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diff --git a/26356-8.txt b/26356-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..619c279 --- /dev/null +++ b/26356-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4536 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Brother To Dragons and Other Old-time +Tales, by Amelie Rives + +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: A Brother To Dragons and Other Old-time Tales + +Author: Amelie Rives + +Release Date: August 19, 2008 [EBook #26356] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BROTHER TO DRAGONS *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from scans of public domain material produced by +Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover: A Brother to Dragons] + + + + + +A BROTHER TO DRAGONS + +AND + +_OTHER OLD-TIME TALES_ + +BY AMÉLIE RIVES + + NEW YORK + HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE + 1888 + + + + + Copyright, 1888, by HARPER & BROTHERS. + + _All rights reserved._ + + + + + =Dedicated= + + WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE + + TO + + THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH + + MY FIRST EDITOR + + + + +PREFACE. + + +OF the tales published in this volume, "A Brother to Dragons" appeared +in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for March, 1886; "The Farrier Lass o' Piping +Pebworth" in _Lippincott's Magazine_ for July, 1887; and "Nurse Crumpet +tells the Story" in _Harper's Magazine_ for September, 1887. + + AMÉLIE RIVES. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + A BROTHER TO DRAGONS 1 + + THE FARRIER LASS O' PIPING PEBWORTH 82 + + NURSE CRUMPET TELLS THE STORY 168 + + + + +A BROTHER TO DRAGONS. + + +I. + +IN the year of grace, 1586, on the last day of the month of May, to all +who may chance to read this narrative, these: + +I will first be at the pains of stating that had it not been for Marian +I had never indited these or any other papers, true or false. Secondly, +that the facts herein set down be true facts; none the less true that +they are strange. I will furthermore explain that Marian is the +Christian name of my lawful wife, and that our surname is Butter. + +My wife had nursed the Lady Margaret from the moment of her birth; and +here I must make another digression. The Lady Margaret was the twin +sister of the then Lord of Amhurste, Lord Robert, and my lady and his +lordship had quarrelled--Marian saith, with a great cause, but I cannot +herein forbear also expressing my opinion, which is to the effect that +for that quarrel there was neither cause, justice, nor reason. +Therefore, before those who may chance to read these words, I will lay +bare the facts pertaining to the said quarrel. + +It concerned the family ghost, which ghost was said to haunt a certain +blue chamber in the east wing of the castle. Now I myself had never +gainsaid these reports; for although I do not believe in ghosts, I have +a certain respect for them, as they have never offered me any affront, +either by appearing to me or otherwise maltreating me. But Marian, who +like many of her sex seemed to consort naturally with banshees, bogies, +apparitions, and the like, declared to me that at several different and +equally inconvenient times this ghost had presented itself to her, +startling her on two occasions to such an extent that she once let fall +the contents of the broth-bowl on Herne the blood-hound, thereby causing +that beast to maliciously devour two breadths of her new black taffeta +Sunday gown; again, a hot iron wherewith she was pressing out the seams +of Lady Margaret's night-gown. On the second occasion, she fled along +the kitchen hall, shrieking piteously, and preceded by Doll, the kitchen +wench, the latter having in her seeming a certain ghostly appearance, as +she was clad only in her shift, which the draughts in the hall inflated +to a great size. The poor maid fled affrighted into her room and locked +the door behind her; yet when I did essay to assuage the terror of +Mistress Butter, identifying Doll and the blue-room ghost as one and the +same, she thanked me not, but belabored me in her frenzy with the yet +warm iron, which she had instinctively snatched up in her flight; +demanding of me at the same time if I had ever seen Doll's nose spout +fire, and her eyes spit in her head like hot coals. I being of a +necessity compelled to reply "No," Marian further told me that it was +thus that the ghost had comported itself; that, moreover, it was clad +all in a livid blue flame from top to toe, and that it had a banner o' +red sarcenet that streamed out behind like forked lightning. She then +said that this malevolent spirit had struck her with its blazing hand, +and that, did I not believe her, I could see the burn on her wrist. Upon +my suggesting that this wound might have been inflicted by the iron in +its fall, she did use me in so unwifely a manner that I sought my bed in +much wrath and vexation of spirit. Nay, I do fear me that I cursed the +day I was wed, the day on which my wife was born, wishing all women to +the d--l; and that, moreover, out loud, which put me to much shame +afterwards for some days; although, be it said to my still greater +shame, it was full a fortnight e'er I confessed my repentance unto the +wife whom I had so abused. + +But meseems I have in this digression transgressed in the matter o' +length; therefore, to return to the bare facts. + +It was on the subject of this ghost that my lord and the Lady Margaret +had disagreed. My lord, being a flighty lad, although a marvellous fine +scholar and well-disposed, did agree with my wife in the matter of the +ghost; while my lady was of a like mind with myself. + +It doth seem but yesterday that she came to me as I was training the +woodbine o'er the arbor that led to her little garden, and put her white +hand on my shoulder. (My lady was never one for wearing gloves, yet the +sun seemed no more to think o' scorching her fair hands than the leaves +of a day-lily.) She comes to me and lays her hand on my shoulder, and +her long eyes they laugh at me out of the shadow of her hat; but her +mouth is grave as though I were a corse. + +Quoth she: + +"Butter, dost thou believe in this ghost?" + +"Nay, my lady," answered I, hoping to shift her to better soil; "I ne'er +meddle with ghosts or goblins. Why, an there be such things, should they +wish me harm? O' my word, my brain is no more troubled with ghosts, +black or white, than our gracious Queen's"--here I doffed my cap--"is +with snails and slugs;" and here I plucked a slug from a vine-leaf and +set my heel on't. + +"Nay, nay!" quoth she, a-shutting of her white eyelids so tight that all +the long black hairs on them stood straight out, like the fringe on +Marian's Sunday mantle in a high wind. "Butter! thou nasty man!" + +"Why--for how dost thou mean, my lady?" quoth I. + +"Why, for mashing that poor beast to a pap." And then a-holding of her +hand level below her eyes, so that she might not discern the ground, +"Is he dead?" quoth she. + +"Dead?" asked I, for I was somewhat puzzled in my mind. + +"Ay, the slug; is he dead?" + +"That he is, verily," said I; for in truth he was naught but a jelly, +and therewith I drew a pebble over him with my foot, that the sight o' +his misfortune should not disturb her tender heart. + +"How if I were to crush you 'neath my heel, Master Butter?" quoth she at +last, having peered about for the sight she dreaded, and, not seeing it, +returning to her discourse. "How wouldst thou like that, excellent +Master Butter?" But somehow, as I looked at her foot, my mouth, for all +I could do, went into a smile. For though she was as fine a maiden as +any in all Warwickshire, her foot, methinks, was of so dainty a make +'twould scarce have dealt death to a rose. + +"But truly, my lady," continued I, seeing that she was making up a face +at me, "thou knowest I've naught in common with ghosts." + +"Ay," quoth she. "And thou knowest the like of me. But"--and here stops +she, with the slyest tip of her frowzed curls towards the house--"thou +knowest also this, Butter, that his lordship, my brother, thinks as doth +Marian, thy wife, and that therein we four cannot agree." + +So I look at my hoe-handle, and say I, "My lady, it is known to me." + +"Well, now, Butter," she goes on, "thou most wise, most excellent, most +cunning, most delectable of Butters, I have concocted a plan. I' fecks, +Butter" (for my lady, like her Majesty the Queen, was somewhat given to +swearing, though more modest oaths, as should become a subject)--"I' +fecks, Butter," saith she, "'tis a most lustick plot. But I would not +thy mome heard us;" and with that she makes me send away Joe, the +under-gardener. He being gone, she whispers in my ear how she hath +plotted to fright his lordship and Marian into very convulsions of +further conviction, by appearing to them at the door o' the blue room in +her night-gown, with a taper in her hand and her face chalked. What she +desired o' me was, that I should come to the blue room with her, and +there remain while she played off this pretty fantasy on my lord and +Marian. + +To be truthful in these my last days o' earth, I liked not my proffered +office o'er-well. Howbeit, that night did I do the bidding o' my young +mistress, and--loath am I to speak of it, even at this late day--'twas +the cause of my young master's leaving his home and going to bide in +foreign countries. + +Ah, bitter tears did his sister weep, and with mine own eyes I saw her, +on the day he set forth, cling to his neck, and when he shook her +thence, hang about his loins, and when at last he pushed her to the +ground, she laid her hands about his feet and wept; and between every +sob it was, "Go not, brother, for my fault! Go not, brother, for my +fault!" or else, "Robin, Robin, dost not love me enough to forgive me so +little?" and then, "If thou didst but love me a little, thou couldst +forgive me much." But he stepped free of her hands and went his ways, +and my lady lay with her head where his feet had been, and was still. + +Then Marian, who was very wroth with me for my part in the matter, did +up with her nursling in her own proper strong arms (for she was aye a +strong lass, that being one o' the chief reasons for which I had sought +her in marriage--having had, as should all men, an eye to my posterity. +It was a great cross to me, as may be thought, to find that all my +forethought had been in vain, and that while Turnip, the farrier, had +eight as fine lads as one would care to father, of a puny wench that my +Marian could have slipped in her pocket, Mistress Butter presented me +with no children, weakly or healthy). But, as I have said, Marian, in +her own arms, did carry my lady up-stairs to her chamber, and laid her +on the day-bed. + +And by-and-by she opes her eyes (for Marian agreed that I sate on the +threshold), and says she, putting out her hand half-fearful-like, "Is't +thou, brother?" + +"Nay, honey," saith Marian; "it is I, thy Marian, thy nurse." + +Then said my lady, "Ay, nurse; but my brother, he is below--is't not +so?" But when Marian shook her head, my lady sate up on the day-bed and +caught hold of her short curls, and cried out, "I have banished him! I +have made him an outlaw! I have banished him!" And for days she lay like +one whose soul was sped. + +Well, the young lord came not back, nor would he write; so we knew not +whether he were alive or dead. Yet were Marian and myself not +unhopeful, for full oft did the heady boy find some such cause of +disagreement with his sister to abide apart from her. But when we saw +that in truth he came not back, and that week sped after week, and month +did follow month, and still no tidings, we had perforce to acknowledge +that the young lord was indeed gone to return no more. + +The Lady Margaret, in her loneliness, grew into many strange ways. She +did outride any man in the county, and she had a blue-roan by the name +of Robin Hood; which same, methinks, no man in or out o' th' county +would 'a' cared to bestride. She would walk over to Pebworth ('piping +Pebworth,' as Master Shakespeare hath dubbed it) and back again, a +distance o' some six miles; and afterwards set forth for a gallop on +Robin Hood, and be no more a-weary, come eventide, than myself from a +trip 'round the gardens. She swam like a sea-maid, she had fenced even +better than her brother, and methinks she was the bonniest shot with a +long-bow of any woman in all England. She was but fifteen when my lord +left Amhurste for aye, and in the years since she had grown mightily, +and was waxed as strong as Marian, and full a head taller. But she had +long, curved flanks that saved her from buxomness; and her head was set +high and light on her shoulders, like a bird that floats on a wave, and +o'er it ran her bright curls, the one o'er the other, like little +wavelets. Her eyes were as gray as a sword, and as keen, and she had +broad lids as white as satin-flowers, and there was a fine black ring +around them, made by her long lashes. + +My lady was courted by many a fine lord, and more than three youngsters +have I seen weep because of her coldness towards them; speeding them +away out o' the sight o' mankind (as they thought), and casting +themselves along the lush grass in my lady's garden, there to bleat and +bleat, like moon-calves for the moon. + +For one lad did my heart bleed, verily. 'Twas for the young Lord of +Mallow--but a lad with buttercup curls and speedwell eyes, and a smile +to win the love o' any maid in her reason (though, to be sure, my lady +was in her reason). He comes to me and gets between my knees, like any +little eanling that might 'a' been mine own, and quoth he: + +"Butter, Butter, she loves thee! Wilt thou not speak to her, and tell +her that she shall be the richest lady in all England, and maid of honor +to the Queen, and have more jewels than the Queen herself? Oh, Butter!" +cried he. + +Then said I, a-stroking of the yellow gossamer that bestrewed his +shoulders, as he knelt, head bowed, between my knees, "Nay, my lord, +'tis not so that thou shalt win the Lady Margaret. She careth no more +for jewels than she doth for the beads in a rainbow; nor doth she care +for riches. And methinks a maid who would marry just to be maid of honor +to a queen would not be an honorable maid either to herself or to her +sovereign;" for so indeed I thought. + +Then saith he, "Butter, dost thou believe in love-philters?" + +And I asked his meaning, for verily I was ignorant of 't, albeit I was +not ignorant in all matters. And he explained to me that it was a drink +or potion to cause love. + +Then I answered, and said, "Calamint doth make a good brew, likewise +sage, and some flax is soothing, but methinks none o' these would cause +love." + +On this he wept again, but said that I was a good old man, and that on +his return to Mallow he would send me a gift; and so he did--a pair o' +silk hose, such as my lady and the Queen do wear; but being mindful of +my station, I laid them aside for the sake o' th' poor lad, and +yesterday Marian did bring them to me, with her ten fingers through as +many moth-holes. Whereupon I was minded o' th' text concerning that we +lay not up treasures where moth and rust do corrupt, and at my behest +Marian read me the whole of that chapter. But to return to bare facts. + +It was on a certain night in March that there occurred the conversation +which was the cause of this narrative. There had been news of the return +of one Lord Denbeigh to Warwickshire--by report as wild a cavalier as +ever fought, and a godless body to boot. Marian, who, as I have said, +had always a certain knack for ghost stories and the like, froze me with +her accounts o' this wild lord's doings. Quoth she: + +"Fire-brace is a suiting name for him, inasmuch as 'tis a family name, +and he a fire-brand to peace wheresome'er he shall go." + +"Peace--peace thyself!" quoth I, hearing my lady's foot along the hall. +And, o' my word, Marian had but just ceased, and given her attention to +the fire, when in clatters my lady, with her riding-whip stuck in her +glove, and her blood-hound Hearn in a leash. She was much wrought, +either with riding or rage, for there was a quick red in her cheek, and +she had set her red lips until they were white. Then took she the hound +between her knees, and plucked off her gloves. Here I did find it my +duty to speak. + +"My lady," cried I, "'tis not in your mind to baste the dog?" + +"Ay, that it is," quoth she, and her lips went tighter, and she jerked +at her glove. + +Then said I, "How if he leap at thy throat?" And she answered, "Nay, he +knows better;" and with that she gripped his collar, and let swing her +whip. Then did I bid Marian that she leave the room. As for me, it was +my duty to stay, though, as I have given an oath to tell but the truth +in this narrative, I must confess that I was in a sweat from head to +foot with fear. + +But the great hound crouched as though he knew he got but what he +deserved, and when my lady had given him ten or twenty lashes she flung +wide the door, and said she, "Get thee gone, coward! Go fare as fares +the poor beggar thou sought'st to bite!" and the hound slunk out. Then +turned my mistress to me, and--"Butter," saith she, "yon beast sought to +bite an old beggar as we came through the park, so I whipped him. But +for naught save cruelty or disobedience will I ever whip a dog; so, +Butter, the next time that thou seest me about to lash one, keep thy +counsel." (This was the harshest that my lady e'er spoke, either to me +or to Marian.) Then went she to the door and called Marian. + +"Come, nurse," quoth she, "I am a-weary. Fling me some skins on the +settle, and I will lie down, and thou shalt card out my locks with thy +fingers." So we heaped the settle with the skins o' white bears, and +thereon my lady cast herself, like a flower blown down upon a snow-bank; +and by-and-by, what with the warmth and Marian's strokings, she fell +into a deep sleep. But we two sate and gazed on her. + +She was all clad in a tight riding-dress of green velour cloth, and her +white face seemed to come from the close collar like a white lily from +its sheath. She was e'er flower-like, asleep or waking, as I have said, +and her pretty head was sleek and yellow, like a butterfly's wing. She +was so sound that it appeared to me and Marian as though one longer +breath might transform the mimicry into the actual thing--death. But +by-and-by awe fell from us, as it doth ever fall, even in the presence +of that which hath awed us, and my wife and I did return to our +discourse concerning my Lord Denbeigh. + +Quoth I to Marian, "But, wife, may not malice invent these tales?" + +"Nay, nay," said she, shaking her head; "as bloody a rogue as ever +lived--as bloody a rogue as ever lived. They do say as how he'll set a +whole tavern in a broil ere he be entered in for three minutes." + +"But," quoth I, "may he not be provoked?" + +"Nay, I tell thee," said she; "but he'll jump at a body's head, and +cleave 't open ere a body can say 'Jesus.'" + +At this I said, firmly, "I doubt not but what the poor man is most +surely maligned." Whereupon Mistress Butter did wax exceeding wroth. + +"Why wilt thou e'er be seeking to plead the cause o' villains?" cried +she. "First that bloody beast o' my lady's, now this bloody villain o' +th' devil's. I do wonder at thee, Anthony Butter." Whereat I did put in +that I sometimes wondered at myself. + +"For why?" quoth she. + +"Why, that I ever married to be worded by a wench," said I. And at this +I am most entirely sure that she would have cast her joint-stool at me, +had she not been sitting on 't, and my lady's head against her knee. So +she called me a "zany," and then after a little a "toad," but went on +stroking my lady's hair. + +And, by-and-by, back we come to his lordship. + +"'Tis not alone his bloody tricks and murderous ways," quoth my wife, +"that causes all Christian folk to abhor him, but he consorts with no +other women than drabs and callets. Dost excuse that?" + +"Nay," said I, with sufficient gravity, "then is this earl no longer a +man, but a swine, and not fit for men's discussion, much less that of +women." + +At this reproof I saw anger again in her eye, but she was so pleased +withal at having got me to call Lord Denbeigh a swine that she forebore +any further personal affront. + +"And yet," she went on, "they do say he be as fine a man as a wench +will walk through the rain to glimpse at, and a brave and a learned; but +that he wed a Spanish maid, and she betrayed him, and so he hath vowed +to hate women, one and all." + +"Hast thou seen him?" + +"Nay, but I've had him itemized to me by the wife o' Humfrey Lemon. A +blue eye, a hooked nose, a--" + +"Well, well, wife," quoth I, "if a blue eye and a hooked nose be as bad +signs in a man as they be in a horse, methinks this thy villain is a +very round villain." + +"And so he is," affirmed she. + +"Yet," said I, "there is somewhere in me a something that doth pity +him." + +"By my troth!" cried my wife. "I do believe, Master Butter, that +thou'dst pity the Devil's wife in childbirth." + +"Ay, that I would!" I made answer, with a great calmness, for I saw that +she sought to rouse my spleen. + +"Well, do not bellow," blurted she, "for my mistress is as sound as a +gold-piece." + +Then quoth my lady, a-rising up on her elbow, + +"Nay, that she is not. And, moreover, she would hear all the stories +concerning this bad and bloody Lord of Denbeigh!" + + +II. + +When Marian heard my lady so speak, methought she would have swooned in +verity; for she knew my lady's contempt for gossip. E'en for the first +time in all her life, Marian could not find a word to her tongue. + +"La! my lady," said she, and then stopped and was silent. My lady +laughed at her, with her deep eyes; but as was her wont, her mouth was +wondrous solemn. + +"Ay, nurse," quoth she, "thou thought'st me safe i' th' Land o' Nod, but +one hath ears to hear there as elsewhere." Then she reaches out one +hand and plays with Marian's ruff. "Go to, nurse," says she. "Dost thou +not see I am even i' th' same case with thyself? I too would gossip a +little. Come, word it--word it!" + +So Marian told her all that she had heard, together with a little +prophesying here and there, which boded no good to my Lord Denbeigh. She +told how he had e'en been a brave lad, but how in Spain he had wed with +a wife who played him false; how then he had vowed vengeance on all +womankind, becoming a brawler and a haunter o' taverns; how death was in +his sword and lightnings in his eye. + +My lady listened, and now and again she would pinch her eyelids softly +with her thumb and ring-finger, as one who is deep in thought. But when +Marian paused for breath, she turned to her, and quoth she, + +"Nurse, thou hast often preached unto me; listen now to my preachings. +Thou shalt often hear a man abused, nurse, but chiefly for that which +he hath never done. This wild lord, I doubt not, hath been guilty of +sorry deeds. What man hath not? But the half that thou hast told me is +not to be believed." + +Then went she to her room, taking Marian with her, but I saw that she +was moved. + +It was but the next day that my lady's uncle, Sir John Trenyon, came +riding into the court. He often came in such wise, to bide for a day or +two with his niece. A most courteous gentleman; red of face, blue of +eye, and blithe of tongue. He had a jest for each tick o' th' clock, and +a kind word for all. + +"Ah, Butter," saith he, "and where is thy mistress? And thy wife, the +good Dame Marian--where is she? And how about thy family? Hast thou no +better prospects than of yore?" + +Whereat I looked sorrowful enough, I doubt not, for he did bid me take +heart, as my first-born might have had a hare-lip or a crook-back. Then +did he toss me his bridle-reins, and my lady, having heard his voice, +came forth to meet him. + +"So, lady-bird!" quoth he, clasping her. "I am come for no less than +three reasons this time. First, to see thy bonny face. Second, to ride +thy bonny Robin. Third, to inquire and seek out a certain villain of +mine acquaintance, of whom you have doubtless heard;" and forthwith did +he say to her of how the wicked Lord Denbeigh was the son of a friend +and comrade, and of how he had known him when a lad, together with much +more, at which my lady pricked up her ears, as 'twere, having all a +lady's love for stories of wicked men who are not yet either old or +ill-favored. + +"By my troth," declared the old knight in ending, "I will take but a +mouthful to stay me, and then set forth straightway in quest o' th' +rascal." So having dined right heartily, he rode forth again. + +Now, having related this hap to Marian, she was devoured of so great a +curiosity that, as I am an honest man, I looked to see her consumed even +unto her bones, as some men who burn of drink. She would have it that I +must hazard a guess on the shape of Lord Denbeigh's nose, the color of +his hair, and the height of his body. She forced me to wonder whether he +were civil or rude of tongue. She pressed me to say whether I thought +there was aye a chance of his returning with Sir John. She questioned +me, in a word, until, having no answers, I was like to lose my wits, or +my temper, or both together. At last comes she and sits on my knee, and +tickles the back of my neck right playfully, as in the days of our +wooing. + +"As I live, Tony," quoth she, "we are like to have a strange story under +our very noses. What if"--and here she takes my face in her two hands, +and sets her chin against mine, so that I see four round blue eyes +against her white brow, and am like to go blind with her +thoughtlessness--"what if it turns out that the Lord hath set upon our +lady to be the saviour of this wicked earl?" + +"Ay," cried I. "And what if the Lord hath set upon me to be the founder +of a nation, like Abraham? What then?" At which she boxed my ears right +soundly. But I could not blame her, for in the wrong I was, without +doubt, although verily she had plagued me into it. So I sued for pardon, +and got it, and a kiss into the bargain. But she would not leave me in +peace concerning Lord Denbeigh. + +When that same afternoon there comes Sir John a-riding past, and the bad +earl at his side, "What dost thou say now?" quoth Marian, a-plucking me +in a way that did not serve to increase good feeling betwixt us. "Ah +ha! Are not women prophetesses by nature?" + +"Ay, by ill-nature," answered I; and for this quip I was not forgiven +for two days. + +It was towards the setting of the sun when Sir John and Lord Denbeigh +rode up to the door of Amhurste, and my lady, knowing naught, came out +at the sound of the horses' feet, thinking only to greet her uncle. The +red light from the west shone on her, and dabbled her white kirtle as +with blood, and her face was like one of the red roses in her garden. So +she put up her hand to shield it, and saw the stranger standing at her +feet. + +There was ne'er a nobler-looking man, for all he might outblack Satan in +his soul: straight of body, and strong of limb, and lofty of head. His +hair was the color of my lady's, and there seemed to be ever some +sunshine in it, as he moved his head. Methought his face was fair and +goodly to look upon, albeit his lips went downward at the corners, and +there was a droop in his broad lids. He was clad all in a close suit of +dark velvet, and in his hand he held a black hat with a knot of +heron-plumes. + +My lady stood and looked down at him from under her long, white hand, +and he stood and looked up at my lady, as one looks upward at a fair +picture. And the evening light crept between them. I was ashamed of my +own folly, when I did catch myself remembering Marian's silly sayings; +but for all that, they did come back to me, as the words of a foolish +woman will return to the wisest of men. And in truth he did gaze up at +her, as though she were more holy than the heavens above her. And for +all her hand, the sunset found its way unto her cheek. + +What I now relate was told me by Marian some three days after. 'Twas on +the night of the day on which Sir John had brought the stranger to +Amhurste, and Marian was carding out my lady's tresses before her +bedroom fire. + +Quoth my lady, suddenly, "Nurse, didst thou see Lord Denbeigh ere he +went?" + +And Marian said that she had seen him. + +"He hath a strange face, nurse." + +"How 'strange,' my lady?" + +"Why, it seems to me that each feature in it doth contradict the other. +His brow is stern, and saith to his eyes, 'Ye shall not be gentle.' His +eyes say to his nose, 'Spread not thy nostrils so proudly.' His nose +commands his lips that they smile not; but, nurse, there was ne'er a +sweeter smile on the lips o' a saint!" + +Marian fell a-thinking, and pulled my lady's hair. My lady heeded it +not, so Marian fell a-thinking yet more deeply. + +"It is not a face that tells of a bad heart," continued my lady. "Rather +it speaks of rebellion and misfortune. A sad story--a sad story." + +"What is, my lady?" asked Marian; but my lady was far away, whither +Marian could not follow. + +"Nurse," she saith, presently, "that were a soul worth saving." Then got +she suddenly to her feet, and turned and took her nurse's hands with +hers. "It shall be saved," she saith, "God helping." + +And she kissed Marian, and lay down upon her bed. But Marian did tell me +how that no sleep visited her lady's eyes that night. Through the +darkness she could hear her turn, first on this side, then on that; then +sigh and move her pillow, and sigh again. + +Methought Marian would have split in sunder with importance, when Lord +Denbeigh took to coming sometimes to Amhurste. 'Twas never for even an +hour that he stayed; and 'twas always some question of business that +brought him. But my lady and he touched hands full oft during a week, +and always he would look at her with a different look from that which +his eyes did wear at other times. And she spoke to him e'er courteously +and kindly, even as though he had been a holy man and worthy of all +reverence. + +One day it chanced that my lady rode the blue-roan out into the woods, +towards the hut of old Joan Gobble, who was crippled by reason of age. +My lady had me follow her on Dumble, th' white nag, with a pat o' butter +and some wine. I was taken up with pondering as to why my lady should go +in person to Dame Gobble's, seeing she might have sent me alone on +Dumble as well. Be that as it may, as we rode along by a brook-side, +under the thick leaves, whom should we come upon but my Lord Denbeigh. +He was kneeling beside the water, and holding down his hand into the +brook. As I looked I saw that his hand was befouled with gore, and that +the brown stream did rush away ruddily from beneath his fingers. + +My lady did not wait for me to hold Robin Hood, but did swing herself +from her saddle, and was beside the earl in a trice. He looked up, and +seeing her, did start upon his feet. + +"Nay," said she, putting out her hand, "but tell me if I can aid thee." + +And he strove to hide his hand at his side, saying. "Tis but a scratch;" +but the blood ran down like water on the grass. + +"Think not to spare me the sight o' blood," said my lady, "for I am +learned in bandaging wounds." And certes she was, seeing that every soul +at Amhurste did come to her for healing, let a cat but scratch them. And +she took his hand between her two fair hands (having drawn off her +gloves), and saw that his wrist was deeply severed as with a knife. But +she asked him no questions, telling him only to stoop while she cleansed +his hand sufficiently to bind it. And as she laid it in the water, and +pressed the lips of the wound together, he said unto her in a low tone, +not meaning that I should hear him, + +"Would that thou couldst wash my soul as thou hast washed my hand!" + +She looked straight into his eyes, with her own so clear and honest, +like a dog's (meaning no disrespect to my lady, as God knows), and she +answered him and saith, + +"It were well worth the washing, my lord; but an higher than I must +cleanse it." + +And he saith, "There is none higher." + +At that my lady's blood rose in her cheek, but she besought him that he +would not speak to her in such wise. When she had made a compress of the +napkins in the basket wherein I was carrying Dame Gobble's butter, and +had stanched the blood, she unwound the ribbon from her silver +hunting-horn, and cast it about his neck for a rest to his wounded arm. +Then he did bend down his head and kissed the ribbon, and my lady turned +quickly, and got upon the roan, and rode away at so smart a pace that +methinks Dame Gobble's butter and wine did reach her in a closer +conjunction than she could have found pleasant. + +When I told Marian of this encounter, merely by the way of a bit of +gossip, she did smile in such a wise that I was minded to cuff a woman +for the first time in a long life. + +It was that same night that Marian did tell me how that she feared the +earl was in danger of some sort, judging by certain words that my lady +had let fall in her sleep. I noticed how that my lady seemed restless, +and would start at the clap o' a door, or when Herne did come suddenly +upon her. And one day she leaned from a window, as I swept up the +rose-leaves from the grass on the east terrace, and called to me to come +thither. She was as white as her kirtle, and her gray eyes were dark +like water before a storm. She did not look at me, but beyond into the +air. So I waited, having plucked off my cap, and my lady stood looking, +looking; and after a while she saith, + +"Thou hast aye been a true and faithful servant unto me: therefore I am +about to give unto thee a great charge." + +And I said, "My lady, thou knowest that thou canst trust me;" and in +truth I could say no more, for my throat was stiff. + +And she continued and said, + +"Thou must be to-night at the Red Deer, and that by nine of the clock. +One will be there in whom we have both deep interest. I cannot tell thee +more. Take thy sword with thee, but have no fear--thou wilt have no +cause to use it. Yet, lest thou be fearful, take it with thee." And she +said, "Thou wilt remember?" + +"My lady, when have I e'er forgotten word of thine?" Whereat she did put +out her fair hand to me, saying, "Never," and there were tears in her +eyes. + +So that night (for the first time in many years) did I find myself +within the doors of the Red Deer. A cosey place it was, despite the +wine-bibbers that did profane it; and the inn-keeper's wife, a most +buxom, eye-pleasing wench, with three sturdy boys aye clambering about +her. As I looked, some hard and sinful thoughts did visit my heart +concerning the bounty that the Lord had lavished upon one who was a +barterer of wine, when I, who had lived ever a temperate and (in so far +as was in my power) a godly life, should remain childless. But I did +conquer at last, bidding Satan get behind me, and was left in peace to +toast my feet, and to ponder as to who it was that my lady had sent me +thither to mark. Had I not loved my lady with all my heart, methinks I +could not have stood the terms that were heaped upon me by the brawlers. +I will not repeat the foul slanders; suffice it to say, I sustained for +one half hour what few men are called upon to endure throughout a +lifetime. + +At last, the newness being gone, they left me in peace, and I, being +settled safely in my corner, did set to work to watch the door. + +Who should enter at that very moment but my Lord Denbeigh! He was +wrapped in a long brown cloak, and wore a broad hat, unornamented by +plume or buckle, pulled down over his eyes. He came and tossed himself +into a chair near the fire, and sat there pondering upon the coals, with +his legs out in front of him. Now, I have ever had a woman-weakness for +a goodly leg in man, and the splendid limbs of Lord Denbeigh did witch +me into a steadier gaze than that which civility doth permit. This +by-and-by he did notice, and so spoke to me. + +"At what art thou staring, ancient?" quoth he, not unkindly. So I told +him, whereupon he laughed somewhat. + +"Methinks thou art but a doting body," he said, "and yet is thy face +familiar. What now? Hast thou e'er met with me before?" + +Then did I lie right roundly, being, to confess the truth, not a little +afraid. + +"Out on thee," saith his lordship; "the truth is not in thee. I ne'er +forget a face; how, then, shall I forget a face such as thine? Certes I +have seen thee before. Wilt thou colt me?" + +And again lied I--blackly, most abominably. + +"As thou wilt," quoth he; "but thy face is known to me, for all that." + +It was at this time that the door opened again, and there did enter a +stripling, clad all in dark maroon velvet, wrapped also about with a +long cloak, and having a velvet bonnet pulled down over his brows i' th' +manner o' Lord Denbeigh's. One could see naught o' his visage for the +shadow from his head-gear. The revelers scarce noted his entrance, being +far gone in drink, and some having departed, and others asleep. The lad +came and stood near the fire, and I saw that he looked at Lord Denbeigh +from under his drooping bonnet--the earl having withdrawn unto a table +apart, with a glass of wine and some papers, and his sword across the +table. Even as I looked the boy turned, and went over, and leaned on the +table to finger the heavy sword. My heart was afraid within me, for +there was a dark light in the eyes that flashed up at the youth from +under Lord Denbeigh's stern brows. I was nigh unto them, being but a +stride or two apart, and so marked all that passed between them. + +"By my troth," quoth his lordship, "a valiant crack!" + +"Meaning me?" quoth the lad, smiling. + +"Ay, meaning thee, Sir Insolence. Dost thou know how to handle thine own +sword, that thou handlest a stranger's so freely?" + +"Even so. But I meant not to vex thee. In truth, I am come to thee on an +errand of life and death;" and as he spoke, he did doff his bonnet and +toss it upon the table, and the firelight and candlelight did leap upon +his fair curls, and as I saw his face it was the face of my lady. The +earl did start half-way to his feet, and his face was first like fire +and then like snow. + +"Margaret!" he saith, back of his teeth, as 'twere. + +And the lad smiled, leaning still upon the table. + +"Nay; my sister is called so," he said, "but my name is Robert, and I am +the Lord of Amhurste and her brother. Haply she hath mentioned me unto +your lordship." + +The earl stared as one who sees a ghost (though I believe not in them +myself), and he saith, "Whence comest thou? All think that thou art +dead." + +And the boy said, + +"Nay, but I would not that any besides thee knew of my whereabouts. As +to thee, I know more concerning thee even than my sister, and it is for +her sake that I come to thee to-night." + +And my lord saith, "For her sake?" + +"Even so. I am come to persuade thee that thou wilt not go on the errand +thou wottest of two nights hence. There are those who do mean thee +death. It is certain that thy life is plotted against. Surely thou wilt +be warned?" And as I looked, the color left the lad's face, and he grew +white as any woman. Almost I could have sworn it was my lady's face. +Line for line, eyelash for eyelash, look for look. And methought no +mother's heart e'er yearned towards her new-born babe as yearned my +heart towards the youth. It seemed as though I must cry out to him. To +see him thus after five weary years; to be so near him, and yet unable +to touch even the latchet of his shoes, or to hear his voice calling my +name. I trembled and was blind with longing. When at last I did look +up, he said again, "Surely, thou wilt be advised?" + +The earl leaned with his forehead set in his clasped hands, and +by-and-by he said, + +"It is impossible. Would that I could!" + +And the lad said, + +"Nay, it is not impossible. Thou canst save thine own life with a word." + +And Lord Denbeigh answered him: + +"My life is not worth even a word," and he did not lift up his forehead +from his hands. + +Then said my master, "Thy life may be worth less than naught to thee, +but to others its price is above their own." And again he was as pale as +any girl. + +And he spoke again and said, "Thou wilt not go? Thou wilt be warned?" + +And again did the man answer, saying, "Impossible." + +Then saith my master, + +"Lord Denbeigh, if thou goest to London on the morrow, I will follow +thee there. Nay, thou canst not prevent me. And think you my sister's +heart will be warmer towards thee if her brother's blood be spilled at +thy behest?" + +And the earl sat with his stern eyes on the lad, and he said, + +"Thy blood will ne'er be spent at my behest. I do forbid thee to follow +me." + +And the lad said, + +"I am not to be forbidden." So they stood and looked at one another. And +all at once the boy put out his hand ('twas my lady's very gesture) and +took the earl's sleeve, and saith he in a gentle voice, + +"Thou wert a man after God's own heart did not thou let Satan consort +with thee." + +Then turned Lord Denbeigh with a laugh that was not merry. And he saith, + +"As thou quotest Scripture to me, select thy texts with greater care. +Even to my mind there doth come one more suiting; for even as Job, 'I am +a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.'" + +Then saith the lad, still with his hand on the man's arm, + +"Is it not the more to thy discredit that thou, who couldst be brother +to Christ, do make brothers of dragons? Verily, my lord, I am bold +through my sister, for methinks it is thus that she would have answered +thee." + +And the man turned away as though to hide his face. + + +III. + +Lord Robert spoke with Lord Denbeigh at some length, but he was not to +be turned from his purpose (which, methought, must be a very strange and +grewsome one, judging by their words). So finally they went out +separately, and I got me back to Amhurste. + +The next morning I did relate to my lady all that had passed, but +mentioning no names, as I saw that she wished it not. And when I was +finished she bade me go straightway to London and find out the +whereabouts of Lord Denbeigh. Moreover, she told me that she herself +would be there shortly with Marian, and that they two would lodge at the +house of Marian's aunt, one Mistress Pepper, a linen-draper's wife. At +this I wondered greatly, the more that she should keep silent concerning +her brother than that she should follow him to London. And all that I +could think was that Lord Robert was in some dire conspiracy, likewise +the earl, and that she feared for the lives of one or both. So we all go +to London, I earlier than my lady and Marian. + +For a day I lost sight of Lord Denbeigh (whom I had followed closely all +the way from Warwickshire), but the next afternoon I marked him as he +passed along a by-way, and heard him speak with some one of his friends, +naming a tavern where he would meet him at a certain hour that night. + +So first I found out where the tavern was, then straight to my lady and +acquainted her with all that I had discovered. + +She said naught but to commend my diligence, and she went whiter than a +just washed sheep at shearing-time. Quoth I to myself, "Butter, there is +more here than thou wottest of;" which was very true. + +That night, a little before the hour set upon, I did get me to the +tavern, and lurked quietly in the shadows where none might observe; and +there, verily, was the earl and him with whom he had spoken in the +afternoon. He had but said a word or so when Lord Robert entered, and +went and stood at his elbow, but did not touch him or pluck at his +cloak. Albeit, the earl seemed to feel his presence, for shortly he +turned and saw the lad. + +"How!" quoth he. "Thou here?" + +And the boy said, "I told thee I would follow thee." + +And Lord Denbeigh answered him, "Dost thou know of what thou speakest?" + +And the lad said, "Verily I know, and thou mayest trust me;" and with +that he muttered two or three words under his breath, which, because of +mine old ears, I could not catch. And the two men started and looked at +one another. Then the earl did turn to his friend, saying to him that +they could indeed trust the lad. So they three clasped hands. When that +was done, Lord Denbeigh turns to my master, and saith he, "Hast thou thy +dirk with thee?" and the lad answered that he had both sword and dagger. + +"Not that there is any danger," quoth the earl, "but that thou mayest +feel easy." + +But the lad said, "There is danger, as I have told thee; and thou art +putting thy life in jeopardy." At this Lord Denbeigh only laughed; but +as they went out into the street I marked that he kept the lad close at +his side, almost as a mother keeps a child. + +The night was still and cold, and the sky full of little white clouds +that lapped the one over the other, like shells on a seashore. Now and +again the moon would strike through, in a long, bright ray, that seemed +like a keen blade or lance severing the misty air. The three went on and +on, through many winding ways, and still I followed, for I knew not into +what danger the lad might be hastening. + +All at once, in a dark turning, there came the clang of swords and a +rushing and scuffling, but no cry of any kind; and methought the silence +was more hideous than sound. Stiff as were my old joints with disuse, I +drew my sword and lay about me lustily, striving to get between the +villains and my young master (which is no credit to me, as I was so +wrought with rage that I verily believe I would have no more felt the +thrust of a rapier than Marian's housewife the prick of a needle). But +there was no method in aught, neither could anything be seen; for the +moon had withdrawn behind the clouds, and we seemed to be fighting +underneath clear water, so pale and ghastly was the light shed about us +from the pale clouds. And as I struck out with my sword I saw a fellow +in a mask close with Lord Denbeigh, lifting a dagger high in his hand, +while another rascal pinned the earl's hands to his sides. And even as I +looked, the lad leaped between, and the thin knife went deep into his +breast. At the same time there was a louder clash of swords, and a +thudding of men's bodies together, and the masked wretches turned about +and did take to their heels with a good will. So I sheathed my sword and +ran forward. + +Lord Denbeigh and his friend were bending over the lad, who lay +out-stretched between them, with his white face turned up to the white +sky, looking like the face of a dead man at the bottom of a clear pool. +Then could I not withhold my grief, but cried aloud, "My master, my +master!" and tried to feel with my trembling old hands for the wound. + +Then said the earl, "Not here! I will carry him to a place of safety." +And he lifted the boy in his arms, as though he had been a hurt child. + +When the other saw that, he laid hold on Lord Denbeigh's arm, saying, +"What mean you? are you distraught? There is but scarce time by the +clock." + +And the earl said, "Go you on. I must take this boy where his wound can +be bound." + +"Nay," said the man. "I tell you, you are mad!" + +And Lord Denbeigh turned on him, and spoke in a harsh voice: + +"I have said I will not go. I have done with thee and thine. Go thy ways +ere it be too late;" and he passed on and left the man to swallow the +moonshine with his great gaping mouth. + +And he saith unto me, "Follow closely." So by-and-by we came to a great +gray house, and Lord Denbeigh opened the door and bade me enter with +him. + +We passed through a vast hall, and up a ponderous staircase, and into a +room. A fire was burning on the hearth, and there was a fantastic kind +of lamp swinging from a silver chain above the bed's foot. + +I guessed rightly that this was his lordship's own apartment. He laid +the lad on the bed, and fell to undoing his doublet of black velvet. I +did see him set to shivering, as 'twere, when he noted the red stains on +the shirt underneath, and my heart stood still within me. Then he opened +the red linen, and did put in his hand gently to feel if the heart were +yet beating; but no sooner had he done this than he gave a strange cry, +and drew out his hand dripping with blood, and stood staring and +trembling. At the same moment the lad stirred, and opened his eyes, and +began to clutch feebly at his doublet, drawing it together. I made +naught of it until Lord Denbeigh did turn to me, with the face of a dead +man, and quoth he, "Stay here while I fetch women," and so rushed out +like one in truth distraught. + +Then did it all come upon me, and I knew that the face upon which I +looked was the face of my lady. + +Ere another second had passed I heard the earl's voice without, and he +spoke with a woman: + +"Do thou go instantly and clothe the lady within in some of thy +garments; and have care that thou say no word to any of what hath +happened, else will it not be well for thee." + +When I heard the tone in which he spoke, methought in truth it would not +be well for her did she not heed his commands. + +Shortly there entered a woman most marvellous fair, with hair that +seemed spun of black taffetas, and a skin like a white jasmine. When +she saw the blood her lips whitened, and she did close them more +closely, but no cry escaped her. Whereat I was much ashamed, remembering +the hullabaloo that I had raised. + +I turned aside while she disrobed my lady and clothed her in clean +linen, and drew down the sheets, placing her between them. But the blood +still flowed in spite of all bandages, and the fair linen was soon +crimson. + +And when all was prepared, the woman went to the door and said, "You can +enter," and the earl came into the chamber again. When, however, he did +see my lady he cried out, "God in heaven! she will bleed to death!" and +he called the woman, and showed her how to stanch the wound. Then, when +the steps of the surgeon were heard in the hall without, he said unto +her, "Remember. She is thy sister, and thieves have stabbed her for the +jewels on her neck." And she answered him, "I will remember." + +And all this time methought I was in an evil dream, and that Marian, for +some spite, would not awaken me. + +How it came about, to this day I recollect not, but ere two weeks had +sped we were again at Amhurste, and my lady in her own bower, under +Marian's care. As to that, Marian had been with my lady ever since the +fatal night whereon she was nigh done to death by that masked ruffian. + +The earl did go himself to fetch her from Mistress Pepper's, and after +that she came neither of us saw the sloe-eyed woman any more. + +None had known of my lady's stay in town, saving my lady herself, Lord +Denbeigh, the black-eyed woman (who never uttered word more, good or +bad, after that she had said, "I will remember"), Marian, and me. So +besides us five no one was the wiser. + +It was towards the last of May that my lady did beg that we would lift +her out to sit in a long-chair on the east terrace. The birds were at +their morning gossiping in the shrubbery, and the air was most sweet +with the breath of the white lilacs. My lady looked like a snow-wreath +fallen suddenly among the greenery of spring, but her eyes did peep +softly, like bluebells, from the snows of her face. Methought she was +all white and blue, like the heavens above her, and her hair made +sunshine over all. Herne, the blood-hound, lay at her feet, and would +not be stirred, though for sport my lady had Marian to tempt him with +some comfits. + +While we were all there, and my lady showing us how the light shined +through her thin hands, and discoursing right merrily, there came a page +and handed her a letter. Back fell she among her pillows, and her +eyelids dropped over her eyes, like snow-flakes fallen on violets. Anon +she opened the letter, and having read it, said unto Marian, "Nurse, go +bid him hither." So Marian beckoned me, and we left her. As we entered +the house, who should pass us but my Lord of Denbeigh, and o' my word he +was whiter than my lady, if anything, and wrapped as usual in a long +cloak. He seemed not to see us, and we went on in silence. + +Here transpires the only part of this narrative concerning which I am +reluctant to write. I will out with it, however, and the Almighty knows +that I have not done with repentance even yet. So be it. There was a +window overhanging the terrace where my lady sat (the window out of +which she had leaned to speak to me about repairing to the Red Deer). +But let me not defer longer. I, Anthony Butter, of respectable parents, +and counted among my fellows and betters an honest man, did go to this +window, and did most deliberately listen to the words that passed +between my mistress and the Earl of Denbeigh. In fact (for I have sworn +to keep back no jot or tittle of the truth), I did speed me so fast that +I was at the window ere his lordship reached my lady's side. + +He came slowly, but his look went before him, and was fast upon my +lady's face ere he himself was within ten yards of her. When at last he +was come to her side, he did stand and look down on her, but uttered no +word. And also my lady did look down, and there was a light like sunset +on her cheek. + +Then suddenly did he drop upon his knees beside her, and bowed down his +head upon her knee and was silent. Then my lady (God forever keep her!) +did turn her eyes quickly, and stole a look to see that no one was nigh +(God forgive my dastardly presence!), and did reach out one pale hand, +half fearfully as 'twere, and did let it rest upon the man's bowed head, +as a white rose-leaf falls and rests on the earth. And she said but two +words, "My friend;" yet methought all love was in them. Whereat he +raised his head and looked at her, and it is so that men look upward +when they pray. He took her hands with his and held them to his breast, +and he saith, "Dear saint, if thou forgivest me, wilt thou but kiss my +brow?" And she bended forward and kissed him; and he trembled, calling +her by name; and she asked him what he would with her. Then kneeling at +her side, he spoke to her, and his words were as follows: + +"Thou hast heard of my life and of my misfortunes, but all hath not been +told thee. Grant me but patience for a moment, that I myself may tell +thee all." + +And she saith unto him, "Say on." + +So he spoke and said, "There is much that I may not tell thee, yet part +I will tell thee, for that I must. Thou hast heard how that my wife--" +But he could not continue, so dropped his face into my lady's hands, +and she waited for him, saying softly, + +"I will understand what thou dost not say. Be not troubled, but speak +out thy soul to me;" and presently he told her more. As I do live, never +listened I to sadder story. So piteous it was that my tears fell down +like rain, and I was sore afraid that my sighing would discover my +whereabouts. But the Almighty is merciful even to sinners, and I +remained unnoted. 'Twas the old tale of love and treachery; a false wife +and a friend who was a villain. + +The earl had killed the man (but in fair encounter), and his wife he had +brought back, never to be as husband to her more, but to preserve her +from further sin. And I do maintain that 'twas a noble act, and I did +quite forgive him the blood of his betrayer. Methought my lady did +forgive him too, for she did but stroke his hair softly, saying ever and +anon, "Poor soul!" or "God help thee!" And by-and-by he lifted his +face, and saith, "But the worst is yet to tell thee." + +And she said again, "Say on." + +And he trembled again, but spoke out bravely: "My wife yet lives. It was +she who bound thy wounds." + +Now at this I thought to see my lady swoon; but she only smiled, though +better had one seen her weep than smile in such wise. And she saith, "I +have known that these many days;" and she leaned towards him, and placed +both hands upon his head, saying, "Weep not. I hold thee guiltless. Do +not weep." + +But he sobbed, clasping her knees, as one whose heart is broken, saying +now and again below his breath, "O God! O God!" + +If there be this side the stars a more awful sight than the sight of a +strong man in tears, God grant I may ne'er behold it, for surely I +should die of pity. Doth it please God that I resemble Abraham in the +matter of age, if in none other, ne'er will that scene fade from my +memory--my lady, so wan and white and narrow, like a tall lily over +which a rude wind hath swept, and at her knee the strong man, bowed as a +little lad that saith his prayers, clasping her kirtle and her hands, as +though one sinking in deep waters were to grasp at a floating stem of +flowers for support. And after a while, when the violence of his grief +was spent, he saith unto her, + +"I sail for Spain with Essex on the morrow, as thou knowest; but it doth +remain for me to tell thee why I go. It is for that I think the lad, thy +brother, hath been a prisoner of war these many years, and I go to bring +him to thee." + +And she sat and looked at him as though her heart had leaped from her +breast into his body; but she spake no words save only, "God keep thee; +God go with thee." + +And suddenly he saith unto her, as though the words would forth, + +"I loved thee from the moment that I saw thee. Let me but tell thee +that." + +She whispered, saying, "It was even so with me." And he lifted his eyes +and looked at her. Then fled I, as though I had drawn away the veil from +the sanctuary, for I thought that God would surely smite me for having +beheld that look. + + * * * * * + +So Lord Denbeigh sailed with the Earl of Essex for the war in Spain, and +my lady's soul left her body and went with him; for surely 'twas but her +body that remained at Amhurste. All day long would she sit silent, nor +move, nor look, and her hands the one upon the other before her, as who +should say, "I am done with all things, whether of work or of play." So +passed the months, and ever and anon some report would reach the village +of the wild earl's deeds in Spain, and of how he would fight ten men +with one arm wounded and the blood in his eyes, and such like tales. But +no word came direct, either through letters or friends. So passed the +months, and it was nigh to August, and the fighting was over for the +time, when one day, with a clattering as of a horsed army, there comes +dashing into the court two cavaliers on horseback, and one of them was +my Lord of Denbeigh. Ere I could look at the other he had leaped to the +ground, and had me about the neck a-kissing me as roundly as ever a +wench in the market-place. And lo! when I looked, it was Lord Robert in +very truth. He was grown out of all knowledge, and as brown as a nut, +but as big and as bonny a lad as ever clapped hand to sword. + +When I could turn my eyes from him upon the earl, I saw that he was +waxed as pale as death, and wore his arm in a kerchief, and that there +was a great red streak adown his temple, clean through his right +eyebrow. And his splendid flanks and chest were hollow, like those of a +good steed that lacketh fodder. But when he stood and leaned against his +horse's neck and smiled at us, methought he was by far the goodliest man +that ever I had looked upon. His teeth were as white as the foam on his +horse's bit, and there was a deep nick at the corner of his mouth, like +that at the mouth of a girl. + +Then must I call Marian, and send her to break the news to my lady. So +in a moment she comes rushing down along the stair-way, like a branch +that is blown suddenly from the top o' a tall tree, and so into Lord +Robert's arms; and he catches her to his heart, and so stands holding +her; and they make no motion nor any sound whatever. Then turns the earl +away, and leaves them together. But I marked that his eyes were +brimming, and that there was a quiver in his lip. + +Ere night all is known to us: how Lord Robert had been a prisoner in +Spain all these years, yet was he treated with courtesy at the behest o' +some wench. But he did not love her, God be praised! And 'tis in my mind +to this day how he might have wed her, and how the earl did relate to +him his bitter experiences with a Spanish wife. Ay, that is my firm +opinion. All this and more did we hear, laughing and weeping by turns. +But it was not until Lord Robert saw my lady alone that she heard of how +the earl had saved him at the risk of his own life, all but bearing him +in his arms through the enemy, hewing his way right and left. And, +moreover, Lord Robert did tell how that the blood from that cut on the +earl's temple did in truth run down into his eyes and blind him, but how +that he dashed it back and slew the man who wounded him, and so they +escaped. + +The next morning, as I did sally forth with my cross-bow to have a shot +at a screech-owl which for some nights past had disturbed Marian's +slumbers, she in her turn having disturbed mine, I did see Lord Denbeigh +come out upon the terrace and throw himself down along the grass, +beneath a tulip-tree, with a book. But he read not, lying very quiet, +with his head raised up upon one hand and his elbow sunk in the soft +turf. And as the sunlight struck through the leaves upon his glittering +hair, and his face like marble, I could not but pause to gaze on him, so +noble looked he. But his eyes were far away, and his thoughts with them. + +It was for this that he did not hear my lady coming until she stood +beside him, and her white gown brushed his cheek. But seeing her, he +leaped to his feet, and the blood ran along his face, and then seemed +all to settle in the long wound, leaving him more pale than before. And +she said to him, + +"Nay, do not rise, for thou art weak yet;" but he would not be seated, +so they stood there, side by side in the fair morning light. And +presently she puts out her hand (no one ere reached out their hand as +did my lady), and she just lays it on his sleeve, and saith she, "I am +come to thank you--to thank you with all my heart and soul--" and there +a sob chokes her, and she can say no more. + +Again the blood swept up across his brow; and he said, "For God's love, +say no more." + +But she answered, saying, "Nay, I have so much to say." And she came +nearer to him for a little space; and her head drooped downward, like a +flower full of rain. And she did knit and unknit her white fingers as +they hung before her. And she saith, "There is no guerdon worthy such a +knight, but if an thou--" + +Then all on a sudden did she reach out both arms towards him, and her +fair hands, palms upward, and the scarlet leaped to her very brow; but +she lifted her little head proudly, albeit her eyes were dropped +downward, and she said unto him, "Take me, for I am thine." + +And he trembled from head to foot, and parting his lips as though to +speak, reached out his arms and clasped her. + +And when I realized what I had done, I did drop my cross-bow and took to +my heels, like one followed by goblins. + +Now, even as I hope to be saved, I but just come to recognize that this +was my second eavesdropping. So be it. I have vowed, and must keep my +vow. + +It was all made clear to me that night, when Marian did relate to me how +that the Spanish woman had slain herself by swallowing flame. At which +(though mightily pleased, God forgive me, on account of my lady and the +earl) I was more than ever thankful that Lord Robert had escaped alive +and unwed out o' th' clutches o' th' Spanish wench. And here it +occurreth to me that I have not yet told that Marian did know from the +first of my lady's going up to town dressed as her brother. This I +record more on account of its being a marvellous instance of a woman's +keeping her tongue than to shame Marian, who hath often read how that +wives should submit themselves unto their husbands as unto the Lord. +Howbeit, all ended so happily that I had not the heart to scold her. + +With the first frosts of October my lady and the earl were wed. +Methought the queen herself could not have had a finer wedding, and +certes no woman could have had a nobler spouse. He was yet pale from his +wounds, but most soldierly of bearing and proud of carriage. He was clad +all in white, like my lady. A more beauteous apparel I have never seen. + +His doublet was of cloth of silver, with a close jerkin of white satin +embroidered in silver and little pearls. His girdle and the scabbard of +his sword were of cloth of silver, with golden buckles. His poniard and +sword were hilted and mounted in gold, together with many blazing orders +and richer devices that I know not how to enumerate. + +My lady's gown was all of white satin, sewn down the front with little +pearls, like those on my lord's jerkin, and her ruff was of soft lace, +not stiff, as was the fashion, but falling about her bosom most modestly +and becomingly. Lord Robert, methinks, was eke as goodly, after his way, +as either his sister or Lord Denbeigh, being close clad from head to +foot in crimson sarcenet, slashed all with cloth of gold. My lady had +given me some suiting clothes for the occasion; and as for Marian, +methought in her new gown of sea-green taffeta, with her new ruff and +head-gear, that she looked as fair a matron as any mother of fine lads +in all England. + + +IV. + +Seven months they had been wed, and it was May again. Methought such +love had never been on earth since Eden. 'Twas gladness but to see them. +And all, moreo'er, was so well with Lord Robert, who, folks did say, was +in mighty great favor at court, and like to become a shining light in +the land. + +'Twas on a May morning. The trees were a-lilt with birds, and the sound +of waters set all the winds a-singing. All at once comes my lord, and +sets his hand on my shoulder. Then know I that something dire hath +happened. And he saith, "Friend, where is thy mistress?" + +And I tell him that she is out among her roses. + +Then saith he all at once, "The Queen hath sent for me--I must to war." + +And I could do naught but stare at him. And he said to me: "In an hour I +must be gone. Say naught to thy mistress. I will go don a suiting dress, +and do thou bring me my sword and give it into my hand." + +And he went, returning shortly, and I gave him the sword. It was then +that we heard the voice of my lady without, and she sang a song of the +spring-tide. The words I have ne'er forgot, though I did but hear them +once: + + "For O! For O! + The cowslips blow, + And the ground's all gold below me; + The speedwell's eye + Peers up so bli' + I swear it seems to know me! + + "The lady-smocks + In silver frocks + Do flout the sonsy clover; + The humble bee + Consorts wi' me + And hails me for a rover. + + "Then trip, then trip, + And if ye slip + Your lad will lend a hand O; + The lass in green + With black, black een, + Is the fairest in the land O." + +And as the earl listened methought he would have fallen, grasping my +shoulder, old man as I was, and bending down his head upon it. And I did +stay him with my arm, as though he had been my very son--for old age is +father to all men. + +So my lady comes in, with her gold hair blowing, and her white kirtle +full of red roses, and seeing her lord goes to meet him. But when she +noted the soldierly fashioning of his dress, and the sword girt at his +thigh, she opened her lips as though to cry out, but no sound escaped +them. And her kirtle slipped from her hold, and the red roses lay +between them like a pool of blood. + +Then she saith unto him, "Tell me. Quick, quick!" + +And he lifts her to him, and saith, "Sweetheart, my Queen hath bidden me +come fight for her and for my country." + +And she saith naught, only clasps him. + +But by-and-by she cries out, saying, "Go not! Go not! Else wilt thou +kill me." And so speaking, falls like one dead at her lord's feet. + +Then I, running like one distraught to fetch Marian, do tilt pell-mell +into Lord Robert, who hath come down to Amhurste for a week or so of +rest. + +"Heydey!" quoth he. "What Jack-a-lent hath frighted thee?" And I told +him all. Never a word said he, but went straightway and got upon his +horse, and clapped spurs to its sides, and so out of sight. + +And all that night my lady lay nigh to death, so that there was ne'er a +thought in the breast of any for another soul. Therefore Lord Robert was +not missed. + +Ere two days were past came a man with despatches, and we found out how +that Lord Robert had substituted himself for the earl (having acquainted +the Queen with the circumstances--and he being, moreover, so great a +favorite), and how the Queen had granted Lord Denbeigh leave to remain +in England a while longer. + +And so his lordship was with his lady when their child was born, but +Lord Robert was killed in the wars. + +They grieved sore for him, and for many weeks would not be comforted. +And even it was said that the Queen mourned for him, and did banish all +festivities from court for the space of several days. + +But like as the stars do pale in the morning sky, so pales the orb of +sorrow before the rays of the great sun, happiness. + +And though he was ne'er forgotten, and though the tears would spring to +my lady's eyes heard she but his name mentioned, yet she did smile again +and was happy. + +It chanced but this morning that Marian and I, leaning from the window +that overlooks the east terrace, did see a most winsome sight. + +'Twas a fair morning, and May again, and on such mornings as these my +lady would go forth on the east terrace with the child. And there grow +all such sweet flowers as my lady loves--the red mule-pinks, and +dame's-violets, such as are sweet o' evenings, but marvellous fair to +look upon both by sunlight and moonlight. And the south wall was all +thick with the yellow violets, so that my lady's head looked like the +head o' a saint against a golden platter. And there did my lady sit, on +a quaintly wrought bench, with the little lord. + +And this morning, when she was seated, and the babe curled against her +bosom, and Marian and myself thinking o' the pictures o' the Virgin Mary +and the blessed Jesus (saving that my lady's kirtle was all of white and +gold, like the lilies, knotted in her waistband), she looked up on a +sudden, and lo! there was the master coming along over the grass towards +her. When he saw who it was that sat there, he doffed his plumed hat +like as though it had been the Virgin Mary for very truth, and he paused +a minute, but then came on. + +When my lady saw him who he was, there came a fair red o'er all the +white o' her throat and face; ay, and withal over her very bosom. And +she put up one white hand, with her wedding-ring on't, and made as +though she would shield the sun from the babe's eyes. + +And all this time my lord came slowly over the grass, as though the +sweet sight did pleasure him both far and near. And when he was +approached, he stood, still with his hat in his hand, and looked down at +the babe and its mother, and was silent. + +Then the child, feeling mayhap that its father was near, twisted over +towards him, reaching out its waxen arm, and smiled right knowingly; +whereat my lord did pluck the great plume out o' his hat and lay it +across my lady's bosom; moreover, he knelt and put an hand on the babe, +but his arm he held about his wife. + +Then did she draw both my lord and the child to her, and pressed them +against her, but her face she lifted Godwards. + +And something spoke within our hearts that we turned and left the +window. + + + + +THE FARRIER LASS O' PIPING PEBWORTH. + + +HUMFREY LEMON, meeting Bered Turnip, before the "Red Deer," doth speak +as follows: + + * * * * * + +Whom have we here? Well, well, by my troth! 'tis none other than Bered +Turnip, the farrier, as I do live! Come for an alms-drink, comrade. +Would I had as many gold-pieces as we have burnt alnights i' this very +tavern! And is it thus we meet after all these years? It doth seem but +yesterday that we supped under this very roof as juvenals. Dost thou +mind thee o' the night that we gave old Gammer Lick-the-Dish a bath in +his own sack, for that he served us in a foul jerkin? By'r lay'kin, +those were days! Well, well, to meet thee thus! Though, believe it or +not, as thou wilt, I had such a pricking i' my thumbs but an hour gone +that I was of a mind to roar you like any babe with a pin in his +swaddling-bands. Thou wast my beau-peer i' those times; and we are kin +by profession, moreover. How be Mistress Turnip and thy eight lads? Ha! +ha! Dost remember how old Anthony Butter--him who was gardener at +Amhurste Castle, ye mind--dost thou remember in what spite he held thee +because o' those eight little salads o' thine? A always said a married +with an eye to a's posterity; and o' my word a's been cockeyed e'er +since, for's posterity has e'er kept him on the lookout: never chick or +child hath Mistress Butter given him. + +Quoth he to me one day, a-setting of 's chin in 's thumb and forefinger +(thou mind'st his solemn ways)--quoth he to me, "Lemon," quoth he, +"would I knew why the Lord doth seem to look with a more bounteous favor +on such as are farriers, than on such as be followers of other trades; +for methinks, what with thee, and Turnip, and Job Long-pate, who bides +in Dancing Marston, England will owe the chief o' her future population +to blacksmiths." I quoth, to humor him, quoth I, "Belike, Master +Butter," quoth I, "the Almighty hath gotten wisdom by experience, and +doth purpose to put no further trust in gardeners." Whereat he waxed so +wrathful, that for the sake o' my breeches I took to my heels. But, +Lord! it doth seem as though a had a spite against th' very children o' +others. Thou mindest my Keren? By'r lay'kin, 'twill not stick i' my old +pate how that thou hast not been in these parts since my Keren could 'a' +walked under a blackberry-bramble without so much as tousling her +tresses. Well, a grew up a likely lass, I can tell thee! Sure thou +mindest why we--my wife and I--did come to call her Keren? Go to! Thou +dost! 'Tis the jest o' th' place to this day. Well, then, if thou dost +not, I'll be at the pains o' telling thee; for methinks 'twas a wise +thought. We did christen her Keren-Happuch; "for," quoth my wife, "when +that we be pleased with her, we can call her Keren--which is as +sweet-sounding a name as a maid can have; and, on the other hand, when +we be wroth with her, we can call her Happuch--which sure would be a +rough name even for thy trotting mare Bellibone." Ha! ha! And thereby, +comrade, hangs another tale, as Master Shakespeare was wont to say. My +wife, thou must know, hath e'er been a loyal admirer o' our gracious +Queen, and it comes to her ears one day as how her Majesty did ride +a-horseback most excellent well. Naught would do but that I must let +Mistress Lemon mount for a ride upon my gray mare Bellibone. Now +Bellibone, though as willing a nag as ever ambled, did think far more +o' getting to her journey's end than o' the manner in which she did +accomplish the journey; and, I will say, a trotted as though a was for +breaking th' stones on th' Queen's highway, instead o' getting o'er 'em. +Well, I did what I could to dissuade Mistress Lemon from her enterprise, +but a was as firm as one o' my surest driven nails in a new shoe. So a +let her go. Couldst thou but 'a' seen her when she was returned an hour +after! Ha! ha! ha! a was for breaking my head with my own pincers. + +"Dost thou call that devil's-riding-horse 'Bellibone?'" quoth she, with +what breath there was left to her. "By my troth, I think she hath not +another bone in her whole body besides her backbone!" + +But I spake o' Keren. Thou knowest that even as a lass she had a sharp +tongue o' her own--as keen as a holly leaf, by my troth. So be it. 'Twas +one day nigh unto Martlemas that old Butter did undertake to chide her +for conducting herself after the manner o' a lad rather than o' a lass. + +Quoth she to him, a-setting of her little black pate to one side, and of +her little brown arms akimbo--quoth she, "Since the Lord hath not made +me a lad," quoth she, "I cannot more than act like one; and so I will +do!" + +Quoth he, "Thou hast a sour name, a bitter tongue, and a peppery temper, +jade; and the two last be not gifts o' the Lord." + +"And thou," quoth she, "hast a mustard conceit, for right sure am I that +'tis big enough for a goose to roost in! And whether th' Lord hath given +it to thee or not, I'm glad I have 't not," quoth she; for she had heard +it read, in some meeting whither her mother would sometimes take her, of +how the fowls o' the air did lodge i' th' branches o' the mustard-plant. +Well, by'r lay'kin, th' village hath ne'er forgot that to this day, and +that I'll prove thee when we be through drinking! + +What hath become o' her? Go to! Sure thou knowest that? Well, well 'tis +a tale to make a play of. I've often thought, had Master Shakespeare +known of 't, how he would 'a' fashioned it into a jolly play. Tell thee +of 't? What! art in earnest? By the mass, then, thou must drink again. +Come, fill up, fill up. What there! a cup o' the amber drink for Master +Turnip! + +Let me see: how old was th' lass when thou didst set forth on thy +jauntings? Some two years, methinks. And she was fourteen on the first +day o' March i' that year wherein she did sauce old Butter with some o' +'s own wit for gibing at her for a tomboy. O' my word, man, th' old +fellow was not far i' th' wrong. If e'er th' angel o' life did make an +error i' th' distributing o' souls, 'twas on the night Keren was brought +into this world. And a say that with a cause, moreover; for th' same +night, mark you, one Mistress Mouldy, over the way, was brought to bed +o' a man-child. That's neither here nor there. Herein doth lie the +singularity. That child did grow up to knit stockings i' th' door-way +like any wench; Peter Mouldy's th' name, and a plays a part i' th' story +I'm about to relate to thee. Ne'er in all thy travels hast thou e'er +seen so crack-brain a wench as my Keren! Lord! it set thy head to +swimming did she but enter a room. She had no more stability o' motion +than a merry-go-round; and she was that brown, a bun looked pale i' th' +comparison, when she did lift it to her mouth to eat it. A strapping +jade, and strong as any lad o' her age i' th' village. In her seeming +she took neither after her mother nor after me, though she was a comely +wench as wenches go--hair as black as a January night in stormy weather, +and eyes as big and as bright and as yellow (o' my word)--as yellow as +two crown pieces! They looked out from under her thick eyebrows like +sunlight peeping from a heavy cloud. And she was made like a lad for +suppleness. Taller than her mother by head and shoulders, and within a +full inch o' my forelock. By'r lay'kin! how she could sing too! She +would troll thee a ditty i' th' voice o' a six-foot stripling, but for +a' that, as sweet as bells far away on a still noon in summer-tide. And +she was always getting hold o' saucy songs, and putting them to tunes o' +her own invention. A could 'a' had aye the lads i' th' village, had a +wanted 'em; but, Lord! a had one sweetheart one day, and another the +next, till they were one and all for murdering or marrying her. But she +would none o' 'em. 'Twas one summer's day, her mother being gone to th' +village, that she did set about to brew some sack; and as she did stand +by the big pot while it cooled, to see that naught fell into 't, up +comes Master Peter Mouldy with his knitting, and grins at her across +the caldron, after the fashion o' a horse eating briers. She not +noticing him, quoth he, + +"Good-morrow, sweet Mistress Lemon." + +Saith she, not looking at him, + +"Thou liest." + +"How, mistress?" saith he, with his mouth as wide as a church door on a +Sunday. + +"Why, for calling a lemon sweet," saith she, "when all the world doth +know that it is sour." + +Thereat he did fall a-grinning again. + +"Sweet, sweet mistress Keren," quoth he, "'tis thee I praise, and not +thy name. And I will wager that thou art not sour, Mistress Keren." + +"How wilt thou find out, either to lose or to win thy wager?" quoth she. + +"Thus!" quoth he. And, o' my word, the homespun got his arms about her, +knitting and all (though I would 'a' laid two cows and a lamb they +couldn't 'a' reached about her pretty waist), and smacked her right +heartily full on her red mouth. + +Well, comrade, that something would happen I knew full well; but when +she did up with him by the seat o' his breeches and the collar o' his +jerkin, and did souse him head first into the pot o' sack, methought I +would 'a' burst in sunder, like Judas Iscariot (meaning no blasphemy). + +And when he was climbed out, spluttering and white with terror, she did +fish out his hat with his big knitting-needles, and did set it upon his +head, and did thrust him outside, and did shut the door in 's face. But +never a word said she from first to last. Then methought in verity I +would 'a' split in twain from top to toe, like the veil o' the temple +(meaning no blasphemy, as I will swear on th' book). And when she caught +sight o' me she too fell a-laughing, and quoth she to me, "I have +spoiled a good brew for thee, father, but 'twas worth the paying for." +And therewith she did out with the worth o' the sack from her purse, +which she always carried in her bosom, after a fashion inherited from +her mother, and counted down the silver into my hand. I took it, for I +ever strove to bring up my children in the ways o' honesty; and certes +she had spoiled the contents o' the caldron by turning it into a +bath-tub for Master Mouldy. Well, 'twas th' talk o' th' village for full +a month; scarce did young Mouldy dare put out his nose from behind the +lattice o' his mother's cottage. But th' other lads seemed to fall more +daft about the lass than aye afore. + +Now, my wife's sister had a daughter, called Ruth, and in all things was +she most different from my Keren. A'd a head as yellow as Keren's eyes, +and eyes as brown as Keren's skin, and a skin as white as Keren's teeth; +and a was slim and tender-looking, like a primrose that hath but just +ventured out on a day in early spring. Moreover, she was a timid, +sweet-voiced creature--the kind o' wench that makes even a weak man +feel strong, ye mind, comrade. But a was ne'er o'er-civil to my lass. +Neither did Keren waste much love upon her; she said from th' very start +that th' hussy had a sly tongue; "and a sly tongue," saith she, "doth +ever mate with a false heart," saith she; "and from such a marriage what +offspring can ye look for, unless it be for mischief?" saith she. + +They had not much to do the one with the other, however, until the +coming of Robert Hacket to Pebworth. And a was as fine a lad as e'er +caused a lass to don her Sunday kirtle on a Saturday. 'Twas said as how +he had met with Ruth while that she was on a visit to her aunt in +Dancing Marston, and that he had come to Pebworth to wed with her. All +would 'a' been well had not it come to Keren's ears how that Mistress +Ruth said that she would bring Master Hacket to see her cousin Keren, +but that she did not want her sweetheart to be out with her family ere +that he had married into it; meaning neither more nor less than that my +Keren was a shame unto her name by reason o' her romping ways. + +"The cat!" quoth Keren, waxing as red as any damask rose for very anger; +"the little, spiteful cat! But I'll cut her claws for her! Do thou bide +and mark me, father. Ay, I'll serve her and her Robert in such wise +they'll go to their graves remembering." + +Now, 'twas the very next day that the lads and lasses o' the village did +crown her harvest-queen, and all Bidford was out to see 't. And very +queen she looked, too, borne aloft in a throne made all o' dark red +roses, and her dark curls crowned with a wreath o' corn and o' poppies, +that shined in the sunlight like to gold strewn all with rubies. She +wore a new kirtle of white wool, and her brown throat rose from her +white kerchief like as a frozen wood-dove's dusky breast doth peep from +new-fallen snow. + +And Mistress Ruth walked beside her as one o' her maids o' honor. And +they twain did remind me of naught so much as of a lamb trotting by the +side of a forest doe--the one so meek and white, and the other so free +and brown, with great eyes ever moving, and head aloft. + +There, moreover, walked Master Hacket. He was as brown as my Keren, and +nearly half as tall again; and he had eyes like pools o' water under a +night heaven, wherein two stars have drowned themselves, as 'twere, and +brows as black and straight as a sweep o' cloud across an evening sky. +Ruth walked at his side, all glittering with her unbound hair, like to a +sunbeam that follows a dark stream. And I saw that they talked together, +and nodded as though agreeing on something, and looked together at my +lass where she sat on her flower-throne with her poppy-crown, and her +lips like poppies. And all at once she turned and saw them, and her lips +parted over her white teeth in a sudden smile, as when a kirtle o' red +silk doth tear over a white petticoat beneath; and she turned away; but +I could see that she laughed in her brown throat, as a bird sings +sometimes for its own hearkening ere trolling for the whole forest. So I +said to myself, "'Ware, 'ware, my little spring lamb; there is trouble +ahead for thee. Thou wilt not win thy Boaz so easily as thou dost think, +my little Ruth." + +Now, when they were come to the fields, and the maids seated under some +elm-trees, and all the lads fallen to 't with their sickles, while that +they were reaping the glistening corn my Keren doth leap to her feet, +and she calls out, + +"I know not the name o' yonder man, but I do know that I can give him a +lesson in reaping!" + +So forthwith up jumps she, and, striding out into the sunlit meadow, +jerks young Hacket's sickle from his hand, and, having turned back the +sleeves o' her smock, stands well upon her shapely legs and begins to +reap. + +Now, methought I had ne'er in all my life seen anything more pleasing to +look upon. The wind blew down her thick locks about her, so that she was +wrapped in a mantle worthy any queen; while with every sweep o' her +strong brown arms the tumbling grain did fall like gold about her, so +that she seemed to be trampling upon her treasures after a manner truly +royal. Also a red came into her shadowy cheeks, like as though a scarlet +flower tossed into a clear brown stream should rise slowly upward +beneath the limpid surface and shine a-through. And all at once she +ceased, and came back towards the young man, and returned his sickle +unto him. And she said, smiling, + +"Take thou thy blade, for I have not only reaped the grain, but I have +reaped the reward of my bragging as well." And, behold! when I was come +up to them with a drink o' water in a gourd, there was the blood falling +down upon her white kirtle, as though the poppies in her crown had +melted in the sunlight and did stain her garment. + +He did cry out, saying, "O' my word, lass, thou art deeply hurt. Let me +but look at it." + +She saith unto him (winding her arm about in her long hair), "Nay, 'tis +nothing, and belike if thou look upon it 'twill spoil thy dinner: so +here's to thy health, and my father will bind it for me." + +Then, when we were retired again into the shade, and I had torn a strip +off of her kirtle wherewith to stanch the blood, she laughed outright, +and saith, + +"By my troth, father! I do verily believe thou thinkest me awkward +without a purpose." + +"Purpose!" saith I; for I could not believe my ears. "How dost thou +mean--purpose?" + +"That's neither here nor there," saith she, still laughing. "But I'll +lay thee my heifer, father, that Mistress Ruth's sweetheart cometh on +the morrow to inquire after Mistress Ruth's cousin Keren." + +Wherewith she did make me a deep courtesy, and did get her back to the +other lasses ere I could reply. + +Well, as I live, and must some day die, and do hope when I do die to get +to heaven, I was so taken aback with the hussy's cunning I could do +naught but stand and stare after her for some minutes. + +And on the morrow he did come, and on the day after that he came, and +yet a third day and he was under my roof again. + +Then saith my wife, after that his third visit was o'er, and speaking to +Keren as she sat spinning i' th' door-way, "Happuch," saith she, "thou +art serving thy cousin Ruth a very jade's trick." + +Then, hearing as how she did call her "Happuch," I did prick up my ears, +as 'twere; for I knew there was anger brewing. + +"Thou art very free with thy words to-day, mother," quoth the maid, +a-spinning very quickly. + +"Not so free as thou art with thy favors to the sweetheart o' another +lass," replied her mother. + +"How dost thou know he is the sweetheart o' another lass?" saith Keren. + +"If an he be not," quoth her mother, who, though not half so big as her +child, was in nowise less valiant--"if an he be not," quoth she, "'tis +time he were." + +"And for why?" saith Keren. + +"Thou knowest as well as I do, Happuch," saith my wife; whereat up +started my crack-brain in a fine fury. + +"Why wilt thou call me that vile name, when thou knowest how it maddens +me?" saith she, hurling her spindle upon the floor, and tightening both +her pretty hands so that they looked like balls o' her own brown yarn. + +"For that I am not pleased with thee, Happuch," saith her mother, with +all composure, looking at the linen as she washed it, with her head +cocked to one side. + +"There again!" shouted my wildfire, stamping with her foot. "Why didst +thou not call me Beelzebub and have done with 't?" + +"For the reason," quoth her mother, calmly, "that neither Beel nor Zebub +is a suiting name for a woman, and, furthermore, that thou art not the +Devil, though thou dost act like him on occasions." + +"Wife, wife," put in I, seeing that the girl was like to split with +rage, "speak gentler to Keren." + +"To Happuch," saith she. + +"Speak gentler to the girl," saith I, hoping to compromise, as 'twere. + +"Happuch," saith my wife again. + +"Well, well," saith I, still hoping to split the difference, so that I +would have neither my wife nor my daughter upon me, "if thou wouldst +only speak gentler to Keren-Happuch, thou--" + +"To Happuch," saith my wife a third time; whereat the lass did bounce +out o' the house without more ado, and spent that night with a friend o' +her own, by name one Mistress Meg Titmouse. + +"Wife," saith I unto her later, hoping to draw her into converse +concerning Keren, so that I might reason with her as to her treatment o' +th' lass--"wife," saith I, amiably, and, as I thought, in a manner most +winsome, "wherefore didst thou speak to Keren as thou didst this +morning?" + +"I spake to Happuch," saith my wife, "because I did choose so to do. And +as for the why o' that wherefore, though thou shouldst smirk till +doomsday like a dog scratching his ear, ne'er wilt thou get it out o' +me!" + +Then saith I, being justly angered, as I think thou wilt admit, +comrade--saith I, + +"Thou art welcome to keep thy counsel!" saith I. + +And I followed the example set me by my vixen, and did spend more than +half the night at this very tavern. + +Well, the next morning, as I did pass out on my way to my forge, whom +should I see in the garden but my Keren and Master Robert Hacket! and if +e'er a woman was possessed o' a devil, 'twas just that lass o' mine +then, comrade. She had caused young Hacket to climb up into a pear-tree, +and while that he was up there she did bear away the ladder by which he +had mounted, and she saith to him, + +"Now, Master Robin, I am going to sing thee a song. Wilt thou listen?" + +"With all my heart," saith he. So he leaned on his elbow, stretched out +like a young panther along the limb o' th' tree, and looked down on +her. Now, as I live, down went that jade on her knees in the grass, and +she lifts up her two pretty hands to him as though in prayer, and thus +sings she (I knew the song by heart): + + "'Listen, Robin, while I woo. + This world's stale with repetition: + I'll not do as others do; + Haste thee, love, to my tuition. + Robin, I'll make love to you, + As men to other maidens do. + + "'Oh, what eyes my Robin hath! + April fields own no such blue; + In the luscious aftermath + There's no flower so fair to view. + Robin, Robin, hear me woo. + All my soul's in love with you! + + "'Robin, will you marry me?-- + Thus upon my knees I sue: + O' my word I'll harry thee + Like as men their sweethearts do. + Robin, as I live I'm true: + Will you wed me, Robin?--Will you?'" + +Now, what chanced thereupon I think thou wilt agree with me, comrade, in +saying it did but serve her right. Down falls he like a ripe pomewater +at her side, and takes her about the waist, and sets his mouth to hers +(all in a twink, comrade; thou hadst not time to shape thy mouth for a +whistle ere 'twas all done, or verily my mouth had given forth something +besides whistling), and saith he, + +"That will I, lass; an' if thou be not my wife ere that snail-coming new +moon doth thrust out her horns, my name is not Hacket, nor will thine +be!" + +Now, comrade, though it doth shame me verily so to speak o' mine own +flesh, I saw by her pretending to push him away that she did mightily +relish his kisses; for, by my troth! had she sought to scuffle with him +'twould 'a' been as snug an encounter as when day and night wrestle for +the last bit o' a June sky. + +And she saith to him, feigning to scowl, "How now, thou rapscallion! +dost thou dare?" + +"Ay, ay," quoth he, "in verity I do!" quoth he. And in verity a did, +too. + +But just as I was consulting with the Lord how to act, He having had +even a greater experience with wayward children than myself (may He +pardon me if I be too free with His holy name!)--just, I say, as I was +asking Him to show me in what wise to proceed, up goes her hand, and she +gives him a sound cuff o' th' ear (young Hacket's ear--not the Lord's; +may He pardon me if so it sounded), and she saith, + +"Take that for striving to make a fool out o' an honest girl! I know thy +goings on with Ruth Visor," saith she. "Thou'lt ne'er blind me with thy +pretty speecheries." And a was o'er th' palings and out o' sight like a +wind-blown leaf. + +Then did young Hacket come to th' fence and lean upon it with both his +arms, and support his chin with a thumb on either side o't, and saith +he, + +"Methinks she'd 'a' made a better warrior than a wife," saith he; "but +when she hath ta'en off the edge o' her warlike spirit in fighting for +her freedom," saith he, "why, then," saith he, "I'll marry her!" So +saith he--every word o't. By my troth, comrade, an I had not had so much +the advantage by having my nippers in my hand, I would 'a' thrashed him +then and there. But, "fair play" being my motto, and having my nippers, +as I saith, I forbore; yea, I forbore, and walked away unseen of him. +And, o' my word, I was much angered with myself for not being more angry +with th' wench. + +"For," saith I, out loud, that I might be impressed by the sound as well +as by the knowledge o' th' fact--"for," saith I, a-hammering away on a +shoe for Joe Pebbles's brown nag King Edward (though I had often +reasoned with Joe on account o' th' name, first because o' its +irreverence, second on account o' th' horse not being that kind o' a +horse, as 'twas a mare)--"for," saith I, as I made th' shoe, saith I, +"'tis sure a great wickedness to steal a lass's sweetheart away from +her!" saith I. And so 'twas; but, for all I could do, I could not feel +angered with the hussy. + +But that day when she did fetch me my dinner, being finished, I did pull +down th' sleeves o' my shirt, and wiped off my leathern apron, and quoth +I to her, + +"Lass, come here and sit upon my knee." + +So she comes right willingly, being fond o' me to an extent that did oft +seem to astony the mother that bore her (seeing that _she_ was fond o' +naught save her own way); she comes, and she perches upon my knee (as +sometimes thou shalt see a hawk rest wings on a bull's back), and she +kittles my throat with her long brown fingers, and hugs me about the +neck (the jade! a knew I was for scolding her), and saith she, "Well, +father, here be I." Methinks I can hear her say it now, as soft as any +little toddler come for a kiss. "Here be I," she saith; and with that +she fills all my face with her curls (the jade! a saw that in my eye +which a did not care to face). "Here be I," saith she. + +"Ay," saith I, speaking in a gruff voice; "and now that here thou be," +saith I, "I'll tell thee what I want of thee." + +"Thou canst want naught that I will not do," saith she. (The jade! a had +a way with her to 'a' made Bess herself yearn for matrimony.) But I was +stanch; I was stanch, comrade. Saith I, + +"Methinks thy mother was right to speak to thee as yesternight she did," +saith I; "for I saw thee strive to graft a pear-tree with a branch o' +th' tree o' knowledge," saith I. + +"Then," saith she, hot as my forge all in a breath, and bouncing from my +knee--"then thou wast an eavesdropper!" saith she. + +"Even as the Lord afore me," saith I, not over-pleased at her sauciness. +"And being in some sort thy Creator, and thou having set up for thyself +an Eden in my garden," saith I, "who hath a greater right than I to +watch over thee?" saith I. + +Then she not answering me, thus did I continue: + +"Why dost thou not take unto thyself an husband," quoth I, "to do both +thyself and thy parents a credit?" + +"Show me such an one," saith she, "and I do promise thee to wed him." + +"There, then," quoth I, "is Davy Short hose, the poulterer--" + +"A bangled-eared buffoon as ever lived!" quoth she; "and a fool into the +bargain." + +"So be it," saith I; for I was set upon keeping my temper. "What dost +thou say to Beryamen Piggin, the brewer?" + +"A say if ever a piggin was in sore need o' a new link, 'tis that one," +saith she. "And, what's more, I'll not serve for 't," saith she. + +"How, then, of Nanfan Speckle, the tanner?" + +"A's as pied as a's name," quoth she, "both soul and body." + +"There be Jezreel Spittlewig, the joiner." + +"Methinks," quoth she, "if a'd do a little joining to a's own shackling +body, a might hold together long enough to go through the marriage +ceremony," saith she. "Howbeit, I'm not a-sure of 't." + +"Well, then, Jack Stirthepot, the chair-mender." + +"A'd have to stir th' pot with a witch ere a brewed a wedding with me," +quoth she. + +"What sayest to Reuben Puff, the tinker?" + +"If I say so much as a word to any one o' em," cried she, snatching up +the pail wherein she had brought my victuals, "may thy first grandchild +be born without a tongue!" saith she. And out she went. + +Then quoth I to myself, quoth I, "Lemon," quoth I, "the jade's in love +with th' crack--no more, no less." And I said further, said I, +"Bodykins!" said I, a-shoeing of King Edward with all my might, "by cock +and pye!" said I, "an a wants him let a have him. 'Tis more than his +dessert, I'll warrant," so quoth I. "And as for Dame Visor's hussy, let +her learn to bridle her tongue," quoth I. And 'twas just here that wench +Keren did creep up and take me about the neck, as I was a-filing of King +Edward's hoof. + +"Father," saith she, "I cry thee pardon if I have sauced thee; but dost +not mind the rhyme thou art so fond of?-- + + "'Shoe the horse, and shoe the mare, + But let the little colt go bare.' + +Seek not to chide me, father, and ne'er will my heels bring hurt to +any." + +Then off was she again ere I had spat forth my mouthful o' nails to +answer her. + +But that evening as I came home, about the going down o' th' sun, I did +hear voices i' th' kitchen, and, looking in at th' window, behold, there +was that hussy Ruth a-plucking of Keren by th' kirtle, and Keren +a-holding of a pan o' milk above her head, as though she had half a mind +to souse her cousin in 't. + +And saith she, "Get to thy feet, wench. This is neither a church, nor am +I th' Lord." + +But th' girl (who seemed to be in trouble o' some sort) fell a-sobbing, +and saith she, + +"Cousin, cousin, I know I have used thee ill, but all my joy is in him. +If thou takest him from me, better didst thou take my life, for he is +more to me than life." + +Then quoth my lass, "Shame on thee to say it o' any man, worthy or +unworthy!" + +"Oh, shame enough have I, cousin!" quoth the poor wench--"shame to 'a' +lost him, and shame that I should plead with another to give him back to +me!" + +"Go to!" saith Keren; "go to! I have not got him to give him back to +thee." + +"Thou hast!" saith Ruth; "thou hast!--he is thine, soul and body--soul +and body! And thou dost not care; and I care--oh, I care so that I know +not how to word it!" + +(Every word that passed between 'em is as clear in my mind as though +'twere but yesterday it all happened.) + +"I say shame on thee to say so," saith my lass again. + +But the wench still hung about her, and would not let go, and she saith, + +"Oh, cousin, cousin, cousin, doth it not show thee in what straits I am, +that I come to thee for succor? Rather had I died, one week agone, than +ask thee for thy hand though I were drowning. And sure 'tis less than +thy hand for which I ask thee now, sith it be for a man who is less to +thee than the littlest finger on that hand, but who is more to me than +the heart in my wretched body! And a had vowed to wed me; and 'twas next +month we were to be wed; and all so happy--my father and my mother so +pleased, and his folks do like me well; and my wedding-gown all sewn and +lain away, and the ribbons for my shoes, and some kickshaws for th' new +house; and all we so glad, and all going so smooth, and we twain so +loving; for, oh, he did love me the once! he did love me the once! And +now--now--now--" And here did she fall a-weeping in such wise that never +another word could she say. And she sate down on the kitchen floor, and +hid all her pretty head (for pretty 'twas, though I liked her not)--hid +it all in the skirt o' her kirtle. + +Then stood my lass quite still, and her face like the milk in her pan, +and she looks down on th' hussy, as a horse might look down on a kitten +which it hath unwitting trampled on, and she saith, + +"I would I knew whether or no thou speakest the truth!" + +Then saith the wench, a-reaching up her clasped hands to heaven--saith +she, "May God forever curse me an I do not!" + +"Take not God's name in vain," saith my lass, sharply, and went and set +down her pan o' milk on the cupboard. And again she stands, slowly +wiping her hands on her apron, and looking down at th' girl, who hath +once more covered all her face in her petticoat; and by-and-by she saith +to her, + +"What is 't thou wouldst have me do?" + +"Give me back my Robin! give me back my Robin!" saith the maid. + +"Thou art welcome to him for me," saith Keren. + +Then fell the maid a-weeping more bitterly than ever, and she huddled +herself on the hard floor, like a young bird that hath fallen out o' its +nest, and sobbed piteously. And presently gets she to her feet without a +word, still a-hiding of her face in her kirtle, and turns to go, +a-feeling her way with one o' her little hands. But when she hath +reached th' door, and hath got one foot on the threshold, up strides +that lass o' mine, and, taking her by the arm, swings her back into th' +room; and she makes her sit down on a settle and take down her kirtle +from her face. And while she is snooding up her ruffled locks, she saith +unto her, + +"Thou art a little fool to cry so; dost hear? What! at it again? Well, +well, God patience me! What's a body to do with such a little ninny? +There! dry your eyes. Ye shall have your Robin, never fear. God-a-mercy! +at what art blubbering now?" But down slipped Ruth on her knees, and +caught Keren about hers, and she saith unto her, + +"Heaven bless thee! thou art a good woman! May Heaven forgive me for all +such words as e'er I have said against thee! Bless thee! bless thee!" + +"Bodykins!" saith my lass (having learned some round oaths from me, I do +grieve to say)--"bodykins!" saith she, "wilt a-hear th' lass? I say +scamper, scamper; my father'll be coming home to sup erelong, and I +would not he found thee thus. Away with thee! and fret no more: dost +hear? If I hear that thou hast moped any further from this hour on, I'll +not answer either for my doings or for those o' others: dost hear? Now +scamper!" And scamper a did, like a hare with th' hounds upon 't. + +So full was I o' praising my lass on her good 'havior that I had got me +from th' lattice and was half in at the door ere I saw what had +befallen. + +There was my madcap comrade, down on her knees afore the settle, wi' +both hands gripped in her thick locks, and her head bent forward on th' +wooden seat; and she made no sound, neither uttered she any word, but a +shook like water when a heavy weight rolls past. And a drew long breaths +ever and anon, like one that hath been half drowned and is coming back +to life. And I knew then, I knew then, comrade. I had thought a loved +th' boy; and I knew then. So I got me out, without making any clatter, +and I sat me down on a bench outside th' kitchen door to think 't over; +and, by cock and pye, man, ne'er a thought could I think for th' tears +in my eyes. Th' poor lass! th' poor lass! It fetches th' salt into my +een now to think on 't. Well, well, what's past is past, and God himself +cannot undo 't; and what's coming's coming, and God wunnot hinder it an +he could; so there's an end on 't. Fill up, man, fill up! What there, I +say! Joel, I say! A quart o' sack for Master Turnip. + +Well, when I had thought it well o'er, I did determine to say naught to +th' lass whatsoever; neither did I; but meseems I was bound to o'erhear +heart-breaking words atween somebody, for th' very next day, as I was +henting th' style as leads into th' lane (thou knowest the lane I mean, +comrade: 't lies atween Cowslip Meadow and th' pool i' th' +hollow--Sweethearts' Way, they call 't)--well, as I was getting o'er th' +style--as I had just got me o'er by one leg, after this fashion, ye +mind; as though this chair here were th' style, and yonder chimney-place +th' lane--Sweethearts' Way, ye mind--well, as I was half over, and +Mumble, th' turnspit pup, half under, as 'twere, I heard voices--voices, +comrade--one o' them th' voice o' that lass o' mine, and t'other th' +voice o' young Hacket. + +"Here be a coil," say I. "What's to do?" + +Now the pup seemed to be filled with the spirit o' th' Lord all on a +sudden, after th' fashion o' th' talking jackass i' th' Scriptures; for +if a didna talk a did th' next thing to 't--a tried to. And after +pulling at my heels like as though a fiend had got him, a scuttles into +th' thicket, for no cause, as I could see, but to give me th' benefit +o' example. So in goes I after him. Scarce was I settled, with a +bramble down th' back o' my neck, and some honey-bees at work too nigh +to my legs for my peace o' mind, when they come, and both a-chattering +at th' same time like two magpies with slit tongues. + +"Thou didst!" quoth he. "That did I not!" quoth she. "Thou didst, and I +can prove 't on thee!" quoth he, louder than afore. "I tell thee I did +not, and thou canst sooner prove that Bidford Mill turns the Avon than +that I did!" quoth she. "Wilt thou stand there and tell me i' th' eyes +that thou hast so oft looked love into," quoth he, like a man choked +with spleen--"I say, wilt thou, Keren Lemon, stand there and face me, +Robert Hacket, and say thou hast ne'er given me reason to believe that +thou didst love me?" quoth he. "No more cause than I've given to twenty +better than thee!" quoth she. "Shame on thee to say 't, thou bold-faced +jig!" saith he; "shame on thee, I say! and so will say all honest folk +when I tell 'em o' 't." "An thou tell it, the more fool thou," saith +she; and a draws up her red lips into a circle as though a'd had a +drawstring in 'em, and a stands and looks at him as a used to stand and +look at her dam when she chid her for a romp. Then all on a sudden, with +such a nimbleness as took away my breath and drove all thoughts o' +brambles and honey-bees clean out o' my pate, he jumps aside o' her, and +gets her about th' middle, as he did that day under th' pear-tree, and +quoth he, "Lass," quoth he, "dunnot break my heart! dunnot break th' +heart that loves ye more than a' that's in the earth, or th' heavens +above, or th' waters below! Say ye love me, and ha' done with 't." + +Then gives she up herself to him for one beat o' her own breaking heart, +the poor madcap, and she leans on him with all her pretty self, as +though begging him to take her against her own will, and then a cry +breaks from her, half human, and half like th' cry o' a hurt beast, and +she saith, + +"Shame on ye, shame on ye, to forsake th' lass ye ha' sworn to wed! Get +thee back to her straightway, or ne'er look me i' th' face again!" And +she leaps back from him, and points with her arm--as stiff and steady as +th' tail o' a sportsman's dog--towards th' village, and she saith again, +"Get thee back to her; get thee back to Ruth Visor, and wed with her ere +this month be out o' the year!" + +Then lifts he his sullen head, and looks at her from under his brows +like a smitten blood-hound. And he saith back o' his clamped teeth, like +as 'twere a dog gnarling in his throat, "curse ye for a false jade!" +saith he; "Curse ye for as black-hearted a jade as e'er set an honest +man on th' road to hell!" And he turned, and cleared th' style with one +hand on 't, and went his ways. + +And th' lass stood and looked after him as still as though she were +turned into a pillar o' summat, after th' manner o' th' woman i' th' +holy book, and both her hands grasping her breast. But anon there comes +a trouble o'er her face, like as when a little wind doth run across a +gray pool at eventide, and her lips begin to tremble, like as though +some red flower a-growing on th' bank was shaken by 't, and her eyes all +full o' woe, like th' eyes o' some dumb thing as cannot word its sorrow; +and all at once she falls upon her knees, and thence upon her forehead +on the ground, and afterwards to her whole length, with her strong hands +grasping th' flowers and grass on either side o' her, and tearing them +up with th' crackling noise that a horse makes when 't grazes. But no +sound escapes her, whether a sigh or a groan. Well, well, comrade, I cry +thee patience if I do stumble here a bit: I cannot think on 't now +without a tightness i' my throat, any more than a man can think o' th' +day his first child was born to him without his heart leaping hot in 's +throat like the flame to th' bellows. Well, well! Fill up, I say; fill +up. Remember th' old days, when thou wast more ale-washed than th' +bottle itself. Where be I i' th' narrative? Yea, yea, 'tis there--'tis +there; I mind me o't now. + +No sound 'scaped her, but presently she lifts herself up upon her knees +again, with such heaviness as a horse overburdened doth get him to his +feet, and she holds out both her arms i' th' direction where th' lad +hath vanished, wi' th' grass and flowers yet fast in her clinched hands; +and she saith twice, i' th' voice o' a woman in travail, + +"Never will he know, never will he know," she saith; and then, "Oh, +God!" she saith, a-lifting her hands again to her breast. "Summat's +broke here," she saith, full meek, like a body that's looked a many time +on pain--"summat's broke, summat's broke," o'er and o'er again, as +though she would use herself to th' sound, as 'twere. Then all at once +did a deep cry break from her. "God, O God," she saith, "show me how to +bear 't! My God, my God, show me how to bear 't." And she got to her +feet, and sped down th' lane like one blind, running first into th' +hawthorn bushes o' this side, then into th' quickset hedge o' th' other, +and tearing out her loosened tresses on th' low-hanging branches o' th' +pear-trees, so that I traced her by her hair i' th' twigs, like as thou +wouldst trace any poor lost lamb by its wool on the brambles. Now, it +did almost break my own heart to say naught to her concerning all o't, +but I knew that 'twould but grieve without comforting her; and rather +would I 'a' had my old heart split in twain than bring one more ache +into her true breast. So naught say I. Never a word, comrade, from then +till now have I e'er said to her about that time. + +Well, for all 's fine talk, Master Hacket went no more to hell than do +any other men that marry--an' less than some, seeing as how a did not +marry a scold, which (God forgive me, or her, or both o' us) I have +done. Yea, comrade, I will commemorate this our first meeting in eight +years by confessing to thee that my wife (in thy ear, comrade)--that my +wife was a scold. Sometimes I do verily think as how women like Mistress +Lemon be sent unto men to keep 'em from pondering too heavily concerning +the absence o' marriage in heaven. By cock and pye, man, as I live, I do +honestly believe that I would rather be a bachelor in hell, than the +husband o' Mistress Lemon in heaven! + +But to come back to th' lass. And, now that I think o' th' lass, +comrade, I am not so sure that a scolding wife is not well paid for by a +duteous daughter. Nay, I am sure o't. Methinks I would 'a' been wed +twice, and each time to a shrew, could I but 'a' had my Keren o' one o' +'em. Ay, even so, even so. + +Well, as I said--or as I meant to say--Master Hacket wedded th' Visor +hussy within two weeks o' th' day whereon he and my Keren had 't so +fierce i' Sweethearts' Way. And therein are two meanings: they fell out, +as is the way with sweethearts, and they fell out i' th' lane so called. + +Well, well, let me crack a quart o' sack with thee, comrade, and a joke +at th' same time. + +A married Ruth Visor, and they went to Lunnon Town. And on th' night o' +their wedding, as I sat by the fireside i' th' kitchen a-mending my +tools (for 'twas on a Saturday night), and Keren abed, and Mistress +Lemon a-peeling o' leather-jackets to make th' Sunday pie, + +"Wife," saith I to her (a-mending my tools, as I ha' said), "wife," +quoth I, "would 'twere our lass were wed to-day!" + +"For why?" saith she. No more, no less. + +"For why?" saith I. "For the why I think a lass is happier wed to th' +man she loves," saith I. + +"'Tis not so I've found it," quoth she, a-peeling of an apple so that +thou couldst 'a' put his whole coat back and not 'a' known 't had e'er +come off. + +Then quoth I, a-chuckling in my throat at having so snared her, "Right +glad am I to find out that thou lovest me!" quoth I. + +"If thou'st found out that," quoth she, "thou'rt greater than Columbus," +quoth she, "for thou'st discovered something that never was," quoth she. + +"Bodykins, woman!" saith I, a-losing of my temper--"then for what didst +thou marry me?" + +"For a fool," quoth she. "And I will say as I ha' got the full o' my +bargain," quoth she. + +Whereat so wroth was I that I said naught, knowing that if I did open my +lips or move my hand 'twould be to curse her with th' one and cuff her +with t'other. + +By-and-by saith she, "And where, by'r lay'kin, wilt thou find a man good +enough in thy eyes for th' lass?" saith she. + +"Not on earth," quoth I. "Neither in this land nor that other across the +sea," quoth I. + +"Ay, ay," quoth she. "Very like thou wouldst have th' wench to wed with +an angel," quoth she; "to have all thy grandchildren roosting on a gold +bar, and their dad a-teaching of 'em how to use their wings," quoth she. +"Or with one o' th' red men i' th' new country, to have them piebald red +and white, like a cock-horse at Banbury Cross," quoth she. And with that +up she gets, and flings the apple-parings into th' fire, and gets her to +bed without more ado. Whereupon day doth again find me i' this very +tavern. + +Well, well, a year had passed, and things were jogging very peaceful +like, and Keren settled down as quiet as a plough-broken mare, when one +day as I sit i' th' kitchen, while th' lass mends my apron, there comes +a fumbling at th' latch like as though a child made shift to open it. +Then quoth I, "Belike 'tis little Marjory Pebble, or one o' the Mouldy +lads over th' way;" for the babes all loved Keren, and, now that she was +waxed so quiet, th' lads left her more to herself, and she would sit on +th' bench by the cottage door and make little kickshaws by th' +hour--elder-wood whistles, and dolls o' forked radishes, and what not. +So quoth I, "Belike 'tis little Marjory Pebble," quoth I, and th' lass +having her lap full o' my apron, I went and opened th' door. And there, +comrade, a-kneeling in th' grass outside, with her head all hid in her +kirtle, as she had kneeled two years agone on t'other side o' that very +door, was Mistress Ruth Hacket; and she was a-sobbing as though her +heart would break. And while I stand staring, ere I could find a word +to my tongue, comes that lass o' mine and pushes me aside like as though +I had been little Marjory Pebble--ha! ha! And down goes she on her knees +beside th' lass, and gets an arm about her, and presses down her head, +all hid as 'tis in her kirtle, against her breast, and she saith to her, + +"What troubles thee? Tell Keren, honey. So so! What troubles thee? Tell +Keren." + +And from beneath her kirtle th' poor jade sobs out, "He's gone! he's +gone! he's gone! They've taken him to work on th' big seas--and our +child not yet born--and me so ailing; and, oh! I want to die! I want to +die!" + +Then saith that lass o' mine, saith she, "Father, do thou fetch some o' +th' birch wine out o' th' cupboard and bring it to me in a cup;" and to +the girl she saith, "Come, then; come, then," like as though she had +been coaxing some little spring lambkin to follow her unto its dam; and +she half pulls and half carries th' wench into th' house, and seats her +on a low stool i' th' chimney-corner, and kneels down aside of her. And +when I be come with th' drink, she takes the cup out o' my hand, and +makes th' wench drink 't, holding it to her lips with one hand, while +with the other she cossets her hair and cheek. And, by-and-by, seeing +myself forgotten, I do withdraw into the room beyond, and wait till I be +called, that th' lasses may have 't out together. + +Now, Ruth's folks were aye so poor that scarce could they keep clothes +on their backs and food i' their bellies; and it hath some time occurred +to me how that the Lord might 'a' given such as could not provide for +themselves a coat o' wool or o' hair that would 'a' covered their +bodies, after the manner of a sheep or goat--the righteous being clad i' +th' first fashion, and the wicked after th' last. + +Well, well, I must on. I see thou art waxing restless, comrade. Not so? +Well, drink, drink, then, that I may feel thou art well occupied while +that my old tongue wags. + +So poor, then, were Ruth's folks that I said to myself, said I, "What i' +th' name o' pity," so saith I--"what i' th' name o' pity is to become o' +the poor lass?" But I had scarce asked myself th' question when my lass +answers it for me. + +"Father," saith she, a-coming and standing afore me, with the empty cup +turning on her long fingers--"father," saith she, keeping those +gold-colored eyes o' hers on mine (methinks they were coined o' th' same +wedge as her heart o' gold)--"father," saith she, just so, "considering +all things," saith she, "I'm going to keep th' lass in my room till her +child be born," so saith she. + +Then saith I, pulling her down into my arms, "Lass," saith I, "verily do +I believe that not only is every hair o' thy sweet head numbered, but +that each one is blessed with a separate blessing!" And what with my +love for her, and my admiring of her goodness, and my pride in her, and +what with her pity for the poor girl in th' other room, we did shed +enough tears between us to ha' o'erflowed th' empty cup in her hands. + +So she held me about th' neck with both arms, and like to ha' run me mad +with kissing th' back o' my neck (for I was e'er one o' your ticklish +sort). I stood it bravely, however, seeing how she loved me, and kissed +her too whensoever I could get a chance for th' tightness o' her +hugging. And so we settled it. But Mistress Lemon was yet to be +consulted. + +Ready enough was I to shift that job on my lass's broad shoulders +(seeing as how a reputation for courage with his wife is ne'er believed +o' a man, at any rate, and as how th' wench had a way o' managing her +mother which sure none could 'a' had that were not of her own flesh). +And that night, when her mother was returned from a round o' gossiping, +th' lass tells her all (having i' th' mean time put Ruth to bed atween +her own sheets). Well, ne'er saw I my wife in such a rage. + +"What!" saith she, "thou hast ta'en it on thyself to offer my bread and +meat to a good-for-naught hussy as ne'er had a civil word for any o' us! +Thou hast given her bed-room under my roof without so much as 'by your +leave!' Thou godless hussy, thou! Where be th' jade? I say, where be +she? Where be she?" + +"Where thou shalt not come at her in thy present humor, mother," saith +the lass, standing with one arm reached out across the door-way, like as +though in verity she had been the mother and her dam a naughty child. + +"How? Dost word me? dost word me?" saith my wife. "How? dost take any +stray cat to kitten in my house an' then word me too?"--so saith she. + +Then saith th' lass, "Well can I understand," saith she, "how, if thou +canst speak i' this fashion o' thy sister's child, thou canst also speak +to thy own as sure no mother e'er spoke ere this." Then, changing all +suddenly her tone, and dropping down her arm from the door, "Go an thou +like," saith she, "to abuse the poor creature who hath come to ask thy +help in time o' trouble; but just so surely as thou dost turn her out o' +door to lie i' th' straw like any common callet, just so sure do I +follow her, to fare as she fares, and all the village shall know what +thou hast done." + +Then for some minutes did they twain stand and gaze upon one another, +and at last down flumps my wife into a chair, as though she would break +it in pieces for very rage; but being waxed sulky, and her own wrath +cowed, as 'twere, by her daughter's more righteous wrath, she saith +nothing more of 't, good or bad. + +In three weeks' time th' child is born, and as sound and as pretty a +babe as e'er I clapt eyes on, and Keren a-dangling of him as natural as +though she herself had been a mother, time and again. + +"What say'st thou now, lass?" quoth she. "Wilt trust Keren after this?" + +"Is he sound, verily?" saith the poor little dame, looking shyly upon +him. + +"Never a spot so big as the splash on a guinea-flower!" saith Keren. +"And ears like sea-shells." + +So, after a-kissing of them both, and th' top o' th' babe's head (as +'twas permitted me to do), I steals out and leaves them together. + +Well, ne'er saw thou a child grow as did that child. Meseemed he +sprouted like corn after a rain; and in five months a was waxed so +strong a could stand on 's feet a-holding to his mother's kirtle. But, +strange to say or not, as thou wilt have 't, he did seem to love Keren +more than he did th' mother that bore him, a-crying for her did she but +so much as turn her back, and not sleeping unless that she would croon +his lullabies to him. Mayhap it was because her strong arms and round +bosom made a more cosey nest for him than did th' breast and arms o' his +little dam; but so was 't, and nearly all o' her time did th' lass give +to him. Neither did it seem to rouse aught o' jealousy in Ruth's heart: +she was too busy a-looking for th' return o' 's father to bother her +pretty pate o'ermuch concerning him. And she would sit and talk o' +Robin, and o' Robin's goodness, and o' Robin's sweet ways and words and +doings, until I thought sometimes my poor lass's heart would just break +within her, if 't had not been broken already these two years. And one +day, as she kneels beside th' cradle--Ruth having gone to see her folks +for th' day--I come in unknown to her, and stand to watch th' pretty +sight. There kneels she, and Ruth's red shawl o'er her head to please +th' child (Keren ne'er had any bright colors o' her own those +days)--there kneels she, I say, beside the cradle, and kittles him with +her nimble fingers, and digs him i' th' ribs after a fashion that would +sure 'a' run me crazy (though it hath ne'er yet been proven what a young +babe cannot endure at the hands o' women), and punches and pokes and +worries him, for all th' world like a kitten worrying a flower. And he, +lying on his back, kicks with both feet at her face, and winds all his +hands in her long hair, and laughs, and bubbles, and makes merry, after +the fashion o' a spring stream among many stones. And by-and-by a change +falls o'er her, and she waxes very solemn, and sits down on th' floor by +th' edge o' th' cradle, with one arm upon 't and her head on her hand, +and she looks at the babe. In vain doth he clutch at her hair and at her +kerchief, and reach, with pretty broken murmurings, as of water through +crowding roots, after his little bare toes: never so much as a motion +makes she towards him. But at last up gets she to her knees, and takes +him fiercely into her strong hands, and holds him off at arm's-length, +looking at him; and she saith in a deep voice (such as I had not heard +her use for two years), saith she, "For that thou art not mine," saith +she, "I hate thee; but--" and here came a change o'er all her face and +voice and manner, like as when April doth suddenly wake in the midst o' +a wintry day in springtide--"but," saith she, "for that thou art his, I +love thee!" And she took him to her bosom, and bowed down her head over +him so that he was hidden all in her long hair; but the bright shawl +covered it, so that, what with her stooping and the hiding of her +tresses, a body coming in suddenly at the door might 'a' easily mistaken +her for Ruth. + +It was thus with th' man who at that moment strode past me and caught up +child and woman into his embrace. "I have come back to thee," he +said--"I have come back to thee. Look up, wife! Ruth, look up!" But when +she did look up, and he saw her face as white as morning, and her hair +as black as night, and her tall figure like to a young elm-tree--ay, +when she looked up, ne'er saw I a man not dead seem so like death. He +drops down his arms from about them, as though smitten from behind by a +sword, and he staggers and leans against th' table, and lets fall his +head upon his breast, staring straight in front o' him. But she stands +looking upon him. And I got me out with all speed; so ne'er knew I more +o' what passed between 'em, saving that he did take away Ruth with him +th' next day, and she as happy as a bird whose mate hath come back to 't +with the springtide. But a knew how that my lass had taken his wife into +her bed, and nursed her through her sickness night and day, after the +hard words he had spoken unto her and the ill names he had called her. +And that was all I cared to know. He had set th' iron in my lass's +heart, and now 'twas in his own; and for th' rust, it did but hurt him +more. Ay, ay, comrade, thou knowest what I do mean. + +Well, the winter passed, and spring came on again, and 'twas in the May +o' that year that I did break my hammer-arm. God above us only knows +what would 'a' befallen us had 't not been for my Keren. Wilt believe +'t? (but then I think thou'lt believe a'most anything o' that lass o' +mine now--eh, comrade?)--th' lass did set to work, and in two weeks' +time a was as good a farrier as was e'er her daddy afore her. Bodykins, +man! thou shouldst 'a' seen her at it: clad from throat to feet she was +in a leathern apron, looking as like mine own as though th' mare's skin +whereof mine was fashioned had, as 'twere, foaled a smaller one for th' +lass--ha! ha!--and her sleeves rolled up from her brown arms, and th' +cords a-standing out on them like th' veins in a horse's shoulder. And +so would she stand, and work th' bellows at th' forge, until, what with +th' red light from the fire on her face, and on her hair, and on her +bare arms, I was minded o' th' angel that walked i' the fiery furnace +with th' men in holy writ. And when a pounded away at a shoe, and her +young arm going like a flail--chink, chank--chink, chank--and th' white +spatters o' hot iron flying this way and that from th' anvil, meseemed +'twas as though Dame Venus (for thou knowest how in th' masque twelve +year gone this Yuletide 'twas shown as how a great dame called Venus did +wed wi' a farrier called Vulcan--I wot thou rememberest?)--as though +Dame Venus had taken away her hammer from her goodman Vulcan to do 's +work for him. By my troth, 'twas a sight to make a picture of--that +'twas, comrade. + +Well, ne'er saw I such trouble as that arm gave me (and 't has ne'er +been strong since). First 'twould not knit, and then when 't did 'twas +all wrong, and had to be broken and set o'er again. But th' lass ne'er +gave out once. Late and early, fair weather or foul, a was at th' forge; +and a came to be known for as good a smith as there was in all +Warwickshire. But, for that none had e'er heard tell o' a woman at such +work, or for some other reason, they did come to call her, moreover, +"The Farrier Lass o' Piping Pebworth." + +One day, as we sat i' th' door o' th' shop, a-resting, and talking +together--after a way we had with us even when she was a little +lass--there rides up a young gallant, all dressed out in velvet and +galloon, and a feather in 's hat, and long curls hanging about his +shoulders. Oh ay, a was bonny enough to look upon. So a draws rein at +th' door. And saith he, + +"Art thou th' Farrier Lass o' Piping Pebworth?" saith he. + +Saith she, arising to her feet, and standing with crossed arms like any +man--saith she, + +"Folks call me so," saith she. "But my name is Keren Lemon." + +"A sour name for so sweet a lass," saith th' gallant. + +"Would thou hadst sweetened that old jest with some new wit!" quoth she. + +"Thou art sharp o' tongue," saith he. + +"I shoe horses with my arms, not with my tongue," saith she. + +"As I live, a witty jade!" quoth he. "Thou dost much amuse me, maiden." + +"My wit was not fashioned any more for thy amusement than for the +shoeing o' thy horse," quoth she. "So, if thou dost not purpose to have +him shod, ride on!" saith she. + +Then saith he, to himself, as 'twere, "Verily," saith he, "they should +call thee the _harrier_ lass, for thou hast run down and found my +manners when that old hounds have failed." And to her he saith, "I do +purpose to have my horse shod, maiden; and I cry thee pardon for having +given thee offence." + +"It is easier to give offence than pardon," saith she. "Howbeit, thou +art pardoned. Say no more." Whereupon she sets to work and, taking th' +horse's foot atween her knees, falls to filing his hoof in such wise +that I could not 'a' done better in her place, though the Queen should +ask me to sup afterwards at St. James's. But the stranger could not hold +his tongue; and when he saw her working th' bellows, and a-making of th' +shoe, and th' way she swung th' great hammer, "By my troth," saith he, +"I would I could paint thee as Sally Mander to give to th' Queen," saith +he. + +Then saith my lass, "I know not of any wench called Sally Mander," saith +she, a-burning of th' horse's hoof with th' hot shoe; "but if she +consorts familiarly with such as be above her," so saith she, "methinks +'tis as well for both o' us that I know her not," saith she--every word +o't just as I tell thee. + +Then saith the gallant, clapping hand to thigh, so that it made such a +sound as when a young child is trounced, "By my troth," saith he, "an +thy brows be not worthy o' a coronet, ne'er saw I any that merited to +wear one. What wouldst thou if thou wert a lady, lass?" + +She saith, a-rolling up of her sleeves a little tighter, and looking up +at him as he sate again upon his horse, "Meanest thou if I were the wife +o' a lord?" saith she. + +"Even so," saith he, laughing. "Verily thou hast come at my meaning with +a commendable quickness. Well, and if thou wert the wife o' a lord, what +wouldst thou do?" + +Then saith she, speaking very slowly, and crossing of her arms again +upon her breast--saith she, + +"I would bring up such sons as were born to me to behave worthily o' +their station in life, and not to forget their manhood by speaking with +insolence unto such honest maids as had never offered them affront." +Whereupon she did up with her kit o' tools, and pass by me into th' +forge; and th' man rode on with a reddened visage. + +But it befell only two days later that a came again to th' forge, his +horse having cast another shoe. + +And again th' lass sets all to right for him, he keeping a civil tongue +in 's head this time; and o' that we thought naught one way or th' +other. But when a comes a third time, and yet a fourth and a fifth and a +sixth, "Father," saith th' lass--"father," saith she, "this must be +stopt," saith she. + +"Ay, verily," saith I. "But how wilt do 't?" saith I. + +"I'll do 't, never fear," saith she. + +And a did, comrade. Ha! ha! I'd trust that wench to make Satan keep to +heel like any well-broke puppy. 'Twas in this way. The next time th' +gallant comes riding up (that being th' seventh time in all, ye +mind)--well, the next time up comes riding he, and he saith to her, +saith he, "I have come to ask thy service yet again, damsel," saith he; +"but Merrylegs hath cast another shoe." + +Then saith th' lass--ha! ha!--every word as I tell thee, comrade--saith +she, "Methinks, my lord, if my work hold no better than that--methinks," +saith she, "'twere as well thou went for th' shoeing o' thy horse to +Timothy Makeshift, as lives in Marigold Lane," saith she. "For if it +come to th' ears o' others how that I will shoe a horse one day, and th' +next how that he will cast th' shoe--if it so be known," saith she, "no +more custom will I get to keep my father and mother in their old age." + +Then doth he leap down from his horse, and he doffs his hat as though +my lass had been any fine lady; and quoth he, + +"Well and justly hast thou spoken; and I do stand confessed of my fault. +But, maiden, thou wast not born unto th' life thou leadest; and here in +thy presence I do ask thy father to bestow upon me thy hand. I am Sir +Dagonet Balfour, of Balfour Hall; and if thou art willing I will make +thee my lady." + +Now, I was struck dumb as though my tongue had jumped forth o' my mouth, +and never a blessed thing could I do saving stare, comrade. But that +lass o' mine--that lass o' mine, comrade--she stands and looks at him, +and never so much as a glint o' red in her face. And saith she, "My +lord," saith she, "if that thou meanest what thou hast said, thou hast +forgotten thine estate and not remembered mine. Since God hath not made +me a lady, methinks it is not in the power o' one o' His creatures so to +do. But I do thank thee for seeking to honor me, and wish thee joy when +thou shalt take in wedlock some highborn maiden." + +Then saith he, "An I wed not thee, ne'er will I be wed. What! dost thou +think I can look on in patience and see a woman such as thou following +the trade of a farrier?" + +Then saith she, "If Jesus Christ followed th' trade o' a carpenter," +saith she, "sure," saith she, "Keren Lemon can follow th' trade o' a +farrier," saith she--every blessed word as I tell thee, comrade. And no +more would she have to do with him, but got her into th' forge and left +him standing there. + +Well, thou might 'a' thought that was th' end o't. Not a bit--not a bit, +comrade. Th' knight would be a-riding up at all times and in all +weather, and somehow 't gets out i' th' village (though not through my +lass, I warrant ye) as how he doth in verity seek to espouse my Keren. +Well, o' all th' tirrits and to-do's as e'er you heard on! + +Methought when Mistress Lemon found out that th' girl had refused th' +gallant's offer th' house would be a tighter fit for us three than its +shell for an unhatched chick. 'Twas worry, worry, worry, from morn till +night, and from night till morn it was worry, worry, worry, till I +scarce knew whether 'twould be better to murder my wife and hang for 't, +or leave her alone and live with her. + +"Th' hussy!" quoth she--"th' ungrateful hussy! a ought to be tossed in a +blanket," quoth she, "and thou along with her, thou jack-pudding, thou +ravelling!" quoth she. + +"If I be a jack-pudding," saith I, "I ha' more descendants than most +such," saith I. + +"Yea," quoth she, "verily," quoth she; "and all nine o' th' lads be +jacks," saith she, "and th' wench as very a pudding as e'er fell to +pieces for want o' being held together," saith she. "Out on ye both! +I'm done with ye!" + +"For that, God be praised!" saith I, and left ere she could answer. + +But one day as I sate i' th' kitchen, a-cosseting o' my lame arm as +though 't had been a babe, I hear a sound o' wheels and a clatter o' +horses' hoofs; and, lo! there be a chariot pulled up afore the door, +with four gray horses a-making play with their trappings, and a +coachman, all wig and gilding, a-sitting on th' box. And ere a could +move, out steps a fine dame, with her hair all in hillocks, as 'twere, +and a paling o' lace round about her head, like as 't had been a +flower-garden, and a farthingale to 'a' covered th' big malt-pot with as +little to-do as a hen covers an egg. And up comes she to th' door, and +her tire-woman a-holding of her robes, and two footmen going before, and +in she comes--like as though Riches and Death had a' th' same right to +enter a poor man's house without knocking. And saith she to me, saith +she, a-filling up o' the room with her finery, like a cuckoo ruffling +out its feathers in another bird's nest, saith she, + +"Be this th' cottage o' Humfrey Lemon th' farrier?" saith she. + +"It be so; and I be he," saith I. + +"And be thou th' father o' th' wench they call th' Farrier Lass o' +Piping Pebworth?" saith she. + +"I be, an' proud o't," say I, a-beginning to think that she might 'a' +knocked at th' door, for all her greatness. + +"Where's th' lass?" saith she, as she might 'a' said "Where's my glove?" + +Then saith I, "Madam," saith I, "most like she's gone about her +business," saith I. + +"My good man," saith she, after a fashion that did cause me to feel +aught but good--"my good man," saith she, "dost thou know to whom thou +speakest?" + +"Verily," saith I, "thou art ahead o' me there, madam." + +"Boor," saith she, "I am the Lady o' Balfour Hall." + +"An' so could my lass 'a' been, had she willed it," saith I; but ere I +could further forget myself, in comes Keren by another door, and she +saith, + +"Father, do thou go out, and leave me to speak with this lady." Then to +th' dame she saith, "Your ladyship," saith she, "I am Keren Lemon, that +be called th' Farrier Lass. What wouldst thou with me?" + +Then I got me out o' th' room, but not out o' hearing distance; and this +is what followed: + +"I have heard," saith th' dame, "these reports concerning my son Sir +Dagonet and thee, and, to my sorrow, I find upon inquiry," saith she, +"that they be true. Moreover, though it doth shame me to the dust to +confess it, I have had an interview with my son Sir Dagonet," so saith +she--every word o't as I tell thee--"and he is determined in his +purpose o' ruining his life and th' happiness o' his mother. Therefore I +have come to thee, to ask that thou persistest in the course which thou +hast begun," saith she. "And here," saith she, "is gold to hold thy +tongue concerning my visit unto thee." And therewith she did count down +ten broad gold pieces upon th' kitchen table. "I must also ask thee," +then continued she, ere my lass could answer her, "to allow me to remain +under thy roof until my carriage be returned from th' other end o' the +village, where it hath been sent with my tire-woman to purchase some +ribbon to tie my parrot to 's perch." + +Never a word saith my lass, but she goes to th' door and opens it, and +lifting up her voice, she halloos to a little ragged urchin who is at +some spot on th' other side o' th' street; and he being come as fast as +his little shanks would bring him, she bids him enter, and taking him up +in her arms, she lifts him up so that a can reach th' gold on th' +table, and saith she, + +"Thou'rt not o'er-clean to touch, my good little mouse," saith she, "but +thou'rt cleaner than that stuff thou seest. There, lad, that's for thee, +if an thou'lt run to th' other end o' th' village and bid them return at +once with my lady Balfour's carriage," so saith she. Then, th' lad +having stuffed all 's doublet with th' gold, she sets him on 's feet, +and off a scuttles on th' best-paid errand e'er chanced since th' world +began. And my lass, having courtesied to the thunder-stricken dame, gets +her outside (where I go nigh to smothering her with kisses), and leaves +her ladyship in possession o' th' kitchen. + +Well, comrade, right sure am I that thou dost think that was the end on +'t. Not a bit. Sir Dagonet did himself come to th' cottage th' very next +day to see th' lass, and they had many words together, and at last he +did accuse her o' false pride and proud humility. And saith he, + +"Wouldst thou make misery for the man who loves thee best of all the +world, merely to satisfy a notion o' thine own? Greatness and goodness," +saith he, "dwell in the heads and hearts o' mankind, not in their birth +or purses. I do ask thee, with all respect, to be my wife, and I am +prepared to face th' anger o' my mother and o' th' Queen. Ay," saith he, +his face gone red as a girl's, and comes nigh to her--"ay, maiden," +saith he, "I am even ready to seek th' new country with thee as my wife, +and to leave title and lands and Queen and mother behind me." + +Then saith she--and I had not seen tears in her eyes for many a day-- + +"My lord," saith she, "well and nobly hast thou spoken, and with all my +soul do I honor thee for it, and I thank thee with all my heart and +soul. But, my lord, even were there not thy rank and position atween +us, there is atween us," saith she, "which would hold us as far apart as +the sea doth hold this England which we live in and th' new country o' +which thou didst speak. For," saith she--and she speaks in a steady +voice, howbeit 'tis very low, and she keeps her sun-like eyes on +his--"for, my lord," saith she, "all the love that was mine to give hath +been another man's these many years." + +Then saith he never another word, but bends his knee and kisses her long +brown hand as though 't had been th' Queen's; and he gets him from th' +cottage. + +Now, two more years were sped since that Ruth had left us, and sometimes +would we hear through friends o' th' little lad and 's mother and +father, and always was Ruth a-sending of pretty messages to Keren--her +love, and her thanks, and how happy she was, and th' boy so like his +father--and more than I remember. + +A full year had th' lass been at work in my shop, and my arm no more +fit to hammer than afore. So I looks about to get a lad to help her in +her work, seeing as 'twere too much for one wench. And, Lord! th' +trouble I had! Ten lads did I try, one right after th' other; and one +would be saucy, and another dull, and another would take 't into his +pumpkin head to fall in love wi' th' lass; and all o' 'em lazy. But, +God-a-mercy! how's a man to tell a lazy lad till he ha' tried +him?--unless it be old Butter. Ha! ha! I ha' just minded me o' th' way +he used to treat th' lads that came to Amhurste to hire for +under-gardeners. He would stand with 's owlish old visage a-set on 's +hoe-handle, for all th' world like a fantastic head carved out o' a +turnip and set on a stick, and a would let th' lad go on with 's story +o' how Dame This commended him for that, and o' how Dame That commended +him for this, and o' how a had worked under my lord So-and-So's +head-gardener and in my lady So-and-So's own hot-houses; and when a had +got through, never a word would old Butter say, but a would just step +round behind th' lad, as solemn as a gravedigger on a cold day, and a +would lift up th' tail o' 's doublet and look at th' seat o' 's +breeches. And if they were fairly worn a would hire th' lad; but if an +they were much worn a would say, "No work dost thou get from me, my +lad," would a say, "thou sittest down too often to work for Anthony +Butter"--so would a say--every word o't just as I ha' told thee. Ha! ha! +And all the time as sober as a coroner inspecting a corse. Ha! ha! ha! +Methinks I can see him now--th' old zany. + +Well, well, a was a good man, was Anthony Butter; and if a was a bit +puffed up with 's own importance, a's charity ne'er got in a like +condition that it did not bring forth some kind act. + +Well, th' months swung round, and 'twas nigh to Martlemas in that same +year, and one day as I sat i' th' forge door, a-swearing roundly to +myself concerning my lame arm, and how that 'twould not mend, up comes +galloping a man, like one distraught, and a child on th' saddle afore +him, and a flings himself down with th' child in 's arms (making no +shift whate'er to hold th' horse, which gallops on with th' reins +swinging), and a cries out, a-setting of th' child on my knee--a cries +out, + +"For God's sake, help me! My child hath been bit by a mad dog! Help me +in some way, for th' love of God!" + +And I saw that 'twas Robert Hacket that crouched and quivered at my knee +like a hurt hound, and th' child as like to him as one leaf on a tree is +to th' other. But ere I could do or say aught, comes that lass o' mine, +and ups with th' babe in her arms, and he roaring as lustily as any +bull-calf with th' wound in 's little brown arm, and she sees where the +beast hath bitten him. Then sets she him down again on my lap, and runs +and fetches a bar o' iron and heats it i' th' forge till 'tis white-hot, +and all th' time th' poor father a-sobbing, and kissing of th' babe, and +calling on me to help him, like as though I were God Almighty. And while +he was so doing, and the babe like to burst with weeping, and I gone mad +with not knowing what to be at, comes that wench, comrade, and jerks up +th' babe, and sets th' white-hot metal in 's soft flesh. + +Ay, comrade, a did, and a held it there till where th' dog's fangs had +been was burned as black as th' anvil. And then, when 'tis done, and th' +babe again upon 's feet, and we two for praising and blessing o' her, +down drops she all in a heap on th' floor atween us, like a hawk that +hath been smitten in mid-heaven. Then 'twas, comrade, that th' babe was +left to endure his pain as best he might; never thought more did 's +father give him that day; but he runs and lifts th' lass in 's strong +arms, and bears her out into th' fresh air, and he calls her his +"dear," and his "own," and "his life," and his "Keren," till, had 't not +been for my lass's coming back to life, I would 'a' struck him on th' +mouth for a-speaking so unto her, and he th' husband o' another woman. + +But no sooner opes she her eyes than he hath both her hands hid in one +o' his, and close against his breast, and she lying back in 's arms as +though she were any chrisom child, and her big eyes wide on his, and he +saith to her, + +"Lass! lass!" saith he, "I ha' come to marry thee, an thou wilt have +me," quoth he. "I ha' come to marry thee; and may God bless thee for +saving th' child!" + +Then did I understand; but she saith, with her great eyes not +moving--saith she--only one word--"Ruth?" saith she, even so, once, low +like that--"Ruth?" + +"Ay, lass, I know," he saith unto her. "I know," he saith. "But all's +well with Ruth. Ruth is in heaven." + +Then saith she, while a light leaps out o' her tearful eyes, like as +when the sun doth shine suddenly through April rain--saith she, as she +were breathing her life into th' words, + +"Methinks I be there too." + +And also did I understand her, how that she meant that to be lying in +th' arms o' him she loved, after all those weary years, was like being +in heaven; but he questions her. + +"How, lass?" saith he. "Where dost thou think thou art? Thou art in thy +true love's arms," saith he. + +"Ay, there is heaven," she saith. + +And I stole away to get th' babe some kickshaws i' th' village, that +they twain might be alone together. + +Well, well, all that was two year ago, comrade--two year ago; and now +that lass o' mine hath a babe o' her own, and as valiant a rogue as ever +bellowed. Thou must come and sup with us to-night. Na, na, I'll take no +refusal--dost hear? I will not. And a word o' persuasion i' thy ear, +comrade: Mistress Lemon hath been dead this twelvemonth, comrade. Ah ha! +Wilt a-come the now? That's well. And thou shalt hear that lass o' mine +troll thee "Jog on, jog on," and "Mistress mine, where art thou +roaming?" and "Listen, Robin, while I woo." Come, comrade, come. But +stay; let's crack another drink together ere we go. Joel! What there! +Joel, I say! Another quart o' sack for Master Turnip! + + + + +NURSE CRUMPET TELLS THE STORY. + + _Time._--A bitter January night in the year of + Grace 1669. + + _Scene._--Sunderidge Castle--The great hall--A + monstrous fire burning in the big fireplace--Nurse + Crumpet discovered seated on a settle--At her + either knee lean the little Lady Dorothy and her + brother, the young Earl of Sunderidge, Lord + Humphrey Lennox. + + +_Nurse Crumpet._--Nay, now, Lady Dorothy, why wilt thou be at the pains +o' such a clamoring? Sure thou hast heard that old tale o'er a hundred +times; and thou too, my lord? Fie, then! Wouldst seek to flatter thy old +nurse with this seeming eagerness? Go to! I say thou canst not in truth +want to hear me drone o'er that ancient narrative. Well, then, an I +must, I must. Soft! Hold my fan betwixt thy dainty cheeks and the +blaze, sweetheart, lest the fire-fiend witch thy roses into very poppy +flowers. And thou, my lord, come closer to my side, lest the draught +from the bay-window smite thee that thou howlest o' th' morrow with a +crick i' thy neck. Well, well, be patient. All in time, in time. Soft, +now! Ye both mind that I was but a little lass when thy grandmother, the +Lady Elizabeth Lennox, did take me to train as her maid-in-waiting. I +was just turned sixteen that Martlemas, and not a fair-sized wench for +my years either. Would ye believe? I could set my two thumbs together at +my backbone in those days, and my ring-fingers would all but kiss too. + +_Lord Humphrey._--Ha! ha! Nurse, thy fingers would be but ill satisfied +lovers under those conditions nowadays. Eh, Dolly? + +_Lady Dorothy._--Hold thy tongue for an unmannerly lad, Humphrey. Do not +thou heed him, nurse, but go on with thy story. + +_Nurse Crumpet._--For all thy laughter, my lord, I'd a waist my garter +would bind in those days, and was as light on my toes as those flames +that dance i' th' chimney. Lord! Lord! how well I mind me o' th' first +time that e'er I clapt eyes on Jock Crumpet! I was speeding home with a +jug o' water from the spring, and what with his staring as he stood at +the road-side to let me pass, and what with a root i' th' way, I all but +lost my footing. Yet did I swing round alone, holding fast my jug, and +ne'er one blessed drop o' water spilled I, for all my tripping. "By'r +lay'kin!" quoth he, "thou'rt as light on thy feet as a May wind, and as +I live I will dance the Barley Break with thee this harvesting or I will +dance with none!" And i' faith a was as good as his word, for by hook or +by crook, and much scheming and planning, and bringing o' gewgaws to my +mother, and a present o' a fine yearling to my father, that harvesting +did I dance the Barley Break with Jock Crumpet. And a was a feather-man +in a round reel. + +Well, 'twas the year o' my meeting with Jock, thou mindst. (And a cold +winter that was--Christ save us! There be ne'er such winters nowadays. +This night is as a summer noon i' th' comparison.) 'Twas the year o' my +first meeting with Jock, and my lady, your grandmother, sent for me to +the castle, to be her waiting-maid. Lord! 'twas a troublous time! What +with joy at my good fortune, and sorrow at quitting my mother, I was +fain to smile with one corner o' my mouth and look grievously with the +other, like a zany at a village fair. And Jock, he would not that I +went, for that he could not see me, or consort wi' me so often: Jock was +aye honey-combed wi' th' thing ye call "sentiment." A would grin on a +flower I had wov'n in my locks by th' hour together. And 'tis my belief +a could a spun him a warm doublet out o' the odds and ends o' ribbon and +what not he had filched from me when my eyes were elsewhere. And +Jock--but 'tis neither here nor there o' Jock. In those days thy +grandmother had only one child, a little lass, the Lady Patience. And +ne'er was man or maid worse named; for to call such a flibbertigibbet +"Patience" were as though one should name a frisksome colt "Slumber," or +christen a spring brook "Quiet." Patience, quotha! 'Twas patience in +truth a body had need of, who was thrown at all with her little +ladyship. But there was ne'er so beautiful a maiden born in all the +broad land of England; nor will be again--not though London Tower be +standing when the last trump sounds. Meseemed she was an elf-sprite, so +tiny was she; and her face like a fair flower, so fresh and pure. Her +hair was shed about her face like sunlight on thistle-down, and her eyes +made a shining behind it, like the big blue gems in her mother's +jewel-box. When she laughed, it was as water falling into water from a +short height, with ripples, and little murmurs, and a clear tinkling +sound. But she was ne'er more at rest than the leaves on an aspen-tree. +Hither and thither would she flit, this way and that, up and down, round +and round, backward and forward, about and about. I' faith, ofttimes +would I be right dizzy come nightfall, with following of her; for ere I +had been at the castle a day, she took so mighty a fancy to me, that +naught would do but she must have me for her maid; and so my lady, who +(God pardon my boldness!) did utterly spoil her in all things, gave me +unto her as a nurse-maid.--But sure ye are a-weary o' this old tale! + +_Lady Dorothy and Lord Humphrey in a breath._--Nay, go on, go on. + +_Nurse Crumpet._--Well, well, o' all the story-loving bairns! But I must +invent me a new history for the next time o' telling. + +_Lord Humphrey._--Nay, that thou shalt not. We will ne'er like any as +well as we like this one. So despatch. + +_Nurse Crumpet._--But my lady had also an adopted daughter, a niece o' +my lord's--one Mistress Marian Every--and she walked beside the little +Lady Patience as night might walk beside day, for she was as brown o' +skin as a mountain stream, and her hair like a cloud at even-tide, dark, +but of no certain color, albeit as soft as ravelled silk, and marvellous +hard to comb on account o' its fineness. Mistress Marian was full head +and shoulders taller than her cousin, the Lady Patience, and she could +lift her aloft in her arms, and swing her from side to side, as a supple +bough swings a bird. And her eyes were dark, and cool to gaze into, like +a pool o' clear water o'er autumn leaves, and sometimes there were +glints o' light in them, like the spikes i' th' evening-star when thou +dost gaze steadily upon it. Black and white were not more different than +were they, and they resembled even less in mind than they did in body. +When Lady Patience waxed wroth, her cheeks burned like two coals, and +thou couldst hear her little teeth grinding together, like pebbles +squeezed i' th' palm o' thy hand; but when Mistress Marian was +an-angered, the blood rushed back to her heart, and she was whiter than +a lamb at the shearing, and her lips like white threads. Then would the +light shoot and spin in her eyes, and her nostrils suck in and out, like +those of a fretful horse. And she was fierce after the manner of a man +rather than of a maid. Moreo'er, she was full a year younger than the +Lady Patience; but she looked it not; rather did her ladyship look full +two years younger than Mistress Marian. And I loved them both, and tried +as a Christian not to prefer one before the other; but what with my +lady's stealings of her arms about my neck as I sat at my stitchery, and +popping of comfits in my pocket when I would be otherwise engaged, and +teasings, and ticklings, and sundry other pretty witcheries which I do +not at this day recall, I was fairly cozened into loving her the best. +(Honey, I charge thee hold my fan betwixt thee and the fire.) But to +continue.--Mistress Marian was aye courteous and kindly to me as heart +could wish, and every night did she thank me i' th' prettiest fashion, +when I had combed and unpinned her for the night; but, Lord! I had much +ado to get Lady Patience combed or unpinned at all! First would she jump +with both knees upon mine, and hug my very breath away; then, when I had +at last coaxed her to get down, first she would perch on one leg and +then o' the other, and then be a-twisting her head now over this +shoulder, now over that, to see how I came on with the unpinning, that +it was with a prayer to God that I finally set her night-gown over her +shoulders, and led her to bed. As for her prayers--Jesu aid me and +pardon her!--'twas a matter of hours to get her to say "Our Father" +straight through, what with her vowing that she wished not bread every +day, and how that if his lordship her father forgave not trespassers +(for I could ne'er draw the difference between trespass_es_ and +trespass_ers_ into her pretty pate), neither would she; and how she did +not believe God would lead her into temptation at any time, but that it +was the Devil; and how it must anger God even to think of such doings on +His part--what, I say, with all this, methought sometimes it would be +cock-crow ere I got her safely to sleep. And all this time Mistress +Marian would be lying as quiet as any mouse, with her big plait of hair +between her fingers, for so she always slept, with her hair fast in her +hands, as though she loved its beauty; and in truth it was the one great +beauty she had, for my little lady put her out with her glitter as the +sunlight doth extinguish a morning moon. + +Now I had been at the castle scarce two months when one day it chances +that I hear my lady a-telling o' my lord how as her brother, Lord +Charles Radnor, dying wifeless, had left his only son to her care until +he should come of age. And on that Tuesday the little lord set foot in +the castle; and my lady was down at the door-way to meet him, in a new +velvet gown, with her wimple sewn in fine pearls, and my lord with her; +but my two nurslings waxed shy at the last minute, and would not come +down, but leaned and peered through the posts o' the stair-rail, and my +little lady let fall one o' her shoes in her eagerness to glimpse at her +new cousin. And straightway ran the lad and lifted the wee shoe, and +looked upward, laughing, and my lord and lady having retired into the +dining-hall, to see that some cold viands were in readiness (it being +then near to nightfall, though not yet supper hour).--"Ho! thou little +cinder witch," cried he; "I am the prince that has found thy shoe, and +when I shall have found thee, if that thy temper be as small as thy +shoe, fear not but that I will kiss thee too!" With that, he ran up the +stair-way, two and three steps at a leap. + +And I followed, for I knew not what would happen an he claimed his kiss +as he had threatened (knowing as did I, that in verity my lady's shoe +would a been a tight fit for her temper). + +But when he was arrived at the top, lo! they had both fled, neither had +they left so much as a ribbon behind them. Then the lad laughed again, +as pleasant a laugh as e'er I heard in all my days, and quoth he, "I +would be but a poor prince an I had not to search for my little +princess." So off he starts, and I after him, up and down corridors, in +at half-open doors, out upon balconies, hither and thither, after the +manner o' my little lady on her most unquiet days, till at last, for the +sake o' peace, I did slyly lead him in the direction o' the great +nursery. There, catching sight o' a little red petticoat, he enters, +where stand my truant elves confessed, Mistress Marian frowning and +biting o' her dark hair, but my little lady like to stifle, with both +hands over her mouth to hide her smiles, and her blue eyes dancing a +very Barley Break o' mirth among the yellow sheaves o' her tresses. + +Then there was much parley o'er the fitting o' the shoe, as both damsels +did straightway sit down upon their feet, neither for a long time would +they move an eyelash, till his lordship, with a twink o' his eye at me, +did suggest corns and bunions as a reason for their 'havior--and, Lord! +then 'twas pretty to mark how like little chicks beneath their dam's +feathers, first one little foot and then the other did steal out from +the rich lace o' their petticoats. And ere one could cry "Oh!" for a +pinch, he had slipt the shoe on my little lady's wee foot, and had +kissed her right heartily. Moreo'er, what I did most marvel at, was that +she neither cuffed nor sought to cuff him, but dropt down her head until +her hair made a veil before her face, and moved that foot whereon he had +set her shoe, gently back and forth as though the leather was stiff to +her ankle, and I saw that she looked at it from under her heavy hair. +But Mistress Marian still held aloof, and chewed upon her dark locks +like a heifer on its cud. And her eyes were every whit as dark and +solemn as a very cow's. Then the young lord laughed again, and cried +out, "Ha! the ox-eyed June!" or some such apery, and went and kneeled +before her in mock fashion, as before a queen, and quoth he, "Fair +goddess" (for 'twas afterwards explained to me what manner of being was +a goddess, namely, some kind of a foreign fairy)--"Fair goddess," quoth +he, "show me how I may dispel thy wrath." And still she scowled on him, +but spoke no word. And he continued, and said, "I prithee, fair lady, +cast but one smile upon thy humble knight" (thou mind'st their pretty +foolery has stuck i' my old pate unto this day). + +Then she answered and saith, "Thou silly lad, how can I be a goddess and +a lady both in one? Thou hast not even enough wit to make a good fool. +So!" (for Mistress Marian had a sharp tongue at times). + +But he was not so much as ruffled, and laughed even again, most +heartily. And he said, "I do perceive that thou art not fashioned either +as goddess or lady, therefore be my comrade, and we will fight together +for the weal o' yon fairy princess." All at once she laughed too, and +yielded him her hand, and said, "I like thee. What is thy name?" + +He said, "My name is Ernle; and I like thee too; therefore, I pray thee, +tell me thine." + +So she told him, and my little lady sidling up, the three fell presently +a-chattering like linnets at sunrise, and from that hour on I had no +trouble with them. + +'Twas pretty to mark them at their fantasies. They were aye out-o'-door +save when 'twas rainy weather, and then methought the castle had scarce +room enough for them. In all their games Mistress Marian was the little +lord's comrade, and wore a helmet o' silvered wood, and carried a wooden +sword silvered to match her head-gear, and the little lord was likewise +apparelled. And he called her ever "Comrade," and clapped her o' th' +shoulder, as mankind will clap one the other when conversing. + +But my little lady, they both agreed, was a fairy princess; and, Lord, +Lord! 'twould take me from now 'til Martlemas next to name the perilous +'scapes that did befall her. They fished her out of moats, they bore her +from blazing castles, they did drag her from the maws o' dragons and +other wild beasts I know not how to name. Thrice was the little Lord of +Radnor in dire straits at the claws o' goblin creatures. Three times +did his comrade rescue him by thwacking upon the chair which did +represent the dreadful beast, till I was in sore dread there would be no +mending of it, and me, mayhap, dismissed from the castle for +carelessness. And always when 'twas all o'er, and the little princess in +safety, I was called upon to act parson and wed my little lady to the +little lord, while Mistress Marian leaned on her sword to witness the +doings. + +One day, in their rovings through the park, they came by chance upon a +door in the hill-side, but so o'ergrown with creeping vines that, had +not the little lord stumbled upon it, 'twas very like it had been there +to this day without discovery. Well, no sooner do they see the door than +they must needs open it, spite o' all my scolding, and peer within. +'Twas but a darksome hole, after all--a kind o' cave i' th' hill-side, +which they did afterwards find out from thy grandfather was used in days +gone by for concealing treasures in time of war. And indeed it seemed a +safe place, for there were two rusty bolts as big as my arm, one o' th' +inside and one o' th' outside, and the creeping things hid all. As thou +mightst think, it grew to be their favorite coigne for playing their +dragon and princess trickeries. I would sit with my stitchery on a +fallen log in the sunshine, while they ran in and out o' th' grewsome +hole. But in all their frolicking my little lady could ne'er abide the +sight o' their swords, and she pleaded ever for gentler games. One day +(I shall ne'er forget, though I live to see doomsday) they did crown her +a queen, and then my lord would have it that she dubbed him her knight. +She pleaded that prettily against it methought the veriest boor in +Christendom would a given in to her, but my little lord was stanch. So +they made her a throne o' flowers, and when she was seated thereon, +Mistress Marian handed her the great wooden sword, and my lord, +kneeling, bade her strike him on the shoulder with the flat side o' th' +sword, saying, "Rise, Sir Ernle, my knight for evermore!" + +She got out the words as he bade her, but when 't came to the stroke, +what with her natural fright, and what with the sunlight on the silver, +she brought down the heavy blade edgewise on the boy's pate, laying wide +quite a gash above his left eyebrow, so that the blood trickled down his +cheek. When she saw that, meseemed all the blood in her body went to +keep his company, for she turned whiter than her smock, and ran and got +her arm about him and saith, o'er and o'er again, "Ernle! Ernle! I have +killed thee!" + +He laughed, to comfort her, and made light of it, and wetting his finger +in the blood, drew a cross on his brow and said, "Nay, thou hast not +killed me. And moreo'er, I am not only thy knight, but thy Red Cross +Knight into the bargain, and thou my lady forever. See! I will seal thee +with my very blood!" and ere she could draw back, he had set also a +cross on her white brow. She shuddered and fell a-weeping, and drew her +hand across her brow to wipe away the ugly stain; and when she saw that +she had but smeared it on her hand, she trembled more than ever, and it +was not for some days that I could quiet her. + +I do but relate this story, to show in what horror my little lady did +ever hold swords and bloodshed. + +Well, to continue-- + +This could not last for aye, and when two more years were sped, his +uncle sent the little lord to a place o' learning; and afterwards to +travel to and fro upon the earth, after the manner of Satan in the Book +of Job (God forgive me! but 't has ever seemed like that to me). And we +set not eyes on him for eight years. Now in that time, lo! I was +married, and my little lady and Mistress Marian in long kirtles, and +their hair looped up upon their heads. Mistress Marian was yet full +head and shoulders above my little lady, and her skin as brown as ever. +But my little lady was as bright and slender as a sun-ray. + +They would speak to me sometimes of Lord Radnor, and how that great +folks were saying great things of him, and how he was become a soldier +and a marvellous person altogether; but as the years went by they seemed +not so ready to talk o' him, only sometimes my little lady would pull +down my head as I smoothed the bedclothes over her at night, and quoth +she, "Nurse, dost think he will be much changed? My hair hath not +darkened much, hath it? Dost think his curls will be different from what +they were when he was a lad?" And I would have to tell her "No" a dozen +times ere she would let me go. But Mistress Marian said never a word. + +One day I learned of my lady how that Lord Radnor was to return the next +week, and meseemed in truth the whole castle was waxed distraught. + +It is not in my power to tell o' th' doings, but suffice it to say, my +lord did cozen them all, and come a full day ere he was expected. + +When he came, Mistress Marian was standing i' th' great door o' th' +castle, in her hawking gown o' green velure cloth laced all with silver +cord; her plumed hat was on her curls, and her hawk, Beryl, on her fist. +And she turned and beheld him. Ne'er did I see verier light in earth or +sky, than flashed into her face as their eyes met. And he doffed his +hat, and came up beside her on the step, and saith, with the old laugh, +but gentler, "Well met, comrade." + +Now when he called her "comrade," 'twas as when Jock did call me +"sweetheart" in the days o' our wooing. She went red as the ribbon in +his sleeves; and when the falcon fretted and shook its bells, he did put +out his hand and stroke it, and, lo! it was still, and seemed to feel +him as its master. And I wondered all this time where could be my little +lady. + +To this day I have ne'er seen so handsome a man as the young lord. He +was tall and straight as an oak, with curls the color of frost-touched +oak-leaves i' th' sunlight, and eyes like the amber drink when men hold +it aloft ere quaffing, and his whole countenance bright and eager, and +narrow like that o' a fox, but without a fox's cunning. Then he seemed +fashioned to run, and ride, and war, as doth become all men, whether of +high or low estate. + +Then went I within to inquire after my little lady; and Jock, who was +become a footman i' th' castle, did tell me of how he had seen her set +forth to walk i' th' park an hour gone. So straightway I went in search +of her. + +I had gone some six hundred paces when, at a sudden turning, I came upon +her, where she held a little urchin a-straddle of her big deer-hound +"Courage." The child gave chuckles o' delight as he slipped from side to +side, and the sun through the beech-leaves made their heads as like as +two crown pieces. Even as I was about to lift up my voice to halloo unto +her, lo! my lord doth part the thick branches, and steps forth a little +behind her, and stands watching her. And as he did stand there, behold, +a look came o'er his face, that was stranger than any look I had e'er +seen on th' face of man or of woman, and his eyes were no more bright +and eager, but deep and soft. Then she turned and went direct towards +him unknowing. + +When she was beside him, still laughing and half out o' breath with +balancing o' th' heavy boy, he saith these two words, "My lady," and +methought there was a whole year's love-making o' ordinary men crammed +into them. Quoth I to myself: "Ah, my little lord, so thou hast that +trick with thee! God keep my little ladies! for if the tongue be a +fire, how must it burn when such a wit doth wag it!" And I determined in +my heart that by some means I would warn my little lady of his sweet +speecheries. Yet was I tender towards him for the sake o' by-gone days. +Mayhap, moreover, his comely face had something to do with it, for, i' +fecks, ne'er saw I a goodlier countenance on Roundhead or Cavalier. + +Now when my lady heard his voice at her ear, first gives she such a +start as doth a mettlesome filly when a hare jumps out before it, then +stock-still stands she, and her face whiter than a wind-flower, and her +lips a-tremble as if to speak, but no word comes from them. + +He saith again, "My lady." + +I saw by the moving of her lips that she fashioned the words "My God!" +but still she spoke not. And the child began to whimper and clutch at +her kirtle, for she had loosened her hold of him, and he feared falling +off of the big dog. So she put one arm about him to hold him, but her +eyes were yet upon his lordship. + +Then he came and lifted her hand to his breast, and it lay upon his +dark-green doublet, as a white flower-leaf doth upon grass, and he saith +to her, "Sweetheart, dost thou not know me?" + +All at once, for what, God only knoweth, she fell a-weeping, and he had +her in his arms. And being some two years a mother, my care was all for +the poor little rogue on the deer-hound; 'twas as much as I could do to +hold back from running and snatching him in my arms to soothe his +terror. + +Howbeit, ere that I could commit this madness, the frighted babe set up +such a howl as only a man-child can utter, and my lady turned to him in +great haste, and my lord also did set about comforting him. Then they +walked slowly on, and my lord held the little lad on one side, and my +lady coaxed him o' th' other. Ever and anon my lord would look from the +babe to my lady, and then from my lady to the babe. And a smile just +lifted the corners o' his mouth, as sometimes a wind will just stir the +leaves ere shaking them as with jollity. I followed cautiously at some +distance, and by-and-by his lordship said, "How was it that thou didst +not know me, coz? Faith thou art shot up like a lily i' th' sun, but +lilies are aye lilies, and leaving thee a lily, I find thee a lily +still, though blooming on a taller stem." + +And she answered him: "Yea, cousin, and oaks are aye oaks, though first +they be saplings, then trees. And in truth I knew thee by thy voice ere +I looked at thee; but 'twas all so sudden, that i' faith I was +frightened at thee." + +And he said, "But thou art glad to see me?" + +And being busy with the child, she answered him without lifting her +head, "Thou knowest that I am." + +Then did he laugh a little, and saith, "How should I know, coz? Proof, +proof, I pray thee. Wilt thou not give me the kiss o' welcome after all +these years?" + +Now he had not offered to kiss Mistress Marian. Therefore I waited right +curiously to see what my little lady would say unto his offer, and Jock +having dinned it into my ears ever since our wedding-day, that all women +were by nature eavesdroppers, I was of a mind to prove his theory for +him; so I not only listened with all my ears, but I looked with all my +eyes. + +My lady waxed first ruddy, then like to milk, then ruddy again, and she +reached out her hand to him across the hound. "In truth I will, cousin," +quoth she. + +He did take the little hand in his, putting down his other hand softly +over it, as when one holds a frighted bird, and he looked at her as +though he would pierce her lids with his gaze, for her eyes were down, +and he saith, "Sweetheart, right gladly will I give this pretty hand +the kiss o' an eternal welcome; but methinks thou hast begged the +question. I pleaded to receive a kiss rather than to bestow one." + +And her face was like a bended rose. Then did he step round quickly +beside her, and once more was the poor babe left in dire terror o' his +life, and he made up a piteous face, but the dog standing still, he fell +to rattling its collar, and soon waxed merry with the jingle o' th' +silver. So I looked again at my lady and Lord Radnor. + +He had taken her about her waist with one arm, and with the other hand +he lifted gently upward her fair face, as doth a gardener a rain-beaten +flower, while his eyes looked down into hers. And slowly, slowly, almost +as rose-leaves unfurl i' th' sun, her white lids curled upward, and her +blue eyes peered softly from her yellow locks like corn-flowers through +ripe corn, there being a tear in each, as when a rain-bead doth tremble +i' th' real corn-flowers. And, to be the more like nature, there ran +big waves throughout her loosened tresses, like as when the wind doth +steal across a field o' grain on summer noons. + +Then he bended down his tall head, and their lips met. God alone knows +what their first words would a been, for ere the kiss was well ended, +down falls the poor little rogue off of the hound's back, and lifts up +his voice loud enow to be heard across the sea by the red men i' the new +continent. And my lady runs and lifts him in her arms. Lord! such an ado +as they had a-comforting him! First my lady, then my lord, then my lady +again--and at last my lord tosses him to his shoulder, and saith he, + +"Ho! thou little Jack Pudding! an thou art not still o' th' instant, +I'll swear thou art a girl, an' thou shalt ne'er have a sword such as +men have." + +And as I live, the child stinted, and waxed as solemn as an owl! Not +another tear did he shed. My lord saith, "Now thou art a good lad, +therefore thou shalt have my sword to play with." And he unbinds it from +his side, scabbard and all, and holds it while the urchin gets astride +o't and pretends to ride. When my lord is tired o' stooping, he lifts +the child again to his shoulder, and so do they conduct him back to his +mother, the gardener's wife. From thence they return to the castle, and +are met by my lord and lady and all the servants, while I haste me in by +a side door to get on my Sunday kirtle and appear with the rest. + +As time wore on, the three were as much together as when he was a little +lad and they lassies, and sometimes from a window, and sometimes from a +quiet coigne in the great hall (this very hall, ye mind, dears), I would +sit with my stitchery and mark them at their bright chatter. + +But often Mistress Marian would come and sit against my knee, even as +thou art sitting now, sweetheart, and ask me to stroke her hair, and +when she would coax Lord Ernle's big blood-hound "Valor" to come and lie +beside her, she would sit more quiet, almost as though she were asleep. +And she would ask me ever and again, "Nurse, wherefore are women at any +time born with dark hair, to mar ev'n such small comeliness as they +might otherwise have?" + +And always I would answer, "Tut! thou knowest not of what thou speakest, +my honey; in the sight o' some, dark hair is more comely than fair +hair." And always she would shake her head, and smile i' th' fashion o' +one who knows better than another. But she was a wondrous fair woman, in +spite o' her own thinking, and shaped like the brown metal wench over +yonder with the bow and arrows. Diana, say ye? Why, even so; so it was +that his lordship called her when he did not call her "comrade." + +Now young Sir Rowland Nasmyth (him who was father to that Sir Rowland +who wedded your sister the Lady Anne last Michaelmas, ye mind, dears), +he would be often over for a day, or maybe several days, at the castle; +and all four would ride a-hawking, or ramble together, two by two, +through the park; or Lord Ernle and Sir Rowland would play at rackets, +and i' fecks 'twas a sight to see 'em at it! One day my little lady and +Sir Rowland (who was a fair stripling, with curls near the color o' +Mistress Marian's, and eyes the tinting o' the far sea on a rainy day) +did wander off together, and Mistress Marian and my lord were left +alone, seated on a rude bench under one o' th' great beech-trees that +flank the hall door. He leaned forward and rested an elbow on either +knee, and did let his racket swing back and forth between them, and sat +looking down on it. Mistress Marian's gaze was upon him, but her big hat +made so deep a shadow o'er her eyes withal that I could not note them +clearly. So stayed they for some moments. + +Then all in a breath did Lord Ernle start erect and push back his heavy +locks and speak. "Comrade," saith he, "wilt thou call me an ass for my +pains, I wonder, an I tell thee o' something that is troubling me +sorely?" + +She, having in no wise moved from her first position, and her eyes still +in shadow, saith, "I pray thee say on, Ernle, for such words as thou +hast just spoken to me are idle." + +And he leaned forward and took one of her long brown hands in his, but +'twas different from the way in which he had ta'en my little lady's hand +at their first meeting, and he saith, "Comrade, for thou hast e'er been +my true and loyal comrade, Marian--sweet comrade-cousin--this is the +matter that doth eat my heart. Dost think there is aught between +Patience and that young coxcomb?" + +There came a red mark all across her brow, as though he had smitten her, +for with her sudden movement her hat had fallen upon the ground at her +feet. And she put up her hand to her side as if in pain, but snatched it +back quickly. And for one heart-beat she shut her eyes. My lord, who had +stooped forward to lift her hat, saw none o' this, and when the hat was +again upon her brow and its shadow over her face, she seemed the same as +ever. But I knew the shaft was in her heart, and my heart seemed to feel +it, for I loved her dearly. When he could wait no longer, he said, +"Well, comrade?" + +And she spoke, for from the hair that crowned her to the feet that +carried her she was as brave as any Cavalier that ever swung sword for +the King, and she said, "Well indeed, cousin, for thee." + +He said, "How dost thou mean for me?" + +Then stooped she and gathered a handful of grass, and held it aloft and +opened her hand, palm downward, that the falling blades were blown this +way and that by the wind. + +"I mean," quoth she, "that Rowland Nasmyth is no more to Patience +than--I am to thee." And she laughed a little. + +He came closer to her, and laid his arm about her shoulders, drawing her +to him, and he said, "Nay, thou knowest how dear thou art to me, +comrade; but thou meanest in different wise--is't so?" + +She said, "Yea; but call me Marian to-day. It is to my whim." + +He answered, "Dear Marian," and would have kissed her cheek, but she +started up with a little cry, saying, "By'r lay'kin! there was a +honey-bee tangled in my locks." + +And when he had sought for the bee to kill it with his hat, but could +not find it, they did seat themselves again, he laughing and saying that +"the bee was a bee o' much discretion and wondrous good taste." + +That night when I crept to my little ladies to see that all was quiet, +I, pausing in the door-way, did note them as they lay--my little lady +with her head on Mistress Marian's breast, and a smile on her lips, and +Mistress Marian with her arms wrapped close about her, and her dark hair +swept out over the pillow, and thence to the floor, like a stream o' +water that reflects a black cloud, but her eyes wide open, looking +straight forward, as though at a ghost. And I stole off and sobbed +myself to sleep, but not before I had awakened Jock, who did grunt, +after the uncourteous, pig-like manner of a suddenly wakened man, +be-thump his pillow as though 't had been an anvil, and in turning over, +twist the bedclothes half off of me, so that what with the cold (it +being then the fall o' th' year), and what with my distress, I slept but +uneasily. + +And the next thing I knew o' th' matter, there was a wedding, and my +little lady wedded to Lord Ernle, and Mistress Marian her bridemaid. +Surely if the good God e'er sent happiness on earth, He did send it to +my little lady and to his lordship. 'Twas at this time that Sir Rowland +asked Mistress Marian to be his spouse. And 'twas even i' th' same spot +where Lord Ernle had discovered his love for my little lady, that he +asked her. + +Again it was as though some one had smitten her--her face deadly white +and the red line across her brow. She put out one hand to keep him from +her, and let it rest on his shoulder, and she said, "Rowland, I love +thee well, but no man will ever call me wife." + +He said, "Is this the end?" + +She said, "Though we should both live to see the last day, it is the +end." + +Then he went, with his head bowed down. And when he was gone, for the +first time in all her life she wept aloud. + + * * * * * + +Some time passed, and matters waxed ever hotter and hotter 'twixt +Cavaliers and Roundheads, till one night there rode up a man to the +castle gate with papers for Lord Ernle, and the long and the short o't +was this: His lordship was ordered to ride forth to war, and my little +lady only three months his wife. Now when this blow fell upon them they +were all at meat in this very hall, for ofttimes in cold weather they +dined here, even as thy father and mother do now, on account o' th' +greater warmth. + +And when my lord had glimpsed at the papers he did start to his feet, +saying, "Where is the man who brought these papers?" + +Jock answered him, "He is gone, my lord." + +Then snatching up a flagon of wine that was near at hand, he drank more +than half that was in it. And again he turned over the papers in his +hand. But all they, my little lady, and Mistress Marian, and your +grandfather and grandmother, seemed turned to stone. All at once my +little lady started up as from a spell, and went and got her arms about +him, as in years gone by when she had hurt him with his own mock sword, +and she cried out, "What is it? what is it?" Anon came Mistress Marian +to his other side, and looked over his shoulder, while he stood between +them like one bewitched, and whiter than a man just dead. When Mistress +Marian noted the contents o' th' papers, up went her hand to her heart +as on that day under the beech-tree, and she caught at his arm to stay +herself. + +He turned from his wife to her as though for help, saying, "Tell her, +tell her, comrade." And he sank into a chair near by, and dropped down +his head into his hand. + +Lord! Lord! that was a fearful night! When they made my little lady to +understand, she set up one cry after another, each loud enough to pierce +the very floor of heaven. Ne'er since have I heard a woman utter such +cries as those. And no one but Mistress Marian could in any wise +appease her, for she would not have my lord come unto her, but drove him +away with waving of her hands, saying, "Thou dost not love _me_, but the +King! thou dost not love _me_, but the King!" + +And when Mistress Marian sought to reason with her, 'twas even the same. +Naught could she do but sit and hold her, and comfort her with soft +words and noises such as mothers make o'er their young babes. By-and-by +she was calmer, and asked to see her lord. So Mistress Marian went out, +but I remained on a low stool at the bed's foot. Lord Ernle entered, and +she crept into his arms like a fawn into the hollow of a rock when the +hail is falling. And they clung to each other in silence. Presently he +saith, "Darling, darling, that I should have brought thee to grief!" + +She answered, "Nay, not thou, but God. O love, dost truly think that God +is aye a good God?" + +And he hushed and soothed her even more tenderly than did Mistress +Marian. + +Afterwhile she saith, almost in a whisper, "But thou needst not go?" + +He said, "Darling, how dost thou mean?" + +And she whispered more low and said, "I will go with thee to the new +continent to-morrow, and there we can live the rest o' our days in peace +and love." And she broke out all at once wilder than ever: "Ernle! +Ernle! take me! I will go with thee! I will leave father, and mother, +and home, and country, and friends, and King for thee! Only go not to +war! go not to war!" + +He said but two words back of his teeth, "I must!" and then again, "_I +must!_" + +But when he looked at her for answer, lo! she had swooned away. + +He was to set forth in two days after the morrow; and on the morning of +that day, behold! we could not believe our own eyes for astonishment +when we saw the Lady Patience step quietly forth, composed and gentle, +though very pale. She saith good-morrow to every one, and after a while +she doth slip her arm through her husband's arm, and saith she, "Come +for a walk, Ernle; I have much to say to thee." So they started forth +together. Now I, fearful of many things, did follow at a little +distance. As they walked she besought him again that he would take her +and set sail for the new continent. And when again he told her how that +it could not be, she fell down upon her knees before him, and clasped +him with her arms, and she said, "If thou dost not love me, let me be +the first to die by thy sword. Slay me, as I kneel, for the love I bear +thee." + +He said, "Patience, Patience, thou wilt break mine heart." + +And she, still kneeling, did cry out with a wild voice, "They lied who +named me, for in an ill hour was I born, and I have not patience to +support it! I thought that thou didst love me, and lo! thou lovest the +husband of another woman more than thou lovest me!" + +He bent to lift her up, groaning, but she would not; whereat he trembled +from head to foot, and she shook with his trembling as the leaves of a +tree when the shaft is smitten by lightning. And she cried out again, +and said, "As there is a God in heaven, thou dost not love me, an thou +canst go to war and leave me to die o' grief." Then, as though 'twas +torn from him, he burst forth, "Now as there is a God, thou dost not +love _me_, to torture me thus!" + +And all at once she was quiet. So he stooped and lifted her, and called +her his "bride," and his "wife," and his "darling," and his "heart's +blood," and more wild, fond, foolish names than at this day I can +remember. 'Twas near sundown, and that night he was to ride. Over +against the dark jags o' th' hills there ran a narrow streak of light, +like a golden ribbon. And the brown clouds above and below it were like +locks o' hair made wanton by the wind, which it as a fillet did seek to +bind. But they twain walked ever on, till by-and-by they neared that +cave o' which I did tell ye. As they came in front o't my lady turned, +and smiling piteously, "Ernle," saith she, "wilt thou go with me into +the cave and kiss me there, that when thou art gone I may come hither +and think o' thee?" + +And he said, "Oh, my heart! what would I not for thee?" And he kissed +her again and again. + +Presently she said, "Do not think me foolish, but wilt thou enter +first?--it is so dark." And she stood in the door-way, with her hand on +the door, while he entered. + +He said, "There is nothing here, sweetheart, but a monstrous damp odor." + +And she answered, "Nay, but go to the very end; there may be toads; and +when thou art there, halloo to me." So she waited with her hand on the +door. + +He called to her, "There is nothing, love. Wait until I return to thee." +But, ere he had ceased speaking, she clapped to the door with all her +might, and did push forward the great iron bolt, so that he was a +prisoner in the cave; I being rooted to the ground with astonishment, as +fast as was ever the oak-tree under which I stood. At first he thought +'twas but one o' her pretty trickeries, and I heard his gay laugh as he +came to the shut door, and he called out, and said, "So, sweetheart, I +am in truth a prisoner o' war; but art thou not an unmerciful general to +confine the captured in so rheumatic a cavern?" + +She sat down and leaned her head against the door, but said not a word. + +And he spoke again, saying, "Darling, I pray thee waste not what little +time doth yet remain to us." + +Still she answered not; and again he spake, and his voice began to be +sorrowful. + +"Oh, my wife," he said, "canst thou jest at such a time?" + +At last she answered him, saying, "I jest not." + +His voice changed somewhat, and he said, "What dost thou, then?" + +She answered, "I keep what is mine. Where my forefathers did hide their +treasure, there hide I mine." + +He said, in a loud voice, "God will not suffer it." + +Then fell a silence between them. But by-and-by he spoke again. +"Darling," he saith, "surely thou dost not mean to do this thing?" + +And she saith, like a child when 'tis naughty, and knoweth well that it +is, but likes not to say so, "What thing?" + +He answered, "Thou canst not truly mean to shut me here to bring +dishonor upon me, who have loved thee better than man ever loved woman" +(for so do all men say, and truly think). + +She said, "Thy life is more to me than thy honor." + +And he groaned aloud, crying, "Oh God! that I have lived to hear thee +say it!" and again there fell a silence, save for the whispering of the +night in the trees above us and the creeping of small creatures through +the dry grass. 'Twas almost curfew-time, and there was one star in the +black front o' th' night, like the star on the forehead of a black +stallion. + +When he spake again his voice was very fierce, and he saith, "Patience, +I do command thee to release me." + +But she spake never a word. + +And again he said, "Better let me out to love thee, than keep me here +until I hate thee." + +She shivered, leaning against the door, until the big bolt rattled in +its braces. + +And he said yet again, "By the Lord God, an thou dost keep me here to +sully my good name, and that of thy father and mother, who have been to +me even as my own flesh and blood, I will never live with thee again as +man with wife, but will go forth into the New World to live and to die +with thy handmaid dishonor!" + +And she was silent. + +Again he spoke, and lifted up his voice in a cry exceeding sorrowful and +bitter, so that my heart froze to hear it. + +"Woman! woman! was it for this I gave thee my fair fame to cherish? Or +was it for this that I put my name into thy keeping? Oh, child, listen +while there is yet time! Wilt thou with thy own hands take his manhood +from thy husband to drag it through the mire? Patience, as I have shared +thy childhood, as I have loved and cherished thy girlhood, as I have +held thee in my arms as bride and wife, give me back my honor while +there is yet time. Oh, my wife! my darling!" And I heard him sobbing +like a little lad. + +At that sound she put both hands over her ears, and started to her +feet, looking from right to left like a hunted thing, and I could bear +it no longer, but leaped forward and fell on my knees before her, and +grasped her kirtle with both hands. I could scarce speak for tears, but +with all the strength that was in me did I plead with her to draw back +the bolt, but she would not. Now to this day when I do think of the fool +that I was, not to run without her knowledge and bring the old lord, thy +grandfather, or bide my time and unbar the door when she had gone, it +seems as though I must hate myself for evermore. But as I pleaded with +her, all at once there was something cold against my throat, and I +seemed to know that 'twas a dagger, and the steel cowed me, as it doth +sometimes cow strong men, and I stirred not, neither spoke I a word +more. Her face was over me, like a white flower in the purple dusk, but +her eyes bright and terrible. And when she spoke, 'twas not my little +lady's voice, but rather the voice o' a fiend. And she said, + +"Swear that thou sayest nothing of all this to man, or to woman, or to +child, else will I kill thee as thou kneelest." + +And I knew that for the time she was mad, and would kill me even as she +had said, did I not swear. So I did take that fearful oath, coward as I +was, and to this day am I a craven when I think on 't. When I had sworn, +she turned from me as though there were no such woman in all the earth, +and went once more to the door o' th' cave, and called his +name--"Ernle!" + +He answered straightway, and said, "This once will I speak to thee, but +if thou dost not unbar the door o' th' instant, I will never hold speech +with thee again, nor touch so much as the hem of thy garments, by the +living God!" + +She said, "I cannot! I cannot! But oh! say not such dreadful words. We +will be happy. 'Tis for that I keep thee here. Speak to me! Ernle! +Ernle! Ernle! Call me thy love once more! Just once! just once!" + +But she might as well have plead at the door o' a tomb for all the +answer she got. Again and again she called him, but a dead man speaks no +more than spoke her lord. And at last she sprang to her feet, and rushed +away into the darkness towards the castle, and I after her. + +And when I was entered in by a side door, and had changed my apparel and +gone forth to inquire after her, lo! she was raving as with fever, and +all they, her father, and mother, and Mistress Marian, thought that he +had ridden away and left her i' th' park, having said farewell to them +ere he and my lady did set forth to walk. And they strove to comfort +her. + +The morrow was scarce dawned when she was up and dressed, and stealing +through the covert to the door o' th' cave. I followed her, for she +heeded me no more, now that I had taken the oath, knowing that I would +be torn in pieces ere I would betray my trust. When she was come to the +door, she kneeled down and leaned her head against it, and called to +him, with a voice so exquisite low, 'twas almost as though one should +hear the spirit when it speaks within, and she saith, "Ernle--my +love--my love." + +And all was still as death. And she said, "Darling, feel with thy hands +for the bread and wine. It is near thee on the right o' th' door as thou +enterest in. Two bottles o' wine and some loaves o' bread." + +But he answered her neither by word or sighing. And she said, "Wouldst +thou break my heart?" Then, when she saw that he would not answer her, +she cast herself face down along the ground, and tore up the grass with +her hands, and pressed down her face into the damp earth. And after a +while (for th' looks o't) she rose and went back to the castle. + +At nightfall there rode a man to the castle gate with papers, wherein +my Lord Falkland did question wherefore Lord Radnor had not answered the +summons. And all they were amazed and looked at one another. The +messenger said, moreover, "If that it cannot be proven ere to-morrow +night that the Lord Radnor hath been the victim o' foul play, he will be +branded as a deserter throughout the land." + +Thy grandfather gave one cry, "Murdered!" and the sound of it stilled +the life in me that I fell down as one dead. And when I had once more +come to the possession o' my wits, Jock did tell me as how 'twas already +whispered in the village that the young lord had deserted the cause, and +had set sail in secret for the New World. Upon this, I straightway +swooned again. And when I was recovered enough to stand upon my feet and +go forth from my chamber, behold! there was a silence over all the +house, as in a house where the best beloved has died in the night. + +Men scoured the country far and near, in search o' th' murdered body o' +th' young lord. And 'twas now the evening o' th' third day. But my lady +meant not to open the door until the morrow, for if she opened it ere +then, she knew not but what matters might be righted, and her lord ride +to the wars in spite o' all. When it was nigh to sunset she did creep +forth and kneel at the door o' th' cave, and call to him in that +beautiful, gentle voice, "Ernle! Ernle! my love! my darling!" + +And when he did not answer her, she ceased not, as on the day before, +but went on: "To-morrow I will set thee free. As I live, thou shall be +free to-morrow. An thou wilt but let me be near thee like thy dog, I +will ask no more. Neither will I fret thee with my sorrow. Oh, love, I +do beseech thee speak to me, whose only sin was in loving thee too +dearly. Let the kisses that as a bride I have set upon thy lips plead +with them that they speak to me. Oh, my heart! oh, my husband, have +pity! If thou wilt never speak to me again, speak to me now. Say but my +name, my silly, ill-bestowed name, 'Patience.' Nay, curse me, so I but +hear thy voice. Call me what names thou wilt. In God's name, Ernle! In +the name o' her who was once thy wife!" And as she knelt and pleaded as +a woman with her God, behold! there stepped forth from the coppice +Mistress Marian. She stood there like a figure cut in snow, for her +kirtle was all of white sémé, and her hair was as a cloud fallen round +about her. When she saw my lady she drew in her breath with a sharp +sound, and set both hands against her bosom. And she bended forward from +her loins and listened, but in none otherwise moved she. And my lady +went on, "To-morrow I will set thee free--I do swear it. With the rising +o' th' morrow's sun thou shalt be free as air. Only speak to me now. +Only speak to me now. Just once, Ernle--just once." + +With one spring Mistress Marian was upon her, and had pinned her arms to +her sides. And the two women stood and gazed into each other's faces, +with their throats stretched forward, as serpents stretch their throats +ere springing upon each other. + +Mistress Marian spake first, and her voice was as a voice that I had +never heard, and she said, "So _this_ is the truth, then?" + +My lady said no word, but her eyes were aflame. + +And Mistress Marian gazed on her for an instant more, then dashed her +aside, and turned towards the cave. + +"Ernle," she said, "take heart. I will set thee free--I, Marian!" But +ere her hand did touch the bolt, my lady was upon her like a little +tiger, and she wound her hands in Mistress Marian's thick tresses, and +dragged her backward. + +And they rolled over and over on the ground, even as do men when they +fight, saying no word from first to last. The horror of it smote me +that I fell down upon my knees and was dumb. Now my little lady was +uppermost, now Mistress Marian. And had not my lady been strong with +despair, Mistress Marian could 'a' mastered her o' th' instant. But she +fought like a she-wolf brought to bay, with teeth and talons too, and +'twas almost as though two of a size had fought there. Howbeit, with a +sudden move, Mistress Marian flung my lady down, and set her knee upon +her, and held her, and looked from side to side, as though at a loss, +and my lady's strength was fast failing. + +When I saw that, I could bide still no longer, but ran forward, crying +to Mistress Marian to be gentle with her. + +She answered but these words, "Nurse, take off my girdle and bind thy +lady's hands with it." And there was that in her voice I dared not +disobey. So I bound my lady's hands, she saying never a word, and when +the girdle was fast knotted, Mistress Marian helped her gently enough to +rise, and bidding me have a care o' her, turned and drew back the bolt +from the door o' the cave. + +The last light o' the sun fell like a golden lance across the threshold, +and across my lord as he lay there, face down, with his hands against +the sill o' th' door. + +And she stooped down over him, saying, "He hath fainted for lack o' +food," but I knew that there was both wine and bread i' th' cave. And +she called his name, but he was silent. And she called him again and +again. And at last she bade me come to her side, and when we had turned +him upon his side so that his face was towards us, behold, he was dead. +But Mistress Marian saith again, "He hath swooned away." And she put her +hand upon his brow, but no sooner did she touch it than she cried out at +its coldness, and shook the dead man in her frenzy, crying, + +"Ernle! Ernle! thou art free! Wake, man! thou art free!" + +I said, "Mistress, mistress, for love of God! Dost thou not see that +neither thou nor any other can wake him more?" + +Thereat she fell back upon her knees, leaning upon one arm. And she +said, "Dost thou mean--" + +I bowed down mine head, for I could not meet her eyes. And she fell upon +his body, and stirred no more, so that when they came to bear the poor +young lord to the castle, they did bear her also. And for some hours we +thought her dead. + +Now when my lady saw them how they lay there, and the sunlight red upon +them like to blood, she came and kneeled down in front o' me, and lifted +up her poor fettered hands meekly, like a little child. And she said, +"Nurse, I pray you tell me what it doth mean, for methinks I am waxing +foolish, like poor Marjory i' th' village whose man fell from the +cliff." + +I could not answer her for sobbing. + +And she said, "Do they sleep?" + +And I nodded my head, for I could say no word. + +She said, "Pray you, do not wake them. An they sleep till the morrow, +all will be well." Suddenly her wits came back upon her with a rush, as +doth a wind that hath seemed to be gone for aye. And she snapt the +girdle on her wrists like as it had been a thread o' silk, and ran and +laid hold on him with her hands, and dragged him forth upon the grass. +And she saith, + +"Ernle! Ernle! Ernle! What! wilt thou not answer me, now that thou art +free? See! thou mayest ride to war. It is not yet too late. What there, +nurse! My lord's charger! Run! run!" Then leaped she to her feet with +one cry that methought would 'a' cracked the welkin in twain above our +heads. + +"Dead! Oh God in heaven!" + +So for an instant she stood, with her arms reached high above her head, +and her eyes upon him as he lay at her feet, even as a flame doth poise +for a breath ere sinking again upon the coals. But anon she dropped down +beside him, and beat her forehead with the lower palms o' her hands, and +she saith, "Well didst thou sign me with thy blood! well didst thou sign +me with thy blood!" Then all at once did she peep up at me over her +shoulder with one o' her winsome ways, and fell a-laughing softly. + +"Nurse," saith she, "hath he not found a pretty way to punish me? He +feigns it well--by'r lay'kin--doth he not, nurse?" + +And she rocked to and fro, as she knelt beside him, laughing softly to +herself, and ever and again she would reach forth one little hand, all +scarred in her struggle with Mistress Marian, and would touch a stray +lock into place, and once she bent over and kissed him, laughing softly, +and nodding to herself very wisely. And she would sit that way, and rock +herself to and fro, and smile upon the ground, and laugh softly, until +the very day that she did die. And the last words that she did ever say +were, "Just once, Ernle--just once." + + * * * * * + +(Nurse Crumpet rises and stirs the fire, amid a heavy silence, broken +only by the little Lady Dorothy's sobs and the rushing of the wind +outside the great hall.) + + +THE END. + + + + +TONY, THE MAID. + +A Novelette. BY BLANCHE WILLIS HOWARD. Illustrated by CHARLES S. +REINHART. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. + + + "'Tony, the Maid,' is not only one of the best + pieces of work Miss Howard has yet done, but it is + one of the very best short stories of the year. + Tony herself is an original creation. There is no + maid like Tony in all fiction; and she is, + moreover, the only good thing, which is neither + superlatively beautiful nor emphatically a bore, + or both, that has come out of the Canton of + Lucerne since the days of William Tell. Even the + insatiate archer, when he is not mythical, is a + trifle wearing to the average mind, but Tony is + never tiresome and always grand. + + "As a short story Miss Howard's 'Tony, the Maid' + has but one fault. It is too short. There is not + enough of Tony. She makes her exit too suddenly + and too completely. It is consoling to know, + however, that Miss Zschorcher is some day coming + to America as Mrs. Eduard Maler. Perhaps Tony the + Maid may figure as Tony the Matron and Tony the + Mother. Knowing her duty to her gracious Fräulein, + no doubt she will." + + A bright and lively sketch of an American woman + abroad, and characterized throughout by keen and + forcible phraseology and a very symmetrical + construction.--_N. Y. Commercial Advertiser._ + + This is a very clever satire on one of the phases + of modern society, and the tale is told in a most + charming manner.--_Albany Press._ + + It is a long time since we have met with anything + so charming, so refreshing, so droll. . . . Read + this book once, and one wants to turn back and read + it again.--_N. Y. Star._ + + Mr. Reinhart's illustrations greatly enhance the + interest of the novelette.--_Buffalo Commercial + Advertiser._ + + A story written in a style as simple as that which + Miss Howard has adopted in this novelette is sure + to find many readers. The story is well told and + attractive.--_Troy Press._ + + "Tony, the Maid," is safe for a great success with + the lovers of the bright and dainty in literature. + It is prettily bound, and uncommonly cleverly + illustrated.--_N. Y. Graphic._ + + The story is told with infinite humor and with not + a little pathos, and it will well repay + perusal.--_Philadelphia Telegraph._ + + The plot is new, the characters are fresh, and the + handling is spirited and brisk. No one who + commences this little book will stop reading until + the end is reached.--_Chicago Journal._ + + * * * * * + + PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. + + [Illustration: Hand pointing] _The above work sent by mail, postage + prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on + receipt of the price._ + + + + +BY CONSTANCE F. WOOLSON. + +EAST ANGELS. pp. 592. 16mo, Cloth, $1 25. + +ANNE. Illustrated. pp. 540. 16mo, Cloth, $1 25. + +FOR THE MAJOR. pp. 208. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. + +CASTLE NOWHERE. pp. 386. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. (_A New Edition._) + +RODMAN THE KEEPER. Southern Sketches. pp. 340. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00. (_A +New Edition._) + + * * * * * + + There is a certain bright cheerfulness in Miss + Woolson's writing which invests all her characters + with lovable qualities.--_Jewish Advocate, N. Y._ + + Miss Woolson is among our few successful writers + of interesting magazine stories, and her skill and + power are perceptible in the delineation of her + heroines no less than in the suggestive pictures + of local life.--_Jewish Messenger, N. Y._ + + Constance Fenimore Woolson may easily become the + novelist laureate.--_Boston Globe._ + + Miss Woolson has a graceful fancy, a ready wit, a + polished style, and conspicuous dramatic power; + while her skill in the development of a story is + very remarkable.--_London Life._ + + Miss Woolson never once follows the beaten track + of the orthodox novelist, but strikes a new and + richly loaded vein, which so far is all her own; + and thus we feel, on reading one of her works, a + fresh sensation, and we put down the book with a + sigh to think our pleasant task of reading it is + finished. The author's lines must have fallen to + her in very pleasant places; or she has, perhaps, + within herself the wealth of womanly love and + tenderness she pours so freely into all she + writes. Such books as hers do much to elevate the + moral tone of the day--a quality sadly wanting in + novels of the time.--_Whitehall Review, London._ + + * * * * * + + PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. + + [Illustration: Hand pointing] _The above works sent by mail, postage + prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt + of the price._ + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Page 112, "desert" changed to "dessert" (dessert, I'll warrant) + +Page 187, "Mistres" changed to "Mistress" (Mistress Marion in long) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Brother To Dragons and Other +Old-time Tales, by Amelie Rives + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BROTHER TO DRAGONS *** + +***** This file should be named 26356-8.txt or 26356-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/5/26356/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from scans of public domain material produced by +Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + +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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