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diff --git a/2573.txt b/2573.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d5f411 --- /dev/null +++ b/2573.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11634 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Caged Lion, by Charlotte M. Yonge + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Caged Lion + + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + +Release Date: May 11, 2005 [eBook #2573] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAGED LION*** + + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1912 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +THE CAGED LION + + +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; but 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 +time _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 THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAGED LION*** + + +******* This file should be named 2573.txt or 2573.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/7/2573 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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