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diff --git a/old/prcpg10.txt b/old/prcpg10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..daffa71 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prcpg10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7689 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext The Prince and the Page, by Charlotte M. Yonge +#12 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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The picture of Simon de Montfort drawn by +his wife's own household books, as quoted by Mrs. Everett Green in +her Lives of the Princesses, and that of Edward I. in Carte's +History, and more recently in the Greatest of the Plantagenets, +furnished the two chief influences of the story. The household +accounts show that Earl Simon and Eleanor of England had five sons. +Henry fell with his father at Evesham. Simon and Guy deeply injured +his cause by their violence, and after holding out Kenilworth against +the Prince, retired to the Continent, where they sacrilegiously +murdered Henry, son of the King of the Romans--a crime so much +abhorred in Italy that Dante represents himself as meeting them in +torments in the Inferno, not however before Guy had become the +founder of the family of the Counts of Monforte in the Maremma. +Richard, the fourth son, appears in the household books as possessing +dogs, and having garments bought for him; but his history has not +been traced after his mother left England. The youngest son, Amaury, +obtained the hereditary French possessions of the family, and +continued the line of Montfort as a French subject. Eleanor, the +only daughter, called the Demoiselle de Montfort, married, as is well +known, the last native prince of Wales, and died after a few years. + +The adventure of Edward with the outlaw of Alton Wood is one of the +stock anecdotes of history, and many years ago the romance of the +encounter led the author to begin a tale upon it, in which the outlaw +became the protector of one of the proscribed family of Montfort. +The commencement was placed in one of the manuscript magazines which +are so often the amusement of a circle of friends. It was not +particularly correct in its details, and the hero bore the peculiarly +improbable name of Wilfred (by which he has since appeared in the +Monthly Packet). The story slept for many years in MS., until +further reading and thought had brought stronger interest in the +period, and for better or for worse it was taken in hand again. +Joinville, together with the authorities quoted by Sismondi, assisted +in picturing the arrival of the English after the death of St. Louis, +and the murder of Henry of Almayne is related in all crusading +histories; but for Simon's further career, and for his implication in +the attempt on Edward's life at Acre, the author is alone +responsible, taking refuge in the entire uncertainty that prevails as +to the real originator of the crime, and perhaps an apology is +likewise due to Dante for having reversed his doom. + +For the latter part of the story, the old ballad of The Blind Beggar +of Bethnal Green, gives the framework. That ballad is believed to be +Elizabethan in date, and the manners therein certainly are scarcely +accordant with the real thirteenth century, and still less with our +notions of the days of chivalry. Some liberties therefore have been +taken with it, the chief of them being that Bessee is not permitted +to go forth to seek her fortune in the inn at Romford, and the +readers are entreated to believe that the alteration was made by the +traditions which repeated Henry de Montfort's song. + +It was the late Hugh Millar who alleged that the huge stone under +which Edward sleeps in Westminster Abbey agrees in structure with no +rocks nearer than those whence the mighty stones of the Temple at +Jerusalem were hewn, and there is no doubt that earth and stones were +frequently brought by crusaders from the Holy Land with a view to the +hallowing of their own tombs. + +The author is well aware that this tale has all the incorrectnesses +and inconsistencies that are sure to attend a historical tale; but +the dream that has been pleasant to dream may be pleasant to listen +to; and there can be no doubt that, in spite of all inevitable +faults, this style of composition does tend to fix young people's +interest and attention on the scenes it treats of, and to vivify the +characters it describes; and if this sketch at all tends to prepare +young people's minds to look with sympathy and appreciation on any of +the great characters of our early annals, it will have done at least +one work. + +December 12th, 1865. + + + +CHAPTER I--THE STATELY HUNTER + + + +"'Now who are thou of the darksome brow + Who wanderest here so free?' +"'Oh, I'm one that will walk the green green woods, + Nor ever ask leave of thee.'"--S. M. + +A fine evening--six centuries ago--shed a bright parting light over +Alton Wood, illuminating the gray lichens that clung to the rugged +trunks of the old oak trees, and shining on the smoother bark of the +graceful beech, with that sidelong light that, towards evening, gives +an especial charm to woodland scenery. The long shadows lay across +an open green glade, narrowing towards one end, where a path, nearly +lost amid dwarf furze, crested heather, and soft bent-grass, led +towards a hut, rudely constructed of sods of turf and branches of +trees, whose gray crackling foliage contrasted with the fresh verdure +around. There was no endeavour at a window, nor chimney; but the +door of wattled boughs was carefully secured by a long twisted withe. + +A halbert, a broken arrow, a deer-skin pegged out on the ground to +dry, a bundle of faggots, a bare and blackened patch of grass, strewn +with wood ashes, were tokens of recent habitation, though the +reiterations of the nightingale, the deep tones of the blackbird and +the hum of insects, were the only sounds that broke the stillness. + +Suddenly the silence was interrupted by a clear, loud, ringing +whistle, repeated at brief intervals and now and then exchanged for +the call--"Leonillo! Leon!" A footstep approached, rapidly +overtaken and passed by the rushing gallop of a large animal; and +there broke on the scene a large tawny hound, prancing, bounding, and +turning round joyfully, pawing the air, and wagging his tail, in +welcome to the figure who followed him. + +This was a youth thirteen years old, wearing such a dress as was +usual with foresters--namely, a garment of home-spun undyed wool, +reaching to the knee, and there met by buskins of deer-skin, with the +dappled hair outside; but the belt which crossed one shoulder was +clasped with gold, and sustained a dagger, whose hilt and sheath were +of exquisite workmanship. The cap on his head was of gray rabbit- +skin, but a heron's plume waved in it; the dark curling locks beneath +were carefully arranged; and the port of his head and shoulders, the +mould of his limbs, the cast of his features, and the fairness of his +complexion, made his appearance ill accord with the homeliness of his +garb. In one hand he carried a bow over his shoulder; in the other +he held by the ears a couple of dead rabbits, with which he playfully +tantalized the dog, holding them to his nose, and then lifting them +high aloft, while the hound, perfectly entering into the sport, leapt +high after them with open mouth, and pretended to seize them, then +bounded and careered round his young master with gay short barks, +till both were out of breath; and the boy, flinging the rabbits on +the turf, threw himself down on it, with one arm upon the neck of the +panting dog, whose great gasps, like a sobbing of laughter, heaved +his whole frame. + + "Ay, good Leonillo, take your rest!" said the boy: "we have done +yeoman's service to-day, and shown ourselves fit to earn our own +livelihood! We are outlaws now, my lion of the Pyrenees; and you at +least lead a merrier life than in the castle halls, when we hunted +for sport, and not for sustenance! Well-a-day, my Leon!"--as the +creature closed his mouth, and looked wistfully up at him with almost +human sympathy and intelligence--"would that we knew where are all +that were once wont to go with us to the chase! But for them, I +would be well content to be a bold forester all my days! Better so, +than to be ever vexed and crossed in every design for the country's +weal--distrusted above--betrayed beneath! Alack! alack! my noble +father, why wert thou wrecked in every hope--in every aim!" + +These murmurings were broken off as Leonillo suddenly crested his +head, and changed his expression of repose for one of intense +listening. + +"Already!" exclaimed the boy, springing to his feet, as Leonillo +bounded forward to meet a stout hardy forester, who was advancing +from the opposite end of the glade. This was a man of the largest +and most sinewy mould, his face tanned by sun and wind to a uniform +hard ruddy brown, and his shaggy black hair untrimmed, as well as his +dark bristly beard. His jerkin was of rough leather, crossed by a +belt, sustaining sword and dagger; a bow and arrows were at his back; +a huge quarter-staff in his hand; and his whole aspect was that of a +ferocious outlaw, whose hand was against every man. + +But the youth started towards him gleefully, as if the very sight of +him had dispelled all melancholy musings, and shouted merrily, +"Welcome--welcome, Adam! Why so early home? Have the Alton boors +turned surly? or are the King's prickers abroad, and the +neighbourhood unwholesome for bold clerks of St. Nicholas?" + +"Worse!" was the gruff mutter in reply. "Down, Leon: I am in no +mood for thy freaks!" + +"What is it, Adam? Have the keepers carried their complaints to the +King, of the venison we have consumed, with small thanks to him?" + +"Prince Edward is at Alton! What think you of that, Sir? Come to +seek through copse and brake for the arrant deer-stealer and outlaw, +and all his gang!" + +"Why, there's preferment for you!" said the boy, laughing. "High +game for the heir of the throne! And his gang! Hold up your head, +Leonillo: you and I come in for a share of the honour!" + +"Hold up your head!" said the outlaw bitterly. "You may chance to +hold it as high as your father's is, for all your gibes and jests, my +young Lord, if the Longshanks gets a hold of you, which our Lady +forefend." + +"Nay, I think better of my Cousin Longshanks. I loved him well when +I was his page at Hereford: he was tenderer to me than ever my +brothers were; and I scarce think he would hang, draw, and quarter me +now." + +"You may try, if you are not the better guided." + +"How did you hear these tidings?" inquired the boy, changing his mood +to a graver one. + +"From the monk to whom you confessed a fortnight back. Did you let +him know your lineage?" + +"How could I do otherwise?" + +"He looked like a man who would keep a secret; and yet--" + +"Shame--shame to doubt the good father!" + +"Nay, I do not say that I do; but I would have the secret in as few +men's power as may be. Nevertheless, I thank the good brother. He +called out to me as he saw me about to enter the town, that if I had +any tenderness for my own life, I had best not show myself there; and +he went on to tell me how the Prince was come to his hunting-lodge, +with hawk and hound indeed, but for the following of men rather than +bird or beast." + +"And what would you have me do?" + +"Be instantly on the way to the coast, ere the search begins; and +there, either for love of Sir Simon the righteous or for that gilt +knife of yours, we may get ferried over to the Isle of Wight, whence- +-But what ails the dog! Whist, Leonillo! Hold your throat: I can +hear naught but your clamour!" + +The hound was in fact barking with a tremendous lion-like note; and +when, on reiterated commands from his master and the outlaw, he +changed it for a low continuous growling like distant thunder, a step +and a rustling of the boughs became audible. + +"They are upon us already!" cried the boy, snatching up and stringing +his bow. + +"Leave me to deal with him!" returned the outlaw. "Off to Alton: +the good father will receive you to sanctuary!" + +"Flee!--never!" cried the boy. "You teaching my father's son to +flee!" + +"Tush!--'tis but one!" said the outlaw. "He is easily dealt with; +and he shall have no time to call his fellows." + +So saying, the forester strode forward into the wood, where a tall +figure was seen through the trees; and with uplifted quarter-staff, +dealt a blow of sudden and deadly force as soon as the stranger came +within its sweep, totally without warning. The power of the stroke +might have felled an ox, and would have at once overthrown the new- +comer, but that he was a man of unusual stature; and this being +unperceived in the outlaw's haste, the blow lighted on his left +shoulder instead of on his head. + +"Ha, caitiff!" he exclaimed; and shortening the hunting-pole in his +hand, he returned the stroke with interest, but the outlaw had +already prepared himself to receive the blow on his staff. For some +seconds there was a rapid exchange; and all that the boy could detect +in the fierce flourish of weapons was, that his champion was at least +equally matched. The height of the stranger was superior; and his +movements, if less quick and violent, had an equableness that showed +him a thorough master of his weapon. But ere the lad had time to +cross the heather to the scene of action, the fight was over; the +outlaw lay stunned and motionless on the ground, and the gigantic +stranger was leaning on his hunting-pole, regarding him with a grave +unmoved countenance, the fair skin of which was scarcely flushed by +the exertion. + +"Spare him! spare him!" cried the boy, leaping forwards. "I am the +prey you seek!" + +"Well met, my young Lord," was the stern reply. "You have found +yourself a worthy way of life, and an honourable companion." + +"Honourable indeed, if faithfulness be honour!" replied the boy. +"Myself I yield, Sir; but spare him, if yet he lives!--O Adam, my +only friend!" he sobbed, as kneeling over him, he raised his head, +undid his collar, and parted the black locks, to seek for the mark of +the blow, whence blood was fast oozing. + +"He lives--he will do well enough," said the hunter. "Now, tell me, +boy--what brought you here?" + +"The loving fidelity of this man!" was the prompt reply:- "a +Poitevin, a falconer at Kenilworth, who found me sore wounded on the +field at Evesham, and ever since has tended me as never vassal tended +lord; and now--now hath he indeed died for me!" and the boy, +endeavouring to raise the inanimate form, dropped heavy tears on the +senseless face. + +"True," rigidly spoke the hunter, though there was somewhat of a +quivering of the muscles of the cheek discernible amid the curls of +his chestnut beard: "robbery is not the wonted service demanded of +retainers." + +"Poor Adam!" said the youth with a flash of spirit, "at least he +never stripped the peaceful homestead and humble farmer, like the +royal purveyors!" + +"Ha--young rebel!" exclaimed the hunter. "Know you what you say?" + +"I reck not," replied the boy: "you have slain my father and my +brothers, and now you have slain my last and only friend. Do as you +will with me--only for my mother's sake, let it not be a shameful +death; and let my sister Eleanor have my poor Leonillo. And let me, +too, leave this gold with the priest of Alton, that my true-hearted +loving Adam may have fit burial and masses." + +"I tell thee, boy, he is in no more need of a burial than thou or I. +I touched him warily. Here--his face more to the air." + +And the stranger bent down, and with his powerful strength lifted the +heavy form of Adam, so that the boy could better support him. Then +taking some wine from the hunting-flask slung to his own shoulder, he +applied some drops to the bruise. The smart produced signs of life, +and the hunter put his flask into the boy's hand, saying, "Give him a +draught, and then--" he put his finger to his own lips, and stood +somewhat apart. + +Adam opened his eyes, and made some inarticulate murmurs; then, the +liquor being held to his lips, he drank, and with fresh vigour raised +himself. + +"The boy!--where is he? What has chanced? Is it you, Sir? Where is +the rogue? Fled, the villain? We shall have the Prince upon us +next! I must after him, and cut his story short! Your hand, Sir!" + +"Nay, Adam--your hurt!" + +"A broken head! Tush, 'tis naught! Here, your hand! Canst not lend +a hand to help a man up in your own service?" he added testily, as +stiff and dizzy he sat up and tried to rise. "You might have sent an +arrow to stop his traitorous tongue; but there is no help in you!" he +added, provoked at seeing a certain embarrassment about the youth. +"Desert me at this pinch! It is not like his father's son!" and he +was sinking back, when at sight of the hunter he stumbled eagerly to +his feet, but only to stagger against a tree. + +"You are my prisoner!" said the calm deep voice. + +"Well and good," said Adam surlily. "But let the lad go free: he is +a yeoman's son, who came but to bear me company." + +"And learn thy trade? Goodly lessons in falling unawares on the +King's huntsmen, and sending arrows after them! Fair breeding, in +sooth!" repeated the stranger, standing with his arms crossed upon +his mighty breadth of chest, and looking at Adam with a still, grave, +commanding blue eye, that seemed to pierce him and hold him down, as +it were, and a countenance whose youthfulness and perfect regularity +of feature did but enhance its exceeding severity of expression. +"You know the meed of robbery and murder?" + +"A halter and a bough," said Adam readily. "Well and good; but I +tell thee that concerns not the boy--since," he added bitterly, "he +is too meek and tender so much as to lift a hand in his own cause! +He has never crossed the laws." + +"I understand you, friend," said the hunter: "he is a valued charge- +-maybe the son of one of the traitor barons. Take my advice--yield +him to the King's justice, and secure your own pardon." + +"Out, miscreant!" shouted Adam; and was about to spring at him again, +but the powerful arm collared him, and he recognized at once that he +was like a child in that grasp. He ground his teeth with rage and +muttered, "That a fellow with such thews should give such dastardly +counsel, and HE yonder not lift a finger to aid!" + +"Wilt follow me," composedly demanded the stranger, "with hands free? +or must I bind them?" + +"Follow?" replied Adam, ruefully looking at the boy with eyes full of +reproach--"ay, follow to any gallows thou wilt--and the nearest tree +were the best! Come on!" + +"I have no warrant," returned the grave hunter. + +"Tush! what warrant is needed for hanging a well-known outlaw--made +so by the Prince's tender mercies? The Prince will thank thee, man, +for ridding the realm of the robber who fell on the treasurer bearing +the bags from Leicester!" + +And meanwhile, with uncouth cunning, Adam was striving to telegraph +by winks and gestures to the boy who had so grievously disappointed +him, that the moment of his own summary execution would be an +excellent one for his companion's escape. + +But the eye, so steady yet so quick under its somewhat drooping +eyelid, detected the simple stratagem. + +"I trow the Prince might thank me more for bringing in this charge of +thine." + +"Small thanks, I trow, for laying hands on a poor orphan--the son of +a Poitevin man-at-arms--that I kept with me for love of his father, +though he is fitter for a convent than the green wood!" added Adam, +with the same sound of keen reproach and disappointment in his voice. + +"That shall we learn at Guildford," replied the stranger. "There are +means of teaching a man to speak." + +"None that will serve with me," stoutly responded Adam. + +"That shall we see," was the brief answer. + +And he signed to his prisoners to move on before him, taking care so +to interpose his stately person between them, that there should be no +communication by word, far less by look. + + + +CHAPTER II--THE LADY OF THE FOREST + + + +"Behold how mercy softeneth still + The haughtiest heart that beats: +Pride with disdain may he answered again, + But pardon at once defeats!"--S. M. + +The so-called forest was in many parts mere open heath, thickly +adorned by the beautiful purple ling, blending into a rich carpet +with the dwarf furze, and backed by thickets of trees in the hollows +of the ground. + +Across this wild country the tall forester conducted his captives in +silence--moving along with a pace that evidently cost him so little +exertion, and was so steady and even, that his companions might have +supposed it slow, had they only watched it, and not been obliged to +keep up with it. Light of foot as the youth was, he was at times +reduced to an almost breathless run; and Adam plodded along, with +strides that worked his arms and shoulders in sympathy. + +After about three miles, when the boy was beginning to feel as if he +must soon be in danger of lagging, they came into a dip of the ground +where stood a long, low, irregular building, partly wood and partly +stone, roofed with shingle in some parts, in others with heather. +The last addition, a deep porch, still retained the fresh tints of +the bark on the timber sides, and the purple of the ling that roofed +it. + +Sheds and out-houses surrounded it; dogs in couples, horses, grooms, +and foresters, were congregated in the background; but around this +new porch were gathered a troop of peasant women, children, and aged +men. The fine bald brow and profile of the old peasant, the eager +face of the curly-haired child, the worn countenance of the hard- +tasked mother, were all uplifted towards the doorway, in which stood, +slightly above them, a lady, with two long plaited flaxen tresses +descending on her shoulders, under a black silken veil, that +disclosed a youthful countenance, full of pure calm loveliness, of a +simple but dignified and devotional expression, that might have +befitted an angel of charity. A priest and a lady were dispensing +loaves and warm garments to the throng around; but each gift was +accompanied by a gentle word from the lady, framed with difficulty to +their homely English tongue, but listened to even by uncomprehending +ears like a strain of Church music. + +Adam had expected the forester to turn aside to the group of +servants, but in blank amazement saw him lead the way through the +poor at the gate; and advancing to the porch with a courteous bending +of his head, he said in the soft Provencal--far more familiar than +English to Adam's ears--"Hast room for another suppliant, mi Dona?" + +The sweet fair face lighted up with a sudden sunbeam of joy; and a +musical voice replied. "Welcome, my dearest Lord: much did I need +thee to hear the plaints of some of these thy lieges, which my ears +can scarce understand! But why art thou alone? or rather, why thus +strangely accompanied?" + +"These are the captives won by my single arm, whom, according to all +laws of chivalry, thine own true knight thus lays at thy feet, fair +lady mine, to be disposed of at thine own gracious will and +pleasure." + +And a smile of such sweetness lightened his features, that a murmur +of "Blessings on his comely face!" ran through the assembly; and Adam +indulged in a gruff startled murmur of "'Tis the Prince, or the devil +himself!" while his young master, comprehending the gesture of the +Prince, and overborne by the lovely winning graces of the Princess, +stepped forward, doffing his cap and bending his knee, and signing to +Adam to follow his example. + +"Thou hast been daring peril again!" said the Princess, holding her +husband's arm, and looking up into his face with lovingly reproachful +yet exulting eyes. "Yet I will not be troubled! Naught is danger to +thee! And yet alone and unarmed to encounter such a sturdy savage as +I see yonder! But there is blood on his brow! Let his hurt be +looked to ere we speak of his fate." + +"He is at thy disposal, mi Dona," returned Edward: "thou art the +judge of both, and shall decide their lot when thou hast heard their +tale." + +"It can scarce be a very dark one," replied Eleanor, "or thou wouldst +never have led them to such a judge!" Then turning to the prisoners, +she began to say in her foreign English, "Follow the good father, +friends--" when she broke off at fuller sight of the boy's +countenance, and exclaimed in Provencal, "I know the like of that +face and mien!" + +"Truly dost thou know it," her husband replied; "but peace till thou +hast cleared thy present court, and we can be private.--Follow the +priest," he added, "and await the Princess's pleasure." + +They obeyed; and the priest led them through a side-door, through +which they could still hear Eleanor's sweet Castillian voice laying +before her husband her difficulties in comprehending her various +petitioners. The priest being English, was hardly more easily +understood than his flock; and her lady spoke little but langue +d'oui, the Northern French, which was as little serviceable in +dealing with her Spanish and Provencal as with the rude West-Saxon- +English. Edward's deep manly tones were to be heard, however, now +interrogating the peasants in their own tongue, now briefly +interpreting to his wife in Provencal; and a listener could easily +gather that his hand was as bounteous, his heart as merciful, as +hers, save where attacks on the royal game had been requited by the +trouble complained of; and that in such cases she pleaded in vain. + +The captives, whom her husband had surrendered to her mercy, had been +led into a great, long, low hall, with rudely-timbered sides, and +rough beams to the roof, with a stone floor, and great open fire, +over which a man-cook was chattering French to his bewildered English +scullion. An oak table, and settles on either side of it, ran the +whole length of the hall; and here the priest bade the two prisoners +seat themselves. They obeyed--the boy slouching his cap over his +face, averting it, and keeping as far as possible from the group of +servants near the fire. The priest called for bread, meat, and beer, +to be set before them; and after a moment's examination of Adam's +bruise, applied the simple remedy that was all it required, and left +them to their meal. Adam took this opportunity to growl in an +undertone, "Does HE there know you?" The reply was a nod of assent. +"And you knew him?" Another nod; and then the boy, looking heedfully +round, added in a quick, undertone, "Not till you were down. Then he +helped me to restore you. You forgive me, Adam, now?" and he held +out his hand, and wrung the rugged one of the forester. + +"What should I forgive! Poor lad! you could not have striven in the +Longshanks' grasp! I was a fool not to guess how it was, when I saw +you not knowing which way to look!" + +"Hush!" broke in the youth with uplifted hand, as a page of about his +own age came daintily into the hall, gathering his green robe about +him as if he disdained the neighbourhood, and holding his head high +under his jaunty tall feathered cap. + +"Outlaws!" he said, speaking English, but with a strong foreign +accent, and as if it were a great condescension, "the gracious +Princess summons you to her presence. Follow me!" + +The colour rushed to the boy's temples, and a retort was on his lips, +but he struggled to withhold it; and likewise speaking English, said, +"I would we could have some water, and make ourselves meeter for her +presence." + +"Scarce worth the pains," returned the page. "As if thou couldst +ever be meet for her presence! She had rather be rid of thee +promptly, than wait to be regaled with thy May-day braveries--honest +lad!" + +Again the answer was only restrained with exceeding difficulty; and +there was a scornful smile on the young prisoner's cheek, that caused +the page to exclaim angrily, "What means that insolence, malapert +boy?" + +But there was no time for further strife; for the door was pushed +open, and the Prince's voice called, "Hamlyn de Valence, why tarry +the prisoners?" + +"Only, Sir," returned Hamlyn, "that this young robber is offended +that he hath not time to deck himself out in his last stolen gold +chain, to gratify the Princess!" + +"Peace, Hamlyn," returned the Prince: "thou speakest thou knowest +not what.--Come hither, boy," he added, laying his hand on his young +captive's shoulder, and putting him through the door with a +familiarity that astonished Hamlyn--all the more, when he found that +while both prisoners were admitted, he himself was excluded! + +Princess Eleanor was alone in another chamber of the sylvan lodge, +hung with tapestry representing hunting scenes, the floor laid with +deer-skins, and deer's antlers projecting from the wall, to support +the feminine properties that marked it as her special abode. She was +standing when they entered; and was turning eagerly with outstretched +hand and face of recognition, when Prince Edward checked her by +saying, "Nay, the cause is not yet tried:" and placing her in a large +carved oaken chair, where she sat with a lily-like grace and dignity, +half wondering, but following his lead, he proceeded, "Sit thou +there, fair dame, and exercise thy right, as judge of the two +captives whom I place at thy feet." + +"And you, my Lord?" she asked. + +"I stand as their accuser," said Edward. "Advance, prisoners!--Now, +most fair judge, what dost thou decree for the doom of Adam de +Gourdon, rebel first, and since that the terror of our royal father's +lieges, the robber of his treasurers, the rifler of our Cousin +Pembroke's jewellery, the slayer of our deer?" + +"Alas! my Lord, why put such questions to me," said Eleanor +imploringly, "unless, as I would fain hope, thou dost but jest?" + +"Do I speak jest, Gourdon?" said Edward, regarding Adam with a lion- +like glance. + +"'Tis all true," growled Adam. + +"And," proceeded the Prince, "if thy gentle lips refuse to utter the +doom merited by such deeds, what wilt thou say to hear that, not +content with these traitorous deeds of his own, he fosters the +treason of others? Here stands a young rebel, who would have +perished at Evesham, but for the care and protection of this Gourdon- +-who healed his wounds, guarded him, robbed for him, for him spurned +the offer of amnesty, and finally, set on thine own husband in Alton +Wood--all to shelter yonder young traitor from the hands of justice! +Speak the sentence he merits, most just of judges!" + +"The sentence he merits?" said Eleanor, with swimming eyes. "Oh! +would that I were indeed monarch, to dispense life or death! What he +merits he shall have, from my whole heart--mine own poor esteem for +his fidelity, and our joint entreaties to the King for his pardon! +Brave man--thou shalt come with me to seek thy pardon from King +Henry!" + +"Thanks, Lady," said Adam with rude courtesy; "but it were better to +seek my young lord's." + +"My own dear young cousin!" exclaimed Eleanor, laying aside her +assumed judicial power, and again holding out her hands to him, "we +deemed you slain!" + +"Yes, come hither," said Edward, "my jailer at Hereford--the rebel +who drew his maiden sword against his King and uncle--the outlaw who +would try whether Leicester fits as well as Huntingdon with a bandit +life! What hast thou to say for thyself, Richard de Montfort?" + +"That my fate, be it what it may, must not stand in the way of Adam's +pardon!" said Richard, standing still, without response to the +Princess's invitation. "My Lord, you have spoken much of his noble +devotion to me for my father's sake; but you know not the half of +what he has done and dared for me. Oh! plead for him, Lady!" + +"Plead for him!" said Eleanor: "that will I do with all my heart; +and well do I know that the good old King will weep with gratitude to +him for having preserved the life of his young nephew. Yes, Richard, +oft have we grieved for thee, my husband's kind young companion in +his captivity, and mourned that no tidings could be gained of thee!" + +It was not Richard who replied to this winning address. He stood +flushed, irresolute, with eyes resolutely cast down, as if to avoid +seeing the Princess's sweet face. + +Adam, however, spoke: "Then, Lady, I am indeed beholden to you; +provided that the boy is safe." + +"He is safe," said Prince Edward. "His age is protection +sufficient.--My young cousin, thou art no outlaw: thine uncle will +welcome thee gladly; and a career is open to thee where thou mayst +redeem the honour of thy name." + +The colour came with deeper crimson to the boy's cheek, as he +answered in a choked voice, "My father's name needs no redemption!" + +Simultaneously a pleading interjection from the Princess, and a +warning growl from De Gourdon, admonished Richard that he was on +perilous ground; but the Prince responded in a tone of deep feeling, +"Well said, Richard: the term does not befit that worthy name. I +should have said that I would fain help thee to maintain its honour. +My page once, wilt thou be so again? and one day my knight--my trusty +baron?" + +"How can I?" said Richard, still in the same undertone, subdued but +determined: "it was you who slew him and my brothers!" + +"Nay, nay!" exclaimed the Princess: "the poor boy thinks all his +kindred are slain!" + +"And they are not!" cried Richard, raising his face with sudden +animation. "They are safe?" + +"Thy brother Henry died with--with the Earl," said Eleanor; "but all +the rest are safe, and in France." + +"And my mother and sister?" asked Richard. + +"They are likewise abroad," said the Prince. "And, Richard, thou art +free to join them if thou wilt. But listen first to me. We tarry +yet two days at this forest lodge: remain with us for that space-- +thy name and rank unknown if thou wilt--and if thou shalt still look +on me as guilty of thy father's death, and not as a loving kinsman, +who honoured him deeply, I will send thee safely to the coast, with +letters to my uncle, the King of France." + +Richard raised his head with a searching glance, to see whether this +were invitation or command. + +"Thou art my captive," said Eleanor softly, coming towards him with a +young matron's caressing manner to a boy whom she would win and +encourage. + +"Not captive, but guest," said Edward; but Richard perceived in the +tones that no choice was left him, as far as these two days were +concerned. + + + +CHAPTER III--ALTON LODGE + + + +"Ever were his sons hawtayn, +And bold for their vilanye; +Bothe to knight and sweyn +Did they vilanye." +Old Ballad of Simon de Montforte. + +For the first time for many a month, Richard de Montfort lay down to +sleep in a pallet bed, instead of a couch of heather; but his heart +was ill at ease. He was the fourth son of the great Earl of +Leicester, Simon de Montfort; and for the earlier years of his life, +he had been under the careful training of the excellent chaplain, +Adam de Marisco, a pupil and disciple of the great Robert Grostete, +Bishop of Lincoln. His elder brothers had early left this wholesome +control; pushed forward by the sad circumstances that finally drove +their father to take up arms against the King, and strangers to the +noble temper that actuated him in his championship of the English +people, they became mere lawless rebels--fiercely profiting by his +elevation, not for the good of the people, but for their own +gratification. + +Richard had been still a mere boy under constant control, and being +intelligent, spirited, and docile, had been an especial favourite +with his father. To him the great Earl had been the model of all +that was admirable, wise, and noble; deeply religious, just, and +charitable, and perfect in all the arts of chivalry and +accomplishments of peace--a tender and indulgent father, and a firm +and wise head of a household--he had been ardently loved and looked +up to by the young son, who had perhaps more in common with him by +nature than any other of the family. + +Wrongs and injuries had been heaped upon Montfort by the weak and +fickle King, who would far better have understood him, if, like the +selfish kinsmen who encircled the throne, he had struggled for his +own advantage, and not for the maintenance of the Great Charter. +Richard was too young to remember the early days when his elder +brothers had been companions, almost on equal terms, to their first +cousins, the King's sons; his whole impression of his parents' +relations with the court was of injustice and perfidy from the King +and his counsellors, vehemently blamed by his mother and brothers, +but sometimes palliated by his father, who almost always, even at the +worst, pleaded the King's helplessness, and Prince Edward's +honourable intentions. Understanding little of the rights of the +case, Richard only saw his father as the maintainer of the laws, and +defender of the oppressed against covenant breakers; and when the +appeal to arms was at length made, he saw the white cross assumed by +his father and brothers, in full belief that the war in defence of +Magna Carta was indeed as sacred as a crusade, and he had earnestly +entreated to be allowed to bear arms; but he had been deemed as yet +too young, and thus had had no share in the victory of Lewes, save +the full triumph in it that was felt by all at Kenilworth. +Afterwards, when sent to be Prince Edward's page at Hereford, he was +prepared to regard his royal cousin as a ferocious enemy, and was +much taken by surprise to find him a graceful courtly knight, +peculiarly gentle in manner, loving music, romances, and all +chivalrous accomplishments; and far from the pride and haughtiness +that had been the theme of all the vassals who assembled at +Kenilworth, he was gracious to all, and distinguished his young page +by treating him as a kinsman and favourite companion; showing him +indeed far more consideration than ever he had received from his +unruly turbulent brothers. + +When Edward had effected his escape, and had joined the Mortimers and +Clares, Richard had gone home, where his expressions of affection for +the Prince were listened to by his father, indeed, with a well- +pleased though melancholy smile, and an augury that one day his brave +godson would shake off the old King's evil counsellors, and show +himself in his true and noble colouring. His brothers, however, +laughed and chid any word about the Prince's kindness. Edward's +flattery and seduction, they declared, had won the young De Clare +from their cause. And in vain did their father assure them that they +had lost the alliance of the house of Gloucester solely by their own +over-bearing injustice--a tyranny worse than had been exercised under +the name of the King. + +With Henry of Winchester in their hands, however, theirs seemed the +loyal cause; and Richard had, by the influence of his elders, been +made ashamed of his regard for the Prince, and looked upon it as a +treacherous rebellion, when Edward mustered his forces, and fell upon +Leicester and his followers. His father had mournfully yielded to +the boy's entreaty to remain with him, instead of being sent away +with his mother and the younger ones for security: an honourable +death, said the Earl, might be better for him than an outlawed and +proscribed life. And thus Richard had heard his father's exclamation +on marking the well-ordered advance of the Royalists: "They have +learnt this style from me. Now, God have mercy on our souls, for our +bodies are the Prince's!" + +And when Henry, his eldest son, spoke words of confidence, entreating +him not to despair, he had answered, "I do not, my son; but your +presumption, and the pride of thy brothers, have brought me to this +pass. I firmly believe I shall die for the cause of God and +justice." + +Richard had shared his father's last Communion, received his last +blessing, and had stood beside him in the desperate ring, which in +true English fashion died on the field of battle, but never was +driven from it. Since that time, the boy's life had been a wandering +amid outlaws and peasants--all in one mind of bitter hatred to the +court for its cruel vexations and oppressions, and of intense love +and regret for their champion, Sir Simon the Righteous, of whose +beneficence tales were everywhere told, rising at every step into +greater wonder, until at length they were enhanced into miracles, +wrought by his severed head and hands. Each day had made the boy +prouder of his father's memory, more deeply incensed against the +Court party that had brought about his fall; and keen and bitter were +his feelings at finding himself in the hands of the Prince himself. +He chafed all the more at feeling the ascendency which Edward's lofty +demeanour and personal kindness had formerly exerted over him, +reviving again by force of habit; he hated himself for not having at +once challenged his father's murderer; so as, if he could not do +more, to have died by his hand; and he despised himself the more, for +knowing that all he could have said would have been good-naturedly +put down by the Prince; all he could have done would have been but +like a gnat's efforts against that mighty strength. Then how +despicable it was to be sensible, in spite of himself, that this +atmosphere of courtly refinement was far more natural to him--the son +of a Provencal noble, and of a princess mother--than the rude forest +life he had lately led. The greenwood liberty had its charms; and he +had truly loved Adam de Gourdon; but the soft tones and refined +accents were like a note of home to him; and though he had never seen +the Princess before--she having been sent to the Court of St. Louis +during the troubles--yet the whole of the interview gave him an +inexplicable sense of being again among kindred and friends. He told +himself that it was base, resolved that he would show himself +determined to cast in his lot with his exiled brethren, and made up +his mind to maintain a dignified silence during these two days, and +at the end of them to leave with the Prince a challenge, to be fought +out when he should have attained manly strength and skill in arms. + +In pursuance of this resolution, he appeared at the morning mass and +meal still grave and silent, and especially avoiding young Hamlyn de +Valence, who, as the son of one of the half brothers of Henry III., +stood in the same relationship to Prince Edward and to Richard, whose +mother was the sister of King Henry. Probably Hamlyn had had a hint +from the Prince, for though he regarded young Montfort with no +friendly eyes, he yielded him an equality of precedence, which hardly +consorted with Richard's rude forest garments. + +The chase was the order of the day. The Prince rode forth with a +boar spear to hunt one of these monsters of the wood, of which vague +reports had reached him, unconfirmed, till Adam de Gourdon had +undertaken to show him the creature's lair. He had proposed to +Richard to join the hunt; but the boy, firm to his resolution of +accepting no favour from him, that could be helped, had refused as +curtly as he could; and then, not without a feeling of +disappointment, had stood holding Leonillo in, as the gallant train +of hunters rode down the woodland glade, and he figured to himself +the brave sport in which they would soon be engaged. + +The most part of the day was spent by him in lying under a tree, with +his dog by his side, thinking over the scenes of his earlier life, +which had passed by his childish mind like those of a drama, in which +he had no part nor comprehension, but which now, with clearer +perceptions, he strove to recall and explain to himself. Ever his +father's stately figure was the centre of his recollections, whether +receiving tidings of infractions of engagements, taking prompt +measures for action, or striving to repress the violence of his sons +and partizans, or it might be gazing on his younger boys with sad +anxiety. Richard well remembered his saying, when he heard that his +sons, Simon and Guy, had been plundering the merchant ships in the +Channel: "Alas! alas! when I was more loyal to the law than to the +Crown, I little deemed that I was rearing a brood who would scorn all +law and loyalty!" + +And well too did Richard recollect that when the proposal had been +made that he should become the attendant of the Prince at Hereford, +his father had told him that here he would see the mirror of all that +was knightly and virtuous; and had added, on the loud outcry of the +more prejudiced brothers: "It is only the truth. Were it not that +the King's folly and his perjured counsellors had come between my +nephew Edward and his better self, we should have in him a sovereign +who might fitly be reckoned as a tenth worthy. It is his very duty +to a misruled father that has ranged him against us." + +"Yet," thought Richard, "on the man who thus thought and spoke of him +the Prince could make savage warfare; nay, offer his senseless corpse +foul despite. How can I tarry these two days in such keeping? I had +rather--if he will still keep me--be a captive in his lowest dungeon, +than eat of his bread as a guest! By our Lady, I will tell him so to +his face! I will none of his favours! Alone I will go to the coast- +-alone make my way to Simon and Guy, with no letters to the French +king! All kings, however saintly they may be called, are in league, +and make common cause; as said my poor brother Henry, when the Mise +of Lewes was to be laid before this Frenchman! I will none of them! +Pshaw! is this the Princess coming? I trust she will not see me. I +want none of her fair words." + +He had prepared himself to be ungracious; but his courtly breeding +was too much of an instinct with him for him not to rise, doff his +cap, and stand aside, as Eleanor of Castille slowly moved towards the +woodland path, with her graceful Spanish step, followed, but at some +distance, by two of her women. She turned as she was passing him, +and smiled with a sweet radiance that would have won him instantly, +had he not heard his elder brothers sneer at the cheap coin of royal +smiles. He only bowed; but Leonillo was more accessible, and started +forward to pay his homage of dignified blandishments to the queenly +sweetness that pleased his canine appreciation. Richard was forced +to step forth, call him in, and make his excuses; but the Princess +responded by praises of the noble animal, and caresses, to which +Leonillo replied with a grand gratitude, that showed him as nobly +bred as his young master. + +"Thou art a gallant creature," said Eleanor, her hand upon the proud +head; "and no doubt as faithful as beautiful!" + +"Faithful to the death, Lady," replied Richard warmly. + +"He is thine own, I trow," said the Princess,--"not thy groom's? I +remember, that when thy brave father brought my lord and me back from +our bridal at Burgos, he procured two hounds in the Pyrenees, of +meseems, such a breed." + +"True, Lady; they were the parents of my Leonillo," said Richard, +gratified, in spite of himself. + +"How well I remember," continued Eleanor, "that first sight of the +great Earl. My brothers had teased me for going so far north, and +told me the English were mere rude islanders--boorish, and +unlettered; but, child as I was, scarce eleven years old, I could +perceive the nobleness of the Earl. 'If all thy new subjects be like +him,' said my brother to me, 'thou wilt reign over a race of kings.' +And how good he was to me when I wept at leaving my home and friends! +How he framed his tongue to speak my own Castillian to me; how he +comforted me, when the Queen, my mother-in-law, required more dignity +of me than I yet knew how to assume; and how he chid my boy +bridegroom for showing scant regard for his girl bride!" said +Eleanor, smiling at the recollection, as the beloved wife of eleven +years could well afford to do. "I mind me well that he found me +weeping, because my Edward had tied the scarf I gave him on the neck +of one of those very dogs, and the fatherly counsel he gave me. Ah, +Leonillo, thy wise wistful face brings back many thoughts to my mind! +I am glad I may honour thee for fidelity!" + +"Indeed you may, Lady," said Richard. "It was he that above all +saved my life." + +"Prithee let me hear," said the Princess, who had already so moved +on, while herself speaking, as to draw Richard into walking with her +along the path that had been cleared under the beech trees. "We have +so much longed to know thy fate." + +"I cannot tell you much, Lady," returned Richard. "The last thing I +recollect on that dreadful day was, that my father asked for quarter- +-for us--for my brother Henry and me. We heard the reply: 'No +quarter for traitors!' and Henry fell before us a dead man. My +father shouted, 'By the arm of St. James, it is time for me to die!' +I saw him, with his sword in both hands, cut down a wild Welshman who +was rushing on me. Then I saw no more, till in the moonlight I was +awakened by this dog's cool tongue licking the blood from my face, +and heard his low whining over me." + +"Good dog, good dog!" murmured Eleanor, caressing the animal. "And +thou, Richard, thou wert sorely wounded?" + +"Sorely," said Richard; "my side had been pierced with a lance, a +Welsh two-handed sword had broken through my helmet, and well-nigh +cleft my skull; and the men-at-arms, riding over me I suppose, must +have broken my leg, for I could not move: and oh! I felt it hard +that I had yet to die. Then, Lady, came lights and murmuring voices. +They were Mortimer's plundering Welsh robbers. I heard their wild +gibbering tongue; and I knew how it would be with me, should they see +the white cross on my breast. But, Lady, Leonillo stood over me. +His lion bark chased them aside; and when one bolder than the rest +came near the mound where we lay, good Leonillo flew at his savage +throat. I heard the struggle as I lay--the growls of the dog, the +howls of the man; and then they were cut short. And next I heard de +Gourdon's gruff voice commending the good hound, whose note had led +him to the spot, from the woods, where he was hiding after the +battle. The faithful beast sprang from him, and in a moment more had +led him to me. Then--ah, then, Lady! when Adam had freed me from my +broken helm, and lifted me in his arms, what a sight had I! Oh, what +a field that harvest moon shone upon! how thickly heaped was that +little mound! And there was my father's face up-turned in the white +moonlight! O Lady, never in hall or bower could it have been so +peaceful, or so majestic! I bade Adam lay me down by his side, and +keep guard through the night with Leonillo; but he said that the +plunderers would come in numbers too great for him, and that he must +care for the living rather than the dead; and withstand him as I +would, he bore me away. O Lady, Lady, foul wrong was done when we +were gone!" + +"Think not on that," said Eleanor; "it bitterly grieved my lord that +so it should have been. Thou knowest, I hope, that he was the chief +mourner when those honoured limbs were laid in the holy ground at +Evesham Abbey. They told me, who saw him that day, that his weeping +for his godfather and his Cousin Henry overcame all joy in his +victory. And I can assure thee, dear Richard, that when, three +months after, I came to him at Canterbury, just after he had been +with thy mother at Dover, even then he was sad and mournful. He said +that the wisest and best baron in England had been made a rebel of, +and then slain; and he was full of sorrow for thee, only then +understanding from thy mother that thou hadst been in the battle at +all, and that nothing had been heard of thee. He said thou wert the +most like to thy father of all his sons; and truly I knew thee at +once by thine eyes, Richard. Where wast thou all these months?" + +"At first," said Richard, "I was in an anchoret's cell, in the wall +of a church. So please you, Madame, I must not name names; but when +Adam, bearing me faint and well-nigh dying on his back, saw the +twinkling light in the churchyard, he knocked, and entreated aid. +The good anchoret pitied my need at first, and when he learnt my +name, he gave me shelter for my father's sake, the friend of all +religious men. I lay on his little bed, in the chamber in the wall, +till I could again walk. Meanwhile, Adam watched in the woods at +hand, and from time to time came at night to see how I fared, and +bring me tidings. Simon was still holding out Kenilworth, and we +hoped to join him there; but when we set forth I was still lame, and +too feeble to go far in a day; and we fell in with--within short, +with a band of robbers, who detained us, half as guests, half as +captives. They needed Adam's stout arm; and there was a shrewd, +gray, tough old fellow, who had been in Robin Hood's band, and was +looked up to as a sort of prince among them, who was bent on making +us one with them. Lady, you would smile to hear how the old man used +to sit by me as I lay on the rushes, and talk of outlawry, as Father +Adam de Marisco used to talk of learning--as a good and noble +science, decaying for want of spirit and valour in these days. It +was all laziness, he said; barons and princes must needs have their +wars, and use up all the stout men that were fit to bend a bow in a +thicket. If the Prince went on at this rate, he said, there would +soon be not an honest outlaw to be found in England! But he was a +kind old man, and very good to me; and he taught me how to shoot with +the long bow better than ever our master at Odiham could. However, I +could not brook the spoiler's life, and the band did not trust me; +so, as we found that Kenilworth had fallen, as soon as my strength +had returned to me, we stole away from the outlaws, and came +southwards, hoping to find my mother at Odiham. Hearing that Odiham +too was gone from us, we have lurked in Alton Wood till means should +serve us for reaching the coast." + +"Till thou hast found the friend who has longed for thee, and sought +for thee," replied Eleanor. "What didst thou do, young Richard, to +win my husband's heart so entirely in his captivity?" + +"I know not, Lady, why he should take thought for me," bluntly said +Richard, with a return of the sensation of being coaxed and talked +over. + +"Methinks I can tell thee one cause," returned the Princess. "Was +there not a time when thou didst overhear him concerting with Thomas +de Clare the plan of an escape, and thou didst warn them that thou +wast at hand; ay, and yet didst send notice to thy father?" + +"Yes," answered Richard with surprise; "I could do no other." + +"Even so," said Eleanor. "And thus didst thou win the esteem of thy +kinsman. 'The stripling is loyal and trustworthy,' he has said to +me; 'pity that such a heart should be pierced in an inglorious field. +Would that I could find him, and strive to return to him something of +what his father's care hath wrought for me.' Richard, trust me, it +would be a real joy and lightening of his grief to have thee with +him." + +"Grief, Madame!" repeated Richard. "I little thought he grieved for +my father, who, but for him, would be--" and a sob checked him, as +the contrast rose before him of the great Earl and beautiful Countess +presiding over their large family and princely household, and the +scattered ruined state of all at present. + +"He shall answer that question himself," said Eleanor. "See, here he +comes to meet us by the beechwood alley." + +And in fact, a form, well suited to its setting within the stately +aisles of the beech trees, was pacing towards them. The chase had +ended, and hearing that his wife had walked forth into the wood, the +Prince had come by another path to meet her, and his rare and +beautiful smile shone out as he saw who was her companion. "Art +making friends with my young cousin?" he said affectionately. + +"I would fain do so," replied Eleanor; "but alas, my Lord! he feels +that there is a long dark reckoning behind, that stands in the way of +our friendship." + +Richard looked down, and did not speak. The Princess had put his +thought into words. + +"Richard," said the Prince, "I feel the same. It is for that very +cause that I seek to have thee with me. Hear me. Thou art grown +older, and hast seen man's work and man's sorrows, since I left thee +on the hill-side at Hereford. Thou canst see, perchance, that a +question hath two sides--though it is not given to all men to do so. +Hearken then.--Thy father was the greatest man I have known--nay, but +for the thought of my uncle of France, I should say the holiest. He +was my teacher in all knightly doings, and in all kingly thoughts, +such as I pray may be with me through life. It was from him I learnt +that this royal, this noble power, is not given to exalt ourselves, +but as a trust for the welfare of others. It was the spring of +action that was with him through life." + +"It was," murmured Richard, calling to mind many a saying of his +father's. + +"And fain would he have impressed it on all around," added Edward: +"but there were others who deemed that kingly power was but a means +of enjoyment, and that restraint was an outrage on the crown. They +drew one way, the Earl drew the other, and, as his noble nature +prompted him, made common cause with the injured. It skills not to +go through the past. Those whom he joined had selfish aims, and +pushed him on; and as the crown had been led to invade the rights of +the vassals, so the vassals invaded my father's rights. Oaths were +extorted, though both sides knew they could never be observed; and +between violences, now on one side, now on the other, the right +course could scarce be kept. The Earl imagined that, with my father +in his hands, removed from all other influences, he could give +England the happy days they talk of her having enjoyed under my +patron St. Edward; but, as thou knowest, Richard, the authority he +held, being unlawful, was unregarded, and its worst transgressors +came out of his own bosom. He could not enforce the terms on which I +had yielded myself--he could not even prevent my father from being a +mere captive; and for the English folk, their miseries were but +multiplied by the tyrants who had arisen." + +"It was no doing of his," said Richard, with cheek hotly glowing. + +"None know that better than I," said the Prince; "but if he had +snatched the bridle from a feeble hand, it was only to find that the +steed could not be ruled by him. What was left for me but to break +my bonds, and deliver my father, in the hope that, being come to +man's estate, I might set matters on a surer footing? I had hoped--I +had greatly hoped, so to rule affairs, that the Earl might own that +his training had not been lost on his nephew, and that the Crown +might be trusted not to infringe the Charter. I had hoped that he +might yet be my wisest counsellor. But, Richard, I too had +supporters who outran my commands. Bitter hatred and malice had been +awakened, and cruel resolves that none should be spared. When I +returned from bearing my father, bleeding and dismayed, from the +battle, whither he had been cruelly led, it was to find that my +orders had been disobeyed--that there had been foul and cruel +slaughter; and that all my hopes that my uncle of Leicester would +forgive me and look friendly on me were ended!" + +The Prince's lip trembled as he spoke, and tears glistened in his +eyes; and the evident struggle to repress his feelings, brought home +deeply and forcibly the conviction to Richard that his sorrow was +genuine. + +He could not speak for some seconds; then he added: "I marvel not +that I am looked on among you as guilty of his blood. Simon and Guy +regard me as one with whom they are at deadly feud, and cannot +understand that it was their own excesses that armed those merciless +hands against him. Even my aunt shrank from me, and implored my +mercy as though I were a ruthless tyrant. But thou, Richard, thou +hast inherited enough of thy father's mind to be able to understand +how unwillingly was my share in his fall, and how great would be my +comfort and joy in being good kinsman to one of his sons." + +The strong man's generous pleading was most touching. Richard bowed +his head; the Princess watched him eagerly. The boy spoke at last in +perplexity. "My Lord, you know better than I. Would it be knightly, +would it be honourable?" + +The Princess started in some indignation at such a question to her +husband; but Edward understood the boy better, and said, "That which +is most Christian is most knightly." Then pausing: "Ask thine +heart, Richard; which would thy father choose for thee--to live in +such guidance as I hope will ever be found in my household, or to +share the wandering, I fear me freebooting, life of thy brothers?" + +Richard could not forget how his father had sternly withheld him from +going with Simon to besiege Pevensey. He knew that these two +brethren had long been a pain and grief to his father; and began to +understand that the nephew, with whom the Earl's last battle had been +fought, was nevertheless his truest pupil. + +"Thou wilt remain," said Edward decisively; "and let us strive one +day to bring to pass the state of things for which thy father and I +fought alike, though, alas! in opposite ranks." + +"If my mother consents," said Richard, his head bent down, and +uttering the words with the more difficulty, because he felt so +strongly drawn towards his cousin, who never seemed so mighty as in +his condescension. + +"Then, Richard de Montfort," said Edward gravely, "let us render to +one another the kiss of peace, as kinsmen who have put away all +thought of wrong between them." + +Richard looked up; and the Prince bending his lofty head, there was +exchanged between them that solemn embrace, which in the early middle +ages was the deepest token of amity. + +And with that kiss, it was as though the soul of Richard de Montfort +were knit to the soul of Edward of England with the heart-whole +devotion, composed of affection and loyal homage to a great +character, which ever since the days of the bond between the son of +the doomed King of Israel and the youthful slayer of the Philistine +champion, has been one of the noblest passions of a young heart. + + + +CHAPTER IV--THE TRANSLATION + + + +"Now in gems their relics lie, +And their names in blazonry, +And their forms in storied panes +Gleam athwart their own loved fanes." +Lyra Innocentium. + +If novelty has its charms, so has old age, and to us the great abbey +church of Westminster has become doubly beloved by long generations +of affection, and doubly beautiful by the softening handiwork of time +and of smoke. + +Yet what a glorious sight must it not have been when it was fresh +from the hands of the builder, the creamy stone clear and sharp at +every angle, and each moulding and flower true and perfect as the +chisel had newly left it. The deep archway of the west front opened +in stately magnificence, and yet with a light loftiness hitherto +unknown in England, and somewhat approaching to the style in which +the great French cathedrals were then rising. And its accompaniments +were, on the one hand the palace and hall, on the other hand the +monastery, with its high walled courts and deep-browed cloisters, its +noble refectory and vaulted kitchen, the herbarium or garden, shady +with trees, and enriched with curious plants of Palestine, sloping +down to the broad and majestic Thames, pure and blue as he pursued +his silver winding way through emerald meadows and softly rising +hills clothed with copses and woods. To the east, seated upon her +hills, stood the crowned and battlemented city, the massive White +Tower rising above the fortifications. + +The autumn brilliance of October, 1269, never enlightened a more +gorgeous scene than when it shone upon the ceremony still noted in +our Calendar as the Translation of King Edward. Buried at first in +his own low-browed heavy-arched Norman structure, which he had built, +as he believed, at the express bidding of St. Peter; the Confessor, +whose tender-hearted and devout nature had, by force of contrast with +those of his fierce foreign successors, come to assume a saintly halo +in the eyes not merely of the English, but of their Angevin lords +themselves, was, now to reign on almost equal terms with the great +Apostle himself, as one of the hallowing patrons of the Abbey--nay, +since at least his relics were entire and undoubted, as its chief +attraction. + +The new chapel in his especial honour, behind the exquisite bayed +apsidal chancel, was at length complete; and on this day he was to +take possession of it. An ark of pure gold, chased and ornamented +with the surpassing grace of that period of perfect taste, had +received the royally robed corpse, which Churchmen averred lay calm +and beautiful, untainted by decay; and this was now uplifted by the +arms of King Henry himself, of Richard King of the Romans his +brother, and of the two princes, Edward and Edmund. + +It was a striking sight to see those two pairs of brothers. The two +kings, nearly of an age, and so fondly attached that they could +hardly brook a separation, till the death of the one broke the +wearied heart of the other, were both gray-haired prematurely-aged +men, of features that time instead of hardening had rendered more +feeble and uncertain. Their faces were much alike, but Henry might +be known from Richard by a certain inequality in the outline of his +eyebrows; and their dress, though both alike wore long flowing gowns, +the side seams only coming down as far as the thigh so as to allow +play for the limbs, so far differed that Henry's was of blue, with +the English lions embroidered in red and gold on his breast, and +Richard was in the imperial purple, or rather scarlet, and the eagle +of the empire on his breast testified to the futile election which he +had purchased with the wealth of his Cornish mines. Both the elders +together, with all their best will and their simple faith in the +availing merit of the action they were performing, would have been +physically incapable of proceeding many steps with their burden, but +for the support it received from the two younger men who sustained +the feet of the saint, using some dexterity in adapting their +strength so that the coffin might be carried evenly. + +One was the hunter we have already seen in Alton Wood. His features +wore their characteristic stamp of deep awe and enthusiasm, and even +as he slowly and calmly moved, sustaining the chief of the weight +with scarcely an effort of his giant strength, his head towering high +above all those around, his eyes might be observed to be seeing, +though not marking, what was before them, but to be fixed as though +the soul were in contemplation, far far away. He did not see in the +present scene four princes rendering homage to a royal saint, who, +from personal connection and by a brilliant display of devotion, +might be propitiated into becoming a valuable patron amid +intercessor; still less did it present itself to him as a pageant in +which he was to bow his splendid powers, mental and bodily, to aid +two feeble-minded old men to totter under the gold-cased corpse of a +still more foolish and mischievous prince, dead two hundred years +back. No, rather thought and eye were alike upon the great invisible +world, the echo of whose chants might perchance be ringing on his +ear; that world where holy kings cast their crowns before the Throne, +and where the lamb-like spirit of the Confessor might be joining in +the praise, and offering these tokens of honour to Him to whom all +honour and praise and glory and blessing are due. + +Of shorter stature, darker browed, of less regular feature and less +clear complexion, so as to look as if he were the elder of the +brothers, Prince Edmund moved by his side, using much exertion, and +bending with the effort, so as to increase the slight sloop that had +led to his historical nickname of the Crouchback, though some think +this was merely taken from his crusading cross. He bore the arms of +Sicily, to which he had not yet resigned his claim. His eye +wandered, but not far away, like that of his brother. It was in +search of his young betrothed, the Lady Aveline of Lancaster, the +fair young heiress to whom he was to owe the great earldom that was a +fair portion for a younger brother even of royalty. + +All the four were bare-footed, and both princes were in robes much +resembling that of their father, except that upon the left shoulder +of each might be seen, in white cloth, the two lines of the Cross, +that marked them as pilgrims and Crusaders, already on the eve of +departure for the Holy Land. + +The shrine where the golden coffin was to rest is substantially the +same in our own day, with its triple-cusped arches below, the stage +of six and stage of four above them, and the twisted columns in +imitation of that which was supposed to have come from the Beautiful +Gate of the Temple. But at that time it was a glittering fabric of +mosaic work, in gold, lapis-lazuli, and precious stones, aided here +and there by fragments of coloured glass, the only part of the costly +workmanship that has come down to us. Around this shrine the +preceding members of the procession had taken their places. +Archbishop Boniface of Savoy was there, old age ennobling a +countenance that once had been light and frivolous, and all his +bishops in the splendour of their richest copes, solidly embroidered +with absolute scenes and portraits in embroidery, with tall mitres +worked with gold wire and jewels, and crosiers of beauteous +workmanship in gold, ivory, and enamel. Mitred abbots, no less +glorious in array, stood in another rank; the scarlet-mantled Grand +Prior of the Hospital, and the white-cloaked Templar, made a link +between the ecclesiastic and the warrior. Priests and monks, +selected for their voices' sake, clustered in every available space; +and, in full radiance, on a stage on the further side, were seated +the ladies of the court, mostly with their hair uncovered, and +surrounded by a garland of precious stones. Queen Eleanor of +Provence, still bent on youthfulness, looked somewhat haggard in this +garb; but it well became Beatrix von Falkmorite, the young German +girl whom Richard King of the Romans had wedded in his old age for +the sake of her fair face. Smiling, plump, and rosy, she sat opening +her wide blue eyes, wearing her emerald and ruby wreath as though it +had been a coronal of daisies, and gazing with childish whisperings +as she watched the movements of her king, and clung for direction and +help in her own part of the pageant to the Princess Eleanor, who sat +beside her, little the elder in years, less beautiful in colouring, +but how far surpassing her in queenly pensive grace and dignity! +Leaning on Eleanor's lap was a bright-eyed, bright-haired boy of four +years old, watching with puzzled looks the brilliant ceremony, which +he only half understood, and his glances wandering between his father +and the blue and white robed little acolytes who stood nearest to the +shrine, holding by chains the silver censers, which from time to time +sent forth a fragrant vapour, curling round the heads of the nearest +figures, and floating away in the lofty vaultings of the roof. + +The actual ceremony could only be beheld by a favoured few; the +official clergy, the many connections of royalty, and the chief +nobility, filled the church to overflowing, but the rest of the world +repaid itself by making a magnificent holiday. Good-natured King +Henry had been permitted by his son, who had now, though behind the +scenes, assumed the reins of government, to spend freely, and make a +feast to his heart's content. Roasting and boiling were going on on +a fast and furious scale, not only in the palace and abbey, but in +booths erected in the fields; and tables were spreading and rushes +strewing for the accommodation of all ranks. Near the entrance of +the Abbey, the trains of the personages within awaited their coming +forth in some sort of order, the more reverent listening to the +sounds from within, and bending or crossing themselves as the +familiar words of higher notes of praise rose loud enough to reach +their ears; but for the most part, the tones and gestures were as +various as the appearance of the attendants. Here were black +Benedictines, there white Augustinians clustered round the sleek +mules of their abbots; there scornful dark Templars, in their black +and white, sowed the seeds of hatred against their order, and scarlet +Hospitaliers looked bright and friendly even while repelling the +jostling of the crowd. A hoary old squire, who had been with the +King through all his troubles, kept together his immediate +attendants; a party of boorish-looking Germans waited for Richard of +Cornwall; and the slender, richly-caparisoned palfreys of the ladies +were in charge of high-born pages, who sometimes, with means fair or +foul, pushed back the throng, sometimes themselves became enamoured +of its humours. + +For not only had the neighbouring city of London poured forth her +merchants and artizans, to gaze, wonder, and censure the +extravagance--not only had beggars of every degree been attracted by +the largesse that Henry delighted to dispense, and peasants had +poured in from all the villages around, but no sort of entertainment +was lacking. Here were minstrels and story-tellers gathering groups +around them; here was the mountebank, clearing a stage in which to +perform feats of jugglery, tossing from one hand to another a never- +ending circle of balls, balancing a lance upon his nose, with a +popinjay on its point; here were a bevy of girls with strange +garments fastened to their ankles, who would dance on their hands +instead of their feet, while their uplifted toes jangled little +bells. + +Peasant and beggar, citizen and performer, sightseer and +professional, all alike strove to get into the space before the great +entrance, where the procession must come forth to gratify the eyes of +the gazers, and mayhap shower down such bounty as the elder +mendicants averred had been given when Prince Edward (the saints +defend him!) had been weighed at five years old, and, to avert ill +luck, the counterbalance of pure gold had been thrown among the poor +to purchase their prayers. + +His weight in gold at his present stature could hardly be expected by +the wildest imaginations, but hungry eyes had been estimating the +weight of his little heir, and discontented lips had declared that +the child was of too slender make to be ever worth so much to them as +his father. Yet a whisper of the possibility had quickly been +magnified to a certainty of such a largesse, and the multitude were +thus stimulated to furious exertions to win the most favourable spot +for gathering up such a golden rain as even little Prince Henry's +counterpoise would afford; and ever as time waxed later, the throng +grew denser and more unruly, and the struggle fiercer and more +violent. + +The screams and expostulations of the weak, elbowed and trampled +down, mingled with more festive sounds; and the attendants who waited +on the river in the large and beautifully-ornamented barges which +were the usual conveyances of distinguished personages, began to +agree with one another that if they saw less than if they were on the +bank, they escaped a considerable amount of discomfort as well as +danger. + +"For," murmured one of the pages, "I suppose it would be a dire +offence to the Prince to lay about among the churls as they deserve." + +"Ay, truly, among Londoners above all," was the answer of his +companion, whom the last four years had rendered considerably taller +than when we saw him last. + +"Not that there is much love lost between them. He hath never +forgotten the day when they pelted the Queen with rotten eggs, and +sang their ribald songs; nor they the day he rode them down at Lewes +like corn before the reaper." + +"And lost the day," muttered the other page; then added, "The less +love, the more cause for caution." + +"Oh yes, we know you are politic, Master Richard," was the sneering +reply, "but you need not fear my quarrelling with your citizen +friends. I would not be the man to face Prince Edward if I had made +too free with any of the caitiffs." + +"Hark! Master Hamlyn, the tumult is louder than ever," interposed an +elderly man of lower rank, who was in charge of the stout rowers in +the royal colours of red and gold. "Young gentlemen, the Mass must +be ended; it were better to draw to the stairs, than to talk of you +know not what," he muttered. + +Hamlyn de Valence, who held the rudder, steered towards the wide +stone steps that descended to the river, nearest to the apse in which +"St. Peter's Abbey Church" terminated before Henry VII. had added his +chapel. At that moment a louder burst of sound, half imprecation, +half shriek, was heard; there was a heavy splash a little way above, +and a small blue bundle was seen on the river, apparently totally +unheeded by the frantic crowd on the bank. No sooner was it seen by +Richard, however, than he threw back his mantle and sprang out of the +barge. There was a loud cry from the third page, a little fellow of +nine or ten years old; but Richard gallantly swam out, battled with +the current, and succeeded in laying hold of a young child, with whom +he made for the barge, partly aided by the stream; but he was +breathless, and heartily glad to reach the boat and support himself +against the gunwale. + +"A pretty boat companion you!" said Hamlyn maliciously. "How are we +to take you in, over the velvet cushions?" + +The little page gave an expostulating cry. + +"Hold the child an instant, John," gasped Richard, raising it towards +his younger friend; "I will but recover breath, and then land and +seek out her friends." + +"How is this?" said a voice above them; and looking up, they found +that while all had been absorbed in the rescue, the Prince, with his +little son in his arms and his wife hanging on his arm, had come to +the stone stairs, and was looking down. "Richard overboard!" + +"A child fell over the bank, my Lord," eagerly shouted the little +John, with cap in hand, "and he swam out to pick it up." + +"Into the barge instantly, Richard," commanded the Prince. "'Tis as +much as his life is worth to remain in this cold stream!" + +And truly Richard was beginning to feel as much. He was assisted in +by two of the oarsmen, and the barge then putting towards the steps, +the Princess was handed into her place, and began instantly to ask +after the poor child. It had not been long enough in the water to +lose its consciousness, though it had hitherto been too much +frightened to cry; but it no sooner opened a wide pair of dark eyes +to find itself in strange hands, than it set up a lamentable wail, +calling in broken accents for "Da-da." + +"Let me take it ashore at once, gracious lady," said Richard, revived +by a draught of wine from the stores provided for the long day; "I +will find its friends." + +"Nay," said the Princess, "it were frenzy to take it thus in its wet +garments; and frenzy to remain in thine, Richard." As she spoke, the +Prince and the other persons of the suite had embarked, and the barge +was pushing away from the steps. "Give the child to me," she added, +holding out her arms, and disregarding a remonstrance from one of her +ladies, disregarding too the sobs and struggles of the child, whom +she strove to soothe, while hastily removing the little thing's +soaked blue frock and hood, and wrapping it up in a warm woollen +cloak. "It is a pretty little maiden," she said, "and not ill cared +for. Some mother's heart must be bursting for her!-- Hush thee! hush +thee, little one; we will take thee home and clothe thee, and then +thou shalt go to thy mother," she added, in better English than she +had spoken four years earlier in Alton Wood. But the child still +cried for her da-da, and the Princess asked again, "What is thy +father's name, little maid?" + +"Pere," she answered, with a peculiar accent that made the Prince +say, "That is a Provencal tongue." + +"They are Provencal eyes likewise," added Eleanor. "See how like +their hue is to Richard's own;" and in Provencal she repeated the +question what the father's name and the child's own might be. But +"Pere" again, and "Bessee, pretty Bessee," was all the answer she +obtained, the last in unmistakable English. + +"I thought," said Eleanor, "that it was only my own children that +scarce knew whether they spoke English, Languedoc, or Langued'oui." + +"It was the same with us, Lady," said Richard. "Father Adam was wont +to say we were a little Babel." + +The child looked towards him on hearing his voice, and held out her +hands to go to him, reiterating an entreaty to be taken to her +father. + +"She is probably the child of some minstrel or troubadour," said the +Prince. "We will send in search of him as soon as we have reached +the Savoy." + +The Savoy Palace had been built for Queen Eleanor's obnoxious uncle, +Prince Thomas of Savoy, and had recently been purchased by the Queen +herself, as a wedding gift for her son Edmund; but in the meantime +Edward and his family were occupying it during their stay near +Westminster, and their barge was brought up to the wide stairs of its +noble court. Richard was obliged to give up the child to the +Princess and her ladies, though she shrieked after him so +pertinaciously, that Eleanor called to him to return so soon as he +should have changed his garments. + +In a few minutes he again appeared, and found the little girl dressed +in a little garment of one of the royal children, but totally +insensible to the honour, turning away from all the dainties offered +to her, and sobbing for her father, much to the indignation of the +two little princes, Henry and John, who stood hand in hand staring at +her. She flew to him directly, with a broken entreaty that she might +be taken to her father. Again they tried questioning her, but +Richard, whether speaking English or Provencal, always succeeded in +obtaining readier and more comprehensible replies than did the +Princess. Whether she recognized him as her preserver, or whether +his language had a familiar tone, she seemed exclusively attracted by +him; and he it was who learnt that she lived at home--far off--on the +Green near the red monks, and that her father could not see--he would +be lost without Bessee to lead him. And the little creature, hardly +three years old if so much, was evidently in the greatest trouble at +her father having lost her guidance and protection. + +Richard, touched and flattered by the little maiden's exclusive +preference, and owning in her Provencal eyes and speech something +strangely like his own young sister Eleanor, entreated permission to +be himself the person to take her in search of her friends. The +Princess added her persuasions, declaring it would be cruel to send +the poor little thing with another stranger, and that his Provencal +tongue was needed in order to discovering her father among the +troubadours. + +Edward yielded to her persuasion, adding, however, that Richard must +take two men-at-arms with him, and gravely bidding him be on his +guard. Nor would he permit him to be accompanied by little John de +Mohun, who, half page, half hostage, had lately been added to the +Princess's train, and being often bullied and teased by Hamlyn and +his fellows, had vehemently attached himself to Richard, and now +entreated in vain to go with him on the adventure. In fact, Prince +Edward was a stern disciplinarian, equally severe against either +familiarity or insolence towards the external world, and especially +towards any one connected with London. If Richard ever gave him any +offence, it was by a certain freedom of manner towards inferiors, +such as the Earl of Leicester had diligently inculcated on his +family, but which more than once had excited a shade of vexation on +the Prince's part. Even after Richard had reached the door, he was +called back and commanded on no pretext to loiter or enter on any +dispute, and if his search should detain him late, to sleep at the +Tower, rather than be questioned and stopped at any of the gates +which were guarded at night by the citizens. + + + +CHAPTER V--THE OLD KNIGHT OF THE HOSPITAL + + + +"The warriors of the sacred grave, + Who looked to Christ for laws." +Lord Houghton. + +Richard summoned a small boat, and with two stout men-at-arms, of +whom Adam de Gourdon was one, prepared again to cross the river. +Leonillo ran down the stone stairs with a wistful look of entreaty +and it occurred to both Richard and Adam, that, could the child only +lead them to the place where her father had sat, the dog's scent +might prove their most efficient guide. + +Little Bessee seemed quite comforted when on her way back to her +father, and sat on Richard's knee, eating the comfits with which the +Princess had provided her, and making him cut a figure that seemed +somewhat to amaze the other boat-loads whom they encountered on the +river. + +When they landed, the throng was more dispersed, but revelry and +sports of all kinds were going on fast and furiously; each door of +the Abbey was besieged by hungry crowds receiving their dole, and +Richard's inquiries for a blind man who had lost his child were +little heeded, or met with no satisfactory answer. Bessee herself +was bewildered, and incapable of finding her father's late station; +and Richard was becoming perplexed, and doubtful whether he ought to +take her back, as well as somewhat put out of countenance by the +laughter of Thomas de Clare, and other young nobles, who rallied him +on his strange charge. + +At last the little girl's face lightened as at sight of something +familiar. "Good red monks," she said. "They give Bessee soup--make +father well." + +With a ray of hope, Richard advanced to a party of Brethren of St. +John, who were mounting at the Abbey gate to return to their house at +Spitalfields, and doffing his bonnet, intimated a desire to address +the tall old war-worn knight with a benevolent face, who was +adjusting his scarlet cloak, before mounting a gray Arab steed +looking as old and worthy as himself. + +"Ha! a young Crusader, I perceive," was the greeting of the old +knight, as his eye fell on the white cross on Richard's mantle. +"Welcome, brother! Dost thou need counsel on thy goodly Eastern +way?" + +"Thanks, reverend Sir," returned Richard, "but my present purpose was +to seek for the father of this little one, who fell into the river in +the press. She pointed to you, saying she had received your bounty." + +"It is Blind Hal's child, Sir Robert!" exclaimed a serving-brother in +black, coming eagerly forward; "the villeins on the green told me the +poor knave was distraught at having lost his child in the throng!" + +"What brought he her there for?" exclaimed Sir Robert. "Poor fool! +his wits must have forsaken him!" + +"The child had a craving to see the show," replied the Brother, "so +Hob the cobbler told me; and all went well till my Lord of Pembroke's +retainers forced all right and left to make way in the crowd. Hal +was thrown down, and the child thrust away till they feared she had +fallen over the bank. Hob and his wife were fain to get the poor man +away, for his moans and fierce words were awful: and he was not a +little hurt in the scuffle, so I e'en gave them leave to lay him in +the cart that brought up your reverence's vestments, and the gear we +lent the Abbey for the show." + +"Right, Brother Hilary," said Sir Robert; "and now the poor knave +will have his best healing.--He must have been a good soldier once," +he added to Richard; "but he is a mere fragment of a man, wasted in +your Earl of Leicester's wars." + +"Where dwells he?" asked Richard, keenly interested in all his +father's old followers; "I would fain restore him his child." + +"In a hut on Bednall Green," answered the serving-brother; "but twice +or thrice a week he comes to the Spital to have his hurts looked to." + +"Ay! we tell him his little witch must soon be shut out! She turns +the heads of all our brethren," said Sir Robert, smiling. "Wild work +she makes with our novices." + +"Wilder with our Knights Commanders, maybe, Sir," retorted, laughing, +a fair open-faced youth in his novitiate. "I shall some day warn Hal +how our brethren, the Templars, are said to play at ball with tender +babes on their lances." + +"No scandal about our brethren of the Temple, Rayland," said Sir +Robert, looking grave for a moment.--"Young Sir, it would be a favour +if you would ride with us; we would gladly show you the way to +Bednall Green." + +"I should rejoice to go, Sir," returned Richard, "but I am of Prince +Edward's household--Richard Fowen; and my horse is on the other side +of the river." + +"That is soon remedied," said Sir Robert, who seemed to have taken a +great fancy to Richard, either for the sake of his crossed shoulder, +or of his kindness to the little plaything of the Spital. "Our young +brother, Engelbert von Fuchstein, has leave to tarry this night with +his brother in the train of the King of the Romans, and his horse is +at your service, if you will do our poor Spital the favour to tarry +there this night, and ride it back in the morn to meet him at +Westminster." + +Richard knew that this invitation might be safely accepted without +danger of giving umbrage to the Prince, who was on the best terms +with the Knights of the Hospital. He therefore dismissed Gourdon and +the other man-at-arms with a message explaining the matter; and +warmly thanking the old Grand Prior, laid one hand on the saddle of +the great ponderous beast that was led up to him, and vaulted on its +back without touching the stirrup. + +"Well done, my young master," said Sir Robert, "it is easy to see you +are of the Prince's household." + +"I cannot yet do as the Prince can," said Richard,--"take this leap +in full armour." + +"No; and let me give you a bit of counsel, fair Sir. Such pastimes +are very well for the tiltyard, but they should be laid aside in the +blessed Land, and strength reserved for the one cause and purpose." +He crossed himself; and in the meantime, Bessee intimated her +imperious purpose of not riding before Brother Hilary, but being +perched before Richard on the enormous cream-coloured animal, whence +he was looking down from a considerable elevation upon Sir Robert on +his slender Arab. + +"These are the German monsters that our brethren bring over," said +Sir Robert. "Mark me, young brother, cumber not yourself with these +beasts of Europe, which are good for nothing but food for foul birds +in the East. Purvey yourself of an Arab as soon as you land. There +is a rogue at Acre, one Ali by name, who will not cheat you more than +is reasonable, so you mention my name to him, Sir Robert Darcy, at +your service." + +"Thanks, reverend Father," returned Richard, "but I am but a landless +page, and the Prince mounts me. Said you this poor man had been +wounded in the late wars?" + +"Ay, hacked and hewed worse than by the Infidels themselves! Woeful +it is that here, at home, men's blood should be wasted on your own +petty feuds. This same Barons' war now hath cost as much downright +courage as would have brought us back to Jerusalem, and all thrown +away, without a cause, with no honour, no hope." + +"Not without a cause," Richard could not help saying. + +"Nay," said the old knight; "no cause is worth the taking of a life, +save the cause of the Holy Sepulchre. What be these matters of taxes +and laws to ask a man to shed his blood for? Alack, the temper of +the cross-bearer is dying out! I pray I may not see this Crusade end +like half those I have beheld--and the cross on the shoulder become +no better than a mockery." + +"That may scarcely be with such leaders as the Prince and the King of +France," said Richard. + +"Well, well, the Prince is untried; and for King Louis, he is as holy +a man as ever lived since King Godfrey of blessed memory, but he has +bad luck, ever bad luck. The Saints forefend, but I trow he will +listen to some crazy counsel from Rome, belike, or some barefooted +hermit--very holy, no doubt, but who does not know a Greek from a +Saracen, or a horse's head from his tail--and will go to some +pestilential hole like that foul Egyptian swamp, where we stayed till +our skin was the colour of an old boot, in hopes of converting the +Sultan of Babylon, or the Old Man of the Mountain, or what not, and +there he will stay till the flower of his forces have wasted away." + +"Were you in Egypt with King Louis?" eagerly exclaimed Richard. + +"Ay, marry, was I, and a goodly land it is; but I saw many a good +man-at-arms perish miserably in a marsh, who might have been the +saving of the Holy City. Why, I myself have never been the same man +since! Never could do a month's service out of the infirmary at +Acre, though after all there's no work I like so well as the hospital +business, and for the last five years I have had to stay here +training young brethren! Oh, young man! I envy you your first +stroke for the Holy Sepulchre! Would that the Grand-Master would +hear my entreaty. I am too old to be worth sparing, and I would fain +have one more chance of dying under the banner of the Order!--But I +am setting you a bad example, son Raynal; a Hospitalier has no will.- +-And look you, young Sir Page, if you stay out at sunset in that +clime, 'tis all up with you. And you should veil your helmet well, +or the sun smites on your head as deadly as a flake of Greek fire." + +So rambled on good old Sir Robert Darcy, Grand Prior of England, a +perfect dragon among the Saracens, but everywhere else the mildest +and most benevolent of men; his discourse strangely mingling together +the deepest enthusiasm with a business-like common-sense appreciation +of ways and means, and with minute directions, precautions, and +anecdotes, gathered from his practical experience both as captain in +the field, priest in the Church, and surgeon in the hospital, and all +seen from the most sunshiny point of view. + +Meanwhile, they were riding along the Strand, a beautiful open road, +with grassy borders shelving down to the Thames. They passed through +the City of London. The Hospital lay beyond the walls, but the +Marshes of Moorfields that protected them were not passable without a +long circuit; and the fortified gates stood open at Temple Bar, where +the Hospitaliers, looking towards the Round Church and stately +buildings of the Preceptory, saluted the white-cloaked figures moving +about it, with courtesy grim and distant in all but Sir Robert Darcy, +who could not even hate a Templar, a creature to the ordinary +Hospitalier far more detestable than a Saracen. On then, up ground +beginning to rise, below which the little muddy stream called the +Flete stagnated along its way, meandering to the Thames. Thatched +hovels and wooden booths left so narrow a passage that the horsemen +were forced to move in single file, and did not gain a clearer space +even when the stone houses of merchants began to stand thick on +Ludgate Hill, their carved wooden balconies so projecting, that it +would seem to have been an object with the citizens to be able to +shake hands across the street. The city was comparatively empty and +quiet, as all the world were keeping holiday at Westminster; but even +as it was, the passengers seemed to swarm in the streets, and knots +of persons who had been unable to witness the spectacle, sat with +gazing children upon the stairs outside the houses, to admire the +fragments of the pageant that came their way. Acclamations of +delight greeted the appearance of the scarlet-mantled Hospitaliers, +such as Richard had often heard in his boyhood, when riding in his +father's train, but far less frequently since he had been a part of +the Prince's retinue. And equally diverse was the merry nod and +smile of Sir Robert to each gaping shouting group of little ones, +from the stately distant courtesy with which Edward returned the +popular salutations. He could be gracious--he could not be friendly +except to a few. + +They passed the capitular buildings of St. Paul's, with the beautiful +cathedral towering over them, and in its rear, numerous booths for +the purchase of rosaries--recent inventions then of St. Dominic, the +great friend of Richard's stern grandfather, the persecutor of the +Albigenses. Sir Robert drew up, and declared he must buy one for the +little maid as a remembrance of the day, and then found she was fast +asleep; but he nevertheless purchased a black-beaded chaplet, giving +for it one of the sorely-clipped coins of King Henry. + +"Prithee let me have one likewise, holy Sir," quoth Richard, "in +memory of the talk that hath taught me so much of the import of my +crusading vow." + +"Thou shalt bring me for it one of the olive of Bethlehem," said Sir +Robert; "I have given away all I brought from the East. They are so +great a boon to our poor sick folk that I wish I had brought twice as +many, but to me they have always a Saracen look. Your Moslem always +fingers one much of the same fashion as he parleys." + +Ludgate, freshly built, and adorned with new figures to represent the +fabulous King Lud, was not yet closed for the night; and the party +came forth beyond the walls, with the desolate Moorfields to their +left, and before them a number of rising villages clustered round +their churches. + +The Hospital, a grand fortified monastery, was already to be seen +over the fields; but Sir Robert, sending home the rest of his troop, +turned aside with Richard and Brother Hilary towards the common, with +a border of cottages around it, which went by the name of Bednall +Green. + +Brother Hilary knew the hut inhabited by Blind Hal, and led the way +to it. Low and mud-built, thatched, and with a wattled door, it had +a wretched appearance; but the old woman who came to the door was not +ill clad. "Blessings on you, holy Father!" she cried; "do I see the +child, my lamb, my lady-bird! Would that she may come in time to +cheer her poor father!" + +"How is it with him then, Gammer?" demanded Sir Robert, springing to +the ground with the alacrity of a doctor anxious about his patient. + +"Ill, very ill, Sir. Whether the horse's feet hurt his old wound, or +whether it be the loss of the child, he hath done nought but moan and +rave, and lie as one dead ever since they brought him home. He is +lying in one of the dead swoons now! It were not well that the child +saw him." + +But Bessee, awakening with a cry of joy, saw her borne, and struggled +to go to her father, whose name she called on with all her might, +disregarding the caresses of the old woman, and the endeavour made by +Richard to restrain without alarming her, while Sir Robert went into +the hut to endeavour to restore the sufferer. + +Suddenly a cry broke from within; and Richard, turning at the voice, +beheld the blind man sitting up on his pallet with arms outstretched. +"My child!--My Father! hast thou brought her to visit me in limbo?" +he cried. + +"He raves!" said Richard, using his strength to withhold the child, +who broke out into a shriek. + +"Nay, nay! she doth not abide here!" he exclaimed. "Her spirit is +pure! My sins are not visited on her beyond the grave!" + +"Thou art on the earthly side of the grave still, my son," said Sir +Robert, at the same time as Bessee sprang from Richard, and nestled +on his breast, clinging to his neck. + +"My babe--my Bessee!" he exclaimed, gathering her close to him. +"Living, living, indeed! Yet how may it be! Surely this is the +other world. That voice sounds not among the living!" + +"It is the voice of the youth who saved thy child," said the Grand +Prior. + +"Speak again! Let him speak again!" implored the beggar. + +"Can I do aught for you, good man?" asked Richard. + +Again there was a strange start and thrill of amazement. + +"Only for Heaven's sake tell me who thou art!" + +"A page of Prince Edward's good man. I am called Richard Fowen! And +who, for Heaven's sake, are you?" added Richard, as Leonillo, who had +been smelling about and investigating, threw himself on the blind man +in a transport of caresses. "Off, Leon--off!" cried Richard. "It is +but a dog!--Fear not, little one!--Tell me, tell me," he added, +trembling, as he knelt before the miserable object, holding back the +eager Leonillo with one arm round his neck, "who art thou, thou ghost +of former times?" + +"Knowst me not, Richard?" returned a suppressed voice in Provencal. + +"Henry! Henry!" exclaimed Richard, and fell upon the foot of the low +bed, weeping bitterly. "Is it come to this?" + +"Ay, even to this," said the blind man, "that two sons of one father +meet unknown--one with a changed name, the other with none at all, +neither with the honoured one they were born to." + +"Alack, alack!" was all Richard could say at the first moment, as he +lifted himself up to look again at the first-born of his parents, the +head of the brave troop of brethren, the gay, handsome, imperious +young Lord de Montfort, whose proud head and gallant bearing he had +looked at with a younger brother's imitative deference. What did he +see but a wreck of a man, sitting crouched on the wretched bed, the +left arm a mere stump, a bandage where the bright sarcastic eyes used +to flash forth their dark fire, deep scars on all the small portion +of the face that was visible through the over-grown masses of hair +and beard, so plentifully sprinkled with white, that it would have +seemed incredible that this man was but eight months older than the +Prince, whose rival he had always been in personal beauty and +activity. The beautiful child, clasped close to his breast, her face +buried on his shoulder under his shaggy locks, was a strange contrast +to his appearance, but only added to the look of piteous helplessness +and desolation, as she hung upon him in her alarm at the agitation +around her. + +Richard had long been accustomed to think of his brother as dead; but +such a spectacle as this was far more terrible to him, and his cheek +blanched at the shock, as he gasped again, "Thou here, and thus! thou +whom I thought slain!" + +"Deem me so still," said his brother, "even as I deem the royal +minion dead to me." + +"Nay, Henry, thou knowst not." + +"Who is present?" interrupted the blind man, raising his head and +tossing back his hair with a gesture that for the first time gave +Richard a sense that his eldest brother was indeed before him. +"Methought I heard another voice." + +"I am here, fair son," replied the old knight, "Father Robert of the +Hospital! I will either leave thee, or keep thy secret as though it +were thy shrift; but thou art sore spent, and mayst scarce talk +more." + +"Weariness and pain are past, Father, with my little one again in my +bosom," said Henry; "and there are matters that must be spoken +between me and this young brother of mine ere he quits this hut; and +his voice resumed its old authoritative tone towards Richard. "Said +you that he had saved my child?" + +"He drew me from the river, Father," said Bessee looking up. "There +was nothing to stand on, and it was so cold! And he took me in his +arms and pulled me out, and put me in a boat; and the lady pulled off +my blue coat, and put this one on me. Feel it, Father; oh, so +pretty, so warm!" + +"It was the Princess," said Richard; but Henry, not noticing, +continued, + +"Thou hast earned my pardon, Richard," and held out his remaining +hand, somewhere towards the height where his brother's used to be. + +Sir Robert smiled, saying, "Thou dost miscalculate thy brother's +stature, son." And at the same moment Richard, who was now little +short of his Cousin Edward in height, was kneeling by Henry, +accepting and returning his embrace with agitation and gratitude, +such as showed how their relative positions in the family still +maintained their force; but Richard still asserted his independence +so as to say, "When you have heard all, brother you will see that +there is no need of pardoning me." + +Henry, however, as perhaps Sir Robert had foreseen, instead of +answering put his hand to his side, and sank back in a paroxysm of +pain, ending in another swoon. The child stood by, quiet and +frightened but too much used to similar occurrences to be as much +terrified as was Richard, who thought his brother dying; but calling +in the serving-brother, the old Hospitalier did all that was needed, +and the blind man presently recovered and explained in a feeble voice +that he had been jostled, thrown down, and trodden on, at the moment +when he lost his hold of his little daughter; and this was evidently +renewing his sufferings from the effect of an injury received in +battle. "And what took thee there, son?" said Sir Robert, somewhat +sharply. + +"The harvest, Father," answered Henry, rousing himself to speak with +a certain sarcasm in his tone. "It is the beggars' harvest wherever +King Henry goes. We brethren of the wallet cannot afford to miss +such windfalls." + +"A beggar!" exclaimed Richard in horror. + +"And what art thou?" retorted Henry, with a sudden fierceness. + +"Listen, young men," said Sir Robert, "this I know, my patient there +will soon be nothing if ye continue in this strain. A litter shall +bring him to the infirmary." + +"Nay," said Henry hastily, "not so, good Father. Here I abide, hap +what may." + +"And I abide with him," said Richard. + +"Not so, I say," returned the Hospitalier, "unless thou wouldst slay +him outright. Return to the Spital with me; and at morn, if he have +recovered himself, unravel these riddles as thou and he will." + +"It is well, Father," said Henry. "Go with him, Richard; but mark +me. Be silent as the grave, and see me again." + +And reluctant as he was, Richard was forced to comply. + + + +CHAPTER VI--THE BEGGAR EARL + + + +"Along with the nobles that fell at that tyde, +His eldest son Henrye, who fought by his syde, +Was felde by a blow he receivde in the fight; +A blow that for ever deprivde him of sight." +Old Beggar. + +The chapel at the Spital was open to all who chose to attend. The +deep choir was filled with the members of the Order, half a dozen +knights in the stalls, and the novices and serving-brothers so ranged +as to give full effect to the body of voice. Richard knelt on the +stone floor outside the choir, intending after early mass to seek his +brother; but to his surprise he found the blind man with his child at +his feet in what was evidently his accustomed place, just within the +door. His hair and beard were now arranged, his appearance was no +longer squalid; but when he rose to depart, guided in part by the +child, but also groping with a stick, he looked even more helpless +than on his bed, and Richard sprang forward to proffer an arm for his +support. + +"Flemish cloth and frieze gown," said the object of his solicitude in +a strange gibing voice; "court page and street beggar--how now, my +master?" + +"Lord Earl and elder brother," returned Richard, "thine is my service +through life." + +"Mine? Ho, ho! That much for thy service!" with a disdainful +gesture of his fingers. "A strapping lad like thee would be the ruin +of my trade. I might as well give up bag and staff at once." + +"Nay, surely, wilt thou not?" exclaimed Richard in broken words from +his extreme surprise. "The King and Prince only long to pardon and +restore, and--" + +"And thou wouldst well like to lord it at Kenilworth, earl in all but +the name? Thou mayst do so yet without being cumbered with me or +mine!" + +"Thou dost me wrong, Henry," said Richard, much distressed. "I love +the Prince, for none so truly honoured our blessed father as he, and +for his sake he hath been most kind lord to me; but thou art the head +of my house, my brother, and with all my heart do I long to render +thee such service as--as may lighten these piteous sufferings." + +"I believe thee, Richard; thou wert ever an honest simple-hearted +lad," said Henry, in a different tone; "but the only service thou +canst render me is to let me alone, and keep my secret. Here--I feel +that we are at the stone bench, where I bask in the sun, and lay out +my dish for the visitors of the gracious Order.--Here, Bessee, child, +put the dish down," he added, retaining his hold of his brother, as +if to feel whether Richard winced at this persistence in his strange +profession. The little girl obeyed, and betook herself to the quiet +sports of a lonely child, amusing herself with Leonillo, and +sometimes returning to her father and obtaining his attention for a +few moments, sometimes prattling to some passing brother of the +Order, who perhaps made all the more of the pretty creature because +this might be called an innocent breach of discipline. "And now, +Master Page," said Henry in his tone of authority, yet with some +sarcasm, "let us hear how long-legged Edward finished the work he had +began on thee at Hereford--made thee captive in the battle, eh?" + +Richard briefly narrated his life with Gourdon, and his capture by +the Prince, adding, "My mother was willing I should remain with him; +she bade me do anything rather than join Simon and Guy; and verily, +brother, save that the Prince is less free of speech, his whole life +seems moulded upon our blessed father's--" + +"Speak not of them in the same breath," cried Henry hastily. "And +wherefore--if such be his honour to him whom he slew and mutilated-- +art thou to disown thy name, and stand before him like some chance +foundling?" + +"That was the King's doing," said Richard. "The Prince was averse to +it, but King Henry, though he wept over me and called me his dear +nephew, made it his special desire that he might not hear the name of +Montfort; and the Prince, though overruling him in all that pertains +to matters of state, is most dutiful in all lesser matters. I hoped +at least to be called Fitz Simon, but some mumble of the King turned +it into Fowen, and so it has continued. I believe no one at court is +really ignorant of my lineage; but among the people, Montfort is +still a trumpet-call, and the King fears to hear it." + +"Well he may!" laughed Henry. "Rememberest thou, Richard, the sorry +figure our good uncle cut, when we armed him so courteously, and put +him on his horse to meet the rebels at Evesham--how he durst not hang +back, and loved still less to go onward, and kept calling me his +loving nephew all the time?" + +"Ah! Henry--but didst thou not hear my father mutter, when he saw +the crowned helm under the standard, that it was ill done, and no +good could come of seething the kid in the mother's milk? And +verily, had not the Prince been carrying his father from the field, I +trow the Mortimers had not refused us quarter, nor had their cruel +will of us." + +"Oh ho! thou art come to have opinions of thine own!" laughed Henry, +with the scoff of a senior unable to brook that his younger brother +should think for himself. Yet this tone was so familiar to Richard's +ears, that it absolutely encouraged him to a nearer step to intimacy. +He said, "But how scapedst thou, Henry? I could have sworn that I +saw thee fall, skull and helmet cleft, a dead man!" + +Instead of answering, Henry put his hand under the chin of his child, +who was leaning against him, and holding up her face to his brother, +said, "Thou canst see this child's face? Tell me what like she is." + +"Like little Eleanor, like Amaury. The home-look of her eyes won my +heart at once. Even the Princess remarked their resemblance to mine. +Think of Eleanor and thy mind's eye will see her." + +"No other likeness?" said the blind man wistfully; "but no--thou wast +at Hereford when she was at Odiham." + +"Who?" + +He grasped Richard's hand, and under his breath uttered the name +"Isabel." + +"Isabel Mortimer!" exclaimed Richard, who had been, of course, aware +of his brother's betrothal, when the two families of Montfort and +Mortimer had been on friendly terms; "we heard she had taken the +veil!" + +"And so thou sawst me slain!" said Henry de Montfort dryly. + +"But how--how was it?" asked Richard eagerly. + +"Men sometimes tie knots faster than they intend," said Henry. "When +Roger Mortimer took Simon's doings in wrath, and vowed that his +sister should never wed a Montfort, he knew not what he did. He and +his proud wife could flout and scorn my Isabel--they might not break +her faith to me. Thou knowst, perhaps, Richard, since thou art hand +and glove with our foes, that like a raven to the slaughter, the Lady +Mortimer came as near the battle-field as her care for her dainty +person would allow; and there was one whom she brought with her. +And, gentle dame, what doth she do but carry her sister-in-law a +sweet and womanly gift? What thinkst thou it was, Richard?" + +"I fear I know," said Richard, choked; "my father's hand." + +"Nay, that was a choicer morsel reserved for my lady countess +herself. It was mine own, with our betrothal-ring thereon. Now, +quoth that loving sister, might Isabel resume her ring. No plighted +troth could be her excuse any longer for refusing to wed my Lord of +Gloucester. Then rose up my love, 'It beckons me!' she said, and +bade them leave it with her. They deemed that it was for death that +it beckoned. So mayhap did she. I wot Countess Maud had little +grieved. But little dreamed they of her true purpose--my perfect +jewel of constant love--namely, to restore the lopped hand to the +poor corpse, that it might likewise have Christian burial. Her old +nurse, Welsh Winny, was as true to her as she was to me; and forth +they sped, fearless of the spoilers, and made their way at nightfall +even to the Abbey Church, where Edward, less savage than the fair +countess, had caused us to be laid before the altar, awaiting our +burial in the vaults." + +"Thou wert senseless all this time?" + +"Ay, and so continued. The pang when my hand was severed had roused +me for a few moments, but only to darkness; and my effort to speak +had been rewarded with as many Welsh knives as could pierce my flesh +at once." + +"And thou didst not bleed to death?" + +"The swoon checked my blood. And the monks of Evesham must have +staunched and bandaged so as to make a decent corpse of me. Had they +had a man-at-arms among them, they would have known that mine were +not the wounds of a dead but of a living man. The old nurse knew it, +when my sweet lady would needs unbind my wrist, to place my hand in +its right place. An old crone such as Welsh Winny never stirs +without her cordial potion. They poured it into my lips--and if I +were never more to awake to the light of day, I awoke to the sound +that was yet dearer to me--while, alas! it still was left to me." + +He became silent, till Richard's question drew him on. + +"What with their care and support, when once on my feet I found +strength to stumble out of the chapel and gain shelter in the woods +ere day; and I believe the monks got credit for their zeal in casting +out the excommunicate body." + +"Not credit," said Richard; "the Prince was full of grief, more +especially as they all disavowed the deed. But, brother, art thou +excommunicate still?" + +"Far from it, most pious Crusader. If seas of holy wells could +assoil me, I should be pure enough. My sweet Isabel deemed that some +such washing might bring back mine eyesight; and from one to another +we wandered as my limbs could bear it. And at St. Winifred's there +was a priest who told us strange tales of the miracles wrought in the +Mortimer household by my father's severed hand; nay, that it had so +worked on Lord Mortimer's sister, that she had left the vanities of +the world, and gone into a nunnery. He seemed so convinced of my +father's saintliness, and so honest a fellow, that Isabel insisted on +unbosoming ourselves to him under seal of confession. No longer was +the old nurse to be my mother and she my sister; and the good man +made no difficulties, but absolved me, and wedded me to the truest, +most loving wife that ever blessed a man bereft of all else." + +"And you begged! O Henry, the noble lady--" + +"At first we had the knightly chain and spurs in which the monks had +kindly pranked me up. Isabel too had worn a few jewels; but after +all, a palmer need never hunger. My father always said no trade was +so well paid as begging, under King Henry, and verily we found it so. +She used at times to gather berries and thread them for chaplets to +sell at the holy wells; but I trow sheer beggary throve better!" + +"But wherefore? Even had pardon not been ready, Simon held out +Kenilworth for months." + +Henry laughed his dry laugh. + +"Simple boy, dost think I would trust Simon with an elder brother +whose hand could no longer keep his head?" + +"And my mother--" + +"She had always hated the Mortimers, even when the contract was +matter of policy. Would I have taken my sweet Isabel to abide her +royal scorn, it might be incredulity of our marriage? Though for +that matter it is more unimpeachable than her own! Nay, nay, out of +ken and out of reach was our only security from our kin on either +side, unless we desired that my head should follow my hand as a +dainty dish for Countess Maud." + +"How could the lady brook it?" + +"She dyed her fair skin with walnut, wore russet gown and hood, and +was a very nightingale for blitheness and sweet song through that +first year," said Henry; "blither than ever when that little one was +born in the sunshiny days of Whitsuntide. I tell thee, those were +happier days than ever I passed as Lord de Montfort at Kenilworth. +But after that, the bruised hurt in my side, which had never healed +when the cleaner gashes did, became more painful and troublesome. +Holy wells did nothing for it; and she wasted with watching it, as +though my pain had been hers. Naught would serve her but coming +here, because she had been told that the Knights of St. John had +better experience of old battle-wounds than any men in the realm. +Much ado had we to get here--the young babe in her arms, and I well- +nigh distraught with pain. We crept into this same hut, and I had a +weary sickness throughout the winter--living, I know not how, by the +bounty of the Spital, and by the works of her fingers, which Winny +would take out to sell on feast-days in the city. Oh that eyes had +been left me to note how she pined away! but I had scarce felt how +thin and bony were her tender fingers ere the blasts of the cruel +March wind finished the work." + +"Alack! alack! poor Henry," said Richard; "never, never was lady of +romaunt so noble, and so true!" + +"No more," said Henry hastily, leaning his brow on the top of his +staff. "Come hither, Bessee," he added after a brief pause; "say thy +prayer for thy blessed mother, child." + +And holding out his one hand, he inclosed her two clasped ones within +it, as the little voice ran over an utterly unintelligible form of +childishly clipped Latin, sounding, however, sweet and birdlike from +the very liberties the little memory had taken in twisting its +mellifluous words into a rhythm of her own. And there was catchword +enough for Richard to recognize and follow it, with bonnet doffed, +and crossing himself. + +"And now," he said, "surely the need for secrecy is ended. The land +is tranquil, the King ruled by the Prince, the Prince owning all the +past folly and want of faith that goaded our father into resistance. +Wherefore not seek his willing favour? Thou art ever a pilgrim. Be +with us in the crusade. Who knows what the Jordan waves may effect +for thee?" + +"No, no," grimly laughed Henry. "Dost think any favour would make it +tolerable to be wept over and pitied by the King--pitied by THE +KING," he repeated in ineffable disgust; "or to be the show of the +court, among all that knew me of old, when I WAS a man? Hob the +cobbler, and Martin the bagster, are better company than Pembroke and +Gloucester, and I meet with more humours on Cheapside than I should +at Winchester--more regard too. Why, they deem me threescore years +old at least, and I am a very oracle of wisdom among them. Earl of +Leicester, forsooth! he would be nobody compared with Blind Hal! And +as to freedom--with child and staff the whole country and city are +before me--no shouts to dull retainers, and jackanape pages to set my +blind lordship on horseback, without his bridle hand, and lead him at +their will anywhere but at his own. + +"All this I can understand for thyself," said Richard; "but for thy +child's sake canst thou not be moved?" + +"My child, quotha? What, when her Uncle Simon is true grandson to +King John?" + +Richard started. "I cannot believe what thou sayest of Simon," he +answered in displeasure. + +"One day thou wilt," calmly answered Henry; "but I had rather not +have it proved upon the heiress of Leicester and Montfort." + +"Leicester is forfeit--Simon an outlawed man." + +"If the humour for pardon is set in, Cousin Edward is no man to do +things by halves. If he owned me at all, the lands would be mine +again, and such a bait would be smelt out by Simon were he at the +ends of the earth. Or if not, that poor child would be granted to +any needy kinsman or grasping baron that Edward wanted to portion. +My child shall be my own, and none other's. Better a beggar's brat +than an earl's heiress!" + +"She is a lovely little maiden. I know not how thou canst endure +letting her grow up in poverty, an alien from her birth and rank." + +"Poverty," Henry laughed. "Little knowest thou of the jolly beggar's +business! I would fain wager thee, Richard, that pretty Bessee's +marriage-portion shall be a heavier bag of gold than the Lady +Elizabeth de Montfort would gather by all the aids due to her father +from his vassals--and won moreover without curses." + +"But who would be the bridegroom?" + +"Her own choice, not the King's," answered Henry briefly. + +"And this is all," said Richard, perceiving that according to the +previous day's agreement the cream-coloured elephant of a German +horse was being led forth for his use, and Sir Robert preparing to +accompany him. "I must leave thee in this strange condition?" + +"Ay, that must thou. Betray me, and thou shalt have the curse of the +head of thine house. Had thy voice not become so strangely like my +father's, I had never made myself known to thee." + +"I will see thee again." + +"That will be as thou canst. I trow Edward hardly gives freedom +enough to his pages for them to pay visits unknown," replied Henry, +with a strange sneering triumph in his own wild liberty. + +"If aught ails thee, if I can aid thee, swear to me that thou wilt +send to me." + +Henry laughed with somewhat of a tone of mockery, adding, "Well, +well--keep thou thy plight to me so long as I want thee not, and I +will keep mine to thee if ever I should need thee. Now away with +thee. I hear the horses impatient for thee; and what would be the +lot of the beggar if he were seen chattering longer with a lordly +young page than might suffice for his plaint? I hear voices. Put a +tester in my dish, fair Sir, for appearance' sake. Thou hast it not? +aha--I told thee I was the richer as well as the freer man. What's +that? That is no ring of coin." + +"'Tis a fair jewel, father, green and sparkling," cried Bessee. + +"Nay, nay, I'll have none of it. Some token from thy new masters? +Ha, boy?" + +"From the Princess, on New Year's Day," replied Richard. "But keep +it, oh, keep it, Henry; it breaks my heart to leave thee thus." + +"Keep it! Not I. What wouldst say to thy dainty dame? Nor should I +get half its value from the Jews. No, no, take back thy jewel, Sir +Page; I'll not put thee in need of telling more lies than becomes +thine office." + +Richard glowed with irritation; but what was the use of anger with a +blind beggar? And while Henry bestowed far more demonstration of +affection on Leonillo than on his brother, it became needful to mount +and ride off, resolving to tell the Prince and Princess, what would +be no falsehood, that the child belonged to a Kenilworth man-at-arms, +sorely wounded at Evesham, and at present befriended by the Knights +of St. John. + +Old Sir Robert Darcy knew so much that it was needful to confide +fully in him; and he gave Richard some satisfaction by a promise to +watch over his brother as far as was possible with a man of such +uncertain vagrant habits; and he likewise engaged to let him know, +even in the Holy Land, of any change in the beggar's condition; and +this, considering the wide-spread connections of the Order, and that +some of its members were sure to be in any crusading army, was all +that Richard could reasonably hope. + +"Canst write?" asked Sir Robert. + +"Yea, Father." + +"I could once! But if there be need to send thee a scroll, I'll take +care it is writ by a trusty hand." + +More than this Richard could not hope. There had always been a +strange self-willed wildness of character about his eldest brother, +who, though far less violent and overbearing in actual deed than the +two next in age, Simon and Guy, had contrived to incur even greater +odium than they, by his mocking careless manner and love of taunts +and gibing. Simon de Montfort the elder had indeed strangely failed +in the bringing up of his sons. Whether it were that their royal +connection had inflated them with pride, or that the King's +indulgence had counteracted the good effects of the admirable +education provided for them at home, they had done little justice to +their parentage, or to their tutor, the excellent Robert Grostete. +Perhaps the Earl himself was too affectionate: perhaps his +occupation in public affairs hindered him from enforcing family +discipline. At any rate, neither of the elder three could have been +naturally endowed with his largeness of mind, and high unselfish +views. He was a man before his age; not only deeply pious, but with +a devoted feeling for justice and mercy carried into all the details +of life, till his loyalty to the law overcame his loyalty to the +King. Simon and Guy, on the other hand, were commonplace young +nobles of the thirteenth century, heedless of all but themselves, and +disdaining all beneath them; and when their father had seized the +reins of government in order to enforce the laws that the King would +not observe, they saw in his elevation a means of gratifying +themselves, and being above all law. The cry throughout England had +been that Simon's "sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them +not." + +Henry de Montfort had not indeed, like his brothers, plundered the +ships in the Channel, extorted money from peaceful yeomen, nor +insulted the poor old captive King to his face; but his deference had +been more galling than their defiance; his scornful smiles and keen +cutting jests had mortally offended many a partizan; and when +positive work was to be done, Simon with all his fierceness and +cruelty was far more to be depended on than Henry, who might at any +time fly off upon some incalculable freak. To Richard's boyish +recollection, if Simon had been the most tyrannical towards him in +deed, Henry had been infinitely more annoying and provoking in the +lesser arts of teasing. + +And looking back on the past, he could understand how intolerable a +life of helplessness would be among the equals whom Henry had so +often stung with his keen wit, and that to a man of his peculiar tone +of mind there was infinitely more liberty in thus sinking to the +lowest depths, where his infirmities were absolute capital to him, +than in being hedged about with the restraints of his rank. Any way, +it was impossible to interfere, even for the child's sake, and all +Richard could do to console himself was to look forward to his return +from the Crusade an esquire or even a knight, with exploits that +Henry might respect--a standing in the Court that would give him some +right to speak--perhaps in time a home and lady wife to whom his +brother would intrust his child, who would then be growing out of a +mere toy. Or might not his services win him a fresh grant of the +earldom, and could he not then prove his sincerity by laying it at +the true Earl's feet? + +Pretty Bessee, too! Richard remembered stories current in the +family, of their grandmother, Amicia, Countess of Leicester in her +own right, being forced when a young girl to wed the stern grim old +persecuting Simon de Montfort, and how vain had been her struggles +against her doom. He lost himself in graceful romantic visions of +the young knight whose love he would watch and foster, and whose +marriage to his lovely niece should be securely concluded ere her +rank should be made known, when her guardian uncle would yield all to +her. And from that day forth Richard looked out with keen eyes among +the playfellows of the little princes for Bessee's future knight. + + + +CHAPTER VII--AMONG THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE + + + +"But man is more than law, and I may have +Some impress of myself upon the world; +One poor brief life, helping to feed the flame +Of chivalry, and keep alive the truth +That courage, honour, mercy, make a knight." +Queen Isabel, by S. M. + +"Land in sight! Cheer up, John, my man!" said Richard, leaning over +a bundle of cloaks that lay on the deck of a Genoese galley. + +The cross floated high aloft, accompanied by the lions of English +royalty; the bulwark was hung round with blazoned shields, and the +graceful white sails were filled by a gay breeze that sent the good +ship dancing over the crested waves of the Mediterranean, in company +with many another of her gallant sisters, crowded with the chivalry +of England. + +Woeful was however the plight of great part of that chivalry. +Merrily merrily bounded the bark, but her sport felt very like death +to many of her freight, and among others to poor little John de +Mohun. + +His father, Baron Mohun of Dunster, had been deeply implicated in the +Barons' Wars, and had been a personal friend of the Earl of +Leicester, from whom he had only separated himself in consequence of +the outrageous exactions and acts of insolence perpetrated by the +young Montforts. He had indeed received a disabling wound while +fighting on the Prince's side at Evesham; but his submission had been +thought so insecure that his son and heir had been required of him, +ostensibly as page, but really as hostage. + +In spite of his Norman surname, little John of Dunster was, at twelve +years old, a sturdy thoroughgoing English lad, with the strongest +possible hatred to all foreigners, whom with grand indifference to +natural history he termed "locusts sucking the blood of Englishmen." +Not a word or command would he understand except in his mother +tongue; and no blows nor reproofs had sufficed to tame his sturdy +obstinacy. The other pages had teased, fagged, and bullied him to +their hearts' content, without disturbing his determination to go his +own way; and his only friend and protector had been Richard, whom, +under the name of Fowen, he took for a genuine Englishman, and loved +with all his heart. If anything would ever cure him of his wilful +awkwardness and dogged bashfulness, it was likely to be the kindness +of Richard--above all, in the absence of the tormentors, for Hamlyn +de Valence alone of the other pages had been selected to attend upon +the Prince in this expedition; and he, though scornful and +peremptory, did not think the boy worthy of his attention, and did +not actively tease him. + +At present Hamlyn de Valence, as well as most others of the +passengers, lay prostrate; scarcely alive even to the assurance of +Richard, who had still kept his feet, that the outline of the hills +was quickly becoming distinct, and that they were fast entering the +gulf where lay the fleet that had brought the crusaders of France and +Sicily, whom they hoped to join in the conquest and conversion of +Tunis. On arriving at Aigues Mortes, they had found that the French +King had already sailed for Sicily; and following him thither, learnt +that his brother, Charles of Anjou, had persuaded him to begin his +crusade by a descent on Tunis, to which the Sicilian crown was said +to have some claim; that he had sailed thither at once, and Charles +had followed him so soon as the Genoese transports could return for +the Sicilian troops. + +"I see the masts!" exclaimed Richard; "the bay is crowded with them! +There must be a goodly force. Yonder are two headlands; within them +we shall have smoother water--see--" + +"What strikes thee so suddenly silent?" growled one of the muffled +figures stretched on deck. + +"The ensigns are but half-mast high, my Lord," returned Richard in an +awe-struck voice; "the lilies of France are hung drooping downward." + +"These plaguy southern winds at their tricks," muttered at first Earl +Gilbert of Gloucester, for he it was who had spoken, though Richard +had not known him to be so near; then sitting up, he came to a fuller +view: "Hm--it looks ill! Thou canst keep thy feet, Fowen, or what +do they call thee? Down with thee to the cabin, and let the Prince +know." + +Stepping across the prostrate forms, and meeting with vituperations +as he trode, Richard made his way to the ladder that led below, and +notified his presence behind the curtain that veiled the royal cabin. +He was summoned to enter at once. The Prince was endeavouring to +write at a swinging-table, the Princess lay white and resigned on a +couch, attended on by Dame Idonea (or more properly Iduna) Osbright, +a lady who had lost her husband in a former Crusade, and had ever +since been a sort of high-born head nurse in the palace. A Danish +skald, who had once been at the English court, had said that she +seemed to have eaten her namesake's apple of immortality, without her +apple of beauty, for no one could ever remember to have seen her +other than a tiny dried-up old witch, with keen gray eyes, a sharp +tongue, an ever ready foot and hand, and a frame utterly unaffected +by any of the influences so sinister to far younger and stronger +ones. Devoted to all the royal family, her special passion was for +Prince Edmund, who, in his mother's repugnance to his deformity, had +been left almost entirely to her, and she had accompanied the +Princess Eleanor all the more willingly from her desire to look after +her favourite nursling. + +"There, Lady," said Edward to his wife, "the tossing is all but over; +here is Richard come to tell us that we are nigh on land." + +"Even so, my Lord," returned Richard; "we are entering the gulf, but +my Lord of Gloucester has sent me to report to you that in all the +ships the colours are trailing." + +"Sayst thou?" exclaimed the Prince, hastily laying aside his writing +materials. "Fear not, mi Dona, I will return anon and tell thee how +it is. We are in smoother water already." + +"So much smoother that I will come with thee out of this stifling +cabin," said Eleanor. "O would that we had been in time for thee to +have counselled thine uncles--" + +"We will see what we have to grieve for ere we bemoan ourselves," +said the Prince. "My good uncle of France would put his whole fleet +in mourning for one barefooted friar!" + +"Depend on it, my Lord, 'tis mourning for something in earnest," +interposed Dame Iduna; "I said it was not for nothing that a single +pyot came and rocked up his ill-omened tail while we were taking +horse for this expedition, and my Lady there was kissing the little +ones at home, nor that a hare ran over our road at Bagshot--" + +"Well, Dame," interposed the Prince good-humouredly, seeing his wife +somewhat affected by the list of omens, "I know you have a horse-shoe +in your luggage, so you will come safe off, whoever does not!" + +"And what matters what my luck is," returned the Dame, "an old +beldame such as me, so long as you and your brother come off safe, +and find the blessed princes at home well and sound? Would that we +were out of this sandy hole, or that any one would resolve me why we +cannot go straight to Jerusalem when we are about it!" + +The Dame had delayed them while she spoke, in order to adjust the +Princess's muffler over her somewhat dishevelled locks; but Eleanor +seeing that her husband was impatient, put a speedy end to her +operations, and took his arm. + +Meantime the vessel had come within the Gulf of Goletta, and others +of the passengers had revived, and were standing on deck to watch +their entrance into the very harbour that two thousand years before +had sheltered the storm-tossed fleet of AEneas; but if the Trojan had +there found a wooded haven, the groves and sylvan shades must long +since have been destroyed, for to the new-comers the bay appeared +inclosed by spits of sand, though there was a rising ground in front +that cut off the view. In the centre of the bay was a low sandy +islet, covered with remains of masonry, and with a fort in the midst. +On this was mounted the French banner, but likewise drooping; and all +around it lay the ships with furled sails and trailing ensigns, +giving them an inexpressibly mysterious look of woe, like living +creatures with folded wings and vailed crests, lying on the face of +the waters in a silent sleep of sorrow. There was an awe of suspense +that kept each one on the deck silent, unable to utter the conjecture +that weighed upon his breast. + +A boat was already putting off, and its quick movements seemed to mar +the solemn stillness, as, impelled by the regular strokes of a dozen +dark handsome Genoese mariners with gaily-tinted caps, it shot +towards the vessel. A Genoese captain in graver garb sat at the +helm, and as they came alongside, a whisper, almost a shudder, seemed +to thrill upwards from the boat to the crew, and through them to the +passengers, "Il Re!" "il Re santo," "il Re di Francia." It seemed to +have pervaded the whole ship even before the Genoese had had time to +take the rope flung to him and to climb up the ship's side, where as +his fellow-captain greeted him, he asked hastily for the Principe +Inglese. + +For Edward had not come forward, but was standing with his back +against the mainmast, with colourless cheek and eyes set and fixed. +Eleanor looked up to him in silence, aware that he was mastering +vehement agitation, and would endure no token of sympathy or sorrow +that would unnerve him when dignity required firmness. To him, Louis +IX., the husband of his mother's sister, had been the guiding friend +and noble pattern denied to him in his father; and Eleanor, intrusted +to his uncle's care during the troubles of England, a maiden wife in +her first years of womanhood, had been formed and moulded by that +holy and upright influence. To both the loss was as that of a +father; and the murmur among the sailors was to them as a voice +saying, "Knowest thou that God will take away thy master from thy +head to-day?" For the moment, however, the Princess's sole thought +was how her husband would bear it, and she watched anxiously till the +struggle was over, in the space of a few seconds, and he met the +Genoese with his usual reserved courtesy; and returning his +salutation, signed to him to communicate his tidings. + +They were however brief, for the captain had held by his ship, and +all he knew was that deadly sickness, fever, and plague had raged in +the camp. The Papal Legate was dead, and the good King of France. +His son was dead too, and many another beside. + +"Which son?" + +"Not the eldest--he lay sick, but there were hopes of him; but the +little one--he had been carried on board his ship, but it had not +saved him." + +"Poor little Tristan!" sighed Eleanor; "true Cross-bearer, born in +one hapless Crusade to die in another." + +"The King of Sicily?" demanded Edward between his teeth. + +"He had arrived the very day of his brother's death," said the +Genoese; "and when he had seen how matters stood, he had concluded a +truce with the King of Tunis, and intended to sail as soon as the new +King of France could bear to be moved." + +In the meantime the vessel had been anchored, and preparations were +made for landing; but the Princes impatience to hear details would +not brook even the delay of waiting till his horse could be set +ashore. He committed to the Earl of Gloucester the charge of +encamping his men on the island, left a message with him for his +brother Edmund, who was in another ship, and perceiving that Richard +had suffered the least of all his suite, summoned him to attend him +in the boat which was at once lowered. + +This would have been a welcome call had not Richard found that poor +little John de Mohun had not revived like the other passengers, but +still lay inert and sometimes moaning. All Richard could do was to +beg the groom specially attached to the pages' service, to have a +care of the little fellow, and get him sheltered in a tent as soon as +possible; but the Prince never suffered any hesitation in obeying +him, and it was needful to hurry at once into the boat. + +Without a word, the Prince with long swift strides, in the light of +the sinking sun, walked up the low hill, the same where erst the +pious AEneas climbed with his faithful Achates following. From the +brow the Trojan prince had beheld the rising city in the valley--the +English prince came on its desolation. Yet nature had made the vale +lovely--green with well-watered verdure, fields of beauteous green +maize, graceful date palms, and majestic cork trees; and among them +were white flat-roofed Moorish houses; but many a black stain on the +fair landscape told of the fresh havoc of an invading army. + +Utterly blotted out was Carthage. Half demolished, half choked with +sand, the city of Dido, the city of Hannibal, the city of Cyprian-- +all had vanished alike, and nothing remained erect but a Moorish +fortress, built up with fragments of the huge stones of the old +Phoenicians, intermixed with the friezes and sculptures of Graecising +Rome, and the whole fabric in the graceful Saracenic taste; while +completing the strange mixture of periods, another of those mournful +French banners drooped from the battlements, and around it spread the +white tents of the armies of France and the Two Sicilies, like it +with trailing banners; an orphaned plague-stricken host in a ruined +city. + +While the Prince paused for a moment's glance, a party of knights +came spurring up the hill, who had been ordered off to meet him on +the first intelligence that his fleet was in sight, but had been +taken by surprise by his alertness. + +They met with bowed heads and dejected mien; and there was one who +hid his face and wept aloud as he exclaimed, "Ah! Messire, our holy +King loved you well!" + +"Alas, beau sire Guillaume de Porceles!" was all that Edward could +say, as with tears in his eyes he held out his hand to the good +Provencal knight, adding, "Let me hear!" + +The knight, leading his horse and walking by Edward's side, told how +the King had been induced to make his descent on Tunis, from some +wild hope of the king's conversion, which had been magnified by +Charles of Anjou, from his dislike to let so gallant an army pass by +without endeavouring to obtain some personal advantage to his own +realm of Sicily. Though a vassal of Beatrix of Provence, the Sire de +Porceles was no devoted admirer of her husband, Charles of Anjou, and +spoke with no concealment of the unhappy perversion of the Crusade. +Charles of Anjou was all-powerful with the court of Rome, and in +crusading matters Louis deemed it right absolutely to surrender to +the ecclesiastical power all that judgment which had made him so +prudent and wise a king at home, while his crusades were lamentable +failures. Thus in him it had been a piece of obedient self-denial +not to press forward to the Holy Sepulchre; but to land in this +malarious bay to fulfil aims that, had he but used his common sense, +he would have seen to be merely those of private ambition. There it +had been one scene of wasting sickness. A few deeds of arms had been +done to refresh the spirits of the French, such as the taking of the +fort of Carthage, and now and then a skirmish of some foraging party; +but in general the Moors launched their spears and fled without +staying for combat. Many who had hid themselves in the vaults and +cellars of Carthage had been dragged out and put to death, and their +bodies had aided in breeding pestilence. Name after name fell from +the lips of the knight, like the roll of warriors fallen in a great +battle, when + + +"They melted from the field like snow, +Their king, their lords, their mightiest low." + + +And the last foreign embassy that ever reached Louis IX. had been +that of the Greek Emperor Michael Palaeologos, come to set before him +the savage barbarities perpetrated upon Christians by this brother - + + +"Who had spoilt the purpose of his life." + + +It was as Charles entered the port, that Louis, lying on a bed of +ashes, with his hands crossed upon his breast, and the words, "O +Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" entered not the Jerusalem of his earthly +schemes, but the Jerusalem of his true aspirations. + +"Shall we conduct you to my Lord the King of Sicily?" asked De +Porceles. + +"No!" said Edward, with bitter sternness; "to my uncle of France." + +"Down, down, my Lord, and all of you instantly," shouted Porceles +suddenly, throwing himself face downwards on the ground. Edward was +too good a soldier not to follow the injunction instantaneously, and +Richard did the same, as well as all the knights who had come up with +Porceles. Even the horses buried their noses in the hot sandy soil. +A strange rushing roaring sound passed over them; there was a sense +of intense suffocation, then of heat, pricking, and irritation. The +Provencals were rising; and the Prince and his page doing the same, +shook off a plentiful load of sand, and beheld, careering furiously +away, between them and the western sun, what looked like a purple +column, reaching from earth to heaven, and bespangled with living +gold-dust, whirling round in giddy spirals, and all the time fleeting +so fast that it was diminishing every moment, and was gone in a wink +of the eye. + +"Is it enchantment?" gasped Richard to the squire nearest him, as he +strove to clear his eyes from the sand and gaze after the wonder. + +"Worse than enchantment," quoth the squire; "it is a sand whirlwind." + +They were soon crossing the ditch that had been dug around the camp +among the ruins, and passed through lanes of tents erected among the +thick foliage that mantled the broken walls; here and there tracks of +mosaic pavement; of temples to Dido or Anna peeping forth beneath +either the luxuriant vegetation or the heavy sand-drifts; or columns +of the new Carthage lying veiled by acanthus; or remnants of churches +destroyed by Genseric--all alike disregarded by the sickly drooping +figures that moved feebly about among them, regarding them as little +save stumbling-blocks. + +A Moorish house in the midst of a once well-laid-out garden, now +trampled and destroyed, was the place to which the Provencal knight +led the English Prince. Entering the doorway of a court, where a +fountain sparkled in the midst of a marble pavement, they saw the +richly-latticed stone doorway of the house guarded by two figures in +armour like iron statues; and passing between them, they came into +the principal chamber, marble-floored, and with a divan of cushions +round it; but full in the midst of the room lay a coffin, covered +with the lilied banner, and the standard of the Cross; the crowned +helmet, good sword, knightly spurs, and cross-marked shield lying +upon it; solemn forms in armour guarded it, and priests knelt and +chanted prayers and psalms around it. Within were only the bones of +Louis, which were to be taken to St. Denis. The flesh, which had +been removed by being boiled in wine and spices, was already on its +way to Palermo in a vessel whose melancholy ensigns would have +announced the loss to the English had they not passed it in the +night. + +Long did Edward kneel beside the remains of his uncle, with his face +hidden and thoughts beyond our power to trace. Richard's heart was +full of that strange question "Wherefore?" Wherefore should the best +and purest schemes planned by the highest souls fall over like a +crested wave and become lost? So it had been, he would have said, +with the Round Table under Arthur, so with England's rights beneath +his own noble father, so with the Crusade under such leaders as +Edward of England and Louis of France. Did he mark the answer in +those Psalms that the priests were singing around - + + +"Qui seminant in lacrymis, in exultatione metent, +Euntes ibant et flebant mittentes semina sua, +Venientes autem venient cum exultatione portantes manipulos suos." +{1} + + +Surely we may believe that Simon of Leicester and Louis of France +were alike beyond grief at their marred visions, their errors of deed +or of judgment were washed away, and their true purpose was accepted, +both waiting the harvest when their works should follow them, and it +should have been made manifest that the effect of what they had been +and had suffered had told far more on future generations than what +they had wrought out in their own lifetime. + +It was at that moment that the sensation that an eye was upon him +caused Richard to raise his eyes from the floor. One of the armed +figures, who had hitherto stood as still as suits of armour in a +castle hall, had partially lowered the visor of the helmet, and eyes, +nose, and a part of the cheeks were visible. Richard looked up, and +they were those of his father! was it a delusion of his fancy? He +closed his eyes and looked again. Again it was the deep brown +Montfort eye, the clearly-cut nose, the embrowned skin! He glanced +at the bearings on the shield. Behold, it was his own--the red field +and white lion rampant with a forked tail, which he had not seen for +so long. + +Almost at the same moment another person entered the chamber--a man +with a sallow complexion, narrow French features, sharp gray eyes, +and a certain royal bearing that even a cunning shrewdness of +expression could not destroy. His face was composed to a look of +melancholy, and he crossed himself and knelt down near Edward to +await the conclusion of his devotions. Edward, who knelt absorbed in +grief, with his cloak partly over his face, apparently did not +perceive him, and after two or three unheeded endeavours at +attracting notice, he at length rose and said in a low voice, "My +fair nephew." For a moment the Prince lifted up his face, and +Richard had rather have died than have encountered that glance of +mournful reproof; then hiding his face in his hands again, he +continued his devotions. + +When these were ended he rose from his knees; and when out of the +death-chamber bowed his bead and with grave courtesy exchanged +greetings with Charles of Anjou, asking at the same time to see his +young cousin Philippe, the new King of France. + +An inquiry from an attendant elicited that Philippe had just dropped +asleep under the influence of a potion from his leech. + +"Then, fair nephew," said Charles of Sicily, "be content with your +old uncle, and come to my apartments, where I will set before you the +necessities that have led me to conclude the truce that is baffling +your eager desire of deeds of arms." + +"Pardon me, royal uncle," returned Edward, "I must see my camp set +up. It is already late, and I must take order that my troops mingle +not where contagion might seize them. Another time," he added, "I +may brook the argument better." + +Charles of Anjou did not press him further. There was that in his +face and voice which betokened that his fierce indignation and +overpowering grief were scarcely restrained, and that a word of +excuse in his present mood would but have roused the lion. + +Horses had been provided for him and his attendant. He flung himself +on his steed at once, and Richard was obliged to follow without a +moment's opportunity of making inquiry about the wonderful apparition +he had seen in the chamber of death. + +For some distance Edward galloped rapidly over the sandy soil, then +drawing up his horse when he had come to the brow from which he could +see on the one side the valley of Carthage, on the other the bay, he +made an exclamation which Richard took for a summons, and he came up +asking if he were called. "No, boy, no! I only spoke my thoughts +aloud! Failure and success! We've seen them both to-day--in the two +kings! What thinkst thou of them?" + +"Better be wrecked than work the wreck, my Lord," said Richard. + +"Ay! but why surrender the wit to the worker of the wreck?" said +Edward. Then knitting his brow, "Two holy men have I known who did +not blind their wit for their conscience' sake--two alone--did it +fare better with them? One was the good Bishop of Lincoln--the other +thou knowst, Richard! Well, one goes after another--first good +Bishop Grostete, then the Lord of Leicester, and now mine uncle of +France; and if earth is to have no better than such as it pleases the +Saints to leave in it, it will not be worth staying in much longer." + +"My Lord," said Richard, coming near, "methought I saw my father's +face under a visor--one of the knightly guards beside the holy King." + +"Well might thy fancy call him up in such a presence," said Edward. +"They twain had hearts in the same place above, though they saw the +world below on different sides, and knew each other little, and loved +each other less, in life. That's all at an end now! Well, back to +our camp to make the best of the world they have left behind them!" +And then in a tone that Richard was not meant to hear, "While mi dona +Leonor remains to me there is something saintly and softening still +in this world! Heaven help me--ay, and all my foes--were she gone +from it too!" + + + +CHAPTER VIII--RICHARD'S WRAITH + + + +"No distance breaks the tie of blood; +Brothers are brothers evermore; +Nor wrong, nor wrath of deadliest mood, +That magic may o'erpower."--Christian Year. + +It was nearly dark when the Prince and the Page landed on the island, +and found the tents already set up in their due order and rank, +according to the discipline that no one durst transgress where Edward +was the commander. + +Richard attended him to his pavilion, and being there dismissed until +supper-time, crossed the square space which was always left around +the royal banner, to the tent at the southern corner, which was +regularly appropriated to the pages' use. On lifting its curtain he +was, however, dismayed to see a kirtle there, and imagining that he +must have fallen upon the ladies' quarters, he was retreating with an +apology; when the sharp voice of Dame Idonea called out, "Oh yes, +Master Page! 'tis you that are at home here. I was merely tarrying +till 'twas the will of one of you to come in and look to the poor +child." + +And little John of Dunster called from a couch of mantles, "Richard, +oh! is it he at last?" + +"It is I," said Richard, advancing into the light of a brass lamp, +hung by chains from the top of the tent. "This is kind indeed, Lady! +But is he indeed so ill at ease?" + +"How should he be otherwise, with none of you idle-pated pages +casting a thought to him?" + +"I was grieved to leave him--but the Prince summoned me," began +Richard. + +"Beshrew thee! Tell me not of princes, as though there were no one +whom thou couldst bid to have a care of the little lad!" + +"I did bid Piers--," Richard made another attempt. + +"Piers, quotha? Why didst not bid the Jackanapes that sits on the +luggage? A proper warder for a sick babe!" + +"I am no babe!" here burst out John; "I am twelve years old come +Martinmas, and I need no tendance but Richard's." + +"Ha, ha! So those are all the thanks we ladies get, when we are not +young and fair!" laughed Dame Idonea, rather amused. + +"I want no women, young or old," petulantly repeated John; "I want +Richard.--Lift me up, Richard; take away this cloak." + +"For his life, no!" returned the Dame; "he has the heats and the +chills on him, and to let him take cold would be mere slaughter." + +"Alas!" said Richard, "I hoped nothing ailed him but the sea, and +that landing would make all well." + +"As if the sea ever made a child shiver and burn by turns! Nay, 'tis +the trick of the sun in these parts. Strange that the sun himself +should be a mere ally of the Infidel! I tell thee, if the child is +ever to see Dunster again, thou must watch him well, keep him from +the sun by day and the chill by night; or he'll be like the poor +creatures in the French camp out there, whom, I suppose, you found in +fine case." + +"Alack yes, Lady!" + +"I've seen it many a time; and all their disorders will be creeping +into our camp next. Tell me, is it even as they told us, one king +dead and the other dying?" + +Richard began to wonder whether he should ever get her out of his +tent, for she insisted on his telling her every possible particular-- +who had died, who had lived, who was sick, who well; and as from the +close connection between the English, French, and Sicilian courts, +whose queens were all sisters, she knew who every one was, and +accounted for the history of each person she inquired after, back to +the last generation--happy if it were not to the third--her +conversation was not quickly over. She ended at last, by desiring +Richard to give her patient some of a febrifuge, which she had +brought with her, every two hours, and when it was all spent, or in +case of any change in the boy's state, to summon her from the ladies' +tent; adding, however, "But what's the use of leaving a pert +springald like thee in charge? Thou wilt sleep like a very dormouse, +I'll warrant! I'd best call Mother Jugge." + +"Oh no, no!" cried John; to whom the attendance of Mother Jugge would +have been a worse indignity than the being nursed by Dame Idonea; +"let me have no one but Richard! Richard knows all I want.--Richard, +leave me not again." + +"Ay, ay; a little lad ever hangs to a bigger, were he to torture the +life out of him. Small thanks for us women after our good looks be +past. But I'll look in on the child in early morn, thanks or no +thanks; for I know his mother well, and if I can help it, the hyenas +shall not make game of his bones, as I hear them doing by the French +yonder." + +John strove to say that, indeed, he thanked her, and had been +infinitely comforted and refreshed by her care, and that all he meant +was to express his distaste to Mother Jugge, the lavender (i.e. +laundress), and his desire for Richard Fowen's company; but he was +little attended to, and apparently more than half offended, the brisk +old lady trotted away. + +That island was a dreary place; without a tree or any shelter from +the glare of sun and sea, whose combined influences threatened +blindness, sun-stroke, or at the very least blistered the faces of +those who stepped beyond their tents by day. The Prince's orders, +however, strictly confined his army within its bounds, except that at +twilight parties were sent ashore for water and provisions, under +strict orders, however, to hold no parley with any one from the +French or Sicilian camps, lest they should bring home the infection +of the pestilence; and always under the command of some trustworthy +knight, able and willing to enforce the command. + +The Prince himself refused all participation in the counsels of +Charles of Anjou, and confined himself, like his men, entirely to the +fleet and island. Charles contrived to spread a report, that his +displeasure was solely due to his disappointment at being balked of +fighting with the Tunisians; and that instead of indignant grief at +the perversion of the wrecked Crusade, he was only showing the +sullenness of an aggrieved swordsman. Even young Philippe le Hardi, +a dull, heavy, ignorant youth, was led to suppose this was the cause +of his offence, and though daily inquiries were sent through the +Genoese crews for his health, he made no demonstration of willingness +to see his cousin of England. + +Thus Richard had no opportunity of ascertaining whether there were +any basis for the strange impression he had received in St. Louis's +death-chamber. It would have been an act of disobedience, not soon +overlooked by the Prince, had one of his immediate suite transgressed +his commands, and indeed, so strict was the discipline, that it would +scarcely have been possible to make the attempt. Besides, Richard's +time was entirely engrossed between his duties in attending on the +Prince, and his care of little John of Dunster, who had a sharp +attack of fever, and was no doubt only carried through it by the +experienced skill of Dame Idonea Osbright, and by Richard's tender +nursing. Somehow the dame's heart was not won, even by the elder +page's dutiful care and obedience to all her directions. Partly she +viewed him as a rival in the affections of the patient--who, poor +little fellow, would in his companion's absence be the child he was, +and let her treat him like his mother, or old nurse, chattering to +her freely about home, and his home-sick longings; whereas the +instant any male companion appeared, he made it a point of honour to +be the manly warrior and crusader, just succeeding so far as to be +sullen instead of plaintive; though when left to Richard, he could +again relax his dignity, and become natural and affectionate. But +besides this species of jealousy, Richard suspected that Lady +Osbright knew, or at least guessed, his own parentage, and disliked +him for it accordingly. She had never forgotten the distress and +degradation of his mother's stolen marriage, nor forgiven his father +for it; she had often stung the proud heart of his brother Henry, +when he shared the nursery of his cousins the princes; and her sturdy +English dislike of foreigners, and her strong narrow personal +loyalty, had alike resulted in the most vehement hatred of the Earl +of Leicester, whose head she would assuredly have welcomed with +barbarous exultation, worthy of her Danish ancestors. Little chance, +then, was there that she would regard with favour his son under a +feigned name, fostered in the Prince's own court and camp. + +She was a constraint, and almost a vexation, to Richard, and he +heartily wished that the boy's recovery would free his tent from her. +The boy did recover favourably, in spite of all the discomforts of +the island, and was decidedly convalescent when, after nearly ten +days' isolation on the island, Edward drew out his whole force upon +the shore to do honour to the embarkation of the relics of Louis IX. +It was one of the most solemn and melancholy pageants that could be +conceived. A wide lane of mailed soldiers was drawn up, Sicilians +and Provencals on the one side, and on the other, English and the +Knights of the two Orders. All stood, or sat on horseback in shining +steel, guarding the way along which were carried the coffins. In +memory, perhaps, of Louis's own words, "I, your leader, am going +first," his remains headed the procession, closely followed by those +of his young son; and behind it marched his two brothers, Charles and +Alfonse, and his son-in-law, the King of Navarre (the two latter +already bearing the seeds of the fatal malady), and the three English +princes, Edward, Edmund, and Henry of Almayne, each followed by his +immediate suite. The long line of coffins of French counts and +nobles, whose lives had in like manner been sacrificed, brought up +the rear; and alas! how many nameless dead must have been left in the +ruins! + +Each coffin when brought to the shore was placed in a boat, and with +muffled oars transplanted to the vessel ready to receive it, while +the troops remained drawn up on the shore. The procession that +ensued was almost more mournful. It was still of biers, but these +were not of the dead but of the living, and again the foremost was +the King of France, while next to him came his sister, the Queen of +Navarre. Edward went down to his litter, as it was brought on the +beach, and offered him his arm as he feebly stepped forth to enter +the boat. Philippe looked up to his tall cousin, and wrung his hands +as he murmured, "Alas! what is to be the end of all this?" Edward +made kind and cheerful reply, that things would look better when they +met at Trapani, and then almost lifted the young king into his boat. +Poor youth, he had not yet seen the end! He was yet to lose his +wife, his brother-in-law, and his uncle and aunt, ere he should see +his home again. + +Richard and Hamlyn de Valence, as part of the Prince's train, had +moved in the procession; and they were for the rest of the day in +close attendance on their lord, conveying his numerous orders for the +embarkation of the troops on the morrow, on their return to Sicily. +It was not till night-fall that Richard returned to his tent, where +John of Dunster was sitting on the sand at the door, eagerly watching +for him. "Well, Jack, my lad, how hast thou sped?" asked he, +advancing. "Couldst see our doleful array?" + +"Is it thou, indeed, this time?" said the boy, catching at his cloak. + +"Why, who should it be?" + +"Thy wraith! Thy double-ganger has been here Richard." + +"What, dreaming again?" + +'No no! I am well, I am strong. But this IS the land of +enchantment! Thou knowst it is. Did we not see a fleet of fairy +boats sailing on the sea? and a leaf eat up a fly here on this very +tent pole? And did not the Fay Morgaine show us towns and castles +and churches in the sea? Thou didst not call me light-headed then, +Richard; thou sawest it too!" + +"But this wraith of mine! Where didst see it?" + +"In this tent. I was lying on the sand, trying if I could make it +hold enough to build a castle of it, when the curtain was put back, +and there thou stoodest, Richard!" + +"Well, did I speak or vanish?" + +"Oh, thou spakest--I mean the THING spake, and it said, 'Is this the +tent of the young Lord of Montfort?' How now--what have I said?" + +"Whom did he ask for?" demanded Richard breathlessly. + +"Montfort--young Lord de Montfort!" replied John; "I know it was, for +he said it twice over." + +"And what didst thou answer?" + +"What should I answer? I said we had no Montforts here; for they +were all dishonoured traitors, slain and outlawed." + +Richard could not restrain a sudden indignant exclamation that +startled the boy. "Every one says so! My father says so!" he +returned, somewhat defiantly. + +"Not of the Earl," said Richard, recollecting himself. + +"He said every one of the young Montforts was a foul traitor, and +man-sworn tyrant, as bad as King John had been ere the Charter," +repeated John hotly, "and their father was as bad, since he would +give no redress. Thou knowst how they served us in Somerset and +Devon!" + +"I have heard, I have heard," said Richard, cutting short the story, +and controlling his own burning pain, glad that the darkness +concealed his face. "No more of that; but tell me, what said this +stranger?" + +"Thou thinkest it was really a stranger, and not thy wraith?" said +John anxiously. "I hope it was, for Dame Idonea said if it were a +wraith, it betokened that thou wouldst not--live long--and oh, +Richard! I could not spare thee!" + +And the little fellow came nestling up to his friend's breast in an +access of tenderness, such as perhaps he would have disdained save in +the darkness. + +"Did Dame Idonea see him?" asked Richard. + +"No; but she came in soon after he had vanished." + +"Vanished! What, like Fay Morgaine's castles? Tell me in sooth, +John; it imports me to know. What did this stranger, when thou +spakest thus of the House of Montfort?" + +"He answered," said John; "he did not answer courteously--he said, +that I was a malapert little ass, and demanded again where this young +Montfort's tent was. So then I said, that if a Montfort dared to +show his traitor's face in this camp, the Prince would hang him as +high as Judas; for I wanted to be rid of him, Richard! it was so +dreadful to see thy face, and hear thy voice talking French, and +asking for dead traitors." + +"French!" said Richard. "Methought thou knewst no French!" + +"I--I have heard it long now, more's the pity," faltered John, "and-- +and I'd have spoken anything to be rid of that shape." + +"And wert thou rid? What befell then?" + +"It cursed the Prince, and King, and all of them," said John with a +shudder; "it looked black and deadly, and I crossed myself, and said +the Blessed Name, and no doubt it writhed itself and went off in +brimstone and smoke, for I shut my eyes, and when I looked up again +it was gone!" + +"Gone! Didst look after him?" + +"Oh, no! Earthly things are all food for a brave man's sword," said +Master John, drawing himself up very valiantly, "but wraiths and +things from beneath--they do scare the very heart out of a man. And +I lay, I don't know how, till Dame Idonea came in; and she said +either the foul fiend had put on thy shape because he boded thee ill, +or it was one of the traitor brood looking for his like." + +"Tell me, John," said Richard anxiously; "surely he was not in all +points like me. Had he our English white cross?" + +"I cannot say as to the cross," said John; "meseemed it was all you-- +yourself--and that was all--only I thought your voice was strange and +hollow--and--now I think of it--yes--he was bearded--brown bearded. +And," with a sudden thought, "stand up, prithee, in the opening of +the tent;" and then taking his post where he had been sitting at the +time of the apparition, "He was not so tall as thou art. Thy head +comes above the fold of the curtain, and his, I know, did not touch +it, for I saw the light over it. Then thou dost not think it was thy +wraith?" he added anxiously. + +"I think my wraith would have measured me more exactly both in +stature and in age," said Richard lightly. "But how did Leonillo +comport himself? He brooks not a stranger in general; and dogs +cannot endure the presence of a spirit." + +"Ah! but he fawned upon this one, and thrust his nose into his hand," +said John, "and I think he must have run after him; for it was so +long ere he came back to me, that I had feared greatly he was gone, +and oh, Richard! then I must have gone too! I could never have met +you without Leonillo." + +By this time Richard had little doubt that the visitor must have been +one of his brothers, Simon or Guy, who were not unlikely to be among +the Provencals, in the army of Charles of Anjou. He had not been +thought to resemble them as a boy, but he had observed how much more +alike brothers appear to strangers than they do to their own family; +and he knew by occasional observations from the Prince, as well as +from his brother Henry's recognition of his voice, that the old +Montfort characteristics must be strong in himself. He would not, +however, avow his belief to John of Dunster. Secrecy on his own +birth had been enjoined on him by his uncle the King; and +disobedience to the old man's most trifling commands was always +sharply resented by the Prince; nor was the boy's view of the House +of Montfort very favourable to such a declaration. Richard really +loved the brave little fellow, and trusted that some day when the +discovery must be made, it would be coupled with some exploit that +would show it was no name to be ashamed of. So he only told the boy +that he had no doubt the stranger was a foreign knight, who had once +known the old Leicester family; but bade him mention the circumstance +to no one. He feared, however, that the caution came too late, since +Dame Idonea was not only an inveterate gossip, but was likely to hold +in direful suspicion any one who had been inquired for by such a +name. + +The personal disappointment of having missed his brother was great. +Richard was very lonely. The Princes, and Hamlyn de Valence, were +the only persons who knew his secret, and both by Prince Edmund and +De Valence he was treated with indifference or dislike. Edward +himself, though the object of his fervent affection, and his +protector in all essentials, was of a reserved nature, and kept all +his attendants at a great distance. On very rare occasions, when his +feelings had been strongly stirred--as in the instance of his visit +to his uncle's death-chamber--he might sometimes unbend; and +momentary flashes from the glow of his warm deep heart went further +in securing the love and devotion of those around him, than would the +daily affability of a lower nature; but in ordinary life, towards all +concerned with him except his nearest relations, he was a strict, +cold, grave disciplinarian, ever just, though on the side of +severity, and stern towards the slightest neglect or breach of +observance, nor did he make any exception in favour of Richard. If +the youth seldom received one of his brief annihilating reproofs, it +was because they were scarcely ever merited; but he had experienced +that any want of exactitude in his duties was quite as severely +visited as if he had not been the Prince's close kinsman, +romantically rescued by him, and placed near his person by his +special desire. And Eleanor, with all her gentle courtesy and +kindness, was strictly withheld by her husband from pampering or +cockering his pages; nor did she ever transgress his will. + +The atmosphere was perhaps bracing, but it was bleak: and there were +times when Richard regretted his acceptance of the Prince's offer, +and yearned after family ties, equality, and freedom. Simon and Guy +had never been kind to him, but at least they were his brothers, and +with them disguise and constraint would be over--he should, too, be +in communication with his mother and sister. He was strongly +inclined to cast in his lot with them, and end this life of secrecy, +and distrust from all around him save one, and his loyal love ill +requited even by that one. It grieved him keenly that one of his +brothers should have been repulsed from his tent; an absolutely +famished longing for fraternal intercourse gained possession of him, +and as he lay on his pallet that night in the dark, he even shed +tears at the thought of the greeting and embrace that he had missed. + +Still he had hopes for the future. There must be meetings and +possibilities of inquiries passing between the three armies, and he +would let no opportunity go by. The next day, however, there was no +chance. The English troops were embarked in their vessels, and after +a short and prosperous passage were again landed at Trapani, the +western angle of Sicily. The French had sailed first, but were not +in harbour when the English came in; and the Sicilians, who had +brought up the rear, arrived the next day, but still there was no +tidings of the French. Towards the evening, however, the royal +vessel bearing Philippe III. came into harbour, and all the rest were +in sight, when at sunset a frightful storm arose, and the ships were +in fearful case. Many foundered, many were wrecked on the rocky +islets around the port, and the French army was almost as much +reduced in numbers as it had been by the Plague of Carthage. + +Charles of Anjou remained himself in the town of Trapani, but knowing +the evils of crowding a small space with troops, he at once sent his +men inland, and Richard was again disappointed of the hope of seeing +or hearing of his brothers; for the Prince still forbade all +intercourse with the shattered remnant of the French army, justly +dreading that they might still carry about them the seeds of the +infection of the camp. + +The three heads of the Crusade, however, met in the Castle of Trapani +to hold council on their future proceedings. The place was the +state-chamber of the castle. + +Each prince had brought with him a single attendant, and the three +stood in waiting near the door, in full view of their lords, though +out of earshot. It was an opportunity that Richard could not bear to +miss of asking for his brothers, unheard by any of those English ears +who would be suspicious about his solicitude for the House of +Montfort. A lively-looking Neapolitan lad was the attendant of King +Charles; and in spite of all the perils of attempting conversation +while thus waiting, Richard had--while the princes were greeting one +another, and taking their seats--ventured the question, whether any +of the sons of the English Earl of Leicester were in the Sicilian +army. Of Earl of Leicester the Italian knew nothing; but Count of +Montfort was a more familiar sound. "Si, si, vero!" Sicily had rung +with it; and Count Rosso Aldobrandini, of the Maremma Toscana, had +given his only daughter and heiress to the banished English knight, +Guido di Monforte, who had served in the king's army as a Provencal. + +Richard's heart beat high. Guy a well-endowed count, with a castle, +lands, and home! He would have asked where Guy now was, and how far +off was the Maremma; but the conference between the princes was +actually commencing, and silence became necessary on the part of +their attendants. + +They could only hear the murmur of voices; but could discern plainly +the keen looks and animated gestures of Charles of Anjou, the sickly +sullen indifference of Philippe, and the majestic gravity of Edward, +whose noble head towered above the other two as if he were their +natural judge. Charles was, in fact, trying to persuade the others +to sail with him for Greece, and there turn their forces on the +unfortunate Michael Palaeologos, who had lately recovered +Constantinople, the Empire that Charles hoped to win for himself, the +favoured champion of Rome. + +Philippe merely replied that he had had enough of crusading, he was +sick and weary, he must go home and bury his father, and get himself +crowned. Charles might be then seen trying a little hypocrisy; and +telling Philippe that his saintly father would only have wished to +speed him on the way of the Cross. Then that trumpet voice of +Edward, whose tones Richard never missed, answered, "What is the way +of the Cross, fair uncle?" + +It was well known that Louis IX. had refused to crusade against +Christians, even Greek Christians, and Philippe soon sheltered +himself under the plea that had not at first occurred to his dull +mind. In effect, he laid particulars before his uncle, that quickly +made it plain that the French army was in too miserable a condition +to do anything but return home; and Charles then addressed his +persuasions to Edward--striving to convince him in the first place of +the sanctity of a war against Greek heretics, and when Edward proved +past being persuaded that arms meant for the recovery of the Holy +Sepulchre ought not to be employed against Christians who reverenced +it, he tried to demonstrate the uselessness of hoping to conquer the +Holy Land, even by such a Crusade as had been at first planned, far +less with the few attached to Edward's individual banner. Long did +the king argue on. His low voice was scarcely audible, even without +the words; but Edward's brief, ringing, almost scornful, replies, +never failed to reach Richard's ear, and the last of them was, "It +skills not, my fair uncle. For the Holy Land I am vowed to fight, +and thither would I go had I none with me but Fowen, my groom!" + +And withal his eye lit on Richard, with a look of certainty of +response; of security that here was one to partake his genuine +ardour, and of refreshment in the midst of his disgust with the +selfish uncle and sluggish cousin. That look, that half smile, made +the youth's heart bound once more. Yes, with him he would go to the +ends of the earth! What was the freedom of Guy's castle, to the +following of such a lord and leader in such a cause? + +Richard could have thrown himself at his feet, and poured forth +pledges of fidelity. But in ten minutes he was following home the +unapproachable, silent, cold warrior. + +And the lack of any outlet for his aspirations turned them back upon +themselves, with a strange sense of bitterness and almost of +resentment. Leonillo alone, as the creature lay at his feet, and +looked up into his face with eyes of deep wistful meaning, seemed to +him to have any feeling for him; and Leonillo became the recipient of +many an outpouring of something between discontent and melancholy. +Leonillo, the sole remnant of his home! He burnt for that Holy Land +where he was to win the name and fame lacking to him; but there was +to be long delay. + +Fain would the Prince have proceeded at once to Palestine; but the +Genoese, from whom, in the abeyance of the English navy, he had been +obliged to hire his transports, absolutely refused to sail for the +East until after the three winter months; and he was therefore +obliged to remain in Sicily. King Charles invited him to spend +Christmas at the court at Syracuse or Naples, in hopes, perhaps, of +persuading him to the Greek expedition; but Edward was far too much +displeased with the Angevin to accept his hospitality; recollecting, +perhaps, that such a sojourn had been little beneficial to his great- +uncle Coeur de Lion's army. He decided upon staying where he was, in +the remotest corner of Sicily, and keeping his three hundred +crusaders as much to themselves and to strict military discipline as +possible, maintaining them at his own cost, and avoiding as far as he +could all transactions with the cruel and violent Provencal +adventurers, with whom Charles had filled the island. + +Thus Richard found his hopes of obtaining further intelligence about +his brothers entirely passing away. He did, indeed, venture on one +day saying to the Prince, "My Lord, I hear that my brother Guy hath +become a Neapolitan count!" + +"A Tuscan robber would be nearer the mark!" coldly replied Edward. + +"And," added Richard, "methought, while the host is in winter +quarters, I would venture on craving your license, my Lord, to visit +him?" + +"Thou hast thy choice, Richard," answered the Prince, with grave +displeasure; "loyalty and honour with me, or lawlessness and violence +with thy brother. Both cannot be thine!" + +And returning to his study of the Lais of Marie de France, he made it +evident that he would hear no more, and left Richard to a sharp +struggle; in which hot irritation and wounded feeling would have +carried him away at once from the stern superior who required the +sacrifice of all his family, and gave not a word of sympathy in +return. It was the crusading vow alone that detained the youth. He +could not throw away his pledge to the wars of the Cross, and it was +plain that if he went now to seek out Guy, he should never be allowed +to return to the crusading army. But that vow once fulfilled, proud +Edward should see, that not merely sufferance but friendliness was +needed to bind the son of his father's sister to his service. The +brother at Bednall Green was right, this bondage was worse than +beggary. Nor, under the influence of these feelings, had Richard's +service the alacrity and affection for which it had once been +remarkable: the Prince rebuked his short-comings unsparingly, and +thus added to the sense of injury that had caused them; Hamlyn de +Valence sneered, and Dame Idonea took good care to point out both the +youth's neglects and his sullenness, and to whisper significantly +that she did not wonder, considering the stock he came of. A +soothing word or gentle excuse from the kind-hearted Princess were +the only gleams of comfort that rendered the present state of things +endurable. + +Just after Christmas arrived a vessel with reinforcements from home. +Among them came a small body of Hospitaliers, with the novice Raynal +at their head, now a full-blown knight, in dazzling scarlet and +white, as Sir Reginald Ferrers. Richard at once recognized him, when +he came to present himself to the Prince, and was very desirous of +learning whether he knew aught of that other brother, so mysteriously +hidden in obscurity. Sir Raynal on his side seemed to share the +desire; he exchanged a friendly glance with the page, and when the +formality of the reception was over sought him out, saying, "I have a +greeting for you, Master Fowen." + +"From Sir Robert Darcy?" asked Richard. "How fares it with the kind +old knight?" + +"Excellent well! Nay, nothing fares amiss with Father Robert!" said +the young knight, smiling. "Everything is the very best that could +have befallen him--to hear him speak. He is the very sunshine of the +Spital, and had he been ordered on this Crusade, I think all the +hamlets round would have risen to withhold him." + +"Ah!" said Richard, hoping he was acting indifference; "said he aught +of the little maiden with the blind father?" + +"Pretty Bessee and Blind Hal of Bednall Green? Verily, that was the +purport of my message. The poor knave hath been sorely sick and more +cracked than ever this autumn; insomuch that Father Robert spent +whole nights with him; and though he be better now, and as much in +his senses as e'er he will be, such another access is like to make an +end of him. Now, Father Robert saith that you, Sir Page, know who +the poor man is by birth, and that he prays you to send him word what +had best be done with the child, in case either of his death or of +his getting so frenzied as to be unable to take care of her." + +"Send him word!" repeated Richard in perplexity. + +"We shall certainly have some one returning soon to the Spital," +replied Sir Raynal. "Indeed, methinks some of the princes will be +like to return, for the old King of the Romans is failing fast, and +King Henry implored that the Prince of Almayne would come to hearten +him." + +"Then must I write to Sir Robert?" said Richard; "mine is scarce a +message for word of mouth." + +"So he said it was like to be," returned the knight, "and he took +thought to send you a slip of parchment, knowing, he said, that such +things are not wont to be found in a crusader's budget. Moreover, if +ink be wanting, he bade me tell you that there's a fish in these +seas, with many arms, and very like the foul fiend, that carries a +bag of ink as good as any scrivener s. + +"I have seen the monster," said Richard, who had often been down to +the beach to see the unlading of the fishermen's boats, and to share +little John of Dunster's unfailing marvel, that the Mediterranean +should produce such outlandish creatures, so alien to his Bristol +Channel experiences. + +And the very next time the boats came in, Richard made his way to the +shore, on the beautiful, rocky, broken coast; and presently +encountered a sepia, which fully justified Sir Robert's comparison, +lying at the bottom of a boat. The fisherman intended it for his own +dinner, when all his choicer fish should have gone to supply the +Friday's meal of the English chivalry; and he was a good deal amazed +when the young gentleman, making his Provencal as like Sicilian as he +could, began to traffic with him for it, and at last made him +understand that it was only its ink-bag that he wanted. + +The said ink, secured in a shell, was brought home by Richard, +together with a couple of the largest sea-bird's quills that he could +find--and which he shaped with his dagger, as best he might, in +remembrance of Father Adam de Marisco's writing lessons. He +meditated what should be the language of his letter, which was not +likely to be secure from the eyes of the few who could read it; and +finally decided that English was the tongue known to the fewest +readers, who, if they knew letters at all, were sure to be acquainted +with French and Latin. + +On a strip of parchment, then, about nine inches long and three wide, +he proceeded to indite, in upright cramped letters, with many +contractions, nearly in such terms as these - + + +REVEREND AND KNIGHTLY FATHER, + +The good ghostly father and knight, Sir Raynald Ferrers, hath borne +to me your tidings of my brother's sickness, and of all your goodness +to him--whereof I pray that our blessed Lady and good St. John may +reward you, for I can only pray for you. Touching his poor little +daughter, in case of his death or frenzy, which the Saints of their +mercy forefend, I would entreat you of your goodness to place her in +some nunnery, but without making known her name and quality until my +return; so Heaven bring me home safe. But an if I should be slain in +this Eastern land, then were it most for the little one's good to +present her to the gracious lady Princess, by whom she would be most +lovingly and naturally cared for; and would be more safe than with +such as might shun to own her rights of blood and heirship. Commend +me to my brother, if so be that he cares to hear of me; and tell him +that Guy hath wedded the lady of a castle in the land of Italy. And +so praying you, ghostly father, for your blessing, I greet you well, +and rest your grateful bedesman and servant, + +RICHARD OF LEICESTER. + +Given at the Prince's camp at Drepanum, in the realm of Sicilia, on +the octave of the Epiphany, in the year of grace MCCLXX.; and so our +Lord have you heartily in His keeping. + + +Letter-writing was a mighty task; and Richard's extemporary +implements were not of the best. He laboured hard over his +composition, kneeling against a chest in the tent. When at length he +raised his head, he encountered a face full of the most utter +amazement. Little John of Dunster had come into the tent, and stood +gazing at him with open eyes and gaping mouth, as if he were +perpetrating an incantation. Richard could not help laughing. + +"Why, Jack, dost think I am framing a spell for thee?" + +"Writing!" gasped John, relieving his distended mouth by at length +closing it. + +"Wherefore not? Did not I see the chaplain teaching thee to write at +Guildford?" + +"Ay--but that was when I was a babe! Writing! Why, my father never +writes!" + +"But the Prince does. Thou hast seen him write. Come now," added +Richard: "if thou wilt, I will help thee to write a letter to send +thy greetings home to Dunster. Thy father and mother will be right +glad to hear thou hast 'scaped that African fever." + +"They!--They'd think me no better than a French monk!" said John. +"And none of them could read it either! I'll never write! My +grandsire only set his cross to the great charter!" + +And John retreated--in fear perhaps that Richard would sully his +manhood with a writing lesson! + +The letter was rolled up in a scroll, bound with a silken thread, and +committed to the charge of Sir Raynald Ferrers, who was going shortly +to be commandery of his Order at Castel San Giovanni, whence he had +no doubt of being able to send the letter safely to Sir Robert Darcy, +at the Grand Priory. + +It would perhaps have been more expeditious to have intrusted the +letter to one of the suite of Prince Henry of Almayne, who had been +recalled by the tidings of the state of his father's health; but +Richard dreaded betraying his brother's secret too much to venture on +confiding the missive to any of this party--none of whom were indeed +likely to wish to oblige him. Hamlyn de Valence was going with Henry +as his esquire; and his absence seemed to Richard like the beginning +of better days. + + + +CHAPTER IX--ASH WEDNESDAY + + + +"Mostrocci un ombra da l' un canto sola +Dicendo 'Colui feese in grembo a Dio +Lo cuor che'n su Tamigi ancor si cola.'" +DANTE. Inferno. + +Shrovetide had come, and the Prince had, before leaving Trapani, been +taking some share in the entertainments of the Carnival. Personally, +his grave reserve made gaieties distasteful to him; and the +disastrous commencement of the Crusade weighed on his spirits. But +when state and show were necessary, he provided for them with royal +bounty and magnificence, and caused them to be regulated with the +admirable taste of that age of exceeding beauty in which he lived. + +Thus, in this festal season, banquets were provided, and military +shows took place, for the benefit of the Sicilian nobility and of the +citizens of Trapani, on such a scale, that the English rose high in +general esteem; and many were the secret wishes that Edmund of +Lancaster rather than Charles of Anjou had been able to make good the +grant from the Pope. + +Splendid were the displays, and no slight toil did they involve on +the part of the immediate train of the Prince, few in number as they +were, and destitute of the appliances of the resident court. Richard +hurrying hither and thither, and waiting upon every one, had little +of the diversion of the affair; but he would willingly have taken +treble the care and toil in the relief it was to be free from the +prying mistrustful eyes of Hamlyn de Valence. Looking after little +John of Dunster was, however, no small part of his trouble; the +urchin was so certain to get into some mischief if left to himself-- +now treading on a lady's train, now upsetting a flagon of wine, now +nearly impaling himself upon the point of a whole spitful of ortolans +that were being handed round to the company, now becoming uncivilly +deaf upon his French ear. Altogether, it was a relief to Richard's +mind when he stumbled upon the little fellow fast asleep, even though +it was in the middle of the Princess's violet velvet and ermine +mantle, which she had laid down in order to tread a stately measure +with Sire Guillaume de Porceles. + +After all Richard's exertions that evening, it was no wonder that the +morning found him fast asleep at the unexampled hour of eight! His +wakening was a strange one. His little fellow-page was standing +beside him with a strange frightened yet important air. + +"What is the matter, John? It is late? Is the Prince gone to Mass? +Has he missed me?" cried Richard, starting up in dismay, for +unpunctuality was a great offence with Edward. + +"He is gone to Mass," said John, "but, before he comes back," he came +near and lowered his voice, "Hob Longbow sent me to say you had +better flee." + +"Flee! Boy, why should I flee? Are YOUR senses fleeing?" + +"O Richard," cried John, his face clearing up, "then it is not true! +You are not one of the traitor Montforts!" + +"If I were a hundred Montforts, what has that to do with it?" + +"Then all is well," exclaimed the boy. "I said you were no such +thing! I'll tell Hob he lied in his throat." + +"If he said I was a traitor, verily he did; but as to being a +Montfort--But, how now, John, what means all this?" + +"Then it is so! O Richard, Richard, you cannot be one of them! You +cannot have written that letter to warn them to murder Prince Henry." + +"To murder Prince Henry!" Richard stood transfixed. "Not the +Prince's little son!" + +"Oh no, Prince Henry of Almayne! At Viterbo! Hamlyn de Valence saw +it. He is come back. It was in the Cathedral. O Richard--at the +elevation of the Host! Guy and Simon de Montfort fell on him, +stabbed him to the heart, and rushed out. Then they came back again, +and dragged him by the hair of his head into the mire, and shouted +that so their father had been dragged through the streets of Evesham. +And then they went off to the Maremma! And," continued the boy +breathlessly, "Hob Long-bow is on guard, and he bade me tell you, +that for love of your father he will let you pass; and then you can +hide; if only you can go ere the Prince comes forth." + +"Hide! Wherefore should I hide? This is most horrible, but it is no +deed of mine!" said Richard. "Who dares to think it is?" + +"Then you are none of them! You had no part in it! I shall tell Hob +he is a villain--" + +"Stay," said Richard, laying a detaining hand on the boy. "Why does +Hob think me in danger? Is anything stirring against me?" + +"They all--all of poor Prince Henry's meine, that are come back with +Hamlyn--say that you are a Montfort too, and--oh! do not look so +fierce!--that you sent a letter to warn your brethren where to meet, +and fall on the Prince. And the murderers being fled, they are keen +to have your life; and, Richard, you know I saw you write the +letter." + +"That you saw me write a letter, is as certain as that my name is +Montfort," said Richard, "but I am not therefore leagued with +traitors or murderers! In the church, saidst thou? Oh, well that +the Prince forbade me to visit Guy!" + +"Then you will not flee?" + +"No, forsooth. I will stay and prove my innocence." + +"But you are a Montfort! And I saw you write the letter." + +"Did you speak of my having written the letter?" asked Richard, +pausing. + +The boy hung his head, and muttered something about Dame Idonea. + +By this time, even if Richard had thought of flight, it would have +been impossible. Two archers made their presence apparent at the +entrance of the tent, and in brief gruff tones informed Richard that +the Prince required his presence. The space between his tent and the +royal pavilion was short, but in those few steps Richard had time to +glance over the dangers of his position, and take up his resolution +though with a certain stunned sense that nothing could be before the +member of a proscribed family, but failure, suspicion, and ruin. + +The two brothers, Edward and Edmund, with the Earl of Gloucester, and +their other chief councillors, were assembled; and there were looks +of deep concern on the faces of all, making Edward's more than ever +like a rigid marble statue; while Edmund had evidently been weeping +bitterly, though his features were full of fierce indignation. +Hamlyn de Valence, and a few other members of the murdered Prince's +suite, stood near in deep mourning suits. + +"Richard de Montfort," said Prince Edward, looking at him with a +sorrowful reproachful sternness that went to his heart, "we have sent +for you to answer for yourself, on a grave charge. You have heard of +that which has befallen?" + +"I have heard, my Lord, of a foul crime which my soul abhors. I +trust none present here think me capable of sharing in it! Whoever +dares to accuse me, shall be answered by my sword!" and he glanced +fiercely at Hamlyn. + +"Hold!" said Edward severely, "no one is so senseless as to accuse +you of taking actual part in a crime that took place beyond the sea; +but there is only too much reason to believe that you have been +tampered with by your brothers." + +Then, as his brother Edmund made some suggestion to him, he added, +"Is John de Mohun of Dunster here?" + +"Yea, my Lord," said the little boy, coming forward, with a flush on +his face, and a bold though wistful look, "but verily Richard is no +traitor, be he who he may!" + +"That is not what we wished to ask of you," said the Prince, too sad +and earnest to be amused even for a moment. "Tell us whom you said, +even now, you had seen in the tent you shared with him in Africa." + +"I said I had seen his wraith," said John. + +No smile lighted upon the Prince's features; they were as serious as +those of the boy, as he commented, "His likeness--his exact likeness- +-you mean." + +"Ay," said the boy; "but Richard proved to me after, that it had been +less tall, and was bearded likewise. So I hoped it did not bode him +ill." + +"Worse, I fear, than if it had in sooth been his double," said +Gloucester to Prince Edmund. The Prince added the question whether +this visitor had spoken; and John related the inquiry for Richard by +the name of Montfort, and his own reply, which elicited a murmur of +amused applause among the bystanders. + +The Prince, however, continued in the same grave manner to draw from +the little witness his account of Richard's injunction to secresy; +and then asked about the letter-writing, of which John gave his plain +account. The Prince then said, "Speak now, Hamlyn." + +"This, then, I have to add, my Lord, that I, as all the world, +remarked that Richard de Montfort consorted much with Sir Reginald de +Ferrieres, who, as we all remember, is the son of a family deeply +concerned in the Mad Parliament. By Sir Reginald, on his arrival at +Castel San Giovanni, a messenger is despatched, bearing letters to +the Hospital at Florence, and it is immediately after his arrival +there, that the two Montforts speed from the Maremma to the unhappy +and bloody Mass at Viterbo." + +You hear, Richard!" said the Prince. "I bade you choose between me +and your brothers. Had you believed me that you could not serve +both, it had been better for you. I credit not that you incited them +to the assassination; but your tidings led them to perpetrate it. I +cannot retain the spy of the Montforts in my camp." + +"My Lord," said Richard, at last finding space for speech, "I deny +all collusion with my brothers. I have neither seen, spoken with, +nor sent to them by letter nor word." + +"Then to whom was this letter?" demanded the Prince. + +"To Sir Robert Darcy, the Grand Prior of England," answered Richard. + +A murmur of incredulous amazement was heard. + +"The purport?" continued Edward. + +"That, my Lord, it consorts not with my duty to tell." + +"Look here, Richard," interposed Gilbert of Gloucester, "this is an +unlikely tale. You can have no cause for secresy, save in connection +with these brothers; and if you will point to some way of clearing +yourself of being art and part in this foul act of murder, you may be +sent scot free from the camp; but if you wilfully maintain this +denial, what can we do but treat you as a traitor? No obstinacy! +What can a lad like you have to say to good old Sir Robert Darcy, +that all the world might not know?" + +"My Lord of Gloucester," said Richard, "I am bound in honour not to +reveal the matters between me and Sir Robert; I can only declare on +the faith of a Christian gentleman that I have neither had, nor +attempted to have, any dealings with either of my brothers, Guy or +Simon; and if any man says I have, I will prove his falsehood on his +body." And Richard flung down his glove before the Prince. + +At the same moment Hamlyn de Valence sprang forward. + +"Then, Richard de Montfort, I take up the gage. I give thee the lie +in thy throat, and will prove on thy body that thou art a man-sworn +traitor, in league with thy false brethren." + +"I commit me to the judgment of God," said Richard, looking upwards. + +"My Lord," said Hamlyn, "have we your permission to fight out the +matter?" + +"You have," said Edward, "since to that holy judgment Richard hath +appealed." + +But the Prince looked far from contented with the appeal. He allowed +the preliminaries of place and time to be fixed without his +interposition; and when the council broke up, he fixed his clear deep +eyes upon Richard in a manner which seemed to the boy to upbraid him +with the want of confidence, for which, however, he would not +condescend to ask. Richard felt that, let the issue of the combat be +what it would, he had lost that full trust on the part of the Prince, +which had hitherto been his one drop of comfort; and if he were +dismissed from the camp, he should be more than ever desolate, for +his soul could scarce yet bring itself to grasp the horror of the +crime of his brothers. + +The combat could not take place for two days--waiting, on one, in +order that Hamlyn might have time to rest, and recover his full +strength after his voyage, and the next, because it was Ash +Wednesday. In the meantime Richard was left solitary; under no +restraint, but universally avoided. The judicial combat did not make +him uneasy; the two youths had often measured their strength +together, and though Hamlyn was the elder, Richard was the taller, +and had inherited something of the Plantagenet frame, so remarkable +in those two + + +Lords of the biting axe and beamy spear, + + +"wide conquering Edward" and "Lion Richard"; and each believed in the +righteousness of his own cause sufficiently to have implicit +confidence that the right would be shown on his side. + +In fact, Richard soon understood that though Prince Edward, with a +sense of the value of definite evidence far in advance of the time, +and befitting the English Justinian, had only allowed the charge to +be brought against him which could in a manner be substantiated, yet +that the general belief went much further. Proved to be a Montfort, +and to have written a letter, he was therefore convicted, by +universal consent, of a league with his brothers for the revenge of +their house; to have instigated the assassination at Viterbo, and to +be only biding his time for the like act at Trapani. Even the Prince +was deeply offended by his silence, and imputed it to no good motive; +trust and affection were gone, and Richard felt no tie to retain him +where he was, save his duty as a crusader. Let him fail in the +combat, and the best he could look for would be to be ignominiously +branded and expelled: let him gain, and he much doubted whether, +though the ordeal of battle was always respected, he would regain his +former position. With keen suffering and indignation, he rebelled +against Edward's harshness and distrust. He--who had brought him +there--who ought to have known him better! Moreover, there was the +crushing sense of the guilt of his brothers; guilt most horrible in +its sacrilegious audacity, and doubly shocking to the feelings of a +family where the grim sanctity of the first Simon de Montfort, and +the enlightened devotion of the second, formed such a contrast to the +savage outrage of him who now bore their name. Richard, as with bare +feet and ashes whitening his dark locks he knelt on the cold stones +of the dark Norman church at Trapani, wept hot and bitter tears of +humiliation over the family crimes that had brought them so low; +prayed in an agony for repentance for his brothers; and for himself, +some opening for expiating their sin against at least the generous +royal family. "O! could I but die for my Prince, and know that he +forgave and they repented!" + +Only when on his way back to the camp was he sensible of the murmurs +of censure at his hypocrisy in joining the penitential procession at +all. Dame Idonea, in a complete suit of sackcloth, was informing her +friends that she had made a vow not to wash her face till the whole +adder brood of Montfort had been crushed; and that she trusted to see +the beginning of justice done to-morrow. She had offered a candle to +St. James to that effect, hoping to induce him to turn away his +patronage from the family. + +Every one, knight or squire, shrank away from Richard, if he did but +look towards them; and he was seriously discomfited by the difficulty +of obtaining a godfather for the combat. No one chose even to be +asked, lest they might be suspected of approving of the murder of +Prince Henry; and the unhappy page re-entered his tent with the most +desolate sense of being abandoned by heaven and man. + +Fastened upon the pole of the tent by an arrowhead, a small scroll of +parchment met his eyes. He read in English--"A steed and a lance are +ready for the lioncel who would rather avenge his father than lick +the tyrant's feet. A guide awaits thee." + +Some weeks since, this might have been a tempting summons; but now +the sickening sense of the sacrilegious murder, and of the life of +outlawry utterly unrestrained, passed over Richard. Yet, if he +should not accept the offer, what was before him? A shameful death, +perhaps; if he failed in the ordeal, disgrace, captivity, or +expulsion; if he succeeded, bondage and distrust for ever. Some new +accusation! some deeper fall! + +There was a low growl from Leonillo; the hangings of the tent were +raised, and an archer bending his head said, "A word with you, Sir." + +"Who art thou?" demanded Richard. + +"Hob Longbow, Sir. Remember you not old passages--in the forest, +there--and Master Adam?" + +Richard did remember the archer in the days of his outlaw life, in a +very different capacity. + +"You were grown so tall, Sir, and so hand and glove with the +Longshanks, that Nick Dustifoot and I knew not an if it were +yourself--but now your name is out, and the wind is in another +quarter"--he grinned, then seeing Richard impatient of the approach +to familiarity, "You did not know Nick Dustifoot? He was one of +young Sir Simon's men-at-arms, you see, and took to the woods, like +other folk, after Kenilworth was given up, till stout men were +awanting for this Crusade. And he knew Sir Guy when he came to the +camp yon by Tunis, and spake with him; moreover, he went in the train +of him of Almayne to Viterbo, and had speech again with Sir Simon, +who gave him this scroll. And if you will meet him at the Syren's +Rock to-night, my Lord Richard, he will bring you to those who will +conduct you to Sir Guy's brave castle, where he laughs kings and +counts to scorn! We have the guard, and will see you safe past the +gates of the camp." + +The way to liberty was open: Richard deliberated. The atmosphere of +distrust and suspicion under the Prince's coldness was well-nigh +unbearable. Danger faced him for the next day! Disgrace was +everywhere. Should he leave it behind, where, at least, he would not +hear and feel it? Should he, when all had turned from him, meet a +brotherly welcome? + +Then came back on him the thought of what Simon and Guy had made +themselves; the thought of his father's grief at former doings of +theirs, which had fallen so far short of the atrocity of this. He +knew that his father had rather have seen each one of his five sons +slain, or helpless cripples like the firstborn, than have been thus +avenged. Nay, had he this morning prayed for the pardon of a crime, +to which he would thus become a consenting party? + +He looked up resolutely. "No, Hob Longbow. Hap what hap, my part +can never be with those who have stained the Church with blood. Let +my brothers know that my heart yearned to them before, but now all is +over between us. I can only bear the doom they have brought upon +me!" + +It was not possible to remain and argue. A tent was a dangerous +place for secret conferences, and Hob Longbow could only growl, "As +you will, Sir. Now nor you nor any one else can say I have not done +my charge." + +"Alack, alack!" sighed Richard, "would that, my honour once redeemed, +Hamlyn might make an end of me! But for thee, my poor Leonillo, I +have no comforter or friend!" and he flung his arms round the dog's +neck. + + + +CHAPTER X--THE COMBAT + + + +"And now with sae sharp of steele +They 'gan to lay on load." +Sir Cauline. + +Heavy-hearted and pale-cheeked with his rigidly observed fast, +Richard armed himself in early morning, and set forth to the chapel +tent, where the previous solemnities had to be observed. He had made +up his mind to make an earnest appeal to the Earl of Gloucester, for +the sake of the old friendship with his father, to become his +godfather in the combat, as one whose character stood too high to be +injured by connection with him. Even this plan was frustrated, for +Hamlyn de Valence entered, led by Earl Gilbert as his sponsor. +Should he turn to his one other friend, the Prince himself? Nay, the +Prince was umpire and judge. Never stood warrior so lonely. Little +John of Dunster crept up to his side; and but for fear of injuring +the child, he would almost have asked him to be his sponsor. At that +moment, however, the tramp of horses' feet was heard, and Sir +Reginald de Ferrieres, with his squires, galloped up to the tent. + +The young Hospitalier held out his hand cordially. "In time, I +hope," said he; "I have ridden ever since Lauds at Castel San +Giovanni, hoping to be with you, so as to stand by you in this +matter." + +"It was kindly done of you," said Richard, tears of gratitude +swelling in his eyes, as he wrung Sir Raynald's hand. "I have not +even a godfather for the fight! How could you know of my need?" + +"Some of our brethren came over from the camp, for our Ash Wednesday +procession, and spoke of the stress you were in--that your Montfort +lineage was out, and that you were thought to have writ a letter--but +stay, there's no time for words; methinks here's the Prince and all +his train." + +Sir Raynald went through the solemnity of presenting Richard de +Montfort as about to fight in defence of his own innocence. The +Prince coldly accepted the presentation. Richard knew that Sir +Raynald was deemed anything but a satisfactory sponsor; but the young +knight's hearty sympathy, a sort of radiance caught from good old Sir +Robert, was too comforting not to be reposed on. + +Each champion then confessed. Raynald heard Richard's shrift, and +nearly wept over it--it was the first the young priestly knight had +received, and he could scarcely clear his voice to speak the words of +absolution. Even as they left the confessional, he grasped Richard's +hand and said, "Cast in thy lot with us! St. John will find thee +father and home and brethren!" + +And a gleam of joy and hope flashed on the youth's heart, and shone +brighter as he participated in the solemn Mass in preparation for the +combat. This over, each champion made oath of the justice of his +quarrel in the hands of his godfather before the Prince: Hamlyn de +Valence swearing that to the best of his belief, Richard de Montfort +was a traitor, in league with his brothers, and art and part in the +murder of Prince Henry of Almayne, and offering to prove it on his +body; while on the other hand Richard swore that he was a true and +faithful liegeman to the King, free from all intercourse with his +brethren, and sackless of the death of Prince Henry. + +Then each mounted on horseback, the trumpets sounded, the sponsors +led them to their places, and the Prince's clear voice exclaimed, +"And so God show the right." One glance of pitying sympathy would +have filled Richard's arm with fresh vigour. + +The two youths closed with shivered lances, and horses reeling from +the shock. Backing their steeds, each received a fresh lance. Again +they met; Richard felt the point of Hamlyn's lance glint against his +breastplate, glide down, enter, make its way into his flesh; but at +the same instant his lance was pushing, driving, bearing on Hamlyn +before him; the sheer force in his Plantagenet shoulders was telling +now, the very pain seemed as it were to add to the energy with which +he pressed on--on, till the hostile spear dropped from his own side, +and Hamlyn was borne backwards over the croup of the staggering +horse, till he fell with crashing ringing armour upon the ground. +Little John clapped his hands, and shouted for joy; but no one +responded. + +Richard leapt down in another second, and stood over him. "Yield +thee, Hamlyn de Valence. Confess that thou hast slandered me with an +ungrounded accusation." + +Hamlyn had no choice. "Let me rise," he said sullenly; "I will +confess, so thou letst me open my visor." + +And Richard standing aside, Hamlyn spoke out in a dogged formal tone. +"I hereby own, that by the judgment of Heaven, Richard de Montfort +hath cleared himself of all share in the foul murder of Lord Henry, +whose soul Heaven assoilzie. Also that he hath disproven the charge +of leaguing with his brethren." + +Richard was the victor, but where were the gratulations? Young +John's hearty but slender hurrah was lost in the general silence. + +The Prince reared his stately form, and said, "The judgment of Heaven +is final. Richard de Montfort is pronounced free of all penalty for +treason in the matter of the death of our dear cousin, and is free to +go where he will." + +Cold as ice was the Prince's face. That Richard meant murder to +Henry, he had never believed; but that he had hankered after his +brothers, and held dangerous communings with them, was evidently +still credited and unforgiven. The very form of words was a +dismissal--and the youth's heart was wrung. + +He stood, looking earnestly up as the Prince moved from his place, +without a glance towards him. The next moment Raynald's kind hand +was on his shoulder, and his voice saying, "Well fought, brother, a +brave stroke! Come with me, thou art hurt." + +"Would it were to the death!" murmured Richard dreamily, as Raynald, +throwing his arm round him, led him away; but before they had reached +the tent there was a plunging rush and scampering behind them, and +John of Dunster came dashing up. "I knew it! I knew it!" he cried. +"I knew he would overset spiteful Hamlyn! Hurrah! They can't keep +me away now, Richard--now the judgment of Heaven has gone for you!" + +Richard smiled, and put his gauntleted hand caressingly on the boy's +shoulder. + +"I was afraid," added John, "that you would think me like the rest of +them. Miscreants, all! Not one would shout for you--you, the +victor! They don't heed the judgment of Heaven one jot. And that's +what they call being warriors of the Cross! If the Prince were a +true-born Englishman, he would be ashamed of himself. But never +heed, Richard. Why don't you speak to me? Are you angered that I +told of the letter? Indeed, I never guessed--" + +"Hush, varlet," said Sir Raynald, "see you not that he has neither +breath nor voice to speak? If you wish to do him a service, hie to +our tents--down yonder, to the east, where you see the eight-pointed +cross--" + +"I know, Sir," said John, perfectly civil on hearing accents as +English as his own. + +"And bring up Brother Bartlemy, he is a better infirmarer than I. +Bid him from me bring his salves and bandages." + +Richard was barely conscious when he reached the tent, as much from +rigid fasting and sleeplessness as from the actual loss of blood. +His friend disarmed him tenderly, and revived him with bread and +wine, silencing a half-murmured scruple about Lenten diet with the +dispensation due to sickness. The wound was not likely to be serious +or disabling, and the cares of the Hospitalier and his infirmarer had +presently set their patient so much at ease that he dropped into a +sound sleep, having scarcely said a word, beyond a few faintly +uttered thanks, since he had fought the combat. + +At first his sleep was profound, but by and by the associations of +blows and wounds carried him back to the field of Evesham. The wild +melee was renewed, he heard the voice of his father, but always in +that strange distressing manner peculiar to dreams of the departed, +always far away, and just beyond his reach, ever just about to give +him the succour he needed, but ever withheld. The thunderstorm that +broke over the contending armies roared again in his ears; and then +again recurred the calm still night, when he had lain helpless on the +battle-field; even the caress of Leonillo, and his low growl, were +vividly repeated; but as the dog moved, it was to Richard as if the +form of his father rose up in its armour from the dark field, and +said in a deep hollow voice, "Well fought, my son; I will give thee +knighthood." Then Richard thought he was kneeling before his father, +and hearing that same voice saying, "My son, be true and loyal. In +the name of God and St. James. I dub thee knight of death!" and +looking up, he beheld under the helmet, not Simon de Montfort's face +but the Prince's. He awoke with a start of disappointment--and there +stood Edward himself, leaning against the tent-pole, looking down at +him! + +He sprang on his feet, scarcely knowing whether he slept or woke; but +Edward said, in that voice that at times was so ineffably sweet, "Be +still, Richard; I fear me thou hast suffered a wrong, and I am come +to repair it, as far as I can! Lay thee down again." + +And the Prince seated himself on the oaken chest; while Richard, +after a few words, sat down on his couch. + +"Is this the letter about which there has been such a coil?" said +Edward, giving him the scroll in its sepia ink. + +"It is!" replied Richard in amazement and dismay. + +"The only letter thou didst write?" + +"The only one," repeated Richard. + +"And," added Edward, "it concerns thy brother Henry. + +Richard turned even paler than before, and could not suppress a gasp +of dismay. "My Lord, make me not forsworn!" + +"Listen to me, Richard," said Edward. "My sweet lady gave me no rest +about thee. She held that I had withdrawn my trust over lightly, for +what was no blame to thine heart; and that having set thee here apart +from thy natural friends, we owed thee more notice than I have been +wont to think wholesome for untried striplings. Others, and I among +them, held that Raynald Ferrers' friendship and countenance showed +thee stubbornly set on old connections, and many thought the letter +to the Grand Prior Darcy a mere excuse. But when Hamlyn fell, and I +still held that thou wert merely cleared from wilful share in the +deadly crime of which I had never held thee guilty, then she spake +more earnestly. She of her own will sent for Raynald Ferrers to our +tent, and called me to speak with him, sure that, even though his +family had been our foes, he was too honourable a knight to have +espoused thy cause without good reason. Then it was that he told us +of thine interest for the blind beggar whose child thou didst save, +and of the Grand Prior's message. Also, as full exculpation of thee, +he gave me the letter, which, having failed to find a home-bound +messenger at San Giovanni, he had brought back to the camp. And now, +Richard, what can I say more, than that I did thee wrong, and pray +thee to give me thy hand in pardon?" + +Richard hid his face and sobbed, completely overwhelmed by the simple +dignity of the humility of such a man as Edward. He held the +Prince's hand to his lips, and exclaimed, "Oh, how--how could I have +ever felt discontent, or faltered? not in truth--oh, no--but in trust +and patience? Oh! my Lord, that I could die for you!" + +"Not yet," said Edward, smiling; "we have much to do together first. +And now tell me, Richard, this beggar is indeed Henry?" + +Richard hung his head. + +"What, thou mayst not betray him?" + +"I am under an oath, my Lord." + +"Nay, I know well-nigh all, Richard. I did indeed see my dear old +comrade laid in Evesham Church, so as it broke my heart to see him, +bleeding from many wounds, and even his hand lopped by the savage +Mortimers. Then, as I bent down, and gave his brow a last kiss, it +struck me, for a moment, that the touch was not that of a dead man's +skin. But I looked again at the deadly wounds of head and breast, +and thought it would be but cruelty to strive to bring back the +glimmer of life only to--to see the ruin of his house; and all that +he could not be saved from. O Richard, to no man in either host +could the day of Evesham have been so sore, as to me, who had to sit +in the gate, to gladden men's hearts, like holy King David, when he +would fain have been weeping for his son! But in early morning came +Abbot William of Whitchurch to my chamber, and with much secrecy told +me that the corpse of Henry de Montfort had been stolen from the +church by night, praying me to excuse that the monks, wearied out +with the day of alarms, and the care of our wounded, had not kept +better watch. Then knew I that some one had been less faithless than +I, and I hoped that poor Henry was at least dying in peace; I had +never deemed that he could survive. But when I saw thy billet, and +heard Ferrers' tale, I had no further doubt, remembering likewise how +strangely familiar was the face of that little one at Westminster." + +"Yes, my Lord, it was even as a strange, wild, wilful, blind beggar +that I found poor Henry; and heavy was the curse he laid me under, +should I make him known to you. He calls himself thus a freer and +happier man than he could be even were he pardoned and reinstated; +and he can indulge his vein of mockery." + +"I dare be sworn that consoles him for all," said Edward, nearly +laughing. "So long as he could utter his gibe, Henry little recked +which way the world passed round him; and I trow he has found some +mate of low degree, that he would be loth to produce in open day." + +"Not so, my Lord: it is so wild a tale of true love that I can +sometimes scarce believe a minstrel did not sing it to me!" And +Richard told the history of Isabel Mortimer's fidelity. The Prince +was deeply touched, and then remembered the marked manner in which +the Baron of Mortimer had replied to his inquiry, in what convent he +had bestowed Henry de Montfort's betrothed. "She is dead, my Lord, +dead to us." Then he added suddenly, "So that black-eyed babe is the +heiress of Leicester and all the honours of Montfort!" + +"It is one of the causes for Henry's resolve to be secret," said +Richard. "I thought it harsh and distrustful then, but he dreaded +Simon's knowledge of her." + +"We will find a way of securing her from Simon," said the Prince. +"But fear not, Richard, Henry's secret shall be safe with me! I have +kept his secrets before now," he added, with a smile. "Only, when we +are at home again--so it please the Saints to spare us--thou shalt +strive to show him cause to trust my Lady with his child, if he doth +not seek to breed her up to scrip and wallet. I see such is thy +counsel in this scroll, and it is well." + +"How could I say other?" said Richard, "and now, more than ever! I +long to thank the gracious Princess this very evening." + +"Thy wound?' said the Prince. + +"My wound is naught, I scarce feel it." + +"Then," said the Prince, "unless the leech gainsay it, it would be as +well to be at our pavilion this evening, that men may see thou art +not in any disgrace. Rest then till supper-time." And as he spoke +he rose to depart, but Richard made a gesture of entreaty. "So +please your Grace, grant me a few farther words. I sware, and truly, +that I had heard nothing from my brothers when I was accused of +writing that letter to them. But see here, what yester-morn was +pinned to that tent-pole." + +He gave Edward the scroll, at which the Prince looked half smiling. +"So! A dagger in store for me too, is there? Well, my cousins have +a goodly thirst for vengeance! Hast thou any suspicion how this +billet came here?" + +"Ay, my Lord; and for that cause I would warn you against two of the +archers, one of whom was in Simon's troop, and went with the late +prince to Viterbo. I gave them no promise of silence." + +"You spoke with them?" + +"With one, who was charged to let me through the outposts to a spot +where means were provided for bringing me to Guy." + +"And thou," said Edward, smiling, "didst choose to bide the buffet?" + +"Sir," said Richard, "I did indeed long after my brethren when Guy +had been so near me in Africa; but now, I would far rather die than +cast in my lot with them." + +"Thou art wise," said Edward; "not merely right, but wise. I have +sent Gloucester to my uncle of Sicily with such messages that he will +scarce dare to leave them scatheless! Then, at supper-time we meet +again--in thine own name, Richard, and as my kinsman and esquire. +Thou shalt bear thine own name and arms. I will cause a mourning +suit to be sent to thee--thou art equally of kin with myself to poor +Henry--and shalt mourn him with Edmund and me at the requiem to- +morrow. So will it best be manifest to the camp, that we exempt thee +from all blame." Again he was departing, when Richard added--"The +archers, my Lord--were it not good to dismiss them?" + +"Tush," said Edward; "tell me not their names. So soon as the wind +veers, they will be beyond Guy's reach; and if I were to stand on my +guard against every man who loved thy father better than mine, what +good would my life do me? The poor knaves will be true enough when +they see a Saracen before them!" + +And away went Edward, to be glanced at as he passed through the camp, +as a severe, hard, cruel tyrant. Had he only been gay, open-hearted, +and careless, he might have hung both the guilty archers, and a dozen +innocent ones into the bargain, and yet have never won the character +for harshness and unmercifulness that he had acquired even while +condoning many a dire offence, simply from his stern gravity, and his +punctilious exactitude in matters of discipline. But the evils of a +lax and easy-going court had been so fatal, and had produced such +suffering, that it was no marvel that he had adopted a rule of iron; +and in the pain and distress of seeing his closest friends, the +noblest subjects in the realm, pushed into a rebellion where he had +himself to maintain his father's cause, and then to watch, without +being able to hinder, the mean-spirited revenge of his own partizans, +his manner had acquired that silent reserve and coldness which made +him feared and hated by the many, while intensely beloved by the few. +Even towards those few it was absolutely difficult to him to unbend, +as he had done in this hour of effusion towards Richard; and the +youth was proportionably moved and agitated with fervent gratitude +and affection. + +He had scarcely had so happy an evening since he had been a boy at +Odiham. He was indeed feeble and dizzy at times, but with a far from +painful languor; and the Princess, enjoying the permission to follow +the dictates of her own heart, was kind to him with a motherly or +sisterly kindness, could not bear to receive from him his wonted +attendance, but made him lie upon the cushions at her feet, and when +out of hearing of every one, talked of the faithful Isabel, and of +"pretty Bessee," on whom she already looked as the companion of her +little Eleanor, whom she had left at home. + +It might be questioned whether Richard did not undergo more in +watching little John de Mohun's endeavours at waiting than he would +have suffered from doing it himself. And not a few dissatisfied +glances were levelled at the favoured stripling, besides the +literally as well as figuratively sour glances of Dame Idonea. + +Edward, being of course unable to betray his real grounds for +acquitting Richard, had only deigned to inform Prince Edmund that he +knew all, and was perfectly satisfied. Now Prince Edmund, as well as +all the old court faction, deemed Edward's regard for the Barons' +party an unreasonable weakness that they durst not indeed combat +openly, but which angered them as a species of disaffection to his +own cause. The outer world thought him a tyrant, but there was an +inner world to whom he appeared weakly good-natured and generous; and +this inner world thought Richard had successfully hoodwinked him! + +Therefore Edmund of Lancaster desired to adopt Hamlyn de Valence as +his own squire, to save him from association with Richard; and both +prince and squire, and all the rest of the train, made it perfectly +evident to the young Montfort that he was barely tolerated out of +respect for the Prince. + +But Richard in his joy could have borne worse than this, for the +Prince had not relaxed in his kindness, and made his young cousin's +wound an excuse for showing him more tenderness and consideration +than he would otherwise have thought befitting. Moreover, an +esquire, as Richard had now become, might be in much closer relations +of intimacy with his master than was possible to a page; and the day +that had begun so sadly was like the dawn of a brighter period. + +Sir Raynald Ferrers had been invited to the Prince's pavilion, but +the rules of his Order did not permit his joining a secular +entertainment in Lent, and he did not admit either the camp life or +the gravity of the Prince's mourning household as a dispensation. +However, when Richard, leaning fondly on little John's ready +shoulder, crossed to his own tent, he found his good friend waiting +there to attend to his wound, which Sir Raynald professed to regard +as an excellent subject to practise upon, and likewise to hear +whether all had been cleared up, and had gone right with him. + +"Though," he said, "I could not doubt of it when that fair and lovely +Princess had taken your matters in hand. Tell me, Richard, have you +secular men many such dames as that abroad in the world?" + +"Not many such as she," said Richard, smiling. + +"Well, I have not spoken to a female thing, save perhaps pretty +Bessee, since I went into the Spital, ten years ago; and verily the +sound of the lady's voice was to me as if St. Margaret had begun +talking to me! And so wise and clear of wit too. I thought women +were feather-pated wilful beings, from whom there was no choice but +to shut oneself up! I trow, that now all is well with thee, thou +wilt scarce turn a thought again towards our brotherhood, where to +glance at such a being becomes a sin." And Raynald crossed himself, +with an effort to recall his wonted asceticism. + +"Ladies' love is not like to be mine," said Richard, laughing, as one +not yet awake to the force of the motive. "No! Gladly would I be +one of your noble brotherhood, where alone have I met with kindness-- +but, Sir Raynald, my first duty under Heaven must be to redeem my +father's name, by my service to the Prince. My brothers think they +uphold it by deadly revenge. I want to show what a true Montfort can +be with such a master as my father never had! And, Raynald, I cannot +but fear that further schemes of vengeance may be afloat. The Prince +is too fearless to take heed to himself, and who is so bound to watch +for him as I?" + + + +CHAPTER XI--THE VIEW FROM CARMEL + + + +"On her who knew that love can conquer death; + Who, kneeling with one arm about her king, +Drew forth the poison with her balmy breath, + Sweet as new buds in spring."--TENNYSON. + +A year had elapsed since the crusaders had landed in Palestine; +Nazareth had been taken, and the Christian host were encamped upon +the plain before Acre, according to their Prince's constant habit of +preferring to keep his troops in the open field, rather than to +expose them to the temptations of the city--which was, alas! in a +state most unworthy of the last stronghold of Latin Christianity in +the Holy Land. + +It was on a scorching June day, Whitsun Tuesday, in the exquisite +beauty of an early summer in the mountains of the Levant--when "the +flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is +come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig tree +putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape +give a good smell,"--that Richard de Montfort was descending the +wooded sides of Mount Carmel. + +Anxious tidings had of late come from England respecting the health +of the little Prince John; and Princess Eleanor was desirous of +offering gifts and obtaining prayers on his behalf, on the part of +the good Fathers of the convent associated with the memory of the +great Prophet who had raised the dead child to life. She herself, +however, was at the time unfit for a mountain ride; and Prince +Edward, who was a lay brother of the Carmelite order, and had fully +intended himself to go and offer his devotions for his child, was so +unwell on that day, from the feverish heat of the summer, that he +could not expose himself to the sun; and Richard was therefore +despatched on the part of the royal pair. He had ascended in the +cool of the morning, setting forth before sunrise, and attending the +regular Mass. The good Fathers would fain have detained him till the +heat of the day should be past; but his anxiety not to overpass in +the slightest degree the time fixed by the Prince, made him resolved +on setting out so soon as his errand was sped. + +Unspeakably beautiful was his ride--through rocky dells filled with +copsewood, among which jessamine, lilies, and exquisite flowers were +peeping up, and the coney, the fawn, and other animals, made Leonillo +prick his ears and wistfully seek from his master's eye permission to +dash off in pursuit. Or the "oaks of Carmel," with many a dark- +leaved evergreen, towered in impenetrable thicket, and at an opening +glade might be beheld on the north-east, "that goodly mountain +Lebanon" rising in a thick clothing of wood; and beyond, in sharp +cool softness, the white cone of rain-distilling Hermon. Far to the +west lay the glorious glittering sheet of the Mediterranean; but +nearer, almost beneath his feet, was the curving bay and harbour of +Ptolemais, filled with white sails, the white city of Acre full of +fortresses and towers; while on the plain beside it, green with +verdure as Richard's own home greenwood of Odiham, lay the white +tents of the Christian army, in so clear an atmosphere that he could +see the flash of the weapons of the men on guard, and almost +distinguish the blazonry of the banners. + +Richard dismounted to gather some roses and jessamine for the +Princess, and to collect some of the curious fossil echini, which he +believed to be olives turned to stone by the Prophet Elijah, as a +punishment to a churlish peasant who refused him a meal. He thought +that such treasures would be a welcome addition to the store he was +accumulating for the good old Grand Prior. He gave his horse to Hob +Longbow, his only attendant except a young Sicilian lad. This same +Longbow had stuck to him with a pertinacity that he could not shake +off, and in truth had hitherto justified the Prince's prediction that +he would be a brave and faithful fellow when his allegiance was no +further disturbed by the proximity of the outlawed Montforts. There +had been nothing to lead Richard to think he ought to indicate either +him or Nick Dustifoot to the Prince as the persons who had been +connected with Guy in Italy. + +Presently Leonillo bounded forward, and Richard became aware of the +figure of a man in light armour standing partly hidden among the +brushwood, but looking down intently into the Christian camp. The +dog leapt up, fawning on the stranger with demonstrations of rapture; +and he, turning in haste, stood face to face with Richard. + +"Here!" was his exclamation, and a grasp was instantly laid upon his +sword. + +"Simon!" burst from Richard's lips at the same moment, "dost not know +me?" + +"Thou, boy?" and the hold was relaxed. "What lucky familiar sent +thee hither? What--thou art grown such a huge fellow that I had +well-nigh struck thee down for Longshanks himself, had it not been +for thy voice. Thou hast his very bearing." + +"Simon!" again repeated Richard, in his extremity of amazement. +"What dost thou? How camest thou here? Whence--?" + +"That thou shalt soon see," said Simon. "A right free and merry home +and company have we up yonder,"--and he pointed towards Mount +Lebanon. + +"Thou and Guy?" + +"No, no; Guy turned craven. Could not endure our wanderings in the +marshes and hills, pined for his wife forsooth, fell sick, and must +needs go and give himself up to the Pope; so he sings the penitential +psalms night and day." + +"And we heard thou wast dead at Siena." + +"Thou hearest many a false tale," said Simon. "Of my death thou +shalt judge, if thou wilt turn thy horse and ride with me to our +hill-fort of Ain Gebel, in Galilee. They say 'tis the very one which +King David or King Herod, whichever it was, could only take by +letting down his men-at-arms in boxes! I should like to see the +boxes that we could not send skimming down the abyss! And a wondrous +place they have left us--vaults as cool as a convent wine-cellar, +fountains out of the rock, marble columns." + +"But, brother, for whom do you hold it? For the King of Cyprus or-- +?" + +"For myself, boy! For King Simon, an it like you better! None can +touch me or my merry band there, and a goodly company we are-- +pilgrims grown wiser, and runaway captives, and Druses, and bold +Arabs too: and the choicest of many a heretic Armenian merchants' +caravan is ours, and of many a Saracen village; corn and wine, fair +dames, and Damascus blades, and Arab steeds. Nothing has been +wanting to me but thee and vengeance, and both are, I hope, on the +way!" + +"Not I, certainly!" said Richard, shrinking back in horror: "I--a +sworn crusader!" + +"Tush, what are we but crusaders too, boy? 'Tis all service against +the Moslem! Thy patron saint sent thee to me to-day from special +care for thy safety." + +"How so!" exclaimed Richard. "If peril threaten my Lord, I must be +with him at once." + +"Much hast thou gained by hanging on upon him," said Simon +scornfully, glancing at Richard's heels; "not so much as a pair of +gilt spurs! Creeping after him like a hound, thou hast not even the +bones!" + +"I have all I seek," said Richard. "I have his brotherly kindness. +I have the opportunity of redeeming my name. Nay, I should even +regret any honour that took me from the services I now perform. +Simon, didst thou but know his love for our father!" + +"Silence, base caitiff!" thundered Simon; "I know his deeds, and that +is enough for me! Look here, mean-spirited as thou wert to be taken +with his hypocrisy, I have pity on thee yet. I would spare thee what +awaits thee in the camp!" + +"For heaven's sake, Simon, dost know of any attack of the Emir? The +Princess must at once be conveyed into the town! As thou art a man, +a Christian, speak plainly!" + +"Foolish lad, the infidels are quiet enough! No peril threatens the +camp! Only if thou wilt run thy head into it, thou art like to find +it too hot to hold thee!" + +"I am afraid of no accusations," said Richard; "my Lord knows and +trusts me." + +Simon laughed a loud ringing scornful laugh. + +"Wilful will to water," he said. "Well, thou besotted lad, if it be +not too late when thou getst into the hands of Crookbacked Edmund and +Red Gilbert, remember the way to Galilee, that is all!" + +"I tell thee, Simon," said Richard, turning round and fully facing +him; "I would rather perish an innocent man by the hands of the +Provost Marshal, than darken my soul with thy counsels of blood. O +Simon! What thy purpose may be I know not; but canst thou deem it +faithfulness to our father, saint as he was, to live this dark wild +life, so utterly abhorrent to him?" + +"Let those look to that who slew him, and made me such as I am," +returned Simon, turning from him, and gazing steadfastly down into +the camp. Suddenly a gleam of fierce exultation lighted up his face, +and again facing Richard he exclaimed, "Yes, go home, tame cringing +spaniel, and see whether a Montfort is still in favour below there! +See if proud Edward is still ready to meet thy fawning with his +scornful patronage! See if the honour of a murdered father has not +been left in better hands than thine! And when thou hast had thy +lesson, find the way to Ain Gebel, or ask Nick Dustifoot." + +Richard, with a startled exclamation, looked down, but could discern +nothing unusual in the camp. The royal banner hung in heavy folds +over the Prince's pavilions, and all was evidently still in the same +noontide repose, or rather exhaustion, to which the Syrian sun +reduced even the hardy active Englishmen. "What mean you?" he began; +but Simon was no longer beside him. He called, but echo alone +answered; and all he could do was to throw himself on his horse, and +hurry down the mountain side, with a vague presentiment of evil, and +a burning desire to warn his lord or share his peril. + +He understood Simon's position. Many of the almost inaccessible +rocks, where the sons of Anak had built their Cyclopean fortresses, +and which had been abodes of almost fabulous beauty and strength in +the Herodian days, had been resorted to again by the crusaders, and +had served as isolated strongholds whence to annoy the enemy. +Frightfully lawless had, in too many instances, been the life there +led, more especially by the Levant-born sons of Europeans; and in the +universal disorganization of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, that took +place in consequence of the disputed rights of Cyprus and +Hohenstaufen, most of them had become free from all control. If the +garrisons bore the Christian name at all, it chiefly was as an excuse +for preying on all around; but too often they were renegades of every +variety of nation, drawn together by the vilest passions, commanded +by some reckless adventurer, and paying a species of allegiance to +any power that either endangered them, or afforded them the hopes of +plunder. Bloodthirsty and voluptuous alike, they were viewed with +equal terror by the Frank pilgrim, the Syriac villager, the Armenian +merchant, and the Saracen hadji--whose ransom and whose spoil +enriched their chambers, with all that the licentious tastes of East +and West united could desire. There were comparatively few of these +nests of iniquity in these latter days of the Crusades, but some +still survived; and Richard had seen some of their captains with +their followers at the siege of Nazareth, where the atrocities they +had committed had been such as to make the English army stand aghast. +As a member of such a crew, Simon could hardly fail to find means of +attempting that revenge on which it was but too evident that he was +still bent; and Richard, as every possible risk rose before him, +urged his horse to perilous speed down the steep descent, and chid +every obstacle, though in fact the descent which ordinarily occupied +two hours, for men who cared for their own necks, was effected by him +in a quarter of the time. He came to the entrenched camp. The +entrance, where the Prince made so strict a point of keeping a +sentinel, was completely unguarded. The foremost tents were empty, +but there was a sound as of the murmuring voices of numbers towards +the centre of the camp. The next moment he met Hamlyn de Valence +riding quickly, and followed by two attendants. + +"Hamlyn! a moment!" he gasped. "Has aught befallen the Prince?" + +"You were aware of it, then!" said Hamlyn, checking his horse, and +looking him full in the face. + +"Answer me, for Heaven's sake! Is all well with the Princes?" + +"As well as your house desires--or it may be somewhat better," said +Hamlyn; "but let me pass. I am on an errand of life or death." + +So saying, Hamlyn dashed forwards; and Richard, in double alarm, made +his way to the space in the centre of the camp, where he found +himself on the outskirts of a crowd, talking in the various tongues +of English, French, and Lingua Franca. "He lives--the good Princess- +-the dogs of infidels--poison--" were the words he caught. He flung +himself from his horse, and was about to interrogate the nearest man, +when John of Dunster came hurrying towards him from the tents, and +threw himself upon him, sobbing with agitation and dismay. + +"What is it? Speak, John! The Prince!" + +"Oh, if you had but been there! It will not cease bleeding. O +Richard, he looks worse than my father when he came home!" + +"Let me hear! Where? How is he hurt?" + +"In the arm and brow," said the boy. + +"The arm!" said Richard, much relieved. + +"Ah, but they say the dagger is poisoned! Stay, Richard, I'll tell +you all. Dame Idonea turned me out of the tent, and she will not let +any one in. It was thus--even now the Prince was lying on the day- +bed in his own outer tent, no one else there save myself. I believe +everybody was asleep, I know I was--when Nick Dustifoot called me, +and bade me tell the Prince there was a messenger from the Emir of +Joppa, asking to see him. So the Prince roused himself up, and bade +him come in. He was one of those quick-eyed Moorish-looking +infidels, in the big turbans and great goat's hair cloaks; and he +went down on his knees, and hit the ground with his forehead, and +said Salam aleikum--traitor that he was--and gave the Prince a +letter. Well, the Prince muttered something about his head aching so +sorely that he could scarce see the writing, and had just put up his +hand to shade his eyes from the light, when the dog was out with a +dagger and fell on him! The Prince's arm being raised, caught the +stroke, you see; and that moment his foot was up," said John, acting +the kick, "and down went the rogue upon his back! And I--I threw +myself right down over him!" + +"Did you, my brave little fellow? Well done of you!" cried Richard. + +"And the Prince wrested the dagger out of the rogue's hand, only he +tore his own forehead sorely, as the point flew up with the shock-- +and then stabbed the villain to the heart--see how the blood rushed +over me! Then the Prince pulled me up, and called me a brave lad, +and set me on my feet, and asked me if I were sure I was not hurt. +And by that time the archers were coming in, when all was over; and +Long Robin must needs snatch up a joint stool and have a stroke at +the Moor's head. I trow the Prince was wrath with the cowardly clown +for striking a dead man. He said I alone had been any aid!" + +"'Well?" anxiously asked Richard, gathering intense alarm as he saw +that the boy's trouble still exceeded his elation, even at such +commendation as this. + +"But then," said John sadly, "even while he called it nothing, there +came a dizziness over him. And even then the Princess had heard the +outcry, and came in haste with Dame Idonea. And so soon as the Dame +had picked up the dagger and looked well at it, and smelt it, she +said there was poison on it. No sooner did the Princess hear that, +than, without one word, she put her lips to his arm to suck forth the +venom. He was for withholding her, but the Dame said that was the +only safeguard for his life; and she looked--oh, so imploring!" + +"Blessings on the sweet Princess and true wife!" cried the men-at- +arms, great numbers of whom had gathered round the little eye-witness +to hear his account. + +"And so is he saved?" said Richard, with a long breath. + +"Ah! but," said John, his eyes beginning to fill with tears, "there +is the Grand Master of the Templars come now, and he says that to +suck the poison is of no avail; and that nothing will save him but +cutting away the living flesh as I would carve the wing of a bustard; +and Dame Idonea says that is just the way King Coeur de Lion died, +and the Princess is weeping, and the wound will not stop bleeding; +and Hamlyn is gone to Acre for a surgeon, and they are all wrangling, +and Dame Idonea boxed my ears at last, and said I was gaping there." +The boy absolutely burst into sobs and tears, and at the same moment +a growl arose among the archers, of "Curses on the Moslem hounds! +Not one shall escape! Death to every captive in our hands!" + +"Nay, nay," exclaimed Richard, looking up in horror; "the poor +captives are utterly guiltless! Far more justly make me suffer," +murmured he sadly. + +"All tarred with the same stick," said the nearest; "serve them as +they deserve." + +"Think," added Richard, "if the Prince would see no dishonour done to +the dead carcase of the murderer himself, would he be willing to have +ill worked on living men, sackless of the wrong? English turning +butchers--that were fit work for Paynims." + +"No, no, not one shall live to laugh at our Edward's fall," burst out +the men; and a voice among them added, "Sure the young squire seems +to know a vast deal about the guilty and the guiltless--the Montfort! +Ay! Away with all foes to our Edward--" + +"Best withdraw yourself, Sir," said Hob Longbow; "their blood is up. +Baulk them of their prey, and they will set on you next." + +Richard just then beheld a person from whose interposition he had +much greater hopes, namely the Earl of Gloucester, who, though still +a young man, was the chief English noble in the camp, and whose +special charge the Saracen captives were. He hurried towards him, +and asked tidings of the Prince. + +"Ill tidings, I trow," said the Earl, bitterly. "Ay, Richard de +Montfort, you had best take heed to yourself, he was your best +friend; and a sore lookout it is for us all. Between the old dotard +his father and the poor babes his children, England is in woeful +plight. Would that your father's wits were among us still! There's +some curse on this fools' errand of a Crusade, for here is the sixth +prince it hath slain, and well if we lose not our Princess too. But +what is all this uproar!" + +"The men-at-arms, my Lord," said Richard, "fierce to visit the crime +on the captives." + +"A good riddance!" said Earl Gilbert; "the miscreants eat as much as +ten score yeomen, and my knaves are weary with guarding them. If +this matter brings all the pagans in Palestine on our hands, we shall +have enough to do without looking after this nest of heathens." + +"But would the Prince have it so?" + +"I fear me the Prince is like to have little will in the matter! No, +no, I'm not the man to order a butchery, but if the honest fellows +must needs shed blood for blood, I'm not going to meddle between them +and the heathen wolves." + +Assuredly nothing was to be done with the Red de Clare, and Richard +pushed on, with throbbing dismayed heart, to the tent, dreading to +behold the condition of him whom he best loved and honoured on earth. +The tent was crowded, but Richard's unusual height enabled him to +see, over the heads of those nearest, that Edward was sitting on the +edge of his couch, his wife and Dame Idonea endeavouring to check the +flow of blood from his wound. The elbow of his other arm was on his +knee, and his head on his hand, but the opening of the curtain let in +the light; he looked up, and Richard saw how deathly white his face +had become, and the streaks of blood from the scratch upon his brow. +He greeted Richard, however, with the look of recognition to which +his young squire had now become used--not exactly a smile, but a +well-satisfied welcome; and though he spoke low and feebly to his +brother who stood near him, Richard caught the words with a thrill of +emotion. + +"Let him near me, Edmund. He hath a ready hand, and may aid thee, +sweet wife. Thou art wearying thyself." Then, as Richard +approached, "Thou hast sped well! I looked not for thee so soon." + +"Alack, my Lord!" said Richard, "I hurried on to warn you. Ah! would +I had been in time!" + +"Thy little pupil, John, did all man could do," said Edward, +languidly smiling. "But what--hast aught in charge to say to me? Be +brief, for I am strangely dizzy." + +"My Lord," said Richard, "the archers and men-at-arms are furiously +wrath with the Saracens. They would wreak their vengeance on the +prisoners, who at least are guiltless!" + +"The knaves!" exclaimed Edward promptly. "Why looks not Gloucester +to this?" + +"My Lord, the Earl saith that he would not command the slaughter, but +that he will not forbid it." + +"Saints and angels!" burst forth the Prince, and to the amazement of +all, he started at once on his feet, and striding through the +bystanders to the opening of the tent, he looked out on the crowd, +who were already rushing towards the inclosure where their victims +were penned. Raising his mighty voice as in a battle-day, he called +aloud to them to halt, turn back, and hear him. They turned, and +beheld the lofty form in the entrance of the tent, wrapped in a long +loose robe, which, as well as his hair, was profusely stained with +blood, his wan face, however, making that marble dignity and +sternness of his even more awful and majestic as he spoke aloud. +"So, men, you would have me go down to my grave blood-stained and +accursed by the death of guiltless captives? And I pray you, what is +to be the lot of our countrymen, now on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, if +you thus deal with our prisoners, taken in war? Senseless bloody- +minded hounds that ye are, mark my words. The life of one of you for +the life of a Saracen captive; and should I die, I lay my curse on ye +all, if every man of them be not set free the hour my last breath is +drawn. Do you hear me, ye cravens?" + +Unsparing, unconciliatory as ever, even when most merciful and +generous, Edward turned, but reeled as he re-entered the tent, and +his dizziness recurring, needed the support of both his brother and +Richard to lay him down on the couch. + +The Grand Master of the Temple renewed his assurance that this was a +token of the poison, and Eleanor was unheeded when she declared that +her dear lord had been affected in the same manner before his wound, +ever since indeed the Whit Sunday when he had ridden home from the +great Church of St. John of Acre in the full heat of the sun. + +Dame Idonea was muttering the mediaeval equivalent for fiddlesticks, +as plain as her respect for the Temple would allow her. + +At that moment the leech whom Hamlyn had been sent into the town to +summon, made his appearance, and fully confirmed the Templar's +opinion. Neither the wizened Greek physician, nor the dignified +Templar, considered the soft but piteous assurance of the wife that +the venom had at once been removed by her own lips as more than mere +feminine folly, and Dame Idonea's real experience of knights thus +saved, and on the other hand of the fatal consequences of rude +surgery in such a climate, were disregarded as an old woman's babble. +Her voice waxed shrill and angry, and her antagonists' replies in +Lingua Franca, mixed with Arabic, Latin, and Greek, rang through the +tent, till the Prince could bear it no longer. + +"Peace," he said, with an asperity unlike his usual stern patience, +"I had liefer brook your knives than your tongues! Without further +jangling, tell me clearly, learned physician, the peril of either +submitting or not submitting to your steel." + +The Greek told, with as little tergiversation as was in his nature, +that he viewed a refusal as certain death, but several times Dame +Idonea was bursting out upon him, and Edward had to hold up his +finger to silence her. + +"Now, kind lady," quoth he, "let me hear the worst you foretell for +me from your experience." + +Dame Idonea did not spare him either the fate of Coeur de Lion, the +dangers of fever and pain, and above all "of that strange enchantment +that binds the teeth together and forbids a man to swallow his food." +Poor Eleanor looked at him imploringly all the time, but as none of +them had ever heard of the circulation of the blood, they could not +tell that her simple remedy had been truly efficacious, and that if +it had been otherwise the incisions would now come too late. Thus +the balance of prudence made itself appear to be on the side of the +physician, and for him the Prince decided. "Mi Dona," he said, ever +his most caressing term for her, "it must be so! I think not lightly +of what thou hast done for me, but, as matters stand, too much hangs +upon this life of mine for me not to be bound to run no needless risk +for fear of a little pain. If I live and speak now, next to highest +Heaven it is owing to thee; and when we came on this holy war, sweet +Eleanor, didst thou not promise to hinder me from naught that a true +warrior of the Cross ought to undergo? And is this the land to +shrink from the Cross?" + +Alas! to Eleanor the pang was the belief in the uselessness of his +suffering and danger. She never withstood his will, but physically +she was weak, and her weeping was piteous in its silence. Edward +bade his brother lead her away; and Edmund, after the usual fashion, +vented his own perplexity and distress upon the most submissive +person in his way. He assumed more resistance on the part of his +gentle sister-in-law than she made, and carrying her from the tent, +roughly told her, silent as she was, that it was better that she +should scream and cry than all England wail and lament. + +And so Eleanor's devoted deed, the true saving of her husband, has +lived on as a mere delusive tradition, weakly credited by the +romantic, while the credit of his recovery has been retained by the +Knight-Templars' leech. Not a sound was uttered by the Prince while +under those hands; but when his wife was permitted to return to him, +she found him in a dead faint, and the silver reliquary she had left +with him crushed flat and limp between his fingers. + +Richard had given his attendance all the time, and for several hours +afterwards, during which the Princess hung over her husband, +endeavouring to restore him from the state of exhaustion in which he +scarcely seemed conscious of anything but her presence. Late in the +evening, some one came to the entrance of the tent, and beckoned to +the young squire; he came out expecting to receive some message, but +to his extreme surprise found himself in the grasp of the Provost +Marshal. + +"On what charge?" he demanded, so soon as he was far enough beyond +the precincts of his tent not to risk a disturbance. + +"By the command of the council. On the charge of being privy to the +attempt on the Prince's life." + +"By whom preferred?" asked Richard. + +"By the Lord Hamlyn de Valence." + +Richard attempted not another word. In effect the condition of the +Prince seemed to him so hopeless that his most acute suffering at the +moment was in the being prevented from ministering to him, or +watching for a last word or look of recognition. He had no heart for +self-vindication, even if he had not known its utter futility with +men who had been prejudiced against him from the outset. Nor had he +the opportunity, for the Provost Marshal conducted him at once to the +tent where he was to be in ward for the night, a heap of straw for +him to lie upon, and a guard of half a dozen archers outside; and +there was he left to his despairing prayers for the Prince's life. +He could dwell on nothing else, there was no room in his mind for any +thought but of that glory of manhood thus laid low, and of the +anguish of the sweet face of the Princess. + +"Sir--!" there was a low murmur near him--"now is the time. I have +brought an archer's gown and barrett, and we may easily get past the +yeomen." These last words were uttered, as on hands and knees a +figure whose dark outline could barely be discerned, crept under the +border of the tent. + +"Who art thou?" hastily inquired Richard. + +"You should know me, Sir,--I have done you many a good turn, and +served your house truly." + +"Talk not of truth, thou traitor," said Richard, recognizing +Dustifoot's voice. "Knowst thou that but for the Prince's clemency +thou hadst a year ago been out of the reach of the cruel evil thou +hast now shared in." + +"Nay, now, Lord Richard," returned the man, "you should not treat +thus an honest fellow that would fain do you service." + +"I need no service such as thine," returned Richard. "Thy service +has made my brothers murderers, and brought ruin and woe unspeakable +upon the land." + +"Beshrew me," muttered the man, "but one would have thought the young +damoiseau would have had more feeling about his father's death! But +I swore to do Sir Simon's bidding, so that is no concern of mine; and +he bade me, if any one strove to lay hands on you, Sir, to lead you +down to Kishon Brook, where he will meet us with a plump of spears." + +"Meet him then," said Richard, "and say to him that if from his crag +above, on Carmel, he sees me hung on the gallows tree as a traitor, +he may count that I am willingly offered for our family sin! Ay, and +that if he thinks an old man's hairs brought down to the grave, a +broken-hearted wife, helpless orphans, and a land without a head, to +be a grateful offering to my father, let him enjoy the thought of how +the righteous Earl would have viewed all the desolation that will +fall on England without the one--one scholar who knew how to value +and honour his lessons." + +"Hush! Sir," hastily interposed Dustifoot; but it was too late, the +murmur of voices had already been caught by the guard, and quick as +he was to retreat, their torches discovered him as he was creeping +out, and he was dragged back by the feet, and the light held up to +his face, while many voices proclaimed him as the rogue who had been +foremost in admitting the assassin to the royal tent. It was from +the tumult of voices that Richard first understood that on examining +the body of the murderer, it had been ascertained that he was neither +a Bedouin nor one of the assassins belonging to the Old Man of the +Mountain, but an European, probably a Provencal; and this, added to +Hamlyn's representation of Richard's words, together with what the +Earls of Lancaster and Gloucester recollected, had directed the +suspicion upon himself. And here was, as it seemed, undeniable +evidence of his connection with the plot! + +The miserable Dustifoot, vainly imploring his intercession, was tied +hand and foot, and the guard returned to the outside of the tent, +except one archer, who thought it needful to bring in his torch, and +keep the prisoners in sight. + +The night passed wearily, and with morning Dustifoot was removed to a +place of captivity more befitting his degree; but of the Prince, +Richard only heard that he continued to be in great danger. No +attempt on the part of the council was made to examine their +prisoner; and Richard suspected, as time wore on, that no one chose +to act in this time of suspense for fear of incurring the lion-like +wrath of Edward in the event of his recovery, but that in case of his +death, small would be his own chances of life. Death had fewer +horrors for the lonely boy than it would have had for one with whom +life had been brighter. In battle for the Cross, or in shielding his +Prince's life, it would have been welcome, but death, branded with +vile ingratitude, as a traitor to that master, was abhorrent. Shrunk +up in the corner of the tent, half asleep after the night's vigil, +yet too miserable for the entire oblivion of rest, Richard spent the +day in dull despair, listening for sounds without with an intensity +of attention that seemed to pervade every limb, and yet with snatches +of sleep that brought dreams more intolerable than the reality which +they yet seemed to enhance. + +At last, however, the sultry closeness of the day subsided, the +Angelus bell sounded far off from the churches and convents of Acre, +and near from the chapel tent, and the devotions that it proclaimed +were not ended when Richard heard the cry of the crusading watch-- +"Remember the Holy Sepulchre." + +Yes, the Holy Sepulchre might not be recovered and reached by the +English army, but it might still be remembered, and therein be laid +down all struggles of the will, all rebellious agony, at the being +misunderstood, misused, vituperated, all suffering might there be +offered up; nor could the most ignominious death stand between him +and the thought of that Holy Tomb, and of the joy beyond.--Son of a +man who, sorely tried, had drawn his sword against his king, brother +of wilful murderers, perhaps to die innocent was the best fate he +could hope; and in accordance with the doctrine of his time, he hoped +that his death might serve as a part of a sacrifice for the family +guilt. Nay, the Prince gone, wherefore should he wish to live? + +"Don't you see? The Prince's signet! He said I should bring him! +Clown that thou art, hast no eyes nor ears? What, don't you know me? +I am the young lord of Dunster, the Prince's foot-page. It is his +command." + +And amid some perplexed mutterings from the guard, little John of +Dunster burst into the tent. "Up, up," he cried, "you are to come to +the Prince instantly." + +"How fares he?"--Richard's one question of the day. + +"Sorely ill at ease," said the boy, "but he wants you, he calls for +you, and no one would tell him where you were, so I spoke out at +last, and he bade me take his ring and bring you, for 'tis his +pleasure. Come now, for the Earl of Lancaster and Hamlyn are gone to +take the Princess to Acre, and my Lord of Gloucester has taken his +red head off to sleep, and no one is there but old Raymond and some +of the grooms. + +"The Princess gone!" + +"Ay, and Dame Idonea with her. So we shall hear no more of King +Coeur de Lion. Hamlyn swears she was on his crusade. Do you think +she was, Richard? nobody knows how old she is." + +Richard was a great deal too anxious to ask questions himself, to be +able to answer this query. And as the yeomen let him pass them, only +begging him to bear him out with the Princes, he hastily gathered +from the boy all that he could tell. The Prince had, it appeared, +been in a most suffering state from pain and fever all the night and +the ensuing day, and had hardly noticed any one but his devoted wife, +who had attended him unremittingly, until with the cooler air of +evening she saw him slightly revived, but was herself so completely +spent, and so unwell, as to be incapable of opposing his decision +that she should at once be carried into the city to receive the +succours her state demanded. When she was gone, Edward, who had +perhaps sought to spare her the sight of his last agony, had roused +himself to make his will, and choose protectors for his father and +young children; and it was after this that his inquiries became +urgent for Richard de Montfort. He was at length answered by the +indignant little foot-page; and greatly resenting the action of the +council, he had, as John said, "frowned and spoken like himself," and +sent the little fellow in quest of the young esquire. + +The tent was nearly dark, and Richard could only see the outline of +the tall form laid prostrate, but the voice he had feared never to +hear again, spoke, though slowly and wearily, and a hand was held +out. "Welcome, cousin," he said. "Poor boy, they must needs have at +thee ere the breath was out of my body; but for that, at least, they +shall wait, and longer if my word and will can avail after I am gone. +What has given them occasion against thee, Richard?" + +"Alas! my Lord, you are too ill at ease to vex yourself with my +matters." + +"Nay, but I must see thee righted, Richard; there are services for +thee to do to me. Hark thee! I have bequeathed thee thy mother's +lands at Odiham, which my father gave to me. So mayest thou do for +Henry whate'er he will brook," he added, with a languid smile, +holding Richard's hand in such a manner as to impress that though his +words came very tardily, he did not mean to be interrupted. +"Methinks Henry will not grudge a kindly thought and a few prayers +for his old comrade. And, Richard, strive to be near my poor boys; +strive that they be bred in strict self-rule, and let them hear of +the purposes thy father left to me: I think thou knowst them or +canst divine them better than any other near me. Thou SHALL be with +them if--if Heaven and the blessed Saints bear my sweet wife through +this trouble. She will love and trust thee." + +Edward's voice broke down in a half-strangled sob between grief and +pain; he could not contemplate the thought of his wife, and weakness +had broken down much of his power over himself. He did not speak at +once, or invite an answer; and when he did, his words were an +exclamation of despairing weariness at the trumpet of a gnat that +hovered above him. + +Richard presently understood that the thin goats' hair curtains which +even the crusaders had learnt to adopt from their Oriental neighbours +as protections against these enemies, being continually disarranged +to give the Prince drink or to put cool applications to his wound, +the winged foes were sure to enter, and with their exasperating hum +further destroy all chance of rest. The Prince had not slept since +he had been wounded, and was well-nigh distraught with wakefulness, +and with the continual suffering, which was only diminished at the +first moment that a cold lotion touched his arm. The Hospitaliers +had sent in some ice from Mount Hermon, but no one knew how to apply +it, and even Dame Idonea had despised it. + +Fortunately, however, Richard had spent a few weeks on his first +arrival in the infirmary of the Knights of St. John, and before his +recovery had become familiar with their treatment of both ice and +mosquito curtains; and when Edmund of Lancaster came into the tent +cautiously in early dawn, he could hardly credit his eyes, for the +squire whom he believed to be in close custody was beside his +brother, holding the cold applications on the arm, and it was +impossible to utter inquiry or remonstrance, for the Prince was in +the profoundest, most tranquil slumber. + +Nor did he awake till the camp was astir in the morning with the +activity that in this summer time could only be exerted before the +sun had come to his full strength. Then, when at length he opened +his eyes, he pronounced himself to be greatly refreshed; and the +physician at the same time found the state of the wound greatly +improved. A cheerful answer was returned by the patient to the +message of anxious inquiry sent from his Princess at Acre and then +looking up kindly at Richard, he said, "Boy, if my wife saved my life +once, I think thou hast saved it a second time." + +"Brother!" here broke in the Earl of Lancaster, "I would not grieve +you, but for your own safety you ought to know of the grave suspicion +that has fallen on this youth." + +"I know that you all have suspected him from the first, Edmund," +returned the Prince coolly, "but I little expected that the first +hour of my sickness would be spent in slaking your hatred of him." + +"You do not know the reasons, brother," said Edmund, confused; "nor +are you in a state to hear them." + +"Wherefore not?" said Edward. "Thanks to him, I have my wits clear +and cool, and ere the day is older his cause shall be heard. Fetch +Gloucester, fetch the rest of the council, and let me hear your +witnesses against him! What! do you think I could rest or amend +while I know not whether I have a traitor or not beside me?" + +There could be no doubt that Edward was fully himself after his +night's rest, determined and prompt as ever. No one durst withstand +him, and Edmund went to take measures for his being obeyed. +Meantime, the Prince grasped Richard by the wrist, and looking him +through with the keen blue eyes that seemed capable of piercing any +disguise, he said, "Boy, hast thou aught that thou wouldst tell to +thy kinsman Edward in this strait, that thou couldst not say to the +Prince in council?" + +"Sir," said Richard, with choking voice, "I was on my way to give +that very warning, when I found that the blow had fallen. My Lord," +he added, lowering his tone, as he knelt by the Prince's couch, +"Simon lives; I met him on Mount Carmel." + +"I thought so," muttered the Prince. "And this is his work?" + +Richard hurriedly told the circumstances of the encounter, a matter +on which he had the less scruple as Simon was entirely out of reach. +He had hardly completed his narration when Prince Edmund returned, +and with him came others of the council. Edmund was followed by his +squire, Hamlyn; and some of the archers were left without. Richard +had told his tale, but had had no assurance of how the Prince would +act upon it, nor how far the brand of shame might be made to rest on +him and his unhappy house. He had avowed his brother's guilt to the +Prince; alas! must it again be blazoned through the camp? + +The greetings and inquiries of the new arrivals were hastily got over +by the Prince, who lay--holding truly a bed of justice--partly raised +by his cushions, with bloodless cheeks indeed, but with flashing +eyes, and lips set to all their wonted resoluteness. + +"Let me hear, my Lords," he said, "wherefore--so soon as I was +disabled--you thought it meet to put mine own body squire and kinsman +in ward?" + +"Sir," said the Provost Marshal, "these knaves of mine have let an +accomplice escape who peradventure might have been made to tell +more." + +"An accomplice? Of whom?" demanded the Prince. + +"Of the--the assassin, my Lord, on whom your own strong hand +inflicted chastisement. This Dustifoot, who was the yeoman on guard +by your tent, and introduced him to your presence, was seized by the +villains at night, endeavouring to hold converse with this gentleman, +and was by them taken into custody, whence, I grieve to say, he hath +escaped." + +"Give his guard due punishment!" said Edward shortly. "But how +concerns this the Lord Richard de Montfort's durance?" + +"Sir," added the Earl of Gloucester, "is it known to you that the dog +of a murderer was yet no Moslem?" + +"What of that?" sharply demanded Edward. + +"There can scarcely be a doubt," continued the red-haired Earl, "that +an attempt on your life, my Lord, could only come from one quarter." + +"Oh," dryly replied Edward, "good cause for you to be willing that +the Saracen captives should be massacred." + +"Sir, I did not then know that the miscreant was not of their faith," +said Gloucester. "I now believe that the same revenge that caused +the death of Lord Henry of Almayne has now nearly quenched the hope +of England, that if you will not be warned, my Lord, worse evil may +yet betide." + +Gloucester spoke with much feeling, but Edward did not show himself +touched; he only said, "All this may be very well, but my question is +not answered--Why was my squire put in ward?" + +"Speak, Hamlyn," said Edmund of Lancaster; "say to the Prince what +thou didst tell me." + +Hamlyn stood forth, excusing himself for the painful task of accusing +his kinsman, but seeing the Prince's impatient frown, he came to the +point, and declared that Richard de Montfort, on meeting him speeding +to Acre, had eagerly asked him if aught had befallen the Prince, and +had looked startled and confused on being taxed with being aware of +what had taken place. + +"Well!" said Edward. + +Gloucester next beckoned a yeoman forward, who, much confused under +the Prince's keen eye, stammered out that he did not wish to harm the +young gentleman, but that he had seemed mighty anxious to spare the +Pagan hounds of prisoners, and had even been heard to say that their +revenge would better fall on himself. + +"And is this all for which you had laid hands on him?" said the +Prince, looking from one to the other. + +"Nay, brother," said Edmund. "It might have been unmarked by thee, +but in the first hour myself and others heard him speak of having +made speed to warn thee, but finding it too late. Therefore did we +conclude that it were well to have him in ward, lest, as in the +former unhappy matter, he should have been conversant with traitors, +and thus that we might obtain intelligence from him. Remember +likewise the fellow who was found in the tent." + +"So!" said Edward, "an honourable youth hath been treated as a +traitor, because of another springald's opinion of his looks, and +because a few yeomen thought he seemed over-anxious to save a few +wretched captives, whom they knew to be guiltless. Will there ever +come a time when Englishmen will learn what IS witness?" + +"His name and lineage, brother," began Edmund. + +"That, gentles, is the witness upon which the wolf slew the lamb for +fouling the stream." + +"Then you will not examine him?" asked Gloucester. + +"Not as a suspected felon," said Edward. "One who by your own +evidence was heedless of himself in seeking to save the helpless-- +nay, who spake of hasting to warn me--scarce merits such usage. What +consorts with his honour and my safety, I can trust to him to tell me +as true friend and liegeman!" and the confiding smile with which he +looked at Richard was like a sunbeam in a dark cloud. + +"My Lord Prince," objected Gloucester, "we cannot think that this is +for your safety." + +"See here, Gloucester," said Edward. "Till my arm can keep my head +again, double the guards, and search all envoys, under whatever +pretext they may enter; but never for the rest of thy life brand a +man with imprisonment till you have reasonable proof against him. +Thanks for your care of me, my Lords, but I can scarce yet brook long +converse. The council is dismissed." + +Richard, infinitely relieved, could hardly wait till he could safely +speak to the Prince to express his gratitude and joy that he had been +not only defended, but freed from all examination, so as to have been +spared from denouncing his brother, and that the family had been +spared from this additional stigma. Edward, who like all reserved +men could not endure the expression of thanks, even while their utter +omission would have been wounding, cut him short. + +"Tush, boy, Simon is as much my cousin as thy brother, and I would +not help to throw fresh stains on the name that, but for my father's +selfish counsellors, would stand highest at home! Besides," he +added, as one half ashamed of his generosity and willing to qualify +it, "supposing it got abroad that he had aimed this stroke at the +heir of England--why, then England's honour would be concerned, and +we should have stout Gilbert de Clare and all the rest of them wild +to storm Simon in his Galilean fastness, without King Herod's boxes, +I trow. Then would all the Druses, and the Maronites, and the +Saracens, and the half-breeds, the worst of the whole, come down on +them in some impassable gorge, and the troops I have taken such pains +to keep in health and training would leave their bones in those +doleful passes; and not for the sake of the Holy Sepulchre, but of my +private quarrel. No, no, Richard, we will keep our own counsel, and +do our best that Simon may not get another chance, before I can move +within the walls of Acre; and then we will spread our sails, and pray +that the Holy Land may make a holier man of him." + + + +CHAPTER XII--THE GARDEN OF THE HOSPITAL + + + +"And who is yon page lying cold at his knee?"--SCOTT. + +Edward differed from Coeur de Lion in this, that he was one of the +most abstemious men in his army, and disciplined himself at least as +rigidly as he did other people. And it was probably on this account +that he did not fulfil Dame Idonea's predictions, but recovered +favourably, and by the end of a fortnight was able, in the first +coolness of early morning, to ride gently into the city of Acre, +where a few days previously the Princess Eleanor had given birth to a +daughter. She was christened Joan on the day of her father's +arrival, and afterwards became the special spoilt favourite of +Edward, whose sternness gave place to excessive fondness among his +children. Moreover, she in the end became the wife of that same red- +haired Earl Gilbert of Gloucester, who at this time stood holding his +wax taper, and looking at the small swaddled morsel of royalty with +all a bachelor's contempt for infancy, and little dreaming that he +beheld his future Countess. + +Prince Edward had accepted the invitation of Sir Hugh de Revel, Grand +Master of the Order of St. John, to take up his quarters in the +Commandery of the brotherhood; and Richard was greatly relieved to +have him there, since no watch or ward in the open camp could be so +secure as this double fortress, protected in the first place by the +walls of the city, and in the second by those of the Hospital itself, +with its strict military and monastic discipline. + +A wonderful place was that Hospital--infirmary, monastery, and +castle, all in one, and with a certain Eastern grace and beauty of +its own. The deep massive walls, heavy towers, and portcullised +gateway, were in the most elaborate and majestic style of defensive +architecture; and the main building rose to a great height, filled +with galleries of small, bare, rigid-looking cells, just large enough +for a knight, his pallet, and his armour. Below was a noble vaulted +hall, the walls hung with well-tried hawberks, and shields and +helmets which had stood many a dint; captured crescents and green +banners waved as trophies over crooked scymetars and Damascus blades +inlaid with sentences from the Koran in gold, and twisted cuirasses +rich with barbaric gold and gems; the blazoned arms of the noblest +families of France, Spain, England, Germany, and Italy, decked the +panels and brightened the windows; while the stone pulpit for the +reader showed that it was still a convent refectory. + +The chapel was grave and massive, but at the same time gorgeous with +colouring suited to eyes accustomed to Oriental brightness of hue; +the chancel walls were inlaid with the porphyry, jasper, and marble, +of exquisite tints, that came from the mountains around; the shrines +were touched with gold, and the roofs and vaultings painted with +fretwork of unapproachable brilliance and purity of tints; yet all +harmonizing together, as only Eastern colouring can harmonize, and +giving a sense of rest and coolness. + +Within those huge thick walls, whose windows, sunk deep into their +solid mass, only let in threads of jewelled light, under their solemn +circular richly carved brows, between those marble pillars; the elder +ones, round and solid, with Romanesque mighty strength; the new +graceful clusters of shining blood-red marble shafts, surrounding a +slender white one, all banded together with gold, under the vaults of +the stone roof, upon the mosaic floor--there was always a still +refreshing coolness, like the "shadow of a great rock in a weary +land." One transept had a window communicating with the upper room +of the Infirmary, so that the sick who there lay in their beds might +take part in the services in the chapel. + +The outer court, with the great fortified gateway towards the street, +was a tilt-yard, where martial exercises took place as in any other +castle; but pass through the great hall to the inner court, of which +the chapel formed one side, and where could such cloisters have been +found in the West? Their heavy columns and deep-browed arches +clinging against the thick walls, afforded unfailing shelter from the +sun, and their coolness was increased by the marble of the pavement, +inlaid in rich intricate mosaics. + +Extending around the interior of the external wall, they enclosed an +exquisite Eastern garden, perfumed with flowering shrubs, shady with +trees, and lovely with tall white lilies, hollyhocks, purple irises, +stars of Bethlehem, and many another Eastern flower, which would send +forth seeds or roots for the supply of the trim gardens of Western +convents. The soft bubbling of fountains gave a sense of delicious +freshness; doves flew hither and thither, and their soft murmuring +was heard in the branches; and at certain openings in their foliage +might be seen the azure of the Mediterranean, which little John of +Dunster persisted in calling too blue--why could it not be a sober +proper-coloured sea like his own Bristol Channel? + +Richard was very happy here. There was something of the same charm +as in modern days is experienced in staying at a college. The +brethren were thorough monks in religious observance, but they were +also high-bred nobles, and had seen many wild adventures, and hard- +fought battles, and moreover, had entertained in turn almost every +variety of pilgrim who had visited the Holy Land; so that none could +have been found who had more of interest to tell, or more friendly +hospitable kindness towards their guests. Richard was a favourite +there, not only as a friend of Reginald Ferrers, but as acquainted +with the Grand Prior, Sir Robert Darcy, whose memory was still green +in Palestine. Tales of his feats of mighty strength still lingered +at Acre; how he had held together, by his single arm, the gates of a +house in the retreat from Damietta, against a whole troop of +Mamelukes, until every Christian had left it on the other side, and +then had slowly followed them, not a Moslem daring to attack him; how +he had borne off wounded knights on his back, and on sultry marches +would load himself with the armour of any one who was exhausted, and +never fail to declare it was exactly what he liked best! More than +once it had been intimated that Richard de Montfort would be gladly +accepted as a brother of the Order; and he often thought over the +offer, but not only was he unwilling to separate himself from the +Prince, but he felt it needful at any rate to return to England to +judge of the condition of his brother Henry, ere becoming one of an +Order where he could no longer dispose of himself. + +He was resolved never to quit the Prince till he had seen him beyond +the reach of any machination of his brother's, nor indeed was it easy +to think of parting at all, for Edward, who had relaxed all coldness +of manner towards him ever since the affair at Trapani, had now +become warmly affectionate and confidential. The Prince was still +far from having regained his usual health, his arm was still in a +scarf, and was often painful, and the least exposure to the sun +brought on violent headache, which some attributed to the poison in +the scratch on his forehead, but the Hospitaliers, more reasonably, +ascribed to a slight sun-stroke. Their character of infirmarers +rendered them especially considerate hosts, and they never +overwhelmed their guest with the stiff formalities of courtesy for +his rank's sake, but allowed him to follow his inclination, and this +led him to spend great part of his time in a pavilion, a thoroughly +Eastern erection, which stood in the garden, at the top of the white +marble steps leading to a fountain of delicious sparkling water, and +sheltered from the sun by the dark solid horizontal branches of a +noble Cedar of Lebanon, which tradition connected with the visit of +the Empress Helena. Here, lying upon mats placed on the steps, the +convalescent Prince would rest for hours, sometimes holding converse +with the Grand Master, or counsel with his visitors from the camp; +but more often in the dreamy repose of recovery, silent or talking to +Richard of matters that lay deep within his heart; but which, +perhaps, nothing but this softening species of waking dream would +have drawn from him. He would dwell on those two hero models of his +boyhood, so diverse, yet so closely connected together by their +influence upon his character, Louis of France, and Simon of +Leicester; and of the impression both had left, that judgment, mercy, +faith, and the subject's welfare, were the primary duties of a +sovereign--an idea only now and then glimpsed by the feudal +sovereigns, who thought that the people lived for them rather than +they for the people. And when, as in England, the King's good-nature +had been abused by swarms of foreign-born relations, who had not even +his claims on the people, no wonder the yoke had been galling beyond +endurance. Of the end Edward could not bear to think--of the broken +friendships--the enmity of kindred--the faults on either side that +had embittered the strife, till he had been forced to become the +sword in the hands of the royal party to liberate his father--and +with consequences that had so far out-run his powers of controlling +them. To make England the land of law, peace, and order, that Simon +de Montfort would fain have seen it, was his present aspiration; and +then, he said, when all was purified at home, it might yet be +permitted to him to return and win back the Holy City, Jerusalem, to +the Christian world. In the meantime, as a memorial of this, his +earnest longing, he was causing, at great expense and labour, one of +the huge stones of the Temple to be transported over the hills, and +embarked on board a ship, to carry home with him. Richard, meantime, +learnt to know and love his Prince with a more devoted love, if that +were possible, and to grieve the more at the persistent hatred of his +brothers, who, utterly uncomprehending their father's high purposes +themselves, sought blindly to slake their vengeance for the ruin they +had themselves provoked, and upon one who mourned him far more truly +than they could ever do. + +A few days had thus passed, when Richard was one day called by his +friend, Sir Raynald, into the Infirmary, to speak a few kind words to +a dying English pilgrim, who had come from his native country, and +confided to him his dearly-purchased palm and scallop shell, to be +conveyed to his aged mother. + +As Richard was passing along the great lofty chamber, two rows of +beds were arranged; one of the patients rather hastily, as it seemed +to him, enveloped himself in his coverlet, leaving nothing visible +but a great black patch which seemed to cover the whole side of his +face. + +"That is a strange varlet," said Raynald, as they passed him; "it is +an old wound that the patch covers, not what has brought him here; +and what the nature of his ailment may be, not one of our infirmarers +can make out; his tongue is purple, and he hath such strange +shiverings and contortions in all his limbs, that they are at their +wits' end, and some hold that he must have undergone some sorcery in +his passage through the Infidel domains." + +"He came from the East, then?" asked Richard. + +"Yea, verily. We have many more sick among the returning than the +out-going pilgrims." + +"And what is his nation?" + +"Nay; all the scanty words he hath spoken have been in Lingua Franca, +and he hath been in such trances and trembling fits that it hath not +been easy to question him. Nor is it our custom to trouble a pilgrim +with inquiries." + +"How did he enter?" said Richard. + +"Brother Antonio found him yester-eve cast down, gasping for breath, +by the gate of the Hospital, just able to entreat for the love of St. +John to be admitted. He had all the tokens of a pilgrim about him, +and seemed better at first, walked lustily to bath and bed, and did +not show himself helpless; but I much suspect his disease is the work +of the Arch Enemy, for he is always at his worst if one of our +Brethren in full orders comes near him. You saw how he cowered and +hid himself when I did but pass through the hall. I shall speak to +the Preceptor, and see if it were not best to try what exorcism will +do." + +There was something in all this that made Richard vaguely uneasy. +After the recent attack upon the Prince, he suspected all that he did +not fully understand; and though in the guarded precincts of the +Hospital he had once dismissed his anxiety, it returned upon him in +redoubled force. He thought of Nick Dustifoot, but that worthy was +of a uniform tint of whitey brown, skin, hair and all; and Richard +had assured himself that the strange patient had black hair and a +brown skin, but that was all that he could guess at. The exorcism +would, however, be an effectual means of disclosing the "myster +wight's" person, and it sometimes included measures so strong, that +few pretences could hold out against them. But it was too serious +and complicated a ceremony to be got up at short notice; and when +they met in the Refectory for supper, Raynald told Richard that the +Grand Master intended to make a personal inspection next day, before +deciding on using his spiritual weapons. + +"And then!" cried John of Dunster, dancing round, "you will let me be +there! Pray, good Father, let me be there! Oh, I hope there will be +a rare smell of brimstone, and the foul fiend will come out with huge +claws, and a forked tail. I don't care to see him if he only comes +out like a black crow; I can see crows enough in the trees at +Dunster." + +"Peace, John; this is no place for idle talk," said Richard gravely. +"Stand aside, here comes the Prince." + +The Prince had spent a fatiguing day over the terms of the ten years, +ten months, ten weeks, ten days, ten hours, and ten minutes' truce +with the Emir of Joppa; he ate little, and after the meal, took +Richard's arm, and craved leave from the Grand Master to seek the +fresh air beneath the cedar tree. And when there, he could not +endure the return to the closeness of his own apartment, but declared +his intention of sleeping in the pavilion. He dismissed his +attendants, saying he needed no one but Richard, who, since his +illness, had always slept upon cushions at his feet. + +Where was Richard? + +He presently appeared, carrying on one arm a mantle, and over the +other shoulder the Prince's immense two-handled sword; while his own +sword was in his belt. Leonillo followed him. + +"How now!" said Edward, "are we to have a joust? Dost look for +phantom Saracens out of yonder fountain, such as my Dona tells me +rise out of the fair wells in Castille, wring their hands and pray +for baptism?" + +"You said your hand should keep your head, my Lord," said Richard; +"this is but a lone place." + +"What! amid all the guards of the good Fathers! Well, old comrade," +as he took his sword in his right hand; "I am glad to handle thee +once more, and I hope soon to grasp thee as I am wont, with both +hands. Lay it down, Richard. There--thanks--that is well. I wonder +what my father would have thought if one of his many crusading vows +had led him hither. Should we ever have had him back again? How +well this dreamy leisure would have suited him! It would almost make +a troubadour of a rough warrior like me. See the towers and +pinnacles against the sky, and the lights within the windows--and the +stars above like lamps of gold, and the moonshine sparkling on the +bubbles of the water, ever floating off, yet ever in the same place. +Were the good old man here, how peacefully would he sing, and pray, +and dream, free from debts, parliament and barons. Ah! had his +kinsmen let him keep his vow, it had been happier for us all." + +So mused the Prince, and with a weary smile resigned himself to rest. + +But Richard was too full of vague uneasiness to sleep. He could not +dismiss from his mind the thought of the unknown pilgrim, and was +resolved to relax no point of vigilance until the full investigation +should have satisfied him that his fears were unfounded. He had been +accustomed to watching and broken rest during the Prince's illness, +and though he durst not pace up and down for fear of disturbing the +sleeper--nay, could hardly venture a movement--he strained his eyes +into the twilight, and told his beads fervently; but sleep hung on +him like a spell, and even while sitting upright there were strange +dreams before him, and one that he had had before, though with a +variation. It was the field of Evesham once more; but this time the +strange pilgrim rose in his dark wrappings before him, and suddenly +developed into that same shadowy form of his father, who again struck +him on the shoulder with his sword, and dubbed him again "The Knight +of Death." + +Hark! there was a growl from Leonillo; a footstep, a dark figure--the +pilgrim himself! Richard shouted aloud, grasped at his sword, and +flung himself forward. + +"Montfort's vengeance!" The sound rang in his ears as a sharp pang +thrilled through his side; the hot blood welled up, and he was dashed +to the ground; but even in falling he heard the Prince's "What +treason is this?" and felt the rising of the mighty form. At the +same moment the murderer was in the grasp of that strong right hand, +and was dragged forward into the full light of the lamp that hung +from the roof of the pavilion. + +"Thou!" he gasped. "Who--what?" + +"Richard!" exclaimed the Prince, and relaxing his hold, "Simon de +Montfort, thou hast slain thy brother!" + +The sudden shock and awe had overwhelmed Simon, who was indeed +weaponless, since his dagger remained in Richard's wound. He +silently assisted the Prince in lifting Richard to the cushions of +the couch, and the low groan convinced them that he lived: looked +anxiously for the wound. The dagger had gone deep between the ribs, +and little but the haft could be seen. + +"Poisoned?" Edward asked, looking up at Simon. + +"No. It failed once. He may live," said Simon, with bent brows and +folded arms. + +"No, no. My death-blow!" gasped Richard, with sobbing breath. "Best +so, if--Oh, could I but speak!" + +The Prince raised him, supporting his head on his own broad breast +and shoulder, and signed to Simon to hold to his lips the cup of +water that stood near. Richard slightly revived, and in this posture +breathed more easily. + +"He might yet live. Call speedy aid!" said the Prince, who seemed to +have utterly forgotten that he was practically alone with his +persevering and desperate enemy. + +"Wait! Oh, wait!" cried Richard, holding out his hand; "it would be +vain; but it will be all joy did I but know that there will be no +more of this. Simon, he loved my father--he has spared thee again +and again." + +"Simon," said the Prince, "for this dear youth's sake and thy +father's, I raise no hand against thee. Bitter wrong has been done +to thy house, by what persons, and how provoked, it skills not now to +ask. Twice thy fury has fallen on the guiltless. Enough blood has +been shed. Let there be peace henceforth." + +Simon stood moody, with folded arms, and Richard groaned, and essayed +to speak. + +"Peace, boy," tenderly said Edward; "and thou, Simon, hear me. I +loved thy father, and knew the upright noble spirit that arrayed him +against us. Heaven is my witness that I would have given my life to +have been able to save him on yon wretched battle-field. But he fell +in fair fight, in helm and corselet, like a good knight. Peace be +with him! Surely in this land of pardon and redemption his son and +nephew may cease to seek one another's blood for his sake! Cheer thy +brother by letting him feel his brave deed hath not been fruitless. +Free thou shalt go--do what thou wilt; no word of mine shall betray +that this deed is thine." + +"Lay aside thy purpose," entreated Richard. "Bind him by oath, my +Lord." + +"Nay," said the Prince. "Here, on foreign soil, the strife lies +between the cousins, the sons of Henry and of Eleanor; and if Simon +must needs still slake his revenge in my blood, he may have better +success another time. Or, so soon as I can wear my armour again, I +offer him a fair combat in the lists, man to man; better so than +staining his soul with privy murder--but I had far rather that it +should be peace between us--and that thou shouldst see it." And +Edward, still supporting Richard on his breast, held out his right +hand to Simon, adding, "Let not thy brother's blood be shed in vain." + +Richard made a gesture of agonized entreaty. + +"My father--my father!" he said. "He forgave--he hated blood; Simon, +didst but know--" + +"I see," said Simon impatiently, "that Heaven and earth alike are set +against my purpose. Fear not for his days, Richard, they are safe +from me, and here is my hand upon it." + +The tone was sullen and grudging, and Richard looked scarcely +comforted; but the Prince was in haste that he should be succoured at +once, and even while receiving Simon's unwilling hand, said, "We lose +time. Speed near enough to the Spital to be heard, and shout for +aid. Then seek thine own safety. I will say no more of thy share in +this matter." + +Simon lingered one moment. "Boy," he said, "I told thee thou wast +over like him. Live, live if thou canst! Alas! I had thought to +make surer work this time; but thou dost pardon me the mischance?" + +"More than pardon--thank thee--since he is safe," whispered Richard, +and as Simon bent over him the boy crossed his brow, and returned a +look of absolute joy. + +Simon sped away; and the Prince, when left alone with Richard, put no +restraint upon the warmth of his feelings, and his tears fell fast +and freely. + +"Boy, boy," he said; "I little thought thou wast to bear what was +meant for me!" And then, with tenderness that would have seemed +foreign to his nature, he inquired into the pain that Richard was +suffering, tried to make his position more easy, and lamented that he +could not venture to draw out the weapon until the leeches should +come. + +"It has been my best hope," said Richard; "and now that it should +have been thus. With your goodness I have nothing--nothing to wish. +Sir Raynald will be here--I have only my charge for Henry to give +him--and poor Leonillo!" + +"I will bear thy charges to Henry," said the Prince. "Nor shall he +think thou didst betray his secret. I will watch over him so far as +he will let me, and do all I may for his child. Yet it may be thou +wilt still return. I hear the stir in the House. They will be here +anon. Thou must live, Richard, my friend, where I have few friends. +I thought to have knighted thee, boy, when thou hadst won fame. Oh, +would that I had shown thee more of my love while it was time!" + +"All, all I hoped or longed for I have," murmured Richard. "If you +see Henry, my Lord, bear him my greetings--and to poor Adam--yea, and +my mother. Oh! would that I could make them all know your kindness +and my joy--that it should be thus!" + +By this time the whole Hospital was astir, and the knights and lay +brethren came flocking out in consternation and dread of finding +their royal host himself murdered within their cloisters. + +Great was the confusion, and eager the search for the assassin, while +others crowded round the Prince, who still would not give up his post +of supporting the sufferer in his arms, while a few moments' +examination convinced the experienced infirmarers that the wound was +mortal, and that the extraction of the dagger would but hasten death, +which could not be other than very near. Indeed, Richard already +spoke with such difficulty that only the Prince's ear could detect +his entreaty that Raynald Ferrers might act as his priest. Raynald +was already near, only withheld by the crowd of knights of higher +degree who had thronged before him. Richard looked up to him with a +face that in all its mortal agony seemed to ask congratulation. The +power of making confession was gone, and when Raynald would have +offered to take him in his own arms, both he and the Prince showed +disinclination to the move. So thus they still remained, while the +young knightly priest spoke the words of Absolution, and then, across +the solemn darkness of the garden, amid the light of tapers, the Host +was borne from the Chapel, while the low subdued chant of the +brethren swelled up through the night air. Poor little John of +Dunster, with his arms round Leonillo's neck, to keep him from +disturbing his master, knelt, sobbing as though his heart would +break, but trying to stifle the sounds as the priest's voice came +grave and full on the silent air, responded to by the gathered tones +of the brethren: the fountain bubbled on, and the wakening birds +began to stir in the trees. + +Once more Richard opened his eyes, looked up at his Prince, and +smiled. That smile remained while Edward kissed his brow with +fervour, laid him down on the cushions, and rising to his feet, bowed +his head to the Grand Master, but did not even strive to speak, and +gravely walked across the cloister, with a slow though steady step, +to his own chamber. No one saw him again till the sun was high, +when, with looks as composed as ever, he went forth to lay his page's +head in the grave, and thence visit and calm the fears of his +Princess. + +Search had everywhere been made for the assassin, but no traces of +him were found. Only the strange pilgrim had vanished in the +confusion; and the Prince never contradicted the Grand Master in his +indignation that a Moslem hound should have assumed such a disguise. + + + +CHAPTER XIII--THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCE + + + +"This favour only, that thou would'st stand out of my sunshine." +DIOGENES. + +It was the last week of August, 1274, the morrow of the most splendid +coronation that England had ever beheld, either for the personal +qualities and appearance of the sovereigns, or for the magnificence +of the adornments, and the bounteous feasting of multitudes. + +A whole fortnight of entertainments to rich and poor had been +somewhat exhausting, even to the guests; and the suburbs of London +wore an unusually sleepy and quiescent appearance in the hot beams of +the August sun. Bethnal Green lay very silent, parched, and weary, +not even enlivened by its usual gabbling flocks of geese, all of +whom, poor things! except the patriarchal gander, and one or two of +his ladies, had gone to the festival--but to return no more! + +One of those who had been in the midst of the pageant, and had +returned unscathed, was Blind Hal of Bethnal Green. Many a coin had +gone into his scrip--uncontested king of the beggars as he was; many +a savoury morsel had been conveyed to him and his child by his +admiring brethren of the wallet; with many a gibing scoff had he +driven from the field presuming mendicants, not of his own +fraternity; and with half-bitter, half-amused remarks, had he +listened to the rapturous descriptions of the splendours of king, +queen, and their noble suite. And pretty Bessee had clung fast to +his hand, and discreetly guided him through every maze of the crowd, +with the strange dexterity of a child bred up in throngs. And now +tired out with the long-continued festivities, the beggar sat in +front of his hut, basking in the sun, and more than half asleep; +while Bessee, her lap full of heather-blossoms and long bents of +grass, was endeavouring to weave herself chains, bracelets, and +coronals, in imitation of those which had recently dazzled her eyes. + +She had just encircled her dark auburn locks with a garland of purple +heather, studded here and there with white or gold, when, starting +upon her little bare but delicately clean pink feet, she laid her +hand on her father's lap, and said, "Father, hark! I see two of the +good red monks coming!" + +"Well, child; and wherefore waken me? They are after their own +affairs, I trow. Moreover, I hear no horses' feet." + +"They are not riding," said Bessee; "and they are walking this way. +They have a dog, too! Oh, such a gallant glorious dog, father! Ah," +cried she joyfully, "'tis the good Father Grand Prior!" and she was +about to start forward, but the blind man's ear could now distinguish +the foot-falls; and holding her fast, he almost gasped--"And the +other, child--who is he?" + +"No knight at our Spital! A stranger, father. So tall, so tall! +His mantle hardly reaches his knee his robe leaves his ankles bare. +O father, they are coming. Let me go to meet dear good Father +Robert! But what--Oh, is the fit coming? Father Robert will stop +it!" + +"Hush thy prattle," said the beggar, clutching her fast, and +listening as one all ear; and by this time the two knights were close +at hand, the taller holding the dog, straining in a leash, while the +good Grand Prior spoke. "How fares it with thee, friend? And thou, +my pretty one? No mishaps among the throng?" + +"None," returned Hal; "though the King and his suite DID let loose +five hundred chargers in the crowd at their dismounting, to trample +down helpless folk, and be caught by rogues. Largesse they called +it! Fair and convenient largesse--easily providing for those that +received it!" + +"No harm was done," briefly but sharply exclaimed the strange knight; +and the blind man, who had, as little Bessee at least perceived, been +turning his acute ear in that direction all the time he had been +speaking, now let his features light up with sudden perception. + +But Sir Robert Darcy, thinking that he only now became aware of the +stranger's presence, said, "A knight is here from the East, who +brings thee tidings, my son." + +Sir Robert would have said more, but the beggar standing up, cut him +short, by saying, "So, cousin, you have yet to learn the vanity of +disguises and feignings towards a blind man." + +"Nay, fair cousin," was the answer, "my feigning was not towards you; +but I doubted me whether you would have the world see me visit you in +my proper character. Will not you give me a hand, Henry?" + +"First say to me," said Henry, embracing with his maimed arm his +staff, planted in front of him defiantly, and still holding tight his +little daughter in his hand, "what brings you here to break into the +peace of the poor remnant of a man you have left?" + +"I come," said Edward patiently, "to fulfil my last--my parting +promise, to one who loved us both--and gave his life for me." + +"Loved you, ay! and well enough to betray me to you!" said Henry +bitterly. + +"No, Henry de Montfort, ten thousand times no!" said Edward. "I +would maintain in the lists the honour and loyalty of my Richard +towards you and me and all others. His faithfulness to you brought +him into peril of death and disgrace in the wretched matter of poor +Henry of Almayne; and he would have met both rather than have broken +his faith." + +"Then," said Henry, still with the same mocking tone, "how was it +that my worthless existence became known to his Grace?" + +"I knew of your having vanished from Evesham Abbey," returned Edward: +"and thus knowing, I understood a letter, the writing of which had +brought suspicion on Richard, and which was brought back to me when +we were seeking into--" + +"Into the deed of Simon and Guy," said Henry. "Poor Henry! It was a +foul crime; and Father Robert can bear me witness that I did penance +for it, when that kindly heart of his was laid in St. Peter's Abbey." + +"Then, Henry, thou own'st thy kinship to us still," said Edward +earnestly. Give me thine hand, man, and let me embrace my lovely +little kinswoman--a queen in her trappings. Ah, Henry! Heaven hath +dealt lovingly with thee in sparing thee thy child!" + +"You have children left!" said Henry quickly, and not withholding a +hand--which, be it remarked, was as delicately shaped and well kept +as that which took it. + +Twice had the beggar received a dole at Westminster at the obsequies +of Edward's little sons; yea, though he and all his brethren of the +dish had all the winter before had alms given them to purchase their +prayers for the health of the last. + +"Three--but three out of six," answered Edward; "nor dare I reckon on +the life of the frail babe that England hailed yesterday as my heir. +I sometimes deem that the blight of broken covenants has fallen on my +sons." + +"They were none of your breaking," said Henry. + +"Say'st thou so!" exclaimed Edward, looking up, with the animation of +a man hearing an acquittal from a quarter whose sincerity he could +thoroughly trust. + +But Henry made no courtly answer. "Pshaw! no living man that had to +deal with or for your father could keep a covenant. You were but the +spear-point of the broken reed, good cousin; and we pitied and +excused you accordingly." + +"Your father did," said Edward hoarsely. He could brook pity from +the great Simon better than from the blind beggar. + +"Ay, marry, that did he," returned Henry, "as he closed his visor +that last morn, after looking out on that wild Welsh border scum that +my fair brother-in-law had marshalled against us. 'By the arm of St. +James,' said he, 'if Edward take not heed, that rascaille will deal +with us in a way that will be worse for him than for us!'" + +"A true foreboding," said the King. "Henry, do thou come and be with +me. All are gone! Scarce a face that I left in England has welcomed +me on my return. Come, thou, in what guise thou wilt--earl, +counsellor, or bedesman--only be with me, and speak to me thy +father's words." + +"Who--I, my Lord?" returned Henry. "I am no man to speak my father's +words! They flew high over my head, and were only caught by grave +youths such as yourself. I, who was never trusted with so much as a +convoy. No, no; all the counsel I shall ever give, is to the +beggars, which coat-of-arms is like to rain clipped silver, and which +honest round penny pieces! Poor Richard! he bore the best brain of +us all, and might have served your purpose. Sit down, and tell me of +the lad.--Bessee, little one, bring out the joint-stool for the holy +Father." + +And Henry de Montfort made way on the rude bench outside his hut, +with all the ease and courtesy of the Earl of Leicester receiving his +kinsman the King. But meantime, the dog, which had been straining in +the leash, held by Edward throughout the conference, leapt forward, +and vehemently solicited the beggar's caresses. "Ah, Leonillo!" he +said, recognizing him at once, "thou hast lost thy master! Poor dog! +thou art the one truly loyal to thy master's blood!" + +"It was Richard's charge to take him to thee," said Edward: "but if +he be burdensome to thee, I would gladly cherish him, or would commit +him to faithful Gourdon, with whom he might be happier. Since he +lost his master the poor hound hath much pined away, and will take +food from none but me, or little John of Dunster." + +Leonillo, however, who seemed to have an unfailing instinct for a +Montfort, was willingly accepting the eager and delighted attentions +of the little girl; though he preferred those of her father, and +cowered down beneath his hand, with depressed ears and gently waving +tail, as though there were something in the touch and voice that +conferred what was as near bliss as the faithful creature could enjoy +without his deity and master. + +Meantime, the Grand Prior discreetly removed his joint-stool out of +hearing of the two cousins, and called the little maid to rehearse to +him the Credo and Ave, with their English equivalents--a task that +pretty Bessee highly disapproved after the fortnight's dissipation, +and would hardly have performed for one less beloved of children than +Father Robert. + +The good Grand Prior knew that the King would have much to say that +would beseem no ear save his kinsman's; and in effect Edward told +what none besides would ever hear respecting the true author of the +attempts on his own life. + +"Spiteful fox. Such Simon ever was!" was the beggar's muttered +comment. "Well that he knows not of my poor child! So, cousin, thou +hast kept his counsel," he added in a different tone. "I thank thee +in the name of Montfort and Leicester. It was well and nobly done." + +And Henry de Montfort held out his hand with the dignity of head of +the family whose honour Edward had shielded. + +"It was for thy father's sake and Richard's," said Edward, receiving +the acknowledgment as it was meant. + +"Ah, well," said Henry, relapsing into his usual half-scoffing tone; +"in that boy our Montfort blood seems to have run clear of the taint +it got from the she-fiend of Anjou." + +"Thy share was from a mocking fiend!" returned the King. + +"Ay, and a fair portion it is!" said the beggar. "My jest and my +song have borne me through more than my sword and spurs ever did--and +have been more to me than English earldom or French county. Poor +Richard!" he added with feeling; "I told him his was the bondage and +mine the freedom!" + +"Alas! I fear that so it was," said Edward. "My favour only +embittered his foes. Had I known how it would end, I had never taken +him to me; but my heart yearned to my uncle's goodly son." + +"Maybe it is well," said Henry. "Had the boy grown up verily like my +father, thou and he might have fallen out; or if not--why, you +knights and nobles ride in miry bloody ways, and 'tis a wonder if +even the best of you does not bring his harness home befouled and +besmirched--not as shining bright as he took it out. Well, what +didst thou with the poor lad? Cut him in fragments? You mince your +best loved now as fine as if they were traitors." + +"No," said Edward; "the boy lies sleeping in the Church of St. John, +at Acre. I rose from my sickbed that I might lay him in his grave as +a brother. Lights burn round him, and masses are said; and the +brethren were left in charge to place his effigy on his tomb, in +carven stone. One day I trust to see it. My brother Alexander of +Scotland, Llewellyn of Wales, and I, have sworn to one another to +bring all within these four seas into concord and good order; and +then we may look for such a blessing on our united arms as may bear +us onward to Jerusalem! Then come with us, Henry, and let us pray +together at Richard's grave." + +"I may safely promise," said Henry, smiling, "if this same Crusade is +to be when peace and order are within the four seas. Moreover, thou +wilt have ruined my trade by that time!" + +"Nay, Henry, cease fooling. See--if thou wilt not be thyself, I will +find thee a lodge in any park of mine. None shall know who thou art; +but thou shalt have free range, and--" + +"And weary of my life! No, no, cousin. I am in thy power now; and +thou canst throw me into prison as the attainted Lord de Montfort. +Do so if thou wilt; but I were fooling indeed to give up my free +range, my power, my authority, to be a poor suspected, pitied, maimed +pensioner on thy bounty. Park, quotha! with none to speak to from +morn to night. I can have my will of any park of thine I please, +whenever I choose!" + +Edward would have persisted, but Henry silenced him effectually, with +a sarcastic hint that his favours had done little for Richard. Then +the King prayed at least that he would consider his child; but to the +proposal of taking her to the palace, Henry returned an indignant +negative: "He had seen enough of the court ladies," he said. + +A hot glow of anger lighted Edward's cheek, for he loved his mother; +but the blind beggar could not be the subject of his wrath, and he +merely said, "Thou didst not know my wife!" + +"Ay, I will believe the court as perfect as thou thinkest to make the +isle; but Bessee shall not bide there. She is the blind beggar's +child, and such shall she remain. Send me to a dungeon, as I said, +and thou canst pen her in a convent, or make her a menial to thy +princesses, as thou wilt; but while my life and my freedom are my own +I keep my child." + +"I could find it in my heart to arrest thee," said Edward, "when I +look at that beautiful child, and think to what thou wouldst bring +her." + +"She is fair then," said the beggar eagerly. + +"Fair! She is the loveliest child mine eyes have looked on: though +some of mine own have been very lovely. But she hath the very +features of our royal line--though with eyes deep and dark, like thy +father's, or my Richard's--and a dark glow of sunny health on her +fair skin. She bears her, too, right royally. Henry, thou canst not +wreck the fate of a child like that." + +"No, assuredly," said Henry dryly. "I have not done so ill by her +hitherto, by thine own showing, that I should not be trusted with her +for the future." + +"The parting would be bitter," began Edward "but thou shouldst see +her often." + +"Slay me, and make her a ward of the crown," said Henry. "Otherwise +I will need no man's leave for seeing my daughter. But ask her. If +she will go with thee, I will say no more." + +King Edward was fond of children--most indulgent to his own, and kind +to all little ones, who, attracted by the sweetness which his stern, +grave, beautiful countenance would assume when he looked at them-- +always made friends with him readily. So he trusted to this +fascination in the case of the little Lady Elizabeth. He held out +his hands to her, and claimed her as his cousin; and she came readily +to him, and stood between his knees. "Little cousin, he said, "wilt +thou come home with me, to be with my two little maids, the elder +much of thine age?" + +"You are a red monk!" said Bessee, amazed. + +"That's his shell, Bessee," said her father; "he has come a-masking, +and forgot his part." + +"I don't like masking," said Bessee, trying to get away. + +"Then we will mask no more," said Edward. "Thou hast looked in my +face long enough with those great black eyes. Dost know me, child?" + +Bessee cast the black eyes down, and coloured. + +"Dost know me?" he repeated. + +"I think," she whispered at last, "that you are masking still. You +are like--like the King that was crowned at the Abbey." + +"Well said, little maid! And shall I take thee home, and give thee +pearls and emeralds to braid thy locks, instead of these heath- +bells?" + +"Father," said Bessee, trying to withdraw her little hands out of +Edward's large one, which held both fast. "O father, is he masking +still?" + +"No, child; it is the King indeed," said Henry. "Hear what he saith +to thee." + +And again Edward spoke of all that would tempt a child. + +"Father," said Bessee, "if father comes!" + +"No, Bessee," said her father; "I have done with palaces. No places +they for blind beggars." + +"Oh, let me go! let me go!" cried Bessee, struggling. And as the +King released her hands, she flew to her father. "He would lose +himself without me! I must be with father. O King, go away! +Father, don't let him take me! Let me cry for Jock of the Wooden +Spoon, and Trig One Leg, and Hedgerow Wat!" + +"Hush, hush, Bess!" said Henry, not desirous that his royal cousin +should understand the strength of his body-guard of honour. "The +King here is as trusty and loyal as the boldest beggar among us. He +only gave thee thy choice between him and me!" + +"Thee, thee, father. He can't want me. He has two eyes and two +hands, and a queen and two little girls; and thou hast only me!" and +she clung round her father's neck. + +"Little one," said Edward, "thou need'st not shrink from me. I will +not take thee away. Thy father hath a treasure, and 'tis his part to +strive not to throw it away. Only should either thou or he ever +condescend so far as to seek for counsel with this poor cousin of +thine, send this token to me, and I will be with thee." + +But it was full nine years ere Edward saw that jewel again. Meantime +he was not entirely without knowledge of his kinsman. On every great +occasion the figure, conspicuous for the scrupulous cleanliness of +the dark russet gown, and the careful arrangement of the hair and +beard, and the fillet which covered the eyes, as well as for a lordly +bearing, that even the stoop of blindness could not disguise, was to +be seen dominating over all the other beggars, sitting on the steps +of church or palace gates, as if they had been a throne; troubling +himself little to beg, but exchanging shrewd remarks with all who +addressed him, and raising many a laugh among the bystanders. +Leonillo lay contented at his feet; but after just enough time had +elapsed to show that he cared not for the King's remonstrance, he +ceased to be accompanied by his little daughter, and was led by a boy +in her stead. + +The King, making inquiries of the Grand Prior, learnt that pretty +Bessee was daily deposited at the sisterhood of Poor Clares, where +she remained while her father was out on his begging expeditions, and +learnt such breeding as convents then gave. + +"In sooth," said Sir Robert, "honest Hal believes it is all for good- +will and charity and love to the pretty little wench; and so it is in +great part: but methought it best to give a hint to the mother +prioress that the child came of good blood. She is a discreet lady, +and knows how to deal with her; and truly she tells me their house +has prospered since the little one came to them. Every feast-day +morn have they found their alms-dish weightier with coin than ever +she knew it before." + +When Edward repeated this intelligence to his queen, she recollected +Dame Idonea's gossiping information--that brave Sir Robert, the +flower of the House of Darcy, had only entered the Order of St. John, +when fair Alda Braithwayte, in the strong enthusiasm of the +Franciscan preaching, had pleaded a vow of virginity against all +suitors, and had finally become a Sister of the Poor Clares. And +after all his wars and wanderings, the regulations of his Order had +ended by bringing the Hospitalier in his old age into the immediate +neighbourhood of Prioress Alda; and into that distant business +intercourse that the heads of religious houses had from time to time +to carry on together. + +The world passed on. Eleanor de Montfort came from France, and the +King himself acted the part of a father to her at her marriage with +Llewellyn of Wales. He knew--though she little guessed--that the +beggar, by whom her jewelled train swept with rustling sound, was the +first-born of her father's house, and should have held her hand. Two +years only did that marriage last; Eleanor died, leaving an infant +daughter; and Llewellyn soon after was in arms against the English. +Perhaps Edward bethought him of his cousin's ironical promise to go +with him to the East after the pacification of the whole island, when +he found himself obliged to summon the fierce Pyrenean to pursue the +wild Welsh in their mountains. + + + +CHAPTER XIV--THE QUEEN OF THE DEW-DROPS + + + +"This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever +Ran on a green sward." --Winter's Tale. + +It was the summer of 1283; the babe of Carnarvon had been accepted as +the native prince, speaking no tongue but Welsh, and Edward had since +been employed in establishing his dominion over Wales. His +Whitsuntide was kept by the Queen's special entreaty at St. +Winifred's Well. Such wonders had been told her of the miracles +wrought by this favourite Welsh saint, that she hoped that by early +placing her little Welsh-born son under such protection, she might +secure for him healthier and longer life than had been the share of +his brethren. + +So to Holy-well went the court and army. Some lodged in the convent +attached to the well; but many and many more dwelt in tents, or +lodged in cottages, or raised huts of boughs of trees. Noble ladies +of Eleanor's suite were glad to obtain a lodging in rude Welsh huts; +and as the weather was beautiful, there was plenty of gay feasting, +dancing, and jousting on the greensward, when the religious +observances of the day were over. Pilgrims thronged from all parts, +attracted both by the presence of the court and the unusual +tranquillity of Wales; and for nearly a mile around the Holy-well it +was like one great motley fair, resorted to by persons of all +stations. Beggars of course were there in numbers, and among them +the unfailing blind beggar of Bethnal Green, who always made a +pilgrimage in the summer to some station of easy access from London, +but whom some wondered to see at such a distance. + +"Had he scented that the court was coming?" asked the young nobles. + +"Not he; he never haunted courts. He would have kept away had he +known that such a gabbling flock of popinjays were on the wing +thither!" + +But the young gallants were chiefly bent on speculating on the vision +of loveliness that had flashed on the eyes of some early visitants at +the well. A maiden in a dark pilgrim dress, and broad hat, which, +however, could not entirely conceal a glowing complexion, at once +rich and pure; perfect features, magnificent dark eyes and hair, and +a tall form, which, though very youthful, was of unmistakable dignity +and grace. She was always at the well exceedingly early in the +morning, moving slowly round it on her beautiful bare feet, and never +looking up from the string of dark beads--the larger ones of amber, +which she held in her fingers--as her lips conned over the prayers +connected with each. No ring was on the delicate hand, no ear-ring +in the ear; there was no ornament in the dress, but such a garb was +wont to be assumed by ladies of any rank when performing a vow; and +its simplicity at once enhanced her beauty, and added to the general +curiosity. Between four and six in the dewy freshness of morning +seemed to be her time for devotion; and though the habits of the +court were early, it was only the first astir who caught a sight of +this Queen of the Dew-drops, as it was the fashion to call her. Late +comers never caught sight of her, and affected incredulity when the +younger and more active knights and squires raved about her. Then it +was reported that the King himself had been seen speaking to her; and +thereupon excitement grew the more intense, because Edward's +exclusive devotion to his Queen had been such, that from his youth up +the most determined scandal had never found a wandering glance to +note in him. + +She was the Princess of France--of Navarre--of Aragon--in disguise; +nay, at the Whit-Sunday banquet there were those who cast anxious +glances to the door, expecting that, in the very land of King Arthur, +she would walk in like his errant dames at Pentecost, to demand a +champion. And when a joust was given on the sward, young Sir John de +Mohun, the Lord of Dunster, announced his intention of tilting in +honour of no one save the Queen of the Dew-drops. The ladies of the +court were rather scandalized, and appealed to the King whether the +choice of an unknown girl, of no acknowledged rank, should be +permitted; but the King, strict punctilious man as he was, only +laughed, and adjudged the Queen of the Dew-drops to be fully worthy +of the honour. + +After this, early rising became the fashion of Holy-well. All the +gentlemen got up early to look at the Queen of the Dew-drops; and all +the ladies got up early to see that the gentlemen did not get into +mischief; and the maiden's devotions became far from solitary; but +she moved on, with a sort of superb unconcern, never lifting the dark +fringes that veiled the eyes so steadily fixed on the beads that +dropped through her fingers, until, as she finished, she raised up +her head with a straightforward fearless look at the way she was +going, so completely self-possessed that no one ventured to accost +her, and to follow her at less than such a respectful distance, that +she was always lost sight of in the wood. + +At last, late one evening, there was a sudden start of exultant +satisfaction among some of the young men who were lounging on the +green; for the most part not the nobles of the court, but certain +young merchants of London and Bristol, who had followed the course of +pilgrimage by the magnetism of fashionable resort. The Queen of the +Dew-drops was seen, carrying a pitcher! Up started four or five +gallants, offering assistance, and standing round her, wrangling with +one another, and besetting her steps. + +"Let me pass, gentles," she said with dignity, "I am carrying wine in +haste to my father." + +"Nay, fair one, you pass not our bounds without toll," said the +portliest of the set. + +"Hush, rudesby; fair dames in disguise must be treated after other +sort." + +Every variety of half-insulting compliment was pouring upon her; but +she, with head erect, and steady foot, still quietly moved on, taking +no notice, till a hand was laid on her pitcher. + +"Let go!" then she said in no terrified voice. "Let go, Sir, or I +can summon help." + +And as if to realize her words, the intrusive hand was thrust aside +by a powerful arm, and a voice exclaimed - + +"This lady is to pass free, Sir! None of your insolence!" + +"A court-gallant," passed round the hostile bourgeoise; "none of your +court airs, Sir." + +"No airs--but those of an honest Englishman, who will not see a woman +cowardly beset!" + +"Will Silk-jerkin not bide a buffet!" quoth the bully of the party, +clenching his fist. + +"As many as thou wilt," returned Silk-jerkin, "so soon as I have seen +the lady safe home!" + +"Ho! ho!--a fetch that!" and the fellow, a coarse rude-looking man, +though rather expensively dressed, flourished his fist in the face of +the young man, but was requited that instant with a round blow that +levelled him with the ground. The others fell back from the tall +strong-limbed, open-faced youth, and the girl took the opportunity of +moving forward, swiftly indeed, but so steadily as to betray no air +of terror. Meantime, the young gentleman's voice might be heard, +assuring his adversaries that he was ready to encounter one or all of +them so soon as he had escorted the lady safe home. Perhaps she +hoped that another attack would delay him; but if so, her +expectations were disappointed, for in a second or two his quick firm +tread followed her, and just as she had gained the mazy wood-path, he +was beside her. + +"Thanks, Sir," she said, "for the service you have done me, but I am +now in safety." + +"Nay, Lady, do me the grace of letting me bear your load." + +"Thanks," again she said; "but I feel no weight." + +"But my knighthood does, seeing you thus laden." + +"Spare your knighthood the sight, then," she said smiling, and +looking up with a glance of brightness, such as her hitherto sedate +face had never before revealed to him. + +"That cannot be!" he exclaimed with fervency. "You bid me in vain +leave you till I see you safe; and while with you, all laws of +courtesy call on me to bear your burthen! So, Lady--" + +And he laid his hand upon the leathern thong that sustained the +pitcher; but at that moment three or four heaps of rags, that had +been lying under the trees by the woodland path, erected themselves, +and one in especial, whom the young knight had observed as a +frightful cripple seated by day near the well, now came forward +brandishing his crutch in a formidable manner, and uttering a howl of +defiance. But the lady silenced him at once - + +"Peace, good Trig, nothing is amiss! It is only this gentleman's +courtesy. He hath done me good service on the green yonder!" + +And as her strange body-guard retreated growling, she, perhaps to +show her confidence, resigned her pitcher into the knight's hand. + +"So, fair Queen of the Dew-drops," he said, half bewildered, "thou +dost work miracles!" + +"Ay, when the dew is on the grass, and the nightingale sings," she +returned gaily; "by day the enchantment is over." + +By this time they had reached a low turf hut; and the maiden, turning +at the door, held out her hand, and said, "Thanks, fair Sir, I must +enter my enchanted palace alone; but grammercy for thy kind service, +and farewell." + +The maiden and the pitcher vanished. The knight watched the rude +door in vain--he only saw a few streaks of light through the boards. +Then he bethought him of questioning her guards, but when he reached +their tree they were gone. It was fast growing dark, and he was one +of the King's personal attendants, and subject to the strict +regulations of his household; so, dazed and bewildered as he was, he +walked hastily back to the hospice, where the King and Queen lodged. +Supper had already begun, and the glare of lights dazzled his eyes. +In his bewilderment, he served the King with mustard instead of honey +from the great silver ship full of condiments, in the centre of the +table. + +"How's this, Sir John?" said the King, who always had a kindly corner +in his heart for this young knight. "Are these the idle days of thy +Crusade come again?" + +"I could well-nigh think so!" half-whispered Sir John. + +"He looks moonstruck!" cried that spoilt ten years old damsel, Joan +of Acre, clasping her hands with mischievous fun. "Oh! has he seen +the Queen of the Dew-drops?" + +"What dost thou know of the Queen of the Dew-drops, my Lady +Malapert?" said King Edward, marking the red flush that mounted to +the very brow of the downright young knight. + +"Oh, I know that she is at the well every morning, and is as lovely +as the dawn! Ay, and vanishes so soon as the sun is up; but not ere +she has bewitched every knight of them all! And did not my Lord of +Dunster hold the field in her honour against all comers? No wonder +she appears to him.--Oh! tell us, Sir John! what like was she?" + +"Hush, Joan," said Queen Eleanor, bending forward, "no infanta in my +time ever said so much in a breath." + +"No, Lady-mother; because you had to speak whole mouthfuls of grave +Castillian words. Now, good English can be run off in a breath. +Reyna del Rocio--that's more majestic, but not so like fairyland as +Queen of the Dew-drops!" + +Princess Joan's mouth was effectually stopped this time. + +The adventure of the evening had led to the discovery of the hut of +the Queen of the Dew-drops. The young knight had as usual been +betimes at the well, but the maiden did not appear there. Then he +questioned the cripple--who by day was an absolute helpless cripple-- +but the man utterly denied all knowledge of any such circumstance. +He, why, poor wretch that he was, he never hobbled further than the +shed close behind the well; he would give the world if he could get +as far as the wood--he knew nothing about ladies or pilgrims--such a +leg as his was enough to think about. And the display to which he +forthwith treated the Knight of Dunster was highly convincing as to +his incapacity. + +Into the wood wandered the much-confused knight, recognizing, step by +step, the path of the night before. The turf hut was before him--the +door was open--and in the doorway sat the maiden herself, spinning, +the distaff by her side, the spindle dancing on the ground, and the +pilgrim's hat no longer hiding her beauteous brow and wealth of dark +braided hair. But, intolerable sight, seven or eight of last night's +loungers were dispersed hither and thither in the bushes, gazing with +all their eyes, endeavouring to attract her attention; some by +conversations with one another; one richly-dressed Gascon squire, of +the train of Edward's ally, the Count de Bearn, by singing a +Provencal love ditty; while a merchant of Bristol set up a counter +attempt with a long doleful English ballad. All the time the fair +spinster sat in the doorway, with the utmost gravity, twisting her +thread and twirling her spindle; but it might be observed that she +had so placed herself as to have full command of the door, and to be +able to shut herself in whenever she chose. + +No one had yet ventured to accost her. There was something in her +air that rendered it almost impossible for any one to force himself +upon her, and a sort of fear mingled with the impression she made. +However, the young knight, although a bashful man by nature, had one +advantage in his court breeding, and another in the acquaintance he +had made last night. He walked straight up, and doffing his velvet +cap, began, "Greet you well, fair Queen. I could not but take your +challenge to see whether your power lasted when the dew was off." + +The damsel rose with due courtesy as he approached, but ere she had +attempted an answer, nay, even before the words were out of his +mouth, the Gascon was shouting in French that this was no fair play, +he had stolen a march; and the merchant had sprung forward saying, +"Girl, beware, court gallants mean not well by country wenches." + +"Thou liest in thy throat," burst forth the knight. "Discourteous +lubber, to call such a queen of beauty a country wench!" + +"Listen to me, girl." + +"Lady, hear me." + +"Hearken not to the popinjay foreigner." + +These, and many more tumultuary exclamations, threats, and +entreaties, crowded on one another, and the various speakers were +laying hand on staff or sword, and glaring angrily on one another, +when the word "Peace," in the maiden's clear silvery notes, sounded +among them. They all turned as she stood in the doorway, drawn up to +her full height. + +"Peace," she said; "I can have no brawling here! My father was +grievously sick yesterday, and is still ill at ease. One by one +speak your business, and begone. You first, Sir," to the Gascon, she +said in French. + +"Ah! fair Lady, what business could be mine, save to tell you how +lovely you are?" + +"You have said," she answered, without a blush, waving him aside. +"Now you, Sir," to the tuneful merchant of Bristol. + +"I told you, Madam, he meant not well. Those aliens never do." + +"You too have said," she answered. + +The merchant would have persisted, but a London merchant, a much more +substantial and considerable character, pushed him aside, and the +numbers being all against him, he was forced to give way. + + "Young woman," said the merchant, "you are plainly of better birth +and breeding than you choose to affect. Now I am thinking of getting +married. I have ships at sea, and stuffs and jewels coming from +Venice and Araby; and I am like to be Lord Mayor ere long; but +there's that I like in your face and discreet bearing, and I'll make +you my wife, and give you all my keys--your father willing!" + +"Your turn's out, old burgher," said a big, burly, and much younger +man, pressing forward. "Pretty wench! I'm not like to be Lord +Mayor, nor nothing of that sort; but I'm a score of years nigher +thine age, and a lusty fellow to boot, that could floor any man at +single-stick, within the four seas. Ay, and have been thought comely +too, though Joyce o' the haugh did play me false; and I come o' this +pilgrimage just to be merry and forget it. If thou wilt take me, and +come back to spite Joyce, thou shalt be hostess of the Black Bull, at +Brentford, where all the great folk from the North ever put up when +they come to town; the merriest and richest hostel, and will have the +comeliest host and hostess round about London town!" + +The lady bowed her head. Perhaps those rosy lips were trying hard to +keep from laughing. + +"A hostel's no place for a discreet dame to bide in," put forth an +honest voice. "Maiden, I know not who or what you are, but I came o' +this pilgrimage to please my old mother, who said I might do my soul +good, and bring home a wife--better over the moor than over the +mixen--and I know she would give thee a right good welcome. I'm +Baldric of the Cheddar Cliff, and we have held our land ever since +the old days, or ever the Norman kings came here. Three hundred +kine, woman, and seven score swine, and many an acre of good corn +land under the hill." + +The lady had never looked up while these suitors were speaking. When +Baldric of Cheddar had done, she gave one furtive glance through her +long eyelashes, as if to see if there were any more, and then her +cheek flushed. There still remained the knight. Some others had +slunk away when brought to such close quarters, but he stepped forth +more hesitatingly, and said, "Lady, I know not whether the bare rock +and castle I have to offer can weigh against the ships, the hostel, +or the swine. I have few of either; I am but a poor baron, but such +as I am, I am wholly yours. Thine eyes have bound me to you for +ever, and all I seek is leave to make myself better known, and to ask +that your noble father may not deem me wholly unworthy to be your +suitor." + +The lady trembled a little, but she held her place in the doorway. +"Gentles," she said, "I thank ye for the honour ye have done me, but +I may not dispose of mine own self. My father is ill at ease, and +can see no one; but he bids me tell you that he will meet all who +have aught to say to him, under the trysting tree at Bethnal Green, +the day after the Midsummer feast." + +With these words she retired into her hut, and closed the door. She +was seen again no more that day; and on the next the hut stood open, +empty, and deserted. + + + +CHAPTER XV--THE BEGGAR'S DOWRY + + + +"'But first you shall promise and have it well knowne +The gold that you drop shall all be your owne;' +With that they replyed, 'Contented we bee;' +'Then here's,' quoth the beggar, 'for pretty Bessee.'" +Old Ballad. + +The day after Midsummer had come, and towards the fine elm tree that +then adorned the centre of Bethnal Green, three horsemen were wending +their way. Each had his steed a good deal loaded: each looked about +him anxiously. + +"By St. Boniface," said one, "the girl's father is not there. Saucy +little baggage, was she deluding us all?" + +"Belike he is bringing too long a train of mules with her dowry to +make much speed," quoth the merchant. "He will think it needful to +collect all his gear to meet the offers of Master Lambert of Cripple- +gate. Ha! Sir Knight, well met! You are going to try your +venture!" + +"I must! So it were not all enchantment," said the knight, almost +breathlessly, gazing round him. "Yet," he said, almost to himself, +"those eyes had a soul and memories that ne'er came out of +fairyland!" + +"Ha!" exclaimed the innkeeper, "there's old Blind Hal under the tree! +I'll tell him to get out of our way. Hal!" he shouted, "here's a +tester for thee, but thou'st best keep out of the way of the mules." + +"What mules, Master Samson?" coolly demanded Hal, who had comfortably +established himself under the tree with his back against the trunk. + +"The mules that the brave burgess is going to bring his daughter's +dowry on. They are cranky brutes, Hal; bad customers for blind men-- +best let me give thee a hand out of the way." + +"But who is this burgess that you talk of?" asked the beggar. + +"The father of the pilgrim lass that prayed at St. Winifred's Well," +said Samson. + +"And was called Queen of the Dew-drops?" + +"Ay, ay, old fellow! Thou knowest every bird that flies! She is to +be my wife, I tell thee, and a right warm corner shall she keep for +thee at the Black Bull, for thou canst make sport for the guests +right well." + +"I hope she will keep a warm corner for me," said the beggar; "for no +man will treat for her marriage save myself." + +"Thou! Old man, who sent thee here to insult us?" cried the +merchant. + +"None, Master Lambert. I trysted you to meet me here if you purposed +still to seek my child in marriage." + +"Thy child?" cried all three, vehemently. + +"My child!" answered the beggar. "Mine own lawful child." + +There was a silence. Presently Samson growled, "I mind me he used to +have a little black-eyed brat with him." + +"Caitiff!" exclaimed the merchant; "I'll have thy old vagabond bones +in the Fleet for daring so to cheat his Grace's lieges." + +"If you can prove a cheat against me I will readily abye it, Sir," +returned the beggar. + +"Palming a beggar's brat off for a noble dame." + +"So please you, Sir," interrupted the beggar, "keep truth with you. +What did the child or I ever profess, save what we were? No foul +words here. I trysted you to meet me here, anent her marriage. Have +you any offers to make me?" + +"Aye, of a cell in the Fleet if you persist in your insolence!" cried +the merchant. + +"Thanks," quietly said the beggar. "And you, Master Samson?" + +"'Tis a sweet pretty lass," said Samson, ruefully; "and pity of her +too, but you see a man like me must look to his credit. I'll give +her twenty marks to help her to a husband, Hal, only let her keep out +of my sight for ever and a day." + +"I thought I heard another voice," said the beggar. "I trow the +third suitor has made off without further ado." + +"Not so, fair Sir," said a voice close to him, thick and choked with +feeling. "Your daughter is too dear to me for me thus to part, even +were mine honour not pledged." + +"Sir knight," interfered the merchant, "you will get into a desperate +coil with your friends." + +"I am my own master," answered the knight. "My parents are dead. I +am of age, and, Sir, I offer myself and all that is mine to your fair +daughter, as I did at Saint Winifred's Well, as one bound both by +honour and love." + +"It is spoken honourably," said Hal; "but, Sir, canst thou answer me +with her dowry? Tell down coin for coin." + +He held up a heavy leathern bag. The knight, who had come prepared, +took down another such bag from his saddle-bow. Down went one silver +piece from the knight. Down went another from the beggar. + +"Stay, stay," cried Samson. "I can play at that game too." + +"No, no, Master Samson," said the beggar; "your pretensions are +resigned. Your chance is over." + +Mark after mark--crown after crown--all the Dunster rents; all the +old hoards, with queer figures of Saxon kings, lay on the grass, +still for each the beggar had rained down its fellow, and +inexhaustible seemed the bags that he sat upon. Samson bit his lips, +and the merchant muttered with vexation. It could not be fairly come +by: he must be the president of a den of robbers; it should be +looked to. + +The last bag of the knight lay thin and exhausted; the beggar +clutched one bursting with repletion. + +"I could not put the lands and castle of Dunster into a bag and add +thereto," said the knight, at last. "Would that I could, my sword, +my spurs, and knightly blood to boot, and lay them at your daughter's +feet." + +"Let them weigh in the balance," said the beggar; "and therewith thy +truth to thy word." + +"And will you own me?" exclaimed the knight. "Will you take me to +your daughter?" + +"Nay, I said not so," returned Blind Hal. "I am not in such haste. +Come back on this day week, when I shall have learnt whether thou art +worthy to match with my child." + +"Worthy!" John of Dunster chafed and bit his lips at such words from +a beggar. + +"Ay, worthy," repeated the beggar, guessing his irritation. "I like +thee well, as a man of thy word, so far, but I must know more of him +who is to mate with my pretty Bessee." + +It was that evening that a page entered the royal apartments, and +giving a ring to the King, informed him that a blind beggar had sent +it in, and entreated to speak with him. + +"Pray him to come hither," said the King; "and lead him carefully. +Thou, Joan, hadst better seek thy mother and sister." + +"O sweet father," cried Joan, "don't order me off. This can be no +state business. Prithee let me hear it." + +"That must be as my guest pleases, Joan," he answered; "and thou must +be very discreet, or we shall have him reproaching me for trying to +rule the realm when I cannot rule my own house." + +"Father, I verily think you are afraid of that beggar! I am sure he +is as mysterious as the Queen of the Dew-drops!" cried the +mischievous girl. + +The curtain over the doorway was drawn back, and the beggar was led +into the chamber. The King advanced to meet him, and took his hand +to lead him to a seat. "Good morrow to thee," he said; "cousin, I am +glad thou art come at last to see me." + +"Thanks, my Lord," said the beggar, with more of courtly tone than +when they had met before, and yet Joan thought she had never seen her +father addressed so much as an equal; "are any here present with +you?" + +"Only my wilful little crusading daughter, Joan," said Edward, +beckoning to her, and putting her proud reluctant fingers into the +hand of the beggar, who bent and raised them to his lips--as the +fashion then was--while the maiden reddened and looked to her father, +but saw him only smiling; "she shall leave us," he added, "if thy +matters are for my private ear. In what can I aid thee?" + +"In this matter of daughters," answered the beggar; "not that I need +aid of yours, but counsel. I would know if the heir of old Reginald +Mohun--John, I think they call him--be a worthy mate for my wench." + +Joan had in the meantime placed herself between her father's knees, +where she stood regarding this wonderful beggar with the most +unmitigated astonishment. + +"John of Dunster!" said the King, stroking down Joan's hair, "thou +knowst his lineage as well as I, cousin." + +"His lineage, true," replied Henry; "but look you, my Lord, my child, +the light of mine eyes, may not go from me without being assured that +it is to one who will, I say, not equal her in birth, but will be a +faithful and loving lord to her." + +"Hath he sought her?" asked the King. + +"Even so, my liege. The maid is scarce sixteen; I thought to have +kept her longer; but so it was--old Winny, her mother's old nurse, +fell sick and died in the winter; and the Dominican, who came to +shrive her, must needs craze the poor fool with threats that she did +a deadly sin in bringing my sweet wife and me together; and for all +the Grand Prior, who, monk as he is, has a soldier's sense, could say +of the love that conquered death, nothing would serve the poor woman +to die in peace till my Bessee had vowed to make a six weeks' station +at her patroness's well, where we were wedded, and pray for her soul +and her blessed mother's. So there we journeyed for our summer +roaming; and all had been well, had you not come down on us with all +the idle danglers of the court to gaze and rhyme and tilt about the +first fair face they saw. Even then so discreet was the girl that no +more had befallen, but as ill-luck would have it, my old Evesham +keepsake," touching his side, "burst forth again one evening, and +left me so spent, that Bessee sent the boy to get me a draught of +wine. The boy--mountebank as he is--lost her groat, and played +truant; and she, poor wench, got into such fear for me that she went +herself, and fell in with a sort of insolent masterful rogues, from +whom this young knight saved her. I took her home safe enough after +that, and thought to be rid of the knaves when they saw my wallet; +and so truly I am, all save this lad!" + +"O father! it is true love!" whispered Joan. + +"What hast to do with true love, popinjay? And so John of Dunster +came undaunted to the breach, did he, Henry?" + +"Not a whit dismayed he! Now either that is making light of his +honour, or 'tis an honour higher than most lads understand. Cousin, +I would have the child be loved as her father and mother loved! And +methinks she affects this blade. The child hath been less like my +merry lark since we met him. A plague on the springalds! But you +know him. Has he your good word?" + +"John of Dunster?" said the King. "Henry, didst thou not know for +whose sake I had loved and proved him? He was Richard's pupil. I +was forced to take the child with me, for old Sir Reginald had been +unruly enough, and I thought would be the less troublesome to my +father were his son in my keeping. But I half repented when I saw +what a small urchin it was, to be cast about among grooms and pages! +But Richard aided the little uncouth varlet, nursed him when sick, +guarded him when well, trained him to be loyal and steadfast. The +little fellow came bravely to my aid in my grapple with the traitor +before Acre; and when the blow had fallen on Richard, the boy's grief +was such that I loved him ever after. And of late I have had no +truer trustier warrior. I warrant me he was too shy to tell thee +that I knighted him last year in the midst of some of the best feats +of arms I ever beheld against the Welsh! Whatever John de Mohun +saith is sooth, and I would rather mate my daughter with him than +with many a man of fairer speech." + +"Then shall he have my pretty Bessee!" said the beggar, lingering +over the words. "But one boon I would further ask, cousin; that thou +breathe no word to him of my having sought thee." + +The young Lord of Dunster had not been noted for choiceness of +apparel; but when he repaired to the trysting-tree, none could have +found fault with the folds of his long crimson tunic, worked with the +black and gold colours of his family, nor with the sit of the broad +belt that sustained his sword, assuredly none with his beautiful +sleek black charger. + +But under the tree stood not the blind beggar, but the beggar's boy. + +"Blind Hal bids you meet him at the Spital, at your good pleasure," +said the boy; and like the mountebank he was, tumbled three times +head over heels. + +John de Mohun looked round and about, and saw no alternative but to +obey. All his love was required to endure so strange a father-in- +law, who did not seem in the least grateful for the honour intended +to his daughter; but the knight's word was pledged, and he rode +towards the Hospital. + +The court of the Hospital was full of steeds and serving-men. A +strange conviction came over John that he saw the King's strong white +charger--ay, and the palfreys of the elder princesses; and he asked +the lay-brother who offered to take his horse, if the King were +there. The brother only replied by motioning him towards the inner +quadrangle. + +He passed on accordingly, and as he went, the bells broke forth into +a merry peal. On the top of the steps leading to the arched doorway, +he saw a scarlet cluster of knights, and among them the Grand Prior, +robed as for Mass. A space was clear within the deep porch, and +there stood the beggar in his russet suit. + +"Sir John de Mohun of Dunster," he said, "thou art come hither to +espouse my daughter?" + +"I hope, so, Sir," said John, somewhat taken by surprise. + +"Come hither, maiden," said her father. + +The cluster of knights opened, and from within the church there +appeared before the astonished bridegroom the stately form of King +Edward, leading in his hand the dark-tressed, dark-haired maiden, +dressed in spotless white, the only adornment she wore a circlet of +diamonds round her flowing dark hair--the Queen indeed of the Dew- +drops. And behind her walked with calm dignity the beautiful +Princess Eleanor, now nearly a woman, holding with a warning hand the +merry mischievous Joan. + +Well might John of Dunster stand dazzled and amazed, but hesitation +or delay there was none. Then and there, by the Grand Prior himself, +was the ceremony performed, without a word of further explanation. +The rite over, when the bridegroom took the bride's hand to follow, +as all were marshalled on their way, he knew not whither, she looked +up to him through her dark eyelashes, and murmured, "They would not +have it otherwise!" + +"Deem you that I would?" said the knight fervently, pressing her +hand. + +"I deemed that you should know all--who I am," she faltered. + +"My wife, the Lady of Dunster. That is all I need to know," replied +Sir John, with the honest trustworthy look that showed it was indeed +enough to secure his heart-whole love and reverence. + +The great hall of the Spital was decked for the bridal feast. The +bride and bridegroom were placed at the head of the table, and the +King gave up his place beside the bride to her blind father. All the +space within the cloister without was strewn with rushes, where sat +and feasted the whole fraternity of beggars; and well did the Grand +Prior and his knights do their part in the entertainment. + +Then when the banquet was drawing to its close, the blind beggar bade +the boy that waited near him fetch his harp. And, as had often +before been his practice, he sang in a deep manly voice, to the boy's +accompaniment on his harp. But the song that then he sang had never +been heard before, nor was its exact like ever heard again; though +tradition has handed down a few of the main features, and (as may be +seen by this veracious narration) somewhat vulgarized them:- + + +"A poore beggar's daughter did dwell on a greene, +Who might for her faireness have well been a queene; +A blithe bonny lasse and a dainty was she, +And many one called her pretty Bessee." + + +Even the King, who had so well guarded the secret, was entirely +unprepared to hear the Montfort parentage thus publicly avowed; and +the bride, who had as little known of her father's intentions, sat +with downcast eyes, blushing and tearful, while the beggar's +recitative went briefly and somewhat tremulously over his +resuscitation, under the hands of the fair and faithful Isabel. Her +hand was held by her bridegroom from the first, with a pressure meant +to assure her that no discovery could alter his love and regard; but +when the name of Montfort sounded on his ear, the hand wrung hers +with anxiety; and when the entire tale had been told, and the last +chord was dying away, he murmured, "Look up at me, my loveliest. Now +I know why I first loved thine eyes. Thou art dearer to me than +ever, for the sake of my first and best friend!" + +His words were only for herself. The King was saying aloud, + +"Well sung, fair cousin! A health, my Lords and Knights, for Sir +Henry de Montfort, Earl of Leicester." + +"Not so, Lords and Knights!" called this strange personage, the only +one who would thus have contradicted the King; "the Earl of Leicester +has long ago been dead, as you have heard. If you drink, let it be +to Blind Hal of Bethnal Green." + +Nor could all the entreaties of daughter, son-in-law, nor King, move +him from his purpose of living and dying as Blind Hal, the beggar. +He had tasted too long of liberty, he said, to put himself under +constraint. To live in Somersetshire, as his daughter wished, would +have been banishment and solitude to one used to divert himself with +every humour of the city; and to be, as he declared, a far more +complete king of the beggars than ever his cousin Edward was over +England. All he would consent to, was that a room in a lodge in +Windsor Park should be set apart for him under charge of Adam de +Gourdon, who had been present at this scene, and was infinitely +rejoiced at the sight of a scion of the House of Montfort. For the +rest, he bade every one to forget his avowal, which, as he said, he +had only made that the blanch lion might share with the Mohun cross; +and as he added to Princess Eleanor, "that you court dames may never +flout at pretty Bessee! Had the Cheddar Yeoman been the true man, +none had ever known that she was a Montfort." + +"Would you have given her to the Cheddar Yeoman?" burst out Joan +furiously. + +"That he will say so, to anger thee, is certain, Joan," said the +King. "Farewell, Henry. Remember, I hold thee bound to be my +comrade when I can return to the Holy War." + +"Ay, when you have tamed Scotland, even as you have tamed Wales," +returned Henry. + +"No fear of my good brother Alexander's realm needing such taming. +Heaven forbid!" said Edward. + +But the beggar parted from him with a laugh. + + + +CHAPTER XVI--THE PAGE'S MEMORY + + + +The pure calm picture of a blameless friend. +Lyra Apostolica. + +Ten years later, King Edward was walking in the park at Windsor with +slow and weary steps. His rich dark brown hair and beard were lined +with gray, his face was not only grave but worn and melancholy, and +more severe than ever. The sorrow of his life, his queen's death, +had fallen on him, and with her had gone much of softening influence; +the only son who had been spared to him was, though a mere child, +grieving him by the wayward frivolities not of a strong but of a weak +nature; he had wrought much for his country's good, but had often +been thwarted and never thanked; his mercies and benefits were +forgotten, his justice counted as harshness, and hatred and +opposition had met him everywhere. Above all, and weighting him +perhaps most severely, was that his first step beyond his just bounds +had been taken in the North. John Baliol was indeed king, but Edward +in his zeal for discipline had bound Scotland with obligations--for +her good indeed, but beyond his just right to impose; and the sense +of aggression was embittering him against the Scottish resistance, +while at the same time adding to his sadness. + +A knight came forth from one of the paths that led into that along +which he was pacing with folded arms, and unwilling to break upon his +mood, stood waiting, till Edward himself looked up and asked +impatiently, "So, Sir John, what now? Another outbreak of those +intolerable Scotch?" + +"Not so, my Lord; but the Bailiff of Acre awaits to see you." + +"Bailiff of Acre! What is the Bailiff of Acre to me? I cannot hear +all their importunities for a crusade! Heaven knows how gladly I +would hasten to the Holy War, if these savage Scots would give me +peace at home. I am weary of their solicitations. Cannot you tell +him I would be private, John?" + +"My Lord, he says he has matter for your private ear, concerning one +whom you met in Palestine--and, my Lord, you will sure remember him-- +Sir Reginald Ferrers." + +"The friend of Richard!" said Edward, with a changed countenance. +"Bring him with you to your father-in-law's lodge, John. If there be +aught to hear of the House of Montfort, it concerns him and you +likewise. I was on my way thither." + +In a short time the woodland lodge, in one of the most beautiful +glades of Windsor Forest, beheld the King seated on a bench placed +beneath a magnificent oak, standing alone in its own glade, and +beside him the Blind Beggar in his russet suit; far less changed than +his royal cousin during these years. Since Edward's great sorrow, +Henry de Montfort had held less apart from him; and whenever the King +was at leisure to snatch a short retirement at one of his hunting +lodges, he always sent an intimation to the beggar, who would journey +down on a sober ass, and under the care of De Gourdon, now the chief +of the hunting staff, would meet the King in some sylvan glade. Why +it was a comfort to Edward to be with him, it would be hard to say; +probably from the habit of old fellowship, for Henry's humour had not +grown more courtly or less caustic. + +From under the trees came John de Mohun, now a brave, stout, hearty- +looking English baron; and with him, wrapped in a battered and soiled +scarlet mantle, a war-worn soldier, his complexion tanned to deep +brown, his hair bleached with toil and sun, a scar on his cheek, a +halt on his step--altogether a man in whom none would have recognized +the bright, graceful, high-spirited young Hospitalier of twenty years +since. Only when he spoke, and the smiling light beamed in his eye, +could he be known for Sir Reginald Ferrers. + +He would have bent his knee, but Edward took his hand, and bowing his +own bared head said, "It is we who should crave a blessing from you, +holy Father, last defender of the sacred land." + +"Alas, my Lord," said Sir Raynald, as he made the gesture of +blessing; "Heaven's will he done! Had we but been worthier! Sir," +he added, "I am in no guise for a royal presence, but I have been +sent home from Cyprus to recover from my wounds; and I had a message +for you which I deemed you would gladly hear before I had joined mine +Order." + +"A message?" said Edward. + +"A message from a dying penitent, craving pardon," replied Sir +Raynald. + +"If it concerns the House of Montfort, speak on," said Edward. "None +are so near to it as those present with me!" + +"Thou hast guessed right, my Lord King!" replied Sir Raynald. "It +does concern that House. Have I your license to tell my tale at some +length?" + +Edward gave permission; and a seat having been brought, Sir Raynald +proceeded to speak of that last Siege of Acre, when, amid the +multitudinous tribunals of mixed races, and the many sanctuaries +which sheltered crime, the unhappy city had become a disgrace to the +Christian name. The Sultan Malek Seraf was concentrating his forces +on it; all the unwarlike inhabitants had been sent away; and the +Knights of the two Orders, with the King of Cyprus and his troops, +had shut themselves up for their last resistance--when among the +mercenaries, who enrolled themselves in the pay of the Hospitaliers, +came a sunburnt warrior, who had evidently had long experience of +Eastern warfare, though his speech was English, French, or Provencal, +according to the person who addressed him. Fierce and dreadful was +the daily strife; the new soldier fought well, but he was not +noticed, till one night. "Ah, Sir!" said the Hospitalier, "even then +our holy and beautiful house was in dire confusion, our garden +trodden down and desolate! One night, I heard strange choking sobs +as of one in anguish. I deemed that one of our wounded had in +delirium wandered into the garden, and was dying there. But I found- +-at the foot of the stone cross we set beside the fountain, where the +attempt on you, Sir, was made--this warrior lying, so writhing with +anguish, that I could scarce believe it was grief, not pain, that +thus wrought with him! I lifted him up, and spake of repentance and +pardon. No pardon for him, he said; it was here that he had slain +his brother! I spake long and earnestly with him, but he called +himself sacrilegious murderer again and again. Nay, he had even-- +when after that wretched night you wot of, Sir, he left our House--in +his despair and hope to leave remorse behind, he had become a Moslem, +and fought in the Saracen ranks. All hope he spurned. No mercy for +him, was his cry! I would have deemed so--but oh! I thought of +Richard's parting hope; I remembered our German brethren's tale, how +the Holy Father, the Pope, said there was as little hope of pardon as +that his staff should bud and blossom; and lo, in one night it bore +bud and flower. I besought him for Richard's sake to let me strive +in prayer for him. All day we fought on the walls--all night, beside +Richard's cross, did he lie and weep and groan, and I would pray till +strength failed both of us. Day after day, night after night, and +still the miserable man looked gray with despair, and still he told +me that he knew Absolution would but mock his doom. He could fear, +but could not sorrow. And still I spoke of the Saviour's love of +man--and still I prayed, and all our house prayed with me, though +they knew not who the sinner was for whom I besought their prayers. +At last--it was the day when the towers on the walls had been won--I +came back from the breach, and scarce rested to eat bread, ere I went +on to the Cedar and the Cross. Beside it knelt Sir Simon. 'Father,' +he said, 'I trust that the pardon that takes away the sin of the +world, will take away mine. Grant me Absolution.' He was with us +when, ere dawn, such of us as still lived met for our last mass in +our beautiful chapel. He went forth with us to the wall. By and by, +the command was given that we should make a sally upon the enemy's +camp. We went back for the last time to our house to fetch our +horses; I knew there could be no return, and went for one last look +into our chapel, and at Richard's tomb. Upon it lay the knight, +horribly scathed with Greek fire--he had dragged him there to die. +He was dead, but his looks were upward; his face was as calm as +Richard's was, my Lord, when we laid him down by the fountain. And +now his message, my Lord. He bade me say, if I survived the siege, +that he had often cursed you for the worse revenge of letting him +live to his remorse--now he blessed you for sparing him to repent." + +"And Richard's grave has passed to the Infidels!" said Edward, after +a long silence. + +"Even as the graves of our brethren--the holiest Grave of all," said +the Knight Hospitalier. + +"Cheer up and hope, Father," said the King. "Let me see peace and +order at home, and we will win back Acre, ay and Jerusalem, from the +Infidels. Alas! our young hopes and joys may never return; but, home +purified, then may God bless our arms beneath the Cross." + + +Fifteen years more, and in the beautiful Westminster Abbey, amid the +gorgeous tombs, there stood four sorrowful figures. A sturdy knight, +with bowed head and mournful look, carefully guided a white-haired, +white-bearded old man, while a beautiful matronly lady was handed by +her tall handsome son. + +Among the richly inlaid shrines and monuments, they sought out one +the latest of all, but consisting of one enormous block of stone, +with no ornament save one slender band of inscription. + +"Ah!" said the knight, "well do I remember the shipping of that stone +from Acre, little guessing its purpose!" + +"Then it is indeed a stone from the ruined Temple of Jerusalem," said +the lady. "Read the inscription, my Son." + +The young man read and translated - + + +"Edwardus Primus. Malleus Scotorum Pactum serva. +Edward the First. The Hammer of the Scots. Keep covenant." + + +"It was scarce worth while to bring a stone from Jerusalem, to mark +it with 'the Hammer of the Scots!'" said the lady. + +"Alas, my cousin Edward!" sighed the beggar. "Ever with a great +scheme, ever going earnestly on to its fulfilment; with a mind too +far above those of other men to be understood or loved as thou +shouldst have been! Alack, that the Scottish temptation came between +thee and the brightness of thy glory! Art thou indeed gone--like +Richard--to Jerusalem; and shall I yet follow thee there? Let us +pray for the peace of his soul, children; for a greater and better +man lies here than England knows or heeds." + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} Psalm cxxvi. 6, 7. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The Prince and the Page, by Charlotte M. Yonge + diff --git a/old/prcpg10.zip b/old/prcpg10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eaed4b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prcpg10.zip |