diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-8.txt | 8008 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 132882 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 231026 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-h/27929-h.htm | 8192 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-h/images/i001bottom.jpg | bin | 0 -> 10855 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-h/images/i001logo.jpg | bin | 0 -> 6786 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-h/images/i001top.jpg | bin | 0 -> 11758 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-h/images/icover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 55790 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929-h/images/tpstrip.jpg | bin | 0 -> 1935 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929.txt | 8008 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 27929.zip | bin | 0 -> 132860 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
14 files changed, 24224 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/27929-8.txt b/27929-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..32372ce --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8008 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Lady of Loyalty House, by Justin Huntly McCarthy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lady of Loyalty House + A Novel + +Author: Justin Huntly McCarthy + +Release Date: January 29, 2009 [EBook #27929] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE LADY OF + LOYALTY HOUSE + + A Novel + + BY + + JUSTIN HUNTLY McCARTHY + + AUTHOR OF + "MARJORIE" "THE PROUD PRINCE" ETC. + + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + 1904 + + + + + Copyright, 1904, by HARPER & BROTHERS. + + _All rights reserved._ + Published October, 1904. + + + + +AD SILVIAM + + + Take for our lady's loyal sake + This vagrant tale of mine, + Where Cavalier and Roundhead break + A reed for Right Divine, + A tale it pleasured me to make, + And most to make it thine. + + The Solemn Muse that watches o'er + The actions of the great, + And bids this Venturer to soar, + And that to stand and wait, + Will swear she never heard before + The deeds that I relate. + + But all is true for me and you, + Though History denies; + I know thy Royal Standard flew + Against autumnal skies, + And find thy rarest, bravest blue + In Brilliana's eyes. + + J. H. McC. + _August 10, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + PROLOGUE 1 + I. THE STRANGER AT THE GATES 4 + II. HARBY 16 + III. MY LORD THE LADY 26 + IV. THE LEAGUER OF HARBY 33 + V. A MONSTROUS REGIMENT 40 + VI. HOW WILL ALL END? 49 + VII. MISTRESS AND MAN 56 + VIII. THE ENVOY 62 + IX. HOW THE SIEGE WAS RAISED 73 + X. PRISONER OF WAR 82 + XI. AT BAY 90 + XII. A USE FOR A PRISONER 99 + XIII. A GILDED CAGE 110 + XIV. A PASSAGE AT ARMS 120 + XV. MY LADY'S PLEASAUNCE 129 + XVI. A PURITAN APPRAISED 138 + XVII. SET A KNAVE TO CATCH A KNAVE 149 + XVIII. SERVING THE KING 156 + XIX. SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS RESPECTS 165 + XX. SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS PENALTY 180 + XXI. A PUZZLING PURITAN 188 + XXII. MASTER PAUL AND MASTER PETER 203 + XXIII. A DAY PASSES 212 + XXIV. A HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE 223 + XXV. ROMEO AND JULIET 235 + XXVI. RESURRECTION 249 + XXVII. THE KING'S IMAGE 256 + XXVIII. LOVER AND LOVER 266 + XXIX. THE KING MAKES A FRIEND 273 + XXX. RUFUS PROPOSES 281 + XXXI. HALFMAN DISPOSES 286 + EPILOGUE 296 + + + + +THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +In the October of 1642 there came to Cambridge a man from over-seas. +He was travelling backward, after the interval of a generation, +through the stages of his youth. From his landing at the port whence +he had sailed so many years before in chase of fortune he came to +London, where he had bustled and thundered as a stage-player. Here +he found a new drama playing in a theatre that took a capital city +for its cockpit. He observed, sinister and diverted, for a while, +and, being an adaptable man, shifted his southern-colored garments, +over-blue, over-red, over-yellow in their seafaring way, for the +sombre gray surcharged with solemn black. A translated man, if not +a changed man, he journeyed to the university town of his stormy +student hours, and there the black in his habit deepened at the +expense of the gray. In the quadrangle of Sidney Sussex College he +meditated much on the changes that had come about since the days when +Sidney Sussex had expelled him, very peremptorily, from her gates. +The college herself had altered greatly since his day. The fair court +that Ralph Symons had constructed had now its complement in the fair +new court of Francis Clerke. The enlargement of his mother-college +was not so marvellous to him, however, as the enlargement of one +among her sons. A fellow-commoner of his time had, like himself, come +again to Cambridge, arriving thither by a different road. This +fellow-commoner was now the member in Parliament for Cambridge, had +buckled a soldier's baldric over a farmer's coat, had carried things +with a high hand in the ancient collegiate city, had made himself +greatly liked by these, greatly disliked by those. + +Musing philosophically, but also observing shrewdly and inquiring as +pertinaciously as dexterously, our traveller made himself familiar +with places of public resort, sat in taverns where he tasted ale more +soberly than was his use or his pleasure, listened, patently devout, +to godly exhortations, and implicated himself by an interested +silence in strenuous political opinions. From all this he learned +much that amazed, much that amused him, but what interested him most +of all had to do with the third stage of his retrospective +pilgrimage. If he had not been bound for Harby eventually, what came +to his ears by chance would have spurred him thither, ever keen as he +was to behold the vivid, the theatrical in life. Women had always +delighted him, if they had often damned him, and there was a woman's +name on rumor's many tongues when rumor talked of Harby. So it came +to be that he rode sooner than he had proposed, and far harder than +he had proposed, through green, level Cambridgeshire, through green, +hilly Oxfordshire, with Harby for his goal. Chameleon-like, he +changed hues on the way, shifting, with the help of his wallet, back +into a gaudier garb less likely to be frowned on in regions kindly to +the King. + + + + +I + +THE STRANGER AT THE GATES + + +The village of Harby was vastly proud of its inn, and by consequence +the innkeeper thought highly of the village of Harby. He had been a +happy innkeeper for the better part of a reasonably long life, and he +had hoped to be a happy innkeeper to that life's desirably distant +close. But the world is not made for innkeepers by innkeepers, and +Master Vallance was newly come into woes. For it had pleased certain +persons of importance lately to come to loggerheads without any +consideration for the welfare of Master Vallance, and in trying to +peer through the dust of their broils on the possible future for +England and himself, he could prognosticate little good for either. +Master Vallance was a patriot after his fashion; he wished his +country well, but he wished himself better, and the brawling of +certain persons of importance might, apart from its direct influence +upon the fortunes of the kingdom, indirectly result in Master +Vallance's downfall. For the persons of importance whose bickerings +so grievously interested Master Vallance were on the one side his +most sacred and gracious Majesty King Charles I., and on the other a +number of units as to whose powers or purposes Master Vallance +entertained only the most shadowy notions, but who were disagreeably +familiar to him in a term of mystery as the Parliament. + +In the mellow October evening Master Vallance sat at his inn door and +dandled troubled thoughts. The year of his lord 1642 having begun +badly, threatened to end worse. Master Vallance chewed the cud of +country-side gossip. He reminded himself that not so very far away +the King had set up his standard at Nottingham and summoned all loyal +souls to his banner; that not so very far away in Cambridge, a fussy +gentleman, a Mr. Cromwell, member for that place, had officiously +pushed the interests of the Parliament by raising troops of +volunteers and laying violent hands upon the University plate. Master +Vallance tickled his chin and tried to count miles and to weigh +probabilities. Royalty was near, but Parliament seemed nearer; which +would be the first of the fighting forces to spread a strong hand +over Harby? + +Master Vallance emptied his mug and, turning his head, looked up the +village street, and over the village street to the rising ground +beyond and the gray house that crowned it. He sighed as he surveyed +the familiar walls of Harby House, because of one unfamiliar object. +Over the ancient walls, straight from the ancient roof, sprang a +flag-staff, and from that flag-staff floated a banner which Master +Vallance knew well enough to be the royal standard of England's King. +Master Vallance also knew, for he had been told this by Master +Marfleet, the school-master, that the Lady of Harby had no right to +fly the standard, seeing that the presence of that standard implied +the bodily presence of the King. But he also knew, still on Master +Marfleet's authority, that the Lady of Harby had flung that standard +to the winds in no ignorance nor defiance of courtly custom. He knew +that the high-spirited, beautiful girl had been the first in all the +country-side to declare for the King, prompt where others were slow, +loyal where others faltered, and that she flew the King's flag from +her own battlements in subtle assertion of her belief that in every +faithful house the King was figuratively, or, as it were, +spiritually, a guest. + +Master Vallance, reflecting drearily upon the uncertainties of an +existence in which high-spirited, beautiful young ladies played an +important part, became all of a sudden, though unaccountably, aware +that he was not alone. Moving his muddled head slowly away from the +walls of Harby, he allowed it to describe the better part of a +semicircle before it paused, and he gazed upon the face of a +stranger. The stranger was eying the innkeeper with a kind of +good-natured ferociousness or ferocious good-nature, which little in +the stranger's appearance or demeanor tended to make more palatable +to the timid eyes of Master Vallance. + +"Outlandish," was the epithet which lumbered into Master Vallance's +mind as he gaped, and the epithet fitted the new-comer aptly. He was, +indeed, an Englishman; that was plain enough to the instinct of +another Englishman, if only for the gray-blue English eyes; and yet +there was little that was English in the sun-scorched darkness of his +face, little that was English in the almost fantastic effrontery of +his carriage, the more than fantastic effrontery of his habit. + +When the stranger perceived that he had riveted Master Vallance's +attention, he smiled a derisive smile, which allowed the innkeeper to +observe a mouthful of teeth irregular but white. Then he extended a +lean, brown hand whose fingers glittered with many rings, and caught +Master Vallance by his fat shoulder, into whose flesh the grip +seemed to sink like the resistless talons of a bird of prey. Slowly +he swayed Master Vallance backward and forward, while over the dark +face rippled a succession of leers, grins, and grimaces, which had +the effect of making Master Vallance feel thoroughly uncomfortable. +Nor did the stranger's speech, when speech came, carry much of +reassurance. + +"Bestir thee, drowsy serving-slave of Bacchus," the stranger chanted, +in a pompous, high-pitched voice. "Emerge from the lubberland of +dreams, and be swift in attendance upon a wight whose wandering star +has led him to your hospitable gate." + +As the stranger uttered these last words his hand had drawn the +bemused innkeeper towards him: with their utterance he suddenly +released his grip, thereby causing Master Vallance to lurch heavily +backward and bump his shoulders sorely against the inn wall. The +stranger thrust his face close to Master Vallance's, and while a +succession of grimaces rippled over its sunburned surface he +continued, in a tone of mock pathos: + +"Do you shut your door against the houseless and the homeless, O +iron-hearted innkeeper? Can the wandering orphan find no portion in +your heart?" + +Then, as Master Vallance was slowly making sure that he had to deal +with a dangerous lunatic, the stranger drew himself up and swayed to +and fro in a fit of inextinguishable laughter. + +"Lordamercy upon me," he said, when he had done laughing, in a +perfectly natural voice. "I have seen some frightened fools before, +but never a fool so frightened. Tell me, honest blockhead, did you +ever hear such a name as Halfman?" + +Master Vallance, torpidly reassured, meditated. "Halfman," he +murmured. "Halfman. Ay, there was one in this village, long ago, had +such a name. He had a roguish son, and they say the son came to a bad +end." + +The new-comer nodded his head gravely. + +"He had a roguish son," he said; "but I am loath to admit that he +came to a bad end, unless it be so to end at ease in Harby. For I am +that same Hercules Halfman, at your service, my ancient ape, come +back to Harby after nigh thirty years of sea-travel and land-travel, +with no other purpose in my mind than to sit at my ease by mine own +hearth in winter and to loll in my garden in summer. What do you say +to that, O father of all fools?" + +Master Vallance, having nothing particular to say, said, for the +moment, nothing. He was dimly appreciating, however, that this +vociferous intruder upon his quiet had all the appearance of one who +was well to do and all the manner of one accustomed to have his own +way in the world. It seemed to him, therefore, that the happiest +suggestion he could make to the home-comer was to quench his thirst, +and, further, to do so with the aid of a flask of wine. + +The stranger agreed to the first clause of the proposition and vetoed +the second. + +"Ale," he said, emphatically. "Honest English ale. I am of a very +English temper to-day; I would play the part of a true-hearted +Englishman to the life, and, therefore, my tipple is true-hearted +English ale." + +Master Vallance motioned to his guest to enter the house, but Halfman +denied him. + +"Out in the open," he carolled. "Out in the open, friend." He rattled +off some lines of blank verse in praise of the liberal air that set +Master Vallance staring before he resumed plain speech. "When a man +has lived in such hissing hot places that he is fain to spend his +life under cover, he is glad to keep abroad in this green English +sweetness." + +He had seated himself comfortably on the settle by now, and he +stretched out his arms as if to embrace the prospect. Master Vallance +dived into the inn, and when he emerged a few seconds later, bearing +two large pewter measures, the traveller was still surveying the +landscape with the same air of ecstasy. Master Vallance handed him a +full tankard, which Halfman drained at a draught and rattled on the +table with a sigh of satisfaction. + +"Right English ale," he attested. "Divine English ale. What gold +would I not have given, what blood would I not have spilled for such +a draught as that, so clean, so cool, so noble, in the lands where I +have lived. The Dry Tortugas--the Dry Tortugas, and never a drop of +English ale to cool an English palate." + +He seemed so affected by the reflection that he let his hand close, +as if unconsciously, upon Master Vallance's tankard, which Master +Vallance had set upon the table untasted, and before the innkeeper +could interfere its contents had disappeared down Halfman's throat +and a second empty vessel rattled upon the board. + +The eloquence of disappointment on Master Vallance's face as he +beheld this dexterity moved the thirst-slaked Halfman to new mirth. +But while he laughed he thrust his hand in his breeches-pocket and +pulled out a palm full of gold pieces. + +"Never fear, Master Landlord," he shouted; "you shall drink of your +best at my expense, I promise you. We will hob-a-nob together, I tell +you. Keep me your best bedroom, lavender-scented linen and all. I +will take my ease here till I set up my Spanish castle on English +earth, and in the mean time I swear I will never quarrel with your +reckoning. I have lived so long upon others that it is only fair +another should live upon me for a change. So fill mugs again, Master +Landlord, and let us have a chat." + +Master Vallance did fill the mugs again, more than once, and he and +the stranger did have a chat; at least, they talked together for the +better part of an hour. In all that time Master Vallance, fumbling +foolishly with flagrant questions, learned little of his companion +save what that companion was willing, or maybe determined, that he +should learn. Master Halfman made no concealment of it that he had +been wild at Cambridge, and he hinted, indeed, broadly enough, that +he had had a companion in his wildness who had since grown to be a +godly man that carried the name of Cromwell. He admitted frankly that +his pranks cast him forth from Cambridge, and that he had been a +stage-player for a time in London, in proof whereof he declaimed to +the amazed Master Vallance many flowing periods from Beaumont, +Fletcher, Massinger, and their kind--mental fireworks that bedazzled +the innkeeper. Of his voyages, indeed, he spoke more vaguely if not +more sparingly, conjuring up gorgeous visions to the landlord of +pampas and palm-lands, where gold and beauty forever answered to the +ready hand. But Master Halfman, for his part volubly indistinct and +without seeming to interrogate at all, was soon in possession of +every item of information concerning the country-side that was of the +least likelihood to serve him. He learned, for instance, what he had +indeed guessed, that the simple country-folk knew little and cared +little for the quarrel that was brewing over their heads, and had +little idea of what the consequences might be to them and theirs. He +learned that the local gentry were, for the most part, lukewarm +politicians; that Peter Rainham and Paul Hungerford were keeping +themselves very much to themselves, and being a brace of skinflints +were fearing chiefly for their money-bags; while Sir Blaise +Mickleton, who had been credited with the intention of riding to join +his Majesty at Shrewsbury, had suddenly taken to his bed sick of a +strange distemper which declared itself in no outward form, but +absolutely forbade its victim to take violent action of any kind. He +learned that there were exceptions to this tepidity. Sir Randolph +Harby, of Harby Lesser, beyond the hill, Sir Rufus Quaryll, of +Quaryll Tower, had mounted horse and whistled to men at the first +whisper of the business and ridden like devils to rally on the King's +flag. He learned much that was familiar and important to him of the +Harby family history; he learned much that was unfamiliar and +unimportant to him of local matters, such as that Master Marfleet, +the village school-master, was inclined to say all that might be said +in praise of the Parliament men, and that, when all was said and +done, the only avowed out-and-out loyalist in the neighborhood was no +man at all, but a beautiful, high-spirited girl-woman, the Lady +Brilliana Harby. + +The Lady Brilliana Harby. When Halfman was a lad gray Roland was Earl +of Harby, a choleric scholar, seeming celibate in grain, though the +title ran in direct male line. Suddenly, as Halfman now learned, gray +Roland married a maid some forty years younger than he, and she gave +him a child and died in the giving. This did not perpetuate the +title, for the child was a girl, but it gave the gray lord something +to cherish for the sake of his lost love. This child was now the Lady +Brilliana, whom gray Roland had adored and spoiled to the day of his +own death, hastened by a fit of rage at the news of the King's +failure to capture the five members. Since then the Lady Brilliana +had reigned alone at Harby, indifferent to suitors, and had flown the +King's flag at the first point of war. "By Heaven!" said Halfman, "I +will have a look at the Lady Brilliana." + + + + +II + +HARBY + + +As he tramped the muddy hill-road his mind was busy. The scent from +the wet weeds on either side of him, heavy with the yester rains, +brought back his boyhood insistently, and his memory leaped between +then and now like a shuttlecock. He had dreamed dreams then; he was +dreaming dreams now, though he had thought he was done with dreams. A +few short months ago he had planned out his last part, the prosperous +village citizen, the authority of the gossips, respectable and +respected. His fancy had dwelt so fondly upon the house where he +proposed to dwell that he seemed to know every crimson eave of it, +every flower in the trim garden, the settle by the porch where he +should sit and smoke his pipe and drain his can and listen to the +booming of the bees, while he complacently savored the after-taste of +discreditable adventures. He knew it so well in his mind that he had +half come to believe that it really existed, that he had always owned +it, that it truly awaited his home-coming, and his feeling as he +entered the village that morning had been that he could walk straight +to it, instead of abiding at the inn and going hither and thither day +after day until he found in the market a homestead nearest to his +picture. And now he was walking away from it, walking fairly fast, +too, and walking whither? What business was it of his, after all, if +some sad-faced fellows from Cambridge tramped across country to lay +puritan hands upon Harby. What business was it of his if monarch +browbeat Parliament or Parliament defied king? He owed nothing to +either, cared nothing for either; what he owned he owed to his sharp +sword, his dull conscience, his rogue's luck, and his player's heart. +Why, then, was he going to Harby when he ought to be busy in the +village looking for that house with crimson eaves and the bee-haunted +garden? + +He knew well enough, though he did not parcel out his knowledge into +formal answers. In the first place, if the country was bent upon +these civil broils, clearly his intended character of pipe-smoking, +ale-drinking citizen was wholly unsuited to the coming play. +Wherefore, in a jiff he had abandoned it, and now stood, mentally, as +naked as a plucked fowl while he considered what costume he should +wear and what character he should choose to interpret. His sense of +humor tempted him to the sanctimonious suit of your out-and-out +Parliament man; his love for finery and the high horse lured him to +lovelocks and feathers. The old piratical instinct which he thought +he had put to bed forever was awake in him, too, and asking which +side could be made to pay the best for his services. If he must take +sides, which side would fill his pockets the fuller? It was in the +thick of these thoughts that he found himself within a few feet of +the walls of the park of Harby. + +The great gates were closed that his boyhood found always open. He +smiled a little, and his smile increased as a figure stepped from +behind the nearest tree within the walls, a sturdy, fresh-looking +serving-fellow armed with a musketoon. + +"Hail, friend," sang out Halfman, and "Stand, stranger," answered the +man with the musketoon. Halfman eyed him good-humoredly. + +"You do not carry your weapon well," he commented. "Were I hostile +and armed you would be a dead jack before you could bring butt to +shoulder. Yet you are a soldierly fellow and wear a fighting face." + +The man with the musketoon met the censure and the commendation with +the same frown as he surlily demanded the stranger's business at the +gates of Harby. + +"My business," answered Halfman, blithely, "is with the Lady of +Harby," and before the other could shape the refusal of his eyes into +an articulate grumble he went on, briskly, "Tell the Lady Brilliana +Harby that an old soldier who is a Harby man born has some words to +say to her which she may be willing to hear." + +"Are you a King's man," the other questioned, still holding his +weapon in awkward watchfulness of the stranger. Halfman laughed +pleasantly. + +"Who but a King's man could hope to have civil speech with the Lady +Brilliana Harby?" + +He plucked off his hat as he spoke and waved it in the air with a +flourish. "God save the King!" he shouted, loyally, and for the +moment his heart was as loyal as his voice, untroubled by any thought +of a venal sword and a highest bidder. Just there in the sunlight, +facing the red walls of Harby and the flapping standard of the +sovereign, on the eve of an interview with a bold, devoted lady, it +seemed so fitly his cue to cry "God save the King!" that he did so +with all the volume of his lungs. + +The man with the musketoon seemed mollified by the new-comer's +specious show of allegiance. + +"We shall see," he muttered. "We shall see. Stay where you are, just +where you are, and I will inquire at the hall. The gate is fast, so +you can do no mischief while my back is turned." + +As he spoke he turned on his heel and, plunging among the trees in +pursuit of a shorter cut than the winding avenue, disappeared from +view. Halfman eyed the gateway with a smile. + +"I do not think those bars would keep me out long if I had a mind to +climb them," he said to himself, complacently. But he was content to +wait, walking up and down on the wet grass and running over in his +mind the playhouse verses most suited to a soldier of fortune at the +gate of a great lady. He had not to wait long. Before the +jumble-cupboard of his memory had furnished him with the most +felicitous quotation his ears heard a heavy tread through the trees, +and the man with the musket hailed him, tramping to the gate. He +carried a great iron key in his free hand, and this he fitted to the +lock of the gate, which, unused to its inhospitable condition, +creaked and groaned as he tugged at it. As at length it yielded the +man of Harby opened one-half wide enough to admit the passage of a +human body, and signalled to Halfman to come through. Halfman, +smilingly observant, obeyed the invitation, and looked about him +reflective while the gate was again put to and the key again turned +in the lock to the same protesting discord. Many years had fallen +from the tree of his life since he last trod the turf of Harby. All +kinds of queer thoughts came about him, some melancholy, some full of +mockery, some malign. He was no longer a poor lad with the world +before him to whom the Lord of Harby was little less than the +viceregent of God; he was a free man, he was a rich man, he had +multiplied existences, had drunk of the wine of life from many casks +and yet maintained through all a kind of cleanness of palate, ready +for any vintage yet unbroached, be it white or red. The rough voice +of his companion stirred him from his reverie. + +"My lady will see you," he said. "Follow me." + +As the man spoke he started off at a brisk pace upon the avenue with +the evident intention of making his words the guide-marks to the +new-comer's deeds. But Halfman, never a one to follow tamely, with an +easy stretch of his long limbs, swung himself lightly beside his +uncivil companion, and without breathing himself in the least kept +steadily a foot-space ahead of him. "I was ever counted a good +walker," he observed, cheerfully. "I have taken the world's ways at +the trot; you will never outpace me." + +The man of Harby slackened his speed for a second, and there came an +ugly look of quarrel into his face which made it plain as a map for +Halfman that there was immediate chance of a brawl and a tussle. He +would have relished it well enough, knowing pretty shrewdly how it +would end, but he contented himself for the moment, having other +business in hand, with cheerful comment. + +"Friend," he said, "if we are both King's men we have no leisure for +quarrel, however much our fingers may itch. What is your name, +valiant?" + +The serving-man scowled at him for a moment; then his frown faded as +he faced the smile and the bright, wild eyes of Halfman. + +"My name is Thoroughgood," he answered, and he added, civilly enough, +as if conscious of some air of gentility in his companion, "John +Thoroughgood, at your service." + +"A right good name for a right good fellow, if I know anything of +men," Halfman approved. "And I take it that you serve a right good +lady." + +"My lady is my lady," Thoroughgood replied, simply. "None like her as +ever I heard tell of." + +Halfman endeavored by dexterous questionings to get some further +information than this of the Lady of Harby from her sturdy servant, +but Thoroughgood's blunt brevity baffled him, and he soon reconciled +himself to tramp in silence by his guide. So long as he remembered +anything he remembered that passage through the park, the sweet smell +of the wet grass, the waning splendors, russet and umber, of October +leaves, the milky blueness of the autumn sky. This was, indeed, +England, the long, half-forgotten, yet ever faintly remembered, in +places of gold and bloodshed and furious suns, the place of peace of +which the fortune-seeker sometimes dreamed and to which the +fortune-maker chose to turn. The place of peace, where every man was +arming, where citizens were handling steel with unfamiliar fingers, +and where a rover like himself could not hope to let his sword lie +idle. It was as he thought these thoughts that a turn of the road +brought him face to face with Harby Hall, and all the episodes of a +busy, bloody life seemed to dwindle into insignificance as he crossed +the moat and passed with John Thoroughgood through the guarded +portals and found himself once again in the shelter of the great +hall. + +The great hall at Harby was justly celebrated in Oxfordshire and in +the neighboring counties as one of the loveliest examples of the rich +domestic architecture which adorned the age of Elizabeth. "That +prodigal bravery in building," which Camden commends, made no fairer +display than at Harby which had been designed by the great architect +Thorp. Of a Florentine favor externally, it was internally a +magnificent illustration of what Elizabethan decorators could do, and +the great hall gave the note to which the whole scheme was keyed. Its +wonderful mullioned windows looked out across the moat on the +terrace, and beyond the terrace on the park. Its walls of panelled +oak were splendid witnesses to the skill of great craftsmen. Its +carved roof was a marvel of art that had learned much in Italy and +had made it English with the hand of genius. Over the great fireplace +two armored figures guarded rigidly the glowing shield of the founder +of the house. Heroes of the house, heroines of the house, stared or +smiled from their canvases on the mortal shadows that flitted through +the great place till it should be their turn to swell the company of +the elect in frames of gold. At one end of the hall sprang the fair +staircase that was itself one of the greatest glories of Harby, with +its wonderful balustrade, on which, landing by landing, stood the +glorious carved figures of the famous angels of Harby. + + + + +III + +MY LORD THE LADY + + +Between the topmost pair of carven angels a woman stood for a second +looking down upon the man below. She had come quite suddenly from a +door in the great gallery, and she paused for a moment on the topmost +stair to survey the stranger who had summoned her. The stranger for +his part stared up at the woman in an honest and immediate rapture. +He was not unused to comely women, seen afar or seen at close +quarters, but he felt very sure now that he had never seen a fair +woman before. He prided himself on a most unreverential spirit, but +his instant, most unfamiliar emotion was one of reverence. His +fantastic wit idealized wildly enough. "An angel among angels," he +exulted. "Ecce Rosa Mundi," his rusty scholarship trumpeted. His +brain was a tumult of passionate phrases from passionate play-books, +"Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air," overriding them all like +a fairy swan upon a fairy sea. There never was such a woman since the +world began; there never could be such a woman again till the world +should end. And while his mind whirled with his own ecstasies and the +ecstasies of dead players, the Lady Brilliana came slowly down the +great stairs. + +If the light of her on his eyes dazzled him, if the riot in his mind +overprized her excellence, a saner man could scarce have failed to be +delighted with the girl's beauty, a wiser to have denied her visible +promises of merit. If better-balanced minds than the mind of Hercules +Halfman, striving to conjure up the image of their dreams, had looked +upon the face, upon the form, of Brilliana Harby, they might well +have been willing to let imagination rest and be contented with the +living flesh. Twenty sweet years of healthy country life had set +their seal of grace and color upon the child of the union of two +noble, sturdy stocks; all that was best of a brave dead man and a +fair dead woman was mirrored in the pride of her face, the candor of +her eyes, the courage of her mouth. Lost father and lost mother had +made a strange pair; all their excellences were summed and multiplied +in their bright child's being. A dozen gallant gentlemen of Oxford or +Warwickshire would have given their fortunes for the smallest +scissors-clipping of one sable curl, would have perilled their lives +for one kind smile of those blue eyes, would have bartered their +scanty chances of salvation for the first kiss of her fresh lips. + +While she descended the stairs Halfman never took his eyes off the +lady. He found himself wishing he were a painter, that he might +perpetuate her graces through a few favored generations who might +behold and adore her dimly as he beheld and adored her clearly, in +her riding-dress of Lincoln green, whose voluminous superfluity she +held gathered to her girdle as she moved. No painter could have +scanned her more closely, noted more minutely the buckle of +brilliants that captured the plume in her hat, the lace about her +throat, the curious work upon her leather gauntlets, the firm foot in +the small, square shoe, the riding-whip with its pommel of gold which +she carried so commandingly. Lovely shadows trooped into his mind, +names that had been naught but names to him till now--Rosalind, +Camiola, Bianca. They had passed before him as so many smooth-faced +youths, carrying awkwardly and awry their woman's wear, and +lamentably uninspiring. Now he saw all these divine ladies take life +incarnate in this divine lady, and he marvelled which of the +loveliest of the rarely named company could have shone on her poet's +eyes so dazzlingly as this creature. + +He stared in silence till she had reached the foot of the staircase, +still stared silent as she advanced towards him. There was nothing +disrespectful in his direct glance, but the steadfastness and the +silence stirred her challenge. + +"Sir," she said, "when you asked to see me it was not, I hope, in the +thought to stare me out of countenance." + +Halfman made her a sweeping salutation and found his voice with an +effort, but his words did not interpret the admiration of his eyes. + +"I asked to see you," he answered, respectfully, "because I ride with +tidings that may touch you. I am newly from Cambridge." + +Brilliana's eyes widened. + +"What do you carry from Cambridge?" she asked; then swiftly added, +"But first, I pray you, be seated." + +She pointed to a chair on one side of the great table, and to set him +the example seated herself at another. Halfman bowed and took his +appointed place, resting his hat upon his knees. + +"Lady," he said, "there was at Cambridge a certain Parliament man who +plays at being a soldier, and though he should be no more than plain +master, those that would do him pleasure call him Captain or Colonel +Cromwell." + +Brilliana frowned a little. "I have heard of the man," she said. "He +talks treason at Westminster; he is the King's enemy." + +Halfman leaned a little nearer to her across the table and spoke with +a well-managed air of mystery. + +"Captain Cromwell is not only the King's enemy; he is also the enemy +of the Lady Brilliana Harby." + +Brilliana shook her dark head proudly, and Halfman thought that her +curls glanced like the arrows of Apollo. + +"Any enemy of the King is an enemy to me, but not he, as I think, +more than another." + +Halfman tapped the table impressively. + +"There you are mistaken, lady," he said. "The man is very especially +and particularly your enemy. He has been very busy of late in +Cambridge raising train-bands, capturing college plate, and the like +naughtinesses, but he has not been so busy as not to hear how the +King's flag flies unchallenged from the walls of Harby." + +"And shall fly there so long as I live," Brilliana interrupted, +hotly. + +Halfman smiled approval of her heat, yet shook his head dubiously. + +"It shall not fly long unchallenged," he continued. "That is my news. +Master Cromwell--may the devil fly away with his soldier's title--is +sending hither a company of sour-faced Puritans to bid you haul down +your flag." + +Even as he spoke his heart glowed at the instant effect of his words +upon the woman. She sprang to her feet, with flaming cheeks and +blazing eyes, and struck her white hand upon the table. + +"That flag flies," she cried, "for the honor of Harby. Whoever +challenges the honor of Harby will find it a very dragon, with teeth +and claws and a fiery breath." + +Halfman sprang to his feet, too, and gave the gallant girl a military +salute. Every fibre of him now tingled with loyalty to the royal +quarrel; he was a King's man through and through, had been so for +sure from his cradle. + +"Lady," he almost shouted, "you make a gallant warrior, and I will be +proud to serve you." Seeing the surprise in her eyes, he hurried on: +"Lady, I am an old soldier, an old sailor. I have seen hot service in +hot lands; have helped to take towns and helped to hold towns, and if +it be your pleasure, as it will be your prudence, to avail of my aid, +I will show you how we can maintain this place against an army." + +Brilliana rested her hands on the table, and, leaning forward, looked +steadily into Halfman's face. He accepted the scrutiny steadily; he +was all in all her servant. She seemed to read so much. + +"If your news be true," she said, "and if you do not overboast your +skill, why, I shall be very glad of your aid and counsel." + +"Your hand on that, gallant captain," clamored Halfman, all aflame of +pride and pleasure. And across the oaken table the Lady of Harby and +the adventurer clasped hands in compact. + + + + +IV + +THE LEAGUER OF HARBY + + +Halfman proved himself a creditable henchman. There was much to do +and little time to do it in, for any hour might bring news that the +enemy was near at hand. Brilliana, as he told her and as she knew, +would have done well without him, once she had warning of danger, +but, as she told him and as he knew, she did very much better with +him. There was no help to be had in the neighborhood, but by +Halfman's advice a message was trusted to a sure hand to be carried +to Sir Randolph Harby, of Harby Lesser, now with the King, telling +him of what was threatened. All the servants were assembled in the +great hall, and there Brilliana made them a stirring little speech, +to which Halfman listened with applauding pulses. She told them how +Harby was menaced; she told them what she meant to do. She and +Captain Halfman meant to hold the place for the King so long as there +was a place to hold. But she would constrain none to stay with her, +and she offered to all who pleased the choice to go down into the +village and bide there till the business was ended one way or the +other. Not a man of the little household, nor a woman, offered to +budge. Perhaps they did not care very much about the quarrel, but +they all loved very dearly their wild, high-spirited young mistress, +and it was "God save Brilliana!" they were thinking while they +shouted "God save the King!" + +This was how it came to pass that when the hundred men from +Cambridge, under the command of Captain Evander Cloud, made an end of +their forced march, they found the iron gates of Harby's park closed +against them. This was in itself a matter of little moment, needing +but the united efforts of half a dozen stout fellows to arrange. But +it was the hint significant of more to follow. The Puritan party +tramping through the park was greeted, as it neared the moat, with a +volley, purposely aimed high, which brought them to a halt. The +Puritans eyed grimly a place whose great natural strength had been +most ingeniously increased by skilful fortification, and while their +leader advanced alone and composedly across the space between the +invaders and the walls of Harby, the followers were bale to note how +all the windows were barricaded and loop-holed, and how full of +menace the ancient place appeared. + +Evander Cloud advanced across the grass until he was within a few +feet of the moat. Then an upper window was thrown open, its wooden +curtain removed, and a young, fair woman appeared at the opening and +quietly asked of the Puritan the meaning of his presence. + +Evander Cloud saluted the lady; he could see that she was young and +comely. His own face was in shadow and the chatelaine could not +distinguish its features. + +"Have I the honor to address the Lady Brilliana Harby?" he asked. + +"I am the Lady Brilliana Harby," the girl answered. "What is your +business here?" + +"I come, madam," Evander replied, "a servant of the Parliament and of +the English people, to safeguard this mansion in their name." + +"You may speak for the London Parliament," Brilliana said, firmly, +"but I think you are too bold to speak in the name of the English +people. As for this poor house, it can safeguard itself very well, +with the help of God." + +"Madam," responded Evander, "I am empowered to take by force what I +would gladly gain by parley." + +"This house is the King's house," Brilliana said, scornfully, "and +does not yield to thieves." + +"It is the King's evil advisers who have forced civil war upon the +land," Evander replied, gravely. "And it is in the King's name and +for the King's sake that we would secure this stronghold." + +"Ay," retorted Brilliana, derisively. "And do the King honor by +hauling down the King's flag. No more words. This is Loyalty House. +You have ten minutes in which to withdraw your men. At the end of +that time we shall fire again, and you will find that we can shoot +straight. And so you may go to the devil." + +Evander would have appealed anew, but with her last word Brilliana +disappeared from the window, which in another moment was barricaded +as stubbornly as before. + +And this was the beginning of the siege of Harby House. + +Mr. Samuel Marfleet, in his "Diurnal of certain events of moment +happening of late at Harby," is very eloquent over the coming of the +little company. He sees in them the deliverers from Dagon, the +destroyers of Babylon, and in sundry heated if confused allusions to +the worship of Ashtaroth, it seems certain that the indignant +school-master was vehemently protesting against the popularity of +Brilliana. He probably goes too far, however, when he interprets the +silence of Harby villagers as the Cambridge company marched through +the main street as the silence too great for speech of a liberated +people. Harby villagers were, for the most part, serenely indifferent +to the quarrels of the court and the Parliament, but they had a +hearty liking for Brilliana, and would, if they could, very likely +have shown active resentment at the attack upon her home. But with +nobody to lead them, there was nothing for them to do but to stare at +the grave-faced men in sober clothes with guns upon their shoulders +and steel upon their breasts who tramped along towards Harby Hall. +Even to the siege itself they were perforce indifferent, seeing very +little of it, for the parliamentary leader took care that none of +them came into Harby park, and did not, as we may gather from +occasional asperities in the "Diurnal," greatly encourage even the +visits of Mr. Marfleet himself. + +The full chronicle of that siege does not concern us here. Those that +are curious in the matter may seek for ampler information, if they +will, in the Marfleet "Diurnal." Thanks to its situation, thanks to +the experience of adventurer Halfman in barricading windows and so +loop-holing them for musketry as fully to command the moat on all +sides, Harby Hall proved a hard nut to crack. It was but child's +play, indeed, if you chose to compare it with the later leaguer of +Lathom, but to those immediately concerned, and to Harby village, all +open mouths and open eyes, the business was a very Iliad. There was a +great deal of powder burned and but little blood shed. The little +Parliament party soon learned that there was no taking the place by a +rush or a ruse, that it was discretion to keep due distance and +invest. For the besieged, on the other hand, there was no chance of a +sortie, their numbers being so few and their provisions were sorely +scarce. If no one could for the moment get into Harby, neither could +any one get out of Harby. + +So day succeeded day, and Halfman found them all enchanted days. He +was inevitably much in the company of the lady, and he played the +part of an honest gentleman ably. He made the most of his odd +scholarship, of that part of his knowledge of the world best likely +to commend him to the favor of a gentlewoman; his buccaneering +enterprises veiled themselves under the vague phrase of foreign +service. He had been in tight places a thousand times; he weighed +them as trifles against a chance to win money and the living toys +that money can buy. But it was new to him to hold a fort under the +command of a woman, and the woman herself was the newest, strangest +thing he had ever known. Ever the lover of his abandoned art, he +conceived shrewdly enough the character that would not displease +Brilliana and played it very consistently: the soldier of fortune +true, but one that had tincture of letters and would be a scholar if +he could. So the siege hours were also hours of such companionship as +he had never experienced, ever desired; he ripened in the sunshine of +a girl's kindliness, and he deliberately tied, as it were, the foul +pages of his book of memory together with the pink ribbon of a girl's +garter. He would have been content for the siege to last forever. But +the siege did not last forever. + + + + +V + +A MONSTROUS REGIMENT + + +In the great hall at Harby a motley fellowship were assembled. If a +stranger from a strange land, wafted thither on some winged Arabian +carpet or flying horse of ebony, could have beheld the place and the +company, he would have been hard put to it to find any reasonable +explanation of what his eyes witnessed. In the middle of the hall +some five singular figures stood on line: two tall, powerful lads +with foolish faces, flagrant farm-hands; an old, bowed man with the +snow of many winters on his hair; an impish lad who might have +welcomed fourteen springs; and, finally, a rubicund, buxom woman with +very red cheeks, very blue eyes, very brown hair, whose person +suggested the kitchen a league off. Each of these persons handled a +pike, carrying it at an angle different from that of the others, and +each of them gazed with painfully attentive stare at the oaken table +near the hearth upon which Hercules Halfman sat learnedly expounding +the mysteries of the pike drill, while Thoroughgood stood between +him and the awkward squad to illustrate in his own person and with +the pike he carried the teachings of the instructor. + +"Order your pikes," Halfman commanded. "Advance your pikes. Shoulder +your pikes." Then, as these orders were obeyed deftly enough by +Thoroughgood and with bewildering variety by the others, he +continued, "Trail your pikes," and then broke sharply off to +expostulate with one of the farm-hands. + +"Now, Timothy Garlinge, call you that trailing of a pike. Why, Gammer +Satchell carries herself more soldierly." + +Timothy Garlinge grinned loutishly at this rebuke, but the fat dame +whom Halfman's flourish indicated seemed to dilate with satisfaction. + +"It were shame," she chuckled, "if a handy lass could not better a +lobbish lad." + +The impish lad grinned derision. + +"Ay," he commented; "but an old fool's best at her spits and +griddles." + +A most unmilitary titter rippled along the rank but broke upon the +rock of Mrs. Satchell's anger. It might have seemed to many that it +were impossible for the dame's cheeks to be any redder, but Mistress +Satchell's visage showed that nature could still work miracles. With +face a rich crimson from chin to forehead, she made to hurl herself +upon the leering, fleering mannikin, but was caught in the +unbreakable restraint of neighbor Clupp's clasp. + +"You limb, I'll griddle you!" Mistress Satchell gasped, panting in +the embracing arms. Halfman played the peace-maker with a sour smile. + +"There, there, goody," he expostulated; "youth will have its yelp." + +He turned with something of a yawn to Thoroughgood. + +"Why a devil did you press gossip cook into the service?" + +Thoroughgood shook his head protestingly. + +"Nay, the virago volunteered," he explained, with a look that seemed +to supplement speech in the suggestion that it were best to let +Mistress Satchell have her own way. This was evidently Mistress +Satchell's own view of the matter. + +"Truly," she exclaimed, "if my lady, being no more than a woman, is +man enough to garrison her house against the Roundheads, she cannot +deny me, that am no less than a woman, the right to handle a pike." + +Halfman, eying the dame's assertive rotundities, thought that he +would be indeed a quarrelsome fellow who should deny her evident +femininity. + +"You are a lovely logician," he approved. "Enough." + +Then resuming his sententious tone of military command, he took up +the task where he had left it off. + +"Trail your pikes." + +The order was this time obeyed by the company with something +approaching resemblance to the action of Thoroughgood, and Halfman +went on. + +"Cheek your pikes." + +Out of the confused cluttering of weapons which ensued, Timothy +Garlinge emerged tremulous. + +"Please, sir," he gurgled, "I've forgotten how to cheek my pike." + +Halfman mastered exasperation bravely, as, taking a pike from the +hands of Thoroughgood, he strove to illuminate rusticity. + +"Use your pike thus, noddy," he lessoned, good-naturedly, wielding +the weapon with the skill of a practised pikeman. But the +illustration was as much lost upon Garlinge as the original command, +and in his attempt to imitate it he whirled his arm so recklessly +that his companions scattered in dismay, and Halfman himself was +fain to move a step or two backward to avoid the yokel's meaningless +sweeps. + +"Have a care," he cried. "If you work so wild you will damage your +company." + +Mrs. Satchell, taking her post in the now restored line, shook her +red fist at the delinquent. + +"He had best not damage me," she thundered, "or I'll damage him to +some purpose." + +"Silence in the ranks!" Halfman commanded, sharply. "Charge your +pikes," he ordered. + +This order was obeyed indifferently and tamely enough by all save the +egregious Mrs. Satchell, who delivered so lusty a thrust with her +weapon that Halfman was obliged to skip back briskly to avoid +bringing his breast acquainted with her steel. + +"Nay, woman, warily!" he shouted, half laughing, half angry. "Play +your play more tamely. I am no rascally Roundhead." + +Mrs. Satchell grounded her weapon and wiped the sweat from her +shining forehead with the back of her red hand. There was a deadly +earnest in her eyes, a deadly earnest in her speech. + +"I cry you mercy," she panted. "But I am a whole-hearted woman, and +when you bid me charge I am all for charging." + +Halfman did his best to muffle amusement in a reproving frown. "Limit +your zeal discreetly," he urged, and was again the drill sergeant. + +"Shoulder your pikes." + +The weapons followed the words with some show of decorum. + +"Comport your pikes." + +Again the evolution was carried out with some degree of accuracy. + +"Port your pikes." + +Here all followed the word of command fairly well with the exception +of Garlinge's fellow-rustic, who simply strove to repeat the order +already executed. Halfman turned upon him sharply. + +"Now, Clupp," he cried, "will you never learn the difference between +port and comport?" + +Clupp, the fellow addressed, bashful at finding himself the object of +attention, swayed backward and forward with his pikestaff for a +pivot, laughing vacantly. + +"No, sir," he gaped, stupidly. Master Halfman's lip wrinkled +menacingly, and he reached his hand to his staff that lay upon the +table. + +"Indeed!" he said. "Then I must ask Master Crabtree Cudgel to lesson +you." + +He advanced threateningly towards the terrified fellow, but long +before he could reach him Dame Satchell had interposed her generous +bulk between officer and private, not, however, as was soon shown, +from any desire to intercede for the culprit. + +"Leave him to me, sir," she entreated, vehemently. "If you love me, +leave him to me." + +And, indeed, her angry eyes shone warranty that the offender would +fare badly at her hands. Halfman waved her aside with a gesture of +impatience. + +"Mistress Satchell," he protested, "you are a valiant woman, but a +rampant amazon." + +Dame Satchell's cheeks glowed a deeper crimson, and her variable +anger raged from Clupp to Halfman. + +"Call me no names," she squalled, "though you do call yourself +captain, or I'll call you the son of a--" + +However Mistress Satchell intended to finish her objurgation it was +not given to the company to learn, for Halfman tripped up her speech +with a nimble interruption. + +"The son of a pike, so please you," he suggested, with a smile that +softened the virago's heart. "There, we have toiled enough to-day and +it tests our tempers. Dismiss." + +This command he addressed to the whole of his amazing company; to +Dame Satchell he gave a congee with a more than Spanish flourish: "To +your pots and pans, valorous." + +Dame Satchell, mollified by his compliment, shrugged her fat +shoulders. "'Tis little enough I have to put in them," she grumbled. +"Roast or boiled, boiled, fried, or larded, all's one, all's none. +We'll be mumbling shoe-leather soon." + +She sighed heavily at the thought, and moved slowly towards the door +at the end of the hall beneath the gallery. Halfman, unheeding her, +had turned to the table and was intently poring over the large map +that lay there together with a loaded pistol. Thoroughgood gave +orders to the men. + +"Garlinge and Clupp, go scour the pikes. Tom Cropper, find something +to keep you out of mischief. As for you, Gaffer Shard, you may rest +awhile." + +The old man shook his frosty head vigorously. "Nay, nay," he piped, +"I need no rest. My old bones are loyal and cannot tire in a good +cause. God save the King." + +He gave a shrill cheer which was echoed loudly by men and boy, and so +cheering they tramped out of the hall in the trail of Mother +Satchell, Garlinge staggering under the load of pikes which the lad +had officiously foisted on to his shoulder, Clupp laughing vacantly +after his manner, and steadfast old Shard waving his red cap and +chirping his shrill huzzas. + + + + +VI + +HOW WILL ALL END? + + +When they had all gone and the hall was quiet, Thoroughgood came +slowly down with a puzzled frown on his honest, weather-beaten face +to where Halfman humped over his map. + +"Where's the good of drilling clowns and cooks?" he asked, surlily. +He talked like one thoroughly weary, but his mood of weariness seemed +to melt before the sunshine of Halfman's smile as he lifted his head +from the map. + +"Where's the harm?" he countered. "'Twas my lady's idea to keep their +spirits up, and, by God! it was a good thought. She knows how it +heartens folk to play a great part in a great business: keeps them +from feeling the fingers of famine in their inwards, keeps them from +whining, repining, declining, what you will. But I own I did not +count on the presence of Gammer Cook in the by-play." + +"I could not see why she should be kept out of the mummery," +Thoroughgood responded, "if she had a mind for the masking." + +"Perhaps you are right," Halfman answered, meditatively. "My lady's +example would make a Hippolyta of any housemaid of them all." + +"I do not know what it would make of them," Thoroughgood answered; +"but I know this, that it matters very little now." + +Halfman swung round on his seat and stared at him curiously. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Now that this truce is called," Thoroughgood answered, "that the +Roundhead captain may have speech with my lady." + +"Why, what then?" questioned Halfman, with his eyes so fixed on +Thoroughgood's that Thoroughgood, dogged as he was, averted his gaze. + +"Naught's left but surrender," he grunted, between his teeth. The +words came thickly, but Halfman heard them clearly. He raised his +right hand for a moment as if he had a thought to strike his +companion, but then, changing his temper, he let it fall idly upon +his knee as he surveyed Thoroughgood with a look that half disdained, +half pitied. + +"My lady will never surrender," he said, quietly, with the quiet of a +man who enunciates a mathematical axiom. "You know that well enough." + +Thoroughgood shrugged plaintive, protesting shoulders. + +"We've stood this siege for many days," he muttered. "Food is running +out; powder is running out. Even the Lady Brilliana cannot work +miracles." + +Halfman rose to his feet. His eyes were shining and he pressed his +clinched hands to his breast like a man in adoration. + +"The Lady Brilliana can work miracles, does work miracles daily. Is +it no miracle that she has held this castle all these hours and days +against this rebel leaguer? Is it no miracle that she has poured the +spirit of chivalry into scullions and farm-hands and cook-wenches so +that not a Jack or Jill of them but would lose bright life blithely +for her and the King and God? Is it not a miracle that she has +transmuted, by a change more amazing than anything Master Ovid hath +recorded in his Metamorphoses, a villanous old land-devil and +sea-devil like myself into a passionate partisan? But what of me? God +bless her! She is my lady-angel, and her will is my will to the end +of the chapter." + +He dropped in his chair again as if exhausted by the vehemence of his +words and the emotion which prompted them. Thoroughgood contemplated +him sourly. + +"You prate like a play-actor," he snarled. Halfman's whole being +flashed into activity again. He was no more a sentimentalist but now +a roaring ranter. + +"Because I was a play-actor once," he shouted, "when I was a +sweet-and-twenty youngling." + +Thoroughgood eyed Halfman with a sudden air of distrust. + +"You never told me you were a play-actor," he growled. "You spoke +only of soldiering." + +Halfman laughed flagrantly in his face. + +"Godamercy, man, there has been scant time to tell you my life's +story. We have had other cats to whip. Yes, I was a play-actor once, +and played for great poets, for men whose names have never tickled +your ears. But the owl-public would have none of me, and, owllike, +hooted me off the boards. But I've had my revenge of them. I've +played a devil's part on the devil's stage for thirty red years. Nune +Plaudite." + +The Latin tag dropped dead at the porches of John Thoroughgood's +ears, but those ears pricked at part of Halfman's declamation. + +"What kind of parts?" he asked, drawing a little nearer to the +soldier of fortune, whose experiences fascinated his inexperience. + +Halfman shrugged his shoulders and favored honest Thoroughgood with a +bantering, quizzical smile. + +"All kinds of parts," he answered. "How does the old puzzle run? +Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, ploughboy, gentleman, thief. I think +I have played all those parts, and others, too. Fling beggar and +pirate into the dish. But I tell you this, honest John, I have never +played a part so dear to me as that of captain to this divine +commander. I thank my extravagant stars that steered me home to serve +her." + +"You cannot sing her praises too sweetly for my ears," Thoroughgood +answered. "But there is an end to all things, and it looks to me as +if we were mighty near to an end of the siege of Harby. Why else +should there be a truce called that the Roundhead captain may have +speech with my lady." + +"Honest John Thoroughgood," Halfman answered, with great composure, +"you are not so wise as you think. This Roundhead captain has sent us +hither the most passionate pleadings to be admitted to parley. Why +deny him? It will advantage him no jot, but it is possible we may +learn from the leakage of his lips something at least of what is +going on in the world." + +"What is there to learn?" asked Thoroughgood. Halfman shook his head +reprovingly. + +"Why, for my part, I should like to learn why in all this great gap +of time nothing has been done to help one side or the other. If the +gentry of Harby have made no effort to relieve us, neither, on the +other hand, has our leaguer been augmented by any reinforcements. If +my lady has been surprised that Sir Blaise Mickleton has made no show +of coming to her succor, I, for my part, am woundily surprised that +the Cropheads of Cambridge have sent no further levies for our +undoing." + +"Why, for that matter--" Thoroughgood began, and then suddenly broke +off. "Here comes my lady," he said, turning and standing in an +attitude of respectful attention. + +Halfman had known of her coming before his companion spoke. The Lady +Brilliana had come out on to the gallery from the door near the head +of the stairway, and Halfman was conscious of her presence before he +lifted his eyes and looked at her. She was not habited now, as on the +day when he first beheld her, in her riding-robe of green, but in a +simple house-gown chosen for the ease and freedom it allowed to a +great lady who had suddenly found that she had much to do. The color +of the stuff, a crimson, as being a royal, loyal color, well became +her fine skin and her dark curls and her bright, imperious eyes. She +was followed by her serving-woman, Tiffany, a merry girl that +Thoroughgood adored, and one that would in days gone over have been +likely to tickle the easy whimsies of Halfman. Now he had no eyes, no +thoughts, save for her mistress, the lass unparalleled. + +Brilliana was speaking to Tiffany even as she entered the gallery. + +"Strip more lint, Tiffany," she ordered; "and bid Andrew be brisk +with the charcoal." + +Her voice was as buoyant as the song of a free bird, and her step on +the stair as light as if there were no such thing in the world as a +leaguer. Tiffany crossed the gallery and disappeared through the +opposite door. Brilliana, as she descended the stair, diverted her +speech to Thoroughgood. + +"John Thoroughgood, I saw from the lattice our envoys bringing the +Parliament man down the elm walk. To them at once. They must not +unhood their hawk till he come to our presence." + + + + +VII + +MISTRESS AND MAN + + +When Thoroughgood had left the hall and Brilliana came to the floor, +Halfman questioned her, very respectfully, but still with the air of +one who has earned the friendly right to put questions. + +"Why do you see this black-jack?" he asked. Brilliana smiled at him +as radiantly as if the holding of a house against armed enemies was +the properest, pleasantest business imaginable. + +"With the littlest good-will in the world, I promise you," she +answered. "But, you know, he so plagued for the parley that it was +easier to try him than deny him. Besides, good friend and captain, I +learn from what I read in Master Froissart's Chronicles that it were +neither customary nor courteous to deny conference to a supplicating +enemy." + +Halfman adored her for her courage, for her calm assumption of +success. + +"How if he but come to spy out our strategies?" he asked. "The +leanness of our larder? Our empty bandoliers?" + +Brilliana beamed back at him with her bewildering confidence. + +"I have thought of that, too," she admitted. "But he shall not find +us at our wit's-end. Seek Simon Butler, friend captain. Though our +cellars are near empty he will make shift to find you some full +flagons. Bring hither a bunch of your subalterns, the rosiest, the +most jovial, if any still carry such colors and boast such spirit; +let them gather in the banqueting-hall, where, with such wit as +French wine can give, let them sing as if they were merry and well +fed. Our sanctimonious spy-out-the-nakedness-of-the-land must think +we are well victualled, he must think we are well mannered." + +Halfman made her a sweeping reverence which was not without its +play-actor's grace, though its honesty might have pardoned a greater +awkwardness. + +"We are well womaned, lady," he asseverated, "with you for our +leader. By sea and by land I have served some great captains, but +never one greater than you for constancy and manly valor." + +Brilliana's bright face took a swift look of gravity and she gave a +little sigh. + +"The King's cause," she said, soberly, "might turn a child into a +champion." + +The steady loyalty that made her words at once a psalm and a +battle-cry bade Halfman's pulses tingle. Who could be found +unfaithful where this fair maid was so faithful? Yet he remembered +their isolation and the memory made him speak. + +"I marvel that none of your neighbors have tried to lend us a hand?" + +"How could they?" Brilliana asked, astonished. "The brave are with +the King at Shrewsbury; the stay-at-homes are not fighters." + +"Hum," commented Halfman. "What of Master Paul Hungerford?" + +Brilliana shrugged her shoulders. + +"A miserly daw, who would not risk a crown to save the crown." + +Halfman questioned again. + +"What of Master Peter Rainham?" + +Brilliana shrugged again. + +"A dull, sullen skinflint waiting on event." + +Halfman's inventory was not complete. + +"You have yet a third neighbor," he said, "and, as I heard, a +prodigal in protestation. What of Sir Blaise Mickleton?" + +Brilliana's lips twitched with a derisive smile. + +"Sir Blaise, honest gentleman, loves good cheer and good ease. I +think he would not quit the board if Armageddon were towards. He will +be for eating, he will be for drinking, he will be for sleeping, and +in the mean time God's chosen gentlemen have learned the value of +living so long as to grant them a death for their King." + +Her voice had risen to a cry of defiance, but now it dropped again to +its former note of bantering irony. + +"What a wonderful world it is which can hold at once such men as my +cousin Randolph or you or Rufus Quaryll and these hangbacks who shame +Harby. These three are professed my very good suitors, but they have +made no move to our help. Well, let them hang for a tray of knaves. +We need them not. We know that the King's cause must triumph and so +we are wise to be blithe." + +Halfman's head was swinging with pleasure. She had counted him in so +glibly with the chosen ones, with the servants of God and the King. +He was very sure now that his watch-word had always been "God and the +King." + +"The King's cause must triumph," he echoed, his face shining with +loyal confidence. + +"How we shall all smile a year hence," Brilliana answered, "to think +that such pitiful rebels vexed us. But for the moment there is one of +these same rebels to be faced--and to be fooled. About our plan, good +captain." + +Halfman saluted her more enthusiastically than he had ever saluted +male commander. + +"My general," he vowed, "he shall think these walls hold an army of +wassaillers." + +He turned on his heel and marched briskly out of the hall. Brilliana +looked after him, with the bright smile on her face, till the door of +the banqueting-hall closed behind him; then the smile slowly faded +from her face. + +"I would my spirits were as blithe as my speech," she thought, as she +went to the table and bent over it, looking at the open map which +Halfman had been studying. + +"What is going on in England, the King's England, little England, +that should not be big enough to have any room for traitors?" + +She put her finger on the spot where Harby figured on the sheet. + +"Here," she mused, "we have been sundered from the world for all +these days by this Roundhead leaguer, hearing no outside news but the +ring of rebel shots and the sound of rebel voices. What has happened? +What is happening? When we began the King was at Shrewsbury and the +Parliament ruled London. What has come to the Parliament since? What +has come to the King? Well, Loyalty House will carry the King's flag +so long as one stone tops another. We will live as long as we can for +his Majesty, and then die for him gamely." + + + + +VIII + +THE ENVOY + + +A sound of heavy steps disturbed her meditations. She stood up from +her map, blinked down the tears that tried to rise, and turned to +face new fortune. + +"Here is our enemy," she said to herself, and she forced back the +confident color to her cheeks, the confident light to her eyes. The +door from the park opened, and John Thoroughgood entered the room, +holding by the hand a man in the staid habit of a Puritan soldier, +whose eyes were muffled by a folded scarf of silk. Blindfolded though +he was, the Puritan followed his guide with a steady and resolute +step. + +"Halt!" cried Thoroughgood. The stranger stood quietly as if on +parade, while Thoroughgood saluted his mistress. + +"Unhood your hawk," Brilliana ordered. Thoroughgood, obedient, +unpicked the knot of the handkerchief, revealing his companion's +face. Brilliana observed with a hostile curiosity a tallish, +well-set, comely man of about thirty years of age, whose smooth, +well-featured face asserted high breeding and a gravity which +deepened into melancholy in the dark expressive eyes and lightened +into lines of humor about the fine, firm mouth. For a moment, with +the removal of the muffle, he seemed dazzled by the change from dark +to light; then, as command of his vision returned, he observed +Brilliana and made her a courteous salutation which she returned +coldly. She made a gesture of dismissal to Thoroughgood, who went +out, and the Lady of Loyalty was left alone with her enemy. + +There was a moment's silence as the pair faced each other, the man +quietly discreet, the woman openly scornful. She was under the same +roof with a rebel in arms, and the thought sickened her. She broke +the silence. + +"You petitioned to see me." With the sound of her voice she found new +vehemence, new indignation. "Do your rebels offer unconditional +surrender?" + +The circumstances of the astonishing question brought for the moment +a slight smile to the grave face of the Parliament man. + +"It was scarcely with that thought," he answered, "that I sought for +a parley." + +Though the man's smile had been short-lived, Brilliana had seen it +and loathed him for it. Though the man's manner was suave, it seemed +to wear the suavity of success and she loathed him for that, too. + +"We waste time," she cried, impatiently, "with any other business +than your swift submission." + +Then as she saw him make an amiably protesting gesture she raged at +him with a rising voice. + +"Oh, if you knew how hard it is for me to stand in the same room with +a renegade traitor you would, if such as you remember courtesy, be +brief in your errand." + +The man showed no consciousness of the insult in her words and in her +manner save than by a courteous inclination of the head and a few +words of quiet speech. + +"Much may be pardoned to so brave a lady." + +Brilliana struck her hand angrily upon the table once and again. + +"For God's sake do not praise me!" she almost screamed, "or I shall +hate myself. Your errand, your errand, your errand!" + +The enemy was provokingly imperturbable. + +"You have a high spirit," he said, "that must compel admiration from +all. That is why I would persuade you to wisdom. I came hither from +Cambridge by order of Colonel Cromwell." + +Brilliana's lips tightened at the sound of the name which the envoy +pronounced with so much reverence. + +"The rebel member for Cambridge," she sneered--"the mutinous brewer. +Are you a vassal of the man of beer?" + +There was a quiet note of protest in the reply of the envoy. + +"Colonel Cromwell is not a brewer, though he would be no worse a man +if he were. I am honored in his friendship, in his service. He is a +great man and a great Englishman." + +"And what," Brilliana asked, "has this great man to do with Harby +that he sends you here?" + +"He sends me here," the Puritan answered, "to haul down your flag." + +"That you shall never do," Brilliana answered, steadily, "while there +is a living soul in Harby." + +The Puritan protested with appealing hands. + +"You are in the last straits for lack of food, for lack of fuel, for +lack of powder." + +Brilliana made a passionate gesture of denial. + +"You are as ignorant as insolent," she asserted. "Loyalty House lacks +neither provisions nor munitions of war." + +There was a kind of respectful pity in the stranger's face as he +watched the wild, bright girl and hearkened to the vain, brave words. + +"Nay, now--" he began, out of the consciousness of his own truer +knowledge, but what he would have said was furiously interrupted by a +volume of strange sounds from the adjoining banqueting-hall. There +was a rattle and clink as of many pewter mugs banged lustily upon an +oaken table; there was a shrill explosion of laughter, the work of +many merry voices; there was the grinding noise of heavy chairs +pushed back across the floor for the greater ease of their occupants; +there was a tapping as of pipe-bowls on the board, and then over all +the mingled din rose a voice, which Brilliana knew for the voice of +Halfman, ringing out a resonant appeal. + +"The King's health, friends, to begin with." + +All the noises that had died down to allow Halfman a hearing began +again with fresh vigor. It was obvious to the most unsophisticated +listener that here was the fag end of a feast and the moment for the +genial giving of toasts. Many voices swelled a loyal chorus of "The +King, the King!" and had the great doors of the banqueting-hall been +no other than bright glass it would have been scarce easier for the +man and woman in the great hall to realize what was happening, the +revellers rising to their feet, the drinking-vessels lifted high in +air with loyal vociferations, and then the silence, eloquent of +tilted mugs and the running of welcome liquor down the channels of +thirsty throats. This silence was broken by some one calling for a +song, to which call he who had proposed the King's health answered +instantly and with evident satisfaction. His rich if somewhat rough +voice came booming through the partitions, carolling a ballad to +which the Puritan listened with a perfectly unmoved countenance, +while the Lady Brilliana's eager face expressed every signal of the +liveliest delight. + +This was the song that came across the threshold: + + "What creature's this with his short hairs, + His little band and huge long ears, + That this new faith hath founded? + The Puritans were never such, + The saints themselves had ne'er so much, + Oh, such a knave's a Roundhead." + +A yell of pleasure followed this verse, and a tuneless chorus +thundered the refrain, "Oh, such a knave's a Roundhead," with the +most evident relish for the sentiments of the song. Brilliana looked +with some impatience at the unruffled face of her adversary, and +when the immediate clamor dwindled she addressed him, sarcastically: + +"These revellers," she said, "would not seem to be at the last +extremity. But their festival must not deafen our conference." + +She advanced to the door of the banqueting-room and struck against it +with her hand. On the instant silence she opened the door a little +way and spoke through softly, as if gently chiding those within. + +"Be merry more gently, friends. Sure, I cannot hear the gentleman +speak. Though," she added, reflectively, as she closed the door and +returned again to the table she had quitted--"though God knows he +talks big enough." + +The Puritan clapped his palms together as if in applause, an action +that somewhat amazed her in him, while a kindly humor kindled in his +eyes. + +"Bravely staged, bravely played," he admitted, while he shook his +head. "But it will not serve your turn, for it may not deceive me. I +had a message this morning from my Lord Essex. There has been hot +fighting; Heaven has given us the victory; the King's cause is +wellnigh lost at the first push." + +Brilliana felt her heart drumming against her stays, but she turned +a defiant face on the news-monger. + +"I do not believe you," she answered. "The King's cause will always +win." + +The soldier took no notice of her denial; he felt too sure of his +fact to hold other than pity for the leaguered lady. He quietly +added: + +"My Lord Essex advises me further that reinforcements are marching to +me well equipped with artillery against which even these gallant +walls are worthless. Be warned, be wise. You cannot hope to hold out +longer. For pity's sake, yield to the Parliament." + +Brilliana waved his pleas away with a dainty, impatient flourish. + +"You chatter republican vainly. I have store of powder. I will blow +this old hall heaven high when I can no longer hold it for the King." + +Her visitor looked at her sadly, made as if to speak, paused, and +then appeared to force himself to reluctant utterance. + +"Lady," he said, slowly, "though we be opponents, we share the same +blood. Let a kinsman entreat you to reason." + +If the civil-spoken stranger had struck her in the face with his +glove Brilliana could not have been more astonished or angered. She +moved a little nearer to him, interrogation in her shining eyes and +on her angry cheeks. + +"Are you mad?" she gasped. "How could such a thing as you be my +kinsman?" + +She had taunted him again and again during their brief interview and +he had shown no sign of displeasure. He showed no sign of displeasure +now, answering her with simple dignity. + +"Very simply. A lady of your race, your grandsire's sister, married a +poor gentleman of my name and was my father's mother." + +Brilliana drew back a little as if she had indeed received a blow. +Involuntarily, she put up her hand to her eyes as if to shut out the +sight of this importunate fellow. + +"I have heard something of that tale," she whispered, "but dimly, for +we in Harby do not care to speak of it. When my grandsire's sister +shamed her family by wedding with a Puritan her people blotted her +from their memory. You will not find her picture on the walls of +Harby." + +"The loss is Harby's," the soldier answered, "for I believe she was +as fair as she was good. She married an honest gentleman named Cloud, +whose honesty compelled him to profess the faith he believed in. My +name is Evander Cloud." + +He waited for a moment as if he expected her to speak, but she +uttered no word, only faced him rigidly with hatred in her gaze. + +Seeing her silent, he resumed: + +"It was this sad kinship pushed me to a parley wherein, perhaps, I +have something strained my strict duty. But the voice of our common +blood cried out in me to urge you to reason. You have done all that +woman, all that man could do. Yield now, while I can still offer you +terms, and your garrison shall march out with all the honors of war, +drums beating, matches burning, colors flying." + +He was very earnest in his appeal, and Brilliana heard him to the end +in silence, with her clinched hands pressed against her bosom. Then +she turned fiercely upon him and her voice was bitter. + +"Sir," she cried, "if I hated you before for a detested rebel, think +how I hate you now, if you be, even in so base a way, my kinsman." + +She turned away from him, lifting her clasped hands as if in +supplication. + +"Oh, Heaven, to think that a disloyal, hypocritical, canting Puritan +could brag to my face that he carries one drop of our loyal blood in +his false heart." + +She turned to him again with new fury. + +"You are doubly a traitor now, and if you are wise you will keep out +of my power, for my heart aches with its hate of you. Go! Five +minutes left of your truce gives you just time to return to your +rebels. If you overlinger in our lines but one minute you are no +longer an envoy: you are an enemy and a spy and shall swing for it." + +She reached out her hand to strike the bell upon the table, while +Evander Cloud, still impassive, paid a salutation to his unwilling +hostess and made a motion to depart. But on the instant both were +chilled into immobility by an amazing interruption. Brilliana's hand +never touched the bell; Evander's hand never found the handle of the +door. For between the beginning and the end of their action came a +sudden rattle of musketry, distant but deafening, followed on the +instant by a whirlwind of furious cries and noise. + + + + +IX + +HOW THE SIEGE WAS RAISED + + +The man and the woman glared at each other, each in swift suspicion +of treason. The Lady of Harby was the quickest to act upon impulse. +She snatched up the pistol that lay upon the table and levelled it +with a steady hand at Evander. + +"Do you use your trust to betray us?" she shrilled. "It shall not +save you." + +Even a less-experienced soldier could have seen from the sure way in +which Brilliana handled her weapon that his life was in real peril, +but he paid no more heed to her menace than if she was threatening +him with her glove or her fan. + +"Fighting outside!" he cried. Turning to the woman he asked, with a +fierceness that contrasted with his previous calm, "Who is the +traitor here?" + +His sword was naked in his hand as he spoke and he made a rush for +the door. But before he could reach it it was flung open in his face +and Halfman rushed in, waving his drawn sword, and followed by +Thoroughgood carrying a gun and Garlinge and Clupp armed with pikes. + +Inevitably bewildered by the sudden turn in the tide of events, +Evander Cloud gave ground for a moment before the onrush, while +Halfman, staggering like a drunken man, reeled forward towards +Brilliana, shrieking: + +"There is fighting in the rebel lines. Help has come at last." + +Whatever joy the tidings gave to Brilliana, she wasted no words from +the needs of the moment. Pointing to Evander where he stood, +irresolute in surprise, she commanded, "Secure that man!" + +Evander's resolution returned to him with the sound of her voice, but +he was one against too many. While he tried to engage the blade of +Halfman, a swinging blow from the pike of Garlinge knocked his weapon +out of his hand, and in another moment he was gripped in the grasp of +the two young country giants, while Thoroughgood covered him with his +musketoon. + +"This is treachery," he gasped; but no one paid any attention to his +protest. Halfman, convinced that the Puritan was a sure prisoner, +swaggered up to Brilliana with all the arrogance of a stage herald. + +"Dear lord," he shouted, "dear lady, a company of Cavaliers are +galloping up the avenue, a-shouting like devils for the King." + +He was flushed and drunk with exhilaration; he could speak no more; +the timely episode tickled his tired brain like wine; he caught at +the table for support and muttered inarticulately. Thoroughgood, who +had secured Evander's fallen sword, interpolated a word of +explanation. + +"It is Sir Rufus, my lady--Sir Rufus and his friends." + +The interruption had been so sudden, the things that had chanced had +passed so swiftly, that Brilliana still stood as she had stood when +she gave the command to secure Evander. But now all her being seemed +alive with a new life. + +"I hear them; I hear them!" she cried, exultantly. And, indeed, the +sounds came very clearly now of fierce young voices shouting for the +King. + +"The King! The King!" Brilliana cried, in an ecstasy, and as the +loyal syllables died on her lips there came a trampling of near feet, +and then through the yawning doorway rushed a covey of young +gentlemen waving their drawn swords and yelling their cry, "The King! +The King!" As they flooded into the room, bright foam on the wave of +victorious loyalty, Brilliana knew them all. Sir Rufus Quaryll, her +neighbor and hot lover; the Lord Fawley, who had vainly wooed her for +wife; Sir John Radlett, who had the sense to love her and the sense +to hold his tongue; Captain Bardon, the bold and bluff; and young +Lord Richard Ingrow, with the delicate, girlish face that masked the +amazing rake. She seemed to see them as in some golden dream, seemed +to hear a-down the vistas of dreams the echoes of their gallant cries +of "God save the King!" Then as the new-comers knelt before her she +knew that all was true. + +"God bless you, gentlemen!" she cried, from a full heart. "You are +very well come." + +Rufus Quaryll, neighbor and wooer, was the first to speak, looking up +at her with rapture in his eyes of reddish brown. + +"Imperial lady, the siege of Harby is raised." + +Brilliana flung out her hands to him, and as he caught and kissed +them she raised him to his feet. + +"Your news is music," she said, and her voice was as blithe as a +song. + +"We are heralds of victory," Rufus said, as he stood and looked into +her eyes. + +My Lord Fawley rose from his knees with a whoop. + +"We have pelted the rebels from Edgehill," he shouted. Sir John +Radlett caught him up. "We banged them finely," he trumpeted. Young +Ingrow, with a flush on his fine cheeks, sang out a shrill "Hurrah +for Prince Rupert!" and bluff Bardon rubbed his hands as he chuckled, +"He brushed them into dust." + +All the Cavaliers spoke rapidly and eagerly, flinging their phrases +each on top of the other. Rufus summed up all in a single splendid +sentence. + +"The road lies plain to London." + +"Heaven be praised," Brilliana ejaculated, and then, wonder treading +on the heels of thankfulness, she questioned, "How came you here so +timely?" + +My Lord Fawley broke into a boisterous laugh which seemed to rattle +among the rafters. + +"Oh, Lord, the best jest in the world," he bellowed. Bardon clapped a +hand on lad Ingrow's shoulder. + +"Our Ingrow writes a clerky hand," he asserted. Ingrow, stabbing at +Bardon's stout ribs with slender fingers, riposted: + +"And our Bardon has a merry invention." + +Brilliana looked commands and entreaties at the row of jolly, +laughing faces. + +"Do not play the sphinx with me," she pleaded. Rufus immediately +made himself interpreter of the mirth. + +"Why, between us we forged a letter from my lord high damnable +traitor Essex to your enemy here, advising him of reinforcements, +assuring him of the King's defeat." + +"Yes," chirruped the Lord Fawley, "and the gull-gaby swallowed the +bait." + +"When we rode up but now," Radlett interposed, "his rascals received +us with open arms." + +Rufus smiled sardonically as he completed the story of the +entrapment. + +"They took us for Essex men because of our orange-tawny scarves, but +they found out when too late that we were right-tight Cavalier lads +and no crop-eared curmudgeons. Why, we were in the thick of them with +sword and pistol before they had stayed from snuffling their psalms +of welcome." + +Brilliana held out her hand again for her cousin's hand and clasped +it manfully. + +"How rich is the ring of victory in your loyal voice," she sighed. +"My last public news was of the King's stay at Shrewsbury. Then these +curmudgeons raced hot-foot from Cambridge to pull down my flag. But +'This is Loyalty House,' says I, and 'Go to the devil,' says +I--forgive me, sirs, if I raged unmaidenly--and I slammed the door +in their sour faces. Then came such a tintamar, rebels firing on us, +we firing on rebels, and so in such noise and thunder we have been +eclipsed out of the world these weary days." + +"Never were such days better lived through since the world began," +said Rufus. "You do well to call this Loyalty House which has held +out so well against the King's enemies." + +Brilliana now turned to where Halfman stood apart, his hands resting +on the hilt of his sword, and the shadow of a frown on his forehead +as he eyed the babbling gallants. + +"That Loyalty House should hold out so long as it could was from the +first my purpose," she said. "But that it was able to hold out so +long as it did was greatly due to the courage and the counsels of +this brave gentleman." + +As she spoke she pointed to Halfman, whose dark face flushed with +pleasure as he gave back the stares of the astonished Cavaliers who +up to now had left him unnoticed. + +"Gentles," she went on, "this is Captain Halfman, who warned me of my +danger, who helped me in my peril with his soldier's knowledge and +his soldier's sword, and who was of my own mind rather to die than to +surrender Harby." + +Halfman strode forward with a studied grace. He felt like +Faulconbridge; he felt like Harry at Agincourt; he felt like +Coriolanus; he felt exceedingly happy. + +"Gallants," he said, with a magnificent salutation, "to have served +this lady makes a man know how it had seemed to serve Alexander or +Cæsar. Wherefore, a soldier of good-fortune salutes you." + +Rufus, who had watched him with something of a sullen eye from the +moment of Brilliana's introduction, now answered him with a clearer +countenance. + +"We greet you, sir," he said, gravely, "with great gratitude and +great envy, for, indeed, there is none among us who would not have +given his life to be lieutenant to this lady." He accorded the +beaming Halfman a military salute, and then, turning to Brilliana, +continued: + +"Bright Brilliana, your servants and swains yearned to ride to your +help when we heard of your peril, but we could not leave the King in +the beginning of his enterprise. He gave us glad leave after the +victory. 'Tell the brave lady,' he said, 'she shall be our viceroy in +Oxfordshire.'" + +Brilliana's cheeks blazed with pleasure. "Oh, the dear man," she +cried, with clasped hands of rapture. But there was more to come. + +"I think," continued Rufus, "it is more than likely that his Majesty +will visit Harby--I should say Loyalty House--ere he rides to +London." + +Brilliana thrilled with pride--with pleasure. The air about her +seemed to swoon with music, to be sweet as roses, to be spangled with +golden motes. + + + + +X + +PRISONER OF WAR + + +"I rejoice," she answered, in a voice unsteady with happiness--such +might have been the voice of Semele at the coming of her god--"I +rejoice that Loyalty House boasts a roof to shelter his Majesty. For +I was minded to blow the place to pieces rather than yield it to this +gentleman who would so speciously persuade me to surrender." + +As she spoke she glanced disdainfully in the direction of Evander +Cloud, who now for the first time since the irruption of the +Cavaliers became in any sense an object of public interest. None of +the new-comers had paid any heed to the sombre-habited prisoner; +Halfman had forgotten his captive in his jealous study of the men who +had raised the siege; Thoroughgood, with the Puritan's sword resting +idly on his left arm, was as absorbed in the converse of Sir Rufus +and his comrades as were his subordinates Garlinge and Clupp, who, +though they gripped their prisoner tightly, were as indifferent to +his existence as if he had been the turbaned dummy of a quintain. +But now on the instant every glance was turned on Evander, and Sir +Rufus, eying him with much disfavor, asked of Brilliana, "Who is your +prisoner?" + +Evander made a step forward unrestrained by his guards, and answered +for himself composedly. + +"I am Captain Cloud, of the parliamentary army, snared under a flag +of truce." + +He was so well restrained in his speech and carriage, so quiet a +contrast to the heated gentlemen who glared at him, that to an +uninformed observer he might very well have seemed the judge rather +than the one on trial. Rufus snapped at him like an angry dog. + +"Well, you tub-thumper, you see that the gentlemen of England are +more than a match for pestilent pennyweight rebels." + +Evander surveyed his truculent opponent with a tranquil contempt +which had its effect in increasing the irritation of the Cavalier. + +"You play the valiant braggart to a captive," he commented, quietly. +Then he turned to Brilliana as one who had no further desire for +treaty with a fellow of this kind. + +"Let me remind you, lady, that I came here under a flag of truce." + +Brilliana had forgotten Evander in the exhilaration of her relief. +But now that he had come into her mind again, so with his image had +flooded in again all the prejudices he provoked, the scorn, the +hatred. + +"That plea cannot release you," she answered, hotly. "Your time was +up, your sword was drawn; I am very sure you would have joined your +men." + +Evander, whose arms were now released from bondage by Garlinge and +Clupp, made a gesture of absolute acquiescence. + +"I am very sure I should have joined my men," he answered, calmly. +Brilliana rounded on him triumphant. + +"Then you are a prisoner of war, fairly taken. Let me have no more +words." + +As indifferent to her words as to the angry carriage of the +Cavaliers, Evander stepped tranquilly back to his place between his +warders. + +"I have no more words to waste," he said, with a scorn in his voice +that stung Brilliana's cheeks to crimson. She turned hurriedly to the +little knot of Cavaliers, who chafed at having to witness what they +held to be the presumption of a Puritan in daring to bandy words with +a lady of quality. + +"Gallants," she said, "this merry meeting calls for its baptism of +wine." As she spoke she struck upon the bell, shrewdly confident that +her wishes would be met. "Wine," she added, "the more precious that +it is wellnigh the last in our cellars." + +As the Cavaliers came about her applauding with word and look, the +doors of the banqueting-room parted and Mrs. Satchell entered, full +of pomp and apple-red with pleasure, followed by Shard bearing a tray +of glasses, and by pretty, dimpling Tiffany bearing a goodly flagon +of wine and observing with demure approbation the covey of King's +gentlemen. + +Mistress Satchell swam like a gall on towards the Cavaliers, her +great, red, spoon-shaped face damp with satisfaction. Playing at +heroine behind bombarded walls was all very well, but greeting of +timely gentry who had set heroines free was infinitely better. + +"Heaven bless you, merry gentlemen," she chirruped. "Here is a cup of +comfort for you." + +"Heaven bless you, merry matron," Bardon answered, as soberly as he +could, for indeed the sight of Mistress Satchell in her Sunday best +and in her most coming-on humor was not of a nature to strengthen +sobriety. Lord Fawley gasped as the virago swaggered towards his +companions, and young Ingrow popped his handkerchief into his mouth +and bit at it while he stared with eyes of nursery wonder at the +dame. Radlett winked as if dazzled by the whimsical apparition, and +Sir Rufus, familiar with Mrs. Satchell and her vagaries, was the only +member of his party who kept his countenance unchanged on her +entrance. + +Brilliana was sympathetically swift to explain her astonishing +handwoman. + +"Gentles," she said, "this is Mistress Satchell, who queens it in +times of peace over my kitchen, but who has proved herself my very +valiant adjutant during the siege." + +The dame bridled with pride. + +"I can handle a pike, my lords, I promise ye," she asserted; and +then, turning to Halfman for confirmation, "Can I not, Master +Halfman?" + +Halfman slapped his thigh approvingly and answered to the Cavalier +with grave voice and smiling eyes. + +"Never was pike so handled before, I promise ye." + +The tone of his voice mimicked Mrs. Satchell's manner even as the +words of it aped her matter, but the dame was too pleased with +herself and the world to heed what it was that set the gentlemen +laughing. + +"So, so," Radlett hummed approval. "Mrs. Satchell, will you ride with +me to the King?" + +Mrs. Satchell dipped him a swimming reverence, but she shook her head +decisively. + +"Your honor means well, but I cannot leave my lady. The Roundheads +might come again." + +The Lord Fawley had by this seen his glass filled by Tiffany and was +staring boldly into her pretty face, much to the exasperation of +honest Thoroughgood, chafing in the background. + +"Do you handle a pike, prettikins?" Fawley asked. Prettikins dropped +him a courtesy and shook her curls. + +"No, my lord," she whispered, "I am not very soldierly." + +It was now Ingrow's turn to have his glass filled and to stare +admiration at the pretty serving-woman. + +"If you have a mind to enlist," he said, temptingly, "you shall be +ensign in my troop and we'll carry your kirtle for a flag." + +Whether Mrs. Satchell considered that Tiffany was like to be +embarrassed by the attentions of the gentry, or whether she +considered that those attentions diverted too much notice from +herself as the heroine of the servants' hall, she certainly came to +the rescue, edging her bulk between the girl and Ingrow. + +"She is too green for your grace," she insisted. "You need a fine +woman like me for your flag-bearer." + +Even Ingrow's readiness found him something at a loss for an answer. +He looked as if he feared lest dame Satchell might take him in an +embrace. Brilliana, now that all the glasses were charged, decided +that the company had tasted enough of Mrs. Satchell's humors. + +"I thank you, Mistress Satchell," she said, quietly, and Mrs. +Satchell, rightly reading in the tones of her mistress's voice +permission to retire, withdrew in good order, beaming and bobbing to +all the gentlemen and followed by Shard and Tiffany, who, with lids +demurely lowered, avoided recognition of the admiring glances of +Fawley and Ingrow. + +Brilliana turned to her company and lifted her glass. + +"Drink, gentles," she summoned. "Drink 'The King!'" + +All the Cavaliers shouted the loyal toast so that the words "The +King!" seemed to ring in every nook of the great hall; then every +Cavalier drained his glass. + +"Ah," sighed Lord Fawley, as he set down his empty vessel, "I could +drink the King's health forever." + +"I swear it would sweeten sour ale," Bardon declared. + +Young Ingrow took him up. "When it floats on such noble tipple I am a +god-swilling nectar." Halfman slapped his chest. + +"Come, lads!" he cried; "when Cavaliers drink the King's health they +should sing the King's song," and in another moment his mellow voice +was setting his friends a sturdy example. "Gallants of England," he +warbled: + + "Gallants of England, shall not the King land + Safely in town to knock Parliament down? + Shall we not ever strive to endeavor + Glory to win for our King and our crown? + Shall not the Roundhead soon be confounded? + Sa, sa, sa, sa, boys, ha, ha, ha, ha, boys, + Then we'll return home in triumph and joy. + Then we'll be merry, drink sack and sherry, + And we will sing, boys, God save the King, boys, + Cast up our hats, and sing Vive le Roy." + + + + +XI + +AT BAY + + +Brilliana and the Cavaliers, stirred by the enthusiasm of Halfman's +stanza, caught up the cry commanded and sent it rolling through the +hall. + +"Vive le Roy! God bless the King!" they shouted, with the loyal tears +in their eyes. Brilliana gave Halfman a grateful smile. + +"Well sung, well done," she approved. Halfman glowed. Sir Rufus +frowned a little. Turning hurriedly to his companions, he said: + +"Friends, I have another toast for you. I give you the King's sweet +warrior, Oxfordshire's blithe viceroy, 'The Lady of Loyalty House.'" + +"Never a better toast in the world," Halfman shouted. "Drink, +gallants, drink." + +Brilliana crossed her fingers before her face. Through the living +lattice her eyes peeped brightly. + +"I protest you make too much of me," she pleaded, while Halfman and +the Cavaliers quickly filled their glasses again and lifted them +high in air. A chorus of "The Lady of Loyalty House!" rang out, and +again the toast was honored. + +"I thank you with all my heart," Brilliana panted, blushing and +excited at the tumult and the praise. There was a moment's silence. +Everything worth saying seemed to have been said, everything worth +doing to have been done. Suddenly, in that silence, Bardon caught +sight of Evander where he stood apart, disdainful, between his +guards, and the sight pricked his wits. Turning to his mates, he +thumbed at the prisoner over his shoulder. + +"Should we not make the crop-ear yonder pledge the Lady of Loyalty +House?" he questioned. Radlett rubbed approving hands. + +"Well thought. Let him honor his conqueror," he began. The Lord +Fawley tripped him up with a new proposal. + +"Stop, stop; not so fast," he protested. "The fellow has not pledged +the King yet. Let him drink the King's health first and be damned to +him." + +The others applauded, but Ingrow, noting a certain sterner tightening +of Evander's mouth, interrupted. + +"I'll wager he will not drink," he said, looking maliciously from the +flushed faces of the Cavaliers to the pale face of the Puritan. +Rufus's temper blazed instantly. + +"Will not drink, say you!" he cried. "This mewcant shall pledge at +our pleasure or taste our displeasure." + +He strode to the table, filled a cup of wine, and set it down on the +corner nearest to Evander. + +"Come, you Roundpoll," he continued--"come, you Geneva mumbler, here +is a cup for you to wash down the dust of your dry thoughts. Drink, I +give you 'The King.'" + +Evander gazed steadfastly at the irate gentleman and made no motion +to take the wine. Brilliana, from where she stood, watching him +curiously, wrestled with a reluctant admiration of his carriage. +Ingrow commented, smoothly, maliciously: + +"You see, the gentleman does not drink." + +Ingrow's words fanned the Cavalier fire. + +"Damn him for a disloyal rat!" Radlett shouted. Halfman elbowed his +way past him and addressed Rufus. + +"Sweet Sir Rufus," he said, "I have lived in places where a little +persuasion has often led folk to act much against their personal +inclinations and desires. Out swords and force the toast." + +As he spoke he drew his sword with his best Mercutio manner, and the +suggestion and the naked steel carried contagion. Every gentleman +unsheathed his sword; all advanced upon Evander, a line of shining +points. + +"Bait him, bait him!" Bardon shouted. + +Ingrow shrilled, "Tickle him, prick him, pink him till he drinks!" + +Though Evander surveyed his enemies as composedly as if they had been +children threatening him with pins, Brilliana knew that the spirit of +mischief was alive and that the Cavaliers would not boggle at +cruelty, six to one, for the sport of making a Parliament man honor +the King against his will. She hated the man, but she would not have +him so handled. Instantly she stepped between Evander and the +Cavaliers, who fell back with lowered points before their hostess. + +"Wait, sirs," she ordered, "let me see if my entreaties will not make +the bear more gracious." + +She took up the cup where Rufus had set it down, and, coming close to +Evander, held the vessel to him with her sweetest smile, the smile +which, she had been assured a thousand times, would tame a savage and +shatter adamant. "Will you not pledge the best gentleman in England?" +she asked, with a voice all honey. + +Very courteously Evander took the proffered cup from her fingers and +gave her back her smile. Brilliana's heart thrilled with pleasure at +this new proof of beauty's victory. + +"I will drink at your wish," he said, looking at her with a quiet +smile and speaking as if he and she were alone together in the great +hall. "I will drink at your wish, but with my own wit." Still looking +into the gratified eyes of Brilliana, he lifted the cup. + +"I drink," he cried, loud and clear, "to the best man in England. I +drink to Colonel Cromwell." + +He drained the glass and sent it crashing into the fireplace. Then he +folded his arms and faced his antagonists. + +Brilliana's heart seemed for a second to stand still. So beauty had +not triumphed, after all. Dimly, as one in a dream, she could hear +the fury of the Cavaliers find words. + +"You black Jack, I will clip your ears," Rufus promised. + +"Blood him. Blood him," bawled Fawley. + +"Slit his nose," Radlett suggested. + +"Duck him in the horse-pond," suggested Bardon. + +"Set him in the stocks," Ingrow advised. + +Halfman, seeing how Brilliana leaned against the table, her face +pale as her smock, raged at her daring denier. He stretched out his +sword as if to marshal and restrain the passions of the Cavaliers. + +"Would it not be properer sport, sirs," he asked, "to tie him in a +chair, like Guido Fawkes on November day, and take him through the +village that loyal lads may pelt a traitor?" + +Once again Halfman's pleasant invention pleased the fancy of his +allies. + +"Well said," assented Rufus. "Fetch a rope, some one." + +Brilliana, hearing, moved a little forward. She had failed and felt +shamed. Yet this thing must not happen. She could not leave her enemy +thus to the mercy of his enemies. But what she would have said was +stayed by a sudden diversion. + +Interest in all the events that had so swiftly passed before them had +gravely relaxed the vigilance of Evander's guardians. Garlinge and +Clupp--a strong Gyas and a strong Cloanthes--open-eyed and +open-mouthed, were open-handed also and clawed no clutch upon their +prisoner's shoulder. Thoroughgood, confused between jealous thoughts +of Tiffany and envious admiration of the manner in which Halfman +handled the gentry, was as heedless as his inferiors, and was +therefore taken too much by surprise to offer the slightest +resistance when Evander, suddenly springing from between his guards, +snatched from his supine arms the captured sword that had been +intrusted to his keeping. Before he or any other of the astonished +spectators could take any action Evander had leaped lightly into the +alcove of the window, and, dragging by main force the heavy table in +front of him, so as to blockade his corner, showed himself snugly +intrenched behind a rampart which his single sword might well hope to +hold at least for some time against the swords of half a dozen +assailants. + +"You will find me a spoil sport," he cried, cheerily, as he stood on +guard behind the massive bulk of oak. "Dogs, here is a hart at bay; +beware his antlers." + +"Bravely done, rebel," Brilliana cried, aloud, as if in spite of +herself, as she beheld the reckless deed, and "Bravely done, rebel," +Halfman echoed, in his reluctant turn, as he heard his lady's words +and saw the light of praise on his lady's face. Though he hated the +Puritan as cordially as if he had been a King's man all his days, he +could not deny his courage, and his scene of effective action made +him wish himself in Evander's place, taking the stage so skilfully +and dominating the situation. But above all this, if Brilliana +applauded the rebel's act, then the rebel's life was of some value, +and until he received his lady's orders the rebel's life should be +sacred to Halfman. So he struck up with his sword the pikes that +Garlinge and Clupp levelled, clumsily enough, and were preparing to +thrust at Evander over the interposing barrier. At the same moment +Rufus, for a very different reason, restrained the action of his +comrade Cavaliers, who were making ready for a combined rush, sword +in hand, upon their enemy. Rufus saw instantly how well intrenched +their enemy lay; it would be hard for any sword to reach him across +that width of oak, and even push of pike, when delivered by such +loutish fingers as now governed those weapons, might easily be +parried by a swordsman so skilful as he guessed Evander to be. But +there was no generosity towards a brave adversary in Rufus's action. +In his hot ferocity he merely wished to make sure of his quarry as +quickly as possible. + +"You shall be no hart-royal," he answered, fiercely, taking up the +hunter's challenge. "You shall not escape. We shall sound the mort of +the deer in a moment. Give me your gun, fellow." + +This last command was addressed to Thoroughgood, who had brought his +musketoon to the ready and was waiting irresolute for command. Sir +Rufus snatched the weapon from him and was about to aim at Evander +when, to his rage, Brilliana stepped between him and his mark. + +"Stay your hand, Sir Rufus," she commanded, with a frown on the fair +face to which the color had now returned. "It is for me, and for me +only, to give orders here. This is my prisoner, and were he ten times +a Roundpoll he should have honest handling." + +Sir Rufus would fain have protested, would fain have carried his +point, but he saw that in the face of her whom it was his heart's +desire to please which reduced him to sullen obedience. He shrugged +his shoulders. "As you please," he muttered, as he returned the gun +to Thoroughgood and, turning on his heel to hide his vexation, joined +his comrades, who seemed all to share, discomfited, in his rebuke, +and to deprecate the anger of Brilliana. Brilliana went up to the +table, and, poising herself against it by pressing the palms of her +hands on its surface, looked with gracious entreaty into the grave +eyes of Evander, who lowered his sword in respectful greeting. + + + + +XII + +A USE FOR A PRISONER + + +"Sir," said Brilliana, "if you give me your parole you shall have the +freedom of Harby." + +Evander made her a ceremonious bow. + +"Lady, you seem to me to be the only true gentleman on your side of +this quarrel, so I will give you my word and my sword." + +Holding his sword by the blade, he extended it across the table to +Brilliana, whose hand caught its hilt with the firm grasp of one to +whom the manage of arms was not unfamiliar. As she stepped back with +her trophy Evander pushed the table aside to afford him passage from +his alcove, and, saluting the lady, took his former place between his +warders. Brilliana returned his salutation with a murmured "It is +well." Rufus, disengaging himself from the knot of discomfited +Cavaliers, moved towards her and addressed her with faintly +restrained impatience. + +"In Heaven's name," he begged, "set this Cantwell on one side if you +tender him so precious. I have private news for you." + +Brilliana's face wore something of a frown for her presuming friend. +"Indeed!" she answered, coldly. Then turning towards Halfman she +tendered to him Evander's sword, which he hastened to take from her, +kneeling as he did so. + +"Captain Cloud is in your care," she said. "Pray you, withdraw your +prisoner a little." + +Halfman rose, bearing Evander's sword, and went to Evander. + +"Will you come this way?" he bade his captive, courteously enough. If +Brilliana chose to trust a Roundhead's word, her will was Halfman's +law. Evander again saluted Brilliana and followed Halfman to the +farther part of the hall. Here in a window-seat, out of ear-shot of +the other's speech, he seated himself to commune with his melancholy +reflections, while Halfman, after stationing Thoroughgood at a little +distance as a nominal guard upon the prisoner, dismissed Garlinge and +Clupp from the room and rejoined the Cavaliers. Brilliana, who had +still been standing with Sir Rufus, now addressed the others. + +"Gentlemen," she said, "you must need sustenance after this morning's +work. You will find such poor cheer as Harby can offer in the +banqueting-hall. Captain Halfman, will you play the host for me?" + +The Cavaliers, who were, indeed, sharp-set and ever-ready +trenchermen, welcomed the proposal each after his own fashion. + +"Indeed," averred the Lord Fawley, "I would say good-day to a pasty." +"Ay," assented Radlett, "well met, beef or mutton." Ingrow +euphemized, "I shall be well content with bread and cheese and +dreams," as he glanced admiration at Brilliana. Bardon grunted, "I +would sell all my dreams for a slice of cold boar's head." + +Halfman addressed them in the character of Father Capulet. "We have a +trifling foolish banquet towards." He turned towards the doors of the +banqueting-room with the famished gentlemen at his heels; then, +noticing that Sir Rufus remained with Brilliana, he stopped and +questioned him. "You, sir, will you not eat?" + +Rufus answered him with an impatience that was almost anger. "No, +no," he said; "I have no hunger. Stay your stomachs swiftly, +friends." + +He turned again to Brilliana, and stood opposite to her in silence +till Halfman and the Cavaliers had quitted the hall. Then Brilliana +spoke. + +"Well, good news or bad?" + +"Bad," Rufus answered. "Your cousin Randolph is a captive." + +Brilliana gave a little cry of regret. + +"Bad news, indeed! How did it chance?" + +"In the battle," Rufus answered. "The King's standard-bearer was +slain and the King's flag fell into the rebel hands." + +Brilliana clasped her hands with a sigh, and would have spoken, but +Rufus stayed her, hurrying on with his tale. + +"That could not be endured, dear lady. So in the dusk Randolph and I +put orange scarfs about us that we might be taken for rogues of +Essex's regiment, and so, unchallenged, slipped into the enemy's +camp. Dear fortune led me to the tent of Lord Essex, and there I +found his secretary sitting and gaping at the precious emblem. I +snatched it from his fingers and made good my escape, gaining great +praise from his Majesty when I laid the sacred silk at his feet." + +Brilliana's eyes swam with adoration. "Oh, my gallant friend!" she +cried, and held out her hands to him. He caught them both and kissed +them, whereat she instantly withdrew them and moved a little away. He +followed her, speaking low, passionately. + +"Your words mean more than the King's words to me. You know that." + +Brilliana did not look vastly displeased at this wild speech, but she +forced a tiny frown and set her finger to her lips. + +"Hush!" she said. "What of Randolph?" + +"Less fortunate than I," Rufus resumed, in calmer tones, "he ran into +the arms of a burly Parliament man, that Cambridge Crophead Mr. +Cromwell, who made him prisoner." + +"Truly," said Brilliana, thoughtfully, "it is hard luck for him just +after his first battle. But 'twill be soon mended. They will exchange +him." + +Even as she spoke she seemed surprised at the gloomy look that +reigned on Rufus's face. His tone was as gloomy as his face as he +said, "He was wearing the orange scarf of Essex." + +"What then?" Brilliana questioned, still surprised; then, as +knowledge flashed upon her, she cried, quickly, "Ah, they will say +that he was a spy." + +"Ay," Rufus answered, hotly, "the King's spy, God's spy upon enemies +of God and King, but still a spy in their eyes." + +"But what is to be done?" Brilliana gasped. + +"I would that I knew," Rufus answered. "His Majesty has interceded +for him and has gained him some days of grace. It is certain that my +Lord Essex, if he had his own way, would yield him. But he has not +his own way, for this stubborn Cromwell fellow clings to his +prisoner." + +"Why is he so stubborn?" Brilliana asked. Rufus smiled sourly. + +"Partly because, like all new-made soldiers, he is punctilious of the +rules of war. Partly because he hopes to turn his capture to some +account. Poor Randolph had upon him a letter in cipher from the King +to a certain lord. Randolph may buy his life with the key to the +cipher." + +"He will never do that," Brilliana said, in proud confidence of the +courage of her house. She was silent for a moment; then she gave a +little cry of joy. "I think I can save him," she exclaimed. Rufus +stared at her as if she had lost her wits. + +"Why, what can you do?" he asked, astonished. Brilliana answered with +a glance of profound wisdom. "I think I know a way," and she nodded +her head sagely. Then she turned and moved a little space across the +hall in the direction of that window-seat where Evander sat +ensconced. When she had advanced two or three paces she called to +him: + +"Captain Cloud, pray favor me with your company for a few moments of +speech." + +Evander's consciousness swam to the surface of a pool of gloomy +thought at her summons. He rose on the instant and came down the hall +towards her. + +"I am at your service, lady," he said. Brilliana watched him closely +as she questioned. + +"You say you are a friend of Mr. Cromwell?" + +Evander seemed surprised at the interrogation, but he answered, +simply, "I am so favored." + +"Does he cherish you in affection?" Brilliana pursued, still watching +him closely. + +"He loved my father," said Evander. "If I dared to think it I should +say he loved me, too. Truly, he has shown me much regard." + +Brilliana struck her palms sharply together with the air of one who +has solved a difficult problem. + +"Your Mr. Cromwell has taken prisoner a cousin of mine whom he +threatens to kill as a spy. We will exchange you against Mr. +Cromwell's prisoner." + +Evander looked steadily back at her with a hint of mild amusement at +the corners of his mouth. + +"Colonel Cromwell will never exchange a spy," he responded, +decisively. + +Rufus, who was listening to the conference, nodded his head in gloomy +assent. "That is like enough," he agreed. Brilliana stamped a foot +and her eyes snapped vexation. + +"We shall see," she said, sharply. She turned away from the two men +and moved to a small table against the wall that carried writing +materials. Seating herself thereat, she took up a goose-quill and +began to write rapidly on a large sheet of paper. When she had +finished she looked round, and beckoned Rufus to her side that he +might hear what she had written. She read it aloud, with her eyes +fixed on Evander's impassive face. + + "To Colonel Cromwell, serving with my Lord Essex in the + Parliamentary army lately at Edgehill. My cousin, Sir + Randolph Harby, is a prisoner in your hands. Your friend, + Mr. Evander Cloud, is a prisoner in mine. I will exchange my + prisoner for your prisoner; but the life of Mr. Evander + Cloud is answerable for the life of Randolph Harby. Such is + the sure promise and steadfast vow of his cousin and the + King's true subject, Brilliana Harby." + +As she read, the dour face of Rufus brightened, and he rubbed his +hands in satisfaction at the close. + +"By the Lord, an honest thought," he chuckled. "Swing Randolph, swing +rat-face." + +Evander smiled disdainfully. + +"I am no spy," he asserted, firmly, "and by the laws of war you have +no right to my life." + +Brilliana turned on him tauntingly. + +"You were taken a rebel in arms and your life is at my mercy." + +"Then," said Evander, calmly, "add to your letter my wish that +Colonel Cromwell take no thought of me." + +Brilliana stamped impatiently. + +"I am not your secretary," she said, sharply. + +"It does not matter," Evander answered, smoothly. "Colonel Cromwell +will follow the laws of war." + +"I am sorry for you if he do," Brilliana declared. "We shall test the +strength of Colonel Cromwell's love." She called, loudly, "John +Thoroughgood." + +Thoroughgood advanced to her from where he stood removed. + +"Ride with a white flag," Brilliana went on; "ride hard to my Lord +Essex's army, wherever it may be. Where is my Lord Essex, Rufus?" + +"They have retired, I think, upon Warwick," Rufus said, doubtfully. + +"Well," Brilliana continued, "to the rebel army, wherever you can +find it. Deliver this letter into the hands of Colonel Cromwell. +Bring back his answer swiftly. Ride as if you were riding for your +life." + +Thoroughgood saluted, took the letter, and turned to go. Brilliana +stopped him. + +"First quarter Captain Cloud in the west room, and see him well +tended." + +Evander bowed. + +"I thank you," he said, and followed Thoroughgood out of the room. +Brilliana turned to Rufus. + +"I trust you will all feast here to-night." + +Rufus shook his head sadly. + +"Tears in my eyes and heart, but not possible. We join the King +to-night for Banbury." He came close to her and spoke low. "Bright +Brilliana, will you not give me your golden promise ere I go?" + +"You must not ask that yet," Brilliana pleaded. "I must know my own +mind." + +Sir Rufus banged his hands together. + +"By God, I know mine, and my mind is to win you if I have to kill a +regiment of rivals." + +Brilliana pretended to shudder at his ferocity. + +"Lord! you are a very violent lover." + +Rufus did not deny her. + +"I am a very earnest lover, a very desperate lover." + +Brilliana made a gesture of protest. + +"Fie, this is no love-talk time, when the King is fighting. Ride, +gallant Rufus, come back with loyal laurels and the flags of canting +rebels, and see how I shall welcome you." + +Rufus caught her hands. + +"Must I be content with this?" he asked, hotly. + +"You must be content with this," Brilliana replied, coolly. "Here +come your brothers-in-arms." + +The doors of the banqueting-hall opened, and Fawley, Radlett, Bardon, +Ingrow, and Halfman came in, all brighter for wine and food. + +"'Tis boot and saddle, Rufus," Fawley cried. + +"I am yours," Rufus answered. He bowed over Brilliana's fingers. +"Farewell, lady." + +One and all they turned and left her, and as they tramped into the +air the chorus of the Cavalier song came back to her happy ears. + + "And we will sing, boys, God bless the King, boys, + Cast up your hats, and cry Vive le Roy." + + + + +XIII + +A GILDED CAGE + + +Evander awoke in a strange world steeped in lavender. It was long +since he had lain so soft, long since he had drifted out of dreams to +breathe lavender. His pleased senses, less alert for very ease and +pleasure, denied him immediate knowledge of his whereabouts. He saw a +fair room, well appointed; he welcomed the morning sunlight through +delicate, unfamiliar curtains; he questioned the insisting +deliciousness of lavender. Where was he? What was this chamber of +calm panelled in pale oak? It was not Leyden, it was not Cambridge; +then in a flash he knew. It was the west room at Harby--Harby where +he lay a prisoner on parole, Harby which he had tried to take and +which had ended by taking him. He leaped from his bed instantly, well +awake, well alive, and gaining the window peeped through the parted +curtains. He looked out across the moat on the terrace to the rear of +Harby, beyond which lay the spacious gardens for which Harby was held +famous. His men had held that terrace twenty-four hours earlier; now +they had vanished as if they had never been, save for the testimony +of the trampled grass. In their place a solitary figure sat on a +baluster drinking smoke contemplatively from a pipe of clay. Evander +knew him for Halfman--knew, too, that Halfman watched there for him, +for the moment the curtains parted the sitter rose and, advancing +towards the edge of the moat, waved and voiced salutation to Evander. + +"Give you good-morning, gallant capitano," he called. "Jocund day +stands on the top of yon high eastern hill. Will it please your +worthiness to be stirring?" + +"Very willingly," Evander called back. "Have I overslept?" + +Halfman made a gesture of protestation. + +"Nay, nay," he answered. "Your time is your own nag here, to amble, +pad, or gallop as you choose. Have I your permission to wait upon you +in your apartment?" + +On Evander's assurances that nothing would afford him greater +pleasure, Halfman favored him with a military salute, and, crossing +the moat by the now restored bridge, disappeared inside the house. +Evander hastened to clothe himself, a task which he had but partially +accomplished when the drumming of a pair of hands upon the door +informed him that his custodian waited at the threshold. He opened +the door, and Halfman walked in wearing for the occasion a manner in +which good-fellowship and condescension, with the consideration of a +noble victor for a noble vanquished, were artfully blended and +emphatically interpreted. He held out his hand for Evander's and gave +to it a martial pressure. + +"A soldier should ever be abroad betimes," he asserted. "Wherefore I +applaud your rising." + +Evander inquired again, somewhat anxiously, if he had been expected +to appear before, which again Halfman denied. + +"Since you have passed your parole," he affirmed, "Harby Hall is +Liberty Hall for you as far as to the park limits. I would have +battered at your door ere this, but I respected your first sleep in a +strange bed, wherein often a bad night makes a late matins. Can you +break your fast?" + +Evander answering that he could, Halfman called upon him to follow, +and led the way into an adjoining room, which was, so he assured +Evander, set at his disposal during the period of his stay. The room, +like the bedchamber, was panelled of oak, was handsomely furnished, +and its long windows, which occupied almost the entirety of one wall, +afforded the same view of terrace and garden that Evander had already +seen. Much had been newly done, so Evander could see, to brighten and +cheer the place. A bowl of royal roses stood on the buffet, and +Evander smiled at the delicate defiance. In the alcove of the +window-seat a number of books were piled, books that had patently +been newly dusted, and Evander, glancing at these, found that they +were all theological, an attention which made him smile. A table +decked with lily-white linen and silver furniture bore preparations +for a meal. + +"Here, sir," said Halfman, cheerfully, "for some few hours of flying +time, you are, in a word, king of the castle. These rooms are yours +to eat in, read in, pray in, sleep in--what you please. None shall +disturb your privacy without your leave." + +Evander guessed that his hostess had found this way of treating him +well and yet keeping her from his presence. There was bitterness in +the thought that she must needs hate him so deeply. It may be that +something of the bitterness of the thought asserted itself on +Evander's face, and that Halfman misread it thinking he read the +prisoner's thoughts clearly. + +"Do not think," he proceeded, "that you are cabined and cribbed to +these walls. All Harby Park is your pleasant paradise when you are +pleased to walk abroad, and after you have broken your fast I shall +be pleased to guide you through its glories. And now, will you that I +eat with you? I have kept myself fasting, or wellnigh fasting, till +now, but if you would rather break your bread in solitude say, +without offence given, what I shall hear without offence taken." + +Evander assured his companion that he desired his company of all +things. Indeed, had Halfman been other than he was, Evander would +have preferred any companionship that kept him from his melancholy +thoughts. And already Halfman attracted him, or at least interested +him. His fantastical manner, his fluent speech, his assurance, and +that note of something foreign, odd, as characteristic, as +conclusive, as the scorch of foreign suns upon his face, appealed to +the curiosity in Evander which ever made men books for him. Halfman's +manner grew more expansive at Evander's ready acceptance of his +offer. He was now the magnificent host, soldier still, but soldier at +his ease, and he played at Lord of Harby with enthusiasm. + +"You are in the right," he said. "It is ill for man to sit alone at +meat, for it encourages whimsical humors and the mounting of +crudities to the brain. A flagon is twice a flagon that is shared by +camerados, and who can praise a pasty to himself with only dumb walls +to echo his plaudits? And here in good time come flagon and pasty, +both." + +The door had opened as he spoke, and Mistress Satchell came into the +room, followed by a brace of serving-men who bore on trays the +materials for an ample repast. Halfman eyed the viands with approval, +while Evander returned gravely Mrs. Satchell's florid bobs and +greetings. + +"I saw to it last night," he went on, "that Harby was revictualled. +You pinched us, sir, you pared us; our larder was as lean as a +stork's leg, but to-day we can eat our fill." + +And, indeed, the table now being spread by Mrs. Satchell's directions +bore out the assertion of Halfman. Jolly, white loaves, a grinning +boar's head, a pasty with a golden dome, a ham the color of a pink +flower, and a dish of cold game tempted hunger where flagons of white +wine and red wine tempted thirst. Halfman dismissed Mrs. Satchell +and her satellites affably. + +"We can wait upon ourselves," he averred. "We shall be more private +so," and he motioned Evander to a seat and took his own place +opposite. "Yes," he said, resuming the thread of his thought, as he +piled a plate for Evander, "you did your best to starve us; we must +not do the like by you." + +Evander smiled as he stayed the generosity of his host's hands and +accepted from his reluctance a plate less lavishly charged with +viands than Halfman had proposed to offer him. + +"Yet," he said, "I think I heard, no later ago than yesterday, much +clatter of dishes and much rattling of cups and all the sounds of +plenty." + +Halfman hurriedly bolted a goodly slice of ham lest it should choke +him while he laughed, which he now did heartily, lolling back in his +chair. He was honestly amused, and yet it seemed to Evander as if +there were something in his strange friend's mirth which was +carefully calculated to produce its effect. Indeed, Halfman, as he +laughed, was thinking of Sir John Falstaff's full-bodied thunders +over some ticklish misdoings of Bardolph or Nym. When he had enough +of his own performance, he allowed the laughter to die as suddenly as +it had dawned, and gave tongue. + +"That was the best jest in the world," he chuckled. "Clatter of +dishes, say you, and rattle of cups. Once, when I was in Aleppo, I +heard an old fellow in an Abraham beard telling a tale to a crowd of +Moors. I had not enough of their lingo to know why they laughed, but +one who was with me that had more Moorish told me the tale. It was of +one who invited a poor man to his house and pretended to feed him +nobly, naming this fair dish and that fine wine, and pressing meat +and drink upon him, while all the while, in very mockery, there was +neither bite in any platter nor sup in any bottle. Well, excellent +sir, our table of yesterday was in some such case." + +Evander nodded. "I guessed as much," he commented. "But, indeed, it +was bravely done." + +"It was bravely devised," Halfman asserted. "It was my lady's +thought. She would never let a rascally Roundhead--I crave your +pardon, she would never let an enemy--dream that we were in lack of +aught at Harby that could help us to serve the King." + +"Your lady is a very brave lady," Evander said, quietly. Halfman +caught at his words with a kind of cheer in his voice. + +"Hippolyta was not more valiant, nor Parthian Candace, nor French +Joan. She is the rose of the world, the fairest fair, the valiantest +valor. There is no wine in the world that is worthy to pledge her, +but we must do our best with what we have." + +He filled himself a spacious tankard as he spoke and drained it at a +draught. Evander listened to his ebullient praises in silence. He did +not think that the Lady of Harby should be so spoken of and by such +an one. Over-eating and especially over-drinking were ever +distasteful to him, and he took it that Halfman was on the high-road +to becoming drunk. But in this he was wrong. When Halfman set down +his vessel he was as sober as when he had lifted it, but of a sudden +a shade graver, as if Evander's silence had shadowed his boisterous +gayety. He pushed the beaker from him with a sigh, and then, seeing +that Evander's plate was empty, offered to ply him with more food. On +Evander's refusal he pushed back his chair. "Well," he said, "if your +stomach is stayed, are you for a stroll in the gardens--will you see +lawns and parks of fairyland?" + +Evander willingly acquiesced, and the strangely assorted pair rose +and quitted the chamber. They met Mistress Satchell on the threshold, +and Tiffany hiding slyly behind her highness. Evander smilingly +complimented Mistress Satchell on the excellence of her table, to the +good dame's great gratification. But much to Tiffany's indignation he +paid little heed to her pretty face. + + + + +XIV + +A PASSAGE AT ARMS + + +The vane of Halfman's attitude towards the captive had veered +strongly in the past half-hour. He had been ready to treat him well, +for such was Brilliana's pleasure; he was willing to make friends and +taste the agreeables of the magnanimous victor. But the conquered man +had gained no ground that morning in the heart of one of his +conquerors. He ate little, which Halfman pitied; he drank little, +which Halfman despised; and it was with a much-augmented disdain that +he beheld Evander dash his solitary cup with water. + +"Craftily qualified, curse him," he thought; "the fellow's a damned +Cassio, and will be fumbling with his right hand and his left in a +twinkle." + +In this he was disappointed; Evander's draught wrought no havoc in +his speech or demeanor; Halfman was more disappointed that the +prisoner took so coldly his laudations of his lady. + +"The Roundpoll is so mad to be mastered by a woman that he has not +enough gentility in his thin wits to spur him to a compliment." + +His hostile thoughts brewed in his heated brain-pan till their fumes +fevered him. As he led the way by stair and corridor, his mood for +quarrel grew the keener that he knew his choler could find no hope of +ventage with a prisoner committed to his care. And even as he thought +this, chance seemed to furnish him with some occasion for +satisfaction. They were passing by the open door of a room which had +long been used as a place of arms at Harby, and its walls were hung +with weapons of the time and weapons of an earlier generation. +Halfman had passed much time there with the brisker fellows of the +garrison, breaking them in to feats of weapon-play, and he smiled at +the memory and the magnitude of his own dexterity. He paused for a +moment at the threshold and looked round at Evander. + +"Here," he said, with a smile that was half a leer and an intonation +that was little less than a sneer--"here is a spot that will scarce +have enough attraction for your worship to merit your worship's +stay." + +Evander, who had been following his guide almost mechanically, +enveloped in his own gray reflections, took surprised note of his +companion's changed bearing. Up to now he had been civil enough, even +if his civility had not been of a quality greatly to Evander's +liking, yet now his blustering good-humor gave place to something +akin to deliberate offence. But he might be mistaken, and it was not +for a prisoner to snatch at straws of quarrel. Therefore he +protested, courteously: + +"Why should you think that a soldier takes no interest in a soldier's +tools?" + +Halfman gave a shrug to his shoulders that might or might not be +intended to annoy. + +"Your worship is too raw a soldier to know much of these same tickers +and tappers. Let us rather to the library for volumes of divinity." + +This time the intention to affront was so patent, so patent, too, +that Halfman's temper was getting the better of whatever discretion +he possessed, that Evander's face hardened, and yet for his own +reasons he still spoke mildly enough: + +"There is no need to call me worship, for I can claim no such title. +But I think I know something of these trinkets, and with your leave +will examine them." + +He passed by Halfman as he spoke and entered the room, where he +immediately busied himself in the examination of some of the weapons +displayed there, and apparently ignoring Halfman's existence. Halfman +watched him with a scowl for a moment and then followed him into the +room. + +"Your honor," he said--"since you will not be called worship--your +honor really has a use for these toys of gentlefolk?" + +Evander had taken a handsome Italian rapier from its case against the +wall, and, after glancing at its blade, was weighing and testing the +weapon in the air. As he gave Halfman no answer, the latter took up +the talk again, provocatively: + +"I cannot deny that your honor showed fight briskly enough yester +evening, but then it seemed little less than fight or die, and even a +rat, if you corner him, will snap for dear life. Moreover, you were +well ambushed, and there was a gentle lady present who would not see +a rat butchered unnecessarily." + +Evander, still weighing the fine Italian blade, turned to Halfman and +addressed him with an exasperating composure. + +"Friend," he said, "I have told you that I am not unacquainted with +arms. When I am a free man I enforce belief in my word. As it is--" + +He left his sentence uncompleted, and with a contemptuous shrug of +his shoulders proceeded on his journey round the room, still carrying +the Italian rapier in his hand. Under his tan Halfman's face blazed +and his eyes glittered, but he spoke with a forced calm and a feigned +civility: + +"Say you so much? Why, I believe your honor, surely. Yet, as they +say, seeing is believing, and if you are in the vein for a gentle and +joyous passage with buttoned arms, I that am here to entertain your +honor would not for the world's width gainsay you." + +Evander eyed him quietly. "Are you ready at fence?" he inquired. "I +shall be pleased to take a lesson from you." + +Halfman's heart warmed at his words. "The coney creeps towards the +gin," he thought, exultantly; then he answered, aloud: + +"Why, if you have a stomach for it you shall not be crossed. Here be +two buttoned rapiers, true twins--length, weight, workmanship. I will +beleather them in a twink. I promise you I would not hurt your +honor." + +"You are very good," Evander answered, gravely. Halfman was already +busy tying two large pads of leather the size of small oranges onto +the buttoned blades. While he was at work Evander occupied himself +with the contents of the room until Halfman, having finished his job, +advanced towards him with the weapons extended. Suddenly he paused. + +"Stop!" he said. "Let us make a wager on our game. I always play with +more heart so. Here is my stake." + +He began to fumble at his doublet, and presently produced from an +inner pocket a great thumb-ring with a ruby in it. + +"I gained that," he said, "at the sacking of a Spanish town. 'Tis +worth a pope's ransom. Set what you please against it." + +Evander lifted the ring from the table where Halfman placed it and +took it to the window to look at it closely. Presently he laid it on +the table again. + +"It is a goodly ring," he observed. "The setting is old and curious, +and the stone, though it has a slight flaw in it, as you have been +doubtless told before now, is worth more than any poor possessions I +have about my person. Wherefore I would rather we contended for +love." + +Halfman shook his head. He was a thought dashed by Evander's +discovery of the blemish in the stone, and he carried off his +discomfiture by bravado. + +"Nay, nay," he answered; "there is my stake. Set what you please +against it, were it no more than a silver groat. I do not ask to be +paid well for my lesson." + +Evander said nothing, but drew his purse from his pocket and laid it +on the table. Through the meshes Halfman could see the gleam of a few +pieces of gold, and the gleam cheered him, as it always did. He was +ever greedy of gold, and thought the death of Crassus not unkingly. + +"Choose your blade," he said. Evander, with a quick glance at the two +weapons, selected the one nearest to him, flung his hat onto a chair, +stripped off his doublet, and quietly waited for his adversary. +Halfman did not keep him long. He flung his hat and doublet on the +floor and advanced. + +"Are you ready?" he asked. Evander saluted in silence, and in another +moment the antagonists engaged and the mock duello began. Halfman +expected that it would be short, but it proved much shorter than he +expected. He was far too good a swordsman not to know when he had +encountered a better. The thing had not happened to him very often; +it happened very flagrantly now. In less than five minutes Evander +had placed the muffled button of his blade three times on Halfman's +person--once upon either breast, and the third time fair on the +forehead, just between the eyes. The last blow was so surely +delivered that had it been given with greater force it might have +knocked the receiver senseless. As it was, however, it was given with +such deliberate delicacy that, though Halfman's head hummed for the +moment and his eyes saw stars, he rallied quickly enough to stare at +Evander where he stood with lowered point and to tender him a +salutation of honest admiration. + +"Great Jove of glory!" he gasped; "who was it that ran liquid steel +into your spare body?" + +Evander smiled at the new change in his chameleon companion. + +"I learned a little fencing when I was in Paris," he admitted. "I +fear I was over-inclined for the pastime." + +"A little fencing!" Halfman ejaculated. "A little fencing! Why, man, +that botte between the eyes would have done for me, even if you had +not spitted both my lungs first. No one can ever say of you that you +held your sword like a dancer. Give me your hand--by God! I must grip +your hand." + +"Sir," said Evander, as the pair clasped hands with the hearty clasp +of true combatants, "you overpraise me; yet for your friendly +praises I have a favor to ask of you." + +"Name it and it is done," Halfman asseverated, with an oath, "were it +to pluck a purple hair for you from the beard of the Grand Cham +himself." + +"'Tis no such matter," Evander answered. "I do but entreat you of +your courtesy to take back your ring, for which in very truth I have +no use." + +Halfman protested a little for form's sake, then gave way, glad +enough to pouch his jewel again. + +"You are a gentleman," he declared. "Come, let us taste the air in +the gardens." + + + + +XV + +MY LADY'S PLEASAUNCE + + +The gardens of Harby were captain jewels in the crown of Oxfordshire. +From the terrace they spread in spaces of changeful beauty over many +acres of fruitful earth. Evander had seen to it that no further harm +was done to these lovely spaces than was inevitable for the conduct +of the siege. There were some in his company, hissing hot zealots, +who were all for laying violating hands upon the temples of Baal and +the shrines of Ashtaroth, by which Evander rightly interpreted them +to mean the pleasaunces of clipped yews, the rose bowers, the box +hedges, and the generous autumnal orchards. They were eager to show +their scorn of the Amalekites by the lopping of ancient trees and the +treading of colored blossoms under the heel of Israel. But Evander +was as firm as these were frantic, and the gardens of Harby smiled +through familiar process of sun and rain and dew, untroubled by the +daily rattle of musketry and the nightly tramp of sentinels. + +Evander reaped a reward for which he had not labored in his chivalry +to a belligerent and besieged lady. For the gardens that a conqueror +had preserved were now very fair indeed for a conquered man to walk +in. The October sun shone as if the royal triumph, yonder at Edgehill +and here at Harby, had rekindled summer on the chilling altar of the +year, and the hues of the lingering flowers flamed in the celestial +fires. + +If Evander's thoughts were sable, he did not allow them to stain the +fair day and his companion's gayety. Halfman swam now in the +extravagance of admiration for so miraculous a Puritan. Halfman loved +the apostles best on spoons of silver in a sea-bag swollen with loot, +but of the men he had the best word for Peter, who could use a sword +on occasion. And here was one of the saints on earth playing his +rapier as bravely as if he had been a gentleman born or gentleman +adventurer made, and had skimmed the seas and kissed and killed and +pilfered. + +He plied Evander, as they paced, with questions of swordsmanship and +schools of arms and masters, of the Italian method and the Spanish +method and the French method, and never caught his new Hector +tripping over a push or a parade. They moved over danceable lawns or +under the canopies of dim avenues, chattering of arms, till the soft +October air tingled with the names of famous fencers, and Halfman was +in fancy a lubber lad again at his first passado. + +But his wonder grew with their wanderings. They paused at the +bowling-green and played a game which Evander won. They visited the +stables where the horses now were rallied, that had lived hidden in +farm-yard and cottage garden during the siege. Here Halfman learned +that Evander liked hawks and loved horses, and knew their manage +better than himself. Had Evander proclaimed himself a whisperer, it +would not now have astonished Halfman. + +Again, as they passed by the orchard where Luke Gardener was busy, +Halfman must needs bring Luke and Evander acquainted, whereupon the +pair set straight to talking of garden talk and airing of weather +wisdom in speech long since to him as unfamiliar as Hebrew. Here +Evander's science wearied him, and he fairly dragged his captive +away, declaring that there was yet much to see more honorable than +herbs or brambles. Evander obeyed very contentedly, but they had not +moved many paces when Luke came hobbling after, and, catching +Halfman, drew him by the arm apart. + +"Is yonder truly a damnable Roundhead?" he questioned. Halfman nodded +his head. + +"Well," continued Luke, "for that he deserves to be hanged, and yet +he has taught me a trick of grafting roses which he says the Dutch +use that might serve to save a worser man from the gallows." + +Without a word Halfman shook his arm free and rejoined Evander, who +was moving slowly along a pathway leading towards an enclosure of +fantastically clipped yews. Hearing the footsteps behind him, Evander +halted till Halfman joined him. + +"How the devil came you to fathom flower knowledge?" Halfman asked. +Evander smiled faintly. + +"I would rather you unsaddled the devil from your question," he +answered, rebuking in his mind a woman; "but I have always loved +gardens. You have one here who is skilled in topiary," and he pointed +towards the trim yew hedge they were approaching. + +"Those are the green walls of my lady's pleasaunce," Halfman +answered, "and the learned in such trifles call them mighty fine. But +all I know of woodcraft is hatcheting me a path through virgin +forest." + +"Where, indeed, your topiarist would be ill at ease," Evander +answered. "But I pray you let us retire, lest we intrude upon your +lady." + +"Never fear for that," said Halfman. "My lady is busy enough in-doors +to-day, setting her house to rights, and you should not miss the +comeliest nook in all the domain." + +As he spoke he passed under an archway of clipped yew, and, Evander +following, the pair came upon a grassy space entirely girdled with +yew hedges, the sight of which instantly justified to Evander the +praise of his companion. The enclosure made a circle some half an +acre in size of the greenest turf imaginable, orderly bordered with +seats of white marble and belted all about with the black greenness +of the yew-tree hedge, which was fashioned like an Italian colonnade. +The arches afforded vistas of different and delightful prospects of +the park at every quarter of the card--woodland, savanna-like lawns, +flower-gardens, kitchen-gardens, and orchards in their pride. + +"This is a lovely place," protested Evander. "One might sit here and +dream of seeing the shy wood-nymphs flitting through these aisles--if +one had no better thoughts for one's idleness," he added. Halfman +laughed. + +"There peeped out the Puritan," he said. "I had lost him this long +while, but run him to earth in my lady's pleasaunce. Yet you are a +queer kind of Puritan, too. You can fence like a Frenchman, you can +play bowls as Father Jove plays with the globes of heaven, and you +can ride like Diomed, the jolly Greek, who knew that horses could be +stridden as well as driven." + +Evander, who had seated himself and had been tracing cabalistic signs +on the grass with his staff, looked up into his companion's face. + +"Are not you rather a queer kind of Cavalier," he asked, "if you +think that a Puritan must needs be a fool?" + +Halfman laughed back at him, and as he laughed he showed his teeth so +seeming white by contrast with his sunburned cheeks, and he seemed to +Evander more than ever like some half-tamed beast of prey. + +"You are no fool, Puritan," Halfman shouted, "or Heaven would not +have wasted its time in gracing you with such skill at sports. So +great with the rapier, so wise on the bias. No, no; you are no fool. +I am almost sad to think you quit us so soon, enemy though you be." + +While Halfman had been babbling, Evander had again been busy with his +staff. Halfman had paid no heed to his actions, being far too deep in +his own phrases. Had he been attentive he might have noticed that at +first Evander wrote on the green grass, as vainly as he might have +written in water, a word, a name: Brilliana. Had he been attentive he +might have noticed that Evander now wrote another word that was also +a name and more than a name: Death. But he did not notice, and as he +ended with his odd tribute to his enemy, Evander looked up at him +with a calm face. + +"I shall not quit you so soon," he said, in an even voice. "I have +come to stay at Harby." + +Halfman looked at him, puzzled. + +"Stay at Harby," he repeated. "Nonsense, man; what are you thinking +of? You will be riding hence in three days' time, when Sir Randolph +is released." + +Evander shook his head. + +"Sir Randolph will not be released," he said. The quiet positiveness +in his tone staggered Halfman. Stooping, with his hands resting on +his knees, his unquiet eyes stared into Evander's quiet eyes. + +"Sir Randolph will not be released! Why the devil will Sir Randolph +not be released?" + +Evander rose from his seat and rested his hand for a moment lightly +on Halfman's arm, while he said, impressively: + +"Say nothing of this to your lady, for Sir Randolph is her kinsman, +and I think she holds him dear. Let ill news come late. But if +Colonel Cromwell has taken a spy prisoner, that spy will very surely +die." + +Halfman stiffened himself. His eyes had never left Evander's, and he +knew that Evander spoke what he believed. He gave a short laugh. + +"And very surely if Sir Randolph be shot over yonder you will be shot +down here." + +"That," said Evander, still smiling, "is why I say that I have come +to stay at Harby." + +"You take your fate blithely," Halfman commented, scanning Evander +with curiosity. He was familiar with the sight of men in peril of +death; in most men he took courage for granted, but it was courage of +a gaudier quality than the composure of the young Puritan, who had +fenced with him and played bowls with him that very morning and +talked so learnedly of roses with Luke, the gardener. Was there +really something in the Puritan stuff that strengthened men's +spirits? Evander answered his words and unconsciously his thoughts. + +"I should not have taken up arms if I held my life too precious. It +will need three days to get the answer, the inevitable answer, and in +the mean time the autumn air is kind and these gardens delightful." + +Halfman stared at him in an ecstasy of admiration, and then dealt +him an applauding clap on the shoulder. + +"Come to the kitchen-garden, philosopher," he cried. "A fellow of +your phlegm should find pleasure in the contemplation of cabbages." + +"It is a sage vegetable," Evander answered. "But I fear I tax your +time. There must be much for you to do." + +"I have done much already," Halfman replied. "But, indeed, these be +busy times." + +"Then," protested Evander, "when I have stared my fill at your +meditative cabbage I shall entreat no more of your kindness but that +you convoy me to the safe port of the library, where I shall be +content enough." + +"As you please," Halfman responded. "I was never a bookish man; I +care for no books but play-books and these I carry here," and he beat +his brown forehead. "But you may nose out some theologies in odd +corners, as a pig noses truffles." + +"I shall rout out something to fill my leisure I doubt not," Evander +answered. + +"Then hey for the kitchen-garden," cried Halfman, taking Evander's +arm, and the two men, passing through a yew arch opposite to that by +which they had entered, left my lady's pleasaunce as solitary as they +had found it. + + + + +XVI + +A PURITAN APPRAISED + + +It did not remain solitary long. Unawares, the steps of Halfman and +Evander had been dogged ever since they crossed the moat and set out +on their pilgrimage through the gardens. Crouching behind hedges, +lingering in coppices, peeping through thickets, two persistent +trackers had pursued the unconscious quarry. Scarcely had the shadows +of Evander and his companion vanished from the grasses of the +pleasaunce than the pursuers emerged from the shelter of a yew screen +and ran into the open, staring after the departing pair. Yet these +pursuers were no stealthy enemies, but merely creatures spurred by an +irresistible curiosity. One was stout and red faced and inclined to +breathe hard after the fatigues of the chase. The other was slim and +smooth, with ripe cheeks and bright eyes, lodgings for the insolence +of youth. In a word, the hunters were Mistress Satchell and pretty +Tiffany, who had found their Puritan prisoner and visitor a being of +considerable interest. + +Mistress Satchell turned a damp, shining face and a questioning eye +upon Tiffany. + +"Is not he a dashing lad for a Puritan?" she gasped, patting her +ample chest with both hands as if to fondle her newly recovered +breath. Tiffany, who was bearing her mistress's lute, shrugged and +pouted. + +"I see little to like in him," she snapped. This was not at all true, +but she was not going to admit as much to Mistress Satchell, or, for +that matter, to herself. Mistress Satchell snorted fiercely, like an +offended war-horse. + +"Because he has not clipped you round the waist, pinched you in the +cheek, kissed you on the lips--such liberties as our rufflers use. +But he is a man for my money." + +She spoke with vehemence. Pretty Tiffany made a dainty grimace as she +answered: + +"I think I am pleasing enough to behold, yet he gave me no more than +a glance when he gave me good-day." + +Mistress Satchell's ample bulk swayed with indignation. + +"He is a lad of taste, I tell you. Why should he waste his gaze on +such small goods when there was nobler ware anigh? He smiled all over +his face when he greeted me." + +Tiffany was sorely tempted to smile all over her face as she +listened, but Mistress Satchell's temper was short and her arm long, +so she kept her countenance as she answered, shortly: + +"He is little." + +This Mistress Satchell swiftly countered with the affirmation: + +"He is great." + +Tiffany thrust again. + +"He is naught." + +Again Dame Satchell parried. + +"He is much," she screamed, and her face was poppy-red with passion, +but Tiffany, retreating warily and persistent to tease, was about to +start some fresh disclaimer of the Puritan's merits when she caught +sight through a yew arch vista of a gown of gold and gray, and her +tongue faltered. + +"Our lady," she whispered to Mistress Satchell, who had barely time +to compose her ruffled countenance when Brilliana came through the +yew arch and paused on the edge of the pleasaunce surveying the +belligerents with an amused smile. + +"What are you two brawling about?" she asked, as she moved slowly +towards the marble seat. Tiffany thrust in the first word. + +"Goody Satchell will vex me with praise of the Parliament man." + +By this time Brilliana had seated herself, observing her vehement +shes with amusement. She turned a face of assumed gravity upon the +elder. + +"So, so, Mistress Satchell, have you turned Roundhead all of a +sudden?" + +Mrs. Satchell shook her head at Brilliana and her fist at Tiffany. + +"Tiffany is a minx, but I am an honest woman; and as I am an honest +woman, there are honest qualities in this honest Puritan." + +Brilliana knew as much herself and fretted at the knowledge. It cut +against the grain of her heart to admit that a rebel could have any +redemption by gifts. But she still questioned Mistress Satchell +smoothly, thinking the while of a man intrenched behind a table, one +man against six. + +"What are these marvels?" she asked. + +Mistress Satchell was voluble of collected encomiums. + +"Why, Thomas Coachman swears he is a master of horse-manage, and he +has taught Luke Gardener a new method of grafting roses, and Simon +Warrener swears he knows as much of hawking as any man in Oxford or +Warwick." + +She paused, out of breath. Brilliana, leaning forward with an air of +infinite gravity, commented: + +"It were more to your point, surely, if the gentleman had skill in +cook-craft." + +Mistress Satchell was not to be outdone; she clapped her hands +together noisily and shrilled her triumph. + +"There, too, he meets you. After breakfast this morning, when I asked +him how he fared, he overpraised my table, and he gave me a recipe +for grilling capons in the Spanish manner--well, you shall know, if +you do but live long enough." + +The ruddy dame nodded significantly as she closed thus cryptically +her tables of praises. Brilliana uplifted her hands in a pretty air +of wonder. + +"The phoenix," she sighed, "the paragon, the nonpareil of the +buttery." Instantly her smiling face grew grave. + +"Well, it is not for us to praise him or blame him while he is on our +hands. See that you give him good meals, Mistress Satchell." + +Dame Satchell stared at her mistress in some amazement. + +"Will he not dine in hall, my lady?" + +Brilliana frowned now in good earnest. + +"Lordamercy! do you think I would sit at meat with a rebel? Have I +not set him a room apart, to spare myself the sight of him? Serve him +in his own rooms, but look you serve him well." + +Dame Satchell wagged her head with an air of the deepest +significance. + +"I warrant you," she muttered, "he commended my soused cucumbers." + +And so nodding and chuckling she moved like a great galleon over the +green, and soon was out of sight. The moment her broad back was well +turned, Tiffany permitted herself to utter the protests which had +been boiling within her. + +"To listen to Dame Satchell, one would think that no man had ever +seen a horse or known one dish from another before this." + +Brilliana gave her handmaid a glance of something near akin to +displeasure. + +"I think you all talk and think too much of the gentleman. I see +little to praise in him save a certain coolness in peril. Let us have +no more of him. We must use him well, but he will soon be gone, and a +good riddance. Is my lute tuned, Tiffany?" + +Tiffany answered "Ay," and her lady took up the lute and picked at +a tune, yawning. The world seemed to have grown very tedious all of +a sudden, and it did not seem so pleasant as she deemed it would +prove to sit again in the yew circle and sing. She began a song or +two, to leave each unfinished with a yawn, and, because yawning is +contagious, Tiffany yawned too, discreetly behind her fingers. It +was while Tiffany looked away to conceal a vaster yawn than its +fellows, too vast for masking with finger-tips, that she saw a +soldierly figure coming across the garden towards the pleasaunce. + +"My lady," she cried, turning to Brilliana, "here comes Captain +Halfman. Let us ask him his mind as to the Parliament man." + +Brilliana's face brightened. Here was company, and good company. She +had believed him too busy to be seen so soon, for she had bade him +see about raising a troop of volunteers in the village, and she +turned round readily to greet her companion of the siege. + +Through the yew portal Halfman came, gravity reigning in his eyes and +slaking their wild fire. He saluted Brilliana with the deep reverence +he always showed to his fair general. Brilliana turned to her +adjutant eagerly: + +"Master Halfman, Master Halfman," she cried, "how do you measure our +rebel?" + +Halfman's gravity lightened amazingly at the thought of his prisoner. + +"I take him," he answered, emphatically, "for as proper a fellow as +ever I met in all my vagabond days. Barring his primness he would +have proved a gallant"--he was going to say "pirate," but paused in +time and said "seaman." "God pardon him for a Puritan," he went on, +"for he has in him the making of a rare Cavalier." + +Brilliana turned to Tiffany, whose cheeks were very red. + +"Hang your head, child," she cried; "for you are outvoted in a +parliament of praise. Beat a retreat, maid Tiffany." + +The crimson Tiffany fled from the pleasaunce. + +"Where is your prisoner?" Brilliana asked. + +"I have envoyed him over park and garden," Halfman answered, "and +brought him to port in the library." + +"Alas! I pity him," sighed Brilliana; "it holds few books of +divinity. But come, recruiting-sergeant, what of our volunteers?" + +"So pleases you, my lady," Halfman said, "our troop is swelling fast, +and the sooner we clap them into colored coats the better." + +Brilliana's curls danced in denial. + +"Alas! friend, I have sad news for you. Of cloth for coats I can +indeed command a great plenty"--she paused doubtfully. + +"Why this is glad news, not sad news," Halfman said. "So may you +serve it out with all despatch." + +Brilliana dropped her hands to her sides and her lids over her eyes, +a pretty picture of despair; but, "Alas! 'tis all white," she +confessed--"wool white, snow white, ermine white. You must needs have +patience, good recruiting-sergeant, till I can have it dyed the royal +red." + +Halfman pushed patience from him with outspread palms. + +"Shall the King lack hands for lack of madder?" he questioned, with +humorous indignation. "Not so, I pray you; let us cut our coats from +your white cloth. I promise you we will dye it ourselves red enough +in the blood of the enemy." Brilliana sprang to her feet rejoicing. + +"Bravely said; so shall it be bravely done. I will give orders at +once for the cutting and sewing. I will back our white coats against +Master Hampden's green coats, or Essex's swarm in orange-tawny. Have +you conveyed my message to my two miserly neighbors?" + +"I sent Clupp to Master Hungerford," Halfman answered, "and Garlinge +to Master Rainham, bidding them to your presence peremptory. But I +warn you, my lady, from all I hear, that if you hope to raise coin +for the King's cause from either of the skinflints you will be sadly +at a loss." + +"At least I must try," Brilliana declared. "Am I not the King's +viceroy in Oxfordshire, and are not the two money-bags my proclaimed +adorers? It will go hard with me but I compel them to swell the +King's exchequer." + +"You have done marvels," Halfman admitted. "Can you work miracles? +With all due reverence, I doubt. But we shall soon see, for here +comes Tiffany tiptoe through the trees. I'll wager it is to herald +one of the vultures." + +As he spoke, Tiffany tripped in pink and grinning. + +"My lady," said she, "Master Paul Hungerford has ridden in and seeks +audience." + +Brilliana clapped her hands. + +"Go, bring him in, Tiffany; and, Tiffany child, if Master Peter +Rainham comes, as I shrewdly expect, keep him apart, on your life, +till I know of his coming." + +Tiffany vanished. Brilliana turned to Halfman. + +"Stay with me, captain, and aid me to trap these badgers." + +Halfman smiled delight. "I will help you extempore," he promised. "I +will eke out my part with impromptus." + +He stood a little apart, grim mirth in his eyes, as Tiffany ushered +into the circle a lean, shabby country-gentleman, whose habit would +have shamed a scarecrow. Tiffany disappeared and the new-comer made +Brilliana an awkward bow. "Sweet lady, you sent for me and I come, +love, quickly." + + + + +XVII + +SET A KNAVE TO CATCH A KNAVE + + +Brilliana had much ado to keep from laughing in the face of the +uncouth genuflector, but she kept a grave face and uttered grave +complaint. + +"Master Hungerford! Master Hungerford! They tell me sad tales of you. +Though you are as wealthy as wealthy you will not mend the King's +exchequer." + +Master Paul gave vent to such a wail as a dog makes when one treads +unaware upon his tail, and clapped his hands about piteously. + +"I wealthy! Forgive you, lady, for listening to such tales. I am not +so graced. I am little bigger than a beggar." + +Brilliana wagged her curls. + +"Why, now, Master Hungerford, you have a great estate." + +Master Hungerford's whine rose higher, and he paddled at the air as +if he sought to come to some surface and breathe free. + +"Great land, lady--great land, if you will, but little cash. My land +holds every penny I get together. Why, 'tis well known in the country +that I buy land for a thousand pound every year, wherefore I can +never boast more than a guinea in ready money." + +Brilliana frowned on the floundering squire. + +"This is a sad business, Master Hungerford, for the King is in need +and will oblige hereafter those that oblige him now. His Majesty has +made me a kind of viceroy here in Oxford. I begin to think that you +incline to the Parliament, Master Paul. If I thought that, I would +hold you a traitor and make perquisitions at your place." + +Master Hungerford groaned dismally: + +"Lordamercy!" he moaned. "I am the loyalest knight in England. Nay, +now, if you talk of perquisitions there is my neighbor Peter Rainham. +I know him for a skinflint who will deny the King. Yet I know of a +chest of his that is stuffed with gold pieces. Were he a true man he +would shift his treasure into the King's sack, as I would if I had +such a store." + +A fantastic possibility danced into Brilliana's brain. She glanced to +where Halfman stood moodily ruminating on the method he would employ +to loosen Master Hungerford's purse-strings if he had him at his +mercy in a taken town. Brilliana could not read his thoughts, which +was as well, but she gave him a glance which stirred him to alertness +as she resumed her interrogatory of her niggardly neighbor. + +"Why, then, Master Hungerford, if he be as you say, he is little +better, if better at all, than a Parliament man, and, therefore, our +common enemy." + +Master Paul rubbed his lean hands in delight. + +"It is indeed as you say," he affirmed, with a sour smile that sat +very vilely on his yellow face. Brilliana leaned forward, and, +governing his shifty eyes, spoke very impressively. + +"Now meseems you might win great credit in the King's eyes, at no +cost to yourself, if you were to lay hands on this treasure in the +King's name." + +Master Paul's alarm asserted itself in a shriek. + +"Lordamercy, lady, what of the law of the land? Would you have me +turn footpad, house-breaker?" + +His jaws shook, his joints twitched, he was abject in alarm. +Springing to her feet, Brilliana spoke impatiently. + +"A Parliament man is outside the King's law; his goods are forfeit, +and to confiscate them as legal as loyal. I thought you might choose +to serve the King and please me." This last was said with an accent +of disdain which made the unhappy squire shiver. "I was in error, so +no more words of it. Good-day to you." + +And my Lady Brilliana made Master Paul a courtesy so contemptuous and +a gesture of dismissal so decisive that Master Hungerford's terror +deepened. If the King's cause were to go well, if the lady indeed had +favor with his Majesty, to offend her would be verily a piece of +mortal folly. He came nigh to falling on his knees as he pleaded. + +"Nay, nay, never so hot, now; I am your suitor, in faith, I am your +very good servant. I would serve your will in this if I could but +march with the law." + +Brilliana jumped at his concession. She saw Tiffany in the distance +crossing the garden towards her and guessed that she came to announce +the arrival of the other miser; so she was eager to clinch the +business with Master Hungerford. + +"Why, so you ever shall, with the King's law. What more easy? I +represent the King in this district; this fellow is a suspected +rebel; I give you leave to search his house for arms." + +Master Paul pricked his ears. "Ah, so, for arms, you say?" + +Tiffany paused in the archway and jerked her thumb over her shoulder +in the direction of the house. Brilliana shrugged her shoulders, +impatient of Master Paul's denseness. + +"If you find gold in your search for steel, so much the better. Come, +come, this is your happy time, for I am told Master Rainham is +abroad." + +She gave a glance for confirmation at Halfman, who lounged forward. + +"That he is," he asserted, briskly. "He has gone a-marketing." + +"Then to it at once!" Brilliana cried, eying the waverer +encouragingly. "Take such of my people as you will. You will find +some at the stables yonder," and as she spoke she pointed in the +direction opposite to the house. "Master Rainham's miserliness keeps +but a small retinue. You will meet with no resistance. Go forth, my +knight." + +Master Paul almost skipped with delight and he cracked his fingers +vigorously. He seemed even less pleasing merry than terrified. + +"You call me your knight." He turned and took Halfman to witness. +"She calls me her knight. I'll do it. I'll do it," he voiced, +exultingly. + +Brilliana, with strenuous self-restraint, seemed to applaud his +antics. + +"Bravely said, Chivalry!" she cried. "Let it be done, and well done, +ere dusk." + +Master Paul quavered before her in an ecstasy of delighted obedience. + +"I fly, enchantress--I fly!" he chirruped. Then, as he turned to go, +another thought struck him, and he entreated, grotesquely +languishing, "Prithee, your hand to kiss first." + +Brilliana denied him affably. + +"By-and-by, maybe, as the prize of your triumph. Farewell." + +After sundry strange scrapings, Master Hungerford took his departure +in the direction of the stables. As soon as his back was turned, +Brilliana questioned her maid. + +"Well, Tiffany, is it Master Rainham?" + +"Ay, my lady," Tiffany answered, demurely. She knew there was some +manner of mystification forward and yearned for the key to it. "He +chafes in the music-chamber." + +"Send him here top-speed," Brilliana commanded. With a whisk of +flying skirts Tiffany scuttered back to the house, and Brilliana +turned to Halfman, the laughter in her eyes seeking and finding the +laughter in his. + +"Well," she said, "our angling prospers blithely. We have tickled one +fish. Now for the other chub." + +Halfman, who had been swaying with silent merriment ever since the +departure of Master Paul, suddenly grew steady again and looked +warnings. + +"He asks for another kind of angling, as I gather," he suggested. +Brilliana looked daintily wise. + +"As I bait the hook I believe I will land him. It will be rare if I +can make Paul rob Peter while Peter plunders Paul. How dare they be +so close-fisted while the King's flag is flying and England's honor +in peril!" + +If she said this with any idea of palliating the possible lawlessness +of her action in the eyes of her companion, she wasted her words. +Halfman had not been so happy since his return to England, not even +in the briskest days of the siege, as he was now in the staging of +this lawless comedy. The old pirate jigged in him at this fair maid's +strategy. + +"By St. Nicholas," he swore, "they should be bled white for a brace +of knaves! This, I take it, is your other honor-bankrupt atomy." + + + + +XVIII + +SERVING THE KING + + +It was indeed Master Peter Rainham whom Tiffany now brought into the +presence of her mistress, and left there standing and staring. Master +Peter, eyed and appraised by the searching scrutiny of Halfman, +resolved himself into a thick-set, boorish fellow, whose flying +forehead, little, angry eyes, and assertive, yellow teeth made him, +to Halfman's mind, resemble nothing in the world so much as a boar's +head on an ale-house sign. Yet the fellow stood his ground sturdily +enough, and stared at Brilliana with no sense of distress at his +dirty homespun or his dirty hands. + +"You sent for me?" he challenged. "Have you changed your mood? I am +ever of the same mind, and will wed when you will." + +The wolf look leaped into Halfman's eyes, and the loutish squire's +life was, all unawares, in the greatest peril it had ever fringed. +But Brilliana, intent only on her purposes, beamed on her blunt +suitor as if he had scattered flowers at her feet. + +"You are a wonderful wooer," she protested. "But whatever admiration +of your person I may, without unbecoming effrontery, confess, I would +have you to know, plain and square, from this moment, that I will +hearken to none but a King's man." + +The boor's little eyes glinted and the boor's rusty fingers rasped at +his stubble chin as he answered emphatically: + +"Then I am a King's man, root and branch." + +But his face showed less loyal confidence at Brilliana's next words. + +"Then you must know his Majesty is in straits for ready money. Will +you, who are reputed rich, come to his aid with a round sum?" + +Master Peter showed his teeth in a snarl and flung up his hands. + +"Reputed rich! Oh, what a bitter thing is a bad reputation. I am +Job-poor; both ends will not meet, I tell you. If I had for +lending-money a guinea in one pocket, why, I should lend it to the +other pocket." + +"Why do you woo me if you be so poor?" Brilliana asked, with a fine +show of heat, and Halfman nodded his head as much as to say, "Ay, ay, +answer me that, if you can." + +Master Peter strove to answer, lamely enough. + +"Poor in pennies, lady, poorer in shillings, poorest in guineas. I +may own half the country-side and have no coin to clink against the +other." + +Brilliana scoffed at his protest. + +"Why, 'tis not so long ago Master Paul Hungerford told me you were a +very Croesus." + +Master Peter clinched and unclinched his horny hands as if he were +coming to grips with his traducer. + +"Master Hungerford told you that? I would I had my hands knotted +about his lying throat. He that is as rich as a Jew, that has a +treasure of gold plate in his sideboard that would keep the King in +arms and men for a month of Sundays, he so to slander my poverty." + +Brilliana heaved a sympathetic sigh. + +"I fear he is but a bad man. Do you think he cherishes the King's +cause?" + +Master Peter flamed with virtuous indignation. + +"He, the black heart! Never think it. He is a rank Parliament +scoundrel and worships Mr. Pym." + +"Is it so?" cried Brilliana. "A rebel, a renegade. Why, now, Master +Rainham, I see a pretty piece of loyal work for you." + +Master Peter glowered at her suspiciously. + +"Anything for you, anything for the King; except give what I have +none of--money." + +"In the King's name," said Brilliana, heroically, "go forth and +ransack this rebellious gentleman's house for arms." + +Master Peter snorted sceptically. + +"Arms! I think he hath none but an old rusty fire-lock and a breast +and back that have seen better days." + +Brilliana beamed on him, a yielding sphinx. + +"But then, supposing you should pick up some plate on the way, some +gold plate by chance--" + +Master Peter rubbed his grimy hands. + +"Why, it were fine," he admitted, gleefully; then added, with +cunning, "Are you sure he is a Roundhead?" + +"I am very sure he is your enemy," Brilliana answered, sharply, "for +he makes you his daily jape." + +The ugly boar-head looked uglier as it growled: + +"Does he, the dog! I'd jape him if I gad my two hands upon him." + +"Why," Brilliana asserted, now in the full tide of make-believe, "if +you are a King's man, he will be of the other side, he hates you so. +I cannot think how you have earned his hatred, unless, indeed--" and +she broke off suddenly and looked aside. Halfman would have given a +shilling for a lonely place to laugh his fill in. + +"Well, madam, well?" Master Rainham questioned, eagerly. + +Brilliana faltered her answer. + +"--unless he believes you stand higher in the graces of a certain +lady than he can ever hope to stand." + +Master Rainham's smile gave Halfman the feel of goose-flesh. +Brilliana's face was, happily, averted. + +"Madam, assure me 'tis so," grunted boar's-head. + +"I must not say much," Brilliana protested, "no more than this, that +in this enterprise, if you but achieve it, you will win great credit +with the King at no cost to yourself, you spoil a rival, and--but +this is very private--you will give great pleasure to that same +nameless lady." + +Master Peter shouted, "Why, then, all's well. I will pick him as +clean as a whistle." Again caution overcrowded cheer. "But I must +pick my time, look you." + +On this, Brilliana became emphatic. + +"No time like the present. It is to my certain knowledge that Master +Paul is away from home to-day." Again she looked to Halfman for +support, and again Halfman yielded it blithely. + +"Ay, he has gone hawking," he declared; "he will not be home this +great while." + +Halfman's confirmation decided Master Peter. + +"Why, I go at once. When the cat's away--! I will be back within the +hour." + +"Then," said Brilliana, "pray you go to the house and gather in my +name from the servants' hall such men as you may need for your +enterprise. Use despatch, for indeed I long for your return." + +Master Peter paid her what he believed to be a courtly bow. + +"That same nameless lady shall praise me," he chuckled, and, turning, +made for the house with all speed. When they were alone, Brilliana +and Halfman looked at each other with the mirth of children who have +successfully raided an orchard. + +"I have netted them," Brilliana said. "If it do but happen pat, we +shall have served the King and punished two cozening faint-hearts. +For the best of it is that neither can complain. Each is neck-high in +the mire of lies, each has plundered the other, and must be dumb for +shame of his knavery." + +"It will be brave to spy their faces," Halfman commented, "when they +smell out the snare." + +"Look to it," Brilliana suggested, "that they be kept apart when they +come here. The jest must not spoil. How these old hawks will fly at +each other when we unhood them." + +"Trust me, lady," said Halfman. "I have been a play-actor and know +how to stage a pair of gabies to the show." + +He saluted her and made to depart. She had learned to like his +company through the long days of siege, and this dull day of quiet +she felt lonely. Moreover, she was grateful to him for having helped +her so well in her plot against the niggards. + +"Come again when you have taken order for this," she said. "There is +still much to do, much to think for." + +The man saluted anew, intoxicated with pleasure. He knew that she +liked his company, and whatever was well in him burgeoned at the +knowledge. His play-actor passion had bettered him, if it had not +accomplished the impossible and transmuted the pirate of body into +the pure of soul. It would not be true to say that he never thought +lewdly of her; he would have thought lewdly of an angel or a vestal +maid; that was ingrain in the composition of the man; but he thought +well of her as he had never thought well of women before since he +first scorched his stripling's fingers, and he would have killed +twenty men to keep her from hearing a foul word. Sometimes when he +talked with her, ever in his chastened part of the rough old soldier, +he laughed in his sleeve at the difference between part and true man. +The nut-hook humor of it was that both were realities, or, perhaps, +that neither were realities. + +As he quitted the pleasaunce he countered Mistress Tiffany, and saw +at a distance, standing by the laurels, a foppish, many-colored, +portly personage negligently twirling a long staff. Halfman guessed +the name, grinned, and went on his business. Tiffany burst wellnigh +breathless into her lady's presence. + +"My lady," she gasped, "here is Sir Blaise Mickleton, who entreats +the honor to speak with you." + +Brilliana's face darkened for a moment, for she bore no kindness just +then to the laggard in war. Then her face cleared again. + +"Admit him," she said. "He will divert me for want of a better." + +Back ran Tiffany to where the visitor lingered, bade him enter the +pleasaunce, where he would find her mistress, and having delivered +her errand, ran again to the house, leaving him to his adventure. + + + + +XIX + +SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS RESPECTS + + +Sir Blaise Mickleton was, in his own eyes and in the eyes of the +village girls of Harby, a vastly fine gentleman. If they had ever +heard of the sun-god, Phoebus Apollo would have presented himself +to their rusticity in some such guise as the personality of the local +knight. Sir Blaise had been to London--once--had kissed the King's +hand at Whitehall, and had ever since striven vehemently to be more +Londonish than the Londoner. He talked with what he thought to be the +town's drawl; he walked, as he believed, with the town walk over the +grasses of his grounds and on the Harby high-roads. He plagued the +village tailor with strange devices for coats and cloaks; +many-colored as a Joseph, he strutted through bucolic surroundings as +if he carried the top-knot of the mode in the Mall; he glittered in +ribbons and trinkets, floundered rather than swam in a sea of +essences, yet scarcely succeeded in amending, with all this false +foppishness, the something bumpkin that was at the root of his +nature. He was of a lusty natural with the sanguine disposition, and +held himself as much above the most of his neighbors as he knew +himself to be below the house of Harby. He was no double-face, +friendly with both sides; he was rather for peeping from behind the +parted doors of the temple of peace upon a warring world without, and +making fast friends with the victor. He had very little doubt that +the victor would be the King, but just enough doubt to permit his +surrender to a distemper that kept him to his bed till Edgehill +proved the amazing remedy. + +Sir Blaise peacocked over the lawn, delicate as Agag. He murdered the +morning air with odors, his raiment outglowed the rainbow; one hand +dandled his staff, the other caressed his mustaches. He strove to +smile adoration on Brilliana, but mistrust marred his ogle, and a +shiver of fear betrayed his simper of confidence. Brilliana watched +him gravely with never a word or a sign, and her silence intensified +his discomfiture by the square of the distance he had yet to +traverse. + +"Coxcomb," she thought, and "coward," she thought, and "cur," she +thought. + +He could not read her thought, but he could read her tightened lips +and her hostile eyes, and he wished himself again in bed at +Mickleton. But it was too late to retreat, and he advanced in bad +order under the silent fire of her disdain till he paused at what he +deemed to be the proper place for ceremonious salutation. He +uncovered, describing so magnificent a sweep of extended hat that its +plumes brushed the grasses at her feet. He bowed so low that his pink +face disappeared from view in the forward fall of his lovelocks. When +the rising inflection shook these back and the pink face again +confronted her, he seemed to have recovered some measure of +assertion. + +"Lady," he said, sighingly, "I kiss your mellifluous fingers and +believe myself in Elysium." + +The languishing glance that accompanied these languishing syllables +had no immediate effect upon the lady to whom they were addressed. +Still Brilliana looked fixedly at her visitor, and still Sir Blaise +found little ease under her steady gaze. He blinked uncomfortably; +his fingers twitched; he tried to moisten his dry lips. At length, +out of what seemed a wellnigh ageless silence, the lady spoke, and +her words were an arraignment. + +"Why did you not come to Harby when Harby needed help?" + +Sir Blaise felt weak in the knees, weak in the back, weak in the +wits; he would have given much for a seat, more for a sup of brandy. +But he had to speak, and did so after such gasping and stammering as +spoiled his false bravado. + +"I came to speak of that," he protested, forcing a jauntiness that he +was far from feeling. "I feared you might misunderstand--" + +"Indeed," interrupted Brilliana, "I think there is no +misunderstanding." + +Sir Blaise made an appealing gesture. + +"Hear me out," he pleaded. "Hear me and pity me. The news of his +Majesty's quarrel with his Parliament threw me into such a distemper +as hath kept me to my bed these three weeks. My people held all news +from me for my life's sake. It was but this morning I was judged +sound enough to hear of all that has passed. How otherwise should I +not have flown to your succor? I could wish your siege had lasted a +while longer to give me the glory of delivering you." + +The sternness faded from Brilliana's gaze. She was not really angry +with this overcareful gentleman; she would only have been grieved had +he proved the man to serve her well. He was no more for such +enterprises than your lap-dog for bull-baiting. Ridiculous in his +finery, pitiful in his subterfuge, he was only a thing to smile at, +to trifle with. So she smiled, and, rising, swept him a splendid +reverence. + +"I am your gallantry's very grateful servant," she whispered, having +much ado to keep from laughing in his face. The fatuous are easily +pacified. + +"I hope you do not doubt my valor?" he asked, with some show of +reassurance. + +"Indeed I have no doubt," Brilliana answered, with another courtesy. +The speech might have two meanings. Sir Blaise, unwilling to split +hairs, took it as balsam, and hurriedly turned the conversation. + +"Well! well!" he hummed. "You seem nothing the worse for your +business." + +"I am something the better," she said, softly. Perhaps Sir Blaise did +not hear her. + +"Is it true," he asked, "that you harbor a Crop-ear in this house?" + +"Indeed," Brilliana confirmed, "I hold him as hostage for the life of +Cousin Randolph. You know that he is a prisoner?" + +"I heard that news with the rest of the budget," Sir Blaise answered. +"And what kind of a creature is your captive? Does he deafen you with +psalms, does he plague you with exhortations?" + +Brilliana laughed merrily. + +"No, no; 'tis a most wonderful wild-fowl. My people swear he is +mettled in all gentle arts, from the manage of horses to the casting +of a falcon." + +Sir Blaise shook his staff in protest of indignation. + +"Is it possible that such a rascal usurps the privileges of +gentlefolk?" + +"He carries himself like a gentleman," Brilliana answered. "More's +the pity that he should be false to his king and his kind." + +Sir Blaise smiled condescendingly. + +"Believe me, dear lady, you are misled. A woman may be deceived by an +exterior. Doubtless he has picked up his gentility in the servants' +hall of some great house, and seeks to curry your favor by airing +it." + +"He has persuaded those that are shrewd judges of men to praise him." + +Again Sir Blaise laughed his fat laugh. + +"Ha, ha! Shrewd judges of men. I will take no man's judgment but my +own of this rascal. Had I word with him you should soon see me set +him down." + +Brilliana's glance wandering from the pied pomposity who strutted +before her, saw a sharp contrast through the yew-tree arch. A man in +sober habit was moving slowly over the grass in the direction of the +pleasaunce, moving slowly, for he was carrying an open book and his +eyes were fixed upon its pages. Truly the sombre Puritan made a +better figure than her swaggering neighbor. She looked up at Sir +Blaise with a pretty maliciousness in her smile. + +"You can have your will even now," she said, "for I spy my prisoner +coming here--and reading, too." + +Sir Blaise swung round upon his heels and stared in the direction +indicated by Brilliana. He saw Evander, black against the sunlit +trees, the sunlit grasses, and he smiled derisively. He was very +confident that there was no courage as there could be no wit in any +Puritan. These things were the privileges of Cavaliers. + +"His brains are buried in his book," he sneered. "If a stone came in +his way now he would stumble over it, he's so deep in his sour +studies. 'Tis some ponderous piece of divinity, I'll wager, levelled +against kings." + +He thought he was speaking low to his companion, but his was not a +voice of musical softness, and its tones jarred the quiet air. +Evander caught the sound of it, lifted his head, and, looking before +him over his book, saw in the yew haven Brilliana seated and a +gaudy-coated gentleman standing by her side. He was immediately for +turning and hastening in another direction, but Brilliana, for all +she hated him, would not now have it so. Perhaps she had been piqued +by Sir Blaise's too confident assumption of superiority to the +judgment of her people; perhaps she thought it might divert her to +see Puritan and Cavalier face each other before her in the shadowed +circle of yews. Whatever her reason, she raised her hand and raised +her voice to stay Evander's purpose. + +"Sir, sir!" she cried. "Mr. Cloud, by your leave, I would have you +come hither. Do not turn aside." + +Thus summoned, Evander walked with slightly quickened pace to the +place where Brilliana sat and saluted her with formal courtesy. + +"I cry your pardon," he declared. "I would not intrude on your quiet, +but I read and walked unconscious that there was company among the +yews." + +Brilliana answered him with the dignity of a gracious and benevolent +queen. + +"Do not withdraw, sir; you have the liberty of Loyalty House, and I +would not have you avoid any part of its gardens." + +Evander bowed. Sir Blaise broke into a horse-laugh which grated more +on Brilliana's ears than on Evander's. Brilliana was at heart rather +angry that for once Puritan should show better than Cavalier. + +"You are a vastly happy jack to be used so gently," he bellowed. +"Some would have stuck such a hostage in a garret and done well +enough." + +Evander still kept his eyes fixed on the lady of the house and seemed +to have no ears for the jeering Cavalier. With a lift of the hand +that indicated and saluted the prospect, he said, smoothly, "You have +a very gracious garden, lady." + +Mirth shone discreetly in Brilliana's eyes as she gave the Puritan a +bow for his praise. The Cavalier, a viola da gamba of anger, pegged +his string of bluster tighter. + +"Did not the fellow hear me?" he cried, and this time his noise won +him a moment of attention. Evander gave him a glance, and then, +returning to Brilliana, said, with a manner of amused contempt, "You +have a very ungracious gardener." + +Sir Blaise's pink face purpled; Sir Blaise's hand swung to the hilt +of his sword. Evander seemed to have forgotten his existence and to +await quietly any further favor of speech from Brilliana. My Lady +Mischief, much diverted, judged it time to intervene. + +"Lordamercy!" she cried, as she rose from her seat and moved a little +way towards Sir Blaise. "Let me bring you acquainted." + +The Cavalier caught her hand and stayed her before she could speak +his name. + +"Wait, wait," he whispered. "Watch me roast him." + +He swung away from her and swaggered towards Evander. "Tell me, +solemn sir," he questioned, "have you heard of one Sir Blaise +Mickleton?" + +"I have heard of him," Evander answered. His tranquil indifference to +Sir Blaise's bearing, to Sir Blaise's splendor of apparel, pricked +the knight like a sting. He tried to change the sum of his irritation +into the small money of wit. + +"You have never heard that he snuffled through his nose, turned up +his eyes, mewed psalms and canticles, and dubbed himself by some such +name as Fight-the-Good-Fight-of-Faith, yea, verily?" + +Sir Blaise talked with the drawling whine which he assumed to be the +familiar intonation of all Puritan speech. Like many another +humorless fellow, he prided himself upon a gift of mimicry signally +denied to him. Even Brilliana's detestation of the Puritan party +could not compel her to admire her neighbor's performance. Evander's +face showed no sign of recognition of Sir Blaise's impertinence as he +answered: + +"No, truly, but I have heard some talk of a swaggering braggart, +prodigal in valiant promise, but very huckster in a pitiful +performance; in a word, a clown whose attempt to ape the courtier has +never veiled the clod." + +Brilliana found it hard to restrain her laughter as she watched the +varying shades of fury float over Sir Blaise's broad face at each +successive clause of Evander's disdainful indictment. Yet she was +sadly vexed to think that her side commanded so poor a champion. Sir +Blaise tried to speak, gasped out a furious "Sir!" then his passion +choked him, and he gobbled, inarticulate and grotesque. Evander went +composedly on: + +"He is rated a King's man, and would serve his master well if much +tippling of healths and clearing of trenchers were yeoman service in +a time of war. But his sword sleeps in its sheath." + +"Now, by St. George--" Sir Blaise yelled, raising his clinched fists. +Brilliana feared at one moment that he would strike her prisoner in +the face; feared in the next that he would fall at her feet dead of +an apoplexy. She sailed between the antagonists and addressed +Evander. + +"Serious sir, will it dash you to learn that you are speaking to Sir +Blaise Mickleton?" + +Evander's countenance showed no sign either of surprise or of dismay. +Sir Blaise, still turkey-red, managed to gulp down his choler +sufficiently to utter some syllables. + +"I am that knight," he gasped; then, turning to Brilliana, he +whispered behind his hand, "Mark now how this bear will climb down." + +Brilliana, watching Evander, was not confident of apologies. Her +prisoner made a slight inclination of the head towards Sir Blaise in +acknowledgment of the fact of Brilliana's presentation, and said, +very calmly: + +"Why, then, sir, such a jury as your world has empanelled have +misread you, for if they summed your flaws aptly in their report of +you, they clapped this rider on their staggering verdict, that Sir +Blaise Mickleton did, at his worst, do his best to play the +gentleman." + +Smiles of satisfaction rippled over Sir Blaise's face. He did not +follow the drift of Evander's fluency but took it for compliment. + +"Handsomely apologized, i' faith," he beamed to Brilliana. Brilliana +laughed in his face. + +"Why, poor man, he flouts you worse than ever," she whispered. + +Sir Blaise knitted puzzled brows while Evander, having made the +effective pause, continued, suavely: + +"In the which judgment they erred, for he does not merit so +creditable a praise. Sure they can never have seen him who couple in +any way the name of Sir Blaise Mickleton with the title of +gentleman." + +Even Sir Blaise's dulness could not misinterpret Evander's meaning, +and rage resumed its sway. + +"You crow! You kite!" he fumed. His wrath could find no more words, +but he made a stride towards Evander, menacing. Brilliana stepped +dexterously between the two. As she told Tiffany later, she felt as +if she were gliding between fire and ice. + +"One side of me was frozen, and the other done to a crisp." She +lifted her hand commandingly. + +"We will have no bickering here," she protested. Evander paid her a +salutation, and, moving a little aside, resumed his book. He would +not retire while Sir Blaise was in presence, but he guessed that the +lady wished for speech with her friend. Sir Blaise did not find her +words consolatory, though she affected consolation. + +"The bear licks with a rough tongue," she whispered. Sir Blaise +slapped his palms together. + +"You shall see me ring him, you shall see me bait him, if you will +but leave us." + +"How shall I see if I leave?" Brilliana asked, provokingly. "But 'tis +no matter." + +As she spoke she thought of Halfman, and a merry scheme danced in her +head. + +"Gentles, I must leave you," she cried, with a pretty little +reverence that included both men. Then in a moment she had slipped +out of the pleasaunce and was running down the avenue. In the house +she found Halfman. "Quick!" she cried, breathlessly. "Sir Blaise and +Mr. Cloud are wrangling yonder like dogs over a bone." + +"Do you wish me to keep the peace between them?" Halfman questioned. +Brilliana did not exactly know what she wished. She was fretted at +the poor show a King's man had made before a Puritan; if Sir Blaise +could do something to humble the Puritan it might not be wholly +amiss. So much Halfman gathered from her jerky scraps of sentences; +also, that on no account must the disputants be permitted to come to +swords. Halfman nodded, caught up a staff, and ran full tilt to the +pleasaunce. The moment his back was turned Brilliana, instead of +remaining in the house, came out again, doubled on her course, and +dodging among the hedges found herself peeping unseen upon the +enclosure she had just quitted and the brawl at its height. + + + + +XX + +SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS PENALTY + + +When Brilliana quitted them the two men had regarded each other +steadily for a few seconds in silence. Then Sir Blaise spoke. + +"You made merry with me just now in ease and safety, a lady being +by." + +Evander shrugged his shoulders. + +"Had no lady been by I should have been more merry and less tender." + +Sir Blaise scowled. + +"I am ill to provoke, my master. Those quarrels end sadly that are +quarrels picked with me." + +Again Evander shrugged his shoulders. + +"I pick no quarrel, sir. You asked me very straightly what I knew of +Sir Blaise Mickleton, and very straightly I tended you my knowledge. +It is not my fault, but rather your misfortune, that you happen to be +Sir Blaise Mickleton." + +Sir Blaise dropped his hand to his sword-hilt. + +"You Puritan jack," he shouted, "will you try sharper conclusions?" + +In a moment and involuntarily Evander's hand sought his own weapon. +It was in that moment that Halfman burst into the pleasaunce. + +"Why, what's the matter here?" he cited, wielding his staff as if it +had been the scimitar of the Moor. "Hold, for your lives! For +Christian shame put by this barbarous brawl." + +The disputants greeted their interrupter differently. Evander paid +Halfman's memory the tribute of an appreciative smile. Sir Blaise +turned to him as to a sympathizer and backer. + +"This Puritan dog has insulted me," he cried. + +Halfman nodded sagaciously. "And you would let a little of his +malapert blood for him. But it may not be." + +He addressed Evander. "You are a prisoner on parole, wearing your +sword by a lady's favor, and may not use it here." + +"You are in the right," Evander answered, "and I ask your lady's +pardon if for a moment I forgot where I am and why." + +"Yah, yah, fox," grinned Sir Blaise, who believed that his enemy was +glad to be out of the quarrel. But Halfman, who knew better, smiled. + +"There are other ways," he suggested, pleasantly, "by which +two gentlemen may void their spleen without drawing their +toasting-irons. Why should we not mimic sword-play with a pair +of honest cudgels?" + +Blaise slapped his thigh approvingly, for he was good at rustic +sports. Halfman turned his dark face upon Evander. + +"Has my suggestion the fortune to meet with your approval?" he asked. +Evander nodded. "Then let Sir Blaise handle his own staff, and you, +camerado, take mine--'tis of a length with your enemy's--and set to." + +Halfman watched Evander narrowly while he spoke. Skill with the +rapier did not necessarily imply skill with the cudgel. He bore +Evander no grudge for overcoming him at fence, but if Sir Blaise +proved the better man with the batoon, there would be a kind of +compensation in it. He had heard that Sir Blaise was apt at +country-sports and now Sir Blaise vaunted his knowledge. + +"Let me tell you to your trembling," he crowed, "that I am the best +cudgel-player in these parts. I will drub you, I will trounce you, I +will tan your hide." + +"That will be as it shall be," Evander answered. He had taken the +staff that Halfman had proffered, and after weighing it in his hand +and carefully examining its texture had set it up against the seat, +while he prepared to strip off his jerkin. Halfman assisted Sir +Blaise to extricate himself from his beribboned doublet, and the two +men faced each other in their shirts, Evander's linen fine and plain, +like all about him, Sir Blaise's linen fine and ostentatious, like +all about him, and reeking of ambergris. Evander was not a small man, +but his body seemed very slender by contrast with the well-nourished +bulk of the country-gentleman, and many a one would have held that +the match was strangely unequal. But Halfman did not think so, seeing +how deliberately Evander entered upon the enterprise, and even Sir +Blaise's self-conceit was troubled by his antagonist's alacrity in +accepting the challenge. + +"If you tender me your grief for your insolence," he suggested, with +truculent condescension, "you will save yourself a basting." + +Evander laughed outright, the blithest laugh that Halfman had yet +heard pass from his Puritan lips. + +"I must deny you, pomposity," he answered, gayly. "It were pity to +postpone a pleasure." + +"You are in the right," commented Halfman. "Come, sirs, enough words; +let us to deeds. Begin." + +The sticks swung in the air and met with a crack, each man's hand +pressing his cudgel hard against the other's, each man's foot firm +and springing, each man's eyes seeking to read in the other's the +secret of his assault. Suddenly Blaise made a feint at Evander's leg +and then swashed for his head. + +"Have a care for your crown," he shouted, confident in his stroke; +but Evander met the blow instantly and wood only rattled on wood. + +"I have cared for it," he said, quietly, as he came on guard again, +making no attempt to return Sir Blaise's attack. Sir Blaise reversed +his tactics, feinted at Evander's head, and swept a furious +semicircle at Evander's legs. + +"Save your shins, then," he cried, and grunted with rage as he again +encountered Evander's swiftly revolving staff and heard Evander +answer, mockingly: + +"I have saved them." + +Inarticulate fury goaded him. "I will play with you no longer!" he +growled, and made a rush for Evander, raining blow upon blow as +quickly as he could deliver them, and hoping to break down Evander's +guard. But Evander, giving ground a little before his antagonist's +onslaught, met the attacks with a mill-wheel revolution of his weapon +which kept him scatheless, and then suddenly his cudgel shot out, +came with a sullen crack on Sir Blaise's skull, and the tussle was +over. Sir Blaise was lying his length on the grass, very still, and +there was blood upon his ruddy hair. + +Brilliana in hiding gave a little gasp when she saw her neighbor +fall; she could not tell whether to laugh or cry at the defeat of the +Cavalier. She saw Halfman bend over the fallen man and lift his head +upon his knee. She saw Evander advance and look down upon his +adversary. + +"I hope you are not hurt," Evander said, solicitously. + +Halfman glanced up at the victor. "No harm's done," he said. "He was +stunned for the moment; he is coming round." + +And in confirmation of his words Sir Blaise opened his eyes, and then +with difficulty sat up and stared ruefully at Evander. + +"Gogs!" he said, first rubbing his head and then looking at his +reddened palm. "Gogs! That was a swinging snip. I am as dizzy as a +winged pigeon." + +"Let me help you to rise," Evander said, courteously. Blaise shook +his aching head. + +"I am none too fluttered to find my feet," he asserted, ignoring the +fact that his rising from the ground to an erect posture was entirely +due to the combined efforts of Halfman and Evander, one on each +side, and then, when he did get to his feet, he was only able to +retain the perpendicular by leaning heavily upon Halfman as a steady +prop. From under his bandaged forehead his pale-blue eyes regarded +Evander with no trace of enmity. + +"Your hand, Puritan--your hand!" he cried. "'Tis just that we clasp +hands after a scuffle." + +Puritan and Cavalier clasped hands in a hearty grip. "I am at your +service," Evander said, gravely. "Shall we continue?" Sir Blaise +shook his head again. + +"I have had my bellyful," he grunted. "There was breakfast, dinner, +supper in your stroke. I must to the house to find vinegar and brown +paper to patch my poll." + +"Can I aid you?" Evander offered. "I have some slight skill in +surgery." + +"Leave him to me," Halfman interposed. "I have botched as many heads +as I have broken." + +Sir Blaise, leaning heavily on Halfman's arm, replied to Evander's +offer in his own way. + +"I will not have you mend ill what you have marred well. Come, +crutch, let us be jogging. We will meet again another time, my +fighting Puritan." + +Evander made him a bow. "At your pleasure," he replied, and stood +till Sir Blaise, leaning on Halfman, had hobbled out of the +pleasaunce and limped out of sight. Then he drew on his jerkin again +with a smile and a sigh. + +"Truly," he thought, "for a man who has but three days to live, I +cannot be said to be wasting much idle time." With that he took up +again the book he had laid down and was soon deep in its study. + + + + +XXI + +A PUZZLING PURITAN + + +So deep was Evander in his book that he did not hear a lady's +footfalls on the grass. When the discomfited Sir Blaise had quitted +the arena Brilliana held herself unseen and then swiftly sped back to +the pleasaunce. She stood for some seconds on the threshold of a yew +arch watching the reading man and wondering why it had pleased +Providence to make a Puritan so personable and skilful, wondering why +she of all women should take any interest either in his person or in +his skill, wondering how long he would remain buried in his tiresome +book unconscious of her presence. She decided that she would slip +away and leave him ignorant of her coming, and having decided that, +she coughed loudly, at which sound, of course, he turned round, saw +her, and rose respectfully to his feet. + +"I fear I trespass in your paradise," he said, wistfully. + +"My honor, no!" Brilliana cried, pretending to look about her +anxiously. "But where is Sir Blaise? I hope you two did not quarrel." + +"No, no," Evander protested; "we parted on clasped hands. Some +pressing matter called him to his quarters." + +"Did you pay him apology for your equivocal wit?" Brilliana asked, +demurely. + +Evander answered gravely: "He professed himself satisfied." + +Brilliana feigned a cry of horror. + +"I trust you did not eat your words." + +Evander shook his head. + +"I am not so hungry. Have I your leave to go?" + +He made as if to depart; Brilliana met his motion with a little +frown. + +"Are you so eager?" she asked, in a voice in which regret and +petulance were dexterously commingled. + +Evander answered her gravely. "Yesterday you said that a Puritan +presence was hateful." + +Brilliana laughed blithely and her curls quivered in the sunshine. + +"You must not harp on a mad maid's anger. Yesterday you were my +enemy, a thing of threats and treason. To-day all's different; to-day +you are my guest. Soon you will ride hence, and we will, if +Providence please, never meet again. But for a span of hours let us +make believe to be friend and friend, till Colonel Cromwell send my +cousin and your liberty." + +Evander was tempted to quarrel with himself for being so ready to +welcome this overture. But yesterday this woman had spattered him +with insults, snared him on a strained plea, bargained away his life +for the body of a spy. Yesterday she had shuddered at the thought of +any link of kinship between them, as she might have shuddered at +kinship with a wronger of women, a killer of children, a coward. Yet +to-day, as she stood there, sunshine on her hair, sunshine in her +eyes, a fairy lady standing in that circle of solemn yews, he could +find in his heart no regret for anything that had brought him to her +presence. He would take gladly what she offered gayly, two days of +friendship with so radiant a maid--and then? He left that thought +unanswered to reply to Brilliana. + +"Madam," he said, with a very ceremonious bow, "I will pretend that +we are going to be friends till the end of my life." + +Brilliana clapped her hands like a child that has been promised some +coveted comfit. + +"You are brave at make-believe. In the mean time let us keep each +other company a little. Surely it is dull for a man of action to be +a prisoner, and for my own part I mope sadly now that my little war +is well over." + +She had seated herself as she spoke, and she motioned to Evander to +take his place by her side. When she paused he asked: + +"Are you so strenuous an amazon?" + +She answered him very earnestly: + +"I miss the splendid music of the siege, the stir of arms, the bustle +of giving order, the alertness of expectation. I did not think a +woman's life could be tuned to so high a diapason. Just think of it! +Yesterday, and for many yesterdays, I was a leaguered lady, a +priestess of battles; I stood for the King; existence was one fierce +ecstasy. To drop from that brisk spin and whetted edge of life into +this housewife's twilight is all one with being some sea-old admiral +and drowning in a canal." + +The daughters of Israel could not have thrown more sadness into their +voice, Evander thought, as they sang by the waters of Babylon. If her +face was fair in animation, it seemed still more fair in sadness. + +"Has the Lady of Harby no employment," he asked, gently, "to spur the +trudging time?" + +Brilliana laughed rather cheerlessly. + +"Oh, mercy, yes! Can she not overwatch the gardener to see that he +planteth the right sort of herbs and flowers at the new of the moon, +at moon full, and at moon old? She can chat with Mistress Cook of +sallets and fricassees and fritters; she can count the linen; she can +preserve quinces; she can distil you aqua composita or imperial +water, or water of Bettony, against she grow old; she can be +dairy-wise, cellar-wise, laundry-wise--oh, there are a thousand +thousand things she can do if she want to do them, but the plague of +it is, since I have burned powder, these decent drudgeries no longer +divert me." + +She gave a little sigh as she ended her enumeration of a housewife's +tasks, and then banished the sigh with a smile. Evander found himself +thinking that a man might count himself happy for whom this lady +should sigh so at parting and smile so in welcome. But what he said +was: + +"Against your next distillation I can give you a very praisable +recipe for a cordial. It is a Swedish fancy and much favored by the +ladies of the North." + +Brilliana looked him full in the face and laughed very merrily, and +he felt his cheeks redden at her gaze and her mirth. + +"Was there ever such a man-marvel?" she asked. "All my people praise +you for some different accomplishment. A horseman, a gardener, the +best at fence, the best, too, with a cudgel--" + +"Ah, madam," Evander interrupted, apologetically, "pray how has that +come to your ears?" + +"Never mind how it came," Brilliana answered, "so that it has come +and that I owe you no ill-will for teaching a foolish gentleman a +lesson. But you can shoot, it seems, and play games, and are apt in +out-door arts and wise in out-of-doors wisdom--for all the world like +a country gentleman." + +"Madam, I am, as I hope, a gentleman, and as for the country +knowledge, I have lived its life in many lands and learned something +by the way." + +"And now," Brilliana bantered on, "you boast some science of the +still-room, and Mistress Satchell speaks of a Spanish manner of +grilling capons. Are you, perhaps, a herald as well as a master cook, +and do you know something of the gentle and joyous craft of the +huntsman?" + +Evander took her in her humor and bandied back the ball of +qualification. + +"I can prick a coat indifferently well," he responded, solemnly, "and +if such trifles delight you, I can blaze arms by the days of the week +or the ages of man or the flowers of the field, though I hold that a +true herald will never stray beyond colors." + +Brilliana nodded her head with an air of profound approval. "Better +and better," she murmured. Evander went on with his catalogue of +self-compliment. + +"And as for my woodcraft, I can name you all the names of a male +deer, from hind calf, year by year, through brocket and spayed, and +staggard and stag, till his sixth year, when he is truly a hart and +has his rights of brow, bay, and tray antlers. I am skilled in the +uses of falcon-gentle, gerfalcon, saker, lanner, merlin, hobby, +goshawk, sparrow-hawk, and musket--" + +Brilliana interrupted him with an impetuous gesture of command, and +Evander made an end of his display. + +"Enough, enough!" she cried. "I feel like Balkis when she came to sip +wisdom from Solomon's goblet. If I question you further I may find +that, like my Lord Verulam, you have taken all knowledge for your +province. This is something uncanny in a Puritan." + +Evander protested. + +"Why should a man deny the arts of life because he finds strength in +the faith of the Puritans?" + +"I know not why," Brilliana answered, "but so it is generally +believed among us who are not Puritans." + +"There are fanatic fellows with us as in all causes," Evander +admitted, "and some, it may be, who wear moroseness to gain favor. +But these are no more than the fringe of a stout cloak. I am no +exceptional Puritan, I promise you. Colonel Cromwell himself--" + +Brilliana interrupted him with a frowning imperiousness. + +"Let us not talk of Colonel Cromwell," she commanded. + +"I wish you would let me speak of Colonel Cromwell," Evander pleaded. +"He has long been my dear friend, and--" + +"Let us not talk of Colonel Cromwell," Brilliana repeated, with a +peremptory stamp of the foot. "I want to talk of you and your curious +Puritanism. I thought you were all too hypocritically devout to have +any care for the toys and colors of life." + +"To be devout is not to be hypocritical," Evander urged, gently. +"And, to speak for myself, I hope I am devout, but I do not find my +faith weakened by honorable enjoyment of honorable pleasures. Yet, +indeed, what poor accomplishments I can lay claim to--and to afford +you diversion, I have somewhat exaggerated their scope and +number--are due directly to my being a Puritan--" + +"You are pleased to be paradoxical," Brilliana asserted. Evander put +the suggestion aside with a head shake. + +"To my being a Puritan and to my being of your kin. When I was a boy +I learned of that kinship, learned how her marriage with a Puritan +had earned for a woman of your race the scorn, indeed the hatred of +her family, or those who should most and best have loved her." + +"You do not understand how strongly those who think as we think feel +on such a matter," Brilliana urged, one-half of her spirit angry that +she was speaking almost apologetically, the other half vexed that the +first half was not more angry. + +"Forgive me," said Evander, "but I do understand; I understand very +well; I made it my business to understand. And, therefore, I resolved +that so far as in me lay I would show those who scorned my people and +my creed that a Puritan might compete with his enemies in all the +arts and graces they held most dear, and not come off the worst in +all encounters." + +"That was a brave resolve!" Brilliana's eyes and voice applauded +him. He flushed a little as he went on. + +"It was a kind of oath of Hannibal. God was gracious in the gift of a +strong will, and I stuck to my purpose. I mastered arts, acquired +tongues, forced myself to dexterity in all manly exercises. I had a +modest patrimony which allowed me to travel after I left Cambridge, +and so gain that knowledge of the world which is so dear to English +gentlemen. And always in my thoughts it was: some day I may meet some +son of the house that cast us out and show him that a Puritan might +fear God and yet ride a horse, fly a hawk, and use a sword with the +best of his enemies." + +"Instead of which," said Brilliana, as he paused, "you meet a +daughter of the house and play your well-practised part to her." Her +voice was stern now and her eyes shone fiercely as she leaned forward +and continued in a low voice, "Was this the cause of your coming to +Harby?" + +"No," Evander answered. "I should never have come to Harby of my own +accord. But news came to Cambridge of your flying the King's flag. +The example was dangerous; Harby was a good house for either side to +hold. Colonel Cromwell commanded me to march with the volunteers I +had raised at Cambridge to secure Harby in the name of the +Parliament." + +"And you were very glad to obey," Brilliana said, bitterly, and again +Evander shook his head. + +"I was very sorry to obey. But I had no choice. Colonel Cromwell was +my father's friend; he knew the story of my people; he set it upon me +as a special seal for righteousness that I should do this thing. 'Kin +shall be set against kin in this strife,' he said, 'father against +son, and brother against brother. Go forth in the name of the Lord +and pluck the banner of Baal from the wall of Harby.' And I went." + +Brilliana, lifting her head, looked over the green wall of yews to +where, in the cool, gray-blue of the October sky, the royal standard +fluttered its gaudy folds in the wind. She said nothing, but her +smile spoke whole volumes of victories; the panegyrics of a thousand +triumphs gleamed in her eyes. Evander read smile and gleam rightly. + +"True, I failed," he admitted. "Yet I may not say that I am sorry, +for if I had not failed I should have lost a friend." + +He looked admiringly at her, but Brilliana drew herself up stiffly +and regarded him coldly. + +"You may be my kinsman without being my friend," she said, with a +sourness which had the effect of making Evander laugh like a boy. + +"Why, lady," he protested, "it is not ten minutes since that you +proffered me your friendship." + +"Did I so?" Brilliana asked, puckering her brows as if in doubt, +though she had not the least doubt upon the matter. + +"Indeed, madam," said Evander, very earnestly, "friends for a +lifetime." Brilliana snapped contradiction. + +"No, no; it was you who said that. I admit the friendship for three +days." + +"And I assert the friendship of a lifetime," Evander persisted. His +voice and his eyes were very merry, but there came an unconquerable +gnawing at his heart that, in spite of the fair place and the fair +face and the sweet discourse, life for him meant no more than a space +of three days. Well, then, he would live his three days bravely, +brightly. He lifted his eyes to the lady. + +"Are you of Master Amiens' school?" he asked-- + + "'Most friendship is feigning, most love is mere folly.'" + +She made no reply to his question, but its matter surprised her and +prompted her to another. + +"Do you go to Master Shakespeare's school?" she asked; and even as +she spoke she leaned forward to look at the book he had laid down and +to which, till that moment, she had paid no heed. She drew it towards +her and saw what it was. + +"Why, here are his plays. Can you affect him when 'tis known that the +King loves him?" + +"I would the King had no worse counsellors," Evander said, gravely. + +Brilliana had lifted the big book onto her lap and was turning the +pages tenderly, pausing here and there with loving murmurs. + +"Had I been a man," she said, softly, "I should have turned player +for the pleasure to speak such golden words." + +Evander, watching her fair, lowered face under its crown of dark +hair, thought of all that Imogen might mean, or Rosalind or Juliet, +did each of these dear ones show on the stage like this lady. He gave +the odd thought form in speech. + +"It is strange," he said, almost to himself, "that a Cavalier world +is content without women players." + +Brilliana lifted her face from the book, and there was a look of +astonishment and even of pain upon it. + +"Oh, that is quite another matter," she said, quickly. "That could +never come to pass." + +Evander's Puritanism, recalled to recollection of itself, felt +compelled to assent. + +"I trust not," he said, gravely. He was looking at Brilliana with +eyes that were honestly admiring. She rose from her seat. + +"I must dismiss you now," she said, "for I have much to do ere +dinner. You will dine with me, I pray." + +Evander made her a not uncourtly bow. + +"If I be not unwelcome," he suggested. + +Brilliana shook her head very positively. + +"We are pledged friends for the time, and friends love to break bread +together." + +There was no countering this argument. Evander took up the folio and +made its owner another bow. + +"I will attend you at the dinner-hour," he said. "This treasure I +restore to its home." + +As the Parliament man moved away across the grass, his image very +dark against its green, Brilliana looked after him, nursing her chin +in her palm and her elbow on her knee. As he entered the house with +the big book under his arm she took out her pretty handkerchief, and +with much deliberation tied a small knot in one corner of it. + +"Master Puritan, Master Puritan," she murmured, "I must tie a knot in +my handkerchief to remind me that you and I are enemies." + + + + +XXII + +MASTER PAUL AND MASTER PETER + + +At the dinner-hour Halfman came for Evander, where he sat in the +library, and told him that Lady Brilliana awaited him. The meal was +served in the banqueting-hall, a splendid, panelled room with +deep-embrasured windows, from which the defences had now been removed +and through which the inmates could have noble views of the lawns and +gardens beyond the moat. The little company of three seemed, as it +were, lost in the vastness of the chamber as they sat at meat +together at the oak table by the hearth at one end of the room, +Brilliana at the head, with Halfman at her right and Evander at her +left as the guest and stranger. It proved a vastly pleasant meal to +Evander, for the talk was brisk and entertaining, and there was no +allusion made to those civil and religious differences which in +distracting the country had their curious effect, so unimportant to +the country, so important to themselves, of bringing that oddly +assorted trio together. Brilliana gave a gracious equality of +attention to her companions; showed no keener interest in her new +visitor than she had found in the conversation of her old +acquaintance, and thus made both men very happily at their ease. +Indeed, Halfman was at his best that afternoon, playing the genial, +ripe, mellow man of the world to perfection, so that Evander found +him a most entertaining board-fellow. + +They were at the fruit, and Halfman showing them tricks of carving +faces in October apples, when Tiffany skipped into the room a-twitter +with excitement. + +"My lady," she cried, "here is come Master Paul and two of our people +bearing a great box. And I can spy Master Peter and his party with +another at the turn of the road." + +Halfman laughed loudly; Brilliana laughed softly; Evander wondered +what there was to laugh at. + +"Lodge them apart and bring them in by turn," Brilliana gave order. +"Master Paul first and then Master Peter. This is rare. Bring them +in, bring them in." + +Tiffany fluttered out and Evander rose from his chair. + +"Shall I leave you, lady?" he asked, thinking that she would be +private. But Brilliana would not hear of this and motioned to him to +keep his seat. + +"Nay, sir, stay," she said, "if you would see some sport." + +Even as she spoke Tiffany returned, ushering in Master Hungerford, +followed by two men in Brilliana's livery, bearing with pains a chest +which they set down with a deep breath of relief. Tiffany, who was +now in the secret, pretended to be busy at a sideboard so as to stay +in the room. Master Paul rubbed his lean fingers together and scraped +to the company. + +"You have been swift, Master Hungerford," Brilliana said, +approvingly. Master Hungerford smiled furtively. + +"Who would not use despatch in the King's cause and yours. 'Tis as I +said: the pestilent Roundhead had a chest full of broad-pieces +stuffed under his bed. And here it now is at your feet." And he +pointed victoriously at the spoils of war. Brilliana applauded as if +she had been at the play. + +"You have done well," she said, with the tears in her eyes for +laughter. Halfman kept a grave face and Evander wondered. + +"Call me your knight," Master Paul pleaded, with a languishing look. + +"You have done well, my knight," Brilliana repeated; then, turning +to Tiffany, she bade her see that the chest was set in a place of +safety. The two men took up their burden again and followed Tiffany +out of the room. But in a jiffy the maid was back again and +whispering in her mistress's ear. + +Brilliana turned her amused gaze upon Master Paul. + +"Master Hungerford," she entreated, "will you be so good as to wait +awhile in the next chamber. I have some immediate business to deal +with, but I would be loath to part company with you so soon if you +have the leisure to wait." + +Master Hungerford, protesting his readiness to attend upon her +pleasure, was promptly ushered by Halfman into an adjoining room, +where he left him, and having closely shut the door, came back +shaking with suppressed laughter to Brilliana. Evander, looking from +the mirthful man to the mirthful maid, felt constrained to question. + +"Why are you so merry?" + +"You will know ere the sun is much older," Brilliana answered, +composing her countenance, "for here comes the other." + +As she spoke Tiffany returned, ushering in Master Peter Rainham and a +fresh brace of Brilliana's servants, staggering, like their +predecessors, under the weight of a great chest. The certainty that +some astonishing jest was towards set Evander on the alert as he +scrutinized the forbidding form and features of the new-comer. + +"Welcome, thrice welcome, Master Peter Rainham," cried Brilliana. +"You have made good speed." + +Master Peter proffered her an uncouth salutation and pointed to the +chest on the floor significantly. + +"Lady," he said, "I have done the King a good turn. There are gold +plates there, gold dishes, gold ewers, that will change in the +melting-pot to many a troop of horse for the King's cause." + +"I thank you with all my heart," Brilliana said, quietly. + +Master Peter leered cunningly at her, and earned the cordial dislike +of Evander. + +"Do you give me your heart with your thanks?" he asked, with what he +believed to be gallantry. + +Brilliana made a little fanning motion at him with her hand. + +"You are too hot," she said. Then ordered Tiffany, "See these +treasures despatched to the King under guard." + +As before, the serving-men took up the chest, which seemed even +heavier than the former box, and were convoyed by Tiffany out of the +room. Then Brilliana turned to Master Peter, who stood apart biting +his nails awkwardly. + +"Master Rainham," she said, "you have shown rare discretion and made +brave despatch. I would thank you at greater length were it not that +I have company. There is one in the next room who waits to see me. +Entreat the gentleman to enter, Captain Halfman." + +Halfman went to the nigh door, and, opening it, summoned with +beckoning finger its tenant to come forth. Master Hungerford emerged +radiant. For a moment neither squire saw the other. Then Master +Rainham, looking away from Brilliana, saw Master Hungerford; and +Master Hungerford, looking away from Halfman, saw Master Rainham. + +To those who watched the comedy the silence was intense, and +throbbing with possibilities as summer air throbs with heat. +Brilliana heard Master Rainham say, "What a devil, Master +Hungerford," and Halfman, for his part, averred later that Master +Hungerford, too, greeted his neighbor's presence with an oath. The +spectators wondered what would happen: it was plain as noon that each +squire for an instant believed that the other had discovered larceny +and had posted to avenge it. But while each man knew of his own guilt +neither could guess or did guess at the other's theft, and neither +reading anger in the other's visage, each concluded that the meeting +was a piece of chance, and each resolved to make the best of it, +laughing heartily in his sleeve at the other's catastrophe. So +"Good-morrow, neighbor," nodded Master Paul, and "Good-day, +good-day," responded Master Peter, and Brilliana thought her bodice +would burst with her effort to keep her appreciation a prisoner. + +"Why, sirs," she cried, "this is a good seeing, a pair of neighbors +under my roof." + +"What does this fellow here?" Master Paul asked behind his hand of +Halfman, who answered, very coolly, + +"He comes to pay court to our lady." + +At the same moment, beneath his breath, Master Peter was questioning +Brilliana, "Why is that disloyal rogue here?" Brilliana answered, +with a pretty toss of the head: + +"Would you ever believe it? He came to assure me of his devotion to +me and his zeal for his Majesty." + +Master Peter, in wrath, looked more porcine than ever. + +"The lying knave," he grunted. "What are his words to my deeds?" + +"What, indeed," answered Brilliana, demurely. "I pray you persuade +him hence." + +"So that I may return alone?" + +Thus Master Peter interpreted Brilliana, and the minx gave him a +glance which might well be taken as justifying his interpretation. At +this moment Master Paul broke in upon their colloquy. + +"A word with you, I pray you," he said, sourly, "if my good neighbor +will give me good leave." + +Master Rainham withdrew a little way his self-satisfaction and +himself, while Master Paul whispered to Brilliana: + +"You know me now: I am proved your friend. Prithee get rid of that +mean huckster." + +Brilliana desired nothing better. She gave him the same advice that +she had given his neighbor, and was mischievously delighted to find +that he interpreted it after the same fashion. It did her heart good +to see how the two squires approached each other with many formal +expressions of good-will, each persuading the other to depart, and +each warmly proffering companionship on the homeward road. In the end +they went off together arm in arm, each endeavoring to convey to +Brilliana by nods and winks that he proposed to return alone very +shortly. + +As soon as they were fairly gone Brilliana and Halfman allowed +themselves to laugh like school-boy and school-girl, and then +Brilliana commanded Halfman to take order that neither gentleman was +to be admitted again. When he had gone on this business she turned to +Evander. + +"Well," she said, "have you found the key to the riddle?" + +"You have made these two neighbors plunder each other?" he hazarded. +Brilliana nodded gleefully, and then, guessing at disapproval in his +gravity, she asserted, defiantly: + +"It was for the King's cause. Everything is right for the King's +cause." + +At this flagrant enunciation of Cavalier policy Evander could not but +smile. + +"How will it end?" he asked. He was to learn that very soon, but +first he was to learn other things of greater import to himself. + + + + +XXIII + +A DAY PASSES + + +A day is twenty-four hours if you take it by the card, but the spirit +of joy or the spirit of sorrow has the power to multiply its +potentialities amazingly. Both these spirits walked by Evander's side +during his second day at Harby. The one that went in sable reminded +him that his horizon was dwindling almost to his feet; the other, in +rose and gold, hinted that it is better to be emperor for a day than +beggar for a century. And truly through all that day Evander esteemed +himself happier than an emperor. For he had discovered that Brilliana +was the most adorable woman in the world, and, knowing how his span +of life was shrinking, he allowed himself to adore without let or +hinderance of hostile faiths and warring causes. He did not, as +another in his desperate case might have done, make the most of his +time by using it for very straightforward love-making. There was a +fine austerity in him that denied such a course. Were he an undoomed +man his creed and his cause would forbid him to philander; being a +doomed man, it could not consort with his honor to act differently. +But he was radiantly happy in her constant companionship, and the +hours fled from him iris-tinted as he relived the age of gold. + +But if Evander trod the air, there was another who pressed the earth +with leaden feet and carried a heart of lead. Halfman read Evander's +happiness with hostile eyes; he read, too, very clearly, Brilliana's +content in Evander's company, and he raged at it. He had grown so +used to himself as Brilliana's ally that he had come to dream mad +dreams which were none the less sweet because of their madness. He +had rehearsed himself if not as Romeo at least as Othello, and if +Brilliana was not in the least like Desdemona that knowledge did not +dash him, for he thought her much more delectable than the Venetian, +and he thanked his stars that he was not a blackamoor. He had not +pushed his thoughts to a precise formula; he had been content to +delight during the hours of siege in the companionship of a matchless +maid, and now the maid had found another companion, and he knew that +he was fiercely in love and as foolishly jealous as a moon-calf. +Brilliana was as kind to him as ever, but she gave her time to the +new man, and Halfman, inwardly bleeding and outwardly the magnificent +stoic, left the pair to themselves and absented himself at meal-times +on pretext of pressing business with the volunteer troop. But his +temper grew as a gale grows and would soon prove a whirlwind. + +The garden-room at Harby was one of its many glories. Its panelled +walls, its portraits of old-time Harbys, its painted ceiling, were +exquisite parts of its exquisite harmony. On the side towards the +park the wall was little more than a colonnade--to which doors could +be fitted in winter-time, and here, as from a loggia, the indweller +could feast on one of the fairest prospects in Oxfordshire. Across +the moat the gardens stretched, in summer-time a riot of color, +flowers glowing like jewels set in green enamel. In the waning autumn +the scene was still fair, even though the day was overcast as this +day was, from which the weather-wise and even the weather-unwise +could freely and confidently prophesy rain. Brilliana dearly loved +her garden-room for many things, most, perhaps, because of its +full-length portrait of her King, an honest copy from an adorable +Vandyke, to which, as to a shrined image, Brilliana paid honest +adoration. She knew more about the picture than anyone else in +Harby, and used sometimes to wonder if the knowledge would ever avail +her. In the mean time, ever since the troubles began, she always bent +a knee whenever she passed the portrait. She had never seen her King, +yet she felt as if she saw him daily, visible in the living flesh, so +keenly did her loyalty seem to quicken color and canvas. Brilliana +was not the only soul in England whose loyalty gave the King a kind +of godhead, but if she had many peers she had none, nor could have, +who overpassed her. + +On the morning of the third day of Evander's stay at Harby, Halfman +sat on the edge of the table in the garden-room and stared through +the open doorway into the green beyond. He was alone, and he had +flung off the stoic robe and was very frankly an angry man and very +frankly a dangerous man. What he saw in the garden maddened him; his +eyes glittered like a cat's that stalks its prey. He had no room in +his thoughts for the cottage of his earlier dreams, with its pleasant +garden and its lazy hours over ale and tobacco. He thought only of a +woman quite beyond his reach, and his heart lusted for the lawless +days when your lucky buccaneer might take his pick of a score of +women by right of fire and sword and tame his choice as he pleased. + +To this mood fortune sent interruption in the person of Sir Blaise +Mickleton. Sir Blaise had opened the door expecting to find in the +room Brilliana, whom he had come with a purpose to visit, and instead +of Brilliana he found this queer soldier swinging his legs from the +table and scowling truculently. From what Sir Blaise had already seen +of Halfman he found him very little to his mind, but he reflected +that he had come on a mission, that Brilliana was nowhere in sight, +and that Halfman, who had served her during the siege, might very +well direct him where he should find her. + +As Halfman took no notice whatever of him, Sir Blaise deemed it +advisable, in the interests of his mission, to attract his attention. +So he gave a politic cough and followed it with a "Give you +good-morrow" of such sufficient loudness that Halfman could not +choose but hear it. He did not change his attitude, however, or turn +his face from the window, as he answered, in a sullen voice, + +"I should need a good-morrow to mend a bad day." + +Sir Blaise had not the wit to let a sleeping dog lie, but must needs +prod it to see if it could bark. So he very foolishly said what were +indeed obvious even to a greater fool than he. + +"You seem in the sullens." + +The sleeping dog could bark. Halfman turned a scowling face upon the +knight as he answered, malevolently: + +"Swamped, water-logged, foundering. You are a pretty parrakeet to +come between me and my musings." + +The tone of Halfman's speech, the way of Halfman's demeanor were so +offensive that the knight's cheap dignity took fire. He swelled with +displeasure, flushed very red in the gills, and cleared his throat +for reproof. + +"Master Majordomo, you forget yourself." + +Halfman proved too indifferent or too self-absorbed to take umbrage. +He stared into the garden again with a sigh. + +"No, I remember myself, and the memory vexes me. I dreamed I was a +king, a kaiser, a demigod. I wake, rub my eyes, and am no more than a +fool." + +Sir Blaise was patronizingly forgiving. He was thirsty, also the +morning was chilly. + +"Let us exorcise your devil with a pottle of hot ale," he suggested. +Halfman shook his head wistfully. + +"I should be happier in a sable habit, with a steeple hat, and a rank +in the Parliament army." + +It was plain to Sir Blaise that a man must be very deep in the dumps +who was not to be tempted by hot ale. + +"Lordamercy, are you for changing sides now?" he asked. + +As Halfman made him no answer but continued to stare gloomily into +the garden, Blaise concluded that the interest lay there which made +him thus distracted. So he came down to the table and looked over +Halfman's shoulder. In the distance he saw a man and woman walking +among the trees. The man was patently the Puritan prisoner, the woman +was the chatelaine of Harby. The pair seemed very deep in converse. +As Sir Blaise looked, they were out of sight round a turning. Halfman +gave a heavy groan and spoke, more to himself, as it seemed, than to +his companion. + +"Look how they walk in the garden, ever in talk. Time was she would +walk and talk with me, listen to my wars and wanderings, and call me +a gallant captain." + +"Are you jealous of the Puritan prisoner?" Blaise asked, astonished. +Halfman answered with an oath. + +"Oh, God, that the siege had lasted forever, or that she had kept her +word and blown us sky high." + +Blaise began to snigger. + +"'Ods-life! do you dare a love for your lady?" he said. He had better +not have said it. Halfman turned on him with a face like a demon's +and the plump knight recoiled. + +"Why the red devil should I not," Halfman asked, hoarsely, "if a +bumpkin squire like you may do as much?" + +Blaise tried to domineer, but the effort was feeble before the +fierceness in Halfman's glare. + +"Are you speaking to me, your superior?" he stammered. Halfman +answered him mockingly, with a voice that swelled in menace as the +taunting speech ran on. + +"Will you ride against me, cross swords with me, come to grips with +me any way? You dare not. I am well born, have seen things, done +things 'twould make you shiver to hear of them. Come, I am in a +fiend's humor; come with your sword to the orchard and see which of +us is the better man." + +Sir Blaise was in a fair panic at this raging fury he had conjured up +and now was fain to pacify. + +"Soft, soft, honest captain; why so choleric? I would not wrong you. +But surely you do not think she favors this Puritan?" + +"Oh, he's a proper man, damn him!" Halfman admitted. "He has a right +to a woman's liking. And he must love her, God help him! as every man +does that looks on her." + +Blaise looked pathetic. + +"What is there to do?" he asked, helplessly. Halfman struck his right +fist into his left palm. + +"I would do something, I promise you. He is no immortal. But we shall +be rid of him soon. If Colonel Cromwell do not surrender Cousin +Randolph we are pledged to his killing, and if he do, then our friend +rejoins his army; and I pray the devil my master that I may have the +joy to pistol him on some stricken field." + +Sir Blaise thought it was time to change the conversation. + +"Let us leave these ravings and vaporings," he entreated, wheedling, +"and return to the business of life. And 'tis a very unpleasant +business I come on." + +Halfman drew his hand across his forehead as a man who seeks to +dissipate ill dreams. Then, with a tranquil face, he gave Blaise the +attention he petitioned. + +"How so?" he asked. Any business were a pleasing change from his sick +thoughts. + +"Why, I am a justice of the peace for these parts," Sir Blaise said, +"and I am importuned by two honest neighbors to process of law +against your lady." + +Halfman laughed unpleasantly. + +"The Lady Brilliana's wish is the law of this country-side, I promise +you." + +He grinned maliciously and fingered at his sword-hilt. Sir Blaise +felt exceedingly uncomfortable. Here was no promising beginning for a +solemn judicial errand. But the knight had a mighty high sense of his +own importance, and he felt himself shielded, as it were, from the +tempers of this fire-eater by the dignity of his office and the +majesty of the law. So he came to his business with a manner as +pompous as he could muster. + +"Master Rainham and Master Hungerford are exceedingly angry," he +asserted. + +Halfman flouted him and his clients. + +"Because she bobbed them so bravely? The knaves came raving to our +gates when they found how they had been tricked into picking each +other's pockets. But I made them take to their heels, I promise you. +You should have seen their fool faces at the sight of a musket's +muzzle." + +Sir Blaise looked righteously indignant. + +"Sir, sir," he protested, "muskets will not mend matters if these +gentlemen have been wronged. They came hot-foot to me, and in the +interests of peace I have entreated them hither. They wait without in +the care of two of your people to keep them from flying at each +other's throats." + +Halfman heard the distressing news with equanimity. + +"Why not let them kill each other?" he suggested, blandly. Blaise +lifted his hands in horror. + +"Friend," he said, "in this mission I am a man of peace. Will you +acquaint your lady?" + +Halfman grunted acquiescence. + +"Oh, ay; bring in your boobies." + +He turned on his heel and swung out through the doorway into the +garden. + +Sir Blaise looked after him for a moment disapprovingly, then he went +to the door by which he had entered, and, opening it, called aloud, + +"This way, gentlemen, this way." + + + + +XXIV + +A HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE + + +There was a loud, scuffling noise without, as of the trampling of +many feet and the inarticulate growlings of wild beasts. Then Clupp +entered the room, clasping in his mighty arms the long body of Master +Paul Hungerford. He was followed by Garlinge, who was performing the +like embracive office for the short body of Master Peter Rainham. The +two angry gentlemen plunged and struggled impotently to free +themselves from their guardians and hurl themselves at each other's +throats. They might as well have tried to free themselves from clamps +of iron. To the master-muscled Garlinge and Clupp--a strong Gyas, a +strong Cloanthes, no less--they were no more difficult to restrain +than would have been a brace of puling babes. Even their speech was +not free to make amends for their captivity, for they were so brimful +of choler and had so roared and shrieked their rage ere this that the +torrent of their fury spent itself in vacant mouthings and +splutterings. Sir Blaise eyed the brawlers with exceeding disfavor. + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen," he entreated, "be calm, I beg of you." + +At the sound of his voice the disputants found theirs, or rather +found themselves restored to command over human speech. Each turned +towards Sir Blaise, swaying over the clasped arms of his captor. + +"Sir Blaise," screamed Master Paul, "in the King's name I call upon +you to commit this thief to jail." + +"Set that footpad in the pillory, Sir Blaise," yelled Master Peter. +Then they turned upon each other again. + +"You rogue," cried Master Paul. + +"You rascal," answered Master Peter. + +In a second they were again struggling to get at each other, and +were, as before, imperturbably held asunder by Garlinge and Clupp. + +Again Sir Blaise protested. + +"Good friends, be calm, I entreat you." + +"I'll cut his heart out," Peter vociferated, stabbing a dirty hand in +the direction of his enemy. + +"I'll make him mincemeat," Paul promised, sawing at the air. + +Sir Blaise, turning away in disgust, saw how in the garden Brilliana +was making for the house. He frowned on the malcontents. + +"Hush, here comes the lady." + +Even as he spoke Brilliana entered from the garden, followed by +Evander and Halfman. The girl looked as bright as sunlight as she +greeted the company. + +"Good-morning, Sir Blaise; good-morning, my masters." + +Then she burst out laughing at the furious faces and helpless +gesticulations of the irate claimants. Her laughter was very +delightful for most men to hear, but it goaded the squires to frenzy. + +"Sir Blaise," cried Master Paul, "I call you to witness that the lady +laughs at us." + +"Sir Blaise," cried Master Peter, "there stands our undoing." +Brilliana frowned a little and turned to Halfman. + +"Friend," she said, "will you see order here." + +"Very blithely," Halfman answered. He commanded the servants. + +"You, Garlinge and Clupp, see that your prisoners keep silence." + +Master Paul and Master Peter began to protest in chorus. + +"We are no prison--" But they got no further, for Garlinge and Clupp +silenced them by clapping huge hands over their gaping mouths. +Brilliana gave a little sigh of relief at the welcome quiet. + +"Now, Sir Blaise," she asked, "why are these gentlemen here?" + +Sir Blaise made salutation and answered, "Truly, most paradisiacal +lady, these gentlemen make grave allegations that you did insidiously +incite them to the commission of a felony." + +Brilliana looked from Sir Blaise to the muffled, grappled plaintiffs +and made mirthful decision. + +"I represent the King here. I will try this matter." + +Blaise felt bound to lodge protest against this monstrous +proposition. + +"Perhaps, most Elysian of fair ladies, it would be, as one might say, +more seemly if I, as a justice of the peace--" + +Brilliana daffed him down. + +"Sir Blaise, we are at war now, and by your leave I will handle this +matter after my own fashion." + +"I must protest," Blaise bleated, but Brilliana would not listen to +him. + +"You must do nothing," she insisted, "but help me to set chairs. One +here for me, one there for you, my brother justice; one there for +Captain Cloud, who, as a stranger of distinction, shall have a seat +on the bench." + +"I thank you for the honor," said Evander, watching the scene with +much entertainment. As Brilliana talked she, with Blaise and Halfman, +had been busy placing seats as she directed at the table. + +"Captain Halfman," Brilliana went on, "you write a clerkly hand. Sit +you here; you shall be our clerk. Arraign the prisoners." + +By this time all were seated as Brilliana had disposed; Sir Blaise +had completely surrendered his dignity to her spell. Even Halfman +found pleasure in the grotesque sham trial. + +Garlinge and Clupp brought their charges down to face the newly +formed tribunal. Halfman spoke. + +"Here, my lady, we have two hobs who have come to loggerheads as to +which is best disposed to the King. Garlinge, let Master Hungerford +speak." Garlinge removed his massive hand from his prisoner's mouth, +and Paul, after gaping like a fish for some seconds, gasped out, + +"Lady, you know well enough how you have befooled us." + +Brilliana stared upon him, bewitchingly unembarrassed by the charge. + +"Manners, master," cried Halfman, angrily, "or I'll manner you." + +Brilliana daintily deprecated his heat. + +"Wait, wait," she said. "First of all, are you a loyal subject of the +King?" + +Master Paul rubbed his chin dubiously. "That is as it may be," he +muttered. + +Brilliana tapped the table. "Faint hesitation is flat treason," she +cried. Turning to Halfman, she commanded, "Write him down for a +confessed Roundhead." + +Master Paul clawed towards her excitedly. + +"No, no; pray you not so fast," he entreated. "I am a good King's +man." + +Brilliana condescended approval. + +"He amends his plea," she noted to Halfman. Master Paul went on, +fractiously, + +"But that does not make me love to be plundered." + +Brilliana rose and, resting the tips of her fingers on the table, +addressed Master Hungerford sternly. + +"Master Hungerford, one of two things. Either you are a Roundhead, in +which case you have no rights in loyal, royal Oxfordshire--say I not +well, Sir Blaise?" + +"Marvellous well," Sir Blaise assented. + +"Ergo," Brilliana continued, "having no rights you have no goods, +having no goods you cannot be plundered." + +"Yet I was plundered," Master Paul protested. Brilliana exorcised the +plea. + +"We shall convince you to the contrary. If you are no Roundhead then +you are a stanch Cavalier, and in the King's name you confiscated +certain gear of your fellow-prisoner." + +Now, while Paul was being interrogated Clupp had removed his hand +from Master Peter's mouth and contented himself with holding him +fast. Master Peter now saw an opportunity to assert himself. + +"I am not a prison--" he began, but was not suffered to speak +further. Instantly Clupp's palm closed again upon the parted jaws and +reduced him to silence once more, while Brilliana went on. + +"In doing which you deserved well of his Majesty." + +"Ay, all was well so far," Master Paul grumbled; "but he played the +like trick upon me at your instigation." + +Brilliana would not hear of it. + +"You misuse speech. 'Tis no trick to serve the King. As I +understand, each of you accuses the other of robbing him." + +Master Paul agreed. Master Peter, gagged behind Clupp's hand, nodded +dismally. Brilliana went on. + +"This is at first blush a dilemma, but our wit makes all clear. Each +of you, avowedly in the King's name, did descend upon the dwelling of +a disaffected rebel and make certain seizures there which have been +duly sent to his Majesty. Each of you is, therefore, proved to be a +loyal subject and honorable gentleman. So far you are with me, Sir +Blaise?" + +"Surely, surely," the knight agreed. + +"Yet, on the other hand," continued Brilliana, "each of you accuses +the other of robbing him. Now to rob is to offend against the King's +law, to be, therefore, an enemy to the King; and an enemy to the King +is a Roundhead. Is not this well argued, Sir Blaise?" + +"Socrates could not have bettered it," commended Sir Blaise. + +"We arrive, therefore, at the strange conclusion," said Brilliana, +judicially, "that each of you is at the same time an honest Cavalier +and a dishonest Roundhead. Now, as no man living can be in the same +breath Cavalier and Roundhead, it follows as plainly as B follows A +that whichever one of you complains of the other is avowedly the +King's enemy and a palpable rebel." + +Master Paul scratched his head. + +"I do not follow your reasoning," he mumbled. Brilliana appealed to +the justice of the peace. + +"Yet it is very clear. Is it not, Sir Blaise?" + +"Limpidity itself," Sir Blaise approved, complacently. Brilliana +resumed. + +"One or other of you is a traitor and shall be sent to Oxford in +chains, to await the King's pleasure and his own pain. I care not +which it be." + +"You have set me in such a quandary," Master Paul protested, "my head +buzzes like a hive." + +Brilliana directly questioned him. + +"You, Master Hungerford, are you a King's man?" + +Master Paul was vehement in asseveration. + +"I am a King's man, hook and eye." + +"Then," Brilliana assumed, "'tis Master Rainham must fare in chains +to Oxford." + +Master Rainham, staring at her over Clupp's paw, had such appealing +terror in his eyes that Brilliana pitied him. + +"'Tis your turn now," she said. "Let him give tongue, Clupp." + +Clupp withdrew his hand and Master Rainham gurgled: + +"I proclaim myself a faithful subject of the King. Let that dog trot +to Oxford." + +"You matchless basilisk!" screamed Master Paul at him, and "You +damnable mandrake!" retorted Master Peter. The pair would have flown +at each other if they could have wriggled free. But as they could not +they perforce resigned themselves to hear what Brilliana would say +next. + +"Why, then, it stands thus," Brilliana summed up. "This court decides +that you are both servants of the King; that you have both done the +King good service, willing and yet unwilling. I think I shall have +some little credit with the King, and I shall use it with his Majesty +by entreating him to grant the grace of knighthood to two honest +friends of mine and two honest lovers of his--Master Hungerford and +Master Rainham." + +Master Paul looked at Master Peter; Master Peter looked at Master +Paul. Master Paul smiled. Master Peter smiled. + +"A knighthood!" + +Master Peter mumbled the word lovingly. Master Paul blew a kiss +towards Brilliana. + +"Then I shall be indeed your knight," he simpered. + +"Are you content?" Brilliana asked, gravely, and the two squires +answered in union, + +"We are content." + +"Then this worshipful court adjourns sine die. Captain Halfman, see +that our friends be refreshed ere they depart." + +Halfman rose, and with a "Follow me, sirs," made for the door. Sir +Blaise stooped over Brilliana's finger-tips. + +"Farewell, my lady wisdom. Solomon was not more wise nor Minos more +sapient." + +"I thought you would uphold me," Brilliana replied. "Farewell." + +Sir Blaise saluted Evander, who returned the salutation and quitted +the room. Master Paul, taking leave of Brilliana, whispered, + +"When I am knight, you shall be my lady." + +"When you are king, diddle-diddle, I shall be queen," Brilliana +laughed at him, making a reverence. He joined Halfman at the door and +Master Peter approached Brilliana. + +"When I wear my new title, I will lay it at your feet," he promised, +solemnly. + +"Can you not keep it in your own hands?" Brilliana questioned. She +made him a reverence, he made her his best bow and went to the door, +where Master Paul waited with Halfman. Here a point of ceremony +arose. + +"After you, Sir Peter," Master Paul suggested. Master Peter fondled +the title. + +"Sir Peter! It sounds nobly. Nay, after you, Sir Paul," he protested. +They were at this business so long that Halfman lost patience. + +"Stand not on the order of your going," he growled between his teeth, +then grasping with an air of bluff good-fellowship an arm of either +squire, he banged them somewhat roughly together. + +"Nay, arm in arm, as neighbor knights should," he suggested, and so +jostled them out of the chamber and conducted them to the buttery, +where for the next hour he diverted himself by making them very drunk +indeed. + + + + +XXV + +ROMEO AND JULIET + + +Brilliana turned to Evander. + +"Well, Captain Puritan, are you displeased with me?" + +Evander disclaimed such thought. + +"Why should I be displeased that you, a King's woman, serve the +King?" + +Brilliana was pertinacious. + +"If you were a King's man would you applaud me?" + +"If I were a King's man," Evander confessed, "I could not choose but +applaud you." + +"But being a Puritan?" Brilliana persisted. + +"Why," said Evander, "being a Puritan, I must ask you, were you just +to your victims?" + +Brilliana swept them away disdainfully. + +"Each would have cheated the King in an hour, when, to all who think +with me, to cheat the King is little better than to cheat God. But +your scrupulosity need not shiver. If the King do not knight my +misers I will requite them, little as they deserve it." + +Evander admired her. + +"You are a brave lady." + +Brilliana gave a sigh. + +"No, I am not brave at all; I am newly very timid. I am frightened of +the real world now, and feel only at my ease with shadows." + +"Shall we journey into shadow-land?" Evander asked. + +"By what path?" Brilliana questioned. Evander touched a brown, torn +book. + +"Shall we read again in Master Shakespeare's book?" + +For indeed they had read much in his pages that morning. Brilliana +looked pleased. + +"Yes, indeed. Let us go into my paradise." + +She looked into the garden and came back with a shiver. + +"Ah, no, it is raining. It rained when the King raised his standard +at Nottingham. Well, well, we can read here." + +Evander was turning the leaves. + +"What shall we read? Comedy, history, tragedy?" + +Brilliana was for the solemn mask. + +"Let it be tragedy. I have laughed so much this morning that my mind +turns to melancholy." + +Evander looked up at her with his finger on a page. + +"Shall we read 'Romeo and Juliet'?" + +"I know that play by root of heart," Brilliana said. + +"Truly, so do I," said Evander. + +Brilliana was silent, pensive, a finger on her lip, considering some +project. Then she said, doubtfully: + +"You spoke the other day of women players, a thing that seemed to me +incredible. Shall we see how it would seem here for us two? Let us +while away a wet morning by playing a stage play." + +Evander's heart leaped. + +"With you for the sweet scene in the garden," he cried. + +In a moment Brilliana was busy in the setting of her scene. She +pulled round a heavy, high-backed chair and leaped into it, leaning +over the back and looking up as if the painted ceiling glowed with +the stars of an Italian night. Then the words flowed from her, the +wonderful words: + + "'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo? + Deny thy father and refuse thy name: + Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, + And I'll no longer be a Capulet.'" + +Evander said his line a little stiffly; he was awkward, being a man. + + "'Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?'" + +Brilliana flowed on: + + "'Tis but thy name that is my enemy: + Thou art thyself though not a Montague. + What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, + Nor arm nor face. O be some other name + Belonging to a man. + What's in a name? That which we call a rose + By any other word would smell as sweet; + So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, + Retain that dear perfection which he owes, + Without that title.--Romeo, doff thy name; + And for thy name which is no part of thee, + Take all myself.'" + +Evander put heart now into his part as he moved towards her. + + "'I take thee at thy word. + Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd; + Henceforth I never will be Romeo.'" + +Brilliana affected to peer into the darkness of a green garden. + + "'What man art thou, that thus bescreened in night, + So stumblest on my counsel?'" + +Evander answered, very earnest now: + + "'By a name + I know not how to tell thee who I am: + My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, + Because it is an enemy to thee: + Had I it written, I would tear the word.'" + +Brilliana's voice faltered as she took up the tale. + + "'My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words + Of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound. + Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?'" + +Evander was quite near now to the chair and the fair maid perched +upon it, and the words trembled on his lips. + + "'Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.'" + +He put out his hands and caught hers for a moment. Then she drew them +free and jumped down. She went to the open space and looked into the +wet garden with a hand to her head and a hand to her heart. Evander +followed her. + +"Ah, me," she said, "love was a heady god in Verona. Here in England +he could not solder such hostilities." + +Evander answered her passionately. + +"Here in England love is a more glorious god yet, for he can fling a +Puritan soldier at the feet of a Cavalier lady." + +Brilliana still stared straight before her. + +"We have drifted from the land of shadows." + +Evander spoke from his heart. + +"We have drifted into reality. I love you. I cannot change my faith +for that, I cannot change my flag. But believe this, remember this, +that in the Parliament's army one Puritan is as true your lover as +all the Cavaliers who worship you." + +Brilliana turned and looked at him now, very steadfastly: + +"You do not speak by the book." + +"No, only by my heart," Evander answered, simply. "I tell you my +soul's truth. I love you, I shall love you to the end, whether the +end come in a battle on a windy heath, or in an oblong box of a bed." + +Brilliana's eyes were bright and kind. + +"You do not know what you are saying. I do not know what you are +saying. The world would have to change before I could listen with +patience to words of love on the lips of a rebel." + +Evander answered her bravely. + +"I know that. I did not hope; but I had to set my soul free. To the +end of ends I shall cherish you, live for you, die for you: very +lonely, well content." + +Brilliana turned away. The heart of Juliet within her was big almost +to breaking. + +"The rain ceases; I must go into the air." + +Even as she spoke, the door opened and Tiffany ran in. + +"My lady!" she cried; "my lady, John Thoroughgood rides up the avenue +on a foundering horse!" + +Brilliana gave a great cry and went ghost-white. + +"Dear God, the letter! I had forgotten the letter!" + +Tiffany slipped from the room. Evander answered Brilliana's cry very +calmly. + +"For the second, so had I. But, indeed, dear lady and friend, I know +its terms." + +"You cannot be sure," Brilliana whispered. + +"I am sure," Evander replied. "I know Colonel Cromwell." + +The door opened again and Thoroughgood entered, splashed with mud and +carrying a letter in his hand. + +"My lady," said Thoroughgood, "I have ridden hard and long to find +the rebels. I have killed two horses; I had to wait on Colonel +Cromwell's leisure; I was fired at thrice as I rode. At long last +and through many perils here is the letter." + +"I thank you," Brilliana said. "You are a faithful servant. Seek wine +and food and rest." + +Thoroughgood saluted her and went out. He looked fagged to +exhaustion. In the passage he found Tiffany, kissing-kind. Brilliana +opened the letter and read it slowly. Then she gave a cry. + +"Pray you read, lady," Evander said, composedly. Brilliana complied +in a hard, set voice. + + "MADAM,--The prisoner with whom you claim kinship was + sentenced to be shot as a spy this morning. My loving + greetings to my very dear friend, Mr. Cloud, who, if you + chose enough to murder him, will, I know, meet death as a + Christian soldier should. + + "OLIVER CROMWELL." + +"The wicked villain," Brilliana cried. + +"Nay, lady," Evander argued tranquilly--he must carry himself well +now--"the true captain doing his duty. It hath cost him a pang to +sacrifice me; he would have sacrificed his son Henry or his son +Richard in the like case." + +Brilliana clasped and unclasped her hands. + +"I care nothing for his son Henry or his son Richard." + +"You care nothing for me?" Evander affirmed, slowly. + +"I do care," she said, hotly. "We have broken bread together, played +games together, masked at friendship till the sport became reality." + +"Lady," said Evander, "I thank you for the kindness you imply. Our +friendship has been brief, but passing sweet. I shall die on a divine +memory." + +"Why, sir," she gasped, "you do not think I could kill you now?" + +"You vowed I should die if your cousin died," he reminded her. "I +think you must keep your word. It is the fortune of war." + +"The fortune of war!" Brilliana gave a bitter laugh. "I would not +have you die to save--Oh, I must not say--but fly, sir, fly! Ride hot +and hard to Cambridge, where you will be safe. You shall have the +best horse in my stable. You are my prisoner. I give you back your +parole. Only, for God's sake, go! My friends would kill you if they +caught you here." + +Evander begged a boon. + +"May I kiss your hand before I go?" + +Brilliana tried to smile. + +"A Cavalier would not have asked." + +"I am Puritan, ingrain," he asserted. + +"You are a dear gentleman." + +She sighed and held out her hand. As he stooped to salute it the door +was dashed open and a man booted and spurred flung into the room. As +he stood for a moment amazed at what he saw, Brilliana, turning, +recognized Sir Rufus Quaryll. She disengaged her hand from Evander's +and moved a little towards him. Evander instinctively felt for his +sword. Sir Rufus's face was a great blaze of red. + +"In the devil's name, what does this mean?" he shouted. + +Brilliana drew herself up. + +"You forget yourself," she said, haughtily. Rufus barked at her with +rage. + +"You have forgotten yourself; in the arms of a doomed traitor." + +"Civil words, sir!" Evander cried, moving on him. Brilliana motioned +him to hold back. + +"This gentleman is no traitor." + +An open letter lay at Rufus's feet. He pounced on it and read. He was +pale now, the white heat of anger. + +"Gentleman! Oh, I know much, guess all. Randolph is dead there +yonder, and this rogue, who should be dead and ditched here, lives. +Faugh! But he dies now." + +On the word he had drawn his sword and advanced upon Evander, whose +own sword was no less swiftly out. Brilliana came between the two +men. + +"If you kill him, you kill me," she said. + +"By God, you deserve to die!" was Rufus's answer. + +In the headiness of their brawl none of the party had noticed how the +door had opened again and how a man stood at gaze in the doorway. A +slender man of middle height, in travel-stained riding-habit of +black; a man with a comely, melancholy face and sad eyes; a man who +seemed very weary. He wore a jewelled George. For a moment the +new-comer stood unheeded, then he advanced into the room. Sir Rufus +heard him, turned, and cried, "The King!" Evander sent his sword back +into its sheath. Brilliana knelt in reverence. This was the hero, +almost the divinity, the monarch she worshipped, the sovereign she +had never seen. + +"Gentlemen, what is this?" the King asked. He turned to Brilliana. + +"Lady, why did you not come to greet me?" + +Brilliana rose. + +"Your Majesty--" she began, but Rufus interrupted her hotly. + +"Forgiveness, sire. I dashed ahead to warn her of the great honor +you offered, halting here from Banbury, only to find her slobbering +on a Roundhead gallows-bird." + +Brilliana looked steadfastly at the King. She was very pale but not +at all afraid. + +"Your Majesty, this man slanders basely. This gentleman is +honorable." + +"Honorable!" Rufus repeated, in derision. + +"Silence, sir!" Charles commanded. "Who are you?" he asked of +Evander. Evander saluted. + +"Captain Evander Cloud, of the Parliamentary army." + +"How come you here?" the King inquired. + +Brilliana answered for him. + +"Your Majesty, he was taken prisoner treacherously, though the +treachery was mine, three days ago. I offered his life in exchange +for the life of Randolph Harby." + +"And Randolph Harby is dead," said Rufus, "shot as a spy by the +devilish rebel of Cambridge. See, sire--see!" + +He offered the letter to Charles, but the King put it from him. His +face was inscrutable as Evander urged his case. + +"Your Majesty, I am no spy, and my life could not be pawned for a +spy's life." + +Charles's sad eyes travelled to Brilliana. + +"Randolph Harby was no spy," he said. "You held this gentleman +hostage for your cousin's life?" + +"I did make that offer," Brilliana admitted. The King frowned now. + +"And yet he still lives. I thought this was called Loyalty House." + +"Disloyalty House it should be called now," Rufus taunted. Brilliana +turned upon him fiercely. + +"You lie! you lie! you lie!" she hurled the words at him, hating him. +Charles held up his hand. + +"Peace! This is not the welcome I expected here. We did not think to +find rebels tendered so delicately. Sir Rufus, we give you charge of +Harby and of this gentleman. We will consider his claim presently, +for we would deal honestly even with our enemies." + +He looked at Evander. + +"But we can give you little hope, sir. Prepare to die." + +Fretfully he addressed Rufus. + +"I am very weary. I must break my fast." He glanced coldly at +Brilliana. + +"Lady, we shall not need your attendance." + +Brilliana made her master a deep reverence. + +"I take my leave, your Majesty." She went close to Evander. + +"Can you forgive me?" she begged. Evander looked into her wet eyes +joyously. + +"Read in my heart that I thank God to have known you, loved you." + +Brilliana laid a hand for a moment on his shoulder and spoke in a +soft, even voice. + +"You have been my enemy; you have been my friend; you are now the one +man in all the world for me. Read in my heart that I thank God to +have known you, that I thank God that I love you. Remember, I love +you, Evander. Farewell." + +Then she saluted the King and went slowly out of the room without +looking back. + + + + +XXVI + +RESURRECTION + + +Some hours later Rufus Quaryll sat alone in the garden-room, writing. +It was coming on dusk; candles had been lit, the fire was ruddy on +the hearth. Rufus, as he wrote, was well content with the turn of +things. He raged at Brilliana, but she should marry him all the same +when the Puritan dog was dead. He had, as he believed, convinced the +King at meat that the plea Evander raised was valueless, that +Evander's life was rightly forfeit. Evander was under close guard; +so, indeed, was Brilliana, for he had stationed a sentry at the door +of her apartments: he was determined that she should not see the King +again. Now the King lay in the inner room, sleeping; when he rose it +would be easy to get the order for Evander's death. Furious in his +hate, furious in his love, he would neither spare Evander nor +surrender Brilliana. She should be his wife, if he had to drag her +before an altar. + +As he thought and wrote, the door opened and Halfman entered the +room. Rufus, lifting his head, faced him with a finger on his lips +while with the other he pointed to the door of the inner chamber. + +"Hush!" he whispered; "the King sleeps. But all is well. He has as +good as promised the Puritan shall die." + +"All is not so well as you think," said Halfman, sardonically. "Here +comes one more pleased to see you than you to see him." + +He went to the door again and ushered in a man who had waited +outside, a man muffled in a cloak, and his face hidden by the way his +hat was pulled over it. The man advanced slowly towards the surprised +Rufus, and suddenly dropping his cloak and throwing back his hat +uncovered a youthful, jovial face. Rufus gaped at him in despair and +gasped a name: + +"Randolph!" + +Randolph Harby dropped into a chair and chuckled. + +"No wonder you stare as if you faced a spectre. But I'm flesh and +blood, lad." + +Rufus, trying to collect himself against this staggering blow, again +raised a warning hand. + +"For Heaven's sake speak lower! The King is asleep yonder. How do you +come here?" + +Randolph leaned over and whispered, giggling, into Sir Rufus's ear. +Halfman watched with grim amusement. If he loved Evander little, come +to think of it he loved Rufus less, all said and done; so he grinned +at his discomfiture. + +"A wonder," Randolph said. "When they had the time to try me, their +fools' court-martial, thanks to that damned Cromwell, settled me for +a spy and sentenced me to be shot. But the jailer where I lay had a +daughter. Need I say more? We Harbys are invincible. Any way, there +was no prisoner when the shooting-party came to claim me, and here I +am, in time, I hope, to save the life of that poor Puritan devil." + +Sir Rufus's wits were busy hatching mischief. He looked with aversion +at the smiling, self-complacent ass whose resurrection tangled his +plan. But his voice was very amiable as he asked: + +"Do any in the household know of your return?" + +"Devil a one," the youth answered, cheerily, and Sir Rufus would have +liked to drive a knife into him for his mirth, though his spirits +rose at his answer. "I thought to take my cousin by surprise, scare +her with my ghost, maybe. So I came skulking through the park and +ran on this good sir, who nabbed me." He indicated Halfman with a +wave of the hand. "I explained to him, so that my joke should not +spoil, and he smuggled me in here to surprise you. Where is +Brilliana?" + +Rufus looked at him thoughtfully. + +"Are you fresh enough to ride?" he asked. + +"If need be," Randolph replied, astonished. + +Rufus talked rapidly, writing a letter as he spoke. + +"Then you may save your Puritan yet. We sent your hostage to Oxford +for safe-keeping. News came of your death, and but now the King sent +an order to have the fellow shot. But you can overtake the order, +outstrip it. Here is a reprieve for the prisoner." + +Rufus folded the paper, sealed it, and handed it to the bewildered +Randolph. + +"Pick what horse you please, and ride for the honor of our cause." + +Randolph gasped. + +"May I not see the King?" + +Rufus refused him firmly. + +"Impossible. His Majesty sleeps." + +"My cousin Brilliana?" Randolph asked. "What of my joke?" + +Rufus spoke very solemnly. + +"The one thing now is to save a man's life. Ride hard, and God speed +you." Randolph yielded cheerfully. + +"Well, well, I should be sorry the rebel dog should die wrongfully. +You will justify me to the King for not attending him?" + +Rufus nodded. + +"I will justify you to his Majesty." + +"And not a word to Brilliana," Randolph iterated. "I will have my +joke on my return. Farewell." + +He muffled himself again and went out quickly. Rufus sat biting the +end of his quill. Halfman stepped forward and made him a series of +extravagant salutations, which parodied the most elaborate congees of +a dancing-master. Rufus glared at him. + +"What is the matter with you?" he asked, savagely. Halfman leered +apishly at him. + +"You are a splendid scoundrel," he vowed. "Do not frown. I have lived +with such and I speak in praise." + +Rufus struck his hands upon the table. + +"I will have this Puritan devil," he swore, "if the King do not play +the granny." + +Halfman winked at him, diverted by his heat and hate. + +"Say that more softly, for I think I hear him stirring." + +The two listened in silence. The curtains of the inner room were +parted and Charles entered the room. He still looked haggard, ill at +ease. + +"Was any one here?" he asked, as the two men rose respectfully. Rufus +answered, glibly: + +"No, your Majesty. We spoke in whispers to respect your rest. Did +your Majesty sleep well?" + +"Ill, very ill," Charles answered, drearily. "I had bad dreams and +could not wake from them. Leave me, sirs." + +Rufus solicited his eyes. + +"And the prisoner?" + +Charles looked at him vaguely. + +"The prisoner?" + +"The rebel hostage for murdered Randolph Harby," Rufus reminded him. + +Charles looked vexed. + +"Oh yes, I suppose he must die. Surely he must die. His plea is +specious, but Randolph Harby is dead." + +"Brave, murdered Randolph." Rufus's regret was pathetic. "Shall I +give order for the firing party?" He made as if to write. Charles +frowned. + +"You are over-zealous, sir; I have not made up my mind." + +Rufus read obstinacy in the royal face and knew that it were useless +to argue further then. + +"As your Majesty please," he submitted. + +The King seated himself heavily at the table and fixed his eyes upon +an open map. Behind his back Rufus shrugged his shoulders and left +the room. Halfman followed, a very Jaques of meditations, touched by +the pathos of the tired King, grimly diverted by the ruffianism of +Rufus. A mad world! + + + + +XXVII + +THE KING'S IMAGE + + +The melancholy King sat in the great room alone. His eyes were fixed +on the map, but his mind was far away, over yonder in Holland where +she was--she, the Queen. The thought of her beauty troubled him; her +soft voice seemed to be whispering at his ear in her pretty broken +English. Some lines in a play he knew came into his mind, lines +uttered by a king who, like himself, had known the horror of civil +war, lines which said that it were better to be a shepherd and tend +sheep than to be an English king. He sighed and his handsome head +drooped upon his breast, and the brown hair that was graying so fast +hid his cheeks. His eyes were wet and he could not see the map; it +was all a blur of meaningless criss-cross lines. This would not do; +he must think, he must plan, he must decide; but his head remained +bent and the map remained a criss-cross puzzle. + +The image of himself, which faced him as he sat, that picture of a +king, royal, joyous, unchallenged, seemed to move a little, as if +the bright figure on the canvas sought to approach and reassure the +dejected man who crouched over the map of a divided kingdom. It did +move, the serene Van Dyck portrait; it moved a little, and a little, +and a little more; moved sideway as a door moves, yawned a foot of +space between frame and wall, and through that foot of space +Brilliana slipped into the room. + +"Your Majesty," she said, softly. + +The King gave a little start as he lifted his head and looked at her. +She thought she had never seen so pitifully a weary face as the face +of her King, and her heart ached for him, but it ached most for her +lover. + +Charles rose to his feet, flawlessly courteous, much wondering. + +"How did you come here, mistress?" he asked, and she sighed at the +tired sound of his voice. "I understood from Sir Rufus that you were +for the time--" + +He paused, and Brilliana calmly finished the sentence. + +"Confined to my apartments. Yes, that was Rufus's plan. But though +Rufus calls himself captain of this castle he does not know it so +well as I do. There are ways of getting hither and thither that he +does not dream of." + +"You are a determined young woman," the King said, with a faint +smile, "if you think so lightly of the privacy of your King." + +Brilliana flung herself on her knees in a moment, her hands clasped, +her eyes shining with honest tears. + +"Your Majesty!" she cried; "your Majesty, I would never have dared +this if I were not a woman very deep in love, if my lover were not in +danger, and if--" + +She paused. + +"And if?" Charles echoed, his fine, irresolute face neither smiling +nor frowning. "Finish your sentence, lady." + +"And if I had not heard that your Majesty was a very perfect, true +lover," Brilliana went on. "Your Majesty's love for the gracious lady +now in France is the admiration of your subjects." + +A faint color glowed on the King's pale cheeks. He was indeed the +perfect, true lover of Henrietta Maria, and the greatest sorrow of +all the clustering sorrows that the civil war had brought him was her +absence from his side. + +"It would be strange indeed if I did not love such a lady," he said, +gently; "but that lady is my queen, my wife, my comrade, my loyal +friend, while he you plead for is but an acquaintance of a few days, +and, moreover, in all thoughts and deeds your enemy--and mine." + +Brilliana had now risen to her feet and she faced the king valiantly, +for she knew that she would have to plead hard and well. + +"Your Majesty," she answered, "as for the acquaintanceship, one of +our poets has said, 'Whoever loves that loves not at first sight?' +and though indeed at first sight I was far from giving this gentleman +my love, I saw in him at once those qualities which in a man deserve +love. As for his enmity, we are told that we should love our +enemies." + +A frown overspread the King's face and Brilliana faltered. + +"I cannot claim for myself that wealth of charity," Charles said, +"that would make me love those that by rebellion and contumacy have +plunged poor England into war." + +"Sire, sire," Brilliana sighed, "if you will but pardon this +gentleman I will promise you that I will never love another of your +Majesty's enemies." + +Charles frowned. + +"I do not like your loyalty. Why do you plead for the life of a +rebel?" + +"I am your servant, none loyaller," Brilliana answered, boldly; "but +I am a woman, and I plead for the man I love." + +"If you were truly loyal," Charles commented, "you could not love a +traitor." + +Brilliana pressed her hands tightly against her breast and her face +flushed. + +"Captain Cloud is not a traitor. He is honest before God." + +Charles admired her pertinacity. Here was a woman who would not +lightly lose heart or change purpose. + +"I will not wrangle with you," he said. "I think the gentleman +deserves death. But because I know very well what it is to love +truly, why, I will let you save him if you can." + +Brilliana's voice was charged with gratitude. "Oh, your Majesty is +always noble. But how?" + +Charles looked at her fixedly, touching his chin with the feather of +his quill. "Thuswise--only thuswise. You will persuade Captain Cloud +to return to his allegiance." + +Brilliana's gratitude ebbed and her voice hardened. "I know he will +never change sides." + +An enigmatic smile passed over the fretful face of the King. "I think +so, too," he agreed, and turned again to his papers. But Brilliana +was not to be so rebuffed. Coming a little nearer to Charles, she +fell on her knees and extended her hands in supplication. "Sire, my +lover's life!" + +Charles, who had lost nothing of her actions, though he affected to +be wholly absorbed in his business, looked round and down at her with +much assumption of surprise. + +"You are still there? You are a pertinacious maykin." + +"Sire, in the Queen's name!" Brilliana pleaded. The King sighed. + +"Well, one more concession, this is the last--the very last." Charles +prided himself on his firmness, and he struck the table as he spoke +to emphasize his unalterable resolve. "If you win me his word of +honor to take no more part in this war, to remain neutral till King +humble Commons or Commons murder King, why, it is enough; he lives." + +Brilliana shivered at the King's alternative. "Your Majesty cannot +believe that the worst of your subjects would aim at your sacred +life?" + +The King's fine eyes were more than usual melancholy, and he opened +and clasped his long fingers nervously. + +"I cannot choose but believe it. Their words are wild--that is +trifling. But long ago, when I was young, there was a man, one Arthur +Dee, a wizard and the son of a wizard, he had a magic crystal--ah, +Father in heaven!" + +Charles gave a groan and hid his face in his hands, Brilliana +thrilled with compassion. "Your Majesty!" she cried; "your Majesty!" + +Charles drew his hands away from his face. He rose, and, as he spoke, +he stared fixedly before him as if he saw the sight he was +describing. + +"In that sphere I saw a platform hung with black. On it I seemed to +see myself staring at a sea of hateful faces. One with a mask stood +by my side who carried an axe. I have never forgotten it." + +He stood rigid, with clasped hands. Brilliana shuddered at his words. + +"Sire! sire! this was some lying vision." + +With an effort the King controlled himself; his features softened to +their habitual melancholy, his hands relaxed their clasp, and he +seated himself again by the table. + +"Belike, belike; I am unwise to think upon it," he said, in a low +voice. Leaning across the table, he struck a bell sharply. The door +opened and the soldier in immediate attendance upon the King entered. + +"Tell Sir Rufus to attend us," the King said. The soldier bowed and +withdrew. Charles looked up at Brilliana. "Sir Rufus will be loath to +lose his prey," he said. "He is a fierce hawk that clings to his +quarry." + +"He was once my friend," Brilliana said, sadly. The King smiled his +melancholy smile. + +"If I were in his place," he said, gravely, "I think I might be +tempted to play his part. You are a very fair maiden." + +Brilliana shook her head. "The love that makes a man base is no good +love. He will never be my friend again." + +"Here, as I think, he comes," Charles said. The door opened and Sir +Rufus entered the room. He was so amazed at facing Brilliana that for +a moment he forgot to render salutation to the King. Charles's eyes +brightened as they used to brighten at the playhouse. Here was a +living play being played before him, tragical, comical--man and woman +fighting for a man's life. + +"Sir Rufus," he ordered, "send to our presence the prisoner, the +Parliament officer." + +Rufus glanced at Brilliana's stern, averted face; he read something +like mockery on the thin, royal lips. For an instant he ventured to +protest. + +"But, your Majesty--" he began, but he got no further. The King +checked him with a frown and a raised hand. It was easy to make him +obstinate in crossing a follower. + +"You have heard my commands," he said, sternly. + +Sir Rufus bowed his head and retreated. There was nothing else for +him to do. He just glanced at Brilliana as he went out. If Brilliana +had seen the glance she would have read his rage and hate in it. But +she did not see it, for her head was still averted. The King saw it, +however, and he felt that the situation was alive. He turned to +Brilliana. + +"I am a complaisant monarch, as I think," he said. "Now, lady, do +your best to make your sweetheart see reason. Honestly, I do not +think he is worth so many words, but you think otherwise, and for +your sake I wish you a winning tongue." + +Brilliana bowed deeply. "I humbly thank your Majesty," she said, and +felt that the King had done much for her. From offering the +impossible he had come to offering the possible. It seemed a little +task to persuade a lover committed to a wrongful cause to lay aside +his sword and wait the issue. + +The King's eyes had fallen on his papers again, and he did not lift +them thence nor take heed of Brilliana again until the tread of feet +was heard in the corridor. In another moment Evander, escorted by two +royal troopers, entered the room. There was a sudden gladness in his +eyes at the sight of Brilliana, but he at once saluted the King in a +military fashion and stood quietly at attention waiting the royal +word. + +Charles rose from his chair, and for a moment his melancholy eyes +travelled from the beautiful girl standing by the window to the +gallant soldier standing by the door. The face of Evander pleased his +scrutiny far more than the face of Rufus, and it came into his mind +that he would gladly enroll Evander under his standard and hand over +Rufus to the Crop-ears. Truly the Puritan soldier and the Lady of +Loyalty House made a brave pair. + +"Sir," he said, quietly, "this lady desires speech with you, and has +persuaded me to permit an interview." He turned to the troopers. + +"Wait outside the door, sirs," he commanded. When they had obeyed he +looked again towards Brilliana, and there was a smile on his tired +face, a smile partly whimsical, partly pitying, as if encouraging to +an adventure yet doubtful of the result. Then he gave her a gracious +salutation, and, without further notice of Evander Cloud, passed into +the adjoining room and left the lovers alone. + + + + +XXVIII + +LOVER AND LOVER + + +Evander turned to Brilliana with question in his eyes; Brilliana +advanced towards Evander with question on her lips. + +"Are you very sure you love me?" she queried. Evander made to take +her in his arms, but she stayed him with a lifted hand of warning. + +"Sure," he answered, fervently, and surety shone in his eyes. + +Brilliana leaned against the table at which the King had sat and +faced him gravely. + +"More than life, more than all things in the wide world?" + +Evander's answer came as flash to flint. + +"More than life; more than all things in this wide world--" there was +a momentary fall in his voice; then he added, "save honor." + +A little sudden fear pricked at Brilliana's heart, but she tried to +deny it with a little, teasing laugh. + +"Oh, that wonderful word 'honor,'" she mocked. "I thought we should +pull that out of the sack sooner or later." + +Evander watched her with surprise. "What is coming next?" he +wondered. He began to fear as he answered, simply: + +"You would not have me neglect honor?" + +Brilliana's face was set steadfastly towards him; Brilliana's eyes +were very bright; Brilliana's cheeks were as red as the late October +roses. + +"Here is what I would have you do," she said, breathlessly, and then +paused--paused so long that Evander, watching and waiting, prompted +her with a questioning "Well?" + +Brilliana still seemed to hesitate. That word "honor" had frightened +her for Evander, had frightened her for herself. She now groped +uncertain, who thought to tread so surely. + +"Will you do as I wish if I tell you?" she asked, trying to mask +anxiety with a jesting manner. And when Evander responded gravely, +"If I can," she pressed him impetuously again. + +"Nay, now, make me a square promise." She looked very fair as she +pleaded. + +"All that a doomed man can do--" Evander replied, smiling somewhat +wistfully. + +Brilliana shook her head vehemently and her Royalist curls danced +round her bright cheeks. + +"You are no doomed man unless you choose," she asserted, hotly. +Evander moved a step nearer to her. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. Brilliana was panting now. He knew she +had somewhat to say, and newly found it hard in the saying. She +spoke. + +"His Majesty the King will grant you your life." Her words and looks +told him temptingly that "your life" meant also "my life" to her. + +"On what condition?" + +He knew there must be a condition, knew that the condition troubled +Brilliana. She answered him swiftly. + +"Oh, no condition at all." There came a catch in her voice and then +she ran on: + +"Or almost none. All his Majesty asks is that you refrain from taking +any further part in this unhappy war." + +She paused and eyed him. Evander's face was unchanged. + +"No more than that?" he commented, so quietly that, reassured, she +rippled on, volubly: + +"No more than that. We can be wed, dear love. We can go away together +to France, Italy, where you please. I have always had a mind to see +Italy. And when England is quiet again we can come home, come here +and be happy." + +She felt as if she were flinging herself at his feet, shamelessly +offering herself, to tempt him, to dazzle him, conquer him that way; +to witch his promise out of him before he had time to think. Yet for +all her vehemence there was a chill at her heart and a cloud seemed +to hover over her sunny words. Unwillingly she looked away from him, +but she held out her hands in appeal. + +"Hush, Brilliana!" + +The grave, sweet voice sounded on her ears as the knell of hope. But +she faced him again with a useless, questioning glance. + +"Why talk of what cannot be?" Evander asked, sadly. + +Brilliana denied him feverishly. + +"What can be--what must be!" she cried. "The King has promised." + +"I am a soldier of the Parliament," Evander asserted. "I cannot +abandon my cause." + +Brilliana almost screamed at him in her anger and despair. + +"You are a prisoner under sentence of death. If you die, what gain +has the Parliament of you, and I must live a widowed woman." She was +close to him now and very suddenly she flung her arms about him, +clasping him to her, her eager face close to his. + +"Promise," she panted; "promise, dear love, promise. Your Parliament +loses nothing, you gain your life, my love. Promise, promise!" + +Evander's flesh fought with his spirit, but his face was calm and the +arms that yearned to enfold his lover lay by his side. He turned his +face away lest he should kiss her on the mouth, and, kissing, +surrender his soul. + +"I cannot," he said, as if from a great silence. He would not see the +passionate, beautiful face; he sought to fix his mind upon the faces +of those whose faithful soldier he was sworn. The girl unloosed her +arms and swayed away from him, wild anger in her eyes. + +"Do you call this true love," she sneered, "that is so scrupulous?" + +"The truest love in the world," Evander answered, looking full at +her. He could look at her now; he had no fear to fall. He was losing +a joy beyond all thought, but at least he would die with a white +soul. + +"Do you think it is nothing to me to die thus losing you? But you +have served soldier; you have a soldier's spirit; you would not have +me do other than I am doing. You do not understand my cause, to think +it should be easy to persuade me from it. But if I were of the +King's party and in such peril so tempted, would you wish me to +abandon my royal master to win life or love?" + +Brilliana's cheeks flamed a furious scarlet; then the fierce blood +ebbed and left her face very pale, but her eyes were shining very +bright. She steadied herself against the table and tried to speak +with a steady voice. + +"You are in the right. You could not do other than you are doing. But +it is very hard to bear." + +She reeled a little, and he, thinking her about to faint, made to +support her, but she stiffened again, and he stood where he was. She +bent forward, speaking scarcely above a whisper. + +"There is a way of escape from this chamber, a secret passage. You +can get from it to the park, and so into the open country and safety. +You are my prisoner. I release you from your parole. Fly, while there +is time." + +The loyal lovers were so absorbed in their honorable contest that +they did not heed how the door of the King's apartment opened, first +a little inch, then, slowly, wider and wider, allowing Charles Stuart +to see and hear. A curious smile reigned over the delicate face as +Brilliana made her proposal, and lingered in whimsical doubt for the +response. + +The response came quickly. Again Evander was saying Brilliana nay. + +"I cannot that, neither, dear woman, for to do this would be to make +you disloyal to your King." + +"Oh, you split straws!" she cried, wildly. "A plague upon your +preciousness which drives you to deny and die rather than admit my +wisdom! You are no prisoner to the King. You are my prisoner. I took +you, I hold you, and as my prisoner I command you to follow me, that +I may convey you to some place of surety more pleasing to my mind +than this mansion." + +From behind the door ajar there came a clap of hearty laughter which +made harassed maid and man jump more than if their discussion had +been interrupted by volleying musketry. The door was wide open now, +and the King was in the room, his face irradiated with honest mirth. + + + + +XXIX + +THE KING MAKES A FRIEND + + +"Oh, good sir," he gasped, dabbing with his kerchief the merry tears +from his smiling eyes, "you had better do as this lady urges, for, by +St. George! she employs the most irresistible logic." + +Evander and Brilliana, blown apart, as it were, by the breath of the +King's merriment, regarded the monarch with very different feelings. +Though he stood upon the edge of peril's precipice, at the threshold +of death's temple, Evander could not scrutinize without vivid and +conflicting emotions the face of the man because of whom the solid +realm of England seemed to be dissolving into anarchy. This was the +King of ship-money, the heart's-brother of Buckingham, the betrayer +of Strafford, the doer to death of Eliot, the would-be baffler of +free speech, the baffled hunter after the five members. To Brilliana +he was simply the King, not even the whole hero and half-martyr King +for whom she had held Loyalty House so sturdily, but simply the only +man living graced with power to save the man she loved. She turned to +him at once with a petulant expression of impatience. + +"Your Majesty," she sighed, "I wish you would speak to this proud +gentleman. I cannot make him listen to reason." + +The almost infantile simplicity of her address stirring the King to +renewed merriment, served her cause better, in its very +inappropriateness to the situation, than the most impassioned or the +most calculated appeals to pity or to justice. The audacity with +which the Loyalty lady coolly enlisted the King as her advocate +against the King's interests seemed to the sovereign so exquisite, so +grotesque, as to merit calling irresistible. + +"Truly," he said to her, smiling that sweet Stuart smile which made +all who ever shone in it adore him, "the man must be named +Felicissimus who is loved by such a lady." + +Then he turned his gaze upon Evander, and the smile grew graver, the +eyes more imperious. + +"So, sir," he said, "you are so certain sure of the righteousness of +your side in this quarrel that you cannot, for your life's sake, for +your love's sake, consent to stand neuter and look on, Captain +Infallibility?" + +Evander faced the slightly frowning interrogation bravely. He +saluted soldierly, conscious of the subtle Stuart charm, +understanding it would conquer men and women, glad to find himself +unconquered. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "let me answer you as I answered this dear +lady. If one of those gentlemen, those Cavaliers who rallied to your +flag at Nottingham and drew their swords for you at Edgehill, were +made prisoner of the Parliament, and accepted his life on the +condition that he stood aside and left you to fight without his aid, +would you count him a loyal subject, would you call him a faithful +friend, could you admit that he was an honest soldier?" + +Charles looked at Evander curiously. There were some of his friends, +he thought, who might not stand the trial too well. He brushed the +thought aside, for he knew that most of the Cavaliers would act as +gallantly as the young Puritan before him, and he could not but +applaud, even while he wondered at so stiff a constancy in one whom +he regarded as a rebel. + +"Well, well," he said, "if this incomparable lady could not persuade +you, how could a poor King hope to succeed? We must not break this +lady's heart, sir, between us, for 'tis something of a rare jewel, +and so you shall go back to your own people, and when I win the day I +shall remember to be clement to you. Try and come out of the scuffle +alive, for the sake of your sweetheart." + +The King was so winning in his grace, in his dignity, in his +tenderness, that Evander felt his heart in his mouth and he tried not +to falter in his words. + +"I humbly thank your Majesty." + +As for Brilliana, she fell on her knees with tears in her eyes, but +the King would not have her kneel. In his courtliest manner he lifted +her, raised her right hand to his lips and kissed it, and then +signifying to her with a gesture to go to Evander, he seated himself +at the table and wrote rapidly for some seconds, while the two lovers +stood side by side, silent in hope and joy. + +When the King had finished writing he shook the powder over the paper +and let it slide back into the standish, drying the ink as it slid. +Then he turned and held the paper to Evander, who advanced and took +it kneeling. + +"This safe-conduct," said Charles, "will insure you from ill +treatment or delay at the hands of any loyal subjects, in arms or +otherwise." He leaned forward and struck upon the bell. To the +soldier on guard who entered he gave order that he wished to see Sir +Rufus Quaryll immediately. When the soldier had left, he turned in +his chair a little, so as to survey Evander and Brilliana standing +before him in silence, and there was a light of mockery in his eyes. + +"Young people," he said, affecting mirthfully an exhortatory manner, +"you have played the first act of your love-play. How it is to go +with you hereafter it is for all to hope, albeit for none to guess +with discretion. But in a little while this land distracted will be +calm again, and it may well be, Mr. Cloud, that I shall be glad to +see you at Whitehall." + +The King's manner was mild, the King's voice benign; he was really +very well pleased with himself for his clemency, and very well +pleased with the man and woman for affording him an opportunity of +justifying his character of benevolent autocrat. He would have said +more, but at this moment the door opened and Sir Rufus entered the +room, looking as fierce and angry as he dared to look in the presence +of his royal master. He knew well enough that Brilliana's interview +with the King was likely to mean mischief to his schemes, and his +rage and hate tore at his life-strings like wild beasts. + +An impish malice lurked on Charles's lips. This discomfiture of the +truculent Rufus supplied for him the comic element of his +entertainment, and came just in the nick of time to prevent its +heroics and its sentimentalities from palling. + +"Sir Rufus," said the King, gravely, "we ride at once to Oxford, our +loyal, loving Oxford. Take order for this on the instant. The Lady +Brilliana resumes her command of Loyalty House, with our royal thanks +for her man's spirit and our royal sympathy for her woman's heart. As +for the stranger within our gates, we have of our clemency given him +full leave to go hence in all freedom, not without some private +supplications that Heaven may be pleased to lift a misguided +gentleman into a better way of life." + +Sir Rufus opened his lips as if to speak, and then closed them again +without speaking. He knew well enough how stubborn the King could be +on occasion, and that there was no hope for him to win his game with +the King's help. He saluted the King and left the presence with fury +in his heart. + +The King turned to Evander. + +"Go, sir," he commanded, "and make ready for your departure, which +should follow promptly upon mine, for I do not think the atmosphere +of Oxford will be sweet breathing for gentlemen of your inclining +from this out. I give you half an hour from my riding to say your +adieus to your sweet saint here. Farewell." + +Evander fell on one knee. + +"Your Majesty," he pleaded, "permit me to kiss your hand." The King +smiled whimsically, yet a thought wistfully. + +"You are a gentle rebel," he said, and held out his fine, white hand +for Evander's salutation. Then the young soldier rose, and with one +look of love to Brilliana, left the room. Charles stood with his +grave eyes fixed on his hostess, smiling. + +"What a thing is civil war!" he sighed. "How it rips through the +pretty web of workaday life, dividing sire from son, sundering +brother from brother, parting lover from lass! But I was forced to +it--I was forced to it." + +"It will end soon, sire," Brilliana suggested, tears in her eyes at +the sadness in his. The King seemed to catch at her speech. + +"Ay," he agreed, more cheerily. "That's it, that's true. 'Tis but a +walk to loyal Oxford, 'tis but a march on disloyal London, and all's +done." + +"London will prove loyal when your Majesty enters in triumph," +Brilliana cried. A bright look came over the King's worn face. As in +a dream he saw himself, the rose of that triumphant entry, flowers at +his feet, flags in the air, loyalty abroad in its bravest, huzzaing +its loudest, and all grim, sour-hearted fellows safe out of sight +under lock and key. Exultantly he held out his hand for Brilliana to +salute. + +"Farewell, Lady of Loyalty." + +"Nay," Brilliana protested, "I must bring your Majesty to the gate. +If the fitting welcome were missing, you shall not lack the +ceremonial 'God speed you.'" + +"I thank you, madam," gravely answered Charles. Brilliana dipped him +a reverence, and then, opening the door, conducted her royal guest +out of the chamber. In the corridor they found Halfman waiting to +kiss the King's hand. Charles felt for a moment for his purse, and +then swiftly and regally changing his mind, he drew a ring from his +finger. + +"Wear this for me, friend," he requested, graciously, "in memory of +old days." + +Halfman rose from his knees and drew himself up as if on parade. + +"God save the King!" he thundered, and with that loyal music in his +ears the King followed Brilliana down the great staircase over which +the carven angels kept watch and ward. Halfman, leaning over the +rail-way, saw the pair pass through the hall, then he turned and +entered the apartment that Charles had left, and stood there, rigid +in meditation. + + + + +XXX + +RUFUS PROPOSES + + +Rufus stepped stealthily out of the dusking garden into the lighted +room, and moving noiselessly across the floor, laid his hand on +Halfman's shoulder. Halfman did not look round. + +"Well, Sir Rufus," he asked, as calmly as if the sudden touch had +been some recognized, awaited signal. + +"You are not to be taken by surprise, my good friend," Sir Rufus +said. Halfman shrugged his shoulders. + +"It would need more than the clap of a man's paw on my back to take +me by surprise; and, besides, I saw you coming. There is a mirror +near, good Sir Rufus, and even in yonder owl-light I could pick you +out of the mist. Moreover, I thought you would come." + +"Why did you think I would come?" Sir Rufus asked, with a frown. + +"Just because I thought it," Halfman answered, indifferently. "And, +you see, my thoughts were true thoughts." + +Sir Rufus came closer to him, speaking in his ear. + +"I hope you hate all Roundheads," he said. "All damned rebels." + +Halfman's only answer was to whistle very softly the first few bars +of a roaring Cavalier ballad. The grasp on Halfman's shoulder +tightened. + +"There is one damned Roundhead here who vexes me," Sir Rufus said, +fiercely. + +"I think his name is called Cloud," said Halfman. + +Sir Rufus swore a round oath. + +"I wish he were dead," he said. + +"If wishes were coaches," Halfman observed, sententiously, "beggars +would ride." + +"He would have been dead ere this if she had not wheedled the King +out of his wits. His Majesty is in a forgiving disposition to-day, +and forgets his friends at the prayer of a pretty face. I wish this +rebel were dead, friend." + +"He will die in time," Halfman commented, philosophically. Sir Rufus +growled. + +"You are as dull as mud. It would be money in your pocket, friend +Halfman, ay, money running over your pocket-holes, if this rebel were +to be your quarry." + +Halfman shook his head, and a knowing smile twisted his mouth awry. + +"Nay, Sir Rufus, with your favor, you must do your own killing," he +said. + +"Why, so I will," Rufus answered, angrily. "I will call up the +household, lay hands on the rascal, back him to the wall, and bang a +fusillade into him." + +Halfman laughed derisively. + +"Call up the household!" he crowed. "Do you think they would come at +your call? Do you think they would serve you against my lady? Why, +they would fling you into the fish-pools if she bade them do so." + +The face of Sir Rufus showed that through all his fury he still +retained sufficient command of his reason to know that what Halfman +said was more than true. Halfman went leisurely on: + +"You cannot employ your own men on the business, neither, for they +must march to Oxford with the King. In little it comes to this: if +you want a thing done, do it yourself." + +"You are in the right," Sir Rufus agreed, gloomily. "This fellow was +doomed long since. It is no more than common justice to put him out +of the way. But I ride with the King." + +"You need not ride very far," Halfman suggested. "A little way on the +road you can slip aside unseen and get back here by a bridle-path. +Watch at the western gate of the park. His horse will be waiting for +him there to carry him to Cambridge. After his tender leave-taking he +will come to his exit a clear mark on the white garden-path for a +steady hand holding a pistol. So you can whistle 'Good-night, +cuckoo,' as you haste to o'ertake the King." + +"'Tis an ingenious scheme," Sir Rufus mused. Halfman laughed grimly. + +"Oh, I am a pattern of strategy; this is but a simple ambuscado, a +tame trap. You are a sure shot, I know; you cannot miss your bird. +You need waste no time in making sure that he is stark. I shall be at +hand to make sure, and will soon stick him in a ditch to wait for +judgment." + +Sir Rufus clapped Halfman on the shoulder. + +"Your wit has a most pleasant invention," he approved. "She will soon +forget this whining wry-face." + +Halfman disengaged himself from the pressure of his companion's hand. + +"It is so to be hoped," he said, drearily; "it is so to be believed. +Woman's love-memory is a kind of quicksand that can swallow a score +or so of gallant gentlemen and show no trace of their passage." + +"A curse on your poppycoddle," Sir Rufus grumbled. "I must be +stirring. I should like him to know that I killed him." + +"If I find any breath in him I will tell him," Halfman affirmed. +"Your honor over-refines your pleasant purpose. The pith is that he +be killed. Remember the western gate." + +In another moment Halfman was alone, listening to the sound of +spurred heels on the stairway, as Sir Rufus hastened to join the +King. + +"Love of woman leads us to strange issues," he said to himself, with +a wintry smile. "Cavalier, Puritan, and poor Jack here, we all love +the same lady, and here be two of us clapping palms together to kill +the third." + + + + +XXXI + +HALFMAN DISPOSES + + +Brilliana came in from the garden. Halfman heard her step and turned. +She was pale with many emotions; he never had seen her more +beautiful. + +"The King has gone, friend," she said; "God bless him for his +clemency." + +"My heart does not sing because a Puritan lives," Halfman answered, +sourly. He stared into the fire again and saw burning towns between +the dogs. Brilliana paused for a moment and then came a little closer +to him. + +"We have ever been friends," she said, softly. There was a note of +timidity in her voice, new to Halfman, and he turned in surprise. + +"Indeed," he said, roundly. + +"We have been fellow-soldiers," Brilliana went on, still with that +curious hesitancy that sat so strangely upon her. "We have shared a +siege. I have a secret to tell you." + +Halfman felt a sudden uncanny warning of danger. "A secret," he +repeated, staring at her. + +Brilliana was outblushing all things red--peony, poppy, flamingo, +anything. + +"You have always loved me, Hobbin?" she asked, half timorously. + +"I have always loved you," he answered, slowly, with a rigid face. + +"Then you will be glad of what I have to tell," she said. "There will +be no change here. For I love this gentleman even as this gentleman +loves me, and we are to wed when this meddling war is ended." + +"You love him?" Halfman echoed, dully. "You wed an enemy to the +King?" + +Brilliana sighed. + +"Love is the greatest power in all the world," she said; "greater +than kings, greater than emperors, greater than popes. But I will wed +no enemy to the King. If these wars were to endure forever, then +forever my dear friend and I would remain unwed and bear our single +souls to heaven." + +Her voice was low and dreary; suddenly it brightened. + +"But these wars will not endure forever. The King will be in London +in a few days; the Parliament will be at his feet; my friend will be +no more a rebel, for all rebellion will have ceased to be." + +"How if your friend be killed before the King reaches London?" +Halfman asked her, hoarsely. "The wheels of war do not turn from the +path of a lover." + +"If he be killed," she said, simply, "I do not think I shall long +outlive him. My heart does not veer like a vane for every breath of +praise or passion. First and last, I have found my mate in the world; +first and last, I will be loyal while I live. But if he die, I hope +God will deal gently with me, nor suffer me to grow gray in sorrow." + +She turned away from Halfman that he might not see the tears in her +eyes, and so turning did not see the tears that stood in his. She +moved towards the harpsichord and dropped into the chair that served +it. Her fingers fluttered over the keys and a tinkling music answered +them and underlined the words she sang: + + "You ride to fight, my dearest friend, + I bide at home and sigh; + God only knows what God may send, + To test us, by-and-by. + If 'tis decreed that you must die, + So comes my world to end; + And I will seek beyond the sky + The features of my friend. + Come back from fight, my dearest friend, + The idol of my eye, + That hand in hand ourselves may bend + Before God's altar high. + If death consent to pass you by, + How sweetly shall we wend + To the last home where we shall lie + Together, friend and friend." + +As Brilliana sat at the harpsichord playing the brave Cavalier +ballad, Halfman, watching her, found his eyes dim with most +unfamiliar water. Fierce memories of his life seemed to come before +him sharply, vivid succeeding pictures, rich in evil. In a flash he +tramped across forests, sack and battle and rapine new painted +themselves upon his brain; deeds long dead and forgotten suddenly +became instant agonies. He seemed like a prisoner before an invisible +judge, and his startled spirit sought wildly and vainly for some good +deed it might offer in plea for pity. If only he had spared that +girl, that child unripe for love, who never dreamed of brutal hands. +He seemed to see her in the room where he ran her down, her staring +eyes; he seemed to hear her screams; he remembered how hot his blood +was then, though now it ran like ice at the memory. If only he had +not helped to torture the old Jew in San Juan; if only he could blot +out his share in all those acts of lust and blood. And through all +his horrid thoughts came the sweet voice of Brilliana singing the +sweet, brave words, and he saw her curls sway as she sang, and he +thought of her love for her kinsman which she had told him so simply, +and he thought of his own mad love for her, which she would never +know, which no one would ever understand. And then he thought of that +grim sentry at the western gate whose hate was black, whose aim was +fatal. + +A fantastic purpose came into the man's thought. His mind was ever +like a stage with the lights lighted and the curtains drawn, upon +whose boards himself played a thousand parts and played them to the +top. Here was the part he had never played, the noblest, the most +heroic, chiefly perhaps in this, that it was also the loneliest. The +purpose had hardly pricked before he seized it, hugged it to his +breast, made it incorporate with his being. Mingled with his tender +pity for Brilliana there was now a splendid pity for himself, the +noblest Roman of them all. But the purpose must not cool. His +thoughts were all a-jumble. One of them seemed to assert to his +feverish fancy that this way meant atonement; the quenching of his +torch some measure of compensation for the candles he had puffed +out. + +Unseen he stretched his hands as if in benediction towards Brilliana, +and then went noiselessly out of the room. On the stairs he met +Evander descending to say farewell to his hostess, his hat in his +hand and his cloak over his arm. Halfman stopped him. "She waits you +in the garden-room," he said; "I will hold your cloak and hat for you +here while you make your adieus. A lover should not be cumbered." +Evander thanked him, surrendered cloak and hat, and entered the +garden-room. He did not hear what Halfman said, though Halfman spoke +it aloud, with all the lovers of all time for audience: "There goes +the blessedest man in all the world." Then, with Evander's cloak +about him and Evander's hat upon his head, Halfman went out into the +garden. + +At the sound of Evander's step Brilliana turned and rose to greet +him. + +"My dear!" she cried, her eyes luminous, her breast heaving. + +"My riding-time has come," he said, sadly. He stood apart, but she +came near to him and put her hands on his shoulders. + +"You found me in tears, but you must think of me as smiling--smiling +for joy in my lover, smiling at the thought of his return." + +He caught her in his arms, clasped her close to him, and kissed her +lips. It seemed to him as if that moment consecrated him forever. She +was simply glad that the man she loved had kissed her. + +"These are evil days," he said. "Who knows when we shall meet again." + +"At least we have met," she answered. "I shall thank God for that, +morning and night. Nothing can change that, if we do not meet for +months, for years, if we never meet again." + +"These wars must end soon," Evander said, confidently. Brilliana +caught at his hands. + +"You will never hurt the King," she cried. "Promise me that. You will +never hurt the King." + +"I will never hurt the King," Evander promised. "And now, dear +love--" + +He could not say farewell. + +There was a moment's silence as they stood facing each other, holding +hands, the woman trying to smile. The silence was suddenly, brutally +broken by the loud, clear report of a shot. Brilliana stiffened with +the start. + +"What was that?" + +"It seemed a pistol-shot in the garden," Evander answered. + +"Who should fire now?" + +"I will go see," Evander said, turning towards the open space. +Brilliana restrained him. + +"Oh no, dear love, my heart misgives; there may be danger." + +Evander gently released himself. + +"And when are you or I afraid of danger?" + +Brilliana accepted this. + +"Then I go with you." + +Instantly Evander paused. + +"No, no," he said. + +Brilliana repeated his words. + +"Why, when are you or I afraid of danger?" + +There was a noise of running feet in the garden, and then +Thoroughgood sped across the moat and into the room. + +"Captain Halfman has been shot," he gasped. + +"Oh, by whom?" Brilliana wailed, her eyes wide with horror. + +"Is he killed?" Evander asked. + +Thoroughgood answered both in a breath. + +"Badly wounded. They bring him here." + +As he spoke, Garlinge and Clupp entered from the garden, bearing +Halfman between them, wrapped in Evander's mantle. + +The man of gallant carriage, of swaggering alacrity, seemed to lie +horribly limp in the men's arms. Evander hurriedly made a couch of +chairs and bade them lay their burden on it, that he might examine +the wound. Brilliana bent over him. + +"Oh, my dear friend," she sobbed. + +The sound of her voice seemed to awaken Halfman. He opened his eyes. + +"Lift me up," he said, feebly, to his supporters. He looked at +Brilliana. "Lady, you have been deceived. Sir Randolph escaped from +his enemies. A snare was set for Captain Cloud--" he paused. + +"By whom?" cried Brilliana, the woman eager for her lover. + +Something like a smile came to Halfman's face. + +"That I may not say. I was privy to the plot. But I walked into the +trap myself. I fear, sir, you will find a hole in your mantle." + +"You wore my cloak?" Evander asked, in wonder. "You died for me?" + +"Ah, why did you not warn?" Brilliana cried. + +Halfman moved his head feebly. + +"I did not want to live." + +"But you shall live," Brilliana insisted, prayed. + +Halfman laughed very faintly. + +"I do not think so. I am an old soldier, and--ah!" + +He gave a great gasp. Then suddenly lifted himself a little and +saluted Brilliana as if on parade. + +"Here, my sweet warrior," he said, clearly. He looked fixedly at +Brilliana and declaimed, "I did hear you speak, far above singing." +Then his chin dropped; his head fell back on the supporting arms. +Evander touched him, turned to Brilliana. + +"Alas! he's sped." + +The only sound in the silent room was the weeping of Brilliana in +Evander's arms. + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +Master Marfleet in his "Diurnal" hides in his prolixities some +particulars interesting to us. Thus we learn incidentally from some +reflections on the wickedness of the great, that while the King +reigned in Oxford--to Master Marfleet he is always the "Man of Blood" +when he is not Nebuchadnezzar--Lady Brilliana Harby was in such favor +at the court and with the Queen as to obtain patents of knighthood +for two neighbors of hers, one Paul Hungerford and one Peter Rainham. +We further learn that Brilliana accompanied the Queen--in whom Mr. +Marfleet traces a remarkable likeness to Jezebel--to France in 1644, +after which "flight of kites, crows, and other carrion fowl"--the +words are Mr. Marfleet's--the estate of Harby came, through the good +offices of General Cromwell, into the hands of Colonel Evander Cloud, +much to Mr. Marfleet's satisfaction, a satisfaction which the +school-master did not live long enough to lose. + +Of Colonel Cloud's honorable military career we find a +brief but eminently satisfactory account in Corporal +Blow-the-Trumpet-against-Jericho Pring's pamphlet--now more +than scarce--entitled "The Roll-Call of the Regiments of Zion." + +From a letter of Colonel Cloud's, preserved in the Perrington Papers +(_Historical Manuscripts Commission_, vol. XCIX., B), we learn that +after Naseby the writer found among the dying the person of Sir Rufus +Quaryll. + +"As God may forgive me," he writes, "I had sought for this man in +encounter after encounter, with black thoughts of vengeance in my +bosom. But as he lay there I felt constrained by divine impulse to +forgive him, though he made me no answer but to curse horribly at me +and at the fool who took my place; and so passed away, as I fear, +very impenitent." + +After the surrender of the King by the Scots, and the end, as it +seemed, of the civil war, Colonel Cloud, with the permission of his +great chief, retired from active affairs and made his way to France, +to Paris, where, in the early spring of 1647, he was married to Lady +Brilliana Harby. Some of the French writers of the time make rather +merry over this romantic union and the five years fidelity of squire +and dame--Strephon and Chloe, as they are pleased to call them. But +the laugh is rather on the wrong side of the face, for it is well +known that there was bitter disappointment in the hearts and on the +lips of many French gallants who had tried their best to win the +beautiful English girl, and greatly resented her reservation for this +solemn gentleman. One or two efforts, however, to make this +resentment plain to the English soldier resulting uncomfortably, +after a brisk morning's work, in the temporary disablement of one +aggressor and the repeated disarming of another, in the end the +"homme à Cromwell" was left to wed in peace. Oddly enough, his best +man was his old acquaintance Sir Blaise Mickleton, who, having +realized his property in good time, had settled in Paris since 1644 +and had almost forgotten his native tongue, which he spoke, when he +did speak, with a little broken French accent, very pretty to hear. +He had once tried to renew his pretensions to the hand of Brilliana, +and had been so startlingly rebuffed that he never repeated the +effort and was content to remain her very good friend. Evander was in +England once or twice during the years 1647 and 1648, but after the +death of the King, against which he vainly protested, with his famous +friend he settled down in France, in the Loire country, for many +happy years. + +After the Restoration, Harby Hall passed by mutual arrangement into +the hands of Sir Randolph Harby, who had cheerfully ruined himself in +the service of his King. Through him the name still persists in +Maryland, in America. Harby itself was destroyed by fire early in the +eighteenth century. It was not rebuilt; the moat was filled up, and +no trace of Loyalty House remains to-day. In Harby church-yard there +is an ancient stone, set there by Brilliana's order. It bears the +name of Halfman, the date of his death, and after that date the +words, "I did hear you speak, far above singing." + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lady of Loyalty House, by +Justin Huntly McCarthy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 27929-8.txt or 27929-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/9/2/27929/ + +Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/27929-8.zip b/27929-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ece350 --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-8.zip diff --git a/27929-h.zip b/27929-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f500a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-h.zip diff --git a/27929-h/27929-h.htm b/27929-h/27929-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27f5d76 --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-h/27929-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8192 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Lady of Loyalty House, by Justin Huntly McCarthy. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + td {vertical-align: top;} + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.large2 {width: 65%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + div.titlepage {margin-top: 3px; margin-bottom: 4px; + padding: 1px 1px 1px; width: 500px; + background-image: url("images/tpstrip.jpg"); + background-position: top center; + background-repeat: repeat-y; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + .right {margin-left: 50%;} + .right2 {margin-left: 35%;} + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + .centerbox {width: 40%; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center; + padding-bottom: 0.5em;} + .centerbox2 {width: 85%; /* heading box */ + margin: 0 auto; + text-align: center; + padding-bottom: 0.5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;} + .small {font-size: 70%; } + .smallgap {margin-top: 0.3em;} + .tinygap {margin-top: 0.1em;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i21 {display: block; margin-left: 21em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i7 {display: block; margin-left: 7em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Lady of Loyalty House, by Justin Huntly McCarthy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lady of Loyalty House + A Novel + +Author: Justin Huntly McCarthy + +Release Date: January 29, 2009 [EBook #27929] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 314px;"> +<img src="images/icover.jpg" width="314" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="large2" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i001top.jpg" width="500" height="35" alt="" title="top border" /></div> +<div class="titlepage"> +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"> +<p class="tinygap"> </p> +<h1 style="color: red"> THE LADY OF<br /> +LOYALTY HOUSE</h1> + +<h3> A Novel</h3> + +<h3> BY</h3> + +<h2> JUSTIN HUNTLY McCARTHY</h2> + +<p class="center small"> AUTHOR OF<br /> +“MARJORIE” “THE PROUD PRINCE” ETC.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 134px;"> +<img src="images/i001logo.jpg" width="134" height="125" alt="" title="publishers logo" /></div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="center"> HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS<br /> +NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> +1904</p></div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px"><img src="images/i001bottom.jpg" alt="" title="bottom border" + width="500" height="35" /></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"> +<p class="center">Copyright, 1904, by <span class="smcap">Harper & Brothers</span>.</p> +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved.</i></p> +<p class="center">Published October, 1904.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>AD SILVIAM</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Take for our lady’s loyal sake<br /></span> +<span class="i4">This vagrant tale of mine,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Where Cavalier and Roundhead break<br /></span> +<span class="i4">A reed for Right Divine,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">A tale it pleasured me to make,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And most to make it thine.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">The Solemn Muse that watches o’er<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The actions of the great,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And bids this Venturer to soar,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And that to stand and wait,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Will swear she never heard before<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The deeds that I relate.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">But all is true for me and you,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Though History denies;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I know thy Royal Standard flew<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Against autumnal skies,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And find thy rarest, bravest blue<br /></span> +<span class="i4">In Brilliana’s eyes.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="right2">J. H. McC.</p> + +<div class="poem"><span class="i4"><i>August 10, 1904.</i></span></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="right">CHAPTER</td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Prologue</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_LADY_OF_LOYALTY_HOUSE">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Stranger at the Gates</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#I">4</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Harby</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#II">16</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">My Lord the Lady</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#III">26</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Leaguer of Harby</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#IV">33</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Monstrous Regiment</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#V">40</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">How Will All End?</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#VI">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mistress and Man</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#VII">56</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Envoy</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#VIII">62</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">IX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">How the Siege was Raised</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#IX">73</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">X.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Prisoner of War</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#X">82</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">At Bay</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XI">90</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Use for a Prisoner</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XII">99</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Gilded Cage</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XIII">110</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Passage at Arms</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XIV">120</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">My Lady’s Pleasaunce</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XV">129</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Puritan Appraised</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XVI">138</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XVII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Set a Knave To Catch a Knave</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XVII">149</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XVIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Serving the King</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XVIII">156</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XIX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sir Blaise Pays His Respects</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XIX">165</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sir Blaise Pays His Penalty</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XX">180</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Puzzling Puritan</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXI">188</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Master Paul and Master Peter</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXII">203</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Day Passes</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXIII">212</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A High Court of Justice</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXIV">223</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Romeo and Juliet</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXV">235</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Resurrection</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXVI">249</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXVII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The King’s Image</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXVII">256</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXVIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lover and Lover</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXVIII">266</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXIX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The King Makes a Friend</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXIX">273</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Rufus Proposes</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXX">281</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XXXI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Halfman Disposes</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#XXXI">286</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Epilogue</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#EPILOGUE">296</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_LADY_OF_LOYALTY_HOUSE" id="THE_LADY_OF_LOYALTY_HOUSE"></a>THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE</h2> + +<h2><a name="PROLOGUE" id="PROLOGUE"></a>PROLOGUE</h2> + +<p>In the October of 1642 there came to Cambridge a man from over-seas. +He was travelling backward, after the interval of a generation, +through the stages of his youth. From his landing at the port whence +he had sailed so many years before in chase of fortune he came to +London, where he had bustled and thundered as a stage-player. Here he +found a new drama playing in a theatre that took a capital city for +its cockpit. He observed, sinister and diverted, for a while, and, +being an adaptable man, shifted his southern-colored garments, +over-blue, over-red, over-yellow in their seafaring way, for the +sombre gray surcharged with solemn black. A translated man, if not a +changed man, he journeyed to the university town of his stormy +student hours, and there the black in his habit <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>deepened at the +expense of the gray. In the quadrangle of Sidney Sussex College he +meditated much on the changes that had come about since the days when +Sidney Sussex had expelled him, very peremptorily, from her gates. +The college herself had altered greatly since his day. The fair court +that Ralph Symons had constructed had now its complement in the fair +new court of Francis Clerke. The enlargement of his mother-college +was not so marvellous to him, however, as the enlargement of one +among her sons. A fellow-commoner of his time had, like himself, come +again to Cambridge, arriving thither by a different road. This +fellow-commoner was now the member in Parliament for Cambridge, had +buckled a soldier’s baldric over a farmer’s coat, had carried things +with a high hand in the ancient collegiate city, had made himself +greatly liked by these, greatly disliked by those.</p> + +<p>Musing philosophically, but also observing shrewdly and inquiring as +pertinaciously as dexterously, our traveller made himself familiar +with places of public resort, sat in taverns where he tasted ale more +soberly than was his use or his pleasure, listened, patently devout, +to godly exhortations, and implicated himself by an interested +silence in strenuous political opinions. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>From all this he learned +much that amazed, much that amused him, but what interested him most +of all had to do with the third stage of his retrospective +pilgrimage. If he had not been bound for Harby eventually, what came +to his ears by chance would have spurred him thither, ever keen as he +was to behold the vivid, the theatrical in life. Women had always +delighted him, if they had often damned him, and there was a woman’s +name on rumor’s many tongues when rumor talked of Harby. So it came +to be that he rode sooner than he had proposed, and far harder than +he had proposed, through green, level Cambridgeshire, through green, +hilly Oxfordshire, with Harby for his goal. Chameleon-like, he +changed hues on the way, shifting, with the help of his wallet, back +into a gaudier garb less likely to be frowned on in regions kindly to +the King.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h2>THE STRANGER AT THE GATES</h2> + +<p>The village of Harby was vastly proud of its inn, and by consequence +the innkeeper thought highly of the village of Harby. He had been a +happy innkeeper for the better part of a reasonably long life, and he +had hoped to be a happy innkeeper to that life’s desirably distant +close. But the world is not made for innkeepers by innkeepers, and +Master Vallance was newly come into woes. For it had pleased certain +persons of importance lately to come to loggerheads without any +consideration for the welfare of Master Vallance, and in trying to +peer through the dust of their broils on the possible future for +England and himself, he could prognosticate little good for either. +Master Vallance was a patriot after his fashion; he wished his +country well, but he wished himself better, and the brawling of +certain persons of importance might, apart from its direct influence +upon the fortunes of the kingdom, indirectly result in Master +Vallance’s downfall. For the persons of importance <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>whose bickerings +so grievously interested Master Vallance were on the one side his +most sacred and gracious Majesty King Charles I., and on the other a +number of units as to whose powers or purposes Master Vallance +entertained only the most shadowy notions, but who were disagreeably +familiar to him in a term of mystery as the Parliament.</p> + +<p>In the mellow October evening Master Vallance sat at his inn door and +dandled troubled thoughts. The year of his lord 1642 having begun +badly, threatened to end worse. Master Vallance chewed the cud of +country-side gossip. He reminded himself that not so very far away +the King had set up his standard at Nottingham and summoned all loyal +souls to his banner; that not so very far away in Cambridge, a fussy +gentleman, a Mr. Cromwell, member for that place, had officiously +pushed the interests of the Parliament by raising troops of +volunteers and laying violent hands upon the University plate. Master +Vallance tickled his chin and tried to count miles and to weigh +probabilities. Royalty was near, but Parliament seemed nearer; which +would be the first of the fighting forces to spread a strong hand +over Harby?</p> + +<p>Master Vallance emptied his mug and, turning his head, looked up the +village street, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>over the village street to the rising ground +beyond and the gray house that crowned it. He sighed as he surveyed +the familiar walls of Harby House, because of one unfamiliar object. +Over the ancient walls, straight from the ancient roof, sprang a +flag-staff, and from that flag-staff floated a banner which Master +Vallance knew well enough to be the royal standard of England’s King. +Master Vallance also knew, for he had been told this by Master +Marfleet, the school-master, that the Lady of Harby had no right to +fly the standard, seeing that the presence of that standard implied +the bodily presence of the King. But he also knew, still on Master +Marfleet’s authority, that the Lady of Harby had flung that standard +to the winds in no ignorance nor defiance of courtly custom. He knew +that the high-spirited, beautiful girl had been the first in all the +country-side to declare for the King, prompt where others were slow, +loyal where others faltered, and that she flew the King’s flag from +her own battlements in subtle assertion of her belief that in every +faithful house the King was figuratively, or, as it were, +spiritually, a guest.</p> + +<p>Master Vallance, reflecting drearily upon the uncertainties of an +existence in which high-spirited, beautiful young ladies played an +important <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>part, became all of a sudden, though unaccountably, aware +that he was not alone. Moving his muddled head slowly away from the +walls of Harby, he allowed it to describe the better part of a +semicircle before it paused, and he gazed upon the face of a +stranger. The stranger was eying the innkeeper with a kind of +good-natured ferociousness or ferocious good-nature, which little in +the stranger’s appearance or demeanor tended to make more palatable +to the timid eyes of Master Vallance.</p> + +<p>“Outlandish,” was the epithet which lumbered into Master Vallance’s +mind as he gaped, and the epithet fitted the new-comer aptly. He was, +indeed, an Englishman; that was plain enough to the instinct of +another Englishman, if only for the gray-blue English eyes; and yet +there was little that was English in the sun-scorched darkness of his +face, little that was English in the almost fantastic effrontery of +his carriage, the more than fantastic effrontery of his habit.</p> + +<p>When the stranger perceived that he had riveted Master Vallance’s +attention, he smiled a derisive smile, which allowed the innkeeper to +observe a mouthful of teeth irregular but white. Then he extended a +lean, brown hand whose fingers glittered with many rings, and caught +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>Master Vallance by his fat shoulder, into whose flesh the grip +seemed to sink like the resistless talons of a bird of prey. Slowly +he swayed Master Vallance backward and forward, while over the dark +face rippled a succession of leers, grins, and grimaces, which had +the effect of making Master Vallance feel thoroughly uncomfortable. +Nor did the stranger’s speech, when speech came, carry much of +reassurance.</p> + +<p>“Bestir thee, drowsy serving-slave of Bacchus,” the stranger chanted, +in a pompous, high-pitched voice. “Emerge from the lubberland of +dreams, and be swift in attendance upon a wight whose wandering star +has led him to your hospitable gate.”</p> + +<p>As the stranger uttered these last words his hand had drawn the +bemused innkeeper towards him: with their utterance he suddenly +released his grip, thereby causing Master Vallance to lurch heavily +backward and bump his shoulders sorely against the inn wall. The +stranger thrust his face close to Master Vallance’s, and while a +succession of grimaces rippled over its sunburned surface he +continued, in a tone of mock pathos:</p> + +<p>“Do you shut your door against the houseless and the homeless, O +iron-hearted innkeeper? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>Can the wandering orphan find no portion in +your heart?”</p> + +<p>Then, as Master Vallance was slowly making sure that he had to deal +with a dangerous lunatic, the stranger drew himself up and swayed to +and fro in a fit of inextinguishable laughter.</p> + +<p>“Lordamercy upon me,” he said, when he had done laughing, in a +perfectly natural voice. “I have seen some frightened fools before, +but never a fool so frightened. Tell me, honest blockhead, did you +ever hear such a name as Halfman?”</p> + +<p>Master Vallance, torpidly reassured, meditated. “Halfman,” he +murmured. “Halfman. Ay, there was one in this village, long ago, had +such a name. He had a roguish son, and they say the son came to a bad +end.”</p> + +<p>The new-comer nodded his head gravely.</p> + +<p>“He had a roguish son,” he said; “but I am loath to admit that he +came to a bad end, unless it be so to end at ease in Harby. For I am +that same Hercules Halfman, at your service, my ancient ape, come +back to Harby after nigh thirty years of sea-travel and land-travel, +with no other purpose in my mind than to sit at my ease by mine own +hearth in winter and to loll in my garden in summer. What do you say +to that, O father of all fools?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p><p>Master Vallance, having nothing particular to say, said, for the +moment, nothing. He was dimly appreciating, however, that this +vociferous intruder upon his quiet had all the appearance of one who +was well to do and all the manner of one accustomed to have his own +way in the world. It seemed to him, therefore, that the happiest +suggestion he could make to the home-comer was to quench his thirst, +and, further, to do so with the aid of a flask of wine.</p> + +<p>The stranger agreed to the first clause of the proposition and vetoed +the second.</p> + +<p>“Ale,” he said, emphatically. “Honest English ale. I am of a very +English temper to-day; I would play the part of a true-hearted +Englishman to the life, and, therefore, my tipple is true-hearted +English ale.”</p> + +<p>Master Vallance motioned to his guest to enter the house, but Halfman +denied him.</p> + +<p>“Out in the open,” he carolled. “Out in the open, friend.” He rattled +off some lines of blank verse in praise of the liberal air that set +Master Vallance staring before he resumed plain speech. “When a man +has lived in such hissing hot places that he is fain to spend his +life under cover, he is glad to keep abroad in this green English +sweetness.”</p> + +<p>He had seated himself comfortably on the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>settle by now, and he +stretched out his arms as if to embrace the prospect. Master Vallance +dived into the inn, and when he emerged a few seconds later, bearing +two large pewter measures, the traveller was still surveying the +landscape with the same air of ecstasy. Master Vallance handed him a +full tankard, which Halfman drained at a draught and rattled on the +table with a sigh of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>“Right English ale,” he attested. “Divine English ale. What gold +would I not have given, what blood would I not have spilled for such +a draught as that, so clean, so cool, so noble, in the lands where I +have lived. The Dry Tortugas—the Dry Tortugas, and never a drop of +English ale to cool an English palate.”</p> + +<p>He seemed so affected by the reflection that he let his hand close, +as if unconsciously, upon Master Vallance’s tankard, which Master +Vallance had set upon the table untasted, and before the innkeeper +could interfere its contents had disappeared down Halfman’s throat +and a second empty vessel rattled upon the board.</p> + +<p>The eloquence of disappointment on Master Vallance’s face as he +beheld this dexterity moved the thirst-slaked Halfman to new mirth. +But while he laughed he thrust his hand in his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>breeches-pocket and +pulled out a palm full of gold pieces.</p> + +<p>“Never fear, Master Landlord,” he shouted; “you shall drink of your +best at my expense, I promise you. We will hob-a-nob together, I tell +you. Keep me your best bedroom, lavender-scented linen and all. I +will take my ease here till I set up my Spanish castle on English +earth, and in the mean time I swear I will never quarrel with your +reckoning. I have lived so long upon others that it is only fair +another should live upon me for a change. So fill mugs again, Master +Landlord, and let us have a chat.”</p> + +<p>Master Vallance did fill the mugs again, more than once, and he and +the stranger did have a chat; at least, they talked together for the +better part of an hour. In all that time Master Vallance, fumbling +foolishly with flagrant questions, learned little of his companion +save what that companion was willing, or maybe determined, that he +should learn. Master Halfman made no concealment of it that he had +been wild at Cambridge, and he hinted, indeed, broadly enough, that +he had had a companion in his wildness who had since grown to be a +godly man that carried the name of Cromwell. He admitted frankly that +his pranks cast him forth <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>from Cambridge, and that he had been a +stage-player for a time in London, in proof whereof he declaimed to +the amazed Master Vallance many flowing periods from Beaumont, +Fletcher, Massinger, and their kind—mental fireworks that bedazzled +the innkeeper. Of his voyages, indeed, he spoke more vaguely if not +more sparingly, conjuring up gorgeous visions to the landlord of +pampas and palm-lands, where gold and beauty forever answered to the +ready hand. But Master Halfman, for his part volubly indistinct and +without seeming to interrogate at all, was soon in possession of +every item of information concerning the country-side that was of the +least likelihood to serve him. He learned, for instance, what he had +indeed guessed, that the simple country-folk knew little and cared +little for the quarrel that was brewing over their heads, and had +little idea of what the consequences might be to them and theirs. He +learned that the local gentry were, for the most part, lukewarm +politicians; that Peter Rainham and Paul Hungerford were keeping +themselves very much to themselves, and being a brace of skinflints +were fearing chiefly for their money-bags; while Sir Blaise +Mickleton, who had been credited with the intention of riding to join +his Majesty at Shrewsbury, had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>suddenly taken to his bed sick of a +strange distemper which declared itself in no outward form, but +absolutely forbade its victim to take violent action of any kind. He +learned that there were exceptions to this tepidity. Sir Randolph +Harby, of Harby Lesser, beyond the hill, Sir Rufus Quaryll, of +Quaryll Tower, had mounted horse and whistled to men at the first +whisper of the business and ridden like devils to rally on the King’s +flag. He learned much that was familiar and important to him of the +Harby family history; he learned much that was unfamiliar and +unimportant to him of local matters, such as that Master Marfleet, +the village school-master, was inclined to say all that might be said +in praise of the Parliament men, and that, when all was said and +done, the only avowed out-and-out loyalist in the neighborhood was no +man at all, but a beautiful, high-spirited girl-woman, the Lady +Brilliana Harby.</p> + +<p>The Lady Brilliana Harby. When Halfman was a lad gray Roland was Earl +of Harby, a choleric scholar, seeming celibate in grain, though the +title ran in direct male line. Suddenly, as Halfman now learned, gray +Roland married a maid some forty years younger than he, and she gave +him a child and died in the giving. This did not perpetuate the +title, for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>child was a girl, but it gave the gray lord something +to cherish for the sake of his lost love. This child was now the Lady +Brilliana, whom gray Roland had adored and spoiled to the day of his +own death, hastened by a fit of rage at the news of the King’s +failure to capture the five members. Since then the Lady Brilliana +had reigned alone at Harby, indifferent to suitors, and had flown the +King’s flag at the first point of war. “By Heaven!” said Halfman, “I +will have a look at the Lady Brilliana.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h2>HARBY</h2> + +<p>As he tramped the muddy hill-road his mind was busy. The scent from +the wet weeds on either side of him, heavy with the yester rains, +brought back his boyhood insistently, and his memory leaped between +then and now like a shuttlecock. He had dreamed dreams then; he was +dreaming dreams now, though he had thought he was done with dreams. A +few short months ago he had planned out his last part, the prosperous +village citizen, the authority of the gossips, respectable and +respected. His fancy had dwelt so fondly upon the house where he +proposed to dwell that he seemed to know every crimson eave of it, +every flower in the trim garden, the settle by the porch where he +should sit and smoke his pipe and drain his can and listen to the +booming of the bees, while he complacently savored the after-taste of +discreditable adventures. He knew it so well in his mind that he had +half come to believe that it really existed, that he had always owned +it, that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>it truly awaited his home-coming, and his feeling as he +entered the village that morning had been that he could walk straight +to it, instead of abiding at the inn and going hither and thither day +after day until he found in the market a homestead nearest to his +picture. And now he was walking away from it, walking fairly fast, +too, and walking whither? What business was it of his, after all, if +some sad-faced fellows from Cambridge tramped across country to lay +puritan hands upon Harby. What business was it of his if monarch +browbeat Parliament or Parliament defied king? He owed nothing to +either, cared nothing for either; what he owned he owed to his sharp +sword, his dull conscience, his rogue’s luck, and his player’s heart. +Why, then, was he going to Harby when he ought to be busy in the +village looking for that house with crimson eaves and the bee-haunted +garden?</p> + +<p>He knew well enough, though he did not parcel out his knowledge into +formal answers. In the first place, if the country was bent upon +these civil broils, clearly his intended character of pipe-smoking, +ale-drinking citizen was wholly unsuited to the coming play. +Wherefore, in a jiff he had abandoned it, and now stood, mentally, as +naked as a plucked fowl while he considered what costume he should +wear and what <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>character he should choose to interpret. His sense of +humor tempted him to the sanctimonious suit of your out-and-out +Parliament man; his love for finery and the high horse lured him to +lovelocks and feathers. The old piratical instinct which he thought +he had put to bed forever was awake in him, too, and asking which +side could be made to pay the best for his services. If he must take +sides, which side would fill his pockets the fuller? It was in the +thick of these thoughts that he found himself within a few feet of +the walls of the park of Harby.</p> + +<p>The great gates were closed that his boyhood found always open. He +smiled a little, and his smile increased as a figure stepped from +behind the nearest tree within the walls, a sturdy, fresh-looking +serving-fellow armed with a musketoon.</p> + +<p>“Hail, friend,” sang out Halfman, and “Stand, stranger,” answered the +man with the musketoon. Halfman eyed him good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>“You do not carry your weapon well,” he commented. “Were I hostile +and armed you would be a dead jack before you could bring butt to +shoulder. Yet you are a soldierly fellow and wear a fighting face.”</p> + +<p>The man with the musketoon met the censure <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>and the commendation with +the same frown as he surlily demanded the stranger’s business at the +gates of Harby.</p> + +<p>“My business,” answered Halfman, blithely, “is with the Lady of +Harby,” and before the other could shape the refusal of his eyes into +an articulate grumble he went on, briskly, “Tell the Lady Brilliana +Harby that an old soldier who is a Harby man born has some words to +say to her which she may be willing to hear.”</p> + +<p>“Are you a King’s man,” the other questioned, still holding his +weapon in awkward watchfulness of the stranger. Halfman laughed +pleasantly.</p> + +<p>“Who but a King’s man could hope to have civil speech with the Lady +Brilliana Harby?”</p> + +<p>He plucked off his hat as he spoke and waved it in the air with a +flourish. “God save the King!” he shouted, loyally, and for the +moment his heart was as loyal as his voice, untroubled by any thought +of a venal sword and a highest bidder. Just there in the sunlight, +facing the red walls of Harby and the flapping standard of the +sovereign, on the eve of an interview with a bold, devoted lady, it +seemed so fitly his cue to cry “God save the King!” that he did so +with all the volume of his lungs.</p> + +<p>The man with the musketoon seemed mollified <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>by the new-comer’s +specious show of allegiance.</p> + +<p>“We shall see,” he muttered. “We shall see. Stay where you are, just +where you are, and I will inquire at the hall. The gate is fast, so +you can do no mischief while my back is turned.”</p> + +<p>As he spoke he turned on his heel and, plunging among the trees in +pursuit of a shorter cut than the winding avenue, disappeared from +view. Halfman eyed the gateway with a smile.</p> + +<p>“I do not think those bars would keep me out long if I had a mind to +climb them,” he said to himself, complacently. But he was content to +wait, walking up and down on the wet grass and running over in his +mind the playhouse verses most suited to a soldier of fortune at the +gate of a great lady. He had not to wait long. Before the +jumble-cupboard of his memory had furnished him with the most +felicitous quotation his ears heard a heavy tread through the trees, +and the man with the musket hailed him, tramping to the gate. He +carried a great iron key in his free hand, and this he fitted to the +lock of the gate, which, unused to its inhospitable condition, +creaked and groaned as he tugged at it. As at length it yielded the +man of Harby opened one-half wide enough to admit <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>the passage of a +human body, and signalled to Halfman to come through. Halfman, +smilingly observant, obeyed the invitation, and looked about him +reflective while the gate was again put to and the key again turned +in the lock to the same protesting discord. Many years had fallen +from the tree of his life since he last trod the turf of Harby. All +kinds of queer thoughts came about him, some melancholy, some full of +mockery, some malign. He was no longer a poor lad with the world +before him to whom the Lord of Harby was little less than the +viceregent of God; he was a free man, he was a rich man, he had +multiplied existences, had drunk of the wine of life from many casks +and yet maintained through all a kind of cleanness of palate, ready +for any vintage yet unbroached, be it white or red. The rough voice +of his companion stirred him from his reverie.</p> + +<p>“My lady will see you,” he said. “Follow me.”</p> + +<p>As the man spoke he started off at a brisk pace upon the avenue with +the evident intention of making his words the guide-marks to the +new-comer’s deeds. But Halfman, never a one to follow tamely, with an +easy stretch of his long limbs, swung himself lightly beside his +uncivil companion, and without breathing himself in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>the least kept +steadily a foot-space ahead of him. “I was ever counted a good +walker,” he observed, cheerfully. “I have taken the world’s ways at +the trot; you will never outpace me.”</p> + +<p>The man of Harby slackened his speed for a second, and there came an +ugly look of quarrel into his face which made it plain as a map for +Halfman that there was immediate chance of a brawl and a tussle. He +would have relished it well enough, knowing pretty shrewdly how it +would end, but he contented himself for the moment, having other +business in hand, with cheerful comment.</p> + +<p>“Friend,” he said, “if we are both King’s men we have no leisure for +quarrel, however much our fingers may itch. What is your name, +valiant?”</p> + +<p>The serving-man scowled at him for a moment; then his frown faded as +he faced the smile and the bright, wild eyes of Halfman.</p> + +<p>“My name is Thoroughgood,” he answered, and he added, civilly enough, +as if conscious of some air of gentility in his companion, “John +Thoroughgood, at your service.”</p> + +<p>“A right good name for a right good fellow, if I know anything of +men,” Halfman approved. “And I take it that you serve a right good +lady.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p><p>“My lady is my lady,” Thoroughgood replied, simply. “None like her as +ever I heard tell of.”</p> + +<p>Halfman endeavored by dexterous questionings to get some further +information than this of the Lady of Harby from her sturdy servant, +but Thoroughgood’s blunt brevity baffled him, and he soon reconciled +himself to tramp in silence by his guide. So long as he remembered +anything he remembered that passage through the park, the sweet smell +of the wet grass, the waning splendors, russet and umber, of October +leaves, the milky blueness of the autumn sky. This was, indeed, +England, the long, half-forgotten, yet ever faintly remembered, in +places of gold and bloodshed and furious suns, the place of peace of +which the fortune-seeker sometimes dreamed and to which the +fortune-maker chose to turn. The place of peace, where every man was +arming, where citizens were handling steel with unfamiliar fingers, +and where a rover like himself could not hope to let his sword lie +idle. It was as he thought these thoughts that a turn of the road +brought him face to face with Harby Hall, and all the episodes of a +busy, bloody life seemed to dwindle into insignificance as he crossed +the moat and passed with John Thoroughgood through the guarded +portals <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>and found himself once again in the shelter of the great +hall.</p> + +<p>The great hall at Harby was justly celebrated in Oxfordshire and in +the neighboring counties as one of the loveliest examples of the rich +domestic architecture which adorned the age of Elizabeth. “That +prodigal bravery in building,” which Camden commends, made no fairer +display than at Harby which had been designed by the great architect +Thorp. Of a Florentine favor externally, it was internally a +magnificent illustration of what Elizabethan decorators could do, and +the great hall gave the note to which the whole scheme was keyed. Its +wonderful mullioned windows looked out across the moat on the +terrace, and beyond the terrace on the park. Its walls of panelled +oak were splendid witnesses to the skill of great craftsmen. Its +carved roof was a marvel of art that had learned much in Italy and +had made it English with the hand of genius. Over the great fireplace +two armored figures guarded rigidly the glowing shield of the founder +of the house. Heroes of the house, heroines of the house, stared or +smiled from their canvases on the mortal shadows that flitted through +the great place till it should be their turn to swell the company of +the elect in frames of gold. At one end of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>hall sprang the fair +staircase that was itself one of the greatest glories of Harby, with +its wonderful balustrade, on which, landing by landing, stood the +glorious carved figures of the famous angels of Harby.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h2>MY LORD THE LADY</h2> + +<p>Between the topmost pair of carven angels a woman stood for a second +looking down upon the man below. She had come quite suddenly from a +door in the great gallery, and she paused for a moment on the topmost +stair to survey the stranger who had summoned her. The stranger for +his part stared up at the woman in an honest and immediate rapture. +He was not unused to comely women, seen afar or seen at close +quarters, but he felt very sure now that he had never seen a fair +woman before. He prided himself on a most unreverential spirit, but +his instant, most unfamiliar emotion was one of reverence. His +fantastic wit idealized wildly enough. “An angel among angels,” he +exulted. “Ecce Rosa Mundi,” his rusty scholarship trumpeted. His +brain was a tumult of passionate phrases from passionate play-books, +“Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air,” overriding them all like +a fairy swan upon a fairy sea. There never was such a woman since the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>world began; there never could be such a woman again till the world +should end. And while his mind whirled with his own ecstasies and the +ecstasies of dead players, the Lady Brilliana came slowly down the +great stairs.</p> + +<p>If the light of her on his eyes dazzled him, if the riot in his mind +overprized her excellence, a saner man could scarce have failed to be +delighted with the girl’s beauty, a wiser to have denied her visible +promises of merit. If better-balanced minds than the mind of Hercules +Halfman, striving to conjure up the image of their dreams, had looked +upon the face, upon the form, of Brilliana Harby, they might well +have been willing to let imagination rest and be contented with the +living flesh. Twenty sweet years of healthy country life had set +their seal of grace and color upon the child of the union of two +noble, sturdy stocks; all that was best of a brave dead man and a +fair dead woman was mirrored in the pride of her face, the candor of +her eyes, the courage of her mouth. Lost father and lost mother had +made a strange pair; all their excellences were summed and multiplied +in their bright child’s being. A dozen gallant gentlemen of Oxford or +Warwickshire would have given their fortunes for the smallest +scissors-clipping of one sable curl, would have perilled <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>their lives +for one kind smile of those blue eyes, would have bartered their +scanty chances of salvation for the first kiss of her fresh lips.</p> + +<p>While she descended the stairs Halfman never took his eyes off the +lady. He found himself wishing he were a painter, that he might +perpetuate her graces through a few favored generations who might +behold and adore her dimly as he beheld and adored her clearly, in +her riding-dress of Lincoln green, whose voluminous superfluity she +held gathered to her girdle as she moved. No painter could have +scanned her more closely, noted more minutely the buckle of +brilliants that captured the plume in her hat, the lace about her +throat, the curious work upon her leather gauntlets, the firm foot in +the small, square shoe, the riding-whip with its pommel of gold which +she carried so commandingly. Lovely shadows trooped into his mind, +names that had been naught but names to him till now—Rosalind, +Camiola, Bianca. They had passed before him as so many smooth-faced +youths, carrying awkwardly and awry their woman’s wear, and +lamentably uninspiring. Now he saw all these divine ladies take life +incarnate in this divine lady, and he marvelled which of the +loveliest of the rarely named company <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>could have shone on her poet’s +eyes so dazzlingly as this creature.</p> + +<p>He stared in silence till she had reached the foot of the staircase, +still stared silent as she advanced towards him. There was nothing +disrespectful in his direct glance, but the steadfastness and the +silence stirred her challenge.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” she said, “when you asked to see me it was not, I hope, in the +thought to stare me out of countenance.”</p> + +<p>Halfman made her a sweeping salutation and found his voice with an +effort, but his words did not interpret the admiration of his eyes.</p> + +<p>“I asked to see you,” he answered, respectfully, “because I ride with +tidings that may touch you. I am newly from Cambridge.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s eyes widened.</p> + +<p>“What do you carry from Cambridge?” she asked; then swiftly added, +“But first, I pray you, be seated.”</p> + +<p>She pointed to a chair on one side of the great table, and to set him +the example seated herself at another. Halfman bowed and took his +appointed place, resting his hat upon his knees.</p> + +<p>“Lady,” he said, “there was at Cambridge a certain Parliament man who +plays at being a soldier, and though he should be no more than <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>plain +master, those that would do him pleasure call him Captain or Colonel +Cromwell.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana frowned a little. “I have heard of the man,” she said. “He +talks treason at Westminster; he is the King’s enemy.”</p> + +<p>Halfman leaned a little nearer to her across the table and spoke with +a well-managed air of mystery.</p> + +<p>“Captain Cromwell is not only the King’s enemy; he is also the enemy +of the Lady Brilliana Harby.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana shook her dark head proudly, and Halfman thought that her +curls glanced like the arrows of Apollo.</p> + +<p>“Any enemy of the King is an enemy to me, but not he, as I think, +more than another.”</p> + +<p>Halfman tapped the table impressively.</p> + +<p>“There you are mistaken, lady,” he said. “The man is very especially +and particularly your enemy. He has been very busy of late in +Cambridge raising train-bands, capturing college plate, and the like +naughtinesses, but he has not been so busy as not to hear how the +King’s flag flies unchallenged from the walls of Harby.”</p> + +<p>“And shall fly there so long as I live,” Brilliana interrupted, +hotly.</p> + +<p>Halfman smiled approval of her heat, yet shook his head dubiously.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>“It shall not fly long unchallenged,” he continued. “That is my news. +Master Cromwell—may the devil fly away with his soldier’s title—is +sending hither a company of sour-faced Puritans to bid you haul down +your flag.”</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke his heart glowed at the instant effect of his words +upon the woman. She sprang to her feet, with flaming cheeks and +blazing eyes, and struck her white hand upon the table.</p> + +<p>“That flag flies,” she cried, “for the honor of Harby. Whoever +challenges the honor of Harby will find it a very dragon, with teeth +and claws and a fiery breath.”</p> + +<p>Halfman sprang to his feet, too, and gave the gallant girl a military +salute. Every fibre of him now tingled with loyalty to the royal +quarrel; he was a King’s man through and through, had been so for +sure from his cradle.</p> + +<p>“Lady,” he almost shouted, “you make a gallant warrior, and I will be +proud to serve you.” Seeing the surprise in her eyes, he hurried on: +“Lady, I am an old soldier, an old sailor. I have seen hot service in +hot lands; have helped to take towns and helped to hold towns, and if +it be your pleasure, as it will be your prudence, to avail of my aid, +I will show <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>you how we can maintain this place against an army.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana rested her hands on the table, and, leaning forward, looked +steadily into Halfman’s face. He accepted the scrutiny steadily; he +was all in all her servant. She seemed to read so much.</p> + +<p>“If your news be true,” she said, “and if you do not overboast your +skill, why, I shall be very glad of your aid and counsel.”</p> + +<p>“Your hand on that, gallant captain,” clamored Halfman, all aflame of +pride and pleasure. And across the oaken table the Lady of Harby and +the adventurer clasped hands in compact.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h2>THE LEAGUER OF HARBY</h2> + +<p>Halfman proved himself a creditable henchman. There was much to do +and little time to do it in, for any hour might bring news that the +enemy was near at hand. Brilliana, as he told her and as she knew, +would have done well without him, once she had warning of danger, +but, as she told him and as he knew, she did very much better with +him. There was no help to be had in the neighborhood, but by +Halfman’s advice a message was trusted to a sure hand to be carried +to Sir Randolph Harby, of Harby Lesser, now with the King, telling +him of what was threatened. All the servants were assembled in the +great hall, and there Brilliana made them a stirring little speech, +to which Halfman listened with applauding pulses. She told them how +Harby was menaced; she told them what she meant to do. She and +Captain Halfman meant to hold the place for the King so long as there +was a place to hold. But she would constrain none to stay with her, +and she offered to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>all who pleased the choice to go down into the +village and bide there till the business was ended one way or the +other. Not a man of the little household, nor a woman, offered to +budge. Perhaps they did not care very much about the quarrel, but +they all loved very dearly their wild, high-spirited young mistress, +and it was “God save Brilliana!” they were thinking while they +shouted “God save the King!”</p> + +<p>This was how it came to pass that when the hundred men from +Cambridge, under the command of Captain Evander Cloud, made an end of +their forced march, they found the iron gates of Harby’s park closed +against them. This was in itself a matter of little moment, needing +but the united efforts of half a dozen stout fellows to arrange. But +it was the hint significant of more to follow. The Puritan party +tramping through the park was greeted, as it neared the moat, with a +volley, purposely aimed high, which brought them to a halt. The +Puritans eyed grimly a place whose great natural strength had been +most ingeniously increased by skilful fortification, and while their +leader advanced alone and composedly across the space between the +invaders and the walls of Harby, the followers were bale to note how +all the windows <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>were barricaded and loop-holed, and how full of +menace the ancient place appeared.</p> + +<p>Evander Cloud advanced across the grass until he was within a few +feet of the moat. Then an upper window was thrown open, its wooden +curtain removed, and a young, fair woman appeared at the opening and +quietly asked of the Puritan the meaning of his presence.</p> + +<p>Evander Cloud saluted the lady; he could see that she was young and +comely. His own face was in shadow and the chatelaine could not +distinguish its features.</p> + +<p>“Have I the honor to address the Lady Brilliana Harby?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“I am the Lady Brilliana Harby,” the girl answered. “What is your +business here?”</p> + +<p>“I come, madam,” Evander replied, “a servant of the Parliament and of +the English people, to safeguard this mansion in their name.”</p> + +<p>“You may speak for the London Parliament,” Brilliana said, firmly, +“but I think you are too bold to speak in the name of the English +people. As for this poor house, it can safeguard itself very well, +with the help of God.”</p> + +<p>“Madam,” responded Evander, “I am empowered to take by force what I +would gladly gain by parley.”</p> + +<p>“This house is the King’s house,” Brilliana <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>said, scornfully, “and +does not yield to thieves.”</p> + +<p>“It is the King’s evil advisers who have forced civil war upon the +land,” Evander replied, gravely. “And it is in the King’s name and +for the King’s sake that we would secure this stronghold.”</p> + +<p>“Ay,” retorted Brilliana, derisively. “And do the King honor by +hauling down the King’s flag. No more words. This is Loyalty House. +You have ten minutes in which to withdraw your men. At the end of +that time we shall fire again, and you will find that we can shoot +straight. And so you may go to the devil.”</p> + +<p>Evander would have appealed anew, but with her last word Brilliana +disappeared from the window, which in another moment was barricaded +as stubbornly as before.</p> + +<p>And this was the beginning of the siege of Harby House.</p> + +<p>Mr. Samuel Marfleet, in his “Diurnal of certain events of moment +happening of late at Harby,” is very eloquent over the coming of the +little company. He sees in them the deliverers from Dagon, the +destroyers of Babylon, and in sundry heated if confused allusions to +the worship of Ashtaroth, it seems certain that the indignant +school-master was vehemently <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>protesting against the popularity of +Brilliana. He probably goes too far, however, when he interprets the +silence of Harby villagers as the Cambridge company marched through +the main street as the silence too great for speech of a liberated +people. Harby villagers were, for the most part, serenely indifferent +to the quarrels of the court and the Parliament, but they had a +hearty liking for Brilliana, and would, if they could, very likely +have shown active resentment at the attack upon her home. But with +nobody to lead them, there was nothing for them to do but to stare at +the grave-faced men in sober clothes with guns upon their shoulders +and steel upon their breasts who tramped along towards Harby Hall. +Even to the siege itself they were perforce indifferent, seeing very +little of it, for the parliamentary leader took care that none of +them came into Harby park, and did not, as we may gather from +occasional asperities in the “Diurnal,” greatly encourage even the +visits of Mr. Marfleet himself.</p> + +<p>The full chronicle of that siege does not concern us here. Those that +are curious in the matter may seek for ampler information, if they +will, in the Marfleet “Diurnal.” Thanks to its situation, thanks to +the experience of adventurer Halfman in barricading windows and so +loop-holing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>them for musketry as fully to command the moat on all +sides, Harby Hall proved a hard nut to crack. It was but child’s +play, indeed, if you chose to compare it with the later leaguer of +Lathom, but to those immediately concerned, and to Harby village, all +open mouths and open eyes, the business was a very Iliad. There was a +great deal of powder burned and but little blood shed. The little +Parliament party soon learned that there was no taking the place by a +rush or a ruse, that it was discretion to keep due distance and +invest. For the besieged, on the other hand, there was no chance of a +sortie, their numbers being so few and their provisions were sorely +scarce. If no one could for the moment get into Harby, neither could +any one get out of Harby.</p> + +<p>So day succeeded day, and Halfman found them all enchanted days. He +was inevitably much in the company of the lady, and he played the +part of an honest gentleman ably. He made the most of his odd +scholarship, of that part of his knowledge of the world best likely +to commend him to the favor of a gentlewoman; his buccaneering +enterprises veiled themselves under the vague phrase of foreign +service. He had been in tight places a thousand times; he weighed +them as trifles against a chance to win money <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>and the living toys +that money can buy. But it was new to him to hold a fort under the +command of a woman, and the woman herself was the newest, strangest +thing he had ever known. Ever the lover of his abandoned art, he +conceived shrewdly enough the character that would not displease +Brilliana and played it very consistently: the soldier of fortune +true, but one that had tincture of letters and would be a scholar if +he could. So the siege hours were also hours of such companionship as +he had never experienced, ever desired; he ripened in the sunshine of +a girl’s kindliness, and he deliberately tied, as it were, the foul +pages of his book of memory together with the pink ribbon of a girl’s +garter. He would have been content for the siege to last forever. But +the siege did not last forever.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h2>A MONSTROUS REGIMENT</h2> + +<p>In the great hall at Harby a motley fellowship were assembled. If a +stranger from a strange land, wafted thither on some winged Arabian +carpet or flying horse of ebony, could have beheld the place and the +company, he would have been hard put to it to find any reasonable +explanation of what his eyes witnessed. In the middle of the hall +some five singular figures stood on line: two tall, powerful lads +with foolish faces, flagrant farm-hands; an old, bowed man with the +snow of many winters on his hair; an impish lad who might have +welcomed fourteen springs; and, finally, a rubicund, buxom woman with +very red cheeks, very blue eyes, very brown hair, whose person +suggested the kitchen a league off. Each of these persons handled a +pike, carrying it at an angle different from that of the others, and +each of them gazed with painfully attentive stare at the oaken table +near the hearth upon which Hercules Halfman sat learnedly expounding +the mysteries of the pike drill, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>while Thoroughgood stood between +him and the awkward squad to illustrate in his own person and with +the pike he carried the teachings of the instructor.</p> + +<p>“Order your pikes,” Halfman commanded. “Advance your pikes. Shoulder +your pikes.” Then, as these orders were obeyed deftly enough by +Thoroughgood and with bewildering variety by the others, he +continued, “Trail your pikes,” and then broke sharply off to +expostulate with one of the farm-hands.</p> + +<p>“Now, Timothy Garlinge, call you that trailing of a pike. Why, Gammer +Satchell carries herself more soldierly.”</p> + +<p>Timothy Garlinge grinned loutishly at this rebuke, but the fat dame +whom Halfman’s flourish indicated seemed to dilate with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>“It were shame,” she chuckled, “if a handy lass could not better a +lobbish lad.”</p> + +<p>The impish lad grinned derision.</p> + +<p>“Ay,” he commented; “but an old fool’s best at her spits and +griddles.”</p> + +<p>A most unmilitary titter rippled along the rank but broke upon the +rock of Mrs. Satchell’s anger. It might have seemed to many that it +were impossible for the dame’s cheeks to be any redder, but Mistress +Satchell’s visage <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>showed that nature could still work miracles. With +face a rich crimson from chin to forehead, she made to hurl herself +upon the leering, fleering mannikin, but was caught in the +unbreakable restraint of neighbor Clupp’s clasp.</p> + +<p>“You limb, I’ll griddle you!” Mistress Satchell gasped, panting in +the embracing arms. Halfman played the peace-maker with a sour smile.</p> + +<p>“There, there, goody,” he expostulated; “youth will have its yelp.”</p> + +<p>He turned with something of a yawn to Thoroughgood.</p> + +<p>“Why a devil did you press gossip cook into the service?”</p> + +<p>Thoroughgood shook his head protestingly.</p> + +<p>“Nay, the virago volunteered,” he explained, with a look that seemed +to supplement speech in the suggestion that it were best to let +Mistress Satchell have her own way. This was evidently Mistress +Satchell’s own view of the matter.</p> + +<p>“Truly,” she exclaimed, “if my lady, being no more than a woman, is +man enough to garrison her house against the Roundheads, she cannot +deny me, that am no less than a woman, the right to handle a pike.”</p> + +<p>Halfman, eying the dame’s assertive rotundities, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>thought that he +would be indeed a quarrelsome fellow who should deny her evident +femininity.</p> + +<p>“You are a lovely logician,” he approved. “Enough.”</p> + +<p>Then resuming his sententious tone of military command, he took up +the task where he had left it off.</p> + +<p>“Trail your pikes.”</p> + +<p>The order was this time obeyed by the company with something +approaching resemblance to the action of Thoroughgood, and Halfman +went on.</p> + +<p>“Cheek your pikes.”</p> + +<p>Out of the confused cluttering of weapons which ensued, Timothy +Garlinge emerged tremulous.</p> + +<p>“Please, sir,” he gurgled, “I’ve forgotten how to cheek my pike.”</p> + +<p>Halfman mastered exasperation bravely, as, taking a pike from the +hands of Thoroughgood, he strove to illuminate rusticity.</p> + +<p>“Use your pike thus, noddy,” he lessoned, good-naturedly, wielding +the weapon with the skill of a practised pikeman. But the +illustration was as much lost upon Garlinge as the original command, +and in his attempt to imitate it he whirled his arm so recklessly +that his companions <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>scattered in dismay, and Halfman himself was +fain to move a step or two backward to avoid the yokel’s meaningless +sweeps.</p> + +<p>“Have a care,” he cried. “If you work so wild you will damage your +company.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Satchell, taking her post in the now restored line, shook her +red fist at the delinquent.</p> + +<p>“He had best not damage me,” she thundered, “or I’ll damage him to +some purpose.”</p> + +<p>“Silence in the ranks!” Halfman commanded, sharply. “Charge your +pikes,” he ordered.</p> + +<p>This order was obeyed indifferently and tamely enough by all save the +egregious Mrs. Satchell, who delivered so lusty a thrust with her +weapon that Halfman was obliged to skip back briskly to avoid +bringing his breast acquainted with her steel.</p> + +<p>“Nay, woman, warily!” he shouted, half laughing, half angry. “Play +your play more tamely. I am no rascally Roundhead.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Satchell grounded her weapon and wiped the sweat from her +shining forehead with the back of her red hand. There was a deadly +earnest in her eyes, a deadly earnest in her speech.</p> + +<p>“I cry you mercy,” she panted. “But I am a whole-hearted woman, and +when you bid me charge I am all for charging.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p>Halfman did his best to muffle amusement in a reproving frown. “Limit +your zeal discreetly,” he urged, and was again the drill sergeant.</p> + +<p>“Shoulder your pikes.”</p> + +<p>The weapons followed the words with some show of decorum.</p> + +<p>“Comport your pikes.”</p> + +<p>Again the evolution was carried out with some degree of accuracy.</p> + +<p>“Port your pikes.”</p> + +<p>Here all followed the word of command fairly well with the exception +of Garlinge’s fellow-rustic, who simply strove to repeat the order +already executed. Halfman turned upon him sharply.</p> + +<p>“Now, Clupp,” he cried, “will you never learn the difference between +port and comport?”</p> + +<p>Clupp, the fellow addressed, bashful at finding himself the object of +attention, swayed backward and forward with his pikestaff for a +pivot, laughing vacantly.</p> + +<p>“No, sir,” he gaped, stupidly. Master Halfman’s lip wrinkled +menacingly, and he reached his hand to his staff that lay upon the +table.</p> + +<p>“Indeed!” he said. “Then I must ask Master Crabtree Cudgel to lesson +you.”</p> + +<p>He advanced threateningly towards the terrified <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>fellow, but long +before he could reach him Dame Satchell had interposed her generous +bulk between officer and private, not, however, as was soon shown, +from any desire to intercede for the culprit.</p> + +<p>“Leave him to me, sir,” she entreated, vehemently. “If you love me, +leave him to me.”</p> + +<p>And, indeed, her angry eyes shone warranty that the offender would +fare badly at her hands. Halfman waved her aside with a gesture of +impatience.</p> + +<p>“Mistress Satchell,” he protested, “you are a valiant woman, but a +rampant amazon.”</p> + +<p>Dame Satchell’s cheeks glowed a deeper crimson, and her variable +anger raged from Clupp to Halfman.</p> + +<p>“Call me no names,” she squalled, “though you do call yourself +captain, or I’ll call you the son of a—”</p> + +<p>However Mistress Satchell intended to finish her objurgation it was +not given to the company to learn, for Halfman tripped up her speech +with a nimble interruption.</p> + +<p>“The son of a pike, so please you,” he suggested, with a smile that +softened the virago’s heart. “There, we have toiled enough to-day and +it tests our tempers. Dismiss.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p><p>This command he addressed to the whole of his amazing company; to +Dame Satchell he gave a congee with a more than Spanish flourish: “To +your pots and pans, valorous.”</p> + +<p>Dame Satchell, mollified by his compliment, shrugged her fat +shoulders. “’Tis little enough I have to put in them,” she grumbled. +“Roast or boiled, boiled, fried, or larded, all’s one, all’s none. +We’ll be mumbling shoe-leather soon.”</p> + +<p>She sighed heavily at the thought, and moved slowly towards the door +at the end of the hall beneath the gallery. Halfman, unheeding her, +had turned to the table and was intently poring over the large map +that lay there together with a loaded pistol. Thoroughgood gave +orders to the men.</p> + +<p>“Garlinge and Clupp, go scour the pikes. Tom Cropper, find something +to keep you out of mischief. As for you, Gaffer Shard, you may rest +awhile.”</p> + +<p>The old man shook his frosty head vigorously. “Nay, nay,” he piped, +“I need no rest. My old bones are loyal and cannot tire in a good +cause. God save the King.”</p> + +<p>He gave a shrill cheer which was echoed loudly by men and boy, and so +cheering they tramped out of the hall in the trail of Mother +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Satchell, Garlinge staggering under the load of pikes which the lad +had officiously foisted on to his shoulder, Clupp laughing vacantly +after his manner, and steadfast old Shard waving his red cap and +chirping his shrill huzzas.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h2>HOW WILL ALL END?</h2> + +<p>When they had all gone and the hall was quiet, Thoroughgood came +slowly down with a puzzled frown on his honest, weather-beaten face +to where Halfman humped over his map.</p> + +<p>“Where’s the good of drilling clowns and cooks?” he asked, surlily. +He talked like one thoroughly weary, but his mood of weariness seemed +to melt before the sunshine of Halfman’s smile as he lifted his head +from the map.</p> + +<p>“Where’s the harm?” he countered. “’Twas my lady’s idea to keep their +spirits up, and, by God! it was a good thought. She knows how it +heartens folk to play a great part in a great business: keeps them +from feeling the fingers of famine in their inwards, keeps them from +whining, repining, declining, what you will. But I own I did not +count on the presence of Gammer Cook in the by-play.”</p> + +<p>“I could not see why she should be kept out of the mummery,” +Thoroughgood responded, “if she had a mind for the masking.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p><p>“Perhaps you are right,” Halfman answered, meditatively. “My lady’s +example would make a Hippolyta of any housemaid of them all.”</p> + +<p>“I do not know what it would make of them,” Thoroughgood answered; +“but I know this, that it matters very little now.”</p> + +<p>Halfman swung round on his seat and stared at him curiously.</p> + +<p>“Why?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“Now that this truce is called,” Thoroughgood answered, “that the +Roundhead captain may have speech with my lady.”</p> + +<p>“Why, what then?” questioned Halfman, with his eyes so fixed on +Thoroughgood’s that Thoroughgood, dogged as he was, averted his gaze.</p> + +<p>“Naught’s left but surrender,” he grunted, between his teeth. The +words came thickly, but Halfman heard them clearly. He raised his +right hand for a moment as if he had a thought to strike his +companion, but then, changing his temper, he let it fall idly upon +his knee as he surveyed Thoroughgood with a look that half disdained, +half pitied.</p> + +<p>“My lady will never surrender,” he said, quietly, with the quiet of a +man who enunciates a mathematical axiom. “You know that well enough.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p><p>Thoroughgood shrugged plaintive, protesting shoulders.</p> + +<p>“We’ve stood this siege for many days,” he muttered. “Food is running +out; powder is running out. Even the Lady Brilliana cannot work +miracles.”</p> + +<p>Halfman rose to his feet. His eyes were shining and he pressed his +clinched hands to his breast like a man in adoration.</p> + +<p>“The Lady Brilliana can work miracles, does work miracles daily. Is +it no miracle that she has held this castle all these hours and days +against this rebel leaguer? Is it no miracle that she has poured the +spirit of chivalry into scullions and farm-hands and cook-wenches so +that not a Jack or Jill of them but would lose bright life blithely +for her and the King and God? Is it not a miracle that she has +transmuted, by a change more amazing than anything Master Ovid hath +recorded in his Metamorphoses, a villanous old land-devil and +sea-devil like myself into a passionate partisan? But what of me? God +bless her! She is my lady-angel, and her will is my will to the end +of the chapter.”</p> + +<p>He dropped in his chair again as if exhausted by the vehemence of his +words and the emotion which prompted them. Thoroughgood contemplated +him sourly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p><p>“You prate like a play-actor,” he snarled. Halfman’s whole being +flashed into activity again. He was no more a sentimentalist but now +a roaring ranter.</p> + +<p>“Because I was a play-actor once,” he shouted, “when I was a +sweet-and-twenty youngling.”</p> + +<p>Thoroughgood eyed Halfman with a sudden air of distrust.</p> + +<p>“You never told me you were a play-actor,” he growled. “You spoke +only of soldiering.”</p> + +<p>Halfman laughed flagrantly in his face.</p> + +<p>“Godamercy, man, there has been scant time to tell you my life’s +story. We have had other cats to whip. Yes, I was a play-actor once, +and played for great poets, for men whose names have never tickled +your ears. But the owl-public would have none of me, and, owllike, +hooted me off the boards. But I’ve had my revenge of them. I’ve +played a devil’s part on the devil’s stage for thirty red years. Nune +Plaudite.”</p> + +<p>The Latin tag dropped dead at the porches of John Thoroughgood’s +ears, but those ears pricked at part of Halfman’s declamation.</p> + +<p>“What kind of parts?” he asked, drawing a little nearer to the +soldier of fortune, whose experiences fascinated his inexperience.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>Halfman shrugged his shoulders and favored honest Thoroughgood with a +bantering, quizzical smile.</p> + +<p>“All kinds of parts,” he answered. “How does the old puzzle run? +Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, ploughboy, gentleman, thief. I think +I have played all those parts, and others, too. Fling beggar and +pirate into the dish. But I tell you this, honest John, I have never +played a part so dear to me as that of captain to this divine +commander. I thank my extravagant stars that steered me home to serve +her.”</p> + +<p>“You cannot sing her praises too sweetly for my ears,” Thoroughgood +answered. “But there is an end to all things, and it looks to me as +if we were mighty near to an end of the siege of Harby. Why else +should there be a truce called that the Roundhead captain may have +speech with my lady.”</p> + +<p>“Honest John Thoroughgood,” Halfman answered, with great composure, +“you are not so wise as you think. This Roundhead captain has sent us +hither the most passionate pleadings to be admitted to parley. Why +deny him? It will advantage him no jot, but it is possible we may +learn from the leakage of his lips something at least of what is +going on in the world.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p><p>“What is there to learn?” asked Thoroughgood. Halfman shook his head +reprovingly.</p> + +<p>“Why, for my part, I should like to learn why in all this great gap +of time nothing has been done to help one side or the other. If the +gentry of Harby have made no effort to relieve us, neither, on the +other hand, has our leaguer been augmented by any reinforcements. If +my lady has been surprised that Sir Blaise Mickleton has made no show +of coming to her succor, I, for my part, am woundily surprised that +the Cropheads of Cambridge have sent no further levies for our +undoing.”</p> + +<p>“Why, for that matter—” Thoroughgood began, and then suddenly broke +off. “Here comes my lady,” he said, turning and standing in an +attitude of respectful attention.</p> + +<p>Halfman had known of her coming before his companion spoke. The Lady +Brilliana had come out on to the gallery from the door near the head +of the stairway, and Halfman was conscious of her presence before he +lifted his eyes and looked at her. She was not habited now, as on the +day when he first beheld her, in her riding-robe of green, but in a +simple house-gown chosen for the ease and freedom it allowed to a +great lady who had suddenly found that she had much to do. The color +of the stuff, a crimson, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>as being a royal, loyal color, well became +her fine skin and her dark curls and her bright, imperious eyes. She +was followed by her serving-woman, Tiffany, a merry girl that +Thoroughgood adored, and one that would in days gone over have been +likely to tickle the easy whimsies of Halfman. Now he had no eyes, no +thoughts, save for her mistress, the lass unparalleled.</p> + +<p>Brilliana was speaking to Tiffany even as she entered the gallery.</p> + +<p>“Strip more lint, Tiffany,” she ordered; “and bid Andrew be brisk +with the charcoal.”</p> + +<p>Her voice was as buoyant as the song of a free bird, and her step on +the stair as light as if there were no such thing in the world as a +leaguer. Tiffany crossed the gallery and disappeared through the +opposite door. Brilliana, as she descended the stair, diverted her +speech to Thoroughgood.</p> + +<p>“John Thoroughgood, I saw from the lattice our envoys bringing the +Parliament man down the elm walk. To them at once. They must not +unhood their hawk till he come to our presence.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h2>MISTRESS AND MAN</h2> + +<p>When Thoroughgood had left the hall and Brilliana came to the floor, +Halfman questioned her, very respectfully, but still with the air of +one who has earned the friendly right to put questions.</p> + +<p>“Why do you see this black-jack?” he asked. Brilliana smiled at him +as radiantly as if the holding of a house against armed enemies was +the properest, pleasantest business imaginable.</p> + +<p>“With the littlest good-will in the world, I promise you,” she +answered. “But, you know, he so plagued for the parley that it was +easier to try him than deny him. Besides, good friend and captain, I +learn from what I read in Master Froissart’s Chronicles that it were +neither customary nor courteous to deny conference to a supplicating +enemy.”</p> + +<p>Halfman adored her for her courage, for her calm assumption of +success.</p> + +<p>“How if he but come to spy out our strategies?” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>he asked. “The +leanness of our larder? Our empty bandoliers?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana beamed back at him with her bewildering confidence.</p> + +<p>“I have thought of that, too,” she admitted. “But he shall not find +us at our wit’s-end. Seek Simon Butler, friend captain. Though our +cellars are near empty he will make shift to find you some full +flagons. Bring hither a bunch of your subalterns, the rosiest, the +most jovial, if any still carry such colors and boast such spirit; +let them gather in the banqueting-hall, where, with such wit as +French wine can give, let them sing as if they were merry and well +fed. Our sanctimonious spy-out-the-nakedness-of-the-land must think +we are well victualled, he must think we are well mannered.”</p> + +<p>Halfman made her a sweeping reverence which was not without its +play-actor’s grace, though its honesty might have pardoned a greater +awkwardness.</p> + +<p>“We are well womaned, lady,” he asseverated, “with you for our +leader. By sea and by land I have served some great captains, but +never one greater than you for constancy and manly valor.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s bright face took a swift look of gravity and she gave a +little sigh.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p><p>“The King’s cause,” she said, soberly, “might turn a child into a +champion.”</p> + +<p>The steady loyalty that made her words at once a psalm and a +battle-cry bade Halfman’s pulses tingle. Who could be found +unfaithful where this fair maid was so faithful? Yet he remembered +their isolation and the memory made him speak.</p> + +<p>“I marvel that none of your neighbors have tried to lend us a hand?”</p> + +<p>“How could they?” Brilliana asked, astonished. “The brave are with +the King at Shrewsbury; the stay-at-homes are not fighters.”</p> + +<p>“Hum,” commented Halfman. “What of Master Paul Hungerford?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>“A miserly daw, who would not risk a crown to save the crown.”</p> + +<p>Halfman questioned again.</p> + +<p>“What of Master Peter Rainham?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana shrugged again.</p> + +<p>“A dull, sullen skinflint waiting on event.”</p> + +<p>Halfman’s inventory was not complete.</p> + +<p>“You have yet a third neighbor,” he said, “and, as I heard, a +prodigal in protestation. What of Sir Blaise Mickleton?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s lips twitched with a derisive smile.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p><p>“Sir Blaise, honest gentleman, loves good cheer and good ease. I +think he would not quit the board if Armageddon were towards. He will +be for eating, he will be for drinking, he will be for sleeping, and +in the mean time God’s chosen gentlemen have learned the value of +living so long as to grant them a death for their King.”</p> + +<p>Her voice had risen to a cry of defiance, but now it dropped again to +its former note of bantering irony.</p> + +<p>“What a wonderful world it is which can hold at once such men as my +cousin Randolph or you or Rufus Quaryll and these hangbacks who shame +Harby. These three are professed my very good suitors, but they have +made no move to our help. Well, let them hang for a tray of knaves. +We need them not. We know that the King’s cause must triumph and so +we are wise to be blithe.”</p> + +<p>Halfman’s head was swinging with pleasure. She had counted him in so +glibly with the chosen ones, with the servants of God and the King. +He was very sure now that his watch-word had always been “God and the +King.”</p> + +<p>“The King’s cause must triumph,” he echoed, his face shining with +loyal confidence.</p> + +<p>“How we shall all smile a year hence,” Brilliana <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>answered, “to think +that such pitiful rebels vexed us. But for the moment there is one of +these same rebels to be faced—and to be fooled. About our plan, good +captain.”</p> + +<p>Halfman saluted her more enthusiastically than he had ever saluted +male commander.</p> + +<p>“My general,” he vowed, “he shall think these walls hold an army of +wassaillers.”</p> + +<p>He turned on his heel and marched briskly out of the hall. Brilliana +looked after him, with the bright smile on her face, till the door of +the banqueting-hall closed behind him; then the smile slowly faded +from her face.</p> + +<p>“I would my spirits were as blithe as my speech,” she thought, as she +went to the table and bent over it, looking at the open map which +Halfman had been studying.</p> + +<p>“What is going on in England, the King’s England, little England, +that should not be big enough to have any room for traitors?”</p> + +<p>She put her finger on the spot where Harby figured on the sheet.</p> + +<p>“Here,” she mused, “we have been sundered from the world for all +these days by this Roundhead leaguer, hearing no outside news but the +ring of rebel shots and the sound of rebel voices. What has happened? +What is happening? When we began the King was at Shrewsbury and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Parliament ruled London. What has come to the Parliament since? What +has come to the King? Well, Loyalty House will carry the King’s flag +so long as one stone tops another. We will live as long as we can for +his Majesty, and then die for him gamely.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h2>THE ENVOY</h2> + +<p>A sound of heavy steps disturbed her meditations. She stood up from +her map, blinked down the tears that tried to rise, and turned to +face new fortune.</p> + +<p>“Here is our enemy,” she said to herself, and she forced back the +confident color to her cheeks, the confident light to her eyes. The +door from the park opened, and John Thoroughgood entered the room, +holding by the hand a man in the staid habit of a Puritan soldier, +whose eyes were muffled by a folded scarf of silk. Blindfolded though +he was, the Puritan followed his guide with a steady and resolute +step.</p> + +<p>“Halt!” cried Thoroughgood. The stranger stood quietly as if on +parade, while Thoroughgood saluted his mistress.</p> + +<p>“Unhood your hawk,” Brilliana ordered. Thoroughgood, obedient, +unpicked the knot of the handkerchief, revealing his companion’s +face. Brilliana observed with a hostile curiosity a tallish, +well-set, comely man of about <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>thirty years of age, whose smooth, +well-featured face asserted high breeding and a gravity which +deepened into melancholy in the dark expressive eyes and lightened +into lines of humor about the fine, firm mouth. For a moment, with +the removal of the muffle, he seemed dazzled by the change from dark +to light; then, as command of his vision returned, he observed +Brilliana and made her a courteous salutation which she returned +coldly. She made a gesture of dismissal to Thoroughgood, who went +out, and the Lady of Loyalty was left alone with her enemy.</p> + +<p>There was a moment’s silence as the pair faced each other, the man +quietly discreet, the woman openly scornful. She was under the same +roof with a rebel in arms, and the thought sickened her. She broke +the silence.</p> + +<p>“You petitioned to see me.” With the sound of her voice she found new +vehemence, new indignation. “Do your rebels offer unconditional +surrender?”</p> + +<p>The circumstances of the astonishing question brought for the moment +a slight smile to the grave face of the Parliament man.</p> + +<p>“It was scarcely with that thought,” he answered, “that I sought for +a parley.”</p> + +<p>Though the man’s smile had been short-lived, Brilliana had seen it +and loathed him for it. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>Though the man’s manner was suave, it seemed +to wear the suavity of success and she loathed him for that, too.</p> + +<p>“We waste time,” she cried, impatiently, “with any other business +than your swift submission.”</p> + +<p>Then as she saw him make an amiably protesting gesture she raged at +him with a rising voice.</p> + +<p>“Oh, if you knew how hard it is for me to stand in the same room with +a renegade traitor you would, if such as you remember courtesy, be +brief in your errand.”</p> + +<p>The man showed no consciousness of the insult in her words and in her +manner save than by a courteous inclination of the head and a few +words of quiet speech.</p> + +<p>“Much may be pardoned to so brave a lady.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana struck her hand angrily upon the table once and again.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake do not praise me!” she almost screamed, “or I shall +hate myself. Your errand, your errand, your errand!”</p> + +<p>The enemy was provokingly imperturbable.</p> + +<p>“You have a high spirit,” he said, “that must compel admiration from +all. That is why I would persuade you to wisdom. I came hither <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>from +Cambridge by order of Colonel Cromwell.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s lips tightened at the sound of the name which the envoy +pronounced with so much reverence.</p> + +<p>“The rebel member for Cambridge,” she sneered—“the mutinous brewer. +Are you a vassal of the man of beer?”</p> + +<p>There was a quiet note of protest in the reply of the envoy.</p> + +<p>“Colonel Cromwell is not a brewer, though he would be no worse a man +if he were. I am honored in his friendship, in his service. He is a +great man and a great Englishman.”</p> + +<p>“And what,” Brilliana asked, “has this great man to do with Harby +that he sends you here?”</p> + +<p>“He sends me here,” the Puritan answered, “to haul down your flag.”</p> + +<p>“That you shall never do,” Brilliana answered, steadily, “while there +is a living soul in Harby.”</p> + +<p>The Puritan protested with appealing hands.</p> + +<p>“You are in the last straits for lack of food, for lack of fuel, for +lack of powder.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana made a passionate gesture of denial.</p> + +<p>“You are as ignorant as insolent,” she asserted. “Loyalty House lacks +neither provisions nor munitions of war.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p><p>There was a kind of respectful pity in the stranger’s face as he +watched the wild, bright girl and hearkened to the vain, brave words.</p> + +<p>“Nay, now—” he began, out of the consciousness of his own truer +knowledge, but what he would have said was furiously interrupted by a +volume of strange sounds from the adjoining banqueting-hall. There +was a rattle and clink as of many pewter mugs banged lustily upon an +oaken table; there was a shrill explosion of laughter, the work of +many merry voices; there was the grinding noise of heavy chairs +pushed back across the floor for the greater ease of their occupants; +there was a tapping as of pipe-bowls on the board, and then over all +the mingled din rose a voice, which Brilliana knew for the voice of +Halfman, ringing out a resonant appeal.</p> + +<p>“The King’s health, friends, to begin with.”</p> + +<p>All the noises that had died down to allow Halfman a hearing began +again with fresh vigor. It was obvious to the most unsophisticated +listener that here was the fag end of a feast and the moment for the +genial giving of toasts. Many voices swelled a loyal chorus of “The +King, the King!” and had the great doors of the banqueting-hall been +no other than bright glass it would have been scarce easier for the +man and woman in the great hall to realize <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>what was happening, the +revellers rising to their feet, the drinking-vessels lifted high in +air with loyal vociferations, and then the silence, eloquent of +tilted mugs and the running of welcome liquor down the channels of +thirsty throats. This silence was broken by some one calling for a +song, to which call he who had proposed the King’s health answered +instantly and with evident satisfaction. His rich if somewhat rough +voice came booming through the partitions, carolling a ballad to +which the Puritan listened with a perfectly unmoved countenance, +while the Lady Brilliana’s eager face expressed every signal of the +liveliest delight.</p> + +<p>This was the song that came across the threshold:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“What creature’s this with his short hairs,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His little band and huge long ears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That this new faith hath founded?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Puritans were never such,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The saints themselves had ne’er so much,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, such a knave’s a Roundhead.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A yell of pleasure followed this verse, and a tuneless chorus +thundered the refrain, “Oh, such a knave’s a Roundhead,” with the +most evident relish for the sentiments of the song. Brilliana looked +with some impatience at the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>unruffled face of her adversary, and +when the immediate clamor dwindled she addressed him, sarcastically:</p> + +<p>“These revellers,” she said, “would not seem to be at the last +extremity. But their festival must not deafen our conference.”</p> + +<p>She advanced to the door of the banqueting-room and struck against it +with her hand. On the instant silence she opened the door a little +way and spoke through softly, as if gently chiding those within.</p> + +<p>“Be merry more gently, friends. Sure, I cannot hear the gentleman +speak. Though,” she added, reflectively, as she closed the door and +returned again to the table she had quitted—“though God knows he +talks big enough.”</p> + +<p>The Puritan clapped his palms together as if in applause, an action +that somewhat amazed her in him, while a kindly humor kindled in his +eyes.</p> + +<p>“Bravely staged, bravely played,” he admitted, while he shook his +head. “But it will not serve your turn, for it may not deceive me. I +had a message this morning from my Lord Essex. There has been hot +fighting; Heaven has given us the victory; the King’s cause is +wellnigh lost at the first push.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana felt her heart drumming against her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>stays, but she turned +a defiant face on the news-monger.</p> + +<p>“I do not believe you,” she answered. “The King’s cause will always +win.”</p> + +<p>The soldier took no notice of her denial; he felt too sure of his +fact to hold other than pity for the leaguered lady. He quietly +added:</p> + +<p>“My Lord Essex advises me further that reinforcements are marching to +me well equipped with artillery against which even these gallant +walls are worthless. Be warned, be wise. You cannot hope to hold out +longer. For pity’s sake, yield to the Parliament.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana waved his pleas away with a dainty, impatient flourish.</p> + +<p>“You chatter republican vainly. I have store of powder. I will blow +this old hall heaven high when I can no longer hold it for the King.”</p> + +<p>Her visitor looked at her sadly, made as if to speak, paused, and +then appeared to force himself to reluctant utterance.</p> + +<p>“Lady,” he said, slowly, “though we be opponents, we share the same +blood. Let a kinsman entreat you to reason.”</p> + +<p>If the civil-spoken stranger had struck her in the face with his +glove Brilliana could not have been more astonished or angered. She +moved <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>a little nearer to him, interrogation in her shining eyes and +on her angry cheeks.</p> + +<p>“Are you mad?” she gasped. “How could such a thing as you be my +kinsman?”</p> + +<p>She had taunted him again and again during their brief interview and +he had shown no sign of displeasure. He showed no sign of displeasure +now, answering her with simple dignity.</p> + +<p>“Very simply. A lady of your race, your grandsire’s sister, married a +poor gentleman of my name and was my father’s mother.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana drew back a little as if she had indeed received a blow. +Involuntarily, she put up her hand to her eyes as if to shut out the +sight of this importunate fellow.</p> + +<p>“I have heard something of that tale,” she whispered, “but dimly, for +we in Harby do not care to speak of it. When my grandsire’s sister +shamed her family by wedding with a Puritan her people blotted her +from their memory. You will not find her picture on the walls of +Harby.”</p> + +<p>“The loss is Harby’s,” the soldier answered, “for I believe she was +as fair as she was good. She married an honest gentleman named Cloud, +whose honesty compelled him to profess the faith he believed in. My +name is Evander Cloud.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p><p>He waited for a moment as if he expected her to speak, but she +uttered no word, only faced him rigidly with hatred in her gaze.</p> + +<p>Seeing her silent, he resumed:</p> + +<p>“It was this sad kinship pushed me to a parley wherein, perhaps, I +have something strained my strict duty. But the voice of our common +blood cried out in me to urge you to reason. You have done all that +woman, all that man could do. Yield now, while I can still offer you +terms, and your garrison shall march out with all the honors of war, +drums beating, matches burning, colors flying.”</p> + +<p>He was very earnest in his appeal, and Brilliana heard him to the end +in silence, with her clinched hands pressed against her bosom. Then +she turned fiercely upon him and her voice was bitter.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” she cried, “if I hated you before for a detested rebel, think +how I hate you now, if you be, even in so base a way, my kinsman.”</p> + +<p>She turned away from him, lifting her clasped hands as if in +supplication.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Heaven, to think that a disloyal, hypocritical, canting Puritan +could brag to my face that he carries one drop of our loyal blood in +his false heart.”</p> + +<p>She turned to him again with new fury.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p><p>“You are doubly a traitor now, and if you are wise you will keep out +of my power, for my heart aches with its hate of you. Go! Five +minutes left of your truce gives you just time to return to your +rebels. If you overlinger in our lines but one minute you are no +longer an envoy: you are an enemy and a spy and shall swing for it.”</p> + +<p>She reached out her hand to strike the bell upon the table, while +Evander Cloud, still impassive, paid a salutation to his unwilling +hostess and made a motion to depart. But on the instant both were +chilled into immobility by an amazing interruption. Brilliana’s hand +never touched the bell; Evander’s hand never found the handle of the +door. For between the beginning and the end of their action came a +sudden rattle of musketry, distant but deafening, followed on the +instant by a whirlwind of furious cries and noise.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE SIEGE WAS RAISED</h2> + +<p>The man and the woman glared at each other, each in swift suspicion +of treason. The Lady of Harby was the quickest to act upon impulse. +She snatched up the pistol that lay upon the table and levelled it +with a steady hand at Evander.</p> + +<p>“Do you use your trust to betray us?” she shrilled. “It shall not +save you.”</p> + +<p>Even a less-experienced soldier could have seen from the sure way in +which Brilliana handled her weapon that his life was in real peril, +but he paid no more heed to her menace than if she was threatening +him with her glove or her fan.</p> + +<p>“Fighting outside!” he cried. Turning to the woman he asked, with a +fierceness that contrasted with his previous calm, “Who is the +traitor here?”</p> + +<p>His sword was naked in his hand as he spoke and he made a rush for +the door. But before he could reach it it was flung open in his face +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>and Halfman rushed in, waving his drawn sword, and followed by +Thoroughgood carrying a gun and Garlinge and Clupp armed with pikes.</p> + +<p>Inevitably bewildered by the sudden turn in the tide of events, +Evander Cloud gave ground for a moment before the onrush, while +Halfman, staggering like a drunken man, reeled forward towards +Brilliana, shrieking:</p> + +<p>“There is fighting in the rebel lines. Help has come at last.”</p> + +<p>Whatever joy the tidings gave to Brilliana, she wasted no words from +the needs of the moment. Pointing to Evander where he stood, +irresolute in surprise, she commanded, “Secure that man!”</p> + +<p>Evander’s resolution returned to him with the sound of her voice, but +he was one against too many. While he tried to engage the blade of +Halfman, a swinging blow from the pike of Garlinge knocked his weapon +out of his hand, and in another moment he was gripped in the grasp of +the two young country giants, while Thoroughgood covered him with his +musketoon.</p> + +<p>“This is treachery,” he gasped; but no one paid any attention to his +protest. Halfman, convinced that the Puritan was a sure prisoner, +swaggered up to Brilliana with all the arrogance of a stage herald.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>“Dear lord,” he shouted, “dear lady, a company of Cavaliers are +galloping up the avenue, a-shouting like devils for the King.”</p> + +<p>He was flushed and drunk with exhilaration; he could speak no more; +the timely episode tickled his tired brain like wine; he caught at +the table for support and muttered inarticulately. Thoroughgood, who +had secured Evander’s fallen sword, interpolated a word of +explanation.</p> + +<p>“It is Sir Rufus, my lady—Sir Rufus and his friends.”</p> + +<p>The interruption had been so sudden, the things that had chanced had +passed so swiftly, that Brilliana still stood as she had stood when +she gave the command to secure Evander. But now all her being seemed +alive with a new life.</p> + +<p>“I hear them; I hear them!” she cried, exultantly. And, indeed, the +sounds came very clearly now of fierce young voices shouting for the +King.</p> + +<p>“The King! The King!” Brilliana cried, in an ecstasy, and as the +loyal syllables died on her lips there came a trampling of near feet, +and then through the yawning doorway rushed a covey of young +gentlemen waving their drawn swords and yelling their cry, “The King! +The King!” As they flooded into the room, bright <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>foam on the wave of +victorious loyalty, Brilliana knew them all. Sir Rufus Quaryll, her +neighbor and hot lover; the Lord Fawley, who had vainly wooed her for +wife; Sir John Radlett, who had the sense to love her and the sense +to hold his tongue; Captain Bardon, the bold and bluff; and young +Lord Richard Ingrow, with the delicate, girlish face that masked the +amazing rake. She seemed to see them as in some golden dream, seemed +to hear a-down the vistas of dreams the echoes of their gallant cries +of “God save the King!” Then as the new-comers knelt before her she +knew that all was true.</p> + +<p>“God bless you, gentlemen!” she cried, from a full heart. “You are +very well come.”</p> + +<p>Rufus Quaryll, neighbor and wooer, was the first to speak, looking up +at her with rapture in his eyes of reddish brown.</p> + +<p>“Imperial lady, the siege of Harby is raised.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana flung out her hands to him, and as he caught and kissed +them she raised him to his feet.</p> + +<p>“Your news is music,” she said, and her voice was as blithe as a +song.</p> + +<p>“We are heralds of victory,” Rufus said, as he stood and looked into +her eyes.</p> + +<p>My Lord Fawley rose from his knees with a whoop.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><p>“We have pelted the rebels from Edgehill,” he shouted. Sir John +Radlett caught him up. “We banged them finely,” he trumpeted. Young +Ingrow, with a flush on his fine cheeks, sang out a shrill “Hurrah +for Prince Rupert!” and bluff Bardon rubbed his hands as he chuckled, +“He brushed them into dust.”</p> + +<p>All the Cavaliers spoke rapidly and eagerly, flinging their phrases +each on top of the other. Rufus summed up all in a single splendid +sentence.</p> + +<p>“The road lies plain to London.”</p> + +<p>“Heaven be praised,” Brilliana ejaculated, and then, wonder treading +on the heels of thankfulness, she questioned, “How came you here so +timely?”</p> + +<p>My Lord Fawley broke into a boisterous laugh which seemed to rattle +among the rafters.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Lord, the best jest in the world,” he bellowed. Bardon clapped a +hand on lad Ingrow’s shoulder.</p> + +<p>“Our Ingrow writes a clerky hand,” he asserted. Ingrow, stabbing at +Bardon’s stout ribs with slender fingers, riposted:</p> + +<p>“And our Bardon has a merry invention.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana looked commands and entreaties at the row of jolly, +laughing faces.</p> + +<p>“Do not play the sphinx with me,” she <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>pleaded. Rufus immediately +made himself interpreter of the mirth.</p> + +<p>“Why, between us we forged a letter from my lord high damnable +traitor Essex to your enemy here, advising him of reinforcements, +assuring him of the King’s defeat.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” chirruped the Lord Fawley, “and the gull-gaby swallowed the +bait.”</p> + +<p>“When we rode up but now,” Radlett interposed, “his rascals received +us with open arms.”</p> + +<p>Rufus smiled sardonically as he completed the story of the +entrapment.</p> + +<p>“They took us for Essex men because of our orange-tawny scarves, but +they found out when too late that we were right-tight Cavalier lads +and no crop-eared curmudgeons. Why, we were in the thick of them with +sword and pistol before they had stayed from snuffling their psalms +of welcome.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana held out her hand again for her cousin’s hand and clasped +it manfully.</p> + +<p>“How rich is the ring of victory in your loyal voice,” she sighed. +“My last public news was of the King’s stay at Shrewsbury. Then these +curmudgeons raced hot-foot from Cambridge to pull down my flag. But +‘This is Loyalty House,’ says I, and ‘Go to the devil,’ says +I—forgive me, sirs, if I raged unmaidenly—and I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>slammed the door +in their sour faces. Then came such a tintamar, rebels firing on us, +we firing on rebels, and so in such noise and thunder we have been +eclipsed out of the world these weary days.”</p> + +<p>“Never were such days better lived through since the world began,” +said Rufus. “You do well to call this Loyalty House which has held +out so well against the King’s enemies.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana now turned to where Halfman stood apart, his hands resting +on the hilt of his sword, and the shadow of a frown on his forehead +as he eyed the babbling gallants.</p> + +<p>“That Loyalty House should hold out so long as it could was from the +first my purpose,” she said. “But that it was able to hold out so +long as it did was greatly due to the courage and the counsels of +this brave gentleman.”</p> + +<p>As she spoke she pointed to Halfman, whose dark face flushed with +pleasure as he gave back the stares of the astonished Cavaliers who +up to now had left him unnoticed.</p> + +<p>“Gentles,” she went on, “this is Captain Halfman, who warned me of my +danger, who helped me in my peril with his soldier’s knowledge and +his soldier’s sword, and who was of my own mind rather to die than to +surrender Harby.”</p> + +<p>Halfman strode forward with a studied grace. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>He felt like +Faulconbridge; he felt like Harry at Agincourt; he felt like +Coriolanus; he felt exceedingly happy.</p> + +<p>“Gallants,” he said, with a magnificent salutation, “to have served +this lady makes a man know how it had seemed to serve Alexander or +Cæsar. Wherefore, a soldier of good-fortune salutes you.”</p> + +<p>Rufus, who had watched him with something of a sullen eye from the +moment of Brilliana’s introduction, now answered him with a clearer +countenance.</p> + +<p>“We greet you, sir,” he said, gravely, “with great gratitude and +great envy, for, indeed, there is none among us who would not have +given his life to be lieutenant to this lady.” He accorded the +beaming Halfman a military salute, and then, turning to Brilliana, +continued:</p> + +<p>“Bright Brilliana, your servants and swains yearned to ride to your +help when we heard of your peril, but we could not leave the King in +the beginning of his enterprise. He gave us glad leave after the +victory. ‘Tell the brave lady,’ he said, ‘she shall be our viceroy in +Oxfordshire.’”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s cheeks blazed with pleasure. “Oh, the dear man,” she +cried, with clasped hands of rapture. But there was more to come.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p><p>“I think,” continued Rufus, “it is more than likely that his Majesty +will visit Harby—I should say Loyalty House—ere he rides to +London.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana thrilled with pride—with pleasure. The air about her +seemed to swoon with music, to be sweet as roses, to be spangled with +golden motes.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h2>PRISONER OF WAR</h2> + +<p>“I rejoice,” she answered, in a voice unsteady with happiness—such +might have been the voice of Semele at the coming of her god—“I +rejoice that Loyalty House boasts a roof to shelter his Majesty. For +I was minded to blow the place to pieces rather than yield it to this +gentleman who would so speciously persuade me to surrender.”</p> + +<p>As she spoke she glanced disdainfully in the direction of Evander +Cloud, who now for the first time since the irruption of the +Cavaliers became in any sense an object of public interest. None of +the new-comers had paid any heed to the sombre-habited prisoner; +Halfman had forgotten his captive in his jealous study of the men who +had raised the siege; Thoroughgood, with the Puritan’s sword resting +idly on his left arm, was as absorbed in the converse of Sir Rufus +and his comrades as were his subordinates Garlinge and Clupp, who, +though they gripped their prisoner tightly, were as indifferent to +his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>existence as if he had been the turbaned dummy of a quintain. +But now on the instant every glance was turned on Evander, and Sir +Rufus, eying him with much disfavor, asked of Brilliana, “Who is your +prisoner?”</p> + +<p>Evander made a step forward unrestrained by his guards, and answered +for himself composedly.</p> + +<p>“I am Captain Cloud, of the parliamentary army, snared under a flag +of truce.”</p> + +<p>He was so well restrained in his speech and carriage, so quiet a +contrast to the heated gentlemen who glared at him, that to an +uninformed observer he might very well have seemed the judge rather +than the one on trial. Rufus snapped at him like an angry dog.</p> + +<p>“Well, you tub-thumper, you see that the gentlemen of England are +more than a match for pestilent pennyweight rebels.”</p> + +<p>Evander surveyed his truculent opponent with a tranquil contempt +which had its effect in increasing the irritation of the Cavalier.</p> + +<p>“You play the valiant braggart to a captive,” he commented, quietly. +Then he turned to Brilliana as one who had no further desire for +treaty with a fellow of this kind.</p> + +<p>“Let me remind you, lady, that I came here under a flag of truce.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p><p>Brilliana had forgotten Evander in the exhilaration of her relief. +But now that he had come into her mind again, so with his image had +flooded in again all the prejudices he provoked, the scorn, the +hatred.</p> + +<p>“That plea cannot release you,” she answered, hotly. “Your time was +up, your sword was drawn; I am very sure you would have joined your +men.”</p> + +<p>Evander, whose arms were now released from bondage by Garlinge and +Clupp, made a gesture of absolute acquiescence.</p> + +<p>“I am very sure I should have joined my men,” he answered, calmly. +Brilliana rounded on him triumphant.</p> + +<p>“Then you are a prisoner of war, fairly taken. Let me have no more +words.”</p> + +<p>As indifferent to her words as to the angry carriage of the +Cavaliers, Evander stepped tranquilly back to his place between his +warders.</p> + +<p>“I have no more words to waste,” he said, with a scorn in his voice +that stung Brilliana’s cheeks to crimson. She turned hurriedly to the +little knot of Cavaliers, who chafed at having to witness what they +held to be the presumption of a Puritan in daring to bandy words with +a lady of quality.</p> + +<p>“Gallants,” she said, “this merry meeting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>calls for its baptism of +wine.” As she spoke she struck upon the bell, shrewdly confident that +her wishes would be met. “Wine,” she added, “the more precious that +it is wellnigh the last in our cellars.”</p> + +<p>As the Cavaliers came about her applauding with word and look, the +doors of the banqueting-room parted and Mrs. Satchell entered, full +of pomp and apple-red with pleasure, followed by Shard bearing a tray +of glasses, and by pretty, dimpling Tiffany bearing a goodly flagon +of wine and observing with demure approbation the covey of King’s +gentlemen.</p> + +<p>Mistress Satchell swam like a gall on towards the Cavaliers, her +great, red, spoon-shaped face damp with satisfaction. Playing at +heroine behind bombarded walls was all very well, but greeting of +timely gentry who had set heroines free was infinitely better.</p> + +<p>“Heaven bless you, merry gentlemen,” she chirruped. “Here is a cup of +comfort for you.”</p> + +<p>“Heaven bless you, merry matron,” Bardon answered, as soberly as he +could, for indeed the sight of Mistress Satchell in her Sunday best +and in her most coming-on humor was not of a nature to strengthen +sobriety. Lord Fawley gasped as the virago swaggered towards his +companions, and young Ingrow popped his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>handkerchief into his mouth +and bit at it while he stared with eyes of nursery wonder at the +dame. Radlett winked as if dazzled by the whimsical apparition, and +Sir Rufus, familiar with Mrs. Satchell and her vagaries, was the only +member of his party who kept his countenance unchanged on her +entrance.</p> + +<p>Brilliana was sympathetically swift to explain her astonishing +handwoman.</p> + +<p>“Gentles,” she said, “this is Mistress Satchell, who queens it in +times of peace over my kitchen, but who has proved herself my very +valiant adjutant during the siege.”</p> + +<p>The dame bridled with pride.</p> + +<p>“I can handle a pike, my lords, I promise ye,” she asserted; and +then, turning to Halfman for confirmation, “Can I not, Master +Halfman?”</p> + +<p>Halfman slapped his thigh approvingly and answered to the Cavalier +with grave voice and smiling eyes.</p> + +<p>“Never was pike so handled before, I promise ye.”</p> + +<p>The tone of his voice mimicked Mrs. Satchell’s manner even as the +words of it aped her matter, but the dame was too pleased with +herself and the world to heed what it was that set the gentlemen +laughing.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p><p>“So, so,” Radlett hummed approval. “Mrs. Satchell, will you ride with +me to the King?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Satchell dipped him a swimming reverence, but she shook her head +decisively.</p> + +<p>“Your honor means well, but I cannot leave my lady. The Roundheads +might come again.”</p> + +<p>The Lord Fawley had by this seen his glass filled by Tiffany and was +staring boldly into her pretty face, much to the exasperation of +honest Thoroughgood, chafing in the background.</p> + +<p>“Do you handle a pike, prettikins?” Fawley asked. Prettikins dropped +him a courtesy and shook her curls.</p> + +<p>“No, my lord,” she whispered, “I am not very soldierly.”</p> + +<p>It was now Ingrow’s turn to have his glass filled and to stare +admiration at the pretty serving-woman.</p> + +<p>“If you have a mind to enlist,” he said, temptingly, “you shall be +ensign in my troop and we’ll carry your kirtle for a flag.”</p> + +<p>Whether Mrs. Satchell considered that Tiffany was like to be +embarrassed by the attentions of the gentry, or whether she +considered that those attentions diverted too much notice from +herself as the heroine of the servants’ hall, she certainly came to +the rescue, edging her bulk between the girl and Ingrow.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><p>“She is too green for your grace,” she insisted. “You need a fine +woman like me for your flag-bearer.”</p> + +<p>Even Ingrow’s readiness found him something at a loss for an answer. +He looked as if he feared lest dame Satchell might take him in an +embrace. Brilliana, now that all the glasses were charged, decided +that the company had tasted enough of Mrs. Satchell’s humors.</p> + +<p>“I thank you, Mistress Satchell,” she said, quietly, and Mrs. +Satchell, rightly reading in the tones of her mistress’s voice +permission to retire, withdrew in good order, beaming and bobbing to +all the gentlemen and followed by Shard and Tiffany, who, with lids +demurely lowered, avoided recognition of the admiring glances of +Fawley and Ingrow.</p> + +<p>Brilliana turned to her company and lifted her glass.</p> + +<p>“Drink, gentles,” she summoned. “Drink ‘The King!’”</p> + +<p>All the Cavaliers shouted the loyal toast so that the words “The +King!” seemed to ring in every nook of the great hall; then every +Cavalier drained his glass.</p> + +<p>“Ah,” sighed Lord Fawley, as he set down his empty vessel, “I could +drink the King’s health forever.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p><p>“I swear it would sweeten sour ale,” Bardon declared.</p> + +<p>Young Ingrow took him up. “When it floats on such noble tipple I am a +god-swilling nectar.” Halfman slapped his chest.</p> + +<p>“Come, lads!” he cried; “when Cavaliers drink the King’s health they +should sing the King’s song,” and in another moment his mellow voice +was setting his friends a sturdy example. “Gallants of England,” he +warbled:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Gallants of England, shall not the King land<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Safely in town to knock Parliament down?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall we not ever strive to endeavor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory to win for our King and our crown?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall not the Roundhead soon be confounded?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sa, sa, sa, sa, boys, ha, ha, ha, ha, boys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then we’ll return home in triumph and joy.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then we’ll be merry, drink sack and sherry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And we will sing, boys, God save the King, boys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast up our hats, and sing Vive le Roy.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h2>AT BAY</h2> + +<p>Brilliana and the Cavaliers, stirred by the enthusiasm of Halfman’s +stanza, caught up the cry commanded and sent it rolling through the +hall.</p> + +<p>“Vive le Roy! God bless the King!” they shouted, with the loyal tears +in their eyes. Brilliana gave Halfman a grateful smile.</p> + +<p>“Well sung, well done,” she approved. Halfman glowed. Sir Rufus +frowned a little. Turning hurriedly to his companions, he said:</p> + +<p>“Friends, I have another toast for you. I give you the King’s sweet +warrior, Oxfordshire’s blithe viceroy, ‘The Lady of Loyalty House.’”</p> + +<p>“Never a better toast in the world,” Halfman shouted. “Drink, +gallants, drink.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana crossed her fingers before her face. Through the living +lattice her eyes peeped brightly.</p> + +<p>“I protest you make too much of me,” she pleaded, while Halfman and +the Cavaliers quickly filled their glasses again and lifted them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>high in air. A chorus of “The Lady of Loyalty House!” rang out, and +again the toast was honored.</p> + +<p>“I thank you with all my heart,” Brilliana panted, blushing and +excited at the tumult and the praise. There was a moment’s silence. +Everything worth saying seemed to have been said, everything worth +doing to have been done. Suddenly, in that silence, Bardon caught +sight of Evander where he stood apart, disdainful, between his +guards, and the sight pricked his wits. Turning to his mates, he +thumbed at the prisoner over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>“Should we not make the crop-ear yonder pledge the Lady of Loyalty +House?” he questioned. Radlett rubbed approving hands.</p> + +<p>“Well thought. Let him honor his conqueror,” he began. The Lord +Fawley tripped him up with a new proposal.</p> + +<p>“Stop, stop; not so fast,” he protested. “The fellow has not pledged +the King yet. Let him drink the King’s health first and be damned to +him.”</p> + +<p>The others applauded, but Ingrow, noting a certain sterner tightening +of Evander’s mouth, interrupted.</p> + +<p>“I’ll wager he will not drink,” he said, looking maliciously from the +flushed faces of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>Cavaliers to the pale face of the Puritan. +Rufus’s temper blazed instantly.</p> + +<p>“Will not drink, say you!” he cried. “This mewcant shall pledge at +our pleasure or taste our displeasure.”</p> + +<p>He strode to the table, filled a cup of wine, and set it down on the +corner nearest to Evander.</p> + +<p>“Come, you Roundpoll,” he continued—“come, you Geneva mumbler, here +is a cup for you to wash down the dust of your dry thoughts. Drink, I +give you ‘The King.’”</p> + +<p>Evander gazed steadfastly at the irate gentleman and made no motion +to take the wine. Brilliana, from where she stood, watching him +curiously, wrestled with a reluctant admiration of his carriage. +Ingrow commented, smoothly, maliciously:</p> + +<p>“You see, the gentleman does not drink.”</p> + +<p>Ingrow’s words fanned the Cavalier fire.</p> + +<p>“Damn him for a disloyal rat!” Radlett shouted. Halfman elbowed his +way past him and addressed Rufus.</p> + +<p>“Sweet Sir Rufus,” he said, “I have lived in places where a little +persuasion has often led folk to act much against their personal +inclinations and desires. Out swords and force the toast.”</p> + +<p>As he spoke he drew his sword with his best <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>Mercutio manner, and the +suggestion and the naked steel carried contagion. Every gentleman +unsheathed his sword; all advanced upon Evander, a line of shining +points.</p> + +<p>“Bait him, bait him!” Bardon shouted.</p> + +<p>Ingrow shrilled, “Tickle him, prick him, pink him till he drinks!”</p> + +<p>Though Evander surveyed his enemies as composedly as if they had been +children threatening him with pins, Brilliana knew that the spirit of +mischief was alive and that the Cavaliers would not boggle at +cruelty, six to one, for the sport of making a Parliament man honor +the King against his will. She hated the man, but she would not have +him so handled. Instantly she stepped between Evander and the +Cavaliers, who fell back with lowered points before their hostess.</p> + +<p>“Wait, sirs,” she ordered, “let me see if my entreaties will not make +the bear more gracious.”</p> + +<p>She took up the cup where Rufus had set it down, and, coming close to +Evander, held the vessel to him with her sweetest smile, the smile +which, she had been assured a thousand times, would tame a savage and +shatter adamant. “Will you not pledge the best gentleman in England?” +she asked, with a voice all honey.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>Very courteously Evander took the proffered cup from her fingers and +gave her back her smile. Brilliana’s heart thrilled with pleasure at +this new proof of beauty’s victory.</p> + +<p>“I will drink at your wish,” he said, looking at her with a quiet +smile and speaking as if he and she were alone together in the great +hall. “I will drink at your wish, but with my own wit.” Still looking +into the gratified eyes of Brilliana, he lifted the cup.</p> + +<p>“I drink,” he cried, loud and clear, “to the best man in England. I +drink to Colonel Cromwell.”</p> + +<p>He drained the glass and sent it crashing into the fireplace. Then he +folded his arms and faced his antagonists.</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s heart seemed for a second to stand still. So beauty had +not triumphed, after all. Dimly, as one in a dream, she could hear +the fury of the Cavaliers find words.</p> + +<p>“You black Jack, I will clip your ears,” Rufus promised.</p> + +<p>“Blood him. Blood him,” bawled Fawley.</p> + +<p>“Slit his nose,” Radlett suggested.</p> + +<p>“Duck him in the horse-pond,” suggested Bardon.</p> + +<p>“Set him in the stocks,” Ingrow advised.</p> + +<p>Halfman, seeing how Brilliana leaned against <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>the table, her face +pale as her smock, raged at her daring denier. He stretched out his +sword as if to marshal and restrain the passions of the Cavaliers.</p> + +<p>“Would it not be properer sport, sirs,” he asked, “to tie him in a +chair, like Guido Fawkes on November day, and take him through the +village that loyal lads may pelt a traitor?”</p> + +<p>Once again Halfman’s pleasant invention pleased the fancy of his +allies.</p> + +<p>“Well said,” assented Rufus. “Fetch a rope, some one.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana, hearing, moved a little forward. She had failed and felt +shamed. Yet this thing must not happen. She could not leave her enemy +thus to the mercy of his enemies. But what she would have said was +stayed by a sudden diversion.</p> + +<p>Interest in all the events that had so swiftly passed before them had +gravely relaxed the vigilance of Evander’s guardians. Garlinge and +Clupp—a strong Gyas and a strong Cloanthes—open-eyed and +open-mouthed, were open-handed also and clawed no clutch upon their +prisoner’s shoulder. Thoroughgood, confused between jealous thoughts +of Tiffany and envious admiration of the manner in which Halfman +handled the gentry, was as heedless as his inferiors, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>and was +therefore taken too much by surprise to offer the slightest +resistance when Evander, suddenly springing from between his guards, +snatched from his supine arms the captured sword that had been +intrusted to his keeping. Before he or any other of the astonished +spectators could take any action Evander had leaped lightly into the +alcove of the window, and, dragging by main force the heavy table in +front of him, so as to blockade his corner, showed himself snugly +intrenched behind a rampart which his single sword might well hope to +hold at least for some time against the swords of half a dozen +assailants.</p> + +<p>“You will find me a spoil sport,” he cried, cheerily, as he stood on +guard behind the massive bulk of oak. “Dogs, here is a hart at bay; +beware his antlers.”</p> + +<p>“Bravely done, rebel,” Brilliana cried, aloud, as if in spite of +herself, as she beheld the reckless deed, and “Bravely done, rebel,” +Halfman echoed, in his reluctant turn, as he heard his lady’s words +and saw the light of praise on his lady’s face. Though he hated the +Puritan as cordially as if he had been a King’s man all his days, he +could not deny his courage, and his scene of effective action made +him wish himself in Evander’s place, taking the stage so skilfully +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>and dominating the situation. But above all this, if Brilliana +applauded the rebel’s act, then the rebel’s life was of some value, +and until he received his lady’s orders the rebel’s life should be +sacred to Halfman. So he struck up with his sword the pikes that +Garlinge and Clupp levelled, clumsily enough, and were preparing to +thrust at Evander over the interposing barrier. At the same moment +Rufus, for a very different reason, restrained the action of his +comrade Cavaliers, who were making ready for a combined rush, sword +in hand, upon their enemy. Rufus saw instantly how well intrenched +their enemy lay; it would be hard for any sword to reach him across +that width of oak, and even push of pike, when delivered by such +loutish fingers as now governed those weapons, might easily be +parried by a swordsman so skilful as he guessed Evander to be. But +there was no generosity towards a brave adversary in Rufus’s action. +In his hot ferocity he merely wished to make sure of his quarry as +quickly as possible.</p> + +<p>“You shall be no hart-royal,” he answered, fiercely, taking up the +hunter’s challenge. “You shall not escape. We shall sound the mort of +the deer in a moment. Give me your gun, fellow.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><p>This last command was addressed to Thoroughgood, who had brought his +musketoon to the ready and was waiting irresolute for command. Sir +Rufus snatched the weapon from him and was about to aim at Evander +when, to his rage, Brilliana stepped between him and his mark.</p> + +<p>“Stay your hand, Sir Rufus,” she commanded, with a frown on the fair +face to which the color had now returned. “It is for me, and for me +only, to give orders here. This is my prisoner, and were he ten times +a Roundpoll he should have honest handling.”</p> + +<p>Sir Rufus would fain have protested, would fain have carried his +point, but he saw that in the face of her whom it was his heart’s +desire to please which reduced him to sullen obedience. He shrugged +his shoulders. “As you please,” he muttered, as he returned the gun +to Thoroughgood and, turning on his heel to hide his vexation, joined +his comrades, who seemed all to share, discomfited, in his rebuke, +and to deprecate the anger of Brilliana. Brilliana went up to the +table, and, poising herself against it by pressing the palms of her +hands on its surface, looked with gracious entreaty into the grave +eyes of Evander, who lowered his sword in respectful greeting.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h2>A USE FOR A PRISONER</h2> + +<p>“Sir,” said Brilliana, “if you give me your parole you shall have the +freedom of Harby.”</p> + +<p>Evander made her a ceremonious bow.</p> + +<p>“Lady, you seem to me to be the only true gentleman on your side of +this quarrel, so I will give you my word and my sword.”</p> + +<p>Holding his sword by the blade, he extended it across the table to +Brilliana, whose hand caught its hilt with the firm grasp of one to +whom the manage of arms was not unfamiliar. As she stepped back with +her trophy Evander pushed the table aside to afford him passage from +his alcove, and, saluting the lady, took his former place between his +warders. Brilliana returned his salutation with a murmured “It is +well.” Rufus, disengaging himself from the knot of discomfited +Cavaliers, moved towards her and addressed her with faintly +restrained impatience.</p> + +<p>“In Heaven’s name,” he begged, “set this Cantwell on one side if you +tender him so precious. I have private news for you.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><p>Brilliana’s face wore something of a frown for her presuming friend. +“Indeed!” she answered, coldly. Then turning towards Halfman she +tendered to him Evander’s sword, which he hastened to take from her, +kneeling as he did so.</p> + +<p>“Captain Cloud is in your care,” she said. “Pray you, withdraw your +prisoner a little.”</p> + +<p>Halfman rose, bearing Evander’s sword, and went to Evander.</p> + +<p>“Will you come this way?” he bade his captive, courteously enough. If +Brilliana chose to trust a Roundhead’s word, her will was Halfman’s +law. Evander again saluted Brilliana and followed Halfman to the +farther part of the hall. Here in a window-seat, out of ear-shot of +the other’s speech, he seated himself to commune with his melancholy +reflections, while Halfman, after stationing Thoroughgood at a little +distance as a nominal guard upon the prisoner, dismissed Garlinge and +Clupp from the room and rejoined the Cavaliers. Brilliana, who had +still been standing with Sir Rufus, now addressed the others.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” she said, “you must need sustenance after this morning’s +work. You will find such poor cheer as Harby can offer in the +banqueting-hall. Captain Halfman, will you play the host for me?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p><p>The Cavaliers, who were, indeed, sharp-set and ever-ready +trenchermen, welcomed the proposal each after his own fashion.</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” averred the Lord Fawley, “I would say good-day to a pasty.” +“Ay,” assented Radlett, “well met, beef or mutton.” Ingrow +euphemized, “I shall be well content with bread and cheese and +dreams,” as he glanced admiration at Brilliana. Bardon grunted, “I +would sell all my dreams for a slice of cold boar’s head.”</p> + +<p>Halfman addressed them in the character of Father Capulet. “We have a +trifling foolish banquet towards.” He turned towards the doors of the +banqueting-room with the famished gentlemen at his heels; then, +noticing that Sir Rufus remained with Brilliana, he stopped and +questioned him. “You, sir, will you not eat?”</p> + +<p>Rufus answered him with an impatience that was almost anger. “No, +no,” he said; “I have no hunger. Stay your stomachs swiftly, +friends.”</p> + +<p>He turned again to Brilliana, and stood opposite to her in silence +till Halfman and the Cavaliers had quitted the hall. Then Brilliana +spoke.</p> + +<p>“Well, good news or bad?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p><p>“Bad,” Rufus answered. “Your cousin Randolph is a captive.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana gave a little cry of regret.</p> + +<p>“Bad news, indeed! How did it chance?”</p> + +<p>“In the battle,” Rufus answered. “The King’s standard-bearer was +slain and the King’s flag fell into the rebel hands.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana clasped her hands with a sigh, and would have spoken, but +Rufus stayed her, hurrying on with his tale.</p> + +<p>“That could not be endured, dear lady. So in the dusk Randolph and I +put orange scarfs about us that we might be taken for rogues of +Essex’s regiment, and so, unchallenged, slipped into the enemy’s +camp. Dear fortune led me to the tent of Lord Essex, and there I +found his secretary sitting and gaping at the precious emblem. I +snatched it from his fingers and made good my escape, gaining great +praise from his Majesty when I laid the sacred silk at his feet.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s eyes swam with adoration. “Oh, my gallant friend!” she +cried, and held out her hands to him. He caught them both and kissed +them, whereat she instantly withdrew them and moved a little away. He +followed her, speaking low, passionately.</p> + +<p>“Your words mean more than the King’s words to me. You know that.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p><p>Brilliana did not look vastly displeased at this wild speech, but she +forced a tiny frown and set her finger to her lips.</p> + +<p>“Hush!” she said. “What of Randolph?”</p> + +<p>“Less fortunate than I,” Rufus resumed, in calmer tones, “he ran into +the arms of a burly Parliament man, that Cambridge Crophead Mr. +Cromwell, who made him prisoner.”</p> + +<p>“Truly,” said Brilliana, thoughtfully, “it is hard luck for him just +after his first battle. But ’twill be soon mended. They will exchange +him.”</p> + +<p>Even as she spoke she seemed surprised at the gloomy look that +reigned on Rufus’s face. His tone was as gloomy as his face as he +said, “He was wearing the orange scarf of Essex.”</p> + +<p>“What then?” Brilliana questioned, still surprised; then, as +knowledge flashed upon her, she cried, quickly, “Ah, they will say +that he was a spy.”</p> + +<p>“Ay,” Rufus answered, hotly, “the King’s spy, God’s spy upon enemies +of God and King, but still a spy in their eyes.”</p> + +<p>“But what is to be done?” Brilliana gasped.</p> + +<p>“I would that I knew,” Rufus answered. “His Majesty has interceded +for him and has gained him some days of grace. It is certain that my +Lord Essex, if he had his own way, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>would yield him. But he has not +his own way, for this stubborn Cromwell fellow clings to his +prisoner.”</p> + +<p>“Why is he so stubborn?” Brilliana asked. Rufus smiled sourly.</p> + +<p>“Partly because, like all new-made soldiers, he is punctilious of the +rules of war. Partly because he hopes to turn his capture to some +account. Poor Randolph had upon him a letter in cipher from the King +to a certain lord. Randolph may buy his life with the key to the +cipher.”</p> + +<p>“He will never do that,” Brilliana said, in proud confidence of the +courage of her house. She was silent for a moment; then she gave a +little cry of joy. “I think I can save him,” she exclaimed. Rufus +stared at her as if she had lost her wits.</p> + +<p>“Why, what can you do?” he asked, astonished. Brilliana answered with +a glance of profound wisdom. “I think I know a way,” and she nodded +her head sagely. Then she turned and moved a little space across the +hall in the direction of that window-seat where Evander sat +ensconced. When she had advanced two or three paces she called to +him:</p> + +<p>“Captain Cloud, pray favor me with your company for a few moments of +speech.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p><p>Evander’s consciousness swam to the surface of a pool of gloomy +thought at her summons. He rose on the instant and came down the hall +towards her.</p> + +<p>“I am at your service, lady,” he said. Brilliana watched him closely +as she questioned.</p> + +<p>“You say you are a friend of Mr. Cromwell?”</p> + +<p>Evander seemed surprised at the interrogation, but he answered, +simply, “I am so favored.”</p> + +<p>“Does he cherish you in affection?” Brilliana pursued, still watching +him closely.</p> + +<p>“He loved my father,” said Evander. “If I dared to think it I should +say he loved me, too. Truly, he has shown me much regard.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana struck her palms sharply together with the air of one who +has solved a difficult problem.</p> + +<p>“Your Mr. Cromwell has taken prisoner a cousin of mine whom he +threatens to kill as a spy. We will exchange you against Mr. +Cromwell’s prisoner.”</p> + +<p>Evander looked steadily back at her with a hint of mild amusement at +the corners of his mouth.</p> + +<p>“Colonel Cromwell will never exchange a spy,” he responded, +decisively.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p><p>Rufus, who was listening to the conference, nodded his head in gloomy +assent. “That is like enough,” he agreed. Brilliana stamped a foot +and her eyes snapped vexation.</p> + +<p>“We shall see,” she said, sharply. She turned away from the two men +and moved to a small table against the wall that carried writing +materials. Seating herself thereat, she took up a goose-quill and +began to write rapidly on a large sheet of paper. When she had +finished she looked round, and beckoned Rufus to her side that he +might hear what she had written. She read it aloud, with her eyes +fixed on Evander’s impassive face.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“To Colonel Cromwell, serving with my Lord Essex in the +Parliamentary army lately at Edgehill. My cousin, Sir +Randolph Harby, is a prisoner in your hands. Your friend, +Mr. Evander Cloud, is a prisoner in mine. I will exchange my +prisoner for your prisoner; but the life of Mr. Evander +Cloud is answerable for the life of Randolph Harby. Such is +the sure promise and steadfast vow of his cousin and the +King’s true subject, Brilliana Harby.”</p></div> + +<p>As she read, the dour face of Rufus brightened, and he rubbed his +hands in satisfaction at the close.</p> + +<p>“By the Lord, an honest thought,” he chuckled. “Swing Randolph, swing +rat-face.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>Evander smiled disdainfully.</p> + +<p>“I am no spy,” he asserted, firmly, “and by the laws of war you have +no right to my life.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana turned on him tauntingly.</p> + +<p>“You were taken a rebel in arms and your life is at my mercy.”</p> + +<p>“Then,” said Evander, calmly, “add to your letter my wish that +Colonel Cromwell take no thought of me.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana stamped impatiently.</p> + +<p>“I am not your secretary,” she said, sharply.</p> + +<p>“It does not matter,” Evander answered, smoothly. “Colonel Cromwell +will follow the laws of war.”</p> + +<p>“I am sorry for you if he do,” Brilliana declared. “We shall test the +strength of Colonel Cromwell’s love.” She called, loudly, “John +Thoroughgood.”</p> + +<p>Thoroughgood advanced to her from where he stood removed.</p> + +<p>“Ride with a white flag,” Brilliana went on; “ride hard to my Lord +Essex’s army, wherever it may be. Where is my Lord Essex, Rufus?”</p> + +<p>“They have retired, I think, upon Warwick,” Rufus said, doubtfully.</p> + +<p>“Well,” Brilliana continued, “to the rebel army, wherever you can +find it. Deliver this letter into the hands of Colonel Cromwell. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>Bring back his answer swiftly. Ride as if you were riding for your +life.”</p> + +<p>Thoroughgood saluted, took the letter, and turned to go. Brilliana +stopped him.</p> + +<p>“First quarter Captain Cloud in the west room, and see him well +tended.”</p> + +<p>Evander bowed.</p> + +<p>“I thank you,” he said, and followed Thoroughgood out of the room. +Brilliana turned to Rufus.</p> + +<p>“I trust you will all feast here to-night.”</p> + +<p>Rufus shook his head sadly.</p> + +<p>“Tears in my eyes and heart, but not possible. We join the King +to-night for Banbury.” He came close to her and spoke low. “Bright +Brilliana, will you not give me your golden promise ere I go?”</p> + +<p>“You must not ask that yet,” Brilliana pleaded. “I must know my own +mind.”</p> + +<p>Sir Rufus banged his hands together.</p> + +<p>“By God, I know mine, and my mind is to win you if I have to kill a +regiment of rivals.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana pretended to shudder at his ferocity.</p> + +<p>“Lord! you are a very violent lover.”</p> + +<p>Rufus did not deny her.</p> + +<p>“I am a very earnest lover, a very desperate lover.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><p>Brilliana made a gesture of protest.</p> + +<p>“Fie, this is no love-talk time, when the King is fighting. Ride, +gallant Rufus, come back with loyal laurels and the flags of canting +rebels, and see how I shall welcome you.”</p> + +<p>Rufus caught her hands.</p> + +<p>“Must I be content with this?” he asked, hotly.</p> + +<p>“You must be content with this,” Brilliana replied, coolly. “Here +come your brothers-in-arms.”</p> + +<p>The doors of the banqueting-hall opened, and Fawley, Radlett, Bardon, +Ingrow, and Halfman came in, all brighter for wine and food.</p> + +<p>“’Tis boot and saddle, Rufus,” Fawley cried.</p> + +<p>“I am yours,” Rufus answered. He bowed over Brilliana’s fingers. +“Farewell, lady.”</p> + +<p>One and all they turned and left her, and as they tramped into the +air the chorus of the Cavalier song came back to her happy ears.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And we will sing, boys, God bless the King, boys,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast up your hats, and cry Vive le Roy.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h2>A GILDED CAGE</h2> + +<p>Evander awoke in a strange world steeped in lavender. It was long +since he had lain so soft, long since he had drifted out of dreams to +breathe lavender. His pleased senses, less alert for very ease and +pleasure, denied him immediate knowledge of his whereabouts. He saw a +fair room, well appointed; he welcomed the morning sunlight through +delicate, unfamiliar curtains; he questioned the insisting +deliciousness of lavender. Where was he? What was this chamber of +calm panelled in pale oak? It was not Leyden, it was not Cambridge; +then in a flash he knew. It was the west room at Harby—Harby where +he lay a prisoner on parole, Harby which he had tried to take and +which had ended by taking him. He leaped from his bed instantly, well +awake, well alive, and gaining the window peeped through the parted +curtains. He looked out across the moat on the terrace to the rear of +Harby, beyond which lay the spacious gardens for which Harby was held +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>famous. His men had held that terrace twenty-four hours earlier; now +they had vanished as if they had never been, save for the testimony +of the trampled grass. In their place a solitary figure sat on a +baluster drinking smoke contemplatively from a pipe of clay. Evander +knew him for Halfman—knew, too, that Halfman watched there for him, +for the moment the curtains parted the sitter rose and, advancing +towards the edge of the moat, waved and voiced salutation to Evander.</p> + +<p>“Give you good-morning, gallant capitano,” he called. “Jocund day +stands on the top of yon high eastern hill. Will it please your +worthiness to be stirring?”</p> + +<p>“Very willingly,” Evander called back. “Have I overslept?”</p> + +<p>Halfman made a gesture of protestation.</p> + +<p>“Nay, nay,” he answered. “Your time is your own nag here, to amble, +pad, or gallop as you choose. Have I your permission to wait upon you +in your apartment?”</p> + +<p>On Evander’s assurances that nothing would afford him greater +pleasure, Halfman favored him with a military salute, and, crossing +the moat by the now restored bridge, disappeared inside the house. +Evander hastened to clothe himself, a task which he had but partially +accomplished <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>when the drumming of a pair of hands upon the door +informed him that his custodian waited at the threshold. He opened +the door, and Halfman walked in wearing for the occasion a manner in +which good-fellowship and condescension, with the consideration of a +noble victor for a noble vanquished, were artfully blended and +emphatically interpreted. He held out his hand for Evander’s and gave +to it a martial pressure.</p> + +<p>“A soldier should ever be abroad betimes,” he asserted. “Wherefore I +applaud your rising.”</p> + +<p>Evander inquired again, somewhat anxiously, if he had been expected +to appear before, which again Halfman denied.</p> + +<p>“Since you have passed your parole,” he affirmed, “Harby Hall is +Liberty Hall for you as far as to the park limits. I would have +battered at your door ere this, but I respected your first sleep in a +strange bed, wherein often a bad night makes a late matins. Can you +break your fast?”</p> + +<p>Evander answering that he could, Halfman called upon him to follow, +and led the way into an adjoining room, which was, so he assured +Evander, set at his disposal during the period of his stay. The room, +like the bedchamber, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>was panelled of oak, was handsomely furnished, +and its long windows, which occupied almost the entirety of one wall, +afforded the same view of terrace and garden that Evander had already +seen. Much had been newly done, so Evander could see, to brighten and +cheer the place. A bowl of royal roses stood on the buffet, and +Evander smiled at the delicate defiance. In the alcove of the +window-seat a number of books were piled, books that had patently +been newly dusted, and Evander, glancing at these, found that they +were all theological, an attention which made him smile. A table +decked with lily-white linen and silver furniture bore preparations +for a meal.</p> + +<p>“Here, sir,” said Halfman, cheerfully, “for some few hours of flying +time, you are, in a word, king of the castle. These rooms are yours +to eat in, read in, pray in, sleep in—what you please. None shall +disturb your privacy without your leave.”</p> + +<p>Evander guessed that his hostess had found this way of treating him +well and yet keeping her from his presence. There was bitterness in +the thought that she must needs hate him so deeply. It may be that +something of the bitterness of the thought asserted itself on +Evander’s face, and that Halfman misread <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>it thinking he read the +prisoner’s thoughts clearly.</p> + +<p>“Do not think,” he proceeded, “that you are cabined and cribbed to +these walls. All Harby Park is your pleasant paradise when you are +pleased to walk abroad, and after you have broken your fast I shall +be pleased to guide you through its glories. And now, will you that I +eat with you? I have kept myself fasting, or wellnigh fasting, till +now, but if you would rather break your bread in solitude say, +without offence given, what I shall hear without offence taken.”</p> + +<p>Evander assured his companion that he desired his company of all +things. Indeed, had Halfman been other than he was, Evander would +have preferred any companionship that kept him from his melancholy +thoughts. And already Halfman attracted him, or at least interested +him. His fantastical manner, his fluent speech, his assurance, and +that note of something foreign, odd, as characteristic, as +conclusive, as the scorch of foreign suns upon his face, appealed to +the curiosity in Evander which ever made men books for him. Halfman’s +manner grew more expansive at Evander’s ready acceptance of his +offer. He was now the magnificent host, soldier still, but soldier at +his ease, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>and he played at Lord of Harby with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>“You are in the right,” he said. “It is ill for man to sit alone at +meat, for it encourages whimsical humors and the mounting of +crudities to the brain. A flagon is twice a flagon that is shared by +camerados, and who can praise a pasty to himself with only dumb walls +to echo his plaudits? And here in good time come flagon and pasty, +both.”</p> + +<p>The door had opened as he spoke, and Mistress Satchell came into the +room, followed by a brace of serving-men who bore on trays the +materials for an ample repast. Halfman eyed the viands with approval, +while Evander returned gravely Mrs. Satchell’s florid bobs and +greetings.</p> + +<p>“I saw to it last night,” he went on, “that Harby was revictualled. +You pinched us, sir, you pared us; our larder was as lean as a +stork’s leg, but to-day we can eat our fill.”</p> + +<p>And, indeed, the table now being spread by Mrs. Satchell’s directions +bore out the assertion of Halfman. Jolly, white loaves, a grinning +boar’s head, a pasty with a golden dome, a ham the color of a pink +flower, and a dish of cold game tempted hunger where flagons of white +wine and red wine tempted thirst. Halfman <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>dismissed Mrs. Satchell +and her satellites affably.</p> + +<p>“We can wait upon ourselves,” he averred. “We shall be more private +so,” and he motioned Evander to a seat and took his own place +opposite. “Yes,” he said, resuming the thread of his thought, as he +piled a plate for Evander, “you did your best to starve us; we must +not do the like by you.”</p> + +<p>Evander smiled as he stayed the generosity of his host’s hands and +accepted from his reluctance a plate less lavishly charged with +viands than Halfman had proposed to offer him.</p> + +<p>“Yet,” he said, “I think I heard, no later ago than yesterday, much +clatter of dishes and much rattling of cups and all the sounds of +plenty.”</p> + +<p>Halfman hurriedly bolted a goodly slice of ham lest it should choke +him while he laughed, which he now did heartily, lolling back in his +chair. He was honestly amused, and yet it seemed to Evander as if +there were something in his strange friend’s mirth which was +carefully calculated to produce its effect. Indeed, Halfman, as he +laughed, was thinking of Sir John Falstaff’s full-bodied thunders +over some ticklish misdoings of Bardolph or Nym. When <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>he had enough +of his own performance, he allowed the laughter to die as suddenly as +it had dawned, and gave tongue.</p> + +<p>“That was the best jest in the world,” he chuckled. “Clatter of +dishes, say you, and rattle of cups. Once, when I was in Aleppo, I +heard an old fellow in an Abraham beard telling a tale to a crowd of +Moors. I had not enough of their lingo to know why they laughed, but +one who was with me that had more Moorish told me the tale. It was of +one who invited a poor man to his house and pretended to feed him +nobly, naming this fair dish and that fine wine, and pressing meat +and drink upon him, while all the while, in very mockery, there was +neither bite in any platter nor sup in any bottle. Well, excellent +sir, our table of yesterday was in some such case.”</p> + +<p>Evander nodded. “I guessed as much,” he commented. “But, indeed, it +was bravely done.”</p> + +<p>“It was bravely devised,” Halfman asserted. “It was my lady’s +thought. She would never let a rascally Roundhead—I crave your +pardon, she would never let an enemy—dream that we were in lack of +aught at Harby that could help us to serve the King.”</p> + +<p>“Your lady is a very brave lady,” Evander <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>said, quietly. Halfman +caught at his words with a kind of cheer in his voice.</p> + +<p>“Hippolyta was not more valiant, nor Parthian Candace, nor French +Joan. She is the rose of the world, the fairest fair, the valiantest +valor. There is no wine in the world that is worthy to pledge her, +but we must do our best with what we have.”</p> + +<p>He filled himself a spacious tankard as he spoke and drained it at a +draught. Evander listened to his ebullient praises in silence. He did +not think that the Lady of Harby should be so spoken of and by such +an one. Over-eating and especially over-drinking were ever +distasteful to him, and he took it that Halfman was on the high-road +to becoming drunk. But in this he was wrong. When Halfman set down +his vessel he was as sober as when he had lifted it, but of a sudden +a shade graver, as if Evander’s silence had shadowed his boisterous +gayety. He pushed the beaker from him with a sigh, and then, seeing +that Evander’s plate was empty, offered to ply him with more food. On +Evander’s refusal he pushed back his chair. “Well,” he said, “if your +stomach is stayed, are you for a stroll in the gardens—will you see +lawns and parks of fairyland?”</p> + +<p>Evander willingly acquiesced, and the strangely <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>assorted pair rose +and quitted the chamber. They met Mistress Satchell on the threshold, +and Tiffany hiding slyly behind her highness. Evander smilingly +complimented Mistress Satchell on the excellence of her table, to the +good dame’s great gratification. But much to Tiffany’s indignation he +paid little heed to her pretty face.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h2>A PASSAGE AT ARMS</h2> + +<p>The vane of Halfman’s attitude towards the captive had veered +strongly in the past half-hour. He had been ready to treat him well, +for such was Brilliana’s pleasure; he was willing to make friends and +taste the agreeables of the magnanimous victor. But the conquered man +had gained no ground that morning in the heart of one of his +conquerors. He ate little, which Halfman pitied; he drank little, +which Halfman despised; and it was with a much-augmented disdain that +he beheld Evander dash his solitary cup with water.</p> + +<p>“Craftily qualified, curse him,” he thought; “the fellow’s a damned +Cassio, and will be fumbling with his right hand and his left in a +twinkle.”</p> + +<p>In this he was disappointed; Evander’s draught wrought no havoc in +his speech or demeanor; Halfman was more disappointed that the +prisoner took so coldly his laudations of his lady.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p><p>“The Roundpoll is so mad to be mastered by a woman that he has not +enough gentility in his thin wits to spur him to a compliment.”</p> + +<p>His hostile thoughts brewed in his heated brain-pan till their fumes +fevered him. As he led the way by stair and corridor, his mood for +quarrel grew the keener that he knew his choler could find no hope of +ventage with a prisoner committed to his care. And even as he thought +this, chance seemed to furnish him with some occasion for +satisfaction. They were passing by the open door of a room which had +long been used as a place of arms at Harby, and its walls were hung +with weapons of the time and weapons of an earlier generation. +Halfman had passed much time there with the brisker fellows of the +garrison, breaking them in to feats of weapon-play, and he smiled at +the memory and the magnitude of his own dexterity. He paused for a +moment at the threshold and looked round at Evander.</p> + +<p>“Here,” he said, with a smile that was half a leer and an intonation +that was little less than a sneer—“here is a spot that will scarce +have enough attraction for your worship to merit your worship’s +stay.”</p> + +<p>Evander, who had been following his guide almost mechanically, +enveloped in his own gray <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>reflections, took surprised note of his +companion’s changed bearing. Up to now he had been civil enough, even +if his civility had not been of a quality greatly to Evander’s +liking, yet now his blustering good-humor gave place to something +akin to deliberate offence. But he might be mistaken, and it was not +for a prisoner to snatch at straws of quarrel. Therefore he +protested, courteously:</p> + +<p>“Why should you think that a soldier takes no interest in a soldier’s +tools?”</p> + +<p>Halfman gave a shrug to his shoulders that might or might not be +intended to annoy.</p> + +<p>“Your worship is too raw a soldier to know much of these same tickers +and tappers. Let us rather to the library for volumes of divinity.”</p> + +<p>This time the intention to affront was so patent, so patent, too, +that Halfman’s temper was getting the better of whatever discretion +he possessed, that Evander’s face hardened, and yet for his own +reasons he still spoke mildly enough:</p> + +<p>“There is no need to call me worship, for I can claim no such title. +But I think I know something of these trinkets, and with your leave +will examine them.”</p> + +<p>He passed by Halfman as he spoke and entered the room, where he +immediately busied <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>himself in the examination of some of the weapons +displayed there, and apparently ignoring Halfman’s existence. Halfman +watched him with a scowl for a moment and then followed him into the +room.</p> + +<p>“Your honor,” he said—“since you will not be called worship—your +honor really has a use for these toys of gentlefolk?”</p> + +<p>Evander had taken a handsome Italian rapier from its case against the +wall, and, after glancing at its blade, was weighing and testing the +weapon in the air. As he gave Halfman no answer, the latter took up +the talk again, provocatively:</p> + +<p>“I cannot deny that your honor showed fight briskly enough yester +evening, but then it seemed little less than fight or die, and even a +rat, if you corner him, will snap for dear life. Moreover, you were +well ambushed, and there was a gentle lady present who would not see +a rat butchered unnecessarily.”</p> + +<p>Evander, still weighing the fine Italian blade, turned to Halfman and +addressed him with an exasperating composure.</p> + +<p>“Friend,” he said, “I have told you that I am not unacquainted with +arms. When I am a free man I enforce belief in my word. As it is—”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p><p>He left his sentence uncompleted, and with a contemptuous shrug of +his shoulders proceeded on his journey round the room, still carrying +the Italian rapier in his hand. Under his tan Halfman’s face blazed +and his eyes glittered, but he spoke with a forced calm and a feigned +civility:</p> + +<p>“Say you so much? Why, I believe your honor, surely. Yet, as they +say, seeing is believing, and if you are in the vein for a gentle and +joyous passage with buttoned arms, I that am here to entertain your +honor would not for the world’s width gainsay you.”</p> + +<p>Evander eyed him quietly. “Are you ready at fence?” he inquired. “I +shall be pleased to take a lesson from you.”</p> + +<p>Halfman’s heart warmed at his words. “The coney creeps towards the +gin,” he thought, exultantly; then he answered, aloud:</p> + +<p>“Why, if you have a stomach for it you shall not be crossed. Here be +two buttoned rapiers, true twins—length, weight, workmanship. I will +beleather them in a twink. I promise you I would not hurt your +honor.”</p> + +<p>“You are very good,” Evander answered, gravely. Halfman was already +busy tying two large pads of leather the size of small oranges onto +the buttoned blades. While he was at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>work Evander occupied himself +with the contents of the room until Halfman, having finished his job, +advanced towards him with the weapons extended. Suddenly he paused.</p> + +<p>“Stop!” he said. “Let us make a wager on our game. I always play with +more heart so. Here is my stake.”</p> + +<p>He began to fumble at his doublet, and presently produced from an +inner pocket a great thumb-ring with a ruby in it.</p> + +<p>“I gained that,” he said, “at the sacking of a Spanish town. ’Tis +worth a pope’s ransom. Set what you please against it.”</p> + +<p>Evander lifted the ring from the table where Halfman placed it and +took it to the window to look at it closely. Presently he laid it on +the table again.</p> + +<p>“It is a goodly ring,” he observed. “The setting is old and curious, +and the stone, though it has a slight flaw in it, as you have been +doubtless told before now, is worth more than any poor possessions I +have about my person. Wherefore I would rather we contended for +love.”</p> + +<p>Halfman shook his head. He was a thought dashed by Evander’s +discovery of the blemish in the stone, and he carried off his +discomfiture by bravado.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p><p>“Nay, nay,” he answered; “there is my stake. Set what you please +against it, were it no more than a silver groat. I do not ask to be +paid well for my lesson.”</p> + +<p>Evander said nothing, but drew his purse from his pocket and laid it +on the table. Through the meshes Halfman could see the gleam of a few +pieces of gold, and the gleam cheered him, as it always did. He was +ever greedy of gold, and thought the death of Crassus not unkingly.</p> + +<p>“Choose your blade,” he said. Evander, with a quick glance at the two +weapons, selected the one nearest to him, flung his hat onto a chair, +stripped off his doublet, and quietly waited for his adversary. +Halfman did not keep him long. He flung his hat and doublet on the +floor and advanced.</p> + +<p>“Are you ready?” he asked. Evander saluted in silence, and in another +moment the antagonists engaged and the mock duello began. Halfman +expected that it would be short, but it proved much shorter than he +expected. He was far too good a swordsman not to know when he had +encountered a better. The thing had not happened to him very often; +it happened very flagrantly now. In less than five minutes Evander +had placed the muffled button of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>blade three times on Halfman’s +person—once upon either breast, and the third time fair on the +forehead, just between the eyes. The last blow was so surely +delivered that had it been given with greater force it might have +knocked the receiver senseless. As it was, however, it was given with +such deliberate delicacy that, though Halfman’s head hummed for the +moment and his eyes saw stars, he rallied quickly enough to stare at +Evander where he stood with lowered point and to tender him a +salutation of honest admiration.</p> + +<p>“Great Jove of glory!” he gasped; “who was it that ran liquid steel +into your spare body?”</p> + +<p>Evander smiled at the new change in his chameleon companion.</p> + +<p>“I learned a little fencing when I was in Paris,” he admitted. “I +fear I was over-inclined for the pastime.”</p> + +<p>“A little fencing!” Halfman ejaculated. “A little fencing! Why, man, +that botte between the eyes would have done for me, even if you had +not spitted both my lungs first. No one can ever say of you that you +held your sword like a dancer. Give me your hand—by God! I must grip +your hand.”</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said Evander, as the pair clasped hands with the hearty clasp +of true combatants, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>“you overpraise me; yet for your friendly +praises I have a favor to ask of you.”</p> + +<p>“Name it and it is done,” Halfman asseverated, with an oath, “were it +to pluck a purple hair for you from the beard of the Grand Cham +himself.”</p> + +<p>“’Tis no such matter,” Evander answered. “I do but entreat you of +your courtesy to take back your ring, for which in very truth I have +no use.”</p> + +<p>Halfman protested a little for form’s sake, then gave way, glad +enough to pouch his jewel again.</p> + +<p>“You are a gentleman,” he declared. “Come, let us taste the air in +the gardens.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h2>MY LADY’S PLEASAUNCE</h2> + +<p>The gardens of Harby were captain jewels in the crown of Oxfordshire. +From the terrace they spread in spaces of changeful beauty over many +acres of fruitful earth. Evander had seen to it that no further harm +was done to these lovely spaces than was inevitable for the conduct +of the siege. There were some in his company, hissing hot zealots, +who were all for laying violating hands upon the temples of Baal and +the shrines of Ashtaroth, by which Evander rightly interpreted them +to mean the pleasaunces of clipped yews, the rose bowers, the box +hedges, and the generous autumnal orchards. They were eager to show +their scorn of the Amalekites by the lopping of ancient trees and the +treading of colored blossoms under the heel of Israel. But Evander +was as firm as these were frantic, and the gardens of Harby smiled +through familiar process of sun and rain and dew, untroubled by the +daily rattle of musketry and the nightly tramp of sentinels.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p><p>Evander reaped a reward for which he had not labored in his chivalry +to a belligerent and besieged lady. For the gardens that a conqueror +had preserved were now very fair indeed for a conquered man to walk +in. The October sun shone as if the royal triumph, yonder at Edgehill +and here at Harby, had rekindled summer on the chilling altar of the +year, and the hues of the lingering flowers flamed in the celestial +fires.</p> + +<p>If Evander’s thoughts were sable, he did not allow them to stain the +fair day and his companion’s gayety. Halfman swam now in the +extravagance of admiration for so miraculous a Puritan. Halfman loved +the apostles best on spoons of silver in a sea-bag swollen with loot, +but of the men he had the best word for Peter, who could use a sword +on occasion. And here was one of the saints on earth playing his +rapier as bravely as if he had been a gentleman born or gentleman +adventurer made, and had skimmed the seas and kissed and killed and +pilfered.</p> + +<p>He plied Evander, as they paced, with questions of swordsmanship and +schools of arms and masters, of the Italian method and the Spanish +method and the French method, and never caught his new Hector +tripping over a push or a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>parade. They moved over danceable lawns or +under the canopies of dim avenues, chattering of arms, till the soft +October air tingled with the names of famous fencers, and Halfman was +in fancy a lubber lad again at his first passado.</p> + +<p>But his wonder grew with their wanderings. They paused at the +bowling-green and played a game which Evander won. They visited the +stables where the horses now were rallied, that had lived hidden in +farm-yard and cottage garden during the siege. Here Halfman learned +that Evander liked hawks and loved horses, and knew their manage +better than himself. Had Evander proclaimed himself a whisperer, it +would not now have astonished Halfman.</p> + +<p>Again, as they passed by the orchard where Luke Gardener was busy, +Halfman must needs bring Luke and Evander acquainted, whereupon the +pair set straight to talking of garden talk and airing of weather +wisdom in speech long since to him as unfamiliar as Hebrew. Here +Evander’s science wearied him, and he fairly dragged his captive +away, declaring that there was yet much to see more honorable than +herbs or brambles. Evander obeyed very contentedly, but they had not +moved many paces when Luke came hobbling after, and, catching +Halfman, drew him by the arm apart.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p><p>“Is yonder truly a damnable Roundhead?” he questioned. Halfman nodded +his head.</p> + +<p>“Well,” continued Luke, “for that he deserves to be hanged, and yet +he has taught me a trick of grafting roses which he says the Dutch +use that might serve to save a worser man from the gallows.”</p> + +<p>Without a word Halfman shook his arm free and rejoined Evander, who +was moving slowly along a pathway leading towards an enclosure of +fantastically clipped yews. Hearing the footsteps behind him, Evander +halted till Halfman joined him.</p> + +<p>“How the devil came you to fathom flower knowledge?” Halfman asked. +Evander smiled faintly.</p> + +<p>“I would rather you unsaddled the devil from your question,” he +answered, rebuking in his mind a woman; “but I have always loved +gardens. You have one here who is skilled in topiary,” and he pointed +towards the trim yew hedge they were approaching.</p> + +<p>“Those are the green walls of my lady’s pleasaunce,” Halfman +answered, “and the learned in such trifles call them mighty fine. But +all I know of woodcraft is hatcheting me a path through virgin +forest.”</p> + +<p>“Where, indeed, your topiarist would be ill <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>at ease,” Evander +answered. “But I pray you let us retire, lest we intrude upon your +lady.”</p> + +<p>“Never fear for that,” said Halfman. “My lady is busy enough in-doors +to-day, setting her house to rights, and you should not miss the +comeliest nook in all the domain.”</p> + +<p>As he spoke he passed under an archway of clipped yew, and, Evander +following, the pair came upon a grassy space entirely girdled with +yew hedges, the sight of which instantly justified to Evander the +praise of his companion. The enclosure made a circle some half an +acre in size of the greenest turf imaginable, orderly bordered with +seats of white marble and belted all about with the black greenness +of the yew-tree hedge, which was fashioned like an Italian colonnade. +The arches afforded vistas of different and delightful prospects of +the park at every quarter of the card—woodland, savanna-like lawns, +flower-gardens, kitchen-gardens, and orchards in their pride.</p> + +<p>“This is a lovely place,” protested Evander. “One might sit here and +dream of seeing the shy wood-nymphs flitting through these aisles—if +one had no better thoughts for one’s idleness,” he added. Halfman +laughed.</p> + +<p>“There peeped out the Puritan,” he said. “I had lost him this long +while, but run him to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>earth in my lady’s pleasaunce. Yet you are a +queer kind of Puritan, too. You can fence like a Frenchman, you can +play bowls as Father Jove plays with the globes of heaven, and you +can ride like Diomed, the jolly Greek, who knew that horses could be +stridden as well as driven.”</p> + +<p>Evander, who had seated himself and had been tracing cabalistic signs +on the grass with his staff, looked up into his companion’s face.</p> + +<p>“Are not you rather a queer kind of Cavalier,” he asked, “if you +think that a Puritan must needs be a fool?”</p> + +<p>Halfman laughed back at him, and as he laughed he showed his teeth so +seeming white by contrast with his sunburned cheeks, and he seemed to +Evander more than ever like some half-tamed beast of prey.</p> + +<p>“You are no fool, Puritan,” Halfman shouted, “or Heaven would not +have wasted its time in gracing you with such skill at sports. So +great with the rapier, so wise on the bias. No, no; you are no fool. +I am almost sad to think you quit us so soon, enemy though you be.”</p> + +<p>While Halfman had been babbling, Evander had again been busy with his +staff. Halfman had paid no heed to his actions, being far too deep in +his own phrases. Had he been attentive he might have noticed that at +first Evander <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>wrote on the green grass, as vainly as he might have +written in water, a word, a name: Brilliana. Had he been attentive he +might have noticed that Evander now wrote another word that was also +a name and more than a name: Death. But he did not notice, and as he +ended with his odd tribute to his enemy, Evander looked up at him +with a calm face.</p> + +<p>“I shall not quit you so soon,” he said, in an even voice. “I have +come to stay at Harby.”</p> + +<p>Halfman looked at him, puzzled.</p> + +<p>“Stay at Harby,” he repeated. “Nonsense, man; what are you thinking +of? You will be riding hence in three days’ time, when Sir Randolph +is released.”</p> + +<p>Evander shook his head.</p> + +<p>“Sir Randolph will not be released,” he said. The quiet positiveness +in his tone staggered Halfman. Stooping, with his hands resting on +his knees, his unquiet eyes stared into Evander’s quiet eyes.</p> + +<p>“Sir Randolph will not be released! Why the devil will Sir Randolph +not be released?”</p> + +<p>Evander rose from his seat and rested his hand for a moment lightly +on Halfman’s arm, while he said, impressively:</p> + +<p>“Say nothing of this to your lady, for Sir Randolph is her kinsman, +and I think she holds <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>him dear. Let ill news come late. But if +Colonel Cromwell has taken a spy prisoner, that spy will very surely +die.”</p> + +<p>Halfman stiffened himself. His eyes had never left Evander’s, and he +knew that Evander spoke what he believed. He gave a short laugh.</p> + +<p>“And very surely if Sir Randolph be shot over yonder you will be shot +down here.”</p> + +<p>“That,” said Evander, still smiling, “is why I say that I have come +to stay at Harby.”</p> + +<p>“You take your fate blithely,” Halfman commented, scanning Evander +with curiosity. He was familiar with the sight of men in peril of +death; in most men he took courage for granted, but it was courage of +a gaudier quality than the composure of the young Puritan, who had +fenced with him and played bowls with him that very morning and +talked so learnedly of roses with Luke, the gardener. Was there +really something in the Puritan stuff that strengthened men’s +spirits? Evander answered his words and unconsciously his thoughts.</p> + +<p>“I should not have taken up arms if I held my life too precious. It +will need three days to get the answer, the inevitable answer, and in +the mean time the autumn air is kind and these gardens delightful.”</p> + +<p>Halfman stared at him in an ecstasy of admiration, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>and then dealt +him an applauding clap on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>“Come to the kitchen-garden, philosopher,” he cried. “A fellow of +your phlegm should find pleasure in the contemplation of cabbages.”</p> + +<p>“It is a sage vegetable,” Evander answered. “But I fear I tax your +time. There must be much for you to do.”</p> + +<p>“I have done much already,” Halfman replied. “But, indeed, these be +busy times.”</p> + +<p>“Then,” protested Evander, “when I have stared my fill at your +meditative cabbage I shall entreat no more of your kindness but that +you convoy me to the safe port of the library, where I shall be +content enough.”</p> + +<p>“As you please,” Halfman responded. “I was never a bookish man; I +care for no books but play-books and these I carry here,” and he beat +his brown forehead. “But you may nose out some theologies in odd +corners, as a pig noses truffles.”</p> + +<p>“I shall rout out something to fill my leisure I doubt not,” Evander +answered.</p> + +<p>“Then hey for the kitchen-garden,” cried Halfman, taking Evander’s +arm, and the two men, passing through a yew arch opposite to that by +which they had entered, left my lady’s pleasaunce as solitary as they +had found it.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h2>A PURITAN APPRAISED</h2> + +<p>It did not remain solitary long. Unawares, the steps of Halfman and +Evander had been dogged ever since they crossed the moat and set out +on their pilgrimage through the gardens. Crouching behind hedges, +lingering in coppices, peeping through thickets, two persistent +trackers had pursued the unconscious quarry. Scarcely had the shadows +of Evander and his companion vanished from the grasses of the +pleasaunce than the pursuers emerged from the shelter of a yew screen +and ran into the open, staring after the departing pair. Yet these +pursuers were no stealthy enemies, but merely creatures spurred by an +irresistible curiosity. One was stout and red faced and inclined to +breathe hard after the fatigues of the chase. The other was slim and +smooth, with ripe cheeks and bright eyes, lodgings for the insolence +of youth. In a word, the hunters were Mistress Satchell and pretty +Tiffany, who had found their Puritan prisoner and visitor a being of +considerable interest.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p><p>Mistress Satchell turned a damp, shining face and a questioning eye +upon Tiffany.</p> + +<p>“Is not he a dashing lad for a Puritan?” she gasped, patting her +ample chest with both hands as if to fondle her newly recovered +breath. Tiffany, who was bearing her mistress’s lute, shrugged and +pouted.</p> + +<p>“I see little to like in him,” she snapped. This was not at all true, +but she was not going to admit as much to Mistress Satchell, or, for +that matter, to herself. Mistress Satchell snorted fiercely, like an +offended war-horse.</p> + +<p>“Because he has not clipped you round the waist, pinched you in the +cheek, kissed you on the lips—such liberties as our rufflers use. +But he is a man for my money.”</p> + +<p>She spoke with vehemence. Pretty Tiffany made a dainty grimace as she +answered:</p> + +<p>“I think I am pleasing enough to behold, yet he gave me no more than +a glance when he gave me good-day.”</p> + +<p>Mistress Satchell’s ample bulk swayed with indignation.</p> + +<p>“He is a lad of taste, I tell you. Why should he waste his gaze on +such small goods when there was nobler ware anigh? He smiled all over +his face when he greeted me.”</p> + +<p>Tiffany was sorely tempted to smile all over <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>her face as she +listened, but Mistress Satchell’s temper was short and her arm long, +so she kept her countenance as she answered, shortly:</p> + +<p>“He is little.”</p> + +<p>This Mistress Satchell swiftly countered with the affirmation:</p> + +<p>“He is great.”</p> + +<p>Tiffany thrust again.</p> + +<p>“He is naught.”</p> + +<p>Again Dame Satchell parried.</p> + +<p>“He is much,” she screamed, and her face was poppy-red with passion, +but Tiffany, retreating warily and persistent to tease, was about to +start some fresh disclaimer of the Puritan’s merits when she caught +sight through a yew arch vista of a gown of gold and gray, and her +tongue faltered.</p> + +<p>“Our lady,” she whispered to Mistress Satchell, who had barely time +to compose her ruffled countenance when Brilliana came through the +yew arch and paused on the edge of the pleasaunce surveying the +belligerents with an amused smile.</p> + +<p>“What are you two brawling about?” she asked, as she moved slowly +towards the marble seat. Tiffany thrust in the first word.</p> + +<p>“Goody Satchell will vex me with praise of the Parliament man.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p><p>By this time Brilliana had seated herself, observing her vehement +shes with amusement. She turned a face of assumed gravity upon the +elder.</p> + +<p>“So, so, Mistress Satchell, have you turned Roundhead all of a +sudden?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Satchell shook her head at Brilliana and her fist at Tiffany.</p> + +<p>“Tiffany is a minx, but I am an honest woman; and as I am an honest +woman, there are honest qualities in this honest Puritan.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana knew as much herself and fretted at the knowledge. It cut +against the grain of her heart to admit that a rebel could have any +redemption by gifts. But she still questioned Mistress Satchell +smoothly, thinking the while of a man intrenched behind a table, one +man against six.</p> + +<p>“What are these marvels?” she asked.</p> + +<p>Mistress Satchell was voluble of collected encomiums.</p> + +<p>“Why, Thomas Coachman swears he is a master of horse-manage, and he +has taught Luke Gardener a new method of grafting roses, and Simon +Warrener swears he knows as much of hawking as any man in Oxford or +Warwick.”</p> + +<p>She paused, out of breath. Brilliana, leaning <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>forward with an air of +infinite gravity, commented:</p> + +<p>“It were more to your point, surely, if the gentleman had skill in +cook-craft.”</p> + +<p>Mistress Satchell was not to be outdone; she clapped her hands +together noisily and shrilled her triumph.</p> + +<p>“There, too, he meets you. After breakfast this morning, when I asked +him how he fared, he overpraised my table, and he gave me a recipe +for grilling capons in the Spanish manner—well, you shall know, if +you do but live long enough.”</p> + +<p>The ruddy dame nodded significantly as she closed thus cryptically +her tables of praises. Brilliana uplifted her hands in a pretty air +of wonder.</p> + +<p>“The phœnix,” she sighed, “the paragon, the nonpareil of the +buttery.” Instantly her smiling face grew grave.</p> + +<p>“Well, it is not for us to praise him or blame him while he is on our +hands. See that you give him good meals, Mistress Satchell.”</p> + +<p>Dame Satchell stared at her mistress in some amazement.</p> + +<p>“Will he not dine in hall, my lady?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana frowned now in good earnest.</p> + +<p>“Lordamercy! do you think I would sit at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>meat with a rebel? Have I +not set him a room apart, to spare myself the sight of him? Serve him +in his own rooms, but look you serve him well.”</p> + +<p>Dame Satchell wagged her head with an air of the deepest +significance.</p> + +<p>“I warrant you,” she muttered, “he commended my soused cucumbers.”</p> + +<p>And so nodding and chuckling she moved like a great galleon over the +green, and soon was out of sight. The moment her broad back was well +turned, Tiffany permitted herself to utter the protests which had +been boiling within her.</p> + +<p>“To listen to Dame Satchell, one would think that no man had ever +seen a horse or known one dish from another before this.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana gave her handmaid a glance of something near akin to +displeasure.</p> + +<p>“I think you all talk and think too much of the gentleman. I see +little to praise in him save a certain coolness in peril. Let us have +no more of him. We must use him well, but he will soon be gone, and a +good riddance. Is my lute tuned, Tiffany?”</p> + +<p>Tiffany answered “Ay,” and her lady took up the lute and picked at a +tune, yawning. The world seemed to have grown very tedious <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>all of a +sudden, and it did not seem so pleasant as she deemed it would prove +to sit again in the yew circle and sing. She began a song or two, to +leave each unfinished with a yawn, and, because yawning is +contagious, Tiffany yawned too, discreetly behind her fingers. It was +while Tiffany looked away to conceal a vaster yawn than its fellows, +too vast for masking with finger-tips, that she saw a soldierly +figure coming across the garden towards the pleasaunce.</p> + +<p>“My lady,” she cried, turning to Brilliana, “here comes Captain +Halfman. Let us ask him his mind as to the Parliament man.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s face brightened. Here was company, and good company. She +had believed him too busy to be seen so soon, for she had bade him +see about raising a troop of volunteers in the village, and she +turned round readily to greet her companion of the siege.</p> + +<p>Through the yew portal Halfman came, gravity reigning in his eyes and +slaking their wild fire. He saluted Brilliana with the deep reverence +he always showed to his fair general. Brilliana turned to her +adjutant eagerly:</p> + +<p>“Master Halfman, Master Halfman,” she cried, “how do you measure our +rebel?”</p> + +<p>Halfman’s gravity lightened amazingly at the thought of his prisoner.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>“I take him,” he answered, emphatically, “for as proper a fellow as +ever I met in all my vagabond days. Barring his primness he would +have proved a gallant”—he was going to say “pirate,” but paused in +time and said “seaman.” “God pardon him for a Puritan,” he went on, +“for he has in him the making of a rare Cavalier.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana turned to Tiffany, whose cheeks were very red.</p> + +<p>“Hang your head, child,” she cried; “for you are outvoted in a +parliament of praise. Beat a retreat, maid Tiffany.”</p> + +<p>The crimson Tiffany fled from the pleasaunce.</p> + +<p>“Where is your prisoner?” Brilliana asked.</p> + +<p>“I have envoyed him over park and garden,” Halfman answered, “and +brought him to port in the library.”</p> + +<p>“Alas! I pity him,” sighed Brilliana; “it holds few books of +divinity. But come, recruiting-sergeant, what of our volunteers?”</p> + +<p>“So pleases you, my lady,” Halfman said, “our troop is swelling fast, +and the sooner we clap them into colored coats the better.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s curls danced in denial.</p> + +<p>“Alas! friend, I have sad news for you. Of cloth for coats I can +indeed command a great plenty”—she paused doubtfully.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p><p>“Why this is glad news, not sad news,” Halfman said. “So may you +serve it out with all despatch.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana dropped her hands to her sides and her lids over her eyes, +a pretty picture of despair; but, “Alas! ’tis all white,” she +confessed—“wool white, snow white, ermine white. You must needs have +patience, good recruiting-sergeant, till I can have it dyed the royal +red.”</p> + +<p>Halfman pushed patience from him with outspread palms.</p> + +<p>“Shall the King lack hands for lack of madder?” he questioned, with +humorous indignation. “Not so, I pray you; let us cut our coats from +your white cloth. I promise you we will dye it ourselves red enough +in the blood of the enemy.” Brilliana sprang to her feet rejoicing.</p> + +<p>“Bravely said; so shall it be bravely done. I will give orders at +once for the cutting and sewing. I will back our white coats against +Master Hampden’s green coats, or Essex’s swarm in orange-tawny. Have +you conveyed my message to my two miserly neighbors?”</p> + +<p>“I sent Clupp to Master Hungerford,” Halfman answered, “and Garlinge +to Master Rainham, bidding them to your presence peremptory. But I +warn you, my lady, from all I hear, that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>if you hope to raise coin +for the King’s cause from either of the skinflints you will be sadly +at a loss.”</p> + +<p>“At least I must try,” Brilliana declared. “Am I not the King’s +viceroy in Oxfordshire, and are not the two money-bags my proclaimed +adorers? It will go hard with me but I compel them to swell the +King’s exchequer.”</p> + +<p>“You have done marvels,” Halfman admitted. “Can you work miracles? +With all due reverence, I doubt. But we shall soon see, for here +comes Tiffany tiptoe through the trees. I’ll wager it is to herald +one of the vultures.”</p> + +<p>As he spoke, Tiffany tripped in pink and grinning.</p> + +<p>“My lady,” said she, “Master Paul Hungerford has ridden in and seeks +audience.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>“Go, bring him in, Tiffany; and, Tiffany child, if Master Peter +Rainham comes, as I shrewdly expect, keep him apart, on your life, +till I know of his coming.”</p> + +<p>Tiffany vanished. Brilliana turned to Halfman.</p> + +<p>“Stay with me, captain, and aid me to trap these badgers.”</p> + +<p>Halfman smiled delight. “I will help you <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>extempore,” he promised. “I +will eke out my part with impromptus.”</p> + +<p>He stood a little apart, grim mirth in his eyes, as Tiffany ushered +into the circle a lean, shabby country-gentleman, whose habit would +have shamed a scarecrow. Tiffany disappeared and the new-comer made +Brilliana an awkward bow. “Sweet lady, you sent for me and I come, +love, quickly.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h2>SET A KNAVE TO CATCH A KNAVE</h2> + +<p>Brilliana had much ado to keep from laughing in the face of the +uncouth genuflector, but she kept a grave face and uttered grave +complaint.</p> + +<p>“Master Hungerford! Master Hungerford! They tell me sad tales of you. +Though you are as wealthy as wealthy you will not mend the King’s +exchequer.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul gave vent to such a wail as a dog makes when one treads +unaware upon his tail, and clapped his hands about piteously.</p> + +<p>“I wealthy! Forgive you, lady, for listening to such tales. I am not +so graced. I am little bigger than a beggar.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana wagged her curls.</p> + +<p>“Why, now, Master Hungerford, you have a great estate.”</p> + +<p>Master Hungerford’s whine rose higher, and he paddled at the air as +if he sought to come to some surface and breathe free.</p> + +<p>“Great land, lady—great land, if you will, but <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>little cash. My land +holds every penny I get together. Why, ’tis well known in the country +that I buy land for a thousand pound every year, wherefore I can +never boast more than a guinea in ready money.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana frowned on the floundering squire.</p> + +<p>“This is a sad business, Master Hungerford, for the King is in need +and will oblige hereafter those that oblige him now. His Majesty has +made me a kind of viceroy here in Oxford. I begin to think that you +incline to the Parliament, Master Paul. If I thought that, I would +hold you a traitor and make perquisitions at your place.”</p> + +<p>Master Hungerford groaned dismally:</p> + +<p>“Lordamercy!” he moaned. “I am the loyalest knight in England. Nay, +now, if you talk of perquisitions there is my neighbor Peter Rainham. +I know him for a skinflint who will deny the King. Yet I know of a +chest of his that is stuffed with gold pieces. Were he a true man he +would shift his treasure into the King’s sack, as I would if I had +such a store.”</p> + +<p>A fantastic possibility danced into Brilliana’s brain. She glanced to +where Halfman stood moodily ruminating on the method he would employ +to loosen Master Hungerford’s purse-strings if he had him at his +mercy in a taken <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>town. Brilliana could not read his thoughts, which +was as well, but she gave him a glance which stirred him to alertness +as she resumed her interrogatory of her niggardly neighbor.</p> + +<p>“Why, then, Master Hungerford, if he be as you say, he is little +better, if better at all, than a Parliament man, and, therefore, our +common enemy.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul rubbed his lean hands in delight.</p> + +<p>“It is indeed as you say,” he affirmed, with a sour smile that sat +very vilely on his yellow face. Brilliana leaned forward, and, +governing his shifty eyes, spoke very impressively.</p> + +<p>“Now meseems you might win great credit in the King’s eyes, at no +cost to yourself, if you were to lay hands on this treasure in the +King’s name.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul’s alarm asserted itself in a shriek.</p> + +<p>“Lordamercy, lady, what of the law of the land? Would you have me +turn footpad, house-breaker?”</p> + +<p>His jaws shook, his joints twitched, he was abject in alarm. +Springing to her feet, Brilliana spoke impatiently.</p> + +<p>“A Parliament man is outside the King’s law; his goods are forfeit, +and to confiscate them as legal as loyal. I thought you might choose +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>to serve the King and please me.” This last was said with an accent +of disdain which made the unhappy squire shiver. “I was in error, so +no more words of it. Good-day to you.”</p> + +<p>And my Lady Brilliana made Master Paul a courtesy so contemptuous and +a gesture of dismissal so decisive that Master Hungerford’s terror +deepened. If the King’s cause were to go well, if the lady indeed had +favor with his Majesty, to offend her would be verily a piece of +mortal folly. He came nigh to falling on his knees as he pleaded.</p> + +<p>“Nay, nay, never so hot, now; I am your suitor, in faith, I am your +very good servant. I would serve your will in this if I could but +march with the law.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana jumped at his concession. She saw Tiffany in the distance +crossing the garden towards her and guessed that she came to announce +the arrival of the other miser; so she was eager to clinch the +business with Master Hungerford.</p> + +<p>“Why, so you ever shall, with the King’s law. What more easy? I +represent the King in this district; this fellow is a suspected +rebel; I give you leave to search his house for arms.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul pricked his ears. “Ah, so, for arms, you say?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><p>Tiffany paused in the archway and jerked her thumb over her shoulder +in the direction of the house. Brilliana shrugged her shoulders, +impatient of Master Paul’s denseness.</p> + +<p>“If you find gold in your search for steel, so much the better. Come, +come, this is your happy time, for I am told Master Rainham is +abroad.”</p> + +<p>She gave a glance for confirmation at Halfman, who lounged forward.</p> + +<p>“That he is,” he asserted, briskly. “He has gone a-marketing.”</p> + +<p>“Then to it at once!” Brilliana cried, eying the waverer +encouragingly. “Take such of my people as you will. You will find +some at the stables yonder,” and as she spoke she pointed in the +direction opposite to the house. “Master Rainham’s miserliness keeps +but a small retinue. You will meet with no resistance. Go forth, my +knight.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul almost skipped with delight and he cracked his fingers +vigorously. He seemed even less pleasing merry than terrified.</p> + +<p>“You call me your knight.” He turned and took Halfman to witness. +“She calls me her knight. I’ll do it. I’ll do it,” he voiced, +exultingly.</p> + +<p>Brilliana, with strenuous self-restraint, seemed to applaud his +antics.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>“Bravely said, Chivalry!” she cried. “Let it be done, and well done, +ere dusk.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul quavered before her in an ecstasy of delighted obedience.</p> + +<p>“I fly, enchantress—I fly!” he chirruped. Then, as he turned to go, +another thought struck him, and he entreated, grotesquely +languishing, “Prithee, your hand to kiss first.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana denied him affably.</p> + +<p>“By-and-by, maybe, as the prize of your triumph. Farewell.”</p> + +<p>After sundry strange scrapings, Master Hungerford took his departure +in the direction of the stables. As soon as his back was turned, +Brilliana questioned her maid.</p> + +<p>“Well, Tiffany, is it Master Rainham?”</p> + +<p>“Ay, my lady,” Tiffany answered, demurely. She knew there was some +manner of mystification forward and yearned for the key to it. “He +chafes in the music-chamber.”</p> + +<p>“Send him here top-speed,” Brilliana commanded. With a whisk of +flying skirts Tiffany scuttered back to the house, and Brilliana +turned to Halfman, the laughter in her eyes seeking and finding the +laughter in his.</p> + +<p>“Well,” she said, “our angling prospers blithely. We have tickled one +fish. Now for the other chub.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p><p>Halfman, who had been swaying with silent merriment ever since the +departure of Master Paul, suddenly grew steady again and looked +warnings.</p> + +<p>“He asks for another kind of angling, as I gather,” he suggested. +Brilliana looked daintily wise.</p> + +<p>“As I bait the hook I believe I will land him. It will be rare if I +can make Paul rob Peter while Peter plunders Paul. How dare they be +so close-fisted while the King’s flag is flying and England’s honor +in peril!”</p> + +<p>If she said this with any idea of palliating the possible lawlessness +of her action in the eyes of her companion, she wasted her words. +Halfman had not been so happy since his return to England, not even +in the briskest days of the siege, as he was now in the staging of +this lawless comedy. The old pirate jigged in him at this fair maid’s +strategy.</p> + +<p>“By St. Nicholas,” he swore, “they should be bled white for a brace +of knaves! This, I take it, is your other honor-bankrupt atomy.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h2>SERVING THE KING</h2> + +<p>It was indeed Master Peter Rainham whom Tiffany now brought into the +presence of her mistress, and left there standing and staring. Master +Peter, eyed and appraised by the searching scrutiny of Halfman, +resolved himself into a thick-set, boorish fellow, whose flying +forehead, little, angry eyes, and assertive, yellow teeth made him, +to Halfman’s mind, resemble nothing in the world so much as a boar’s +head on an ale-house sign. Yet the fellow stood his ground sturdily +enough, and stared at Brilliana with no sense of distress at his +dirty homespun or his dirty hands.</p> + +<p>“You sent for me?” he challenged. “Have you changed your mood? I am +ever of the same mind, and will wed when you will.”</p> + +<p>The wolf look leaped into Halfman’s eyes, and the loutish squire’s +life was, all unawares, in the greatest peril it had ever fringed. +But Brilliana, intent only on her purposes, beamed on her blunt +suitor as if he had scattered flowers at her feet.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p><p>“You are a wonderful wooer,” she protested. “But whatever admiration +of your person I may, without unbecoming effrontery, confess, I would +have you to know, plain and square, from this moment, that I will +hearken to none but a King’s man.”</p> + +<p>The boor’s little eyes glinted and the boor’s rusty fingers rasped at +his stubble chin as he answered emphatically:</p> + +<p>“Then I am a King’s man, root and branch.”</p> + +<p>But his face showed less loyal confidence at Brilliana’s next words.</p> + +<p>“Then you must know his Majesty is in straits for ready money. Will +you, who are reputed rich, come to his aid with a round sum?”</p> + +<p>Master Peter showed his teeth in a snarl and flung up his hands.</p> + +<p>“Reputed rich! Oh, what a bitter thing is a bad reputation. I am +Job-poor; both ends will not meet, I tell you. If I had for +lending-money a guinea in one pocket, why, I should lend it to the +other pocket.”</p> + +<p>“Why do you woo me if you be so poor?” Brilliana asked, with a fine +show of heat, and Halfman nodded his head as much as to say, “Ay, ay, +answer me that, if you can.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter strove to answer, lamely enough.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>“Poor in pennies, lady, poorer in shillings, poorest in guineas. I +may own half the country-side and have no coin to clink against the +other.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana scoffed at his protest.</p> + +<p>“Why, ’tis not so long ago Master Paul Hungerford told me you were a +very Crœsus.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter clinched and unclinched his horny hands as if he were +coming to grips with his traducer.</p> + +<p>“Master Hungerford told you that? I would I had my hands knotted +about his lying throat. He that is as rich as a Jew, that has a +treasure of gold plate in his sideboard that would keep the King in +arms and men for a month of Sundays, he so to slander my poverty.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana heaved a sympathetic sigh.</p> + +<p>“I fear he is but a bad man. Do you think he cherishes the King’s +cause?”</p> + +<p>Master Peter flamed with virtuous indignation.</p> + +<p>“He, the black heart! Never think it. He is a rank Parliament +scoundrel and worships Mr. Pym.”</p> + +<p>“Is it so?” cried Brilliana. “A rebel, a renegade. Why, now, Master +Rainham, I see a pretty piece of loyal work for you.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter glowered at her suspiciously.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p><p>“Anything for you, anything for the King; except give what I have +none of—money.”</p> + +<p>“In the King’s name,” said Brilliana, heroically, “go forth and +ransack this rebellious gentleman’s house for arms.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter snorted sceptically.</p> + +<p>“Arms! I think he hath none but an old rusty fire-lock and a breast +and back that have seen better days.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana beamed on him, a yielding sphinx.</p> + +<p>“But then, supposing you should pick up some plate on the way, some +gold plate by chance—”</p> + +<p>Master Peter rubbed his grimy hands.</p> + +<p>“Why, it were fine,” he admitted, gleefully; then added, with +cunning, “Are you sure he is a Roundhead?”</p> + +<p>“I am very sure he is your enemy,” Brilliana answered, sharply, “for +he makes you his daily jape.”</p> + +<p>The ugly boar-head looked uglier as it growled:</p> + +<p>“Does he, the dog! I’d jape him if I gad my two hands upon him.”</p> + +<p>“Why,” Brilliana asserted, now in the full tide of make-believe, “if +you are a King’s man, he will be of the other side, he hates you so. +I cannot think how you have earned his hatred, unless, indeed—” and +she broke off suddenly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>and looked aside. Halfman would have given a +shilling for a lonely place to laugh his fill in.</p> + +<p>“Well, madam, well?” Master Rainham questioned, eagerly.</p> + +<p>Brilliana faltered her answer.</p> + +<p>“—unless he believes you stand higher in the graces of a certain +lady than he can ever hope to stand.”</p> + +<p>Master Rainham’s smile gave Halfman the feel of goose-flesh. +Brilliana’s face was, happily, averted.</p> + +<p>“Madam, assure me ’tis so,” grunted boar’s-head.</p> + +<p>“I must not say much,” Brilliana protested, “no more than this, that +in this enterprise, if you but achieve it, you will win great credit +with the King at no cost to yourself, you spoil a rival, and—but +this is very private—you will give great pleasure to that same +nameless lady.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter shouted, “Why, then, all’s well. I will pick him as +clean as a whistle.” Again caution overcrowded cheer. “But I must +pick my time, look you.”</p> + +<p>On this, Brilliana became emphatic.</p> + +<p>“No time like the present. It is to my certain knowledge that Master +Paul is away from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>home to-day.” Again she looked to Halfman for +support, and again Halfman yielded it blithely.</p> + +<p>“Ay, he has gone hawking,” he declared; “he will not be home this +great while.”</p> + +<p>Halfman’s confirmation decided Master Peter.</p> + +<p>“Why, I go at once. When the cat’s away—! I will be back within the +hour.”</p> + +<p>“Then,” said Brilliana, “pray you go to the house and gather in my +name from the servants’ hall such men as you may need for your +enterprise. Use despatch, for indeed I long for your return.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter paid her what he believed to be a courtly bow.</p> + +<p>“That same nameless lady shall praise me,” he chuckled, and, turning, +made for the house with all speed. When they were alone, Brilliana +and Halfman looked at each other with the mirth of children who have +successfully raided an orchard.</p> + +<p>“I have netted them,” Brilliana said. “If it do but happen pat, we +shall have served the King and punished two cozening faint-hearts. +For the best of it is that neither can complain. Each is neck-high in +the mire of lies, each has plundered the other, and must be dumb for +shame of his knavery.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p><p>“It will be brave to spy their faces,” Halfman commented, “when they +smell out the snare.”</p> + +<p>“Look to it,” Brilliana suggested, “that they be kept apart when they +come here. The jest must not spoil. How these old hawks will fly at +each other when we unhood them.”</p> + +<p>“Trust me, lady,” said Halfman. “I have been a play-actor and know +how to stage a pair of gabies to the show.”</p> + +<p>He saluted her and made to depart. She had learned to like his +company through the long days of siege, and this dull day of quiet +she felt lonely. Moreover, she was grateful to him for having helped +her so well in her plot against the niggards.</p> + +<p>“Come again when you have taken order for this,” she said. “There is +still much to do, much to think for.”</p> + +<p>The man saluted anew, intoxicated with pleasure. He knew that she +liked his company, and whatever was well in him burgeoned at the +knowledge. His play-actor passion had bettered him, if it had not +accomplished the impossible and transmuted the pirate of body into +the pure of soul. It would not be true to say that he never thought +lewdly of her; he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>would have thought lewdly of an angel or a vestal +maid; that was ingrain in the composition of the man; but he thought +well of her as he had never thought well of women before since he +first scorched his stripling’s fingers, and he would have killed +twenty men to keep her from hearing a foul word. Sometimes when he +talked with her, ever in his chastened part of the rough old soldier, +he laughed in his sleeve at the difference between part and true man. +The nut-hook humor of it was that both were realities, or, perhaps, +that neither were realities.</p> + +<p>As he quitted the pleasaunce he countered Mistress Tiffany, and saw +at a distance, standing by the laurels, a foppish, many-colored, +portly personage negligently twirling a long staff. Halfman guessed +the name, grinned, and went on his business. Tiffany burst wellnigh +breathless into her lady’s presence.</p> + +<p>“My lady,” she gasped, “here is Sir Blaise Mickleton, who entreats +the honor to speak with you.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s face darkened for a moment, for she bore no kindness just +then to the laggard in war. Then her face cleared again.</p> + +<p>“Admit him,” she said. “He will divert me for want of a better.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p><p>Back ran Tiffany to where the visitor lingered, bade him enter the +pleasaunce, where he would find her mistress, and having delivered +her errand, ran again to the house, leaving him to his adventure.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h2>SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS RESPECTS</h2> + +<p>Sir Blaise Mickleton was, in his own eyes and in the eyes of the +village girls of Harby, a vastly fine gentleman. If they had ever +heard of the sun-god, Phœbus Apollo would have presented himself +to their rusticity in some such guise as the personality of the local +knight. Sir Blaise had been to London—once—had kissed the King’s +hand at Whitehall, and had ever since striven vehemently to be more +Londonish than the Londoner. He talked with what he thought to be the +town’s drawl; he walked, as he believed, with the town walk over the +grasses of his grounds and on the Harby high-roads. He plagued the +village tailor with strange devices for coats and cloaks; +many-colored as a Joseph, he strutted through bucolic surroundings as +if he carried the top-knot of the mode in the Mall; he glittered in +ribbons and trinkets, floundered rather than swam in a sea of +essences, yet scarcely succeeded in amending, with all this false +foppishness, the something <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>bumpkin that was at the root of his +nature. He was of a lusty natural with the sanguine disposition, and +held himself as much above the most of his neighbors as he knew +himself to be below the house of Harby. He was no double-face, +friendly with both sides; he was rather for peeping from behind the +parted doors of the temple of peace upon a warring world without, and +making fast friends with the victor. He had very little doubt that +the victor would be the King, but just enough doubt to permit his +surrender to a distemper that kept him to his bed till Edgehill +proved the amazing remedy.</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise peacocked over the lawn, delicate as Agag. He murdered the +morning air with odors, his raiment outglowed the rainbow; one hand +dandled his staff, the other caressed his mustaches. He strove to +smile adoration on Brilliana, but mistrust marred his ogle, and a +shiver of fear betrayed his simper of confidence. Brilliana watched +him gravely with never a word or a sign, and her silence intensified +his discomfiture by the square of the distance he had yet to +traverse.</p> + +<p>“Coxcomb,” she thought, and “coward,” she thought, and “cur,” she +thought.</p> + +<p>He could not read her thought, but he could read her tightened lips +and her hostile eyes, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>he wished himself again in bed at +Mickleton. But it was too late to retreat, and he advanced in bad +order under the silent fire of her disdain till he paused at what he +deemed to be the proper place for ceremonious salutation. He +uncovered, describing so magnificent a sweep of extended hat that its +plumes brushed the grasses at her feet. He bowed so low that his pink +face disappeared from view in the forward fall of his lovelocks. When +the rising inflection shook these back and the pink face again +confronted her, he seemed to have recovered some measure of +assertion.</p> + +<p>“Lady,” he said, sighingly, “I kiss your mellifluous fingers and +believe myself in Elysium.”</p> + +<p>The languishing glance that accompanied these languishing syllables +had no immediate effect upon the lady to whom they were addressed. +Still Brilliana looked fixedly at her visitor, and still Sir Blaise +found little ease under her steady gaze. He blinked uncomfortably; +his fingers twitched; he tried to moisten his dry lips. At length, +out of what seemed a wellnigh ageless silence, the lady spoke, and +her words were an arraignment.</p> + +<p>“Why did you not come to Harby when Harby needed help?”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise felt weak in the knees, weak in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>back, weak in the +wits; he would have given much for a seat, more for a sup of brandy. +But he had to speak, and did so after such gasping and stammering as +spoiled his false bravado.</p> + +<p>“I came to speak of that,” he protested, forcing a jauntiness that he +was far from feeling. “I feared you might misunderstand—”</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” interrupted Brilliana, “I think there is no +misunderstanding.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise made an appealing gesture.</p> + +<p>“Hear me out,” he pleaded. “Hear me and pity me. The news of his +Majesty’s quarrel with his Parliament threw me into such a distemper +as hath kept me to my bed these three weeks. My people held all news +from me for my life’s sake. It was but this morning I was judged +sound enough to hear of all that has passed. How otherwise should I +not have flown to your succor? I could wish your siege had lasted a +while longer to give me the glory of delivering you.”</p> + +<p>The sternness faded from Brilliana’s gaze. She was not really angry +with this overcareful gentleman; she would only have been grieved had +he proved the man to serve her well. He was no more for such +enterprises than your lap-dog for bull-baiting. Ridiculous in his +finery, pitiful in his subterfuge, he was only a thing to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>smile at, +to trifle with. So she smiled, and, rising, swept him a splendid +reverence.</p> + +<p>“I am your gallantry’s very grateful servant,” she whispered, having +much ado to keep from laughing in his face. The fatuous are easily +pacified.</p> + +<p>“I hope you do not doubt my valor?” he asked, with some show of +reassurance.</p> + +<p>“Indeed I have no doubt,” Brilliana answered, with another courtesy. +The speech might have two meanings. Sir Blaise, unwilling to split +hairs, took it as balsam, and hurriedly turned the conversation.</p> + +<p>“Well! well!” he hummed. “You seem nothing the worse for your +business.”</p> + +<p>“I am something the better,” she said, softly. Perhaps Sir Blaise did +not hear her.</p> + +<p>“Is it true,” he asked, “that you harbor a Crop-ear in this house?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” Brilliana confirmed, “I hold him as hostage for the life of +Cousin Randolph. You know that he is a prisoner?”</p> + +<p>“I heard that news with the rest of the budget,” Sir Blaise answered. +“And what kind of a creature is your captive? Does he deafen you with +psalms, does he plague you with exhortations?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana laughed merrily.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p><p>“No, no; ’tis a most wonderful wild-fowl. My people swear he is +mettled in all gentle arts, from the manage of horses to the casting +of a falcon.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise shook his staff in protest of indignation.</p> + +<p>“Is it possible that such a rascal usurps the privileges of +gentlefolk?”</p> + +<p>“He carries himself like a gentleman,” Brilliana answered. “More’s +the pity that he should be false to his king and his kind.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise smiled condescendingly.</p> + +<p>“Believe me, dear lady, you are misled. A woman may be deceived by an +exterior. Doubtless he has picked up his gentility in the servants’ +hall of some great house, and seeks to curry your favor by airing +it.”</p> + +<p>“He has persuaded those that are shrewd judges of men to praise him.”</p> + +<p>Again Sir Blaise laughed his fat laugh.</p> + +<p>“Ha, ha! Shrewd judges of men. I will take no man’s judgment but my +own of this rascal. Had I word with him you should soon see me set +him down.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s glance wandering from the pied pomposity who strutted +before her, saw a sharp contrast through the yew-tree arch. A man in +sober habit was moving slowly over the grass in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>the direction of the +pleasaunce, moving slowly, for he was carrying an open book and his +eyes were fixed upon its pages. Truly the sombre Puritan made a +better figure than her swaggering neighbor. She looked up at Sir +Blaise with a pretty maliciousness in her smile.</p> + +<p>“You can have your will even now,” she said, “for I spy my prisoner +coming here—and reading, too.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise swung round upon his heels and stared in the direction +indicated by Brilliana. He saw Evander, black against the sunlit +trees, the sunlit grasses, and he smiled derisively. He was very +confident that there was no courage as there could be no wit in any +Puritan. These things were the privileges of Cavaliers.</p> + +<p>“His brains are buried in his book,” he sneered. “If a stone came in +his way now he would stumble over it, he’s so deep in his sour +studies. ’Tis some ponderous piece of divinity, I’ll wager, levelled +against kings.”</p> + +<p>He thought he was speaking low to his companion, but his was not a +voice of musical softness, and its tones jarred the quiet air. +Evander caught the sound of it, lifted his head, and, looking before +him over his book, saw in the yew haven Brilliana seated and a +gaudy-coated gentleman standing by her side. He was immediately <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>for +turning and hastening in another direction, but Brilliana, for all +she hated him, would not now have it so. Perhaps she had been piqued +by Sir Blaise’s too confident assumption of superiority to the +judgment of her people; perhaps she thought it might divert her to +see Puritan and Cavalier face each other before her in the shadowed +circle of yews. Whatever her reason, she raised her hand and raised +her voice to stay Evander’s purpose.</p> + +<p>“Sir, sir!” she cried. “Mr. Cloud, by your leave, I would have you +come hither. Do not turn aside.”</p> + +<p>Thus summoned, Evander walked with slightly quickened pace to the +place where Brilliana sat and saluted her with formal courtesy.</p> + +<p>“I cry your pardon,” he declared. “I would not intrude on your quiet, +but I read and walked unconscious that there was company among the +yews.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana answered him with the dignity of a gracious and benevolent +queen.</p> + +<p>“Do not withdraw, sir; you have the liberty of Loyalty House, and I +would not have you avoid any part of its gardens.”</p> + +<p>Evander bowed. Sir Blaise broke into a horse-laugh which grated more +on Brilliana’s ears than on Evander’s. Brilliana was at heart <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>rather +angry that for once Puritan should show better than Cavalier.</p> + +<p>“You are a vastly happy jack to be used so gently,” he bellowed. +“Some would have stuck such a hostage in a garret and done well +enough.”</p> + +<p>Evander still kept his eyes fixed on the lady of the house and seemed +to have no ears for the jeering Cavalier. With a lift of the hand +that indicated and saluted the prospect, he said, smoothly, “You have +a very gracious garden, lady.”</p> + +<p>Mirth shone discreetly in Brilliana’s eyes as she gave the Puritan a +bow for his praise. The Cavalier, a viola da gamba of anger, pegged +his string of bluster tighter.</p> + +<p>“Did not the fellow hear me?” he cried, and this time his noise won +him a moment of attention. Evander gave him a glance, and then, +returning to Brilliana, said, with a manner of amused contempt, “You +have a very ungracious gardener.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise’s pink face purpled; Sir Blaise’s hand swung to the hilt +of his sword. Evander seemed to have forgotten his existence and to +await quietly any further favor of speech from Brilliana. My Lady +Mischief, much diverted, judged it time to intervene.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p><p>“Lordamercy!” she cried, as she rose from her seat and moved a little +way towards Sir Blaise. “Let me bring you acquainted.”</p> + +<p>The Cavalier caught her hand and stayed her before she could speak +his name.</p> + +<p>“Wait, wait,” he whispered. “Watch me roast him.”</p> + +<p>He swung away from her and swaggered towards Evander. “Tell me, +solemn sir,” he questioned, “have you heard of one Sir Blaise +Mickleton?”</p> + +<p>“I have heard of him,” Evander answered. His tranquil indifference to +Sir Blaise’s bearing, to Sir Blaise’s splendor of apparel, pricked +the knight like a sting. He tried to change the sum of his irritation +into the small money of wit.</p> + +<p>“You have never heard that he snuffled through his nose, turned up +his eyes, mewed psalms and canticles, and dubbed himself by some such +name as Fight-the-Good-Fight-of-Faith, yea, verily?”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise talked with the drawling whine which he assumed to be the +familiar intonation of all Puritan speech. Like many another +humorless fellow, he prided himself upon a gift of mimicry signally +denied to him. Even Brilliana’s detestation of the Puritan party +could <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>not compel her to admire her neighbor’s performance. Evander’s +face showed no sign of recognition of Sir Blaise’s impertinence as he +answered:</p> + +<p>“No, truly, but I have heard some talk of a swaggering braggart, +prodigal in valiant promise, but very huckster in a pitiful +performance; in a word, a clown whose attempt to ape the courtier has +never veiled the clod.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana found it hard to restrain her laughter as she watched the +varying shades of fury float over Sir Blaise’s broad face at each +successive clause of Evander’s disdainful indictment. Yet she was +sadly vexed to think that her side commanded so poor a champion. Sir +Blaise tried to speak, gasped out a furious “Sir!” then his passion +choked him, and he gobbled, inarticulate and grotesque. Evander went +composedly on:</p> + +<p>“He is rated a King’s man, and would serve his master well if much +tippling of healths and clearing of trenchers were yeoman service in +a time of war. But his sword sleeps in its sheath.”</p> + +<p>“Now, by St. George—” Sir Blaise yelled, raising his clinched fists. +Brilliana feared at one moment that he would strike her prisoner in +the face; feared in the next that he would fall <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>at her feet dead of +an apoplexy. She sailed between the antagonists and addressed +Evander.</p> + +<p>“Serious sir, will it dash you to learn that you are speaking to Sir +Blaise Mickleton?”</p> + +<p>Evander’s countenance showed no sign either of surprise or of dismay. +Sir Blaise, still turkey-red, managed to gulp down his choler +sufficiently to utter some syllables.</p> + +<p>“I am that knight,” he gasped; then, turning to Brilliana, he +whispered behind his hand, “Mark now how this bear will climb down.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana, watching Evander, was not confident of apologies. Her +prisoner made a slight inclination of the head towards Sir Blaise in +acknowledgment of the fact of Brilliana’s presentation, and said, +very calmly:</p> + +<p>“Why, then, sir, such a jury as your world has empanelled have +misread you, for if they summed your flaws aptly in their report of +you, they clapped this rider on their staggering verdict, that Sir +Blaise Mickleton did, at his worst, do his best to play the +gentleman.”</p> + +<p>Smiles of satisfaction rippled over Sir Blaise’s face. He did not +follow the drift of Evander’s fluency but took it for compliment.</p> + +<p>“Handsomely apologized, i’ faith,” he beamed to Brilliana. Brilliana +laughed in his face.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><p>“Why, poor man, he flouts you worse than ever,” she whispered.</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise knitted puzzled brows while Evander, having made the +effective pause, continued, suavely:</p> + +<p>“In the which judgment they erred, for he does not merit so +creditable a praise. Sure they can never have seen him who couple in +any way the name of Sir Blaise Mickleton with the title of +gentleman.”</p> + +<p>Even Sir Blaise’s dulness could not misinterpret Evander’s meaning, +and rage resumed its sway.</p> + +<p>“You crow! You kite!” he fumed. His wrath could find no more words, +but he made a stride towards Evander, menacing. Brilliana stepped +dexterously between the two. As she told Tiffany later, she felt as +if she were gliding between fire and ice.</p> + +<p>“One side of me was frozen, and the other done to a crisp.” She +lifted her hand commandingly.</p> + +<p>“We will have no bickering here,” she protested. Evander paid her a +salutation, and, moving a little aside, resumed his book. He would +not retire while Sir Blaise was in presence, but he guessed that the +lady wished for speech with her friend. Sir Blaise did not find <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>her +words consolatory, though she affected consolation.</p> + +<p>“The bear licks with a rough tongue,” she whispered. Sir Blaise +slapped his palms together.</p> + +<p>“You shall see me ring him, you shall see me bait him, if you will +but leave us.”</p> + +<p>“How shall I see if I leave?” Brilliana asked, provokingly. “But ’tis +no matter.”</p> + +<p>As she spoke she thought of Halfman, and a merry scheme danced in her +head.</p> + +<p>“Gentles, I must leave you,” she cried, with a pretty little +reverence that included both men. Then in a moment she had slipped +out of the pleasaunce and was running down the avenue. In the house +she found Halfman. “Quick!” she cried, breathlessly. “Sir Blaise and +Mr. Cloud are wrangling yonder like dogs over a bone.”</p> + +<p>“Do you wish me to keep the peace between them?” Halfman questioned. +Brilliana did not exactly know what she wished. She was fretted at +the poor show a King’s man had made before a Puritan; if Sir Blaise +could do something to humble the Puritan it might not be wholly +amiss. So much Halfman gathered from her jerky scraps of sentences; +also, that on no account must the disputants be permitted to come to +swords. Halfman nodded, caught up a staff, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>and ran full tilt to the +pleasaunce. The moment his back was turned Brilliana, instead of +remaining in the house, came out again, doubled on her course, and +dodging among the hedges found herself peeping unseen upon the +enclosure she had just quitted and the brawl at its height.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h2>SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS PENALTY</h2> + +<p>When Brilliana quitted them the two men had regarded each other +steadily for a few seconds in silence. Then Sir Blaise spoke.</p> + +<p>“You made merry with me just now in ease and safety, a lady being +by.”</p> + +<p>Evander shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Had no lady been by I should have been more merry and less tender.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise scowled.</p> + +<p>“I am ill to provoke, my master. Those quarrels end sadly that are +quarrels picked with me.”</p> + +<p>Again Evander shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“I pick no quarrel, sir. You asked me very straightly what I knew of +Sir Blaise Mickleton, and very straightly I tended you my knowledge. +It is not my fault, but rather your misfortune, that you happen to be +Sir Blaise Mickleton.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise dropped his hand to his sword-hilt.</p> + +<p>“You Puritan jack,” he shouted, “will you try sharper conclusions?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p><p>In a moment and involuntarily Evander’s hand sought his own weapon. +It was in that moment that Halfman burst into the pleasaunce.</p> + +<p>“Why, what’s the matter here?” he cited, wielding his staff as if it +had been the scimitar of the Moor. “Hold, for your lives! For +Christian shame put by this barbarous brawl.”</p> + +<p>The disputants greeted their interrupter differently. Evander paid +Halfman’s memory the tribute of an appreciative smile. Sir Blaise +turned to him as to a sympathizer and backer.</p> + +<p>“This Puritan dog has insulted me,” he cried.</p> + +<p>Halfman nodded sagaciously. “And you would let a little of his +malapert blood for him. But it may not be.”</p> + +<p>He addressed Evander. “You are a prisoner on parole, wearing your +sword by a lady’s favor, and may not use it here.”</p> + +<p>“You are in the right,” Evander answered, “and I ask your lady’s +pardon if for a moment I forgot where I am and why.”</p> + +<p>“Yah, yah, fox,” grinned Sir Blaise, who believed that his enemy was +glad to be out of the quarrel. But Halfman, who knew better, smiled.</p> + +<p>“There are other ways,” he suggested, pleasantly, “by which two +gentlemen may void their <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>spleen without drawing their +toasting-irons. Why should we not mimic sword-play with a pair of +honest cudgels?”</p> + +<p>Blaise slapped his thigh approvingly, for he was good at rustic +sports. Halfman turned his dark face upon Evander.</p> + +<p>“Has my suggestion the fortune to meet with your approval?” he asked. +Evander nodded. “Then let Sir Blaise handle his own staff, and you, +camerado, take mine—’tis of a length with your enemy’s—and set to.”</p> + +<p>Halfman watched Evander narrowly while he spoke. Skill with the +rapier did not necessarily imply skill with the cudgel. He bore +Evander no grudge for overcoming him at fence, but if Sir Blaise +proved the better man with the batoon, there would be a kind of +compensation in it. He had heard that Sir Blaise was apt at +country-sports and now Sir Blaise vaunted his knowledge.</p> + +<p>“Let me tell you to your trembling,” he crowed, “that I am the best +cudgel-player in these parts. I will drub you, I will trounce you, I +will tan your hide.”</p> + +<p>“That will be as it shall be,” Evander answered. He had taken the +staff that Halfman had proffered, and after weighing it in his hand +and carefully examining its texture had set it <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>up against the seat, +while he prepared to strip off his jerkin. Halfman assisted Sir +Blaise to extricate himself from his beribboned doublet, and the two +men faced each other in their shirts, Evander’s linen fine and plain, +like all about him, Sir Blaise’s linen fine and ostentatious, like +all about him, and reeking of ambergris. Evander was not a small man, +but his body seemed very slender by contrast with the well-nourished +bulk of the country-gentleman, and many a one would have held that +the match was strangely unequal. But Halfman did not think so, seeing +how deliberately Evander entered upon the enterprise, and even Sir +Blaise’s self-conceit was troubled by his antagonist’s alacrity in +accepting the challenge.</p> + +<p>“If you tender me your grief for your insolence,” he suggested, with +truculent condescension, “you will save yourself a basting.”</p> + +<p>Evander laughed outright, the blithest laugh that Halfman had yet +heard pass from his Puritan lips.</p> + +<p>“I must deny you, pomposity,” he answered, gayly. “It were pity to +postpone a pleasure.”</p> + +<p>“You are in the right,” commented Halfman. “Come, sirs, enough words; +let us to deeds. Begin.”</p> + +<p>The sticks swung in the air and met with a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>crack, each man’s hand +pressing his cudgel hard against the other’s, each man’s foot firm +and springing, each man’s eyes seeking to read in the other’s the +secret of his assault. Suddenly Blaise made a feint at Evander’s leg +and then swashed for his head.</p> + +<p>“Have a care for your crown,” he shouted, confident in his stroke; +but Evander met the blow instantly and wood only rattled on wood.</p> + +<p>“I have cared for it,” he said, quietly, as he came on guard again, +making no attempt to return Sir Blaise’s attack. Sir Blaise reversed +his tactics, feinted at Evander’s head, and swept a furious +semicircle at Evander’s legs.</p> + +<p>“Save your shins, then,” he cried, and grunted with rage as he again +encountered Evander’s swiftly revolving staff and heard Evander +answer, mockingly:</p> + +<p>“I have saved them.”</p> + +<p>Inarticulate fury goaded him. “I will play with you no longer!” he +growled, and made a rush for Evander, raining blow upon blow as +quickly as he could deliver them, and hoping to break down Evander’s +guard. But Evander, giving ground a little before his antagonist’s +onslaught, met the attacks with a mill-wheel revolution of his weapon +which kept him scatheless, and then suddenly his cudgel shot out, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>came with a sullen crack on Sir Blaise’s skull, and the tussle was +over. Sir Blaise was lying his length on the grass, very still, and +there was blood upon his ruddy hair.</p> + +<p>Brilliana in hiding gave a little gasp when she saw her neighbor +fall; she could not tell whether to laugh or cry at the defeat of the +Cavalier. She saw Halfman bend over the fallen man and lift his head +upon his knee. She saw Evander advance and look down upon his +adversary.</p> + +<p>“I hope you are not hurt,” Evander said, solicitously.</p> + +<p>Halfman glanced up at the victor. “No harm’s done,” he said. “He was +stunned for the moment; he is coming round.”</p> + +<p>And in confirmation of his words Sir Blaise opened his eyes, and then +with difficulty sat up and stared ruefully at Evander.</p> + +<p>“Gogs!” he said, first rubbing his head and then looking at his +reddened palm. “Gogs! That was a swinging snip. I am as dizzy as a +winged pigeon.”</p> + +<p>“Let me help you to rise,” Evander said, courteously. Blaise shook +his aching head.</p> + +<p>“I am none too fluttered to find my feet,” he asserted, ignoring the +fact that his rising from the ground to an erect posture was entirely +due to the combined efforts of Halfman and Evander, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>one on each +side, and then, when he did get to his feet, he was only able to +retain the perpendicular by leaning heavily upon Halfman as a steady +prop. From under his bandaged forehead his pale-blue eyes regarded +Evander with no trace of enmity.</p> + +<p>“Your hand, Puritan—your hand!” he cried. “’Tis just that we clasp +hands after a scuffle.”</p> + +<p>Puritan and Cavalier clasped hands in a hearty grip. “I am at your +service,” Evander said, gravely. “Shall we continue?” Sir Blaise +shook his head again.</p> + +<p>“I have had my bellyful,” he grunted. “There was breakfast, dinner, +supper in your stroke. I must to the house to find vinegar and brown +paper to patch my poll.”</p> + +<p>“Can I aid you?” Evander offered. “I have some slight skill in +surgery.”</p> + +<p>“Leave him to me,” Halfman interposed. “I have botched as many heads +as I have broken.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise, leaning heavily on Halfman’s arm, replied to Evander’s +offer in his own way.</p> + +<p>“I will not have you mend ill what you have marred well. Come, +crutch, let us be jogging. We will meet again another time, my +fighting Puritan.”</p> + +<p>Evander made him a bow. “At your pleasure,” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>he replied, and stood +till Sir Blaise, leaning on Halfman, had hobbled out of the +pleasaunce and limped out of sight. Then he drew on his jerkin again +with a smile and a sigh.</p> + +<p>“Truly,” he thought, “for a man who has but three days to live, I +cannot be said to be wasting much idle time.” With that he took up +again the book he had laid down and was soon deep in its study.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h2>A PUZZLING PURITAN</h2> + +<p>So deep was Evander in his book that he did not hear a lady’s +footfalls on the grass. When the discomfited Sir Blaise had quitted +the arena Brilliana held herself unseen and then swiftly sped back to +the pleasaunce. She stood for some seconds on the threshold of a yew +arch watching the reading man and wondering why it had pleased +Providence to make a Puritan so personable and skilful, wondering why +she of all women should take any interest either in his person or in +his skill, wondering how long he would remain buried in his tiresome +book unconscious of her presence. She decided that she would slip +away and leave him ignorant of her coming, and having decided that, +she coughed loudly, at which sound, of course, he turned round, saw +her, and rose respectfully to his feet.</p> + +<p>“I fear I trespass in your paradise,” he said, wistfully.</p> + +<p>“My honor, no!” Brilliana cried, pretending <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>to look about her +anxiously. “But where is Sir Blaise? I hope you two did not quarrel.”</p> + +<p>“No, no,” Evander protested; “we parted on clasped hands. Some +pressing matter called him to his quarters.”</p> + +<p>“Did you pay him apology for your equivocal wit?” Brilliana asked, +demurely.</p> + +<p>Evander answered gravely: “He professed himself satisfied.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana feigned a cry of horror.</p> + +<p>“I trust you did not eat your words.”</p> + +<p>Evander shook his head.</p> + +<p>“I am not so hungry. Have I your leave to go?”</p> + +<p>He made as if to depart; Brilliana met his motion with a little +frown.</p> + +<p>“Are you so eager?” she asked, in a voice in which regret and +petulance were dexterously commingled.</p> + +<p>Evander answered her gravely. “Yesterday you said that a Puritan +presence was hateful.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana laughed blithely and her curls quivered in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>“You must not harp on a mad maid’s anger. Yesterday you were my +enemy, a thing of threats and treason. To-day all’s different; to-day +you are my guest. Soon you will ride hence, and we will, if +Providence please, never <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>meet again. But for a span of hours let us +make believe to be friend and friend, till Colonel Cromwell send my +cousin and your liberty.”</p> + +<p>Evander was tempted to quarrel with himself for being so ready to +welcome this overture. But yesterday this woman had spattered him +with insults, snared him on a strained plea, bargained away his life +for the body of a spy. Yesterday she had shuddered at the thought of +any link of kinship between them, as she might have shuddered at +kinship with a wronger of women, a killer of children, a coward. Yet +to-day, as she stood there, sunshine on her hair, sunshine in her +eyes, a fairy lady standing in that circle of solemn yews, he could +find in his heart no regret for anything that had brought him to her +presence. He would take gladly what she offered gayly, two days of +friendship with so radiant a maid—and then? He left that thought +unanswered to reply to Brilliana.</p> + +<p>“Madam,” he said, with a very ceremonious bow, “I will pretend that +we are going to be friends till the end of my life.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana clapped her hands like a child that has been promised some +coveted comfit.</p> + +<p>“You are brave at make-believe. In the mean time let us keep each +other company a little. Surely it is dull for a man of action to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>a prisoner, and for my own part I mope sadly now that my little war +is well over.”</p> + +<p>She had seated herself as she spoke, and she motioned to Evander to +take his place by her side. When she paused he asked:</p> + +<p>“Are you so strenuous an amazon?”</p> + +<p>She answered him very earnestly:</p> + +<p>“I miss the splendid music of the siege, the stir of arms, the bustle +of giving order, the alertness of expectation. I did not think a +woman’s life could be tuned to so high a diapason. Just think of it! +Yesterday, and for many yesterdays, I was a leaguered lady, a +priestess of battles; I stood for the King; existence was one fierce +ecstasy. To drop from that brisk spin and whetted edge of life into +this housewife’s twilight is all one with being some sea-old admiral +and drowning in a canal.”</p> + +<p>The daughters of Israel could not have thrown more sadness into their +voice, Evander thought, as they sang by the waters of Babylon. If her +face was fair in animation, it seemed still more fair in sadness.</p> + +<p>“Has the Lady of Harby no employment,” he asked, gently, “to spur the +trudging time?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana laughed rather cheerlessly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, mercy, yes! Can she not overwatch the gardener to see that he +planteth the right<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> sort of herbs and flowers at the new of the moon, +at moon full, and at moon old? She can chat with Mistress Cook of +sallets and fricassees and fritters; she can count the linen; she can +preserve quinces; she can distil you aqua composita or imperial +water, or water of Bettony, against she grow old; she can be +dairy-wise, cellar-wise, laundry-wise—oh, there are a thousand +thousand things she can do if she want to do them, but the plague of +it is, since I have burned powder, these decent drudgeries no longer +divert me.”</p> + +<p>She gave a little sigh as she ended her enumeration of a housewife’s +tasks, and then banished the sigh with a smile. Evander found himself +thinking that a man might count himself happy for whom this lady +should sigh so at parting and smile so in welcome. But what he said +was:</p> + +<p>“Against your next distillation I can give you a very praisable +recipe for a cordial. It is a Swedish fancy and much favored by the +ladies of the North.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana looked him full in the face and laughed very merrily, and +he felt his cheeks redden at her gaze and her mirth.</p> + +<p>“Was there ever such a man-marvel?” she asked. “All my people praise +you for some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> different accomplishment. A horseman, a gardener, the +best at fence, the best, too, with a cudgel—”</p> + +<p>“Ah, madam,” Evander interrupted, apologetically, “pray how has that +come to your ears?”</p> + +<p>“Never mind how it came,” Brilliana answered, “so that it has come +and that I owe you no ill-will for teaching a foolish gentleman a +lesson. But you can shoot, it seems, and play games, and are apt in +out-door arts and wise in out-of-doors wisdom—for all the world like +a country gentleman.”</p> + +<p>“Madam, I am, as I hope, a gentleman, and as for the country +knowledge, I have lived its life in many lands and learned something +by the way.”</p> + +<p>“And now,” Brilliana bantered on, “you boast some science of the +still-room, and Mistress Satchell speaks of a Spanish manner of +grilling capons. Are you, perhaps, a herald as well as a master cook, +and do you know something of the gentle and joyous craft of the +huntsman?”</p> + +<p>Evander took her in her humor and bandied back the ball of +qualification.</p> + +<p>“I can prick a coat indifferently well,” he responded, solemnly, “and +if such trifles delight you, I can blaze arms by the days of the week +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>or the ages of man or the flowers of the field, though I hold that a +true herald will never stray beyond colors.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana nodded her head with an air of profound approval. “Better +and better,” she murmured. Evander went on with his catalogue of +self-compliment.</p> + +<p>“And as for my woodcraft, I can name you all the names of a male +deer, from hind calf, year by year, through brocket and spayed, and +staggard and stag, till his sixth year, when he is truly a hart and +has his rights of brow, bay, and tray antlers. I am skilled in the +uses of falcon-gentle, gerfalcon, saker, lanner, merlin, hobby, +goshawk, sparrow-hawk, and musket—”</p> + +<p>Brilliana interrupted him with an impetuous gesture of command, and +Evander made an end of his display.</p> + +<p>“Enough, enough!” she cried. “I feel like Balkis when she came to sip +wisdom from Solomon’s goblet. If I question you further I may find +that, like my Lord Verulam, you have taken all knowledge for your +province. This is something uncanny in a Puritan.”</p> + +<p>Evander protested.</p> + +<p>“Why should a man deny the arts of life because he finds strength in +the faith of the Puritans?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>“I know not why,” Brilliana answered, “but so it is generally +believed among us who are not Puritans.”</p> + +<p>“There are fanatic fellows with us as in all causes,” Evander +admitted, “and some, it may be, who wear moroseness to gain favor. +But these are no more than the fringe of a stout cloak. I am no +exceptional Puritan, I promise you. Colonel Cromwell himself—”</p> + +<p>Brilliana interrupted him with a frowning imperiousness.</p> + +<p>“Let us not talk of Colonel Cromwell,” she commanded.</p> + +<p>“I wish you would let me speak of Colonel Cromwell,” Evander pleaded. +“He has long been my dear friend, and—”</p> + +<p>“Let us not talk of Colonel Cromwell,” Brilliana repeated, with a +peremptory stamp of the foot. “I want to talk of you and your curious +Puritanism. I thought you were all too hypocritically devout to have +any care for the toys and colors of life.”</p> + +<p>“To be devout is not to be hypocritical,” Evander urged, gently. +“And, to speak for myself, I hope I am devout, but I do not find my +faith weakened by honorable enjoyment of honorable pleasures. Yet, +indeed, what poor accomplishments I can lay claim to—and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> afford +you diversion, I have somewhat exaggerated their scope and +number—are due directly to my being a Puritan—”</p> + +<p>“You are pleased to be paradoxical,” Brilliana asserted. Evander put +the suggestion aside with a head shake.</p> + +<p>“To my being a Puritan and to my being of your kin. When I was a boy +I learned of that kinship, learned how her marriage with a Puritan +had earned for a woman of your race the scorn, indeed the hatred of +her family, or those who should most and best have loved her.”</p> + +<p>“You do not understand how strongly those who think as we think feel +on such a matter,” Brilliana urged, one-half of her spirit angry that +she was speaking almost apologetically, the other half vexed that the +first half was not more angry.</p> + +<p>“Forgive me,” said Evander, “but I do understand; I understand very +well; I made it my business to understand. And, therefore, I resolved +that so far as in me lay I would show those who scorned my people and +my creed that a Puritan might compete with his enemies in all the +arts and graces they held most dear, and not come off the worst in +all encounters.”</p> + +<p>“That was a brave resolve!” Brilliana’s eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> and voice applauded +him. He flushed a little as he went on.</p> + +<p>“It was a kind of oath of Hannibal. God was gracious in the gift of a +strong will, and I stuck to my purpose. I mastered arts, acquired +tongues, forced myself to dexterity in all manly exercises. I had a +modest patrimony which allowed me to travel after I left Cambridge, +and so gain that knowledge of the world which is so dear to English +gentlemen. And always in my thoughts it was: some day I may meet some +son of the house that cast us out and show him that a Puritan might +fear God and yet ride a horse, fly a hawk, and use a sword with the +best of his enemies.”</p> + +<p>“Instead of which,” said Brilliana, as he paused, “you meet a +daughter of the house and play your well-practised part to her.” Her +voice was stern now and her eyes shone fiercely as she leaned forward +and continued in a low voice, “Was this the cause of your coming to +Harby?”</p> + +<p>“No,” Evander answered. “I should never have come to Harby of my own +accord. But news came to Cambridge of your flying the King’s flag. +The example was dangerous; Harby was a good house for either side to +hold. Colonel Cromwell commanded me to march <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>with the volunteers I +had raised at Cambridge to secure Harby in the name of the +Parliament.”</p> + +<p>“And you were very glad to obey,” Brilliana said, bitterly, and again +Evander shook his head.</p> + +<p>“I was very sorry to obey. But I had no choice. Colonel Cromwell was +my father’s friend; he knew the story of my people; he set it upon me +as a special seal for righteousness that I should do this thing. ‘Kin +shall be set against kin in this strife,’ he said, ‘father against +son, and brother against brother. Go forth in the name of the Lord +and pluck the banner of Baal from the wall of Harby.’ And I went.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana, lifting her head, looked over the green wall of yews to +where, in the cool, gray-blue of the October sky, the royal standard +fluttered its gaudy folds in the wind. She said nothing, but her +smile spoke whole volumes of victories; the panegyrics of a thousand +triumphs gleamed in her eyes. Evander read smile and gleam rightly.</p> + +<p>“True, I failed,” he admitted. “Yet I may not say that I am sorry, +for if I had not failed I should have lost a friend.”</p> + +<p>He looked admiringly at her, but Brilliana drew herself up stiffly +and regarded him coldly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><p>“You may be my kinsman without being my friend,” she said, with a +sourness which had the effect of making Evander laugh like a boy.</p> + +<p>“Why, lady,” he protested, “it is not ten minutes since that you +proffered me your friendship.”</p> + +<p>“Did I so?” Brilliana asked, puckering her brows as if in doubt, +though she had not the least doubt upon the matter.</p> + +<p>“Indeed, madam,” said Evander, very earnestly, “friends for a +lifetime.” Brilliana snapped contradiction.</p> + +<p>“No, no; it was you who said that. I admit the friendship for three +days.”</p> + +<p>“And I assert the friendship of a lifetime,” Evander persisted. His +voice and his eyes were very merry, but there came an unconquerable +gnawing at his heart that, in spite of the fair place and the fair +face and the sweet discourse, life for him meant no more than a space +of three days. Well, then, he would live his three days bravely, +brightly. He lifted his eyes to the lady.</p> + +<p>“Are you of Master Amiens’ school?” he asked—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“‘Most friendship is feigning, most love is mere folly.’”</p></div> + +<p>She made no reply to his question, but its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> matter surprised her and +prompted her to another.</p> + +<p>“Do you go to Master Shakespeare’s school?” she asked; and even as +she spoke she leaned forward to look at the book he had laid down and +to which, till that moment, she had paid no heed. She drew it towards +her and saw what it was.</p> + +<p>“Why, here are his plays. Can you affect him when ’tis known that the +King loves him?”</p> + +<p>“I would the King had no worse counsellors,” Evander said, gravely.</p> + +<p>Brilliana had lifted the big book onto her lap and was turning the +pages tenderly, pausing here and there with loving murmurs.</p> + +<p>“Had I been a man,” she said, softly, “I should have turned player +for the pleasure to speak such golden words.”</p> + +<p>Evander, watching her fair, lowered face under its crown of dark +hair, thought of all that Imogen might mean, or Rosalind or Juliet, +did each of these dear ones show on the stage like this lady. He gave +the odd thought form in speech.</p> + +<p>“It is strange,” he said, almost to himself, “that a Cavalier world +is content without women players.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana lifted her face from the book, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> there was a look of +astonishment and even of pain upon it.</p> + +<p>“Oh, that is quite another matter,” she said, quickly. “That could +never come to pass.”</p> + +<p>Evander’s Puritanism, recalled to recollection of itself, felt +compelled to assent.</p> + +<p>“I trust not,” he said, gravely. He was looking at Brilliana with +eyes that were honestly admiring. She rose from her seat.</p> + +<p>“I must dismiss you now,” she said, “for I have much to do ere +dinner. You will dine with me, I pray.”</p> + +<p>Evander made her a not uncourtly bow.</p> + +<p>“If I be not unwelcome,” he suggested.</p> + +<p>Brilliana shook her head very positively.</p> + +<p>“We are pledged friends for the time, and friends love to break bread +together.”</p> + +<p>There was no countering this argument. Evander took up the folio and +made its owner another bow.</p> + +<p>“I will attend you at the dinner-hour,” he said. “This treasure I +restore to its home.”</p> + +<p>As the Parliament man moved away across the grass, his image very +dark against its green, Brilliana looked after him, nursing her chin +in her palm and her elbow on her knee. As he entered the house with +the big book under his arm she took out her pretty handkerchief, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +with much deliberation tied a small knot in one corner of it.</p> + +<p>“Master Puritan, Master Puritan,” she murmured, “I must tie a knot in +my handkerchief to remind me that you and I are enemies.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h2>MASTER PAUL AND MASTER PETER</h2> + +<p>At the dinner-hour Halfman came for Evander, where he sat in the +library, and told him that Lady Brilliana awaited him. The meal was +served in the banqueting-hall, a splendid, panelled room with +deep-embrasured windows, from which the defences had now been removed +and through which the inmates could have noble views of the lawns and +gardens beyond the moat. The little company of three seemed, as it +were, lost in the vastness of the chamber as they sat at meat +together at the oak table by the hearth at one end of the room, +Brilliana at the head, with Halfman at her right and Evander at her +left as the guest and stranger. It proved a vastly pleasant meal to +Evander, for the talk was brisk and entertaining, and there was no +allusion made to those civil and religious differences which in +distracting the country had their curious effect, so unimportant to +the country, so important to themselves, of bringing that oddly +assorted trio together. Brilliana gave a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> gracious equality of +attention to her companions; showed no keener interest in her new +visitor than she had found in the conversation of her old +acquaintance, and thus made both men very happily at their ease. +Indeed, Halfman was at his best that afternoon, playing the genial, +ripe, mellow man of the world to perfection, so that Evander found +him a most entertaining board-fellow.</p> + +<p>They were at the fruit, and Halfman showing them tricks of carving +faces in October apples, when Tiffany skipped into the room a-twitter +with excitement.</p> + +<p>“My lady,” she cried, “here is come Master Paul and two of our people +bearing a great box. And I can spy Master Peter and his party with +another at the turn of the road.”</p> + +<p>Halfman laughed loudly; Brilliana laughed softly; Evander wondered +what there was to laugh at.</p> + +<p>“Lodge them apart and bring them in by turn,” Brilliana gave order. +“Master Paul first and then Master Peter. This is rare. Bring them +in, bring them in.”</p> + +<p>Tiffany fluttered out and Evander rose from his chair.</p> + +<p>“Shall I leave you, lady?” he asked, thinking that she would be +private. But Brilliana would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> not hear of this and motioned to him to +keep his seat.</p> + +<p>“Nay, sir, stay,” she said, “if you would see some sport.”</p> + +<p>Even as she spoke Tiffany returned, ushering in Master Hungerford, +followed by two men in Brilliana’s livery, bearing with pains a chest +which they set down with a deep breath of relief. Tiffany, who was +now in the secret, pretended to be busy at a sideboard so as to stay +in the room. Master Paul rubbed his lean fingers together and scraped +to the company.</p> + +<p>“You have been swift, Master Hungerford,” Brilliana said, +approvingly. Master Hungerford smiled furtively.</p> + +<p>“Who would not use despatch in the King’s cause and yours. ’Tis as I +said: the pestilent Roundhead had a chest full of broad-pieces +stuffed under his bed. And here it now is at your feet.” And he +pointed victoriously at the spoils of war. Brilliana applauded as if +she had been at the play.</p> + +<p>“You have done well,” she said, with the tears in her eyes for +laughter. Halfman kept a grave face and Evander wondered.</p> + +<p>“Call me your knight,” Master Paul pleaded, with a languishing look.</p> + +<p>“You have done well, my knight,” Brilliana<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> repeated; then, turning +to Tiffany, she bade her see that the chest was set in a place of +safety. The two men took up their burden again and followed Tiffany +out of the room. But in a jiffy the maid was back again and +whispering in her mistress’s ear.</p> + +<p>Brilliana turned her amused gaze upon Master Paul.</p> + +<p>“Master Hungerford,” she entreated, “will you be so good as to wait +awhile in the next chamber. I have some immediate business to deal +with, but I would be loath to part company with you so soon if you +have the leisure to wait.”</p> + +<p>Master Hungerford, protesting his readiness to attend upon her +pleasure, was promptly ushered by Halfman into an adjoining room, +where he left him, and having closely shut the door, came back +shaking with suppressed laughter to Brilliana. Evander, looking from +the mirthful man to the mirthful maid, felt constrained to question.</p> + +<p>“Why are you so merry?”</p> + +<p>“You will know ere the sun is much older,” Brilliana answered, +composing her countenance, “for here comes the other.”</p> + +<p>As she spoke Tiffany returned, ushering in Master Peter Rainham and a +fresh brace of Brilliana’s servants, staggering, like their +predecessors, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>under the weight of a great chest. The certainty that +some astonishing jest was towards set Evander on the alert as he +scrutinized the forbidding form and features of the new-comer.</p> + +<p>“Welcome, thrice welcome, Master Peter Rainham,” cried Brilliana. +“You have made good speed.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter proffered her an uncouth salutation and pointed to the +chest on the floor significantly.</p> + +<p>“Lady,” he said, “I have done the King a good turn. There are gold +plates there, gold dishes, gold ewers, that will change in the +melting-pot to many a troop of horse for the King’s cause.”</p> + +<p>“I thank you with all my heart,” Brilliana said, quietly.</p> + +<p>Master Peter leered cunningly at her, and earned the cordial dislike +of Evander.</p> + +<p>“Do you give me your heart with your thanks?” he asked, with what he +believed to be gallantry.</p> + +<p>Brilliana made a little fanning motion at him with her hand.</p> + +<p>“You are too hot,” she said. Then ordered Tiffany, “See these +treasures despatched to the King under guard.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p><p>As before, the serving-men took up the chest, which seemed even +heavier than the former box, and were convoyed by Tiffany out of the +room. Then Brilliana turned to Master Peter, who stood apart biting +his nails awkwardly.</p> + +<p>“Master Rainham,” she said, “you have shown rare discretion and made +brave despatch. I would thank you at greater length were it not that +I have company. There is one in the next room who waits to see me. +Entreat the gentleman to enter, Captain Halfman.”</p> + +<p>Halfman went to the nigh door, and, opening it, summoned with +beckoning finger its tenant to come forth. Master Hungerford emerged +radiant. For a moment neither squire saw the other. Then Master +Rainham, looking away from Brilliana, saw Master Hungerford; and +Master Hungerford, looking away from Halfman, saw Master Rainham.</p> + +<p>To those who watched the comedy the silence was intense, and +throbbing with possibilities as summer air throbs with heat. +Brilliana heard Master Rainham say, “What a devil, Master +Hungerford,” and Halfman, for his part, averred later that Master +Hungerford, too, greeted his neighbor’s presence with an oath. The +spectators wondered what would happen: it was plain as noon that each +squire for an instant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> believed that the other had discovered larceny +and had posted to avenge it. But while each man knew of his own guilt +neither could guess or did guess at the other’s theft, and neither +reading anger in the other’s visage, each concluded that the meeting +was a piece of chance, and each resolved to make the best of it, +laughing heartily in his sleeve at the other’s catastrophe. So +“Good-morrow, neighbor,” nodded Master Paul, and “Good-day, +good-day,” responded Master Peter, and Brilliana thought her bodice +would burst with her effort to keep her appreciation a prisoner.</p> + +<p>“Why, sirs,” she cried, “this is a good seeing, a pair of neighbors +under my roof.”</p> + +<p>“What does this fellow here?” Master Paul asked behind his hand of +Halfman, who answered, very coolly,</p> + +<p>“He comes to pay court to our lady.”</p> + +<p>At the same moment, beneath his breath, Master Peter was questioning +Brilliana, “Why is that disloyal rogue here?” Brilliana answered, +with a pretty toss of the head:</p> + +<p>“Would you ever believe it? He came to assure me of his devotion to +me and his zeal for his Majesty.”</p> + +<p>Master Peter, in wrath, looked more porcine than ever.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p><p>“The lying knave,” he grunted. “What are his words to my deeds?”</p> + +<p>“What, indeed,” answered Brilliana, demurely. “I pray you persuade +him hence.”</p> + +<p>“So that I may return alone?”</p> + +<p>Thus Master Peter interpreted Brilliana, and the minx gave him a +glance which might well be taken as justifying his interpretation. At +this moment Master Paul broke in upon their colloquy.</p> + +<p>“A word with you, I pray you,” he said, sourly, “if my good neighbor +will give me good leave.”</p> + +<p>Master Rainham withdrew a little way his self-satisfaction and +himself, while Master Paul whispered to Brilliana:</p> + +<p>“You know me now: I am proved your friend. Prithee get rid of that +mean huckster.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana desired nothing better. She gave him the same advice that +she had given his neighbor, and was mischievously delighted to find +that he interpreted it after the same fashion. It did her heart good +to see how the two squires approached each other with many formal +expressions of good-will, each persuading the other to depart, and +each warmly proffering companionship on the homeward road. In the end +they went off together arm in arm, each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> endeavoring to convey to +Brilliana by nods and winks that he proposed to return alone very +shortly.</p> + +<p>As soon as they were fairly gone Brilliana and Halfman allowed +themselves to laugh like school-boy and school-girl, and then +Brilliana commanded Halfman to take order that neither gentleman was +to be admitted again. When he had gone on this business she turned to +Evander.</p> + +<p>“Well,” she said, “have you found the key to the riddle?”</p> + +<p>“You have made these two neighbors plunder each other?” he hazarded. +Brilliana nodded gleefully, and then, guessing at disapproval in his +gravity, she asserted, defiantly:</p> + +<p>“It was for the King’s cause. Everything is right for the King’s +cause.”</p> + +<p>At this flagrant enunciation of Cavalier policy Evander could not but +smile.</p> + +<p>“How will it end?” he asked. He was to learn that very soon, but +first he was to learn other things of greater import to himself.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + +<h2>A DAY PASSES</h2> + +<p>A day is twenty-four hours if you take it by the card, but the spirit +of joy or the spirit of sorrow has the power to multiply its +potentialities amazingly. Both these spirits walked by Evander’s side +during his second day at Harby. The one that went in sable reminded +him that his horizon was dwindling almost to his feet; the other, in +rose and gold, hinted that it is better to be emperor for a day than +beggar for a century. And truly through all that day Evander esteemed +himself happier than an emperor. For he had discovered that Brilliana +was the most adorable woman in the world, and, knowing how his span +of life was shrinking, he allowed himself to adore without let or +hinderance of hostile faiths and warring causes. He did not, as +another in his desperate case might have done, make the most of his +time by using it for very straightforward love-making. There was a +fine austerity in him that denied such a course. Were he an undoomed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>man his creed and his cause would forbid him to philander; being a +doomed man, it could not consort with his honor to act differently. +But he was radiantly happy in her constant companionship, and the +hours fled from him iris-tinted as he relived the age of gold.</p> + +<p>But if Evander trod the air, there was another who pressed the earth +with leaden feet and carried a heart of lead. Halfman read Evander’s +happiness with hostile eyes; he read, too, very clearly, Brilliana’s +content in Evander’s company, and he raged at it. He had grown so +used to himself as Brilliana’s ally that he had come to dream mad +dreams which were none the less sweet because of their madness. He +had rehearsed himself if not as Romeo at least as Othello, and if +Brilliana was not in the least like Desdemona that knowledge did not +dash him, for he thought her much more delectable than the Venetian, +and he thanked his stars that he was not a blackamoor. He had not +pushed his thoughts to a precise formula; he had been content to +delight during the hours of siege in the companionship of a matchless +maid, and now the maid had found another companion, and he knew that +he was fiercely in love and as foolishly jealous as a moon-calf. +Brilliana was as kind to him as ever, but she gave her time to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> the +new man, and Halfman, inwardly bleeding and outwardly the magnificent +stoic, left the pair to themselves and absented himself at meal-times +on pretext of pressing business with the volunteer troop. But his +temper grew as a gale grows and would soon prove a whirlwind.</p> + +<p>The garden-room at Harby was one of its many glories. Its panelled +walls, its portraits of old-time Harbys, its painted ceiling, were +exquisite parts of its exquisite harmony. On the side towards the +park the wall was little more than a colonnade—to which doors could +be fitted in winter-time, and here, as from a loggia, the indweller +could feast on one of the fairest prospects in Oxfordshire. Across +the moat the gardens stretched, in summer-time a riot of color, +flowers glowing like jewels set in green enamel. In the waning autumn +the scene was still fair, even though the day was overcast as this +day was, from which the weather-wise and even the weather-unwise +could freely and confidently prophesy rain. Brilliana dearly loved +her garden-room for many things, most, perhaps, because of its +full-length portrait of her King, an honest copy from an adorable +Vandyke, to which, as to a shrined image, Brilliana paid honest +adoration. She knew more about the picture than anyone else<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> in +Harby, and used sometimes to wonder if the knowledge would ever avail +her. In the mean time, ever since the troubles began, she always bent +a knee whenever she passed the portrait. She had never seen her King, +yet she felt as if she saw him daily, visible in the living flesh, so +keenly did her loyalty seem to quicken color and canvas. Brilliana +was not the only soul in England whose loyalty gave the King a kind +of godhead, but if she had many peers she had none, nor could have, +who overpassed her.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the third day of Evander’s stay at Harby, Halfman +sat on the edge of the table in the garden-room and stared through +the open doorway into the green beyond. He was alone, and he had +flung off the stoic robe and was very frankly an angry man and very +frankly a dangerous man. What he saw in the garden maddened him; his +eyes glittered like a cat’s that stalks its prey. He had no room in +his thoughts for the cottage of his earlier dreams, with its pleasant +garden and its lazy hours over ale and tobacco. He thought only of a +woman quite beyond his reach, and his heart lusted for the lawless +days when your lucky buccaneer might take his pick of a score of +women by right of fire and sword and tame his choice as he pleased.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p><p>To this mood fortune sent interruption in the person of Sir Blaise +Mickleton. Sir Blaise had opened the door expecting to find in the +room Brilliana, whom he had come with a purpose to visit, and instead +of Brilliana he found this queer soldier swinging his legs from the +table and scowling truculently. From what Sir Blaise had already seen +of Halfman he found him very little to his mind, but he reflected +that he had come on a mission, that Brilliana was nowhere in sight, +and that Halfman, who had served her during the siege, might very +well direct him where he should find her.</p> + +<p>As Halfman took no notice whatever of him, Sir Blaise deemed it +advisable, in the interests of his mission, to attract his attention. +So he gave a politic cough and followed it with a “Give you +good-morrow” of such sufficient loudness that Halfman could not +choose but hear it. He did not change his attitude, however, or turn +his face from the window, as he answered, in a sullen voice,</p> + +<p>“I should need a good-morrow to mend a bad day.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise had not the wit to let a sleeping dog lie, but must needs +prod it to see if it could bark. So he very foolishly said what were +indeed obvious even to a greater fool than he.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p><p>“You seem in the sullens.”</p> + +<p>The sleeping dog could bark. Halfman turned a scowling face upon the +knight as he answered, malevolently:</p> + +<p>“Swamped, water-logged, foundering. You are a pretty parrakeet to +come between me and my musings.”</p> + +<p>The tone of Halfman’s speech, the way of Halfman’s demeanor were so +offensive that the knight’s cheap dignity took fire. He swelled with +displeasure, flushed very red in the gills, and cleared his throat +for reproof.</p> + +<p>“Master Majordomo, you forget yourself.”</p> + +<p>Halfman proved too indifferent or too self-absorbed to take umbrage. +He stared into the garden again with a sigh.</p> + +<p>“No, I remember myself, and the memory vexes me. I dreamed I was a +king, a kaiser, a demigod. I wake, rub my eyes, and am no more than a +fool.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise was patronizingly forgiving. He was thirsty, also the +morning was chilly.</p> + +<p>“Let us exorcise your devil with a pottle of hot ale,” he suggested. +Halfman shook his head wistfully.</p> + +<p>“I should be happier in a sable habit, with a steeple hat, and a rank +in the Parliament army.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>It was plain to Sir Blaise that a man must be very deep in the dumps +who was not to be tempted by hot ale.</p> + +<p>“Lordamercy, are you for changing sides now?” he asked.</p> + +<p>As Halfman made him no answer but continued to stare gloomily into +the garden, Blaise concluded that the interest lay there which made +him thus distracted. So he came down to the table and looked over +Halfman’s shoulder. In the distance he saw a man and woman walking +among the trees. The man was patently the Puritan prisoner, the woman +was the chatelaine of Harby. The pair seemed very deep in converse. +As Sir Blaise looked, they were out of sight round a turning. Halfman +gave a heavy groan and spoke, more to himself, as it seemed, than to +his companion.</p> + +<p>“Look how they walk in the garden, ever in talk. Time was she would +walk and talk with me, listen to my wars and wanderings, and call me +a gallant captain.”</p> + +<p>“Are you jealous of the Puritan prisoner?” Blaise asked, astonished. +Halfman answered with an oath.</p> + +<p>“Oh, God, that the siege had lasted forever, or that she had kept her +word and blown us sky high.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><p>Blaise began to snigger.</p> + +<p>“’Ods-life! do you dare a love for your lady?” he said. He had better +not have said it. Halfman turned on him with a face like a demon’s +and the plump knight recoiled.</p> + +<p>“Why the red devil should I not,” Halfman asked, hoarsely, “if a +bumpkin squire like you may do as much?”</p> + +<p>Blaise tried to domineer, but the effort was feeble before the +fierceness in Halfman’s glare.</p> + +<p>“Are you speaking to me, your superior?” he stammered. Halfman +answered him mockingly, with a voice that swelled in menace as the +taunting speech ran on.</p> + +<p>“Will you ride against me, cross swords with me, come to grips with +me any way? You dare not. I am well born, have seen things, done +things ’twould make you shiver to hear of them. Come, I am in a +fiend’s humor; come with your sword to the orchard and see which of +us is the better man.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise was in a fair panic at this raging fury he had conjured up +and now was fain to pacify.</p> + +<p>“Soft, soft, honest captain; why so choleric? I would not wrong you. +But surely you do not think she favors this Puritan?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he’s a proper man, damn him!” Halfman <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>admitted. “He has a right +to a woman’s liking. And he must love her, God help him! as every man +does that looks on her.”</p> + +<p>Blaise looked pathetic.</p> + +<p>“What is there to do?” he asked, helplessly. Halfman struck his right +fist into his left palm.</p> + +<p>“I would do something, I promise you. He is no immortal. But we shall +be rid of him soon. If Colonel Cromwell do not surrender Cousin +Randolph we are pledged to his killing, and if he do, then our friend +rejoins his army; and I pray the devil my master that I may have the +joy to pistol him on some stricken field.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise thought it was time to change the conversation.</p> + +<p>“Let us leave these ravings and vaporings,” he entreated, wheedling, +“and return to the business of life. And ’tis a very unpleasant +business I come on.”</p> + +<p>Halfman drew his hand across his forehead as a man who seeks to +dissipate ill dreams. Then, with a tranquil face, he gave Blaise the +attention he petitioned.</p> + +<p>“How so?” he asked. Any business were a pleasing change from his sick +thoughts.</p> + +<p>“Why, I am a justice of the peace for these parts,” Sir Blaise said, +“and I am importuned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> by two honest neighbors to process of law +against your lady.”</p> + +<p>Halfman laughed unpleasantly.</p> + +<p>“The Lady Brilliana’s wish is the law of this country-side, I promise +you.”</p> + +<p>He grinned maliciously and fingered at his sword-hilt. Sir Blaise +felt exceedingly uncomfortable. Here was no promising beginning for a +solemn judicial errand. But the knight had a mighty high sense of his +own importance, and he felt himself shielded, as it were, from the +tempers of this fire-eater by the dignity of his office and the +majesty of the law. So he came to his business with a manner as +pompous as he could muster.</p> + +<p>“Master Rainham and Master Hungerford are exceedingly angry,” he +asserted.</p> + +<p>Halfman flouted him and his clients.</p> + +<p>“Because she bobbed them so bravely? The knaves came raving to our +gates when they found how they had been tricked into picking each +other’s pockets. But I made them take to their heels, I promise you. +You should have seen their fool faces at the sight of a musket’s +muzzle.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise looked righteously indignant.</p> + +<p>“Sir, sir,” he protested, “muskets will not mend matters if these +gentlemen have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> wronged. They came hot-foot to me, and in the +interests of peace I have entreated them hither. They wait without in +the care of two of your people to keep them from flying at each +other’s throats.”</p> + +<p>Halfman heard the distressing news with equanimity.</p> + +<p>“Why not let them kill each other?” he suggested, blandly. Blaise +lifted his hands in horror.</p> + +<p>“Friend,” he said, “in this mission I am a man of peace. Will you +acquaint your lady?”</p> + +<p>Halfman grunted acquiescence.</p> + +<p>“Oh, ay; bring in your boobies.”</p> + +<p>He turned on his heel and swung out through the doorway into the +garden.</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise looked after him for a moment disapprovingly, then he went +to the door by which he had entered, and, opening it, called aloud,</p> + +<p>“This way, gentlemen, this way.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + +<h2>A HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE</h2> + +<p>There was a loud, scuffling noise without, as of the trampling of +many feet and the inarticulate growlings of wild beasts. Then Clupp +entered the room, clasping in his mighty arms the long body of Master +Paul Hungerford. He was followed by Garlinge, who was performing the +like embracive office for the short body of Master Peter Rainham. The +two angry gentlemen plunged and struggled impotently to free +themselves from their guardians and hurl themselves at each other’s +throats. They might as well have tried to free themselves from clamps +of iron. To the master-muscled Garlinge and Clupp—a strong Gyas, a +strong Cloanthes, no less—they were no more difficult to restrain +than would have been a brace of puling babes. Even their speech was +not free to make amends for their captivity, for they were so brimful +of choler and had so roared and shrieked their rage ere this that the +torrent of their fury spent itself in vacant mouthings and +splutterings.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> Sir Blaise eyed the brawlers with exceeding disfavor.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” he entreated, “be calm, I beg of you.”</p> + +<p>At the sound of his voice the disputants found theirs, or rather +found themselves restored to command over human speech. Each turned +towards Sir Blaise, swaying over the clasped arms of his captor.</p> + +<p>“Sir Blaise,” screamed Master Paul, “in the King’s name I call upon +you to commit this thief to jail.”</p> + +<p>“Set that footpad in the pillory, Sir Blaise,” yelled Master Peter. +Then they turned upon each other again.</p> + +<p>“You rogue,” cried Master Paul.</p> + +<p>“You rascal,” answered Master Peter.</p> + +<p>In a second they were again struggling to get at each other, and +were, as before, imperturbably held asunder by Garlinge and Clupp.</p> + +<p>Again Sir Blaise protested.</p> + +<p>“Good friends, be calm, I entreat you.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll cut his heart out,” Peter vociferated, stabbing a dirty hand in +the direction of his enemy.</p> + +<p>“I’ll make him mincemeat,” Paul promised, sawing at the air.</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise, turning away in disgust, saw how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> in the garden Brilliana +was making for the house. He frowned on the malcontents.</p> + +<p>“Hush, here comes the lady.”</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke Brilliana entered from the garden, followed by +Evander and Halfman. The girl looked as bright as sunlight as she +greeted the company.</p> + +<p>“Good-morning, Sir Blaise; good-morning, my masters.”</p> + +<p>Then she burst out laughing at the furious faces and helpless +gesticulations of the irate claimants. Her laughter was very +delightful for most men to hear, but it goaded the squires to frenzy.</p> + +<p>“Sir Blaise,” cried Master Paul, “I call you to witness that the lady +laughs at us.”</p> + +<p>“Sir Blaise,” cried Master Peter, “there stands our undoing.” +Brilliana frowned a little and turned to Halfman.</p> + +<p>“Friend,” she said, “will you see order here.”</p> + +<p>“Very blithely,” Halfman answered. He commanded the servants.</p> + +<p>“You, Garlinge and Clupp, see that your prisoners keep silence.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul and Master Peter began to protest in chorus.</p> + +<p>“We are no prison—” But they got no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>further, for Garlinge and Clupp +silenced them by clapping huge hands over their gaping mouths. +Brilliana gave a little sigh of relief at the welcome quiet.</p> + +<p>“Now, Sir Blaise,” she asked, “why are these gentlemen here?”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise made salutation and answered, “Truly, most paradisiacal +lady, these gentlemen make grave allegations that you did insidiously +incite them to the commission of a felony.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana looked from Sir Blaise to the muffled, grappled plaintiffs +and made mirthful decision.</p> + +<p>“I represent the King here. I will try this matter.”</p> + +<p>Blaise felt bound to lodge protest against this monstrous +proposition.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps, most Elysian of fair ladies, it would be, as one might say, +more seemly if I, as a justice of the peace—”</p> + +<p>Brilliana daffed him down.</p> + +<p>“Sir Blaise, we are at war now, and by your leave I will handle this +matter after my own fashion.”</p> + +<p>“I must protest,” Blaise bleated, but Brilliana would not listen to +him.</p> + +<p>“You must do nothing,” she insisted, “but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> help me to set chairs. One +here for me, one there for you, my brother justice; one there for +Captain Cloud, who, as a stranger of distinction, shall have a seat +on the bench.”</p> + +<p>“I thank you for the honor,” said Evander, watching the scene with +much entertainment. As Brilliana talked she, with Blaise and Halfman, +had been busy placing seats as she directed at the table.</p> + +<p>“Captain Halfman,” Brilliana went on, “you write a clerkly hand. Sit +you here; you shall be our clerk. Arraign the prisoners.”</p> + +<p>By this time all were seated as Brilliana had disposed; Sir Blaise +had completely surrendered his dignity to her spell. Even Halfman +found pleasure in the grotesque sham trial.</p> + +<p>Garlinge and Clupp brought their charges down to face the newly +formed tribunal. Halfman spoke.</p> + +<p>“Here, my lady, we have two hobs who have come to loggerheads as to +which is best disposed to the King. Garlinge, let Master Hungerford +speak.” Garlinge removed his massive hand from his prisoner’s mouth, +and Paul, after gaping like a fish for some seconds, gasped out,</p> + +<p>“Lady, you know well enough how you have befooled us.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p><p>Brilliana stared upon him, bewitchingly unembarrassed by the charge.</p> + +<p>“Manners, master,” cried Halfman, angrily, “or I’ll manner you.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana daintily deprecated his heat.</p> + +<p>“Wait, wait,” she said. “First of all, are you a loyal subject of the +King?”</p> + +<p>Master Paul rubbed his chin dubiously. “That is as it may be,” he +muttered.</p> + +<p>Brilliana tapped the table. “Faint hesitation is flat treason,” she +cried. Turning to Halfman, she commanded, “Write him down for a +confessed Roundhead.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul clawed towards her excitedly.</p> + +<p>“No, no; pray you not so fast,” he entreated. “I am a good King’s +man.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana condescended approval.</p> + +<p>“He amends his plea,” she noted to Halfman. Master Paul went on, +fractiously,</p> + +<p>“But that does not make me love to be plundered.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana rose and, resting the tips of her fingers on the table, +addressed Master Hungerford sternly.</p> + +<p>“Master Hungerford, one of two things. Either you are a Roundhead, in +which case you have no rights in loyal, royal Oxfordshire—say I not +well, Sir Blaise?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p><p>“Marvellous well,” Sir Blaise assented.</p> + +<p>“Ergo,” Brilliana continued, “having no rights you have no goods, +having no goods you cannot be plundered.”</p> + +<p>“Yet I was plundered,” Master Paul protested. Brilliana exorcised the +plea.</p> + +<p>“We shall convince you to the contrary. If you are no Roundhead then +you are a stanch Cavalier, and in the King’s name you confiscated +certain gear of your fellow-prisoner.”</p> + +<p>Now, while Paul was being interrogated Clupp had removed his hand +from Master Peter’s mouth and contented himself with holding him +fast. Master Peter now saw an opportunity to assert himself.</p> + +<p>“I am not a prison—” he began, but was not suffered to speak +further. Instantly Clupp’s palm closed again upon the parted jaws and +reduced him to silence once more, while Brilliana went on.</p> + +<p>“In doing which you deserved well of his Majesty.”</p> + +<p>“Ay, all was well so far,” Master Paul grumbled; “but he played the +like trick upon me at your instigation.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana would not hear of it.</p> + +<p>“You misuse speech. ’Tis no trick to serve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> the King. As I +understand, each of you accuses the other of robbing him.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul agreed. Master Peter, gagged behind Clupp’s hand, nodded +dismally. Brilliana went on.</p> + +<p>“This is at first blush a dilemma, but our wit makes all clear. Each +of you, avowedly in the King’s name, did descend upon the dwelling of +a disaffected rebel and make certain seizures there which have been +duly sent to his Majesty. Each of you is, therefore, proved to be a +loyal subject and honorable gentleman. So far you are with me, Sir +Blaise?”</p> + +<p>“Surely, surely,” the knight agreed.</p> + +<p>“Yet, on the other hand,” continued Brilliana, “each of you accuses +the other of robbing him. Now to rob is to offend against the King’s +law, to be, therefore, an enemy to the King; and an enemy to the King +is a Roundhead. Is not this well argued, Sir Blaise?”</p> + +<p>“Socrates could not have bettered it,” commended Sir Blaise.</p> + +<p>“We arrive, therefore, at the strange conclusion,” said Brilliana, +judicially, “that each of you is at the same time an honest Cavalier +and a dishonest Roundhead. Now, as no man living can be in the same +breath Cavalier and Roundhead, it follows as plainly as B follows A +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>that whichever one of you complains of the other is avowedly the +King’s enemy and a palpable rebel.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul scratched his head.</p> + +<p>“I do not follow your reasoning,” he mumbled. Brilliana appealed to +the justice of the peace.</p> + +<p>“Yet it is very clear. Is it not, Sir Blaise?”</p> + +<p>“Limpidity itself,” Sir Blaise approved, complacently. Brilliana +resumed.</p> + +<p>“One or other of you is a traitor and shall be sent to Oxford in +chains, to await the King’s pleasure and his own pain. I care not +which it be.”</p> + +<p>“You have set me in such a quandary,” Master Paul protested, “my head +buzzes like a hive.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana directly questioned him.</p> + +<p>“You, Master Hungerford, are you a King’s man?”</p> + +<p>Master Paul was vehement in asseveration.</p> + +<p>“I am a King’s man, hook and eye.”</p> + +<p>“Then,” Brilliana assumed, “’tis Master Rainham must fare in chains +to Oxford.”</p> + +<p>Master Rainham, staring at her over Clupp’s paw, had such appealing +terror in his eyes that Brilliana pitied him.</p> + +<p>“’Tis your turn now,” she said. “Let him give tongue, Clupp.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p><p>Clupp withdrew his hand and Master Rainham gurgled:</p> + +<p>“I proclaim myself a faithful subject of the King. Let that dog trot +to Oxford.”</p> + +<p>“You matchless basilisk!” screamed Master Paul at him, and “You +damnable mandrake!” retorted Master Peter. The pair would have flown +at each other if they could have wriggled free. But as they could not +they perforce resigned themselves to hear what Brilliana would say +next.</p> + +<p>“Why, then, it stands thus,” Brilliana summed up. “This court decides +that you are both servants of the King; that you have both done the +King good service, willing and yet unwilling. I think I shall have +some little credit with the King, and I shall use it with his Majesty +by entreating him to grant the grace of knighthood to two honest +friends of mine and two honest lovers of his—Master Hungerford and +Master Rainham.”</p> + +<p>Master Paul looked at Master Peter; Master Peter looked at Master +Paul. Master Paul smiled. Master Peter smiled.</p> + +<p>“A knighthood!”</p> + +<p>Master Peter mumbled the word lovingly. Master Paul blew a kiss +towards Brilliana.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>“Then I shall be indeed your knight,” he simpered.</p> + +<p>“Are you content?” Brilliana asked, gravely, and the two squires +answered in union,</p> + +<p>“We are content.”</p> + +<p>“Then this worshipful court adjourns sine die. Captain Halfman, see +that our friends be refreshed ere they depart.”</p> + +<p>Halfman rose, and with a “Follow me, sirs,” made for the door. Sir +Blaise stooped over Brilliana’s finger-tips.</p> + +<p>“Farewell, my lady wisdom. Solomon was not more wise nor Minos more +sapient.”</p> + +<p>“I thought you would uphold me,” Brilliana replied. “Farewell.”</p> + +<p>Sir Blaise saluted Evander, who returned the salutation and quitted +the room. Master Paul, taking leave of Brilliana, whispered,</p> + +<p>“When I am knight, you shall be my lady.”</p> + +<p>“When you are king, diddle-diddle, I shall be queen,” Brilliana +laughed at him, making a reverence. He joined Halfman at the door and +Master Peter approached Brilliana.</p> + +<p>“When I wear my new title, I will lay it at your feet,” he promised, +solemnly.</p> + +<p>“Can you not keep it in your own hands?” Brilliana questioned. She +made him a reverence, he made her his best bow and went to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>the door, +where Master Paul waited with Halfman. Here a point of ceremony +arose.</p> + +<p>“After you, Sir Peter,” Master Paul suggested. Master Peter fondled +the title.</p> + +<p>“Sir Peter! It sounds nobly. Nay, after you, Sir Paul,” he protested. +They were at this business so long that Halfman lost patience.</p> + +<p>“Stand not on the order of your going,” he growled between his teeth, +then grasping with an air of bluff good-fellowship an arm of either +squire, he banged them somewhat roughly together.</p> + +<p>“Nay, arm in arm, as neighbor knights should,” he suggested, and so +jostled them out of the chamber and conducted them to the buttery, +where for the next hour he diverted himself by making them very drunk +indeed.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + +<h2>ROMEO AND JULIET</h2> + +<p>Brilliana turned to Evander.</p> + +<p>“Well, Captain Puritan, are you displeased with me?”</p> + +<p>Evander disclaimed such thought.</p> + +<p>“Why should I be displeased that you, a King’s woman, serve the +King?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana was pertinacious.</p> + +<p>“If you were a King’s man would you applaud me?”</p> + +<p>“If I were a King’s man,” Evander confessed, “I could not choose but +applaud you.”</p> + +<p>“But being a Puritan?” Brilliana persisted.</p> + +<p>“Why,” said Evander, “being a Puritan, I must ask you, were you just +to your victims?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana swept them away disdainfully.</p> + +<p>“Each would have cheated the King in an hour, when, to all who think +with me, to cheat the King is little better than to cheat God. But +your scrupulosity need not shiver. If the King do not knight my +misers I will requite them, little as they deserve it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p><p>Evander admired her.</p> + +<p>“You are a brave lady.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana gave a sigh.</p> + +<p>“No, I am not brave at all; I am newly very timid. I am frightened of +the real world now, and feel only at my ease with shadows.”</p> + +<p>“Shall we journey into shadow-land?” Evander asked.</p> + +<p>“By what path?” Brilliana questioned. Evander touched a brown, torn +book.</p> + +<p>“Shall we read again in Master Shakespeare’s book?”</p> + +<p>For indeed they had read much in his pages that morning. Brilliana +looked pleased.</p> + +<p>“Yes, indeed. Let us go into my paradise.”</p> + +<p>She looked into the garden and came back with a shiver.</p> + +<p>“Ah, no, it is raining. It rained when the King raised his standard +at Nottingham. Well, well, we can read here.”</p> + +<p>Evander was turning the leaves.</p> + +<p>“What shall we read? Comedy, history, tragedy?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana was for the solemn mask.</p> + +<p>“Let it be tragedy. I have laughed so much this morning that my mind +turns to melancholy.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p><p>Evander looked up at her with his finger on a page.</p> + +<p>“Shall we read ‘Romeo and Juliet’?”</p> + +<p>“I know that play by root of heart,” Brilliana said.</p> + +<p>“Truly, so do I,” said Evander.</p> + +<p>Brilliana was silent, pensive, a finger on her lip, considering some +project. Then she said, doubtfully:</p> + +<p>“You spoke the other day of women players, a thing that seemed to me +incredible. Shall we see how it would seem here for us two? Let us +while away a wet morning by playing a stage play.”</p> + +<p>Evander’s heart leaped.</p> + +<p>“With you for the sweet scene in the garden,” he cried.</p> + +<p>In a moment Brilliana was busy in the setting of her scene. She +pulled round a heavy, high-backed chair and leaped into it, leaning +over the back and looking up as if the painted ceiling glowed with +the stars of an Italian night. Then the words flowed from her, the +wonderful words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">“‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Deny thy father and refuse thy name:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p><p>Evander said his line a little stiffly; he was awkward, being a man.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“‘Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Brilliana flowed on:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou art thyself though not a Montague.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor arm nor face. O be some other name<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Belonging to a man.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What’s in a name? That which we call a rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By any other word would smell as sweet;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Retain that dear perfection which he owes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without that title.—Romeo, doff thy name;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And for thy name which is no part of thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take all myself.’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Evander put heart now into his part as he moved towards her.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7">“‘I take thee at thy word.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptiz’d;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Henceforth I never will be Romeo.’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Brilliana affected to peer into the darkness of a green garden.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“‘What man art thou, that thus bescreened in night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So stumblest on my counsel?’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p><p>Evander answered, very earnest now:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7">“‘By a name<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I know not how to tell thee who I am:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Because it is an enemy to thee:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had I it written, I would tear the word.’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Brilliana’s voice faltered as she took up the tale.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“‘My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of thy tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Evander was quite near now to the chair and the fair maid perched +upon it, and the words trembled on his lips.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“‘Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.’”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He put out his hands and caught hers for a moment. Then she drew them +free and jumped down. She went to the open space and looked into the +wet garden with a hand to her head and a hand to her heart. Evander +followed her.</p> + +<p>“Ah, me,” she said, “love was a heady god in Verona. Here in England +he could not solder such hostilities.”</p> + +<p>Evander answered her passionately.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>“Here in England love is a more glorious god yet, for he can fling a +Puritan soldier at the feet of a Cavalier lady.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana still stared straight before her.</p> + +<p>“We have drifted from the land of shadows.”</p> + +<p>Evander spoke from his heart.</p> + +<p>“We have drifted into reality. I love you. I cannot change my faith +for that, I cannot change my flag. But believe this, remember this, +that in the Parliament’s army one Puritan is as true your lover as +all the Cavaliers who worship you.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana turned and looked at him now, very steadfastly:</p> + +<p>“You do not speak by the book.”</p> + +<p>“No, only by my heart,” Evander answered, simply. “I tell you my +soul’s truth. I love you, I shall love you to the end, whether the +end come in a battle on a windy heath, or in an oblong box of a bed.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s eyes were bright and kind.</p> + +<p>“You do not know what you are saying. I do not know what you are +saying. The world would have to change before I could listen with +patience to words of love on the lips of a rebel.”</p> + +<p>Evander answered her bravely.</p> + +<p>“I know that. I did not hope; but I had to set my soul free. To the +end of ends I shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> cherish you, live for you, die for you: very +lonely, well content.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana turned away. The heart of Juliet within her was big almost +to breaking.</p> + +<p>“The rain ceases; I must go into the air.”</p> + +<p>Even as she spoke, the door opened and Tiffany ran in.</p> + +<p>“My lady!” she cried; “my lady, John Thoroughgood rides up the avenue +on a foundering horse!”</p> + +<p>Brilliana gave a great cry and went ghost-white.</p> + +<p>“Dear God, the letter! I had forgotten the letter!”</p> + +<p>Tiffany slipped from the room. Evander answered Brilliana’s cry very +calmly.</p> + +<p>“For the second, so had I. But, indeed, dear lady and friend, I know +its terms.”</p> + +<p>“You cannot be sure,” Brilliana whispered.</p> + +<p>“I am sure,” Evander replied. “I know Colonel Cromwell.”</p> + +<p>The door opened again and Thoroughgood entered, splashed with mud and +carrying a letter in his hand.</p> + +<p>“My lady,” said Thoroughgood, “I have ridden hard and long to find +the rebels. I have killed two horses; I had to wait on Colonel +Cromwell’s leisure; I was fired at thrice as I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> rode. At long last +and through many perils here is the letter.”</p> + +<p>“I thank you,” Brilliana said. “You are a faithful servant. Seek wine +and food and rest.”</p> + +<p>Thoroughgood saluted her and went out. He looked fagged to +exhaustion. In the passage he found Tiffany, kissing-kind. Brilliana +opened the letter and read it slowly. Then she gave a cry.</p> + +<p>“Pray you read, lady,” Evander said, composedly. Brilliana complied +in a hard, set voice.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Madam</span>,—The prisoner with whom you claim kinship was +sentenced to be shot as a spy this morning. My loving +greetings to my very dear friend, Mr. Cloud, who, if you +chose enough to murder him, will, I know, meet death as a +Christian soldier should.</p></div> + +<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Oliver Cromwell.”</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>“The wicked villain,” Brilliana cried.</p> + +<p>“Nay, lady,” Evander argued tranquilly—he must carry himself well +now—“the true captain doing his duty. It hath cost him a pang to +sacrifice me; he would have sacrificed his son Henry or his son +Richard in the like case.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana clasped and unclasped her hands.</p> + +<p>“I care nothing for his son Henry or his son Richard.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p><p>“You care nothing for me?” Evander affirmed, slowly.</p> + +<p>“I do care,” she said, hotly. “We have broken bread together, played +games together, masked at friendship till the sport became reality.”</p> + +<p>“Lady,” said Evander, “I thank you for the kindness you imply. Our +friendship has been brief, but passing sweet. I shall die on a divine +memory.”</p> + +<p>“Why, sir,” she gasped, “you do not think I could kill you now?”</p> + +<p>“You vowed I should die if your cousin died,” he reminded her. “I +think you must keep your word. It is the fortune of war.”</p> + +<p>“The fortune of war!” Brilliana gave a bitter laugh. “I would not +have you die to save—Oh, I must not say—but fly, sir, fly! Ride hot +and hard to Cambridge, where you will be safe. You shall have the +best horse in my stable. You are my prisoner. I give you back your +parole. Only, for God’s sake, go! My friends would kill you if they +caught you here.”</p> + +<p>Evander begged a boon.</p> + +<p>“May I kiss your hand before I go?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana tried to smile.</p> + +<p>“A Cavalier would not have asked.”</p> + +<p>“I am Puritan, ingrain,” he asserted.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><p>“You are a dear gentleman.”</p> + +<p>She sighed and held out her hand. As he stooped to salute it the door +was dashed open and a man booted and spurred flung into the room. As +he stood for a moment amazed at what he saw, Brilliana, turning, +recognized Sir Rufus Quaryll. She disengaged her hand from Evander’s +and moved a little towards him. Evander instinctively felt for his +sword. Sir Rufus’s face was a great blaze of red.</p> + +<p>“In the devil’s name, what does this mean?” he shouted.</p> + +<p>Brilliana drew herself up.</p> + +<p>“You forget yourself,” she said, haughtily. Rufus barked at her with +rage.</p> + +<p>“You have forgotten yourself; in the arms of a doomed traitor.”</p> + +<p>“Civil words, sir!” Evander cried, moving on him. Brilliana motioned +him to hold back.</p> + +<p>“This gentleman is no traitor.”</p> + +<p>An open letter lay at Rufus’s feet. He pounced on it and read. He was +pale now, the white heat of anger.</p> + +<p>“Gentleman! Oh, I know much, guess all. Randolph is dead there +yonder, and this rogue, who should be dead and ditched here, lives. +Faugh! But he dies now.”</p> + +<p>On the word he had drawn his sword and advanced <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>upon Evander, whose +own sword was no less swiftly out. Brilliana came between the two +men.</p> + +<p>“If you kill him, you kill me,” she said.</p> + +<p>“By God, you deserve to die!” was Rufus’s answer.</p> + +<p>In the headiness of their brawl none of the party had noticed how the +door had opened again and how a man stood at gaze in the doorway. A +slender man of middle height, in travel-stained riding-habit of +black; a man with a comely, melancholy face and sad eyes; a man who +seemed very weary. He wore a jewelled George. For a moment the +new-comer stood unheeded, then he advanced into the room. Sir Rufus +heard him, turned, and cried, “The King!” Evander sent his sword back +into its sheath. Brilliana knelt in reverence. This was the hero, +almost the divinity, the monarch she worshipped, the sovereign she +had never seen.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen, what is this?” the King asked. He turned to Brilliana.</p> + +<p>“Lady, why did you not come to greet me?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana rose.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty—” she began, but Rufus interrupted her hotly.</p> + +<p>“Forgiveness, sire. I dashed ahead to warn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> her of the great honor +you offered, halting here from Banbury, only to find her slobbering +on a Roundhead gallows-bird.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana looked steadfastly at the King. She was very pale but not +at all afraid.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty, this man slanders basely. This gentleman is +honorable.”</p> + +<p>“Honorable!” Rufus repeated, in derision.</p> + +<p>“Silence, sir!” Charles commanded. “Who are you?” he asked of +Evander. Evander saluted.</p> + +<p>“Captain Evander Cloud, of the Parliamentary army.”</p> + +<p>“How come you here?” the King inquired.</p> + +<p>Brilliana answered for him.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty, he was taken prisoner treacherously, though the +treachery was mine, three days ago. I offered his life in exchange +for the life of Randolph Harby.”</p> + +<p>“And Randolph Harby is dead,” said Rufus, “shot as a spy by the +devilish rebel of Cambridge. See, sire—see!”</p> + +<p>He offered the letter to Charles, but the King put it from him. His +face was inscrutable as Evander urged his case.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty, I am no spy, and my life could not be pawned for a +spy’s life.”</p> + +<p>Charles’s sad eyes travelled to Brilliana.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>“Randolph Harby was no spy,” he said. “You held this gentleman +hostage for your cousin’s life?”</p> + +<p>“I did make that offer,” Brilliana admitted. The King frowned now.</p> + +<p>“And yet he still lives. I thought this was called Loyalty House.”</p> + +<p>“Disloyalty House it should be called now,” Rufus taunted. Brilliana +turned upon him fiercely.</p> + +<p>“You lie! you lie! you lie!” she hurled the words at him, hating him. +Charles held up his hand.</p> + +<p>“Peace! This is not the welcome I expected here. We did not think to +find rebels tendered so delicately. Sir Rufus, we give you charge of +Harby and of this gentleman. We will consider his claim presently, +for we would deal honestly even with our enemies.”</p> + +<p>He looked at Evander.</p> + +<p>“But we can give you little hope, sir. Prepare to die.”</p> + +<p>Fretfully he addressed Rufus.</p> + +<p>“I am very weary. I must break my fast.” He glanced coldly at +Brilliana.</p> + +<p>“Lady, we shall not need your attendance.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana made her master a deep reverence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p><p>“I take my leave, your Majesty.” She went close to Evander.</p> + +<p>“Can you forgive me?” she begged. Evander looked into her wet eyes +joyously.</p> + +<p>“Read in my heart that I thank God to have known you, loved you.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana laid a hand for a moment on his shoulder and spoke in a +soft, even voice.</p> + +<p>“You have been my enemy; you have been my friend; you are now the one +man in all the world for me. Read in my heart that I thank God to +have known you, that I thank God that I love you. Remember, I love +you, Evander. Farewell.”</p> + +<p>Then she saluted the King and went slowly out of the room without +looking back.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + +<h2>RESURRECTION</h2> + +<p>Some hours later Rufus Quaryll sat alone in the garden-room, writing. +It was coming on dusk; candles had been lit, the fire was ruddy on +the hearth. Rufus, as he wrote, was well content with the turn of +things. He raged at Brilliana, but she should marry him all the same +when the Puritan dog was dead. He had, as he believed, convinced the +King at meat that the plea Evander raised was valueless, that +Evander’s life was rightly forfeit. Evander was under close guard; +so, indeed, was Brilliana, for he had stationed a sentry at the door +of her apartments: he was determined that she should not see the King +again. Now the King lay in the inner room, sleeping; when he rose it +would be easy to get the order for Evander’s death. Furious in his +hate, furious in his love, he would neither spare Evander nor +surrender Brilliana. She should be his wife, if he had to drag her +before an altar.</p> + +<p>As he thought and wrote, the door opened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> and Halfman entered the +room. Rufus, lifting his head, faced him with a finger on his lips +while with the other he pointed to the door of the inner chamber.</p> + +<p>“Hush!” he whispered; “the King sleeps. But all is well. He has as +good as promised the Puritan shall die.”</p> + +<p>“All is not so well as you think,” said Halfman, sardonically. “Here +comes one more pleased to see you than you to see him.”</p> + +<p>He went to the door again and ushered in a man who had waited +outside, a man muffled in a cloak, and his face hidden by the way his +hat was pulled over it. The man advanced slowly towards the surprised +Rufus, and suddenly dropping his cloak and throwing back his hat +uncovered a youthful, jovial face. Rufus gaped at him in despair and +gasped a name:</p> + +<p>“Randolph!”</p> + +<p>Randolph Harby dropped into a chair and chuckled.</p> + +<p>“No wonder you stare as if you faced a spectre. But I’m flesh and +blood, lad.”</p> + +<p>Rufus, trying to collect himself against this staggering blow, again +raised a warning hand.</p> + +<p>“For Heaven’s sake speak lower! The King is asleep yonder. How do you +come here?”</p> + +<p>Randolph leaned over and whispered, giggling, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>into Sir Rufus’s ear. +Halfman watched with grim amusement. If he loved Evander little, come +to think of it he loved Rufus less, all said and done; so he grinned +at his discomfiture.</p> + +<p>“A wonder,” Randolph said. “When they had the time to try me, their +fools’ court-martial, thanks to that damned Cromwell, settled me for +a spy and sentenced me to be shot. But the jailer where I lay had a +daughter. Need I say more? We Harbys are invincible. Any way, there +was no prisoner when the shooting-party came to claim me, and here I +am, in time, I hope, to save the life of that poor Puritan devil.”</p> + +<p>Sir Rufus’s wits were busy hatching mischief. He looked with aversion +at the smiling, self-complacent ass whose resurrection tangled his +plan. But his voice was very amiable as he asked:</p> + +<p>“Do any in the household know of your return?”</p> + +<p>“Devil a one,” the youth answered, cheerily, and Sir Rufus would have +liked to drive a knife into him for his mirth, though his spirits +rose at his answer. “I thought to take my cousin by surprise, scare +her with my ghost, maybe. So I came skulking through the park and +ran<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> on this good sir, who nabbed me.” He indicated Halfman with a +wave of the hand. “I explained to him, so that my joke should not +spoil, and he smuggled me in here to surprise you. Where is +Brilliana?”</p> + +<p>Rufus looked at him thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>“Are you fresh enough to ride?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“If need be,” Randolph replied, astonished.</p> + +<p>Rufus talked rapidly, writing a letter as he spoke.</p> + +<p>“Then you may save your Puritan yet. We sent your hostage to Oxford +for safe-keeping. News came of your death, and but now the King sent +an order to have the fellow shot. But you can overtake the order, +outstrip it. Here is a reprieve for the prisoner.”</p> + +<p>Rufus folded the paper, sealed it, and handed it to the bewildered +Randolph.</p> + +<p>“Pick what horse you please, and ride for the honor of our cause.”</p> + +<p>Randolph gasped.</p> + +<p>“May I not see the King?”</p> + +<p>Rufus refused him firmly.</p> + +<p>“Impossible. His Majesty sleeps.”</p> + +<p>“My cousin Brilliana?” Randolph asked. “What of my joke?”</p> + +<p>Rufus spoke very solemnly.</p> + +<p>“The one thing now is to save a man’s life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> Ride hard, and God speed +you.” Randolph yielded cheerfully.</p> + +<p>“Well, well, I should be sorry the rebel dog should die wrongfully. +You will justify me to the King for not attending him?”</p> + +<p>Rufus nodded.</p> + +<p>“I will justify you to his Majesty.”</p> + +<p>“And not a word to Brilliana,” Randolph iterated. “I will have my +joke on my return. Farewell.”</p> + +<p>He muffled himself again and went out quickly. Rufus sat biting the +end of his quill. Halfman stepped forward and made him a series of +extravagant salutations, which parodied the most elaborate congees of +a dancing-master. Rufus glared at him.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter with you?” he asked, savagely. Halfman leered +apishly at him.</p> + +<p>“You are a splendid scoundrel,” he vowed. “Do not frown. I have lived +with such and I speak in praise.”</p> + +<p>Rufus struck his hands upon the table.</p> + +<p>“I will have this Puritan devil,” he swore, “if the King do not play +the granny.”</p> + +<p>Halfman winked at him, diverted by his heat and hate.</p> + +<p>“Say that more softly, for I think I hear him stirring.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>The two listened in silence. The curtains of the inner room were +parted and Charles entered the room. He still looked haggard, ill at +ease.</p> + +<p>“Was any one here?” he asked, as the two men rose respectfully. Rufus +answered, glibly:</p> + +<p>“No, your Majesty. We spoke in whispers to respect your rest. Did +your Majesty sleep well?”</p> + +<p>“Ill, very ill,” Charles answered, drearily. “I had bad dreams and +could not wake from them. Leave me, sirs.”</p> + +<p>Rufus solicited his eyes.</p> + +<p>“And the prisoner?”</p> + +<p>Charles looked at him vaguely.</p> + +<p>“The prisoner?”</p> + +<p>“The rebel hostage for murdered Randolph Harby,” Rufus reminded him.</p> + +<p>Charles looked vexed.</p> + +<p>“Oh yes, I suppose he must die. Surely he must die. His plea is +specious, but Randolph Harby is dead.”</p> + +<p>“Brave, murdered Randolph.” Rufus’s regret was pathetic. “Shall I +give order for the firing party?” He made as if to write. Charles +frowned.</p> + +<p>“You are over-zealous, sir; I have not made up my mind.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p><p>Rufus read obstinacy in the royal face and knew that it were useless +to argue further then.</p> + +<p>“As your Majesty please,” he submitted.</p> + +<p>The King seated himself heavily at the table and fixed his eyes upon +an open map. Behind his back Rufus shrugged his shoulders and left +the room. Halfman followed, a very Jaques of meditations, touched by +the pathos of the tired King, grimly diverted by the ruffianism of +Rufus. A mad world!</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + +<h2>THE KING’S IMAGE</h2> + +<p>The melancholy King sat in the great room alone. His eyes were fixed +on the map, but his mind was far away, over yonder in Holland where +she was—she, the Queen. The thought of her beauty troubled him; her +soft voice seemed to be whispering at his ear in her pretty broken +English. Some lines in a play he knew came into his mind, lines +uttered by a king who, like himself, had known the horror of civil +war, lines which said that it were better to be a shepherd and tend +sheep than to be an English king. He sighed and his handsome head +drooped upon his breast, and the brown hair that was graying so fast +hid his cheeks. His eyes were wet and he could not see the map; it +was all a blur of meaningless criss-cross lines. This would not do; +he must think, he must plan, he must decide; but his head remained +bent and the map remained a criss-cross puzzle.</p> + +<p>The image of himself, which faced him as he sat, that picture of a +king, royal, joyous, unchallenged, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>seemed to move a little, as if +the bright figure on the canvas sought to approach and reassure the +dejected man who crouched over the map of a divided kingdom. It did +move, the serene Van Dyck portrait; it moved a little, and a little, +and a little more; moved sideway as a door moves, yawned a foot of +space between frame and wall, and through that foot of space +Brilliana slipped into the room.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty,” she said, softly.</p> + +<p>The King gave a little start as he lifted his head and looked at her. +She thought she had never seen so pitifully a weary face as the face +of her King, and her heart ached for him, but it ached most for her +lover.</p> + +<p>Charles rose to his feet, flawlessly courteous, much wondering.</p> + +<p>“How did you come here, mistress?” he asked, and she sighed at the +tired sound of his voice. “I understood from Sir Rufus that you were +for the time—”</p> + +<p>He paused, and Brilliana calmly finished the sentence.</p> + +<p>“Confined to my apartments. Yes, that was Rufus’s plan. But though +Rufus calls himself captain of this castle he does not know it so +well as I do. There are ways of getting hither and thither that he +does not dream of.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>“You are a determined young woman,” the King said, with a faint +smile, “if you think so lightly of the privacy of your King.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana flung herself on her knees in a moment, her hands clasped, +her eyes shining with honest tears.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty!” she cried; “your Majesty, I would never have dared +this if I were not a woman very deep in love, if my lover were not in +danger, and if—”</p> + +<p>She paused.</p> + +<p>“And if?” Charles echoed, his fine, irresolute face neither smiling +nor frowning. “Finish your sentence, lady.”</p> + +<p>“And if I had not heard that your Majesty was a very perfect, true +lover,” Brilliana went on. “Your Majesty’s love for the gracious lady +now in France is the admiration of your subjects.”</p> + +<p>A faint color glowed on the King’s pale cheeks. He was indeed the +perfect, true lover of Henrietta Maria, and the greatest sorrow of +all the clustering sorrows that the civil war had brought him was her +absence from his side.</p> + +<p>“It would be strange indeed if I did not love such a lady,” he said, +gently; “but that lady is my queen, my wife, my comrade, my loyal +friend, while he you plead for is but an acquaintance <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>of a few days, +and, moreover, in all thoughts and deeds your enemy—and mine.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana had now risen to her feet and she faced the king valiantly, +for she knew that she would have to plead hard and well.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty,” she answered, “as for the acquaintanceship, one of +our poets has said, ‘Whoever loves that loves not at first sight?’ +and though indeed at first sight I was far from giving this gentleman +my love, I saw in him at once those qualities which in a man deserve +love. As for his enmity, we are told that we should love our +enemies.”</p> + +<p>A frown overspread the King’s face and Brilliana faltered.</p> + +<p>“I cannot claim for myself that wealth of charity,” Charles said, +“that would make me love those that by rebellion and contumacy have +plunged poor England into war.”</p> + +<p>“Sire, sire,” Brilliana sighed, “if you will but pardon this +gentleman I will promise you that I will never love another of your +Majesty’s enemies.”</p> + +<p>Charles frowned.</p> + +<p>“I do not like your loyalty. Why do you plead for the life of a +rebel?”</p> + +<p>“I am your servant, none loyaller,” Brilliana<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> answered, boldly; “but +I am a woman, and I plead for the man I love.”</p> + +<p>“If you were truly loyal,” Charles commented, “you could not love a +traitor.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana pressed her hands tightly against her breast and her face +flushed.</p> + +<p>“Captain Cloud is not a traitor. He is honest before God.”</p> + +<p>Charles admired her pertinacity. Here was a woman who would not +lightly lose heart or change purpose.</p> + +<p>“I will not wrangle with you,” he said. “I think the gentleman +deserves death. But because I know very well what it is to love +truly, why, I will let you save him if you can.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s voice was charged with gratitude. “Oh, your Majesty is +always noble. But how?”</p> + +<p>Charles looked at her fixedly, touching his chin with the feather of +his quill. “Thuswise—only thuswise. You will persuade Captain Cloud +to return to his allegiance.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s gratitude ebbed and her voice hardened. “I know he will +never change sides.”</p> + +<p>An enigmatic smile passed over the fretful face of the King. “I think +so, too,” he agreed, and turned again to his papers. But Brilliana +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>was not to be so rebuffed. Coming a little nearer to Charles, she +fell on her knees and extended her hands in supplication. “Sire, my +lover’s life!”</p> + +<p>Charles, who had lost nothing of her actions, though he affected to +be wholly absorbed in his business, looked round and down at her with +much assumption of surprise.</p> + +<p>“You are still there? You are a pertinacious maykin.”</p> + +<p>“Sire, in the Queen’s name!” Brilliana pleaded. The King sighed.</p> + +<p>“Well, one more concession, this is the last—the very last.” Charles +prided himself on his firmness, and he struck the table as he spoke +to emphasize his unalterable resolve. “If you win me his word of +honor to take no more part in this war, to remain neutral till King +humble Commons or Commons murder King, why, it is enough; he lives.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana shivered at the King’s alternative. “Your Majesty cannot +believe that the worst of your subjects would aim at your sacred +life?”</p> + +<p>The King’s fine eyes were more than usual melancholy, and he opened +and clasped his long fingers nervously.</p> + +<p>“I cannot choose but believe it. Their words<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> are wild—that is +trifling. But long ago, when I was young, there was a man, one Arthur +Dee, a wizard and the son of a wizard, he had a magic crystal—ah, +Father in heaven!”</p> + +<p>Charles gave a groan and hid his face in his hands, Brilliana +thrilled with compassion. “Your Majesty!” she cried; “your Majesty!”</p> + +<p>Charles drew his hands away from his face. He rose, and, as he spoke, +he stared fixedly before him as if he saw the sight he was +describing.</p> + +<p>“In that sphere I saw a platform hung with black. On it I seemed to +see myself staring at a sea of hateful faces. One with a mask stood +by my side who carried an axe. I have never forgotten it.”</p> + +<p>He stood rigid, with clasped hands. Brilliana shuddered at his words.</p> + +<p>“Sire! sire! this was some lying vision.”</p> + +<p>With an effort the King controlled himself; his features softened to +their habitual melancholy, his hands relaxed their clasp, and he +seated himself again by the table.</p> + +<p>“Belike, belike; I am unwise to think upon it,” he said, in a low +voice. Leaning across the table, he struck a bell sharply. The door +opened and the soldier in immediate attendance upon the King entered.</p> + +<p>“Tell Sir Rufus to attend us,” the King said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> The soldier bowed and +withdrew. Charles looked up at Brilliana. “Sir Rufus will be loath to +lose his prey,” he said. “He is a fierce hawk that clings to his +quarry.”</p> + +<p>“He was once my friend,” Brilliana said, sadly. The King smiled his +melancholy smile.</p> + +<p>“If I were in his place,” he said, gravely, “I think I might be +tempted to play his part. You are a very fair maiden.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana shook her head. “The love that makes a man base is no good +love. He will never be my friend again.”</p> + +<p>“Here, as I think, he comes,” Charles said. The door opened and Sir +Rufus entered the room. He was so amazed at facing Brilliana that for +a moment he forgot to render salutation to the King. Charles’s eyes +brightened as they used to brighten at the playhouse. Here was a +living play being played before him, tragical, comical—man and woman +fighting for a man’s life.</p> + +<p>“Sir Rufus,” he ordered, “send to our presence the prisoner, the +Parliament officer.”</p> + +<p>Rufus glanced at Brilliana’s stern, averted face; he read something +like mockery on the thin, royal lips. For an instant he ventured to +protest.</p> + +<p>“But, your Majesty—” he began, but he got no further. The King +checked him with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> frown and a raised hand. It was easy to make him +obstinate in crossing a follower.</p> + +<p>“You have heard my commands,” he said, sternly.</p> + +<p>Sir Rufus bowed his head and retreated. There was nothing else for +him to do. He just glanced at Brilliana as he went out. If Brilliana +had seen the glance she would have read his rage and hate in it. But +she did not see it, for her head was still averted. The King saw it, +however, and he felt that the situation was alive. He turned to +Brilliana.</p> + +<p>“I am a complaisant monarch, as I think,” he said. “Now, lady, do +your best to make your sweetheart see reason. Honestly, I do not +think he is worth so many words, but you think otherwise, and for +your sake I wish you a winning tongue.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana bowed deeply. “I humbly thank your Majesty,” she said, and +felt that the King had done much for her. From offering the +impossible he had come to offering the possible. It seemed a little +task to persuade a lover committed to a wrongful cause to lay aside +his sword and wait the issue.</p> + +<p>The King’s eyes had fallen on his papers again, and he did not lift +them thence nor take heed of Brilliana again until the tread of feet +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>was heard in the corridor. In another moment Evander, escorted by two +royal troopers, entered the room. There was a sudden gladness in his +eyes at the sight of Brilliana, but he at once saluted the King in a +military fashion and stood quietly at attention waiting the royal +word.</p> + +<p>Charles rose from his chair, and for a moment his melancholy eyes +travelled from the beautiful girl standing by the window to the +gallant soldier standing by the door. The face of Evander pleased his +scrutiny far more than the face of Rufus, and it came into his mind +that he would gladly enroll Evander under his standard and hand over +Rufus to the Crop-ears. Truly the Puritan soldier and the Lady of +Loyalty House made a brave pair.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” he said, quietly, “this lady desires speech with you, and has +persuaded me to permit an interview.” He turned to the troopers.</p> + +<p>“Wait outside the door, sirs,” he commanded. When they had obeyed he +looked again towards Brilliana, and there was a smile on his tired +face, a smile partly whimsical, partly pitying, as if encouraging to +an adventure yet doubtful of the result. Then he gave her a gracious +salutation, and, without further notice of Evander Cloud, passed into +the adjoining room and left the lovers alone.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> + +<h2>LOVER AND LOVER</h2> + +<p>Evander turned to Brilliana with question in his eyes; Brilliana +advanced towards Evander with question on her lips.</p> + +<p>“Are you very sure you love me?” she queried. Evander made to take +her in his arms, but she stayed him with a lifted hand of warning.</p> + +<p>“Sure,” he answered, fervently, and surety shone in his eyes.</p> + +<p>Brilliana leaned against the table at which the King had sat and +faced him gravely.</p> + +<p>“More than life, more than all things in the wide world?”</p> + +<p>Evander’s answer came as flash to flint.</p> + +<p>“More than life; more than all things in this wide world—” there was +a momentary fall in his voice; then he added, “save honor.”</p> + +<p>A little sudden fear pricked at Brilliana’s heart, but she tried to +deny it with a little, teasing laugh.</p> + +<p>“Oh, that wonderful word ‘honor,’” she <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>mocked. “I thought we should +pull that out of the sack sooner or later.”</p> + +<p>Evander watched her with surprise. “What is coming next?” he +wondered. He began to fear as he answered, simply:</p> + +<p>“You would not have me neglect honor?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s face was set steadfastly towards him; Brilliana’s eyes +were very bright; Brilliana’s cheeks were as red as the late October +roses.</p> + +<p>“Here is what I would have you do,” she said, breathlessly, and then +paused—paused so long that Evander, watching and waiting, prompted +her with a questioning “Well?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana still seemed to hesitate. That word “honor” had frightened +her for Evander, had frightened her for herself. She now groped +uncertain, who thought to tread so surely.</p> + +<p>“Will you do as I wish if I tell you?” she asked, trying to mask +anxiety with a jesting manner. And when Evander responded gravely, +“If I can,” she pressed him impetuously again.</p> + +<p>“Nay, now, make me a square promise.” She looked very fair as she +pleaded.</p> + +<p>“All that a doomed man can do—” Evander replied, smiling somewhat +wistfully.</p> + +<p>Brilliana shook her head vehemently and her Royalist curls danced +round her bright cheeks.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p><p>“You are no doomed man unless you choose,” she asserted, hotly. +Evander moved a step nearer to her.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean?” he asked. Brilliana was panting now. He knew she +had somewhat to say, and newly found it hard in the saying. She +spoke.</p> + +<p>“His Majesty the King will grant you your life.” Her words and looks +told him temptingly that “your life” meant also “my life” to her.</p> + +<p>“On what condition?”</p> + +<p>He knew there must be a condition, knew that the condition troubled +Brilliana. She answered him swiftly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, no condition at all.” There came a catch in her voice and then +she ran on:</p> + +<p>“Or almost none. All his Majesty asks is that you refrain from taking +any further part in this unhappy war.”</p> + +<p>She paused and eyed him. Evander’s face was unchanged.</p> + +<p>“No more than that?” he commented, so quietly that, reassured, she +rippled on, volubly:</p> + +<p>“No more than that. We can be wed, dear love. We can go away together +to France, Italy, where you please. I have always had a mind to see +Italy. And when England is quiet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> again we can come home, come here +and be happy.”</p> + +<p>She felt as if she were flinging herself at his feet, shamelessly +offering herself, to tempt him, to dazzle him, conquer him that way; +to witch his promise out of him before he had time to think. Yet for +all her vehemence there was a chill at her heart and a cloud seemed +to hover over her sunny words. Unwillingly she looked away from him, +but she held out her hands in appeal.</p> + +<p>“Hush, Brilliana!”</p> + +<p>The grave, sweet voice sounded on her ears as the knell of hope. But +she faced him again with a useless, questioning glance.</p> + +<p>“Why talk of what cannot be?” Evander asked, sadly.</p> + +<p>Brilliana denied him feverishly.</p> + +<p>“What can be—what must be!” she cried. “The King has promised.”</p> + +<p>“I am a soldier of the Parliament,” Evander asserted. “I cannot +abandon my cause.”</p> + +<p>Brilliana almost screamed at him in her anger and despair.</p> + +<p>“You are a prisoner under sentence of death. If you die, what gain +has the Parliament of you, and I must live a widowed woman.” She was +close to him now and very suddenly she flung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> her arms about him, +clasping him to her, her eager face close to his.</p> + +<p>“Promise,” she panted; “promise, dear love, promise. Your Parliament +loses nothing, you gain your life, my love. Promise, promise!”</p> + +<p>Evander’s flesh fought with his spirit, but his face was calm and the +arms that yearned to enfold his lover lay by his side. He turned his +face away lest he should kiss her on the mouth, and, kissing, +surrender his soul.</p> + +<p>“I cannot,” he said, as if from a great silence. He would not see the +passionate, beautiful face; he sought to fix his mind upon the faces +of those whose faithful soldier he was sworn. The girl unloosed her +arms and swayed away from him, wild anger in her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Do you call this true love,” she sneered, “that is so scrupulous?”</p> + +<p>“The truest love in the world,” Evander answered, looking full at +her. He could look at her now; he had no fear to fall. He was losing +a joy beyond all thought, but at least he would die with a white +soul.</p> + +<p>“Do you think it is nothing to me to die thus losing you? But you +have served soldier; you have a soldier’s spirit; you would not have +me do other than I am doing. You do not understand my cause, to think +it should be easy to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> persuade me from it. But if I were of the +King’s party and in such peril so tempted, would you wish me to +abandon my royal master to win life or love?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana’s cheeks flamed a furious scarlet; then the fierce blood +ebbed and left her face very pale, but her eyes were shining very +bright. She steadied herself against the table and tried to speak +with a steady voice.</p> + +<p>“You are in the right. You could not do other than you are doing. But +it is very hard to bear.”</p> + +<p>She reeled a little, and he, thinking her about to faint, made to +support her, but she stiffened again, and he stood where he was. She +bent forward, speaking scarcely above a whisper.</p> + +<p>“There is a way of escape from this chamber, a secret passage. You +can get from it to the park, and so into the open country and safety. +You are my prisoner. I release you from your parole. Fly, while there +is time.”</p> + +<p>The loyal lovers were so absorbed in their honorable contest that +they did not heed how the door of the King’s apartment opened, first +a little inch, then, slowly, wider and wider, allowing Charles Stuart +to see and hear. A curious smile reigned over the delicate face as +Brilliana <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>made her proposal, and lingered in whimsical doubt for the +response.</p> + +<p>The response came quickly. Again Evander was saying Brilliana nay.</p> + +<p>“I cannot that, neither, dear woman, for to do this would be to make +you disloyal to your King.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you split straws!” she cried, wildly. “A plague upon your +preciousness which drives you to deny and die rather than admit my +wisdom! You are no prisoner to the King. You are my prisoner. I took +you, I hold you, and as my prisoner I command you to follow me, that +I may convey you to some place of surety more pleasing to my mind +than this mansion.”</p> + +<p>From behind the door ajar there came a clap of hearty laughter which +made harassed maid and man jump more than if their discussion had +been interrupted by volleying musketry. The door was wide open now, +and the King was in the room, his face irradiated with honest mirth.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + +<h2>THE KING MAKES A FRIEND</h2> + +<p>“Oh, good sir,” he gasped, dabbing with his kerchief the merry tears +from his smiling eyes, “you had better do as this lady urges, for, by +St. George! she employs the most irresistible logic.”</p> + +<p>Evander and Brilliana, blown apart, as it were, by the breath of the +King’s merriment, regarded the monarch with very different feelings. +Though he stood upon the edge of peril’s precipice, at the threshold +of death’s temple, Evander could not scrutinize without vivid and +conflicting emotions the face of the man because of whom the solid +realm of England seemed to be dissolving into anarchy. This was the +King of ship-money, the heart’s-brother of Buckingham, the betrayer +of Strafford, the doer to death of Eliot, the would-be baffler of +free speech, the baffled hunter after the five members. To Brilliana +he was simply the King, not even the whole hero and half-martyr King +for whom she had held Loyalty House so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> sturdily, but simply the only +man living graced with power to save the man she loved. She turned to +him at once with a petulant expression of impatience.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty,” she sighed, “I wish you would speak to this proud +gentleman. I cannot make him listen to reason.”</p> + +<p>The almost infantile simplicity of her address stirring the King to +renewed merriment, served her cause better, in its very +inappropriateness to the situation, than the most impassioned or the +most calculated appeals to pity or to justice. The audacity with +which the Loyalty lady coolly enlisted the King as her advocate +against the King’s interests seemed to the sovereign so exquisite, so +grotesque, as to merit calling irresistible.</p> + +<p>“Truly,” he said to her, smiling that sweet Stuart smile which made +all who ever shone in it adore him, “the man must be named +Felicissimus who is loved by such a lady.”</p> + +<p>Then he turned his gaze upon Evander, and the smile grew graver, the +eyes more imperious.</p> + +<p>“So, sir,” he said, “you are so certain sure of the righteousness of +your side in this quarrel that you cannot, for your life’s sake, for +your love’s sake, consent to stand neuter and look on, Captain +Infallibility?”</p> + +<p>Evander faced the slightly frowning interrogation <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>bravely. He +saluted soldierly, conscious of the subtle Stuart charm, +understanding it would conquer men and women, glad to find himself +unconquered.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty,” he said, “let me answer you as I answered this dear +lady. If one of those gentlemen, those Cavaliers who rallied to your +flag at Nottingham and drew their swords for you at Edgehill, were +made prisoner of the Parliament, and accepted his life on the +condition that he stood aside and left you to fight without his aid, +would you count him a loyal subject, would you call him a faithful +friend, could you admit that he was an honest soldier?”</p> + +<p>Charles looked at Evander curiously. There were some of his friends, +he thought, who might not stand the trial too well. He brushed the +thought aside, for he knew that most of the Cavaliers would act as +gallantly as the young Puritan before him, and he could not but +applaud, even while he wondered at so stiff a constancy in one whom +he regarded as a rebel.</p> + +<p>“Well, well,” he said, “if this incomparable lady could not persuade +you, how could a poor King hope to succeed? We must not break this +lady’s heart, sir, between us, for ’tis something of a rare jewel, +and so you shall go back to your own people, and when I win the day I +shall remember <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>to be clement to you. Try and come out of the scuffle +alive, for the sake of your sweetheart.”</p> + +<p>The King was so winning in his grace, in his dignity, in his +tenderness, that Evander felt his heart in his mouth and he tried not +to falter in his words.</p> + +<p>“I humbly thank your Majesty.”</p> + +<p>As for Brilliana, she fell on her knees with tears in her eyes, but +the King would not have her kneel. In his courtliest manner he lifted +her, raised her right hand to his lips and kissed it, and then +signifying to her with a gesture to go to Evander, he seated himself +at the table and wrote rapidly for some seconds, while the two lovers +stood side by side, silent in hope and joy.</p> + +<p>When the King had finished writing he shook the powder over the paper +and let it slide back into the standish, drying the ink as it slid. +Then he turned and held the paper to Evander, who advanced and took +it kneeling.</p> + +<p>“This safe-conduct,” said Charles, “will insure you from ill +treatment or delay at the hands of any loyal subjects, in arms or +otherwise.” He leaned forward and struck upon the bell. To the +soldier on guard who entered he gave order that he wished to see Sir +Rufus Quaryll immediately. When the soldier had left, he turned in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>his chair a little, so as to survey Evander and Brilliana standing +before him in silence, and there was a light of mockery in his eyes.</p> + +<p>“Young people,” he said, affecting mirthfully an exhortatory manner, +“you have played the first act of your love-play. How it is to go +with you hereafter it is for all to hope, albeit for none to guess +with discretion. But in a little while this land distracted will be +calm again, and it may well be, Mr. Cloud, that I shall be glad to +see you at Whitehall.”</p> + +<p>The King’s manner was mild, the King’s voice benign; he was really +very well pleased with himself for his clemency, and very well +pleased with the man and woman for affording him an opportunity of +justifying his character of benevolent autocrat. He would have said +more, but at this moment the door opened and Sir Rufus entered the +room, looking as fierce and angry as he dared to look in the presence +of his royal master. He knew well enough that Brilliana’s interview +with the King was likely to mean mischief to his schemes, and his +rage and hate tore at his life-strings like wild beasts.</p> + +<p>An impish malice lurked on Charles’s lips. This discomfiture of the +truculent Rufus supplied for him the comic element of his +entertainment, and came just in the nick of time to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> prevent its +heroics and its sentimentalities from palling.</p> + +<p>“Sir Rufus,” said the King, gravely, “we ride at once to Oxford, our +loyal, loving Oxford. Take order for this on the instant. The Lady +Brilliana resumes her command of Loyalty House, with our royal thanks +for her man’s spirit and our royal sympathy for her woman’s heart. As +for the stranger within our gates, we have of our clemency given him +full leave to go hence in all freedom, not without some private +supplications that Heaven may be pleased to lift a misguided +gentleman into a better way of life.”</p> + +<p>Sir Rufus opened his lips as if to speak, and then closed them again +without speaking. He knew well enough how stubborn the King could be +on occasion, and that there was no hope for him to win his game with +the King’s help. He saluted the King and left the presence with fury +in his heart.</p> + +<p>The King turned to Evander.</p> + +<p>“Go, sir,” he commanded, “and make ready for your departure, which +should follow promptly upon mine, for I do not think the atmosphere +of Oxford will be sweet breathing for gentlemen of your inclining +from this out. I give you half an hour from my riding to say your +adieus to your sweet saint here. Farewell.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p><p>Evander fell on one knee.</p> + +<p>“Your Majesty,” he pleaded, “permit me to kiss your hand.” The King +smiled whimsically, yet a thought wistfully.</p> + +<p>“You are a gentle rebel,” he said, and held out his fine, white hand +for Evander’s salutation. Then the young soldier rose, and with one +look of love to Brilliana, left the room. Charles stood with his +grave eyes fixed on his hostess, smiling.</p> + +<p>“What a thing is civil war!” he sighed. “How it rips through the +pretty web of workaday life, dividing sire from son, sundering +brother from brother, parting lover from lass! But I was forced to +it—I was forced to it.”</p> + +<p>“It will end soon, sire,” Brilliana suggested, tears in her eyes at +the sadness in his. The King seemed to catch at her speech.</p> + +<p>“Ay,” he agreed, more cheerily. “That’s it, that’s true. ’Tis but a +walk to loyal Oxford, ’tis but a march on disloyal London, and all’s +done.”</p> + +<p>“London will prove loyal when your Majesty enters in triumph,” +Brilliana cried. A bright look came over the King’s worn face. As in +a dream he saw himself, the rose of that triumphant entry, flowers at +his feet, flags in the air, loyalty abroad in its bravest, huzzaing +its loudest, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>and all grim, sour-hearted fellows safe out of sight +under lock and key. Exultantly he held out his hand for Brilliana to +salute.</p> + +<p>“Farewell, Lady of Loyalty.”</p> + +<p>“Nay,” Brilliana protested, “I must bring your Majesty to the gate. +If the fitting welcome were missing, you shall not lack the +ceremonial ‘God speed you.’”</p> + +<p>“I thank you, madam,” gravely answered Charles. Brilliana dipped him +a reverence, and then, opening the door, conducted her royal guest +out of the chamber. In the corridor they found Halfman waiting to +kiss the King’s hand. Charles felt for a moment for his purse, and +then swiftly and regally changing his mind, he drew a ring from his +finger.</p> + +<p>“Wear this for me, friend,” he requested, graciously, “in memory of +old days.”</p> + +<p>Halfman rose from his knees and drew himself up as if on parade.</p> + +<p>“God save the King!” he thundered, and with that loyal music in his +ears the King followed Brilliana down the great staircase over which +the carven angels kept watch and ward. Halfman, leaning over the +rail-way, saw the pair pass through the hall, then he turned and +entered the apartment that Charles had left, and stood there, rigid +in meditation.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2> + +<h2>RUFUS PROPOSES</h2> + +<p>Rufus stepped stealthily out of the dusking garden into the lighted +room, and moving noiselessly across the floor, laid his hand on +Halfman’s shoulder. Halfman did not look round.</p> + +<p>“Well, Sir Rufus,” he asked, as calmly as if the sudden touch had +been some recognized, awaited signal.</p> + +<p>“You are not to be taken by surprise, my good friend,” Sir Rufus +said. Halfman shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“It would need more than the clap of a man’s paw on my back to take +me by surprise; and, besides, I saw you coming. There is a mirror +near, good Sir Rufus, and even in yonder owl-light I could pick you +out of the mist. Moreover, I thought you would come.”</p> + +<p>“Why did you think I would come?” Sir Rufus asked, with a frown.</p> + +<p>“Just because I thought it,” Halfman answered, indifferently. “And, +you see, my thoughts were true thoughts.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p><p>Sir Rufus came closer to him, speaking in his ear.</p> + +<p>“I hope you hate all Roundheads,” he said. “All damned rebels.”</p> + +<p>Halfman’s only answer was to whistle very softly the first few bars +of a roaring Cavalier ballad. The grasp on Halfman’s shoulder +tightened.</p> + +<p>“There is one damned Roundhead here who vexes me,” Sir Rufus said, +fiercely.</p> + +<p>“I think his name is called Cloud,” said Halfman.</p> + +<p>Sir Rufus swore a round oath.</p> + +<p>“I wish he were dead,” he said.</p> + +<p>“If wishes were coaches,” Halfman observed, sententiously, “beggars +would ride.”</p> + +<p>“He would have been dead ere this if she had not wheedled the King +out of his wits. His Majesty is in a forgiving disposition to-day, +and forgets his friends at the prayer of a pretty face. I wish this +rebel were dead, friend.”</p> + +<p>“He will die in time,” Halfman commented, philosophically. Sir Rufus +growled.</p> + +<p>“You are as dull as mud. It would be money in your pocket, friend +Halfman, ay, money running over your pocket-holes, if this rebel were +to be your quarry.”</p> + +<p>Halfman shook his head, and a knowing smile twisted his mouth awry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p><p>“Nay, Sir Rufus, with your favor, you must do your own killing,” he +said.</p> + +<p>“Why, so I will,” Rufus answered, angrily. “I will call up the +household, lay hands on the rascal, back him to the wall, and bang a +fusillade into him.”</p> + +<p>Halfman laughed derisively.</p> + +<p>“Call up the household!” he crowed. “Do you think they would come at +your call? Do you think they would serve you against my lady? Why, +they would fling you into the fish-pools if she bade them do so.”</p> + +<p>The face of Sir Rufus showed that through all his fury he still +retained sufficient command of his reason to know that what Halfman +said was more than true. Halfman went leisurely on:</p> + +<p>“You cannot employ your own men on the business, neither, for they +must march to Oxford with the King. In little it comes to this: if +you want a thing done, do it yourself.”</p> + +<p>“You are in the right,” Sir Rufus agreed, gloomily. “This fellow was +doomed long since. It is no more than common justice to put him out +of the way. But I ride with the King.”</p> + +<p>“You need not ride very far,” Halfman suggested. “A little way on the +road you can slip aside unseen and get back here by a bridle-path. +Watch at the western gate of the park. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>His horse will be waiting for +him there to carry him to Cambridge. After his tender leave-taking he +will come to his exit a clear mark on the white garden-path for a +steady hand holding a pistol. So you can whistle ‘Good-night, +cuckoo,’ as you haste to o’ertake the King.”</p> + +<p>“’Tis an ingenious scheme,” Sir Rufus mused. Halfman laughed grimly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I am a pattern of strategy; this is but a simple ambuscado, a +tame trap. You are a sure shot, I know; you cannot miss your bird. +You need waste no time in making sure that he is stark. I shall be at +hand to make sure, and will soon stick him in a ditch to wait for +judgment.”</p> + +<p>Sir Rufus clapped Halfman on the shoulder.</p> + +<p>“Your wit has a most pleasant invention,” he approved. “She will soon +forget this whining wry-face.”</p> + +<p>Halfman disengaged himself from the pressure of his companion’s hand.</p> + +<p>“It is so to be hoped,” he said, drearily; “it is so to be believed. +Woman’s love-memory is a kind of quicksand that can swallow a score +or so of gallant gentlemen and show no trace of their passage.”</p> + +<p>“A curse on your poppycoddle,” Sir Rufus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> grumbled. “I must be +stirring. I should like him to know that I killed him.”</p> + +<p>“If I find any breath in him I will tell him,” Halfman affirmed. +“Your honor over-refines your pleasant purpose. The pith is that he +be killed. Remember the western gate.”</p> + +<p>In another moment Halfman was alone, listening to the sound of +spurred heels on the stairway, as Sir Rufus hastened to join the +King.</p> + +<p>“Love of woman leads us to strange issues,” he said to himself, with +a wintry smile. “Cavalier, Puritan, and poor Jack here, we all love +the same lady, and here be two of us clapping palms together to kill +the third.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2> + +<h2>HALFMAN DISPOSES</h2> + +<p>Brilliana came in from the garden. Halfman heard her step and turned. +She was pale with many emotions; he never had seen her more +beautiful.</p> + +<p>“The King has gone, friend,” she said; “God bless him for his +clemency.”</p> + +<p>“My heart does not sing because a Puritan lives,” Halfman answered, +sourly. He stared into the fire again and saw burning towns between +the dogs. Brilliana paused for a moment and then came a little closer +to him.</p> + +<p>“We have ever been friends,” she said, softly. There was a note of +timidity in her voice, new to Halfman, and he turned in surprise.</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” he said, roundly.</p> + +<p>“We have been fellow-soldiers,” Brilliana went on, still with that +curious hesitancy that sat so strangely upon her. “We have shared a +siege. I have a secret to tell you.”</p> + +<p>Halfman felt a sudden uncanny warning of danger. “A secret,” he +repeated, staring at her.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p><p>Brilliana was outblushing all things red—peony, poppy, flamingo, +anything.</p> + +<p>“You have always loved me, Hobbin?” she asked, half timorously.</p> + +<p>“I have always loved you,” he answered, slowly, with a rigid face.</p> + +<p>“Then you will be glad of what I have to tell,” she said. “There will +be no change here. For I love this gentleman even as this gentleman +loves me, and we are to wed when this meddling war is ended.”</p> + +<p>“You love him?” Halfman echoed, dully. “You wed an enemy to the +King?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana sighed.</p> + +<p>“Love is the greatest power in all the world,” she said; “greater +than kings, greater than emperors, greater than popes. But I will wed +no enemy to the King. If these wars were to endure forever, then +forever my dear friend and I would remain unwed and bear our single +souls to heaven.”</p> + +<p>Her voice was low and dreary; suddenly it brightened.</p> + +<p>“But these wars will not endure forever. The King will be in London +in a few days; the Parliament will be at his feet; my friend will be +no more a rebel, for all rebellion will have ceased to be.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p><p>“How if your friend be killed before the King reaches London?” +Halfman asked her, hoarsely. “The wheels of war do not turn from the +path of a lover.”</p> + +<p>“If he be killed,” she said, simply, “I do not think I shall long +outlive him. My heart does not veer like a vane for every breath of +praise or passion. First and last, I have found my mate in the world; +first and last, I will be loyal while I live. But if he die, I hope +God will deal gently with me, nor suffer me to grow gray in sorrow.”</p> + +<p>She turned away from Halfman that he might not see the tears in her +eyes, and so turning did not see the tears that stood in his. She +moved towards the harpsichord and dropped into the chair that served +it. Her fingers fluttered over the keys and a tinkling music answered +them and underlined the words she sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“You ride to fight, my dearest friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I bide at home and sigh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God only knows what God may send,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To test us, by-and-by.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If ’tis decreed that you must die,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So comes my world to end;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I will seek beyond the sky<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The features of my friend.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come back from fight, my dearest friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The idol of my eye,<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span><span class="i0">That hand in hand ourselves may bend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before God’s altar high.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If death consent to pass you by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How sweetly shall we wend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the last home where we shall lie<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Together, friend and friend.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As Brilliana sat at the harpsichord playing the brave Cavalier +ballad, Halfman, watching her, found his eyes dim with most +unfamiliar water. Fierce memories of his life seemed to come before +him sharply, vivid succeeding pictures, rich in evil. In a flash he +tramped across forests, sack and battle and rapine new painted +themselves upon his brain; deeds long dead and forgotten suddenly +became instant agonies. He seemed like a prisoner before an invisible +judge, and his startled spirit sought wildly and vainly for some good +deed it might offer in plea for pity. If only he had spared that +girl, that child unripe for love, who never dreamed of brutal hands. +He seemed to see her in the room where he ran her down, her staring +eyes; he seemed to hear her screams; he remembered how hot his blood +was then, though now it ran like ice at the memory. If only he had +not helped to torture the old Jew in San Juan; if only he could blot +out his share in all those acts of lust and blood. And through all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>his horrid thoughts came the sweet voice of Brilliana singing the +sweet, brave words, and he saw her curls sway as she sang, and he +thought of her love for her kinsman which she had told him so simply, +and he thought of his own mad love for her, which she would never +know, which no one would ever understand. And then he thought of that +grim sentry at the western gate whose hate was black, whose aim was +fatal.</p> + +<p>A fantastic purpose came into the man’s thought. His mind was ever +like a stage with the lights lighted and the curtains drawn, upon +whose boards himself played a thousand parts and played them to the +top. Here was the part he had never played, the noblest, the most +heroic, chiefly perhaps in this, that it was also the loneliest. The +purpose had hardly pricked before he seized it, hugged it to his +breast, made it incorporate with his being. Mingled with his tender +pity for Brilliana there was now a splendid pity for himself, the +noblest Roman of them all. But the purpose must not cool. His +thoughts were all a-jumble. One of them seemed to assert to his +feverish fancy that this way meant atonement; the quenching of his +torch some measure of compensation for the candles he had puffed +out.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p><p>Unseen he stretched his hands as if in benediction towards Brilliana, +and then went noiselessly out of the room. On the stairs he met +Evander descending to say farewell to his hostess, his hat in his +hand and his cloak over his arm. Halfman stopped him. “She waits you +in the garden-room,” he said; “I will hold your cloak and hat for you +here while you make your adieus. A lover should not be cumbered.” +Evander thanked him, surrendered cloak and hat, and entered the +garden-room. He did not hear what Halfman said, though Halfman spoke +it aloud, with all the lovers of all time for audience: “There goes +the blessedest man in all the world.” Then, with Evander’s cloak +about him and Evander’s hat upon his head, Halfman went out into the +garden.</p> + +<p>At the sound of Evander’s step Brilliana turned and rose to greet +him.</p> + +<p>“My dear!” she cried, her eyes luminous, her breast heaving.</p> + +<p>“My riding-time has come,” he said, sadly. He stood apart, but she +came near to him and put her hands on his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“You found me in tears, but you must think of me as smiling—smiling +for joy in my lover, smiling at the thought of his return.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p><p>He caught her in his arms, clasped her close to him, and kissed her +lips. It seemed to him as if that moment consecrated him forever. She +was simply glad that the man she loved had kissed her.</p> + +<p>“These are evil days,” he said. “Who knows when we shall meet again.”</p> + +<p>“At least we have met,” she answered. “I shall thank God for that, +morning and night. Nothing can change that, if we do not meet for +months, for years, if we never meet again.”</p> + +<p>“These wars must end soon,” Evander said, confidently. Brilliana +caught at his hands.</p> + +<p>“You will never hurt the King,” she cried. “Promise me that. You will +never hurt the King.”</p> + +<p>“I will never hurt the King,” Evander promised. “And now, dear +love—”</p> + +<p>He could not say farewell.</p> + +<p>There was a moment’s silence as they stood facing each other, holding +hands, the woman trying to smile. The silence was suddenly, brutally +broken by the loud, clear report of a shot. Brilliana stiffened with +the start.</p> + +<p>“What was that?”</p> + +<p>“It seemed a pistol-shot in the garden,” Evander answered.</p> + +<p>“Who should fire now?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p><p>“I will go see,” Evander said, turning towards the open space. +Brilliana restrained him.</p> + +<p>“Oh no, dear love, my heart misgives; there may be danger.”</p> + +<p>Evander gently released himself.</p> + +<p>“And when are you or I afraid of danger?”</p> + +<p>Brilliana accepted this.</p> + +<p>“Then I go with you.”</p> + +<p>Instantly Evander paused.</p> + +<p>“No, no,” he said.</p> + +<p>Brilliana repeated his words.</p> + +<p>“Why, when are you or I afraid of danger?”</p> + +<p>There was a noise of running feet in the garden, and then +Thoroughgood sped across the moat and into the room.</p> + +<p>“Captain Halfman has been shot,” he gasped.</p> + +<p>“Oh, by whom?” Brilliana wailed, her eyes wide with horror.</p> + +<p>“Is he killed?” Evander asked.</p> + +<p>Thoroughgood answered both in a breath.</p> + +<p>“Badly wounded. They bring him here.”</p> + +<p>As he spoke, Garlinge and Clupp entered from the garden, bearing +Halfman between them, wrapped in Evander’s mantle.</p> + +<p>The man of gallant carriage, of swaggering alacrity, seemed to lie +horribly limp in the men’s arms. Evander hurriedly made a couch of +chairs and bade them lay their burden it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> that he might examine +the wound. Brilliana bent over him.</p> + +<p>“Oh, my dear friend,” she sobbed.</p> + +<p>The sound of her voice seemed to awaken Halfman. He opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>“Lift me up,” he said, feebly, to his supporters. He looked at +Brilliana. “Lady, you have been deceived. Sir Randolph escaped from +his enemies. A snare was set for Captain Cloud—” he paused.</p> + +<p>“By whom?” cried Brilliana, the woman eager for her lover.</p> + +<p>Something like a smile came to Halfman’s face.</p> + +<p>“That I may not say. I was privy to the plot. But I walked into the +trap myself. I fear, sir, you will find a hole in your mantle.”</p> + +<p>“You wore my cloak?” Evander asked, in wonder. “You died for me?”</p> + +<p>“Ah, why did you not warn?” Brilliana cried.</p> + +<p>Halfman moved his head feebly.</p> + +<p>“I did not want to live.”</p> + +<p>“But you shall live,” Brilliana insisted, prayed.</p> + +<p>Halfman laughed very faintly.</p> + +<p>“I do not think so. I am an old soldier, and—ah!”</p> + +<p>He gave a great gasp. Then suddenly lifted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> himself a little and +saluted Brilliana as if on parade.</p> + +<p>“Here, my sweet warrior,” he said, clearly. He looked fixedly at +Brilliana and declaimed, “I did hear you speak, far above singing.” +Then his chin dropped; his head fell back on the supporting arms. +Evander touched him, turned to Brilliana.</p> + +<p>“Alas! he’s sped.”</p> + +<p>The only sound in the silent room was the weeping of Brilliana in +Evander’s arms.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE</h2> + +<p>Master Marfleet in his “Diurnal” hides in his prolixities some +particulars interesting to us. Thus we learn incidentally from some +reflections on the wickedness of the great, that while the King +reigned in Oxford—to Master Marfleet he is always the “Man of Blood” +when he is not Nebuchadnezzar—Lady Brilliana Harby was in such favor +at the court and with the Queen as to obtain patents of knighthood +for two neighbors of hers, one Paul Hungerford and one Peter Rainham. +We further learn that Brilliana accompanied the Queen—in whom Mr. +Marfleet traces a remarkable likeness to Jezebel—to France in 1644, +after which “flight of kites, crows, and other carrion fowl”—the +words are Mr. Marfleet’s—the estate of Harby came, through the good +offices of General Cromwell, into the hands of Colonel Evander Cloud, +much to Mr. Marfleet’s satisfaction, a satisfaction which the +school-master did not live long enough to lose.</p> + +<p>Of Colonel Cloud’s honorable military career <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>we find a brief but +eminently satisfactory account in Corporal +Blow-the-Trumpet-against-Jericho Pring’s pamphlet—now more than +scarce—entitled “The Roll-Call of the Regiments of Zion.”</p> + +<p>From a letter of Colonel Cloud’s, preserved in the Perrington Papers +(<i>Historical Manuscripts Commission</i>, vol. XCIX., B), we learn that +after Naseby the writer found among the dying the person of Sir Rufus +Quaryll.</p> + +<p>“As God may forgive me,” he writes, “I had sought for this man in +encounter after encounter, with black thoughts of vengeance in my +bosom. But as he lay there I felt constrained by divine impulse to +forgive him, though he made me no answer but to curse horribly at me +and at the fool who took my place; and so passed away, as I fear, +very impenitent.”</p> + +<p>After the surrender of the King by the Scots, and the end, as it +seemed, of the civil war, Colonel Cloud, with the permission of his +great chief, retired from active affairs and made his way to France, +to Paris, where, in the early spring of 1647, he was married to Lady +Brilliana Harby. Some of the French writers of the time make rather +merry over this romantic union and the five years fidelity of squire +and dame—Strephon and Chloe, as they are pleased<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> to call them. But +the laugh is rather on the wrong side of the face, for it is well +known that there was bitter disappointment in the hearts and on the +lips of many French gallants who had tried their best to win the +beautiful English girl, and greatly resented her reservation for this +solemn gentleman. One or two efforts, however, to make this +resentment plain to the English soldier resulting uncomfortably, +after a brisk morning’s work, in the temporary disablement of one +aggressor and the repeated disarming of another, in the end the +“homme à Cromwell” was left to wed in peace. Oddly enough, his best +man was his old acquaintance Sir Blaise Mickleton, who, having +realized his property in good time, had settled in Paris since 1644 +and had almost forgotten his native tongue, which he spoke, when he +did speak, with a little broken French accent, very pretty to hear. +He had once tried to renew his pretensions to the hand of Brilliana, +and had been so startlingly rebuffed that he never repeated the +effort and was content to remain her very good friend. Evander was in +England once or twice during the years 1647 and 1648, but after the +death of the King, against which he vainly protested, with his famous +friend he settled down in France, in the Loire country, for many +happy years.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p><p>After the Restoration, Harby Hall passed by mutual arrangement into +the hands of Sir Randolph Harby, who had cheerfully ruined himself in +the service of his King. Through him the name still persists in +Maryland, in America. Harby itself was destroyed by fire early in the +eighteenth century. It was not rebuilt; the moat was filled up, and +no trace of Loyalty House remains to-day. In Harby church-yard there +is an ancient stone, set there by Brilliana’s order. It bears the +name of Halfman, the date of his death, and after that date the +words, “I did hear you speak, far above singing.”</p> + +<h2>THE END</h2> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s +words and intent.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lady of Loyalty House, by +Justin Huntly McCarthy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 27929-h.htm or 27929-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/9/2/27929/ + +Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/27929-h/images/i001bottom.jpg b/27929-h/images/i001bottom.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..02010de --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-h/images/i001bottom.jpg diff --git a/27929-h/images/i001logo.jpg b/27929-h/images/i001logo.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8567779 --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-h/images/i001logo.jpg diff --git a/27929-h/images/i001top.jpg b/27929-h/images/i001top.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8287fdd --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-h/images/i001top.jpg diff --git a/27929-h/images/icover.jpg b/27929-h/images/icover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..290d4ee --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-h/images/icover.jpg diff --git a/27929-h/images/tpstrip.jpg b/27929-h/images/tpstrip.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..06931b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/27929-h/images/tpstrip.jpg diff --git a/27929.txt b/27929.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1f3155 --- /dev/null +++ b/27929.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8008 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Lady of Loyalty House, by Justin Huntly McCarthy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lady of Loyalty House + A Novel + +Author: Justin Huntly McCarthy + +Release Date: January 29, 2009 [EBook #27929] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE *** + + + + +Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE LADY OF + LOYALTY HOUSE + + A Novel + + BY + + JUSTIN HUNTLY McCARTHY + + AUTHOR OF + "MARJORIE" "THE PROUD PRINCE" ETC. + + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + 1904 + + + + + Copyright, 1904, by HARPER & BROTHERS. + + _All rights reserved._ + Published October, 1904. + + + + +AD SILVIAM + + + Take for our lady's loyal sake + This vagrant tale of mine, + Where Cavalier and Roundhead break + A reed for Right Divine, + A tale it pleasured me to make, + And most to make it thine. + + The Solemn Muse that watches o'er + The actions of the great, + And bids this Venturer to soar, + And that to stand and wait, + Will swear she never heard before + The deeds that I relate. + + But all is true for me and you, + Though History denies; + I know thy Royal Standard flew + Against autumnal skies, + And find thy rarest, bravest blue + In Brilliana's eyes. + + J. H. McC. + _August 10, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + PROLOGUE 1 + I. THE STRANGER AT THE GATES 4 + II. HARBY 16 + III. MY LORD THE LADY 26 + IV. THE LEAGUER OF HARBY 33 + V. A MONSTROUS REGIMENT 40 + VI. HOW WILL ALL END? 49 + VII. MISTRESS AND MAN 56 + VIII. THE ENVOY 62 + IX. HOW THE SIEGE WAS RAISED 73 + X. PRISONER OF WAR 82 + XI. AT BAY 90 + XII. A USE FOR A PRISONER 99 + XIII. A GILDED CAGE 110 + XIV. A PASSAGE AT ARMS 120 + XV. MY LADY'S PLEASAUNCE 129 + XVI. A PURITAN APPRAISED 138 + XVII. SET A KNAVE TO CATCH A KNAVE 149 + XVIII. SERVING THE KING 156 + XIX. SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS RESPECTS 165 + XX. SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS PENALTY 180 + XXI. A PUZZLING PURITAN 188 + XXII. MASTER PAUL AND MASTER PETER 203 + XXIII. A DAY PASSES 212 + XXIV. A HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE 223 + XXV. ROMEO AND JULIET 235 + XXVI. RESURRECTION 249 + XXVII. THE KING'S IMAGE 256 + XXVIII. LOVER AND LOVER 266 + XXIX. THE KING MAKES A FRIEND 273 + XXX. RUFUS PROPOSES 281 + XXXI. HALFMAN DISPOSES 286 + EPILOGUE 296 + + + + +THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +In the October of 1642 there came to Cambridge a man from over-seas. +He was travelling backward, after the interval of a generation, +through the stages of his youth. From his landing at the port whence +he had sailed so many years before in chase of fortune he came to +London, where he had bustled and thundered as a stage-player. Here +he found a new drama playing in a theatre that took a capital city +for its cockpit. He observed, sinister and diverted, for a while, +and, being an adaptable man, shifted his southern-colored garments, +over-blue, over-red, over-yellow in their seafaring way, for the +sombre gray surcharged with solemn black. A translated man, if not +a changed man, he journeyed to the university town of his stormy +student hours, and there the black in his habit deepened at the +expense of the gray. In the quadrangle of Sidney Sussex College he +meditated much on the changes that had come about since the days when +Sidney Sussex had expelled him, very peremptorily, from her gates. +The college herself had altered greatly since his day. The fair court +that Ralph Symons had constructed had now its complement in the fair +new court of Francis Clerke. The enlargement of his mother-college +was not so marvellous to him, however, as the enlargement of one +among her sons. A fellow-commoner of his time had, like himself, come +again to Cambridge, arriving thither by a different road. This +fellow-commoner was now the member in Parliament for Cambridge, had +buckled a soldier's baldric over a farmer's coat, had carried things +with a high hand in the ancient collegiate city, had made himself +greatly liked by these, greatly disliked by those. + +Musing philosophically, but also observing shrewdly and inquiring as +pertinaciously as dexterously, our traveller made himself familiar +with places of public resort, sat in taverns where he tasted ale more +soberly than was his use or his pleasure, listened, patently devout, +to godly exhortations, and implicated himself by an interested +silence in strenuous political opinions. From all this he learned +much that amazed, much that amused him, but what interested him most +of all had to do with the third stage of his retrospective +pilgrimage. If he had not been bound for Harby eventually, what came +to his ears by chance would have spurred him thither, ever keen as he +was to behold the vivid, the theatrical in life. Women had always +delighted him, if they had often damned him, and there was a woman's +name on rumor's many tongues when rumor talked of Harby. So it came +to be that he rode sooner than he had proposed, and far harder than +he had proposed, through green, level Cambridgeshire, through green, +hilly Oxfordshire, with Harby for his goal. Chameleon-like, he +changed hues on the way, shifting, with the help of his wallet, back +into a gaudier garb less likely to be frowned on in regions kindly to +the King. + + + + +I + +THE STRANGER AT THE GATES + + +The village of Harby was vastly proud of its inn, and by consequence +the innkeeper thought highly of the village of Harby. He had been a +happy innkeeper for the better part of a reasonably long life, and he +had hoped to be a happy innkeeper to that life's desirably distant +close. But the world is not made for innkeepers by innkeepers, and +Master Vallance was newly come into woes. For it had pleased certain +persons of importance lately to come to loggerheads without any +consideration for the welfare of Master Vallance, and in trying to +peer through the dust of their broils on the possible future for +England and himself, he could prognosticate little good for either. +Master Vallance was a patriot after his fashion; he wished his +country well, but he wished himself better, and the brawling of +certain persons of importance might, apart from its direct influence +upon the fortunes of the kingdom, indirectly result in Master +Vallance's downfall. For the persons of importance whose bickerings +so grievously interested Master Vallance were on the one side his +most sacred and gracious Majesty King Charles I., and on the other a +number of units as to whose powers or purposes Master Vallance +entertained only the most shadowy notions, but who were disagreeably +familiar to him in a term of mystery as the Parliament. + +In the mellow October evening Master Vallance sat at his inn door and +dandled troubled thoughts. The year of his lord 1642 having begun +badly, threatened to end worse. Master Vallance chewed the cud of +country-side gossip. He reminded himself that not so very far away +the King had set up his standard at Nottingham and summoned all loyal +souls to his banner; that not so very far away in Cambridge, a fussy +gentleman, a Mr. Cromwell, member for that place, had officiously +pushed the interests of the Parliament by raising troops of +volunteers and laying violent hands upon the University plate. Master +Vallance tickled his chin and tried to count miles and to weigh +probabilities. Royalty was near, but Parliament seemed nearer; which +would be the first of the fighting forces to spread a strong hand +over Harby? + +Master Vallance emptied his mug and, turning his head, looked up the +village street, and over the village street to the rising ground +beyond and the gray house that crowned it. He sighed as he surveyed +the familiar walls of Harby House, because of one unfamiliar object. +Over the ancient walls, straight from the ancient roof, sprang a +flag-staff, and from that flag-staff floated a banner which Master +Vallance knew well enough to be the royal standard of England's King. +Master Vallance also knew, for he had been told this by Master +Marfleet, the school-master, that the Lady of Harby had no right to +fly the standard, seeing that the presence of that standard implied +the bodily presence of the King. But he also knew, still on Master +Marfleet's authority, that the Lady of Harby had flung that standard +to the winds in no ignorance nor defiance of courtly custom. He knew +that the high-spirited, beautiful girl had been the first in all the +country-side to declare for the King, prompt where others were slow, +loyal where others faltered, and that she flew the King's flag from +her own battlements in subtle assertion of her belief that in every +faithful house the King was figuratively, or, as it were, +spiritually, a guest. + +Master Vallance, reflecting drearily upon the uncertainties of an +existence in which high-spirited, beautiful young ladies played an +important part, became all of a sudden, though unaccountably, aware +that he was not alone. Moving his muddled head slowly away from the +walls of Harby, he allowed it to describe the better part of a +semicircle before it paused, and he gazed upon the face of a +stranger. The stranger was eying the innkeeper with a kind of +good-natured ferociousness or ferocious good-nature, which little in +the stranger's appearance or demeanor tended to make more palatable +to the timid eyes of Master Vallance. + +"Outlandish," was the epithet which lumbered into Master Vallance's +mind as he gaped, and the epithet fitted the new-comer aptly. He was, +indeed, an Englishman; that was plain enough to the instinct of +another Englishman, if only for the gray-blue English eyes; and yet +there was little that was English in the sun-scorched darkness of his +face, little that was English in the almost fantastic effrontery of +his carriage, the more than fantastic effrontery of his habit. + +When the stranger perceived that he had riveted Master Vallance's +attention, he smiled a derisive smile, which allowed the innkeeper to +observe a mouthful of teeth irregular but white. Then he extended a +lean, brown hand whose fingers glittered with many rings, and caught +Master Vallance by his fat shoulder, into whose flesh the grip +seemed to sink like the resistless talons of a bird of prey. Slowly +he swayed Master Vallance backward and forward, while over the dark +face rippled a succession of leers, grins, and grimaces, which had +the effect of making Master Vallance feel thoroughly uncomfortable. +Nor did the stranger's speech, when speech came, carry much of +reassurance. + +"Bestir thee, drowsy serving-slave of Bacchus," the stranger chanted, +in a pompous, high-pitched voice. "Emerge from the lubberland of +dreams, and be swift in attendance upon a wight whose wandering star +has led him to your hospitable gate." + +As the stranger uttered these last words his hand had drawn the +bemused innkeeper towards him: with their utterance he suddenly +released his grip, thereby causing Master Vallance to lurch heavily +backward and bump his shoulders sorely against the inn wall. The +stranger thrust his face close to Master Vallance's, and while a +succession of grimaces rippled over its sunburned surface he +continued, in a tone of mock pathos: + +"Do you shut your door against the houseless and the homeless, O +iron-hearted innkeeper? Can the wandering orphan find no portion in +your heart?" + +Then, as Master Vallance was slowly making sure that he had to deal +with a dangerous lunatic, the stranger drew himself up and swayed to +and fro in a fit of inextinguishable laughter. + +"Lordamercy upon me," he said, when he had done laughing, in a +perfectly natural voice. "I have seen some frightened fools before, +but never a fool so frightened. Tell me, honest blockhead, did you +ever hear such a name as Halfman?" + +Master Vallance, torpidly reassured, meditated. "Halfman," he +murmured. "Halfman. Ay, there was one in this village, long ago, had +such a name. He had a roguish son, and they say the son came to a bad +end." + +The new-comer nodded his head gravely. + +"He had a roguish son," he said; "but I am loath to admit that he +came to a bad end, unless it be so to end at ease in Harby. For I am +that same Hercules Halfman, at your service, my ancient ape, come +back to Harby after nigh thirty years of sea-travel and land-travel, +with no other purpose in my mind than to sit at my ease by mine own +hearth in winter and to loll in my garden in summer. What do you say +to that, O father of all fools?" + +Master Vallance, having nothing particular to say, said, for the +moment, nothing. He was dimly appreciating, however, that this +vociferous intruder upon his quiet had all the appearance of one who +was well to do and all the manner of one accustomed to have his own +way in the world. It seemed to him, therefore, that the happiest +suggestion he could make to the home-comer was to quench his thirst, +and, further, to do so with the aid of a flask of wine. + +The stranger agreed to the first clause of the proposition and vetoed +the second. + +"Ale," he said, emphatically. "Honest English ale. I am of a very +English temper to-day; I would play the part of a true-hearted +Englishman to the life, and, therefore, my tipple is true-hearted +English ale." + +Master Vallance motioned to his guest to enter the house, but Halfman +denied him. + +"Out in the open," he carolled. "Out in the open, friend." He rattled +off some lines of blank verse in praise of the liberal air that set +Master Vallance staring before he resumed plain speech. "When a man +has lived in such hissing hot places that he is fain to spend his +life under cover, he is glad to keep abroad in this green English +sweetness." + +He had seated himself comfortably on the settle by now, and he +stretched out his arms as if to embrace the prospect. Master Vallance +dived into the inn, and when he emerged a few seconds later, bearing +two large pewter measures, the traveller was still surveying the +landscape with the same air of ecstasy. Master Vallance handed him a +full tankard, which Halfman drained at a draught and rattled on the +table with a sigh of satisfaction. + +"Right English ale," he attested. "Divine English ale. What gold +would I not have given, what blood would I not have spilled for such +a draught as that, so clean, so cool, so noble, in the lands where I +have lived. The Dry Tortugas--the Dry Tortugas, and never a drop of +English ale to cool an English palate." + +He seemed so affected by the reflection that he let his hand close, +as if unconsciously, upon Master Vallance's tankard, which Master +Vallance had set upon the table untasted, and before the innkeeper +could interfere its contents had disappeared down Halfman's throat +and a second empty vessel rattled upon the board. + +The eloquence of disappointment on Master Vallance's face as he +beheld this dexterity moved the thirst-slaked Halfman to new mirth. +But while he laughed he thrust his hand in his breeches-pocket and +pulled out a palm full of gold pieces. + +"Never fear, Master Landlord," he shouted; "you shall drink of your +best at my expense, I promise you. We will hob-a-nob together, I tell +you. Keep me your best bedroom, lavender-scented linen and all. I +will take my ease here till I set up my Spanish castle on English +earth, and in the mean time I swear I will never quarrel with your +reckoning. I have lived so long upon others that it is only fair +another should live upon me for a change. So fill mugs again, Master +Landlord, and let us have a chat." + +Master Vallance did fill the mugs again, more than once, and he and +the stranger did have a chat; at least, they talked together for the +better part of an hour. In all that time Master Vallance, fumbling +foolishly with flagrant questions, learned little of his companion +save what that companion was willing, or maybe determined, that he +should learn. Master Halfman made no concealment of it that he had +been wild at Cambridge, and he hinted, indeed, broadly enough, that +he had had a companion in his wildness who had since grown to be a +godly man that carried the name of Cromwell. He admitted frankly that +his pranks cast him forth from Cambridge, and that he had been a +stage-player for a time in London, in proof whereof he declaimed to +the amazed Master Vallance many flowing periods from Beaumont, +Fletcher, Massinger, and their kind--mental fireworks that bedazzled +the innkeeper. Of his voyages, indeed, he spoke more vaguely if not +more sparingly, conjuring up gorgeous visions to the landlord of +pampas and palm-lands, where gold and beauty forever answered to the +ready hand. But Master Halfman, for his part volubly indistinct and +without seeming to interrogate at all, was soon in possession of +every item of information concerning the country-side that was of the +least likelihood to serve him. He learned, for instance, what he had +indeed guessed, that the simple country-folk knew little and cared +little for the quarrel that was brewing over their heads, and had +little idea of what the consequences might be to them and theirs. He +learned that the local gentry were, for the most part, lukewarm +politicians; that Peter Rainham and Paul Hungerford were keeping +themselves very much to themselves, and being a brace of skinflints +were fearing chiefly for their money-bags; while Sir Blaise +Mickleton, who had been credited with the intention of riding to join +his Majesty at Shrewsbury, had suddenly taken to his bed sick of a +strange distemper which declared itself in no outward form, but +absolutely forbade its victim to take violent action of any kind. He +learned that there were exceptions to this tepidity. Sir Randolph +Harby, of Harby Lesser, beyond the hill, Sir Rufus Quaryll, of +Quaryll Tower, had mounted horse and whistled to men at the first +whisper of the business and ridden like devils to rally on the King's +flag. He learned much that was familiar and important to him of the +Harby family history; he learned much that was unfamiliar and +unimportant to him of local matters, such as that Master Marfleet, +the village school-master, was inclined to say all that might be said +in praise of the Parliament men, and that, when all was said and +done, the only avowed out-and-out loyalist in the neighborhood was no +man at all, but a beautiful, high-spirited girl-woman, the Lady +Brilliana Harby. + +The Lady Brilliana Harby. When Halfman was a lad gray Roland was Earl +of Harby, a choleric scholar, seeming celibate in grain, though the +title ran in direct male line. Suddenly, as Halfman now learned, gray +Roland married a maid some forty years younger than he, and she gave +him a child and died in the giving. This did not perpetuate the +title, for the child was a girl, but it gave the gray lord something +to cherish for the sake of his lost love. This child was now the Lady +Brilliana, whom gray Roland had adored and spoiled to the day of his +own death, hastened by a fit of rage at the news of the King's +failure to capture the five members. Since then the Lady Brilliana +had reigned alone at Harby, indifferent to suitors, and had flown the +King's flag at the first point of war. "By Heaven!" said Halfman, "I +will have a look at the Lady Brilliana." + + + + +II + +HARBY + + +As he tramped the muddy hill-road his mind was busy. The scent from +the wet weeds on either side of him, heavy with the yester rains, +brought back his boyhood insistently, and his memory leaped between +then and now like a shuttlecock. He had dreamed dreams then; he was +dreaming dreams now, though he had thought he was done with dreams. A +few short months ago he had planned out his last part, the prosperous +village citizen, the authority of the gossips, respectable and +respected. His fancy had dwelt so fondly upon the house where he +proposed to dwell that he seemed to know every crimson eave of it, +every flower in the trim garden, the settle by the porch where he +should sit and smoke his pipe and drain his can and listen to the +booming of the bees, while he complacently savored the after-taste of +discreditable adventures. He knew it so well in his mind that he had +half come to believe that it really existed, that he had always owned +it, that it truly awaited his home-coming, and his feeling as he +entered the village that morning had been that he could walk straight +to it, instead of abiding at the inn and going hither and thither day +after day until he found in the market a homestead nearest to his +picture. And now he was walking away from it, walking fairly fast, +too, and walking whither? What business was it of his, after all, if +some sad-faced fellows from Cambridge tramped across country to lay +puritan hands upon Harby. What business was it of his if monarch +browbeat Parliament or Parliament defied king? He owed nothing to +either, cared nothing for either; what he owned he owed to his sharp +sword, his dull conscience, his rogue's luck, and his player's heart. +Why, then, was he going to Harby when he ought to be busy in the +village looking for that house with crimson eaves and the bee-haunted +garden? + +He knew well enough, though he did not parcel out his knowledge into +formal answers. In the first place, if the country was bent upon +these civil broils, clearly his intended character of pipe-smoking, +ale-drinking citizen was wholly unsuited to the coming play. +Wherefore, in a jiff he had abandoned it, and now stood, mentally, as +naked as a plucked fowl while he considered what costume he should +wear and what character he should choose to interpret. His sense of +humor tempted him to the sanctimonious suit of your out-and-out +Parliament man; his love for finery and the high horse lured him to +lovelocks and feathers. The old piratical instinct which he thought +he had put to bed forever was awake in him, too, and asking which +side could be made to pay the best for his services. If he must take +sides, which side would fill his pockets the fuller? It was in the +thick of these thoughts that he found himself within a few feet of +the walls of the park of Harby. + +The great gates were closed that his boyhood found always open. He +smiled a little, and his smile increased as a figure stepped from +behind the nearest tree within the walls, a sturdy, fresh-looking +serving-fellow armed with a musketoon. + +"Hail, friend," sang out Halfman, and "Stand, stranger," answered the +man with the musketoon. Halfman eyed him good-humoredly. + +"You do not carry your weapon well," he commented. "Were I hostile +and armed you would be a dead jack before you could bring butt to +shoulder. Yet you are a soldierly fellow and wear a fighting face." + +The man with the musketoon met the censure and the commendation with +the same frown as he surlily demanded the stranger's business at the +gates of Harby. + +"My business," answered Halfman, blithely, "is with the Lady of +Harby," and before the other could shape the refusal of his eyes into +an articulate grumble he went on, briskly, "Tell the Lady Brilliana +Harby that an old soldier who is a Harby man born has some words to +say to her which she may be willing to hear." + +"Are you a King's man," the other questioned, still holding his +weapon in awkward watchfulness of the stranger. Halfman laughed +pleasantly. + +"Who but a King's man could hope to have civil speech with the Lady +Brilliana Harby?" + +He plucked off his hat as he spoke and waved it in the air with a +flourish. "God save the King!" he shouted, loyally, and for the +moment his heart was as loyal as his voice, untroubled by any thought +of a venal sword and a highest bidder. Just there in the sunlight, +facing the red walls of Harby and the flapping standard of the +sovereign, on the eve of an interview with a bold, devoted lady, it +seemed so fitly his cue to cry "God save the King!" that he did so +with all the volume of his lungs. + +The man with the musketoon seemed mollified by the new-comer's +specious show of allegiance. + +"We shall see," he muttered. "We shall see. Stay where you are, just +where you are, and I will inquire at the hall. The gate is fast, so +you can do no mischief while my back is turned." + +As he spoke he turned on his heel and, plunging among the trees in +pursuit of a shorter cut than the winding avenue, disappeared from +view. Halfman eyed the gateway with a smile. + +"I do not think those bars would keep me out long if I had a mind to +climb them," he said to himself, complacently. But he was content to +wait, walking up and down on the wet grass and running over in his +mind the playhouse verses most suited to a soldier of fortune at the +gate of a great lady. He had not to wait long. Before the +jumble-cupboard of his memory had furnished him with the most +felicitous quotation his ears heard a heavy tread through the trees, +and the man with the musket hailed him, tramping to the gate. He +carried a great iron key in his free hand, and this he fitted to the +lock of the gate, which, unused to its inhospitable condition, +creaked and groaned as he tugged at it. As at length it yielded the +man of Harby opened one-half wide enough to admit the passage of a +human body, and signalled to Halfman to come through. Halfman, +smilingly observant, obeyed the invitation, and looked about him +reflective while the gate was again put to and the key again turned +in the lock to the same protesting discord. Many years had fallen +from the tree of his life since he last trod the turf of Harby. All +kinds of queer thoughts came about him, some melancholy, some full of +mockery, some malign. He was no longer a poor lad with the world +before him to whom the Lord of Harby was little less than the +viceregent of God; he was a free man, he was a rich man, he had +multiplied existences, had drunk of the wine of life from many casks +and yet maintained through all a kind of cleanness of palate, ready +for any vintage yet unbroached, be it white or red. The rough voice +of his companion stirred him from his reverie. + +"My lady will see you," he said. "Follow me." + +As the man spoke he started off at a brisk pace upon the avenue with +the evident intention of making his words the guide-marks to the +new-comer's deeds. But Halfman, never a one to follow tamely, with an +easy stretch of his long limbs, swung himself lightly beside his +uncivil companion, and without breathing himself in the least kept +steadily a foot-space ahead of him. "I was ever counted a good +walker," he observed, cheerfully. "I have taken the world's ways at +the trot; you will never outpace me." + +The man of Harby slackened his speed for a second, and there came an +ugly look of quarrel into his face which made it plain as a map for +Halfman that there was immediate chance of a brawl and a tussle. He +would have relished it well enough, knowing pretty shrewdly how it +would end, but he contented himself for the moment, having other +business in hand, with cheerful comment. + +"Friend," he said, "if we are both King's men we have no leisure for +quarrel, however much our fingers may itch. What is your name, +valiant?" + +The serving-man scowled at him for a moment; then his frown faded as +he faced the smile and the bright, wild eyes of Halfman. + +"My name is Thoroughgood," he answered, and he added, civilly enough, +as if conscious of some air of gentility in his companion, "John +Thoroughgood, at your service." + +"A right good name for a right good fellow, if I know anything of +men," Halfman approved. "And I take it that you serve a right good +lady." + +"My lady is my lady," Thoroughgood replied, simply. "None like her as +ever I heard tell of." + +Halfman endeavored by dexterous questionings to get some further +information than this of the Lady of Harby from her sturdy servant, +but Thoroughgood's blunt brevity baffled him, and he soon reconciled +himself to tramp in silence by his guide. So long as he remembered +anything he remembered that passage through the park, the sweet smell +of the wet grass, the waning splendors, russet and umber, of October +leaves, the milky blueness of the autumn sky. This was, indeed, +England, the long, half-forgotten, yet ever faintly remembered, in +places of gold and bloodshed and furious suns, the place of peace of +which the fortune-seeker sometimes dreamed and to which the +fortune-maker chose to turn. The place of peace, where every man was +arming, where citizens were handling steel with unfamiliar fingers, +and where a rover like himself could not hope to let his sword lie +idle. It was as he thought these thoughts that a turn of the road +brought him face to face with Harby Hall, and all the episodes of a +busy, bloody life seemed to dwindle into insignificance as he crossed +the moat and passed with John Thoroughgood through the guarded +portals and found himself once again in the shelter of the great +hall. + +The great hall at Harby was justly celebrated in Oxfordshire and in +the neighboring counties as one of the loveliest examples of the rich +domestic architecture which adorned the age of Elizabeth. "That +prodigal bravery in building," which Camden commends, made no fairer +display than at Harby which had been designed by the great architect +Thorp. Of a Florentine favor externally, it was internally a +magnificent illustration of what Elizabethan decorators could do, and +the great hall gave the note to which the whole scheme was keyed. Its +wonderful mullioned windows looked out across the moat on the +terrace, and beyond the terrace on the park. Its walls of panelled +oak were splendid witnesses to the skill of great craftsmen. Its +carved roof was a marvel of art that had learned much in Italy and +had made it English with the hand of genius. Over the great fireplace +two armored figures guarded rigidly the glowing shield of the founder +of the house. Heroes of the house, heroines of the house, stared or +smiled from their canvases on the mortal shadows that flitted through +the great place till it should be their turn to swell the company of +the elect in frames of gold. At one end of the hall sprang the fair +staircase that was itself one of the greatest glories of Harby, with +its wonderful balustrade, on which, landing by landing, stood the +glorious carved figures of the famous angels of Harby. + + + + +III + +MY LORD THE LADY + + +Between the topmost pair of carven angels a woman stood for a second +looking down upon the man below. She had come quite suddenly from a +door in the great gallery, and she paused for a moment on the topmost +stair to survey the stranger who had summoned her. The stranger for +his part stared up at the woman in an honest and immediate rapture. +He was not unused to comely women, seen afar or seen at close +quarters, but he felt very sure now that he had never seen a fair +woman before. He prided himself on a most unreverential spirit, but +his instant, most unfamiliar emotion was one of reverence. His +fantastic wit idealized wildly enough. "An angel among angels," he +exulted. "Ecce Rosa Mundi," his rusty scholarship trumpeted. His +brain was a tumult of passionate phrases from passionate play-books, +"Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air," overriding them all like +a fairy swan upon a fairy sea. There never was such a woman since the +world began; there never could be such a woman again till the world +should end. And while his mind whirled with his own ecstasies and the +ecstasies of dead players, the Lady Brilliana came slowly down the +great stairs. + +If the light of her on his eyes dazzled him, if the riot in his mind +overprized her excellence, a saner man could scarce have failed to be +delighted with the girl's beauty, a wiser to have denied her visible +promises of merit. If better-balanced minds than the mind of Hercules +Halfman, striving to conjure up the image of their dreams, had looked +upon the face, upon the form, of Brilliana Harby, they might well +have been willing to let imagination rest and be contented with the +living flesh. Twenty sweet years of healthy country life had set +their seal of grace and color upon the child of the union of two +noble, sturdy stocks; all that was best of a brave dead man and a +fair dead woman was mirrored in the pride of her face, the candor of +her eyes, the courage of her mouth. Lost father and lost mother had +made a strange pair; all their excellences were summed and multiplied +in their bright child's being. A dozen gallant gentlemen of Oxford or +Warwickshire would have given their fortunes for the smallest +scissors-clipping of one sable curl, would have perilled their lives +for one kind smile of those blue eyes, would have bartered their +scanty chances of salvation for the first kiss of her fresh lips. + +While she descended the stairs Halfman never took his eyes off the +lady. He found himself wishing he were a painter, that he might +perpetuate her graces through a few favored generations who might +behold and adore her dimly as he beheld and adored her clearly, in +her riding-dress of Lincoln green, whose voluminous superfluity she +held gathered to her girdle as she moved. No painter could have +scanned her more closely, noted more minutely the buckle of +brilliants that captured the plume in her hat, the lace about her +throat, the curious work upon her leather gauntlets, the firm foot in +the small, square shoe, the riding-whip with its pommel of gold which +she carried so commandingly. Lovely shadows trooped into his mind, +names that had been naught but names to him till now--Rosalind, +Camiola, Bianca. They had passed before him as so many smooth-faced +youths, carrying awkwardly and awry their woman's wear, and +lamentably uninspiring. Now he saw all these divine ladies take life +incarnate in this divine lady, and he marvelled which of the +loveliest of the rarely named company could have shone on her poet's +eyes so dazzlingly as this creature. + +He stared in silence till she had reached the foot of the staircase, +still stared silent as she advanced towards him. There was nothing +disrespectful in his direct glance, but the steadfastness and the +silence stirred her challenge. + +"Sir," she said, "when you asked to see me it was not, I hope, in the +thought to stare me out of countenance." + +Halfman made her a sweeping salutation and found his voice with an +effort, but his words did not interpret the admiration of his eyes. + +"I asked to see you," he answered, respectfully, "because I ride with +tidings that may touch you. I am newly from Cambridge." + +Brilliana's eyes widened. + +"What do you carry from Cambridge?" she asked; then swiftly added, +"But first, I pray you, be seated." + +She pointed to a chair on one side of the great table, and to set him +the example seated herself at another. Halfman bowed and took his +appointed place, resting his hat upon his knees. + +"Lady," he said, "there was at Cambridge a certain Parliament man who +plays at being a soldier, and though he should be no more than plain +master, those that would do him pleasure call him Captain or Colonel +Cromwell." + +Brilliana frowned a little. "I have heard of the man," she said. "He +talks treason at Westminster; he is the King's enemy." + +Halfman leaned a little nearer to her across the table and spoke with +a well-managed air of mystery. + +"Captain Cromwell is not only the King's enemy; he is also the enemy +of the Lady Brilliana Harby." + +Brilliana shook her dark head proudly, and Halfman thought that her +curls glanced like the arrows of Apollo. + +"Any enemy of the King is an enemy to me, but not he, as I think, +more than another." + +Halfman tapped the table impressively. + +"There you are mistaken, lady," he said. "The man is very especially +and particularly your enemy. He has been very busy of late in +Cambridge raising train-bands, capturing college plate, and the like +naughtinesses, but he has not been so busy as not to hear how the +King's flag flies unchallenged from the walls of Harby." + +"And shall fly there so long as I live," Brilliana interrupted, +hotly. + +Halfman smiled approval of her heat, yet shook his head dubiously. + +"It shall not fly long unchallenged," he continued. "That is my news. +Master Cromwell--may the devil fly away with his soldier's title--is +sending hither a company of sour-faced Puritans to bid you haul down +your flag." + +Even as he spoke his heart glowed at the instant effect of his words +upon the woman. She sprang to her feet, with flaming cheeks and +blazing eyes, and struck her white hand upon the table. + +"That flag flies," she cried, "for the honor of Harby. Whoever +challenges the honor of Harby will find it a very dragon, with teeth +and claws and a fiery breath." + +Halfman sprang to his feet, too, and gave the gallant girl a military +salute. Every fibre of him now tingled with loyalty to the royal +quarrel; he was a King's man through and through, had been so for +sure from his cradle. + +"Lady," he almost shouted, "you make a gallant warrior, and I will be +proud to serve you." Seeing the surprise in her eyes, he hurried on: +"Lady, I am an old soldier, an old sailor. I have seen hot service in +hot lands; have helped to take towns and helped to hold towns, and if +it be your pleasure, as it will be your prudence, to avail of my aid, +I will show you how we can maintain this place against an army." + +Brilliana rested her hands on the table, and, leaning forward, looked +steadily into Halfman's face. He accepted the scrutiny steadily; he +was all in all her servant. She seemed to read so much. + +"If your news be true," she said, "and if you do not overboast your +skill, why, I shall be very glad of your aid and counsel." + +"Your hand on that, gallant captain," clamored Halfman, all aflame of +pride and pleasure. And across the oaken table the Lady of Harby and +the adventurer clasped hands in compact. + + + + +IV + +THE LEAGUER OF HARBY + + +Halfman proved himself a creditable henchman. There was much to do +and little time to do it in, for any hour might bring news that the +enemy was near at hand. Brilliana, as he told her and as she knew, +would have done well without him, once she had warning of danger, +but, as she told him and as he knew, she did very much better with +him. There was no help to be had in the neighborhood, but by +Halfman's advice a message was trusted to a sure hand to be carried +to Sir Randolph Harby, of Harby Lesser, now with the King, telling +him of what was threatened. All the servants were assembled in the +great hall, and there Brilliana made them a stirring little speech, +to which Halfman listened with applauding pulses. She told them how +Harby was menaced; she told them what she meant to do. She and +Captain Halfman meant to hold the place for the King so long as there +was a place to hold. But she would constrain none to stay with her, +and she offered to all who pleased the choice to go down into the +village and bide there till the business was ended one way or the +other. Not a man of the little household, nor a woman, offered to +budge. Perhaps they did not care very much about the quarrel, but +they all loved very dearly their wild, high-spirited young mistress, +and it was "God save Brilliana!" they were thinking while they +shouted "God save the King!" + +This was how it came to pass that when the hundred men from +Cambridge, under the command of Captain Evander Cloud, made an end of +their forced march, they found the iron gates of Harby's park closed +against them. This was in itself a matter of little moment, needing +but the united efforts of half a dozen stout fellows to arrange. But +it was the hint significant of more to follow. The Puritan party +tramping through the park was greeted, as it neared the moat, with a +volley, purposely aimed high, which brought them to a halt. The +Puritans eyed grimly a place whose great natural strength had been +most ingeniously increased by skilful fortification, and while their +leader advanced alone and composedly across the space between the +invaders and the walls of Harby, the followers were bale to note how +all the windows were barricaded and loop-holed, and how full of +menace the ancient place appeared. + +Evander Cloud advanced across the grass until he was within a few +feet of the moat. Then an upper window was thrown open, its wooden +curtain removed, and a young, fair woman appeared at the opening and +quietly asked of the Puritan the meaning of his presence. + +Evander Cloud saluted the lady; he could see that she was young and +comely. His own face was in shadow and the chatelaine could not +distinguish its features. + +"Have I the honor to address the Lady Brilliana Harby?" he asked. + +"I am the Lady Brilliana Harby," the girl answered. "What is your +business here?" + +"I come, madam," Evander replied, "a servant of the Parliament and of +the English people, to safeguard this mansion in their name." + +"You may speak for the London Parliament," Brilliana said, firmly, +"but I think you are too bold to speak in the name of the English +people. As for this poor house, it can safeguard itself very well, +with the help of God." + +"Madam," responded Evander, "I am empowered to take by force what I +would gladly gain by parley." + +"This house is the King's house," Brilliana said, scornfully, "and +does not yield to thieves." + +"It is the King's evil advisers who have forced civil war upon the +land," Evander replied, gravely. "And it is in the King's name and +for the King's sake that we would secure this stronghold." + +"Ay," retorted Brilliana, derisively. "And do the King honor by +hauling down the King's flag. No more words. This is Loyalty House. +You have ten minutes in which to withdraw your men. At the end of +that time we shall fire again, and you will find that we can shoot +straight. And so you may go to the devil." + +Evander would have appealed anew, but with her last word Brilliana +disappeared from the window, which in another moment was barricaded +as stubbornly as before. + +And this was the beginning of the siege of Harby House. + +Mr. Samuel Marfleet, in his "Diurnal of certain events of moment +happening of late at Harby," is very eloquent over the coming of the +little company. He sees in them the deliverers from Dagon, the +destroyers of Babylon, and in sundry heated if confused allusions to +the worship of Ashtaroth, it seems certain that the indignant +school-master was vehemently protesting against the popularity of +Brilliana. He probably goes too far, however, when he interprets the +silence of Harby villagers as the Cambridge company marched through +the main street as the silence too great for speech of a liberated +people. Harby villagers were, for the most part, serenely indifferent +to the quarrels of the court and the Parliament, but they had a +hearty liking for Brilliana, and would, if they could, very likely +have shown active resentment at the attack upon her home. But with +nobody to lead them, there was nothing for them to do but to stare at +the grave-faced men in sober clothes with guns upon their shoulders +and steel upon their breasts who tramped along towards Harby Hall. +Even to the siege itself they were perforce indifferent, seeing very +little of it, for the parliamentary leader took care that none of +them came into Harby park, and did not, as we may gather from +occasional asperities in the "Diurnal," greatly encourage even the +visits of Mr. Marfleet himself. + +The full chronicle of that siege does not concern us here. Those that +are curious in the matter may seek for ampler information, if they +will, in the Marfleet "Diurnal." Thanks to its situation, thanks to +the experience of adventurer Halfman in barricading windows and so +loop-holing them for musketry as fully to command the moat on all +sides, Harby Hall proved a hard nut to crack. It was but child's +play, indeed, if you chose to compare it with the later leaguer of +Lathom, but to those immediately concerned, and to Harby village, all +open mouths and open eyes, the business was a very Iliad. There was a +great deal of powder burned and but little blood shed. The little +Parliament party soon learned that there was no taking the place by a +rush or a ruse, that it was discretion to keep due distance and +invest. For the besieged, on the other hand, there was no chance of a +sortie, their numbers being so few and their provisions were sorely +scarce. If no one could for the moment get into Harby, neither could +any one get out of Harby. + +So day succeeded day, and Halfman found them all enchanted days. He +was inevitably much in the company of the lady, and he played the +part of an honest gentleman ably. He made the most of his odd +scholarship, of that part of his knowledge of the world best likely +to commend him to the favor of a gentlewoman; his buccaneering +enterprises veiled themselves under the vague phrase of foreign +service. He had been in tight places a thousand times; he weighed +them as trifles against a chance to win money and the living toys +that money can buy. But it was new to him to hold a fort under the +command of a woman, and the woman herself was the newest, strangest +thing he had ever known. Ever the lover of his abandoned art, he +conceived shrewdly enough the character that would not displease +Brilliana and played it very consistently: the soldier of fortune +true, but one that had tincture of letters and would be a scholar if +he could. So the siege hours were also hours of such companionship as +he had never experienced, ever desired; he ripened in the sunshine of +a girl's kindliness, and he deliberately tied, as it were, the foul +pages of his book of memory together with the pink ribbon of a girl's +garter. He would have been content for the siege to last forever. But +the siege did not last forever. + + + + +V + +A MONSTROUS REGIMENT + + +In the great hall at Harby a motley fellowship were assembled. If a +stranger from a strange land, wafted thither on some winged Arabian +carpet or flying horse of ebony, could have beheld the place and the +company, he would have been hard put to it to find any reasonable +explanation of what his eyes witnessed. In the middle of the hall +some five singular figures stood on line: two tall, powerful lads +with foolish faces, flagrant farm-hands; an old, bowed man with the +snow of many winters on his hair; an impish lad who might have +welcomed fourteen springs; and, finally, a rubicund, buxom woman with +very red cheeks, very blue eyes, very brown hair, whose person +suggested the kitchen a league off. Each of these persons handled a +pike, carrying it at an angle different from that of the others, and +each of them gazed with painfully attentive stare at the oaken table +near the hearth upon which Hercules Halfman sat learnedly expounding +the mysteries of the pike drill, while Thoroughgood stood between +him and the awkward squad to illustrate in his own person and with +the pike he carried the teachings of the instructor. + +"Order your pikes," Halfman commanded. "Advance your pikes. Shoulder +your pikes." Then, as these orders were obeyed deftly enough by +Thoroughgood and with bewildering variety by the others, he +continued, "Trail your pikes," and then broke sharply off to +expostulate with one of the farm-hands. + +"Now, Timothy Garlinge, call you that trailing of a pike. Why, Gammer +Satchell carries herself more soldierly." + +Timothy Garlinge grinned loutishly at this rebuke, but the fat dame +whom Halfman's flourish indicated seemed to dilate with satisfaction. + +"It were shame," she chuckled, "if a handy lass could not better a +lobbish lad." + +The impish lad grinned derision. + +"Ay," he commented; "but an old fool's best at her spits and +griddles." + +A most unmilitary titter rippled along the rank but broke upon the +rock of Mrs. Satchell's anger. It might have seemed to many that it +were impossible for the dame's cheeks to be any redder, but Mistress +Satchell's visage showed that nature could still work miracles. With +face a rich crimson from chin to forehead, she made to hurl herself +upon the leering, fleering mannikin, but was caught in the +unbreakable restraint of neighbor Clupp's clasp. + +"You limb, I'll griddle you!" Mistress Satchell gasped, panting in +the embracing arms. Halfman played the peace-maker with a sour smile. + +"There, there, goody," he expostulated; "youth will have its yelp." + +He turned with something of a yawn to Thoroughgood. + +"Why a devil did you press gossip cook into the service?" + +Thoroughgood shook his head protestingly. + +"Nay, the virago volunteered," he explained, with a look that seemed +to supplement speech in the suggestion that it were best to let +Mistress Satchell have her own way. This was evidently Mistress +Satchell's own view of the matter. + +"Truly," she exclaimed, "if my lady, being no more than a woman, is +man enough to garrison her house against the Roundheads, she cannot +deny me, that am no less than a woman, the right to handle a pike." + +Halfman, eying the dame's assertive rotundities, thought that he +would be indeed a quarrelsome fellow who should deny her evident +femininity. + +"You are a lovely logician," he approved. "Enough." + +Then resuming his sententious tone of military command, he took up +the task where he had left it off. + +"Trail your pikes." + +The order was this time obeyed by the company with something +approaching resemblance to the action of Thoroughgood, and Halfman +went on. + +"Cheek your pikes." + +Out of the confused cluttering of weapons which ensued, Timothy +Garlinge emerged tremulous. + +"Please, sir," he gurgled, "I've forgotten how to cheek my pike." + +Halfman mastered exasperation bravely, as, taking a pike from the +hands of Thoroughgood, he strove to illuminate rusticity. + +"Use your pike thus, noddy," he lessoned, good-naturedly, wielding +the weapon with the skill of a practised pikeman. But the +illustration was as much lost upon Garlinge as the original command, +and in his attempt to imitate it he whirled his arm so recklessly +that his companions scattered in dismay, and Halfman himself was +fain to move a step or two backward to avoid the yokel's meaningless +sweeps. + +"Have a care," he cried. "If you work so wild you will damage your +company." + +Mrs. Satchell, taking her post in the now restored line, shook her +red fist at the delinquent. + +"He had best not damage me," she thundered, "or I'll damage him to +some purpose." + +"Silence in the ranks!" Halfman commanded, sharply. "Charge your +pikes," he ordered. + +This order was obeyed indifferently and tamely enough by all save the +egregious Mrs. Satchell, who delivered so lusty a thrust with her +weapon that Halfman was obliged to skip back briskly to avoid +bringing his breast acquainted with her steel. + +"Nay, woman, warily!" he shouted, half laughing, half angry. "Play +your play more tamely. I am no rascally Roundhead." + +Mrs. Satchell grounded her weapon and wiped the sweat from her +shining forehead with the back of her red hand. There was a deadly +earnest in her eyes, a deadly earnest in her speech. + +"I cry you mercy," she panted. "But I am a whole-hearted woman, and +when you bid me charge I am all for charging." + +Halfman did his best to muffle amusement in a reproving frown. "Limit +your zeal discreetly," he urged, and was again the drill sergeant. + +"Shoulder your pikes." + +The weapons followed the words with some show of decorum. + +"Comport your pikes." + +Again the evolution was carried out with some degree of accuracy. + +"Port your pikes." + +Here all followed the word of command fairly well with the exception +of Garlinge's fellow-rustic, who simply strove to repeat the order +already executed. Halfman turned upon him sharply. + +"Now, Clupp," he cried, "will you never learn the difference between +port and comport?" + +Clupp, the fellow addressed, bashful at finding himself the object of +attention, swayed backward and forward with his pikestaff for a +pivot, laughing vacantly. + +"No, sir," he gaped, stupidly. Master Halfman's lip wrinkled +menacingly, and he reached his hand to his staff that lay upon the +table. + +"Indeed!" he said. "Then I must ask Master Crabtree Cudgel to lesson +you." + +He advanced threateningly towards the terrified fellow, but long +before he could reach him Dame Satchell had interposed her generous +bulk between officer and private, not, however, as was soon shown, +from any desire to intercede for the culprit. + +"Leave him to me, sir," she entreated, vehemently. "If you love me, +leave him to me." + +And, indeed, her angry eyes shone warranty that the offender would +fare badly at her hands. Halfman waved her aside with a gesture of +impatience. + +"Mistress Satchell," he protested, "you are a valiant woman, but a +rampant amazon." + +Dame Satchell's cheeks glowed a deeper crimson, and her variable +anger raged from Clupp to Halfman. + +"Call me no names," she squalled, "though you do call yourself +captain, or I'll call you the son of a--" + +However Mistress Satchell intended to finish her objurgation it was +not given to the company to learn, for Halfman tripped up her speech +with a nimble interruption. + +"The son of a pike, so please you," he suggested, with a smile that +softened the virago's heart. "There, we have toiled enough to-day and +it tests our tempers. Dismiss." + +This command he addressed to the whole of his amazing company; to +Dame Satchell he gave a congee with a more than Spanish flourish: "To +your pots and pans, valorous." + +Dame Satchell, mollified by his compliment, shrugged her fat +shoulders. "'Tis little enough I have to put in them," she grumbled. +"Roast or boiled, boiled, fried, or larded, all's one, all's none. +We'll be mumbling shoe-leather soon." + +She sighed heavily at the thought, and moved slowly towards the door +at the end of the hall beneath the gallery. Halfman, unheeding her, +had turned to the table and was intently poring over the large map +that lay there together with a loaded pistol. Thoroughgood gave +orders to the men. + +"Garlinge and Clupp, go scour the pikes. Tom Cropper, find something +to keep you out of mischief. As for you, Gaffer Shard, you may rest +awhile." + +The old man shook his frosty head vigorously. "Nay, nay," he piped, +"I need no rest. My old bones are loyal and cannot tire in a good +cause. God save the King." + +He gave a shrill cheer which was echoed loudly by men and boy, and so +cheering they tramped out of the hall in the trail of Mother +Satchell, Garlinge staggering under the load of pikes which the lad +had officiously foisted on to his shoulder, Clupp laughing vacantly +after his manner, and steadfast old Shard waving his red cap and +chirping his shrill huzzas. + + + + +VI + +HOW WILL ALL END? + + +When they had all gone and the hall was quiet, Thoroughgood came +slowly down with a puzzled frown on his honest, weather-beaten face +to where Halfman humped over his map. + +"Where's the good of drilling clowns and cooks?" he asked, surlily. +He talked like one thoroughly weary, but his mood of weariness seemed +to melt before the sunshine of Halfman's smile as he lifted his head +from the map. + +"Where's the harm?" he countered. "'Twas my lady's idea to keep their +spirits up, and, by God! it was a good thought. She knows how it +heartens folk to play a great part in a great business: keeps them +from feeling the fingers of famine in their inwards, keeps them from +whining, repining, declining, what you will. But I own I did not +count on the presence of Gammer Cook in the by-play." + +"I could not see why she should be kept out of the mummery," +Thoroughgood responded, "if she had a mind for the masking." + +"Perhaps you are right," Halfman answered, meditatively. "My lady's +example would make a Hippolyta of any housemaid of them all." + +"I do not know what it would make of them," Thoroughgood answered; +"but I know this, that it matters very little now." + +Halfman swung round on his seat and stared at him curiously. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Now that this truce is called," Thoroughgood answered, "that the +Roundhead captain may have speech with my lady." + +"Why, what then?" questioned Halfman, with his eyes so fixed on +Thoroughgood's that Thoroughgood, dogged as he was, averted his gaze. + +"Naught's left but surrender," he grunted, between his teeth. The +words came thickly, but Halfman heard them clearly. He raised his +right hand for a moment as if he had a thought to strike his +companion, but then, changing his temper, he let it fall idly upon +his knee as he surveyed Thoroughgood with a look that half disdained, +half pitied. + +"My lady will never surrender," he said, quietly, with the quiet of a +man who enunciates a mathematical axiom. "You know that well enough." + +Thoroughgood shrugged plaintive, protesting shoulders. + +"We've stood this siege for many days," he muttered. "Food is running +out; powder is running out. Even the Lady Brilliana cannot work +miracles." + +Halfman rose to his feet. His eyes were shining and he pressed his +clinched hands to his breast like a man in adoration. + +"The Lady Brilliana can work miracles, does work miracles daily. Is +it no miracle that she has held this castle all these hours and days +against this rebel leaguer? Is it no miracle that she has poured the +spirit of chivalry into scullions and farm-hands and cook-wenches so +that not a Jack or Jill of them but would lose bright life blithely +for her and the King and God? Is it not a miracle that she has +transmuted, by a change more amazing than anything Master Ovid hath +recorded in his Metamorphoses, a villanous old land-devil and +sea-devil like myself into a passionate partisan? But what of me? God +bless her! She is my lady-angel, and her will is my will to the end +of the chapter." + +He dropped in his chair again as if exhausted by the vehemence of his +words and the emotion which prompted them. Thoroughgood contemplated +him sourly. + +"You prate like a play-actor," he snarled. Halfman's whole being +flashed into activity again. He was no more a sentimentalist but now +a roaring ranter. + +"Because I was a play-actor once," he shouted, "when I was a +sweet-and-twenty youngling." + +Thoroughgood eyed Halfman with a sudden air of distrust. + +"You never told me you were a play-actor," he growled. "You spoke +only of soldiering." + +Halfman laughed flagrantly in his face. + +"Godamercy, man, there has been scant time to tell you my life's +story. We have had other cats to whip. Yes, I was a play-actor once, +and played for great poets, for men whose names have never tickled +your ears. But the owl-public would have none of me, and, owllike, +hooted me off the boards. But I've had my revenge of them. I've +played a devil's part on the devil's stage for thirty red years. Nune +Plaudite." + +The Latin tag dropped dead at the porches of John Thoroughgood's +ears, but those ears pricked at part of Halfman's declamation. + +"What kind of parts?" he asked, drawing a little nearer to the +soldier of fortune, whose experiences fascinated his inexperience. + +Halfman shrugged his shoulders and favored honest Thoroughgood with a +bantering, quizzical smile. + +"All kinds of parts," he answered. "How does the old puzzle run? +Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, ploughboy, gentleman, thief. I think +I have played all those parts, and others, too. Fling beggar and +pirate into the dish. But I tell you this, honest John, I have never +played a part so dear to me as that of captain to this divine +commander. I thank my extravagant stars that steered me home to serve +her." + +"You cannot sing her praises too sweetly for my ears," Thoroughgood +answered. "But there is an end to all things, and it looks to me as +if we were mighty near to an end of the siege of Harby. Why else +should there be a truce called that the Roundhead captain may have +speech with my lady." + +"Honest John Thoroughgood," Halfman answered, with great composure, +"you are not so wise as you think. This Roundhead captain has sent us +hither the most passionate pleadings to be admitted to parley. Why +deny him? It will advantage him no jot, but it is possible we may +learn from the leakage of his lips something at least of what is +going on in the world." + +"What is there to learn?" asked Thoroughgood. Halfman shook his head +reprovingly. + +"Why, for my part, I should like to learn why in all this great gap +of time nothing has been done to help one side or the other. If the +gentry of Harby have made no effort to relieve us, neither, on the +other hand, has our leaguer been augmented by any reinforcements. If +my lady has been surprised that Sir Blaise Mickleton has made no show +of coming to her succor, I, for my part, am woundily surprised that +the Cropheads of Cambridge have sent no further levies for our +undoing." + +"Why, for that matter--" Thoroughgood began, and then suddenly broke +off. "Here comes my lady," he said, turning and standing in an +attitude of respectful attention. + +Halfman had known of her coming before his companion spoke. The Lady +Brilliana had come out on to the gallery from the door near the head +of the stairway, and Halfman was conscious of her presence before he +lifted his eyes and looked at her. She was not habited now, as on the +day when he first beheld her, in her riding-robe of green, but in a +simple house-gown chosen for the ease and freedom it allowed to a +great lady who had suddenly found that she had much to do. The color +of the stuff, a crimson, as being a royal, loyal color, well became +her fine skin and her dark curls and her bright, imperious eyes. She +was followed by her serving-woman, Tiffany, a merry girl that +Thoroughgood adored, and one that would in days gone over have been +likely to tickle the easy whimsies of Halfman. Now he had no eyes, no +thoughts, save for her mistress, the lass unparalleled. + +Brilliana was speaking to Tiffany even as she entered the gallery. + +"Strip more lint, Tiffany," she ordered; "and bid Andrew be brisk +with the charcoal." + +Her voice was as buoyant as the song of a free bird, and her step on +the stair as light as if there were no such thing in the world as a +leaguer. Tiffany crossed the gallery and disappeared through the +opposite door. Brilliana, as she descended the stair, diverted her +speech to Thoroughgood. + +"John Thoroughgood, I saw from the lattice our envoys bringing the +Parliament man down the elm walk. To them at once. They must not +unhood their hawk till he come to our presence." + + + + +VII + +MISTRESS AND MAN + + +When Thoroughgood had left the hall and Brilliana came to the floor, +Halfman questioned her, very respectfully, but still with the air of +one who has earned the friendly right to put questions. + +"Why do you see this black-jack?" he asked. Brilliana smiled at him +as radiantly as if the holding of a house against armed enemies was +the properest, pleasantest business imaginable. + +"With the littlest good-will in the world, I promise you," she +answered. "But, you know, he so plagued for the parley that it was +easier to try him than deny him. Besides, good friend and captain, I +learn from what I read in Master Froissart's Chronicles that it were +neither customary nor courteous to deny conference to a supplicating +enemy." + +Halfman adored her for her courage, for her calm assumption of +success. + +"How if he but come to spy out our strategies?" he asked. "The +leanness of our larder? Our empty bandoliers?" + +Brilliana beamed back at him with her bewildering confidence. + +"I have thought of that, too," she admitted. "But he shall not find +us at our wit's-end. Seek Simon Butler, friend captain. Though our +cellars are near empty he will make shift to find you some full +flagons. Bring hither a bunch of your subalterns, the rosiest, the +most jovial, if any still carry such colors and boast such spirit; +let them gather in the banqueting-hall, where, with such wit as +French wine can give, let them sing as if they were merry and well +fed. Our sanctimonious spy-out-the-nakedness-of-the-land must think +we are well victualled, he must think we are well mannered." + +Halfman made her a sweeping reverence which was not without its +play-actor's grace, though its honesty might have pardoned a greater +awkwardness. + +"We are well womaned, lady," he asseverated, "with you for our +leader. By sea and by land I have served some great captains, but +never one greater than you for constancy and manly valor." + +Brilliana's bright face took a swift look of gravity and she gave a +little sigh. + +"The King's cause," she said, soberly, "might turn a child into a +champion." + +The steady loyalty that made her words at once a psalm and a +battle-cry bade Halfman's pulses tingle. Who could be found +unfaithful where this fair maid was so faithful? Yet he remembered +their isolation and the memory made him speak. + +"I marvel that none of your neighbors have tried to lend us a hand?" + +"How could they?" Brilliana asked, astonished. "The brave are with +the King at Shrewsbury; the stay-at-homes are not fighters." + +"Hum," commented Halfman. "What of Master Paul Hungerford?" + +Brilliana shrugged her shoulders. + +"A miserly daw, who would not risk a crown to save the crown." + +Halfman questioned again. + +"What of Master Peter Rainham?" + +Brilliana shrugged again. + +"A dull, sullen skinflint waiting on event." + +Halfman's inventory was not complete. + +"You have yet a third neighbor," he said, "and, as I heard, a +prodigal in protestation. What of Sir Blaise Mickleton?" + +Brilliana's lips twitched with a derisive smile. + +"Sir Blaise, honest gentleman, loves good cheer and good ease. I +think he would not quit the board if Armageddon were towards. He will +be for eating, he will be for drinking, he will be for sleeping, and +in the mean time God's chosen gentlemen have learned the value of +living so long as to grant them a death for their King." + +Her voice had risen to a cry of defiance, but now it dropped again to +its former note of bantering irony. + +"What a wonderful world it is which can hold at once such men as my +cousin Randolph or you or Rufus Quaryll and these hangbacks who shame +Harby. These three are professed my very good suitors, but they have +made no move to our help. Well, let them hang for a tray of knaves. +We need them not. We know that the King's cause must triumph and so +we are wise to be blithe." + +Halfman's head was swinging with pleasure. She had counted him in so +glibly with the chosen ones, with the servants of God and the King. +He was very sure now that his watch-word had always been "God and the +King." + +"The King's cause must triumph," he echoed, his face shining with +loyal confidence. + +"How we shall all smile a year hence," Brilliana answered, "to think +that such pitiful rebels vexed us. But for the moment there is one of +these same rebels to be faced--and to be fooled. About our plan, good +captain." + +Halfman saluted her more enthusiastically than he had ever saluted +male commander. + +"My general," he vowed, "he shall think these walls hold an army of +wassaillers." + +He turned on his heel and marched briskly out of the hall. Brilliana +looked after him, with the bright smile on her face, till the door of +the banqueting-hall closed behind him; then the smile slowly faded +from her face. + +"I would my spirits were as blithe as my speech," she thought, as she +went to the table and bent over it, looking at the open map which +Halfman had been studying. + +"What is going on in England, the King's England, little England, +that should not be big enough to have any room for traitors?" + +She put her finger on the spot where Harby figured on the sheet. + +"Here," she mused, "we have been sundered from the world for all +these days by this Roundhead leaguer, hearing no outside news but the +ring of rebel shots and the sound of rebel voices. What has happened? +What is happening? When we began the King was at Shrewsbury and the +Parliament ruled London. What has come to the Parliament since? What +has come to the King? Well, Loyalty House will carry the King's flag +so long as one stone tops another. We will live as long as we can for +his Majesty, and then die for him gamely." + + + + +VIII + +THE ENVOY + + +A sound of heavy steps disturbed her meditations. She stood up from +her map, blinked down the tears that tried to rise, and turned to +face new fortune. + +"Here is our enemy," she said to herself, and she forced back the +confident color to her cheeks, the confident light to her eyes. The +door from the park opened, and John Thoroughgood entered the room, +holding by the hand a man in the staid habit of a Puritan soldier, +whose eyes were muffled by a folded scarf of silk. Blindfolded though +he was, the Puritan followed his guide with a steady and resolute +step. + +"Halt!" cried Thoroughgood. The stranger stood quietly as if on +parade, while Thoroughgood saluted his mistress. + +"Unhood your hawk," Brilliana ordered. Thoroughgood, obedient, +unpicked the knot of the handkerchief, revealing his companion's +face. Brilliana observed with a hostile curiosity a tallish, +well-set, comely man of about thirty years of age, whose smooth, +well-featured face asserted high breeding and a gravity which +deepened into melancholy in the dark expressive eyes and lightened +into lines of humor about the fine, firm mouth. For a moment, with +the removal of the muffle, he seemed dazzled by the change from dark +to light; then, as command of his vision returned, he observed +Brilliana and made her a courteous salutation which she returned +coldly. She made a gesture of dismissal to Thoroughgood, who went +out, and the Lady of Loyalty was left alone with her enemy. + +There was a moment's silence as the pair faced each other, the man +quietly discreet, the woman openly scornful. She was under the same +roof with a rebel in arms, and the thought sickened her. She broke +the silence. + +"You petitioned to see me." With the sound of her voice she found new +vehemence, new indignation. "Do your rebels offer unconditional +surrender?" + +The circumstances of the astonishing question brought for the moment +a slight smile to the grave face of the Parliament man. + +"It was scarcely with that thought," he answered, "that I sought for +a parley." + +Though the man's smile had been short-lived, Brilliana had seen it +and loathed him for it. Though the man's manner was suave, it seemed +to wear the suavity of success and she loathed him for that, too. + +"We waste time," she cried, impatiently, "with any other business +than your swift submission." + +Then as she saw him make an amiably protesting gesture she raged at +him with a rising voice. + +"Oh, if you knew how hard it is for me to stand in the same room with +a renegade traitor you would, if such as you remember courtesy, be +brief in your errand." + +The man showed no consciousness of the insult in her words and in her +manner save than by a courteous inclination of the head and a few +words of quiet speech. + +"Much may be pardoned to so brave a lady." + +Brilliana struck her hand angrily upon the table once and again. + +"For God's sake do not praise me!" she almost screamed, "or I shall +hate myself. Your errand, your errand, your errand!" + +The enemy was provokingly imperturbable. + +"You have a high spirit," he said, "that must compel admiration from +all. That is why I would persuade you to wisdom. I came hither from +Cambridge by order of Colonel Cromwell." + +Brilliana's lips tightened at the sound of the name which the envoy +pronounced with so much reverence. + +"The rebel member for Cambridge," she sneered--"the mutinous brewer. +Are you a vassal of the man of beer?" + +There was a quiet note of protest in the reply of the envoy. + +"Colonel Cromwell is not a brewer, though he would be no worse a man +if he were. I am honored in his friendship, in his service. He is a +great man and a great Englishman." + +"And what," Brilliana asked, "has this great man to do with Harby +that he sends you here?" + +"He sends me here," the Puritan answered, "to haul down your flag." + +"That you shall never do," Brilliana answered, steadily, "while there +is a living soul in Harby." + +The Puritan protested with appealing hands. + +"You are in the last straits for lack of food, for lack of fuel, for +lack of powder." + +Brilliana made a passionate gesture of denial. + +"You are as ignorant as insolent," she asserted. "Loyalty House lacks +neither provisions nor munitions of war." + +There was a kind of respectful pity in the stranger's face as he +watched the wild, bright girl and hearkened to the vain, brave words. + +"Nay, now--" he began, out of the consciousness of his own truer +knowledge, but what he would have said was furiously interrupted by a +volume of strange sounds from the adjoining banqueting-hall. There +was a rattle and clink as of many pewter mugs banged lustily upon an +oaken table; there was a shrill explosion of laughter, the work of +many merry voices; there was the grinding noise of heavy chairs +pushed back across the floor for the greater ease of their occupants; +there was a tapping as of pipe-bowls on the board, and then over all +the mingled din rose a voice, which Brilliana knew for the voice of +Halfman, ringing out a resonant appeal. + +"The King's health, friends, to begin with." + +All the noises that had died down to allow Halfman a hearing began +again with fresh vigor. It was obvious to the most unsophisticated +listener that here was the fag end of a feast and the moment for the +genial giving of toasts. Many voices swelled a loyal chorus of "The +King, the King!" and had the great doors of the banqueting-hall been +no other than bright glass it would have been scarce easier for the +man and woman in the great hall to realize what was happening, the +revellers rising to their feet, the drinking-vessels lifted high in +air with loyal vociferations, and then the silence, eloquent of +tilted mugs and the running of welcome liquor down the channels of +thirsty throats. This silence was broken by some one calling for a +song, to which call he who had proposed the King's health answered +instantly and with evident satisfaction. His rich if somewhat rough +voice came booming through the partitions, carolling a ballad to +which the Puritan listened with a perfectly unmoved countenance, +while the Lady Brilliana's eager face expressed every signal of the +liveliest delight. + +This was the song that came across the threshold: + + "What creature's this with his short hairs, + His little band and huge long ears, + That this new faith hath founded? + The Puritans were never such, + The saints themselves had ne'er so much, + Oh, such a knave's a Roundhead." + +A yell of pleasure followed this verse, and a tuneless chorus +thundered the refrain, "Oh, such a knave's a Roundhead," with the +most evident relish for the sentiments of the song. Brilliana looked +with some impatience at the unruffled face of her adversary, and +when the immediate clamor dwindled she addressed him, sarcastically: + +"These revellers," she said, "would not seem to be at the last +extremity. But their festival must not deafen our conference." + +She advanced to the door of the banqueting-room and struck against it +with her hand. On the instant silence she opened the door a little +way and spoke through softly, as if gently chiding those within. + +"Be merry more gently, friends. Sure, I cannot hear the gentleman +speak. Though," she added, reflectively, as she closed the door and +returned again to the table she had quitted--"though God knows he +talks big enough." + +The Puritan clapped his palms together as if in applause, an action +that somewhat amazed her in him, while a kindly humor kindled in his +eyes. + +"Bravely staged, bravely played," he admitted, while he shook his +head. "But it will not serve your turn, for it may not deceive me. I +had a message this morning from my Lord Essex. There has been hot +fighting; Heaven has given us the victory; the King's cause is +wellnigh lost at the first push." + +Brilliana felt her heart drumming against her stays, but she turned +a defiant face on the news-monger. + +"I do not believe you," she answered. "The King's cause will always +win." + +The soldier took no notice of her denial; he felt too sure of his +fact to hold other than pity for the leaguered lady. He quietly +added: + +"My Lord Essex advises me further that reinforcements are marching to +me well equipped with artillery against which even these gallant +walls are worthless. Be warned, be wise. You cannot hope to hold out +longer. For pity's sake, yield to the Parliament." + +Brilliana waved his pleas away with a dainty, impatient flourish. + +"You chatter republican vainly. I have store of powder. I will blow +this old hall heaven high when I can no longer hold it for the King." + +Her visitor looked at her sadly, made as if to speak, paused, and +then appeared to force himself to reluctant utterance. + +"Lady," he said, slowly, "though we be opponents, we share the same +blood. Let a kinsman entreat you to reason." + +If the civil-spoken stranger had struck her in the face with his +glove Brilliana could not have been more astonished or angered. She +moved a little nearer to him, interrogation in her shining eyes and +on her angry cheeks. + +"Are you mad?" she gasped. "How could such a thing as you be my +kinsman?" + +She had taunted him again and again during their brief interview and +he had shown no sign of displeasure. He showed no sign of displeasure +now, answering her with simple dignity. + +"Very simply. A lady of your race, your grandsire's sister, married a +poor gentleman of my name and was my father's mother." + +Brilliana drew back a little as if she had indeed received a blow. +Involuntarily, she put up her hand to her eyes as if to shut out the +sight of this importunate fellow. + +"I have heard something of that tale," she whispered, "but dimly, for +we in Harby do not care to speak of it. When my grandsire's sister +shamed her family by wedding with a Puritan her people blotted her +from their memory. You will not find her picture on the walls of +Harby." + +"The loss is Harby's," the soldier answered, "for I believe she was +as fair as she was good. She married an honest gentleman named Cloud, +whose honesty compelled him to profess the faith he believed in. My +name is Evander Cloud." + +He waited for a moment as if he expected her to speak, but she +uttered no word, only faced him rigidly with hatred in her gaze. + +Seeing her silent, he resumed: + +"It was this sad kinship pushed me to a parley wherein, perhaps, I +have something strained my strict duty. But the voice of our common +blood cried out in me to urge you to reason. You have done all that +woman, all that man could do. Yield now, while I can still offer you +terms, and your garrison shall march out with all the honors of war, +drums beating, matches burning, colors flying." + +He was very earnest in his appeal, and Brilliana heard him to the end +in silence, with her clinched hands pressed against her bosom. Then +she turned fiercely upon him and her voice was bitter. + +"Sir," she cried, "if I hated you before for a detested rebel, think +how I hate you now, if you be, even in so base a way, my kinsman." + +She turned away from him, lifting her clasped hands as if in +supplication. + +"Oh, Heaven, to think that a disloyal, hypocritical, canting Puritan +could brag to my face that he carries one drop of our loyal blood in +his false heart." + +She turned to him again with new fury. + +"You are doubly a traitor now, and if you are wise you will keep out +of my power, for my heart aches with its hate of you. Go! Five +minutes left of your truce gives you just time to return to your +rebels. If you overlinger in our lines but one minute you are no +longer an envoy: you are an enemy and a spy and shall swing for it." + +She reached out her hand to strike the bell upon the table, while +Evander Cloud, still impassive, paid a salutation to his unwilling +hostess and made a motion to depart. But on the instant both were +chilled into immobility by an amazing interruption. Brilliana's hand +never touched the bell; Evander's hand never found the handle of the +door. For between the beginning and the end of their action came a +sudden rattle of musketry, distant but deafening, followed on the +instant by a whirlwind of furious cries and noise. + + + + +IX + +HOW THE SIEGE WAS RAISED + + +The man and the woman glared at each other, each in swift suspicion +of treason. The Lady of Harby was the quickest to act upon impulse. +She snatched up the pistol that lay upon the table and levelled it +with a steady hand at Evander. + +"Do you use your trust to betray us?" she shrilled. "It shall not +save you." + +Even a less-experienced soldier could have seen from the sure way in +which Brilliana handled her weapon that his life was in real peril, +but he paid no more heed to her menace than if she was threatening +him with her glove or her fan. + +"Fighting outside!" he cried. Turning to the woman he asked, with a +fierceness that contrasted with his previous calm, "Who is the +traitor here?" + +His sword was naked in his hand as he spoke and he made a rush for +the door. But before he could reach it it was flung open in his face +and Halfman rushed in, waving his drawn sword, and followed by +Thoroughgood carrying a gun and Garlinge and Clupp armed with pikes. + +Inevitably bewildered by the sudden turn in the tide of events, +Evander Cloud gave ground for a moment before the onrush, while +Halfman, staggering like a drunken man, reeled forward towards +Brilliana, shrieking: + +"There is fighting in the rebel lines. Help has come at last." + +Whatever joy the tidings gave to Brilliana, she wasted no words from +the needs of the moment. Pointing to Evander where he stood, +irresolute in surprise, she commanded, "Secure that man!" + +Evander's resolution returned to him with the sound of her voice, but +he was one against too many. While he tried to engage the blade of +Halfman, a swinging blow from the pike of Garlinge knocked his weapon +out of his hand, and in another moment he was gripped in the grasp of +the two young country giants, while Thoroughgood covered him with his +musketoon. + +"This is treachery," he gasped; but no one paid any attention to his +protest. Halfman, convinced that the Puritan was a sure prisoner, +swaggered up to Brilliana with all the arrogance of a stage herald. + +"Dear lord," he shouted, "dear lady, a company of Cavaliers are +galloping up the avenue, a-shouting like devils for the King." + +He was flushed and drunk with exhilaration; he could speak no more; +the timely episode tickled his tired brain like wine; he caught at +the table for support and muttered inarticulately. Thoroughgood, who +had secured Evander's fallen sword, interpolated a word of +explanation. + +"It is Sir Rufus, my lady--Sir Rufus and his friends." + +The interruption had been so sudden, the things that had chanced had +passed so swiftly, that Brilliana still stood as she had stood when +she gave the command to secure Evander. But now all her being seemed +alive with a new life. + +"I hear them; I hear them!" she cried, exultantly. And, indeed, the +sounds came very clearly now of fierce young voices shouting for the +King. + +"The King! The King!" Brilliana cried, in an ecstasy, and as the +loyal syllables died on her lips there came a trampling of near feet, +and then through the yawning doorway rushed a covey of young +gentlemen waving their drawn swords and yelling their cry, "The King! +The King!" As they flooded into the room, bright foam on the wave of +victorious loyalty, Brilliana knew them all. Sir Rufus Quaryll, her +neighbor and hot lover; the Lord Fawley, who had vainly wooed her for +wife; Sir John Radlett, who had the sense to love her and the sense +to hold his tongue; Captain Bardon, the bold and bluff; and young +Lord Richard Ingrow, with the delicate, girlish face that masked the +amazing rake. She seemed to see them as in some golden dream, seemed +to hear a-down the vistas of dreams the echoes of their gallant cries +of "God save the King!" Then as the new-comers knelt before her she +knew that all was true. + +"God bless you, gentlemen!" she cried, from a full heart. "You are +very well come." + +Rufus Quaryll, neighbor and wooer, was the first to speak, looking up +at her with rapture in his eyes of reddish brown. + +"Imperial lady, the siege of Harby is raised." + +Brilliana flung out her hands to him, and as he caught and kissed +them she raised him to his feet. + +"Your news is music," she said, and her voice was as blithe as a +song. + +"We are heralds of victory," Rufus said, as he stood and looked into +her eyes. + +My Lord Fawley rose from his knees with a whoop. + +"We have pelted the rebels from Edgehill," he shouted. Sir John +Radlett caught him up. "We banged them finely," he trumpeted. Young +Ingrow, with a flush on his fine cheeks, sang out a shrill "Hurrah +for Prince Rupert!" and bluff Bardon rubbed his hands as he chuckled, +"He brushed them into dust." + +All the Cavaliers spoke rapidly and eagerly, flinging their phrases +each on top of the other. Rufus summed up all in a single splendid +sentence. + +"The road lies plain to London." + +"Heaven be praised," Brilliana ejaculated, and then, wonder treading +on the heels of thankfulness, she questioned, "How came you here so +timely?" + +My Lord Fawley broke into a boisterous laugh which seemed to rattle +among the rafters. + +"Oh, Lord, the best jest in the world," he bellowed. Bardon clapped a +hand on lad Ingrow's shoulder. + +"Our Ingrow writes a clerky hand," he asserted. Ingrow, stabbing at +Bardon's stout ribs with slender fingers, riposted: + +"And our Bardon has a merry invention." + +Brilliana looked commands and entreaties at the row of jolly, +laughing faces. + +"Do not play the sphinx with me," she pleaded. Rufus immediately +made himself interpreter of the mirth. + +"Why, between us we forged a letter from my lord high damnable +traitor Essex to your enemy here, advising him of reinforcements, +assuring him of the King's defeat." + +"Yes," chirruped the Lord Fawley, "and the gull-gaby swallowed the +bait." + +"When we rode up but now," Radlett interposed, "his rascals received +us with open arms." + +Rufus smiled sardonically as he completed the story of the +entrapment. + +"They took us for Essex men because of our orange-tawny scarves, but +they found out when too late that we were right-tight Cavalier lads +and no crop-eared curmudgeons. Why, we were in the thick of them with +sword and pistol before they had stayed from snuffling their psalms +of welcome." + +Brilliana held out her hand again for her cousin's hand and clasped +it manfully. + +"How rich is the ring of victory in your loyal voice," she sighed. +"My last public news was of the King's stay at Shrewsbury. Then these +curmudgeons raced hot-foot from Cambridge to pull down my flag. But +'This is Loyalty House,' says I, and 'Go to the devil,' says +I--forgive me, sirs, if I raged unmaidenly--and I slammed the door +in their sour faces. Then came such a tintamar, rebels firing on us, +we firing on rebels, and so in such noise and thunder we have been +eclipsed out of the world these weary days." + +"Never were such days better lived through since the world began," +said Rufus. "You do well to call this Loyalty House which has held +out so well against the King's enemies." + +Brilliana now turned to where Halfman stood apart, his hands resting +on the hilt of his sword, and the shadow of a frown on his forehead +as he eyed the babbling gallants. + +"That Loyalty House should hold out so long as it could was from the +first my purpose," she said. "But that it was able to hold out so +long as it did was greatly due to the courage and the counsels of +this brave gentleman." + +As she spoke she pointed to Halfman, whose dark face flushed with +pleasure as he gave back the stares of the astonished Cavaliers who +up to now had left him unnoticed. + +"Gentles," she went on, "this is Captain Halfman, who warned me of my +danger, who helped me in my peril with his soldier's knowledge and +his soldier's sword, and who was of my own mind rather to die than to +surrender Harby." + +Halfman strode forward with a studied grace. He felt like +Faulconbridge; he felt like Harry at Agincourt; he felt like +Coriolanus; he felt exceedingly happy. + +"Gallants," he said, with a magnificent salutation, "to have served +this lady makes a man know how it had seemed to serve Alexander or +Caesar. Wherefore, a soldier of good-fortune salutes you." + +Rufus, who had watched him with something of a sullen eye from the +moment of Brilliana's introduction, now answered him with a clearer +countenance. + +"We greet you, sir," he said, gravely, "with great gratitude and +great envy, for, indeed, there is none among us who would not have +given his life to be lieutenant to this lady." He accorded the +beaming Halfman a military salute, and then, turning to Brilliana, +continued: + +"Bright Brilliana, your servants and swains yearned to ride to your +help when we heard of your peril, but we could not leave the King in +the beginning of his enterprise. He gave us glad leave after the +victory. 'Tell the brave lady,' he said, 'she shall be our viceroy in +Oxfordshire.'" + +Brilliana's cheeks blazed with pleasure. "Oh, the dear man," she +cried, with clasped hands of rapture. But there was more to come. + +"I think," continued Rufus, "it is more than likely that his Majesty +will visit Harby--I should say Loyalty House--ere he rides to +London." + +Brilliana thrilled with pride--with pleasure. The air about her +seemed to swoon with music, to be sweet as roses, to be spangled with +golden motes. + + + + +X + +PRISONER OF WAR + + +"I rejoice," she answered, in a voice unsteady with happiness--such +might have been the voice of Semele at the coming of her god--"I +rejoice that Loyalty House boasts a roof to shelter his Majesty. For +I was minded to blow the place to pieces rather than yield it to this +gentleman who would so speciously persuade me to surrender." + +As she spoke she glanced disdainfully in the direction of Evander +Cloud, who now for the first time since the irruption of the +Cavaliers became in any sense an object of public interest. None of +the new-comers had paid any heed to the sombre-habited prisoner; +Halfman had forgotten his captive in his jealous study of the men who +had raised the siege; Thoroughgood, with the Puritan's sword resting +idly on his left arm, was as absorbed in the converse of Sir Rufus +and his comrades as were his subordinates Garlinge and Clupp, who, +though they gripped their prisoner tightly, were as indifferent to +his existence as if he had been the turbaned dummy of a quintain. +But now on the instant every glance was turned on Evander, and Sir +Rufus, eying him with much disfavor, asked of Brilliana, "Who is your +prisoner?" + +Evander made a step forward unrestrained by his guards, and answered +for himself composedly. + +"I am Captain Cloud, of the parliamentary army, snared under a flag +of truce." + +He was so well restrained in his speech and carriage, so quiet a +contrast to the heated gentlemen who glared at him, that to an +uninformed observer he might very well have seemed the judge rather +than the one on trial. Rufus snapped at him like an angry dog. + +"Well, you tub-thumper, you see that the gentlemen of England are +more than a match for pestilent pennyweight rebels." + +Evander surveyed his truculent opponent with a tranquil contempt +which had its effect in increasing the irritation of the Cavalier. + +"You play the valiant braggart to a captive," he commented, quietly. +Then he turned to Brilliana as one who had no further desire for +treaty with a fellow of this kind. + +"Let me remind you, lady, that I came here under a flag of truce." + +Brilliana had forgotten Evander in the exhilaration of her relief. +But now that he had come into her mind again, so with his image had +flooded in again all the prejudices he provoked, the scorn, the +hatred. + +"That plea cannot release you," she answered, hotly. "Your time was +up, your sword was drawn; I am very sure you would have joined your +men." + +Evander, whose arms were now released from bondage by Garlinge and +Clupp, made a gesture of absolute acquiescence. + +"I am very sure I should have joined my men," he answered, calmly. +Brilliana rounded on him triumphant. + +"Then you are a prisoner of war, fairly taken. Let me have no more +words." + +As indifferent to her words as to the angry carriage of the +Cavaliers, Evander stepped tranquilly back to his place between his +warders. + +"I have no more words to waste," he said, with a scorn in his voice +that stung Brilliana's cheeks to crimson. She turned hurriedly to the +little knot of Cavaliers, who chafed at having to witness what they +held to be the presumption of a Puritan in daring to bandy words with +a lady of quality. + +"Gallants," she said, "this merry meeting calls for its baptism of +wine." As she spoke she struck upon the bell, shrewdly confident that +her wishes would be met. "Wine," she added, "the more precious that +it is wellnigh the last in our cellars." + +As the Cavaliers came about her applauding with word and look, the +doors of the banqueting-room parted and Mrs. Satchell entered, full +of pomp and apple-red with pleasure, followed by Shard bearing a tray +of glasses, and by pretty, dimpling Tiffany bearing a goodly flagon +of wine and observing with demure approbation the covey of King's +gentlemen. + +Mistress Satchell swam like a gall on towards the Cavaliers, her +great, red, spoon-shaped face damp with satisfaction. Playing at +heroine behind bombarded walls was all very well, but greeting of +timely gentry who had set heroines free was infinitely better. + +"Heaven bless you, merry gentlemen," she chirruped. "Here is a cup of +comfort for you." + +"Heaven bless you, merry matron," Bardon answered, as soberly as he +could, for indeed the sight of Mistress Satchell in her Sunday best +and in her most coming-on humor was not of a nature to strengthen +sobriety. Lord Fawley gasped as the virago swaggered towards his +companions, and young Ingrow popped his handkerchief into his mouth +and bit at it while he stared with eyes of nursery wonder at the +dame. Radlett winked as if dazzled by the whimsical apparition, and +Sir Rufus, familiar with Mrs. Satchell and her vagaries, was the only +member of his party who kept his countenance unchanged on her +entrance. + +Brilliana was sympathetically swift to explain her astonishing +handwoman. + +"Gentles," she said, "this is Mistress Satchell, who queens it in +times of peace over my kitchen, but who has proved herself my very +valiant adjutant during the siege." + +The dame bridled with pride. + +"I can handle a pike, my lords, I promise ye," she asserted; and +then, turning to Halfman for confirmation, "Can I not, Master +Halfman?" + +Halfman slapped his thigh approvingly and answered to the Cavalier +with grave voice and smiling eyes. + +"Never was pike so handled before, I promise ye." + +The tone of his voice mimicked Mrs. Satchell's manner even as the +words of it aped her matter, but the dame was too pleased with +herself and the world to heed what it was that set the gentlemen +laughing. + +"So, so," Radlett hummed approval. "Mrs. Satchell, will you ride with +me to the King?" + +Mrs. Satchell dipped him a swimming reverence, but she shook her head +decisively. + +"Your honor means well, but I cannot leave my lady. The Roundheads +might come again." + +The Lord Fawley had by this seen his glass filled by Tiffany and was +staring boldly into her pretty face, much to the exasperation of +honest Thoroughgood, chafing in the background. + +"Do you handle a pike, prettikins?" Fawley asked. Prettikins dropped +him a courtesy and shook her curls. + +"No, my lord," she whispered, "I am not very soldierly." + +It was now Ingrow's turn to have his glass filled and to stare +admiration at the pretty serving-woman. + +"If you have a mind to enlist," he said, temptingly, "you shall be +ensign in my troop and we'll carry your kirtle for a flag." + +Whether Mrs. Satchell considered that Tiffany was like to be +embarrassed by the attentions of the gentry, or whether she +considered that those attentions diverted too much notice from +herself as the heroine of the servants' hall, she certainly came to +the rescue, edging her bulk between the girl and Ingrow. + +"She is too green for your grace," she insisted. "You need a fine +woman like me for your flag-bearer." + +Even Ingrow's readiness found him something at a loss for an answer. +He looked as if he feared lest dame Satchell might take him in an +embrace. Brilliana, now that all the glasses were charged, decided +that the company had tasted enough of Mrs. Satchell's humors. + +"I thank you, Mistress Satchell," she said, quietly, and Mrs. +Satchell, rightly reading in the tones of her mistress's voice +permission to retire, withdrew in good order, beaming and bobbing to +all the gentlemen and followed by Shard and Tiffany, who, with lids +demurely lowered, avoided recognition of the admiring glances of +Fawley and Ingrow. + +Brilliana turned to her company and lifted her glass. + +"Drink, gentles," she summoned. "Drink 'The King!'" + +All the Cavaliers shouted the loyal toast so that the words "The +King!" seemed to ring in every nook of the great hall; then every +Cavalier drained his glass. + +"Ah," sighed Lord Fawley, as he set down his empty vessel, "I could +drink the King's health forever." + +"I swear it would sweeten sour ale," Bardon declared. + +Young Ingrow took him up. "When it floats on such noble tipple I am a +god-swilling nectar." Halfman slapped his chest. + +"Come, lads!" he cried; "when Cavaliers drink the King's health they +should sing the King's song," and in another moment his mellow voice +was setting his friends a sturdy example. "Gallants of England," he +warbled: + + "Gallants of England, shall not the King land + Safely in town to knock Parliament down? + Shall we not ever strive to endeavor + Glory to win for our King and our crown? + Shall not the Roundhead soon be confounded? + Sa, sa, sa, sa, boys, ha, ha, ha, ha, boys, + Then we'll return home in triumph and joy. + Then we'll be merry, drink sack and sherry, + And we will sing, boys, God save the King, boys, + Cast up our hats, and sing Vive le Roy." + + + + +XI + +AT BAY + + +Brilliana and the Cavaliers, stirred by the enthusiasm of Halfman's +stanza, caught up the cry commanded and sent it rolling through the +hall. + +"Vive le Roy! God bless the King!" they shouted, with the loyal tears +in their eyes. Brilliana gave Halfman a grateful smile. + +"Well sung, well done," she approved. Halfman glowed. Sir Rufus +frowned a little. Turning hurriedly to his companions, he said: + +"Friends, I have another toast for you. I give you the King's sweet +warrior, Oxfordshire's blithe viceroy, 'The Lady of Loyalty House.'" + +"Never a better toast in the world," Halfman shouted. "Drink, +gallants, drink." + +Brilliana crossed her fingers before her face. Through the living +lattice her eyes peeped brightly. + +"I protest you make too much of me," she pleaded, while Halfman and +the Cavaliers quickly filled their glasses again and lifted them +high in air. A chorus of "The Lady of Loyalty House!" rang out, and +again the toast was honored. + +"I thank you with all my heart," Brilliana panted, blushing and +excited at the tumult and the praise. There was a moment's silence. +Everything worth saying seemed to have been said, everything worth +doing to have been done. Suddenly, in that silence, Bardon caught +sight of Evander where he stood apart, disdainful, between his +guards, and the sight pricked his wits. Turning to his mates, he +thumbed at the prisoner over his shoulder. + +"Should we not make the crop-ear yonder pledge the Lady of Loyalty +House?" he questioned. Radlett rubbed approving hands. + +"Well thought. Let him honor his conqueror," he began. The Lord +Fawley tripped him up with a new proposal. + +"Stop, stop; not so fast," he protested. "The fellow has not pledged +the King yet. Let him drink the King's health first and be damned to +him." + +The others applauded, but Ingrow, noting a certain sterner tightening +of Evander's mouth, interrupted. + +"I'll wager he will not drink," he said, looking maliciously from the +flushed faces of the Cavaliers to the pale face of the Puritan. +Rufus's temper blazed instantly. + +"Will not drink, say you!" he cried. "This mewcant shall pledge at +our pleasure or taste our displeasure." + +He strode to the table, filled a cup of wine, and set it down on the +corner nearest to Evander. + +"Come, you Roundpoll," he continued--"come, you Geneva mumbler, here +is a cup for you to wash down the dust of your dry thoughts. Drink, I +give you 'The King.'" + +Evander gazed steadfastly at the irate gentleman and made no motion +to take the wine. Brilliana, from where she stood, watching him +curiously, wrestled with a reluctant admiration of his carriage. +Ingrow commented, smoothly, maliciously: + +"You see, the gentleman does not drink." + +Ingrow's words fanned the Cavalier fire. + +"Damn him for a disloyal rat!" Radlett shouted. Halfman elbowed his +way past him and addressed Rufus. + +"Sweet Sir Rufus," he said, "I have lived in places where a little +persuasion has often led folk to act much against their personal +inclinations and desires. Out swords and force the toast." + +As he spoke he drew his sword with his best Mercutio manner, and the +suggestion and the naked steel carried contagion. Every gentleman +unsheathed his sword; all advanced upon Evander, a line of shining +points. + +"Bait him, bait him!" Bardon shouted. + +Ingrow shrilled, "Tickle him, prick him, pink him till he drinks!" + +Though Evander surveyed his enemies as composedly as if they had been +children threatening him with pins, Brilliana knew that the spirit of +mischief was alive and that the Cavaliers would not boggle at +cruelty, six to one, for the sport of making a Parliament man honor +the King against his will. She hated the man, but she would not have +him so handled. Instantly she stepped between Evander and the +Cavaliers, who fell back with lowered points before their hostess. + +"Wait, sirs," she ordered, "let me see if my entreaties will not make +the bear more gracious." + +She took up the cup where Rufus had set it down, and, coming close to +Evander, held the vessel to him with her sweetest smile, the smile +which, she had been assured a thousand times, would tame a savage and +shatter adamant. "Will you not pledge the best gentleman in England?" +she asked, with a voice all honey. + +Very courteously Evander took the proffered cup from her fingers and +gave her back her smile. Brilliana's heart thrilled with pleasure at +this new proof of beauty's victory. + +"I will drink at your wish," he said, looking at her with a quiet +smile and speaking as if he and she were alone together in the great +hall. "I will drink at your wish, but with my own wit." Still looking +into the gratified eyes of Brilliana, he lifted the cup. + +"I drink," he cried, loud and clear, "to the best man in England. I +drink to Colonel Cromwell." + +He drained the glass and sent it crashing into the fireplace. Then he +folded his arms and faced his antagonists. + +Brilliana's heart seemed for a second to stand still. So beauty had +not triumphed, after all. Dimly, as one in a dream, she could hear +the fury of the Cavaliers find words. + +"You black Jack, I will clip your ears," Rufus promised. + +"Blood him. Blood him," bawled Fawley. + +"Slit his nose," Radlett suggested. + +"Duck him in the horse-pond," suggested Bardon. + +"Set him in the stocks," Ingrow advised. + +Halfman, seeing how Brilliana leaned against the table, her face +pale as her smock, raged at her daring denier. He stretched out his +sword as if to marshal and restrain the passions of the Cavaliers. + +"Would it not be properer sport, sirs," he asked, "to tie him in a +chair, like Guido Fawkes on November day, and take him through the +village that loyal lads may pelt a traitor?" + +Once again Halfman's pleasant invention pleased the fancy of his +allies. + +"Well said," assented Rufus. "Fetch a rope, some one." + +Brilliana, hearing, moved a little forward. She had failed and felt +shamed. Yet this thing must not happen. She could not leave her enemy +thus to the mercy of his enemies. But what she would have said was +stayed by a sudden diversion. + +Interest in all the events that had so swiftly passed before them had +gravely relaxed the vigilance of Evander's guardians. Garlinge and +Clupp--a strong Gyas and a strong Cloanthes--open-eyed and +open-mouthed, were open-handed also and clawed no clutch upon their +prisoner's shoulder. Thoroughgood, confused between jealous thoughts +of Tiffany and envious admiration of the manner in which Halfman +handled the gentry, was as heedless as his inferiors, and was +therefore taken too much by surprise to offer the slightest +resistance when Evander, suddenly springing from between his guards, +snatched from his supine arms the captured sword that had been +intrusted to his keeping. Before he or any other of the astonished +spectators could take any action Evander had leaped lightly into the +alcove of the window, and, dragging by main force the heavy table in +front of him, so as to blockade his corner, showed himself snugly +intrenched behind a rampart which his single sword might well hope to +hold at least for some time against the swords of half a dozen +assailants. + +"You will find me a spoil sport," he cried, cheerily, as he stood on +guard behind the massive bulk of oak. "Dogs, here is a hart at bay; +beware his antlers." + +"Bravely done, rebel," Brilliana cried, aloud, as if in spite of +herself, as she beheld the reckless deed, and "Bravely done, rebel," +Halfman echoed, in his reluctant turn, as he heard his lady's words +and saw the light of praise on his lady's face. Though he hated the +Puritan as cordially as if he had been a King's man all his days, he +could not deny his courage, and his scene of effective action made +him wish himself in Evander's place, taking the stage so skilfully +and dominating the situation. But above all this, if Brilliana +applauded the rebel's act, then the rebel's life was of some value, +and until he received his lady's orders the rebel's life should be +sacred to Halfman. So he struck up with his sword the pikes that +Garlinge and Clupp levelled, clumsily enough, and were preparing to +thrust at Evander over the interposing barrier. At the same moment +Rufus, for a very different reason, restrained the action of his +comrade Cavaliers, who were making ready for a combined rush, sword +in hand, upon their enemy. Rufus saw instantly how well intrenched +their enemy lay; it would be hard for any sword to reach him across +that width of oak, and even push of pike, when delivered by such +loutish fingers as now governed those weapons, might easily be +parried by a swordsman so skilful as he guessed Evander to be. But +there was no generosity towards a brave adversary in Rufus's action. +In his hot ferocity he merely wished to make sure of his quarry as +quickly as possible. + +"You shall be no hart-royal," he answered, fiercely, taking up the +hunter's challenge. "You shall not escape. We shall sound the mort of +the deer in a moment. Give me your gun, fellow." + +This last command was addressed to Thoroughgood, who had brought his +musketoon to the ready and was waiting irresolute for command. Sir +Rufus snatched the weapon from him and was about to aim at Evander +when, to his rage, Brilliana stepped between him and his mark. + +"Stay your hand, Sir Rufus," she commanded, with a frown on the fair +face to which the color had now returned. "It is for me, and for me +only, to give orders here. This is my prisoner, and were he ten times +a Roundpoll he should have honest handling." + +Sir Rufus would fain have protested, would fain have carried his +point, but he saw that in the face of her whom it was his heart's +desire to please which reduced him to sullen obedience. He shrugged +his shoulders. "As you please," he muttered, as he returned the gun +to Thoroughgood and, turning on his heel to hide his vexation, joined +his comrades, who seemed all to share, discomfited, in his rebuke, +and to deprecate the anger of Brilliana. Brilliana went up to the +table, and, poising herself against it by pressing the palms of her +hands on its surface, looked with gracious entreaty into the grave +eyes of Evander, who lowered his sword in respectful greeting. + + + + +XII + +A USE FOR A PRISONER + + +"Sir," said Brilliana, "if you give me your parole you shall have the +freedom of Harby." + +Evander made her a ceremonious bow. + +"Lady, you seem to me to be the only true gentleman on your side of +this quarrel, so I will give you my word and my sword." + +Holding his sword by the blade, he extended it across the table to +Brilliana, whose hand caught its hilt with the firm grasp of one to +whom the manage of arms was not unfamiliar. As she stepped back with +her trophy Evander pushed the table aside to afford him passage from +his alcove, and, saluting the lady, took his former place between his +warders. Brilliana returned his salutation with a murmured "It is +well." Rufus, disengaging himself from the knot of discomfited +Cavaliers, moved towards her and addressed her with faintly +restrained impatience. + +"In Heaven's name," he begged, "set this Cantwell on one side if you +tender him so precious. I have private news for you." + +Brilliana's face wore something of a frown for her presuming friend. +"Indeed!" she answered, coldly. Then turning towards Halfman she +tendered to him Evander's sword, which he hastened to take from her, +kneeling as he did so. + +"Captain Cloud is in your care," she said. "Pray you, withdraw your +prisoner a little." + +Halfman rose, bearing Evander's sword, and went to Evander. + +"Will you come this way?" he bade his captive, courteously enough. If +Brilliana chose to trust a Roundhead's word, her will was Halfman's +law. Evander again saluted Brilliana and followed Halfman to the +farther part of the hall. Here in a window-seat, out of ear-shot of +the other's speech, he seated himself to commune with his melancholy +reflections, while Halfman, after stationing Thoroughgood at a little +distance as a nominal guard upon the prisoner, dismissed Garlinge and +Clupp from the room and rejoined the Cavaliers. Brilliana, who had +still been standing with Sir Rufus, now addressed the others. + +"Gentlemen," she said, "you must need sustenance after this morning's +work. You will find such poor cheer as Harby can offer in the +banqueting-hall. Captain Halfman, will you play the host for me?" + +The Cavaliers, who were, indeed, sharp-set and ever-ready +trenchermen, welcomed the proposal each after his own fashion. + +"Indeed," averred the Lord Fawley, "I would say good-day to a pasty." +"Ay," assented Radlett, "well met, beef or mutton." Ingrow +euphemized, "I shall be well content with bread and cheese and +dreams," as he glanced admiration at Brilliana. Bardon grunted, "I +would sell all my dreams for a slice of cold boar's head." + +Halfman addressed them in the character of Father Capulet. "We have a +trifling foolish banquet towards." He turned towards the doors of the +banqueting-room with the famished gentlemen at his heels; then, +noticing that Sir Rufus remained with Brilliana, he stopped and +questioned him. "You, sir, will you not eat?" + +Rufus answered him with an impatience that was almost anger. "No, +no," he said; "I have no hunger. Stay your stomachs swiftly, +friends." + +He turned again to Brilliana, and stood opposite to her in silence +till Halfman and the Cavaliers had quitted the hall. Then Brilliana +spoke. + +"Well, good news or bad?" + +"Bad," Rufus answered. "Your cousin Randolph is a captive." + +Brilliana gave a little cry of regret. + +"Bad news, indeed! How did it chance?" + +"In the battle," Rufus answered. "The King's standard-bearer was +slain and the King's flag fell into the rebel hands." + +Brilliana clasped her hands with a sigh, and would have spoken, but +Rufus stayed her, hurrying on with his tale. + +"That could not be endured, dear lady. So in the dusk Randolph and I +put orange scarfs about us that we might be taken for rogues of +Essex's regiment, and so, unchallenged, slipped into the enemy's +camp. Dear fortune led me to the tent of Lord Essex, and there I +found his secretary sitting and gaping at the precious emblem. I +snatched it from his fingers and made good my escape, gaining great +praise from his Majesty when I laid the sacred silk at his feet." + +Brilliana's eyes swam with adoration. "Oh, my gallant friend!" she +cried, and held out her hands to him. He caught them both and kissed +them, whereat she instantly withdrew them and moved a little away. He +followed her, speaking low, passionately. + +"Your words mean more than the King's words to me. You know that." + +Brilliana did not look vastly displeased at this wild speech, but she +forced a tiny frown and set her finger to her lips. + +"Hush!" she said. "What of Randolph?" + +"Less fortunate than I," Rufus resumed, in calmer tones, "he ran into +the arms of a burly Parliament man, that Cambridge Crophead Mr. +Cromwell, who made him prisoner." + +"Truly," said Brilliana, thoughtfully, "it is hard luck for him just +after his first battle. But 'twill be soon mended. They will exchange +him." + +Even as she spoke she seemed surprised at the gloomy look that +reigned on Rufus's face. His tone was as gloomy as his face as he +said, "He was wearing the orange scarf of Essex." + +"What then?" Brilliana questioned, still surprised; then, as +knowledge flashed upon her, she cried, quickly, "Ah, they will say +that he was a spy." + +"Ay," Rufus answered, hotly, "the King's spy, God's spy upon enemies +of God and King, but still a spy in their eyes." + +"But what is to be done?" Brilliana gasped. + +"I would that I knew," Rufus answered. "His Majesty has interceded +for him and has gained him some days of grace. It is certain that my +Lord Essex, if he had his own way, would yield him. But he has not +his own way, for this stubborn Cromwell fellow clings to his +prisoner." + +"Why is he so stubborn?" Brilliana asked. Rufus smiled sourly. + +"Partly because, like all new-made soldiers, he is punctilious of the +rules of war. Partly because he hopes to turn his capture to some +account. Poor Randolph had upon him a letter in cipher from the King +to a certain lord. Randolph may buy his life with the key to the +cipher." + +"He will never do that," Brilliana said, in proud confidence of the +courage of her house. She was silent for a moment; then she gave a +little cry of joy. "I think I can save him," she exclaimed. Rufus +stared at her as if she had lost her wits. + +"Why, what can you do?" he asked, astonished. Brilliana answered with +a glance of profound wisdom. "I think I know a way," and she nodded +her head sagely. Then she turned and moved a little space across the +hall in the direction of that window-seat where Evander sat +ensconced. When she had advanced two or three paces she called to +him: + +"Captain Cloud, pray favor me with your company for a few moments of +speech." + +Evander's consciousness swam to the surface of a pool of gloomy +thought at her summons. He rose on the instant and came down the hall +towards her. + +"I am at your service, lady," he said. Brilliana watched him closely +as she questioned. + +"You say you are a friend of Mr. Cromwell?" + +Evander seemed surprised at the interrogation, but he answered, +simply, "I am so favored." + +"Does he cherish you in affection?" Brilliana pursued, still watching +him closely. + +"He loved my father," said Evander. "If I dared to think it I should +say he loved me, too. Truly, he has shown me much regard." + +Brilliana struck her palms sharply together with the air of one who +has solved a difficult problem. + +"Your Mr. Cromwell has taken prisoner a cousin of mine whom he +threatens to kill as a spy. We will exchange you against Mr. +Cromwell's prisoner." + +Evander looked steadily back at her with a hint of mild amusement at +the corners of his mouth. + +"Colonel Cromwell will never exchange a spy," he responded, +decisively. + +Rufus, who was listening to the conference, nodded his head in gloomy +assent. "That is like enough," he agreed. Brilliana stamped a foot +and her eyes snapped vexation. + +"We shall see," she said, sharply. She turned away from the two men +and moved to a small table against the wall that carried writing +materials. Seating herself thereat, she took up a goose-quill and +began to write rapidly on a large sheet of paper. When she had +finished she looked round, and beckoned Rufus to her side that he +might hear what she had written. She read it aloud, with her eyes +fixed on Evander's impassive face. + + "To Colonel Cromwell, serving with my Lord Essex in the + Parliamentary army lately at Edgehill. My cousin, Sir + Randolph Harby, is a prisoner in your hands. Your friend, + Mr. Evander Cloud, is a prisoner in mine. I will exchange my + prisoner for your prisoner; but the life of Mr. Evander + Cloud is answerable for the life of Randolph Harby. Such is + the sure promise and steadfast vow of his cousin and the + King's true subject, Brilliana Harby." + +As she read, the dour face of Rufus brightened, and he rubbed his +hands in satisfaction at the close. + +"By the Lord, an honest thought," he chuckled. "Swing Randolph, swing +rat-face." + +Evander smiled disdainfully. + +"I am no spy," he asserted, firmly, "and by the laws of war you have +no right to my life." + +Brilliana turned on him tauntingly. + +"You were taken a rebel in arms and your life is at my mercy." + +"Then," said Evander, calmly, "add to your letter my wish that +Colonel Cromwell take no thought of me." + +Brilliana stamped impatiently. + +"I am not your secretary," she said, sharply. + +"It does not matter," Evander answered, smoothly. "Colonel Cromwell +will follow the laws of war." + +"I am sorry for you if he do," Brilliana declared. "We shall test the +strength of Colonel Cromwell's love." She called, loudly, "John +Thoroughgood." + +Thoroughgood advanced to her from where he stood removed. + +"Ride with a white flag," Brilliana went on; "ride hard to my Lord +Essex's army, wherever it may be. Where is my Lord Essex, Rufus?" + +"They have retired, I think, upon Warwick," Rufus said, doubtfully. + +"Well," Brilliana continued, "to the rebel army, wherever you can +find it. Deliver this letter into the hands of Colonel Cromwell. +Bring back his answer swiftly. Ride as if you were riding for your +life." + +Thoroughgood saluted, took the letter, and turned to go. Brilliana +stopped him. + +"First quarter Captain Cloud in the west room, and see him well +tended." + +Evander bowed. + +"I thank you," he said, and followed Thoroughgood out of the room. +Brilliana turned to Rufus. + +"I trust you will all feast here to-night." + +Rufus shook his head sadly. + +"Tears in my eyes and heart, but not possible. We join the King +to-night for Banbury." He came close to her and spoke low. "Bright +Brilliana, will you not give me your golden promise ere I go?" + +"You must not ask that yet," Brilliana pleaded. "I must know my own +mind." + +Sir Rufus banged his hands together. + +"By God, I know mine, and my mind is to win you if I have to kill a +regiment of rivals." + +Brilliana pretended to shudder at his ferocity. + +"Lord! you are a very violent lover." + +Rufus did not deny her. + +"I am a very earnest lover, a very desperate lover." + +Brilliana made a gesture of protest. + +"Fie, this is no love-talk time, when the King is fighting. Ride, +gallant Rufus, come back with loyal laurels and the flags of canting +rebels, and see how I shall welcome you." + +Rufus caught her hands. + +"Must I be content with this?" he asked, hotly. + +"You must be content with this," Brilliana replied, coolly. "Here +come your brothers-in-arms." + +The doors of the banqueting-hall opened, and Fawley, Radlett, Bardon, +Ingrow, and Halfman came in, all brighter for wine and food. + +"'Tis boot and saddle, Rufus," Fawley cried. + +"I am yours," Rufus answered. He bowed over Brilliana's fingers. +"Farewell, lady." + +One and all they turned and left her, and as they tramped into the +air the chorus of the Cavalier song came back to her happy ears. + + "And we will sing, boys, God bless the King, boys, + Cast up your hats, and cry Vive le Roy." + + + + +XIII + +A GILDED CAGE + + +Evander awoke in a strange world steeped in lavender. It was long +since he had lain so soft, long since he had drifted out of dreams to +breathe lavender. His pleased senses, less alert for very ease and +pleasure, denied him immediate knowledge of his whereabouts. He saw a +fair room, well appointed; he welcomed the morning sunlight through +delicate, unfamiliar curtains; he questioned the insisting +deliciousness of lavender. Where was he? What was this chamber of +calm panelled in pale oak? It was not Leyden, it was not Cambridge; +then in a flash he knew. It was the west room at Harby--Harby where +he lay a prisoner on parole, Harby which he had tried to take and +which had ended by taking him. He leaped from his bed instantly, well +awake, well alive, and gaining the window peeped through the parted +curtains. He looked out across the moat on the terrace to the rear of +Harby, beyond which lay the spacious gardens for which Harby was held +famous. His men had held that terrace twenty-four hours earlier; now +they had vanished as if they had never been, save for the testimony +of the trampled grass. In their place a solitary figure sat on a +baluster drinking smoke contemplatively from a pipe of clay. Evander +knew him for Halfman--knew, too, that Halfman watched there for him, +for the moment the curtains parted the sitter rose and, advancing +towards the edge of the moat, waved and voiced salutation to Evander. + +"Give you good-morning, gallant capitano," he called. "Jocund day +stands on the top of yon high eastern hill. Will it please your +worthiness to be stirring?" + +"Very willingly," Evander called back. "Have I overslept?" + +Halfman made a gesture of protestation. + +"Nay, nay," he answered. "Your time is your own nag here, to amble, +pad, or gallop as you choose. Have I your permission to wait upon you +in your apartment?" + +On Evander's assurances that nothing would afford him greater +pleasure, Halfman favored him with a military salute, and, crossing +the moat by the now restored bridge, disappeared inside the house. +Evander hastened to clothe himself, a task which he had but partially +accomplished when the drumming of a pair of hands upon the door +informed him that his custodian waited at the threshold. He opened +the door, and Halfman walked in wearing for the occasion a manner in +which good-fellowship and condescension, with the consideration of a +noble victor for a noble vanquished, were artfully blended and +emphatically interpreted. He held out his hand for Evander's and gave +to it a martial pressure. + +"A soldier should ever be abroad betimes," he asserted. "Wherefore I +applaud your rising." + +Evander inquired again, somewhat anxiously, if he had been expected +to appear before, which again Halfman denied. + +"Since you have passed your parole," he affirmed, "Harby Hall is +Liberty Hall for you as far as to the park limits. I would have +battered at your door ere this, but I respected your first sleep in a +strange bed, wherein often a bad night makes a late matins. Can you +break your fast?" + +Evander answering that he could, Halfman called upon him to follow, +and led the way into an adjoining room, which was, so he assured +Evander, set at his disposal during the period of his stay. The room, +like the bedchamber, was panelled of oak, was handsomely furnished, +and its long windows, which occupied almost the entirety of one wall, +afforded the same view of terrace and garden that Evander had already +seen. Much had been newly done, so Evander could see, to brighten and +cheer the place. A bowl of royal roses stood on the buffet, and +Evander smiled at the delicate defiance. In the alcove of the +window-seat a number of books were piled, books that had patently +been newly dusted, and Evander, glancing at these, found that they +were all theological, an attention which made him smile. A table +decked with lily-white linen and silver furniture bore preparations +for a meal. + +"Here, sir," said Halfman, cheerfully, "for some few hours of flying +time, you are, in a word, king of the castle. These rooms are yours +to eat in, read in, pray in, sleep in--what you please. None shall +disturb your privacy without your leave." + +Evander guessed that his hostess had found this way of treating him +well and yet keeping her from his presence. There was bitterness in +the thought that she must needs hate him so deeply. It may be that +something of the bitterness of the thought asserted itself on +Evander's face, and that Halfman misread it thinking he read the +prisoner's thoughts clearly. + +"Do not think," he proceeded, "that you are cabined and cribbed to +these walls. All Harby Park is your pleasant paradise when you are +pleased to walk abroad, and after you have broken your fast I shall +be pleased to guide you through its glories. And now, will you that I +eat with you? I have kept myself fasting, or wellnigh fasting, till +now, but if you would rather break your bread in solitude say, +without offence given, what I shall hear without offence taken." + +Evander assured his companion that he desired his company of all +things. Indeed, had Halfman been other than he was, Evander would +have preferred any companionship that kept him from his melancholy +thoughts. And already Halfman attracted him, or at least interested +him. His fantastical manner, his fluent speech, his assurance, and +that note of something foreign, odd, as characteristic, as +conclusive, as the scorch of foreign suns upon his face, appealed to +the curiosity in Evander which ever made men books for him. Halfman's +manner grew more expansive at Evander's ready acceptance of his +offer. He was now the magnificent host, soldier still, but soldier at +his ease, and he played at Lord of Harby with enthusiasm. + +"You are in the right," he said. "It is ill for man to sit alone at +meat, for it encourages whimsical humors and the mounting of +crudities to the brain. A flagon is twice a flagon that is shared by +camerados, and who can praise a pasty to himself with only dumb walls +to echo his plaudits? And here in good time come flagon and pasty, +both." + +The door had opened as he spoke, and Mistress Satchell came into the +room, followed by a brace of serving-men who bore on trays the +materials for an ample repast. Halfman eyed the viands with approval, +while Evander returned gravely Mrs. Satchell's florid bobs and +greetings. + +"I saw to it last night," he went on, "that Harby was revictualled. +You pinched us, sir, you pared us; our larder was as lean as a +stork's leg, but to-day we can eat our fill." + +And, indeed, the table now being spread by Mrs. Satchell's directions +bore out the assertion of Halfman. Jolly, white loaves, a grinning +boar's head, a pasty with a golden dome, a ham the color of a pink +flower, and a dish of cold game tempted hunger where flagons of white +wine and red wine tempted thirst. Halfman dismissed Mrs. Satchell +and her satellites affably. + +"We can wait upon ourselves," he averred. "We shall be more private +so," and he motioned Evander to a seat and took his own place +opposite. "Yes," he said, resuming the thread of his thought, as he +piled a plate for Evander, "you did your best to starve us; we must +not do the like by you." + +Evander smiled as he stayed the generosity of his host's hands and +accepted from his reluctance a plate less lavishly charged with +viands than Halfman had proposed to offer him. + +"Yet," he said, "I think I heard, no later ago than yesterday, much +clatter of dishes and much rattling of cups and all the sounds of +plenty." + +Halfman hurriedly bolted a goodly slice of ham lest it should choke +him while he laughed, which he now did heartily, lolling back in his +chair. He was honestly amused, and yet it seemed to Evander as if +there were something in his strange friend's mirth which was +carefully calculated to produce its effect. Indeed, Halfman, as he +laughed, was thinking of Sir John Falstaff's full-bodied thunders +over some ticklish misdoings of Bardolph or Nym. When he had enough +of his own performance, he allowed the laughter to die as suddenly as +it had dawned, and gave tongue. + +"That was the best jest in the world," he chuckled. "Clatter of +dishes, say you, and rattle of cups. Once, when I was in Aleppo, I +heard an old fellow in an Abraham beard telling a tale to a crowd of +Moors. I had not enough of their lingo to know why they laughed, but +one who was with me that had more Moorish told me the tale. It was of +one who invited a poor man to his house and pretended to feed him +nobly, naming this fair dish and that fine wine, and pressing meat +and drink upon him, while all the while, in very mockery, there was +neither bite in any platter nor sup in any bottle. Well, excellent +sir, our table of yesterday was in some such case." + +Evander nodded. "I guessed as much," he commented. "But, indeed, it +was bravely done." + +"It was bravely devised," Halfman asserted. "It was my lady's +thought. She would never let a rascally Roundhead--I crave your +pardon, she would never let an enemy--dream that we were in lack of +aught at Harby that could help us to serve the King." + +"Your lady is a very brave lady," Evander said, quietly. Halfman +caught at his words with a kind of cheer in his voice. + +"Hippolyta was not more valiant, nor Parthian Candace, nor French +Joan. She is the rose of the world, the fairest fair, the valiantest +valor. There is no wine in the world that is worthy to pledge her, +but we must do our best with what we have." + +He filled himself a spacious tankard as he spoke and drained it at a +draught. Evander listened to his ebullient praises in silence. He did +not think that the Lady of Harby should be so spoken of and by such +an one. Over-eating and especially over-drinking were ever +distasteful to him, and he took it that Halfman was on the high-road +to becoming drunk. But in this he was wrong. When Halfman set down +his vessel he was as sober as when he had lifted it, but of a sudden +a shade graver, as if Evander's silence had shadowed his boisterous +gayety. He pushed the beaker from him with a sigh, and then, seeing +that Evander's plate was empty, offered to ply him with more food. On +Evander's refusal he pushed back his chair. "Well," he said, "if your +stomach is stayed, are you for a stroll in the gardens--will you see +lawns and parks of fairyland?" + +Evander willingly acquiesced, and the strangely assorted pair rose +and quitted the chamber. They met Mistress Satchell on the threshold, +and Tiffany hiding slyly behind her highness. Evander smilingly +complimented Mistress Satchell on the excellence of her table, to the +good dame's great gratification. But much to Tiffany's indignation he +paid little heed to her pretty face. + + + + +XIV + +A PASSAGE AT ARMS + + +The vane of Halfman's attitude towards the captive had veered +strongly in the past half-hour. He had been ready to treat him well, +for such was Brilliana's pleasure; he was willing to make friends and +taste the agreeables of the magnanimous victor. But the conquered man +had gained no ground that morning in the heart of one of his +conquerors. He ate little, which Halfman pitied; he drank little, +which Halfman despised; and it was with a much-augmented disdain that +he beheld Evander dash his solitary cup with water. + +"Craftily qualified, curse him," he thought; "the fellow's a damned +Cassio, and will be fumbling with his right hand and his left in a +twinkle." + +In this he was disappointed; Evander's draught wrought no havoc in +his speech or demeanor; Halfman was more disappointed that the +prisoner took so coldly his laudations of his lady. + +"The Roundpoll is so mad to be mastered by a woman that he has not +enough gentility in his thin wits to spur him to a compliment." + +His hostile thoughts brewed in his heated brain-pan till their fumes +fevered him. As he led the way by stair and corridor, his mood for +quarrel grew the keener that he knew his choler could find no hope of +ventage with a prisoner committed to his care. And even as he thought +this, chance seemed to furnish him with some occasion for +satisfaction. They were passing by the open door of a room which had +long been used as a place of arms at Harby, and its walls were hung +with weapons of the time and weapons of an earlier generation. +Halfman had passed much time there with the brisker fellows of the +garrison, breaking them in to feats of weapon-play, and he smiled at +the memory and the magnitude of his own dexterity. He paused for a +moment at the threshold and looked round at Evander. + +"Here," he said, with a smile that was half a leer and an intonation +that was little less than a sneer--"here is a spot that will scarce +have enough attraction for your worship to merit your worship's +stay." + +Evander, who had been following his guide almost mechanically, +enveloped in his own gray reflections, took surprised note of his +companion's changed bearing. Up to now he had been civil enough, even +if his civility had not been of a quality greatly to Evander's +liking, yet now his blustering good-humor gave place to something +akin to deliberate offence. But he might be mistaken, and it was not +for a prisoner to snatch at straws of quarrel. Therefore he +protested, courteously: + +"Why should you think that a soldier takes no interest in a soldier's +tools?" + +Halfman gave a shrug to his shoulders that might or might not be +intended to annoy. + +"Your worship is too raw a soldier to know much of these same tickers +and tappers. Let us rather to the library for volumes of divinity." + +This time the intention to affront was so patent, so patent, too, +that Halfman's temper was getting the better of whatever discretion +he possessed, that Evander's face hardened, and yet for his own +reasons he still spoke mildly enough: + +"There is no need to call me worship, for I can claim no such title. +But I think I know something of these trinkets, and with your leave +will examine them." + +He passed by Halfman as he spoke and entered the room, where he +immediately busied himself in the examination of some of the weapons +displayed there, and apparently ignoring Halfman's existence. Halfman +watched him with a scowl for a moment and then followed him into the +room. + +"Your honor," he said--"since you will not be called worship--your +honor really has a use for these toys of gentlefolk?" + +Evander had taken a handsome Italian rapier from its case against the +wall, and, after glancing at its blade, was weighing and testing the +weapon in the air. As he gave Halfman no answer, the latter took up +the talk again, provocatively: + +"I cannot deny that your honor showed fight briskly enough yester +evening, but then it seemed little less than fight or die, and even a +rat, if you corner him, will snap for dear life. Moreover, you were +well ambushed, and there was a gentle lady present who would not see +a rat butchered unnecessarily." + +Evander, still weighing the fine Italian blade, turned to Halfman and +addressed him with an exasperating composure. + +"Friend," he said, "I have told you that I am not unacquainted with +arms. When I am a free man I enforce belief in my word. As it is--" + +He left his sentence uncompleted, and with a contemptuous shrug of +his shoulders proceeded on his journey round the room, still carrying +the Italian rapier in his hand. Under his tan Halfman's face blazed +and his eyes glittered, but he spoke with a forced calm and a feigned +civility: + +"Say you so much? Why, I believe your honor, surely. Yet, as they +say, seeing is believing, and if you are in the vein for a gentle and +joyous passage with buttoned arms, I that am here to entertain your +honor would not for the world's width gainsay you." + +Evander eyed him quietly. "Are you ready at fence?" he inquired. "I +shall be pleased to take a lesson from you." + +Halfman's heart warmed at his words. "The coney creeps towards the +gin," he thought, exultantly; then he answered, aloud: + +"Why, if you have a stomach for it you shall not be crossed. Here be +two buttoned rapiers, true twins--length, weight, workmanship. I will +beleather them in a twink. I promise you I would not hurt your +honor." + +"You are very good," Evander answered, gravely. Halfman was already +busy tying two large pads of leather the size of small oranges onto +the buttoned blades. While he was at work Evander occupied himself +with the contents of the room until Halfman, having finished his job, +advanced towards him with the weapons extended. Suddenly he paused. + +"Stop!" he said. "Let us make a wager on our game. I always play with +more heart so. Here is my stake." + +He began to fumble at his doublet, and presently produced from an +inner pocket a great thumb-ring with a ruby in it. + +"I gained that," he said, "at the sacking of a Spanish town. 'Tis +worth a pope's ransom. Set what you please against it." + +Evander lifted the ring from the table where Halfman placed it and +took it to the window to look at it closely. Presently he laid it on +the table again. + +"It is a goodly ring," he observed. "The setting is old and curious, +and the stone, though it has a slight flaw in it, as you have been +doubtless told before now, is worth more than any poor possessions I +have about my person. Wherefore I would rather we contended for +love." + +Halfman shook his head. He was a thought dashed by Evander's +discovery of the blemish in the stone, and he carried off his +discomfiture by bravado. + +"Nay, nay," he answered; "there is my stake. Set what you please +against it, were it no more than a silver groat. I do not ask to be +paid well for my lesson." + +Evander said nothing, but drew his purse from his pocket and laid it +on the table. Through the meshes Halfman could see the gleam of a few +pieces of gold, and the gleam cheered him, as it always did. He was +ever greedy of gold, and thought the death of Crassus not unkingly. + +"Choose your blade," he said. Evander, with a quick glance at the two +weapons, selected the one nearest to him, flung his hat onto a chair, +stripped off his doublet, and quietly waited for his adversary. +Halfman did not keep him long. He flung his hat and doublet on the +floor and advanced. + +"Are you ready?" he asked. Evander saluted in silence, and in another +moment the antagonists engaged and the mock duello began. Halfman +expected that it would be short, but it proved much shorter than he +expected. He was far too good a swordsman not to know when he had +encountered a better. The thing had not happened to him very often; +it happened very flagrantly now. In less than five minutes Evander +had placed the muffled button of his blade three times on Halfman's +person--once upon either breast, and the third time fair on the +forehead, just between the eyes. The last blow was so surely +delivered that had it been given with greater force it might have +knocked the receiver senseless. As it was, however, it was given with +such deliberate delicacy that, though Halfman's head hummed for the +moment and his eyes saw stars, he rallied quickly enough to stare at +Evander where he stood with lowered point and to tender him a +salutation of honest admiration. + +"Great Jove of glory!" he gasped; "who was it that ran liquid steel +into your spare body?" + +Evander smiled at the new change in his chameleon companion. + +"I learned a little fencing when I was in Paris," he admitted. "I +fear I was over-inclined for the pastime." + +"A little fencing!" Halfman ejaculated. "A little fencing! Why, man, +that botte between the eyes would have done for me, even if you had +not spitted both my lungs first. No one can ever say of you that you +held your sword like a dancer. Give me your hand--by God! I must grip +your hand." + +"Sir," said Evander, as the pair clasped hands with the hearty clasp +of true combatants, "you overpraise me; yet for your friendly +praises I have a favor to ask of you." + +"Name it and it is done," Halfman asseverated, with an oath, "were it +to pluck a purple hair for you from the beard of the Grand Cham +himself." + +"'Tis no such matter," Evander answered. "I do but entreat you of +your courtesy to take back your ring, for which in very truth I have +no use." + +Halfman protested a little for form's sake, then gave way, glad +enough to pouch his jewel again. + +"You are a gentleman," he declared. "Come, let us taste the air in +the gardens." + + + + +XV + +MY LADY'S PLEASAUNCE + + +The gardens of Harby were captain jewels in the crown of Oxfordshire. +From the terrace they spread in spaces of changeful beauty over many +acres of fruitful earth. Evander had seen to it that no further harm +was done to these lovely spaces than was inevitable for the conduct +of the siege. There were some in his company, hissing hot zealots, +who were all for laying violating hands upon the temples of Baal and +the shrines of Ashtaroth, by which Evander rightly interpreted them +to mean the pleasaunces of clipped yews, the rose bowers, the box +hedges, and the generous autumnal orchards. They were eager to show +their scorn of the Amalekites by the lopping of ancient trees and the +treading of colored blossoms under the heel of Israel. But Evander +was as firm as these were frantic, and the gardens of Harby smiled +through familiar process of sun and rain and dew, untroubled by the +daily rattle of musketry and the nightly tramp of sentinels. + +Evander reaped a reward for which he had not labored in his chivalry +to a belligerent and besieged lady. For the gardens that a conqueror +had preserved were now very fair indeed for a conquered man to walk +in. The October sun shone as if the royal triumph, yonder at Edgehill +and here at Harby, had rekindled summer on the chilling altar of the +year, and the hues of the lingering flowers flamed in the celestial +fires. + +If Evander's thoughts were sable, he did not allow them to stain the +fair day and his companion's gayety. Halfman swam now in the +extravagance of admiration for so miraculous a Puritan. Halfman loved +the apostles best on spoons of silver in a sea-bag swollen with loot, +but of the men he had the best word for Peter, who could use a sword +on occasion. And here was one of the saints on earth playing his +rapier as bravely as if he had been a gentleman born or gentleman +adventurer made, and had skimmed the seas and kissed and killed and +pilfered. + +He plied Evander, as they paced, with questions of swordsmanship and +schools of arms and masters, of the Italian method and the Spanish +method and the French method, and never caught his new Hector +tripping over a push or a parade. They moved over danceable lawns or +under the canopies of dim avenues, chattering of arms, till the soft +October air tingled with the names of famous fencers, and Halfman was +in fancy a lubber lad again at his first passado. + +But his wonder grew with their wanderings. They paused at the +bowling-green and played a game which Evander won. They visited the +stables where the horses now were rallied, that had lived hidden in +farm-yard and cottage garden during the siege. Here Halfman learned +that Evander liked hawks and loved horses, and knew their manage +better than himself. Had Evander proclaimed himself a whisperer, it +would not now have astonished Halfman. + +Again, as they passed by the orchard where Luke Gardener was busy, +Halfman must needs bring Luke and Evander acquainted, whereupon the +pair set straight to talking of garden talk and airing of weather +wisdom in speech long since to him as unfamiliar as Hebrew. Here +Evander's science wearied him, and he fairly dragged his captive +away, declaring that there was yet much to see more honorable than +herbs or brambles. Evander obeyed very contentedly, but they had not +moved many paces when Luke came hobbling after, and, catching +Halfman, drew him by the arm apart. + +"Is yonder truly a damnable Roundhead?" he questioned. Halfman nodded +his head. + +"Well," continued Luke, "for that he deserves to be hanged, and yet +he has taught me a trick of grafting roses which he says the Dutch +use that might serve to save a worser man from the gallows." + +Without a word Halfman shook his arm free and rejoined Evander, who +was moving slowly along a pathway leading towards an enclosure of +fantastically clipped yews. Hearing the footsteps behind him, Evander +halted till Halfman joined him. + +"How the devil came you to fathom flower knowledge?" Halfman asked. +Evander smiled faintly. + +"I would rather you unsaddled the devil from your question," he +answered, rebuking in his mind a woman; "but I have always loved +gardens. You have one here who is skilled in topiary," and he pointed +towards the trim yew hedge they were approaching. + +"Those are the green walls of my lady's pleasaunce," Halfman +answered, "and the learned in such trifles call them mighty fine. But +all I know of woodcraft is hatcheting me a path through virgin +forest." + +"Where, indeed, your topiarist would be ill at ease," Evander +answered. "But I pray you let us retire, lest we intrude upon your +lady." + +"Never fear for that," said Halfman. "My lady is busy enough in-doors +to-day, setting her house to rights, and you should not miss the +comeliest nook in all the domain." + +As he spoke he passed under an archway of clipped yew, and, Evander +following, the pair came upon a grassy space entirely girdled with +yew hedges, the sight of which instantly justified to Evander the +praise of his companion. The enclosure made a circle some half an +acre in size of the greenest turf imaginable, orderly bordered with +seats of white marble and belted all about with the black greenness +of the yew-tree hedge, which was fashioned like an Italian colonnade. +The arches afforded vistas of different and delightful prospects of +the park at every quarter of the card--woodland, savanna-like lawns, +flower-gardens, kitchen-gardens, and orchards in their pride. + +"This is a lovely place," protested Evander. "One might sit here and +dream of seeing the shy wood-nymphs flitting through these aisles--if +one had no better thoughts for one's idleness," he added. Halfman +laughed. + +"There peeped out the Puritan," he said. "I had lost him this long +while, but run him to earth in my lady's pleasaunce. Yet you are a +queer kind of Puritan, too. You can fence like a Frenchman, you can +play bowls as Father Jove plays with the globes of heaven, and you +can ride like Diomed, the jolly Greek, who knew that horses could be +stridden as well as driven." + +Evander, who had seated himself and had been tracing cabalistic signs +on the grass with his staff, looked up into his companion's face. + +"Are not you rather a queer kind of Cavalier," he asked, "if you +think that a Puritan must needs be a fool?" + +Halfman laughed back at him, and as he laughed he showed his teeth so +seeming white by contrast with his sunburned cheeks, and he seemed to +Evander more than ever like some half-tamed beast of prey. + +"You are no fool, Puritan," Halfman shouted, "or Heaven would not +have wasted its time in gracing you with such skill at sports. So +great with the rapier, so wise on the bias. No, no; you are no fool. +I am almost sad to think you quit us so soon, enemy though you be." + +While Halfman had been babbling, Evander had again been busy with his +staff. Halfman had paid no heed to his actions, being far too deep in +his own phrases. Had he been attentive he might have noticed that at +first Evander wrote on the green grass, as vainly as he might have +written in water, a word, a name: Brilliana. Had he been attentive he +might have noticed that Evander now wrote another word that was also +a name and more than a name: Death. But he did not notice, and as he +ended with his odd tribute to his enemy, Evander looked up at him +with a calm face. + +"I shall not quit you so soon," he said, in an even voice. "I have +come to stay at Harby." + +Halfman looked at him, puzzled. + +"Stay at Harby," he repeated. "Nonsense, man; what are you thinking +of? You will be riding hence in three days' time, when Sir Randolph +is released." + +Evander shook his head. + +"Sir Randolph will not be released," he said. The quiet positiveness +in his tone staggered Halfman. Stooping, with his hands resting on +his knees, his unquiet eyes stared into Evander's quiet eyes. + +"Sir Randolph will not be released! Why the devil will Sir Randolph +not be released?" + +Evander rose from his seat and rested his hand for a moment lightly +on Halfman's arm, while he said, impressively: + +"Say nothing of this to your lady, for Sir Randolph is her kinsman, +and I think she holds him dear. Let ill news come late. But if +Colonel Cromwell has taken a spy prisoner, that spy will very surely +die." + +Halfman stiffened himself. His eyes had never left Evander's, and he +knew that Evander spoke what he believed. He gave a short laugh. + +"And very surely if Sir Randolph be shot over yonder you will be shot +down here." + +"That," said Evander, still smiling, "is why I say that I have come +to stay at Harby." + +"You take your fate blithely," Halfman commented, scanning Evander +with curiosity. He was familiar with the sight of men in peril of +death; in most men he took courage for granted, but it was courage of +a gaudier quality than the composure of the young Puritan, who had +fenced with him and played bowls with him that very morning and +talked so learnedly of roses with Luke, the gardener. Was there +really something in the Puritan stuff that strengthened men's +spirits? Evander answered his words and unconsciously his thoughts. + +"I should not have taken up arms if I held my life too precious. It +will need three days to get the answer, the inevitable answer, and in +the mean time the autumn air is kind and these gardens delightful." + +Halfman stared at him in an ecstasy of admiration, and then dealt +him an applauding clap on the shoulder. + +"Come to the kitchen-garden, philosopher," he cried. "A fellow of +your phlegm should find pleasure in the contemplation of cabbages." + +"It is a sage vegetable," Evander answered. "But I fear I tax your +time. There must be much for you to do." + +"I have done much already," Halfman replied. "But, indeed, these be +busy times." + +"Then," protested Evander, "when I have stared my fill at your +meditative cabbage I shall entreat no more of your kindness but that +you convoy me to the safe port of the library, where I shall be +content enough." + +"As you please," Halfman responded. "I was never a bookish man; I +care for no books but play-books and these I carry here," and he beat +his brown forehead. "But you may nose out some theologies in odd +corners, as a pig noses truffles." + +"I shall rout out something to fill my leisure I doubt not," Evander +answered. + +"Then hey for the kitchen-garden," cried Halfman, taking Evander's +arm, and the two men, passing through a yew arch opposite to that by +which they had entered, left my lady's pleasaunce as solitary as they +had found it. + + + + +XVI + +A PURITAN APPRAISED + + +It did not remain solitary long. Unawares, the steps of Halfman and +Evander had been dogged ever since they crossed the moat and set out +on their pilgrimage through the gardens. Crouching behind hedges, +lingering in coppices, peeping through thickets, two persistent +trackers had pursued the unconscious quarry. Scarcely had the shadows +of Evander and his companion vanished from the grasses of the +pleasaunce than the pursuers emerged from the shelter of a yew screen +and ran into the open, staring after the departing pair. Yet these +pursuers were no stealthy enemies, but merely creatures spurred by an +irresistible curiosity. One was stout and red faced and inclined to +breathe hard after the fatigues of the chase. The other was slim and +smooth, with ripe cheeks and bright eyes, lodgings for the insolence +of youth. In a word, the hunters were Mistress Satchell and pretty +Tiffany, who had found their Puritan prisoner and visitor a being of +considerable interest. + +Mistress Satchell turned a damp, shining face and a questioning eye +upon Tiffany. + +"Is not he a dashing lad for a Puritan?" she gasped, patting her +ample chest with both hands as if to fondle her newly recovered +breath. Tiffany, who was bearing her mistress's lute, shrugged and +pouted. + +"I see little to like in him," she snapped. This was not at all true, +but she was not going to admit as much to Mistress Satchell, or, for +that matter, to herself. Mistress Satchell snorted fiercely, like an +offended war-horse. + +"Because he has not clipped you round the waist, pinched you in the +cheek, kissed you on the lips--such liberties as our rufflers use. +But he is a man for my money." + +She spoke with vehemence. Pretty Tiffany made a dainty grimace as she +answered: + +"I think I am pleasing enough to behold, yet he gave me no more than +a glance when he gave me good-day." + +Mistress Satchell's ample bulk swayed with indignation. + +"He is a lad of taste, I tell you. Why should he waste his gaze on +such small goods when there was nobler ware anigh? He smiled all over +his face when he greeted me." + +Tiffany was sorely tempted to smile all over her face as she +listened, but Mistress Satchell's temper was short and her arm long, +so she kept her countenance as she answered, shortly: + +"He is little." + +This Mistress Satchell swiftly countered with the affirmation: + +"He is great." + +Tiffany thrust again. + +"He is naught." + +Again Dame Satchell parried. + +"He is much," she screamed, and her face was poppy-red with passion, +but Tiffany, retreating warily and persistent to tease, was about to +start some fresh disclaimer of the Puritan's merits when she caught +sight through a yew arch vista of a gown of gold and gray, and her +tongue faltered. + +"Our lady," she whispered to Mistress Satchell, who had barely time +to compose her ruffled countenance when Brilliana came through the +yew arch and paused on the edge of the pleasaunce surveying the +belligerents with an amused smile. + +"What are you two brawling about?" she asked, as she moved slowly +towards the marble seat. Tiffany thrust in the first word. + +"Goody Satchell will vex me with praise of the Parliament man." + +By this time Brilliana had seated herself, observing her vehement +shes with amusement. She turned a face of assumed gravity upon the +elder. + +"So, so, Mistress Satchell, have you turned Roundhead all of a +sudden?" + +Mrs. Satchell shook her head at Brilliana and her fist at Tiffany. + +"Tiffany is a minx, but I am an honest woman; and as I am an honest +woman, there are honest qualities in this honest Puritan." + +Brilliana knew as much herself and fretted at the knowledge. It cut +against the grain of her heart to admit that a rebel could have any +redemption by gifts. But she still questioned Mistress Satchell +smoothly, thinking the while of a man intrenched behind a table, one +man against six. + +"What are these marvels?" she asked. + +Mistress Satchell was voluble of collected encomiums. + +"Why, Thomas Coachman swears he is a master of horse-manage, and he +has taught Luke Gardener a new method of grafting roses, and Simon +Warrener swears he knows as much of hawking as any man in Oxford or +Warwick." + +She paused, out of breath. Brilliana, leaning forward with an air of +infinite gravity, commented: + +"It were more to your point, surely, if the gentleman had skill in +cook-craft." + +Mistress Satchell was not to be outdone; she clapped her hands +together noisily and shrilled her triumph. + +"There, too, he meets you. After breakfast this morning, when I asked +him how he fared, he overpraised my table, and he gave me a recipe +for grilling capons in the Spanish manner--well, you shall know, if +you do but live long enough." + +The ruddy dame nodded significantly as she closed thus cryptically +her tables of praises. Brilliana uplifted her hands in a pretty air +of wonder. + +"The phoenix," she sighed, "the paragon, the nonpareil of the +buttery." Instantly her smiling face grew grave. + +"Well, it is not for us to praise him or blame him while he is on our +hands. See that you give him good meals, Mistress Satchell." + +Dame Satchell stared at her mistress in some amazement. + +"Will he not dine in hall, my lady?" + +Brilliana frowned now in good earnest. + +"Lordamercy! do you think I would sit at meat with a rebel? Have I +not set him a room apart, to spare myself the sight of him? Serve him +in his own rooms, but look you serve him well." + +Dame Satchell wagged her head with an air of the deepest +significance. + +"I warrant you," she muttered, "he commended my soused cucumbers." + +And so nodding and chuckling she moved like a great galleon over the +green, and soon was out of sight. The moment her broad back was well +turned, Tiffany permitted herself to utter the protests which had +been boiling within her. + +"To listen to Dame Satchell, one would think that no man had ever +seen a horse or known one dish from another before this." + +Brilliana gave her handmaid a glance of something near akin to +displeasure. + +"I think you all talk and think too much of the gentleman. I see +little to praise in him save a certain coolness in peril. Let us have +no more of him. We must use him well, but he will soon be gone, and a +good riddance. Is my lute tuned, Tiffany?" + +Tiffany answered "Ay," and her lady took up the lute and picked at +a tune, yawning. The world seemed to have grown very tedious all of +a sudden, and it did not seem so pleasant as she deemed it would +prove to sit again in the yew circle and sing. She began a song or +two, to leave each unfinished with a yawn, and, because yawning is +contagious, Tiffany yawned too, discreetly behind her fingers. It +was while Tiffany looked away to conceal a vaster yawn than its +fellows, too vast for masking with finger-tips, that she saw a +soldierly figure coming across the garden towards the pleasaunce. + +"My lady," she cried, turning to Brilliana, "here comes Captain +Halfman. Let us ask him his mind as to the Parliament man." + +Brilliana's face brightened. Here was company, and good company. She +had believed him too busy to be seen so soon, for she had bade him +see about raising a troop of volunteers in the village, and she +turned round readily to greet her companion of the siege. + +Through the yew portal Halfman came, gravity reigning in his eyes and +slaking their wild fire. He saluted Brilliana with the deep reverence +he always showed to his fair general. Brilliana turned to her +adjutant eagerly: + +"Master Halfman, Master Halfman," she cried, "how do you measure our +rebel?" + +Halfman's gravity lightened amazingly at the thought of his prisoner. + +"I take him," he answered, emphatically, "for as proper a fellow as +ever I met in all my vagabond days. Barring his primness he would +have proved a gallant"--he was going to say "pirate," but paused in +time and said "seaman." "God pardon him for a Puritan," he went on, +"for he has in him the making of a rare Cavalier." + +Brilliana turned to Tiffany, whose cheeks were very red. + +"Hang your head, child," she cried; "for you are outvoted in a +parliament of praise. Beat a retreat, maid Tiffany." + +The crimson Tiffany fled from the pleasaunce. + +"Where is your prisoner?" Brilliana asked. + +"I have envoyed him over park and garden," Halfman answered, "and +brought him to port in the library." + +"Alas! I pity him," sighed Brilliana; "it holds few books of +divinity. But come, recruiting-sergeant, what of our volunteers?" + +"So pleases you, my lady," Halfman said, "our troop is swelling fast, +and the sooner we clap them into colored coats the better." + +Brilliana's curls danced in denial. + +"Alas! friend, I have sad news for you. Of cloth for coats I can +indeed command a great plenty"--she paused doubtfully. + +"Why this is glad news, not sad news," Halfman said. "So may you +serve it out with all despatch." + +Brilliana dropped her hands to her sides and her lids over her eyes, +a pretty picture of despair; but, "Alas! 'tis all white," she +confessed--"wool white, snow white, ermine white. You must needs have +patience, good recruiting-sergeant, till I can have it dyed the royal +red." + +Halfman pushed patience from him with outspread palms. + +"Shall the King lack hands for lack of madder?" he questioned, with +humorous indignation. "Not so, I pray you; let us cut our coats from +your white cloth. I promise you we will dye it ourselves red enough +in the blood of the enemy." Brilliana sprang to her feet rejoicing. + +"Bravely said; so shall it be bravely done. I will give orders at +once for the cutting and sewing. I will back our white coats against +Master Hampden's green coats, or Essex's swarm in orange-tawny. Have +you conveyed my message to my two miserly neighbors?" + +"I sent Clupp to Master Hungerford," Halfman answered, "and Garlinge +to Master Rainham, bidding them to your presence peremptory. But I +warn you, my lady, from all I hear, that if you hope to raise coin +for the King's cause from either of the skinflints you will be sadly +at a loss." + +"At least I must try," Brilliana declared. "Am I not the King's +viceroy in Oxfordshire, and are not the two money-bags my proclaimed +adorers? It will go hard with me but I compel them to swell the +King's exchequer." + +"You have done marvels," Halfman admitted. "Can you work miracles? +With all due reverence, I doubt. But we shall soon see, for here +comes Tiffany tiptoe through the trees. I'll wager it is to herald +one of the vultures." + +As he spoke, Tiffany tripped in pink and grinning. + +"My lady," said she, "Master Paul Hungerford has ridden in and seeks +audience." + +Brilliana clapped her hands. + +"Go, bring him in, Tiffany; and, Tiffany child, if Master Peter +Rainham comes, as I shrewdly expect, keep him apart, on your life, +till I know of his coming." + +Tiffany vanished. Brilliana turned to Halfman. + +"Stay with me, captain, and aid me to trap these badgers." + +Halfman smiled delight. "I will help you extempore," he promised. "I +will eke out my part with impromptus." + +He stood a little apart, grim mirth in his eyes, as Tiffany ushered +into the circle a lean, shabby country-gentleman, whose habit would +have shamed a scarecrow. Tiffany disappeared and the new-comer made +Brilliana an awkward bow. "Sweet lady, you sent for me and I come, +love, quickly." + + + + +XVII + +SET A KNAVE TO CATCH A KNAVE + + +Brilliana had much ado to keep from laughing in the face of the +uncouth genuflector, but she kept a grave face and uttered grave +complaint. + +"Master Hungerford! Master Hungerford! They tell me sad tales of you. +Though you are as wealthy as wealthy you will not mend the King's +exchequer." + +Master Paul gave vent to such a wail as a dog makes when one treads +unaware upon his tail, and clapped his hands about piteously. + +"I wealthy! Forgive you, lady, for listening to such tales. I am not +so graced. I am little bigger than a beggar." + +Brilliana wagged her curls. + +"Why, now, Master Hungerford, you have a great estate." + +Master Hungerford's whine rose higher, and he paddled at the air as +if he sought to come to some surface and breathe free. + +"Great land, lady--great land, if you will, but little cash. My land +holds every penny I get together. Why, 'tis well known in the country +that I buy land for a thousand pound every year, wherefore I can +never boast more than a guinea in ready money." + +Brilliana frowned on the floundering squire. + +"This is a sad business, Master Hungerford, for the King is in need +and will oblige hereafter those that oblige him now. His Majesty has +made me a kind of viceroy here in Oxford. I begin to think that you +incline to the Parliament, Master Paul. If I thought that, I would +hold you a traitor and make perquisitions at your place." + +Master Hungerford groaned dismally: + +"Lordamercy!" he moaned. "I am the loyalest knight in England. Nay, +now, if you talk of perquisitions there is my neighbor Peter Rainham. +I know him for a skinflint who will deny the King. Yet I know of a +chest of his that is stuffed with gold pieces. Were he a true man he +would shift his treasure into the King's sack, as I would if I had +such a store." + +A fantastic possibility danced into Brilliana's brain. She glanced to +where Halfman stood moodily ruminating on the method he would employ +to loosen Master Hungerford's purse-strings if he had him at his +mercy in a taken town. Brilliana could not read his thoughts, which +was as well, but she gave him a glance which stirred him to alertness +as she resumed her interrogatory of her niggardly neighbor. + +"Why, then, Master Hungerford, if he be as you say, he is little +better, if better at all, than a Parliament man, and, therefore, our +common enemy." + +Master Paul rubbed his lean hands in delight. + +"It is indeed as you say," he affirmed, with a sour smile that sat +very vilely on his yellow face. Brilliana leaned forward, and, +governing his shifty eyes, spoke very impressively. + +"Now meseems you might win great credit in the King's eyes, at no +cost to yourself, if you were to lay hands on this treasure in the +King's name." + +Master Paul's alarm asserted itself in a shriek. + +"Lordamercy, lady, what of the law of the land? Would you have me +turn footpad, house-breaker?" + +His jaws shook, his joints twitched, he was abject in alarm. +Springing to her feet, Brilliana spoke impatiently. + +"A Parliament man is outside the King's law; his goods are forfeit, +and to confiscate them as legal as loyal. I thought you might choose +to serve the King and please me." This last was said with an accent +of disdain which made the unhappy squire shiver. "I was in error, so +no more words of it. Good-day to you." + +And my Lady Brilliana made Master Paul a courtesy so contemptuous and +a gesture of dismissal so decisive that Master Hungerford's terror +deepened. If the King's cause were to go well, if the lady indeed had +favor with his Majesty, to offend her would be verily a piece of +mortal folly. He came nigh to falling on his knees as he pleaded. + +"Nay, nay, never so hot, now; I am your suitor, in faith, I am your +very good servant. I would serve your will in this if I could but +march with the law." + +Brilliana jumped at his concession. She saw Tiffany in the distance +crossing the garden towards her and guessed that she came to announce +the arrival of the other miser; so she was eager to clinch the +business with Master Hungerford. + +"Why, so you ever shall, with the King's law. What more easy? I +represent the King in this district; this fellow is a suspected +rebel; I give you leave to search his house for arms." + +Master Paul pricked his ears. "Ah, so, for arms, you say?" + +Tiffany paused in the archway and jerked her thumb over her shoulder +in the direction of the house. Brilliana shrugged her shoulders, +impatient of Master Paul's denseness. + +"If you find gold in your search for steel, so much the better. Come, +come, this is your happy time, for I am told Master Rainham is +abroad." + +She gave a glance for confirmation at Halfman, who lounged forward. + +"That he is," he asserted, briskly. "He has gone a-marketing." + +"Then to it at once!" Brilliana cried, eying the waverer +encouragingly. "Take such of my people as you will. You will find +some at the stables yonder," and as she spoke she pointed in the +direction opposite to the house. "Master Rainham's miserliness keeps +but a small retinue. You will meet with no resistance. Go forth, my +knight." + +Master Paul almost skipped with delight and he cracked his fingers +vigorously. He seemed even less pleasing merry than terrified. + +"You call me your knight." He turned and took Halfman to witness. +"She calls me her knight. I'll do it. I'll do it," he voiced, +exultingly. + +Brilliana, with strenuous self-restraint, seemed to applaud his +antics. + +"Bravely said, Chivalry!" she cried. "Let it be done, and well done, +ere dusk." + +Master Paul quavered before her in an ecstasy of delighted obedience. + +"I fly, enchantress--I fly!" he chirruped. Then, as he turned to go, +another thought struck him, and he entreated, grotesquely +languishing, "Prithee, your hand to kiss first." + +Brilliana denied him affably. + +"By-and-by, maybe, as the prize of your triumph. Farewell." + +After sundry strange scrapings, Master Hungerford took his departure +in the direction of the stables. As soon as his back was turned, +Brilliana questioned her maid. + +"Well, Tiffany, is it Master Rainham?" + +"Ay, my lady," Tiffany answered, demurely. She knew there was some +manner of mystification forward and yearned for the key to it. "He +chafes in the music-chamber." + +"Send him here top-speed," Brilliana commanded. With a whisk of +flying skirts Tiffany scuttered back to the house, and Brilliana +turned to Halfman, the laughter in her eyes seeking and finding the +laughter in his. + +"Well," she said, "our angling prospers blithely. We have tickled one +fish. Now for the other chub." + +Halfman, who had been swaying with silent merriment ever since the +departure of Master Paul, suddenly grew steady again and looked +warnings. + +"He asks for another kind of angling, as I gather," he suggested. +Brilliana looked daintily wise. + +"As I bait the hook I believe I will land him. It will be rare if I +can make Paul rob Peter while Peter plunders Paul. How dare they be +so close-fisted while the King's flag is flying and England's honor +in peril!" + +If she said this with any idea of palliating the possible lawlessness +of her action in the eyes of her companion, she wasted her words. +Halfman had not been so happy since his return to England, not even +in the briskest days of the siege, as he was now in the staging of +this lawless comedy. The old pirate jigged in him at this fair maid's +strategy. + +"By St. Nicholas," he swore, "they should be bled white for a brace +of knaves! This, I take it, is your other honor-bankrupt atomy." + + + + +XVIII + +SERVING THE KING + + +It was indeed Master Peter Rainham whom Tiffany now brought into the +presence of her mistress, and left there standing and staring. Master +Peter, eyed and appraised by the searching scrutiny of Halfman, +resolved himself into a thick-set, boorish fellow, whose flying +forehead, little, angry eyes, and assertive, yellow teeth made him, +to Halfman's mind, resemble nothing in the world so much as a boar's +head on an ale-house sign. Yet the fellow stood his ground sturdily +enough, and stared at Brilliana with no sense of distress at his +dirty homespun or his dirty hands. + +"You sent for me?" he challenged. "Have you changed your mood? I am +ever of the same mind, and will wed when you will." + +The wolf look leaped into Halfman's eyes, and the loutish squire's +life was, all unawares, in the greatest peril it had ever fringed. +But Brilliana, intent only on her purposes, beamed on her blunt +suitor as if he had scattered flowers at her feet. + +"You are a wonderful wooer," she protested. "But whatever admiration +of your person I may, without unbecoming effrontery, confess, I would +have you to know, plain and square, from this moment, that I will +hearken to none but a King's man." + +The boor's little eyes glinted and the boor's rusty fingers rasped at +his stubble chin as he answered emphatically: + +"Then I am a King's man, root and branch." + +But his face showed less loyal confidence at Brilliana's next words. + +"Then you must know his Majesty is in straits for ready money. Will +you, who are reputed rich, come to his aid with a round sum?" + +Master Peter showed his teeth in a snarl and flung up his hands. + +"Reputed rich! Oh, what a bitter thing is a bad reputation. I am +Job-poor; both ends will not meet, I tell you. If I had for +lending-money a guinea in one pocket, why, I should lend it to the +other pocket." + +"Why do you woo me if you be so poor?" Brilliana asked, with a fine +show of heat, and Halfman nodded his head as much as to say, "Ay, ay, +answer me that, if you can." + +Master Peter strove to answer, lamely enough. + +"Poor in pennies, lady, poorer in shillings, poorest in guineas. I +may own half the country-side and have no coin to clink against the +other." + +Brilliana scoffed at his protest. + +"Why, 'tis not so long ago Master Paul Hungerford told me you were a +very Croesus." + +Master Peter clinched and unclinched his horny hands as if he were +coming to grips with his traducer. + +"Master Hungerford told you that? I would I had my hands knotted +about his lying throat. He that is as rich as a Jew, that has a +treasure of gold plate in his sideboard that would keep the King in +arms and men for a month of Sundays, he so to slander my poverty." + +Brilliana heaved a sympathetic sigh. + +"I fear he is but a bad man. Do you think he cherishes the King's +cause?" + +Master Peter flamed with virtuous indignation. + +"He, the black heart! Never think it. He is a rank Parliament +scoundrel and worships Mr. Pym." + +"Is it so?" cried Brilliana. "A rebel, a renegade. Why, now, Master +Rainham, I see a pretty piece of loyal work for you." + +Master Peter glowered at her suspiciously. + +"Anything for you, anything for the King; except give what I have +none of--money." + +"In the King's name," said Brilliana, heroically, "go forth and +ransack this rebellious gentleman's house for arms." + +Master Peter snorted sceptically. + +"Arms! I think he hath none but an old rusty fire-lock and a breast +and back that have seen better days." + +Brilliana beamed on him, a yielding sphinx. + +"But then, supposing you should pick up some plate on the way, some +gold plate by chance--" + +Master Peter rubbed his grimy hands. + +"Why, it were fine," he admitted, gleefully; then added, with +cunning, "Are you sure he is a Roundhead?" + +"I am very sure he is your enemy," Brilliana answered, sharply, "for +he makes you his daily jape." + +The ugly boar-head looked uglier as it growled: + +"Does he, the dog! I'd jape him if I gad my two hands upon him." + +"Why," Brilliana asserted, now in the full tide of make-believe, "if +you are a King's man, he will be of the other side, he hates you so. +I cannot think how you have earned his hatred, unless, indeed--" and +she broke off suddenly and looked aside. Halfman would have given a +shilling for a lonely place to laugh his fill in. + +"Well, madam, well?" Master Rainham questioned, eagerly. + +Brilliana faltered her answer. + +"--unless he believes you stand higher in the graces of a certain +lady than he can ever hope to stand." + +Master Rainham's smile gave Halfman the feel of goose-flesh. +Brilliana's face was, happily, averted. + +"Madam, assure me 'tis so," grunted boar's-head. + +"I must not say much," Brilliana protested, "no more than this, that +in this enterprise, if you but achieve it, you will win great credit +with the King at no cost to yourself, you spoil a rival, and--but +this is very private--you will give great pleasure to that same +nameless lady." + +Master Peter shouted, "Why, then, all's well. I will pick him as +clean as a whistle." Again caution overcrowded cheer. "But I must +pick my time, look you." + +On this, Brilliana became emphatic. + +"No time like the present. It is to my certain knowledge that Master +Paul is away from home to-day." Again she looked to Halfman for +support, and again Halfman yielded it blithely. + +"Ay, he has gone hawking," he declared; "he will not be home this +great while." + +Halfman's confirmation decided Master Peter. + +"Why, I go at once. When the cat's away--! I will be back within the +hour." + +"Then," said Brilliana, "pray you go to the house and gather in my +name from the servants' hall such men as you may need for your +enterprise. Use despatch, for indeed I long for your return." + +Master Peter paid her what he believed to be a courtly bow. + +"That same nameless lady shall praise me," he chuckled, and, turning, +made for the house with all speed. When they were alone, Brilliana +and Halfman looked at each other with the mirth of children who have +successfully raided an orchard. + +"I have netted them," Brilliana said. "If it do but happen pat, we +shall have served the King and punished two cozening faint-hearts. +For the best of it is that neither can complain. Each is neck-high in +the mire of lies, each has plundered the other, and must be dumb for +shame of his knavery." + +"It will be brave to spy their faces," Halfman commented, "when they +smell out the snare." + +"Look to it," Brilliana suggested, "that they be kept apart when they +come here. The jest must not spoil. How these old hawks will fly at +each other when we unhood them." + +"Trust me, lady," said Halfman. "I have been a play-actor and know +how to stage a pair of gabies to the show." + +He saluted her and made to depart. She had learned to like his +company through the long days of siege, and this dull day of quiet +she felt lonely. Moreover, she was grateful to him for having helped +her so well in her plot against the niggards. + +"Come again when you have taken order for this," she said. "There is +still much to do, much to think for." + +The man saluted anew, intoxicated with pleasure. He knew that she +liked his company, and whatever was well in him burgeoned at the +knowledge. His play-actor passion had bettered him, if it had not +accomplished the impossible and transmuted the pirate of body into +the pure of soul. It would not be true to say that he never thought +lewdly of her; he would have thought lewdly of an angel or a vestal +maid; that was ingrain in the composition of the man; but he thought +well of her as he had never thought well of women before since he +first scorched his stripling's fingers, and he would have killed +twenty men to keep her from hearing a foul word. Sometimes when he +talked with her, ever in his chastened part of the rough old soldier, +he laughed in his sleeve at the difference between part and true man. +The nut-hook humor of it was that both were realities, or, perhaps, +that neither were realities. + +As he quitted the pleasaunce he countered Mistress Tiffany, and saw +at a distance, standing by the laurels, a foppish, many-colored, +portly personage negligently twirling a long staff. Halfman guessed +the name, grinned, and went on his business. Tiffany burst wellnigh +breathless into her lady's presence. + +"My lady," she gasped, "here is Sir Blaise Mickleton, who entreats +the honor to speak with you." + +Brilliana's face darkened for a moment, for she bore no kindness just +then to the laggard in war. Then her face cleared again. + +"Admit him," she said. "He will divert me for want of a better." + +Back ran Tiffany to where the visitor lingered, bade him enter the +pleasaunce, where he would find her mistress, and having delivered +her errand, ran again to the house, leaving him to his adventure. + + + + +XIX + +SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS RESPECTS + + +Sir Blaise Mickleton was, in his own eyes and in the eyes of the +village girls of Harby, a vastly fine gentleman. If they had ever +heard of the sun-god, Phoebus Apollo would have presented himself +to their rusticity in some such guise as the personality of the local +knight. Sir Blaise had been to London--once--had kissed the King's +hand at Whitehall, and had ever since striven vehemently to be more +Londonish than the Londoner. He talked with what he thought to be the +town's drawl; he walked, as he believed, with the town walk over the +grasses of his grounds and on the Harby high-roads. He plagued the +village tailor with strange devices for coats and cloaks; +many-colored as a Joseph, he strutted through bucolic surroundings as +if he carried the top-knot of the mode in the Mall; he glittered in +ribbons and trinkets, floundered rather than swam in a sea of +essences, yet scarcely succeeded in amending, with all this false +foppishness, the something bumpkin that was at the root of his +nature. He was of a lusty natural with the sanguine disposition, and +held himself as much above the most of his neighbors as he knew +himself to be below the house of Harby. He was no double-face, +friendly with both sides; he was rather for peeping from behind the +parted doors of the temple of peace upon a warring world without, and +making fast friends with the victor. He had very little doubt that +the victor would be the King, but just enough doubt to permit his +surrender to a distemper that kept him to his bed till Edgehill +proved the amazing remedy. + +Sir Blaise peacocked over the lawn, delicate as Agag. He murdered the +morning air with odors, his raiment outglowed the rainbow; one hand +dandled his staff, the other caressed his mustaches. He strove to +smile adoration on Brilliana, but mistrust marred his ogle, and a +shiver of fear betrayed his simper of confidence. Brilliana watched +him gravely with never a word or a sign, and her silence intensified +his discomfiture by the square of the distance he had yet to +traverse. + +"Coxcomb," she thought, and "coward," she thought, and "cur," she +thought. + +He could not read her thought, but he could read her tightened lips +and her hostile eyes, and he wished himself again in bed at +Mickleton. But it was too late to retreat, and he advanced in bad +order under the silent fire of her disdain till he paused at what he +deemed to be the proper place for ceremonious salutation. He +uncovered, describing so magnificent a sweep of extended hat that its +plumes brushed the grasses at her feet. He bowed so low that his pink +face disappeared from view in the forward fall of his lovelocks. When +the rising inflection shook these back and the pink face again +confronted her, he seemed to have recovered some measure of +assertion. + +"Lady," he said, sighingly, "I kiss your mellifluous fingers and +believe myself in Elysium." + +The languishing glance that accompanied these languishing syllables +had no immediate effect upon the lady to whom they were addressed. +Still Brilliana looked fixedly at her visitor, and still Sir Blaise +found little ease under her steady gaze. He blinked uncomfortably; +his fingers twitched; he tried to moisten his dry lips. At length, +out of what seemed a wellnigh ageless silence, the lady spoke, and +her words were an arraignment. + +"Why did you not come to Harby when Harby needed help?" + +Sir Blaise felt weak in the knees, weak in the back, weak in the +wits; he would have given much for a seat, more for a sup of brandy. +But he had to speak, and did so after such gasping and stammering as +spoiled his false bravado. + +"I came to speak of that," he protested, forcing a jauntiness that he +was far from feeling. "I feared you might misunderstand--" + +"Indeed," interrupted Brilliana, "I think there is no +misunderstanding." + +Sir Blaise made an appealing gesture. + +"Hear me out," he pleaded. "Hear me and pity me. The news of his +Majesty's quarrel with his Parliament threw me into such a distemper +as hath kept me to my bed these three weeks. My people held all news +from me for my life's sake. It was but this morning I was judged +sound enough to hear of all that has passed. How otherwise should I +not have flown to your succor? I could wish your siege had lasted a +while longer to give me the glory of delivering you." + +The sternness faded from Brilliana's gaze. She was not really angry +with this overcareful gentleman; she would only have been grieved had +he proved the man to serve her well. He was no more for such +enterprises than your lap-dog for bull-baiting. Ridiculous in his +finery, pitiful in his subterfuge, he was only a thing to smile at, +to trifle with. So she smiled, and, rising, swept him a splendid +reverence. + +"I am your gallantry's very grateful servant," she whispered, having +much ado to keep from laughing in his face. The fatuous are easily +pacified. + +"I hope you do not doubt my valor?" he asked, with some show of +reassurance. + +"Indeed I have no doubt," Brilliana answered, with another courtesy. +The speech might have two meanings. Sir Blaise, unwilling to split +hairs, took it as balsam, and hurriedly turned the conversation. + +"Well! well!" he hummed. "You seem nothing the worse for your +business." + +"I am something the better," she said, softly. Perhaps Sir Blaise did +not hear her. + +"Is it true," he asked, "that you harbor a Crop-ear in this house?" + +"Indeed," Brilliana confirmed, "I hold him as hostage for the life of +Cousin Randolph. You know that he is a prisoner?" + +"I heard that news with the rest of the budget," Sir Blaise answered. +"And what kind of a creature is your captive? Does he deafen you with +psalms, does he plague you with exhortations?" + +Brilliana laughed merrily. + +"No, no; 'tis a most wonderful wild-fowl. My people swear he is +mettled in all gentle arts, from the manage of horses to the casting +of a falcon." + +Sir Blaise shook his staff in protest of indignation. + +"Is it possible that such a rascal usurps the privileges of +gentlefolk?" + +"He carries himself like a gentleman," Brilliana answered. "More's +the pity that he should be false to his king and his kind." + +Sir Blaise smiled condescendingly. + +"Believe me, dear lady, you are misled. A woman may be deceived by an +exterior. Doubtless he has picked up his gentility in the servants' +hall of some great house, and seeks to curry your favor by airing +it." + +"He has persuaded those that are shrewd judges of men to praise him." + +Again Sir Blaise laughed his fat laugh. + +"Ha, ha! Shrewd judges of men. I will take no man's judgment but my +own of this rascal. Had I word with him you should soon see me set +him down." + +Brilliana's glance wandering from the pied pomposity who strutted +before her, saw a sharp contrast through the yew-tree arch. A man in +sober habit was moving slowly over the grass in the direction of the +pleasaunce, moving slowly, for he was carrying an open book and his +eyes were fixed upon its pages. Truly the sombre Puritan made a +better figure than her swaggering neighbor. She looked up at Sir +Blaise with a pretty maliciousness in her smile. + +"You can have your will even now," she said, "for I spy my prisoner +coming here--and reading, too." + +Sir Blaise swung round upon his heels and stared in the direction +indicated by Brilliana. He saw Evander, black against the sunlit +trees, the sunlit grasses, and he smiled derisively. He was very +confident that there was no courage as there could be no wit in any +Puritan. These things were the privileges of Cavaliers. + +"His brains are buried in his book," he sneered. "If a stone came in +his way now he would stumble over it, he's so deep in his sour +studies. 'Tis some ponderous piece of divinity, I'll wager, levelled +against kings." + +He thought he was speaking low to his companion, but his was not a +voice of musical softness, and its tones jarred the quiet air. +Evander caught the sound of it, lifted his head, and, looking before +him over his book, saw in the yew haven Brilliana seated and a +gaudy-coated gentleman standing by her side. He was immediately for +turning and hastening in another direction, but Brilliana, for all +she hated him, would not now have it so. Perhaps she had been piqued +by Sir Blaise's too confident assumption of superiority to the +judgment of her people; perhaps she thought it might divert her to +see Puritan and Cavalier face each other before her in the shadowed +circle of yews. Whatever her reason, she raised her hand and raised +her voice to stay Evander's purpose. + +"Sir, sir!" she cried. "Mr. Cloud, by your leave, I would have you +come hither. Do not turn aside." + +Thus summoned, Evander walked with slightly quickened pace to the +place where Brilliana sat and saluted her with formal courtesy. + +"I cry your pardon," he declared. "I would not intrude on your quiet, +but I read and walked unconscious that there was company among the +yews." + +Brilliana answered him with the dignity of a gracious and benevolent +queen. + +"Do not withdraw, sir; you have the liberty of Loyalty House, and I +would not have you avoid any part of its gardens." + +Evander bowed. Sir Blaise broke into a horse-laugh which grated more +on Brilliana's ears than on Evander's. Brilliana was at heart rather +angry that for once Puritan should show better than Cavalier. + +"You are a vastly happy jack to be used so gently," he bellowed. +"Some would have stuck such a hostage in a garret and done well +enough." + +Evander still kept his eyes fixed on the lady of the house and seemed +to have no ears for the jeering Cavalier. With a lift of the hand +that indicated and saluted the prospect, he said, smoothly, "You have +a very gracious garden, lady." + +Mirth shone discreetly in Brilliana's eyes as she gave the Puritan a +bow for his praise. The Cavalier, a viola da gamba of anger, pegged +his string of bluster tighter. + +"Did not the fellow hear me?" he cried, and this time his noise won +him a moment of attention. Evander gave him a glance, and then, +returning to Brilliana, said, with a manner of amused contempt, "You +have a very ungracious gardener." + +Sir Blaise's pink face purpled; Sir Blaise's hand swung to the hilt +of his sword. Evander seemed to have forgotten his existence and to +await quietly any further favor of speech from Brilliana. My Lady +Mischief, much diverted, judged it time to intervene. + +"Lordamercy!" she cried, as she rose from her seat and moved a little +way towards Sir Blaise. "Let me bring you acquainted." + +The Cavalier caught her hand and stayed her before she could speak +his name. + +"Wait, wait," he whispered. "Watch me roast him." + +He swung away from her and swaggered towards Evander. "Tell me, +solemn sir," he questioned, "have you heard of one Sir Blaise +Mickleton?" + +"I have heard of him," Evander answered. His tranquil indifference to +Sir Blaise's bearing, to Sir Blaise's splendor of apparel, pricked +the knight like a sting. He tried to change the sum of his irritation +into the small money of wit. + +"You have never heard that he snuffled through his nose, turned up +his eyes, mewed psalms and canticles, and dubbed himself by some such +name as Fight-the-Good-Fight-of-Faith, yea, verily?" + +Sir Blaise talked with the drawling whine which he assumed to be the +familiar intonation of all Puritan speech. Like many another +humorless fellow, he prided himself upon a gift of mimicry signally +denied to him. Even Brilliana's detestation of the Puritan party +could not compel her to admire her neighbor's performance. Evander's +face showed no sign of recognition of Sir Blaise's impertinence as he +answered: + +"No, truly, but I have heard some talk of a swaggering braggart, +prodigal in valiant promise, but very huckster in a pitiful +performance; in a word, a clown whose attempt to ape the courtier has +never veiled the clod." + +Brilliana found it hard to restrain her laughter as she watched the +varying shades of fury float over Sir Blaise's broad face at each +successive clause of Evander's disdainful indictment. Yet she was +sadly vexed to think that her side commanded so poor a champion. Sir +Blaise tried to speak, gasped out a furious "Sir!" then his passion +choked him, and he gobbled, inarticulate and grotesque. Evander went +composedly on: + +"He is rated a King's man, and would serve his master well if much +tippling of healths and clearing of trenchers were yeoman service in +a time of war. But his sword sleeps in its sheath." + +"Now, by St. George--" Sir Blaise yelled, raising his clinched fists. +Brilliana feared at one moment that he would strike her prisoner in +the face; feared in the next that he would fall at her feet dead of +an apoplexy. She sailed between the antagonists and addressed +Evander. + +"Serious sir, will it dash you to learn that you are speaking to Sir +Blaise Mickleton?" + +Evander's countenance showed no sign either of surprise or of dismay. +Sir Blaise, still turkey-red, managed to gulp down his choler +sufficiently to utter some syllables. + +"I am that knight," he gasped; then, turning to Brilliana, he +whispered behind his hand, "Mark now how this bear will climb down." + +Brilliana, watching Evander, was not confident of apologies. Her +prisoner made a slight inclination of the head towards Sir Blaise in +acknowledgment of the fact of Brilliana's presentation, and said, +very calmly: + +"Why, then, sir, such a jury as your world has empanelled have +misread you, for if they summed your flaws aptly in their report of +you, they clapped this rider on their staggering verdict, that Sir +Blaise Mickleton did, at his worst, do his best to play the +gentleman." + +Smiles of satisfaction rippled over Sir Blaise's face. He did not +follow the drift of Evander's fluency but took it for compliment. + +"Handsomely apologized, i' faith," he beamed to Brilliana. Brilliana +laughed in his face. + +"Why, poor man, he flouts you worse than ever," she whispered. + +Sir Blaise knitted puzzled brows while Evander, having made the +effective pause, continued, suavely: + +"In the which judgment they erred, for he does not merit so +creditable a praise. Sure they can never have seen him who couple in +any way the name of Sir Blaise Mickleton with the title of +gentleman." + +Even Sir Blaise's dulness could not misinterpret Evander's meaning, +and rage resumed its sway. + +"You crow! You kite!" he fumed. His wrath could find no more words, +but he made a stride towards Evander, menacing. Brilliana stepped +dexterously between the two. As she told Tiffany later, she felt as +if she were gliding between fire and ice. + +"One side of me was frozen, and the other done to a crisp." She +lifted her hand commandingly. + +"We will have no bickering here," she protested. Evander paid her a +salutation, and, moving a little aside, resumed his book. He would +not retire while Sir Blaise was in presence, but he guessed that the +lady wished for speech with her friend. Sir Blaise did not find her +words consolatory, though she affected consolation. + +"The bear licks with a rough tongue," she whispered. Sir Blaise +slapped his palms together. + +"You shall see me ring him, you shall see me bait him, if you will +but leave us." + +"How shall I see if I leave?" Brilliana asked, provokingly. "But 'tis +no matter." + +As she spoke she thought of Halfman, and a merry scheme danced in her +head. + +"Gentles, I must leave you," she cried, with a pretty little +reverence that included both men. Then in a moment she had slipped +out of the pleasaunce and was running down the avenue. In the house +she found Halfman. "Quick!" she cried, breathlessly. "Sir Blaise and +Mr. Cloud are wrangling yonder like dogs over a bone." + +"Do you wish me to keep the peace between them?" Halfman questioned. +Brilliana did not exactly know what she wished. She was fretted at +the poor show a King's man had made before a Puritan; if Sir Blaise +could do something to humble the Puritan it might not be wholly +amiss. So much Halfman gathered from her jerky scraps of sentences; +also, that on no account must the disputants be permitted to come to +swords. Halfman nodded, caught up a staff, and ran full tilt to the +pleasaunce. The moment his back was turned Brilliana, instead of +remaining in the house, came out again, doubled on her course, and +dodging among the hedges found herself peeping unseen upon the +enclosure she had just quitted and the brawl at its height. + + + + +XX + +SIR BLAISE PAYS HIS PENALTY + + +When Brilliana quitted them the two men had regarded each other +steadily for a few seconds in silence. Then Sir Blaise spoke. + +"You made merry with me just now in ease and safety, a lady being +by." + +Evander shrugged his shoulders. + +"Had no lady been by I should have been more merry and less tender." + +Sir Blaise scowled. + +"I am ill to provoke, my master. Those quarrels end sadly that are +quarrels picked with me." + +Again Evander shrugged his shoulders. + +"I pick no quarrel, sir. You asked me very straightly what I knew of +Sir Blaise Mickleton, and very straightly I tended you my knowledge. +It is not my fault, but rather your misfortune, that you happen to be +Sir Blaise Mickleton." + +Sir Blaise dropped his hand to his sword-hilt. + +"You Puritan jack," he shouted, "will you try sharper conclusions?" + +In a moment and involuntarily Evander's hand sought his own weapon. +It was in that moment that Halfman burst into the pleasaunce. + +"Why, what's the matter here?" he cited, wielding his staff as if it +had been the scimitar of the Moor. "Hold, for your lives! For +Christian shame put by this barbarous brawl." + +The disputants greeted their interrupter differently. Evander paid +Halfman's memory the tribute of an appreciative smile. Sir Blaise +turned to him as to a sympathizer and backer. + +"This Puritan dog has insulted me," he cried. + +Halfman nodded sagaciously. "And you would let a little of his +malapert blood for him. But it may not be." + +He addressed Evander. "You are a prisoner on parole, wearing your +sword by a lady's favor, and may not use it here." + +"You are in the right," Evander answered, "and I ask your lady's +pardon if for a moment I forgot where I am and why." + +"Yah, yah, fox," grinned Sir Blaise, who believed that his enemy was +glad to be out of the quarrel. But Halfman, who knew better, smiled. + +"There are other ways," he suggested, pleasantly, "by which +two gentlemen may void their spleen without drawing their +toasting-irons. Why should we not mimic sword-play with a pair +of honest cudgels?" + +Blaise slapped his thigh approvingly, for he was good at rustic +sports. Halfman turned his dark face upon Evander. + +"Has my suggestion the fortune to meet with your approval?" he asked. +Evander nodded. "Then let Sir Blaise handle his own staff, and you, +camerado, take mine--'tis of a length with your enemy's--and set to." + +Halfman watched Evander narrowly while he spoke. Skill with the +rapier did not necessarily imply skill with the cudgel. He bore +Evander no grudge for overcoming him at fence, but if Sir Blaise +proved the better man with the batoon, there would be a kind of +compensation in it. He had heard that Sir Blaise was apt at +country-sports and now Sir Blaise vaunted his knowledge. + +"Let me tell you to your trembling," he crowed, "that I am the best +cudgel-player in these parts. I will drub you, I will trounce you, I +will tan your hide." + +"That will be as it shall be," Evander answered. He had taken the +staff that Halfman had proffered, and after weighing it in his hand +and carefully examining its texture had set it up against the seat, +while he prepared to strip off his jerkin. Halfman assisted Sir +Blaise to extricate himself from his beribboned doublet, and the two +men faced each other in their shirts, Evander's linen fine and plain, +like all about him, Sir Blaise's linen fine and ostentatious, like +all about him, and reeking of ambergris. Evander was not a small man, +but his body seemed very slender by contrast with the well-nourished +bulk of the country-gentleman, and many a one would have held that +the match was strangely unequal. But Halfman did not think so, seeing +how deliberately Evander entered upon the enterprise, and even Sir +Blaise's self-conceit was troubled by his antagonist's alacrity in +accepting the challenge. + +"If you tender me your grief for your insolence," he suggested, with +truculent condescension, "you will save yourself a basting." + +Evander laughed outright, the blithest laugh that Halfman had yet +heard pass from his Puritan lips. + +"I must deny you, pomposity," he answered, gayly. "It were pity to +postpone a pleasure." + +"You are in the right," commented Halfman. "Come, sirs, enough words; +let us to deeds. Begin." + +The sticks swung in the air and met with a crack, each man's hand +pressing his cudgel hard against the other's, each man's foot firm +and springing, each man's eyes seeking to read in the other's the +secret of his assault. Suddenly Blaise made a feint at Evander's leg +and then swashed for his head. + +"Have a care for your crown," he shouted, confident in his stroke; +but Evander met the blow instantly and wood only rattled on wood. + +"I have cared for it," he said, quietly, as he came on guard again, +making no attempt to return Sir Blaise's attack. Sir Blaise reversed +his tactics, feinted at Evander's head, and swept a furious +semicircle at Evander's legs. + +"Save your shins, then," he cried, and grunted with rage as he again +encountered Evander's swiftly revolving staff and heard Evander +answer, mockingly: + +"I have saved them." + +Inarticulate fury goaded him. "I will play with you no longer!" he +growled, and made a rush for Evander, raining blow upon blow as +quickly as he could deliver them, and hoping to break down Evander's +guard. But Evander, giving ground a little before his antagonist's +onslaught, met the attacks with a mill-wheel revolution of his weapon +which kept him scatheless, and then suddenly his cudgel shot out, +came with a sullen crack on Sir Blaise's skull, and the tussle was +over. Sir Blaise was lying his length on the grass, very still, and +there was blood upon his ruddy hair. + +Brilliana in hiding gave a little gasp when she saw her neighbor +fall; she could not tell whether to laugh or cry at the defeat of the +Cavalier. She saw Halfman bend over the fallen man and lift his head +upon his knee. She saw Evander advance and look down upon his +adversary. + +"I hope you are not hurt," Evander said, solicitously. + +Halfman glanced up at the victor. "No harm's done," he said. "He was +stunned for the moment; he is coming round." + +And in confirmation of his words Sir Blaise opened his eyes, and then +with difficulty sat up and stared ruefully at Evander. + +"Gogs!" he said, first rubbing his head and then looking at his +reddened palm. "Gogs! That was a swinging snip. I am as dizzy as a +winged pigeon." + +"Let me help you to rise," Evander said, courteously. Blaise shook +his aching head. + +"I am none too fluttered to find my feet," he asserted, ignoring the +fact that his rising from the ground to an erect posture was entirely +due to the combined efforts of Halfman and Evander, one on each +side, and then, when he did get to his feet, he was only able to +retain the perpendicular by leaning heavily upon Halfman as a steady +prop. From under his bandaged forehead his pale-blue eyes regarded +Evander with no trace of enmity. + +"Your hand, Puritan--your hand!" he cried. "'Tis just that we clasp +hands after a scuffle." + +Puritan and Cavalier clasped hands in a hearty grip. "I am at your +service," Evander said, gravely. "Shall we continue?" Sir Blaise +shook his head again. + +"I have had my bellyful," he grunted. "There was breakfast, dinner, +supper in your stroke. I must to the house to find vinegar and brown +paper to patch my poll." + +"Can I aid you?" Evander offered. "I have some slight skill in +surgery." + +"Leave him to me," Halfman interposed. "I have botched as many heads +as I have broken." + +Sir Blaise, leaning heavily on Halfman's arm, replied to Evander's +offer in his own way. + +"I will not have you mend ill what you have marred well. Come, +crutch, let us be jogging. We will meet again another time, my +fighting Puritan." + +Evander made him a bow. "At your pleasure," he replied, and stood +till Sir Blaise, leaning on Halfman, had hobbled out of the +pleasaunce and limped out of sight. Then he drew on his jerkin again +with a smile and a sigh. + +"Truly," he thought, "for a man who has but three days to live, I +cannot be said to be wasting much idle time." With that he took up +again the book he had laid down and was soon deep in its study. + + + + +XXI + +A PUZZLING PURITAN + + +So deep was Evander in his book that he did not hear a lady's +footfalls on the grass. When the discomfited Sir Blaise had quitted +the arena Brilliana held herself unseen and then swiftly sped back to +the pleasaunce. She stood for some seconds on the threshold of a yew +arch watching the reading man and wondering why it had pleased +Providence to make a Puritan so personable and skilful, wondering why +she of all women should take any interest either in his person or in +his skill, wondering how long he would remain buried in his tiresome +book unconscious of her presence. She decided that she would slip +away and leave him ignorant of her coming, and having decided that, +she coughed loudly, at which sound, of course, he turned round, saw +her, and rose respectfully to his feet. + +"I fear I trespass in your paradise," he said, wistfully. + +"My honor, no!" Brilliana cried, pretending to look about her +anxiously. "But where is Sir Blaise? I hope you two did not quarrel." + +"No, no," Evander protested; "we parted on clasped hands. Some +pressing matter called him to his quarters." + +"Did you pay him apology for your equivocal wit?" Brilliana asked, +demurely. + +Evander answered gravely: "He professed himself satisfied." + +Brilliana feigned a cry of horror. + +"I trust you did not eat your words." + +Evander shook his head. + +"I am not so hungry. Have I your leave to go?" + +He made as if to depart; Brilliana met his motion with a little +frown. + +"Are you so eager?" she asked, in a voice in which regret and +petulance were dexterously commingled. + +Evander answered her gravely. "Yesterday you said that a Puritan +presence was hateful." + +Brilliana laughed blithely and her curls quivered in the sunshine. + +"You must not harp on a mad maid's anger. Yesterday you were my +enemy, a thing of threats and treason. To-day all's different; to-day +you are my guest. Soon you will ride hence, and we will, if +Providence please, never meet again. But for a span of hours let us +make believe to be friend and friend, till Colonel Cromwell send my +cousin and your liberty." + +Evander was tempted to quarrel with himself for being so ready to +welcome this overture. But yesterday this woman had spattered him +with insults, snared him on a strained plea, bargained away his life +for the body of a spy. Yesterday she had shuddered at the thought of +any link of kinship between them, as she might have shuddered at +kinship with a wronger of women, a killer of children, a coward. Yet +to-day, as she stood there, sunshine on her hair, sunshine in her +eyes, a fairy lady standing in that circle of solemn yews, he could +find in his heart no regret for anything that had brought him to her +presence. He would take gladly what she offered gayly, two days of +friendship with so radiant a maid--and then? He left that thought +unanswered to reply to Brilliana. + +"Madam," he said, with a very ceremonious bow, "I will pretend that +we are going to be friends till the end of my life." + +Brilliana clapped her hands like a child that has been promised some +coveted comfit. + +"You are brave at make-believe. In the mean time let us keep each +other company a little. Surely it is dull for a man of action to be +a prisoner, and for my own part I mope sadly now that my little war +is well over." + +She had seated herself as she spoke, and she motioned to Evander to +take his place by her side. When she paused he asked: + +"Are you so strenuous an amazon?" + +She answered him very earnestly: + +"I miss the splendid music of the siege, the stir of arms, the bustle +of giving order, the alertness of expectation. I did not think a +woman's life could be tuned to so high a diapason. Just think of it! +Yesterday, and for many yesterdays, I was a leaguered lady, a +priestess of battles; I stood for the King; existence was one fierce +ecstasy. To drop from that brisk spin and whetted edge of life into +this housewife's twilight is all one with being some sea-old admiral +and drowning in a canal." + +The daughters of Israel could not have thrown more sadness into their +voice, Evander thought, as they sang by the waters of Babylon. If her +face was fair in animation, it seemed still more fair in sadness. + +"Has the Lady of Harby no employment," he asked, gently, "to spur the +trudging time?" + +Brilliana laughed rather cheerlessly. + +"Oh, mercy, yes! Can she not overwatch the gardener to see that he +planteth the right sort of herbs and flowers at the new of the moon, +at moon full, and at moon old? She can chat with Mistress Cook of +sallets and fricassees and fritters; she can count the linen; she can +preserve quinces; she can distil you aqua composita or imperial +water, or water of Bettony, against she grow old; she can be +dairy-wise, cellar-wise, laundry-wise--oh, there are a thousand +thousand things she can do if she want to do them, but the plague of +it is, since I have burned powder, these decent drudgeries no longer +divert me." + +She gave a little sigh as she ended her enumeration of a housewife's +tasks, and then banished the sigh with a smile. Evander found himself +thinking that a man might count himself happy for whom this lady +should sigh so at parting and smile so in welcome. But what he said +was: + +"Against your next distillation I can give you a very praisable +recipe for a cordial. It is a Swedish fancy and much favored by the +ladies of the North." + +Brilliana looked him full in the face and laughed very merrily, and +he felt his cheeks redden at her gaze and her mirth. + +"Was there ever such a man-marvel?" she asked. "All my people praise +you for some different accomplishment. A horseman, a gardener, the +best at fence, the best, too, with a cudgel--" + +"Ah, madam," Evander interrupted, apologetically, "pray how has that +come to your ears?" + +"Never mind how it came," Brilliana answered, "so that it has come +and that I owe you no ill-will for teaching a foolish gentleman a +lesson. But you can shoot, it seems, and play games, and are apt in +out-door arts and wise in out-of-doors wisdom--for all the world like +a country gentleman." + +"Madam, I am, as I hope, a gentleman, and as for the country +knowledge, I have lived its life in many lands and learned something +by the way." + +"And now," Brilliana bantered on, "you boast some science of the +still-room, and Mistress Satchell speaks of a Spanish manner of +grilling capons. Are you, perhaps, a herald as well as a master cook, +and do you know something of the gentle and joyous craft of the +huntsman?" + +Evander took her in her humor and bandied back the ball of +qualification. + +"I can prick a coat indifferently well," he responded, solemnly, "and +if such trifles delight you, I can blaze arms by the days of the week +or the ages of man or the flowers of the field, though I hold that a +true herald will never stray beyond colors." + +Brilliana nodded her head with an air of profound approval. "Better +and better," she murmured. Evander went on with his catalogue of +self-compliment. + +"And as for my woodcraft, I can name you all the names of a male +deer, from hind calf, year by year, through brocket and spayed, and +staggard and stag, till his sixth year, when he is truly a hart and +has his rights of brow, bay, and tray antlers. I am skilled in the +uses of falcon-gentle, gerfalcon, saker, lanner, merlin, hobby, +goshawk, sparrow-hawk, and musket--" + +Brilliana interrupted him with an impetuous gesture of command, and +Evander made an end of his display. + +"Enough, enough!" she cried. "I feel like Balkis when she came to sip +wisdom from Solomon's goblet. If I question you further I may find +that, like my Lord Verulam, you have taken all knowledge for your +province. This is something uncanny in a Puritan." + +Evander protested. + +"Why should a man deny the arts of life because he finds strength in +the faith of the Puritans?" + +"I know not why," Brilliana answered, "but so it is generally +believed among us who are not Puritans." + +"There are fanatic fellows with us as in all causes," Evander +admitted, "and some, it may be, who wear moroseness to gain favor. +But these are no more than the fringe of a stout cloak. I am no +exceptional Puritan, I promise you. Colonel Cromwell himself--" + +Brilliana interrupted him with a frowning imperiousness. + +"Let us not talk of Colonel Cromwell," she commanded. + +"I wish you would let me speak of Colonel Cromwell," Evander pleaded. +"He has long been my dear friend, and--" + +"Let us not talk of Colonel Cromwell," Brilliana repeated, with a +peremptory stamp of the foot. "I want to talk of you and your curious +Puritanism. I thought you were all too hypocritically devout to have +any care for the toys and colors of life." + +"To be devout is not to be hypocritical," Evander urged, gently. +"And, to speak for myself, I hope I am devout, but I do not find my +faith weakened by honorable enjoyment of honorable pleasures. Yet, +indeed, what poor accomplishments I can lay claim to--and to afford +you diversion, I have somewhat exaggerated their scope and +number--are due directly to my being a Puritan--" + +"You are pleased to be paradoxical," Brilliana asserted. Evander put +the suggestion aside with a head shake. + +"To my being a Puritan and to my being of your kin. When I was a boy +I learned of that kinship, learned how her marriage with a Puritan +had earned for a woman of your race the scorn, indeed the hatred of +her family, or those who should most and best have loved her." + +"You do not understand how strongly those who think as we think feel +on such a matter," Brilliana urged, one-half of her spirit angry that +she was speaking almost apologetically, the other half vexed that the +first half was not more angry. + +"Forgive me," said Evander, "but I do understand; I understand very +well; I made it my business to understand. And, therefore, I resolved +that so far as in me lay I would show those who scorned my people and +my creed that a Puritan might compete with his enemies in all the +arts and graces they held most dear, and not come off the worst in +all encounters." + +"That was a brave resolve!" Brilliana's eyes and voice applauded +him. He flushed a little as he went on. + +"It was a kind of oath of Hannibal. God was gracious in the gift of a +strong will, and I stuck to my purpose. I mastered arts, acquired +tongues, forced myself to dexterity in all manly exercises. I had a +modest patrimony which allowed me to travel after I left Cambridge, +and so gain that knowledge of the world which is so dear to English +gentlemen. And always in my thoughts it was: some day I may meet some +son of the house that cast us out and show him that a Puritan might +fear God and yet ride a horse, fly a hawk, and use a sword with the +best of his enemies." + +"Instead of which," said Brilliana, as he paused, "you meet a +daughter of the house and play your well-practised part to her." Her +voice was stern now and her eyes shone fiercely as she leaned forward +and continued in a low voice, "Was this the cause of your coming to +Harby?" + +"No," Evander answered. "I should never have come to Harby of my own +accord. But news came to Cambridge of your flying the King's flag. +The example was dangerous; Harby was a good house for either side to +hold. Colonel Cromwell commanded me to march with the volunteers I +had raised at Cambridge to secure Harby in the name of the +Parliament." + +"And you were very glad to obey," Brilliana said, bitterly, and again +Evander shook his head. + +"I was very sorry to obey. But I had no choice. Colonel Cromwell was +my father's friend; he knew the story of my people; he set it upon me +as a special seal for righteousness that I should do this thing. 'Kin +shall be set against kin in this strife,' he said, 'father against +son, and brother against brother. Go forth in the name of the Lord +and pluck the banner of Baal from the wall of Harby.' And I went." + +Brilliana, lifting her head, looked over the green wall of yews to +where, in the cool, gray-blue of the October sky, the royal standard +fluttered its gaudy folds in the wind. She said nothing, but her +smile spoke whole volumes of victories; the panegyrics of a thousand +triumphs gleamed in her eyes. Evander read smile and gleam rightly. + +"True, I failed," he admitted. "Yet I may not say that I am sorry, +for if I had not failed I should have lost a friend." + +He looked admiringly at her, but Brilliana drew herself up stiffly +and regarded him coldly. + +"You may be my kinsman without being my friend," she said, with a +sourness which had the effect of making Evander laugh like a boy. + +"Why, lady," he protested, "it is not ten minutes since that you +proffered me your friendship." + +"Did I so?" Brilliana asked, puckering her brows as if in doubt, +though she had not the least doubt upon the matter. + +"Indeed, madam," said Evander, very earnestly, "friends for a +lifetime." Brilliana snapped contradiction. + +"No, no; it was you who said that. I admit the friendship for three +days." + +"And I assert the friendship of a lifetime," Evander persisted. His +voice and his eyes were very merry, but there came an unconquerable +gnawing at his heart that, in spite of the fair place and the fair +face and the sweet discourse, life for him meant no more than a space +of three days. Well, then, he would live his three days bravely, +brightly. He lifted his eyes to the lady. + +"Are you of Master Amiens' school?" he asked-- + + "'Most friendship is feigning, most love is mere folly.'" + +She made no reply to his question, but its matter surprised her and +prompted her to another. + +"Do you go to Master Shakespeare's school?" she asked; and even as +she spoke she leaned forward to look at the book he had laid down and +to which, till that moment, she had paid no heed. She drew it towards +her and saw what it was. + +"Why, here are his plays. Can you affect him when 'tis known that the +King loves him?" + +"I would the King had no worse counsellors," Evander said, gravely. + +Brilliana had lifted the big book onto her lap and was turning the +pages tenderly, pausing here and there with loving murmurs. + +"Had I been a man," she said, softly, "I should have turned player +for the pleasure to speak such golden words." + +Evander, watching her fair, lowered face under its crown of dark +hair, thought of all that Imogen might mean, or Rosalind or Juliet, +did each of these dear ones show on the stage like this lady. He gave +the odd thought form in speech. + +"It is strange," he said, almost to himself, "that a Cavalier world +is content without women players." + +Brilliana lifted her face from the book, and there was a look of +astonishment and even of pain upon it. + +"Oh, that is quite another matter," she said, quickly. "That could +never come to pass." + +Evander's Puritanism, recalled to recollection of itself, felt +compelled to assent. + +"I trust not," he said, gravely. He was looking at Brilliana with +eyes that were honestly admiring. She rose from her seat. + +"I must dismiss you now," she said, "for I have much to do ere +dinner. You will dine with me, I pray." + +Evander made her a not uncourtly bow. + +"If I be not unwelcome," he suggested. + +Brilliana shook her head very positively. + +"We are pledged friends for the time, and friends love to break bread +together." + +There was no countering this argument. Evander took up the folio and +made its owner another bow. + +"I will attend you at the dinner-hour," he said. "This treasure I +restore to its home." + +As the Parliament man moved away across the grass, his image very +dark against its green, Brilliana looked after him, nursing her chin +in her palm and her elbow on her knee. As he entered the house with +the big book under his arm she took out her pretty handkerchief, and +with much deliberation tied a small knot in one corner of it. + +"Master Puritan, Master Puritan," she murmured, "I must tie a knot in +my handkerchief to remind me that you and I are enemies." + + + + +XXII + +MASTER PAUL AND MASTER PETER + + +At the dinner-hour Halfman came for Evander, where he sat in the +library, and told him that Lady Brilliana awaited him. The meal was +served in the banqueting-hall, a splendid, panelled room with +deep-embrasured windows, from which the defences had now been removed +and through which the inmates could have noble views of the lawns and +gardens beyond the moat. The little company of three seemed, as it +were, lost in the vastness of the chamber as they sat at meat +together at the oak table by the hearth at one end of the room, +Brilliana at the head, with Halfman at her right and Evander at her +left as the guest and stranger. It proved a vastly pleasant meal to +Evander, for the talk was brisk and entertaining, and there was no +allusion made to those civil and religious differences which in +distracting the country had their curious effect, so unimportant to +the country, so important to themselves, of bringing that oddly +assorted trio together. Brilliana gave a gracious equality of +attention to her companions; showed no keener interest in her new +visitor than she had found in the conversation of her old +acquaintance, and thus made both men very happily at their ease. +Indeed, Halfman was at his best that afternoon, playing the genial, +ripe, mellow man of the world to perfection, so that Evander found +him a most entertaining board-fellow. + +They were at the fruit, and Halfman showing them tricks of carving +faces in October apples, when Tiffany skipped into the room a-twitter +with excitement. + +"My lady," she cried, "here is come Master Paul and two of our people +bearing a great box. And I can spy Master Peter and his party with +another at the turn of the road." + +Halfman laughed loudly; Brilliana laughed softly; Evander wondered +what there was to laugh at. + +"Lodge them apart and bring them in by turn," Brilliana gave order. +"Master Paul first and then Master Peter. This is rare. Bring them +in, bring them in." + +Tiffany fluttered out and Evander rose from his chair. + +"Shall I leave you, lady?" he asked, thinking that she would be +private. But Brilliana would not hear of this and motioned to him to +keep his seat. + +"Nay, sir, stay," she said, "if you would see some sport." + +Even as she spoke Tiffany returned, ushering in Master Hungerford, +followed by two men in Brilliana's livery, bearing with pains a chest +which they set down with a deep breath of relief. Tiffany, who was +now in the secret, pretended to be busy at a sideboard so as to stay +in the room. Master Paul rubbed his lean fingers together and scraped +to the company. + +"You have been swift, Master Hungerford," Brilliana said, +approvingly. Master Hungerford smiled furtively. + +"Who would not use despatch in the King's cause and yours. 'Tis as I +said: the pestilent Roundhead had a chest full of broad-pieces +stuffed under his bed. And here it now is at your feet." And he +pointed victoriously at the spoils of war. Brilliana applauded as if +she had been at the play. + +"You have done well," she said, with the tears in her eyes for +laughter. Halfman kept a grave face and Evander wondered. + +"Call me your knight," Master Paul pleaded, with a languishing look. + +"You have done well, my knight," Brilliana repeated; then, turning +to Tiffany, she bade her see that the chest was set in a place of +safety. The two men took up their burden again and followed Tiffany +out of the room. But in a jiffy the maid was back again and +whispering in her mistress's ear. + +Brilliana turned her amused gaze upon Master Paul. + +"Master Hungerford," she entreated, "will you be so good as to wait +awhile in the next chamber. I have some immediate business to deal +with, but I would be loath to part company with you so soon if you +have the leisure to wait." + +Master Hungerford, protesting his readiness to attend upon her +pleasure, was promptly ushered by Halfman into an adjoining room, +where he left him, and having closely shut the door, came back +shaking with suppressed laughter to Brilliana. Evander, looking from +the mirthful man to the mirthful maid, felt constrained to question. + +"Why are you so merry?" + +"You will know ere the sun is much older," Brilliana answered, +composing her countenance, "for here comes the other." + +As she spoke Tiffany returned, ushering in Master Peter Rainham and a +fresh brace of Brilliana's servants, staggering, like their +predecessors, under the weight of a great chest. The certainty that +some astonishing jest was towards set Evander on the alert as he +scrutinized the forbidding form and features of the new-comer. + +"Welcome, thrice welcome, Master Peter Rainham," cried Brilliana. +"You have made good speed." + +Master Peter proffered her an uncouth salutation and pointed to the +chest on the floor significantly. + +"Lady," he said, "I have done the King a good turn. There are gold +plates there, gold dishes, gold ewers, that will change in the +melting-pot to many a troop of horse for the King's cause." + +"I thank you with all my heart," Brilliana said, quietly. + +Master Peter leered cunningly at her, and earned the cordial dislike +of Evander. + +"Do you give me your heart with your thanks?" he asked, with what he +believed to be gallantry. + +Brilliana made a little fanning motion at him with her hand. + +"You are too hot," she said. Then ordered Tiffany, "See these +treasures despatched to the King under guard." + +As before, the serving-men took up the chest, which seemed even +heavier than the former box, and were convoyed by Tiffany out of the +room. Then Brilliana turned to Master Peter, who stood apart biting +his nails awkwardly. + +"Master Rainham," she said, "you have shown rare discretion and made +brave despatch. I would thank you at greater length were it not that +I have company. There is one in the next room who waits to see me. +Entreat the gentleman to enter, Captain Halfman." + +Halfman went to the nigh door, and, opening it, summoned with +beckoning finger its tenant to come forth. Master Hungerford emerged +radiant. For a moment neither squire saw the other. Then Master +Rainham, looking away from Brilliana, saw Master Hungerford; and +Master Hungerford, looking away from Halfman, saw Master Rainham. + +To those who watched the comedy the silence was intense, and +throbbing with possibilities as summer air throbs with heat. +Brilliana heard Master Rainham say, "What a devil, Master +Hungerford," and Halfman, for his part, averred later that Master +Hungerford, too, greeted his neighbor's presence with an oath. The +spectators wondered what would happen: it was plain as noon that each +squire for an instant believed that the other had discovered larceny +and had posted to avenge it. But while each man knew of his own guilt +neither could guess or did guess at the other's theft, and neither +reading anger in the other's visage, each concluded that the meeting +was a piece of chance, and each resolved to make the best of it, +laughing heartily in his sleeve at the other's catastrophe. So +"Good-morrow, neighbor," nodded Master Paul, and "Good-day, +good-day," responded Master Peter, and Brilliana thought her bodice +would burst with her effort to keep her appreciation a prisoner. + +"Why, sirs," she cried, "this is a good seeing, a pair of neighbors +under my roof." + +"What does this fellow here?" Master Paul asked behind his hand of +Halfman, who answered, very coolly, + +"He comes to pay court to our lady." + +At the same moment, beneath his breath, Master Peter was questioning +Brilliana, "Why is that disloyal rogue here?" Brilliana answered, +with a pretty toss of the head: + +"Would you ever believe it? He came to assure me of his devotion to +me and his zeal for his Majesty." + +Master Peter, in wrath, looked more porcine than ever. + +"The lying knave," he grunted. "What are his words to my deeds?" + +"What, indeed," answered Brilliana, demurely. "I pray you persuade +him hence." + +"So that I may return alone?" + +Thus Master Peter interpreted Brilliana, and the minx gave him a +glance which might well be taken as justifying his interpretation. At +this moment Master Paul broke in upon their colloquy. + +"A word with you, I pray you," he said, sourly, "if my good neighbor +will give me good leave." + +Master Rainham withdrew a little way his self-satisfaction and +himself, while Master Paul whispered to Brilliana: + +"You know me now: I am proved your friend. Prithee get rid of that +mean huckster." + +Brilliana desired nothing better. She gave him the same advice that +she had given his neighbor, and was mischievously delighted to find +that he interpreted it after the same fashion. It did her heart good +to see how the two squires approached each other with many formal +expressions of good-will, each persuading the other to depart, and +each warmly proffering companionship on the homeward road. In the end +they went off together arm in arm, each endeavoring to convey to +Brilliana by nods and winks that he proposed to return alone very +shortly. + +As soon as they were fairly gone Brilliana and Halfman allowed +themselves to laugh like school-boy and school-girl, and then +Brilliana commanded Halfman to take order that neither gentleman was +to be admitted again. When he had gone on this business she turned to +Evander. + +"Well," she said, "have you found the key to the riddle?" + +"You have made these two neighbors plunder each other?" he hazarded. +Brilliana nodded gleefully, and then, guessing at disapproval in his +gravity, she asserted, defiantly: + +"It was for the King's cause. Everything is right for the King's +cause." + +At this flagrant enunciation of Cavalier policy Evander could not but +smile. + +"How will it end?" he asked. He was to learn that very soon, but +first he was to learn other things of greater import to himself. + + + + +XXIII + +A DAY PASSES + + +A day is twenty-four hours if you take it by the card, but the spirit +of joy or the spirit of sorrow has the power to multiply its +potentialities amazingly. Both these spirits walked by Evander's side +during his second day at Harby. The one that went in sable reminded +him that his horizon was dwindling almost to his feet; the other, in +rose and gold, hinted that it is better to be emperor for a day than +beggar for a century. And truly through all that day Evander esteemed +himself happier than an emperor. For he had discovered that Brilliana +was the most adorable woman in the world, and, knowing how his span +of life was shrinking, he allowed himself to adore without let or +hinderance of hostile faiths and warring causes. He did not, as +another in his desperate case might have done, make the most of his +time by using it for very straightforward love-making. There was a +fine austerity in him that denied such a course. Were he an undoomed +man his creed and his cause would forbid him to philander; being a +doomed man, it could not consort with his honor to act differently. +But he was radiantly happy in her constant companionship, and the +hours fled from him iris-tinted as he relived the age of gold. + +But if Evander trod the air, there was another who pressed the earth +with leaden feet and carried a heart of lead. Halfman read Evander's +happiness with hostile eyes; he read, too, very clearly, Brilliana's +content in Evander's company, and he raged at it. He had grown so +used to himself as Brilliana's ally that he had come to dream mad +dreams which were none the less sweet because of their madness. He +had rehearsed himself if not as Romeo at least as Othello, and if +Brilliana was not in the least like Desdemona that knowledge did not +dash him, for he thought her much more delectable than the Venetian, +and he thanked his stars that he was not a blackamoor. He had not +pushed his thoughts to a precise formula; he had been content to +delight during the hours of siege in the companionship of a matchless +maid, and now the maid had found another companion, and he knew that +he was fiercely in love and as foolishly jealous as a moon-calf. +Brilliana was as kind to him as ever, but she gave her time to the +new man, and Halfman, inwardly bleeding and outwardly the magnificent +stoic, left the pair to themselves and absented himself at meal-times +on pretext of pressing business with the volunteer troop. But his +temper grew as a gale grows and would soon prove a whirlwind. + +The garden-room at Harby was one of its many glories. Its panelled +walls, its portraits of old-time Harbys, its painted ceiling, were +exquisite parts of its exquisite harmony. On the side towards the +park the wall was little more than a colonnade--to which doors could +be fitted in winter-time, and here, as from a loggia, the indweller +could feast on one of the fairest prospects in Oxfordshire. Across +the moat the gardens stretched, in summer-time a riot of color, +flowers glowing like jewels set in green enamel. In the waning autumn +the scene was still fair, even though the day was overcast as this +day was, from which the weather-wise and even the weather-unwise +could freely and confidently prophesy rain. Brilliana dearly loved +her garden-room for many things, most, perhaps, because of its +full-length portrait of her King, an honest copy from an adorable +Vandyke, to which, as to a shrined image, Brilliana paid honest +adoration. She knew more about the picture than anyone else in +Harby, and used sometimes to wonder if the knowledge would ever avail +her. In the mean time, ever since the troubles began, she always bent +a knee whenever she passed the portrait. She had never seen her King, +yet she felt as if she saw him daily, visible in the living flesh, so +keenly did her loyalty seem to quicken color and canvas. Brilliana +was not the only soul in England whose loyalty gave the King a kind +of godhead, but if she had many peers she had none, nor could have, +who overpassed her. + +On the morning of the third day of Evander's stay at Harby, Halfman +sat on the edge of the table in the garden-room and stared through +the open doorway into the green beyond. He was alone, and he had +flung off the stoic robe and was very frankly an angry man and very +frankly a dangerous man. What he saw in the garden maddened him; his +eyes glittered like a cat's that stalks its prey. He had no room in +his thoughts for the cottage of his earlier dreams, with its pleasant +garden and its lazy hours over ale and tobacco. He thought only of a +woman quite beyond his reach, and his heart lusted for the lawless +days when your lucky buccaneer might take his pick of a score of +women by right of fire and sword and tame his choice as he pleased. + +To this mood fortune sent interruption in the person of Sir Blaise +Mickleton. Sir Blaise had opened the door expecting to find in the +room Brilliana, whom he had come with a purpose to visit, and instead +of Brilliana he found this queer soldier swinging his legs from the +table and scowling truculently. From what Sir Blaise had already seen +of Halfman he found him very little to his mind, but he reflected +that he had come on a mission, that Brilliana was nowhere in sight, +and that Halfman, who had served her during the siege, might very +well direct him where he should find her. + +As Halfman took no notice whatever of him, Sir Blaise deemed it +advisable, in the interests of his mission, to attract his attention. +So he gave a politic cough and followed it with a "Give you +good-morrow" of such sufficient loudness that Halfman could not +choose but hear it. He did not change his attitude, however, or turn +his face from the window, as he answered, in a sullen voice, + +"I should need a good-morrow to mend a bad day." + +Sir Blaise had not the wit to let a sleeping dog lie, but must needs +prod it to see if it could bark. So he very foolishly said what were +indeed obvious even to a greater fool than he. + +"You seem in the sullens." + +The sleeping dog could bark. Halfman turned a scowling face upon the +knight as he answered, malevolently: + +"Swamped, water-logged, foundering. You are a pretty parrakeet to +come between me and my musings." + +The tone of Halfman's speech, the way of Halfman's demeanor were so +offensive that the knight's cheap dignity took fire. He swelled with +displeasure, flushed very red in the gills, and cleared his throat +for reproof. + +"Master Majordomo, you forget yourself." + +Halfman proved too indifferent or too self-absorbed to take umbrage. +He stared into the garden again with a sigh. + +"No, I remember myself, and the memory vexes me. I dreamed I was a +king, a kaiser, a demigod. I wake, rub my eyes, and am no more than a +fool." + +Sir Blaise was patronizingly forgiving. He was thirsty, also the +morning was chilly. + +"Let us exorcise your devil with a pottle of hot ale," he suggested. +Halfman shook his head wistfully. + +"I should be happier in a sable habit, with a steeple hat, and a rank +in the Parliament army." + +It was plain to Sir Blaise that a man must be very deep in the dumps +who was not to be tempted by hot ale. + +"Lordamercy, are you for changing sides now?" he asked. + +As Halfman made him no answer but continued to stare gloomily into +the garden, Blaise concluded that the interest lay there which made +him thus distracted. So he came down to the table and looked over +Halfman's shoulder. In the distance he saw a man and woman walking +among the trees. The man was patently the Puritan prisoner, the woman +was the chatelaine of Harby. The pair seemed very deep in converse. +As Sir Blaise looked, they were out of sight round a turning. Halfman +gave a heavy groan and spoke, more to himself, as it seemed, than to +his companion. + +"Look how they walk in the garden, ever in talk. Time was she would +walk and talk with me, listen to my wars and wanderings, and call me +a gallant captain." + +"Are you jealous of the Puritan prisoner?" Blaise asked, astonished. +Halfman answered with an oath. + +"Oh, God, that the siege had lasted forever, or that she had kept her +word and blown us sky high." + +Blaise began to snigger. + +"'Ods-life! do you dare a love for your lady?" he said. He had better +not have said it. Halfman turned on him with a face like a demon's +and the plump knight recoiled. + +"Why the red devil should I not," Halfman asked, hoarsely, "if a +bumpkin squire like you may do as much?" + +Blaise tried to domineer, but the effort was feeble before the +fierceness in Halfman's glare. + +"Are you speaking to me, your superior?" he stammered. Halfman +answered him mockingly, with a voice that swelled in menace as the +taunting speech ran on. + +"Will you ride against me, cross swords with me, come to grips with +me any way? You dare not. I am well born, have seen things, done +things 'twould make you shiver to hear of them. Come, I am in a +fiend's humor; come with your sword to the orchard and see which of +us is the better man." + +Sir Blaise was in a fair panic at this raging fury he had conjured up +and now was fain to pacify. + +"Soft, soft, honest captain; why so choleric? I would not wrong you. +But surely you do not think she favors this Puritan?" + +"Oh, he's a proper man, damn him!" Halfman admitted. "He has a right +to a woman's liking. And he must love her, God help him! as every man +does that looks on her." + +Blaise looked pathetic. + +"What is there to do?" he asked, helplessly. Halfman struck his right +fist into his left palm. + +"I would do something, I promise you. He is no immortal. But we shall +be rid of him soon. If Colonel Cromwell do not surrender Cousin +Randolph we are pledged to his killing, and if he do, then our friend +rejoins his army; and I pray the devil my master that I may have the +joy to pistol him on some stricken field." + +Sir Blaise thought it was time to change the conversation. + +"Let us leave these ravings and vaporings," he entreated, wheedling, +"and return to the business of life. And 'tis a very unpleasant +business I come on." + +Halfman drew his hand across his forehead as a man who seeks to +dissipate ill dreams. Then, with a tranquil face, he gave Blaise the +attention he petitioned. + +"How so?" he asked. Any business were a pleasing change from his sick +thoughts. + +"Why, I am a justice of the peace for these parts," Sir Blaise said, +"and I am importuned by two honest neighbors to process of law +against your lady." + +Halfman laughed unpleasantly. + +"The Lady Brilliana's wish is the law of this country-side, I promise +you." + +He grinned maliciously and fingered at his sword-hilt. Sir Blaise +felt exceedingly uncomfortable. Here was no promising beginning for a +solemn judicial errand. But the knight had a mighty high sense of his +own importance, and he felt himself shielded, as it were, from the +tempers of this fire-eater by the dignity of his office and the +majesty of the law. So he came to his business with a manner as +pompous as he could muster. + +"Master Rainham and Master Hungerford are exceedingly angry," he +asserted. + +Halfman flouted him and his clients. + +"Because she bobbed them so bravely? The knaves came raving to our +gates when they found how they had been tricked into picking each +other's pockets. But I made them take to their heels, I promise you. +You should have seen their fool faces at the sight of a musket's +muzzle." + +Sir Blaise looked righteously indignant. + +"Sir, sir," he protested, "muskets will not mend matters if these +gentlemen have been wronged. They came hot-foot to me, and in the +interests of peace I have entreated them hither. They wait without in +the care of two of your people to keep them from flying at each +other's throats." + +Halfman heard the distressing news with equanimity. + +"Why not let them kill each other?" he suggested, blandly. Blaise +lifted his hands in horror. + +"Friend," he said, "in this mission I am a man of peace. Will you +acquaint your lady?" + +Halfman grunted acquiescence. + +"Oh, ay; bring in your boobies." + +He turned on his heel and swung out through the doorway into the +garden. + +Sir Blaise looked after him for a moment disapprovingly, then he went +to the door by which he had entered, and, opening it, called aloud, + +"This way, gentlemen, this way." + + + + +XXIV + +A HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE + + +There was a loud, scuffling noise without, as of the trampling of +many feet and the inarticulate growlings of wild beasts. Then Clupp +entered the room, clasping in his mighty arms the long body of Master +Paul Hungerford. He was followed by Garlinge, who was performing the +like embracive office for the short body of Master Peter Rainham. The +two angry gentlemen plunged and struggled impotently to free +themselves from their guardians and hurl themselves at each other's +throats. They might as well have tried to free themselves from clamps +of iron. To the master-muscled Garlinge and Clupp--a strong Gyas, a +strong Cloanthes, no less--they were no more difficult to restrain +than would have been a brace of puling babes. Even their speech was +not free to make amends for their captivity, for they were so brimful +of choler and had so roared and shrieked their rage ere this that the +torrent of their fury spent itself in vacant mouthings and +splutterings. Sir Blaise eyed the brawlers with exceeding disfavor. + +"Gentlemen, gentlemen," he entreated, "be calm, I beg of you." + +At the sound of his voice the disputants found theirs, or rather +found themselves restored to command over human speech. Each turned +towards Sir Blaise, swaying over the clasped arms of his captor. + +"Sir Blaise," screamed Master Paul, "in the King's name I call upon +you to commit this thief to jail." + +"Set that footpad in the pillory, Sir Blaise," yelled Master Peter. +Then they turned upon each other again. + +"You rogue," cried Master Paul. + +"You rascal," answered Master Peter. + +In a second they were again struggling to get at each other, and +were, as before, imperturbably held asunder by Garlinge and Clupp. + +Again Sir Blaise protested. + +"Good friends, be calm, I entreat you." + +"I'll cut his heart out," Peter vociferated, stabbing a dirty hand in +the direction of his enemy. + +"I'll make him mincemeat," Paul promised, sawing at the air. + +Sir Blaise, turning away in disgust, saw how in the garden Brilliana +was making for the house. He frowned on the malcontents. + +"Hush, here comes the lady." + +Even as he spoke Brilliana entered from the garden, followed by +Evander and Halfman. The girl looked as bright as sunlight as she +greeted the company. + +"Good-morning, Sir Blaise; good-morning, my masters." + +Then she burst out laughing at the furious faces and helpless +gesticulations of the irate claimants. Her laughter was very +delightful for most men to hear, but it goaded the squires to frenzy. + +"Sir Blaise," cried Master Paul, "I call you to witness that the lady +laughs at us." + +"Sir Blaise," cried Master Peter, "there stands our undoing." +Brilliana frowned a little and turned to Halfman. + +"Friend," she said, "will you see order here." + +"Very blithely," Halfman answered. He commanded the servants. + +"You, Garlinge and Clupp, see that your prisoners keep silence." + +Master Paul and Master Peter began to protest in chorus. + +"We are no prison--" But they got no further, for Garlinge and Clupp +silenced them by clapping huge hands over their gaping mouths. +Brilliana gave a little sigh of relief at the welcome quiet. + +"Now, Sir Blaise," she asked, "why are these gentlemen here?" + +Sir Blaise made salutation and answered, "Truly, most paradisiacal +lady, these gentlemen make grave allegations that you did insidiously +incite them to the commission of a felony." + +Brilliana looked from Sir Blaise to the muffled, grappled plaintiffs +and made mirthful decision. + +"I represent the King here. I will try this matter." + +Blaise felt bound to lodge protest against this monstrous +proposition. + +"Perhaps, most Elysian of fair ladies, it would be, as one might say, +more seemly if I, as a justice of the peace--" + +Brilliana daffed him down. + +"Sir Blaise, we are at war now, and by your leave I will handle this +matter after my own fashion." + +"I must protest," Blaise bleated, but Brilliana would not listen to +him. + +"You must do nothing," she insisted, "but help me to set chairs. One +here for me, one there for you, my brother justice; one there for +Captain Cloud, who, as a stranger of distinction, shall have a seat +on the bench." + +"I thank you for the honor," said Evander, watching the scene with +much entertainment. As Brilliana talked she, with Blaise and Halfman, +had been busy placing seats as she directed at the table. + +"Captain Halfman," Brilliana went on, "you write a clerkly hand. Sit +you here; you shall be our clerk. Arraign the prisoners." + +By this time all were seated as Brilliana had disposed; Sir Blaise +had completely surrendered his dignity to her spell. Even Halfman +found pleasure in the grotesque sham trial. + +Garlinge and Clupp brought their charges down to face the newly +formed tribunal. Halfman spoke. + +"Here, my lady, we have two hobs who have come to loggerheads as to +which is best disposed to the King. Garlinge, let Master Hungerford +speak." Garlinge removed his massive hand from his prisoner's mouth, +and Paul, after gaping like a fish for some seconds, gasped out, + +"Lady, you know well enough how you have befooled us." + +Brilliana stared upon him, bewitchingly unembarrassed by the charge. + +"Manners, master," cried Halfman, angrily, "or I'll manner you." + +Brilliana daintily deprecated his heat. + +"Wait, wait," she said. "First of all, are you a loyal subject of the +King?" + +Master Paul rubbed his chin dubiously. "That is as it may be," he +muttered. + +Brilliana tapped the table. "Faint hesitation is flat treason," she +cried. Turning to Halfman, she commanded, "Write him down for a +confessed Roundhead." + +Master Paul clawed towards her excitedly. + +"No, no; pray you not so fast," he entreated. "I am a good King's +man." + +Brilliana condescended approval. + +"He amends his plea," she noted to Halfman. Master Paul went on, +fractiously, + +"But that does not make me love to be plundered." + +Brilliana rose and, resting the tips of her fingers on the table, +addressed Master Hungerford sternly. + +"Master Hungerford, one of two things. Either you are a Roundhead, in +which case you have no rights in loyal, royal Oxfordshire--say I not +well, Sir Blaise?" + +"Marvellous well," Sir Blaise assented. + +"Ergo," Brilliana continued, "having no rights you have no goods, +having no goods you cannot be plundered." + +"Yet I was plundered," Master Paul protested. Brilliana exorcised the +plea. + +"We shall convince you to the contrary. If you are no Roundhead then +you are a stanch Cavalier, and in the King's name you confiscated +certain gear of your fellow-prisoner." + +Now, while Paul was being interrogated Clupp had removed his hand +from Master Peter's mouth and contented himself with holding him +fast. Master Peter now saw an opportunity to assert himself. + +"I am not a prison--" he began, but was not suffered to speak +further. Instantly Clupp's palm closed again upon the parted jaws and +reduced him to silence once more, while Brilliana went on. + +"In doing which you deserved well of his Majesty." + +"Ay, all was well so far," Master Paul grumbled; "but he played the +like trick upon me at your instigation." + +Brilliana would not hear of it. + +"You misuse speech. 'Tis no trick to serve the King. As I +understand, each of you accuses the other of robbing him." + +Master Paul agreed. Master Peter, gagged behind Clupp's hand, nodded +dismally. Brilliana went on. + +"This is at first blush a dilemma, but our wit makes all clear. Each +of you, avowedly in the King's name, did descend upon the dwelling of +a disaffected rebel and make certain seizures there which have been +duly sent to his Majesty. Each of you is, therefore, proved to be a +loyal subject and honorable gentleman. So far you are with me, Sir +Blaise?" + +"Surely, surely," the knight agreed. + +"Yet, on the other hand," continued Brilliana, "each of you accuses +the other of robbing him. Now to rob is to offend against the King's +law, to be, therefore, an enemy to the King; and an enemy to the King +is a Roundhead. Is not this well argued, Sir Blaise?" + +"Socrates could not have bettered it," commended Sir Blaise. + +"We arrive, therefore, at the strange conclusion," said Brilliana, +judicially, "that each of you is at the same time an honest Cavalier +and a dishonest Roundhead. Now, as no man living can be in the same +breath Cavalier and Roundhead, it follows as plainly as B follows A +that whichever one of you complains of the other is avowedly the +King's enemy and a palpable rebel." + +Master Paul scratched his head. + +"I do not follow your reasoning," he mumbled. Brilliana appealed to +the justice of the peace. + +"Yet it is very clear. Is it not, Sir Blaise?" + +"Limpidity itself," Sir Blaise approved, complacently. Brilliana +resumed. + +"One or other of you is a traitor and shall be sent to Oxford in +chains, to await the King's pleasure and his own pain. I care not +which it be." + +"You have set me in such a quandary," Master Paul protested, "my head +buzzes like a hive." + +Brilliana directly questioned him. + +"You, Master Hungerford, are you a King's man?" + +Master Paul was vehement in asseveration. + +"I am a King's man, hook and eye." + +"Then," Brilliana assumed, "'tis Master Rainham must fare in chains +to Oxford." + +Master Rainham, staring at her over Clupp's paw, had such appealing +terror in his eyes that Brilliana pitied him. + +"'Tis your turn now," she said. "Let him give tongue, Clupp." + +Clupp withdrew his hand and Master Rainham gurgled: + +"I proclaim myself a faithful subject of the King. Let that dog trot +to Oxford." + +"You matchless basilisk!" screamed Master Paul at him, and "You +damnable mandrake!" retorted Master Peter. The pair would have flown +at each other if they could have wriggled free. But as they could not +they perforce resigned themselves to hear what Brilliana would say +next. + +"Why, then, it stands thus," Brilliana summed up. "This court decides +that you are both servants of the King; that you have both done the +King good service, willing and yet unwilling. I think I shall have +some little credit with the King, and I shall use it with his Majesty +by entreating him to grant the grace of knighthood to two honest +friends of mine and two honest lovers of his--Master Hungerford and +Master Rainham." + +Master Paul looked at Master Peter; Master Peter looked at Master +Paul. Master Paul smiled. Master Peter smiled. + +"A knighthood!" + +Master Peter mumbled the word lovingly. Master Paul blew a kiss +towards Brilliana. + +"Then I shall be indeed your knight," he simpered. + +"Are you content?" Brilliana asked, gravely, and the two squires +answered in union, + +"We are content." + +"Then this worshipful court adjourns sine die. Captain Halfman, see +that our friends be refreshed ere they depart." + +Halfman rose, and with a "Follow me, sirs," made for the door. Sir +Blaise stooped over Brilliana's finger-tips. + +"Farewell, my lady wisdom. Solomon was not more wise nor Minos more +sapient." + +"I thought you would uphold me," Brilliana replied. "Farewell." + +Sir Blaise saluted Evander, who returned the salutation and quitted +the room. Master Paul, taking leave of Brilliana, whispered, + +"When I am knight, you shall be my lady." + +"When you are king, diddle-diddle, I shall be queen," Brilliana +laughed at him, making a reverence. He joined Halfman at the door and +Master Peter approached Brilliana. + +"When I wear my new title, I will lay it at your feet," he promised, +solemnly. + +"Can you not keep it in your own hands?" Brilliana questioned. She +made him a reverence, he made her his best bow and went to the door, +where Master Paul waited with Halfman. Here a point of ceremony +arose. + +"After you, Sir Peter," Master Paul suggested. Master Peter fondled +the title. + +"Sir Peter! It sounds nobly. Nay, after you, Sir Paul," he protested. +They were at this business so long that Halfman lost patience. + +"Stand not on the order of your going," he growled between his teeth, +then grasping with an air of bluff good-fellowship an arm of either +squire, he banged them somewhat roughly together. + +"Nay, arm in arm, as neighbor knights should," he suggested, and so +jostled them out of the chamber and conducted them to the buttery, +where for the next hour he diverted himself by making them very drunk +indeed. + + + + +XXV + +ROMEO AND JULIET + + +Brilliana turned to Evander. + +"Well, Captain Puritan, are you displeased with me?" + +Evander disclaimed such thought. + +"Why should I be displeased that you, a King's woman, serve the +King?" + +Brilliana was pertinacious. + +"If you were a King's man would you applaud me?" + +"If I were a King's man," Evander confessed, "I could not choose but +applaud you." + +"But being a Puritan?" Brilliana persisted. + +"Why," said Evander, "being a Puritan, I must ask you, were you just +to your victims?" + +Brilliana swept them away disdainfully. + +"Each would have cheated the King in an hour, when, to all who think +with me, to cheat the King is little better than to cheat God. But +your scrupulosity need not shiver. If the King do not knight my +misers I will requite them, little as they deserve it." + +Evander admired her. + +"You are a brave lady." + +Brilliana gave a sigh. + +"No, I am not brave at all; I am newly very timid. I am frightened of +the real world now, and feel only at my ease with shadows." + +"Shall we journey into shadow-land?" Evander asked. + +"By what path?" Brilliana questioned. Evander touched a brown, torn +book. + +"Shall we read again in Master Shakespeare's book?" + +For indeed they had read much in his pages that morning. Brilliana +looked pleased. + +"Yes, indeed. Let us go into my paradise." + +She looked into the garden and came back with a shiver. + +"Ah, no, it is raining. It rained when the King raised his standard +at Nottingham. Well, well, we can read here." + +Evander was turning the leaves. + +"What shall we read? Comedy, history, tragedy?" + +Brilliana was for the solemn mask. + +"Let it be tragedy. I have laughed so much this morning that my mind +turns to melancholy." + +Evander looked up at her with his finger on a page. + +"Shall we read 'Romeo and Juliet'?" + +"I know that play by root of heart," Brilliana said. + +"Truly, so do I," said Evander. + +Brilliana was silent, pensive, a finger on her lip, considering some +project. Then she said, doubtfully: + +"You spoke the other day of women players, a thing that seemed to me +incredible. Shall we see how it would seem here for us two? Let us +while away a wet morning by playing a stage play." + +Evander's heart leaped. + +"With you for the sweet scene in the garden," he cried. + +In a moment Brilliana was busy in the setting of her scene. She +pulled round a heavy, high-backed chair and leaped into it, leaning +over the back and looking up as if the painted ceiling glowed with +the stars of an Italian night. Then the words flowed from her, the +wonderful words: + + "'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo? + Deny thy father and refuse thy name: + Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, + And I'll no longer be a Capulet.'" + +Evander said his line a little stiffly; he was awkward, being a man. + + "'Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?'" + +Brilliana flowed on: + + "'Tis but thy name that is my enemy: + Thou art thyself though not a Montague. + What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, + Nor arm nor face. O be some other name + Belonging to a man. + What's in a name? That which we call a rose + By any other word would smell as sweet; + So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, + Retain that dear perfection which he owes, + Without that title.--Romeo, doff thy name; + And for thy name which is no part of thee, + Take all myself.'" + +Evander put heart now into his part as he moved towards her. + + "'I take thee at thy word. + Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd; + Henceforth I never will be Romeo.'" + +Brilliana affected to peer into the darkness of a green garden. + + "'What man art thou, that thus bescreened in night, + So stumblest on my counsel?'" + +Evander answered, very earnest now: + + "'By a name + I know not how to tell thee who I am: + My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, + Because it is an enemy to thee: + Had I it written, I would tear the word.'" + +Brilliana's voice faltered as she took up the tale. + + "'My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words + Of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound. + Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?'" + +Evander was quite near now to the chair and the fair maid perched +upon it, and the words trembled on his lips. + + "'Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.'" + +He put out his hands and caught hers for a moment. Then she drew them +free and jumped down. She went to the open space and looked into the +wet garden with a hand to her head and a hand to her heart. Evander +followed her. + +"Ah, me," she said, "love was a heady god in Verona. Here in England +he could not solder such hostilities." + +Evander answered her passionately. + +"Here in England love is a more glorious god yet, for he can fling a +Puritan soldier at the feet of a Cavalier lady." + +Brilliana still stared straight before her. + +"We have drifted from the land of shadows." + +Evander spoke from his heart. + +"We have drifted into reality. I love you. I cannot change my faith +for that, I cannot change my flag. But believe this, remember this, +that in the Parliament's army one Puritan is as true your lover as +all the Cavaliers who worship you." + +Brilliana turned and looked at him now, very steadfastly: + +"You do not speak by the book." + +"No, only by my heart," Evander answered, simply. "I tell you my +soul's truth. I love you, I shall love you to the end, whether the +end come in a battle on a windy heath, or in an oblong box of a bed." + +Brilliana's eyes were bright and kind. + +"You do not know what you are saying. I do not know what you are +saying. The world would have to change before I could listen with +patience to words of love on the lips of a rebel." + +Evander answered her bravely. + +"I know that. I did not hope; but I had to set my soul free. To the +end of ends I shall cherish you, live for you, die for you: very +lonely, well content." + +Brilliana turned away. The heart of Juliet within her was big almost +to breaking. + +"The rain ceases; I must go into the air." + +Even as she spoke, the door opened and Tiffany ran in. + +"My lady!" she cried; "my lady, John Thoroughgood rides up the avenue +on a foundering horse!" + +Brilliana gave a great cry and went ghost-white. + +"Dear God, the letter! I had forgotten the letter!" + +Tiffany slipped from the room. Evander answered Brilliana's cry very +calmly. + +"For the second, so had I. But, indeed, dear lady and friend, I know +its terms." + +"You cannot be sure," Brilliana whispered. + +"I am sure," Evander replied. "I know Colonel Cromwell." + +The door opened again and Thoroughgood entered, splashed with mud and +carrying a letter in his hand. + +"My lady," said Thoroughgood, "I have ridden hard and long to find +the rebels. I have killed two horses; I had to wait on Colonel +Cromwell's leisure; I was fired at thrice as I rode. At long last +and through many perils here is the letter." + +"I thank you," Brilliana said. "You are a faithful servant. Seek wine +and food and rest." + +Thoroughgood saluted her and went out. He looked fagged to +exhaustion. In the passage he found Tiffany, kissing-kind. Brilliana +opened the letter and read it slowly. Then she gave a cry. + +"Pray you read, lady," Evander said, composedly. Brilliana complied +in a hard, set voice. + + "MADAM,--The prisoner with whom you claim kinship was + sentenced to be shot as a spy this morning. My loving + greetings to my very dear friend, Mr. Cloud, who, if you + chose enough to murder him, will, I know, meet death as a + Christian soldier should. + + "OLIVER CROMWELL." + +"The wicked villain," Brilliana cried. + +"Nay, lady," Evander argued tranquilly--he must carry himself well +now--"the true captain doing his duty. It hath cost him a pang to +sacrifice me; he would have sacrificed his son Henry or his son +Richard in the like case." + +Brilliana clasped and unclasped her hands. + +"I care nothing for his son Henry or his son Richard." + +"You care nothing for me?" Evander affirmed, slowly. + +"I do care," she said, hotly. "We have broken bread together, played +games together, masked at friendship till the sport became reality." + +"Lady," said Evander, "I thank you for the kindness you imply. Our +friendship has been brief, but passing sweet. I shall die on a divine +memory." + +"Why, sir," she gasped, "you do not think I could kill you now?" + +"You vowed I should die if your cousin died," he reminded her. "I +think you must keep your word. It is the fortune of war." + +"The fortune of war!" Brilliana gave a bitter laugh. "I would not +have you die to save--Oh, I must not say--but fly, sir, fly! Ride hot +and hard to Cambridge, where you will be safe. You shall have the +best horse in my stable. You are my prisoner. I give you back your +parole. Only, for God's sake, go! My friends would kill you if they +caught you here." + +Evander begged a boon. + +"May I kiss your hand before I go?" + +Brilliana tried to smile. + +"A Cavalier would not have asked." + +"I am Puritan, ingrain," he asserted. + +"You are a dear gentleman." + +She sighed and held out her hand. As he stooped to salute it the door +was dashed open and a man booted and spurred flung into the room. As +he stood for a moment amazed at what he saw, Brilliana, turning, +recognized Sir Rufus Quaryll. She disengaged her hand from Evander's +and moved a little towards him. Evander instinctively felt for his +sword. Sir Rufus's face was a great blaze of red. + +"In the devil's name, what does this mean?" he shouted. + +Brilliana drew herself up. + +"You forget yourself," she said, haughtily. Rufus barked at her with +rage. + +"You have forgotten yourself; in the arms of a doomed traitor." + +"Civil words, sir!" Evander cried, moving on him. Brilliana motioned +him to hold back. + +"This gentleman is no traitor." + +An open letter lay at Rufus's feet. He pounced on it and read. He was +pale now, the white heat of anger. + +"Gentleman! Oh, I know much, guess all. Randolph is dead there +yonder, and this rogue, who should be dead and ditched here, lives. +Faugh! But he dies now." + +On the word he had drawn his sword and advanced upon Evander, whose +own sword was no less swiftly out. Brilliana came between the two +men. + +"If you kill him, you kill me," she said. + +"By God, you deserve to die!" was Rufus's answer. + +In the headiness of their brawl none of the party had noticed how the +door had opened again and how a man stood at gaze in the doorway. A +slender man of middle height, in travel-stained riding-habit of +black; a man with a comely, melancholy face and sad eyes; a man who +seemed very weary. He wore a jewelled George. For a moment the +new-comer stood unheeded, then he advanced into the room. Sir Rufus +heard him, turned, and cried, "The King!" Evander sent his sword back +into its sheath. Brilliana knelt in reverence. This was the hero, +almost the divinity, the monarch she worshipped, the sovereign she +had never seen. + +"Gentlemen, what is this?" the King asked. He turned to Brilliana. + +"Lady, why did you not come to greet me?" + +Brilliana rose. + +"Your Majesty--" she began, but Rufus interrupted her hotly. + +"Forgiveness, sire. I dashed ahead to warn her of the great honor +you offered, halting here from Banbury, only to find her slobbering +on a Roundhead gallows-bird." + +Brilliana looked steadfastly at the King. She was very pale but not +at all afraid. + +"Your Majesty, this man slanders basely. This gentleman is +honorable." + +"Honorable!" Rufus repeated, in derision. + +"Silence, sir!" Charles commanded. "Who are you?" he asked of +Evander. Evander saluted. + +"Captain Evander Cloud, of the Parliamentary army." + +"How come you here?" the King inquired. + +Brilliana answered for him. + +"Your Majesty, he was taken prisoner treacherously, though the +treachery was mine, three days ago. I offered his life in exchange +for the life of Randolph Harby." + +"And Randolph Harby is dead," said Rufus, "shot as a spy by the +devilish rebel of Cambridge. See, sire--see!" + +He offered the letter to Charles, but the King put it from him. His +face was inscrutable as Evander urged his case. + +"Your Majesty, I am no spy, and my life could not be pawned for a +spy's life." + +Charles's sad eyes travelled to Brilliana. + +"Randolph Harby was no spy," he said. "You held this gentleman +hostage for your cousin's life?" + +"I did make that offer," Brilliana admitted. The King frowned now. + +"And yet he still lives. I thought this was called Loyalty House." + +"Disloyalty House it should be called now," Rufus taunted. Brilliana +turned upon him fiercely. + +"You lie! you lie! you lie!" she hurled the words at him, hating him. +Charles held up his hand. + +"Peace! This is not the welcome I expected here. We did not think to +find rebels tendered so delicately. Sir Rufus, we give you charge of +Harby and of this gentleman. We will consider his claim presently, +for we would deal honestly even with our enemies." + +He looked at Evander. + +"But we can give you little hope, sir. Prepare to die." + +Fretfully he addressed Rufus. + +"I am very weary. I must break my fast." He glanced coldly at +Brilliana. + +"Lady, we shall not need your attendance." + +Brilliana made her master a deep reverence. + +"I take my leave, your Majesty." She went close to Evander. + +"Can you forgive me?" she begged. Evander looked into her wet eyes +joyously. + +"Read in my heart that I thank God to have known you, loved you." + +Brilliana laid a hand for a moment on his shoulder and spoke in a +soft, even voice. + +"You have been my enemy; you have been my friend; you are now the one +man in all the world for me. Read in my heart that I thank God to +have known you, that I thank God that I love you. Remember, I love +you, Evander. Farewell." + +Then she saluted the King and went slowly out of the room without +looking back. + + + + +XXVI + +RESURRECTION + + +Some hours later Rufus Quaryll sat alone in the garden-room, writing. +It was coming on dusk; candles had been lit, the fire was ruddy on +the hearth. Rufus, as he wrote, was well content with the turn of +things. He raged at Brilliana, but she should marry him all the same +when the Puritan dog was dead. He had, as he believed, convinced the +King at meat that the plea Evander raised was valueless, that +Evander's life was rightly forfeit. Evander was under close guard; +so, indeed, was Brilliana, for he had stationed a sentry at the door +of her apartments: he was determined that she should not see the King +again. Now the King lay in the inner room, sleeping; when he rose it +would be easy to get the order for Evander's death. Furious in his +hate, furious in his love, he would neither spare Evander nor +surrender Brilliana. She should be his wife, if he had to drag her +before an altar. + +As he thought and wrote, the door opened and Halfman entered the +room. Rufus, lifting his head, faced him with a finger on his lips +while with the other he pointed to the door of the inner chamber. + +"Hush!" he whispered; "the King sleeps. But all is well. He has as +good as promised the Puritan shall die." + +"All is not so well as you think," said Halfman, sardonically. "Here +comes one more pleased to see you than you to see him." + +He went to the door again and ushered in a man who had waited +outside, a man muffled in a cloak, and his face hidden by the way his +hat was pulled over it. The man advanced slowly towards the surprised +Rufus, and suddenly dropping his cloak and throwing back his hat +uncovered a youthful, jovial face. Rufus gaped at him in despair and +gasped a name: + +"Randolph!" + +Randolph Harby dropped into a chair and chuckled. + +"No wonder you stare as if you faced a spectre. But I'm flesh and +blood, lad." + +Rufus, trying to collect himself against this staggering blow, again +raised a warning hand. + +"For Heaven's sake speak lower! The King is asleep yonder. How do you +come here?" + +Randolph leaned over and whispered, giggling, into Sir Rufus's ear. +Halfman watched with grim amusement. If he loved Evander little, come +to think of it he loved Rufus less, all said and done; so he grinned +at his discomfiture. + +"A wonder," Randolph said. "When they had the time to try me, their +fools' court-martial, thanks to that damned Cromwell, settled me for +a spy and sentenced me to be shot. But the jailer where I lay had a +daughter. Need I say more? We Harbys are invincible. Any way, there +was no prisoner when the shooting-party came to claim me, and here I +am, in time, I hope, to save the life of that poor Puritan devil." + +Sir Rufus's wits were busy hatching mischief. He looked with aversion +at the smiling, self-complacent ass whose resurrection tangled his +plan. But his voice was very amiable as he asked: + +"Do any in the household know of your return?" + +"Devil a one," the youth answered, cheerily, and Sir Rufus would have +liked to drive a knife into him for his mirth, though his spirits +rose at his answer. "I thought to take my cousin by surprise, scare +her with my ghost, maybe. So I came skulking through the park and +ran on this good sir, who nabbed me." He indicated Halfman with a +wave of the hand. "I explained to him, so that my joke should not +spoil, and he smuggled me in here to surprise you. Where is +Brilliana?" + +Rufus looked at him thoughtfully. + +"Are you fresh enough to ride?" he asked. + +"If need be," Randolph replied, astonished. + +Rufus talked rapidly, writing a letter as he spoke. + +"Then you may save your Puritan yet. We sent your hostage to Oxford +for safe-keeping. News came of your death, and but now the King sent +an order to have the fellow shot. But you can overtake the order, +outstrip it. Here is a reprieve for the prisoner." + +Rufus folded the paper, sealed it, and handed it to the bewildered +Randolph. + +"Pick what horse you please, and ride for the honor of our cause." + +Randolph gasped. + +"May I not see the King?" + +Rufus refused him firmly. + +"Impossible. His Majesty sleeps." + +"My cousin Brilliana?" Randolph asked. "What of my joke?" + +Rufus spoke very solemnly. + +"The one thing now is to save a man's life. Ride hard, and God speed +you." Randolph yielded cheerfully. + +"Well, well, I should be sorry the rebel dog should die wrongfully. +You will justify me to the King for not attending him?" + +Rufus nodded. + +"I will justify you to his Majesty." + +"And not a word to Brilliana," Randolph iterated. "I will have my +joke on my return. Farewell." + +He muffled himself again and went out quickly. Rufus sat biting the +end of his quill. Halfman stepped forward and made him a series of +extravagant salutations, which parodied the most elaborate congees of +a dancing-master. Rufus glared at him. + +"What is the matter with you?" he asked, savagely. Halfman leered +apishly at him. + +"You are a splendid scoundrel," he vowed. "Do not frown. I have lived +with such and I speak in praise." + +Rufus struck his hands upon the table. + +"I will have this Puritan devil," he swore, "if the King do not play +the granny." + +Halfman winked at him, diverted by his heat and hate. + +"Say that more softly, for I think I hear him stirring." + +The two listened in silence. The curtains of the inner room were +parted and Charles entered the room. He still looked haggard, ill at +ease. + +"Was any one here?" he asked, as the two men rose respectfully. Rufus +answered, glibly: + +"No, your Majesty. We spoke in whispers to respect your rest. Did +your Majesty sleep well?" + +"Ill, very ill," Charles answered, drearily. "I had bad dreams and +could not wake from them. Leave me, sirs." + +Rufus solicited his eyes. + +"And the prisoner?" + +Charles looked at him vaguely. + +"The prisoner?" + +"The rebel hostage for murdered Randolph Harby," Rufus reminded him. + +Charles looked vexed. + +"Oh yes, I suppose he must die. Surely he must die. His plea is +specious, but Randolph Harby is dead." + +"Brave, murdered Randolph." Rufus's regret was pathetic. "Shall I +give order for the firing party?" He made as if to write. Charles +frowned. + +"You are over-zealous, sir; I have not made up my mind." + +Rufus read obstinacy in the royal face and knew that it were useless +to argue further then. + +"As your Majesty please," he submitted. + +The King seated himself heavily at the table and fixed his eyes upon +an open map. Behind his back Rufus shrugged his shoulders and left +the room. Halfman followed, a very Jaques of meditations, touched by +the pathos of the tired King, grimly diverted by the ruffianism of +Rufus. A mad world! + + + + +XXVII + +THE KING'S IMAGE + + +The melancholy King sat in the great room alone. His eyes were fixed +on the map, but his mind was far away, over yonder in Holland where +she was--she, the Queen. The thought of her beauty troubled him; her +soft voice seemed to be whispering at his ear in her pretty broken +English. Some lines in a play he knew came into his mind, lines +uttered by a king who, like himself, had known the horror of civil +war, lines which said that it were better to be a shepherd and tend +sheep than to be an English king. He sighed and his handsome head +drooped upon his breast, and the brown hair that was graying so fast +hid his cheeks. His eyes were wet and he could not see the map; it +was all a blur of meaningless criss-cross lines. This would not do; +he must think, he must plan, he must decide; but his head remained +bent and the map remained a criss-cross puzzle. + +The image of himself, which faced him as he sat, that picture of a +king, royal, joyous, unchallenged, seemed to move a little, as if +the bright figure on the canvas sought to approach and reassure the +dejected man who crouched over the map of a divided kingdom. It did +move, the serene Van Dyck portrait; it moved a little, and a little, +and a little more; moved sideway as a door moves, yawned a foot of +space between frame and wall, and through that foot of space +Brilliana slipped into the room. + +"Your Majesty," she said, softly. + +The King gave a little start as he lifted his head and looked at her. +She thought she had never seen so pitifully a weary face as the face +of her King, and her heart ached for him, but it ached most for her +lover. + +Charles rose to his feet, flawlessly courteous, much wondering. + +"How did you come here, mistress?" he asked, and she sighed at the +tired sound of his voice. "I understood from Sir Rufus that you were +for the time--" + +He paused, and Brilliana calmly finished the sentence. + +"Confined to my apartments. Yes, that was Rufus's plan. But though +Rufus calls himself captain of this castle he does not know it so +well as I do. There are ways of getting hither and thither that he +does not dream of." + +"You are a determined young woman," the King said, with a faint +smile, "if you think so lightly of the privacy of your King." + +Brilliana flung herself on her knees in a moment, her hands clasped, +her eyes shining with honest tears. + +"Your Majesty!" she cried; "your Majesty, I would never have dared +this if I were not a woman very deep in love, if my lover were not in +danger, and if--" + +She paused. + +"And if?" Charles echoed, his fine, irresolute face neither smiling +nor frowning. "Finish your sentence, lady." + +"And if I had not heard that your Majesty was a very perfect, true +lover," Brilliana went on. "Your Majesty's love for the gracious lady +now in France is the admiration of your subjects." + +A faint color glowed on the King's pale cheeks. He was indeed the +perfect, true lover of Henrietta Maria, and the greatest sorrow of +all the clustering sorrows that the civil war had brought him was her +absence from his side. + +"It would be strange indeed if I did not love such a lady," he said, +gently; "but that lady is my queen, my wife, my comrade, my loyal +friend, while he you plead for is but an acquaintance of a few days, +and, moreover, in all thoughts and deeds your enemy--and mine." + +Brilliana had now risen to her feet and she faced the king valiantly, +for she knew that she would have to plead hard and well. + +"Your Majesty," she answered, "as for the acquaintanceship, one of +our poets has said, 'Whoever loves that loves not at first sight?' +and though indeed at first sight I was far from giving this gentleman +my love, I saw in him at once those qualities which in a man deserve +love. As for his enmity, we are told that we should love our +enemies." + +A frown overspread the King's face and Brilliana faltered. + +"I cannot claim for myself that wealth of charity," Charles said, +"that would make me love those that by rebellion and contumacy have +plunged poor England into war." + +"Sire, sire," Brilliana sighed, "if you will but pardon this +gentleman I will promise you that I will never love another of your +Majesty's enemies." + +Charles frowned. + +"I do not like your loyalty. Why do you plead for the life of a +rebel?" + +"I am your servant, none loyaller," Brilliana answered, boldly; "but +I am a woman, and I plead for the man I love." + +"If you were truly loyal," Charles commented, "you could not love a +traitor." + +Brilliana pressed her hands tightly against her breast and her face +flushed. + +"Captain Cloud is not a traitor. He is honest before God." + +Charles admired her pertinacity. Here was a woman who would not +lightly lose heart or change purpose. + +"I will not wrangle with you," he said. "I think the gentleman +deserves death. But because I know very well what it is to love +truly, why, I will let you save him if you can." + +Brilliana's voice was charged with gratitude. "Oh, your Majesty is +always noble. But how?" + +Charles looked at her fixedly, touching his chin with the feather of +his quill. "Thuswise--only thuswise. You will persuade Captain Cloud +to return to his allegiance." + +Brilliana's gratitude ebbed and her voice hardened. "I know he will +never change sides." + +An enigmatic smile passed over the fretful face of the King. "I think +so, too," he agreed, and turned again to his papers. But Brilliana +was not to be so rebuffed. Coming a little nearer to Charles, she +fell on her knees and extended her hands in supplication. "Sire, my +lover's life!" + +Charles, who had lost nothing of her actions, though he affected to +be wholly absorbed in his business, looked round and down at her with +much assumption of surprise. + +"You are still there? You are a pertinacious maykin." + +"Sire, in the Queen's name!" Brilliana pleaded. The King sighed. + +"Well, one more concession, this is the last--the very last." Charles +prided himself on his firmness, and he struck the table as he spoke +to emphasize his unalterable resolve. "If you win me his word of +honor to take no more part in this war, to remain neutral till King +humble Commons or Commons murder King, why, it is enough; he lives." + +Brilliana shivered at the King's alternative. "Your Majesty cannot +believe that the worst of your subjects would aim at your sacred +life?" + +The King's fine eyes were more than usual melancholy, and he opened +and clasped his long fingers nervously. + +"I cannot choose but believe it. Their words are wild--that is +trifling. But long ago, when I was young, there was a man, one Arthur +Dee, a wizard and the son of a wizard, he had a magic crystal--ah, +Father in heaven!" + +Charles gave a groan and hid his face in his hands, Brilliana +thrilled with compassion. "Your Majesty!" she cried; "your Majesty!" + +Charles drew his hands away from his face. He rose, and, as he spoke, +he stared fixedly before him as if he saw the sight he was +describing. + +"In that sphere I saw a platform hung with black. On it I seemed to +see myself staring at a sea of hateful faces. One with a mask stood +by my side who carried an axe. I have never forgotten it." + +He stood rigid, with clasped hands. Brilliana shuddered at his words. + +"Sire! sire! this was some lying vision." + +With an effort the King controlled himself; his features softened to +their habitual melancholy, his hands relaxed their clasp, and he +seated himself again by the table. + +"Belike, belike; I am unwise to think upon it," he said, in a low +voice. Leaning across the table, he struck a bell sharply. The door +opened and the soldier in immediate attendance upon the King entered. + +"Tell Sir Rufus to attend us," the King said. The soldier bowed and +withdrew. Charles looked up at Brilliana. "Sir Rufus will be loath to +lose his prey," he said. "He is a fierce hawk that clings to his +quarry." + +"He was once my friend," Brilliana said, sadly. The King smiled his +melancholy smile. + +"If I were in his place," he said, gravely, "I think I might be +tempted to play his part. You are a very fair maiden." + +Brilliana shook her head. "The love that makes a man base is no good +love. He will never be my friend again." + +"Here, as I think, he comes," Charles said. The door opened and Sir +Rufus entered the room. He was so amazed at facing Brilliana that for +a moment he forgot to render salutation to the King. Charles's eyes +brightened as they used to brighten at the playhouse. Here was a +living play being played before him, tragical, comical--man and woman +fighting for a man's life. + +"Sir Rufus," he ordered, "send to our presence the prisoner, the +Parliament officer." + +Rufus glanced at Brilliana's stern, averted face; he read something +like mockery on the thin, royal lips. For an instant he ventured to +protest. + +"But, your Majesty--" he began, but he got no further. The King +checked him with a frown and a raised hand. It was easy to make him +obstinate in crossing a follower. + +"You have heard my commands," he said, sternly. + +Sir Rufus bowed his head and retreated. There was nothing else for +him to do. He just glanced at Brilliana as he went out. If Brilliana +had seen the glance she would have read his rage and hate in it. But +she did not see it, for her head was still averted. The King saw it, +however, and he felt that the situation was alive. He turned to +Brilliana. + +"I am a complaisant monarch, as I think," he said. "Now, lady, do +your best to make your sweetheart see reason. Honestly, I do not +think he is worth so many words, but you think otherwise, and for +your sake I wish you a winning tongue." + +Brilliana bowed deeply. "I humbly thank your Majesty," she said, and +felt that the King had done much for her. From offering the +impossible he had come to offering the possible. It seemed a little +task to persuade a lover committed to a wrongful cause to lay aside +his sword and wait the issue. + +The King's eyes had fallen on his papers again, and he did not lift +them thence nor take heed of Brilliana again until the tread of feet +was heard in the corridor. In another moment Evander, escorted by two +royal troopers, entered the room. There was a sudden gladness in his +eyes at the sight of Brilliana, but he at once saluted the King in a +military fashion and stood quietly at attention waiting the royal +word. + +Charles rose from his chair, and for a moment his melancholy eyes +travelled from the beautiful girl standing by the window to the +gallant soldier standing by the door. The face of Evander pleased his +scrutiny far more than the face of Rufus, and it came into his mind +that he would gladly enroll Evander under his standard and hand over +Rufus to the Crop-ears. Truly the Puritan soldier and the Lady of +Loyalty House made a brave pair. + +"Sir," he said, quietly, "this lady desires speech with you, and has +persuaded me to permit an interview." He turned to the troopers. + +"Wait outside the door, sirs," he commanded. When they had obeyed he +looked again towards Brilliana, and there was a smile on his tired +face, a smile partly whimsical, partly pitying, as if encouraging to +an adventure yet doubtful of the result. Then he gave her a gracious +salutation, and, without further notice of Evander Cloud, passed into +the adjoining room and left the lovers alone. + + + + +XXVIII + +LOVER AND LOVER + + +Evander turned to Brilliana with question in his eyes; Brilliana +advanced towards Evander with question on her lips. + +"Are you very sure you love me?" she queried. Evander made to take +her in his arms, but she stayed him with a lifted hand of warning. + +"Sure," he answered, fervently, and surety shone in his eyes. + +Brilliana leaned against the table at which the King had sat and +faced him gravely. + +"More than life, more than all things in the wide world?" + +Evander's answer came as flash to flint. + +"More than life; more than all things in this wide world--" there was +a momentary fall in his voice; then he added, "save honor." + +A little sudden fear pricked at Brilliana's heart, but she tried to +deny it with a little, teasing laugh. + +"Oh, that wonderful word 'honor,'" she mocked. "I thought we should +pull that out of the sack sooner or later." + +Evander watched her with surprise. "What is coming next?" he +wondered. He began to fear as he answered, simply: + +"You would not have me neglect honor?" + +Brilliana's face was set steadfastly towards him; Brilliana's eyes +were very bright; Brilliana's cheeks were as red as the late October +roses. + +"Here is what I would have you do," she said, breathlessly, and then +paused--paused so long that Evander, watching and waiting, prompted +her with a questioning "Well?" + +Brilliana still seemed to hesitate. That word "honor" had frightened +her for Evander, had frightened her for herself. She now groped +uncertain, who thought to tread so surely. + +"Will you do as I wish if I tell you?" she asked, trying to mask +anxiety with a jesting manner. And when Evander responded gravely, +"If I can," she pressed him impetuously again. + +"Nay, now, make me a square promise." She looked very fair as she +pleaded. + +"All that a doomed man can do--" Evander replied, smiling somewhat +wistfully. + +Brilliana shook her head vehemently and her Royalist curls danced +round her bright cheeks. + +"You are no doomed man unless you choose," she asserted, hotly. +Evander moved a step nearer to her. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. Brilliana was panting now. He knew she +had somewhat to say, and newly found it hard in the saying. She +spoke. + +"His Majesty the King will grant you your life." Her words and looks +told him temptingly that "your life" meant also "my life" to her. + +"On what condition?" + +He knew there must be a condition, knew that the condition troubled +Brilliana. She answered him swiftly. + +"Oh, no condition at all." There came a catch in her voice and then +she ran on: + +"Or almost none. All his Majesty asks is that you refrain from taking +any further part in this unhappy war." + +She paused and eyed him. Evander's face was unchanged. + +"No more than that?" he commented, so quietly that, reassured, she +rippled on, volubly: + +"No more than that. We can be wed, dear love. We can go away together +to France, Italy, where you please. I have always had a mind to see +Italy. And when England is quiet again we can come home, come here +and be happy." + +She felt as if she were flinging herself at his feet, shamelessly +offering herself, to tempt him, to dazzle him, conquer him that way; +to witch his promise out of him before he had time to think. Yet for +all her vehemence there was a chill at her heart and a cloud seemed +to hover over her sunny words. Unwillingly she looked away from him, +but she held out her hands in appeal. + +"Hush, Brilliana!" + +The grave, sweet voice sounded on her ears as the knell of hope. But +she faced him again with a useless, questioning glance. + +"Why talk of what cannot be?" Evander asked, sadly. + +Brilliana denied him feverishly. + +"What can be--what must be!" she cried. "The King has promised." + +"I am a soldier of the Parliament," Evander asserted. "I cannot +abandon my cause." + +Brilliana almost screamed at him in her anger and despair. + +"You are a prisoner under sentence of death. If you die, what gain +has the Parliament of you, and I must live a widowed woman." She was +close to him now and very suddenly she flung her arms about him, +clasping him to her, her eager face close to his. + +"Promise," she panted; "promise, dear love, promise. Your Parliament +loses nothing, you gain your life, my love. Promise, promise!" + +Evander's flesh fought with his spirit, but his face was calm and the +arms that yearned to enfold his lover lay by his side. He turned his +face away lest he should kiss her on the mouth, and, kissing, +surrender his soul. + +"I cannot," he said, as if from a great silence. He would not see the +passionate, beautiful face; he sought to fix his mind upon the faces +of those whose faithful soldier he was sworn. The girl unloosed her +arms and swayed away from him, wild anger in her eyes. + +"Do you call this true love," she sneered, "that is so scrupulous?" + +"The truest love in the world," Evander answered, looking full at +her. He could look at her now; he had no fear to fall. He was losing +a joy beyond all thought, but at least he would die with a white +soul. + +"Do you think it is nothing to me to die thus losing you? But you +have served soldier; you have a soldier's spirit; you would not have +me do other than I am doing. You do not understand my cause, to think +it should be easy to persuade me from it. But if I were of the +King's party and in such peril so tempted, would you wish me to +abandon my royal master to win life or love?" + +Brilliana's cheeks flamed a furious scarlet; then the fierce blood +ebbed and left her face very pale, but her eyes were shining very +bright. She steadied herself against the table and tried to speak +with a steady voice. + +"You are in the right. You could not do other than you are doing. But +it is very hard to bear." + +She reeled a little, and he, thinking her about to faint, made to +support her, but she stiffened again, and he stood where he was. She +bent forward, speaking scarcely above a whisper. + +"There is a way of escape from this chamber, a secret passage. You +can get from it to the park, and so into the open country and safety. +You are my prisoner. I release you from your parole. Fly, while there +is time." + +The loyal lovers were so absorbed in their honorable contest that +they did not heed how the door of the King's apartment opened, first +a little inch, then, slowly, wider and wider, allowing Charles Stuart +to see and hear. A curious smile reigned over the delicate face as +Brilliana made her proposal, and lingered in whimsical doubt for the +response. + +The response came quickly. Again Evander was saying Brilliana nay. + +"I cannot that, neither, dear woman, for to do this would be to make +you disloyal to your King." + +"Oh, you split straws!" she cried, wildly. "A plague upon your +preciousness which drives you to deny and die rather than admit my +wisdom! You are no prisoner to the King. You are my prisoner. I took +you, I hold you, and as my prisoner I command you to follow me, that +I may convey you to some place of surety more pleasing to my mind +than this mansion." + +From behind the door ajar there came a clap of hearty laughter which +made harassed maid and man jump more than if their discussion had +been interrupted by volleying musketry. The door was wide open now, +and the King was in the room, his face irradiated with honest mirth. + + + + +XXIX + +THE KING MAKES A FRIEND + + +"Oh, good sir," he gasped, dabbing with his kerchief the merry tears +from his smiling eyes, "you had better do as this lady urges, for, by +St. George! she employs the most irresistible logic." + +Evander and Brilliana, blown apart, as it were, by the breath of the +King's merriment, regarded the monarch with very different feelings. +Though he stood upon the edge of peril's precipice, at the threshold +of death's temple, Evander could not scrutinize without vivid and +conflicting emotions the face of the man because of whom the solid +realm of England seemed to be dissolving into anarchy. This was the +King of ship-money, the heart's-brother of Buckingham, the betrayer +of Strafford, the doer to death of Eliot, the would-be baffler of +free speech, the baffled hunter after the five members. To Brilliana +he was simply the King, not even the whole hero and half-martyr King +for whom she had held Loyalty House so sturdily, but simply the only +man living graced with power to save the man she loved. She turned to +him at once with a petulant expression of impatience. + +"Your Majesty," she sighed, "I wish you would speak to this proud +gentleman. I cannot make him listen to reason." + +The almost infantile simplicity of her address stirring the King to +renewed merriment, served her cause better, in its very +inappropriateness to the situation, than the most impassioned or the +most calculated appeals to pity or to justice. The audacity with +which the Loyalty lady coolly enlisted the King as her advocate +against the King's interests seemed to the sovereign so exquisite, so +grotesque, as to merit calling irresistible. + +"Truly," he said to her, smiling that sweet Stuart smile which made +all who ever shone in it adore him, "the man must be named +Felicissimus who is loved by such a lady." + +Then he turned his gaze upon Evander, and the smile grew graver, the +eyes more imperious. + +"So, sir," he said, "you are so certain sure of the righteousness of +your side in this quarrel that you cannot, for your life's sake, for +your love's sake, consent to stand neuter and look on, Captain +Infallibility?" + +Evander faced the slightly frowning interrogation bravely. He +saluted soldierly, conscious of the subtle Stuart charm, +understanding it would conquer men and women, glad to find himself +unconquered. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "let me answer you as I answered this dear +lady. If one of those gentlemen, those Cavaliers who rallied to your +flag at Nottingham and drew their swords for you at Edgehill, were +made prisoner of the Parliament, and accepted his life on the +condition that he stood aside and left you to fight without his aid, +would you count him a loyal subject, would you call him a faithful +friend, could you admit that he was an honest soldier?" + +Charles looked at Evander curiously. There were some of his friends, +he thought, who might not stand the trial too well. He brushed the +thought aside, for he knew that most of the Cavaliers would act as +gallantly as the young Puritan before him, and he could not but +applaud, even while he wondered at so stiff a constancy in one whom +he regarded as a rebel. + +"Well, well," he said, "if this incomparable lady could not persuade +you, how could a poor King hope to succeed? We must not break this +lady's heart, sir, between us, for 'tis something of a rare jewel, +and so you shall go back to your own people, and when I win the day I +shall remember to be clement to you. Try and come out of the scuffle +alive, for the sake of your sweetheart." + +The King was so winning in his grace, in his dignity, in his +tenderness, that Evander felt his heart in his mouth and he tried not +to falter in his words. + +"I humbly thank your Majesty." + +As for Brilliana, she fell on her knees with tears in her eyes, but +the King would not have her kneel. In his courtliest manner he lifted +her, raised her right hand to his lips and kissed it, and then +signifying to her with a gesture to go to Evander, he seated himself +at the table and wrote rapidly for some seconds, while the two lovers +stood side by side, silent in hope and joy. + +When the King had finished writing he shook the powder over the paper +and let it slide back into the standish, drying the ink as it slid. +Then he turned and held the paper to Evander, who advanced and took +it kneeling. + +"This safe-conduct," said Charles, "will insure you from ill +treatment or delay at the hands of any loyal subjects, in arms or +otherwise." He leaned forward and struck upon the bell. To the +soldier on guard who entered he gave order that he wished to see Sir +Rufus Quaryll immediately. When the soldier had left, he turned in +his chair a little, so as to survey Evander and Brilliana standing +before him in silence, and there was a light of mockery in his eyes. + +"Young people," he said, affecting mirthfully an exhortatory manner, +"you have played the first act of your love-play. How it is to go +with you hereafter it is for all to hope, albeit for none to guess +with discretion. But in a little while this land distracted will be +calm again, and it may well be, Mr. Cloud, that I shall be glad to +see you at Whitehall." + +The King's manner was mild, the King's voice benign; he was really +very well pleased with himself for his clemency, and very well +pleased with the man and woman for affording him an opportunity of +justifying his character of benevolent autocrat. He would have said +more, but at this moment the door opened and Sir Rufus entered the +room, looking as fierce and angry as he dared to look in the presence +of his royal master. He knew well enough that Brilliana's interview +with the King was likely to mean mischief to his schemes, and his +rage and hate tore at his life-strings like wild beasts. + +An impish malice lurked on Charles's lips. This discomfiture of the +truculent Rufus supplied for him the comic element of his +entertainment, and came just in the nick of time to prevent its +heroics and its sentimentalities from palling. + +"Sir Rufus," said the King, gravely, "we ride at once to Oxford, our +loyal, loving Oxford. Take order for this on the instant. The Lady +Brilliana resumes her command of Loyalty House, with our royal thanks +for her man's spirit and our royal sympathy for her woman's heart. As +for the stranger within our gates, we have of our clemency given him +full leave to go hence in all freedom, not without some private +supplications that Heaven may be pleased to lift a misguided +gentleman into a better way of life." + +Sir Rufus opened his lips as if to speak, and then closed them again +without speaking. He knew well enough how stubborn the King could be +on occasion, and that there was no hope for him to win his game with +the King's help. He saluted the King and left the presence with fury +in his heart. + +The King turned to Evander. + +"Go, sir," he commanded, "and make ready for your departure, which +should follow promptly upon mine, for I do not think the atmosphere +of Oxford will be sweet breathing for gentlemen of your inclining +from this out. I give you half an hour from my riding to say your +adieus to your sweet saint here. Farewell." + +Evander fell on one knee. + +"Your Majesty," he pleaded, "permit me to kiss your hand." The King +smiled whimsically, yet a thought wistfully. + +"You are a gentle rebel," he said, and held out his fine, white hand +for Evander's salutation. Then the young soldier rose, and with one +look of love to Brilliana, left the room. Charles stood with his +grave eyes fixed on his hostess, smiling. + +"What a thing is civil war!" he sighed. "How it rips through the +pretty web of workaday life, dividing sire from son, sundering +brother from brother, parting lover from lass! But I was forced to +it--I was forced to it." + +"It will end soon, sire," Brilliana suggested, tears in her eyes at +the sadness in his. The King seemed to catch at her speech. + +"Ay," he agreed, more cheerily. "That's it, that's true. 'Tis but a +walk to loyal Oxford, 'tis but a march on disloyal London, and all's +done." + +"London will prove loyal when your Majesty enters in triumph," +Brilliana cried. A bright look came over the King's worn face. As in +a dream he saw himself, the rose of that triumphant entry, flowers at +his feet, flags in the air, loyalty abroad in its bravest, huzzaing +its loudest, and all grim, sour-hearted fellows safe out of sight +under lock and key. Exultantly he held out his hand for Brilliana to +salute. + +"Farewell, Lady of Loyalty." + +"Nay," Brilliana protested, "I must bring your Majesty to the gate. +If the fitting welcome were missing, you shall not lack the +ceremonial 'God speed you.'" + +"I thank you, madam," gravely answered Charles. Brilliana dipped him +a reverence, and then, opening the door, conducted her royal guest +out of the chamber. In the corridor they found Halfman waiting to +kiss the King's hand. Charles felt for a moment for his purse, and +then swiftly and regally changing his mind, he drew a ring from his +finger. + +"Wear this for me, friend," he requested, graciously, "in memory of +old days." + +Halfman rose from his knees and drew himself up as if on parade. + +"God save the King!" he thundered, and with that loyal music in his +ears the King followed Brilliana down the great staircase over which +the carven angels kept watch and ward. Halfman, leaning over the +rail-way, saw the pair pass through the hall, then he turned and +entered the apartment that Charles had left, and stood there, rigid +in meditation. + + + + +XXX + +RUFUS PROPOSES + + +Rufus stepped stealthily out of the dusking garden into the lighted +room, and moving noiselessly across the floor, laid his hand on +Halfman's shoulder. Halfman did not look round. + +"Well, Sir Rufus," he asked, as calmly as if the sudden touch had +been some recognized, awaited signal. + +"You are not to be taken by surprise, my good friend," Sir Rufus +said. Halfman shrugged his shoulders. + +"It would need more than the clap of a man's paw on my back to take +me by surprise; and, besides, I saw you coming. There is a mirror +near, good Sir Rufus, and even in yonder owl-light I could pick you +out of the mist. Moreover, I thought you would come." + +"Why did you think I would come?" Sir Rufus asked, with a frown. + +"Just because I thought it," Halfman answered, indifferently. "And, +you see, my thoughts were true thoughts." + +Sir Rufus came closer to him, speaking in his ear. + +"I hope you hate all Roundheads," he said. "All damned rebels." + +Halfman's only answer was to whistle very softly the first few bars +of a roaring Cavalier ballad. The grasp on Halfman's shoulder +tightened. + +"There is one damned Roundhead here who vexes me," Sir Rufus said, +fiercely. + +"I think his name is called Cloud," said Halfman. + +Sir Rufus swore a round oath. + +"I wish he were dead," he said. + +"If wishes were coaches," Halfman observed, sententiously, "beggars +would ride." + +"He would have been dead ere this if she had not wheedled the King +out of his wits. His Majesty is in a forgiving disposition to-day, +and forgets his friends at the prayer of a pretty face. I wish this +rebel were dead, friend." + +"He will die in time," Halfman commented, philosophically. Sir Rufus +growled. + +"You are as dull as mud. It would be money in your pocket, friend +Halfman, ay, money running over your pocket-holes, if this rebel were +to be your quarry." + +Halfman shook his head, and a knowing smile twisted his mouth awry. + +"Nay, Sir Rufus, with your favor, you must do your own killing," he +said. + +"Why, so I will," Rufus answered, angrily. "I will call up the +household, lay hands on the rascal, back him to the wall, and bang a +fusillade into him." + +Halfman laughed derisively. + +"Call up the household!" he crowed. "Do you think they would come at +your call? Do you think they would serve you against my lady? Why, +they would fling you into the fish-pools if she bade them do so." + +The face of Sir Rufus showed that through all his fury he still +retained sufficient command of his reason to know that what Halfman +said was more than true. Halfman went leisurely on: + +"You cannot employ your own men on the business, neither, for they +must march to Oxford with the King. In little it comes to this: if +you want a thing done, do it yourself." + +"You are in the right," Sir Rufus agreed, gloomily. "This fellow was +doomed long since. It is no more than common justice to put him out +of the way. But I ride with the King." + +"You need not ride very far," Halfman suggested. "A little way on the +road you can slip aside unseen and get back here by a bridle-path. +Watch at the western gate of the park. His horse will be waiting for +him there to carry him to Cambridge. After his tender leave-taking he +will come to his exit a clear mark on the white garden-path for a +steady hand holding a pistol. So you can whistle 'Good-night, +cuckoo,' as you haste to o'ertake the King." + +"'Tis an ingenious scheme," Sir Rufus mused. Halfman laughed grimly. + +"Oh, I am a pattern of strategy; this is but a simple ambuscado, a +tame trap. You are a sure shot, I know; you cannot miss your bird. +You need waste no time in making sure that he is stark. I shall be at +hand to make sure, and will soon stick him in a ditch to wait for +judgment." + +Sir Rufus clapped Halfman on the shoulder. + +"Your wit has a most pleasant invention," he approved. "She will soon +forget this whining wry-face." + +Halfman disengaged himself from the pressure of his companion's hand. + +"It is so to be hoped," he said, drearily; "it is so to be believed. +Woman's love-memory is a kind of quicksand that can swallow a score +or so of gallant gentlemen and show no trace of their passage." + +"A curse on your poppycoddle," Sir Rufus grumbled. "I must be +stirring. I should like him to know that I killed him." + +"If I find any breath in him I will tell him," Halfman affirmed. +"Your honor over-refines your pleasant purpose. The pith is that he +be killed. Remember the western gate." + +In another moment Halfman was alone, listening to the sound of +spurred heels on the stairway, as Sir Rufus hastened to join the +King. + +"Love of woman leads us to strange issues," he said to himself, with +a wintry smile. "Cavalier, Puritan, and poor Jack here, we all love +the same lady, and here be two of us clapping palms together to kill +the third." + + + + +XXXI + +HALFMAN DISPOSES + + +Brilliana came in from the garden. Halfman heard her step and turned. +She was pale with many emotions; he never had seen her more +beautiful. + +"The King has gone, friend," she said; "God bless him for his +clemency." + +"My heart does not sing because a Puritan lives," Halfman answered, +sourly. He stared into the fire again and saw burning towns between +the dogs. Brilliana paused for a moment and then came a little closer +to him. + +"We have ever been friends," she said, softly. There was a note of +timidity in her voice, new to Halfman, and he turned in surprise. + +"Indeed," he said, roundly. + +"We have been fellow-soldiers," Brilliana went on, still with that +curious hesitancy that sat so strangely upon her. "We have shared a +siege. I have a secret to tell you." + +Halfman felt a sudden uncanny warning of danger. "A secret," he +repeated, staring at her. + +Brilliana was outblushing all things red--peony, poppy, flamingo, +anything. + +"You have always loved me, Hobbin?" she asked, half timorously. + +"I have always loved you," he answered, slowly, with a rigid face. + +"Then you will be glad of what I have to tell," she said. "There will +be no change here. For I love this gentleman even as this gentleman +loves me, and we are to wed when this meddling war is ended." + +"You love him?" Halfman echoed, dully. "You wed an enemy to the +King?" + +Brilliana sighed. + +"Love is the greatest power in all the world," she said; "greater +than kings, greater than emperors, greater than popes. But I will wed +no enemy to the King. If these wars were to endure forever, then +forever my dear friend and I would remain unwed and bear our single +souls to heaven." + +Her voice was low and dreary; suddenly it brightened. + +"But these wars will not endure forever. The King will be in London +in a few days; the Parliament will be at his feet; my friend will be +no more a rebel, for all rebellion will have ceased to be." + +"How if your friend be killed before the King reaches London?" +Halfman asked her, hoarsely. "The wheels of war do not turn from the +path of a lover." + +"If he be killed," she said, simply, "I do not think I shall long +outlive him. My heart does not veer like a vane for every breath of +praise or passion. First and last, I have found my mate in the world; +first and last, I will be loyal while I live. But if he die, I hope +God will deal gently with me, nor suffer me to grow gray in sorrow." + +She turned away from Halfman that he might not see the tears in her +eyes, and so turning did not see the tears that stood in his. She +moved towards the harpsichord and dropped into the chair that served +it. Her fingers fluttered over the keys and a tinkling music answered +them and underlined the words she sang: + + "You ride to fight, my dearest friend, + I bide at home and sigh; + God only knows what God may send, + To test us, by-and-by. + If 'tis decreed that you must die, + So comes my world to end; + And I will seek beyond the sky + The features of my friend. + Come back from fight, my dearest friend, + The idol of my eye, + That hand in hand ourselves may bend + Before God's altar high. + If death consent to pass you by, + How sweetly shall we wend + To the last home where we shall lie + Together, friend and friend." + +As Brilliana sat at the harpsichord playing the brave Cavalier +ballad, Halfman, watching her, found his eyes dim with most +unfamiliar water. Fierce memories of his life seemed to come before +him sharply, vivid succeeding pictures, rich in evil. In a flash he +tramped across forests, sack and battle and rapine new painted +themselves upon his brain; deeds long dead and forgotten suddenly +became instant agonies. He seemed like a prisoner before an invisible +judge, and his startled spirit sought wildly and vainly for some good +deed it might offer in plea for pity. If only he had spared that +girl, that child unripe for love, who never dreamed of brutal hands. +He seemed to see her in the room where he ran her down, her staring +eyes; he seemed to hear her screams; he remembered how hot his blood +was then, though now it ran like ice at the memory. If only he had +not helped to torture the old Jew in San Juan; if only he could blot +out his share in all those acts of lust and blood. And through all +his horrid thoughts came the sweet voice of Brilliana singing the +sweet, brave words, and he saw her curls sway as she sang, and he +thought of her love for her kinsman which she had told him so simply, +and he thought of his own mad love for her, which she would never +know, which no one would ever understand. And then he thought of that +grim sentry at the western gate whose hate was black, whose aim was +fatal. + +A fantastic purpose came into the man's thought. His mind was ever +like a stage with the lights lighted and the curtains drawn, upon +whose boards himself played a thousand parts and played them to the +top. Here was the part he had never played, the noblest, the most +heroic, chiefly perhaps in this, that it was also the loneliest. The +purpose had hardly pricked before he seized it, hugged it to his +breast, made it incorporate with his being. Mingled with his tender +pity for Brilliana there was now a splendid pity for himself, the +noblest Roman of them all. But the purpose must not cool. His +thoughts were all a-jumble. One of them seemed to assert to his +feverish fancy that this way meant atonement; the quenching of his +torch some measure of compensation for the candles he had puffed +out. + +Unseen he stretched his hands as if in benediction towards Brilliana, +and then went noiselessly out of the room. On the stairs he met +Evander descending to say farewell to his hostess, his hat in his +hand and his cloak over his arm. Halfman stopped him. "She waits you +in the garden-room," he said; "I will hold your cloak and hat for you +here while you make your adieus. A lover should not be cumbered." +Evander thanked him, surrendered cloak and hat, and entered the +garden-room. He did not hear what Halfman said, though Halfman spoke +it aloud, with all the lovers of all time for audience: "There goes +the blessedest man in all the world." Then, with Evander's cloak +about him and Evander's hat upon his head, Halfman went out into the +garden. + +At the sound of Evander's step Brilliana turned and rose to greet +him. + +"My dear!" she cried, her eyes luminous, her breast heaving. + +"My riding-time has come," he said, sadly. He stood apart, but she +came near to him and put her hands on his shoulders. + +"You found me in tears, but you must think of me as smiling--smiling +for joy in my lover, smiling at the thought of his return." + +He caught her in his arms, clasped her close to him, and kissed her +lips. It seemed to him as if that moment consecrated him forever. She +was simply glad that the man she loved had kissed her. + +"These are evil days," he said. "Who knows when we shall meet again." + +"At least we have met," she answered. "I shall thank God for that, +morning and night. Nothing can change that, if we do not meet for +months, for years, if we never meet again." + +"These wars must end soon," Evander said, confidently. Brilliana +caught at his hands. + +"You will never hurt the King," she cried. "Promise me that. You will +never hurt the King." + +"I will never hurt the King," Evander promised. "And now, dear +love--" + +He could not say farewell. + +There was a moment's silence as they stood facing each other, holding +hands, the woman trying to smile. The silence was suddenly, brutally +broken by the loud, clear report of a shot. Brilliana stiffened with +the start. + +"What was that?" + +"It seemed a pistol-shot in the garden," Evander answered. + +"Who should fire now?" + +"I will go see," Evander said, turning towards the open space. +Brilliana restrained him. + +"Oh no, dear love, my heart misgives; there may be danger." + +Evander gently released himself. + +"And when are you or I afraid of danger?" + +Brilliana accepted this. + +"Then I go with you." + +Instantly Evander paused. + +"No, no," he said. + +Brilliana repeated his words. + +"Why, when are you or I afraid of danger?" + +There was a noise of running feet in the garden, and then +Thoroughgood sped across the moat and into the room. + +"Captain Halfman has been shot," he gasped. + +"Oh, by whom?" Brilliana wailed, her eyes wide with horror. + +"Is he killed?" Evander asked. + +Thoroughgood answered both in a breath. + +"Badly wounded. They bring him here." + +As he spoke, Garlinge and Clupp entered from the garden, bearing +Halfman between them, wrapped in Evander's mantle. + +The man of gallant carriage, of swaggering alacrity, seemed to lie +horribly limp in the men's arms. Evander hurriedly made a couch of +chairs and bade them lay their burden on it, that he might examine +the wound. Brilliana bent over him. + +"Oh, my dear friend," she sobbed. + +The sound of her voice seemed to awaken Halfman. He opened his eyes. + +"Lift me up," he said, feebly, to his supporters. He looked at +Brilliana. "Lady, you have been deceived. Sir Randolph escaped from +his enemies. A snare was set for Captain Cloud--" he paused. + +"By whom?" cried Brilliana, the woman eager for her lover. + +Something like a smile came to Halfman's face. + +"That I may not say. I was privy to the plot. But I walked into the +trap myself. I fear, sir, you will find a hole in your mantle." + +"You wore my cloak?" Evander asked, in wonder. "You died for me?" + +"Ah, why did you not warn?" Brilliana cried. + +Halfman moved his head feebly. + +"I did not want to live." + +"But you shall live," Brilliana insisted, prayed. + +Halfman laughed very faintly. + +"I do not think so. I am an old soldier, and--ah!" + +He gave a great gasp. Then suddenly lifted himself a little and +saluted Brilliana as if on parade. + +"Here, my sweet warrior," he said, clearly. He looked fixedly at +Brilliana and declaimed, "I did hear you speak, far above singing." +Then his chin dropped; his head fell back on the supporting arms. +Evander touched him, turned to Brilliana. + +"Alas! he's sped." + +The only sound in the silent room was the weeping of Brilliana in +Evander's arms. + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +Master Marfleet in his "Diurnal" hides in his prolixities some +particulars interesting to us. Thus we learn incidentally from some +reflections on the wickedness of the great, that while the King +reigned in Oxford--to Master Marfleet he is always the "Man of Blood" +when he is not Nebuchadnezzar--Lady Brilliana Harby was in such favor +at the court and with the Queen as to obtain patents of knighthood +for two neighbors of hers, one Paul Hungerford and one Peter Rainham. +We further learn that Brilliana accompanied the Queen--in whom Mr. +Marfleet traces a remarkable likeness to Jezebel--to France in 1644, +after which "flight of kites, crows, and other carrion fowl"--the +words are Mr. Marfleet's--the estate of Harby came, through the good +offices of General Cromwell, into the hands of Colonel Evander Cloud, +much to Mr. Marfleet's satisfaction, a satisfaction which the +school-master did not live long enough to lose. + +Of Colonel Cloud's honorable military career we find a +brief but eminently satisfactory account in Corporal +Blow-the-Trumpet-against-Jericho Pring's pamphlet--now more +than scarce--entitled "The Roll-Call of the Regiments of Zion." + +From a letter of Colonel Cloud's, preserved in the Perrington Papers +(_Historical Manuscripts Commission_, vol. XCIX., B), we learn that +after Naseby the writer found among the dying the person of Sir Rufus +Quaryll. + +"As God may forgive me," he writes, "I had sought for this man in +encounter after encounter, with black thoughts of vengeance in my +bosom. But as he lay there I felt constrained by divine impulse to +forgive him, though he made me no answer but to curse horribly at me +and at the fool who took my place; and so passed away, as I fear, +very impenitent." + +After the surrender of the King by the Scots, and the end, as it +seemed, of the civil war, Colonel Cloud, with the permission of his +great chief, retired from active affairs and made his way to France, +to Paris, where, in the early spring of 1647, he was married to Lady +Brilliana Harby. Some of the French writers of the time make rather +merry over this romantic union and the five years fidelity of squire +and dame--Strephon and Chloe, as they are pleased to call them. But +the laugh is rather on the wrong side of the face, for it is well +known that there was bitter disappointment in the hearts and on the +lips of many French gallants who had tried their best to win the +beautiful English girl, and greatly resented her reservation for this +solemn gentleman. One or two efforts, however, to make this +resentment plain to the English soldier resulting uncomfortably, +after a brisk morning's work, in the temporary disablement of one +aggressor and the repeated disarming of another, in the end the +"homme a Cromwell" was left to wed in peace. Oddly enough, his best +man was his old acquaintance Sir Blaise Mickleton, who, having +realized his property in good time, had settled in Paris since 1644 +and had almost forgotten his native tongue, which he spoke, when he +did speak, with a little broken French accent, very pretty to hear. +He had once tried to renew his pretensions to the hand of Brilliana, +and had been so startlingly rebuffed that he never repeated the +effort and was content to remain her very good friend. Evander was in +England once or twice during the years 1647 and 1648, but after the +death of the King, against which he vainly protested, with his famous +friend he settled down in France, in the Loire country, for many +happy years. + +After the Restoration, Harby Hall passed by mutual arrangement into +the hands of Sir Randolph Harby, who had cheerfully ruined himself in +the service of his King. Through him the name still persists in +Maryland, in America. Harby itself was destroyed by fire early in the +eighteenth century. It was not rebuilt; the moat was filled up, and +no trace of Loyalty House remains to-day. In Harby church-yard there +is an ancient stone, set there by Brilliana's order. It bears the +name of Halfman, the date of his death, and after that date the +words, "I did hear you speak, far above singing." + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lady of Loyalty House, by +Justin Huntly McCarthy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LADY OF LOYALTY HOUSE *** + +***** This file should be named 27929.txt or 27929.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/9/2/27929/ + +Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/27929.zip b/27929.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f53c6a --- /dev/null +++ b/27929.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e94bf4e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #27929 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27929) |
