacutes, or +Montagues, who was at present fighting the King's battles in France, +but had sent his commands that she should be brought to Court, in +preparation for fulfilling the long-arranged contract between her and +Sir Richard Nevil, one of the twenty-two children of the Earl of +Westmoreland. + +She was under the charge of the Countess--a stately dame, with all +the Beaufort pride; and much afraid of her she was, as everything +that was shy or forlorn seemed to turn towards the maiden whose +countenance not only promised kindness but protection. + +Presently the cavalcade passed a gray building in the midst of green +fields and orchards, where, under the trees, some black-veiled +figures sat spinning. + +'A nunnery!' quoth Esclairmonde, looking eagerly after it as she rode +past. + +'A nunnery!' said Malcolm, encouraged into the simple confidingness +of a young boy. 'How unlike the one where my sister is! Not a tree +is near it; it is perched upon a wild crag overhanging the angry sea, +and the winds roar, and the gulls and eagles scream, and the waves +thunder round it!' + +'Yet it is not the less a haven of peace,' replied Esclairmonde. + +'Verily,' said Malcolm, 'one knows what peace is under that cloister, +where all is calm while the winds rave without.' + +'You know how to love a cloister,' said the lady, as she heard his +soft, sad tones. + +'I had promised myself to make my home in one,' said Malcolm; 'but my +King will have me make trial of the world first. And so please you,' +he added, recollecting himself, 'he forbade me to make my purpose +known; so pray, lady, be so good as to forget what I have said.' + +'I will be silent,' said Esclairmonde; 'but I will not forget, for I +look on you as one like myself, my young lord. I too am dedicated, +and only longing to reach my cloistered haven.' + +She spoke it out with the ease of those days when the monastic was as +recognized a profession as any other calling, and yet with something +of the desire to make it evident on what ground she stood. + +Lady Alice uttered an exclamation of surprise. + +'Yes,' said Esclairmonde, 'I was dedicated his my infancy, and +promised myself in the nunnery at Dijon when I was seven years old.' + +Then, as if to turn the conversation from herself, she asked of +Malcolm if he too had made any vow. + +'Only to myself,' said Malcolm. 'Neither my Tutor nor the Prior of +Coldingham would hear my vows.' And he was soon drawn into telling +his whole story, to which the ladies both listened with great +interest and kindness, Esclairmonde commending his resolution to +leave the care of his lands and vassals to one whom he represented as +so much better fitted to bear them as Patrick Drummond, and only +regretting the silence King James had enjoined, saying she felt that +there was safety and protection in being avowed as a destined +religious. + +'And you are one,' said Lady Alice, looking at her in wonder. 'And +yet you are with THAT lady--' And the girl's innocent face expressed +a certain wonder and disgust that no one could marvel at who had +heard the Flemish Countess talk in the loudest, broadest, most +hoydenish style. + +'She has been my very good lady,' said Esclairmonde; 'she has, under +the saints, saved me from much.' + +'Oh, I entreat you, tell us, dear lady!' entreated Alice. It was not +a reticent age. Malcolm Stewart had already avowed himself in his +own estimation pledged to a monastic life, and Esclairmonde of +Luxemburg had reasons for wishing her position and intentions to be +distinctly understood by all with whom she came in contact; moreover, +there was a certain congeniality in both her companions, their +innocence and simplicity, that drew out confidence, and impelled her +to defend her lady. + +'My poor Countess,' she said, 'she has been sorely used, and has +suffered much. It is a piteous thing when our little imperial fiefs +go to the spindle side!' + +'What are her lands?' asked Malcolm. + +'Hainault, Holland, and Zealand,' replied the lady. 'Her father was +Count of Hainault, her mother the sister of the last Duke of +Burgundy--him that was slain on the bridge of Montereau. She was +married as a mere babe to the Duke of Touraine, who was for a brief +time Dauphin, but he died ere she was sixteen, and her father died at +the same time. Some say they both were poisoned. The saints forfend +it should be true; but thus it was my poor Countess was left +desolate, and her uncle, the Bishop of Liege--Jean Sans Pitie, as +they call him--claimed her inheritance. You should have seen how +undaunted she was!' + +'Were you with her then?' asked Alice Montagu. + +'Yes. I had been taken from our convent at Dijon, when my dear +brothers, to whom Heaven be merciful! died at Azincourt. My oncles a +la mode de Bretagne--how call you it in English?' + +'Welsh uncles,' said Alice. + +'They are the Count de St. Pol and the Bishop of Therouenne. They +came to Dijon. In another month I should have been seventeen, and +been admitted as a novice; but, alack! there were all the lands that +came through my grandmother, in Holland and in Flanders, all falling +to me, and Monseigneur of Therouenne, like almost all secular clergy, +cannot endure the religious orders, and would not hear of my becoming +a Sister. They took me away, and the Bishop declared my dedication +null, and they would have bestowed me in marriage at once, I believe, +if Heaven had not aided me, and they could not agree on the person. +And then my dear Countess promised me that she would never let me be +given without my free will.' + +'Then,' said Alice, 'the Bishop did cancel your dedication?' + +'Yes,' said Esclairmonde; 'but none can cancel the dedication of my +heart. So said the holy man at Zwoll.' + +'How, lady?' anxiously inquired Malcolm; 'has not a bishop power to +bind and unloose?' + +'Yea,' said Esclairmonde, 'such power that if my childish promise had +been made without purpose or conscience thereof, or indeed if my will +were not with it, it would bind me no more, there were no sin in +wedlock for me, no broken vow. But my own conscience of my vow, and +my sense that I belong to my Heavenly Spouse, proved, he said, that +it was not my duty to give myself to another, and that whereas none +have a parent's right over me, if I have indeed chosen the better +part, He to whom I have promised myself will not let it be taken from +me, though I might have to bear much for His sake. And when I said +in presumption that such would lie light on me, he bade me speak less +and pray more, for I knew not the cost.' + +'He must have been a very holy man,' said Alice, 'and strict withal. +Who was he?' + +'One Father Thomas, a Canon Regular of the chapter of St. Agnes, a +very saint, who spends his life in copying and illuminating the Holy +Scripture, and in writing holy thoughts that verily seem to have been +breathed into him by special inspiration of God. It was a sermon of +his in Lent, upon chastening and perplexity, that I heard when first +I was snatched from Dijon, that made me never rest till I had +obtained his ghostly counsel. If I never meet him again, I shall +thank Heaven for those months at Zwoll all my life--ere the Duke of +Burgundy made my Countess resign Holland for twelve years to her +uncle, and we left the place. Then, well-nigh against her will, they +forced her into a marriage with the Duke of Brabant, though he be her +first cousin, her godson, and a mere rude boy. I cannot tell you how +evil were the days we often had then. If he had been left to +himself, Madame might have guided him; but ill men came about him; +they maddened him with wine and beer; they excited him to show that +he feared her not; he struck her, and more than once almost put her +in danger of her life. Then, too, his mother married the Bishop of +Liege, her enemy - + +'The Bishop!' + +'He had never been consecrated, and had a dispensation. That +marriage deprived my poor lady of even her mother's help. All were +against her then; and for me too it went ill, for the Duke of +Burgundy insisted on my being given to a half-brother of his, one +they call Sir Boemond of Burgundy--a hard man of blood and revelry. +The Duke of Brabant was all for him, and so was the Duchess-mother; +and though my uncles would not have chosen him, yet they durst not +withstand the Duke of Burgundy. I tried to appeal to the Emperor +Sigismund, the head of our house, but I know not if he ever heard of +my petition. I was in an exceeding strait, and had only one trust, +namely, that Father Thomas had told me that the more I threw myself +upon God, the more He would save me from man. But oh! they seemed +all closing in on me, and I knew that Sir Boemond had sworn that I +should pay heavily for my resistance. Then one night my Countess +came to me. She showed me the bruises her lord had left on her arms, +and told me that he was about to banish all of us, her ladies, into +Holland, and to keep her alone to bear his fury, and she was resolved +to escape, and would I come with her? It seemed to me the message of +deliverance. Her nurse brought us peasant dresses, high stiff caps, +black boddices, petticoats of many colours, and therein we dressed +ourselves, and stole out, ere dawn, to a church, where we knelt till +the Sieur d'Escaillon--the gentleman who attends Madame still--drove +up in a farmer's garb, with a market cart, and so forth from Bruges +we drove. We cause to Valenciennes, to her mother; but we found that +she, by persuasion of the Duke, would give us both up; so the Sieur +d'Escaillon got together sixty lances, and therewith we rode to +Calais, where never were weary travellers more courteously received +than we by Lord Northumberland, the captain of Calais.' + +'Oh, I am glad you came to us English!' cried Alice. 'Only I would +it had been my father who welcomed you. And now?' + +'Now I remain with my lady, as the only demoiselle she has from her +country; and, moreover, I am waiting in the trust that my kinsmen +will give up their purpose of bestowing me in marriage, now that I am +beyond their reach; and in time I hope to obtain sufficient of my own +goods for a dowry for whatever convent I may enter.' + +'Oh, let it be an English one!' cried Alice. + +'I have learnt to breathe freer since I have been on English soil,' +said Esclairmonde, smiling; 'but where I may rest at last, Heaven +only knows!' + +'This is a strange country,' said Malcolm. 'No one seems afraid of +violence and wrong here.' + +'Is that so strange?' asked Alice, amazed. 'Why, men would be hanged +if they did violence!' + +'I would we were as sure of justice at my home,' sighed Esclairmonde. +'King Henry will bring about a better rule.' + +'Never doubt,' cried Salisbury's daughter. 'When France is once +subdued, there will be no more trouble, he will make your kinsmen do +you right, dear demoiselle, and oh! will you not found a beauteous +convent?' + +'King Henry has not conquered France yet,' was all Esclairmonde said. + +'Ha!' cried the buxom Countess Jaqueline, as the ladies dismounted, +'never speak to me more, our solemn sister. When have I done worse +than lure a young cavalier, and chain him all day with my tongue?' + +'He is a gentle boy!' said Esclairmonde, smiling. + +'Truly he looked like a calf turned loose among strange cattle! How +gat he into the hall?' + +'He is of royal Scottish blood,' said Esclairmonde 'cousin-german to +King James.' + +'And our grave nun has a fancy to tame the wild Scots, like a second +St. Margaret! A king's grandson! fie, fie! what, become ambitious, +Clairette? Eh? you were so occupied, that I should have been left to +no one but Monseigneur of Gloucester, but that I was discreet, and +rode with my Lord Bishop of Winchester. How he chafed! but I know +better than to have tete-a-tetes with young sprigs of the blood +royal!' + +Esclairmonde laughed good-humouredly, partly in courtesy to her +hoyden mistress, but partly at the burning, blushing indignation she +beheld in the artless face of Alice Montagu. + +The girl was as shy as a fawn, frightened at every word from knight +or lady, and much in awe of her future mother-in-law, a stiff and +stately dame, with all the Beaufort haughtiness; so that Lady +Westmoreland gladly and graciously consented to the offer of the +Demoiselle de Luxemburg to attend to the little maiden, and let her +share her chamber and her bed. And indeed Alice Montagu, bred up in +strictness and in both piety and learning, as was sometimes the case +with the daughters of the nobility, had in all her simplicity and +bashfulness a purity and depth that made her a congenial spirit with +the grave votaress, whom she regarded on her side with a young girl's +enthusiastic admiration for a grown woman, although in point of fact +the years between them were few. + +The other ladies of the Court were a little in awe of the Demoiselle +de Luxemburg, and did not seek her when they wished to indulge in the +gossip whose malice and coarseness she kept in check; but if they +were anxious, or in trouble, they always came to her as their natural +consoler; and the Countess Jaqueline, bold and hoydenish as she was, +kept the license of her tongue and manners under some shadow of +restraint before her, and though sometimes bantering her, often +neglecting her counsel, evidently felt her attendance a sort of +safeguard and protection. + +The gentlemen were mostly of the opinion of the Duke of Gloucester, +who said that the Lady Esclairmonde was so like Deborah, come out of +a Mystery, that it seemed to be always Passion-tide where she was; +and she, moreover, was always guarded in her manner towards them, +keeping her vocation in the recollection of all by her gravely and +coldly courteous demeanour, and the sober hues and fashion of her +dress; but being aware of Malcolm's destination, perceiving his +loneliness, and really attracted by his pensive gentleness, she +admitted him to far more friendly intercourse than any other young +noble, while he revered and clung to her much as Lady Alice did, as +protector and friend. + +King James was indeed so much absorbed in his own lady-love as to +have little attention to bestow on his young cousin, and he knew, +moreover, that to be left to such womanly training as ladies were +bound to bestow on young squires and pages was the best treatment for +the youth, who was really thriving and growing happier every day, as +he lost his awkwardness and acquired a freedom and self-confidence +such as he could never have imagined possible in his original brow- +beaten state, though without losing the gentle modesty and refinement +that gave him such a charm. + +A great sorrow awaited him, however, at Leicester, where Easter was +to be spent. A messenger came from Durham, bringing letters from +Coldingham to announce the death of good Sir David Drummond, which +had taken place two days after Malcolm had left him, all but the +youth himself having well known that his state was hopeless. + +In his grief, Malcolm found his chief comforter in Esclairmonde, who +kindly listened when he talked of the happy old times at Glenuskie, +and of the kindness and piety of his guardian; while she lifted his +mind to dwell on the company of the saints; and when he knew that her +thoughts went, like his, to his fatherly friend in the solemn +services connected with the departed, he was no longer desolate, and +there was almost a sweetness in the grief of which his fair saint had +taken up a part. She showed him likewise some vellum pages on which +her ghostly father, the Canon of St. Agnes, had written certain +dialogues between the Divine Master and His disciple, which seemed +indeed to have been whispered by heavenly inspiration, and which +soothed and hallowed his mourning for the guide and protector of his +youth. He loved to dwell on her very name, Esclairmonde--'light of +the world.' The taste of the day hung many a pun and conceit upon +names, and to Malcolm this--which had, in fact, been culled out of +romance--seemed meetly to express the pure radiance of consolation +and encouragement that seemed to him to shine from her, and brighten +the life that had hitherto been dull and gloomy--nay, even to give +him light and joy in the midst of his grief. + +At that period Courts were not much burdened with etiquette. No +feudal monarch was more than the first gentleman, and there was no +rigid line of separation of ranks, especially where, as among the +kings of the Red Rose, the boundaries were so faint between the +princes and the nobility; and as Catherine of Valois was fond of +company, and indolently heedless of all that did not affect her own +dignity or ease, the whole Court, including some of the princely +captives, lived as one large family, meeting at morning Mass in +church or chapel, taking their meals in common, riding, hunting, +hawking, playing at bowls, tennis, or stool-ball, or any other +pastime, in such parties as suited their inclinations; and spending +the evening in the great hall, in conversation varied by chess, dice, +and cards, recitals of romance, and music, sometimes performed by the +choristers of the Royal chapel, or sometimes by the company +themselves, and often by one or other of the two kings, who were both +proficients as well with the voice as with the lute and organ. + +Thus Malcolm had many opportunities of being with the Demoiselle of +Luxemburg: and almost a right was established, that when she sat in +the deep embrasure of a window with her spinning, he should be on the +cushioned step beneath; when she mounted, he held the stirrup; and +when the church bells were ringing, he led her by her fair fingers to +her place in the nave, and back again to the hall; and when the +manchet and rere supper were brought into the hall, he mixed her wine +and water, and held the silver basin and napkin to her on bended +knee, and had become her recognized cavalier. He was really +thriving. Even the high-spirited son of Hotspur could not help +loving and protecting him. + +'Have a care,' said Ralf to a lad of ruder mould; 'I'll no more see +that lame young Scot maltreated than a girl.' + +'He is no better than a girl,' growled his comrade; 'my little +brother Dick would be more than a match for him!' + +'I wot not that,' said Percy; 'there's a drop of life and spirit at +the bottom; and for the rest, when he looks up with those eyes of +his, and smiles his smile, it is somehow as if it were beneath a man +to vex him wilfully. And he sees so much meaning in everything, too, +that it is a dozen times better sport to hear him talk than one of +you fellows, who have only wit enough to know a hawk from a heron- +schaw.' + +After a grave Easter-tide spent at Leicester, the Court moved to +Westminster, where Henry had to meet his parliament, and obtain +supplies for the campaign which was to revenge the death of Clarence. + +There was no great increase of gaiety even here, for Henry was +extremely occupied, both with regulating matters for government +during his absence, and in training the troops who began to flock to +his standard; so that the Queen complained that his presence in +England was of little service to her, since he never had any leisure, +and there were no pastimes. + +'Well, Dame,' said Henry, gaily, 'there is one revel for you. I have +promised to knight the Lord Mayor, honest Whittington, and I hear he +is preparing a notable banquet in the Guild Hall.' + +'A city mayor!' exclaimed Queen Catherine, with ineffable disgust. +'My brothers would sooner cut off his roturier head than dub him +knight!' + +'Belike,' said Henry, dryly; 'but what kind of friends have thy +brothers found at Paris? Moreover, this Whittington may content thee +as to blood. Rougedragon hath been unfolding to me his lineage of a +good house in Gloucestershire.' + +'More shame that he should soil his hands with trade!' said the +Queen. + +'See what you say when he has cased those fair hands in Spanish +gloves. You ladies should know better than to fall out with a +mercer.' + +'Ah!' said Duke Humfrey, 'they never saw the silks and samites +wherewith he fitted out my sister Philippa for the Swedes! Lucky the +bride whose wardrobe is purveyed by honest Dick!' + +'Is it not honour enough for the mechanical hinds that we wear their +stuffs,' said Countess Jaqueline, 'without demeaning ourselves to eat +at their boards? The outrecuidance of the rogues in the Netherlands +would be surpassing, did we feed it in that sort.' + +''Tis you that will be fed, Dame Jac,' laughed Henry. 'I can tell +you, their sack and their pasties, their march-pane and blanc-manger, +far exceed aught that a poor soldier can set before you.' + +'Moreover,' observed Humfrey, 'the ladies ought to see the romaunt of +the Cat complete.' + +'How!' cried Jaqueline, 'is it, then, true that this Vittentone is +the miller's son whose cat wore boots and made his fortune?' + +'I have heard my aunt of Orleans divert my father with that story,' +murmured Catherine. 'How went the tale? I thought it folly, and +marked it not. What became of the cat?' + +'The cat desired to test his master's gratitude, so tells +Straparola,' said the Duke of Orleans, in his dry satirical tone; +'and whereas he had been wont to promise his benefactor a golden +coffin and state funeral, Puss feigned death, and thereby heard the +lady inform her husband that the old cat was dead. "A la bonne +heure!" said the Marquis. "Take him by the tail, and fling him on +the muck-heap beneath the window!"' + +'Thereof I acquit Whittington, who never was thankless to man or +brute,' said King Henry. 'Moreover, his cat, or her grandchildren, +must be now in high preferment at the King of Barbary's Court.' + +'A marvellous beast is that cat,' said James. 'When I was a child in +Scotland, we used to tell the story of her exchange for a freight of +gold and spices, only the ship sailed from Denmark,' + +'Maybe,' said Henry; 'but I would maintain the truth of Whittington's +cat with my lance, and would gladly have no worse cause! You'll see +his cat painted beside him in the Guild Hall, and may hear the tale +from him, as I loved to hear him when I was a lad. + + +"Turn again, Whittington, +Thrice Lord Mayor of London town!" + + +I told my good old friend I must have come over from France on +purpose to keep his third mayoralty. So I am for the City on +Thursday; and whoever loves good wine, good sturgeon, good gold, or +good men, had best come with me.' + +Such inducements were not to be neglected, and though Queen Catherine +minced and bridled, and apologized to Duchess Jaqueline for her +husband's taste for low company, neither princess wished to forego +the chance of amusement; and a brilliant cavalcade set forth in full +order of precedence. The King and Queen were first; then, to his +great disgust, the King of Scots, with Duchess Jaqueline; Bedford, +with Lady Somerset; Gloucester, with the Countess of March; the Duke +of Orleans, with the Countess of Exeter; and Malcolm of Glenuskie +found himself paired off with his sovereign's lady-love, Joan +Beaufort, and a good deal overawed by the tall horned tower that +crowned her flaxen locks, as well as by knowing that her uncle, the +Bishop of Winchester, the stateliest, stiffest, and most +unapproachable person in all the Court, was riding just behind him, +beside the Demoiselle de Luxemburg. + +Temple Bar was closed, and there was a flourish of trumpets and a +parley ere the gate was flung open to admit the royal guests; but +Malcolm, in his place, could not see the aldermen on horseback, in +their robes of scarlet and white, drawn up to receive the King. All +that way up Holborn, every house was hung with tapestry, and the +citizens formed a gorgeously-apparelled lane, shouting in unison, +their greetings attuned to bursts of music from trumpets and nakers. + +Beautiful old St. Paul's, with the exquisite cross for open-air +preaching in front, rose on their view; and before the lofty west +door the princely guests dismounted, each gentleman leading his lady +up the nave to the seat prepared in such manner that he might be +opposite to her. The clergy lined the stalls, and a magnificent mass +was sung, and was concluded by the advance of the King to the altar +step, followed by a fine old man in scarlet robes bordered with white +fur, the collar of SS. round his neck, and his silvery hair and lofty +brow crowning a face as sagacious as it was dignified and benevolent. + +It seemed a reversal of the ordinary ceremonial when the slender +agile young man took in hand the sword, and laid the honour of +knighthood on the gray-headed substantial senior, whom he bade to +arise Sir Richard Whittington. Jaqueline of Hainault had the bad +taste to glance across to Humfrey and titter, but the Duke valued +popularity among the citizens, and would not catch her eye; and in +the line behind the royal ladies there was a sweet elderly face, +beautiful, though time-worn, with blue eyes misty with proud glad +tears, and a mouth trembling with tender exultation. + +After the ceremony was concluded, King Henry offered his hand to the +Lady Mayoress, Dame Alice Whittington, making her bright tears drop +in glad confusion at his frank, hearty congratulation and warm praise +of her husband; and though the fair Catherine could have shuddered +when Sir Richard advanced to lead her, she was too royal to +compromise her dignity by visible scorn, and she soon found that the +merchant could speak much better French than most of the nobles. + +Malcolm felt as averse as did the French princesses to burgher wealth +and splendour, and his mind had not opened to understand burgher +worth and weight; and when he saw the princes John and Humfrey, and +even his own king, seeking out city dames and accosting them with +friendly looks, it seemed to him a degrading truckling to riches, +from which he was anxious to save his future queen; but when he would +have offered his arm to Lady Joan, he saw her already being led away +by an alderman measuring at least a yard across the shoulders; and +the good-natured Earl of March, seeing him at a loss, presented him +to a round merry wife in a scarlet petticoat and black boddice, its +plump curves wreathed with geld chains, who began pitying him for +having been sent to the wars so young, being, as usual, charmed into +pity by his soft appealing eyes and unconscious grace; would not +believe his assertions that he was neither a captive nor a +Frenchman;--'don't tell her, when he spoke like a stranger, and +halted from a wound.' + +Colouring to the ears, he explained that he had never walked +otherwise; whereupon her pity redoubled, and she by turns advised him +to consult Master Doctor Caius, and to obtain a recipe from Mistress- +-she meant Dame--Alice Whittington, the kindest soul living, and, +Lady Mayoress as she was, with no more pride than the meanest +scullion. Pity she had no child--yet scarce pity either, since she +and the good Lord Mayor were father and mother to all orphans and +destitute--nay, to all who had any care on their minds. + +Malcolm was in extreme alarm lest he should be walked up to the Lady +Mayoress for inspection before all the world when they entered the +Guild Hall, a building of grand proportions, which, as good Mistress +Bolt informed him, had lately been paved and glazed at Sir Richard +Whittington's own expense. The bright new red and yellow tiles, and +the stained glass of the tall windows high up, as well as the panels +of the wainscot, were embellished with trade-marks and the armorial +bearings of the guilds; and the long tables, hung with snowy napery, +groaned with gold and silver plate, such as, the Duke of Orleans +observed to Catherine, no citizens would dare exhibit in France to +any prince or noble, at peril of being mulcted of all, with or +without excuse. + +On an open hearth beneath the louvre, or opening for smoke, burnt a +fire diffusing all around an incense-like fragrance, from the logs, +composed of cinnamon and other choice woods and spices, that fed the +flame. The odour and the warmth on a bleak day of May were alike +delicious; and King Henry, after heading Dame Alice up to it, stood +warming his hands and extolling the choice scent, adding: 'You spoil +us, Sir Richard. How are we to go back to the smoke of wood and +peat, and fires puffed with our own mouths, after such pampering as +this--the costliest fire I have seen in the two realms?' + +'It shall be choicer yet, Sir,' said Sir Richard Whittington, who had +just handed the Queen to her seat. + +'Scarce possible,' replied Henry, 'unless I threw in my crown, and +that I cannot afford. I shall be pawning it ere long.' + +Instead of answering, the Lord Mayor quietly put his hand into his +furred pouch, and drawing out a bundle of parchments tied with a +ribbon, held them towards the King, with a grave smile. + +'Lo you now, Sir Richard,' said Henry, with a playful face of +disgust; 'this is to save your dainty meats, by spoiling my appetite +by that unwelcome sight. What, man! have you bought up all the bonds +I gave in my need to a whole synagogue of Jews and bench of Loin- +bards? I shall have to send for my crown before you let me go; +though verily,' he added, with frank, open face, 'I'm better off with +a good friend like you for my creditor--only I'm sorry for you, Sir +Richard. I fear it will be long ere you see your good gold in the +stead of your dirty paper, even though I gave you an order on the +tolls. How now! What, man, Dick Whittington! Art raving? Here, +the tongs!' + +For Sir Richard, gently smiling, had placed the bundle of bonds on +the glowing bed of embers. + +Henry, even while calling for the tongs, was raking them out with his +sword, and would have grasped them in his hand in a moment, but the +Lord Mayor caught his arm. + +'Pardon, my lord, and grant your new knight's boon.' + +'When he is not moon-struck!' said Henry, still guarding the +documents. 'Why, my Lady Mayoress, know you what is here?' + +'Sixty thousand, my liege,' composedly answered Dame Alice. 'My +husband hath his whims, and I pray your Grace not to hinder what he +hath so long been preparing.' + +'Yea, Sir,' added Whittington, earnestly. 'You wot that God hath +prospered us richly. We have no child, and our nephews are well +endowed. How, then, can our goods belong to any save God, our king, +and the poor?' + +Henry drew one hand over his eyes, and with the other wrung that of +Whittington. 'Had ever king such a subject?' he murmured. + +'Had ever subject such a king?' was Whittington's return. + +'Thou hast conquered, Whittington,' said the King, presently looking +up with a sunny smile. 'To send me over the seas a free man, +beholden to you in heart though not by purse, is, as I well believe, +worth all that sum to thy loyal heart. Thou art setting me far on my +way to Jerusalem, my dear friend! Thank him, Kate--he hath done much +for thine husband!' + +Catherine looked amiable, and held out a white hand to be kissed, +aware that the King was pleased, though hardly understanding why he +should be glad that an odour of singed parchment should overpower the +gums and cinnamon. This was soon remedied by the fresh handful of +spices that were cast into the flame, and the banquet began, +magnificent with peacocks, cranes, and swans in full plumage; the +tusky bear crunched his apple, deer's antlers adorned the haunch, the +royal sturgeon floated in wine, fountains of perfumed waters sprang +up from shells, towers of pastry and of jelly presented the endless +allegorical devices of mediaeval fancy, and, pre-eminent over all, a +figure of the cat, with emerald eyes, fulfilled, as Henry said, the +proverb, 'A cat might look at a king;' and truly the cat and her +master had earned the right; therefore his first toast was, 'To the +Cat!' + +Each guest found at his or her place a beautiful fragrant pair of +gloves, in Spanish leather, on the back of which was once more +embroidered, in all her tabby charms, the cat's face. Therewith +began a lengthy meal; and Malcolm Stewart rejoiced at finding himself +seated next to the Lady Esclairmonde, but he grudged her attention to +her companion, a slender, dark, thoughtful representative of the +Goldsmiths' Company, to whom she talked with courtesy such as Malcolm +had scorned to show his city dame. + +'Who,' said Esclairmonde, presently, 'was a dame in a religious garb +whom I marked near the door here? She hooked like one of the +Beguines of my own country.' + +'We have no such order here, lady,' said the goldsmiths, puzzled. + +'Hey, Master Price,' cried Mistress Bolt, speaking across Malcolm, 'I +can tell the lady who it was. 'Twas good Sister Avice Rodney, to +whom the Lady Mayoress promised some of these curious cooling drinks +for the poor shipwright who hath well-nigh cloven off his own foot +with his axe.' + +'Yea, truly,' returned the goldsmith; 'it must have been one of the +bedeswomen of St. Katharine's whom the lady has seen.' + +'What order may that be?' asked Esclairmonde. 'I have seen nothing +so like my own country since I came hither.' + +'That may well be, madam,' said Mistress Belt, 'seeing that these +bedeswomen were first instituted by a countrywoman of your own--Queen +Philippa, of blessed memory.' + +'By your leave, Mistress Bolt,' interposed Master Price, 'the +hospital of St. Katharine by the Tower is of far older foundation.' + +'By YOUR leave, sir, I know what I say. The hospital was founded I +know not when, but these bedeswomen were especially added by the good +Queen, by the same token that mine aunt Cis, who was tirewoman to the +blessed Lady Joan, was one of the first.' + +'How was it? What is their office?' eagerly inquired Esclairmonde. +And Mistress Bolt arranged herself for a long discourse. + +'Well, fair sirs and sweet lady, though you be younger than I, you +have surely heard of the Black Death. Well named was it, for never +was pestilence more dire; and the venom was so strong, that the very +lips and eyelids grew livid black, and then there was no hope. +Little thought of such disease was there, I trow, in kings' houses, +and all the fair young lords and ladies, the children of King Edward, +as then was, were full of sport and gamesomeness as you see these +dukes be now. And never a one was blither than the Lady Joan--she +they called Joan of the Tower, being a true Londoner born--bless her! +My aunt Cis would talk by the hour of her pretty ways and kindly +mirth. But 'twas even as the children have the game in the streets - + + +"There come three knights all out of Spain, +Are come to fetch your daughter Jane." + + +'Twas for the King of Castille, that same Peter for whom the Black +Prince of Wales fought, and of whom such grewsome tales were told. +The pretty princess might almost have had a boding what sort of +husband they had for her, for she begged and prayed, even on her +knees, that her father would leave her; but her sisters were all +espoused, and there was no help for it. But, as one comfort to her, +my aunt Cis, who had been about her from her cradle, was to go with +her; and oft she would tell of the long journey in litters through +France, and how welcome were the English tongues they heard again at +Bordeaux, and how when poor Lady Joan saw her brother, the Prince, +she clung about his neck and sobbed, and how he soothed her, and said +she would soon laugh at her own unwillingness to go to her husband. +But even then the Black Death was in Bordeaux, and being low and +mournful at heart, the sweet maid contracted it, and lay down to die +ere she had made two days' journey, and her last words were, "My God +hath shown me more pity than father or brother;" and so she died like +a lamb, and mine aunt was sent by the Prince to bear home the tidings +to the good Queen, who was a woeful woman. And therewith, here was +the pestilence in London, raging among the poor creatures that lived +in the wharves and on the river bank, in damp and filth, so that +whole households lay dead at once, and the contagion, gathering +force, spread into the city, and even to the nobles and their ladies. +Then my good aunt, having some knowledge of the sickness already, and +being without fear, went among the sick, and by her care, and the +food, wine, and clothing she brought, saved a many lives. And from +whom should the bounties come, save from the good Queen, who ever had +a great pity for those touched like her own fair child? Moreover, +when she heard from my aunt how the poor things lived in uncleanness +and filth, and how, what with many being strangers coming by sea, and +others being serfs fled from home, they were a nameless, masterless +sort, who knew not where to seek a parish priest, and whom the friars +shunned for their poverty, she devised a fresh foundation to be added +to the hospital of St. Katharine's in the Docks, providing for a +chapter of ten bedeswomen, gentle and well-nurtured, who should both +sing in choir, and likewise go forth constantly among the poor, to +seek out the children, see that they learn their Credo, Ave, and +Pater Noster, bring the more toward to be further taught in St. +Katharine's school, and likewise to stir poor folk up to go to mass +and lead a godly life; to visit the sick, feed and tend them, and so +instruct them, that they may desire the Sacraments of the Church.' + +'Ah! good Flemish Queen!' cried Esclairmonde. 'She learnt that of +our Beguines!' + +'If your ladyship will have it so,' said Mrs. Bolt; 'but my aunt +Cicely began!' + +'Who nominates these bedeswomen?' asked Esclairmonde. + +'That does the Queen,' said Mistress Bolt. 'Not this young Queen, as +yet, for Queen Joan, the late King's widow, holds the hospital till +her death, unless it should be taken from her for her sorceries, from +which Heaven defend us!' + +'Can it be visited?' said Esclairmonde. 'I feel much drawn thither, +as I ever did to the Beguines.' + +'Ay, marry may it!' cried delighted Mrs. Bolt. 'I have more than one +gossip there, foreby Sister Avice, who was godchild to Aunt Cis; and +if the good lady would wish to see the hospital, I would bear her +company with all my heart.' + +To Malcolm's disgust, Esclairmonde caught at the proposal, which the +Scottish haughtiness that lay under all his gentleness held somewhat +degrading to the cousin of the Emperor. He fell into a state of +gloom, which lasted till the loving-cup had gone round and been +partaken of in pairs. + +After hands had been washed in rose-water, the royal party took their +seats in barges to return to Westminster by the broad and beautiful +highway of the Thames. + +Here at once Alice Montagu nestled to Esclairmonde's side, delighted +with her cat gloves, and further delighted with an old captain of +trained bands, to whose lot she had fallen, and who, on finding that +she was the daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, under whom he had +served, had launched forth by the hour into the praises of that brave +nobleman, both for his courage and his kindness to his troops. + +'No wonder King Henry loves his citizens so well!' cried +Esclairmonde. 'Would that our Netherlandish princes and burghers +could take pride and pleasure in one another's wealth and prowess, +instead of grudging and fearing thereat!' + +'To my mind,' said Malcolm, 'they were a forward generation. That +city dame will burst with pride, if you, lady, go with her to see +those bedeswomen.' + +'I trust not,' laughed Esclairmonde, 'for I mean to try.' + +'Nay, but,' said Malcolm, 'what should a mere matter of old rockers +and worn-out tirewomen concern a demoiselle of birth?' + +'I honour them for doing their Master's work,' said Esclairmonde, +'and would fain be worthy to follow in their steps.' + +'Surely,' said Malcolm, 'there are houses fit for persons of high and +princely birth to live apart from gross contact with the world.' + +'There are,' said Esclairmonde; 'but I trust I may be pardoned for +saying that such often seem to me to play at humility when they +stickle for birth and dower with the haughtiest. I never honoured +any nuns so much as the humble Sisters of St. Begga, who never ask +for sixteen quarterings, but only for a tender hand, soft step, pure +life, and pious heart.' + +'I deemed,' said Malcolm, 'that heavenly contemplation was the +purpose of convents.' + +'Even so, for such as can contemplate like the holy man I have told +you of,' said Esclairmonde; 'but labour hath been greatly laid aside +in convents of late, and I doubt me if it be well, or if their +prayers be the better for it.' + +'And so,' said Alice, 'I heard my Lord of Winchester saying how it +were well to suppress the alien priories, and give their wealth to +found colleges like that founded by Bishop Wykeham.' + +For in truths the spirit of the age was beginning to set against +monasticism. It was the period when perhaps there was more of +license and less of saintliness than at any other, and when the long +continuance of the Great Schism had so injured Church discipline that +the clergy and ecclesiastics were in the worst state of all, +especially the monastic orders, who owned no superior but the Pope, +and between the two rivals could avoid supervision altogether. Such +men as Thomas a Kempis, or the great Jean Gerson, were rare indeed; +and the monasteries had let themselves lose their missionary +character, and become mere large farms, inhabited by celibate +gentlemen and their attendants, or by the superfluous daughters of +the nobles and gentry. Such devotion as led Esclairmonde to the pure +atmosphere of prayer and self-sacrifice had well-nigh died out, and +almost every other lady of the time would have regarded her release +from the vows made for her its her babyhood a happy escape. + +Still less, at a time when no active order of Sisters, save that of +the Beguines in Holland, had been invented, and when no nun ever +dreamt of carrying her charity beyond the quadrangle of her own +convent, could any one be expected to enter into Esclairmonde's +admiration and longing for out-of-door works; but the person whom she +had chiefly made her friend was the King's almoner and chaplain, +sometimes called Sir Martin Bennet, at others Dr. Bennet, a great +Oxford scholar, bred up among William of Wykeham's original seventy +at Winchester and New College, and now much trusted and favoured by +the King, whom he everywhere accompanied. That Sir Martin was a +pluralist must be confessed, but he was most conscientious in +providing substitutes, and was a man of much thought and of great +piety, in whom the fair pupil of the Canon of St. Agnes found a +congenial spirit. + + + +CHAPTER VI: MALCOLM'S SUIT + + + +'That is a gentle and gracious slip of the Stewart. What shall you +do with him?' asked King Henry of James, as they stood together at +one end of the tilt-yard at Westminster, watching Malcolm Stewart and +Ralf Percy, who were playing at closhey, the early form of nine-pins. + +'I know what I should like to do,' said James. + +'What may that be?' + +'To marry him to the Lady Esclairmonde de Luxemburg.' + +Henry gave a long whistle. + +'Have you other views for her?' + +'Not I! Am I to have designs on every poor dove who flies into my +tent from the hawk? Besides, are not they both of them vowed to a +religious life?' + +'Neither vow is valid,' replied James. + +'To meddle with such things is what I should not DARE,' said Henry. + +'Monks and friars are no such holy beings, that I should greatly +concern me about keeping an innocent had out of their company,' said +James. + +'Nor do I say they are,' said Henry; 'but it is ill to cross a vow of +devotion, and to bring a man back to the world is apt to render him +not worth the having. You may perchance get him down lower than you +intended.' + +'This boy never had any real vocation at all,' said James; 'it was +only the timidity born of ill-health, and the longing for food for +the mind.' + +'Maybe so,' replied the English king, 'and you may be in the right; +but why fix on that grand Luxemburg wench, who ought to be a Lady +Abbess of Fontainebleau at least, or a very St. Hilda, to rule monks +and nuns alike?' + +'Because they have fixed on each other. Malcolm needs a woman like +her to make a man of him; and with her spirit and fervent charity, we +should have them working a mighty change in Scotland.' + +'If you get her there!' + +'Have I your consent, Harry?' + +'Mine? It's no affair of mine! You must settle it with Madame of +Hainault; but you had best take care. You are more like to make your +tame lambkin into a ravening wolf, than to get that Deborah the +prophetess to herd him.' + +James in sooth viewed this warning as another touch of Lancastrian +superstition, and only considered how to broach the question. +Malcolm, meantime, was balancing between the now approaching decision +between Oxford and France. He certainly felt something of his old +horror of warlike scenes; but even this was lessening; he was aware +that battles were not every-day occurrences, and that often there was +no danger at all. He would not willingly be separated from his king; +and if the female part of the Court were to accompany the campaign, +it would be losing sight of all he cared for, if he were left among a +set of stranger shavelings at Oxford. Yet he was reluctant to break +with the old habits that had hitherto been part of his nature; he +felt, after every word of Esclairmonde--nay, after every glance +towards her--as though it were a blessed thing to have, like her, +chosen the better part; he knew she would approve his resort to the +home of piety and learning; he was aware that when with Ralf Percy +and the other youths of the Court he was ashamed of his own +scrupulousness, and tempted to neglect observances that they might +call monkish and unmanly; and he was not at all sure that in face of +the enemy a panic might not seize him and disgrace him for ever! In +effect he did not know what he wished, even when he found that the +Queen had decided against going across the sea, and that therefore +all the ladies would remain with her at Shene or Windsor. + +He should probably never again see Esclairmonde, the guiding star of +his recent life, the embodiment of all that he had imagined when +conning the quaint old English poems that told the Legend of Seynct +Katharine; and as he leant musingly against a lattice, feeling as if +the brightness of his life was going out, King James merrily +addressed him:- + +'Eh! the fit is on you too, boy!' + +'What fit, Sir?' Malcolm opened his eyes. + +'The pleasing madness.' + +Malcolm uttered a cry like horror, and reddened crimson. 'Sir! Sir! +Sir!' he stammered. + +'A well-known token of the disease is raving.' + +'Sir, Sir! I implore you to speak of nothing so profane.' + +'I am not given to profanity,' said James, endeavouring to look +severe, but with laughter in his voice. 'Methought you were not yet +so sacred a personage.' + +'Myself! No; but that I--I should dare to have such thoughts of--oh, +Sir!' and Malcolm covered his face with his hands. 'Oh, that you +should have so mistaken me!' + +'I have NOT mistaken you,' said James, fixing his keen eyes on him. + +'Oh, Sir!' cried Malcolm, like one freshly stung, 'you have! Never, +never dreamt I of aught but worshipping as a living saint, as I would +entreat St. Margaret or--' + +There was still the King's steady look and the suppressed smile. +Malcolm broke off, and with a sudden agony wrung his hands together. +The King still smiled. 'Ay, Malcolm, it will not do; you are man, +not monk.' + +'But why be so cruel as to make me vile in my own eyes?' almost +sobbed Malcolm. + +'Because,' said the King, 'she is not a saint in heaven, nor a nun in +a convent, but a free woman, to be won by the youth she has marked +out.' + +'Marked! Oh, Sir, she only condescended because she knew my +destination.' + +'That is well,' said King James. 'Thus sparks kindle at unawares.' + +Malcolm's groan and murmur of 'Never!' made James almost laugh at the +evidence that on one side at least the touch-wood was ready. + +'Oh, Sir,' he sighed, 'why put the thought before me, to make me +wretched! Even were she for the world, she would never be for me. +I--doited--hirpling--' + +'Peace, silly lad; all that is past and gone. You are quite another +now, and a year or two of Harry's school of chivalry will send you +home a gallant knight and minstrel, such as no maiden will despise.' + +The King went, and Malcolm fell into a silent state of musing. He +was entirely overpowered, both by the consciousness awakened within +himself, by the doubt whether it were not a great sin, and by the +strangeness that the King, hitherto his oracle, should infuse such a +hope. What King James deemed possible could never be so incredible, +or even sacrilegious, as he deemed it. Restless, ashamed, rent by a +thousand conflicting feelings, Malcolm roamed up and down his +chamber, writhed, tried to sit and think, then, finding his thoughts +in a whirl, renewed his frantic pacings. And when dire necessity +brought him again into the ladies' chamber, he was silent, blushing, +ungainly, abstracted, and retreated into the farthest possible corner +from the unconscious Esclairmonde. + +Then, when again alone with the King, he began with the assertion, +'It is utterly impossible, Sir;' and James smiled to see his poison +working. Not that he viewed it as poison. Monasticism was at a +discount, and the ranks of the religious orders were chiefly filled, +the old Benedictine and Augustinian foundations by gentlemen of good +family who wanted the easy life of a sort of bachelor squire, and the +friaries were recruited by the sort of men who would in modern times +be dissenting teachers of the lower stamp. James was persuaded that +Malcolm was fit for better things than were usually to be seen in a +convent, and that it was a real kindness not to let him merely retire +thither out of faintness of heart, mistaken for devotion; and he also +felt as if he should be doing good service, not only to Malcolm, but +to Scotland, if he could obtain for him a wife of the grand character +of Esclairmonde de Luxemburg. + +He even risked the mention of the project to the Countess of +Hainault, without whose consent nothing could be effected. Jaqueline +laughed long and loud at the notion of her stately Esclairmonde being +the lady-love of King James's little white-visaged cousin; but if he +could bring it about she had no objection, she should be very glad +that the demoiselle should come down from the height and be like +other people; but she would wager the King of Scots her emerald +carcanet against his heron's plume, that Esclairmonde would never +marry unless her hands were held for her. Was she not at that very +moment visiting some foundation of bedeswomen--that was all she heard +of at yonder feast of cats! + +In fact, under Dr. Bennet's escort, Esclairmonde and Alice were in a +barge dropping down the Thames to the neighbourhood of the frowning +fortress of the Tower--as yet unstained; and at the steps leading to +the Hospitium of St. Katharine the ladies were met, not only by their +friend Mrs. Bolt, but by Sir Richard Whittington, his kindly dame, +and by 'Master William Kedbesby,' a grave and gentle-looking old man, +who had been Master of St. Katharine's ever since the first year of +King Richard II., and delighted to tell of the visits 'Good Queen +Anne' of Bohemia had made to her hospital, and the kind words she had +said to the old alms-folk and the children of the schools; and when +he heard that the Lady Esclairmonde was of the same princely house of +Luxemburg, he seemed to think no honour sufficient for her. They +visited the two houses, one for old men, the other for old women, +each with a common apartment, with a fire, and a dining-table in the +midst, and sleeping cells screened off round it, and with a paved +terrace walk overhanging the river, where the old people could sit +and sun themselves, and be amused by the gay barges and the swans +that expatiated there. The bedeswomen, ten in number, had a house +arranged like an ordinary nunnery, except that they were not in +seclusion, had no grating, and shared the quadrangle with the alms- +folk and children. They were gentle and well-nurtured women, chiefly +belonging to the city and country families that furnished servants to +the queens; and they applied themselves to various offices of +charity, going forth into the city to tend the poor, and to teach the +women and children. The appointments of alms-folk and admissions to +the school were chiefly made at their recommendation; and though a +master taught all the book-learning in the busy hive of scholars-- +eighty in number--one or more of them instructed the little girls in +spinning and in stitchery, to say nothing of gentle and modest +demeanour. There was a great look of happiness and good order about +all; and the church, fair and graceful, seemed well to complete and +rule the institution. Esclairmonde could but sigh with a sort of +regret as she left it, and let herself be conducted by Sir Richard +Whittington to a refection at his beautiful house in Crutched Friars, +built round a square, combining warehouse and manor-house; richly- +carved shields, with the arms of the companies of London, supporting +the tier of first-floor windows, and another row of brackets above +supporting another overhanging story. A fountain was in the centre +of a beautiful greensward, with beds of roses, pansies, pinks, stars +of Bethlehem, and other good old flowers, among which a monkey was +chained to a tree, while a cat roamed about at a safe distance from +him. + +Alice Montagu raised a laugh by asking if it were THE cat; to which +her city namesake replied that 'her master' never could abide to be +without a cat in memory of his first friend, and marshalled them into +the beautiful hall, with wainscot lining below, surmounted by an +arcade containing statues, and above a beautiful carved ceiling. +Here a meal was served to them, and the Lady talked with Whittington +of the grand town-halls and other buildings of the merchants of the +Low Countries, with whom he was a trader for their rich stuffs; and +the visit passed off with no small satisfaction to both parties. + +Esclairmonde sat in the barge on her return, looking out on the gray +clear water, and on the bright gardens that sloped down to it, gay +with roses and fruitful with mulberries, apples, and strawberries, +and the mansions and churches that were never quite out of sight, +though there were some open fields and wild country ere coming to +Westminster, all as if she did not see them, but was wrapped in deep +contemplation. + +Alice at last, weary of silence, stole her arm round her waist, and +peeped up into her face. 'May I guess thy thoughts, sweet Clairette? +Thou wilt found such a hospice thyself?' + +'Say not I WILL, child,' said Esclairmonde, with a crystal drop +starting in each dark eye. 'I would strive and hope, but--' + +'Ah! thou wilt, thou wilt,' cried Alice; 'and since there are +Beguines enough for their own Netherlands, thou wilt come to England +and be our foundress here.' + +'Nay, little one; here are the bedeswomen of St. Katharine's in +London.' + +'Ah! but we have other cities. Good Father, have we not? Hull-- +Southampton--oh! so many, where poor strangers come that need ghostly +tendance as well as bodily. Esclairmonde--Light of the World--oh! it +was not for nothing that they gave thee that goodly name. The +hospice shall bear it!' + +'Hush, hush! sweet pyet; mine own name is what they must not bear.' + +'Ah! but the people will give it; and our Holy Father the Pope, he +will put thee into the canon of saints. Only pity that I cannot live +to hear of Ste. Esclairmonde--nay, but then I must overlive thee, +mind I should not love that.' + +'Oh, silence, silence, child; these are no thoughts to begin a work +with. Little flatterer, it may be well for me that our lives must +needs lie so far apart that I shall not oft hear that fond silly +tongue.' + +'Nay,' said Alice, in the luxury, not of castle-building but of +convent-building; 'it may be that when that knight over there sees me +so small and ill-favoured he will none of me, and then I'll thank him +so, and pray my father to let him have all my lands and houses except +just enough to dower me to follow thee with, dear Lady Prioress.' + +But here Alice was summarily silenced. Such talk, both priest and +votaress told her, was not meet for dutiful daughter or betrothed +maiden. Her lot was fixed, and she must do her duty therein as the +good wife and lady of the castle, the noble English matron; and as +she looked half disposed to pout, Esclairmonde drew such a picture of +the beneficent influence of the good baronial dame, ruling her +castle, bringing up her children and the daughters of her vassals in +good and pious nurture, making 'the heart of her husband safely trust +in her,' benefiting the poor, and fostering holy men, wayfarers, and +pilgrims, that the girl's eyes filled within tears as she looked up +and said, 'Ah! lady, this is the life fitted for thee, who can paint +it so well. Why have I not a brother, that you might be Countess of +Salisbury, and I a poor little sister in a nunnery?' + +Esclairmonde shook her head. 'Silly child, petite niaise, our lots +were fixed by other hands than ours. We will strive each to serve +our God, in the coif or in the veil, in samite or in serge, and He +will only ask which of us has been most faithful, not whether we have +lived in castle or in cloister.' + +Little had Esclairmonde expected to hear the greeting with which the +Countess received her, breaking out into peals of merriment as she +told her of the choice destiny in store for her, to be wedded to the +little lame Scot, pretending to read her a grave lecture on the +consequences of the advances she had made to him. + +Esclairmonde was not put out of countenance; in fact, she did not +think the Countess in earnest, and merely replied with a smile that +at least there was less harm in Lord Malcolm than in the suitors at +home. + +Jaqueline clapped her hands and cried, 'Good tidings, Clairette. +I'll never forgive you if you make me lose my emerald carcanet! So +the arrow was winged, after all. She prefers him--her heart is +touched by the dainty step.' + +'Madame!' entreated Esclairmonde, with agitation; 'at least, +infirmity should be spared.' + +'It touches her deeply!' exclaimed the Duchess. 'Ah! to see her in +the mountains teaching the wild men to say their Aye, and to wear +culottes, the little prince interpreting for her, as King James told +us in his story of the saint his ancestor.' + +Raillery about Malcolm had been attempted before, but never so +pertinaciously; and Esclairmonde heeded it not at all, till James +himself sought her out, and, within all his own persuasive grace, +told her that he was rejoiced to hear from Madame of Hainault that +she had spoken kindly of his youthful kinsman, for whose improvement +he was sure he had in great measure to thank her. + +Esclairmonde replied composedly, but as one on her guard, that the +Sieur de Glenuskie was a gentle and a holy youth, of a good and +toward wit. + +'As I saw from the first,' said James, 'when I brought him away from +being crushed among our rude cousins; but, lady, I knew not how the +task of training the boy would be taken out of my hands by your +kindness; and now, pardon me, lady, only one thing is wanting to +complete your work, and that is hope.' + +'Hope is always before a holy man, Sir.' + +'O, madame! but we peer earthly beings require an earthly hope, +nearer home, to brace our hearts, and nerve our arms.' + +'I thought the Sieur de Glenuskie was destined to a religious life.' + +'Never by any save his enemies, lady. The Regent Albany and his +fierce sons have striven to scare Malcolm into a cloister, that his +sister and his lands may be their prey; and they would have succeeded +had not I come to Scotland in time. The lad never had any true +vocation.' + +'That may be,' said Esclairmonde, somewhat sorrowfully. + +'Still,' added James, 'he is of a thoughtful and somewhat tender +mould, and the rudeness of life will try him sorely unless he have +some cheering star, some light of love, to bear him up and guide him +on his way.' + +'If so, may he find a worthy one.' + +'Lady, it is too late to talk of what he may find. The brightness +that has done so much for him already will hinder him from turning +his eyes elsewhere.' + +'You are a minstrel, Sir King, and therefore these words of light +romance fall from your lips.' + +'Nay, lady, hitherto my romance has been earnest. It rests with you +to make Malcolm's the same.' + +'Not so, Sir. That has long been out of my hands.' + +'Madame, you might well shrink from what it was as insult to you to +propose; but have you never thought of the blessings you might confer +in the secular life, with one who would be no hindrance, but a help?' + +'No, Sir, for no blessings, but curses, would follow a breach of +dedication.' + +'Lady, I will not press you with what divines have decided respecting +such dedication. Any scruples could be removed by the Holy Father at +Rome, and, though I will speak no further, I will trust to your +considering the matter. You have never viewed it in any light save +that of a refuge from wedlock with one to whom I trust you would +prefer my gentle cousin.' + +'It were a poor compliment to Lord Malcolm to name him in the same +day with Sir Boemond of Burgundy,' said Esclairmonde; 'but, as I +said, it is not the person that withholds me, but the fact that I am +not free.' + +'I do not ask you to love or accept the poor boy as yet,' said James; +'I leave that for the time when I shall bring him back to you, with +the qualities grown which you have awakened. At least, I can bear +him the tidings that it is not your feelings, but your scruples that +are against him.' + +'Sir King,' said Esclairmonde, gravely, 'I question not your judgment +in turning your kinsman and subject to the secular life; but if you +lead him by false hopes, of which I am the object, I tell you plainly +that you are deluding him; and if any evil come thereof, be it on +your own head.' + +She moved away, with a bend of her graceful neck, and James stood +with a slight smile curving his lip. 'By my troth,' he said to +himself, 'a lordly lady! She knows her own vocation. She is one to +command scores of holy maids, and have all the abbots and priors +round at her beck, instead of one poor man. Rather Malcolm than I! +But he is the very stuff that loves to have such a woman to rule him; +and if she wed at all, he is the very man for her! I'll not give it +up! Love is the way to make a man of him, whether successful or not, +and she may change her mind, since she is not yet on the roll of +saints. If I could get a word with her father confessor, and show +him how much it would be for the interest of the Church in Scotland +to get such a woman there, it would be the surest way of coming at +her. Were she once in Scotland, my pretty one would have a stay and +helper! But all must rest till after the campaign.' + +James therefore told Malcolm so much as that he had spoken to his +lady-love for him, and that she had avowed that it was not himself, +but her own vows, that was the obstacle. + +Malcolm crimsoned with joy as well as confusion; and the King +proceeded: 'For the vows'--he shrugged his shoulders--'we knew there +is a remedy! Meantime, Malcolm, be you a man, win your spurs, and +show yourself worth overcoming something for!' + +Malcolm smiled and brightened, holding his head high and joyously, +and handling his sword. Then came the misgiving--'But Lilias, Sir, +and Patrick Drummond.' + +'We will provide for them, boy. You know Drummond is bent on carving +his own fortune rather than taking yours, and that your sister only +longs to see you a gallant knight.' + +It was true, but Malcolm sighed. + +'You have not spoken to the lady yourself?' asked the King. + +'No, Sir. Oh, how can I?' faltered Malcolm, shamefaced and +frightened. + +James laughed. 'Let that be as the mood takes you, or occasion +serves,' he said, wondering whether the lad's almost abject +awkwardness and shame would be likely to create the pity akin to love +or to contempt, and deciding that it must be left to chance. + +Nor did Malcolm find boldness enough to do more than haunt +Esclairmonde's steps, trembling if she glanced towards him, and +almost shrinking from her gaze. He had now no doubts about going on +the campaign, and was in full course of being prepared with +equipments, horses, armour, and attendants, as became a young prince +attending on his sovereign as an adventurer in the camp. It was not +even worth while to name such scruples to the English friar who +shrived him on the last day before the departure, and who knew +nothing of his past history. He knew all priests would say the same +things, and as he had never made a binding vow, he saw no need of +consulting any one on the subject; it would only vex him again, and +fill him with doubts. The suspicion that Dr. Bennet was aware of his +previous intention made him shrink from him. So the last day had +come, and all was farewell. King Henry had persuaded the Queen to +seclude herself for one evening from Madame of Hainault, for his +sake. King James was pacing the gardens on the Thames banks, with +Joan Beaufort's hand for once allowed to repose in his; many a noble +gentleman was exchanging last words with his wife--many a young +squire whispering what he had never ventured to say before--many a +silver mark was cloven--many a bright tress was exchanged. Even Ralf +Percy was in the midst of something very like a romp with the +handsome Bessie Nevil for a knot of ribbon to carry to the wars. + +Malcolm felt a certain exaltation in being enough like other people +to have a lady-love, but there was not much comfort otherwise; +indeed, he could so little have addressed Esclairmonde that it was +almost a satisfaction that she was the centre of a group of maidens +whose lovers or brothers either had been sent off beforehand, or who +saw their attentions paid elsewhere, and who all alike gravitated +towards the Demoiselle de Luxemburg for sympathy. He could but hover +on the outskirts, conscious that he must cut a ridiculous figure, but +unable to detach himself from the neighbourhood of the magnet. As he +looked back on the happy weeks of unconstrained intercourse, when he +came to her as freely as did these young girls with all his troubles, +he felt as if the King had destroyed all his joy and peace, and yet +that these flutterings of heart and agonies of shame and fits of +despair were worth all that childish calm. + +He durst say nothing, only now and then to gaze on her with his great +brown wistful eyes, which he dropped whenever she looked towards him; +until at last, when the summer evening was closing in, and the last +signal was given for the break-up of the party, Malcolm ventured on +one faltering murmur, 'Lady, lady, you are not offended with me?' + +'Nay,' said Esclairmonde, kindly; 'nothing has passed between us that +should offend me.' + +His eye lighted. 'May I still be remembered in your prayers, lady?' + +'As I shall remember all who have been my friends here,' she said. + +'And oh, lady, if I should--should win honour, may I lay it at your +feet?' + +'Whatever you achieve as a good man and true will gladden me,' said +Esclairmonde, 'as it will all others that wish you well. Both you +and your sister in her loneliness shall have my best prayers. +Farewell, Lord Malcolm; may the Saints bless and guard you, whether +in the world or the Church.' + +Malcolm knew why she spoke of his sister, and felt as if there were +no hope for him. Esclairmonde's grave kindness was a far worse sign +than would have been any attempt to evade him; but at any rate she +had spoken with him, and his heart could not but be cheered. What +might he not do in the glorious future? As the foremost champion of +a crusading king, bearing St. Andrew's cross through the very gates +of Jerusalem, what maiden, however saintly, could refuse him his +guerdon? + +And he knew that, for the present, Esclairmonde was safe from +retiring into any convent, since her high birth and great possessions +would make any such establishment expect a large dower with her as a +right, and few abbesses would have ventured to receive a runaway +foreigner, especially as one of her guardians was the Bishop of +Therouenne. + + + +CHAPTER VII: THE SIEGE OF MEAUX + + + +Wintry winds and rains were sweeping over the English tents on the +banks of the Marne, where Henry V. was besieging Meaux, then the +stronghold of one of those terrible freebooters who were always the +offspring of a lengthened war. Jean de Gast, usually known as the +Bastard de Vaurus, nominally was of the Armagnac or patriotic party, +but, in fact, pillaged indiscriminately, especially capturing +travellers on their way to Paris, and setting on their heads a heavy +price, failing which he hung them upon the great elm-tree in the +market-place. The very suburbs of Paris were infested by the forays +of this desperate routier, as such highway robbers were called; the +supplies of previsions were cut off, and the citizens had petitioned +King Henry that he would relieve them from so intolerable an enemy. + +The King intended to spend the winter months with his queen in +England, and at once attacked the place in October, hoping to carry +it by a coup de main. He took the lower city, containing the market- +place and several large convents, with no great difficulty; but the +upper city, on a rising ground above the river, was strongly +fortified, well victualled, and bravely defended, and he found +himself forced to invest it, and make a regular siege, though at the +expense of severe toil and much sickness and suffering. Both his own +prestige in France and the welfare of the capital depended on his +success, and he had therefore fixed himself before Meaux to take it +at whatever cost. + +The greater part of the army were here encamped, together with the +chief nobles, March, Somerset, Salisbury, Warwick, and likewise the +King of Scots. James had for a time had the command of the army +which besieged and took Dreux while Henry was elsewhere engaged, but +in general he acted as a sort of volunteer aide-de-camp to his +brother king, and Malcolm Stewart of Glenuskie was always with him as +his squire. A great change had come over Malcolm in these last few +months. His feeble, sickly boyhood seemed to have been entirely cast +off, and the warm genial summer sun of France to have strengthened +his frame and developed his powers. He had shot up suddenly to a +fair height, had almost lost his lameness, and gained much more +appearance of health and power of enduring fatigue. His nerves had +become less painfully sensitive, and when after his first skirmish, +during which he had kept close to King James, far too much terrified +to stir an inch from him, he had not only found himself perfectly +safe, but had been much praised for his valour, he had been so much +pleased with himself that he quite wished for another occasion of +displaying his bravery; and, what with use, and what with the +increasing spirit of pugnacity, he was as sincere as Ralf Percy in +abusing the French for never coming to a pitched battle. Perhaps, +indeed, Malcolm spoke even more eagerly than Ralf, in his own +surprise and gratification at finding himself no coward, and his fear +lest Percy should detect that he ever had been supposed to be such. + +So far the King of Scots had succeeded in awakening martial fire in +the boy, but he found him less the companion in other matters than he +had intended. When at Paris, James would have taken him to explore +the learned hoards of the already venerable University of Paris, +where young James Kennedy--son to Sir James Kennedy of Dunure, and to +Mary, an elder sister of the King--was studying with exceeding zeal. +Both James and Dr. Bennet were greatly interested in this famous +abode of hearing--the King, indeed, was already sketching out designs +in his own mind for a similar institution in Scotland, designs that +were destined to be carried out after his death by Kennedy; and +Malcolm perforce heard many inquiries and replies, but he held aloof +from friendship with his clerkly cousin Kennedy, and closed his ears +as much as might be, hanging back as if afraid of returning to his +books. There was in this some real dread of Ralf Percy's mockery of +his clerkliness, but there was more real distaste for all that +appertained to the past days that he now despised. + +The tide of vitality and physical vigour, so long deficient, had, +whom it had fairly set in, carried him away with it: and in the +activity of body newly acquired, mental activity had well-nigh +ceased. And therewith went much of the tenderness of conscience and +devout habits of old. They dropped from him, sometimes for lack of +time, sometimes from false shame, and by and by from very weariness +and distaste. He was soldier now, and not monk--ay, and even the +observances that such soldiers as Henry and James never failed in, +and always enforced, were becoming a burthen to him. They wakened +misgivings that he did not like, and that must wait till his next +general shrift. + +And Esclairmonde? Out of her sight, Malcolm dreamt a good deal about +her, but more as the woman, less as the saint; and the hopes, so low +in her presence, burnt brighter in her absence as Malcolm grew in +self-confidence and in knowledge of the world. He knew that when he +parted with her he had been a miserable little wretch whom any woman +would despise, yet she had shown him a sort of preference; how would +it be when he returned to her, perhaps a knight, certainly a brave +man like other men! + +Of Patrick Drummond he had as yet heard nothing, and only believed +him to be among the Scots who fought on the French side under the +Earls of Buchan and Douglas. Indeed, James especially avoided places +where he knew these Scots to be engaged, as Henry persisted in +regarding them as rebels against him, and in hanging all who were +made prisoners; nor had Malcolm, during the courtesies that always +pass between the outposts of civilized armies, made much attempt to +have any communication with his cousin, for though his own abnegation +of his rights had never been permitted by his guardian, or reckoned +on by his sister or her lover, still he had been so much in earnest +about it himself, as, while regarding it as a childish folly, to feel +ill at ease in the remembrance, and, though defiant, willing to avoid +all that could recall it. + +Meantime he, with his king, was lodged in a large old convent, as +part of the immediate following of King Henry. Others of the princes +and nobles were quartered in the market hall and lower town, but +great part of thine troops were in tents, and in a state of much +discomfort, owing to the overflowings of the Marne. Fighting was the +least of their dangers, though their skirmishes were often fought +ankle-deep in mud and mire; fever and ague were among them, and many +a sick man was sent away to recover or die at Paris. The long dark +evenings were a new trial to men used to summer campaigning, and +nothing but Henry's wonderful personal influence and perpetual +vigilance kept up discipline. At any hour of the day or night, at +any place in the camp, the King might be at hand, with a cheery word +of sympathy or encouragement, or with the most unflinching sternness +towards any disobedience or debauchery--ever a presence to be either +loved or dreaded. An engineer in advance of his time, he was +persuaded that much of the discomfort might be remedied by trenching +the ground around the camp; but this measure proved wonderfully +distasteful to the soldiery. How hard they laboured in the direct +siege operations they cared not, but to be set to drain French fields +seemed to them absurd and unreasonable, and the work would not have +proceeded at all without constant superintendence from one of the +chiefs of the army, since the ordinary knights and squires were as +obstinately prejudiced as were the men. + +Thus it was that, on a cold sleety December day, James of Scotland +rode along the meadows, splashing through thin ice into muddy water, +and attended by his small personal suite, excepting Sir Nigel Baird, +who was gone on a special commission to Paris. Both he and Malcolm +were plainly and lightly armed, and wore long blue cloaks with the +St. Andrew's cross on the shoulder, steel caps without visors, and +the King's merely distinguished by a thread-hike circlet of gold. +They had breastplates, swords, and daggers, but they were not going +to a quarter where fighting was to be expected, and bright armour was +not to be exposed to rust without need. A visit of inspection to the +delvers was not a congenial occupation, for though the men-at-arms +had obeyed James fairly well when he was in sole command at Dreux, +yet whenever he was obliged to enforce anything unpopular, the +national dislike to the Scot was apt to show itself, and the whole +army was at present in a depressed condition which made such +manifestations the more probable. + +But King Henry was not half recovered from a heavy feverish cold, +which he had not confessed or attended to, and he had also of late +been troubled with a swelling of the neck. This morning, too, much +to his inconvenience and dismay, he had missed his signet-ring. The +private seal on such a ring was of more importance than the autograph +at that time, and it would never have left the King's hand; but no +doubt, in consequence of his indisposition, his finger, always small- +boned, had become thin enough to allow the signet to escape unawares, +he was unwilling to publish the loss, as it might cast doubt on the +papers he despatched, and he, with his chamberlain Fitzhugh, King +James, Malcolm, Percy, and a few more, had spent half the morning in +the vain search, ending by the King sending his chamberlain, Lord +Fitzhugh, to carry to Paris a seal already bearing his shield, but +lacking the small private mark that authenticated it as his signet. +Fitzhugh would stand over the lapidary and see this added, and bring +it back. Ralf Percy had meantime been sent to bring a report of the +diggers, but he was long in returning; and when Henry became uneasy, +James had volunteered to go himself, and Henry had consented, not +because the air was full of sleety rain or snow, but because his +hands were full of letters needing to be despatched to all quarters. + +The air was so thick that it was not easy to see where were the +sullen group of diggers presided over by the quondam duellists of +Thirsk, Kitson and Trenton, now the most inseparable and +impracticable of men; but James and his companions had ridden about +two miles from the market-place, when Ralf Percy came out of the +mist, exclaiming, 'Is it you, Sir King? Maybe you can do something +with those rascals! I've talked myself blue with cold to make them +slope the sides of their dyke, but the owl Kitson says no +Yorkshireman ditcher ever went but by one fashion, and none ever +shall; and when I lifted my riding-rod at the most insolent of the +rogues, what must Trenton do but tell me the lot were free yeomen, +and I'd best look out, or they'd roll me in the mire if I meddled +with a soul of them.' + +'You didn't threaten to strike Trenton?' + +'No, no; the sullen cur is a gentleman. 'Twas one of those lubberly +men-at-arms! I told them they should hear what King Harry would say +to their mood. I would it were he!' + +'So would I,' said James. 'Little chance that they will hearken to a +Scot when you have put them in such a mood. Hold, Ralf, do not go +for the King; he has letters for the Emperor mattering more than this +dyke.' + +He rode on, and did his best by leaping into the ditch, taking the +spade, and showing the superior security of the angle of inclination +traced by the King, but all in vain; both Trenton and Kitson silently +but obstinately scouted the notion that any king should know more +about ditches than themselves. + +'See,' cried Percy, starting up, 'here's other work! The fellows, +whence came they?' + +Favoured by the fog and the soft soil of the meadows, a considerable +body of the enemy were stealing on the delvers with the manifest +purpose of cutting them off from the camp. They were all mounted, +but the only horses in the English party were those of James, Percy, +Malcolm, and the half-dozen men of his escort. James, assuming the +command at once, bade these to be all released; they would be sure to +find their way to the camp, and that would bring succour. Meantime +he drew the whole of the men, about thirty in number, into a compact +body. They were, properly, archers, but their bows had been left +behind, and they had only their pikes and bills, which were, however, +very formidable weapons against cavalry as long as they continued in +an unbroken rank; and though the bogs, pools, sunken hedges, and +submerged stumps made it difficult to keep close together as they +made their way slowly with one flank to the river, these obstacles +were no small protection against a charge of horsemen. + +For a quarter of a mile these tactics kept them unharmed, but at +length they reached a wide smooth meadow, and the enemy seemed +preparing to charge. James gave orders to close up and stand firm, +pikes outwards. Malcolm's heart beat fast; it was the most real +peril he had yet seen; and yet he was cheered by the King's ringing +voice, 'Stand firm, ye merry men. They must soon be with us from the +camp.' + +Suddenly a voice shouted, 'The Scots! the Scots! 'Tis the Scots! +Treachery! we are betrayed. Come, Sir' (to Percy), 'they'll be on +you. Treason!' + +'An' it were, you fool, would a Percy turn his back?' cried Ralf, +striking at the man; but the panic had seized the whole body; all +were shouting that the false Scots king had brought his countrymen +down on them; they scattered hither and thither, and would have +fallen an easy prey if they had been pursued. But this did not seem +to be the purpose of the enemy, who merely extended themselves so as +to form a hedge around the few who stood, sword in hand, disdaining +to fly. These were, James, somewhat in advance, with his head high, +and a lion look on his brow; Malcolm, white with dismay; Ralf, +restless with fury; Kitson and Trenton, apparently as unmoved as +ever; Brewster, equally steady: and Malcolm's follower, Halbert, in +a glow of hopeful excitement. + +'Never fear, friends,' said James, kindly; 'to you this can only be +matter of ransom.' + +'I fear nothing,' sharply answered Ralf. + +'We'll stand by you, Sir,' said Kitson to Ralf; 'but if ever there +were foul treason--' + +'Pshaw! you ass,' were all Percy's thanks; for at that moment a +horseman came forward from among the enemy, a gigantic form on a tall +white horse, altogether a 'dark gray man,' the open visor revealing +an elderly face, hard-featured and grim, and the shield on his arm so +dinted, faded, and battered, as scarce to show the blue chief and the +bleeding crowned heart; but it was no unfamiliar sight to Malcolm's +eyes, and with a slight shudder he bent his head in answer to the +fierce whisper, 'Old Douglas himself!' with which Hotspur's son +certified himself that he had the foe of his house before him. King +James, resting the point of his sword on his mailed foot, stood erect +and gravely expectant; and the Scot, springing to the ground, +advanced with the words, 'We greet you well, my liege, and hereby--' +he was bending his knee as he spoke, and removing his gauntlet in +preparation for the act of homage. + +'Hold, Earl Douglas,' said James, 'homage is vain to a captive.' + +'You are captive no longer, Sir King,' said Earl Archibald. 'We have +long awaited this occasion, and will at once return to Scotland with +you, with the arms and treasure we have gained here, and will bear +down the craven Albany.' + +Kitson and Trenton looked at one another and grasped their swords, as +though doubting whether they ought not to cut down their king's +prisoner rather than let him be rescued; and meanwhile the cry, 'Save +King James!' broke out on all sides, knights leapt down to tender +their homage, and among the foremost Malcolm knew Sir Patrick +Drummond, crying aloud, 'My lord, my lord, we have waited long for +you. Be a free king in free Scotland! Trust us, my liege.' + +'Trust you, my friends!' said James, deeply touched; 'I trust you +with all my heart; but how could you trust me if I began with a +breach of faith to the King of England?' + +Ralf Percy held up his finger and nodded his head to the Yorkshire +squires, who stood open-mouthed, still believing that a Scot must be +false. There was an angry murmur among the Scots, but James gazed at +them undauntedly, as though to look it down. + +'Yes, to King Harry!' he said, in his trumpet voice. 'I belong to +him, and he has trusted me as never prisoner was trusted before, nor +will I betray that trust.' + +'The foul fiend take such niceties,' muttered old Douglas; but, +checking himself, he said, 'Then, Sir, give me your sword, and we'll +have you home as my prisoner, to save this your honour!' + +'Yea,' said James, 'that is mine own, though my body be yours, and +till England put me to ransom you would have but a useless captive.' + +'Sir,' said Sir John Swinton, pressing forward, 'if my Lord of +Douglas be plain-spoken, bethink you that it is no cause for casting +aside this one hope of freedom that we have sought so long. If you +have the heart to strike for Scotland, this is the time.' + +'It is not the time,' said James, 'nor will I do Scotland the wrong +of striking for her with a dishonoured hand.' + +'That will we see when we have him at Hermitage Castle,' quoth +Douglas to his followers. 'Now, Sir King, best give your sword +without more grimace. Living or dead you are ours.' + +'I yield not,' said James. 'Dead you may take me--alive, never.' +Then turning his eyes to the faces that gazed on him so earnestly in +disappointment, in affection, or in scorn, he spoke: 'Brave friends, +who may perchance love me the better that I have been a captive half +my life and all my reign, you can believe how sair my heart burns for +my bonnie land's sake, and how little I'd reck of my life for her +weal. But broken oaths are ill beginnings. For me, so notably +trusted by King Henry, to break my bonds, would shame both Scots and +kings; and it were yet more paltry to feign to yield to my Lord of +Douglas. Rescue or no rescue, I am England's captive. Gentles, +kindly brother Scots, in one way alone can you free me. Give up this +wretched land of France, whose troubles are but lengthened by your +valour. Let me gang to King Harry and tell him your swords are at +his service, so soon as I am free. Then am I your King indeed; we +return together, staunch hearts and strong hands, and the key shall +keep the castle, and the bracken bush keep the cow, though I lead the +life of a dog to bring it about.' + +His tawny eye flashed with falcon light; and as he stood towering +above all the tall men around, there were few who did not in heart +own him indeed their king. But his picture of royal power accorded +ill with the notions of a Black Douglas, in the most masterful days +of that family; and Earl Archibald, who had come to regard kings as +beings meant to be hectored by Douglases, resentfully exclaimed, +'Hear him, comrades; he has avouched himself a Southron at heart. +Has he reckoned how little it would cost to give a thrust to the +caitiff who has lost heart in his prison, and clear the way for +Albany, who is at least a true Scot?' + +'Do so, Lord Earl,' said James, 'and end a long captivity. But let +these go scatheless.' + +With one voice, Percy, Kitson, Trenton, and Brewster, shouted their +resolve to defend him to the last; and Malcolm, flinging himself on +Patrick Drummond, adjured him to save the King. + +'Thou here, laddie!' said Patrick, amazed; and while several more +knights exclaimed, 'Sir, Sir, we'll see no hand laid on you!' he +thrust forward, 'Take my horse, Sir, ride on, and I'll see no scathe +befall you.' + +'Thanks,' said James; 'but my feet will serve me best; we will keep +together.' + +The Scottish force seemed dividing into two: Douglas and his friends +and retainers, mounted and holding together, as though still +undecided whether to grapple with the King and his half-dozen +companions; while Drummond and about ten more lances were disposed to +guard him at all risks. + +'Now,' said James to his English friends; and therewith, sword in +hand, he moved with a steady but swift stride towards the camp, nor +did Douglas attempt pursuit; some of the other horsemen hovered +between, and Patrick Drummond, with a puzzled face, kept near on +foot. So they proceeded till they reached a bank and willow hedge, +through which horses could hardly have pursued them. + +On the other side of this, James turned round and said, 'Thanks, Sir +Knight; I suppose I may not hope that you will become a follower of +the knight adventurer.' + +'I cannot fight under the English banner, my liege. Elsewhere I +would fellow you to the death.' + +'This is no time to show your error,' said James; 'and I therefore +counsel you to come no farther. The English will be pricking forth +in search of us: so I will but thank you for your loyal aid.' + +'I entreat you, Sir,' cried Patrick, 'not to believe that we meant +this matter to go as it has done! It had long been our desire--of +all of us, that is, save my Lord Buchan's retainers--to find you and +release you; but never did we deem that Lord Douglas would have dared +to conduct matters thus.' + +'You would be little the better for me did Lord Douglas bring me back +on his own terms,' said James, smiling. 'No, no; when I go home, it +shall be as a free king, able to do justice to all alike; and for +that I am content to bide my time, and trust to such as you to back +me when it comes.' + +'And with all my heart, Sir,' said Patrick. 'Would that you were +where I could do so now. Ah! laddie,' to Malcolm; 'ye're in good +hands. My certie, I kenned ye but by your voice! Ye're verily grown +into a goodly ship after all, and ye stood as brave as the rest. My +poor father would have been fain to see this day!' + +Malcolm flushed to the ears; somehow Patrick's praise was not as +pleasant to him as he would have expected, and he only faltered, 'You +know--' + +'I ken but what Johnnie Swinton brought me in a letter frae the Abbot +of Coldingham, that my father--the saints be with him!--had been set +on and slain by yon accursed Master of Albany--would that his +thrapple were in my grip!--that he had sent you southwards to the +King, and that your sister was in St. Abbs. Is it so?' + +Malcolm had barely time to make a sign of affirmation, when the King +hurried him on. 'I grieve to balk you of your family tidings, but +delay will be ill for one or other of us; so fare thee well, Sir +Patrick, till better times.' + +He shook the knight's hand as he spoke, cut short his protestations, +and leapt down the bank, saying in a low voice, as he stretched out +his hand and helped Malcolm down after him, 'He would have known me +again for your guest if we had stood many moments longer; he looked +hard at me as it was; and neither in England nor Scotland may that +journey of mine be blazed abroad.' + +Malcolm was on the whole rather relieved; he could not help feeling +guilty towards Patrick, and unless he could have full time for +explanation, he preferred not falling in with him. + +And at the same moment Kitson stepped towards the King. 'Sir, you +are an honest man, and we crave your pardon if we said aught that +seemed in doubt thereof.' + +James laughed, shaking each honest hand, and saying, 'At least, good +sirs, do not always think Scot and traitor the same word; and thank +you for backing me so gallantly.' + +'I'd wish no better than to back such as you, Sir,' said Kitson +heartily; and James then turned to Ralf Percy, and asked him what he +thought of the Douglas face to face. + +'A dour old block!' said Ralf. 'If those runaways had but stayed +within us, the hoary ruffian should have had his lesson from a +Percy.' + +James smiled, for the grim giant was still a good deal more than a +match for the slim, rosy-faced stripling of the house of Percy, who +nevertheless simply deemed his nation and family made him invincible +by either Scot or Frenchman. + +The difficulties of their progress, however, entirely occupied them. +Having diverged from the regular track, they had to make their way +through the inundated meadows; sometimes among deep pools, sometimes +in quagmires, or ever hedges; while the water that drenched them was +fast freezing, and darkness came down on them. All stumbled or were +bogged at different times; and Malcolm, shorter and weaker than the +rest, and his lameness becoming more felt than usual, could not help +impeding their progress, and at last was so spent that but for the +King's strong arm he would have spent the night in a bog-hole. + +At last the lights were near, the outskirts were gained, the pass- +word given to the watch, and the rough but welcome greeting was +heard--'That's well! More of you come in! How got you off?' + +'The rogues got back, then?' said Kitson. + +'Some score of them,' was the answer; 'but 'tis thought most are +drowned or stuck by the French. The King is in a proper rage, as +well he may be; but what else could come of a false Scot in the +camp?' + +'Have a care, you foul tongue!' Percy was the first to cry; and as +torches were now brought out and cast their light on the well-known +faces, the soldiers stood abashed; but James tarried not for their +excuses; his heart was hot at the words which implied that Henry +suspected him, and he strode hastily on to the convent, where the +quadrangle was full of horses and men, and the windows shone with +lights. At the door of the refectory stood a figure whose armour +flashed with light, and his voice sounded through the closed visor-- +'I tell you, March, I cannot rest till I knew what his hap has been. +If he have done this thing-- ' + +'What then?' answered James out of the darkness, in a voice deep with +wrath; but Henry started. + +'You there! you safe! Speak again! Come here that I may see. Where +is he?' + +'Here, Sir King,' said James, gravely. + +'Now the saints be thanked!' cried Henry, joyously. 'Where be the +caitiffs that brought me their false tale? They shall hang for it at +once.' + +'It was the less wonder,' said James, still coldly, 'that they should +have thought themselves betrayed, since their king believed it of +me.' + +'Nay, 'twas but for a hot moment--ay, and the bitterest I ever spent. +What could I do when the villains swore that there were signals and I +know not what devices passing? I hoped yet 'twas but a plea for +their own cowardice, and was mounting to come and see for you. Come, +I should have known you better; I'd rather the whole world deceived +me than have distrusted you, Jamie.' + +There was that in his tone which ended all resentment, and James's +hand was at once clasped in his, while Henry added, 'Ho, Provost- +marshal! to the gallows with these knaves!' + +'Nay, Harry,' said James, 'let me plead for them. There was more +than ordinary to dismay them.' + +'Dismay! ay, the more cause they should have stood like honest men. +If a rogue be not to hang for deserting his captain and then +maligning him, soon would knavery be master of all.' + +'Hear me first, Hal.' + +'I'll hear when I return and you are dried. Why, man, thou art an +icicle errant; change thy garments while I go round the posts, or I +shall hear nought for the chattering of thy teeth.' + +'Nor I for your cough, if you go, Harry. Surely, 'tis Salisbury's +night!' + +'The more cause that I be on the alert! Could I be everywhere, +mayhap a few winter blasts would not have chilled and frozen all the +manhood out of the host.' + +He spoke very sharply as he threw him on his horse, and wrapped his +cloak about him--a poor defence, spite of the ermine lining, against +the frost of the December night for a man whose mother, the fair and +wise Mary de Bohun, had died in early youth from disease of the +lungs. + +James and the two young partners of his adventure had long been clad +in their gowns of peace, and seated by the fire in the refectory, +James with his harp in his hand, from time to time dreamily calling +forth a few plaintive notes, such as he said always rang in his ears +after hearing a Scottish voice, when they again heard Henry's voice +in hot displeasure with the provost-marshal for having deferred the +execution of the runaways till after the hearing of the story of the +King of Scots. + +'His commands were not to be transgressed for the king of anything,' +and he only reprieved the wretches till morning that their fate might +be more signal. He spoke with the peremptory fierceness that had of +late almost obscured his natural good-humour and kindliness; and when +he entered the refectory and threw himself into a chair by the fire, +he looked wearied out in body and mind, shivered and coughed, and +said with unwonted depression that the sullen fellows would make a +quagmire of their camp after all, since a French reinforcement had +come up, and the vigilance that would be needed would occupy the +whole army. At supper he ate little and spoke less; and when James +would have related his encounter within the Scots, he cut him short, +saying, 'Let that rest till morning; I am sick of hearing of it! An +air upon thy harp would be more to the purpose.' + +Nor would James have been unwilling to be silent on old Douglas's +conduct if he had not been anxious to plead for the panic-stricken +archers, as well as to extol the conduct of the two youths, and of +the Yorkshire squires; but, as he divined that the young Hotspur +would regard praise from him as an insult, he deferred the subject +for his absence, and launched into a plaintive narrative ballad, to +which Henry listened, leaning back in his chair, often dozing, but +without relaxation of the anxiety that sat on his pale face, and ever +and anon wakening within a heavy sigh, as though his buoyant spirits +were giving way under the weight of care he had brought on himself. + +James was just singing of one of the many knightly orphans of +romance, exposed in woods to the nurture of bears, his father slain, +his mother dead of grief--a ditty he had perhaps chosen for its +soporific powers--when a gay bugle blast rang through the court of +the convent. + +'The French would scarce send to parley thus late,' exclaimed James; +but the next moment a joyful clamour arose without, and Henry, +springing to his feet, spoke not, but stood awaiting the tidings with +the colour burning on cheek and brow in suppressed excitement. + +An esquire, splashed to the ears, hurried into the room, and falling +on his knees, cried aloud, 'God save King Harry! News, news, my +lord! The Queen has safely borne you a fair son at Windsor Castle, +five days since.' + +Henry did not speak, but took the messenger's hand, wrung it, and +left a costly ring there. Then, taking off his cap, he put his hands +over his face, uttering a few words of fervent thanksgiving almost +within himself, and then turning to the esquire, made further +inquiries after his wife's welfare, took from him the letter that +Archbishop Chicheley had sent, poured out a cup of wine for him, bade +the lords around make him good cheer, but craved license for himself +to retire. + +It was so unlike his usual hilarious manner that all looked at one +another in anxiety, and spoke of his unusual susceptibility to +fatigue and care; while the squire, looking at the rich jewel in his +hand, declared within disappointment in his tone, that he would +rather have had a mere flint stone so he had heard King Harry's own +cheery voice. + +James was not the least anxious of them, but long ere light the next +morning Henry stood at his bedside, saying, 'I must go round the +posts before mass, Jamie. Will you face the matin frost?' + +'I am fitter to face it than thou,' said James, rising. 'Is there +need for this?' + +'Great need,' said Henry. 'Here are these fresh forces all aglow +within their first zeal, and unless they are worse captains than I +suppose them, they will attempt some mischief ere long--nor is any +time so slack as cock-crow.' + +James was speedily ready, and, within some suppressed sighs, so was +Malcolm, who knew himself in duty bound to attend his master, and was +kept on the alert by seeing Ralf Percy also on foot. But it was a +great relief to him that the young gentleman murmured in no measured +terms against the intolerable activity of their kings. No other +attendants went within them, since Henry was wont to patrol his camp +with as little demonstration as possible. + +'I would scarcely ask a dog to come out with me this wintry morn,' +said he, as he waved back his sleepy chamberlain, Fitzhugh, and took +his brother king's arm; 'but I could not but crave a turn with thee, +Jamie, ere the hue and cry of rejoicing begins.' + +'That is poor welcome for your heir,' said James. + +'Poor child!' said Henry; then, after they had walked some space in +silence, he added, 'You'll mock me, but I would that this had not +befallen at Windsor. I had laid my plans that it should be +otherwise; but ladies are ill to guide.' + +'And wherefore should it not have been at fair Windsor? If I can +love it as a prison, sure your son may well love it as a cradle.' + +'No dishonour to Windsor,' said Henry; 'but, sleeping or waking, this +whole night hath this adage rung in my ears - + + +"Harry, born at Monmouth, shall short time live and all get; +Harry, born at Windsor, shall long time live and lose all."' + + +'A most choice piece of royal poesy and prophecy,' laughed James. + +'Nay, do not charge me with it, thou dainty minstrel. It was sung to +me by mime old Herefordshire nurse, when Windsor seemed as little +within my reach as Meaux, and I never thought of it again till I +looked to have a son.' + +'Then balk the prophecy,' said James; 'Edward born at Windsor got +enough, and lived long enough to boot!' + +'Too late!' was the answer. 'The Archbishop christened the poor +child Harry in the very hour of his birth.' + +'Poor child!' echoed James, rather sarcastically. + +'Nay, 'tis not solely the rhyme,' said Henry; 'but this has been a +wakeful night, and not without misgivings whether I am one who ought +to look for joy in his children.' + +'What is past was not such that you alone should cry mea culpa,' said +James. + +'I never thought so till now,' said Henry. 'Yet who knows? My +father was a winsome young man ere his exile, full of tenderness to +us all, at the rare times he was with us. Who knows what cares may +make of me ere my boy learns to knew me?' + +'You will not hold him aloof, and give him no chance of loving you?' + +'I trow not! I'll have him with me in the camp, and he and my brave +men shall be one another's pride. Which Roman emperor is it that +hears the nickname his father's soldiers gave him as a child? Nay-- +Caligula was it? Omens are against me this morning.' + +'Then laughs them to scorn, and be yourself,' said James. 'Bless God +for the goodly child, who is born to two kingdoms, won by his +father's and his grandsire's swords.' + +'Ah!' said Henry, depressed by failing health, a sleepless night, and +hungry morning, 'maybe it were better for him, soul and body both, +did I stand here Duke of Lancaster, and good Edmund of March yonder +were head of realm and army.' + +'Never would he be head of this army,' said James. 'He would be +snoring at Shene; that is, if he could sleep for the trouble the Duke +of Lancaster would be giving him.' + +Henry laughed at last. 'Good King Edmund, he would assuredly never +try to set the world right on its hinges. Honest fellow, soon he +will be as hearty in his congratulations as though he did not lie +under a great wrong. Heigh-ho! such as he may be in the right on't. +I've marvelled of late, whether any priest or hermit could bring back +my old assurance, that all this is my work on earth, or tell me if it +be all one grand error. Men there have been like Caesar, Alexander, +or Charlemagne, who thought my thoughts and worked them out; and +surely Church and nations cry aloud for purifying. Jerusalem, and a +general council--I saw them once clear and bright before me; but now +a mist seems to rise up from Richard's blood, and hide them from me; +and there comes from it my father's voice when he asked on his +deathbed what right I had to the crown. What would it be if I had to +leave this work half done?' + +He was interrupted by the sight of a young knight stealing into the +camp, after a furtive expedition to Paris. It was enough to rouse +him from his despondent state; and the severity of his wrath was in +full proportion to the offence. Nor did he again utter his +misgivings, but was full of his usual alacrity and life, as though +daylight had restored his buoyancy. + +James, on the way back to the thanksgiving mass, interceded for last +night's offenders, as an act of grace suitable to the occasion; but +Henry was inexorable. + +'Had they stood to die like Englishmen, they had not lied like dogs! +'he said; 'and as dogs they shall hang!' + +In fact, in the critical state of his army, he knew that the only +safety lay in the promptest and sternest justice; and therefore the +three foremost in accusing King James of treachery were hung long +before noon. + +However, he called for the two Yorkshiremen, and thus addressed them: +'Well done, my masters! Thanks for showing Scots and Frenchmen what +stuff Englishmen are made of! I keep my word, good fellows. Kneel +down, and I'll dub each a knight. How now! what are you blundering +and whispering for?' + +'So please you, Sir,' said Kitson, 'this is no matter to win one's +spurs for--mere standing still without a blow.' + +'I would all had that same gift of standing still,' returned Henry. +'What is it sticks in your gizzard, friend? If 'tis the fees, I take +them on myself.' + +'No, Sir,' hoarsely cried both. + +And Kitson explained: 'Sir, you said you'd knight the one of us that +was foremost. Now, the two being dubbed, we shall be but where we +were before as to Mistress Agnes of Mineshull, unless of your good- +will you would be pleased to let us fight out the wager of the +heriard in all peace and amity.' + +Henry burst out laughing, with all his old merriment, as he said, +'For no Mistress Agnes living can I have honest men's lives wasted, +specially of such as have that gift of standing still. If she does +not knew her own mind, one of you must get himself killed by the +Frenchmen, not by one another. So kneel down, and we'll make your +knighthood's feast fall in with that of my son.' + +Thus Sir Christopher Kitson and Sir William Trenton rose up knights; +and bore their honours with a certain bluntness that made them butts, +even while they were the heroes of the day; and Henry, who had +resumed his gay temper, made much diversion out of their mingled +shrewdness and gruffness. + +'So,' muttered Malcolm to Ralf Percy, 'we are passed over in the +self-same matter for which these fellows are knighted.' + +'Tush!' answered Percy; 'I'd scorn to be confounded with a couple of +clowns like them! Moreover,' he added, with better reason, 'their +valour was more exercised than ours, inasmuch as they thought there +was treachery, and we did not. No, no; when my spurs are won, it +shall be for some prowess, better than standing stock-still.' + +Malcolm held his tongue, unwilling that Percy should see that he did +feel this an achievement; but he was vexed at the lack of reward, +fancying that knighthood would be no small step in the favour of that +imaginary Esclairmonde whom he had made for himself. + +'Light of the world' he loved to call her still, but it was in the +commonplace romance of his time, the mere light of beauty and grace +illuminating the world of chivalry. + + + +CHAPTER VIII: THE CAPTURE + + + +The seven months' siege ended at last, but it was not until the +brightness of May was on the fields outside, and the deadly blight of +famine on all within, that a haggard, wasted-looking deputation came +down from the upper city to treat with the King. + +Henry was never severe with the inhabitants of French cities, and +exacted no harsh terms, save that he insisted that Vaurus, the robber +captain, and his two chief lieutenants, should be given up to him to +suffer condign punishment. The warriors who had shut themselves up +to hold out the place by honourable warfare for the Dauphin must be +put to ransom as prisoners of war; but the burghers were to be +unmolested, on condition of their swearing allegiance to Henry as +regent for, and heir of, Charles VI. + +To this the deputies consented, and the next day was fixed for the +surrender. The difficulty was, as Henry had found at Harfleur, +Rouen, and many other places, to enforce forbearance on his soldiery, +who regarded plunder as their lawful prey, the enemy as their natural +game, and the trouble a city had given them as a cause for +unmercifulness. The more time changed his army from the feudal +gathering of English country gentlemen and yeomen to mercenary bands +of men-at-arms, the mere greedy, rapacious, and insubordinate became +their temper. Well knowing the greatness of the peril, and that the +very best of his captains had scarcely the will, if they had the +power, to restrain the license that soon became barbarity +unimaginable, he spoke sadly overnight of his dread of the day of +surrender, when it might prove impossible to prevent deeds that would +be not merely a blot on his scutcheon, but a shame to human nature; +looking back to the exultation with which he had entered Harfleur as +a mere effect of boyish ignorance and thoughtlessness. + +Having taken all possible precautions, he stood in his full armour, +with the fox's brush in his helmet, under the great elm in the +market-place, received the keys, accepted the sword of the captain +commissioned by Charles with royal courtesy, gave his hand to be +kissed by the mayor; and then, with grave inexorable air, like a +statue of steel, watched as the freebooter Vaurus and his two chief +companions were led down with their hands tied, halters round their +necks, and priests at their sides, preparing them to be hung on that +very tree. They were proud hard men, and uttered no entreaty for +grace. They had hung too many travellers upon these same branches +not to expect their own turn, and they were no cravens to abase +themselves. + +That act of justice ended, Henry mounted his warhorse and rode in at +the gates. His wont was to go straight to the principal church, and +there attend a solemn mass of thanksgiving; but experience had taught +him that his devotions were the very opportunity of his men's rapine: +he had therefore arranged that as soon as he should have arrived in +the choir of the cathedral, James should take his place, and he slip +out by a side door, so as to return to the scene of action. + +In full procession he and his suite reached the chief door, and there +dismounted in an immense crowd, which thronged in at the doors. + +'Come, Glenuskie,' said Ralf Percy, as the two youths were pushed +chose together in the press; 'if you have a fancy for being smothered +in the minster, I have none. We shall never be missed. 'Twill be +sport to walk round and see how these hardy rogues contrived to hold +out.' + +Malcolm willingly turned aside with him, and looked down the sloping +street, which was swarming with comers and goers. The whole place +was in an inflammable state. Soldiers were demanding quarters, which +the citizens unwillingly gave. A refusal or expostulation against a +rough entry led to violence; and ever as the two youths walked +farther from the cathedral, there was more of excitement, more rude +oaths of soldiers, more shrieking of women, often crying out even +before any harm was done to them or their houses. + +At last, before a tall overhanging house, there was an immense press, +and a frightful din of shouts and imprecations, filling both the new- +comers with infectious eagerness. + +'How now? how now?' called Percy. 'Keep the peace, good fellows.' + +'Sir,' cried a number of voices, passionately, 'the French villains +have barred their door. There's a lot of cowardly Armagnacs hid +there with their gold, trying to balk honest men of their ransom.' + +Such was the cry resounding on all sides. 'Have at them! There's +the rogue at the windows. Out on the fellows! Burn down the door! +'Tis Vaurus himself and all his gold. Treason! treason!' + +The clamour was convincing to the spirit, if not to the senses. The +two lads believed in the concealed Armagnacs, or perhaps more truly +were carried away by the vehemence around them; and with something of +the spirit of the chase, threw themselves headlong into the affair. + +'Open! open!' shouted Ralf. 'Open, in the name of King Henry!' + +An old man's face peeped through a little wicket in the door, and at +sight of the two youths, evidently of high rank, said in a trembling +voice, 'Alas! alas! Sir, bid these cruel men go away. I have +nothing here--no one--only my sick daughter.' + +'You hear,' said Malcolm, turning round; 'only his sick daughter.' + +'Sick daughter!--old liar! Here's an honest tinker makes oath he has +hoards of gold laid up for Vaurus, and ten Armagnacs hidden in his +house. Have at him! Bring fire!' + +Blows hailed thick on the door; a flaming torch was handed over the +heads of the throng; horrible growls and roars pervaded them. +Malcolm and Ralf, furious at the cheat, stood among the foremost, +making so much noise themselves between thundering and reviling, and +calling out, 'Where are the Armagnacs? Down with the traitors!' that +they were not aware of a sudden hush behind them, till a buffet from +a heavy hand fell on Malcolm's shoulder, and a mighty voice cried +'Shame! shame! What, you too!' + +'There are traitors hid here, Sir,' said Percy, in angry self- +justification. + +'And what an if there are? Back, every one of you! rogues that you +be!--Here, Fitzhugh, see those villains back to the camp. Let their +arms be given up to the Provost-marshal.--Kites and crows as you are! +Away, out with you!' + +Henry pointed to the broken door, and the cowed and abashed soldiers +slunk away from the terrible light of his eyes. No man could stand +before the face of the King. + +There was a stillness. He stood leaning on his sword, his chest +heaving with his panting breaths. He was naturally as fleet as the +swift-footed Achilles, but the winter had told upon him, and the +haste with which he had rushed to the rescue left him breathless and +speechless, while he seemed as it were to nail the two lads to the +spot by his steady gaze of mingled distress and displeasure. + +Neither could brook his eye: Percy hung his head like a boy in a +scrape; Malcolm quailed with terror, but at the same time felt a keen +sense of injury in being thus treated as a plunderer, and the blow +under which his shoulder ached seemed an indignity to his royal +blood. + +'Boys,' said Henry, still low and breathlesly, but all the more +impressively, 'what is to become of honour and mercy if such as you +must needs become ravening wolves at scent of booty?' + +'It was not booty, Sir; they said traitors were hid here,' said +Percy, sulkily. + +'Tush! the old story! Ever the plea for rapine and bloodthirstiness. +After the warnings of last night you should have known better; but +you are all alike in frenzy for a sack. You have both put off your +knighthood till you have learnt not to become a shame thereto.' + +'I take not knighthood at your hands, Sir,' burst out Malcolm, goaded +with hot resentment, but startled the next moment at the sound of his +own words. + +'I cry you mercy,' said King Henry, in a cold, short tone. + +Malcolm turned on his heel and walked away, without waiting to see +how the poor old man in the house threw himself at the King's feet +with a piteous history of his sick daughter and her starving +children, nor how Ralf hurried off headlong to the lower town to send +them immediate relief in bread, wine, and doctors. The gay, good- +natured, thoughtless lad no mere harboured malice for the +chastisement than if his tutor had caught him idling; but things went +deeper with Malcolm. True, he had undergone many a brutal jest and +cruel practical joke from his cousins; but that was all in the +family, not like a blow from an alien king, and one not apologized +for, but followed up by a rebuke that seemed to him unjust, lowering +him in his own eyes and those of Esclairmonde, and making him ready +to gnaw himself with moody vexation. + +'You here, Malcolm!' said King James, entering his quarters; 'did you +miss me in the throng? I have not seen you all day.' + +'I have been insulted, Sir,' said Malcolm. 'I pray your license to +depart and carry my sword to my kinsmen in the French camp.' + +'How now! Is it the way to treat an insult to run away from it?' + +'Not when the world judges men to be on equal terms, my lord.' + +'What! Who has done you wrong, you silly loon?' + +'King Henry, Sir; he struck me with his fist, and rated me like his +hound; and I will not eat another morsel of his bread unless he would +answer it to me in single combat.' + +'Little enough bread you'd eat after that same answer!' ejaculated +James. 'Oh! I understand now. You were with young Hotspur and the +rest that set on the poor townsmen, and Harry made small distinction +of persons! Nay, Malcolm, it was ill in you, that talked of so +loathing spulzie!' + +'I wanted no spulzie. There were Armagnacs hid in the house, and the +King would not hear us.' + +'He knew that story too well. Were you asleep or idling last night, +when he warned all, on no plea whatever, to break into a house, but, +if the old tale of treachery came up, to set a guard, and call one of +the captains? Did you hear him--eh?' + +'I can take chiding from you, Sir, but neither words nor blows from +any other king in Christendom, still less when he threatens me that I +have deferred my knighthood! As if I would have it from him!' + +'From me you will not have it until he have pardoned Ralf Percy,' +said James, dryly. 'Malcolm, I had not thought you such a fule body! +Under a captain's banner, what can be done but submit to his rule? I +should do so myself, were Salisbury or March in command.' + +'Then, Sir,' said Malcolm, much hurt that the King did not take his +part, 'I shall carry my service elsewhere.' + +'So,' said James, much vexed, 'this is the meek lad that wanted to +hide in a convent from an ill world, flying off from his king and +kinsman that he may break down honest men's doors at his will.' + +'That I may be free from insult, Sir.' + +'You think John of Buchan like to cosset you! You found the Black +Douglas so courtly to me the other day as to expect him to be tender +to this nicety of yours! Malcolm, as your prince and guardian, I +forbid this folly, and command you to lay aside this fit of malice +and do your devoir. What! sobbing, silly lad--where's your manhood?' + +'Sir, Sir, what will they think of me--the Lady Esclairmonde and all- +-if they hear I have sat down tamely with a blow?' + +'She will never think about you at all but as a sullen malapert +ne'er-do-weel, if you go off to that camp of routiers, trying to prop +a bad cause because you cannot take correction, nor observe +discipline.' + +A sudden suspicion came over Malcolm that the King would not thus +make light of the offence, if it had really been the inexpiable +insult he had supposed it, and the thought was an absolute relief; +for in effect the parting from James, and joining the party opposed +to Esclairmonde's friends, would have been so tremendous a step, that +he could hardly have contemplated it in his sober senses, and he +murmured, 'My honour, Sir,' in a tone that James understood. + +'Oh, for your honour--you need not fear for that! Any knight in the +army could have done as much without prejudice to your honour. Why, +you silly loon, d'ye think I would not have been as angered as +yourself, if your honour had been injured?' + +Malcolm's heart felt easier, but he still growled. 'Then, Sir, if +you assure me that I can do so without detriment to my honour, I will +not quit you.' + +James laughed. 'It might have been more graciously spoken, my good +cousin, but I am beholden to you.' + +Malcolm, ashamed and vexed at the sarcastic tone, held his tongue for +a little while, but presently exclaimed, 'Will the Bishop of +Therouenne hear of it?' + +James laughed. 'Belike not; or, if he should, it would only seem to +him the reasonable training of a young squire.' + +The King did not say what crossed his own mind, that the Bishop of +Therouenne was more likely to think Henry over-strict in discipline, +and absurdly rigorous. + +The prelate, Charles de Luxemburg, brother to the Count de St. Pol, +had made several visits to the English camp. He was one of these +princely younger sons, who, like Beaufort at home, took +ecclesiastical preferments as their natural provision, and as a +footing whence they might become statesmen. He was a great admirer +of Henry's genius, and, as the chief French prelate who was heartily +on the English side, enjoyed a much greater prominence than he could +have done at either the French or Burgundian Court. He and his +brother of St. Pol were Esclairmonde's nearest kinsmen--'oncles a la +mode de Bretagne,' as they call the relationship which is here +sometimes termed Welsh uncle, or first cousins once removed--and from +him James had obtained much more complete information about +Esclairmonde than he could ever get from the flighty Duchess. + +Her mother, a beautiful Walloon, had been heiress to wide domains in +Hainault, her father to great estates in Flanders, all which were at +present managed by the politic Bishop. Like most of the statesman- +secular-clergy, the Bishop hated nothing so much as the monastic +orders, and had made no small haste to remove his fair niece from the +convent at Dijon, where she had been educated, lest the Cistercians +should become possessed of her lands. He had one scheme for her +marriage; but his brother, the Count, had wished to give her to his +own second son, who was almost an infant; and the Duke of Burgundy +had designs on her for his half-brother Boemond; and among these +various disputants, Esclairmonde had never failed to find support +against whichever proposal was forced upon her, until the coalition +between the Dukes of Burgundy and Brabant becoming too strong, she +had availed herself of Countess Jaqueline's discontent to evade them +both. + +The family had, of course, been much angered, and had fully expected +that her estates would go to some great English abbey, or to some +English lord whose haughty reserve and insularity would be +insupportable. It was therefore a relief to Monseigneur de +Therouenne to hear James's designs; and when the King further added, +that he would be willing to let the claims on the Hainault part of +her estates be purchased by the Count de St. Pol, and those in +Flanders by the Duke of Burgundy, the Bishop was delighted, and +declared that, rather than such a negotiation should fail, he would +himself advance the sum to his brother; but that the Duke of +Burgundy's consent was more doubtful, only could they not do without +it? + +And he honoured Malcolm with a few words of passing notice from time +to time, as if he almost regarded him as a relation. No doubt it +would have been absurd to fly from such chances as these to Patrick +Drummond and the opposite camp; and yet there were times when Malcolm +felt as if he should get rid of a load on his heart if he were to +break with all his present life, hurry to Patrick, confess the whole +to him, and then--hide his head in some hermitage, leaving his pledge +unforfeited! + +That, however, could not be. He was bound to the King, and might not +desert him, and it was not unpleasant to brood over the sacrifice of +his own displeasure. + +'See,' said Henry, in the evening, as he came into the refectory and +walked up to James, 'I have found my signet. It was left in the +finger of my Spanish glove, which I had not worn since the beginning +of winter. Thanks to all who took vain pains to look for it.' + +But Malcolm did not respond with his pleased look to the thanks. He +was not in charity with Henry, and crept out of hearing of him, while +James was saying, 'You had best destroy one or the other, or they +will make mischief. Here, I'll crush it with the pommel of my +sword.' + +'Ay,' said Henry, laughing, 'you'd like to shew off one of your +sledge-hammer blows--Sir Bras de Fer! But, Master Scot, you shall +not smash the English shield so easily. This one hangs too loose to +be safe; I shall keep it to serve me when we have fattened up at +Paris, after the leanness of our siege.' + +'Hal,' said James, seeing his gay temper restored, 'you have +grievously hurt that springald of mine. His northern blood cannot +away with the taste he got of your fist.' + +'Pretty well for your godly young monk, to expect to rob unchecked!' +laughed Henry. + +'He will do well at last,' said James. 'Manhood has come on him with +a rush, and borne him off his feet; nor would I have him over-tame.' + +'There spake the Scot!' said Henry. 'By my faith, Jamie, we should +have had you the worst robber of all had we not caught you young! +Well, what am I do for this sprig of royalty? Say I struck unawares? +Nay, had I known him, I'd have struck with as much of a will as his +slight bones would bear.' + +'An you love me, Hal, do something to cool his ill blood, and remove +the sense of shame that sinks a lad in his own eyes.' + +'Methought,' said Henry, 'there was more shame in the deed than in +the buffet.' + +Nevertheless the good-natured King took an occasion of saying: 'My +Lord of Glenuskie, I smote without knowing you. It was no place for +a prince--nay, for any honest man; otherwise no hand should have been +laid on my guest or my brother's near kinsman. And whereas I hear +that both you and my fiery hot Percy verily credited the cry that +prisoners were hid in that house, let me warn you that never was +place yielded on composition but some villain got up the shout, and +hundreds of fools followed it, till they learnt villainy in their +turn. Therefore I ever chastise transgression of my command to touch +neither dwelling nor inhabitant. You have both learnt your lesson, +and the lion rampant and he of the straight tail will both be reined +up better another time.' + +Malcolm had no choice but to bend his head, mutter something, and let +the King grasp his hand, though to him the apology seemed none at +all, but rather to increase the offence, since the blame was by no +means taken back again, while the condescension was such as could not +be rejected, and thus speciously took away his excuse for brooding +over his wrath. His hand lay so unwillingly in that strong hearty +clasp that the King dropped it, frowned, shrugged his shoulders, and +muttered to himself, 'Sullen young dog! No Scot can let bygones be +bygones!' and then he turned away and cast the trifle from his +memory. + +James was amazed not to see the moody face clear up, and asked of +Malcolm whether he were not gratified with this ample satisfaction. + +'I trow I must be, Sir,' said Malcolm. + +'I tell thee, boy,' said James, 'not one king--nay, not one man--in a +thousand would have offered thee the frank amends King Harry hath +done this day: nay, I doubt whether even he could so have done, were +it not that the hope of his wife's coming hath made him overflow with +joy and charity to all the world.' + +Malcolm did not make much reply, and James regarded him with some +disappointment. The youth was certainly warmly attached to him, but +these tokens of superiority to the faults of his time and country +which had caused the King to seek him for a companion seemed to have +vanished with his feebleness and timidity. The manhood that had been +awakened was not the chivalrous, generous, and gentle strength of +Henry and his brothers, but the punctilious pride and sullenness, and +almost something of the license, of the Scot. The camp had not +proved the school of chivalry that James, in his inexperience, had +imagined it must be under Henry, and the tedium and wretchedness of +the siege had greatly added to its necessary evils by promoting a +reckless temper and willingness to snatch at any enjoyment without +heed to consequences. Close attendance on the kings had indeed +prevented either Malcolm or Percy from even having the temptation of +running into any such lengths as those gentry who had plundered the +shrine of St. Fiacre at Breuil, or were continually galloping off for +an interval of dissipation at Paris; but they were both on the +outlook for any snatch of stolen diversion, for in ceasing from +monastic habits Malcolm seemed to have laid aside the scruples of a +religious or conscientious youth, and specially avoided Dr. Bennet, +the King's almoner. + +James feared he had been mistaken, and looked to the influence of +Esclairmonde to repair the evil, if perchance she should follow the +Queen to France. And this it was almost certain she must do, since +she was entirely dependent upon the Countess of Hainault, and could +not obtain admission to a nunnery without recovering a portion of her +estates. + + + +CHAPTER IX: THE DANCE OF DEATH + + + +The Queen was coming! No sooner had the first note of surrender been +sounded from the towers of Meaux, than Henry had sent intelligence to +England that the way was open for the safe arrival of his much-loved +wife; and at length, on a sunny day in May, tidings were received +that she had landed in France, under the escort of the Duke of +Bedford. + +Vincennes, in the midst of its noble forest, was the place fixed for +the meeting of the royal pair; and never did a happier or more +brilliant cavalcade traverse those woodlands than that with which +Henry rode to the appointed spot. + +All the winter, the King had heeded appearances as little as of old +when roughing it with Hotspur in Wales; but now his dress was of the +most royal. On his head was a small green velvet cap, encircled by a +crown in embroidery; his robe was of scarlet silk, and over it was +thrown a mantle of dark green samite, thickly powdered with tiny +embroidered white antelopes; the Garter was on his knee, the George +on his neck. It was a kingly garb, and well became the tall slight +person and fair noble features. During these tedious months he had +looked wan, haggard, and careworn; but the lines of anxiety were all +effaced, his lustrous blue eyes shone and danced like Easter suns, +his complexion rivalled the fresh delicate tints of the blossoms in +the orchards; and when, with a shyness for which he laughed at +himself, he halted to brush away any trace of dust that might offend +the eye of his 'dainty Kate,' and gaily asked his brother king if he +were sufficiently pranked out for a lady's bower, James, thinking he +had never seen him so handsome, replied: + +'Like a young bridegroom--nay, more like a young suitor.' + +'You're jealous, Jamie--afraid of being outshone. 'Tis is your own +fault, man; none can ever tell whether you be in festal trim or not.' + +For King James's taste was for sober, well-blending hues; and as he +never lapsed into Henry's carelessness, his state apparel was not +very apparently dissimilar from his ordinary dress, being generally +of dark rich crimson, blue, or russet, with the St. Andrew's cross in +white silk on his breast, or else the ruddy lion, but never +conspicuously; and the sombre hues always seemed particularly well to +suit his auburn colouring. + +Malcolm, in scarlet and gold, was a far gayer figure, and quite +conscious of the change in his own appearance--how much taller, +ruddier, and browner he had become; how much better he held himself +both in riding and walking; and how much awkwardness and +embarrassment he had lost. No wonder Esclairmonde had despised the +sickly, timid, monkish school-boy; and if she had then shown him any +sort of grace or preference, what would she think of the princely +young squire he could new show her, who had seen service, had proved +his valour, and was only not a knight because of King Henry's +unkindness and King James's punctilio?--at any rate, no child to be +brow-beaten and silenced with folly about cloistral dedication, but a +youth who had taken his place in the world, and could allege that his +inspiration had come through her bright eyes. + +Would she be there? That was the chief anxiety: for it was not +certain that either she or her mistress would risk themselves on the +Continent; and Catherine had given no intimation as to who would be +in her suite--so that, as Henry had merrily observed, he was the only +one in the whole party who was not in suspense, except indeed +Salisbury, who had sent his commands to his little daughter to come +out with the Queen. + +'She is come!' cried Henry. 'Beforehand with us, after all;' and he +spurred his horse on as he saw the banner raised, and the escort +around the gate; and in a few seconds more he and his companions had +hurried through the court, where the ladies had scarcely dismounted, +and hastened into the hall, breaking into the seneschal's solemn +reception of the Queen. + +'My Kate, my fairest! Mine eyes have been hungry for a sight of +thee.' + +And Catherine, in her horned head-gear and flutter of spangled veil, +was almost swallowed up in his hearty embrace; and the fervency of +his great love so far warmed her, that she clung to him, and tenderly +said, 'My lord, it is long since I saw you.' + +'Thou wert before me! Ah! forgive thy tardy knight,' he continued, +gazing at her really enhanced beauty as if he had eyes for no one +else, even while with lip and hand, kiss, grasp, and word, he greeted +her companions, of whom Jaqueline of Hainault and John of Bedford +were the most prominent. + +'And the babe! where is he?' then cried he. 'Let me have him to hold +up to my brave fellows in the court!' + +'The Prince of Wales?' said Catherine. 'You never spake of my +bringing him.' + +'If I spake not, it was because I doubted not for a moment that you +would keep him with you. Nay, verily it is not in sooth that you +left him. You are merely sporting with use.' + +'Truly, Sir,' said Catherine, 'I never guessed that you would clog +yourself with a babe in the cradle, and I deemed him more safely +nursed at Windsor.' + +'If it be for his safety! Yet a soldier's boy should thrive among +soldiers,' said the King, evidently much disappointed, and proceeding +to eager inquiries as to the appearance and progress of his child; to +which the Queen replied with a certain languor, as though she had no +very intimate personal knowledge of her little son. + +Other eyes were meanwhile eagerly scanning the bright confusion of +veils and wimples; and Malcolm had just made out the tall head and +dark locks under a long almost shrouding white veil far away in the +background behind the Countess of Hainault, when the Duke of Bedford +came up with a frown of consternation on his always anxious face, and +drawing King James into a window, said, 'What have you been doing to +him?'--to which James, without hearing the question, replied, 'Where +is SHE?' + +'Joan? At home. It was the Queen's will. Of that another time. +But what means this?' and he signed towards his brother. 'Never saw +I man so changed.' + +'Had you seen him at Christmas you might have said so,' replied +James; 'but now I see naught amiss; I had been thinking I had never +seen him so fair and comely.' + +'I tell you, James,' said Bedford, contracting his brows till they +almost met ever his arched nose, 'I tell you, his look brings back to +me my mother's, the last time she greeted my father!' + +'To your fantasy, not your memory, John! You were a mere babe at her +death.' + +'Of five years,' said Bedford. 'That face--that cough--have brought +all back--ay, the yearning look when my father was absent, and the +pure rosy fairness that Harry and Tom cited so fiercely against one +who would have told them how sick to death she was. I mind me too, +that when our grandame of Hereford made us motherless children over +to our grandsire of Lancaster, it was with a warning that Harry had +the tender lungs of the Bohuns, and needed care. One deadly sickness +he had at Kenilworth, when my father was ridden for post-haste. My +mind misgave me throughout this weary siege; but his service held me +fast at home, and I trusted that you would watch over him.' + +'A man like him is ill to guide,' said James; 'but he is more himself +now than he has been for months, and a few weeks' quiet with his wife +will restore him. But what is this?' he proceeded in his turn; 'why +is the Lady Joan not here?' + +'How can I tell? It was no fault of mine. I even got a prim warning +that it became me not to meddle about her ladies, and I doubted what +slanders you might hear if I were seen asking your Nightingale for a +token.' + +'Have you none! Good John, I know you have.' + +John smiled his ironical smile, produced from the pouch at his girdle +a small packet bound with rose-coloured silk, and said: 'The +Nightingale hath a plume, you see, and saith, moreover, that her +knight hath done his devoir passably, but that she yet looks to see +him send some captive giant to her feet. So, Sir Knight, I hope your +poor dwarf hath acquitted him well in your chivalrous jargon.' + +James smiled and coloured with pleasure; the fantastic message was +not devoid of reality in the days when young imaginative spirits +tried to hide the prose of war and policy in a bright mist of +romantic fancy; nor was he ashamed to bend his manly head in +reverence to, and even press to his lips, his lady's first love- +letter, in the very sight of the satirical though sympathizing +Bedford, of whom he eagerly asked of the fair Joan's health and +welfare, and whether she were flouted by Queen Catherine. + +'No more than is the meed of her beauty,' said Bedford. 'Sister Kate +likes not worship at any shrine save one. Look at our suite: our +knights--yea, our very grooms are picked for their comeliness; to wit +that great feather-pated oaf of a Welshman, Owen Tudor there; while +dames and demoiselles, tire-women and all, are as near akin as may be +to Sir Gawain's loathly lady.' + +'Not at least the fair Luxemburg. Did not I see her stately mien?' + +'She is none of the Queen's, and moreover she stands aloof, so that +the women forgive her gifts! There is that cough of Harry's again! +He is the shadow of the man he was; I would I knew if this were the +step-dame's doing.' + +'Nay, John, when you talk to me of Harry's cough, and of night- +watches and flooded camps, I hearken; but when your wits run wool- +gathering after that poor woman, making waxen images stuck full--' + +'You are in the right on't, James,' said Henry, who had come up to +them while he was speaking. 'John will never get sorceries out of +his head. I have thought it over, and will not be led into +oppressing my father's widow any more. I cannot spend this Pentecost +cheerily till I know she is set free and restored to her manors; and +I shall write to Humfrey and the Council to that effect.' + +And as John shrugged his shoulders, Henry gaily added: 'Thou seest +what comes of a winter spent with this unbeliever Jamie; and truly, I +found the thought of unright to my father's widow was a worse pin in +my heart than ever she is like to thrust there.' + +Thus then it was, that in the overflowing joy and good-will of his +heart, and mayhap with the presentiment which rendered him willing to +be at peace with all his kindred, Henry forgave and released his +step-mother, Joan of Navarre, whom common rumour termed the Witch +Queen, and whom he had certainly little reason to love, whether it +were true or not that she had attempted to weave spells against him. +In fact, there were few of the new-comers from England who did not, +like Bedford, impute the transparency of Henry's hands, and the +hollowness of his brightly-tinted cheek, to some form of sorcery. + +Meantime, Esclairmonde de Luxemburg, more beautiful than ever under a +still simpler dress, had greeted Malcolm with her wonted kindness; +adding, with a smile, that he was so much grown and embrowned that +she should not have known him but for the sweet Scottish voice which +he, like his king, possessed. + +'You do me too much grace in commending aught that is mine, madame,' +said Malcolm, with an attempt at the assurance he believed himself to +have acquired; but he could only finish by faltering and blushing. +There was a power of repression about Esclairmonde that annihilated +all his designs, and drove him back into his bashful self whenever he +came into contact with her, and felt how unlike the grave serene +loftiness of her presence was to the mere queen of romance, that in +her absence her shadow had become. + +Alice Montagu, returning to her side, relieved while disconcerting +him. Sweet little Alice had been in a continual flutter ever since +commands had come from Meaux that she was to come out to meet the +father whom she had not seen since what seemed like half her childish +lifetime, and the betrothed whom she had never seen at all; and Lady +Westmoreland had added to her awe by the lengthened admonition with +which she took leave of her. And on this day, when Esclairmonde +herself had arrayed the fair child in the daintiest of rose-pink +boddices edged with swan's-down, the whitest of kirtles, and softest +of rosy veils, the flush of anxiety on the pale little face made it +so fair to look upon, that as the maiden wistfully asked, 'Think you +he will flout me?' it was impossible not to laugh at the very notion. +'Ah! but I would be glad if he did, for then I might bide with you.' + +When, in the general greeting, Alice had been sought out by a tall, +dark-browed, grizzled warrior, Esclairmonde had, cruelly, as the +maiden thought, kept her station behind the Countess, and never +stirred for all those wistful backward glances, but left her alone to +drop on her knee to seek the blessing of the mighty old soldier. + +And now she was holding his great hand, almost as tough as his +gauntlets, and leading him up to her friend, while he louted low, and +spoke with a grand fatherly courtesy: + +'Fair demoiselle, this silly wench of mine tells me that you have +been good friend to her, and I thank you for the same with all mine +heart.' + +'Silly' was a fond term of love then, and had all the affection of a +proud father in it, as the Earl of Salisbury patted the small soft +fingers in his grasp. + +'Truly, my lord,' responded Esclairmonde, 'the Lady Alice hath been +my sweetest companion, friend, and sister, for these many months.' + +'Nay, child, art worthy to be called friend by such a lady as this? +If so, I shall deem my little Alice grown a woman indeed, as it is +time she were--Diccon Nevil is bent on the wedding before we go to +the wars again.' + +Alice coloured like a damask rose, and hid her face behind her +friend. + +'Hast seen him, sweet?' asked Esclairmonde, when Salisbury had been +called away. 'Is he here?' + +'Yes; out there--he with the white bull on his surcoat,' said Alice, +dreading to look that way. + +'And hast spoken with him?' asked the lady next, feeling as if the +stout, commonplace, hardy-looking soldier she saw was scarce what she +would have chosen for her little wild rose of an Alice, comely and +brave though he were. + +'He hath kissed mine hand,' faltered Alice, but it was quite credible +that not a word had passed. The marriage was a business contract +between the houses of Wark and Raby, and a grand speculation for Sir +Richard Nevil, that was all; but gentle Alice had no reluctance +beyond mere maidenly shyness, and unwillingness to enter on an +unknown future under a new lord. She even whispered to her dear +Clairette that she was glad Sir Richard never tormented her by +talking to her, and that he was grave, and so old. + +'So old? why, little one, he can scarce be seven-and-twenty!' + +'And is not that old? oh, so old!' said Alice. 'Able to take care of +me. I would not have a youth like that young Lord of Glenuskie. Oh +no--never!' + +'That is well,' said Esclairmonde, smiling; 'but wherefore put such +disdain in thy voice, Alice? He used to be our playfellow, and he +hath grown older and more manly in this year.' + +'His boyhood was better than such manhood,' said Alice; 'he was more +to my taste when he was meek, than now that he seems to say, "I would +be saucy if I durst." And he hath not the stuff to dare any way.' + +'Fie! fie! Alice, you are growing slanderous.' + +'Nay, now, Clairette, own verily--you feel the like!' + +'Hush, silly one, what skills it? Youths must pass through +temptation; and if his king hindered his vocation, maybe the poor lad +may rue it sorely, but methinks he will come to the right at last. +It were better to say a prayer for his faults than to speak evil of +them, Alice.' + +Poor Malcolm! He was at that very moment planning with an +embroiderer a robe wherein to appear, covered with flashes of +lightning transfixing the world, and mottoes around--'Esclaire mais +Embrase' + +Every moment that he was absent from Esclairmonde was spent in +composing chivalrous discourses in which to lay himself at her feet, +but the mere sight of her steady dark eyes scattered them instantly +from his memory; and save for very shame he would have entreated King +James again to break the ice for him, since the lady evidently +supposed that she had last year entirely quashed his suit. And in +this mood Malcolm mounted and took his place to ride into Paris, +where the King wished to arrive in the evening, and with little +preparation, so as to avoid the weary length of a state reception, +with all its speeches and pageants. + +In the glow of a May evening the cavalcade passed the gates, and +entered the city, where the streets were so narrow that it was often +impossible to ride otherwise than two and two. The foremost had +emerged into an open space before a church and churchyard, when there +was a sudden pause, a shock of surprise. All across the space, +blocking up the way, was an enormous line of figures, looking shadowy +in the evening light, and bearing the insignia of every rank and +dignity that earth presented. Popes were there, with triple crown +and keys, and fanned by peacock tails; scarlet-matted and caped +cardinals, mitred and crosiered bishops, crowned and sceptred kings, +ermined dukes, steel-clad knights, gowned lawyers, square-capped +priests, cowled monks, and friars of every degree--nay, the mechanic +with his tools, the peasant with his spade, even the beggar within +his dish; old men, and children of every age; and women too of all +grades--the tower-crowned queen, the beplumed dame, the lofty abbess, +the veiled nun, the bourgeoise, the peasant, the beggar;--all were +there, moving in a strange shadowy wild dance, sometimes slow, +sometimes swift and mad with gaiety, to the music of an unseen band +of clashing kettle-drums, cymbals, and other instruments, that played +fast and furiously; while above all a knell in the church tower rang +forth at intervals a slow, deep, lugubrious note; and all the time +there glided in and out through the ring a grisly being--skull- +headed, skeleton-boned, scythe in hand--Death himself; and ever and +anon, when the dance was swiftest, would he dart into the midst, +pounce on one or other, holding an hour-glass to the face, unheeding +rank, sex, or age, and bear his victim to the charnel-house beside +the church. It was a sight as though some terrible sermon had taken +life, as though the unseen had become visible, the veil were taken +away; and the implicit unresisting obedience of the victims added to +the sense of awful reality and fatality. + +The advance of the victorious King Henry made no difference to the +continuousness of the frightful dance; nay, it was plain that he was +but in the presence of a monarch yet more victorious than himself, +and the mazes wound on, the performers being evidently no phantoms, +but as substantial as those who beheld them; nay, the grisly ring +began to absorb the royal suite within itself, and an awe-stricken +silence prevailed--at least, where Malcolm Stewart and Ralf Percy +were riding together. + +Neither lad durst ask the other what it meant. They thought they +knew too well. Percy ceased not for one moment to cross himself, and +mutter invocations to the saints; Malcolm's memory and tongue alike +seemed inert and paralyzed with horror--his brain was giddy, his eyes +stretched open; and when Death suddenly turned and darted in his +direction, one horrible gush of thought--'Fallen, fallen! Lost, +lost! No confession!'--came over him; he would have sobbed out an +entreaty for mercy and for a priest, but it became a helpless shriek; +and while Percy's sword flashed before his eyes, he felt himself +falling, death-stricken, to the earth, and knew no more. + +'There--he moved,' said a voice above him. + +'How now, Glenuskie?' cried Ralf Percy. 'Look up; I verily thought +you were sped by Death in bodily shape; but 'twas all an abominable +grisly pageant got up by some dismal caitiffs.' + +'It was the Danse Macabre,' added the sweet tone that did indeed +unclose Malcolm's eyes, to see Esclairmonde bending over him, and +holding wine to his lips. Ralf raised him that he might swallow it, +and looking round, he saw that he was in a small wainscoted chamber, +with an old burgher woman, Ralf Percy, and Esclairmonde; certainly +not in the other world. He strove to ask 'what it meant,' and +Esclairmonde spoke again: + +'It is the Danse Macabre; I have seen it in Holland. It was invented +as a warning to those of sinful life, and this good woman tells me it +has become the custom to enact it every evening at this churchyard of +the Holy Innocents.' + +'A custom I devoutly hope King Harry will break!' exclaimed Ralf. +'If not, I'll some day find the way between those painted ribs of +Monseigneur de la Mort, I can tell him! I had nearly given him a +taste of my sword as it was, only some Gascon rogue caught my arm, +and he was off ere I could get free. So I jumped off, that your poor +corpse should not be trodden by French heels; and I hardly know how +it was, but the Lady Esclairmonde was by my side as I dragged you +out, and caused these good folks to let me bring you in behind their +shop.' + +'Lady, lady, I am for ever beholden,' cried Malcolm, gathering +himself up as if to fall at her feet, and his heart bounding high +with joy, for this was from death to life indeed. + +'I saw there was some one hurt,' said Esclairmonde in her repressive +manner. 'Drink some more wine, eat this bread, and you will be able +to ride to the Hotel de St. Pol.' + +'Oh, lady, let me speak of my bliss!' and he snatched at her hand, +but was still so dizzy that he sank back, becoming aware that he was +stiff and bruised from his fall. Almost at the same moment a new +step and voice were heard in the little open booth where the cutler +displayed his wares, and King James was at once admitted. + +'How goes it, laddie?' he asked. 'They told me grim Death had +clutched you and borne you off to his charnel-house; but at least I +see an angel has charge of you.' + +Esclairmonde slightly coloured as she made answer: + +'I saw some one fall, and came to offer my poor skill, Sir; but as +the Sieur de Glenuskie is fast recovering, if you will permit Sir +Nigel Baird to attend me, Sir, I will at once return.' + +'I am ready--I am not hurt. Oh, let us go together!' panted Malcolm, +leaping up. + +'Eh, gentlemen!' exclaimed the hospitable cutler's wife; 'you will +not away so fast! This gallant knight will permit you to remain. +And the fair lady, she will do me the honour to drink a cup of wine +to the recovery of her betrothed.' + +'Not so, good woman,' said Esclairmonde, a little apart, 'I am the +betrothed of Heaven. I only assisted because I feared the youth's +fall was more serious than it proves.' + +The bourgeoise begged pardon, and made a curtsey; there was nothing +unusual in the avowal the lady had made, when the convent was a +thoroughly recognized profession; but Esclairmonde could not carry +out her purpose of departing separately with old Sir Nigel Baird; +Malcolm was on his feet, quite ready to mount, and there was no +avoiding the being assisted to her saddle by any but the King, who +was in truth quite as objectionable a companion, as far as +appearances went, for a young solitary maiden, as was Malcolm +himself. Esclairmonde felt that her benevolence might have led her +into a scrape. When she had seen the fall, knowing that to the +unprepared the ghastly pageant must seem reality, she had obeyed the +impulse to hurry to the rescue, to console and aid in case of injury, +and she had not even perceived that her female companions did not +attempt to accompany her. However, the mischance could best be +counteracted by simplicity and unconsciousness; so, as she found +herself obliged to ride by the King, she unconcernedly observed that +these fantastic dances might perhaps arouse sinners, but that they +were a horrible sight for the unprepared. + +'Very like a dream becoming flesh and blood,' said James. 'We in +advance were slow to perceive what it was, and then the King merely +thought whether it would alarm the Queen.' + +'I trow it did not.' + +'No; the thing has not been found that will stir her placid face. +She merely said it was very lugubrious, and an ill turn in the +Parisians thus to greet her, but they were always senseless betes; +and he, being relieved of care for her, looked with all his eyes, +with a strange mixture of drollery at the antics and the masques, yet +of grave musing at the likeness to this present life.' + +'I think,' said Esclairmonde, 'that King Henry is one of the few men +to whom the spectacle IS a sermon. He laughs even while he lays a +thing to heart.' + +These few sentences had brought them to the concourse around the +gateway of the great Hotel de St. Pol, in whose crowded courtyard +Esclairmonde had to dismount; and, after being handed through the +hall by King James, to make her way to the ladies' apartments, and +there find out, what she was most anxious about, how Alice, who had +been riding at some distance from her with her father, had fared +under the alarm. + +Alice ran up to her eagerly. 'Ah, dear Clairette, and was he greatly +hurt?' + +'Not much; he had only swooned for fright.' + +'Swooned! to be a prince, and not have the heart of a midge!' + +'And how was it with you, you very wyvern for courage?' + +'With me? Oh, I was somewhat appalled at first, when my father took +hold of my rein, and bade me never fear; for I saw his face grow +amazed. Sir Richard Nevil rode up on the other side, and said the +hobgoblins should eat out his heart ere they hurt me; and I looked +into his face as he said that, and liked it more than ever I thought +to like any but yours, Clairette. I think my father was going to +leave me to him and see whether the King needed some one to back him; +but up came a French lord, and said 'twas all a mere show, and my +father said he was glad I was a stout-hearted wench that had never +cried out for fear; and then I was so pleased, that I never heeded +the ugly sight any more. Ay, and when Sir Richard lifted me off my +horse, he kissed my hand of his own accord.' + +'This is all he has ever said to you?' said Esclairmonde, smiling. +'It is like an Englishman--to the purpose.' + +'Yea, is it not? Oh! is it not better than all the fine speeches and +compliments that Joan Beaufort gets from her Scottish king?' + +'They have truths in them too, child.' + +'Ay; but too fine-spun, too minstrel-like, for a plain English maid. +The hobgoblins should eat out his heart ere they touched me!' she +repeated to herself, as though the saying were the most poetical +concert sung on minstrel lover's lute. + +Death's Dance had certainly brought this affianced pair to a better +understanding than all the gayest festivities of the Court. + +Esclairmonde would have been happy if no one had noticed her +benevolence to the young Scot save Alice Montagu; but she had to +endure countless railleries from every lady, from Countess Jaqueline +downwards, on the unmistakable evidence that her heart had spoken; +and her grave dignity had less effect in silencing them than usual, +so diverting was the alleged triumph over her propriety, well as they +knew that she would have done the same for the youngest horse-boy, or +the oldest man-at-arms. + + + +CHAPTER X: THE WHITSUNTIDE FESTIVAL + + + +'Lady, fairest lady! Ah, suffer your slave to fall at your feet with +his thanks!' + +'No thanks are due, Sir. I knew not who had fallen.' + +'Cruel coyness! Take not away the joy that has fed a hungry heart.' + +'Lord Glenuskie's heart was wont to hunger for better joys.' + +'Lady, I have ceased to be a foolish boy.' + +'Such foolishness was better than some men's wisdom.' + +'Listen, belle demoiselle. I have been forth into the world, and +have learnt to see that monasteries have become mere haunts for the +sluggard, who will not face the world; and that honour, glory, and +all that is worth living for, lie beyond. Ah, lady! those eyes first +taught me what life could give.' + +'Hush, Sir!' said Esclairmonde. 'I can believe that as a child you +mistook your vocation, and the secular life may be blest to you; but +with me it can never be so; and if any friendship were shown to you +on my part, it was when I deemed that we were brother and sister in +our vows. If I unwittingly inspired any false hopes, I must do +penance for the evil.' + +'Call it not evil, lady,' entreated Malcolm. 'It cannot be evil to +have wakened me to life and hope and glory.' + +'What should you call it in him who should endeavour to render Lady +Joan Beaufort faithless to your king, Lord Malcolm? What then must +it be to tempt another to break troth-plight to the King of Heaven?' + +'Nay, madame,' faltered Malcolm; 'but if such troth were forbidden +and impossible?' + +'None has the right or power to cancel mine,' replied the lady. + +'Yet,' he still entreated, 'your kindred are mighty.' + +'But my Bridegroom is mightier,' she said. + +'O lady, yet-- Say, at least,' cried Malcolm, eagerly, 'that were you +free in your own mind to wed, at least you would less turn from me +than from the others proposed to you.' + +'That were saying little for you,' said Esclairmonde, half smiling. +'But, Sir,' she added gravely, 'you have no right to put the +question; and I will say nothing on which you can presume.' + +'You were kinder to me in England,' sighed Malcolm, with tears in his +eyes. + +'Then you seemed as one like-minded,' she answered. + +'And,' he cried, gathering fresh ardour, 'I would be like-minded +again. You would render me so, sweetest lady. I would kiss your +every step, pray with you, bestow alms with you, found churches, +endow your Beguines, and render our change from our childish purpose +a blessing to the whole world; become your very slave, to do your +slightest bidding. O lady, could I but give you my eyes to see what +it might be!' + +'It could not be, if we began with a burthened conscience,' said +Esclairmonde. 'We have had enough of this, Sieur de Glenuskie. You +know that with me it is no matter of likes or dislikes, but that I am +under a vow, which I will never break! Make way, Sir.' + +He could but obey: she was far too majestic and authoritative to be +gainsaid. And Malcolm, in an access of misery, stood lost to all the +world, kneeling in the window-seat, where she had left him resting +his head against the glass, when suddenly a white plump hand was laid +on his shoulder, and a gay voice cried: + +'All a la mort, my young damoiseau! What, has our saint been +unpropitious? Never mind, you shall have her yet. We will see her +like the rest of the world, ere we have done within her!' + +And Malcolm found himself face to face with the free-spoken Jaqueline +of Hainault. + +'You are very good, madame,' he stammered. + +'You shall think me very good yet! I have no notion of being opposed +by a little vassal of mine; and we'll succeed, if it were but for the +fun of the thing! Monseigneur de Therouenne is on your side, or +would be, if he were sure of the Duke of Burgundy. You see, these +prelates hate nothing so much as the religious orders; and all the +pride of the Luxemburgs is in arms against Clairette's fancy for +those beggarly nursing Sisters; so it drives him mad to hear her say +she only succoured you for charity. He thinks it a family disgrace, +that can only be wiped off by marrying her to you; and he would do it +bon gre, mal gre, but that he waits to hear what Burgundy will say. +You have only to hold out, and she shall be yours, if I hold her +finger while you put on the ring. Only let us be sure of Burgundy.' + +This was not a very flattering way of obtaining a bride; but Malcolm +was convinced that when once married to Esclairmonde, his devotion +would atone to her for all that was unpleasant in obtaining her. At +least, she loved no one else; she had even allowed that she had once +thought him like-minded; she had formerly distinguished him; and +nothing lay between them but her scruples; and when they were +overcome, by whatever means, his idol would be his, to adore, to +propitiate, to win by the most intense devotion. All now must, +however, turn upon the Duke of Burgundy, without whose sanction +Madame of Hainault would be afraid to act openly. + +The Duke was expected at Paris for the Whitsuntide festival, which +was to be held with great state. The custom was for the Kings of +France to feast absolutely with all Paris, with interminable banquet +tables, open to the whole world without question. And to this Henry +had conformed on his first visit to the city; but he had learnt that +the costly and lavish feast had been of very little benefit to the +really distressed, who had been thrust aside by loud-voiced +miscreants and sturdy beggars, such as had no shame in driving the +feeble back with blows, and receiving their own share again and +again. + +By the advice of Dr. Bennet, his almoner, he was resolved that this +should not happen again; that the feast should be limited to the +official guests, and that the cost of the promiscuous banquet should +be distributed to those who really needed it, and who should be +reached through their parish priests and the friars known to be most +charitable. + +Dr. Bennet, as almoner, with the other chaplains, was to arrange the +matter; and horrible was the distress that he discovered in the city, +that had for five-and-twenty years been devastated by civil fury, as +well as by foreign wars; and famines, pestilences, murders, and +tyrannies had held sway, so as to form an absolute succession of +reigns of terror. The poor perished like flies in a frost; the +homeless orphans of the parents murdered by either faction roamed the +streets, and herded in the corners like the vagrant dogs of Eastern +cities; and meantime, the nobles and their partisans revelled in +wasteful pomp. + +Scholar as he was, Dr. Bennet was not familiar enough with Parisian +ways not to be very grateful for aid from Esclairmonde in some of his +conferences, and for her explanations of the different tastes and +needs of French and English poor. + +What she saw and heard, on the other hand, gave form and purpose to +her aspirations. The Dutch Sisters of St. Bega, the English +Bedeswomen of St. Katharine, were sorely needed at Paris. They would +gather up the sufferers, collect the outcast children, feed the +hungry, follow with balm wherever a wound had been. To found a +Beguinage at Paris seemed to her the most befitting mode of devoting +her wealth; and her little admirer, Alice, gave up her longing desire +that the foundation should be in England, when she learned that, as +the wife of Nevil, her abode was likely to be in France as long as +that country required English garrisons. + +To the young heiress of Salisbury, her own marriage, though close at +hand, seemed a mere ordinary matter compared with Esclairmonde's +Beguinage, to her the real romance. Never did she see a beggar +crouching at the church door, without a whisper to herself that there +was a subject for the Beguines; and, tender-hearted as she was, she +looked quite gratified at any lamentable tale which told the need. + +If Esclairmonde had a climax to her visions of her brown-robed +messengers of mercy, it was that the holy Canon of St. Agnes should +be induced to come and act the part of master to her bedeswomen, as +did Master Kedbesby at home. + +She had even dared to murmur her design to Dr. Bennet; and when he, +under strict seal of secrecy, had sounded King Henry, the present +real master of Paris, he reported that the tears had stood in the +King's eyes for a moment, as he said, 'Blessings on the maiden! +Should she be able to do this for this city, I shall know that Heaven +hath indeed sent a blessing by my arms!' + +For one brief week, Esclairmonde and Alice were very happy in this +secret hope; but at the end of that time the Bishop of Therouenne +appeared. Esclairmonde had ventured to hope that the King's +influence, and likewise the fact that her intention was not to enrich +one of the regular monastic orders, might lead him to lend a +favourable ear to her scheme; but she was by no means prepared to +find him already informed of the affair of the Dance of Death, and +putting his own construction on it. + +'So, my fair cousin, this is the end of your waywardness. The tokens +were certainly somewhat strong; but the young gentleman's birth being +equal to yours, after the spectacle you have presented, your uncle of +St. Pol, and I myself, must do our utmost to obtain the consent of +the Duke of Burgundy.' + +'Monseigneur is mistaken,' said Esclairmonde. + +'Child, we will have no more folly. You have flown after this young +Scot in a manner fitted only for the foolish name your father culled +for you out of his books of chivalry. You have given a lesson to the +whole Court and city on the consequences of a damsel judging for +herself, and running a mad course over the world, instead of +submitting to her guardians.' + +'The Court understands my purpose as well as you do, Monseigneur.' + +'Silence, Mademoiselle. Your convent obstinacy is ended for ever +now, since to send you to one would be to appear to hide a scandal.' + +'I do not wish to enter a convent,' said Esclairmonde. 'My desire is +to dedicate my labour and my substance to the foundation of a house +here at Paris, such as are the Beguinages of our Netherlands,' + +The Bishop held up his hands. He had never heard of such lunacy and +it angered him, as such purposes are wont to anger worldly-hearted +men. That a lady of Luxemburg should have such vulgar tastes as to +wish to be a Beguine was bad enough; but that Netherlandish wealth +should be devoted to support the factious poor of Paris was +preposterous. Neither the Duke of Burgundy, nor her uncle of St. +Pol, would allow a sou to pass out of their grasp for so absurd a +purpose; the Pope would give no license--above all to a vain girl, +who had helped a wife to run away from her husband--for new religious +houses; and, unless Esclairmonde was prepared to be landless, +penniless, and the scorn of every one, for her wild behaviour, she +must submit, bon gre, mal gre, to become the wife of the Scottish +prince. + +'Landless and penniless then will I be, Monseigneur,' said +Esclairmonde. 'Was not poverty the bride of St. Francis?' + +The Bishop made a growl of contempt; but recollecting himself, and +his respect for the saint, began to argue that what was possible for +a man, a mere merchant's son, an inspired saint besides, was not +possible to a damsel of high degree, and that it was mere +presumption, vanity, and obstinacy in her to appeal to such a +precedent. + +There was something in this that struck Esclairmonde, for she was +conscious of a certain satisfaction in her plan of being the first to +introduce a Beguinage at Paris, and that she was to a certain degree +proud of her years of constancy to her high purpose; and she looked +just so far abashed that the uncle saw his advantage, and discoursed +on the danger of attempting to be better than other people, and of +trying to vapour in spiritual heights, to all of which she attempted +no reply; till at last he broke up the interview by saying, 'There, +then, child; all will be well. I see you are coming to a better +mind.' + +'I hope I am, Monseigneur,' she replied, with lofty meekness; 'but +scarcely such as you mean.' + +Alice Montagu's indignation knew no bounds. What! was this noble +votaress to be forced, not only to resign the glory of being the +foundress of a new order of beneficence, but to be married, just like +everybody else, and to that wretched little coward? Boemond of +Burgundy was better than that, for he at least was a man! + +'No, no, Alice,' said Esclairmonde, with a shudder; 'any one rather +than the Burgundian! It is shame even to compare the Scot!' + +'He may not be so evil in himself,' said Alice; 'but with a brave man +you have only his own sins, while a coward has all those other people +may frighten him into.' + +'He bore himself manfully in battle,' said the fair Fleming in +reproof. + +But Alice answered with the scorn that sits so quaintly on the gentle +daughter of a bold race: 'Ay, where he would have been more afraid +to run than to stand.' + +'You are hard on the Scot,' said Esclairmonde. 'Maybe it is because +the Nevils of Raby are Borderers,' she added, smiling; and, as Alice +likewise smiled and blushed, 'Now, if it were not for this madness, I +could like the youth. I would fain have had him for a brother that I +could take care of.' + +'But what will you do, Esclairmonde?' + +'Trust,' said she, sighing. 'Maybe, my pride ought to be broken; and +I may have to lay aside all my hopes and plans, and become a mere +serving sister, to learn true humility. Anyhow, I verily trust to my +Heavenly Spouse to guard me for himself. If the Duke of Burgundy +still maintains Boemond's suit, then in the dissension I see an +escape. + +'And my father will defend you; and so will Sir Richard,' said Alice, +with complacent certainty in their full efficiency. 'And King Harry +will interfere; and we WILL have your hospital; ay, we WILL. How can +you talk so lightly of abandoning it?' + +'I only would know what is human pride, and what God's will,' sighed +Esclairmonde. + +The Duke arrived with his two sisters, his wife being left at home in +bad health, and took up his abode at the Hotel de Bourgogne, whence +he came at once to pay his respects to the King of England; the poor +King of France, at the Hotel de St. Pol, being quite neglected. + +Esclairmonde and Alice stood at a window, and watched the arrival of +the magnificent cavalcade, attended by a multitude, ecstatically +shouting, 'Noel Noel! Long live Philippe le Bon! Blessings on the +mighty Duke!' While seated on a tall charger, whose great dappled +head, jewelled and beplumed, could alone be seen amid his sweeping +housings, bowing right and left, waving his embroidered gloved hand +in courtesy, was seen the stately Duke, in the prime of life, +handsome-faced, brilliantly coloured, dazzlingly arrayed in gemmed +robes, so that Alice drew a long breath of wonder and exclaimed, +'This Duke is a goodly man; he looks like the emperor of us all!' + +But when he had entered the hall, conducted by John of Bedford and +Edmund of March, had made his obeisance to Henry, and had been +presented by him to King James, Alice, standing close behind her +queen, recollected that she had once heard Esclairmonde say, 'Till I +came to England I deemed chivalry a mere gaudy illusion.' + +Duke Philippe would not bear close inspection; the striking features +and full red lips, that had made so effective an appearance in the +gay procession seen from a distance, seemed harsh, haughty, and +sensual near at hand, and when brought into close contact with the +strange bright stern purity, now refined into hectic transparency, of +King Henry's face, the grand and melancholy majesty of the royal +Stewart's, or even the spare, keen, irregular visage of John of +Bedford. And while his robes were infinitely more costly than--and +his ornaments tenfold outnumbered--all that the three island princes +wore, yet no critical eye could take him for their superior, even +though his tone in addressing an inferior was elaborately affable and +condescending, and theirs was always the frankness of an equal. +Where they gave the sense of pure gold, he seemed like some ruder +metal gilt and decorated; as if theirs were reality, his the +imitation; theirs the truth, his the display. + +But in reality his birth was as princely as theirs; and no monarch in +Europe, not even Henry, equalled him in material resources; he was +idolized by the Parisians; and Henry was aware that France had been +made over to England more by his revenge for his father's murder at +Montereau than by the victory at Agincourt. Therefore the King +endured his grand talk about OUR arms and OUR intentions; and for +Malcolm's sake, James submitted to a sort of patronage, as if meant +to imply that if Philippe the Magnificent chose to espouse the cause +of a captive king, his ransom would be the merest trifle. + +When Henry bade him to the Pentecostal banquet, 'when kings keep +state,' he graciously accepted the invitation for himself and his two +sisters, Marguerite, widow of the second short-lived Dauphin, and +Anne, still unmarried; but when Henry further explained his plan of +feasting merely with the orderly, and apportioning the food in real +alms, the Duke by no means approved. + +'Feed those miserables!' he said. 'One gains nothing thereby! They +make no noise; whereas if you affront the others, who know how to cry +out, they will revile you like dogs! + +'I will not be a slave to the rascaille,' said Henry. + +'Ah, my fair lord, you, a victor, may dispense with these cares; but +for a poor little prince like me, it is better to reign in men's +hearts than on their necks.' + +'In the hearts of honest men--on the necks of knaves,' said Henry. + +Philippe shrugged his shoulders. He was wise in his own generation; +for he had all the audible voices in Paris on his side, while the +cavils at Henry's economy have descended to the present time. + +'Do you see your rival, Sir?' said the voice of the Bishop of +Therouenne in Malcolm's ear, just as the Duke had begun to rise to +take leave; and he pointed out a knight of some thirty years, +glittering with gay devices from head to foot, and showing a bold +proud visage, exaggerating the harshness of the Burgundian +lineaments. + +Malcolm shuddered, and murmured, 'Such a pearl to such a hog!' + +And meanwhile, King James, stepping forward, intimated to the Duke +that he would be glad of an interview with him. + +Philippe made some ostentation of his numerous engagements with men +of Church and State; but ended by inviting the King of Scotland to +sup with him that evening, if his Grace would forgive travellers' +fare and a simple reception. + +Thither accordingly James repaired on foot, attended only by Sir +Nigel and Malcolm, with a few archers of the royal guard, in case +torches should be wanted on the way home. + +How magnificent were the surroundings of the great Duke, it would be +wearisome to tell. The retainers in the court of the hotel looked, +as James said, as if honest steel and good cloth were reckoned as +churls, and as if this were the very land of Cockaigne, as Sir +Richard Whittington had dreamt it. Neither he nor St. Andrew himself +would know their own saltire made in cloth of silver, 'the very metal +to tarnish!' + +Sir Nigel had to tell their rank, ere the porters admitted the small +company: but the seneschal marshalled them forward in full state. +And James never looked more the king than when, in simple crimson +robe, the pure white cross on his breast, his auburn hair parted back +from his noble brow, he stood towering above all heads, passively +receiving the Duke of Burgundy's elaborate courtesies and greetings, +nor seeming to note the lavish display of gold and silver, meant to +amaze the poorest king in Europe. + +Exceeding was the politeness shown to him--even to the omission of +the seneschal's tasting each dish presented to the Duke, a +recognition of the presence of a sovereign that the two Scots +scarcely understood enough for gratitude. + +Malcolm was the best off of the two at the supper; for James had of +course to be cavalier to the sickly fretful-looking Dauphiness, while +Malcolm fell to the lot of the Lady Anne, who, though not beautiful, +had a kindly hearty countenance and manner, and won his heart by +asking whether the Demoiselle de Luxemburg were still in the suite of +Madame of Hainault; and then it appeared that she had been her +convent mate and warmest friend and admirer in their girlish days at +Dijon, and was now longing to see her. Was she as much set as ever +on being a nun? + +Meantime, the Duke was pompously making way for the King of Scots to +enter his cabinet, where--with a gold cup before each, a dish of +comfits and a stoup of wine between them--their interview was to take +place. + +'These dainties accord with a matter of ladies' love,' said James, as +the Duke handed him a sugar heart transfixed by an arrow. + +'Good, good,' said Philippe. 'The alliance is noble and our crowns +and influence might be a good check in the north to your mighty +neighbour; nor would I be hard as to her dowry. Send me five score +yearly of such knaves as came with Buchan, and I could fight the +devil himself. A morning gift might be specified for the name of the +thing--but we understand one another.' + +'I am not certain of that, Sir,' said James, smiling; 'though I see +you mean me kindly.' + +'Nay, now,' continued Philippe, 'I know how to honour royalty, even +in durance; nor will I even press Madame la Dauphine on you instead +of Anne, though it were better for us all if she could have her wish +and become a queen, and you would have her jointure--if you or any +one else can get it.' + +'Stay, my Lord Duke,' said James, with dignity, 'I spake not of +myself, deeming that it was well known that my troth is plighted.' + +'How?' said Burgundy, amazed, but not offended. 'Methought the House +of Somerset was a mere bastard slip, with which even King Henry with +all his insolence could not expect you to wed in earnest. However, +we may keep our intentions secret awhile; and then, with your lances +and my resources, English displeasure need concern you little.' + +James, who had learned self-control in captivity, began politely to +express himself highly honoured and obliged. + +'Do not mention it. Royal blood, thus shamefully oppressed, must +command the aid of all that is chivalrous. Speak, and your ransom is +at your service.' + +The hot blood rushed into James's cheek at this tone of +condescension; but he answered, with courteous haughtiness: 'Of +myself, Sir Duke, there is no question. My ransom waits England's +willingness to accept it; and my hand is not free, even for the prize +you have the goodness to offer. I came not to speak of myself.' + +'Not to make suit for my sister, nor my intercession!' exclaimed +Philippe. + +'I make suit to no man,' said James; then, recollecting himself, 'if +I did so, no readier friend than the Duke of Burgundy could be found. +I did in effect come to propose an alliance between one of my own +house and a fair vassal of yours.' + +'Ha! the runaway jade of Luxemburg!' cried Burgundy; 'the most +headstrong girl who lives! She dared to plead her foolish vows +against my brother Boemond, fled with that other hoyden of Hainault, +and now defies me by coming here. I'll have her, and make her over +to Boemond to tame her pride, were she in the great Satan's camp +instead of King Henry's.' + +And this is the mirror of chivalry! thought James. But he persevered +in his explanation of his arrangement for permitting the estates of +Esclairmonde de Luxemburg to be purchased from her and her husband, +should that husband be Malcolm Stewart of Glenuskie; and he soon +found that these terms would be as acceptable to the Duke as they had +already proved to her guardian, Monseigneur de Therouenne. Money was +nothing to Philippe; but his policy was to absorb the little +seignoralties that lay so thick in these border lands of the Empire; +and what he desired above all, was to keep them from either passing +into the hands of the Church, or from consolidating into some +powerful principality, as would have been the case had Esclairmonde +either entered a convent or married young Waleran de Luxemburg, her +cousin. Therefore he had striven to force on her his half-brother, +who would certainly never unite any inheritance to hers; but he much +preferred the purchase of her Hainault lands; and had no compunction +in throwing over Boemond, except for a certain lurking desire that +the lady's contumacy should be chastised by a lord who would beat her +well into subjection. He would willingly have made a great show of +generosity, and have laid James under an obligation; and yet by the +King's dignified tone of courtesy he was always reduced to the air of +one soliciting rather than conferring a favour. + +Finally, Malcolm was called in, and presented to the Duke, making his +own promise on his word of honour as a prince, and giving a written +bond, that so soon as he obtained the hand of the Demoiselle de +Luxemburg he would resign her Hainault estates to the Duke of +Burgundy for a sum of money, to be fixed by persons chosen for the +purpose. + +This was more like earnest than anything Malcolm had yet obtained; +and he went home exulting and exalted, his doubts as to +Esclairmonde's consent almost silenced, when he counted up the forces +that were about to bear upon her. + +And they did descend upon her. Countess Jaqueline had been joined by +other and more congenial Flemish dames, and was weary of her grave +monitress; and she continually scolded at Esclairmonde for +perverseness and obstinacy in not accepting the only male thing she +had ever favoured. The Bishop of Therouenne threatened and argued; +and the Duke of Burgundy himself came to enforce his commands to his +refractory vassal, and on finding her still unsubmissive, flew into a +rage, and rated her as few COULD have done, save Philippe, called the +Good. + +All she attempted to answer was, that they were welcome to her lands, +so they would leave her person free; her vows were not to man, but to +God, and God would protect her. + +It was an answer that seemed specially to enrage her persecutors, who +retorted by telling her that such protection was only extended to +those who obeyed lawful authority; and hints were thrown out that, if +she did not submit willingly, she might find herself married +forcibly, for a bishop could afford to disregard the resistance of a +bride. + +Would Malcolm--would his king--consent to her being thus treated? + +As to Malcolm, he seemed to her too munch changed for her to reckon +on what remnant of good feeling there might be to appeal to in him. +And James, though he was certain not to permit palpable coercion in +his presence, or even if he were aware that it was contemplated, +seemed to have left the whole management of the affair to +Esclairmonde's own guardians; and they would probably avoid driving +matters to extremities that would revolt him, while he was near +enough for an appeal. And Esclairmonde was too uncertain whether her +guardians would resort to such lengths, or whether it were not a vain +threat of the giddy Countess, to compromise her dignity by crying out +before she was hurt; and she had no security, save that she was +certain that in the English household of King Henry such violence +would not be attempted; and out of reach of that protection she never +ventured. + +Once she said to Henry, 'My only hope is in God and in you, my lord.' + +And Henry bent his head, saying, 'Noble lady, I cannot interfere; but +while you are in my house, nothing can be done with you against your +will.' + +Yet even Henry was scarcely what he had been in all-pervading +vigilance and readiness. Like all real kings of men, he had been his +own prime minister, commander-in-chief, and private secretary, +transacting a marvellous amount of business with prompt completeness; +and when, in the midst of shattered health which he would not avow, +the cares of two kingdoms, and the generalship of an army, with all +its garrisons, rested on him, his work would hardly have been +accomplished but for his brother's aid. It was never acknowledged, +often angrily disdained. But when John of Bedford had watched the +terrible lassitude and lethargy that weighed on the King at times in +the midst of his cabinet work, he was constantly on the watch to +relieve him; and his hand and style so closely resembled Henry's that +the difference could scarce be detected, and he could do what none +other durst attempt. Many a time would Henry, whose temper had grown +most uncertain, fiercely rate him for intermeddling; but John knew +and loved him too well to heed; and his tact and unobtrusiveness made +Henry rely on him more and more. + +If the illness had only been confessed, those who watched the King +anxiously would have had more hope; but he was hotly angered at any +hint of his needing care; and though he sometimes relieved oppression +by causing himself to be bled by a servant, he never allowed that +anything ailed him; it was always the hot weather, the anxious +tidings, the long pageant that wearied him--things that were wont to +be like gnats on a lion's mane. + +Those solemn banquets and festivals--lasting from forenoon till +eventide, with their endless relays of allegorical subtleties, their +long-winded harangues, noisy music, interludes of giants, sylvan men, +distressed damsels, knights-errant on horseback, ships and forests +coming in upon wheels, and fulsome compliments that must be answered- +-had been always his aversion, and were now so heavy an oppression +that Bedford would have persuaded the Queen to curtail them. But to +the fair Catherine this appeared an unkind endeavour of her +disagreeable brother-in-law, to prevent her from shining in her +native city, and eclipsing the Burgundian pomp; and she opened her +soft brown eyes in dignified displeasure, answering that she saw +nothing amiss with the King; and she likewise complained to her +husband of his brother's jealousy of her welcome from her own people, +bringing on him one of Henry's most bitter sentences. + +Henry would only have had her abate somewhat of the splendour that +gratified her, because he did not think it becoming to outshine her +parents; but Catherine scorned the notion. Her old father would know +nothing, or would smile in his foolish way to see her so brave; and +for her mother, she recked not so long as she had a larded capon +before her: nor was it possible to make the young queen understand +that this fatuity and feebleness were the very reasons for deferring +to them. + +The ordering of the feast fell to Catherine and her train; and its +splendours on successive days had their full development, greatly to +the constraint and weariness, among others, of Esclairmonde, who was +always assigned to Malcolm Stewart, and throughout these long days +had to be constantly repressing him; not that he often durst make her +any direct compliment, for he was usually quelled into anxious +wistful silence, and merely eyed her earnestly, paying her every +attention in his power. And such a silent tedious meal was sure to +be remarked, either with laughing rudeness by Countess Jaqueline, or +with severe reproof by the Bishop of Therouenne, both of whom assured +her that she had better lay aside her airs, and resign herself in +good part, for there was no escape for her. + +One day, however, when the feast was at the Hotel de Bourgogne, and +there were some slight differences in the order of the guests, the +Duke of Bedford put himself forward as the Lady Esclairmonde's +cavalier, so much to her relief, that her countenance, usually so +guarded, relaxed into the bright, sweet smile of cheerfulness that +was most natural to her. Isolated as the pairs at the table were, +and with music braying in a gallery just above, there was plenty of +scope for conversation; and once again Esclairmonde was talking +freely of the matters regarding the distress in Paris, that Bedford +had consulted her upon before he became so engrossed with his +brother's affairs, or she so beset by her persecutors. + +Towards the evening, when the feast had still some mortal hours to +last, there fell a silence on the Duke; and at length, when the music +was at the loudest, he said 'Lady, I have watched for this moment. +You are persecuted. Look not on me as one of your persecutors; but +if no other refuge be open to you, here is one who might know better +how to esteem you than that malapert young Scot.' + +'How, Sir?' exclaimed Esclairmonde, amazed at these words from the +woman-hating Bedford. + +'Make no sudden reply,' said John. 'I had never thought of you save +as one consecrate, till, when I see you like to be hunted down into +the hands of yon silly lad, I cannot but thrust between. My brother +would willingly consent; and, if I may but win your leave to love +you, lady, it will be with a heart that has yearned to no other +woman.' + +He spoke low and steadily, looking straight before him, with no +visible emotion, save a little quiver in the last sentence, a slight +dilating of the delicately cut nostril; and then he was silent, +until, having recovered the self-restraint that had been failing him, +he prevented the words she was trying to form by saying, 'Not in +haste, lady. There is time yet before you to bethink yourself +whether you can be free in will and conscience. If so, I will bear +you through all.' + +How invitingly the words fell on the lonely heart, so long left to +fight its own battles! There came for the first time the full sense +of what life might be, the shielding tenderness, the sure reliance, +the pure affection, such as she saw Henry lavish on the shallow +Queen, but which she could meet and requite in John. The brutal +Boemond, the childish Malcolm, had aroused no feeling in her but +dislike or pity, and to them a convent was infinitely preferable; but +Bedford--the religious, manly, brave, unselfish Bedford--opened to +her the view of all that could content a high-souled woman's heart, +backed, moreover, by the wonder of having been the first to touch +such a spirit. + +It would not have been a mesalliance. Her family was one of the +grandest of the Netherlands; the saintly Emperor, Henry of Luxemburg, +was her ancestor; and Bedford's proposal was not a condescension such +as to rouse her sense of dignity. His rank did not strike her as did +his lofty stainless character; the like of which she had never known +to exist in the world of active life till she saw the brothers of +England, who came more near to the armed saints and holy warriors of +Church legend than her fancy had thought mortal man could do, bred as +she had been in the sensual, violent, and glittering Burgundy of the +fifteenth century. In truth, as Malcolm had thought the cloister the +only refuge from the harshness and barbarism of Scotland, so +Esclairmonde had thought piety and purity to be found nowhere else; +and both had found the Court of Henry V. an infinitely better world +than they had supposed possible; but, until the present moment, +Esclairmonde had never felt the slightest call to take a permanent +place there. Now however the cloister, even if it were open to her, +presented a gloomy, cheerless life of austerity, in comparison with +human affection and matronly duty. And most vivid of all at the +moment was the desire to awaken the tender sweetness that slept in +those steady gray eyes, to see the grave, wise visage gleam with +smiling affection, and to rest in having one to take thought for her, +and finish this long term of tossing about and self-defence. Was not +the patience with which he kept his eyes away from her already a +proof of his consideration and delicate kindness? + +But deep in Esclairmonde's soul lay the sense that her dedication was +sacred, and her power over herself gone. She had always felt a +wife's allegiance due to Him whom she received as her spiritual +Spouse; and though the sense at this moment only brought her +disappointment and self-reproach, her will was loyal. The bond was +cutting into her very flesh, but she never even thought of breaking +it; and all she waited for was the power of restraining her grateful +tears. + +In this she was assisted by observing that Bedford's attention had +been attracted towards his brother, who was looking wan and weary, +scarcely tasting what was set before him; and, after fitfully trying +to converse with Marguerite of Burgundy, at last had taken advantage +of an endless harangue from all the Virtues, and had dropped asleep. +The Lady Anne was seen making a sign to her sister not to disturb +him; and Bedford murmured, with a sigh, 'There is, for once, a +discreet woman.' Then, as if recalled to a sense of what was +passing, he turned on Esclairmonde his full earnest look, saying, +'You will teach the Queen how HE should be cared for. You will help +me.' + +'Sir,' said Esclairmonde, feeling it most difficult not to falter, +'this is a great grace, but it cannot be.' + +'Cannot!' said Bedford, slowly. 'You have taken thought?' + +'Sir, it is not the part of a betrothed spouse to take thought. My +vows were renewed of my own free will and it were sacrilege to try to +recall them for the first real temptation.' + +She spoke steadily, but the effort ached through her whole frame, +especially when the last word illumined John Plantagenet's face with +strange sweet light, quenched as his lip trembled, his nostril +quivered, his eye even moistened, as he said, 'It is enough, lady; I +will no more vex one who is vexed enough already; and you will so far +trust me as to regard me as your protector, if you should be in +need?' + +'Indeed I will,' said Esclairmonde, hardly restraining her tears. + +'That is well,' said Bedford. And he neither looked at her nor spoke +to her again, till, as he led her away in the procession from the +hall, he held her hand fast, and murmured: 'There then it rests, +sweet lady unless, having taken counsel with your own heart, you +should change your decree, and consult some holy priest. If so, make +but a sign of the hand, and I am yours; for verily you are the only +maiden I could ever have loved.' + +She was still in utter confusion, in the chamber where the ladies +were cloaking for their return, when her hands were grasped on either +side by the two Burgundian princesses. + +'Sweet runaway, we have caught you at last! Here, into Anne's +chamber. See you we must! How is it with you? Like you the limping +Scot better than Boemond?' laughed the Dauphiness, her company +dignity laid aside for school-girl chatter. + +'If you cannot hold out,' said Anne, 'the Scot seems a gentle youth; +and, at least, you are quit of Boemond.' + +'Yes,' said Marguerite, 'his last prank was too strong for the Duke: +quartering a dozen men-at-arms on a sulky Cambrai weaver till he paid +him 2000 crowns. Besides, it would be well to get the Scottish king +for an ally. Do you know what we two are here for, Clairette? We +are both to be betrothed: one to the handsome captive with the gold +locks; the other to your hawk-nosed neighbour, who seemed to have not +a word to say.' + +'But,' said Esclairmonde, replying to the easiest part of the +disclosure, 'the King of Scots is in love with the Demoiselle of +Somerset.' + +'What matters that, silly maid?' said Marguerite 'he does not +displease me; and Anne is welcome to that melancholy duke.' + +'Oh, Lady Anne!' exclaimed Esclairmonde, 'if such be your lot, it +would be well indeed.' + +'What, the surly brother, of whom Catherine tells such tales!' +continued Marguerite. + +'Credit them not,' said Esclairmonde. 'He never crosses her but when +he would open her eyes to his brother's failing health.' + +'Yes,' interrupted Marguerite; 'my lord brother swears that this king +will not live a year; and if Catherine have no better luck with her +child than poor Michelle, then there will be another good Queen Anne +in England.' + +'If so,' said Esclairmonde, looking at her friend with swimming eyes, +'she will have the best of husbands--as good as even she deserves!' + +Anne held her hand fast, and would have said many tender words on +Esclairmonde's own troubles; but the other ladies were arrayed, and +Esclairmonde would not for worlds have been left behind in the Hotel +de Bourgogne. + +Privacy was not an attainable luxury, and Esclairmonde could not +commune with her throbbing heart, or find peace for her aching head, +till night. This must be a matter unconfided to any, even Alice +Montagu. And while the maiden lay smiling in her quiet sleep, after +having fondly told her friend that Sir Richard Nevil had really +noticed her new silken kirtle, she knelt on beneath the crucifix, +mechanically reciting her prayers, and, as the beads dropped from her +fingers, fighting out the fight with her own heart. + +Her mind was made up; but her sense of the loss, her craving for the +worthy affection which lay within her grasp--these dismayed her. The +life she had sighed for had become a blank; and she passionately +detested the obligation that held her back from affection, +usefulness, joy, and excellence--not ambition, for the greatest help +to her lay in Bedford's position, his exalted rank, and nearness to +the crown. Indeed, she really dreaded and loathed worldly pomp so +much that the temptation would have been greater had he not been a +prince. + +It was this sense of renunciation that came to her aid. She had at +least a REAL sacrifice to offer; till now, as she became aware, she +had made none. She folded her hands, and laid her offering to be +hallowed by the One all-sufficient Sacrifice. She offered all those +capacities for love that had been newly revealed to her; she offered +up the bliss, whose golden dawn she had seen; she tried to tear out +the earthliness of her heart and affections by the roots, and lay +them on the altar, entreating that, come what might, her spirit might +never stray from the Heavenly Spouse of her betrothal. + +Therewith came a sense of His perfect sufficiency--of rest, peace, +support, ineffable love, that kept her kneeling in a calm, almost +ecstatic state, in which common hopes, fears, and affections had +melted away. + + + +CHAPTER XI: THE TWO PROMISES + + + +After all, Alice Montagu was married almost privately, and without +any preparation. Tidings came that the Duke of Alencon was besieging +Cosne, a city belonging to the Duke of Burgundy, and that instant +relief was needed. The Duke was urgent with Henry to save the place +for him, and set off at once to collect his brilliant chivalry; while +Henry, rousing at the trumpet-call, declared that nothing ailed him +but pageants, sent orders to all his troops to collect from different +quarters, and prepared to take the command in person; while reports +daily came in of the great muster the Armagnacs were making, as +though determined to offer battle. + +Salisbury was determined not to abide the chances of the battle +without first giving a protector to his little daughter; and +therefore, as quietly as if she had been merely going to mass, the +Lady Alice was wedded to her Sir Richard Nevil, who treated the +affair as the simplest matter of course, and troubled himself with +very slight demonstrations of affection. The wedding took place at +Senlis, whither the female part of the Court had accompanied the +King, upon the very day of the parting. No one was present, except +one of Sir Richard's brothers (the whole family numbered twenty-two), +his esquire; and on Alice's side, her father, Esclairmonde, and a few +other ladies. + +At the last moment, however, the King himself came up, leaning on +Warwick's arm, looking thin, ill, and flushed, but resolved to do +honour to his faithful Salisbury, at whose request he had permitted +the barony of Montagu to be at once transferred to Nevil, who would +thenceforth be called by that title. + +After the ceremony, King Henry kissed the gentle bride, placed a +costly ring upon her finger, and gave his best and warmest wishes to +the newly-married pair. Little guessed any there present what the +sound of Warwick and Salisbury would be in forty years' time to the +babe cradled at Windsor. + +As the King passed Esclairmonde, he paused, and said, in an +undertone, 'Dear lady, deem not that I have forgotten your holy +purpose; but you understand that there are some who are jealous of +any benefit conferred on Paris save from themselves, and whose +alliance I may not risk. But if God be pleased to grant me this +battle also, then, with His good pleasure, I shall not be forced to +have such respect to persons; and when I return, lady, whether the +endowment come from your bounty or no, God helping us, you shall +begin the holy work of St. Katharine's bedeswomen among the poor of +Paris.' + +But while Henry V., with all his grave sweetness, spoke these words +to Esclairmonde de Luxemburg, this was the farewell of Countess +Jaqueline of Hainault to Malcolm Stewart: + +'Look here, my languishing swain; never mind her scorn, but win your +spurs in the battle that is to be, and then make some excuse to get +back again to us before the two Kings, with all their scruples. Then +beshrew me but she shall be yours! If Monseigneur de Therouenne and +I cannot manage one proud girl, I am not Countess of Hainault!' + +This promise sent him away, planning the enjoyment of conquering +Esclairmonde's long resistance, and teaching her where to find +happiness. Should he punish her, by being stern and tyrannical at +first? or should his kindness teach her to repent? When he was a +knight, he would be in a condition to assert his authority, he +thought; and of knighthood both he and Ralf Percy felt almost +certain, in that wholesale dubbing of knights that was wont to be the +preliminary of a battle. To be sure, they had indulged in a good +many unlicensed pleasures at Paris--Ralf from sheer reckless love of +sport, Malcolm in his endeavour to forget himself, and to be manly; +but they had escaped detection, and they knew plenty of young +Englishmen, and many more Burgundians and Gascons, who had plunged +far deeper into mischief, and thought it no disgrace, but rather held +that there was some special dispensation for the benefit of warriors. + +Malcolm and Ralf were riding with a party of these young men. King +Henry had consented to make his first day's journey as far as Corbeil +in a litter, since only there he was to meet the larger number of his +troops, whom Bedford and Warwick were assembling. James was riding +close beside him, with his immediate attendants; and the two youths, +not being needed, had joined their comrades with the advanced guard +of the escort. + +It was always a fiction maintained by Henry, that he was marching in +a friendly country; plunder was strictly forbidden, and everything +was to be paid for; but unfortunately, the peasantry on his way never +realized this, and the soldiery often took care they should not. +Therefore, when the advanced guard came to the village that had been +marked out for their halt, instead of finding provisions and forage +to be purchased, they met with only bare walls, and a few stray cats; +and while storming and raving between hunger and disappointment, a +report came from somewhere that the inhabitants had fled, and driven +off their cattle to another village some four miles off, in the +woods, on the heights above. Of course, they must be taught reason. +It was true that the men-at-arms, who were under the command of Sir +Christopher Kitson and Sir William Trenton, were obliged to abide +where they were, much as Kitson growled at being unable to procure a +draught of wine for Trenton, whom he had been nursing for weeks under +intermitting fever, caught at Meaux; but the young gentlemen were +well pleased to show themselves under no Yorkshireman's orders, and +galloped off en masse to procure refreshment for their horses and +themselves, further stimulated by the report that the Armagnacs had +left a sick man behind them there, who might be a valuable prisoner. + +By and by, a woodland path brought the disorderly party, about forty +in number, including their servants and the ruffians who always +followed whenever plunder was to be scented, out upon a pretty French +village of the better class, built round a green shaded with +chestnuts, under which, sure enough, were hay-carts, cows, sheep, and +goats, and their owners, taking refuge in a place thought to be out +of the track of the invaders. + +Here were the malicious defrauders of the hungry warriors. Down upon +them flew the angry foragers. Soon the pretty tranquil scene was +ringing with the oaths of the plundering and the cries of the +plundered; the cattle were being driven off, the houses and farm- +yards rifled, blood was flowing, and what could not be carried off +was burning. The search for the Armagnac prisoner had, however, +relaxed after the first inquiry, and Malcolm, surprised that this had +been forgotten, suddenly bethought him of the distinction he should +secure by sending a valuable prize to Esclairmonde's feet. He seized +on an old man who had not been able to fly, and stood trembling and +panting in a corner, and demanded where the sick man was. The old +man pointed to a farm-house, round which clouds of smoke were +rolling, and Malcolm hurried into it, shouting, 'Dog of an Armagnac, +come out! Yield, ere thou be burnt!' + +No answer; and he dashed forward. In the lower room was a sight that +opened his eyes with horror--no other than the shield of Drummond, +with the three wavy lines; ay, and with it the helmet and suit of +armour, whereof he knew each buckle and brace! + +'Patie! Patrick! Patrick Drummond!' he wildly shouted, 'are you +there?' + +No answer; and seeing through the smoke a stair, he rushed up. +There, in an upper room, on a bed, lay a senseless form, suffocated +perhaps by the smoke, but unmistakably his cousin! He called to him, +seized him, shook him, dragged him out of bed, all in vain; there was +no sign of animation. The fire was gaining on the house; Malcolm's +own breath was failing, and his frenzied efforts to carry Patrick's +almost giant form to the stairs were quite unavailing. Wild with +horror, he flew shouting down-stairs to call Halbert, whom he had +left with his horse, but neither Halbert nor horse was in sight, nor +indeed any of the party. Not a man was in sight, except a few +hurrying far out of reach, as if something had alarmed them. He +wrung his hands in anguish, and was about to make another attempt to +drag Patrick down from the already burning house, when suddenly a +troop of horse was among the scene of desolation, and at their head +King James himself. Malcolm flew to the King, cutting short his +angry exclamation with the cry, 'Help! help! he will burn! Patrick! +Patie Drummond! There!' + +James had scarce gathered the sense of the words, ere, leaping from +his horse, he bounded up the stairs, through the smoke, amid flakes +of burning thatch falling from the roof, groped in the dense clouds +of smoke for the senseless weight, and holding the shoulders while +Malcolm held the feet, they sped down the stair, and rested not till +they had laid him under a chestnut tree, out of reach of the crash of +the house, which fell in almost instantly. + +'Does he live?' gasped Malcolm. + +'He will not,' said the King, 'if his nation be known here. Keep out +of his sight! He must hear only French!' + +Remembering how inexorably Henry hung every Scotch prisoner, +Malcolm's heart sank. This was why no one had sought the prisoner. +A Scot was not available for ransom! Should he be the murderer of +his cousin, Lily's love? + +Meantime James hurriedly explained to Kitson that here was the sick +man left by the enemy, summoned Sir Nigel to his side, closed his own +visor, and called for water; then hung over the prisoner, anxious to +prevent the first word from being broad Scotch. In the free air, +some long sobs showed that Patrick was struggling back to life; and +James at once said, 'Rendez vous, Messire;' but he neither answered, +nor was there meaning in his eyes. And James perceived that he was +bandaged as though for broken ribs, and that his right shoulder was +dislocated, and no doubt had been a second time pulled out when +Malcolm had grasped him by the arms. He swooned again at the first +attempt to lift him, and a hay-cart having been left in the flight of +the marauders, he was laid in it, and covered with the King's cloak, +to be conveyed to Corbeil, where James trusted to secure his life by +personal intercession with Henry. He groaned heavily several times, +but never opened his eyes or spoke articulately the whole way; and +James and Sir Nigel kept on either side of the cart, ready to address +him in French the first moment, having told the English that he was a +prisoner of quality, who must be carefully conveyed to King James's +tent at Corbeil. Malcolm was not allowed to approach, lest he should +be recognized; and he rode along in an agony of shame and suspense, +with very different feelings towards Patrick than those with which he +had of late thought of him, or of his own promises. If Patrick died +through this plundering raid, how should he ever face Lily? + +It was nearly night ere they reached Corbeil, where the tents were +pitched outside the little town. James committed his captive to the +prudent care of old Baird, bidding him send for a French or +Burgundian surgeon, unable to detect the Scottish tongue; and then, +taking Malcolm with him, he crossed the square in the centre of the +camp to the royal pavilion, opposite to which his own was pitched. + +It was a sultry night, and Henry had insisted on sleeping in his +tent, declaring himself sick of stone walls; and as they approached +his voice could be heard in brief excited sentences, giving orders, +and asking for the King of Scots. + +'Here, Sir,' said James, stopping in where the curtain was looped up, +and showed King Henry half sitting, half lying, on a couch of +cushions and deer-skins, his eyes full of fire, his thin face flushed +with deep colour; Bedford, March, Warwick, and Salisbury in +attendance. + +'Ho! you are late!' said Henry. 'Did you come up with the caitiff +robbers?' + +'They made off as we rode up. The village was already burnt.' + +'Who were they? I hope you hung them on the spot, as I bade,' +continued Henry, coughing between his sentences, and almost in spite +of himself, putting his hand to his side. + +'I was delayed. There was a life to save: a gentleman who lay sick +and stifled in a burning house.' + +'And what was it to you,' cried Henry, angrily, 'if a dozen rebel +Armagnacs were fried alive, when I sent you to hinder my men from +growing mere thieves? Gentleman, forsooth! One would think it the +Dauphin himself; or mayhap Buchan. Ha! it is a Scot, then!' + +'Yes, Sir,' said James; 'Sir Patrick Drummond, a good knight, hurt +and helpless, for whom I entreat your grace.' + +'You disobeyed me to spare a Scot!' burst forth Henry. 'You, who +call yourself a captain of mine, and who know my will! He hangs +instantly!' + +'Harry, bethink yourself. This is no captive taken in battle. He is +a sick man, left behind, sorely hurt.' + +'Then wherefore must you be meddling, instead of letting him burn as +he deserved, and heeding what you undertook for me? I WILL have none +of your traitor ruffians here. Since you have brought him in, the +halter for him!--Here, Ralf Percy, tell the Provost-marshal--' + +He was interrupted, for James unbuckled his sword, and tendered it to +him. + +'King Harry,' he said gravely, 'this morning I was your friend and +brother-in-arms; now I am your captive. Hang Patrick Drummond, who +aided me at Meaux in saving my honour and such freedom as I have, and +I return to any prison you please, and never strike blow for you +again.' + +'Take back your sword,' said Henry. 'What folly is this? You knew +that I count not your rebel subjects as prisoners of war.' + +'I did not know that I was saving a defenceless man from the flames +to be used like a dog. I never offered my arm to serve a savage +tyrant.' + +'Take your sword!' reiterated Henry, his passion giving way before +James's steady calmness. 'We will look into it to-morrow: but it +was no soldierly act to take advantage of my weariness, to let my +commands be broken the first day of taking the field, and bring the +caitiff here. We will leave him for the night, I say. Take up your +sword.' + +'Not till I am sure of my liegeman's life,' said James. + +'No threats, Sir. I will make no promise,' said Henry, haughtily; +but the words died away in a racking cough. + +And Bedford, laying his hand on James's arm, said, 'He is fevered and +weary. Fret him no longer, but take your sword, and get your fellow +out of the camp.' + +James was too much hurt to make a compromise. 'No,' he said; 'unless +your brother freely spares the life of a man thus taken, I must be +his prisoner--but his soldier never!' + +He left the tent, followed by Malcolm in an agony of despair and +self-reproach. + +Henry's morning decisions were not apt to vary from his evening ones. +There was a terrible implacability about him at times, and he had +never ceased to visit his brother of Clarence's death upon the Scots, +on the plea that they were in arms against their king. Even Bedford +obviously thought that the prisoner would be safest out of his reach; +and this could hardly be accomplished, since Patrick had been placed +in James's tent, in the very centre of the camp, near the King's own. +And though Bedford and March might have connived at his being taken +away, yet the mass of the soldiery would, if they detected a Scot +being smuggled away into the town, have been persuaded that King +James was acting treacherously. + +Besides, the captive himself proved to be so exhausted, that to +transport him any further in his present state would have been almost +certainly fatal. A barber surgeon from Corbeil had been fetched, and +was dealing with the injuries, which had apparently been the effect +of a fall some days previously, probably when on his way to join the +French army at Cosne; and the first fever of these hurts had no doubt +been aggravated by the adventures of the day. At any rate Patrick +lay unconscious, or only from time to time groaning or murmuring a +few words, sometimes French, sometimes Scotch. + +Malcolm would have fallen on his knees by his side, and striven to +win a word or a look, but James forcibly withheld him. 'If you +roused him into loud ravings in our own tongue, all hope of saving +him would be gone,' he said. + +'Shall we? Oh, can we?' cried Malcolm, catching at the mere word +HOPE. + +'I only know,' said the King, 'that unless we do so by Harry's good- +will, I will never serve under him again.' + +'And if he persists in his cruelty?' + +'Then must some means be found of carrying Drummond into Corbeil. It +will go hard with me but he shall be saved, Malcolm. But this whole +army is against a Scot; and Harry's eye is everywhere, and his +fierceness unrelenting. Malcolm, this IS bondage! May God and St. +Andrew aid us!' + +When the King came to saying that, it was plain he deemed the case +past all other aid. + +Malcolm's misery was great. The very sight of Patrick had made a +mighty revulsion in his feelings. The almost forgotten associations +of Glenuskie were revived; the forms of his guardian and of Lily came +before him, as he heard familiar names and phrases in the dear home +accent fall from the fevered lips. Coldingham rose up before him, +and St. Abbs, with Lily watching on the rocks for tidings of her +knight--her knight, to whom her brother had once promised to resign +all his lands and honours, but who now lay captured by plunderers, +among whom that brother made one, and in peril of a shameful death. +Oh, far better die in his stead, than return to Lily with tidings +such as these! + +Was this retribution for his broken purpose, and for having fallen +away, not merely into secular life, but into sins that stood between +him and religious rites? The King had called St. Andrew to aid! +Must a proof of repentance and change be given, ere that aid would +come? Should he vow himself again to the cloister, yield up the hope +of Esclairmonde, and devote himself for Patrick's sake? Could he +ever be happy with Patrick dead, and Esclairmonde driven and harassed +into being his wife? Were it not better to vow at once, that so his +cousin were spared he would return to his old purposes? + +Almost had he uttered the vow, when, tugging hard at his heart, came +the vision of Esclairmonde's loveliness, and he felt it beyond his +strength to resign her voluntarily; besides, how Madame of Hainault +and Monseigneur de Therouenne would deride his uncertainties; and how +intolerable it would be to leave Esclairmonde to fall into the hands +of Boemond of Burgundy. + +Such a renunciation could not be made; he did not even know that +Patrick's safety depended on it; and instead of that, he promised, +with great fervency of devotion, that if St. Andrew would save +Patrick Drummond, and bring about the two marriages, a most splendid +monastery for educational purposes, such as the King so much wished +to found, should be his reward. It should be in honour of St. +Andrew, and should be endowed with Esclairmonde's wealth, which would +be quite ample enough, both for this and for a noble portion for +Lily. Surely St. Andrew must accept such a vow, and spare Patrick! +So Malcolm tried to pacify an anguish of suspense that would not be +pacified. + + + +CHAPTER XII: THE LAST PILGRIMAGE + + + +The summer morning came; the reveille sounded, Mass was sung in the +chapel tent, without which Henry never moved; and Malcolm tried to +reassure his sinking heart by there pledging his vow to St. Andrew. + +The English king was not present; but the troops were drawing up in +complete array, that he might inspect them before the march. And a +glorious array they were, of steel-clad men-at-arms on horseback, in +bands around their leader's banner, and of ranks of sturdy archers, +with their long-bows in leathern cases; the orderly multitude, +stretching as far as the eye could reach, glittering in the early +sun, and waiting with bold and glad hearts to greet the much-loved +king, who had always led them to victory. + +The only unarmed knight was James of Scotland. He stood in the space +beside the standard of England, in his plain suit of chamois leather, +his crimson cloak over his shoulder, but with no weapon about him, +waiting with crossed arms for the morning's decision. + +Close outside the royal tent waited Henry's horse, and those of his +brother and other immediate attendants; and after a short interval +the King came forth in his brightest armour, with the coronal on his +helmet, and the beaver up; and as he mounted, not without +considerable aid, enthusiastic shouts of 'Long live King Harry!' +broke forth, and came echoing back and back from troop to troop, +gathering fervour as they rose. + +The King rode forward towards the standard; but while yet the shouts +were pealing from the army, be suddenly caught at his saddle-bow, +reeled visibly, and would have fallen before Bedford could bring his +horse to his side, had not James sprung forward, and laid one arm +round him, and a hand on his rein. + +'It is nothing,' said Henry. 'Let me alone.' + +Ere the words were finished, he put his hand to his side, dropped his +bridle, and gasped, while a look of intense suffering passed over his +features; and he was passive while his horse was led back to the +tent, and he was lifted down and placed on the couch he had just +quitted. + +'Loose my belt,' he gasped; then trying to smile, 'Percy has strained +it three holes tighter.' + +Alas! though it was indeed thus drawn in, his armour was hanging on +him like the shell of a last year's nut. They released him from it, +and he lay against the cushions with short painful respiration, and +frequent cough. + +'You must go on with the men at once, John,' he said. 'I will but be +blooded, and follow in the litter.' + +'Warwick and Salisbury--' began Bedford. + +'No, no!' peremptorily gasped Henry. 'It must be you or I, I would, +but this stitch in the side catches me, so that I can neither ride +nor speak. Go, instantly. You know what I have ordered. I'll be up +with you ere the battle.' + +He brooked no resistance. His impatience, and with it the oppression +and pain, only grew by remonstrance; and Bedford was forced to obey +the command to go himself, and leave no one he could help behind him. + +'You will stay, at least,' said John, in his distress, turning to the +Scottish king. + +'I must,' said James. + +'You hold not your wrath?' said Bedford. 'It will madden me to leave +him to any save you in this stress. Some are dull; some he will not +heed.' + +'I will tend him like yourself, John,' said the Scot, taking his +hand. 'Do what he may, Harry is Harry still. Hasten to your +command, John; he will be calmer when you are gone.' + +Bedford groaned. It was hard to leave his brother at a moment when +he must be more than himself--become general of an army, with a +battle imminent; but he was under dire necessity, and forced himself +to listen to and gather the import of the few terse orders and +directions that Henry, breathless as he was, rendered clear and +trenchant as ever. + +The King almost drove his brother away at last, while a barber was +taking a copious stream of blood from him; and as the army had +already been set in motion, a great stillness soon prevailed, no one +being left save a small escort, and part of the King's own immediate +household, for Henry had himself ordered away Montagu, his +chamberlain, Percy, and almost all on whom his eyes fell. The +bleeding relieved him; he breathed less tightly, but became deadly +pale, and sank into a doze of extreme exhaustion. + +'Who is here?' he said, awakening. 'Some drink! What you, Jamie! +You that were on fire to see a stricken field!' + +'Not so much as to see you better at ease,' said James. + +'I am better,' said Henry. 'I could move now; and I must. This tent +will stifle me by noon.' + +'You will not go forward?' + +'No; I'll go back. A sick man is best with his wife. And I can +battle it no further, nor grudge the glory of the day to John. He +deserves it.' + +The irascible sharpness had passed from his voice and manner, and +given place to a certain languid cheerfulness, as arrangements were +made for his return to Vincennes. + +There proved to be a large and commodious barge, in which the transit +could be effected on the river, with less of discomfort than in the +springless horse litter by which he had travelled the day before; and +this was at once prepared. + +Malcolm had meanwhile remained, as in duty bound, in attendance on +his king. James had found time to enjoin him to stay, being, to say +the truth, unwilling to trust one so inexperienced and fragile in the +melee without himself; nor indeed would this have been a becoming +moment for him to put himself forward to win his spurs in the English +cause. + +Nothing had passed about Patrick Drummond, nor the high words of last +night. Henry seemed to have forgotten them, between his bodily +suffering and the anxiety of being forced to relinquish the command +just before a battle; and James would have felt it ungenerous to +harass him at such a moment, when absolutely committed to his charge. +For the present, there was no fear of the prisoner being summarily +executed by any lawful authority, since the King had promised to take +cognizance of the case; and the chief danger was from his chance +discovery by some lawless man-at-arms, who would think himself doing +good service by killing a concealed Scot under any circumstances. + +Drummond himself, after his delirious night, had sunk into a heavy +sleep; and the King thought the best hope for him would be to remain +under the care of Sir Nigel Baird for the present, until he could +obtain favour for him from Henry, and could send back orders from +Vincennes. He would not leave Malcolm to share the care of him, +declaring that the canny Sir Nigel would have quite enough to do in +averting suspicion without him; and, besides, he needed Malcolm +himself, in the scarcity of attendants who had any tenderness or +dexterity of hand to wait upon the suffering King. + +Henry had rallied enough to walk down to the river, leaning upon +James; and he smiled thanks when he was assisted by Trenton and +Kitson to lie along on cushions. 'So, my Yorkshire knights,' he +said, ''tis you that have had to stop from the battle to watch a sick +man home!' + +'Ay, Sir,' said Sir Christopher; 'I did it with the better will, that +Trenton here has not been his own man since the fever; and 'twere no +fair play in the matter your Grace wets of, did I go into battle +whole and sound, and he sick and sorry.' + +Henry's look of amusement brightened him into his old self, as he +said, 'Honester guards could I scarce have, good friend.' + +At that moment, after a nudge or two from Trenton, Kitson and he came +suddenly down on their knees, with an impetus that must have tried +the boards of the bottom of the barge. 'Sir,' said Kitson, always +the spokesman, 'we have a grace to ask of you.' + +'Say on,' said Henry. 'Any boon, save the letting you cut one +another's throats.' + +'No, Sir. Will Trenton's scarce my match now, more's the pity; and, +moreover, we've lost the good will to it we once had. No, Sir; 'twas +license to go a pilgrimage.' + +'On pilgrimage!' + +'Ay, Sir; to yon shrine at Breuil--St. Fiacre's, as they call him. +Some of our rogues pillaged his shrine, as you know, Sir; and those +that know these parts best, say he was a Scottish hermit, and bears +malice like a Scot, saint though he be; and that your sickness, my +lord, is all along of that. So we two have vowed to go barefoot +there for your healing, my liege, if so be we have your license.' + +'And welcome, with my best thanks, good friends,' said Henry, +exerting himself to lean forward and give his hand to their kiss. +Then, as they fell back into their places, with a few inarticulate +blessings and assurances that they only wished they could go to Rome, +or to Jerusalem, if it would restore their king, Henry said, smiling, +as he looked at James, 'Scotsmen here, there, and everywhere--in +Heaven as well as earth! What was it last night about a Scot that +moved thine ire, Jamie? Didst not tender me thy sword? By my faith, +thou hast it not! What was the rub?' + +James now told the story in its fulness. How he had met Sir Patrick +Drummond at Glenuskie; how, afterwards, the knight had stood by him +in the encounter at Meaux; and how it had been impossible to leave +him senseless to the flames; and how he had trusted that a capture +made thus, accidentally, of a helpless man, would not fall under +Henry's strict rules against accepting Scottish prisoners. + +'Hm!' said Henry; 'it must be as you will; only I trust to you not to +let him loose on us, either here or on the Border. Take back your +sword, Jamie. If I spoke over hotly last night--a man hardly knows +what he says when he has a goad in the side--you forgive it, Jamie.' +And as the Scots king, with the dew in his eyes, wrung his hand, he +added anxiously, 'Your sword! What, not here! Here's mine. Which +is it?' Then, as James handed it to him: 'Ay, I would fain you wore +it! 'Tis the sword of my knighthood, when poor King Richard dubbed +me in Ireland; and many a brave scheme came with it!' + +The soft movement of the barge upon the water had a soothing +influence; and he was certainly in a less suffering state, though +silent and dreamy, as he lay half raised on cushions under an awning, +James anxiously watching over him, and Malcolm with a few other +attendants near at hand; stout bargemen propelling the craft, and the +guard keeping along the bank of the river. + +His thoughts were perhaps with the battle, for presently he looked +up, and murmured the verse: + + +'"I had a dream, a weary dream, +Ayont the Isle of Skye; +I saw a dead man win a fight, +And I think that man was I.' + + +That stave keeps ringing in my brain; nor can I tell where or when I +have heard it.' + +''Tis from the Scottish ballad that sings of the fight of Otterburn,' +said James; 'I brought it with me from Scotland.' + +'And got little thanks for your pains,' said Henry, smiling. 'But, +methinks, since no Percy is in the way, I would hear it again; there +was true knighthood in the Douglas that died there.' + +James's harp was never far off; and again his mellow voice went +through that gallant and plaintive strain, though in a far more +subdued manner than the first time he had sung it; and Henry, +weakened and softened, actually dropped a brave man's tear at the +'bracken bush upon the lily lea,' and the hero who lay there. + +'That I should weep for a Douglas!' he said, half laughing; 'but the +hearts of all honest men lie near together, on whatever side they +draw their swords. God have mercy on whosoever may fall to-morrow! +I trow, Jamie, thou couldst not sing that rough rhyme of Agincourt. +I was bashful and ungracious enough to loathe the very sound of it +when I came home in my pride of youth; but I would lief hear it once +more. Or, stay--Yorkshiremen always have voices;' and raising his +tone, he unspeakably gratified Trenton and Kitson by the request; and +their voices, deep and powerful, and not uncultivated, poured forth +the Lay of Agincourt to the waves of the French river, and to its +mighty victor: + + +'Our King went forth to Normandye.' + + +Long and lengthily chanted was the triumphant song, with the Latin +choruses, which were echoed back by the escort on the bank; while +Henry lay, listening and musing; and Malcolm had time for many a +thought and impulse. + +Patrick's life was granted; although it had been promised too late to +send the intelligence back to the tent at Corbeil. So far, the +purpose of his vow to St. Andrew had been accomplished; but with the +probability that he should soon again be associated with Patrick, +came the sense of the failure in purpose and in promise. Patrick +would not reproach him, he well knew--nay, would rejoice in the +change; but even this certainty galled him, and made him dread his +cousin's presence as likely to bring him a sense of shame. What +would Patrick think of his letting a lady be absolutely compelled to +marry him? Might he not say it was the part of Walter Stewart over +again? Indeed, Malcolm remembered how carefully King James was +prevented from hearing the means by which the Countess intended to +make the lady his own; and a sensation came over him, that it was +profanation to call on St. Andrew to bless what was to be brought +about by such means. Why was it that, as his eyes fell on the face +of King Henry, the whole world and all his projects acquired so +different a colouring? and a sentence he had once heard Esclairmonde +quote would come to him constantly: 'My son, think not to buy off +God. It is thyself that He requires, not thy gifts.' + +But the long lay of victory was over; and King Henry had roused +himself to thank the singers, then sighed, and said, 'How long ago +that was!' + +'Six years,' said James. + +'The whole space from the hope and pride of youth to the care and +toil of eld,' said Henry. 'Your Scots made an old man of me the day +they slew Thomas.' + +'Yet that has been your sole mishap,' said James. + +'Yea, truly! But thenceforth I have learnt that the road to +Jerusalem is not so straight and plain as I deemed it when I stood +victorious at Agincourt. The Church one again--the Holy Sepulchre +redeemed! It seemed then before my eyes, and that I was the man +called to do it.' + +'So it may be yet,' said James. 'Sickness alters everything, and +raises mountains before us.' + +'It may be so,' said Henry; 'and yet--Jerusalem! Jerusalem! It was +my father's cry; it was King Edward's cry; it was St. Louis' cry; and +yet they never got there.' + +'St. Louis was far on his way,' said James. + +'Ay! he never turned aside!' said Henry, sighing, and moving +restlessly and wearily with something of returning fever. + + +"'O bona patria, lumina sobria te speculantur--" + + +Boy, are you there?' as, in turning, his eye fell on Malcolm. 'Take +warning: the straight road is the best. You see, I have never come +to Jerusalem.' Then again he murmured: + + +"'Hic breve vivitur, hic breve plangitur, hic breve fletur; +Non breve vivere, non breve plangere, retribuetur." + + +And James, seeing that nothing lulled him like song, offered to sing +that mysteriously beautiful rhythm of Bernard of Morlaix. + +'Ay, prithee do so,' said Henry. 'There's a rest there, when the +Agincourt lay rings hollow. Well, there is a Jerusalem where our +shortcomings are made up; only the straight way--the straight way.' + +Malcolm took his part with James in singing the rhythm, which he had +learnt long ago at Coldingham, and which thus in every note brought +back the vanished aspirations and self-dedication to 'the straight +way.' + +For such, an original purpose of self-devotion must ever be--not of +course exclusively to the monastic life; but whoever lowers his aims +of serving God under any worldly inducement, is deviating from the +straight way: and, thought Malcolm, if King Harry feels Agincourt an +empty word beside the song of Sion, must not all I have sought for be +a very vanity? + +Sometimes dozing, but sometimes restless, and with the pain of +breathing constantly increasing on him, Henry wore through the +greater part of the day, upon the river, until it was necessary to +land, and be taken through the forest in his litter. He was now +obliged to be lifted from the barge; and his weariness rendered the +conveyance very distressing, save that his patient smile never faded; +and still he said, 'All will be well when I come to my Kate!' + +Alas! when the gates were reached, James hardly knew how to tell him +that the Queen had gone that morning to Paris with her mother. Yet +still he was cheerful. 'If the physicians deal hard with me,' he +said, 'it will be well that she should not be here till the worst is +over.' + +The physicians were there. A messenger had gone direct from Corbeil +to summon them; and Henry delivered himself up into their hands, to +fight out the battle with disease, as he had set himself to fight out +many another battle in his time. + +A sharp conflict it was--between a keen and aggravated disease, +apparently pleurisy coming upon pulmonary affection of long standing, +and a strong and resolute nature, unquenched by suffering, and backed +by the violent remedies of a half-instructed period. Those who +watched him, and strove to fulfil the directions of the physicians, +hardly marked the lapse of hours; even though more than one day and +night had passed ere in the early twilight of a long summer's morn he +sank into a sleep, his face still distressed, but less acutely, and +his breath heavy and labouring, though without the severe pain. + +The watchers felt that here might be the turning point, and stood or +sat around, not daring to change their postures, or utter the +slightest word. Suddenly, James, who stood nearest, leaning against +the wall, with his eyes fixed on the face of the sleeper, was aware +of a hand on his shoulder, and looking round, saw in the now full +light Bedford's face--so pale, haggard, and replete with anxiety, so +dusty and travel-stained, that Henry, awakening at that moment, +exclaimed, 'Ha, John!' And as his brother was slow to reply--'Has +the day gone against thee? How was it? Never fear to speak, +brother; thou art safe; and I know thou hast done valiantly. Valour +is never lost, whether in defeat or success. Speak, John. Take it +not so much to heart.' + +'There has been no battle, Harry,' said Bedford, gathering voice with +difficulty. 'The Dauphin would not abide our coming, but broke up +his camp.' + +'Beshrew thee, man!' said Henry; 'but I thought thou wast just off a +flight!' + +'Dost think one can ride fast only for a flight?' said Bedford. 'Ah, +would that it had been the loss of ten battles rather than this!' + +And he fell on his knees, grasping Henry's hand, and hiding his face +against the bed, with the same instinct of turning to him for comfort +with which the young motherless children of Henry of Bolingbroke, +when turned adrift among the rude Beaufort progeny of John of Gaunt, +had clung to their eldest brother, and found tenderness in his love +and protection in his fearlessness; so that few royal brethren ever +loved better than Henry and John of Lancaster. + +'It was well and kindly done, John,' said Henry; 'and thou hast come +at a good time; for, thanks be to God, the pain hath left me; and if +it were not for this burthen of heaviness and weariness, I should be +more at ease than I have been for many weeks.' + +But as he spoke, there was that both in his face and voice that +chilled with a dread certainty the hearts of those who hung over him. + +'Is my wife come? I could see her now,' he wistfully asked. + +Alas! no. Sir Lewis Robsart, the knight attached to her service, +faltered, with a certain shame and difficulty, that the Queen would +come when her orisons at Notre Dame were performed. + +It was his last disappointment; but still he bore it cheerily. + +'Best,' he said. 'My fair one was not made for sights like this; and +were she here'--his lip trembled--'I might bear me less as a +Christian man should. My sweet Catherine! Take care of her, John; +she will be the most desolate being in the world.' + +John promised with all his heart; though pity for cold-hearted +Catherine was not the predominant feeling there. + +'I would I had seen my child's face, and blessed him,' continued +Henry. 'Poor boy! I would have him Warwick's charge.' + +'Warwick is waiting admission,' said Bedford. 'He and Salisbury and +Exeter rode with me.' + +The King's face lighted up with joy as he heard this. 'It is good +for a man to have his friends about him,' he said; and as they +entered he held out his hand to them and thanked them. + +Then took place the well-known scene, when, looking back on his +career, he pronounced it to have been his endeavour to serve God and +his people, and declared himself ready to face death fearlessly, +since such was the will of his Maker: grieving only for the infancy +of his son, but placing his hope and comfort in his brother John, and +commending the babe to the fatherly charge of Warwick. 'You cannot +love him for his own sake as yet; but if you think you owe me aught, +repay it to him.' And as he thought over the fate of other infant +kings, he spoke of some having hated the father and loved the child, +others who had loved the father and hated the child. + +To Humfrey of Gloucester he sent stringent warnings against giving +way to his hot and fiery nature, offending Burgundy, or rushing into +a doubtful wedlock with Jaqueline of Hainault; speaking of him with +an elder brother's fatherly affection, but turning ever to John of +Bedford with full trust and reliance, as one like-minded, and able to +carry out all his intentions. For the French prisoners, they might +not be released, 'lest more fire be kindled in one day than can be +quenched in three.' + +'And for you, Jamie,' he said, affectionately holding out his hand, +'my friend, my brother-in-arms, I must say the same as ever. Pardon +me, Jamie; but I have not kept you out of malice, such as man must +needs renounce on his death-bed. I trust to John, and to the rest, +for giving you freedom at such time as you can safely return to be +such a king indeed as we have ever hoped to be. Do you pardon me, +James, for this, as for any harshness or rudeness you may have +suffered from me?' + +James, with full heart, murmured out his ardent love, his sense that +no captive had ever been so generously treated as he. + +'And you, my young lord,' said Henry, looking towards Malcolm, whose +light touch and tender hands had made him a welcome attendant in the +illness, 'I have many a kind service to thank you for. And I believe +I mightily angered you once; but, boy, remember--ay, and you too, +Ralf Percy--that he is your friend who turns you back from things +sore to remember in a case like mine!' + +After these, and other calm collected farewells, Henry required to +know from his physicians how long his time might yet be. There was +hesitation in answering, plainly as they saw that mortification had +set in. + +'What,' he said, 'do ye think I have faced death so many times to +fear it now?' + +Then came the reply given by the weeping, kneeling physician: 'Sir, +think of your soul, for, without a miracle, you cannot live two +hours.' + +The King beckoned his confessor, and his friends retired, to return +again to take their part in the last rites, the Viaticum and Unction. + +Henry was collected, and alive to all that was passing, responding +duly, and evidently entering deeply into the devotions that were to +aid his spirit in that awful passage; his face gravely set, but firm +and fearless as ever. The ceremonial ended, he was still sensible, +though with little power of voice or motion left; but the tone, +though low, was steady as ever, when he asked for the Penitential +Psalms. Still they doubted whether he were following them, for his +eyes closed, and his lips ceased to move, until, as they chanted the +revival note of David's mournful penance--'O be favourable and +gracious unto Sion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem;'--at that +much-loved word, the light of the blue eyes once more beamed out, and +he spoke again. 'Jerusalem! On the faith of a dying king, it was my +earnest purpose to have composed matters here into peace and union, +and so to have delivered Jerusalem. But the will of God be done, +since He saw me unworthy.' + +Then his eyes closed again; he slept, or seemed to sleep; and then a +strange quivering came over the face, the lips moved again, and the +words broke from them, 'Thou liest, foul spirit! thou liest!' but, as +though the parting soul had gained the victory in that conflict, +peace came down on the wasted features; and with the very words of +his Redeemer Himself, 'Into Thy hands I commend my spirit,' he did +indeed fall asleep; the mighty soul passed from the worn-out frame. + + + +CHAPTER XIII: THE RING AND THE EMPTY THRONE + + + +No one knows how great a tree has been till it has fallen; nor how +large a space a mighty man has occupied till he is removed. + +King Henry V. left his friends and foes alike almost dizzy, as in +place of his grand figure they found a blank; instead of the hand +whose force they had constantly felt, mere emptiness. + +Malcolm of Glenuskie, who had been asserting constantly that King +Henry was no master of his, and had no rights over him, had +nevertheless, for the last year or more, been among those to whom the +King's will was the moving spring, fixing the disposal of almost +every hour, and making everything dependent thereon. + +When the death-hush was broken by the 'Depart, O Christian soul,' and +Bedford, with a face white and set like a statue, stood up from his +knees, and crossed and kissed the still white brow, it was to Malcolm +as if the whole universe had become as nothing. To him there +remained only the great God, the heavenly Jerusalem into which the +King had entered, and himself far off from the straight way, +wandering from his promise and his purpose into what seemed to him a +mere hollow painted scene, such as came and went in the midst of a +banquet. Or, again, it was the grisly Dance of Death that was the +only reality; Death had clutched the mightiest in the ring. Whom +would he clutch next? + +He stood motionless, as one in a dream, or rather as if not knowing +which was reality, and which phantom; gazing, gazing on at the bed +where the King lay, round which the ecclesiastics were busying +themselves, unperceiving that James, Bedford, and the nobles had +quitted the apartment, till Percy first spoke to him in a whisper, +then almost shook him, and led him out of the room. 'I am sent for +you,' he said, in a much shaken voice; 'your king says you can be of +use.' Then tightening his grasp with the force of intense grief, +'Oh, what a day! what a day! My father! my father! I never knew +mine own father! But he has been all to Harry and to me! Oh, woe +worth the day!' And dropping into a window-seat, he covered his face +with his hands, and gave way to his grief: pointing, however, to the +council-room, where Malcolm found Bedford writing at the table, King +James, and a few others, engaged in the same manner. + +A few words from James informed him (or would have done so if he +could have understood) that the Duke of Bedford, on whom at that +terrible moment the weight of two kingdoms and of the war had +descended, could not pause to rest, or to grieve, till letters and +orders had been sent to the council in England, and to every +garrison, every ally in France, to guard against any sudden panic, or +faltering in friendship to England and her infant heir. Warwick and +Salisbury were already riding post haste to take charge of the army; +Robsart was gone to the Queen, Exeter to the Duke of Burgundy; and as +the clergy were all engaged with the tendance of the royal corpse, +there was scarcely any one to lessen the Duke's toil. James, knowing +Malcolm's pen to be ready, had sent for him to assist in copying the +brief scrolls, addressed to each captain of a fortress or town, +announcing the father's death, and commanding him to do his duty to +the son--King Harry VI. Each was then to be signed by the Duke, and +despatched by men-at-arms, who waited for the purpose. + +Like men stunned, the half-dozen who sat at the council-table worked +on, never daring to glance at the empty chair at the upper end. The +only words that passed were occasional inquiries of, and orders from, +Bedford; and these he spoke with a strange alertness and metallic +ring in his voice, as though the words were uttered by mechanism; yet +in themselves they were as clear and judicious as possible, as if +coming from a mind wound up exclusively to the one necessary object; +and the face--though flushed at first, and gradually growing paler, +with knitted brows and compressed lips--betrayed no sign of emotion. + +Hours passed: he wrote, he ordered, he signed, he sealed; he +mentioned name after name, of place and officer, never moving or +looking up. And James, who knew from Salisbury that he had neither +slept nor eaten since sixty miles off he had met a worse report of +his brother, watched him anxiously till, when evening began to fall, +he murmured, 'There is the captain of--of--at--but--'--the pen +slipped from his fingers, and he said, 'I can no more!' + +The overtaxed powers, strained so long--mind, memory, and all--were +giving way under the mere force of excessive fatigue. He rose from +his seat, but stumbled, like one blind, as James upheld him, and led +him away to the nearest bed-chamber, where, almost while the +attendants divested him of the heavy boots and cuirass he had never +paused all these hours to remove, he dropped into a sleep of sheer +exhaustion. + +James, who was likewise wearied out with watching, turned towards his +own quarters; but, in so doing, he could not but turn aside to the +chapel, where before the altar had been laid all that was left of +King Henry. There he lay, his hands clasped over a crucifix, clad in +the same rich green and crimson robes in which he had ridden to meet +his Queen at Vincennes but three short months before; the golden +circlet from his helmet was on his head, but it could not give +additional majesty to the still and severe sweetness of his grand and +pure countenance, so youthful in the lofty power that high +aspirations had imprinted on it, yet so intensely calm in its marble +rest, more than ever with the look of the avenging unpitying angel. +To James, it was chiefly the face of the man whom he had best loved +and admired, in spite of their strange connection; but to Malcolm, +who had as usual followed him closely, it was verily a look from the +invisible world--a look of awful warning and reproof, almost as if +the pale set lips were unclosing to demand of him where he was in the +valley of shadows, through which the way lay to Jerusalem. If Henry +had turned back, and warned him at the gate of the heavenly Sion, +surely such would have been his countenance; and Malcolm, when, like +James, he had sprinkled the holy water on the white brow, and crossed +himself while the low chant of Psalms from kneeling priests went up +around him--clasped his two hands close together, and breathed forth +the words, 'Oh, I have wandered far! O great King, I will never +leave the straight way again! I will cast aside all worldly aims! O +God, and the Saints, help me not to lose my way again!' + +He would have tarried on still, in the fascination of that wonderful +unearthly countenance, and in the inertness of faculties stunned by +fatigue and excitement, but James summoned him by a touch, and he +again followed him. + +'O Sir!' he began, when they had turned away, 'I repent me of my +falling away to the world! I give all up. Let me back to my vows of +old.' + +'We will talk of that another time,' said James, gravely. 'Neither +you nor I, Malcolm, can think reasonably under such a blow as this; +and I forbid you rashly to bind yourself.' + +'Sir, Sir!' cried Malcolm, petulantly. 'You took me from the +straight way. You shall not hinder my return!' + +'I hinder no true purpose,' said King James. 'I only hinder another +rash and hasty pledge, to be felt as a fetter, or left broken on your +conscience. Silence now. When men are sad and spent they cannot +speak as befits them, and had best hold their peace.' + +These words were spoken on the way up the stair that led to the +apartments of the King of Scots. On opening the door of the larger +room, the first thing they saw was the tall figure of a +distinguished-looking knight, who, as they entered, flung himself at +King James's feet, fervently exclaiming, 'O my liege! accept my +homage! Never was vassal so bound to his lord by thankfulness for +his life, and for far more than his life!' + +'Sir Patrick Drummond, I am glad to see you better at ease,' said +James. 'Nay, suffer me,' he added, giving his hand to raise the +knight, but finding it grasped and kissed with passionate devotion, +almost overpowering the only half-recovered knight, so that James was +forced to use strength to support him, and would at once have lifted +him up, but the warm-hearted Patrick resisted, almost sobbing out-- +'Nay, Sir! king of my heart indeed! let me first thank you. I knew +not how much more I owed you than the poor life you saved--my +father's rescue, and that of all that was most dear.' + +'Speak of such things seated, my good friend,' said James, trying to +raise him; but Drummond still did not second his efforts. + +'I have not given my parole of honour as the captive whose life is +again due to you.' + +'You must give that to the Duke of Bedford, Sir Patrick,' said James. +'I know not if I am to be put into ward myself. In any case you are +safe, by the good King's grace, so you pledge yourself to draw no +sword against England in Scotland or France till ransom be accepted +for you.' + +'Alack!' said Patrick, 'I have neither sword nor ransom. I would I +knew what was to be done with the life you have given me, my lord.' + +'I will find a use for it, never fear,' said James, sadly, but +kindly. 'Be my knight for the present, till better days come for us +both.' + +'With my whole heart!' said Patrick, fervently. 'Yours am I for +ever, my liege.' + +'Then my first command is that you should rise, and rest,' said +James, assisting the knight to regain his feet, and placing him in +the only chair in the room. 'You must become a whole man as soon as +may be.' + +For Patrick's arm was in a sling, and evidently still painful and +useless, and he sank back, breathless and unresisting, like one who +had by no means regained perfect health, while his handsome features +looked worn and pale. 'I fear me,' said James, as the two cousins +silently shook hands, 'that you have moved over soon.--You surely had +my message, Bairdsbrae?' + +'Oh yes, my lord,' replied Baird; 'but the lad was the harder to +hold; and after the fever was gone, we deemed he could well brook the +journey by water. 'Twas time I was here to guide ye too, my lord; +you and the callant baith look sair forfaughten.' + +'We have had a sad time of it, Nigel,' said James, with trembling +lip. + +'And if Brewster tells me right, ye've not tasted food the whole +day?' said Nigel, laying an authoritative hand on his royal pupil. +'Nay, sit ye down; here come the varlets with the meal I bade them +have ready.' + +James passively yielded, courteously signing to the others to share +the food that was spread on a table; and with the same scarcely +conscious grace, making inquiries, which elicited that Patrick +Drummond's hurts had been caused by his horse falling and rolling +over with him, whilst with Sir John Swinton and other Scottish +knights he was reconnoitring the line of the English march. He was +too much injured to be taken back to the far distant camp, and had +accordingly been intrusted to the French farmer, with no attendant +but a young French horse-boy, since he was too poor to keep a squire. +He knew nothing more, for fever had run high; and he had not even +been sensible of his desertion by his French hosts on the approach of +the English, far less of the fire, and of his rescue by the King and +Malcolm; but for this he seemed inclined to compensate to the utmost, +by the intense eagerness of devotion with which he regarded James, +who sat meanwhile crushed down by the weight of his own grief. + +'I can eat no more, Baird,' said he, swallowing down a draught of +wine, and pushing aside his trencher. 'Your license, gentlemen. I +must be alone. Take care of the lads, Nigel. Malcolm is spent too. +His deft service was welcome to--to my dearest brother.' + +And though he hastily shut himself into his own inner chamber, it was +not till they had seen that his grief was becoming uncontrollable. + +Patrick could not but murmur, 'Dearest brother!' + +'Ay, like brothers they loved!' said Baird, gravely. + +'A strange brotherhood,' began Drummond. + +But Malcolm cried, with much agitation, 'Not a word, Patie! You know +not what you say. Take heed of profaning the name of one who is gone +to the Sion above.' + +'You turned English, our wee Malcolm!' exclaimed Drummond, in amaze. + +'There is no English, French, or Scot where he is gone!' cried +Malcolm. 'No Babel! O Patie, I have been far fallen! I have done +you in heart a grievous wrong! but if I have turned back in time, it +is his doing that lies there.' + +'His! what, Harry of Lancaster's?' demanded the bewildered Patrick. +'What had he to do with you?' + +'He has been my only true friend here!' cried Malcolm. 'Oh, if my +hand be free from actual spoil and bloodshed, it was his doing! Oh, +that he could hear me bless him for the chastisement I took so +bitterly!' + +'Chastisement!' demanded Patrick. 'The English King dared chastise +YOU! of Scots blood royal! 'Tis well he is dead!' + +'The laddie's well-nigh beside himself!' said Baird. 'But he speaks +true. This king whom Heaven assolizie, kept a tight hand over the +youngsters; and falling on Lord Malcolm and some other callants +making free with a house at Meaux, dealt some blows, of which my +young lord found it hard to stomach his share; though I am glad to +see he is come to a better mind. Ay, 'tis pity of this King Harry! +Brave and leal was he; never spake an untrue word; never turned eye +for fear, nor foot for weariness, nor hand for toil, nor nose for ill +savour. A man, look you, to be trusted; never failing his word for +good or ill! Right little love has there been between him and me; +but I could weep like my own lad in there, to think I shall never see +that knightly presence more, nor hear those frank gladsome voices of +the boys, as they used to shout up and down Windsor Forest.' + +'You too, Sir Nigel! and with a king like ours!' + +'Ay, Sir Patrick! and if he be such a king as Scotland never had +since St. David, and maybe not then, I'm free to own as much of it is +due to King Harry as to his own noble self.--Did ye say they had +streekit him in the chapel, Lord Malcolm? I'd fain look on the +bonnie face of him; I'll ne'er look on his like again.' + +No sooner had old Bairdsbrae gone, than Malcolm flung himself down +before his cousin, crying, 'Oh, Patrick, you will hear me! I cannot +rest till you know how changed I have been.' + +'Changed!' said Patrick; 'ay, and for the better! Why, Malcolm, I +never durst hope to see you so sturdy and so heartsome. My father +would have been blithe to see you such a gallant young squire. Even +the halt is gone!' + +'Nearly,' said Malcolm. 'But I would fain be puny and puling, to +have the clear heart that once I had. Oh, hear me! hear me! and +pardon me, Patie!' + +And Malcolm, in his agitation, poured forth the whole story of his +having shifted from his old cherished purpose of devoting himself to +the service of Heaven, and leaving lands and vassals to the stronger +hands of Patrick and Lilias; how, having thus given himself to the +world, he had fallen into temptation; how he had let himself be led +to persecute with his suit a noble lady, vowed like himself; how he +had almost agreed to marry her by force: and how he had been running +into the ordinary dissipations of the camp, abstaining from +confession, avoiding mass; disobeying orders, plunging into scenes of +plunder, till he had almost been the death of Patrick, whom he had +already so cruelly wronged. + +So felt the boy. Fresh from that death-bed, the evils his conscience +had protested against from the first appeared to him frightfully +heinous, and his anguish of self-reproach was such, that Patrick +listened in the greatest anxiety lest he should hear of some deadly +stain on his young kinsman's scutcheon; but when the tale was told, +and he had demanded 'Is that all?' and found that no further overt +act was alleged against Malcolm, he breathed a long sigh, and +muttered, 'You daft laddie! you had fairly startled me! So this is +the coil, is it? Who ever told you to put on a cowl, I should like +to know? Why, 'twas what my poor father ever declared against. I +take your lands! By my troth! 'twould be enough to make me break +faith with your sister, if I COULD!' + +'The vow was in my heart,' faltered Malcolm. + +'In a fule's head!' said Patrick. 'What right have babes to be +talking of vows? 'Twould be the best tidings I've heard for many a +long day, that you were wedded to a lass with a good tocher, and fit +to guide your silly pate. What's that? Her vows! If they are no +better than yours, the sooner they are forgot the better. If she had +another love, 'twould be another matter, but with a bishop on your +side, you've naught to fear.' + +Malcolm turned away, sick at heart. To him his present position had +become absolute terror. His own words had worked him up to an +alarming sense of having lapsed from high aims to mere selfishness; +of having profaned vows, consented to violence, and fallen away from +grace; and he was in an almost feverish passion to utter something +that would irrevocably bind him to his former intentions; but here +were the King and Patrick both conspiring to silence him, and hold +him back to his fallen and perilous state. Nay, Patrick even derided +his penitence. Patrick was an honourable knight, a religious man, as +times went, but he had been brought up in a much rougher and more +unscrupulous school than Malcolm, and had been hardened by years of +service as a soldier of fortune. The Armagnac camp was not like that +of England. Warriors of such piety and strictness as Henry and +Bedford had never come within his ken; and that any man, professing +to be a soldier, should hesitate at the license of war, was +incomprehensible to him. The discipline of Henry's army had been +scoffed at in the French camp, and every infraction of it hailed as a +token of hypocrisy; and to the stout Scot Malcolm's grief for the +rapine at Meaux, which after all he had not committed, seemed a +simple absurdity. Even his own danger, on the second occasion, did +not make him alter his opinion; it was all the fortune of war. And +he was not sure that he had not best have been stifled at once, since +his hands were tied from warfare. And as for Lily--how was he to win +her now? Then, as Malcolm opened his mouth, Patrick sharply charged +him to hold his tongue as to that folly, unless he wanted to drive +him to make a vow on his side, that he would turn Knight of Rhodes, +and never wed. + +Malcolm, wearied out with excitement, came at last to weeping that no +one would hear or understand him; but the scene was ended by +Bairdsbrae, who, returning, brought a leech with him, who at once +took the command of Patrick, and ordered him to his bed. + +Malcolm could not rest. He was feverish with the shock of grief and +awe, and absorbed in the thought which had mastered him, and which +was much dwelt on in the middle ages: --the monastic path, going +towards heaven straight as a sunbeam; the secular, twining its way +through a tortuous difficult course--the 'broad way,' tending +downward to the abyss. To his terrified apprehension, he had +abandoned the direct and narrow path for the fatal road, and there +might at any moment be captured, and whirled away by the grisly +phantom Death, who had just snatched the mightiest in his inevitable +clutch; and with something of the timidity of his nature, he was in +absolute terror, until he should be able to set himself back on the +shining road from which he had swerved, and be rid of the load of +transgression which seemed ready to sink him into the gulf. + +Those few and perfunctory confessions to a courtly priest who knew +nothing about him, and was sure not to be hard on a king's cousin, +now seemed to add to his guilt: and, wandering down-stairs towards +the chapel, he met a train of ecclesiastics slowly leaving it, having +just been relieved by a bevy of monks from a neighbouring convent, +who took up the chants where they had left them. + +Looking up at them, he recognized Dr. Bennet's bent head, and +throwing himself before him on his knee, he gasped, 'O father, +father! hear me! Take me back! Give me hope!' + +'What means this, my young lord?' said Dr. Bennet, pausing, while his +brethren passed on. 'Are you sick?' he added, kindly, seeing the +whiteness of Malcolm's face, and his startled eye. + +'Oh, no, no! only sick at heart at my own madness, and the doom on +it! O Sir, hear me! Take my vow again! give me absolution once more +to a true shrift. Oh, if you will hear me, it shall be honest this +time! Only put me in the way again.' + +The chaplain was sorely sad and weary. He it was whose ministrations +had chiefly comforted the dying King. To him it had been the loss of +a deeply-loved son and pupil, as well as of almost unbounded hopes +for the welfare of the Church; and he had had likewise, in the +freshness of his sorrow, to take the lead in the ecclesiastical +ceremonies that ensued, so that both in body and mind he was well- +nigh worn out, and longed for peace in which to face his own private +sorrow; but the wild words and anguished looks of the young Scot +showed him that his case was one for immediate hearing, and he drew +the lad into the confessional, authoritatively calmed his agitation, +and prepared to hear the outpouring of the boy's self-reproach. + +He heard it all--sifting facts from fancies, and learning the early +purpose, the terror at the cruel world, the longing for peace and +shelter; the desire to smooth his sister's way, which had led him to +devote himself in heart to the cloister, though never permitted +openly to pledge himself. Then the discovery that the world was less +thorny than he had expected; the allurement of royal favour and +greatness; the charm of amusement, and activity in recovered health; +the cowardly dread of scorn, leading him not merely into the secular +life, but into the gradual dropping of piety and devotion; the actual +share he had taken in forbidden diversions; his attempts at plunder; +his ill-will to King Henry; and, above all, his persecution of +Esclairmonde, which he now regarded as sacrilegious; and he even told +how he lay under a half engagement to Countess Jaqueline to return +alone to the Court, and bear his part in the forcible marriage she +projected. + +He told all, with no extenuation; nay, rather with such outbursts of +opprobrium on himself, that Dr. Bennet could hardly understand of +what positive evils he had been guilty; and he ended by entreating +that the almoner would at once hear his vow to become a Benedictine +monk, ere - + +But Dr. Bennet would not listen. He silenced the boy by saying he +had no more right to hear it than Malcolm as yet to make it. Nay, +that inner dedication, for which Malcolm yearned as a sacred bond to +his own will, the priest forbade. It was no moment to make such a +promise in his present mood, when he did not know himself. If +broken, he would only be adding sin to sin; nor was Malcolm, with all +his errors fresh upon him, in any state to dedicate himself worthily. +The errors--which in Ralf Percy, or in most other youths, might have +seemed slight--were heavy stains on one who, like Malcolm, had erred, +not thoughtlessly, but with a conscience of them all, in wilful +abandonment of his higher principles. On these the chaplain mostly +dwelt; on these he tried to direct Malcolm's repentance; and, finding +that the youth was in perpetual extremes of remorse, and that his +abject submission was a sort of fresh form of wilfulness, almost +passion at being forbidden to bind himself by the vow, he told him +that the true token of repentance was steadiness and constancy; and +that therefore his absolution must be deferred until he had thus +shown that his penitence was true and sincere--by perseverance, +firstly, in the devotions that the chaplain appointed for him, and, +secondly, in meeting whatever temptations might be in store for him. +Nay, the cruel chaplain absolutely forbade the white, excited, eager +boy to spend half the night in chapel over the first division of +these penitential psalms and prayers, but on his obedience sent him +at once to his bed. + +Malcolm could have torn his hair. Unabsolved! Still under the +weight of sin; still unpledged; still on dangerous ground; still left +to a secular life--and that without Esclairmonde! Why had he not +gone to a French Benedictine, who would have caught at his vow, and +crowned his penitence with some magnificent satisfying asceticism? + +Yet something in his heart, something in the father's own authority, +made him submit; and in a tumult of feeling, more wretched even than +before his confession, he threw himself on his bed, expecting to +charge the tossings of a miserable night on Dr. Bennet, and to creep +down barefoot to the chapel in the early morning to begin his +Misereres. + +Instead of which, his first wakening was in broad daylight, by King +James standing over him. 'Malcolm,' he said, 'I have answered for +you that you are discreet and trusty. A message of weight is to be +placed in your hands. Come with me to the Duke of Bedford.' + +Malcolm could only dress himself, and obediently follow to the +chamber, where sat the Duke, his whole countenance looking as if the +light of his life had gone out, but still steadfastly set to bear the +heavy burden that had been placed on his shoulders. + +He called Malcolm to him, and showed him a ring, asking whether he +knew it. + +'The King's signet--King Harry's,' said Malcolm. + +He was then reminded how, in the winter, Henry had lost the ring, and +after having caused another to be made at Paris, had found it in the +finger of his gauntlet. Very few knew of the existence of this +duplicate. Bedford himself was not aware of it till it had been +mentioned by James and Lord Fitzhugh the chamberlain; and then search +was made for it, without effect, so that it evidently had been left +with the Queen. These private signets were of the utmost importance, +far more so than even the autograph; for, though signatures were just +acquiring individuality enough to become the best authentication, yet +up to this very reign the seal was the only valid affirmation. Such +signets were always destroyed on a prince's death, and it was of the +utmost importance that the duplicate should not be left in Queen +Catherine's hands--above all, while she was with her mother and her +party, who were quite capable of affixing it to forgeries. + +Bedford, James, and Fitzhugh were all required at Vincennes; the two +latter at the lying-in-state in the chapel. Most of the other trusty +nobles had repaired to the army; and, indeed, Bedford, aware of the +terrible jealousies that were sure to break out in the headless +realm, did not choose to place a charge that might hereafter prove +invidious in the hands of any Englishman, or to extend the secret any +further than could be helped; since who could tell what suspicion +might not be thus cast on any paper sealed by Henry? + +In his perplexity, James had suggested young Malcolm, who had +assisted in the search for the lost ring, and been witness to its +discovery; and whom he could easily send as bearer of his condolences +to the widowed Queen; who had indeed the entree of the palace, but +had no political standing, was neither French nor English, and had +shown himself discreet enough with other secrets to deserve +confidence. + +Bedford caught at the proposal. And Malcolm now received orders to +take horse, with a sufficient escort, and hasten at once to Paris, +where he should try if possible to obtain the ring from the Queen +herself; but if he could not speak to her in private, he might apply +to Sir Lewis Robsart. No other person was to be informed of the real +object of the mission, and he was to get back to Vincennes as soon as +possible. + +Neither prince could understand the scared, distressed looks with +which Malcolm listened to commands showing so much confidence in a +youth of his years. They encouraged him by assurances that Sir Lewis +Robsart, who had a curious kind of authority, half fatherly, half +nurselike, over the Queen, would manage all for him. And King James, +provoked by his reluctance, began, as they left Bedford's chamber, to +chide him for ungraciousness in the time of distress, and +insensibility to the honour conferred on him. + +'Nay, nay,' disclaimed Malcolm, almost ready to weep, 'but I have a +whole world of penance!' + +'Penance! Plague on the boy's perverseness! What penance is so good +as obedience?' said James, much displeased. + +'Sir, Sir,' panted Malcolm, ''tis not only that. Could any one but +be sent in my stead? My returning alone is what Madame of Hainault +bade--for--for some scheme on--' + +His voice was choked, and his face was burning. + +'Is the lad gone daft?' cried James, in great anger. 'If Madame of +Hainault were so lost to decorum as to hatch such schemes at such a +moment, I trow you are neither puppet nor fool in her hands for her +to do what she will with. I'll have no more fooling!' + +Malcolm could only obey. + +In the brief space while the horses were preparing, and he had to +equip and take food, he sped in search of Dr. Bennet, hoping, he knew +not what, from his interference, or trusting, at any rate, to explain +his own sudden absence. + +But, looking into the chapel, he recognized the chaplain as one of +the leading priests in one of the lengthiest of masses, which was +just commencing. It was impossible to wait for the conclusion. He +could but kneel down, find himself too much hurried and confused to +recollect any prayer, then dash back again to don his riding-gear, +before King James should miss him, and be angered again. + +'Unabsolved--unvowed!' he thought. 'Sent off thither against my +will. Whatever may fall out, it is no fault of mine!' + + + +CHAPTER XIV: THE TROTH FLIGHT + + + +Trembling and awed, the ladies waited at Paris. It was well known +how the King's illness must end. No one, save the Queen, professed +to entertain any hope of his amendment; but Catherine appeared to be +too lethargic to allow herself to be roused to any understanding of +his danger; and as to the personal womanly tendance of wife to +suffering husband, she seemed to have no notion of it. Her mother +had never been supposed to take the slightest care of King Charles; +and Catherine, after her example, regarded the care either of husband +or child as no more required of a royal lady than of a queen bee. + +The little Lady Montagu, as Alice was now to be called, who had been +scheming that her Richard should be wounded just enough to learn to +call her his good little nurse-tender, was dreadfully scandalized, as +indeed were wives of more experience, when they found all their +endeavours to make their mistress understand how ill the King really +was, and how much he wished for her, fall upon uncomprehending ears, +and at last were desired by her mother Isabeau not to torment the +poor Queen, or they would make her ill. + +'Make her ill! I wish I could!' muttered Lady Warwick, as she left +the presence-chamber; 'but it is like my little Nan telling her +apple-stock baby that all her kin were burnt alive in one castle. +She heeds as much!' + +But when at late evening Sir Lewis Robsart rode up to the hotel, and +a hush went along with him, for all knew that he would never have +left his King alive, Catherine's composure gave way. She had not +imagination enough for apprehension of what was out of sight; but +when she knew that she had lost her king, to whom she had owed the +brief splendour of an otherwise dreary and neglected life, she fell +into a passion of cries and tears, even at the mere sight of Sir +Lewis, and continued to bewail her king, her lord, her husband, her +light, her love, with the violence of an utterly unexpected +bereavement. + +But while her shrieks and sobs were rending the air, a hoarse voice +gasped out, 'What say you? My son Henri dead!' and white and +ghastly, the gray hair hanging wildly from the temples, the eyes +roaming with the wistful gaze of the half insane, poor King Charles +stood among them, demanding, 'Tell me I am sick again! Tell me it is +but one of my delusions! So brave, so strong, so lively, so good to +the poor old man! My son Henri cannot die! That is for the old, the +sick!' + +And when Sir Lewis with gentle words had made him understand the +truth, he covered his face with his hands, and staggered away, led by +his attendant knight, still murmuring in a dazed way, 'Mon fils +Henri, mon bon fils Henri--most loving of all my children!' + +In truth, neither of his own sons had been thus mourned; nor had any +person shown the poor crazed monarch the uniform deferential +consideration he had received from Henry. He crept back to his own +chamber, and for many days hardly spoke, save to moan for his bon +fils Henri, scarcely tasting food, and pining away day by day. Those +who had watched the likeness between the heroes of Monmouth and of +Macedon, saw the resemblance carried out; for as the aged Persian +queen perished away from grief for the courteous and gentle +Alexander, so now the king of the conquered realm was actually +wasting to death with mourning for his frank and kindly bon fils +Henri. + +As part of royal etiquette, Catherine betook herself to her bed, in a +chamber hung with black, the light of day excluded, and ranks of wax +tapers shedding a lugubrious light upon rows of gentlemen and ladies +who had to stand there on duty, watching her as the mourners watched +the King, though her lying-in-state was not always as silent; for +though, there was much time spent in slumber, Catherine sometimes +would indulge in a good deal of subdued prattle with her mother, or +her more confidential attendants. But at other times, chiefly when +first awaking, or else when anything had crossed her will, she would +fall into agonies of passionate grief--weeping, shrieking, and +rending her hair with almost a frenzy of misery, as she called +herself utterly desolate, and screamed aloud for her king to return +to her. + +She was quite past the management of her English ladies on these +occasions; and her mother, declaring that she was becoming crazed +like her father, declined having anything to do with her. Even Sir +Lewis Robsart she used to spurn aside; and nothing ever seemed +effectual, but for the Demoiselle de Luxemburg, with her full sweet +voice, and force of will in all the tenderness of strength, +caressingly to hold her still, talk to her almost as to an infant, +and sing away her violence with some long low ditty--sometimes a mere +Flemish lullaby, sometimes a Church hymn. As Lady Warwick said, when +the ladies were all wearied out with the endeavour to control their +Queen's waywardness and violence, and it sighed away like a departing +tempest before Esclairmonde, 'It was as great a charity as ever +ministering as a St. Katherine's bedeswoman could be.' + +To the young Lady Montagu, the blow was astounding. It was the first +realization that a great man could die, a great support be taken +away; and, child-like, she moved about, bewildered and stunned, in +the great household on which the dark cloud had descended--clinging +to Esclairmonde as if to protect her from she knew not what; anything +dreadful might happen, with the King dead, and her father and husband +away. + +Alas! poor Esclairmonde! She was in much more real danger herself, +as came to the bride's mind presently, when, in the midst of her +lamentations, she exclaimed, 'And, ah, Clairette! there ends his +goodly promise about the sisterhood of good works at Paris.' + +Esclairmonde responded with a gesture of sorrow, and the murmur of +the 'In principibus non confide' that is so often the echo of +disappointment. + +'And what will you do?' continued Alice, watching her anxiously, as +her face, turning very pale, was nevertheless uplifted towards +heaven. + +'Strive to trust more in God, less in princes,' she breathed forth, +clasping her hands, and compressing her lips. + +'Nay, but does it grieve you so intensely?' asked Alice. 'Mayhap--' + +'Alas! sweet one! I would that the fall of this device seemed like +to be the worst effect to me of your good king's death. Pray for me, +Alice, for now no earthly power stands between me and my kinsmen's +will.' + +Alice cried aloud, 'Nay, nay, lady, we are English still. There are +my father; my lord, the Duke of Bedford; they will not suffer any +wrong to be done.' + +'Hush, Alice. None of them hath any power to aid me. Even good King +Henry had no legal power to protect me; only he was so great, so +strong in word or deed, that no man durst do before him what he +declared a shame and a sin. Now it will be expedient more than ever +that nothing be done by the English to risk offending the Duke of +Burgundy. None will dare withhold me; none ought to dare, for they +act not for themselves, but for their infant charge; and my countess +is weary of me. There is nothing to prevent my uncles from taking me +away with them; or--' + +'Nothing!' cried Alice. 'It cannot be! Oh, that my father were +here!' + +'He could do nothing for me.' + +'A convent!' + +'No convent here could keep me against the Bishop of Therouenne.' + +Alice wrung her hands. 'Oh, it cannot--shall not be!' + +'No, Alice, I do not believe it will be. I have that confidence in +Him to whom I have given myself, that I do not believe He will permit +me to be snatched from Him, so long as my will does not consent.' +Esclairmonde faltered a moment, as she remembered her wavering, +crossed her hands on her breast, and ejaculated, 'May He deal +mercifully with me! Yet it may be at an exceeding cost--at that of +all my cherished schemes, of all that was pride and self-seeking. +Alice, look not so terrified. Nothing can be done immediately, or +with violence, in this first mourning for the King; and I trust to +make use of the time to disguise me, and escape to England, where I +may keep my vow as anchoress, or as lay sister. Let me keep that, +and my self-exalting schemes shall be all put by!' + +The question whether this should be to England, or to the southern +parts of France held by the Armagnacs, remained for decision, as +opportunity should direct: Alice constantly urging her own scheme of +carrying her friend with her as her tire-woman, if, as seemed likely, +she were sent home; and Esclairmonde refusing to consent to anything +that might bring the bride into troubles with her father and husband; +and the debates being only interrupted when the Lady Montagu was +required to take her turn among the weary ladies-in-waiting around +Catherine's state bed. + +Whenever she was not required to control, console, or persuade the +Queen, Esclairmonde spent most of her time in a chamber apart from +the chatter of Jaqueline's little court, where she was weaving, in +the delicate point-lace work she had learnt in her Flemish convent, +an exquisite robe, such as were worn by priests at Mass. She seldom +worked, save for the poor; but she longed to do some honour to the +one man who would have promoted her nearly vanished scheme, and this +work she trusted to offer for a vestment to be used at his burial +Mass. Many a cherished plan was resigned, many an act of self- +negation uttered, as she bent over the dainty web; many an entreaty +breathed, that her moment's wandering of fancy might not be reckoned +against her, but that she might be aided to keep the promise of her +infancy, and devote herself undivided to the direct service of God +and of His poor, be it in ever so humble a station. + +Here she sat alone, when steps approached, the door opened, and of +all people he stood before her whom she least wished to see, the +young Lord of Glenuskie. + +Amazed as she was, she betrayed no confusion, and merely rose, saying +quietly, 'This is an error. I will show you Madame's apartment.' + +But Malcolm, who had begun by looking far more confused than she, +cried earnestly, 'One moment, lady. I came not willingly; the +Countess sent for me to her. But since I am here--listen while +Heaven gives me strength to say it--I will trouble you never again. +I am come to a better mind. Oh, forgive me!' + +'What are you here then for, Sir?' said Esclairmonde, with the same +defensive dignity. + +'My king sent me, against my will, on a mission to the Queen,' panted +Malcolm. 'I am forced to wait here; or, lady, I should have been +this day doing penance for my pursuit of you. Verily I am a +penitent. Mayhap Heaven will forgive me, if you will.' + +'If I understand you aright, it is well,' said Esclairmonde, still +gravely and doubtfully. + +'It is so indeed,' protested Malcolm, with a terrible wrench to his +heart, yet a sensation of freeing his conscience. 'Fear me no longer +now. After that which I saw at Vincennes, I know what it is to be on +the straight path, and--oh! what it is to have fallen from it. How +could I dream of dragging you down to be with one so unworthy, +becoming more worthless each day? Lady, if I never see you more, +pardon me, pray for me, as a saint for a poor outcast on earth!' + +'Hush,' said Esclairmonde; 'I am no saint--only a maiden pledged. +But, Sir, I thank you fervently. You have lightened my heart of one +of my fears.' + +Malcolm could not but be cheered by being for once spoken to by her +in so friendly a tone; and he added, gravely and resolutely: 'My +suit, then, I yield up, lady--yield for ever. Am I permitted once to +kiss that fair and holy hand, as I resign my presumptuous hopes +thereof?' + +'Mayhap it were wiser left undone,' said Esclairmonde. 'My mind +misgives me that this meeting is planned to bring us into trouble. +Farewell, my lord.' + +As she had apprehended, the door was flung back, and Countess +Jaqueline rushed in, clasping her hands in an affectation of merry +surprise, as she cried, 'Here they are! See, Monseigneur! No +keeping doves apart!' + +'Madame,' said Esclairmonde, turning on her with cold dignity, 'I +have been thanking Monsieur de Glenuskie for having resigned the suit +that I always declared to be in vain.' + +'You misunderstood, Clairette,' said Jaqueline. 'No gentleman ever +so spoke! No, no; my young lord has kept his promise to me, and I +will not fail him.' + +'Madame,' faltered Malcolm, 'I came by command of the King of Scots.' + +'So much the better,' cried Jaqueline. 'So he can play into our +hands, for all his grandeur! It will lose him his wager, though! +Here is bride--there is priest--nay, bishop!' pointing to him of +Therouenne, who had accompanied her, but hitherto had stood silent. + +'Madame,' said Malcolm, 'the time and state of the household forbid.' + +'Ma foi! What is that to us? King Henry is neither our brother nor +our father; and Catherine will soon laugh at it as a good joke.' + +'Nay,' said the Bishop, with more propriety, 'it is the contract and +troth-plight alone that could take place at present. That secure, +the full solemnities will await a fitting time; but it is necessary +that the troth be exchanged at once.' + +'Monseigneur,' said Esclairmonde, 'mine is in other keeping.' + +'And, Monseigneur,' added Malcolm, 'I have just told the lady that I +repent of having fallen from my vocation, and persecuted her.' + +'How, Sir!' said the Bishop, turning on him; 'do you thus lightly +treat a lady of the house of Luxemburg? Beware! There are those who +know how to visit an insult on a malapert lad, who meddles with the +honour of the family.' + +'Be not threatened, Lord Malcolm,' said Esclairmonde, with a gleam in +her eye. + +And Malcolm was Stewart enough to answer with spirit: 'My lord, I +will meet them if needed. This lady is so affianced, that it is +sacrilege to aspire to her.' + +'Ah!' said the Bishop, in an audible aside to the giggling Countess: +'this comes of her having thrown herself at the youth's head. Now he +will no more of her.' + +Crimson with wrath, and also with a wild sense of hope that the +obligation had become absolute, Malcolm made a vehement incoherent +exclamation; but Esclairmonde retained her composure. + +'Monseigneur and Madame both know better,' she said. 'This is but +another menace.' + +'Peace, minion,' said the Bishop of Therouenne, 'and listen to me. +If this young gentleman, after professing himself willing to wed you, +now draws back, so much the worse for him. But if you terrify him +out of it with your humours, then will my brother St. Pol and the +Duke of Burgundy soon be here, with no King of England to meddle; and +by St. Adrian, Sir Boemond will be daunted by no airs, like Monsieur +there. A bride shall you be, Esclairmonde de Luxemburg, ere the week +is out, if not to Monsieur de Glenuskie, to the Chevalier Boemond de +Bourgogne.' + +'Look not at me,' said Jaqueline. 'I am weary of your contumacy. +All I shall do is to watch you well. I've suspected for some days +that you were concocting mischief with the little Montagu; but you'll +not escape again, as when I was fool enough to help you.' + +The two stood a few paces apart, where they had been discovered; +Esclairmonde's eyes were closed, her hands clasped, as if in silent +prayer for aid. + +'Girl--your choice!' said the Bishop, peremptorily. 'Wedlock on the +spot to this gentleman, or to Sir Boemond a week hence.' + +Esclairmonde was very white. + +'My will shall not consent to a present breach of vow to save a +future one,' she said, in a scarce audible voice. + +A sudden thought darted into Malcolm's mind. With colour flooding +his face to his very temples, he stepped nearer to her, and said, in +a tremulous under-tone, 'Lady, trust me.' + +The Bishop withheld Jaqueline almost by force, so soon as he saw that +the pair were whispering together, and that there was something of +relaxation in Esclairmonde's face as she looked up at him in silent +interrogation. + +He spoke low, but solemnly and imploringly. 'Trust me with your +plight, lady, and I will restore it when you are free.' + +Hardly able to speak, she however murmured, 'You will indeed do +this?' + +'So help me Heaven!' he said, and his eyes grew large and bright; he +held his head with the majesty of his race. + +'Heaven has sent you,' said Esclairmonde, with a long sigh, and +holding out her hand to him, as though therewith she conferred a +high-souled woman's full trust. + +And Malcolm took it with a strange pang of pain and exultation at the +heart. The trust was won, but the hope of earthly joy was gone for +ever. + +The Countess broke out with a shout of triumph: 'There, there! they +have come to reason at last. There's an end of her folly.' + +Malcolm felt himself a man, and Esclairmonde's protector, all at +once, as he stood forth, still holding her hand. + +'Monseigneur,' he said, 'this lady consents to intrust her troth to +me, and be affianced to me'--his chest heaved, but he still spoke +firmly--'on condition that no word be spoken of the matter, nor any +completion of the rite take place until the mourning for King Henry +be at an end;' and, at a sort of shiver from Esclairmonde, he added: +'Not for a year, by which time I shall be of full age.' + +'A strange bridegroom!' said Jaqueline; 'but maybe you do well to get +her on what terms you can. Do you agree, Monseigneur?' + +In truth, Monseigneur may have been relieved that the trial of +strength between him and his ward had thus terminated. He was only +anxious to have the matter concluded. + +The agreement, binding Malcolm to accept a stated number of crowns in +instalments, as the value of Esclairmonde's lands, under the +guarantee of the Duke of Burgundy and King James of Scotland, had all +been long ago signed, sealed, and secured; and there was nothing to +prevent the fiancailles, or espousals, from taking place at once. + +It was a much more real ceremony than a mere betrothal, being, in +fact, in the eye of the civil law a marriage, though the full +blessing and the sacramental words of union were deferred for the +completion of the rite. It was the first part of the Marriage +Service, binding the pair so indissolubly to one another, that +neither could enter into wedlock with any one else as long as the +other lived--except, of course, by Papal dispensation; and in cases +of stolen weddings, it was all that was deemed needful. + +All therefore that remained to be done was, that the Bishop summoned +his chaplain to serve as a witness and as scribe; and then the two +young people, in their deep mourning dresses, standing before the +Bishop, vowed to belong to none other than to one another, and the +betrothal rings being produced, were placed on their fingers, and +their hands were clasped. Malcolm's was steady, as he felt +Esclairmonde's rest in his untrembling, but with the quietness of one +who trusted all in all where she trusted at all. + +'Poor children! they have all to learn,' hilariously shouted the +Countess. 'They have forgotten the kiss!' + +'Will you suffer it, my sister?' said Malcolm, with burning cheeks. + +'My brother and my guardian!' responded Esclairmonde, raising the +white brow to his lips. + +At that moment back went the door, and in flew Alice Montagu, crying +aloud, 'Clairette! the Queen--oh, Madame, your pardon! but I am sent +for Esclairmonde. The Queen is in worse fits than ever. Sir Lewis +can't get the ring from her. They think she will rave like her +father presently! Come!' + +Esclairmonde could only hurry away at this; while Alice, grasping her +hand, continued: + +'Oh, have they been persecuting you? I dreaded it when I saw yon +little wretch; but--oh, Esclairmonde, what is this?' in an utterly +changed voice. + +'He holds my faith in trust. He will restore it,' said Esclairmonde, +hurriedly. + +But Lady Montagu spoke not another word; and, indeed, they were hard +upon the English queen's rooms, whence they already heard hysterical +screams of passion. + +Jaqueline had immediately set forth in the same direction out of +curiosity; and Malcolm in much anxiety, since the mission that he had +been cautioned to guard so jealously seemed in danger of being known +everywhere. He had himself been allowed to stand by the Queen's +bedside, and rehearse James's message; but when he had further hinted +of his being sent by Bedford to bring the ring, the Queen, perhaps at +the mention of the brother-in-law, pouted, knew nothing of any ring, +and supposed M. le Duc meant to strip her, a poor desolate widow, of +all her jewels. + +Then Malcolm had spoken in private with Sir Lewis Robsart, who knew +the ring was among her jewels, and promised to get it for him as soon +as was possible; and it was while waiting for this that Malcolm had +been summoned to the Countess of Hainault's apartments. + +But ere Sir Lewis could get the ear of the Queen, as he now told +Malcolm, her mother had been with her. Catherine was dull, jealous, +unwilling to part with anything, but always easily coaxed over. Her +mother Isabeau had, on the other hand, a good deal of low cunning and +selfishness, and understood how valuable an instrument might be a +duplicate seal of a deceased monarch. Therefore she instigated her +daughter to deny that she possessed it, and worked her up into a +state of impracticability, in which Sir Lewis Robsart was unable to +deal with her, and only produced so wild a tempest of passion as +perfectly to appal both him and her ladies. + +That the Duke of Bedford had sent for a ring, which she would not +give up, was known over the whole palace; the only matter still not +perhaps known was, what was the value of that individual ring. + +Robsart, however, promised to exonerate Malcolm from having shown any +indiscretion; he charged it all on himself for having left his Queen +for an instant to Isabeau. + +Meanwhile, Malcolm and he, with other nobles and ladies, waited, +waited in the outer chamber, listening to the fearful storm of +shrieks and cries, till they began to spend themselves and die away; +and then they heard Esclairmonde's low voice singing her lullaby, and +every one breathed freer, as though relieved, and murmurs of +conversation rose again. Malcolm moved across to greet the Lady +Montagu; and though she looked at him with all the disdain her little +gentle face could accomplish, he had somehow a spring and strength in +him that could not now be brow-beaten. + +He bent over her, and said, 'Lady, I see you know all. It is but a +trust.' + +'If you so treat it, Sir, you will do well,' responded the young +matron, with as much stern gravity as she could assume; the fact +being that she longed to break down and cry heartily, that +Esclairmonde should so far have failed, and become like other people. + +Long, long they waited--Malcolm with a strange dreamy feeling at his +heart, neither triumph nor disappointment, but something between +both, and peace above all. Dinner was served in the hall; the +company returned to the outer apartment, yet still all was silent +within; till at last, late in the afternoon, there came a black +figure forth from under the black hangings, and Esclairmonde, turning +to Lady Warwick, said, 'The Queen is awake, and desires her ladies' +presence.' And then coming towards Malcolm, who was standing near +Sir Lewis Robsart, she placed in his hand the signet-ring. + +Both, while the attendants of the Queen filed back into her chamber, +eagerly demanded how the ring had been obtained. + +'Poor lady!' said Esclairmonde, 'she was too much spent to withhold +anything. She was weak and exhausted with cries and tears; and when +she had slept, she was as meek as a lamb; and there was no more ado +but to bid her remember that the blessed King her lord would have +bidden her let the ring be broken up at once, lest it should be used +so as to harm her son.' + +That Esclairmonde had prevailed by that gentle force of character +which no one could easily resist, could not, however, be doubted for +a moment; and a fresh thrill of amazement, and almost of joy, came +over Malcolm at the sense that he had become the protector of such a +being, and that in a sort she belonged to him, and was in his power, +having trusted herself to him. + +Robsart advised, and Esclairmonde concurred in the counsel, that Lord +Glenuskie should set forth for Vincennes immediately, before there +should be time for any more cabals, or for Queen Isabeau to have made +her daughter repent of having delivered up the signet-ring. + +Malcolm therefore at once took leave of his affianced, venturing to +kiss her hand as he looked wistfully in her face, and said, 'Dear +lady, how shall I thank you for this trust?' + +Esclairmonde gave her sweet grave smile, as she said, 'To God's +keeping I commend you, Sir.' She would not even bid him be true to +his trust; it would have seemed to her to insult him in whom her +confidence was placed, and she only added: 'I shall ever bless you +for having saved me. Farewell! Now am I bound for ever to pray for +you and your sister.' + +And it would be impossible to tell how the sense of Esclairmonde's +trust, and of the resolute self-denial it would require of him, +elevated Malcolm's whole tone, and braced his mind. The taking away +of his original high purpose had rendered him as aimless and +pleasure-loving as any ordinary lad; but the situation in which he +now stood--guarding this saintly being for her chosen destiny, at the +expense of all possible earthly projects for his own happiness or +ambition--was such as to bring out that higher side of his nature +that had well-nigh collapsed. As he stood alone in the ante-room, +waiting until his horse and escort should be ready for his return, a +flood of happiness seemed to gush over him. Esclairmonde was no more +his own, indeed, than was King Henry's signet; but the trust was very +precious, and gave him at least the power of thinking of her as +joined by a closer link than even his sister Lilias. And towards her +his conscience was again clear, for this very betrothal put marriage +out of the question for him, and was a real seal of his dedication. +He only felt as if his heart ought not to be so light and peaceful, +while his penance was still unsaid, his absolution not yet +pronounced. + + + +CHAPTER XV: THE TRUST + + + +James of Scotland and John of Bedford sat together in the twilight of +a long and weary day, spent by the one in standing like a statue at +the head of his deceased friend as a part of the pageant of the +lying-in-state in the chapel, whither multitudes had crowded +throughout the day to see the 'mighty victor, mighty lord, lie low on +his funeral couch;' the nobles gazing with a certain silent and +bitter satisfaction at him who had not only broken the pride of their +country, but had with his iron hand repressed their own private +exactions, while the poor and the peasants openly bewailed him as the +father and the friend who had stood between them and their harsh +feudal lords. By the other, the hours had passed in the press of +toil and perplexity that had fallen on him as the yet unaccredited +representative of English power in France, and in writing letters to +those persons at home from whom he must derive his authority. The +hour of rest and relaxation was welcome to both, though they chiefly +spent it each leaning back in his chair in silence. + +'Your messenger is not come back,' said Bedford, presently, rousing +himself. + +'It may have been no easy task,' replied James, not however without +uneasiness. + +'I would,' said Bedford, presently, 'that I had writ the matter +straight to Robsart. The lad is weak, and may be tampered with.' + +'He knows that I have pledged my honour for him,' said James. + +Bedford's thin lips moved at the corners. + +'Nay,' said James, not angrily, 'the youth hath in some measure +disappointed me. The evil in him shot forth faster than the good +under this camp life; but methinks there is in him a certain rare +quality of soul that I loved him for at the first, and though it hath +lain asleep all this time, yet what he hath now seen seemed to me +about to work the change in him.' + +'It may be so,' said Bedford; 'and yet I would I had not consented to +his going where that woman of Hainault might work on him to fret the +Lady Esclairmonde.' + +James started somewhat as he remembered overruling this objection of +Malcolm's own making. 'She cannot have the insolence,' he said. + +At that moment a hasty step approached; the door was opened with +scant ceremony, and Ralf Percy, covered from head to foot with blood, +hurried in breathless and panting. + +'My lord Duke, your license! Here is Malcolm Stewart set upon in the +forest by robbers and stabbed!' + +'Slain? Dead?' cried both princes, springing up in horror. + +'Alive still--in the chapel--asking for you, my lord,' said Percy. +'He bade us lay him there at the King's feet; and as it was the +readiest way to a priest, we did his bidding.' + +'My poor Malcolm!' sighed James; and he and Bedford hastened to obey +the summons. + +There was time on the way for Ralf Percy to give them the +particulars. 'We had gone forth--Trenton, Kitson, altogether some +half-dozen of us--for a mouthful of air in the forest after our guard +all day in the chapel, when about a mile from the Castle we heard a +scuffle, and clashing of arms. So breaking through the thicket, we +saw a score of fellows on horseback fully armed, and in the midst +poor Glenuskie dragged to the ground and struggling hard with two of +them. We drew our swords, hallooed, and leapt out; and the knaves +never stayed to see how many of us there were, but made off like the +dastards they were, but not till one had dealt poor Stewart this +parting stroke. He hath been bleeding like a sheep all the way home, +and hath scarce spoken but a thanksgiving for our having come in +time, as he called it, and to ask for Dr. Bennet and the Duke.' + +The words brought them to the door of the chapel, where for a time +the chants around King Henry had paused in the agitation of the new +arrival. As the black and white crowd of priests and monks opened +and made way for the King and Duke, they saw, in the full light of +the wax tapers, laid on a pile of cushions not far from King Henry's +feet, the figure of Malcolm, his riding-gown open at the breast, and +kerchiefs dyed and soaked with blood upon it; the black of his +garments and hair enhancing the ghastly whiteness of his face, and +yet an air of peace and joy in the eyes and in the folded hands, as +Dr. Bennet and another priest stood over him, administering those +abbreviated rites of farewell blessing which the Church sanctioned in +cases of sudden and violent death. The princes both stood aside, and +presently Malcolm faintly said, 'Thank God! I trusted to His mercy +to pardon! Now all would be well could I but see the Duke.' + +'I am here, dear youth,' said Bedford, kneeling on one side of him; +while James, coming to the other side, spoke to him affectionately; +but to him Malcolm only replied by a fond clasp of the hand, giving +his sole attention to Bedford, to whom he held the signet. + +'It has cost too much,' said Bedford, sadly. + +'Oh, Sir, this would be naught, save that I am all that lies between +her--the Lady Esclairmonde--and Boemond of Burgundy;' and as at that +moment Bedford saw the gold betrothal ring on the finger, his +countenance lost something of the pitying concern it had worn. +Malcolm detected the expression, and rallying his powers the more, +continued: 'Sir, there was no help--they vowed that she must choose +between Boemond and me. On the faith of a dying man, I hold her +troth but in trust; I pledged myself to her to restore it when her +way is clear to her purpose. She would never be mine but in name. +And now who will save her? My life alone is between her and yonder +wolf. Oh, Sir Duke, promise me to save her, and I die content.' + +'This is mere waste of time!' broke in the Duke. 'Where are the +knave chirurgeons?--See, James, if the lad dies, 'twill be from mere +loss of blood; there is no inward bleeding; and if there be no more +loitering, he will do well.' + +And seeing the surgeons at hand, he would have risen to make way, but +Malcolm held him fast, reiterating, 'Save her, Sir.' + +'If your life guards her, throw it not away by thus dallying,' said +Bedford, disengaging himself; while Malcolm groaned heavily, and +turned his heavy eyes to his royal friend, who said kindly, 'Fear +not, dear cousin; either thou wilt live, or he will be better than +his word.' + +'God will guard her, I know,' said Malcolm; 'and oh! my own dear +lord, I need not ask you to be the brother to my poor sister you have +been to me. At least all will be clear for her and Patie!' + +'I trust not yet,' said James, smiling in encouragement. 'Thou wilt +live, my faithful laddie.' + +Malcolm was spent and nearly fainting by this time, and all his reply +was a few gasps of 'Only say you pardon me all, my lord, and will +speak for HER to the Duke! ask HER prayers for me!' and as James +sealed his few words of reply with a kiss, he closed his eyes, and +became unconscious; in which state he was conveyed to his bed. + +'You might have set his mind at rest,' said James, somewhat hurt, to +the Duke. + +'Who? I!' said Bedford. 'I cannot stir a finger that could set us +at enmity with Burgundy, for any lady in the land. Moreover, if she +have found means to secure herself once, she can do so again.' + +'I would you could have been more kind to my poor boy,' said James. + +'Methought I was the most reasonably kind of you all! Had it not +been mere murder to keep him there prating and bleeding, I had asked +of him what indiscretion had blown the secret and perilled the +signet. No robbers were those between Paris and Vincennes in our +midst, but men who knew what he bore. I'll never--' + +Bedford just restrained himself from saying, 'trust a Scot again;' +but his manner had vexed and pained James, who returned to Malcolm, +and left him no more till called by necessity to his post as King +Henry's chief mourner, when the care of him was left to Patrick +Drummond and old Bairdsbrae; and Malcolm was a very tranquil patient, +who seemed to need nothing but the pleasure of looking at the ring on +his finger. The weapon had evidently touched no vital part, and he +was decidedly on the way to recovery, when on the second evening +Bedford met James, saying: 'I have seen Robsart. It was no +indiscretion of young Glenuskie's. It was only what comes of dealing +with women. Can I see the boy without peril to him?' + +Malcolm was so much better, that there was no reason against the +Duke's admission, and soon Bedford's falcon-face looked down on him +in all its melancholy. + +'Thanks, my Lord Glenuskie,' he said; 'I thought not to be sending +you on a service of such risk.' + +'It was a welcome service,' said Malcolm. + +Bedford's brows knitted themselves for a moment as he said, 'I came +to ask whether you deem that this hurt was from a common robber or +routier.' + +'Assuredly not,' said Malcolm, but very low; and looking up into his +face, as he added, 'This should be for your ear alone, Sir.' + +They were left alone, and the Duke said: 'I have heard from Robsart +how the ring was obtained. You may spare that part of the story.' + +'Sir,' said Malcolm, 'when the Lady Esclairmonde' (for he was not to +be balked of dwelling on that name with prolonged delight) 'had +brought me the ring, Sir Lewis Robsart advised my setting forth +without loss of time.' + +'So he told me,' said the Duke; 'and likewise that you took his words +so literally as to set out with only three followers.' + +'Ay, Sir; but he knew not wherefore. My escort had gone forth into +the city, and while they were being collected, a message bade me to +the Lady Esclairmonde's presence. I went, suspecting naught, but I +found myself in presence of Madame of Hainault, and of a veiled lady- +-who, my Lord--' He paused. 'She was broad in form, and had a trick +of gasping as though over-fat.' + +Bedford nodded. Every one knew Queen Isabeau by these tokens. + +'She scarce spoke, my Lord; but the Countess Jaqueline pretended to +be in one of her merry moods. She told me one good turn deserved +another, and that, as in gratitude and courtesy bound, I must do her +the favour of either lending her the signet, or, if I would not let +it out of my hands, of setting it to a couple of parchments, which +she declared King Henry had promised to grant.' + +'The false woman!' + +'Sir, words told not on her. She laughed and clapped her hands at +whatever I said of honour, faith, or trust. She would have it that +it was a jest--nay, romping fashion, she seized my hand, which I let +her have, knowing it was only my own seal that was on it. Never was +I so glad that the signet being too small for my fingers, it was in +my bosom.' + +'Knew you what the parchments bore?' asked, Bedford, anxiously. + +'One--so far as I could see--was of the Duke of Orleans' liberty,' +said Malcolm. 'The other--pardon me, Sir--it bore the names of Duke +Humfrey and Countess Jaqueline.' + +'The shameless wanton!' broke forth Bedford. 'How did you escape her +at last, boy?' + +'Sir,' said Malcolm, turning as red as loss of blood permitted, 'she +had not kept her hands off me; therefore when she stood between me +and the door, I told her that discourtesy was better than trust- +breaking, and while she jeered at my talking out of a book of +chivalry, I e'en took her by the hands, lifted her aside, opened the +door, ran down-stairs, and so to the stables, where I mounted with +the only three men I could get together.' + +Bedford could not but laugh, as he added, 'Bravely done, Lord +Malcolm; but, I fear me, she will never forgive you. What next?' + +'I left word for the other fellows to join us at the hostel by the +gate, and tarried for them till I feared being here after the gates +were fast; then set out without them, and rode till, just within the +forest, a band of men, how many I cannot tell, were on us, and before +my sword was well drawn they had surrounded me, and seized my bridle. +One of them bade me submit quietly, and they would not harm me, if I +would yield up that which I wist of. I said I would sooner yield my +life than my trust; whereupon they mastered me, and dragged me off my +horse, and were rifling me, when I--knowing the Flemish accent of +that drunken fellow of the Countess's--called out, "Shame on you, +Ghisbert!" Then it was that he stabbed me, even at the moment when +the holy Saints sent brave Percy and the rest to rush in upon them.' + +'You are sure it was Ghisbert?' repeated Bedford, anxiously. + +'As certain as a man's voice can make me,' said Malcolm. 'Methinks, +had I not named him, he would perhaps have bound me to a tree, and +left it to be thought that they were but common thieves.' + +'Belike,' said Bedford, thoughtfully. 'We are beholden to you, my +Lord Glenuskie; the whole state of England is beholden to you for the +saving of the confusion and evils the loss of that ring would have +caused. You can keep counsel, I wot well. Then let all this matter +of the Queen and Countess rest a secret.' + +Malcolm looked amazed; and Bedford added: 'I cannot quarrel with the +woman, nor banish her from Court. Did we accuse her, Holland would +become Armagnac; nor is she subject of ours, to have justice done on +her. It is for her interest to hush the matter up, and it must be +ours too. If that knave Ghisbert ever gives me the chance, he shall +hang like a dog; but for the rest--' he shrugged his shoulders. + +'And,' said Malcolm, 'Ghisbert only meant to serve his lady. Any +vassal of mine would do the like for me or my sister.' + +Bedford half smiled; then sighed and said: 'Once we were like to get +laws more obeyed than lords; but that is all over now! Yet you, +young Sir, have seen a great pattern; you will have great powers!' + +'Sir,' interrupted Malcolm, 'I pray you believe me, great powers I +shall not have. As I told you last night, I do but hold this +precious troth in trust! It must be a secret, or it would not save +her; but you--oh, Sir! you will believe that!' + +'If it be so,' said Bedford, gravely, 'it is too sacred a trust to be +spoken of. You will deserve greater honour if you keep your word, +than ever you will receive from the world. Farewell--and recover +fast.' + +Malcolm did not meet with much encouragement from the few to whom he +thought fit to confide the conditions of his espousal. The King +allowed that he could not have acted otherwise, but was concerned at +it, because of the hindrance that might for years be interposed in +the way of his welfare; and secretly hoped that Malcolm, in his new +capacity, would so gain on Esclairmonde's esteem and gratitude, as to +win her affection, and that by mutual consent they would lay aside +their loftier promises, and take up their espousal where they had +left it. + +And what James secretly desired, Sir Patrick Drummond openly +recommended. In his eyes, Malcolm would be no better than a fool if +he let his ladye-love, with all her lands, slip through his fingers, +when she was lawfully his own. Patrick held that a monastery was a +good place to be nursed in if wounded, and a convenience for +disposing of dull or weakly younger sons; and he preferred that there +should be some holy men to pray for those who did the hard and bloody +work of the world; but he had no desire that any one belonging to +himself should plunge into extra sanctity; and the more he saw +Malcolm developing into a man among men, the more he opposed the +notion of his dedicating himself. + +A man! Yes; Malcolm was rising from his bed notably advanced in +manliness. As the King's keen eye had seen from the first, and as +Esclairmonde had felt, there was an elevation, tenderness, and +refinement in his cast of character, which if left to his natural +destiny would have either worn out his life early in the world, or +carried him to the obscure shelter of a convent. In the novelty of +the secular life, and temptations of all kinds, dread of ridicule, +and the flood of excitements which came with reviving health, that +very sensitiveness led him astray; and the elevated aims fell with a +heavier fall when diverted from heavenly palaces to earthly ones. +Self-reproach and dejection drove him further from the right course, +and in proportion to the greater amount of conscience he had by +nature, his character was the more deteriorating. His deeds were far +less evil in themselves than those of many of his companions, but +inasmuch as they were not thoughtless in him, they were injuring him +more. But the sudden shock of Patrick's danger roused him to a new +sense of shame. King Henry's death had lifted his mind out of the +earthly atmosphere, and then the treasure of Esclairmonde's pure and +perfect trust seemed to be the one thing to be guarded worthily and +truly. It gave him weight, drew him out of himself, lifted him above +the boyish atmosphere of random self-indulgence and amusement. To be +the protector who should guard her vows for the heavenly Bridegroom +to whom her soul was devoted, was indeed a championship that in his +eyes could only have befitted Sir Galahad; and a Galahad would he +strive to be, so long as that championship held him to the secular +life. James and Bedford both told him he had won his spurs, and +should have them on the next fit occasion; but he had ceased to care +for knighthood, save in that half-consecrated aspect which he thought +would render his guardianship less unmeet for Esclairmonde. + +She had not shunned to send him a kind greeting on hearing of his +wound, and by way of token a fresh leaf of vellum with a few more of +those meditations from Zwoll--meditations that he spelled over from +Latin into English, and dwelt upon in great tranquillity and soothing +of spirit during the days that he was confined to his bed. + +These were not many. He was on his feet by the time the funeral +cavalcade was in readiness to move from Vincennes to convey Henry of +Monmouth to his last resting-place in Westminster Abbey. Bedford +could not be spared to return to England, and was only to go as far +as Calais; and James of Scotland was therefore to act as chief +mourner, attended by his own small personal suite. + +Sir Patrick Drummond--though, shrugging his shoulders, he muttered +that he should as soon have thought of becoming mourner at the foul +fiend's funeral as at the King of England's--could not object to +swell the retinue of his sovereign by his knighthood; and though +neither he nor Malcolm were in condition for a campaign, both could +ride at the slow pace of the mournful procession. + +The coffin was laid on a great car, drawn by four black horses, and +surmounted by Henry's effigy, made in boiled leather and coloured to +the life, robed in purple and ermine, crown on head, sceptre and orb +in either hand. The great knights and nobles rode on each side, +carrying the banners of the Saints; and close behind came James and +Bedford, each with his immediate attendants; then the household +officers of the King, Fitzhugh his chamberlain, Montagu his cup- +bearer, Ralf Percy and his other squires, and all the rest. Four +hundred men-at-arms in black armour, with lances pointed downwards, +formed the guard behind; and the vanguard was of clergy, robed in +white, bearing banners and wax lights, and chanting psalms. At the +border of every parish, all the ecclesiastics thereto appertaining, +parochial, chantry, and monastic, turned out to meet the procession +with their tapers; escorted it to the principal church; performed +Mass there, if it were in the forenoon; and then accompanied the +coffin to the other limit of their ground, and consigned it to the +clerks of the next parish. At night, the royal remains always rested +in a church, guarded by alternate watches of the English men-at-arms, +and sung over by the local clergy, while the escort were quartered in +the town, village, or abbey where the halt chanced to be made. Very +slow was this progress; almost like a continual dream was that long +column, moving, moving on--white in front, black behind--when seen +winding over a hill, or, sometimes, the banners peering over the +autumn foliage of some thicket, all composed to profound silence and +tardy measured tread; while the chants rose and fell with the breeze, +like unearthly music. Many moved on more than half asleep; and +others of the younger men felt like Ralf Percy, who, for all his real +sorrow for the King, declared that, were it not for rushing out, +morning and evening, for a bathe and a gallop, to fly a hawk or chase +a hare, he should some day run crazed, blow out all the wax lights, +or play some mad prank to break the intolerable oppression. Malcolm +smiled at this; but to him, still in the dreamy inertness of +recovery, this tranquil onward movement in the still autumn weather +had some thing in it of healing influence; and the sweet chants, the +continual offices of devotion, were accordant with his present tone +of mind, and deepened the purpose he had formed. + +Queen Catherine and her ladies joined the funeral march at Rouen, or +rather followed it at a mile's interval; but the two trains kept +apart, and only occasional messages were sent from one to the other. +Some of the gentlemen, who had a wife or sister in the Queen's suite, +would ride at nightfall to pay her a hasty visit; but Malcolm--though +he longed to be sent--durst not intrude upon Esclairmonde; and the +Duke of Bedford was not only forced to spend all the evening and half +the night in business, but was not loth to put off the day of the +meeting with his dear sister Catherine--to say nothing of the 'Woman +of Hainault.' + +Therefore it was not until all had arrived at Calais, where a fleet +was waiting to meet them, that any visits were openly made by the one +party to the other. + +Bedford and James went together to the apartments of the Queen, and +while they saw her in private, Malcolm came blushing towards +Esclairmonde, and was welcomed by her with a frank smile, +outstretched hand, and kind inquiry after his recovery. + +She treated him indeed as a brother, as one on whom she depended, and +had really wished to see and arrange with. She told him that Alice +Montagu and her husband were returning to England, and that her +little friend had so earnestly prayed her to abide with her at +Middleham for the present, that she had consented--'until such time +as the way be open,' said Esclairmonde, with her steady patient +smile. + +Malcolm bowed his head. 'I am glad you will not be forced to be with +your Countess,' he said. + +'My poor lady! Maybe I have spoken too plainly. But I owe her much. +I must ever pray for her. And you, my lord?' + +'I,' said Malcolm, 'shall go to study at Oxford. Dr. Bennet intends +returning thither to continue his course of teaching, and my king has +consented to my studying with him. It will not cut me off, lady, +from that which you permit me to be. King Henry and his brothers +have all been scholars there.' + +'I understand,' said Esclairmonde, slightly colouring. 'It is well. +And truly I trust that matters may be so guided, that care for me may +not long detain you from more lasting vows--be they of heaven or +earth.' + +'Lady,' said Malcolm, earnestly, 'none who had been plighted to you +COULD pledge himself to aught else save One above!' + +Then, feeling in himself, or seeing in Esclairmonde's face, that he +was treading on dangerous ground, he asked leave to present to her +his cousin, Patrick Drummond: and this was accordingly done; the +lady comporting herself with so much sweet graciousness, that the +good knight, as they left the hall, exclaimed: 'By St. Andrew, +Malcolm, if you let that maiden escape you now she is more than half- +wedded to you, you'll be the greatest fool in broad Scotland. Why, +she is a very queen for beauty, and would rule Glenuskie like a +princess--ay, and defend the Castle like Black Agnes of Dunbar +herself! If you give her up, ye'll be no better than a clod.' + +Malcolm and Patrick had been borne off by James's quitting the +Castle; Bedford remained longer, having affairs to arrange with the +Queen. As he left her, he too turned aside to the window where +Esclairmonde sat as usual spinning, and Lady Montagu not far off, but +at present absorbed by her father, who was to remain in France. + +One moment's hesitation, and then Bedford stepped towards the +Demoiselle de Luxemburg, and greeted her. She looked up in his face, +and saw its settled look of sad patient energy, which made it full +ten years older in appearance than when they had sat together at +Pentecost, and she marked the badge that he had assumed, a torn-up +root with the motto, 'The root is dead.' + +'Ah! my lord, things are changed,' she could not help saying, as she +felt that he yearned for comfort. + +'Changed indeed!' he said; 'God's will be done! Lady,' he added, +'you wot of that which once passed between us. I was grieved at +first that you chose a different protector in your need.' + +'You COULD not, my lord,' faltered Esclairmonde, crimson as she never +had been when speaking to Malcolm. + +'No, I COULD not,' said Bedford; 'and, lady, my purpose was to thank +you for the generous soul that perceived that so it is. You spared +me from a cruel case. I have no self any longer, Esclairmonde; all I +am, all I have, all I can, must be spent in guarding Harry's work for +his boy. To all else I am henceforth dead; and all I can do is to be +thankful, lady, that you have spared me the sorest trial of all, both +to heart and honour.' + +Esclairmonde's eyes were downcast, as she said, 'Heaven is the +protector of those of true and kind purpose;' and then gathering +courage, as being perfectly aware to whom Bedford must give his hand +if he would conciliate Burgundy, she added, 'And, verily, Sir, the +way of policy is this time a happy one. Let me but tell you how I +have known and loved gentle Lady Anne.' + +Bedford shook his head with a half smile and a heavy sigh. 'Time +fails me, dear lady,' he said; 'and I cannot brook any maiden's +praise, even from you. I only wait to ask whether there be any way +yet left wherein I can serve you. I will strive to deal with your +kinsmen to restore your lands.' + +'Hold!' said Esclairmonde. 'Never for lands of mine will I have your +difficulties added to. No--let them go! It was a vain, proud dream +when I thought myself most humble, to become a foundress; and if I +know my kinsmen, they will be too much angered to bestow on me the +dower required by a convent. No, Sir; all I would dare to inquire +would be, whether you have any voice in choosing the bedeswomen of +St. Katharine's Hospital?' + +'The bedeswomen! They come chiefly from the citizens, not from +princely houses like yours!' said John, in consternation. + +'I have done with princely houses,' said Esclairmonde. 'A Flemish +maiden would be of no small service among the many whom trade brings +to your port from the Netherlands, and my longing has ever been to +serve my Lord through His poor and afflicted.' + +'It is my father's widow who holds the appointments,' said John. +'Between her and me there hath been little good-will, but my dear +brother's last act towards her was of forgiveness. She may wish to +keep well with us of the Regency--and more like still, she will be +pleased that one of so great a house as yours should sue to her. I +will give you a letter to her, praying her to remember you at the +next vacancy; and mayhap, if the Lady Montagu could take you to visit +her, you could prevail with her! But, surely, some nunnery more +worthy of your rank--' + +'There is none that I should love so well,' said Esclairmonde, +smiling. 'Mayhap I have learnt to be a vagabond, but I cannot but +desire to toil as well as pray.' + +'And you are willing to wait for a vacancy?' + +'When once safe from my kinsmen, in England, I will wait under my +kind Alice's wing till--till it becomes expedient that yonder +gentleman be set free.' + +'You trust him?' said Bedford. + +'Entirely,' responded Esclairmonde, heartily. + +'Happy lad!' half sighed the Duke; but, even as he did so, he stood +up to bid the lady adieu--lingering for a moment more, to gaze at the +face he had longed for permission to love--and thus take leave of all +his youth and joy, addressing himself again to that burthen of care +which in thirteen years laid him in his grave at Rouen. + +As he left the Castle and came out into the steep fortified street, +Ralf Percy came up to him, laughing. 'Here, my lord, are those two +honest Yorkshire knights running all over Calais to make a petition +to you.' + +'What--Trenton and Kitson! I thought their year of service was up, +and they were going home!' + +'Ay, my lord,' said Kitson, who with his comrade had followed close +in Percy's wake, 'we were going home to bid Mistress Agnes take her +choice of us; but this morn we've met a pursuivant that is come with +Norroy King-at-arms, and what doth he but tell us that no sooner were +our backs turned, than what doth Mistress Agnes but wed--ay, wed +outright--one Tom of the Lee, a sneaking rogue that either of us +would have beat black and blue, had we ever seen him utter a word to +her? A knight's lady--not to say two--as she might have been! So, +my lord, we not being willing to go home and be a laughing-stock, +crave your license to be of your guard as we were of King Harry's, +and show how far we can go among the French.' + +'And welcome; no good swords can be other than welcome!' said +Bedford, not diverted as his brother would have been, but with a +heartiness that never failed to win respectful affection. + +Long did James and Bedford walk up and down the Castle court +together, while the embarkation was going on. The question weighed +on them both whether they should ever meet more, after eighteen years +of youth spent together. + +'Youth is gone,' said Bedford. 'We have been under a mighty master, +and now God help us to do his work.' + +'You!' said James; 'but for me--it is like to be the library and the +Round Tower again.' + +'Scarcely,' said Bedford, 'the Beauforts will never rest till Joan is +on a throne.' + +James smiled. + +'Ay,' said Bedford, 'the Bishop of Winchester will be no small power, +you will find. Would that I could throw up this France and come +home, for he and Humfrey will clash for ever. James, an you love me, +see Humfrey alone, and remind him that all the welfare of Harry's +child may hang on his forbearance--on union with the Bishop. Tell +him, if he ever loved the noblest brother that ever lived, to rein +himself in, and live only for the child's good, not his own. Tell +him that Bedford and Gloucester must be nothing henceforth--only +heads and hands doing Harry's will for his babe. Oh, James, what can +you tell Humfrey that will make him put himself aside?' + +'You have writ to him Harry's words as to Dame Jac?' + +'The wanton! ay, I have; and if you can whisper in his ear that +matter of Malcolm and the signet, it might lessen his inclination. +But,' he sighed, 'I have little hope, James; I see nothing for +Lancaster but that which the old man at York invoked upon us!' + +'Yet, when I look at you and Humfrey, and think of the contrast with +my own father's brethren, I see nothing but hope and promise for +England,' said James. + +'We must do our best, however heavy-hearted,' said John of Bedford, +pausing in his walk, and standing steadfast. 'The rod becomes a palm +to those who do not freshly bring it on themselves. May this poor +child of Harry's be bred up so that he may be fit to meet evil or +good!' + +'Poor child,' repeated James. 'Were he not there, and you--' + +'Peace, James,' said Bedford; 'it is well that such a weight is not +added! While I act for my nephew, I know my duty; were it for +myself, methinks I should be crazed with doubts and questions. +Well,' as a messenger came up with tidings that all was ready, 'fare +thee well, Jamie. In you I lose the only man with whom I can speak +my mind, or take counsel. You'll not let me gain a foe, as well as +lose a friend, when you get home?' + +'Never, in heart, John!' said the King. 'As to hand--Scotland must +be to England what she will have her. Would that I saw my way +thither! Windsor will have lost all that made captivity well-nigh +sweet. And so farewell, dear brother. I thank you for the granting +to me of this sacred charge.' + +And so, with hands clasped and wrung together, with tears raining +from James's eyes, and a dry settled melancholy more sad than tears +on John's countenance, the two friends parted, never again to meet; +each to run a course true, brave, and short--extinguished the one in +bitter grief, the other in blood. + +On All Saints' Day, while James stood with Humfrey of Gloucester at +the head of the grave at Westminster, where Henry's earthly form was +laid to rest amid the kings his fathers, amid the wail of a people as +sorrowful as if they knew all the woes that were to ensue, Bedford +was in like manner standing over a grave at the Royal Abbey of St. +Denis. He, the victor's brother, represented all the princely +kindred of Charles VI. of France, and, with his heart at Westminster, +filled the chief mourner's place over the king who had pined to death +for his conqueror. + +The same infant was proclaimed king over each grave--heir to France +and England, to Valois and Lancaster. Poor child, his real heirloom +was the insanity of the one and the doom of the other! Well for him +that there was within him that holy innocence that made his life a +martyrdom! + + + +CHAPTER XVI: THE CAGE OPEN + + + +More than a year had passed, and it was March when Malcolm was +descending the stone stair that leads so picturesquely beneath the +archway of its tower up to the hall of the college of St. Mary +Winton, then REALLY New College. He had been residing there with Dr. +Bennet, associating with the young members of the foundation educated +at Winchester, and studying with all the freshness of a recent +institution. It had been a very happy time for him, within the gray +stone walls that pleasantly recalled Coldingham, though without +Coldingham's defensive aspect, and with ample food for the mind, +which had again returned to its natural state of inquiring reflection +and ardour for knowledge. + +Daily Malcolm woke early, attended Matins and Mass in the chapel, +studied grammar and logic, mastered difficult passages in the +Fathers, or copied out portions for himself in the chamber which he +as a gentleman commoner, as we should call him, possessed, instead of +living in a common dormitory with the other scholars. Or in the open +cloister he listened and took notes of the lectures of the fellows +and tutors of the college, and seated on a bench or walking up and +down received special instructions. Then ensued the meal, spread in +the hall; the period of recreation, in the meadows, or in the +licensed sports, or on the river; fresh studies, chapel, and a social +but quiet evening over the supper in the hall. All this was varied +by Latin sermons at St. Mary's, or disputations and lectures by +notable doctors, and public arguments between scholars, by which they +absolutely fought out their degrees. There were few colleges as yet, +and those resident in them were the elite; beyond, there was a great +mob of scholars living in rooms as they could, generally very poor, +and often very disorderly; but they did not mar the quiet semi- +monastic stillness within the foundations, and to Malcolm it seemed +as if the truly congenial home was opened. + +The curriculum of science began to reveal itself to him with all the +stages so inviting to a mind conscious of power and longing for +cultivation. The books, the learned atmosphere, the infinite +possibilities, were delightful to him, and opened a more delightful +future. His metaphysical Scottish mind delighted in the scholastic +arguments that were now first set before him, and his readiness, +appreciation, and eager power of acquiring surprised his teachers, +and made him the pride of New College. + +When he looked back at his year of court and camp, he could only +marvel at having ever preferred them. In war his want of bodily +strength would make real distinction impossible; here he felt himself +excelling; here was absolute enjoyment, and of a kind without +drawback. Scholarship must be his true element and study: the deep +universal study of the sisterhood of science that the University +offered was his veritable vocation. Surely it was not without +significance that the ring that shone on his finger betrothed him to +Esclairmonde, the Light of the World; for though in person the maiden +was never to be his own, she was the emblem to him of the pure virgin +light of truth and wisdom that he would be for ever wooing, and +winning only to see further lights beyond. Human nature felt a pang +at the knowledge that he was bound to deliver up the ring and resign +his connection with that fair and stately maiden; but the pain that +had been sore at first had diminished under the sense that he stood +in a post of generous trust, and that his sacrifice was the passport +to her grateful esteem. He knew her to be with Lady Montagu, +awaiting a vacancy at St. Katharine's, and this would be the signal +for dissolving the contract of marriage, after which his present +vision was to bestow Lilias upon Patrick, make over his estates to +them, take minor orders, and set forth for Italy, there to pursue +those deeper studies in theology and language for which Padua and +Bologna were famous. It was many months since he had heard of +Lilias; but this did not give him any great uneasiness, for +messengers were few, and letter-writing far from being a common +practice. He had himself written at every turning-point of his life, +and sent his letters when the King communicated with Scotland; but +from his sister he had heard nothing. + +He had lately won his first degree as Bachelor of Arts, and was +descending the stair from the Hall after a Lenten meal on salt fish, +when he saw below him the well-known figure of King James's English +servant, who doffing his cap held out to him a small strip of folded +paper, fastened by a piece of crimson silk and the royal seal. It +only bore the words:- + + +TO OUR RIGHT TRUSTY AND WELL-BELOVED COUSIN THE LORD MALCOLM STEWART +OF GLENUSKIE THIS LETTER BE TAKEN. + +'DEAR COUSIN, + +'We greet you well, and pray you to come to us without loss of time, +having need of you, we being a free man and no captive. + +'Yours, +'JAMES R. + +'Written at the Castle of Windsor this St. David's Day, 1424.' + + +'A free man:' the words kept ringing in Malcolm's ears while he +hastened to obtain license from Warden John Bonke, and to take leave +of Dr. Bennet. He had not left Oxford since the beginning of his +residence there. Vacations were not general dispersions when ways +and means of transit were so scarce and tardy, and Malcolm had been +long without seeing his king. Joy on his sovereign's account, and +his country's, seemed to swallow up all other thoughts; as to +himself, when he bade his friends and masters farewell, he declared +it was merely for a time, and when they shook their heads and augured +otherwise, he replied: 'Nay, think you I could live in the Cimmerian +darkness yonder, dear sirs? Our poor country hath nothing better +than mere monastery schools, and light of science having once shone +on me, I cannot but dwell in her courts for ever! Soon shall I be +altogether her son and slave!' + +Nevertheless, Malcolm was full of eagerness, and pressed on rapidly +through the lanes between Oxford and Windsor, rejoicing to find +himself amid the noble trees of the forest, over which arose in all +its grandeur the Castle and Round Tower, as beautiful though less +unique than now, and bearing on it the royal standard, for the little +King was still nursed there. + +Under the vaulted gateway James--with Patrick and Bairdsbrae behind +him--met Malcolm, and threw his arms round him, crying: 'Ay, kiss +me, boy; 'tis a king and no caitiff you kiss now! Another six weeks, +and then for the mountain and the moor and the bonnie north +countree.' + +'And why not for a month?' was Malcolm's question, as hand and eye +and face responded heartily. + +'Why? Why, because moneys must be told down, and treaties signed; +ay, and Lent is no time for weddings, nor March for southland roses +to travel to our cold winds. Ay, Malcolm, you see a bridegroom that +is to be! Did you think I was going home without her?' + +'I did not think you would be in such glee even at being free, my +lord, if you were.' + +'And now, Malcolm, ken ye of ony fair Scottish lassie--a cousin of +mine ain, who could be had to countenance my bride at our wedding, +and ride with us thereafter to Scotland?' + +'I know whom your Grace means,' said Malcolm, smiling. + +'An if you do, maybe, Malcolm, sin she bides not far frae the border, +ye'd do me the favour of riding with Sir Patrick here, and bringing +her to the bridal,' said the King, making his accent more home-like +and Scottish than Malcolm had ever heard it before. + +The happiness of that spring afternoon was surpassing. The King +linked his arm into Malcolm's, and walked up and down with him on the +slopes, telling him all that had led to this consummation; how Walter +Stewart and his brothers had become so insolent and violent as to +pass the endurance of their father the Regent, as well as of all +honest Scots; and how, after secret negotiations and vain endeavours +to obtain from him a pledge of indemnity for all that had happened, +the matter had been at length opened with Gloucester, Beaufort, and +the Council. The Scottish nation, with Albany at the head, was +really recalling the King. This was the condition on which Henry V. +had always declared that he should be liberated; these were the terms +on which he had always hoped to return; and his patience was at last +rewarded. Bedford had sent his joyful consent, and all was now +concluded. James was really free, and waited only for his marriage. + +'I would not tell you, Malcolm, while there might yet be a slip +between cup and lip,' said the King; 'it might have hindered the +humanities; and yet I needed you as much when I was glad as when all +seemed like to fail!' + +'You had Patrick,' said Malcolm. + +'Patrick's a tall and trusty fellow,' said the King, 'with a shrewd +wit, and like to be a right-hand man; but there's something in you, +Malcolm, that makes a man turn to you for fellow-feeling, even as to +a wife.' + +Nevertheless, the King and Patrick had grown much attached to each +other, though the latter, being no lover of books, had wearied sorely +of the sojourn at Windsor, which the King himself only found +endurable by much study and reflection. Their only variety had been +keeping Christmas at Hertford with Queen Catherine; 'sorry pastime,' +as Drummond reported it to him, though gladdened to the King by Joan +Beaufort's presence, in all her charms. + +'The Demoiselle of Luxemburg was there too, statelier than ever,' +said James. 'She is now at Middleham Castle, with the Lady Montagu, +and you might make it your way northward, and lodge a night there. +If you can win her consent, it were well to be wedded when we are.' + +'Never shall I, my lord. I should not dare even to speak of it.' + +'It is well; but, Malcolm, you merit something from the damsel. You +are ten times the man you were when she flouted you. If women were +not mostly witless, you would be much to be preferred to any mere +Ajax or Fierabras; and if this damsel should have come to the wiser +mind that it were pity to be buried to the world--' + +'Sir, I pray you say no more. I were forsworn to ask such a thing.' + +'I bid you not, only I would I were there to see that all be not lost +for want of a word in season; and it is high time that something be +done. Here be letters from my Lord of Therouenne, demanding the +performance of the contract ere our return home.' + +'He cannot reach her here,' said Malcolm. + +'No; but his outcry can reach your honour; and it were ill to have +such a house as that of Luxemburg crying out upon you for breach of +faith to their daughter.' + +Malcolm smiled. 'That I should heed little, Sir. I would fain bear +something for her.' + +'Why, this is mere sublimated devoir, too fine for our gross +understandings,' said James, ironically. 'Mayhap the sight of the +soft roseate cheek may bring it somewhat down to poor human flesh and +blood once more.' + +'Once I was tempted, Sir,' said Malcolm, blushing deeply; 'but did I +not know that her holiness is the guardian of her earthly beauty, I +would not see her again.' + +'Nay, there I command you,' said the King; 'soon I shall have +subjects enough; but while I have but half a dozen, I cannot be +disobeyed by them! I bid you go to Middleham, and there I leave all +to the sight.' + +The King spoke gaily, and with such kind good-humour that Malcolm, +humiliated by the thought of the past, durst not make fresh +asseverations. James, in the supreme moment of the pure and innocent +romance of which he was the hero, looked on love like his own as the +highest crown of human life, and distrusted the efforts after the +superhuman which too often were mere simulation or imitation; but a +certain recollection of Henry's warnings withheld him from pressing +the matter, and he returned to his own joys and hopes, looking on the +struggles he expected with a strong man's exulting joy, and not even +counting the years of his captivity wasted, though they had taken +away his first youth. + +'What should I have been,' he said, 'bred up in the tumults at home? +What could I have known better than Perth? Nay, had I been sent home +when I came to age, as a raw lad, how would one or other by fraud or +force have got the upper hand, so as I might never have won it back. +No, I would not have foregone one year of study--far less that +campaign in France, and the sight of Harry in war and in policy.' + +James also took Malcolm to see the child king, his little master. +This, the third king of James's captivity, was now a fair creature of +two years old. He trotted to meet his visitor, calling him by a baby +name for brother, and stretching out his arms to be lifted up and +fondled; for, as Dame Alice Boteller, his gouvernante, muttered, he +knew the King of Scots better than he did his own mother. + +A retinue had been already collected, and equipments prepared, so +that there was no delay in sending forth Malcolm and Patrick upon +their northward journey. At the nearest town they halted, sending +forward a messenger to announce their neighbourhood to the old +Countess of Salisbury and her grand-daughter Lady Montagu, and to +request permission to halt for 'Mothering Sunday' at the Castle. + +In return a whole band of squires and retainers came forth, headed by +the knightly seneschal, to invite Lord Malcolm Stewart and his +companion to the Castle; whereupon Sir Patrick proceeded to don his +gayest gown and chaperon, and was greatly scandalized that Malcolm's +preparation consisted in putting on his black serge bachelor's gown +and hood of rabbit's fur such as he wore at Oxford, looking, as +Patrick declared, no better than a begging scholar. But Malcolm had +made up his mind that if he appeared before Esclairmonde at all it +should be in no other guise; and thus it was that he rode like a +black spot in the midst of the cavalcade, bright with the colours of +Nevil and of Montagu, and was marshalled up the broad stairs by the +silver wand of the seneschal. + +Lord Montagu had gone back to the wars; so the family at home +consisted of the grand, stately, and distant old Countess of +Salisbury, and her young grand-daughter, the Lady Montagu, with her +three months' old son. Each had an almost royal suite of well-born +dames and damsels in attendance, among whom the Demoiselle de +Luxemburg alone was on an equality with the mistresses of the house. +Even Queen Catherine's presence-chamber had hardly equalled the grand +baronial ceremony of the hall, where sat the three ladies in the +midst of their circle of attendants, male and female ranged on +opposite sides; and old Lady Salisbury knew the exact number of paces +that it befitted her and Lady Montagu to advance to receive the royal +infusion of blood that flowed in the veins of my Lord of Glenuskie. +And yet it was the cheek, and not the hand, that were offered in +salutation by both ladies, as well as by Esclairmonde. Malcolm, +however, only durst kneel on one knee and salute her hand, and felt +himself burning with crimson as the touch and voice brought back +those longings that, as James had said, proved him human still. He +was almost glad that etiquette required him to hand the aged Countess +to her seat and to devote his chief attention to her. + +Punctilio reigned supreme in such a house as this. Nowhere had +Malcolm seen such observance of ceremony, save in the court of the +Duke of Burgundy, and there it was modified by the presence of rough +and ready warriors; but an ancient dame like Lady Salisbury thought +it both the due and the safeguard of her son's honour, and exacted it +rigorously of all who approached her. + +Alice of Montagu had the sweet fragile look of a young mother about +her, but her frightened fawn air was gone; she was in her home, had +found her place, and held it with a simple dignity of her own, quite +ready to ripen into all the matronly authority, without the severe +formality, of her grand-dame. + +She treated Malcolm with a gentle smiling courtesy such as she had +never vouchsafed to him before, and all the shyness that had once +made her silent was gone, when at the supper-table, and afterwards +seated around the fire, the tidings of the camp and court were talked +over with all the zest of those to whom King Harry's last campaign +was becoming 'old times'; and what with her husband's letters and +opinions, little Alice was really the best-informed as to the present +state of things. Esclairmonde took her part in the conversation, but +there was no opportunity of exchanging a private or personal word +between her and Malcolm in a party of five, where one was as vigilant +and grave-eyed as my Lady Salisbury. + +However, the next was a peculiar day, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, +called 'Mothering Sunday' because on that day it was originally the +custom for offerings to be carried from all the country round to the +cathedral or mother church on that day. This custom had been +modified, but it was still the rule that all the persons, who at +other times worshipped at the nearest monastery chapel or at a +private chapel in their own houses, should on that day repair to +their parish church, and there make a special offering at the Mass-- +that offering which has since become the Easter dues. It was a +festival Sunday too--'Refreshing Sunday'--then, as now, marked by the +Gospel on the feeding of the multitude; and from this, as well as +from the name, the pretty custom had begun of offering the mother of +each house her rich simnal cake, with some other gift from each of +her children. + +Hearing a pattering of feet in the early morning, Malcolm looked out +and beheld a whole troop of small children popping in and out of a +low archway. If he could have peeped in, he would have known how +many simnals Ladies Esclairmonde and Alice were sending down--with +something more substantial--to be given to mothers by the children +who as yet had nothing to bring of their own. + +But when the household assembled in the castle hall, they did see +fair young Lady Montagu kneel at the chair of the grave old Countess, +and hold up a silver dish, wherein lay the simnal, mixed, kneaded, +and moulded by her own hands, and bearing on it a rich ruby clasp, +sent by her father, the Earl, as his special gift to his mother on +this Sunday. + +And then, when the old lady, with glistening eyes, had spoken her +blessing on the fair young head bent down before her, and the +grandchild rose up, there was the pretty surprise for her of her +little swaddled son, lying in Esclairmonde's arms, and between the +small fingers, that as yet knew not how to grasp, the tiny simnal; +and moreover a fair pearl devised in like manner by the absent Sir +Richard as a gift for his wife's first 'Mothering Sunday.' There was +no etiquette here to hinder sweet Alice from passionately clasping +her child, and covering him with kisses, as many for his father as +for himself, as she laughed at the baby smiles and helpless gestures +of the future king-maker, whose ambition and turbulence were to be +the ruin of that fair and prosperous household, and bring the gentle +Alice to a widowed, bereaved, and attainted old age. + +Well that none there present saw the future, as she proudly claimed +the admiration of Malcolm for her babe! + +She was equipped for the expedition to the parish church, as likewise +were Esclairmonde and almost all the rest; but the aged Countess +could not encounter the cold March winds, and had a dispensation; and +thus Alice, being the lady of the procession, contrived at the same +time to call Sir Patrick to her side, and bid Lord Malcolm lead the +Lady Esclairmonde. + +For as the weather was dry and cold, Lady Montagu had chosen to go on +foot; and a grand procession it was that she led, of gentlemen and +ladies, two and two, in their bright dresses and adornments that +delighted the eyes of the homely yeomen and their wives, flocking in +from their homesteads with baskets of offerings, often in kind. + +Meantime, Malcolm, holding the tips of Esclairmonde's fingers, durst +not speak till she began: 'This is a devout and pious household-- +full of peace and good government.' + +'And your time goes happily here?' asked Malcolm. + +'Yes, it has been a peaceful harbour wherein to wait,' said +Esclairmonde. 'And even if Alice were called to her husband in +France, my Lady Countess will keep me with her till there be a +vacancy for me at St. Katharine's.' + +'Have you the promise from Queen Joan?' + +'Yes,' replied Esclairmonde. 'The Countess had been a lady of hers, +and wrought with her, so that whenever the post of bedeswoman is in +her gift I shall be preferred to it.' + +'You, the heiress, accept the charity!' Malcolm could not help +exclaiming. + +'The better for all remnants of pride,' returned the lady. 'And you, +my lord, has it fared well with you?' + +Malcolm, happy in her interest, poured forth all that he had to tell, +and she listened as Esclairmonde alone could listen. There was +something in her very expression of attention that seemed to make the +speaker take out the alloy and leave only his purest gold to meet her +ears. Malcolm forgot those throbs of foolish wild hope that had shot +across him like demon temptations to hermit saints, and only felt +that the creature of his love and reverence was listening benignly as +he told her of the exceeding delight that he was unravelling in +learned lore; how each step showed him further heights, and how he +had come to view the Light of the World as the light of wisdom, to +the research of which he meant to devote his entire life, among +universities and manuscripts. + +'The Light of Wisdom,' repeated Esclairmonde--'so it may be, for +Christ is Heavenly Wisdom; but I doubt me if the Light of the World +lies solely in books and universities.' + +'Nay,' said Malcolm. 'Once I was fool enough to fancy it was the +light of glory, calling knights to deeds of fame and chivalry. I +have seen mine error now, and--oh, lady, what mean you? where should +that light be, save in the writings of wise and holy men?' + +'Methinks,' said Esclairmonde, 'that the light is there, even as the +light is also before the eyes of the true knight; but it is not only +there.' + +'Where is it then?' said Malcolm. 'In helmet or in cowl, I am the +sworn champion of the Light of the World.' + +'The Light,' said Esclairmonde, looking upwards, 'the true Light of +the World is the Blessed Saviour, the Heavenly Wisdom of God; and His +champions find Him and serve Him in camp, cloister, or school, or +wherever He has marked their path, so as they seek not their own +profit or glory, and lay not up their treasure for themselves on +earth.' + +'Then surely,' said Malcolm, 'the hoards of deep study within the +mind are treasures beyond the earth.' + +'Your schoolmen speak of spirit, mind, and body,' said Esclairmonde-- +'at least so I, an ignorant woman, have been told. Should not the +true Light for eternity lighten the spirit rather than the mind?' + +Malcolm pondered and said: 'I thought I had found the right path at +last!' + +'Nay--never, never did I say otherwise,' cried Esclairmonde. 'To +seek God's Light in good men's words, and pursue it, must be a +blessed task. Every task must be blessed to which He leads. And +when you are enlightened with that light, you will hold it up to +others. When you have found the treasure, you will scatter it here, +and so lay it up above.' + +Esclairmonde's words were almost a riddle to Malcolm, but his +reverence for her made him lay them up deeply, as he watched her +kneeling at the Mass, her upturned face beaming with an angelic +expression. + +His mind was much calmed by this meeting. It had had an absolutely +contrary effect to what King James had expected, by spiritualizing +his love, and increasing that reverence which cast out its +earthliness. That first throb which had been so keen at meeting, and +knowing her not for him, had passed away in the refining of that +distant worship he had paid her in those days of innocence. + +Lady Montagu was quite satisfied with him now. He was the Malcolm of +her first acquaintance, only without his foolish diffidence, and with +a weight and earnestness that made him a man and not a boy; and she +cordially invited him to bring his sister with him, and rest, on the +way southward. He agreed most thankfully, since this would be the +only opportunity of showing Esclairmonde and Lilias one to the other, +as well as one of his own few chances of seeing Esclairmonde. + +Once they must meet, that their promises might be restored the one to +the other; but as the betrothal remained the lady's security, this +could not be done till she became pledged at St. Katharine's. When +the opportunity came, she was to send Malcolm a messenger, and he +would come to her at once. Until then he promised that he would not +leave Great Britain. + +On Monday the cousins proceeded, coming after a time to the route by +which Malcolm had ridden three years before, and where he was now at +home in comparison with Patrick. How redolent it was with +recollections of King Harry, in all his gaiety and grace, ere the +shock of his brother's death had fallen on him! At Thirsk, Malcolm +told of the prowess and the knighthood of honest Trenton and Kitson, +to somewhat incredulous ears. The two squires had been held as +clownish fellows, and the sentiment of the country was that Mistress +Agnes was well quit of them, and the rough guardianship by which they +had kept off all other suitors. As mine host concluded, ''Tis a fine +thing to go to the wars.' + +Hearing that Kitson's mother lived not a mile out of his way, Malcolm +rode to the fine old moated grange, where he found her sitting at her +spinning, presiding over a great plentiful household, while her +second son, a much shrewder-looking man than Sir Christopher, managed +the farm. + +The travellers were welcomed with eager hospitality so soon as it was +understood that they brought tidings of 'our Kit'; and Malcolm's +story was listened to with tears of joy by the old lady, while the +brother could not get over his amazement at hearing that Trenton and +Kitson had become a proverb in the camp for oneness in friendship. + +'Made it up with Will Trenton! And never fought it out! I'd never +know our Kit again after that!' + +His steady bravery, his knighthood, and the King's praise, his having +assisted in saving Lord Glenuskie's life against such odds, did not +seem to strike Wilfred Kitson half as much as the friendship with +Trenton, and Malcolm did not think the regret was very great at the +two knights having given up their intention of returning. 'Our +Kit's' place seemed to have closed up behind him; Wilfred seemed to +be too much master to be ready to give up to the elder brother; and +even the mother had learnt to do without him. 'I'll warrant,' quoth +she, 'that now he is a knight and got used to fine French ways, he'll +think nothing good enow for him. And if he brought Will Trenton with +him, I'd not sit at the board with the fellow.--But ye'll ride over, +Wilfred, and take care the minx Agnes knows what she's lost. Ay, and +if you knew of a safe hand, Sir, when the shearing is over I'd send +the lad a purse of nobles to keep up his knighthood in the camp, +forsooth.' + +'Certes,' said Malcolm, as after a salt-fish dinner he mounted again, +'if honest Kitson knew, he would scarce turn back from the camp, +where he is somebody. Shall we find ourselves as little wanted when +we get home, Patie?' + +Patrick drew himself up with a happy face of secret assurance. +Nothing could make Lilias forsake him, he well knew. + +At Durham they found their good friend Father Akefield, erst Prior of +Coldingham, but who had been violently dispossessed by the House of +Albany in favour of their candidate, Drax, about a year before, and +was thankful to have been allowed with a few English monks to retire +across the Border to the mother Abbey at Durham. + +The good father could hardly believe his eyes when he beheld Malcolm, +now a comely and personable young gentleman, less handsome and +graceful indeed than many, but with all his painful personal +peculiarities gone, with none of the scared, imploring look, but with +a grave thoughtful earnestness about his face, as though all that +once was timid and wandering was now fixed and steadfast. + +Father Akefield could tell nothing of Lilias since his own expulsion, +but as the Prioress of St. Abbs was herself a Drummond, and no one +durst interfere with her, he had no alarms for her safety. But he +advised the two gentlemen to go straight to St. Abbs, without showing +themselves at Coldingham, lest Prior Drax, being in the Albany +interest, should make any demur at giving her up to the care of the +brother, who still wanted some months of his twenty-first year. + +Accordingly they pushed on, and in due time slept at Berwick, +receiving civilities from the English governor that chafed Patrick's +blood, which became inflammable as soon as he neared the Border; and +rising early the next morning, they passed the gates, and were on +Scottish ground once more, their hearts bounding at the sense that it +was their own land, and would soon be no more a land of misrule. +With their knowledge of King James and his intentions, well might +they have unlimited hopes for the country over which he was about to +reign. + +They turned aside from Coldingham, and made for the sea, and at +length the promontory of St. Abbs Head rose before them; they passed +through the outer buildings intended as shelter for the attendants of +ladies coming to the nunnery, and knocked at the gateway. + +A wicket in the door was opened, and the portress looked out through +a grating. + +'Benedicite, good Sister,' said Malcolm. 'Prithee tell the Mother +Abbess that Malcolm Stewart of Glenuskie is here from the King, and +craves to speak with her and the Lady Lilias.' + +'Lord Malcolm! Lady Lilias! St. Ebba's good mercy!' shrieked the +affrighted portress. They heard her rushing headlong across the +court, and looked on one another in consternation. + +Patrick betook himself to knocking as if he would beat down the door, +and Malcolm leant against it with a foreboding that took away his +breath--dreading the moment when it should be opened. + +The portress and her keys returned again, and parleyed a moment. +'You are the Lord Malcolm in very deed--in the flesh?' + +'Wherefore not?' demanded Malcolm. + +'Nay, but we heard ye were slain, my lord,' explained the portress-- +letting him in, however, and leading them across the court, to where +the Mother Abbess, Annabel Drummond, awaited them in the parlour. + +'Alas, Sirs, what grievous error has this been?' was her exclamation; +while Malcolm, scarcely waiting for salutation, demanded, 'Where is +my sister?' + +'How? In St. Hilda's keeping at Whitby, whither the King sent for +her,' said the Abbess. + +'The King!' cried Malcolm, 'we come from the King! Oh, what +treachery has been here?' + +'And you, Lord Malcolm--and you, my kinsman, Sir Patrick of the +Braes, how do I see you here? We had heard you both were dead.' + +'You heard a lying tale then, good Mother,' said Patrick, gruffly, +'no doubt devised for the misery of the--of my--' He could not +finish the sentence, and Malcolm entreated the Abbess to tell the +whole. + +It appeared that about a year previously the chaplain of the +monastery had learnt at Coldingham that Sir John Swinton of Swinton +had sent home tidings that Patrick Drummond had been thrown from his +horse and left behind in a village which the English had harried, and +as he could not move, he was sure to have been either burnt or hung. +This conclusion was natural, and argued no malice in the reporter; +and while poor Lilias was still in her first agony of grief, Prior +Drax sent over intelligence derived from the Duke of Albany himself +that Malcolm Stewart of Glenuskie had been stabbed in the forest of +Vincennes. This report Malcolm himself accounted for. He had heard +a Scots tongue among his foes, though national feeling had made him +utterly silent on that head to the Duke of Bedford, and he guessed it +to belong to a certain M'Kay, whose clan regarded themselves as at +feud with the Stewarts, and of whom he had heard as living a wild +routier life. He had probably been hired by Ghisbert for the attack, +and had returned home and spread the report of its success. + +Some few weeks later, the Abbess Annabel continued, there had arrived +two monks from Coldingham, with an escort, declaring themselves to +have received orders from King James to transport the Lady Lilias to +the nunnery at Whitby, where the Abbess had promised to receive her, +till he could determine her fate. + +The forlorn and desolate Lilias, believing herself to stand alone in +the world, was very loth to quit her shelter and her friends at St. +Abbs; but the Abbess, doubting her own ability to protect her from +the rapacious grasp of Walter Stewart, now that she had, as she +believed, become an heiress, and glad to avert from her house the +persecution that such protection would bring upon it, had gratefully +heard of this act of consideration on the King's part, and expedited +her departure. The two monks, Simon Bell and Ringan Johnstone, had +not returned to the monastery, but had been thought to be in the +parent house at Durham; but Malcolm, who knew Brother Simon by sight, +was clear that he had not seen him there. + +All this had taken place a year ago, and there could be no doubt that +some treachery had been exercised. Nothing had since been heard of +Lilias; none of Malcolm's letters had reached St. Abbs, having +doubtless been suppressed by the Prior of Coldingham; and all that +was certain was that Walter Stewart, to whom their first suspicions +directed themselves, had not publicly avouched any marriage with +Lilias or claimed the Glenuskie estates, or the King, who had of late +been in close correspondence with Scotland, must have heard of it. +And it was also hardly possible that the Regent Murdoch and his sons, +though they might for a few weeks have been misled by M'Kay's report, +should not have soon become aware of Malcolm's existence. + +Unless, then, Walter had married her 'on the first brash,' as Patrick +called it, he might not have thought her a prize worth the winning; +but the whole aspect of affairs had become most alarming, and Malcolm +turned pale as death at the thought that his sister might be +suffering retribution for the sin he had contemplated. + +The danger was terrible! He could not imagine Lilias to have the +moral grandeur and force of Esclairmonde. Moreover, she supposed her +lover dead, and had not the same motive for guarding her troth. +Forlorn and despairing, she might have yielded, and Walter Stewart +was, Malcolm verily believed, worse to deal with than even Boemond. +As the whole danger and uncertainty came over him, his senses seemed +to reel; he leant back in his seat, and heard as in the midst of a +dream his sister's sobs and groans, Patrick's fierce and furious +exclamations, and the Abbess's attempts at consoling him. Dizzy with +horror at the scene he realized, Lilias's cries and shrieks of +entreaty were ringing in his ear, when suddenly a sweet full low +voice seemed to come through them, 'I am bound ever to pray for you +and your sister.' Mingled with the cry came ever the sweet soft +Litany cadences--'For all that are desolate and oppressed: we +beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord.' Gradually the cries seemed to be +swallowed up, both voices blended in Kyrie eleison and then in the +Gloria, and at that moment he became aware of Patrick crying, 'I will +seek her in every castle in Scotland.' + +'Stay, Patrick,' he said, rising, though forced to hold by his chair; +'that must be my part.' + +'You--why, the laddie is white as a sheet! He well-nigh swooned at +the tidings. You seek her, forsooth!' and Patrick laughed bitterly. + +'Yes, Patie,' said Malcolm, 'for this I am strong. It is my duty and +not yours, and God will strengthen me for it.' + +Patrick burst out at this: 'Neither man nor devil shall tell me it +is not mine!' + +'You are the King's prisoner still,' said Malcolm, rising to energy; +'you are bound to return to him. The tidings must be taken to him at +once.' + +'A groom could do that.' + +'Neither so swiftly nor surely as you. Moreover, your word of honour +binds you not to wander at your own pleasure.' + +'My honour binds me not to trust you--wee Malcolm--to wander into the +wolf's cage alone.' + +'I am not the silly feckless callant I once was, Patie,' answered +Malcolm. 'There are many places where my student's serge gown will +take me safely, where your corslet and lance would never find +entrance. No one will know me again as I am now: will they, holy +Mother?' + +'Assuredly not,' said the Abbess. + +'A student is too mean a prey to be meddled with,' proceeded Malcolm, +'and is sure of hospitality in castle or convent. I can try at +Coldingham to find out whither the two monks are gone, and then +follow up the track.' + +Patrick stormed at the plan, and was most unwilling it should be +adopted. He at least must follow, and keep watch over his young +cousin, or it would be a mere throwing the helve after the hatchet--a +betrayal of his trust. + +But a little reflection convinced him that thus to follow would only +bring suspicion on Malcolm and defeat his plans; and that it were +better to obtain some certain information ere the King should come +home, and have to interfere with a high hand; and Malcolm's arguments +about his obligations as a captive, too, had their effect. He +perceived his own incapacity to act; and in his despair at nothing +being done consented to risk Malcolm in the search, while he himself +should proceed to the King, only ascertaining on the way that Lilias +was not at Whitby. And so, in grief and anxiety, the cousins parted, +and Malcolm alone durst speak a word of hope. + + + +CHAPTER XVII: THE BEGGING SCHOLAR + + + +'The poor scholar,' now only existing in Ireland and Brittany--nay, +we believe extinct there since the schoolmaster has become not +abroad, but at home, in Government colleges--was to be found +throughout the commonwealth of Europe in the Middle Ages. Young +lads, in whom convent schools had developed a thirst for learning, +could only gratify it by making their way to some university, where +between begging, singing, teaching, receiving doles, earning rewards +in encounters of wit and learning, doing menial services and using +all manner of shifts, they contrived to live a hard life, half savage +on the one side, highly intellectual upon the other. They would suck +the marrow of one university, and then migrate to another; and the +rank they had gained in the first was available in the second, so +that it was no means uncommon for them to bring away degrees from +half the universities in Europe, all of which formed one general +system--all were like islands of one country, whose common language +was queer Latin, and whose terms, manners, and customs were alike in +all main points. + +Scotland contributed many of her sons to this curious race of +vagabond students, when she herself was without any university to +satisfy the cravings of her thoughtful and intellectual people. 'No +country without a Scot or a flea' was an uncomplimentary proverb due +to the numerous young clerks, equally fierce for frays and for +lectures, who flocked to the seats of learning on the Continent, and +sometimes became naturalized there, sometimes came home again, to +fight their way to the higher benefices of the Church, or to become +councillors of state. + +It was true that Malcolm was an Oxford scholar, or rather bachelor, +and that Oxford and Cambridge were almost the only universities where +Scots were not--their place being taken by multitudinous Irish; yet +not only were all universities alike in essentials, but he had seen +and heard enough of that at Paris to be able to personate a clerk +from thence. + +It was no small plunge for one hitherto watched, tended, and guarded +as Malcolm had been, to set forth entirely alone; but as he had +approached manhood, and strengthened in body, his spirit had gained +much in courage, and the anxiety about his sister swallowed up all +other considerations. Even while he entreated the prayers of the +Abbess, he felt quite sure that he had those of Esclairmonde; and +when he had hunted out of his mails the plain bachelor's rabbit-skin +hood and black gown--which, perhaps, was a little too fine in texture +for the poor wanderer--and fastened on his back, with a leathern +thong, a package containing a few books and a change of linen, his +pale and intellectual face made him look so entirely the young clerk, +that Patrick hardly believed it was Malcolm. + +And when the roads parted, and Drummond and his escort had to turn +towards Berwick, while Malcolm took the path to the monastery, it was +the younger who was the stronger and more resolute of the two; for +Patrick could neither reconcile himself to peril the boy, who had +always been his anxious trust, nor to return to the King without him; +and yet no one who loved Lilias could withhold him from his quest. + +Malcolm did not immediately speed to the monastery on taking leave of +Patrick. He stood first to watch the armour flashes gradually die +away, and the little troop grow smaller to his eye, across the brown +moor, till they were entirely out of sight, and he himself left +alone. Then he knelt by a bush of gorse, told his beads, and +earnestly entreated direction and aid for himself, and protection for +his sister; and when the sun grew so low as to make it time for a +wanderer to seek harbour, he stained and daggled his gown in the mire +and water of a peat-moss, so as to destroy its Oxford gloss, took a +book in his hand, and walked towards the monastery, reciting Latin +verses in the sing-song tone then universally followed. + +As he came among the fields, he saw that the peasants, and lay +brethren who had been working among them, were returning, some from +sowing, others from herding the cattle, which they drove before them +to the byre within the protecting wall of the monastery. + +A monk--with a weather-beaten face and athletic figure, much like a +farmer's of the present day--overtook him, and hailed him with +'Benedicite, you there and welcome to your clerkship! Are you coming +for supper and bed in the convent?' + +Malcolm knew good-natured Brother Nicolas, and kept his hood well +over his face after the first salutation; though he felt confident +that Lord Malcolm could hardly be recognized in the begging scholar, +as he made reply, 'Salve, reverende frater. Venio de Lutetia +Parisiorum.' {1} + +'Whisht with your Latin, laddie,' said the brother. 'Speak out, if +you've a Scots tongue in your head, and have not left it in foreign +parts.' + +'For bed and board, holy father, I shall be most thankful,' replied +Malcolm. + +'That's more like it,' said the brother, who acted as a kind of +farming steward, and was a hearty, good-natured gossip. 'An' what's +the name of ye?' + +He gave his real Christian name; and added that he came from +Glenuskie, where the good Tutor of Glenuskie had been kind enough to +notice him. + +'Ay,' said Brother Nicolas, 'he was a guid man to all towardly +youths. He died in this house, more's the pity.' + +'Yea, Sir--so I heard say,' returned Malcolm. 'He was a good friend +to me!' he added, to cover his heavy sigh. 'And, Sir, how went it +with the young laird and leddy?' + +'For the young laird--a feckless, ugsome, sickly wean he was, puir +laddie--a knight cam by, an' behoved to take him to the King. Nay, +but if you've been at Parish--if that's what ye mean with your +Lutetia--ye'll have seen him an' the King.' + +'I saw the King,' answered Malcolm; 'but among the Englishry.' + +'A sorry sight enow!' said the monk; 'but he'll soon find his Scots +heart again; and here we've got rid of the English leaven from the +house, and be all sound and leal Scots here.' + +'And the lady?' Malcolm ventured to ask. 'She had a winsome face.' + +'Ho! ho! what have young clerks to do wi' winsome faces?' laughed the +Benedictine. + +'She was good to me,' Malcolm could truly say. + +'They had her in St. Abbs yonder,' said the monk. + +'Is she there?' asked Malcolm. 'I would pay my duty and thanks to +her.' + +'Now--there I cannot say,' replied Brother Nicolas. 'My good Mother +Abbess and our Prior are not the friends they were in Prior +Akefield's time; and there's less coming and going between the +houses. There was a noise that Lord Malcolm had been slain, and I +did hear that, thereupon, she had been claimed as a ward of the +Crown. But I cannot say. If ye gang to St. Abbs the morn, ye may +hear if she be there--and at any rate get the dole.' + +It was clear that the good brother knew no more, and Malcolm could +only thank him for his condescension, and follow among the herdsmen +into the well-known monastery court. + +Here he availed himself of his avowed connection with Glenuskie, to +beg to be shown good old Sir David Drummond's grave. A flat gray +stone in the porch was pointed out to him; and beside this he knelt, +until the monks flocked in for prayers--which were but carelessly and +hurriedly sung; and then followed supper. It was all so natural to +him, that it was with an effort that he recalled that his place was +not at the high table, as Lord Malcolm Stewart, but that Malcolm, the +nameless begging scholar, must be trencher-fellow with the servants +and lay brethren. He was the less concerned, that here there was +less danger of recognition, and more freedom of conversation. + +Things were evidently much altered. A novice was indeed, as usual, +placed aloft in the refectory pulpit, to read aloud to the brethren +during their repast, but no one seemed to think it needful to +preserve the decorous silence that had been rigidly exacted during +Prior Akefield's time, and there was a continual buzz of +conversation. Lent though it was, the fish was of the most esteemed +kinds, and it was evident that, like the monks of Melrose, they 'made +gude kale.' Few of the kindly old faces that Malcolm remembered were +to be seen under their cowls. Prior Drax himself had much more the +countenance of a moss-trooper than of a monk--mayhap he was then +meditating that which he afterwards carried out successfully, i.e. +the capture and appropriation of a whole instalment of King James's +ransom, on its way across the Border; and there was a rude +recklessness and self-indulgence about the looks, voices, and manners +of the brethren he had brought with him, such as made Malcolm feel +that if he had had his wish, and remained at Coldingham, he should +soon have found it no haven of peace. + +The lay-brothers and old servants were fixtures, but the old faithful +and devout ones looked forlorn and unhappy and there had been a great +importation of the ruffianly men-at-arms, whom the more pugnacious +ecclesiastics, as well as nobles, of Scotland, were apt to maintain. +Guards there had been in old times, but kept under strict discipline; +whereas, in the rude conduct of these men, there was no sign that +they knew themselves to be in a religious house. Malcolm, keeping +aloof from these as much as might be, gave such an account of himself +as was most consistent with truth, since it was necessary to account +for his returning so young from his studies. He had, he said, been +told that there was an inheritance fallen due to him, and that the +kinsman, in whose charge his sister had been left, was dead; and he +had come home to seek her out, and inquire into the matter of his +heirship. + +Rude jokes, from some of the new denizens of the monastery, were +spent on the improbability of his finding sister or lands; if it were +in the Barony of Glenuskie, the House of Albany had taken the +administration of that into their own hands. + +'Nay--but,' said Malcolm, 'could I but see my young Lady Lilias, she +might make suit for me.' + +The gray-headed lay-brother, to whom he addressed himself, replied +that it was little the Lady Lilias could do, but directed him to St. +Abbs to find her; whereat one of the men-at-arms burst out laughing, +and crying, 'That's a' that ye ken, auld Davie! As though the Master +of Albany would let a bonnie lassie ware hersel' and her tocher on +stone walls and dour old nuns.' + +'Has she wedded the Master of Albany, then?' asked Malcolm, +concealing his anxiety as best he might. + +'That's as he pleases; and by my troth he took pains enow to get +her!' + +'What pains?' + +'Why, once she slipped out of his very fingers; that time that he had +laid hands on her, and the hirpling doited brother of hers cam down +with a strange knight, put her into St. Abbs, and made off for +England--so they said. Some of the rogues would have it 'twas St. +Andrew in bodily shape, and that he tirled the young laird, as was +only fit for a saint, aff to heaven wi' him; for he was no more seen +in these parts.' + +'Nay, that couldna be,' put in another soldier. 'Sandy M'Kay took +his aith that he was in the English camp--more shame till him--an' +was stickit dead for meddling between King Harry's brother and his +luve. It sorted him weel, I say.' + +'Aweel!' continued the first; 'gane is he, and sma' loss wi' him! +An' yon old beldame over at St. Abbs, she kens weel how to keep a +lass wi' a tocher--so what does the Master but sends a letter ower to +our Prior, bidding him send two trusty brethren, as though from the +King, to conduct her to Whitby?' + +'Ha!' said Malcolm; 'but that's ower the Border.' + +'Even so; but the Glenuskies are all English at heart, and it sicker +trained away the silly lassie.' + +'And then?'--the other man-at-arms laughed. + +'Why, at the first hostelry, ye can guess what sort of nuns were +ready to meet her! I promise ye she skirled, and ca'ed Heaven and +earth to help; but Brother Simon and Brother Ringan gave their word +they'd see nae ill dune to her, and she rade with them on each side +of her, and us tall fellows behind and before, till we cam to Doune.' + +'And what became of her, the poor lassie, then?' inquired Malcolm, +steadying his voice with much effort. + +'Ye maun ask the Master that,' said the soldier. 'I ken nae mair; I +was sent on anither little errand of the Earl of Fife into the +Highlands, and only cam back hither a week syne, to watch the +Border.' + +'Had it been St. Andrew that saved her before, he wad hae come +again,' pondered the lay-brother. 'He'd hardly hae given her up.' + +'Weel, I heard the lassie cry on the Master to mind the aith he had +made the former time; an' though he tried to laugh her to scorn, his +eyes grew wild, and there were some that tell'd me they lookit to see +that glittering awsome knight among them again! My certie, they maun +hae been feared enow the time he did come.' + +Malcolm had now had his fears and suspicions so far confirmed, that +he perceived what his course should next be. Strange to say, in +spite of the horror of knowing his sister to have been a whole year +in Walter Stewart's power, he was neither hopeless nor disheartened. +Lilias seemed to have kept her persecutor at bay once, and she might +have done so again--if only by the appeal to the mysterious relic, on +which his oath to abstain from violence had been sworn. And +confidence in Esclairmonde's prayers continued to buoy him up, as he +recited his own, and formed his designs for ascertaining whether she +were to be found at Doune--either as wife, or as captive, to Walter, +Earl of Fife and heir of Albany. + +So soon as the doors of Coldingham Priory were opened, he was on his +way northward. It was a sore and trying journey, in the bitter March +weather, for one so little used to hardship. He did not fail in +obtaining shelter or food; his garb was everywhere a passport; but he +grew weary and footsore, and his anxiety greatly increased when he +found that fatigue was bringing back the lameness, which greatly +enhanced the likelihood of his being recognized. Kind monks, and +friendly gude-wives, hospitably persuaded the worn student to remain +and rest, till his blistered feet were whole; but he pressed on +whenever he found it possible to travel, and after the first week +found his progress less tardy and painful. + +Resting at Edinburgh for Passion-tide and Easter Day, he found that +the Regent Albany himself, with all his family, were at Doune, and he +accordingly made his way thither; rejoicing that he had had some +little time to perfect himself in his part, before rehearsing it to +the persons most likely to detect his disguise. + +Along the banks and braes of bonny Doune he slowly moved, with weary +limbs; looking up to the huge pile of the majestic castle in +sickening of heart at the doubt that was about to become a certainty, +and that involved the happiness or the absolute misery of his +sister's life. Nay, he would almost have preferred to find that she +had perished in her resistance, rather than have become wife to such +a man as Walter Stewart. + +The Duke of Albany, as representing majesty, kept up all the state +that Scottish majesty was capable of, in its impoverished irregular +state. Hosts of rough lawless warriors, men-at-arms, squires and +knights, lived at free quarters, in a sort of rude plenty, in and +about the Castle; eating and drinking at the Regent's expense, +sleeping where they could, in hall or stable, and for clothing and +armour trusting to 'spulzie'; always ready for violence, without much +caring on whom exercised--otherwise hunting, or lounging, or swelling +their master's disorderly train. + +This retinue was almost at its largest at this time, being swelled by +the following of the two younger sons of Murdoch, Robert and +Alexander; and the courts of the Castle were filled with rude, +savage-looking men, some few grooming horses, others with nothing to +do but to shout forth their jeers at the pale, black-gowned student, +who timidly limped into their lair. + +Timidly--yes; for the awful chances heavily oppressed him; and the +horrible scurrility and savagery that greeted him on all sides made +his heart faint at the thought of his Lily in this cage of foul +animals. He did not fear for himself, and never paused until a +shouting circle of idle ruffians set themselves full in his way, to +badger and bait the poor scholar with taunts and insults--hemming him +in, bawling out ribald mirth, as a pack of hounds fall on some stray +dog, or, as Malcolm thought, in a moment half of sick horror, half of +resolute resignation, like wild cattle--fat bulls of Bashan closing +in on every side. So horrible a moment of distress he had never +known; but suddenly, as he stood summoning all his strength, panting +with dismay, inwardly praying, and trying to close his ears and +commend himself to One who knew what mockery is, there was an opening +of the crowd, a youth darted down among them, with a loud cry of +'Shame! Out on you! A poor scholar!' and taking Malcolm's hand, led +him forward; while a laugh of mockery rose in the distance--'Like to +like.' + +'Ay, my friend and brother, I am Baccalaureus, even as you are,' +eagerly said the young gentleman, in whom Malcolm, somewhat to his +alarm, recognized his cousin, James Kennedy, the King's nephew, a +real Parisian 'bejanus,' or bec jaune, {2} when they last had met in +the Hotel de St. Pol; and thus not only qualified to confute and +expose him, should he show any ignorance of details, but also much +more likely to know him than those who had not seen him for many +months before he had left Scotland. + +But James Kennedy asked no questions, only said kindly, in the Latin +that was always spoken in the University, 'Pray pardon us! Mores +Hyperboreis desunt. {3} The Regent would be grieved, if he knew how +these scelerati {4} have sorted you. Come, rest and wash--it will +soon be supper-time.' + +He took Malcolm to an inner court, filled for him a cup of ale, for +his immediate refreshment, and led him to a spout of clear water, in +the side of the rock on which the Castle stood; where a stone basin +afforded the only facilities for washing that the greater part of the +inhabitants of the Castle expected, and, in effect, more than they +commonly used. Malcolm, however, was heartily glad of the +refreshment of removing the dust from his weary face and feet--and +heartily thanked his protector, in the same dog-Latin. Kennedy +waited for him, and as a great bell began to ring, said 'Pro caena,' +{5} and conducted him towards the great hall while Malcolm felt much +impelled to make himself known, but was conscious that he had not so +comported himself towards his cousin at Paris as to deserve much +favour from him. + +A high table was spread in the hall, with the usual appliances +befitting princes and nobles. The other tables, below the dais, were +of the rudest description, and stained with accumulations of grease +and ale; and no wonder, since trenchers were not, and each man hacked +a gobbet for himself from the huge pieces of beef carried round on +spits--nor would the guests have had any objection, during a +campaign, to cook the meat in the fashion described by Froissart, +between themselves and the saddle. These were the squirearchy; +Malcolm's late persecutors did not aspire to the benches around these +boards, or only at second hand, and for the most part had no seat but +the unclean straw and rushes that strewed the floor. + +As James Kennedy entered the hall with Malcolm, there came from +another door, marshalled by the seneschal in full feudal state, the +Regent Duke of Albany himself, his wife, a daughter or two, two sons- +-and Malcolm saw, with beating heart, Lilias herself, pale worn, +sorrowful-looking, grievously altered, but still his own Lily. +Others followed, chiefly knights and attendants, but Malcolm saw no +one but Lily. She took her place dejectedly, and never raised her +eyes towards him, even when, on the Regent's question, 'What have ye +there, Jamie?' Kennedy stood forth and answered that it was a +scholar, a student, for whom he asked the hospitality of his kinsman. + +'He is welcome,' said the Regent, a man of easy good-nature, whose +chief misfortune was, that being of weak nature, he came between a +wicked father and wickeder sons. He was a handsome man, with much of +the stately appearance of King James himself, and the same +complexion; but it was that sort of likeness which was almost +provoking, by seeming to detract from the majesty of the lineaments +themselves, as seen in him who alone knew how to make them a mask for +a great soul. His two sons, Robert and Alexander, laughed as they +saw Kennedy's companion, and called out, 'So that's the brotherhood +of learning, is it, Jamie?--forgathering with any beggar in the +street!' + +'Yea,' said Kennedy, nothing daunted, 'and finding him much better +mannered than you!' + +'Ay!' sighed Murdoch, feebly; 'when I grew up, it was at the Castles +of Perth and Doune that we looked for the best manners. Now--' + +'We leave them to the lick-platters that have to live by them,' said +Alexander, rudely. + +Kennedy, meanwhile, gave the young scholar in charge to a gray-headed +retainer, who seemed one of the few who had any remains of good- +breeding; and then offered to say Grace--he being the nearest +approach to an ecclesiastic present--as the chaplain was gone to an +Easter festivity at his Abbey. Malcolm thus obtained a seat at the +second table, and a tolerable share of supper; but he could hardly +eat, from intense anxiety, and scarcely knew whether to be glad or +sorry that he was out of sight of Lily. + +By and by, a moment's lull of the universal din enabled Malcolm to +hear the Regent saying, 'Verily, there is a look of gentle nurture +about the lad. Look you, James, when the tables are drawn, you shall +hold a disputation with him. It will be sport to hear how you chop +logic at your Universities yonder.' + +Malcolm's spirit sank. Such disputations were perfectly ordinary +work at both Oxford and Paris, and, usually, he was quite capable of +sustaining his part in them; but his heart was so full, his mind so +anxious, his condition so dangerous, that he felt as if he could by +no means rally that alertness of argument, and readiness of +quotation, that were requisite even in the merest tyro. However, he +made a great effort. He secretly invoked the Light of Wisdom; tried +to think himself back into the aisles of St. Mary's Church, and to +call up the key-notes of some of the stock arguments; hoping that, if +the selection of the subject were left to Kennedy, he would hit on +one of those most familiar at Oxford. + +The supper was ended, the tables were removed, and the challenge took +place. Duke Murdoch, leaning back in his high chair by the peat- +fire, while the ladies sat round at their spinning, called for the +two young clerks to begin their tourney of words. They stood +opposite one another, on the step of the dais; and Kennedy, as host +and challenger, assigned to his opponent the choice of a subject, +when Malcolm, brightening, proposed one that he had so often heard +and practised on, as to have the arguments at his fingers' ends; +namely, that the real consists only in that which is substantial to +the senses, and which we see, hear, taste, smell, or touch. + +Kennedy's shrewd gray eye glanced at him in a manner that startled +him, as he made reply, 'Fellow-alumnus, you speak as Oxford scholars +speak; but I rede ye well that the real is not that which is grossly +tangible to the corporeal sense, but the idea that is conceived +within the immortal intelligence.' + +The argument was carried on in the vernacular, but there was an +unlimited license of quotation from authors of all kinds, classics, +Fathers, and schoolmen. It was like a game at chess, in which the +first moves were always so much alike, that they might have been made +by automatons; and Malcolm was repeating reply and counter-reply, +almost by rote, when a citation brought in by Kennedy again startled +him. + +'Outward things,' said James, 'are the mere mark; for have we not +heard how + + +"Telephus et Peleus, quum pauper et exsul uterque, +Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba"?' {6} + + +Was this to prove that he recognized a wandering prince in his +opponent? thought Malcolm; but, much on his guard, he made answer, as +usual, in his native tongue. 'That which is not touched and held is +but a vain and fleeting shadow--"solvitur in nube." {7} + +'Negatur, it is denied!' said Kennedy, fixing his eyes full upon him. +'The Speculum of the Soul, which is immortal, retains the image even +while the bodily presence is far away. Wherefore else was it that +Ulysses sat as a beggar by his paternal hearth, or that Cadmus +wandered to seek his sister?' + +This was anything but the regular illustration--the argument was far +too directly ad hominem--and Malcolm hesitated for a moment, ere +framing his reply. 'If the image had satisfied the craving of their +hearts, they had never wandered, nor endangered themselves.' + +'Nor,' said Kennedy, 'endeared themselves to all who love the leal +and the brave, and count these indeed as verities for which to live.' + +From the manner in which these words were spoken, Malcolm had no +further doubt either that Kennedy knew him, or that he meant to +assist him; and the discussion thenceforth proceeded without further +departures from the regular style, and was sustained with +considerable spirit, till the Regent grew weary of it, and bed-time +approached, when Kennedy announced his intention of taking his +fellow-student to share his chamber; and, as this did not appear at +all an unnatural proposal, in the crowded Castle, Malcolm followed +him up various winding stairs into a small circular chamber, with a +loop-hole window, within one of the flanking towers. + +Carefully closing the heavy door, Kennedy held out his hands. 'Fair +cousin,' he said, 'this is bravely done of you.' + +'Will it save my sister?' asked Malcolm, anxiously. + +'It should,' said his kinsman; 'but how can it be? Whatever is done, +must be ere Walter Stewart returns.' + +'Tell me all! I know nothing--save that she was cruelly lured from +St. Abbs.' + +'I know little more,' said Kennedy. 'It was on a false report of +your death, and Walter had well-nigh obtained a forcible marriage; +when her resistance and cries to Heaven daunted the monk who was to +have performed the rite, so that he, in a sort, became her protector. +When she was brought here, Walter swore he would bend her to his +will; shut her up in the old keep, and kept her there, scantily fed, +and a close prisoner, while he went forth on one of his forays. The +Regent coming here meantime, found the poor maiden in her captivity, +and freed her so far that she lives, to all appearance, as becomes +his kinswoman; but the Duchess is cruelly strict with her, being +resolved, as she says, to take down her pride.' + +'They must know that I live,' said Malcolm. + +'They do; but Walter is none the less resolved not to be balked. +Things came to a wild pass a few weeks syne. The Regent had never +dared tell him how far matters had gone for bringing back the King, +when one day Walter came in, clad for hawking; and, in his rudest +manner, demanded the falcon that was wont to sit on his father's +wrist, and that had never been taken out by any other. The Regent +refused to part with the bird, as he had oft done before; whereupon +his son, in his fury, snatched her from his wrist, and wrung her head +off before all our eyes; then turning fiercely on your poor sister, +told her that "yon gled should be a token to her, of how they fared +who withheld themselves from him." Then rose the Duke, trembling +within rage; "Ay, Wat," said he, "ye hae been owermuch for me. We +will soon have ane at home that will ken how to guide ye." Walter +looked at him insolently, and muttered, "I've heard of this before! +They that wad have a master, may live under a master--but I'm not ane +of them;" and then, turning upon Lady Lilias, he pointed to the dead +hawk, and told her that, unless she yielded to him with a good grace, +that bird showed her what she might expect, long ere the King or her +brother were across the border.' + +'And where is he now?' + +'In Fife, striving to get a force together to hinder the King's +return. He'll not do that; men are too weary of misrule to join him +against King James; but he is like, any day, to come back with +reivers enough to terrify his father, and get your sister into his +hands--indeed, his mother is ready to give her up to him whenever he +asks. He has sworn to have her now, were it merely to vex the King +and you, and show that he is to be daunted neither by man, heaven, +nor hell.' + +'And he may come?' + +'Any day or any night,' said James. 'Since he went I have striven, +in vain, to devise some escape for your sister; but Heaven has surely +sent you to hinder so foul a wrong! Yet, if you went to Glenuskie +and raised your vassals--' + +'It would be loss of time,' said Malcolm; 'and this matter may not be +put to the doubtful issue of a fray between my men and his villains. +Out of this place must she go at once. But, alas! how win to the +speech of her?' + +'That can I do,' said Kennedy. 'For a few brief moments, each day, +have I spoken to her in the chapel. Nay, I had left this place +before now, had she not prayed me to remain as her only friend.' + +'Heaven must requite you, Cousin James,' said Malcolm, warmly. 'I +deserved not this of you.' + +'All that I desire,' said Kennedy, 'is to see this land of ours cease +to be full of darkness and cruel habitations. Malcolm, you know the +King better than I; may we not trust that he will come as a redresser +of wrongs?' + +'Know you not his pledge to himself?--"I will make the key keep the +castle, and the bracken bush keep the cow, though I live the life of +a dog to bring it about!"' + +'God strengthen his hand,' said Kennedy, with tears in his eyes; 'and +bring better days to our poor land. Cousin, has not your heart burnt +within you, to be doing somewhat to bring these countrymen of ours to +better mind?' + +'I have grieved,' said Malcolm. 'The sight has been the woe and +horror of my whole life; and either it is worse now than when I went +away, or I see it clearer.' + +'It is both,' said Kennedy; 'and, Malcolm, it is borne in on me that +we, who have seen better things, have a heavy charge! The King may +punish marauders, and enforce peace; but it will be but the rule of +the strong hand, unless men's hearts be moved! Our clergy--they bear +the office of priests--but their fierceness and their ignorance would +scarce be believed in France or England; and how should it be +otherwise, with no schools at home save the abbeys--and the abbeys +almost all fortresses held by fierce noblemen's sons?' + +Malcolm would much rather have discussed the means of rescuing his +sister, but James Kennedy's heart was full of a youth's ardent plans +for the re-awakening of religion in his country, chiefly through the +improved education of the clergy, and it was not easy to bring his +discourse to a close. + +'You--you were to wed a great Flemish heiress?' he said. 'You will +do your part, Cousin, in the founding of a University--such as has +changed ourselves so greatly.' + +Malcolm smiled. 'My only bride is learning,' he said; 'my other +betrothal is but in name, for the safety of the lady.' + +'Then,' cried Kennedy joyfully, 'you will give yourself. Learning +and culture turned to God's service, for this poor country's sake, in +one of birth like you, may change her indeed.' + +Was this the reading of Esclairmonde's riddle? suddenly thought +Malcolm. Was the true search for heavenly Light, then, to consist in +holding up to his countrymen the lamp he was kindling for himself? +Must true wisdom consist in treasuring knowledge, not for his own +honour among learned men, or the delectation of his own mind, but to +scatter it among these rude northern souls? Must the vision of +learned research and scholarly calm vanish, as cloistral peace, and +chivalrous love and glory, had vanished before? and was the lot of a +hard-working secular priest that which called him? + + + +CHAPTER XVIII: CLERK DAVIE + + + +For Malcolm to speak with his sister was well-nigh an impossibility. +Had he been detected, he would have been immediately treated as a +spy, and the suspicion thus excited would have been a dangerous +preparation for the King as well as for himself; nor was there any +pretext for giving the wandering scholar an interview with her. + +But harsh and strict as was the Duchess of Albany--a tall, raw-boned, +red-haired woman, daughter of the fierce old Earl of Lennox--and +resolved as she was to bend Lilias by persecution to accept her son, +she could not debar a young gentleman of the royal kindred, like +James Kennedy, from entering the apartment where the ladies of the +family sat with their needles; and the Regent, half from pity, half +from shame, had refused to permit Lilias Stewart's being treated as a +mere captive. + +Thus Malcolm remained in Kennedy's room in much anxiety, while his +cousin went forth to do his best in his cause, and after some hours +returned to him with the tidings that he had succeeded in letting +Lily know that he was in the Castle. Standing over her while she +bent over her embroidery, and thus concealing her trembling +agitation, he had found it possible to whisper in her ears the +tidings of her brother having come to save her, and of hearing her +insist that Malcolm, 'wee Malcolm, must run no peril, but that she +would do and dare everything--nay, would prefer death itself to +Walter Stewart.' + +'Have you any device in this matter?' demanded James Kennedy, when he +had thus spoken. + +'Have you your college gown here?' inquired Malcolm. + +'I have, in yon kist,' said Kennedy. 'Would you disguise her +therein? You and she are nearly of a height.' + +'Ay,' said Malcolm. 'The plot I thought on is this--the worst is +that the risk rests with you.' + +'That is naught, less than naught,' said Kennedy. 'I had risked +myself ten times over had I seen any hope for her in so doing.' + +Malcolm then explained his plan, namely, that if Lilias could have +Kennedy's gown conveyed to her, she should array herself therein, and +be conducted out of the castle by her cousin by one gate, he himself +in secular garb going by another, and joining at some place of +meeting, whence, as a pair of brothers, Malcolm and she might gain +the English border. + +James Kennedy considered, and then added that he could improve on the +plan. He had long intended leaving Doune for his brother's castle, +but only tarried in case he could do anything for Lilias. He would +at supper publicly announce to the Regent his departure for the next +day, and also say that he had detained his fellow-scholar to go +within him. Then arranging for Malcolm's exit in a secular dress +among his escort, as one of the many unobserved loungers, Lilias +should go with him in very early morning in the bachelor's gown, +which he would place in a corner of a dark passage, where she could +find it. Then if Malcolm and she turned aside from his escort, as +the pursuit as soon as her evasion was discovered would be +immediately directed on himself, they would have the more time for +escape. + +It was a complicated plan, but there was this recommendation, that +Malcolm need not lose sight of his sister. Clerk as he was, young +Kennedy could not ride without an escort, and among his followers he +could place Malcolm. Accordingly at supper he announced his desire +to leave Doune at dawn next morning, and was, as a matter of course, +courteously pressed to remain. Malcolm in the meantime eluded +observation as much as possible while watching his sister, who, in +spite of all her efforts, was pale and red by turns, never durst +glance towards him, and trembled whenever any one went near him. + +The ladies at length swept out of the hall, and Robert and Alexander +called for more wine for a rere-supper to drink to James's good +journey; but Kennedy tore himself from their hospitable violence, and +again he and Malcolm were alone, spending a night of anxiety and +consultation. + +Morning came; Malcolm arrayed himself in a somewhat worn dress of +Kennedy's, with the belt and dirk he had carried under his scholar's +garb now without, and a steel cap that his cousin had procured for +him on his head. With a parcel in his arms of Kennedy's gear, he +might pass for a servant sent from home to meet him; and so soon as +this disguise was complete, Kennedy opened the door. On the turret +stair stood a hooded black figure, that started as the door opened. + +Malcolm's heart might well seem to leap to his lips, but both brother +and sister felt the tension of nerve that caution required too much +to give way for a moment. + +Kennedy whispered, 'Your license, fair Cousin,' and passed on with +the free step of lordly birth, while a few paces behind the seeming +scholar humbly followed, and Malcolm, putting on his soldier's tread +and the careless free-and-easy bearing he had affected before Meaux, +brought up the rear with Master Kennedy's mails. + +As they anticipated, the household was not troubling itself to rise +to see the priest off. Not that this made the coast clear, for the +floor of the hall was cumbered with snoring sleepers in all sorts of +attitudes--nay, at the upper table, the flushed, debauched, though +young and handsome, faces of Robert and Alexander Stewart might have +been detected among those who lay snoring among the relics of their +last night's revel. + +The old steward was, however, up and alert, ready to offer the +stirrup-cup, and the horses were waiting in the court; but what they +had by no means expected or desired was that Duke Murdoch himself, in +his long furred gown, came slowly across the hall to bid his young +kinsman Kennedy farewell. + +'Speed you well, my lad,' he said kindly. 'I ask ye not to tarry in +what ye must deem a graceless household;' and he looked sadly across +at his two sons, boys in age, but seniors in excess. 'I would we had +mair lads like you. I fear me a heavy reckoning is coming.' + +'You have ever been good lord to all, Sir,' said Kennedy, +affectionately, for he really loved and pitied the soft-hearted Duke. + +'Too good, maybe,' said Murdoch. 'What! the scholar goes with you?' +and he fixed a look on Lily's face that brought the colour deep into +it under her hood. + +'Yes, Sir,' answered Kennedy, respectfully. 'Here, you Tam,' +indicating Malcolm, 'take him behind you on the sumpter-horse.' + +'Fare ye weel, gentle scholar,' said Murdoch, taking the hand that +Lily was far from offering. 'May ye win to your journey's end safe +and sound; and remember,' he added, holding the fingers tight, and +speaking under the hood, 'if ye have been hardly served, 'twas to +make ye the second lady in Scotland. Take care of her--him, young +laddie,' he added, turning on Malcolm: ''tis best so; and mind' (he +spoke in the same wheedling tone of self-excuse), 'if ye tell the +tale down south, nae ill hath been dune till her, and where could she +have been mair fitly than beneath her kinsman's roof? I'd not let +her go, but that young blude is hot and ill to guide.' + +An answer would have been hard to find; and it was well that he did +not look for any. Indeed, Malcolm could not have spoken without +being heard by the seneschal, and therefore could only bow, take his +seat on the baggage-horse, and then feel his sister mounting behind +him in an attitude less unfamiliar on occasion even to the high-born +ladies of the fifteenth century than to those of our day. Four years +it was since he had felt her touch, four years since she had sat +behind him as they followed the King to Coldingham! His heart +swelled with thankfulness as he passed under the gateway, and the +arms that clung round his waist clasped him fervently; but neither +ventured on a word, amid Kennedy's escort, and they rode on a couple +of miles in the same silence. Then Kennedy, pausing, said, 'There +lies your way, Brother. Tam, you may show the scholar the way to the +Gray Friars' Grange, bear them greetings frae me, and halt till ye +hear from me. Fare ye well.' + +Lilias trusted her voice to say, 'Blessings on ye, Sir, for all ye +have done for me,' but Malcolm thought it wiser in his character of +retainer to respond only by a bow. + +Of course they understood that the direction Kennedy gave was the +very one they were not to take, but they followed it till a tall bush +of gorse hid them from the escort; and then Malcolm, grasping his +sister's hand, plunged down among the rowans, ferns, and hazels, that +covered the steep bank of the river, and so soon as a footing was +gained under shelter of a tall rock, threw his arms round her, almost +sobbing in an under-tone, 'My Lily, my tittie!--safe at last! Oh, +God be thanked! I knew her prayers would be heard! Oh, would that +Patrick were here!' Then, as her face changed and quivered ready to +weep, he cried, 'Eh, what! art still deeming him dead?' + +'How!' she cried wildly. 'He fell into the hands of your English, +and--' + +'He fell into the hands of your King and mine,' said Malcolm. 'Yes, +King James dragged him out of the burning house, and wrung his pardon +out of King Harry. He came with me to St. Abbs to fetch you, Lily, +and only went back because his knighthood would not serve in this +quest like my clerkship.' + +'Patrick living, Patrick safe! Oh!' she fell on her knees among the +ferns, hid her face in her hands, and drew a long breath. 'Malcolm, +this is joy overmuch. The desolation of yesterday, the joy to-day!' + +Malcolm, seeing her like one stifled by emotion, fell on his knees +beside her, and whispered forth a thanksgiving. She rested with her +head on his shoulder in content till he started up, saying in a +lively manner, 'Come, Lily, we must be on our way. A very bonnie +young clerk you are, with your berry-brown locks cut so short round +your face.' + +Lilias blushed up to the short dark curls she had left herself. 'Had +I thought he lived, I could scarce have done it.' + +'What, not to get to him, silly maid? Here,' as he shook out and +donned the gown he had brought rolled up, 'now am I a scholar too. +Stay, you must take off this badge of the bachelor; you have only +been in a monastery school, you know; you are my young brother--what +shall we call you?' + +'Davie,' softly suggested Lilias. + +'Ay, Davie then, that I've come home to fetch to share my Paris lear. +You can be very shy and bashful, you know, and leave all the knapping +of Latin and logic to me.' + +'If it is such as you did with Jamie Kennedy,' said Lilias, 'it will +indeed be well. Oh, Malcolm, I sat and marvelled at ye--so gleg ye +took him up. How could ye learn it? And ye are a brave warrior too +in battles,' she added, looking him over with a sister's fond pride. + +'We have had no battle, no pitched field,' said Malcolm 'but I have +seen war.' + +'So that ugly words can never be flung in your face again!' cried +Lilias. 'Are you knighted, brother?' + +'No, but they say I have won my spurs. I'll tell you all, Lily, as +we walk. Only let me bestow this iron cap where some mavis may +nestle in it. Ay, and the boots too, which scarce befit a clerk. +There, your hand, Clerk Davie; we must make westward to-day, lest +poor Duke Murdoch be forced to send to chase us. After that, for the +Border and Patie.' + +So brother and sister set forth on their wandering--and truly it was +a happy journey. The weather favoured them, and their hearts were +light. Lilias, delivered from terrible, hopeless captivity, her +brother beside her, and now not a brother to be pitied and protected, +but to protect her and be exulted in, trod the heather with an +exquisite sense of joy and freedom that buoyed her up against all +hardships; and Malcolm was at peace, as he had seldom been. His +happiness was not exactly like his sister's in her renewed liberty +and restoration to love and joy, for he had known a wider range of +life, and though really younger than Lily, his more complicated +history could not but make him older in thought and mind. Another +self-abnegation was beginning to rise upon him, as he travelled +slowly southwards by stages suited to his sister's powers, and by +another track than that by which he had gone. On the moor, or by the +burn side, there was peace and brightness; but wherever he met with +man he found something to sadden him. Did they rest in a monastery, +there was often irregularity, seldom devotion, always crass +ignorance. The manse was often a scene of such dissolute life that +Malcolm shunned to bring his sister into the sight of it; the peel +tower was the dwelling of savagery; the farm homestead either rude +and lawless or in constant terror; the black spaces on many a brae +side showed where dwellings had been burned; more than once they +passed skeletons depending from the trees or lying rotting by the +way-side. And it was frightful to Malcolm, after his four years' +absence, to find how little Lilias shared his horror, taking quite +naturally what to Alice Montagu would have seemed beyond the bounds +of possibility, and would have set Esclairmonde's soul on fire, while +Lilias seemed to think it her brother's amiable peculiarity to be +shocked, or to long to set such things straight. + +He felt the truth of James Kennedy's words--that reformation could +not be the sole work of the King, but that his hands must be +strengthened by all the few who knew that a different state of things +was possible, and that, above all, the clergy needed to be awakened +into vigour and intelligence. Formerly, the miserable aspect of the +country had merely terrified him, and driven him to strive to hide +his head in a convent; but the strength and the sense of duty he had +acquired had brought his heart to respond to Kennedy's call to work. + +Esclairmonde's words wrought within him beyond her own ken or purpose +in speaking them. He began to understand that to bury himself in an +Italian university and dive into Aristotle's sayings, to heap up his +own memory with the stores of thought he loved, or to plunge into the +mazes of mathematics, philosophy, and music, while his brethren in +his own country were tearing one another to pieces for lack of any +good influence to teach or show them better things, would be a +storing of treasure for himself on earth, a pursuit of the light of +knowledge indeed, but not a wooing of the light of Wisdom, the true +Light of the World, as seen in Him who went about doing good. To +complete his present course was, he knew, necessary. He had seen +enough of really learned scholars to know the depths of his own +ignorance, and to be aware that certain books must be read under +guidance, and certain studies gone through, before his cultivation +would be on a level with the standard of the best working clergy of +the English Church--such as Chicheley, Waynflete, or the like. He +would therefore remain at Oxford, he thought, long enough to take his +Master of Arts degree, and then, though to his own perceptions only +the one-eyed among the blind, he would make the real sacrifice of +himself in the rude and cruel world of Scotland. + +He knew that his king was well satisfied with Patrick, and also that +a man of sound heart and prompt, hard hand was far fitter to rule as +a secular lord than his own more fine-drawn mature could ever be; but +as a priest, with the influence that his birth and the King's +friendship would give him, he already saw chances of raising the tone +of the clergy, and thus improving the wild and lawless people. + +A deep purpose of self-devotion was growing up in his soul, but +without saddening him, only rendering him more energetic and cheerful +than his sister had ever known him. + +As they walked together over the long stretches of moor, many were +Lily's questions; and Malcolm beguiled the way with many a story of +camp and court, told both for his own satisfaction in her sympathy, +and with the desire to make the Scottish lassie see what was the life +and what the thoughts of ladies of her own degree in other lands, so +that the Lady of Glenuskie might be awake to somewhat of the high +purpose of virtuous home government to which Alice of Salisbury had +been trained. + +As to the Flemish heiress, no representation would induce Lilias to +love her. Reject Malcolm for a convent's sake! It was unpardonable; +and as to a bedeswoman, working uncloistered in the streets, Lily +viewed that as neither the one thing nor the other, neither religious +nor secular; and she was persuaded that a little exertion on the part +of the brother, whom she viewed as a paladin, would overcome all +coyness on the lady's part. + +Malcolm found it vain to try to show his sister his sense of his own +deserts, and equally so to declare that if the maiden should so +yield, she would indeed be the Demoiselle de Luxemburg to whom he was +pledged, but not the Esclairmonde whom his better part adored. So he +let the matter pass by, and both enjoyed their masquing in one +another's company as a holiday such as they could never have again. + +They had no serious alarms; the pursuit must have been disconcerted, +and the two young scholars were not worth the attention of +freebooters. Their winsomeness of manner won them kindness wherever +they harboured; and thus, after many days, without molestation they +came to the walls of Berwick. And now, while Malcolm thought his +difficulties at an end, a horror of bashfulness fell upon Lilias. +She had been Clerk Davie merrily enough while there was no one to +suspect her, but the transmutation into her proper self filled her +with shame. + +She hung back, and could be hardly dragged forward to the embattled +gateway of the bridge by her brother--who, as the guards, jealously +cautious even in this time of peace, called out to him to stand, +showed his ring bearing the royal arms, and desired to speak within +the captain of the garrison, who was commanding in the name of the +Earl of Northumberland, Governor of Berwick and Warden of the +Marches, and who had entertained him on his way north, and would have +been warned by Patrick of his probable return in this guise. + +Instead of the stalwart form of the veteran sub-governor, however, a +quick step came hurrying to the gateway, and the light figure of a +young knight stood before him, with outstretched hands, crying: +'Welcome to the good town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, dear comrade!' And +he added in a lower tone: 'So you have succeeded in your quest--if, +as I trow, this fairest of clerks be your lady sister. May I--' + +'Hold!' softly said Malcolm. 'She is so shamefast that she cannot +brook a word;' and in fact Lilias had pulled her hood over her face, +and shrunk behind him, at the first approach of the young gentleman. + +'We will to my mother,' said Ralf, aloud. 'She has always a soft +corner in her heart for a young clerk or a wanderer.' + +And so saying, without even looking at the disguised figure, he gave +the pass-word, and holding Malcolm by the arm, led him, followed by +Lilias, through the defences and into the court of the castle, then +to a side-door, where, bounding up several steps at once of a stone +stair, he opened a sort of anteroom door, and bade the two strangers +wait there while he fetched his mother. + +'That is well! Who would have looked to see him here!' cried +Malcolm, joyously. 'What, you knew him not? It was Ralf Percy, my +dear old companion!' + +'Ralf Percy! he that was so bold and daring?' cried Lilias. 'Nay, +but how can it be, he was as meek and shamefast--' + +'As yourself,' smiled Malcolm. 'Ah, sister, you have much to learn +of the ways of an English gentleman among ladies.' + +Before many further words could be exchanged, there entered a fair +and matronly dame in the widow's veil she had worn ever since the +fatal day of Shrewsbury--that eager, loving, yet almost childish +woman whom we know so well as Hotspur's gentle Kate (only that +unfortunately her name was Elizabeth); fondling, teasing, being +fondled and teased in return, and then with all her pretty +puerilities scorched away when she upbraids Northumberland with his +fatal delay. Could Malcolm and Lilias have known her as we do in +Shakespeare, they would have been the more gratified by her welcome, +whereas they only saw her kind face and the courtly sweep of her +curtsey, as, going straight up to the disguised girl, blushing and +trembling now more than ever, she said: 'Poor child, come with me, +and we will soon have you yourself again, ere any other eye see you;' +and then moved away again, holding Lily by the hand, while Ralf, who +had followed close behind her, again grasped Malcolm's hand. + +'Well done, Glenuskie; you have all the adventures! They seek you, I +believe! So you have borne off your damosel errant, and are just in +time to receive your king.' + +'Is he wedded then?' + +'Ay, and you find us all here in full state, prepared to banquet him +and lodge him and his bride for a night, and then I fancy my brother +is to go through some ceremony, ere giving him up to his own +subjects. We are watching for him every day. Come to my chamber, +and I'll apparel you.' + +'Nay, but what brings you here, Ralf?--you, whom I thought in +France.' + +''Twas a Scottish bill that brought me,' answered Ralf. 'What, are +you too lost in parchment at Oxford to hear of us poor soldiers, or +knew you not how we fought at Crevant?' + +'I heard of the battle, and that you were hurt, but that was months +ago, and I deemed you long since in the field again. Was it so sore +a matter?' + +'Chiefly sore for that it hindered me from taking the old rogue +Douglas, and meriting my spurs as befitted a Percy. I was knighted +while the trumpet was sounding, and I did think that I was on the way +to prowess, for fully in the melee I saw a fellow with the Douglas +banner. I made at it, thinking of my father's and of Otterburn; and, +Malcolm, this very hand was on the staff, when what must a big Scot +do but chop at me with his bill like a butcher's axe. Had it fallen +on mine arm it would have been lopped off like a bough of a tree, +but, by St. George's grace, it lit here, between my neck and +shoulder, and stuck fast as I went down, and the fellow was swept +away from me. 'Twas so fixed in the very bone, that they had much +ado to wrench it out, when there was time after the fight to look +after us who had come by the worse. And what d'ye think they found, +Malcolm? Why, those honest Yorkshiremen, Trenton and Kitson, stark +dead, both of them. Trenton must have gone down first, with a lance- +thrust in the throat; and there was Kitson over him, his shield over +his head, and his own cleft open with an axe! They laid them side by +side--so I was told--in their grave; and sure 'twas as strange and as +true a brotherhood as ever was between two brave men.' + +'The good fellows!' cried Malcolm. 'Nay, after what I saw I can +hardly grieve. I went to Kitson's home, where they knew as little as +I did of his death, and verily his place had closed up behind him, so +that I scarce think his mother even cared to see him more, and the +whole of them seemed more concerned at his amity with Trenton than +proud of his feats of arms. I was marvelling if their friendship +would be allowed to subsist at home, even when they, poor fellows, +were lying side by side in their French grave.' + +'We warriors should never come home,' said Percy; 'we are spoilt for +aught but our French camp. I am wearying to get back once more, but +so long as I cannot swing my sword-arm I must play the idler here.' + +'It must have been a fearsome wound,' said Malcolm. 'The marvel is +your overgetting it.' + +'So say they all; and truly it has lasted no small time. They +shipped me off home so soon as I could leave my bed, and bade me +rest. Nay, and my mother herself came even to London, when my +brother was summoned to Parliament,--she who had never been there +since the first year after she was wedded!' + +'You can scarce complain of such kin as that,' said Malcolm. + +''Tis not the kin, but this petty Border life, that frets me. Here +we move from castle to castle, and now and then come tidings of a +cattle lifting, and Harry dons his helm and rides forth, but nine +times out of ten 'tis a false alarm, or if it be true, the thieves +have made off, and being time of peace, he, as Warden, cannot make a +raid in return. I'm sick of the life, after the only warfare fit for +a knight, with French nobles instead of Border thieves; and back I +will. If my right arm will not serve me, the left shall. I can use +a lance indifferent well already.' + +As Sir Ralf Percy spoke, a bugle-call rang through the castle. He +started. 'Hark! that's the warder's horn,' and flying to the door, +he soon returned crying--'Your king is in sight, Malcolm!' + +'How soon will he be here?' + +'In less than half an hour. There's time to array yourself. I'll +take you to my chamber.' + +'Thanks,' said Malcolm; 'but this gown is no disguise to me. I had +rather meet the King thus, for it is my fitting garb. Only I would +remove the soil of the journey, and then take my sister by the hand.' + +For this there was ample time, and Malcolm had arranged his hair, and +brushed away the dust from his gown, washed his face and hands, and +made himself look more like an Oxford bachelor, and less like a +begging clerk, than he had of late judged it prudent to appear, ere +Ralf took him to the great hall, where he found Lord Northumberland +and the chief gentlemen of his household, with his mother, Lady +Percy, and his young wife, together with their ladies, assembling for +the reception of their royal guests. + +Malcolm was presented to, and kindly greeted by, each of the +principal personages, and then the Earl, Sir Ralf, and their officers +went forth to meet the King at the gateway. Malcolm, however, at his +sister's entreaty, remained with her, for in the doubt whether +Patrick were really at hand, and a fond unreasonable vexation that he +had had no part in her liberation, her colour was coming and going, +and she looked as if she might almost faint in her intense +excitement. + +But when, marshalled by the two Percies, King James and Queen Joan +had entered the hall, and the blare of trumpets without and +rejoicings within, and had been welcomed with deep reverences by the +two ladies, Ralf said: 'Sir, methinks you have here what you may be +glad to see.' + +And standing aside, he made way for the two figures to stand forth, +one in the plain black gown and hood, the other in the rich robes of +a high-born maiden, her dark eyes on the ground, her fair face +quivering within emotion, as both she and her brother bent the knee +before their royal master. + +'Ha!' cried James, 'this is well indeed. Thou hast her, then, lad? +See, Patrick! Where is he? Nay, but, fair wife, I must present thee +the first kinswoman of mine thou hast seen. How didst bring her off, +Malcolm?' And he embraced Malcolm with the ardour of a happy man, as +he added, 'This is all that was wanting.' + +Truly James looked as if nothing were wanting to his joy, as there he +stood after his years of waiting, a bridegroom, free, and on the +borders of his native land. His eyes shone with joy, and there was a +bright energy and alacrity in his bearing that, when Malcolm +bethought him of those former grave movements, and the quiet +demeanour as though only interested by an effort, marked the change +from the captive to the free man. And beautiful Joan, lovelier than +ever, took on her her queenly dignity with all her wonted grace and +graciousness. + +She warmly embraced Lilias, hailing her as cousin, and auguring +joyously of the future from the sight of this first Stewart maiden +whom she had seen; and the next moment Patrick Drummond, hurrying +forward, fell on his knee before his lady, grasped, kissed, fondled +her hand, and struggled and stammered between his rejoicing over her +liberation and despair that he had no part in it. + +'Yea,' said the King 'it was well-nigh a madman whom you sent home to +me, Malcolm. He was neither to have nor to hold; and what he would +have had me do, or have let him do, I'll not say, nor doth he know +either. I must hear your story ere I sleep, Malcolm.' + +The King did not ask for it then: he would not brook the exposure of +the disunion and violence of Scotland to the English, especially the +Percies; and it was not till he could see Malcolm alone that he +listened to his history. + +'Cousin,' he said, 'you have done both bravely and discreetly. +Methinks you have redeemed my pledge to your good guardian that in +the south you should be trained to true manhood; though I am free to +own that 'twas not under my charge that you had the best training. +How is it to be, Malcolm? Patrick tells me you saw the Lady of +Light.' + +'Ay, Sir, but neither her purpose nor mine is shaken. My lord, I +believe I see how best to serve God and yourself. If you will +consent, I will finish my first course at Oxford, and then offer +myself for the priesthood.' + +'Not hide thyself in cloister or school--that is well!' exclaimed the +King. + +'No, Sir. Methinks I could serve yonder rude people best if I were +among them as a priest.' + +James considered, then said: 'I pledged myself not to withstand your +conscience, Malcolm; and though I grieve that the lady should be +lost, she has never wavered, and cannot be balked of her will. Godly +and learned priests will indeed be needed; and between you and James +Kennedy, when both are come to elder years, we may perchance lift our +poor Scottish Church to some clearer sense of what a church should +be. Meanwhile--' The King stopped and considered. 'Study in +England! Ay! You see, Malcolm, I must take my seat, and have the +reins of my unruly steed firm in my hand, ere I take cognizance of +these offences. The caitiff Walter--mansworn that he is--he shall +abye it; but that can scarce be as yet, and methinks it were not well +that I entered Scotland with you and your sister at my side, for then +must I seem to have overlooked an offence that, by this holy relic, I +will never pardon. So, Malcolm, instead of entering Scotland with +me--bonnie land, how sweet its air blows from the north!--ye must +e'en turn south! But how to dispose of your sister? Some nunnery--' + +'Poor Lily, she is weary of convents,' said Malcolm 'but if Lady +Montagu would let her be with her and the Lady Esclairmonde, then +would she learn somewhat of the ways of a well-ordered English noble +house. And I could well provide for her being there as befits her +station.' + +'Well thought of! The gentle Lady Alice will no doubt welcome her,' +said the King; 'and Patrick must endure.' + +Thus then was it fixed. The King and Queen, stately and beautiful, +royally robed, and mounted on splendid steeds, were escorted the next +morning to the Scottish gate of Berwick by Lord Northumberland and +his retinue, and they were met by an imposing band of Scottish +nobles, with the white-haired Earl of Lennox at their head. To these +the captive was formally surrendered by Northumberland; and James, +flinging himself from his horse, kissed his native soil, and gave +thanks aloud to God, ere he stood up and received the homage of his +subjects, to most of whom he was a total stranger. + +Malcolm and Lilias on the walls could see all, but could not hear, +and finally beheld the glittering troop wind their way over the hills +to make ready for the coronation of James and Joan as king and queen +of Scotland. + + + +CHAPTER XIX: THE LION'S WRATH + + + +It was the 24th of May, 1425, when in the vaulted hall of the Castle +of Stirling the nobles of Scotland were convened to try, as the peers +of the realm, men of rank--no less than Murdoch, Duke of Albany, his +sons Walter and Alexander, the Earl of Lennox, and twenty-two other +nobles, most of whom had been arraigned in the Parliament of Perth +two months previously, and had been shut up in different castles. +Robert Stewart had escaped to the Highlands; and Walter--who had +neither been at the Coronation of Scone, nor at the Parliament of +Perth, nor indeed had ever bowed his pride so as to present himself +to the King at all--had been separately arrested, and shut up for two +months in the strong castle on the Bass Rock. + +The charge was termed treason and violence; and assuredly there had +been perpetual acts of spoil and barbarous infractions of the law by +men who deemed themselves above all law. The only curiosity was, for +which of these acts they were to be tried, and this affected many of +their judges likewise; for there was hardly a man in that court who +was not conscious of some deed that would not exactly bear to be set +beside the code of Scotland, and who had not been in the habit of +regarding those laws as all very well for burghers, but not meant for +gentlemen. + +There, on seats behind the throne, sat the twenty-one jurors, Earl +Douglas among them--a new earl, for the grim old Archibald had died +in the battle of Verneuil some months before. Angus, March, and Mar, +and all the most powerful names in Scotland, were there; and upon his +throne, in regal robes of crimson and ermine, the crown upon his +brow, the sceptre in his hand, the sword of state held before him, +sat King James, the most magnificent-looking king then reigning in +Europe, but with the sternest, saddest, most resolute of +countenances, as one unalterably fixed upon the terrible duty of not +bearing the sword in vain. Something of Henry's avenging-angel look +seemed to have passed into his face, but with far more of melancholy +weight. + +Walter Stewart was led into the court. He too was a man of lofty +stature and princely bearing, and his grand Stewart features were set +in an expression of easy nonchalance and scorn; aware as he was that +of whatever he might be accused, there were few of his judges that +did not share the guilt, and moreover persuaded that this was a mere +ceremony, and that the King would never dare to go beyond this futile +attempt to overawe him. He stood alone--his father and the others +were reserved for another trial; and as, richly arrayed, he stood +opposite to the jury, gazing fixedly first at one, then at the other, +as though challenging their right to sit in judgment on him, one eye +after another fell beneath his gaze. + +'Walter Stewart of Albany, Earl of Fife,' proclaimed the crier's +voice. 'You stand here arraigned of murder and of robbery.' + +'At whose suit?' demanded Walter, undaunted. + +'At the suit of Malcolm and Lilias Stewart of Glenuskie; and of +Patrick Drummond of the Braes,' returned the crier, an ecclesiastic, +as were all lawyers; and at the same moment three figures came +forward, namely, a tall knightly gentleman with gold chain and spurs, +a lady whose veil disclosed a blushing dark-eyed face, and a slender +youth of deep and earnest countenance. 'At the suit of these here +present you stand arraigned, Sir Walter Stewart of Albany, for having +feloniously, and of malice aforethought, on the Eve of the +Annunciation of our Lady, of the year of grace 1421, set upon the +said Malcolm and Lilias Stewart, Sir David Drummond of the Braes, +Tutor of Glenuskie, and divers other persons, on the muir of +Hetherfield; and having there cruelly and maliciously wounded the +said David of the Braes to the death; and of having forcibly stolen +and abducted the person of the said Lilias Stewart--' + +The crier was not permitted to proceed, for Walter Stewart broke +forth, passionately addressing the jurors. 'So this is all that can +be found to be laid against me. This is the way that matters of five +years back are raked up to vex the princes and nobles of Scotland. I +am sorry for you, lords and gentlemen, if this is the way that +vexatious are to be stirred up against those who have defended their +country so long.' + +'This is no answer to the accusation, Sir Walter,' said the Earl of +Mar. + +'Accusation, forsooth!' said Walter Stewart scornfully. 'Who dares +to bear witness, if I DID maintain my father's lawful authority over +peevish runaway wards of the Crown?' + +'Sir Walter,' said the King, 'you would have done better to have +waited and heard the whole indictment ere answering one charge. But +since you demand who will dare to bear witness in this matter of the +murder of Sir David Drummond of the Braes, and of the seizure of the +Lady Lilias, here is one.' + +So saying, and rising as he spoke, he held forth the reliquary that +hung from a chain round his neck, keeping his gleaming tawny eyes +fixed steadily straight upon Walter Stewart's face. + +That face, as he first had stood up, expressed the utmost amazement, +and this gradually, under the lion glance, became more and more of +dismay, quailing, collapsing visibly under the passionless gravity of +that look. Even the tall form seemed to shrink, the eyes dilated, +the brows drew closer together, and the chest seemed to pant, as the +relic was held forth. There was a dead silence throughout the court +as the King ceased to speak; only he continued to bend that searching +gaze upon his prisoner. + +'Was it you?--was it your own self, my lord?' he stammered forth at +last, in the tone of one stricken. + +'Yea, Walter Stewart. To me it was, and on this holy relic, that you +made oath to abstain from all further spoil and violence until the +King should come again in peace. How that oath has been kept the +further indictments will show.' + +'I deemed it was St. Andrew,' faltered the prisoner. + +'And therefore that the oath to a heavenly saint would better bear +breaking than one to an earthly sinner,' replied James gravely. +'Read on, Clerk of the Court.' + +The roll continued--a long and terrible record of violence and +cruelty; the private warfare of the lawless young prince, the crimes +of reckless barbarity and of savage passion--a deadly roll, in which +indeed even the second abduction of Lilias was one of the least acts +laid to his charge. + +No lack of witnesses were there to prove deeds that had been done in +the open face of day, in utter fearlessness of earthly justice, and +defiance of Heaven. The defence that the prisoner seemed to have +been prepared to us?--that those who sat to judge him had shared in +his offences, and his daring power of brow-beating them, as he had so +often done before, as son of the man who sat in the King's seat--had +utterly failed him now. He was mute; and the forms of the trial were +gone through as of one whose doom was already sealed, but who must +receive his sentence according to the strictest form of law, lest the +just reward of his deeds should partake of their own violence. By +the end of the day the jurors had found Walter Stewart guilty; and +the doomster, a black-robed clerk, rising up, pronounced the sentence +that condemned Walter Stewart of Albany to suffer death by beheading. + +Even then no one believed that the doom would be inflicted. Royal +blood had never flowed beneath the headsman's axe; and it would have +been infinitely more congenial to Scottish feelings if the King had +sent a party of men-at-arms to fall on the Master in the high road, +and cut him off, or had burnt him alive in his castle. The verdict +'served him right' would have been universally returned, and rejoiced +in; but a regular trial of a man of such birth was unheard of, and +shocking to the feelings even of those whom that irresistible force +of the King's had compelled to sit in judgment upon him. No one +could avow it face to face with the King; but every one felt it an +outrage to find that no rank was exempt from law. + +Duke Murdoch, his son Alexander, and his father-in-law Lennox, were +tried the next day, and many a deed of dark treason was laid to their +charge. The Earl of Lennox had been the scourge of Scotland for more +than half the eighty years of his life, but his extreme age might +have excited some pity; Murdoch had erred rather negatively than +positively; and Alexander, ruffian as he was, had been bred to +nothing better. Each had deserved the utmost penalty of the law +again and again, and yet there did seem more scope for mercy in their +case than in that of Walter. + +But the King was inexorable. He set Malcolm aside as he had set +others. + +'I know what you would say, lad. Lennox is old, and Alexander is +young, and Albany is a fool; and Walter has injured you, so you are +bound to speak for him. Take it all as said. But these are the men +who have been foremost in making our country a desert! Did I pardon +them, with what face could I ever make any man suffer for crime? +And, in the state of this land, ruth to the guilty high would be +treason to the sackless low.' + +So Stirling saw the unprecedented sight of three generations +suffering for their crimes upon the same scaffold--the white-haired +Lennox, the Duke of Albany in the prime of life, Walter in the flush +and strength of early manhood, Alexander in the bloom of youth. They +all met their fate undauntedly; for if Murdoch's heart in any measure +failed him, he was afraid to give way in presence of the proud bold +Walter, who maintained an iron rigidity of demeanour with the wild +fortitude of a Red Indian at the stake, and in like manner could by +no means comprehend that King James acted from any motive save +malice, for having been so long kept out of his kingdom. 'It was his +turn now,' said poor Murdoch, even when most desirous of bringing +himself to die in a state of Christian forgiveness; nor could any +power on earth show any of the criminals that the King acted in the +eternal interests of right and justice. + +Thus it was with the whole country; and when the four majestic- +looking men stood bare-headed on the scaffold, in view even of their +own fair towers of Doune, and one by one bowed their heads on the +block, perverse Scottish nature broke out into pity for their fate, +and wrath against the King, who could thus turn against his own +blood, and disgrace the royal lineage. + +On that same day Malcolm received Esclairmonde's token, there being +at present full peace with England, and set forth on her summons. He +met her at Pontefract, where she was residing with the Dowager Queen +Joan of Navarre, Alice of Salisbury having been summoned to return to +her husband in France. + +There then it was that Malcolm and Esclairmonde, in presence of the +chaplain, gave each other back the rings, and therewith their troth +to wed none other, and were once more declared free. + +Esclairmonde held out her hand to Malcolm, saying, 'The thanks I owe +you, Sir, are beyond what tongue can tell. May He to Whom my first +vows were due requite it to you.' + +And Malcolm, with his knee to the ground, pressing for the last time +that fair hand, said, 'The thanks, lady, are mine. Had you been one +whit lower in aims or in constancy, what had I been? You were my +light of the world, but to light me to seek that higher Light that +shone forth in you, and which may I show truly to the darkened +spirits of my countrymen! Lady, you will permit me to take to myself +the ring you have worn so long. It will be my token of my betrothal +to that true Light.' + +Such was their parting, when the one went forth to her tasks of +charity among the poor in London, the other to divest himself of land +and lordship on behalf of his sister and her husband, and then to +begin his task in the priesthood, of trying to hold up the true Light +to hearts darkened by many an age of crime and ignorance. + +Lived very happy ever after! Yes, we would fain always leave the +creatures with whom our thoughts have been busy in such felicity; but +when we have linked them with real events, the sense of the veritable +course of history reminds us that we cannot even suppose beings +possible in real life without endowing them with the common lot of +humanity; and the personages of our tale lived in a time of more than +ordinary reverse and trouble. + +Yet Sir Patrick Drummond and Lilias his wife, the Lord and Lady of +Glenuskie, nearly did fulfil these conditions. They had not feelings +beyond their age, but they were good specimens of that age, and they +did their duty in it; he as a trustworthy noble, ready to aid in +council or war, and she as the beneficent dame, bringing piety and +charity to heal the sufferings of her vassals and serfs. His hand +was strong enough to repel the attacks of his foes; her intelligence, +backed by Malcolm's counsel, introduced improvements; and the little +ravine of Glenuskie was a happy valley of peace and prosperity for +many years among the convulsions of Scotland. + +Nor was Esclairmonde de Luxemburg's life in the Hospital of St. +Katharine otherwise than the holy and beneficent career that she had +always longed for--worshipping in the fair church, and going forth +from thence 'into the streets and lanes of the city,' to fulfil Queen +Philippa's pious behest, to seek out the suffering and the ignorant, +and to tend and instruct them. The tall form and beautiful +countenance of Sister Clare were loved and reverenced as those of an +angel messenger among the high houses and courts that closed in on +the banks of the Thames; and while Luxemburgs in France and Flanders +intrigued and fought, plotted and fell, their kinswoman's days passed +by in busy alms-deeds and ever loftier devotion, till those who +watched her steps felt that she was verily a light of the world, +manifesting forth the true Light in many a dark place. + +And her light of sympathy shone upon many an old friend both in joy +and in grief. When the dissensions of Gloucester and Beaufort had +summoned Bedford to England to endeavour to appease their strife, his +Burgundian Duchess sought out her early friend, and Esclairmonde saw +her gentle companion, the Lady Anne, fulfilling her daily task of +mediation, and living a life, not indeed very sunshiny, but full of +all that esteem and respect could give her, and of calm gratitude and +affection, although Anne, like all others, believed that John of +Bedford's heart had been buried in his brother's grave, and that of +youthful love he had none to give. His whole soul was absorbed in +his care for the welfare of the pale, gentle, dreamy, inanimate boy, +who, from his very meekness and docility, gave so little promise of +representing the father whose name he bore. + +The loving Alice of Montagu, though the mother of many a bold boy and +girl, and busy with all the cares of the great Nevil household, +regarded as the chief delight in a journey to court the sight of her +dear Sister Clare. It was to Sister Clare that Alice turned for +comfort when her brave old father died at the siege of Orleans; and +it was while daily soothing and ministering to her sorrow that +Esclairmonde heard the strange wild tales of the terrible witch +maiden who had appeared on behalf of the French, and turned whole +English armies to flight, by power that the French declared to come +from the saints, but which the English never doubted to be infernal. +Maimed and wounded soldiers, whom Esclairmonde relieved and tended as +they returned from lost battles, gave her fearful accounts of the +panic that La Pucelle inspired. Even the hardy veteran, Sir John +Fastolfe, had not been able to withstand her spells, but had fled +from the field of Jergeau, where gallant Sir Ralf Percy had died, in +a vain attempt to gather the men to resist the irresistible maiden. +His groom, who had succumbed for a time to wounds and weakness on his +way home to Alnwick, was touched by the warmth and emotion with which +the kind bedeswoman listened to his lamentation over the good and +loyal knight, whom she pictured to herself resisting the +enchantress's dread power as dauntlessly as he had defied the +phantoms of the Dance of Death. + +No whisper ever reached Esclairmonde that the terrible Pucelle was a +maiden as pure and high-souled as herself. All that she heard more +was that this terror of the English and Burgundians was taken, +imprisoned for a time by her own Luxemburg kindred, and then carried +to Rouen, where the kind Duchess Anne of Bedford did her best to +persuade her to overcome the superstition that kept her in male +garments, thus greatly tending to increase the belief in her +connection with the powers of evil. French and Burgundian bishops, +and even the University of Paris, were the judges of the maiden; and +the dastard prince she had crowned never stirred a finger nor uttered +a protest in her behalf. Bedford, always disposed to belief in +witchcraft, acquiesced in the decision of Churchmen, which was +therefore called the judgment of the Church; but when he removed +himself and his duchess from Rouen, and left the conduct of the +matter to the sterner and harder Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, it was +with little thought that after-generations would load his memory with +the fate of Jeanne d'Arc, as though her sufferings had proceeded from +his individual malice. + +Esclairmonde never saw Bedford again, and only heard through Alice, +now Countess of Salisbury, how when good Duchess Anne was dead, and +her gentle influence removed, Burgundy's disinclination to the +English cause was no longer balanced; and how Bedford, perplexed, +disheartened, broken in health, but still earnest to propitiate +friends for his helpless nephew, had listened to the wily whisper of +the Bishop of Therouenne, that his niece, Jaquette, would secure the +devotion of the Count de St. Pol, and that she was moreover like unto +another Demoiselle de Luxemburg. + +How like, Esclairmonde could judge, when her kinswoman, widowed in +her eighteenth year, at six months' end, came to London to claim her +dower. Never, since her days of wandering and anxiety, had +Esclairmonde felt such pain as when she perceived how little store +the thoughtless girl had set by the great and noble spirit that had +been quenched under the load of toil and care with which it had +battled for thirteen long years. Faithful, great-hearted Bedford, +striving to uphold a losing cause, to reconcile selfish contentions, +to retain conquests that, though unjustly made, he had no power to +relinquish; and all without one trustworthy relation, with friends +and fellow-warriors dying, disputing, betraying, or deserting, his +was as self-devoted and as mournful a career as ever was run by any +prince at any age of the world; and while he slept in his grave at +Rouen, that grave which even Louis XI. respected, Esclairmonde, as, +like a true bedeswoman of St. Katharine, she joined in the orisons +for the repose of the souls of the royal kindred, never heard the +name of the Lord John without a throb of prayer, and a throb too that +warmed her heart with tenderness. + +It was some four years later, and the even tenor of Sister Clare's +course had only been interrupted by her kinswoman, Jaquette, making +her way to her to confess her marriage with Richard Wydville, and to +entreat her intercession with the Luxemburg family; when one summer +night she was called on to attend a pilgrim priest from the Holy +Land, who had been landed from a Flemish vessel, and lay dangerously +sick at the 'God's house,' or hospital, by the river side. He was +thought by his accent to be foreign, and Sister Clare was always +called on to wait upon the stranger. + +As she stood by his bedside, she beheld a man of middle age, but +wasted with sickness, and with a certain strange look of horror so +imprinted on his brow, that even as he lay asleep, though his mouth +was grave and peaceful, the lines were still there, and the locks +that hung from around his tonsure were of a whiteness that scarce +accorded with the features. It was a face that Esclairmonde could +not look at without waking strange memories; but it was not till the +sleeper awakened, opened two dark eyes, gazed on her with dreamy +doubtful wonder, and then clasped his hands with the murmured +thanksgiving, 'My God, hast Thou granted me this? Light of my life!' +that she was assured to whom she was speaking. + +Malcolm Stewart it verily was. Canon Malcolm Stewart of Dunkeld was +his proper title, for he had, as she knew, long ceased to be Lord of +Glenuskie. It was not at first that she knew how he had been brought +where she now saw him; but after some few days of her tender care and +skilful leechcraft, he somewhat rallied, and she gathered his history +from his conversation when he was able to speak. + +He had had a time of happy labour in Scotland, fully carrying out the +designs with which he and his cousin James Kennedy had taken upon +them the ministry. Their own birth, and the appointments their King +gave them, so soon as their age permitted, made them able to exert an +influence that told upon the rude and unenlightened clergy around. +It had been almost a mission of conversion, to awaken a spirit of +Christianity in the country, that had so long been a prey to anarchy. +The King's declaration, 'I will make the key keep the castle, and the +bracken-bush keep the cow, though I live the life of a dog to bring +it about,' had been the moving spring of their lives. James had +fought hour by hour with the foul habits of lawlessness, savagery, +and violence, that had hitherto been absolutely unchecked; and while +he strove with the sword of justice, the two young priests worked +within the Word of truth, to implant some sense of conscience in the +neglected people. + +It had been a life of constant exertion, but full of hope and +cheerfulness. Amid that rude country, James's own home was always a +bright spot of peace, sunshine, and refinement. With his beloved +queen, and their fair little brood of children, the King cast aside +his cares, and was all, and more than all, he had been as the +ornament of Henry's Court. There all that was sweet, innocent, and +beautiful was to be found; and there Malcolm, his royal kinsman's +confidant, counsellor, and chaplain, was always welcome as one of the +home circle and family, till he broke away from such delights to +labour in his task of reviving religion in the land. A little band +of men were gathering round, clergy awakening from their sloth or +worldliness, young nobles who began to see what chivalry meant, +burghers who rejoiced in order; and hope and encouragement +strengthened the hands of the three kinsmen. + +But, alas! there were those who deemed James's justice on the savage +prince and noble mere sacrilege on high blood, and who absolutely +hated and loathed peace and order. Those thirteen years of cheerful +progress ended in that murder so unspeakably horrible in all its +circumstances, which almost merits the name of a martyrdom to right +and justice. Malcolm so shuddered when he did but touch on it, and +was so rent with agitation, that Esclairmonde perceived that when his +beloved King had perished, he had indeed received the death-wound to +his own fragile nature. + +He had been actually in the Abbey of Perth; and had been one of those +who lifted the mangled corpse from the vault, and sought in vain for +a remnant of life, if but to grant the absolution, for which the +victim had so piteously besought his murderers. No wonder that +Fastern's E'en had whitened Malcolm's hair! + +But when the assassins were captured, and Joan of Beaufort was +resolved that their death should be as atrocious as their crime, it +was Malcolm who strove to bend her to forgiveness. He bade her +recollect King Henry, and how, when dealing with that cruel monster, +the Castellane of Meaux, he had merely required death, without +enhancing the agony; but Joan, in her rage and misery, had left the +Englishwoman behind her, and was implacable. All that human cruelty +could invent was to be the lot of Robert Graham and his associates; +and whereas they had granted no priest to their victim, none should +be granted to them. + +And then it was that all Malcolm had learnt of the true spirit of the +Christian triumphed--not only over the dark Keltic spirit of revenge, +but over the shuddering of a tender and pitiful nature. Where no +other priest durst venture, he went. Through all the frightful and +protracted sufferings of Athol, Graham, Hall, and the rest, it was +Malcolm Stewart who, never flinching, prayed with and for them; +gathered their agonized sobs of confession, or strove to soften their +hardness; spoke the words of absolution, and commended their +departing souls. + +When he awoke from the long unconsciousness and delirium that ensued +upon the force he had put on himself, he found himself tended by his +sister at Glenuskie. Patrick Drummond had transported him thither; +finding that the angry Queen, in the madness of her vindictiveness, +was well-nigh disposed to connect him with the treasonable designs of +Athol and Graham. He slowly and partially recovered, but his +influence was gone; the Queen would not brook the sound of his name, +the little king was beyond his reach, James Kennedy was biding his +time, and the country was returned to its state of misrule and +violence, wherein an individual priest could do little: yet Malcolm +would have held by his post, had not his health been so utterly +shattered that he was incapable of the work he had hitherto done, as +a confessor and a preacher. And therefore, as the state of his +beloved King, 'sent to his account unhouselled, disappointed, +unannealed,' hung heavy on his mind, he determined, so soon as he was +in any degree convalescent, to set forth on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, +the object of so many dreams of King Henry; there to offer masses and +prayers for the welfare of his departed prince, as well as of the +unhappy murderers, and for the country in its distracted condition. + +And there, at the Holy Sepulchre, had Malcolm, in the fervour of his +heart, offered the greatest treasure he possessed--nay, the only one +that he still really cared for--namely his betrothal ring, which +Esclairmonde had worn for so long and had returned to him. As a +priest, he had deemed that it was not unlawful for him to retain the +memorial of the link that had bound him to her who had been the light +that led him to the true Light beyond; but as youth passed away, as +devotion burned brighter, as the experiences of those years became +more dream-like, and the horror, grief, and misery of his King's +death had been assuaged only by the steadier contemplation of the +Light of Eternity, he had felt that this last pledge of his once +lower aims and hopes ought to be resigned; and that if it cost him a +pang, it was well that it should be so, to render the offering a +sacrifice. So the ring that had once been Esclairmonde's protection +was laid on the altar of the Holy Tomb. + +There Malcolm had well-nigh died, under the influences of agitation, +fatigue, and climate; but he had revived enough to set out on his +return from his pilgrimage, and had made his way tardily and wearily, +losing his attendants through death and desertion on the road; and +passing from one religious house to another, as his strength and +nearly exhausted means served him. Unable to find any vessel bound +for Leith, he had taken ship for London; concealing his quality, +lest, in the always probable contingency of a war, it might lead to +his being made prisoner; and thus he had arrived, sick indeed unto +death, but peaceful, rejoicing, and hopeful. + +'Sister,' he said, 'the morn that I had offered my ring, I was feeble +and faint; and when I knelt on before the altar in continued prayer-- +I know not whether I slept or whether it were a vision, but it was to +me as though I were again on the river, and again the hymn of Bernard +of Morlaix was sung around and above me, by the voice I never thought +to hear again. I looked up, and behold it was I that was in the +boat--my King was there no more. Nay, he stood on the shore, and his +eyes beamed on me; while the ghastly wounds that I once strove in +anguish to staunch shone out like a ruby cross on his breast--the +hands, that were so sorely gashed, were to me as though marked by the +impress of the Sacred Wounds. He spake not; but by his side stood +King Henry, beautiful and spirit-like, and smiled on me, and seemed +as though he pointed to the wounds, as he said, "Blessed is the king +who died by his people's hand, for withstanding his people's sin! +Blessed is every faint image of the true King!" + +'Then methought they held out their arms to me; and I would have come +to them on their shore of rest, but the river bore me away--and I +looked up, to find I was as yet only in the earthly Jerusalem; but I +watch for them every hour, to call me once and for ever.' + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} 'Hail, reverend brother. I come from Paris.' + +{2} Student of the first year. + +{3} Manners are lacking to the Northerners. + +{4} Wretches. + +{5} For supper. + +{6} Telephus and Peleus, when both are poor and exiled, dismiss +boasting and six-foot words. + +{7} It is dispersed in a cloud. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Caged Lion, by Charlotte M. Yonge + diff --git a/old/cgdln10.zip b/old/cgdln10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4424dc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cgdln10.zip |