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diff --git a/old/2pnpr10.txt b/old/2pnpr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4436737 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2pnpr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8587 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Two Penniless Princesses, by Charlotte M. Yonge +#5 in our series by Charlotte M Yonge + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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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, far away from the blasts of the +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 way, through lanes and fields at times, but +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, nd 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 deJoinville; 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 bis 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, seemed to bask in their presence, and held +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. + +'0 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; hut 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 Geordie of the Red Peel had chosen, +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 divorce her, for +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. + + +'0 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 be 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 be 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 be 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 danger, and she +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 the roads made it so needful that a strong guard +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. Yonge + diff --git a/old/2pnpr10.zip b/old/2pnpr10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9b3085 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2pnpr10.zip |