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diff --git a/2942.txt b/2942.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e39c8fc --- /dev/null +++ b/2942.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7860 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Two Penniless Princesses, by Charlotte M. Yonge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Two Penniless Princesses + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2942] +Release Date: December, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO PENNILESS PRINCESSES *** + + + + +Produced by Sandra Laythorpe + + + + + +TWO PENNILESS PRINCESSES + +By Charlotte M. Yonge + + + + +CHAPTER 1. DUNBAR + + + ''Twas on a night, an evening bright + When the dew began to fa', + Lady Margaret was walking up and down, + Looking over her castle wa'.' + + +The battlements of a castle were, in disturbed times, the only +recreation-ground of the ladies and play-place of the young people. +Dunbar Castle, standing on steep rocks above the North Sea, was not +only inaccessible on that side, but from its donjon tower commanded a +magnificent view, both of the expanse of waves, taking purple tints from +the shadows of the clouds, with here and there a sail fleeting before +the wind, and of the rugged headlands of the coast, point beyond point, +the nearer distinct, and showing the green summits, and below, the +tossing waves breaking white against the dark rocks, and the distance +becoming more and more hazy, in spite of the bright sun which made a +broken path of glory along the tossing, white-crested waters. + +The wind was a keen north-east breeze, and might have been thought too +severe by any but the 'hardy, bold, and wild' children who were merrily +playing on the top of the donjon tower, round the staff whence fluttered +the double treasured banner with 'the ruddy lion ramped in gold' +denoting the presence of the King. + +Three little boys, almost babies, and a little girl not much older, were +presided over by a small elder sister, who held the youngest in her lap, +and tried to amuse him with caresses and rhymes, so as to prevent his +interference with the castle-building of the others, with their small +hoard of pebbles and mussel and cockle shells. + +Another maiden, the wind tossing her long chestnut-locks, uncovered, but +tied with the Scottish snood, sat on the battlement, gazing far out over +the waters, with eyes of the same tint as the hair. Even the sea-breeze +failed to give more than a slight touch of colour to her somewhat +freckled complexion; and the limbs that rested in a careless attitude on +the stone bench were long and languid, though with years and favourable +circumstances there might be a development of beauty and dignity. Her +lips were crooning at intervals a mournful old Scottish tune, sometimes +only humming, sometimes uttering its melancholy burthen, and she now and +then touched a small harp that stood by her side on the seat. + +She did not turn round when a step approached, till a hand was laid on +her shoulder, when she started, and looked up into the face of another +girl, on a smaller scale, with a complexion of the lily-and-rose kind, +fair hair under her hood, with a hawk upon her wrist, and blue eyes +dancing at the surprise of her sister. + +'Eleanor in a creel, as usual!' she cried. + +'I thought it was only one of the bairns,' was the answer. + +'They might coup over the walls for aught thou seest,' returned the +new-comer. 'If it were not for little Mary what would become of the poor +weans?' + +'What will become of any of us?' said Eleanor. 'I was gazing out over +the sea and wishing we could drift away upon it to some land of rest.' + +'The Glenuskie folk are going to try another land,' said Jean. 'I was +in the bailey-court even now playing at ball with Jamie when in comes a +lay-brother, with a letter from Sir Patrick to say that he is coming +the night to crave permission from Jamie to go with his wife to France. +Annis, as you know, is betrothed to the son of his French friends, +Malcolm is to study at the Paris University, and Davie to be in the +Scottish Guards to learn chivalry like his father. And the Leddy of +Glenuskie--our Cousin Lilian--is going with them.' + +'And she will see Margaret,' said Eleanor. 'Meg the dearie! Dost +remember Meg, Jeanie?' + +'Well, well do I remember her, and how she used to let us nestle in her +lap and sing to us. She sang like thee, Elleen, and was as mother-like +as Mary is to the weans, but she was much blithesomer--at least before +our father was slain.' + +'Sweetest Meg! My whole heart leaps after her,' cried Eleanor, with a +fervent gesture. + +'I loved her better than Isabel, though she was not so bonnie,' said +Jean. + +'Jeanie, Jeanie,' cried Eleanor, turning round with a vehemence +strangely contrasting with her previous language, 'wherefore should we +not go with Glenuskie to be with Meg at Bourges?' + +Jeanie opened her blue eyes wide. + +'Go to the French King's Court?' she said. + +'To the land of chivalry and song,' exclaimed Eleanor, 'where they have +courts of love and poetry, and tilts and tourneys and minstrelsy, and +the sun shines as it never does in this cold bleak north; and above all +there is Margaret, dear tender Margaret, almost a queen, as a queen she +will be one day. Oh! I almost feel her embrace.' + +'It might be well,' said Jean, in the matter-of-fact tone of a practical +young lady; 'mewed up in these dismal castles, we shall never get +princely husbands like our sisters. I might be Queen of Beauty, I doubt +me whether you are fair enough, Eleanor.' + +'Oh, that is not what I think of,' said Eleanor. 'It is to see our own +Margaret, and to see and hear the minstrel knights, instead of the rude +savages here, scarce one of whom knows what knighthood means!' + +'Ay, and they will lay hands on us and wed us one of these days,' +returned Jean, 'unless we vow ourselves as nuns, and I have no mind for +that.' + +'Nor would a convent always guard us,' said Eleanor; 'these reivers +do not stick at sanctuary. Now in that happy land ladies meet with +courtesy, and there is a minstrel king like our father, Rene is his +name, uncle to Margaret's husband. Oh! it would be a very paradise.' + +'Let us go, let us go!' exclaimed Jean. + +'Go!' said Mary, who had drawn nearer to them while they spoke. 'Whither +did ye say?' + +'To France--to sister Margaret and peace and sunshine,' said Eleanor. + +'Eh!' said the girl, a pale fair child of twelve; 'and what would poor +Jamie and the weans do, wanting their titties?' + +'Ye are but a bairn, Mary,' was Jean's answer. 'We shall do better for +Jamie by wedding some great lords in the far country than by waiting +here at home.' + +'And James will soon have a queen of his own to guide him,' added +Eleanor. + +'I'll no quit Jamie or the weans,' said little Mary resolutely, +turning back as the three-year-old boy elicited a squall from the +eighteen-months one. + +'Johnnie! Johnnie! what gars ye tak' away wee Andie's claw? Here, my +mannie.' + +And she was kneeling on the leads, making peace over the precious crab's +claw, which, with a few cockles and mussels, was the choicest toy of +these forlorn young Stewarts; for Stewarts they all were, though the +three youngest, the weans, as they were called, were only half-brothers +to the rest. + +Nothing, in point of fact, could have been much more forlorn than the +condition of all. The father of the elder ones, James I., the flower +of the whole Stewart race, had nine years before fallen a victim to +the savage revenge and ferocity of the lawless men whom he had vainly +endeavoured to restrain, leaving an only son of six years old and six +young daughters. His wife, Joanna, once the Nightingale of Windsor, had +wreaked vengeance in so barbarous a manner as to increase the dislike +to her as an Englishwoman. Forlorn and in danger, she tried to secure a +protector by a marriage with Sir James Stewart, called the Black Knight +of Lorn; but he was unable to do much for her, and only added the +feuds of his own family to increase the general danger. The two eldest +daughters, Margaret and Isabel, were already contracted to the Dauphin +and the Duke of Brittany, and were soon sent to their new homes. The +little King, the one darling of his mother, was snatched from her, +and violently transferred from one fierce guardian to another; each +regarding the possession of his person as a sanction to tyranny. He had +been introduced to the two winsome young Douglases only as a prelude to +their murder, and every day brought tidings of some fresh violence; +nay, for the second time, a murder was perpetrated in the Queen's own +chamber. + +The poor woman had never been very tender or affectionate, and had the +haughty demeanour with which the house of Somerset had thought fit +to assert their claims to royalty. The cruel slaughter of her first +husband, perhaps the only person for whom she had ever felt a softening +love, had hardened and soured her. She despised and domineered over her +second husband, and made no secret that the number of her daughters +was oppressive, and that it was hard that while the royal branch had +produced, with one exception, only useless pining maidens, her second +marriage in too quick succession should bring her sons, who could only +be a burthen. No one greatly marvelled when, a few weeks after the birth +of little Andrew, his father disappeared, though whether he had perished +in some brawl, been lost at sea, or sought foreign service as far as +possible from his queenly wife and inconvenient family, no one knew. + +Not long after, the Queen, with her four daughters and the infants, had +been seized upon by a noted freebooter, Patrick Hepburn of Hailes, and +carried to Dunbar Castle, probably to serve as hostages, for they were +fairly well treated, though never allowed to go beyond the walls. The +Queen's health had, however, been greatly shaken, the cold blasts of the +north wind withered her up, and she died in the beginning of the year +1445. + +The desolateness of the poor girls had perhaps been greater than their +grief. Poor Joanna had been exacting and tyrannical, and with no female +attendants but the old, worn-out English nurse, had made them do her +all sorts of services, which were requited with scoldings and grumblings +instead of the loving thanks which ought to have made them offices of +affection as well as duty; while the poor little boys would indeed have +fared ill if their half-sister Mary, though only twelve years old, had +not been one of those girls who are endowed from the first with tender, +motherly instincts. + +Beyond providing that there was a supply of some sort of food, and +that they were confined within the walls of the Castle, Hepburn did not +trouble his head about his prisoners, and for many weeks they had +no intercourse with any one save Archie Scott, an old groom of their +mother's; Ankaret, nurse to baby Andrew; and the seneschal and his wife, +both Hepburns. + +Eleanor and Jean, who had been eight and seven years old at the time +of the terrible catastrophe which had changed all their lives, had been +well taught under their father's influence; and the former, who had +inherited much of his talent and poetical nature, had availed herself of +every scanty opportunity of feeding her imagination by book or ballad, +story-teller or minstrel; and the store of tales, songs, and fancies +that she had accumulated were not only her own chief resource but that +of her sisters, in the many long and dreary hours that they had to pass, +unbrightened save by the inextinguishable buoyancy of young creatures +together. When their mother was dying, Hepburn could not help for very +shame admitting a priest to her bedside, and allowing the clergy to +perform her obsequies in full form. This had led to a more complete +perception of the condition of the poor Princesses, just at the +time when the two worst tyrants over the young King, Crichton and +Livingstone, had fallen out, and he had been able to put himself under +the guidance of his first cousin, James Kennedy, Bishop of St. +Andrews and now Chancellor of Scotland, one of the wisest, best, and +truest-hearted men in Scotland, and imbued with the spirit of the late +King. + +By his management Hepburn was induced to make submission and deliver up +Dunbar Castle to the King with all its captives, and the meeting between +the brother and sisters was full of extreme delight on both sides. They +had been together very little since their father's death, only meeting +enough to make them long for more opportunities; and the boy at fifteen +years old was beginning to weary after the home feeling of rest among +kindred, and was so happy amidst his sisters that no attempt at breaking +up the party at Dunbar had yet been made, as its situation made it a +convenient abode for the Court. Though he had never had such advantages +of education as, strangely enough, captivity had afforded to his father, +he had not been untaught, and his rapid, eager, intelligent mind had +caught at all opportunities afforded by those palace monasteries of +Scotland in which he had stayed for various periods of his vexed and +stormy minority. Good Bishop Kennedy, with whom he had now spent many +months, had studied at Paris and had passed four years at Rome, so as +to be well able both to enlarge and stimulate his notions. In Eleanor he +had found a companion delighted to share his studies, and full likewise +of original fancy and of that vein of poetry almost peculiar to Scottish +women; and Jean was equally charming for all the sports in which she +could take part, while the little ones, whom, to his credit be it +spoken, he always treated as brothers, were pleasant playthings. + +His presence, with all that it involved, had made a most happy change +in the maidens' lives; and yet there was still great dreariness, much +restraint in the presence of constant precaution against violence, much +rudeness and barbarism in the surroundings, absolute poverty in the +plenishing, a lack of all beauty save in the wild and rugged face of +northern nature, and it was hardly to be wondered at that young +people, inheritors of the cultivated instincts of James I. and of the +Plantagenets, should yearn for something beyond, especially for that +sunny southern land which report and youthful imagination made them +believe an ideal world of peace, of poetry, and of chivalry, and the +loving elder sister who seemed to them a part of that golden age when +their noble and tender-hearted father was among them. + +The boy's foot was on the turret-stairs, and he was out on the +battlements--a tall lad for his age, of the same colouring as Eleanor, +and very handsome, except for the blemish of a dark-red mark upon one +cheek. + +'How now, wee Andie?' he exclaimed, tossing the baby boy up in his arms, +and then on the cry of 'Johnnie too!' 'Me too!' performing the same feat +with the other two, the last so boisterously that Mary screamed that +'the bairnie would be coupit over the crag.' + +'What, looking out over the sea?' he cried to his elder sisters. 'That's +the wrang side! Ye should look out on the other, to see Glenuskie coming +with Davie and Malcolm, so we'll have no lack of minstrelsy and tales +to-night, that is if the doited old council will let me alone. Here, +come to the southern tower to watch for them.' + +The sisters had worked themselves to the point of eagerness where +propitious moments are disregarded, and both broke out-- + +'Glenuskie is going to Margaret. We want to go with him!' + +'Go! Go to Margaret and leave me!' cried James, the red spot on his face +spreading. + +'Oh, Jamie, it is so dull and dreary, and folks are so fierce and rude.' + +'That might be when that loon Hepburn had you, but now you have me, who +can take order with them.' + +'You cannot do all, Jamie,' persisted Eleanor; 'and we long after that +fair smooth land of peace. Lady Glenuskie would take good care of us +till we came to Margaret.' + +'Ay! And 'tis little you heed how it is with me,' exclaimed James, 'when +you are gone to your daffing and singing and dancing--with me that have +saved you from that reiver Hepburn.' + +'Jamie, dear, I'll never quit ye,' said little Mary's gentle voice. + +He laughed. + +'You are a leal faithful little lady, Mary; but you are no good as yet, +when Angus is speiring for my sister for his heir.' + +'And do you trow,' said Jean hotly, 'that when one sister is to be a +queen, and the other is next thing to it, we are going to put up with a +raw-boned, red-haired, unmannerly Scots earl?' + +'And do you forget who is King of Scotland, ye proud peat?' her brother +cried in return. + +'A braw sort of king,' returned Jean, 'who could not hinder his mother +and sisters from being stolen by an outlaw.' + +The pride and hot temper of the Beauforts had descended to both brother +and sister, and James lifted his hand with 'Dare to say that again'; +and Jean was beginning 'I dare,' when little Annaple opportunely called, +'There's a plump of spears coming over the hill.' + +There was an instant rush to watch them, James saying-- + +'The Drummond banner! Ye shall see how Glenuskie mocks at this same fine +fancy of yours'; and he ran downstairs at no kingly pace, letting the +heavy nail-studded door bang after him. + +'He will never let us go,' sighed Jean. + +'You worked him into one of his tempers,' returned Eleanor. 'You should +have broached it to him more by degrees.' + +'And lost the chance of going with Sir Patie and his wife, and got +plighted to the red-haired Master of Angus--never see sweet Meg and +her braw court, and the tilts and tourneys, but live among murderous +caitiffs and reivers all my days,' sobbed Jean. + +'I would not be such a fule body as to give in for a hasty word or two, +specially of Jamie's,' said Eleanor composedly. + +'And gin ye bide here,' added gentle Mary, 'we shall be all together, +and you will have Jamie and the bairnies.' + +'Fine consolation,' muttered Jean. + +'Eh well,' said Eleanor, we must go down and meet them.' + +'This fashion!' exclaimed Jean. 'Look at your hair, Ellie--blown wild +about your ears like a daft woman's, and your kirtle all over mortar +and smut. My certie, you would be a bonnie lady to be Queen of Love and +Beauty at a jousting-match.' + +'You are no better, Jeanie,' responded Eleanor. + +'That I ken full well, but I'd be shamed to show myself to knights and +lairds that gate. And see Mary and all the lave have their hands as +black as a caird's.' + +'Come and let Andie's Mary wash them,' said that little personage, +picking up fat Andrew in her arms, while he retained his beloved crab's +claw. 'Jeanie, would you carry Johnnie, he's not sure-footed, over the +stair? Annaple, take Lorn's hand over the kittle turning.' + +One chamber was allotted to the entire party and their single nurse. +Being far up in the tower, it ventured to have two windows in the +massive walls, so thick that five-and-twenty steps from the floor were +needed to reach the narrow slips of glass in a frame that could be +removed at will, either to admit the air or to be exchanged for solid +wooden shutters to exclude storms by sea or arrows and bolts by land. +The lower part of the walls was hung with very grim old tapestry, on +which Holofernes' head, going into its bag, could just be detected; +there were two great solid box-beds, two more pallets rolled up for the +day, a chest or two, a rude table, a cross-legged chair, a few stools, +and some deer and seal skins spread on the floor completed the furniture +of this ladies' bower. There was, unusual luxury, a chimney with a +hearth and peat fire, and a cauldron on it, with a silver and a copper +basin beside it for washing purposes, never discarded by poor Queen +Joanna and her old English nurse Ankaret, who had remained beside her +through all the troubles of the stormy and barbarous country, and, +though crippled by a fall and racked with rheumatism, was the chief +comfort of the young children. She crouched at the hearth with her +spinning and her beads, and exclaimed at the tossed hair and soiled +hands and faces of her charges. + +Mary brought the little ones to her to be set to rights, and the elder +girls did their best with their toilette. Princesses as they were, the +ruddy golden tresses of Eleanor and the flaxen locks of Jean and Mary +were the only ornaments that they could boast of as their own; and +though there were silken and embroidered garments of their mother's in +one of the chests, their mourning forbade the use of them. The girls +only wore the plain black kirtles that had been brought from Haddington +at the time of the funeral, and the little boys had such homespun +garments as the shepherd lads wore. + +Partly scolding, partly caressing, partly bemoaning the condition of her +young ladies, so different from the splendours of the house of Somerset, +Ankaret saw that Eleanor was as fit to be seen as circumstances would +permit; as to Jean and Mary, there was no trouble on that score. + +The whole was not accomplished till a horn was sounded as an intimation +that supper was ready, at five o'clock, for the entire household, and +all made their way down--Jean first, in all the glory of her fair face +and beautiful hair; then Eleanor with little Lorn, as he was called, his +Christian name being James; then Annaple and Johnnie hand-in-hand, Mary +carrying Andrew, and lastly old Ankaret, hobbling along with her stick, +and, when out of sight, a hand on Annaple's shoulder. In public, nothing +would have made her presume so far. The hall was a huge, vaulted, +stone-walled room, with a great fire on the wide hearth, and three long +tables--one was cross-wise, on the dais near the fire, the other two ran +the length of the hall. The upper one was furnished with tolerably clean +napery and a few silver vessels; as to the lower ones, they were in two +degrees of comparison, and the less said of the third the better. It was +for the men-at-arms and the lowest servants, whereas the second belonged +to those of the suite of the King and Chancellor, who were not of rank +to be at his table. The Lord Lion King-at-Arms was high-table company, +but he was absent, and the inferior royal pursuivant was entertaining +two of his fellows, one with the Douglas Bloody Heart, the other +with the Lindsay Lion on a black field, besides two messengers of the +different clans, who looked askance at one another. + +Leaning against the wall near the window stood the young King with +two or three youths beside him, laughing and talking over three great +deer-hounds, and by the hearth were two elder men--one, a tall dignified +figure in the square cap and purple robe of a Bishop, with a face of +great wisdom and sweetness; the other, still taller, with slightly +grizzled hair and the weather-beaten countenance of a valiant and +sagacious warrior, dressed in the leathern garments usually worn under +armour. + +As Jean emerged from the turret she was met and courteously greeted +by Sir Patrick Drummond and his sons, as were also her sisters, with a +grace and deference to their rank such as they hardly ever received from +the nobles, and whose very rarity made Eleanor shy and uncomfortable, +even while she was gratified and accepted it as her due. + +The Bishop inclined his head and gave them a kind smile; but they had +already seen him in the morning, as he was residing in the castle. He +was the most fatherly friend and kinsman the young things knew, and +though really their first cousin, they looked to him like an uncle. He +insisted on due ceremony with them, though he had much difficulty in +enforcing it, except with those Scottish knights and nobles who, like +Sir Patrick Drummond, had served in France, and retained their French +breeding. + +So Jean, hawk and all, had to be handed to her seat by Sir Patrick as +the guest, Eleanor by her brother, not without a little fraternal pinch, +and Mary by the Bishop, who answered with a paternal caress to her +murmured entreaty that she might keep wee Andie on her lap and give him +his brose. + +It was not a sumptuous repast, the staple being a haggis, also broth +with chunks of meat and barleycorns floating in it, the meat in strings +by force of boiling. At the high table each person had a bowl, either +silver or wood, and each had a private spoon, and a dagger to serve as +knife, also a drinking-cup of various materials, from the King's gold +goblet downwards to horns, and a bannock to eat with the brose. At the +middle table trenchers and bannocks served the purpose of plates; and at +the third there was nothing interposed between the boards of the table +and the lumps of meat from which the soup had been made. + +Jean's quick eyes soon detected more men-at-arms and with different +badges from the thyme spray of Drummond, and her brother was evidently +bursting with some communication, held back almost forcibly by the +Bishop, who had established a considerable influence over the impetuous +boy, while Sir Patrick maintained a wise and tedious political +conversation about the peace between France and England, which was to be +cemented by the marriage of the young King of England to the daughter of +King Rene and the cession of Anjou and Maine to her father. + +'Solid dukedoms for a lassie!' cried young James. 'What a craven to make +such a bargain!' + +'Scarce like his father's son,' returned Sir Patrick, 'who gat the bride +with a kingdom for her tocher that these folks have well-nigh lost among +them.' + +'The saints be praised if they have.' + +'I cannot forget, my liege, how your own sainted father loved and fought +for King Harry of Monmouth. Foe as he was, I own that I shall never look +on his like again.' + +'I hold with you in that, Patie,' said Bishop Kennedy; 'and frown as +you may, my young liege, a few years with such as he would do more for +you--as it did with your blessed father--than ever we can.' + +'I can hold mine own, I hope, without lessons from the enemy,' said +James, holding his head high, while his ruddy locks flew back, his eyes +glanced, and the red scar on his cheek widened. 'And is it true that you +are for going through false England, Patie?' + +'I made friends there when I spent two years there with your Grace's +blessed father,' returned Sir Patrick, 'and so did my good wife. She +longs to see the lady who is now Sister Clare at St. Katharine's in +London, and it is well not to let her and Annis brook the long sea +voyage.' + +'There, Jean! I'd brook ten sea voyages rather than hold myself beholden +to an Englishman!' quoth James. + +'Nevertheless, there are letters and messages that it is well to confide +to so trusty and wise-headed a knight as Glenuskie,' returned the +Bishop. + +The meal over, the silver bowls were carried round with water to wash +the hands by the two young Drummonds, sons of Glenuskie, and by the +King's pages, youths of about the same age, after which the Bishop and +Sir Patrick asked licence of the King to retire for consultation to +the Bishop's apartment, a permission which, as may well be believed, he +granted readily, only rejoicing that he was not wanted. + +The little ones were carried off by Mary and Nurse Ankaret; and the +King, his elder sisters, and the other youths of condition betook +themselves, followed by half-a-dozen great dogs, to the court, where +the Drummonds wanted to exhibit the horses procured for the journey, and +James and Jean to show the hawks that were the pride of their heart. + +By and by came an Italian priest, who acted as secretary to the +Bishop--a poor little man who grew yellower and yellower, was always +shivering, and seemed to be shrivelled into growing smaller and smaller +by the Scottish winds, but who had a most keen and intelligent face. + +'How now, Father Romuald,' called out James. 'Are ye come to fetch me?' + +'Di grazia, Signor Re', began the Italian in some fear, as the dogs +smelted his lambskin cape. 'The Lord Bishop entreats your Majesty's +presence.' + +His Majesty, who, by the way, never was so called by any one else, +uttered some bitter growls and grumbles, but felt forced to obey the +call, taking with him, however, his beautiful falcon on his wrist, and +the two huge deer-hounds, who he declared should be of the council if he +was. + +Jean and Eleanor then closed upon David and Malcolm, eagerly demanding +of them what they expected in that wonderful land to which they were +going, much against the will of young David, who was sure there would be +no hunting of deer, nor hawking for grouse, nor riding after an English +borderer or Hieland cateran--nothing, in fact, worth living for! It +would be all a-wearying with their manners and their courtesies and such +like daft woman's gear! Why could not his father be content to let him +grow up like his fellows, rough and free and ready? + +'And knowing nothing better--nothing beyond,' said Eleanor. + +'What would you have better than the hill and the brae? To tame a horse +and fly a hawk, and couch a lance and bend a bow! That's what a man is +made for, without fashing himself with letters and Latin and manners, no +better than a monk; but my father would always have it so!' + +'Ye'll be thankful to him yet, Davie,' put in his graver brother. + +'Thankful! I shall forget all about it as soon as I am knighted, and +make you write all my letters--and few enough there will be.' + +'And you, Malcolm!' said Eleanor, 'would you be content to hide within +four walls, and know nothing by your own eyes?' + +'No indeed, cousin,' replied the lad; 'I long for the fair churches +and cloisters and the learned men and books that my father tells of. My +mother says that her brother, that I am named for, yearned to make this +a land of peace and godliness, and to turn these high spirits to God's +glory instead of man's strife and feud, and how it might have been done +save for the slaying of your noble father--Saints rest him!--which broke +mine uncle's heart, so that he died on his way home from pilgrimage. +She hopes to pray at his tomb that I may tread in his steps, and be a +blessing and not a curse to the land we love.' + +Eleanor was silent, seeing for the first time that there might be higher +aims than escaping from dulness, strife, and peril; whilst Jean cried-- + +''Tis the titles and jousts, the knights and ladies that I care for--men +that know what fair chivalry means, and make knightly vows to dare all +sorts of foes for a lady's sake.' + +'As if any lass was worth it,' said David contemptuously. + +'Ay, that's what you are! That's what it is to live in this savage +realm,' returned Jean. + +At this moment, however, Brother Romuald was again seen advancing, +and this time with a request for the presence of the ladies Jean and +Eleanor. + +'Could James be relenting on better advice?' they asked one another as +they went. + +'More likely,' said Jean, with a sigh, amounting to a groan, 'it is only +to hear that we are made over, like a couple of kine, to some ruffianly +reivers, who will beat a princess as soon as a scullion.' + +They reached the chamber in time. Though the Bishop slept there it also +served for a council chamber; and as he carried his chapel and household +furniture about with him, it was a good deal more civilised-looking than +even the princesses' room. Large folding screens, worked with tapestry, +representing the lives of the saints, shut off the part used as an +oratory and that which served as a bedchamber, where indeed the good man +slept on a rush mat on the floor. There were a table and several chairs +and stools, all capable of being folded up for transport. The young King +occupied a large chair of state, in which he twisted himself in a very +undignified manner; the Bishop-Chancellor sat beside him, with the Great +Seal of Scotland and some writing materials, parchments, and letters +before him, and Sir Patrick came forward to receive and seat the young +ladies, and then remained standing--as few of his rank in Scotland would +have done on their account. + +'Well, lassies,' began the King, 'here's lads enow for you. There's the +Master of Angus, as ye ken--'(Jean tossed her head)--'moreover, auld +Crawford wants one of you for his son.' + +'The Tyger Earl,' gasped Eleanor. + +'And with Stirling for your portion, the modest fellow,' added James. +'Ay, and that's not all. There's the MacAlpin threats me with all his +clan if I dinna give you to him; and Mackay is not behindhand, but will +come down with pibroch and braidsword and five hundred caterans to pay +his court to you, and make short work of all others. My certie, sisters +seem but a cause for threats from reivers, though maybe they would not +be so uncivil if once they had you.' + +'Oh, Jamie! oh! dear holy Father,' cried Eleanor, turning from the King +to the Bishop, 'do not, for mercy's sake, give me over to one of those +ruffians.' + +'They are coming, Eleanor,' said James, with a boy's love of terrifying; +'the MacAlpin and Mackay are both coming down after you, and we shall +have a fight like the Clan Chattan and Clan Kay. There's for the +demoiselle who craved for knights to break lances for her!' + +'Knights indeed! Highland thieves,' said Jean; 'and 'tis for what tocher +they may force from you, James, not for her face.' + +'You are right there, my puir bairn,' said the Bishop. 'These men--save +perhaps the young Master of Angus--only seek your hands as a pretext +for demands from your brother, and for spuilzie and robbery among +themselves. And I for my part would never counsel his Grace to yield the +lambs to the wolves, even to save himself.' + +'No, indeed,' broke in the King; we may not have them fighting down +here, though it would be rare sport to look on, if you were not to be +the prize. So my Lord Bishop here trows, and I am of the same mind, that +the only safety is that the birds should be flown, and that you should +have your wish and be away the morn, with Patie of Glenuskie here, since +he will take the charge of two such silly lasses.' + +The sudden granting of their wish took the maidens' breath away. They +looked from one to the other without a word; and the Bishop, in more +courtly language, explained that amid all these contending parties he +could not but judge it wiser to put the King's two marriageable sisters +out of reach, either of a violent abduction, or of being the cause of +a savage contest, in either case ending in demands that would be either +impossible or mischievous for the Crown to grant, and moreover in misery +for themselves. + +Sir Patrick added something courteous about the honour of the charge. + +'So soon!' gasped Jean; 'are we really to go the morn?' + +'With morning light, if it be possible, fair ladies,' said Sir Patrick. + +'Ay,' said James, 'then will we take Mary and the weans to the nunnery +in St. Mary's Wynd, where none will dare to molest them, and I shall go +on to St. Andrews or Stirling, as may seem fittest; while we leave old +Seneschal Peter to keep the castle gates shut. If the Hielanders come, +they'll find the nut too hard for them to crack, and the kernel gone, so +you'd best burn no more daylight, maidens, but busk ye, as women will.' + +'Oh, Jamie, to speak so lightly of parting!' sighed Eleanor. + +'Come--no fule greeting, now you have your will,' hastily said James, +who could hardly bear it himself. + +'Our gear!' faltered Jeanie, with consternation at their ill-furnished +wardrobes. + +'For that,' said the Bishop, 'you must leave the supply till you are +over the Border, when the Lady Glenuskie will see to your appearing as +nigh as may be as befits the daughters of Scotland among your English +kin.' + +'But we have not a mark between us,' said Jean, 'and all my mother's +jewels are pledged to the Lombards.' + +'There are moneys falling due to the Crown,' said the Bishop, 'and I can +advance enow to Sir Patrick to provide the gear and horses.' + +'And my gude wife's royal kin are my guests till they win to their +sister,' added Sir Patrick. + +And so it was settled. It was an evening of bustle and a night of +wakefulness. There were floods of tears poured out by and over sweet +little Mary and good old Ankaret, not to speak of those which James +scorned to shed. Had a sudden stop been put to the journey, perhaps, +Eleanor would have been relieved but Jean sorely disappointed. + +It was further decided that Father Romuald should accompany the party, +both to assist in negotiations with Henry VI. and Cardinal Beaufort, and +to avail himself of the opportunity of returning to his native land, fa + north, and to show cause to the Pope for erecting St. Andrews into an +archiepiscopal see, instead of leaving Scotland under the primacy of +York. + +Hawk and harp were all the properties the princesses-errant took with +them; but Jean, as her old nurse sometimes declared, loved Skywing +better than all the weans, and Elleen's small travelling-harp was all +that she owned of her father's--except the spirit that loved it. + + + + +CHAPTER 2. DEPARTURE + + + 'I bowed my pride, + A horse-boy in his train to ride.'--SCOTT. + + +The Lady of Glenuskie, as she was commonly called, was a near kinswoman +of the Royal House, Lilias Stewart, a grand-daughter of King Robert II., +and thus first cousin to the late King. Her brother, Malcolm Stewart, +had resigned to her the little barony of Glenuskie upon his embracing +the life of a priest, and her becoming the wife of Sir Patrick Drummond, +the son of his former guardian. + +Sir Patrick had served in France in the Scotch troop who came to the +assistance of the Dauphin, until he was taken prisoner by his native +monarch, James I., then present with the army of Henry V. He had then +spent two years at Windsor, in attendance upon that prince, until both +were set at liberty by the treaty made by Cardinal Beaufort. In the +meantime, his betrothed, Lilias, being in danger at home, had been +bestowed in the household of the Countess of Warwick, where she had +been much with an admirable and saintly foreign lady, Esclairmonde de +Luxembourg, who had taken refuge from the dissensions of her own vexed +country among the charitable sisterhood of St. Katharine in the Docks in +London. + +Sir Patrick and his lady had thus enjoyed far more training in the +general European civilisation than usually fell to the lot of their +countrymen; and they had moreover imbibed much of the spirit of that +admirable King, whose aims at improvement, religious, moral, and +political, were so piteously cut short by his assassination. During the +nine miserable years that had ensued it had not been possible, even +in conjunction with Bishop Kennedy, to afford any efficient support or +protection to the young King and his mother, and it had been as much as +Sir Patrick could do to protect his own lands and vassals, and do his +best to bring up his children to godly, honourable, and chivalrous +ways; but amid all the evil around he had decided that it was well-nigh +impossible to train them to courage without ruffianism, or to prevent +them from being tainted by the prevailing standard. Even among the +clergy and monastic orders the type was very low, in spite of the +endeavours of Bishop Kennedy, who had not yet been able to found his +university at St. Andrews; and it had been agreed between him and Sir +Patrick that young Malcolm Drummond, a devout and scholarly lad of +earnest aspiration, should be trained at the Paris University, and +perhaps visit Padua and Bologna in preparation for that foundation, +which, save for that cruel Eastern's E'en, would have been commenced by +the uncle whose name he bore. + +The daughter had likewise been promised in her babyhood to the Sire +de Terreforte, a knight of Auvergne, who had come on a mission to the +Scotch Court in the golden days of the reign of James I., and being an +old companion-in-arms of Sir Patrick, had desired to unite the families +in the person of his infant son Olivier and of Annis Drummond. + +Lady Drummond had ever since been preparing her little daughter and her +wardrobe. The whole was in a good state of forwardness; but it must be +confessed that she was somewhat taken aback when she beheld two young +ladies riding up the glen with her husband, sons, and their escort; and +found, on descending to welcome them, that they were neither more nor +less than the two eldest unmarried princesses of Scotland. + +'And Dame Lilias,' proceeded her knight, 'you must busk and boune you +to be in the saddle betimes the morn, and put Tweed between these puir +lasses and their foes--or shall I say their ower well wishers?' + +The ladies of Scotland lived to receive startling intelligence, and +Lady Drummond's kind heart was moved by the two forlorn, weary-looking +figures, with traces of tears on their cheeks. She kissed them +respectfully, conducted them to the guest-chamber, which was many +advances beyond their room at Dunbar in comfort, and presently left her +own two daughters, Annis and Lilias, and their nurse, to take care of +them, since they seemed to have neither mails nor attendants of their +own, while she sought out her husband, as he was being disarmed by his +sons, to understand what was to be done. + +He told her briefly of the danger and perplexity in which the presence +of the two poor young princesses might involve themselves, their +brother, and the kingdom itself, by exciting the greed, jealousy, and +emulation of the untamed nobles and Highland chiefs, who would try to +gain them, both as an excuse for exactions from the King and out of +jealousy of one another. To take them out of reach was the only ready +means of preventing mischief, and the Bishop of St. Andrews had besought +Sir Patrick to undertake the charge. + +'We are bound to do all we can for their father's daughters,' Dame +Lilias owned, 'alike as our King and the best friend that ever we had, +or my dear brother Malcolm, Heaven rest them both! But have they no +servants, no plenishing?' + +'That must we provide,' said Sir Patrick. 'We must be their servants, +Dame. Our lasses must lend them what is fitting, till we come where I +can make use of this, which my good Lord of St. Andrews gave me.' + +'What is it, Patie? Not the red gold?' + +'Oh no! I have heard of the like. Ye ken Morini, as they call him, the +Lombard goldsmith in the Canongate? Weel, for sums that the Bishop will +pay to Morini, sums owing, he says, by himself to the Crown--though +I shrewdly suspect 'tis the other way, gude man!--then the Lombard's +fellows in York, London, or Paris, or Bourges will, on seeing this bit +bond, supply us up to the tune of a hundred crowns. Thou look'st mazed, +Lily, but I have known the like before. 'Tis no great sum, but mayhap +the maidens' English kin will do somewhat for them before they win to +their sister.' + +'I would not have them beholden to the English,' said Dame Lilias, not +forgetting that she was a Stewart. + +Her husband perhaps scarcely understood the change made in the whole +aspect of the journey to her. Not only had she to hurry her preparations +for the early start, but instead of travelling as the mistress of the +party, she and her daughter would, in appearance at least, be the mere +appendages of the two princesses, wait upon them, give them the foremost +place, supply their present needs from what was provided for themselves, +and it was quite possible have likewise to control girlish petulance and +inexperience in the strange lands where her charges must appear at their +very best, to do honour to their birth and their country. + +But the loyal woman made up her mind without a word of complaint after +the first shock, and though a busy night was not the best preparation +for a day's journey, she never lay down; nor indeed did her namesake +daughter, who was to be left at a Priory on their way, there to decide +whether she had a vocation to be a nun. + +So effectually did she bestir herself that by six o'clock the next +morning the various packages were rolled up for bestowal on the sumpter +horses, and the goods to be left at home locked up in chests, and +committed to the charge of the trusty seneschal and his wife; a meal, to +be taken in haste, was spread on the table in the hall, to be swallowed +while the little rough ponies were being laden. + +Mass was to be heard at the first halting-place, the Benedictine nunnery +of Trefontana on Lammermuir, where Lilias Drummond was to be left, to be +passed on, when occasion served, to the Sisterhood at Edinburgh. + +The fresh morning breezes over the world of heather brightened the +cheeks and the spirits of the two sisters; the first wrench of parting +was over with them, and they found themselves treated with much more +observance than usual, though they did not know that the horses +they were riding had been trained for the special use of the Lady of +Glenuskie and her daughter Annis upon the journey. + +They rode on gaily, Jean with her inseparable falcon Skywing, Eleanor +with her father's harp bestowed behind her--she would trust it to no one +else. They were squired by their two cousins, David and Malcolm, who, in +spite of David's murmurs, felt the exhilaration of the future as much +as they did, as they coursed over the heather, David with two great +greyhounds with majestic heads at his side, Finn and Finvola, as they +were called. + +The graver and sadder ones of the party, father, mother, and the two +young sisters, rode farther back, the father issuing directions to the +seneschal, who accompanied them thus far, and the mother watching over +the two fair young girls, whose hearts were heavy in the probability +that they would never meet again, for how should a Scottish Benedictine +nun and the wife of a French seigneur ever come together? nor would +there be any possibility of correspondence to bridge over the gulf. + +The nunnery was strong, but not with the strength of secular buildings, +for, except when a tempting heiress had taken refuge there, convents +were respected even by the rudest men. + +Numerous unkempt and barely-clothed figures were coming away from the +gates, a pilgrim or two with brown gown, broad hat, and scallop shell, +the morning's dole being just over; but a few, some on crutches, +some with heads or limbs bound up, were waiting for their turn of the +sister-infirmarer's care. The pennon of the Drummond had already been +recognised, and the gate-ward readily admitted the party, since the +house of Glenuskie were well known as pious benefactors to the Church. + +They were just in time for a mass which a pilgrim priest was about to +say, and they were all admitted to the small nave of the little chapel, +beyond which a screen shut off the choir of nuns. After this the ladies +were received into the refectory to break their fast, the men folk being +served in an outside building for the purpose. It was not sumptuous +fare, chiefly consisting of barley bannocks and very salt and dry fish, +with some thin and sour ale; and David's attention was a good deal taken +up by a man-at-arms who seemed to have attached himself to the +party, but whom he did not know, and who held a little aloof from the +rest--keeping his visor down while eating and drinking, in a somewhat +suspicious manner, as though to avoid observation. + +Just as David had resolved to point this person out to his father, Sir +Patrick was summoned to speak to the Lady Prioress. Therefore the youth +thought it incumbent upon him to deal with the matter, and advancing +towards the stranger, said, 'Good fellow, thou art none of our +following. How, now!' for a pair of gray eyes looked up with recognition +in them, and a low voice whispered, 'Davie Drummond, keep my secret till +we be across the Border.' + +'Geordie, what means this?' + +'I canna let her gang! I ken that she scorns me.' + +'That proud peat Jean?' + +'Whist! whist! She scorns me, and the King scarce lent a lug to my +father's gude offer, so that he can scarce keep the peace with their +pride and upsettingness. But I love her, Davie, the mere sight of her is +sunshine, and wha kens but in the stour of this journey I may have the +chance of standing by her and defending her, and showing what a leal +Scot's heart can do? Or if not, if I may not win her, I shall still be +in sight of her blessed blue een!' + +David whistled his perplexity. 'The Yerl,' said he, 'doth he ken?' + +'I trow not! He thinks me at Tantallon, watching for the raid the +Mackays are threatening--little guessing the bird would be flown.' + +'How cam' ye to guess that same, which was, so far as I know, only +decided two days syne?' + +'Our pursuivant was to bear a letter to the King, and I garred him let +me bear him company as one of his grooms, so that I might delight mine +eyes with the sight of her.' + +David laughed. His time was not come, and this love and admiration for +his young cousin was absurd in his eyes. 'For a young bit lassie,' he +said; 'gin it had been a knight! But what will your father say to mine?' + +'I will write to him when I am well over the Border,' said Geordie, 'and +gin he kens that your father had no hand in it he will deem no ill-will. +Nor could he harm you if he did.' + +David did not feel entirely satisfied, on one side of his mind as to his +own loyalty to his father, or Geordie's to 'the Yerl,' and yet there was +something diverting to the enterprising mind in the stolen expedition; +and the fellow-feeling which results in honour to contemporaries made +him promise not to betray the young man and to shield him from notice as +best he might. With Geordie's motive he had no sympathy, having had +too many childish squabbles with his cousin for her to be in his eyes a +sublime Princess Joanna, but only a masterful Jeanie. + +Sir Patrick, absorbed in orders to his seneschal, did not observe the +addition to his party; and as David acted as his squire, and had been +seen talking to the young man, no further demur was made until the time +when the home party turned to ride back to Glenuskie, and Sir Patrick +made a roll-call of his followers, picked men who could fairly be +trusted not to embroil the company by excesses or imprudences in England +or France. + +Besides himself, his wife, sons and daughters, and the two princesses, +the party consisted of Christian, female attendant for the ladies, the +wife of Andrew of the Cleugh, an elderly, well-seasoned man-at-arms, to +whom the banner was entrusted; Dandie their son, a stalwart youth of two +or three-and-twenty, who, under his father, was in charge of the horses; +and six lances besides. Sir Patrick following the French fashion, which +gave to each lance two grooms, armed likewise, and a horse-boy. For +each of the family there was likewise a spare palfrey, with a servant +in charge, and one beast of burthen, but these last were to be freshly +hired with their attendants at each stage. + +Geordie, used to more tumultuous and irregular gatherings, where any man +with a good horse and serviceable weapons was welcome to join the raid, +had not reckoned on such a review of the party as was made by the old +warrior accustomed to more regular warfare, and who made each of his +eight lances--namely, the two Andrew Drummonds, Jock of the Glen, Jockie +of Braeside, Willie and Norman Armstrong, Wattie Wudspurs, and Tam +Telfer--answer to their names, and show up their three followers. + +'And who is yon lad in bright steel?' Sir Patrick asked. + +'Master Davie kens, sir,' responded old Andrew. David, being called, +explained that he was a leal lad called Geordie, whom he had seen in +Edinburgh, and who wished to join them, go to France, and see the world +under Sir Patrick's guidance, and that he would be at his own charges. +'And I'll be answerable for him, sir,' concluded the lad. + +'Answer! Ha! ha! What for, eh? That he is a long-legged lad like your +ain self. What more? Come, call him up!' + +The stranger had no choice save to obey, and came up on a strong white +mare, which old Andrew scanned, and muttered to his son, 'The Mearns +breed--did he come honestly by it?' + +'Up with your beaver, young man,' said Sir Patrick peremptorily; 'no man +rides with me whose face I have not seen.' + +A face not handsome and thoroughly Scottish was disclosed, with keen +intelligence in the gray eyes, and a certain air of offended dignity, +yet self-control, in the close-shut mouth. The cheeks were sunburnt and +freckled, a tawny down of young manhood was on the long upper lip, and +the short-cut hair was red; but there was an intelligent and trustworthy +expression in the countenance, and the tall figure sat on horseback with +the upright ease of one well trained. + +'Soh!' said Sir Patrick, looking him over, 'how ca' they you, lad?' + +'Geordie o' the Red Peel,' he answered. + +'That's a by-name,' said the knight sternly; 'I must have the full name +of any man who rides with me.' + +'George Douglas, then, if nothing short of that will content you!' + +'Are ye sib to the Earl?' + +'Ay, sir, and have rid in his company.' + +'Whose word am I to take for that?' + +'Mine, sir, a word that none has ever doubted,' said the youth boldly. +'By that your son kens me.' + +David here vouched for having seen the young man in the Angus following, +when he had accompanied his father in the last riding of the Scots +Parliament at Edinburgh; and this so far satisfied Sir Patrick that +he consented to receive the stranger into his company, but only on +condition of an oath of absolute obedience so long as he remained in the +troop. + +David could see that this had not been reckoned on by the high-spirited +Master of Angus; and indeed obedience, save to the head of the name, was +so little a Scottish virtue that Sir Patrick was by no means unprepared +for reluctance. + +'I give thee thy choice, laddie,' he said, not unkindly; 'best make up +your mind while thou art still in thine own country, and can win back +home. In England and France I can have no stragglers nor loons like to +help themselves, nor give cause for a fray to bring shame on the haill +troop in lands that are none too friendly. A raw carle like thyself, or +even these lads of mine, might give offence unwittingly, and then I'd +have to give thee up to the laws, or to stand by thee to the peril of +all, and of the ladies themselves. So there's nothing for it but strict +keeping to orders of myself and Andrew Drummond of the Cleugh, who kens +as well as I do what sorts to be done in these strange lands. Wilt thou +so bind thyself, or shall we part while yet there is time?' + +'Sir, I will,' said the young man, 'I will plight my word to obey +you, and faithfully, so long as I ride under your banner in foreign +parts--provided such oath be not binding within this realm of Scotland, +nor against my lealty to the head of my name.' + +'Nor do I ask it of thee,' returned Sir Patrick heartily, but regarding +him more attentively; 'these are the scruples of a true man. Hast thou +any following?' + +'Only a boy to lead my horse to grass,' replied George, giving a +peculiar whistle, which brought to his side a shock-headed, barefooted +lad, in a shepherd's tartan and little else, but with limbs as active as +a wild deer, and an eye twinkling and alert. + +'He shall be put in better trim ere the English pock-puddings see him,' +said Douglas, looking at him, perhaps for the first time, as something +unsuited to that orderly company. + +'That is thine own affair,' said Sir Patrick. 'Mine is that he should +comport himself as becomes one of my troop. What's his name?' + +'Ringan Raefoot,' replied Geordie Sir Patrick began to put the oath of +obedience to him, but the boy cried out-- + +'I'll ne'er swear to any save my lawful lord, the Yerl of Angus, and my +lord the Master.' + +'Hist, Ringan,' interposed Geordie. 'Sir, I will answer for his faith to +me, and so long as he is leal to me he will be the same to thee; but I +doubt whether it be expedient to compel him.' + +So did Sir Patrick, and he said-- + +'Then be it so, I trust to his faith to thee. Only remembering that if +he plunder or brawl, I may have to leave him hanging on the next bush.' + +'And if he doth, the Red Douglas will ken the reason why,' quoth Ringan, +with head aloft. + +It was thought well to turn a deaf ear to this observation. Indeed, +Geordie's effort was to elude observation, and to keep his uncouth +follower from attracting it. Ringan was not singular in running along +with bare feet. Other 'bonnie boys,' as the ballad has it, trotted +along by the side of the horses to which they were attached in the like +fashion, though they had hose and shoon slung over their shoulders, to +be donned on entering the good town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. + +Not without sounding of bugle and sending out a pursuivant to examine +into the intentions and authorisation of the party, were they admitted, +Jean and Eleanor riding first, with the pursuivant proclaiming--'Place, +place for the high and mighty princesses of Scotland.' + +It was an inconvenient ceremony for poor Sir Patrick, who had to hand +over to the pursuivant, in the name of the princesses, a ring from +his own finger. Largesse he could not attempt, but the proud spirit of +himself and his train could not but be chafed at the expectant faces +of the crowd, and the intuitive certainty that 'Beggarly Scotch' was in +every disappointed mind. + +And this was but a foretaste of what the two royal maidens' presence +would probably entail throughout the journey. His wife added to this +care uneasiness as to the deportment of her three maidens. Of Annis she +had not much fear, but she suspected Jean and Eleanor of being as wild +and untamed as hares, and she much doubted whether any counsels might +not offend their dignity, and drive them into some strange behaviour +that the good people of Berwick would never forget. + +They rode in, however, very upright and stately, with an air of taking +possession of the place on their brother's behalf; and Jean bowed with a +certain haughty grace to the deputy-warden who came out to receive them, +Eleanor keeping her eye upon Jean and imitating her in everything. For +Eleanor, though sometimes the most eager, and most apt to commit herself +by hasty words and speeches, seemed now to be daunted by the strangeness +of all around, and to commit herself to the leading of her sister, +though so little her junior. + +She was very silent all through the supper spread for them in the hall +of the castle, while Jean exchanged conversation with their host upon +Iceland hawks and wolf and deer hounds, as if she had been a young lady +keeping a splendid court all her life, instead of a poverty-stricken +prisoner in castle after castle. + +'Jeanie,' whispered Eleanor, as they lay down on their bed together, +'didst mark the tall laddie that was about to seat himself at the high +table and frowned when the steward motioned him down?' + +'What's that to me? An ill-nurtured carle,' said Jean; 'I marvel Sir +Patie brooks him in his meinie!' + +Eleanor was a little in awe of Jeanie in this mood, and said no more, +but Annis, who slept on a pallet at their feet, heard all, and guessed +more as to the strange young squire. + +Fain would she and Eleanor have discussed the situation, but Jean's blue +eyes glanced heedfully and defiantly at them, and, moreover, the young +gentleman in question, after that one error, effaced himself, and was +forgotten for the time in the novelty of the scenes around. + +The sub-warden of Berwick, mindful of his charge to obviate all +occasions of strife, insisted on sending a knight and half-a-dozen men +to escort the Scottish travellers as far as Durham. David Drummond and +the young ladies murmured to one another their disgust that the English +pock-pudding should not suppose Scots able to keep their heads with +their own hands; but, as Jean sagely observed, 'No doubt he would not +wish them to have occasion to hurt any of the English, nor Jamie to have +to call them to account.' + +This same old knight consorted with Sir Patrick, Dame Lilias, and +Father Romuald, and kept a sharp eye on the little party, allowing no +straggling on any pretence, and as Sir Patrick enforced the command, all +were obliged to obey, in spite of chafing; and the scowls of the English +Borderers, with the scant courtesy vouchsafed by these sturdy spirits, +proved the wisdom of the precaution. + +At Durham they were hospitably entertained in the absence of the Bishop. +The splendour of the cathedral and its adjuncts much impressed Lady +Drummond, as it had done a score of years previously; but, though +Malcolm ventured to share her admiration, Jean was far above allowing +that she could be astonished at anything in England. In fact, she +regarded the stately towers of St. Cuthbert as so much stolen family +property which 'Jamie' would one day regain; and all the other young +people followed suit. David even made all the observations his own +sense of honour and the eyes of his hosts would permit, with a view to a +future surprise. The escort of Sir Patrick was asked to York by a Canon +who had to journey thither, and was anxious for protection from the +outlaws--who had begun to renew the doings of Robin Hood under the laxer +rule of the young Henry VI, though things were expected to be better +since the young Duke of York had returned from France. + +Perhaps this arrangement was again a precaution for the preservation of +peace, and at York there was a splendid entertainment by Cardinal Kemp; +but all the 'subtleties' and wonders--stags' heads in their horns, +peacocks in their pride, jellies with whole romances depicted in them, +could not reconcile the young Scots to the presumption of the Archbishop +reckoning Scotland into his province. Durham was at once too monastic +and too military to have afforded much opportunity for recruiting +the princesses' wardrobe; but York was the resort of the merchants of +Flanders, and Christie was sent in quest of them and their wares, for +truly the black serge kirtles and shepherd's tartan screens that had +made the journey from Dunbar were in no condition to do honour to royal +damsels. + +Jean was in raptures with the graceful veils depending from the horned +headgear, worn, she was told, by the Duchess of Burgundy; but Eleanor +wept at the idea of obscuring the snood of a Scottish maiden, and would +not hear of resigning it. + +'I feel as Elleen no more,' she said, 'but a mere Flanders popinjay. It +has changed my ain self upon me, as well as the country.' + +'Thou shouldst have been born in a hovel!' returned Jean, raising her +proud little head. 'I feel more than ever what I am--a true princess!' + +And she looked it, with beauty enhanced by the rich attire which only +made Eleanor embarrassed and uncomfortable. + +Malcolm, the more scrupulous of the Drummond brothers, begged of George +Douglas, when at Durham, to write to his father and declare himself to +Sir Patrick, but the youth would do neither. He did not think himself +sufficiently out of reach, and, besides, the very sight of a pen was +abhorrent to him. There was something pleasing to him in the liberty of +a kind of volunteer attached to the expedition, and he would not give it +up. Nor was he without some wild idea of winning Jean's notice by some +gallant exploit on her behalf before she knew him for the object of her +prejudice, the Master of Angus. As to Sir Patrick, he was far too busy +trying to compose Border quarrels, and gleaning information about the +Gloucester and Beaufort parties at Court, to have any attention to spare +for the young man riding in his suite with the barefooted lad ever at +his stirrup. + +Geordie never attempted to secure better accommodation than the other +lances; he groomed his steed himself, with a little assistance from +Ringan, and slept in the straw of its bed, with the lad curled up at his +feet; the only difference observable between him and the rest being that +he always groomed himself every night and morning as carefully as the +horse, a ceremony they thought entirely needless. + + + + +CHAPTER 3. FALCON AND FETTERLOCK + + + 'Ours is the sky + Where at what fowl we please our hawk shall fly.' + --T. Randolph. + + +Beyond York that species of convoy, which ranged between protection and +supervision, entirely ceased; the Scottish party moved on their own wa + oftener through heath, rock, and moor, for England was not yet thickly +inhabited, though there was no lack of hostels or of convents to receive +them on this the great road to the North, and to its many shrines for +pilgrimage. + +Perhaps Sir Patrick relaxed a little of his vigilance, since the good +behaviour of his troop had won his confidence, and they were less likely +to be regarded as invaders than by the inhabitants of the district +nearer their own frontier. + +Hawking and coursing within bounds had been permitted by both the Knight +of Berwick and the Canon of Durham on the wide northern moors; but Sir +Patrick, on starting in the morning of the day when they were entering +Northamptonshire, had given a caution that sport was not free in the +more frequented parts of England, and that hound must not be loosed nor +hawk flown without special permission from the lord of the manor. + +He was, however, riding in the rear of the rest, up a narrow lane +leading uphill, anxiously discussing with Father Romuald the expediency +of seeking hospitality from any of the great lords whose castles might +be within reach before he had full information of the present state of +factions at the Court, when suddenly his son Malcolm came riding back, +pushing up hastily. + +'Sir! father!' he cried, 'there's wud wark ahead, there's a flight of +unco big birds on before, and Lady Jean's hawk is awa' after them, and +Jeanie's awa' after the hawk, and Geordie Red Peel is awa' after Jean, +and Davie's awa' after Geordie; and there's the blast of an English +bugle, and my mither sent me for you to redd the fray!' + +'Time, indeed!' said Sir Patrick with a sigh, and, setting spurs to his +horse, he soon was beyond the end of the lane, on an open heath, where +some of his troop were drawn up round his banner, almost forcibly +kept back by Dame Lilias and the elder Andrew. He could not stop for +explanation from them, indeed his wife only waved him forward towards +a confused group some hundred yards farther off, where he could see a +number of his own men, and, too plainly, long bows and coats of Lincoln +green, and he only hoped, as he galloped onward, that they belonged +to outlaws and not to rangers. Too soon he saw that his hope was vain; +there were ten or twelve stout archers with the white rosette of York +in their bonnets, the falcon and fetterlock on their sleeves, and +the Plantagenet quarterings on their breasts. In the midst was a dead +bustard, also an Englishman sitting up, with his head bleeding; Jean +was on foot, with her dagger-knife in one hand, and holding fast to her +breast her beloved hawk, whose jesses were, however, grasped by one of +the foresters. Geordie of the Red Peel stood with his sword at his feet, +glaring angrily round, while Sir Patrick, pausing, could hear his son +David's voice in loud tones-- + +'I tell you this lady is a royal princess! Yes, she is'--as there was a +kind of scoff--'and we are bound on a mission to your King from the King +of Scots, and woe to him that touches a feather of ours.' + +'That may be,' said the one who seemed chief among the English, 'but +that gives no licence to fly at the Duke's game, nor slay his foresters +for doing their duty. If we let the lady go, hawk and man must have +their necks wrung, after forest laws.' + +'And I tell thee,' cried Davie, 'that this is a noble gentleman of +Scotland, and that we will fight for him to the death.' + +'Let it alone, Davie,' said George. 'No scathe shall come to the lady +through me.' + +'Save him, Davie! save Skywing!' screamed Jean. + +'To the rescue--a Drummond,' shouted David; but his father pushed his +horse forward, just as the men in green, were in the act of stringing, +all at the same moment, their bows, as tall as themselves. They were not +so many but that his escort might have overpowered them, but only with +heavy loss, and the fact of such a fight would have been most disastrous. + +'What means this, sirs?' he exclaimed, in a tone of authority, waving +back his own men; and his dignified air, as well as the banner with +which Andrew followed him, evidently took effect on the foresters, who +perhaps had not believed the young men. + +'Sir Patie, my hawk!' entreated Jean. 'She did but pounce on yon unco +ugsome bird, and these bloodthirsty grasping loons would have wrung her +neck.' + +'She took her knife to me,' growled the wounded man, who had risen to +his feet, and showed bleeding fingers. + +'Ay, for meddling with a royal falcon,' broke in Jean. ''Tis thou, false +loon, whose craig should be raxed.' + +Happily this was an unknown tongue to the foresters, and Sir Patrick +gravely silenced her. + +'Whist, lady, brawls consort not with your rank. Gang back doucely to my +leddy.' + +'But Skywing! he has her jesses,' said the girl, but in a lower tone, as +though rebuked. + +'Sir ranger,' said Sir Patrick courteously, 'I trust you will let +the young demoiselle have her hawk. It was loosed in ignorance and +heedlessness, no doubt, but I trow it is the rule in England, as +elsewhere, that ladies of the blood royal are not bound by forest laws.' + +'Sir, if we had known,' said the ranger, who was evidently of gentle +blood, as he took his foot off the jesses, and Jean now allowed David to +remount her. + +'But my Lord Duke is very heedful of his bustards, and when Roger there +went to seize the bird, my young lady was over-ready with her knife.' + +'Who would not be for thee, my bird?' murmured Jean. + +'And yonder big fellow came plunging down and up with his sword--so as +he was nigh on being the death of poor Roger again for doing his duty. +If such be the ways of you Scots, sir, they be not English ways under my +Lord Duke, that is to say, and if I let the lady and her hawk go, forest +law must have its due on the young man there--I must have him up to +Fotheringay to abide the Duke's pleasure.' + +'Heed me not, Sir Patrick!' exclaimed Geordie. 'I would not have those +of your meinie brought into jeopardy for my cause.' + +David was plucking his father's mantle to suggest who George was, which +in fact Sir Patrick might suspect enough to be conscious of the full +awkwardness of the position, and to abandon the youth was impossible. +Though it was not likely that the Duke of York would hang him if aware +of his rank, he might be detained as a hostage or put to heavy ransom, +or he might never be brought to the Duke's presence at all, but be put +to death by some truculent underling, incredulous of a Scotsman's tale, +if indeed he were not too proud to tell it. Anyway, Sir Patrick felt +bound to stand by him. + +'Good sir,' said he to the forester, 'will it content thee if we all go +with thee to thy Duke? The two Scottish princesses are of his kin, and +near of blood to King Henry, whom they are about to visit at Windsor. I +am on a mission thither on affairs of state, but I shall be willing to +make my excuses to him for any misdemeanour committed on his lands by my +followers.' + +The forester was consenting, when George cried-- + +'I'll have no hindrance to your journey on my account, Sir Patrick. Let +me answer for myself.' + +'Foolish laddie,' said the knight. 'Father Romuald and I were only now +conferring as to paying the Duke a visit on our way. Sir forester, we +shall be beholden to you for guiding us.' + +He further inquired into the ranger's hurts, and salved them with a +piece of gold, while David thought proper to observe to George-- + +'So much for thy devoir to thy princess! It was for Skywing's craig she +cared, never thine.' + +George turned a deaf ear to the insinuation. He was allowed free hands +and his own horse, which was perhaps well for the Englishmen, for Ringan +Raefoot, running by his stirrup, showed him a long knife, and said with +a grin-- + +'Ready for the first who daurs to lay hands on the Master! Gin I could +have come up in time, the loon had never risen from the ground.' + +George endeavoured in vain to represent how much worse this would have +made their condition. + +Sir Patrick, joining the ladies, informed them of the necessity of +turning aside to Fotheringay, which he had done not very willingly, +being ignorant of the character of the Duke of York, except as one of +the war party against France and Scotland, whereas the Beauforts were +for peace. As a vigorous governor of Normandy, he had not commended +him self to one whose sympathies were French. Lady Drummond, however, +remembered that his wife, Cicely Nevil, the Rose of Raby, was younger +sister to that Ralf Nevil who had married the friend of her youth, Alice +Montagu, now Countess of Salisbury in her own right. + +Sir Patrick did not let Jean escape a rebuke. + +'So, lady, you see what perils to brave men you maids can cause by a +little heedlessness.' + +'I never asked Geordie to put his finger in,' returned Jean saucily. +'I could have brought off Skywing for myself without such a clamjamfrie +after me.' + +But Eleanor and Annis agreed that it was as good as a ballad, and ought +to be sung in one, only Jean would have to figure as the 'dour lassie.' +For she continued to aver, by turns, that Geordie need never have +meddled, and that of course it was his bounden duty to stand by his +King's sister, and that she owed him no thanks. If he were hanged for it +he had run his craig into the noose. + +So she tossed her proud head, and toyed with her falcon, as all rode on +their way to Fotheringay, with Geordie in the midst of the rangers. + +It was so many years since there had been serious war in England, +that the castles of the interior were far less of fortresses than of +magnificent abodes for the baronage, who had just then attained their +fullest splendour. It may be observed that the Wars of the Roses were +for the most part fought out in battles, not by sieges. Thus Fotheringay +had spread out into a huge pile, which crowned the hill above, with a +strong inner court and lofty donjon tower indeed, and with mighty +walls, but with buildings for retainers all round, reaching down to +the beautiful newly-built octagon-towered church; and with a great park +stretching for miles, for all kinds of sport. + +'All this enclosed! Yet they make sic a wark about their bustards, as +they ca' them,' muttered Jean. + +The forester had sent a messenger forward to inform the Duke of York +of his capture. The consequence was that the cavalcade had no sooner +crossed the first drawbridge under the great gateway of the castle, +where the banner of Plantagenet was displayed, than before it were seen +a goodly company, in the glittering and gorgeous robes of the fifteenth +century. + +There was no doubt of welcome. Foremost was a graceful, slenderly-made +gentleman about thirty years old, in rich azure and gold, who doffed his +cap of maintenance, turned up with fur, and with long ends, and, bowing +low, declared himself delighted that the princesses of Scotland, his +good cousins, should honour his poor dwelling. + +He gave his hand to assist Jean to alight, and an equally gorgeous but +much younger gentleman in the same manner waited on Eleanor. A tall, +grizzled, sunburnt figure received Lady Drummond with recognition on +both sides, and the words, 'My wife is fain to see you, my honoured +lady: is this your daughter?' with a sign to a tall youth, who took +Annis from her horse. Dame Lilias heard with joy that the Countess of +Salisbury was actually in the castle, and in a few moments more she was +in the great hall, in the arms of the sweet Countess Alice of her youth, +who, middle-aged as she was, with all her youthful impulsiveness had not +waited for the grand and formal greeting bestowed on the princesses by +her stately young sister-in-law, the Duchess of York. + +There seemed to be a perfect crowd of richly-dressed nobles, ladies, +children; and though the Lady Joanna held her head up in full state, and +kept her eye on her sister to make her do the same, their bewilderment +was great; and when they had been conducted to a splendid chamber, +within that allotted to the Drummond ladies, tapestry-hung, and with +silver toilette apparatus, to prepare for supper, Jean dropped upon a +high-backed chair, and insisted that Dame Lilias should explain to her +exactly who each one was. + +'That slight, dark-eyed carle who took me off my horse was the Duke of +York, of course,' said she. 'My certie, a bonnie Scot would make short +work of him, bones and all! And it would scarce be worth while to give a +clout to the sickly lad that took Elleen down.' + +'Hush, Jean,' said Eleanor; 'some one called him King! Was he King Harry +himself?' + +'Oh no,' said Dame Lilias, smiling; 'only King Harry of the Isle of +Wight--a bit place about the bigness of Arran; but it pleased the +English King to crown him and give him a ring, and bestow on him the +realm in a kind of sport. He is, in sooth, Harry Beauchamp, Earl of +Warwick, and was bred up as the King's chief comrade and playfellow.' + +'And what brings him here?' + +'So far as I can yet understand, the family and kin have gathered for +the marriage of his sister, the Lady Anne--the red-cheeked maiden in the +rose-coloured kirtle--to the young Sir Richard Nevil, the same who gave +his hand to thee, Annis--the son of my Lord of Salisbury.' + +'That was the old knight who led thee in, mother,' said Annis. 'Did you +say he was brother to the Duchess?' + +'Even so. There were fifteen or twenty Nevils of Raby--he was one of the +eldest, she one of the youngest. Their mother was a Beaufort, aunt to +yours.' + +'Oh, I shall never unravel them!' exclaimed Eleanor, spreading out her +hands in bewilderment. + +Lady Drummond laughed, having come to the time of life when ladies enjoy +genealogies. + +'It will be enough,' she said, 'to remember that almost all are, like +yourselves, grandchildren or great-grandchildren to King Edward of +Windsor.' + +Jean, however, wanted to know which were nearest to herself, and which +were noblest. The first question Lady Drummond said she could hardly +answer; perhaps the Earl of Salisbury and the Duchess, but the Duke was +certainly noblest by birth, having a double descent from King Edward, +and in the male line. + +'Was not his father put to death by this King's father?' asked Eleanor. + +'Ay, the Earl of Cambridge, for a foul plot. I have heard my Lord of +Salisbury speak of it; but this young man was of tender years, and +King Harry of Monmouth did not bear malice, but let him succeed to the +dukedom when his uncle was killed in the Battle of Agincourt.' + +'They have not spirit here to keep up a feud,' said Jean. + +'My good brother--ay, and your father, Jeanie--were wont to say they +were too Christian to hand on a feud,' observed Dame Lilias, at which +Jean tossed her head, and said-- + +'That may suit such a carpet-knight as yonder Duke. He is not so tall as +Elleen there, nor as his own Duchess.' + +'I do not like the Duchess,' said Annis; 'she looks as if she scorned +the very ground she walks on.' + +'She is wondrous bonnie, though,' said Eleanor; 'and so was the bairnie +by her side.' + +In some degree Jean changed her opinion of the Duke, in consequence, +perhaps, of the very marked attention that he showed her when the supper +was spread. She had never been so made to feel what it was to be at once +a king's daughter and a beauty; and at the most magnificent banquet she +had ever known. + +Durham had afforded a great advance on Scottish festivities; but in the +absence of its Prince Bishop, another Nevil, it had lacked much of what +was to be found at Fotheringay in the full blossoming of the splendours +of the princely nobility of England, just ere the decimation that they +were to perpetrate on one another. + +The hall itself was vast, and newly finished in the rich culmination of +Gothic work, with a fan tracery-vaulted roof, a triumph of architecture, +each stalactite glowing with a shield or a badge of England, France, +Mortimer, and Nevil--lion or lily, falcon and fetterlock, white rose and +dun cow, all and many others--likewise shining in the stained glass of +the great windows. + +The high table was loaded with gold and silver plate, and Venice glasses +even more precious; there were carpets under the feet of the nobler +guests, and even the second and third tables were spread with more +richness and refinement than ever the sisters of James II had known +in their native land. In a gallery above, the Duke's musicians and the +choristers of his chapel were ready to enliven the meal; and as the +chief guest, the Lady Joanna of Scotland was handed to her place by the +Duke of York, who, as she now perceived, though small in stature, was +eminently handsome and graceful, and conversed with her, not as a mere +child, but as a fair lady of full years. + +Eleanor, who sat on his other hand beside the Earl of Salisbury, was +rather provoked with her sister for never asking after the fate of her +champion; but was reassured by seeing his red head towering among the +numerous squires and other retainers of the second rank. It certainly +was not his proper place, but it was plain that he was not in disgrace; +and in fact the whole affair had been treated as a mere pardonable +blunder of the rangers. The superior one was sitting next to the young +Scot, making good cheer with him. Grand as the whole seemed to the +travellers, it was not an exceptional banquet; indeed, the Duchess +apologised for its simplicity, since she had been taken at unawares, +evidently considering it as the ordinary family meal. There was ample +provision, served up in by no means an unrefined manner, even to the +multitudinous servants and retainers of the various trains; and beyond, +on the steps and in the court, were a swarm of pilgrims, friars, poor, +and beggars of all kinds, waiting for the fragments. + +It was a wet evening, and when the tables were drawn the guests devoted +themselves to various amusements. Lord Salisbury challenged Sir Patrick +to a game at chess, Lady Salisbury and Dame Lilias wished for nothing +better than to converse over old times at Middleham Castle; but the +younger people began with dancing, the Duke, who was only thirty years +old, leading out the elder Scottish princess, and the young King of the +Isle of Wight the stately and beautiful Duchess Cicely. Eleanor, +who knew she did not excel in anything that required grace, and was, +besides, a good deal fatigued, would fain have excused herself when +paired with the young Richard Nevil; but there was a masterful look +about him that somewhat daunted her, and she obeyed his summons, though +without acquitting herself with anything approaching to the dexterity +of her sister, who, with quite as little practice as herself, danced +well--by quickness of eye and foot, and that natural elegance of +movement which belongs to symmetry. + +The dance was a wreathing in and out of the couples, including all +of rank to dance together, and growing more and more animated, till +excitement took the place of weariness; and Eleanor's pale cheeks were +flushed, her eyes glowing, when the Duchess's signal closed the dance. + +Music was then called for, and several of the princely company sang to +the lute; Jean, pleased to show there was something in which her sister +excelled, and gratified at some recollections that floated up of her +father's skill in minstrelsy, insisted on sending for Eleanor's harp. + +'Oh, Jean, not now; I canna,' murmured Eleanor, who had been sitting +with fixed eyes, as though in a dream. + +But the Duke and other nobles came and pressed her, and Jean whispered +to her not to show herself a fule body, and disgrace herself before +the English, setting the harp before her and attending to the strings. +Eleanor's fingers then played over them in a dreamy, fitful way, that +made the old Earl raise his head and say-- + +'That twang carries me back to King Harry's tent, and the good old time +when an Englishman's sword was respected.' + +''Tis the very harp,' said Sir Patrick; 'ay, and the very tune--' + +'Come, Elleen, begin. What gars thee loiter in that doited way?' +insisted Jean. 'Come, "Up atween."' + +And, led by her sister in spite of herself, almost, as it were, without +volition, Eleanor's sweet pathetic voice sang-- + + + 'Up atween yon twa hill-sides, lass, + Where I and my true love wont to be, + A' the warld shall never ken, lass, + What my true love said to me. + + 'Owre muckle blinking blindeth the ee, lass, + Owre muckle thinking changeth the mind, + Sair is the life I've led for thee, lass, + Farewell warld, for it's a' at an end.' + + +Her voice had been giving way through the last verse, and in the final +line, with a helpless wail of the harp, she hid her face, and sank back +with a strange choked agony. + +'Why, Elleen! Elleen, how now?' cried Jean. 'Cousin Lilias, come!' + +Lady Drummond was already at her side, and the Duchess and Lady +Salisbury proffering essences and cordials, the gentlemen offering +support; but in a moment or two Eleanor recovered enough to cling to +Lady Drummond, muttering-- + +'Oh, take me awa', take me awa'!' + +And hushing the scolding which Jean was commencing by way of bracing, +and rejecting all the kind offers of service, Dame Lilias led the girl +away, leaving Jean to make excuses and explanations about her sister +being but 'silly' since they had lost their mother, and the tune minding +her of home and of her father. + +When, with only Annis following, the chambers had been reached, Eleanor +let herself sink on a cushion, hiding her face against her friend, and +sobbing hysterically-- + +'Oh, take me awa', take me awa'! It's all blood and horror!' + +'My bairnie, my dearie! You are over-weary--'tis but a dreamy fancy. +Look up! All is safe; none can harm you here.' + +With soothings, and with some of the wine on the table, Lady Drummond +succeeded in calming the girl, and, with Annis's assistance, she +undressed her and placed her in the bed. + +'Oh, do not gang! Leave me not,' she entreated. And as the lady sat by +her, holding her hand, she spoke, 'It was all dim before me as the music +played, and--' + +'Thou wast sair forefaughten, dearie.' + +Eleanor went on-- + +'And then as I touched mine harp, all, all seemed to swim in a mist of +blood and horror. There was the old Earl and the young bridegroom, and +many and many more of them, with gaping wounds and deathly faces--all +but the young King of the Isle of Wight and his shroud, his shroud, +Cousin Lily, it was up to his breast; and the ladies' faces that were +so blithe, they were all weeping, ghastly, and writhen; and they were +whirling round a great sea of blood right in the middle of the hall, and +I could--I could bear it no longer.' + +Lady Drummond controlled herself, and for the sake both of the sobbing +princess and of her own shuddering daughter said that this terrible +vision came of the fatigue of the day, and the exhaustion and excitement +that had followed. She also knew that on poor Eleanor that fearful +Eastern's Eve had left an indelible impression, recurring in any +state of weakness or fever. She scarcely marvelled at the strange and +frightful fancies, except that she believed enough in second-sight to +be concerned at the mention of the shroud enfolding the young Beauchamp, +who bore the fanciful title of the King of the Isle of Wight. + +For the present, however, she applied herself to the comforting of +Eleanor with tender words and murmured prayers, and never left her till +she had slept and wakened again, her full self, upon Jean coming up to +bed at nine o'clock--a very late hour--escorted by sundry of the ladies +to inquire for the patient. + +Jean was still excited, but she was, with all her faults, very fond of +her sister, and obeyed Lady Drummond in being as quiet as possible. +She seemed to take it as a matter of course that Elleen should have her +strange whims. + +'Mother used to beat her for them,' she said, 'but Nurse Ankaret said +that made her worse, and we kept them secret as much as we could. To +think of her having them before all that English folk! But she will be +all right the morn.' + +This proved true; after the night's rest Eleanor rose in the morning +as if nothing had disturbed her, and met her hosts as if no visions +had hung around them. It was well, for Sir Patrick had accepted the +invitation courteously given by the Duke of York to join the great +cavalcade with which he, with his brothers-in-law, the Earl of Salisbury +and Bishop of Durham, and the Earl of Warwick, alias the King of the +Isle of Wight, were on their way to the Parliament that was summoned +anent the King's marriage. The unwilling knights of the shire and +burgesses of Northampton who would have to assist in the money grant +had asked his protection; and all were to start early on the Monday--for +Sunday was carefully observed as a holiday, and the whole party in all +their splendours attended high mass in the beautiful church. + +After time had been given for the ensuing meal, all the yeomen and young +men of the neighbourhood came up to the great outer court of the castle, +where there was ample space for sports and military exercises, shooting +with the long and cross bow, riding at the quintain and the like, in +competitions with the grooms and men-at-arms attached to the retinue of +the various great men; and the wives, daughters, and sweethearts came +up to watch them. For the most successful there were prizes of leathern +coats, bows, knives, and the like, and refreshments of barley-bread, +beef, and very small beer, served round with a liberal hand by the +troops of servants bearing the falcon and fetterlock badge, and all was +done not merely in sport but very much in earnest, in the hope on the +part of the Duke, and all who were esteemed patriotic, that these youths +might serve in retaining at least, if not in recovering, the English +conquests. + +Those of gentle blood abstained from their warlike exercises on this day +of the week, but they looked on from the broad walk in the thickness of +the massive walls; the Duke with his two beautiful little boys by his +side, the young Earls of March and Rutland, handsome fair children, in +whom the hereditary blue eyes and fair complexion of the Plantagenets +recurred, and who bade fair to surpass their father in stature. Their +mother was by right and custom to distribute the prizes, but she always +disliked doing so, and either excused herself, or reached them out +with the ungracious demeanour that had won for her the muttered name +of 'Proud Cis'. On this day she had avoided the task on the plea of the +occupations caused by her approaching journey, and the Duke put in her +place his elder boy and his little cousin, Lady Anne Beauchamp, the +child of the young King of the Isle of Wight--a short-lived little +delicate being, but very fair and pretty, so that the two children +together upon a stone chair, cushioned with red velvet, were like a +fairy king and queen, and there was many a murmur of admiration, and +'Bless their little hearts' or 'their sweet faces,' as Anne's dainty +fingers handled the prizes, big bows or knives, arrows or belts, and +Edward had a smile and appropriate speech for each, such as 'Shoot at a +Frenchman's breast next time, Bob'; 'There's a knife to cut up the deer +with, Will,' and the like amenities, at which his father nodded, well +pleased to see the arts of popularity coming to him by nature. +Sir Patrick watched with grave eyes, as he thought of his beloved +sovereign's desire to see his people thus practised in arms without +peril of feud and violence to one another. + +Jean looked on, eager to see some of the Scots of their own escort +excel the English pock-puddings, but though Dandie and two or three +more contended, the habits were too unfamiliar for them to win any great +distinction, and George Douglas did not come forward; the competition +was not for men of gentle blood, and success would have brought him +forward in a manner it was desirable to avoid. There was a good deal of +merry talk between Jean and the hosts, enemies though she regarded +them. The Duke of York was evidently much struck with her beauty and +liveliness, and he asked Sir Patrick in private whether there were +any betrothal or contract in consequence of which he was taking her to +France. + +'None,' said Sir Patrick, 'it is merely to be with her sister, the +Dauphiness.' + +'Then,' said young Richard Nevil, who was standing by him, and seemed to +have instigated the question, 'there would be no hindrance supposing she +struck the King's fancy.' + +'The King is contracted,' said Sir Patrick. + +'Half contracted! but to the beggarly daughter of a Frenchman who calls +himself king of half-a-dozen realms without an acre in any of them. It +is not gone so far but that it might be thrown over if he had sense and +spirit not to be led by the nose by the Cardinal and Suffolk.' + +'Hush-hush, Dick! this is dangerous matter,' said the Duke, and Sir +Patrick added-- + +'These ladies are nieces to the Cardinal.' + +'That is well, and it would win the more readily consent--even though +Suffolk and his shameful peace were thrown over,' eagerly said the +future king-maker. + +'Gloucester would be willing,' added the Duke. 'He loved the damsel's +father, and hateth the French alliance.' + +'I spoke with her,' added Nevil, 'and, red-hot little Scot as she is, +she only lacks an English wedlock to make her as truly English, which +this wench of Anjou can never be.' + +'She would give our meek King just the spring and force he needs,' said +the Duke; 'but thou wilt hold thy peace, Sir Knight, and let no whisper +reach the women-folk.' + +This Sir Patrick readily promised. He was considerably tickled by the +idea of negotiating such an important affair for his young King and his +protegee, feeling that the benefit to Scotland might outweigh any qualms +as to the disappointment to the French allies. Besides, if King Henry of +Windsor should think proper to fall in love with her, he could not help +it; he had not brought her away from home or to England with any such +purpose; he had only to stand by and let things take their course, so +long as the safety and honour of her, her brother, and the kingdom +were secure. So reasoned the canny Scot, but he held his tongue to his +Lilias. + + + + +CHAPTER 4. ST. HELEN S + + + 'I thought King Henry had resembled thee, + In courage, courtship, and proportion: + But all his mind is bent to holiness, + To number Ave-Maries on his beads: + His champions are the prophets and apostles; + His weapons, holy saws of sacred writ.' + King Henry VI. + + +George Douglas's chivalrous venture in defence of the falcon of his +lady-love had certainly not done much for him hitherto, as Davie +observed. The Lady Joanna, as every one now called her, took it as only +the bounden duty and natural service of one of her suite, and would have +cared little for his suffering for it personally, except so far as it +concerned her own dignity, which she understood much better than she +had done in Scotland, where she was only one of 'the lassies,' an +encumbrance to every one. + +The York retainers had dropped all idea of visiting his offence upon +Douglas when they found that he had acted in the service of an honoured +guest of their lord, but they did not look with much favour on him or +on any other of the Scottish troop, whom their master enjoined them to +treat as guests and comrades. + +The uniting of so many suites of the mighty nobles of the fifteenth +century formed quite a little army, amounting to some two or three +hundred horsemen, mostly armed, and well appointed, with their masters' +badges on their sleeves,--falcon and fetterlock, dun cow, bear and +ragged staff and the cross of Durham, while all likewise wore in their +caps the white rose. Waggons with household furniture and kitchen +needments had been sent in advance with the numerous 'black guard,' and +a provision of cattle for slaughter accompanied these, since it was one +of the considerate acts that already had won affection to Richard of +York that, unlike many of the great nobles, he always avoided as much as +possible letting his train be oppressive to the country-people. + +David Drummond had been seeing that all his father's troop were duly +provided with the Drummond badge, the thyme, which was requisite as +showing them accepted of the Duke of York's company, but as George and +his follower had never submitted to wear it, he was somewhat surprised +to find the gray blossom prominent in George's steel-guarded cap, and to +hear him saying-- + +'Don it, Ringan, as thou wouldst obey me.' + +'His father's son is not his own father,' said Ringan sulkily. + +'Then tak' thy choice of wearing it, or winning hame as thou canst--most +like hanging on the nearest oak.' + +'And I'd gey liefer than demean myself in the Drummond thyme!' replied +Ringan, half turning away. 'But then what would come of Gray Meg wi' +only the Master to see till her,' muttered he, caressing the mare's +neck. 'Weel, aweel, sir'--and he held out his hand for the despised +spray. + +'Is yon thy wild callant, Geordie?' said David in some surprise, for +Ringan was not only provided with a pony, but his thatch of tow-like +hair had been trimmed and covered with a barret cap, and his leathern +coat and leggings were like those of the other horse-boys. + +'Ay,' said George, 'this is no place to be ower kenspeckle.' + +'I was coming to ask,' said David, 'if thou wouldst not own thyself to +my father, and take thy proper place ere ganging farther south. It irks +me to see some of the best blood in Scotland among the grooms.' + +'It must irk thee still, Davie,' returned George. 'These English folk +might not thole to see my father's son in their hands without winning +something out of him, and I saw by what passed the other day that thou +and thy father would stand by me, hap what hap, and I'll never embroil +him and peril the lady by my freak.' + +'My father kens pretty well wha is riding in his companie,' said David. + +'Ay, but he is not bound to ken.' + +'And thou winna write to the Yerl, as ye said ye would when ye were ower +the Border? There's a clerk o' the Bishop of Durham ganging back, and +my father is writing letters that he will send forward to the King, and +thou couldst get a scart o' the pen to thy father.' + +'And what wad be thought of a puir man-at-arms sending letters to +the Yerl?' said George. 'Na, na; I may write when we win to France, +a friendly land, but while we are in England, the loons shall make +naething out of my father's son.' + +'Weel, gang thine ain gait, and an unco strange one it is,' said David. +'I marvel what thou count'st on gaining by it!' + +'The sicht of her at least,' said George. 'Nay, she needed a stout hand +once, she may need it again.' + +Whereat David waved his hands in a sort of contemptuous wonder. + +'If it were the Duchess of York now!' he said. 'She is far bonnier and +even prouder, gin that be what tak's your fancy! And as to our Jeanie, +they are all cockering her up till she'll no be content with a king. I +doot me if the Paip himself wad be good enough for her!' + +It was true that the brilliant and lively Lady Joanna was in high favour +with the princely gallants of the cavalcade. The only member of the +party at all equal to her in beauty was the Duchess of York, who +travelled in a whirlicote with her younger children and her ladies, and +at the halting-places never relaxed the stiff dignity with which she +treated every one. Eleanor did indeed accompany her sister, but she had +not Jean's quick power of repartee, and she often answered at haphazard, +and was not understood when she did reply; nor had she Jean's beauty, +so that in the opinion of most of the young nobles she was but a raw, +almost dumb, Scotswoman, and was left to herself as much as courtesy +permitted, except by the young King of the Isle of Wight, a gentle, +poetical personage, in somewhat delicate health, with tastes that made +him the chosen companion of the scholarly King Henry. He could repeat a +great deal of Chaucer's poetry by heart, the chief way in which people +could as yet enjoy books, and there was an interchange between them of +"Blind Harry" and of the "Canterbury Tales", as they rode side by side, +sometimes making their companions laugh, and wonder that the youthful +queen was not jealous. Dame Lilias found her congenial companion in the +Countess Alice of Salisbury, who could talk with her of that golden +age of the two kings, Henry and James, of her brother Malcolm, and of +Esclairmonde de Luxembourg, now Sister Clare, whom they hoped soon to +see in the sisterhood of St. Katharine's. + +'Hers hath been the happy course, the blessed dedication,' said Countess +Alice. + +'We have both been blessed too, thanks to the saints,' returned Lilias. + +'That is indeed sooth,' replied the other lady. 'My lord hath ever been +most good to me, and I have had joy of my sons. Yet there is much that +my mind forbodes and shrinks back from in dread, as I watch my son +Richard's overmastering spirit.' + +'The Cardinal and the Duke of Gloucester have long been at strife, as we +heard,' said Lady Drummond, 'but sure that will be appeased now that the +Cardinal is an old man and your King come to years of discretion.' + +'The King is a sweet youth, a very saint already,' replied the Countess, +'but I misdoubt whether he have the stout heart and strong hand of his +father, and he is set on peace.' + +'Peace is to be followed,' said Lilias, amazed at the tone in which her +friend mentioned it. + +'Peace at home! Ay, but peace at home is only to be had by war abroad. +Peace abroad without honour only leaves these fiery spirits to fume, +and fly at one another's throats, or at those who wrought it. My mind +misgives me, mine old friend, lest wrangling lead to blows. I had rather +see my Richard spurring against the French than against his cousins of +Somerset, and while they advance themselves and claim to be nearer in +blood to the King than our good host of York, so long will there be +cause of bitterness.' + +'Our kindly host seems to wish evil to no man.' + +'Nay, he is content enough, but my sister his wife, and alas! my son, +cannot let him forget that after the Duke of Gloucester he is highest in +the direct male line to King Edward of Windsor, and in the female line +stands nearer than this present King.' + +'In Scotland he would not forget that his father suffered for that very +cause.' + +'Ah, Lilias, thou hast seen enow of what such blood-feuds work in +Scotland to know how much I dread and how I pray they may never awaken +here. The blessed King Harry of Monmouth kept them down by the strong +hand, while he won all hearts to himself. It is my prayer that his young +son may do the like, and that my Lord of York be not fretted out of his +peaceful loyalty by the Somerset "outrecuidance", and above all that +my own son be not the make-bate; but Richard is proud and fiery, and I +fear--I greatly fear, what may be in store for us.' + +Lilias thought of Eleanor's vision, but kept silence respecting it. + +Forerunners had been sent on by the Duke of York to announce his coming, +and who were in his company; and on the last stage these returned, +bringing with them a couple of knights and of clerks on the part of the +Cardinal of Winchester to welcome his great-nieces, whom he claimed as +his guests. + +'I had hoped that the ladies of Scotland would honour my poor house,' +said the Duke. + +'The Lord Cardinal deems it thus more fitting,' said the portly priest +who acted as Beaufort's secretary, and who spoke with an authority that +chafed the Duke. + +Richard Nevil rode up to him and muttered--'He hath divined our purpose, +and means to cross it.' + +The clerk, however, spoke with Sir Patrick, and in a manner took +possession of the young ladies. They were riding between walled courts, +substantially built, with intervals of fields and woods, or sometimes +indeed of morass; for London was still an island in the middle of +swamps, with the great causeways of the old Roman times leading to +it. The spire of St. Paul's and the square keep of the Tower had been +pointed out to them, and Jean exclaimed-- + +'My certie, it is a braw toon!' + +But Eleanor, on her side, exclaimed-- + +''Tis but a flat! Mine eye wearies for the sea; ay, and for Arthur's +Seat and the Castle! Oh, I wadna gie Embro' for forty of sic toons!' + +Perhaps Jean had guessed enough to make her look on London with an eye +of possession, for her answer was-- + +'Hear till her; and she was the first to cry out upon Embro' for a place +of reivers and land-loupers, and to want to leave it.' + +There was so much that was new and wonderful that the sisters pursued +the question no further. They saw the masts of the shipping in the +Thames, and what seemed to them a throng of church towers and spires; +while, nearer, the road began to be full of market-folk, the women in +hoods and mantles and short petticoats, the men in long frocks, such as +their Saxon forefathers had worn, driving the rough ponies or donkeys +that had brought in their produce. There were begging friars in cowl and +frock, and beggars, not friars, with crutch and bowl; there were gleemen +and tumbling women, solid tradesfolk going out to the country farms they +loved, troops of 'prentices on their way to practice with the bow or +cudgel, and parties of gaily-coloured nobles, knights, squires, and +burgesses, coming, like their own party, to the meeting of Parliament. + +There were continual greetings, the Duke of York showing himself most +markedly courteous to all, his dark head being almost continuously +uncovered, and bending to his saddle-bow in response to the salutations +that met him; and friendly inquiries and answers being often exchanged. +The Earl of Salisbury and his son were almost equally courteous; but in +the midst of all the interest of these greetings, soon after entering +the city at Bishopsgate, the clerk caused the two Scottish sisters to +draw up at an arched gateway in a solid-looking wall, saying that it was +here that my Lord Cardinal wished his royal kinswomen to be received, at +the Priory of St. Helen's. A hooded lay-sister looked out at a wicket, +and on his speaking to her, proceeded to unbar the great gates, while +the Duke of York took leave in a more than kindly manner, declaring that +they would meet again, and that he knew 'My Lady of St. Helen's would +make them good cheer.' + +Indeed, he himself and the King of Wight rode into the outer court, and +lifted the two ladies down from horseback, at the inner gate, beyond +which they might not go. Jean, crossed now for the first time since she +had left home, was in tears of vexation, and could hardly control her +voice to respond to his words, muttering-- + +'As if I looked for this. Beshrew the old priest!' + +None but female attendants could be admitted. Sir Patrick, with his sons +and the rest of the train, was to be lodged at the great palace of the +Bishop of Winchester at Southwark, and as he came up to take leave of +Jean, she said, with a stamp of her foot and a clench of her hand-- + +'Let my uncle know that I am no cloister-bird to be mewed up here. I +demand to be with the friends I have made, and who have bidden me.' + +Shrewd Sir Patrick smiled a little as he said-- + +'I will tell the Lord Cardinal what you say, lady; but methinks you will +find that submission to him with a good grace carries you farther here +than does ill-humour.' + +He said something of the same kind to his wife as he took leave of +her, well knowing who were predominant with the King, and who were in +opposition, the only link being the King of Wight, or rather Earl of +Warwick, who, as the son of Henry's guardian, had been bred up in the +closest intimacy with the monarch, and, indeed, had been invested with +his fantastic sovereignty that he might be treated as a brother and on +an equality. + +Jean, however, remained very angry and discontented. After her neglected +and oppressed younger days, the courtesy and admiration she had received +for the last ten days had the effect of making her like a spoilt child; +and when they entered the inner cloistered court within, and were met by +the Lady Prioress, at the head of all her sisters in black dresses, she +hardly vouchsafed an inclination of the head in reply to the graceful +and courtly welcome with which the princesses, nieces to the great +Cardinal, were received. Eleanor, usually in the background, was left in +surprise and confusion to stammer out thanks in broad Scotch, seconded +by Lady Drummond, who could make herself far more intelligible to these +south-country ears. + +There was a beautiful cloister, a double walk with clustered columns +running down the centre and a vaulted roof, and with a fountain in the +midst of the quadrangle. There was a chapel on one side, the buildings +of the Priory on the others. It was only a Priory, for the parent Abbey +was in the country; but the Prioress was a noble lady of the house of +Stafford, a small personage as to stature, but thoroughly alert and +business-like, and, in fact, the moving spring, not only of the actual +house, but of the parent Abbey, manager of the property it possessed in +the city, and of all its monastic politics. + +Without apparent offence, she observed that no doubt the ladies were +weary, and that Sister Mabel should conduct them to the guest-chamber. +Accordingly one of the black figures led the way, and as soon as +they were beyond ear-shot there were observations that would not have +gratified Jean. + +'The ill-nurtured Scots!' cried one young nun. ''Tis ever the way with +them,' returned a much older one. 'I mind when one was captive in my +father's castle who was a mere clown, and drank up the water that was +meant to wash his fingers after meat. The guest-chamber will need a +cleaning after they are gone!' + +'Methinks it was less lack of manners than lack of temper,' said the +Prioress. 'She hath the Beaufort face and the Beaufort spirit.' + +The chapel bell began to ring, and the black veils and white filed in +long procession to the pointed doorway, while the two Scottish damsels, +with Lady Drummond, her daughter, and Christie, were conducted to three +chambers looking out on the one side on the cloistered court, on the +other over a choicely-kept garden, walled in, but planted with trees +shading the turf walks. The rooms were, as Sister Mabel explained with +some complacency, reserved for the lodging of the noble ladies who came +to London as guests of my Lord Cardinal, or with petitions to the King; +and certainly there was nothing of asceticism about them; but they were +an advance even on those at Fotheringay. St. Helena discovering the +Cross was carved over the ample chimney, and the hangings were of +Spanish leather, with all the wondrous history of Santiago's relics, +including the miracle of the cock and hen, embossed and gilt upon them. +There was a Venetian mirror, in which the ladies saw more of themselves +than they had ever done before, and with exquisite work around; there +were carved chests inlaid with ivory, and cushions, perfect marvels of +needlework, as were the curtains and coverlets of the mighty bed, and +the screens to be arranged for privacy. There were toilette vessels of +beautifully shaped and brightly polished brass, and on a silver salver +was a refection of manchet bread, comfits, dried cherries, and wine. + +Sister Mabel explained that a lay-sister would be at hand, in case +anything was needed by the noble ladies, and then hurried away to +vespers. + +Jean threw herself upon the cross-legged chair that stood nearest. + +'A nunnery forsooth! Does our uncle trow that is what I came here for? +We have had enow of nunneries at home.' + +'Oh, fie for shame, Jeanie!' cried Eleanor. + +''Twas thou that saidst it,' returned Jean. 'Thou saidst thou hadst no +call to the veil, and gin my Lord trows that we shall thole to be shut +up here, he will find himself in the wrong.' + +'Lassie, lassie,' exclaimed Lady Drummond, 'what ails ye? This is but a +lodging, and sic a braw chamber as ye hae scarce seen before. Would you +have your uncle lodge ye among all his priests and clerks? Scarce the +place for douce maidens, I trow.' + +'Leddy of Glenuskie, ye're not sae sib to the bluid royal of Scotland as +to speak thus! Lassie indeed!' + +Again Eleanor remonstrated. 'Jeanie, to speak thus to our gude +kinswoman!' + +'I would have all about me ken their place, and what fits them,' said +the haughty young lady, partly out of ill-temper and disappointment, +partly in imitation of the demeanour of Duchess Cicely. 'As to the +Cardinal, I would have him bear in mind that we are a king's own +daughters, and he is at best but the grandson of a king! And if he deems +that he has a right to shut us up here out of sight of the King and +his court, lest we should cross his rule over his King and disturb his +French policy and craft, there are those that will gar him ken better!' + +'Some one else will ken better,' quietly observed Dame Lilias. 'Gin ye +be no clean daft, Leddy Joanna, since naething else will serve ye, canna +ye see that to strive with the Cardinal is the worst gait to win his +favour with the King, gin that be what ye be set upon?' + +'There be others that can deal with the King, forbye the Cardinal,' said +Jean, tossing her head. + +Just then arrived a sister, sent by the Mother Prioress, to invite the +ladies to supper in her own apartments. + +Her respectful manner so far pacified Jean's ill-humour that a civil +reply was returned; the young ladies bestirred themselves to make +preparations, though Jean grumbled at the trouble for 'a pack of +womenfolk'--and supposed they were to make a meal of dried peas and red +herrings, like their last on Lammermuir. + +It was a surprise to be conducted, not to the refectory, where all the +nuns took their meal together, but to a small room opening into the +cloister on one side, and with a window embowered in vines on the other, +looking into the garden. It was by no means bare, like the typical cells +of strict convents. The Mother, Margaret Stafford, was a great lady, and +the Benedictines of the old foundation of St. Helen's in the midst of +the capital were indeed respectable and respected, but very far from +strict observers of their rule--and St. Helen's was so much influenced +by the wealth and display of the city that the nuns, many of whom were +these great merchants' daughters, would have been surprised to be told +that they had departed from Benedictine simplicity. So the Prioress's +chamber was tapestried above with St. Helena's life, and below was +enclosed with drapery panels. It was strewed with sweet fresh rushes, +and had three cross-legged chairs, besides several stools; the table, as +usual upon trestles, was provided with delicate napery, and there was a +dainty perfume about the whole; a beautiful crucifix of ivory and ebony, +with images of Our Lady and St. John on either side, and another figure +of St. Helena, cross in hand, presiding over the holy water stoup, were +the most ecclesiastical things in the garniture, except the exquisitely +illuminated breviary that lay open upon a desk. + +Mother Margaret rose to receive her guests with as much dignity as +Jean herself could have shown, and made them welcome to her poor house, +hoping that they would there find things to their mind. + +Something restrained Jean from bursting out with her petulant complaint, +and it was Eleanor who replied with warm thanks. 'My Lord Cardinal +would come to visit them on the morn,' the Prioress said; 'and in the +meantime, she hoped,' looking at Jean, 'they would condescend to the +hospitality of the poor daughters of St. Helen.' + +The hospitality, as brought in by two plump, well-fed lay-sisters, +consisted of 'chickens in cretyne,' stewed in milk, seasoned with sugar, +coloured with saffron, of potage of oysters, butter of almond-milk, +and other delicate meats, such as had certainly never been tasted at +Stirling or Dunbar. Lady Drummond's birth entitled her and Annis to +sit at table with the Princesses and the Prioress, and she ventured to +inquire after Esclairmonde de Luxembourg, or, as she was now called, +Sister Clare of St. Katharine's. + +'I see her at times. She is the head of the sisters,' said the Prioress; +'but we have few dealings with uncloistered sisters.' + +'They do a holy work,' observed Lady Lilias. + +'None ever blamed the Benedictines for lack of alms-deeds,' returned the +Prioress haughtily, scarcely attending to the guest's disclaimer. 'Nor +do I deem it befitting that instead of the poor coming to us our sisters +should run about to all the foulest hovels of the Docks, encountering +men continually, and those of the rudest sort.' + +'Yet there are calls and vocations for all,' ventured Lady Drummond. +'And the sick are brethren in need.' + +'Let them send to us for succour then,' answered Mother Margaret. 'I +grant that it is well that some one should tend them in their huts, but +such tasks are for sisters of low birth and breeding. Mine are ladies of +noble rank, though I do admit daughters of Lord Mayors and Aldermen.' + +'Our Saint Margaret was a queen, Reverend Mother,' put in Eleanor. + +'She was no nun, saving your Grace,' said the Prioress. 'What I speak of +is that which beseems a daughter of St. Bennet, of an ancient and royal +foundation! The saving of the soul is so much harder to the worldly +life, specially to a queen, that it is no marvel if she has to abase +herself more--even to the washing of lepers--than is needful to a vowed +and cloistered sister.' + +It was an odd theory, that this Benedictine seclusion saved trouble, +as being actually the strait course; but the young maidens were not +scholars enough to question it, and Dame Lilias, though she had learnt +more from her brother and her friend, would have deemed it presumptuous +to dispute with a Reverend Mother. So only Eleanor murmured, 'The holy +Margaret no saint'--and Jean, 'Weel, I had liefer take my chance.' + +'All have not a vocation,' piously said the Mother. 'Taste this Rose +Dalmoyne, Madame; our lay-sister Mold is famed for making it. An +alderman of the Fishmongers' Company sent to beg that his cook might +know the secret, but that was not to be lightly parted with, so we only +send them a dish for their banquets.' + +Rose Dalmoyne was chiefly of peas, flavoured with almonds and milk, but +the guests grew weary of the varieties of delicacies, and were very glad +when the tables were removed, and Eleanor asked permission to look at +the illuminations in the breviary on the desk. + +And exquisite they were. The book had been brought from Italy and +presented to the Prioress by a merchant who wished to place his daughter +in St. Helen's, and the beauty was unspeakable. There were natural +flowers painted so perfectly that the scattered violets seemed to invite +the hand to lift them up from their gold-besprinkled bed, and flies and +beetles that Eleanor actually attempted to drive away; and at all the +greater holy days, the type and the antitype covering the two whole +opposite pages were represented in the admirable art and pure colouring +of the early Cinquecento. + +Eleanor and Annis were entranced, and the Prioress, seeing that books +had an attraction for her younger guest, promised her on the morrow a +sight of some of the metrical lives of the saints, especially of St. +Katharine and of St. Cecilia. It must be owned that Jean was not fretted +as she expected by chapel bells in the middle of the night, nor was +even Lady Drummond summoned by them as she intended, but there was a +conglomeration of the night services in the morning, with beautiful +singing, that delighted Eleanor, and the festival mass ensuing was also +more ornate than anything to be seen in Scotland. And that the extensive +almsgiving had not been a vain boast was evident from the swarms of poor +of all kinds who congregated in the outer court for the attention of +the Sisters Almoner and Infirmarer, attended by two or three novices and +some lay-sisters. + +There were genuine poor, ragged forlorn women, and barefooted, almost +naked children, and also sturdy beggars, pilgrims and palmers on their +way to various shrines, north or south, and many more for whom a dole of +broth or bread sufficed; but there were also others with heads or limbs +tied up, sometimes injured in the many street fights, but oftener with +the terrible sores only too common from the squalid habits and want of +vegetable diet of the poor. These were all attended to with a tenderness +and patience that spoke well for the charity of Sister Anne and her +assistants, and indeed before long Dame Lilias perceived that, however +slack and easy-going the general habits might be, there were truly meek +and saintly women among the sisterhood. + +The morning was not far advanced before a lay-sister came hurrying in +from the portress's wicket to announce that my Lord Cardinal was on his +way to visit the ladies of Scotland. There was great commotion. Mother +Margaret summoned all her nuns and drew them up in state, and Sister +Mabel, who carried the tidings to the guests, asked whether they would +not join in receiving him. + +'We are king's daughters,' said Jean haughtily. + +'But he is a Prince of the Church and an aged man,' said Lady Drummond, +who had already risen, and was adjusting that headgear of Eleanor's that +never would stay in its place. And her matronly voice acted upon Jean, +so as to conquer the petulant pride, enough to make her remember that +the Lady of Glenuskie was herself a Stewart and king's grandchild, and +moreover knew more of courts and their habits than herself. + +So down they went together, in time to join the Prioress on the steps, +as the attendants of the great stately, princely Cardinal Bishop began +to appear. He did not come in state, so that he had only half a dozen +clerks and as many gentlemen in attendance, together with Sir Patrick +and his two sons. + +Few of the Plantagenet family had been long-lived, and Cardinal Beaufort +was almost a marvel in the family at seventy. Much evil has been said +and written of him, and there is no doubt that he was one of those +mediaeval prelates who ought to have been warriors or statesmen, and +that he had been no model for the Episcopacy in his youth. But though +far from having been a saint, it would seem that his unpopularity in his +old age was chiefly incurred by his desire to put an end to the long and +miserable war with France, and by his opposition to a much worse man, +the Duke of Gloucester, whose plausible murmurs and amiable manners +made him a general favourite. At this period of his life the old man had +lived past his political ambitions, and his chief desire was to leave +the gentle young king freed from the wasting war by a permanent peace, +to be secured by a marriage with a near connection of the French +monarch, and daughter to the most honourable and accomplished Prince in +Europe. That his measures turned out wretchedly has been charged upon +his memory, and he has been supposed guilty of a murder, of which he was +certainly innocent, and which probably was no murder at all. + +He had become a very grand and venerable old man, when old men were +scarce, and his white hair and beard (a survival of the customs of the +days of Edward III) contrasted well with his scarlet hat and cape, as he +came slowly into the cloistered court on his large sober-paced Spanish +mule; a knight and the chaplain of the convent assisted him from it, and +the whole troop of the convent knelt as he lifted his fingers to bestow +his blessing, Jean casting a quick glance around to satisfy her proud +spirit. The Prioress then kissed his hand, but he raised and kissed +the cheeks of his two grand-nieces, after which he moved on to the +Prioress's chamber, and there, after being installed in her large chair, +and waving to the four favoured inmates to be also seated, he looked +critically at the two sisters, and observed, 'So, maidens! one favours +the mother, the other the father! Poor Joan, it is two-and-twenty years +since we bade her good-speed, she and her young king--who behoved to +be a minstrel--on her way to her kingdom, as if it were the land of +Cockayne, for picking up gold and silver. Little of that she found, I +trow, poor wench. Alack! it was a sore life we sent her to. And you are +mourning her freshly, my maidens! I trust she died at peace with God and +man.' + +'That reiver, Patrick Hepburn, let the priest from Haddington come to +assoilzie and housel her,' responded Jean. + +'Ah! Masses shall be said for her by my bedesmen at St. Cross, and at +all my churches,' said the Cardinal, crossing himself. 'And you are on +your way to your sister, the Dolfine, as your knight tells me. It is +well. You may be worthily wedded in France, and I will take order for +your safe going. Meantime, this is a house where you may well serve +your poor mother's soul by prayers and masses, and likewise perfect +yourselves in French.' + +This was not at all what Jean had intended, and she pouted a little, +while the Cardinal asked, changing his language, 'Ces donzelles, ont +elles appris le Francais?' + +Jean, who had tried to let Father Romuald teach her a little in +conversation during the first part of the journey, but who had dropped +the notion since other ideas had been inspired at Fotheringay, could not +understand, and pouted the more; but Eleanor, who had been interested, +and tried more in earnest, for Margaret's sake, answered diffidently and +blushing deeply, 'Un petit peu, beau Sire Oncle.' + +He smiled, and said, 'You can be well instructed here. The Reverend +Mother hath sisters here who can both speak and write French of Paris.' + +'That have I truly, my good Lord,' replied the Prioress. 'Sisters Isabel +and Beata spent their younger days, the one at Rouen, the other at +Bordeaux, and have learned many young ladies in the true speaking of the +French tongue.' + +'It is well!' said the Cardinal, 'my fair nieces will have good leisure. +While sharing the orisons that I will institute for the repose of your +mother, you can also be taught the French.' + +Jean could not help speaking now, so far was this from all her hopes. +'Sir, sir, the Duke and Duchess of York, and the Countess of Salisbury, +and the Queen of the Isle of Wight all bade us to be their guests.' + +'They could haply not have been aware of your dool,' said the Cardinal +gravely. + +'But, my Lord, our mother hath been dead since before Martinmas,' +exclaimed Jean. + +'I know not what customs of dool be thought befitting in a land like +Scotland,' said the Cardinal, in such a repressive manner that Jean +was only withheld by awe from bursting into tears of disappointment and +anger at the slight to her country. + +Lady Drummond ventured to speak. 'Alack, my Lord,' she said, 'my poor +Queen died in the hands of a freebooter, leaving her daughters in such +stress and peril that they had woe enough for themselves, till their +brother the King came to their rescue.' + +'The more need that they should fulfil all that may be done for the +grace of her soul,' replied the uncle; but just at this crisis of +Jean's mortification there was a knocking at the door, and a sister +breathlessly entreated-- + +'Pardon! Merci! My Lord, my Lady Mother! Here's the King, the King +himself--and the King and Queen of the Isle of Wight asking licence to +enter to visit the ladies of Scotland.' + +Kings were always held to be free to enter anywhere, even far more +dangerous monarchs than the pious Henry VI. Jean's heart bounded up +again, with a sense of exultation over the old uncle, as the Prioress +went out to receive her new guest, and the Cardinal emitted a sort of +grunting sigh, without troubling himself to go out to meet the youth, +whom he had governed from babyhood, and in whose own name he had, as +one of the council, given permission for wholesome chastisements of the +royal person. + +King Henry entered. He was then twenty-four years old, tall, graceful, +and with beautiful features and complexion, almost feminine in their +delicacy, and with a wonderful purity and sweetness in the expression +of the mouth and blue eyes, so that he struck Eleanor as resembling the +angels in the illuminations that she had been studying, as he removed +his dark green velvet jewelled cap on entering, and gave a cousinly, +respectful kiss lightly to each of the young ladies on her cheek, +somewhat as if he were afraid of them. Then after greeting the Cardinal, +who had risen on his entrance, he said that, hearing that his fair +cousins were arrived, he had come to welcome them, and to entreat them +to let him do them such honour as was possible in a court without a +queen. + +'The which lack will soon be remedied,' put in his grand-uncle. + +'Truly you are in holy keeping here,' said the pious young King, +crossing himself, 'but I trust, my sweet cousins, that you will favour +my poor house at Westminster with your presence at a supper, and share +such entertainment as is in our power to provide.' + +'My nieces are keeping their mourning for their mother, from which they +have hitherto been hindered by the tumults of their kingdom,' said the +Cardinal. + +'Ah!' said the King, crossing himself, and instantly moved, 'far be it +from me to break into their holy retirement for such a purpose.' (Jean +could have bitten the Cardinal.) 'But I will take order with my Lord +Abbot of Westminster for a grand requiem mass for the good Queen Joanna, +at which they will, I trust, be present, and they will honour my poor +table afterwards.' + +To refuse this was quite impossible, and the day was to be fixed after +reference to the Abbess. Meantime the King's eye was caught by the +illuminated breviary. He was a connoisseur in such arts, and eagerly +stood up to look at it as it lay on the desk. Eleanor could not but come +and direct him to the pages with which she had been most delighted. She +found him looking at Jacob's dream on the one side, the Ascension on the +other. + +'How marvellous it is!' she said. 'It is like the very light from the +sky!' + +'Light from heaven,' said the King; 'Jacob has found it among the +stones. Wandering and homelessness are his first step in the ladder to +heaven!' + +'Ah, sir, did you say that to comfort and hearten us?' said Eleanor. + +There was a strange look in the startled blue eyes that met hers. 'Nay, +truly, lady, I presumed not so far! I was but wondering whether those +who are born to have all the world are in the way of the stair to +heaven.' + +Meantime the King of Wight had made his request for the presence of +the ladies at a supper at Warwick House, and Jean, clasping her hands, +implored her uncle to consent. + +'I am sure our mother cannot be the better for our being thus mewed up,' +she cried, 'and I'll rise at prime, and tell my beads for her.' + +She looked so pretty and imploring that the old man's heart was melted, +all the more that the King was paying more attention to the book and the +far less beautiful Eleanor, than to her and the invitation was accepted. + +The convent bell rang for nones, and the King joined the devotions of +the nuns, though he was not admitted within the choir; and just as +these were over, the Countess of Salisbury arrived to take the Lady of +Glenuskie to see their old friend, the Mother Clare at St. Katharine's, +bringing a sober palfrey for her conveyance. + +'A holy woman, full of alms-deeds,' said the King. 'The lady is happy in +her friendship.' + +Which words were worth much to Lady Drummond, for the Prioress sent a +lay-sister to invite Mother Clare to a refection at the convent. + + + + +CHAPTER 5. THE MEEK USURPER + + + 'Henry, thou of holy birth, + Thou to whom thy Windsor gave + Nativity and name and grave! + Heavily upon his head + Ancestral crimes were visited.'--SOUTHEY. + + +It suits not with the main thread of our story to tell of the happy and +peaceful meetings between the Lady of Glenuskie and her old friend, who +had given up almost princely rank and honour to become the servant +of the poor and suffering strangers at the wharves of London. To Dame +Lilias, Mother Clare's quiet cell at St. Katharine's was a blessed haven +of rest, peace, and charity, such as was neither the guest-chamber nor +the Prioress's parlour at St. Helen's, with all the distractions of +the princesses' visitors and invitations, and with the Lady Joanna +continually pulling against the authority that the Cardinal, her uncle, +was exerting over his nieces. + +His object evidently was to keep them back, firstly, from the York +party, and secondly, from the King, under pretext of their mourning for +their mother; and in this he might have succeeded but for the interest +in them that had been aroused in Henry by his companion, namesake, and +almost brother, the King of Wight. The King came or sent each day to St. +Helen's to arrange about the requiem at Westminster, and when their late +travelling companions invited the young ladies to dinner or to supper +expressly to meet the King and the Cardinal--not in state, but at +what would be now called a family party--Beaufort had no excuse for a +refusal, such as he could not give without dire offence. And, indeed, he +was even then obliged to yield to the general voice, and, recalling his +own nephew from Normandy, send the Duke of York to defend the remnant of +the English conquests. + +He could only insist that the requiem should be the first occasion of +the young ladies going out of the convent; but they had so many visitors +there that they had not much cause for murmuring, and the French +instructions of Sister Beata did not amount to much, even with Eleanor, +while Jean loudly protested that she was not going to school. + +The great day of the requiem came at last. The Cardinal had, through +Sir Patrick Drummond and the Lady, provided handsome robes of black and +purple for his nieces, and likewise palfreys for their conveyance to +Westminster; and made it understood that unless Lady Joanna submitted to +be completely veiled he should send a closed litter. + +'The doited auld carle!' she cried, as she unwillingly hooded and veiled +herself. 'One would think we were basilisks to slay the good folk of +London with our eyes.' + +The Drummond following, with fresh thyme sprays, beginning to turn +brown, were drawn up in the outer court, all with black scarves across +the breast--George Douglas among them, of course--and they presently +united with the long train of clerks who belonged to the household of +the Cardinal of Winchester. Jean managed her veil so as to get more than +one peep at the throng in the streets through which they passed, so as +to see and to be seen; and she was disappointed that no acclamations +greeted the fair face thus displayed by fits. She did not understand +English politics enough to know that a Beaufort face and Beaufort train +were the last things the London crowd was likely to applaud. They had +not forgotten the penance of the popular Duke Humfrey's wife, which, +justly or unjustly, was imputed to the Cardinal and his nephews of +Somerset. + +But the King, in robes of purple and black, came to assist her from her +palfrey before the beautiful entry of the Abbey Church, and led her up +the nave to the desks prepared around what was then termed 'a herce,' +but which would now be called a catafalque, an erection supposed to +contain the body, and adorned with the lozenges of the arms of Scotland +and Beaufort, and of the Stewart, in honour of the Black Knight of Lorn. + +The Cardinal was present, but the Abbot of Westminster celebrated. All +was exceedingly solemn and beautiful, in a far different style from the +maimed rites that had been bestowed upon poor Queen Joanna in Scotland. +The young King's face was more angelic than ever, and as psalm and +supplication, dirge and hymn arose, chanted by the full choir, speaking +of eternal peace, Eleanor bowed her head under her veil, as her bosom +swelled with a strange yearning longing, not exactly grief, and large +tears dropped from her eyes as she thought less of her mother than of +her noble-hearted father; and the words came back to her in which Father +Malcolm Stewart, in his own bitter grief, had told the desolate children +to remember that their father was waiting for them in Paradise. Even +Jean was so touched by the music and carried out of herself that she +forgot the spectators, forgot the effect she was to produce, forgot her +struggle with her uncle, and sobbed and wept with all her heart, perhaps +with the more abandon because she, like all the rest, was fasting. + +With much reverence for her emotion, the King, when the service was +over, led her out of the church to the adjoining palace, where the Queen +of Wight and the Countess of Suffolk, a kinswoman through the mother +of the Beauforts, conducted the ladies to unveil themselves before they +were to join the noontide refection with the King. + +There was no great state about it, spread, as it was, not in the great +hall, but in the richly-tapestried room called Paradise. The King's +manner was most gently and sweetly courteous to both sisters. His three +little orphan half-brothers, the Tudors, were at table; and his kind +care to send them dainties, and the look with which he repressed an +unseasonable attempt of Jasper's to play with the dogs, and Edmund's +roughness with little Owen, reminded the sisters of Mary with 'her +weans,' and they began to speak of them when the meal was over, while +he showed them his chief treasures, his books. There was St. Augustine's +City of God, exquisitely copied; there was the History of St. Louis, by +the bon Sire de Joinville; there were Sir John Froissart's Chronicles, +the same that the good Canon had presented to King Richard of Bordeaux. + +Jean cast a careless glance at the illuminations, and exclaimed at Queen +Isabel's high headgear and her becloaked greyhound. Eleanor looked and +longed, and sighed that she could not read the French, and only a very +little of the Latin. + +'This you can read,' said Henry, producing the Canterbury Tales; 'the +fair minstrelsy of my Lady of Suffolk's grandsire.' + +Eleanor was enchanted. Here were the lines the King of Wight had +repeated to her, and she was soon eagerly listening as Henry read to her +the story of 'Patient Grisell.' + +'Ah! but is it well thus tamely to submit?' she asked. + +'Patience is the armour and conquest of the godly,' said Henry, quoting +a saying that was to serve 'the meek usurper' well in after-times. + +'May not patience go too far?' said Eleanor. + +'In this world, mayhap,' said he; 'scarcely so in that which is to +come.' + +'I would not be the King's bride to hear him say so,' laughed the Lady +of Suffolk. 'Shall I tell her, my lord, that this is your Grace's ladder +to carry her to heaven?' + +Henry blushed like a girl, and said that he trusted never to be so +lacking in courtesy as the knight; and the King of Wight, wishing to +change the subject, mentioned that the Lady Eleanor had sung or said +certain choice ballads, and Henry eagerly entreated for one. It was the +pathetic 'Wife of Usher's Well' that Eleanor chose, with the three sons +whose hats were wreathen with the birk that + + + 'Neither grew in dyke nor ditch, + Nor yet in any shaugh, + But at the gates of Paradise + That birk grew fair eneugh.' + + +Henry was greatly delighted with the verse, and entreated her, if it +were not tedious, to repeat it over again. + +In return he promised to lend her some of the translations from the +Latin of Lydgate, the Monk of Bury, and sent them, wrapped in a silken +neckerchief, by the hands of one of his servants to the convent. + +'Was that a token?' anxiously asked young Douglas, riding up to David +Drummond, as they got into order to ride back to Winchester House, after +escorting the ladies to St. Helen's. + +'Token, no; 'tis a book for Lady Elleen. Never fash yourself, man; the +King, so far as I might judge, is far more taken with Elleen than ever +he is with Jean. He seems but a bookish sort of bodie of Malcolm's +sort.' + +'My certie, an' that be sae, we may look to winning back Roxburgh and +Berwick!' returned the Douglas, his eye flashing. 'He's welcome to Lady +Elleen! But that ane should look at her in presence of her sister! He +maun be mair of a monk than a man!' + +Such was, in truth, Jean's own opinion when she flounced into her +chamber at the Priory and turned upon her sister. + +'Weel, Elleen, and I hope ye've had your will, and are a bit shamed, +taking up his Grace so that none by yersell could get in a word wi' +him.' + +'Deed, Jeanie, I could not help it; if he would ask me about our +ballants and buiks, that ye would never lay your mind to--' + +'Ballants and buiks! Bonnie gear for a king that should be thinking of +spears and jacks, lances and honours. Ye're welcome to him, Elleen, sin +ye choose to busk your cockernnonny at ane that's as good as wedded! +I'll never have the man who's wanting the strick of carle hemp in the +making of him!' + +Eleanor burst into tears and pleaded that she was incapable of any such +intentions towards a man who was truly as good as married. She declared +that she had only replied as courtesy required, and that she would +not have her harp taken to Warwick House the next day, as she had been +requested to do. + +Dame Lilias here interposed. With a certain conviction that Jean's +dislike to the King was chiefly because the grapes were sour, she +declared that Lady Elleen had by no means gone beyond the demeanour of +a douce maiden, and that the King had only shown due attention to guests +of his own rank, and who were nearly of his own age. In fact, she said, +it might be his caution and loyalty to his espoused lady that made him +avoid distinguishing the fairest. + +It was not complimentary to Eleanor, but Jean's superior beauty was +as much an established fact as her age, and she was pacified in some +degree, agreeing with the Lady of Glenuskie that Eleanor was bound to +take her harp the next day. + +Warwick House was a really magnificent place, its courts, gardens, +and offices covering much of the ground that still bears the name in the +City, and though the establishment was not quite as extensive as it +became a few years later, when Richard Nevil had succeeded his +brother-in-law, it was already on a magnificent scale. + +All the party who had travelled together from Fotheringay were present, +besides the King, young Edmund and Jasper Tudor, and the Earl and +Countess of Suffolk; and the banquet, though not a state one, nor +encumbered with pageants and subtilties, was even more refined and +elegant than that at Westminster, showing, as all agreed, the hand of a +mistress of the household. The King's taste had been consulted, for in +the gallery were the children of St. Paul's choir and of the chapel of +the household, who sang hymns with sweet trained voices. Afterwards, on +the beautiful October afternoon, there was walking in the garden, where +Edmund and Jasper played with little Lady Anne Beauchamp, and again King +Henry sought out Eleanor, and they had an enjoyable discussion of the +Tale of Troie, which he had lent her, as they walked along the garden +paths. Then she showed him her cousin Malcolm, and told of Bishop +Kennedy and the schemes for St. Andrews, and he in return described +Winchester College, and spoke of his wish to have such another +foundation as Wykeham's under his own eye near Windsor, to train up the +godly clergy, whom he saw to be the great need and lack of the Church at +that day. + +By and by, on going in from the garden, the King and Eleanor found that +a tall, gray-haired gentleman, richly but darkly clad, had entered the +hall. He had been welcomed by the young King and Queen of Wight, who had +introduced Jean to him. 'My uncle of Gloucester,' said the King, aside. +'It is the first time he has come among us since the unhappy affair of +his wife. Let me present you to him.' + +Going forward, as the Duke rose to meet him, Henry bent his knee +and asked his fatherly blessing, then introduced the Lady Eleanor of +Scotland--'who knows all lays and songs, and loves letters, as you told +me her blessed father did, my fair uncle,' he said, with sparkling eyes. + +Duke Humfrey looked well pleased as he greeted her. 'Ever the scholar, +Nevoy Hal,' he said, as if marvelling at the preference above the +beauty, 'but each man knows his own mind. So best.' Eleanor's heart +began to beat high! What did this bode? Was this King fully pledged? She +had to fulfil her promise of singing and playing to the King, which she +did very sweetly, some of the pathetic airs of her country, which reach +back much farther than the songs with which they have in later times +been associated. The King thoroughly enjoyed the music, and the Duke of +York came and paid her several compliments, begging for the song she had +once begun at Fotheringay. Eleanor began--not perhaps so willingly as +before. Strangely, as she sang-- + + 'Owre muckle blinking blindeth the ee, lass, + Owre muckle thinking changeth the mind,'-- + +her face and voice altered. Something of the same mist of tears and +blood seemed to rise before her eyes as before--enfolding all around. +Such a winding-sheet which had before enwrapt the King of Wight, she +saw it again--nay, on the Duke of Gloucester there was such another, +mounting--mounting to his neck. The face of Henry himself grew dim +and ghastly white, like that of a marble saint. She kept herself from +screaming, but her voice broke down, and she gave a choking sob. + +King Henry's arm was the first to support her, though she shuddered as +he touched her, calling for essences, and lamenting that they had asked +too much of her in begging her to sing what so reminded her of her home +and parents. + +'She hath been thus before. It was that song,' said Jean, and the Lady +of Glenuskie coming up at the same time confirmed the idea, and declined +all help except to take her back to the Priory. The litter that had +brought the Countess of Salisbury was at the door, and Henry would not +be denied the leading her to it. She was recovering herself, and could +see the extreme sweetness and solicitude of his face, and feel that she +had never before leant on so kind and tender a supporting arm, since +she had sat on her father's knee. 'Ah! sir, you mind me of my blessed +father,' she said. + +'Your father was a holy man, and died well-nigh a martyr's death,' said +Henry. ''Tis an honour I thank you for to even me to him--such as I am.' + +'Oh, sir! the saints guard you from such a fate,' she said, trembling. + +'Was it so sad a fate--to die for the good he could not work in his +life?' said Henry. + + They had reached the arch into the court. A crowd was round +them, and no more could be said. Henry kissed Eleanor's hand, as he +assisted her into the litter, and she was shut in between the curtains, +alone, for it only held one person. There was a strange tumult of +feeling. She seemed lifted into a higher region, as if she had been in +contact with an angel of purity, and yet there was that strange sense of +awful fate all round, as if Henry were nearer being the martyr than the +angel. And was she to share that fate? The generous young soul seemed +to spring forward with the thought that, come what might, it would be +hallowed and sweetened with such as he! Yet withal there was a sense of +longing to protect and shield him. + +As usual, she had soon quite recovered, but Jean pronounced it 'one of +Elleen's megrims--as if she were a Hielander to have second sight.' + +'But,' said the young lady, 'it takes no second sight to spae ill to +yonder King. He is not one whose hand will keep his head, and there are +those who say that he had best look to his crown, for he hath no more +right thereto than I have to be Queen of France!' + +'Fie, Jean, that's treason.' + +'I'm none of his, nor ever will be! I have too much spirit for a gudeman +who cares for nothing but singing his psalter like a friar.' + +Jean was even more of that opinion when, the next day, at York House, +only Edmund and Jasper Tudor appeared with their brother's excuses. +He had been obliged to give audience to a messenger from the Emperor. +'Moreover,' added Edmund disconsolately, 'to-morrow he is going to St. +Albans for a week's penitence. Harry is always doing penance, I cannot +think what for. He never eats marchpane in church--nor rolls balls +there.' + +'I know,' said Jasper sagely. 'I heard the Lord Cardinal rating him for +being false to his betrothed--that's the Lady Margaret, you know.' + +'Ha!' said the Duke of York, before whom the two little boys were +standing. 'How was that, my little man?' + +'Hush, Jasper,' said Edmund; 'you do not know.' + +'But I do, Edmund; I was in the window all the time. Harry said he did +not know it, he only meant all courtesy; and then the Lord Cardinal +asked him if he called it loyalty to his betrothed to be playing the +fool with the Scottish wench. And then Harry stared--like thee, Ned, +when thy bolt had hit the Lady of Suffolk: and my Lord went on to say +that it was perilous to play the fool with a king's sister, and his own +niece. Then, for all that Harry is a king and a man grown, he wept like +Owen, only not loud, and he went down on his knees, and he cried, "Mea +peccata, mea peccata, mea infirmitas," just as he taught me to do at +confession. And then he said he would do whatever the Lord Cardinal +thought fit, and go and do penance at St. Albans, if he pleased, and not +see the lady that sings any more.' + +'And I say,' exclaimed Edmund, 'what's the good of being a king and a +man, if one is to be rated like a babe?' + +'So say I, my little man,' returned the Duke, patting him on the head, +then adding to his own two boys, 'Take your cousins and play ball with +them, or spin tops, or whatever may please them.' + +'There is the king we have,' quoth Richard Nevil 'to be at the beck of +any misproud priest, and bewail with tears a moment's following of his +own will, like other men.' + +Most of the company felt such misplaced penitence and submission, as +they deemed it, beneath contempt; but while Eleanor had pride enough to +hold up her head so that no one might suppose her to be disappointed, +she felt a strange awe of the conscientiousness that repented when +others would only have felt resentment--relief, perhaps, at not again +coming into contact with one so unlike other men as almost to alarm her. + +Jean tossed up her head, and declared that her brother knew better than +to let any bishop put him into leading-strings. By and by there was a +great outcry among the children, and Edmund Tudor and Edward of York +were fighting like a pair of mastiff-puppies because Edward had laughed +at King Harry for minding what an old shaveling said. Edward, though the +younger, was much the stronger, and was decidedly getting the best of +it, when he was dragged off and sent into seclusion with his tutor for +misbehaviour to his guest. + +No one was amazed when the next day the Cardinal arrived, and told his +grand-nieces and the Lady of Glenuskie that he had arranged that they +should go forward under the escort of the Earl and Countess of Suffolk, +who were to start immediately for Nanci, there to espouse and bring home +the King's bride, the Lady Margaret. There was reason to think that the +French Royal Family would be present on the occasion, as the Queen of +France was sister to King Rene of Sicily and Jerusalem, and thus the +opportunity of joining their sister was not to be missed by the two +Scottish maidens. The Cardinal added that he had undertaken, and made +Sir Patrick Drummond understand, that he would be at all charges for +his nieces, and further said that merchants with women's gear would +presently be sent in, when they were to fit themselves out as befitted +their rank for appearance at the wedding. At a sign from him a large +bag, jingling heavily, was laid on the table by a clerk in attendance. +There was nothing to be done but to make a low reverence and return +thanks. + +Jean had it in her to break out with ironical hopes that they would see +something beyond the walls of a priory abroad, and not be ordered off +the moment any one cast eyes on them; but my Lord of Winchester was not +the man to be impertinent to, especially when bringing gifts as a kindly +uncle, and when, moreover, King Henry had the bad taste to be more +occupied with her sister than with herself. + +It was Eleanor who chiefly felt a sort of repugnance to being thus, +as it were, bought off or compensated for being sent out of reach. She +could have found it in her heart to be offended at being thought likely +to wish to steal the King's heart, and yet flattered by being, for +the first time, considered as dangerous, even while her awe, alike of +Henry's holiness and of those strange visions that had haunted her, made +her feel it a relief that her lot was not to be cast with him. + +The Cardinal did not seem to wish to prolong the interview with his +grand-nieces, having perhaps a certain consciousness of injury towards +them; and, after assuring brilliant marriages for them, and graciously +blessing them, he bade them farewell, saying that the Lady of Suffolk +would come and arrange with them for the journey. No doubt, though he +might have been glad to place a niece on the throne, it would have been +fatal to the peace he so much desired for Henry to break his pledges to +so near a kinswoman of the King of France. And when the bag was opened, +and the rouleaux of gold and silver crowns displayed, his liberality +contradicted the current stories of his avarice. + +And by and by arrived a succession of merchants bringing horned hoods, +transparent veils, like wings, supported on wire projections, long +trained dresses of silk and sendal, costly stomachers, bands of velvet, +buckles set with precious stones, chains of gold and silver--all the +fashions, in fact, enough to turn the head of any young lady, and in +which the staid Lady Prioress seemed to take quite as much interest as +if she had been to wear them herself--indeed, she asked leave to send +Sister Mabel to fetch a selection of the older nuns given to needlework +and embroidery to enjoy the exhibition, though it was to be carefully +kept out of sight of the younger ones, and especially of the novices. + +The excitement was enough to put the Cardinal's offences out of mind, +while the delightful fitting and trying on occupied the maidens, who +looked at themselves in the little hand-mirrors held up to them by the +admiring nuns, and demanded every one's opinion. Jean insisted that +Annis should have her share, and Eleanor joined in urging it, when Dame +Lilias shook her head, and said that was not the use the Lord Cardinal +intended for his gold. + +'He gave it to us to do as we would with it,' argued Eleanor. + +'And she is our maiden, and it befits us not that she should look like +ane scrub,' added Jean, in the words used by her brother's descendant, a +century later. + +'I thank you, noble cousins,' replied Annis, with a little haughtiness, +'but Davie would never thole to see me pranking it out of English gold.' + +'She is right, Jeanie,' cried Eleanor. 'We will make her braw with what +we bought at York with gude Scottish gold.' + +'All the more just,' added Jean, 'that she helped us in our need with +her ain.' + +'And we are sib--near cousins after a',' added Eleanor; 'so we may well +give and take.' + +So it was settled, and all was amicable, except that there was a slight +contest between the sisters whether they should dress alike, as Eleanor +wished, while Jean had eyes and instinct enough to see that the colours +and forms that set her fair complexion and flaxen tresses off to +perfection were damaging to Elleen's freckles and general auburn +colouring. Hitherto the sisters had worn only what they could get, happy +if they could call it ornamental, and the power of choice was a novelty +to them. At last the decision fell to the one who cared most about it, +namely Jean. Elleen left her to settle for both, being, after the first +dazzling display, only eager to get back again to Saint Marie Maudelin +before the King should reclaim it. + +There was something in the legend, wild and apocryphal as it is, +together with what she had seen of the King, that left a deep impression +upon her. + + + 'And by these things ye understand maun + The three best things which this Mary chose, + As outward penance and inward contemplation, + And upward bliss that never shall cease, + Of which God said withouten bees + That the best part to her chose Mary, + Which ever shall endure and never decrease, + But with her abideth eternally.' + + +Stiff, quaint, and awkward sounds old Bokenham's translation of the +'Golden Legend,' but to Eleanor it had much power. The whole history was +new to her, after her life in Scotland, where information had been slow +to reach her, and books had been few. The gewgaws spread out before Jean +were to her like the gloves, jewels, and braiding of hair with which +Martha reproached her sister in the days of her vanity, and the cloister +with its calm services might well seem to her like the better part. +These nuns indeed did not strike her as models of devotion, and there +was something in the Prioress's easy way of declaring that being safe +there might prevent any need of special heed, which rung false on her +ear; and then she thought of King Henry, whose rapt countenance had so +much struck her, turning aside from enjoyment to seclude himself at the +first hint that his pleasure might be a temptation. She recollected too +what Lady Drummond had told her of Father Malcolm and Mother Clare, and +how each had renounced the world, which had so much to offer them, and +chosen the better part! She remembered Father Malcolm's sweet smile and +kind words, and Mother Clare's face had impressed her deeply with its +lofty peace and sweetness. How much better than all these agitations +about princely bridegrooms! and broken lances and queens of beauty +seemed to fade into insignificance, or to be only incidents in the +tumult of secular life and worldly struggle, and her spirit quailed at +the anticipation of the journey she had once desired, the gay court with +its follies, empty show, temptations, coarsenesses and cruelties, and +the strange land with its new language. The alternative seemed to her +from Maudelin in her worldly days to Maudelin at the Saviour's feet, and +had Mother Margaret Stafford been one whit more the ideal nun, perhaps +every one would have been perplexed by a vehement request to seclude +herself at once in the cloister of St. Helen's. + +Looking up, she saw a figure slowly pacing the turf walk. It was the +Mother Clare, who had come to see the Lady of Glenuskie, but finding all +so deeply engaged, had gone out to await her in the garden. + +Much indeed had Dame Lilias longed to join her friend, and make the most +of these precious hours, but as purse-bearer and adviser to her Lady +Joanna, it was impossible to leave her till the arrangements with the +merchants were over. And the nuns of St. Helen's did not, as has already +been seen, think much of an uncloistered sister. In her twenty years' +toils among the poor it had been pretty well forgotten that Mother Clare +was Esclairmonde de Luxembourg, almost of princely rank, so that no +one took the trouble to entertain her, and she had slipped out almost +unperceived to the quiet garden with its grass walks. And there +Eleanor came up to her, and with glistening tears, on a sudden impulse +exclaimed, 'Oh, holy Mother, keep me with you, tell me to choose the +better part.' + +'You, lady? What is this?' + +'Not lady, daughter--help me! I kenned it not before--but all is vanity, +turmoil, false show, except the sitting at the Lord's feet.' + +'Most true, my child. Ah! have I not felt the same? But we must wait His +time.' + +'It was I--it was I,' continued Eleanor, 'who set Jean upon this +journey, leaving my brother and Mary and the bairns. And the farther we +go, the more there is of vain show and plotting and scheming, and I am +weary and heartsick and homesick of it all, and shall grow worse and +worse. Oh! shelter me here, in your good and holy house, dear Reverend +Mother, and maybe I could learn to do the holy work you do in my own +country.' + +How well Esclairmonde knew it all, and what aspirations had been hers! +She took Elleen's hand kindly and said, 'Dear maid, I can only aid you +by words! I could not keep you here. Your uncle the Cardinal would not +suffer you to abide here, nor can I take sisters save by consent of the +Queen--and now we have no Queen, of the King, and--' + +'Oh no, I could not ask that,' said Eleanor, a deep blush mounting, as +she remembered what construction might be put on her desire to remain +in the King's neighbourhood. 'Ah! then must I go on--on--on farther from +home to that Court which they say is full of sin and evil and vanity? +What will become of me?' + +'If the religious life be good for you, trust me, the way will open, +however unlikely it may seem. If not, Heaven and the saints will show +what your course should be.' + +'But can there be such safety and holiness, save in that higher path?' +demanded Eleanor. + +'Nay, look at your own kinswoman, Dame Lilias--look at the Lady of +Salisbury. Are not these godly, faithful women serving God through their +duty to man--husband, children, all around? And are the longings and +temptations to worldly thoughts and pleasures of the flesh so wholly put +away in the cloister?' + +'Not here,' began Eleanor, but Mother Clare hushed her. + +'Verily, my child,' she added, 'you must go on with your sister on this +journey, trusting to the care and guidance of so good a woman as my +beloved old friend, Dame Lilias; and if you say your prayers with all +your heart to be guarded from sin and temptation, and led into the path +that is fittest for you, trust that our blessed Master and our Lady will +lead you. Have you the Pater Noster in the vulgar tongue?' she added. + +'We--we had it once ere my father's death. And Father Malcolm taught us; +but we have since been so cast about that--that--I have forgotten.' + +'Ah! Father Malcolm taught you,' and Esclairmonde took the girl's hand. +'You know how much I owe to Father Malcolm,' she softly added, as she +led the maiden to a carved rood at the end of the cloister, and, before +it, repeated the vernacular version of the Lord's Prayer till Eleanor +knew it perfectly, and promised to follow up her 'Pater Nosters' with +it. + +And from that time there certainly was a different tone and spirit in +Eleanor. + +David, urged by his father, who still publicly ignored the young +Douglas, persuaded him to write to his father now that there could be no +longer any danger of pursuit, and the messenger Sir Patrick was sending +to the King would afford the last opportunity. George growled and +groaned a good deal, but perhaps Father Romuald pressed the duty on +him in confession, for in his great relief at his lady's going off +unplighted from London, he consented to indite, in the chamber Father +Romuald shared with two of the Cardinal's chaplains, in a crooked and +crabbed calligraphy and language much more resembling Anglo-Saxon than +modern English, a letter to the most high and mighty, the Yerl of Angus, +'these presents.' + +But when he was entreated to assume his right position in the troop, +he refused. 'Na, na, Davie,' he said, 'gin my father chooses to send +me gear and following, 'tis all very weel, but 'tisna for the credit +of Scotland nor of Angus that the Master should be ganging about like a +land-louper, with a single laddie after him--still less that he should +be beholden to the Drummonds.' + +'Ye would win to the speech of the lassie,' suggested David, 'gin that +be what ye want!' + +'Na kenning me, she willna look at me. Wait till I do that which may gar +her look at me,' said the chivalrous youth. + +He was not entirely without means, for the links of a gold chain which +he had brought from home went a good way in exchange, and though he had +spoken of being at his own charges, he had found himself compelled to +live as one of the train of the princesses, who were treated as the +guests first of the Duke of York, then of the Cardinal, who had given +Sir Patrick a sum sufficient to defray all possible expenses as far as +Bourges, besides having arranged for those of the journey with Suffolk +whose rank had been raised to that of a Marquis, in honour of his +activity as proxy for the King. + + + + +CHAPTER 6. THE PRICE OF A GOOSE + + + 'We would have all such offenders cut off, and we give + express charge that, in the marches through the country, + there be nothing compelled from the villages.' + --King Henry V. + + +The Marquis of Suffolk's was a slow progress both in England and abroad, +with many halts both on account of weather and of feasts and festivals. +Cardinal Beaufort had hurried the party away from London partly in order +to make the match with Margaret of Anjou irrevocable, partly for the +sake of removing Eleanor of Scotland, the only maiden who had ever +produced the slightest impression on the monastic-minded Henry of +Windsor. + +When once out of London there were, however, numerous halts on the +road,--two or three days of entertainment at every castle, and then a +long delay at Canterbury to give time for Suffolk's retainers, and all +the heralds, pursuivants, and other adjuncts of pomp and splendour, to +join them. They were the guests of Archbishop Stafford, one of the peace +party, and a friend of Beaufort and Suffolk, so that their entertainment +was costly and magnificent, as befitted the mediaeval notions of a +high-born gentleman, Primate of all England. A great establishment for +the chase was kept by almost all prelates as a necessity; and whenever +the weather was favourable, hunting and hawking could be enjoyed by +the princesses and their suite. Indeed Jean, if not in the saddle, was +pretty certain to be visiting the hawks all the morning, or else playing +at ball or some other sport with her cousins or some of the young +gentlemen of Suffolk's train, who were all devoted to her. + +Lady Drummond found that to try to win her to quieter occupations was in +vain. The girl would not even try to learn French from Father Romuald +by reading, though she would pick up words and phrases by laughing and +chattering with the young knights who chanced to know the language. +But as by this time Dame Lilias had learnt that there were bounds that +princely pride and instinct prevented from overpassing, she contented +herself with seeing that there was fit attendance, either by her +daughter Annis, Sir Patrick himself, or one or other of Lady Suffolk's +ladies. + +To some degree Eleanor shared in her sister's outdoor amusements, but +she was far more disposed to exercise her mind than her body. +After having pined in weariness for want of intellectual food, her +opportunities were delightful to her. Not only did she read with Father +Romuald with intense interest the copy of the bon Sire Jean Froissart in +the original, which he borrowed from the Archbishop's library, but +she listened with great zest to the readings which the Lady of Suffolk +extracted from her chaplains and unwilling pages while the ladies sat +at work, for the Marchioness, a grandchild of Geoffrey Chaucer, had a +strong taste for literature. Moreover, from one of the choir Eleanor +obtained lessons on the lute, as well as her beloved harp, and was +taught to train her voice, and sing from 'pricke-song,' so that she much +enjoyed this period of her journey. + +Nothing could be more courteous and punctilious than the Marquis of +Suffolk to the two princesses, and indeed to every one of his own +degree; but there was something of the parvenu about him, and, unlike +the Duke of York or Archbishop Stafford, who were free, bright, and +good-natured to the meanest persons, he was haughty and harsh to every +one below the line of gentle blood, and in his own train he kept up a +discipline, not too strict in itself, but galling in the manner in which +it was enforced by those who imitated his example. By the time the suite +was collected, Christmas and the festival of St. Thomas a Becket were so +near that it would have been neglect of a popular saint to have left his +shrine without keeping his day. And after the Epiphany, though the +party did reach Dover in a day's ride, a stormy period set in, putting +crossing out of the question, and detaining the suite within the massive +walls of the castle. + +At last, on a brisk, windless day of frost, the crossing to Calais +was effected, and there was another week of festivals spread by the +hospitality of the Captain of Calais, where everything was as English +as at Dover. When they again started on their journey, Suffolk severely +insisted on the closest order, riding as travellers in a hostile +country, where a misadventure might easily break the existing truce, +although the territories of the Duke of Burgundy, through which their +route chiefly lay, were far less unfavourable to the English than actual +French countries; indeed, the Flemings were never willingly at war with +the English, and some of the Burgundian nobles and knights had been on +intimate terms with Suffolk. Still, he caused the heralds always to keep +in advance, and allowed no stragglers behind the rearguard that came +behind the long train of waggons loaded with much kitchen apparatus, and +with splendid gifts for the bride and her family, as well as equipments +for the wedding-party, and tents for such of the troop as could not +find shelter in the hostels or monasteries where the slowly-moving party +halted for the night. It was unsafe to go on after the brief hours of +daylight, especially in the neighbourhood of the Forest of Ardennes, for +wolves might be near on the winter nights. It was thus that the first +trouble arose with Sir Patrick Drummond's two volunteer followers. +Ringan Raefoot had become in his progress a very different looking being +from the wild creature who had come with 'Geordie of the Red Peel,' but +there was the same heart in him. He had endured obedience to the Knight +of Glenuskie as a Scot, and with the Duke of York and through England +the discipline of the troop had not been severe; but Suffolk, though a +courtly, chivalrous gentleman to his equals, had not the qualities of +popularity, and chafed his inferiors. + +There were signs of confusion in the cavalcade as they passed between +some of the fertile fields of Namur, and while Suffolk was halting +and about to send a squire to the rear to interfere, a couple of his +retainers hurried up, saying, 'My Lord, those Scottish thieves will +bring the whole country down on us if order be not taken with them.' + +Sir Patrick did not need the end of the speech to gallop off at full +speed to the rear of all the waggons, where a crowd might be seen, and +there was a perfect Babel of tongues, rising in only too intelligible +shouts of rage. Swords and lances were flashing on one side among the +horsemen, on the other stones were flying from an ever-increasing number +of leather-jerkined men and boys, some of them with long knives, axes, +and scythes. + +George Douglas's high head seemed to be the main object of attack, +and he had Ringan Raefoot before him across his horse, apparently +retreating, while David, Malcolm, and a few more made charges on the +crowd to guard him. When he was seen, there was a cry of which he could +distinguish nothing but 'Ringan! Geordie! goose--Flemish hounds.' + +Riding between, regardless of the stones, he shouted in the Burgundian +French he had learnt in his campaigns, to demand the cause of the +attack. The stones ceased, and the head man of the village, a stout +peasant, came forward and complained that the varlet, as he called +Ringan, had been stealing the village geese on their pond, and when +they were about to do justice on him, yonder man-at-arms had burst in, +knocked down and hurt several, and carried him off. + +Before there had been time for further explanation, to Sir Patrick's +great vexation, the Marshal of the troop and his guard came up, and the +complaint was repeated. George, at the same time, having handed Ringan +over to some others of the Scots, rode up with his head very high. + +'Sir Patrick Drummond,' said the Marshal stiffly, 'you know my Lord's +rules for his followers, as to committing outrages on the villeins of +the country.' + +'We are none of my Lord of Suffolk's following,' began Douglas; but Sir +Patrick, determined to avoid a breach if possible, said-- + +'Sir Marshal, we have as yet heard but one side of the matter. If wrong +have been done to these folk, we are ready to offer compensation, but we +should hear how it has been--' + +'Am I to see my poor laddie torn to bits, stoned, and hanged by these +savage loons,' cried George, 'for a goose's egg and an old gander?' + +Of course his defence was incomprehensible to the Flemings, but on their +side a man with a bound-up head and another limping were produced, +and the head man spoke of more serious damage to others who could not +appear, demanding both the aggressors to be dealt with, i.e. to be +hanged on the next tree. + +'These men are of mine, Master Marshal,' said Sir Patrick. + +'My Lord can permit no violence by those under his banner,' said the +Marshal stiffly. 'I must answer it to him.' + +'Do so then,' said Sir Patrick. 'This is a matter for him.' + +The Marshal, who had much rather have disposed of the Scottish thieves +on his own responsibility, was forced to give way so far as to let the +appeal be carried to the Marquis of Suffolk, telling the Flemings, in +something as near their language as he could accomplish, that his Lord +was sure to see justice done, and that they should follow and make their +complaint. + +Suffolk sat on his horse, tall, upright, and angry. 'What is this I +hear, Sir Patrick Drummond,' said he, 'that your miscreants of wild +Scots have been thieving from the peaceful peasant-folk, and then +beating them and murdering them? I deemed you were a better man than to +stand by such deeds and not give up the fellows to justice.' + +'It were shame to hang a man for one goose,' said Sir Patrick. + +'All plunder is worthy of death,' returned the Englishman. 'Your Border +law may be otherwise, but 'tis not our English rule of honest men. And +here's this other great lurdane knave been striking the poor rogues down +right and left! A halter fits both.' + +'My Lord, they are no subjects of England. I deny your rights over +them.' + +'Whoever rides in my train is under me, I would have you to know, sir.' + +'Hark ye, my Lord of Suffolk,' said Sir Patrick, coming near enough +to speak in an undertone, 'that lurdane, as you call him, is heir of a +noble house in Scotland, come here on a young man's freak of chivalry. +You will do no service to the peace of the realms if you give him up to +these churls, for making in to save his servant.' + +Before Sir Patrick had done speaking, while Suffolk was frowning grimly +in perplexity, a wild figure, with blood on the face, rushed forth with +a limping run, crying 'Let the loons hang me and welcome, if they set +such store by their lean old gander, but they shanna lay a finger on the +Master.' + +And he had nearly precipitated himself into the hands of the sturdy +rustics, who shouted with exultation, but with two strides Geordie +caught him up. 'Peace, Ringan! They shall no more hang thee than me,' +and he stood with one hand on Ringan's shoulder and his sword in the +other, looking defiant. + +'If he be a young gentleman masking, I am not bound to know it,' said +Suffolk impatiently to Drummond; 'but if he will give up that rascal, +and make compensation, I will overlook it.' + +'Who touches my fellow does so at his peril,' shouted George, menacing +with his sword. + +'Peace, young man!' said Sir Patrick. 'Look here, my Lord of Suffolk, +we Scots are none of your men. We need no favour of you English with our +allies. There be enough of us to make our way through these peasants +to the French border, so unless you let us settle the matter with a few +crowns to these rascallions, we part company.' + +'The ladies were entrusted to my charge,' began Lord Suffolk. + +At that instant, however, both Jean and Eleanor came on the scene, +riding fast, having in truth been summoned by Malcolm, who shrewdly +suspected that thus an outbreak might be best averted. + +It was Eleanor who spoke first. In spite of all her shyness, when her +blood was up, she was all the princess. + +What is this, my Lord of Suffolk?' she said. 'If one of our following +have transgressed, it is the part of ourselves and of Sir Patrick +Drummond to see to it, as representing the King my brother.' + +'Lady,' replied Suffolk, bowing low and doffing his cap, 'yonder +ill-nurtured knave hath been robbing the country-folk, and the--the +man-at-arms there not only refuses to give him up to justice, but has +hurt, well-nigh slain, some of them in violently taking him from them. +They ride in my train and I am responsible.' + +Jean broke in: 'He only served the cowardly loons right. A whole +crowd of the rogues to hang one poor laddie for one goose! Shame on a +gentleman for hearkening to the foul-mouthed villains one moment. Come +here, Ringan. King Jamie's sister will never see them harm thee.' + +Perhaps Suffolk was not sorry to see a way out of the perplexity. +'Far be it from a knight to refuse a boon to a fair lady in her +selle, farther still to _two_ royal damsels. The lives are granted, so +satisfaction in coin be made to yon clamorous hinds.' + +'I do not call it a boon but a right, said Eleanor gravely; +'nevertheless I thank you, my Lord Marquis.' + +George would have thrown himself at their feet, but Jean coldly said, +'Spare thanks, sir. It was for my brother's right,' and she turned her +horse away, and rode off at speed, while Eleanor could not help pausing +to say, 'She is more blithe than she lists to own! Sir Patrick, what the +fellows claim must come from my uncle's travelling purse.' + +George's face was red. This was very bitter to him, but he could only +say, 'It shall be repaid so soon as I have the power.' + +The peasants meanwhile were trying to make the best bargain they could +by representing that they were tenants of an abbey, so that the death of +the gander was sacrilegious on that account as well as because it was in +Lent. To this, however, Sir Patrick turned a deaf ear: he threw them +a couple of gold pieces, with which, as he told them, they were much +better off than with either the live goose or the dead Ringan. + +Suffolk had halted for the mid-day rest and was waiting for him till +this matter was disposed of. 'Sir Patrick Drummond,' he said with some +ceremony, 'this company of yours may be Scottish subjects, but while +they are riding with me I am answerable for them. It may be the wont in +Scotland, but it is not with us English, to let unnamed adventurers ride +under our banner.' + +'The young man is not unnamed,' said Sir Patrick, on his mettle. + +'You know him?' + +'I'll no say, but I have an inkling. My son David kenn'd him and +answered for him when he joined himself to my following; nor has he +hitherto done aught to discredit himself.' + +'What is his name, or the name he goes by?' + +'George Douglas.' + +'H'm! Your Scottish names may belong to any one, from your earls down to +your herdboys; and they, forsooth, are as like as not to call themselves +gentlemen.' + +'And wherefore not, if theirs is gentle blood?' said Sir Patrick. + +'Nay, now, Sir Patrick, stand not on your Scotch pride. Gentlemen all, +if you will, but you gave me to understand that this was none of your +barefoot gentlemen, and I ask if you can tell who he truly is?' + +'I have never been told, my Lord, and I had rather you put the question +to himself than to me.' + +'Call him then, an' so please you.' + +Sir Patrick saw no alternative save compliance; and he found Ringan +undergoing a severe rating, not unaccompanied by blows from the wood of +his master's lance. The perfect willingness to die for one another was +a mere natural incident, but the having transgressed, and caused such +a serious scrape, made George very indignant and inflict condign +punishment. 'Better fed than he had ever been in his life, the rogue' +(and he looked it, though he muttered, 'A bannock and a sup of barley +brose were worth the haill of their greasy beeves!'). 'Better fed than +ever before. Couldn't the daft loon keep the hands of him off poor +folks' bit goose? In Lent, too!' (by far the gravest part of the +offence). + +George did, however, transfer Ringan's explanation to Sir Patrick, and +make some apology. A nest of goose eggs apparently unowned had been too +much for him, incited further by a couple of English horseboys, who were +willing to share goose eggs for supper, and let the Scotsman bear the +wyte of it. The goose had been nearer than expected, and summoned her +kin; the gander had shown fight; the geese had gabbled, the gooseherd +and his kind came to the rescue, the horseboys had made off; Ringan, +impeded by his struggle with the ferocious gander, was caught; and +Geordie had come up just in time to see him pricked with goads and axes +to a tree, where a halter was making ready for him. Of course, without +asking questions, George hurried to save him, pushing his horse among +the angry crew, and striking right and left, and equally of course the +other Scots came to his assistance. + +Sir Patrick agreed that he could not have done otherwise, though better +things might have been hoped of Ringan by this time. + +'But,' said he, 'there's not an end yet of the coil. Here has my Lord +of Suffolk been speiring after your name and quality, till I told him he +must ask at you and not at me.' + +'Tell'd you the dour meddling Englishman my name?' asked George. + +'I told him only what ye told me yerself. In that there was no lie. +But bethink you, royal maidens dinna come to speak for lads without a +cause.' + +George's colour mounted high in his sunburnt, freckled cheek. + +'Kens--ken they, trow ye, Sir Pate?' + +'Cannie folk, even lassies, can ken mair than they always tell,' said +the knight of Glenuskie. 'Yonder is my Lord Marquis, as they ca' him; so +bethink you weel how you comport yerself with him, and my counsel is to +tell him the full truth. He is a dour man towards underlings, whom he +views as made not of the same flesh and blood with himself, but he is +the very pink of courtesy to men of his own degree.' + +'Set him up,' quoth the heir of the Douglas, with a snort. 'His own +degree, indeed! scarce even a knight's son!' + +'What he deems his own degree, then,' corrected Sir Patrick; 'but he +holds himself full of chivalry to them, and loves a spice of the errant +knight; ye may trust his honour. And mind ye,' he added, laughing, 'I've +never been told your name and quality.' + +Which the Master of Angus returned with an equally canny laugh. The +young man, as he approached the Marquis, drew his head up, straightened +his tall form, brushed off the dust that obscured the bloody heart on +his breast, and altogether advanced with a step and bearing far +more like the great Earl's son than the man-at-arms of the Glenuskie +following; his eyes bespoke equality or more as they met those of +William de la Pole, and yet there was that in the glance which forbade +the idea of insolence, so that Suffolk, instead of remaining seated rose +to meet him and took him aside, standing as they talked. + +'Sir Squire,' he said, 'for such I understand your degree in chivalry to +be.' + +'I have not won my spurs,' said George. + +'It is not our rule to take to foreign courts gentlemen from another +realm unknown to us,' proceeded Suffolk, with much civility; 'therefore, +unless any vow of chivalry binds you, I should be glad to know who it is +who does my banner the honour of riding in its company for a time. If a +secret, it is safe with me.' + +George gave his name. + +'That is the name of one of the chief nobles in Scotland,' said Suffolk. +'Do I see before me his son?' George bowed. + +'Then, my Lord Douglas, am I permitted to ask wherefore this mean +disguise? Is it for some vow of chivalry, or for that which is the +guerdon of chivalry?' the Marquis added in a lower, softer tone, which, +however, extremely chafed the proud young Scot, all the more that he +felt himself blushing. + +'My Lord,' he said, 'I am not bound to render a reason to any save my +father, from whom I hope for letters shortly.' + +To his further provocation Suffolk smiled meaningly, and answered-- + +'I understand. But if my Lord Douglas would honour my suite by assuming +the place that befits him, I should be happy that aught of mine should +serve--' + +'I am beholden to you, my Lord, for the offer,' replied George, somewhat +roughly. 'Whatever I make use of must be my father's or my own. All I +crave of you is to keep my secret, and not make me the common talk. +Have I your licence to depart?' + +Wherewith, tall, irate, and shamefaced, the Master of Angus stalked away +to meet David Drummond, to whom he confided his disgusts. + +'The parlous fulebody! As though I were like to make myself a mere sport +for ballad-mongers, such as Lady Elleen is always mooning after; or as +if I would stoop to borrow a following of the English blackguard, to +bolster up my state like King Herod in a mystery play. If my father +lists, he may send me out a band, but the Douglas shall have Douglas's +men, or none at all.' + +David approved the sentiment, but added-- + +'Ye could win to Jeanie if ye took your right place.' + +'What good would that do me while she is full of her fine daffing, +singing, clacking, English knights, that would only gibe at the +red-haired Scot? Let her wait to see what the Red Douglas's hand can do +in time of need! But, Davie, you that can speak to her, let her know how +deeply I thank her for what she did even now on my behalf, or rather on +puir Ringan's, and that I am trebly bound to her service though I make +no minstrel fule's work.' + +David delivered his message, but did not obtain much by it for his +friend's satisfaction, for Jeanie only tossed her head and answered-- + +'Does the gallant cock up his bonnet because he thinks it was for his +sake. It was Elleen's doing there, firstly; and next, wadna we have done +the like for the meanest of Jamie's subjects?' + +'Dinna credit her, Davie,' said Eleanor. 'Ye should have seen her start +in her saddle, and wheel round her palfrey at Malcolm's first word.' + +'It wasna for him,' replied Jean hotly. 'They dinna hang the like of him +for twisting a goose's neck; it was for the puir leal laddie; and ye may +tak' that to him.' + +'Shall I, Elleen?' asked David, with a twinkle in his eye of cousinly +teasing. + +'An' ye do not, I shall proclaim ye in the lists at Nanci as a corbie +messenger and mansworn squire, unworthy of your spurs,' threatened +Jeanie, in all good humour however. + +Suffolk, baffled in his desire to patronise the young Master of Angus, +examined both Sir Patrick and Lady Drummond as far as their caution +would allow, telling that the youth had confessed his rank and admitted +the cause--making inquiry whether the match would be held suitable in +Scotland, and why it had not taken place there--a matter difficult +to explain, since it did not merely turn upon the young lady's +ambition--which would have gone for nothing--but on the danger to the +Crown of offending rival houses. Suffolk had a good deal about him of +the flashy side of chivalry, and loved its brilliance and romance; he +was an honourable man, and the weak point about him was that he never +understood that knighthood should respect men of meaner birth. He was +greatly flattered by the idea of having the eldest son of the great Earl +of Angus riding as an unknown man-at-arms in his troop, and on the way +likewise to the most chivalrous of kings. His scheme would have been to +equip the youth fully with horse and arms, and at some brilliant tourney +see him carry all before him, like Du Gueselin in his boyhood, and that +the eclat of the affair should reflect itself upon his sponsor. But +there were two difficulties in the way--the first that the proud young +Scot showed no intention of being beholden to any Englishman, and +secondly, that the tall, ungainly youth did not look as if he had +attained to the full strength or management of his own limbs; and though +in five or ten years' time he might be a giant in actual warfare, he did +not appear at all likely to be a match for the highly-trained champions +of the tilt-yard. Moreover, he was not a knight as yet, and on sounding +Sir Patrick it was elicited that he was likely to deem it high treason +to be dubbed by any hand save that of his King or his father. + +So the Marquis could only feel sagacious, and utter a hint or two +before the ladies which fell the more short, since he was persuaded, +by Eleanor's having been the foremost in the defence, that she was the +object of the quest; and he now and then treated her to hints which +she was slow to understand, but which exasperated while they amused her +sister. + +The journey was so slow that it was not until the fourth week in Lent +that they were fairly in Lorraine. It had of course been announced by +couriers, and at Thionville a very splendid herald reached them, covered +all over with the blazonry of Jerusalem and the Two Sicilies, to say +nothing of Provence and Anjou. He brought letters from King Rene, +explaining that he and his daughters were en route from Provence, and +he therefore designated a nunnery where he requested that the Scottish +princesses and their ladies would deign to be entertained, and a +monastery where my Lord Marquis of Suffolk and his suite would be +welcomed, and where they were requested to remain till Easter week, by +which time the King of France, the Dauphin, and Dauphiness would be near +at hand, and there could be a grand entrance into Nanci. Of course there +was nothing to be done but to obey though the Englishmen muttered that +the delay was in order to cast the expense upon the rich abbeys, and to +muster all the resources of Lorraine and Provence to cover the poverty +of the many-titled King. + +The Abbey where the gentlemen were lodged was so near Nanci that it was +easy to ride into the city and make inquiries whether any tidings had +arrived from Scotland; but nothing had come from thence for either the +princesses, Sir Patrick, or Geordie of the Red Peel, so that the strange +situation of the latter must needs continue as long as he insisted on +being beholden for nothing to the English upstart, as he scrupled not +to call Lord Suffolk, whose new-fashioned French title was an offence in +Scottish ears. + +The ladies on their side had not the relaxation of these expeditions. +The Abbey was a large and wealthy one, but decidedly provincial. Only +the Lady Abbess and one sister could speak 'French of Paris,' the +others used a dialect so nearly German that Lady Suffolk could barely +understand them, and the other ladies, whose French was not strong, +could hold no conversation with them. + +To insular minds, whether Scottish or English, every deviation of the +Gallican ritual from their own was a sore vexation. If Lady Drummond had +devotion enough not to be distracted by the variations, the young ladies +certainly had not, and Jean very decidedly giggled during some of the +most solemn ceremonies, such as the creeping to the cross--the large +carved cross in the middle of the graveyard, to which all in turn went +upon their knees on Good Friday and kissed it. + +Last year, at this season, they had been shut up in their prison-castle, +and had not shared in any of these ceremonies; and Eleanor tried to +think of King Henry and Sister Esclairmonde, and how they were throwing +their hearts into the great thoughts of the day, and she felt distressed +at being infected by Jean's suppressed laughter at the movements of the +fat Abbess, and at the extraordinary noises made by the younger nuns +with clappers, as demonstrations against Judas on the way to the Easter +Sepulchre. + +She was so much shocked at herself that she wanted to confess; but +Father Romuald had gone with the male members of the party, and +the chaplain did not half understand her French, though he gave her +absolution. + +Meantime all the nuns were preparing Easter eggs, whereof there was +a great exchange the next day, when the mass was as splendid as the +resources of the Abbey could furnish, and all were full of joy and +congratulation, the sense of oneness for once inspiring all. + +Moreover, after mass, Sir Patrick and an Englishman rode over with +tidings that King Rene had sent a messenger, who was on the Tuesday to +guide them all to a glade where the King hoped to welcome the ladies +as befitted their rank and beauty, and likewise to meet the royal +travellers from Bourges, so that all might make their entry into Nanci +together. + +The King himself, it was reported, did nothing but ride backwards and +forwards between Nanci and the convent where he had halted, arranging +the details of the procession, and of the open-air feast at the +rendezvous upon the way. + +'I hope,' said Lady Suffolk, 'that King Rene's confections will not be +as full of rancid oil as those of the good sisters. I know not which +was more distasteful--their Lenten Fast or their Easter Feast. We have, +certes, done our penance this Lent!' + +To which the rest of the ladies could not but agree, though Lady +Drummond felt it somewhat treasonable to the good nuns, their +entertainers; and both she and Eleanor recollected how differently +Esclairmonde would have felt the matter, and how little these matters of +daily fare would have concerned her. + +'To-day we shall see her!' exclaimed Eleanor, springing to the floor, +as, early on a fine spring morning, the ladies in the guest-chamber of +the nunnery began to bestir themselves at the sound of one of the many +convent bells. 'They are at Toul, and we shall meet this afternoon. I +have not slept all night for thinking of it.' + +'No, and hardly let me sleep,' said Jean, slowly sitting up in bed. +'Thou hast waked me so often that I shall be pale and heavy-eyed for the +pageant.' + +'Little fear of that, my bonnie bell,' said old Christie, laughing. + +'Besides,' said Eleanor, 'nobody will fash themselves to look at us in +the midst of the pageant. There will be the King to see, and the bride. +Oh, I wish we were not to ride in it, and could see it instead at our +ease.' + +'Thou wast never meant for a princess,' said Jean; 'Christie, Annis, for +pity's sake, see till her. She is busking up her hair just as was gude +enough for the old nuns, but no for kings and queens.' + +'I hate the horned cap, in which I feel like a cow, and methought Meg +wad feel the snood a sight for sair een,' said Eleanor. + +'Meg indeed! Thou must frame thy tongue to Madame la Dauphine.' + +'Before the lave of them, but not with sweet Meg herself.' + +'Our sister behoves to have learnt what suits her station, and winna +bide sic ways from an ower forward sister. Dinna put us all to shame, +and make the folk trow we came from some selvage land,' said Jean, +tossing her head. + +'Hast ever seen me carry myself unworthy of King James's daughter?' +proudly demanded Eleanor. + +'Nay, now, bairnies, fash not yoursells that gate,' interfered old +Christie; 'nae fear but Lady Elleen will be douce and canny enow when +folks are there to see. She kens what fits a king's daughter.' + +Jean made a little hesitation over kirtles and hoods, but fortunately +ladies, however royal, had no objection to wearing the same robes twice, +and both she and her sister were objects to delight the eyes of the +crowding and admiring nuns when they mounted their palfreys in the +quadrangle, and, attended by the Lady of Glenuskie and her daughter, +rode forth with the Marchioness of Suffolk at the great gateway to join +the cavalcade, headed by Suffolk and Sir Patrick. + +After about two miles' riding on a woodland road they became aware of +fitful strains of music and a continuous hum of voices, heard through +the trees and presently a really beautiful scene opened before them, as +the trees seemed to retreat, so as to unfold a wide level space, further +enclosed by brilliant tapestry hangings, their scarlet, blue, gold and +silver hues glittering in an April sun, and the fastenings concealed by +garlands of spring flowers. An awning of rich gold embroidery on a green +ground was spread so as to shelter a cloth glittering with plate and +bestrewn with flowers; horses, in all varieties of ornamental housings, +were being led about; there was a semicircle of musicians in the rear; +and, as soon as the guests came in sight, there came forward, doffing +his embroidered and jewelled cap, a gentleman of middle stature and +of exceeding grace and courtesy, whose demeanour, no less than the +attendance around him, left no doubt that this was no other than Rene, +Duke of Anjou and of Lorraine, Count of Provence, and King of the Two +Sicilies and of Jerusalem. + +'Welcome,' he exclaimed in French, 'welcome, fair and royal maidens; +welcome, noble lord, the representative of our dear brother and son of +England. Deign on your journey to partake of the humble and rural fare +of the poor minstrel shepherd.' + +Wherewith the music broke out in strains of welcome from the grove, with +voices betweenwhiles Rene himself assisted each princess to dismount, +and respectfully kissed her on the cheek as she stood on the ground. +Then, taking a hand of each, he led them to a great chestnut tree, the +shade of whose branches was assisted by hangings of blue embroidered +with white, beneath which cushions, mantles, and seats were spread, and +a bevy of ladies in bright garments stood. From these came forward two +beautiful young girls, with fair complexions and flowing golden hair, +scarcely confined by the bands whence transparent veils descended. King +Rene presented them as his two daughters, Yolande and Margaret, to the +two Scottish maidens, and there were kindly as well as courtly embraces +on either side. The Lady of Glenuskie, as a king's grand-daughter, with +Annis and Lady Suffolk, had likewise been led up to take their places; +the four royal maidens were seated together. Yolande, the most regularly +beautiful, but with an anxious look on her face, talked to Eleanor +of her journey; Margaret, who had one of those very simple, +innocent-looking child-faces that sometimes form the mask of immense +energy of character, was more absent and inattentive to her duties +as hostess; moreover, she and Jean did not understand one another's +language so well as did the other two. Delicate little cakes, and tall +Venice glasses, spirally ornamented, and containing light wines, were +served to them on the knee by a tall, large, fair-haired youth, who was +named to them as the Duke Sigismund, of Alsace and the Tyrol. + +Jean had time to look about, and heartily wish that her beautiful flaxen +hair was loose, and not encumbered with the rolled headgear with two +projecting horns, against which Elleen had rebelled; since York and even +London were evidently behind the fashion. Margaret's hair was bound with +a broad band of daisies, and Yolande's with violets, both in allusion +to their names, Yolande being the French corruption of Violante, her +Provencal name, in allusion to the golden violet. Jean thought of the +Scottish thistle, and studied the dresses, tight-fitting 'cotte hardis' +of bright, deep, soft, rose colour, edged with white fur, and white +skirts embroidered with their appropriate flowers. She wondered how soon +this could be imitated, casting a few glances at Duke Sigismund, +who stood waiting, as if desirous of attracting Yolande's attention. +Eleanor, on the other hand, even while answering Yolande, had a feeling +as if she had arrived at the completion of the very vision which she had +imagined on the dreary tower of Dunbar. Here was the warm spring sun, +shining on a scene of unequalled beauty and brilliancy, set in the +spring foliage and blossom, whence, as if to rival the human performers, +gushes of nightingales' song came in every interval. Hearing Eleanor's +eager question whether that were the nightingale whose liquid trillings +she heard, King Rene realised that the Scottish maidens knew not the +note, and signed to the minstrels to cease for a time, then came and sat +on a cushion beside the young lady, and enjoyed her admiration. + +'Ah!' she said, 'that is the king of the minstrel birds.' + +He smiled. 'The royal lady then has her orders and ranks for the birds.' + +'Oh yes. If the royal eagle is the king, and the falcon is the true +knight, the nightingale and mavis, merle and lark, are the minstrels. +And the lovely seagull, oh, how call you it?--with the long white +floating wings rising and falling, is the graceful dancer.' + +'Guifette,' Rene gave the word, 'or in Provence, Rondinel della +mar--hirondelle de la mer!' + +'Swallow! Ah, the pilgrim birds, who visit the Holy Land.' + +'Lady, you should be of our court of the troubadours,' said Rene; 'your +words should be a poem.' + +He was called away at the moment, and craved her licence so politely +that the chivalrous minstrel king seemed to Elleen all she had dreamt +of. The whole was perfect, nothing wanting save that for which her +heart was all the time beating high, the presence of her beloved +sister Margaret. It was as if a scene out of a romance of fairyland +had suddenly taken reality, and she more than once closed her eyes and +squeezed her hands to try whether she was awake. + +A fanfaron of trumpets came on the wind, and all were on the alert, +while Eleanor's heart throbbed so that she could hardly stand, and +caught at Margaret's arm, as she murmured with a gasp, 'My sister! My +sister!' + +'Ah! you are happy to meet once more,' said Margaret. 'The saints only +know whether Yolande and I shall ever see one another's faces again when +once I am carried away to your dreary England.' + +'England is not mine, lady,' said Eleanor, rather sharply. 'We reckon +the English as our bitterest foes.' + +'You have come with an Englishman though,' said Margaret, 'whom I am to +take for my husband,' and she laughed a gay innocent laugh. A grizzled +old knight, whom I am not like to mistake for my true spouse. Have you +seen him? What like is he?' + +'The gentlest and sweetest of kings,' returned Eleanor; 'as fond of all +that is good and fair and holy as is your own royal father.' + +Margaret coughed a little. 'My husband should be a gallant warlike +knight,' she said, 'such as was this king's father.' + +'Oh, see! cried Eleanor. 'I saw the glitter of the spears through the +trees. There's another blast of the trumpets! Oh! oh! it is a gallant +sight! If only Jamie, my little brother, could see it! It stirs one's +blood.' + +'Ah yes, Elleen,' cried Jean. 'This is something to have come for.' + +'And Margaret, sweet Madge,' repeated Eleanor to herself, in her native +Scotch, while King Rene's trumpets, harps, and hautbois burst forth with +an answering peal, so exciting her that her yellow-brown eyes sparkled +and the colour rose in her cheeks, giving her a strange beauty full of +eager spirit. Duke Sigismund turned and gazed at her in surprise, and an +old herald who was waiting near observed, 'Is that the daughter of the +captive King of Scotland? She has his very countenance and bearing.' + +The trumpeters and other attendants, bearing the blue-lilied banner of +France, appeared among the trees, and dividing, formed a lane for the +advance of the royal personages. King Rene went forward to meet them, +foremost, so as to be ready to hold the stirrup for his sister the Queen +of France. Duke Sigismund seemed about to give his hand to the Infanta +Violante, as the Provencaux called Yolande, but she was beforehand with +him, linking her arm into Jean's, while Margaret took Eleanor's, and +said in her ear, 'The great awkward German! He is come here to pay his +court to Yolande, but she will none of him. She has better hopes.' + +Eleanor hardly attended, for her whole soul was bent on the party +arriving. King Charles, riding on a handsome bay horse, closely followed +by a conveyance such as was called in England a whirlicote, from which +the Queen was handed out by her brother, and then, on a sorrel palfrey, +in a blue gold-embroidered riding-suit--could that be Margaret of +Scotland? The long reddish-yellow hair and the tall figure had a +familiar look. King Rene was telling her something as he helped her to +alight, and with one spring, regardless of all, and of all ceremony, +she sprang forward. 'My wee Jeanie! My Elleen! My titties! Mine ain wee +things,' she cried in her native tongue, as she embraced them by turns, +as if she would have devoured them, with a gush of tears. + +Though these were times of great state and ceremony, yet they were also +very demonstrative times, when tears and embracings were expected of +near kindred; and, indeed, the King and Queen were equally occupied +with their brother and nieces; but presently Eleanor heard a low voice +observe, with a sort of sarcastic twang, 'If Madame has sufficiently +satiated her tenderness, perhaps she will remember the due of others.' +Margaret started as if stung, and Eleanor, looking up, beheld a face, +young but sharp, and with a keen, hard, set look in the narrow eyes, +contracted brow, and thin lips, that made her feel as though the serpent +had found his way into her paradise. Hastily turning, Margaret presented +her sisters to her husband, who bowed, and kissed each with those +strange thin lips, that again made Eleanor shudder, perhaps because of +his compliment, 'We are graced by these ladies, in whom we have another +Madame la Dauphine, as well as an errant beauty.' + +Jean appropriated the last words, but Elleen felt sure that the earlier +ones were ironical, both to her and to the Dauphiness, on whose cheeks +they brought a flush. The two kings, however, turned to receive the +sisters, and nothing could be kinder than the tone of King Charles and +Queen Marie towards the sisters of their good daughter, as they termed +the Dauphiness, who on her side was welcomed by Rene as the sweet niece, +sharer of his tastes, who brought minstrelsy and poetry in her train. + +'Trust her for that, my fair uncle,' said her husband in a cold, dry +tone. + +All the royal personages sat down on the cushions spread on the grass +to the 'rural fare,' as King Rene called it, which he had elaborately +prepared for them, while the music sounded from the trees in welcome. + +All was, as the kind prince announced, without ceremony, and he placed +Lord Suffolk, as the representative of Henry VI., next to the young +Infanta Margaret, and contrived that the Dauphiness should sit between +her two sisters, whose hands she clasped from time to time within her +own in an ecstasy of delight, while inquiries came from time to time, +low breathed in her native tongue, for wee Mary and Jamie and baby +Annaple. 'The very sound of your tongues is music to my lugs,' she said. +'And how much mair when ye speak mine ain bonnie Scotch, sic as I never +hear save by times when one archer calls to another. Jeanie, you favour +our mother. 'Tis gude for ye! I am blithe one of ye is na like puir +Marget!' + +'Dinna say that,' cried Jean, in an access of feeling. ''Tis hame, and +it's hame to see sic a sonsie Scots face--and it minds me of my blessed +father.' + +It was true that Margaret and Eleanor both were thorough Scotswomen, and +with the expressive features, the auburn colouring, and tall figures of +their father; but there was for the rest a melancholy contrast between +them, for while Elleen had the eager, hopeful, lively healthfulness of +early youth, giving a glow to her countenance and animation to the lithe +but scarcely-formed figure, Margaret, with the same original mould, +had the pallor and puffiness of ill-health in her complexion, and a +largeness of growth more unsatisfactory than leanness, and though her +face was lighted up and her eyes sparkled with the joy of meeting her +sisters, there were lines about the brow and round the mouth ill suited +to her age, which was little over twenty years. + + + + +CHAPTER 7. THE MINSTREL KING'S COURT + + + 'Where throngs of knights and barons bold, + In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold, + With store of ladies, whose bright eyes + Rain influence, and judge the prize + Of wit or arms, while both contend + To win her grace whom all commend.'--L'Allegro. + + +The whole of the two Courts had to be received in the capital of +Lorraine in full state under the beautiful old gateway, but as mediaeval +pageants are wearisome matters this may be passed over, though it was +exceptionally beautiful and poetic, owing to the influence of +King Rene's taste, and it perfectly dazzled the two Scottish +princesses--though, to tell the truth, they were somewhat disappointed +in the personal appearance of their entertainers, who did not come up to +their notion of royalty. Their father had been a stately and magnificent +man; their mother a beautiful woman. Henry VI. was a tall, well-made, +handsome man, with Plantagenet fairness and regularity of feature and a +sweetness all his own; but both these kings were, like all the house of +Valois, small men with insignificant features and sallow complexions. +Rene, indeed, had a distinction about him that compensated for want of +beauty, and Charles had a good-natured, easy, indolent look and gracious +smile that gave him an undefinable air of royalty. Rene's daughters +were both very lovely, but their beauty came from the other side of the +house, with the blood of Charles the Great, through their mother, the +heiress of Lorraine. + +There was a curious contrast between the brothers-in-law, Charles, when +dismounting at the castle gate, not disguising his weariness and relief +that it was over, and Rene, eager and anxious, desirous of making all +his bewildering multitude of guests as happy as possible, while the +Dauphin Louis stood by, half interested and amused, half mocking. He +was really fond of his uncle, though in a contemptuous superior sort +of manner, despising his religious and honourable scruples as mere +simplicity of mind. + +Rene of Anjou has been hardly dealt with, as is often the case with +princes upright, religious, and chivalrous beyond the average of their +time, yet without the strength or the genius to enforce their rights and +opinions, and therefore thrust aside. After his early unsuccessful wars +his lands of Provence and Lorraine were islands of peace, prosperity, +and progress, and withal he was an extremely able artist, musician, +and poet, striving to revive the old troubadour spirit of Provence, and +everywhere casting about him an atmosphere of refinement and kindliness. + +The hall of his hotel at Nanci was a beautiful place, with all the +gorgeous grace of the fifteenth century, and here his guests assembled +for supper soon after their arrival, all being placed as much as +possible according to rank. Eleanor found herself between a deaf old +Church dignitary and Duke Sigismund, on whose other side was Yolande, +the Infanta, as the Provencals called the daughter of Rene; while Jean +found the Dauphin on one side of her and a great French Duke on +the other. Louis amused himself with compliments and questions that +sometimes nettled her, sometimes pleased her, giving her a sense that he +might admire her beauty, but was playing on her simplicity, and trying +to make her betray the destitution of her home and her purpose in +coming. + +Eleanor, on the other hand, found her cavalier more simple than herself. +In fact, he properly belonged to the Infanta, but she paid no attention +to him, nor did the Bishop try to speak to the Scottish princess. +Sigismund's French was very lame, and Eleanor's not perfect, but she had +a natural turn for languages, and had, in the convent, picked up some +German, which in those days had many likenesses to her own broad Scotch. +They made one another out, between the two languages, with signs, +smiles, and laughter, and whereas the subtilties along the table +represented the entire story of Sir Gawain and his Loathly Lady, she +contrived to explain the story to him, greatly to his edification; and +they went on to King Arthur, and he did his best to narrate the German +reading of Sir Parzival. The difficulties engrossed them till the +rose-water was brought in silver bowls to wash their fingers, on which +Sigismund, after observing and imitating the two ladies, remarked that +they had no such Schwarmerci in Deutschland, and Yolande looked as if +she could well believe it, while Elleen, though ignorant of the meaning +of his word, laughed and said they had as little in Scotland. + +There was still an hour of daylight to come, and moon-rise would not +be far off, so that the hosts proposed to adjourn to the garden, where +fresh music awaited them. + +King Rene was an ardent gardener. His love of flowers was viewed as one +of his weaknesses, only worthy of an old Abbot, but he went his own way, +and the space within the walls of his castle at Nanci was lovely with +bright spring flowers, blossoming trees, and green walks, where, as Lady +Suffolk said, her grandfather could have mused all day and all night +long, to the sound of the nightingales. + +But what the sisters valued it for was that they could ramble away +together to a stone bench under the wall, and there sit at perfect ease +together and pour out their hearts to one another. Margaret, indeed, +touched them as they leant against her as if to convince herself of +their reality, and yet she said that they knew not what they did when +they put the sea between themselves and Scotland, nor how sick the heart +could be for its bonnie hills. + +'O gin I could see a mountain top again, I feel as though I could lay +me down and die content. What garred ye come daundering to these weary +flats of France?' + +'Ah, sister, Scotland is not what you mind it when our blessed father +lived!' + +And they told her how their lives had been spent in being hurried from +one prison-castle to another. + +'Prison-castles be not wanting here,' replied Margaret with a +sigh. Then, as Elleen held up a hand in delight at the thrill of a +neighbouring nightingale, she cried, 'What is yon sing-song, seesaw, +gurgling bird to our own bonnie laverock, soaring away to the sky, +without making such a wark of tuning his pipes, and never thinking +himself too dainty and tender for a wholesome frost or two! So Jamie +sent you off to seek for husbands here, did he? Couldna ye put up with a +leal Scot, like Glenuskie there?' + +'There were too many of them,' said Jean. + +'And not ower leal either,' said Eleanor. + +'Lealty is a rare plant ony gate,' sighed Margaret, 'and where sae +little is recked of our Scots royalty, mayhap ye'll find that tocherless +lasses be less sought for than at hame. Didna I see thee, Elleen, +clavering with that muckle Archduke that nane can talk with?' + +'Ay,' said Eleanor. + +'He is come here a-courting Madame Yolande, with his father's goodwill, +for Alsace and Tyrol be his, mountains that might be in our ain +Hielands, they tell me.' + +'Methougnt,' said Eleanor, 'she scunnered from him, as Jeanie does +at--shall I say whom?' + +'And reason gude,' said Margaret. 'She has a joe of her ain, Count Ferry +de Vaudemont, that is the heir male of the line, and a gallant laddie. +At the great joust the morn methinks ye'll see what may well be sung by +minstrels, and can scarce fail to touch the heart of a true troubadour, +as is my good uncle Rene.' + +Margaret became quite animated, and her sisters pressed her to tell them +if she knew of any secret; but she playfully shook her head, and said +that if she did know she would not mar the romaunt that was to be played +out before them. + +'Nay,' said Eleanor, 'we have a romaunt of our own. May I tell, Jeanie?' + +'Who recks?' replied Jean, with a little toss of her head. + +Thus Eleanor proceeded to tell her sister what--since the adventure of +the goose--had gone far beyond a guess as to the tall, red-haired young +man-at-arms who had ridden close behind David Drummond. + +'Douglas, Douglas, tender and true,' exclaimed Margaret. 'He loves you +so as to follow for weeks, nay, months, in this guise without word or +look. Oh, Jeanie, Jeanie, happy lassie, did ye but ken it! Nay, put not +on that scornful mou'. It sorts you not weel, my bairn. He is of degree +befitting a Stewart, and even were he not, oh, sisters, sisters, better +to wed with a leal loving soul in ane high peel-tower than to bear a +broken heart to a throne!' and she fell into a convulsive fit of choked +and bitter weeping, which terrified her sisters. + +At the sound of a lute, apparently being brought nearer, accompanied +with footsteps, she hastily recovered herself, and rose to her feet, +while a smile broke out over her face, as the musician, a slender, +graceful figure, appeared on the path in the moonlight. + +'Answering the nightingales, Maitre Alain?' she said. + +'This is the court of nightingales, Madame,' he replied. 'It is +presumption to endeavour to rival them even though the heart be torn +like that of Philomel.' Wherewith he touched his lute, and began to sing +from his famous idyll-- + + + 'Ainsi mon coeur se guermentait + De la grande douleur qu'il portait, + En ce plaisant lieu solitaire + Ou un doux ventelet venait, + Si seri qu'on le sentait + Lorsque la violette mieux flaire.' + + +Again, as Eleanor heard the sweet strains, and saw the long shadows of +the trees and the light of the rising moon, it was like the attainment +of her dreamland; and Margaret proceeded to make known to her sisters +Maitre Alain Chartier, the prince of song, adding, 'Thou, too, wast a +songster, sister Elleen, even while almost a babe. Dost sing as of old?' + +'I have brought my father's harp,' said Eleanor. + +'Ah! I must hear it,' she cried with effusion. 'The harp. It will be his +voice again.' + +'Madame! Madame! Madame la Dauphine. Out here! Ever reckless of dew--ay, +and of waur than dew.' + +These last words were added in Scotch, as a tall, dark-cloaked figure +appeared on the scene from between the trees. Margaret laughed, with a +little annoyance in her tone, as she said, 'Ever my shadow, good Madame, +ever wearying yourself with care. Here, sisters, here is my trusty and +well-beloved Dame de Ste. Petronelle, who takes such care of me that she +dogs my footsteps like a messan.' + +'And reason gude,' replied the lady. 'Here is the muckle hall all +alight, and this King Rene, as they call him, twanging on his lute, and +but that the Seigneur Dauphin is talking to the English Lord on some +question of Gascon boundaries, we should have him speiring for you. I +saw the eye of him roaming after you, as it was.' + +'His eye seeking me!' cried Margaret, springing up from her languid +attitude with a tone like exultation in her voice, such as evoked a low +sigh from the old dame, as all began to move towards the castle. She +was the widow of a Scotch adventurer who had won lands and honours in +France; and she was now attached to the service of the Dauphiness, not +as her chief lady--that post was held by an old French countess--but +still close enough to her to act as her guardian and monitor whenever it +was possible to deal with her. + +The old lady, in great delight at meeting a compatriot, poured out her +confidences to Dame Lilias of Glenuskie. Infinitely grieved and annoyed +was she when, early as were the ordinary hours of the Court of Nanci, it +proved that the Dauphiness had called up her sisters an hour before, and +taken them across the chace which surrounded the castle to hear mass at +a convent of Benedictine nuns. + +It was perfectly safe, though only a tirewoman and a page followed the +Dauphiness, and only Annis attended her two sisters, for the grounds +were enclosed, and King Rene's domains were far better ruled and more +peaceful than those of the princes who despised him. It was an exquisite +spring morning, with grass silvery with dew and enamelled with flowers, +birds singing ecstatically on every branch, squirrels here and there +racing up a trunk. Margaret was in joyous spirits, and almost danced +between her sisters. Eleanor was amazed at the luxuriant beauty of the +scene, and could not admire enough. Jean, though at first a little cross +at the early summons, could not but be infected with their delight, and +the three laughed and frolicked together with almost childish glee in +the delight of their content. + +The great, gentle-eyed, long-horned kine were being driven in at the +convent-yard to be milked by the lay-sisters; at another entrance, +peasants, beggars, and sick were congregating; the bell from the +lace-works spire rang out, and the Dauphiness led the way to the +gateway, where, at her knock on the iron-studded door, a lay-sister +looked through the wicket. + +'Good sister, here are some early pilgrims to the shrine of St. +Scolastique,' she began. + +'To the other gate,' said the portress hastily. Margaret's face twinkled +with fun. 'I wad fain take a turn with the beggar crew,' she said to +her sisters in Scotch; 'but it might cause too great an outcry if I were +kenned. Commend me to the Mere St. Antoine,' she added in French, 'and +tell her that the Dauphiness would fain hear mass with her.' + +The portress cast an anxious doubtful glance, but being apparently +convinced, cried out for pardon, while hastily unlocking her door, and +sending a message to the Abbess. + +As they entered the cloistered quadrangle the nuns in black procession +were on their way to mass, but turned aside to receive their visitors. +Margaret knelt for a moment for the blessing and kiss of the Abbess, +then greeted the nun whom she had mentioned, but begged for no further +ceremony, and then was led into church. + +It was a brief festival mass, and was not really over before she, with +a restlessness of which her sisters began to be conscious, began to rise +and make her way out. A nun followed and entreated her to stay and break +her fast, but she would accept nothing save a draught of milk, swallowed +hastily, and with signs of impatience as her sisters took their turn. + +She walked quickly, rather as one guilty of an escapade, again +surprising her sisters, who fancied the liberty of a married princess +illimitable. + +Jean even ventured to ask her why she went so fast, 'Would the King of +France be displeased?' + +'He! Poor gude sire Charles! He heeds not what one does, good or bad; +no, not the murdering of his minion before his eyes,' said Margaret, +half laughing. + +'Thy husband, would he be angered?' pressed on Jean. + +'My husband? Oh no, it is not in the depth and greatness of is thoughts +to find fault with his poor worm,' said Margaret, a strange look, half +of exultation, half of pain, on her face. 'Ah! Jeanie, woman, none kens +in sooth how great and wise my Dauphin is, nor how far he sees beyond +all around him, so that he cannot choose but scorn them and make them +his tools. When he has the power, he will do more for this poor realm of +France than any king before him.' + +'As our father would have done for Scotland,' said Eleanor. + +'Then he tells thee of his plans?' + +'Me!' said Margaret, with the suffering look returning. 'How should he +talk to me, the muckle uncouthie wife that I am, kenning nought but a +wheen ballads and romaunts--not even able to give him the heir for whom +he longs,' and she wrung her hands together, 'how can I be aught but a +pain and grief to him!' + +'Nay, but thou lovest him?' said Jean, over simply. + +'Lassie!' exclaimed Margaret hotly, 'what thinkest thou I am made of? +How should a wife not love her man, the wisest, canniest prince in +Christendom, too! Love him! I worship him, as the trouveres say, with +all my heart, and wad lay down my life if I could win one kind blush of +his eye; and yet--and yet--such a creature am I that I am ever wittingly +or unwittingly transgressing these weary laws, and garring him think me +a fool, or others report me such,' clenching her hands again. + +'Madame de Ste. Petronelle?' asked Jean. + +'She! Oh no! She is a true loyal Lindsay, heart and soul, dour and +wearisome; but she would guard me from every foe, and most of all, as +she is ever telling me, from mine ain self, that is my worst enemy. Only +she sets about it in such guise that, for very vexation, I am driven +farther! No, it is the Countess de Craylierre, who is forever spiting +me, and striving to put whatever I do in a cruel light, if I dinna walk +after her will--hers, as if she could rule a king's daughter!' + +And Margaret stamped her foot on the ground, while a hot flush arose in +her cheeks. Her sisters, young girls as they were, could not understand +her moods, either of wild mirth, eager delight in poetry and music, +childish wilfulness and petulant temper or deep melancholy, all +coming in turn with feverish alternation and vehemence. As the ladies +approached the castle they were met by various gentlemen, among whom +was Maitre Alain Chartier, and a bandying of compliments and witticisms +began in such rapid French that even Eleanor could not follow it; but +there was something in the ring of the Dauphiness's hard laugh that +pained her, she knew not why. + +At the entrance they found the chief of the party returning from +the cathedral, where they had heard mass, not exactly in state, but +publicly. + +'Ha! ha! good daughter,' laughed the King, 'I took thee for a slug abed, +but it is by thy errant fashion that thou hast cheated us.' + +'I have been to mass at St Mary's,' returned Margaret, 'with my sisters. +I love the early walk across the park.' + +'No wonder,' came from between the thin lips of the Dauphin, as his keen +little eye fell on Chartier. Margaret drew herself up and vouchsafed not +to reply. Jean marvelled, but Eleanor felt with her, that she was too +proud to defend herself from the insult. Madame de Ste. Petronelle, +however, stepped forward and began: 'Madame la Dauphine loves not +attendance. She made her journey alone with Mesdames ses soeurs with no +male company, till she reached home.' + +But before the first words were well out of the good lady's mouth Louis +had turned away, with an air of the most careless indifference, to a +courtier in a long gown, longer shoes, and a jewelled girdle, who became +known to the sisters as Messire Jamet de Tillay. Eleanor felt indignant. +Was he too heedless of his wife to listen to the vindication. + +Madame de Ste. Petronelle took the Lady of Glenuskie aside and poured +out her lamentations. That was ever the way, she said, the Dauphiness +would give occasion to slanderers, by her wilful ways, and there were +those who would turn all she said or did against her, poisoning the ear +of the Dauphin, little as he cared. + +'Is he an ill man to her?' asked Dame Lilias little prepossessed by his +looks. + +'He! Madame, mind you an auld tale of the Eatin wi' no heart in his +body! I verily believe he and his father both were created like that +giant. No that the King is sair to live with either, so that he can eat +and drink and daff, and be let alone to take his ease. I have seen him; +and my gude man and them we kenned have marked him this score of years; +and whether his kingdom were lost or won, whether his best friends were +free or bound, dead or alive, he recked as little as though it were a +game of chess, so that he can sit in the ingle neuk at Bourges and toy +with Madame de Beaute, shameless limmer that she is! and crack his fists +with yon viper, Jamet de Tillay, and the rest of the crew. But he'll +let you alone, and has a kindly word for them that don't cross him--and +there be those that would go through fire and water for him. He is no +that ill! But for his son, he has a sneer and a spite such as never his +father had. He is never a one to sit still and let things gang their +gate; but he has as little pity or compassion as his father, and if King +Charles will not stir a finger to hinder a gruesome deed, Dauphin Louis +will not spare to do it so that he can gain by it, and I trow verily +that to give pain and sting with that bitter tongue of his is joy to +him.' + +'Then is there no love between him and our princess?' + +'Alack, lady, there is love, but 'tis all on one side of the house. I +doubt me whether Messire le Dauphin hath it in him to love any living +creature. I longed, when I saw your maidens, that my poor lady had been +as bonnie as her sister Joanna; but mayhap that would not have served +her better. If she were as dull as the Duchess of Brittany--who they say +can scarce find a word to give to a stranger at Nantes--she might even +anger him less than she does with her wit and her books and her verses, +sitting up half the night to read and write rondeaux, forsooth!' + +'Her blessed father's own daughter!' + +'That may be; but how doth it suit a wife? It might serve here, where +every one is mad after poesy, as they call it; but such ways are in +no good odour with the French dames, who never put eye to book, pen to +paper, nor foot to ground if they can help it; and when she behoves to +gang off roaming afoot, as she did this morn, there's no garring the +ill-minded carlines believe that there's no ill purpose behind.' + +'It is scarce wise.' + +'Yet to hear her, 'tis such walking and wearing herself out that keeps +the life in her and alone gives her sleep. My puir bairn, worshipping +the very ground her man sets foot on, and never getting aught but a gibe +or a girn from him, and, for the very wilfulness of her sair heart, ever +putting herself farther from him!' + +Such was the piteous account that Madame de Ste. Petronelle (otherwise +Dame Elspeth Johnstone) gave, and which the Lady of Glenuskie soon +perceived to be only too true during the days spent at Nanci. To the +two young sisters the condition of things was less evident. To Margaret +their presence was such sunshine, that they usually saw her in her +highest, most flighty, and imprudent spirits, taking at times absolute +delight in shocking her two duennas; and it was in this temper that, one +hot noon day, coming after an evening of song and music, finding Alain +Chartier asleep on a bench in the garden, she declared that she must +kiss the mouth from which such sweet strains proceeded, and bending +down, imprinted so light a kiss as not to waken him, then turned round, +her whole face rippling with silent laughter at the amusement of Jean +and Margaret of Anjou, Elleen's puzzled gravity, and the horror and +dismay of her elder ladies. But Dame Lilias saw what she did not--a look +of triumphant malice on the face of Jamet de Tillay. Or at other times +she would sit listening, with silent tears in her eyes, to plaintive +Scottish airs on Eleanor's harp, which she declared brought back her +father's voice to her, and with it the scent of the heather, and the +very sight of Arthur's Seat or the hills of Perth. Elleen had some +sudden qualms of heart lest her sister's blitheness should be covering +wounds within; but she was too young to be often haunted by such +thoughts in the delightful surroundings in which that Easter week was +spent--the companionship of their sister and of the two young Infantas +of Anjou, as well as all the charm of King Rene's graceful attention. +Eleanor had opened to her fresh stores of beauty, exquisite +illuminations, books of all kinds--legend, history, romance, poetry--all +freely displayed to her by her royal host, who took an elderly man's +delight in an intelligent girl; nor, perhaps, was the pleasure lessened +by the need of explaining to Archduke Sigismund, in German ever +improving, that which he could not understand. There was a delightful +freedom about the Court--not hard, rugged, always on the defence, like +that of Scotland; nor stiffly ecclesiastical, as had been that of Henry +of Windsor; but though there was devotion every morning, there was for +the rest of the day holiday-making according to each one's taste--not +hawking, for the 'bon roi Rene' was merciful to the birds in nesting +time, for which he was grumbled and laughed at by the young nobles, and +it may be feared by Jean, who wanted to exhibit Skywing's prowess; +but there was riding at the ring, and jousting, or long rides in the +environs, minstrelsy in the gardens, and once a graceful ballet of the +King's own composition; and the evenings, sometimes in-doors, sometimes +out-of-doors, were given to song and music. Altogether it was a land of +enchantment to most, whether gaily or poetically inclined. + +Only there were certain murmurs by the rugged Scots and fierce Gascons +among the guests. George observed to David Drummond that he felt as if +this was a nest of eider-ducks, all down and fluff. Davie responded that +it was like a pasteboard town in a mystery play, and that he longed to +strike at it with his good broadsword. The English squire who stood +by, in his turn compared it to a castle of flummery and blanc-manger. +A French captain of a full company declared that he wished he had the +plundering of it; and a fierce-looking mountaineer of the Vosges of +Alsace growled that if the harping old King of Nowhere flouted his +master, Duke Sigismund, maybe they should have a taste of plunder. + +There was actually to be a tournament on the Monday, the day before the +wedding, and a first tournament was a prodigious event in the life of a +young lady. Jean was in the utmost excitement, and never looked at +her own pretty face of roses and lilies in the steel mirror without +comparing it with those of the two Infantas in the hope of being chosen +Queen of Beauty; but, to her great disappointment, King Rene prudently +ordained that there should be no such competition, but that the prizes +should be bestowed by his sister, the Queen of France. + +The Marquess of Suffolk requested Sir Patrick to convey to young Douglas +a free offer of fitting him out for the encounter, with armour and horse +if needful, and even of conferring knighthood on him, so that he might +take his place on equal terms in the lists. + +'He would like to do it, the insolent loon!' was Geordie's grim comment. +'Will De la Pole dare to talk of dubbing the Red Douglas! When I bide +his buffet, it shall be in another sort. When I take knighthood, it +shall be from my lawful King or my father.' + +'So I shall tell him,' replied Sir Patrick, 'and I deem you wise, for +there be tricks of French chivalry that a man needs to know ere he can +acquit himself well in the lists; and to see you fail would scarce raise +you in the eyes of your lady.' + +'More like they would find too much earnest in the midst of their sham?' +returned Geordie. 'You had best tell your English Marquis, as he calls +himself, that he had better not trust a lance in a Scotsman hand, if he +wouldna have all the shams that fret me beyond my patience about their +ears.' + +This was not exactly what Sir Patrick told the Marquis; though he was +far from disapproving of the resolution. He kept an eye on this strange +follower, and was glad to see that there was no evil or licence in his +conduct, but that he chiefly consorted with David and a few other +young squires to whom this week, so delightful to the ladies, was +inexpressibly wearisome. + +Tournaments have been described, so far as the nineteenth century +can describe them, so often that no one wishes to hear more of their +details. These had nearly reached their culmination in the middle of +the fifteenth century. Defensive armour had become highly ornamental and +very cumbrous, so that it was scarcely possible for the champions to +do one another much harm, except that a fall under such a weight +was dangerous. Thus it was only an exercise of skill in arms and +horsemanship on which the ladies gazed as they sat in the gallery +around Queen Marie, the five young princesses together forming, as the +minstrels declared, a perfect wreath of loveliness. The Dauphiness, with +a flush on her cheek and an eager look on her face, her tall form, and +dress more carefully arranged than usual, looked well and princely; +Eleanor, very like her, but much developed in expression and improved +in looks since she left home, and a beauty of her own; but the palm lay +between the other three--Yolande, tall, grave, stately, and anxious, +with darker blue eyes and brown hair than her sister, who, with her +innocent childish face, showing something of the shyness of a bride, sat +somewhat back, as if to conceal herself between Yolande and Jean, who +was all excitement, her cheeks flushed, and her sunny hair seeming to +glow with a radiance of its own. Duke Sigismund was among the defenders, +in a very splendid suit of armour, made in Italy, and embossed in that +new taste of the Cinquecento that was fast coming in. + +The two kings began with an amicable joust, in which Rene had the best +of it. Then they took their seats, and as usual there was a good deal +of riding one against the other at the lists, and shivering of lances; +while some knights were borne backwards, horse and all, others had their +helmets carried off; but Rene, who sat in great enjoyment, with his +staff in hand, between his sister and her husband, King Charles, had +taken care that all the weapons should be blunted. Sigismund, a tall, +large, strongly made man, was for some time the leading champion. +Perhaps there was an understanding that the Lion of Hapsburg and famed +Eagle of the Tyrol was to carry all before him and win, in an undoubted +manner, the prize of the tourney, and the hand of the Infanta Yolande. +Certainly the colour rose higher and higher in her delicate cheek, but +those nearest could see that it was not with pleasure, for she bit her +lip with annoyance, and her eyes wandered in search of some one. + +Presently, in a pause, there came forward on a tall white horse a +magnificently tall man, in plain but bright armour, three allerions or +beakless eagles on his breast, and on his shield a violet plant, with +the motto, Si douce est la violette. The Dauphiness leant across her +sister and squeezed Yolande's hand vehemently, as the knight inclined +his lance to the King, and was understood to crave permission to show +his prowess. Charles turned to Rene, whose good-humoured face looked +annoyed, but who could not withhold his consent. The Dauphiness, whose +vehement excitement was more visible than even Yolande's, whispered to +Eleanor that this was Messire Ferry de Vaudemont, her true love, come to +win her at point of the lance. + +History is the parent of romance, and romance now and then becomes +history. It is an absolute and undoubted fact that Count Frederic or +Ferry de Vaudemont, the male representative of the line of Charles the +Great, did win his lady-love, Yolande of Anjou, by his good lance within +the lists, and that thus the direct descent was brought eventually back +to Lorraine, though this was not contemplated at the time, since Yolande +had then living both a brother and a nephew, and it was simply for her +own sake that Messire Ferry, in all the strength and beauty that +descended to the noted house of Guise, was now bearing down all before +him, touching shield after shield, only to gain the better of their +owners in the encounter. Yolande sat with a deep colour in her cheeks, +and her hands clasped rigidly together without a movement, while the +Lorrainer spectators, with a strong suspicion who the Knight of the +Violet really was, and with a leaning to their own line, loudly +applauded each victory. + +King Rene, long ago, had had to fight for his wife's inheritance with +this young man's father, who, supported by the strength of Burgundy, had +defeated and made him prisoner, so that he was naturally disinclined to +the match, and would have preferred the Hapsburg Duke, whose Alsatian +possessions were only divided from his own by the Vosges; but his +generous and romantic spirit could not choose but be gained by the +proceeding of Count Ferry, and the mute appeal in the face and attitude +of his much-loved daughter. + +He could not help joining in the applause at the grace and ease of the +young knight, till by and by all interest became concentrated on the +last critical encounter with Sigismund. + +Every one watched almost breathlessly as the big heavy Austrian, mounted +on a fresh horse, and the slim Lorrainer in armour less strong but less +weighty, had their meeting. Two courses were run with mere splintering +of lance; at the third, while Rene held his staff ready to throw if +signs of fighting _a l'outrance_ appeared, Ferry lifted his lance a +little, and when both steeds recoiled from the clash, the azure eagle of +the Tyrol was impaled on the point of his lance, and Sigismund, though +not losing his saddle, was bending low on it, half stunned by the force +of the blow. Down went Rene's warder. Loud were the shouts, 'Vive the +Knight of the Violet! Victory to the Allerions!' + +The voice of Rene was as clear and exulting as the rest, as the heralds, +with blast of trumpet, proclaimed the Chevalier de la Violette the +victor of the day, and then came forward to lead him to the feet of the +Queen of France. His helmet was removed, and at the face of manly beauty +that it revealed, the applause was renewed; but as Marie held out the +prize, a splendidly hilted sword, he bowed low, and said, 'Madame, one +boon alone do I ask for my guerdon.' And withal, he laid the blue eagle +on his lance at the feet of Yolande. + +Rene was not the father to withstand such an appeal. He leapt from his +chair of state, he hurried to Yolande in her gallery, took her by the +hand, and in another moment Ferry had sprung from his horse, and on the +steps knight and lady, in their youthful glory and grace, stood hand +in hand, all blushes and bliss, amid the ecstatic applause of the +multitude, while the Dauphiness shed tears of joy. Thus brilliantly +ended the first tournament witnessed by the Scottish princesses. Eleanor +had been most interested on the whole in Duke Sigismund, and had exulted +in his successes, and been sorry to see him defeated, but then she knew +that Yolande dreaded his victory, and she suspected that he did not +greatly care for Yolande, so that, since he was not hurt, and was +certainly the second in the field, she could look on with complacency. + +Moreover, at the evening's dance, when Margaret and Suffolk, Ferry +and Yolande stood up for a stately pavise together, Sigismund came to +Eleanor, and while she was thinking whether or not to condole with +him, he shyly mumbled something about not regretting--being free--the +Dauphin, her brother, enduring a beaten knight. It was all in a mixture +of French and German, mostly of the latter, and far less comprehensible +than usual, unless, indeed, maidenly shyness made her afraid to +understand or to seem to do so. He kept on standing by her, both +of them, mute and embarrassed, not quite unconscious that they were +observed, perhaps secretly derided by some of the lookers-on. The first +relief was when the Dauphiness came and sat down by her sister, and +began to talk fast in French, scarce heeding whether the Duke understood +or answered her. + +One question he asked was, who was the red-faced young man with stubbly +sunburnt hair, and a scar on his cheek, who had appeared in the lists in +very gaudy but ill-fitting armour, and with a great raw-boned, snorting +horse, and now stood in a corner of the hall with his eyes steadily +fixed on the Lady Joanna. + +'So!' said Sigismund. 'That fellow is the Baron Rudiger von Batchburg +Der Schelm! How has he the face to show himself here?' + +'Is he one of your Borderers--your robber Castellanes?' asked Margaret. + +'Even so! His father's castle of Balchenburg is so cunningly placed on +the march between Elsass and Lothringen that neither our good host nor +I can fully claim it, and these rogues shelter themselves behind one +or other of us till it is, what they call in Germany a Rat Castle, the +refuge of all the ecorcheurs and routiers of this part of the country. +They will bring us both down on them one of these days, but the place is +well-nigh past scaling by any save a gemsbock or an ecorcheur!' + +Jean herself had remarked the gaze of the Alsatian mountaineer. It was +the chief homage that her beauty had received, and she was somewhat +mortified at being only viewed as part of the constellation of royalty +and beauty doing honour to the Infantas. She believed, too, that if G + he could have brought her out in as effective and romantic a light as +that in which Yolande had appeared, and she was in some of her moods +hurt and angered with him for refraining, while in others she supposed +sometimes that he was too awkward thus to venture himself, and at others +she did him the justice of believing that he disdained to appear in +borrowed plumes. + +The wedding was by no means so splendid an affair as the tournament, as, +indeed, it was merely a marriage by proxy, and Yolande and her Count of +Vaudemont were too near of kin to be married before a dispensation could +be procured. + +The King and Queen of France would leave Nanci to see the bride partly +on her way. The Dauphin and his wife were to tarry a day or two behind, +and the princesses belonged to their Court. Sir Patrick had fulfilled +his charge of conducting them to their sister, and he had now to avail +himself of the protection of the King's party as far as possible on +the way to Paris, where he would place Malcolm at the University, and +likewise meet his daughter's bridegroom and his father. + +Dame Lilias did not by any means like leaving her young cousins, so long +her charge, without attendants of their own; but the Dauphiness +gave them a tirewoman of her own, and undertook that Madame de Ste. +Petronelle should attend them in case of need, as well as that she would +endeavour to have Annis, when Madame de Terreforte, at her Court as +long as they were there. They also had a squire as equerry, and George +Douglas was bent on continuing in that capacity till his outfit from his +father arrived, as it was sure to do sooner or later. + +Margaret knew who he was, and promised Sir Patrick to do all in her +power for him, as truly his patience and forbearance well deserved. + +It was a very sorrowful parting between the two maidens and the Lady of +Glenuskie, who for more than half a year had been as a mother to them, +nay, more than their own mother had ever been; and bad done much to +mitigate the sharp angles of their neglected girlhood by her influence. +In a very few months more she would see James, and Mary, and the +'weans'; and the three sisters loaded her with gifts, letters, and +messages for all. Eleanor promised never to forget her counsel, and +to strive not to let the bright new world drive away all those devout +feelings and hopes that Mother Clare and King Henry had inspired, and +that Lady Drummond had done her best to keep up. + +Duke Sigismund had communicated to Sir Patrick his intention of making a +formal request to King James for the hand of the Lady Eleanor. He was +to find an envoy to make his proposal in due form, who would join Sir +Patrick at Terreforte after the wedding was over, so as to go with the +party to Scotland. + +Meantime, with many fond embraces and tears, Lady Drummond took leave +of her princesses, and they owned themselves to feel as if a protecting +wall had been taken away in her and her husband. + +'It is folly, though, thus to speak,' said Jean, 'when we have our +sister, and her husband, and his father, and all his Court to protect +us.' + +'We ought to be happy,' said Eleanor gravely. 'Outside here at Nanci, +it is all that my fancy ever shaped, and yet--and yet there is a strange +sense of fear beyond.' + +'Oh, talk not that gate,' cried Jean, 'as thou wilt be having thy +gruesome visions!' + +'No; it is not of that sort,' returned Eleanor. 'I trow not! It may be +rather the feeling of the vanity of all this world's show.' + +'Oh, for mercy's sake, dinna let us have clavers of that sort, or we +shall have thee in yon nunnery!' exclaimed Jean. 'See this girdle of +Maggie's, which she has given me. Must I not make another hole to draw +it up enough for my waist?' + +'Jean herself was much disappointed when Margaret, with great regret, +told her that the Dauphin had to go out of his way to visit some castles +on his way to Chalons sur Marne, and that he could not encumber his +hosts with so large a train as the presence of two royal ladies rendered +needful. They were, therefore, to travel by another route, leading +through towns where there were hostels. Madame de Ste. Petronelle was to +go with them, and an escort of trusty Scots archers, and all would meet +again in a fortnight's time. + +All sounded simple and easy, and Margaret repeated, 'It will be a troop +quite large enough to defend you from all ecorcheurs; indeed, they dare +not come near our Scottish archers, whom Messire, my husband, has told +off for your escort. And you will have your own squire,' she added, +looking at Jean. + +'That's as he lists,' said Jean scornfully. + +'Ah, Jeanie, Jeanie, thou mayst have to rue it if thou turn'st lightly +from a leal heart.' + +'I'm not damsel-errant of romance, as thou and Elleen would fain be,' +said Jean. + +'Nay,' said Margaret, 'love is not mere romance. And oh, sister, credit +me, a Scots lassie's heart craves better food than crowns and coronets. +Hard and unco' cold be they, where there is no warmth to meet the +yearning soul beneath, that would give all and ten times more for one +glint of a loving eye, one word from a tender lip.' Again she had one of +those hysteric bursts of tears, but she laughed herself back, crying, +'But what is the treason wifie saying of her gudeman--her Louis, that +never yet said a rough word to his Meg?' + +Then came another laugh, but she gathered herself up at a summons to +come down and mount. + +She was tenderly embraced by all, King Rene kissing her and calling her +his dear niece and princess of minstrelsy, who should come to him at +Toulouse and bestow the golden violet. + +She rode away, looking back smiling and kissing her hand, but Eleanor's +eyes grew wide and her cheeks pale. + +'Jean,' she murmured, low and hoarsely, 'Margaret's shroud is up to her +throat.' + +'Hoots with thy clavers,' exclaimed Jeanie in return. 'I never let thee +sing that fule song, but Meg's fancies have brought the megrims into +thine head! Thou and she are pair.' + +'That we shall be nae longer,' sighed Eleanor. 'I saw the shroud as +clear as I see yon cross on the spire.' + + + + +CHAPTER 8. STINGS + + + 'Yet one asylum is my own, + Against the dreaded hour; + A long, a silent, and a lone, + Where kings have little power.'--SCOTT. + + +At Chalons, the Sieur de Terreforte and his son Olivier, a very +quiet, stiff, and well-trained youth, met Sir Patrick and the Lady of +Glenuskie. Terreforte was within the province of Champagne, and as +long as the Court remained at Chalons the Sieur felt bound to remain in +attendance on the King--lodging at his own house, or hotel, as he called +it, in the city. Dame Lilias did not regret anything which gave her a +little more time with her daughter, and enabled Annis to make a little +more acquaintance with her bridegroom and his family before being +left alone with them. Moreover, she hoped to see something more of her +cousins the princesses. + +But they came not. The Dauphin and his wife arrived from their excursion +and took up their abode in the Castle of Surry le Chateau, at a short +distance from thence and thither went the Lady of Glenuskie with her +husband to pay her respects, and present the betrothed of her daughter. + +Margaret was sitting in a shady nook of the walls, under the shade of a +tall, massive tower, with a page reading to her, but in that impulsive +manner which the Court of France thought grossiere and sauvage; she +ran down the stone stairs and threw herself on the neck of her cousin, +exclaiming, however, 'But where are my sisters?' + +'Are they not with your Grace? I thought to find them here!' + +'Nay! They were to start two days after us, with an escort of archers, +while we visited the shrine of St. Menehould. They might have been here +before us,' exclaimed Margaret, in much alarm. 'My husband thought our +train would be too large if they went with us.' + +'If we had known that they were not to be with your Grace, we would have +tarried for them,' said Dame Lilias. + +'Oh, cousin, would that you bad!' + +'Mayhap King Rene and his daughter persuaded them to wait a few days.' + +That was the best hope, but there was much uneasiness when another day +passed and the Scottish princesses did not appear. Strange whispers, +coming from no one knew where, began to be current that they had +disappeared in company with some of those wild and gay knights who had +met at the tournament at Nanci. + +In extreme alarm and indignation, Margaret repaired to her husband. +He was kneeling before the shrine of the Lady in the Chapel of Surry, +telling his beads, and he did not stir, or look round, or relax one +murmur of his Aves, while she paced about, wrung her hands, and vainly +tried to control her agitation. At last he rose, and coldly said, 'I +knew it could be no other who thus interrupted my devotions.' + +'My sisters!' she gasped. + +'Well, what of them?' + +'Do you know what wicked things are said of them--the dear maids? +Ah!'--as she saw his strange smile--'you have heard! You will silence +the fellows, who deserve to have their tongues torn out for defaming a +king's daughters.' + +'Verily, ma mie,' said Louis, 'I see no such great improbability in the +tale. They have been bred up to the like, no doubt a mountain kite of +the Vosges is a more congenial companion than a chevalier bien courtois.' + +'You speak thus simply to tease your poor Margot,' she said, pleading +yet trembling; 'but I know better than to think you mean it.' + +'As my lady pleases,' he said. + +'Then will I send Sir Patrick with an escort to seek them at Nanci and +bring them hither?' + +'Where is this same troop to come from?' demanded Louis. + +'Our own Scottish archers, who will see no harm befall my blessed +father's daughters.' + +'Ha! say you so? I had heard a different story from Buchan, from the +Grahams, the Halls. Revenge is sweet--as your mother found it.' + +'The murderers had only their deserts.' + +Louis shrugged his shoulders, 'That is as their sons may think.' + +'No one would be so dastardly as to wreak vengeance on two young +helpless maids,' cried Margaret. 'Oh! sir, help me; what think you?' + +'Madame knows better than I do the spirit alike of her sisters and of +her own countrymen.' + +'Nay, nay, Monsieur, husband, do but help me! My poor sisters in this +strange land! You, who are wiser than all, tell me what can have become +of them?' + +'What can I say, Madame? Love--love of the minstrel kind seems to run +in the family. You all have supped full thereof at Nanci. If report said +true, there was a secret lover in their suite. What so likely as that +the May game should have become earnest?' + +'But, sir, we are accountable. My sisters were entrusted to us.' + +'Not to me,' said Louis. 'If the boy, your brother, expected me to +find husbands and dowers for a couple of wild, penniless, feather-pated +damsels-errant, he expected far too much. I know far too well what are +Scotch manners and ideas of decorum to charge myself with the like.' + +'Sir, do you mean to insult me?' demanded Margaret, rising to the full +height of her tall stature. + +'That is as Madame may choose to fit the cap,' he said, with a bow; 'I +accuse her of nothing,' but there was an ironical smile on his thin lips +which almost maddened her. + +'Speak out; oh, sir, tell me what you dare to mean!' she said, with a +stamp of her foot, clasping her hands tightly. He only bowed again. + +'I know there are evil tongues abroad,' said Margaret, with a desperate +effort to command her voice; 'but I heeded them no more than the midges +in the air while I knew my lord and husband heeded them not! But--oh! +say you do not.' + +'Have I said that I did?' + +'Then for a proof--dismiss and silence that foul-slandering wretch, +Jamet de Tillay.' + +'A true woman's imagination that to dismiss is to silence,' he laughed. + +'It would show at least that you will not brook to have your wife +defamed! Oh! sir, sir,' she cried, 'I only ask what any other husband +would have done long ago of his own accord and rightful anger. Smile not +thus--or you will see me frenzied.' + +'Smiles best befit woman's tears,' said Louis coolly. 'One moment for +your sisters, the next for yourself.' + +'Ah! my sisters! my sisters! Wretch that I am, to have thought of +my worthless self for one moment. Ah! you are only teasing your poor +Margot! You will act for your own honour and theirs in sending out to +seek them!' + +'My honour and theirs may be best served by their being forgotten.' + +Margaret became inarticulate with dismay, indignation, disappointment, +as these envenomed stings went to her very soul, further pointed by the +curl of Louis's thin lips and the sinister twinkle of his little eyes. +Almost choked, she stammered forth the demand what he meant, only to +be answered that he did not pretend to understand the Scottish errant +nature, and pointing to a priest entering the church, he bade her not +make herself conspicuous, and strolled away. + +Margaret's despair and agony were inexpressible. She stood for some +minutes leaning against a pillar to collect her senses. Then her first +thought was of consulting the Drummonds, and she impetuously dashed +back to her own apartments and ordered her palfrey and suite to be ready +instantly to take her to Chalons. + +Madame la Dauphine's palfreys were all gone to Ghalons to be shod. +In fact, there were some games going on there, and trusting to the +easy-going habits of their mistress, almost all her attendants had +lounged off thither, even the maidens, as well as the pages, who felt +Madame de Ste. Petronelle's sharp eyes no longer over them. + +'Tell me,' said Margaret, to the one lame, frightened old man who alone +seemed able to reply to her call, 'do you know who commanded the escort +which were with my sisters, the Princesses of Scotland?' + +The old man threw up his hands. How should he know? 'The escort was of +the savage Scottish archers.' + +'I know that; but can you not tell who they were--nor their commander?' + +'Ah! Madame knows that their names are such as no Christian ears can +understand, nor lips speak!' + +'I had thought it was the Sire Andrew Gordon who was to go with them. He +with the blue housings on the dapple grey.' + +'No, Madame; I heard the Captain Mercour say Monsieur le Dauphin +had other orders for him. It was the little dark one--how call they +him?--ah! with a more reasonable name--Le Halle, who led the party of +Mesdames. Madame! Madame! let me call some of Madame's women!' + +'No, no,' gasped Margaret, knowing indeed that none whom she wished to +see were within call. 'Thanks, Jean, here--now go,' and she flung him a +coin. + +She knew now that whatever had befallen her sisters had been by the +connivance if not the contrivance of her husband, unwilling to have the +charge and the portioning of the two penniless maidens imposed upon him. +And what might not that fate be, betrayed into the hands of one who had +so deadly a blood-feud with their parents! For Hall was the son of one +of the men whose daggers had slain James I., and whose crime had been +visited with such vindictive cruelty by Queen Joanna. The man's eyes +had often scowled at her, as if he longed for vengeance--and thus had it +been granted him. + +Margaret, with understanding to appreciate Louis's extraordinary +ability, had idolised him throughout in spite of his constant coldness +and the satire with which he treated all her higher tastes and +aspirations, continually throwing her in and back upon herself, and +blighting her instincts wherever they turned. She had accepted all this +as his superiority to her folly, and though the thwarted and unfostered +inclinations in her strong unstained nature had occasioned those +aberrations and distorted impulses which brought blame on her, she had +accepted everything hitherto as her own fault, and believed in, and +adored the image she had made of him throughout. Now it was as if her +idol had turned suddenly into a viper in her bosom, not only stinging +her by implied acquiescence in the slanders upon her discretion, if not +upon her fair fame, but actually having betrayed her innocent sisters by +means of the deadly enemy of their family--to what fate she knew not. + +To act became an immediate need to the unhappy Dauphiness at once, as +the only vent to her own misery, and because she must without loss of +time do something for the succour of her young sisters, or ascertain +their fate. + +She did not spend a moment's thought on the censure any imprudent +measure of her own might bring on her, but hastily summoning the only +tirewoman within reach, she exchanged her blue and gold embroidered robe +for a dark serge which she wore on days of penance, with a mantle and +hood of the same, and, to Linette's horror and dismay, bade her attend +her on foot to the Hotel de Terreforte, in Chalons. + +Linette was in no position to remonstrate, but could only follow, as the +lady, wrapped in her cloak, descended the steps, and crossed the empty +hall. The porter let her pass unquestioned, but there were a few guards +at the great gateway, and one shouted, 'Whither away, pretty Linette?' + +Margaret raised her hood and looked full at him, and he fell back. He +knew her, and knew that Madame la Dauphine did strange things. The road +was stony and bare and treeless, unfrequented at first, and it was very +sultry, the sun shining with a heavy melting heat on Margaret's weighty +garments; but she hurried on, never feeling the heat, or hearing +Linette's endeavours to draw her attention to the heavy bank of gray +clouds tinged with lurid red gradually rising, and whence threatening +growls of thunder were heard from time to time. She really seemed to +rush forward, and poor, panting Linette toiled after her, feeling ready +to drop, while the way was as yet unobstructed, as the two beautiful +steeples of the Cathedral and Notre Dame de l'Epine rose before them; +but after a time, as they drew nearer, the road became obstructed by +carts, waggons, donkeys, crowded with country-folks and their wares, +with friars and ragged beggars, all pressing into the town, and jostling +one another and the two foot-passengers all the more as rain-drops began +to fall, and the thunder sounded nearer. + +Margaret had been used to walking, but it was all within parks and +pleasances, and she was not at all used to being pushed about and +jostled. Linette knew how to make her way far better, and it was well +for them that their dark dresses and hoods and Linette's elderly face +gave the idea of their being votaresses of some sacred order, and so +secured them from actual personal insult; but as they clung together +they were thrust aside and pushed about, while the throng grew thicker, +the streets narrower, the storm heavier, the air more stifling and +unsavoury. + +A sudden rush nearly knocked them down, driving them under a gargoyle, +whose spout was streaming with wet, and completed the drenching; but +there was a porch and an open door of a church close behind, and into +this Linette dragged her mistress. Dripping, breathless, bruised, she +leant against a pillar, not going forward, for others, much more gaily +dressed, had taken refuge there, and were chattering away, for little +reverence was paid at that date to the sanctity of buildings. + +'Will the King be there, think you?' eagerly asked a young girl, who had +been anxiously wiping the wet from her pink kirtle. + +'Certes--he is to give the prizes,' replied a portly dame in crimson. + +'And the Lady of Beauty? I long to see her.' + +'Her beauty is passing--except that which was better worth the solid +castle the King gave her,' laughed the stout citizen, who seemed to be +in charge of them. + +'The Dauphiness, too--will she be there?' + +'Ah, the Dauphiness!' said the elder woman, with a meaning sound and +shake of the head. + +'Scandal--evil tongues!' growled the man. + +'Nay, Master Jerome, there's no denying it, for a merchant of Bourges +told me. She runs about the country on foot, like no discreet woman, let +alone a princess, with a good-for-nothing minstrel after her. Ah, you +may grunt and make signs, but I had it from the Countess de Craylierre's +own tirewoman, who came for a bit of lace, that the Dauphin is about to + the Sire Jamet de Tillay caught her kissing the minstrel on a bench in +the garden at Nanci.' + +'I would not trust the Sire de Tillay's word. He is in debt to every +merchant of the place--a smooth-tongued deceiver. Belike he is bribed +to defame the poor lady, that the Dauphin may rid himself of a childless +wife.' + +The young girl was growing restless, declaring that the rain was over, +and that they should miss the getting good places at the show. Margaret +had stood all this time leaning against her pillar, with hands clenched +together and teeth firm set, trying to control the shuddering of +horror and indignation that went through her whole frame. She started +convulsively when Linette moved after the burgher, but put a force upon +herself when she perceived that it was in order to inquire how best to +reach the Hotel de Terreforte. + +He pointed to the opposite door of the church, and Linette, +reconnoitring and finding that it led into a street entirely quiet and +deserted, went back to the Dauphiness, whom she found sunk on her knees, +stiff and dazed. + +'Come, Madame,' she entreated, trying to raise her, 'the Hotel de +Terreforte is near, these houses shelter us, and the rain is nearly +over.' + +Margaret did not move at first; then she looked up and said, 'What was +it that they said, Linette?' + +'Oh! no matter what they said, Madame; they were ignorant creatures, +who knew not what they were talking about. Come, you are wet, you are +exhausted. This good lady will know how to help you.' + +'There is no help in man,' said Margaret, wildly stretching out her +arms. 'Oh, God! help me--a desolate woman--and my sisters! Betrayed! +betrayed!' + +Very much alarmed, Linette at last succeeded in raising her to her feet, +and guiding her, half-blinded as she seemed, to the portal of the Hotel +de Terreforte--an archway leading into a courtyard. It was by great good +fortune that the very first person who stood within it was old Andrew +of the Cleugh, who despised all French sports in comparison with the +completeness of his master's equipment, and was standing at the gate, +about to issue forth in quest of leather to mend a defective strap. His +eyes fell on the forlorn wanderer, who had no longer energy to keep her +hood forward. 'My certie! he exclaimed, in utter amaze. + +The Scottish words and voice seemed to revive Margaret, and she tottered +forward, exclaiming, 'Oh! good man, help me! take me to the Lady.' + +Fortunately the Lady of Glenuskie, being much busied in preparations for +her journey, had sent Annis to the sports with the Lady of Terreforte, +and was ready to receive the poor, drenched, exhausted being, who almost +stumbled into her motherly arms, weeping bitterly, and incoherently +moaning something about her sisters, and her husband, and 'betrayed.' + +Old Christie was happily also at home, and dry clothing, a warm posset, +and the Lady's own bed, perhaps still more her soothing caresses, +brought Margaret back to the power of explaining her distress +intelligibly--at least as regarded her sisters. She had discovered that +their escort had been that bitter foe of their house, Robert Hall, and +she verily believed that he had betrayed her sisters into the hands of +some of the routiers who infested the roads. + +Dame Lilias could not but think it only too likely; but she said 'the +worst that could well befall the poor lassies in that case would be +their detention until a ransom was paid, and if their situation was +known, the King, the Dauphin, and the Duke of Brittany would be certain +one or other to rescue them by force of arms, if not to raise the +money.' She saw how Margaret shuddered at the name of the Dauphin. + +'Oh! I have jewels--pearls--gold,' cried Margaret. 'I could pay the sum +without asking any one! Only, where are they, where are they? What are +they not enduring--the dear maidens! Would that I had never let them out +of my sight!' + +'Would that I had not!' echoed Dame Lilias. 'But cheer up, dear Lady, +Madame de Ste. Petronelle is with them and will watch over them; and +she knows the ways of the country, and how to deal with these robbers, +whoever they may be. She will have a care of them.' + +But though the Lady of Glenuskie tried to cheer the unhappy princess, +she was full of consternation and misgivings as to the fate of her +young cousins, whom she loved heartily, and she was relieved when, in +accordance with the summons that she had sent, her husband's spurs were +heard ringing on the stair. + +He heard the story with alarm. He knew that Sir Andrew Gordon had been +told off to lead the convoy, and had even conversed with him on the +subject. + +'Who exchanged him for Hall?' he inquired. + +'Oh, do not ask,' cried the unhappy Margaret, covering her face with +her hands, and the shrewder Scots folk began to understand, as glances +passed between them, though they spared her. + +She had intended throwing herself at the feet of the King, who had never +been unkind to her, and imploring his succour; but Sir Patrick brought +word that the King and Dauphin were going forth together to visit the +Abbot of a shrine at no great distance, and as soon as she heard that +the Dauphin was with his father, she shrank together, and gave up her +purpose for the present. Indeed, Sir Patrick thought it advisable for +him to endeavour to discover what had really become of the princesses +before applying to the King, or making their loss public. Nor was the +Dauphiness in a condition to repair to Court. Dame Lilias longed to +keep her and nurse and comfort her that evening; but while the spiteful +whispers of De Tillay were abroad, it was needful to be doubly prudent, +and the morning's escapade must if possible be compensated by a public +return to Chateau le Surry. So Margaret was placed on Lady Drummond's +palfrey, and accompanied home by all the attendants who could be got +together. She could hardly sit upright by the time the short ride was +over, for pain in the side and stitch in her breath. Again Lady Drummond +would have stayed with her, but the Countess de Craylierre, who had been +extremely offended and scandalised by the expedition of the Dauphiness, +made her understand that no one could remain there except by the +invitation of the Dauphin, and showed great displeasure at any one but +herself attempting the care of Madame la Dauphine, who, as all knew, was +subject to megrims. + +Margaret entreated her belle cousine to return in the morning and tell +her what had been done, and Dame Lilias accordingly set forth with Annis +immediately after mass and breakfast with the news that Sir Patrick +had taken counsel with the Sieur de erreforte, and that they had got +together such armed attendants as they could, and started with their +sons for Nanci, where they hoped to discover some traces of the lost +ladies. + +Indeed, he had brought his wife on his way, and was waiting in the court +in case the Princess should wish to see him before he went; but Lilias +found poor Margaret far too ill for this to be of any avail. She had +tossed about all night, and now was lying partly raised on a pile of +embroidered, gold-edged pillows, under an enormous, stiff, heavy quilt, +gorgeous with heraldic colours and devices, her pale cheeks flushed with +fever, her breath catching painfully, and with a terrible short cough, +murmuring strange words about her sisters, and about cruel tongues. A +crowd of both sexes and all ranks filled the room, gazing and listening. + +She knew her cousin at her entrance, clasped her hand tight, and seemed +to welcome her native tongue, and understand her assurance that Sir +Patrick was gone to seek her sisters; but she wandered off into, 'Don't +let him ask Jamet. Ah, Katie Douglas, keep the door! They are coming.' + +Her husband, returning from the morning mass, had way made for him as he +advanced to the bed, and again her understanding partly returned, as he +said in his low, dry voice, 'How now, Madame?' + +She looked up at him, held out her hot hand, and gasped, 'Oh, sir, sir, +where are they?' + +'Be more explicit, ma mie,' he said, with an inscrutable face. + +'You know, you know. Oh, husband, my Lord, you do not believe it. Say +you do not believe it. Send the whispering fiend away. He has hidden my +sisters.' + +'She raves,' said Louis. 'Has the chirurgeon been with her?' + +'He is even now about to bleed her, my Lord,' said Madame de Craylierre, +'and so I have sent for the King's own physician.' + +Louis's barber-surgeon (not yet Olivier le Dain) was a little, crooked +old Jew, at sight of whom Margaret screamed as if she took him for the +whispering fiend. He would fain have cleared the room and relieved the +air, but this was quite beyond his power; the ladies, knights, pages and +all chose to remain and look on at the struggles of the poor patient, +while Madame de Craylierre and Lady Drummond held her fast and forced +her to submit. Her husband, who alone could have prevailed, did not or +would not speak the word, but shrugged his shoulders and left the room, +carrying off with him at least his own attendants. + +When she saw her blood flow, Margaret exclaimed, 'Ah, traitors, take me +instead of my father--only--a priest.' + +Presently she fainted, and after partly reviving, seemed to doze, and +this, being less interesting, caused many of the spectators to depart. + +When she awoke she was quite herself, and this was well, for the King +came to visit her. Margaret was fond of her father-in-law, who had +always been kind to her; but she was too ill, and speech hurt her too +much, to allow her to utter clearly all that oppressed her. + +'My sisters! my poor sisters!' she moaned. + +'Ah! ma belle fille, fear not. All will be well with them. No doubt, my +good brother Rene has detained them, that Madame Eleanore may study a +little more of his music and painting. We will send a courier to Nanci, +who will bring good news of them,' said the King, in a caressing voice +which soothed, if it did not satisfy, the sufferer. + +She spoke out some thanks, and he added, 'They may come any moment, +daughter, and that will cheer your little heart, and make you well. Only +take courage, child, and here is my good physician, Maitre Bertrand, +come to heal you.' + +Margaret still held the King's hand, and sought to detain him. 'Beau +pere, beau pere,' she said, 'you will not believe them! You will silence +them.' + +'Whom, what, ma mie?' + +'The evil-speakers. Ah! Jamet.' + +'I believe nothing my fair daughter tells me not to believe.' + +'Ah! sire, he speaks against me. He says--' + +'Hush! hush, child. Whoever vexes my daughter shall have his tongue slit +for him. But here we must give place to Maitre Bertrand.' + +Maitre Bertrand was a fat and stolid personage, who, nevertheless, had +a true doctor's squabble with the Jew Samiel and drove him out. His +treatment was to exclude all the air possible, make the patient breathe +all sorts of essences, and apply freshly-killed pigeons to the painful +side. + +Margaret did not mend under this method. She begged for Samiel, who had +several times before relieved her in slight illnesses; but she was given +to understand that the Dauphin would not permit him to interfere with +Maitre Bertrand. + +'Ah!' she said to Dame Lilias, in their own language, 'my husband calls +Bertrand an old fool! He does not wish me to recover! A childless wife +is of no value. He would have me dead! And so would I--if my fame were +cleared. If my sisters were found! Oh! my Lord, my Lord, I loved him +so!' + +Poor Margaret! Such was her cry, whether sane or delirious, hour after +hour, day after day. Only when delirious she rambled into Scotch and +talked of Perth; went over again her father's murder, or fancied her +sisters in the hands of some of the ferocious chieftains of the North, +and screamed to Sir Patrick or to Geordie Douglas to deliver them. Where +was all the chivalry of the Bleeding Heart? + +Or, again, she would piteously plead her own cause with her husband--not +that he was present, a morning glance into her room sufficed him; but +she would excuse her own eager folly--telling him not to be angered with +her, who loved him wholly and entirely, and begging him to silence the +wicked tongues that defamed her. + +When sensible she was very weak, and capable of saying very little; but +she clung fast to Lady Drummond, and, Dauphin or no Dauphin, Dame Lilias +was resolved on remaining and watching her day and night, Madame de +Craylierre becoming ready to leave the nursing to her when it became +severe. + +The King came to see his daughter-in-law almost every day, and always +spoke to her in the same kindly but unmeaning vein, assuring her that +her sisters must be safe, and promising to believe nothing against +herself; but, as the Lady of Glenuskie knew from Olivier de Terreforte, +taking no measures either to discover the fate of the princesses or to +banish and silence Jamet de Tillay, though it was all over the Court +that the Dauphiness was dying for love of Alain Chartier. Was it that +his son prevented him from acting, or was it the strange indifference +and indolence that always made Charles the Well-Served bestir himself +far too late? + +Any way, Margaret of Scotland was brokenhearted, utterly weary of life, +and with no heart or spirit to rally from the illness caused by the +chill of her hasty walk. She only wished to live long enough to know +that her sisters were safe, see them again, and send them under safe +care to Brittany. She exacted a promise from Dame Lilias never to leave +them again till they were in safe hands, with good husbands, or back +in Scotland with their brother and good Archbishop Kennedy. 'Bid Jeanie +never despise a true heart; better, far better, than a crown,' she +sighed. + +Louis concerned himself much that all the offices of religion should be +provided. He attended the mass daily celebrated in her room, and caused +priests to pray in the farther end continually. Lady Drummond, who had +not given up hope, and believed that good tidings of her sisters might +almost be a cure, thought that he really hurried on the last offices, at +which he devoutly assisted. However, the confession seemed to have given +Margaret much comfort. She told Dame Lilias that the priest had shown +her how to make an offering to God of her sore suffering from slander +and evil report, and reminded her that to endure it patiently was +treading in the steps of her Master. She was resolved, therefore, to +make no further struggle nor complaint, but to trust that her silence +and endurance would be accepted. She could pray for her sisters and +their safety, and she would endeavour to yield up even that last earthly +desire to be certified of their safety, and to see their bonnie faces +once more. So there she lay, a being formed by nature and intellect to +have been the inspiring helpmeet of some noble-hearted man, the stay of +a kingdom, the education of all around her in all that was beautiful and +refined, but cast away upon one of the most mean and selfish-hearted of +mankind, who only perceived her great qualities to hate and dread their +manifestation in a woman, to crush them by his contempt; and finally, +though he did not originate the cruel slander that broke her heart, +he envenomed it by his sneers, so as to deprive her of all power of +resistance. + +The lot of Margaret of Scotland was as piteous as that of any of the +doomed house of Stewart. And there the Lady of Glenuskie and Annis +de Terreforte watched her sinking day by day, and still there were no +tidings of Jean and Eleanor from Nanci, no messenger from Sir Patrick to +tell where the search was directed. + + + + +CHAPTER 9. BALCHENBURG + + + 'In these wylde deserts where she now abode + There dwelt a salvage nation, which did live + On stealth and spoil, and making nightly rade + Into their neighbours' borders.'--SPENSER. + + +A terrible legacy of the Hundred Years' War, which, indeed, was not yet +entirely ended by the Peace of Tours, was the existence of bands of men +trained to nothing but war and rapine, and devoid of any other means of +subsistence than freebooting on the peasantry or travellers, whence they +were known as routiers--highwaymen, and ecorcheurs--flayers. They were +a fearful scourge to France in the early part of the reign of Charles +VII., as, indeed, they had been at every interval of peace ever since +the battle of Creci, and they really made a state of warfare preferable +to the unhappy provinces, or at least to those where it was not actually +raging. In a few years more the Dauphin contrived to delude many of +them into an expedition, where he abandoned them and left them to be +massacred, after which he formed the rest into the nucleus of a standing +army; but at this time they were the terror of travellers, who only +durst go about any of the French provinces in well-armed and large +parties. + +The domains of King Rene, whether in Lorraine or Provence, were, +however, reckoned as fairly secure, but from the time the little troop, +with the princesses among them, had started from Nanci, Madame de Ste. +Petronelle became uneasy. She looked up at the sun, which was shining +in her face, more than once, and presently drew the portly mule she was +riding towards George Douglas. + +'Sir,' she said, 'you are the ladies' squire?' + +'I have that honour, Madame.' + +'And a Scot?' + +'Even so.' + +'I ask you, which way you deem that we are riding?' + +'Eastward, Madame, if the sun is to be trusted. Mayhap somewhat to the +south.' + +'Yea; and which side lies Chalons?' + +This was beyond George's geography. He looked up with open mouth and +shook his head. + +'Westward!' said the lady impressively. 'And what's yon in the +distance?' + +'Save that this land is as flat as a bannock, I'd have said 'twas +mountains.' + +'Mountains they are, young man!' said Madame de Ste. Petronelle +emphatically--'the hills between Lorraine and Alsace, which we should be +leaving behind us.' + +'Is there treachery?' asked George, reining up his horse. 'Ken ye who is +the captain of this escort?' + +'His name is Hall; he is thick with the Dauphin. Ha! Madame, is he sib +to him that aided in the slaughter of Eastern's Eve night?' + +'Just, laddie. 'Tis own son to him that Queen Jean made dae sic a +fearful penance. What are ye doing?' + +'I'll run the villain through, and turn back to Nanci while yet there is +time,' said George, his hand on his sword. + +'Hold, ye daft bodie! That would but bring all the lave on ye. There's +nothing for it but to go on warily, and maybe at the next halt we might +escape from them.' + +But almost while Madame de Ste. Petronelle spoke there was a cry, and +from a thicket there burst out a band of men in steel headpieces and +buff jerkins, led by two or three horsemen. There was a confused outcry +of 'St. Denys! St. Andrew!' on one side, 'Yield!' on the other. Madame's +rein was seized, and though she drew her dagger, her hand was caught +before she could strike, by a fellow who cried, 'None of that, you old +hag, or it shall be the worse for thee!' + +'St. Andrew! St. Andrew!' screamed Eleanor. 'Scots, to the rescue of +your King's sisters!' + +'Douglas--Douglas, help!' cried Jean. But each was surrounded by a swarm +of the ruffians; and as George Douglas hastily pushed down some with +his horse, and struck down one or two with his sword, he was felled by a +mighty blow on the head, and the ecorcheurs thronged over him, dragging +him off his horse, any resistance on the part of the Scottish archers, +their escort, they could not tell; they only heard a tumult of shouts +and cries, and found rude hands holding them on their horses and +dragging them among the trees. Their screams for help were answered by +a gruff voice from a horseman, evidently the leader of the troop. 'Hold +that noise, Lady! No ill is meant to you, but you must come with us. No; +screams are useless! There's none to come to you. Stop them, or I must!' + +'There is none!' said Madame de Ste. Petronelle's voice in her own +tongue; 'best cease to cry, and not fash the loons more.' + +The sisters heard, and in her natural tone Eleanor said in French, 'Sir, +know you who you are thus treating? The King's daughter--sisters of the +Dauphiness!' + +He laughed. 'Full well,' he answered, in very German-sounding French. + +'Such usage will bring the vengeance of the King and Dauphin on you.' + +He laughed yet more loudly. His face was concealed by his visor, but the +ill-fitting armour and great roan horse made Jean recognise the knight +whose eyes had dwelt on her so boldly at the tournament, and she added +her voice. + +'Your Duke of the Tirol will punish this.' + +'He has enough to do to mind his own business,' was the answer. + +'Come, fair one, hold your tongue! There's no help for it, and the less +trouble you give us the better it will be for you.' + +'But our squire!' Jean exclaimed, looking about her. 'Where is he?' + +Again there was a rude laugh. + +'Showed fight. Disposed of. See there!' and Jean could not but recognise +the great gray horse from the Mearns that George Douglas had always +ridden. Had she brought the gallant youth to this, and without word or +look to reward his devotion? She gave one low cry, and bowed her head, +grieved and sick at heart. While Eleanor, on her side, exclaimed, + +'Felon, thou hast slain a nobleman's brave heir! Disgrace to +knighthood!' + +'Peace, maid, or we will find means to silence thy tongue,' growled the +leader; and Madame de Ste. Petronelle interposed, 'Whisht--whisht, my +bairn; dinna anger them.' For she saw that there was more disposition +to harshness towards Eleanor than towards Jean, whose beauty seemed to +command a sort of regard. + +Eleanor took the hint. Her eyes filled with tears, and her bosom heaved +at the thought of the requital of the devotion of the brave young man, +lying in his blood, so far from his father and his home; but she would +not have these ruffians see her weep and think it was for herself, +and she proudly straightened herself in her saddle and choked down the +rising sob. + +On, on they went, at first through the wood by a tangled path, then over +a wide moor covered with heather, those mountains, which had at first +excited the old lady's alarm, growing more distinct in front of them; +going faster, too, so that the men who held the reins were half running, +till the ground began to rise and grow rougher, when, at an order in +German from the knight, a man leapt on in front of each lady to guide +her horse. + +Where were they going? No one deigned to ask except Madame de Ste. +Petronelle, and her guard only grunted, 'Nicht verstand,' or something +equivalent. + +A thick mass of wood rose before them, a stream coming down from it, and +here there was a halt, the ladies were lifted down, and the party, who +numbered about twelve men, refreshed themselves with the provisions that +the Infanta Yolande had hospitably furnished for her guests. The knight +awkwardly, but not uncivilly, offered a share to his captives, but +Eleanor would have moved them off with disdain, and Jean sat with her +head in her hands, and would not look up. + +The old lady remonstrated. 'Eat--eat,' she said. 'We shall need all our +spirit and strength, and there's no good in being weak and spent with +fasting.' + +Eleanor saw the prudence of this, and accepted the food and wine offered +to her; but Jean seemed unable to swallow anything but a long draught of +wine and water, and scarcely lifted her head from her sister's shoulder. +Eleanor held her rosary, and though the words she conned over +were Latin, all her heart was one silent prayer for protection and +deliverance, and commendation of that brave youth's soul to bis Maker. + +The knight kept out of their way, evidently not wishing to be +interrogated, and he seemed to be the only person who could speak French +after a fashion. By and by they were remounted and led across some +marshy ground, where the course of the stream was marked by tall ferns +and weeds, then into a wood of beeches, where the sun lighted the +delicate young foliage, while the horses trod easily among the brown +fallen leaves. This gave place to another wood of firs, and though the +days were fairly long, here it was rapidly growing dark under the heavy +branches, so that the winding path could only have been followed by +those well used to it. As it became steeper and more stony the trees +became thinner, and against the eastern sky could be seen, dark and +threatening, the turrets of a castle above a steep, smooth-looking, +grassy slope, one of the hills, in fact, called from their shape by the +French, ballons. + +Just then Jean's horse, weary and unused to mountaineering, stumbled. +The man at its head was perhaps not attending to it, for the sudden pull +he gave the rein only precipitated the fall. The horse was up again in a +moment, but Jean lay still. Her sister and the lady were at her side +in a moment; but when they tried to raise her she cried out, at first +inarticulately, then, 'Oh, my arm!' and on another attempt to lift her +she fainted away. The knight was in the meantime swearing in German at +the man who had been leading her, then asking anxiously in French how +it was with the maiden, as she lay with her head on her sister's lap, +Madame answered, + +'Hurt--much hurt.' + +'But not to the death?' + +'Who knows? No thanks to you.' He tendered a flask where only a few +drops of wine remained, growling something or other about the Schelm; +and when Jean's lips had been moistened with it she opened her eyes, but +sobbed with pain, and only entreated to be let alone. This, of course, +was impossible; but with double consternation Eleanor looked up at what, +in the gathering darkness, seemed a perpendicular height. The knight +made them understand that all that could be done was to put the +sufferer on horseback and support her there in the climb upwards, and +he proceeded without further parley to lift her up, not entirely without +heed to her screams and moans, for he emitted such sounds as those with +which he might have soothed his favourite horse, as he placed her on the +back of a stout, little, strong, mountain pony. Eleanor held her there, +and he walked at its head. Madame de Ste. Petronelle would fain have +kept up on the other side, but she had lost her mountain legs, and +could not have got up at all without the mule on which she was replaced. +Eleanor's height enabled her to hold her arm round her sister, and rest +her head on her shoulder, though how she kept on in the dark, dragged +along as it were blindly up and up, she never could afterwards +recollect; but at last pine torches came down to meet them, there was +a tumult of voices, a yawning black archway in front, a light or two +flitting about. Jean lay helplessly against her, only groaning now and +then; then, as the arch seemed to swallow them up, Eleanor was aware of +an old man, lame and rugged, who bawled loud and seemed to be the +highly displeased master; of calls for 'Barbe,' and then of an elderly, +homely-looking woman, who would have assisted in taking Jean off the +pony but that the knight was already in the act. However, he resigned +her to her sister and Madame de Ste. Petronelle, while Barbe led the +way, lamp in hand. It was just as well poor Jeanie remained unconscious +or nearly so while she was conveyed up the narrow stairs to a round +chamber, not worse in furnishing than that at Dunbar, though very unlike +their tapestried rooms at Nanci. + +It was well to be able to lay her down at all, and old Barbe was not +only ready and pitying, but spoke French. She had some wine ready, and +had evidently done her best in the brief warning to prepare a bed. The +tone of her words convinced Madame de Ste. Petronelle that at any rate +she was no enemy. So she was permitted to assist in the investigation +of the injuries, which proved to be extensive bruises and a dislocated +shoulder. Both had sufficient experience in rough-and-ready surgery, +as well as sufficient strength, for them to be able to pull in the +shoulder, while Eleanor, white and trembling, stood on one side with the +lamp, and a little flaxen-haired girl of twelve years old held bandages +and ran after whatever Barbe asked for. + +This done, and Jean having been arranged as comfortably as might be, +Barbe obeyed some peremptory summonses from without, and presently came +back. + +'The seigneur desires to speak with the ladies,' she said; 'but I have +told him that they cannot leave la pauvrette, and are too much spent to +speak with him to-night. I will bring them supper and they shall rest.' + +'We thank you,' said Madame de Ste. Petronelle, 'Only, de grace, tell us +where we are, and who this seigneur is, and what he wants with us poor +women.' + +'This is the Castle of Balchenburg,' was the reply; 'the seigneur is the +Baron thereof. For the next'--she shrugged her shoulders--'it must be +one of Baron Rudiger's ventures. But I must go and fetch the ladies some +supper. Ah! the demoiselle surely needs it.' + +'And some water!' entreated Eleanor. + +'Ah yes,' she replied; 'Trudchen shall bring some.' + +The little girl presently reappeared with a pitcher as heavy as +she could carry. She could not understand French, but looked much +interested, and very eager and curious as she brought in several of the +bundles and mails of the travellers. + +'Thank the saints,' cried the lady, 'they do not mean to strip us of our +clothes!' + +'They have stolen us, and that is enough for them,' said Eleanor. + +Jean lay apparently too much exhausted to take notice of what was going +on, and they hoped she might sleep, while they moved about quietly. The +room seemed to be a cell in the hollow of the turret, and there were two +loophole windows, to which Eleanor climbed up, but she could see nothing +but the stars. 'Ah! yonder is the Plough, just as when we looked out at +it at Dunbar o'er the sea!' she sighed. 'The only friendly thing I can +see! Ah! but the same God and the saints are with us still!' and she +clasped her rosary's cross as she returned to her sister, who was +sighing out an entreaty for water. + +By and by the woman returned, and with her the child. She made a low +reverence as she entered, having evidently been informed of the rank of +her captives. A white napkin was spread over the great chest that served +for a table--a piece of civilisation such as the Dunbar captivity had +not known--three beechen bowls and spoons, and a porringer containing a +not unsavoury stew of a fowl in broth thickened with meal. They tried +to make their patient swallow a little broth, but without much success, +though Eleanor in the mountain air had become famished enough to make a +hearty meal, and feel more cheered and hopeful after it. Barbe's evident +sympathy and respect were an element of comfort, and when Jean revived +enough to make some inquiry after poor Skywing, and it was translated +into French, there was an assurance that the hawk was cared for--hopes +even given of its presence. Barbe was not only compassionate, but ready +to answer all the questions in her power. She was Burgundian, but her +home having been harried in the wars, her husband had taken service as +a man-at-arms with the Baron of Balchenburg, she herself becoming the +bower-woman of the Baroness, now dead. Since the death of the good lady, +whose influence had been some restraint, everything had become much +rougher and wilder, and the lords of the castle, standing on the +frontier as it did, had become closely connected with the feuds of +Germany as well as the wars in France. The old Baron had been lamed in a +raid into Burgundy, since which time he had never left home; and Barbe's +husband had been killed, her sons either slain or seeking their fortune +elsewhere, so that nothing was left to her but her little daughter +Gertrude, for whose sake she earnestly longed to find her way down to +more civilised and godly life; but she was withheld by the difficulties +in the path, and the extreme improbability of finding a maintenance +anywhere else, as well as by a certain affection for her two Barons, +and doubts what they would do without her, since the elder was in broken +health and the younger had been her nursling. In fact, she was the +highest female authority in the castle, and kept up whatever semblance +of decency or propriety remained since her mistress's death. All this +came out in the way of grumbling or lamentation, in the satisfaction of +having some woman to confide in, though her young master had made her +aware of the rank of his captives. Every one, it seemed, had been +taken by surprise. He was in the habit of making expeditions on his +own account, and bringing home sometimes lawless comrades or followers, +sometimes booty; but this time, after taking great pains to furbish up +a suit of armour brought home long ago, he had set forth to the +festivities at Nanci. The lands and castle were so situated, that the +old Baron had done homage for the greater part to Sigismund as Duke of +Elsass, and for another portion to King Rene as Duke of Lorraine, as +whose vassal the young Baron had appeared. No more had been heard of him +till one of his men hurried up with tidings that Herr Rudiger had taken +a bevy of captives, with plenty of spoil, but that one was a lady much +hurt, for whom Barbe must prepare her best. + +Since this, Barbe had learnt from her young master that the injured lady +was the sister of the Dauphiness, and a king's daughter, and that every +care must be taken of her and her sister, for he was madly in love with +her, and meant her to be his wife. + +Eleanor and Madame de Ste. Petronelle cried out at this with horror, in +a stifled way, as Barbe whispered it. + +'Too high, too dangerous game for him, I know,' said the old woman. 'So +said his father, who was not a little dismayed when he heard who these +ladies were.' + +'The King, my brother, the Dauphin, the Duke of Brittany--' began +Eleanor. + +'Alas! the poor boy would never have ventured it but for encouragement,' +sighed Barbe. 'Treacherous I say it must be!' + +'I knew there was treachery, 'exclaimed Madame de Ste. Petronelle, 'so +soon as I found which way our faces were turned.' + +'But who could or would betray us?' demanded Eleanor. + +'You need not ask that, when your escort was led by Andrew Hall,' +returned the elder lady. 'Poor young George of the Red Peel had only +just told me so, when the caitiffs fell on him, and he came to his +bloody death.' + +'Hall! Then I marvel not,' said Eleanor, in a low, awe-struck voice. 'My +brother the Dauphin could not have known.' + +The old Scotswoman refrained from uttering her belief that he knew only +too well, but by the time all this had been said Barbe was obliged to +leave them, having arranged for the night that Eleanor should sleep in +the big bed beside her sister, and their lady across it at their feet--a +not uncommon arrangement in those days. + +Sleep, however, in spite of weariness, was only to be had in snatches, +for poor Jean was in much pain, and very feverish, besides being greatly +terrified at their situation, and full of grief and self-reproach for +the poor young Master of Angus, never dozing off for a moment without +fancying she saw him dying and upbraiding her, and for the most part +tossing in a restless misery that required the attendance of one or +both. She had never known ailment before, and was thus all the more +wretched and impatient, alarming and distressing Eleanor extremely, +though Madame de Ste. Petronelle declared it was only a matter of +course, and that the lassie would soon be well. + +'Ah, Madame, our comforter and helper,' said Elleen. + +'Call me no French names, dearies. Call me the Leddy Lindsay or Dame +Elspeth, as I should be at home. We be all Scots here, in one sore +stour. If I could win a word to my son, Ritchie, he would soon have us +out of this place.' + +'Would not Barbe help us to a messenger?' + +'I doubt it. She would scarce bring trouble on her lords; but we might +be worse off than with her.' + +'Why does she not come? I want some more drink,' moaned Jean. Barbe did +come, and, moreover, brought not only water but some tisane of herbs +that was good for fever and had been brewing all night, and she was +wonderfully good-humoured at the patient's fretful refusal, though +between coaxing and authority 'Leddy Lindsay' managed to get it taken +at last. After Margaret's experience of her as a stern duenna, her +tenderness in illness and trouble was a real surprise. + +No keys were turned on them, but there was little disposition to go +beyond the door which opened on the stone stair in the gray wall. The +view from the windows revealed that they were very high up. There was +a bit of castle wall to be seen below, and beyond a sea of forest, the +dark masses of pine throwing out the lighter, more delicate sweeps of +beech, and pale purple distance beyond--not another building within +view, giving a sense of vast solitude to Eleanor's eyes, more dreary +than the sea at Dunbar, and far more changeless. An occasional bird was +all the variety to be hoped for. + +By and by Barbe brought a message that her masters requested the ladies' +presence at the meal, a dinner, in fact, served about an hour before +noon. Eleanor greatly demurred, but Barbe strongly advised consent, 'Or +my young lord will be coming up here,' she said; 'they both wish to have +speech of you, and would have been here before now, if my old lord were +not so lame, and the young one so shy, the poor child!' + +'Shy,' exclaimed Eleanor, 'after what he has dared to do to us!' + +'All the more for that very reason,' said Barbe. + +'True,' returned Madame; 'the savage who is most ferocious in his acts +is most bashful in his breeding.' + +'How should my poor boy have had any breeding up here in the forests?' +demanded Barbe. 'Oh, if he had only fixed his mind on a maiden of his +own degree, she might have brought the good days back; but alas, now +he will be only bringing about his own destruction, which the saints +avert.' + +It was agreed that Eleanor had better make as royal and imposing an +appearance as possible, so instead of the plain camlet riding kirtles +that she and Lady Lindsay had worn, she donned a heraldic sort of +garment, a tissue of white and gold thread, with the red lion ramping +on back and breast, and the double tressure edging all the hems, part +of the outfit furnished at her great-uncle's expense in London, but too +gaudy for her taste, and she added to her already considerable height by +the tall, veiled headgear that had been despised as unfashionable. + +Jean from her bed cried out that she looked like Pharaoh's daughter in +the tapestry, and consented to be left to the care of little Trudchen, +since Madame de Ste. Petronelle must act attendant, and Barbe evidently +thought her young master's good behaviour might be the better secured by +her presence. + +So, at the bottom of the narrow stone stair, Eleanor shook out her +plumes, the attendant lady arranged her veil over her yellow hair, and +drew out her short train and long hanging sleeves, a little behind the +fashion, but the more dignified, as she swept into the ball, and though +her heart beat desperately, holding her head stiff and high, and looking +every inch a princess, the shrewd Scotch lady behind her flattered +herself that the two Barons did look a little daunted by the bearing of +the creature they had caught. + +The father, who had somewhat the look of an old fox, limped forward +with a less ungraceful bow than the son, who had more of the wolf. Some +greeting was mumbled, and the old man would have taken her hand to lead +her to the highest place at table, but she would not give it. + +'I am no willing guest of yours, sir,' she said, perhaps alarmed at her +own boldness, but drawing herself up with great dignity. 'I desire to +know by what right my sister and I, king's daughters, on our way to King +Charles's Court, have thus been seized and detained?' + +'We do not stickle as to rights here on the borders, Lady,' said the +elder Baron in bad French; 'it would be wiser to abate a little of that +outre-cuidance of yours, and listen to our terms.' + +'A captive has no choice save to listen,' returned Eleanor; 'but as +to speaking of terms, my brothers-in-law, the Dauphin and the Duke of +Brittany, may have something to say to them.' + +'Exactly so,' replied the old Baron, in a tone of some irony, which she +did not like. 'Now, Lady, our terms are these, but understand first that +all this affair is none of my seeking, but my son here has been backed +up in it by some whom'--on a grunt from Sir Rudiger--'there is no need +to name. He--the more fool he--has taken a fancy to your sister, though, +if all reports be true, she has nought but her royal blood, not so much +as a denier for a dowry nor as ransom for either of you. However, this I +will overlook, dead loss as it is to me and mine, and so your sister, +so soon as she recovers from her hurt, will become my son's wife, and +I will have you and your lady safely conducted without ransom to the +borders of Normandy or Brittany, as you may list.' + +'And think you, sir,' returned Eleanor, quivering with indignation, +'that the daughter of a hundred kings is like to lower herself by +listening to the suit of a petty robber baron of the Marches?' + +'I do not think! but I know that though I am a fool for giving in to my +son's madness, these are the only terms I propose; and if you, Lady, so +deal with her as to make her accept them, you are free without ransom to +go where you will.' + +'You expect me to sell my sister,' said Eleanor disdainfully. + +'Look you here,' broke in Rudiger, bursting out of his shyness. 'She is +the fairest maiden, gentle or simple, I ever saw; I love her with all my +heart. If she be mine, I swear to make her a thousand times more cared +for than your sister the Dauphiness; and if all be true your Scottish +archers tell me, you Scottish folk have no great cause to disdain an +Elsass forest castle.' + +An awkward recollection, of the Black Knight of Lorn came across +Eleanor, but she did not lose her stately dignity. + +'It is not the wealth or poverty that we heed,' she said, 'but the +nobility and princeliness.' + +'There is nothing to be done then, son,' said the old Baron, 'but to +wait a day or two and see whether the maiden herself will be less proud +and more reasonable. Otherwise, these ladies understand that there will +be close imprisonment and diet according to the custom of the border +till a thousand gold crowns be paid down for each of these sisters of a +Scotch king, and five hundred for Madame here; and when that is like to +be found, the damoiselle herself may know,' and he laughed. + +'We have those who will take care of our ransom,' said Eleanor, though +her heart misgave her. 'Moreover, Duke Sigismund will visit such an +offence dearly!' and there was a glow on her cheeks. + +'He knows better than to meddle with a vassal of Lorraine,' said the old +man. + +'King Rene--' began Eleanor. + +'He is too wary to meddle with a vassal of Elsass,' sneered the Baron. +'No, no, Lady, ransom or wedding, there lies your choice.' + +With this there appeared to be a kind of truce, perhaps in consequence +of the appearance of a great pie; and Eleanor did not refuse to sit +down to the table and partake of the food, though she did not choose to +converse; whereas Madame de Ste. Petronelle thought it wiser to be as +agreeable as she could, and this, in the opinion of the Court of the +Dauphiness, was not going very far. + +Long before the Barons and their retainers had finished, little Trudchen +came hurrying down to say that the lady was crying and calling for her +sister, and Eleanor was by no means sorry to hasten to her side, though +only to receive a petulant scolding for the desertion that had lasted so +very long, according to the sick girl's sensations. + +Matters remained in abeyance while the illness continued; Jean had a +night of fever, and when that passed, under the experienced management +of Dame Elspie, as the sisters called her more and more, she was very +weak and sadly depressed. Sometimes she wept and declared she should die +in these dismal walls, like her mother at Dunbar, and never see Jamie +and Mary again; sometimes she blamed Elleen for having put this mad +scheme into her head; sometimes she fretted for her cousins Lilias and +Annis of Glenuskie, and was sure it was all Elleen's fault for having +let themselves be separated from Sir Patrick; while at others she +declared the Drummonds faithless and disloyal for having gone after +their own affairs and left the only true and leal heart to die for +her; and then came fresh floods of tears, though sometimes, as she +passionately caressed Skywing, she declared the hawk to be the only +faithful creature in existence. + +Baron Rudiger was evidently very uneasy about her; Barbe reported how +gloomy and miserable he was, and how he relieved his feelings by beating +the unfortunate man who had been leading the horse, and in a wiser +manner by seeking fish in the torrent and birds on the hills for +her refreshment, and even helping Trudchen to gather the mountain +strawberries for her. This was, however, so far from a recommendation to +Jean, that after the first Barbe gave it to be understood that all were +Trudchen's providing. + +They suspected that Barbe nattered and soothed 'her boy,' as she termed +him, with hopes, but they owed much to the species of authority with +which she kept him from forcing himself upon them. Eleanor sometimes +tried to soothe her sister, and while away the time with her harp. The +Scotch songs were a great delight to Dame Elspie, but they made Jean +weep in her weakness, and Elleen's great resource was King Rene's +parting gift of the tales of Huon de Bourdeaux, with its wonderful +chivalrous adventures, and the appearances of the dwarf Oberon; and she +greatly enjoyed the idea of the pleasure it would give Jamie--if ever +she should see Jamie again; and she wondered, too, whether the Duke of +the Tirol knew the story--which even at some moments amused Jean. + +There was a stair above their chamber, likewise in the thickness of +the wall, which Barbe told them they might safely explore, and +thence Eleanor discovered that the castle was one of the small but +regularly-built fortresses not uncommon on the summit of hills. It was +an octagon--as complete as the ground would permit--with a huge wall and +a tower at each angle. One face, that on the most accessible side, was +occupied by the keep in which they were, with a watch-tower raising its +finger and banner above them, the little, squat, round towers around not +lifting their heads much above the battlements of the wall. The descent +on most of the sides was almost precipitous, on two entirely so, while +in the rear another steep hill rose so abruptly that it seemed to frown +over them though separated by a ravine. + +Nothing was to be seen all round but the tops of trees--dark pines, +beeches, and chestnuts in the gay, light green of spring, a hopeless and +oppressive waste of verdure, where occasionally a hawk might be seen to +soar, and whence the howlings of wolves might be heard at night. + +Jean was, in a week, so well that there was no cause for deferring the +interview any longer, and, indeed, she was persuaded that Elleen had not +been half resolute or severe enough, and that she could soon show the +two Barons that they detained her at their peril. Still she looked white +and thin, and needed a scarf for her arm, when she caused herself to be +arrayed as splendidly as her sister had been, and descended to the hall, +where, like Eleanor, she took the initiative by an appeal against the +wrong and injustice that held two free-born royal ladies captive. + +'He who has the power may do as he wills, my pretty damsel,' replied the +old Baron. 'Once for all, as I told your sister, these threats are of +no avail, though they sound well to puff up your little airs. Your own +kingdom is a long way off, and breeds more men than money; and as to +our neighbours, they dare not embroil themselves by meddling with us +borderers. You had better take what we offer, far better than aught your +barbarous northern lords could give, and then your sister will be free, +without ransom, to depart or to stay here till she finds another bold +baron of the Marches to take her to wife. Ha, thou Rudiger! why dost +stand staring like a wild pig in a pit? Canst not speak a word for +thyself?' + +'She shall be my queen,' said Rudiger hoarsely, bumping himself down on +his knees, and trying to master her hand, but she drew it away from him. + +'As if I would be queen of a mere nest of robbers and freebooters,' she +said. 'You forget, Messires, that my sister is daughter-in-law to the +King of France. We must long ago have been missed, and I expect every +hour that my brother, the Dauphin, will be here with his troops.' + +'That's what you expect. So you do not know, my proud demoiselle, that +my son would scarce have been rash enough to meddle with such lofty +gear, for all his folly, if he had not had a hint that maidens with +royal blood but no royal portions were not wanted at Court, and might be +had for the picking up!' + +'It is a brutal falsehood, or else a mere invention of the traitor +Hall's, our father's murderer!' said Jean, with flashing eyes. 'I would +have you to know, both of you, my Lords, that were we betrayed and +forsaken by every kinsman we have, I will not degrade the blood royal of +Scotland by mating it with a rude and petty freebooter. You may keep us +captives as you will, but you will not break our spirit.' + +So saying, Jean swept back to the stairs, turning a deaf ear to the +Baron's chuckle of applause and murmur, 'A gallant spirited dame she +will make thee, my junker, and hold out the castle well against all +foes, when once she is broken in.' + +Jean and Eleanor alike disbelieved that Louis could have encouraged this +audacious attempt, but they were dismayed to find that Madame de Ste. +Petronelle thought it far from improbable, for she believed him capable +of almost any underhand treachery. She did, however, believe that though +there might be some delay, a stir would be made, if only by her own +son, which would end in their situation being publicly known, and final +release coming, if Jean could only be patient and resolute. + +But to the poor girl it seemed as if the ground were cut from under her +feet; and as her spirits drooped more and more, there were times when +she said, 'Elleen, I must consent. I have been the death of the one true +heart that was mine! Why should I hold out any longer, and make thee and +Dame Elspie wear out your days in this dismal forest hold? Never shall I +be happy again, so it matters not what becomes of me.' + +'It matters to me,' said Elleen. 'Sister, thinkest thou I could go away +to be happy, leaving thee bound to this rude savage in his donjon? Fie, +Jean, this is not worthy of King James's daughter; he spent all those +years of patience in captivity, and shall we lose heart in a few days?' + +'Is it a few days? It is like years!' + +'That is because thou hast been sick. See now, let us dance and sing, so +that the jailers may know we are not daunted. We have been shut up ere +now, God brought us out, and He will again, and we need not pine.' + +'Ah, then we were children, and had seen nothing better; and--and there +was not his blood on me!' + +And Jean fell a-weeping. + + + + +CHAPTER 10. TENDER AND TRUE + + + 'For I am now the Earlis son, + And not a banished, man.'--The Nut-Brown Maid. + + +'O St. Andrew! St. Bride! Our Lady of Succour! St. Denys!--all the lave +of you, that may be nearest in this fremd land,--come and aid him. It +is the Master of Angus, ye ken--the hope of his house. He'll build you +churches, gie ye siller cups and braw vestments gin ye'll bring him +back. St. Andrew! St. Rule! St. Ninian!--you ken a Scots tongue! Stay +his blood,--open his een,--come to help ane that ever loved you and did +you honour!' + +So wailed Ringan of the Raefoot, holding his master's head on his knees, +and binding up as best he might an ugly thrust in the side, and a blow +which had crushed the steel cap into the midst of the hair. When he saw +his master fall and the ladies captured, he had, with the better part +of valour, rushed aside and hid himself in the thicket of thorns and +hazels, where, being manifestly only a stray horseboy, no search was +made for him. He rightly concluded that, dead or alive, his master might +thus be better served than by vainly struggling over his fallen body. + +It seemed as though, in answer to his invocation, a tremor began to pass +through Douglas's frame, and as Ringan exclaimed, 'There! there!--he +lives! Sir, sir! Blessings on the saints! I was sure that a French +reiver's lance could never be the end of the Master,' George opened his +eyes. + +'What is it?' he said faintly. 'Where are the ladies?' + +'Heed not the leddies the noo, sir, but let me bind your head. That cap +has crushed like an egg-shell, and has cut you worse than the sword. +Bide still, sir, I say, if ye mean to do any gude another time!' + +'The ladies--Ringan--' + +'The loons rid aff wi' them, sir--up towards the hills yonder. Nay! but +if ye winna thole to let me bind your wound, how d'ye think to win to +their aid, or ever to see bonnie Scotland again?' + +George submitted to this reasoning; but, as his senses returned, asked +if all the troop had gone. + +'Na, sir; the ane with that knight who was at the tourney--a plague +light on him--went aff with the leddies--up yonder; but they, as they +called the escort--the Archers of the Guard, as they behoved to call +themselves--they rid aff by the way that we came by--the traitor loons!' + +'Ah! it was black treachery. Follow the track of the ladies, +Ringan;--heed not me.' + +'Mickle gude that wad do, sir, if I left you bleeding here! Na, na; I +maun see you safely bestowed first before I meet with ony other. I'm the +Douglas's man, no the Stewart's.' + +'Then will I after them!' cried George of Angus, starting up; but he +staggered and had to catch at Ringan. + +There was no water near; nothing to refresh or revive him had been left. +Ringan looked about in anxiety and distress on the desolate scene--bare +heath on one side, thicket, gradually rising into forest and mountain, +on the other. Suddenly he gave a long whistle, and to his great joy +there was a crackling among the bushes and he beheld the shaggy-faced +pony on which he had ridden all the way from Yorkshire, and which had +no doubt eluded the robbers. There was a bundle at the saddle-bow, and +after a little coquetting the pony allowed itself to be caught, and +a leathern bottle was produced from the bag, containing something +exceedingly sour, but with an amount of strength in it which did +something towards reviving the Master. + +'I can sit the pony,' he said; 'let us after them.' + +'Nae sic fulery,' said Ringan. 'I ken better what sorts a green wound +like yours, sir! Sit the pony ye may, but to be safely bestowed, ere I +stir a foot after the leddies.' + +George broke out into fierce language and angry commands, none of which +Ringan heeded in the least. + +'Hist:' he cried, 'there's some one on the road. Come into shelter, +sir.' + +He was half dragging, half supporting his master to the concealment +of the bushes, when he perceived that the new-comers were two friars, +cowled, black gowned, corded, and barefooted. + +'There will be help in them,' he muttered, placing his master with his +back against a tree; for the late contention had produced such fresh +exhaustion that it was plain the wounds were more serious than he had +thought at first. + +The two friars, men with homely, weather-beaten, but simple good faces, +came up, startled at seeing a wounded man on the way-side, and ready to +proffer assistance. + +Need like George Douglas's was of all languages, and besides, Ringan +had, among the exigencies of the journey, picked up something by which +he could make himself moderately well understood. The brethren stooped +over the wounded man and examined his wounds. One of them produced some +oil from a flask in his wallet, and though poor George's own shirt was +the only linen available, they contrived to bandage both hurts far more +effectually than Ringan could. + +They asked whether this was the effect of a quarrel or the work of +robbers. + +'Routiers,' Ringan said. 'The ladies--we guarded them--they carried them +off--up there.' + +'What ladies?--the Scottish princesses?' asked one of the friars; for +they had been at Nanci, and knew who had been assembled there; besides +that, the Scot was known enough all over France for the nationality of +Ringan and his master to have been perceived at once. + +George understood this, and answered vehemently, 'I must follow them and +save them!' + +'In good time, with the saints' blessing,' replied Brother Benigne +soothingly, 'but healing must come first. We must have you to our poor +house yonder, where you will be well tended.' + +George was lifted to the pony's back, and supported in the saddle by +Ringan and one of the brethren. He had been too much dazed by the cut +on the head to have any clear or consecutive notion as to what they were +doing with him, or what passed round him; and Ringan did his best to +explain the circumstances, and thought it expedient to explain that his +master was 'Grand Seigneur' in his own country, and would amply +repay whatever was done for him; the which Brother Gerard gave him +to understand was of no consequence to the sons of St. Francis. The +brothers had no doubt that the outrage was committed by the Balchenburg +Baron, the ally of the ecorcheurs and routiers, the terrors of the +country, in his impregnable castle. No doubt, they said, he meant to +demand a heavy ransom from the good King and Dauphin. For the honour +of Scotland, Ringan, though convinced that Hall had his share in the +treason, withheld that part of the story. To him, and still more to his +master, the journey seemed endless, though in reality it was not more +than two miles before they arrived at a little oasis of wheat and +orchards growing round a vine-clad building of reddish stone, with a +spire rising in the midst. + +Here the porter opened the gate in welcome. The history was volubly +told, the brother-infirmarer was summoned, and the Master of Angus was +deposited in a much softer bed than the good friars allowed themselves. +There the infirmarer tended him in broken feverish sleep all night, +Ringan lying on a pallet near, and starting up at every moan or murmur. +But with early dawn, when the brethren were about to sing prime, the lad +rose up, and between signs and words made them understand that he must +be released, pointing towards the mountains, and comporting himself much +like a dog who wanted to be let out. + +Perceiving that he meant to follow the track of the ladies, the friars +not only opened the doors to him, but gave him a piece of black barley +bread, with which he shot off, like an arrow from a bow, towards the +place where the catastrophe had taken place. + +George Douglas's mind wandered a good deal from the blow on his head, +and it was not till two or three days had elapsed that he was able +clearly to understand what his follower had discovered. Almost with the +instinct of a Red Indian, Ringan had made his way. At first, indeed, the +bushes had been sufficiently trampled for the track to be easy to find, +but after the beech-trees with no underwood had been reached, he had +often very slight indications to guide him. Where the halt had taken +place, however, by the brook-side, there were signs of trampling, and +even a few remnants of food; and after a long climb higher, he had come +on the marks of the fall of a horse, and picked up a piece of a torn +veil, which he recognised at once as belonging to the Lady Joanna. He +inferred a struggle. What had they been doing to her? + +Faithful Ringan had climbed on, and at length had come below the castle. +He had been far too cautious to show himself while light lasted, but +availing himself of the shelter of trees and of the projections, he had +pretty well reconnoitred the castle as it stood on its steep slopes of +turf, on the rounded summit of the hill, only scarped away on one side, +whence probably the materials had been taken. + +There could be no doubt that this was the prison of the princesses, and +the character of the Barons of Balchenburg was only too well known to +the good Franciscans. + +'Soevi et feroces,' said the Prior to George, for Latin had turned +out to be the most available medium of communication. Spite of Scott's +averment in the mouth of George's grandson, Bell the Cat, that-- + + 'Thanks to St Bothan, son of mine, + Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line,' + +the Douglases were far too clever to go without education, and young +nobles who knew anything knew a little Latin. There was a consultation +over what was to be done, and the Prior undertook to send one of his +brethren into Nanci with Ringan, to explain the matter to King Rene, or, +if he had left Nanci for Provence, to the governor left in charge. But a +frontier baron like Balchenburg was a very serious difficulty to one so +scrupulous in his relations with his neighbours as was good King Rene. + +'A man of piety, peace, and learning,' said the Prior, 'and therefore +despised by lawless men, like a sheep among wolves, though happy are we +in living under such a prince.' + +'Then what's the use of him and all his raree shows,' demanded the Scot, +'if he can neither hinder two peaceful maids from being carried off, +nor will stir a finger to deliver them? Much should we heed borders and +kings if it had been a Ridley or a Graeme who had laid hands on them.' + +However, he consented to the Prior's proposal, and the incongruous pair +set out together,--the sober-paced friar on the convent donkey, and +Ringan on his shaggy pony,--both looking to civilised eyes equally rough +and unkempt. At the gates they heard that King Rene had the day before +set forth on his way to Aix, which boded ill for them, since more might +be hoped from the impulsive chivalry of the King than from the strict +scrupulosity of a responsible governor. + +But they had not gone far on their way across the Place de La Carriere, +where the tournament had been held, before Ringan startled his companion +with a perfect howl, which had in it, however, an element of ecstasy, +as he dashed towards a tall, bony figure in a blue cap, buff coat, and +shepherd's plaid over one shoulder. + +'Archie o' the Brake. Archie! Oh, ye're a sight for sair een! How cam' +ye here?' + +'Eh!' was the answer, equally astonished. 'Wha is it that cries on me +here? Eh! eh! 'Tis never Ringan of the Raefoot-sae braw and grand?' + +For Ringan was a wonderful step before him in civilisation. + +Queries--'How cam' ye here?' and 'Whar' is the Master?'--were rapidly +exchanged, while the friar looked on in amaze at the two wild-looking +men, about whom other tall Scots, more or less well equipped, began to +gather, coming from a hostelry near at hand. + +The Earl of Angus, as they told him, had been neither to have nor to +hold when first his embassy to Dunbar came back, and his son was found +to be missing. He had been very near besieging the young King, until +Bishop Kennedy had convinced him that no one of the Court had suspected +the Master's presence, far less connived at his disappearance. The truth +had been suspected before long, though there was no certainty until the +letter that George Douglas had at last vouchsafed to write had, after +spending a good deal of time on the road, at last reached Tantallon. +Then the Earl had declared that, since his son had set out on this +fool's errand, he should be suitably furnished for the heir of Angus, +and should play his part as became him in their sports at Nanci, whither +his letter said he was bound, instead of figuring as a mere groom of +Drummond of Glenuskie, and still worse, in the train of a low-born +Englishman like De la Pole. + +So he had sent off ten lances, under a stout kinsman who had campaigned +in France before--Sir Robert Douglas of Harside--with all their +followers, and full equipment, such as might befit the heir of a branch +of the great House of the Bleeding Heart. But their voyage had not been +prosperous, and after riding from Flanders they had found the wedding +over, and no one in the hostel having heard of the young Master of +Angus, nor even having distinguished Sir Patrick Drummoud, though there +was a vague idea that the Scottish king's sisters had been there. + +Sir Robert Douglas had gone to have an interview with the governor left +in charge. Thus the separation of the party became known to him--how the +Drummonds had gone to Paris, and the Scottish ladies had set forth for +Chalons; but there was nothing to show with whom the Master had gone. +No sooner, then, had he come forth than half his men were round him +shouting that here was Ringan of the Raefoot, that the Master had been +foully betrayed, and that he was lying sair wounded at a Priory not far +off. + +Ringan, a perfectly happy man among those who not only had Scots +tongues, but the Bleeding Heart on shield and breast, was brought up +to him and told of the attack and capture of the princesses, and of the +Master's wounds. + +Sir Robert, after many imprecations, turned back to the governor, who +heard the story in a far more complete form than if it had been related +to him by Ringan and the friar. + +But his hands were tied till he could communicate with King Rene, for +border warfare was strictly forbidden, and unfortunately Duke Sigismund +had left Nanci some days before for Luxembourg to meet the Duke of +Burgundy. + +However, just as George Douglas had persuaded the infirmarer to let him +put on his clothes, there had been a clanging and jangling in the outer +court, and the Lion and Eagle banner was visible. Duke Sigismund had +drawn up there to water the horses, and to partake of any hospitality +the Prior might offer him. + +The first civilities were passing between them, when a tall figure, +his red hair crossed by a bandage, his ruddy face paled, his steps +faltering, came stumbling forward to the porch, crying, in his wonderful +dialect between Latin and French, 'Sire, Domine Dux! Justitia! You +loved the Lady Eleanor. Free her! They are prisoners to latroni--un +routier--sceleratissimo--reiver--Balchenburg!' + +Sigismund, ponderous and not very rapid, opened wide his big blue eyes, +while the Prior explained in French, 'It is even so, beau sire. This +poor man-at-arms was found bleeding on the way-side by our brethren, +having been left for dead by the robbers of Balchenburg, who, it seems, +descended on the ladies, dispersed their escort, and carried them off to +the castle.' + +Sigismund made some tremendously emphatic exclamation in German, and +turned upon Douglas to interrogate him. They had very little of common +language, but Sigismund knew French, though he hated it, and was not +devoid of Latin, so that the narrative was made tolerably clear to him, +and he had no doubts or scruples as to instantly calling the latrones +to account, and releasing the ladies. He paced up and down the +guest-chamber, his spurs clattering against the stone pavement, growling +imprecations in guttural German, now and then tugging at his long fair +hair as he pictured Eleanor in the miscreants' power, putting queries to +George, more than could be understood or answered, and halting at door +or window to shout orders to his knights to be ready at once for +the attack. George was absolutely determined that, whatever his own +condition, he would not be left behind, though he could only go upon +Ringan's pony, and was evidently in Sigismund's opinion only a faithful +groom. + +It was hard to say whether he was relieved or not when there was +evidently a vehement altercation in German between the Duke and a tough, +grizzled old knight, the upshot of which turned out to be that the +Ritter Gebhardt von Fuchstein absolutely refused to proceed through +those pine and beech forests so late in the day; since it would be only +too easy to lose the way, and there might be ambuscades or the like if +Balchenburg and his crew were on the watch, and there was no doubt that +they were allied with all the rentiers in the country. + +Sigismund raged, but he was in some degree under the dominion of his +prudent old Marskalk, and had to submit, while George knew that another +night would further restore him, and would besides bring back his +attendant. + +The next hour brought more than he had expected. Again there was a +clattering of hoofs, a few words with the porter, and to the utter +amazement of the Prior, as well as of Duke Sigismund, who had just been +served with a meal of Franciscan diet, a knight in full armour, with the +crowned heart on his breast, dashed into the hall, threw a hasty bow to +the Prior, and throwing his arms round the wounded man-at-arms, cried +aloud, 'Geordie--the Master--ye daft callant! See what you have brought +yourself to! What would the Yerl your father say?' + +'I trow that I have been striving to do my devoir to my liege's +sisters,' answered George. 'How does my father?--and my mother? Make +your obeisance to the Duke of the Tirol, Rab. Ye can knap the French +with him better than I. Now I can go with him as becomes a yerl's son, +for the freedom of the lady!' + +Sir Robert, a veteran Scot, who knew the French world well, was soon +explaining matters to Duke Sigismund, who presently advanced to the heir +of Angus, wrung his hand, and gave him to understand that he accepted +him as a comrade in their doughty enterprise, and honoured his +proceeding as a piece of knight-errantry. He was free from any question +whether George was to be esteemed a rival by hearing it was the Lady +Joanna for whose sake he thus adventured himself, whereas it was not her +beauty, but her sister's intellect that had won the heart of Sigismund. +Perhaps Sir Robert somewhat magnified the grandeur of the house of +Douglas, for Sigismund seemed to view the young man as an equal, which +he was not, as the Hapsburgs of Alsace and the Tirol were sovereign +princes; but, on the other hand, George could count princesses among +his ancestresses, and only Jean's personal ambition had counted his as a +mesalliance. + +It was determined to advance upon the Castle of Balchenburg the next +morning, the ten Scottish lances being really forty men, making the +Douglas's troop not much inferior to the Alsatian. + +A night's rest greatly restored George, and equipments had been brought +for him, which made him no longer appear only the man-at-arms, but the +gallant young nobleman, though not yet entitled to the Golden Spurs. + +Ringan served as their guide up the long hills, through the woods, up +steep slippery slopes, where it became expedient to leave behind the +big heavy war-horses under a guard, while the rest pushed forward, the +Master of Angus's long legs nearly touching the ground, as, not to waste +his strength, he was mounted on Ringan's sure-footed pony, which seemed +at home among mountains. Sigismund himself, and the Tirolese among his +followers, were chamois-hunters and used enough to climbing, and thus at +length they found themselves at the foot of the green rounded slopes +of the talchen or ballon, crowned by the fortress with its eight +corner-turrets and the broader keep. + +Were Elleen and Jean looking out--when the Alsatian trumpeter came +forward in full array, and blew three sonorous blasts, echoing among +the mountains, and doubtless bringing hope to the prisoners? The rugged +walls of the castle had, however, an imperturbable look, and there was +nothing responsive at the gateway. + +A pursuivant then stood forth--for Sigismund had gone in full state to +his intended wooing at Nanci--and called upon the Baron of Balchenburg +to open his gates to his liege lord the Duke of Alsace. + +On this a wicket was opened in the gate; but the answer, in a hoarse +shout, was that the Baron of Balchenburg owned allegiance only, under +the Emperor Frederick, to King Rene, Duke of Lorraine. + +What hot words were thereupon spoken between Sigismund, Gebhardt, +and the two Douglases it scarcely needs to tell; but, looking at the +strength of the castle, it was agreed that it would be wiser to couple +with the second summons an assurance that, though Duke Sigismund was the +lawful lord of the mountain, and entrance was denied at the peril of the +Baron, yet he would remit his first wrath, provided the royal ladies, +foully and unjustly detained there in captivity, were instantly +delivered up in all safety. + +To this the answer came back, with a sound of derisive mockery--One was +the intended wife of Baron Rudiger; the other should be delivered up to +the Duke upon ransom according to her quality. + +'The ransom I will pay,' roared Sigismund in German, 'shall be by the +axe and cord!' + +The while George Douglas gnashed his teeth with rage when the reply as +to Jean had been translated to him. The Duke hurled his fierce defiance +at the castle. It should be levelled with the ground, and the robbers +should suffer by cord, wheel, and axe. + +But what was the use of threats against men within six or eight feet +every way of stone wall, with a steep slippery slope leading up to it? +Heavily armed horsemen were of no avail against it. Even if there were +nothing but old women inside, there was no means of making an entrance. +Sigismund possessed three rusty cannon, made of bars of iron hooped +together; but they were no nearer than Strasburg, and if they had been +at hand, there was no getting them within distance of those walls. + +There was nothing for it but to blockade the castle while sending +after King Rene for assistance and authority. The worst of it was, that +starving the garrison would be starving the captives; and likewise, so +far up on the mountain, a troop of eighty or ninety men and horses +were as liable to lack of provisions as could be the besieged garrison. +Villages were distant, and transport not easy to find. Money was never +abundant with Duke Sigismund, and had nearly all been spent on the +entertainments at Nanci; nor could he make levies as lord of the +country-folk, since the more accessible were not Alsatian, but +Lorrainers, and to exasperate their masters by raids would bring fresh +danger. Indeed, the two nearest castles were on Lorraine territory; +their masters had not a much better reputation than the Balchenburgs, +and, with the temptation of war-horses and men in their most holiday +equipment, were only too likely to interpret Sigismund's attack as an +invasion of their dukedom, and to fall in strength upon the party. + +All this Gebhardt represented in strong colours, recommending that this +untenable position should not be maintained. + +Sigismund swore that nothing should induce him to abandon the unhappy +ladies. + +'Nay, my Lord Duke, it is only to retreat till King Rene sends his +forces, and mayhap the French Dauphin.' + +'To retreat would be to prolong their misery. Nay, the felons would +think them deserted, and work their will. Out upon such craven counsel!' + +'The captive ladies may be secured from an injury if your lordship holds +a parley, demands the amount of ransom, and, without pledging yourself, +undertakes to consult the Dauphin and their other kinsmen on the +matter.' + +'Detained here in I know not what misery, exposed to insults endless? +Never, Gebhardt! I marvel that you can make such proposals to any belted +knight!' + +Gebhardt grumbled out, 'Rather to a demented lover! The Lord Duke will +sing another tune ere long.' + +Certainly it looked serious the next day when Sir Robert Douglas had had +the greatest difficulty in hindering a hand-to-hand fight between the +Scots and Alsatians for a strip of meadow land for pasture for their +horses; when a few loaves of black bread were all that could be +obtained from one village, and in another there had been a fray with the +peasants, resulting in blows by way of payment for a lean cow and calf +and four sheep. The Tirolese laid the blame on the Scots, the Scots +upon the Tirolese; and though disputes between his Tirolese and Alsatian +followers had been the constant trouble of Sigismund at Nanci, they +now joined in making common cause against the Scots, so that Gebhardt +strongly advised that these should be withdrawn to Nanci for the +present, the which advice George Douglas hotly resented. He had as good +a claim to watch the castle as the Duke. He was not going to desert his +King's sisters, far less the lady he had followed from Scotland. If any +one was to be ordered off, it should be the fat lazy Alsatians, who were +good for nothing but to ride big Flemish horses, and were useless on a +mountain. + +Gebhardt and Robert Douglas, both experienced men of the world, found it +one of their difficulties to keep the peace between their young lords; +and each day was likely to render it more difficult. They began to +represent that it could be made a condition that the leaders should be +permitted to see the ladies and ascertain whether they were treated with +courtesy; and there was a certain inclination on Sigismund's part, when +he was driven hard by his embarrassments, to allow this to be proposed. + +The very notion of coming to any terms made Geordie furious. If the +craven Dutchman chose to sneak off and go in search of a ransom, +forsooth, he would lie at the foot of the castle till he had burrowed +through the walls or found a way over the battlements. + +'Ay,' said Douglas of Harside drily, 'or till the Baron sticks you in +the thrapple, or his next neighbour throws you into his dungeon.' + +In the meantime the captives themselves were suffering, as may well be +believed, agonies of suspense. Their loophole did not look out towards +the gateway, but they heard the peals of the trumpet, started up with +joy, and thought their deliverance was come. Eleanor threw herself on +her knees; Lady Lindsay began to collect their properties; Jean made a +rush for the stair leading to the top of the turret, but she found her +way barred by one of the few men-at-arms, who held his pike towards her +in a menacing manner. + +She tried to gaze from the window, but it told her nothing, except that +a certain murmur of voices broke upon the silence of the woods. Nothing +more befell them. They eagerly interrogated Barbe. + +'Ah yes, lady birds!' she said, 'there is a gay company without, all in +glittering harness, asking for you, but my Lords know 'tis like a poor +frog smelling at a walnut, for any knight of them all to try to make way +into this castle!' + +'Who are they? For pity's sake, tell us, dear Barbe,' entreated Eleanor. + +'They say it is the Duke himself; but he has never durst meddle with my +Lords before. All but the Hawk's tower is in Lorraine, and my Lord +can bring a storm about his ears if he lifts a finger against us. A +messenger would soon bring Banget and Steintour upon him. But never you +fear, fair ladies, you have friends, and he will come to terms,' said +good old Barbe, divided between pity for her guests and loyalty to her +masters. + +'If it is the Duke, he will free you, Elleen,' said Jean weeping; 'he +will not care for me!' + +'Jeanie, Jeanie, could you think I would be set free without you?' + +'You might not be able to help yourself. 'Tis you that the German +wants.' + +'Never shall he have me if he be such a recreant, mansworn fellow as to +leave my sister to the reiver. Never!' + +'Ah! if poor Geordie were there, he would have moved heaven and earth to +save me; but there is none to heed me now,' and Jean fell into a passion +of weeping. + +When they had to go down to supper, the younger Baron received them with +the news--'So, ladies, the Duke has been shouting his threats at us, but +this castle is too hard a nut for the like of him.' + +'I have seen others crack their teeth against it,' said his father; and +they both laughed, a hoarse derisive laugh. + +The ladies vouchsafed not a word till they were allowed to retire to +their chamber. + + They listened in the morning for the sounds of an assault, but +none came; there was absolutely nothing but an occasional hum of voices +and clank of armour. When summoned to the mid-day meal, it was scanty. + +'Ay,' said the elder Baron, we shall have to live hard for a day or two, +but those outside will live harder.' + +'Till they fall out and cut one another's throats,' said his son. +'Fasting will not mend the temper of Hans of Schlingen and Michel au Bec +rouge.' + +'Or till Banget descends on him for meddling on Lorraine ground,' added +old Balchenburg. 'Eat, lady,' he added to Jean; 'your meals are not so +large that they will make much odds to our stores. We have corn and beer +enough to starve out those greedy knaves outside!' + +Poor Jean was nearly out of her senses with distress and uncertainty, +and being still weak, was less able to endure. She burst into violent +hysterical weeping, and had to be helped up to her own room, where she +sometimes lay on her bed; sometimes raged up and down the room, heaping +violent words on the head of the tardy cowardly German; sometimes +talking of loosing Skywing to show they were in the castle and cognisant +of what was going on; but it was not certain that Skywing, with the lion +rampant on his hood, would fly down to the besiegers, so that she would +only be lost. + +Eleanor, by the very need of soothing her sister, was enabled to be more +tranquil. Besides, there was pleasure in the knowledge that Sigismund +had come after her, and there was imagination enough in her nature to +trust to the true knight daring any amount of dragons in his lady's +cause. And the lady always had to be patient. + + + + +CHAPTER 11. FETTERS BROKEN + + + Then long and loud the victor shout + From turret and from tower rang out; + The rugged walls replied. + SCOTT, Lord of the Isles. + + +'Sir, I have something to show you.' + +It was the early twilight of a summer's morning when Ringan crept up to +the shelter of pine branches under which George Douglas was sleeping, +after hotly opposing Gebhardt, who had nearly persuaded his master that +retreat was inevitable, unless he meant to be deserted by more than half +his men. + +George sat up. 'Anent the ladies?' he said. + +Ringan bowed his head, with an air of mystery and George doubted no +longer, but let him lead the way, keeping among the brushwood to the +foot of the quarry whence the castle had been built. It had once been +absolutely precipitous, no doubt, but the stone was of a soft quality, +on which weather told: ivy and creepers had grown on it, and Ringan +pointed to what to dwellers on plains might have seemed impracticable, +but to those who had bird's-nested on the crags of Tantallon had quite a +different appearance. True, there was castle wall and turret above, but +on this, the weather side, there had likewise been a slight crumbling, +which had been neglected, perhaps from over security, perhaps on account +of the extreme difficulty of repairing, where there was the merest ledge +for foothold above the precipitous quarry; indeed, the condition of the +place might never even have been perceived by the inhabitants, as there +were no traces of the place below having been frequented. + +'Tis a mere staircase as far as the foot of the walls compared with the +Guillemot's crag,' observed Ringan. + +'And a man with a heart and a foot could be up the wall in the corner +where the ivy grows,' added George. 'It is well, Ringan, thou hast done +good service. Here is the way.' + +'With four or five of our own tall carles, we may win the castle, and +laugh at the German pock-puddings,' added Ringan. 'Let them gang their +gate, and we'll free our leddies.' + +George was tempted, but he shook his head. 'That were scarce knightly +towards the Duke,' he said. 'He has been gude friend to me, and I may +not thus steal a march on him. Moreover, we ken na the strength of the +loons within.' + +'I misdoot there being mair than ten of them,' said Ringan. 'I have +seen the same faces too often for there to be many. And what there be we +shall take napping.' + +That was true; nevertheless George Douglas felt bound in honour not to +undertake the enterprise without the cognisance of his ally, though +he much doubted the Germans being alert or courageous enough to take +advantage of such a perilous clamber. + +Sigismund had a tent under the pine-trees, and a guard before the +entrance, who stood, halbert in hand, like a growling statue, when +the young Scot would have entered, understanding not one word of his +objurgations in mixed Scotch and French, but only barring the way, till +Sigismund's own 'Wer da?' sounded from within. + +'Moi--George of Angus!' shouted that individual in his awkward French. +'Let me in, Sir Duke; I have tidings!' + +Sigismund was on foot in a moment. 'And from King Eene?' he asked. + +'Far better, strong heart and steady foot can achieve the adventure and +save the ladies unaided! Come with me, beau sire! Silently.' + +George had fully expected to see the German quail at the frightful +precipice and sheer wall before him, but the Hapsburg was primarily +a Tirolean mountaineer, and he measured the rock with a glistening +triumphant eye. + +'Man can,' he said. 'That will we. Brave sire, your hand on it.' + +The days were almost at their longest, and it was about five in the +morning, the sun only just making his way over the screen of the higher +hills to the north-east, though it had been daylight for some time. + +Prudence made the two withdraw under the shelter of the woods, and there +they built their plan, both young men being gratified to do so without +their two advisers. + +Neither of them doubted his own footing, and George was sure that +three or four of the men who had come with Sir Robert were equally good +cragsmen. Sigismund sighed for some Tirolese whom he had left at home, +but he had at least one man with him ready to dare any height; and he +thought a rope would make all things sure. Nothing could be attempted +till the next night, or rather morning, and Sigismund decided on sending +a messenger down to the Franciscans to borrow or purchase a rope, while +George and Ringan, more used to shifts, proceeded to twist together all +the horses' halters they could collect, so as to form a strong cable. + +To avert suspicion, Sigismund appeared to have yielded to the murmurs +of his people, and sent more than half his troop down the hill, in the +expectation that he was about to follow. The others were withdrawn under +one clump of wood, the Scotsmen under another, with orders to advance +upon the gateway of the castle so soon as they should hear a summons +from the Duke's bugle, or the cry, 'A Douglas!' Neither Sir Gebhardt nor +Sir Robert was young enough or light enough to attempt the climb, each +would fain have withheld his master, had it been possible, but they +would have their value in dealing with the troop waiting below. + +So it came to pass that when Eleanor, anxious, sorrowful, heated, and +weary, awoke at daydawn and crept from the side of her sleeping sister +to inhale a breath of morning breeze and murmur a morning prayer, as she +gazed from her loophole over the woods with a vague, never-quenchable +hope of seeing something, she became aware of something very stealthy +below--the rustling of a fox, or a hare in the fern mayhap, though she +could not see to the bottom of the quarry, but she clung to the +bar, craned forward, and beheld far down a shaking of the ivy and +white-flowered rowan; then a hand, grasping the root of a little sturdy +birch, then a yellow head gradually drawn up, till a thin, bony, alert +figure was for a moment astride on the birch. Reaching higher, the +sunburnt, freckled face was lifted up, and Eleanor's heart gave a great +throb of hope. Was it not the wild boy, Ringan Raefoot? She could not +turn away her head, she durst not even utter a word to those +within, lest it should be a mere fancy, or a lad from the country +bird's-nesting. Higher, higher he went, lost for a moment among the +leaves and branches, then attaining a crag, in some giddy manner. But, +but--what was that head under a steel cap that had appeared on the tree? +What was that face raised for a moment? Was it the face of the dead? +Eleanor forced back a cry, and felt afraid of wakening herself from what +she began to think only a blissful dream,--all the more when that length +of limb had reared itself, and attained to the dizzy crag above. A +fairer but more solid face, with a long upper lip, appeared, mounting in +its turn. She durst not believe her eyes, and she was not conscious of +making any sound, unless it was the vehement beating of her own heart; +but perhaps it was the power of her own excitement that communicated +itself to her sleeping sister, for Jean's voice was heard, 'What is it, +Elleen; what is it?' + +She signed back with her hand to enjoin silence, for her sense began to +tell her that this must be reality, and that castles had before now +been thus surprised by brave Scotsmen. Jean was out of bed and at the +loophole in a moment. There was room for only one, and Eleanor yielded +the place, the less reluctantly that the fair head had reached the +part veiled by the tree, and Jean's eyes would be an evidence that she +herself might trust her own sight. + +Jean's glance first fell on the backs of the ascending figures, now +above the crag. 'Ah! ah!' she cried, under her breath, 'a surprise--a +rescue! Oh! the lad--stretching, spreading! The man below is holding his +foot. Oh! that tuft of grass won't bear him. His knees are up. Yes--yes! +he is even with the top of the wall now. Elleen! Hope! Brave laddie! +Why--'tis--yes--'tis Ringan. Now the other, the muckle carle--Ah!' and +then a sudden breathless silence came over her. + +Eleanor knew she had recognised that figure! + +Madame de Ste. Petronelle was awake now, asking what this meant. + +'Deliverance!' whispered Eleanor. 'They are scaling the wall. Oh, Jean, +one moment--' + +'I canna, I canna,' cried Jean, grasping the iron bar with all her +might: 'I see his face; he is there on the ledge, at fit of the wall, in +life and strength. Ringan--yes, Ringan is going up the wall like a cat!' + +'Where is he? Is he safe--the Duke, I would say?' gasped Eleanor. 'Oh, +let me see, Jeanie.' + +'The Duke, is it? Ah! Geordie is giving a hand to help him on the +ground. Tak' tent, tak' tent, Geordie. Dinna coup ower. Ah! they are +baith there, and one--two--three muckle fellows are coming after them.' + +'Climbing up there!' exclaimed the Dame, bustling up. 'God speed them. +Those are joes worth having, leddies!' + +'There! there--Geordie is climbing now. St. Bride speed him, and hide +them. Well done, Duke! He hoisted him so far. Now his hand is on +that broken stone. Up! up! His foot is in the cleft now! His +hand--oh!--clasps the ivy! God help him! Ah, he feels about. Yes, he has +it. Now--now the top of the battlement. I see no more. They are letting +down a rope. Your Duke disna climb like my Geordie, Elleen!' + +'Oh, for mercy's sake, to your prayers, dinna wrangle about your joes, +bairns,' cried Madame de Ste. Petronelle. 'The castle's no won yet!' + +'But is as good as won,' said Eleanor. 'There are barely twelve fighting +men in it, and sorry loons are the maist. How many are up yet, Jeanie?' + +'There's a fifth since the Duke yet to come up,' answered Jean, 'eight +altogether, counting the gallant Ringan. There!' + +''Tis the warder's horn. They have been seen!' and the poor women +clasped their hands in fervent prayer, with ears intent; but Jean +suddenly darted towards her clothes, and they hastily attired +themselves, then cautiously peeped out at their door, since neither +sight nor sound came to them from either window. The guard who had +hindered their passage was no longer there, and Jean led the way down +the spiral stairs. At the slit looking into the court they heard +cries and the clash of arms, but it was too high above their heads for +anything to be seen, and they hastened on. + +There also in the narrow court was a fight going on--but nearly +ended. Geordie Douglas knelt over the prostrate form of Rudiger von +Balchenburg, calling on him to yield, but meeting no answer. One or two +other men lay overthrown, three or four more were pressed up against +a wall, howling for mercy. Sigismund was shouting to them in +German--Ringan and the other assailants standing guard over them; but +evidently hardly withheld from slaughtering them. The maidens stood +for a moment, then Jean's scream of welcome died on her lips, for as +he looked up from his prostrate foe, and though he had not yet either +spoken or risen, Sigismund had stepped to his side, and laid his sword +on his shoulder. + +'Victor!' said he, 'in the name of God and St. Mary, I make thee +Chevalier. Rise, Sire George of Douglas!' + +'True knight!' cried Jean, leaping to his side. 'Oh, Geordie, Geordie, +thou hast saved us! Thou noblest knight!' + +'Ah! Lady, it canna be helpit,' said the new knight. ''Tis no treason +to your brother to be dubbed after a fair fight, though 'tis by a Dutch +prince.' + +'Thy King's sister shall mend that, and bind your spurs,' said Jean. 'Is +the reiver dead, Geordie?' + +'Even so,' was the reply. 'My sword has spared his craig from the +halter.' + +Such were the times, and such Jean's breeding, that she looked at the +fallen enemy much as a modern lady may look at a slain tiger. + +Eleanor had meantime met Sigismund with, 'Ah! well I knew that you would +come to our aid. So true a knight must achieve the adventure!' + +'Safe, safe, I am blessed and thankful,' said the Duke, falling on one +knee to kiss her hand. 'How have these robbers treated my Lady?' + +'Well, as well as they know how. That good woman has been very kind +to us,' said Eleanor, as she saw Barbe peeping from the stair. 'Come +hither, Barbe and Trudchen, to the Lord Duke's mercy.' + +They were entering the hall, and, at the same moment, the gates were +thrown open, and the men waiting with Gebhardt and Robert Douglas began +to pour in. It was well for Barbe and her daughter that they could take +shelter behind the ladies, for the men were ravenous for some prize, or +something to wreak their excitement upon, besides the bare walls of the +castle, and its rude stores of meal and beer. The old Baron was hauled +down from his bed by half-a-dozen men, and placed before the Duke with +bound hands. + +'Hola, Siege!' said he in German, all unabashed. 'You have got me at +last--by a trick! I always bade Rudiger look to that quarry; but young +men think they know best.' + +'The old traitor!' said George in French. 'Hang him from his tower for a +warning to his like, as we should do in Scotland.' + +'What cause have you to show why we should not do as saith the knight?' +said Sigismund. + +'I care little how it goes with my old carcase now,' returned +Balchenburg, in the spirit of the Amalekite of old. 'I only mourn that +I shall not be there to see the strife you will breed with the +lute-twanger or his fellows at Nanci.' + +Gebhardt here gave his opinion that it would be wise to reserve the old +man for King Rene's justice, so as to obviate all peril of dissension. +The small garrison, to be left in the castle under the most prudent +knight whom Gebhardt could select, were instructed only to profess +to hold it till the Lords of Alsace and Lorraine should jointly have +determined what was to be done with it. + +It was not expedient to tarry there long. A hurried meal was made, and +then the victors set out on the descent. George had found his good steed +in the stables, together with the ladies' palfreys, and there had been +great joy in the mutual recognition; but Jean's horse was found to show +traces of its fall, and her arm was not yet entirely recovered, so that +she was seated on Ringan's sure-footed pony, with the new-made knight +walking by her side to secure its every step, though Ringan grumbled +that Sheltie would be far safer if left to his own wits. + +Sigismund was proposing to make for Sarrebourg, when the glittering +of lances was seen in the distance, and the troop was drawn closely +together, for the chance that, as had been already thought probable, +some of the Lorrainers had risen as to war and invasion. However, the +banner soon became distinguishable, with the many quarterings, showing +that King Rene was there in person; and Sigismund rode forward to greet +him and explain. + +The chivalrous King was delighted with the adventure, only wishing he +had shared in the rescue of the captive princesses. 'Young blood,' he +said. 'Youth has all the guerdons reserved for it, while age is lagging +behind.' + +Yet so soon as Sir Patrick Drummond had overtaken him at Epinal, he had +turned back to Nanci, and it was in consequence of what he there heard +that he had set forth to bring the robbers of Balchenburg to reason. To +him there was no difficulty in accepting thankfully what some would have +regarded as an aggression on the part of the Duke of Alsace, and though +old Balchenburg, when led up before him, seemed bent upon aggravating +him. 'Ha! Sir King, so a young German and a wild Scot have done what +you, with all your kingdoms, have never had the wit to do.' + +'The poor old man is distraught,' said the King, while Sigismund put +in-- + +'Mayhap because you never ventured on such audacious villainy and +outrecuidance before.' + +'Young blood will have its way,' repeated the old man. 'Nay, I told +the lad no good would come of it, but he would have it that he had his +backers, and in sooth that escort played into his hands. Ha! ha! much +will the fair damsels' royal beau-frere thank you for overthrowing his +plan for disposing of them.' + +'Hark you, foul-mouthed fellow,' said King Rene; 'did I not pity you +for your bereavement and ruin, I should requite that slander of a noble +prince by hanging you on the nearest tree.' + +'Your Grace is kindly welcome,' was the answer. + +Rene and Sigismund, however, took counsel together, and agreed that the +old man should, instead of this fate, be relegated to an abbey, where he +might at least have the chance of repenting of his crimes, and be kept +in safe custody. + +'That's your mercy,' muttered the old mountain wolf when he heard their +decision. + +All this was settled as they rode back along the way where Madame de +Ste. Petronelle had first become alarmed. She had now quite resumed her +authority and position, and promised protection and employment to Barbe +and Trudchen. The former had tears for 'her boy,' thus cut off in his +sins; but it was what she always foreboded for him, and if her old +master was not thankful for the grace offered him, she was for him. + +King Rene, who believed not a word against his nephew, intended himself +to conduct the ladies to the Court of his sister, and see them in safety +there. Jean, however, after the first excitement, so drooped as she +rode, and was so entirely unable to make answer to all the kindness +around her, that it was plain that she must rest as soon as possible, +and thus hospitality was asked at a little country castle, around which +the suite encamped. A pursuivant was, however, despatched by Rene to +the French Court to announce the deliverance of the princesses, and Sir +Patrick sent his son David with the party, that his wife and the poor +Dauphiness might be fully reassured. + +There was a strange stillness over Chateau le Surry when David rode in +triumphantly at the gate. A Scottish archer, who stood on guard, looked +up at him anxiously with the words, 'Is it weel with the lassies?' and +on his reply, 'They are sain and safe, thanks, under Heaven, to Geordie +Douglas of Angus!' the man exclaimed, 'On, on, sir squire, the saints +grant ye may not be too late for the puir Dolfine! Ah! but she has been +sair misguided.' + +'Is my mother here?' asked David. + +'Ay, sir, and with the puir lady. Ye may gang in without question. A' +the doors be open, that ilka loon may win in to see a princess die.' + +The pursuivant, hearing that the King and Dauphin were no longer in the +castle, rode on to Chalons, but David dismounted, and followed a stream +of persons, chiefly monks, friars, and women of the burgher class, up +the steps, and on into the vaulted room, the lower part shut off by a +rail, against which crowded the curious and only half-awed multitude, +who whispered to each other, while above, at a temporary altar, bright +with rows of candles, priests intoned prayers. The atmosphere was +insufferably hot, and David could hardly push forward; but as he +exclaimed in his imperfect French that he came with tidings of Madame's +sisters, way was made, and he heard his mother's voice. 'Is it? Is it my +son? Bring him. Oh, quickly!' + +He heard a little, faint, gasping cry, and as a lane was opened for him, +struggled onwards. In poor Margaret's case the etiquette that banished +the nearest kin from Royalty in articulo mortis was not much to be +regretted. David saw her--white, save for the death-flush called up by +the labouring breath, as she lay upheld in his mother's arms, a priest +holding a crucifix before her, a few ladies kneeling by the bed. + +'Good tidings, I see, my son,' said Lady Drummond. + +'Are--they--here?' gasped Margaret. + +'Alack, not yet, Madame; they will come in a few days' time.' She gave a +piteous sigh, and David could not hear her words. + +'Tell her how and where you found them,' said his mother. + +David told his story briefly. There was little but a quivering of the +heavy eyelids and a clasping of the hands to show whether the dying +woman marked him, but when he had finished, she said, so low that only +his mother heard, 'Safe! Thank God! Nunc dimittis. Who was it--young +Angus?' + +'Even so,' said David, when the question had been repeated to him by his +mother. + +'So best!' sighed Margaret. 'Bid the good father give thanks.' + +Dame Lilias dismissed her son with a sign. Margaret lay far more serene. +For a few minutes there was a sort of hope that the good news might +inspire fresh life, and yet, after the revelation of what her condition +was in this strange, frivolous, hard-hearted Court, how could life be +desired for her weary spirit? She did not seem to wish--far less to +struggle to wish--to live to see them again; perhaps there was an +instinctive feeling that, in her weariness, there was no power of +rousing herself, and she would rather sink undisturbed than hear of the +terror and suffering that she knew but too well her husband had caused. + +Only, when it was very near the last, she said, 'Safe! safe in leal +hands. Oh, tell my Jeanie to be content with them--never seek earthly +crowns--ashes--ashes--Elleen--Jeanie--all of them--my love-oh! safe, +safe. Now, indeed, I can pardon--' + +'Pardon!' said the French priest, catching the word. 'Whom, Madame, the +Sieur de Tillay?' + +Even on the gasping lips there was a semi-smile. 'Tillay--I had +forgotten! Tillay, yes, and another.' + +If no one else understood, Lady Drummond did, that the forgiveness was +for him who had caused the waste and blight of a life that might +have been so noble and so sweet, and who had treacherously prepared a +terrible fate for her young innocent sisters. + +It was all ended now; there was no more but to hear the priest commend +the parting Christian soul, while, with a few more faint breaths, +the soul of Margaret of Scotland passed beyond the world of sneers, +treachery, and calumny, to the land 'where the wicked cease from +troubling, and where the weary are at rest.' + + + + +CHAPTER 12. SORROW ENDED + + + 'Done to death by slanderous tongues + Was the Hero that here lies: + Death, avenger of wrongs, + Gives her fame which never dies.' + Much Ado About Nothing. + + +A day's rest revived Jean enough to make her eager to push on to +Chalons, and enough likewise to revive her coquettish and petulant +temper. + +Sigismund and Eleanor might ride on together in a species of paradise, +as having not only won each other's love, but acted out a bit of the +romance that did not come to full realisation much more often in those +days than in modern ones. They were quite content to let King Rene glory +in them almost as much as he had arrived at doing in his own daughter +and her Ferry, and they could be fully secure; Sigismund had no one's +consent to ask, save a formal licence from his cousin, the Emperor +Frederick III., who would pronounce him a fool for wedding a penniless +princess, but had no real power over him; while Eleanor was certain that +all her kindred would feel that she was fulfilling her destiny, and high +sweet thoughts of thankfulness and longing to be a blessing to him who +loved her, and to those whom he ruled, filled her spirit as she rode +through the shady woods and breezy glades, bright with early summer. + +Jean, however, was galled by the thought that every one at home would +smile and say that she might have spared her journey, and that, in spite +of all her beauty, she had just ended by wedding the Scottish laddie +whom she had scorned. True, her heart knew that she loved him and none +other, and that he truly merited her; but her pride was not willing that +he should feel that he had earned her as a matter of course, and she was +quite as ungracious to Sir George Douglas, the Master of Angus, as +ever she had been to Geordie of the Red Peel, and she showed all the +petulance of a semi-convalescent. She would not let him ride beside her, +his horse made her palfrey restless, she said; and when King Rene talked +about her true knight, she pretended not to understand. + +'Ah!' he said, 'be consoled, brave sire; we all know it is the part of +the fair lady to be cruel and merciless. Let me sing you a roman both +sad and true!' + +Which good-natured speech simply irritated George beyond bearing. 'The +daft old carle,' muttered he to Sir Patrick, 'why cannot he let me gang +my ain gate, instead of bringing all their prying eyes on me? If Jean +casts me off the noo, it will be all his fault.' + +These small vexations, however, soon faded out of sight when the +drooping, half-hoisted banner was seen on the turrets of Chateau le +Surry, and the clang of a knell came slow and solemn on the wind. + +No one was at first visible, but probably a warder had announced their +approach, for various figures issued from the gateway, some coming up +to Rene, and David Drummond seeking his father. The tidings were in one +moment made known to the two poor girls--a most sudden shock, for they +had parted with their sister in full health, as they thought, and Sir +Patrick had only supposed her to have been chilled by the thunderstorm. +Yet Eleanor's first thought was, 'Ah! I knew it! Would that I had +clung closer to her and never been parted.' But the next moment she was +startled by a cry--Jean had slid from her horse, fainting away in George +Douglas's arms. + +Madame de Ste. Petronelle was at hand, and the Lady of Glenuskie quickly +on the spot; and they carried her into the hall, where she revived, +and soon was in floods of tears. These were the days when violent +demonstration was unchecked and admired as the due of the deceased, and +all stood round, weeping with her. King Charles himself leaning forward +to wring her hands, and cry, 'My daughter, my good daughter!' As soon +as the first tempest had subsided, the King supported Eleanor to the +chapel, where, in the midst of rows of huge wax candles, Margaret lay +with placid face, and hands clasped over a crucifix, as if on a tomb, +the pall that covered all except her face embellished at the sides with +the blazonry of France and Scotland. Her husband, with his thin hands +clasped, knelt by her head, and requiems were being sung around by +relays of priests. There was fresh weeping and wailing as the sisters +cast sprinklings of holy water on her, and then Jean, sinking down quite +exhausted, was supported away to a chamber where the sisters could hear +the story of these last sad days from Lady Drummond. + +The solemnities of Margaret's funeral took their due course--a lengthy +one, and then, or rather throughout, there was the consideration what +was to come next. Too late, all the Court seemed to have wakened to +regret for Margaret. She had been open-handed and kindly, and the +attendants had loved her, while the ladies who had gossiped about her +habits now found occupation for their tongues in indignation against +whosoever had aspersed her discretion. The King himself, who had always +been lazily fond of the belle fille who could amuse him, was stirred, +perhaps by Rene, into an inquiry into the scandalous reports, the result +of which was that Jamet de Tillay was ignominiously banished from the +Court, and Margaret's fair fame vindicated, all too late to save her +heart from breaking. The displeasure that Charles expressed to his son +in private on the score of poor Margaret's wrongs, is, in fact, believed +to have been the beginning of the breach which widened continually, till +finally the unhappy father starved himself to death in a morbid dread of +being poisoned by his son. + +However, for the present, the two Scottish princesses reaped the full +benefit of all the feeling for their sister. The King and Queen called +them their dearest daughters, and made all sorts of promises of marrying +and endowing them, and Louis himself went outwardly through all the +forms of mourning and devotion, and treated his two fair sisters with +extreme civility, such as they privately declared they could hardly +bear, when they recollected how he had behaved before Margaret. + +Jean in especial flouted him with all the sharpness and pertness of +which she was capable; but do what she would, he received it all with a +smiling indifference and civility which exasperated her all the more. + +The Laird and Lady of Glenuskie were in some difficulty. They could not +well be much longer absent from Scotland, and yet Lilias had promised +the poor Dauphiness not to leave her sisters except in some security. +Eleanor's fate was plain enough, Sigismund followed her about as her +betrothed, and the only question was whether, during the period of +mourning, he should go back to his dominions to collect a train +worthy of his marriage with a king's daughter; but this he was plainly +reluctant to do. Besides the unwillingness of a lover to lose sight of +his lady, the catastrophe that had befallen the sisters might well +leave a sense that they needed protection. Perhaps, too, he might expect +murmurs at his choice of a dowerless princess from his vassals of the +Tirol. + +At any rate, he lingered and accompanied the Court to Tours, where in +the noble old castle the winter was to be spent. + +There Sir Patrick and his wife were holding a consultation. Their means +were well-nigh exhausted. What they had collected for their journey +was nearly spent, and so was the sum with which Cardinal Beaufort had +furnished his nieces. It was true that Eleanor and Jean were reckoned +as guests of the French King, and the knight and lady and attendants as +part of their suite; but the high proud Scottish spirits could not +be easy in this condition, and they longed to depart, while still by +selling the merely ornamental horses and some jewels they could pay +their journey. But then Jean remained a difficulty. To take her back to +Scotland was the most obvious measure, where she could marry George of +Angus as soon as the mourning was ended. + +'Even if she will have him,' said Dame Lilias, 'I doubt me whether her +proud spirit will brook to go home unwedded.' + +'Dost deem the lassie is busking herself for higher game? That were an +evil requital for his faithful service and gallant daring.' + +'I cannot tell,' said Lilias. 'The maid has always been kittle to deal +with. I trow she loves Geordie in her inmost heart, but she canna thole +to feel herself bound to him, and it irks her that when her sisters are +wedded to sovereign princes, she should gang hame to be gudewife to a +mere Scots Earl's son.' + +'The proud unthankful peat! Leave her to gang her ain gate, Lily. And +yet she is a bonny winsome maid, that I canna cast off.' + +'Nor I, Patie, and I have gi'en my word to her sister. Yet gin some +prince cam' in her way, I'd scarce give much for Geordie's chance.' + +'The auld king spake once to me of his younger son, the Duke of Berry, +as they call him,' said Sir Patrick; 'but the Constable told me that was +all froth, the young duke must wed a princess with a tocher.' + +'I trust none will put it in our Jeanie's light brain,' sighed Lily, 'or +she will be neither to have nor to hold.' + +The consultation was interrupted by the sudden bursting in of Jean +herself. She flew up to her friends with outstretched hands, and hid her +face in Lilias's lap. + +'Oh, cousins, cousins! tak' me away out of his reach. He has been the +death of poor Meg, now he wants to be mine.' + +They could not understand her at first, and indeed shame as well as +dismay made her incoherent--for what had been proposed to her was at +that time unprecedented. It is hard to believe it, yet French historians +aver that the Dauphin Louis actually thought of obtaining a dispensation +for marrying her. In the unsettled condition of the Church, when it +was divided by the last splinterings, as it were, of the great schism, +perhaps the astute Louis deemed that any prince might obtain anything +from whichever rival Pope he chose to acknowledge, though it was +reserved for Alexander Borgia to grant the first licence of this kind. +To Jean the idea was simply abhorrent, alike as regarded her instincts +and for the sake of the man himself. His sneering manner towards her +sister had filled her with disgust and indignation, and he had, in those +days, been equally contemptuous towards herself--besides which she was +aware of his share in her capture by Balchenburg, and whispers had not +respected the manner in which his silence had fostered the slanders that +had broken Margaret's heart. + +'I would sooner wed a viper!' she said. + +What was Louis's motive it is very hard to guess. Perhaps there was some +real admiration of Jean's beauty, and it seems to have been his desire +that his wife should be a nonentity, as was shown in his subsequent +choice of Charlotte of Savoy. Now Jean was in feature very like her +sister Isabel, Duchess of Brittany, who was a very beautiful woman, but +not far from being imbecile, and Louis had never seen Jean display any +superiority of intellect or taste like Margaret or Eleanor, but rather +impatience of their pursuits, and he therefore might expect her to be +equally simple with the other sister. However that might be, Sir +Patrick was utterly incredulous; but when his wife asked Madame Ste. +Petronelle's opinion, she shook her head, and said the Sire Dauphin was +a strange ower cannie chiel, and advised that Maitre Jaques Coeur should +be consulted. + +'Who may he be?' + +'Ken ye not Jaques Coeur? The great merchant of Bourges--the man to +whom, above all others, France owes it that we be not under the English +yoke. The man, I say, for it was the poor Pucelle that gave the first +move, and ill enough was her reward, poor blessed maiden as she was. A +saint must needs die a martyr's death, and they will own one of these +days that such she was! But it was Maitre Coeur that stirred the King +and gave him the wherewithal to raise his men--lending, they called it, +but it was out of the free heart of a true Frenchman who never looked to +see it back again, nor even thanks for it!' + +'A merchant?' asked Sir Patrick. + +'Ay, the mightiest merchant in the realm. You would marvel to see his +house at Bourges. It would fit a prince! He has ships going to Egypt and +Africa, and stores of silk enough to array all the dames and demoiselles +in France! Jewels fit for an emperor, perfumes like a very grove of +camphire. Then he has mines of silver and copper, and the King has given +him the care of the coinage. Everything prospers that he sets his hand +to, and he well deserves it, for he is an honest man where honest men +are few.' + +'Is he here?' + +'Yea; I saw his green hood crossing the court of the castle this very +noon. The King can never go on long without him, though there are those +that so bate him that I fear he may have a fall one of these days. +Methinks I heard that he ay hears his morning mass when here at the +little chapel of St. James, close to the great shrine of St. Martin, at +six of the clock in the morning, so as to be private. You might find him +there, and whatever he saith to you will be sooth, whether it be as you +would have it, or no.' + +On consideration Sir Patrick decided to adopt the lady's advice, and +on her side she reflected that it might be well to take care that the +interview did not fail for want of recognition. + +The glorious Cathedral of Tours was standing up dark, but with +glittering windows, from the light within deepening the stained glass, +and throwing out the beauty of the tracery, while the sky, brightening +in the autumn morning, threw the towers into relief, when, little +recking of all this beauty, only caring to find the way, Sir Patrick on +the one hand, the old Scots French lady on the other, went their way to +the noble west front, each wrapped in a long cloak, and not knowing one +another, till their eyes met as they gave each other holy water at the +door, after the habit of strangers entering at the same time. + +Then Madame de Ste. Petronelle showed the way to the little side chapel, +close to the noble apse. There, beneath the six altar-candles, a priest +was hurrying through a mass in a rapid ill-pronounced manner, while, +besides his acolyte, worshippers were very few. Only the light fell +on the edges of a dark-green velvet cloak and silvered a grizzled head +bowed in reverence, and Madame de Ste. Petronelle touched Sir Patrick +and made him a significant sign. + +Daylight was beginning to reveal itself by the time the brief service +was over. Sir Patrick, stimulated by the lady, ventured a few steps +forward, and accosted Maitre Coeur as he rose, and drawing forward his +hood was about to leave the church. + +'Beau Sire, a word with you. I am the kinsman and attendant of the +Scottish King's sisters.' + +'Ah! one of them is to be married. My steward is with me. It is to him +you should speak of her wardrobe,' said Jaques Coeur, an impatient look +stealing over his keen but honest visage. + +'It is not of Duke Sigismund's betrothed that I would speak,' returned +the Scottish knight; 'it is of her sister.' + +Jaques Coeur's dark eyes cast a rapid glance, as of one who knew not who +might lurk in the recesses of a twilight cathedral. + +'Not here,' he said, and he led Sir Patrick away with him down the +aisle, out into the air, where a number of odd little buildings +clustered round the walls of the cathedral, even leaning against it, +heedless of the beauty they marred. + +'By your leave, Father,' he said, after exchanging salutations with a +priest, who was just going out to say his morning's mass, and leaving +his tiny bare cell empty. Here Sir Patrick could incredulously tell +his story, and the merchant could only sigh and own that he feared that +there was every reason to believe that the intention was real. Jaques +Coeur, religiously, was shocked at the idea, and, politically, wished +the Dauphin to make a more profitable alliance. He whispered that the +sooner the lady was out of reach the better, and even offered to advance +a loan to facilitate the journey. + +There followed a consultation in the securest place that could be +devised, namely, in the antechamber where Sir Patrick and Lady Drummond +slept to guard their young princesses, in the palace at Tours, Jean, +Eleanor, and Madame de Ste. Petronelle having a bedroom within. + +Sir Patrick's view was that Jean might take her leave in full state +and honour, leaving Eleanor to marry her Duke in due time; but the girl +shuddered at this. 'Oh no, no; he would call himself my brother for the +nonce and throw me into some convent! There is nothing for it but to +make it impossible. Sir Patie, fetch Geordie, and tell him, an' he loves +me, to wed me on the spot, and bear me awa' to bonnie Scotland. Would +that I had never been beguiled into quitting it.' + +'Geordie Douglas! You were all for flouting him a while ago,' said +Eleanor, puzzled. + +'Dinna be sae daft like, Elleen, that was but sport, and--and a maid may +not hold herself too cheap! Geordie that followed me all the way from +home, and was sair hurt for me, and freed me from yon awsome castle. Oh, +could ye trow that I could love ony but he?' + +It was not too easy to refrain from saying, 'So that's the end of all +your airs,' but the fear of making her fly off again withheld Lady +Drummond, and even Eleanor. + +George did not lodge in the castle, and Sir Patrick could not sound him +till the morning; but for a long space after the two sisters had laid +their heads on the pillow Jean was tossing, sometimes sobbing; and to +her sister's consolations she replied, 'Oh, Elleen, he can never forgive +me! Why did my hard, dour, ungrateful nature so sport with his leal +loving heart? Will he spurn me the now? Geordie, Geordie, I shall never +see your like! It would but be my desert if I were left behind to that +treacherous spiteful prince,--I wad as soon be a mouse in a cat's claw!' + +But George of Angus made no doubt. He had won his ladylove at last, and +the only further doubt remained as to how the matter was to be carried +out. Jaques Coeur was consulted again. No priest at Tours would, he +thought, dare to perform the ceremony, for fear of after-vengeance of +the Dauphin; and Sir Patrick then suggested Father Romuald, who had been +lingering in his train waiting to cross the Alps till his Scotch friends +should have departed and winter be over; but the deed would hardly be +safely done within the city. + +The merchant's advice was this: Sir Patrick, his Lady, and the Master of +Angus had better openly take leave of the Court and start on the way to +Brittany. No opposition would be made, though if Louis suspected Lady +Jean's presence in their party, he might close the gates and detain +her; Jaques Coeur therefore thought she had better travel separately at +first. For Eleanor, as the betrothed bride of Sigismund, there was no + might therefore remain at Court with the Queen. Jaques Coeur, the +greatest merchant of his day, had just received a large train of waggons +loaded with stuffs and other wares from Bourges, on the way to Nantes, +and he proposed that the Lady Jean should travel with one attendant +female in one of these, passing as the wife and daughter of the foreman. +These two personages had actually travelled to Tours, and were content +to remain there, while their places were taken by Madame de Ste. +Petronelle and Jean. + +We must not describe the parting of the sisters, nor the many messages +sent by Elleen to bonny Scotland, and the brothers and sisters she was +willing to see no more for the sake of her Austrian Duke. Of her all +that needs to be said is that she lived and died happy and honoured, +delighting him by her flow of wit and poetry, and only regretting that +she was a childless wife. + +Barbe and Trudchen were to remain in her suite, Barbe still grieving for +'her boy,' and hoping to devote all she could obtain as wage or largesse +to masses for his soul, and Trudchen, very happy in the new world, +though being broken in with some difficulty to civilised life. + +Having been conveyed by by-streets to the great factory or shop of +Maltre Coeur at Tours, a wonder in itself, though far inferior to his +main establishment at Bourges, Madame de Ste. Petronelle and Jean, with +her faithful Skywing nestled under her cloak, were handed by Jaques +himself to seats in a covered wain, containing provisions for them and +also some more delicate wares, destined for the Duchess of Brittany. He +was himself in riding gear, and a troop of armed servants awaited him on +horseback. + +'Was he going with them?' Jean asked. + +'Not all the way,' he said; but he would not part with the lady till he +had resigned her to the charge of the Sire de Glenuskie. The state of + should accompany any valuable convoy, that his going with the party +would excite no suspicion. + +So they journeyed on in the wain at the head of a quarter of a mile of +waggons and pack-horses, slowly indeed, but so steadily that they were +sure of a good start before the princess's departure was known to the +Court. + +It was at the evening halt at a conventual grange that they came up with +the rest of the party, and George Douglas spurred forward to meet them, +and hold out his eager arms as Jean sprang from the waggon. Wisdom +as well as love held that it would be better that Jean should enter +Brittany as a wife, so that the Duke might not be bribed or intimidated +into yielding her to Louis. It was in the little village church, very +early the next morning, that George Douglas received the reward of his +long patience in the hand of Joanna Stewart, a wiser, less petulant, +and more womanly being than the vain and capricious lassie whom he had +followed from Scotland two years previously. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Two Penniless Princesses, by Charlotte M. 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