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+Project Gutenberg's Agincourt, by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Agincourt
+       The Works of G. P. R. James, Volume XX
+
+Author: G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2012 [EBook #39519]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AGINCOURT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by
+Google Books (Harvard University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   1. Page scan source:
+      http://books.google.com/books?id=jvMtAAAAYAAJ
+     (Harvard University)
+
+   2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Agincourt]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE WORKS
+
+                                  OF
+
+                         G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
+
+
+
+                 REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+                    WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.
+
+
+"D'autres auteurs l'ont encore plus avili, (le roman,) en y mêlant les
+tableaux dégoutant du vice; et tandis que le premier avantage des
+fictions est de rassembler autour de l'homme tout ce qui, dans la
+nature, peut lui servir de leçon ou de modèle, on a imaginé qu'on
+tirerait une utilité quelconque des peintures odieuses de mauvaises
+m[oe]urs; comme si elles pouvaient jamais laisser le c[oe]ur qui les
+repousse, dans une situation aussi pure que le c[oe]ur qui les aurait
+toujours ignorées. Mais un roman tel qu'on peut le concevoir, tel que
+nous en avons quelques modèles, est une des plus belles productions de
+l'esprit humain, une des plus influentes sur la morale des individus,
+qui doit former ensuite les m[oe]urs publiques."--Madame De Stael.
+_Essai sur les Fictions_.
+
+             "Poca favilla gran flamma seconda:
+              Forse diretro a me, con miglior voci
+              Si pregherà, perchè Cirra risponda."
+                                 Dante. _Paradiso_, Canto I.
+
+
+
+
+                               VOL. XX.
+
+                              AGINCOURT.
+
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                      SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.
+                       STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
+                              MDCCCXLIX.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              AGINCOURT.
+
+
+
+
+                              A Romance.
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+                         G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
+
+
+
+                          *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                      SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.
+                       STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
+                              MDCCCXLIX.
+
+
+
+
+                              AGINCOURT.
+
+                              *   *   *
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                           THE NIGHT RIDE.
+
+
+The night was as black as ink; not a solitary twinkling star looked
+out through that wide expanse of shadow, which our great Poet has
+called the "blanket of the dark;" clouds covered the heaven; the moon
+had not risen to tinge them even with grey, and the sun had too long
+set to leave one faint streak of purple upon the edge of the western
+sky. Trees, houses, villages, fields, and gardens, all lay in one
+profound obscurity, and even the course of the high-road itself
+required eyes well-accustomed to night-travelling to be able to
+distinguish it, as it wandered on through a rich part of Hampshire,
+amidst alternate woods and meadows. Yet at that murky hour, a
+traveller on horseback rode forward upon his way, at an easy pace, and
+with a light heart, if one might judge by the snatches of homely
+ballads that broke from his lips as he trotted on. These might,
+indeed, afford a fallacious indication of what was going on within the
+breast, and in his case they did so; for habit is more our master than
+we know, and often rules our external demeanour, whenever the spirit
+is called to take council in the deep chambers within, showing upon
+the surface, without any effort on our part to hide our thoughts, a
+very different aspect from that of the mind's business at the moment.
+
+Thus, then, the traveller who there rode along, saluting the ear of
+night with scraps of old songs, sung in a low, but melodious voice,
+was as thoughtful, if not as sad, as it was in his nature to be; but
+yet, as that nature was a cheerful one and all his habits were gay, no
+sooner were the eyes of the spirit called to the consideration of
+deeper things, than custom exercised her sway over the animal part,
+and he gave voice, as we have said, to the old ballads which had
+cheered his boyhood and his youth.
+
+Whatever were his contemplations, they were interrupted, just as he
+came to a small stream which crossed the road and then wandered along
+at its side, by first hearing the quick foot-falls of a horse
+approaching, and then a loud, but fine voice, exclaiming, "Who goes
+there?"
+
+"A friend to all true men," replied the traveller; "a foe to all false
+knaves. 'Merry sings the throstle under the thorn.' Which be you,
+friend of the highway?"
+
+"Faith, I hardly know," replied the stranger; "every man is a bit of
+both, I believe. But if you can tell me my way to Winchester, I will
+give you thanks."
+
+"I want nothing more," answered the first traveller, drawing in his
+rein. "But Winchester!--Good faith, that is a long way off; and you
+are going from it, master:" and he endeavoured, as far as the darkness
+would permit, to gain some knowledge of the stranger's appearance. It
+seemed that of a young man of good proportions, tall and slim, but
+with broad shoulders and long arms. He wore no cloak, and his dress
+fitting tight to his body, as was the fashion of the day, allowed his
+interlocutor to perceive the unencumbered outline of his figure.
+
+"A long way off!" said the second traveller, as his new acquaintance
+gazed at him; "that is very unlucky; but all my stars are under that
+black cloud. What is to be done now, I wonder?"
+
+"What do you want to do?" inquired the first traveller. "Winchester is
+distant five and twenty miles or more."
+
+"Odds life! I want to find somewhere to lodge me and my horse for a
+night," replied the other, "at a less distance than twenty-five miles,
+and yet not quite upon this very spot."
+
+"Why not Andover?" asked his companion; "'tis but six miles, and I am
+going thither."
+
+"Humph!" said the stranger, in a tone not quite satisfied; "it must be
+so, if better cannot be found; and yet, my friend, I would fain find
+some other lodging. Is there no inn hard by, where carriers bait their
+beasts and fill their bellies, and country-folks carouse on nights of
+merry-making? or some old hall or goodly castle, where a truckle bed,
+or one of straw, a nunchion of bread and cheese, and a draught of ale,
+is not likely to be refused to a traveller with a good coat on his
+back and long-toed shoes?"
+
+"Oh, ay!" rejoined the first; "of the latter there are many round,
+but, on my life, it will be difficult to direct you to them. The men
+of this part have a fondness for crooked ways, and, unless you were
+the Dædalus who made them, or had some fair dame to guide you by the
+clue, you might wander about for as many hours as would take you to
+Winchester."
+
+"Then Andover it must be, I suppose," answered the other; "though, to
+say sooth, I may there have to pay for a frolic, the score of which
+might better be reckoned with other men than myself."
+
+"A frolic!" said his companion; "nothing more, my friend?"
+
+"No, on my life!" replied the other; "a scurvy frolic, such as only a
+fool would commit; but when a man has nothing else to do, he is sure
+to fall into folly, and I am idle perforce."
+
+"Well, I'll believe you," answered the first, after a moment's
+thought; "I have, thank Heaven, the gift of credulity, and believe all
+that men tell me. Come, I will turn back with you, and guide you to a
+place of rest, though I shall be well laughed at for my pains."
+
+"Not for an act of generous courtesy, surely," said the stranger,
+quitting the half-jesting tone in which he had hitherto spoken. "If
+they laugh at you for that, I care not to lodge with them, and will
+not put your kindness to the test, for I should look for a cold
+reception."
+
+"Nay, nay, 'tis not for that, they will laugh," rejoined the other,
+"and perhaps it may jump with my humour to go back, too. If you have
+committed a folly in a frolic to-night, I have committed one in anger.
+Come with me, therefore, and, as we go, give me some name by which to
+call you when we arrive, that I may not have to throw you into my
+uncle's hall as a keeper with a dead deer; and, moreover, before we
+go, give me your word that we have no frolics here, for I would not,
+for much, that any one I brought, should move the old knight's heart
+with aught but pleasure."
+
+"There is my hand, good youth," replied the stranger, following, as
+the other turned his horse; "and I never break my word, whatever men
+say of me, though they tell strange tales. As for my name, people call
+me Hal of Hadnock; it will do as well as another."
+
+"For the nonce," added his companion, understanding well that it was
+assumed; "but it matters not. Let us ride on, and the gate shall soon
+be opened to you; for I do think they will be glad to see me back
+again, though I may not perchance stay long.
+
+
+             'The porter rose anon certaine
+              As soon as he heard John call.'"
+
+
+"You seem learned for a countryman," said the traveller, riding on by
+his side; "but, perchance, I am speaking to a clerk?"
+
+"Good faith, no," replied the first wayfarer; "more soldier than
+clerk, Hal of Hadnock; as old Robert of Langland says, 'I cannot
+perfectly my Paternoster, as the priest it singeth, but I can rhyme of
+Robin Hode and Randof Earl of Chester.' I have cheered my boyhood with
+many a song and my youth with many a ballad. When lying in the field
+upon the marches of Wales, I have wiled away many a cold night with
+the--
+
+
+                   'Quens Mountfort, sa dure mort,'
+
+
+or,
+
+
+             'Richard of Alemaigne, while he was king,'
+
+
+and then in the cold blasts of March, I ever found comfort in--
+
+
+             'Summer is icumen in,
+              Lhude sing cuccu,
+              Groweth sede and bloweth mode,
+              And springeth the wode nu.'"
+
+
+"And good reason, too," said Hal of Hadnock; "I do the same, i'faith;
+and when wintry winds are blowing, I think ever, that a warmer day may
+come and all be bright again. Were it not for that, indeed, I might
+well be cold-hearted."
+
+"Fie, never flinch!" cried his gay companion; "there is but one thing
+on earth should make a bold man coldhearted."
+
+"And what may that be?" asked the other; "to lose his dinner?"
+
+"No, good life!" exclaimed the first,--"to lose his lady's love."
+
+"Ay, is it there the saddle galls?" said Hal of Hadnock.
+
+"Faith, not a whit," answered his fellow-traveller; "if it did, I
+should leave off singing. You are wrong in your guess, Master Hal. I
+may lose my lady, but not my lady's love, or I am much mistaken; and
+while that stays with me I will both sing and hope."
+
+"'Tis the best comfort," replied Hal of Hadnock, "and generally brings
+success. But what am I to call you, fair sir? for it mars one's speech
+to have no name for a companion."
+
+"Now, were not my uncle's house within three miles," said the other,
+"I would pay you in your own coin, and bid you call me Dick of
+Andover; for I am fond of secrets, and keep them faithfully, except
+when they are likely to be found out; but such being the case now, you
+must call me Richard of Woodville, if you would have my friends know
+you mean a poor squire who has ever sought the places where hard blows
+are plenty; but who missed his spurs at Bramham Moor by being sent by
+his good friend Sir Thomas Rokeby to bear tidings of Northumberland's
+incursion to the King. I would fain have staid and carried news of the
+victory; but, good sooth, Sir Thomas said he could trust me to tell
+the truth clearly as well as fight, and that, though he could trust
+the others to fight, he could not find one who would not make the
+matter either more or less to the King, than it really was. See what
+bad luck it is to be a plain-spoken fellow."
+
+"Good luck as well as bad," replied Hal of Hadnock; and in such
+conversation they pursued their way, riding not quite so fast as
+either had been doing when first they met, and slackening their pace
+to a walk, when, about half a mile farther forward, they quitted the
+high road and took to the narrow lanes of the country, which, as the
+reader may easily conceive, were not quite as good for travelling in
+those days, as even at present, when in truth they are often bad
+enough. They soon issued forth, however, upon a more open track, where
+the river again ran along by the roadside, sheltered here and there by
+copses which occasionally rose from the very brink; and, just as they
+regained it, the moon appearing over the low banks that fell crossing
+each other over its course, poured, from beneath the fringe of heavy
+clouds that canopied the sky above, her full pale light upon the whole
+extent of the stream. There was something fine but melancholy in the
+sight, grave and even grand; and though there were none of those large
+objects which seem generally necessary to produce the sublime, there
+was a feeling of vastness given by the broad expanse of shadow
+overhead, and the long line of glistening brightness below, broken by
+the thick black masses of brushwood that here and there bent over the
+flat surface of the water.
+
+"This is fine," said Hal of Hadnock; "I love such night scenes with
+the solitary moon and the deep woods and the gleaming river--ay, even
+the dark clouds themselves. They are to me like a king's fate, where
+so many heavy things brood over him, so many black and impenetrable
+things surround him, and where yet often a clear yet cold effulgence
+pours upon his way, grander and calmer than the warmer and gayer beams
+that fall upon the course of ordinary men."
+
+His companion turned and gazed at him for a moment by the moonlight,
+but made no observation, till the other continued, pointing with his
+hand, "What is that drifting on the water? Surely 'tis a man's head!"
+
+"An otter with a trout in his mouth, speeding to his hole," replied
+Richard of Woodville; "he will not be long in sight.--See! he is gone.
+All things fly from man. We have established our character for
+butchery with the brute creation; and they wisely avoid the
+slaughter-house of our presence."
+
+"I thought it was something human, living or dead," replied Hal of
+Hadnock. "Methinks it were a likely spot for a man to rid himself of
+his enemy, and give the carrion to the waters; or for a love-lorn
+damsel to bury griefs and memories beneath the sleepy shining of the
+moonlight stream. The Leucadian promontory was an awful leap, and bold
+as well as sad must have been the heart to take it; but here, timid
+despair might creep quietly into the soft closing wave, and find a
+more peaceful death-bed than the slow decay of a broken-heart."
+
+"Sad thoughts, sir, sad thoughts," replied Richard of Woodville; "and
+yet you seemed merry enough just now."
+
+"Ay, the fit comes upon me as it will, comrade," replied the other;
+"and, good faith, I strive not to prevent it. I amuse myself with my
+own humours, standing, as it were, without myself, and looking inward
+like a spectator at a tournay--now laughing at all I see, now ready to
+weep; and yet for the world I would not stop the scene, were it in my
+power to cast down my warder at the keenest point of strife, and say,
+'Pause! no more!' Sometimes there lives not a merrier heart on this
+side the sea, and sometimes not a sadder within the waters. At one
+time I could laugh like a clown at a fair, and at others would make
+ballads to the little stars, full of sad homilies."
+
+"Not so, I," rejoined Richard of Woodville. "I strive for an equal
+mind. I would fain be always light-hearted; and though, when I am
+crossed, I may be hot and hasty, ready to strive with others or
+myself, yet, in good truth, I soon learn to bear with all things, and
+to endure the ills that fall to my portion, as lightly as may be.
+Man's a beast of burden, and must carry his pack-saddle; so it is
+better to do it quietly than to kick under the load. Out upon those
+who go seeking for sorrows, a sort of commodity they may find at their
+own door! One whines over man's ingratitude; another takes to heart
+the scorn of the great; another broods over his merit neglected, and
+his good deeds forgotten; but, were they wise, and did good without
+thought of thanks--were they high of heart, and knew themselves as
+great in their inmost soul as the greatest in the land--were they
+bright in mind, and found pleasure in the mind's exercise--they would
+both merit more and repine less, ay, and be surer of their due in the
+end."
+
+"By my life, you said you were no clerk, Richard of Woodville," cried
+his companion, "and here you have preached me a sermon, fit to banish
+moon-sick melancholy from the land. But say, good youth, is yonder
+light looking out of your uncle's hall window--there, far on the other
+side of the stream?"
+
+"No, no," answered Woodville; "ride after it, and see how far it will
+lead you. You will soon find yourself neck deep in the swamp. 'Tis a
+Will-o'-the-wisp. My uncle's house lies on before, beyond the village
+of Abbot's Ann, just a quarter of a mile from the Abbey; so, as the
+one brother owns the hall, and the other rules the monastery, they can
+aid and countenance each other, whether it be at a merrymaking or a
+broil. Then, too, as the good Abbot is as meek as an ewe in a May
+morning, and Sir Philip is as fiery as the sun in June, the one can
+tame the other's wrath, or work up his courage, as the case may
+be--but here we see the first houses, and lights in the window, too.
+Why, how now! Dame Julien has not gone to bed--but, I forgot, there is
+a glutton mass to-morrow, and, as the reeve's wife, she must be
+cooking capons, truly. But, hark! there is a sound of a cithern, and
+some one singing. Good faith, they are making merry by their fireside,
+though curfew has tolled long since. Well, Heaven send all good men a
+cheerful evening, and a happy hearth! Perhaps they have some poor
+minstrel within, and are keeping up his heart with kindness; for
+Julien is a bountiful dame, and the reeve, though somewhat hard upon
+the young knaves, is no way pinched when there is a sad face at his
+door. Well, fair sir, we shall soon be home. A pleasant place is home;
+ay, it is a pleasant place, and, when far away, we think of it always.
+God help the man who has no home! and let all good Christians befriend
+him, for he has need."
+
+Although Hal of Hadnock made no farther observations upon his
+companion's mood and character, there was something therein that
+struck and pleased him greatly; and he was no mean judge of his
+fellow-men, for he had mingled with many of every class and degree.
+Quick and ready in discovering, by small traits, the secrets of that
+complicated mystery, the human heart, he saw, even in the love of
+music and poetry, in a man habituated to camps and fields of battle, a
+higher and finer mind than the common society of the day afforded; for
+it must not be thought, that either in the knight or the knight's son,
+of our old friend Chaucer, the poet gave an accurate picture of the
+gentry of the age. That there were such is not to be doubted--but they
+were few; and the generality of the nobles and gentlemen of those
+times were sadly illiterate and rude. The occasional words Richard of
+Woodville let drop, too, regarding his own scheme of home philosophy,
+showed, his companion thought, a strength and rigour of character
+which might be serviceable to others as well as himself, in any good
+and honourable cause; and Hal of Hadnock, as they rode on, said to
+himself, "I will see more of this man."
+
+After passing through the little village, and issuing out again into
+the open country, they saw, by the light of the moon, now rising
+higher, and dispersing the clouds as she advanced, a high isolated
+hill standing out, detached from all the woods and scattered
+hedge-rows round. At a little distance from its base, upon the left,
+appeared the tall pinnacles and tower of an abbey and a church,
+cutting dark against the lustrous sky behind; and, partly hidden by
+the trees on the right, partly rising above them, were seen the bold
+lines of another building, in a sterner style of architecture.
+
+"That is your uncle's dwelling, I suppose?" said Hal of Hadnock,
+pointing on with his hand. "Shall we find any one up? It is hard upon
+ten o'clock."
+
+"Oh, no fear," replied Richard of Woodville. "Good Sir Philip
+Beauchamp sits late in the hall. He will not take his white head to
+the pillow for an hour or two; and the ladies like well to keep him
+company. Here, to the left, is a shorter way through the wood; but
+look to your horse's footing, for the woodmen were busy this morning,
+and may have left branches about."
+
+In less than five minutes more they were before the embattled gates of
+one of those old English dwellings, half castle, half house, which
+denoted the owner to be a man of station and consideration--just a
+step below, in fortune or rank, those mighty barons who sheltered
+themselves from the storms of a factious and lawless epoch, in
+fortresses filled with an army of retainers and dependants. As they
+approached, Richard of Woodville raised his voice and called aloud,
+
+"Tim Morris! Tim Morris!" He waited a moment, singing to himself the
+two verses he had repeated before--
+
+
+            "'The porter rose again certaine
+              As soon as he heard John call;'"
+
+
+and then added, "But it will be different now, I fancy; for honest Tim
+is as deaf as a miller, and his boy is sound asleep, I suspect. Tim
+Morris, I say!--He will keep us here all night:--Tim Morris!--How now,
+old sluggard!" he continued, as the ancient porter rolled back the
+gate; "were you snoring in your wicker-chair, that you make us dance
+attendance, as you do the country folk of a Monday morning?"
+
+"'Tis fit they should learn to dance the Morris dance, as they call
+it, Master Dick," answered the porter, laughing, and holding up his
+lantern. "God yield ye, sir! I thought you were gone for the night,
+and I was stripping off my jerkin."
+
+"Is Simeon of Roydon gone, then?" asked Woodville.
+
+"Nay, sir, he stays all night," answered the porter. "Here, boy! here,
+knave! turn thee out, and run across the court to take the horses."
+
+A sleepy boy, with senses yet but half awake, crept out from the door,
+and followed Richard of Woodville and his companion, as they rode
+across the small space that separated the gate from the Hall itself.
+There, at a flight of steps, leading to a portal which might well
+have served a church, they dismounted; and, advancing before his
+fellow-traveller, Richard of Woodville raised the heavy bar of
+hammered iron, which served for a latch, and entered the hall, singing
+aloud--
+
+
+                   "'As I rode on a Monday,
+                     Between Wettenden and Wall,
+                     All along the broad way,
+                     I met a little man withal.'"
+
+
+As he spoke he pushed back the door for Hal of Hadnock to enter, and a
+scene was presented to his companion's sight which deserves rather to
+begin than end a chapter.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+                      THE HALL AND ITS DENIZENS.
+
+
+The hall of the old house at Dunbury--long swept away by the two great
+destroyers of man's works, Time and Change--was a spacious vaulted
+chamber, of about sixty feet in its entire length, by from thirty-five
+to forty in width; but, at the end next the court, a part of the
+pavement, of about nine feet broad, and some eighteen or twenty inches
+lower than the rest, was separated from the hall by two broad steps
+running all the way across. This inferior space presented three doors;
+the great one communicating at once with the court, and two others in
+the angles, at the right side and the left, leading to chambers in the
+rest of the building. At the further end of the hall, on the left, was
+another small door, opposite to which there appeared the first four
+steps of a staircase, which wound away with a turn to apartments
+above. There was a high window over the principal entrance, from which
+the room received, in the daytime, its only light; and about half way
+up the chamber, on the left hand, was the wide chimney and hearth,
+with seats on either side, and two vast bars of iron between them for
+burning wood. In the midst of the pavement stood a long table, with
+some benches, one or two stools and a great chair, in which the master
+of the mansion seated himself at the time of meals; but the hall
+presented no other ornament whatever, except a number of lances, bows,
+cross-bows, axes, maces, and other offensive arms, which were ranged
+with some taste against the walls. The armoury was in another part of
+the house, and these weapons seemed only admitted here to be ready in
+case of immediate need; for those were times in which men did not
+always know how soon the hand might be called upon to defend the head.
+
+When Richard of Woodville and his companion entered, some six or seven
+large logs, I might almost call them trees, were blazing on the
+hearth; and, in addition to the glare they afforded, a sconce of seven
+burners above the chimney shed a full light upon the party assembled
+round the fire. That party was very numerous, for several maids and
+retainers, of whom it may not be necessary to speak more particularly,
+were scattered round the principal personages, busy with such
+occupations for the evening as were common in a rude age, when
+intellectual pursuits were very little cultivated.
+
+The group in front, however, deserves more attention, consisting of
+seven persons, most of whom we shall have to speak of more than once
+in the course of these pages. In the seat within the chimney, just
+opposite the door, sat the master of the mansion, a tall powerful old
+man, who had seen many a battle-field in his day, during that and the
+preceding reign, and had borne away the marks of hard blows upon his
+face. He was spare and large boned in form, with his hair and beard[1]
+very nearly white; but he was hale and florid withal, and his
+countenance, though strongly marked, had an expression of kindness and
+good humour, not at all incompatible with the indications of a quick
+and fiery temper, which were to be discovered in the sparkle of his
+undimmed blue eye, and the sudden contraction of his brow when
+anything surprised him. The seat on the other side of the fire was not
+visible from the door by which the two wayfarers entered; but beyond
+the angle of the chimney, protruded into the light, the arm, shoulder,
+and part of the head of another tall old man, apparently clothed in
+the grey gown of some monastic order.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 1: The beard was, at this time, usually shaved off by the
+English nobles; but many of the older barons still retained it, and I
+find the mustachio very frequently in contemporaneous representations
+of younger knights.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+On the left of Sir Philip Beauchamp was seated a young lady, perhaps
+eighteen or nineteen years of age, with her arm resting on his knee,
+and her head and figure bent gracefully towards him. Her hair was as
+black as jet, her skin soft and clear, and her complexion somewhat
+pale, though a slight tinge of the rose might be seen upon her cheek.
+Her eyes, like her father's, were of a deep clear blue, though the
+long black fringes that bordered her eyelids in a long sweeping line,
+made them, at a distance, look as dark as her hair. She seemed neither
+above nor below the ordinary height of woman; and her whole figure,
+though by no means thin, was slim and delicate. The small exquisite
+foot and rounded ancle inclining gracefully towards the fire, were
+displayed by the posture in which she had placed herself; and the hand
+that rested on her father's knee, with long fingers tapering to the
+point, showed in every line the high Norman blood of her race.
+
+Next to Isabel Beauchamp, the only daughter of the old knight, was
+another lady, perhaps a year younger. She was in several respects
+strikingly contrasted to her fair companion, though hardly less
+beautiful. Her hair was of a light glossy brown, catching a warm gleam
+wherever the light fell upon it, as fine as silk new spun from the
+cone, yet curling in large bunches wherever it could escape from the
+bands that confined it. Her complexion was fair and glowing; her cheek
+warm with health, and her skin as soft and smooth as that of a child.
+To look upon her at a little distance, one would have expected to find
+the merry grey or blue eye, so often seen in the pretty village maid;
+but hers was dark brown, large, and full, and soft, yet with a
+laughing light therein, that seemed to speak a buoyant and a happy
+heart. In form she was somewhat taller than the other; but though her
+waist looked as if it would have required no giant's hand to span it
+round, yet there was that sort of full and graceful sweep in all the
+lines, which painters and statuaries, I believe, call _contour_.
+Nought but the tip of one foot was seen from beneath the long and
+flowing petticoat then in fashion; but even from that, one might judge
+that nothing much more neat and small ever beat the turf, except
+amongst the elves of fairy land. Her hand rested upon a frame of
+embroidery, at which she had been working, and her head was slightly
+bent forward, as if to hear something said by the good Abbot of the
+convent, who sat opposite to his brother, in the seat within the
+chimney. But between her and him was another group, consisting of
+three persons, which somewhat detached itself from the rest. Two were
+seated, a lady and a gentleman, and the third was standing with his
+arms folded on his chest a little behind the others.
+
+The backs of these three were turned towards the door by which
+Woodville and his companions entered; and they were somewhat in the
+shade, being placed between the lower end of the hall and the light
+both of the fire and the sconce; but as we are now looking at the
+picture of the whole, we may as well examine the details before we
+proceed.
+
+The lady bore a striking resemblance in features, complexion, and
+form, to Isabel Beauchamp, whom we have already described; and the
+Lady Catherine might well be taken, as was often the case, for her
+cousin's sister. She was taller, indeed, though not much; but the
+chief difference was in the expression of the two countenances.
+Catherine's wanted all the gentleness, the tenderness, the
+thoughtfulness, of Isabel's. It could assume a look of playful
+coquetry, it could seem grave, it could seem joyous; but with each
+expression there mingled a touch of pride, perhaps, too, of vanity;
+and a scornful turn of the lip and well-chiseled nostril, as well as a
+quick flash of the eye, spoke the rash and haughty spirit which too
+certainly dwelt within her breast.
+
+We are the slaves of circumstances from our cradle; and the mother and
+the nurse form as much part of our fate as any of the other events
+which mould our character, guide our course, and lead us to high
+station, retain us in mediocrity, or plunge us into misfortune.
+Catherine Beauchamp, like her cousin, was an only child, and an
+heiress; but her mother had brought large possessions to her father,
+and with those large possessions an inexhaustible store of pride. She
+had looked upon herself, indeed, as her husband's benefactor, for he
+was a younger brother, of small estate; and, after his death, she and
+a foolish servant had rivalled each other in instilling into her
+daughter's mind high notions of her own importance. In this, as in
+many another thing, the mother had proved herself weak; and the spoilt
+child had early shown her the result of her own folly. She did not
+live long enough to correct her error, even if she had possessed sense
+enough to make the effort; and when Catherine came to the house of her
+uncle, as his ward, her character was too far fixed to render any
+lessons effectual, but the severe ones of the world. There, then, she
+sat, beautiful, rich, vain, and haughty, claiming all admiration as
+her due, and believing that even her faults ought to be admired for
+her loveliness and her wealth.
+
+Beside her was placed her mother's nearest relation, a distant cousin,
+named Simeon of Roydon. He was a tall, robust, well-proportioned man,
+of two or three and thirty years of age, with a quantity of light hair
+close cut in front, and left long upon the back of the head and over
+the temples. His features were in general good; and what with youth
+and health, a florid complexion, fair skin, bright keen eyes, an
+aquiline nose, somewhat too much depressed, and an air of calm
+self-importance and courtly ease, he was the sort of man so often
+called handsome by those who little consider or know in what
+beauty really consists. Nothing, indeed, that dress could do, was
+left undone, according to the fashions of the day, to set off his
+person to the best of advantage. His long limbs were clothed in the
+light-coloured breeches and hose, without division from the waist to
+the foot, which were then generally worn by men of the higher class;
+but so tightly did they fit, that scarce a muscle of the leg might not
+be traced beneath; and his coat was also cut so close to his shape,
+that except on the chest, where, perhaps, some padding added to the
+appearance of breadth, the garment seemed to be but an outer skin. His
+shoes exhibited points of at least six inches in length beyond the
+toe; and the sleeves of his mantle, which he continued to wear even in
+the hall, hung down till they swept the floor. He wore a dagger in his
+girdle with a jewelled hilt, and a clasp upon his coat with a ruby set
+in gold; while on his thumb appeared a large signet-ring of a very
+peculiar fashion and device.
+
+Notwithstanding dress, however, and good features, and a countenance
+under perfect command, there were certain minute, but very distinct
+signs, to be perceived by an eye practised in the study of the human
+character, which betrayed the fact, that his smooth exterior was but a
+shell containing a less pleasant core. There was a wandering of the
+eyes, which did not always seem to move in the same orbits; there was
+an occasional quiver of the lower lip, as if words which might be
+dangerous were restrained with difficulty; there was a look of keen,
+eager, almost fierce, inquiry, when anything was said, the meaning of
+which he did not at once comprehend; and then a sudden return to a
+bland and sweet expression almost of insipidity, which spoke of
+something false and hollow. He was talking to Catherine Beauchamp,
+when Richard of Woodville and Hal of Hadnock entered, in gay tones,
+often mingling a low laugh with his conversation, and eying his own
+foot and leg as it was stretched out towards the fire, with an air of
+great self-admiration and satisfaction.
+
+The figure of the third person, who stood close behind the lady--as if
+he had come round thither and left vacant a stool which appeared on
+the other side, to take part in her conversation with Sir Simeon of
+Roydon--was as tall and finer in all its proportions than that of the
+knight who sat by her side. His chest was broader; his arms more
+muscular; the turn of his head, and the fall of his shoulders, more
+graceful and symmetrical. His dark hair curled short round his
+forehead, and on his neck; his straight-cut features, of a grave and
+somewhat stern cast, wore their least pleasing look when in repose;
+for they wanted but the fire of expression to light them up in a
+moment, and render them all bright and glowing. His eye, however, the
+feature which soonest receives that light, had in it a fixed
+melancholy, which scarcely even left it when he smiled; and now,
+though he had come round thither to interchange a few words with
+Catherine, his betrothed wife, and her gay kinsman, Sir Henry Dacre
+had fallen into thought again, and remained standing with his arms
+folded on his chest, and his look fixed upon Isabel Beauchamp, as she
+leaned upon her father's knee. His gaze was intense, thoughtful--I
+might call it inquiring; but yet it was not rude, for he knew not that
+his eyes were so firmly fixed upon her. He was buried in his own
+thoughts; and perhaps the peculiar investigating expression of that
+look might be accounted for by supposing that he was asking questions,
+difficult to solve, of his own heart.
+
+Isabel herself did not remark that he was gazing at her, for she was
+listening to some anecdote of other days which her father was telling.
+But the old knight did observe the glance of his young friend, and he
+observed it with pain, yet "more in sorrow than in anger;" for there
+were some things for which he bitterly grieved, but which could not be
+amended. He broke off his story for a moment to mutter to himself,
+"Poor fellow!" and just at that instant his eye lighted upon Richard
+of Woodville, as the young traveller opened the great door of the
+hall. His brow contracted while perhaps one might count ten, but was
+speedily clear again, and he exclaimed, laughing aloud--"Ha! here is
+Dickon again! I thought he would not go far."
+
+Every one turned round suddenly; and all laughed gaily, except one.
+But the fair girl with the rich brown hair, sitting next to Isabel
+Beauchamp, gazed down the hall, with a smile indeed, but with a kindly
+look gleaming forth through her half-closed, merry eyes.
+
+"Ah, run-away!" cried Isabel Beauchamp, still laughing; "so you have
+come back?"
+
+"Yes, sweet cousin," replied Richard of Woodville, advancing up the
+hall with his companion; "but I have a cause--I should have been half
+way to Winchester else.--Here is a gentleman, sir," he continued,
+addressing his uncle, "whom I have met seeking the right way, and
+finding the wrong; and I failed not in promising him your hospitality
+for the night."
+
+"Right, Richard--you did right!" replied the old knight, raising his
+tall form from the seat by the fire. "Sir, you are most welcome.
+Quick, Hugh of Clatford, leave cutting that bow, and speed to the
+buttery and the kitchen. Bid them bring wine and meat. I pray you,
+sir, take the seat by the fire."
+
+"Nay, not so, noble sir," replied Hal of Hadnock, in a courteous tone.
+"I am not one to take the place of venerable years and high renown.
+Thanks for your welcome, and good fortune to your roof-tree. I beseech
+you, let me make no confusion. I will place me here;" and he drew a
+stool from the table somewhat nearer to the fire, and seated himself,
+while all eyes were fixed upon him.
+
+Richard of Woodville, too, took a better view of his companion than he
+had hitherto obtained, and that view satisfied him that he had not
+introduced to his uncle's hall a guest, who, in point of rank and
+station, at least, was not well deserving of a place therein.
+
+The stranger was, as I have already said, a tall and somewhat slim
+young man, perhaps four or five and twenty years of age, with black
+hair and close-shaved beard, keen dark eyes, long and sinewy limbs,
+and a chest of great width and depth. His features were remarkably
+fine, his brow wide and expansive, his forehead high, and the whole
+expression of his countenance noble and commanding. His dress was rich
+and costly, without being gaudy. His coat of deep brown, covering the
+hips, like that of a crossbowman, was of the finest cloth, and
+ornamented with small lines of gold, in a quaint but not ungraceful
+pattern. Instead of the hood then commonly worn, his head was covered
+with a small cap of velvet, and one long pennache, or feather, clasped
+with a large jewel; his dagger and the hilt of his sword were both
+studded with rubies, and though his riding-boots of untanned leather
+were cut square off at the toe, instead of being encumbered with the
+long points still in fashion, over them were buckled, with a broad
+strap and flap, a pair of gilt spurs, showing that he had seen service
+in arms, and had won knightly rank. His tight-fitting hose were of a
+light philimot, or brownish yellow colour, and round the leg, below
+the knee, was a mark, as if the impression of a thong, seeming to
+prove that when not in riding attire, he was accustomed to wear shoes
+so long, that the horns points were obliged to be fastened up by a
+gilt chain, as was then not unusual. His manner was highly courteous;
+but it was remarked, that at first he committed what has, in most
+ages, been considered an act of rudeness, remaining with his head
+covered some minutes after he entered the hall. But, at length,
+seeming suddenly to remember that such was the case, he took off his
+cap, and laid it on the table.
+
+Sir Philip Beauchamp, without asking any question of his guest,
+proceeded at once to name to him the different persons assembled round
+the fire; but as we have already heard who they were, it is needless
+to give a recapitulation here. Richard of Woodville, however, marked
+or fancied, that as the old knight pronounced the name of Sir Simeon
+of Roydon, a brief glance of recognition passed between that personage
+and his companion of the road; but neither claimed the other as an
+acquaintance, and Woodville said nothing to call attention to what he
+had observed.
+
+"It will seem scarcely courteous, sir," said the guest, as Sir Philip
+ended, "not to give you my own name, though you in your hospitality
+will not ask it; but yet, for the present, I will beg you to call me
+simply Hal of Hadnock; and ere I go, Sir Philip, to your own ear I
+will tell more. And now, pray let me not kill mirth, or break off a
+pleasant tale, or stop a sweet lay; for doubtless you pass the long
+eves of March as did the knights and dames in our old friend Chaucer's
+dreams--
+
+
+             'Some to rede old romances,
+              Them occupied for ther pleasances,
+              Some to make verèlaies and laies,
+              And some to other diverse plaies.'"
+
+
+"Nay, sir," answered the old knight, who had glanced with a smile at
+his guest's gilded spurs, as he gave himself the name of Hal of
+Hadnock, "we were but talking of some old deeds of arms, which,
+doubtless, you in your career have often heard of. As to lays, when my
+nephew Richard is away, we have but little poesy in the house, except
+when this sweet ward of mine, Mary Markham, will sing us a gay ditty."
+
+"Not to-night--not to-night!" cried the lady on Isabel Beauchamp's
+left; "I am not in tune to-night."
+
+Isabel bent her head to her fair companion, and whispered a word which
+made the blood come warm into Mary Markham's cheek; but Catherine,
+with a gay toss of her head, and a glance of her blue eye at the
+handsome stranger, exclaimed--"I love neither lay nor ballad; they are
+but plain English twisted out of form, and set to a dull tune."
+
+"Indeed, lady!" said the stranger, gazing upon her with an incredulous
+smile. "I have ever thought that music and verse made sweet things
+sweeter; and, methinks, even now, were it some tender lay addressed to
+your bright looks, you would not find the sounds so rude."
+
+A smile passed round the little circle, but did not visit the lip of
+Sir Henry Dacre; and though Catherine Beauchamp laughed with a
+scornful smile, it seemed as if she knew not well whether to look upon
+the stranger's words as kind or uncourteous.
+
+"Ha, Kate! he touched you there," said the old knight. "What think
+you, Abbot? has not our guest judged our niece aright?"
+
+"I believe it is so with all ladies," answered the Abbot, gravely;
+"they find the words of praise sweet, and the words of blame bitter,
+whether it be in song or saying. You men of the world nurture them in
+such folly. You flatter them too much; so that, like the tongue of a
+wine-bibber, they can taste nothing but what is high-seasoned."
+
+"Faith, not a whit, reverend lord," cried Hal of Hadnock, gaily;
+"craving your forgiveness, we deal with them as heaven intended. Fair
+and delicate in mind and frame, we shelter their persons from all
+rough winds and storms, as far as may be, and their ears from all
+harsh sounds. They were not made to cope with the rough things of
+life; and if they find wholesome exercise for body and soul, good
+father, in the chase and in the confessional, it is as much as is
+needed. The Church has the staple trade for truth, especially with
+ladies; and for any laymen to make it their merchandise would be
+against the laws of Cupid's realm."
+
+"I fear you speak lightly, my son," said the Abbot, with a
+good-humoured smile; "but here comes your meal, and I will give it my
+blessing."
+
+By such words as these, the ice of new acquaintance was soon broken,
+and, as the guest sat down at the side of the long table, to partake
+of such viands as his entertainer's hospitality provided for him, the
+party round the fire separated into various groups. The good master of
+the mansion approached to do the honours of his board, and press the
+stranger to his food. Catherine seemed smitten with a sudden fit of
+affection for her uncle, and placed herself near him, where, with no
+small spice of coquetry, she sought to engage the attention of the
+visitor to herself. Sir Henry Dacre remained talking by the fire with
+Isabel Beauchamp; and, whatever was the subject of their discourse,
+the faces of both remained grave, almost sad; while, at a little
+distance, Richard of Woodville conversed in low tones with fair Mary
+Markham, and their faces presented the aspect of an April sky, with
+its clouds and its sunshine, being sometimes overshadowed by a look of
+care and anxiety, sometimes smiling gaily, as if the inextinguishable
+hopes of youth blazed suddenly up into a flame, after burning low and
+dimly for a while, under some cold blast from the outward world.
+
+The Abbot had resumed his seat by the fire, and Sir Simeon of Roydon
+had not quitted his; but the latter, though the good monk spoke to him
+from time to time, seemed buried in his own thoughts, answered
+briefly, and often vaguely, and then fell into a reverie again,
+turning occasionally his eyes upon his fair kinswoman and the stranger
+with an expression of no great pleasure.
+
+With the old knight and Catherine Beauchamp, in the meanwhile, Hal of
+Hadnock kept up the conversation gaily, seeming to find a pleasure in
+so mingling sweet and bitter things together, in his language to the
+lady, as sometimes to flatter, sometimes to pique her; and thus,
+without her knowing it, he contrived to put her through all her paces,
+like a managed horse, till every little weakness and fault in her
+character was displayed, one after another.
+
+At first, Sir Philip Beauchamp was amused, and laughed at the
+stranger's merry jests, thinking, "It will do Kate good to hear some
+wholesome truth from an impartial tongue;" but as he saw that, whether
+intentionally or not, the words of Hal of Hadnock had the effect of
+bringing out all the evil points in her disposition to the eyes of his
+guest, he grew uneasy for his brother's child, and felt all her faults
+more keenly from seeing her thus expose them, in mere vanity, to the
+acquaintance of an hour. He saw, then, with satisfaction, his guest's
+meal draw towards a close, and, as soon as it was done, proposed that
+they should all retire to rest.
+
+There was some consideration required as to what chamber should be
+assigned to Hal of Hadnock,--for small pieces of ceremony were, in
+those days, matters of importance,--but Sir Philip Beauchamp decided
+the matter, by telling Richard of Woodville to lead the visitor to the
+rose-tapestry room, and to place a good yeoman to sleep across his
+door. It was one of the principal guest-chambers of the house;
+and its selection showed that the good knight judged his nephew's
+fellow-traveller to be of higher rank than he assumed.
+
+Lighted by a page, Richard of Woodville led the way, and entered with
+his companion, when they reached the apartment to which they had been
+directed. Although it was now late, he remained there more than an
+hour, in conversation deeply interesting to himself, at least.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+                         THE FOREGONE EVENTS.
+
+
+"Come, Richard of Woodville," said his companion, as soon as they
+entered the chamber of the rose-tapestry, "let us be friends. You have
+served me at my need; and I would fain serve you; but I must first
+know how."
+
+"Faith, sir, that is not easy," answered Woodville, "for I do not know
+how myself."
+
+"Well, then, I must think for you, Richard," rejoined Hal of Hadnock;
+"what stays your marriage?"
+
+Woodville gazed at him with some surprise, and then smiled. "My
+marriage!--with whom?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, nay," answered his new friend, "waste not time with idle
+concealments. I am a man who uses his eyes; and I can tell you,
+methinks, all about every one in the hall we have just left."
+
+"Well, stay yet a moment, till we can be alone," replied Woodville;
+"they will soon bring you a livery of wine and manchet bread."
+
+"In pity stop them," cried Hal of Hadnock; "I have supped so late that
+I can take no more." But, as he was speaking, a servant entered with a
+cup of hot wine, and a small roll of fine bread upon a silver plate.
+As bound in courtesy, the guest broke off a piece of the manchet, and
+put the cup to his lips; but it was a mere ceremony, for he did not
+drink; and the man, taking away the rest of the wine and bread,
+quitted the room.
+
+"Now, Richard, you shall see if I be right," continued Hal of Hadnock.
+"There is one pretty maid, called Mary Markham, or I heard not your
+uncle right, whose cheek sometimes changes from the soft hue of the
+rose's outer leaves, to the deep crimson of its blushing breast, when
+a certain Richard of Woodville is near; and there is one good youth,
+called Richard of Woodville, who can whisper sweet words in Mary
+Markham's ear, while his uncle holds converse with a new guest at a
+distance."
+
+Woodville laughed, and made no answer; and his companion went on.
+
+"Well, then, there is a fair Lady Catherine, beautiful and witty, but
+somewhat shrewish withal, and holding her own merits as most rare
+jewels, too good to be bestowed on ordinary men; who would have a
+lover, like a bird in a cage, piping all day to her perfections, and
+would think him well paid if she gave him but one of the smiles or
+looks whereof she is bountiful to those who love her not: and,
+moreover, there is one Sir Harry Dacre, a noble knight and true--for I
+have heard his name ere now--whom I should fancy to be her husband,
+were it not that----"
+
+"Why should you think them so nearly allied?" asked Woodville.
+
+"Because she gave him neither word nor look," replied Hal of Hadnock.
+"Is not that proof enough with such a dame?"
+
+"You have read them but too rightly," rejoined Richard of Woodville,
+with a sigh. "He is not, indeed, her husband, but as near it as may
+be--betrothed in infancy; a curse upon such doings, that bind together
+in the bud two flowers that but destroy each other's blossoms as they
+grow. They are to be wedded fully when she sees twenty years; and poor
+Dacre, as noble and as true a heart as e'er was known, looks sternly
+forward to that day, as a prisoner does to the hour of execution; for
+she has taught him too early, and too well, all those secrets of her
+bosom which a wiser woman would have hidden."
+
+"He does not love her, that is clear," answered his companion, in a
+graver tone than he had hitherto used. "Did he never love her?"
+
+"No, not with manly love," replied Richard of Woodville. "I remember
+well, when we were both boys together, and she as lovely a girl as
+ever was seen, he used to be proud then of her beauty, and call her
+his fair young wife. But even then she began the lessons, of which she
+has given him such a course, that never pale student at Oxford was
+better indoctrinated in Aristotle, than he is in her heart. Even in
+those early days she would jeer and scoff at him, and if he showed her
+any little tenderness, would straightway strive to make him angry;
+would pretend great fondness for some other--for me--for any one who
+happened to be near; would give his gifts away; admire whatever was
+not like him. Oh, then fair hair was her delight, blue eyes were
+beautiful. She hated him, I do believe, because she was tied to him,
+and that was the only bond upon her own capricious will; so that she
+resolved to use him as a boy does a poor bird tied to him by a string,
+pulling it hither and thither till its little heart beats unto
+bursting with such cruel tyranny! Had she begun less early, indeed,
+her power of grieving him would have been greater, for he was well
+inclined to let affection take duty's hand, and love her if he could.
+But she herself soon ended that source of torture. She may now play
+the charmer with whom she will, she cannot wring his heart with
+jealousy."
+
+"He does not love her, that is clear," repeated Hal of Hadnock, in a
+still graver tone, "but he may love another."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Woodville; "whom think you, sir?"
+
+"Nay," replied his companion, after a pause, "it is not for me, my
+good friend, to sow suspicious doubts or fears, where I find them not.
+I do believe Sir Harry Dacre will do all that is right and noble; and
+I did but mean to say, that his poor heart may know greater tortures
+than you dream of, if, tied as he is by the act of others, to a woman
+who will not suffer him to love her, he has met, or should hereafter
+meet, with one on whom all his best affections can be placed. I say
+not that he has,--I only say, such a thing may be."
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed down upon the rushes on the floor for
+several moments with a thoughtful look. "I know of whom you would
+speak," he said at length; "but I think, in this, you have deceived
+yourself, sharp as your observation has been. Isabel has been the
+companion of both from youth; and to her, in early days, Dacre would
+go for consolation and kindness, when worn out by this cold, vain
+lady's caprice and perverseness. She pitied him, and soothed; and
+often have I heard her try to soften Catherine's conduct, making it
+seem youthful folly and high spirits; and trying to take the venom
+from the wound. He looks upon Isabel as a sister--nothing more--I
+think."
+
+Hal of Hadnock shook his head; and then suddenly turned to another
+subject. "Well," he said, "you will not deny that I am right in some
+things, and, therefore, as I am in your secret, whether you will or
+not, now answer me my question--What stays your marriage?"
+
+"Good sooth, I cannot tell," replied Richard of Woodville; "the truth
+is, this dear lovely girl came here some years gone, none knew from
+whence; but it was my uncle brought her, and ever since he has treated
+her as a daughter. All have loved her, and I more than all; but day
+after day went by in sports and pleasures; and, in a full career of
+happiness, I did not think till yesterday of risking the present by
+striving to brighten the future. Last evening, however, I said some
+plainer words than usual. What she replied matters not; but I saw
+that, afterwards, she was not so gay as usual; and to-day I took a
+moment, when I thought good Sir Philip was in a yielding mood, and
+asked the hand of his dear ward--or daughter; for I must not hide from
+you that men have suspicions, there is blood of the Beauchamps in this
+same lady's veins. He gave me a rough answer, however; told me not to
+think of her, and would assign no reason why. I will not say we
+quarrelled, for I love him too much, and reverence him too much for
+that; but I said in haste, that if I were not to think of her, I would
+stay no longer where suing only bred regret; and that I would seek
+honour, if I could not find a bride. He answered it was the best thing
+I could do; and so, without more thought than to feed my horse, and
+bid them all farewell, I put foot in stirrup for my own place hard by
+West Meon, with the intent of seeking service in some foreign land, as
+the wars here have come to an end. My good uncle only laughed at me,
+and told them, as I mounted in the court, that Dickon was out of
+humour, but would soon find his good spirits again. I did not do so
+for a long way, however; but, as I went well sure of my lady's grace,
+I began to take heart after a-while, and resolved that she should hear
+of me from other shores, till I could claim her, and no one say me
+nay."
+
+"It was a good resolve," answered his companion; "for in such a case I
+know not what else could be done. But whither did you intend to bend
+your steps--to France?"
+
+"Nay, not to France," said Woodville; "I love not the Frenchmen. If
+our good king, indeed, were again to draw the sword for the recovery
+of all that sluggish men and evil times have lost of our rightful
+lands since the Black Prince's death, right willingly would I follow
+thither to fight against the French, but not serve with them."
+
+"But his royal thoughts are turned to other things," replied Hal of
+Hadnock; "he still holds the mind, I hear, to take the cross, and
+couch a lance for the sepulchre."
+
+"That is gone by, I am told," answered Richard of Woodville; "this
+frequent sickness that attacks him has made him think of other things,
+men say; but, doubtless, you know better than I do?"
+
+"Nay, I know nought about it," said his fellow traveller; "but it is
+predicted that he shall die at Jerusalem."
+
+"Heaven send it," exclaimed Woodville; "for if he live till then, his
+will be a long reign, methinks."
+
+"Amen!" rejoined the other; "but whither thought you, then, to go?"
+
+"Perchance to the court of Burgundy," replied Richard; "or to some of
+those Italian states, where there are ever hard blows to be found, and
+honour to be gained by doughty deeds."
+
+"That famous land of Italy is somewhat far from our poor northern
+isle," answered Hal of Hadnock; "especially for a lover. Methinks
+Burgundy were best; but, doubtless, since you have come back again,
+your resolution has been left on the road behind us."
+
+"No, not a whit," cried Woodville; "what I judged best in haste some
+hours ago, I now judge best at leisure. I have told Mary that I go for
+her sweet sake, to make me a high name, and with Heaven's blessing I
+will do it."
+
+"Well, then," answered his new friend, "if such be your determination,
+I know some noble gentlemen in the court of that same Duke of
+Burgundy, who may aid your advancement for Hal of Hadnock's sake."
+
+Richard of Woodville smiled, replying, "Doubtless, you do, fair sir;
+but may I tell them you sent me to them?"
+
+"If you will but wait a day or two," said the other, "I will write
+them a letter, which you shall take yourself; and you will find that I
+have bespoke you kind entertainment."
+
+"Thanks, noble sir--many hearty thanks," rejoined the old knight's
+nephew; "wait for a time I must, for I will not go solitary and
+unprepared. I must have horses, and men, and arms of the new fashion.
+I must also sell some acres of new copse, and some tons of old wine,
+to equip me for my own journey."
+
+"Well, then, ere you go, you shall hear more from me," replied Hal of
+Hadnock; "and now, good Richard, let us talk more of the folks in the
+hall. I would fain hear farther. This Sir Harry Dacre, his face
+pleases me; there is thought and a high heart therein, or I read not
+nature's book aright. Methinks, if he were wise, he too would seek
+renown in arms, instead of dangling at a lady's side that loves him
+not. Perchance, if he were to seem to cast her by as worthless, and
+fix on honour for a mistress, her love--for who can tell all the wild
+whimsies of a capricious woman's heart?--would follow him."
+
+"He might think that worse than the other," said Woodville; "I do not
+think he seeks her love."
+
+"There he is wrong," answered his companion; "for it is against all
+rule of philosophy, when we are bound by a chain we cannot break, to
+let it rust and canker in our flesh. It is as well to polish it with
+any soft thing we can find; and, granted that she has lost his love,
+'twere well he should have hers, if she is to be his wife."
+
+"Perhaps he may long to break the chain," replied Richard, drily;
+"were both to seek it, such contracts have been annulled by law, and
+by the Church, ere now; and the Pope, or at least his cardinals, are
+not always stubborn against gold and reason. But I doubt she will
+consent," he added; "she loves a captive, and if she sees he seeks his
+freedom, she will resist of course."
+
+"A most sweet temper," observed Hal of Hadnock; "yet it is to be
+thought of; and if I can help him, I will. Tomorrow early, indeed, I
+thought to speed me back to Westminster; but I will stay an hour or
+two, and see if I cannot play with a capricious lady, with art equal
+to her own. At all events, I shall learn more of what are her
+designs."
+
+"Designs! she has none!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville, "but to reign
+and triumph for the hour. Here has been Simeon of Roydon, doing her
+homage for these three days, as if she were the Queen of Love; and she
+has smiled upon him, for she still fancies she can so give Dacre pain;
+but no sooner did you come, than she turned all the archery of her
+eyes on you."
+
+"Yet left a blank target," replied Hal of Hadnock. "But of this Sir
+Simeon of Roydon I would have honest men beware, my good friend. I
+know something of him."
+
+"And he of you," answered Woodville.
+
+"Ay?" asked his companion, "what makes you fancy so?"
+
+"Why I too am one of those who use their eyes, fair sir," said
+Woodville.
+
+"And not their tongues, good friend," rejoined the other. "Well, you
+are wise. But tell me, did not Sir Harry Dacre go with the Duke of
+Clarence into France?"
+
+"Yes, it was there he gained his spurs last year," answered Richard;
+"he fought well, too, at Bramham Moor; and earlier still, when a mere
+boy, against the Scots, when they last broke in:--
+
+
+             'Muche hath Scotland forlore,
+              What at last, what before,
+              And little pries wonne.'"
+
+
+"I thought I had heard of him," replied Hal of Hadnock. "However, if
+you hold your mind to go to-morrow, we will ride together, and can
+talk further of these matters by the way; so, for the present, good
+night, and fair dreams attend you."
+
+"I must go and bid one of the men sleep across your door," said
+Richard of Woodville: "though this house is safe enough, yet it is as
+well always to be careful."
+
+"It matters not, it matters not," answered his companion. "I have
+never found a man, against whom my own hand could not keep my head or
+my heart."
+
+"As for your heart, sir," rejoined Woodville, laughing; "you may yet
+find a woman who will teach you better."
+
+"I know not," replied Hal of Hadnock, laughing; "I am strong there,
+too; but no one can tell what is written in the stars," and thus they
+parted.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+                          THE GLUTTON MASS.
+
+
+Breakfast was over, and yet, between the lower edge of the sun and the
+gentle sweeping line of the hills above which he was rising, not more
+than two hand-breadths of golden sky could be seen; for our ancestors
+were still, at that period, a matutinal people, rising generally
+before the peep of day, and hearing the birds' first song. On a large,
+smooth green, at the back of the Hall, yet within the limits of the
+park by which it was surrounded, with Dunbury Hill and the lines of
+the ancient invaders' camp at the top, rising still grey and cold
+before their eyes, the group which we have described in the second
+chapter, with the exception of the Abbot, was assembled to practise or
+to witness some of the sports of the day. The ladies, having their
+heads now covered with the strange and somewhat cumbrous coifs then
+worn, stood upon a stone-paved path, watching the proceedings of their
+male companions; and with them appeared good Sir Philip Beauchamp, in
+a long furred gown, with Hal of Hadnock, talking gaily to Catherine,
+on his right hand.
+
+"Well pitched, Hugh of Clatford," cried the old knight; "well pitched;
+a toise beyond Sir Simeon."
+
+"I will beat him by two," exclaimed Richard of Woodville, taking the
+heavy iron bar which they were engaged in casting. "Here goes!" and,
+after balancing it for a moment in his hand, he tossed it high in the
+air, sending it several yards beyond any one who had yet played their
+part.
+
+"Will you not try your arm, noble sir?" asked Sir Philip, turning to
+Hal of Hadnock.
+
+"Willingly, willingly," replied the guest; "but Sir Henry Dacre has
+not yet shown his skill."
+
+"He will not do much," said Catherine Beauchamp, in a low tone.
+
+"Fie, Kate," cried Isabel, who overheard her; "that is untrue, as well
+as unkind."
+
+As she spoke, Dacre took the bar, which had been brought back by one
+of the pages, and, without pausing to poise it carefully, as the rest
+had done, cast it within a foot or two of the spot which it had
+reached when sent from the hand of Woodville.
+
+Hal of Hadnock then advanced, looking round with a gay laugh to the
+ladies, and saying, "I am upon my mettle before such bright eyes.
+Here, boy, give me the bar."
+
+The page placed it in his hand; and, setting his right foot upon the
+mark where the others had stood, he swung himself gracefully backward
+and forward on one leg, for a moment, and then tossed the bar in air.
+So light, so easy, was his whole movement, that no one expected to see
+the iron go half the distance it had done before; but, to the surprise
+of all, it flew from his hand as if expelled from some of the military
+engines of the day, and, striking the ground full twenty paces farther
+than it had yet done, bounded up off the sward and rolled on beyond.
+
+"Well delivered! well delivered!" exclaimed Sir Philip Beauchamp; and
+the men and boys around clapped their bands and cried "Hurrah!"
+
+"I will send it farther or break my arm," cried Richard of Woodville.
+
+"If you do, I will beat you by a toise," replied Hal of Hadnock,
+laughing. But they all strove in vain; no one could toss the bar
+within several yards of the stranger's mark.
+
+"And now for a leaping bar," cried Hal of Hadnock. "Oh! there stands
+one I see by the trees. Away, Woodville! place it how high you will."
+
+"I will beat you at that, noble sir," said young Hugh of Clatford, who
+was reported the best jumper and runner in the country.
+
+"And should you do so, I will give you a quiver of arrows with
+peacocks' feathers," rejoined the gentleman. "Now, take it in turns, I
+will leap last."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon declined the sport, however, and Sir Harry Dacre
+stood back; but Clatford, and others of the old knight's retainers,
+took their stations, as well as Richard of Woodville; and the bar
+having been placed high in the notches, each took a run and leapt;
+some touching it with their feet, some clearing it clean.
+
+Hal of Hadnock then gave a gay smile to his fair companions, with whom
+he had for the time resumed his place; and advancing at a walk, as if
+to put the pole up higher, he quickened his pace, at the distance of
+three or four steps, and cleared it by several inches.
+
+"You try him higher, Hugh," cried Richard of Woodville, laughing; "I
+have done my best, good faith."
+
+"Where will you put it?" asked the traveller, turning to the young
+retainer of the house.
+
+"Oh, at the highest notch," answered Hugh of Clatford, lifting up the
+bar; "can you do that, sir?"
+
+"I will see," replied Hal of Hadnock; "stand back a bit," and, taking
+a better start, he ran, and went over, with an inch to spare.
+
+Poor Hugh was less fortunate, however, for though he nearly
+accomplished the leap, he tipped the bar with his heel, cast it down,
+and overthrowing his own balance, fell upon his face, amidst the
+laughter of his comrades. He rose somewhat abashed, with bloody marks
+of his contact with the ground; but Hal of Hadnock laid his hand
+kindly on his arm, saying,
+
+"Thou art a nimble fellow, on my life. I did not know there was a man
+in England could go so near me, as thou hast done. Here, my friend,
+thy sheaf of arrows is well won," and he poured some pieces of gold
+into his hand.
+
+The words were more gratifying to the good yeoman than the money; and
+bowing low, he answered, "I was sure you were no ordinary leaper, sir,
+for few can go higher than I can."
+
+"Oh, I am called Deersfoot," replied Hal of Hadnock, laughing; "get in
+and wash your face; for you have done well, and need not be ashamed to
+show it."
+
+Some other sports succeeded; but the stranger took no further part
+therein, resuming his place by Catherine's side, apparently greatly
+smitten with her charms. The weak, vain girl, flattered by his
+attention, gave way to all the coquetry of her nature, made her fine
+eyes use their whole artillery of glances, whispered, and smiled,
+spoke soft, and sometimes sighed; till the good old knight, Sir
+Philip, not the best pleased with his niece's demeanour, broke off the
+amusements of the morning, exclaiming, "To the mass! to the mass,
+sirs! It is high time that we were on our way."
+
+The sports, then, immediately ceased; and passing through the great
+hall, the court-yard, and the gates, the whole party, arranged two and
+two, walked on amidst the neighbouring wood towards the parish church.
+Hal of Hadnock kept his place by Catherine's side, and Sir Harry Dacre
+followed with Isabel; but, somewhat to Richard of Woodville's
+annoyance, Sir Philip Beauchamp retained Mary Markham to himself,
+while his nephew and Sir Simeon of Roydon came after, neither,
+perhaps, in the best of humours.
+
+The noble party found the church crowded with the villagers, every
+woman having her basket with her, covered with a clean white napkin,
+but apparently crammed as full as it well could be; and Hal of Hadnock
+remembered that, as his companion had said the night before, this was
+one of the days appointed for those festivals which were then called,
+Glutton masses.
+
+When the service was over, old Sir Philip advanced to leave the
+building with his household, not approving the disgraceful scene that
+was about to take place; but Hal of Hadnock whispered to his companion
+of the road,--
+
+"Let us stay and see. I have never witnessed one of these feats of
+gormandizing."
+
+"Well, we shall save the credit of the family," replied Richard of
+Woodville, in a low tone; "for the good priest looks upon my uncle as
+half a Lollard, because he will not stay in the church and eat till he
+bursts, in honour of the Blessed Virgin."
+
+Hal of Hadnock and his new friend accordingly lingered behind; and
+hardly had the old knight passed through the doors, when a scene of
+confusion took place quite indescribable. Every one brought forward
+his basket. Some who had lost their store, hunted for it among the
+rest. Some hurried forward to present, what they considered, very
+choice viands to the priest. Many a pannier was overturned; and
+chickens, capons, huge lumps of meat, and leathern bottles of wine,
+mead, and ale, rolled upon the pavement. One or two of the latter got
+uncorked, and the contents streamed about amongst the napkins, which
+several of the women were spreading forth upon the ground. Knives were
+brandished; thumbs and fingers were cut; one man nearly poked out the
+eye of his better half in giving her assistance, and was heartily
+cuffed for his pains; and a fat chorister slipped in consequence of
+putting his foot upon a fine trout dressed in jelly, and fell
+prostrate on his back in the midst. The people roared, the priest
+himself chuckled, and was a long time ere he could get his flock, or
+his countenance, into due order.
+
+A song to the Virgin was then sung by way of grace; and every one fell
+to, with an intention of outdoing his neighbour. To Richard of
+Woodville and his companion were assigned the places of honour near
+the clergy; and the priest, looking well pleased down the long aisle,
+literally encumbered with the preparations for excess, whispered to
+the old knight's nephew, with an air of triumph,--
+
+"Well, I think we shall outdo Wallop this time, at least."
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Richard of Woodville, gravely; "but I fear you
+will think my friend and me no better than heathens, having brought
+nothing with us either to eat or drink."
+
+"Poo! there is plenty--there is plenty," replied the good man, "and to
+spare. Eat as hard as we can, we shall be scarcely able to get through
+it; and it is fitting, too, that something be left for the poor. We
+will all do our best, however, and thank you for your help."
+
+The onslaught was tremendous. One would have thought that the
+congregation had fasted for a month, so eagerly, so rapidly did they
+devour the provisions before them; and then they took to their bottles
+and drinking-horns, and when they had assuaged their thirst,
+recommenced the attack upon the meat with renewed vigour.
+
+Richard of Woodville, and Hal of Hadnock, had soon seen enough of the
+Glutton mass; and, at a hint from his companion, the former took an
+opportunity of whispering to the priest,--
+
+"We must go, I fear; lest my uncle be angry at our absence."
+
+"Well, well," said the worthy clerk, "if it must be so, we cannot help
+it; but 'tis a sad pity, Master Richard, that so good a man as the
+Knight of Dunbury, should be such a discourager of pious ordinances."
+
+"It is, indeed," answered Woodville, in a solemn tone; "but all men
+have their prejudices; and you know, father, he loves the Church."
+
+"Ay, that he does, that he does," replied the other, heartily; "he
+sent me two fat bucks last summer."
+
+"Oh, yes, he loves the Church, he loves the Church!" rejoined
+Woodville, and gliding quietly down the side aisle, so that he might
+not disturb any of the congregation in their devout exercise of the
+jaws, he left the building, accompanied by Hal of Hadnock.
+
+Both laughed as soon as they were out of the church; but the guest of
+Sir Philip Beauchamp soon fell into deep thought; and after walking
+forward for a little distance, he observed, "It is strange, how men
+are inclined to make religion subservient to all their appetites. What
+are such things as these? what are many of our solemn customs, but the
+self-same idolatrous rites practised by the ancient pagans, who
+deified their passions and their follies, and then took the simplest
+means of worshipping them?--What can be the cause of such perversity?"
+
+"The devil! the devil!" answered Richard of Woodville; "he who leads
+every one on from one wickedness to another; who first teaches man to
+infringe God's commandment, in order to gratify some desire, and then,
+as that desire grows fat and strong upon indulgence, first persuades
+us that its gratification is pleasing to God, and in the end makes us
+worship it, as a god."
+
+"But yet these same good folks fast and mortify themselves at certain
+times," said Hal of Hadnock; "and then carouse and revel, as if they
+had won a right to excess."
+
+"To make up for lost time," said Woodville; "but the truth is, it is
+like a man playing at cross and pile, who, when he has lost one stake,
+tries to clear off the score against him by doubling the next. We have
+all sins enough to atone for; and we play the penance against the
+indulgence, and the indulgence against the penance. Give me the man
+who always mortifies himself in all that is wrong; who fasts from
+anger, malice, backbiting, lying, and uncharitableness; who denies
+himself, at all times, excess in anything, and holds a festival every
+day, with gratitude to God for that which he, in his bounty, is
+pleased to give him. But, after all, it is very natural that these
+corruptions should take place, even in a faith like ours. Depend upon
+it, the purer a religion is the more strong will be the efforts of
+Sathanus to pervert it; so that men may walk along his broad
+high-road, while they think they are taking the way to everlasting
+salvation."
+
+"There is truth in that, good Richard," replied his companion; "but I
+fear me, you have caught some of the doctrines of the Lollards, of
+whom you were speaking."
+
+"Not a whit," answered Woodville; "I am a good catholic Christian; but
+I may see the evils which men have brought into the Church, without
+thinking ill of the Church itself; just as when looking at the Abbey
+down yonder, I see that a foolish architect from France has changed
+two of the fine old round arches, which were built in King Stephen's
+time, to smart pointed windows, all bedizened with I don't know what,
+without thinking the Abbey anything but a very fine building,
+notwithstanding."
+
+Although Richard of Woodville would not admit that any impression had
+been made upon him by the preaching of the Lollards, certain it is,
+that the teaching of Wicliff and his disciples had led men generally
+to look somewhat narrowly into the superstitious practices of the day,
+and that the minds of many were imbued with the spirit of their
+doctrines, who, either from prejudice, timidity, or conviction, would
+not adopt the doctrines themselves. Nor was the effect transitory; for
+it lasted till, and prepared the way for, the Reformation.
+
+In a thoughtful mood, both the young gentlemen proceeded on their way
+through the wood; and, on their arrival at the hall, found Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, and the rest of his family and guests, already seated at
+the early dinner of those days. The old knight received their excuses
+in good part, laughed at Hal of Hadnock's curiosity to see a Glutton
+mass, and insisted he should sit down and finish his meal with him.
+"Had you been at Andover yesterday," he said, "you might have seen
+another strange sight: the Mayor sit in the stocks, and a justice on
+either side of him."
+
+"Indeed!" cried Hal of Hadnock, seriously; "that were a strange sight
+to see. Pray, on whose authority was it done? and what was the crime
+these magistrates committed?"
+
+"Good truth, I know not," answered Sir Philip. "A party of wild young
+men, they say, did it; and, as for the crime, it is not specified:
+but, on my life, it was justice, though of a rash kind; for Master
+Havering, the Mayor, has worked well for such a punishment; though,
+belike, the hands that put him in were not the best fitted for the
+office."
+
+"I should think not, certainly," replied Hal of Hadnock, in the same
+grave tone, and with an immovable countenance; though Richard of
+Woodville, who had contrived to seat himself next to Mary Markham, on
+the other side of the board, gave him a merry glance of the eye, as if
+he suspected more than he chose to say.
+
+When the meal was over, which was not speedily, Hal of Hadnock
+proposed to take his departure; but Sir Philip, with all courtesy,
+besought him, at least, to stay till the afternoon meal, or supper
+(then usually served at four o'clock), with the hospitable intent of
+urging him afterwards to spend another night under his roof; and, in
+the meantime, he promised to show him his armoury, his horses, and his
+library; though, to say the truth, the suits of rich armour were more
+numerous than the books, and the horses more in number than the people
+who frequented the library. Hal of Hadnock, for reasons of his own,
+accepted the invitation; and Richard of Woodville, though his
+approaching departure was already announced, agreed to stay, in order
+to bear him company when he went.
+
+I will not lead the patient reader through all the rooms of the hall,
+or detain him with a description of the armoury and its contents, or
+carry him to the stable, and show him all the horses of the good old
+knight, Sir Philip, from the battle-horse, which had borne him through
+many a stricken field in former days, to the ambling palfrey of his
+daughter Isabel. Hal of Hadnock, indeed, submitted to all this with a
+good grace; for he was a kind-hearted and considerate person, and
+little doubted that his friend Richard of Woodville was employing the
+precious moments to the best advantage with fair Mary Markham. To all
+these sights, with the discussion of sundry knotty points, regarding
+shields, and pallets, and unibers, the properties of horses, and the
+form and extent of the manifaire, were given well nigh two hours; and,
+when Hal of Hadnock and his noble host returned to the great hall,
+they found it tenanted alone by Catherine Beauchamp and Sir Simeon of
+Roydon.
+
+Richard and Dacre, Isabel and Mary, the lady said, were gone to walk
+together in the park; but she had waited, she added, with a coquettish
+air, thinking it but courtesy to give her uncle's honoured guest a
+companion, if he chose to join them.
+
+So direct an invitation was, of course, not to be refused by Hal of
+Hadnock; and he thanked her with high-coloured gallantry for her
+consideration.
+
+"Do you go too, Sir Simeon?" inquired Sir Philip Beauchamp; but the
+courtly knight replied that he had only waited to take his leave; as
+he had business to transact in the neighbourhood, and must be home ere
+night. Before Catherine and her companion set out, however, Sir Simeon
+drew her aside, as the relationship in which she stood towards him
+seemed to justify, and spoke to her for a moment eagerly. A few of his
+words caught the quick ear of Hal of Hadnock, as he stood talking to
+the old knight, who took care to impress him with the knowledge, that
+his fair niece was fully betrothed to Sir Harry Dacre; and though
+those words were, apparently, of small import, Hal of Hadnock
+remembered them long after.
+
+"I will tell you all, if you come," replied Sir Simeon, to some
+question the lady had asked; "but mind, I warn you.--Will you come?"
+
+"I do not know," answered Catherine, with a toss of the head; "it is
+your business to wait and see."
+
+"Wait I cannot," rejoined the knight; "see I will;" and the lady,
+turning to her uncle and his companion, accompanied the latter through
+a long passage at the back of the hall, to the door which led to the
+ground where the sports of the morning had taken place.
+
+The park of Dunbury was very like that described by old Chaucer:--
+
+
+             '----A parke enclosed with a wall
+              la compace rounde, and by a gate small,
+              Who so that would he frelie mighten gone
+              Into this parke, ywalled with grene stone.
+
+                          *   *   *   *   *
+
+              The soile was plain, and smoth, and wondir soft,
+              All overspread with tapettes that Nature
+              Had made herself, covirid eke aloft
+              With bowis grene, the flouris for to cure,
+              That in ther beautie thei mai long endure.'--
+
+
+The walks around were numerous and somewhat intricate; and whether
+fair Catherine Beauchamp knew or not the direction that her friends
+had taken, she certainly did not follow the path most likely to lead
+to where they really were; but, as she and Hal of Hadnock walked
+along, she employed the time to the best advantage in carrying on the
+siege of his heart. He, for his part, humoured her to the full, having
+a firm conviction that it would be far better, both for Sir Henry
+Dacre and herself, that the imperfect marriage between them should be
+annulled at their mutual desire, than remain a chain upon them, only
+increasing in weight. It must not, indeed, be supposed that he took
+any very deep interest in the matter; but, as it fell in his way, he
+was willing enough to forward what he believed to be a noble-minded
+man's desire for emancipation from a very bitter sort of thraldom; and
+it is seldom an unpleasant or laborious task for a lighthearted man to
+sport with a capricious girl. Thus went he on, then, with that mixture
+of romantic gallantry and teasing jest, which is of all things the
+most exciting to the mind of a coquette, with sufficient admiration to
+soothe her vanity, but with not sufficient devotion ever to allow her
+to imagine that her triumph is complete. Neither did he let her gain
+any advantage; for, though it was evident that she clearly perceived
+the name he had assumed was not his own, he gave her no information,
+playing with her curiosity without gratifying it.
+
+"But what makes you think," he asked, "that I am other than I seem?
+Why should I not be plain Hal of Hadnock, a poor gentleman from the
+Welsh marshes?"
+
+"No, no, no," she said, "it is not so. A thousand things prove it:
+first, manners, appearance, dress. Why, are you not as fine as my good
+cousin a dozen times removed, Sir Simeon of Roydon, the pink of court
+gallants?"
+
+"And yet I have heard that he is not as rich as an abbot," replied Hal
+of Hadnock.
+
+"No, in truth," answered Catherine; "he is as poor as a verger; and,
+like the curlew, carries all his fortune on his back, I believe."
+
+"I suspect not his own fortune only," rejoined her companion, "but a
+part of other men's."
+
+"But then your knightly spurs, good sir," continued Kate, returning to
+the point; "you must be Sir Hal of Hadnock at the least. Now I never
+heard of that name amongst our chivalry; and I am deep read in the
+rolls of knighthood."
+
+"Oh, I am newly dubbed," replied the gentleman, laughing; "but you
+shall know all some day, lady fair."
+
+"I shall know very soon," answered Catherine; "for Simeon of Roydon
+will tell me."
+
+"More, perhaps, than he knows himself," said Hal of Hadnock.
+
+"Oh, he knows well enough," exclaimed Catherine Beauchamp. "He has
+already told me, that you are a man of noble birth and high estate,
+and promised to speak the name; but I would rather owe it to your
+courtesy than his."
+
+"Nay, what would I not do for the love of your bright eyes?" asked Hal
+of Hadnock, in a tone half tender, half jesting; "methinks the light
+in them, even now, looks like the morning sun reflected from a dewdrop
+in a violet. But why should I tell you aught? I have been warned that
+you are another's. Out upon such cold contracts, that bind unwilling
+hearts together! It is clear, there is no great love in your heart for
+this Sir Harry Dacre."
+
+"Not too much to lie comfortably in a hazel nut," answered Catherine.
+
+"Then why do you not ask to have the marriage annulled?" demanded her
+companion. "There never yet was bond in which the keen eyes of the
+court of Rome could not find a flaw."
+
+"Why, it would grieve his proud heart sadly," replied the lady; "yet I
+have often thought of it."
+
+"If he be proud--and so he is," rejoined Hal of Hadnock, "he would
+never refuse to consent, however much it might vex him. Well, well,
+set yourself free from him, and then you shall know who I am. As for
+this fellow Roydon, he knows nothing, and will but lead you wrong; but
+were I you, I would be a free woman ere a year were over; and then,
+this fair hand were a prize well worth the winning to higher hearts
+than a Dacre or a Roydon."
+
+With such conversation they wandered on for some time, without
+overtaking the party they had come out to seek. They saw them once at
+some distance, indeed, through the overhanging boughs of an opposite
+alley just fringed with early leaves; but they did not hurry their
+pace, and only met them at length at the door of the hall, as they
+were all returning. Sir Henry Dacre was then walking by Isabel's side,
+with his arms crossed upon his chest, and his brow sad and stern. As
+soon as he saw Catherine and her companion, he fixed his eyes
+inquiringly upon her, and seemed to mark her heightened colour, and
+somewhat excited look--then fell into thought again; and then laid his
+hand upon her arm, saying, "I would speak with you for a moment,
+Kate."
+
+"It must not be long," she replied, coldly; "for I have dipped my feet
+in the dew, and would fain dry them."
+
+"It shall not be long," answered Sir Henry Dacre; and he remained with
+her behind, while the rest entered slowly. Ere they had passed the
+door, the anxious ear of Isabel heard high tones without; and, in a
+few minutes, as they paused for a moment in the hall, where the
+servants were already spreading the board for supper, Sir Henry
+entered, with a hasty step.
+
+"My horse to the gate!" he said, addressing one of the attendants.
+
+"At what hour, Sir Knight?" asked the servant.
+
+"Directly!" answered Dacre. "The men can follow. Farewell, dear
+Isabel," he continued, turning to Catherine's cousin; "I can stay no
+longer.--Farewell, Mary!" He grasped Richard of Woodville's hand, but
+said nothing; and with a low and formal bow to Hal of Hadnock, turned
+towards the door leading to the court.
+
+Isabel Beauchamp followed him quietly, laid her hand upon his arm, and
+spoke eagerly, but in a low tone.
+
+"I cannot, I cannot, Isabel," he replied, aloud. "Dear girl, do not
+urge me. I shall forget myself--I shall go mad. Excuse me to your
+noble father--farewell!" and opening the large door, he issued forth,
+and closed it behind him.
+
+Isabel Beauchamp turned with her eyes full of tears; but passing the
+rest silently, as if afraid to speak, she hurried to her own chamber,
+wept for a few minutes, and then sought her father.
+
+The supper that day was a grave and silent meal. There was a stern
+cloud on old Sir Philip Beauchamp's brow when he came down to the
+hall; and, as he took his seat he asked, looking round, "Where is
+Catherine?"
+
+"I know not," answered Mary Markham; "but she went to her own chamber
+when she came in."
+
+"Shall I seek the lady, sir?" asked one of the retainers of the house,
+from the lower part of the table.
+
+"No! let her be," replied the old knight; and then he murmured,
+"Perhaps she has still some shame--and if so, it is well."
+
+To Hal of Hadnock his demeanour was courteous, though so grave, that
+his guest could not but feel that some share in the disagreeable
+event, which had evidently taken place, was attributed to him; and
+though he knew that his intention was good, yet, like many another
+man, he had reason to feel sorry that he had meddled in other men's
+affairs at all. Supper was nearly over, the light was beginning to
+wane in the sky, and the stranger was thinking it was time to depart,
+when the porter's boy came into the hall, and, approaching Richard of
+Woodville, whispered something in his ear.
+
+The young gentleman instantly rose, and went out into the court, but
+returned a moment after, and spoke a word to Hal of Hadnock, who
+started up, and followed him. In the court they found a man booted and
+spurred, and dusty from the road, holding by the bridle a horse, with
+one leg bent, and the head bowed down, as if exhausted by long
+exercise.
+
+The man instantly uncovered his head, when he saw the gentlemen
+appear, and throwing down the bridle, advanced a step, while Hadnock
+gave him a quick sign, which he seemed to comprehend.
+
+"Your presence is required immediately, sir," he said, without adding
+any name; "your father is ill--very ill--and I have lost some hours in
+seeking you. I heard of you, however, at Andover, then at the Abbey,
+then at the priest's house in the village, and ventured on here, as
+'tis matter of life and death."
+
+"You did right," said Hal of Hadnock, briefly, but with deep anxiety
+on his face. "Ill, say you? very ill? and I away!--Why, I left him
+better!"
+
+"One of those fits again, sir," answered the man. "For an hour he was
+thought dead, but had regained his speech when I set out; yet the
+leeches much fear----"
+
+"I come! I come!" answered Hal of Hadnock. "Speed on before; I will be
+in London ere day-break. Change your horse often, and lose no time.
+Buy a stout horse wherever you can find one, and have him ready for me
+on Murrel Green. Away, good fellow! Say that I am coming!--Richard, I
+must go at once."
+
+"Well, I will with you, sir," replied Richard of Woodville; "you go to
+bid my good uncle adieu. I will order out the horses."
+
+"So be it," answered Hal of Hadnock; "you shall be my guide, for I
+must not miss my way;"--and, after giving the messenger some money, he
+turned, and re-entered the hall.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                          THE ASSASSINATION.
+
+
+Clouds had again come over the heavens as day declined, and the light
+had nearly faded from the sky; but yet the horses of Hal of Hadnock
+and Richard of Woodville had not appeared in the court-yard, and the
+former showed great anxiety to proceed at once. His gaiety was gone;
+and he stood, either playing, in deep thought, with the hilt of his
+dagger, the sheath of which hung from a ring in the centre of his
+belt, or listening for the horses, with his ear turned towards the
+door of the hall.
+
+"I fear, sir, the news you have received are bad," said old Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, who, with the rest of the party, had by this time risen
+from table.
+
+"A father's perilous sickness, noble Sir Philip," answered Hal of
+Hadnock; "one who might have been kinder, indeed; but still the
+tidings must ever be sad ones to a son's heart. I wonder that the
+horses be not ready."
+
+"Go, Hugh, and see," replied Richard of Woodville; but a serving man,
+who had entered the moment before, stopped the messenger, saying--
+
+"They will be here in a minute, sir. A shoe was found loose on the
+gentleman's steed, and John the smith has had to fasten it."
+
+"Well, Dick, thou goest in good earnest at last," said the old knight,
+turning to his nephew; "and on my life I think it is the best thing
+thou canst do. Thou art a good soldier, and wilt raise thyself to
+renown. I need not tell thee what thy duties are; but thou must take a
+horse and arms of thine old uncle, whom thou mayest never see again,
+perchance. Choose them for thyself, boy. Thou wilt find wherewithal in
+that purse," and he placed a full one in his nephew's hand. "As my
+good brother, the Abbot, is not here, thou must content thyself with
+my benison. Be it upon thee, Richard! Love thy king, thy country, and
+thine honour. But, above all things, love God, fear his anger, hope in
+his mercy, trust in his promises, and submit thine own reason in all
+things to his word. So shalt thou prosper in this world; so shalt thou
+be meet for another."
+
+The young man caught his uncle's hand and kissed it; and the old
+knight pressed him for a moment in his arms.
+
+"Here, Richard, take this gift of me," said Isabel: "'tis but a jewel
+for your baldrick."
+
+Mary Markham did not speak; but after he had pressed his lips on
+Isabel's cheek, she offered hers silently, placing a ring in his hand.
+
+"I will bear it to honour, and win you yet, Mary," said Woodville, in
+a low voice, as he took his parting kiss; and he felt that her cheek
+was wet with tears.
+
+"Hark! there are the horses, noble sir," exclaimed Hal of Hadnock,
+turning to Sir Philip. "Once more, farewell! Your nephew shall give
+you further news of me; and may one day clear me in your eyes for
+somewhat you have thought amiss."
+
+Then bidding the ladies adieu, he turned to the hall door, and
+mounted, with a princely largesse to the servants of the house.
+Richard of Woodville followed, sprang on his horse's back, and, giving
+one look back, rode through the gates after his companion.
+
+The wood was dark and sombre, as they proceeded amidst its thick
+coverts; but when they issued forth, a faint glimmer of twilight
+served to guide them on the way, and they quickened their pace. There
+were lights in the windows of the cottages, too, as they passed
+through the village; and when they reached the other side, they caught
+a pale line of yellow light, peeping out from beneath the dark clouds
+upon the edge of the western sky, and gilding the water of the stream.
+Riding on quickly, they had not left the last house behind them five
+minutes, when Hal of Hadnock pulled up his horse short, exclaiming,
+"Hark! there is a scream!"
+
+"'Tis but a screech-owl," answered Richard of Woodville; "they come
+forth in spring."
+
+But as he spoke, there was another shriek, apparently before them; and
+each struck his horse with the spur, and dashed on. No other sound met
+their ear, however, except what seemed the distant galloping of a
+horse, which might be but the echo of their own beasts' feet. When
+they reached the spot where, on the preceding night, they had seen the
+wild fire over the moor, Hal of Hadnock again drew in his rein,
+saying, "It came from somewhere here."
+
+"It seemed to me near where we then were," replied Richard of
+Woodville. "Perchance 'twas but some villagers got drunk at that
+Glutton mass. See, there is the otter again!"
+
+"It was a shriek of pain or terror," answered his companion.
+"Otter!--that is no otter! Here, hold my horse," and springing from
+the saddle in a moment, he dashed down the bank, and plunged into the
+river. Though shallow in most places, it there formed a deep pool; but
+Hal of Hadnock, expert in all exercises alike, struck out at once, and
+caught the object he had seen, just as it was sinking. A feeling of
+horror and alarm seized him, as his hand grasped the long hair of a
+woman; but raising her head above the water again, he held it gently
+on his left arm, and with his right swam in towards the shore.
+
+"Here, help, Richard," he cried, "set the horses free, and take her.
+'Tis a woman!"
+
+Woodville was down the bank in a moment, exclaiming, "Who is it?--who
+is it?"
+
+"I know not," answered Hal of Hadnock, raising her so far above the
+water, that his companion could grasp her in his arms and lift her
+out; but as he himself followed, placing one knee on the shore, with a
+sad heart, he heard his companion exclaim, in the accents of deep
+grief--
+
+"Good Heaven! it is Catherine!"
+
+"Quick! bear her to the nearest house!" cried Hal of Hadnock; "the
+spark of life may be still there. I will follow with the horses."
+
+"Up the short path to the right, lies the chanter's," cried Richard,
+raising the unhappy girl in his stout arms, and running along the
+road.
+
+The horses were easily caught, and mounting one, and leading the
+other, Hal of Hadnock followed, obtaining a glance of his companion
+just as he turned from the highway, towards a spot where the thatch of
+a small house peeped up above some trees. He was at the door as soon
+as Woodville; and, lifting the latch, they both went in.
+
+An old man and woman were sitting before the fire; but the sudden
+entrance of two men roused them in fear; and, when they saw who it
+was, and what they bore, all was eager hurry and lamentation. The
+inanimate body of Catherine Beauchamp, however, was speedily laid in
+the old chanter's bed, in the neighbouring chamber; and such simple
+means as first suggested themselves were employed to ascertain if life
+were still within that fair and silent frame. But she lay calm and
+still as if asleep, with her features full of a sweet placidity, such
+as they had seldom worn in life.
+
+"It is past!" said Richard of Woodville; "it is past'. Poor girl! how
+has this happened? Ha! there is the mark of a grasp upon her throat!"
+
+"See there, too!" cried Hal of Hadnock; and he pointed with his hand
+to where, upon the fine lawn that covered her bosom, was a faint red
+stain, half washed out by the water of the stream, as if blood had
+been spilt. No wound, however, was to be discovered; and while the two
+gentlemen stood and gazed, the old chanter's sister continued,
+ineffectually, to employ every effort to reawaken the inanimate frame,
+and the old man himself ran off to the Abbey to procure farther aid.
+
+"Go into the other room, sirs--go into the other room," said the good
+dame, at length; "I will take off her wet clothes. 'Tis that keeps her
+from coming to."
+
+Hal of Hadnock shook his head; for he could not see that pale
+countenance, those immovable lips, those sightless eyes, without
+feeling sure--too sure--that life had departed for ever. He would not
+say anything, however, to discourage the zeal of the poor woman; and
+he accordingly accompanied Richard of Woodville into the chamber which
+they had first entered, and stood with him in silent thought before
+the fire. Neither spoke; for the mind of each was busy with sad and
+dark inquiries, regarding the event which had just taken place; yet
+neither could arrive at anything like a conclusion. Was it her own
+act? was it accident? was it the deed of another? and if so, of whom?
+Such were the questions which both asked themselves. Both, too,
+entertained suspicions; but yet they did not like even to admit those
+suspicions to their own hearts, for how often does the first
+conclusion of guilt do injustice to the innocent! but while they were
+still in thought, the voice of the chanter's sister was heard
+exclaiming--
+
+"Come hither, Master Richard!--come hither! See here!" and as they
+entered, she pointed to the poor girl's arm, which now lay uncovered
+on the bed-clothes, adding, "there is the grasp of a hand, clear
+enough! Look, all the fingers and the thumb!"
+
+"Stay," said Hal of Hadnock; "that might be mine, Richard, or yours in
+raising her out of the stream."
+
+"I took her by the other arm," answered Richard of Woodville.
+
+"And I do not remember having touched her arm at all," said Hal of
+Hadnock, after thinking for a moment.
+
+"Oh, no, sirs," cried the old woman; "that hand must have grasped her
+in life, else it would not have brought the blood to the skin. Hark!
+there are the people coming," and, in another minute, the good old
+Abbot, and four or five of his monks, ran in breathless and scared.
+
+"Alas! alas! Richard, what is this?" cried the Abbot.
+
+"A sad and dark affair, father," replied Richard of Woodville, while
+one of the monks, famed for his skill in leechcraft, advanced to the
+bed-side, and put his hand upon the heart; "I fear life is extinct."
+
+The Abbot gazed at the monk as he knelt; but the good brother slowly
+waved his head, with a melancholy look, saying, "Yet leave me and the
+old woman alone with her."
+
+"I will stay and aid," replied the Abbot. "I am her uncle."
+
+All the rest withdrew; and many were the eager questions of the monks,
+as to how the accident had happened. Richard of Woodville told the
+tale simply as it was--the two shrieks that they had heard, the
+discovery of the body in the water, and its recovery from the stream.
+
+"Ay, she screamed when she fell in, and when she first rose," said one
+of the monks; "drowning people always do."
+
+Woodville made no reply; for he would not give his own suspicions to
+others; but Hal of Hadnock asked him, in a low voice, "Did you not
+hear the galloping of a horse, on the other side, as we came near?"
+
+"I did," answered Richard, in the same tone; "I did, too plainly."
+
+In about a quarter of an hour, the Abbot came forth, and all made way
+for him.
+
+"What hope?" asked Woodville, looking into his uncle's face for
+speedier information.
+
+"None!" replied the Abbot. "How has this chanced, my son? there are
+marks of violence."
+
+The same tale was told over again; but this time Richard of Woodville
+added the fact of a horse's feet having been heard; and the Abbot
+mused profoundly.
+
+"I will have the body carried down to the Abbey," he said, at length.
+"You, Richard, speed to my brother, and break the tidings there. Come
+down with him to the Abbey, and we will consult. Bring Dacre, too.
+
+"Dacre has been gone more than two hours," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "but I will seek my uncle Philip," and he turned towards
+the door.
+
+Hal of Hadnock stayed him for a moment, however, saying, "I must ride
+on, Richard. You know that my call hence admits of no delay. But let
+every one remark and remember, for this matter must be inquired into,
+that I heard and saw all that this good friend of mine did; the
+shrieks, the galloping of a horse, the body in the water. You shall
+have means of finding me, too, should it be needful; and now, my Lord
+Abbot, a sad good night. Farewell, Richard; you shall hear from me
+soon." Thus saying, he quitted the cottage, mounted his horse, and
+rode away at a quick pace.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+                           THE SUSPICIONS.
+
+
+Upon the borders of Hampshire and Sussex, but still within the former
+county, lies, as the reader probably knows, a large tract of land but
+little cultivated even now, and which, in the days whereof I speak,
+was covered either with scattered trees and copses or wild heath,
+having various paths and roads winding through it, which led now to a
+solitary village, with a patch of cultivated land round about it, now
+to a church or chapel in the wild, now travelled on through the hills,
+which are high and bare, to Winchester or Basingstoke. Deep sand
+occupies a great portion of the ground, through which it is well nigh
+impossible to construct a firm road; and the whole country is broken
+with wild and rapid undulations, of no great height or depth, but
+every variety of form, the resort of all those rare birds, which
+afforded so much interest and amusement to gentle White of Selbourne.
+
+Through this rude and uncultivated tract, a little before the close of
+day, in the beginning of April 1413, two gentlemen clothed in deep
+mourning of the fashion of that day, rode slowly on. Both were very
+grave and silent; and, if the complexion of their thoughts was sad and
+solemn, the aspect of the scene at that hour was not calculated to
+lighten the heart, though it might arouse feelings of admiration. The
+sun hung upon the edge of the sky; broad masses of cloud floated over
+the wide expanse of azure which stretched out above the wild heath;
+and their shadows, as they crossed the slanting rays, swept over the
+varied surface below, casting long lines of country into deep blue
+shade, while the rest shone in the cool pale evening sunshine of the
+yet unconfirmed spring. Each dell and pit, too, at that hour, was
+filled with the same sort of purple shadow: the braes and banks looked
+wilder and more strongly marked from the position of the sun; the
+occasional clumps of fir trees cut sharp and black upon the western
+sky; and everything was stern and grand and solemn.
+
+Rising over one slope and descending another, by paths cut imperfectly
+through the heath and gorse, the travellers had ridden on for half an
+hour without speaking, when at length, at the bottom of a deep valley,
+where the sun could no longer be seen, and the shades of evening
+seemed already to have fallen, they stopped to let their horses drink
+in a large piece of water, sheltered by a thick copse, and gazed upon
+the reflection of the blue sky above and the clouds floating over it.
+As they moved on again, a large white bird started up from the reeds,
+and flew heavily away, with its snowy plumage strangely contrasting
+with the dark background of the wood and hill.
+
+"'Tis like a spirit winging its way from earth," said Sir Henry Dacre,
+following the bird with his eyes. "Poor Catherine! Would that aught
+else had set thee free from the chain that bound thee to me, but
+death."
+
+"Luckless girl, indeed!" replied Richard of Woodville; "from her
+infancy unfortunate! And yet men thought that the hand of Heaven had
+showered upon her its choicest gifts: beauty, wealth, kind friends,
+and a noble heart to love her, if she would but have welcomed it. But,
+alas! Harry, the crowning gift of all was wanting: a spirit that could
+use God's blessings aright."
+
+"It was more the fault of others than her own," said Sir Harry Dacre,
+"that I do believe. Her mother made her what she was! 'Tis sad! 'tis
+very sad, Richard, that, at the period when we have no power to form
+ourselves, each weak fool who approaches us can give us some bad gift
+which we never can cast off."
+
+"Like the evil fairies at a child's birth," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "and certainly her mother was a bad demon to her; but
+still, though I would not speak ill of those who are gone, yet poor
+Kate received the gifts willingly enough, destructive as they were.
+Would to Heaven it had been otherwise; but others encouraged her in
+all that was wrong, as well as her mother. This man, Roydon, was no
+good counsellor for a lady's ear."
+
+The brow of Sir Henry Dacre grew dark as night. "He is a scoundrel,"
+he cried; "he is a scoundrel; and if ever he gives me the chance of
+having him at my lance's point, he or I shall go to that place where
+all men's actions are made clear.--Oh! that I knew the truth, Richard!
+Oh! that I knew the truth!"
+
+"There is One who knows it," answered Richard of Woodville, "who never
+suffers foul deeds to rest in darkness. Trust to Him: and if this
+knave does but support his charge, perhaps your lance may be the
+avenging instrument of Heaven."
+
+"May it be so," replied the knight; "but I doubt it, Richard. True, he
+has not shown himself a coward in the field; and yet I cannot but
+think that he is craven at heart. Saw you not how carefully his letter
+to Sir Philip was worded? how he insinuated more than he dared say?
+and, then, why did he not come?--A sickness, forsooth! The excuse of
+an idle schoolboy. He would not face me,--that is the truth. He fears
+me, Richard, and will not dare the test of battle."
+
+"Well, that we shall soon see," answered his companion; "your
+messenger must be at my house, by this time, with his reply."
+
+"I trust so," said Dacre, thoughtfully; "yet he will take time to
+write carefully, believe me. His will be no rash epistle, written in
+fiery anger at his cousin's death. No, no; it will be done as if a
+scrivener had dictated every word, and in a courtly hand. But whatever
+he does, mark me, he will leave the poison behind, and so calculate as
+to cast suspicion over me for life."
+
+"But who suspects you, Dacre?" asked Richard of Woodville, with a
+smile; "not one honest man on earth. You are too well known, for
+doubts to light upon you. Does not Sir Philip, her own uncle, love you
+as a son? and can you let the idle words of a knave, like this,
+disturb your peace?"
+
+"My peace, Richard!" said Sir Henry Dacre, sadly; "can a high and
+honest heart ever feel peace, so long as one doubt, one unrefuted
+charge, casts a cloud upon it? I would rather die a thousand deaths
+than have men point at me, and say, 'he was suspected of a foul crime
+against an innocent lady;' and, besides, even those that I love best,
+those who hold me dearest, may often ask themselves, 'could it be
+true?'"
+
+"Not a whit!" replied Woodville: "no one will ever ask such a thing.
+Like a wounded man, you think that every one will touch the spot, and
+feel the pain in fancy. Cast off such imaginations, Dacre; secure in
+your own honour, laugh suspicion to scorn, and trust to the noble and
+the true to do justice to those who are like themselves."
+
+"Would I could do so, Richard," said the knight; "and it would be
+easy, too, did we not know that the wide world is so full of arrant
+knaves, and that amongst the knaves there are such hypocrites, that
+honesty has no touchstone whereby true metal can be really known from
+false; and men rightly doubt the value of each coin they take, so
+cunning are the counterfeits. Hypocrisy is a greater curse to mankind
+than wickedness; for it makes all virtue doubted, and fills the bosoms
+of the good with suspicion, from a knowledge of the feigning of the
+bad. Besides, amongst those who hold a middle course, neither plunging
+deep in the stream of vice and wrong, nor staying firmly on the shore
+of honour, how gladly every one attributes acts to others that may
+outdo the darkness of his own! No, no; suspicion never yet lighted on
+a name that ever was wholly pure again. All I ask is, to give me that
+man before me, let me cram the falsehood down his throat, at the
+sword's point, and wring the truth from his dying lips, or let me die
+myself."
+
+"Well, we shall see what he replies," answered Richard of Woodville,
+finding it useless to argue farther with him; "and if, as you suspect,
+he evades the question, what think you then to do?"
+
+"To go with you to Burgundy," answered Dacre; "for I shall be, then,
+one fitted well to take a part in civil broils--a right serviceable
+man, where danger is rifest, ever ready to lead the way in peril,
+having nor wife, nor relative, nor friend, nor hope, nor home, to make
+him feel the stroke that takes his life, more than the scratch of a
+sharp thorn that tears him as he passes through the wood."
+
+"But you will surely first return," said Woodville, "to say farewell
+to my good uncle, and sweet Isabel?"
+
+"I do not know," replied Dacre. "Dear Isabel, she tried to cheer me;
+and I know would not for worlds suffer doubts of me to rest for an
+hour in her heart; and yet they will come and go, Richard, whether she
+will or not. Each time I take her hand she'll think of Catherine; and
+though she'll answer boldly, 'it is false,' as often as suspicions
+rise, yet they will be remembered, and rest for ever as a shadow over
+our friendship."
+
+"You do her wrong, Harry," answered his companion. "Your mind is
+sickly; and, as a man in a sore disease, you see all things through
+one pale mist. Isabel may often think of her who is no more, may
+grieve for her, and regret that she did not make life happier to
+herself and others, and that she met so early and so sad a death; but
+she will ever call her back to mind as one who wronged you, not as one
+wronged by you: and you may be happy yet."
+
+He spoke gravely, and Sir Henry Dacre turned and gazed at him, as if
+for explanation of his words; but Richard said no more; and, riding on
+in silence, they soon after came to a point where the road began to
+rise, winding in slowly between two wooded hills, with a small
+streamlet flowing on by its side. The sun was sinking below the
+horizon, as they passed through a village, with the bright
+blacksmith's forge jutting out beyond the other buildings; and when at
+length they drew the rein before the gate of a tall house bosomed in
+trees, it was well nigh dark.
+
+Several servants came instantly into the court; and, giving their
+horses to be taken to the stable, the two gentlemen entered the outer
+hall, and thence proceeded onwards to a room beyond, where they were
+immediately joined by a stout man, habited as a courier, who placed a
+letter in the hand of Sir Harry Dacre, without speaking.
+
+"So thou art back, Martin," said the knight, while Richard of
+Woodville called for lights.
+
+"Yes, noble sir," answered the servant; "but I have had to ride hard,
+for he kept me a long time; but that I don't wonder at."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Sir Henry; "why should he keep you long?"
+
+"Because he wrote a long letter, sir," replied the man; "he might have
+waited till doomsday, if he had been in my place, and I in his."
+
+"Did he look ill?" inquired the knight.
+
+"Not he, sir," answered the servant; "he was out gosshawking after
+larks when I arrived."
+
+"The liar!" muttered Sir Henry Dacre; but at the same moment lights
+were brought in, and making the messenger a sign to retire, the knight
+opened the letter and read. Richard of Woodville stood by and watched
+him, while his fine features, as he gazed intently upon the paper,
+assumed first a look of scorn, and then of anger; and at length he
+exclaimed, "As I thought, Richard!--as I thought! On my life, I must
+be an astrologer, and not know it, to have read this man's conduct to
+the letter, beforehand. Mark what he says: 'Sir Simeon of Roydon
+brings no charge against Sir Henry Dacre, and never has brought any;
+but holds him as good knight and true. He has, therefore, no cause of
+quarrel with the said knight, but, far from it, wishes him all
+prosperity; the which Sir Henry would have clearly seen, if he had
+read carefully the letter which Sir Simeon wrote to the good knight of
+Dunbury, and had not looked at it rashly. Therein Sir Simeon thought
+to do Sir Henry Dacre an act of love and courtesy, by pointing out--he
+himself nought doubting--what might breed doubts in the hearts of
+other men, regarding the manner of the death of the Lady Catherine
+Beauchamp, in order that the good knight might make such inquiries as
+would remove all suspicion. For this cause he marked what he had only
+learned by hear-say, that Sir Henry Dacre had, as unhappily often
+happened, a fierce quarrel with the Lady Catherine, about a gentleman,
+it would seem, calling himself Hal of Hadnock----' Curses upon him!"
+cried Dacre, breaking off.
+
+"Nay, nay, you do him wrong," answered Richard of Woodville; "he
+sought but to serve you, as I will tell you anon, Harry. But read on.
+What says he more?"
+
+"'That Sir Harry quitted the hall in bitter anger,'" continued
+Dacre, reading, "'and swearing he should go mad with the lady's
+conduct----' Did I say so?"
+
+Woodville nodded his head, and his friend proceeded: "'That the said
+Sir Henry, though his house is distant but seven miles, did not reach
+his own door till the hour of nine, and that the lady came by her
+death between seven and eight, or thereabout; that Sir Henry's hand
+was torn when he reached his house; and that there was a stain of
+blood upon the lady's throat; that there were marks of horses' feet on
+the opposite side of the river, and across the moor towards Sir
+Henry's dwelling; and that he himself was seen of many persons
+wandering about near Abbot's Ann and Dunbury, till dark that night;
+all of which points Sir Simeon of Roydon doubted not, in any way,
+could be easily explained by Sir Henry Dacre, if true--but which,
+perchance, were untrue he, Sir Simeon, having heard them merely from
+vague report and common fame!' Some true, some false," cried Dacre. "I
+did tear my hand, opening the gate by Clatford mill. I did wander
+about, with a heart on fire, and a brain all whirling, at being made
+wretched by another's fault; but I was far from the village, far from
+Abbey and Hall, before the sun went down; for I saw him set from
+Weyhill.--Ah! poisonous snake! He stings and glides away from the heel
+that would crush him. Hear how he ends: 'For his own part, Sir Simeon
+of Roydon is right well convinced that Sir Henry Dacre is pure and
+free of all share in the lady's death; otherwise that knight might be
+full sure he would be the first to call him to the lists, in vengeance
+of his cousin's death.' The scoundrel coward! But how is this,
+Richard? He must have spies in our houses--at our hearths. How else
+did he gain such tidings? Who told him of the quarrel between that
+hapless girl and me? He was gone long before, I think?"
+
+"Ay, but his servants stayed," replied Woodville; "and there was one
+in the hall when you returned; that black-looking, silent man. Yet he
+must have some other means of information, too; else how did he know
+your hand was torn?"
+
+"I cannot say," answered Dacre, thoughtfully. "By heaven! he will
+plant suspicion in my heart, too, and make me doubt the long-tried,
+faithful fellows I have with me." And he cast himself gloomily on a
+seat, and pondered in silence.
+
+The moment after, there was a sound of horses' feet passing along
+before the house, and Richard of Woodville turned and listened,
+saying, "Here is some new messenger. Were it any of my own people,
+they would come to the other gate."
+
+After some talking in the hall without, an attendant opened the door,
+and informed his young master that there was a person without who
+desired to see him. "He comes from Westminster," added the man, "and
+will give neither message nor letters to any but yourself, sir."
+
+"Let him come in!" answered Richard of Woodville; and a personage was
+called forward, habited somewhat differently from any of those whom we
+have already had occasion to describe. He was dressed in what is
+called a tabard; but it must not be supposed, from that circumstance,
+that he bore the office of either herald or pursuivant, for many other
+classes retained that part of the ancient dress, and it was officially
+worn by the squires, and many of the inferior attendants of kings and
+sovereign princes, sometimes over armour, sometimes without. In
+particular cases, the tabard was embroidered either with the arms of
+the lord whom the bearer served, or with his own, as a sort of coat of
+arms; but was frequently, especially with persons of somewhat low
+degree, perfectly unornamented, and formed of a fine cloth of a
+uniform colour. Such was the case with the man who now appeared--his
+loose, short gown, with wide sleeves, being of a bright pink hue. The
+linen collar of his shirt fell over it; and the part of his dress left
+exposed below the knee, showed nothing but the riding boots of
+untanned leather, drawn up to their full extent. In person, he was a
+short, thin young man, with a shrewd and merry countenance. His hair
+was cut short round the whole head, but left thick, notwithstanding,
+so as to resemble a fur cap, and his long arms reached his knees.
+Without uttering a word, he advanced towards Richard of Woodville, who
+had taken a step forward to receive him, and drawing a packet from the
+bosom of his tabard, he placed it in the gentleman's hand.
+
+"From Hal of Hadnock, I suspect?" said Woodville, looking at him
+closely.
+
+"Nay, I know not," replied the messenger; "from Hal, certainly; yet no
+more Hal of Hadnock, than of Monmouth, or Westminster, or any other
+town of England or Wales. Read, and you will see."
+
+Richard of Woodville tore open the outer cover, and took forth several
+broad letters, tied and sealed. The first he opened, and drawing near
+the light, perused its contents attentively.
+
+"Hal of Hadnock," so it ran, "to Richard of Woodville, greeting. Good
+service requires good service, and honour, honour. Thus you shall
+find, my comrade of the way, that I have not forgotten you, though
+matters of much moment and some grief have delayed a promise, not put
+it out of mind. You, too, have doubtless had much cause for thought
+and sorrow, and may, perchance, have yet affairs to keep you in the
+realms of England; which being the case, I do not require that you
+should lay aside things of weight, to bear the enclosed to the noble
+Duke of Burgundy, or his son, and to the faithful servant of this
+crown, Sir Philip Morgan, now at the court of Burgundy; but the letter
+addressed to Sir John Grey, at Ghent, is of some importance to
+himself, and should find his hands as speedily as may be. If,
+therefore, by any chance, you be minded to stay in England more than
+fourteen days from the receipt of these, return that packet by the
+bearer, one Edward Dyram. But, if you be ready to cross the seas ere
+then, keep the messenger with you in your company, as I believe him to
+be faithful and true, and skilled in many things; and he knoweth my
+mind towards you, which is good. Neither be offended at speech or jest
+of his, for he hath a licence not easily bridled; but so long as he
+useth his tongue for his own conceit, so long will he use his
+knowledge for a friend or master. I give him to you; treat him well
+till you return him to me again; and if there be aught else that can
+serve you or do you grace, seek me at Westminster, where you will find
+a friend in          Henry."
+
+
+Richard of Woodville pondered, but testified no surprise; and, after a
+moment's thought, put the letter in the hand of Sir Henry Dacre, who
+read it through, with more apparent wonder than his friend had
+expressed. "And who is this?" he asked, when he had done. "He signs
+himself, Henry. Can it be the Prince?"
+
+"The Prince that was, the King that is," replied Woodville, giving him
+a sign to say no more before the messenger. "And so, my friend, you
+are to be my companion over sea?" he added, turning to the latter.
+
+"That is as you will, not as I will," replied the man; "if you are
+fool enough to quit England in a fortnight, when you can stay a month,
+I am to go with you; if you are wise enough to stay, I am wise enough
+to go alone."
+
+"Ten days, I hope, at farthest, shall see my foot on other shores,"
+answered Woodville; "and pray, Master Edward Dyram, what may be your
+capacity, quality, or degree? for 'tis fit that I should know who it
+is goes with me."
+
+"Ned Dyram, fair sir, by your leave," replied the messenger; "'tis so
+long since I lost the last half of my first name, that I know it not
+when I meet it; and I should as much expect my mother's ass to answer
+me, if I called him Edward, as I should answer to it myself. Then, as
+to my capacity, it is large enough to hold any man's secrets without
+spilling them by the way, or to contain the knowledge of a knight, a
+baron, and squire, besides a clerk's and my own, without running over.
+My chief quality is to tell truth when I like it, and other men do
+not; and my degree has never been taken yet, though I lived long
+enough with a doctor of Oxford to have caught that sickness, had it
+been infectious."
+
+"I fear me, Ned Dyram," said Richard of Woodville, smiling, "I shall
+lose much time with you, in getting crooked answers to plain
+questions; but if you have puzzled your own brains with logic, puzzle
+not mine."
+
+"Well, well, sir," answered the other, "I will be brief, for I am
+hungry, and you are tired. I am the son of a Franklin, who broke his
+heart to make me a clerk. I had, however, no gift for singing, and
+turned my wits to other things. I can do what men can generally do,
+and sometimes better than they can. I have broken a man's head one
+day, and healed it the next; for I have handled a quarter-staff and
+served a leech. I can cast nativities, and draw a horoscope; I can
+make a horse-shoe, and sharpen a sword; I can write court hand, and
+speak more tongues than my own; I can cook my own dinner, when need
+be, and bake or brew, if the sutler or the tapster should fail me."
+
+"A goodly list of qualities, indeed," said Richard of Woodville; "and
+though my household is not the most princely, we will find you an
+office, Ned Dyram, which you must exercise with discretion; and now,
+as you are hungry, get you gone to my people, who will stop that evil.
+We have supped."
+
+The messenger withdrew; and Sir Henry Dacre returned the letter, which
+he still held in his hand, to Woodville, saying, "So this was the
+Prince? the more cruel in him to sport with the peace of his father's
+subjects."
+
+"Not so, Dacre," replied his friend. "I told you I could explain his
+conduct; and it is but justice to him to do so; for he intended to be
+kind, not cruel."
+
+Dacre shook his head gloomily.
+
+"Well, you shall hear," continued Woodville. "When I first brought him
+to my uncle's gate, I knew not who he was; but he had scarcely entered
+the hall, when I remembered him. I kept my own counsel, however, and
+said nothing; but when he sought his room, I went with him as you saw,
+and there for a whole hour we spoke of those we had left below. I told
+him nothing, Harry; for his quick eye had gleaned the truth wherever
+it turned; and I had only to set him right on some things regarding
+the past. He knew you by name, and took interest in your fate as well
+as mine. I would fain tell you all; but in the mood in which you are,
+I fear that I may pain you."
+
+"Speak, Dick, speak," answered the knight; "have we not been as
+brothers since our boyhood, that you may not give me all your thoughts
+freely? Say all you have to say. Keep nought behind, if you love me;
+for I have grown as suspicious as the rest, and shall doubt if I see
+you hesitate."
+
+"Well, at all risks," said Richard of Woodville, "it is better to give
+you some pain, perhaps, than to leave you with your present thoughts.
+We talked, then, first of myself and Mary Markham, and then of you and
+Catherine. He saw you loved her not."
+
+"'Twas her own fault," cried Dacre: "she crushed out love that might
+once have been deep and true."
+
+"I told him so," replied Woodville; "and he asked, why, as you both
+clearly wished the bond that bound you to each other loosed, you did
+not apply to the Church and the law to break it? I said, what perhaps
+had better not been said, but yet what I believed, that, if you
+proposed it, she would not consent, for that she loved to keep you as
+a captive, if not by love's chains, by any other. He fancied, Harry,
+that, if that incomplete union were dissolved, you might be happy with
+another--ay, with Isabel."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Dacre; "ha! Have I been so careless of my looks that a
+mere stranger should--" and he bent down his brow upon his hands, and
+remained for a moment silent. Then looking up, he added, "Well,
+Richard, I have been a fool; but was it possible to stand between a
+desert and a paradise, and not regret that I could never pass the
+boundary; to look into a scene of joy and peace, and not long to rest
+the weary heart, and cool the aching brow in the calm groves, and
+pleasant glades before me? Who would compare those two beings, and not
+choose between them, in spite of fate? But what said he more?"
+
+"He thought you might be happy," answered Woodville, "and that the
+only barrier was one that he might prompt Catherine to remove herself.
+For that object he humoured her caprice, and played with her light
+vanity. He told me that he would; and I saw that he did so; for his
+was no heart to be suddenly made captive by one such as Catherine
+Beauchamp. Besides, it was clear, his words, half sweet, half sour,
+were all aimed at that end; for ever and anon, when his tone was full
+of courteous gallantry, some sharp jest would break through, as if he
+could not keep down the somewhat scornful thoughts with which her idle
+vanity moved him."
+
+"Then I did him wrong," answered Dacre; "for had he succeeded, and led
+her to propose of her own will that our betrothing should be annulled,
+no boon on all the earth could have been equal to that blessing. It
+has turned out sadly; yet I will not blame him; for who can tell when
+he draws a bowstring in the dark where the shaft may fall? But say,
+Richard, was he aware you knew his station?"
+
+"I never told him," replied his friend; "but I think that he divined.
+You see, in his letter, that he gives no explanation. But listen,
+Harry; will it not be better--now that we have spoken freely on this
+theme--will it not be better, I say, for you to return home, let the
+first memory of these dark days pass away, and seek for happiness with
+one who may well make up for all that you have suffered in the past."
+
+"What!" cried Dacre, "with this stain upon my name? Oh, no! that dream
+of joy is gone. No, no, my only course is to forget that there is such
+a thing as love on earth, or to think with your friend Chaucer's lay,
+that--
+
+
+             '--Love ne is in yonge folke but rage,
+              And is in olde folke a grete dotage,
+              Who most it usith, he most shal enpaire
+              For thereof cometh disese and hevinesse
+              So sorrow and care, and many a grete sicknesse,
+              Despite, debate, and angre, and envie,
+              Depraving shame, untrust, and jelousie,
+              Pride, mischefe, povertie, and wodeness.'"
+
+
+"'Tis the song of the cuckoo," Harry replied Woodville; "but this sad
+humour, built upon a baseless dream, will pass away when you find that
+the suspicions which you now fancy in every one's heart, live but in
+your own imagination; and then you will answer with the nightingale--
+
+
+             'That evirmore Love his servauntes amendeth,
+              And from all evil tachis them defendeth;'
+
+
+but Time must do his own work; and till then, argument is of no avail.
+Yet I would fain not have you lose bright days with me in foreign
+lands. Happy were I if I could stay like you in hope, and lead the
+pleasant summer life, beneath the lightsome looks of her whom I love
+best. Think of it, Harry, think of it; and do not rashly judge that
+you see clear till you have wiped the dust out of your eyes."
+
+Dacre shook his head, and answered, "I will to rest, Richard, such as
+I can find; for now that I have got this craven's reply, I have no
+further business here till I join you again upon our pilgrimage. I
+will away to-morrow, to prepare; but we shall meet before I go. I know
+my way."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+                           THE CORONATION.
+
+
+Five days after the events related in the last chapter, Richard of
+Woodville, leaving armourers and tailors busy in his house at Meon,
+rode away for London, accompanied by two yeomen, a page, and Ned
+Dyram, whose talents had not been long in displaying themselves in the
+service of his new master. He had instructed the tailors; he had
+assisted the armourers; he had aided to choose the horses; he had
+drawn figures for fresh pallettes and pauldrons; and he had with his
+own hand manufactured a superb bridle and bit, ornamented with gilt
+steel plates; jesting, laughing, talking, all the while, and
+overcoming the obstinacy and the vanity of the old artificers, who
+would fain have equipped the young gentleman who employed them, in the
+fashions of the early part of the last reign, all new inventions in
+those days travelling slowly from the capital to the country. Ned
+Dyram, however, had been in many lands, and had accumulated, in a head
+which possessed extraordinary powers both of observation and memory,
+an enormous quantity of patterns and designs of everything new or
+strange, which he had seen; and sometimes with a laugh, sometimes with
+an argument, he drove those who were inclined to resist all
+innovation, to adopt his proposed improvements greatly against their
+will. But though his tongue occasionally ran fast, and he seemed to
+take a pleasure occasionally in confounding his slower opponents with
+a torrent of words, yet on all subjects but those immediately before
+him, he kept his own counsel, and not one of the servants of the
+house, when he set out with Woodville for London, was aware of who or
+what he was, whence he came, or where he had gained so much knowledge.
+
+The first day's journey was a long one, and Richard of Woodville and
+his train were not many miles from London, when they again set forth
+early on the following morning, so that it was not yet noon, on the
+ninth of April, when they approached the city of Westminster, along
+the banks of the Thames.
+
+Winding in and out, through fields and hedge-rows, where now are
+houses, manufactories, and prisons, with the soft air of Spring
+breathing upon them, and the scent of the early cowslips, for which
+that neighbourhood was once famous, rising up and filling the whole
+air, they came on, now catching, now losing, the view of the large
+heavy abbey church of Westminster, and its yet unfinished towers of
+the same height as the main building, while rising tall above it,
+appeared the belfry of St. Stephen's chapel, with its peaked roof,
+open at the sides, displaying part of the three enormous bells, one of
+which was said (falsely) to weigh thirty thousand pounds. The top of
+two other towers might also be seen, from time to time, over the
+trees, and also part of the buildings of the monastery adjoining the
+Abbey; but these were soon lost, as the lane which the travellers were
+following wound round under the west side of Tote Hill, a gentle
+elevation covered with greensward, and ornamented with clumps of oak,
+and beech, and fir, amidst which might be discovered, here and there,
+some large stone houses, richly ornamented with sculpture, and
+surrounded with their own gardens. The lanes, the paths, the fields,
+were filled with groups of people in their holiday costume, all
+flocking towards Westminster; and what with the warm sunshine, the
+greenness of the grass, the tender verdure of the young foliage, and
+the gay dresses of the people, the whole scene was as bright and
+lively as it is possible to conceive. At the same time, the loud bells
+of St. Stephen's began to ring with the merriest tones they could
+produce, and a distant "Hurrah!" came upon the wind.
+
+"Now, Ned, which is the way?" asked Richard of Woodville, calling up
+his new attendant to his side, as they came to a spot where the lane
+divided into two branches, one taking the right hand side of the hill,
+and one the left. "This seems the nearest," he continued, pointing
+down the former; "but I know nought of the city."
+
+"The nearest may prove the farthest," replied Ned Dyram, riding up,
+"as it often does, my master. That is the shortest, good sooth! but
+they call the shortest often the fool's way; and we might be made to
+look like fools, if we took it--for though it leads round to the end
+of St. Stephen's Lane, methinks that to-day none will be admitted to
+the palace-court by that gate, as it is the King's coronation
+morning."
+
+"Indeed!" said Woodville; "I knew not that it was so."
+
+"Nor I, either," answered Ned; "but I know it now."
+
+"And how, pray?" asked his new master.
+
+"By every sight and sound," replied Ned Dyram. "By that girl's pink
+coats--by that good man's blue cloak--by the bells ringing--by the
+people running--by the hurrah we heard just now. I ever put all I hear
+and see together--for a man who only sees one thing at once, will
+never know what time he is living in."
+
+"Then we had better turn to the left," said Woodville, not caring to
+hear more of his homily. "Of course, if this be the coronation day, I
+shall not get speech of the King till to-morrow; but we may as well
+see what is going on."
+
+"To the left will lead you right," replied his quibbling companion;
+"that is to say, to the great gate before the palace court; and then
+we shall discover whether the King will speak with you or not. Each
+Prince has his own manners, and ours has changed so boldly in one day,
+that no one can judge from that which the lad did, what the man will
+do."
+
+"Has he changed much, then?" asked Woodville, riding on; "it must have
+been sudden, indeed, if you had time to see it ere you left him."
+
+"Ay, has he!" answered Dyram; "the very day of his father's death he
+put on, not the robes of royalty, but the heart; and those who were
+his comrades before, gave place to other men. They who counted much
+upon his love, found a cold face; and they who looked for hate, met
+with nought but grace."
+
+"Then, perhaps, my reception may not be very warm," said Woodville,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"You may judge yourself, better than I can, master mine," replied Ned
+Dyram. "Did you ever sit with him in the tavern, drinking quarts of
+wine?"
+
+"No," answered Richard of Woodville, smiling.
+
+"Then you shall be free of his table," said Ned. "Did you ever shoot
+deer with him, by moonlight?"
+
+"Never," was his master's reply.
+
+"Then you may chance to taste his venison," rejoined the man. "Did you
+ever brawl, swear, and break heads for him, or with him?"
+
+"No, truly," said the young gentleman; "I fought under him with the
+army in Wales, when he and I were both but boys; and I led him on his
+way one dark night, two days before his father died; but that is all I
+know of him."
+
+"Then, perchance, you may enter into his council," answered Dyram;
+"for, now that he is royal, he thinks royally, and he judges man for
+himself, not with the eyes of others."
+
+"As all kings should," said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"And few kings do," rejoined Ned. "I was not so lucky; but many a mad
+prank have I seen during the last year; and though he knows, and
+Heaven knows, I never prompted what others did, yet I was one of the
+old garments he cast off, as soon as he put on the new ones. I fared
+better than the rest, indeed, because I sometimes had told him a rough
+truth; and trust I shall fare better still, if I do his bidding."
+
+"And what may be his bidding?" asked Richard of Woodville--"for,
+doubtless, he gave you one, when he sent you to me."
+
+"He bade me live well, and forget former days, as he had forgotten
+them," replied Ned Dyram; "and he bade me serve you well, master, if
+you took me with you; so you have no cause to think ill of the counsel
+that he gave me in your case. But here we are, master mine; and a
+goodly sight it is to see."
+
+As he spoke, they turned into the wide street, or rather road, which
+led from the village of Charing to the gates of the palace at
+Westminster; and a gay and beautiful scene it certainly presented,
+whichever side the eye turned. To the north was seen the old gothic
+building (destroyed in the reign of Edward VI.) where the royal
+falcons were kept, and called from that circumstance the Mew; while, a
+little in advance, upon a spot slightly elevated, stood the beautiful
+stone cross, one of the monuments of undying regard, erected in the
+village of Charing, by King Edward the First; to the left appeared the
+buttery and lodge, and other offices of the hospital and convent of
+St. James's, forming together a large pile of buildings, with gates
+and arches cutting each other in somewhat strange confusion--while the
+higher stories, supported by corbels, overhung the lower. The effect
+of the whole, however, massed together by the distance, was grand and
+striking; while the trees of the fields, then belonging to the
+nunnery, and afterwards formed into a park, broke the harsher lines,
+and marked the distances down the course of the wide road.
+
+A little nearer, but on the opposite side of the way, with gardens and
+stairs extending to the river, was the palace, or lodging of the Kings
+of Scotland. The edifice has been destroyed--but the ground has still
+retained the name which it then bore; and many years had not elapsed,
+at the time I speak of, since that mansion had been inhabited by the
+monarchs of the northern part of this island, when they came to take
+their seats in Parliament, in right of their English feofs. Gardens
+succeeded, till appeared, somewhat projecting beyond the line of road,
+the old stern building which had once been the property of Hubert de
+Burg, Earl of Kent, more like a fortress than a dwelling, though its
+gloomy aspect was relieved by a light and beautiful chapel, lately
+built on the side nearest to Westminster, by one of the Archbishops of
+York.
+
+Several smaller edifices, sometimes constructed of brick, sometimes of
+grey stone, were seen on the right and left, all in that peculiar
+style of architecture so much better fitted to the climate of northern
+Europe, and the character of her people, than the light and graceful
+buildings of the Greeks, which we imitate in the present day,
+generally with such heavy impotence; and still between all appeared
+the green branches of oaks, and beeches, and fields, and gardens,
+blending the city and the country together.
+
+Up the long vista, thus presented, were visible thousands of groups,
+on horseback and on foot, decked out in gay and glittering colours:
+and as brilliant a scene displayed itself to the south, in the wide
+court before the palace, surrounding which appeared the venerable
+Abbey, the vast Hall, the long line of the royal dwelling, the
+monastery, the chapel of St. Stephen, with its tall belfry, and many
+another tower and lofty archway, and the old church of St. Margaret,
+built about a century and a half before, together with the lofty yet
+heavy buildings of the Woolstaple, and the row of arches underneath.
+Banners and pennons fluttering in the wind; long gowns of monks and
+secular clergymen; tabards and mantles of every hue under the sun; the
+robes and headdresses of the ladies and their women, and the gorgeous
+trappings of the horses, catching the light as they moved hither and
+thither, rendered the line from the Eleanor cross to the palace one
+living rainbow; while the river, flowing gently on upon the east, was
+covered with boats, all tricked out with streamers and fluttering
+ribbons. Even the grave, the old, and those dedicated to seclusion and
+serious thought, seemed to have come forth for this one day; and,
+amongst the crowd, might be distinguished more than one of the long,
+grey, black, or white gowns, with the coif and veil which marked the
+nun. All seemed gay, however; and nothing was heard but laughter,
+merriment, gay jests, the ringing of the bells, the sounding of
+clarions, and, every now and then, the deep tone of the organ, through
+the open windows of the Abbey, or a wild burst of martial music from
+the lesser court of the palace.
+
+Habited in black, as mourning for his unhappy cousin, Richard of
+Woodville felt himself hardly fitted for so gay a scene; but his good
+mien and courteous carriage gained him many a civil word as he moved
+along, or perchance some shrewd jest, as the frank simplicity of those
+days allowed.
+
+"Where is the black man going?" cried a pert London apprentice; "he
+must be chief mourner for the dead king."
+
+"Nay, he is fair enough to look upon, Tom," replied a pretty girl by
+his side. "You would give much to be as fair."
+
+"Take care of my toes, master," exclaimed a stout citizen; "your horse
+is mettlesome."
+
+"He shall not hurt you, good sir," replied Woodville.
+
+"Let me hold by your leg, sir squire," said a woman near, "so shall I
+have a stout prop."
+
+"Blessings on his fair, good-natured face!" cried an old woman; "he
+has lost his lady, I will wager my life."
+
+"You have not much there to lose, good mother," answered a man behind
+her.
+
+"Well, he will soon find another lady," rejoined a buxom dame, who
+seemed of the same party, "if he takes those eyes to court."
+
+"Out on it, master!" exclaimed a man who had been amusing the people
+round him by bad jokes; "is your horse a cut-purse? He had his nose in
+my pouch."
+
+"Where he found nothing, I dare say," answered Woodville; and in the
+midst of the peal of laughter which followed from the easily moved
+multitude, he made his way forward to the gates, where he was stopped
+by a wooden barrier drawn across and guarded by a large posse of the
+royal attendants, habited in their coats of ceremony.
+
+"What now?--what now?" asked one of the jacks of office, with a large
+mace in his hand, as Woodville rode up; "you can have no entrance
+here, sir squire, if you be not of the King's house, or have not an
+order from one of his lords. The court is crowded already. The King
+will not have room to pass back."
+
+Before his master could answer, however, Ned Dyram pushed forward his
+horse, and addressed the porter, saying, in a tone of authority, "Up
+with the barrier, Master Robert Nesenham. 'Tis a friend of the King's,
+for whom he sent me--Master Richard of Woodville--you know the name."
+
+"That's another affair, Ned," replied the other; "but let me see, are
+not you on the list of those who must not come to court?"
+
+"Not I," replied Ned Dyram; "or if I be, you have put me on yourself,
+Robin; 'tis but the other day I left his Grace upon this errand."
+
+"Well, come in, if it be so, varlet," replied the porter, lifting the
+barrier; "but if you come forbidden, the pillory and your ears will be
+acquainted. How many men of you are there?--Stand back, fellows, or I
+will break your pates. See, Tim, there is a fellow slipping through!
+Drive him back--give him a throw--cast him over--break his neck--five
+of you, that is all?--stand back, fellows, or you shall into limbo."
+
+While the good man strove with the crowd without, who all struggled
+manfully to push through the barrier when it was open, Richard of
+Woodville and his followers made their way on into the court; and,
+dismounting from his horse in the more open space which it afforded,
+he advanced towards the passage which was kept clear by the royal
+officers, between the door of the great Hall and the Abbey. At first
+he was placed near a stout man, dressed as a wealthy citizen; and he
+inquired of him how long the King had been in the church.
+
+"Three parts of an hour," replied the other; "did you not hear the
+shout and the bells begin to ring? Oh, it was a grand sight! There
+was----" but the rest of what he said was drowned by the noise around,
+aided by a loud flourish of trumpets from the Hall.
+
+The crowd, however, was constantly changing, and swaying to and fro;
+and Woodville soon found himself separated from the man to whom he had
+spoken, by two or three of the secular clergy of the city, and a
+somewhat coquettish-looking nun, who wore over her grey gown a blue
+ribbon and a silver cross.
+
+She turned round and looked at him with her veil up, showing a very
+pretty face, and a pair of bright blue eyes. A fat monk was behind,
+and a man dressed as a scrivener; but all were intent upon watching
+the door of the Abbey, as if they expected the royal procession soon
+to re-appear; and Woodville turned his eyes thither also. The next
+moment he heard a voice pronounce his own name, and then add, "Beware
+of Simeon of Roydon; and let not Henry Dacre fight with him."
+
+Richard turned sharply round, and gazed at those behind him; but he
+saw no face that he knew, but those of Ned Dyram and one of his own
+men. The rest of the group in his immediate neighbourhood was composed
+of two monks, another nun, a doctor of divinity in his cope, a tall
+man in a surcoat of arms, and two elderly ladies with portentous
+headdresses, a full half yard broad and two feet high.
+
+It was a woman's voice, however, that he had heard, and he inquired at
+once of the nearest woman, "Did you speak, lady?"
+
+"To be sure I did," answered the good dame, in a sharp tone; "I asked
+my brother what the hour is. No offence in that, sir, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh, none, assuredly," replied Richard of Woodville; "but I thought
+you mentioned my name."
+
+"I do not know it, young sir," replied the lady; "come away, brother,
+the squire is saucy;" and she and her party moved on, making a
+complete change in the disposition of the group.
+
+In vain Richard of Woodville looked beyond the little circle in which
+they stood; he could see no face that he knew; and at length, turning
+to Ned Dyram, he inquired if he had heard any one mention his name.
+
+"That good dame, or some one near her certainly did," replied the man;
+"but I could not see exactly who it was. It might be the other woman."
+
+"Was she old, too?" demanded Woodville.
+
+"Too old for your wife, and too young for your mother," answered
+Ned--"somewhat on the touch of forty years."
+
+As he spoke, there was a loud "hurrah!" from the ground adjacent to
+the Abbey door; a true, hearty, English shout, such as no other nation
+on the earth can give; and the royal procession was seen returning.
+All pressed as near as they could; and Richard of Woodville gained a
+place in front, where he waited calmly, uncovered, for the passing of
+the King.
+
+On came the train, bishops and abbots, priests and nobles, the pages,
+the knights, the bearers of the royal emblems; but all eyes were
+turned to one person, as--with a step, not haughty, but calm and firm,
+such as might well accord with a heart fixed and confident to keep the
+solemn vows so lately made, in scrupulous fidelity; with a brow
+elevated by high and noble purposes, more than by the splendour of the
+crown it bore; and with an eye lightening with genius and soul--Henry
+of Monmouth returned towards his palace, amidst the gratulating
+acclamations of his people.
+
+Richard of Woodville saw Hal of Hadnock in the whole bearing of the
+monarch, as he had seen the Prince in the bearing of Hal of Hadnock,
+and he murmured to himself, "He is the same. 'Tis but the dress is
+altered, either in mind or body. Excluded from the tasks of royalty,
+he assumed a less noble guise; but still the man was the same."
+
+As he thus thought, the King passed before him, looking to right and
+left upon the long lines of people that bordered his way, though,
+marching in his state, he distinguished no one by word or gesture. His
+eyes, indeed, fixed firmly for an instant upon Richard of Woodville,
+and a slight smile passed over his lip; but he went on without farther
+notice; and the young gentleman turned, as soon as he had gone by,
+thinking, "I will seek some inn, and come to the palace tomorrow.
+To-day, it is in vain."
+
+The pressure of the multitude, however, prevented him from moving for
+some time, and he was forced to remain till the whole of the
+procession had gone by. He then made his way out of the crowd, which
+gradually became less compact, though few retired altogether, the
+greater number waiting either to discuss the events of the day, or to
+see if any other amusements would be afforded to the people; but it
+was some time before the young gentleman could find his horses, for
+the movements of the people had forced them from the place where they
+had been left. Just as he was, at length, putting his foot in the
+stirrup, Ned Dyram pulled his sleeve, saying, "There is a King's page,
+my master, looking for some one in the crowd. Always give yourself a
+chance. It may be you he seeks."
+
+"I think not," replied Richard of Woodville; "but you can join him,
+and inquire, if you will."
+
+The man instantly ran off at full speed; and, though soon forced to
+slacken his pace amongst the people, he in the end reached the page,
+and asked for whom he was looking.
+
+"A gentleman in black," replied the boy, "named Richard of Woodville."
+
+"Then there he is," answered Ned, pointing with his hand to where his
+master stood; and, followed by the page, he walked quickly to the
+spot.
+
+"If your name be Richard of Woodville, sir," said the boy, "the King
+will see you now, while he is putting off his heavy robes and taking
+some repose."
+
+"I follow, young sir," replied Woodville; and, accompanying the page,
+he turned towards the palace, while Ned Dyram, after a moment's
+hesitation, pursued the same course as his master, "in order," as he
+said mentally, "always to give himself a chance."
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                         THE DAY OF FESTIVAL.
+
+
+Crossing through the great Hall of the palace of Westminster, where so
+many a varied scene has been enacted in the course of English history,
+where joy and sorrow, mirth, merriment, pageantry, fear, despair, and
+the words of death, have passed for well nigh a thousand years, and do
+pass still, Richard of Woodville followed the page amidst tables and
+benches, serving-men, servers, guards, and ushers, till they reached a
+small door at the left angle, which, when opened, displayed the first
+steps of a small stone staircase. Up these they took their way, and
+then, through a corridor thronged with attendants, past the open door
+of a large room on the right, in which mitres and robes, crosses and
+swords of state, met the young gentleman's eye, to a door at the end,
+which the page opened. Within was a small antechamber containing
+several squires and pages in their tabards, waiting either in silence,
+or at most talking to each other in whispers. They made way for their
+comrade, and the gentleman he brought with him, to pass, and,
+approaching an opposite door, the boy knocked. No one answered; but
+the door was immediately opened; and Richard of Woodville was ushered
+into a bedchamber, where, seated in a large chair, he found the King,
+attended by two men dressed in their habits of state. One of these had
+just given the visitor admission; but the other was engaged in pulling
+off the boots in which the monarch had walked to and from the Abbey,
+and in placing a pair of embroidered shoes upon his feet instead.
+
+"Welcome, Richard of Woodville," said Henry, as soon as he beheld him;
+"so you have come to see Hal of Hadnock before you depart?"
+
+"I have come to see my gracious Sovereign, Sire," replied Woodville,
+advancing, and bending the knee to kiss his hand, "and to wish him
+health and long life to wear his crown, for his own honour and the
+happiness of his people."
+
+"Nay, rise, Richard, rise," said Henry, smiling kindly; "no court
+ceremonies here. And I will tell you, my good friend, that I do really
+believe, there is not one of all those who have shouted on my path
+to-day, or sworn to support my throne, who more sincerely wishes my
+prosperity than yourself. But say, did you guess, that Hal of Hadnock
+was the Prince of Wales?"
+
+"I knew it, Sire," replied Woodville, "from the first moment you
+entered my uncle's hall. I had served under your Grace's command in
+Wales."
+
+"I suspected as much," replied the monarch, "from some words you let
+fall."
+
+"I do beseech you, Sire, to pardon me," continued Richard, "if I
+judged my duty wrongly; but I thought that so long as it was not your
+pleasure to give yourself your own state, it was my part, to know you
+only as you seemed."
+
+"And you did right, my friend," replied the King; "but were you not
+tempted to breathe the secret to any one--not even to Mary Markham?"
+
+"To no one, Sire," answered Woodville, boldly; "not for my right hand,
+would I have said one word to the best friend I had."
+
+"You are wise and faithful, Richard of Woodville," said Henry,
+gravely; "God send me many such."
+
+"Here is the other mantle, Sire," said the attendant who was dressing
+him, "will you permit me to unclasp that?"
+
+Henry rose, and the man disengaged the royal mantle from his
+shoulders, replacing it with one less heavy, while the King continued
+his conversation with Woodville, after a momentary interruption,
+repeating, "God send me many such; for if I judge rightly, I shall
+have need of strong arms, and wise heads, and noble hearts about me.
+Nor shall I fail to call for yours when I have need, my friend."
+
+"Ah, Sire," answered Woodville, with a smile, "as far as a true heart
+and a strong arm may go, I can, perhaps, serve you; but for wise
+heads, I fear you must look elsewhere. I am but a singer of songs, you
+know, and a lover of old ballads."
+
+"Like myself, Richard," replied Henry; "but none the worse for that. I
+know not why, but I always doubt the man that is not fond of music
+'Tis, perhaps, that I love it so well myself, that I cannot but think
+he who does not has some discordant principle in his heart that jars
+with sweet sounds. 'Tis to me a great refreshment also; and when I
+have been sad or tired with all this world's business, when my
+thoughts have grown misty, or my brain turned giddy, I have sat me
+down to the organ and played for a few moments till all has become
+clear again; and I have risen as a man does from a calm sleep. As for
+poesy, indeed, I love it well enough, but I am no poet:--and yet I
+think that a truly great poet is more powerful, and has a wider
+empire, than a king. We monarchs rule men's bodies while we live; but
+their minds are beyond that sceptre, and death ends all our power. The
+poet rules their hearts, moulds their minds to his will, and stretches
+his arm over the wide future. He arrays the thoughts of countless
+multitudes for battle on the grand field of the world, and extends his
+empire to the end of time. Look at Homer,--has not the song of the
+blind Greek its influence yet? and so shall the verse of Chaucer be
+heard in years to come, long after the brow they have this day crowned
+shall have mouldered in the grave."
+
+The thoughts which he had himself called up, seemed to take entire
+possession of the King, and he remained gazing in deep meditation for
+a few minutes upon the glittering emblems of royalty which lay upon
+the table before him, while Richard of Woodville stood silent by his
+side, not venturing to interrupt his reverie.
+
+"Well, Richard," continued the King, at length rousing himself, "so
+you go to Burgundy? but hold yourself ready to join me when I have
+need."
+
+"I am always ready, now or henceforward, Sire," answered the young
+gentleman, "to serve you with the best of my poor ability; and the day
+will be a happy one that calls me to you. I only go to seek honour in
+another land, because I had so resolved before I met your Highness,
+and because you yourself pronounced it best for me."
+
+"And so I think it still," replied Henry. "I would myself advance you,
+Woodville, but for two reasons; first, I find every office near my
+person filled with old and faithful servants of the crown; and, as
+they fall vacant, I would place in them men who have themselves won
+renown. Next, I think it better that your own arm and your own
+judgment should be your prop, rather than a King's favour; and, as
+yet, there is here no opportunity. Besides, there are many other
+reasons why you will do well to go, in which I have not forgotten your
+own best interests. But keep yourself clear of long engagement to a
+foreign Prince, lest your own should need you."
+
+"That I most assuredly w ill, Sire," answered Richard of Woodville. "I
+go but to take service as a volunteer, holding myself free to quit it
+when I see meet. I ask no pay from any one; and if I gain honour or
+reward, it shall be for what I have done, not for what I am to do."
+
+"You are right, you are right," said Henry; "but have you anything to
+ask of me?"
+
+"Nothing, Sire," replied the young gentleman. "I did but wish to pay
+reverence to your state, and thank you for the gracious letters you
+have given me, before I went;" and he took a step back as if to
+retire. But Henry made a sign, saying--
+
+"Stop! yet a moment; I have something to ask you.--Lay the gloves down
+there, Surtis. Tighten this point a little, and then retire with
+Baynard."
+
+The attendants did as they were bid; and Henry then inquired, "What of
+Sir Henry Dacre, and of that dark evening's work at which we were
+present?"
+
+"Dacre goes with me, Sire," replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed the King; "then were we wrong in thinking he loved the
+other?"
+
+"Not so," answered Woodville; "'tis a sad tale, Sire. He does love
+Isabel, I am sure--has long loved her, though struggling hard against
+such thoughts. But, as if to mar his whole happiness, that scoundrel,
+Roydon, whom you saw, when informed of poor Kate's death, wrote,
+though he did not come, raising doubts as to whether her fate had been
+accidental."
+
+"Doubts!" cried the King. "Do you entertain no doubts, Richard?"
+
+"Many, Sire," answered the young gentleman; "but I never mention
+doubts that I cannot justify by proof, and will not support with my
+arm. But he did more; he pointed suspicion at one he knew too well to
+be innocent. He called up some accidental circumstances affecting
+Dacre--not as charges, indeed, but as matters of inquiry; made the
+wound and left the venom, but shrunk from the result."
+
+"And what did Dacre?" asked the King.
+
+"Gave him the lie, Sire," replied Woodville; "called upon him to come
+boldly forward, make his accusation, and support it in the lists."
+
+"He avoided that, I'll warrant," replied Henry; "I know him, Richard."
+
+"He did so, Sire," answered the young gentleman; "he declared he had
+no accusation to bring--held Dacre to be good knight and true; but
+still kept his vague insinuations forward in view, as things that he
+mentions solely because it would be satisfactory to the knight himself
+to clear up whatever is obscure."
+
+"And does the Lady Isabel give any credence, then, to these cowardly
+charges?" inquired the King.
+
+"Oh! no, Sire," replied Woodville, warmly. "She has known Harry Dacre
+from her infancy; and those who have, are well aware that, though
+quick in temper, he is as kind as the May wind--as true and pure as
+light. But Dacre is miserable. He thinks, that, henceforth, the finger
+of suspicion will be pointed at him for ever; he sees imaginary doubts
+and dreads in every one's heart towards him; he feels the mere
+insinuation, as the first stain upon a high and noble name. It weighs
+upon him like a captive's chain; he cannot break it or get free--it
+binds his very heart and soul; and, casting all hope and happiness
+behind him, he is resolved to go and peril life itself in any rash
+enterprise that fortune may present."
+
+"Poor man!" exclaimed Henry, "I can well understand his feelings:
+but God will bring all things to light. Yet, tell me, Richard
+of Woodville, do your own suspicions point in no particular
+direction?--have you no doubts of any one?"
+
+"Perhaps I have, Sire," answered Woodville; "but I will beseech your
+Highness to grant me one of two things--either, to appoint a day and
+hour where, in fit lists and with arms at outrance, I may sustain my
+words to the death; or do not ask me to make a charge which I can
+support with no other proof than my right hand."
+
+"I understand you, Richard," said the King, "and I will ask no
+farther. Your course is a just one; but I trust, and am sure, that
+heaven will not witness such deeds as have been done, without sending
+punishment. We both think of the same person, I know; and my eye is
+upon him. Tell me, however, one thing,--does not Sir Simeon of Roydon
+inherit the estates of this poor Lady Catherine?"
+
+"He does, Sire, and is already in possession," replied Woodville.
+
+"He is here at the court," rejoined the King, "and I shall show him
+favour for her sake."
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed at the monarch in surprise, but a slight
+smile curled Henry's lip; and, although he gave no explanation of the
+words which he had spoken in a grave tone, his young companion was
+satisfied.
+
+"I always love to get at the heart of a mystery," continued the King,
+seeing that Richard remained silent; "and I should much like to know,
+if you can tell me, what was the cause of that furious quarrel which
+took place between Sir Henry Dacre and this unhappy lady, just before
+he went? I fear I had some share in it."
+
+"You were but the drop, Sire, that overflowed the cup," replied
+Woodville; "it had been near the brim for several days before; but
+what was said I know not. Remonstrance upon his part, and cutting
+sneers on hers, as usual, I suppose; but he has never told me."
+
+Henry mused for a moment at this reply; and then, changing the
+subject, he inquired, "Is good Ned Dyram with you here in
+Westminster?"
+
+"He is in the Hall below, Sire," answered Woodville; "and a most
+useful gift has he been to me already."
+
+"A loan, Richard, a loan!" cried the King; "I shall claim him back one
+of these days, after he has served you in Burgundy. You will find he
+has faults as well as virtues; so have an eye to correct them. But
+even now, as the country folk say, I have a mind to borrow my own
+horse. I want his services for three days, if you will lend him to
+me--You are not yet ready to set out?"
+
+"Not yet, Sire," replied Woodville; "but, in one week more, I hope to
+be on the sea."
+
+"Well, then, send the man up to me, and he shall rejoin you in four
+days," answered Henry; "but let me see you tomorrow, my good friend,
+before you go home, for I would fain talk farther with you. It is
+seldom that a King can meet one with whom he can speak his thoughts
+plainly; and I find already a difference that makes me sad. Command
+and obedience, arguments of state and policy, flattering acquiescence
+in my opinion, whether right or wrong, praise, broad and coarse, or
+neat and half concealed,--of these I can have plenty, and to surfeit;
+but a friend, into whose bosom one can pour forth one's ideas without
+restraint, whether they be sad or gay, is a rare thing in a court. So,
+for the present, fare-you-well, Richard. You will stay here for the
+banquet in the Hall, of course; and let me see you to-morrow morning,
+towards the hour of eight."
+
+Richard of Woodville, as he well might, felt deeply gratified at the
+confidence which the King's words implied, and he answered, "I will
+not fail, Sire, to attend you at that hour, with more gratitude for
+your good opinion than any other favour. At the banquet, I will try to
+find a place, and will send Ned Dyram to you. Will you receive him
+now?"
+
+"Yes, at once," replied the King; "for, good faith! these lords and
+bishops who are waiting for me, will think me long. I will order you a
+place below; but, mark me, Richard--if you meet Simeon of Roydon, seek
+no quarrel with him; and lay my commands upon Sir Henry Dacre, that he
+do not, on any pretence, again call him to the lists, without my
+knowledge and consent. As to Ned Dyram, he shall rejoin you soon.
+There is no way in which he may not be useful to you; for there is
+scarce an earthly chance for which his ready wit is not prepared. I
+met him first, studying alchemy with a poor wretch who, in pursuit of
+science, had blown all his wealth up the chimney of his furnace, and
+could no longer keep this boy. I found him next in an armourer's shop,
+hammering at hard iron, and thence I took him. He has a thousand
+qualities, some bad, some good. I think him honest; but his tongue is
+somewhat too free; and that which the wild Prince might laugh at,
+might not chime with the dignity of the crown. He will learn better in
+your train; but at the present I have an errand for him--so send him
+to me quickly."
+
+Richard of Woodville bowed and withdrew; and, finding his way down to
+the Hall, he called Ned Dyram,--who was in full activity, aiding the
+royal officers to set out the tables,--and told him to go directly to
+the King. The man laughed, and ran off to fulfil the command: and
+about three quarters of an hour elapsed before the monarch appeared in
+the hall, which by that time was nearly filled with guests, invited to
+the banquet. He was followed by the train of high nobles and
+churchmen, whom Woodville had seen waiting in a chamber above; and the
+numerous tables, which were as many as that vast building could
+contain, were soon crowded.
+
+It would be dull to the reader, were I to give any account of a mere
+ordinary event, such as a royal feast of those days--were I to tell
+the number of oxen and sheep that were consumed--the capons, ducks,
+geese, swans, and peacocks, that appeared upon the board. Suffice it,
+that one of the royal servants placed Richard of Woodville according
+to his rank; that the banquet, with all its ceremonies, was somewhat
+long in passing, but that the young gentleman's comfort was not
+disturbed by the sight of Simeon of Roydon, who, if he were in the
+Hall, kept himself from Richard's eyes. The lower part of the chamber
+was filled with minstrels, musicians, and attendants; and music, as
+usual, accompanied the feast; but ever and anon, from the court before
+the palace and the neighbouring streets, were heard loud shouts, and
+laughter, and bursts of song, showing that the merriment and revelry
+of the multitude were still kept up, while the King and his nobles
+were feasting within.
+
+Thus, when the banquet was over, the monarch gone from the Hall, and
+Richard of Woodville, with the rest of the guests, issued forth into
+the court, he was not surprised to find a gay and joyous scene
+without, the whole streets and roads filled with people, and every one
+giving himself up to joy and diversion. The gates of the court were
+thrown open, the populace admitted to the very doors of the palace,
+and a crowd of several hundred persons assembled round a spot in the
+centre, where a huge pile of dry wood had been lighted for the august
+ceremony of roasting an ox whole, which was duly superintended by half
+a dozen white-capped cooks, with a whole army of scullions and
+turnspits. Butts of strong beer stood in various corners; and a
+fountain, of four streams, flowed with wine at the side next to the
+Abbey. In one spot, people were jostling and pushing each other to get
+at the ale or wine; in another, they were dancing gaily to the sound
+of a viol; and further on was a tumbler, twisting himself into every
+sort of strange attitude for the amusement of the spectators. Loud
+shouts and exclamations, peals of laughter, the sounds of a thousand
+different musical instruments playing as many different tunes, with
+voices singing, and others crying wares of several sorts, prepared for
+the celebration of the day, made a strange and not very melodious din;
+but there was an air of festivity and rejoicing, of fun and good
+humour, in the whole, that compensated for the noise and the crowd.
+
+Richard of Woodville had given orders for his horses to be taken to an
+inn at Charing, while waiting in the Hall before the banquet; and he
+now proceeded on foot, through the crowd in the palace courts, towards
+the gates. It was a matter of some difficulty to obtain egress; for
+twilight was now coming on, and the multitude were flocking from the
+sights which had been displayed in the more open road to Charing
+during the last two or three hours, to witness the roasting of the ox,
+and to obtain some of the slices which were to be distributed about
+the hour of nine.
+
+At length, however, he found himself in freer air; but still, every
+four or five yards, he came upon a gay group, either standing and
+talking to each other, or gathered round a show, or some singer or
+musician. It was one constant succession of faces; some young, some
+old, some pretty, some ugly, but all of them strange to Richard of
+Woodville. Nevertheless, more than once he met the same merry
+salutations which he had been treated to when on horseback; and, as he
+paused here and there, gazing at this or that gay party, he was twice
+asked to join in the dance, and still more frequently required to
+contribute to the payment of a poor minstrel with his pipe or cithern.
+
+The minstrels were not, indeed, in those days at least, a very
+elevated race of beings; their poetical powers, if they ever in this
+country possessed any, had entirely merged in the musical; and, though
+they occasionally did sing to their own instruments, or to those of
+others, the verses were generally either old ballads, or pieces of
+poetry composed by persons of a higher education than themselves.
+
+Nearly opposite the old dwelling of the kings of Scotland, Woodville's
+ear caught the tones of a very sweet voice singing; and, approaching
+the group of people that had gathered round, he saw an old man
+playing on an instrument somewhat like, but greatly inferior to a
+modern guitar, while a girl by his side, with fine features, and
+apparently--for the light was faint--a beautiful complexion, dressed
+in somewhat strange costume, was pouring forth her lay to the
+delighted ears of youths and maidens. She had nearly finished the
+song, when the young gentleman approached; and, in a moment or two
+after, she went round with a cap in her hand, asking the donations of
+the listeners.
+
+Woodville had been pleased, and he threw in some small silver coin,
+more than equal to all that the rest had given; and, resuming her
+place by the old man's side, she whispered a word in his ear, upon
+which he immediately struck his instrument again, and she began
+another ditty in honour, it would appear, of her generous auditor:--
+
+
+                                SONG.
+
+              The bark is at the shore,
+                The wind is in the sail,
+              Fear not the tempest's roar,
+                There's fortune in the gale;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              Oh, go'st thou far or nigh,
+                To Palestine or France,
+              For thee soft hearts shall sigh,
+                And glory wreath thy lance;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And five in many a tale.
+
+              The courtly hall or field,
+                Still luck shall thee afford;
+              Thy heart shall be thy shield,
+                And love shall edge thy sword;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              The lark shall sing on high.
+                Whatever shores thou rov'st;
+              The nightingale shall try,
+                To call up her thou lov'st;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              In hours of pain and grief,
+                If such thou must endure.
+              Thy breast shall know relief,
+                In honour tried and pure;
+              For the true heart and Kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              And Fortune soon or late,
+                Shall give the jewell'd prize;
+              For deeds, in spite of fate,
+                Gain smiles from ladies' eyes;
+              And the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompense shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+
+The song was full of hope and cheerfulness; and though the melody was
+simple, as all music was in those days, it went happily with the
+words. Richard of Woodville well understood, that though certainly not
+an improvisation, the verse was intended for him; and feeling grateful
+to the girl for her promises of success, he drew forth his purse, and
+held out to her another piece of money. She stepped gracefully forward
+to receive it, and this time extended a fair, small hand, instead of
+the cap which she had before borne round the crowd; but just at that
+moment, a party of horsemen came up at full gallop, and, as if for
+sport--probably under the influence of wine--rode fiercely through the
+little circle assembled to hear the song.
+
+The listeners, young and active, easily got out of the way; but not so
+the old minstrel, who stood still, as if bewildered, and was knocked
+down and trampled by one of the horsemen. The girl, his companion,
+with a shriek, and Richard of Woodville, with a cry of indignation,
+started forward together; and the latter, catching the horse which had
+done file mischief by the bridle, with his powerful arm forced it back
+upon its haunches, throwing the rider to the ground with a heavy fall.
+As the man went down, his hood was cast back, and Woodville beheld the
+face of Simeon of Roydon. But he paused not to notice him farther,
+instantly turning to raise the old man, and endeavouring to support
+him. The poor minstrel's limbs had no strength, however, and fearing
+that he was much hurt, the young gentleman exclaimed, "Good heaven!
+why did you not get out of their way?"
+
+The old man made no answer; but the girl replied, wringing her
+hands--"Alas! he is blind!"
+
+"Let us bear him quick to some hospital!" said Richard; "he is
+stunned. Who will aid to carry him?"
+
+"I will, sir!--I will!" answered half-a-dozen voices from the crowd;
+and the old minstrel was immediately raised in the arms of three or
+four stout young men, and carried towards the neighbouring nunnery and
+hospital of St. James's, accompanied by his fair companion.
+
+Woodville was about to follow, but Sir Simeon of Roydon, who had by
+this time regained his saddle, thrust himself in the way, saying, in a
+fierce and bitter tone--"Richard of Woodville, I shall remember this!"
+
+"And I shall not forget it, Simeon of Roydon," replied the other,
+hardly able to refrain from punishing him on the spot. "Get thee
+hence! Thou hast done mischief enough!"
+
+The knight was about to reply; but a shout of execration burst from
+the people, and, at the same moment, a stone, flung from an unseen
+hand, struck him on the face, cutting his cheek severely, and shaking
+him in the saddle. His companions, alarmed at what they had done, had
+already ridden on; and, seeing that he was likely to fare ill in the
+hands of the crowd, Roydon put spurs to his horse, and galloped after
+them, muttering curses as he went.
+
+Richard of Woodville soon overtook the little party which was hurrying
+on with the injured man to the lodge of the monastery, and found the
+poor girl weeping bitterly.
+
+"Alas! noble sir!" she said, as soon as she saw him, "he is dead! He
+does not speak!--his head falls back!"
+
+"I trust not--I trust not!" answered Woodville. "He is but stunned,
+probably, by the blow, and will soon recover."
+
+She shook her head mournfully; and the next moment, one of the young
+men, who had taken up the old man's cithern, stepped forward before
+the rest, and rang the bell at the gate of the nunnery. It was opened
+instantly, and Woodville briefly explained to the porter what was the
+matter.
+
+"Bring him in here," said the old man; "we will get help. The good
+prioress is skilful at such things, and brother Martin still more so;
+and he is nearest, for the monk's lodging is only just below there.
+Let one of the men run down and ask for brother Martin."
+
+In the meantime, the old minstrel was brought in, and laid upon the
+pallet in the porter's room; and the news of the accident having
+spread, the lodge was speedily filled with nuns, having their veils
+down, all eagerly inquiring what had happened.
+
+The prioress and brother Martin appeared at the same moment; and, in
+answer to their questions, Woodville explained the facts of the case;
+for the poor girl, overwhelmed with grief, was kneeling by her old
+companion's side, and holding a small ebony cross which she wore round
+her neck to his motionless lips.
+
+"Give us room, my child--give us room!" said brother Martin, putting
+his hand kindly on her shoulder; and, having obtained access to the
+pallet, he and the prioress proceeded to examine what injuries the
+poor old man had received. Their search was short, however; for, after
+feeling the back of the head with his hand, and then putting his
+fingers on the pulse, the good monk turned round, with a grave
+countenance, saying, "God have mercy on his soul; for to Him has it
+gone."
+
+The poor singer covered her eyes with her hands, and sobbed bitterly.
+All the rest were silent for a moment; and then Richard of Woodville,
+turning to the prioress, said, in a low voice, "I will beseech you,
+lady, to see, in all charity, to this poor man's interment; and that
+masses be said in your chapel for his soul. Also, if you would, like a
+good Christian, take some heed of this poor girl, who is his daughter,
+I suppose, I should be glad, for it may better become you than me; but
+whatever expense the convent may be at, I will repay, though, Heaven
+knows, I am not over rich. My name is Richard of Woodville; and
+to-morrow, if you will send a messenger to me, I shall be found at the
+Acorn, just beyond the Bishop of Durham's lodging. You must send
+before eight, however, or after ten; for at eight I am to be with the
+King."
+
+The prioress bowed her head, saying simply, "I will," and Woodville
+turned to depart; but the poor girl, who had heard his words, started
+up, and catching his hand, pressed her lips upon it, then knelt by the
+pallet again, and seemed to pray.
+
+Without farther words, Woodville quitted the lodge; the porter hurried
+on to open the gates, and the young gentleman went out with the people
+who had borne or accompanied the poor old minstrel thither. Just as he
+had reached the road, however, he heard a voice say, "Richard of
+Woodville, farewell; and remember!"
+
+He started and turned round; but though it was a female voice that
+spoke, there were none but men around him; and at the same moment the
+gate rolled heavily to.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+                            THE SICK MIND.
+
+
+We must return, dear reader, for a short time, to the scenes in which
+our tale first began, and to the old hall of the good knight of
+Dunbury. Richard of Woodville and Sir Henry Dacre had been absent for
+two days upon their journey to another part of Hampshire, where we
+have shown somewhat of their course; and Sir Philip Beauchamp sat by
+the fire meditating, while his daughter Isabel, and fair Mary Markham,
+were seated near, plying busily the needle through the embroidery
+frame, and not venturing to disturb his reverie even by whispered
+conversation. From time to time, the old man muttered a few sentences
+to himself, of which the two ladies could only catch detached
+fragments, such as, "They must know by this time,--Dacre could not but
+do so,--I am sure 'tis for that--," and several similar expressions,
+showing that his mind was running upon the expedition of his nephew
+and his friend, in regard to the object of which, neither Isabel nor
+Mary had received any information.
+
+It must not be said, however, that they did not suspect anything; for
+the insinuations of Sir Simeon of Roydon had been told them; and,
+though neither weak nor given to fear--a knight's daughter, in a
+chivalrous age--Isabel could not help looking forward with feelings of
+awe, and an undefinable sinking of the heart, to the events which were
+likely to follow. She fully believed that she experienced, and had
+ever experienced, towards Sir Henry Dacre, but one class of
+sensations--regard for his high character and noble heart, and pity
+for the incessant grief and anxiety which her cousin's conduct had
+brought upon him from his early youth. But such feelings are very
+treacherous guides, and lead us far beyond the point at which they
+tell us they will stop. With her, too, they had had every opportunity
+of so doing, for she trusted to them in full confidence. Hers had been
+the task, also, of soothing and consoling him under all he had
+suffered--a dangerous task, indeed, for one young, kind, gentle, and
+enthusiastic, to undertake towards a man whom she admired and
+respected. But then, they had known each other from infancy, she
+thought; they had grown up together like brother and sister, and the
+tie between them had only been brought nearer by the betrothing of
+Dacre to her cousin.
+
+Had a doubt ever entered into Isabel's mind, since Catherine's death,
+it may be asked, in regard to her own feelings towards Dacre? Perhaps
+it might; but, if so, it had been banished instantly; and she looked
+upon the very thought as a wrong to her own motives. She would never
+suffer such a thing, she fancied, to trouble her again. "Dacre had
+loved Catherine--surely he had loved her; and yet--" but fresh doubts
+arose; and Isabel, willing to be blind, still turned to other
+meditations.
+
+Mary Markham, on the other hand, with less cause for anxiety, and no
+motive for shutting her eyes, saw more clearly, and judged more
+accurately. She knew that Isabel Beauchamp loved Harry Dacre, and
+believed she had loved him long; though she did her full justice, and
+was confident that her fair companion was as ignorant of what was in
+her own bosom, as of the treasures beneath the waves. But Mary felt
+certain that such was not the case with Dacre in regard to his own
+sensations. She had marked his eye when it turned upon Isabel, had
+seen the faint smile that came upon his lip when he spoke to her, and
+had observed the struggle which often took place, when inclination led
+him to seek her society, and the thought of danger and of wrong held
+him back--a struggle in which love had been too often victorious. She
+doubted not, that he was gone to call upon Simeon of Roydon to come
+forward with proof of his charges, or to sustain them with the lance;
+and, though she entertained little doubt of the issue of such a
+combat, if it took place, she felt grieved and anxious both for Isabel
+and Dacre.
+
+There are some men whose native character, notwithstanding every
+artifice to conceal it, will penetrate through all disguises, and
+produce sensations which seem unreasonable, even to those who feel
+them without being able to trace them to their source. Such a one was
+Sir Simeon of Roydon. He had never been seen by any of Sir Philip
+Beauchamp's family to commit any base or dishonest act; and yet
+there was not one in all that household, from the old knight to the
+horse-boy, who did not internally believe him to be capable of every
+crafty knavery. His insinuations, therefore, in regard to Sir Henry
+Dacre, passed by as empty air, at least for the time; but all had,
+nevertheless, a strong conviction on their minds, that the doubts he
+had attempted to raise would rankle deep in the heart of their unhappy
+object, and poison the whole course of his existence, unless some
+fortunate event were to bring to light the real circumstances of poor
+Catherine Beauchamp's death.
+
+The whole party, then, were in a sad and gloomy mood; and even the
+gay, young spirit of Mary Markham was clouded, as they sat round the
+fire in the great hall, on one of those April evenings when, after a
+day of summer sunshine, chilly winter returns with his fit companion,
+night.
+
+As they were thus seated, however, each busy with his own thoughts,
+the sound of horses' feet in the court was heard, and, in a minute
+after, Dacre himself entered. He mounted the steps at the end of the
+pavement with a slow pace, and every eye was turned to his countenance
+to gather some indication from his look of the state of mind in which
+he returned. The old knight rose and grasped his hand, asking, in a
+low voice, "What news, Harry? Nay, boy, you need not strive to conceal
+it from me--I know what you went for. Will the slanderer do battle?"
+
+"No, my noble friend," replied Dacre; "he is coward, too, as well as
+scoundrel. There is his craven answer; you may read it aloud. The
+matter is now over, and that hope is gone."
+
+"You should not have done this, Harry, without consulting me," said
+Sir Philip; "I have some experience in such things. At the very last
+that was fought between any two gentlemen of rank and station, I was
+judge of the field, and know right well what appertains to knightly
+combat."
+
+"Of that I was full sure," answered Dacre, pressing his hand; "and to
+you I should have applied for counsel and aid, as soon as I had
+brought him to the point; but I thought it best to be silent till that
+was done. I was vain, perhaps, Sir Philip, to think that these dear
+ladies might take some interest in such a matter--might feel anxious
+even for me; and though I knew that they would have seen me go forth,
+with satisfaction, in defence of my honour, and would have bade God
+speed me on my course, yet it was needless to speak of what was to
+come, till it did come--and you will see, that it is to be never."
+
+"Read it, Hal--read it," said the knight; "my eyes are old."
+
+Sir Henry Dacre read the letter, the contents of which we have already
+seen, and Sir Philip Beauchamp and Mary Markham commented freely
+thereon, marking well its baseness and its craft; but Isabel remained
+silent; and, looking down at her embroidery, her bright eyes let fall
+a tear. Many emotions mingled to produce that drop; she felt to her
+heart's core how bitter it must be to live with such a doubt hanging
+over us for ever, like a dark cloud; and the repeated mention of
+Catherine's name called back to her mind, in all its freshness, the
+memory of her cousin's sad fate; and she was led on to think, too, how
+happy the wayward girl might have been, if she had but known the
+advantages which Heaven had granted her.
+
+Dacre saw the tear, and marked the silence, and read neither quite
+aright; for, with a wounded spot in the heart, the lightest touch will
+give torture. He sat down with the rest, however; he strove to cast
+off some of his gloom; he told of his journey with Richard of
+Woodville; and informed the old knight that his late guest, Hal of
+Hadnock, was now King of England; but, while Sir Philip laughed
+heartily, and called his sovereign "a mad-headed boy," his young
+friend relapsed into deep meditation, and the black thought, that he
+must be for ever a doubted and suspected man, again took possession of
+his mind.
+
+The next morning, when he rose, he was more cheerful. Sleep, which had
+visited his eyelids only by short glimpses for the last week, had,
+this night, stayed with him undisturbed; and, what seemed to him more
+extraordinary still, sweet dreams had come with slumber, giving him
+back the happiness of former days. He had seemed a boy again, and had
+wandered with Isabel Beauchamp through the woods and fields around;
+had heard the birds sing on the spray, and watched the fish darting
+through the stream. Summer and sunshine had been round their path, and
+that misty splendour, which only is seen in the visions of the night,
+as if poured forth from some secret source in the heart of man when
+the pressure of all external things is taken away--a slight
+indication, perhaps, of the adaptation of his spirit to the enjoyments
+of a brighter world than this. He slept longer than usual; and, when
+he rose, he found the old knight and his daughter in the hall.
+
+"I am going down, Harry," said Sir Philip, "to settle a difference
+between some of the monks and Roger Dayley, of Little Ann, about his
+field. I shall find you when I come back."
+
+"Nay, I will go with you, noble friend," answered Dacre; "I wish to
+see my good Lord Abbot."
+
+"That you cannot do, unless you ride to London," replied the old
+knight; "he went yesterday morning early to attend the King's
+coronation. Stay with Isabel and Mary. I will be back soon."
+
+It was too tempting a proposal to be refused; and while Sir Philip,
+with a page carrying his heavy sword, walked down to the Abbey, Dacre
+remained with Isabel alone in the hall. They watched her father from
+the door till he entered the wood, and then turning, walked up and
+down the rush-covered pavement for several minutes without speaking.
+Dacre's heart was full of anxious thoughts; and though he much wished
+to fathom the feelings of Isabel's heart, and discover some ground for
+future hope, yet he dreaded to find all his fears verified; and the
+words trembled at the gate of speech without obtaining utterance.
+Isabel, however, was more confident in herself, and less conscious of
+her own sensations; she saw and grieved at the state of Dacre's mind,
+and longed to give him comfort and consolation as in days of yore.
+Finding, then, that he did not begin upon the subject of his cares and
+sorrows, she resolved to do so herself; and after a pause, during
+which she felt agitated, and hesitated she knew not why, she said, "I
+am glad to speak with you alone, Harry; for I see you are very, very
+sad, and I would fain persuade you to take comfort."
+
+"Oh, many things make me thus sad, dear Isabel," replied the knight,
+with a faint smile; "but I will try to do better with time."
+
+"Nay, Harry," she answered; "you cannot conceal the cause of your
+sadness from me. I have known you from my childhood, too well not to
+understand it all. You were ever jealous too much of your fame; and
+now I know, because this false, bad man has insinuated things that
+never entered your thoughts, you fancy people will suspect you."
+
+"And will they not, Isabel?" asked Dacre. "I should not say, perhaps,
+_suspect_ me; for suspicion is a more fixed and tangible thing than
+that which I fear; but will there not be doubts, coming in men's mind
+against their will, and against their reason? Will they not, from time
+to time, when they think of Henry Dacre, and this sad history, and
+these dark scandals--will they not ask themselves, What, if it were
+really so?"
+
+"Oh! no, no! Harry," replied his fair companion, warmly; "none will
+think so who know you--none will think so at all, but the base and
+bad, who are capable of such acts themselves."
+
+"Indeed, Isabel!" said Dacre. "And is such really your belief? You
+know not how suspicion clings, dear lady. If you stain a silken
+garment, can you ever make it clear and glossy, as once it was? and
+the fame of man or woman is of a still finer and frailer texture.
+There, one spot, one touch, lasts for ever."
+
+With kind and tender words, and every argument that her own small
+experience could afford, Isabel Beauchamp tried to reassure him; and
+she succeeded at least in one thing--in convincing him so far of her
+full confidence in his honour, that he was on the eve of putting it to
+the strongest test. The acknowledgment of his love hung upon his lips,
+and, if then spoken, might perchance, in her eagerness to prove her
+conviction of his innocence, have been met with that warm return,
+which would have brought the best balm to his heart, although the
+first effect upon her might have been agitation and alarm. But ere he
+could utter the words on which his fate depended, Mary Markham joined
+them, and he waited for another opportunity. Dacre returned to his own
+house at night; but every day he went over to the hall, his mood
+varying like a changeful morning, sometimes sunny with hope and
+temporary forgetfulness, sometimes all cloud and gloom, when memory
+recalled the suspicions that had been pointed at him. Those
+suspicions, too, were frequently recalled to his mind even by his own
+acts, for he eagerly strove to discover by whose instrumentality his
+whole course, on the unfortunate night of poor Catherine Beauchamp's
+death, had been conveyed to Sir Simeon of Roydon. But by so doing, he
+only fretted his own spirit, and gained no information; whoever was
+the spy, he remained concealed.
+
+Three or four days were thus passed before he obtained any second
+opportunity of speaking with Isabel alone; but, on his arrival at the
+dwelling of Sir Philip Beauchamp, on the morning of the 9th of April,
+he was told by a servant whom he found in the hall, that the family
+had gone forth into the park; and, following immediately, he found
+Isabel sitting under the trees, without companions. She seemed to have
+been weeping, and it was a pleasant task for Dacre to strive to
+console her who had so often been his own comforter.
+
+"There are tears in your eyes, dear Isabel," he said, as she rose
+gracefully to meet him. "What has grieved you?"
+
+"Have you not seen my father?" asked the lady. "Do you not know that
+our dear Mary is going to leave us? She goes to London to-day, and he
+goes with her so far."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed the knight; "that is very sudden."
+
+"And very sad," answered Isabel; "the hall will be melancholy enough
+without her now--I cannot but weep, and shall never cease to regret
+her going."
+
+"Nay, nay; time will bring balm, dear Isabel," answered Dacre. "You
+have often told me so."
+
+"And have you believed me, Harry?" answered the lady, with a faint and
+almost reproachful smile; "even last night, you were more sad and
+grave than ever."
+
+"Ay, but this is a different case," replied Dacre; "one can lose a
+friend--ay, even by death; one can lose anything more easily than
+honour and renown."
+
+"But the loss of yours is only in your own fancy, Dacre," she
+answered. "Who believes this charge, that Simeon of Roydon dares to
+hint, but not to avow? Whom has it affected? In whom do you see a
+change? Surely not in my father; surely not in me."
+
+"No, assuredly, Isabel," he said, after thinking for a while; "but as
+yet I have had no occasion to make the trial. Hearken, and I will put
+a case. Suppose, dear Isabel, that I were to love; suppose the lady
+that I loved had heard this tale; suppose that she had loved me well
+before, and at her knee I were now to crave the blessing of her hand;
+would not a doubt, would not a hesitation cross her mind? Would she
+not ask herself--"
+
+"Oh, no!" cried Isabel; but Dacre went on, not suffering her to
+conclude.
+
+"You put it not fully to your own heart, dear Isabel," he said.
+"Suppose you were that lady--suppose that all Harry Dacre's hopes and
+happiness for life were staked on your reply; suppose that to you, who
+have so often consoled him in affliction, calmed him in anger, soothed
+him in anxiety, he were to say, 'Isabel, will you be my comforter
+through life, the star of my existence, the recompence for all I have
+suffered?' would not one thought--"
+
+Isabel trembled violently, and her cheek turned ashy pale.
+
+"It is enough," said Dacre, with a quivering lip; "I am answered! That
+memory could never be banished from your heart. It is enough!"
+
+"Oh, no, no!" cried Isabel; but, as will almost always happen when a
+word may make all clear, an interruption came; before she could go on,
+good old Sir Philip Beauchamp was seen upon the steps of the house,
+waving them to come back, with a loud "Halloo!"
+
+They both turned, and walked towards the hall in silence. Isabel would
+fain have spoken, but agitation overpowered her. She wished that
+Dacre, by a single word, would give her an opportunity of reply; but
+his over-sensitive heart was convinced of her feelings--reading them
+all wrong; and he would not force her to speak what he thought must be
+painful for her to utter, and for him to hear. Twice she made up her
+mind to explain, but twice her heart failed her at the moment of
+execution; and it was not till they were within a few steps of the
+place where her father stood, that she could say, in a low voice, "You
+are mistaken, Harry; indeed you are mistaken!"
+
+He shook his head with a bitter smile, and walked on in silence.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+                         THE MINSTREL'S GIRL.
+
+
+At the hour appointed by the King, Richard of Woodville arrived at the
+palace, and was at once introduced to Henry's presence. The monarch
+was now quite alone, and seemed in a more cheerful, a less meditative
+mood, than the day before. "Well, Richard," he said, "how sped you
+last night? you found room in hall, and a place at board, I trust?"
+
+"I did, Sire," replied Woodville; "and so long as I was here 'twas
+well; but as I returned homeward to my hostel, I saw that done which
+grieved me, and would grieve your Highness, too, were it told."
+
+"Speak it, speak it," said the King; "I am now in that station where
+every day I must hear that which offends my ear, if I would perform
+the first duty of a king, and render justice to my people. What is
+this you saw?"
+
+Briefly and accurately Richard of Woodville, as he had previously
+determined, related to the monarch the facts attending the death of
+the old minstrel, by the brutal act of Sir Simeon of Roydon, and his
+companions; and he could see Henry's brow gather into a heavy frown,
+and his cheek flush. When he had done, the King rose from his chair,
+before he spoke, and walked twice across the small chamber in which
+the young gentleman had found him.
+
+"This is bad," he said at length; "this is bad; but I must not
+interfere with the course of law. The matter will be inquired into, of
+course. If the law should not punish the offence, I might myself
+inflict some chastisement, and, by banishing this man from my court
+and presence, mark my indignation at his rash contempt of human life
+and suffering, to call it nothing worse. But I have other views,
+Richard; and if I must strike, I would have it effectually."
+
+"I do not understand you, Sire," replied Woodville, seeing that the
+King paused.
+
+"No, perhaps not," said Henry; and then falling into a fit of musing
+again, he remained for more than a minute with his eyes fixed upon the
+ground. "Call me a page," he continued, at length; "I will see this
+Sir Simeon of Roydon."
+
+Richard of Woodville obeyed; and when the boy appeared, Henry directed
+him in the clear brief words, with which even trivial orders are given
+by men of powerful and accurate minds, to inquire of the sergeant of
+the gates where Sir Simeon of Roydon was to be found, and then to
+summon him immediately to his presence.
+
+"He shall make some compensation to the old man's daughter, or whoever
+she is, whatever the law may say," the King continued, turning to his
+companion, after having spoken to the page: "but tell me, Richard, was
+this the only adventure you met with yesterday? Ned Dyram told me,
+that some one had spoken to you by name in the crowd, bidding you not
+to let poor Dacre do battle with Simeon of Roydon,--she anticipated my
+commands, it would seem."
+
+"She did so, truly, Sire," replied Woodville; "but I could never
+discover who it was, though she again spoke to me at the gates of the
+convent as I came out."
+
+"It is very strange," said the King; "did you not know the voice?"
+
+"It seemed somewhat disguised," answered the young gentleman; "but
+still it was clearly a woman's voice; and there were tones in it not
+unfamiliar to my ear, yet not sufficiently strong on recollection to
+enable me in any way to judge who spoke."
+
+"Have we got fairies amongst us, even in Westminster?" asked the
+monarch, laughing. "Well, my good friend, you have nothing to do but
+obey your fair monitor."
+
+"In that I shall not fail, Sire," replied Richard; "for I shall have
+no cause to prevent or encourage Dacre--Simeon of Roydon will take
+good heed to that. But I trust neither the lady nor your Highness will
+forbid my chastising this man myself, if need should be; for, as I
+have told you, Sire, I cast him from his horse last night, before his
+comrades; and he will seek revenge in some shape, I am sure."
+
+"To defend himself is every man's right," replied the King; "but I
+must insist, that no arranged encounter takes place between you and
+Sir Simeon of Roydon, without your sovereign's consent." The King
+spoke sternly, almost harshly; but he added a moment after, in a mild
+and familiar tone, "The truth is, Richard, that I have resolved, as
+much as possible, to put a stop, both to the trial by battle and
+combats at outrance between my subjects. The blood of Englishmen is
+too precious to their King and their country to be shed so frequently
+as it has hitherto been in private quarrels. The evil is increasing;
+and if it be not stayed, a time will come when every idle jest will be
+the subject of a combat, and the man of mere brute courage will
+venture upon any wrong he chooses to do another, because he values his
+life less than his neighbour. Such a state shall never grow up under
+me. The day may not be far distant when, in defence of the rights of
+this crown, I shall give every English gentleman an opportunity of
+displaying his valour and his skill; but, till then, I will hold a
+strong hand over quarrelsome folks. As a last resource for honour
+really wounded, or, under the sanction of the law, for the judgment of
+God in dark cases which human wisdom cannot decide, I may consent that
+an appeal be made to the lance; but not till every other means has
+been tried. Such is my resolution. Let that suffice you. I know you
+will obey; and in the court of Burgundy, if I hear right, you will
+have plenty of occasions, should you be too full of blood, to shed it
+freely. I have wished to give you some gift, my friend," he continued,
+in a tone of kindly condescension; "but for the present, I can think
+of nothing better than this."
+
+He took a ring from his finger, and held it out to the young gentleman
+who stood beside him, adding, "Take it, Richard; wear it always; and
+when you look upon it, think of Hal of Hadnock. But should you at any
+time seek aught of the King of England, seal your letter with that
+ring, and I will open and read the contents myself, and immediately.
+It shall go hard, but I will grant you your boon, if it be such as the
+Richard of Woodville whom I know, is likely to request. So, farewell,
+and God speed you, and lead you to honour."
+
+Richard of Woodville knelt, and kissed the gracious Prince's hand; and
+then, retiring from his presence, sped back to his inn without
+adventure.
+
+All traces of the last day's festival had disappeared; the citizens
+had resumed their usual occupations; the artisan had gone to his work,
+the merchant to his warehouse, the tradesman to his stall, the monk to
+his cloister, the priest to his chapel or his church. The streets,
+though there was many a passenger hurrying to and fro, seemed almost
+empty, by comparison; and a scene that was in itself gay, looked dull
+from the want of all the glitter and pageantry of the preceding
+afternoon.
+
+The inn, called the Acorn, at which Richard of Woodville had taken up
+his abode, was a low building, in what we still term the Strand,
+between the Cross at Charing and a very small monastery, which was
+soon after attached to the abbey of Roncesvalles in Navarre, and
+acquired the name of Roncêvaux. The entrance to the Acorn was a tall
+dark arch, and as soon as Richard of Woodville rode in, followed by
+his two attendants--for Ned Dyram he had not seen since the day
+before--the host presented himself, saying, with a low reverence and a
+smile, "There has been a fair maid seeking you, noble sir. There have
+been tears in her eyes, too, full lately. I hope you are not a
+faithless squire, to make the pretty maiden weep."
+
+"Poor thing, she has good cause," answered Woodville, gravely. "She is
+the poor old man's daughter, I suppose, who was killed by the horses
+last night. When did she say she would return?"
+
+"She is here now! she is here now!" cried the host's wife, from
+within. "How can you be such a fool, Jenkyn! I took her in till the
+noble gentleman returned. I knew she was no light o' love, but only
+came from foreign lands."
+
+"I never said she was, good wife," replied her husband. "Shall I bring
+her up, sir, to your chamber?"
+
+"No," answered Richard; "it wants an hour of dinner yet; let her come
+with me to the hall, if it be vacant."
+
+"That it is, discreet sir," replied the host. "Now, I warrant you," he
+continued, murmuring to himself, as he walked away to call the poor
+girl to her kind benefactor, "he has got some lady love himself, and
+fears it should come to her ears, were he to entertain a pretty maiden
+in his own chamber."
+
+Perhaps some such thought might pass through Richard of Woodville's
+mind; but certainly it would never have entered therein, had it not
+been for the host's first suspicion; and he would have received the
+poor girl in his own room without hesitation, though the minstrels of
+that day and their followers were generally a somewhat dissolute and
+licentious race. It has happened strangely, indeed, in all ages, that
+those who follow, as their profession, the sweetest of arts, music,
+which would seem intended to elevate and purify the mind and heart,
+should be so frequently obnoxious to the charge of immoral life; but
+so it has been, alas, though difficult to account for.
+
+Finding his way through one or two long ill-lighted passages, Richard
+of Woodville opened the door of the room appropriated to the daily
+meals of the guests and their host, and had not long to wait for the
+object of his compassion. She was not dressed in the same manner as
+the night before, but still, her garb was singular. A bright red
+scarf, which had been twined through her black hair, was no longer
+there; and the rich, luxuriant tresses, were bound plainly round her
+head, which was partially covered also by a hood of simple gray cloth.
+The rest of her apparel was white, except at the edge of the
+petticoat, which came not much below the knee, and was bordered by two
+bands of gold lace. Her small, delicate ankles, as fair as alabaster,
+were, nevertheless, without covering; and her feet were clothed in
+small slippers of untanned leather, trimmed and tied with gold.
+
+Bending down her beautiful head as she entered, she said, "I have come
+to thank you, noble sir."
+
+"Nay, no thanks, my fair maiden," answered Woodville, placing a stool
+for her to sit, as the host retired. "I did but what any Christian and
+gentleman ought to do; so, say not a word of that. But I am glad you
+have come, for I wish much to hear more of you, and to know what will
+become of you now."
+
+"Ah! what, indeed?" said the girl, casting down her eyes, which had
+before been fixed upon the young gentleman's countenance.
+
+"Have you no friends, no home, to which you can go?" asked Woodville.
+
+"In this country, no friends that would receive me--no home that would
+be open to me," replied the girl, the tears rolling over the long
+black lashes, and trickling down her cheek. "I am not given to yield
+to sorrow thus," she added; "had I been, it would have crushed me long
+ago. But this last blow has been heavy; and, like a reed beaten down
+by the storm, I shall not raise my head till the sun shines again."
+
+"But you are of English birth?" inquired Richard of Woodville; "if
+not, you speak our tongue rarely."
+
+"Oh, yes! I am English," she cried, eagerly; "English in heart, and
+spirit, and birth; but yet, my mother was from a distant land."
+
+"And was that poor old man your father?" demanded her companion;
+"come, let me hear something of your former life, that I may think
+what can be done for the future."
+
+The girl evidently hesitated; she coloured, and then turned pale; and
+Richard of Woodville began to fear that, in the interest he had taken
+in her, he had been made the fool of imagination. "She is probably
+like the rest," he thought; "and yet, her very shame to speak it,
+shows that she has some good feelings left."
+
+But, while he was still pondering, the girl exclaimed, clasping
+her hands, "Oh, yes! I am sure I may tell you. You are not one
+who--whatever might be his errors--would deprive a poor old man of
+blessed ground to rest in, or the prayers of good men for his soul."
+
+"Not I, indeed," replied the young gentleman; "methinks, we have no
+right to carry justice or punishment beyond the grave. When the spirit
+is called to its Creator, let him be judge--not man. But speak; I do
+not understand you clearly."
+
+"I will make my tale short," she answered. "That old man was my
+father's father; a minstrel once in the house of the great Earl of
+Northumberland--I can just remember the Earl--and a gay and happy
+household it was. He was well paid and lodged, much loved by the good
+lord, and wealthy by his bounty. My father was stout and tall, a brave
+man, and skilful in arms; and he was the Percy's henchman. Once, when
+one of the Earl's kinsmen went to the court of the Emperor, my father
+was sent with him, I have heard; and he returned with my mother, a
+native of a town called Innsbruck in the mountains. I know not whether
+you have heard of it; but it is a fair city, in good truth."
+
+"You have seen it, then?" asked Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Not a year since," answered the girl; "but, to my tale. When I was
+still young, my father fought and fell with Hotspur; and, not long
+after, the Duke's household was dispersed, and he himself obliged to
+fly to Wales, or Scotland, I know not which. My mother pined and died,
+for the people there loved not a stranger amongst them; and, after my
+father's death, called her nought but _the foreigner_. They laughed,
+too, at her language, for she could speak but poor English; and, what
+between their gibes and her own grief, she withered away daily, till
+her eyes closed. She taught me her own language, however; and I have
+not forgot it. She taught me her own faith, too; and I have not
+abandoned it."
+
+"And that was--" exclaimed Richard.
+
+"The holy Catholic faith!" replied the girl, crossing herself; "and
+nothing has ever been able to turn me from it. But still, I could not
+let it break all bonds--could I, noble sir?"
+
+"Perhaps not," replied Richard of Woodville; "but let me hear
+farther."
+
+"When the Earl fled, and my mother died," continued the girl, "my
+grandfather took me with him to the town of York; and, as he was
+wealthy, as I have said, his kinsfolk, who were many in the place,
+were glad to see him. He was very kind to me--oh, how kind! and taught
+me to sing, and play on many instruments. But there came a disciple of
+Wicliffe into the town, where there were already many Lollards in
+secret; and the poor old man listened to them, and became one of them.
+I would not hear them; for I ever thought of my mother, and what she
+had taught me; and this caused the first unkind words my grandfather
+ever gave me. He mourned for them afterwards, when he found I was not
+undutiful, as he had called me. But, in the mean time, he went on with
+the Lollards; till, one night, as they were coming from a place where
+they had met, a crowd of rabble and loose people set upon them with
+sticks and stones, and beat them terribly; and the poor old man was
+brought home, with his face and eyes sadly cut. Some of the Lollards
+were taken, and two were tried, and burnt as heretics. But my
+grandfather escaped that fate; for, by this time, his eyes had become
+red and fiery, and he kept close to his own house. The redness at
+length went away--but light went too; and he was in daily fear of
+persecution. One night, when he was very sad, I asked him why he
+stayed in York, where there were so many perils; but he shook his
+head, and answered, 'Because I am sightless, my child; and I have none
+to guide me.' Then I asked him again, if he had not me; and if he
+thought I would not go with him to the world's end; and I found, by
+what he said, that he had long thought of going to foreign lands, but
+did not speak of it, because he thought that, as I would not hear his
+people, I would refuse to go. When he found I was ready, however, his
+mind was soon made up, and we went first to a town called Liege, where
+he had a brother, and there we lived happily enough for some time; for
+that, brother, and all his family, thought on many matters with him.
+But he heard of a man named Huss, who is a great leader of that sect
+in a country called Bohemia, and he resolved to go thither, as he was
+threatened with persecution in Liege. We then wandered far and wide
+through strange lands. But why should I make my tale long? We suffered
+many things--were plundered, wronged, persecuted, beaten; and the
+money that he had began to melt away, with no resource behind; for we
+had heard that our own relations and friends in York had pillaged his
+house; and one had taken possession of it as his own. I then proposed
+to him that I should sing at festivals and tournaments, that he might
+keep the little he still had against an evil day. Thus we came through
+Germany, and Burgundy, and part of France and Brabant; and, at length,
+he determined that he would come back to his own country, which he
+did, only to be murdered last night, for we have not been a month in
+England."
+
+"Alas! my poor girl," said Richard of Woodville, "yours is, indeed, a
+sad history; and, in truth, I know not what counsel to give you for
+the future. Alone, as you are, in the world, you need some one much to
+protect you."
+
+"I do indeed," replied the girl, "but I have none; and yet," she
+added, after a moment, "these are foolish thoughts, brought upon me
+but by grief. I can protect myself. Many have a worse fate than I
+have; for how often are those who have been softly nurtured cast
+suddenly into misfortune and distress! I have been inured to it by
+degrees--taught step by step to struggle and resist. Mine is not a
+heart to yield to evil chances. The little that I want in life, I
+trust, I can honestly obtain; and, if not honestly, why, I can die.
+There is still a home for the wanderer--there is still a place of
+repose for the weary." But, as she spoke, the tears that rolled over
+her cheeks belied the fortitude which she assumed.
+
+Richard of Woodville paused and meditated, ere he replied. "Stay," he
+said, at length, as the girl rose, and covered her head again with her
+hood, which she had cast back, as if she were about to depart. "Stay!
+a thought has struck me. Perchance I can call the King's bounty to
+you. I myself am now about to depart for distant lands. I am going to
+the court of Burgundy in a few days, and shall not see our sovereign
+again before I set out; but I have a servant, who was once the King's,
+and he will have the means of telling your sad tale."
+
+"To the court of Burgundy!" exclaimed the girl, eagerly; "Oh! that I
+were going thither with you!"
+
+"That may hardly be," replied Woodville, with a smile, as she gazed
+with her large dark eyes upon his face.
+
+"I know it," she answered, sighing, and cast her eyes down to the
+ground again, with the blood mounting into her cheek; "yet, why not in
+the same ship?--I have kinsfolk both in Liege and in Peronne--you
+would not see wrong done to me?"
+
+"Assuredly not," said the young gentleman; "but if the King can be
+engaged to show you kindness, it will be better. What little I can
+spare, my poor girl, shall be yours; and I will send this man of whom
+I spoke, to see you and tell you more. First, however, you must let me
+know where you are lodged, and for whom he must ask, as it may be
+three or four days before he returns from the errand he is now gone to
+perform."
+
+"My name is Ella Brune," replied the girl; and she went on to describe
+to Richard of Woodville the situation of the house in which she and
+her grandfather had taken up their abode, on their arrival in London a
+few days before. He found from her account that it was a small hostel
+just within the walls of the city, which the old man had known and
+frequented in former years; that the host and his good dame were kind
+and homely people; and that, though the poor girl had remained out
+watching the corpse at the lodge of the convent, she had returned that
+morning to explain the cause of her absence, and had been received
+with sympathy and consolation. Knowing well, however, that there is a
+limit to the tenderness of most innkeepers, and that that limit is
+seldom, if ever, extended beyond the length of their guest's purse,
+the young gentleman took three half nobles, which, to say truth, was
+as much as he could spare, and offered them to his fair companion,
+saying, "Trouble yourself not in regard to expenses of the funeral,
+Ella, or of the masses. The porter of the convent has been here this
+morning before I went out, and I have arranged all that with him."
+
+The girl looked at the money in his hand, with a tearful eye and a
+burning cheek; but, after gazing for a moment, she put his hand gently
+away, saying, "No, no, I cannot take it--from you I cannot take it."
+
+"And why not from me?" asked Richard of Woodville in some surprise.
+
+She hesitated for an instant, and then replied, "Because you have been
+so good and kind already. Were it from a stranger, I might--but you
+have already given me much, paid much; and you shall not hurt yourself
+for me. I have enough."
+
+"Nay, nay, Ella," said Richard, with a smile. "If I have been kind,
+that is a reason why you must not grieve me by refusing the little I
+can give; and as to what I have paid, I will say to you with Little
+John, whom you have heard of--
+
+
+             "I have done thee a good turn for an
+              Quit me when thou may."
+
+
+"And what did Robin answer?" said the girl, a light coming up into her
+eyes as she forgot, for an instant, her loss and her desolate
+situation, in the struggle of generosity which she kept up against her
+young benefactor--
+
+
+             "Nay by my troth, said Robin,
+              So shall it never be."
+
+
+"It must be, if you would not pain me," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"you must not be left in this wide place, my poor girl, without friend
+or money."
+
+"Nay, but I have enough," she answered; "if I were tempted to take it,
+'twould only be with the thought of crossing the sea, which costs much
+money, I know."
+
+"Then take it for that chance, my poor Ella," replied Woodville,
+forcing the money into her hand; "and tell me what store you have got,
+in order that, if I have ought more to spare, when I have received
+what my copse-wood brings, I may send it to you by the servant I spoke
+of."
+
+"Indeed, I know not," said Ella Brune; "there is a small leathern bag
+at the inn, in which we used to put all that we gathered; but I
+thought not to look what it contained. My heart was too heavy when I
+went back, to reckon money. But there is enough to pay all that we
+owe, I know; and as for the time to come," she added, with a
+melancholy smile, "I eat little, and drink less; so that my diet is
+soon paid."
+
+Her words and manner had that harmony in them, which can rarely be
+attained when both do not spring from the heart; and Richard of
+Woodville became more and more interested in the fair object of his
+kindness every moment. He detained her some time longer to ask farther
+questions; but, at length, the host opened the door, and told him,
+there was a young man without who sought to speak with him. This
+interruption terminated his conversation with Ella Brune; for, drawing
+her hood farther still over her face, she again rose, took his hand
+and pressed her lips upon it.
+
+"The blessing of the queen of heaven be upon you, noble sir," she
+said; and then passed through the door, at which the landlord still
+stood, wondering a little at the deep gratitude which she seemed to
+feel towards his young guest.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+                            THE DECEIVER.
+
+
+The King of England remained seated for many minutes exactly where
+Richard of Woodville had left him. His right hand rested on the arm of
+his chair; his left upon the hilt of his dagger; and his eyes remained
+fixed apparently upon the heavy building of the Abbey, such as it then
+appeared, before a far successor of his added to it a structure, rich,
+and perhaps beautiful in itself, but sadly out of keeping with the
+rest of the pile. But Henry saw not the long straight lines of the
+solemn mass of masonry; he heard not the bells chiming from the belfry
+hard by: his mind was absent from the scene in which his body dwelt;
+and his thoughts busy with things very different from those that
+surrounded him.
+
+On what did they rest? Over what did the spirit of the great English
+monarch ponder, the very day after he had solemnly assumed the crown
+and sceptre?--Who can say?
+
+He might, perhaps, remember other days with some regret; for we can
+never lose aught that we have possessed, without some mournful
+feelings of deprivation returning upon us from time to time, however
+great and overpowering be the compensation that we obtain; we can
+never change from one state and station in our mortal course to
+another without sometimes thinking of former joys, and gone-by
+happiness, even though we have acquired grander blessings, and a more
+expansive sphere: and oh! how great is the change, even from the
+position of a prince, to that of a monarch! so great, indeed, that
+none who have not known it can even divine.
+
+He might already, perhaps, feel what a burden a crown may sometimes
+become; how heavy are occasionally the gorgeous robes of state; he
+might look back to the free buoyancy of his early life, and long to
+roam the wide plains and fields of his kingdom alone, and at his ease.
+Or he might think of friendship--and there was none more capable of
+knowing and valuing it aright--and might wonder whether a monarch
+could indeed have a friend; one into whose bosom he could pour his
+secret thoughts, or with whose wit he could try his own, in free, but
+not undignified encounter; one in whom he could trust, and with whom
+he might relax, certain that the condescension of the sovereign would
+not be mistaken, nor the confidence of the friend betrayed.
+
+Again, he might ponder upon all the difficulties and pains of a royal
+station: he might think, "Each of my subjects is burdened with his own
+cares and anxieties, but I with the care and anxiety of the whole:" or
+his mind might turn to the especial troubles and discomforts of a
+monarch, and remember how many he must have to disappoint; how often
+he must have to punish; how much he must have to refuse; how seldom he
+might be permitted to forgive; what great works he must necessarily
+leave undone; what good deeds be might be obliged to neglect; what
+faults he must be called upon to overlook; what pain and grief, even
+to the good and wise, a stern necessity might compel him to inflict.
+
+He might, perhaps, think of any or all of these things, for they were
+all within the grasp of his character, as Henry was peculiarly a
+thoughtful monarch. We are, indeed, only accustomed to look upon him
+either as a wild youth, suddenly and somewhat strangely reformed, or
+as a great conqueror and skilful general, a prudent and ambitious
+prince. But those who will inquire into his private life, who will
+mark the recorded words that occasionally broke from his lips, trace
+the causes and course of his actions, examine his conduct to his
+friends, and even to his enemies, who will, in short, strip off the
+monarch's robes and look upon the man, will find a meditative spirit,
+though a quick one; a warm heart, though a firm one; a rich and lively
+imagination, though a clear and vigorous judgment. He was not one to
+take upon him the cares of government without feeling all their
+weight; to regard a throne as a seat of ease and pleasure; or to
+assume the grand responsibilities of sovereign power, without
+examining them stedfastly and sternly, seeing all that is bright and
+all that is dark therein, and feeling keenly every sacrifice for which
+they call.
+
+To love and to be beloved by a whole nation, to give and to receive
+happiness by a wise government of a great people, is assuredly a
+mighty recompence for all the pains of royal station; but yet those
+pains will be felt hourly while the reward is afar; and the monarch's
+conversation with Richard of Woodville had awakened him to some of
+those evils which the wisest rule cannot entirely remedy. Almost under
+the windows of his palace, on the very day of his coronation, in the
+midst of rejoicing and festivity, one of his subjects, an innocent
+inoffensive old man, had been brutally deprived of life by a party of
+those who had been feasting at his own table; and, when he remembered
+all the scenes with which the course of his early life had made him
+acquainted throughout this wide land, he saw what a task it would be
+to restrain the wild licence of a host of turbulent nobles, and to
+bind them to submission to the laws, and to reverence for the rights
+and happiness of others.
+
+The monarch was still deep in thought when the page whom he had sent
+for Sir Simeon of Roydon, returned, announcing that he was in waiting
+without; and Henry at once ordered him to be admitted. The knight
+advanced with courtly bows, and more than due reverence; for he was
+one of those who, overbearing and haughty to their inferiors, are
+always cringing and fawning towards those above them, at least until
+they are detected.
+
+But Henry came to the point at once, saying, with a stern brow, "I
+hear matters regarding you, Sir Simeon of Roydon, that please me not;
+and I would fain hear from your own lips, what explanation you can
+give. Know, sir, that the subjects of this crown are not to be
+murdered with impunity, and that sooner or later blood will find a
+tongue to accuse those that spill it."
+
+The knight turned somewhat pale under the keen eye of the King; but he
+answered at once, in smooth and fluent tones, "I was not aware, Sire,
+that I had done aught that should bring upon me the greatest
+punishment that I could receive--that of falling under the displeasure
+of your Highness; for any other infliction which might follow that
+severe misfortune, would seem nothing in comparison, or light, indeed,
+if by any bodily suffering I could remove the heavy weight of your
+anger. May I humbly inquire what is my fault? It must be great, I am
+sure, though I know it not, to make so clement a King regard his
+servant so harshly."
+
+"It is great, sir," replied Henry, who could not be deluded with fair
+words. "Did you not, last night, after quitting the Hall below, cause
+the death of an old man by a most brutal outrage?"
+
+"Nay, Heaven forbid!" cried Roydon, with well-feigned surprise and
+grief. "Your Highness does not, I trust, mean to say that the poor old
+man is dead?"
+
+"He was killed upon the spot, sir," answered Henry; "and I am told you
+did not even stop to inquire what had been the result of your own
+act."
+
+"I will go home and have him slaughtered without delay," exclaimed
+Roydon, as if speaking to himself in a paroxysm of regret.
+
+"Have whom slaughtered?" asked the King, gazing upon him coldly; for
+he began to divine the course his defence was to take.
+
+"The brute that did it, Sire," replied the knight; "three times has
+that horse nearly deprived me of life, which I heeded not much, for it
+is a fine though unruly animal; but now that he has taken the life of
+another, his own shall be forfeit. Scarcely had I mounted when, with
+the bit between his teeth, he set off at full speed; some of my
+companions galloped after to stop him, if possible, but were unable,
+till a gentleman on foot, I know not who, caught the bridle in the
+crowd; and I, not seeing what had befallen, rode on, keeping him in
+with difficulty."
+
+A slight smile curled the lip of the King, showing to Sir Simeon
+Roydon that he was not fully believed; and a dark feeling of
+anger--the rage of detected meanness--gathered itself in the inmost
+recesses of his heart, with only the more bitter intensity because he
+dared not suffer it to peep forth. There is nothing that we hate so
+much as one whom, however much he may offend us, we cannot injure.
+Vengeance is the drink by which the dire thirst of hate is often
+assuaged; but if that cannot by any possibility be obtained, the
+burning of the heart goes on increasing till it becomes the
+unquenchable drought of fever.
+
+The monarch answered calmly, however, and without further reproach.
+"Your tale, Sir Simeon," he said, "is somewhat different from that
+which previously reached my ears. I trust it can be substantiated in
+all its parts; for this matter must be investigated fully. The crown
+officer will, of course, do his duty by inquest upon the body. It will
+be well for you to be present; and the law will then take its due
+effect. Retire for a time, sir, into another chamber, and I will cause
+inquiry to be made, as to when a jury will be ready to investigate the
+case."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon bowed with a sad and respectful countenance, and
+turned towards the door; but when he reached it, the expression of his
+face, now averted from the King, was very different from that which it
+had been a moment before. A mocking smile sat upon his lip--the
+sneering, bitter expression of a bad spirit, which has gained some
+advantage over a nobler one; but it was gone again the moment he
+opened the door and stood in presence of two or three attendants, who
+were waiting in the ante-room. At the same instant, the voice of Henry
+called the page, and Sir Simeon, pausing and seating himself, could
+hear the King give orders for making the inquiries which he had
+mentioned. In less than twenty minutes, the page returned and entered
+the monarch's closet, after which the knight was recalled.
+
+"I find, sir," said Henry, when he appeared again before him, "that
+uncommonly quick proceedings have been taken in this case. The inquest
+has sat already; and the good men have pronounced the death
+accidental. So far the finding is satisfactory; but as it is clear
+that the accident occurred by your furious riding of a horse which you
+yourself acknowledge to be vicious and dangerous, I have to require
+that you make the only compensation that can be made to the person who
+I am told is this old man's grandchild. You will, therefore, go at
+once to the hospital of St. James, and there, or elsewhere, when
+you have found her, will pay to this poor girl the sum of fifty
+half nobles, expressing your sorrow--which, doubtless, you feel
+sincerely--for the evil you have occasioned."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon bowed, with every appearance of respect; but
+there was a scowl upon his brow; and he could not refrain from asking,
+"May I inquire, Sire, whether this fine is imposed by the inquest, or
+whether it be the award of your Highness; for if--"
+
+Henry's cheek flushed, and the impetuous spirit which had made him in
+early years strike the judge upon the bench, roused itself for a
+moment in his heart. It was conquered speedily, however; and he
+murmured to himself, "No, I will not act the tyrant. Sir Simeon," he
+continued, aloud, waving his hand, "the award is mine, as you say. It
+is my desire that this should be done. You will do it or not, as you
+think fit, for I will not strain the laws; but if it be not done,
+never present yourself before me again. That at the least I may
+require, sir, though the verdict of the jury can but affect the horse
+you rode."
+
+"Your Highness did not hear me out," replied Roydon, who had now
+recovered the mastery of himself; "I did but presume to ask; because
+if such a fine had been imposed by the jury, I should have resisted
+it, as contrary to law; but at the command of your Highness, I pay it,
+not only with submission but with pleasure, as the only means I have
+of showing both my regret at what has taken place, and my eager desire
+to conform myself in all things to your will. Not an hour shall pass
+before you are certified that I have not only obeyed, but gone beyond
+your orders; and so I humbly take my leave."
+
+The words were well and gracefully spoken; and Henry found no occasion
+to complain of the knight's demeanour; but still he was not satisfied
+that his obedience was the submission of the heart; for he knew right
+well that fair words, ay, and fair actions, too, are often but the
+cloaks of sly and subtle knavery; and the character of Sir Simeon of
+Roydon was not new to him. He replied merely, "So you shall do well,
+sir;" and bowed his head as a signal that he might depart.
+
+The knight quitted his presence in no happy mood, perceiving right
+well that the monarch's favour, on which he had counted much, had been
+lost and not regained. He hated him for the clear sighted penetration
+which had seen through his art; and he only doubted whether there was
+or was not a chance of still deceiving his sovereign, and recovering
+his good graces, by an appearance of zeal and devotion in obeying his
+commands.
+
+"It is worth the trial," he thought; "and it shall be tried; but I
+shall soon find whether he continues to nourish such ill-will towards
+me; and if he do, my course must be shaped accordingly. Curses upon
+these beggarly vagrants! Who ever heard of King before who troubled
+his nobility about minstrels and tomblesteres? This smacks of the
+early tastes of our magnanimous monarch, whose sole delight, within
+these two months, was in pot-house tipplers, and losel gamesters. He
+may assume a royal port and solemn manner, if he will; but the habit
+of years is not so easily conquered; and if he trip now, he is lost.
+Men were tired enough of his usurping father. A new prince carries the
+ever-changing multitude at his heels; but time will bring weariness,
+and weariness is soon changed into disgust. We shall see; we shall
+see; and the day of vengeance may come. In the meantime, of one, at
+least, I have had retribution; and this other shall not long escape--a
+rude, ballad-singing peasant, only fit for the brute sports of the
+bull-baiting, or the fair--a very franklin in spirit, and a yeoman in
+heart."
+
+With thoughts,--which, as the reader may have perceived, had deviated
+from the King to Richard of Woodville,--with thoughts wavering with a
+strong inclination to bold evil, but chained down to mere knavery, for
+the time, by some remaining chances of success--for strange as it may
+seem, as many men are rendered cowards by hope as by fear--Sir Simeon
+of Roydon pursued his way to the hospital of St. James, on foot,
+having hastened to the presence of the King without waiting for his
+horses. As, still in deep and angry thought, he approached the gate
+and the old lodge, he raised his eyes somewhat suddenly at an
+advancing step, and beheld the form of a young girl, with her long
+dark eyelashes bent down till they rested on her cheek. He caught but
+a momentary glance as she hurried by; but Simeon of Roydon was quick
+and eager in his examination of all that is beautiful in mere form;
+and that glance was sufficient to rouse no very holy feelings. The
+rounded limbs, the small and delicate foot and ankle, the fine
+chiseled features, the graceful easy movements, the exquisite neck and
+bosom half hidden by the folds of the grey hood, were all marked in an
+instant; and as she seemed alone, without defence or protection, he
+hesitated for a moment whether to stop and speak to her; but while he
+paused, she was gone with a quick step; the gate of the convent was
+near, and, resisting the passing temptation, he walked on and rang the
+bell.
+
+The porter slowly opened the gate; and, with the tone of careless and
+haughty indifference which has always marked the inferior personages
+of a court--I mean the inferior in mind, more than the inferior in
+rank or station--the knight said, "There was an old man killed near
+this spot last night, I think?"
+
+"There was, noble sir," answered the porter, with a low reverence to
+his air of superiority; "the body has been moved to the chapel."
+
+"I care nought about the body," rejoined Roydon. "He had a daughter or
+grand-daughter or something with him; where is she?"
+
+"She has just gone forth, noble sir," replied the porter; "you must
+have passed her at the gate."
+
+"Ha! what! a girl with a grey hood and a white coat, with some gold at
+the edge?" asked the knight.
+
+"The same, noble sir," said the old man; "poor thing, she is sadly
+afflicted."
+
+"Send her to me when she comes back, and I will comfort her," answered
+the visitor in a light tone.
+
+"Nay, sir, she is none of those, I'll warrant," replied the porter,
+very little edified; "and I give no such messages here."
+
+"Thou art a fool, old man," said Sir Simeon of Roydon. "Will she come
+back hither?"
+
+"Doubtless she will," answered the other, "for better comfort than you
+can give."
+
+"Pshaw! art thou a preacher?", demanded the knight, with a sneer. "The
+comfort that I have to give is gold, by the King's command. So tell
+her to come to Burwash House, close by the Temple gate, up the lane to
+the left, and ask for Simeon of Roydon. If I be not within, I will
+leave the money with a servant; but bid her come quickly, for I must
+tell the King as soon as his bounty is bestowed. When will she be
+here?"
+
+"That I know not," answered the old man; "the prioress bade me give
+her admission to the parlour whenever she came, for the ladies the
+sisters have taken her case much to heart. But the young woman did not
+say when she would return. Perhaps it would be better for you to leave
+the money with the lady prioress herself, who would render it to her
+when she sees her."
+
+"Give advice to those who ask it, my friend," replied Roydon. "I know
+best what are the King's commands and my duty; so tell her what I say
+on the part of his Highness, and let her come as speedily as may be."
+
+The knight then turned, and, with a haughty step, took his way back to
+Burwash House, the London mansion of a distant kinsman, who, in
+reverence of his newly acquired wealth, permitted the heir of poor
+Catherine Beauchamp to inhabit it during his own absence from the
+capital.
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon was now enjoying to the full that which he had
+long earnestly desired--the prosperity of riches, which he had never
+before known; for his own estate had originally been small, and had
+soon been encumbered, under the influence of expensive tastes and vain
+ostentation. Unchastened by adversity, unreclaimed by experience, he
+was now living as much beyond his present, as he had previously lived
+beyond his former, fortune; and grooms and attendants of all kinds
+waited him at his dwelling, chosen from the scum of a great city,
+which always affords a multitude of serviceable knaves, ready to aid
+an heir to spend his inheritance, and, by obsequious compliance with
+all rash or vicious desires, to secure themselves a participation in
+the plunder, during the term of its existence. To some of these
+worthies, whom he found in the court, he gave orders for the immediate
+admission of poor Ella Brune as soon as she appeared; and then,
+betaking himself to a chamber on the first floor, he occupied himself
+for somewhat more than an hour in thinking over future plans, no
+inconsiderable portion of which referred to the gratification of many
+of the pleasant little passions, that, like strong drink, by turns
+stimulate and allay the thirst of a depraved mind. Revenge--or,
+rather, the gratification of hate, for revenge presupposes injury--was
+predominant, though ambition had a goodly share also.
+
+To become that for which he thought himself well fitted, but towards
+which he had never hitherto been able to take one step--a great and
+prominent man--was one principal object:--to take a share in the
+mightier deeds of life, to rule and influence others, to command, to
+be looked up to, to receive authority and wield it at will. Oh, how
+often does that desire _to become a great man_ render one a little
+man!--how often is it the source of littleness in those who might
+otherwise be great indeed! When the greatest philosopher that modern
+ages has produced declared, that "to rise to dignities we must submit
+to indignities," how powerful, to debase the mightiest mind, did that
+longing _to become a great man_ show itself! How constantly, through
+his whole career, do we see it producing all that made him other than
+great! It was, and is ever, the result of the one grand fundamental
+error, the misappreciation of real greatness. And thus we desire to
+become great in the eyes of other men, not in our own--to win the
+applause of worms, not merit the approbation of God.
+
+Such pitiful elevation was the only greatness coveted by him of whom
+we speak; but that was not the only desire which moved him--he longed
+for indulgence of every kind, from which straitened circumstances had
+long debarred him--he thought of pleasures with the eagerness of a
+Tantalus, who had for years beheld them close to his lip, without the
+power of bringing them within his taste; and, like a famished beast,
+he was ready to fall upon the food of appetite wherever it could be
+found. But still cunning--both natural and that acquired from the
+ready teacher of all evil to inferior minds, poverty--was at hand to
+bring certain restraints, which wisdom and virtue were not there to
+enforce. There was a consciousness in his breast, that too great
+eagerness often disappoints its own desires, and that he was too
+eager; and, therefore, he resolved that he would be cautious too. But
+such resolutions usually fail somewhere; for cautiousness is a
+guardian who does not always watch, when she is without the
+companionship of rectitude.
+
+Such reflections were still busily occupying his mind; and he had
+arrived at sincere regret for the rash and brutal act which he had
+committed the night before--not because it was evil, but because it
+was imprudent--when a page opened the door, and ushered Ella Brune
+into the room.
+
+The poor girl knew not whom she was coming to see--she had taken no
+note of the face or form of him whose cruel carelessness had deprived
+her of the only support she had--she had not listened to the words
+that passed between him and Richard of Woodville--she stood before him
+unconscious that he was the slayer of her old companion. Let the
+reader mark that fact well. Nevertheless, as soon as she saw him she
+turned deadly pale, and her limbs trembled.
+
+But Sir Simeon of Roydon took a smooth and pleasant tone; and as soon
+as the page was gone, and had closed the door, he asked, "They gave
+you my message, then, pretty maid?" At the same time he placed a stool
+for her, and motioned her to be seated.
+
+"They told me, sir," she answered in a low tone, "that you had
+commands for me from the King."
+
+"And so I have, fair maiden," replied Simeon of Roydon; "but, I pray
+you, sit. This has been a sad event--I grieve for it much. I was not
+aware, till this morning, that my runaway charger had done such
+damage."
+
+"And were you the man?" demanded Ella Brune, suddenly raising her eyes
+to his face. As she did so, she found him gazing at her from head to
+foot, taking in all the beauties of her face and form, as an
+experienced judge remarks the points of a fine horse; and she drew her
+hood farther over her brow, not well satisfied with the eager and
+passionate look of admiration which his countenance displayed.
+
+"I was unfortunate enough to be so," answered Roydon, perceiving her
+gesture, and thinking it as well to put some little restraint upon
+himself, though he never dreamed that a poor minstrel's girl could
+seriously resist the solicitation of a man of wealth and station. "I
+regret it deeply," he continued, "but the brute overpowered me. By the
+King's commands, I bear you fifty half-nobles; here they are. And, for
+my own satisfaction, I will give you the same."
+
+As he spoke, he held out a purse to her, but Ella Brune drew back.
+"The King's bounty," she said, "I will receive with gratitude; but,
+from you, I will take nothing."
+
+"And, pray, why not, sweet girl?" asked Simeon of Roydon; "the King
+cannot grieve for what has happened half as much as I do, or be half
+as eager to comfort and console you. Nay, sit down, and speak to me;"
+and, taking her hand, he led her back to the stool much against her
+will. "I would fain hear what can be done for you," he added; "I fear
+you may be friendless and unprotected; and I long to make up to you,
+as far as possible, for the loss you have sustained."
+
+"I am, indeed, alone in the world," replied the fair girl; "but not
+friendless, and unprotected, while I trust in God."
+
+"Yes, but God uses human means," answered Roydon, who was every moment
+growing more eager in the pursuit, which at first had been but as the
+chase of a butterfly; "and you must let me be his instrument, as I
+have caused, unwillingly, this evil to befal you. I have a beautiful
+small cottage on my lands, where the trees fall round and shade it in
+the winter from the wind--in the summer from the sun. The woodbine and
+rose gather round the door, and a sparkling stream dances within
+sight. There, if you will accept such a refuge, you can live in peace
+and tranquillity, protected from all the harm and wrong that might
+happen to you in great cities; for you are too young and too lovely to
+escape wiles, and perhaps violence, if you are left without good ward,
+in such resorts of men as these."
+
+A smile came upon the lip of Ella Brune, but it was of a very mingled
+and changeful expression. Perhaps the wakening of some old remembered
+dream of happy days might render it at first soft and gentle; and, the
+next instant, the recollection of how that dream had faded might
+sadden; and then again, the transparency of his baseness mixed a touch
+of scorn with it, and she answered, "That can never be, sir. I seek no
+protection but that I have, and cannot accept of yours. I am able, as
+I am accustomed, to guard myself, and will do so still. I think you
+have mistaken me--but it matters not. I seek neither gold nor favour
+from you; and, if you would make atonement for bad deeds, it must be
+to God, not me."
+
+As she spoke, she rose, and turned to quit the room; and Simeon of
+Roydon hesitated for a moment whether he should not detain her by
+force--for those were days of violence; and her very coldness had
+rendered the passion he began to feel towards her but the more
+impetuous. He remembered, however, that there might be those who
+expected her return; that the place whither she had gone was known at
+the monastery; and that the King's eye might be upon his conduct
+towards her. These calculations passed like lightning through his
+mind, and he chose his course in an instant.
+
+"Stay!" he cried, "stay one minute more, sweet girl. I have not
+mistaken you at all. I would not even force my protection on you: but,
+at least, receive this; for I must tell the King that it is paid."
+
+"His bounty," replied Ella, "I will not refuse, as I before said, and
+offer him my deepest thanks; but, from you, I will receive nothing."
+
+"Well, then, take these fifty pieces," said her companion; "they are
+given by the King's command. We shall meet again, fair maid; and then,
+perhaps, you will know me better."
+
+"I seek to know no more," she answered, taking the gold he gave: "I
+have known enough," and, turning to the door, she left him, murmuring
+to herself, "Would that the King had sent it by other hands."
+
+Simeon of Roydon followed her to the gates, beckoning up two
+of his servants as he went. "Quick," he whispered; "you see that
+girl?--follow her wherever she goes: find out her name--her
+dwelling--every particular you can gather, and bring me your tidings
+with all speed."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+                          THE HOURS OF JOY.
+
+
+Probably there is a period in the life of every one--if it be not cut
+short in very early years, when the blossom is still upon the trees of
+existence--in which the heart is so depressed by a reiteration of
+those misfortunes which generally come in groups, that the unexpected
+announcement of an unnamed visitor causes us to look up with a feeling
+of dread, as if some new sorrow were about to be added to the list of
+those endured. But such was not yet the case with Richard of
+Woodville, for though many of the events which had lately passed,
+had tended to make him somewhat more grave and thoughtful than in
+younger days, yet neither griefs, nor anxieties, nor disappointments
+had been heavy enough to weigh down a spirit naturally buoyant. His
+heart might be called light and free; for, though burdened with some
+cares, and tied by the silver chain of love, yet hope, bright,
+vigorous, rarely-tiring hope, helped him to carry his load; and the
+bond between him and sweet Mary Markham was not one to fetter the
+energies of his mind, or to dim the brightness of expectation. But
+above all things his bosom was perfectly free from guile; and in a
+house so cleanly kept, there is always light, unless every window be
+closed by the hands of death or of despair.
+
+He looked, therefore, to see who the stranger could be that asked for
+him, with some curiosity perhaps, but no alarm, and was surprised but
+well pleased, when the figure of honest Hugh of Clatford darkened the
+door.
+
+"Ah, Hugh!" he exclaimed, "is that you? What has brought you to
+Westminster? Are you also going to seek service in foreign lands?"
+
+"Faith, sir, I know not what I am going to do," replied the good
+yeoman; "I came up here with my lord, and wait his pleasure."
+
+"With your lord!" exclaimed Woodville, in astonishment; "and what, in
+the name of fortune and all her freaks, has brought my uncle to
+Westminster?--Was he summoned to the coronation?"
+
+"Good truth, noble sir, I know not," answered Hugh of Clatford. "He
+has not told me why he came; but I chanced to meet your man Hob, and
+asked him where you were to be found, but to come and see you and how
+you fared."
+
+"Thanks, Hugh, thanks!" replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+
+      "'True friend findeth true friend wherever they follow,
+       And summer's no summer that wanteth the swallow;'
+
+
+But whom has my uncle with him?"
+
+He would have fain asked if Mary Markham was near; but the question
+would not be spoken, and Hugh of Clatford saved him the trouble of
+farther inquiry. "He has brought no one but myself," he said, "and
+Roger Vale, and Martin the henchman, and one or two lads with the
+horses, and a page, and the Lady Mary--"
+
+"Ah! and is that sweet lady here?" asked Woodville, in as calm and
+grave a tone as a very joyous heart could use. "But has he not brought
+my cousin Isabel?"
+
+"No, good sooth," rejoined the yeoman; "he and the Lady Mary came off
+in haste on the arrival of a messenger from London."
+
+"That is strange," said Richard of Woodville;--but then he thought
+that, perchance his friend Harry Dacre had sped well in his suit to
+Isabel, and that the old knight might have left her to cheer him at
+the hall. Nor was such a course unlikely in that age; for there were
+then fewer observances and stiff considerations of propriety than in
+later days, since rules and regulations more powerful, though but of
+air, than the locks and eunuchs of an Eastern harem, have tied down
+the most innocent intercourse of those who love, and every lady in the
+land is watched with the dragon's eyes of parental prudence. Love was
+then looked upon with reverence, and regarded as a safeguard rather
+than a peril. There was more confidence in virtue, more trust in
+honour.
+
+After a short pause, Richard of Woodville inquired where his uncle was
+lodged; and to the great disappointment of his host, who, while he was
+still speaking with Hugh of Clatford, entered to set out the tables
+for the approaching meal, the young gentleman accompanied the good
+yeoman, fasting as he was, to visit good Sir Philip Beauchamp--as he
+said; but, in truth, to sun himself in Mary's eyes.
+
+Fortune, though she be a spiteful jade, will occasionally favour true
+lovers; and she certainly showed herself particularly benign to
+Richard of Woodville in the present instance. Hurrying on with Hugh of
+Clatford, he made his way through the crowded streets of Westminster,
+till, at the outskirts of the town, near where now stands George
+Street, he reached the gates of a large house in a garden, where Sir
+Philip Beauchamp had taken up his abode. With all due reverence he
+asked for his uncle; but he must not be looked upon as a very
+undutiful nephew, if we admit that he was not a little rejoiced to
+find that the good old knight had gone forth, leaving fair Mary
+Markham behind.
+
+Guided by Hugh of Clatford, who very well understood all that was
+passing in the young gentleman's heart, Richard was soon in his fair
+lady's bower; and certainly Mary's bright face expressed quite as much
+pleasure to see him as he could have desired. It expressed surprise
+also, however; and after chiding him, not very harshly, for a sweet
+liberty he took with her arched lips, she exclaimed, "But how are you
+here, Richard? I thought you were firm at Meon, polishing armour and
+trying horses."
+
+Now Richard of Woodville, as soon as he heard that Mary was in the
+same city with himself, had formed his own conclusions in regard to
+various matters that had puzzled him the day before; and he answered,
+gaily, "What, deceiver! Do you think I do not know your arts? You
+would have me believe you were ignorant that I was here, and must
+tease your poor lover twice in the course of yesterday, by letting him
+hear your voice, yet hiding the face that he loves best, from his
+sight?"
+
+"Nay, dear Richard," replied Mary, with a look of still greater
+surprise than before; "you are speaking riddles to me. You could not
+hear my voice yesterday, at least in Westminster--unless, indeed, it
+were late at night; and then it must have been in sad, dolorous tones,
+for I was very tired. We did not reach this place till three hours
+after dark. But what is it you mean, by daring to call Mary a
+deceiver, when you know right well I could not cheat you into thinking
+that I did not love you, though I tried hard to look as demure as a
+cat in the sunshine?"
+
+"Are you sincere now, Mary?--are you telling me the truth?" asked
+Richard, still half inclined to doubt; but the moment after, he added,
+"Yet I know you are, my Mary, without guile. Truth gives you half your
+beauty, Mary; it lights your eyes, it smiles upon your lips. Yet this
+is very strange; and I thought that I had discovered the key to a
+mystery which must puzzle me still. But hear what has happened, and
+you shall judge;" and he proceeded to relate the injunctions which had
+been twice laid upon him the day before, by some unseen acquaintance
+in the crowd.
+
+Mary Markham was not less surprised and puzzled than himself,
+especially as he persisted in asserting the words had been spoken by a
+female voice. But they soon abandoned that topic, to turn to others of
+deeper interest to their own two hearts--the cause of Sir Philip
+Beauchamp's journey to the capital, and the future fate of his fair
+companion.
+
+"In truth, Richard," said Mary, in answer to some of his questions, "I
+am well nigh as ignorant as yourself of what is about to happen. All I
+know is, that Sir Philip told me I should probably soon see my father
+again."
+
+"And who is your father, my sweet Mary?" asked Woodville, with a
+smile.
+
+Mary gazed at him for an instant, with a look of touched and gratified
+affection, and then asked, "And did Richard of Woodville really seek
+poor Mary Markham's hand, then, without knowing aught of her state and
+station?--was he willing to take her dowerless, friendless,
+stationless, almost nameless?"
+
+"Good faith, dear Mary," answered Woodville, "I should be right glad
+to take you any way I could get you; and if dower, or station, or
+friends, or aught else stand in the way, even down to this pretty robe
+whose hem I kiss, I pray you, Mary, cast it off! I shall be right glad
+to have you in your kirtle, if it be but of hodden grey."
+
+Mary Markham smiled and blushed; and her bright, merry eyes acquired a
+softer and more glistening light from the dew of happy emotion that
+spangled her long eyelashes. "Well, Richard," she said, "I do not love
+you the less for that. 'Tis a bold speech, perhaps, and one that I
+should not make; but once having owned what I feel, why should I hide
+it now?"
+
+"Fie on those who would blame you, dearest lady," answered Woodville:
+"who should feel shame for love? The brightest and the best of human
+feelings, surely, is no cause of shame; but we may all say, with the
+great poet--
+
+
+      "'O sunn'is life! O Jov'is daughter dear,
+       Pleasaunce of love! O godely debonaire
+       In gentle hearts aye ready to repaire,
+       O very cause of health and of gladnesse,
+       Iheried be thy might and godenesse.'"
+
+
+"I cannot answer why, Richard," replied Mary, "but I know it is so,
+that all women feel some shame to own they love; and many affect more
+shame than they really feel. But I will not do so, dear Richard; for I
+think it is dishonesty to feign aught. I know I did feel shame, when
+one day, as we sat beside the river under the green trees, you won me
+to say more than I ever thought I could; and all that night, when I
+thought upon it, my cheek burned. But yet, in the moment of trial, I
+felt bold; and when your uncle asked me, I told him all. Nor do I see
+why I should conceal it now, even if I could, when you are about to go
+far, and that may be your only consolation in danger and in
+difficulty."
+
+"It will be my strength and my support, dear Mary," answered
+Woodville; "and I do think that if I could but win a promise from you
+to be mine, it would so nerve my heart and arm in the hour of strife,
+that all men should own I had won you well--Say, will you promise, my
+sweet lady?"
+
+"I will promise that I will, if I may," replied Mary; "but alas!
+Richard, the entire fulfilment of that promise must depend upon
+another. We poor women have but little power, even over our own fate
+and persons; but I will love none but you, Richard, wherever I go; and
+you will not doubt that love, though it be spoken so freely?"
+
+"Nay, Heaven forbid!" said Richard of Woodville; "and were it not that
+you are my uncle's ward, I would put that love, dear Mary, to the
+proof, by asking you to fly with me and seek out some friendly priest
+who would bind our fate so fast together, that it would take greater
+power than any one in the land can boast, to sever it again. But I
+would not be ungrateful to one who has been a father to me."
+
+"Nor must I be ungrateful, either to him or to my own father,
+Richard," replied Mary Markham; "you would not love me long if I could
+be so."
+
+"I know you cannot, Mary," answered her lover; "but tell me who he is,
+Mary, that I may try to win him to hear my suit. I knew not that your
+father was alive--unless, indeed, the idle gossip--but no more of
+that. Whoever he be, I will trust to merit his esteem, and surely his
+daughter's love will be no bad commendation to him. I have hopes, too,
+of advancement, if ambition be his passion, such, indeed, as I have
+never had before. The King--he who was with us not a month ago as Hal
+of Hadnock--"
+
+"Ay, Dacre told us who he was," cried Mary Markham.
+
+"The King, he shows me great favour," continued Woodville, "and has
+given me letters to many at the court of Burgundy, promising to send
+for me, too, as soon as he has service for me here. With a true heart,
+and no unpractised hand, I do not fear that I shall fail of winning
+honour; and though I be but a poor gentleman, yet, as I do know that
+riches or poverty would make no difference in Mary Markham to me, so I
+cannot believe that it will change me in her eyes."
+
+"Oh no!" she answered, but then added, with a sigh, "but my father,
+Richard! It is long since I have seen him, yet he was kind and noble,
+just and true, if I remember right. I recollect him well, with his
+grey hair, changed more by sorrow than time. I thought you knew the
+whole, for Isabel does; but I promised faithfully not to speak of my
+fate or his to any one, for reasons that he judged sufficient, when he
+gave me into good Sir Philip's charge; and I must not break my word
+even for you, Richard."
+
+"Well, it matters not," answered Woodville; "certainly I would fain
+know who he is, for then I might court him as a lover does his bride,
+for Mary's sake: but yet you must keep your promise to him, and to me
+too; and whenever you are free to speak, you must give me tidings,
+dear girl; for in all the thousand chances of this world, I might mar
+my own hopes, even while seeking to fulfil them."
+
+"I will, I will," replied Mary Markham; "but hark! I hear your uncle's
+step, Richard. I will but add one word more to cheer you. Perhaps, if
+I judge right, we may not be so long ere we meet again, as you
+suppose--and now, God prosper you, my own true squire."
+
+As she spoke, the good old knight, Sir Philip Beauchamp, entered the
+room, with a grave and somewhat perplexed air. It soon became evident,
+however, that whatever annoyed or embarrassed him, it was not the
+presence of his nephew; for he greeted him kindly, holding out his
+hand to him, saying, "Ay, you here, foolish boy!--still the moth and
+the candle! But if you needs must love, why, let it lead you to honour
+and renown. What brought you to London? To buy arms?"
+
+"No, sir; to see the King," replied his nephew. "He sent me a
+messenger, bearing letters for me to the court of Burgundy, and gave
+me to understand that I might come to visit him, if I would."
+
+The old knight, in his meditative mood, seemed to catch some of
+Woodville's words, and miss the others. "Letters to the court of
+Burgundy," he said. "Well! from Harry of England, they should smooth
+thy path, boy. Would to Heaven, you two were not lovers!--Not that I
+would speak ill of love; 'tis the duty of every gentleman to vow his
+service to some fair lady. At least, as it was so in my young day; but
+we have sorely declined since then--sorely, sorely, nephew of mine;
+and love was then quite a different affair from now--when it must
+needs end in marriage, or worse. It was a high and ennobling passion
+in those times, leading knights and gentlemen to seek praise, and do
+high deeds; not for their own sakes, but for the honour of the ladies
+whom they served, nor requiring reward even from them, but for pure
+and high affection, and the pleasure of exalting them. Thus, many a
+man loved a lady--either placed far above him, or removed from his
+reach by being wedded to another--without sin, or shame, or
+presumption; for love, as I have said, was a high and ennobling
+feeling in those days, which taught men to do what is right, not what
+is wrong."
+
+"Well, my noble uncle," replied Richard of Woodville, "and so it may
+be now; and it will have the same effect with me. But one thing I do
+know, that I would rather do high deeds to exalt my own wife, than
+another man's: I would rather serve a lady that I may win, than a lady
+I have no right to seek. Methinks it is both more honest and more
+safe; and, by God's blessing, I will win her, too, if I live long
+enough, and have fair play."
+
+The old knight smiled. "Thou art a jesting coystrel, Dickon," he said;
+"and yet not a bad man at arms either. But times are changed, I tell
+thee, and not for the better. Thou thinkest according to the day, and
+cannot understand the past. When goest thou over seas, boy?"
+
+"In a few days, sir," answered Richard of Woodville. "I think before a
+week be out."
+
+Mary Markham's cheek turned a little pale, and the old knight
+meditated for a moment or two; after which he asked his nephew when he
+intended to quit London? Richard replied, that he went on the
+following morning; and Sir Philip, who had found a sad vacancy in the
+hall since Richard had left them for a time, and poor Catherine for
+ever, required that he should stay and keep them company for the rest
+of the day.
+
+"Heaven knows, my poor Mary," he said, "how long we may have to remain
+in this place; and we shall soon find it dull enough. The people whom
+I expected to meet, have not yet appeared, and no tidings of them have
+come; so we may as well keep this idle boy to make us merry; and if he
+must go buy arms or lace jerkins for the court of Burgundy, why we
+will go with him to Gutherun's Lane and the Jury; and you shall ride
+your white palfrey for once along Cheape, with your gay side-saddle
+quilted with gold; though in my young days--before King Richard
+married Anne of Bohemia--never a lady in the land saw so foolish a
+contrivance."
+
+It may well be supposed that neither Mary Markham nor Richard of
+Woodville was very much averse to such a proposal; and the rest of the
+day passed in that April-morn happiness which all must have felt, ere
+parting with those we love; when the cloudy thought of the dreary
+morrow comes hourly sweeping over the sunshine of the present, yet
+making the light seem more bright for the passing shadow. More than
+once, too, the lovers were left for awhile alone; and every moment
+added to their sweet store of vows and promises. Much was also told
+that they had not had time to tell before, though it was still spoken
+in rambling and unconnected form--the one predominant feeling always
+intruding, and calling their thoughts and words back to what was
+passing in their own hearts.
+
+How many bitter moments pay for our sweet ones in this life! and yet
+how willing are we all to make the purchase, whatever be the price!
+The ambitious spirit of enjoyment is upon us, and we must still
+enlarge the sphere of our delight, though--as when a conqueror
+stretches the bounds of his empire, and thereby only exposes a wider
+frontier to attack--each new hope, each new pleasure, each new
+possession, but lays us open to loss, regret, and disappointment. It
+is a sad view of human life; but Richard of Woodville and Mary Markham
+found its truth when they came to feel how much more bitter was their
+parting, for the few sweet hours of happiness they had enjoyed.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                              THE WRONG.
+
+
+The sun, scarce a hand's breadth above the sky, was nevertheless
+shining with beams as bright and warm as in the summer, when Richard
+of Woodville mounted his horse in the court-yard of the inn at Charing,
+and, followed by his two yeomen and his page, rode out, after
+receiving the valedictory speeches of the host and hostess, who,
+with a little crowd, composed of drawers and maidens, and some of
+their other guests, watched his departure, and commented upon his
+strong yet graceful limbs, and his easy management of his charger,
+prognosticating that he would prove stout in battlefield, and
+fortunate in hall and bower. Near the fine chaste cross at
+Charing--which stood hard by the spot where the grand libel upon
+British taste, called Trafalgar Square, now stands--Woodville paused
+for a moment, and letting his eye run past its grey fretwork, gazed
+down in the direction of the palace and the Abbey, hesitating whether
+he should take the shorter road by the convent of St. James, or, once
+more passing through Westminster, ride under the windows of fair Mary
+Markham, for the chance of one parting glance. I need not tell the
+reader how the question was decided; but as he turned his horse's head
+towards the palace, he saw a female figure standing upon the lower
+step of the cross, with the hood, then usually worn by women when out,
+drawn far over the face. The beautiful form, however, the small foot
+and ankle appearing from beneath the short kirtle, and the wild
+peculiar grace of the attitude, taken together, showed him at once
+that it was poor Ella Brune; and he was riding forward to speak with
+her, when she herself advanced and laid her hand upon his horse's
+neck.
+
+"I have been watching for you, noble sir," she said, "to bid you adieu
+before you part, and to give you thanks from a poor but true heart."
+
+"Nay, you should not have waited here, Ella," he replied; "why did you
+not come to the inn?"
+
+"I did, yesterday at vespers," answered the girl; "but you were
+abroad; and the people laughed, as if I had done a folly. Your men
+told me, however, you were going this morning at daybreak, and so I
+waited here; for I would fain ask you one boon."
+
+"And what is that, Ella?" inquired Woodville; "if it be possible to
+grant, it shall not be refused; for I have so little to give, that I
+must be no niggard of what I have."
+
+"You can grant it," replied the girl, with a bright smile; "and you
+will be a niggard indeed if you do not; for it is what can do you no
+harm, and may stead me much in case of need. It is but to tell me
+whither you go, and when, and how."
+
+"That is easily said, my fair maiden," answered Woodville. "I go first
+to my own place at Meon; then to the Court of Burgundy, at the end of
+six days; and, as I would not cross through France, I go by sea from
+Dover to a town called Nieuport, on the coast of Flanders. But say, is
+there aught I can do for you before I send the man I told you of, to
+give you what little assistance I can?"
+
+"Send him not, send him not," cried the girl; "I am now rich--almost
+too rich, thanks to your generous interference with our good King. He
+sent me a large sum, by the hands of the bad knight, who killed the
+poor old man."
+
+"Ay!" said Richard of Woodville; "and did you see this Sir Simeon of
+Roydon, my poor Ella? Beware of him; for he is not one to understand
+you rightly, I fear."
+
+"I am aware of him," answered the minstrel's girl; "and I abhor him.
+He is a dark fearful man--but no more of that; I shall never see him
+more, I trust, for his eyes chill my blood. He looked at me as I love
+not men should look--not as you do, kindly and pitifully; but I know
+not how--it can be felt, not told."
+
+"I understand you, Ella," replied Richard of Woodville; "and his acts
+are like his looks. He has made more than one unhappy heart in many a
+cottage that once was blithe. I grieve the King sent him to you."
+
+"Oh, 'twill do no harm," cried the girl. "I shall not long be here;
+and I know him well. Would that I were not a woman!"
+
+"What! would you avenge the wrong he did on that sad evening?" asked
+Woodville, with a smile, to think how feeble that small hand would
+prove in strife.
+
+"No, not for that," she replied; "for I would try to forgive; but if I
+were not what I am you would take me with you in your train, and then
+I should be safe and happy."
+
+"I trust you may be so still, even as a woman, poor girl," answered
+Richard of Woodville; and, after a few more words of kindness and
+comfort, he bade her adieu. Ella Brune's bright eyes glistened; and,
+perhaps, she found it difficult to speak the parting words, for she
+said no more, but, catching her young protector's hand, she pressed
+her lips upon it, and drew back to let him pass.
+
+It was impossible for Richard of Woodville not to feel touched and
+interested; but he was not one to mistake her. He knew--not indeed by
+the hard teaching of experience, but by the intuitive perception of a
+feeling heart--how the unfortunate cling to those who show them
+kindness, and could distinguish between the love of gratitude and that
+of passion. He had purposely spoken gently and tenderly to her; and,
+in proportion as he could do little to afford her substantial aid, had
+tried to make his words and manner consoling and strengthening; and he
+thought, "If any one had acted so to me, I should feel towards him as
+this poor girl now feels in my case. Heaven guard her, poor thing, for
+hers is a sad fate!"
+
+In such meditations he rode on; but we will not at present follow him
+on his way, turning rather to poor Ella Brune, who stood by the cross
+gazing after him, till his horse taking a road to the right, about two
+hundred yards before it reached the palace gate, was soon hidden by
+the trees, just at the entrance of the town of Westminster.
+
+With a deep sigh, she then bent her steps along the road leading by
+the bank of the river towards the gate of the Temple, which was still
+in a somewhat ruinous state from the attack made upon it in 1381. As
+she went she looked not at the houses and gardens on either side--she
+marked not the procession which came forth, with cross and banner,
+from the convent on the right, nor the gay train that issued out of
+the gates of a large embattled house on the left; but separating
+herself from the people, who turned to gaze or hastened to follow, she
+made her way on, seeking the little inn where she dwelt.
+
+There were two other persons, however, who followed the same
+course--men with swords by their side, and bucklers on their shoulder,
+and a snake embroidered on the mourning habits that they wore. But
+Ella saw them not--she was too deeply occupied with her own dark
+thoughts. She seemed alone in the wide world--more alone than ever,
+since Richard of Woodville had left the capital; and to be so is both
+sad and perilous. How strange, how lamentable it is, that society,
+that great wonderful confused institution, springing from man's
+necessity for mutual aid and support, provides no prop, no stay for
+those who are left alone in the midst of it; none to counsel, none to
+help, none to defend against the worst of all evils--temptation to
+vice. Of the body it takes some care; we must not cut, we must not
+strike the flesh; we must not enthral it; we must not kill. But we may
+wound, injure, destroy the spirit if we can, even at our pleasure. For
+substantial things, we multiply regulations, safe-guards, penalties;
+for the mind, on which all the rest so much depends, we provide none.
+The philosophy of legislation has yet a great step to advance--a step,
+perhaps, that may never--perhaps that can never--be taken; though of
+one thing we may be sure--that, till the great Eutopian dream is
+realized, and either by education, or some other means, a safeguard is
+provided for the minds of men as well as their bodies and their
+property, all the iron laws that can be enacted, will prove
+insufficient for the protection of those more tangible things which we
+think most easily defended. To regulate and guard the mind, especially
+in youth, is to turn the river near its source, and to ensure that it
+shall flow on in peace and bounty to the end; but to leave it
+unguided, and yet by law to strive to restrain man's actions, is to
+put weak floodgates against a torrent that we have suffered to
+accumulate. But no more of this. Perhaps what has been already said is
+too much, and out of place.
+
+Yet, to return. It is strange and sad that society does afford no
+stay, no support, to those who are left alone in the wide world; nay,
+more, that to be so left, seems in a great degree to sever the bond
+between us and society. "He must have some friends. Let him apply to
+them," we are apt to say, whenever one of these solitary ones comes
+before us, and whether it is advice, assistance, or defence, that is
+needed. "He must have some friends!"--It is a phrase in constant use;
+and, in our own hearts, we go on to say, "if he have not, he must have
+lost them by his own fault;" and yet how many events may deprive man,
+and much more frequently woman, of the only friends possessed!
+
+Poor Ella Brune felt that she was indeed alone; that there was no one
+to whom she could apply for anything that the heart and spirit of the
+bereaved and desolate might need. She knew, that had she been a leper,
+or halt, or blind, or fevered, she could have found those who would
+have tended, cured, supported her; but there was no comfort, no aid,
+for her loneliness; and scorn, or coldness, or selfish passion, or
+greedy knavery, would have met her, had she asked any one, in the wide
+crowd through which she passed, "Which way shall I turn my footsteps?
+how shall I bend my course through life?"
+
+She felt it deeply, bitterly, and, as I have said, walked on full of
+her own sad thoughts, while the numbers round her grew less and less.
+At length, in the sort of irregular street that, even then, began to
+stretch out from the edge of Farringdon, without the walls, into the
+country towards Charing, she was left with none near her but the two
+men of whom we have spoken, and an old woman, walking slowly on
+before. The men seemed to notice no one, and conversed with each other
+in an under tone, till, in the midst of the highway, a little beyond
+St. Clement's well, one or two small wooden houses appeared built in
+the middle of the high road, with the end of a narrow lane leading up
+to the Old Temple in Oldbourne, and the house of the Bishop of
+Lincoln. There, however, one of them advanced a step, and spoke a word
+to Ella Brune, over her shoulder.
+
+"Whither away, pretty maiden?" he said. "Are you not going to see the
+batch of country nobles who have come up to do homage?"
+
+"I am going home," answered Ella Brune, gravely; "and want no
+company;" and she hurried her pace to get rid of him. The next instant
+the other man was by her side, and taking her arm roughly, he said,
+"You must come with us first, our lord wishes to speak with you."
+
+Ella Brune struggled to disengage herself, saying, "Let me go, sir; if
+your lord wishes to speak with me, it must be at some other time. I
+have people expecting me hard by. Let me go, I say."
+
+"Ay, we know all about it," rejoined the man, still keeping his hold,
+and drawing her towards the mouth of the lane. "You live at the
+Falcon, pretty mistress; but you must go with us first."
+
+The sounds behind her had caused the old woman to turn round the
+moment before, and, seeing Ella struggling to free herself from the
+man who held her, she turned to remonstrate, exclaiming, "What are you
+about, sirs? Let the young woman go!"
+
+"Get you gone, old beldame!" cried the other man, thrusting her back.
+"What is it to you?" and at the same time he seized Ella by the other
+arm, and hurried her on, in spite of her resistance.
+
+"Beldame, indeed!" exclaimed the old woman, gazing after them. "Marry,
+thou art not civil. If thou callest me so, I will call thee Davy.[2] I
+will see whither they go, however;" and thus saying, at the utmost
+speed she could master, she followed the men who were dragging poor
+Ella Brune along, calling in vain for help--for the houses in that
+part of the suburb were few, and principally consisted either of the
+large gothic mansions of the nobility, shut in within their own gates
+and surrounded by gardens, or the inns of prelates, isolated in the
+same manner. Whither they were dragging her, the old woman could not
+divine: for she thought it unlikely that any of the persons who dwelt
+in that neighbourhood would sanction such a violent act. Ella herself,
+however, knew right well, for she had taken the same road the day
+before, on her brief visit to Sir Simeon of Roydon. Peril and
+wandering, and sad chances of various kinds, such as seldom are the
+lot of one so young, had taught her to remark every particular that
+passed before her eyes with a precision which fixed things in her
+memory that might have escaped the sight of others; and she had seen
+the snake embroidered on the breast and back of the knight's servants,
+and recognised the badge instantly on those who held her.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 2: A common expression of the lower classes of Londoners in
+old times.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+As she expected, the men stopped at the gates of the house, which were
+open, and dragged her into the court; but her cries and her resistance
+ceased the moment she had reached that place, for she knew that they
+were both in vain, and made up her mind from that moment to the course
+which she had to pursue.
+
+"Ha, ha! pretty maiden," said the man who had first spoken to her.
+"You are now willing to go, are you? Our lord is not lightly to be
+refused a visit from any fair dame. Come, come, I can manage her now,
+Pilcher; you stay at the foot of the stairs. Will you come willingly,
+girl, or must we carry you?"
+
+"I will come," answered Ella Brune; "not willingly, but because I
+must;" and, with the man still holding her by the arm, she mounted one
+of the flights of stairs which led straight from the court-yard to the
+rooms above. Following a long corridor, or gallery, lighted by a large
+window at the end, the man led her from the top of the stairs towards
+the back part of the house, and, opening a door on the right, bade her
+go in. After one hasty glance around, which showed her that it was
+vacant, she entered the small cabinet which was before her, and the
+door was immediately shut and locked. She now found herself in a dark
+and gloomy chamber, which probably had been originally intended either
+for secret conferences, or for a place of meditation and prayer, where
+the eye could not distract the mind by catching any of the objects
+without; for the only window which it possessed was so high up in the
+wall, that the sill was above the eyes of any person of ordinary
+height. There was but one door, too--that by which she had entered;
+and the whole of the walls of the room was covered with black oak, of
+which also the beams overhead were formed. A few chairs and a small
+table composed the only furniture which it contained; and Ella paused
+in the midst, leaning upon the table in deep thought. Her mind,
+indeed, was bent only on one point. What were the purposes of Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, she did not even ask herself; for she knew right
+well that they were evil. Nor did she consider what she should answer,
+or how she should act; for a strong and resolute mind judges and
+decides with a rapidity marvellous in the eyes of the slow and
+hesitating; and her determination was already formed. Her only inquiry
+was, what were the means of escape from the chamber in which she had
+been placed, what was its position in regard to the apartments which
+she had visited on the previous day, and which had appeared to be
+those usually occupied by Roydon himself.
+
+After thinking for some moments, and retracing with the aid of memory
+every step she had taken in the house, both on that morning and the
+day before, she judged, and judged rightly, that the chamber in which
+she had seen the knight must join that in which she now stood, though
+she had reached it by another entrance. The sound of voices, which she
+soon after heard speaking in a different direction from the gallery,
+confirmed her in that belief; for, though she could not distinguish
+any of the words, she felt convinced that the tones were those of Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, and of the man who had brought her thither.
+
+At length the speakers ceased, a door opened and shut, and then the
+key was turned in the lock of that which gave entrance to the room
+where she was confined. As she expected, the next moment Simeon of
+Roydon stood before her, bearing a sort of laughing triumph in his
+face, which only increased her abhorrence. He was advancing quickly,
+as if to take her hand, but she drew back, with her eyes fixed upon
+him, saying, "Come not too near, sir. I am somewhat dangerous at
+times, when I am offended."
+
+"Why, what folly is this, my sweet Ella!" said the knight; "my people
+tell me that you have resisted like a young wolf."
+
+"You may find me more of a wolf than you suppose," replied Ella Brune,
+coldly.
+
+"Nay," answered Sir Simeon, "we have ways of taming wolves--but I seek
+nothing but your good and happiness, foolish girl. Is it not much
+better for you to live in comfort and luxury, with rich garments, and
+dainty food, and glowing wine, to lie soft, and have no task, but to
+sing and play and please yourself, than to wander about over the wide
+world, the sport of 'prentices, or the companion of ruffians?"
+
+"There are ruffians in all stations." rejoined Ella Brune; "else had I
+not been here."
+
+The cheek of the knight glowed with an angry spot; but then again he
+laughed the moment after, in a tone more of mockery than of merriment,
+saying, "We will tame thee, pretty wolf, we will tame thee. Thou
+showest thy white teeth; but thou wilt not bite."
+
+"Be not sure of that," answered Ella Brune. "I know well how to defend
+myself, should need be, and have done so before now."
+
+"Well, we will see," replied Sir Simeon; "it takes some time to break
+a horse or hound, or train a hawk; and you shall have space allowed
+you. All soft and kindly entertainment shall you have. With me shall
+you eat and drink, and talk and sing, if you will. You shall have
+courtship, like a lady of the land, to try whether gentle means will
+do. But mark me, pretty Ella, if they will not, we must try others. I
+am resolved that you shall be mine by force, if not by kindness."
+
+"You dare not use it," answered Ella Brune.
+
+"And why not?" demanded the knight, with a haughty smile; "I have done
+more daring things than vanquish a coy maiden."
+
+"I know you have," said Ella Brune, in a grave and fearless tone; "but
+I will tell you why not. First, because, whatever be your care, it
+would come to the King's ears, and you would pay for it with your
+head. Next, because I carry about me wherewithal to defend myself;"
+and, putting her hand into her bosom, she drew forth a small short
+broad-bladed knife, in a silver case. "This is my only friend left me
+here," she continued; "and you may think, perchance, most gallant
+knight, and warrior upon women, that this, in so weak a hand as mine,
+is no very frightful weapon. But, let me tell you, that it was
+tempered in distant lands--ay, and anointed too; and you had better
+far give your heart to the bite of the most poisonous snake that
+crawls the valley of Egypt, than receive the lightest scratch from
+this. The hilt is always at hand--so, beware!"
+
+"Oh, we have antidotes," replied the knight; "antidotes for everything
+but love, sweet maid--and I swear, by your own bright eyes, that you
+shall be mine--so 'tis vain to resist. You shall have three days of
+tenderness; and then I may take a different tone."
+
+As he spoke, some one knocked for the second time--the first had been
+unheeded. The knight turned to the door, and opened it, demanding
+impatiently, "What is it?"
+
+"The Lord Combe and Sir Harry Alsover are in the court, desiring to
+speak with you," replied the servant who appeared.
+
+"Well, take them up to the other chamber," answered the knight; and,
+without saying more to his fair captive, he quitted the room, and once
+more locked the door.
+
+The moment he was in the corridor, however, he stopped, saying, in a
+meditative tone, "Stay, Easton." He hesitated for an instant, asking
+himself whether it were worth his while to pursue this course any
+farther, for a low minstrel girl, against such unexpected resistance.
+
+The hand of Heaven almost always, in its great mercy, casts obstacles
+in the way of the gratification of our baser passions, which give us
+time for thought and for repentance; so that, in almost every case, if
+we commit sin or crime, it is with the perverse determination of
+conquering both impediments and conviction. Conscience is seldom, if
+ever, left unaided by circumstances. But the wicked find, in those
+very circumstances which oppose their course, motives for pursuing it
+more fiercely.
+
+"No!" said Sir Simeon of Roydon, to himself--"By--! she shall not
+conquer me!--Tell the King!--She shall never have the means; for I
+will either tame her, till she be but my bird, to sing what note I
+please, or I will silence her tongue effectually. To be conquered by a
+woman!--No, no! She is very lovely; and her very lion look is worth
+all the soft simpering smiles on earth. Hark ye, Easton: there is a
+druggist, down by the Vintry, with whom I have had some dealings in
+days of yore. This girl has a poisoned dagger about her, which must be
+got from her. 'Tis a marvel she used it not on you, as you brought her
+along, for she drew it forth on me but now. The man's name is Tyler;
+and he would sell his soul for gold. Tell him that I have need of some
+cunning drug to make men sleep--to sleep, I say--understand me, not to
+die: to sleep so sound, however, that a light touch, or a low tone,
+would not awaken them. It must have as little taste as may be, that we
+may put it in her drink, or in her food; and then, while she sleeps,
+we'll draw the lion's teeth. He will give you anything for a noble;"
+and, after these innocent directions, the knight betook himself to the
+chamber whither he had directed his friends to be brought, and was
+soon in full tide of laughter and merriment at all the idle stories of
+the Court.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                             THE REMEDY.
+
+
+Nearly opposite to the old, half ruined gate of the Temple, there
+commenced, in the days I speak of, a very narrow lane, which wound up
+northward, till it joined the place now called Holborn, passing, in
+its course, under the walls of the inn, or house, of the Bishop of
+Lincoln, round his garden wall, and through the grounds of the Old
+Temple house, inhabited by the Knights Templars, before they built a
+dwelling for themselves, by the banks of the Thames. This Temple
+house, still called the Old Temple in the reign of Henry V., had been
+abandoned by the brethren in the year 1184, or thereabout. For some
+time it was used to lodge any of the fraternity who might visit
+England from foreign countries, when the new building was too full to
+afford them accommodation; but gradually this custom ceased, even
+before the suppression of the Order, and at its dissolution the Old
+Temple fell into sore decay. When the lands of the Templars were
+afterwards granted to the Knights of St. John, certain portions of the
+building, and several of the out-buildings, were granted by them to
+various artisans, who found it more convenient to carry on their
+several pursuits beyond the actual precincts of the city of London.
+One large antique gate, of heavy architecture, with immense walls, and
+with rooms in either of the two towers which flanked the lane I have
+mentioned, was tenanted by an armourer, who had erected his stithy
+behind, and who stored his various completed arms in the chamber on
+the right of the gate, where the porter had formerly lodged. Over the
+window of this room was suspended, under a rude penthouse of straw, to
+keep it from the rain, a huge casque, indicative of the tenant's
+profession; and, at about eight o'clock of the same morning on which
+Richard of Woodville quitted London, a little cavalcade, consisting of
+a tall gaunt old man on a strong black horse, a young lady on a white
+genet, and three stout yeomen, rode slowly up to the gate-house, and
+drew their bridles there, pausing to gaze for a moment or two through
+the deep arch at the forge beyond, where the flame glowed and the
+anvil rang, throwing a red glare into the shadowy doorway, and
+drowning the sound of the horses' feet.
+
+"Halloo! Launcelot Plasse!" cried old Sir Philip Beauchamp, in as loud
+a tone as he thought needful to call the attention of the person he
+wanted--"halloo!"
+
+But the cyclops within went on with their hammering; and, after
+another ineffectual effort to make them hear, the good knight called
+up his men to hold the horses, and lifting Mary Markham as lightly to
+the ground as if she had been but the weight of a feather, he said,
+"We must go in and bellow in this deaf man's ear, till we outdo his
+own noise. Stay here, Mary, I will rouse him;" and, advancing through
+the open gate, he seized the bare arm of the armourer, exclaiming,
+"What, Launcelot! wouldst thou brain me?--Why, how now, man! has the
+roaring of thine own forge deafened thee?"
+
+The elderly white-headed man to whom he spoke turned round and gazed
+at him, leaning his strong muscular arm upon his hammer, and wiping
+the drops from his brow. "By St. Jude!" he cried, after a moment's
+consideration, "I think it is Sir Philip Beauchamp. Yet your head is
+as white as the ashes, and when I knew him it was a grizzled black,
+like pauldrons traced with silver lines; and you are mighty thin and
+bony for stout Sir Philip, whose right hand would have knocked down an
+ox!"
+
+"Fifteen years, Launcelot! fifteen years!" answered the knight; "they
+bend a stout frame, as thou beatest out a bit of iron; and, if my head
+be white, thy black hairs are more easy to be counted than found. Yet
+both our arms might do some service in their own way yet."
+
+"Well, I am glad to see you again, noble knight," replied the
+armourer; "though I thought that it would be no more, before you and I
+went our ways to dust. But, what lack you? There must be some wars
+toward, to bring an old knight to the stithy; for well I wot, you are
+not going to buy a tilting suit, or do battle for a fair lady. God
+send us some good wholesome wars right soon! We have had nothing
+lately, but the emprise of the Duke of Clarence. King Harry the Fourth
+got tired of his armour; pray Heaven, his son love the weight better,
+or I must let the forge cool, and that were a shame."
+
+"Nay, 'tis not for myself," replied Sir Philip. "I have more arms,
+Launcelot, than ever I shall don in life again. My next suit--unless
+the King make haste--will be in the chancel of the church at Abbot's
+Ann. What I want is for my nephew, Dickon of Woodville; he is going to
+foreign lands, in search of renown; and I would fain choose him a suit
+myself, for you know I am somewhat of a judge in steel."
+
+"You were always accounted so, noble sir," replied the armourer, with
+a grave and important face; "and, if you had not been a knight, might
+have taken my trade out of my hands. But whither does Childe Richard
+go? We must know that, for every land has its own arms; and it would
+not do to give him for Italy what is good for France, nor for
+Palestine what would suit Italy."
+
+The old knight informed him that his nephew was first to visit
+Burgundy; and the armourer exclaimed, with a well satisfied air, "Then
+I can provide him to a point; for I have Burgundian arms all ready,
+even to flaming swords, if he must have them; but 'tis a foolish and
+fanciful weapon, far less serviceable than the good straight edge and
+point. But come, Sir Philip, let us go into the armoury. 'Tis well
+nigh crammed full, for gentlemen buy little; and yet I go on hammering
+with my men, till I have put all the money that I got in the wars,
+into arms."
+
+Thus saying, he covered himself with the leathern jerkin, which he had
+cast off while at work, and returned with his old acquaintance to the
+room in which the various pieces of armour, that he kept ready, were
+preserved. Sir Philip called Mary Markham to assist in the choice; but
+it soon became evident to both, that no selection could be made in
+good Launcelot Plasse's armoury--for not only was the room, to their
+eyes, as dark as the pit of Acheron, but the armour was piled up in
+such confused heaps, that it was hardly possible to take a step
+therein without stumbling over breast-plate or bascinet, pauldrons or
+brassières.
+
+"Fie, Launcelot, fie!" cried Sir Philip; "this is a sad deranged show.
+Why, a stout man-at-arms always keeps his armour in array."
+
+"When he has room and time, Sir Philip," answered the man; "but here I
+have neither. However, you and the fair lady go forth under the arch,
+and I will bring you out what is wanted. Here, knave Martin," he
+continued, calling one of his men from the forge, "bring out the great
+bench, and set it under the gate, quick!--What is your nephew's
+height, Sir Philip?"
+
+"What my own used to be," replied the old knight; "six feet and half
+an inch--and there is his measure round the waist."
+
+The bench was soon brought forward, being nothing else than a large
+solid table of some six inches thick; and by it Sir Philip Beauchamp
+and fair Mary Markham took their station, while Launcelot Plasse, with
+the aid of one of his men, dug out from the piles within, various
+pieces of armour which he thought might suit the taste of his old
+customer, laying them down at the door, to be brought forward as
+required. The first article, however, that he carried to the bench,
+was a cuirass of one piece, evidently old--for not only was it
+somewhat rusty about the angles, but in the centre there was a large
+rough-edged hole.
+
+"Why, what is this?" exclaimed Sir Philip; "this will never do--"
+
+"Nay, it has done, and left undone enough," replied the armourer. "I
+brought it but to show you. In that placcate was killed Harry Hotspur.
+I do not say that was the hole that let death in; for men aver that it
+was a stab in the throat with a coustel, when he was down, that slew
+him; but the blow that made _that_ bore him to the ground, other wise
+Shrewsbury field might have gone differently. Now I will fetch the
+rest. You see, fairest lady, what gentlemen undergo for the love of
+praise, and your bright eyes."
+
+Thus saying, he took back the breast-plate, and brought forward,
+supported on his arm, one of the bascinets or casques worn in the
+field, which were lighter and considerably smaller than the jousting
+helmets. It was of a round or globular shape, with a small elevation
+at the top, in which to fix the feathers then usually displayed; and
+on the forehead was a plate, or band of white enamel, inscribed with
+the words, "Ave Maria." Sir Philip Beauchamp made some objections to
+the form; but Mary Markham, after she had read the inscription,
+pronounced in favour of the bascinet; and the armourer himself had so
+much to say of its defensive qualities, of the excellent invention of
+making the ventaille rise by plates from below, and of the temper of
+the steel, that Sir Philip, after having examined it minutely, waived
+his objections. The price being fixed, the body armour to match was
+brought forward, piece by piece, and laid upon the bench. It was of
+complete plate, as was now the custom of the day, but yet many pieces
+of the old chain hauberk were retained to cover the joinings of the
+different parts. Thus beneath the gorget, or camail, which covered the
+throat, was a sort of tippet formed of interlaced rings of steel, to
+hang down over the cuirass and afford additional protection; while, at
+the same time, from the tassets which terminated the cuirass, hung a
+broad edge of the same, to complete their junction with the cuissards,
+or thigh pieces.
+
+This arrangement pleased the old knight very much; for it was a
+remnant of the customs of ancient times, when he himself was young,
+and which totally disappeared before many years were over; but with
+the cuirass he quarrelled very much, exclaiming, "What, will men never
+have done with their idle fancies? 'Tis bad enough to divide the
+breast-plate into two, and hang the lower part to the upper by that
+red strap and buckle; but what is the use of sticking out the breast,
+like that of a fat-cropped pigeon?"
+
+"It gives greater use to the arms, noble sir," replied Launcelot
+Plasse, "and turns a lance much easier, from being quite round.
+Besides, it is the fashion of the court of Burgundy: and no noble
+gentleman could appear there well without. The palettes, too, you see,
+are shaped like a fan, and gilt with quaint figures at the corners. It
+cost me nine days to make these palettes alone, and the genouillières,
+which have the same work upon them. Then the pauldrons--see how they
+are artfully turned over at the top of the shoulder with a gilt
+bordure."
+
+"And pray, what may that be for?" demanded the old knight; "we had no
+such tricks in my days to make a man look like a cray-fish."
+
+"That is to give the arm fuller sweep and sway, either with axe or
+sword," answered the armourer. "You can thus raise your hand quite up
+to your very crest, which you could never do before, since pauldrons
+were invented."
+
+"We used to give good stout strokes in the year eighty," rejoined Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, "as you well know, Master Launcelot. But boys must
+have boys' things--so let it pass; but, what between one piece and
+another, it will take a man an hour to get into his harness, with all
+these buckles and straps. But I will tell you what, Master Launcelot,
+I will have no tuilles over the cuissards; they were a barbarous and
+unnatural custom, and very inconvenient too. I was once nearly thrown
+to the ground in Gascony, by the point catching the saddle as I
+mounted."
+
+"Oh! they are quite gone out of use," replied the armourer; "and we
+now either make the tassets long, or add a guipon of mail, coming down
+to the thighs."
+
+The jambes or steel boots, the sollerets or coverings for the feet,
+the brassards, gauntlets, and vambraces were then discussed and
+purchased, not without some chaffering on the part of the old knight,
+who was a connoisseur in the price as well as in the fashion of
+armour; but Launcelot Plasse had so much to say in favour of his
+commodities, that he obtained very nearly the sum he demanded.
+
+He then proceeded to prove to Sir Philip Beauchamp, that the suit
+would not be complete without the testière, the chanfron, and the
+manefaire and poitral of, the horse to correspond; and, though his
+customer was not inclined to spend anymore money, yet a soft word or
+two from Mary Markham won the day for the armourer, and he was
+directed to bring forth the horse armour for inspection.
+
+While he and his men were busy fulfilling this command, the old knight
+turned, hearing some one speaking eagerly, and apparently imploringly,
+to his attendants; and, seeing an old woman poorly dressed conversing
+with them, he inquired, "What does the woman want, Hugh?"
+
+"Ah! noble sir," replied the old dame, "if you would but interfere, it
+might save sin and wrong. I have just seen a poor girl dragged away by
+two men up to a house in the lane, called Burwash-house, where they
+have taken her in against her will."
+
+"Ha!" cried Sir Philip Beauchamp; "why, he is an old and reverend man,
+my good Lord of Burwash, and will not suffer such things in his
+mansion. I will send up one of the men to tell him."
+
+"The noble lord is not there, fair sir," replied the woman; "but he
+has lent his house to some gay knight, whose men do what they please
+with the poor people. 'Tis but yesterday my own child was struck by
+one of them."
+
+"If there be wrong done, you must go to the officers of the duchy,
+good woman," answered the knight, whose blood was cold with age, and
+who could be prudent till he was chafed. "I will send one of the
+yeomen with you, to get you a hearing. These things should be amended;
+but when Kings' sons will beat the citizens, and brawl in Cheape,
+there is no great hope."
+
+"Good faith, Sir Philip!" cried the armourer, who had just come forth,
+bearing the manefaire upon his arm, "if it be the Duke of Clarence you
+speak of, and his brother John, 'twas they got beaten, and did not
+beat. We Londoners are sturdy knaves, and take not drubbings
+patiently, whether from lord or prince."
+
+"And you are right, too," replied the old knight; "men are not made to
+be the sport of other men. But what's to be done about this girl,
+Launcelot? You know the customs here better than I do. The good woman
+says they have carried a girl off against her will to Burwash-house
+here, hard by."
+
+"Why, that's the back of it," cried Launcelot Plasse. "The old lord is
+not there, but in his stead one Sir Simeon of Roydon, who, if I
+mistake not, will never win much renown by stroke of lance. Wait a
+minute, my good woman, till I have sold my goods, and then I and my
+men will go up with you, and set the girl free, or it shall go hard,
+if you are certain she was taken against her will."
+
+"She shrieked loud enough to make you all hear," replied the old
+woman.
+
+"I thought there was a noise when we were hammering at the back
+piece," observed one of the men.
+
+"I heard nothing," said Launcelot Plasse.
+
+"Oh, go at once, go at once," cried Mary Markham; "you know not how
+she may be treated. We can wait till you return. Send the men with
+them, dear Sir Philip."
+
+"I will go myself, Mary," replied the knight. "Come along, my men,
+leave one with the horses, and the rest follow."
+
+"I am with you, Sir Philip," cried the armourer. "Bring your hammers,
+lads, we will make short work of oaken doors."
+
+But ere Sir Philip Beauchamp had taken two steps up the lane, the
+casement of a large window in the house which had been pointed out,
+was thrown suddenly open, and a woman's head appeared. The sill of the
+window was some twelve or fourteen feet from the ground; but, to the
+surprise of all, without seeming to pause for a moment, the girl whom
+they beheld set her foot upon it, caught the iron bar which ran down
+the middle of the casement, seemed to twist something round it, and
+then suffered herself to drop, hanging by her hands, first from the
+bar, and then from a scarf.
+
+She was still some five or six feet from the ground, however; and Mary
+Markham, who had been watching eagerly, clasped her hands, and turned
+away her head. Sir Philip Beauchamp, and the men who accompanied him
+paused, and they could hear a voice from within exclaim, "Follow her
+like light, by the back door! She will to the King, and that were
+ruin. What fear you, fool? She has broken the dagger in the lock, do
+you not see?"
+
+As he spoke, the girl, after a momentary hesitation, during which she
+hung suspended by the hands, wavering with the motion which she had
+given herself in dropping from above, let go her hold, and sank to the
+ground. Fortunately the lane was soft and sandy; and she fell light,
+coming down, indeed, upon one knee, but instantly starting up again
+unhurt.
+
+She then gazed wildly round her for an instant, and put her hand to
+her head, as if asking herself whither she should fly; but the sight
+of the old knight and his companions, and the sound of an opening door
+on the other side, brought her indecision quickly to an end, and
+running rapidly forward, she cast herself at Sir Philip Beauchamp's
+feet, embracing his knee, and crying, "Save me!--save me, noble sir!"
+
+At the moment she reached the good old man, two stout fellows, who had
+rushed from a door in the wall, and followed her at full speed, were
+within two paces of her; and one of them caught her by the arm, even
+at the knight's feet, as he was in the act of commanding him to keep
+aloof.
+
+"Stand back, fellow!" thundered Sir Philip Beauchamp, with the blood
+coming up into his withered cheek; and the next moment, in the midst
+of an insolent reply, he struck the knave in the face with his
+clenched fist, knocking him backwards all bloody on the ground.
+
+The other man, who had more than once accompanied Sir Simeon of Roydon
+to Dunbury, and recognised its lord, slunk back to the house, stopped
+some others who were following, and then hastened in, to tell his
+master in whom Ella Brune had found a protector.
+
+The man who had been knocked down, rose, gazed fiercely at the knight,
+and then looked behind him for support; but seeing his companions
+retreating, he too retrod his steps, not without muttering some
+threats of vengeance; while the old armourer cried after him, "Never
+show your faces again in the lane, knaves, or we will hide you back
+like hounds, or pound you like strayed swine."
+
+In the meanwhile, Sir Philip had raised up the poor girl; and Mary
+Markham was soothing her tenderly, as Ella, finding herself safe, gave
+way to the tears which her strong resolution had repressed in the
+actual moment of difficulty and danger.
+
+"Come, come, do not weep, poor thing," said the knight, laying his
+large, bony hand upon her shoulder. "We will take care of you. Who is
+it that has done this?"
+
+"A bad man, called Simeon of Roydon," replied Ella Brune, wiping away
+the tears.
+
+"We know him," said Mary Markham, in a kindly tone; "and do not love
+him, my poor girl."
+
+"And I have cause to love him less, noble lady," replied Ella Brune,
+waving her head mournfully. "'Tis but two nights ago he killed the
+last friend I had; and now he would have wronged me shamefully."
+
+"Killed him!" exclaimed Mary; "what! murdered him?"
+
+"'Twas the same as murder," replied the girl; "he rode him down in a
+mad frolic--a poor blind man. He is not yet in his grave."
+
+"Come, come--be comforted," said Sir Philip. "Let us hear how all this
+chanced."
+
+"We will be your friends, poor girl," added Mary Markham; and then,
+turning to the old knight, she asked, in a low tone, "can we not take
+her home with us?"
+
+Sir Philip gazed at the minstrel's girl from head to foot, and then
+shrugged his shoulders slightly, with a significant look, as he
+remarked her somewhat singular dress.
+
+"Nay, nay," said Mary Markham, in the same low tone; "do not let that
+stop you, noble friend. There may be some good amongst even them."
+
+"Well, be it as you will, Mary," answered the old knight; "she must be
+better than she looks, to do as she has done. Come, poor thing--you
+shall go home with us, and there tell us more. Wait till I have
+finished the purchase of this harness, and we will go along back to
+Westminster; though how to take you through the streets in that guise,
+I do not well know."
+
+"Get a boat, sir, at a landing by the Temple," said Launcelot Plasse,
+"and send the horses by land."
+
+"A good thought," replied the knight; and thus it was arranged, the
+whole party returning to the armourer's shop, and thence, after the
+bargain was made, and all directions were given, proceeding to the
+water-side, where a boat was soon procured, which bore them speedily
+to the landing-place at Westminster.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XV.
+
+                             THE PILGRIM.
+
+
+One morning, while the events which I have lately detailed were
+passing in the city of London, a man in a long brown gown, with a
+staff in his hand, a cross upon his shoulder, and a cockle-shell in
+his hat, walked slowly, and apparently wearily, into the little
+village of Abbot's Ann, and sat himself down on a stone bench before
+the reeve's door.
+
+Recognising the pilgrim from some far distant land as she looked out
+of her casement window, the good dame, with the charitable spirit of
+the age, took him forth some broken victuals and a cup of ale, and
+inquired what news he brought from over sea. The wanderer, however,
+seemed more inclined to ask than answer questions, and was apparently
+full of wonder and amazement at the tragic story--which he had just
+heard, he said--of the death of the Lady Catherine Beauchamp. He
+prayed the good woman, for love and for charity's sake, to tell him
+all about it; and she, very willing to gratify him--for every country
+gossip gains dignity while telling a horrible tale--began at the
+beginning of the affair, as far as she knew it; and related how, just
+on the night after the last Glutton mass, as Childe Richard of
+Woodville, their lord's nephew, was riding down the road with a
+friend, he heard a shriek, and, on hurrying to the water, found the
+body of the poor young lady floating down the stream; how the two
+gentlemen bore her to the chanter's cottage; and how marks were found
+upon her person, which seemed to prove that she had come to her death
+by unfair means.
+
+"And has the murderer been discovered, sister?" inquired the old
+pilgrim.
+
+"Alas, no!" replied the reeve's wife; "there have been whispers about,
+but nothing certain."
+
+"Ay, murder will out, sooner or later," answered the pilgrim. "And
+whom did the whispers point at?"
+
+"Nay," replied Dame Julian, "I know not that I ought to say; but, to a
+reverend man like you, who have visited the shrine of St. James, there
+can be no harm in speaking of these things, especially as we all know
+that the whispers are false. Well, then--but you must tell nobody what
+I say--the lady's own lover--husband, indeed, I might call him, for
+they were betrothed by holy church--has been accused of having done
+the deed; but every one who knows Sir Harry Dacre is right sure that
+he would have sooner cut off both his hands; and, besides, the miller
+of Clatford Mill told me--'twas but yesterday morning--that, half an
+hour before sunset, on that very day when all this happened, he saw
+Sir Harry at his own place, and opened the gate for him to go through.
+He remembered it, he said, because the knight had torn his hand with a
+nail in the gate, by trying to open it without dismounting; and as
+soon as he was through, he rode on towards Wey Hill, which is quite
+away from here."
+
+"Might he not have come back again by some other road?" asked the
+pilgrim.
+
+"No," answered Dame Julian, "not without going four miles round; and,
+besides, the miller told me that his man Job saw the knight, half an
+hour after, at the top of Wey Hill, halting his horse, and gazing at
+the sun setting. Now that's a good way off, and this deed was done
+just after close of day."
+
+"Then that clears him," replied the pilgrim; "but is there no one else
+suspected?"
+
+The good woman shook her head, and he added--"Was nobody seen about
+here who might have had cause to wish the lady ill?"
+
+"None," said Dame Julian, with a low laugh, "but one who might perhaps
+wish her dead; for he got all her wealth, which was prodigious, they
+say."
+
+"Ay, was he seen about, then?" demanded the pilgrim; "there might be
+suspicion there."
+
+"Why," said the reeve's wife, "he was staying up at the Hall, and
+passed homeward about three. It might be a little later, but not much.
+What became of him afterwards I do not know; and yet, now I think of
+it, he must have remained in the place some time, for he was seen an
+hour after, or more, by a girl, who asked me who he was."
+
+"Tis a wonder she did not know him," said the pilgrim, "if she lives
+in this place."
+
+"But that she does not," answered Dame Julian. "She dwells a good way
+off, and was here by chance."
+
+"Ay, 'tis a sad tale, indeed," rejoined her companion; "but I must go,
+good dame. Gramercy for your bounty. But tell me,--I saw an abbey as I
+came along; have they any famous relics there?"
+
+"Ay, that they have," rejoined the reeve's wife, with a look of pride.
+"Our abbey is as rich in relics as any other in England;" and she
+began an enumeration of all the valuable things that it contained;
+amongst which, the objects that she seemed to set the greatest store
+by, was a finger of St. Luke the Evangelist, the veil of the blessed
+Virgin, and one of the ribs of St. Ursula.
+
+The pilgrim declared that he must positively go and visit them, as he
+never passed any holy relics without sanctifying himself by their
+touch.
+
+He accordingly took his way towards the abbey direct, and visited and
+prayed at the several shrines which the church contained, having
+secured the company and guidance of one of the monks, who were always
+extremely civil and kind to pilgrims and palmers, when they did not
+come exactly in the guise of beggars. The present pilgrim was of a
+very different quality; and he completely won the good graces and
+admiration of the attendant monk, not so much, indeed, by the devotion
+with which he told his beads and repeated his prayers, as by his
+generosity in laying down a large piece of silver before the rib of
+St. Ursula, another at the shrine of St. Luke, and a small piece of
+gold opposite to the veil of the blessed Virgin.
+
+Having thus prepared the way, the stranger proceeded to open a
+conversation with the monk, somewhat similar to that which he had held
+with Dame Julian, the reeve's wife; and now a torrent of information
+flowed in upon him; for his companion had been one of the brethren who
+accompanied the abbot to the cottage whither the body of Catherine
+Beauchamp had been carried. The tale, however, though told with much
+loquacity, furnished but few particulars beyond those which the
+pilgrim had already gained; for the monk appeared a meek, good man,
+who took everything as he found it, and deduced but little from
+anything that he heard. All that he knew, indeed, he was ready to
+tell; but he had neither readiness nor penetration sufficient to
+gather much information, or to sift the corn from the chaff.
+
+The pilgrim seemed somewhat disappointed, for he was certainly anxious
+to hear more; and he was on the eve of leaving the church unsatisfied,
+when he beheld another monk pacing the opposite aisle, with a grave,
+and even dull air. He was an old man, with a short, thin, white beard,
+and heavy features, which, till one examined closely, gave an
+expression of stupidity to his whole countenance, only relieved by the
+small, elephant-like eye, which sparkled brightly under its shaggy
+eyebrow.
+
+"What brother is that?" demanded the pilgrim, looking across the
+church.
+
+"Oh, that is brother Martin," replied the monk; "a dull and silent
+man, from whom you will get nothing. He is skilled in drugs and
+medicines, it is true. His cell is like an alchymist's shop; but we
+all think he must have committed some great sin in days of old, for
+half his time is spent in prayers and penances, and the other half in
+distilling liquors, or roasting lumps of clay and other stuffs in
+crucibles and furnaces. 'Tis rather hard, the lord abbot favours him
+so much, and has granted him two cells, the best in the whole
+monastery, to follow these vain studies, which, in my mind, come near
+to magic and sorcery. I saw him once, with my own eyes, make a piece
+of paper, cut in the shape of a man, dance upright, as if it had
+life."
+
+"I will speak to him," said the pilgrim, "and will soon let you know
+if there be anything forbidden in his studies; for I have been in
+lands full of witches and sorcerers, and have learnt to discover them
+in an instant."
+
+"'Tis a marvel if he answers you at all," replied the monk; "for he's
+as silent as a frog; but, I pray you, let me hear what you think of
+him."
+
+"Ay, that I will," rejoined the stranger; "but you must keep away
+while we talk together, lest the presence of another might close his
+lips. I will seek you out afterwards, brother; I think your name is
+Clement? so the porter told me."
+
+"The same, the same," replied the monk. "I will go to the refectory."
+But, before he went, he paused for a minute or two, and watched the
+pilgrim crossing the nave, and addressing brother Martin. At first, he
+seemed to receive no answer but a monosyllable. The next instant,
+however, much to his surprise, Clement saw the silent brother turn
+round, gaze intently upon the pilgrim's face, and then enter into an
+eager conversation with him. What was the subject of which they spoke
+he could not divine, or, rather, what was the secret by which the
+pilgrim had contrived to break the charmed taciturnity of silent
+brother Martin; and his curiosity was so much excited, that he thought
+fit to cross over also, though with a slow and solemn step, in order
+to benefit by this rare accident. The small, clear, grey eye of
+brother Martin, however, caught Clement's movements in a moment, and
+laying his hand upon the sleeve of the pilgrim's gown, he led him,
+with a quick step, through a small side door that opened into the
+cloister, and thence to his own cell, leaving the inquisitive monk,
+who did not choose to discompose his dignity, or shake his fat sides
+by rapid motion, behind them in the church.
+
+What turn their communications took, and whether the pilgrim
+discovered or not that brother Martin was addicted to the black art,
+Clement never learned--for the faithless visitor of the abbey totally
+forgot to fulfil his promise; and when, at the end of about two hours,
+he took his departure, it was by the back door leading from the
+cloister over the fields. The high road was at no great distance, and
+along it he trudged with a much more light and active step than that
+which had borne him into the village on his first appearance; so that,
+had good Dame Julian, the reeve's wife, seen him as he went back, she
+might have been inclined to think that brother Martin had employed
+upon him some magical device, to change age into youth.
+
+About half a mile from Andover, the pilgrim turned a little from the
+road, and, sitting down in a neighbouring field, took out of his
+wallet a large kerchief, and an ordinary hood,--then stripped off his
+brown gown and hat, laying them deliberately in the kerchief, and next
+divested himself of a quantity of white hair, which left him with a
+shock head of a lightish brown hue, a short tabard of blue cloth, a
+stout pair of riding boots, and a dagger at his girdle.
+
+"So ends my pilgrimage!" said Ned Dyram, as he packed up his disguise
+in the napkin; "and, by my faith, I have brought home my wallet well
+stored. Out upon it!--am I to labour thus always for others? No, by my
+faith! I will at least keep some of the crusts I have got for myself;
+and if others want them they must pay for them. Let me see;--we will
+divide them fairly. Dame Julian and brother Clement in one lot;
+brother Martin in the other. That will do; and if aught be said about
+it hereafter, I will speak the truth, and avow that, had I been paid,
+I would have spoken. Alchemy is a great thing;--without its aid I
+could never have transmuted brother Martin's leaden silence into such
+golden loquacity. Why, I have taught the old man more in an hour than
+he has learned in his life before; and he has given wheat for rye; so
+that we are even."
+
+With these sage reflections, Ned Dyram put his packet under his arm
+and walked on to Andover--where, at a little hostelry by the side of
+the river, he paused and called for his horse, which was soon brought.
+A cup of ale sufficed him for refreshment, and after he had drained it
+to the dregs, he trotted off upon the road to London, still meditating
+over all that he had learned at Abbot's Ann and Dunbury Abbey, and
+somewhat hesitating as to the course which he had to pursue.
+
+It would afford little either of instruction or amusement, were I to
+trace all the reflections of a cunning but wayward mind--for such was
+that of Edward Dyram. Naturally possessed of considerable abilities,
+quick in acquirements, retentive in memory, keen, observing,
+dexterous, he might have risen to wealth, and perhaps distinction; for
+his were not talents of that kind which led some of the best scholars
+of that day to beg from door to door, with a certificate of their
+profound science from the chancellors of their universities, but of a
+much more serviceable and worthy kind. A certain degree of waywardness
+of mind and inconstancy of disposition--often approaching that touch
+of insanity, which affected, or was affected by, those wise men the
+court fools of almost all epochs--and an unscrupulousness in matters
+of principle, which left his conduct often in very doubtful balance
+between honesty and knavery, had barred his advancement in all the
+many walks he had tried. He had strong, and even ungovernable animal
+impulses also, which had more than once led him into situations of
+difficulty, and between which and his natural ambition, there was the
+same struggle that frequently took place between his good sense and
+his folly. He laboured hard, not perhaps to govern his passions, but
+rather to keep their gratification within safe limits; and he felt a
+sort of ill-will towards himself when they overcame him, which
+generated a cynical bitterness towards others. That bitterness was
+also increased by a consciousness of not having succeeded in any
+course as much as the talents he knew himself to possess might have
+ensured; but it must not be supposed for one moment that Ned Dyram
+ever attributed the failure of his efforts for advancement to himself.
+The injustice or folly of others, he thought, or the concurrence of
+untoward circumstances, had alone kept him in an inferior situation.
+Though the King, on his accession to the throne, had extended to him
+greater favour than to any other of those who had participated in the
+wild exploits of his youth, simply because Ned Dyram had never
+prompted or led in any unjustifiable act, and had not withheld the
+bitterness of his tongue even from the youthful follies of the Prince,
+yet he felt a rankling disappointment at not having been promoted and
+honoured, without ever suspecting that Henry might have seen in him
+faults or failings that would have rendered him a more dangerous
+servant to a sovereign than to a private individual. Yet such was the
+case; for that great prince's eyes were clear-sighted and keen; and
+though he had not troubled himself to study all the intricacies of the
+man's character, he had perceived many qualities which he believed
+might be amended by mingling with the world in an inferior station,
+but which unfitted the possessor at the time for close attendance upon
+a monarch.
+
+Ned Dyram, however, though affecting that bluntness which is so often
+mistaken for sincerity, was not without sufficient pliancy to conceal
+his mortification, and to perform eagerly whatever task the King
+imposed upon him. I do not say, indeed, that he proposed to perform it
+well, unless it suited his own views and wishes. He did the monarch's
+bidding with alacrity, because on that he thought his future fortune
+might depend; but he did not make up his mind to ensure success by
+diligence, activity, and zeal--satisfying himself by saying, that "the
+result must ever depend upon circumstances;" and one of those
+circumstances was always, in this case, Ned Dyram's own good will.
+
+He had some hesitation, however, and some fear; for there was but one
+man in England whose displeasure he dreaded, and that man was the
+King. But yet I would not imply that it was his power he feared alone:
+he feared offending the man rather than the monarch, for Henry had
+acquired over him that influence which can be obtained only by a great
+and superior mind over one less large and comprehensive. It was the
+majesty of that great prince's intellect of which he stood in awe, not
+the splendour of his throne; and perhaps he might have yielded to the
+impression in the present instance, and done all that he ought to have
+done, had he not perceived too clearly the feelings which prompted him
+to do so; for as soon as he was conscious that dread of the King was
+operating to drive him in a certain direction, the dogged perversity
+of his nature rose up and dragged him to the contrary side. He called
+himself "a cowed hound;" and, with all the obstinate vanity of a
+wrong-headed man, he resolved to prove to himself that he had no fear,
+by acting in direct opposition to the dread of which he was conscious.
+
+As the best way of conquering all scruples, he treated them lightly
+from that moment; quickened his horse's pace, stopped to sup and sleep
+about fifteen miles from London, and presented himself at the gates of
+the palace at an early hour next morning. There he was kept waiting
+for some time, as the King was at council; but at length he was
+admitted to the monarch's presence, and, in answer to questions, which
+evidently showed that he had been sent into Hampshire to collect
+information of a more definite character than had previously reached
+Henry's ears, in regard to the death of Catherine Beauchamp, he gave
+his sovereign at full all the tidings he had gained from Dame Julian,
+the reeve's wife, from brother Clement, and from two or three other
+persons, whom he had seen before he met with those I have mentioned.
+Of brother Martin, however, he said not a word; and Henry mused for
+several minutes without observation.
+
+"Well," he said at length, "refresh yourself and your horse, Ned; and
+then go back and join your new lord. Here is largess for your service,
+though I am sorry you have been able to gain no more clear
+intelligence;" and at the same moment he poured the contents of a
+small leathern purse, which had been lying on the table, into his
+hand.
+
+The amount was far larger than Ned Dyram had expected;--for Henry was
+one of the most open-handed men on earth--and he paused, looked from
+the gold to the monarch, and seemed about to speak. At that moment,
+however, the door of the room opened, and a young gentleman entered in
+haste. By the stern and somewhat contracted, but high forehead--by the
+quick, keen eye, and by the compressed lips, Ned Dyram instantly
+recognised Prince John of Lancaster; and, at a sign from the King, he
+bowed low and quitted the presence.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI.
+
+                           THE NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+Ella Brune sat on a stool at the feet of Mary Markham, on the day
+after Richard of Woodville's departure from London, and certainly a
+more beautiful contrast was seldom seen than between the fair lady and
+the minstrel girl, as the one told and the other listened to, the tale
+of the old man's death, and all that had since occurred. The eyes of
+both were full of tears, which did not run over, indeed, but hung
+trembling on the eyelid, like drops of summer dew in the cup of a
+flower; and Mary Markham, with the kind, familiar impulse of sympathy,
+stretched forth her fair hand twice, and pressed that of her less
+fortunate companion, as she told the tale of her sorrows, and her
+sufferings. The poor girl's heart yearned towards her gentle friend,
+as she remarked her sympathy for all she felt,--her grief at the death
+of the poor old man, her pleasure at the conduct of Ella's generous
+protector, her indignation at the persecution she had suffered from a
+man whom she herself scorned and despised. But one thing is to be
+remarked. The name of Sir Simeon of Roydon, Ella spoke plainly, and
+repeated often, during her narrative; but that of Richard of
+Woodville, from some latent feeling in her own heart, she shrunk from
+pronouncing. It might be, that the meaning looks and smiles of the
+people of the inn where she had visited him, made her believe that
+others would entertain the suspicions or fancies which she imagined
+that those looks implied. It might be that she doubted her own heart,
+or that she knew there really were therein sensations which she
+dreaded to acknowledge to herself, and still more to expose to the
+eyes of others. Thus she gave him any other designation than his own
+name. She called him "the noble gentleman who had befriended her,"
+"her protector," "her benefactor,"--everything, in short, but Richard
+of Woodville.
+
+Mary Markham observed this reserve; and, as woman's heart, even in the
+most simple and single-minded, is always learned in woman's secrets,
+Mary judged, and judged rightly, that gratitude was growing up in
+Ella's bosom into love. She could very well understand that it should
+be so; she thought it natural--so natural, that it could scarce be
+otherwise; and what she felt within herself would have made her very
+lenient to passion in others, even had she been more harsh and severe
+than she was. She took a deep interest in the poor girl and her whole
+history, and not less in her grateful love than in any other part
+thereof; so that she was anxious to learn who and what this unnamed
+benefactor was, in order that she might judge whether there was the
+least hope or chance of Ella's tenderness meeting due return.
+
+"He was a generous and noble-hearted knight, indeed," she said; "more
+like the ancient chivalry, my poor girl, than the heartless nobility
+of the present day."
+
+"He is not a knight," answered Ella, timidly; "but I am sure he soon
+will be, for he well deserves his spurs."
+
+"And he is young and handsome, of course, Ella?" said Mary Markham,
+with a smile.
+
+The minstrel girl coloured, but answered nothing; and Mary went on,
+saying, "But you must tell me his name, Ella; I would fain know who is
+this noble gentleman."
+
+Thus plainly asked, Ella Brune could not refuse to answer; and,
+bending down her bright eyes upon the ground, she said, "His name is
+Richard of Woodville, lady."
+
+She spoke in a tone so low, that the words might have been inaudible
+to any other ear than that of Mary Markham. The well-known sound,
+however, was instantly caught by her, producing emotions in her heart
+such as she had never felt before. Her very breath seemed stopped; her
+bosom fluttered, as if there had been a caged bird within; her cheek
+turned very pale, and then flushed warm again with the blood spreading
+in a brighter glow over her fair forehead and her blue-veined temples.
+Hers was not indeed a jealous disposition; her nature was too generous
+and frank to be suspicious or distrustful; but it is difficult for any
+woman's ear to hear that he to whom her whole affections are given is
+loved by another, and her heart not beat with emotions far from
+pleasurable.
+
+Yet Mary schooled herself for what she felt--for the slight touch of
+doubt towards Woodville, and of anger towards Ella, which crossed her
+bosom for a moment. "It is not his fault," she thought, "if the girl
+loves him; nor hers either to love him for acts of generous kindness.
+She is no more to blame for such feelings than myself; the same high
+qualities that won my regard might well gain hers. He is too noble,
+too--too true and faithful to trifle with her, or to forget me. Yet,
+would this had not happened! It is strange, too, that he did not
+mention all this to me!"
+
+But then she remembered how every hour he had spent with her had
+passed, how little time they had found to say all that two warm and
+tender hearts could prompt; how often they had been interrupted in the
+half-finished tale of love; how constantly it had been renewed
+whenever they were alone; and then she thought it not extraordinary at
+all that he had spoken of nothing else.
+
+Such thoughts, however, kept her mute, with her eyes gazing on the
+tapestry at the other side of the room; and she saw not that Ella,
+surprised at her silence, had now raised her look, and was reading in
+the countenance--with the skill which peril and misfortune soon
+acquire in this hard world--all that was passing in the heart beneath.
+The poor girl's face was very pale, for she had her emotions too; but
+yet she was calmer than Mary Markham, for one of the chief sources of
+agitation was wanting in her bosom. She was without hope. She might
+love, but it was love with no expectation. The future, which to Mary's
+eyes was like the garden of the Hesperides, all hanging with golden
+fruit, was a desert to poor Ella Brune. She had no fear, because she
+had no hope. She had no doubts, because she had no trust. She was
+externally calm, for though there were painful sensations, there was
+no internal contention. She, therefore, it was who spoke first.
+
+"You know him, lady," she said, in a sweet, gentle, humble tone; "and
+if you know him, you love him."
+
+"I do know him," answered Mary Markham, with a trembling voice and
+glowing cheek--"I have known him well for years."
+
+She paused there; but the moment after, she thought, with that
+generous confidence so often misplaced, but which was not so in this
+instance, "It were better to tell her all, for her sake and for mine.
+If she be good and virtuous, as I think, it cannot but lead to good to
+let her know the whole truth."
+
+"Ay, Ella," she continued aloud, "and you are right. I do love him,
+and he loves me. We have plighted our faith to each other, and wait
+but the consent of others to be more happy than we are."
+
+A tear trembled in the eye of Ella Brune; but what were the thoughts
+that flashed like lightning through her mind? "The lady loves him,
+and she sees I love him too. Jealousy is a strange thing, and a sad
+pang!--She may doubt him, even with such a friendless being as I am--I
+will sweep that doubt away;" and with a resigned, but gentle smile,
+looking in Mary's face, she said--"I was sure of it."
+
+"Of what, Ella?" asked Mary Markham, with some surprise.
+
+"That he loved some one, and was beloved again," replied the poor
+girl; and she repeated "I was sure of it."
+
+"What could make you sure?" asked the lady, gazing at her with a less
+embarrassed look. "He did not tell you, did he?"
+
+"Oh, no," answered Ella Brune. "All he told me was, that he was going
+afar to Burgundy, and that as he could not give me any further
+protection himself, he would send one of his men to inquire after me,
+that he might hear I was safe, and as happy as fate would let me be,
+but--" and she paused, as if she doubted whether to proceed or not.
+
+"But what, Ella?" demanded Mary.
+
+"Why, I was foolish, lady," said the girl; "and perhaps you may think
+me wrong too, and bold. But when I heard that he was going to
+Burgundy, I cried, 'Oh, that I were going with you!' And I told him
+that I had kinsfolk both in Liege and in Peronne; and then I knew by
+his look, and what he said, that there was some lady whom he loved,
+and who loved him."
+
+"How did that enlighten you?" inquired Mary Markham. "Did he refuse
+you?--That were not courteous, I think."
+
+"No, he did not actually refuse," answered Ella Brune, "but he said,
+that it might hardly be; and I saw, he thought that his lady might be
+jealous--might suspect--"
+
+Mary Markham put her hand on Ella's, with a warm smile, and said, "I
+will neither suspect him, nor be jealous of you, Ella--though perhaps
+I might have been," she added; "yes, perhaps I might, if I had heard
+you were with him, and I had not known why. Yet I should have been
+very wrong. Out upon such doubts I say, if they can prevent a
+true-hearted gentleman from doing an act of kindness to a poor girl in
+her need, lest a jealous heart should suspect him. But I will write to
+him, Ella: and yet it is now in vain; for he has left Westminster."
+
+Ella gazed at her, smiling. "We know not our own hearts," she said;
+"and, perhaps, dear lady, you might be jealous yet."
+
+"No, no!" cried Mary, with one of her own joyous laughs again. "Never,
+now. I am of a confiding nature, my poor girl; and I soon conquer
+those bitter enemies of peace, called doubts."
+
+Ella Brune gazed round the room. "If I had some instrument, I could
+sing to you on that theme," she said.
+
+"Nay, you can sing without, Ella," replied the lady. "I have none
+here, alas!"
+
+"Well, I will sing it, then," answered Ella Brune; "'tis an old ditty,
+and a simple one;" and, leaning her hand on Mary Markham's knee, she
+sang:--
+
+
+                                SONG.
+
+             "Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+                'Tis a shield of seven-fold steel.
+              Cares and sorrows come they must;
+                But sharper far is doubt to feel.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+
+             "If deceit must vex the heart--
+                Who can pass through life without?--
+              Better far to bear the smart
+                Than to grind the soul with doubt.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+
+             "Trust the lover, trust the friend;
+                Heed not what old rhymers tell.
+              Trust to God: and in the end
+                Doubt not all will still be well.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+
+             "Love's best guide, and friendship's stay--
+                Trust, to innocence was given;
+              'Tis doubt that paves the downward way,
+                But trust unlocks the gates of heaven.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!"
+
+
+"And so I will, Ella," cried the lady; "so have I ever done, and will
+do still; but methinks you have made the song to suit my ear."
+
+"Nay, in truth, dear lady, it is an ancient one," replied Ella Brune;
+but ere she could add more, old Sir Philip Beauchamp strode into the
+room, with an air hurried, yet not dissatisfied.
+
+"I have seen the King, Mary," he said; "and, on my life, he is a noble
+youth--right kingly in his port and in his words. His brother John,
+who won his spurs under my pennon when but a boy, soon got me speech
+of him; and you are to go with me at once to his presence, pretty
+maid. Nay, do not look downcast; he is no frightful tyrant, but a man
+that lady's eyes may look upon well pleased; and 'tis needful for your
+safety you should go."
+
+"Must she go alone, dear knight?" asked Mary Markham, with kind
+consideration for the girl's fears.
+
+"Alone! no. I am to go with her, to be sure," answered Sir Philip.
+"How, my fair Mary, you would fain go visit Henry, too! What would
+Richard of Woodville say?"
+
+"He would trust," answered Mary Markham, giving a gay look to Ella.
+"However, I seek not to go, noble sir; but it would be better for this
+poor girl to have my maid, Maude, with her--for decency's sake," she
+continued, in a laughing tone; "you old knights are sometimes too
+light and gallant; and I must protect her from your courteous speeches
+by the way. Come with me, Ella. I have a cloak in my chamber that will
+suit well with your hood, and cover you all, so that nothing will be
+seen but the edge of your wimple. Then will you and Sir Philip escape
+scandal, if you both walk softly, and look demure, while Maude trips
+along beside you."
+
+Though Mary Markham said no word of the minstrel girl's attire, and
+did not even glance her eye to the gold fringe upon her gown, yet Ella
+understood, and was thankful for, her kind care, and mentally promised
+herself, that, before that day was but, she would provide herself with
+plainer weeds. In less than five minutes she and the maid were ready
+to depart; and, accompanied by Sir Philip, they soon crossed the open
+ground before the Abbey and the Sanctuary, and entered the gates of
+the palace yard. At the private door of the royal residence they
+received immediate admission; for a page was waiting Sir Philip's
+return; but he led them, not to the small chamber where Henry had
+received Ned Dyram in the morning, and Sir Philip shortly after.
+Following, on the contrary, the larger staircase, the boy conducted
+the little party to a hall, then used as an audience chamber; and when
+they entered they at once perceived the King at the farther end,
+surrounded by a gay and glittering throng, and listening, apparently
+with deep attention, to an old man, dressed as a prelate of the
+Church, who, with slow and measured accents, was delivering what
+seemed a somewhat long oration. Whatever was the subject on which he
+spoke, it seemed to be one of much interest; for, ever and anon, the
+King bowed his head with a grave, approving motion, and a murmur of
+satisfaction rose from those around.
+
+Slowly and quietly the old knight and his companions drew near, and
+then found that the good Bishop was arguing the King's title, not
+alone to the Duchies of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Anjou, which
+undoubtedly belonged of right to the English Crown, but also to the
+whole of France, which as certainly belonged to another. Sir Philip
+Beauchamp marked well the monarch's countenance as he listened, and
+perceived that, when the subject was the recovery of those territories
+which had descended to the race of Plantagenet from William the
+Conqueror, Fulke of Anjou, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of those
+grave inclinations of the head which marked his approbation followed;
+but that, when the claim of all France was considered, Henry paused,
+and seemed to meditate more on thoughts suggested by his own mind than
+on the mere words that struck his ear. The surrounding nobles,
+however, applauded all; and bright and beaming eyes were turned upon
+the prelate when he concluded his oration with the words--strange
+ones, indeed, in the mouth of a Christian bishop: "Wherefore, Oh my
+Lord, the King! advance your banner, fight for your right, conquer
+your inheritance; spare not sword, blood, or fire; for your war is
+just, your cause is good, your claim is true!"[3]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 3: The recorded words of Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of
+Canterbury.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"Many thanks, my good lord," replied the King; "we will with our
+council consider duly what you have advanced; and we beseech you to
+pray God on our behalf, that we be advised wisely. Pity it were,
+indeed, to shed Christian blood without due cause; and, therefore, we
+shall first fairly and courteously require of our cousin the
+restitution of those territories undeniably appertaining to our crown;
+with the which we may content ourselves, if granted frankly; but if
+they be refused, a greater claim may perchance grow out of the denial
+of the smaller one; and, at all events, we shall know how, with the
+sword, to do ourselves right when driven to draw it. We will then
+beseech farther communion with you on these weighty matters, and, for
+the present, thank you much."
+
+The Bishop retired from the spot immediately facing the King; and
+Henry's eye lighting on Sir Philip Beauchamp, he bowed his head to
+him, saying, "Advance, my noble friend. Ha! you have brought the girl
+with you, as I said;" and his look fixed upon the countenance of poor
+Ella Brune, with a calm and scrutinizing gaze, not altogether free
+from wonder and admiration, to see such delicate beauty in one of her
+degree, but without a touch of that coarse and gloating expression
+which had offended her in the stare of Sir Simeon Roydon.
+
+"Is the knight I sent for, here?" demanded the King, turning towards
+the page.
+
+"Not yet, Sire," answered the boy.
+
+"Well, then," said Henry, "though it is but fair that a man accused
+should hear the charge against him, we must proceed; and you lords
+will witness what this young woman says, that it may be repeated to
+him hereafter. Now, maiden, what is this which the worthy knight, Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, has reported concerning you and Sir Simeon of
+Roydon?"
+
+To say that Ella Brune was not somewhat abashed would be false; for
+she did feel that she was in the presence of the most powerful King,
+and the most chivalrous court in Europe; she did feel that all eyes
+were turned upon her, every ear bent to catch her words. But there
+were truth and innocence at her heart, the strongest of all supports.
+There was the sense of having been wronged also; and, perhaps, some
+feeling of scorn rather than shame was roused by the light smiles and
+busy whisper that ran round the lordly circle before which she stood;
+for there is nothing so contemptible in the eyes, even of the humble,
+if they be wise and firm of heart, as the light and causeless, but
+oppressive sneer of pride--whether that pride be based in station,
+fortune, courtliness, or aught else on earth; for the true nobility of
+mind, which sometimes impresses even pride with a faint mark of its
+own dignity, never treads upon the humble.
+
+Henry, however, heard the buzz, and felt offended at the light looks
+he saw. "My lords!" he said, in a tone of surprise and displeasure; "I
+beseech you, my good uncle of Exeter, warn those gentlemen of that
+which the King would not speak harshly. This is no jesting matter.
+Wrong has been done--I may say almost in our presence, so near has it
+been to our palace gates; and, by the Queen of Heaven, such things
+shall not escape punishment, while I wear the crown or bear the sword.
+When I am powerless to defend the meanest of my subjects, may death
+give my sceptre to more mighty hands; when I am unwilling to do
+justice to any in the land, may my enemies take from me the power I
+have borne unworthily. Go on with your tale, maiden."
+
+Ella Brune obeyed the King's order, with a voice that faltered at
+first, but the rich sweet tone of which soon called the attention of
+all to what she said; and, taking up her story from the beginning, she
+related the death of her old companion, the interview which she had
+first had with Sir Simeon of Roydon, and the violent manner in which
+she had been carried off, as she was returning to the hostelry where
+she lodged. As she spoke she gained confidence; and though, ere she
+had proceeded far, the base knight himself entered the presence, and
+placed himself exactly opposite to her, glaring at her with fierce and
+menacing eyes, her tongue faltered no more; and she went on to speak
+of her second interview with him, telling how she had forced back the
+lock of the door with her dagger--how the servants of the knight had
+not ventured to seize her, under the belief that the weapon was
+poisoned--and how she had dropped from the great window at the end of
+the corridor into the lane below.
+
+As soon as she had done, Roydon stepped forward, as if to reply; but
+old Sir Philip Beauchamp, who stood by Ella's side to give her
+support, waved his hand, saying, "Silence, boy! till all be said
+against you--then speak if you list. As far as the carrying off of
+this poor little maid is concerned, a good woman of the neighbourhood
+saw the deed done, and can bear witness respecting it, if farther
+testimony is required. I saw the manner of her escape as she has told
+it, and knocked down one of this knight's knaves just as he clutched
+her. So far her story is confirmed. What passed between him and her in
+private, they only know; but I would take her word against his in any
+town; for I know him to be a wondrous liar."
+
+A laugh ran round the royal circle; and Sir Simeon of Roydon put his
+hand to his dagger; but the King turned towards him, saying, "Now,
+sir, have you aught to answer?--Is this story true or false?"
+
+"Somewhat mixed, Sire;" answered Simeon of Roydon, with a sneer upon
+his lip. "The young woman is rather fanciful. I will own, that because
+she has a pretty face, as you may see, and bright eyes, and a small
+foot, and rounded ankle, she pleased my fancy; and, although of
+somewhat low degree for such an honour, I thought to make her my
+paramour for a time, as many another man might do. Minstrel girls and
+tomblesteres are not generally famed for chastity; and, by my faith! I
+thought I showed her favour when I told my servants to find her out
+and bring her to my lodging. If they used any violence, 'twas not my
+fault, for I bade them treat her gently; and, as to her confinement at
+my house, that is pure fancy--she might have gone whenever she chose."
+
+"'Tis strange, then," said the King, with a scornful smile, "that she
+should take such means of going. People do not usually leap out of a
+window, when they can walk through a door."
+
+"What made you bellow after her, like a wild bull?" demanded Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, turning to the culprit: "I heard you with my ears,
+and so did many more, shout to your knaves to follow her, lest she
+should to the King. I know your voice right well, sir knight, and will
+vouch for its sweet sounds."
+
+"Doting fool!" murmured Simeon of Roydon.
+
+"Doting!" cried the old knight; "take care you don't feel my gauntlet
+in your face, lest I send you home as toothless as I sent your
+serviceable man. You will find that there is strength enough left to
+crush such a worm as you."
+
+"Silence, Sir Philip!" said the King. "Sir Simeon of Roydon, according
+to your own account, you have committed an offence for which, if it
+had been done within the gates of our good city of London, the sober
+citizens would, methinks, have set you on a horse's back, with your
+face to the tail, and marched you in no pleasant procession. But, I
+must add, I do not believe your account; it seems to me to bear no
+character of truth about it. Yet, that you may not stand upon my
+judgment alone, if there be one of these good lords here present, who
+will say they do, upon their honour, believe that this poor maiden
+speaks falsely, and you tell the simple truth, you shall go free. What
+say you, lords--is the girl true, or he?"
+
+"The girl!--the girl!" cried all the voices round.
+
+"However men may love leaping," said John of Lancaster, "they seek not
+to break their necks by springing from a window, when they can help
+it."
+
+"Well, then," continued Henry, "you must carry your amorous violence
+to other lands, Sir Simeon of Roydon. You have committed a
+discourteous and unknightly act, and must give us time to forget it.
+We will not touch you in person or in purse, in goods or lands; but we
+banish you for two years from the realm of England. Bestow yourself
+where you will, but be not found within these shores after one month
+from this day, which space we give you to prepare. Is this a just
+award, my lords?"
+
+The gentlemen round bowed their heads; and Henry, turning to the good
+old knight, added, with a gracious smile, "I thank you much, Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, for bringing this matter to my knowledge. These are
+deeds that I am resolved to check, with all the power that God
+entrusts to me."
+
+"Heaven bless your Grace, and ever send us such a King!" replied the
+old knight; and, taking Ella by the hand, with a lowly reverence to
+the monarch, he led her from the hall.
+
+Henry, it would seem, dismissed his court at once; for before the
+minstrel girl and her companion had reached the bottom of the stairs,
+they were surrounded by several of the younger nobles, who were all
+somewhat eager to say soft and flattering things to the fair object of
+the day's interest, notwithstanding some rough reproof from good Sir
+Philip Beauchamp. But as he and his young charge were passing out with
+Mary Markham's maiden, a low deep voice whispered in Ella's ear, "I
+swear, by Christ's sepulchre, I will have revenge!"--and the next
+moment Sir Simeon of Roydon passed them, mounted his horse in the
+palace-yard, and rode furiously away.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XVII.
+
+                           THE PREPARATION.
+
+
+It was late in the evening of the same day of which we have just been
+speaking, when Ella Brune returned to her hostelry. She had gone back
+to thank fair Mary Markham for her kindness, intending only to stay
+for a few moments; but her new friend detained her till the sun was
+near his setting, and then only let her depart under the escort of
+Hugh of Clatford and another yeoman, after extracting a promise from
+her that she would return on the following morning, after the sad
+ceremony of her grandsire's funeral was over. And now Ella sat in her
+lonely little chamber, with the tears filling her bright eyes, which
+seemed fixed upon a spot of sunshine on the opposite wall of the
+court, but, in reality, saw nothing, or, at least, conveyed no
+impression to the mind. Why was it Ella wept? To say truth, Ella
+herself could not, or would not tell. It was, perhaps, the crowding
+upon her of many sad sensations, the torrent swelled by many smaller
+rills, which caused those tears; and yet there was one predominant
+feeling--one that she wished not to acknowledge even to her own heart.
+What can I call it? How shall I explain it? It was not disappointment;
+for, as I have said before, she did not, she had never hoped. No, the
+best term for it is, love without hope; and oh! what a bitter thing
+that is!
+
+During the whole of that morning she had had no time to dwell upon it;
+she had been occupied while she remained with Mary Markham in
+struggling against her own sensations--not examining them. But now she
+paused and pondered: in solitude and in silence, she gave way to
+bitter thought; but it was not with the weak and wavering irresolution
+of a feeble mind. On the contrary, though the anguish would have its
+tear, she regarded her present fate and future conduct with the firm
+and energetic purposes of a heart inured to suffer and to decide. Her
+mind rested upon Richard of Woodville, upon his kindness, his
+generosity, his chivalrous protection of her who had never met with
+such protection before; and the first strong determination of her mind
+expressed itself, in the words she murmured to herself, "I will repay
+it!"
+
+Then, again, she asked herself, "Why should I feel shame, or fear, or
+hesitation now, at the thought of following him through the world--of
+watching for the hour, for the moment, when God may grant me the grace
+to serve him? He loves another, and is loved by another! He can never
+be anything to me, but the friend who stood forward to help me in the
+hour of need. What has sex, or station, to do with it? Why should I
+care more than if I were a man? and how often do the meanest, by
+watchful love, find an opportunity to deliver or to support the
+highest and the mightiest! Why should I think of what men may say or
+believe? True in my own heart, and conscious of my truth, I may well
+laugh at suspicion, which follows such as I am, whatever course they
+take. How often have I been thought a ribald and a losel, when I have
+guarded my words, and looks, and actions, most carefully! and now I
+will dare to do boldly what my heart tells me, knowing that it is
+right. Yet, poor thing," she added, after a moment, "thou art beggar
+enough, I fear! thou must husband thy little store well. Let me see; I
+will count my treasure. There are the fifty half nobles sent me by the
+King, and those my dear protector gave me. Now for the little store of
+the poor old man;" and, drawing a key from her bosom, she crossed the
+room to where, upon a window-seat, there stood a small oaken coffer,
+containing her apparel and that of the poor old minstrel. After
+opening the box, and taking out one or two instruments of music which
+lay at the top, she thrust her hand further down, and brought forth a
+small leathern pouch, fastened by a thong bound round it several
+times. It cost her some trouble to unloose it; but at length she
+spread out the mouth, and poured the contents upon the top of the
+clothes in the coffer. She had expected to see nothing but silver and
+copper; but amongst the rest were several pieces of gold; and besides
+these, was a piece of parchment, tied up, with some writing upon it,
+and a gold ring, set with a large precious stone. The former she
+examined closely, and read the words with some difficulty; for they
+were written by no very practised hand, in rough and scattered
+characters. She made it out at length, however, to be merely "My
+Ella's dowry;" and a tear fell upon it as she read. She thought that
+the handwriting was her father's.
+
+She then looked at the ring, and saw by its lustre that it must be of
+some value; but a strip of leather which was sewn round the gold
+caught her eye, and she found it, too, traced with some rude
+characters. They only expressed a date, however, which was 21 July,
+1403, and what it meant she knew not. Opening the parchment packet,
+she then proceeded to examine of what her little dowry consisted; and,
+to her surprise and joy, she found forty broad pieces of gold. "Nay,"
+she exclaimed, "this is, indeed, wealth; why, I am endowed like a
+knight's daughter." And well might she say so; for when we remember
+the difference between the value of gold in that day and at present,
+the amount she now possessed,--what with the sum she had just found,
+and the penalty imposed by the King on Simeon of Roydon,--was equal to
+some six or seven hundred pounds.
+
+"I shall have enough to follow him for ten years," said Ella Brune,
+gazing on the gold, "without being a charge to any one; and then there
+may still remain sufficient to gain me admission to a nunnery. But I
+will lay it by carefully:" and placing all the gold she had, except
+the few pieces that had been loose in the pouch, into the parchment
+which had contained her dowry, she tied it up again carefully, and
+restored it to its place.
+
+"Yet I will be avaricious," she said. "I will disencumber myself of
+everything I do not want, and change it into coin.--Shall I sell this
+ring? No; it may mean something I do not know. 'Tis easily carried,
+and might create suspicion if I disposed of it here. Perhaps my cousin
+at Peronne can tell me more about it. How shall I sell the other
+things? Nay, I will ask the hostess to do it for me. She will think of
+her own payment, and will do it well!"
+
+After carefully putting back the ring and the money, she opened the
+door of the room, and called down the stairs, "Hostess, hostess!
+Mistress Trenchard!"
+
+"Coming, coming, little maid," said the good dame, from below. "Do not
+be in haste; I am with you in a minute;" and, after keeping Ella
+waiting for a short time, more to make herself of importance than
+because she had anything else to do, she came panting up the stairs,
+closed the door, and seated herself on the side of the low bed.
+
+"Well, my poor Ella," she said, "what want you with me? Yours is a sad
+case, indeed, poor thing. My husband and I both said, when you and
+poor old Murdock Brune went away to foreign lands, leaving your own
+good country behind you, that harm would come of it."
+
+"And yet he died in England," replied Ella, with a sigh; "but what you
+say is very true, hostess; no good has come of it; and we returned
+poorer than we went--I have wherewithal to pay my score," she added,
+seeing a slight cloud come over good Mistress Trenchard's face; "but
+yet I shall want more for my necessity; and I would fain ask you a
+great favour."
+
+"What is that?" asked the hostess, somewhat drily.
+
+"It is simply, that you would sell for me a good many of these things
+that I do not want," answered Ella. "Here are several instruments of
+music, which I know cost much, and must produce something."
+
+"Oh, that I will, right willingly!" replied the hostess; "and 'tis but
+right and fitting that you should trust such matters to one who is
+accustomed to buy and sell, than to do it yourself, who know nothing
+of trade, God wot. I will have them to Westcheape, where there are
+plenty of fripperies; or carry them to the Lombards, who, perhaps,
+know more about such matters."
+
+"I should think that the Lombards would purchase them best," answered
+Ella; "for one of these instruments, the viol, was purchased out of
+Italy, when my grandfather was chief minstrel to the great Earl of
+Northumberland."
+
+"Ay, I remember the time well," said Mistress Trenchard. "Murdock
+Brune was a great man in those days, and rode upon a grey horse, fit
+for a knight. He used to pinch my cheek, and call me pretty Dolly
+Trenchard, till my husband was somewhat crusty;--and so the viol is
+valuable, you think?"
+
+"Yes, and the ribible, too," answered Ella Brune; "for they were cut
+by a great maker in Italy, and such are not to be found in England."
+
+"I will take care, I will take care," rejoined the hostess. "Gather
+them all together, and I will send up Tom, the drawer, for them,
+presently. To-morrow I will take them to the Lombards; for it is
+somewhat late this evening."
+
+"Nay, but I have other favours to ask of you, dame," said Ella Brune.
+"To-morrow they bury the poor old man, and I must have a black gown of
+serge, and a white wimple; and I would fain that you went with me to
+the burial, if you could steal away for an hour; for it will be a sad
+day for me."
+
+"That will I do, poor maiden," replied the hostess, readily; not alone
+because she took a sincere interest in her fair guest, but because in
+those days, as in almost all others, people of inferior minds found a
+strange pleasure in bearing part in any impressive ceremony, however
+melancholy. As so much of her spare time was likely to be occupied on
+the morrow, she agreed to run up to Cheape that very night, before the
+watch was set, and to purchase for Ella Brune the mourning garments
+which she required. The latter commission she performed fully to the
+poor girl's satisfaction, returning with a loose gown of fine black
+serge, ready made, and a wimple and hood of clear lawn, little
+differing from that of a nun.
+
+Ella gazed on the dress with some emotion, murmuring to
+herself,--"Ay, the cloister; it must end there, at last!--Well, prayer
+and peace!--'tis the calmest fate, after all."
+
+But the sale of the instruments of music, and several other small
+articles, was not executed quite as well. Men were rogues in those
+times, as at present, though, perhaps, in the improvement of all
+things, roguery has not been neglected, and the good Lombards took
+care not to give more than half the value of the goods they purchased.
+Neither Ella nor good Mistress Trenchard herself knew any better,
+however; so that the latter thought she had made a very good bargain,
+and the former was content. Her store was by this means considerably
+increased; and, a short time before the appointed hour, Ella, with the
+hostess, set out towards the hospital of St. James, for the sad task
+that was to be performed that day.
+
+I will not pause upon the hours that followed. Dark and sorrowful such
+hours must ever be; for the dim eyes of mortality see the lamp of
+faith but faintly, and there is nought else to light our gaze through
+the obscure vault of death to the bright world of re-union. Put the
+holy promises to our heart as eagerly, as fondly as we will, how
+difficult is it to obtain a warm and living image of life beyond this
+life! How the clay clings to the clay! How the spirit cleaveth to the
+dust with which it hath borne companionship so long! Strange, too, to
+say, that we can better realize in our own case the idea of renewed
+existence, than in the case of those we love. It is comparatively easy
+to fancy that we who have lived to-day, shall live to-morrow;--that
+we, who lie down to rest ourselves in sleep and to rise refreshed,
+shall sleep in death, and wake again renewed. There is in every man's
+own heart a sentiment of his immortality, which nothing can blot out,
+but the vain pride of human intellect--the bitterest ashes of the
+forbidden fruit. But when we see the dearly loved, the bright, the
+beautiful, the wise, the good, fall, like a withered leaf, into the
+dark corruption of the tomb--the light go out like an extinguished
+lamp--and all that is left, all that has been familiar to our living
+senses, drop into dust and mingle with its earth again, the Saduceean
+demon seizes on us; and it requires a mighty struggle of the spirit,
+prayer, patience, resignation, hope, and faith, to win our belief from
+the dark actuality before us, and fix it on the distant splendour of a
+promised world to come.
+
+They were sad hours for poor Ella Brune; and when they were over, the
+chambers of the heart felt too dark and lonely for her to admit any
+thoughts but those of the dead. She sent, therefore, to Mary Markham,
+to tell her that she was too wobegone to come that day; and, returning
+to her little chamber at the inn, she sat down to weep, and pass the
+evening with her memories.
+
+On the following morning early, she once more set out for Westminster,
+and passed quietly along the road till she reached Charing; but near
+the hermitage and chapel of St. Catherine, just opposite the cross,
+she perceived a man standing gazing up the Strand, with the serpent
+embroidered on the black ground, which distinguished the followers of
+Sir Simeon of Roydon. Her fears might have betrayed her; for she
+forgot for a moment the complete change of her dress, and fancied that
+she must be instantly recognised; but the instant after, recovering
+her presence of mind, she drew the hood far over her face, and passed
+the man boldly, without his even turning to look at her. She then made
+her way on towards Tote-hill, and soon came to the gates of the house
+in which Sir Philip Beauchamp had taken up his temporary abode.
+
+Few but the higher nobility, or persons immediately attached to the
+Court, indulged in those days in the luxury of a dwelling in London or
+the neighbouring city; and when business or pleasure called inferior
+personages to the capital, they either took up their dwelling at a
+hostel, or found lodging in the mansions of some of the great families
+to whom they were attached by friendship or relationship. Nor was such
+hospitality ever refused, so long as the house could contain more
+guests; for each man's consequence, and sometimes his safety, depended
+upon the number of those whom he entertained; and even when the lord
+was absent from his own dwelling, the doors were always open to those
+who were known to be connected with him. Thus Sir Philip Beauchamp had
+found ready lodging in the house of one of the numerous family of that
+name, the head of which was then the Earl of Warwick, though, ere many
+years had passed, an only daughter bore that glorious title into the
+house of Neville.
+
+When Ella reached the mansion, the porter, distinguished by the
+cognizance of the bear, was standing before the gates, talking with a
+young man, who seemed to have just dismounted from a tired horse, and
+held the bridle-rein cast over his arm.
+
+In answer to Ella's inquiry for the Lady Mary Markham, the old servant
+laughed, saying, "Here is another!--if it goes on thus all day, there
+will be nothing else but the opening of gates for a pretty lady who is
+not here. She departed last night with Sir Philip, fair maid. They
+went in great haste, good sooth I know not why; for 'twas but two
+hours before, the sturdy old knight told me he should stay three days;
+but they had letters by a messenger from the country, so perchance his
+daughter is ill."
+
+"The blessed Virgin give her deliverance!" said Ella, turning away
+with a disappointed look; and, bending her steps back towards the city
+of London, she walked slowly on along the dusty road, absorbed in no
+very cheerful thoughts, and marking little of what passed around her.
+But few people were yet abroad between the two towns--the Strand was
+almost solitary; and she had nearly reached the wall of the garden of
+Durham House, which ran along to the Temple, when she heard a voice
+behind her exclaim, in a sharp tone, "Why do you follow her, master
+knave?"
+
+"What is that to you, blue tabard!" replied another tongue.
+
+"I will let you know right soon, if you do not desist," answered the
+first.
+
+"Whom do you serve?" asked the second.
+
+"The King!" was the reply; "so away with you."
+
+Ella looked round, and beheld the man whom she had found speaking with
+the porter a moment before, bending his brows sternly upon the servant
+of Sir Simeon Roydon, whom she had seen watching near the hermitage of
+St. Catherine, as she passed up the Strand. The latter, however,
+seemed to be animated by no very pugnacious spirit, for he merely
+replied, "Methinks one man has a right to walk the high road to London
+as well as another."
+
+But he did not proceed to enforce this right by following the course
+he had been pursuing; and, crossing over from the south to the north
+side of the way, he was soon lost amongst the low shops and small
+houses which there occupied the middle of the road.
+
+"I will ride along beside you, fair maiden," said Ned Dyram, for he it
+was who had come up, "though I should not wonder, from what the porter
+told me just now, if you were the person I am looking for."
+
+He spoke civilly and gravely; and Ella replied, with a bright smile,
+"Ha! perhaps it is so; for he said he would send. Whom do you come
+from?"
+
+"I come from Richard of Woodville," answered the man; "and I am sent
+to a maiden named Ella Brune, living not far up the new street
+somewhat beyond the Old Temple, in an hostelry called the Falcon."
+
+"'Tis I--'tis I!" cried Ella. "Oh! I am glad to see you."
+
+Her bright eyes lighted up, and her fair face glowed with an
+expression of joy and satisfaction, which added in no small degree to
+its loveliness; for, though we hear much of beauty in distress being
+heightened by tears, yet there is an inherent harmony between man's
+heart and joy, which makes the expression thereof always more pleasant
+to the eye than that of any other emotion.
+
+Ned Dyram gazed at her with admiration, but withdrew his eyes the
+moment after, and resumed a more sober look. "I will give you all his
+messages by and by," he said, "for I shall lodge at the Falcon
+to-night, and have much to say. But yet I may as well tell you a part
+as we go along," he continued, dismounting from his horse, and taking
+the bridle on his arm. "First, fair maiden, I was to ask how you
+fared, and what you intended to do?"
+
+"I have fared ill and well," answered Ella Brune; "but that is a long
+story, and I will relate it to you afterwards; for that I can talk of,
+though the people of the house should be present; but what I am to do
+is a deeper question, and I know not well how to answer it. I have
+friends at the court of Burgundy--"
+
+"What, then, are you of noble race, lady?" asked Ned Dyram, in an
+altered tone.
+
+"Oh, no!" replied Ella Brune, with a faint smile. "The cousin of whom
+I speak is but a goldsmith to the Count of Charolois; but, 'tis a long
+journey for a woman to take alone, through foreign lands, and amongst
+a people somewhat unruly."
+
+"Why not come with us?" inquired Ned Dyram; "we sail from Dover in
+three days, and our company will be your protection. Did not Childe
+Richard tell you he was going?"
+
+"Yes," answered Ella Brune, casting down her eyes, "but he did not
+seem to like the thought of having a woman in his company."
+
+"Faith! that is courteous of the good youth," cried Ned Dyram, with a
+low sharp laugh. "He may win his spurs, but will not merit them, if he
+refuses protection to a lady."
+
+"That, I am sure, he would not do," replied Ella, gravely. "He has
+given me the noblest protection at my need; but he may not think it
+right."
+
+"No, no; you have mistaken him," said Ned Dyram. "He is courteous and
+kind, without a doubt. He might think it better for yourself to go to
+York, as he bade me tell you, and to see your friends there, and to
+claim your rights; but if you judge fit to turn your steps to Burgundy
+instead, depend upon it he will freely give you aid and comfort on the
+way. If he did doubt," added the man, "'twas but that he thought his
+lady-love might be jealous, if she heard that he had so fair a maiden
+in his company--for you know he is a lover!"--and he fixed his eyes
+inquiringly on Ella's face.
+
+"I know he is," she answered, calmly, and without a change of feature.
+"I know the lady, too; but she is not unwilling that I should go; and
+I dread much to show myself in York."
+
+"Why so?" demanded Ned Dyram. But Ella Brune was not sufficiently won
+by his countenance or manner to grant him the same confidence that she
+had reposed in Richard of Woodville; and she replied, "For many
+reasons; but the first and strongest is, that there are persons there
+who have seized on that which should be mine. They are powerful; I am
+weak; and 'tis likely, as in such case often happens, that they would
+be willing to add wrong to wrong."
+
+"Not only often, but always," replied Ned Dyram; "therefore I say,
+fair maiden, you had better come with us. Here's one arm will strike a
+stroke for you, should need be; and there are plenty more amongst us
+who will do the like."
+
+Ella answered him with a bright smile; but at that moment they were
+turning up the lane opposite the gate of the Temple, and she paused in
+her reply, willing to think farther and see more of her companion
+before she decided.
+
+"Stay, fair maiden!" continued Ned Dyram, who well knew where the
+hostelry of the Falcon was situate--"It may be as well to keep our
+counsel, whatever it be, from host and hostess. Gossip is a part of
+their trade; and it is wise to avoid giving them occasion. I will give
+you, when we are within, a letter from my young lord, and read it to
+you, too, as perchance you cannot do that yourself; but it will let
+the people see that I am not without authority to hold converse with
+you, which may be needful."
+
+"Nay," answered Ella, "I can read it myself; for I have not been
+without such training."
+
+"Ay, I forgot," rejoined Ned Dyram, with one of his light sneers;
+"had you been a princess, you would not have been able to read. Such
+clerk-craft is only fit for citizens and monks. I wonder how Childe
+Richard learned to read and write. I fear it will spoil him for a
+soldier."
+
+The satire was not altogether just; for, though it did not
+unfrequently happen that high nobles and celebrated warriors and
+statesmen were as illiterate as the merest boors, and in some
+instances (especially after the wars of the Roses had deluged the land
+with blood, and interrupted all the peaceful arts of life) the barons
+affected to treat with sovereign contempt the cultivation of the mind,
+yet such was not by any means so generally the case, as the pride of
+modern civilization has been eager to show. We have proofs
+incontestable, that, in the reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., and
+Henry V., men were by no means so generally ignorant as has been
+supposed. The House of Lancaster was proud of its patronage of
+literature; and, though more than one valiant nobleman could not sign
+his own name, or could do so with difficulty, there is much reason to
+believe that the exceptions have been pointed out as the rule; for we
+know that many a citizen of London could not only maintain, without
+the aid of another hand, long and intricate correspondence with
+foreign merchants, but also took delight in the reading during
+winter's nights of Chaucer and Gower, if not in studying secretly the
+writings of Wickliffe and his disciples.
+
+Ella Brune replied not, but walked on into the house, calling the good
+hostess, who, in that day as in others, often supplied the place of
+both master and mistress in a house of public entertainment. Ned Dyram
+followed her with his eyes into the house, scrutinizing with keen and
+wondering glance the beauties of form which even the long loose robe
+of serge could not fully conceal. He marvelled at the grace he beheld,
+even more rare at that day amongst the sons and daughters of toil than
+at present; and, although the pride of rank and station could not, in
+his case, suggest the bold disregard of all law and decency in seeking
+the gratification of passion, his feelings towards Ella Brune were not
+very far different from those of Sir Simeon of Roydon. He might have
+more respect for the opinion of the world, by which he hoped to rise;
+he might even have more respect for, and more belief in, virtue, for
+he was a wiser man; he might seek to obtain his ends by other means;
+he was even not incapable of love,--strong, passionate, overpowering
+love; but the moving power was the same. It was all animal; for,
+strange to say, though his intellect was far superior to that of most
+men of his day; though he had far more mind than was needful, or even
+advantageous, in his commerce with the world of that age, his impulses
+were all animal towards others. That which he cared for little in
+himself, he admired, he almost worshipped, in woman. It was beauty of
+form and feature only that attracted him. Mind he cared not for--he
+thought not of; nay, up to that moment, he perhaps either doubted
+whether it existed in the other sex, or thought it a disadvantage if
+it did. Even more, the heart itself he valued little; or, rather, that
+strange and complex tissue of emotions, springing from what source we
+know not, entwined with our mortal nature--by what delicate threads
+who can say?--which we are accustomed to ascribe to the heart, he
+regarded but as an almost worthless adjunct. His was the eager
+love--forgive me, if I profane what should be a holy name, rather than
+use a coarser term--of the wild beast; the appetite of the tiger, only
+tempered by the shrewdness of the fox. I mean not to say it always
+remained so; for, under the power of passion and circumstances, the
+human heart is tutored as a child. Neither would I say that aught like
+love had yet touched his bosom for Ella Brune. I speak but of his
+ordinary feeling towards woman; but feelings of that sort are sooner
+roused than those of a higher nature. He saw that she was very
+beautiful--more beautiful, he thought, than any woman of his own
+station that ever he had beheld; and that was enough to make him
+determine upon counteracting his master's wishes and counsel, and
+persuading Ella to turn her steps in the same course in which his
+own were directed. He knew not how willing she was to be persuaded;
+he knew not that she was at heart already resolved: but he
+managed skilfully, he watched shrewdly, through the whole of his
+after-communications with her during the day. He discovered much--he
+discovered all, indeed, but one deep secret, which might have been
+penetrated by a woman's eyes, but which was hid from his, with all
+their keenness--the motive, the feeling, that led her so strongly in
+the very path he wished. He saw, indeed, that she was so inclined; he
+saw that there was a voice always seconding him in her heart, and he
+took especial care to furnish that voice with arguments which seemed
+irresistible. He contrived, too, to win upon her much; for there was
+in his conversation that mingling of frankness and flattering
+courtesy, of apparent carelessness of pleasing, with all the arts of
+giving pleasure, and that range of desultory knowledge and tone of
+superior mind, with apparent simplicity of manner, and contempt for
+assumption, which of all things are the most calculated to dazzle and
+impress for a time. 'Tis the lighter qualities that catch, the deeper
+ones that bind; and though, had there been a comparison drawn between
+him, who was her companion for a great part of that evening, and
+Richard of Woodville, Ella Brune would have laughed in scorn; yet she
+listened, well pleased, to the varied conversation with which he
+whiled away the hours, when she could wean her thoughts from dearer,
+though more painful themes; yielded to his arguments when they
+seconded the purposes of her own heart, and readily accepted his
+offered service to aid her in executing the plan she adopted.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+                     THE JOURNEY AND THE VOYAGE.
+
+
+The sun rose behind some light grey clouds, and the blue sky was
+veiled; but the birds made the welkin ring from amongst the young
+leaves of the April trees, and told of the coming brightness of the
+day. Why, or wherefore, let men of science say; but one thing is
+certain, the seasons at that time were different from those at
+present; they were earlier; they were more distinct; spring was
+spring, and summer was summer; and winter, content with holding his
+own right stiffly, did not attempt to invade the rights of his
+brethren. Far in the north of England we had vines growing and bearing
+fruit in the open air. At Hexham there was a vineyard; and wine was
+made in more than one English county--not very good, it is to be
+supposed, but still good enough to be drunk, and to prove the longer
+and more genial reign of summer in our island. Thus, though the
+morning was grey, as I have said, and April had not yet come to an
+end, the air was as warm as it is often now in June, and every bank
+was already covered with flowers.
+
+There were horses before the gate of Richard of Woodville's house, and
+men busily preparing them for a journey. There was the heavy charger,
+or battle horse, with tall and bony limbs, well fitted to bear up
+under the weight of a steel-covered rider; and the lighter, but still
+powerful palfrey, somewhat of the size and make of a hunter of the
+present day, to carry the master along the road. Besides these,
+appeared many another beast; horses for the yeomen and servants, and
+horses and mules for the baggage: the load of armour for himself and
+for his men which the young adventurer carried with him, requiring not
+a few of those serviceable brutes who bow their heads to man's will,
+in order to carry it to the sea-shore. At length all was prepared; the
+packs were put upon the beasts, the drivers were at their heads, the
+yeomen by their saddles; and with ten stout men and two boys, fourteen
+horses, three mules, a plentiful store of arms, and all the money he
+could raise, in his wallet, Richard of Woodville issued forth, gave
+his last commands to the old man and woman whom he left behind in the
+hall, and, springing into the saddle, began his journey towards Dover.
+
+It was not without a sigh that he set out; for he was leaving the land
+in which Mary Markham dwelt; but yet he thought he was going to win
+honour for her sake--perchance to win her herself; and all the bright
+hopes and expectations of youth soon gathered on his way, more vivid
+and more glowing in his case, than they could be in that of any youth
+of the present day, taking his departure for foreign lands. If at
+present each country knows but very little in reality of its
+neighbour, if England entertains false views and wild imaginations
+regarding France and her people, and France has not the slightest
+particle of knowledge in regard to the feelings, character, and habits
+of thought, of the English, how much more must such have been the case
+in an age when communication was rare, and then only or chiefly by
+word of mouth! It is true that the state of geographical knowledge was
+not so low as has been generally supposed, for we are very apt to look
+upon ourselves as wonderful people, and to imagine that nobody knew
+anything before ourselves; and the difference between former ages and
+the present is more in the general diffusion of knowledge than in its
+amount. In the very age of which we speak, the famous Henry of Vasco
+was pursuing his great project for reaching India by passing round
+Africa, attempting to establish Portuguese stations on the coast of
+that continent, and to communicate with the natives; "e poi aver con
+essi loro comercio per l'onore e utiltà del Regno."[4]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 4: Barros, Dec. i. lib. i. cap. 6.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+The highways of Europe were well known; for mercantile transactions
+between country and country were carried on upon a system so totally
+different from that existing at present, that multitudes of the
+citizens of every commercial state were constantly wandering over the
+face of Europe, and bringing home anecdotes, if not much solid
+information, regarding the distant lands they had visited. The
+merchant frequently accompanied his goods; and the smaller traders,
+especially from the cities of Italy, travelled every season from fair
+to fair, and mart to mart, throughout the whole of the civilized
+world. Besides the communications which thus took place, and the
+information thus diffused, intelligence of a different sort was
+carried by another class, who may have been said to have represented
+in that day the tourists of the present. Chivalry, indeed, had greatly
+declined since the days of Richard I., and even since the time of the
+Black Prince; but still it was a constant practice for young knights
+and nobles of every country to visit the courts of foreign princes, in
+order either to acquire the warlike arts then practised, or to gain
+distinction by feats of arms. Few books of travels were written, it is
+true, and fewer read; for the art of printing had not yet, by the easy
+multiplication of copies, placed the stores of learning within the
+reach of the many; and one of the sources from which vast information
+might have been derived was cut off, by the general abhorrence with
+which the ever-wandering tribes of Israel were regarded, and the
+habitual taciturnity which had thus been produced in a people
+naturally loquacious.
+
+Still a great deal of desultory and vague information concerning
+distant lands was floating about society. Strange tales were told, it
+is true, and truth deformed by fiction; but imagination had plenty of
+materials out of which to form splendid structures; and bright
+pictures of the far and the future, certainly did present themselves
+to the glowing fancy of Richard of Woodville, as he rode on upon his
+way. Knowing his own courage, his own skill, and his own strength;
+energetic in character, resolute, and persevering; animated by love,
+and encouraged by hope, he might well look forward to the world as a
+harvest-field of glory, into which he was about to put the sickle.
+Then came all the vague and misty representations that imagination
+could call up of distant courts and foreign princes, tilt and
+tournament, and high emprize; and the adventurous spirit of the times
+of old made his bosom thrill with dim visions of strange scenes and
+unknown places, accidents, difficulties, dangers, enterprises,--the
+hard rough ore from which the gold of praise and renown was still to
+be extracted.
+
+Movement and exertion are the life-blood of youth; and as he rode on,
+the spirits of Richard of Woodville rose higher and higher;
+expectation expanded; the regrets were left behind; and "Onward,
+onward!" was the cry of his heart, as the grey cloud broke into
+mottled flakes upon the sky, and gradually disappeared, as if absorbed
+by the blue heaven which it had previously covered.
+
+Through the rich wooded land of England he took his way for four days,
+contriving generally to make his resting-place for the night at some
+town which possessed the advantage of an inn, or at the house of some
+old friend of his family, where he was sure of kind reception. In the
+daytime, however, many of his meals were eaten in the open field, or
+under the broad shade of the trees; and, as he sat, after partaking
+lightly of the food which had been brought with him, while the horses
+were finishing their provender, the birds singing in the trees above
+often brought back to his mind the words of the minstrel's girl's
+lay:--
+
+
+             "The lark shall sing on high,
+                Whatever shore thou rovest;
+              The nightingale shall try
+                To call up her thou lovest.
+              For the true heart and kind,
+                Its recompence shall find;
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale."
+
+
+It seemed like the song of hope, and rang in his ear, mingling with
+the notes of the blackbird, the thrush, and the wood-lark, and
+promising success and happiness. The words, too, called up the image
+of Mary Markham, as she herself would have wished, the end and object
+of all his hopes and wishes, the crowning reward of every deed he
+thought to do. It is true that, with her, still appeared to the eye of
+memory the form of poor Ella Brune; but it was with very different
+sensations. He felt grateful to her for that cheering song; and,
+indeed, how often is it in life, that a few words of hope and
+encouragement are more valuable to us, are of more real and solid
+benefit, than a gift of gold and gems! for moral support to the heart
+of man, in the hour of difficulty, is worth all that the careless hand
+of wealth and power can bestow. But he felt no love--he might admire
+her, he might think her beautiful; but it was with the cold admiration
+of taste, not with passion. Her loveliness to him was as that of a
+picture or statue, and the only warmer sensations that he felt when he
+thought of her, were pity for her misfortunes, and interest in her
+fate. Nor did this arise either in coldness of nature, or the haughty
+pride of noble birth; but love was with him, as it was with many in
+days somewhat previous to his own, very different from the transitory
+and mutable passion which so generally bears that name. It was the
+absorbing principle of his whole nature, the ruling power of his
+heart, concentrated all in one--indivisible--unchangeable--a spirit in
+his spirit, a devotion, almost a worship. I say not, that in former
+times, before he had felt that passion, he might not have lived as
+others lived,--that he might not have trifled with the fair and bright
+wherever he found them,--that the fiery eagerness of youthful blood
+might not have carried him to folly, and to wrong; but from the moment
+he had learned to love Mary Markham, his heart had been for her alone,
+and the gate of his affections was closed against all others. Thus,
+could she have seen his inmost thoughts, she would have found how
+fully justified was her confidence, and might, perhaps, have blushed
+to recollect that one doubt had ever crossed her bosom.
+
+It was about three o'clock on the evening of the fourth day, that
+Richard of Woodville--passing along by the priory, and leaving the
+church of St. Mary to the left, with the towers of the old castle
+frowning from the steep above, on one side, and the round chapel of
+the ancient temple house peeping over the hill upon the other--entered
+the small town of Dover, and approached the sea-shore, which, in those
+days, unencumbered by the immense masses of shingle that have since
+been rolled along the coast, extended but a short distance from the
+base of the primeval cliffs. Thus the town was then thrust into the
+narrow valley at the foot of the two hills; and the moment that the
+houses were passed, the wide scene of the sea, with a number of small
+vessels lying almost close to the shore, broke upon the eye.
+
+The associations of the people naturally gave to the principal
+hostelry of the place a similar name to that which it has ever since
+borne. Though very differently situated and maintained, the chief
+place of public reception in the town of Dover was then called the
+Bark, as it is now called the Ship; and although that port was not the
+principal place through which the communication between England and
+France took place, yet, ever since Calais had been an English
+possession, a great traffic had been carried on by Dover, so that the
+hostelry of the Bark was one of the most comfortable and best
+appointed in the kingdom.
+
+As every man of wealth and consequence who landed at, or embarked
+from, that port, brought his horses with him, numerous ostlers and
+stable boys were always ready to take charge of the guests' steeds;
+and as soon as a gentleman's train was seen coming down the street,
+loud shouts from the host called forth a crowd of expectant faces, and
+ready hands to give assistance to the arriving guests.
+
+The first amongst those who appeared was Ned Dyram, in his blue
+tabard; and, although he did not condescend to hold his master's
+stirrup, but left that task to others, yet he advanced to the young
+gentleman's side, with some pride in the numbers and gallant
+appearance of the train, and informed him as he dismounted, that he
+had performed his errand in London; and also the charge which he had
+received for Dover, having engaged a large bark, named the Lucy
+Neville, to carry his master, with horses and attendants, to the small
+town of Nieuport, on the Flemish coast.
+
+"The tide will serve at five o'clock, sir," he said. "There is time to
+embark the horses and baggage, if you will, while you and the men sup.
+We have plenty of hands here to help; and I will see it all done
+safely. If not, we must stop till to-morrow."
+
+The host put in his word, however, observing, "that the young lord
+might be tired with a long journey, that it were better to wait and
+part with the morning tide, and that it was Friday--an inauspicious
+day to put to sea."
+
+But the surface of the water was calm; the sky was bright and clear;
+and it was the last day of the period which Woodville had fixed, in
+his communication with the King, for his stay in England. He therefore
+determined to follow the opinion of Ned Dyram, instead of that of the
+host, which there was no absolute impossibility to prevent him from
+supposing interested; and, ordering his horses and luggage to be
+embarked, with manifold charges to his skilful attendant to look well
+to the safety of the chargers, he sat down to the ample supper which
+was soon after on the board, proposing to be down on the beach before
+his orders regarding the horses were put in execution.
+
+The master and the man, in those more simple days, sat at the same
+board in the inn, and often at the castle: and as he knew that his own
+rising would be a signal for the rest to cease their meal, Richard of
+Woodville remained for several minutes, to allow the more slow and
+deliberate to accomplish the great function of the mindless. At
+length, however, he rose, discharged his score, added largess to
+payment, and then, with the "fair voyage, noble sir," of the host, and
+the good wishes of drawers and ostlers, proceeded to the shore, where
+he fully expected to find Ned Dyram busily engaged in shipping his
+baggage.
+
+No one was there, however, but two or three of the horse-boys of the
+hotel, who saluted him with the tidings that all was on board. As he
+cast his eyes seaward, he saw a large boat returning from a ship at
+some small distance from the shore, with Ned Dyram in the stern; and
+in a few minutes after, the active superintendent of the embarkation
+jumped ashore, with a laugh, saying, "Ah, sir! so you could not trust
+me! But all is safe, no hide rubbed off, no knees broken, no shoulder
+shaken; and if they do not kick themselves to pieces before we reach
+Nieuport, you will have as stout chargers to ride as any in Burgundy.
+But you are not going to embark yet? The tide will not serve for half
+an hour; and I have left my saddle-bags at the hostel."
+
+"Well, run quick and get them," replied his master. "I would fain see
+how all is stowed before we sail."
+
+"And know little about it when you do see," answered Ned Dyram, with
+his usual rude bluntness, or that which appeared to be such.
+
+Richard of Woodville might feel a little angry at his saucy tone; but
+it was only a passing emotion, easily extinguished. "I certainly know
+little of stowing ships, my good friend," he answered, "seeing that I
+never was in one in my life; but common sense is a great thing, Master
+Dyram; and I am not likely to be mistaken as to whether the horses are
+so placed as to run the least chance of hurting themselves or each
+other. Back to the hostel, then, as I ordered, with all speed; and do
+not let me have to wait for you."
+
+The last words were spoken in a tone of command, which did not much
+please the hearer; but there were certain feelings in his breast that
+rendered him unwilling to offend a master on whom he had no tie of old
+services; and he therefore hurried his pace away, as long as he was
+within sight. He contrived to keep Woodville waiting, however, for at
+least twenty minutes; and as the young gentleman gazed towards the
+ship, he saw the large and cumbersome sails slowly unfurled, and
+preparations of various kinds made for putting to sea. His patience
+was well nigh exhausted, and he had already taken his place in the
+boat, intending to bid the men pull away, when Ned Dyram appeared,
+coming down from the inn, and carrying his saddle bags over his arm,
+while a man followed bearing a heavy coffre.
+
+Richard of Woodville smiled, saying to his yeoman of the stirrup, "I
+knew not our friend Ned had such mass of baggage, or I would have
+given him further time."
+
+"He has got his tools there, I doubt," observed the old armourer; "for
+he is a famous workman, both in steel and gilding, though somewhat
+new-fangled in his notions."
+
+The minute after Ned Dyram was seated in the boat, the men gave way,
+and over the calm waters of a sea just rippled by a soft but
+favourable breeze, she flew towards the ship. All on board were in the
+bustle of departure; and, before Richard of Woodville had examined the
+horses, and satisfied himself that everything had been carefully and
+thoughtfully arranged for their safety, the bark was under weigh. He
+looked round for Ned Dyram, willing to make up, by some praise of his
+attention and judgment, for any sharpness of speech on the shore; but
+the yeomen told him that their comrade had gone below, saying that he
+was always sick at sea; and the young gentleman, escaping from the
+crowd and confusion which existed amongst horses and men in the fore
+part of the vessel, retired to the stern, and took up his position
+near the steersman, while the cliffs of England, and the tall towers
+of the castle, with the churches and houses below, slowly diminished,
+as moving heavily through the water the bark laid her course for the
+town of Nieuport.
+
+The bustle soon ceased upon the deck; some of the yeomen laid
+themselves down to sleep, if sleep they might; the rest were down
+below; the mariners who remained on deck proceeded with their ordinary
+tasks in silence; the wind wafted them gently along with a soft and
+easy motion; and the sun, declining in the sky, shone along the bosom
+of the sea as if laying down a golden path, midway between France and
+England.
+
+The feeling of parting from home was renewed in the bosom of Richard
+of Woodville, as he gazed back at the slowly waning shores of his
+native land, leaning his arms, folded on his chest, upon the bulwark
+of the stern. He felt no inclination to converse; and the man at the
+huge tiller seemed little disposed to speak. All was silent, except an
+occasional snatch of a rude song, with which one of the seamen cheered
+his idleness from time to time; till at length a sweeter voice was
+heard, singing in low and almost plaintive tones; and, turning
+suddenly round, Woodville beheld a female figure, clothed in black,
+leaning upon the opposite side of the vessel, and gazing, like
+himself, upon the receding cliffs of England. He listened as she sang;
+but the first stanza of her lay was done before he could catch the
+words.
+
+
+                                SONG.
+
+                                  I.
+
+       Oh, leave longing! dream no more
+         Of sunny hours to come;
+       Dreams that fade like that loved shore,
+         Where once we made our home.
+          Farewell; and sing lullabie
+          To all the joys that pass us by.
+           They go to sleep,
+           Though we may weep,
+          And never come again.--Nennie.
+
+                                 II.
+
+       Oh, leave sighing! thought is vain
+         Of all the treasures past;
+       Hope and fear, delight and pain,
+         Are clay, and cannot last.
+          Farewell; and sing lullabie
+          To all the things that pass us by.
+           They go to sleep,
+           Though we may weep,
+          And never come again.--Nennie.
+
+                                 III.
+
+       Oh, leave looking--on the wave
+         That dances in the ray;
+       See! now it curls its crest so brave,
+         And now it melts away.
+          Farewell; and sing lullabie
+          To all the things that pass us by.
+           They go to sleep,
+           Though we may weep,
+          And never come again.--Nennie.
+
+
+The voice was so sweet, the music was so plaintive, that, without
+knowing it, and though she sang in a low and subdued tone, the singer
+had every ear turned to listen. Richard of Woodville did not require
+to see her face, to recognise Ella Brune, though the change in her
+dress might have proved an effectual means of concealment, had she
+been disposed to hide herself from him. The peculiarly mellow and
+musical tone of her voice was enough; and, as soon as the lay ceased,
+Woodville crossed over and spoke to her.
+
+But she showed no surprise at seeing him, greeting him with a smile,
+and answering gaily to his inquiry, if she knew that he was in the
+same ship,--"Certainly; that was the reason that I came. I am going to
+be headstrong, noble sir, for the rest of my life. I would not go to
+York, as you see; for I fancied that when people have got hold of that
+which does not belong to them, they may strike at any hand which
+strives to take it away, especially if it be that of a woman."
+
+"You are right, Ella," answered Richard of Woodville; "I had not
+thought of that."
+
+"Then I am going to Peronne, or it may be to Dijon," continued Ella,
+in a tone still light, notwithstanding the somewhat melancholy
+character of her song; "because I think I can be of service, perhaps,
+to some who have been kind to me; and then, too, I intend to amass
+great store of money, and marry a scrivener."
+
+"You are gay, Ella," replied Woodville, somewhat gravely, sitting down
+beside her, as she still leaned over the side of the vessel.
+
+"Do you see those waves?" she said; "and how they dance and sparkle?"
+
+"Yes," replied her companion; "what then?"
+
+"There are depths beneath!" answered Ella. "Henceforth I will be
+gay--on the surface, at least, like the sunny sea; but it is because I
+have more profound thoughts within me, than when I seemed most sad.
+Keep my secret, noble sir."
+
+"That I will, Ella," replied Woodville; "but tell me--Did my servant
+find you out?"
+
+"Yes, and did me good service," answered the girl; "for he brought me
+here."
+
+"And the poor fool was afraid I should be offended," said Woodville;
+"for he has avoided mentioning your name."
+
+"Perhaps so," rejoined Ella; "for he knew, I believe, that you did not
+wish to have me in your company. 'Tis a charge, noble sir; and a poor
+minstrel girl is not fit for a high gentleman's train."
+
+"Nay, you do me wrong, Ella," answered Richard of Woodville; "right
+willingly, my poor girl, now as heretofore, in this as in other
+things, will I give you protection. I thought, indeed, that it might
+be better for yourself to remain; and there were reasons, moreover,
+that you do not know."
+
+"Nay, but I do know, sir," replied Ella, interrupting him; "I know it
+all. I have made acquaintance with your lady-love, and sat at her knee
+and sung to her; and she has befriended the poor lonely girl, as you
+did before her; and she told me, she would neither doubt you nor me,
+though you took me on your journey, and protected me by the way."
+
+"Dear, frank Mary!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville; "there spoke her
+own true heart. But tell me more about this, Ella. How did you see
+her?--when?--where?"
+
+Ella Brune did as he bade her, and related to him all that had
+occurred to her since he had left London. As she spoke, her eye was
+generally averted; but sometimes it glanced to his countenance,
+especially when she either referred to Sir Simeon of Roydon, or to
+Mary Markham; and she saw with pleasure the flush upon her young
+protector's cheek, the knitted brow, and flashing eye, when she told
+the outrage she had endured, and the look of generous satisfaction
+which lighted up each feature, when she spoke of the protection she
+had received from good Sir Philip Beauchamp and the King.
+
+"Ah! my noble uncle!" he said; "he is, indeed, somewhat harsh and rash
+when the warm blood stirs within him, as all these old knights are,
+Ella; but there never was a man more ready to draw the sword, or open
+the purse, for those who are in need of either, than himself. And so
+the King befriended you, too? He is well worthy of his royal name, and
+has done but justice on this arch knave."
+
+"Not half justice," answered Ella Brune, with a sudden change of tone;
+"but no matter for that, the hand of vengeance will reach him one of
+these days. He cannot hide his deeds from God!--But you speak not of
+your sweet lady:--was she not kind to the poor minstrel girl?"
+
+"She is always kind," answered Richard of Woodville. "God's blessing
+on her blithe heart! She would fain give the same sunshine that is
+within her own soft bosom, to every one around her."
+
+"That cannot be," answered Ella Brune; "there are some made to be
+happy, some unhappy, in this world. Fortune has but a certain store,
+and she parts it unequally, though, perhaps, not blindly, as men say.
+But there's a place where all is made equal;" and, resuming quickly
+her lighter tone, she went on, dwelling long upon every word that Mary
+Markham had said to her, seeming to take a pleasure in that, which had
+in reality no small portion of pain mingled with it. Such is not
+infrequently the case, indeed, with almost all men; for it is
+wonderful how the bee of the human heart will contrive to extract
+sweets from the bitter things of life; but, perhaps, there might be a
+little art in it--innocent art, indeed--most innocent; for its only
+object was to hide from the eyes of Richard of Woodville that there
+was any feeling in her bosom towards him but deep gratitude and
+perfect confidence. She dwelt then upon her he loved, as if the
+subject were as pleasing to her as to himself; and, though she spoke
+gaily--sometimes almost in a jesting tone--yet there were touches of
+deep feeling mingled every now and then with all she said, which made
+him perceive that, as she herself had told him, the lightness was in
+manner alone, and not in the mind.
+
+At all events, her conduct had one effect which she could have
+desired: it removed all doubt and hesitation from the mind of Richard
+of Woodville, if any such remained, in regard to his behaviour towards
+her;--it did away all scruple as to guarding and protecting her on the
+way, as far as their roads lay together.
+
+One point, indeed, in her account puzzled him, and excited his
+curiosity--which was the sudden departure of his uncle and Mary from
+Westminster. "Well," he thought, "I never loved the task of
+discovering mysteries, and have ever been willing to leave Time to
+solve them, else I should have troubled my brain somewhat more about
+my sweet Mary's fate and history than I have done;" and, after
+pondering for a few moments more, he turned again to other subjects
+with Ella Brune. Pleased and entertained by her conversation, he
+scarcely turned his eyes back towards the coast of England, till the
+cliffs had become faint and grey, like a cloud upon the edge of the
+sky; while the sun setting over the waters seemed to change them into
+liquid fire. In the meantime, wafted on by the light breeze, the ship
+continued her slow way; and, as the orb of day sank below the horizon,
+the moon, which had been up for some little time, poured her silver
+light upon the water--no longer outshone by the brighter beams. The
+sky remained pure and blue; the stars appeared faint amidst the lustre
+shed by the queen of night; and the water, dashing from the stern,
+looked like waves of molten silver as they flowed away. Nothing could
+be more calm, more grand, more beautiful, than the scene, with the
+wide expanse of heaven, and the wide expanse of sea, and the pure
+lights above and the glistening ripple below, and the curtain of
+darkness hanging round the verge of all things, like the deep veil of
+a past and future eternity.
+
+Neither Ella Brune nor Richard of Woodville could help feeling the
+influence of the hour, for the grand things of nature raise and
+elevate the human heart, whether man will or not. They lived in a rude
+age, it is true; but the spirit of each was high and fine; and their
+conversation gradually took its tone from the scene that met their
+eyes on all sides. They might not know that those stars were
+unnumbered suns, or wandering planets, like their own; they might not
+know that the bright broad orb that spread her light upon the waves
+was an attendant world, wheeling through space around that in which
+they lived; they had no skill to people the immensity with miracles of
+creative power; but they knew that all they beheld was the handiwork
+of God, and they felt that it was very beautiful and very good. Their
+souls were naturally led up to the contemplation of things above the
+earth; and while Richard of Woodville learned hope and confidence in
+Him who had spread the heaven with stars and clothed the earth in
+loveliness, Ella Brune took to her heart, from the same source, the
+lesson of firmness and resignation.
+
+They gazed, they wondered, they adored; and each spoke to the other
+some of the feelings which were in their hearts; but some only, for
+there were many that they could not speak.
+
+"I remember," said Ella, at length, in a low voice, "when I was at a
+town called Innsbruck, in the midst of beautiful mountains, hearing
+the nuns chant a hymn, which I caught up by ear; and the poor old man
+and I turned it, as best we might, into English, and used often in our
+wanderings to console ourselves with singing it, when little else had
+we to console us. It comes into my mind to-night more than ever."
+
+"Let me hear it, then, Ella," said Richard of Woodville; "I love all
+music."
+
+"I will sing it," replied Ella; "but you must not hear it only. You
+must join in heart, if not in voice."
+
+
+                                HYMN.
+
+       Oh glorious! oh mighty! Lord God of salvation!
+        Thy name let us praise from the depth of the heart;
+       Let tongue sing to tongue, and nation to nation,
+        And in the glad hymn, all thy works bear a part.
+
+       The tops of the mountains with praises are ringing,
+        The depths of the valleys re-echo the cry;
+       The waves of the ocean Thy glories are singing,
+        The clouds and the winds find a voice as they fly;
+
+       The weakest, the strongest, the lowly, the glorious,
+        The living on earth, and the dead in the grave!
+       For the arm of thy Son over death is victorious,
+        With power to redeem, and with mercy to save.
+
+       Oh glorious! oh mighty! Lord God of salvation!
+        To Thee let us sing from the depth of the heart;
+       Let tongue tell to tongue, and nation to nation,
+        How bountiful, gracious, and holy Thou art.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX.
+
+                          THE FOREIGN LAND.
+
+
+The night had fallen nearly an hour ere Richard of Woodville, Ella
+Brune, and the young Englishman's attendants, were seated for the
+first time round the table of a small Flemish inn, on the day after
+they had left the shores of their native land. Strange as it may seem,
+that with a wind not unfavourable, somewhat more than twenty-four
+hours should be occupied by a voyage of less than sixty miles; yet
+such had been the case between Dover and Nieuport; for it was more
+than five hours past noon, on the evening following that on which they
+set sail, when the bark that bore Richard of Woodville entered the
+mouth of the little river on which that port is situated. But the art
+of navigation was little known in those times; and the wind, which,
+though directly fair at first, was never strong enough to give the
+ship much way through the water, veered round soon after midnight, not
+to a point exactly contrary, but to one which favoured the course of
+the voyagers very little; so that if it had not again changed before
+night, another twelve hours might have been passed upon the sea. At
+length, however, the land, which had been for some time in sight, grew
+clear and more strongly marked; the towers of village churches were
+seen, distinct; and, anchoring as near the town as possible, the
+disembarkation was commenced without delay, in order to accomplish the
+task before nightfall. Nevertheless, ere horses and baggage were all
+safely on the shore, the day had well nigh come to an end; so that, as
+I have said, it was dark before the young Englishman, Ella Brune, and
+his attendants, were seated round the table of the poor hostel, which
+was the only place of entertainment that the town afforded.
+
+Here first the services of the poor minstrel girl became really
+valuable to her protector; for notwithstanding the proximity of the
+English coast, not a soul in the hostel could speak aught else but the
+Flemish tongue. There were evidently numerous other guests, all
+requiring entertainment; though with a strange exclusiveness, hardly
+known in those days, they kept themselves closely shut up in the rooms
+which had been retained for their own accommodation; and as neither
+Woodville nor any of his train, not even excepting the learned Ned
+Dyram, knew one word of the language, the whole party would have fared
+ill, had not Ella, in tones which rendered even that harsh jargon
+sweet, given, in the quality of interpreter, the necessary orders for
+all that was required.
+
+The greatest difficulty seemed to be in obtaining chambers, in which
+the somewhat numerous party of the young cavalier could find repose.
+The stable and the adjoining barn were full already of horses and
+mules, even to overflowing, otherwise they might have afforded
+accommodation to men who were accustomed in their own country to lie
+hard, and yet sleep lightly; and only one room of any size was vacant,
+with a small closet hard by, containing a low pallet. The latter,
+Richard of Woodville at once assigned to Ella Brune; the former he
+reserved for himself and three of his men, of whom Ned Dyram was one;
+and it was finally arranged that the rest should be provided with dry
+hay, mown from the neighbouring sandy ground, in the hall where they
+supped.
+
+As soon as the meal was over, the board was cleared, the hay brought
+in, Ella retired to her pallet, Richard of Woodville to his; straw was
+laid down across his door for the three men; and the whole party were
+soon in the arms of slumber. Richard of Woodville dreamed, however,
+with visions coming thick and fast, and changing as they came, like
+the figures in a phantasmagoria. Now he was in the King's court,
+defying Simeon of Roydon to battle; now at the old hall at Dunbury,
+with Isabel, and Dacre, and Mary, and poor Catherine Beauchamp
+herself. Then suddenly the scene changed, and he was by the moonlight
+stream near Abbot's Ann, with Hal of Hadnock. He heard a voice call to
+him from the water: "Richard! Richard!" it seemed to cry, "Save me!
+Revenge me!--Richard, Richard of Woodville!"
+
+He started suddenly up; but the voice still rang in his ears: "Richard
+of Woodville," it said, or seemed to say.
+
+"I hear," he exclaims. "Who calls?"
+
+"What maiden is this thou hast with thee?" asked the voice. "Beware!
+Beware! Love will not be lightlied."
+
+"Who is it that speaks?" demanded Richard of Woodville, rubbing his
+eyes in surprise and bewilderment. But no one answered, and all was
+silence. "Surely, some one spoke," said the young gentleman; "if so,
+let them speak again."
+
+There was no reply; and Woodville was inclined to believe that his
+dream had been prolonged after he had fancied himself awake; but, as
+he sat up and listened, he heard the movement of some one amongst the
+straw at the end of the room; and, well aware that, if any of the men
+were watchful, it must be he who had the most mind, he exclaimed, "Ned
+Dyram! are you asleep?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the man; "I have been awake these ten minutes."
+
+"Did you hear any one speak just now?" demanded Woodville.
+
+"To be sure I did," answered Dyram. "Some one called you by your name:
+it was that which roused me. They asked about the maiden, Ella, and
+bade you beware. Foul fall them! we have witches near."
+
+Richard of Woodville instantly sprang from his bed, and advanced
+towards the casement. The moon was still shining; but when the young
+gentleman gazed forth, all without was in the still quiet of midnight.
+He could see the court of the hostel, and the angle of the building,
+formed by a sort of wing which projected from the rest, close to where
+he stood; but all was calm; and not a creature seemed stirring. He
+looked up to the windows in the wing, but there was no light in any.
+
+"Whence did the sound seem to come, Ned?" he asked.
+
+"It seemed in the room," replied the man. "Shall I strike a light? I
+have always wherewithal about me."
+
+Richard of Woodville bade him do so; and a lamp was soon lighted. But
+Ned Dyram and his master searched the room in vain; and the other two
+inhabitants of the chamber slept soundly through all. At length,
+puzzled and disappointed, Woodville retired to bed again, and the
+light was extinguished; but the young gentleman did not sleep for some
+hours, listening eagerly for any sound. None made itself heard through
+the rest of the night, but the hard breathing of the sleeping yeomen;
+and, after watching till near morning, slumber once more fell upon
+Woodville's eyes, and he did not wake till the sun had been up an
+hour. The yeomen had already quitted the room without his having
+perceived it; and, dressing himself in haste, he proceeded to inquire
+of the host what strangers had lodged in his house during the
+preceding night, besides himself and his own attendants?
+
+"None, but a party of monks and nuns," the man replied, through the
+interpretation of Ella Brune, whom Woodville had called to his aid.
+
+"Ask him, Ella, of what country they were," said Richard of Woodville.
+But the man replied to Ella's question, that they were all
+Hainaulters, except two who came from Friesland; and that they were
+going on a pilgrimage to Rome.
+
+Richard of Woodville was more puzzled than ever. For a moment he
+suspected that Ned Dyram might have played some trick upon him; for,
+notwithstanding the bluntness of that worthy personage, a doubt of his
+being really as honest and straightforward as the King believed him,
+had entered into Woodville's mind, he knew not well why. Reflecting,
+however, on the fact of Ned Dyram having encouraged Ella Brune to
+accompany them to the Continent, notwithstanding the opposite advice
+given by his master, the young gentleman soon rejected that suspicion,
+and remained as much troubled to account for what had occurred as
+before.
+
+No farther information was to be obtained; and, as soon as his men and
+horses were prepared, Richard of Woodville commenced his journey
+towards Ghent; directing his steps in the first instance to Ghistel,
+through a country which presented, at that period, nothing but wide
+uncultivated plains and salt marshes, with here and there a village
+raised on any little eminence, or a feudal castle near the shore, from
+which, even in those days, and still more in the times preceding,
+numerous bands of pirates were sent forth, sweeping the sea, and
+occasionally entering the mouths of the English rivers. The
+inhabitants of the whole tract, from Ostend to the Aa, were notorious
+for their savage and blood-thirsty character; so much so, indeed, as
+to have obtained the name of the Scythians of the North; and Ella
+Brune, as she rode beside Richard of Woodville, on one of the mules
+which he had brought with him, and which had been freed from its share
+of the baggage to bear her lighter weight, warned her companion to be
+upon his guard, as the passage through that part of the country was
+still considered unsafe, notwithstanding some improvement in the
+manners of the people.
+
+At first Woodville only smiled, replying, that he thought a party of
+eleven stout Englishmen were sufficient to deal with any troop of rude
+Flemings who might come against them. But she went on to give him many
+anecdotes of brutal outrages that had been committed within a very few
+years, which somewhat changed his opinion; and the appearance of a
+body of five or six horsemen, seemingly watching the advance of his
+little force, induced him to take some precautions. Halting within
+sight of the church of Lombards Heyde, he caused his archers to put on
+the cuirasses and salades with which they were provided for active
+service, and ordered them to have their bows ready for action at a
+moment's notice. He also partly armed himself, and directed the two
+pages to follow him close by with his casque, shield, and lance; and
+thus, keeping a firm array, the party moved forward to Ghistel,
+watched all the way along the road by the party they had at first
+observed, but without any attack being made. Their military display,
+indeed, proved in some degree detrimental to them; for that small town
+had been surrounded by ramparts some sixty or seventy years before,
+and the party of strangers was refused admission at the gates. On the
+offer of payment, however, some of the inhabitants readily enough
+brought forth corn and water for the horses, and food and hydromel for
+the men. One or two of them could speak French also; and from them
+Richard of Woodville obtained clear directions for pursuing his way
+towards Ghent. He now found that he had already somewhat deviated from
+the right track in coming to Ghistel at all; but as he was there, the
+men said that the best course for him to follow was to cross the
+country direct by Erneghem, and thence march through the forest of
+Winendale, along the high raised causeway which commenced at the gates
+of Ghistel.
+
+As no likelihood of obtaining any nearer place of repose presented
+itself, the young Englishman proceeded to follow these directions, and
+towards three o'clock of the same day reached the village of Erneghem.
+Much to his disappointment, however, he found no place of
+entertainment there. The inhabitants were mostly in the fields, and
+but little food was to be obtained for man or horse. On his own
+account, Richard of Woodville cared little; nor did he much heed his
+men being broken in to privations, which he well knew must often befal
+them; but for Ella Brune he was more anxious, and expressed to her
+kindly his fears lest she should suffer from hunger and fatigue. But
+Ella laughed lightly, replying, "I am more accustomed to it than any
+of you."
+
+Onward from that place, the march of the travellers was through the
+deep green wood, which, at that time, extended from a few miles to the
+south of Thorout, almost to the gates of Bruges. The soil was marshy,
+the road heavy, and full of sand; but the weather was still
+beautifully clear, the sun shone bright and warm, a thousand wild
+flowers grew up under the shade, and the leafy branches of the forest
+offered no unpleasant canopy, even at that early period of the year.
+Neither village, nor house, nor woodman's hut, nor castle tower,
+presented itself for several miles; and as they approached a spot
+where the road divided into two, with no friendly indication to the
+weary traveller of the place to which either tended, Richard of
+Woodville turned towards Ella, asking--"Which, think you, I ought to
+follow, my fair maid? or had I better, like the knight-errant of old,
+give the choice up to my horse, and see what his sagacity will do,
+where my own entirely fails me?"
+
+"What little I have," replied Ella, "would be of no good here; but I
+think the best road to choose would be the most beaten one."
+
+"Often the safest, Ella," replied Richard, with a smile.
+
+"Yet not always the most pleasant," answered Ella Brune. But, as she
+spoke, a human figure came in sight, the first that they had seen
+since they had left Erneghem. It was that of a stout monk, in a grey
+gown, with a large straw hat upon his head, tied with a riband under
+his beard. He was mounted upon a tall powerful ass, which was ambling
+along with him at a good pace; and though he pulled up when he saw the
+large party of strangers pausing at the separation of the two roads,
+he came forward at a slower pace the next moment, and, after a careful
+inspection of the young leader's person, saluted him courteously in
+the French tongue.--"Give you good day, and benedicite, my son," he
+said, bowing his head. "You seem embarrassed about your way. Can I
+help you?"
+
+"Infinitely, good father," replied Richard of Woodville, "if you can
+direct me on the road. I am going to Ghent."
+
+"Why, you can never reach Ghent to-night, my son," exclaimed the monk;
+"and you will find but poor lodging till you get to Thielt, which you
+will not reach till midnight, unless you ride hard."
+
+"We shall want both food and lodging long ere that, good father," said
+Richard of Woodville. "Whither does this road you have just come up
+lead?"
+
+"To Aertrick," replied the monk: "but you will get neither food nor
+beds there, my son, for so large a troop. 'Tis a poor place, and the
+priest is a poor man, who would lodge a single traveller willingly
+enough, but has no room for more, nor bread to give them; but your
+best plan will be to come with me to Thorout. 'Tis a little out of
+your way to Ghent; but yet you can reach that city to-morrow, if you
+will, though 'tis a long day's journey--well nigh ten leagues."
+
+"Is there a hostel in Thorout, good father?" asked Richard of
+Woodville.
+
+"One of the most miserable in Flanders, Hainault, or Brabant,"
+answered the monk, laughing; "but we have a priory there, where we are
+always willing to lodge strangers, and let them taste of our
+refectory. We are a poor order," he continued, with a sly smile, "but
+yet we live in a rich country, and the people are benevolent to us, so
+that our board is not ill supplied; and strangers who visit us always
+remember our poverty."
+
+"That we will do most willingly," said Richard of Woodville, "to the
+best of our ability, good father. But you see we have a lady with us.
+Now I have heard, that in some orders--"
+
+"Ay, ay," replied the monk, laughing, "where the brotherhood are in
+sad doubt of their own virtue; but we are all grave and sober men, and
+fear not to see a fair sister amongst us--as a visitor, as a visitor,
+of course. It would be a want of Christian charity to send a fair lady
+from the gate, when she was in need of food and lodging. But come on,
+sir, if you will come; for we have still near a league to go, and 'tis
+well nigh the hour of supper, which this pious beast of mine knows
+right well. I had to drub him all the way to Aertrick, because he
+thought I had ought to be at vespers in the convent; and now he ambles
+me well nigh three leagues to the hour, because he knows that I ought
+to be back again. Oh, he has as much care of my conscience as a lady's
+father-director has of hers. Come, my son, if you be coming;" and
+therewith he put his ass once more into a quick pace, and took the
+road to the right.
+
+In little more than half an hour the whole party stood before the
+gates of a large heavy building, inclosed within high walls, situated
+at a short distance from the town of Thorout; and the good monk,
+leaving his new friends without, went in to speak with the prior in
+regard to their reception. No great difficulty seemed to be made; and
+the prior himself, a white bearded, fresh complexioned old man, with a
+watery blue eye, well set in fat, came out to the door to welcome
+them. His air was benevolent; and his look, though somewhat more
+joyous than was perhaps quite in harmony with his vows, was by no
+means so unusual in his class as to call for any particular
+observation on the part of the young Englishman.
+
+Far from displaying any scruples in regard to receiving Ella within
+those holy walls, he was the first to show himself busy, perhaps
+somewhat more than needful, in assisting her to dismount. It was
+evident that he was a great admirer of beauty in the other sex; but
+there were other objects for which he had an extreme regard; and one
+of those, in the form of the supper of the monastery, was already
+being placed upon the table of the refectory; so that there was no
+other course for him to pursue than to hasten the whole party in, to
+partake of the meal, only pausing to ask Richard of Woodville, with a
+glance at the black robe of serge and the white wimple of Ella Brune,
+whether she was a sister of some English order?
+
+Woodville simply replied that she was not, but merely a young maiden
+who was placed under his charge, to escort safely to Peronne, or
+perhaps Dijon, if she did not find her relations, who were attached to
+the Court of Burgundy, at the former place.
+
+The good prior was satisfied for the time, and led the way on to the
+refectory, where about twenty brethren were assembled, waiting with as
+eager looks for the commencement of the meal as if they had been
+fasting for at least four-and-twenty hours. To judge, however, from
+the viands to which they soon sat down, no such abstinence was usually
+practised; and capons, and roe-deer, and wild-boar pork, were in as
+great plenty on the table of the refectory as in the hall of a high
+English baron. Some distinction of rank, too, was here observed;[5]
+and the attendants of Richard of Woodville were left to sup with the
+servants of the convent, somewhat to their surprise and displeasure.
+The monks in general seemed a cheerful and well-contented race, fond
+of good cheer and rich wine; and all but one or two seemed to vie with
+each other in showing very courteous attention to poor Ella Brune, in
+which course the prior himself, and the brother questor, who had been
+Woodville's guide thither, particularly distinguished themselves.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 5: In many countries, the distinction of station, if not of
+birth, was very strictly enforced, especially at meals; and I think it
+is Meyrick who mentions the ordonnance of some foreign prince, by
+which no one was permitted, under the grade of chivalry, to sit at the
+table with a knight, unless he were a cross-bowman, the son of a
+knight.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+There was one saturnine man, indeed, seated somewhat far down the
+table, with his head bent over his platter, who seemed to take little
+share in the hilarity of the others. From time to time he gave a
+side-long look towards Ella; but it was evidently not one of love or
+admiration; and Richard of Woodville was easily led to imagine that
+the good brother was somewhat scandalized at the presence of a woman
+in the convent. He asked the questor, who sat next to him, however, in
+a low voice, who that silent brother was; and it needed no farther
+explanation to make the monk understand whom he meant.
+
+"He is a Kill-joy," replied the questor, with a significant look; "but
+he is none of our own people, though one of the order, from the abbey
+at Liege. He departs soon, God be praised; for he has done nothing but
+censure us since he came hither. His abbot sent him away upon a
+visitation--to get rid of him, I believe; for he was unruly there,
+too, and declared that widgeons could not be eaten on even an ordinary
+fast-day without sin, though we all know the contrary."
+
+"He is not orthodox in that, at least," answered Richard of Woodville,
+with a smile. "Doubtless he thinks it highly improper for a lady to
+have shelter here."
+
+"For that very reason," said the questor, in the same low tone in
+which their conversation had been hitherto carried on, "the prior will
+have to lodge you in the visitor's lodging, which you saw just by the
+gate; for he fears the reports of brother Paul. Otherwise he would
+have put you in the sub-prior's rooms, he being absent. But see, now
+he has done himself, how brother Paul watches every mouthful that goes
+down the throats of others!" The questor sank his voice to a whisper,
+adding, in a solemn tone, "He drinks no wine--nothing but water wets
+his lips! Is not that a sin?--a disparaging of the gifts of God?"
+
+"It is, certainly, not using them discreetly," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "and, methinks, in these low lands, a cup of generous wine,
+such as this is, must be even more necessary to a reverend monk, who
+spends half his time in prayer, than to a busy creature of the world,
+who has plenty of exercise to keep his blood flowing."
+
+"To be sure it is!" replied the questor, who approved the doctrine
+highly; and thereupon he filled Woodville's can again, with a
+"Benedicite, noble sir."
+
+When the meal was over, the young Englishman remarked, that this grim
+brother Paul, of whom they had been speaking, took advantage of the
+little interval which usually succeeds the pleasant occupation of
+eating, to draw the prior aside, and whisper to him for several
+minutes. The face of the latter betrayed impatience and displeasure,
+and he turned from him, with a somewhat mocking air, saying aloud,
+"You are mistaken, my brother, and not charitable, as you will soon
+see. Hark! there is the bell for complines. Do you attend the service,
+sir?"
+
+The last words were addressed to Richard of Woodville, who bowed his
+head, and answered, "Gladly I will."
+
+"Oh, yes!" cried Ella, with a joyful look; "I shall be so pleased, if
+I may find a place in the chapel. I have not had the opportunity of
+hearing any service since I left London."
+
+"Assuredly, my daughter!" said the prior, with a gracious look; "the
+chapel is open to all. We have our own place; but every day we have
+the villagers and townsfolk to hear our chanting, which we are
+somewhat vain of. You shall be shown how to reach it with your
+friends."
+
+The monks took their way to the chapel by a private door from the
+refectory; and Richard of Woodville, with Ella, was led by a lay
+brother of the monastery through the court. Two or three women and one
+old man were in the chapel, and the short evening service began and
+ended, the sweet voice of Ella Brune mingling sounds with the choir,
+which, well I wot, the place had not often heard before. At the close,
+Richard of Woodville moved towards the door; but Ella besought him to
+stay one moment, and, advancing to the shrine of Our Lady, knelt down
+and prayed devoutly, with her beads in her hand. Perhaps she might ask
+for a prosperous journey, and for deliverance from danger; or she
+might entreat support and guidance in an undertaking that occupied the
+dearest thoughts of an enthusiastic heart; nor will there be many
+found to blame her, even if the higher aspirations, the holier and
+purer impulses that separate the spirit from the earth and lead the
+soul to Heaven, were mingled with the mortal affections that cling
+around us to the end, so long as we are bondsmen of the clay.
+
+While she yet prayed, and while the monks were wending away through
+their own particular entrance, the old prior advanced to Woodville,
+who was standing near the door, and remarked, "Our fair sister seems
+of a devout and Catholic spirit. These are bad days, and there are
+many that swerve from the true faith."
+
+At these words a conviction, very near the truth, broke upon
+Woodville's mind, as he recollected what Ella had told him of the
+opinions of old Murdock Brune and of his relations in Liege, and
+combined her account with the whispering of brother Paul, a monk from
+that very city. It was a sudden flash of perception, rather than the
+light of cold consideration; and he replied, without a moment's pause,
+"She is, indeed, a sincere and pious child of the Holy Roman Catholic
+Church; and she has been much tried, as you would soon perceive,
+reverend sir, if you knew all; for she has relations who have long
+since abandoned the faith of their fathers, and would fain have
+persuaded her to adopt their own vain and heretical opinions; but she
+has been firm and constant, even to her own injury in their esteem,
+poor maiden!"
+
+"Ay, I thought so, I thought so!" replied the fat prior, rubbing his
+fat white hands. "See how she prays to the Blessed Virgin; and the
+Queen of Heaven will hear her prayers. She always has especial grace
+for those who kneel at that altar. Good night, brother;--good night!
+The questor and the refectioner will show you your lodging, and give
+you the sleeping cup. To-morrow I will see you ere you depart. God's
+blessing upon you, daughter," he added, as Ella approached. "I must
+away, for that father Paul has us all up to matins."
+
+Thus saying, the old monk retired; and in the court Woodville found
+his friend the questor and another brother, who led him and his
+attendants to what was called the visitor's lodging, where, with a
+more comfortable bed than the night before, he slept soundly, only
+waking for a few moments as the matin bell rang, and then dropping
+asleep again, to waken shortly after daylight and prepare for his
+journey onward.
+
+When he came to depart, however, there was one drawback to the
+remembrance of the pleasant evening he had passed in the monastery. A
+stout mule was saddled in the court, and the prior besought him, in
+courteous terms, to give the advantage of his escort to father Paul,
+who was about to set out likewise for Ghent. Richard of Woodville
+could not well refuse, though not particularly pleased, and placing a
+liberal return for his entertainment in the box of the convent, he
+began his journey, resolved to make the best of a companionship which
+he could not avoid.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XX.
+
+                        THE NEW ACQUAINTANCES.
+
+
+All was bustle in the good old town of Ghent, as Richard of Woodville
+and his train rode in. It was at all times a gay and busy place; and
+even now, when much of its commerce has passed away from it, what a
+cheerful and lively scene does its market-place present on a summer's
+day, with the tall houses rising round, and breaking the line of the
+sunshine into fantastic forms, and the innumerable groups of men
+and women standing to gossip or to traffic, or moving about in
+many-coloured raiment! On that day, however, military display was
+added to the usual gaiety of the scene, and to the ordinary municipal
+pageants of the time. Horsemen in arms were riding through the
+streets, lances were seen here and there, and pennons fluttered on the
+wind, while every now and then attendants in gay dresses, with the
+arms of Burgundy embroidered upon breast and back, passed along with
+busy looks and an important air.
+
+The young Englishman took his way under the direction of brother
+Paul--who had shown himself upon the journey more courteous and
+conversable than had been expected--towards the principal hostelry of
+the place; and Ghent at that time possessed many; but he was twice
+forced to stop in his advance by the crowds, who seemed to take little
+notice of him and his train, so fully occupied were they with some
+other event of the day. The first interruption was caused by a long
+train of priests and monks going to some church, with all the splendid
+array of the Roman Catholic clergy, followed by an immense multitude
+of idle gazers; and hardly had they passed, when the procession of the
+trades, walking on foot, with banners displayed, and guards in armour,
+and ensigns of the different companies, crossed the path of the
+travellers, causing them to halt for a full quarter of an hour, while
+the long line moved slowly on.
+
+"Is this any day of peculiar festival, brother Paul?" demanded Richard
+of Woodville; "the good citizens of Ghent seem in holiday."
+
+"None that I know of," replied the monk; "but I will ask;" and,
+pushing on his mule to the side of one of the more respectable
+artisans, he inquired the cause of the procession of the trades.
+
+"They are going to compliment the Count de Charolois," answered the
+man, "and to ask his recognition of their charters and privileges. He
+arrived only this morning."
+
+"That is fortunate, Ella," said Woodville, as soon as he was informed
+of this reply; "both for you and for me. Your father's cousin will,
+most likely, be with him; and I seek the Count myself."
+
+Brother Paul seemed to listen attentively to what his companions said;
+but he made no remark; and as soon as the procession had passed, they
+rode on, and were soon housed comfortably for the night. The monk left
+them at the inn door, thanking the young English gentleman for his
+escort, and retired to the abbey of St. Bavon.
+
+The hour of the day was somewhat late for Richard of Woodville to
+present himself before the Count de Charolois, and he also judged that
+it might be more prudent to visit in the first place the agent of the
+King of England--the well-known diplomatist of that day, Sir Philip
+Morgan, or de Morgan--if it should chance that he had accompanied the
+Count to Ghent. That he had done so, indeed, seemed by no means
+improbable, as Woodville had learned since his arrival in Flanders,
+that the Duke of Burgundy himself was absent in the French capital,
+and that the chief rule of his Flemish territory was entrusted to his
+son. The host of the inn, however, could tell him nothing about the
+matter; all he knew was, that the Count had arrived that morning
+unexpectedly, accompanied by a large train, and that instead of taking
+up his abode in the Cour des Princes, which had of late years become
+the residence of the Counts of Flanders, he had gone to what was
+called the Vieux Bourg, or old castle, of the Flemish princes. He
+offered to send a man to inquire if a person bearing the hard name
+which his English guest had pronounced, was with the Count's company;
+and Richard of Woodville had just got through the arrangements of a
+first arrival, and was taking a hasty meal, when the messenger
+returned, saying that Sir Philip de Morgan was with the Count, and was
+lodged in the left gate tower entering from the court.
+
+"I will go to him at once, Ella," he said; "and before my return you
+had better bethink you of what course you will pursue, in case your
+kinsman should not be with the Count. I will leave you for the present
+under the charge of Ned Dyram here, who will see that no harm happens
+to you in this strange town."
+
+"Oh! it is not strange to me," replied Ella Brune. "We once staid here
+for a month, noble sir; and, as to bethinking me of what I shall do, I
+have bethought me already, but will not stay you to speak about it
+now."
+
+Thus saying, she suffered him to depart, without giving him any charge
+to inquire after her kinsman, being somewhat more than indifferent, to
+say the truth, as to whether Richard of Woodville found him or not.
+When the young gentleman had departed, and the meal was concluded, Ned
+Dyram, though he had taken care to show no great pleasure at the task
+which his master had given him to execute, besought his fair companion
+to walk forth with him into the town, and urged her still,
+notwithstanding the plea of weariness which she offered for retiring
+to her own chamber.
+
+"I wish to purchase some goods," he said; "and shall never make myself
+understood, fair Ella, unless I have you with me."
+
+"Oh! every one in this town speaks French," replied Ella Brune; "for
+since the country fell to one of the royal family of France, that
+tongue has become the fashion amongst the nobles; and the traders are
+obliged to learn it, to speak with them."
+
+"But I must not go out and leave you," replied Ned Dyram, "after the
+charge my young lord has laid upon me;" and as he still pressed her to
+accompany him, Ella, who felt that she owed him some gratitude for
+having forwarded her schemes so far, at length consented; and they
+issued forth together into the streets of Ghent.
+
+As soon as they were free from the presence of the other attendants of
+Richard of Woodville, the manner of her companion towards Ella became
+very different. There was a tenderness in his tones, and in his words,
+an expression of admiration in his countenance, which he had carefully
+avoided displaying before others; and the poor girl felt somewhat
+grieved and annoyed, although, as there was nothing coarse or familiar
+in his demeanour, she felt that she had no right to be displeased.
+
+"The lowliest may love the highest," she thought; "and in station he
+is better than I am. Why, then, should I feel angry?--And yet I wish
+this had not been; it may mar all my plans. How can I check it? and if
+I do, may he not divine all the rest, and, in his anger, do what he
+can to thwart me?--I will treat it lightly. Heaven pardon me, if I
+dissemble!"
+
+"What are you thinking of so deeply, fair maiden?" asked Ned Dyram,
+marking the reverie into which she had fallen. "You do not seem to
+listen to what I say."
+
+"As much as it is worth, Master Dyram," replied Ella, in a gay tone;
+"but I must check you; you are too rapid in your sweet speeches. Do
+you not know, that he who would become a true servant to a lady, must
+have long patience, and go discreetly to work? Oh! I am not to be won
+more easily than my betters! Poor as I am, I am as proud as any lady
+of high degree, and will have slow courtship and humble suit before I
+am won."
+
+"You shall have all that you wish, fair Ella," answered Ned Dyram, "if
+you will but smile upon my suit!"
+
+"Smile!" exclaimed Ella, with the same light manner. "Did ever man
+dream of such a thing so soon! Why, you may think yourself highly
+favoured, if you get a smile within three months. The first moon is
+all sighing--the next is all beseeching--the next, hoping and fearing;
+and then, perchance, a smile may come, to give hope encouragement. A
+kind word may follow at the end of the fourth month, and so on. But
+the lady who could be wholly won before three years, is unworthy of
+regard. However, Master Dyram," she continued in a graver tone, "you
+must make haste to purchase what you want, for I am over-weary to walk
+further over these rough stones."
+
+Just as she spoke, brother Paul passed them, in company with a secular
+priest; and, although he took no notice of his fellow travellers,
+walking on as if he did not see them, the quick eye of Ned Dyram
+perceived with a glance that the priest and the monk had stopped, and
+were gazing back, talking earnestly together.
+
+"That dull shaveling loves us not, fair Ella," said Ned Dyram. "He is
+one of your haters of all men, I should think."
+
+"I have seen his face somewhere before," answered Ella Brune; "but I
+know not well where. 'Tis not a pleasant picture to look upon,
+certainly, but he may be a good man for all that. Come, Master Dyram,
+what is it you want to buy? Here are stalls enough around us now; and
+if you do not choose speedily, I must turn back to the inn, and leave
+you to find your way through Ghent alone."
+
+"Then, first," said Ned Dyram, "I would buy a clasp to fasten the hood
+round your fair face."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Ella, in a tone of merry anger; "accept a present
+within a week of having seen you first! Nay, nay, servant of mine,
+that is a grace you must not expect for months to come. No, if that be
+all you want, I shall turn back," and she did so accordingly; but Ned
+Dyram had accomplished as much of his object as he had hoped or
+expected, for that day at least. He had spoken of love with Ella
+Brune; and, although what a great seer of the human heart has said,
+that "talking of love is not making it," may be true, yet it is
+undoubtedly a very great step to that pleasant consummation. But Ned
+Dyram had done more; he had overstepped the first great barrier; and
+Ella now knew that he loved her. He trusted to time and opportunity
+for the rest; and he was not one to doubt his skill in deriving the
+greatest advantage from both.
+
+The foolish and obtuse are often deceived by others; the shrewd and
+quick are often deceived by themselves. Without that best of all
+qualities of the mind, strong common sense, there is little to choose
+between the two: for if the dull man has in the world to contend with
+a thousand knaves, the quick one has in his own heart to contend with
+a thousand passions; and, perhaps, the domestic cheats are the most
+dangerous after all. There is not so great a fool on the earth as a
+clever man, when he is one; and Ned Dyram was one of that class, so
+frequently to be found in all ages, whose abilities are sometimes
+serviceable to others, but are rarely, if ever, found serviceable to
+themselves.
+
+Ella had used but little art towards him, but that which all women
+use, or would use, under such circumstances. Her first great thought
+was to conceal the love she felt; and where--when it becomes necessary
+to do so--is there a woman who will not find a thousand disguises to
+hide it from all eyes? But to him especially she was anxious to suffer
+no feeling of her bosom to appear; for she had speedily discovered, by
+a sort of intuition rather than observation--or, perhaps by a
+quickness in the perception of small traits which often seems like
+intuition--that he was keen and cunning beyond his seeming; and now
+she had a double motive for burying every secret deep in her own
+heart. She laid out no plan, indeed, for her future conduct towards
+him; she thought not what she would say, or what she would do; and if,
+in her after course, she employed aught like wile against his wiles,
+it was done on the impulse of the moment, and not on any predetermined
+scheme.
+
+Ned Dyram had remarked his master's conduct well since Ella had been
+their companion; he had seen that Woodville had been sincere in the
+opinion he had expressed, that it would be better for her to remain in
+England; and the very calm indifference which he had displayed on
+finding her in the ship with himself, had proved to him, both that
+there had never been any love passages between them ere he knew
+either, as he had imagined when first he was sent to London, and thus
+there was no chance of the young gentleman's kindly sympathy for the
+fair girl he protected growing into a warmer feeling. He read the
+unaffected conduct of his master aright; but to that of Ella Brune he
+had been more blind, partly because he was deceived by his own
+passions, partly because, in this instance, he had a much deeper and
+less legible book to read--a woman's heart; and, though naturally of a
+clear-sighted and even suspicious mind, he saw not, in the slightest
+degree, the real impulses on which she acted.
+
+Contented, therefore, with the progress he had made, he purchased some
+articles of small value at one of the stalls which they passed, and
+returned to the inn with his fair companion, who at once sought her
+chamber, and retired to rest, without waiting for Richard of
+Woodville's return. Then sitting down in a dark corner of the hall, in
+which several of his companions were playing at tables, and two or
+three other guests listening to a tale in broad Flemish, delivered by
+the host, Dyram turned in his mind all that had passed between him and
+Ella, and, with vanity to aid him, easily persuaded himself that his
+suit would find favour in her eyes. He saw, indeed, that the rash and
+licentious thoughts which he had at one time entertained in regard to
+her when he found her poor, solitary, and unprotected, at a hostel in
+the liberties of the city, were injurious to her; but as his character
+was one of those too ordinary and debased ones, which value all things
+by the difficulty of attainment, he felt the more eagerly inclined to
+seek her, and to take any means to make her his, because he found her
+less easy to be obtained than he had at first imagined.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXI.
+
+                              THE EXILE.
+
+
+At one side of a small square or open space, in the town of Ghent,
+rose a large pile of very ancient architecture, called the
+Graevensteen, for many centuries the residence of the Counts of
+Flanders. Covering a wide extent of ground with its walls and towers,
+the building ran back almost to the banks of the Liève, over which a
+bridge was thrown, communicating with the castle on one side, and the
+suburbs on the other. In front, towards the square, and projecting far
+before the rest of the pile, was a massive castellated gate of stone,
+flanked by high towers, rising to a considerable height. The aspect
+of the whole was gloomy and stern; but the gay scene before the
+gates--the guards, the attendants, the pages in the bright-coloured
+and splendid costumes, particularly affected by the house of
+Burgundy--relieved the forbidding aspect of the dark portal,
+contrasting brilliantly, though strangely, with its sombre and
+prison-like air.
+
+At a small light wicket, in a sort of balustrade, or screen, of richly
+sculptured stone, which separated the palace from the rest of the
+square, stood two or three persons, some of them in arms, others
+dressed in the garb of peace; and Richard of Woodville, with his
+guide, approaching one who seemed to be the porter, inquired if Sir
+Philip de Morgan could be spoken with?
+
+"Pass in," was the brief reply:--"the door in the court, on the left
+of the gate;" and walking on, they took their way under the deep arch,
+and found in one of the towers a small low door of massive oak,
+studded with huge bosses of iron. No one was in attendance; and this
+door being partially open, was pushed back by Richard of Woodville,
+who bade the guide wait below, while he mounted the narrow stairs, the
+foot of which was seen before him. At the first story another open
+door presented itself, displaying a little anteroom, with two or three
+servants seated round a table, playing at cross and pile, a game
+which, by this time, had descended from kings to lacqueys. Entering at
+once, the young gentleman, using the French tongue, demanded to speak
+with Sir Philip de Morgan; but the servants continued their game with
+that sort of cold indifference which Englishmen of an inferior class
+have, in all ages, been accustomed to show towards foreigners: one of
+them replying, in very bad French, and hardly lifting his head from
+the game, "He can't be spoken with--he is busy!" adding in English to
+his fellow, "Play on, Wilfred."
+
+"How now, knave!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville in his own tongue;
+"Methinks you are saucy! Rise this moment, and inform your master that
+a gentleman from the King of England desires to speak with him."
+
+The man instantly started up, replying, "I beg your pardon, sir. I did
+not know you. I thought it was some of those Flemish hogs, come to
+speak about the vellum."
+
+"Learn to be civil to all men, sir," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"and that a serving man is as much below an honest trader as the
+trader is below his lord. Go and do as I have told you."
+
+The lacquey retired by a door opposite, leaving a smile upon the faces
+of his fellows at the lecture he had received; and after being absent
+not more than a minute, he re-opened the door, saying, "Follow me,
+noble sir; Sir Philip will see you."
+
+Passing through another small chamber, in which a pale thin man
+in a black robe, with a shaven crown, was sitting, busily copying
+some papers, Richard of Woodville was ushered into a larger room,
+poorly furnished. At a table in the midst, was seated a corpulent,
+middle-aged personage, with a countenance which at first sight seemed
+dull and heavy. The nose, the cheeks, the lips, were fat and
+protruding; and the thick shaggy eyebrows hung so far over the eyes,
+as almost to conceal them. The forehead, however, was large and fine,
+somewhat prominent just about the brow, and over the nose; and when
+the eye could be seen, though small and grey, there was a bright and
+piercing light in it, which frequently accompanies high intellect. He
+was dressed in the plainest manner, and in dark colours, with a furred
+gown over his shoulders, and a small black velvet cap upon his head;
+nor would it have been easy for any one unacquainted with his real
+character to divine that in that coarse and somewhat repulsive form
+was to be found one of the greatest diplomatists of his age.
+
+Sir Philip de Morgan rose as soon as Richard of Woodville entered,
+bowing his head with a courtly inclination, and desiring his visitor
+to be seated. As soon as the servant had closed the door, he began the
+conversation himself, saying, "My knave tells me, sir, you come from
+the King. It might have been more prudent not to say so."
+
+"Why, good faith, Sir Philip," replied Woodville, "without saying so,
+there was but little chance of seeing you; for you have some saucy
+vermin here, who thought fit to pay but little attention to my first
+words; and moreover, as I have letters from the King for the Count de
+Charolois, which must be publicly delivered, concealment was of little
+use, and could last but a short time."
+
+"That alters the case," answered Sir Philip de Morgan. "As to my
+knaves, they must be taught to use their eyes, though a little
+insolence is not altogether objectionable; but you mentioned letters
+for the Count--I presume you have some for me?"
+
+"I have," answered Richard of Woodville, putting his hand into the
+gibecière, or pouch, which was slung over his right shoulder and under
+his left arm, by an embroidered band. "This, from the King, sir;" and
+he placed Henry's letter in the envoy's hand.
+
+Sir Philip de Morgan took it, cut the silk with his dagger, and drew
+forth the two sheets which it contained. The first which he looked at
+was brief; and the second, which was folded and sealed, with two words
+written in the corner, he did not open, but laid aside.
+
+"So, Master Woodville," he said, after this examination, "I find you
+have come to win your golden spurs in Burgundy. What lies in me to
+help you, I will do. To-morrow I will make you known to the Count de
+Charolois. I was well acquainted with your good father, and your lady
+mother, too. She was the sister, if I recollect, of the good knight of
+Dunbury, a very noble gentleman;" and then, turning from the subject,
+he proceeded, with quiet and seemingly unimportant questions, to gain
+all the knowledge that he could from Richard of Woodville regarding
+the court of England, and the character, conduct, and popularity of
+the young King. But his visitor, as the reader may have seen in
+earlier parts of this true history, though frank and free in his own
+case, and where no deep interests were concerned, was cautious and on
+his guard in matters of greater moment. He was not sent thither to
+babble of the King's affairs; and though he truly represented his
+Sovereign as highly popular with all classes, and deservedly so, Sir
+Philip de Morgan gained little farther information from him on any of
+the many points, in regard to which the diplomatist would fain have
+penetrated the monarch's designs before he thought fit to communicate
+them.
+
+The high terms in which Henry had been pleased to speak of the
+gentleman who bore his letter, naturally induced the envoy to set down
+his silence to discretion, rather than to want of knowledge; and he
+observed, after his inquiries had been parried more than once, "You
+are, I see, prudent and reserved in your intelligence, Master
+Woodville."
+
+"It is easy to be so, fair sir," answered his visitor, "when one has
+nothing to communicate. Doubtless the King has told you all, without
+leaving any part of his will for me to expound. At least, if he did,
+he informed me not of it; and I have nothing more to relate."
+
+"What! not one word of France?" asked the knight, with a smile.
+
+"Not one!" replied Woodville, calmly.
+
+The envoy smiled again. "Well," he said, "then tomorrow, at noon, I
+will go with you to the Count, if you will be here. Doubtless we shall
+hear more of your errand, from the letters you bear to that noble
+prince."
+
+"I do not know," replied Woodville, rising; "but at the same time, I
+would ask you to send some one with me to find out the dwelling of one
+Sir John Grey, if he be now in Ghent."
+
+"Sir John Grey!" said de Morgan, musing, as if he had never heard the
+name before. "I really cannot tell you where to find such a person:
+there is none of that name here. Is he a friend of your own?"
+
+"No!" answered Richard of Woodville; "I never saw him."
+
+"Then you have letters for him, I presume," rejoined the other. "What
+says the superscription? Does it not give you more clearly his place
+of abode? This town contains many a street and lane. I have only been
+here these eight hours since several years; and he may well be in the
+place and I not know it."
+
+Woodville drew forth the King's letter, and gazed at the writing on
+the back; while Sir Philip de Morgan, who had risen likewise, took a
+silent step round, and glanced over his arm. "Ha! the King's own
+writing," he said. "Sir John Grey! I remember; there is, I believe, an
+old countryman of ours, living near what is called the Sas de Gand, of
+the name of Mortimer. He has been here some years; and if there be a
+man in Ghent who can tell you where to find this Sir John Grey, 'tis
+he. Nay, I think you may well trust the letter in his hands to
+deliver. Stay, I will send one of my knaves with you, who knows the
+language and the manners of this people well."
+
+"I thank you, noble sir," replied his visitor; "but I have a man
+waiting for me, who will conduct me, if you will but repeat the
+direction that you gave--near the Sas de Gand, I think you said?"
+
+"Just so," replied Sir Philip de Morgan, drily; "but not quite so far.
+It is a house called the house of Waeerschoot;--but it is growing
+late; in less than an hour it will be dark. You had better delay your
+visit till to-morrow, when you will be more sure of admission; for he
+is of a moody and somewhat strange fantasy, and not always to be
+seen."
+
+"I will try, at all events, to-night," replied Richard of Woodville.
+"I can but go back tomorrow, if I fail. Farewell, Sir Philip, I will
+be with you at noon;"--and, after all the somewhat formal courtesies
+and leave-takings of the day, he retired from the chamber of the
+King's envoy, and sought the guide who had conducted him thither.
+
+The man was soon found, talking to one of the inferior attendants of
+the Count of Charolois; and, calling him away, Richard of Woodville
+directed him to lead to the house which Sir Philip de Morgan had
+indicated. The guide replied, in a somewhat dissatisfied tone, that it
+was a long way off; but a word about his reward soon quickened his
+movements; and issuing through the gates of the city, they followed a
+lane through the suburbs on the northern side of the Lys.
+
+A number of fine houses were built at that time beyond the actual
+walls of Ghent; for the frequent commotions which took place in the
+town, and the little ceremony with which the citizens were accustomed
+to take the life of any one against whom popular wrath had been
+excited, rendered it expedient in the eyes of many of the nobles of
+Flanders to lodge beyond the dangerous fortifications, which were as
+often used to keep in an enemy as to keep one out. Many of these were
+modern buildings; but others were of a far more ancient date; and at
+length, as it was growing dusk, the young Englishman's guide stopped
+at the gate of one of the oldest houses they had yet seen, and struck
+two or three hard blows upon the large heavy door. For some time
+nothing but a hollow sound made answer; and looking up, Richard of
+Woodville examined the mansion, which seemed going fast into a state
+of decay. It had once been one of the strong battlemented dwellings of
+some feudal lord; and heavy towers, and numberless turrets, seemed to
+show that the date of its first erection went back to a time when the
+city of Ghent, confined to its own walls, had left the houses which
+were built beyond them surrounded only by the uncultivated fields and
+pastures, watered by the Scheld, the Lys, and the Liève. The walls
+still remained solid, though the sharp cutting of the round arches had
+mouldered away in the damp atmosphere; and the casements above--for
+externally there were none on the lower story--were, in many
+instances, destitute of even the small lozenges of glass, which, in
+those days, were all that even princely mansions could boast.
+
+After waiting more than a reasonable time, the guide knocked loud
+again, and, looking round for a bell, at length found a rope hanging
+under the arch, which he pulled violently. While it was still in his
+hand, a stout Flemish wench appeared, and demanded what they wanted,
+that they made so much noise? Her words, indeed, were unintelligible
+to the young Englishman; but, guessing their import, he directed the
+guide to inquire if an Englishman, of the name of Mortimer, lived
+there? A nod of the head, which accompanied her reply, showed him that
+it was in the affirmative; and he then, by the same intervention, told
+her to let her master know, that a gentleman from England wished to
+see him.
+
+The girl laughed, and shook her head, saying something which, when it
+came to be translated, proved to be, that she knew he would not see
+any one of the kind; but, though it was of no use, she would go and
+inquire; and away she consequently ran with good-humoured speed,
+showing, as she went, a pair of fat, white legs, with no other
+covering than that with which nature had furnished them.
+
+She returned in a minute, with a look of surprise; and bade the
+strangers follow her, which they did, into the court. There, however,
+Woodville again directed his guide to wait, and, under the pilotage of
+the Flemish maid, entered upon a sea of passages, till at length,
+catching him familiarly by the hand to guide him in the darkness that
+reigned within, she led him to a flight of stairs, and opened a door
+at the top. Before him lay a small room, ornamented with richly carved
+oak, the lines and angles of which caught faintly the light proceeding
+from a lamp upon the table; and, standing in the midst of the room,
+with a look of eager impatience, was a man, somewhat advanced in life,
+though younger than Woodville had expected to see. His hair, it is
+true, was white, and his beard, which he wore long, was nearly so
+likewise; but he was upright, and seemingly firm in limb and
+muscle.[6] His face had furrows on it, too; but they seemed more those
+of care and thought than age; and his eye was clear, undimmed, and
+flashing.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 6: His after advancement to the Earldom of Tankerville was
+won by deeds of arms, which shows that he must have been still hale
+and robust at this time.]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"Well, sir! well!" he said in English, as soon as Richard of Woodville
+entered; "What news?--Why has she not come herself?"
+
+"You are, I fear, under a mistake," replied the young Englishman. "I
+came to you for information--not to give any."
+
+The other cast himself back into his seat, and covered his eyes with
+his hands, as Woodville spoke. The next moment he withdrew his hands,
+and the whole expression of his countenance was altered. Nothing
+appeared but a look of dull and thoughtful reserve, with a slight
+touch of disappointment.
+
+As he spoke not, Richard of Woodville went on to say, "Sir Philip de
+Morgan directed me, sir--"
+
+"Ay!--he has his eye ever upon me," exclaimed the other, interrupting
+him. "What does he seek--what is there now to blame?"
+
+"Nothing, that I am aware of," answered Woodville; "it is on my own
+business he directed me here; not on yours or his."
+
+"Indeed!" said the other, with a softened look. "And what is there for
+your pleasure, sir?"
+
+"He informed me," replied his visitor, "that if there be a man in
+Ghent, it is yourself, who can tell me where to find one Sir John
+Grey, an English knight, supposed to be resident here."
+
+"And may I ask your business with him?" inquired Mortimer, coldly.
+
+"Nay," answered Woodville; "that will be communicated to himself. I
+cannot see how it would stead you, to know aught concerning it."
+
+"No!" replied Mortimer; "but it might stead him. A good friend, sir,
+to a man in danger, may stand like a barbican, as it were, before a
+fortress, encountering the first attack of the enemy. I say not that I
+know where Sir John Grey is to be found; but I do say, and at once,
+that I would not tell, if I did, till I had heard the motive of him
+who seeks him. He has been a wronged and persecuted man, sir; and it
+is fit that no indiscretion should lay him open to further injury."
+
+Woodville fixed his eyes intently upon his companion's countenance;
+and, after a moment's pause, he said, in an assured tone, "I speak to
+Sir John Grey even now. Concealment is vain, sir, and needless; for I
+do but bring you a letter from the young King of England, which I
+promised to deliver with all speed; and if things be as I think, it
+will not prove so ungrateful to you as you may expect. Am I not
+right?--for I must have your own admission ere I give the letter."
+
+"The letter!" repeated the other; and again a look of eagerness came
+over his countenance. "You bear a letter, then? You are keen, young
+man," he added; "but yet you look honest."
+
+"I do assure you, sir," replied Woodville, "that I have no end or
+object on earth, but to give the letter with which I am charged to Sir
+John Grey himself. I am anxious, moreover, to do it speedily, for so I
+was directed; and I have therefore come to-night, without waiting for
+repose. If you be he, as I do believe, you may tell me so in safety,
+and rest upon the honour of an English gentleman."
+
+"Honour!" said his companion, with a sad and bitter shake of the head.
+"I have no cause to trust in honour: it has become but a mere name,
+the meaning of which has been lost long ago, and each man interprets
+it as he likes best. In former times, honour was a thing as immutable
+as the diamond, which nought could change to any other form. 'Twas
+truth,--'twas right,--'twas the pure gold of the high heart. Now,
+alas! men have devised alloy; and the metal, be it as base as copper,
+passes current for the value that is stamped upon it by society.
+Honour is no longer independent of man's will; 'tis that which people
+call it, and no more. The liar, who, with a smooth face, wrongs his
+friend in the most tender point, is still a man of honour with the
+world: the traitor, who betrays his country or his king, so that it be
+for passion, and not gold, is still a man of honour, and will cut your
+throat if you deny it: the calumniator, who blasts another's
+reputation with a sneer, is still a man of honour if he's brave.
+Honour's a name that changes colour, like the Indian beast, according
+to the light it is viewed in. Now it is courage; now it is rank; now
+it is riches; now it is fine raiment, or a swaggering air. Once it was
+Truth, young sir."
+
+"And is ever so, in reality," replied Richard of Woodville; "the rest
+are all counterfeits, which only pass with men who know no better. It
+is of this honour that I speak, sir. However, as you know me not, I
+cannot expect you to attribute to me qualities that are indeed now
+rare; yet, holding myself bound by that very honour which we speak of,
+to deliver the letter that I bear to no one but him for whom it was
+destined, unless you tell me you are indeed that person, I must carry
+it back with me."
+
+"Stay!--what is your name?" demanded the other--"that may give me
+light."
+
+"My name is Richard of Woodville," answered his visitor.
+
+"Ha! Richard of Woodville!" cried the stranger, with a look of joy,
+grasping his hand warmly. "Give it me--give it me--quick! I am Sir
+John Grey. How fares she?--where is she?--why did she not come?"
+
+"I know not of whom you speak," replied Woodville; "this letter is
+from the King;" and, drawing it forth, he put it into his companion's
+hand.
+
+"From the King!" exclaimed Sir John Grey--"from the King!--a letter to
+me!"--and he held the packet to the lamp, and gazed on the
+superscription attentively. "True, indeed?" he said at length, cutting
+the silk. "'Our trusty and well-beloved!'--a style I have not heard
+for years;" and bending his head over it, he perused the contents,
+which were somewhat long.
+
+Woodville gazed at his face while he read, and marked the light and
+shade of many varied emotions come across it. Now, the eye strained
+eagerly at the first lines, and the brow knit; now, a proud smile
+curled the lip; and now, the eyelids showed a tear. But presently, as
+he proceeded, all haughtiness passed away from his look--he raised his
+eyes to heaven, as if in thankfulness; and at the end let fall the
+paper on the table, and clasped his hands together, exclaiming,
+"Praise to thy name, Most Merciful! The dark hour has come to an end!"
+
+Then stretching forth his open arms to Richard of Woodville, he said,
+"Let me take you to my heart, messenger of joy!--you have brought me
+life!"
+
+"I am overjoyed to be that messenger, Sir John," replied Woodville;
+"but, in truth, I was ignorant of what I carried. I did but guess,
+indeed, from my knowledge of the King's great soul, that he would not
+be so eager that this should reach you soon, if the tidings it
+contained were evil."
+
+"They are home to the exile," replied the knight; "wealth to the
+beggar; grace and station to the disgraced and fallen; the reversal of
+all his father's bitter acts; the generous outpouring of a true royal
+heart! Noble, noble prince! God requite me with misery eternal, if I
+do not devote every moment that remains of this short life to do you
+signal service. And you, too, my friend," he continued, taking his
+visitor's hand--"so you are the man who, choosing by the heart alone,
+setting rank, and wealth, and name aside, looking but to loveliness
+and worth, sought the hand of a poor and portionless girl--the
+daughter of a proscribed and banished fugitive?"
+
+"Good faith, Sir John!" replied the young gentleman, gazing upon him
+with a look of no small surprise and pleasure, "I begin to see light;
+but I have been so long in darkness that my eyes are dazzled. Can it
+be that I see my fair Mary's father--the father of Mary Markham--in
+Sir John Grey?"
+
+But the knight's attention had been turned back to the letter, with
+that abrupt transition which the mind is subject to, when suddenly
+moved by joy so unexpected as almost to be rendered doubtful by its
+very intensity. "I cannot believe it," he said; "yet, who should
+deceive me? It is royal, too, in every word."
+
+"It is the King's own hand that wrote it," replied Richard of
+Woodville; "and if there be aught that is high and generous
+therein--aught that speaks a soul above the ordinary crowd--aught that
+is marked as fitting for a King, who values royalty but for extended
+power to do good and redress wrong--set it down with full assurance as
+a proof that it is Henry's own! But you have not answered me as to
+that dear lady."
+
+"She is my child, Richard," said Sir John Grey; "and if you are
+worthy, as I believe you, she shall be your wife. You chose her in
+lowliness and poverty; she shall be yours in wealth and honour. But
+tell me more about her. When did you see her? Why has she not come?"
+
+"The last question I cannot answer," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"for, though I heard her father had sent for her, I knew not who that
+father was, or where; but----"
+
+"So, then, she never told you?" asked the knight.
+
+"Never," answered Woodville, "nor my good uncle either; but I saw her
+some eight or nine days since in Westminster, well and happy. I have
+heard since, however, by a servant whom I sent up, that she and Sir
+Philip had returned in haste to Dunbury, upon some sudden news."
+
+"Ay!--so then they have missed the men I sent," replied Sir John Grey.
+"I despatched a servant--the only one I had--three weeks since,
+together with some merchants, who were going to trade in London, and
+who promised on their return, which was to be without delay, to bring
+her with them."
+
+"Stay!" exclaimed Woodville. "Had they not a freight of velvets and
+stuffs of gold?"
+
+"The same," answered the knight. "What of them?"
+
+"They were taken by pirates in the mouth of the Thames," replied
+Richard of Woodville. "I heard the news in Winchester, when I was
+purchasing housings for my horses. But be not alarmed for your dear
+child. She is safe. I saw her afterwards; and good Sir Philip seemed
+to marvel much, why some persons whom he expected had not yet arrived.
+Had he told me more, I could have given him tidings of them; put your
+mind at ease on her account, for she is still with Sir Philip."
+
+"But that poor fellow, the servant!" answered the knight, sadly; "my
+heart is ill at rest for him. Misfortune teaches us to value things
+more justly than prosperity. A true and faithful friend, whatever be
+his station, is a treasure indeed, not to be lost without a bitter
+pang. I must thank God that my dear child is safe; yet I cannot forget
+him."
+
+"They will put him to ransom with the rest," replied Richard of
+Woodville. "I heard they had carried the merchants and their vessel to
+some port in the north, and doubtless you will soon hear of him. I did
+not learn that there was any violence committed; for, though they are
+usually hard and cruel men, they are even more avaricious than
+bloodthirsty."
+
+"God send it!" exclaimed Sir John Grey. "I wonder that your noble
+kinsman, when he heard that you were about to cross the sea, did not
+charge you with Mary's guidance hither. It would have been more safe."
+
+"But you forget," replied Woodville, "that I was ignorant of all
+concerning her. I thought she was an orphan till within the last ten
+days--or, perhaps, not so well placed as that. Besides, my uncle would
+not countenance our love; and, indeed, that was his reason; for I
+remember he said, that he wished we had not been such fools as to be
+caught by one another's eyes; that it would have saved him much
+embarrassment."
+
+Sir John Grey smiled, saying--"That is so much the man I left. He had
+even then outlived the memory of his own young days, when lady's love
+was all his thought but arms, and looked upon everything, but that
+lofty and more shadowy devotion to the fair, which was the soul of
+olden chivalry, as little better than youthful idleness. He kept you,
+then, even to the last, without knowledge of her fate and history? He
+did well, too, for so I wished it; but I will now tell you all; and
+there is not, indeed, much to say. I raised my lance, with the rest,
+for my sovereign, King Richard; was taken and pardoned; but swore no
+allegiance to one whom I could not but hold as an usurper. When
+occasion served again, I was not slack to do the same once more, and,
+with my friends, fought the lost battle of Shrewsbury. My life was
+saved by a poor faithful fellow of our army, who gave his own, I fear,
+for mine; and flying, more fortunately than others, I escaped to this
+land. Here I soon heard that I was proclaimed a traitor, my estate
+seized, my name attainted, and my child sought for to make her a ward
+of the crown, and to give her and the fortune which her mother
+inherited, to some minion of the court. She was then a mere child,
+and, by your uncle's kindly care, was taken first to Wales, and thence
+brought to his own house, where he has ever treated her as a daughter.
+I lingered on in this and other lands from year to year; and many an
+effort was made to entrap or drive me back into the net. The King of
+France was instigated to expel me from his dominions; the Duke of
+Burgundy was moved to follow his example, but would not so debase
+himself to any king on earth. But why should I tell all that I have
+suffered? Every art was used, and every means of persecution tried,
+till at length, taking refuge in this town of Ghent, under a false
+name, I have known a short period of tranquillity. Then came the
+thought of my child upon me: it grew like a thirst, till I could bear
+no more, and I sent for her. I knew not then that the late King was
+dead, or I might have waited to see the result; for often, when this
+Prince was but a child, I have had him on my knee; and I too taught
+him to handle the bow when he was seven years old; for, till his
+father stretched a hand towards the crown, he was my friend; and Harry
+of Hereford and John Grey were sworn brothers."
+
+"The more the friendship once, the more the hate," replied Richard of
+Woodville; "so says an old song, noble knight; but now, that enmity is
+over, I trust, for ever. The Earl of March, the only well-founded
+obstacle in the way of Henry's rights, acknowledges them fully."
+
+"And if he did not," answered Sir John Grey, with a stern brow, "I
+would never draw my sword for him. The Earl of March--I mean the old
+Earl--by tame acquiescence in the deeds of Henry of Bolinbroke, set
+aside his title. He held out no hand to help his falling kinsman
+Richard; and if the crown was to be given away, it was the Peers and
+Commons of England had the right to give it; and they rightly gave it
+to the brave and wise, rather than to the feeble and the timid. It was
+Richard Plantagenet was my King, and not the Earl of March. To the one
+I swore allegiance, and owed much; to the other I had no duty, and
+owed nothing. I did not wrangle which son of a king should succeed,
+but I upheld the monarch who was upon the throne. Neither did I ever,
+my young friend, regard the Duke of Lancaster with private enmity, as
+you seem to think. He was ambitious; he usurped his cousin's throne;
+and I drew the sword against him because he did so; but I will
+acknowledge that, if there was one man in England fitted to fill that
+throne with dignity, he was the man. He, on the contrary, hated me,
+because his own conduct had changed a friend into an enemy; and so it
+is ever in this world. But who is it rings the bell so fiercely? Hark!
+perhaps it is my child!"--and, opening the door, he turned his head
+eagerly to listen to the sounds that rose from below.
+
+Richard of Woodville also gave ear, for a word is sufficient to make
+hopes, however improbable, rise up like young plants in a spring
+shower--at least, in our early days. But the next moment, the steps of
+two persons sounded in the passage, and one of the servants, whom
+Woodville had seen in the ante-chamber of Sir Philip de Morgan,
+appeared, guided by the Flemish maid.
+
+"My master greets you well, sir," he said, addressing Sir John Grey,
+"and has sent you, by the King's order, some of the money belonging to
+you, for your present need;" and thus saying, he laid a heavy bag of
+what appeared to be coin upon the table. "He bids me say," continued
+the man, "that the rest of the money will arrive soon, and that you
+had better appear at the Court of my Lord Count, as early as may be,
+that all the world may know you have the King's protection."
+
+Sir John Grey gazed at the bag of money with a mournful smile. "How
+ready men are," he said, "when fortune favours! How far and how long
+might I have sought this, when I was in distress!"--and untying the
+bag, he took out a large piece of silver, saying to the servant,
+"There, my friend, is largess. Tell your master I will follow counsel.
+He has heard of this, Richard;--you bore him letters, I suppose;" he
+added, as the man quitted the room, with thanks for his bounty. "Well,
+'tis no use to expect of men more than they judge their duty; yet this
+knight was the instrument who willingly urged the Duke of Burgundy to
+drive me forth from Dijon."
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXII.
+
+                       THE COUNT OF CHAROLOIS.
+
+
+Clothed in the most splendid array with which he had been able to
+provide himself, his tight-fitting hose displaying to the highest
+advantage his graceful yet powerful limbs, with the coat of black
+silk, spotted with flowers of gold, cut wide, but gathered into
+numerous pleats or folds round the collar and the waist, and confined
+by a rich girdle to the form, while the sleeves, fashioned to the
+shape of the arm, and fastened at the wrist, showed the strong contour
+of the swelling muscles, Richard of Woodville stood before the door of
+the inn, as handsome and princely a man in his appearance as ever
+graced a royal court. Over his shoulders he wore a short mantle of
+embroidered cloth, trimmed with costly fur, the sleeves of which,
+according to the custom of the day, were slashed down the inner side
+so as to suffer the arm to be thrust out from them, while they, more
+for ornament than use, hung down to the bend of the knee. On his feet
+he wore the riding boots of the time, thrust down to the ankle;
+and--in accordance with a custom then new in the courts of France and
+Burgundy, but which ere long found its way to England--his heavy sword
+had been laid aside, and his only arm was a rich hilted dagger,
+suspended by a gold ring from the clasp of his girdle. His head was
+covered with a small bonnet, or velvet cap, ornamented by a single
+long white feather, showing that he had not yet reached knightly rank;
+and round it curled in large masses his glossy dark-brown hair.
+
+Likewise, arrayed with all the splendour that the young gentleman's
+purse had permitted him to procure, six of his servants stood ready by
+their horses' sides to accompany him to the dwelling of the Count of
+Charolois; and a glittering train they formed, well fitted to do
+honour to Old England in the eyes of a foreign court. It was evident
+enough that they were all well pleased with themselves; but their
+self-satisfaction was of the cool and haughty kind, so common to our
+countrymen, partaking more of pride than vanity. They looked down
+upon others more than they admired themselves; and, unlike the French
+or the Burgundians, seemed to care little what others thought of
+them,--quite contented with feeling that their garb became them, and
+that, should need be, they could give a stroke or bide a buffet with
+the best.
+
+The horse of Richard of Woodville--not the one which had borne him
+from the coast, but a finer and more powerful animal--was brought
+round; and turning for a moment to Ella Brune, who stood with a number
+of other gazers at the door of the inn, the young Englishman said, "I
+will not be so careless and forgetful to-day, Ella; but will bring you
+back tidings of your kinsman, without farther fault."
+
+Then springing on his charger's back he rode lightly away, while the
+poor girl gazed after him, with a deep sigh struggling at her heart,
+and suppressed with pain, as she thought of the many eyes around her.
+
+At the gate of the Graevensteen, orders had been already given to
+admit the young Englishman into the inner court; and, riding on,
+Richard of Woodville dismounted near the door which led to the
+apartments of Sir Philip de Morgan. A man who was waiting at the foot
+of the stairs, ran up them as soon as he saw the train, and before
+Woodville could follow, the envoy of the King of England came down,
+followed by a page. He greeted his young countryman with even marked
+courtesy, suffered his eye to rest with evident pleasure upon his
+goodly train, and then turning with a smile to Woodville, he
+inquired,--"Do men now in England gild the bits and chains of their
+horses?"
+
+"It is a new custom, I believe," replied the young gentleman. "I gave
+little heed to it, but told the people to give me those things that
+would not discredit my race and country at the Court of Burgundy."
+
+"Well, let us go thither," replied Sir Philip; "or, at least, to such
+part of it as is here in Ghent. I have already advised the Count that
+you are coming, and he is willing to show you all favour."
+
+The envoy accordingly led the way across the wide court which
+separated the old gate, with its gloomy towers, from the stern and
+still more forbidding fortress of the ancient Counts of Flanders; and
+passing first through a narrow chamber, in which were sitting some
+half dozen armed guards, and then through a wide hall, where a greater
+number of gentlemen were assembled in their garb of peace, the two
+Englishmen approached a flight of steps at the farther end. There a
+middle-aged man, with a gold chain round his neck, advanced, and
+addressing Sir Philip de Morgan, inquired if the Count was aware of
+their visit?
+
+The diplomatist replied that they were expected at that hour; and the
+other, pushing open the door at the top of the steps, called loudly to
+an attendant within, to usher the visitors to his Lord's presence.
+After a few more ceremonies of the same kind, Woodville and his
+companion were introduced into the small cabinet in which the Count of
+Charolois was seated. He was not alone, for two personages, having the
+appearance of men of some rank, but booted and spurred as if for a
+journey, were standing before him, in the act of taking their leave;
+and Richard of Woodville had an opportunity of examining briefly the
+countenance of the Prince, known afterwards as Philip the Good.
+
+He was then in the brightness of early youth; and seldom has there
+been seen a face more indebted to expression for the beauty which all
+men agreed to admire. Taken separately, perhaps none of the features
+were actually fine, except the eyes; but there was a look of generous
+kindness, a softness brightened by a quick and intelligent glance, a
+benignity rather heightened than diminished by certain firmness of
+character, in the mouth and jaw, which was inexpressibly pleasing to
+the eye. There were lines of deep thought, too, about the brow, which
+contrasted strangely with the smooth soft skin of youth, and with the
+rounded cheeks without a furrow or hollow, and the eyelids as
+unwrinkled and full as those of careless infancy.
+
+The Count had evidently been speaking on matters of grave moment; for
+there was a seriousness even in his smile, as, rising for an instant,
+while the others bowed and retired, he wished them a prosperous
+journey. He was above the middle height, but not very tall; and,
+though in after years he became somewhat corpulent, he was now very
+slight in form, and graceful in his movements, which all displayed,
+even at the early age of seventeen, that dignity, never lost, even
+after the symmetry of youth was gone.
+
+As the two gentlemen who took their leave were quitting the room, the
+Count turned to Sir Philip de Morgan, bowing rather stiffly, and
+noticing Woodville with a slight inclination of the head.
+
+"This is, I suppose, the gentleman you mentioned, Sir Philip," he
+said, "who has brought me letters from my royal cousin of England?"
+
+"The same, fair sir," replied the envoy. "Allow me to make known to
+you Master Richard of Woodville, allied to the noble family of
+Beauchamp, one of the first in our poor island."
+
+"He is welcome to Ghent," replied the Count. But Woodville remarked
+that he did not demand the letters which he bore; and he was
+hesitating whether he should present the one addressed to him, when
+the Prince inquired in an easy tone, whether he had had a prosperous
+journey; following up the question with so many others of small
+importance, that the young Englishman judged there was something
+assumed in his eager but insignificant interrogatory.
+
+He knew not, indeed, what was the motive; but his companion, too well
+accustomed to the ways of courts not to translate correctly a hint of
+the kind, whether he chose to apply it or not, took occasion, at the
+very first pause, to say, "Having now had the honour of introducing
+this young gentleman, I will leave him with you, my Lord Count, as I
+have important letters to write on the subject of our conversation
+this morning."
+
+"Do so, sir knight," replied the Prince; and he took a step towards
+the door, as if to honour his departing visitor.
+
+"Now, Master Richard of Woodville," he continued, as soon as the other
+was gone, "let us speak of your journey hither; but first, if you
+please, let me see the letter which you bring, and which may, perhaps,
+render farther explanation unnecessary."
+
+Richard of Woodville immediately presented the King's epistle to the
+Count of Charolois, who read the contents with attention, and then
+gazed at the bearer with an earnest glance. "I have heard of you
+before, sir," he said, with a gracious smile, "and am most willing to
+retain you on the part of Burgundy. Such a letter as this from my
+royal cousin could not be written in favour of one who did not merit
+high honour; and, unhappily, in these days, there are but too many
+occasions of gaining renown in arms. May I ask what payment you
+require for the services of yourself and your men?"
+
+"None, noble Prince," replied Richard of Woodville: "I come but to
+seek honour. If my services be good, you or your father will
+recompence them as you think meet. In the meantime, all that I require
+is entertainment for myself and followers at the Court of Burgundy,
+wherever it may be, and the discharge of my actual expenses in time of
+war, or when I am employed in any enterprise you may think fit to
+intrust to me."
+
+"I see, sir, that you are of the olden chivalry," said the Count,
+giving him his hand. "You are from this moment a retainer of our
+house; and I am glad," he continued, "that I have spoken with you
+alone; for good Sir Philip de Morgan loves none to bring letters from
+his King but himself. I may have cause to call upon you soon. Even
+now, indeed,----; but of that hereafter. How many have you with you?"
+
+"Ten stout archers," answered the young Englishman, "who will do their
+duty in whatever field they may be called to, and myself. That is my
+only force, but it may go far; for we are well horsed and armed, and
+most of us have seen blood drawn in our own land. You said, my Lord
+Count, that even now an occasion might offer--at least, so I
+understood you. Now, I am somewhat impatient of fortune's tardiness,
+and would not miss her favours, as soon as her hand is open."
+
+The Count mused for a moment, and then looked up, laughing. "Well," he
+said, "perhaps my mother may call me a rash boy, in trusting to such
+new acquaintance; but yet I will confide in you to justify me. There
+may be an occasion very soon; and if there be, I will let you have
+your part. I, alas! must not go; but, at all events, have everything
+ready to set out at a moment's notice; and you may chance to ride far
+before many days be over. Now let us speak of other things:" and he
+proceeded to ask his visitor numerous questions regarding the English
+court--its habits, customs, and the characters of the principal nobles
+that distinguished it.
+
+Richard of Woodville answered his inquiries more frankly than he had
+done those of Sir Philip de Morgan, and the Count seemed well pleased
+with all he heard. Gradually their conversation lost the stiffness of
+first acquaintance; and the young Prince, throwing off the restraint
+of ceremony, gave way to the candid spirit of youth, spoke of his own
+father, and of his dangerous position at the Court of France,
+expressed his longing desire to take an active part in the busy deeds
+that were doing, touched with some bitterness upon the conduct of the
+Dauphin towards his sister, and added, with a flushed cheek, "Would my
+father suffer it, I would force him, lance to lance, if not to cast
+away his painted paramour, at least to do justice to his neglected
+wife. She is more fair and bright than any French harlot; and it must
+be a studied purpose to insult her race, that makes him treat her
+thus."
+
+"Perhaps not, noble Count," replied Richard of Woodville: "there is
+nothing so capricious on this earth as the pampered heart of
+greatness. Do we not daily see men of all ranks cast away from them
+things of real value to please the moment with some empty trifle? and
+the spoilt children of fortune--I mean Princes and Kings--may well be
+supposed to do the same. God, when he puts a crown upon their heads,
+leaves them to enrich it with jewels, if they will; but, alas! too
+often they content themselves with meaner things, and think the crown
+enough."
+
+The Prince smiled, with a thoughtful look, and gazed for a moment in
+Woodville's face, ere he replied. "You speak not the same language as
+Sir Philip de Morgan," he said at length: "his talk is ever of insult
+and injury to the House of Burgundy. He can find no excuse for the
+House of Valois."
+
+"He speaks as a politician, my Lord Count," replied Woodville: "would
+that I might say, I speak as a friend, though a bold one. I know not
+what are his views and purposes; but when you mention aught to me, I
+must answer frankly, if I answer at all; and in this case I can easily
+believe that the Dauphin, in the wild heat of youth, perhaps nurtured
+in vice and licentiousness, and, at all events, taught early to think
+that his will must have no control, may neglect a sweet lady for a
+trumpery leman, without meaning any insult to your noble race. Bad as
+such conduct is, it were needless to aggravate it by imaginary
+wrongs."
+
+The Count looked down in thought, and then, raising his head with a
+warm smile, he answered, "You speak nobly, sir, and you may say you
+are my friend; for the man who would temper a Prince's passion,
+without any private motive, is well worthy of the character here
+written;" and he laid his hand upon Henry's letter, which he had
+placed on the table.
+
+"I trust, my Lord Count," replied Woodville, "that you will never have
+cause to say, in any case where my allegiance to my own Sovereign is
+not concerned, that I do not espouse your real interests, as warmly as
+I would oppose any passion, even of your own, which I thought contrary
+to them. I am not a courtier, fair sir, and may express myself
+somewhat rudely; but I will trust to your own discernment to judge, in
+all instances, of the motive rather than the manner."
+
+"I shall remember more of what you have said than you perhaps
+imagine," answered the young Count. "You gave me a lesson, my noble
+friend--and henceforth I will call you by that name--in regard to
+those spoilt children of fortune, as you term them, Princes; and I
+will try not to let a high station pamper me into deeds like those
+which I myself condemn. But there are many persons here, in the good
+town of Ghent, to whom I must make you known, as they will be your
+companions for the future; and, before night, such arrangements shall
+be made for your lodging and accommodation as will permit of your
+taking up your abode in the old castle here. There is but one warning
+I will give you," he continued: "Sir Philip de Morgan is a shrewd and
+clever man--very zealous in the cause of his King, but somewhat
+jealous of all other influence. My father esteems him highly, though
+he is not always ready to follow whither he would lead. You had better
+be his friend than his enemy; and yet, when there is anything to be
+done, communicate with me direct, and not through him."
+
+"I will follow your advice, sir, as far as may be," replied Woodville;
+"but I do not think there is any great chance of Sir Philip de Morgan
+and myself interfering with each other. I am a soldier; he is a
+statesman. I will not meddle with his trade, and I think he is not
+likely to envy me mine. He was a good man at arms, I hear, in his
+early days; but I fancy he will not easily inclose himself in plate
+again."
+
+"Good faith," exclaimed the young Count, laughing, "his cuirass would
+need be shaped like a bow, and have as much iron about it as the great
+bombard of Oudenarde, which our good folks of Ghent call Mad Meg.[7]
+No, no! I do not think that he will ever couch a lance again. But
+come, my friend, let us to the hall, where we shall find some of the
+nobles of Burgundy and Flanders waiting for us. Then we will ride to
+my mother's, where I will make you known to her fair ladies. I have no
+further business for the day; but yet I must not be absent from my
+post, as every hour I expect tidings which may require a sudden
+resolution."
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 7: Dulle Grite.--This great cannon, or bombard, was forged
+for the siege of Oudenarde, in 1382, and is nearly twenty feet long,
+and about eleven in circumference.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+The Prince then led the way into the large hall, through which Richard
+of Woodville had passed about half an hour before; and there, was
+instantly surrounded by a number of gentlemen, to whom he introduced
+his new retainer. Many a noble name, which the young Englishman had
+often heard of, was mentioned;--Croys, Van Heydes, St. Paul's and
+Royes, Lalains, and Lignes; and from all, as might be expected, under
+the circumstances in which he was introduced to them, he received a
+courteous reception. It must not be denied, however, that although
+chivalrous customs required a friendly welcome to every adventurous
+gentleman seeking service at a foreign court, human nature, the same
+in all ages, left room for jealousy of any one who might aspire to
+share the favour which each desired to monopolize. Thus, though every
+one was, as I have said, courteous in demeanour to Richard of
+Woodville, it was all cold and formal; and many a whispered
+observation on his appearance and manners, on the accent in which he
+spoke the language, and on the slight difference of his dress from
+that of the Burgundian court, marked a willingness to find fault
+wherever it was possible. For his part, he took little notice of these
+things, well knowing what he had to expect; and aware that friendship
+could not be gained at once, he treated all with perfect good humour
+and civility, in the hope that those who were worthy of any farther
+consideration would learn in time to esteem him, and to cast away any
+needless jealousy.
+
+After passing about half an hour in the hall, the young Count selected
+some five or six of the gentlemen present to accompany him on his
+visit to his mother, who was lodged in the new palace, called the Cour
+des Princes; and, as soon as his horses were brought round, he
+descended, with the young Englishman and the rest, into the court of
+the castle. He paused for a moment, where, ranged in a line by their
+horses' sides, he saw the stout yeomen who had accompanied Richard of
+Woodville thither; and as, with an eye not unskilful even then in
+judging of thewes and sinews, he marked their light, yet powerful
+limbs, with an approving smile, he turned to his new friend, saying,
+in a low voice, "Serviceable stuff there, in the day of need, I doubt
+not."
+
+"I have every hope they will prove so, my good lord," replied
+Woodville; and, giving them a sign, each man sprang at once into the
+saddle, except the one who had led forward his young master's horse,
+and held the stirrup while he mounted.
+
+As the gay party rode along through the streets of Ghent, the
+inconstant people, so often in open rebellion against their
+sovereigns, shouted loud acclamations on the path of the young and
+graceful Prince, who, in return, bowed low his head, or nodded
+familiarly to those he knew in the crowd. The distance was but short;
+but the Count took the opportunity of passing through some of the
+principal streets of the town, to show the splendour of the greatest
+manufacturing city at that time in the world, to the young Englishman;
+and frequently he turned and asked his opinion of this or that as they
+passed, or pointed out to him the magnificent shops and vast fabrics
+which lined their road on either side.
+
+There was certainly much to admire; and Richard of Woodville, not
+insensible of the high importance of the arts, praised, with perhaps a
+better judgment than most of the haughty nobility of the day would
+have displayed, the indications of that high commercial prosperity
+which the courtiers affected to hold in contempt. He would not miss
+the opportunity, however, of learning something of the kinsman of Ella
+Brune; and, after answering one of the observations of the Prince, he
+added--"But as I came from my hostel this morning, sir, I perceive
+that you have other arts carried to a notable height in the good city
+of Ghent, besides that of the weavers. I passed by many a fair stall
+of goldsmiths' work, which seemed to me to display several pieces of
+fine and curious workmanship."
+
+"Oh! that we have, amongst the best in the world," replied the Count;
+"though, to say sooth, when we gave you a number of our weavers, to
+teach you Englishmen that art, we borrowed from you in return much of
+our skill in working the precious metals. Many of our best goldsmiths,
+even now, are either Englishmen, or the descendants of those who first
+came over. I had one right dexterous artificer, who used to dwell with
+my household, and who is still my servant; but my mother's confessor
+suspected him of a leaning towards heresy, and exacted that he should
+be sent forth out of the castle. 'Twas but for a jest at our good
+father the Pope; but poor Brune made it worse by saying, when
+questioned, that as there are three Popes, all living, the confessor
+might place it on the shoulders of him he liked. Many a grave man, I
+have remarked, will bear anything rather than a jest; and father
+Claude, from that moment, would not be satisfied till Nicholas Brune
+was gone."
+
+"Poor fellow! And what became of him?" asked Richard of Woodville; "I
+have known some of his family in England."
+
+"Oh, he is in a shop at the corner of the market, close to the castle
+gate," replied the Prince, "and drives a thriving trade; so that he
+has gained by the exchange--I hope, both in pocket and in prudence. I
+have not heard any charge against him lately; and I do believe it was
+but a silly jest, which none but an Englishman would have ventured."
+
+Richard of Woodville smiled, but made no reply; and in a few minutes
+after, they reached the gates of the palace, from which he followed
+the Count of Charolois straight to the presence of Margaret of
+Bavaria, Duchess of Burgundy, whom they found in an inner chamber,
+surrounded by a small party of young dames and elderly knights,
+devising, as the term was in those days, upon some motto which had
+been laid before them.
+
+Amongst faint traces of what had once been great beauty, the
+countenance of the Princess displayed deep lines of thought and
+anxiety. She smiled kindly upon the young stranger, and seemed to him
+to examine his face with more attention than was ordinary, or,
+perhaps, altogether pleasant. She made no remark, however, but spoke
+of the Court of England with better information than her son had
+displayed, and, somewhat to the surprise of the young Englishman,
+evinced some knowledge of his own family and history; for, although
+the Court of Burgundy at this time held the place which that of the
+Count of Foix had formerly filled, and was the centre of all the news,
+and, we may say, of all the gossip in Europe--though its heralds and
+its minstrels made it their business, day and night, to collect all
+the tales, anecdotes, and rumours of every eminent person throughout
+the chivalrous world, Richard of Woodville was not aware of ever
+having done anything to merit such sort of notice.
+
+The conversation was soon turned to other subjects, and the Duchess
+was in the act of giving her son an account, in a jesting tone, of
+some visits which she had made that morning to several of the
+religious institutions of the town, when a page entered hastily,
+bearing a packet in his hand. Approaching direct to the Count of
+Charolois, he presented it on his knee, saying, "From my lord the
+Duke. The messenger sought you at the castle, sir, in haste, and then
+came hither."
+
+The Prince took it with an eager and anxious look, tore off the silk
+and seal without stopping to cut the cord that bound it, and then read
+the contents, with a countenance which expressed rather preconceived
+apprehension, perhaps, than emotion caused by the intelligence which
+the despatch contained. The Duchess of Burgundy remained seated, but
+gazed upon her son's face with a look more sad than alarmed; and it
+seemed to Richard of Woodville that, internally, she was meditating on
+the future course of that fair and noble youth, amidst all the many
+perils, cares, and griefs, which surrounded, in those days, the paths
+of princes, rather than even on the present dangers which might affect
+her husband.
+
+There is a tender timidity in the love of woman for her offspring,
+which is generated by none of the other relations of life. The
+husband, or the brother, or the father, is her stay and support--he is
+there to protect and to defend; and though she may tremble at his
+danger, or weep for his misfortune, there may be, and often is,
+some shade of selfish feeling in the dread and in the sorrow. Such
+is not the case with the child: it is for him she fears, not for
+herself,--for him entirely, with emotions unmixed, with devotion
+unalloyed. To save any other dear one, she might readily sacrifice
+life--from duty, from enthusiasm, from love. But it would still be a
+sacrifice, in any other case than that of her child: to save him, it
+would be an impulse.
+
+The Duchess gazed upon the young Count's face then with calm but sad
+consideration; and perhaps her own memories supplied somewhat too
+abundantly the materials for fancy to raise up, without aid, a sad
+model of the future. She knew that honour, or goodness, or even
+courage, cannot bring security; that innocence cannot escape malice;
+that virtue cannot insure peace; that wealth, and power, and a high
+name, are but as butts whereon to hang the targets at which the arrows
+of the world are aimed; and she feared for her son, seeing, with
+prophetic eye, the life of turmoil and contention and peril that lay
+before him.
+
+As soon as he had read the letter, the Count suffered his hand to drop
+by his side, and gazed upward for a moment or two in thought;--then,
+turning gracefully to his mother, he took her hand with a smile, from
+which was banished every trace or indication of the thoughts that he
+did not choose to communicate to those around, and saying, "Dear lady
+mother, we must take counsel," he led her away through a door which
+those who were acquainted with the palace knew must conduct them to
+the private cabinet of the Duchess.
+
+The party which remained behind was soon separated into different
+groups, some of the young nobles who had accompanied the Count taking
+advantage of the absence of the persons to whom they owed most
+reverence, for the purpose of saying sweet, whispered things to the
+fair dames of the Court; some gathering together to inquire of each
+other, and conjecture amongst themselves, what might be the nature of
+the tidings received; and two or three others, of either kinder or
+more pliant dispositions than the rest, seizing the opportunity of
+cultivating the friendship of the young Englishman. No great time was
+spent on these occupations, however; for before the Duchess and her
+son had been gone more than five minutes, the Count returned, and,
+looking round the circle, said, "Bad tidings scatter good company, my
+lords. I must ride this very night towards Lille. We will not strip
+our mother's court here of all her gallant knights and gentlemen,
+especially in this wise but somewhat turbulent city of Ghent. You,
+therefore, my lords of Croy, Joigny, St. George, Thyan, and Vergier,
+with what men are most ready of your trains, I beseech you to give me
+your fair company ere four of the clock; and you, Master Richard of
+Woodville, my good friend, if you be so minded, hasten your
+preparation, and join me at the castle by that hour. You may have
+occasion," he continued, in a low tone, taking the young Englishman
+by the arm, "to win the golden spurs, of which we have heard you
+were disappointed, by no fault of your own, at the battle of
+Bramham Moor. We shall be back in Ghent before the week be out--so
+you can leave your baggage here, if you so please. Away then, noble
+lords!--away!--for we have a long march before us, and, perhaps, a
+busy day to-morrow."
+
+All was in a moment the bustle and confusion of departure. The young
+Count turned and went back to the cabinet of his mother, as soon as he
+had spoken; the ladies of the Duchess rose; and, though some of them
+paused for an instant, to speak a word in private to those who were
+about to leave them, retired one by one. The old knights, and those
+who were to remain in Ghent, walked out to see their friends and
+comrades mount; and in less than five minutes the hall was cleared,
+and the court-yard nearly vacant.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+                            THE DEPARTURE.
+
+
+"We must to horse without delay, Ned," said Richard of Woodville, as
+he entered the inn.
+
+"Why, you have been to horse already, master of mine," replied Ned
+Dyram, in a somewhat sullen tone.
+
+"And must mount again, ere two hours be over," rejoined Woodville;
+"but where and how can I leave the baggage?"
+
+"Ay, who can tell that?" said the other. "See what it is to march
+loaded like a carrier's pack-horse, with more things than you can
+carry!--You are coming back soon, then, to Ghent?"
+
+"Ere the week be out," answered his lord; "so the Count tells me."
+
+"Pray, sir, never mind what Counts tell you," exclaimed Ned Dyram.
+"Mind what your own senses tell you. If you know where you are going,
+you can judge as well as a King when you may be back."
+
+"But that I do not know," replied Woodville, somewhat impatiently. "No
+more words, Master Dyram; but gather everything together into one
+chamber, and I will speak to the host as to its security."
+
+"Little security for a traveller's baggage in a foreign hotel,"
+rejoined Ned Dyram, "unless some one stays to take charge of it."
+
+"Then, by my honour, you shall be the man to do so," cried his master,
+thinking by leaving him behind when activity and enterprise were
+before him, to punish him sufficiently for his saucy tone.
+
+But Ned Dyram seemed not at all disappointed, and replied with an
+indifferent air, "I am very willing to stay. I am one who does not
+love journeys I know not whither, and expeditions I know not for
+what."
+
+"Well, then, you remain," answered his master. "Gather the things
+together, as I have said, and you shall be left like a trader's
+drudge, to look after the goods. Where is Ella Brune?"
+
+"In her own chamber, I fancy," replied Ned Dyram. "She has shut
+herself up there, ever since you were gone, like a nun."
+
+"Call her down hither to the eating-room," was his lord's reply; and
+Ned Dyram hastened away.
+
+The fair girl did not make her young protector wait long; and ere he
+had finished his directions to his train, to prepare all things for
+immediate departure, she was by his side. Taking her hand kindly, he
+led her into the common hall of the inn, and told her what he had
+discovered regarding her kinsman, adding, that as he was about to set
+out in a few hours with the young Count de Charolois, he would at once
+accompany her to the house of Nicholas Brune, in order to ascertain if
+she could have shelter and protection there.
+
+"I know not, my poor Ella," he said, "whether that dwelling may be one
+where you can safely and happily stop long; for this good man has been
+somewhat rash in his words, and is under suspicion of leaning to those
+heretical notions that are so rife; but I shall be back in a week, or
+less; and then you can tell me all that you think of the matter. You
+would not wish, I know, to remain with people who would seek to
+pervert you from the true Catholic faith."
+
+"And you are sure to return in a week?" asked the poor girl, her
+cheek, which had turned somewhat pale before, resuming its warm hue.
+
+"So the Count assures me," answered Woodville; "and I doubt it not,
+Ella; but, at all events, I will care for you, be assured, poor
+thing."
+
+"You tell me to put all the baggage in one room," said Ned Dyram,
+thrusting in his head; "and the men tell me that they are to have each
+his harness, and you yours. Two contrary orders, master of mine! Which
+is to be obeyed?"
+
+"Your wit is strangely halting just now, Ned," answered his master.
+"Put all, but what I have ordered to be taken, into the room, and see
+that it be arranged rightly, and quickly too. Now, Ella, cast
+something over your head, and come with me to your kinsman's shop.
+What wait you for, sir?"
+
+"To know which suit you are pleased to have," replied Ned Dyram; while
+Ella passed him to seek the wimple which she had cast off in the
+house.
+
+"I have given orders on that score to others," answered his master;
+and as the man retired, he murmured to himself, "I shall have to send
+that fellow back to the King. He does not please me."
+
+With a rapid step Richard of Woodville led the way, as soon as Ella
+joined him, to the wide open space which then, as since, was used as a
+market, before the old castle of the Counts of Flanders; and, as none
+of the shops or stalls bore their masters' names inscribed, he entered
+the first they came to, and inquired which was the house of Nicholas
+Brune?
+
+"His house," replied the man to whom he had addressed himself in
+French, "is at the other end of the town; but his shop is yonder," and
+he pointed with his hand from the door to one of the projecting cases,
+covered with a network of iron wire, under which the goldsmiths of
+Ghent at that period exposed some of their larger goods for sale. "The
+last stall but one," added the trader; and Woodville and his fair
+companion sped on towards the spot.
+
+At the unglazed window, behind this booth, stood a man of middle age,
+grey headed, but with a fresh and cheerful countenance, who, as soon
+as he saw the two approach, demanded, in the common terms of the day,
+what they sought in his trade. The next instant, however, his eye
+rested upon Ella's face, which wore a faint smile, and he exclaimed in
+his native tongue,--"Mesaunter! if there be not my cousin Ella! How
+art thou, lass? Welcome to Ghent! What news of the good old man? My
+dame will be right glad to see you both again."
+
+"She will never see him more," replied Ella Brune, in a sad tone; "but
+of that I will tell you hereafter, kinsman; for I must not stay this
+noble gentleman, who has befriended me on the way. What I seek to know
+is, if you can give me shelter at your dwelling for a week, till I can
+look around me? I will pay for my abiding, Nicholas," she added,
+perhaps knowing that her cousin, dealing in gold, had somewhat too
+great a fondness for the pure metal.
+
+But Nicholas Brune was in a generous mood; and he replied, "Shelter
+shalt thou have, fair Ella, and meat and drink, with right good will,
+for a week and a day, without cost or payment. If thou stayest with us
+longer, which God send, we will talk about purveyance. In the meantime
+I will thank this gentleman for his goodness to you. Why, by my tongs,
+I think I saw him riding this morning with my noble lord, the Count."
+
+"You did, most likely," replied Richard of Woodville, "for we passed
+by your door: but I have farther to ride to-night, Master Nicholas;
+and now, having seen this fair maiden safe under your protection, I
+will leave her there. But you had better send up some of your lads
+with speed to my hostel for the coffer that we brought, as, perchance,
+Ned Dyram would not let you have it, Ella, when I am gone."
+
+Ella Brune smiled, with an effort to keep up the light cheerfulness
+which she had lately assumed, and replied, "I think, noble sir, that
+Master Dyram is not a carl to refuse me aught I ask him; but yet if my
+kinsman can spare a boy, he had better go at once."
+
+"I will soon find one," answered the stout goldsmith; and, turning to
+a furnace-room, which lay behind his shop, he called one of his men
+forth, and bade him follow the gentleman back.
+
+The parting then came between Ella Brune and Richard of Woodville; and
+bitter was the moment to the poor minstrel girl. She had learned a
+world of new sensations since she first saw him;--that clinging
+attachment, which made her long never to be absent from his side for a
+whole day; that tender regard which made her dread to see him depart,
+lest evil should befal him by the way; that love which is full of
+fears for the beloved that we never feel for ourselves. But no one
+could have told that there were any emotions in her bosom but respect
+and gratitude, unless the transitory look of deep grief that crossed
+her face, as she bent down her head to kiss the hand he gave her,
+could have been seen. It was gone as soon as she raised her eyes
+again; and her countenance was bright and cheerful, when he said--
+
+
+             "Again my will although I wende,
+                I may not alway dwellen here,
+              For everything shall have an ende,
+                And frendes are not ay ifere:"
+
+
+and, skilled in all the lore of old ballads, almost as much as
+himself, she answered at once, from that beautiful song of the days of
+the Black Prince--
+
+
+             "For frendship and for giftès goode,
+                For mete and drink so grete plentie,
+              That lord that raught was on the roode,
+                He kepe the comeli companie.
+
+             "On sea or lande where that ye be,
+                He governe you withouten greve;
+              So good disport ye han made me,
+                Again my will, I take my leve."
+
+
+And, after again kissing his hand, she let him depart, keeping down by
+a great effort the tears that struggled to rise up into her eyes. But
+she would not for the world have suffered one weak emotion to appear
+before her kinsman, whose character she knew right well, and over whom
+she proposed at once to assume an influence, which could only be
+gained by the display of a firm and superior mind.
+
+"And who may that young lord be, pretty Ella?" asked Nicholas Brune:
+"he seems to take great heed of you, dear kinswoman, and is evidently
+too high a bird to mate with one of our feather."
+
+"Mate with me!" answered Ella, in a scornful tone. "Oh, no! cousin
+mine. He will mate, ere long, with one of the sweetest ladies within
+the shores of merry England, who has been most kind to me too. He is a
+friend of the King; and when poor old Murdock Brune, my grandsire, and
+your uncle, was killed, by a fiend of a courtier trampling him under
+his horse's feet, that gentleman, who saw the deed, threw the monster
+back from his horse, and afterwards represented my case to the King,
+who punished the man-slayer, and sent me fifty half-nobles."
+
+Nicholas Brune was affected in two very opposite ways by Ella's words.
+"My uncle killed by a courtier!" he exclaimed at first, with his eyes
+flashing fire. "What was his name, maiden--what was his name?"
+
+"Sir Simeon of Roydon," answered Ella Brune; and seeking a scrap of
+parchment and a reed pen, the goldsmith wrote down the name, as if to
+prevent it from escaping his memory. But the moment after his mind
+reverted to another part of Ella's speech. "Fifty half nobles!" he
+exclaimed, taking a piece of gold out of a drawer, and looking at it.
+"That was a princely gift, indeed, Ella; and you owe the young
+gentleman much gratitude for getting it for you."
+
+"I owe him and his fair lady-love more than I can ever repay, for many
+an act beside," answered Ella Brune; "but I am resolved, my good
+kinsman, that I will discharge part of the debt of gratitude, if not
+the whole. I have a plan in my head, cousin--I have a plan, which I
+know not whether I will tell you or not."
+
+"Take counsel!--always take counsel!" answered the goldsmith.
+
+"I want none, fair kinsman," replied Ella; "I need neither counsel nor
+help. My own wit shall be my counsellor; and as I am rich now, I can
+always get aid when I want it."
+
+"Rich!" said Nicholas;--"what, with fifty half-nobles, pretty maid? It
+is a heavy sum, truly, but soon spent."
+
+"Were that all," rejoined Ella, "I should not count myself very rich;
+but I have more than that, cousin--enough to dower me to as gay a
+citizen as any in Ghent. But here seem a number of gallants gathering
+round the gate of the Graevensteen. I will back into the far part of
+the shop, and we will talk more hereafter."
+
+While this conversation had been going on between Nicholas and Ella
+Brune, Richard of Woodville, followed by the goldsmith's man, had
+hurried back to the inn, and directed Ned Dyram to deliver over the
+coffer belonging to the minstrel girl, which had been brought, not
+without some inconvenience, on the back of one of the mules that
+carried his own baggage. The young gentleman did not remark that, in
+executing this order, Ned Dyram questioned the lad cunningly; and
+busy, to say sooth, in paying his score to the host, and making his
+final preparations for departure, he forgot for the time his fair
+companion of the way, quite satisfied that she was safe and
+comfortable under the roof of her kinsman.
+
+Some time before the hour appointed, Woodville was in the court of the
+old castle, with his men armed and mounted, in very different guise
+from their peaceful habiliments of the morning. He contented himself
+with sending in a page to inform the Count that he was ready, and
+remained standing by his horse's side; while several of those who had
+been chosen by the young Burgundian Prince as his companions, entered
+through the old gate, and paused to admire, with open eyes, the
+splendid array of the English band, each man armed in plate of the
+newest and most approved form, according to his degree, and each
+bearing, slung over his shoulder, the green quiver, filled with the
+fatal English arrows, which turned so often the tide of battle in the
+olden time.
+
+After having waited for about ten minutes, the page whom Woodville had
+sent came back, and conducted him into the castle, where, in a suite
+of rooms occupying the basement story of one of the towers, he found
+the young Count, armed and ready to mount. "Here is your lodging after
+our return," said the Prince, rapidly. "I wished to show it to you ere
+we set out: these four chambers, and one above. Your horses must be
+quartered out. And now, _my friend_, let us to the saddle: the rest
+have come, I think." And, speeding through the passages to the
+court-yard, he welcomed gracefully the gentlemen assembled, sprang upon
+his horse's back, and, followed by his train, rode out over the private
+bridge belonging to the castle, bending his steps upon the road to the
+French frontier.
+
+The Count himself, and the small body that accompanied him, amounting
+in all to about a hundred men, were all armed after the heavy and
+cumbersome fashion of those days; and each of the several parties of
+which the troop was composed, had with them one or two led horses or
+mules, loaded with spare arms and clothing. Considering weight and
+incumbrances, they moved forward at a very rapid rate--certainly not
+less than seven miles an hour; and pausing nowhere but to give water
+to the horses, they had advanced nearly eight leagues on their way ere
+nightfall. A few minutes after, through the faint twilight which
+remained in the sky, Richard of Woodville perceived some spires and
+towers rising at a short distance over the flat country before them;
+and, on his asking one of the gentlemen, with whom he had held a good
+deal of conversation during their journey, what town it was that they
+were approaching, the reply was, "Courtray."
+
+Here the Count of Charolois stopped for about an hour; but, while the
+horses and most of his attendants contrived to obtain some very
+tolerable food, the young Prince neither ate nor drank; but, with a
+mind evidently anxious and disturbed, walked up and down the hall,
+occasionally talking to Richard of Woodville, the only one who
+exercised the same abstinence, but never mentioning either the end or
+object of their journey.
+
+A little after eight o'clock the whole party were in the saddle once
+more, and, judging from the direction which they took as they issued
+forth from the gates of Courtray, the gentleman who had been the young
+Englishman's principal companion on the road informed him that they
+must be going to Lille. In about two hours and a half more, that city
+was seen by the light of the moon; and, after causing the gates to be
+opened, the Count took his way through the streets, but did not direct
+his course to the château usually inhabited by the Flemish Counts.
+Alighting at the principal hostelry of the place, he turned to the
+gentlemen who followed, saying, "Here we must wait for the first news
+that to-morrow may bring. Make yourselves at ease, noble lords. I am
+tired, and will to bed."
+
+Without farther explanation, he retired at once with his personal
+attendants; and his followers proceeded to amuse themselves as best
+they might. Richard of Woodville remained with his comrades of the
+road for about an hour, and, during that time, much of the rough
+asperity of fresh acquaintance was brushed away. He then followed the
+example of the young Count, in order to rise refreshed the next
+morning.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+                     THOSE WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND.
+
+
+The morning after the departure of Richard of Woodville dawned clear
+and bright upon the city of Ghent; and the hour of seven found a small
+party assembled in a neat wooden house, not many yards within the
+Brabant gate, at the cheerful meal of breakfast. With dagger in hand
+and hearty good will, Nicholas Brune was hewing away at a huge capon,
+which, with a pickled boar's head, formed the staple of the meal,
+helping his good buxom dame and Ella Brune to what he considered
+choice pieces, and praising the fare with more exuberance than
+modesty, considering that he was the lord of the feast.
+
+Madame Brune, as we should call her in the present day, but known in
+Ghent by a more homely appellation, which may be translated "Wife
+Brune," was a native of the good city; and, by his marriage with her,
+Nicholas had not only obtained a considerable sum of money, but also
+various advantages, which placed him nearly, if not altogether, on a
+footing with the born citizens;--so that, for his fair better half, he
+had great respect and devotion, as in duty bound. For Ella his
+reverence had been greatly increased, by finding that she was endowed
+with a quality very engaging in his opinion--namely, wealth; for the
+sum which she possessed, though but a trifle in our eyes, was in those
+days no inconsiderable fortune, as I have already taken the liberty of
+hinting.
+
+I must not, however, do the worthy goldsmith injustice, and suffer the
+reader to believe that, had Ella appeared poor and friendless, as he
+had last seen her, Nicholas Brune would have shown her aught but
+kindness; for he was a good-hearted and right-minded man; but it is
+not attributing too much to the influence of the precious metals in
+which he worked, to admit that, certainly, he always took them into
+account in computing the degree of respect which he was bound to pay
+to others. He would not have done any dishonest or evil act to obtain
+a whole Peruvian mine, if such a thing had been within the sphere of
+his imagination; but still, the possession of such a mine would have
+greatly enhanced, in the eyes of Nicholas Brune, the qualities of any
+one who might chance to be its proprietor. The only thing, indeed,
+which puzzled him in the present instance was, how his old uncle could
+assume the garb of a wandering, and not generally respected race, when
+he had by him a sum which set him above all chance of want. At first
+he fancied that the old man's love of music--which was to him, who did
+not know one note from another, a separate marvel--might have been the
+motive: the ruling passion strong in death. But then he thought that
+good old Murdock might have made sweet melody just as well in his own
+house, as in wandering from court to court, and fair to fair; but
+immediately after, remembering the old man's peculiar religious
+notions, with which he was well acquainted, he concluded that zeal, in
+which he could fully sympathize, must have been the cause of conduct
+that seemed so strange. This was an inducement he could understand;
+for, though on no other points was he of an enthusiastic and vehement
+character, yet he was so in matters of faith; and if he could have
+made up his mind to any sort of death, it would have been that of a
+martyr; but, to say truth, he could not bring himself to prefer any
+way of leaving the world, and thought one as disagreeable as another.
+Thus he arrived at the conclusion, that his uncle was quite right in
+using any means to conceal both his wealth and his religion.
+
+However, as I have said, he viewed Ella with a very placable
+countenance,--invited her to eat and drink; and, as his mind reverted
+to what she had said, in regard to paying for her food and lodging, he
+treated it with a mixture of jest and argument, which showed her that
+he would receive something, though not too much.
+
+"Why, my fair cousin," he said, when she recurred to the subject, "in
+this good town of Ghent, all is at so base a price that men live for
+nothing, and are expected to sell their goods for nothing, I can tell
+you. Now, look at that capon; a fatter one never carried its long legs
+about a stack of corn, and yet it cost but six liards. You would pay a
+sterling, or may be two, for such a one in London; and here you might
+get a priest as fat to sing a mass for the same money. God help the
+mummers!"
+
+Ella, however, replied, that she would settle her share with his dame
+for so long as she stayed, and was proceeding to let her good-humoured
+cousin into some of her views and intentions, foreseeing that she
+might need his countenance and assistance, when the outer door opened,
+and, after a knock at that of the room in which they sat, Ned Dyram
+entered, to inquire after his fair companion of the way. Ella knew not
+whether to be pleased or sorry to see him; but surprised she certainly
+was; for she had thought he was far away from Ghent with his lord. The
+cause of these contrary emotions was simply, that she felt little
+pleasure in the man's society, and less in the love that he professed
+towards her, and yet, having made up her mind to take advantage of the
+passion he experienced or affected, to work out her own purposes, she
+saw that his remaining in Ghent might greatly facilitate her views.
+But the game she had to play was a delicate one, for she had resolved,
+for no object whatsoever, to give encouragement to his suit; but
+rather, to leave him to divine her wishes, and promote them if he
+would, than ask aught at his hands.
+
+Though carried on by that eager and enthusiastic spirit which lingers
+longer in the breast of woman than in that of man: from which, indeed,
+everything in life tends to expel it--his own wearing passions, his
+habits of indulgence, the hard lessons of experience, and the checks
+of repeated disappointment--yet she felt somewhat alarmed at the new
+course before her. Perhaps she was not quite sure, though the end
+ever in view was high and noble, self-devoted, and generous, that the
+means were right. To have followed Richard of Woodville through the
+world--to have watched over him as a guardian spirit--to have
+sacrificed for his sake, and for his happiness, all, anything, peace,
+security, comfort, and even her own fame--I do not say her own
+honour--she would not have scrupled; but she might ask herself at that
+moment, whether it was right and just to sport with the love of
+another--to use it for her purpose--even to suffer it, when she knew
+that it could never be returned. And yet woman's eye is very keen; and
+that selfishness, which frequently bears such a large share in man's
+love, was so apparent to her view in all Dyram's actions, that she
+could not but feel less compunction for suffering him to pamper
+himself with hopes, than if he had been of a nobler and a higher
+nature.
+
+Whatever were the ideas that crossed her mind, and kept her silent for
+a moment, they rapidly passed away; and when her cousin, after gazing
+at the intruder for an instant, asked who he was and what he wanted,
+she answered for him, in a gay tone, affecting the coquettish airs
+then very common in a higher class, "Oh! he is a servant of mine,
+Nicholas--vowed to the tip of my finger. I do not intend ever to have
+him; but if the poor creature is resolved to sigh at my feet, I must
+e'en let him. Pray you, give him welcome. What news, servant? How is
+it that you have not followed your lord?"
+
+"Because," replied Ned Dyram, "I loved best to stay with my lady."
+
+"Nay," answered Ella Brune, "call me not _your_ lady. You are my
+servant, but I am yours not at all, either as lady or servant. You
+have not yet merited such grace."
+
+In this light and jesting tone she continued to treat him; and though
+perhaps such conduct might have repelled a more sensitive and delicate
+lover, with Ned Dyram it but added fuel to the fire. Each day he came
+to visit--each day returned with stronger passion in his heart. Jest,
+indeed, which was far from natural to her character or to her feelings
+at the time, Ella could not always keep up: though great and stern
+resolution is often the source of a certain bitter mirth at minor
+things. But in every graver moment she spoke to Dyram of Richard of
+Woodville and of Mary Markham--for as yet she knew her by no other
+name. She did so studiously, and yet so calmly and easily, that not
+the slightest suspicion of the real feelings in her heart ever crossed
+the mind of her hearer. Of Mary, she told him far more than he had
+hitherto gathered from his companions in Woodville's train, and dwelt
+long upon her beauty, her gentleness, her kindness. Following closely
+her object, she even found means to hint, one day, a regret that she
+had not been permitted to follow the young Englishman on his
+expedition.
+
+"What would I have given," she said, "to have had your chance of going
+with him; and yet you chose to remain behind!"
+
+"Indeed, fair Ella!" he exclaimed; "what made you so anxious to go?"
+
+"Nay," answered the girl, with a mysterious look, "do you expect me to
+tell you my secrets, bold man? I would give a chain of gold, however,
+to be able to follow your master about the world for just twelve
+months, if it could be done without risking my own fair fame. Oh! for
+one of those fairy girdles that made the wearer invisible!"
+
+"Methinks you love him, Mistress Ella," replied Ned Dyram, more from
+pique than suspicion.
+
+But Ella answered, boldly and at once, though he had touched the wound
+somewhat roughly.
+
+"Yes, I do love him well!" she answered; "and I have cause, servant of
+mine. But it is not for that. I have a vow; I have a purpose; and
+though they must be executed, I know not well how to do so. I ought
+not to have left him, even now."
+
+"I dare say he would have taken you, if you had asked him!" replied
+the man.
+
+"And what would men have said?" demanded Ella. "What would you have
+thought yourself--what might your young lord have thought--though he
+is not so foolish as yourself? Most likely you would all have done me
+wrong in your fancies. No, no!--if I go, it must be secretly. But
+there, get you gone; I will tell you no more."
+
+"Nay, tell on, sweet Ella!" exclaimed Ned Dyram; "and perhaps I may
+aid you."
+
+"Get you gone, I say!" replied Ella Brune. "I will tell you no more,
+at least for the present. You help me!--Why, were I to trust to you
+for help in such a matter as this, should I not put myself entirely in
+your power?"
+
+"But I would never misuse it, Ella," answered Ned Dyram.
+
+"No, no!" she exclaimed; "I will never put myself in any man's power,
+unless I suffer him to put a ring upon my finger; and then, of course,
+I am as much his slave as if he had a ring round my neck. There, leave
+me! leave me! You may come again to-morrow, and see if I am in a
+better mood. I feel cross to-day."
+
+Ned Dyram retired; but he was destined to return before the day was
+over, and to bring her tidings, which, however unpleasant in
+themselves, rendered his coming welcome. As he took his way back
+towards the inn, just at the corner of the Vendredi market-place, he
+met a party of travellers, and heard the English tongue; but he took
+little heed, for his thoughts were full of Ella Brune; and he had
+passed half across the square, when one of the horsemen rode after
+him, and said his lord desired to speak with him. Ned Dyram looked up,
+and at once remembered the man's face. For reasons of his own,
+however, he suffered not the slightest trace of recognition to appear
+on his own countenance. As the horseman spoke in English, he replied
+in the same tongue, asking who was his master, and what he wanted?
+
+"He is an English knight," replied the servant; "and what he wants he
+will tell you himself."
+
+"But I am not fond of trusting myself in English knights' hands,"
+answered Ned Dyram; "they sometimes use one badly: so tell me his
+name, or I do not go."
+
+"His name is Sir Simeon of Roydon," replied the man: "a very good
+name, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I will go to him," replied Ned Dyram. "He used to be about
+the Court, when I was a greater man than I am now;" and he walked
+straight up to the spot where Sir Simeon of Roydon had halted his
+horse, and lowly doffed his bonnet as he approached.
+
+"My knave tells me," said the knight, "that you are a servant of the
+King's. Is it so?"
+
+"It was so once, sir," replied Ned Dyram; and then added, looking
+round to the servant who had followed him, "So, it was he who told
+you: I do not remember him!"
+
+"Perhaps not," answered the knight; "but you came up with him once,
+when he was following a young woman in whom I take some interest. Do
+you know where she is now?"
+
+"It may be so," replied Ned Dyram; "but I talk not of such things in
+the street, good sir."
+
+Simeon of Roydon paused and mused, gazing in the man's face the while.
+"Whom do you serve now?" he demanded, at length.
+
+"Why, I am employed by no one, at present," said Ned Dyram; not
+exactly telling a falsehood, but implying one.
+
+"Well, then, come to me to-night, some time after sunset," rejoined
+Sir Simeon, "and we will speak more. You know the convent of the
+Dominicans; I am to lodge there, for the prior is my cousin. Ask for
+Sir Simeon of Roydon, or the English knight, and the porter will show
+you my lodging."
+
+"At the Dominicans!" cried Ned Dyram; "why, you are not going thither
+now--at least, that is not the way."
+
+"Is it not?" exclaimed the knight. "Why this fellow agreed to guide
+me;" and he pointed to a man in the dress of a peasant, who
+accompanied them.
+
+"Then he is guiding you wrong," replied Ned Dyram. "Go straight up
+that street, follow the course of the river to the left, and, when you
+have passed the second bridge, turn up to the right, cross the Lys,
+and you will see the Dominicans right before you. He was taking you to
+the Carmelites."
+
+"Well, don't fail to come," rejoined Sir Simeon of Roydon; and he then
+rode on, pouring no very measured abuse upon the head of his guide.
+
+The moment he was gone, Dyram hurried back to Ella Brune; and a long
+and eager conversation ensued between them, of a very different tone
+and character from any which had taken place before. Ella was obliged
+to trust and to confide in him, to tell her reasons for abhorring and
+shrinking from the sight of one whom her evil fortune seemed
+continually to bring across her path, and to consult with him on the
+means to be employed for the purpose of concealing her presence in
+Ghent from Roydon's eyes, and of discovering what chance had brought
+him to the same city so soon after herself.
+
+Nothing, perhaps, could have given Dyram more satisfaction than this
+result. The new relations which it established between Ella and
+himself--the opportunities which it promised of serving, assisting
+her, and laying her under obligations--the constant excuse which it
+afforded for seeing her, and consulting with her on subjects of deep
+interest to herself--were all points which afforded him much
+gratification. But that was not all: he fancied that he saw the means
+of obtaining a power over her--a command as well as an influence.
+Vague schemes presented themselves to his mind of entangling her in a
+chain that she could not break--of binding her to himself by ties that
+she could not shake off--and of using the haughty and vicious knight,
+whose character he easily estimated, from the information now given
+him by Ella, as a tool for the accomplishment of his own purposes. I
+have said that these schemes were vague; and perhaps they might never
+have taken any more definite a form, had not other events occurred
+which led him to carry them out almost against his own will. Man, in
+the midst of circumstances, is like one in a Dædalian labyrinth, where
+a thousand paths are ready to confound him, a thousand turnings to
+lead him to the same end, and that end disappointment; while but one,
+of all the many ways, can reach the issue of success.
+
+That night, soon after sunset, Dyram stood before the gate of the
+Dominican monastery, and, ringing the bell, asked the porter for the
+lodging of Sir Simeon of Roydon. It was evident to him that orders had
+been given for his admission, for, without any inquiry, he was
+immediately shown to a small chamber, where he found the knight alone.
+A curious contest of the wits then ensued, for the knight was shrewd,
+and had determined, if it were within the scope of possibility, to
+gain from Ned Dyram all the information he could afford; and Dyram, on
+the contrary, had resolved to give none but that which suited his
+purpose. Both were keen and cunning men; neither very scrupulous; each
+selfish in a high degree, though in a somewhat different line; and
+both eager and fiery in pursuit of their objects.
+
+The first question of the knight to Ned Dyram was, what had brought
+him to Ghent?
+
+"I came hither," he replied, at once, "with Master Richard of
+Woodville."
+
+The knight's brow was covered by a sudden cloud, and he demanded, in a
+sharp tone, "Is he here now?--Are you his servant, then?"
+
+"He is not here now," answered the man; "he has gone on with the Count
+de Charolois, and did not think fit to take me with him any further."
+
+"Then you are out of employment?" asked the knight.
+
+"For the present, I am," said Ned Dyram; "but I shall soon find as
+much as I want. I am never at a loss, sir knight."
+
+"That is lucky for yourself," replied Simeon of Roydon; and then
+abruptly added, "Will you take service with me?"
+
+"No!" answered Dyram, bluntly. "I will take service with no one any
+more. I was not meant for a varlet. I can do better things than be the
+serving-man of any knight or noble."
+
+"What can you do?" demanded Roydon, with a somewhat sarcastic smile.
+
+"What can I not?" exclaimed Dyram. "I can read better than a
+priest--write better than a clerk. I can speak languages that would
+make your ears tingle, without understanding what you heard. I can
+compound all essences and drugs; I can work in gold, silver, or iron;
+and I know some secrets that would well nigh raise the dead."
+
+"Indeed!" said the knight. "Then you must be a monk, or a doctor of
+Oxford."
+
+"Neither," replied the man; "but I see you disbelieve me. Shall I give
+you a proof of what I can do?"
+
+"Yes," answered Sir Simeon; "I should like to see some spice of your
+skill."
+
+"In what way shall it be," asked Ned Dyram. "If you will order up some
+charcoal, with this little instrument and these pinchers I will make
+you a chain to go round your wrist out of a gold noble; or, if there
+be a Greek book in the monastery, I will read you a page therefrom,
+and expound it, in the presence of whom you will, as a judge; for well
+I wot you yourself know nothing about it."
+
+"Nor wish to know," replied the knight; "but I will have neither of
+these experiments; the one would be too long, the other too tedious.
+You said that you had secrets that would well nigh raise the dead. I
+have heard of such things, and I should like to see them tried."
+
+"Would you not be afraid?" asked Ned Dyram.
+
+"No!--Why?" answered Sir Simeon of Roydon. "The dead cannot hurt me."
+
+"Assuredly," said Ned Dyram; "but yet, when we call for those who are
+in their graves, we can never surely tell who may come. It is not
+always the spirit we wish that answers to our voice; and that man's
+heart must be singularly free, who, in the days of fiery youth, has
+done no deed towards the silent and the cold, that might make him
+shrink to see them rise from their dull bed of earth, and look him in
+the face again."
+
+"I am not afraid," said Roydon, after a moment's thought. "Do it if
+you can."
+
+"Nay, I said I had secrets that would _well nigh_ raise the dead,"
+answered Ned Dyram. "I neither told you that they would, nor that I
+was willing."
+
+"Ha! it seems to me you are a boaster, my good friend," exclaimed the
+knight, with a sneer. "Can you do anything in this sort, or can you
+not?"
+
+"I am no boaster, proud knight," replied Ned Dyram, in an angry tone,
+"and I only say what I am able to perform. 'Tis you that make it more
+than I ever did say; but if you would know what I can do, I tell you I
+can raise the dead for my own eye, though not for yours. That last
+great secret I have not yet obtained; but I trust ere long to do so;
+and as you are incredulous, like all other ignorant men, I will give
+you proof this very night."
+
+"But how shall I know, if I do not see the shapes myself?" demanded
+Sir Simeon of Roydon.
+
+"I will tell you what I behold," rejoined the man, "and you must judge
+for yourself. Those whom I call up shall all have some reference to
+you. Have you a mirror there?"
+
+"Yes," replied the knight; and while he rose to search for one, Dyram
+strewed some small round balls upon the table, jet black in colour,
+and apparently soft. The knight brought forward one of the small,
+round, polished mirrors of the day, which generally formed part of the
+travelling apparatus of both sexes in the higher class; and, setting
+it upright, Dyram brought each of the little balls for a single
+instant to the flame of the lamp, and laid them down before the
+mirror. A thin white smoke, of a faint, but delicate odour, instantly
+rose up and spread through the room, producing a feeling of languor in
+those who breathed the perfume, and giving a ghastly likeness to all
+things round; and, kneeling down before the table, Ned Dyram gazed
+into the glass, pronouncing several words in a strange tongue,
+unintelligible to the knight. The moment after his eyes opened wide,
+and seemed almost starting from his head; and the knight exclaimed
+eagerly, "What is it you see?"
+
+"I see," replied the man, "a gentleman in a black robe seated at a
+table; and he looks very sad. He is young and handsome, too, with
+coal-black hair curling round his brow."
+
+"Has he no mark by which I can distinguish him?" asked the knight.
+
+"Yes," answered Dyram; "but it matters not for him, as I see he is
+amongst the living. It is the absent who generally come first, and
+then the dead. However, here's a scar upon his right cheek, as if from
+an old wound."
+
+"Sir Henry Dacre!" murmured Roydon. "Try again, man--try again; and
+let it be the dead this time."
+
+Dyram pronounced some more words, apparently in the same language; and
+then a smile came upon his countenance. "A sweet and beautiful lady!"
+he said. "How proudly she walks, as if earth were not good enough to
+bear her! Ha! how is that?"--and, as he spoke, his face assumed a look
+of terror: his lip quivered, his eye stared; and the countenance of
+Sir Simeon of Roydon turned deadly pale.
+
+"What do you see?" demanded the knight, in a voice scarcely audible.
+"What do you see?"
+
+"She walks by a stream!" cried Dyram, in a terrible tone, "and the sun
+is just below the sky. Some one meets her, and they talk. He seizes
+her by the throat!--she struggles--he holds fast--he casts her into
+the river! Hark, how she shrieks! She sinks--she rises--she shrieks
+again! Oh God! some one help her!--she is gone!"
+
+All was silent in the room for a minute: and Ned Dyram, wiping his
+brow, as if recovering from some great excitement, gazed round him by
+the light of the lamp. Simeon of Roydon had sunk into a seat; and his
+face was so ashy pale, the lids of his eyes so tightly closed, that
+for a moment his companion thought he had fainted. The instant after,
+however, he murmured, "Ah! necromancer!" and then starting up,
+exclaimed, "What horrible vision is this? Who is it thou hast seen?"
+
+"Nay, I know not," answered Ned Dyram. "How can I tell? They spoke
+not;--'twas but a sight. But one thing is certain, that either the man
+or the woman is closely allied to you in some way."
+
+"What was he like?" demanded the knight, abruptly.
+
+"It was so dark when he came that I could not see him well," replied
+Dyram. "He was a tall, fair man; but that was all I saw. The lady was
+more clearly visible; for when she came, there was a soft evening
+light in the sky."
+
+"Why, fool, it has been dark these two hours," cried the knight.
+
+"Not in that glass," answered the other. "When she appeared first, it
+was a calm sunset, and I saw her well; but it speedily grew dark, and
+then I could descry nothing but her form, first struggling with her
+murderer, and then with the deep waters."
+
+"Her murderer!" repeated Simeon of Roydon--"her murderer! What was she
+like?"
+
+"A vain and haughty beauty, I should say," replied the man; "with dark
+hair, and seemingly dark eyes, a proud and curling lip, and----"
+
+"Enough, enough!" answered Simeon of Roydon, with resumed composure.
+"I know her by your description, and by the facts; but in the man you
+are mistaken--he was a dark man who did the deed, or suspicion belies
+him."
+
+"'Twas a fair man, that I saw," rejoined Dyram, in a decided tone; "of
+that, at least, I am sure, though the shadows were too deep to let me
+view his face distinctly. Shall I look again, to see any more, sir
+knight?"
+
+"No, no--it is sufficient!" cried Simeon of Roydon, somewhat sharply.
+"I see you have not overstated what you can do. Hearken to me; I will
+give you employment in your own way--much or little, as you like. I
+would fain hear more of this girl, Ella Brune--of where she is, what
+she is doing. I would fain find her--speak with her; but I am
+discomposed to-night. This lady that you saw but now was very dear to
+me; her sad fate affects me deeply even now. See, how I am shaken by
+these memories!" And in truth his hand, which he stretched forth to
+lay the mirror flat upon the table, trembled so, that he nearly let it
+fall. "But of this girl, Ella Brune," he continued: "have you known
+her long?--know you where she now is?"
+
+"Nay, I was but sent to bear her a letter from Richard of Woodville,
+and to counsel her from him, to go to York," replied Dyram. "Then, as
+to where she is, I cannot say exactly--not to a point, that is to say;
+but I can soon learn, if I am well entreated and well paid!"
+
+"That you shall be," rejoined the knight. "Come to me to-morrow early,
+and we will talk more. To-night I am unfit. Here is some gold for you
+for what you have done. Good night, good night!"
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXV.
+
+                           THE ENTERPRISE.
+
+
+The young Count of Charolois stood in the court-yard of the inn, about
+nine o'clock on the morning that followed his arrival in Lille, with a
+letter in his hand, and a countenance not altogether well pleased.
+There was a gentleman beside him, somewhat advanced in years, bearing
+knightly spurs upon his heels, and armed at all points but the head,
+the grey hair of which was partly covered with a small velvet cap, and
+to him the Prince spoke eagerly; while the various persons who had
+attended him from Ghent stood at a respectful distance, waiting his
+commands as to their future proceedings. Richard of Woodville had not
+remarked the old knight with the band before; and turning to one of
+the young nobles with whom he had formed some acquaintance, he asked
+who he was.
+
+"Why, do you not know?" exclaimed his companion. "That is Sir Walter,
+Lord of Roucq, one of our most renowned leaders. He has just arrived
+from Douay, they say; but the Count seems angry with that letter the
+courier brought him from Paris. Things are going ill there, I doubt,
+and we shall soon have a levy of arms. That Court is full of faitours
+and treachers--a crop of bad corn, which wants Burgundian hands to
+thin it."
+
+"I trust that you will permit a poor Englishman to put in a sickle,"
+said Woodville, laughing; "or at least to have the gleanings of the
+field."
+
+"Oh! willingly, willingly!" replied the young lord, with better wit
+than might have been expected. "I cannot but think your good
+sovereigns in England have but been hesitating till other arms have
+begun the harvest, in order to take full gleanings of that poor
+land--but see, the Count is looking round to us."
+
+"Hearken, my lords," said the Count. "It is my father's will that I
+should remain in Lille, while this noble knight rides on an expedition
+of some peril to the side of Tournay. He says the Lord of Roucq has
+men enough for what is wanted, and that some of you must abide with me
+here; but still I will permit any gentlemen to go who may choose to do
+so, provided a certain number stay with me; so make your election."
+
+The young nobles of Burgundy were rarely unwilling to take the field;
+but in the present instance, there were two or three motives which
+operated to make them in general decide in favour of staying with the
+Count of Charolois. In the first place, they knew of no enterprise
+that could be achieved on the side of Tournay which offered either
+glory or profit. There were a few bands of revolted peasantry and
+brigands in that quarter, whom the Count had threatened to suppress;
+but such a task was somewhat distasteful to them. In the second place,
+they were not insensible to the fact, that by choosing to stay with
+the Prince, they offered him an indirect compliment, which was
+especially desirable at a moment when he seemed angry at not being
+permitted to lead them himself; and, in the third place, the Lord of
+Roucq was inferior in rank to most of them, though superior in
+military reputation; and he was, moreover, known to be a somewhat
+strict disciplinarian, a quality by no means agreeable either to the
+French or Burgundian gentlemen.
+
+"I came to serve under you, my lord the Count," said the young Ingram
+de Croy; "and if you do not go, and I am permitted to choose, where
+you stay I will remain."
+
+The old Lord of Roucq gazed at him coldly, but made no observation;
+and the same feeling was found general, till the Count turned with a
+smile to Richard of Woodville, asking his choice.
+
+"Why, my noble lord," replied the young Englishman, "if I could serve
+you here, I should be willing enough to stay; but, as that is not the
+case, I had better serve you elsewhere; and wherever this good knight
+goes, doubtless there will be some honour to be gained under his
+pennon."
+
+Walter of Roucq still remained silent, but he did not forget the
+willingness of the foreign gentleman; and one very young noble of
+Burgundy, whose fortune and fame were yet to make, taking courage at
+Woodville's words, proposed to go also.
+
+"I have but few men with me, my lord the Count," he said, with the
+modesty which was affected, if not felt, by all young men in
+chivalrous times; "and, as you know, I have but small experience;
+wishing to gain which, I will, by your good leave, serve under the
+Lord of Woodville here, who, I think you said, had been already in
+several stricken fields, and was a comrade of the noble King of
+England."
+
+"King Henry calls him his friend, Monsieur de Lens, in his letter to
+me," replied the Count; "and I know he has gained _los_ in several
+battles, though I have been told that he was disappointed of his spurs
+at Bramham Moor (he did not pronounce the word very accurately);
+because such was the trust placed in his discretion, that he was sent
+to the late King just before the fight, when no one else could be
+trusted."
+
+Again Richard of Woodville marvelled to find his whole history so well
+known; but the Count went on immediately to add to the young
+Englishman's troop ten of his own men-at-arms. "You, Monsieur de Lens,
+brought seven, I think," he said; "so that will be some small
+reinforcement to your _menée_, my Lord of Roucq;" and drawing that
+gentleman aside, the Prince whispered to him for some moments.
+
+"Willingly, willingly, fair sir," replied the old knight, to whatever
+it was he said. "God forbid I should stay any noble gentleman anxious
+to do doughty deeds. He shall have the cream of it, and it shall go
+hard if I give him not the means to win the spurs. Monsieur de
+Woodville, I set out in half an hour. I will but have some bread and a
+cup of wine, and then am ready for your good company."
+
+But little preparation was needed, for all had been kept ready to set
+out at a moment's notice. Nevertheless, in the little arrangements
+which took place ere they departed, there sprang up between Richard of
+Woodville and the Lord of Lens what may be called the intimacy of
+circumstances. The young Burgundian, though brave, and well practised
+in the use of arms, was diffident, from inexperience, of more active
+and perilous scenes than the tilt-yard of his father's castle, or the
+jousting-lists in the neighbouring town; and he was well satisfied to
+place himself under the immediate direction of one who, like Richard
+of Woodville, had fought in general engagements, and served in regular
+armies. He had also some dread of the Lord of Roucq; but by fusing his
+party into the English gentleman's band, he placed another between
+himself and the severe old soldier, so that he trusted to escape the
+harsh words which their commander was not unaccustomed to use. To
+Woodville, then, he applied for information regarding every particular
+of his conduct; how he was to place his men, where he was to ride
+himself, and a thousand other particulars, making his companion smile
+sometimes at the timidity which he had personally never known, from
+having been accustomed, even in boyhood, to the troublous times and
+continual dangers which followed the usurpation of the throne by the
+first of the Lancasterian House.
+
+While they were conversing over these matters, one of the pages of the
+Count of Charolois joined them from the inn, and bade the English
+gentleman follow him to the Prince. The Count was alone in a small
+bed-room up stairs, and the temporary vexation which his countenance
+had expressed some time before, had now quite passed away. He met
+Richard with a laughing countenance, and, holding out his hand to him,
+exclaimed, addressing him by the name he had given him ever since
+their first interview, "God speed you, my friend. These rash nobles of
+ours have taken themselves in; and though stern old De Roucq does not
+wish it mentioned that he is going on such an errand, I would have you
+know it, that you may take advantage of opportunity. I love you better
+for going with him than staying with me, as you may well judge, when I
+tell you that his object is to meet my father, and guard him from
+Paris to Lille, if the Duke can effect his escape from the French
+court. My father would not have me come, for he is likely to be
+pursued, it seems; and he says in his letter, that should mischance
+befall him, while I remain in Lille there will still be a Duke of
+Burgundy to crush this swarm of Armagnac bees, even should they sting
+him to death. However, you must not tell De Roucq that I have given
+you such tidings; for if he knew it, he would scold me like a Nieuport
+fishwoman, with as little reverence as he would a horse-boy."
+
+"I will be careful, my good lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but
+if such be the case, had we better not have more men with us? Six or
+seven and twenty make but a small band against all the chivalry of
+France."
+
+"Oh! he has got two hundred iron-handed fellows beyond the gates,"
+replied the Prince. "But, hark! there is his voice. Quick! quick! you
+must not stay!" and hurrying down into the little square before the
+hostel, the young Englishman found the men drawn up, and the Lord of
+Roucq, with a page holding his horse, and his foot in the stirrup.
+
+"Ah! you are long, sir," said the old knight, swinging himself slowly
+up into the saddle. Nevertheless, Richard of Woodville was on
+horseback before him; for, laying his hand upon his charger's
+shoulder, he vaulted at once, armed at all points as he was, into the
+seat, and in another instant was at the head of his men.
+
+"A boy's trick!" said the old soldier, with a smile. "Never think,
+young gentleman, that you can make up for present delay by after
+activity: it is a dangerous fancy."
+
+"I know it, my good lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but I had to
+speak with my lord the Count before I departed."
+
+"Well, sir, well," answered the Lord of Roucq; and, wheeling round his
+horse, he gazed over the little band, marking especially the fine
+military appearance, sturdy limbs, and powerful horses of the English
+archers, with evident satisfaction. "Ah!" he said, "good stuff, good
+stuff! Have they seen service?"
+
+"Most of them," replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+"They shall see more, I trust, before I have done with them," rejoined
+the old knight. "Come, let us go. March!"--and, leading the way
+through the streets of Lille, a little in advance of the rest of the
+party, while Richard of Woodville and the young Lord of Lens followed
+side by side at the head of their men, he soon reached the gates of
+the city, without exchanging a word with any one by the way.
+
+"Why, this is strange," said the Lord of Lens to his companion, in a
+low voice, as they turned up towards the side of Douay, instead of
+taking the road to Tournay. "This is not the march that the Count said
+was laid out for us. The old man knows his road, I suppose?"
+
+"No fear of that," replied Richard of Woodville; "our business,
+comrade, is to follow, and to ask no questions. Perhaps there is
+better luck for us than we expected. Commanders do not always tell
+their soldiers what they are leading them to;" and turning his head as
+they came forth into the broad open road which extended to Peronne,
+through the numerous strong towns at that time comprised in the
+Flemish possessions of the House of Burgundy, he gave orders, in
+French and English, for his men to form in a different order--nine
+abreast. Some little embarrassment was displayed in executing this
+man[oe]uvre; and he had to explain and direct several times before it
+was performed to his satisfaction.
+
+The Lord of Roucq looked round and watched the whole proceeding, but
+made no observation; and, after proceeding for about two miles farther
+on the way, Woodville again changed the order of his men, when the old
+commander suddenly demanded, "What are you playing such tricks for?"
+
+"For a good reason, sir," replied Richard of Woodville; "I have men
+under me who have never been accustomed to act together--my own
+people, those of this young lord, and the men-at-arms of my lord the
+Count. I know not how soon you may call upon us for service, or what
+that service may be; and it is needful they should have some practice,
+that they may be alert at their work. I have learnt that, in time of
+need, it does not do to lose even a minute in forming line."
+
+"Ay, you Englishmen," replied the old lord, "were always better aware
+of that fact than we are. There would never have been a Cressy, if
+Frenchmen would have submitted to discipline. They will fight like
+devils; but each man has such an opinion of himself, that he will
+fight in his own way, forgetting that one well-trained man, who obeys
+orders promptly, is better than a hundred who do nothing but what they
+like themselves. Ride up and talk with me, young men; I do not see why
+we should not be friends together, though those satin jackets at Lille
+did not choose to march with old Walter de Roucq." After speaking with
+some bitterness of the turbulent spirit and insubordination which
+existed in all continental armies, the Lord of Roucq led the
+conversation to the military condition of England, and inquired
+particularly into the method, not only of training the soldiers of
+that country, but of educating the youths throughout the land to the
+early use of arms, which he had heard was customary there.
+
+"Ay, there is the difference between you and us," he said, when
+Woodville had explained the facts to him;--"you are all soldiers; and
+your yeomen, as you call them, are as serviceable as your knights and
+gentlemen. With us, who would ever think of taking a boor from the
+plough, to make a man-at-arms of him? No one dares to put a steel cap
+on his head, unless he has some gentle blood in his veins, though it
+be but half a drop, and then he is as conceited of it as if he were
+descended from Charlemagne. I have charge to give you, sir, the best
+occasions," he continued, still addressing Woodville, "and I will not
+fail; for I see you know what you are about, and will do me no
+discredit."
+
+"I beseech you, my good lord, to let me share them with him," said
+Monsieur de Lens; "I am as eager for renown as any man can be."
+
+"You will share them, of course, as one of his band," replied the old
+soldier, "and I doubt not, young gentleman, will do very well. I will
+refuse honour to no one who wins it;" and thus conversing, they rode
+on as far as Pont a Marq, where they found a large body of men-at-arms
+waiting for the old Lord of Roucq.
+
+Richard of Woodville remarked that they were most of them middle-aged
+men, with hard and weather-beaten countenances, who had evidently seen
+a good deal of service; but he observed also that--probably, from the
+unwillingness of the Burgundian nobility to submit to anything like
+strict discipline--there seemed to be few persons of distinction in
+the corps, and not one knight but the old Lord himself. Without any
+pause, the whole party marched on to Douay, the young Englishman
+losing no opportunity of exercising his men in such evolutions as the
+nature of the ground permitted, and many of the old soldiers of De
+Roucq watching his proceedings in silence, but with an attentive and
+inquiring eye.
+
+At Douay they halted for an hour and a half, to feed their horses and
+to take some refreshment; and then marching on, they did not draw a
+rein again till Cambray appeared in sight. Here all the party expected
+to remain the night; for Cambray, as the reader well knows, is a good
+day's march from Lille, especially for men covered with heavy armour,
+and for horses who had to carry not only the weight of their masters
+and their masters' harness, but steel manefaires, testières, and
+chanfrons of their own. The orders of the commander, however, showed
+them, before they entered the gates, that such repose was not to fall
+to their lot, for he directed them to seek no hostel, but to quarter
+themselves, without dividing, in the market-place, and there to feed
+their beasts.
+
+"'Tis a fine evening," he said, "and you shall have plenty of food and
+wine; but we must march on, for an hour or two, at night, that we may
+be in time to-morrow. If we have more space than enough in the
+morning, why the destriers will be all the fresher."
+
+No one ventured to make any reply, though the men-at-arms of the Count
+of Charolois felt somewhat weary with their unwonted exertion, and
+would fain have persuaded themselves that their beasts could go no
+farther that night. Their leader, or vingtner, who held the rank of a
+sergeant of the present day, and usually commanded twenty men, went so
+far as to hint his opinion on this subject to Richard of Woodville;
+but the young Englishman stopped him in an instant, replying coldly,
+"If your horses break down we must find you others. We have nothing to
+do but to obey."
+
+The young Englishman took care, however, that the chargers of his
+whole party should have everything that could refresh them, and he
+spared not his own purse to procure for them a different sort of food
+from that which was provided for the rest. The crumb of bread soaked
+in water was a favourite expedient with the English of that day, as it
+is now with the Germans, for restoring the vigour of a wearied horse;
+and he made bold to dip the bread in wine, which, on those beasts that
+would take it, seemed to produce a very great effect.
+
+After halting for two hours, the march was renewed; and wending slowly
+onward, they reached the small town--for it was then a town--of
+Gonlieu, having accomplished a distance of nearly eighteen leagues. It
+was within half an hour of midnight when they arrived, and the good
+people of the place had to be roused from their beds to provide them
+with lodgings; but a party of two hundred men-at-arms was not in that
+day to be refused anything they might think fit to require; and, in
+the different houses and stables of the town, they were all at length
+comfortably housed.
+
+Richard of Woodville was not one of those men who require long sleep
+to refresh them after any ordinary fatigue; and though, with the care
+and attention of an Arab, he spent a full hour in inspecting the
+treatment of his horses before he lay down to rest, yet, after a quiet
+repose of about four hours and a half, he awoke, and instantly sprang
+from the pallet which had been provided for him. He then immediately
+roused the young Lord of Lens, who, with five or six others, slept in
+the same chamber; but the poor youth gazed wildly round him, at first
+seeming to have forgotten where he was; and it required a hint from
+his English friend, that the old Lord of Roucq was a man likely to be
+up early in the day, ere he could make up his mind to rise.
+
+Woodville and his companion had been in the stable about five minutes,
+and were just setting the half-awakened horse-boys to their work, when
+a voice was heard at the open door, saying, "This is well!--this is as
+it should be!" and, turning round, they saw the figure of the old
+knight moving slowly away to the quarters of another party.
+
+In an hour more, they were again upon the road; but their march was
+this day less fatiguing; and Woodville remarked that their veteran
+leader seemed to expect some intelligence from the country into which
+they were advancing; for at each halting place he caused inquiries to
+be made for messengers seeking him, and more than once stopped the
+peasantry on the road, questioning them strictly, though no one
+clearly seemed to understand his drift. He seemed, too, to be somewhat
+undecided as to his course, and talked of going on to Orvillers, or at
+least to Conchy; but he halted for the night, however, at Tilloloy,
+and quartered his men in that village and St. Nicaise.
+
+Woodville and his party were lodged in the latter, where also the old
+commander slept; but about three in the morning the young Englishman
+was roused by voices speaking, followed by some one knocking at a
+neighbouring door; and half-raised upon his arm, he was listening to
+ascertain, if possible, what was the cause of this interruption of
+their repose, when the door of the room was opened, as far as the body
+of one of the English yeomen, who slept across it, would permit.
+
+"Halloo! Master Woodville," said the voice of the Lord of Roucq. "Up,
+and to horse--your beasts are not broken down, I trust?"
+
+"They have had time to rest since six last night," replied Woodville,
+"and will be found as fresh as ever, for they feed well."
+
+"Like all true Englishmen," answered the old soldier. "Join me below
+in a minute; I have something to say to you."
+
+Dressing himself, and giving hasty orders for the horses to be fed and
+led out, the young Englishman went down to the ground-floor, where
+everything was already in bustle, and perhaps in some confusion. The
+Lord of Roucq was surrounded by several of his own officers, and was
+giving them orders in the sharp tones of impatience and hurry.
+
+"Ha! Sir Englishman," he exclaimed, as ho saw Woodville, "how long
+will it take you to be in the saddle?"
+
+"Half an hour," replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+"And these men want two hours!" cried the old leader. "Well, hark
+ye!"--and leading Woodville aside, he whispered, "'Tis as well as it
+is: there will be no jealousy. Get your horses out with all speed, and
+you shall have the cream of the affair, as I promised the young Count.
+You must know I am bound to meet our good Duke at Pont St. Maxence. He
+makes his escape from Paris this morning; and as he brings but four
+men with him, I fear there may be those who will try to stop him. His
+plan is, to go out to hunt with the King in the forest of Hallate, and
+there to be met by some one bringing him letters, as if from Flanders,
+requiring his hasty return. Then he will decently bid the King adieu,
+and ride away. I was in hopes to have had time enough to be near at
+hand with my whole force, to give him aid if they pursue or stay him,
+though he tells me in the packet just received, to meet him at Pont
+St. Maxence. However, it is as well that some should proceed farther;
+and if you can get the start of us, you can take the occasion."
+
+"I will not miss it," replied Woodville; "but two things may be
+needful--one, a letter to the Duke; and another, some one who knows
+the road and the forest."
+
+"What sort of letter?" demanded De Roucq, sharply. "What is the letter
+for?"
+
+"To call the Duke back to Flanders," replied Richard of Woodville. "I
+will be the person to deliver it, should need be."
+
+"Ay, that were as well," answered the old knight; "though doubtless he
+has arranged already for some one to meet him; yet no harm of two. It
+shall be written as if others had been sent before. I will call my
+clerk, for of writing I know nought."
+
+"In the meanwhile I will see for a guide," answered Woodville; and
+going forth, he inquired, amongst the attendants of the young Lord of
+Lens and the men-at-arms of the Count of Charolois, for some one who
+was acquainted with the forest of Hallate. One of the latter had been
+there in former days, and remembered something of the roads, with
+which amount of information Richard of Woodville was forced to content
+himself, trusting to meet with some peasant on the spot who might
+guide him better. He then gave orders for bringing out the horses
+without farther delay, and for charging each saddle with two feeds of
+corn; and returning to the Lord of Roucq, he found him dictating a
+letter, by the light of a lamp, to a man with a shaven crown. Before
+it was finished, for the style of the good knight was not fluent, the
+jingle of arms and the tramp of horses' feet were heard before the
+inn; and looking round, with a well-satisfied smile, the old soldier
+exclaimed, "Ha! this is well!--This is the way to win _los_. There,
+that will do, Master Peter; fold and seal it. Then for the
+superscription, as you know how."
+
+Some five minutes, however, were spent upon heating the wax, tying up
+the packet, and writing the address, during which time Richard of
+Woodville looked on with no small impatience, fearing that he might be
+forestalled by others in executing a task which promised some
+distinction. At length all was complete; and, taking the letter
+eagerly, he hurried out and sprang into the saddle.
+
+The Lord of Roucq added various cautions and directions, walking by
+the young Englishman's horse for some way through the village; but at
+length he left him; and putting his troop to a quicker pace, Woodville
+rode on towards Pont St. Maxence.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+                           THE ACHIEVEMENT.
+
+
+The forest of Hallate--of which the great forest of Chantilly, as it
+is called, is in fact but an insignificant remnant,--was, in the days
+of Philip of Valois, one of the most magnificent woods at that time in
+Europe, giving its name to a whole district, in the midst of which was
+situated the fine old palace and abbey of St. Christopher, or St.
+Christofle en Hallate, the scene of many of the most important
+transactions in French history. I do not find that the palace was much
+used in the reign of Charles VI.; and it was very possibly going to
+decay, though the abbey attached to it still remained tenanted by its
+monks, and the forest still afforded the sport of the chase to the
+French monarchs and their court, being filled with wolves, stags,
+boars, and even bears (if we may believe the accounts of the time),
+which were preserved with more care, from all but princely hands, than
+even the subjects of the Sovereign.
+
+The great variety of the ground--the hills, the dales, the fountains,
+the cliffs, that the district presented--the rivers that intersected
+it, the deep glades and wild savannahs of the forest itself--the
+villages, the towns, the chapels, the monasteries, which nestled
+themselves, as it were, into its bosom--the profound solitude of some
+parts, the busy cultivation of others, the desert-like desolation of
+certain spots, and the soft, calm monotony of seemingly interminable
+trees which was to be found in different tracts--rendered the forest
+of Hallate one of the most interesting and changeful scenes through
+which the wandering foot of man could rove. Whether he sought the city
+or the hermitage, whether the grave or the gay, whether the sun or the
+shade, here he might suit his taste; and the mutations of the sky, in
+winter, in summer, in morning, in evening, in sunshine, or in clouds,
+added new changes to each individual spot, and varied still farther a
+scene which in itself seemed endless in its variety.
+
+About three o'clock on the afternoon of a day in early May, with a
+cool wind stirring the air, and some light vapours floating across the
+heaven, a gentleman, completely armed except the head, with a lance on
+his shoulder, and a page carrying his casque behind him, rode slowly
+into one of the wide savannahs, following a peasant with a staff in
+his hand, who seemed to be showing him the way. His horse bore evident
+signs of having been ridden far that day, without much time for grooms
+to do their office in smoothing down his dark brown coat; but
+nevertheless, though somewhat rough and dusty, the stout beast seemed
+no way tired; and, to judge by his quick and glancing eye, his bending
+crest, and the eager rounding of his knee, as if eager to put forth
+his speed, one would have supposed that he had rested since his
+journey, and tasted his share of corn.
+
+"Ay, there is a piqueur of the hunt," said the gentleman, marking with
+a glance a man, clothed in green and brown, who stood holding a brace
+of tall dogs at the angle of one of the roads leading into the heart
+of the forest. "You have led us right, good fellow. There is your
+guerdon."
+
+The peasant took the money; and, as it was somewhat more than had been
+promised, made a low rude bow and stumped away; and the gentleman,
+turning to his page, beckoned him up.
+
+"Think you, Will, that you have French enough," he asked, in English,
+when the boy was close to him, "to tell them where we are, and what to
+do?"
+
+"Oh, I will make them understand," replied the page, with all the
+confidence of youth. "I picked up a few words in Ghent, and a few more
+as we came along; and what tongue wont do, hand and head must."
+
+"Well, give me the casque," said his master, "and you take my barret;"
+and receiving the _chapel de fer_ from the boy's hands, he placed it
+on his head, raised the visor till it rested against the crest, and
+rode slowly on towards the attendant of the chase, who, with all a
+sportsman's eagerness, was watching down the avenue attentively.
+
+"Good morning, my friend," said the gentleman in French.
+
+"Good afternoon, sir," answered the piqueur; for the vulgar are always
+very careful to be exact in their time of day. He did not look round,
+however, and the stranger went on to inquire if the King were not
+hunting in the forest.
+
+The man now turned and eyed the questioner. His splendid arms showed
+he was a gentleman; and he was alone, so that no treason could be
+intended. "Yes, sir," replied the piqueur; "I expect him this way
+every minute. Do you want to see him?"
+
+"Why, not exactly," said the stranger. "Some of the people told me the
+good Duke of Burgundy was with him; and, as it is he with whom I want
+to speak, if their report be true, it may save me a ride to Paris."
+
+"The good Duke is with the King," rejoined the man; "but s'life I know
+not whether he will be so long: for fortune alters favour, they say,
+and times have changed of late--though it is no business of mine, and
+so I say nothing; but the Duke was ever a friend to the Commons, and
+to the citizens of Paris more than all."
+
+"Have they had good sport to-day?" demanded Richard of Woodville; for
+doubtless the reader has already discovered one of the interlocutors
+in this dialogue. "'Tis somewhat late in the year, is it not,
+piqueur?"
+
+"Ay that it is, for sundry kinds of game," replied the man; "but there
+are some not out, and others just coming in; and we are obliged to
+suit ourselves to the poor old King's health. He is free just now from
+his black sickness, and would have had a glorious day of it, had not
+Achille, the subveneur, who is always wrong, and always knows better
+than any one else, mistaken which way the _piste_ lay. But hark! they
+are blowing the death: the beast has been killed, and not past this
+way, foul fall him. My dogs have not had breath to-day."
+
+"Then they will not come hither, I suppose?" said Richard of
+Woodville.
+
+"Oh, yes! 'tis a thousand chances to one they will," answered the man.
+"If they force another beast, they must quit that ground, and cross
+the road to Senlis; and if they return with what they have got, they
+must take the Paris avenue, so that in either case they will come
+here."
+
+While he spoke, there was a vast howling of dogs, and blowing of horns
+at some distance; and Woodville, trusting to the piqueur's sagacity
+for the direction the Court would take, waited patiently till the
+sounds accompanying the _curée_ were over, and then gazed down the
+avenue. In about ten minutes some horsemen began to appear in the
+road; and then a splendid party issued forth from one of the side
+alleys, followed by a confused crowd of men, horses, and dogs. They
+came forward at an easy pace, and Richard of Woodville inquired of his
+companion, which was the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+"What, do you not know him?" said the man, in some surprise. "Well,
+keep back, and I will tell you when they are near."
+
+The young Englishman, without reply, reined back his horse for a step
+or two, so as to take up a position beyond the projecting corner of
+the wood; and, while the piqueur continued gazing down the avenue,
+still holding his dogs in the leash, Woodville turned a hasty glance
+behind him, to see if he could discover anything of his page. The boy
+was nearer than he thought, but was wisely coming round the back of
+the savannah, where the turf was soft and somewhat moist, so that his
+approach escaped both the eyes and ears of the royal attendant, till,
+approaching his master's side, he said something which, though spoken
+in a low tone, made the man turn round. At the same moment, however,
+the first two horsemen passed out of the road into the open space; and
+immediately after, the principal party appeared.
+
+At its head, a step before any of the rest, came a man, seemingly past
+the middle age, with grey hair and a noble presence, but with cheeks
+channelled and withered, more by sickness and care than years. His eye
+was peculiarly clear and fine, and not a trace was to be seen therein
+of that fatal malady which devoured more than one-half of his days.
+His aspect, indeed, was that of a person of high intellect; and though
+his shoulders were somewhat bowed, and his seat upon his horse not
+very firm, there were remains of the great beauty of form and dignity
+of carriage, which had distinguished the unhappy Charles in earlier
+days.
+
+Close behind the King came a youth of eighteen or nineteen years of
+age, with a fine, but somewhat fierce and haughty countenance, a cheek
+colourless and bare, and a bright but haggard eye; and near him rode a
+somewhat younger lad, of a fresher and more healthy complexion, round
+whose lip there played ever and anon a gay and wanton smile. Almost on
+a line with these, were three or four gentlemen, one far advanced in
+years, and one very young; while the personage nearest the spot where
+Richard of Woodville sat, seemed still in the lusty prime of manhood,
+stout but not fat, broad in the shoulders, long in the limbs, though
+not much above the middle height. He was dressed in high boots, and
+long striped hose of blue and red, with a close-fitting pourpoint of
+blue, and a long mantle, with furred sleeves, hanging down to his
+stirrups. On his head he bore a cap of fine cloth, shaped somewhat
+like an Indian turban, with a large and splendid ruby in the front,
+and a feather drooping over his left ear. His carriage was princely
+and frank, his eye clear and steadfast, and about his lip there was a
+firm and resolute expression, which well suited the countenance of one
+who had acquired the name of John the Bold.
+
+"If that be not the Duke of Burgundy," said Richard of Woodville, to
+the piqueur, in a low tone, as the party advanced, "I am much
+mistaken."
+
+"Yes, yes," replied the man, nodding his head, "that is he, God bless
+him!--and that is the Duke of Aquitaine, the King's son, just before
+him. Then there is the Duke of Bavaria on the other side----"
+
+The young Englishman did not wait to hear enumerated the names of
+all the personages of the royal train, but, as soon as the King
+himself had passed, rode up at once to the Duke of Burgundy, who
+turned round and gazed at him with some surprise, while the young pale
+Duke of Aquitaine bent his brow, frowning upon him with an inquiring
+yet ill-satisfied look.
+
+"My lord the Duke," said Woodville, tendering the letter he had
+received from De Roucq, "I bear you this from Flanders."
+
+The Duke took it, and, without checking his horse, but merely throwing
+the bridle over his arm, opened the letter, and looked at the
+contents. "Ha!" he exclaimed, as he read--"Ha! I thank you, sir;" and,
+making a sign for Richard and his page to follow, he spurred on, and
+passed the two young Princes to the side of the King.
+
+"This gentleman, Sire," he said, displaying the letter, "brings me
+troublous tidings from my poor county of Flanders, which call for my
+immediate presence; and, therefore, though unwilling to leave you,
+royal sir, at a time when my enemies are strong in your capital and
+court, I must even take my leave in haste; but I will return with all
+convenient speed."
+
+The King had drawn his bridle, and, turning round, gazed from the Duke
+to Richard of Woodville, with a look of hesitation; but, after a
+moment's pause, he answered, with a cold and constrained air, "Well,
+Duke of Burgundy, if it must be so, go. A fair journey to you,
+cousin;" and without farther adieu, he gave a glance to his sons, and
+rode on.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy bowed low, and held in his horse while the royal
+party passed on, exchanging no very placable looks with the young Duke
+of Aquitaine, his son-in-law, and giving a sign to four or five
+gentlemen who were following in the rear, but immediately fell out of
+the train, and ranged themselves around him.
+
+"Who are you, sir?" demanded the Prince, turning to Woodville, while
+the King and his court proceeded slowly towards a distant part of the
+savannah, and, by the movements of different gentlemen round the Duke
+of Aquitaine, there seemed to be some hurried consultation going on.
+
+"An English gentleman, my lord, attached to the Count, your son,"
+replied Woodville, without farther explanation; but seeing that a
+number of men completely armed, who followed the principal body of
+courtiers, had been beckoned up, he added, "Methinks, fair sir, there
+is not much time to lose. Yonder is the way--I am not alone." Without
+reply, the Duke gave one quick glance towards the royal party, set
+spurs to his horse, and rode quickly along the road to which Woodville
+pointed. He had hardly quitted the savannah, and entered the long
+broad avenue, however, when the sound of a horse's feet at the full
+gallop came behind, and a voice exclaimed, "My lord, my lord the Duke!
+the King has some words for your ear."
+
+It was a single cavalier who approached; but the quick ear of Richard
+of Woodville caught the sound of other horse following, though the
+angle of the wood cut off the view of the royal train.
+
+"Good faith," answered the Duke, turning his head towards the
+messenger, but without stopping, "they must be kept for another
+moment. My business will have no delay." But, even as he spoke, he
+caught sight of a number of men-at-arms following the first, and just
+entering the alley in a confused and scattered line.
+
+"But you must, my lord!" exclaimed the gentleman who had just come up.
+"I have orders to use force."
+
+The Duke and his attendants laid their hands upon their swords; but
+Woodville raised his lance high above his head, and shook it in the
+air, shouting, "Ho, there!--Ho! Ride on, my lord, ride on! I will stay
+them."
+
+"Now, gold spurs for a good lance!" cried the Duke of Burgundy; "but I
+will not let you fight alone, my friend;" and, wheeling his horse, he
+formed his little troop across the road.
+
+"Ho, there! Ho!" shouted Woodville again; and instantly he heard a
+horn answering from the wood. "The first man is mine, my lord," he
+cried, setting his lance in the rest and drawing down his visor. "Fall
+back upon our friends behind: you are unarmed!" and, spurring on his
+charger at full speed, he passed the King's messenger, (who was only
+habited in the garments of the chase,) towards a man-at-arms, who was
+coming at full speed some fifty yards in advance of the party sent to
+arrest the Duke. His adversary instantly charged his lance likewise;
+no explanation was needed; and the two cavaliers met in full shock
+between the parties. The spear of the Frenchman struck right on
+Woodville's cuirass, and broke it into splinters; but the lance-head
+of the young Englishman caught his opponent on the gorget, and,
+without wavering in his seat, he bore him back over the croup to the
+ground. Then, wheeling rapidly, he galloped back to the Duke's side;
+while, at a brisk pace, but in perfect order, his band came up under
+the young Lord of Lens; and the English archers, springing to the
+ground, put their arrows to the strings and drew the bows to the ear,
+waiting for the signal to let fly the unerring shaft.
+
+"Hold! hold!" cried the Duke. "Gallantly done, noble sir!--you have
+saved me; but let us not shed blood unnecessarily;" and, casting his
+eye over Woodville's troop, he added, "We outnumber them far; they
+will never dare attack us."
+
+As he spoke, the men-at-arms of France paused in their advance, and
+some of the foremost, dismounting from their horses, raised the
+overthrown cavalier from the ground, and were seen unlacing his
+casque. At the same time, the gentleman who had first followed the
+Duke of Burgundy began quietly retreating towards his friends, and
+though the Duke called to him aloud to stop, showed no disposition to
+comply.
+
+"Shall I bring him back, noble Duke?" exclaimed the young Lord of
+Lens, eager to win some renown.
+
+"Yes, ride after him, young sir," said John the Bold.
+
+"Remember, he is unarmed," cried Richard of Woodville, seeing the
+youth couch his lance, and fearing that he might forget, in his
+enthusiasm, the usages of war.
+
+"You are of a right chivalrous spirit, sir," said the Duke, turning to
+the young Englishman. "Do you know, my Lord of Viefville, who is that
+gentleman, whom he unhorsed just now?"
+
+"The Count de Vaudemont, I think," replied the nobleman to whom he
+spoke. "I saw him at the head of the men-at-arms in the forest."
+
+"Oh, yes, it is he," rejoined another. "Did you not see the cross
+crosslets on his housings?"
+
+"A good knight and stout cavalier as ever couched a lance," observed
+the Duke of Burgundy. "The young kestrel has caught the hawk," he
+continued, as the Lord of Lens, riding up to him of whom he had been
+in pursuit, brought him back apparently unwillingly towards the
+Burgundian party.
+
+"Ah! my good Lord of Vertus," exclaimed John the Bold, "you have gone
+back with half your message. Fie! never look white, man! We will not
+hurt you, though we have strong hands amongst us, as you have just
+seen. Offer my humble duty to the King, and tell him that I should at
+once have obeyed his royal mandate to return, but that my affairs are
+very urgent, and that I knew not how long I might be detained to hear
+his royal will."
+
+"And what am I to say to our lord?" asked the Count de Vertus, "for
+Monsieur de Vaudemont, his son's bosom friend, overthrown by your
+people, and well-nigh killed, I fear?"
+
+"My daughter ought to be his son's bosom friend," replied the Duke,
+sharply, "but she is not, it seems; and as to Monsieur de Vaudemont,
+perhaps you had better tell the King that he was riding too fast and
+had a fall: it will be more to his credit than if you say, that he met
+a squire of Burgundy in fair and even course, and was unhorsed like a
+clumsy page; and now, my Lord of Vertus, I give you the good time of
+day. You said something about force just now; but methinks you will
+forget it; and so will I."
+
+Thus saying, the Duke turned his horse and rode away down the avenue;
+the English archers sprang upon their steeds again; and Richard of
+Woodville, beckoning the young Lord of Lens to halt, caused his whole
+troop to file off before him, and then with his companion brought up
+the extreme rear. A number of the French men-at-arms followed at a
+respectful distance, till the party entered the village of Fleurines,
+in the forest; but there, having satisfied themselves that there was
+no greater body of the men of Burgundy in the neighbourhood--which
+might have rendered the King's journey back to Paris somewhat
+dangerous--they halted and retired.
+
+The Duke had turned round to watch their proceedings more than once;
+nor did he take any farther notice of Richard of Woodville till the
+French party were gone. When they were no longer in sight, however, he
+called him to his side, and questioned him regarding himself.
+
+"I do not remember you about my son, fair sir," he said, "and I am not
+one to forget men who act as you have done to-day."
+
+"I have been in your territories, my Lord Duke, but a short time,"
+replied Richard of Woodville. "As I came seeking occasions of honour
+to the most chivalrous court in Europe, and as I was furnished with
+letters from my Sovereign to yourself, and to your son, vouching
+graciously for my faith, the Count was kindly pleased to give me a
+share in anything that was to be done to-day. Happening to be in the
+saddle this morning somewhat before the rest of the Lord of Roucq's
+troop, and my horses being somewhat fresher, the good old knight sent
+me on, thinking you might need aid before you reached the rendezvous
+you had given him."
+
+"Ay, he judged right," replied the Duke; "and had I known as much,
+when I wrote to him, as I learned yesterday, I would have had him at
+the gates of Paris; for my escape at all has been a miracle. They only
+put off arresting me or stabbing me in my hotel till the King returned
+from this hunting, in order to guard against a rising of the citizens.
+Have you this letter from King Henry about you?"
+
+"My page has it in his wallet, noble Duke," replied the young
+Englishman. "Will you please to see it?"
+
+John nodded his head, and, calling up the boy, Richard of Woodville
+took the letter from him, and placed it in the Prince's hands. The
+Duke opened and read it with a smile; then, turning to Woodville, he
+said, "You justify the praises of your King, and his request shall be
+attended to by me, as in duty bound. Men look to him, sir, with eyes
+of expectation, and have a foresight of great deeds to come. His
+friendship is dear to me; and every one he is pleased to send shall
+have honour at my hands for his sake. Ah! there is Pont St. Maxence,
+and the bright Oise. De Roucq is, probably, there by this time."
+
+"I doubt it not, my lord," answered Richard of Woodville; "he could
+not be far behind."
+
+"Who is that youth," demanded the Duke, "who seems your second in the
+band?"
+
+"One of your own vassals, noble sir," replied the English gentleman,
+"full of honour and zeal for your service, who will some day make an
+excellent soldier. He is the young Lord of Lens."
+
+"Ah!" said the Duke in a sorrowful tone, "I have bad news for him. His
+uncle Charles is a prisoner in Paris, taken out of my very house
+before my eyes; and I doubt much they will do him to death. Break it
+to him calmly this evening, sir. But see! here are several of good old
+De Roucq's party looking out for us. Methinks he would not have heard
+bad tidings of his Duke without riding to rescue him."
+
+Thus saying he spurred on, meeting, ere he reached Pont St. Maxence,
+one or two small bodies of men-at-arms, who saluted him as he passed,
+shouting "Burgundy! Burgundy!" and fell in behind the band of Richard
+of Woodville. The single street of the small town was crowded with
+people; and before the doors of the two inns which the place then
+possessed was seen the company of the Lord of Roucq, with the men
+dismounted, feeding their horses, but all armed, and prepared to
+spring into the saddle at a moment's notice.
+
+The approach of the Duke was greeted by a loud shout of welcome--not
+alone from his own soldiers, but also from the people of the town; for
+in the northern and eastern provinces of France, as well as in the
+capital, John the Bold was the most popular prince of the time. De
+Roucq immediately advanced on foot to hold his stirrup, but his Lord
+grasped him by the hand and wrung it hard, saying, "I am safe, you
+see, old friend--thanks to your care, and this young gentleman's
+conduct."
+
+"Ay, I thought he would do well," replied the old soldier, "for he is
+up in the morning early."
+
+"He has done well," said the Duke, dismounting; and, turning to
+Woodville, who had sprung from his horse, he said, "You rightly
+deserve some honour at my hands. Though we have no spurs ready, I will
+dub you now; and we will arm you afterwards at Lille. Kneel down."
+
+Richard of Woodville bent his knee to the ground before the crowd that
+had gathered round; and, drawing his sword, the Duke of Burgundy
+addressed to him, as usual, a short speech on the duties of chivalry,
+concluding with the words--"thus remember, that this honour is not
+alone a reward for deeds past, but an encouragement to deeds in
+future. It is a bond as well as a distinction, by which you are held
+to right the wronged--to defend the oppressed--to govern yourself
+discreetly--to serve your Sovereign Lord--and to be the friend and
+protector of women, children, and the weak and powerless. Let your
+lance be the first in the fight; let your purse be open to the poor
+and needy; let your shield be the shelter of the widow and orphan; and
+let your sword be ever drawn in the cause of your King, your country
+and your religion. In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George, I
+dub you knight. Be loyal, true, and valiant."
+
+At each of the last words he struck him a light stroke with the blade
+of his sword upon the neck; and the crowd around, well pleased with
+every piece of representation, uttered a loud acclamation as the young
+knight rose; and the Duke took him in his arms, and embraced him
+warmly. Old De Roucq, and the noblemen who had accompanied John the
+Bold from the forest, grasped the young Englishman's hand one by one;
+and the Duke, turning to the Lord of Lens, added, with a gracious
+smile, "I trust to do the same for you, young sir, ere long. In the
+meanwhile, that you may have occasion to win your chivalry, I name you
+one of my squires; and, by God's grace, you will not be long without
+something to do."
+
+The youth kissed his hand joyfully; and the Duke retired to the inn.
+Richard of Woodville paused for a moment to distribute some handfulls
+of money amongst the crowd, who were crying "Largesse" around, and
+then followed the old Lord of Roucq, to give him information of all
+that had taken place in the forest of Hallate, before they proceeded
+together to receive the farther orders of the Duke of Burgundy.[8]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 8: Some authors, and especially Monstrelet, represent the
+Duke of Burgundy as effecting his escape from the forest of Villeneuve
+St. George; but the reader of course cannot entertain the slightest
+doubt that the author of the present veracious history is, like all
+other modern historians and critics, better acquainted with the events
+of distant times than the poor ignorant people who lived in them.]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+                              A SUMMARY.
+
+
+All was bustle and activity throughout Flanders and Burgundy after the
+return of John the Bold from Paris. Night and day messengers were
+crossing the country from one town to another, and every castle in the
+land saw gatherings of men-at-arms and archers; while, across the
+frontier from France, came multitudes of the discontented vassals of
+Charles VI., pouring in to offer either service or council to the
+great feudatory, who was now almost in open warfare, if not against
+his Sovereign, at least against the faction into whose hands that
+Sovereign (once more relapsed into imbecility) had fallen. If,
+however, the country in general was agitated, much more so was the
+city of Lille, where the Duke prolonged his residence for some weeks.
+There, day after day, councils were held in the castle; and day after
+day, not only from every part of the Duke's vast territories, but also
+from neighbouring states, came crowds of his friends and allies. The
+people of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres sent their deputies; the Duke of
+Brabant, the Bishop of Liege, the Count of Cleves, appeared in person;
+and even the Constable of France, Waleran, Count of St. Paul, took his
+seat at the table of the Duke of Burgundy, and refused boldly to give
+up his staff to the envoys sent from Paris to demand it. The cloud of
+war was evidently gathering thick and black; and foreign princes
+looked eagerly on to see how and when the struggle would commence; but
+the eyes of both contending parties were turned anxiously to one of
+the neighbouring sovereigns, who was destined to take a great part, as
+all foresaw, in the domestic feuds of France. To Henry of England both
+addressed themselves, and each strove hard not only to propitiate the
+monarch, but to gain the good will of the nation. All Englishmen,
+either in France or Burgundy, were courted and favoured by those high
+in place; and Richard of Woodville was now especially marked out for
+honour by both the Duke of Burgundy and the young Count of Charolois.
+The latter opened his frank and generous heart towards one, with whose
+whole demeanour he had been struck and pleased from the first; and
+that intimacy which grows up so rapidly in troublous times, easily
+ripened into friendship in the daily intercourse which took place
+between them. They were constant companions; and more than once, after
+nightfall, Richard was brought by the prince to his father's private
+cabinet, where consultations were held between them, not only on
+matters of war and military discipline--for which the young English
+knight had acquired a high reputation, on the report of the old Lord
+of Roucq--but also on subjects connected with the policy of the
+English Court, regarding which the Duke strove to gain some better
+information from the frank and sincere character of Woodville than he
+could obtain elsewhere. But, as we have shown, Richard of Woodville
+could be cautious as well as candid; and he replied guardedly to all
+open questions, that he knew naught of the views or intentions of his
+Sovereign; but that he was well aware Henry of England held in high
+esteem and love his princely cousin of Burgundy, and would never be
+found wanting, when required, to show him acts of friendship. Farther,
+he said, the Duke must apply to good Sir Philip de Morgan, a man well
+instructed, he believed, in all the King's purposes.
+
+Both the Count of Charolois and his father smiled at this answer, and
+turned a meaning look upon each other.
+
+"You have shown me, Sir Richard," said the Duke, "that you really do
+not know the King's mind on such subjects. Sir Philip de Morgan was
+his father's most trusted envoy; but is his own envoy not the most
+trusted? It is strange, your monarch's conduct in some things. He has
+added to his agents at our poor Court, a noble and wise man whom his
+father hated."
+
+"Because, my most redoubted lord," replied the young knight, "he
+judges differently, and is differently situated from his father. Henry
+IV. snatched the crown, as all men know, from a weak and vicious king,
+but found that those, who once had been his peers, were not willing to
+be his subjects. Though a mighty, wise, and politic prince, his life
+was a struggle, in which he might win victories indeed, and subdue
+enemies in the field, but he raised up new traitors in his own heart,
+new enemies within himself--I mean, my lord, jealousies and
+animosities. Our present King comes to the throne by succession; and
+his father has left him a crown divested of half its thorns. His
+nurture has been different too: never having suffered oppression, he
+has nothing to retaliate; never having struggled with foes, he has no
+fear of enmity. People say in my land, that one man builds a house and
+another dwells in it. So is it with every one who wins a throne; he
+has to raise and strengthen the fabric of his power, only to leave the
+perfect structure to another."
+
+The Duke leaned his head upon his hand, and thought profoundly.
+Ambitious visions, often roused by the very name of Henry IV., were
+reproved by the moral of his life; and though John the Bold might not
+part with them, he turned his thoughts to other channels, and strove
+to learn from Richard of Woodville the character and disposition of
+the English sovereign, if not his intentions and designs. On those
+points, the young knight was more open and unreserved. He painted the
+monarch as he really was, laughed when the Prince spoke of his
+youthful wildness, and said, "It was but a masking face, noble Duke,
+put on for sport, and, like a mummer's vizard, laid aside the moment
+it suited him to resume himself again. Those who judge the King from
+such traits as these will find themselves wofully deceived;" and he
+went on to paint Henry's energies of mind in terms which--though the
+Duke might attribute part of the praise to young enthusiasm--still
+left a very altered impression on the hearer's mind in regard to the
+real character of the English King.
+
+I have said that these interviews took place more than once, and also
+that they generally took place in private; for the Duke did not wish
+to excite any jealousy in his Burgundian subjects; but, on more than
+one occasion, several of the foreign noblemen who had flocked to the
+Court of Lille were present, and between the Count of St. Paul and
+Woodville some intimacy speedily sprung up. The Count, irritated by
+what he thought injustice, revolved many schemes of daring resistance
+to the Court of France. He thought of raising men, and, as the ally of
+Burgundy, opposing in arms the Armagnac faction and the Dauphin; he
+thought of visiting England, and treating on his own part with Henry
+V.; and from the young English knight he strove to gain both
+information and assistance. There was in that distinguished nobleman
+many qualities which commanded esteem, and Woodville willingly gave
+him what advice he could; and yet he tried to dissuade him from being
+the first to raise the standard of revolt, pointing out that, although
+the state of mind of the King of France, and the absence of all legal
+authority in those who ruled, might justify a Prince so nearly allied
+to the royal family as the Duke of Burgundy, in struggling for a share
+of that power which he saw misused, especially as he was a sovereign
+Prince, though feudatory for some of his territories to the crown of
+France, yet an inferior person could hardly take arms on his own
+account without incurring a charge of treason, which might fall
+heavily on his head if the Duke found cause ultimately to abstain from
+war.
+
+The Count listened to his reasons, and seemed to ponder upon them; and
+though no one loves to be persuaded from the course to which passion
+prompts, he was sufficiently experienced to think well of one who
+would give such advice, however unpalatable at the moment.
+
+Thus passed nearly a month from the day on which the young Englishman
+quitted Ghent; and so changeful and uncertain were the events of the
+time, that he would not venture to absent himself from the Court of
+Burgundy even for an hour, lest he should miss the opportunity of
+winning advancement and renown. In that time, however, he had gained
+much. He was no longer a stranger. The ways and habits of the Court
+were familiar to him; he was the companion of all, and the friend of
+many, who, on his first appearance, had looked upon him with an evil
+eye; and many an occurrence, trifling compared with the great
+interests that were moving round, but important to himself, had taken
+place in the young knight's history. The ceremony of being armed a
+knight was duly performed, the Duke fulfilling his promise on the
+first occasion, and completing that which had been but begun at Pont
+St. Maxence. Yet this very act, gratifying as it was to one eager of
+honour, was not without producing some anxiety in the mind of the
+young Englishman. Such events were accompanied with much pageantry,
+and followed by considerable expense. Hitherto, all his charges had
+been borne by himself, and he saw his stock of wealth decreasing far
+more rapidly than he had expected. Though apartments had been assigned
+to him in the Graevensteen at Ghent, none had been furnished him in
+the castle of Lille; and no mention was made of reimbursing him for
+anything he had paid.
+
+One day, however, early in June, he was called to the presence of the
+Duke, and found him just coming from a conference with the deputies of
+the good towns of Flanders. The Prince's face was gay and smiling; and
+as he passed along the gallery towards his private apartments, he
+exclaimed, turning towards some of his counsellors, "Let no one say I
+have not good and generous subjects. Ha! Sir Richard," he continued,
+as his eye fell upon the young Englishman, "go to the chamber of my
+son--he has something to tell you."
+
+Richard of Woodville hastened to obey; but the Count de Charolois was
+not in his apartment when he arrived, and some minutes elapsed before
+the young Prince appeared. When he came at length, however, he was
+followed by three or four of his men bearing some large bags,
+apparently of money, which were laid down upon the table in the
+anteroom.
+
+"Get you gone, boys," said the Count, turning to his pages; "and you,
+Godfrey, see that all be ready by the hour of noon. Now, my friend,"
+he continued, as soon as the room was clear, "I have news for you,
+and, I trust, pleasant news too. First, I am for Ghent, and you may
+accompany me, if you will."
+
+"Right gladly, my lord the Count," replied Richard of Woodville; "for,
+to say truth, almost all my baggage is still there, and I have
+scarcely any clothing in which to appear decently at your father's
+court. I have other matters, too, that I would fain see to in Ghent."
+
+"Some fair lady, now, I will warrant," replied the Count, laughing; "I
+have marked the ruby ring in your basinet; but, faith, we have more
+serious matters in hand than either fine clothes or fair ladies. I go
+to raise men, sir knight, and you have a commission to do so likewise.
+My father would fain have you swell your company to fifty archers,
+taught and disciplined by your own men. The more Englishmen you can
+get the better, for it seems that you are famous for the bow in your
+land; but our worthy citizens of Bruges are not unskilful either."
+
+"Good faith, my lord," replied Richard of Woodville, "I know not well
+how to obey the noble Duke's behest; for my riches are but scanty, and
+'tis as much as I can do to maintain my band as it is."
+
+"Ha! are you there, my friend?" said the young Prince, with a smile.
+"Well, you have borne long and patiently with our poverty; but the
+good towns have come to our assistance now, and we will acquit our
+debt. One of these bags is for you, and you will find it contains
+wherewithal to pay you what you have spent, to reward your archers
+according to the rate of England, which is, I believe, six sterlings
+a day, for the month past--to pay them for three months to come, and
+to raise your band, as I have said, to fifty men. You will find
+therein one thousand _fleurs-de-lys_ of gold, or, as we call them,
+_franc-à-pieds_, each of which is worth about forty of your
+sterlings."
+
+"Then there is much more than is needful, my good lord," replied the
+young knight. "One-half of that sum would suffice."
+
+"Exactly," replied the Count; "but no one serves well the House of
+Burgundy without guerdon, my good friend. My father knighted you
+because you had done well in arms, both in England and in his
+presence; but knighthood is too high and sacred a thing to be made a
+reward for any personal benefit rendered to a prince. My father would
+think that he degraded that high order, if he conferred it even for
+saving him from death or captivity, as you were enabled to do. For
+that good deed therefore he gives you the rest; and I do trust that
+ere long you will have the means of winning more."
+
+Richard of Woodville expressed his thanks, though, with the ordinary
+chivalrous affectation of the day, he denied all merit in what he had
+done, and made as little of it as possible. There was one difficulty
+in regard to increasing his band, however, which he had to explain to
+the young Count, and which arose from the promise he had given his own
+Sovereign, of holding himself ready to join him at the first summons.
+But that was speedily obviated, it being agreed that in case of his
+services being demanded by King Henry, he should be at liberty to
+retire with the yeomen who then accompanied him, and that the rest of
+the troop about to be raised, should, in that case, be placed under
+the command of any officer the Duke might appoint.
+
+As was then customary, a clerk was called in, and an indenture drawn
+up, specifying the terms on which the young knight was to serve in the
+Burgundian force, the number of the men-at-arms and archers which he
+was to bring into the field, the pay they were to receive, the arms
+and horses with which they were to appear, and even the Burgundian
+cloaks, or huques, which they were to wear. A copy was taken and
+signed by each party; and fortunate it was for Richard of Woodville,
+that the young Count suggested this precaution. The usual clauses
+regarding prisoners were added, reserving the persons of kings and
+princes of the blood from those whom the young knight might put to
+ransom as his lawful captives; but the Count specifically renounced
+his right to the third of the winnings of the war, which was not
+unusually reserved to the great leader with whom any knight or squire
+took service.
+
+All these points being settled, Richard of Woodville hurried back to
+the inn, called the Shield of Burgundy, where he and his men were
+lodged, and prepared to accompany the Count to Ghent. When he returned
+to the castle, with his men mounted and armed, he found the court-yard
+full of knights, nobles, and soldiery, all ready to set out at the
+appointed hour; and for a time he fancied that the young Prince might
+be going to Ghent with a larger force than the good citizens, jealous
+of their privileges, would be very willing to receive; but, as soon as
+the trumpet sounded, and the whole force marched out over the
+drawbridge into the streets of Lille, the seven or eight hundred men,
+of which the party consisted, separated into different bands, and each
+took its own road. One pursued its way towards Amiens, another towards
+Tournay, another towards Cassel, another towards Bethune, another
+towards Douay; and the Count and his train, reduced to about a hundred
+men, rode on in the direction of Ghent, which city they reached about
+four o'clock upon the following day.
+
+Except the Lord of Croy, between whom and the young Englishman a good
+deal of intimacy had arisen, the Count de Charolois was accompanied by
+no other gentleman of knightly rank but Richard of Woodville; and, as
+that high military station placed him who filled it on a rank with
+princes, those two gentlemen were the young Count's principal
+companions on the road to Ghent, and received from him a fuller
+intimation of his father's designs and purposes than had been
+communicated to them before they quitted Lille. All seemed smiling on
+the fortunes of Richard of Woodville; the path to wealth and renown
+was open before him, and he might be pardoned for giving way to all
+the bright visions and glowing expectations of youth.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+                        THE FRIEND ESTRANGED.
+
+
+Trumpet and timbrel were sounding in the streets of Ghent; the people,
+in holiday costume, were thronging bridge and market-place; the
+procession of the trades was once more afoot, with banners displayed;
+the clergy were hurrying here and there with cross and staff, and all
+the ensigns of the Romish Church. It was a high holiday; for the young
+Count had given notice, immediately on his arrival, that he would be
+ready an hour before compline, which may be considered about six
+o'clock in the evening, to receive the honourable corps of the good
+town, in order to return them thanks, in the name of his father, for
+the liberal aid they had granted him in a time of need; and flushed
+with loyalty to their Prince--well, I wot, a somewhat unusual
+occurrence--and with a full sense of their own meritorious sacrifices,
+each man pressed eagerly to be one of the deputies who were to wait
+upon the Count; and, if that might not be, to go, at least, as far as
+the palace gates with those who were to be admitted.
+
+All the nobles who had accompanied the Count from Lille were present
+in the great hall of the Cours des Princes, where the reception was to
+take place, except, indeed, Richard of Woodville. He, soon after he
+had arrived, had begged the Count's excuse for absenting himself from
+his train; and, hurrying to the inn where he had left Ned Dyram, with
+his horses and baggage, he dismounted from his charger, and cast off
+his armour.
+
+To his inquiries for his servant, the host replied, that he had not
+been there since the morning, and, indeed, seldom appeared there all
+day; but Woodville seemed to pay little attention to this answer; and,
+merely washing the dust from his face and neck, set out at a hurried
+pace on foot.
+
+He thought that he knew the way to the place which he intended to
+visit well, though he had only followed it once; and passing on, he
+was soon out of the stream of people that was still flowing on towards
+the palace. But he found himself mistaken in regard to his powers of
+memory; long tortuous streets, totally deserted for the time, lay
+around him; tall houses, principally built of wood, rose on every
+side, throwing fantastic shadows across the broad sunshine afforded by
+the sinking sun; and when he at length stopped a workman to ask his
+way, the man spoke nothing but Flemish, and all that Woodville had
+acquired of that tongue was insufficient to make the artisan
+comprehend what was meant.
+
+Leaving him, the young knight walked on, guided by what he remembered
+of the direction in which the house of Sir John Grey lay; for it is
+hardly needful to tell the reader that thither his steps were bent,
+when suddenly a cavalcade of some five or six horsemen appeared,
+coming at a slow pace up the street; and the tall graceful figure of a
+man somewhat past the middle age, but evidently of distinguished rank,
+was seen at their head. The garb was changed; the whole look and
+demeanour was different; but even before he could see the features,
+Richard of Woodville recognised the very man he was seeking, and,
+hurrying on to meet him, he advanced to his horse's side.
+
+Sir John Grey gazed on him coldly, however, as if he had never seen
+him before; and Woodville felt somewhat surprised and mortified, not
+well knowing whether the old knight's memory were really so much
+shorter than his own, or whether fortune, with Mary's father, had
+possessed the power it has over so many, to change the aspect of the
+things around, and blot out the love and gratitude of former days, as
+things unworthy of remembrance.
+
+"Do you not know me, Sir John Grey?" he asked: "if so, let me recal to
+your good remembrance Richard of Woodville, who brought you tidings
+from the King, and also some news of your sweet daughter."
+
+"I know you well, sir," replied the knight; "would I knew less. I hear
+you have acquired honour and renown in arms. God give you grace to
+merit more. I must ride on, I fear."
+
+His manner was cold and distant, his brow grave and stern; but
+Woodville was not one to bear such a change altogether calmly, though,
+for his sweet Mary's sake, he laid a strong constraint upon himself.
+
+"I know not, Sir John Grey," he said, "what has produced so strange a
+change in one, whom I had thought steadfast and firm: whether calmer
+thought and higher fortunes than those in which I first found you, may
+have engendered loftier views, or re-awakened slumbering ambition, so
+that you regret some words you spoke in the first liberal joy of
+renewed prosperity; but----"
+
+"Cease, sir, cease!" exclaimed the old knight. "I should indeed
+regret those words, could they be binding in a case like this.
+Steadfast and firm I am, and you will find me so; but not loftier
+views or re-awakened ambition has made the change, but better
+knowledge of a man I trusted on a fair seeming. But these things are
+not to be discussed here in the open street, before servants and
+horseboys. You know your own heart--you know your own actions; and if
+they do not make you shrink from discussing what may be between you
+and me--"
+
+"Shrink!" cried Richard of Woodville, vehemently; "Why should I
+shrink? shrink from discussing aught that I have done. No, by my
+knighthood! not before all the world, varlets or horseboys, princes or
+peers: I care not who hears my every action blazoned to the day."
+
+"But I do, sir," replied Sir John Grey; "for the sake of those dear to
+us both--for your good uncle's sake, and for my child's."
+
+"You are compassionate, Sir John!" said Woodville, bitterly; but then
+he added, "yet, no; you are deceived. I know not how, or by whom, but
+there is some error, that is very clear. This I must crave leave to
+say, that I am fearless of the judgment of mortal man on aught that I
+have done. Sins have we all to God; but I defy the world to say that I
+have failed in honour to one man on earth."
+
+"According to that worldly code of honour we once spoke of, perhaps
+not," replied Sir John Grey.
+
+"According to what fastidious code you will," said the young knight.
+"I stand here willing, Sir John Grey, to have each word or deed sifted
+like wheat before a cottage door. I know not your charge, or who it is
+that brings it; but I will disprove it, whatever it be, when it is
+clearly stated, and will cram his falsehood down his throat whenever I
+know his name who makes it."
+
+"Ha, sir! Is it of me you speak?" demanded the knight, somewhat
+sharply.
+
+"No, Sir John," replied Woodville, "you are to be the judge; for
+you," he added, with a sorrowful smile, "hold the high prize. But it
+is of him who has foully calumniated me to you; for that some one has
+done so I can clearly see; and I would know the charge and the
+accuser--here, now, on this spot--for I am not one to rest under
+suspicion, even for an hour."
+
+"You speak boldly, Sir Richard of Woodville," answered Sir John Grey,
+"and, doubtless, think that you are right, though I may not; for I am
+one who have long lived in solitude, pondering men's deeds, and
+weighing them in a nicer balance than the world is wont to use.
+However, as I said before, this is no place to discuss such things;
+but as it is right and just that each man should have occasion to
+defend himself, I will meet you where you will, and when, to tell you
+what men lay to your charge. If you can then deny it, and disprove it,
+well. I will not speak more here. See! some one seeks your attention."
+
+"Whatever it is that any man on earth accuses me of," replied the
+young knight, without attending to Sir John Grey's last words, "I am
+ready ever to meet boldly, for my heart is free. As you will not give
+me this relief I ask even now, it cannot be too soon. I will either go
+with you at once to your own house--"
+
+"No, that must not be," cried the other, hastily.
+
+"Or else," continued Woodville, "I will meet you two hours hence, in
+the hostel called the Garland, on the market place. What would you,
+knave?" he added, turning suddenly upon some one who had more than
+once pulled his sleeve from behind, and beholding Ned Dyram.
+
+"I would speak with you instantly, sir knight," replied Dyram, "on a
+matter of life and death."
+
+"Shall it be so, sir?" Richard of Woodville continued, looking again
+to Sir John Grey, who repeated, thoughtfully, "In two hours--"
+
+"Sir, will you listen to me?" exclaimed Dyram, in great agitation.
+"Indeed you must. There is not a moment to lose. I tell you it will
+bear no delay. If you would save her life, you must come at once."
+
+"Her life!" cried Woodville, in great surprise. "Whose life? Of whom
+do you speak, man?"
+
+"Of whom? of Ella Brune, to be sure," replied Dyram. "If you stay
+talking longer, you leave her to death."
+
+Sir John Grey, with a bitter smile, shook his bridle, and, striking
+his heel against his horse's flank, rode on.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+                            THE BETRAYER.
+
+
+The writer must retread his steps for a while, to show the events
+which had taken place in the city of Ghent since Ned Dyram and Sir
+Simeon of Roydon were last seen upon the stage. Whether the reader may
+think fit to do so or not must depend upon himself. All that the
+author can promise is, that he will be brief, and merely sketch the
+conduct of the personages left behind till he brings them up with the
+rest.
+
+The arrival of Sir Simeon of Roydon in Ghent spread the same terror
+through the heart of poor Ella Brune that the appearance of a hawk
+produces in one of the feathered songsters of the bush or clouds. Had
+Richard of Woodville been there, she would have felt no apprehension;
+for to him she had accustomed herself to look for protection and
+support, with that relying confidence, that trust in his power, his
+wisdom, and his goodness, which perhaps ought never to be placed in
+man, and which is never so placed but by a heart where love is
+present. Had she been even in London, her terror would have been less;
+for even in those days--although they were dark and barbarous,
+although tumult and riot, civil strife and contention, injustice
+and wrong would, as we all know, take place in every different
+country--the peculiar character of the English people, the homely
+sense of justice and of right, which has been their chief
+characteristic in all ages, was sufficiently strong to render this
+island comparatively a land of security. Though there might be persons
+to oppress and injure, yet there were generally found some kind hearts
+and generous spirits to support and protect; and in short, there were
+more defences for those who needed defence than in any state in
+Europe.
+
+Very different, however, was the case in Ghent, especially for a
+stranger; and Ella Brune well knew that it was so. She was aware that
+deeds could be done there boldly and openly, which in England would
+require cunning concealment and artful device, even for a chance of
+success; and the consequence was, that she kept herself immured within
+the walls of her cousin's dwelling, never venturing forth, even to
+breathe the air, but at night, and striving to make her companionship
+during the day prove as pleasant as possible to the worthy dame of
+Nicholas Brune. To her and to him she communicated the cause of her
+apprehensions; and it is but justice to the good folks to say, that
+they entered warmly into her feelings, and did all that they could to
+mitigate her alarm and give her encouragement. But Ella Brune, in
+answer to all assurances of safety, constantly replied, that she
+should never feel secure till Richard of Woodville had returned; and,
+as it was already beyond the period at which he had promised to be
+back, she looked for his appearance every day.
+
+From such subjects sprang many a discussion between her and her good
+cousin, as to her future conduct. "Why, you know, my pretty Ella," he
+would say, "you could not go wandering after this gay young gentleman,
+over all the world; mischief would come of it, be you sure. Men are
+not to be trusted, nor pretty maidens either. We have all our weak
+moments; and if no harm happen to you, your fair fame would suffer.
+Men would call you his leman."
+
+"Ay, that is what I fear," answered Ella Brune, "and that only; for
+though most men are not to be trusted, he is. But at all events," she
+continued, willing gently to remove all objections to the plan she was
+determined to pursue, "he might carry me safely with him to Burgundy,
+or to Liege, as he brought me here."
+
+Nicholas Brune shook his head; and Ella said no more at that time; but
+gradually she put forward the notion of obviating all difficulties and
+objections, by assuming some disguise; and on that her good cousin
+pondered, thinking it a more feasible plan than any other, yet seeing
+many difficulties.
+
+"As what could you go?" he said. "If at all, it must be in male guise;
+and though you would make a pretty boy enough, I doubt me they would
+find you out, fair Ella."
+
+"Why not as a novice of the Black Friars?" demanded Madam Brune, who
+entered into the maiden's schemes more warmly and enthusiastically
+than her prudent husband; "then she would have robes longer than her
+own, to cover her little hands and feet, and a hood to shade her head.
+There is no punishment either for taking the gown of a novice."
+
+"Then, as this man Dyram must be in the secret," added Ella Brune, "he
+could give me help and protection in case of need."
+
+"Ah, ha! are you there?" cried Nicholas, laughing. But Ella shook her
+head, no way abashed, replying, "you are mistaken, cousin of mine; but
+perhaps you have so much respect for these holy men, the monks, that
+you would object to a profane girl, like me, taking their garb upon
+her?"
+
+"Out upon them, the lazy drones," cried Nicholas Brune; "you may make
+what sport of them you like for that. I would put them all to hard
+labour on the dykes, if I had my will;" and he burst forth into a long
+vituperation of all the monastic orders, in terms somewhat too gross
+for modern ears, not even sparing the Holy Roman Catholic Church; but
+ending with another wise shake of the head, and an expression of his
+firm belief, that the scheme would not do.
+
+Nevertheless, Ella Brune and his good dame were now perfectly agreed
+upon the subject, and worked together zealously, preparing all that
+was needful for Ella's disguise, while Ned Dyram brought them daily
+information of the proceedings of Sir Simeon of Roydon, and made them
+smile to hear how he had deceived the knight into the belief that Ella
+was far away from Ghent.
+
+"But if he should discover the truth," said Ella Brune, really anxious
+that no one should suffer on her account, "may he not revenge himself
+on you, if you give him the opportunity by going every day and working
+in gold and silver under his eyes? I beseech you, Master Dyram, run no
+risk on my account. I would rather endure insult or injury myself,
+than that you should incur danger."
+
+Ned Dyram's heart beat quick, though Ella said no more to him than she
+would have said to any one in the same circumstances; but he shook his
+head with a triumphant air, replying, "He dare not wag his finger
+against me."
+
+He added no more, but turned to the subject of Ella's disguise, having
+before this been made acquainted with her project, and being,
+moreover, eager to second it; for the prospect of having to leave her
+behind in Ghent, if his young master should be called upon some more
+distant expedition, had often crossed his mind, producing very
+unpleasant sensations. Day after day, however, he visited Simeon of
+Roydon, and generally found him alone. Plenty of work was provided for
+him; and the payment was prompt and large. Now it was an ornamented
+bridle that he had to produce, encrusted all over with fanciful work
+of silver--now a testière or a poitral arabesqued with lines of gold.
+Sometimes he compounded perfumes or essences, sometimes he illuminated
+a book of canticles, which the knight intended to present to the
+monastery.
+
+One morning, however, going somewhat earlier than was his wont, he met
+the monk, brother Paul, coming down the stairs from the knight's
+apartments. The cenobite gave him a grim smile, but merely added his
+benedicite and passed on. Ned Dyram paused and mused before he
+entered. More than once he had asked himself, what it was that
+detained Sir Simeon of Roydon so long in Ghent. The Court was
+absent--there was little to see, and less to gain; and the visit of
+father Paul gave him fresh matter for reflection. But Ned Dyram was
+one who, judging by slight indications, always prepared himself
+against probable results; and he now divined that the discovery of the
+truth in regard to Ella might not be far off.
+
+He found no change in Simeon of Roydon when he entered, and the
+morning passed away as usual; but on the following day the knight
+received him with a smile so mixed in its expression that Dyram felt
+the hilt of his anelace, and returned him his look with one as
+doubtful.
+
+"Shut the door, Master Dyram," said Sir Simeon of Roydon.
+
+The man obeyed without the least hesitation; and the knight proceeded,
+"Think you, fellow, that it is wise and worthy to cheat and to
+deceive?"
+
+"On proper occasions, and with proper men," replied Ned Dyram, calmly.
+
+"Ah, you do?" cried the knight, with his brow bent; "Then let me tell
+you that you will deceive me no more."
+
+"That depends upon circumstances and opportunity," answered Ned Dyram,
+with the same imperturbable effrontery as before. "I dare say you will
+not give me the means, if you can help it."
+
+"What, if I take from you the opportunity of cheating any one again?"
+exclaimed Sir Simeon of Roydon. "What if, as you well deserve, I call
+up my men, and bid them dispose of you as they know how?"
+
+"You will not do that," replied Dyram, without a shade of emotion.
+
+"Why should I not?" demanded the knight, fiercely. "What should stop
+me? Out of these walls no secrets are likely to pass. Why should I
+not, I say?"
+
+"Because," said Dyram, in a cool conversation tone, "there is a
+certain bridge in this city, over the river Lys, where you may have
+seen, as you pass along, a foolish figure cast in bronze, of two men,
+one going to cut off the other's head apparently. They represent a son
+who offered to execute his father, when, as old legends say--but I do
+not believe them--the sword flew to splinters in the parricide's hand.
+However, that has not much to do with the matter, as I see you
+perceive; but the fact is, that bridge is called the Bridge of the
+Decapitation--not, as many men fancy, on account of those two statues,
+but because it is there the citizens of this good town have a pious
+custom of putting to death knights and nobles, who have had the
+misfortune to become murderers. Now you must not suppose me so slow
+witted a man as to come to visit Sir Simeon of Roydon under such
+peculiar circumstances, without letting those persons know where I am,
+who may inquire after me if I do not reappear. I am always ready for
+such cases, noble knight, and to say truth, care little when I go out
+of the world, so that I have a companion by the way; and that, in this
+instance, at least, I have secured. 'Tis therefore, I say, you will
+abandon such vain thoughts."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon gazed at him for a moment, with the expression of
+a fiend; but suddenly his countenance changed, and he fell into deep
+thought.
+
+What strifes there are in that eternal battle-field, the human heart!
+What strifes have there not been therein, since the first fell passion
+entered into man's breast with the words of the serpent tempter--ay,
+with the words of the tempter; for man had fallen before he ate! But
+perhaps there is none more frequent, than the struggle between passion
+and policy in the bosom of the vehement and wily,--none more terrible
+either; for whichever gains the ascendancy, ruins the country round.
+
+There was something in Dyram's demeanour that suited well with the
+character of him to whom he spoke. Opposed to him, it first excited
+wrath; but yet a voice whispered that such a man might be made most
+useful to his purposes, if he could but be won; and as the knight's
+anger abated, the question became, how could he be gained? In regard
+to Ella Brune, Roydon was aware of much that had taken place, but not
+of all; otherwise his course would have been soon decided. By this
+time he had learned that Ella had journeyed from England in the train
+of Richard of Woodville; he knew that Dyram had stayed behind--not
+dismissed by his master as the man had insinuated, but left in charge
+of his baggage; and Simeon of Roydon suspected, judging of others by
+himself, that he had been left in charge of Ella, also, by her
+paramour. But of Dyram's love for her he had no hint, though there
+might have arisen in his mind a vague surmise that such attachment did
+exist, from the fact which brother Paul had discovered and
+communicated, that Dyram visited her once at least each day.
+
+That surmise, however, was enough to guide him some way, and after
+pausing and pondering, till silence became unpleasant, he said,
+"Perhaps, my good friend, you may be mistaken in what you fancy. No
+fears of the results you speak of would stay me, were I so minded.
+Those who have good friends dread no foes."
+
+"That is what I say, sir," replied Ned Dyram, in the same tone; "I
+have no apprehensions, because I know there are those who will take
+care of me, or avenge me."
+
+"You need have none," answered Sir Simeon of Roydon; "but not for that
+cause. There are other regards that would restrain me. You have
+deceived me, it is true; but you can deceive me no more; and now that
+I know your motives and your conduct, I think that our ends may not be
+quite so different as you imagine, and as I too imagined at first."
+
+"Indeed!" said Ned Dyram, with a sarcastic smile. "I know not what
+your ends are, or what you think you know. Knowledge is a strange
+thing, noble knight, and those who fancy they know much, often know
+little."
+
+"True, learned master," answered Simeon of Roydon; "but you shall hear
+what I know--I wish not to conceal it. Your young lord brought this
+fair girl to Ghent; then, being called to serve the Duke of Burgundy,
+left his sweet leman--" he paused upon the word, and saw his
+companion's visage glow; but Dyram said nothing, and the knight went
+on; "--left his sweet leman, with his other baggage, under your
+careful guard. She lives now in the house of one Nicholas Brune; and
+you see her daily. You love her; and, fancying that I seek her par
+amours, would fain hide from me where she is. That you see is vain;
+and I will show you, too, that what you suppose of me is false. I care
+not for the girl; though perchance I may have thought, in former days,
+to trifle with her for an hour. But I will tell you more, Dyram: I
+love not your lord, and I believe that you have no great kindness for
+him either. Is it not so?"
+
+"All wrong together, puissant knight," replied Ned Dyram, with a
+laugh. "She is no leman of Richard of Woodville--Sir Richard, by the
+mass! for I have heard to-day he has been made a knight. Nay, more; he
+cares no farther for her, than as a boy, who has saved a bird from
+hawk or raven, loves to nourish and fondle it."
+
+"That may be," answered Sir Simeon, who had now regained all his
+coolness; "you know more than myself of his doings; but of one thing
+we are both certain, she loves him; and it would need but his humour
+to make her his. Of that I have had proof enough before I crossed the
+sea."
+
+Ned Dyram winced; but he replied boldly, "Because she looked coldly
+upon you."
+
+"Nay, not so," said the knight; "but on account of signs and tokens
+not to be mistaken. However, if as you think he loves her not, my
+scheme falls to the ground."
+
+"And what was that, if I may dare to ask?" demanded Ned Dyram.
+
+"I heed not who knows it," replied Roydon, at once. "I seek revenge,
+and thought to accomplish it by taking this girl from him. As to what
+is to follow, I care not. I never seek to see her more; would wed her
+to a hind, or any one. But if you judge rightly, and he loves her not,
+I am frustrated in this, and must seek other means."
+
+There was a pause of several minutes; and both thought, or seemed to
+think, deeply. With Dyram it was really so; though the more shrewd and
+wise of the two, he had suffered the words of Roydon to fall upon the
+dangerous weaknesses of his bosom, like a spark into some inflammable
+mass; and doubt, suspicion, jealousy, were all in a blaze within. Yet
+he had sufficient power over himself to hide his feelings skilfully,
+and sought, neither admitting nor denying aught farther, to lead on
+the knight to speak of his purposes more plainly. But Simeon of Roydon
+saw there was a struggle, and that was sufficient for his purpose
+without discovering clearly what it was. He did speak more plainly
+then, and by many an artful suggestion, and many a promise, sought to
+lure Dyram on to aid in separating Ella Brune from him who could
+protect her; concealing carefully that it was on her his thirst of
+revenge longed to sate itself, though Richard of Woodville was not
+forgotten either; and before they parted, he thought that he had
+nearly won him to his wishes. The man did, indeed, hesitate; but the
+sparks of better feeling, which I have before said he possessed,
+burned up ere their conversation ended; and a doubt which, even in the
+midst of passion will rise up in the minds of the cunning and
+deceitful, that there may ever be a knavish purpose in others, made
+him desire to see his way more clearly.
+
+All that the knight could gain was a promise that he would consider of
+his hints; and Dyram left him, with the resolution to draw from Ella
+Brune, by any means, a knowledge of her true feelings towards his
+master, and to watch every movement of Simeon of Roydon with a care
+that should let not the veriest trifle escape.
+
+In the first object he was frustrated, as before; for the cold despair
+of Ella's love, its utter unselfishness, its high and lofty nature,
+was a veil to her heart which the eyes of one so full of human passion
+as himself could by no art penetrate. But, in his second, he was more
+successful--with the cunning of a serpent, with the perseverance of a
+ferret, he examined, he watched, he pursued his purpose. He had
+already wound himself into the confidence of several of the knight's
+servants; and he now took every means to gain some hold upon them,
+which was not indeed difficult, from the character of the men whom
+Roydon had chosen. Neither did he altogether cease his visits to their
+master, but, for many days, kept him negotiating as to the price of
+his services; and, although he could not exactly divine the end that
+the other proposed to himself, he learned enough to show him that
+Roydon was sincere, when he assured him that no love for Ella
+influenced him in seeking to remove her from the protection of Richard
+of Woodville. He then admitted that he loved her himself, in order to
+see what the knight would propose; and was not a little surprised to
+find how eagerly Roydon grasped at the fact, as a means to his own
+ends.
+
+"Then she may be yours at a word," exclaimed Roydon, grasping his
+hand as if he had been an equal; "but aid me boldly and skilfully in
+what I seek, and she shall be placed entirely in your hands--at your
+mercy--to do with her as you will. Then, if you use not your advantage
+like a wise and resolute man, it is your own fault."
+
+Dyram mused: the prospect tempted him: the strong passions of his
+nature rose up, and urged him on; he could not resist them; but still,
+cunning and cautious, he resolved to make his own position sure, and
+he replied, "I must first know your motive, noble knight. Men are not
+so eager without some object. What is it?"
+
+"Revenge!" replied Sir Simeon of Roydon, vehemently, and he said
+truly; but then he added more calmly the next moment, "I am still
+unconvinced by what you have said, in regard to the feelings of your
+master. Though he may seek a higher lady as his wife--and, indeed, I
+know he does--yet he loves this girl, and will seek her par amours as
+soon as he has made sufficient way with her; for I persist not in
+saying that she is his leman. I have been acquainted with him longer
+than you have--since his boyhood; and he cannot hide himself from me
+as from others. At all events, that is my affair: I seek revenge, I
+tell you; and if I think I shall inflict a heavy blow on him, by
+making this girl your paramour, and am mistaken, the error will fall
+on myself. You will gain your ends, if I gain not mine."
+
+"My paramour!" said Ned Dyram, thoughtfully.
+
+"Ay--or your wife, if you will," replied the knight; "but, perchance,
+she will not, till forced, readily consent to be your wife--you
+understand me. I will give you every surety you may demand, that she
+shall remain wholly in your power. The course you follow afterwards
+must be of your own choosing."
+
+The great tempter himself could not have chosen better words to work
+his purpose. It seemed, as if by instinct, that the one base man
+addressed himself to all that was weak in the other's nature; and
+there is a kind of divination between men of similar characters, which
+leads them to foresee, with almost unerring certainty, the effect of
+particular inducements upon their fellows.
+
+Gradually, Dyram yielded more and more, resolving firmly all the while
+to do nothing, to aid in nothing, without insuring that his own
+objects also were attained; but, in the execution of such schemes,
+there are always small oversights. Passion so frequently interferes
+with prudence--the stream grows so much stronger as we are hurried on,
+that it is scarcely possible to stop when we would; and, when once the
+knave or the fool puts power into the hands of another, his own course
+is as much beyond his direction as that of a charioteer who would
+guide wild horses with packthread. How strange it is--perhaps the most
+wonderful of all moral phenomena--that any man should trust another in
+the commission of a bad action!
+
+The question between Sir Simeon of Roydon and his lowlier companion
+speedily reduced itself to how Ella Brune was to be separated from
+those who could afford her protection; but the knight soon pointed out
+a means, instructed as he was by another, who kept himself in the
+dark.
+
+"These people," he said, "with whom she resides, are known to be the
+followers of a new sect of heretics, which has sprung up in a distant
+part of Germany, and is similar to our own Lollards, only their
+apostle is named Huss, instead of Wickliffe. The girl herself is more
+than suspected of favouring these false doctrines. Such things are
+matters of no moment in your eyes or mine; but the zealous priesthood,
+fearful for their shaken power, are resolute to put such blasphemous
+notions down; and, if you can but discover when these Brunes go to one
+of their assemblies, which are kept profoundly secret, we can ensure
+that they shall be arrested. The girl, then left alone, shall be
+placed at your disposal. If she will fly with you from Ghent, for fear
+of being implicated, well. If not, on your bringing me the
+information, you shall have a sufficient sum of money to hire
+unscrupulous friends, and carry her whithersoever you will."
+
+"But if she should accompany them to their assembly," said Ned Dyram
+at once, "how shall I ensure that she is not thrown into prison,
+tortured, perhaps burnt at the stake? No, no--that will never do!"
+
+"All those ifs can be met right easily," answered Simeon of Roydon.
+"Ere you give any information, you can exact a promise from brother
+Paul--"
+
+"A promise from brother Paul!" exclaimed Dyram, with a mocking laugh;
+"what! trust the promise of a monk! You are jesting, sir knight. Was
+there ever promise so sacred, sworn at the altar on the body of our
+Lord, that they have not found excuse for breaking or means of
+evading? Do you judge me a fool, Sir Simeon of Roydon?"
+
+"Not so," rejoined the knight, "the danger did not strike me; but I
+see it now. It must be obviated, or I cannot expect you to go along
+with me. Yet--let me consider--methinks it were easily guarded
+against. Perchance she may not go; but, if she do, you can go with the
+party, take what number of men with you you like, and, in the
+confusion that must ensue, rescue your fair maiden. The gates, at this
+time of night, are not shut till ten; horses may be ready; and there
+is a castle, some five leagues off, on the road to Bruges, which I saw
+and cheapened three days since, as a place of residence during my
+exile. It is vacant now: you can bear her thither. To-morrow you can
+speak with father Paul yourself, and make your own terms as to leading
+him to the place of their meeting, if you discover it."
+
+"No," replied Ned Dyram, "no! I will not go with him. I will be at
+their meeting with men I can trust; so can I be sure that I shall be
+near at hand to guard her. I will have it under his hand, too, that I
+am authorized by him to go; or, perchance, they may burn me likewise."
+
+"You are too suspicious, my good friend," cried the knight, with a
+laugh that rang not quite so merrily as it might have done.
+
+"A monk! a monk!" answered Dyram; "one can never doubt a monk too
+much. I will gain the intelligence wanted, sir knight; but I leave you
+to prepare this brother Paul to grant me all the security I ask, or he
+hears not a word from me; and so, good night!--you shall have news of
+me soon:" and, thus saying, he left him.
+
+Simeon of Roydon bent down his head, and thought for several minutes;
+but at length he exclaimed, biting his lip, "He will shear down my
+revenge to a half--and yet, perhaps, that may be as bitter as death.
+To be the minion of a varlet!--'Twill be a fiercer, though a slower
+fire, than that of fagot and stake."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXX.
+
+                            THE HUSSITES.
+
+
+In a large old house, built almost entirely of wood, and situated in
+one of the suburbs of Ghent, far removed from all the noise and bustle
+of the more frequented parts of that busy town, there was a large old
+hall, in former years employed as a place of meeting by the linen
+weavers; but which, at the time I speak of, had been long disused for
+that purpose, when, the trade becoming more flourishing, its followers
+had built themselves a more splendid structure in the heart of the
+city.
+
+In this hall were assembled, at a late hour of the day, about fifty
+personages of both sexes, and apparently of various grades and
+professions. Some were dressed in rather gay habiliments, some in
+staid and sober costume, but fine and costly withal, and some in
+the garb of the common artizans. The greater number, however, seemed
+of a wealthy class; but all appeared to know each other; and the
+rich citizen spoke in brotherly fellowship to the poor mechanic, the
+well-dressed burgher's wife nodded with friendly looks to the daughter
+of her husband's workman. There was one part of the hall, indeed, in
+which, for a moment, there was a momentary bustle caused by a
+beautiful girl in a mourning garb, of somewhat foreign fashion,
+expressing apparently a wish to quit the hall; but it was soon
+quieted; and a minute or two after, a tall, elderly man, with white
+hair, stood up at the end of a long table, having some books laid upon
+it, while the rest of the assembly sat on benches round, at some
+little distance, leaving a vacant space in the midst.
+
+After pausing for a minute or two till all was silent, the old man
+began to speak, addressing his companions in a fine, mellow tone, and
+with a mild, persuasive air.
+
+"My brethren!" he said, in the Flemish tongue, "although I be an
+ignorant man and not meet to deal with such high matters, you have
+permitted me to expound to you the opinions of wiser men than myself,
+and especially of the venerable John Huss, upon things that nearly
+touch the salvation of all; and on former occasions, I have shown you
+cause to see that very many corruptions and abominations have, by the
+wickedness of men, been brought into the Church of Christ. Amongst
+other points on which we have all agreed, there are these principal
+ones; that the word of God, first preached by the lowly and the humble
+to the poor and ignorant, should be laid open to all men, and
+committed to their own keeping, not being made to be put under a bed
+or hidden in a bushel, but to be a light shining in darkness, and
+leading every one in the way of salvation: that the Bible is no more
+the book of the priests than the book of the people, but is the
+property of all for the security of their souls. Secondly, we have
+agreed that there is but one mediator with God the Father, Jesus
+Christ our Lord; and that to worship, or invoke, or kneel down to even
+good and holy men departed, whom we are wont to call saints, is a
+gross idolatry, as well as the worship of statues, figures, or cross
+pieces of wood and stone; there being nothing that can save us, but
+faith in our Redeemer, and no intercession available but his; for,
+surely, it is a folly to suppose that men, who were sinners like
+ourselves, have power to help or save others when they have need of
+the one atonement for their own salvation. Thirdly, we have held, that
+in the mass there is no sacrifice, Christ having entered in once for
+all; and that to suppose that any man, by the imposition of a bishop's
+hands, receives power to change mere bread and wine into the substance
+of our Lord's body and blood, is a fond and foolish imagination
+devised by wicked priests for their own purposes. These were the
+points touched upon when last we met; and now, before we proceed
+farther, let us pray for grace to help us in our examination."
+
+Thus saying, he knelt down at the end of the table--and all the rest,
+but one, followed his example, turning, and bending the knee by the
+benches around. The Hussite teacher raised his eyes and hands to
+heaven, and then, in a loud tone, uttered a somewhat long prayer,
+followed by the voices of his little congregation.
+
+It was by this time growing somewhat dusk, for the sun must have been
+half way below the horizon; and the windows of the hall were narrow
+and far up; but nevertheless, when the kneelers raised themselves
+again at the conclusion of the prayer, and turned round towards the
+teacher, the eyes of all were fixed on one spot at the end of the
+table, and a universal cry burst from every lip. With some it seemed
+to be the sound of terror, with others that of rage and surprise; and
+well, indeed, might they feel astonished, for there, exactly opposite
+the old man who had led them in prayer, stood a figure frightful to
+behold, covered with long black shaggy hair, with two large horns upon
+its head, a pair of wings on its shoulders, swarthy and ribbed like
+those of a bat, and with the face, apparently, of a negro.[9]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 9: It may be necessary to remark that the incident here
+mentioned is not imaginary, but a recorded historical fact, most
+disgraceful to those who played the treacherous juggle.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+Hardly had they time to recover from their surprise, and to ask
+themselves what was the meaning of the apparition they beheld, when
+the doors of the hall burst open, and a mixed multitude rushed in,
+consisting of monks and priests, and the whole train of varlets and
+serving men which, in that day, were attached to monasteries,
+chapters, and other religious institutions in great towns. Staves and
+swords were plenty amongst them; and, with loud shouts of "Ah, the
+heretics! Ah, the blasphemers! Ah, the worshippers of Satan!" they
+rushed on the unhappy Hussites, overpowering them by numbers. No
+resistance was made; in consternation and alarm, the unhappy seekers
+of a purer faith rushed towards the doors, and even the windows, in
+the hope of making their escape. But the attempt was vain; one after
+another they were caught by their furious enemies, while cries of
+triumph and savage satisfaction rose up from different parts of the
+hall, as captive after captive was seized and pinioned.
+
+"We have caught you in the fact," cried one.
+
+"You shall blaspheme no more!" shouted another.
+
+"I saw the arch enemy in the midst of them!" added a third.
+
+"They were in the act of worshipping the devil!" said brother Paul.
+
+"To the stake with them, to the stake with them!" roared a barefooted
+friar.
+
+"You see what you have done," said Ella Brune to her cousin, who stood
+near with his arms tied. "This was very wrong of you, Nicholas."
+
+"It was," answered Nicholas Brune, in a sorrowful tone; "but they can
+do no harm to you; for I and others can testify that you came,
+unknowing whither, and would have left us, if we had allowed you."
+
+"Will they believe your testimony?" asked Ella, in a tone of deep
+despondency.
+
+Before he could answer, brother Paul approached, and gazing at the
+fair unhappy girl with a malicious smile, he said, "Ah, ah, fair
+maiden, I knew your hypocrisy would be detected at length. I did not
+forget having seen you with the heretics at Liege."
+
+Even as he spoke, however, there was a bustle at the door; and to the
+surprise of all the hall contained, a number of men completely armed
+appeared, having at their head a gentleman in the ordinary riding
+dress of the day, with the knightly spurs over his boots, and two long
+feathers in his cap.
+
+"Stand there," he said in a loud voice, turning to the men who
+followed, "and let no one forth". Then striding through the hall with
+the multitude of priests and monks scattering before him, he advanced,
+gazing from right to left, till he reached the spot where Ella Brune
+was standing. A low murmur of joy burst from the poor girl's lips as
+Richard of Woodville approached; and she would fain have held out her
+hands towards him, but that her delicate wrists were tied with a hard
+cord.
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed from her to father Paul, who stood beside
+her, with a stern brow; and then, in a low, but menacing voice,
+exclaimed, "Untie that cord, foul monk!"
+
+"I will not," answered Father Paul, sullenly. "Who are you, that you
+should interrupt the course of justice, and rescue a blasphemous
+heretic from the stake?"
+
+"Thou liest, knave!" answered Richard of Woodville. "She is a better
+Catholic than thou art, with all thy hypocritical grimaces;" and
+unsheathing his dagger, he cut the cord from Ella's wrist, and set her
+free.
+
+"Ah, he draws his knife upon us!" cried father Paul. "Upon him! Cleave
+him down. Are there no brave men here?"
+
+A rush was instantly made towards Richard of Woodville; and one man,
+with a guisarme, thrust himself right in his way; but laughing loud,
+the young knight bared his long, heavy sword, and waved it over his
+head, grasping Ella by the hand, and exclaiming in English, "On, my
+men! on! open a way, there!"
+
+All but the most resolute of his opponents scattered from his path;
+and his stout followers forced their way forward into the hall,
+showing some reverence for the priests and monks, it is true; but
+striking the varlets and serving-men sundry heavy blows with the
+pommels of the swords, not easily to be forgotten. A scene of
+indescribable confusion ensued; the darkness of the hall was becoming
+every moment more profound--a number of the Hussites made their
+escape, and untied others; while still, through the midst of the
+crowd, Richard of Woodville slowly advanced towards the door, and
+knocking the guisarme out of the hand of one of the men who seemed
+most strongly bent on opposing his passage, he brought the point of
+his sword to his throat, exclaiming, "Back, or die!"
+
+The sturdy varlet laid his hand upon his dagger; but, at the same
+moment, one of the English archers who had reached his side, struck
+him on the jaws with his steel glove, and knocked him reeling back
+amongst the crowd. Quickening his pace, Richard of Woodville hurried
+on, still holding Ella by the hand, and soon reached the top of the
+narrow stairs. There pausing at the door, he counted the number of his
+men, who had closed in behind him, to see that none were left, and
+then hastened down with his fair charge into the street, several other
+fugitive Hussites passing him as they fled with all the speed of
+terror.
+
+As soon as they had reached the open road, the young Englishman turned
+to his followers, and ordered three of them to remain a step or two
+behind, to ensure that they were not taken by surprise, and to give
+notice if they were pursued. But the party of fanatic priests within
+were busy enough, in the wild riotous scene presented by the hall, now
+in almost total darkness, and often mistook one man for another in
+endeavouring to secure the prisoners that still remained in their
+hands. Thus Woodville and his companions were suffered to proceed on
+their way unfollowed, through numerous long and narrow streets, till
+they reached the inn where they had first alighted on their arrival in
+Ghent.
+
+"Quick," cried Richard of Woodville to one of his attendants. "Saddle
+four horses and the mule; and you with Peter and Alfred be ready to
+set out. You must leave Ghent with all speed, my poor Ella," he
+continued, leading her into the inn. "I cannot go with you myself, but
+you shall hear from me soon, and the men will take care of you."
+
+"I must go first to my cousin's house," said Ella, eagerly. "'Twill
+not take long to run thither and return. There are many things that I
+must take with me."
+
+"You can pass round there as you go," replied Woodville; "less time
+will be lost, and there is none to spare. Here, host," he cried.
+"Host, I say!" But the host was not to be found; and one of the
+chamberlains, running up as the young knight and his followers stood
+under the arch, demanded, "What's your will, sir?"
+
+"At what time are the city gates closed?" asked Richard of Woodville.
+"I have to levy men at Bruges for the service of the Duke, and must
+send some of my people on tonight."
+
+"They do not shut till ten, sir, in this time of peace," replied the
+chamberlain; "so you have more than an hour; but even after that, an
+order from the cyndic will open them."
+
+"That will do," replied Richard of Woodville; "they must set out at
+once."
+
+A moment after, the horses were brought round, with the mule which
+Ella Brune had ridden from Nieuport, and placing her carefully
+thereon, the young knight gave some orders to his men in a low tone,
+added some money for their expenses, and with a kindly adieu to Ella,
+saw them depart. He then directed two of his archers to superintend
+the immediate removal of his baggage to the apartments which had been
+assigned him in the Graevensteen, to see to the care of the horses,
+and to rejoin him without loss of time. After which, followed by the
+rest of his attendants, he took his way back to the old castle of the
+counts of Flanders, and sought the chamber in the basement of one of
+the towers, which had been pointed out for his own by the Count of
+Charolois.
+
+At the door stood a stout man-at-arms, whom Woodville had placed there
+that night after his meeting with Sir John Grey; for it may be
+necessary to mention here, what we did not pause to notice before,
+that the young knight had returned with Dyram to the Graevensteen to
+seek for his men, as soon as he heard of the danger which menaced poor
+Ella Brune.
+
+Opening the door of the chamber, Richard of Woodville went in, and
+found Dyram seated at the table with his head leaning on his arms. He
+moved but slightly when his master entered, and Woodville, casting
+himself into a seat opposite, gazed at him for a moment with a stern
+and angry brow.
+
+"Lookup, sir," he said at length; "in your terror and haste to remedy
+the evil you have caused, you have spoken too much not to speak more.
+You once boasted of telling truth. Tell it now, as the only means of
+escaping punishment."
+
+"Is she saved?" asked Ned Dyram, raising his head, and gazing in his
+young master's face with a look of eager anxiety. "Is she saved? I
+care for nought else."
+
+"Yes, she is saved," replied Richard of Woodville; "but with peril to
+her, and peril to me. I found her with her hands tied; and what may be
+the result, no one yet can tell. And so you love her!" he continued,
+gazing upon him thoughtfully. "A glorious means, indeed, to prove your
+love!"
+
+"I have been deceived," said Dyram; "the villain cheated me. He
+promised that she should be mine; and when I told him of the day and
+hour when the assembly was to take place, thinking that I kept the
+power in my own hands, so long as I did not mention where they were to
+meet, they laughed me to scorn, and told me they wanted to know no
+more."
+
+"They!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville. "They! whom do you mean?"
+
+"Brother Paul," replied Dyram, hesitating--"brother Paul and--Well, it
+matters not, if you learn not from me, you will learn from others; so
+I will say it first myself--brother Paul and Simeon of Roydon."
+
+"Simeon of Roydon!" exclaimed the young knight, starting up, and
+lifting his hand as if to strike him; "and have you been villain and
+traitor enough to betray this poor girl into the hands of that base
+and pitiful knave? By the Lord that lives, I have a mind to have you
+scourged through the streets of Ghent, as a warning to all treacherous
+varlets."
+
+Dyram bent his brows upon him with a bold scowl, answering in a low
+muttering tone, "You dare not!"
+
+The words had scarcely quitted his lips, when, with a blow on the side
+of the head, Richard of Woodville dashed him to the ground. The man
+started up, and drew his dagger half out of the sheath; but his
+master, who had recovered from his anger the instant the blow was
+given, so far at least as to be sorry that it had been struck at all,
+looked at him with a smile of cold contempt, and raising his voice,
+exclaimed, "Without, there!"
+
+The archer instantly appeared at the door; and, pointing to Dyram, the
+young knight said, "Take away that knave, and put him forth from the
+castle, and from the band. He is not one of my own people, and unfit
+to be with them. He is a base and dishonest traitor, who betrays his
+trust. Away with him!"
+
+Dyram glared upon him for a moment without moving, then thrust his
+dagger back into the sheath, raised his hand with the right finger
+extended, and shook it at Richard of Woodville, with his teeth hard
+set together, and a significant frown upon his brow. Then turning to
+the door, he passed the archer, saying, in a menacing tone, "Touch me
+not," and quitted the room.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+                             THE RESULT.
+
+
+"Perhaps I have been too harsh," thought Richard of Woodville, when
+the man Dyram was gone, and he sat alone in his chamber. "Surely that
+knave's conscience must be punishment enough. What must it be to think
+that we have betrayed a friend, violated a trust, injured one who has
+confided in us! Can Hell itself afford an infliction more terrible
+than such a memory? Methinks it were torment enough for the worst of
+men, to render remembrance eternal!"
+
+And he was right--surely he was right. In this world we weave the
+fabric of our punishment with our sins.
+
+As the young knight proceeded to reflect, however, his mind turned
+from Dyram to Sir Simeon of Roydon; and suddenly a light broke in upon
+him.--"It must be so!" he cried: "'tis this man has poisoned the mind
+of Sir John Grey against me. But that will be easily remedied."
+
+The next instant he suddenly recollected the half-made appointment
+with Mary's father, which in all the bustle and excitement of the
+scenes he had lately gone through, had escaped his memory till
+that moment; and he started up, exclaiming, "This is unfortunate,
+indeed!--There may yet be time--I will go!" But as he turned towards
+the door, the clock of the castle struck. Nearly an hour had elapsed
+since the appointed period, for the stealthy foot of Time ever runs
+fastest when we could wish his stay. Nevertheless, Richard of
+Woodville went forth, received the password of the guard, and hurried
+to the inn to inquire whether or not the old knight had come during
+his absence. He was in some hope that such might not be the case; for
+Mary's father had ridden away abruptly without saying whether he
+accepted the appointment or not. But when Woodville reached the hostel
+he found, to his mortification, that Sir John Grey had not only been
+there, but had waited some time for his return, and had gone away, the
+host informed him, with a gloomy brow.
+
+Sad and desponding, with all the bright hopes which had accompanied
+him into Ghent darkened, he strode back to the Graevensteen, and
+passed through the court to his apartments, remarking that there
+seemed a number of persons waiting, and a good deal of confusion,
+unusual at so late an hour; but his thoughts were busy with his own
+situation; and he walked on in the darkness to his chamber, without
+inquiry. There, leaning his head upon his hand beneath the light of
+the lamp, he gave himself up to bitter reflections, thinking how sad
+it is, that a man's happiness, his name, fame, purposes, abilities,
+virtues, should be so completely in the power of circumstances--the
+stones with which fate builds up the prison walls of many a lofty
+spirit.
+
+While he was thus meditating, there was a knock at his chamber door,
+and bidding the applicant come in, the next moment he saw the young
+Lord of Lens enter. The youth's countenance betokened haste and
+agitation, and, closing the door carefully, he said, "The Count has
+just whispered me, to come and warn you, good knight, not to quit your
+apartments till he comes to you."
+
+"How so?" asked Woodville, partly divining the cause of this
+injunction. "Do you mean, my young friend, that I am a prisoner?"
+
+"Oh no!" answered the other, "'tis for your own safety. There are
+enemies of yours in the castle; and perhaps if they were to see you,
+they might seize you even here. You know not the daring of these men
+of Ghent, and how, when passion moves them, they set at nought all
+authority. They would arrest you in the very presence of the Prince,
+if they thought fit; and they are even now pouring their complaints
+into the Count's ear. Luckily, however, they know not that you are in
+the Graevensteen; and, with a show of loyal obedience, of which they
+have very little in their hearts, they are affecting to ask
+permission, as you are one of his knights, to have you sought for in
+the town to-morrow and apprehended, for something rather rash that you
+have done this evening."
+
+"I have done nothing rash, my friend," replied Woodville, gravely,
+"but only what I would do again to-morrow, if the case required
+it--only, in fact, what my knightly oath required: I have but rescued
+a defenceless woman from wrong and oppression. I can justify myself
+easily to the Count or any other gentleman of honour."
+
+"Well, wait till he comes," answered the young nobleman; "for though
+you might be able to set yourself right at last, yet you would ill
+brook imprisonment, I wot; and perhaps even the Count might not be
+able to save you from these people's hands, if you were found just
+now. They are a furious and unruly set; and the priests have got
+syndics and magistrates of all kinds on their side."
+
+"I have heard tales of their doings," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"but I cannot bring myself to fear them. However, I will, of course,
+obey the Count's commands, and wait here till he is pleased to send
+for me."
+
+"I will bear you company," replied the young Lord of Lens, "for I love
+not the presence of these foul citizens; and heaven knows how long
+they may stay with their orations, as lengthy and as flat as one of
+their own pieces of cloth."
+
+To say the truth, Richard of Woodville would have preferred to be
+alone; but he did not choose to mortify the good-humoured young lord
+by suffering him to perceive that his presence was a restraint; and,
+sometimes in grave conversation, sometimes in light, they passed
+nearly an hour; till at length numerous sounds from the court-yard
+gave notice that the deputation of the good citizens was taking its
+departure. For half an hour more they waited, in the expectation of
+soon receiving some messenger from the Count de Charolois, but none
+appeared; and at length Richard of Woodville besought his companion to
+seek some intelligence. The young nobleman readily undertook the task,
+and opened the door to go out; but, on the very threshold, was met by
+the Count himself, followed by the Lord of Croy. The expression of the
+Prince's countenance was grave and troubled; and, seating himself, he
+made a sign to the rest to do so likewise; and then, looking at
+Woodville with an anxious and careful smile, he said, "This is an
+awkward business, my friend."
+
+"If told truly, it is a very simple one, my lord the Count," replied
+the knight.
+
+"It may be simple, yet have very dangerous results," said the young
+Prince, gravely. "These men of Ghent are not to be meddled with
+lightly; and, though their insolence must some day be checked--and
+shall--yet this is not the time to do it. It seems, by their account,
+that you brought a pretty light-o'-love maiden with you hither from
+England; and that she having been found, with a number of other
+heretics, worshipping, they assert, the devil himself, who was seen in
+proper form amongst them" (Woodville smiled); "you delivered her with
+the strong hand from the people sent to seize the whole party. What
+makes you laugh, Sir Richard?"
+
+"Because, my good lord," replied the young knight, "you, here in
+Flanders, do not seem to understand monks and priests so well as we do
+in England. They have made a fair story of it, which is almost all
+false. I am as good a catholic as any of them, though I have not had
+my head shaved. I believe all that the Church tells me, for I doubt
+not that the Church knows best; but I can't help seeing that she has
+got a great number of knaves amongst her ministers."
+
+"But what is the truth of the story, sir knight?" said the Lord of
+Croy. "I told the Count that I was sure they had made a mountain of a
+molehill."
+
+"Thanks, my good lord," answered Woodville. "The truth is simply this:
+the poor girl is a good and sincere catholic, and has been bitterly
+tried; for many of her relations are what we call Lollards, a sort of
+heretics like your Hussites, and she has steadfastly resisted all
+their false notions. She was persecuted and ill-treated in England, by
+a base and unworthy man--a knight, heaven save the mark!--one Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, now banished from the English court for his
+ill-treatment of her. She, having relations in this land--amongst
+others Nicholas Brune, your goldsmith, sir--quitted London to join
+them. I found her in the same ship which brought me over; and, in
+Christian charity and common courtesy, gave her protection on the way.
+She is no light-o'-love, my lord, but a good and honest maiden; and I
+would be the last to sully her purity by word or deed. As soon as I
+reached Ghent, and found out where her cousin dwelt, I placed her
+safely under his roof, and thought of her no more, accompanying you to
+Lille. A servant, however, whom I left with my baggage and some spare
+horses here in Ghent--a clever knave, but a great rogue--was smitten,
+it seems, by her beauty on the way, and went often to see her. On my
+return, while I was speaking with Sir John Grey in the street, this
+man came up importunately, and told me, if I did not save her, she was
+lost. Hurrying along with him to gather my men together, I found that
+a certain monk or friar, named Brother Paul, had combined with others,
+of whom I have since discovered this Simeon of Roydon was one, to
+seize upon the poor girl, with the whole party of her friends, at a
+heretic meeting in the old Linen-weavers' Hall. On their promise to
+give her up to him, this scoundrel servant of mine, Dyram, had
+betrayed to the cunning monks at what hour the assembly was to be
+held; but, when he asked for the securities they had promised, that
+she should be placed in his hands, they laughed him to scorn. He is a
+persevering knave, however, and, by one means or another, gained a
+knowledge of all their proceedings and intentions, and found that they
+had dressed up one of their varlets as the arch-enemy, covering him
+with the skin of a black cow, and setting the horns upon his head.
+This mummer was to be placed under the table in the hall--as doubtless
+he was, for I saw something of the figure when I went in--and as soon
+as it grew dusk, he was to rise up amongst the heretics, giving a sign
+for the others to rush in. Knowing the girl to be a catholic, as I
+have said, and free from all taint of this heresy--"
+
+"Then why went she thither?" demanded the Count de Charolois.
+
+"She told me afterwards, my lord," replied the young Englishman, "that
+her cousin Nicholas and his wife had deceived her, and, anxious to
+convert or pervert her to their own notions, had taken her to this
+place, without letting her know whither she was going. She says they
+will acknowledge it themselves, if they are questioned, and also that
+she strove to go away when she found where she was, but was prevented
+by them. However, knowing her to be a good catholic, and certain that
+the whole matter was contrived out of some malice towards her, I had
+no hesitation in hastening to her deliverance. I used no farther
+violence than was needful to set her free, took no part in delivering
+the others, of whose religious notions I knew nothing, and--"
+
+"The greater part of them escaped, it seems," said the Lord of Croy.
+
+"With that I had nothing to do," replied Richard of Woodville. "I
+contented myself with cutting the cords they had tied round the poor
+girl's wrists; and making my way with her out of the hall, leaving the
+monks and their menée to settle the matter with the others as they
+thought fit."
+
+"And where is the maiden now, my friend?" asked the Count de
+Charolois.
+
+"I instantly sent her out of the town with three of my men," replied
+Richard of Woodville. "I thought it the surest course."
+
+The Count looked at the Lord of Croy, as if for him to speak; and the
+young English knight, somewhat hastily concluding that they
+entertained doubts of his word, exclaimed, after a moment's pause, "I
+trust that you do not disbelieve me, sir? You cannot suppose that an
+English gentleman, of no ill repute, would tell you a falsehood in a
+matter such as this?"
+
+"No, no, my friend, no, no," replied the Count, "I do not doubt you
+for a moment. I only look to our good comrade here, to speak what is
+very unpleasant for me to say. Indeed, I do not know how to explain it
+to you; for you will naturally think that my father's power ought to
+be sufficient to protect one of his own knights against his own
+people."
+
+"The truth is, Sir Richard," said the Lord of Croy, "that the citizens
+of Ghent are an unruly race; and if they once get you in their hands,
+they may treat you ill. If my lord the Count were to resist them,
+there is no knowing what they might do. I would not answer for it, in
+such a case, that we should not see them in arms before the castle
+gate, ere noon to-morrow."
+
+"That shall never be on my account, noble prince," replied the knight,
+turning to the Count; "but, under these circumstances, it were wise in
+me to quit the town of Ghent."
+
+"That is exactly what I wish to say," answered the Prince; "but, in
+truth, it seems most ungrateful of me to propose such a thing to you,
+my friend. Undoubtedly, if you are not pleased to go, I will defend
+you here to the best of my power; and my father would soon give us
+aid, in case of necessity; but I need not tell you, that to have Ghent
+again in revolt, just on the eve of a new war with the Armagnacs in
+France, might be ruinous to all his schemes, and fatal to his policy.
+Moreover, if they were to accuse him of countenancing heresy here, it
+would do him a bitter injury; for the people in Paris have just
+pronounced that the sermon preached by one of his doctors, Jean Petit,
+is heretical."
+
+"Well," answered Richard of Woodville, "I can go to Bruges, my lord,
+where you said I should find good archers, and can be carrying on my
+levies there."
+
+The Count shook his head, saying, "That will be no place of safety.
+These good folks of Ghent, and those of Bruges, so often at deadliest
+enmity, are now sworn friends; and the Brugeois would give you up
+without a thought. No, what I have to propose is this, that you should
+go an hour or two before daylight to my cousin Waleran de St. Paul,
+who is now raising troops upon the Meuse. I shall have to pass thither
+also; for my father sends me into Burgundy, and I cannot go through
+France. If you will wait for me between Chimay and Dinant, I will join
+you within ten days, and we will go on to the west, and raise what men
+we can at Besançon."
+
+"So be it, my noble lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but where
+shall I find the Count?"
+
+"You will find him at Chimay," replied the young prince. "He has a
+castle two leagues thence, on the road to Dinant. From me you shall
+hear before I come. I will meet you somewhere in the Ardennes. Make
+all your preparations quickly; and, in the meanwhile, I will write
+letters to my uncles of Brabant and Liege, that you may have favour
+and protection as you pass."
+
+Richard of Woodville thanked him for his kindness in due terms, and,
+as soon as the young Count, with the Lords of Croy and Lens, had left
+him, called his servants, and gave orders to prepare once more for
+their immediate departure. Fortunately, it so happened that he had
+ordered all his baggage to be brought from the inn, so that no great
+time was lost; and in about an hour all was ready to set out. The
+letters of the young Count, however, had not arrived, and Richard of
+Woodville waited, pondering somewhat anxiously upon the only
+difficulty which presented itself to his mind, namely, how he was to
+recal the men whom he had sent with Ella Brune upon the side of
+Bruges, without depriving her of aid and protection at the moment when
+she most needed it. It was true, he thought, she had no actual claim
+upon him; it was true that he had done more for her already than might
+have been expected at his hands, without any motive but that of
+compassion; but yet he felt that it would be cruel, most cruel, to
+leave her in an hour of peril, undefended and alone. "We take a
+withering stick and plant it in the ground," says Sterne; "and then we
+water it, because we have planted it;" and Richard of Woodville was
+one who felt that the kindness he had shown did give her a title to
+expect more.
+
+At first he thought of bidding the men rejoin him, and bring her with
+them; but then the glance which Sir John Grey had cast upon him as her
+name was mentioned, came back to his mind, and he said, "No, that must
+not be. For her sake and my own, she must go no farther with me. Men
+might well think, if she did, that there were other ties between us
+than there are. I will bid them take her to England, or place her
+anywhere in safety, and then come. To Sir John Grey I must write--and
+to my sweet Mary also. I may well trust her, I hope, to plead my
+cause, and repel the charges which this base villain has brought. Yet,
+'tis most unfortunate that this event should have occurred at such a
+moment."
+
+He was still thinking deeply over these matters, when the door opened,
+and the young Count of Charolois appeared alone. "Here are the
+letters, my friend," he said. "I have ordered some of my people to go
+with you for a mile or two beyond the gates, in order to secure you a
+safe passage. Is there aught I can do for you while you are absent?"
+
+"One thing, my noble lord," replied the young knight, a sudden thought
+striking him--"if you will kindly undertake to be my advocate with one
+whose good opinion is to me a matter of no light moment. You must know
+that Sir John Grey--so long an exile in your father's dominions, but
+now empowered by King Henry to treat, in conjunction with Sir Philip
+de Morgan, at the Court of Burgundy--has one daughter, plighted to me
+by long love, by her own promises, and by her father's also; but some
+scoundrel--the same, I do verily believe, who has made all this
+mischief--I mean Sir Simeon of Roydon--has brought charges against me
+to that good knight, which have altered his countenance towards me.
+Called suddenly away, I have no means of explanation; and I leave my
+name blighted in his opinion. The accusation, I believe, refers to
+this poor girl, Ella Brune; but you may tell Sir John, and I pledge
+you my knightly word you will tell him true, that there is nought
+between her and me but kindness rendered on my part to a woman in
+distress, and gratitude on hers to one who has protected her."
+
+"I will not fail," replied the young prince, giving him his hand, "nor
+will I lose any time before I explain all as far as I know it." Thus
+saying, he walked out with Woodville into the court, where the horses
+stood prepared; and, in a few minutes, the young wanderer was once
+more upon his way.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+                         TRUE LOVE'S DEFENCE.
+
+
+In one of the best houses in the best part of Ghent, and in a chamber
+hung with splendid tapestry, and ornamented with rich carvings of dark
+oak, sat a fair lady, with a bright and happy face--the rounded chin,
+with its small dimple, resting on a hand as white as marble and as
+soft as satin. The dark brown eyes, full of cheerful light, were
+raised towards the gilt roses on the ceiling, as if counting them; but
+the thoughts of Mary Markham, or, as we must henceforth call her, Mary
+Grey, were full of other things; and if she was counting anything, it
+was the minutes, till her father should return from the Cours des
+Princes, and tell her, who had come back to Ghent with the young
+Count of Charolois. She was, as the reader knows, of a hopeful
+disposition--that most bright and blessed of all frames of mind--that
+lightener of the labours of the world--that smoother of the rough ways
+of life; and Mary had already hoped that, perchance, when the door
+opened, and her father's form appeared, another, well loved too, might
+be beside him; for, on her first arrival, Sir John Grey had spoken to
+her much of Richard of Woodville, had praised him, as she was proud to
+hear him praised, and had smiled to see the colour come into her
+cheek, as if he meant to say, "Fear not, you shall be his."
+
+True, for the last two days he had not mentioned his name; but that,
+she thought, might be accidental; and now her father did not come so
+soon as he had promised; but, then, she fancied that this court
+ceremony might have been long and tedious, or that other business
+might have detained him after the reception was over.
+
+Minute upon minute passed, however--one hour went by after
+another--day fled, and night came on--and, after gazing some time upon
+the flickering fire on the wide hearth, for the evening was somewhat
+cold, though spring had well nigh made way for summer, Mary rang the
+little silver bell before her, and bade the servant bring her light to
+work.
+
+The man obeyed; and when the sconce, protruding through the tapestry
+by a long gilded arm, was lighted, she said, "Is not my father long?"
+
+"He has been back, lady," replied the man, "but did not dismount, only
+giving some orders to Hugh, and saying, that if Sir Philip de Morgan
+came, to tell him he would be here in about two hours."
+
+"How long was that ago?" demanded Mary Grey. The man replied, "More
+than an hour." And with this intelligence she was forced to rest
+satisfied. Not long after she heard a step, and her heart beat; but,
+listening eagerly, she perceived that the sound gave no hope that
+there were two persons approaching; and with a sigh she plied the busy
+needle. The next instant her father came in; and, though he kissed her
+tenderly, with long denied affection, she could see that his face was
+clouded and somewhat stern.
+
+"I have kept you late from supper, my sweet child," he said; "but I
+had business which took me away after my visit to the prince."
+
+"Not pleasant business, I fear, noble father," replied Mary, hanging
+on his arm, "for you look sad."
+
+Sir John Grey gazed on her for a moment or two, with a look of
+melancholy interest and affection. She had never seen such an
+expression on his countenance before, but when he had taken leave of
+her to quit his native land as an exile; and it seemed prophetic of
+misfortune. "What has happened, my dear father?" she exclaimed; "has
+any new misfortune befallen you?"
+
+"No," answered Sir John Grey; "and yet I must say yes, too; for that
+which is sad for you, must be sad for me, Mary."
+
+"He is dead! he is killed!" cried Mary Grey, her sunny cheek growing
+deadly pale; but her father hastened to relieve her on that score.
+
+"No, Mary," he said, gravely, "he is not dead; but he is unworthy."
+
+The blood rushed up again into her face, as if some one had accused
+her of a crime; but the next moment she laughed, gaily answering, "No,
+my father, no! Some one has deceived you. That is impossible. Richard
+of Woodville cannot be unworthy."
+
+"Alas! my sweet child, 'tis you deceive yourself," replied the knight;
+"the confidence of love speaks out before you know the facts."
+
+"I know one fact, my father," answered Mary, "which none can
+contradict; and which is my answer to all that can be said. For many a
+long year I have known him. In youth and manhood I have watched him
+well: and there is not a truer heart on earth. If any one say that his
+courage has failed in the hour of peril, it is false, my father. If
+any one say that he has betrayed his friend, it is false. If any one
+say, that he has deceived, even by word, man or woman, high or low, it
+is false. If any one say, that he has forgotten his duty, broke his
+plighted word, wronged his king, his country, you, or me, believe it
+not, for it is false, my father."
+
+"These are the words of love, my Mary," replied Sir John Grey; "but
+though I would fain shield that dear bosom through life from every
+shaft of sorrow, pain, and disappointment, yet, my sweet child, I
+would rather see you suffer, bitterly though it might be, than regard
+what I have to tell you of this youth with that light indifference
+which some might show. He left his native land, Mary, plighted and
+pledged to you; telling you he went to seek honour for your sake; and
+yet he brought hither with him a fair leman, to sooth his idle hours
+with songs and dalliance. Was this worthy, Mary? Nay, doubt it not;
+for I have it from three several sources; and his own conduct to
+myself confirms the tale."
+
+He thought to see tears, or at least thoughtful looks; but Mary once
+more laughed gaily; and holding her father's arm with her fair hand,
+gazed merrily in his face. "Alas!" she said, "how men are fond of
+mischief! and what chance can a poor defenceless woman have to escape
+scandal, when you powerful lords of earth so slander one another?
+Forgive me, my dear father; but I needs must laugh, to think that any
+one here, in a foreign land, should take the pains, from pure
+malignity to my poor knight, to try thus sillily to trouble the peace
+of Mary Grey, by poisoning her parent's mind against her lover. Poor
+Ella Brune! little did she think, or little did I think when I bade
+her go, what evil to her kind and generous benefactor might be done,
+by her coming with him. I have an antidote to the poison, my dear
+father; and thanks to that generous candour which made you condescend
+to tell your child all the plain truth, I can apply it. I know this
+girl, my father--I know the whole history. I am even art and part in
+the offence; or rather it is mine, not his. She is my paramour, not
+Richard's;" and Mary blushed brightly, while even in her laughing eyes
+a dewy drop of emotion rose up and sparkled, as she defended him she
+loved.
+
+"Your words are strange, dear one," said the knight; "but let me hear
+more. Tell me the whole, my child."
+
+"That I will do," replied Mary. "I will tell you the whole tale after
+supper, and hers is a very sad one. But first, to set your mind fully
+at ease, let me say, that the only evil thing Richard has done in all
+this affair, was showing some want of courtesy to the poor girl
+herself; for when, after having received from him kind and generous
+protection in her hour of sorrow and of danger, she thought to journey
+to join her friends in Burgundy, under the safeguard of his little
+band--Richard, fearing too much what men might say, or perchance,
+fancying that Mary might be jealous, unkindly refused to take her; and
+it was I who bade her go, and promised her that, with a free heart, I
+would let all idle fancies pass me by as evening winds."
+
+"Your love is very confiding, my sweet child," replied the knight.
+
+"And it will never be wronged," said Mary, warmly. "I would not have
+given it, father, to one unworthy of such trust; and when the
+confidence ends, the love will end with it. But that will never be."
+
+"Yet, my dear child," answered the knight, gravely, "as I told you I
+had, in the very first instance, an intimation of this fact from some
+unknown hand, and then--"
+
+"Some idle mischief-maker," cried Mary, "who chanced to see them on
+the road, and in his own fancy made the evil he would ascribe to
+Richard."
+
+"But then comes another, lately arrived from England," continued Sir
+John Grey; "a gentleman of good repute, who tells the same story with
+strange exactness, if it be false; and then, when questioned by me,
+Sir Philip de Morgan says, with a worldly laugh at young men's
+follies, that he has heard something of it."
+
+"But who was this man from England?" asked Mary, eagerly, "this
+gentleman of good repute?--I doubt, my father! I doubt!--Methinks I
+could name him at once."
+
+"Do so, then," replied her father; "I will tell you if you are right."
+
+"Simeon of Roydon," said his daughter; and the knight nodded his
+assent. "A gentleman of good repute!" cried Mary; "a false and
+perjured knave, my father! One who has already foully slandered poor
+Harry Dacre, yet, with a craven cautiousness, has kept himself free
+from the lance's point; one who dare not, before Richard of
+Woodville's face, say aught but, that he has heard such reports--that
+he vouches not for them--that he mentioned them in thoughtlessness.
+Out upon the base, ungenerous hound! Why, this very man, for his
+shameless persecution of this poor girl, and on the bold accusation of
+good Sir Philip Beauchamp, my second father, is banished from England
+for two years, and vowed revenge on her and all of us. Had it not been
+for the King's presence, I believe noble Sir Philip would have crushed
+him as an earwig or a wasp."
+
+"And is it so?" exclaimed Sir John Grey. "This makes a great change,
+indeed, my child; for if the teller of a tale be a villain, we may
+well judge that his story will have some scoundrel object. Nor can I
+doubt," he continued, with a smile, "that this poor girl, of whom so
+much has been said, is not what they call her; for, though your eyes
+might be blinded by love, dear girl, my noble friend Sir Philip is not
+likely to be affected by any tender self-deceit."
+
+Mary laughed gaily. "That he is not," she said. "Nay, love is with
+him, my father, but another name for folly. Did I not tell you right,
+that whoever has assailed the name of Richard of Woodville is a false
+knave?"
+
+"I trust it may be so," replied her father; "but yet, dear Mary, we
+must not forget that, long ere this Sir Simeon of Roydon uttered a
+word, some one unknown wrote to me the self-same tale."
+
+"It was himself, or some one like him," answered Mary Grey.
+
+"It could not be himself," rejoined the knight; "for he was not yet in
+Flanders when the letter came."
+
+"Is there but one slanderer in the world, dear father?" replied the
+fair girl, raising her eyes almost reproachfully to her parent's
+countenance; "and should we even doubt the conduct of one whom for
+many a long year we have seen walk in truth and honour, because some
+nameless calumniator breathes a tale against him?"
+
+"We should not," replied Sir John Grey, firmly; "yet such is the
+world's justice, my child, and such is, I fear, the heart of
+man--ready to doubt, prone to suspect, and instructed by its own
+weakness in the weakness of others. However, you have well pleaded
+your lover's cause, my Mary; and he shall have full and patient
+hearing to explain whatever yet remains obscure."
+
+"Is there aught obscure?" asked Mary Grey. "To me his whole conduct
+seems, as it ever has been, light as day."
+
+"Yes," answered the knight; "but yet, Mary, even while I spoke with
+him to-night--"
+
+"What, is he here?" cried Mary Grey, interrupting him, and clasping
+her hands with eager joy; "and have you seen him--spoke with him?--How
+did he look, my father?--Well, but not too happy when he was away from
+me, I dare to say."
+
+"Well, he certainly seemed," replied her father, with a smile; "and
+anything but happy, my dear child; but, as I was going to add--even
+while I spoke with him upon these most serious charges, a man came up
+and plucked him by the sleeve, beseeching him to come to Ella Brune.
+His whole countenance changed at the name; and, though he had fixed to
+meet me within two hours, he failed in his appointment. I waited for
+him as long as he could decently expect, and then came hither,
+doubting no longer that the tale was true."
+
+Mary paused thoughtfully, and cast down her eyes; but then a moment
+after she raised them again with a look of relief, as if she had
+settled the whole in her own mind. "I will be warrant," she said,
+"that some great peril has beset our poor Ella, and that he has gone
+to deliver her: most likely the hateful persecution of this same base
+man. Nothing else--nothing, I know, would have kept Richard of
+Woodville away from Mary Grey--if, indeed, he knew that I was here."
+
+"Nay, I must do him justice," answered the knight; "he did not know
+it, Mary; and perhaps what you suppose is the case, for the man did
+mention something of danger, and besought him to save her. We will
+look upon it in as fair a light as may be, and I will send to him
+early in the morning to bid him come hither and explain. He will then
+have two advocates instead of one, my child; and I am very ready to be
+convinced, for I love him for his love to you."
+
+"Can you not send to-night?" whispered Mary Grey, resting her hands
+upon her father's arm.
+
+"Nay, nay," replied the knight, smiling kindly on her. "It is late
+to-night, dear girl. To-morrow will do."
+
+Does to-morrow ever do? But seldom; for the hour that is, we can only
+call our own. All that is to come is in the hands of that dark
+mysterious fate, which, ruling silent and unseen the acts and wills of
+men, reserves to itself, in its own dim council-chamber, each purpose
+unfulfilled, each resolution made and not performed; sporting with
+chances and with hopes, trampling into dust expectations and designs,
+and leaving to man but the past for his instruction, and the present
+for his energies. The word to-morrow should be blotted out from the
+catalogue. It is what never exists in the form we think to find it;
+and thus it was with Sir John Grey. When the morning came he wrote
+briefly to Richard of Woodville, requesting him to come to him, and
+making the tone of his epistle more kindly than his words the night
+before; but it was returned unopened from the Graevensteen, with the
+tidings that the young knight and all his band had set out on some
+expedition a few hours after midnight. As she heard the answer, the
+gay and happy eyes of Mary Grey filled with tears; and her father,
+gazing on her, reproached himself for having lost the moment that was
+theirs.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+                             THE RESCUE.
+
+
+It was a sultry summer morning, in the midst of July, and there was a
+dull oppressive weight in the air, although neither mist nor cloud
+hung upon the lazy wings of a south wind, when an armed party rode
+through the deep forest of Auvillers, a part of the ancient Ardennes.
+Road, properly so called, there was none; but yet the way, though
+somewhat difficult to find for those not accustomed to all the
+intricacies of the wood, was not difficult to travel; for no care had
+been taken to plant new trees where old ones had fallen by the stroke
+of Time or the axe; all had been left to nature; and thus amidst the
+thick copses and the tall groves of old trees, wide open spaces and
+long uncovered tracts had spread here and there, over which the soft
+turf afforded pleasant footing for man or beast. True, the whole
+district was rocky and mountainous, and without a guide, the wanderer
+might have found it a wearisome journey in a sultry day, having to
+climb a high hill in one place, or wind in and out to avoid the long
+projecting cliffs of slaty stone in another. But for one directed by
+any persons well acquainted with the track, the journey was far more
+easy; and by choosing the proper breaks in the forest, and the long
+spaces which lay midway up the hills, he might ride along for many
+miles, without having to ascend any mountain, or deviate very greatly
+from a straight course, on account either of the wood or of the rocks.
+
+Such was the course followed by the party of which I speak, under the
+direction of a tall powerful man, clothed from head to heel in steel;
+for those were not times, nor was that a part of the country in which
+men of rank and station could travel in safety without being armed in
+proof. Waleran de St. Paul, indeed, might better have risked his life
+with scanty arms and few attendants, than any other noble of the day,
+in that district, for he was well known and generally beloved by the
+lesser lords around; and his redoubted name rendered it a somewhat
+fearful task to strive with him, even if taken unprepared; but it
+would still have been a hazardous experiment, for in those remote and
+uncultivated tracts, bordering upon several great states, and very
+uncertain in their attachment to any, numerous bands of wild and
+lawless men took refuge, and, secure from the arm of justice, lived a
+life of plunder and oppression, only varied by the mimic warfare of
+the chase. None of the great nobles in the vicinity--generally engaged
+in the civil strifes and incessant broils of their own countries--had
+time to suppress them, even if they had the inclination. But it may
+well be doubted whether they felt at all disposed to put down, with
+the strong hand, the troops of roving plunderers which at that time
+infested the great forests that stretched along the banks of the Meuse
+and the Moselle; for in those very bands they frequently found a sort
+of dépôt for brave and determined followers, from which their forces
+might at any moment be recruited for a short space of time. It is,
+moreover, whispered that in many instances, the more civilized and
+polite of the powerful barons round were accustomed to exact a certain
+share of the plunder from their marauding neighbours, as the price of
+toleration; and the inferior lords sometimes shared the peril as well
+as the spoil; and received as welcome guests into their strong castles
+the leaders of the freebooters, when any accidental reverse of fortune
+rendered the green wood no longer a secure abode.
+
+Such was the state of the land through which now rode the Lord of St.
+Paul, still holding the sword, if not the office of Constable of
+France, with Richard of Woodville by his side, and a train of about
+forty men-at-arms behind them; so that all peril from their somewhat
+covetous neighbours of the Ardennes was unthought of by either; and
+the beauty of the scene, the heat of the day, their approaching
+meeting with the young Count of Charolois, the state of France, and
+the probability of speedy deeds of arms, were the subjects of the
+conversation.
+
+The landscapes, indeed, were most lovely as they proceeded. Beneath,
+upon the left, sloped down the hill side, here and there covered with
+green wood, here and there broken with wild and rugged rocks; but
+everywhere so much below them, that the eye could generally catch the
+shining course of the Meuse, wandering on with a thousand sinuosities,
+and could then roam at large over the wide and varied country on the
+other side, sometimes reaching distant towns and cities many leagues
+away, sometimes checked by a bold mountain near at hand. Above rose
+the hills with their woody garmenture, from which would often start
+out a high grey cliff of cold slaty stone, sheer up and perpendicular
+as a wall; or at other times would rise a conical peak, smooth at the
+sides, or broken into points; and, through many of the gorges that
+they passed, perched upon isolated hills that seemed inaccessible,
+were seen the towers and walls of some stern feudal fortress, frowning
+down the valley, as if prognosticating woe to the traveller who
+ventured there alone.
+
+Of each of these castles the Lord of St. Paul had some tale or
+anecdote; and he kindly strove to amuse the mind of his young
+companion by the way; but though Woodville listened with all due
+courtesy, ay, and admired the beauty of the land, and answered with a
+calm and ready mind, yet it was evident his cheerful gaiety was gone,
+at least for the time, and that his thoughts were pre-occupied by
+sadder themes, which only spared his attention for a moment, to reply
+to the words addressed to him, and then recalled it immediately to
+himself.
+
+"You seem sad, sir knight," said the Lord of St. Paul, at length; "I
+trust that with the letters from the noble Count, which seemed to me
+full of all joyance, you received no evil tidings?"
+
+"Tidings most strange, my redoubted lord,"[10] replied Richard of
+Woodville; "for while the Count speaks cheerfully of having removed
+all cause of difference between myself and a noble gentleman, Sir John
+Grey, on whom my best hopes depend, letters from that knight himself
+are filled with reproaches undeserved by me, and refuse all
+explanation or argument."
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 10: This term was greatly affected at the period we speak
+of, not only by kings, but by all powerful nobles.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"That is strange, indeed," said the Count; "what are the dates? One
+may have been written earlier than the other."
+
+"The dates are the same," answered Richard of Woodville, "and the
+letters of Sir John Grey, coming by the same messenger as those of the
+Count, might easily have been stopped, had the explanation been given
+after they were written. It is a dark and misty life we lead in this
+world; and still, when we think all is clear and bright, as I did when
+I returned from Lille to Ghent, some thick vapour spreads over the
+whole, concealing it from our eyes, like the cloud now rolling round
+the brow of the castle on that high rocky steep."
+
+"We shall have rain," remarked the Lord of St. Paul, "and when it does
+begin, it will prove a torrent. Here, old Carloman," he continued,
+turning to one of his men-at-arms, "what does that cloud mean? and
+where can we best wait for the noble prince, the Count of Charolois,
+who is to meet us at the Mill Bridge?"
+
+"The cloud means a heavy storm, my lord," replied the old man, riding
+forward. "Do you not see how the earth gapes for it? But it will not
+be able to swallow all that will come down, I think. We have not had a
+drop of rain these two months, and very little dew, so that everything
+is as parched as pulse. Then, as to waiting for the prince, the
+meadows by the river would be the best place, if it were not for that
+cloud."
+
+"Oh, we mind not a little rain," answered the Count of St. Paul;
+"'twill but make the armourers' fingers ache to take off the rust
+to-night."
+
+"Ay, 'tis not the rain I am thinking of," said the old man; "but the
+meadows are no safe resting-place, when there are storms above there.
+The water gathers in the gulleys, and comes down into the Sormonne,
+till the old fool can hold no more, and then the whole valley is
+covered."
+
+"Oh, but if that be the case, we can easily gallop up higher," replied
+the Count. "There is no shame in running away from a torrent, old
+Carloman. 'Tis not like turning one's back on the foe."
+
+"Faith that is a foe that gallops quicker than you can," answered the
+man-at-arms. "The meadow is so narrow, and the bank so high, that you
+cannot cut across; so you had better stop above, in what we call the
+Rock Castle, where you can see the country below, and the Mill Bridge
+and all, without getting in the way of the water. The old Sormonne is
+a lion, I can tell you, when he is angry; and nothing makes him so
+fierce as a storm in the hills."
+
+"Well, be it so," answered his lord; "you shall be our governor, good
+Carloman."
+
+"Then keep up higher, dread sir," replied the man-at-arms. "See," he
+added, as they passed a little brook that was running down a narrow
+ravine, all troubled and red, "it has begun farther to the east
+already; and it is coming against the wind. That is a sign that it
+will be furious, though not long-lived."
+
+The Count and his party rode on, somewhat quickening their pace; and
+though they heard occasionally a distant roar, showing that there was
+thunder somewhere, no lightning was seen, and the wind still continued
+blowing faintly from the south-west. The clouds, however, crept over
+the sky, approaching the sun with their hard leaden edges, and to the
+north and east, covering the whole expanse with a deep black wall,
+broken and rugged at its summit, as if higher hills and rocks of slate
+and marble were rising from the bosom of the mountain scene into the
+heavens above. Over the deep curtain of vapour, indeed, here and there
+floated detached, some small paler clouds; and others seemed hurrying
+up from the south, where all had been hitherto clear, as if drawn
+by some irresistible power towards the adamant-like mass in the
+north-east. From one of these as they passed over-head, a few heavy
+drops fell, but then ceased; and still the sun shone out, as if in
+scorn of the black enemy that rose towering towards him. A deep
+stillness, however, fell upon the scene. There is generally in the
+risen day an unmarked but all pervading sound of busy life, composed
+of many different noises mingled in the air. According to the season
+of the year and hour, it varies of course. Sometimes it is full of the
+song of birds, the voices of the cattle, the hum of insects, the rush
+of streams, the whispering of the wind, the rustle of the trees, and a
+thousand other undistinguished sounds to which the ear pays no heed.
+But when they all or most of them cease, it is strange how we miss the
+murmur of creation--what a want, what a vacancy there seems! So was it
+now; and, turning to Richard of Woodville, the Lord of St. Paul
+remarked, "How silent everything has become!"
+
+"It is generally so before a thunderstorm," answered the young knight.
+"In my country, we judge whether it will be merely rain or something
+more by the conduct of the cattle. If after a drought we are going to
+have refreshing showers, the sheep and oxen seem to hail it with their
+voices; but if there be lightning coming, everything is silent."
+
+Almost immediately after he had spoken, there was a bright flash, not
+very near, but dazzling; and some drops fell, while the thunder
+followed at a long interval. Spurring on, they rode forward for about
+two miles farther; and as they went, every little gorge and hollow way
+had its minor torrent coming down thick and turbulent, though the
+rain, where the Count and his party were, had not become violent,
+pattering slowly upon their arms and housings, and spotting the sleek
+coats of the horses with marks like damascene work. The river, which
+they were now approaching nearer, might be seen swelling and foaming
+in its bed, its crowded waters curling in miniature whirlpools along
+the edge, and rising higher and higher up the bank, as the innumerable
+tributaries from the mountains poured down continual accessions to the
+flood.
+
+At length the old man-at-arms exclaimed, "To the right, my lord," and
+passing through a narrow opening between the great belt of wood, and a
+small detached portion that ran farther down the hill, they entered a
+sort of natural amphitheatre crowned with old pines, and carpeted at
+the bottom of the crags with soft green turf spread over the rugged
+and undulating surface of ground. Numerous immense masses of rock,
+however, detached from the hills above, and rolled down in times long
+passed, started out from the greensward bare and grey; and here and
+there would rise up a group of old oaks or beeches, while on the stony
+fragments themselves was often perched an ash or a fir, like a plume
+in the helmet of a knight.
+
+In front of this amphitheatre the trees sloped away both to the right
+and left, leaving a wide open space gradually descending the hill, so
+that from most parts of the Castle of Rocks, as it was called, a
+considerable portion of the course of the Sormonne might be seen, the
+nearest point being somewhat less distant than a quarter of a mile.
+Directly in front was a double wooden bridge spanning over the stream,
+which was there divided by a low island of very small extent, which
+served but as a resting-place for the piles of the two bridges, and
+for a mill, which gave the name to that particular spot. Beyond, on
+the opposite side of the water, was an undulating plain of several
+miles in extent, bounded by hills all round, but open to the eye of
+St. Paul and his party as they stood in the midst of the amphitheatre.
+
+"Is not this the best place now, my lord?" asked old Carloman. "You
+can not only see here, but you can find shelter, and need not get your
+arms rusted, or your horses wet, unless you like. There, under the
+cliff where it hangs over, you can post two-thirds of the men; and as
+the storm comes the other way, not a drop will reach them. Then, as
+for the rest, they can get under this rock in front, where they will
+be quite dry, if they keep close."
+
+"I will stay here," replied the Count of St. Paul. "You lodge the
+others, Carloman."
+
+"I will keep you company, my lord," said Richard of Woodville; "and if
+we dismount, we shall be better able to shelter the horses."
+
+Such was the plan followed; and all the troop, men and horses, were
+under shelter before the storm became violent. Nor, indeed, did the
+thunder ever reach that grand and terrible height which it frequently
+does attain in wood-covered mountains: the rain seemed to drown it;
+but the deluge which soon fell from the sky was tremendous. In long
+lines of black and grey it poured straight down, mingled with hail and
+every now and then crossed by the faint glare of the lightning. The
+distant country was hidden by the misty veil, and even the nearer
+scene of the bridge and the mill, the only dwelling in the
+neighbourhood, grew indistinct.
+
+The Lord of St. Paul and Richard of Woodville endeavoured in vain to
+descry the plain on the opposite side of the river, in expectation of
+seeing the train of the Count of Charolois coming from the side of
+Avesnes. Nothing could they distinguish beyond a hundred yards from
+the opposite bank; and they mutually expressed a hope that the prince
+might have been delayed in the more cultivated country to the west,
+where he would find shelter from the storm.
+
+"He cannot surely be already in the mill?" said the Count: "there seem
+a great many people at that casement looking up the stream. How many
+men did he say he would bring, Sir Richard?"
+
+"Two hundred horse," replied Richard of Woodville; "he cannot be
+there, my good lord; yet there seems a number of heads too. Good
+heaven! how the stream is rising! 'Tis nearly up to the road-way of
+the bridge."
+
+"It will be higher than that before it is done, sir knight," observed
+one of the men-at-arms. "I have seen the bridge carried away twice
+since I was a boy."
+
+"Here comes a boat down the stream," said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Ay, we passed one a little way further up," replied the same man who
+had spoken before; "it has broken away, I dare say."
+
+"That is not a boat," exclaimed the Lord of St. Paul, after gazing for
+a moment; "it is the thatch of a cottage. Heaven have mercy upon the
+poor people!" and lifting the cross of his sword to his lips, he
+kissed it, and muttered a prayer.
+
+At the same moment a number of men, some evidently of inferior rank,
+and some in garbs which betokened higher station, ran out of the mill;
+and Woodville could then perceive that, almost close to the door,
+between the building and the bridge, the water had risen over the low
+shore of the islet, so as to be up to the knees of those who came
+forth. He fancied at first that they were about to make their escape
+over the bridge; but he saw that several of them were armed with long
+poles; and turning to the man-at arms, who seemed well acquainted with
+the country, he inquired what they were about to do.
+
+"To draw the broken cottage-roof to the shore, sir knight, I suppose,"
+replied the other, "lest it should damage the bridge."
+
+"See, there comes down a bull!" cried the Count; "how furiously he
+struggles with the stream.--Ha! they have caught the roof with their
+hooks. They have got it--no!"
+
+They had indeed obtained for a moment some hold upon the heavy mass of
+timber and straw that came rushing down, and were dragging it towards
+the little island; but the stream was increasing so rapidly, and
+pouring such a body of water upon the land where they stood, that one
+of the men slipped, and let go his pole, glad enough to be dragged out
+of the eddy by those behind.
+
+The roof at the same moment swang round and disengaged itself. The
+bull, still struggling with the torrent, was dashed against the bridge
+and recoiled. The heavy mass of thatch and wood-work was borne forward
+upon him with the full force of the stream, and crushed him between
+itself and the piers. A shrill and horrible cry--something between a
+roar and a scream, burst from amidst the fierce rushing sound of the
+overwhelming waters; the whole mass of the floating roof was cast
+furiously upon the weaker part of the bridge in the centre, already
+shaken by the torrent; and with an awful crash the whole structure
+gave way, and was borne in fragments down the stream.
+
+"The flood has reached the mill," said the Count of St. Paul, turning
+to the man-at-arms; "is there no danger of its being carried away,
+too?"
+
+"The miller would tell you, none, my dreaded lord," replied the
+soldier; "but every day is not like to-day; and what has happened once
+may happen again. He always says there is no danger, since he put up
+an image of the blessed Virgin over the door; but I recollect when I
+was a little boy, and lived at Givet, that island was six feet under
+water, and where there was a mill in the morning, you could row over
+in a boat at night. They were all drowned, this man's uncle and all."
+
+"Why are you stripping off your casque and camail, Sir Richard?" asked
+the Count.
+
+"Because I imagine they may soon want help, my good lord," replied the
+young knight.
+
+"Madness!" cried the Lord of St. Paul; "no man could swim such a
+torrent as that."
+
+"I do not know that, noble sir," answered Richard of Woodville; "we
+are great swimmers in my country, and accustomed to buffet with the
+waves. But there is a boat higher up. I will first try that, and if
+that sinks, swimming must serve me."
+
+"I will not suffer it!" exclaimed the Count; "neither boat nor man
+could live in such a rushing torrent as that."
+
+"Indeed, my good lord, you must," replied the young knight, gravely.
+"My life is of no great value to myself, or any one, now; and, though
+I know not who these good folks are, they shall not be lost before my
+eyes, without an effort on my part to deliver them. See, see!" he
+cried, "some one waves to us from the window!" and, casting off his
+corslet, and all his heavy armour, he was hurrying down. But the Count
+caught him by the arm with a glowing cheek, saying, "Stay, stay, yet a
+little. They are in no danger yet. The stream may not rise higher."
+
+"But if it does, they are lost," answered Woodville, gently
+disengaging his arm.
+
+"Then I will go with you," said the Count.
+
+"No, no, my lord!" replied the young knight; "you would but fill the
+boat, which is small enough. One man is better than a thousand there.
+If I die, divide my goods amongst my men--send my ring to my sweet
+lady; and farewell."
+
+Thus saying, he sped on to the very brink of the water, which, instead
+of decreasing, was still rising rapidly. There, he tried to make the
+people of the mill hear him, and they shouted from the casement in
+reply, but the roaring of the torrent drowned their words; and
+hurrying up to the spot where he had seen the boat moored, he found
+it, now far out from the actual brink of the stream, swaying backwards
+and forwards with the eddies. The top of the post, to which it was
+attached by a chain, and which, an hour before, had been some yards on
+shore, was now just visible above the rushing waters; but, wading in,
+the young knight caught the chain, and drew the boat to him.
+
+It was luckily flat, and somewhat heavy in its build; so that he
+managed to get in without upsetting it, but not without difficulty.
+The only implements, however, which he found to guide its course, were
+one paddle and a large pole with an iron hook, such as he had seen in
+the hands of the people of the mill. But he had no hesitation,--no
+fear; and, throwing loose the chain, he guided the boat into the
+middle of the stream, where, though the current was stronger, the
+eddies were less frequent. There it was borne forward with terrible
+rapidity towards what had been the island, but was no longer to be
+distinguished from the rest of the stream but by the foaming ripple on
+either side, and the mill rising in the midst.
+
+The bank of the river, on the eastern side, was crowded by his own
+attendants and the followers of the Count of St. Paul; the windows of
+the mill, and a little railed platform above the wheel, showed a
+multitude of anxious faces. No one spoke--no one moved, however, but
+two stout Englishmen, who were seen upon the shore, stripping off
+their arms and clothing; while the timbers of the mill, and the posts
+and stanchions of the platform, quivered and shook with the roaring
+tide as it whirled, red and furious, past them, lingering in a curling
+vortex round, as if unwilling to dash on without carrying every
+obstacle along with it.
+
+Richard of Woodville raised not his eyes to look at those who hung
+between death and life; he turned not to gaze at his companions on the
+shore: he knew that every energy, every thought was wanted to
+accomplish the great object; and, if he suffered his mind to stray,
+for even a single instant to other things, it was but to think, "I
+will show those who have belied me that I can risk life, even for
+beings I do not know!" His eyes were fixed upon one spot, where the
+boiling of the tide evinced that the ground came near the surface; and
+there, he determined first to check the furious speed at which he was
+hurried down the stream. A little farther on, were the strong
+standards and braces of a mill of those days; and he thought that, if
+he could break the first rush of the boat at the shallow, he should be
+able more easily to bring her up under the casements and the platform.
+
+Now guiding with the paddle, now starting up to hold the boat-pike, he
+came headlong towards the shoal; but, fending off till the speed of
+the boat was checked, and she swung round with the torrent and drifted
+more slowly on, he caught at the thick uprights of the mill with the
+hook--missed the first--grappled the second; and, though almost thrown
+over with the shock, held fast till the boat swung heavily round, and
+struck with her broadside against the building. A rope was instantly
+thrown from above; and, tying it fast through a ring, which was to be
+found in the bow of all boats in those days, he relaxed his hold of
+the woodwork, and the skiff floated farther round.
+
+Then first he looked up; and then first a feeling of deadly terror
+took possession of him. His cheek grew pale; his lips turned white;
+and, stretching out his arms, he exclaimed, "Oh, Mary!--oh, my
+beloved! is it you on whom such peril has fallen?--Quick, quick!" he
+continued, "lose not a moment. The stream is coming down more and more
+strong--the building cannot stand. Bear her down quick, Sir John."
+
+"Poo! the building will stand well enough," said a man, in a rude
+jargon of the French tongue. "'Tis but that people are afraid."
+
+"Fool!" cried Richard of Woodville, who saw the timbers quivering as
+if shaken by mortal agony: "if you would save your life, come down
+with the rest."
+
+"Not I," answered the miller, with a laugh; "I have seen as bad floods
+before now. Here, lady, here--set a foot upon the wheel; it is made
+fast, and cannot move. Catch her, young gentleman:--nay, not so far,
+or you will upset the boat--that will do,--there she is;" and Richard
+of Woodville, receiving Mary Grey in his arms, seated her in the stern
+of the boat, and again advanced to aid her women and the old knight in
+descending. Two fair young girls, a young clerk in a black gown, and
+three armed servants formed the train, and they were the first to take
+refuge in the boat, leaving their horses behind them. There were three
+other men remained above, and laughed lightly at the thought of
+danger; but one young lad, of fifteen years of age, though he too said
+he would stay, bore a white cheek and a wandering eye.
+
+"Send down the boy, at least," cried Richard of Woodville to the
+miller; "though you may be fool-hardy, there is no need to sacrifice
+his life."
+
+"Go, go, Edmé," said the miller; "you are as well there as here. You
+can do us no good."
+
+The boy hesitated; but the increasing force of water made the mill
+tremble more violently than ever; and, hurrying on, he sprang into the
+boat.
+
+"Every one down and motionless!" cried Richard of Woodville, without
+exchanging even a word with those who were most dear; and, casting off
+the rope, he steered as well as the paddle would permit towards the
+bank. But, hurried rapidly forward down the stream, with scarcely any
+power of direction, he saw that the frail bark must pass the ruined
+bridge. It was a moment of terrible anxiety, for the eddies showed
+that the foundations of the piers were left beneath the waters. By
+impulse, the instinct of great peril, he guided the boat over the most
+violent gush of the stream, between two of the half-checked
+whirlpools; and she shot clear down, falling into another vortex
+below, which carried her completely round twice; and then, broken by
+the blade of the paddle, let her float away into the stream.
+
+The whole band of the Count of St. Paul were running down by the side
+of the river; and, as the course of the skiff became more steady,
+Richard of Woodville turned his eyes towards them. They had got what
+seemed a rope in their hands; and, ever and anon, one of his own
+archers held it up, and made signs, as if he would have thrown it, had
+they been nearer.
+
+"Some one be ready to catch the rope!" cried Woodville, "I cannot quit
+the steering;" and he guided the boat gently and gradually towards the
+shore. The young clerk sprang at once into the bow; the women sat
+still in breathless expectation. Sir John Grey advanced slowly and
+steadily to aid the youth; and when, at the distance of a few yards, a
+band, formed of the sword-belts of the troop tightly tied together,
+was thrown on board, the young man and the old knight caught it, but
+were pulled down by the shock. Some of the others aided to hold it
+fast; but, in spite of all Woodville's efforts, the boat swung round,
+struck the rocky shore violently, and began to fill.
+
+There were now many to aid, however: one after another was supported
+to the land; and Richard of Woodville springing out the last, caught
+his sweet Mary to his heart, and blessed the God of all mercies for
+her preservation in that hour of peril.
+
+As he did so, a faint and distant cry, and a rushing sound,
+different--very different, either from the roar of the stream or the
+growling of the thunder, caught the ear. All turned round towards the
+mill, and gazed. It was gone!--a black mass floated on the tide,
+struck against the sunken piers of the fallen bridge, obstructed for a
+moment the torrent which instantly poured over it in a white cataract,
+and then, broken into innumerable fragments, rushed past, darkening
+the red waters. Woodville ran to the brink, and gazed; but no trace of
+the rash men who had chosen to remain appeared, and their bodies were
+not found for many days, when they floated to the shore far down the
+then subsided stream.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+                           THE RECOMPENCE.
+
+
+Oh, what a moment it was when, after seeing the wreck of the mill
+drift by, Richard of Woodville again held Mary Grey to his heart! He
+cared not who witnessed his emotions, he thought not of the crowd
+around, he thought not of her father's presence, or of the letter he
+had received on the preceding night. All he remembered, all he felt,
+was, that she was saved; and the knowledge of the dreadful death that
+had just overtaken those who had perished by their own obstinacy,
+added to the joy of that overpowering feeling, notwithstanding the
+horror of their fate.
+
+Bearing her rather than leading her, her lover brought Mary to the
+shelter of the trees; for though the storm had somewhat abated, the
+rain was still coming down heavily; and there, while the tears poured
+fast from her beautiful eyes, one or two of the stout English archers,
+who had known her well at Dunbury, came quietly up and kissed her
+hand. The Count of St. Paul and his men stood looking on; Sir John
+Grey gazed upon the lover and the lady with a silent smile; and they
+themselves spoke not for many minutes, so intense were the emotions of
+their hearts.
+
+At length, however, after a few low words of explanation with the
+Count of St. Paul, the old knight advanced to Woodville's side and
+took his hand, saying, "What, not a word to me, Richard?"
+
+The young knight put his hand to his brow, and gazed at Mary's father
+in surprise, so different seemed his tone from that of the letter he
+had received.
+
+"The surprise of seeing you here, noble knight," he answered, in a
+confused manner; "the joy of having been brought, as it were, by
+Heaven's own hand to save this dear lady, when I least expected to
+meet with her--all confounds me and takes away my words."
+
+"Surprise at seeing us!" repeated Sir John Grey, in a tone of
+astonishment. "When you least expected to meet with her!--Have you not
+received my letter by the post of the Count of Charolois?"
+
+"One letter, sir knight, I did receive," replied Woodville; "but it
+gave me no thought that I should see you here."
+
+The knight gazed at him for an instant, with a look that seemed
+expressive of doubt as well as wonder. "Here is some mistake," he
+said. "I trust, my young friend, this catastrophe has not shaken your
+brain. But one letter have I written, and therein I besought you to
+meet us at Givet or at Dinant."
+
+Richard of Woodville replied not, but beckoned to his page; and when
+the boy hurried up, took from him the gibecière which hung over his
+shoulder. With a hand hasty and agitated, he unfastened the three
+buttons and loops which closed it, and drew forth a paper, which in
+silence he placed in the hands of Sir John Grey.
+
+The knight took it, gazed on the superscription, examined the seal,
+and then turned to the contents; but instantly exclaimed, as he read,
+"This is not mine! This is a fraud! I never wrote these words. The
+outside is from my hand; the seal, too, is seemingly my own; but not
+one of these harsh terms did I indite."
+
+"Then I thank God!" replied Richard of Woodville, grasping his hand
+eagerly. "Nay, more, I thank the man who wrote it, though it may seem
+strange, noble knight. But perchance, had it not been for this and the
+despair it brought with it, I might have listened to the kind friends
+who would fain have persuaded me not to risk my life, or, as they
+thought, to lose it, for men who were strangers to me."
+
+"What, then," cried Mary, rising from the ground on which she had been
+seated, "did you not recognise us?"
+
+"I knew not when I left the shore," replied Richard of Woodville,
+"that there was one being on that miserable islet, whom I had ever
+beheld before. I merit no guerdon, dear one, for saving you, for I
+knew not what I did."
+
+"A thousand and a thousand thanks, Richard," she answered, laying her
+fair hand upon his arm; "and far more thanks do I give you, than if
+you had perilled more to save me knowingly; for by such a deed, done
+for a mere stranger, you show my father that his child has not spoken
+of you falsely."
+
+"Nay, dear Mary, I doubt it not," replied Sir John Grey; "by calumny
+and malice, all men may be for a time misled; but henceforth, my
+child, no one shall do him better justice than myself. You judged from
+acts that you had often seen and known; I had none such to judge by.
+But should he need defence hereafter, let him appeal to me. This must
+seem strange to you, my good lord," he continued, turning to the Count
+of St. Paul; "but we will explain it all hereafter. All, at least,
+that we can explain--for here is something that we must inquire into
+as best we may. This letter has been forged for some base end; but by
+whom, or for what, remains a mystery, though perhaps we may all
+suspect."
+
+"Everything else seems clear enough," said the Count, with a smile;
+"though I understand but half you have said, yet I guess well, here
+has been love, and, as so often happens with love, love's traverses;
+and, in the end, the happy meed which attends due knightly service to
+a fair lady. As soon as my noble cousin appears, though by my faith he
+is somewhat long in coming--"
+
+"I see his train, my lord, or I am blind," said the old man-at-arms,
+called Carloman. "Do you not perceive a long black line winding on
+there down from the hills, near a league distant, like a lean
+serpent?"
+
+"No very sweet comparison for a Prince's train," exclaimed the Count
+of St. Paul, laughing; "but faith, I see it not. Ah--yes--I catch it
+now. 'Tis he, 'tis doubtless he. Then when he comes, sir knight, we
+will on to Charleville, where, having dried our dripping clothes, we
+will tell the tale of this day's adventure over a pleasant meal: and
+will inquire how this deceit has taken place. Has yon young novice
+nought to do with it?" he continued, dropping his voice; "he holds
+aloof; and though he seems to murmur something to his rosary from time
+to time, yet, good faith, I put but small trust in the honesty of
+mumbling friars."
+
+"No, no," replied Mary Grey, with a smile, "I will answer for him."
+
+"Ah, ha!" cried the Count, laughing loud, with the rude jocularity of
+the day, "look to your lady, Sir Richard, or you may lose her yet. She
+answers for the honesty of a monk! By my fay, sweet lady, I would
+rather beard John the Bold in his house at Dijon, than do so rash a
+thing."
+
+"But I can answer for him, too," replied Sir John Grey, gravely; "for,
+though he be now my clerk, he was not with me there, and so had no
+occasion to deceive me, even had he been disposed. But yonder,
+assuredly, comes the Count. I can see banners and pennons through the
+dim shower; but how we are to journey on with you to Charleville I
+hardly know, my good lord: for all but what we have brought in our
+pouches--horses and clothes and arms, and many a trinket, have gone
+down in that poor mill."
+
+"I saw no horses in the stream," said Woodville.
+
+"They were in the court on the other side," replied one of Sir John
+Grey's men; "and it had a stone wall. The water was up to the girths
+when we got into the second story, and I saw my poor beast, with
+bended head and open nostrils, snuffing the tide as it rose whirling
+round him. He soon drowned, I fear."
+
+"'Tis but a league to Charleville, or not much more," said the Count,
+answering the English knight; "we will dismount some of our men, and
+make a litter for the lady and her maidens. Hark ye, Peterkin, ride
+back like light to the castle. In the Florence chamber you will find
+store of your lady's gear. My good wife is not here, sir knight; but
+she has left much of her apparel behind, which, though she be somewhat
+fatter than this fair dame, God wot, will serve to clothe her for the
+nonce. Ride away fast, boy; bring it to Charleville, and lose no time.
+Now to build a litter. Lances may serve for more purposes than one;
+and green boughs be curtains as well as canopies. Quick, my men,
+quick; let us see if ye be dexterous at such trades."
+
+In about half an hour an advanced party of the Count of Charolois'
+band approached the bank of the river; but it was still so swollen,
+that though the Count of St. Paul and the two English knights went
+down as far as they could, and the rain by this time had well nigh
+ceased, the distance across, and the roaring of the stream, prevented
+their voices from being heard at the other side. While they were still
+striving to make the men comprehend that the bridge had been carried
+away, and that they must ride farther down the river, the young Count
+himself and the Lord of Croy, with a number of other knights and
+noblemen, appeared; and by signs, as words were vain, the Lord of St.
+Paul explained his meaning to them. He himself with his own party
+waited for about a quarter of an hour longer, till the hasty litter
+was prepared for Mary Grey; and then, with some on foot, and some on
+horseback, they moved on towards the point of rendezvous at
+Charleville.
+
+It was a happy evening that which they passed in Charleville, for
+there is nought which so heightens the zest of pleasure as remembered
+pain; nought that so brightens the sense of security as danger past.
+All was bustle and confusion in the little town, which was not then
+fortified; every inn was full, every house was occupied; but it was
+willing bustle and gay confusion. From one hostel to another, parties
+were going every moment, and the door of that at which the young Count
+of Charolois had taken up his quarters, was besieged both by the
+townspeople and his own friends and followers. The tale of the swollen
+torrent, and the mill swept away, was told to the noble Prince by the
+Lord of St. Paul and Sir John Grey; and when Richard of Woodville, who
+had lingered a little with Mary Grey, appeared, the Count grasped his
+hand with a generous warmth, which was very winning in one so high,
+calling him frequently his friend; and then turning to Sir John Grey,
+he demanded, "Said I not, noble knight, of what stuff he was made?"
+
+"You did him but justice, my good lord," replied the knight; "and I do
+him full justice now. Well has he won his lady's hand, and he shall
+have it."
+
+"Come!" cried the Prince, starting up; "I will go offer her my homage,
+too. But why should we not see the wedding ere we part, Sir John?"
+
+"Nay, nay, my lord," answered the English knight; "I have grown proud
+with restored prosperity; and my child must go to the altar in my own
+land, and with my own old followers round me."
+
+Oh, slow age, how tardy is it to yield to the eager haste of youth!
+But Sir John Grey added words still less pleasant to the ear of
+Richard of Woodville. "When I return from the Court of the Emperor, my
+noble Prince," he continued, "I speed back at once to Westminster. I
+trust that your expedition will then be over; and Sir Richard here may
+follow me with all speed. Once there, I will not make him wait."
+
+Such was the first intimation Woodville had received of the course
+that lay before him and Sir John Grey; for the previous moments had
+passed in words of tenderness with her he loved, and in long, but not
+uninteresting, explanations with her father. He had hoped that their
+paths would lie together; and, without inquiring what motive should
+carry Sir John Grey with the Count of Charolois into the Duchy of
+Burgundy, he had arrived at the conclusion, that the knight's steps
+were bent thither as well as his own. It was a bitter disappointment,
+for imagination in such cases is ever the handmaid of hope; and
+Richard of Woodville had fancied that, in the course of the long
+expedition before them, many an opportunity must occur for urging upon
+Sir John Grey his petition for Mary's hand. Now, however, they were
+again about to be separated, with wide lands between them, and with
+the certainty of months, perhaps years, elapsing ere they met again.
+
+It is strange, it is very strange, and scarcely to be accounted for,
+that people advanced in life, and experienced in the uncertainty of
+all life's things, seem to have a confidence in the future which the
+young do not possess. They delay, they put off without fear or
+apprehension; they calculate as if with certainty upon the time to
+come; while eager youth, on the contrary, at the very name of
+procrastination conjures up every difficulty and obstacle, every
+change and chance, not alone within the range of probability, but
+within the reach of fate. Perhaps it is, that the old have acquired a
+juster appreciation of all mortal joy; perhaps it is, that the keen
+edge of anticipation being dulled in themselves, they cannot
+comprehend the impatience of others: that, knowing how little any
+earthly gratification is really worth, they think it but a small
+matter, not meriting much thought, whether the hand of the future
+snatches the desired object from us or not, whether the butterfly,
+enjoyment, be caught by the boy that chases it, or escape.
+
+So it is, however: Sir John Grey seemed not even to understand or to
+perceive the pain he was inflicting upon the lover; and, as Woodville
+knew that it would be of no use to argue, he made up his mind to enjoy
+the present as much as might be, and then with Mary's love for his
+guidance and encouragement, to seek honour and advancement in the
+fields before him.
+
+After a few more words he accompanied the Count of Charolois, with the
+principal nobles of his train and Sir John Grey, to the hostel where
+the English knight had taken up his abode; but, as they entered, the
+eyes of Richard of Woodville fell upon the figure of a poor
+disconsolate looking boy, who stood near, with his arms folded on his
+chest, and his eyes bent down upon the ground, without being once
+lifted to the gay and glittering group that was passing in; and
+pointing him out to the Lord of St. Paul, the young knight said, "He
+was one of those saved from the mill, my lord; and, if I mistake not,
+he is of kin to some of the men who perished."
+
+"Come hither, boy," said the Constable; "who art thou?"
+
+"I am Edmé Mark, my lord," replied the boy, looking up with tearful
+eyes; "and all my friends are dead."
+
+"Then are you the miller's son?" inquired the Lord of St. Paul.
+
+"No, sir, his nephew," the boy answered, in the jargon of his country.
+
+"Faith, then, we must do something for you," rejoined the nobleman.
+"Will you ride with me and be my _coustelier_, or with that knight?"
+
+"I would rather go with him," cried the boy, pointing to the young
+Englishman, "for he saved my life."
+
+"Well, then, take him with you, Sir Richard," said the Lord of St.
+Paul. "You want to swell your band."
+
+"Good faith, I have need, my lord," answered Richard of Woodville;
+"for the three men I left behind me when I came from Ghent, have never
+rejoined me."
+
+"I saw some Englishmen with the Count's train in the court of his
+hostel," replied the Lord of St. Paul. "I knew them by their flat
+cuirasses, and their long arrows."
+
+"Ah, I marked them not," answered Richard of Woodville; "but I will go
+and see.--Come hither with me, boy," he continued; and, followed by
+the lad, he retrod his steps in haste to the inn where he had found
+the Count. In the court he saw nothing but Flemings and Burgundians;
+but in the stables, tending their horses, he found the three men whom
+he sought, and who now informed him, in the brief and scanty words of
+the English peasant, that they had escorted Ella Brune to Bruges, and
+there had left her, she having assured them that she was safe, and
+required their protection no farther. They had then immediately
+returned to Ghent; for they had never received the written order which
+their leader had sent to them; and, having obtained speech of the
+Count of Charolois, had accompanied him on his expedition, according
+to his commands. Richard of Woodville mused over this intelligence for
+some minutes; and then, after placing the boy Edmé in their hands,
+with orders to take care of him, he hurried back to her he loved.
+
+For three or four days Sir John Grey took advantage of the escort of
+the Count of Charolois, on his journey towards the Imperial Court,
+purchasing horses and clothing where he could find them, to supply the
+place of those lost in the torrent. During that time, as may be
+supposed, Richard of Woodville was constantly by Mary's side, and it
+passed happily to both: nor did any incident occur worthy of record
+here, till they reached the town of Bar, where they were destined to
+part. The last conversation that took place between them ere they
+separated, was in regard to Ella Brune, led on by a half jesting
+question addressed to Mary by her lover, if she had really never felt
+jealousy or doubt when so many suspected.
+
+"Neither, Richard," she answered. "I could not suspect you; and
+besides, I had myself told that poor girl, that I would never doubt or
+be jealous; and I blamed you to her, Richard, for not taking her, when
+first she sought to go."
+
+"She seems to have the gift of winning confidence, my Mary," replied
+the young knight; "and a blessed gift it is."
+
+"'Tis only gained by deserving it, Richard, and not always then,"
+answered Mary Markham: "but one cannot well doubt her, either. When
+one sees a clear stream flowing on abundantly, we judge that the
+source is pure; and all her thoughts gush so limpid from the heart, we
+cannot doubt that heart to be unpolluted too."
+
+"Would that we knew where she is, my Mary," said Richard of Woodville,
+thoughtfully. "I fear for her much, left in the same land with that
+base villain, who has so persecuted her, and of whose dark wiles there
+seems no end."
+
+"She is safe, she is safe," exclaimed the lady; "I have heard of her
+since she departed. She is safe, and with friends able and willing to
+protect her, I know; but I fear, indeed, that what you say is true in
+regard to that traitor, Simeon of Roydon. Do you doubt, Richard, that
+this forged letter from my father was some contrivance of his?"
+
+"And yet," answered Woodville, "we can by no means trace it to him.
+The messenger declares he brought the packet as he received it. The
+Count says he placed your father's and his own together, and gave them
+to his page, who, in turn, vows he carried them straight to the
+messenger."
+
+"It is strange, indeed," said Mary; "but as to poor Ella, she is safe;
+and wherever I am, I will do my best to befriend her, Richard."
+
+They were alone; and he pressed her to his heart with feelings far
+brighter, far tenderer than mere passion; for beauty is but the
+expression of excellence; and when we find the substance, oh, how much
+more deeply we love it than the picture! The fairest features that
+ever were chiselled by the hand of nature, the sweetest form that ever
+woke wild emotions in the breast, could never have produced in the
+heart of Richard of Woodville, the sensations that he then felt
+towards Mary Grey.
+
+Ere long they parted; and while she with her father wended on towards
+the Court of the Emperor--Sir John Grey, acting as a sort of precursor
+to the more splendid embassy soon after sent by Henry V.--the young
+knight followed the Count of Charolois to Dijon and Besançon, and
+aided to raise that force with which John the Bold soon after took the
+field against the rival faction of Armagnac, then all-powerful in the
+Court of France.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+                         THE DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+Months had passed. The clang of trumpets and timbrels had sounded
+beneath the walls of Paris, from morning till well nigh vespers; and
+the clear blue country sky was glowing with the last rays of the sun
+before he set. But, still the redoubted chivalry of Burgundy, with
+glittering arms and royal pageantry, stood upon the frosty ground
+before the gates, the towers of which were crowded with armed men who
+dared not issue forth to meet their enemies in the field, less because
+they doubted their own strength--for they were treble at least in
+number--than because they knew that, within that city, the popular
+heart beat high to take part with the bold Duke John, "the people's
+friend."
+
+Faults he had many; crimes of a dark dye he had committed; the blood
+of the Duke of Orleans was fresh upon his hand; but his princely
+generosity, his daring courage, and more than all, his love of the
+Commons, a body grown everywhere already into terrible importance,
+wiped out all stains in the eyes of the citizens of Paris; and they
+longed to build up once more the fabric of his power on the ruin of
+those proud nobles, who, still in their attachment to pure feudal
+institutions, looked upon the craftsman and the merchant as little
+better than half emancipated serfs.
+
+Long ere this period, the power of the middle classes had grown into
+an engine which might be guided, but could not be resisted without
+danger. In England, its influence had first been recognised by the
+great De Montford, who had wisely attempted to direct its young
+energies in a just and beneficial course; for which the land we live
+in--nay, perhaps the world--owes him still a deep debt of gratitude.
+Influenced by the character of the nation, its progress in this
+country was marked by slow but steady increase of strength; and it
+went on gaining fresh vigour, more from the natural result of contests
+between the various institutions which it was destined to supersede,
+than from its own efforts to extend its sphere. Rebellious nobles
+looked to it for aid; kings courted its support; usurpers submitted
+more or less their claims to its approval; and from each and all it
+obtained concessions. Seldom meeting any severe check--till in long
+after years, a fatal effort was made to raise an embankment against
+it, when it burst in a deluge over every obstacle--during the early
+period of our history it diffused itself calmly, more like the quiet
+overflowing of the fertilizing rill, than the rush and destructive
+outbreak of a pent-up torrent. But in France such was not the case,
+and for ages the struggle to resist it went on; while, partaking of
+the fierce but desultory and ungoverned activity of the people, it
+sometimes burst forth, sometimes was driven back, till at length its
+hour came, and it swept all before it, washing away the seeds of good
+and evil alike, and leaving behind a new soil for the plough,
+difficult to labour, and fertile of thorns as well as verdure.
+
+In these middle ages of which I write, few were wise enough to see the
+existence, and comprehend the inevitable course, of the great latent
+principle which was destined to take the place of every other. The
+fact--the truth--that all power is from the people, and that wisdom is
+the helm which must guide it, was a discovery of after times; and was,
+moreover, so repugnant to the spirit of the feudal system--that
+strange, but great ideal--that in the land where feudal institutions
+were most perfect, the men who owed them all, never dreamed that they
+could be swept away by the seemingly weak and homely influences which
+they were accustomed to use at their will: even as our ancestors, not
+many years ago, little imagined that the vapour which rose from the
+simmering kettle of the peasant or the mechanic, would one day waft
+navies through the ocean, and reduce space to nothing.
+
+If there were any in that land of France who, without a foresight of
+what was to be, merely owned the existence of a great popular power,
+it was but to use it for their own purposes, ever prepared to check it
+the moment it had served their object. Some, indeed, in habits of mind
+and disposition, were of a character to win its aid by demeanour and
+conduct, and such was pre-eminently John the Bold. Strange too, to
+say, that very chivalrous spirit which characterized so many of his
+actions, won to his side a great body of the nobles without alienating
+the middle and the lower classes; but it was, that he was more the
+knight than the feudal baron--more the sovereign than the great lord.
+It must never be forgotten, in viewing the history of those times,
+that the original object of the institution of chivalry, was to
+correct the evils of the feudal system; to strike the rod from the
+hand of the oppressor, to defend the defenceless, and to right the
+wronged; and had chivalry remained in its purity, it might have
+averted long the downfall of the system with which it was linked. The
+people loved the true knight as much as they hated the feudal lord;
+and long after the decay of the order, even the affectation of its
+higher qualities both won regard from the lower classes, and excited
+the admiration of all those above them, who retained any sparks of the
+spirit which once animated it.
+
+Thus, the Duke of Burgundy, though surrounded by many of the highest
+in the land, and possessed of their affection in an extraordinary
+degree, was popular with the trader in his shop, and the peasant in
+his cot. Town after town had opened its gates to him as he advanced;
+and now he stood before the gates of Paris, trusting to the citizens
+to rise and give him admission. But the love with which he was
+regarded by the people was as well known to others as to himself, and
+all chance of a demonstration in his favour had been guarded against
+with the most scrupulous care. The Dauphin Duke of Aquitaine, whether
+willingly or unwillingly it is difficult to say, marched through the
+streets of the capital surrounded by the family of Orleans, and the
+partizans of Armagnac, and followed by no less than eleven thousand
+men-at-arms, exhorting the populace in every quarter, by the voice of
+a herald, to remain tranquil, and resist the suggestions of the agents
+of the Burgundian faction: "and thus," says one of the historians of
+the day, "they provided so well for the guard of the town, that no
+inconvenience occurred."
+
+The walls and gates were covered with soldiery; the heralds and
+messengers of the Duke were not suffered to approach, though their
+words were peaceful; and some of the Burgundian nobles who ventured
+too near, in order to speak with those whom they thought personally
+friendly, were driven back by arrows and quarrels. Even the kings of
+arms were threatened with death if they approached within bow-shot;
+and, though one was found bold enough to fix the letters of which he
+was the bearer, on a lance before the gate of St. Anthony, and others
+contrived to obtain secret admission into the town, to distribute the
+Duke's proclamation amongst the people, and even affix copies to the
+gates of the churches and palaces, so strict was watch kept upon the
+citizens, that a rising was impossible.
+
+Disappointed and angry, but with apparent scorn, the Duke, who had not
+sufficient forces to render an attack upon the wall successful, even
+if it had been politic to make it, withdrew to St. Denis at nightfall;
+and the menacing array disappeared from before Paris, like a pageant
+that had passed away. The leaders of the troops of Burgundy, separated
+from those of Flanders and Artois, took up their abode where they had
+been quartered in the morning, at the hostel called "the Lance,"
+nearly opposite to the abbey; and, while the Duke remained for several
+hours closeted with some of his oldest councillors, the Lord of Croy
+drew Richard of Woodville apart from the rest, and whispered that he
+wished to speak with him alone in his chamber.
+
+The young knight followed him at once; for the intimacy which had
+arisen between them at Lille, and on the road to Ghent, had ripened
+into friendship during their long expedition into Burgundy; and
+without preface, the noble Burgundian exclaimed, as soon as the door
+was closed, "This will not go forward, Woodville. The Duke, bold as he
+is, will not strike a stroke against the King's capital, with the King
+therein. I see it well; and, with this enterprise, passes away my hope
+of delivering my poor boy John, who lies, as you know, a prisoner at
+Montl'herry, unless I can take some counsel for his aid."
+
+"Nay, my good lord," replied Richard, with a smile; "doubtless you
+have taken counsel already, and all I can say is, that if I can aid
+you, my hand is ready. Can you not march to Montl'herry, and deliver
+him? The country is clear of men, for every one capable of bearing
+arms for the enemy, has been gathered into Paris."
+
+"I have thought of it, Woodville," replied the Lord of Croy; "but a
+large body moving across the country would soon call the foe forth in
+great numbers; and, moreover, my lord the Duke could ill spare so many
+men as your band and mine would carry off. But I would give my land of
+Nuranville to any one who would lead a small party to Montl'herry, and
+set free the boy, as I have planned it."
+
+"Ah, my lord, I thought your scheme was fixed," said the young knight,
+laughing at the circuitous manner in which his friend had announced
+his wishes. "Let me know what it is, and as I said before, if I can
+succour your son, I am ready."
+
+"To say truth, it is the boy's own device," replied the Burgundian;
+"he has made a friend of the chaplain in the castle, where they hold
+him; and by this good man's hands I receive letters from him. He tells
+me that, if a small body of resolute gentlemen, not well known to be
+of our party, could enter the town and keep themselves quiet therein
+for one day, he could find means to go forth to mass and escape under
+their escort. I have chosen out twenty of my surest men; but, as it
+was needful that they should pass for followers of the Duke of
+Orleans, I could not send any one to command them who had gained much
+renown in France, lest he should be known. Thus they want a leader;
+and where can I find one of sufficient experience, and yet not likely
+to be recognised, if you refuse me?"
+
+"That will I not, my lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but I must
+have the Duke's leave. Who are the men to go with me? I know most of
+those under your banner."
+
+"Lamont de Launoy," replied the Burgundian, "Villemont de Montebard,
+whom you know well; and Jean Roussel are amongst them. Then, as for
+the Duke's leave, that is already gained; for I spoke to him as we
+marched back tonight; and he himself suggested that you should lead
+the party, because you speak the French tongue well, and yet your face
+is unknown in France."
+
+"A work of honour and of friendship shall never find me behind, my
+lord," replied the young knight; "and I will be ready to mount an hour
+before daylight; but I must have full command, my lord. Some of your
+men are turbulent; so school them well to obey; and, in the mean time,
+I will despatch a letter or two, for good and evil news have reached
+me here together."
+
+"The good from your fair lady, I can guess," said the Lord of Croy,
+"for I have heard to-day of her father's journey back through Ghent
+towards England. The evil is not without remedy, I trust?"
+
+"No, I trust not," replied Woodville; "it comes from a dear friend of
+mine, Sir Henry Dacre, who writes word that some one has done me harm
+in the King's opinion, and speaks of letters sent from his Highness
+long ago, requiring my return, surely delivered, and yet unnoticed and
+unanswered. Now, no such letters ever reached my hand; nor can I dream
+who could have power to wrong me with King Henry; for the only one
+inclined to do so is a banished man."
+
+"Three times have I remarked a stranger amongst your people, since we
+were at Charleville," answered the Lord of Croy; "once it was at
+Besançon, once at Toul, and the other day again at Compiegne. His face
+is unknown to me, and yet he was talking gaily with your band, as if
+he were one of them; but he stayed not long; for this last time, I saw
+him as I passed through the court of the inn, and he was gone when I
+returned."
+
+"It shall be inquired into," replied Richard of Woodville. "But now I
+must to these letters, my good lord; and tomorrow, an hour ere
+daybreak, I will be in the saddle. Pray God give us success, and that
+I may restore your son to your arms."
+
+The Lord of Croy thanked him as such prompt kindness might well merit,
+and took his leave; but as soon as he was gone, Richard of Woodville
+leaned his head upon his hand in thought, and with a somewhat dark and
+gloomy brow remained in meditation for several minutes.
+
+"What is it makes me so sad?" he asked himself; "it cannot be this
+empty piece of malice, from some unworthy fool, whose calumnies I can
+sweep away in a moment, and whose contrivances I can frustrate by a
+word of plain truth. The King does not believe that I would contemn
+his commands--in his heart he does not, I am sure! Yet I feel as if
+some great misfortune hung upon the wings of the coming hours!
+Perchance I may fall in this very enterprise. Who can tell? Many a man
+finds his fate in some petty skirmish who has passed through stricken
+fields unwounded. The lion-hearted Richard himself brought his life
+safe from Palestine, and a thousand glorious fields--from dangers of
+all kinds, sufferings, and imprisonment, to lose it before the walls
+of a pitiful castle scarce bigger than a cottage. Well, what is to be,
+will be; but I must provide against any event;" and, calling some of
+his men to speak with him, he told them that he was about to be absent
+for three days, taking no one with him but his page. He then gave them
+directions, in case of any mischance befalling him, either to find
+their way back to England, or to continue to serve with the band of
+the Lord of Croy; but, at all events, unless specially summoned by the
+King of England, not to quit the Duke as long as he remained in the
+field. This done, he turned to his letters, and remained writing till
+a late hour of the night.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+                            THE DISASTER.
+
+
+In the square of the pretty town of Montl'herry, nearly opposite the
+church, and under the domineering walls of the château, were two
+hostels, or inns, the one called the Wheatsheaf, and the other the
+Bunch of Grapes; for, in those days, as in the present time, the
+houses of public reception were not only more numerous in France than
+in any country in the world, but were ornamented with signs taken from
+almost every object under the sun, and from a great many that the sun
+never shone upon. As every one knows, the little town of Montl'herry
+is situated on a high isolated and picturesque hill; and down one of
+the streets running from the _Place_ or square, could at that time be
+seen the rich plain stretching out by Longpont to Plessis-Saint Père,
+with the numerous roads which cross it in different directions towards
+Epinay, Ville-aux-bois, and other small towns, as well as the highway
+towards Paris.
+
+Before these two inns on the morning of a cold but clear day, towards
+the end of February, were collected some twenty men-at-arms, who had
+been lodging there from the night before, and who seemed now preparing
+to ride away upon their farther journey, after the morning meal, then
+called dinner, should have been discussed. In the meantime, they were
+undergoing a sort of inspection from their leader, a young man of a
+tall and powerful frame, and a handsome and engaging countenance,
+bronzed with the sun and marked with a scar upon his brow. Though he
+moved easily and gracefully under the weight, he was covered with
+complete armour from the neck to the heels, which displayed the spurs
+of knighthood. His casque lay upon the bench at the door of the
+Wheatsheaf, and leaning negligently against the wall of the inn
+appeared the lances of the men-at-arms, who each stood beside his
+horse, while the knight passed from one to another, making some
+observation to each, sometimes in a tone of reproof, sometimes in
+words of praise. The host of one of the inns stood before his door
+observing their proceedings, and some half-a-dozen little boys were
+spending their idleness in gazing at the glittering soldiery.
+
+Towering above appeared the ancient castle held by the partizans of
+the Orleans or Armagnac faction; and when it is remembered that these
+below were soldiers of the House of Burgundy, and that the young
+knight at their head was Richard of Woodville, it must be acknowledged
+that this was a somewhat bold stratagem thus to parade a body of
+hostile troops in the midst of an enemy's town. The young leader,
+however, well knew that nothing but the assumption of perfect ease and
+security could escape suspicion, and confirm the tale which had been
+told of his band being a party of the men of Orleans.
+
+The gate of the castle he could not see; but from time to time as he
+passed from one man to another, he looked round to the door of the
+church, and presently, as the clock struck, he held up his fingers,
+saying, "What hour is that?" and then as he counted, he turned
+somewhat sharply to the host, exclaiming, "By the Lord, you have kept
+us so late for our dinner, that we shall have time to take none. Bring
+the men out some wine. Quick, my men, quick. On with your bacinets!"
+
+The host assured him that the meal would be served in a minute; but
+the knight replied, "A minute! Did you not tell me so half an hour
+ago? Quick, bring out the wine, or we shall be obliged to go without
+that. What do you think our lord will say, if we wait for your
+minutes?" and while the host retired to bring the wine, the men
+assumed their casques, and Richard of Woodville whispered to one who
+seemed superior to the rest--"He is in the church. I saw him go in
+with the priest."
+
+"So did I," replied the other; "but he has got a guard with him."
+
+"We must not mind that," replied Woodville; "we shall have some start
+of them; for they will all be at dinner in the castle--no horses
+saddled, no armour buckled on. Mount, my men, mount. You can drink in
+the stirrups. Now, boy, give me my casque."
+
+The page ran and brought the bacinet; the host returned with the wine;
+and each man drank a deep draught and handed the cup and tankard to
+his neighbour. Richard of Woodville then sprang into his saddle, his
+page mounted, and taking the bridle of a spare horse, which was then
+very generally led after the commander of a party, followed his lord,
+as, with his lance in his hand, he headed his little troop, and took
+his way across the Place, saying aloud, as he rode slowly forward,
+"One prayer to our Lady, and I am with you."
+
+The host gazed after them to the door of the church, but thought it
+nothing extraordinary that a young knight should follow so common and
+laudable a custom as beginning a journey with a petition for
+protection. When, therefore, Richard of Woodville dismounted with two
+of his men, and entered the sacred building, he turned himself into
+his own house again, and applied himself to other affairs. In the
+meanwhile, the knight strode up the nave, looking around him as he
+went, while his two companions followed close behind.
+
+Some half dozen women, principally of the lower orders, were the only
+persons at first visible; but in one of the small chapels, from which
+the sound of a voice singing mass was heard, they soon after perceived
+a young gentleman, habited in the garb of peace, kneeling at a little
+distance from the altar, before which stood a priest in robes,
+performing the functions of his office.
+
+"That is he," whispered one of the Burgundians to Richard of
+Woodville, and advancing straight to the young Lord of Croy, the
+knight took him by the arm, saying, in a low tone, "You are wanted,
+John of Croy. Where is the guard who was with you?"
+
+"Somewhere in the church, speaking with a woman who was to meet him
+here," said the young lord, rising. "Perhaps we may get out without
+his seeing us."
+
+"Never mind if he do," said Richard of Woodville; "we shall be far on
+the way before they are in the saddle;" and hurrying on with the young
+Lord of Croy, he reached the door of the church without interruption.
+The priest could not but see the whole of their proceedings, but he
+took no notice, going on with the service devoutly.
+
+The clang of the step of armed men, however, had caught another ear;
+and just as the young Lord of Croy was passing out, a voice was heard
+exclaiming, "Whither are you going, young sir?"
+
+Richard of Woodville turned his head and replied, "Home!" and then
+issuing forth, closed the door, and thrust his dagger through the
+staple that confined the large heavy latch. The horse led by the page
+was close at hand; and John of Croy, with his deliverers, sprang into
+the saddle, and rode out of Montl'herry at full speed.[11]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 11: It is a strange omission on the part of the historians
+of the day, that in relating the escape of John of Croy, they have not
+mentioned the name of Richard of Woodville.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+The precaution of the English knight in fastening the door proved less
+serviceable than he had hoped, however; for as they passed down the
+street, he turned and saw the man who had been sent to guard the
+prisoner--having found exit by some other means--running as fast as he
+could go towards the castle; and when they reached the foot of the
+hill, the sound of a trumpet came, borne upon the breeze from above.
+
+On, on, the little party hurried, however; and they had already gained
+so much ground, that every prospect of escape seemed before them. But
+unfortunately, no one was well acquainted with the road: Richard of
+Woodville and his company had found their way thither as best they
+could; and the young Lord of Croy, who was at the head of the band,
+while Woodville brought up the rear, turned into a wrong path in the
+wood near Longpont, so that some time was lost ere they got right
+again. They were just issuing forth on a road which leads to the left
+of Lonjumeau, when the sound of pursuit caught the ear; and at the
+same moment the horse of the page stumbled and fell.
+
+"Up, up, boy!" cried Richard of Woodville, drawing in his rein, as he
+had nearly trodden the poor youth under his horse's feet; and then
+adding to those before, "Ride on! ride on!" he stooped and held out
+his hand to the lad, who staggered up, confused and half stunned with
+the fall. Before the horse could be raised, and the youth mount,
+coming round the angle of the wood, by a shorter cut, appeared the
+pursuers from Montl'herry. The Burgundians had followed the order to
+ride on, which, had they been the young knight's own band, they might,
+under the circumstances, have perchance disobeyed. Woodville gazed
+after them, turned his eyes towards the enemy--the foremost of whom
+was not more than a hundred yards distant--took one moment for
+consideration; and then, setting his lance in the rest, he spurred on
+towards the enemy. The man met him in full career; but, not prepared
+for such a sudden encounter, was unhorsed in a moment, and the two or
+three who followed, pulled in the rein. The young knight's object was
+gained; their pursuit was checked; and the advantage of even a few
+minutes was everything for the young Lord of Croy.
+
+"Surrender, knight, surrender!" cried the voice of one of the opposite
+party; but Woodville, though he well knew that such must be the result
+at last, resolved to struggle for a farther delay; and exclaiming,
+"What! to half-a-dozen squires? Never! never!" he reined back his
+horse, as if to take ground for a fresh career, and again charged his
+lance which had remained unsplintered, while his page rode up behind,
+asking, "May I fight too, noble sir?"
+
+"No, boy, no! Keep back!" cried the knight; and at the same moment a
+more numerous party appeared to the support of the Armagnacs, led by a
+baron's banner. They bore down straight towards him, some one still
+calling upon him to surrender; and, seeing that farther resistance was
+vain, Woodville raised his lance and took off his gauntlet as a sign
+that he yielded.
+
+"After them, like lightning!" cried the voice of a gentleman in a suit
+of richly ornamented steel. "A knight is a good exchange for a squire;
+but we must not let the other escape.--Now, fair sir, do you yield,
+rescue or no rescue?"
+
+"I do," answered the young knight; "there is my glove, and I give you
+my faith."
+
+"Pray let us see your face," continued the nobleman, raising his own
+vizor, while the greater part of his troop rode on after the young
+Lord of Croy. Richard of Woodville followed his example; but neither
+was known to the other, though as it afterwards proved they had once
+met before.
+
+"May I ask your name, fair sir?" demanded the captor, in the courteous
+tone then used between adversaries.
+
+"Richard of Woodville," replied the young knight; and a smile
+instantly came upon the countenance of the other, who replied, "A
+follower of Burgundy, or I mistake. I regret I was not up sooner, good
+knight; for if the heralds gave me the name truly, I owe you a fall.
+When last we met, I was neither horsed nor armed for combat properly.
+The chance might have been different this time."
+
+"Perhaps it might, my Lord the Count," answered Woodville; "fortune is
+one man's to-day, another's to-morrow. Mine is the turn of ill luck,
+else had I not been here a prisoner."
+
+"I bear no malice, sir," rejoined the Lord of Vaudemont; "but if you
+please, we will ride back to Montl'herry;" and following the
+invitation, which was now a command, the young knight accompanied his
+captor, saying to himself, "I felt that this enterprise would end ill,
+for me at least."
+
+He knew not how far the evil was to extend.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+                            THE CAPTIVITY.
+
+
+Oh, the long and tedious hours of imprisonment! how they weigh down
+the stoutest heart! How soul and mind seem fettered as well as body;
+and how the chain grows heavier every hour we wear it! Days and weeks
+passed by; weeks and months flew away; and, strictly confined to one
+small chamber in the castle of Montl'herry, Richard of Woodville
+remained a prisoner.
+
+The Count of Vaudemont, courteous in words, showed himself aught but
+courteous in deeds. Every tone had been knightly and generous while he
+stayed in the château; but no results had followed. He would never fix
+the ransom of his captive; he would never hold out any prospect of
+liberty; and ere long he departed for Paris, leaving Woodville in the
+hands of the Châtelain of the place, who, severely blamed for the
+escape of the young Lord of Croy, revenged himself upon him, by whose
+aid it had been accomplished. To that one little room, high up in the
+château, was Woodville restricted; no exercise was permitted to him,
+but the pacing up and down of its narrow limits: no relaxation but to
+sing snatches of the old ballads of which he was so fond, or to gaze
+from under the pointed arch of the window over the changing scene
+below. No one was permitted to see him but his own page, who had been
+captured with him, and one of the soldiers of the castle; no book
+existed within the walls; and materials for writing, purchased with
+difficulty in the town, were only granted him in order to write to the
+Lord of Vaudemont concerning his ransom.
+
+At first he remonstrated mildly; but when no other answer arrived, but
+that the Count would think of it, he took another tone, reproached him
+for his want of courtesy, and reminded him, that though he had
+surrendered rescue or no rescue, the refusal of reasonable ransom,
+justified him in making his escape whenever the opportunity might
+occur.
+
+The Count's reply consisted of but four words, "Escape if you can,"
+and from that hour the guard kept upon him became more strict than
+before. The weary hours dragged heavily on. Summer succeeded to
+spring, and autumn to summer, without anything occurring to cheer the
+lonely vacancy of his captivity, but an occasional rumour, brought by
+the page or the soldier who acted as jailer, either of the great
+events which were then agitating Europe, or of efforts made for his
+own liberation. The reports, however, were all vague and uncertain. He
+heard of war between France and Burgundy, but could with difficulty
+obtain any means of judging which party had gained the ascendancy.
+Then he heard of a new peace, as hollow as those which had preceded
+it; and with that intelligence came the tidings, which the page gained
+from the soldiers of the garrison, that a large ransom had been
+offered for him; but whether by the Duke of Burgundy himself, or the
+Lord of Croy, he could not correctly ascertain. Next came a rumour of
+dissensions between France and England, and of a probable war; but
+none of the particulars could be learnt, except that the demands of
+Henry V. were in the opinion of the Frenchmen extravagant, and that
+the greater part of the nation looked forward with delight to an
+opportunity of wiping away the disgrace of Cressy and Poitiers, and
+blotting out for ever the treaty of Bretigny.
+
+Oh, what would he have given for his liberty then! All his aspirations
+for glory and renown, all his hopes of winning praise and advancement,
+all the dreams of young ambition, all the bright imaginations of love,
+rose up before him as memories of the dead. Those prison walls were
+their cold sepulchre, that solitary chamber the tomb of all the
+energies within him. He had well nigh become frantic with
+disappointment; but he struggled successfully with the despair of his
+own thoughts, as every man of a really powerful mind will do. No one
+can obtain full mastery of the minds of others, without having full
+mastery of his own. He would not suffer his fancy to dwell upon sad
+things; he strove to create for himself objects of interest; and from
+the arched window he made himself acquainted as a friend with every
+object in the wide-spread scene beneath his eyes. Every church spire,
+every castle tower, every belt of wood, every stream and every road,
+every hamlet and every house, for miles around, were described and
+marked as if he had been mapping the country in his own mind. But it
+was only that he was seeking for objects of interest; and he found
+them; and variety too, he found; for every hour and every season
+brought its change. The varying shadows as day rose or declined; the
+different hues of summer and of winter, of autumn and of spring; the
+changeful aspect of the April day; the frowning sublimity of the
+thunder storm; the cold, stern, desolate gloom of the wintry air, all
+gave food to nourish fancy with, and from which he extracted thought
+and occupation.
+
+He had withal, one grand support and consolation: the best after the
+voice of religion, a conscience clear of offence. He could look back
+upon the past and say, I have done well. There was no reproach within
+him for opportunities missed, advantages wasted, or ill deeds done;
+and often and often, he thought of the first song that poor Ella Brune
+had sung him, and of that stanza in which she said,
+
+
+             "In hours of pain and grief,
+                If such thou must endure,
+              Thy breast shall know relief
+                In honour tried and pure;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find;
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale."
+
+
+In the meanwhile his treatment varied greatly at different times.
+Sometimes the Châtelain was harsh and severe, refusing him almost
+everything that was necessary to his comfort; at others, with the
+caprice which is so common amongst rude and uncivilized people, he
+would seem joyous and good-humoured: would visit his prisoner, talk
+with him, and send him dishes from his own table, permitting many a
+little alleviation of his grief, which on former occasions he denied.
+In one of these happier moods he allowed the page to buy his master a
+cithern, which proved one of the prisoner's greatest comforts and
+resources; and not long after, in the summer of 1415, a still greater
+change of conduct took place towards him. His table became supplied
+with princely liberality; rich wines and dainty meats were daily set
+before him; and the page was suffered to go at large about the town to
+procure anything his master might require.
+
+One day the boy returned very much heated with exercise, and moved
+with what seemed pleasurable feelings; and looking round the room
+eagerly, he closed the door with care.
+
+"You have tidings, Will," said the young knight, "and joyful tidings,
+too, or I am mistaken."
+
+"I have better than tidings," replied the boy. "I have a letter. Read
+it quick, and then hide it. I will go out into the passage, and watch,
+lest Joachim come up. He was lolling at the foot of the stairs."
+
+Richard of Woodville took the letter from the boy eagerly, and read
+what was written in the outer cover. The words were few, and in a hand
+he did not know. "Nothing has been left undone," the writer said, "to
+set you free. A baron's ransom has been offered for you and refused.
+The Duke of Burgundy required your liberation as one of the terms of
+peace, but could not obtain it. The Lord of Croy offered two prisoners
+of equal rank, and a ransom besides, but did not succeed. But fear
+not; friends are gathering round you. Be prepared to depart at a
+moment's notice, and you shall be set free as others have been. The
+moment you are free, hasten to England; for you have been belied."
+
+Within this was a short letter from Mary Grey, full of tenderness and
+affection, with words and avowals which she might have scrupled to
+utter for any other purpose but the generous one of consoling and
+supporting him she loved, in sorrow and adversity. Beneath her name
+were written a few words from her father, expressive of more kindness,
+confidence, and regard, than he had ever previously shown; but he,
+too, spoke of the young knight's return to England, as absolutely
+necessary for his own defence; and he too alluded to the rumours
+against him, without stating what those rumours were.
+
+If there was much to cheer, there was much to distress and grieve; and
+Woodville paused for several minutes to think over the contents of
+these letters, and to consider what could be the nature of the
+calumnies referred to, believing that he had fully refuted the charge
+of having neglected to obey the King's command to return to England,
+before he set out on the expedition which had been attended by such an
+unfortunate result. At length the page looked in, to see if he had
+done; and Woodville, bidding him shut the door, inquired from whom he
+had received the letters.
+
+"It was from the young clerk, noble sir," replied the boy, "who was
+with Sir John Grey at Charleville. I saw a youth in a black gown
+wandering about the castle gates some days since; and as I stood alone
+upon the drawbridge, about half an hour ago, he passed me again, and
+seeing that there was no one there, made me a sign to follow. I walked
+after him into the church, and then he gave me the letter for you; but
+bade me tell you to be upon your guard, for that there are enemies
+near as well as friends. To make sure that you were not deceived, he
+said, you were to put trust in no one who did not give you the word,
+'Mary Markham.'"
+
+"Hark!" cried Woodville, rising and going to the window. "There are
+trumpets sounding!"
+
+"I heard the Lord of Vaudemont was expected to-day," replied the boy.
+
+"And there he is," said Richard of Woodville, watching a body of horse
+coming up the hill. "On my honour, if I have speech with him, he shall
+hear my full thoughts on his discourteous conduct. But now, hie thee
+away, Will. Seek out this young clerk in the town, and ask if he can
+convey my answer back to the letters which he brought. I will find
+means to write if he can."
+
+"Oh, I can find him," replied the boy, "for he told me where he
+lodged: in the house of a widow woman, named Chatain."
+
+"Away, then!" answered Woodville; "let them not find you here."
+
+When he looked forth from the window again, the young knight could no
+longer perceive the body of horse he had seen advancing; but the
+noises which rose up from the court of the castle below, the clang of
+arms, the gay tones of voices laughing and talking, the word of
+command, and the shout of the warder, showed him that the party had
+already arrived. About an hour passed without his hearing more; but
+then came the sound of steps in the passage; the door opened, and
+three gentlemen entered, of whom the first was the Count of Vaudemont.
+The next was a man several years younger; and the third, a stout
+ill-favoured personage, of nearly fifty years of age. None of them
+were armed, except with a dagger, usually worn hanging from the waist;
+and all were dressed in the extravagant style of the French court in
+that day, with every merely ornamental part of dress exaggerated till
+it became a monstrosity. Every colour, too, was the brightest that
+could be found; each contrasted with the other in the most vivid and
+inharmonious assortment, green and red, amber and blue, pink and
+yellow, so that each man looked like some gaudy eastern bird new
+feathered.
+
+The Lord of Vaudemont was evidently in a light and merry mood, or, at
+least, affected it; for he entered laughing, and at once held out his
+hand to his prisoner, as if a familiar friend.
+
+Richard of Woodville, however, drew back, saying, "Your pardon, my
+good lord. I am a captive, for whom ransom has been refused.--You
+forget!"
+
+"Nay, I remember it well, sir knight," replied the Count, laughing
+again; "and that you intend to escape. You have not succeeded yet, I
+see. However, let me set myself right with you on that head. 'Tis not
+I who refuse your ransom. 'Tis my lord, the Duke of Aquitaine, who
+will not have you set free just yet, so that I risk my angels if you
+have wit enough to find your way out. His commands, however, are
+express, and I must obey. My lord the Duke of Orleans, here present,
+will witness for me, as well as my lord of Armagnac, that I would far
+rather have your gold in my purse, where it is much needed, than your
+person in Montl'herry, where it could be well spared."
+
+The young knight regarded the famous nobles, of whom he had heard so
+much, with no slight interest; and the Duke of Orleans, drawing a
+settle to the table, leaned his head upon his arm in a thoughtful
+attitude, saying, "It is quite true, sir; but perhaps that may be
+remedied ere long. If you be willing to renounce the cause of
+Burgundy, and agree to serve no more against the crown of France, the
+difficulty may be removed."
+
+"I have no purpose, sir, to ride for that good lord, the Duke, any
+more," answered Richard of Woodville; "I did but seek his Court to win
+honour and renown; but now I am called to England by many motives, so
+that I may well promise not to serve with him again; but if your
+proposal goes farther, and you would have me give my knightly word,
+not to fight for my Sovereign against any power on earth where he may
+need my arm, I must at once say no. I am his vassal, and will do my
+duty according to my oath, whenever he shall call upon me. He is my
+liege lord; and--"
+
+"There are some Englishmen, and not a few," said the Count of
+Armagnac, in a harsh and grating tone of voice, "who do not hold him
+to be such, but rather an usurper. Edmund, Earl of March, is your
+liege lord, young knight."
+
+"He has never claimed that title, noble sir," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "and indeed, has renounced it, by swearing allegiance
+himself to his great cousin."
+
+"Compulsion, all compulsion," said the Duke of Orleans; "we shall yet
+see him on the throne of England."
+
+"I trust not, my lord the Duke," answered the English knight; "but if
+the plea of compulsion can, in your eyes, justify the breach of an
+oath, how could you expect me to keep a promise made, not to serve
+against this crown of France, here in a prison?"
+
+"But why say you, that you trust not to see him on the throne?" asked
+the Count of Armagnac, evading the part of Woodville's reply which he
+would have found difficult to answer. "He is surely a noble and
+courteous gentleman, full of high virtues."
+
+"Far inferior in all to his royal cousin," answered the knight; "but
+it is not on that account alone I say so, but for many reasons. We
+Englishmen believe that our crown is held by somewhat different rights
+from yours of France. At the coronations of our kings, we by our free
+voices confirm them on their throne. The people of England have a say
+in the question of a monarch's title; and without that recognition
+they are not kings of England. To our present sovereign, the nobles of
+the land offered their homage ere the crown was placed upon his brow;
+but he, as wise in this as in all else, would receive none till he was
+proclaimed King, not by a herald's trumpet, but by the tongues of
+Englishmen. Besides, I say, I trust I shall never see the Earl of
+March wearing the English crown, because I hope never to see an
+honourable nobleman forget his oath, nor a perjured monarch on the
+throne."
+
+"And yet your fourth Harry forgot his," said the Duke of Orleans.
+
+"Not till intolerable wrongs and base injustice drove him to it,"
+answered the knight; "not till the monarch so far forgot his compact
+with the subject, as to free him from remembrance of his part of the
+obligation. Besides, I was then a boy; I found a sovereign reigning by
+the voice of the people; to him I pledged my first oath of fealty. I
+have since pledged it to his son; and I will keep it."
+
+The two Counts and the Duke looked at each other with a significant
+glance; and after a moment's consideration, the Count of Vaudemont
+changed the subject, saying, "Well, good knight, such are your
+thoughts. We may judge differently. But say, how have you fared
+lately? I heard that our worthy Châtelain here had been somewhat harsh
+with you, resolving that you should not play him such a trick as the
+boy of Croy; and I ordered that such treatment should be amended. Has
+it been done? I would not have you used unworthily."
+
+"It has been done in some points, my lord," replied Richard of
+Woodville, "but not in all."
+
+"Nay, good faith, with warning from your own lips that you sought to
+escape," answered the Count, "he was right not to relax on all
+points."
+
+"But some he might have relaxed, yet held me safe," rejoined the young
+knight. "I have been cut off from all means of holding any communion
+with my friends, though it was most needful that I should urge them to
+offer what terms might find favour for my liberation. I have been kept
+more like some felon subject of this land, than a fair prisoner of
+war."
+
+"Nay, that must be changed," said the Duke of Orleans; "such was not
+your intention, I am sure, De Vaudemont?"
+
+"By no means, noble Duke," answered the Count. "I will take order that
+it be so no more. You shall have liberty to write to whom you will,
+sir knight; and, indeed, having a courier going soon to England, you
+will have the means right soon, if you will, of sending letters. I
+have heard," he added with a laugh, "that there is a certain noble
+gentleman of the name of Grey, with whom you have some dear
+relations--much in King Henry's confidence, if I mistake not.
+Perchance, were he to use his influence with that Prince, something
+might be done to mitigate the Dauphin's sternness. We are still
+negotiating with England, though, by my faith, these preparations at
+Southampton, and this purchase of vessels from the Hollanders, looks
+more warlike than one might have wished."
+
+"If my liberation, noble Count, depends on Sir John Grey's using his
+influence for ought but his Sovereign's interests," replied Richard of
+Woodville, "I fear I shall be long a captive. However, to him will be,
+perchance, my only letter; for he can communicate with other friends."
+
+"Do as you will, noble lords," cried the Count of Armagnac, who had
+been sitting silent for some time, gnawing his nail in gloomy
+meditation; "but were I you I would suffer no such letters to pass.
+They will but tend to counteract all that you desire. Here you have in
+your hands one of the hearty enemies of France: that is clear from
+every word,--one who, at all risks, would urge his sovereign to deeds
+of hostility against us, when we are already wrung by internal
+discord. Why should you suffer him to pour such poison into the hearts
+of his countrymen?"
+
+"Nay, nay," replied the Count of Vaudemont; "my word is given, and I
+cannot retract it. We are less harsh than you, my lord, and doubt not
+that this noble knight will say nothing against the cause of those who
+grant him this permission."
+
+"On no such subjects will I treat, sirs," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "the matter of my letter will be simple enough, my own
+liberation being all the object."
+
+"You must be quick, however," said the Lord of Vaudemont; "for, at
+morning song, to-morrow, the messenger departs."
+
+The young knight replied that his letters would be ready in an hour,
+and the three noblemen withdrew for a moment; but he could hear that
+they continued speaking together in the passage; and the next instant,
+the Duke of Orleans and the Count of Armagnac returned. "We cannot
+suffer long letters, sir knight," said the latter, as soon as he
+entered; "if all you wish is to treat for your ransom, and to induce
+your friends to exert themselves for your liberation, you can send
+messages by word of mouth, which we can hear and judge of."
+
+"But how will my friends know that such messages really come from me?"
+demanded Woodville, with deep mortification.
+
+"Why," replied the Count, after a moment's thought, "you may send a
+few words in the French tongue, in our presence--for we have heard of
+inks and inventions which escape the eye of all but the persons for
+whom they are intended--you may send a few words, I say, merely
+telling the gentlemen to whom you write, to give credit to what the
+bearer shall speak."
+
+Woodville paused and meditated; but then, having formed his
+resolution, he replied, "Well, my good lord, if better may not be, so
+will I do. Send me the messenger when you will, and I will give him
+the credentials required."
+
+"Call him now, my fair Lord of Armagnac," said the Duke of Orleans,
+with a significant look. "He is below."
+
+The count soon reappeared with a stout, plain-looking man, habited as
+a soldier; and Woodville, after inquiring if he had ever been in
+England before, and finding that such was not the case, gave him
+directions for seeking out Sir John Grey in Winchester, from which
+town the letters that had been conveyed to him were dated. He then
+gave him messages to Mary's father; and, pointing out that it would be
+better to lose any amount of money, rather than remain longer in
+prison, he besought the knight to borrow a sum for him, to the value
+of one-half of his estates, and offer it to the Lord of Vaudemont as
+his ransom, adding, somewhat bitterly, "Tell the good knight that I
+find, in France, the fine old spirit of chivalry is at an end, which
+led each noble gentleman to fix at once a reasonable ransom for an
+honourable prisoner, and that nothing but an excessive sum will gain a
+captive's liberty."
+
+The Duke of Orleans frowned, but made no observation in reply, merely
+speaking a few words in a low tone to the Count of Armagnac, who went
+to the door and called aloud for a strip of parchment and some ink.
+
+What he required was soon brought; and he laid before the young knight
+a narrow slip, not large enough to contain more than a sentence or
+two, saying, "There, fair sir, you can write in the usual form, as
+follows,"
+
+Richard of Woodville took the pen and addressed the letter at the top
+to Sir John Grey: the Duke of Orleans coming round and looking over
+his shoulder, while the Count of Armagnac stood on the opposite side
+of the table, and dictated what he was to write.
+
+"You can say," he proceeded, "'These are to beg of you, by your love
+and regard for me, to hear and believe what the bearer will tell you
+on my part;' and then put your name."
+
+Richard of Woodville wrote as he directed, word for word, till he came
+to the conclusion, but then, he added rapidly, "touching my ransom,"
+and affixed his signature so close, that nothing could be
+interpolated.
+
+"What, have you written more?" cried the Count, whose eye was fixed
+upon his hand.
+
+"Touching my ransom," said the Duke of Orleans, gazing across. The
+Count snatched up the parchment, and read it with a frowning brow, as
+if angry that his dictation had not been exactly followed; and then,
+beckoning to the Duke of Orleans and the messenger, he hurried
+abruptly out of the room. The door was not yet shut by the inferior
+person, who went out last, when the young prisoner heard the Count of
+Armagnac say to the Duke, in a low growling tone, "This will not do."
+
+"Let me see," said the voice of the Lord of Vaudemont, who had
+apparently been waiting behind the door. A blasphemous oath followed;
+and Richard of Woodville heard no more; but a smile crossed his
+countenance, for they had evidently sought to use him for some secret
+purpose of their own, and had been frustrated.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+                             THE FLIGHT.
+
+
+A month had passed, and Richard of Woodville sat alone in his solitary
+chamber, on a dark and stormy night, towards the end of September,
+reading by the glimmering lamp-light, a book which had been procured
+for him in the town by his page. The rain blew, the wind whistled, the
+small panes of glass in the casement rattled and shook, and the
+howling of the breeze, as it swept round the old tower, seemed full of
+melancholy thoughts. His own imaginations were heavy and desponding
+enough--and he eagerly strove to withdraw his attention, both from the
+voice of the storm without, and from the dark images that rose up in
+his own heart. But he could not govern his mind as he desired; and
+still from the pages of the book, he would lift his eyes, and gazing
+into vacancy revolve every point in his fate, gaining, alas! nothing
+but fresh matter for sad reflection. He had seen no more of the Count
+de Vaudemont, the Duke of Orleans, or the Count of Armagnac, and had
+learned that they had quitted Montl'herry early on the day following
+that during which he had received their visit. He little heeded their
+departure, indeed, or desired to see them; for he felt convinced that
+their only object had been to make a tool of him for secret purposes
+of their own; and that, disappointed therein, they were in no degree
+disposed to show him favour, or even to listen to just remonstrance.
+
+What grieved and depressed him more, was the unaccountable
+disappearance of the young clerk who had brought him the letters from
+Sir John Grey, but who had been no more seen by the page, after the
+arrival of the Count de Vaudemont in the town. The boy inquired at the
+widow's where the clerk had lodged, and was told he had left the
+place: and no farther trace could be discovered of the course he had
+pursued, or whither he had turned his steps. The distracted state of
+the country, indeed, the young knight thought, might have scared the
+novice away; for the page brought him daily reports of strange events
+taking place around, of factions, strife, and bloodshed, in almost
+every province of France, and of rumours that daily grew in strength
+and consistency, of foreign wars being speedily added to the miseries
+of the land. Large bodies of armed men passed through the town at
+different times; the garrison of the castle was diminished to swell
+the forces preparing for some unexplained enterprise; and the
+Châtelain himself was called to lead them to the field.
+
+But a stricter guard was kept upon the prisoner than ever. Of the
+scanty band that remained in the castle, one always remained in arms
+at his door; and another was stationed at the foot of the stairs.
+Night and day he was closely watched; and the page himself was not
+permitted to go in and out, except at certain hours. All chance of
+escape seemed removed; and bitterly did Richard of Woodville ponder
+upon the prospect of long captivity, at the very time when, under
+other circumstances, opportunity must have occurred for the exertion
+of all those energies by which he had fondly hoped to win glory,
+station, and renown.
+
+He struggled hard against such thoughts, and all the bitterness they
+brought with them; and, after indulging them for a few minutes, turned
+ever to the page of the book he was reading, and laboured through the
+crabbed lines of the ill-written manuscript; finding perhaps as much
+interest in making out the words as in their sense. It was after one
+of the fits of meditation we have spoken of, that he thus again
+applied himself to read, and turned over several pages carelessly, to
+see what would come next in the dull old romaunt, when, suddenly he
+saw a fresher page than any of the others, and found upon it, written
+in English, and in a different hand from the rest, but in lines of
+equal length, so as to deceive a careless eye, and lead to a belief
+that the words were but a continuation of the poem, the following
+warning and intelligence:
+
+"Be prepared. Lie not down to rest. Take not off your clothes. King
+Henry is in France. The Earl of Cambridge, the Lord Scrope, and Sir
+Thomas Grey, have been executed for treason. Harfleur has been taken;
+and the King is marching on through the land."
+
+There ended the lines, and the young knight, closing the book, started
+up and clasped his hands with agitation and surprise. "Harfleur taken,
+and I not there!" he cried. "This is bitter, indeed! I shall go mad if
+they do not free me soon--Sir Thomas Grey! surely it cannot be written
+by mistake. I remember one Sir Thomas Grey, a powerful knight of
+Northumberland. The Lord Scrope, too; why, he was the King's
+chamberlain! What can all this mean? Prepared--I will be prepared,
+indeed. Hark, they are changing the guard at the door. I must not let
+them see me thus agitated, if they look in;" and seating himself
+again, he opened the book and seemed to read.
+
+No one came near, however, for another hour, and Richard of Woodville
+gathered together all that might be needful in case his escape should
+be more near than he ventured to hope--the little stock of money that
+remained, a few jewels, and trinkets of gold and silver, and a dagger
+which he had kept concealed since his capture; for the rest of his
+arms and his armour had been taken from him as fair spoil. After this
+was done, he sat and watched; but all was silent in the château,
+except when the guard at his door rose and paced up and down the
+passage, or hummed a verse or two of some idle song to while away the
+hours.
+
+At length, however, after a long, dead pause, he heard a whisper; and
+then the bolt of the door was undrawn without, and rising quietly, he
+gazed towards it as it opened. The only figure that presented itself
+was that of the guard, whom he had often seen before, and noticed as
+apparently a gay, good-humoured man, who treated him civilly, and
+asked after health in a kindly tone whenever he had occasion to visit
+him. The man's face was now grave, and Woodville thought a little
+anxious, and besides his own arms, he bore in his hand a sheathed
+sword with its baldric, and a large coil of rope upon his arm. Without
+uttering a word, he crossed the chamber, came close up to the young
+knight, and put the sword in his hands. Then advancing to the window,
+he opened it, fastened one end of the rope tight to the iron bar which
+ran up the centre of the casement, and suffered the other to drop
+gently down on the outside. Richard of Woodville gazed with some
+interest at this proceeding, as may be supposed. In the state of his
+mind at that moment, no means of escape could seem too desperate for
+him to adopt; and although he doubted that the rope, though strong,
+would bear his weight, he resolved to make the attempt,
+notwithstanding the tremendous height of the window from the ground.
+
+Approaching the man, he whispered, "Would it not be better for you to
+turn the rope round the bar and let me down? My hands have been so
+long in prison, that I doubt their holding their grasp very tightly."
+
+The man merely waved his finger and shook his head, without reply,
+finished what he was about, and, taking from the table one of the
+gloves which the young knight had worn under his gauntlets, much to
+the spectator's surprise, dropped it out of the window.
+
+"Now come with me," he whispered; "it is needful for us who stay
+behind, to have it thought for a day or two that you have made your
+escape without help. The demoiselle has paid us half the money, as she
+promised; and we will keep our word with her. There shall no danger
+attend you. We have better means of getting you out than breaking your
+neck by a fall from the casement."
+
+"But you were to give me a word," said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Ay," answered the man, "I recollect: it was Mary Markham--Follow me."
+
+Without hesitation, the prisoner accompanied him; but paused for an
+instant in some surprise on finding two armed men at the back of the
+door, one holding a lamp in his hand. The guard who was with him,
+however, took no notice; but, receiving the lamp from the other, led
+the way in a different direction from the staircase up which Woodville
+had been brought, when first he was conducted to his chamber of
+captivity. Then opening a door on the right, he entered a room, in the
+wall of which appeared a low archway, exposing to the eye, as the
+light flashed forward, the top of a steep, small staircase.
+
+"I will go down first with the lamp," whispered the man, "that you may
+see where you are going. Give a heed to your footing, too, for it is
+mighty slippery, especially on such a damp night as this."
+
+Thus saying, he led the way; and Richard of Woodville followed down
+the winding steps, cut apparently in the thickness of the wall. Green
+mould and clammy slime hung upon all the stones as they descended,
+except where, every here and there, a loophole admitted the free air
+of heaven and chased the damp away. The steps seemed interminable, one
+after another, one after another, till Woodville became sure that they
+were descending to a greater depth than the mere base of the castle;
+and, looking round, as the lamplight gleamed upon the walls, he beheld
+no more the hewn stone work which had appeared above, but the rough
+excavation of the solid rock. At length the steps ceased, as passing
+along a vault of masonry, perhaps forty or fifty feet long, the man
+unbolted and unbarred a small but solid door covered with iron plates;
+and in a moment the lamp was extinguished by the blast from without.
+All seemed dark and impenetrable to the eye; the wind roared through
+the vault; the rain dashed in the faces of Woodville and his
+companion; but, giving the lamp an oath, as if it had been to blame
+for what the storm had done, the man set it down behind the door, and
+then walked on, saying, "Keep close to me, for it is steep here."
+
+Following down a little path as the man led, the young knight's eyes
+became more accustomed to the gloom, and he thought he descried, at a
+short distance, a group of men and horses standing under a light
+feathery tree. Hurrying on, with eager hope, he demanded of his guide
+who the persons were whom he saw before him.
+
+"Your saucy page is one," said the guard; "but who the others are I do
+not know. The young clerk, I suppose, is one, and his servant the
+other; for I dare say the demoiselle would not come out on such a
+night as this, and faith, I cannot well see whether they be men or
+women in this light;" and he shaded his eyes with his hands, with very
+needless precaution, where scarcely a ray pierced the welkin.
+
+At that moment, however, one of the figures moved towards him, asking,
+"Is all right?"
+
+"All, all," answered the guard; "have you brought the rest of the
+money, master clerk? Here stands the prisoner free; so my part of the
+bargain is done."
+
+"And there is the rest of the gold, good fellow," replied the other
+speaker; "all right money, and well counted."
+
+"Ay, I must take it on your word," said the man who had brought
+Woodville thither, "my lamp has been blown out; but I may well trust
+you; for the other half was full tale and a piece over."
+
+"That was for chaffage," replied the youth; "and if this noble knight
+gets safe to the King's camp, you shall have a hundred pieces more; so
+go, and keep his escape, and the way he has taken, as secret as
+possible."
+
+"That I will, for mine own sake," answered the soldier; "or I should
+soon know gibbet and cord. Good night, good night!" and waving his
+hand, he turned away, while the young clerk addressed Woodville,
+saying, "You must put yourself under my guidance, noble sir, for a few
+hours, and then we shall be safe."
+
+"I have much to thank you for, young gentleman," answered Woodville,
+following, as the other hurried on to the horses; and in a few minutes
+the knight, his page, the clerk, and the clerk's servant were on
+their way. But to Woodville's surprise, instead of taking any of the
+by-roads that led on through the country to remote villages and
+hamlets, they followed the direct high road towards Paris, which he
+had gazed upon for many a day from his solitary chamber in the tower.
+
+After proceeding some way in silence, without hearing any sounds which
+could lead them to believe that the knight's escape had been
+discovered, and that they were pursued, Woodville endeavoured to gain
+some information from the clerk of Sir John Grey, as to the means
+which had been taken to effect his liberation, and more particularly,
+as to the lady who had been mentioned by the guard.
+
+On the latter point the youth replied not; and on the former he merely
+said, "The means were very simple, noble knight, and you yourself saw
+some of them employed. Money, which unlocks all doors, was the key of
+your prison. The man who refuses ransom to a captive, had better see
+that he guard him sure; for that which is a small sum to him, may be a
+great one to a gaoler, and one quarter of the amount offered for your
+redemption, served to set you free. But I think, sir," he added, "we
+had better speak as little as possible upon any head, till we have
+passed the capital, for the tongue of an escaped prisoner, like the
+track of gore to the bloodhound, often brings him within the fangs of
+his pursuers."
+
+Richard of Woodville judged the caution too wise not to be followed;
+and on they rode in silence at a brisk pace, with the wind blowing,
+and the rain dashing against them, through the darkness of the night,
+for somewhat more than two hours, following the broad and open road
+all the way, till the young knight thought they must be approaching
+Paris. More than once, indeed, he fancied that he caught a glimpse of
+some large dark mass before him; and imagination shaped towers and
+pinnacles in the black obscurity of night; but at length the clerk's
+man, who seemed to act as guide, pronounced the words, "To the left!"
+and striking into a narrower, though still well beaten path, they soon
+came upon a river, flowing on dull and heavy, but with a glistening
+light, in the midst of its dark banks, which they followed for some
+way, till a bridge presented itself, which they crossed, and then,
+turning a little to the right again, continued their course without
+drawing a rein, till the faint grey streaks of morning began to appear
+in the east.
+
+Shortly after, a bell was heard ringing slowly, apparently at no great
+distance; and the young clerk said aloud, with a sigh of relief,
+"Thank God!"
+
+"You are fatigued, young gentleman, with this long stormy ride, I
+fear?" said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"A little," was the only reply; and in a few minutes they stopped at
+the gate of a small walled building, bearing the aspect of some
+inferior priory of a religious house. The bell was still ringing when
+they approached; but the door was closed; and the clerk and his
+attendant dismounted and knocked for admission. A board was almost
+immediately withdrawn from behind a grating of iron, about a palm in
+breadth and twice as much in length, and a voice demanded, "Who are
+you?"
+
+"Bourgogne," replied the clerk; and instantly the door was opened
+without further inquiry. The arrival of the party seemed to have been
+expected; for two men, not dressed in monastic habits, took the horses
+without further inquiry; a monk addressed himself to Woodville, and
+bade him follow; and, before he could ask any questions, he and his
+companions were led in different directions, the one to one part of
+the building, and the others to another.
+
+With the same celerity and taciturnity, his guide introduced him to a
+small but comfortable chamber, provided him with all that he could
+require, and bidding him strip off his wet clothes, and lie down to
+rest in peace, returned with a cup of warm spiced wine, "to chase the
+damp out of his marrow," as he termed it. The young knight drained it
+willingly, and then would fain have asked the old man some questions;
+but the only information he could gain imported, that he was at Triel,
+the old man always replying, "To bed, to bed, and sleep. You can talk
+when you have had rest."
+
+Woodville finding he could obtain no other answer, followed his
+counsel: and, wearied with such a journey after a long period of
+inactivity, but with a heart lightened by the feeling that he was
+free, he had hardly laid his limbs on the pallet before he was asleep.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+                          THE PRISONER FREE.
+
+
+The only true calm and happy sleep that man can ever obtain, is given
+by the heart at ease. Slumber, deep, profound, and heavy, may be
+obtained by fatigue of body or of mind; but even those great and
+tranquil spirited men, of whom it is recorded that, at any time, they
+could lie down, banish thought and care, and obtain repose in the most
+trying circumstances, must have gained the power, from that
+consciousness of having done all to ensure success in the course
+before them that human wisdom can achieve, or by that confidence in
+the resources within, which are the chief lighteners of the load of
+life.
+
+Richard of Woodville slept soundly, but it was heavily. It was the
+sleep of weariness, not of peace. His mind was agitated even during
+slumber, with many of the subjects which might well press for
+attention in the circumstances in which he was placed; and unbridled
+fancy hurried him through innumerable dreams. Now he saw her he loved
+standing at the altar with another; and when the figure turned its
+face towards him, he beheld Simeon of Roydon. Then he stood in the
+presence of the King; and Henry, with a frowning brow, turned to an
+executioner, with the countenance of Sir Henry Dacre, but gigantic
+limbs, and ordered him to strike off the prisoner's head. Then came
+Isabel Beauchamp to plead for his life; and suddenly, as the King was
+turning away, a pale shadowy form, through which he could see the
+figures on the arras behind, appeared before the monarch, and he
+recognised the spirit of the murdered Catherine. Old times were
+strangely mingled with the thoughts of the present; and sometimes he
+was a boy again; sometimes still a prisoner in the castle of
+Montl'herry: sometimes in the court of a strange prince, receiving
+high rewards for some imaginary service. He heard voices, too, as well
+as saw sights; and the words rang in his ears,
+
+
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find;
+                   Shall win praise.
+                   And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+
+At length when he had slept long, he suddenly started and raised
+himself upon his arm, for some one touched him; and looking round he
+saw the clerk with his black hood still drawn far over his head, and
+the page who had been his fellow captive, standing by the side of the
+pallet.
+
+"You must be up and away, sir knight," said the young clerk, in the
+sweet musical tones of youth. "In an hour, a party of the Canonesses
+of Cambray, who arrived at noon under the escort of a body of my Lord
+of Charolois' men-at-arms,[12] are to depart for Amiens, and you and
+your page can ride forward with them. I must here leave your fair
+company; for I have other matters to attend to for my good lord."
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 12: The actual removal of the Canonesses of Cambray took
+place a few months later.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"But I shall see you again, young sir, I trust?" said Woodville; "I
+owe you guerdon, as well as thanks and deep gratitude."
+
+"I have only done my duty, noble knight," replied the clerk; "but we
+shall soon meet again; for I suppose your first task will be to seek
+Sir John Grey, who is with the King; and I shall not be long absent
+from him,--so fare you well, sir."
+
+"But where am I to find him?" demanded Woodville; "remember I am in
+utter ignorance of all that has happened."
+
+"Nor do I know much," answered the clerk. "Rumour is my only source of
+information; for I have been cut off from all direct communication for
+many weeks. The only certainty is, that King Henry and his friends are
+now in France; that Harfleur surrendered a few weeks ago, and that he
+is marching through the land with banners displayed. You will hear of
+him as you go; and as soon as you know which way his steps are bent,
+you can hasten to join him. But ere you discover yourself to any one
+else, seek out Sir John Grey, and take counsel with him, for false
+reports have been spread concerning you, and no one can tell how the
+King's mind may be affected."
+
+"But tell me, at least, before you go," said Richard of Woodville,
+"who was the lady spoken of by the man who aided my escape at
+Montl'herry; and also, who it is that has generously paid the high
+sums which were doubtless demanded for my deliverance?"
+
+"In truth, noble sir," replied the clerk, "I must not stay to answer
+you; for the people with whom I go are waiting for me; and I must
+depart immediately. You will know all hereafter in good time. It was
+the Lord of Croy who furnished the money needful. Now, fare you well,
+and Heaven give you guidance!"
+
+Thus saying, he departed, without waiting for farther question; and
+Richard of Woodville rising, dressed himself in haste in the same
+clothes which he had worn the day before, but which he now found
+carefully dried and ready for his use.
+
+"I must have slept sound, boy," he said, speaking to the page, who
+remained beside him; "for I do not think that at any other time my
+clothes could have been taken away from my bed side, and I not know
+it."
+
+"You did sleep sound, sir knight," replied the page, laughing; "and
+talked in your sleep, moreover, while we were looking at you. But I
+can tell you who the lady was at Montl'herry, if you must needs know,
+as well as the clerk, for I saw her once speaking with the guard."
+
+"Say, say!" cried Richard of Woodville, impatiently. "I would fain
+know, for she must be in peril, if left behind."
+
+"Why, it was the fair demoiselle," answered the page, "who went with
+us from Nieuport to Ghent. I caught but a glimpse of her, indeed; but
+that bright face is not easily forgotten when once it has been seen."
+
+"And yet I never thought of her!" murmured Richard of Woodville to
+himself: "poor girl, her deep gratitude would have merited better
+remembrance. Why smile you, boy? Every honourable man is bound to
+recollect all who trust him, and all who serve him."
+
+"Nay, sir," replied the page, resuming a grave look, "I did but smile
+to think how often ladies remember knights and gentlemen, when they
+are themselves forgot."
+
+"A sad comment on the baseness of man's nature," answered Woodville;
+"let it never be so with you, boy. Now, see for the old monk; my purse
+is very empty, but I would not that he should call me niggard."
+
+Some minutes passed before the page returned; but when he appeared he
+came not alone, nor empty handed, for the old man was with him who had
+conducted the fugitive to his chamber the night before; and the one
+carried a large bottle and a tin cup, while the other was loaded with
+a pasty and a loaf of brown bread. Such refreshment was very
+acceptable to the young knight; but the good monk hurried him at his
+meal, telling him that his party were waiting for him; and, finishing
+the repast as soon as possible, Woodville rose and put a piece of gold
+into his good purveyor's hand, saying, "That for your house, father.
+Now I am ready."
+
+On going out into the little court between the priory and the abbey,
+he found some twelve or fourteen men mounted; and at the call of the
+monk who accompanied him, a party of six Canonesses and two novices,
+all closely veiled, came forth from the little lodge by the gate. They
+were soon upon the mules which stood ready for them; but the good
+ladies eyed with an inquiring glance the young stranger who was about
+to join their party; and one of them, as she marked the knightly spurs
+he wore, turned to her companions, and made some observation which
+created a light-hearted laugh amongst those around. The moment after,
+they issued forth from the gates, and rode on at a quick pace in the
+direction of Gisors.
+
+The day was evidently far advanced, but the sun, though somewhat past
+his meridian, was still very powerful, so that the horses were
+distressed with the heat. The commander of the men-at-arms, however,
+would permit no relaxation of their speed, much to the annoyance of
+the fair Canonesses, who had every inclination to amuse the tedious
+moments of the journey by chattering with the young knight, and the
+other persons who escorted them. In reply to their remonstrances, the
+leader told them that if they did not make haste, they would get
+entangled between the two armies, and then worse might come of it.
+
+"Besides," he said, "we have strict orders from our lord the Duke to
+take part with neither French nor English; and it would be a hard
+matter to fall in with either, and not strike one stroke for the
+honour of our arms."
+
+Judging from his reply that he must have some knowledge of the
+relative position of the two hosts, Richard of Woodville endeavoured
+to gain intelligence from him, as to both the events which had lately
+taken place in France, and those which were likely to follow; but the
+man seemed sullen, and unwilling to communicate with his companion of
+the way, replying to all questions merely by a monosyllable, or by the
+assertion that he did not know.
+
+Thus passed by hour after hour, during their first and second day's
+journey, which brought them to the small town of Breteuil. They had
+hitherto paused either for the purpose of seeking repose, or of taking
+refreshment, at religious houses only; but at Breteuil they took up
+their lodging for the night at the inn of the place, which they found
+vacant of all guests. The town, too, as they entered it, seemed
+melancholy and nearly deserted; but the tongue of the good host made
+up for the stillness which reigned around; and from him Richard of
+Woodville discovered that the apparent abandonment of the place by its
+inhabitants was caused partly by the dread which some of the more
+wealthy townsmen had felt on the near approach of several large
+detachments of English troops, and partly by the zeal of the younger
+portion of the population, which had led them to proceed in arms to
+join the royal standard raised against the invaders. From him, too,
+the young knight found that the King of England, at the head of his
+army, was marching rapidly up the Somme, in order to force the passage
+of that river, but that, as all the fords were strictly guarded, and
+French troops in immense multitudes were gathering on the opposite
+bank, it was scarcely possible that many days could pass without a
+battle.
+
+"'Twas but yesterday at this hour," said the host, "that news reached
+the town that a fight had taken place at Fremont; and then, this
+morning we heard it was all false, and that the English King has not
+yet passed the river."
+
+"Where was he when last you heard of him?" demanded Richard of
+Woodville, taking care to use the French tongue, which he spoke with
+less accent, perhaps, than most of the inhabitants of distant
+provinces.
+
+"Oh, he was at Bauvillers," answered the landlord of the hostel, "and
+he wont get much farther without fighting, I fancy; for he has got St.
+Quentin on his right, and our people before him. Heaven send that he
+may not march back again; for then, he would come right through
+Breteuil; and we are poor enough without being pillaged by those
+vagabond English. I wonder your Duke does not come to the King's help,
+with all his gallant men-at-arms, for then these proud islanders would
+be caught in a net, and could not get out."
+
+"It is a wonder," answered Richard of Woodville. "But, hark! and, as
+he listened, he heard two sweet voices talking in the hall, in a
+tongue that sounded like English to his ear.
+
+"I am sure of it," said the one, "and if it be so, I beseech you own
+it. My heart beat so, I can scarcely speak; but, I say again, I am
+sure of it; and that if you will, you have the power not alone to
+punish the guilty, for that, perhaps, you may not desire--"
+
+"Yes I do," replied the other, in a somewhat sharper tone; "and in my
+own good time, I will do it."
+
+"To punish the guilty, the time is your own," replied the first voice;
+"but, to save the innocent from utter destruction, there is no time
+but the present."
+
+"Ha! you must tell me more," said the second, in a tone of surprise;
+"from utter destruction, did you say? Let us to our chamber. There we
+can speak at ease."
+
+Richard of Woodville heard no more; but what he did hear cast him into
+deep thought; and when the next morning they again set out upon their
+journey, he gazed with an inquiring eye at the Canonesses and their
+companions--and, mingling in their conversation, endeavoured to
+discover if the voices which he had heard were to be distinguished
+amongst them. They all laughed and talked gaily with him, however, in
+the French tongue; and he came to the conclusion, that though the host
+had assured him the inn was vacant when he and his party arrived, some
+other guests must have passed the night within its walls.
+
+On their way during this day, he remarked that the leader of the
+men-at-arms inquired often and anxiously, in every town and village,
+for news of the two armies. Little information did he gain, except
+from vague reports; but some of these, it would appear, induced him to
+alter his course towards Amiens, and strike off to the right, in the
+direction of Peronne. The young knight had not been inattentive to
+everything that was said, and he heard that the King of France, and
+all his nobility, were certainly gathered together in the direction of
+Bapaume, while the rumour grew stronger and more strong, that the
+English army had effected the passage of the Somme at some unguarded
+ford, in the neighbourhood of St. Quentin, and was boldly marching on
+towards Calais.
+
+Such tidings, as the reader may well suppose, caused not a little
+agitation in the mind of the young soldier. Apprehension, lest a
+battle should be fought and he be absent, was certainly the
+predominant sensation; but, still he had to ask himself, even if he
+arrived in time, where arms were to be procured, and a horse fit to
+bear him through such a strife as that which was likely to take place?
+The beast he rode, though swift and enduring, was far too lightly
+formed to carry a knight equipped according to the fashion of that
+day; and no weapons of any kind did he possess, but the dagger which
+he had retained when captured.
+
+It seemed clear to him, also, that the leader of the Burgundian
+men-at-arms, had, in common with most of his countrymen, a strong
+inclination to take part with the French, who were naturally
+considered as kinsmen and allies, against the English, who were looked
+upon as strangers and enemies; and he felt convinced that the
+soldier's course had been altered in the hope, that, by falling in
+with the troops of the King of France, he might find a fair excuse for
+disobeying the more politic orders of his Prince, and take a share in
+the approaching combat.
+
+Such thoughts brought with them some doubts of his own safety; and
+assuredly the dull, taciturn, and repulsive demeanour of the commander
+of the troop, was not calculated to win confidence. It was evident,
+however, that orders--which he trusted would meet with some
+respect--had been laid upon his sullen companion, to treat him with
+deference, and attend to his comfort and convenience; for, at every
+place where they stopped by the way, the best chamber, after their
+fair charge had been attended to, was assigned to himself; and it was
+not without permission that the men-at-arms sat down to the same table
+with him, affecting much to reverence his knightly rank.
+
+At length, after a long and hard day's ride, the party reached
+Peronne, on the evening of the second day after quitting Breteuil; and
+as they approached the gates, the young knight's confidence was
+somewhat restored, by the leader of the men-at-arms riding up to his
+side, and saying, in a low tone, "I pray you, sir knight, be careful
+here, and give no hint of your being an Englishman; for we are coming
+on dangerous ground."
+
+"I will be careful, my good friend," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"and to say the truth, if we can discover where the King of England
+is, it may be as well for me to quit your party soon, as I may bring
+danger upon you for no purpose."
+
+"We shall soon near more," replied the soldier, "but you had better be
+beyond the walls of Peronne, before you part from us."
+
+The scantiness of the band, and the title of Burgundian soldiers, soon
+obtained admission for the little party; but all was found in a state
+of bustle and activity within the town; and every tongue was full of
+the late passage of the King of England, at a short distance from the
+place. Great was the bravado of the inhabitants, who universally
+declared, that they wished he had sat down before their walls, to
+afford them an opportunity of showing what glorious deeds they would
+have performed; and all spoke of the condition of the English troops
+as lamentable, and their fate sealed. The approaching battle was
+looked forward to as a certain triumph for the arms of France, and
+rather as a great slaughter of a flying enemy, than a conflict with a
+powerful force. The very monks of the monastery where the men-at-arms
+received entertainment, while the Canonesses were lodged in the
+adjoining nunnery, were full of the same martial spirit; and a few
+years earlier, it is probable, their superior would have put himself
+in armour to aid in the destruction of the foe. Frequently was Richard
+of Woodville appealed to as a knight, to pronounce upon the likelihood
+of King Henry surrendering at discretion; and some difficulty had he
+so to shape his answers as to escape suspicion.
+
+From the conversation which took place, however, he learned that his
+own sovereign was in the neighbourhood of a small town at no great
+distance; and he resolved, as soon as he was free from the walls of
+Peronne, to hurry thither without any farther delay. He ventured,
+during the evening, to issue forth for a short time into the city, in
+the hope of being able to purchase arms: but scarcely any were to be
+found in the town: and such had been the demand for good armour, that
+the price had risen far beyond his scanty means. All that he could
+afford to buy was a strong, well-tempered sword of a somewhat antique
+form, which he found in the shop of an armourer; and even for that the
+price demanded was enormous.
+
+Returning to the monastery, he soon escaped from a sort of
+conversation that was by no means pleasant to his ear, by retiring to
+rest; and though for some time he did not sleep, yet when slumber did
+visit his eyelids, she came soft and balmy. The troubled thoughts died
+away--the anxious questioning of the unsatisfied mind ceased--the wild
+throbbing of the eager heart for the coming of the undeveloped hours,
+found repose; and he woke calm and refreshed with the first dawn of
+day, to meet whatever might be in store, with a spirit prepared and
+ready, and a body reinvigorated by the alternation of exertion and
+rest.
+
+The monastery was one of those, not at all uncommon in those days, in
+which the vow of seclusion did not by any means exclude contrivances
+for enjoying at least some communion with the world. It was not
+surrounded by stern walls, and a large wing of the building rested
+upon the street, with windows small and high up indeed, and only
+lighting the chambers appropriated to the use of visitors, but which
+often afforded the monks themselves an excellent view of what was
+passing in the town without. In dressing himself with as much care as
+circumstances would permit, Richard of Woodville approached one of
+these narrow casements, and gazed out upon the gay scene that was
+enacted below; and, though so early, multitudes of people were to be
+seen passing along. While some stood for a moment gossiping with their
+neighbours, some were hurrying forward to their busy day, and others
+pausing to watch a considerable body of men-at-arms, who, in somewhat
+bad array, and without the display of much soldier-like order, came
+down from a house farther up.
+
+When he saw them at a distance, the young knight's first thought was,
+"If all the French troops are like these, it will be no very difficult
+task to win a field of them." But as the troop came on, and the three
+leaders riding in front, passed under the window, he was struck by the
+arms of one of them who appeared in the middle. He could have sworn
+that the armour in which the knight was habited was familiar to his
+eye; and it must be recollected that the ornaments which covered the
+harness of a man-at-arms in those days were rarely the same, so that
+means of identification were always at hand, such as we do not possess
+in the present times. But there, before his eyes, if he could believe
+their testimony, was the identical suit which had been sent to him by
+good Sir Philip Beauchamp, shortly before he left the shores of
+England. There were the fan-shaped palettes, with the quaint gilt
+figures in the corners, and the upturned pauldrons with the edge of
+gold, and the bacinet shaped like a globe, with the enamelled plate on
+the forehead bearing "Ave, Maria!"
+
+There could be no doubt that it was the same; and Woodville's brow
+knit for a moment, and his teeth closed tight. But the next instant he
+smiled again, asking half aloud, "How could a prisoner of near two
+years escape pillage? If I meet you in the field, my friend, I will
+have that harness back again for Mary's sake, or I will lie low."
+
+Thus saying, he resumed his toilet, and the troop passed on. A moment
+after, he heard a voice singing, and turning to the window again he
+looked out. The sounds did not come from below; but there was a large
+projecting mass of building, with loopholes on the three sides, which
+protruded into the street on his right; and it seemed to him that the
+sounds came thence. He listened, and caught some of the words; but
+every now and then they died away in the cadence of a wild French air
+of the period, but those he could distinguish seemed so well suited to
+his situation at the time, that he strove eagerly to hear more:--
+
+
+             "Away, away, to the field of fame,
+                Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie away,"
+
+
+were the first sounds he could make out; but the next stanza was more
+distinct, and went on thus, in the French tongue:--
+
+
+             "Think of thy lady at home in her bower,
+                On her knees, for her lord to pray,
+              Think of her terror and hope in the hour
+                When your banner floats proud in array,
+                                          Well aday!
+
+             "Away, away, to the field of fame,
+                Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie away!
+              For King, for country, and deathless name
+                Is each stroke that is stricken to-day,
+                            Trara la, trara la, trara lay!
+
+             "The hopes of years and the fame of life
+                Are lost or won ere evening's ray.
+              Thy father's spirit looks down on the strife,
+                And bids thee to battle away,
+                                          Well aday!
+
+             "Away, away, to the field of fame,
+                Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie way!
+              For king, for country, and deathless name
+                Is each stroke that is stricken to-day,
+                            Trara la, trara la, trara lay!"
+
+
+As he was listening for more, a knock was heard at the door of his
+chamber, and bidding the applicant come in, Richard of Woodville was
+somewhat surprised to see the personage whom we have designated as the
+clerk's man, enter in some haste.
+
+"I thought you were still sleeping, sir knight," he said; "but I
+ventured to wake you, as, by Heaven's good will, it seems there will
+be a battle shortly, and methought you would like to hear such
+tidings, and be present at such a deed."
+
+"I have heard that such is likely to be the case," answered Woodville,
+"and am eager enough to set out, my friend. But how came you here? and
+where have you left your master?"
+
+"Oh, I have followed you close," the man replied; "I only waited to
+see that the enemy's hounds had not got scent of the deer; but the
+slot has been crossed by so many other herds, that they soon lost the
+track. I have wakened master Isambert, who leads the Duke's party, and
+he will be in the saddle in half an hour. As to my master, he has gone
+by the other road, and I dare to say has joined Sir John at
+Brettenville, or Beauvillers, or where they passed the Somme."
+
+"Is this Isambert very faithful, think you?" asked the young knight.
+
+"Not too much so," replied the man, calmly; "but in your case he dare
+as soon give his throat to the knife, as do you wrong; for the Duke,
+and the Count, and the Lord of Croy, would all have bloody vengeance,
+if aught of evil befel you ere you are with your own people. However,
+it will not be amiss to quit him soon; for I find a body of his own
+folks have just marched out under Robinet de Bournonville--as wild a
+marauder as ever a wild land brought forth; and it is well to get out
+of such company when they are too many; for what one man dare not do,
+a number think nothing of."
+
+"Then," said the young knight, "this good Isambert's arrival at Triel
+was not a matter of chance, as I thought it?"
+
+"Oh, no!" replied the other; "he came thither on purpose to give you
+aid. He might have saved fifteen leagues by another road; but the
+Duke's commands were not to be disobeyed. However, noble knight, you
+had better get some breakfast; for Heaven only knows when we shall
+have an opportunity of putting anything into our mouths again. You
+might as well follow a flight of locusts, they tell me, as our army.
+The refectioner is serving out meat to the men, and mead, too, for we
+have quitted the land of wine."
+
+The young knight bade him go and provide for himself; and, soon
+following, he took a hasty meal before he mounted with the rest. The
+whole party were speedily in the saddle; the streets of the town were
+soon passed, and the gates of Peronne closed behind them.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XL.
+
+                             THE MYSTERY.
+
+
+It is quite right and proper to suppose that the reader is thoroughly
+acquainted with the position, situation, and peculiarities of every
+town, to which we may be pleased to lead him; and, therefore, it may
+be unnecessary to remind him, that Peronne is surrounded by marshy
+ground, which soon gives way to a hilly country, which, at the time I
+speak of, was of a very wild and desolate character. The party of
+Burgundian horse, with Richard of Woodville and the fair Canonesses,
+rode on through this track towards Arras, at the same quick pace as
+during the preceding part of their journey; and even the ladies
+themselves were glad to keep their mules at a rapid amble; for the
+weather had undergone a sudden change, and a foul north-easterly wind
+was blowing sharp, cutting them to the marrow. The troop was now
+increased by the presence of the clerk's servant; and with him, as
+they went, the young English gentleman held more than one
+consultation, which resulted in Woodville adopting the resolution of
+quitting the escort, shortly after passing the Abbey of Arrouaise,
+where it was proposed that they should stop to dine.
+
+The whole party, however, were destined to be disappointed of their
+comfortable meal; for when, after passing Feuillancourt, Rancourt, and
+Sailly, they approached the gates of the monastery, and rang the great
+bell, no one responded to the summons for some time. As they sat upon
+their horses waiting for admission, the sight of a neighbouring barn
+burnt to the ground, and still smoking, showed them that some party of
+pillagers had passed that morning; and they began to think that the
+monastery was deserted, which was certainly the case with the little
+village itself. The sound of voices within, however, at length induced
+them to make another application to the bell; and, after a short
+pause, a monk's head appeared at the window over the gate, exclaiming,
+"Get you gone, brothers, get you gone. You cannot enter here."
+
+The leader of the troop remonstrated, and announced his name as
+Isambert of Agincourt; but the reply was still the same, the monk
+adding, by way of explanation, "We have suffered too much from you all
+already this morning. We will open our gates to none, and we have
+cross-bow men within, who will shoot if you do not retire. Do you not
+see the barns burning?"
+
+"But that was done by the savage Englishmen," replied Isambert; "we
+are friends. We are men of Burgundy."
+
+"So were these," answered the monk; "but the Duke and the English
+understand each other; for that sacrilegious villain, Robinet de
+Bournonville, had Englishmen with him. Get you gone, I will hear no
+more; and if you do not go, the men shall shoot."
+
+The sight of several men upon the wall, with cross-bows in their
+hands, gave effect to the old man's words; and Isambert withdrew
+slowly, muttering curses at his friend, Robinet de Bournonville, for
+depriving him of his dinner. When he reached the bottom of the next
+slope, he halted to consult his companions and Richard of Woodville,
+as to what was to be done to procure food for themselves and for their
+horses; and he finally determined to return to Sailly, where a good
+hostel had been observed as they passed.
+
+But Richard of Woodville took this opportunity of separating himself
+from the rest of the party, and announced his intention to Isambert of
+Agincourt, who seemed by no means sorry to get rid of him. The clerk's
+man and his own page were the only companions whom the young gentleman
+expected to go with him; and he was not a little surprised when the
+two novices drew aside from the ladies of Cambray, and the taller of
+the two begged that he would have the kindness to give them the
+benefit of his escort as far as Hesdin, saying, "We were on our way to
+Amiens, and thence to Montreuil, and not to Arras, whither, it seems
+now, this noble gentleman is bending his steps."
+
+One of the Canonesses interposed a remonstrance, representing the
+danger of falling in with some party of English troops; but she did
+not venture to use a tone of authority, as the novices belonged to
+another Order; and the young lady who had already spoken, replied
+briefly, in a resolute and somewhat haughty tone, "that she had no
+fear, and, knowing what it was her duty to do, should do it."
+
+"Well, settle the matter as you please, fair ladies," cried Isambert
+of Agincourt; "only be quick, for I have no time to lose;" and no
+farther opposition being made, Richard of Woodville undertook to
+protect, as far as he could, the two novices on the way, only warning
+them in general terms, that as soon as he discovered the exact
+position of the armies, he must join them; promising, however, to send
+on his page and the man with them to Hesdin. This being understood, he
+took leave of the commander of the men-at-arms; and choosing the first
+road to the left, under the direction of the clerk's man, who seemed
+thoroughly acquainted with the whole country, he proceeded for some
+way at a quick pace, till they reached a village, which seemed to have
+escaped the predatory propensities of the soldiery on both parts, and
+there paused to feed his horses, and to procure some refreshment for
+himself and his companions.
+
+Though he had tried to entertain the two young ladies to the best of
+his power as they rode along, either their notions of propriety, or
+some anxiety in regard to their situation, rendered them cold and
+taciturn in their communications; and, unlike the gay Canonesses from
+whom they had just parted, they neither seemed inclined to converse
+with the knight or with each other, nor ever raised their veils to
+take a coquettish look at the country through which they passed. They
+now refused refreshment, also, saying, "It is not our habit to eat
+with men;" and as the house, at which they had bought some bread and
+mead, had but one public room, Richard of Woodville, with his two male
+companions, retired to the door while the horses fed, and left the shy
+novices to partake of what was set upon the table if they thought fit.
+
+While there, the young knight entered into conversation with the good
+peasant who supplied them, and, though the jargon which the man spoke
+was scarcely intelligible, made out, that the English army had marched
+from Acheux on the preceding day, and had encamped the night before
+amongst the villages near the source of the Canche. Of the movements
+of the French army he could learn nothing, however, which led him to a
+false belief, that he was likely to meet with no interruption from the
+enemy in following the march of his own sovereign.
+
+As the young knight rode on, and came into the country through which
+the English army had passed, the sad and terrible effects of that
+barbarous system of warfare, which was universal in those times, made
+themselves visible at every step. Houses and villages burnt, cattle
+slaughtered and left half consumed by the wayside, and fruit trees cut
+down for the purpose of lighting fires, presented themselves all along
+the road; and the painful feelings which such a scene could not but
+produce were aggravated by the lamentations of the villagers, who felt
+no terror at the appearance of a party consisting of women and of men
+without any arms except those usually worn in time of peace, and who
+poured forth their complaints to Woodville's ear, pointing to their
+ruined dwellings, and their little property destroyed, and cursing the
+ambition of kings, and the ferocity of their soldiery.
+
+The young knight felt grieved and sorrowful; but he was surprised to
+find that the bitterness of the peasantry was less excited against the
+English themselves, than he had expected; and, on guiding the
+conversation with one of these poor men in a direction which he
+thought would lead to some explanation of the fact, the villager
+replied vehemently, "The English are not so bad as our own people.
+They are enemies, and we might expect worse at their hands; but,
+wherever the King or his brothers were, they destroyed little or
+nothing, and only took what they wanted. But, since they have passed,
+we have had two bands of Frenchmen, who have destroyed everything that
+the English left, on the pretence that we favoured them, though they
+knew that we could not resist. The Duke of York took my meat and my
+flour; but he left my house standing, and injured no one in the place.
+That cursed Robinet de Bournonville, and his companion the captain
+Vodeville, burnt down my house and carried off my daughter."
+
+The young knight consoled the poor man as well as he could, and gave
+him a piece of silver, thinking it somewhat strange, indeed, that one
+of Bournonville's companions should have a name so nearly resembling
+his own. He and his companions rode on, however, still finding that
+the band, which he had seen issue forth from Peronne in the morning,
+had gone on before them, till they reached the town of Acheux, which
+was well nigh deserted. Most of the houses were closed and the doors
+nailed up; but they had evidently been broken into by the windows, and
+had been rifled of all their contents. In the mere hovels, indeed,
+some cottagers were seen; and on inquiring of one of these where they
+could find any place of rest, as night was coming on, the man led them
+to a large, ancient, embattled mansion in the centre of the town,
+which, though stripped of everything easily portable, still contained
+some beds and pallets. An old woman was found in the house, which
+she said belonged to the Lord of Acheux, and for a small piece of
+silver she agreed to make the strangers as comfortable as she could,
+seeming--perhaps, from old experience of such things--perhaps, from
+the obtuseness of age--to feel the horrors of war less keenly than any
+one they had yet met with. Money, however, made all her faculties
+alive, and declaring that she knew, notwithstanding the pillage which
+the place had undergone, where to procure corn for the cattle, and
+bread, eggs, and even wine, for the party, she set out upon her
+search, while Woodville and his two male companions led the horses and
+mules to the vacant stable, and the two novices remained in one of the
+desolate chambers up the great flight of stairs.
+
+When the beasts had been tied to the manger, the young knight returned
+with the man and the boy to their fair companions; but the old woman
+had not yet returned; and as night was falling fast, he lighted a
+small lamp which he found in the kitchen, and returned with it to the
+chamber above. A few minutes after, while he was expressing his sorrow
+to the two maidens that he could find no better lodging for them, the
+sound of a small party of horse was heard below, and a voice exclaimed
+in English, "Ah! there is a light--I will lodge here, Matthew. Take my
+casque. This cursed cuirass pinches me on the shoulder: unbuckle this
+strap. Keep a watch for Ned, or any one he may send."
+
+The voice was not unfamiliar to Richard of Woodville; and a heavy
+frown gathered upon his brow. His first impulse was to lay his hand
+upon his sword, and take a step towards the door; but then,
+remembering what fearful odds there might be against him, he turned to
+the window and looked out. He could distinguish little but that there
+were ten or twelve men below; and as he gazed, a step was heard upon
+the stairs. The young gentleman turned hastily to close and bolt the
+door; but to his surprise he beheld the taller of the two novices with
+the lamp in her hand, walking rapidly towards the entrance; and
+turning towards him, she said in a stern and solemn tone, "Leave him
+to me!"
+
+The next instant she had passed the door; and when Richard of
+Woodville reached it and looked out into the gloomy corridor, he could
+see her, by the lamp that she held in her hand, meet Simeon of Roydon,
+upon whose face the full light fell, as he was just reaching the top
+of the stairs. Her back was towards the young knight, but he perceived
+that she suddenly raised her veil, and he heard her say, in English,
+and in a deep and solemn tone, "Ha! Have you come at length?"
+
+Whatever might have been the import of those words on the ear of him
+to whom they were addressed, he staggered, fell back, and would have
+been precipitated from the top to the bottom of the stairs, had he not
+by a convulsive effort grasped the rope that ran along the wall The
+light was instantly extinguished, and the moment after Richard felt
+the novice's hand laid upon his arm, drawing him back into the room.
+They all listened, and steps were heard rapidly descending the stairs,
+followed by the voice of Simeon of Roydon exclaiming, "No, no, I
+cannot lodge here--I will not lodge here! Mount, and away. We will go
+on."
+
+"But, noble knight," said another voice,--
+
+"Away, away!" cried Simeon of Roydon again. "Mount! or by Heaven--"
+and immediately there came the sound of armed men springing on their
+horses, the tramp of the chargers as they rode away, and the fainter
+noise of their departing feet.
+
+"In the name of Heaven, who are you?" demanded Richard of Woodville,
+addressing her who had produced such a strange effect.
+
+"One whom he bitterly injured in former days," replied the novice;
+"and whom he dares not face even now. Ask no more: that is enough!"
+
+"It were well to quit this place," said the other girl, in a low
+voice. And the clerk's man urged the same course, adding, "He may take
+heart and return,--besides, he spoke of some one coming."
+
+Richard of Woodville remained in silence, meditating deeply for
+several minutes, with his arms folded on his chest, and his eyes bent
+down. The faint outline of his figure was all that could be seen in
+the dim semi-darkness that pervaded the room; but the novice who had
+proposed to go, approached him gently, and laying her hand upon his
+arm, again urged it, saying, "Had we not better go?"
+
+"Well," said the young knight, starting from his reverie as if
+suddenly awakened from a dream, "let us go. But yet a cold night ride,
+with no place of shelter for two young and tender things like you, is
+no slight matter. Run down, boy, and light the lamp again--"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried one of the two ladies, eagerly. "Light it not! let
+us go at once.--Hark! there is some one below."
+
+"The old woman's step," cried the page; "I will run down and see what
+she has got."
+
+He returned in a moment with the good dame, bearing more than she had
+promised. She easily understood the reason why the light which she
+offered was refused; and after taking some wine and bread, the whole
+party descended to the stable, whence the horses were brought forth;
+and Richard of Woodville, paying her well for her trouble and her
+provisions, bade the page take the remainder of the bread to feed the
+poor beasts, when they could venture to pause. In less than a quarter
+of an hour the young knight and his companions were once more on their
+way, under the direction of the clerk's man, who proposed that they
+should bear a little towards Doulens, which would lead them out of the
+immediate track that the English army had followed.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XLI.
+
+                              THE CAMP.
+
+
+September days are short and bright, like the few hours of happiness
+in the autumn of man's career. September nights are long and dull,
+like the wearing cares and infirmities of life's decline; but often
+the calm grand moon will shed her cold splendour over the scene,
+solemn and serene, like the light of those consolations which Cicero
+suggested to his friend, for the privation of the warmer joys and more
+vivid hopes that pass away with the spring and summer of existence,
+and with the departure of the brighter star.
+
+The wind was sinking away, when Richard of Woodville rode out with his
+companions from the ruined village of Acheux, and soon fell into a
+calm soft breeze; the moon rose up in her beauty, and cleared away the
+dull white haze that had spread over the sky, during the whole day;
+and, as the travellers wended on in silence, the features of the scene
+around were clearly marked out by the rays, every bold mass standing
+forth in strong relief, every deep valley seeming an abyss, where
+darkness took refuge from the eye of light. For about eight miles
+farther they pursued their way almost in total silence; but at the end
+of that distance, the hanging heads and feeble pace of the horses and
+mules showed, that they would soon be able to go no farther: and the
+young knight looked anxiously for some place of repose.
+
+That part of the country, as the reader is aware, is famous for its
+rocks and caverns. There is a very remarkable cave at a place called
+Albert, but that was at a considerable distance behind them, and on
+their left. In passing along, however, by the side of a steep cliff,
+which ran at the distance of a few hundred yards from the road, with a
+green sward between, the moon shone full upon the rocky face of the
+hill, and the eye of Richard of Woodville soon perceived the mouth of
+a cavern, like a black spot upon the surface of the mountain. After
+some consultation with his companions, and some suggestions regarding
+wolves and bears, Woodville determined to try whether shelter could
+not be found in this "antre vast," for a few hours; and, riding up as
+far as the footing was safe towards the entrance, the whole party
+dismounted, and the young knight entering first, explored it by the
+feel to the very farther end, which, indeed, was at no great distance,
+as it luckily happened, for in some cases, such an undertaking might
+have been attended with considerable peril.
+
+It was perfectly vacant, however, and Woodville brought the two
+novices within the brow of the rude arch, assuring them that they
+might rest on a large stone near the mouth in safety. He then led his
+own horse up, the others following, and taking the bits out of their
+mouths, the men distributed amongst them the bread they had brought
+from the village, which the poor beasts ate slowly, but with apparent
+gladness, and then fell to the green grass on the mountain side with
+still greater relish.
+
+All the party were silent, for all were very weary; and while the
+clerk's man laid himself down on the sandy bottom of the cave, and the
+page sat nodding at the entrance, Richard of Woodville remained
+standing just within the shadow, with his arms folded on his chest;
+and the two novices remained seated on the stone where they had first
+placed themselves, with their arms twined together. The young knight
+thought that they would soon fall asleep; but such was not the case;
+and when, after the moon had travelled some way to the south, the
+sound of a horse's feet made itself heard through the stillness of the
+night, trotting on towards Acheux, the slighter and the shorter of the
+two girls rose suddenly, and coming forward gazed towards the road, on
+which, at this time, the rays were falling strong. A moment after a
+single horseman rode by at a quick pace, but turned not his head in
+the direction of the cavern, and seemed little to think that he was
+watched; for the figure of the slumbering page might well have passed
+for some stone of a quaint form, in that dim light, and the horses had
+been gathered together under the shadow of a rock.
+
+She strained her eyes upon the passing traveller; and then, as he rode
+on, she returned to her companion and whispered something to her. The
+other replied in the same low tone, and, after a brief conversation,
+they relapsed into silence; and the young knight stripping off his
+cloak, gave it to them to wrap themselves in, and counselled them to
+seek some repose against the fatigues of the coming day. They would
+fain have excused themselves from taking the mantle; but he insisted,
+saying that he felt the air sultry; and then seating himself at a
+distance, he closed his eyes, strove to banish thought, and after
+several efforts dozed lightly, waking every five or ten minutes and
+looking out to the sky, till at length a faint grey streak in the east
+told him that morning was at hand. Then rousing his companions, he
+called them to repeat their matin prayers, and after they were
+concluded, hastened to prepare the horses and mules for their onward
+journey.
+
+Day had not fully dawned ere they were once more on the way; but a
+considerable distance still lay between them and Hesdin; and the few
+and scanty villages that were then to be found in that part of the
+country, were in general deserted, so that but little food was to be
+found for man or beast. At one farmhouse, indeed, the two weary girls
+found an hour's repose on the bed of the good farmer's wife. Some
+bread and meat, and, also, one feed of corn was procured for the
+horses and mules; but that was all that could be obtained during the
+whole day, till at length about Fremicourt, they met with a man from
+whom they learned the exact position of the two armies, which were now
+drawing nearer and nearer to each other, the head quarters of the one
+having been established at St. Pol, and those of the English at
+Blangy.
+
+Shortly after, the clerk's man pointed out a narrow road to the left,
+saying, that leads to Hesdin; and Woodville, drawing in his rein,
+turned to his fair companions, saying, "Here, then, we must part; for
+I must on to Blangy with all speed. The man and the boy shall
+accompany you; and God guard you on your way."
+
+"Farewell, then, for the present, sir knight," replied the taller of
+the two girls. "We shall meet again, I think, when I may thank you
+better than I can now."
+
+"But take your page with you, at least, sir," said the other; "we
+shall be quite safe, I doubt not."
+
+Richard of Woodville would not consent, however; and giving the boy
+some directions, he waved his hand, and rode away. Once--just as he
+was going--he turned his head, hearing voices speaking, and thinking
+some one called him by name; but the younger novice, as she seemed,
+was talking with apparent eagerness to the clerk's man, and he caught
+the sounds--"As soon as he is gone."--"Take plenty with you--"
+
+The young knight perceived that the words were not addressed to him,
+and spurred forward. Evening was coming on apace; and Blangy was still
+ten or twelve miles distant; but his horse was exhausted with long
+travelling and little food, and nothing would urge him into speed. At
+a slow walk he pursued his way, till at length, just as the sun
+touched the edge of the western sky, the animal stopped altogether,
+with his limbs trembling and evidently unable to proceed. Richard of
+Woodville dismounted; and taking the bit out of the horse's mouth, he
+relieved him from the saddle, and led him a little way from the road,
+saying, "There, poor beast, find food and rest if you can." He then
+left him, and walked on a-foot.
+
+The red evening light at first glowed brightly in the sky; but soon it
+grew grey, and faint twilight was all that remained, when the road
+wound in to a deep forest, covering the sides of a high hill.
+Woodville had heard that Blangy was situated in the midst of
+woodlands, and his heart felt relieved as he approached; but the
+darkness increased as he went on, and at length the stars shone out
+above. Soon after a hum as of a distant multitude met his ear; but it
+was lost again as the road wound round the ascent amidst the tall
+trees; and all was silent and solemn. About a quarter of a mile
+onward, where the hill was steep, the path rose above the scrubby
+brushwood on his left, and he could see over the forest to a spot
+where a reddish glare rose up from the bottom of the valley. But
+somewhat farther in the forest itself, on a spot where the taller
+trees had fallen before the axe, and nothing but thin underwood
+remained, he caught a sight of three or four fires, the light of which
+shone upon some half dozen tents; and the figures of men moving about
+across the blaze were apparent, notwithstanding the darkness of the
+night.
+
+The distance might be three or four hundred yards; and Richard of
+Woodville, wearied and exhausted, resolved to make his way thither,
+rather than take the longer and more tedious course of following the
+road to the bottom of the hill. Plunging in, then, sometimes through
+low copse, sometimes amongst tall trees, he hurried on, feeling faint
+and heavyhearted again; for the first joy of rejoining his countrymen
+had passed away, and from the rumours he had heard, he not a little
+doubted of his reception. He knew, indeed, that he had nothing to
+reproach himself with, and felt sure that he should easily prove the
+falsehood of any charge against him: but it was painful to think that,
+after long imprisonment, and the loss of many a bright day and fond
+hope, he should be met with coldness and frowns upon his first return.
+The body, too, weighed upon the spirit as it always does in every
+moment of lassitude and exhaustion, so that all things seemed darker
+to his eye than they would have done at another moment.
+
+On he walked, however, his feet catching in the long briers, or
+striking against the stumps of felled trees, till at length a man
+started up before him, and exclaimed, "Who goes there?"
+
+"A friend!" answered the young knight, in the same English tongue.
+
+"What friend?" demanded the soldier, advancing.
+
+"My name is Woodville. Lead me to your lord, whoever he is," replied
+Richard.
+
+"Here, Mark!" cried the man to another, who was a little farther down,
+"take him to Sir Henry's tent;" and suffering the knight to pass on,
+he laid himself down again amongst the leaves.
+
+The second soldier gazed at the young knight steadily for a moment by
+the blaze of the burning wood, and then told him to follow, murmuring
+something to himself as he led the way. They passed the two fires
+without any notice from the men who were congregated round, and
+approached the tents, while from the valley below, rose up some wild
+strains of instrumental music, the flourish of trumpets and clarions,
+mixed with the sound of many human voices, talking, laughing, and
+shouting.
+
+"Have you seen the enemy yet?" asked Richard of Woodville.
+
+"No, sir," replied his guide; "but we shall see him tomorrow, they
+say. Here is the knight's tent. _You_ may go in, I know."
+
+The man laid a strong emphasis on the word "you," and turning to look
+at him, as held back the hangings of the tent, the young knight
+thought he recognised an old familiar face. The next instant he was
+within the canvass, and beheld before him a man of about his own age,
+seated at a board raised upon two trestles, with a lamp burning, and a
+book spread out under his eyes. His head was bent upon his hand, and
+the curls of his thick short hair were black, mingled here and there
+with a silvery thread. He was deep in study, and heard not the rustle
+of the tent as the stranger entered, nor his footfall within; and
+Richard paused for an instant and gazed upon him. As he did so, his
+eye grew moist; and he said in a low voice, "Dacre!--Harry!"
+
+Sir Henry Dacre started, and raised his worn and care-wrought
+countenance; and springing forward, he clasped Woodville in his arms,
+exclaiming, "Oh, Richard--can it be you?"
+
+Then looking with an apprehensive eye round the tent, he said, "Thank
+God, there is no one here!--Did they know you?--Did any one see you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Richard of Woodville; "two of your men saw me, Dacre.
+But what means all this?--Why should Richard of Woodville fear to be
+seen by mortal man?"
+
+"Oh, there are strange and false reports about, Richard," replied
+Dacre, with a sorrowful look;--"false, most false, I know them to be.
+I am too well aware how men can lie and calumniate. But you will find
+all men, except some few true friends, against you here; for day by
+day, and hour by hour, these rumours have been increasing, and every
+one, even to the peasantry of the land, seem to be leagued against
+you."
+
+"Give me but some food, Dacre, and a cup of wine," answered Richard of
+Woodville, "and I will meet them this minute face to face. Why, Dacre,
+I have nought to fear. I have had neither time nor opportunity to do
+one base act, if I had been so willed. I am but a few short days out
+of bonds,--and my first act will be to seek the King, and dare any man
+on earth to bring a charge against me."
+
+"Not to-night, not to-night," cried Sir Harry Dacre; "let there be
+some preparation first--Hear all that has been said."
+
+"Not an hour will I lie under a stain, Harry," replied his friend. "I
+am weary, faint, and exhausted for want of food. Give me some wine and
+bread--throw open the door of your tent; and let all your men see me.
+Let them rejoice that I have come back to do myself right. I fear not
+to show my face to any one."
+
+Dacre, with a slow step and thoughtful brow, went to the entrance of
+the tent and called to those without, to bring food and wine; and the
+board was soon spread with such provisions as the camp could afford.
+Seating himself on a coffer of arms, Woodville ate sparingly, and
+drank a cup of wine, asking from time to time, "Where is Sir John
+Grey?--Where is my good uncle?--He will not be absent from an
+enterprise like this, I am right sure."
+
+"Here, here; both here," answered Sir Henry Dacre; "and Mary and
+Isabel are even now at Calais,--but be advised, my friend. Do not show
+yourself to-night. The whole court is crowding round the King in the
+village down below. Let the battle be first over. You will do good
+service, I am sure. You can fight in armour not your own, and then--"
+
+"Armour, Harry!" cried the young knight, "I have no armour; but the
+armour of a true heart; and that is proof against the shafts of
+calumny. It never shall be said that Richard of Woodville paused when
+the straightforward course of honour was before him. Thought,
+preparation, care, would be a slander on my own good name--I need no
+meditated defence. I have done nought on earth that an English knight
+should blush to do; and he who says so lies--. Now I am ready for the
+task--Ha, Hugh of Clatford, is that you?" he continued, as some one
+entered the tent. "You have just come in time to be my messenger."
+
+"Full glad I am to see you, noble sir," answered the stout yeoman; "we
+have a world of liars amongst us, which is the only thing that makes
+me fancy these Frenchmen may win the day. But, now you are come, you
+will put them to silence, I am sure."
+
+"Right, Hugh, right!" replied Woodville. "But you have some word for
+Sir Harry. Speak your message; and then I will give mine."
+
+"'Tis no great matter, sir," said Hugh of Clatford. "Sir Philip begs
+you would send him two loads of arrows, Sir Henry, if you have any to
+spare; that is all," he continued, addressing Dacre; and when the
+knight had answered, Woodville resumed eagerly, "If you are a true
+friend, Hugh, you will go do down for me to the King's quarters, and
+say to the first high officer that you can speak to, that Sir Richard
+of Woodville, just escaped from a French prison, is here in camp, and
+beseeches his Grace to grant him audience, as he hears that false and
+calumnious reports, to which he gives the lie, have been spread
+concerning him, while he has been suffering captivity."
+
+"I will call out our old knight himself," replied Hugh; "he is now
+with the King at the castle, and will do the errand boldly, I am
+sure."
+
+"Away then, quick, good Hugh, for I am all impatience," said
+Woodville; and the yeoman retired.
+
+When he was gone, Sir Harry Dacre would fain have spoken with his
+friend regarding all the reports that had been circulated of him
+during his absence; but Woodville would not hear; and, taking another
+cup of wine, he said, "I shall learn the falsehoods soon enough,
+Harry.--Now tell me of yourself and Isabel."
+
+But Dacre waved his hand. "I cannot talk of that," he said, "'tis the
+same as ever. She knows how I love her, and her father too; but the
+phantom of a doubt still crosses her--even her; that I can see, and
+good Sir Philip answers bluffly as is his wont, that he knows it is
+false; but yet--but yet! Oh, that accursed 'but yet,' Richard. The
+plague spot is upon me still. That is enough. The breath of one foul
+vapour can obscure the sun, and the tongue of one false villain can
+tarnish the honour of a life."
+
+"Poo, nonsense, Harry," answered his companion; "I will show you ere
+many hours be over, how lightly I can shake falsehood off. 'Tis still
+your own heart that swells the load. I had not thought my uncle was so
+foolish--so unkind."
+
+He whiled him on to speak farther; but the same cloud was still upon
+Sir Henry Dacre's mind. It was unchanged and dark as ever. Study, to
+which he had given himself up, had done nought to clear it away;
+reflection had not chased it thence; time itself had not lightened it.
+
+Half an hour passed, and then there came a tramp as of armed men.
+Dacre looked anxiously on his friend's face; but Woodville heard it
+calmly; and when the hangings were drawn back and a royal officer
+entered, followed by a party of archers, no change came upon his
+countenance.
+
+"What is your pleasure, Sir William Porter?" asked Dacre, looking at
+him earnestly.
+
+"I am sorry, sir, to have this duty," replied the officer; "but I am
+sent to arrest Sir Richard of Woodville, charged with high treason."
+
+Woodville smiled; "Are your orders, sir, to bring me before the King?"
+he demanded.
+
+"No, sir knight," answered Sir William Porter, "I am to hold you a
+prisoner till his Grace's pleasure is known."
+
+"Then I must ask a boon," replied Woodville; "which is simply this,
+that you will keep me here in ward, till one of your men convey this
+to the King. He gave it me long ago, and bade me in a strait like
+this, make use of it. Let your messenger say, that I claim his royal
+promise to be heard when I ask it." At the same time, he took a ring
+from his finger; but then, recollecting himself, he said, "But stay, I
+will write--so he commanded."
+
+"You must write quickly, sir knight," replied Sir William Porter; "for
+the King retires early, and I must not wait long."
+
+"My words shall be very few," answered Woodville; and Sir Harry Dacre,
+with hasty hands, produced paper and ink. The young knight's words
+were, indeed, few. "My Liege," he wrote, "I have returned from long
+captivity, and find that I have been charged with crimes while my
+tongue was silent in prison. I know not what men lay to my account;
+but I know that I have done no wrong. Your Grace once promised, that
+if I needed aught at your royal hands, and sealed my letter with the
+ring you then gave me, you would read the contents yourself, and at
+once. I do so now; but I have no boon to ask of you, my Liege, but to
+be admitted to your presence, to hear the charges made against me, and
+to give the lie to those who made them. Love to your royal person,
+zeal for your service, honour to your crown, I own I have ever felt;
+but if these be not crimes, I have committed none other against you,
+and am ready to be sifted like chaff, sure that my honesty will
+appear. God grant you, royal Sir, his great protection, victory over
+all your enemies, and subjects as faithful as
+
+                                  "Richard of Woodville."
+
+
+He folded, sealed it, and delivered it to the royal officer, saying,
+"Let the King be besought to look at the seal. His royal promise is
+given that he will read it with his own eyes."
+
+Sir William Porter examined the impression with a thoughtful look, and
+then replied abruptly, "I will take it myself.--Guard the tent," he
+continued, turning to his men, and withdrew.
+
+With more speed than Woodville or Dacre had thought possible, he
+returned, and entering, bade the prisoner follow. "The King will see
+you, sir knight," he said; "your letter has had its effect."
+
+"As all true words ever will have on his noble heart," replied
+Woodville, rising.
+
+"I will go with you, Richard," exclaimed Sir Harry Dacre. "Who is with
+the King, Sir William?"
+
+"His uncle, noble sir, his brothers, the Earl of Warwick, Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, Sir John Grey, Philip the Treasurer, and some others. But
+we must speed, for it is late;" and, leading the way from the tent, he
+walked on towards the small town of Blangy, with Woodville and his
+friend, followed by the archers, and one or two of Dacre's servants.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLII.
+
+                             THE CHARGES.
+
+
+"We shall see, my good lord, we shall see," said Henry V. to the Earl
+of Stafford as he stood surrounded by his court in the hall of the old
+castle of Blangy. "I have, it is true, learned sad lessons, that those
+we most trust are often the least worthy.--Nay, let me not say
+'often,' but rather, sometimes; and yet," he added, after a pause,
+"perhaps I am wrong there, too; for it has not happened to me in life,
+that one, of whom I have had no misgivings, has proved false.--May it
+never happen. Those, indeed, of whom I would not believe the strange
+and instinctive doubts which sometimes, from a mere look or tone,
+creep into the heart--those whom I have trusted against my spirit, may
+have, indeed, betrayed me; but there is something in plain
+straightforward honesty that may not always suit a monarch's humour,
+but which cannot well be suspected--and besides--but it matters not.
+We shall see."
+
+It was evident to all, that his thoughts turned to that dark
+conspiracy against his throne and life, which had been detected and
+punished at Southampton; and as every one knew it was a painful and a
+dangerous subject with the King--the only one, indeed, that ever moved
+him to a hasty burst of passion, all were silent; and while the King
+still bent his eyes to the ground in meditation, Sir William Porter,
+afterwards raised to the then high office of grand carver, entered and
+approached his Sovereign.
+
+"The prisoner is without, royal Sir," he said.
+
+"Let him come in," answered Henry; and raising his face towards the
+door, he regarded Woodville as he walked forward, followed by Sir
+Henry Dacre, with that fixed unwavering glance that was peculiar to
+him. His eyelids did not wink, not the slightest movement of the lips
+or nostril could be observed by those nearest him; but the light of
+his eye fell calm and grave upon the young knight, like the beams of a
+wintry sun.
+
+The demeanour of Woodville was not less like himself. With a rapid
+step, firm and free, with his broad chest expanded, his brow serene
+but thoughtful, and with his eyes raised to the monarch without
+looking to the right or left, he advanced till he was within two steps
+of Henry, and then bowed his head with an air of calm respect. He was
+quite silent, however, till the King spoke.
+
+"You have asked to be admitted to our presence, Sir Richard of
+Woodville," said the King; "and, according to the tenour of a promise
+once made, we have granted your request. What have you to say to the
+charges made against you?"
+
+"I know not what they are, my Liege," replied Woodville; "but,
+whatever they may be, if they lay to my account aught of disloyalty to
+you, I say that they are false."
+
+"And have you heard nothing?" asked the King, in a tone of surprise;
+"has no one told you?"
+
+"He would not hear me, Sire," said Dacre, stepping forward. "He said
+he would meet them unprepared in your own presence."
+
+"It is well," rejoined Henry; "then you shall hear them from my lips,
+sir knight; and God grant you clear yourself; for none wishes it more
+than I do.--Did I not command you, sir, now well nigh twenty months
+ago, to retire from the forces of our cousin of Burgundy and return to
+your native land, for our especial service?"
+
+"Such commands may have been sent, my Liege, but they never reached
+me," replied the young knight; "and when a mere rumour found its way
+to me, I was on the eve of setting out on that fatal enterprise in
+which I lost my liberty. I can appeal to the noble Lord of Croy when
+the tidings came, to speak how much pain they gave me, and how ready I
+was to abandon all and follow your commands."
+
+"Be it so," answered Henry; "that point shall be inquired into. You
+say you have been a prisoner. How long is it since you were set at
+liberty?"
+
+"But five days, Sire," replied the knight; "no longer than was needful
+to journey from Montl'herry hither."
+
+"And did you come alone?" demanded the King.
+
+"No, Sire," said Richard of Woodville; "from the abbey at Arrouaise, I
+was accompanied by my page, a man who aided in my escape from prison,
+and two young novices journeying to Montreuil. I sent the two ladies
+from Fremicourt on to Hesdin, under the escort of the man and the
+page, and rode on hitherward myself, till my horse would go no
+farther. The rest of the way I walked on foot."
+
+"But before you reached Arrouaise, were you alone?" inquired the King.
+
+"No, Sire; as far as Triel, I had but the man, the boy, and a clerk of
+Sir John Grey's with me, who effected my liberation between them; but
+after that I was accompanied by a small body of Burgundian horse, who
+were escorting some Canonesses and these two novices on the way."
+
+"Add, and burning monasteries, plundering villages, and cutting off
+the stragglers of your Sovereign's army, sir knight," rejoined the
+King, sternly.
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed in his face for an instant in surprise, and
+then broke into a gay laugh, saying,
+
+
+             "'I avow to God, quoth Harry,
+                I shall not lefe behynde,
+              May I mete with Bernard
+                Or Bayard the blynde.'
+
+
+Now I understand your Grace, for I have come upon the track of these
+men, and somewhat wondered to hear in the mouth of hinds and peasants,
+the name of Woodville, or Vodeville as they called it, coupled with
+curses. Nay, more, my Liege, I saw in the good town of Peronne,
+through which I passed, a man in my own armour, at the head of a large
+troop of men-at-arms."
+
+"I saw him, too, Dickon;" cried the voice of old Sir Philip Beauchamp,
+"as he followed our rear at Pont St. Remie; and would have sworn that
+it was thyself, had I not known thy true heart from a boy."
+
+"A strange tale, sir knight," said the King, without relaxing his
+grave frown; "and the more strange, when coupled with the facts of
+your having never received my commands to return, sent long ago, and
+my messenger having brought me word, as if from your mouth, that you
+could not obey, as you had taken service with the Duke of Burgundy for
+two years and a day."
+
+"He is a false knave, my Liege," replied the knight; "and, as to my
+ever having forgotten your Grace's commands even for a day, not to
+engage myself for long, that I can prove, for thank God my contract
+with the good Duke John I have always kept about me. Here it is; and
+if you look, royal Sir, you will see I have not been unmindful of my
+duty."
+
+Henry took the paper, which Woodville produced, from the young
+knight's hand, and read it over attentively, pausing at one clause and
+pronouncing the words aloud, "And it is, moreover, agreed between the
+said high and mighty Prince Philip, Count of Charolois, and the said
+knight, that should the King of England, Henry the Fifth of that name,
+require the aid and service of the said Sir Richard of Woodville, he
+shall be at liberty to retire at any time without let or hindrance
+from the forces of the said Count of Charolois or of his father and
+redoubted Lord, the Duke of Burgundy, together with all such men as
+have accompanied the said knight from England; and, moreover, that he
+shall receive all the passes, safe-conducts, and letters of protection
+which may be needful for him to return to his own land in safety, and
+that, without delay or hesitation, but even at a moment's notice."
+
+The King when he had read these words gave a momentary glance around;
+but then, turning to the young knight again, after examining the date
+of the paper and the signature, "You were at this time assuredly in
+your devoir," he said; "and this was but a month before my messenger
+set out; but we have heard from Sir Philip de Morgan some strange
+tales of adventures in the town of Ghent, which may have changed your
+purposes."
+
+"My Lord, I do beseech your Grace," answered Woodville, gravely, "to
+give ear to no strange tales till they be fully proved. I have already
+suffered from such stories, and have disproved them to one here
+present much interested to know the truth;" and he turned his eyes
+towards Sir John Grey, who stood beside the Earl of Warwick. "For one
+so long a prisoner, not knowing where to find a single person who was
+with him at a remote period, it is not easy in a moment to show the
+real state of every fact alleged; but if your royal time may serve, I
+am ready to tell the simple tale of the last two years; and if I
+afterwards prove not to your own clear conviction, that every word I
+speak is truth, send my head to the block when you will."
+
+"You shall have full time, sir knight," replied the King; "at present,
+it is late; and though we must sleep but little, yet some repose every
+man must have. Your tale cannot be heard to-night. However, you now
+know that you are charged first with refusing to serve your King in
+arms against his enemies, which may, perhaps, be false. This paper
+affords some presumption against the accusation--Secondly, you are
+charged with following our royal host with men of Burgundy, and in
+arms levying war against your Sovereign. You have, we are told, been
+seen by many, so traitorously employed, and your name, you yourself
+allow, is in the mouths of all the peasantry."
+
+Henry paused a moment, as if expecting assent; but Woodville only
+replied by a question, "May I ask, Sire," he said, "if a certain Sir
+Simeon of Roydon is in your host?"
+
+"Ha!" cried the King, his face lighting up, "what would you say on
+that score?"
+
+"Simply that I have suspicions, mighty Prince," replied the young
+knight; "but _I_ will charge no man without proof. These two charges
+are false, and I will make it manifest they are so; first by
+testimony; then by my arm. Is there aught else against me?"
+
+"Alas, there is," answered the King; "and the most grave of all. Have
+you brought that letter which I sent for, my lord?"
+
+"Yes, Sire," replied the Earl of Arundel, stepping forward and placing
+a paper in the King's hands. "That is the one your Grace meant, I
+believe."
+
+"The same," answered Henry, gazing upon it with a countenance both
+stern and sad. "Come forward, Sir Richard of Woodville. Is this your
+hand-writing?"
+
+Woodville looked at it, and recognised at once the letter which he had
+written to Sir John Grey whilst in prison. "It is, my Liege," he
+replied boldly, looking in the King's face with surprise. "I wrote
+that letter; but I know not how it can affect me."
+
+"That will be proved hereafter, sir," answered the King, in a stern
+tone; "but remember, I have doomed my own blood to death for the acts
+which this letter prompted; and, by my honour and my life, I will not
+spare the man that wrote it. According to the right of every
+Englishman, you shall be tried and judged by your peers; but when the
+axe struck the neck of Cambridge, it crushed out the name of mercy
+from my heart. In me you find no grace."
+
+"My Lord, I need none," replied Richard of Woodville, in a tone firm,
+yet respectful, "for I have done no wrong. I never yet did hear that
+there was any crime in a captive writing to a friend for ransom. This
+letter prompted nothing; and I am in much surprise to hear your royal
+words announce therein a matter of complaint against me."
+
+"The man to whom it was written, sir," said the King, "proved himself
+a traitor, and took the gold of France to sell his sovereign's life,
+and his country's welfare to the enemy."
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed in surprise and bewilderment from the King
+to Sir John Grey, and from Sir John Grey to the King, while the father
+of her he loved looked not less astonished than himself. But Henry
+after a short pause added aloud, "Remove him, Sir William Porter. If
+God give us good success in the coming fight, he shall have fair trial
+and due judgment. If the will of heaven fight against us, though
+perchance he may escape to live, I do believe, from what I have known
+of him in former days, that he will find bitter punishment in his own
+heart for this dark deed;" and he struck his fingers sharply upon the
+paper, which he still held in his hand.
+
+"Some way--I know not what--you are deceived, my Liege," said Richard
+of Woodville, with perfect calmness. "However, I have but one favour
+to ask, and that is, that you will not let a false and lying
+accusation so weigh against me as to deprive me of my right and
+glory--that of fighting for my King, I would say; and I pledge you my
+honour and my soul that, if the day be lost, which God forfend, I will
+not survive the battle; if it be won, I will bring my head to your
+Grace's feet, to do with as seems meet to you; for I am no traitor, so
+help me heaven! and on that score I fear neither the judgment of man
+nor that of God."
+
+"I know that you are brave right well, Sir Richard," answered the
+King; "but we will have no traitors fight upon our side."
+
+The young knight cast his eyes bitterly towards the ground; and Henry
+could see the fingers of his hand clenched tight into the palm; but
+Sir Henry Dacre stepped forward, and said, "I will be his bail, my
+Liege."
+
+"And I too, royal sir," cried old Sir Philip Beauchamp; "I will plight
+land and liberty, life and honour, that he is as true as my good
+sword. Have I not known him from a babe?"
+
+"You are his uncle, sir," answered the King; "and, in this case,
+cannot judge."
+
+"I am in no way akin to him, my gracious Sovereign," said Sir John
+Grey, advancing from the side of the Earl of Warwick; "but I fear not
+also to be his bail. My life for his, if he be not true."
+
+Richard of Woodville crossed his arms upon his chest; and, raising his
+head as his friends spoke, looked proudly round, saying, "There is
+something to live for, after all."
+
+At the same moment, Henry turned to the Duke of York, and spoke a word
+or two with him and the Duke of Clarence.
+
+"Your request cannot be granted," he said, in a milder tone; "but yet,
+we will deal with you in all lenity, Sir Richard; and, therefore, we
+will commit you to the ward of Sir John Grey, with strict orders,
+however, that he hold you as a close prisoner till after your trial.
+And now, I can hear no more; for the night is well spent, and we must
+march at dawn. Take him, Sir John; you have a guard, and answer to me
+for him with your life."
+
+"I will, my Liege," replied Sir John Grey, advancing, and taking the
+young knight's arm. "Come, Richard, you shall be my guest. I have no
+doubts;" and, bowing to the King, he retired from the presence.
+
+Sir Philip Beauchamp and Sir Harry Dacre followed quickly, and
+overtook them on the stairs; and the old knight shook his nephew
+playfully by the shoulders, exclaiming, "We will confound the knaves
+yet, Dickon. But what is this letter?'
+
+"Merely one I wrote to Sir John Grey," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"beseeching him to communicate with the bearer touching my ransom."
+
+"I never received it," replied Sir John Grey. "It did not reach my
+hands; but, please God, I will see it ere I sleep."
+
+"I must fight at this battle," said Richard of Woodville,
+thoughtfully; "I must fight at this battle, my noble friends."
+
+Sir John Grey replied not, but shook his head gravely, and led the way
+to the house where he was lodged.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+                        THE FOX IN THE SNARE.
+
+
+Spread out in a long line over the face of the country, the English
+army occupied a number of villages, keeping a good watch lest the
+enemy, large bodies of whom had been apparent during the morning,
+should take them by surprise and overwhelm them by numbers. Small
+parties of the freshest men were lodged in tents between the different
+villages, so that a constant communication might be kept up, and
+support be ready for any point attacked; and, throughout the whole
+host, reigned that stern and resolute spirit, the peculiar
+characteristic of the English soldiery, and which has assured them the
+victory in so many fields, against more impetuous, but less
+determined, adversaries. Yet none, however resolute and brave in
+Henry's army, could help feeling that a great and perilous day was
+before them, when it was known, that at least a hundred and
+twenty-five thousand men, comprising the most renowned chivalry of
+Europe, were collected to oppose a force of less than twenty-five
+thousand, worn with a long and difficult march, and weakened by
+sickness and want of provisions.
+
+Nevertheless, during the whole night of Thursday, the 24th of October,
+from hamlet and village, from priory and castle, from tent and field,
+wherever the English were quartered, rose up wild bursts of martial
+music floating on the air to the French camp, as, round the
+innumerable watch-fires which lighted the whole sky with their lurid
+glare, sat the myriads the enemy in their wide extended position at
+Roussauville and Agincourt.
+
+In one of the small villages near the head-quarters of the King, was
+stationed Sir John Grey, who now having recovered all the great
+possessions of his family, appeared in the field at the head of a
+large body of men, whose services under his banner procured for him,
+at an after period, as the reader is probably aware, the earldom of
+Tankerville. The house which he inhabited during that night, was the
+dwelling of a farmer; and in one of the small rooms thereof sat
+Richard of Woodville, at about eleven o'clock at night, conversing
+with Mary's father, with a somewhat gloomy and anxious air.
+
+"I have seen it myself, Richard," said Sir John Grey; "the
+superscription is clear and distinct--'To Sir Thomas Grey,
+Knight,'--and not one word is mentioned therein of anything like
+ransom."
+
+"Then it has been falsified!" cried Richard of Woodville; "for my
+letter was to you. Why should I write to Sir Thomas Grey, a man I know
+nought of? I never saw him--hardly ever heard of him. Even now I am
+scarcely aware of who he was, or what he did."
+
+"He was an arch villain, Richard," replied the knight. "The only one,
+of all the three, who took the gold of France. Cambridge and Scroop
+has other views, which they nobly hid within their own bosoms, lest
+they should injure others; but this man was a traitor indeed, and he,
+ere his death, gave this letter, it seems, into the King's own hands,
+as that which began his communication with the enemy. He even laid
+his death at your door, for having written to him by the French
+suborner.--But here is Sir Henry Dacre.--What is it you seek, good
+knight? You seem eager about something."
+
+"There are people without requiring to speak with you, Sir John,"
+answered Woodville's friend. "They have got a man in their hands, who,
+they say, is a knave, sent to you by one you know."
+
+"I want no knaves," replied Sir John Grey; "but I will see who it is;"
+and he went out.
+
+"Now, what speed, my friend?" continued Dacre, grasping Woodville's
+hand; "what says Sir John?"
+
+"That it must not be," said Richard of Woodville. "That his duty to
+the King would not suffer it, even were I his son."
+
+"Then we must try other means," answered Dacre hastily. "You shall
+fight to-morrow, Woodville. God forbid that you should lose a field
+like this. You shall take my armour, and I will ride in a different
+suit. Only be ready, at a moment's notice," he added; "for as soon as
+Sir John is in the field, I will bear you off from the men he leaves
+on guard."
+
+Woodville smiled gladly; for certain of his own honour and of his own
+conduct, he scrupled not to take advantage of any means to free
+himself from the restraint under which he was held. He had no
+opportunity, however, of communicating farther with his friend; for
+the next moment Sir John Grey returned, followed by several
+men-at-arms and archers, with a slight, but long-armed man in their
+hands, habited in a suit of demi-armour, such as was worn by the
+inferior soldiery, but with a vizored casque, which concealed his
+face.
+
+"Take off his bacinet," said Sir John Grey; and the helmet being
+removed, displayed to the eyes of Richard of Woodville the countenance
+of his former servant Dyram. The man gazed sullenly upon the ground;
+and Sir John Grey, after eyeing him for a moment, seated himself by
+Woodville, saying, "I have seen this man before, methinks."
+
+"And so have I, too often," rejoined the young knight; "he was once a
+servant of mine, and shamefully betrayed his trust. Keep him safe, Sir
+John, I beseech you; for on him may greatly depend my exculpation with
+the King."
+
+The man turned round suddenly towards him, and exclaimed, "Ay, and so
+it does. On me, and me alone, depends your exculpation. Your fate is
+in my hands."
+
+"Less than you think, perchance, knave!" answered Sir John Grey; "for
+I hold here strange lights to clear up some dark mysteries. Yet speak,
+if you be so inclined; you may merit mercy by a frank avowal."
+
+"Send these men hence," said Dyram, looking to the soldiers; "I will
+say nought before them."
+
+"Go, Edmond," replied the elder knight, speaking to the chief of those
+who had brought the prisoner in; "yet, first tell me where you found
+him, and how?"
+
+"Guided by Jim of Retford," said the soldier, "we caught him about a
+mile on this side of a place called Acheux, I think, some twenty miles
+hence or more. We found that letter upon him, noble sir, and that," he
+continued, laying down on the table two pieces of paper. "We might not
+have searched him, indeed, but he tried to eat that last one. You may
+see the marks of his teeth in it; and Jim of Retford forced his mouth
+open with his anelace to take it out. He says 'tis treason; but I know
+not, for I am no clerk."
+
+Sir John Grey held the paper to the light and read. "Treason it
+certainly is," he said, when he had done. "One fourth of the booty
+secured to Edward Dyram, if the scheme succeeds!--Ay, who are
+these?--Isambert of Agincourt, Robinet de Bournonville, and S. R.? Who
+may he be, fellow?"
+
+But Dyram was silent; and Sir Harry Dacre cried eagerly, "Let me see
+it, sir; let me see it!--Ay, I know it well.--Woodville your
+suspicions are true."
+
+"Go, Edmond, and guard the passage," said Sir John Grey; "I will call
+when you are wanted.--Now, sir, will you speak?"
+
+"Ay," answered Dyram, as he saw the man depart, and the door close; "I
+will, sir knight. First, I will speak to you, Richard of Woodville,
+and will tell you that I have the power to sweep away every cloud that
+has fallen upon you, or to make them darker still.--I know all: you
+need tell me nothing;--how you refused to serve your own monarch, they
+say; how you wrote to aid in bribing Sir Thomas Grey; how you have
+followed the English camp like a raven smelling the carrion of
+war--all, all--I know all!"
+
+"Then clear up all!" answered Woodville; "and you shall have pardon."
+
+"Pardon!" cried Dyram, with a mocking laugh; and then suddenly turning
+to Sir Harry Dacre, he went on. "Next, to you I will speak, sir
+doleful knight, and tell you, that from your fair fame, too, I can
+clear away the stain that hangs upon it--black and indelible as you
+think it. I can take out the mark of Cain, and give you back to peace
+and happiness."
+
+Sir Harry Dacre gazed upon him for a moment in stern silence, and then
+replied, "I doubt it."
+
+"Doubt not," replied Ned Dyram. "I can do it, I will; but upon my own
+conditions."
+
+"What may they be?" asked Sir John Grey. "If they be reasonable, such
+information as you may proffer may be worth its price. But, remember,
+before you speak, that your neck is in a halter, and that this paper
+conveys you to the provost, and the provost to the next tree, if your
+demands be insolent."
+
+"I am not sure of that," replied Ned Dyram, boldly. "Sir John Grey is
+not King in the camp. What say you, Sir Richard of Woodville, will you
+grant my conditions, provided that I save you from your peril, and
+give you the means of proving your innocence within an hour?"
+
+"I must hear them first, knave," replied the young knight; "I will
+bind myself to nothing, till they are spoken."
+
+"Oh, they are easily said," answered Ned Dyram. "First, I will have
+twenty miles free space between me and the camp--So much for security.
+Then I will have your knightly word, that a fair maiden whom you know,
+named Ella Brune, shall be mine."
+
+"Where is she?" demanded Richard of Woodville. "I know not where she
+is; I have not seen her for months, nay years."
+
+"Oh, she is not far off when Richard of Woodville is here," said the
+man, with a sneer. "I know all about it;--ay, Sir John Grey, the
+smooth-faced clerk, the corrupter of the men of Montl'herry. Can you
+not produce her?"
+
+"Perhaps I can ere long," replied Sir John Grey. "But what if I do?"
+
+"Why, then," answered Dyram, in the same saucy tone, "before I speak a
+word, I will have her promise to be mine. She will soon give it, when
+she knows that on it hangs Richard of Woodville's life. She has taught
+me herself, how to wring her hard heart."
+
+"She shall give no such promise for me," replied Woodville, sternly.
+"I tell thee, pitiful scoundrel, that I would rather, with my bosom
+free of aught like guilt, lay my head upon the block, than force a
+grateful and high-hearted girl to wed herself to such a vile slave as
+thou art. If your insinuations should be true, and she has done for me
+all that you say, full well and generously has she repaid the little I
+ever did to serve her. She shall do no more, and least of all make her
+own misery to save my life."
+
+"Then die, sir knight," rejoined Ned Dyram; "for you will find, with
+all your wit, you cannot struggle through the toils in which you are
+caught."
+
+"It may be so," said Sir John Grey; "but by my life, bold villain, you
+shall die too."
+
+"Perhaps so," answered Dyram, with sneering indifference; "but I can
+die in silence like a wolf."
+
+"As you have lived," added Richard of Woodville; "so be it."
+
+"Stay," said Sir Harry Dacre; "are these the only conditions you have
+to propose? Will nought else serve your purpose as well? Gold as much
+as you will."
+
+"Nought, nought," replied Dyram. "You know the terms, and can take or
+reject them as you think fit. If you like them well, sir knight, and
+would have your innocence of the crime laid to you proved beyond all
+doubt--if you would save your friend too, you have nought to do but
+seek out this fair maiden. She is not far, I am right sure--and if you
+but bring her in your hand to me, I will condescend to accept her as
+my wife, and set you free of all calumny. You struck me once, Richard
+of Woodville. You cannot expect that I should forget that bitter jest,
+without a bitter atonement."
+
+"Send him away, Sir John, I do beseech you," cried Woodville, warmly.
+"My temper will not long hold out; and I shall strike him again."
+
+"Ho, without there!" cried Sir John Grey. "Take this man away, Edmond,
+and put gyves upon him. Have him watched night and day; for I now know
+who he is; and a more dangerous knave there does not live. He will
+escape if Satan's own cunning can effect it."
+
+"Well, you know the terms," said Ned Dyram, turning his head as two of
+the soldiers drew him away by the arms. "Think better of it, noble
+knights. Ha, ha, ha! What a story to tell, that the fair fame of Sir
+Harry Dacre, and the life of Sir Richard of Woodville, both mighty men
+of war, should depend upon one word of poor Ned Dyram!" and with this
+scoff he was led away.
+
+Dacre paused in silence, leaning his brow thoughtfully upon his hand;
+and Richard of Woodville for several moments conversed with Sir John
+Grey in a low tone.
+
+"Ay, you may well think it strange, Richard," said the elder knight
+aloud, "that I, who at one time was taught to fancy this girl your
+paramour, should suddenly place such trust in her, as to let her
+follow her will in all things, and put means at her disposal to effect
+whatever she thought fit. But do you see that ring?" and he pointed to
+a circle of gold set with a large sapphire on his finger; "it is a
+record, Richard, of a quality, which in her race, though it be a
+humble one, is hereditary. I mean gratitude. I once rescued from
+injury the wife of a good soldier, named Brune, the son of one of
+Northumberland's minstrels. 'Twas but a trifling service which any
+knight would have rendered to a woman in distress; but that good man,
+her husband, in gratitude for this simple act, sacrificed his own life
+to save mine. It was on Shrewsbury field twelve long years ago; and
+when I left him with the enemy on every side, I gave him that ring, in
+the hope that he might still escape; but he was already sorely wounded
+in defending me; and ere he died he sent it as a last gift to his
+daughter. When I saw it by mere accident, and heard that daughter tell
+her feelings towards you, I recognised the spirit of her race; and had
+it cost me half the lands I had just recovered, she should not have
+wanted means to carry out her plan for serving you. What now?" he
+continued, turning to one of his attendants, who entered.
+
+"The King, sir knight, desires your presence instantly, to consult
+with Sir Thomas of Erpingham for the ordering of tomorrow's battle."
+
+"I come," replied Sir John Grey; and then turning to Richard of
+Woodville, he added, "This is fortunate; perchance what I have to tell
+him this night, may make him somewhat soften the strictness of his
+orders." Thus speaking, he withdrew, leaving Richard of Woodville
+alone with Sir Harry Dacre.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+                     THE ORDERING OF THE BATTLE.
+
+
+We must follow, for a short space, the steps of Sir John Grey, who
+hurried after the messenger, to the quarters of the King, which lay at
+about half a mile's distance from his own. As I have shown, he
+intended to speak with the monarch upon the intelligence regarding the
+young knight, which he had received that night; but an opportunity for
+so doing was not so easily found as he had expected.
+
+The moon was shining bright and unclouded; not a vapour was in the
+sky; and, as he approached the guards, which were stationed round
+Henry's temporary residence, he could hear the sound of voices, and
+see distinctly a small party walking slowly up the road. One was half
+a step in advance of the rest; and there was something in the air and
+tread which told the knight at once that there was the King. Hurrying
+after, he soon overtook the group, and joined in their conversation in
+a low voice: but far more weighty thoughts than the fate of any
+individual, now occupied all. Their speech was of the morrow's battle,
+their minds fixed upon that which was to decide the destiny of thrones
+and empires,--which was to deal life and death to thousands; and
+Richard of Woodville seemed forgotten by all but Sir John Grey
+himself.
+
+The King, too, walked on before in silence, with his eyes bent upon
+the ground, and his look grave and thoughtful; and it was not till,
+passing out of the village, he came upon the brow of a small
+acclivity, from which the whole of the enemy's line of watch-fires
+could be descried, that he paused or spoke. The moment that he
+stopped, the distinguished soldiers who followed him gathered round;
+and, turning towards them with a countenance now all smiles, the
+monarch said, "Somewhere near this spot must be the place--I marked it
+this afternoon. Ha! Sir John Grey, I hardly thought you would have
+time to come."
+
+"A little more in advance, Sire," replied Sir Thomas of Erpingham,
+answering the former part of the King's speech. "If you take your
+stand here, the Frenchmen will have space to spread out their men
+beyond the edge of the two woods; but, if you plant your van within a
+half-bowshot of the edge of those trees, they must coop themselves up
+in the narrow space, where their numbers will be little good."
+
+"You are right, renowned knight," said the King, laying his hand
+familiarly upon Erpingham's shoulder. "I did not mean just here. The
+standard shall be pitched where yon low tree rises; the vanward a
+hundred paces farther down, the rearward where we now stand."
+
+"Does your Grace mark that meadow there, upon the right?" asked Sir
+John Grey; "close upon the edge of the wood."
+
+"I do, good friend," answered Henry; "and will use it as I know you
+would have. But, go down first, and see how it is defended; for we
+must not expose our foot-men to the French horse."
+
+Sir John Grey and the Earl of Suffolk hurried on, while Henry examined
+the rest of the field; but they soon returned with information that
+the meadow was defended by a deep and broad ditch, impassable for
+heavy horses; and Henry replied, "Well, then, we will secure it for
+ourselves by our good bowmen. Though we be so few, we can spare two
+hundred archers to gall the Frenchmen's flank as they come up."
+
+"Ay! would to Heaven," cried one of the gentlemen present, "that all
+the brave men, who are now idle in England, could know that such a
+field as this lies before their King, and they had time to join us."
+
+"Ha! what is that?" cried Henry. "No, by my life! I would not have one
+man more. If we lose the day, which God forbid we should, we are too
+many already; and if we win this battle, as I trust in Heaven we
+shall, I would not share the glory of the field with any more than
+needful. Come, my good lords and noble knights, let us go on and view
+the ground farther, and when all is decided we will place guards and
+light fires to insure that the enemy be not beforehand with us." Thus
+saying, he walked on, conversing principally with Sir Thomas of
+Erpingham upon the array of his men; while the other gentlemen
+followed talking together, or listening to the consultation between
+the King and his old and experienced knight. As they went on, various
+broken sentences were thus overheard--as, "Ay, that copse of brushwood
+will guard our left right well--and the hedges and ditches on the
+right, will secure us from the charge of men-at-arms. Their bowmen we
+need not fear, my Liege."
+
+"I have bethought me, my old friend, of a defence, too, for our
+archers in the front. We have all heard how at Bannockburn, in the
+time of good King Edward, pitfalls were dug to break the charging
+horse. We have no time for that; but I think, if we should plant
+before our archers, long stakes pointed with iron, a little leaning
+forward towards the foe, the British bows would be secure against the
+chivalry of France; or, if they were assailed and the enemy did break
+through, 'twould be in wild disorder and rash disarray, as was the
+case at Cressy."
+
+"A marvellous good thought, my Liege; but every battle has a change.
+Those who were once attacked, become the attackers, and should such be
+our case, how will you clear the way for our own men from the stakes
+that were planted against the enemy?"
+
+"That must be provided against, Sir Thomas. Each man must pull up the
+stake near him."
+
+"Nay, my Liege," said Sir John Grey, joining in. "Let a hundred
+billmen be ranged with the second line of archers; and, at a word
+given, pass through and root up the stakes."
+
+"Right, right, Sir John," answered the King. "Then the fury of our
+charge, when charge we may, will not be checked by our own defences.
+Our van must be all archers, with the exception of the brown
+bills--and I think to give the command----"
+
+"I do beseech you, my lord the King," said the Duke of York, advancing
+from behind, "to let me have that post, and lead the van of your
+battle. Words have been spoken, and rumours have been spread, which
+make me eager for a place of danger. You must not refuse me, royal
+prince."
+
+"Nor will I, cousin," answered Henry. "On your honour and good faith,
+I have as much reliance, as on your skill and courage, which no man
+dares to doubt. Are you not a Plantagenet?"
+
+The Duke caught his hand and kissed it; and if he had taken any share,
+as some suspected, in the conspiracy of Southampton, he expiated his
+fault on the succeeding day, by glorious actions and a hero's death.
+
+"Now," said the King, after some further examination of the field,
+"you understand our disposition, noble knights; and to you I entrust
+it to secure the ground during the night, and to make the arrangements
+for to-morrow. Cousin of York, you lead the van. I myself, with my
+young brother, Humphrey of Gloucester, will command the main battle.
+Oxford and Suffolk, you and the Lord Marshal shall give us counsel. My
+uncle of Exeter shall lead our rearward line, and this good knight of
+Erpingham shall be our marshal of the field. Let all men in the centre
+fight on foot: and let the cavalry be ranged on either wing to improve
+the victory I hope to win. When all is ready, back to your beds and
+sleep, first praying God for good success to-morrow. Then, in the
+morning early, feed your men. Let them consume whatever meat is left;
+for if we gain the day, they shall find plenty on before; and if we
+lose it, few methinks will want provisions."
+
+Thus saying, the King turned and walked back towards the village; and
+Sir John Grey choosing that moment, advanced and addressed him in a
+low tone in regard to Richard of Woodville. Henry soon stopped him,
+however--"We cannot speak on that to-night, my noble friend," he said.
+"It grieves me much, I own, to debar a gallant gentleman from sharing
+in a field like this. I know that it will grieve him more than death;
+but yet--Nay, no more. We will not speak of this. Set watch upon
+him;--but not too strict. You understand me; and you who taught my
+infant hands first to draw a bow, shall fight by my side to-morrow.
+Now, good night--I will tell you my belief; it is, that this youth is
+guiltless. I do not often rashly judge men's characters; and I formed
+my estimate of his, long, long ago. Farewell, and God shield us all
+to-morrow."
+
+Sir John Grey hurried home, and found, that, during his long absence,
+all in the house where he was quartered, except one or two of his own
+personal attendants and the necessary guard, had retired to rest. Ere
+he sought his pillow also, however, he sat down and wrote some hurried
+lines, which he signed and sealed; and then, with a silent step
+seeking the chamber where Richard of Woodville slept, with two or
+three yeomen across the door, he went in, and gazed for a moment at
+the young knight, as he lay upon his little pallet, with his arm under
+his head, and a well-pleased smile upon his slumbering face.
+
+"That is not the sleep of guilt," said Sir John in a low murmur to
+himself. "There, that gives him my Mary, if I fall to-morrow;" and
+thus saying, he laid the paper he had written upon Woodville's bosom,
+and retired to his own chamber.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XLV.
+
+                             THE BATTLE.
+
+
+The morning of the twenty-fifth of October, St. Crispin's day, dawned
+bright, but not altogether clear. There was a slight hazy mist in the
+air, sufficient to soften the distant objects; but neither to prevent
+the eye from ranging to a great distance, nor the sun, which was
+shining warm above, from pouring his beams through the air, and
+tinging the whole vapour with a golden hue. Early in the morning, both
+armies were on foot; but more bustle and eagerness were observable in
+the French camp, than amongst the English, who showed a calmer and
+less excited spirit, weighing well the hazards of the day, and though
+little doubting of victory, still feeling that no light and joyful
+task lay before them.
+
+The French, however, were all bustle and activity. Men-at-arms were
+seen hurrying from place to place, gathering around their innumerable
+banners, ranging themselves under their various leaders, or kneeling
+and taking vows to do this or that, of which inexorable fate forbade,
+in most cases, the accomplishment. Nothing was heard on any side but
+accents of triumph and satisfaction, prognostications of a speedy and
+almost bloodless victory over an enemy, to whom they were superior by
+at least six times the number of the whole English host,--and bloody
+resolutions of avenging the invasion of France, and the capture of
+Harfleur, by putting to death all prisoners except the King and other
+princes, from whom large ransoms might be expected; for a vain people
+is almost always a sanguinary one. A proud nation can better afford to
+forgive. Nothing was heard, I have said, but such foolish boastings,
+and idle resolutions: but I ought to have excepted some less jocund
+observations, which were made here and there in a low tone, amongst
+the older, but not wiser of the French nobility, prompted by the
+superstitious spirit of the times, which was apt to draw auguries from
+very trifling indications.
+
+"Heard you how the music of these islanders made the whole air ring
+throughout the night?" said one.
+
+"And ours was quite silent," said another.
+
+"We have no instruments," rejoined a third. "This King of theirs is
+fond of such toys, and plays himself like a minstrel, I am told: but I
+remarked a thing which is more serious; their horses neighed all
+night, as if eager for a course, and ours uttered not a sound."
+
+"That looks bad, indeed," observed one of the others.
+
+"Perhaps their horses, as well as their men, are frightened," answered
+another.
+
+"I have seen no sign of fear," replied one of the first speakers, with
+a shake of the head.
+
+"Why the rumour goes," said the first, "that Henry of England sent on
+Wednesday, to announce that he would give up Harfleur, and pay for all
+the damage he has done, if we would but grant him a free passage to
+his town of Calais."
+
+"It is false," replied the first speaker. "I asked the Constable last
+night myself, and he said that there is not a word of truth in the
+whole tale, and that Henry will fight like a boar at bay: so every
+Frenchman must do his devoir; for if, with six times his numbers, we
+let the Englishmen win the day, it must be by our folly or our own
+fault."
+
+As he spoke, the Constable D'Albret, followed by a gallant train of
+knights and noblemen, rode past on a splendid charger, horse and man
+completely armed; and, turning his head as he passed each group, he
+snouted, "To the standard, to the standard, gentlemen! Under your
+banners, men of France! You will want shade, for the sun shines, and
+we have a hot day before us."
+
+Thus saying, he rode on, and the French lines were speedily formed in
+three divisions, like the English. The first, or vanguard, comprised
+eight thousand men-at-arms, all knights or squires, four thousand
+archers, and fifteen hundred crossbowmen, and was led by the
+Constable, the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, with some twenty other
+high lords of France, while upon either wing appeared a large body of
+chosen cavalry. The whole line was glittering with gilded armour, and
+gay with a thousand banners of embroidered arms; and, as the sun shone
+upon it, no courtly pageant was ever more bright and beautiful to see.
+
+The main body consisted of a still larger force, under the Dukes of
+Bar and Alençon, with six counts, each a great vassal of the crown of
+France. The rear guard was more numerous still; but in it were
+comprised the light armed and irregular troops, and a mixed multitude
+upon whom little dependence could be placed.
+
+When all were arranged in order, on the side of the hill, the
+Constable addressed the troops, in words of high and manly courage,
+tinged perhaps with a little bombast; and when he had done, the whole
+of that vast force remained gazing towards the opposite slope, and
+expecting every moment to see the English army appear, and endeavour
+to force its way onward towards Calais. As yet, but a few scattered
+bodies of the invaders were apparent upon the ground, and some time
+passed, ere the heads of the different corps were descried issuing
+forth in perfect order to the sound of martial music, and taking up
+their position on the field, marked out by Henry during the night
+before. Their appearance, as compared with that of the French host,
+was poor and insignificant in the extreme. Traces of travel and of
+strife were evident in their arms and in their banners; and their
+numbers seemed but as a handful opposed to the long line which covered
+the hill before them. Yet there was something in the firm array, the
+calm and measured step, the triumphant sound of their trumpets and
+their clarions, the regular lines of their archers and of their
+cavalry, the want of all haste, confusion, or agitation, apparent
+through the whole of that small host, which was not without its effect
+upon their enemies, who began to feel that there would be indeed a
+battle, fierce, bloody, and determined, before the day, so fondly
+counted theirs, was really won.
+
+Prompt and well-disciplined, with their bows on their shoulders, their
+quivers and their swords at their sides, and their heavy axes in their
+hands, the English archers at once took up the position assigned to
+them, with as much precision as if at some pageant or muster. Each
+instantly planted in the earth a heavy iron-shod stake, which he
+carried in his left hand, and drove it in with blows from the back of
+his axe; and then each strung his bow, and drew an arrow from the
+quiver. Behind, at a short distance, came the battle of the King,
+consisting of heavy armed infantry, principally billmen, with a strong
+force of cavalry on either hand. The rearward, under the Duke of
+Exeter, appeared shortly after on the hill above; and each of the two
+last divisions occupied its appointed ground with the same regularity
+and tranquil order which had been displayed by the van.
+
+The preparations which they perceived, the pitching of the stakes, the
+marshalling of the English forces, and the position which they had
+taken up, showed the French commanders that the King of England was
+determined his battle should be a defensive one; and the appearance of
+some bodies of the enemy in the neighbourhood of the village of
+Agincourt, with the burning of a mill and house upon the same side,
+led them to believe that some stratagem was meditated, which must be
+met by prompt action with the principal corps of Henry's army.
+
+That there were difficulties in attacking a veteran force in such a
+position, the Constable D'Albret clearly saw, but he was naturally of
+a bold and rash disposition; his enemies of the Burgundian party had
+more than once accused him of his irresolution and incapacity; and he
+resolved that no obstacle should daunt, or induce him to avoid a
+battle, with such an overpowering force at his command. He gave the
+order then to move forward at a slow pace, and probably did not
+perceive the full perils of his undertaking, till his troops had
+advanced too far, between the two woods, to retreat with either honour
+or safety. When he discovered this, it would seem an order was given
+to halt, and for some minutes the two armies paused, observing each
+other, the English determined not to quit their ground, the French
+hesitating to attack.
+
+A solemn silence pervaded the whole field; but then Henry himself
+appeared, armed from head to foot in gilded armour, a royal crown
+encircling his helmet, covered with precious stones, and his beaver
+up, displaying his countenance to his own troops. Mounted on a
+magnificent white horse, he rode along the line of archers in the van,
+within half a bow shot of the enemy, exhorting the brave yeomen, in
+loud tones, and with a cheerful face, to do their duty to their
+country and their King. Every motive was held out that could induce
+his soldiery to do gallant deeds; and he ended by exclaiming, "For my
+part, I swear that England shall never pay ransom for my person, nor
+France triumph over me in life; for this day shall either be famous
+for my death, or in it I will win honour and obtain renown."
+
+Along the second and third line he likewise rode, followed close by
+Sir Thomas of Erpingham, with his bald head bare, and the white hair
+upon his temples streaming in the wind; and to each division the King
+addressed nearly the same words. The only answer that was made by the
+soldiers was, "On, on! let us forward!" and the only communication
+which took place between the King and his marshal of the host occurred
+when at length Henry resumed his position in the centre of the main
+battle.
+
+"They are near enough, my Liege," said the old knight. "Is your Grace
+ready?"
+
+"Quite," replied Henry. "Have you left a guard over the baggage?"
+
+"As many as could be spared, Sire," replied the Marshal. "Shall we
+begin?"
+
+Henry bowed his head; and the old knight, setting spurs to his horse,
+galloped along the face of the three lines, waving his truncheon in
+his hand, and exclaiming, "Ready, ready! Now, men of England, now!"
+
+Then, in the very centre of the van, he stopped by the side of the
+Duke of York, dismounted from his horse, put on his casque, which a
+page held ready; and then, hurling his leading staff high into the
+air, as he glanced over the archers with a look of fire untamed by
+age, he cried aloud, "Now strike!"
+
+Each English yeoman suddenly bent down upon his knee and kissed the
+ground. Then starting up, they gave one loud, universal cheer, at
+which, to use the terms of the French historian, "the Frenchmen were
+greatly astounded." Each archer took a step forward, drew his
+bow-string to his ear; and, as the van of the enemy began to move on,
+a cloud of arrows fell amongst them, not only from the front, but from
+the meadow on their flank, piercing through armour, driving the horses
+mad with pain, and spreading confusion and disarray amidst the immense
+multitude which, crowded into that narrow field, could only advance in
+lines thirty deep.
+
+"Forward, forward!" shouted the French knights.
+
+"On, for your country and your King!" cried the Constable D'Albret;
+but his archers and cross-bowmen would not move; and, plunging their
+horses through them, the French men-at-arms spurred on in terrible
+disarray, while still amongst them fell that terrible shower of
+arrows, seeming to seek out with unerring aim every weak point of
+their armour, piercing their visors, entering between the gorget and
+the breast-plate, transfixing the hand to the lance. Of eight hundred
+chosen men-at-arms, if we may believe the accounts of the French
+themselves, not more than a hundred and forty could reach the stakes
+by which the archers stood. This new impediment produced still more
+confusion: many of the heavy-armed horses of the French goring
+themselves upon the iron pikes, and one of the leaders, who cast
+himself gallantly forward before the rest, being instantly pulled from
+his horse, and slain by the axes of the English infantry; whilst still
+against those that were following were aimed the deadly shafts, till,
+seized with terror, they drew the bridle and fled, tearing their way
+through the mingled mass behind them, and increasing the consternation
+and confusion which already reigned.
+
+At the same moment, the arrows of the English archers being expended,
+the stakes were drawn up; and encouraged by the evident discomfiture
+of the French van, the first line of the English host rushed upon the
+struggling crowd before them, sword in hand, rendering the disarray
+and panic irremediable, slaughtering immense numbers with their swords
+and axes, and changing terror into precipitate flight.
+
+Up to this period, Henry, surrounded by some of his principal knights,
+stood immoveable upon the slope of the hill, but seeing his archers
+engaged hand to hand with the enemy, he pointed out with his truncheon
+a knight in black armour with lines of gold, about a hundred yards
+distant upon his left, saying, "Tell Sir Henry Dacre to move down with
+his company to support the van. The enemy may rally yet." A squire
+galloped off to bear the order; and instantly the band to which he
+addressed himself swept down in firm array, while the King, with the
+whole of the main body, moved slowly on to insure the victory.
+
+No further resistance, indeed, was made by the advanced guard of the
+French. Happy was the man who could save himself by flight; the
+archers and the cross-bowmen, separating from each other, plunged into
+the wood; many of the men-at-arms dismounting from their horses, and
+casting off their heavy armour, followed their example; and others,
+flying in small parties, rallied upon the immense body led by the
+Dukes of Bar and Alençon, which was now advancing, in the hope of
+retrieving the day. It was known that the Duke of Alençon had sworn to
+take the King of England, alive or dead, and the contest now became
+more fierce and more regular. Pouring on in thunder upon the English
+line, the French men-at-arms seemed to bear all before them; but
+though shaken by the charge, the English cavalry gallantly maintained
+their ground; and, as calm as if sitting at the council-table, the
+English King, from the midst of the battle, even where it was fiercest
+around him, issued his commands, rallied his men, and marked with an
+approving eye, and often with words of high commendation, the conduct
+of the foremost in the fight.
+
+"Wheel your men, Sir John Grey," he cried, "and take that party in the
+green upon the flank. Bravely done, upon my life; Sir Harry Dacre
+seems resolved to outdo us all. Give him support, my Lord of
+Hungerford. See you not that he is surrounded by a score of lances! By
+the holy rood, he has cleared the way. Aid him, aid him, and they are
+routed there!"
+
+"That is not Sir Harry Dacre, my Lord the King," said a gentleman
+near. "He is in plain steel armour. I spoke with him but a minute
+ago."
+
+"On, on," cried Henry, little heeding him. "Restore the array on the
+right, Sir Hugh Basset. They have bent back a little. On your guard,
+on your guard, knights and gentlemen! Down with your lances. Here they
+come!" and at the same moment, a large body of French, at the full
+gallop, dashed towards the spot where the King stood. In an instant,
+the Duke of Gloucester, but a few yards from the monarch, was
+encountered by a knight of great height and strength, and cast
+headlong to the ground. Henry spurred up to his brother's defence, and
+covering him with his shield, rained a thousand blows, with his large,
+heavy sword, upon the armour of his adversary, while two of the Duke's
+squires drew the young Prince from beneath his horse.
+
+"Beware, beware, my Lord the King!" cried a voice upon his left; and
+turning round, Henry beheld the knight in the black armour, pointing
+with his mace to the right, where the Duke of Alençon, some fifty
+yards before a large party of the French chivalry, was galloping
+forward, with his battle-axe in his hand, direct towards the King.
+Henry turned to meet him; but that movement had nearly proved fatal to
+the English monarch; for as he wheeled his horse, he saw the black
+knight cover him with his shield, receive upon it a tremendous blow
+from the gigantic adversary who had overthrown the Duke of Gloucester,
+and, swinging high his mace, strike the other on the crest a stroke
+that brought his head to his horse's neck. A second dashed him to the
+ground; but Henry had time to remark no more, for Alençon was already
+upon him, and he had now to fight hand to hand for life. Few men,
+however, could stand before the English monarch's arm; and in an
+instant, the Duke was rolling in the dust. A dozen of the foot
+soldiers were upon him at once.
+
+"Spare him, spare him!" cried the King; but, ere his voice could be
+heard, a dagger was in the unhappy prince's throat.
+
+When Henry looked round, the main body of the French were flying in
+confusion, the rear guard had already fled; and all that remained upon
+the field of Agincourt of the magnificent host of France, were the
+prisoners, the dying, or the dead, except where here and there,
+scattered over the ground, were seen small parties of twenty or
+thirty, separated from the rest, and fighting with the courage of
+despair.
+
+"Let all men be taken to mercy," cried the King, "who are willing to
+surrender. Quick, send messengers, uncle of Exeter, to command them to
+give quarter."
+
+"My Lord the King! my Lord the King!" cried the voice of a man,
+galloping up in haste, "the rear-guard of the enemy have rallied, and
+are already in your camp, pillaging and slaying wherever they come."
+
+"Ha, then, we will fight them too," cried the monarch. "Keep the
+field, my Lord Duke, and prevent those fugitives from collecting
+together;" and gathering a small force of cavalry, Henry himself rode
+back at speed towards the village of Maisoncelles. But when he reached
+the part of the camp where his baggage had been left, the King found
+that the report of the French rear-guard having rallied, was false.
+Tents had been overthrown, it is true, houses had been burnt, wagons
+had been pillaged; and the work of plunder was still going on. But the
+only force in presence consisted of some six or seven hundred armed
+peasantry, headed by about six score men-at-arms, with three or four
+gentlemen apparently of knightly rank. The cavaliers, who had
+dismounted, instantly sprang on their horses and fled when the English
+horse appeared; and Henry, fearing to endanger his victory, shouted
+loudly not to pursue.
+
+"I beseech you, my Liege, let me bring you back one of them," cried
+the knight in the black armour, who was on the King's left; and ere
+Henry could reply, digging his spurs deep into his horse's sides, he
+was half a bow-shot away after the fugitives. They fled fast, but not
+so fast as he followed.
+
+"We must give him aid, or he is lost," cried the King, riding after;
+but ere he could come up, the knight had nearly reached the three
+hindmost horsemen, shouting loudly to them to turn and fight.
+
+Two did so; but hand to hand he met them both, stunned the horse of
+one by a blow upon the head, and then turning upon the other,
+exclaimed, "We have met at length, craven and scoundrel! We have met
+at length!"
+
+The other replied not, but by a thrust of his sword at the good
+knight's visor. It was well aimed; and the point passed through the
+bars and entered his cheek. At the same moment, however, the black
+knight's heavy mace descended upon his foeman's head, the crest was
+crushed, the thick steel gave way, and down his enemy rolled--hung for
+a moment in the stirrup--and then fell headlong on the ground.
+
+Light as air, the victor sprang from his saddle, and setting his foot
+upon his adversary's neck, gazed fiercely upon him as he lay. There
+were some few words enamelled above the visor; and crying aloud, "Ave,
+Maria!" the black knight shook his mace high in the air, then dropped
+it by the thong without striking, and, unclasping his own helmet, as
+the King came up, exposed the head of Richard of Woodville. Such was
+the last deed of the battle of Agincourt.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+                           THE CONCLUSION.
+
+
+In the same large and magnificent hall of the royal castle at Calais,
+in which Edward III. entertained his prisoners after his chivalrous,
+though imprudent combat with the French forces under the walls of that
+town, was assembled the Court of England on the arrival of his great
+descendant, Henry V., some days subsequent to the battle of Agincourt.
+The scene was a splendid one; for, though the monarch and many of his
+nobility had to mourn the loss of near and dear relatives in that
+glorious field, no time had yet been given to prepare the external
+signs of grief; and the habiliments of all were, either the gay robes
+of peace and rejoicing, or the still more splendid panoply of war. As
+may be naturally supposed, the greater number of those present were
+men; but, nevertheless, the circle round the King's person contained
+several of the other sex; for, besides the wife and daughters of the
+Governor of Calais, and the ladies of several of the principal
+officers and citizens of the town, a number of the female relations of
+the conquerors of Agincourt, who had come over to the English city, on
+the first news of the army's march from Harfleur, were likewise in the
+hall.
+
+No pageant or revel, however, was going forward; and, although Henry
+could not but feel the vast importance of the deed that he had
+achieved, and the great results which might be expected to ensue, both
+in strengthening his power at home, and extending it abroad, yet his
+countenance was far more grave and thoughtful than it had been before
+the battle; and rejoicing, as was natural, at such vast success, he
+rejoiced with moderation, and repressed every expression of triumph.
+
+After speaking for some time with the persons round him, he turned to
+Sir John Grey, who stood at a short distance on his left hand; and
+noticing with a kindly smile the knight's fair daughter, he said,
+"Now, my noble friend, you besought me this morning to hear what you
+had to bring before me, concerning Sir Richard of Woodville. Ere I
+listen to a word, however, let me at once say, that the good service
+rendered by that knight upon the field of Agincourt wipes out whatever
+offence he may have before committed; and without prayer or
+solicitation, I free him from all bonds, and pardon everything that
+may be passed."
+
+As he spoke, Richard of Woodville advanced from behind, and standing
+before the King, exclaimed, "I beseech you, Sire, to withdraw that
+pardon, and to judge me as if I had never drawn sword or couched lance
+in your service. If I am guilty, my guilt is but increased by having
+dared to break ward, and fight amidst honest Englishmen; and I claim
+no merit for what little I have done, except in having brought to your
+Majesty's feet the traitor scoundrel, Simeon of Roydon, who doubtless,
+with his own lips, will now confess his treason towards you, his
+falsehood towards me."
+
+"If he do not," said Sir John Grey, boldly, "I have, thank God, ample
+means to prove it. Let him be called, my Liege, and with him a certain
+knave, a prisoner likewise in my hands, named Edward Dyram."
+
+"Ha!" cried the King, with a smile--"has our old friend Ned Dyram,
+too, a share in this affair? I had thought the warning I once gave
+might have taught him to mend his manners."
+
+"They are past mending, my Liege," answered Sir John Grey. "The
+villain will doubtless deny all, for he is a hardened knave as ever
+lived; but we can convict him notwithstanding."
+
+"Well, call them in," answered Henry, "and have all things ready." And
+while Sir John Grey and Sir William Philip, the King's treasurer,
+quitted the circle for a moment, Henry turned to Mary Grey, and
+addressed her in a low tone, with a smiling countenance. The crowd
+drew back to let the King speak at ease; and the only words that made
+themselves heard were, "Methinks, fair lady, you have some interest in
+this affair?"
+
+"Deep, my Liege," replied Mary Grey, with a glowing cheek.
+
+What the King answered was not distinct to those around; but the lady
+raised her bright eyes to his face, replying eagerly, "More for his
+honour than for his life, Sire."
+
+No time was lost, for Sir John Grey, expecting a speedy hearing, had
+prepared all; and in less than five minutes he re-entered the hall,
+followed by a number of persons, some of whom accompanied him to the
+end of the chamber where the King was placed, and ranged themselves
+behind the circle, while the rest, consisting of prisoners and those
+who guarded them, remained near the door by which they entered.
+
+Henry fixed his eyes upon the group there standing, and seemed to
+examine them attentively for a moment in silence, then raising his
+voice, he exclaimed, "Bring forward Simeon of Roydon, and Edward
+Dyram."
+
+The two whom he called immediately advanced, with a man-at-arms on
+either side. The knight held down his head and gazed upon the ground;
+but the servant looked carelessly around, showing neither fear nor
+doubt.
+
+"Sir Simeon of Roydon," said the King, in a stern tone, as soon as the
+culprit stood within a few yards of his person, "You have been taken
+in arms against your country, and it were wise in you to make free
+confession of your acts. I exhort you so to do, not promising you
+aught, but for the relief of your own soul."
+
+The knight paused for an instant, looked to Dyram, and then to Richard
+of Woodville, and replied, "I have nought to confess, Sire. Unjustly
+banished from my country, I had no right to regard myself as an
+Englishman; but it was not against you, my Liege, that I bore arms. It
+was against my enemy, who stands there. Him I sought, knowing him to
+be in your camp."
+
+"A poor excuse," replied the King; "and you must have had speedy
+intelligence, since he arrived there but the night before; and you,
+fellow," continued Henry, turning to Dyram, "What know you of this
+knight, and his proceedings?"
+
+"Very little, may it please your Grace," replied Ned Dyram; "I have
+seen him before, I think; but where it was, I cannot justly say."
+
+"May I ask one question of the guard, my Liege?" demanded Sir John
+Grey. Henry inclined his head; and the knight proceeded--"Have these
+two men held any communication together in the anteroom?"
+
+"They spoke together for a few moments in a strange tongue," answered
+the man-at-arms whom he addressed; "and when we parted them, they
+still talked from time to time across the room."
+
+"Well," replied the old knight, "it will serve them but little. Have
+you the papers, Sir William Philip?"
+
+"They are here," said the treasurer; and he placed a roll in the
+King's hand.
+
+Henry looked at the first paper casually, saying, "This I know;" but
+regarded the second more attentively, and, after reading it through,
+turned to Sir John Grey, and inquired, "What is this? I see it refers
+to the man before us. But how was it obtained?"
+
+"It is referred to, my Liege, in the question, number four, which your
+Grace permitted me to draw up. You will find them further on. The two
+following letters I need not explain. The only question is, as to
+their authenticity, which can be proved."
+
+The King read them all through with care; and then taking a paper from
+the bottom of the roll, which appeared to contain a long list of
+interrogatories, numbered separately, and written in a good clerkly
+hand, he perused it from the beginning to the end. After having read
+it, he turned to Sir Simeon of Roydon, saying, "You are here charged
+with grave offences, sir, besides the crime in which you were taken.
+It is stated here, that you purchased the arms of Sir Richard of
+Woodville, when they were sold in Ghent, on his men leaving the
+service of Burgundy to return to England; and that you took his name
+while following our army up the Somme, and attacking our straggling
+parties with a leader of free companions, named Robinet de
+Bournonville. Is it so, or is it not so?"
+
+"This can be proved, my Liege," said Richard of Woodville; "for Sir
+Philip Beauchamp here present, saw the arms in which this caitiff was
+taken; and he can swear that they were a gift from himself to me."
+
+"I acknowledge, Sire, that I did purchase them," replied Simeon of
+Roydon; "and what my companions may have called me, I know not; but if
+perchance they called me Woodville, it was in jest; but no man can say
+that I was seen following your army from Harfleur hither."
+
+"It is enough, it is enough," said the King. "Of this charge, Richard,
+you are free," he continued, turning to Woodville; and then resuming
+his interrogatories, he went on to ask, "Did you, or did you not, Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, intercept a letter from me to this good knight, and
+counterfeiting his signature, write a reply, refusing to obey my
+commands?"
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon started, and turned a fierce look upon Ned Dyram,
+as if he suspected that he had been betrayed; but the surprise which
+he saw in the man's face, notwithstanding a strong effort to repress
+it, convinced him that Henry had other sources of information; but
+resolute in his course to the last, he replied in a bold tone, "It is
+false. Who is my accuser?"
+
+The King looked round; and a sweet musical voice replied, "I am!"
+
+"Stand forward, stand forward," said the King. "Ha! who are you? I
+have seen that fair face before."
+
+"Once, my Liege," said Ella Brune, advancing, dressed in the garments
+she had worn immediately after her grandsire's death, "and then your
+Grace did as you always do, rendered justice both to the offender and
+the offended. I accuse this man of having done the deed that you have
+mentioned, and many another blacker still. I accuse him of having made
+use of him who stands beside him, Edward Dyram--pretending to be a
+servant of Sir Richard of Woodville, long after he had been driven in
+disgrace from his train--to obtain from the messenger of the Count of
+Charolois the letter which your Grace had sent. Speak," she continued,
+turning to Dyram, "Is it not true?"
+
+The man hesitated, and turned red and white, but was silent.
+
+"Speak," reiterated Ella Brune, "it is your last chance. Then read
+this letter, my Liege," she continued, "from the noble Count of
+Charolois, wherein he states, that he has traced out this foul and
+wicked plot, and----"
+
+"I will confess I _did_," exclaimed Dyram; "I did get the letter. I
+did aid to forge the answer; but he, he--Richard of Woodville--struck
+me, and I vowed revenge."
+
+"What more?" demanded the King, sternly. "If you hope for life speak
+truth. _You_ have not defiled knightly rank; _you_ have not degraded
+noble birth; _you_ have not violated all that should keep men honest
+and true. There is some hope for you."
+
+"Ha, knave!" exclaimed Simeon of Roydon, gazing at him fiercely; but
+Dyram hesitated and paused without reply; and Ella Brune proceeded,
+pointing with her fair hand to the papers which the King held open
+before him, and demanding, while her dark eyes fixed stern on Dyram's
+face, "And the letter from the prisoner of Montl'herry, to Sir John
+Grey, did you not erase the words with which it ended--they were, if I
+remember right, 'touching my ransom,'--and change the Christian name
+in the superscription?"
+
+"No, no," cried the man vehemently, knowing that the charge might well
+affect his life. "No, I did not--nobody saw me do it; I say I did not."
+
+"Fool!" cried Ella Brune, after giving him a moment to consider; "Your
+hate has been dangerous to others, your love has been dangerous to
+yourself--Give me that cup! My Lord the King, may I crave to see the
+letter I have named?"
+
+Henry took it from the rest, and placed it in her hand; and, dipping
+her finger in a cup containing a clear white fluid, which the page of
+Sir John Grey brought forward, she ran it over the line immediately
+preceding Richard of Woodville's signature. The King gazed earnestly
+on the parchment as she did so, and, to his surprise, he beheld the
+words she had mentioned reappear--somewhat faint and indistinct, it is
+true, but legible enough to show that the meaning of the whole paper
+had been falsified by their erasure.
+
+"That wretched man," said Ella Brune, pointing to Dyram, "in a foolish
+fit of tenderness towards my poor self, taught me the art of restoring
+writings long effaced; and now, by his own skill, I show you his own
+knavery."
+
+Henry turned round with a generous smile of sincere pleasure towards
+Richard of Woodville, saying, "I was sure I was not mistaken,
+Richard;" and he held out his hand.
+
+The young knight took it, and pressed his lips upon it, replying, "You
+seldom are, Sire; but there is more to come, or I am mistaken."
+
+"Nay, with him I have done," said Ella Brune, looking at Dyram:
+"unless he thinks, by free confession of the whole, and telling how a
+greater knave than himself led him on from fault to fault, to merit
+forgiveness, the matter affecting him is closed."
+
+"It is vain to conceal it," cried Dyram; "not that I hope for grace,
+for that is past; but there will be some satisfaction in punishing him
+who was never grateful for any service rendered him."
+
+"It was yourself you served, villain, and your own passions--not me!"
+cried Simeon of Roydon, with his eyes flashing fire.
+
+"And how did you treat me?" cried Dyram. "It is true, my Liege, to
+gain this girl--devil incarnate as she seems to be!--I would have
+sacrificed aught on earth; and when, after laying a plot with this man
+to win her--which, by his knavery, had well nigh ended in her ruin--I
+confessed my fault to yonder knight, and he spurned me like a dog, I
+would have done as much to take vengeance upon him. I found a ready
+aid in good Sir Simeon of Roydon, who loved him as dearly as I did. In
+turns we planned and executed. He devised the letter touching the
+ransom; he prompted the Duke of Orleans and the Count of Armagnac: I
+erased the writing, and changed the superscription. Then, again, I
+hinted that in the armour he had bought, and under the name of its
+first owner, he might follow your camp, and clench the suspicion of
+Sir Richard's treason, by proofs that would seem indubitable; never
+doubting, indeed, that our enemy would be kept long in Montl'herry,
+but little caring whether the sword fell on the one knight or the
+other. To make all sure, however, I was sent to Montl'herry; but I
+arrived too late to prevent the prisoner's escape; and only discovered
+by whose assistance it was effected--by that fair maiden there, now
+clerk and now demoiselle. My story is told, and I have nought to
+plead. We are both guilty alike; we both loved, and we both hated: but
+I would not have willingly injured her, who has now destroyed me. In
+that, and that only, am I better than this noble knight."
+
+"Have you aught more to say, fair maiden, concerning Sir Simeon of
+Roydon?" asked Henry; "if not, I will at once deal with both of them
+as they merit."
+
+"Nay, I beseech you, Sire," exclaimed Richard of Woodville, "before
+you act in any way, listen to me for one moment."
+
+"Speak--speak, my good friend," replied Henry; "I am always willing to
+hear anything in reason--what would you say?"
+
+"I know not whether your Grace would wish it spoken aloud," said
+Woodville; "it refers to a time before your accession to the throne."
+
+"Oh yes! speak, speak!" cried Henry; "I have not forgotten Hal of
+Hadnock. What of those days?"
+
+"Why, Sire, you may remember," answered Woodville, "that, as that
+noble gentleman you have just named and I rode by the stream near
+Dunbury, one night in the spring of the year, we found the body of my
+poor cousin Kate drowned in the water. The man before you thought fit
+to cast foul doubts on as true and gallant a gentleman as ever lived,
+Sir Henry Dacre. He now lies at the point of death from wounds
+received near Agincourt, and if aught on earth can save him, it will
+be to know that his good name is cleared from all suspicion. If this
+man could but be brought to speak, and to acknowledge that the charges
+he insinuated were false, it would be balm to a bruised heart."
+
+"Nay," cried the King, "his falsehood is so evident, his knavery so
+great, that charges from his mouth are now but empty air. Yet I have
+heard how Sir Harry Dacre has suffered the bare doubt to prey like a
+canker upon his peace. Speak, Simeon of Roydon; and, if it be your
+last word, speak truth. Know you aught of Catherine Beauchamp's
+death?--and, if you do, whose was the hand that did that horrid deed?"
+
+"Sir Harry Dacre's," answered Roydon, with a malignant smile; for he
+thought to triumph even in death. "No one doubts it, I believe. Does
+your Grace?"
+
+"Ay, that I do," answered Henry; "and I have good cause to doubt it.
+That man was sent by me to make inquiries," and he pointed to Dyram;
+"and everything that he discovered, I pray you mark, gentlemen all,
+tended to show that it was impossible Sir Henry Dacre could have done
+the deed. I have often fancied, indeed, that the knave had learned
+more than he divulged to me. Is it so, sir? I remember your ways in
+times of old, that you would tell part, and keep back part. Did you
+learn aught else?"
+
+"Oh, no, Sire," replied Dyram, with a laugh, glancing his keen eyes
+towards Richard of Woodville; "I know nought; but I suppose that Sir
+Henry Dacre did it."
+
+"My Lord the King," said Ella Brune, who had remained silent, with her
+dark eyes cast down, while this conversation took place, "I can give
+your Grace the information that you seek to have."
+
+"Ha!--you!" cried Roydon, gazing at her with glaring eyes. "This is
+all pure hate. Mark, if she do not say I did it!"
+
+"You did!" answered Ella, fixing her eyes upon him. "Do you remember
+the night after the Glutton mass?--I was there! Do you remember hiding
+beneath the willows on the abbey side of the stream?--I was there! Do
+you remember the lady coming and asking for the information you had
+promised to give, and your assailing her with words of love, and
+seeking to win her from her promised husband?--I was there!"
+
+"False! false! all false!" cried Sir Simeon of Roydon; but his face as
+he spoke was deadly pale.
+
+"If you saw all, fair maiden," said the King, "why did you not at once
+denounce the murderer?"
+
+"I saw all but the last act, my Liege," replied Ella Brune. "Having
+wandered from Southampton with the poor old man, whom that knight
+afterwards slew, we found kindly entertainment for our music in a
+cottage at Abbot's Ann. Wearied with the noise and merriment, I went
+out and sat beneath the trees; I witnessed what I have said; but then,
+not to be an eavesdropper, I stole away. When I heard of the murder,
+however, I well knew who had done it--for the lady answered him
+scornfully--and I should have told the tale at once, but the old man
+forbade me, showing that we were poor wandering minstrels, and that my
+story against the noble and the great would not be credited; yet I am
+certain that his hand did it."
+
+"Out upon it!" cried Roydon; "will a King of England listen to such an
+idle tale? will he not drive from his presence, with contempt, a
+mountebank singer who, without one witness, brings such a charge in
+pure hate?"
+
+"Not without one witness," answered Ella Brune. "I have one."
+
+"Call him!" said Henry; "if this man can clear himself from the
+accusation, he shall have pardon for all the rest."
+
+Ella Brune raised her hand and beckoned to some one standing behind
+the circle, which had drawn somewhat closer round the spot where this
+scene was going on. Immediately--while Sir John Grey made way--a lady
+dressed in the habit of a novice, with her face closely covered,
+advanced between the King and Simeon of Roydon.
+
+"This is my witness," said Ella Brune; and as she spoke, the other
+withdrew her veil.
+
+Simeon of Roydon started back with a face pale as death, exclaiming,
+"Catherine!--She is living! she is living!"
+
+"Ay, but not by your will," answered Catherine Beauchamp; "for you
+have long thought me dead--dead by the act of your own hand. My Lord
+the King," she continued, "all that this excellent girl has said is
+true. On a night you well remember, eager to learn from this man who
+you really were, I sought him by the banks of the stream, where he had
+promised to wait and tell me that and other matters, as he said,
+nearly affecting me. It was wrong of me to do so; but I had done much
+that was wrong ere then, and I had no scruples. He told me who you
+were; and then, seeing that no great love existed between myself and
+poor Harry Dacre, he sought to win my wealth, by inducing me to
+violate the contract with my promised husband and wed him: what put
+such a vain notion in his mind, I know not; but I laughed and taunted
+him with bitter scorn; and he then told me that I should be his or
+die. At first I feared not: but when I found him lift his hand and
+grasp me by the throat, I screamed aloud for help, and struggled hard.
+He mastered me, however, in an instant, and plunged me in the stream.
+As I fell, I vowed that, if Heaven would send me help, I would make a
+pilgrimage to St. James of Galicia. The waters, however, soon closed
+above my head, and in the one dreadful moment which I had for
+thought--as if the past had been cleared up and illumined by a flash
+of lightning--all the faults and follies of my former life stood out
+before me distinct and bright, stripped of the vain imaginations with
+which I had covered them. I rose again for a moment to the air; and
+then I vowed that, if God spared me, I would pledge myself to the
+altar, and renouncing all that ensnared me, live out the rest of time
+in penitence and prayer. I soon lost all recollection, however, and
+when first I woke as from sleep, in great feebleness and agony, I
+found myself in a litter, borne on towards the abbey. Consciousness
+was speedily gone again: and when next I roused myself from that dull
+slumber, my good uncle Richard, the abbot, and an old monk of his
+convent, were the only persons near. As soon as I could speak, I told
+them of my vows, and engaged them to keep my recovery a profound
+secret, till I had taken the veil. The deeds that have been done,
+however, compel me to come forward now, and tell the truth. I have
+told it simply and without disguise; but yet I would fain plead for
+this man's life. To him, as well as to others, I have had great
+faults, and towards none more than poor Sir Harry Dacre. In a month,
+however, my vows will be taken, and he will be free; but I would fain
+not cloud the peace with which I renounce the world, by bringing death
+on my bad cousin's head; and you, Sire, after such a mighty victory,
+can well afford to pardon."
+
+But Henry waved his hand: "Not a word for him!" he said; "loaded with
+so many crimes, I give him up to trial; and by the sentence of his
+judges will I abide. Remove the prisoners, and keep them under safe
+ward; one word more, fair lady," he continued, as the men-at-arms led
+Simeon of Roydon and Ned Dyram from the presence, "how has it so
+fortunately chanced that you are here to-day?"
+
+"I have travelled far, my Liege," replied Catherine Beauchamp, in a
+gayer tone; "have made my pilgrimage, and passed part of my noviciate
+in a cell of the order I have chosen near Dijon. Coming back I met
+with some Canonesses, who were travelling under the escort of some
+troops of Burgundy, and with them journeyed to Peronne, whence, under
+the escort of Sir Richard of Woodville, and accompanied by this good
+maiden, I came hither. I will not waste your time, my Liege, by
+telling all the adventures that befel me by the way; but I have to ask
+pardon of my noble cousin Richard, here, for teasing him somewhat in
+Westminster and Nieuport, and doing him a still worse turn in Ghent by
+a letter to Sir John Grey. But, good faith, to say the truth, I
+thought he was a lighter lover than he has proved himself, and now
+that I know all, I crave his forgiveness heartily."
+
+"You have it, sweet Kate," answered Richard of Woodville; "but you
+have several things to hear yet," he continued, in his blunt way, "and
+some perhaps that may not be very palatable to you."
+
+"Nay, I have heard all," answered Catherine Beauchamp; "but I stand no
+more in the way of that love, which I had long seen turning to
+another, when I spurned it from me myself. My vows at the altar will
+remove all obstacles; and I trust that Dacre will see me as a sister
+and a friend, though it be but to bid me adieu for ever."
+
+"And I, Woodville," said the King, turning to the young knight, "I,
+too, would ask you pardon, if I had ever truly suspected you. Such,
+however, is not the case; and there are many here who can testify,
+that though I was willing that you should be made to prove your
+innocence, I never doubted that you could do so. For services
+rendered, however, and high deeds done, as well as in compensation for
+much that you have suffered, I give you one half of the forfeited
+estates of the traitor Sir Thomas Grey, to hold for ever of us and of
+our heirs, on presentation of a mace, such as that which beat down the
+adversary of my brother Humphrey upon the day of Agincourt. Sir John
+Grey, my good old friend, I think you, too, have a gift to give. Come,
+let me see it given;" and leading forward Richard of Woodville, he
+brought him to the side of Mary Grey. The old knight placed her hand
+in his, and the King said "Benedicite."
+
+Ella Brune turned away her head. Her cheek glowed; but there were no
+tears in her eyes; and, ere many months were gone, she was a
+cloistered nun in the same convent with Catherine Beauchamp.
+
+
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Agincourt, by 
+G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
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+<head>
+<title>The Works of G. P. R. James, Esq. Vol. XX. Agincourt.</title>
+<meta name="Author" content="G. P. R. James">
+
+<meta name="Publisher" content="Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.">
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+
+Project Gutenberg's Agincourt, by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Agincourt
+       The Works of G. P. R. James, Volume XX
+
+Author: G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2012 [EBook #39519]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AGINCOURT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by
+Google Books (Harvard University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br>
+<br>
+1. Page scan source:<br>
+<br>
+http://books.google.com/books?id=jvMtAAAAYAAJ<br>
+(Harvard University)</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="center"><img src="images/agincourt.png" alt="agincourt"></p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>THE WORKS</h1>
+<br>
+<h5>OF</h5>
+<br>
+<h1>G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4>REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR.</h4>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4>WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.</h4>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="normal">&quot;D'autres auteurs l'ont encore plus avili, (le roman,) en y mêlant les
+tableaux dégoutant du vice; et tandis que le premier avantage des
+fictions est de rassembler autour de l'homme tout ce qui, dans la
+nature, peut lui servir de leçon ou de modèle, on a imaginé qu'on
+tirerait une utilité quelconque des peintures odieuses de mauvaises
+m&#339;urs; comme si elles pouvaient jamais laisser le c&#339;ur qui les
+repousse, dans une situation aussi pure que le c&#339;ur qui les aurait
+toujours ignorées. Mais un roman tel qu'on peut le concevoir, tel que
+nous en avons quelques modèles, est une des plus belles productions de
+l'esprit humain, une des plus influentes sur la morale des individus,
+qui doit former ensuite les m&#339;urs publiques.&quot;--Madame De Stael.
+<i>Essai sur les Fictions</i>.</p>
+<br>
+<p style="margin-left:25%; text-indent:-8pt">&quot;Poca favilla gran flamma seconda:<br>
+Forse diretro a me, con miglior voci<br>
+Si pregherà, perchè Cirra risponda.&quot;</p>
+<p style="margin-left:40%">Dante. <i>Paradiso</i>, Canto I.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4>VOL. XX.</h4>
+<br>
+<h2>AGINCOURT.</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4>LONDON:</h4>
+<h3>SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.</h3>
+<h4>STATIONERS' HALL COURT.</h4>
+<h5>MDCCCXLIX.</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>AGINCOURT.</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4>A Romance.</h4>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h5>BY</h5>
+<br>
+<h2>G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="W20">
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h4>LONDON:</h4>
+<h3>SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.</h3>
+<h4>STATIONERS' HALL COURT.</h4>
+<h5>MDCCCXLIX.</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<table cellpadding="10" style="width:60%; margin-left:20%; font-weight:bold">
+<colgroup><col style="width:10%; text-align:right"><col style="width:90%"></colgroup>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="sc2">CHAPTER</span></td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>I.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">THE NIGHT RIDE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>II.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">THE HALL AND ITS DENIZENS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>III.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">THE FOREGONE EVENTS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>IV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">THE GLUTTON MASS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>V.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">THE ASSASSINATION.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>VI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">THE SUSPICIONS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>VII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">THE CORONATION.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>VIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">THE DAY OF FESTIVAL.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>IX.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">THE SICK MIND.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>X.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">THE MINSTREL'S GIRL.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">THE DECEIVER.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">THE HOURS OF JOY.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">THE WRONG.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XIV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14">THE REMEDY.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_15" href="#div1_15">THE PILGRIM.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XVI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_16" href="#div1_16">THE NEW FRIENDS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XVII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_17" href="#div1_17">THE PREPARATION.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XVIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_18" href="#div1_18">THE JOURNEY AND THE VOYAGE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XIX.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_19" href="#div1_19">THE FOREIGN LAND.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XX.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_20" href="#div1_20">THE NEW ACQUAINTANCES.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_21" href="#div1_21">THE EXILE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_22" href="#div1_22">THE COUNT OF CHAROLOIS.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_23" href="#div1_23">THE DEPARTURE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXIV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_24" href="#div1_24">THOSE WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_25" href="#div1_25">THE ENTERPRISE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXVI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_26" href="#div1_26">THE ACHIEVEMENT.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXVII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_27" href="#div1_27">A SUMMARY.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXVIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_28" href="#div1_28">THE FRIEND ESTRANGED.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXIX.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_29" href="#div1_29">THE BETRAYER.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXX.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_30" href="#div1_30">THE HUSSITES.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_31" href="#div1_31">THE RESULT.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_32" href="#div1_32">TRUE LOVE'S DEFENCE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_33" href="#div1_33">THE RESCUE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXIV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_34" href="#div1_34">THE RECOMPENCE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_35" href="#div1_35">THE DISAPPOINTMENT.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXVI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_36" href="#div1_36">THE DISASTER.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXVII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_37" href="#div1_37">THE CAPTIVITY.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXVIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_38" href="#div1_38">THE FLIGHT.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XXXIX.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_39" href="#div1_39">THE PRISONER FREE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XL.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_40" href="#div1_40">THE MYSTERY.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XLI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_41" href="#div1_41">THE CAMP.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XLII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_42" href="#div1_42">THE CHARGES.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XLIII.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_43" href="#div1_43">THE FOX IN THE SNARE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XLIV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_44" href="#div1_44">THE ORDERING OF THE BATTLE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XLV.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_45" href="#div1_45">THE BATTLE.</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td>XLVI.</td>
+<td><a name="div1Ref_46" href="#div1_46">THE CONCLUSION.</a></td>
+</tr></table>
+
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>AGINCOURT.</h1>
+<br>
+<hr class="W10">
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">THE NIGHT RIDE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The night was as black as ink; not a solitary twinkling star looked
+out through that wide expanse of shadow, which our great Poet has
+called the &quot;blanket of the dark;&quot; clouds covered the heaven; the moon
+had not risen to tinge them even with grey, and the sun had too long
+set to leave one faint streak of purple upon the edge of the western
+sky. Trees, houses, villages, fields, and gardens, all lay in one
+profound obscurity, and even the course of the high-road itself
+required eyes well-accustomed to night-travelling to be able to
+distinguish it, as it wandered on through a rich part of Hampshire,
+amidst alternate woods and meadows. Yet at that murky hour, a
+traveller on horseback rode forward upon his way, at an easy pace, and
+with a light heart, if one might judge by the snatches of homely
+ballads that broke from his lips as he trotted on. These might,
+indeed, afford a fallacious indication of what was going on within the
+breast, and in his case they did so; for habit is more our master than
+we know, and often rules our external demeanour, whenever the spirit
+is called to take council in the deep chambers within, showing upon
+the surface, without any effort on our part to hide our thoughts, a
+very different aspect from that of the mind's business at the moment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus, then, the traveller who there rode along, saluting the ear of
+night with scraps of old songs, sung in a low, but melodious voice,
+was as thoughtful, if not as sad, as it was in his nature to be; but
+yet, as that nature was a cheerful one and all his habits were gay, no
+sooner were the eyes of the spirit called to the consideration of
+deeper things, than custom exercised her sway over the animal part,
+and he gave voice, as we have said, to the old ballads which had
+cheered his boyhood and his youth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Whatever were his contemplations, they were interrupted, just as he
+came to a small stream which crossed the road and then wandered along
+at its side, by first hearing the quick foot-falls of a horse
+approaching, and then a loud, but fine voice, exclaiming, &quot;Who goes
+there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A friend to all true men,&quot; replied the traveller; &quot;a foe to all false
+knaves. 'Merry sings the throstle under the thorn.' Which be you,
+friend of the highway?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith, I hardly know,&quot; replied the stranger; &quot;every man is a bit of
+both, I believe. But if you can tell me my way to Winchester, I will
+give you thanks.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I want nothing more,&quot; answered the first traveller, drawing in his
+rein. &quot;But Winchester!--Good faith, that is a long way off; and you
+are going from it, master:&quot; and he endeavoured, as far as the darkness
+would permit, to gain some knowledge of the stranger's appearance. It
+seemed that of a young man of good proportions, tall and slim, but
+with broad shoulders and long arms. He wore no cloak, and his dress
+fitting tight to his body, as was the fashion of the day, allowed his
+interlocutor to perceive the unencumbered outline of his figure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A long way off!&quot; said the second traveller, as his new acquaintance
+gazed at him; &quot;that is very unlucky; but all my stars are under that
+black cloud. What is to be done now, I wonder?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What do you want to do?&quot; inquired the first traveller. &quot;Winchester is
+distant five and twenty miles or more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Odds life! I want to find somewhere to lodge me and my horse for a
+night,&quot; replied the other, &quot;at a less distance than twenty-five miles,
+and yet not quite upon this very spot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why not Andover?&quot; asked his companion; &quot;'tis but six miles, and I am
+going thither.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Humph!&quot; said the stranger, in a tone not quite satisfied; &quot;it must be
+so, if better cannot be found; and yet, my friend, I would fain find
+some other lodging. Is there no inn hard by, where carriers bait their
+beasts and fill their bellies, and country-folks carouse on nights of
+merry-making? or some old hall or goodly castle, where a truckle bed,
+or one of straw, a nunchion of bread and cheese, and a draught of ale,
+is not likely to be refused to a traveller with a good coat on his
+back and long-toed shoes?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, ay!&quot; rejoined the first; &quot;of the latter there are many round,
+but, on my life, it will be difficult to direct you to them. The men
+of this part have a fondness for crooked ways, and, unless you were
+the Dædalus who made them, or had some fair dame to guide you by the
+clue, you might wander about for as many hours as would take you to
+Winchester.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then Andover it must be, I suppose,&quot; answered the other; &quot;though, to
+say sooth, I may there have to pay for a frolic, the score of which
+might better be reckoned with other men than myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A frolic!&quot; said his companion; &quot;nothing more, my friend?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, on my life!&quot; replied the other; &quot;a scurvy frolic, such as only a
+fool would commit; but when a man has nothing else to do, he is sure
+to fall into folly, and I am idle perforce.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, I'll believe you,&quot; answered the first, after a moment's
+thought; &quot;I have, thank Heaven, the gift of credulity, and believe all
+that men tell me. Come, I will turn back with you, and guide you to a
+place of rest, though I shall be well laughed at for my pains.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not for an act of generous courtesy, surely,&quot; said the stranger,
+quitting the half-jesting tone in which he had hitherto spoken. &quot;If
+they laugh at you for that, I care not to lodge with them, and will
+not put your kindness to the test, for I should look for a cold
+reception.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay, 'tis not for that, they will laugh,&quot; rejoined the other,
+&quot;and perhaps it may jump with my humour to go back, too. If you have
+committed a folly in a frolic to-night, I have committed one in anger.
+Come with me, therefore, and, as we go, give me some name by which to
+call you when we arrive, that I may not have to throw you into my
+uncle's hall as a keeper with a dead deer; and, moreover, before we
+go, give me your word that we have no frolics here, for I would not,
+for much, that any one I brought, should move the old knight's heart
+with aught but pleasure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There is my hand, good youth,&quot; replied the stranger, following, as
+the other turned his horse; &quot;and I never break my word, whatever men
+say of me, though they tell strange tales. As for my name, people call
+me Hal of Hadnock; it will do as well as another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For the nonce,&quot; added his companion, understanding well that it was
+assumed; &quot;but it matters not. Let us ride on, and the gate shall soon
+be opened to you; for I do think they will be glad to see me back
+again, though I may not perchance stay long.</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i6">'The porter rose anon certaine<br>
+As soon as he heard John call.'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You seem learned for a countryman,&quot; said the traveller, riding on by
+his side; &quot;but, perchance, I am speaking to a clerk?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith, no,&quot; replied the first wayfarer; &quot;more soldier than
+clerk, Hal of Hadnock; as old Robert of Langland says, 'I cannot
+perfectly my Paternoster, as the priest it singeth, but I can rhyme of
+Robin Hode and Randof Earl of Chester.' I have cheered my boyhood with
+many a song and my youth with many a ballad. When lying in the field
+upon the marches of Wales, I have wiled away many a cold night with
+the--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+
+<p class="t0">'Quens Mountfort, sa dure mort,'</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">or,</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+
+<p class="t4">'Richard of Alemaigne, while he was king,'</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">and then in the cold blasts of March, I ever found comfort in--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i6">'Summer is icumen in,<br>
+Lhude sing cuccu,<br>
+Groweth sede and bloweth mode,<br>
+And springeth the wode nu.'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And good reason, too,&quot; said Hal of Hadnock; &quot;I do the same, i'faith;
+and when wintry winds are blowing, I think ever, that a warmer day may
+come and all be bright again. Were it not for that, indeed, I might
+well be cold-hearted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fie, never flinch!&quot; cried his gay companion; &quot;there is but one thing
+on earth should make a bold man coldhearted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what may that be?&quot; asked the other; &quot;to lose his dinner?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, good life!&quot; exclaimed the first,--&quot;to lose his lady's love.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, is it there the saddle galls?&quot; said Hal of Hadnock.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith, not a whit,&quot; answered his fellow-traveller; &quot;if it did, I
+should leave off singing. You are wrong in your guess, Master Hal. I
+may lose my lady, but not my lady's love, or I am much mistaken; and
+while that stays with me I will both sing and hope.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis the best comfort,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock, &quot;and generally brings
+success. But what am I to call you, fair sir? for it mars one's speech
+to have no name for a companion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, were not my uncle's house within three miles,&quot; said the other,
+&quot;I would pay you in your own coin, and bid you call me Dick of
+Andover; for I am fond of secrets, and keep them faithfully, except
+when they are likely to be found out; but such being the case now, you
+must call me Richard of Woodville, if you would have my friends know
+you mean a poor squire who has ever sought the places where hard blows
+are plenty; but who missed his spurs at Bramham Moor by being sent by
+his good friend Sir Thomas Rokeby to bear tidings of Northumberland's
+incursion to the King. I would fain have staid and carried news of the
+victory; but, good sooth, Sir Thomas said he could trust me to tell
+the truth clearly as well as fight, and that, though he could trust
+the others to fight, he could not find one who would not make the
+matter either more or less to the King, than it really was. See what
+bad luck it is to be a plain-spoken fellow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good luck as well as bad,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock; and in such
+conversation they pursued their way, riding not quite so fast as
+either had been doing when first they met, and slackening their pace
+to a walk, when, about half a mile farther forward, they quitted the
+high road and took to the narrow lanes of the country, which, as the
+reader may easily conceive, were not quite as good for travelling in
+those days, as even at present, when in truth they are often bad
+enough. They soon issued forth, however, upon a more open track, where
+the river again ran along by the roadside, sheltered here and there by
+copses which occasionally rose from the very brink; and, just as they
+regained it, the moon appearing over the low banks that fell crossing
+each other over its course, poured, from beneath the fringe of heavy
+clouds that canopied the sky above, her full pale light upon the whole
+extent of the stream. There was something fine but melancholy in the
+sight, grave and even grand; and though there were none of those large
+objects which seem generally necessary to produce the sublime, there
+was a feeling of vastness given by the broad expanse of shadow
+overhead, and the long line of glistening brightness below, broken by
+the thick black masses of brushwood that here and there bent over the
+flat surface of the water.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This is fine,&quot; said Hal of Hadnock; &quot;I love such night scenes with
+the solitary moon and the deep woods and the gleaming river--ay, even
+the dark clouds themselves. They are to me like a king's fate, where
+so many heavy things brood over him, so many black and impenetrable
+things surround him, and where yet often a clear yet cold effulgence
+pours upon his way, grander and calmer than the warmer and gayer beams
+that fall upon the course of ordinary men.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His companion turned and gazed at him for a moment by the moonlight,
+but made no observation, till the other continued, pointing with his
+hand, &quot;What is that drifting on the water? Surely 'tis a man's head!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;An otter with a trout in his mouth, speeding to his hole,&quot; replied
+Richard of Woodville; &quot;he will not be long in sight.--See! he is gone.
+All things fly from man. We have established our character for
+butchery with the brute creation; and they wisely avoid the
+slaughter-house of our presence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I thought it was something human, living or dead,&quot; replied Hal of
+Hadnock. &quot;Methinks it were a likely spot for a man to rid himself of
+his enemy, and give the carrion to the waters; or for a love-lorn
+damsel to bury griefs and memories beneath the sleepy shining of the
+moonlight stream. The Leucadian promontory was an awful leap, and bold
+as well as sad must have been the heart to take it; but here, timid
+despair might creep quietly into the soft closing wave, and find a
+more peaceful death-bed than the slow decay of a broken-heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sad thoughts, sir, sad thoughts,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;and
+yet you seemed merry enough just now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, the fit comes upon me as it will, comrade,&quot; replied the other;
+&quot;and, good faith, I strive not to prevent it. I amuse myself with my
+own humours, standing, as it were, without myself, and looking inward
+like a spectator at a tournay--now laughing at all I see, now ready to
+weep; and yet for the world I would not stop the scene, were it in my
+power to cast down my warder at the keenest point of strife, and say,
+'Pause! no more!' Sometimes there lives not a merrier heart on this
+side the sea, and sometimes not a sadder within the waters. At one
+time I could laugh like a clown at a fair, and at others would make
+ballads to the little stars, full of sad homilies.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not so, I,&quot; rejoined Richard of Woodville. &quot;I strive for an equal
+mind. I would fain be always light-hearted; and though, when I am
+crossed, I may be hot and hasty, ready to strive with others or
+myself, yet, in good truth, I soon learn to bear with all things, and
+to endure the ills that fall to my portion, as lightly as may be.
+Man's a beast of burden, and must carry his pack-saddle; so it is
+better to do it quietly than to kick under the load. Out upon those
+who go seeking for sorrows, a sort of commodity they may find at their
+own door! One whines over man's ingratitude; another takes to heart
+the scorn of the great; another broods over his merit neglected, and
+his good deeds forgotten; but, were they wise, and did good without
+thought of thanks--were they high of heart, and knew themselves as
+great in their inmost soul as the greatest in the land--were they
+bright in mind, and found pleasure in the mind's exercise--they would
+both merit more and repine less, ay, and be surer of their due in the
+end.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;By my life, you said you were no clerk, Richard of Woodville,&quot; cried
+his companion, &quot;and here you have preached me a sermon, fit to banish
+moon-sick melancholy from the land. But say, good youth, is yonder
+light looking out of your uncle's hall window--there, far on the other
+side of the stream?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;ride after it, and see how far it will
+lead you. You will soon find yourself neck deep in the swamp. 'Tis a
+Will-o'-the-wisp. My uncle's house lies on before, beyond the village
+of Abbot's Ann, just a quarter of a mile from the Abbey; so, as the
+one brother owns the hall, and the other rules the monastery, they can
+aid and countenance each other, whether it be at a merrymaking or a
+broil. Then, too, as the good Abbot is as meek as an ewe in a May
+morning, and Sir Philip is as fiery as the sun in June, the one can
+tame the other's wrath, or work up his courage, as the case may
+be--but here we see the first houses, and lights in the window, too.
+Why, how now! Dame Julien has not gone to bed--but, I forgot, there is
+a glutton mass to-morrow, and, as the reeve's wife, she must be
+cooking capons, truly. But, hark! there is a sound of a cithern, and
+some one singing. Good faith, they are making merry by their fireside,
+though curfew has tolled long since. Well, Heaven send all good men a
+cheerful evening, and a happy hearth! Perhaps they have some poor
+minstrel within, and are keeping up his heart with kindness; for
+Julien is a bountiful dame, and the reeve, though somewhat hard upon
+the young knaves, is no way pinched when there is a sad face at his
+door. Well, fair sir, we shall soon be home. A pleasant place is home;
+ay, it is a pleasant place, and, when far away, we think of it always.
+God help the man who has no home! and let all good Christians befriend
+him, for he has need.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Although Hal of Hadnock made no farther observations upon his
+companion's mood and character, there was something therein that
+struck and pleased him greatly; and he was no mean judge of his
+fellow-men, for he had mingled with many of every class and degree.
+Quick and ready in discovering, by small traits, the secrets of that
+complicated mystery, the human heart, he saw, even in the love of
+music and poetry, in a man habituated to camps and fields of battle, a
+higher and finer mind than the common society of the day afforded; for
+it must not be thought, that either in the knight or the knight's son,
+of our old friend Chaucer, the poet gave an accurate picture of the
+gentry of the age. That there were such is not to be doubted--but they
+were few; and the generality of the nobles and gentlemen of those
+times were sadly illiterate and rude. The occasional words Richard of
+Woodville let drop, too, regarding his own scheme of home philosophy,
+showed, his companion thought, a strength and rigour of character
+which might be serviceable to others as well as himself, in any good
+and honourable cause; and Hal of Hadnock, as they rode on, said to
+himself, &quot;I will see more of this man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After passing through the little village, and issuing out again into
+the open country, they saw, by the light of the moon, now rising
+higher, and dispersing the clouds as she advanced, a high isolated
+hill standing out, detached from all the woods and scattered
+hedge-rows round. At a little distance from its base, upon the left,
+appeared the tall pinnacles and tower of an abbey and a church,
+cutting dark against the lustrous sky behind; and, partly hidden by
+the trees on the right, partly rising above them, were seen the bold
+lines of another building, in a sterner style of architecture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is your uncle's dwelling, I suppose?&quot; said Hal of Hadnock,
+pointing on with his hand. &quot;Shall we find any one up? It is hard upon
+ten o'clock.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no fear,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville. &quot;Good Sir Philip
+Beauchamp sits late in the hall. He will not take his white head to
+the pillow for an hour or two; and the ladies like well to keep him
+company. Here, to the left, is a shorter way through the wood; but
+look to your horse's footing, for the woodmen were busy this morning,
+and may have left branches about.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In less than five minutes more they were before the embattled gates of
+one of those old English dwellings, half castle, half house, which
+denoted the owner to be a man of station and consideration--just a
+step below, in fortune or rank, those mighty barons who sheltered
+themselves from the storms of a factious and lawless epoch, in
+fortresses filled with an army of retainers and dependants. As they
+approached, Richard of Woodville raised his voice and called aloud,</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Tim Morris! Tim Morris!&quot; He waited a moment, singing to himself the
+two verses he had repeated before--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i12">
+&quot;'The porter rose again certaine<br>
+As soon as he heard John call;'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">and then added, &quot;But it will be different now, I fancy; for honest Tim
+is as deaf as a miller, and his boy is sound asleep, I suspect. Tim
+Morris, I say!--He will keep us here all night:--Tim Morris!--How now,
+old sluggard!&quot; he continued, as the ancient porter rolled back the
+gate; &quot;were you snoring in your wicker-chair, that you make us dance
+attendance, as you do the country folk of a Monday morning?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis fit they should learn to dance the Morris dance, as they call
+it, Master Dick,&quot; answered the porter, laughing, and holding up his
+lantern. &quot;God yield ye, sir! I thought you were gone for the night,
+and I was stripping off my jerkin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is Simeon of Roydon gone, then?&quot; asked Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, sir, he stays all night,&quot; answered the porter. &quot;Here, boy! here,
+knave! turn thee out, and run across the court to take the horses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A sleepy boy, with senses yet but half awake, crept out from the door,
+and followed Richard of Woodville and his companion, as they rode
+across the small space that separated the gate from the Hall itself.
+There, at a flight of steps, leading to a portal which might well
+have served a church, they dismounted; and, advancing before his
+fellow-traveller, Richard of Woodville raised the heavy bar of
+hammered iron, which served for a latch, and entered the hall, singing
+aloud--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i12">&quot;'As I rode on a Monday,<br>
+Between Wettenden and Wall,<br>
+All along the broad way,<br>
+I met a little man withal.'&quot;</div>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke he pushed back the door for Hal of Hadnock to enter, and a
+scene was presented to his companion's sight which deserves rather to
+begin than end a chapter.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">THE HALL AND ITS DENIZENS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The hall of the old house at Dunbury--long swept away by the two great
+destroyers of man's works, Time and Change--was a spacious vaulted
+chamber, of about sixty feet in its entire length, by from thirty-five
+to forty in width; but, at the end next the court, a part of the
+pavement, of about nine feet broad, and some eighteen or twenty inches
+lower than the rest, was separated from the hall by two broad steps
+running all the way across. This inferior space presented three doors;
+the great one communicating at once with the court, and two others in
+the angles, at the right side and the left, leading to chambers in the
+rest of the building. At the further end of the hall, on the left, was
+another small door, opposite to which there appeared the first four
+steps of a staircase, which wound away with a turn to apartments
+above. There was a high window over the principal entrance, from which
+the room received, in the daytime, its only light; and about half way
+up the chamber, on the left hand, was the wide chimney and hearth,
+with seats on either side, and two vast bars of iron between them for
+burning wood. In the midst of the pavement stood a long table, with
+some benches, one or two stools and a great chair, in which the master
+of the mansion seated himself at the time of meals; but the hall
+presented no other ornament whatever, except a number of lances, bows,
+cross-bows, axes, maces, and other offensive arms, which were ranged
+with some taste against the walls. The armoury was in another part of
+the house, and these weapons seemed only admitted here to be ready in
+case of immediate need; for those were times in which men did not
+always know how soon the hand might be called upon to defend the head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Richard of Woodville and his companion entered, some six or seven
+large logs, I might almost call them trees, were blazing on the
+hearth; and, in addition to the glare they afforded, a sconce of seven
+burners above the chimney shed a full light upon the party assembled
+round the fire. That party was very numerous, for several maids and
+retainers, of whom it may not be necessary to speak more particularly,
+were scattered round the principal personages, busy with such
+occupations for the evening as were common in a rude age, when
+intellectual pursuits were very little cultivated.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The group in front, however, deserves more attention, consisting of
+seven persons, most of whom we shall have to speak of more than once
+in the course of these pages. In the seat within the chimney, just
+opposite the door, sat the master of the mansion, a tall powerful old
+man, who had seen many a battle-field in his day, during that and the
+preceding reign, and had borne away the marks of hard blows upon his
+face. He was spare and large boned in form, with his hair and beard<a name="div4Ref_01" href="#div4_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+very nearly white; but he was hale and florid withal, and his
+countenance, though strongly marked, had an expression of kindness and
+good humour, not at all incompatible with the indications of a quick
+and fiery temper, which were to be discovered in the sparkle of his
+undimmed blue eye, and the sudden contraction of his brow when
+anything surprised him. The seat on the other side of the fire was not
+visible from the door by which the two wayfarers entered; but beyond
+the angle of the chimney, protruded into the light, the arm, shoulder,
+and part of the head of another tall old man, apparently clothed in
+the grey gown of some monastic order.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the left of Sir Philip Beauchamp was seated a young lady, perhaps
+eighteen or nineteen years of age, with her arm resting on his knee,
+and her head and figure bent gracefully towards him. Her hair was as
+black as jet, her skin soft and clear, and her complexion somewhat
+pale, though a slight tinge of the rose might be seen upon her cheek.
+Her eyes, like her father's, were of a deep clear blue, though the
+long black fringes that bordered her eyelids in a long sweeping line,
+made them, at a distance, look as dark as her hair. She seemed neither
+above nor below the ordinary height of woman; and her whole figure,
+though by no means thin, was slim and delicate. The small exquisite
+foot and rounded ancle inclining gracefully towards the fire, were
+displayed by the posture in which she had placed herself; and the hand
+that rested on her father's knee, with long fingers tapering to the
+point, showed in every line the high Norman blood of her race.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Next to Isabel Beauchamp, the only daughter of the old knight, was
+another lady, perhaps a year younger. She was in several respects
+strikingly contrasted to her fair companion, though hardly less
+beautiful. Her hair was of a light glossy brown, catching a warm gleam
+wherever the light fell upon it, as fine as silk new spun from the
+cone, yet curling in large bunches wherever it could escape from the
+bands that confined it. Her complexion was fair and glowing; her cheek
+warm with health, and her skin as soft and smooth as that of a child.
+To look upon her at a little distance, one would have expected to find
+the merry grey or blue eye, so often seen in the pretty village maid;
+but hers was dark brown, large, and full, and soft, yet with a
+laughing light therein, that seemed to speak a buoyant and a happy
+heart. In form she was somewhat taller than the other; but though her
+waist looked as if it would have required no giant's hand to span it
+round, yet there was that sort of full and graceful sweep in all the
+lines, which painters and statuaries, I believe, call <i>contour</i>.
+Nought but the tip of one foot was seen from beneath the long and
+flowing petticoat then in fashion; but even from that, one might judge
+that nothing much more neat and small ever beat the turf, except
+amongst the elves of fairy land. Her hand rested upon a frame of
+embroidery, at which she had been working, and her head was slightly
+bent forward, as if to hear something said by the good Abbot of the
+convent, who sat opposite to his brother, in the seat within the
+chimney. But between her and him was another group, consisting of
+three persons, which somewhat detached itself from the rest. Two were
+seated, a lady and a gentleman, and the third was standing with his
+arms folded on his chest a little behind the others.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The backs of these three were turned towards the door by which
+Woodville and his companions entered; and they were somewhat in the
+shade, being placed between the lower end of the hall and the light
+both of the fire and the sconce; but as we are now looking at the
+picture of the whole, we may as well examine the details before we
+proceed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The lady bore a striking resemblance in features, complexion, and
+form, to Isabel Beauchamp, whom we have already described; and the
+Lady Catherine might well be taken, as was often the case, for her
+cousin's sister. She was taller, indeed, though not much; but the
+chief difference was in the expression of the two countenances.
+Catherine's wanted all the gentleness, the tenderness, the
+thoughtfulness, of Isabel's. It could assume a look of playful
+coquetry, it could seem grave, it could seem joyous; but with each
+expression there mingled a touch of pride, perhaps, too, of vanity;
+and a scornful turn of the lip and well-chiseled nostril, as well as a
+quick flash of the eye, spoke the rash and haughty spirit which too
+certainly dwelt within her breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">We are the slaves of circumstances from our cradle; and the mother and
+the nurse form as much part of our fate as any of the other events
+which mould our character, guide our course, and lead us to high
+station, retain us in mediocrity, or plunge us into misfortune.
+Catherine Beauchamp, like her cousin, was an only child, and an
+heiress; but her mother had brought large possessions to her father,
+and with those large possessions an inexhaustible store of pride. She
+had looked upon herself, indeed, as her husband's benefactor, for he
+was a younger brother, of small estate; and, after his death, she and
+a foolish servant had rivalled each other in instilling into her
+daughter's mind high notions of her own importance. In this, as in
+many another thing, the mother had proved herself weak; and the spoilt
+child had early shown her the result of her own folly. She did not
+live long enough to correct her error, even if she had possessed sense
+enough to make the effort; and when Catherine came to the house of her
+uncle, as his ward, her character was too far fixed to render any
+lessons effectual, but the severe ones of the world. There, then, she
+sat, beautiful, rich, vain, and haughty, claiming all admiration as
+her due, and believing that even her faults ought to be admired for
+her loveliness and her wealth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Beside her was placed her mother's nearest relation, a distant cousin,
+named Simeon of Roydon. He was a tall, robust, well-proportioned man,
+of two or three and thirty years of age, with a quantity of light hair
+close cut in front, and left long upon the back of the head and over
+the temples. His features were in general good; and what with youth
+and health, a florid complexion, fair skin, bright keen eyes, an
+aquiline nose, somewhat too much depressed, and an air of calm
+self-importance and courtly ease, he was the sort of man so often
+called handsome by those who little consider or know in what
+beauty really consists. Nothing, indeed, that dress could do, was
+left undone, according to the fashions of the day, to set off his
+person to the best of advantage. His long limbs were clothed in the
+light-coloured breeches and hose, without division from the waist to
+the foot, which were then generally worn by men of the higher class;
+but so tightly did they fit, that scarce a muscle of the leg might not
+be traced beneath; and his coat was also cut so close to his shape,
+that except on the chest, where, perhaps, some padding added to the
+appearance of breadth, the garment seemed to be but an outer skin. His
+shoes exhibited points of at least six inches in length beyond the
+toe; and the sleeves of his mantle, which he continued to wear even in
+the hall, hung down till they swept the floor. He wore a dagger in his
+girdle with a jewelled hilt, and a clasp upon his coat with a ruby set
+in gold; while on his thumb appeared a large signet-ring of a very
+peculiar fashion and device.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Notwithstanding dress, however, and good features, and a countenance
+under perfect command, there were certain minute, but very distinct
+signs, to be perceived by an eye practised in the study of the human
+character, which betrayed the fact, that his smooth exterior was but a
+shell containing a less pleasant core. There was a wandering of the
+eyes, which did not always seem to move in the same orbits; there was
+an occasional quiver of the lower lip, as if words which might be
+dangerous were restrained with difficulty; there was a look of keen,
+eager, almost fierce, inquiry, when anything was said, the meaning of
+which he did not at once comprehend; and then a sudden return to a
+bland and sweet expression almost of insipidity, which spoke of
+something false and hollow. He was talking to Catherine Beauchamp,
+when Richard of Woodville and Hal of Hadnock entered, in gay tones,
+often mingling a low laugh with his conversation, and eying his own
+foot and leg as it was stretched out towards the fire, with an air of
+great self-admiration and satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The figure of the third person, who stood close behind the lady--as if
+he had come round thither and left vacant a stool which appeared on
+the other side, to take part in her conversation with Sir Simeon of
+Roydon--was as tall and finer in all its proportions than that of the
+knight who sat by her side. His chest was broader; his arms more
+muscular; the turn of his head, and the fall of his shoulders, more
+graceful and symmetrical. His dark hair curled short round his
+forehead, and on his neck; his straight-cut features, of a grave and
+somewhat stern cast, wore their least pleasing look when in repose;
+for they wanted but the fire of expression to light them up in a
+moment, and render them all bright and glowing. His eye, however, the
+feature which soonest receives that light, had in it a fixed
+melancholy, which scarcely even left it when he smiled; and now,
+though he had come round thither to interchange a few words with
+Catherine, his betrothed wife, and her gay kinsman, Sir Henry Dacre
+had fallen into thought again, and remained standing with his arms
+folded on his chest, and his look fixed upon Isabel Beauchamp, as she
+leaned upon her father's knee. His gaze was intense, thoughtful--I
+might call it inquiring; but yet it was not rude, for he knew not that
+his eyes were so firmly fixed upon her. He was buried in his own
+thoughts; and perhaps the peculiar investigating expression of that
+look might be accounted for by supposing that he was asking questions,
+difficult to solve, of his own heart.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Isabel herself did not remark that he was gazing at her, for she was
+listening to some anecdote of other days which her father was telling.
+But the old knight did observe the glance of his young friend, and he
+observed it with pain, yet &quot;more in sorrow than in anger;&quot; for there
+were some things for which he bitterly grieved, but which could not be
+amended. He broke off his story for a moment to mutter to himself,
+&quot;Poor fellow!&quot; and just at that instant his eye lighted upon Richard
+of Woodville, as the young traveller opened the great door of the
+hall. His brow contracted while perhaps one might count ten, but was
+speedily clear again, and he exclaimed, laughing aloud--&quot;Ha! here is
+Dickon again! I thought he would not go far.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Every one turned round suddenly; and all laughed gaily, except one.
+But the fair girl with the rich brown hair, sitting next to Isabel
+Beauchamp, gazed down the hall, with a smile indeed, but with a kindly
+look gleaming forth through her half-closed, merry eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, run-away!&quot; cried Isabel Beauchamp, still laughing; &quot;so you have
+come back?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, sweet cousin,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, advancing up the
+hall with his companion; &quot;but I have a cause--I should have been half
+way to Winchester else.--Here is a gentleman, sir,&quot; he continued,
+addressing his uncle, &quot;whom I have met seeking the right way, and
+finding the wrong; and I failed not in promising him your hospitality
+for the night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Right, Richard--you did right!&quot; replied the old knight, raising his
+tall form from the seat by the fire. &quot;Sir, you are most welcome.
+Quick, Hugh of Clatford, leave cutting that bow, and speed to the
+buttery and the kitchen. Bid them bring wine and meat. I pray you,
+sir, take the seat by the fire.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, not so, noble sir,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock, in a courteous tone.
+&quot;I am not one to take the place of venerable years and high renown.
+Thanks for your welcome, and good fortune to your roof-tree. I beseech
+you, let me make no confusion. I will place me here;&quot; and he drew a
+stool from the table somewhat nearer to the fire, and seated himself,
+while all eyes were fixed upon him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville, too, took a better view of his companion than he
+had hitherto obtained, and that view satisfied him that he had not
+introduced to his uncle's hall a guest, who, in point of rank and
+station, at least, was not well deserving of a place therein.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The stranger was, as I have already said, a tall and somewhat slim
+young man, perhaps four or five and twenty years of age, with black
+hair and close-shaved beard, keen dark eyes, long and sinewy limbs,
+and a chest of great width and depth. His features were remarkably
+fine, his brow wide and expansive, his forehead high, and the whole
+expression of his countenance noble and commanding. His dress was rich
+and costly, without being gaudy. His coat of deep brown, covering the
+hips, like that of a crossbowman, was of the finest cloth, and
+ornamented with small lines of gold, in a quaint but not ungraceful
+pattern. Instead of the hood then commonly worn, his head was covered
+with a small cap of velvet, and one long pennache, or feather, clasped
+with a large jewel; his dagger and the hilt of his sword were both
+studded with rubies, and though his riding-boots of untanned leather
+were cut square off at the toe, instead of being encumbered with the
+long points still in fashion, over them were buckled, with a broad
+strap and flap, a pair of gilt spurs, showing that he had seen service
+in arms, and had won knightly rank. His tight-fitting hose were of a
+light philimot, or brownish yellow colour, and round the leg, below
+the knee, was a mark, as if the impression of a thong, seeming to
+prove that when not in riding attire, he was accustomed to wear shoes
+so long, that the horns points were obliged to be fastened up by a
+gilt chain, as was then not unusual. His manner was highly courteous;
+but it was remarked, that at first he committed what has, in most
+ages, been considered an act of rudeness, remaining with his head
+covered some minutes after he entered the hall. But, at length,
+seeming suddenly to remember that such was the case, he took off his
+cap, and laid it on the table.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Philip Beauchamp, without asking any question of his guest,
+proceeded at once to name to him the different persons assembled round
+the fire; but as we have already heard who they were, it is needless
+to give a recapitulation here. Richard of Woodville, however, marked
+or fancied, that as the old knight pronounced the name of Sir Simeon
+of Roydon, a brief glance of recognition passed between that personage
+and his companion of the road; but neither claimed the other as an
+acquaintance, and Woodville said nothing to call attention to what he
+had observed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It will seem scarcely courteous, sir,&quot; said the guest, as Sir Philip
+ended, &quot;not to give you my own name, though you in your hospitality
+will not ask it; but yet, for the present, I will beg you to call me
+simply Hal of Hadnock; and ere I go, Sir Philip, to your own ear I
+will tell more. And now, pray let me not kill mirth, or break off a
+pleasant tale, or stop a sweet lay; for doubtless you pass the long
+eves of March as did the knights and dames in our old friend Chaucer's
+dreams--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i8">
+'Some to rede old romances,<br>
+Them occupied for ther pleasances,<br>
+Some to make verèlaies and laies,<br>
+And some to other diverse plaies.'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, sir,&quot; answered the old knight, who had glanced with a smile at
+his guest's gilded spurs, as he gave himself the name of Hal of
+Hadnock, &quot;we were but talking of some old deeds of arms, which,
+doubtless, you in your career have often heard of. As to lays, when my
+nephew Richard is away, we have but little poesy in the house, except
+when this sweet ward of mine, Mary Markham, will sing us a gay ditty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not to-night--not to-night!&quot; cried the lady on Isabel Beauchamp's
+left; &quot;I am not in tune to-night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Isabel bent her head to her fair companion, and whispered a word which
+made the blood come warm into Mary Markham's cheek; but Catherine,
+with a gay toss of her head, and a glance of her blue eye at the
+handsome stranger, exclaimed--&quot;I love neither lay nor ballad; they are
+but plain English twisted out of form, and set to a dull tune.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed, lady!&quot; said the stranger, gazing upon her with an incredulous
+smile. &quot;I have ever thought that music and verse made sweet things
+sweeter; and, methinks, even now, were it some tender lay addressed to
+your bright looks, you would not find the sounds so rude.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A smile passed round the little circle, but did not visit the lip of
+Sir Henry Dacre; and though Catherine Beauchamp laughed with a
+scornful smile, it seemed as if she knew not well whether to look upon
+the stranger's words as kind or uncourteous.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha, Kate! he touched you there,&quot; said the old knight. &quot;What think
+you, Abbot? has not our guest judged our niece aright?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I believe it is so with all ladies,&quot; answered the Abbot, gravely;
+&quot;they find the words of praise sweet, and the words of blame bitter,
+whether it be in song or saying. You men of the world nurture them in
+such folly. You flatter them too much; so that, like the tongue of a
+wine-bibber, they can taste nothing but what is high-seasoned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith, not a whit, reverend lord,&quot; cried Hal of Hadnock, gaily;
+&quot;craving your forgiveness, we deal with them as heaven intended. Fair
+and delicate in mind and frame, we shelter their persons from all
+rough winds and storms, as far as may be, and their ears from all
+harsh sounds. They were not made to cope with the rough things of
+life; and if they find wholesome exercise for body and soul, good
+father, in the chase and in the confessional, it is as much as is
+needed. The Church has the staple trade for truth, especially with
+ladies; and for any laymen to make it their merchandise would be
+against the laws of Cupid's realm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I fear you speak lightly, my son,&quot; said the Abbot, with a
+good-humoured smile; &quot;but here comes your meal, and I will give it my
+blessing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">By such words as these, the ice of new acquaintance was soon broken,
+and, as the guest sat down at the side of the long table, to partake
+of such viands as his entertainer's hospitality provided for him, the
+party round the fire separated into various groups. The good master of
+the mansion approached to do the honours of his board, and press the
+stranger to his food. Catherine seemed smitten with a sudden fit of
+affection for her uncle, and placed herself near him, where, with no
+small spice of coquetry, she sought to engage the attention of the
+visitor to herself. Sir Henry Dacre remained talking by the fire with
+Isabel Beauchamp; and, whatever was the subject of their discourse,
+the faces of both remained grave, almost sad; while, at a little
+distance, Richard of Woodville conversed in low tones with fair Mary
+Markham, and their faces presented the aspect of an April sky, with
+its clouds and its sunshine, being sometimes overshadowed by a look of
+care and anxiety, sometimes smiling gaily, as if the inextinguishable
+hopes of youth blazed suddenly up into a flame, after burning low and
+dimly for a while, under some cold blast from the outward world.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Abbot had resumed his seat by the fire, and Sir Simeon of Roydon
+had not quitted his; but the latter, though the good monk spoke to him
+from time to time, seemed buried in his own thoughts, answered
+briefly, and often vaguely, and then fell into a reverie again,
+turning occasionally his eyes upon his fair kinswoman and the stranger
+with an expression of no great pleasure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With the old knight and Catherine Beauchamp, in the meanwhile, Hal of
+Hadnock kept up the conversation gaily, seeming to find a pleasure in
+so mingling sweet and bitter things together, in his language to the
+lady, as sometimes to flatter, sometimes to pique her; and thus,
+without her knowing it, he contrived to put her through all her paces,
+like a managed horse, till every little weakness and fault in her
+character was displayed, one after another.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At first, Sir Philip Beauchamp was amused, and laughed at the
+stranger's merry jests, thinking, &quot;It will do Kate good to hear some
+wholesome truth from an impartial tongue;&quot; but as he saw that, whether
+intentionally or not, the words of Hal of Hadnock had the effect of
+bringing out all the evil points in her disposition to the eyes of his
+guest, he grew uneasy for his brother's child, and felt all her faults
+more keenly from seeing her thus expose them, in mere vanity, to the
+acquaintance of an hour. He saw, then, with satisfaction, his guest's
+meal draw towards a close, and, as soon as it was done, proposed that
+they should all retire to rest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was some consideration required as to what chamber should be
+assigned to Hal of Hadnock,--for small pieces of ceremony were, in
+those days, matters of importance,--but Sir Philip Beauchamp decided
+the matter, by telling Richard of Woodville to lead the visitor to the
+rose-tapestry room, and to place a good yeoman to sleep across his
+door. It was one of the principal guest-chambers of the house;
+and its selection showed that the good knight judged his nephew's
+fellow-traveller to be of higher rank than he assumed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lighted by a page, Richard of Woodville led the way, and entered with
+his companion, when they reached the apartment to which they had been
+directed. Although it was now late, he remained there more than an
+hour, in conversation deeply interesting to himself, at least.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">THE FOREGONE EVENTS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come, Richard of Woodville,&quot; said his companion, as soon as they
+entered the chamber of the rose-tapestry, &quot;let us be friends. You have
+served me at my need; and I would fain serve you; but I must first
+know how.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith, sir, that is not easy,&quot; answered Woodville, &quot;for I do not know
+how myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, I must think for you, Richard,&quot; rejoined Hal of Hadnock;
+&quot;what stays your marriage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville gazed at him with some surprise, and then smiled. &quot;My
+marriage!--with whom?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay,&quot; answered his new friend, &quot;waste not time with idle
+concealments. I am a man who uses his eyes; and I can tell you,
+methinks, all about every one in the hall we have just left.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, stay yet a moment, till we can be alone,&quot; replied Woodville;
+&quot;they will soon bring you a livery of wine and manchet bread.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In pity stop them,&quot; cried Hal of Hadnock; &quot;I have supped so late that
+I can take no more.&quot; But, as he was speaking, a servant entered with a
+cup of hot wine, and a small roll of fine bread upon a silver plate.
+As bound in courtesy, the guest broke off a piece of the manchet, and
+put the cup to his lips; but it was a mere ceremony, for he did not
+drink; and the man, taking away the rest of the wine and bread,
+quitted the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, Richard, you shall see if I be right,&quot; continued Hal of Hadnock.
+&quot;There is one pretty maid, called Mary Markham, or I heard not your
+uncle right, whose cheek sometimes changes from the soft hue of the
+rose's outer leaves, to the deep crimson of its blushing breast, when
+a certain Richard of Woodville is near; and there is one good youth,
+called Richard of Woodville, who can whisper sweet words in Mary
+Markham's ear, while his uncle holds converse with a new guest at a
+distance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville laughed, and made no answer; and his companion went on.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, there is a fair Lady Catherine, beautiful and witty, but
+somewhat shrewish withal, and holding her own merits as most rare
+jewels, too good to be bestowed on ordinary men; who would have a
+lover, like a bird in a cage, piping all day to her perfections, and
+would think him well paid if she gave him but one of the smiles or
+looks whereof she is bountiful to those who love her not: and,
+moreover, there is one Sir Harry Dacre, a noble knight and true--for I
+have heard his name ere now--whom I should fancy to be her husband,
+were it not that----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why should you think them so nearly allied?&quot; asked Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because she gave him neither word nor look,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock.
+&quot;Is not that proof enough with such a dame?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have read them but too rightly,&quot; rejoined Richard of Woodville,
+with a sigh. &quot;He is not, indeed, her husband, but as near it as may
+be--betrothed in infancy; a curse upon such doings, that bind together
+in the bud two flowers that but destroy each other's blossoms as they
+grow. They are to be wedded fully when she sees twenty years; and poor
+Dacre, as noble and as true a heart as e'er was known, looks sternly
+forward to that day, as a prisoner does to the hour of execution; for
+she has taught him too early, and too well, all those secrets of her
+bosom which a wiser woman would have hidden.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He does not love her, that is clear,&quot; answered his companion, in a
+graver tone than he had hitherto used. &quot;Did he never love her?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, not with manly love,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville. &quot;I remember
+well, when we were both boys together, and she as lovely a girl as
+ever was seen, he used to be proud then of her beauty, and call her
+his fair young wife. But even then she began the lessons, of which she
+has given him such a course, that never pale student at Oxford was
+better indoctrinated in Aristotle, than he is in her heart. Even in
+those early days she would jeer and scoff at him, and if he showed her
+any little tenderness, would straightway strive to make him angry;
+would pretend great fondness for some other--for me--for any one who
+happened to be near; would give his gifts away; admire whatever was
+not like him. Oh, then fair hair was her delight, blue eyes were
+beautiful. She hated him, I do believe, because she was tied to him,
+and that was the only bond upon her own capricious will; so that she
+resolved to use him as a boy does a poor bird tied to him by a string,
+pulling it hither and thither till its little heart beats unto
+bursting with such cruel tyranny! Had she begun less early, indeed,
+her power of grieving him would have been greater, for he was well
+inclined to let affection take duty's hand, and love her if he could.
+But she herself soon ended that source of torture. She may now play
+the charmer with whom she will, she cannot wring his heart with
+jealousy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He does not love her, that is clear,&quot; repeated Hal of Hadnock, in a
+still graver tone, &quot;but he may love another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha!&quot; exclaimed Woodville; &quot;whom think you, sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; replied his companion, after a pause, &quot;it is not for me, my
+good friend, to sow suspicious doubts or fears, where I find them not.
+I do believe Sir Harry Dacre will do all that is right and noble; and
+I did but mean to say, that his poor heart may know greater tortures
+than you dream of, if, tied as he is by the act of others, to a woman
+who will not suffer him to love her, he has met, or should hereafter
+meet, with one on whom all his best affections can be placed. I say
+not that he has,--I only say, such a thing may be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville gazed down upon the rushes on the floor for
+several moments with a thoughtful look. &quot;I know of whom you would
+speak,&quot; he said at length; &quot;but I think, in this, you have deceived
+yourself, sharp as your observation has been. Isabel has been the
+companion of both from youth; and to her, in early days, Dacre would
+go for consolation and kindness, when worn out by this cold, vain
+lady's caprice and perverseness. She pitied him, and soothed; and
+often have I heard her try to soften Catherine's conduct, making it
+seem youthful folly and high spirits; and trying to take the venom
+from the wound. He looks upon Isabel as a sister--nothing more--I
+think.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hal of Hadnock shook his head; and then suddenly turned to another
+subject. &quot;Well,&quot; he said, &quot;you will not deny that I am right in some
+things, and, therefore, as I am in your secret, whether you will or
+not, now answer me my question--What stays your marriage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good sooth, I cannot tell,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;the truth
+is, this dear lovely girl came here some years gone, none knew from
+whence; but it was my uncle brought her, and ever since he has treated
+her as a daughter. All have loved her, and I more than all; but day
+after day went by in sports and pleasures; and, in a full career of
+happiness, I did not think till yesterday of risking the present by
+striving to brighten the future. Last evening, however, I said some
+plainer words than usual. What she replied matters not; but I saw
+that, afterwards, she was not so gay as usual; and to-day I took a
+moment, when I thought good Sir Philip was in a yielding mood, and
+asked the hand of his dear ward--or daughter; for I must not hide from
+you that men have suspicions, there is blood of the Beauchamps in this
+same lady's veins. He gave me a rough answer, however; told me not to
+think of her, and would assign no reason why. I will not say we
+quarrelled, for I love him too much, and reverence him too much for
+that; but I said in haste, that if I were not to think of her, I would
+stay no longer where suing only bred regret; and that I would seek
+honour, if I could not find a bride. He answered it was the best thing
+I could do; and so, without more thought than to feed my horse, and
+bid them all farewell, I put foot in stirrup for my own place hard by
+West Meon, with the intent of seeking service in some foreign land, as
+the wars here have come to an end. My good uncle only laughed at me,
+and told them, as I mounted in the court, that Dickon was out of
+humour, but would soon find his good spirits again. I did not do so
+for a long way, however; but, as I went well sure of my lady's grace,
+I began to take heart after a-while, and resolved that she should hear
+of me from other shores, till I could claim her, and no one say me
+nay.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was a good resolve,&quot; answered his companion; &quot;for in such a case I
+know not what else could be done. But whither did you intend to bend
+your steps--to France?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, not to France,&quot; said Woodville; &quot;I love not the Frenchmen. If
+our good king, indeed, were again to draw the sword for the recovery
+of all that sluggish men and evil times have lost of our rightful
+lands since the Black Prince's death, right willingly would I follow
+thither to fight against the French, but not serve with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But his royal thoughts are turned to other things,&quot; replied Hal of
+Hadnock; &quot;he still holds the mind, I hear, to take the cross, and
+couch a lance for the sepulchre.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is gone by, I am told,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;this
+frequent sickness that attacks him has made him think of other things,
+men say; but, doubtless, you know better than I do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I know nought about it,&quot; said his fellow traveller; &quot;but it is
+predicted that he shall die at Jerusalem.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Heaven send it,&quot; exclaimed Woodville; &quot;for if he live till then, his
+will be a long reign, methinks.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Amen!&quot; rejoined the other; &quot;but whither thought you, then, to go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perchance to the court of Burgundy,&quot; replied Richard; &quot;or to some of
+those Italian states, where there are ever hard blows to be found, and
+honour to be gained by doughty deeds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That famous land of Italy is somewhat far from our poor northern
+isle,&quot; answered Hal of Hadnock; &quot;especially for a lover. Methinks
+Burgundy were best; but, doubtless, since you have come back again,
+your resolution has been left on the road behind us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, not a whit,&quot; cried Woodville; &quot;what I judged best in haste some
+hours ago, I now judge best at leisure. I have told Mary that I go for
+her sweet sake, to make me a high name, and with Heaven's blessing I
+will do it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then,&quot; answered his new friend, &quot;if such be your determination,
+I know some noble gentlemen in the court of that same Duke of
+Burgundy, who may aid your advancement for Hal of Hadnock's sake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville smiled, replying, &quot;Doubtless, you do, fair sir;
+but may I tell them you sent me to them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If you will but wait a day or two,&quot; said the other, &quot;I will write
+them a letter, which you shall take yourself; and you will find that I
+have bespoke you kind entertainment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thanks, noble sir--many hearty thanks,&quot; rejoined the old knight's
+nephew; &quot;wait for a time I must, for I will not go solitary and
+unprepared. I must have horses, and men, and arms of the new fashion.
+I must also sell some acres of new copse, and some tons of old wine,
+to equip me for my own journey.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, ere you go, you shall hear more from me,&quot; replied Hal of
+Hadnock; &quot;and now, good Richard, let us talk more of the folks in the
+hall. I would fain hear farther. This Sir Harry Dacre, his face
+pleases me; there is thought and a high heart therein, or I read not
+nature's book aright. Methinks, if he were wise, he too would seek
+renown in arms, instead of dangling at a lady's side that loves him
+not. Perchance, if he were to seem to cast her by as worthless, and
+fix on honour for a mistress, her love--for who can tell all the wild
+whimsies of a capricious woman's heart?--would follow him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He might think that worse than the other,&quot; said Woodville; &quot;I do not
+think he seeks her love.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There he is wrong,&quot; answered his companion; &quot;for it is against all
+rule of philosophy, when we are bound by a chain we cannot break, to
+let it rust and canker in our flesh. It is as well to polish it with
+any soft thing we can find; and, granted that she has lost his love,
+'twere well he should have hers, if she is to be his wife.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps he may long to break the chain,&quot; replied Richard, drily;
+&quot;were both to seek it, such contracts have been annulled by law, and
+by the Church, ere now; and the Pope, or at least his cardinals, are
+not always stubborn against gold and reason. But I doubt she will
+consent,&quot; he added; &quot;she loves a captive, and if she sees he seeks his
+freedom, she will resist of course.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A most sweet temper,&quot; observed Hal of Hadnock; &quot;yet it is to be
+thought of; and if I can help him, I will. Tomorrow early, indeed, I
+thought to speed me back to Westminster; but I will stay an hour or
+two, and see if I cannot play with a capricious lady, with art equal
+to her own. At all events, I shall learn more of what are her
+designs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Designs! she has none!&quot; exclaimed Richard of Woodville, &quot;but to reign
+and triumph for the hour. Here has been Simeon of Roydon, doing her
+homage for these three days, as if she were the Queen of Love; and she
+has smiled upon him, for she still fancies she can so give Dacre pain;
+but no sooner did you come, than she turned all the archery of her
+eyes on you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yet left a blank target,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock. &quot;But of this Sir
+Simeon of Roydon I would have honest men beware, my good friend. I
+know something of him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And he of you,&quot; answered Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay?&quot; asked his companion, &quot;what makes you fancy so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why I too am one of those who use their eyes, fair sir,&quot; said
+Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And not their tongues, good friend,&quot; rejoined the other. &quot;Well, you
+are wise. But tell me, did not Sir Harry Dacre go with the Duke of
+Clarence into France?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, it was there he gained his spurs last year,&quot; answered Richard;
+&quot;he fought well, too, at Bramham Moor; and earlier still, when a mere
+boy, against the Scots, when they last broke in:--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i6">'Muche hath Scotland forlore,<br>
+What at last, what before,<br>
+And little pries wonne.'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I thought I had heard of him,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock. &quot;However, if
+you hold your mind to go to-morrow, we will ride together, and can
+talk further of these matters by the way; so, for the present, good
+night, and fair dreams attend you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I must go and bid one of the men sleep across your door,&quot; said
+Richard of Woodville: &quot;though this house is safe enough, yet it is as
+well always to be careful.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It matters not, it matters not,&quot; answered his companion. &quot;I have
+never found a man, against whom my own hand could not keep my head or
+my heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As for your heart, sir,&quot; rejoined Woodville, laughing; &quot;you may yet
+find a woman who will teach you better.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock, laughing; &quot;I am strong there,
+too; but no one can tell what is written in the stars,&quot; and thus they
+parted.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">THE GLUTTON MASS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Breakfast was over, and yet, between the lower edge of the sun and the
+gentle sweeping line of the hills above which he was rising, not more
+than two hand-breadths of golden sky could be seen; for our ancestors
+were still, at that period, a matutinal people, rising generally
+before the peep of day, and hearing the birds' first song. On a large,
+smooth green, at the back of the Hall, yet within the limits of the
+park by which it was surrounded, with Dunbury Hill and the lines of
+the ancient invaders' camp at the top, rising still grey and cold
+before their eyes, the group which we have described in the second
+chapter, with the exception of the Abbot, was assembled to practise or
+to witness some of the sports of the day. The ladies, having their
+heads now covered with the strange and somewhat cumbrous coifs then
+worn, stood upon a stone-paved path, watching the proceedings of their
+male companions; and with them appeared good Sir Philip Beauchamp, in
+a long furred gown, with Hal of Hadnock, talking gaily to Catherine,
+on his right hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well pitched, Hugh of Clatford,&quot; cried the old knight; &quot;well pitched;
+a toise beyond Sir Simeon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will beat him by two,&quot; exclaimed Richard of Woodville, taking the
+heavy iron bar which they were engaged in casting. &quot;Here goes!&quot; and,
+after balancing it for a moment in his hand, he tossed it high in the
+air, sending it several yards beyond any one who had yet played their
+part.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Will you not try your arm, noble sir?&quot; asked Sir Philip, turning to
+Hal of Hadnock.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Willingly, willingly,&quot; replied the guest; &quot;but Sir Henry Dacre has
+not yet shown his skill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He will not do much,&quot; said Catherine Beauchamp, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fie, Kate,&quot; cried Isabel, who overheard her; &quot;that is untrue, as well
+as unkind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As she spoke, Dacre took the bar, which had been brought back by one
+of the pages, and, without pausing to poise it carefully, as the rest
+had done, cast it within a foot or two of the spot which it had
+reached when sent from the hand of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hal of Hadnock then advanced, looking round with a gay laugh to the
+ladies, and saying, &quot;I am upon my mettle before such bright eyes.
+Here, boy, give me the bar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The page placed it in his hand; and, setting his right foot upon the
+mark where the others had stood, he swung himself gracefully backward
+and forward on one leg, for a moment, and then tossed the bar in air.
+So light, so easy, was his whole movement, that no one expected to see
+the iron go half the distance it had done before; but, to the surprise
+of all, it flew from his hand as if expelled from some of the military
+engines of the day, and, striking the ground full twenty paces farther
+than it had yet done, bounded up off the sward and rolled on beyond.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well delivered! well delivered!&quot; exclaimed Sir Philip Beauchamp; and
+the men and boys around clapped their bands and cried &quot;Hurrah!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will send it farther or break my arm,&quot; cried Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If you do, I will beat you by a toise,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock,
+laughing. But they all strove in vain; no one could toss the bar
+within several yards of the stranger's mark.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And now for a leaping bar,&quot; cried Hal of Hadnock. &quot;Oh! there stands
+one I see by the trees. Away, Woodville! place it how high you will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will beat you at that, noble sir,&quot; said young Hugh of Clatford, who
+was reported the best jumper and runner in the country.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And should you do so, I will give you a quiver of arrows with
+peacocks' feathers,&quot; rejoined the gentleman. &quot;Now, take it in turns, I
+will leap last.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Simeon of Roydon declined the sport, however, and Sir Harry Dacre
+stood back; but Clatford, and others of the old knight's retainers,
+took their stations, as well as Richard of Woodville; and the bar
+having been placed high in the notches, each took a run and leapt;
+some touching it with their feet, some clearing it clean.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hal of Hadnock then gave a gay smile to his fair companions, with whom
+he had for the time resumed his place; and advancing at a walk, as if
+to put the pole up higher, he quickened his pace, at the distance of
+three or four steps, and cleared it by several inches.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You try him higher, Hugh,&quot; cried Richard of Woodville, laughing; &quot;I
+have done my best, good faith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Where will you put it?&quot; asked the traveller, turning to the young
+retainer of the house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, at the highest notch,&quot; answered Hugh of Clatford, lifting up the
+bar; &quot;can you do that, sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will see,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock; &quot;stand back a bit,&quot; and, taking
+a better start, he ran, and went over, with an inch to spare.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Poor Hugh was less fortunate, however, for though he nearly
+accomplished the leap, he tipped the bar with his heel, cast it down,
+and overthrowing his own balance, fell upon his face, amidst the
+laughter of his comrades. He rose somewhat abashed, with bloody marks
+of his contact with the ground; but Hal of Hadnock laid his hand
+kindly on his arm, saying,</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou art a nimble fellow, on my life. I did not know there was a man
+in England could go so near me, as thou hast done. Here, my friend,
+thy sheaf of arrows is well won,&quot; and he poured some pieces of gold
+into his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words were more gratifying to the good yeoman than the money; and
+bowing low, he answered, &quot;I was sure you were no ordinary leaper, sir,
+for few can go higher than I can.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, I am called Deersfoot,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock, laughing; &quot;get in
+and wash your face; for you have done well, and need not be ashamed to
+show it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Some other sports succeeded; but the stranger took no further part
+therein, resuming his place by Catherine's side, apparently greatly
+smitten with her charms. The weak, vain girl, flattered by his
+attention, gave way to all the coquetry of her nature, made her fine
+eyes use their whole artillery of glances, whispered, and smiled,
+spoke soft, and sometimes sighed; till the good old knight, Sir
+Philip, not the best pleased with his niece's demeanour, broke off the
+amusements of the morning, exclaiming, &quot;To the mass! to the mass,
+sirs! It is high time that we were on our way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sports, then, immediately ceased; and passing through the great
+hall, the court-yard, and the gates, the whole party, arranged two and
+two, walked on amidst the neighbouring wood towards the parish church.
+Hal of Hadnock kept his place by Catherine's side, and Sir Harry Dacre
+followed with Isabel; but, somewhat to Richard of Woodville's
+annoyance, Sir Philip Beauchamp retained Mary Markham to himself,
+while his nephew and Sir Simeon of Roydon came after, neither,
+perhaps, in the best of humours.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The noble party found the church crowded with the villagers, every
+woman having her basket with her, covered with a clean white napkin,
+but apparently crammed as full as it well could be; and Hal of Hadnock
+remembered that, as his companion had said the night before, this was
+one of the days appointed for those festivals which were then called,
+Glutton masses.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the service was over, old Sir Philip advanced to leave the
+building with his household, not approving the disgraceful scene that
+was about to take place; but Hal of Hadnock whispered to his companion
+of the road,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let us stay and see. I have never witnessed one of these feats of
+gormandizing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, we shall save the credit of the family,&quot; replied Richard of
+Woodville, in a low tone; &quot;for the good priest looks upon my uncle as
+half a Lollard, because he will not stay in the church and eat till he
+bursts, in honour of the Blessed Virgin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hal of Hadnock and his new friend accordingly lingered behind; and
+hardly had the old knight passed through the doors, when a scene of
+confusion took place quite indescribable. Every one brought forward
+his basket. Some who had lost their store, hunted for it among the
+rest. Some hurried forward to present, what they considered, very
+choice viands to the priest. Many a pannier was overturned; and
+chickens, capons, huge lumps of meat, and leathern bottles of wine,
+mead, and ale, rolled upon the pavement. One or two of the latter got
+uncorked, and the contents streamed about amongst the napkins, which
+several of the women were spreading forth upon the ground. Knives were
+brandished; thumbs and fingers were cut; one man nearly poked out the
+eye of his better half in giving her assistance, and was heartily
+cuffed for his pains; and a fat chorister slipped in consequence of
+putting his foot upon a fine trout dressed in jelly, and fell
+prostrate on his back in the midst. The people roared, the priest
+himself chuckled, and was a long time ere he could get his flock, or
+his countenance, into due order.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A song to the Virgin was then sung by way of grace; and every one fell
+to, with an intention of outdoing his neighbour. To Richard of
+Woodville and his companion were assigned the places of honour near
+the clergy; and the priest, looking well pleased down the long aisle,
+literally encumbered with the preparations for excess, whispered to
+the old knight's nephew, with an air of triumph,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, I think we shall outdo Wallop this time, at least.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Undoubtedly,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, gravely; &quot;but I fear you
+will think my friend and me no better than heathens, having brought
+nothing with us either to eat or drink.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Poo! there is plenty--there is plenty,&quot; replied the good man, &quot;and to
+spare. Eat as hard as we can, we shall be scarcely able to get through
+it; and it is fitting, too, that something be left for the poor. We
+will all do our best, however, and thank you for your help.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The onslaught was tremendous. One would have thought that the
+congregation had fasted for a month, so eagerly, so rapidly did they
+devour the provisions before them; and then they took to their bottles
+and drinking-horns, and when they had assuaged their thirst,
+recommenced the attack upon the meat with renewed vigour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville, and Hal of Hadnock, had soon seen enough of the
+Glutton mass; and, at a hint from his companion, the former took an
+opportunity of whispering to the priest,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We must go, I fear; lest my uncle be angry at our absence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, well,&quot; said the worthy clerk, &quot;if it must be so, we cannot help
+it; but 'tis a sad pity, Master Richard, that so good a man as the
+Knight of Dunbury, should be such a discourager of pious ordinances.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is, indeed,&quot; answered Woodville, in a solemn tone; &quot;but all men
+have their prejudices; and you know, father, he loves the Church.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, that he does, that he does,&quot; replied the other, heartily; &quot;he
+sent me two fat bucks last summer.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, yes, he loves the Church, he loves the Church!&quot; rejoined
+Woodville, and gliding quietly down the side aisle, so that he might
+not disturb any of the congregation in their devout exercise of the
+jaws, he left the building, accompanied by Hal of Hadnock.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Both laughed as soon as they were out of the church; but the guest of
+Sir Philip Beauchamp soon fell into deep thought; and after walking
+forward for a little distance, he observed, &quot;It is strange, how men
+are inclined to make religion subservient to all their appetites. What
+are such things as these? what are many of our solemn customs, but the
+self-same idolatrous rites practised by the ancient pagans, who
+deified their passions and their follies, and then took the simplest
+means of worshipping them?--What can be the cause of such perversity?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The devil! the devil!&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;he who leads
+every one on from one wickedness to another; who first teaches man to
+infringe God's commandment, in order to gratify some desire, and then,
+as that desire grows fat and strong upon indulgence, first persuades
+us that its gratification is pleasing to God, and in the end makes us
+worship it, as a god.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But yet these same good folks fast and mortify themselves at certain
+times,&quot; said Hal of Hadnock; &quot;and then carouse and revel, as if they
+had won a right to excess.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To make up for lost time,&quot; said Woodville; &quot;but the truth is, it is
+like a man playing at cross and pile, who, when he has lost one stake,
+tries to clear off the score against him by doubling the next. We have
+all sins enough to atone for; and we play the penance against the
+indulgence, and the indulgence against the penance. Give me the man
+who always mortifies himself in all that is wrong; who fasts from
+anger, malice, backbiting, lying, and uncharitableness; who denies
+himself, at all times, excess in anything, and holds a festival every
+day, with gratitude to God for that which he, in his bounty, is
+pleased to give him. But, after all, it is very natural that these
+corruptions should take place, even in a faith like ours. Depend upon
+it, the purer a religion is the more strong will be the efforts of
+Sathanus to pervert it; so that men may walk along his broad
+high-road, while they think they are taking the way to everlasting
+salvation.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There is truth in that, good Richard,&quot; replied his companion; &quot;but I
+fear me, you have caught some of the doctrines of the Lollards, of
+whom you were speaking.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not a whit,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;I am a good catholic Christian; but
+I may see the evils which men have brought into the Church, without
+thinking ill of the Church itself; just as when looking at the Abbey
+down yonder, I see that a foolish architect from France has changed
+two of the fine old round arches, which were built in King Stephen's
+time, to smart pointed windows, all bedizened with I don't know what,
+without thinking the Abbey anything but a very fine building,
+notwithstanding.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Although Richard of Woodville would not admit that any impression had
+been made upon him by the preaching of the Lollards, certain it is,
+that the teaching of Wicliff and his disciples had led men generally
+to look somewhat narrowly into the superstitious practices of the day,
+and that the minds of many were imbued with the spirit of their
+doctrines, who, either from prejudice, timidity, or conviction, would
+not adopt the doctrines themselves. Nor was the effect transitory; for
+it lasted till, and prepared the way for, the Reformation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In a thoughtful mood, both the young gentlemen proceeded on their way
+through the wood; and, on their arrival at the hall, found Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, and the rest of his family and guests, already seated at
+the early dinner of those days. The old knight received their excuses
+in good part, laughed at Hal of Hadnock's curiosity to see a Glutton
+mass, and insisted he should sit down and finish his meal with him.
+&quot;Had you been at Andover yesterday,&quot; he said, &quot;you might have seen
+another strange sight: the Mayor sit in the stocks, and a justice on
+either side of him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed!&quot; cried Hal of Hadnock, seriously; &quot;that were a strange sight
+to see. Pray, on whose authority was it done? and what was the crime
+these magistrates committed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good truth, I know not,&quot; answered Sir Philip. &quot;A party of wild young
+men, they say, did it; and, as for the crime, it is not specified:
+but, on my life, it was justice, though of a rash kind; for Master
+Havering, the Mayor, has worked well for such a punishment; though,
+belike, the hands that put him in were not the best fitted for the
+office.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I should think not, certainly,&quot; replied Hal of Hadnock, in the same
+grave tone, and with an immovable countenance; though Richard of
+Woodville, who had contrived to seat himself next to Mary Markham, on
+the other side of the board, gave him a merry glance of the eye, as if
+he suspected more than he chose to say.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the meal was over, which was not speedily, Hal of Hadnock
+proposed to take his departure; but Sir Philip, with all courtesy,
+besought him, at least, to stay till the afternoon meal, or supper
+(then usually served at four o'clock), with the hospitable intent of
+urging him afterwards to spend another night under his roof; and, in
+the meantime, he promised to show him his armoury, his horses, and his
+library; though, to say the truth, the suits of rich armour were more
+numerous than the books, and the horses more in number than the people
+who frequented the library. Hal of Hadnock, for reasons of his own,
+accepted the invitation; and Richard of Woodville, though his
+approaching departure was already announced, agreed to stay, in order
+to bear him company when he went.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I will not lead the patient reader through all the rooms of the hall,
+or detain him with a description of the armoury and its contents, or
+carry him to the stable, and show him all the horses of the good old
+knight, Sir Philip, from the battle-horse, which had borne him through
+many a stricken field in former days, to the ambling palfrey of his
+daughter Isabel. Hal of Hadnock, indeed, submitted to all this with a
+good grace; for he was a kind-hearted and considerate person, and
+little doubted that his friend Richard of Woodville was employing the
+precious moments to the best advantage with fair Mary Markham. To all
+these sights, with the discussion of sundry knotty points, regarding
+shields, and pallets, and unibers, the properties of horses, and the
+form and extent of the manifaire, were given well nigh two hours; and,
+when Hal of Hadnock and his noble host returned to the great hall,
+they found it tenanted alone by Catherine Beauchamp and Sir Simeon of
+Roydon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard and Dacre, Isabel and Mary, the lady said, were gone to walk
+together in the park; but she had waited, she added, with a coquettish
+air, thinking it but courtesy to give her uncle's honoured guest a
+companion, if he chose to join them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So direct an invitation was, of course, not to be refused by Hal of
+Hadnock; and he thanked her with high-coloured gallantry for her
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Do you go too, Sir Simeon?&quot; inquired Sir Philip Beauchamp; but the
+courtly knight replied that he had only waited to take his leave; as
+he had business to transact in the neighbourhood, and must be home ere
+night. Before Catherine and her companion set out, however, Sir Simeon
+drew her aside, as the relationship in which she stood towards him
+seemed to justify, and spoke to her for a moment eagerly. A few of his
+words caught the quick ear of Hal of Hadnock, as he stood talking to
+the old knight, who took care to impress him with the knowledge, that
+his fair niece was fully betrothed to Sir Harry Dacre; and though
+those words were, apparently, of small import, Hal of Hadnock
+remembered them long after.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will tell you all, if you come,&quot; replied Sir Simeon, to some
+question the lady had asked; &quot;but mind, I warn you.--Will you come?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do not know,&quot; answered Catherine, with a toss of the head; &quot;it is
+your business to wait and see.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Wait I cannot,&quot; rejoined the knight; &quot;see I will;&quot; and the lady,
+turning to her uncle and his companion, accompanied the latter through
+a long passage at the back of the hall, to the door which led to the
+ground where the sports of the morning had taken place.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The park of Dunbury was very like that described by old Chaucer:--</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+<p class="i6">'----A parke enclosed with a wall<br>
+la compace rounde, and by a gate small,<br>
+Who so that would he frelie mighten gone<br>
+Into this parke, ywalled with grene stone.<br>
+
+<span style="letter-spacing:20pt">&nbsp; * * * * *</span>
+
+The soile was plain, and smoth, and wondir soft,<br>
+All overspread with tapettes that Nature<br>
+Had made herself, covirid eke aloft<br>
+With bowis grene, the flouris for to cure,<br>
+That in ther beautie thei mai long endure.'--</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">The walks around were numerous and somewhat intricate; and whether
+fair Catherine Beauchamp knew or not the direction that her friends
+had taken, she certainly did not follow the path most likely to lead
+to where they really were; but, as she and Hal of Hadnock walked
+along, she employed the time to the best advantage in carrying on the
+siege of his heart. He, for his part, humoured her to the full, having
+a firm conviction that it would be far better, both for Sir Henry
+Dacre and herself, that the imperfect marriage between them should be
+annulled at their mutual desire, than remain a chain upon them, only
+increasing in weight. It must not, indeed, be supposed that he took
+any very deep interest in the matter; but, as it fell in his way, he
+was willing enough to forward what he believed to be a noble-minded
+man's desire for emancipation from a very bitter sort of thraldom; and
+it is seldom an unpleasant or laborious task for a lighthearted man to
+sport with a capricious girl. Thus went he on, then, with that mixture
+of romantic gallantry and teasing jest, which is of all things the
+most exciting to the mind of a coquette, with sufficient admiration to
+soothe her vanity, but with not sufficient devotion ever to allow her
+to imagine that her triumph is complete. Neither did he let her gain
+any advantage; for, though it was evident that she clearly perceived
+the name he had assumed was not his own, he gave her no information,
+playing with her curiosity without gratifying it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But what makes you think,&quot; he asked, &quot;that I am other than I seem?
+Why should I not be plain Hal of Hadnock, a poor gentleman from the
+Welsh marshes?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no, no,&quot; she said, &quot;it is not so. A thousand things prove it:
+first, manners, appearance, dress. Why, are you not as fine as my good
+cousin a dozen times removed, Sir Simeon of Roydon, the pink of court
+gallants?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And yet I have heard that he is not as rich as an abbot,&quot; replied Hal
+of Hadnock.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, in truth,&quot; answered Catherine; &quot;he is as poor as a verger; and,
+like the curlew, carries all his fortune on his back, I believe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I suspect not his own fortune only,&quot; rejoined her companion, &quot;but a
+part of other men's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But then your knightly spurs, good sir,&quot; continued Kate, returning to
+the point; &quot;you must be Sir Hal of Hadnock at the least. Now I never
+heard of that name amongst our chivalry; and I am deep read in the
+rolls of knighthood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, I am newly dubbed,&quot; replied the gentleman, laughing; &quot;but you
+shall know all some day, lady fair.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I shall know very soon,&quot; answered Catherine; &quot;for Simeon of Roydon
+will tell me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;More, perhaps, than he knows himself,&quot; said Hal of Hadnock.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, he knows well enough,&quot; exclaimed Catherine Beauchamp. &quot;He has
+already told me, that you are a man of noble birth and high estate,
+and promised to speak the name; but I would rather owe it to your
+courtesy than his.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, what would I not do for the love of your bright eyes?&quot; asked Hal
+of Hadnock, in a tone half tender, half jesting; &quot;methinks the light
+in them, even now, looks like the morning sun reflected from a dewdrop
+in a violet. But why should I tell you aught? I have been warned that
+you are another's. Out upon such cold contracts, that bind unwilling
+hearts together! It is clear, there is no great love in your heart for
+this Sir Harry Dacre.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not too much to lie comfortably in a hazel nut,&quot; answered Catherine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then why do you not ask to have the marriage annulled?&quot; demanded her
+companion. &quot;There never yet was bond in which the keen eyes of the
+court of Rome could not find a flaw.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, it would grieve his proud heart sadly,&quot; replied the lady; &quot;yet I
+have often thought of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If he be proud--and so he is,&quot; rejoined Hal of Hadnock, &quot;he would
+never refuse to consent, however much it might vex him. Well, well,
+set yourself free from him, and then you shall know who I am. As for
+this fellow Roydon, he knows nothing, and will but lead you wrong; but
+were I you, I would be a free woman ere a year were over; and then,
+this fair hand were a prize well worth the winning to higher hearts
+than a Dacre or a Roydon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With such conversation they wandered on for some time, without
+overtaking the party they had come out to seek. They saw them once at
+some distance, indeed, through the overhanging boughs of an opposite
+alley just fringed with early leaves; but they did not hurry their
+pace, and only met them at length at the door of the hall, as they
+were all returning. Sir Henry Dacre was then walking by Isabel's side,
+with his arms crossed upon his chest, and his brow sad and stern. As
+soon as he saw Catherine and her companion, he fixed his eyes
+inquiringly upon her, and seemed to mark her heightened colour, and
+somewhat excited look--then fell into thought again; and then laid his
+hand upon her arm, saying, &quot;I would speak with you for a moment,
+Kate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It must not be long,&quot; she replied, coldly; &quot;for I have dipped my feet
+in the dew, and would fain dry them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It shall not be long,&quot; answered Sir Henry Dacre; and he remained with
+her behind, while the rest entered slowly. Ere they had passed the
+door, the anxious ear of Isabel heard high tones without; and, in a
+few minutes, as they paused for a moment in the hall, where the
+servants were already spreading the board for supper, Sir Henry
+entered, with a hasty step.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My horse to the gate!&quot; he said, addressing one of the attendants.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;At what hour, Sir Knight?&quot; asked the servant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Directly!&quot; answered Dacre. &quot;The men can follow. Farewell, dear
+Isabel,&quot; he continued, turning to Catherine's cousin; &quot;I can stay no
+longer.--Farewell, Mary!&quot; He grasped Richard of Woodville's hand, but
+said nothing; and with a low and formal bow to Hal of Hadnock, turned
+towards the door leading to the court.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Isabel Beauchamp followed him quietly, laid her hand upon his arm, and
+spoke eagerly, but in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I cannot, I cannot, Isabel,&quot; he replied, aloud. &quot;Dear girl, do not
+urge me. I shall forget myself--I shall go mad. Excuse me to your
+noble father--farewell!&quot; and opening the large door, he issued forth,
+and closed it behind him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Isabel Beauchamp turned with her eyes full of tears; but passing the
+rest silently, as if afraid to speak, she hurried to her own chamber,
+wept for a few minutes, and then sought her father.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The supper that day was a grave and silent meal. There was a stern
+cloud on old Sir Philip Beauchamp's brow when he came down to the
+hall; and, as he took his seat he asked, looking round, &quot;Where is
+Catherine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not,&quot; answered Mary Markham; &quot;but she went to her own chamber
+when she came in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Shall I seek the lady, sir?&quot; asked one of the retainers of the house,
+from the lower part of the table.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No! let her be,&quot; replied the old knight; and then he murmured,
+&quot;Perhaps she has still some shame--and if so, it is well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To Hal of Hadnock his demeanour was courteous, though so grave, that
+his guest could not but feel that some share in the disagreeable
+event, which had evidently taken place, was attributed to him; and
+though he knew that his intention was good, yet, like many another
+man, he had reason to feel sorry that he had meddled in other men's
+affairs at all. Supper was nearly over, the light was beginning to
+wane in the sky, and the stranger was thinking it was time to depart,
+when the porter's boy came into the hall, and, approaching Richard of
+Woodville, whispered something in his ear.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young gentleman instantly rose, and went out into the court, but
+returned a moment after, and spoke a word to Hal of Hadnock, who
+started up, and followed him. In the court they found a man booted and
+spurred, and dusty from the road, holding by the bridle a horse, with
+one leg bent, and the head bowed down, as if exhausted by long
+exercise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man instantly uncovered his head, when he saw the gentlemen
+appear, and throwing down the bridle, advanced a step, while Hadnock
+gave him a quick sign, which he seemed to comprehend.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your presence is required immediately, sir,&quot; he said, without adding
+any name; &quot;your father is ill--very ill--and I have lost some hours in
+seeking you. I heard of you, however, at Andover, then at the Abbey,
+then at the priest's house in the village, and ventured on here, as
+'tis matter of life and death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You did right,&quot; said Hal of Hadnock, briefly, but with deep anxiety
+on his face. &quot;Ill, say you? very ill? and I away!--Why, I left him
+better!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;One of those fits again, sir,&quot; answered the man. &quot;For an hour he was
+thought dead, but had regained his speech when I set out; yet the
+leeches much fear----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I come! I come!&quot; answered Hal of Hadnock. &quot;Speed on before; I will be
+in London ere day-break. Change your horse often, and lose no time.
+Buy a stout horse wherever you can find one, and have him ready for me
+on Murrel Green. Away, good fellow! Say that I am coming!--Richard, I
+must go at once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, I will with you, sir,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;you go to
+bid my good uncle adieu. I will order out the horses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So be it,&quot; answered Hal of Hadnock; &quot;you shall be my guide, for I
+must not miss my way;&quot;--and, after giving the messenger some money, he
+turned, and re-entered the hall.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">THE ASSASSINATION.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Clouds had again come over the heavens as day declined, and the light
+had nearly faded from the sky; but yet the horses of Hal of Hadnock
+and Richard of Woodville had not appeared in the court-yard, and the
+former showed great anxiety to proceed at once. His gaiety was gone;
+and he stood, either playing, in deep thought, with the hilt of his
+dagger, the sheath of which hung from a ring in the centre of his
+belt, or listening for the horses, with his ear turned towards the
+door of the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I fear, sir, the news you have received are bad,&quot; said old Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, who, with the rest of the party, had by this time risen
+from table.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A father's perilous sickness, noble Sir Philip,&quot; answered Hal of
+Hadnock; &quot;one who might have been kinder, indeed; but still the
+tidings must ever be sad ones to a son's heart. I wonder that the
+horses be not ready.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Go, Hugh, and see,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; but a serving man,
+who had entered the moment before, stopped the messenger, saying--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They will be here in a minute, sir. A shoe was found loose on the
+gentleman's steed, and John the smith has had to fasten it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, Dick, thou goest in good earnest at last,&quot; said the old knight,
+turning to his nephew; &quot;and on my life I think it is the best thing
+thou canst do. Thou art a good soldier, and wilt raise thyself to
+renown. I need not tell thee what thy duties are; but thou must take a
+horse and arms of thine old uncle, whom thou mayest never see again,
+perchance. Choose them for thyself, boy. Thou wilt find wherewithal in
+that purse,&quot; and he placed a full one in his nephew's hand. &quot;As my
+good brother, the Abbot, is not here, thou must content thyself with
+my benison. Be it upon thee, Richard! Love thy king, thy country, and
+thine honour. But, above all things, love God, fear his anger, hope in
+his mercy, trust in his promises, and submit thine own reason in all
+things to his word. So shalt thou prosper in this world; so shalt thou
+be meet for another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young man caught his uncle's hand and kissed it; and the old
+knight pressed him for a moment in his arms.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here, Richard, take this gift of me,&quot; said Isabel: &quot;'tis but a jewel
+for your baldrick.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary Markham did not speak; but after he had pressed his lips on
+Isabel's cheek, she offered hers silently, placing a ring in his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will bear it to honour, and win you yet, Mary,&quot; said Woodville, in
+a low voice, as he took his parting kiss; and he felt that her cheek
+was wet with tears.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hark! there are the horses, noble sir,&quot; exclaimed Hal of Hadnock,
+turning to Sir Philip. &quot;Once more, farewell! Your nephew shall give
+you further news of me; and may one day clear me in your eyes for
+somewhat you have thought amiss.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then bidding the ladies adieu, he turned to the hall door, and
+mounted, with a princely largesse to the servants of the house.
+Richard of Woodville followed, sprang on his horse's back, and, giving
+one look back, rode through the gates after his companion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The wood was dark and sombre, as they proceeded amidst its thick
+coverts; but when they issued forth, a faint glimmer of twilight
+served to guide them on the way, and they quickened their pace. There
+were lights in the windows of the cottages, too, as they passed
+through the village; and when they reached the other side, they caught
+a pale line of yellow light, peeping out from beneath the dark clouds
+upon the edge of the western sky, and gilding the water of the stream.
+Riding on quickly, they had not left the last house behind them five
+minutes, when Hal of Hadnock pulled up his horse short, exclaiming,
+&quot;Hark! there is a scream!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis but a screech-owl,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;they come
+forth in spring.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But as he spoke, there was another shriek, apparently before them; and
+each struck his horse with the spur, and dashed on. No other sound met
+their ear, however, except what seemed the distant galloping of a
+horse, which might be but the echo of their own beasts' feet. When
+they reached the spot where, on the preceding night, they had seen the
+wild fire over the moor, Hal of Hadnock again drew in his rein,
+saying, &quot;It came from somewhere here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It seemed to me near where we then were,&quot; replied Richard of
+Woodville. &quot;Perchance 'twas but some villagers got drunk at that
+Glutton mass. See, there is the otter again!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was a shriek of pain or terror,&quot; answered his companion.
+&quot;Otter!--that is no otter! Here, hold my horse,&quot; and springing from
+the saddle in a moment, he dashed down the bank, and plunged into the
+river. Though shallow in most places, it there formed a deep pool; but
+Hal of Hadnock, expert in all exercises alike, struck out at once, and
+caught the object he had seen, just as it was sinking. A feeling of
+horror and alarm seized him, as his hand grasped the long hair of a
+woman; but raising her head above the water again, he held it gently
+on his left arm, and with his right swam in towards the shore.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here, help, Richard,&quot; he cried, &quot;set the horses free, and take her.
+'Tis a woman!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville was down the bank in a moment, exclaiming, &quot;Who is it?--who
+is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not,&quot; answered Hal of Hadnock, raising her so far above the
+water, that his companion could grasp her in his arms and lift her
+out; but as he himself followed, placing one knee on the shore, with a
+sad heart, he heard his companion exclaim, in the accents of deep
+grief--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good Heaven! it is Catherine!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Quick! bear her to the nearest house!&quot; cried Hal of Hadnock; &quot;the
+spark of life may be still there. I will follow with the horses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Up the short path to the right, lies the chanter's,&quot; cried Richard,
+raising the unhappy girl in his stout arms, and running along the
+road.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The horses were easily caught, and mounting one, and leading the
+other, Hal of Hadnock followed, obtaining a glance of his companion
+just as he turned from the highway, towards a spot where the thatch of
+a small house peeped up above some trees. He was at the door as soon
+as Woodville; and, lifting the latch, they both went in.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">An old man and woman were sitting before the fire; but the sudden
+entrance of two men roused them in fear; and, when they saw who it
+was, and what they bore, all was eager hurry and lamentation. The
+inanimate body of Catherine Beauchamp, however, was speedily laid in
+the old chanter's bed, in the neighbouring chamber; and such simple
+means as first suggested themselves were employed to ascertain if life
+were still within that fair and silent frame. But she lay calm and
+still as if asleep, with her features full of a sweet placidity, such
+as they had seldom worn in life.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is past!&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;it is past'. Poor girl! how
+has this happened? Ha! there is the mark of a grasp upon her throat!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;See there, too!&quot; cried Hal of Hadnock; and he pointed with his hand
+to where, upon the fine lawn that covered her bosom, was a faint red
+stain, half washed out by the water of the stream, as if blood had
+been spilt. No wound, however, was to be discovered; and while the two
+gentlemen stood and gazed, the old chanter's sister continued,
+ineffectually, to employ every effort to reawaken the inanimate frame,
+and the old man himself ran off to the Abbey to procure farther aid.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Go into the other room, sirs--go into the other room,&quot; said the good
+dame, at length; &quot;I will take off her wet clothes. 'Tis that keeps her
+from coming to.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hal of Hadnock shook his head; for he could not see that pale
+countenance, those immovable lips, those sightless eyes, without
+feeling sure--too sure--that life had departed for ever. He would not
+say anything, however, to discourage the zeal of the poor woman; and
+he accordingly accompanied Richard of Woodville into the chamber which
+they had first entered, and stood with him in silent thought before
+the fire. Neither spoke; for the mind of each was busy with sad and
+dark inquiries, regarding the event which had just taken place; yet
+neither could arrive at anything like a conclusion. Was it her own
+act? was it accident? was it the deed of another? and if so, of whom?
+Such were the questions which both asked themselves. Both, too,
+entertained suspicions; but yet they did not like even to admit those
+suspicions to their own hearts, for how often does the first
+conclusion of guilt do injustice to the innocent! but while they were
+still in thought, the voice of the chanter's sister was heard
+exclaiming--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come hither, Master Richard!--come hither! See here!&quot; and as they
+entered, she pointed to the poor girl's arm, which now lay uncovered
+on the bed-clothes, adding, &quot;there is the grasp of a hand, clear
+enough! Look, all the fingers and the thumb!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stay,&quot; said Hal of Hadnock; &quot;that might be mine, Richard, or yours in
+raising her out of the stream.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I took her by the other arm,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And I do not remember having touched her arm at all,&quot; said Hal of
+Hadnock, after thinking for a moment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no, sirs,&quot; cried the old woman; &quot;that hand must have grasped her
+in life, else it would not have brought the blood to the skin. Hark!
+there are the people coming,&quot; and, in another minute, the good old
+Abbot, and four or five of his monks, ran in breathless and scared.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Alas! alas! Richard, what is this?&quot; cried the Abbot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A sad and dark affair, father,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, while
+one of the monks, famed for his skill in leechcraft, advanced to the
+bed-side, and put his hand upon the heart; &quot;I fear life is extinct.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Abbot gazed at the monk as he knelt; but the good brother slowly
+waved his head, with a melancholy look, saying, &quot;Yet leave me and the
+old woman alone with her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will stay and aid,&quot; replied the Abbot. &quot;I am her uncle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All the rest withdrew; and many were the eager questions of the monks,
+as to how the accident had happened. Richard of Woodville told the
+tale simply as it was--the two shrieks that they had heard, the
+discovery of the body in the water, and its recovery from the stream.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, she screamed when she fell in, and when she first rose,&quot; said one
+of the monks; &quot;drowning people always do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville made no reply; for he would not give his own suspicions to
+others; but Hal of Hadnock asked him, in a low voice, &quot;Did you not
+hear the galloping of a horse, on the other side, as we came near?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I did,&quot; answered Richard, in the same tone; &quot;I did, too plainly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In about a quarter of an hour, the Abbot came forth, and all made way
+for him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What hope?&quot; asked Woodville, looking into his uncle's face for
+speedier information.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;None!&quot; replied the Abbot. &quot;How has this chanced, my son? there are
+marks of violence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The same tale was told over again; but this time Richard of Woodville
+added the fact of a horse's feet having been heard; and the Abbot
+mused profoundly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will have the body carried down to the Abbey,&quot; he said, at length.
+&quot;You, Richard, speed to my brother, and break the tidings there. Come
+down with him to the Abbey, and we will consult. Bring Dacre, too.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Dacre has been gone more than two hours,&quot; answered Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;but I will seek my uncle Philip,&quot; and he turned towards
+the door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hal of Hadnock stayed him for a moment, however, saying, &quot;I must ride
+on, Richard. You know that my call hence admits of no delay. But let
+every one remark and remember, for this matter must be inquired into,
+that I heard and saw all that this good friend of mine did; the
+shrieks, the galloping of a horse, the body in the water. You shall
+have means of finding me, too, should it be needful; and now, my Lord
+Abbot, a sad good night. Farewell, Richard; you shall hear from me
+soon.&quot; Thus saying, he quitted the cottage, mounted his horse, and
+rode away at a quick pace.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">THE SUSPICIONS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Upon the borders of Hampshire and Sussex, but still within the former
+county, lies, as the reader probably knows, a large tract of land but
+little cultivated even now, and which, in the days whereof I speak,
+was covered either with scattered trees and copses or wild heath,
+having various paths and roads winding through it, which led now to a
+solitary village, with a patch of cultivated land round about it, now
+to a church or chapel in the wild, now travelled on through the hills,
+which are high and bare, to Winchester or Basingstoke. Deep sand
+occupies a great portion of the ground, through which it is well nigh
+impossible to construct a firm road; and the whole country is broken
+with wild and rapid undulations, of no great height or depth, but
+every variety of form, the resort of all those rare birds, which
+afforded so much interest and amusement to gentle White of Selbourne.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Through this rude and uncultivated tract, a little before the close of
+day, in the beginning of April 1413, two gentlemen clothed in deep
+mourning of the fashion of that day, rode slowly on. Both were very
+grave and silent; and, if the complexion of their thoughts was sad and
+solemn, the aspect of the scene at that hour was not calculated to
+lighten the heart, though it might arouse feelings of admiration. The
+sun hung upon the edge of the sky; broad masses of cloud floated over
+the wide expanse of azure which stretched out above the wild heath;
+and their shadows, as they crossed the slanting rays, swept over the
+varied surface below, casting long lines of country into deep blue
+shade, while the rest shone in the cool pale evening sunshine of the
+yet unconfirmed spring. Each dell and pit, too, at that hour, was
+filled with the same sort of purple shadow: the braes and banks looked
+wilder and more strongly marked from the position of the sun; the
+occasional clumps of fir trees cut sharp and black upon the western
+sky; and everything was stern and grand and solemn.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Rising over one slope and descending another, by paths cut imperfectly
+through the heath and gorse, the travellers had ridden on for half an
+hour without speaking, when at length, at the bottom of a deep valley,
+where the sun could no longer be seen, and the shades of evening
+seemed already to have fallen, they stopped to let their horses drink
+in a large piece of water, sheltered by a thick copse, and gazed upon
+the reflection of the blue sky above and the clouds floating over it.
+As they moved on again, a large white bird started up from the reeds,
+and flew heavily away, with its snowy plumage strangely contrasting
+with the dark background of the wood and hill.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis like a spirit winging its way from earth,&quot; said Sir Henry Dacre,
+following the bird with his eyes. &quot;Poor Catherine! Would that aught
+else had set thee free from the chain that bound thee to me, but
+death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Luckless girl, indeed!&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;from her
+infancy unfortunate! And yet men thought that the hand of Heaven had
+showered upon her its choicest gifts: beauty, wealth, kind friends,
+and a noble heart to love her, if she would but have welcomed it. But,
+alas! Harry, the crowning gift of all was wanting: a spirit that could
+use God's blessings aright.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was more the fault of others than her own,&quot; said Sir Harry Dacre,
+&quot;that I do believe. Her mother made her what she was! 'Tis sad! 'tis
+very sad, Richard, that, at the period when we have no power to form
+ourselves, each weak fool who approaches us can give us some bad gift
+which we never can cast off.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Like the evil fairies at a child's birth,&quot; answered Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;and certainly her mother was a bad demon to her; but
+still, though I would not speak ill of those who are gone, yet poor
+Kate received the gifts willingly enough, destructive as they were.
+Would to Heaven it had been otherwise; but others encouraged her in
+all that was wrong, as well as her mother. This man, Roydon, was no
+good counsellor for a lady's ear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The brow of Sir Henry Dacre grew dark as night. &quot;He is a scoundrel,&quot;
+he cried; &quot;he is a scoundrel; and if ever he gives me the chance of
+having him at my lance's point, he or I shall go to that place where
+all men's actions are made clear.--Oh! that I knew the truth, Richard!
+Oh! that I knew the truth!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There is One who knows it,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville, &quot;who never
+suffers foul deeds to rest in darkness. Trust to Him: and if this
+knave does but support his charge, perhaps your lance may be the
+avenging instrument of Heaven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;May it be so,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;but I doubt it, Richard. True, he
+has not shown himself a coward in the field; and yet I cannot but
+think that he is craven at heart. Saw you not how carefully his letter
+to Sir Philip was worded? how he insinuated more than he dared say?
+and, then, why did he not come?--A sickness, forsooth! The excuse of
+an idle schoolboy. He would not face me,--that is the truth. He fears
+me, Richard, and will not dare the test of battle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, that we shall soon see,&quot; answered his companion; &quot;your
+messenger must be at my house, by this time, with his reply.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I trust so,&quot; said Dacre, thoughtfully; &quot;yet he will take time to
+write carefully, believe me. His will be no rash epistle, written in
+fiery anger at his cousin's death. No, no; it will be done as if a
+scrivener had dictated every word, and in a courtly hand. But whatever
+he does, mark me, he will leave the poison behind, and so calculate as
+to cast suspicion over me for life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But who suspects you, Dacre?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville, with a
+smile; &quot;not one honest man on earth. You are too well known, for
+doubts to light upon you. Does not Sir Philip, her own uncle, love you
+as a son? and can you let the idle words of a knave, like this,
+disturb your peace?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My peace, Richard!&quot; said Sir Henry Dacre, sadly; &quot;can a high and
+honest heart ever feel peace, so long as one doubt, one unrefuted
+charge, casts a cloud upon it? I would rather die a thousand deaths
+than have men point at me, and say, 'he was suspected of a foul crime
+against an innocent lady;' and, besides, even those that I love best,
+those who hold me dearest, may often ask themselves, 'could it be
+true?'&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not a whit!&quot; replied Woodville: &quot;no one will ever ask such a thing.
+Like a wounded man, you think that every one will touch the spot, and
+feel the pain in fancy. Cast off such imaginations, Dacre; secure in
+your own honour, laugh suspicion to scorn, and trust to the noble and
+the true to do justice to those who are like themselves.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Would I could do so, Richard,&quot; said the knight; &quot;and it would be
+easy, too, did we not know that the wide world is so full of arrant
+knaves, and that amongst the knaves there are such hypocrites, that
+honesty has no touchstone whereby true metal can be really known from
+false; and men rightly doubt the value of each coin they take, so
+cunning are the counterfeits. Hypocrisy is a greater curse to mankind
+than wickedness; for it makes all virtue doubted, and fills the bosoms
+of the good with suspicion, from a knowledge of the feigning of the
+bad. Besides, amongst those who hold a middle course, neither plunging
+deep in the stream of vice and wrong, nor staying firmly on the shore
+of honour, how gladly every one attributes acts to others that may
+outdo the darkness of his own! No, no; suspicion never yet lighted on
+a name that ever was wholly pure again. All I ask is, to give me that
+man before me, let me cram the falsehood down his throat, at the
+sword's point, and wring the truth from his dying lips, or let me die
+myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, we shall see what he replies,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville,
+finding it useless to argue farther with him; &quot;and if, as you suspect,
+he evades the question, what think you then to do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To go with you to Burgundy,&quot; answered Dacre; &quot;for I shall be, then,
+one fitted well to take a part in civil broils--a right serviceable
+man, where danger is rifest, ever ready to lead the way in peril,
+having nor wife, nor relative, nor friend, nor hope, nor home, to make
+him feel the stroke that takes his life, more than the scratch of a
+sharp thorn that tears him as he passes through the wood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But you will surely first return,&quot; said Woodville, &quot;to say farewell
+to my good uncle, and sweet Isabel?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do not know,&quot; replied Dacre. &quot;Dear Isabel, she tried to cheer me;
+and I know would not for worlds suffer doubts of me to rest for an
+hour in her heart; and yet they will come and go, Richard, whether she
+will or not. Each time I take her hand she'll think of Catherine; and
+though she'll answer boldly, 'it is false,' as often as suspicions
+rise, yet they will be remembered, and rest for ever as a shadow over
+our friendship.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You do her wrong, Harry,&quot; answered his companion. &quot;Your mind is
+sickly; and, as a man in a sore disease, you see all things through
+one pale mist. Isabel may often think of her who is no more, may
+grieve for her, and regret that she did not make life happier to
+herself and others, and that she met so early and so sad a death; but
+she will ever call her back to mind as one who wronged you, not as one
+wronged by you: and you may be happy yet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke gravely, and Sir Henry Dacre turned and gazed at him, as if
+for explanation of his words; but Richard said no more; and, riding on
+in silence, they soon after came to a point where the road began to
+rise, winding in slowly between two wooded hills, with a small
+streamlet flowing on by its side. The sun was sinking below the
+horizon, as they passed through a village, with the bright
+blacksmith's forge jutting out beyond the other buildings; and when at
+length they drew the rein before the gate of a tall house bosomed in
+trees, it was well nigh dark.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Several servants came instantly into the court; and, giving their
+horses to be taken to the stable, the two gentlemen entered the outer
+hall, and thence proceeded onwards to a room beyond, where they were
+immediately joined by a stout man, habited as a courier, who placed a
+letter in the hand of Sir Harry Dacre, without speaking.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So thou art back, Martin,&quot; said the knight, while Richard of
+Woodville called for lights.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, noble sir,&quot; answered the servant; &quot;but I have had to ride hard,
+for he kept me a long time; but that I don't wonder at.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed!&quot; exclaimed Sir Henry; &quot;why should he keep you long?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because he wrote a long letter, sir,&quot; replied the man; &quot;he might have
+waited till doomsday, if he had been in my place, and I in his.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Did he look ill?&quot; inquired the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not he, sir,&quot; answered the servant; &quot;he was out gosshawking after
+larks when I arrived.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The liar!&quot; muttered Sir Henry Dacre; but at the same moment lights
+were brought in, and making the messenger a sign to retire, the knight
+opened the letter and read. Richard of Woodville stood by and watched
+him, while his fine features, as he gazed intently upon the paper,
+assumed first a look of scorn, and then of anger; and at length he
+exclaimed, &quot;As I thought, Richard!--as I thought! On my life, I must
+be an astrologer, and not know it, to have read this man's conduct to
+the letter, beforehand. Mark what he says: 'Sir Simeon of Roydon
+brings no charge against Sir Henry Dacre, and never has brought any;
+but holds him as good knight and true. He has, therefore, no cause of
+quarrel with the said knight, but, far from it, wishes him all
+prosperity; the which Sir Henry would have clearly seen, if he had
+read carefully the letter which Sir Simeon wrote to the good knight of
+Dunbury, and had not looked at it rashly. Therein Sir Simeon thought
+to do Sir Henry Dacre an act of love and courtesy, by pointing out--he
+himself nought doubting--what might breed doubts in the hearts of
+other men, regarding the manner of the death of the Lady Catherine
+Beauchamp, in order that the good knight might make such inquiries as
+would remove all suspicion. For this cause he marked what he had only
+learned by hear-say, that Sir Henry Dacre had, as unhappily often
+happened, a fierce quarrel with the Lady Catherine, about a gentleman,
+it would seem, calling himself Hal of Hadnock----' Curses upon him!&quot;
+cried Dacre, breaking off.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay, you do him wrong,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;he
+sought but to serve you, as I will tell you anon, Harry. But read on.
+What says he more?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'That Sir Harry quitted the hall in bitter anger,'&quot; continued
+Dacre, reading, &quot;'and swearing he should go mad with the lady's
+conduct----' Did I say so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville nodded his head, and his friend proceeded: &quot;'That the said
+Sir Henry, though his house is distant but seven miles, did not reach
+his own door till the hour of nine, and that the lady came by her
+death between seven and eight, or thereabout; that Sir Henry's hand
+was torn when he reached his house; and that there was a stain of
+blood upon the lady's throat; that there were marks of horses' feet on
+the opposite side of the river, and across the moor towards Sir
+Henry's dwelling; and that he himself was seen of many persons
+wandering about near Abbot's Ann and Dunbury, till dark that night;
+all of which points Sir Simeon of Roydon doubted not, in any way,
+could be easily explained by Sir Henry Dacre, if true--but which,
+perchance, were untrue he, Sir Simeon, having heard them merely from
+vague report and common fame!' Some true, some false,&quot; cried Dacre. &quot;I
+did tear my hand, opening the gate by Clatford mill. I did wander
+about, with a heart on fire, and a brain all whirling, at being made
+wretched by another's fault; but I was far from the village, far from
+Abbey and Hall, before the sun went down; for I saw him set from
+Weyhill.--Ah! poisonous snake! He stings and glides away from the heel
+that would crush him. Hear how he ends: 'For his own part, Sir Simeon
+of Roydon is right well convinced that Sir Henry Dacre is pure and
+free of all share in the lady's death; otherwise that knight might be
+full sure he would be the first to call him to the lists, in vengeance
+of his cousin's death.' The scoundrel coward! But how is this,
+Richard? He must have spies in our houses--at our hearths. How else
+did he gain such tidings? Who told him of the quarrel between that
+hapless girl and me? He was gone long before, I think?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, but his servants stayed,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;and there was one
+in the hall when you returned; that black-looking, silent man. Yet he
+must have some other means of information, too; else how did he know
+your hand was torn?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I cannot say,&quot; answered Dacre, thoughtfully. &quot;By heaven! he will
+plant suspicion in my heart, too, and make me doubt the long-tried,
+faithful fellows I have with me.&quot; And he cast himself gloomily on a
+seat, and pondered in silence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The moment after, there was a sound of horses' feet passing along
+before the house, and Richard of Woodville turned and listened,
+saying, &quot;Here is some new messenger. Were it any of my own people,
+they would come to the other gate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After some talking in the hall without, an attendant opened the door,
+and informed his young master that there was a person without who
+desired to see him. &quot;He comes from Westminster,&quot; added the man, &quot;and
+will give neither message nor letters to any but yourself, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let him come in!&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; and a personage was
+called forward, habited somewhat differently from any of those whom we
+have already had occasion to describe. He was dressed in what is
+called a tabard; but it must not be supposed, from that circumstance,
+that he bore the office of either herald or pursuivant, for many other
+classes retained that part of the ancient dress, and it was officially
+worn by the squires, and many of the inferior attendants of kings and
+sovereign princes, sometimes over armour, sometimes without. In
+particular cases, the tabard was embroidered either with the arms of
+the lord whom the bearer served, or with his own, as a sort of coat of
+arms; but was frequently, especially with persons of somewhat low
+degree, perfectly unornamented, and formed of a fine cloth of a
+uniform colour. Such was the case with the man who now appeared--his
+loose, short gown, with wide sleeves, being of a bright pink hue. The
+linen collar of his shirt fell over it; and the part of his dress left
+exposed below the knee, showed nothing but the riding boots of
+untanned leather, drawn up to their full extent. In person, he was a
+short, thin young man, with a shrewd and merry countenance. His hair
+was cut short round the whole head, but left thick, notwithstanding,
+so as to resemble a fur cap, and his long arms reached his knees.
+Without uttering a word, he advanced towards Richard of Woodville, who
+had taken a step forward to receive him, and drawing a packet from the
+bosom of his tabard, he placed it in the gentleman's hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;From Hal of Hadnock, I suspect?&quot; said Woodville, looking at him
+closely.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I know not,&quot; replied the messenger; &quot;from Hal, certainly; yet no
+more Hal of Hadnock, than of Monmouth, or Westminster, or any other
+town of England or Wales. Read, and you will see.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville tore open the outer cover, and took forth several
+broad letters, tied and sealed. The first he opened, and drawing near
+the light, perused its contents attentively.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hal of Hadnock,&quot; so it ran, &quot;to Richard of Woodville, greeting. Good
+service requires good service, and honour, honour. Thus you shall
+find, my comrade of the way, that I have not forgotten you, though
+matters of much moment and some grief have delayed a promise, not put
+it out of mind. You, too, have doubtless had much cause for thought
+and sorrow, and may, perchance, have yet affairs to keep you in the
+realms of England; which being the case, I do not require that you
+should lay aside things of weight, to bear the enclosed to the noble
+Duke of Burgundy, or his son, and to the faithful servant of this
+crown, Sir Philip Morgan, now at the court of Burgundy; but the letter
+addressed to Sir John Grey, at Ghent, is of some importance to
+himself, and should find his hands as speedily as may be. If,
+therefore, by any chance, you be minded to stay in England more than
+fourteen days from the receipt of these, return that packet by the
+bearer, one Edward Dyram. But, if you be ready to cross the seas ere
+then, keep the messenger with you in your company, as I believe him to
+be faithful and true, and skilled in many things; and he knoweth my
+mind towards you, which is good. Neither be offended at speech or jest
+of his, for he hath a licence not easily bridled; but so long as he
+useth his tongue for his own conceit, so long will he use his
+knowledge for a friend or master. I give him to you; treat him well
+till you return him to me again; and if there be aught else that can
+serve you or do you grace, seek me at Westminster, where you will find
+a friend in &nbsp; &nbsp;  &nbsp; <span class="sc">Henry</span>.&quot;
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville pondered, but testified no surprise; and, after a
+moment's thought, put the letter in the hand of Sir Henry Dacre, who
+read it through, with more apparent wonder than his friend had
+expressed. &quot;And who is this?&quot; he asked, when he had done. &quot;He signs
+himself, Henry. Can it be the Prince?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The Prince that was, the King that is,&quot; replied Woodville, giving him
+a sign to say no more before the messenger. &quot;And so, my friend, you
+are to be my companion over sea?&quot; he added, turning to the latter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is as you will, not as I will,&quot; replied the man; &quot;if you are
+fool enough to quit England in a fortnight, when you can stay a month,
+I am to go with you; if you are wise enough to stay, I am wise enough
+to go alone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ten days, I hope, at farthest, shall see my foot on other shores,&quot;
+answered Woodville; &quot;and pray, Master Edward Dyram, what may be your
+capacity, quality, or degree? for 'tis fit that I should know who it
+is goes with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ned Dyram, fair sir, by your leave,&quot; replied the messenger; &quot;'tis so
+long since I lost the last half of my first name, that I know it not
+when I meet it; and I should as much expect my mother's ass to answer
+me, if I called him Edward, as I should answer to it myself. Then, as
+to my capacity, it is large enough to hold any man's secrets without
+spilling them by the way, or to contain the knowledge of a knight, a
+baron, and squire, besides a clerk's and my own, without running over.
+My chief quality is to tell truth when I like it, and other men do
+not; and my degree has never been taken yet, though I lived long
+enough with a doctor of Oxford to have caught that sickness, had it
+been infectious.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I fear me, Ned Dyram,&quot; said Richard of Woodville, smiling, &quot;I shall
+lose much time with you, in getting crooked answers to plain
+questions; but if you have puzzled your own brains with logic, puzzle
+not mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, well, sir,&quot; answered the other, &quot;I will be brief, for I am
+hungry, and you are tired. I am the son of a Franklin, who broke his
+heart to make me a clerk. I had, however, no gift for singing, and
+turned my wits to other things. I can do what men can generally do,
+and sometimes better than they can. I have broken a man's head one
+day, and healed it the next; for I have handled a quarter-staff and
+served a leech. I can cast nativities, and draw a horoscope; I can
+make a horse-shoe, and sharpen a sword; I can write court hand, and
+speak more tongues than my own; I can cook my own dinner, when need
+be, and bake or brew, if the sutler or the tapster should fail me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A goodly list of qualities, indeed,&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;and
+though my household is not the most princely, we will find you an
+office, Ned Dyram, which you must exercise with discretion; and now,
+as you are hungry, get you gone to my people, who will stop that evil.
+We have supped.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The messenger withdrew; and Sir Henry Dacre returned the letter, which
+he still held in his hand, to Woodville, saying, &quot;So this was the
+Prince? the more cruel in him to sport with the peace of his father's
+subjects.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not so, Dacre,&quot; replied his friend. &quot;I told you I could explain his
+conduct; and it is but justice to him to do so; for he intended to be
+kind, not cruel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dacre shook his head gloomily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, you shall hear,&quot; continued Woodville. &quot;When I first brought him
+to my uncle's gate, I knew not who he was; but he had scarcely entered
+the hall, when I remembered him. I kept my own counsel, however, and
+said nothing; but when he sought his room, I went with him as you saw,
+and there for a whole hour we spoke of those we had left below. I told
+him nothing, Harry; for his quick eye had gleaned the truth wherever
+it turned; and I had only to set him right on some things regarding
+the past. He knew you by name, and took interest in your fate as well
+as mine. I would fain tell you all; but in the mood in which you are,
+I fear that I may pain you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Speak, Dick, speak,&quot; answered the knight; &quot;have we not been as
+brothers since our boyhood, that you may not give me all your thoughts
+freely? Say all you have to say. Keep nought behind, if you love me;
+for I have grown as suspicious as the rest, and shall doubt if I see
+you hesitate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, at all risks,&quot; said Richard of Woodville, &quot;it is better to give
+you some pain, perhaps, than to leave you with your present thoughts.
+We talked, then, first of myself and Mary Markham, and then of you and
+Catherine. He saw you loved her not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Twas her own fault,&quot; cried Dacre: &quot;she crushed out love that might
+once have been deep and true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I told him so,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;and he asked, why, as you both
+clearly wished the bond that bound you to each other loosed, you did
+not apply to the Church and the law to break it? I said, what perhaps
+had better not been said, but yet what I believed, that, if you
+proposed it, she would not consent, for that she loved to keep you as
+a captive, if not by love's chains, by any other. He fancied, Harry,
+that, if that incomplete union were dissolved, you might be happy with
+another--ay, with Isabel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha!&quot; exclaimed Dacre; &quot;ha! Have I been so careless of my looks that a
+mere stranger should--&quot; and he bent down his brow upon his hands, and
+remained for a moment silent. Then looking up, he added, &quot;Well,
+Richard, I have been a fool; but was it possible to stand between a
+desert and a paradise, and not regret that I could never pass the
+boundary; to look into a scene of joy and peace, and not long to rest
+the weary heart, and cool the aching brow in the calm groves, and
+pleasant glades before me? Who would compare those two beings, and not
+choose between them, in spite of fate? But what said he more?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He thought you might be happy,&quot; answered Woodville, &quot;and that the
+only barrier was one that he might prompt Catherine to remove herself.
+For that object he humoured her caprice, and played with her light
+vanity. He told me that he would; and I saw that he did so; for his
+was no heart to be suddenly made captive by one such as Catherine
+Beauchamp. Besides, it was clear, his words, half sweet, half sour,
+were all aimed at that end; for ever and anon, when his tone was full
+of courteous gallantry, some sharp jest would break through, as if he
+could not keep down the somewhat scornful thoughts with which her idle
+vanity moved him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then I did him wrong,&quot; answered Dacre; &quot;for had he succeeded, and led
+her to propose of her own will that our betrothing should be annulled,
+no boon on all the earth could have been equal to that blessing. It
+has turned out sadly; yet I will not blame him; for who can tell when
+he draws a bowstring in the dark where the shaft may fall? But say,
+Richard, was he aware you knew his station?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I never told him,&quot; replied his friend; &quot;but I think that he divined.
+You see, in his letter, that he gives no explanation. But listen,
+Harry; will it not be better--now that we have spoken freely on this
+theme--will it not be better, I say, for you to return home, let the
+first memory of these dark days pass away, and seek for happiness with
+one who may well make up for all that you have suffered in the past.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What!&quot; cried Dacre, &quot;with this stain upon my name? Oh, no! that dream
+of joy is gone. No, no, my only course is to forget that there is such
+a thing as love on earth, or to think with your friend Chaucer's lay,
+that--</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+<p class="i8">
+'--Love ne is in yonge folke but rage,<br>
+And is in olde folke a grete dotage,<br>
+Who most it usith, he most shal enpaire<br>
+For thereof cometh disese and hevinesse<br>
+So sorrow and care, and many a grete sicknesse,<br>
+Despite, debate, and angre, and envie,<br>
+Depraving shame, untrust, and jelousie,<br>
+Pride, mischefe, povertie, and wodeness.'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis the song of the cuckoo,&quot; Harry replied Woodville; &quot;but this sad
+humour, built upon a baseless dream, will pass away when you find that
+the suspicions which you now fancy in every one's heart, live but in
+your own imagination; and then you will answer with the nightingale--</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+<p class="i8">
+'That evirmore Love his servauntes amendeth,<br>
+And from all evil tachis them defendeth;'</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">but Time must do his own work; and till then, argument is of no avail.
+Yet I would fain not have you lose bright days with me in foreign
+lands. Happy were I if I could stay like you in hope, and lead the
+pleasant summer life, beneath the lightsome looks of her whom I love
+best. Think of it, Harry, think of it; and do not rashly judge that
+you see clear till you have wiped the dust out of your eyes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dacre shook his head, and answered, &quot;I will to rest, Richard, such as
+I can find; for now that I have got this craven's reply, I have no
+further business here till I join you again upon our pilgrimage. I
+will away to-morrow, to prepare; but we shall meet before I go. I know
+my way.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">THE CORONATION.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Five days after the events related in the last chapter, Richard of
+Woodville, leaving armourers and tailors busy in his house at Meon,
+rode away for London, accompanied by two yeomen, a page, and Ned
+Dyram, whose talents had not been long in displaying themselves in the
+service of his new master. He had instructed the tailors; he had
+assisted the armourers; he had aided to choose the horses; he had
+drawn figures for fresh pallettes and pauldrons; and he had with his
+own hand manufactured a superb bridle and bit, ornamented with gilt
+steel plates; jesting, laughing, talking, all the while, and
+overcoming the obstinacy and the vanity of the old artificers, who
+would fain have equipped the young gentleman who employed them, in the
+fashions of the early part of the last reign, all new inventions in
+those days travelling slowly from the capital to the country. Ned
+Dyram, however, had been in many lands, and had accumulated, in a head
+which possessed extraordinary powers both of observation and memory,
+an enormous quantity of patterns and designs of everything new or
+strange, which he had seen; and sometimes with a laugh, sometimes with
+an argument, he drove those who were inclined to resist all
+innovation, to adopt his proposed improvements greatly against their
+will. But though his tongue occasionally ran fast, and he seemed to
+take a pleasure occasionally in confounding his slower opponents with
+a torrent of words, yet on all subjects but those immediately before
+him, he kept his own counsel, and not one of the servants of the
+house, when he set out with Woodville for London, was aware of who or
+what he was, whence he came, or where he had gained so much knowledge.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The first day's journey was a long one, and Richard of Woodville and
+his train were not many miles from London, when they again set forth
+early on the following morning, so that it was not yet noon, on the
+ninth of April, when they approached the city of Westminster, along
+the banks of the Thames.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Winding in and out, through fields and hedge-rows, where now are
+houses, manufactories, and prisons, with the soft air of Spring
+breathing upon them, and the scent of the early cowslips, for which
+that neighbourhood was once famous, rising up and filling the whole
+air, they came on, now catching, now losing, the view of the large
+heavy abbey church of Westminster, and its yet unfinished towers of
+the same height as the main building, while rising tall above it,
+appeared the belfry of St. Stephen's chapel, with its peaked roof,
+open at the sides, displaying part of the three enormous bells, one of
+which was said (falsely) to weigh thirty thousand pounds. The top of
+two other towers might also be seen, from time to time, over the
+trees, and also part of the buildings of the monastery adjoining the
+Abbey; but these were soon lost, as the lane which the travellers were
+following wound round under the west side of Tote Hill, a gentle
+elevation covered with greensward, and ornamented with clumps of oak,
+and beech, and fir, amidst which might be discovered, here and there,
+some large stone houses, richly ornamented with sculpture, and
+surrounded with their own gardens. The lanes, the paths, the fields,
+were filled with groups of people in their holiday costume, all
+flocking towards Westminster; and what with the warm sunshine, the
+greenness of the grass, the tender verdure of the young foliage, and
+the gay dresses of the people, the whole scene was as bright and
+lively as it is possible to conceive. At the same time, the loud bells
+of St. Stephen's began to ring with the merriest tones they could
+produce, and a distant &quot;Hurrah!&quot; came upon the wind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, Ned, which is the way?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville, calling up
+his new attendant to his side, as they came to a spot where the lane
+divided into two branches, one taking the right hand side of the hill,
+and one the left. &quot;This seems the nearest,&quot; he continued, pointing
+down the former; &quot;but I know nought of the city.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The nearest may prove the farthest,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, riding up,
+&quot;as it often does, my master. That is the shortest, good sooth! but
+they call the shortest often the fool's way; and we might be made to
+look like fools, if we took it--for though it leads round to the end
+of St. Stephen's Lane, methinks that to-day none will be admitted to
+the palace-court by that gate, as it is the King's coronation
+morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed!&quot; said Woodville; &quot;I knew not that it was so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nor I, either,&quot; answered Ned; &quot;but I know it now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And how, pray?&quot; asked his new master.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;By every sight and sound,&quot; replied Ned Dyram. &quot;By that girl's pink
+coats--by that good man's blue cloak--by the bells ringing--by the
+people running--by the hurrah we heard just now. I ever put all I hear
+and see together--for a man who only sees one thing at once, will
+never know what time he is living in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then we had better turn to the left,&quot; said Woodville, not caring to
+hear more of his homily. &quot;Of course, if this be the coronation day, I
+shall not get speech of the King till to-morrow; but we may as well
+see what is going on.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To the left will lead you right,&quot; replied his quibbling companion;
+&quot;that is to say, to the great gate before the palace court; and then
+we shall discover whether the King will speak with you or not. Each
+Prince has his own manners, and ours has changed so boldly in one day,
+that no one can judge from that which the lad did, what the man will
+do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Has he changed much, then?&quot; asked Woodville, riding on; &quot;it must have
+been sudden, indeed, if you had time to see it ere you left him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, has he!&quot; answered Dyram; &quot;the very day of his father's death he
+put on, not the robes of royalty, but the heart; and those who were
+his comrades before, gave place to other men. They who counted much
+upon his love, found a cold face; and they who looked for hate, met
+with nought but grace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then, perhaps, my reception may not be very warm,&quot; said Woodville,
+thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You may judge yourself, better than I can, master mine,&quot; replied Ned
+Dyram. &quot;Did you ever sit with him in the tavern, drinking quarts of
+wine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville, smiling.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then you shall be free of his table,&quot; said Ned. &quot;Did you ever shoot
+deer with him, by moonlight?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Never,&quot; was his master's reply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then you may chance to taste his venison,&quot; rejoined the man. &quot;Did you
+ever brawl, swear, and break heads for him, or with him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, truly,&quot; said the young gentleman; &quot;I fought under him with the
+army in Wales, when he and I were both but boys; and I led him on his
+way one dark night, two days before his father died; but that is all I
+know of him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then, perchance, you may enter into his council,&quot; answered Dyram;
+&quot;for, now that he is royal, he thinks royally, and he judges man for
+himself, not with the eyes of others.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As all kings should,&quot; said Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And few kings do,&quot; rejoined Ned. &quot;I was not so lucky; but many a mad
+prank have I seen during the last year; and though he knows, and
+Heaven knows, I never prompted what others did, yet I was one of the
+old garments he cast off, as soon as he put on the new ones. I fared
+better than the rest, indeed, because I sometimes had told him a rough
+truth; and trust I shall fare better still, if I do his bidding.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what may be his bidding?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville--&quot;for,
+doubtless, he gave you one, when he sent you to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He bade me live well, and forget former days, as he had forgotten
+them,&quot; replied Ned Dyram; &quot;and he bade me serve you well, master, if
+you took me with you; so you have no cause to think ill of the counsel
+that he gave me in your case. But here we are, master mine; and a
+goodly sight it is to see.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, they turned into the wide street, or rather road, which
+led from the village of Charing to the gates of the palace at
+Westminster; and a gay and beautiful scene it certainly presented,
+whichever side the eye turned. To the north was seen the old gothic
+building (destroyed in the reign of Edward VI.) where the royal
+falcons were kept, and called from that circumstance the Mew; while, a
+little in advance, upon a spot slightly elevated, stood the beautiful
+stone cross, one of the monuments of undying regard, erected in the
+village of Charing, by King Edward the First; to the left appeared the
+buttery and lodge, and other offices of the hospital and convent of
+St. James's, forming together a large pile of buildings, with gates
+and arches cutting each other in somewhat strange confusion--while the
+higher stories, supported by corbels, overhung the lower. The effect
+of the whole, however, massed together by the distance, was grand and
+striking; while the trees of the fields, then belonging to the
+nunnery, and afterwards formed into a park, broke the harsher lines,
+and marked the distances down the course of the wide road.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A little nearer, but on the opposite side of the way, with gardens and
+stairs extending to the river, was the palace, or lodging of the Kings
+of Scotland. The edifice has been destroyed--but the ground has still
+retained the name which it then bore; and many years had not elapsed,
+at the time I speak of, since that mansion had been inhabited by the
+monarchs of the northern part of this island, when they came to take
+their seats in Parliament, in right of their English feofs. Gardens
+succeeded, till appeared, somewhat projecting beyond the line of road,
+the old stern building which had once been the property of Hubert de
+Burg, Earl of Kent, more like a fortress than a dwelling, though its
+gloomy aspect was relieved by a light and beautiful chapel, lately
+built on the side nearest to Westminster, by one of the Archbishops of
+York.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Several smaller edifices, sometimes constructed of brick, sometimes of
+grey stone, were seen on the right and left, all in that peculiar
+style of architecture so much better fitted to the climate of northern
+Europe, and the character of her people, than the light and graceful
+buildings of the Greeks, which we imitate in the present day,
+generally with such heavy impotence; and still between all appeared
+the green branches of oaks, and beeches, and fields, and gardens,
+blending the city and the country together.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Up the long vista, thus presented, were visible thousands of groups,
+on horseback and on foot, decked out in gay and glittering colours:
+and as brilliant a scene displayed itself to the south, in the wide
+court before the palace, surrounding which appeared the venerable
+Abbey, the vast Hall, the long line of the royal dwelling, the
+monastery, the chapel of St. Stephen, with its tall belfry, and many
+another tower and lofty archway, and the old church of St. Margaret,
+built about a century and a half before, together with the lofty yet
+heavy buildings of the Woolstaple, and the row of arches underneath.
+Banners and pennons fluttering in the wind; long gowns of monks and
+secular clergymen; tabards and mantles of every hue under the sun; the
+robes and headdresses of the ladies and their women, and the gorgeous
+trappings of the horses, catching the light as they moved hither and
+thither, rendered the line from the Eleanor cross to the palace one
+living rainbow; while the river, flowing gently on upon the east, was
+covered with boats, all tricked out with streamers and fluttering
+ribbons. Even the grave, the old, and those dedicated to seclusion and
+serious thought, seemed to have come forth for this one day; and,
+amongst the crowd, might be distinguished more than one of the long,
+grey, black, or white gowns, with the coif and veil which marked the
+nun. All seemed gay, however; and nothing was heard but laughter,
+merriment, gay jests, the ringing of the bells, the sounding of
+clarions, and, every now and then, the deep tone of the organ, through
+the open windows of the Abbey, or a wild burst of martial music from
+the lesser court of the palace.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Habited in black, as mourning for his unhappy cousin, Richard of
+Woodville felt himself hardly fitted for so gay a scene; but his good
+mien and courteous carriage gained him many a civil word as he moved
+along, or perchance some shrewd jest, as the frank simplicity of those
+days allowed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Where is the black man going?&quot; cried a pert London apprentice; &quot;he
+must be chief mourner for the dead king.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, he is fair enough to look upon, Tom,&quot; replied a pretty girl by
+his side. &quot;You would give much to be as fair.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Take care of my toes, master,&quot; exclaimed a stout citizen; &quot;your horse
+is mettlesome.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He shall not hurt you, good sir,&quot; replied Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let me hold by your leg, sir squire,&quot; said a woman near, &quot;so shall I
+have a stout prop.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Blessings on his fair, good-natured face!&quot; cried an old woman; &quot;he
+has lost his lady, I will wager my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have not much there to lose, good mother,&quot; answered a man behind
+her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, he will soon find another lady,&quot; rejoined a buxom dame, who
+seemed of the same party, &quot;if he takes those eyes to court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Out on it, master!&quot; exclaimed a man who had been amusing the people
+round him by bad jokes; &quot;is your horse a cut-purse? He had his nose in
+my pouch.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Where he found nothing, I dare say,&quot; answered Woodville; and in the
+midst of the peal of laughter which followed from the easily moved
+multitude, he made his way forward to the gates, where he was stopped
+by a wooden barrier drawn across and guarded by a large posse of the
+royal attendants, habited in their coats of ceremony.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What now?--what now?&quot; asked one of the jacks of office, with a large
+mace in his hand, as Woodville rode up; &quot;you can have no entrance
+here, sir squire, if you be not of the King's house, or have not an
+order from one of his lords. The court is crowded already. The King
+will not have room to pass back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Before his master could answer, however, Ned Dyram pushed forward his
+horse, and addressed the porter, saying, in a tone of authority, &quot;Up
+with the barrier, Master Robert Nesenham. 'Tis a friend of the King's,
+for whom he sent me--Master Richard of Woodville--you know the name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That's another affair, Ned,&quot; replied the other; &quot;but let me see, are
+not you on the list of those who must not come to court?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not I,&quot; replied Ned Dyram; &quot;or if I be, you have put me on yourself,
+Robin; 'tis but the other day I left his Grace upon this errand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, come in, if it be so, varlet,&quot; replied the porter, lifting the
+barrier; &quot;but if you come forbidden, the pillory and your ears will be
+acquainted. How many men of you are there?--Stand back, fellows, or I
+will break your pates. See, Tim, there is a fellow slipping through!
+Drive him back--give him a throw--cast him over--break his neck--five
+of you, that is all?--stand back, fellows, or you shall into limbo.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While the good man strove with the crowd without, who all struggled
+manfully to push through the barrier when it was open, Richard of
+Woodville and his followers made their way on into the court; and,
+dismounting from his horse in the more open space which it afforded,
+he advanced towards the passage which was kept clear by the royal
+officers, between the door of the great Hall and the Abbey. At first
+he was placed near a stout man, dressed as a wealthy citizen; and he
+inquired of him how long the King had been in the church.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Three parts of an hour,&quot; replied the other; &quot;did you not hear the
+shout and the bells begin to ring? Oh, it was a grand sight! There
+was----&quot; but the rest of what he said was drowned by the noise around,
+aided by a loud flourish of trumpets from the Hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The crowd, however, was constantly changing, and swaying to and fro;
+and Woodville soon found himself separated from the man to whom he had
+spoken, by two or three of the secular clergy of the city, and a
+somewhat coquettish-looking nun, who wore over her grey gown a blue
+ribbon and a silver cross.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She turned round and looked at him with her veil up, showing a very
+pretty face, and a pair of bright blue eyes. A fat monk was behind,
+and a man dressed as a scrivener; but all were intent upon watching
+the door of the Abbey, as if they expected the royal procession soon
+to re-appear; and Woodville turned his eyes thither also. The next
+moment he heard a voice pronounce his own name, and then add, &quot;Beware
+of Simeon of Roydon; and let not Henry Dacre fight with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard turned sharply round, and gazed at those behind him; but he
+saw no face that he knew, but those of Ned Dyram and one of his own
+men. The rest of the group in his immediate neighbourhood was composed
+of two monks, another nun, a doctor of divinity in his cope, a tall
+man in a surcoat of arms, and two elderly ladies with portentous
+headdresses, a full half yard broad and two feet high.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a woman's voice, however, that he had heard, and he inquired at
+once of the nearest woman, &quot;Did you speak, lady?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To be sure I did,&quot; answered the good dame, in a sharp tone; &quot;I asked
+my brother what the hour is. No offence in that, sir, I suppose?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, none, assuredly,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but I thought
+you mentioned my name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do not know it, young sir,&quot; replied the lady; &quot;come away, brother,
+the squire is saucy;&quot; and she and her party moved on, making a
+complete change in the disposition of the group.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In vain Richard of Woodville looked beyond the little circle in which
+they stood; he could see no face that he knew; and at length, turning
+to Ned Dyram, he inquired if he had heard any one mention his name.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That good dame, or some one near her certainly did,&quot; replied the man;
+&quot;but I could not see exactly who it was. It might be the other woman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Was she old, too?&quot; demanded Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Too old for your wife, and too young for your mother,&quot; answered
+Ned--&quot;somewhat on the touch of forty years.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, there was a loud &quot;hurrah!&quot; from the ground adjacent to
+the Abbey door; a true, hearty, English shout, such as no other nation
+on the earth can give; and the royal procession was seen returning.
+All pressed as near as they could; and Richard of Woodville gained a
+place in front, where he waited calmly, uncovered, for the passing of
+the King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On came the train, bishops and abbots, priests and nobles, the pages,
+the knights, the bearers of the royal emblems; but all eyes were
+turned to one person, as--with a step, not haughty, but calm and firm,
+such as might well accord with a heart fixed and confident to keep the
+solemn vows so lately made, in scrupulous fidelity; with a brow
+elevated by high and noble purposes, more than by the splendour of the
+crown it bore; and with an eye lightening with genius and soul--Henry
+of Monmouth returned towards his palace, amidst the gratulating
+acclamations of his people.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville saw Hal of Hadnock in the whole bearing of the
+monarch, as he had seen the Prince in the bearing of Hal of Hadnock,
+and he murmured to himself, &quot;He is the same. 'Tis but the dress is
+altered, either in mind or body. Excluded from the tasks of royalty,
+he assumed a less noble guise; but still the man was the same.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he thus thought, the King passed before him, looking to right and
+left upon the long lines of people that bordered his way, though,
+marching in his state, he distinguished no one by word or gesture. His
+eyes, indeed, fixed firmly for an instant upon Richard of Woodville,
+and a slight smile passed over his lip; but he went on without farther
+notice; and the young gentleman turned, as soon as he had gone by,
+thinking, &quot;I will seek some inn, and come to the palace tomorrow.
+To-day, it is in vain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The pressure of the multitude, however, prevented him from moving for
+some time, and he was forced to remain till the whole of the
+procession had gone by. He then made his way out of the crowd, which
+gradually became less compact, though few retired altogether, the
+greater number waiting either to discuss the events of the day, or to
+see if any other amusements would be afforded to the people; but it
+was some time before the young gentleman could find his horses, for
+the movements of the people had forced them from the place where they
+had been left. Just as he was, at length, putting his foot in the
+stirrup, Ned Dyram pulled his sleeve, saying, &quot;There is a King's page,
+my master, looking for some one in the crowd. Always give yourself a
+chance. It may be you he seeks.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I think not,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but you can join him,
+and inquire, if you will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man instantly ran off at full speed; and, though soon forced to
+slacken his pace amongst the people, he in the end reached the page,
+and asked for whom he was looking.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A gentleman in black,&quot; replied the boy, &quot;named Richard of Woodville.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then there he is,&quot; answered Ned, pointing with his hand to where his
+master stood; and, followed by the page, he walked quickly to the
+spot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If your name be Richard of Woodville, sir,&quot; said the boy, &quot;the King
+will see you now, while he is putting off his heavy robes and taking
+some repose.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I follow, young sir,&quot; replied Woodville; and, accompanying the page,
+he turned towards the palace, while Ned Dyram, after a moment's
+hesitation, pursued the same course as his master, &quot;in order,&quot; as he
+said mentally, &quot;always to give himself a chance.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">THE DAY OF FESTIVAL.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Crossing through the great Hall of the palace of Westminster, where so
+many a varied scene has been enacted in the course of English history,
+where joy and sorrow, mirth, merriment, pageantry, fear, despair, and
+the words of death, have passed for well nigh a thousand years, and do
+pass still, Richard of Woodville followed the page amidst tables and
+benches, serving-men, servers, guards, and ushers, till they reached a
+small door at the left angle, which, when opened, displayed the first
+steps of a small stone staircase. Up these they took their way, and
+then, through a corridor thronged with attendants, past the open door
+of a large room on the right, in which mitres and robes, crosses and
+swords of state, met the young gentleman's eye, to a door at the end,
+which the page opened. Within was a small antechamber containing
+several squires and pages in their tabards, waiting either in silence,
+or at most talking to each other in whispers. They made way for their
+comrade, and the gentleman he brought with him, to pass, and,
+approaching an opposite door, the boy knocked. No one answered; but
+the door was immediately opened; and Richard of Woodville was ushered
+into a bedchamber, where, seated in a large chair, he found the King,
+attended by two men dressed in their habits of state. One of these had
+just given the visitor admission; but the other was engaged in pulling
+off the boots in which the monarch had walked to and from the Abbey,
+and in placing a pair of embroidered shoes upon his feet instead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Welcome, Richard of Woodville,&quot; said Henry, as soon as he beheld him;
+&quot;so you have come to see Hal of Hadnock before you depart?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have come to see my gracious Sovereign, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville,
+advancing, and bending the knee to kiss his hand, &quot;and to wish him
+health and long life to wear his crown, for his own honour and the
+happiness of his people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, rise, Richard, rise,&quot; said Henry, smiling kindly; &quot;no court
+ceremonies here. And I will tell you, my good friend, that I do really
+believe, there is not one of all those who have shouted on my path
+to-day, or sworn to support my throne, who more sincerely wishes my
+prosperity than yourself. But say, did you guess, that Hal of Hadnock
+was the Prince of Wales?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I knew it, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville, &quot;from the first moment you
+entered my uncle's hall. I had served under your Grace's command in
+Wales.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I suspected as much,&quot; replied the monarch, &quot;from some words you let
+fall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do beseech you, Sire, to pardon me,&quot; continued Richard, &quot;if I
+judged my duty wrongly; but I thought that so long as it was not your
+pleasure to give yourself your own state, it was my part, to know you
+only as you seemed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And you did right, my friend,&quot; replied the King; &quot;but were you not
+tempted to breathe the secret to any one--not even to Mary Markham?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To no one, Sire,&quot; answered Woodville, boldly; &quot;not for my right hand,
+would I have said one word to the best friend I had.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are wise and faithful, Richard of Woodville,&quot; said Henry,
+gravely; &quot;God send me many such.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here is the other mantle, Sire,&quot; said the attendant who was dressing
+him, &quot;will you permit me to unclasp that?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry rose, and the man disengaged the royal mantle from his
+shoulders, replacing it with one less heavy, while the King continued
+his conversation with Woodville, after a momentary interruption,
+repeating, &quot;God send me many such; for if I judge rightly, I shall
+have need of strong arms, and wise heads, and noble hearts about me.
+Nor shall I fail to call for yours when I have need, my friend.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, Sire,&quot; answered Woodville, with a smile, &quot;as far as a true heart
+and a strong arm may go, I can, perhaps, serve you; but for wise
+heads, I fear you must look elsewhere. I am but a singer of songs, you
+know, and a lover of old ballads.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Like myself, Richard,&quot; replied Henry; &quot;but none the worse for that. I
+know not why, but I always doubt the man that is not fond of music
+'Tis, perhaps, that I love it so well myself, that I cannot but think
+he who does not has some discordant principle in his heart that jars
+with sweet sounds. 'Tis to me a great refreshment also; and when I
+have been sad or tired with all this world's business, when my
+thoughts have grown misty, or my brain turned giddy, I have sat me
+down to the organ and played for a few moments till all has become
+clear again; and I have risen as a man does from a calm sleep. As for
+poesy, indeed, I love it well enough, but I am no poet:--and yet I
+think that a truly great poet is more powerful, and has a wider
+empire, than a king. We monarchs rule men's bodies while we live; but
+their minds are beyond that sceptre, and death ends all our power. The
+poet rules their hearts, moulds their minds to his will, and stretches
+his arm over the wide future. He arrays the thoughts of countless
+multitudes for battle on the grand field of the world, and extends his
+empire to the end of time. Look at Homer,--has not the song of the
+blind Greek its influence yet? and so shall the verse of Chaucer be
+heard in years to come, long after the brow they have this day crowned
+shall have mouldered in the grave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The thoughts which he had himself called up, seemed to take entire
+possession of the King, and he remained gazing in deep meditation for
+a few minutes upon the glittering emblems of royalty which lay upon
+the table before him, while Richard of Woodville stood silent by his
+side, not venturing to interrupt his reverie.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, Richard,&quot; continued the King, at length rousing himself, &quot;so
+you go to Burgundy? but hold yourself ready to join me when I have
+need.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am always ready, now or henceforward, Sire,&quot; answered the young
+gentleman, &quot;to serve you with the best of my poor ability; and the day
+will be a happy one that calls me to you. I only go to seek honour in
+another land, because I had so resolved before I met your Highness,
+and because you yourself pronounced it best for me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And so I think it still,&quot; replied Henry. &quot;I would myself advance you,
+Woodville, but for two reasons; first, I find every office near my
+person filled with old and faithful servants of the crown; and, as
+they fall vacant, I would place in them men who have themselves won
+renown. Next, I think it better that your own arm and your own
+judgment should be your prop, rather than a King's favour; and, as
+yet, there is here no opportunity. Besides, there are many other
+reasons why you will do well to go, in which I have not forgotten your
+own best interests. But keep yourself clear of long engagement to a
+foreign Prince, lest your own should need you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That I most assuredly w ill, Sire,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville. &quot;I
+go but to take service as a volunteer, holding myself free to quit it
+when I see meet. I ask no pay from any one; and if I gain honour or
+reward, it shall be for what I have done, not for what I am to do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are right, you are right,&quot; said Henry; &quot;but have you anything to
+ask of me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nothing, Sire,&quot; replied the young gentleman. &quot;I did but wish to pay
+reverence to your state, and thank you for the gracious letters you
+have given me, before I went;&quot; and he took a step back as if to
+retire. But Henry made a sign, saying--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stop! yet a moment; I have something to ask you.--Lay the gloves down
+there, Surtis. Tighten this point a little, and then retire with
+Baynard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The attendants did as they were bid; and Henry then inquired, &quot;What of
+Sir Henry Dacre, and of that dark evening's work at which we were
+present?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Dacre goes with me, Sire,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha!&quot; exclaimed the King; &quot;then were we wrong in thinking he loved the
+other?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not so,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;'tis a sad tale, Sire. He does love
+Isabel, I am sure--has long loved her, though struggling hard against
+such thoughts. But, as if to mar his whole happiness, that scoundrel,
+Roydon, whom you saw, when informed of poor Kate's death, wrote,
+though he did not come, raising doubts as to whether her fate had been
+accidental.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Doubts!&quot; cried the King. &quot;Do you entertain no doubts, Richard?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Many, Sire,&quot; answered the young gentleman; &quot;but I never mention
+doubts that I cannot justify by proof, and will not support with my
+arm. But he did more; he pointed suspicion at one he knew too well to
+be innocent. He called up some accidental circumstances affecting
+Dacre--not as charges, indeed, but as matters of inquiry; made the
+wound and left the venom, but shrunk from the result.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what did Dacre?&quot; asked the King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Gave him the lie, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;called upon him to come
+boldly forward, make his accusation, and support it in the lists.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He avoided that, I'll warrant,&quot; replied Henry; &quot;I know him, Richard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He did so, Sire,&quot; answered the young gentleman; &quot;he declared he had
+no accusation to bring--held Dacre to be good knight and true; but
+still kept his vague insinuations forward in view, as things that he
+mentions solely because it would be satisfactory to the knight himself
+to clear up whatever is obscure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And does the Lady Isabel give any credence, then, to these cowardly
+charges?&quot; inquired the King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! no, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville, warmly. &quot;She has known Harry Dacre
+from her infancy; and those who have, are well aware that, though
+quick in temper, he is as kind as the May wind--as true and pure as
+light. But Dacre is miserable. He thinks, that, henceforth, the finger
+of suspicion will be pointed at him for ever; he sees imaginary doubts
+and dreads in every one's heart towards him; he feels the mere
+insinuation, as the first stain upon a high and noble name. It weighs
+upon him like a captive's chain; he cannot break it or get free--it
+binds his very heart and soul; and, casting all hope and happiness
+behind him, he is resolved to go and peril life itself in any rash
+enterprise that fortune may present.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Poor man!&quot; exclaimed Henry, &quot;I can well understand his feelings:
+but God will bring all things to light. Yet, tell me, Richard
+of Woodville, do your own suspicions point in no particular
+direction?--have you no doubts of any one?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps I have, Sire,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;but I will beseech your
+Highness to grant me one of two things--either, to appoint a day and
+hour where, in fit lists and with arms at outrance, I may sustain my
+words to the death; or do not ask me to make a charge which I can
+support with no other proof than my right hand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I understand you, Richard,&quot; said the King, &quot;and I will ask no
+farther. Your course is a just one; but I trust, and am sure, that
+heaven will not witness such deeds as have been done, without sending
+punishment. We both think of the same person, I know; and my eye is
+upon him. Tell me, however, one thing,--does not Sir Simeon of Roydon
+inherit the estates of this poor Lady Catherine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He does, Sire, and is already in possession,&quot; replied Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is here at the court,&quot; rejoined the King, &quot;and I shall show him
+favour for her sake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville gazed at the monarch in surprise, but a slight
+smile curled Henry's lip; and, although he gave no explanation of the
+words which he had spoken in a grave tone, his young companion was
+satisfied.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I always love to get at the heart of a mystery,&quot; continued the King,
+seeing that Richard remained silent; &quot;and I should much like to know,
+if you can tell me, what was the cause of that furious quarrel which
+took place between Sir Henry Dacre and this unhappy lady, just before
+he went? I fear I had some share in it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You were but the drop, Sire, that overflowed the cup,&quot; replied
+Woodville; &quot;it had been near the brim for several days before; but
+what was said I know not. Remonstrance upon his part, and cutting
+sneers on hers, as usual, I suppose; but he has never told me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry mused for a moment at this reply; and then, changing the
+subject, he inquired, &quot;Is good Ned Dyram with you here in
+Westminster?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is in the Hall below, Sire,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;and a most
+useful gift has he been to me already.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A loan, Richard, a loan!&quot; cried the King; &quot;I shall claim him back one
+of these days, after he has served you in Burgundy. You will find he
+has faults as well as virtues; so have an eye to correct them. But
+even now, as the country folk say, I have a mind to borrow my own
+horse. I want his services for three days, if you will lend him to
+me--You are not yet ready to set out?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not yet, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;but, in one week more, I hope to
+be on the sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, send the man up to me, and he shall rejoin you in four
+days,&quot; answered Henry; &quot;but let me see you tomorrow, my good friend,
+before you go home, for I would fain talk farther with you. It is
+seldom that a King can meet one with whom he can speak his thoughts
+plainly; and I find already a difference that makes me sad. Command
+and obedience, arguments of state and policy, flattering acquiescence
+in my opinion, whether right or wrong, praise, broad and coarse, or
+neat and half concealed,--of these I can have plenty, and to surfeit;
+but a friend, into whose bosom one can pour forth one's ideas without
+restraint, whether they be sad or gay, is a rare thing in a court. So,
+for the present, fare-you-well, Richard. You will stay here for the
+banquet in the Hall, of course; and let me see you to-morrow morning,
+towards the hour of eight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville, as he well might, felt deeply gratified at the
+confidence which the King's words implied, and he answered, &quot;I will
+not fail, Sire, to attend you at that hour, with more gratitude for
+your good opinion than any other favour. At the banquet, I will try to
+find a place, and will send Ned Dyram to you. Will you receive him
+now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, at once,&quot; replied the King; &quot;for, good faith! these lords and
+bishops who are waiting for me, will think me long. I will order you a
+place below; but, mark me, Richard--if you meet Simeon of Roydon, seek
+no quarrel with him; and lay my commands upon Sir Henry Dacre, that he
+do not, on any pretence, again call him to the lists, without my
+knowledge and consent. As to Ned Dyram, he shall rejoin you soon.
+There is no way in which he may not be useful to you; for there is
+scarce an earthly chance for which his ready wit is not prepared. I
+met him first, studying alchemy with a poor wretch who, in pursuit of
+science, had blown all his wealth up the chimney of his furnace, and
+could no longer keep this boy. I found him next in an armourer's shop,
+hammering at hard iron, and thence I took him. He has a thousand
+qualities, some bad, some good. I think him honest; but his tongue is
+somewhat too free; and that which the wild Prince might laugh at,
+might not chime with the dignity of the crown. He will learn better in
+your train; but at the present I have an errand for him--so send him
+to me quickly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville bowed and withdrew; and, finding his way down to
+the Hall, he called Ned Dyram,--who was in full activity, aiding the
+royal officers to set out the tables,--and told him to go directly to
+the King. The man laughed, and ran off to fulfil the command: and
+about three quarters of an hour elapsed before the monarch appeared in
+the hall, which by that time was nearly filled with guests, invited to
+the banquet. He was followed by the train of high nobles and
+churchmen, whom Woodville had seen waiting in a chamber above; and the
+numerous tables, which were as many as that vast building could
+contain, were soon crowded.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It would be dull to the reader, were I to give any account of a mere
+ordinary event, such as a royal feast of those days--were I to tell
+the number of oxen and sheep that were consumed--the capons, ducks,
+geese, swans, and peacocks, that appeared upon the board. Suffice it,
+that one of the royal servants placed Richard of Woodville according
+to his rank; that the banquet, with all its ceremonies, was somewhat
+long in passing, but that the young gentleman's comfort was not
+disturbed by the sight of Simeon of Roydon, who, if he were in the
+Hall, kept himself from Richard's eyes. The lower part of the chamber
+was filled with minstrels, musicians, and attendants; and music, as
+usual, accompanied the feast; but ever and anon, from the court before
+the palace and the neighbouring streets, were heard loud shouts, and
+laughter, and bursts of song, showing that the merriment and revelry
+of the multitude were still kept up, while the King and his nobles
+were feasting within.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus, when the banquet was over, the monarch gone from the Hall, and
+Richard of Woodville, with the rest of the guests, issued forth into
+the court, he was not surprised to find a gay and joyous scene
+without, the whole streets and roads filled with people, and every one
+giving himself up to joy and diversion. The gates of the court were
+thrown open, the populace admitted to the very doors of the palace,
+and a crowd of several hundred persons assembled round a spot in the
+centre, where a huge pile of dry wood had been lighted for the august
+ceremony of roasting an ox whole, which was duly superintended by half
+a dozen white-capped cooks, with a whole army of scullions and
+turnspits. Butts of strong beer stood in various corners; and a
+fountain, of four streams, flowed with wine at the side next to the
+Abbey. In one spot, people were jostling and pushing each other to get
+at the ale or wine; in another, they were dancing gaily to the sound
+of a viol; and further on was a tumbler, twisting himself into every
+sort of strange attitude for the amusement of the spectators. Loud
+shouts and exclamations, peals of laughter, the sounds of a thousand
+different musical instruments playing as many different tunes, with
+voices singing, and others crying wares of several sorts, prepared for
+the celebration of the day, made a strange and not very melodious din;
+but there was an air of festivity and rejoicing, of fun and good
+humour, in the whole, that compensated for the noise and the crowd.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville had given orders for his horses to be taken to an
+inn at Charing, while waiting in the Hall before the banquet; and he
+now proceeded on foot, through the crowd in the palace courts, towards
+the gates. It was a matter of some difficulty to obtain egress; for
+twilight was now coming on, and the multitude were flocking from the
+sights which had been displayed in the more open road to Charing
+during the last two or three hours, to witness the roasting of the ox,
+and to obtain some of the slices which were to be distributed about
+the hour of nine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At length, however, he found himself in freer air; but still, every
+four or five yards, he came upon a gay group, either standing and
+talking to each other, or gathered round a show, or some singer or
+musician. It was one constant succession of faces; some young, some
+old, some pretty, some ugly, but all of them strange to Richard of
+Woodville. Nevertheless, more than once he met the same merry
+salutations which he had been treated to when on horseback; and, as he
+paused here and there, gazing at this or that gay party, he was twice
+asked to join in the dance, and still more frequently required to
+contribute to the payment of a poor minstrel with his pipe or cithern.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The minstrels were not, indeed, in those days at least, a very
+elevated race of beings; their poetical powers, if they ever in this
+country possessed any, had entirely merged in the musical; and, though
+they occasionally did sing to their own instruments, or to those of
+others, the verses were generally either old ballads, or pieces of
+poetry composed by persons of a higher education than themselves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nearly opposite the old dwelling of the kings of Scotland, Woodville's
+ear caught the tones of a very sweet voice singing; and, approaching
+the group of people that had gathered round, he saw an old man
+playing on an instrument somewhat like, but greatly inferior to a
+modern guitar, while a girl by his side, with fine features, and
+apparently--for the light was faint--a beautiful complexion, dressed
+in somewhat strange costume, was pouring forth her lay to the
+delighted ears of youths and maidens. She had nearly finished the
+song, when the young gentleman approached; and, in a moment or two
+after, she went round with a cap in her hand, asking the donations of
+the listeners.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville had been pleased, and he threw in some small silver coin,
+more than equal to all that the rest had given; and, resuming her
+place by the old man's side, she whispered a word in his ear, upon
+which he immediately struck his instrument again, and she began
+another ditty in honour, it would appear, of her generous auditor:--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+
+
+
+<p class="t8"><b>SONG.</b></p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">The bark is at the shore,</p>
+<p class="t1">The wind is in the sail,</p>
+<p class="t0">Fear not the tempest's roar,</p>
+<p class="t1">There's fortune in the gale;</p>
+<p class="t0">For the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find,</p>
+<p class="t3">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">Oh, go'st thou far or nigh,</p>
+<p class="t1">To Palestine or France,</p>
+<p class="t0">For thee soft hearts shall sigh,</p>
+<p class="t1">And glory wreath thy lance;</p>
+<p class="t0">For the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find,</p>
+<p class="t3">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And five in many a tale.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">The courtly hall or field,</p>
+<p class="t1">Still luck shall thee afford;</p>
+<p class="t0">Thy heart shall be thy shield,</p>
+<p class="t1">And love shall edge thy sword;</p>
+<p class="t0">For the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find</p>
+<p class="t3">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">The lark shall sing on high.</p>
+<p class="t1">Whatever shores thou rov'st;</p>
+<p class="t0">The nightingale shall try,</p>
+<p class="t1">To call up her thou lov'st;</p>
+<p class="t0">For the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find,</p>
+<p class="t3">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">In hours of pain and grief,</p>
+<p class="t1">If such thou must endure.</p>
+<p class="t0">Thy breast shall know relief,</p>
+<p class="t1">In honour tried and pure;</p>
+<p class="t0">For the true heart and Kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find,</p>
+<p class="t3">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">And Fortune soon or late,</p>
+<p class="t1">Shall give the jewell'd prize;</p>
+<p class="t0">For deeds, in spite of fate,</p>
+<p class="t1">Gain smiles from ladies' eyes;</p>
+<p class="t0">And the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompense shall find,</p>
+<p class="t3">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">The song was full of hope and cheerfulness; and though the melody was
+simple, as all music was in those days, it went happily with the
+words. Richard of Woodville well understood, that though certainly not
+an improvisation, the verse was intended for him; and feeling grateful
+to the girl for her promises of success, he drew forth his purse, and
+held out to her another piece of money. She stepped gracefully forward
+to receive it, and this time extended a fair, small hand, instead of
+the cap which she had before borne round the crowd; but just at that
+moment, a party of horsemen came up at full gallop, and, as if for
+sport--probably under the influence of wine--rode fiercely through the
+little circle assembled to hear the song.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The listeners, young and active, easily got out of the way; but not so
+the old minstrel, who stood still, as if bewildered, and was knocked
+down and trampled by one of the horsemen. The girl, his companion,
+with a shriek, and Richard of Woodville, with a cry of indignation,
+started forward together; and the latter, catching the horse which had
+done file mischief by the bridle, with his powerful arm forced it back
+upon its haunches, throwing the rider to the ground with a heavy fall.
+As the man went down, his hood was cast back, and Woodville beheld the
+face of Simeon of Roydon. But he paused not to notice him farther,
+instantly turning to raise the old man, and endeavouring to support
+him. The poor minstrel's limbs had no strength, however, and fearing
+that he was much hurt, the young gentleman exclaimed, &quot;Good heaven!
+why did you not get out of their way?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old man made no answer; but the girl replied, wringing her
+hands--&quot;Alas! he is blind!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let us bear him quick to some hospital!&quot; said Richard; &quot;he is
+stunned. Who will aid to carry him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will, sir!--I will!&quot; answered half-a-dozen voices from the crowd;
+and the old minstrel was immediately raised in the arms of three or
+four stout young men, and carried towards the neighbouring nunnery and
+hospital of St. James's, accompanied by his fair companion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville was about to follow, but Sir Simeon of Roydon, who had by
+this time regained his saddle, thrust himself in the way, saying, in a
+fierce and bitter tone--&quot;Richard of Woodville, I shall remember this!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And I shall not forget it, Simeon of Roydon,&quot; replied the other,
+hardly able to refrain from punishing him on the spot. &quot;Get thee
+hence! Thou hast done mischief enough!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight was about to reply; but a shout of execration burst from
+the people, and, at the same moment, a stone, flung from an unseen
+hand, struck him on the face, cutting his cheek severely, and shaking
+him in the saddle. His companions, alarmed at what they had done, had
+already ridden on; and, seeing that he was likely to fare ill in the
+hands of the crowd, Roydon put spurs to his horse, and galloped after
+them, muttering curses as he went.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville soon overtook the little party which was hurrying
+on with the injured man to the lodge of the monastery, and found the
+poor girl weeping bitterly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Alas! noble sir!&quot; she said, as soon as she saw him, &quot;he is dead! He
+does not speak!--his head falls back!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I trust not--I trust not!&quot; answered Woodville. &quot;He is but stunned,
+probably, by the blow, and will soon recover.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She shook her head mournfully; and the next moment, one of the young
+men, who had taken up the old man's cithern, stepped forward before
+the rest, and rang the bell at the gate of the nunnery. It was opened
+instantly, and Woodville briefly explained to the porter what was the
+matter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Bring him in here,&quot; said the old man; &quot;we will get help. The good
+prioress is skilful at such things, and brother Martin still more so;
+and he is nearest, for the monk's lodging is only just below there.
+Let one of the men run down and ask for brother Martin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the meantime, the old minstrel was brought in, and laid upon the
+pallet in the porter's room; and the news of the accident having
+spread, the lodge was speedily filled with nuns, having their veils
+down, all eagerly inquiring what had happened.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The prioress and brother Martin appeared at the same moment; and, in
+answer to their questions, Woodville explained the facts of the case;
+for the poor girl, overwhelmed with grief, was kneeling by her old
+companion's side, and holding a small ebony cross which she wore round
+her neck to his motionless lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Give us room, my child--give us room!&quot; said brother Martin, putting
+his hand kindly on her shoulder; and, having obtained access to the
+pallet, he and the prioress proceeded to examine what injuries the
+poor old man had received. Their search was short, however; for, after
+feeling the back of the head with his hand, and then putting his
+fingers on the pulse, the good monk turned round, with a grave
+countenance, saying, &quot;God have mercy on his soul; for to Him has it
+gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The poor singer covered her eyes with her hands, and sobbed bitterly.
+All the rest were silent for a moment; and then Richard of Woodville,
+turning to the prioress, said, in a low voice, &quot;I will beseech you,
+lady, to see, in all charity, to this poor man's interment; and that
+masses be said in your chapel for his soul. Also, if you would, like a
+good Christian, take some heed of this poor girl, who is his daughter,
+I suppose, I should be glad, for it may better become you than me; but
+whatever expense the convent may be at, I will repay, though, Heaven
+knows, I am not over rich. My name is Richard of Woodville; and
+to-morrow, if you will send a messenger to me, I shall be found at the
+Acorn, just beyond the Bishop of Durham's lodging. You must send
+before eight, however, or after ten; for at eight I am to be with the
+King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The prioress bowed her head, saying simply, &quot;I will,&quot; and Woodville
+turned to depart; but the poor girl, who had heard his words, started
+up, and catching his hand, pressed her lips upon it, then knelt by the
+pallet again, and seemed to pray.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Without farther words, Woodville quitted the lodge; the porter hurried
+on to open the gates, and the young gentleman went out with the people
+who had borne or accompanied the poor old minstrel thither. Just as he
+had reached the road, however, he heard a voice say, &quot;Richard of
+Woodville, farewell; and remember!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He started and turned round; but though it was a female voice that
+spoke, there were none but men around him; and at the same moment the
+gate rolled heavily to.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">THE SICK MIND.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">We must return, dear reader, for a short time, to the scenes in which
+our tale first began, and to the old hall of the good knight of
+Dunbury. Richard of Woodville and Sir Henry Dacre had been absent for
+two days upon their journey to another part of Hampshire, where we
+have shown somewhat of their course; and Sir Philip Beauchamp sat by
+the fire meditating, while his daughter Isabel, and fair Mary Markham,
+were seated near, plying busily the needle through the embroidery
+frame, and not venturing to disturb his reverie even by whispered
+conversation. From time to time, the old man muttered a few sentences
+to himself, of which the two ladies could only catch detached
+fragments, such as, &quot;They must know by this time,--Dacre could not but
+do so,--I am sure 'tis for that--,&quot; and several similar expressions,
+showing that his mind was running upon the expedition of his nephew
+and his friend, in regard to the object of which, neither Isabel nor
+Mary had received any information.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It must not be said, however, that they did not suspect anything; for
+the insinuations of Sir Simeon of Roydon had been told them; and,
+though neither weak nor given to fear--a knight's daughter, in a
+chivalrous age--Isabel could not help looking forward with feelings of
+awe, and an undefinable sinking of the heart, to the events which were
+likely to follow. She fully believed that she experienced, and had
+ever experienced, towards Sir Henry Dacre, but one class of
+sensations--regard for his high character and noble heart, and pity
+for the incessant grief and anxiety which her cousin's conduct had
+brought upon him from his early youth. But such feelings are very
+treacherous guides, and lead us far beyond the point at which they
+tell us they will stop. With her, too, they had had every opportunity
+of so doing, for she trusted to them in full confidence. Hers had been
+the task, also, of soothing and consoling him under all he had
+suffered--a dangerous task, indeed, for one young, kind, gentle, and
+enthusiastic, to undertake towards a man whom she admired and
+respected. But then, they had known each other from infancy, she
+thought; they had grown up together like brother and sister, and the
+tie between them had only been brought nearer by the betrothing of
+Dacre to her cousin.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Had a doubt ever entered into Isabel's mind, since Catherine's death,
+it may be asked, in regard to her own feelings towards Dacre? Perhaps
+it might; but, if so, it had been banished instantly; and she looked
+upon the very thought as a wrong to her own motives. She would never
+suffer such a thing, she fancied, to trouble her again. &quot;Dacre had
+loved Catherine--surely he had loved her; and yet--&quot; but fresh doubts
+arose; and Isabel, willing to be blind, still turned to other
+meditations.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary Markham, on the other hand, with less cause for anxiety, and no
+motive for shutting her eyes, saw more clearly, and judged more
+accurately. She knew that Isabel Beauchamp loved Harry Dacre, and
+believed she had loved him long; though she did her full justice, and
+was confident that her fair companion was as ignorant of what was in
+her own bosom, as of the treasures beneath the waves. But Mary felt
+certain that such was not the case with Dacre in regard to his own
+sensations. She had marked his eye when it turned upon Isabel, had
+seen the faint smile that came upon his lip when he spoke to her, and
+had observed the struggle which often took place, when inclination led
+him to seek her society, and the thought of danger and of wrong held
+him back--a struggle in which love had been too often victorious. She
+doubted not, that he was gone to call upon Simeon of Roydon to come
+forward with proof of his charges, or to sustain them with the lance;
+and, though she entertained little doubt of the issue of such a
+combat, if it took place, she felt grieved and anxious both for Isabel
+and Dacre.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There are some men whose native character, notwithstanding every
+artifice to conceal it, will penetrate through all disguises, and
+produce sensations which seem unreasonable, even to those who feel
+them without being able to trace them to their source. Such a one was
+Sir Simeon of Roydon. He had never been seen by any of Sir Philip
+Beauchamp's family to commit any base or dishonest act; and yet
+there was not one in all that household, from the old knight to the
+horse-boy, who did not internally believe him to be capable of every
+crafty knavery. His insinuations, therefore, in regard to Sir Henry
+Dacre, passed by as empty air, at least for the time; but all had,
+nevertheless, a strong conviction on their minds, that the doubts he
+had attempted to raise would rankle deep in the heart of their unhappy
+object, and poison the whole course of his existence, unless some
+fortunate event were to bring to light the real circumstances of poor
+Catherine Beauchamp's death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The whole party, then, were in a sad and gloomy mood; and even the
+gay, young spirit of Mary Markham was clouded, as they sat round the
+fire in the great hall, on one of those April evenings when, after a
+day of summer sunshine, chilly winter returns with his fit companion,
+night.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As they were thus seated, however, each busy with his own thoughts,
+the sound of horses' feet in the court was heard, and, in a minute
+after, Dacre himself entered. He mounted the steps at the end of the
+pavement with a slow pace, and every eye was turned to his countenance
+to gather some indication from his look of the state of mind in which
+he returned. The old knight rose and grasped his hand, asking, in a
+low voice, &quot;What news, Harry? Nay, boy, you need not strive to conceal
+it from me--I know what you went for. Will the slanderer do battle?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, my noble friend,&quot; replied Dacre; &quot;he is coward, too, as well as
+scoundrel. There is his craven answer; you may read it aloud. The
+matter is now over, and that hope is gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You should not have done this, Harry, without consulting me,&quot; said
+Sir Philip; &quot;I have some experience in such things. At the very last
+that was fought between any two gentlemen of rank and station, I was
+judge of the field, and know right well what appertains to knightly
+combat.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Of that I was full sure,&quot; answered Dacre, pressing his hand; &quot;and to
+you I should have applied for counsel and aid, as soon as I had
+brought him to the point; but I thought it best to be silent till that
+was done. I was vain, perhaps, Sir Philip, to think that these dear
+ladies might take some interest in such a matter--might feel anxious
+even for me; and though I knew that they would have seen me go forth,
+with satisfaction, in defence of my honour, and would have bade God
+speed me on my course, yet it was needless to speak of what was to
+come, till it did come--and you will see, that it is to be never.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Read it, Hal--read it,&quot; said the knight; &quot;my eyes are old.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Henry Dacre read the letter, the contents of which we have already
+seen, and Sir Philip Beauchamp and Mary Markham commented freely
+thereon, marking well its baseness and its craft; but Isabel remained
+silent; and, looking down at her embroidery, her bright eyes let fall
+a tear. Many emotions mingled to produce that drop; she felt to her
+heart's core how bitter it must be to live with such a doubt hanging
+over us for ever, like a dark cloud; and the repeated mention of
+Catherine's name called back to her mind, in all its freshness, the
+memory of her cousin's sad fate; and she was led on to think, too, how
+happy the wayward girl might have been, if she had but known the
+advantages which Heaven had granted her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dacre saw the tear, and marked the silence, and read neither quite
+aright; for, with a wounded spot in the heart, the lightest touch will
+give torture. He sat down with the rest, however; he strove to cast
+off some of his gloom; he told of his journey with Richard of
+Woodville; and informed the old knight that his late guest, Hal of
+Hadnock, was now King of England; but, while Sir Philip laughed
+heartily, and called his sovereign &quot;a mad-headed boy,&quot; his young
+friend relapsed into deep meditation, and the black thought, that he
+must be for ever a doubted and suspected man, again took possession of
+his mind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The next morning, when he rose, he was more cheerful. Sleep, which had
+visited his eyelids only by short glimpses for the last week, had,
+this night, stayed with him undisturbed; and, what seemed to him more
+extraordinary still, sweet dreams had come with slumber, giving him
+back the happiness of former days. He had seemed a boy again, and had
+wandered with Isabel Beauchamp through the woods and fields around;
+had heard the birds sing on the spray, and watched the fish darting
+through the stream. Summer and sunshine had been round their path, and
+that misty splendour, which only is seen in the visions of the night,
+as if poured forth from some secret source in the heart of man when
+the pressure of all external things is taken away--a slight
+indication, perhaps, of the adaptation of his spirit to the enjoyments
+of a brighter world than this. He slept longer than usual; and, when
+he rose, he found the old knight and his daughter in the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am going down, Harry,&quot; said Sir Philip, &quot;to settle a difference
+between some of the monks and Roger Dayley, of Little Ann, about his
+field. I shall find you when I come back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I will go with you, noble friend,&quot; answered Dacre; &quot;I wish to
+see my good Lord Abbot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That you cannot do, unless you ride to London,&quot; replied the old
+knight; &quot;he went yesterday morning early to attend the King's
+coronation. Stay with Isabel and Mary. I will be back soon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was too tempting a proposal to be refused; and while Sir Philip,
+with a page carrying his heavy sword, walked down to the Abbey, Dacre
+remained with Isabel alone in the hall. They watched her father from
+the door till he entered the wood, and then turning, walked up and
+down the rush-covered pavement for several minutes without speaking.
+Dacre's heart was full of anxious thoughts; and though he much wished
+to fathom the feelings of Isabel's heart, and discover some ground for
+future hope, yet he dreaded to find all his fears verified; and the
+words trembled at the gate of speech without obtaining utterance.
+Isabel, however, was more confident in herself, and less conscious of
+her own sensations; she saw and grieved at the state of Dacre's mind,
+and longed to give him comfort and consolation as in days of yore.
+Finding, then, that he did not begin upon the subject of his cares and
+sorrows, she resolved to do so herself; and after a pause, during
+which she felt agitated, and hesitated she knew not why, she said, &quot;I
+am glad to speak with you alone, Harry; for I see you are very, very
+sad, and I would fain persuade you to take comfort.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, many things make me thus sad, dear Isabel,&quot; replied the knight,
+with a faint smile; &quot;but I will try to do better with time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, Harry,&quot; she answered; &quot;you cannot conceal the cause of your
+sadness from me. I have known you from my childhood, too well not to
+understand it all. You were ever jealous too much of your fame; and
+now I know, because this false, bad man has insinuated things that
+never entered your thoughts, you fancy people will suspect you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And will they not, Isabel?&quot; asked Dacre. &quot;I should not say, perhaps,
+<i>suspect</i> me; for suspicion is a more fixed and tangible thing than
+that which I fear; but will there not be doubts, coming in men's mind
+against their will, and against their reason? Will they not, from time
+to time, when they think of Henry Dacre, and this sad history, and
+these dark scandals--will they not ask themselves, What, if it were
+really so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! no, no! Harry,&quot; replied his fair companion, warmly; &quot;none will
+think so who know you--none will think so at all, but the base and
+bad, who are capable of such acts themselves.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed, Isabel!&quot; said Dacre. &quot;And is such really your belief? You
+know not how suspicion clings, dear lady. If you stain a silken
+garment, can you ever make it clear and glossy, as once it was? and
+the fame of man or woman is of a still finer and frailer texture.
+There, one spot, one touch, lasts for ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With kind and tender words, and every argument that her own small
+experience could afford, Isabel Beauchamp tried to reassure him; and
+she succeeded at least in one thing--in convincing him so far of her
+full confidence in his honour, that he was on the eve of putting it to
+the strongest test. The acknowledgment of his love hung upon his lips,
+and, if then spoken, might perchance, in her eagerness to prove her
+conviction of his innocence, have been met with that warm return,
+which would have brought the best balm to his heart, although the
+first effect upon her might have been agitation and alarm. But ere he
+could utter the words on which his fate depended, Mary Markham joined
+them, and he waited for another opportunity. Dacre returned to his own
+house at night; but every day he went over to the hall, his mood
+varying like a changeful morning, sometimes sunny with hope and
+temporary forgetfulness, sometimes all cloud and gloom, when memory
+recalled the suspicions that had been pointed at him. Those
+suspicions, too, were frequently recalled to his mind even by his own
+acts, for he eagerly strove to discover by whose instrumentality his
+whole course, on the unfortunate night of poor Catherine Beauchamp's
+death, had been conveyed to Sir Simeon of Roydon. But by so doing, he
+only fretted his own spirit, and gained no information; whoever was
+the spy, he remained concealed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Three or four days were thus passed before he obtained any second
+opportunity of speaking with Isabel alone; but, on his arrival at the
+dwelling of Sir Philip Beauchamp, on the morning of the 9th of April,
+he was told by a servant whom he found in the hall, that the family
+had gone forth into the park; and, following immediately, he found
+Isabel sitting under the trees, without companions. She seemed to have
+been weeping, and it was a pleasant task for Dacre to strive to
+console her who had so often been his own comforter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There are tears in your eyes, dear Isabel,&quot; he said, as she rose
+gracefully to meet him. &quot;What has grieved you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have you not seen my father?&quot; asked the lady. &quot;Do you not know that
+our dear Mary is going to leave us? She goes to London to-day, and he
+goes with her so far.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed!&quot; exclaimed the knight; &quot;that is very sudden.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And very sad,&quot; answered Isabel; &quot;the hall will be melancholy enough
+without her now--I cannot but weep, and shall never cease to regret
+her going.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay; time will bring balm, dear Isabel,&quot; answered Dacre. &quot;You
+have often told me so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And have you believed me, Harry?&quot; answered the lady, with a faint and
+almost reproachful smile; &quot;even last night, you were more sad and
+grave than ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, but this is a different case,&quot; replied Dacre; &quot;one can lose a
+friend--ay, even by death; one can lose anything more easily than
+honour and renown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But the loss of yours is only in your own fancy, Dacre,&quot; she
+answered. &quot;Who believes this charge, that Simeon of Roydon dares to
+hint, but not to avow? Whom has it affected? In whom do you see a
+change? Surely not in my father; surely not in me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, assuredly, Isabel,&quot; he said, after thinking for a while; &quot;but as
+yet I have had no occasion to make the trial. Hearken, and I will put
+a case. Suppose, dear Isabel, that I were to love; suppose the lady
+that I loved had heard this tale; suppose that she had loved me well
+before, and at her knee I were now to crave the blessing of her hand;
+would not a doubt, would not a hesitation cross her mind? Would she
+not ask herself--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no!&quot; cried Isabel; but Dacre went on, not suffering her to
+conclude.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You put it not fully to your own heart, dear Isabel,&quot; he said.
+&quot;Suppose you were that lady--suppose that all Harry Dacre's hopes and
+happiness for life were staked on your reply; suppose that to you, who
+have so often consoled him in affliction, calmed him in anger, soothed
+him in anxiety, he were to say, 'Isabel, will you be my comforter
+through life, the star of my existence, the recompence for all I have
+suffered?' would not one thought--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Isabel trembled violently, and her cheek turned ashy pale.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is enough,&quot; said Dacre, with a quivering lip; &quot;I am answered! That
+memory could never be banished from your heart. It is enough!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no, no!&quot; cried Isabel; but, as will almost always happen when a
+word may make all clear, an interruption came; before she could go on,
+good old Sir Philip Beauchamp was seen upon the steps of the house,
+waving them to come back, with a loud &quot;Halloo!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They both turned, and walked towards the hall in silence. Isabel would
+fain have spoken, but agitation overpowered her. She wished that
+Dacre, by a single word, would give her an opportunity of reply; but
+his over-sensitive heart was convinced of her feelings--reading them
+all wrong; and he would not force her to speak what he thought must be
+painful for her to utter, and for him to hear. Twice she made up her
+mind to explain, but twice her heart failed her at the moment of
+execution; and it was not till they were within a few steps of the
+place where her father stood, that she could say, in a low voice, &quot;You
+are mistaken, Harry; indeed you are mistaken!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He shook his head with a bitter smile, and walked on in silence.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">THE MINSTREL'S GIRL.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">At the hour appointed by the King, Richard of Woodville arrived at the
+palace, and was at once introduced to Henry's presence. The monarch
+was now quite alone, and seemed in a more cheerful, a less meditative
+mood, than the day before. &quot;Well, Richard,&quot; he said, &quot;how sped you
+last night? you found room in hall, and a place at board, I trust?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I did, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;and so long as I was here 'twas
+well; but as I returned homeward to my hostel, I saw that done which
+grieved me, and would grieve your Highness, too, were it told.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Speak it, speak it,&quot; said the King; &quot;I am now in that station where
+every day I must hear that which offends my ear, if I would perform
+the first duty of a king, and render justice to my people. What is
+this you saw?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Briefly and accurately Richard of Woodville, as he had previously
+determined, related to the monarch the facts attending the death of
+the old minstrel, by the brutal act of Sir Simeon of Roydon, and his
+companions; and he could see Henry's brow gather into a heavy frown,
+and his cheek flush. When he had done, the King rose from his chair,
+before he spoke, and walked twice across the small chamber in which
+the young gentleman had found him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This is bad,&quot; he said at length; &quot;this is bad; but I must not
+interfere with the course of law. The matter will be inquired into, of
+course. If the law should not punish the offence, I might myself
+inflict some chastisement, and, by banishing this man from my court
+and presence, mark my indignation at his rash contempt of human life
+and suffering, to call it nothing worse. But I have other views,
+Richard; and if I must strike, I would have it effectually.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do not understand you, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville, seeing that the
+King paused.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, perhaps not,&quot; said Henry; and then falling into a fit of musing
+again, he remained for more than a minute with his eyes fixed upon the
+ground. &quot;Call me a page,&quot; he continued, at length; &quot;I will see this
+Sir Simeon of Roydon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville obeyed; and when the boy appeared, Henry directed
+him in the clear brief words, with which even trivial orders are given
+by men of powerful and accurate minds, to inquire of the sergeant of
+the gates where Sir Simeon of Roydon was to be found, and then to
+summon him immediately to his presence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He shall make some compensation to the old man's daughter, or whoever
+she is, whatever the law may say,&quot; the King continued, turning to his
+companion, after having spoken to the page: &quot;but tell me, Richard, was
+this the only adventure you met with yesterday? Ned Dyram told me,
+that some one had spoken to you by name in the crowd, bidding you not
+to let poor Dacre do battle with Simeon of Roydon,--she anticipated my
+commands, it would seem.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She did so, truly, Sire,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;but I could never
+discover who it was, though she again spoke to me at the gates of the
+convent as I came out.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is very strange,&quot; said the King; &quot;did you not know the voice?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It seemed somewhat disguised,&quot; answered the young gentleman; &quot;but
+still it was clearly a woman's voice; and there were tones in it not
+unfamiliar to my ear, yet not sufficiently strong on recollection to
+enable me in any way to judge who spoke.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have we got fairies amongst us, even in Westminster?&quot; asked the
+monarch, laughing. &quot;Well, my good friend, you have nothing to do but
+obey your fair monitor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In that I shall not fail, Sire,&quot; replied Richard; &quot;for I shall have
+no cause to prevent or encourage Dacre--Simeon of Roydon will take
+good heed to that. But I trust neither the lady nor your Highness will
+forbid my chastising this man myself, if need should be; for, as I
+have told you, Sire, I cast him from his horse last night, before his
+comrades; and he will seek revenge in some shape, I am sure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To defend himself is every man's right,&quot; replied the King; &quot;but I
+must insist, that no arranged encounter takes place between you and
+Sir Simeon of Roydon, without your sovereign's consent.&quot; The King
+spoke sternly, almost harshly; but he added a moment after, in a mild
+and familiar tone, &quot;The truth is, Richard, that I have resolved, as
+much as possible, to put a stop, both to the trial by battle and
+combats at outrance between my subjects. The blood of Englishmen is
+too precious to their King and their country to be shed so frequently
+as it has hitherto been in private quarrels. The evil is increasing;
+and if it be not stayed, a time will come when every idle jest will be
+the subject of a combat, and the man of mere brute courage will
+venture upon any wrong he chooses to do another, because he values his
+life less than his neighbour. Such a state shall never grow up under
+me. The day may not be far distant when, in defence of the rights of
+this crown, I shall give every English gentleman an opportunity of
+displaying his valour and his skill; but, till then, I will hold a
+strong hand over quarrelsome folks. As a last resource for honour
+really wounded, or, under the sanction of the law, for the judgment of
+God in dark cases which human wisdom cannot decide, I may consent that
+an appeal be made to the lance; but not till every other means has
+been tried. Such is my resolution. Let that suffice you. I know you
+will obey; and in the court of Burgundy, if I hear right, you will
+have plenty of occasions, should you be too full of blood, to shed it
+freely. I have wished to give you some gift, my friend,&quot; he continued,
+in a tone of kindly condescension; &quot;but for the present, I can think
+of nothing better than this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He took a ring from his finger, and held it out to the young gentleman
+who stood beside him, adding, &quot;Take it, Richard; wear it always; and
+when you look upon it, think of Hal of Hadnock. But should you at any
+time seek aught of the King of England, seal your letter with that
+ring, and I will open and read the contents myself, and immediately.
+It shall go hard, but I will grant you your boon, if it be such as the
+Richard of Woodville whom I know, is likely to request. So, farewell,
+and God speed you, and lead you to honour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville knelt, and kissed the gracious Prince's hand; and
+then, retiring from his presence, sped back to his inn without
+adventure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All traces of the last day's festival had disappeared; the citizens
+had resumed their usual occupations; the artisan had gone to his work,
+the merchant to his warehouse, the tradesman to his stall, the monk to
+his cloister, the priest to his chapel or his church. The streets,
+though there was many a passenger hurrying to and fro, seemed almost
+empty, by comparison; and a scene that was in itself gay, looked dull
+from the want of all the glitter and pageantry of the preceding
+afternoon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The inn, called the Acorn, at which Richard of Woodville had taken up
+his abode, was a low building, in what we still term the Strand,
+between the Cross at Charing and a very small monastery, which was
+soon after attached to the abbey of Roncesvalles in Navarre, and
+acquired the name of Roncêvaux. The entrance to the Acorn was a tall
+dark arch, and as soon as Richard of Woodville rode in, followed by
+his two attendants--for Ned Dyram he had not seen since the day
+before--the host presented himself, saying, with a low reverence and a
+smile, &quot;There has been a fair maid seeking you, noble sir. There have
+been tears in her eyes, too, full lately. I hope you are not a
+faithless squire, to make the pretty maiden weep.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Poor thing, she has good cause,&quot; answered Woodville, gravely. &quot;She is
+the poor old man's daughter, I suppose, who was killed by the horses
+last night. When did she say she would return?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She is here now! she is here now!&quot; cried the host's wife, from
+within. &quot;How can you be such a fool, Jenkyn! I took her in till the
+noble gentleman returned. I knew she was no light o' love, but only
+came from foreign lands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I never said she was, good wife,&quot; replied her husband. &quot;Shall I bring
+her up, sir, to your chamber?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No,&quot; answered Richard; &quot;it wants an hour of dinner yet; let her come
+with me to the hall, if it be vacant.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That it is, discreet sir,&quot; replied the host. &quot;Now, I warrant you,&quot; he
+continued, murmuring to himself, as he walked away to call the poor
+girl to her kind benefactor, &quot;he has got some lady love himself, and
+fears it should come to her ears, were he to entertain a pretty maiden
+in his own chamber.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Perhaps some such thought might pass through Richard of Woodville's
+mind; but certainly it would never have entered therein, had it not
+been for the host's first suspicion; and he would have received the
+poor girl in his own room without hesitation, though the minstrels of
+that day and their followers were generally a somewhat dissolute and
+licentious race. It has happened strangely, indeed, in all ages, that
+those who follow, as their profession, the sweetest of arts, music,
+which would seem intended to elevate and purify the mind and heart,
+should be so frequently obnoxious to the charge of immoral life; but
+so it has been, alas, though difficult to account for.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Finding his way through one or two long ill-lighted passages, Richard
+of Woodville opened the door of the room appropriated to the daily
+meals of the guests and their host, and had not long to wait for the
+object of his compassion. She was not dressed in the same manner as
+the night before, but still, her garb was singular. A bright red
+scarf, which had been twined through her black hair, was no longer
+there; and the rich, luxuriant tresses, were bound plainly round her
+head, which was partially covered also by a hood of simple gray cloth.
+The rest of her apparel was white, except at the edge of the
+petticoat, which came not much below the knee, and was bordered by two
+bands of gold lace. Her small, delicate ankles, as fair as alabaster,
+were, nevertheless, without covering; and her feet were clothed in
+small slippers of untanned leather, trimmed and tied with gold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Bending down her beautiful head as she entered, she said, &quot;I have come
+to thank you, noble sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, no thanks, my fair maiden,&quot; answered Woodville, placing a stool
+for her to sit, as the host retired. &quot;I did but what any Christian and
+gentleman ought to do; so, say not a word of that. But I am glad you
+have come, for I wish much to hear more of you, and to know what will
+become of you now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah! what, indeed?&quot; said the girl, casting down her eyes, which had
+before been fixed upon the young gentleman's countenance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have you no friends, no home, to which you can go?&quot; asked Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In this country, no friends that would receive me--no home that would
+be open to me,&quot; replied the girl, the tears rolling over the long
+black lashes, and trickling down her cheek. &quot;I am not given to yield
+to sorrow thus,&quot; she added; &quot;had I been, it would have crushed me long
+ago. But this last blow has been heavy; and, like a reed beaten down
+by the storm, I shall not raise my head till the sun shines again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But you are of English birth?&quot; inquired Richard of Woodville; &quot;if
+not, you speak our tongue rarely.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, yes! I am English,&quot; she cried, eagerly; &quot;English in heart, and
+spirit, and birth; but yet, my mother was from a distant land.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And was that poor old man your father?&quot; demanded her companion;
+&quot;come, let me hear something of your former life, that I may think
+what can be done for the future.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The girl evidently hesitated; she coloured, and then turned pale; and
+Richard of Woodville began to fear that, in the interest he had taken
+in her, he had been made the fool of imagination. &quot;She is probably
+like the rest,&quot; he thought; &quot;and yet, her very shame to speak it,
+shows that she has some good feelings left.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But, while he was still pondering, the girl exclaimed, clasping
+her hands, &quot;Oh, yes! I am sure I may tell you. You are not one
+who--whatever might be his errors--would deprive a poor old man of
+blessed ground to rest in, or the prayers of good men for his soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not I, indeed,&quot; replied the young gentleman; &quot;methinks, we have no
+right to carry justice or punishment beyond the grave. When the spirit
+is called to its Creator, let him be judge--not man. But speak; I do
+not understand you clearly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will make my tale short,&quot; she answered. &quot;That old man was my
+father's father; a minstrel once in the house of the great Earl of
+Northumberland--I can just remember the Earl--and a gay and happy
+household it was. He was well paid and lodged, much loved by the good
+lord, and wealthy by his bounty. My father was stout and tall, a brave
+man, and skilful in arms; and he was the Percy's henchman. Once, when
+one of the Earl's kinsmen went to the court of the Emperor, my father
+was sent with him, I have heard; and he returned with my mother, a
+native of a town called Innsbruck in the mountains. I know not whether
+you have heard of it; but it is a fair city, in good truth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have seen it, then?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not a year since,&quot; answered the girl; &quot;but, to my tale. When I was
+still young, my father fought and fell with Hotspur; and, not long
+after, the Duke's household was dispersed, and he himself obliged to
+fly to Wales, or Scotland, I know not which. My mother pined and died,
+for the people there loved not a stranger amongst them; and, after my
+father's death, called her nought but <i>the foreigner</i>. They laughed,
+too, at her language, for she could speak but poor English; and, what
+between their gibes and her own grief, she withered away daily, till
+her eyes closed. She taught me her own language, however; and I have
+not forgot it. She taught me her own faith, too; and I have not
+abandoned it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And that was--&quot; exclaimed Richard.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The holy Catholic faith!&quot; replied the girl, crossing herself; &quot;and
+nothing has ever been able to turn me from it. But still, I could not
+let it break all bonds--could I, noble sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps not,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but let me hear
+farther.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;When the Earl fled, and my mother died,&quot; continued the girl, &quot;my
+grandfather took me with him to the town of York; and, as he was
+wealthy, as I have said, his kinsfolk, who were many in the place,
+were glad to see him. He was very kind to me--oh, how kind! and taught
+me to sing, and play on many instruments. But there came a disciple of
+Wicliffe into the town, where there were already many Lollards in
+secret; and the poor old man listened to them, and became one of them.
+I would not hear them; for I ever thought of my mother, and what she
+had taught me; and this caused the first unkind words my grandfather
+ever gave me. He mourned for them afterwards, when he found I was not
+undutiful, as he had called me. But, in the mean time, he went on with
+the Lollards; till, one night, as they were coming from a place where
+they had met, a crowd of rabble and loose people set upon them with
+sticks and stones, and beat them terribly; and the poor old man was
+brought home, with his face and eyes sadly cut. Some of the Lollards
+were taken, and two were tried, and burnt as heretics. But my
+grandfather escaped that fate; for, by this time, his eyes had become
+red and fiery, and he kept close to his own house. The redness at
+length went away--but light went too; and he was in daily fear of
+persecution. One night, when he was very sad, I asked him why he
+stayed in York, where there were so many perils; but he shook his
+head, and answered, 'Because I am sightless, my child; and I have none
+to guide me.' Then I asked him again, if he had not me; and if he
+thought I would not go with him to the world's end; and I found, by
+what he said, that he had long thought of going to foreign lands, but
+did not speak of it, because he thought that, as I would not hear his
+people, I would refuse to go. When he found I was ready, however, his
+mind was soon made up, and we went first to a town called Liege, where
+he had a brother, and there we lived happily enough for some time; for
+that, brother, and all his family, thought on many matters with him.
+But he heard of a man named Huss, who is a great leader of that sect
+in a country called Bohemia, and he resolved to go thither, as he was
+threatened with persecution in Liege. We then wandered far and wide
+through strange lands. But why should I make my tale long? We suffered
+many things--were plundered, wronged, persecuted, beaten; and the
+money that he had began to melt away, with no resource behind; for we
+had heard that our own relations and friends in York had pillaged his
+house; and one had taken possession of it as his own. I then proposed
+to him that I should sing at festivals and tournaments, that he might
+keep the little he still had against an evil day. Thus we came through
+Germany, and Burgundy, and part of France and Brabant; and, at length,
+he determined that he would come back to his own country, which he
+did, only to be murdered last night, for we have not been a month in
+England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Alas! my poor girl,&quot; said Richard of Woodville, &quot;yours is, indeed, a
+sad history; and, in truth, I know not what counsel to give you for
+the future. Alone, as you are, in the world, you need some one much to
+protect you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do indeed,&quot; replied the girl, &quot;but I have none; and yet,&quot; she
+added, after a moment, &quot;these are foolish thoughts, brought upon me
+but by grief. I can protect myself. Many have a worse fate than I
+have; for how often are those who have been softly nurtured cast
+suddenly into misfortune and distress! I have been inured to it by
+degrees--taught step by step to struggle and resist. Mine is not a
+heart to yield to evil chances. The little that I want in life, I
+trust, I can honestly obtain; and, if not honestly, why, I can die.
+There is still a home for the wanderer--there is still a place of
+repose for the weary.&quot; But, as she spoke, the tears that rolled over
+her cheeks belied the fortitude which she assumed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville paused and meditated, ere he replied. &quot;Stay,&quot; he
+said, at length, as the girl rose, and covered her head again with her
+hood, which she had cast back, as if she were about to depart. &quot;Stay!
+a thought has struck me. Perchance I can call the King's bounty to
+you. I myself am now about to depart for distant lands. I am going to
+the court of Burgundy in a few days, and shall not see our sovereign
+again before I set out; but I have a servant, who was once the King's,
+and he will have the means of telling your sad tale.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To the court of Burgundy!&quot; exclaimed the girl, eagerly; &quot;Oh! that I
+were going thither with you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That may hardly be,&quot; replied Woodville, with a smile, as she gazed
+with her large dark eyes upon his face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know it,&quot; she answered, sighing, and cast her eyes down to the
+ground again, with the blood mounting into her cheek; &quot;yet, why not in
+the same ship?--I have kinsfolk both in Liege and in Peronne--you
+would not see wrong done to me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Assuredly not,&quot; said the young gentleman; &quot;but if the King can be
+engaged to show you kindness, it will be better. What little I can
+spare, my poor girl, shall be yours; and I will send this man of whom
+I spoke, to see you and tell you more. First, however, you must let me
+know where you are lodged, and for whom he must ask, as it may be
+three or four days before he returns from the errand he is now gone to
+perform.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My name is Ella Brune,&quot; replied the girl; and she went on to describe
+to Richard of Woodville the situation of the house in which she and
+her grandfather had taken up their abode, on their arrival in London a
+few days before. He found from her account that it was a small hostel
+just within the walls of the city, which the old man had known and
+frequented in former years; that the host and his good dame were kind
+and homely people; and that, though the poor girl had remained out
+watching the corpse at the lodge of the convent, she had returned that
+morning to explain the cause of her absence, and had been received
+with sympathy and consolation. Knowing well, however, that there is a
+limit to the tenderness of most innkeepers, and that that limit is
+seldom, if ever, extended beyond the length of their guest's purse,
+the young gentleman took three half nobles, which, to say truth, was
+as much as he could spare, and offered them to his fair companion,
+saying, &quot;Trouble yourself not in regard to expenses of the funeral,
+Ella, or of the masses. The porter of the convent has been here this
+morning before I went out, and I have arranged all that with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The girl looked at the money in his hand, with a tearful eye and a
+burning cheek; but, after gazing for a moment, she put his hand gently
+away, saying, &quot;No, no, I cannot take it--from you I cannot take it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And why not from me?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville in some surprise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She hesitated for an instant, and then replied, &quot;Because you have been
+so good and kind already. Were it from a stranger, I might--but you
+have already given me much, paid much; and you shall not hurt yourself
+for me. I have enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay, Ella,&quot; said Richard, with a smile. &quot;If I have been kind,
+that is a reason why you must not grieve me by refusing the little I
+can give; and as to what I have paid, I will say to you with Little
+John, whom you have heard of--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i8">&quot;I have done thee a good turn for an<br>
+Quit me when thou may.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what did Robin answer?&quot; said the girl, a light coming up into her
+eyes as she forgot, for an instant, her loss and her desolate
+situation, in the struggle of generosity which she kept up against her
+young benefactor--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i8">&quot;Nay by my troth, said Robin,
+So shall it never be.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It must be, if you would not pain me,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville;
+&quot;you must not be left in this wide place, my poor girl, without friend
+or money.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, but I have enough,&quot; she answered; &quot;if I were tempted to take it,
+'twould only be with the thought of crossing the sea, which costs much
+money, I know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then take it for that chance, my poor Ella,&quot; replied Woodville,
+forcing the money into her hand; &quot;and tell me what store you have got,
+in order that, if I have ought more to spare, when I have received
+what my copse-wood brings, I may send it to you by the servant I spoke
+of.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed, I know not,&quot; said Ella Brune; &quot;there is a small leathern bag
+at the inn, in which we used to put all that we gathered; but I
+thought not to look what it contained. My heart was too heavy when I
+went back, to reckon money. But there is enough to pay all that we
+owe, I know; and as for the time to come,&quot; she added, with a
+melancholy smile, &quot;I eat little, and drink less; so that my diet is
+soon paid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her words and manner had that harmony in them, which can rarely be
+attained when both do not spring from the heart; and Richard of
+Woodville became more and more interested in the fair object of his
+kindness every moment. He detained her some time longer to ask farther
+questions; but, at length, the host opened the door, and told him,
+there was a young man without who sought to speak with him. This
+interruption terminated his conversation with Ella Brune; for, drawing
+her hood farther still over her face, she again rose, took his hand
+and pressed her lips upon it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The blessing of the queen of heaven be upon you, noble sir,&quot; she
+said; and then passed through the door, at which the landlord still
+stood, wondering a little at the deep gratitude which she seemed to
+feel towards his young guest.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">THE DECEIVER.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The King of England remained seated for many minutes exactly where
+Richard of Woodville had left him. His right hand rested on the arm of
+his chair; his left upon the hilt of his dagger; and his eyes remained
+fixed apparently upon the heavy building of the Abbey, such as it then
+appeared, before a far successor of his added to it a structure, rich,
+and perhaps beautiful in itself, but sadly out of keeping with the
+rest of the pile. But Henry saw not the long straight lines of the
+solemn mass of masonry; he heard not the bells chiming from the belfry
+hard by: his mind was absent from the scene in which his body dwelt;
+and his thoughts busy with things very different from those that
+surrounded him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On what did they rest? Over what did the spirit of the great English
+monarch ponder, the very day after he had solemnly assumed the crown
+and sceptre?--Who can say?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He might, perhaps, remember other days with some regret; for we can
+never lose aught that we have possessed, without some mournful
+feelings of deprivation returning upon us from time to time, however
+great and overpowering be the compensation that we obtain; we can
+never change from one state and station in our mortal course to
+another without sometimes thinking of former joys, and gone-by
+happiness, even though we have acquired grander blessings, and a more
+expansive sphere: and oh! how great is the change, even from the
+position of a prince, to that of a monarch! so great, indeed, that
+none who have not known it can even divine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He might already, perhaps, feel what a burden a crown may sometimes
+become; how heavy are occasionally the gorgeous robes of state; he
+might look back to the free buoyancy of his early life, and long to
+roam the wide plains and fields of his kingdom alone, and at his ease.
+Or he might think of friendship--and there was none more capable of
+knowing and valuing it aright--and might wonder whether a monarch
+could indeed have a friend; one into whose bosom he could pour his
+secret thoughts, or with whose wit he could try his own, in free, but
+not undignified encounter; one in whom he could trust, and with whom
+he might relax, certain that the condescension of the sovereign would
+not be mistaken, nor the confidence of the friend betrayed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Again, he might ponder upon all the difficulties and pains of a royal
+station: he might think, &quot;Each of my subjects is burdened with his own
+cares and anxieties, but I with the care and anxiety of the whole:&quot; or
+his mind might turn to the especial troubles and discomforts of a
+monarch, and remember how many he must have to disappoint; how often
+he must have to punish; how much he must have to refuse; how seldom he
+might be permitted to forgive; what great works he must necessarily
+leave undone; what good deeds be might be obliged to neglect; what
+faults he must be called upon to overlook; what pain and grief, even
+to the good and wise, a stern necessity might compel him to inflict.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He might, perhaps, think of any or all of these things, for they were
+all within the grasp of his character, as Henry was peculiarly a
+thoughtful monarch. We are, indeed, only accustomed to look upon him
+either as a wild youth, suddenly and somewhat strangely reformed, or
+as a great conqueror and skilful general, a prudent and ambitious
+prince. But those who will inquire into his private life, who will
+mark the recorded words that occasionally broke from his lips, trace
+the causes and course of his actions, examine his conduct to his
+friends, and even to his enemies, who will, in short, strip off the
+monarch's robes and look upon the man, will find a meditative spirit,
+though a quick one; a warm heart, though a firm one; a rich and lively
+imagination, though a clear and vigorous judgment. He was not one to
+take upon him the cares of government without feeling all their
+weight; to regard a throne as a seat of ease and pleasure; or to
+assume the grand responsibilities of sovereign power, without
+examining them stedfastly and sternly, seeing all that is bright and
+all that is dark therein, and feeling keenly every sacrifice for which
+they call.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To love and to be beloved by a whole nation, to give and to receive
+happiness by a wise government of a great people, is assuredly a
+mighty recompence for all the pains of royal station; but yet those
+pains will be felt hourly while the reward is afar; and the monarch's
+conversation with Richard of Woodville had awakened him to some of
+those evils which the wisest rule cannot entirely remedy. Almost under
+the windows of his palace, on the very day of his coronation, in the
+midst of rejoicing and festivity, one of his subjects, an innocent
+inoffensive old man, had been brutally deprived of life by a party of
+those who had been feasting at his own table; and, when he remembered
+all the scenes with which the course of his early life had made him
+acquainted throughout this wide land, he saw what a task it would be
+to restrain the wild licence of a host of turbulent nobles, and to
+bind them to submission to the laws, and to reverence for the rights
+and happiness of others.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The monarch was still deep in thought when the page whom he had sent
+for Sir Simeon of Roydon, returned, announcing that he was in waiting
+without; and Henry at once ordered him to be admitted. The knight
+advanced with courtly bows, and more than due reverence; for he was
+one of those who, overbearing and haughty to their inferiors, are
+always cringing and fawning towards those above them, at least until
+they are detected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Henry came to the point at once, saying, with a stern brow, &quot;I
+hear matters regarding you, Sir Simeon of Roydon, that please me not;
+and I would fain hear from your own lips, what explanation you can
+give. Know, sir, that the subjects of this crown are not to be
+murdered with impunity, and that sooner or later blood will find a
+tongue to accuse those that spill it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight turned somewhat pale under the keen eye of the King; but he
+answered at once, in smooth and fluent tones, &quot;I was not aware, Sire,
+that I had done aught that should bring upon me the greatest
+punishment that I could receive--that of falling under the displeasure
+of your Highness; for any other infliction which might follow that
+severe misfortune, would seem nothing in comparison, or light, indeed,
+if by any bodily suffering I could remove the heavy weight of your
+anger. May I humbly inquire what is my fault? It must be great, I am
+sure, though I know it not, to make so clement a King regard his
+servant so harshly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is great, sir,&quot; replied Henry, who could not be deluded with fair
+words. &quot;Did you not, last night, after quitting the Hall below, cause
+the death of an old man by a most brutal outrage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, Heaven forbid!&quot; cried Roydon, with well-feigned surprise and
+grief. &quot;Your Highness does not, I trust, mean to say that the poor old
+man is dead?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He was killed upon the spot, sir,&quot; answered Henry; &quot;and I am told you
+did not even stop to inquire what had been the result of your own
+act.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will go home and have him slaughtered without delay,&quot; exclaimed
+Roydon, as if speaking to himself in a paroxysm of regret.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have whom slaughtered?&quot; asked the King, gazing upon him coldly; for
+he began to divine the course his defence was to take.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The brute that did it, Sire,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;three times has
+that horse nearly deprived me of life, which I heeded not much, for it
+is a fine though unruly animal; but now that he has taken the life of
+another, his own shall be forfeit. Scarcely had I mounted when, with
+the bit between his teeth, he set off at full speed; some of my
+companions galloped after to stop him, if possible, but were unable,
+till a gentleman on foot, I know not who, caught the bridle in the
+crowd; and I, not seeing what had befallen, rode on, keeping him in
+with difficulty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A slight smile curled the lip of the King, showing to Sir Simeon
+Roydon that he was not fully believed; and a dark feeling of
+anger--the rage of detected meanness--gathered itself in the inmost
+recesses of his heart, with only the more bitter intensity because he
+dared not suffer it to peep forth. There is nothing that we hate so
+much as one whom, however much he may offend us, we cannot injure.
+Vengeance is the drink by which the dire thirst of hate is often
+assuaged; but if that cannot by any possibility be obtained, the
+burning of the heart goes on increasing till it becomes the
+unquenchable drought of fever.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The monarch answered calmly, however, and without further reproach.
+&quot;Your tale, Sir Simeon,&quot; he said, &quot;is somewhat different from that
+which previously reached my ears. I trust it can be substantiated in
+all its parts; for this matter must be investigated fully. The crown
+officer will, of course, do his duty by inquest upon the body. It will
+be well for you to be present; and the law will then take its due
+effect. Retire for a time, sir, into another chamber, and I will cause
+inquiry to be made, as to when a jury will be ready to investigate the
+case.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Simeon of Roydon bowed with a sad and respectful countenance, and
+turned towards the door; but when he reached it, the expression of his
+face, now averted from the King, was very different from that which it
+had been a moment before. A mocking smile sat upon his lip--the
+sneering, bitter expression of a bad spirit, which has gained some
+advantage over a nobler one; but it was gone again the moment he
+opened the door and stood in presence of two or three attendants, who
+were waiting in the ante-room. At the same instant, the voice of Henry
+called the page, and Sir Simeon, pausing and seating himself, could
+hear the King give orders for making the inquiries which he had
+mentioned. In less than twenty minutes, the page returned and entered
+the monarch's closet, after which the knight was recalled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I find, sir,&quot; said Henry, when he appeared again before him, &quot;that
+uncommonly quick proceedings have been taken in this case. The inquest
+has sat already; and the good men have pronounced the death
+accidental. So far the finding is satisfactory; but as it is clear
+that the accident occurred by your furious riding of a horse which you
+yourself acknowledge to be vicious and dangerous, I have to require
+that you make the only compensation that can be made to the person who
+I am told is this old man's grandchild. You will, therefore, go at
+once to the hospital of St. James, and there, or elsewhere, when
+you have found her, will pay to this poor girl the sum of fifty
+half nobles, expressing your sorrow--which, doubtless, you feel
+sincerely--for the evil you have occasioned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Simeon of Roydon bowed, with every appearance of respect; but
+there was a scowl upon his brow; and he could not refrain from asking,
+&quot;May I inquire, Sire, whether this fine is imposed by the inquest, or
+whether it be the award of your Highness; for if--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry's cheek flushed, and the impetuous spirit which had made him in
+early years strike the judge upon the bench, roused itself for a
+moment in his heart. It was conquered speedily, however; and he
+murmured to himself, &quot;No, I will not act the tyrant. Sir Simeon,&quot; he
+continued, aloud, waving his hand, &quot;the award is mine, as you say. It
+is my desire that this should be done. You will do it or not, as you
+think fit, for I will not strain the laws; but if it be not done,
+never present yourself before me again. That at the least I may
+require, sir, though the verdict of the jury can but affect the horse
+you rode.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your Highness did not hear me out,&quot; replied Roydon, who had now
+recovered the mastery of himself; &quot;I did but presume to ask; because
+if such a fine had been imposed by the jury, I should have resisted
+it, as contrary to law; but at the command of your Highness, I pay it,
+not only with submission but with pleasure, as the only means I have
+of showing both my regret at what has taken place, and my eager desire
+to conform myself in all things to your will. Not an hour shall pass
+before you are certified that I have not only obeyed, but gone beyond
+your orders; and so I humbly take my leave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words were well and gracefully spoken; and Henry found no occasion
+to complain of the knight's demeanour; but still he was not satisfied
+that his obedience was the submission of the heart; for he knew right
+well that fair words, ay, and fair actions, too, are often but the
+cloaks of sly and subtle knavery; and the character of Sir Simeon of
+Roydon was not new to him. He replied merely, &quot;So you shall do well,
+sir;&quot; and bowed his head as a signal that he might depart.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight quitted his presence in no happy mood, perceiving right
+well that the monarch's favour, on which he had counted much, had been
+lost and not regained. He hated him for the clear sighted penetration
+which had seen through his art; and he only doubted whether there was
+or was not a chance of still deceiving his sovereign, and recovering
+his good graces, by an appearance of zeal and devotion in obeying his
+commands.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is worth the trial,&quot; he thought; &quot;and it shall be tried; but I
+shall soon find whether he continues to nourish such ill-will towards
+me; and if he do, my course must be shaped accordingly. Curses upon
+these beggarly vagrants! Who ever heard of King before who troubled
+his nobility about minstrels and tomblesteres? This smacks of the
+early tastes of our magnanimous monarch, whose sole delight, within
+these two months, was in pot-house tipplers, and losel gamesters. He
+may assume a royal port and solemn manner, if he will; but the habit
+of years is not so easily conquered; and if he trip now, he is lost.
+Men were tired enough of his usurping father. A new prince carries the
+ever-changing multitude at his heels; but time will bring weariness,
+and weariness is soon changed into disgust. We shall see; we shall
+see; and the day of vengeance may come. In the meantime, of one, at
+least, I have had retribution; and this other shall not long escape--a
+rude, ballad-singing peasant, only fit for the brute sports of the
+bull-baiting, or the fair--a very franklin in spirit, and a yeoman in
+heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With thoughts,--which, as the reader may have perceived, had deviated
+from the King to Richard of Woodville,--with thoughts wavering with a
+strong inclination to bold evil, but chained down to mere knavery, for
+the time, by some remaining chances of success--for strange as it may
+seem, as many men are rendered cowards by hope as by fear--Sir Simeon
+of Roydon pursued his way to the hospital of St. James, on foot,
+having hastened to the presence of the King without waiting for his
+horses. As, still in deep and angry thought, he approached the gate
+and the old lodge, he raised his eyes somewhat suddenly at an
+advancing step, and beheld the form of a young girl, with her long
+dark eyelashes bent down till they rested on her cheek. He caught but
+a momentary glance as she hurried by; but Simeon of Roydon was quick
+and eager in his examination of all that is beautiful in mere form;
+and that glance was sufficient to rouse no very holy feelings. The
+rounded limbs, the small and delicate foot and ankle, the fine
+chiseled features, the graceful easy movements, the exquisite neck and
+bosom half hidden by the folds of the grey hood, were all marked in an
+instant; and as she seemed alone, without defence or protection, he
+hesitated for a moment whether to stop and speak to her; but while he
+paused, she was gone with a quick step; the gate of the convent was
+near, and, resisting the passing temptation, he walked on and rang the
+bell.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The porter slowly opened the gate; and, with the tone of careless and
+haughty indifference which has always marked the inferior personages
+of a court--I mean the inferior in mind, more than the inferior in
+rank or station--the knight said, &quot;There was an old man killed near
+this spot last night, I think?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There was, noble sir,&quot; answered the porter, with a low reverence to
+his air of superiority; &quot;the body has been moved to the chapel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I care nought about the body,&quot; rejoined Roydon. &quot;He had a daughter or
+grand-daughter or something with him; where is she?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She has just gone forth, noble sir,&quot; replied the porter; &quot;you must
+have passed her at the gate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha! what! a girl with a grey hood and a white coat, with some gold at
+the edge?&quot; asked the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The same, noble sir,&quot; said the old man; &quot;poor thing, she is sadly
+afflicted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Send her to me when she comes back, and I will comfort her,&quot; answered
+the visitor in a light tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, sir, she is none of those, I'll warrant,&quot; replied the porter,
+very little edified; &quot;and I give no such messages here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou art a fool, old man,&quot; said Sir Simeon of Roydon. &quot;Will she come
+back hither?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Doubtless she will,&quot; answered the other, &quot;for better comfort than you
+can give.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Pshaw! art thou a preacher?&quot;, demanded the knight, with a sneer. &quot;The
+comfort that I have to give is gold, by the King's command. So tell
+her to come to Burwash House, close by the Temple gate, up the lane to
+the left, and ask for Simeon of Roydon. If I be not within, I will
+leave the money with a servant; but bid her come quickly, for I must
+tell the King as soon as his bounty is bestowed. When will she be
+here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That I know not,&quot; answered the old man; &quot;the prioress bade me give
+her admission to the parlour whenever she came, for the ladies the
+sisters have taken her case much to heart. But the young woman did not
+say when she would return. Perhaps it would be better for you to leave
+the money with the lady prioress herself, who would render it to her
+when she sees her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Give advice to those who ask it, my friend,&quot; replied Roydon. &quot;I know
+best what are the King's commands and my duty; so tell her what I say
+on the part of his Highness, and let her come as speedily as may be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight then turned, and, with a haughty step, took his way back to
+Burwash House, the London mansion of a distant kinsman, who, in
+reverence of his newly acquired wealth, permitted the heir of poor
+Catherine Beauchamp to inhabit it during his own absence from the
+capital.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Simeon of Roydon was now enjoying to the full that which he had
+long earnestly desired--the prosperity of riches, which he had never
+before known; for his own estate had originally been small, and had
+soon been encumbered, under the influence of expensive tastes and vain
+ostentation. Unchastened by adversity, unreclaimed by experience, he
+was now living as much beyond his present, as he had previously lived
+beyond his former, fortune; and grooms and attendants of all kinds
+waited him at his dwelling, chosen from the scum of a great city,
+which always affords a multitude of serviceable knaves, ready to aid
+an heir to spend his inheritance, and, by obsequious compliance with
+all rash or vicious desires, to secure themselves a participation in
+the plunder, during the term of its existence. To some of these
+worthies, whom he found in the court, he gave orders for the immediate
+admission of poor Ella Brune as soon as she appeared; and then,
+betaking himself to a chamber on the first floor, he occupied himself
+for somewhat more than an hour in thinking over future plans, no
+inconsiderable portion of which referred to the gratification of many
+of the pleasant little passions, that, like strong drink, by turns
+stimulate and allay the thirst of a depraved mind. Revenge--or,
+rather, the gratification of hate, for revenge presupposes injury--was
+predominant, though ambition had a goodly share also.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To become that for which he thought himself well fitted, but towards
+which he had never hitherto been able to take one step--a great and
+prominent man--was one principal object:--to take a share in the
+mightier deeds of life, to rule and influence others, to command, to
+be looked up to, to receive authority and wield it at will. Oh, how
+often does that desire <i>to become a great man</i> render one a little
+man!--how often is it the source of littleness in those who might
+otherwise be great indeed! When the greatest philosopher that modern
+ages has produced declared, that &quot;to rise to dignities we must submit
+to indignities,&quot; how powerful, to debase the mightiest mind, did that
+longing <i>to become a great man</i> show itself! How constantly, through
+his whole career, do we see it producing all that made him other than
+great! It was, and is ever, the result of the one grand fundamental
+error, the misappreciation of real greatness. And thus we desire to
+become great in the eyes of other men, not in our own--to win the
+applause of worms, not merit the approbation of God.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such pitiful elevation was the only greatness coveted by him of whom
+we speak; but that was not the only desire which moved him--he longed
+for indulgence of every kind, from which straitened circumstances had
+long debarred him--he thought of pleasures with the eagerness of a
+Tantalus, who had for years beheld them close to his lip, without the
+power of bringing them within his taste; and, like a famished beast,
+he was ready to fall upon the food of appetite wherever it could be
+found. But still cunning--both natural and that acquired from the
+ready teacher of all evil to inferior minds, poverty--was at hand to
+bring certain restraints, which wisdom and virtue were not there to
+enforce. There was a consciousness in his breast, that too great
+eagerness often disappoints its own desires, and that he was too
+eager; and, therefore, he resolved that he would be cautious too. But
+such resolutions usually fail somewhere; for cautiousness is a
+guardian who does not always watch, when she is without the
+companionship of rectitude.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such reflections were still busily occupying his mind; and he had
+arrived at sincere regret for the rash and brutal act which he had
+committed the night before--not because it was evil, but because it
+was imprudent--when a page opened the door, and ushered Ella Brune
+into the room.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The poor girl knew not whom she was coming to see--she had taken no
+note of the face or form of him whose cruel carelessness had deprived
+her of the only support she had--she had not listened to the words
+that passed between him and Richard of Woodville--she stood before him
+unconscious that he was the slayer of her old companion. Let the
+reader mark that fact well. Nevertheless, as soon as she saw him she
+turned deadly pale, and her limbs trembled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Sir Simeon of Roydon took a smooth and pleasant tone; and as soon
+as the page was gone, and had closed the door, he asked, &quot;They gave
+you my message, then, pretty maid?&quot; At the same time he placed a stool
+for her, and motioned her to be seated.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They told me, sir,&quot; she answered in a low tone, &quot;that you had
+commands for me from the King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And so I have, fair maiden,&quot; replied Simeon of Roydon; &quot;but, I pray
+you, sit. This has been a sad event--I grieve for it much. I was not
+aware, till this morning, that my runaway charger had done such
+damage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And were you the man?&quot; demanded Ella Brune, suddenly raising her eyes
+to his face. As she did so, she found him gazing at her from head to
+foot, taking in all the beauties of her face and form, as an
+experienced judge remarks the points of a fine horse; and she drew her
+hood farther over her brow, not well satisfied with the eager and
+passionate look of admiration which his countenance displayed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I was unfortunate enough to be so,&quot; answered Roydon, perceiving her
+gesture, and thinking it as well to put some little restraint upon
+himself, though he never dreamed that a poor minstrel's girl could
+seriously resist the solicitation of a man of wealth and station. &quot;I
+regret it deeply,&quot; he continued, &quot;but the brute overpowered me. By the
+King's commands, I bear you fifty half-nobles; here they are. And, for
+my own satisfaction, I will give you the same.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, he held out a purse to her, but Ella Brune drew back.
+&quot;The King's bounty,&quot; she said, &quot;I will receive with gratitude; but,
+from you, I will take nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And, pray, why not, sweet girl?&quot; asked Simeon of Roydon; &quot;the King
+cannot grieve for what has happened half as much as I do, or be half
+as eager to comfort and console you. Nay, sit down, and speak to me;&quot;
+and, taking her hand, he led her back to the stool much against her
+will. &quot;I would fain hear what can be done for you,&quot; he added; &quot;I fear
+you may be friendless and unprotected; and I long to make up to you,
+as far as possible, for the loss you have sustained.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am, indeed, alone in the world,&quot; replied the fair girl; &quot;but not
+friendless, and unprotected, while I trust in God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, but God uses human means,&quot; answered Roydon, who was every moment
+growing more eager in the pursuit, which at first had been but as the
+chase of a butterfly; &quot;and you must let me be his instrument, as I
+have caused, unwillingly, this evil to befal you. I have a beautiful
+small cottage on my lands, where the trees fall round and shade it in
+the winter from the wind--in the summer from the sun. The woodbine and
+rose gather round the door, and a sparkling stream dances within
+sight. There, if you will accept such a refuge, you can live in peace
+and tranquillity, protected from all the harm and wrong that might
+happen to you in great cities; for you are too young and too lovely to
+escape wiles, and perhaps violence, if you are left without good ward,
+in such resorts of men as these.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A smile came upon the lip of Ella Brune, but it was of a very mingled
+and changeful expression. Perhaps the wakening of some old remembered
+dream of happy days might render it at first soft and gentle; and, the
+next instant, the recollection of how that dream had faded might
+sadden; and then again, the transparency of his baseness mixed a touch
+of scorn with it, and she answered, &quot;That can never be, sir. I seek no
+protection but that I have, and cannot accept of yours. I am able, as
+I am accustomed, to guard myself, and will do so still. I think you
+have mistaken me--but it matters not. I seek neither gold nor favour
+from you; and, if you would make atonement for bad deeds, it must be
+to God, not me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As she spoke, she rose, and turned to quit the room; and Simeon of
+Roydon hesitated for a moment whether he should not detain her by
+force--for those were days of violence; and her very coldness had
+rendered the passion he began to feel towards her but the more
+impetuous. He remembered, however, that there might be those who
+expected her return; that the place whither she had gone was known at
+the monastery; and that the King's eye might be upon his conduct
+towards her. These calculations passed like lightning through his
+mind, and he chose his course in an instant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stay!&quot; he cried, &quot;stay one minute more, sweet girl. I have not
+mistaken you at all. I would not even force my protection on you: but,
+at least, receive this; for I must tell the King that it is paid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;His bounty,&quot; replied Ella, &quot;I will not refuse, as I before said, and
+offer him my deepest thanks; but, from you, I will receive nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, take these fifty pieces,&quot; said her companion; &quot;they are
+given by the King's command. We shall meet again, fair maid; and then,
+perhaps, you will know me better.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I seek to know no more,&quot; she answered, taking the gold he gave: &quot;I
+have known enough,&quot; and, turning to the door, she left him, murmuring
+to herself, &quot;Would that the King had sent it by other hands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Simeon of Roydon followed her to the gates, beckoning up two
+of his servants as he went. &quot;Quick,&quot; he whispered; &quot;you see that
+girl?--follow her wherever she goes: find out her name--her
+dwelling--every particular you can gather, and bring me your tidings
+with all speed.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">THE HOURS OF JOY.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Probably there is a period in the life of every one--if it be not cut
+short in very early years, when the blossom is still upon the trees of
+existence--in which the heart is so depressed by a reiteration of
+those misfortunes which generally come in groups, that the unexpected
+announcement of an unnamed visitor causes us to look up with a feeling
+of dread, as if some new sorrow were about to be added to the list of
+those endured. But such was not yet the case with Richard of
+Woodville, for though many of the events which had lately passed,
+had tended to make him somewhat more grave and thoughtful than in
+younger days, yet neither griefs, nor anxieties, nor disappointments
+had been heavy enough to weigh down a spirit naturally buoyant. His
+heart might be called light and free; for, though burdened with some
+cares, and tied by the silver chain of love, yet hope, bright,
+vigorous, rarely-tiring hope, helped him to carry his load; and the
+bond between him and sweet Mary Markham was not one to fetter the
+energies of his mind, or to dim the brightness of expectation. But
+above all things his bosom was perfectly free from guile; and in a
+house so cleanly kept, there is always light, unless every window be
+closed by the hands of death or of despair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He looked, therefore, to see who the stranger could be that asked for
+him, with some curiosity perhaps, but no alarm, and was surprised but
+well pleased, when the figure of honest Hugh of Clatford darkened the
+door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, Hugh!&quot; he exclaimed, &quot;is that you? What has brought you to
+Westminster? Are you also going to seek service in foreign lands?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith, sir, I know not what I am going to do,&quot; replied the good
+yeoman; &quot;I came up here with my lord, and wait his pleasure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;With your lord!&quot; exclaimed Woodville, in astonishment; &quot;and what, in
+the name of fortune and all her freaks, has brought my uncle to
+Westminster?--Was he summoned to the coronation?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good truth, noble sir, I know not,&quot; answered Hugh of Clatford. &quot;He
+has not told me why he came; but I chanced to meet your man Hob, and
+asked him where you were to be found, but to come and see you and how
+you fared.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thanks, Hugh, thanks!&quot; replied Richard of Woodville.</p>
+<div class="poem1">
+<p class="i12">
+&quot;'True friend findeth true friend wherever they follow,<br>
+And summer's no summer that wanteth the swallow;'</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">But whom has my uncle with him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He would have fain asked if Mary Markham was near; but the question
+would not be spoken, and Hugh of Clatford saved him the trouble of
+farther inquiry. &quot;He has brought no one but myself,&quot; he said, &quot;and
+Roger Vale, and Martin the henchman, and one or two lads with the
+horses, and a page, and the Lady Mary--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah! and is that sweet lady here?&quot; asked Woodville, in as calm and
+grave a tone as a very joyous heart could use. &quot;But has he not brought
+my cousin Isabel?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, good sooth,&quot; rejoined the yeoman; &quot;he and the Lady Mary came off
+in haste on the arrival of a messenger from London.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is strange,&quot; said Richard of Woodville;--but then he thought
+that, perchance his friend Harry Dacre had sped well in his suit to
+Isabel, and that the old knight might have left her to cheer him at
+the hall. Nor was such a course unlikely in that age; for there were
+then fewer observances and stiff considerations of propriety than in
+later days, since rules and regulations more powerful, though but of
+air, than the locks and eunuchs of an Eastern harem, have tied down
+the most innocent intercourse of those who love, and every lady in the
+land is watched with the dragon's eyes of parental prudence. Love was
+then looked upon with reverence, and regarded as a safeguard rather
+than a peril. There was more confidence in virtue, more trust in
+honour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After a short pause, Richard of Woodville inquired where his uncle was
+lodged; and to the great disappointment of his host, who, while he was
+still speaking with Hugh of Clatford, entered to set out the tables
+for the approaching meal, the young gentleman accompanied the good
+yeoman, fasting as he was, to visit good Sir Philip Beauchamp--as he
+said; but, in truth, to sun himself in Mary's eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Fortune, though she be a spiteful jade, will occasionally favour true
+lovers; and she certainly showed herself particularly benign to
+Richard of Woodville in the present instance. Hurrying on with Hugh of
+Clatford, he made his way through the crowded streets of Westminster,
+till, at the outskirts of the town, near where now stands George
+Street, he reached the gates of a large house in a garden, where Sir
+Philip Beauchamp had taken up his abode. With all due reverence he
+asked for his uncle; but he must not be looked upon as a very
+undutiful nephew, if we admit that he was not a little rejoiced to
+find that the good old knight had gone forth, leaving fair Mary
+Markham behind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Guided by Hugh of Clatford, who very well understood all that was
+passing in the young gentleman's heart, Richard was soon in his fair
+lady's bower; and certainly Mary's bright face expressed quite as much
+pleasure to see him as he could have desired. It expressed surprise
+also, however; and after chiding him, not very harshly, for a sweet
+liberty he took with her arched lips, she exclaimed, &quot;But how are you
+here, Richard? I thought you were firm at Meon, polishing armour and
+trying horses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now Richard of Woodville, as soon as he heard that Mary was in the
+same city with himself, had formed his own conclusions in regard to
+various matters that had puzzled him the day before; and he answered,
+gaily, &quot;What, deceiver! Do you think I do not know your arts? You
+would have me believe you were ignorant that I was here, and must
+tease your poor lover twice in the course of yesterday, by letting him
+hear your voice, yet hiding the face that he loves best, from his
+sight?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, dear Richard,&quot; replied Mary, with a look of still greater
+surprise than before; &quot;you are speaking riddles to me. You could not
+hear my voice yesterday, at least in Westminster--unless, indeed, it
+were late at night; and then it must have been in sad, dolorous tones,
+for I was very tired. We did not reach this place till three hours
+after dark. But what is it you mean, by daring to call Mary a
+deceiver, when you know right well I could not cheat you into thinking
+that I did not love you, though I tried hard to look as demure as a
+cat in the sunshine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Are you sincere now, Mary?--are you telling me the truth?&quot; asked
+Richard, still half inclined to doubt; but the moment after, he added,
+&quot;Yet I know you are, my Mary, without guile. Truth gives you half your
+beauty, Mary; it lights your eyes, it smiles upon your lips. Yet this
+is very strange; and I thought that I had discovered the key to a
+mystery which must puzzle me still. But hear what has happened, and
+you shall judge;&quot; and he proceeded to relate the injunctions which had
+been twice laid upon him the day before, by some unseen acquaintance
+in the crowd.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary Markham was not less surprised and puzzled than himself,
+especially as he persisted in asserting the words had been spoken by a
+female voice. But they soon abandoned that topic, to turn to others of
+deeper interest to their own two hearts--the cause of Sir Philip
+Beauchamp's journey to the capital, and the future fate of his fair
+companion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In truth, Richard,&quot; said Mary, in answer to some of his questions, &quot;I
+am well nigh as ignorant as yourself of what is about to happen. All I
+know is, that Sir Philip told me I should probably soon see my father
+again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And who is your father, my sweet Mary?&quot; asked Woodville, with a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary gazed at him for an instant, with a look of touched and gratified
+affection, and then asked, &quot;And did Richard of Woodville really seek
+poor Mary Markham's hand, then, without knowing aught of her state and
+station?--was he willing to take her dowerless, friendless,
+stationless, almost nameless?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith, dear Mary,&quot; answered Woodville, &quot;I should be right glad
+to take you any way I could get you; and if dower, or station, or
+friends, or aught else stand in the way, even down to this pretty robe
+whose hem I kiss, I pray you, Mary, cast it off! I shall be right glad
+to have you in your kirtle, if it be but of hodden grey.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary Markham smiled and blushed; and her bright, merry eyes acquired a
+softer and more glistening light from the dew of happy emotion that
+spangled her long eyelashes. &quot;Well, Richard,&quot; she said, &quot;I do not love
+you the less for that. 'Tis a bold speech, perhaps, and one that I
+should not make; but once having owned what I feel, why should I hide
+it now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fie on those who would blame you, dearest lady,&quot; answered Woodville:
+&quot;who should feel shame for love? The brightest and the best of human
+feelings, surely, is no cause of shame; but we may all say, with the
+great poet--</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+<p class="i12">
+&quot;'O sunn'is life! O Jov'is daughter dear,<br>
+Pleasaunce of love! O godely debonaire<br>
+In gentle hearts aye ready to repaire,<br>
+O very cause of health and of gladnesse,<br>
+Iheried be thy might and godenesse.'&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I cannot answer why, Richard,&quot; replied Mary, &quot;but I know it is so,
+that all women feel some shame to own they love; and many affect more
+shame than they really feel. But I will not do so, dear Richard; for I
+think it is dishonesty to feign aught. I know I did feel shame, when
+one day, as we sat beside the river under the green trees, you won me
+to say more than I ever thought I could; and all that night, when I
+thought upon it, my cheek burned. But yet, in the moment of trial, I
+felt bold; and when your uncle asked me, I told him all. Nor do I see
+why I should conceal it now, even if I could, when you are about to go
+far, and that may be your only consolation in danger and in
+difficulty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It will be my strength and my support, dear Mary,&quot; answered
+Woodville; &quot;and I do think that if I could but win a promise from you
+to be mine, it would so nerve my heart and arm in the hour of strife,
+that all men should own I had won you well--Say, will you promise, my
+sweet lady?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will promise that I will, if I may,&quot; replied Mary; &quot;but alas!
+Richard, the entire fulfilment of that promise must depend upon
+another. We poor women have but little power, even over our own fate
+and persons; but I will love none but you, Richard, wherever I go; and
+you will not doubt that love, though it be spoken so freely?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, Heaven forbid!&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;and were it not that
+you are my uncle's ward, I would put that love, dear Mary, to the
+proof, by asking you to fly with me and seek out some friendly priest
+who would bind our fate so fast together, that it would take greater
+power than any one in the land can boast, to sever it again. But I
+would not be ungrateful to one who has been a father to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nor must I be ungrateful, either to him or to my own father,
+Richard,&quot; replied Mary Markham; &quot;you would not love me long if I could
+be so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know you cannot, Mary,&quot; answered her lover; &quot;but tell me who he is,
+Mary, that I may try to win him to hear my suit. I knew not that your
+father was alive--unless, indeed, the idle gossip--but no more of
+that. Whoever he be, I will trust to merit his esteem, and surely his
+daughter's love will be no bad commendation to him. I have hopes, too,
+of advancement, if ambition be his passion, such, indeed, as I have
+never had before. The King--he who was with us not a month ago as Hal
+of Hadnock--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, Dacre told us who he was,&quot; cried Mary Markham.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The King, he shows me great favour,&quot; continued Woodville, &quot;and has
+given me letters to many at the court of Burgundy, promising to send
+for me, too, as soon as he has service for me here. With a true heart,
+and no unpractised hand, I do not fear that I shall fail of winning
+honour; and though I be but a poor gentleman, yet, as I do know that
+riches or poverty would make no difference in Mary Markham to me, so I
+cannot believe that it will change me in her eyes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh no!&quot; she answered, but then added, with a sigh, &quot;but my father,
+Richard! It is long since I have seen him, yet he was kind and noble,
+just and true, if I remember right. I recollect him well, with his
+grey hair, changed more by sorrow than time. I thought you knew the
+whole, for Isabel does; but I promised faithfully not to speak of my
+fate or his to any one, for reasons that he judged sufficient, when he
+gave me into good Sir Philip's charge; and I must not break my word
+even for you, Richard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, it matters not,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;certainly I would fain
+know who he is, for then I might court him as a lover does his bride,
+for Mary's sake: but yet you must keep your promise to him, and to me
+too; and whenever you are free to speak, you must give me tidings,
+dear girl; for in all the thousand chances of this world, I might mar
+my own hopes, even while seeking to fulfil them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will, I will,&quot; replied Mary Markham; &quot;but hark! I hear your uncle's
+step, Richard. I will but add one word more to cheer you. Perhaps, if
+I judge right, we may not be so long ere we meet again, as you
+suppose--and now, God prosper you, my own true squire.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As she spoke, the good old knight, Sir Philip Beauchamp, entered the
+room, with a grave and somewhat perplexed air. It soon became evident,
+however, that whatever annoyed or embarrassed him, it was not the
+presence of his nephew; for he greeted him kindly, holding out his
+hand to him, saying, &quot;Ay, you here, foolish boy!--still the moth and
+the candle! But if you needs must love, why, let it lead you to honour
+and renown. What brought you to London? To buy arms?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, sir; to see the King,&quot; replied his nephew. &quot;He sent me a
+messenger, bearing letters for me to the court of Burgundy, and gave
+me to understand that I might come to visit him, if I would.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old knight, in his meditative mood, seemed to catch some of
+Woodville's words, and miss the others. &quot;Letters to the court of
+Burgundy,&quot; he said. &quot;Well! from Harry of England, they should smooth
+thy path, boy. Would to Heaven, you two were not lovers!--Not that I
+would speak ill of love; 'tis the duty of every gentleman to vow his
+service to some fair lady. At least, as it was so in my young day; but
+we have sorely declined since then--sorely, sorely, nephew of mine;
+and love was then quite a different affair from now--when it must
+needs end in marriage, or worse. It was a high and ennobling passion
+in those times, leading knights and gentlemen to seek praise, and do
+high deeds; not for their own sakes, but for the honour of the ladies
+whom they served, nor requiring reward even from them, but for pure
+and high affection, and the pleasure of exalting them. Thus, many a
+man loved a lady--either placed far above him, or removed from his
+reach by being wedded to another--without sin, or shame, or
+presumption; for love, as I have said, was a high and ennobling
+feeling in those days, which taught men to do what is right, not what
+is wrong.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, my noble uncle,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, &quot;and so it may
+be now; and it will have the same effect with me. But one thing I do
+know, that I would rather do high deeds to exalt my own wife, than
+another man's: I would rather serve a lady that I may win, than a lady
+I have no right to seek. Methinks it is both more honest and more
+safe; and, by God's blessing, I will win her, too, if I live long
+enough, and have fair play.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old knight smiled. &quot;Thou art a jesting coystrel, Dickon,&quot; he said;
+&quot;and yet not a bad man at arms either. But times are changed, I tell
+thee, and not for the better. Thou thinkest according to the day, and
+cannot understand the past. When goest thou over seas, boy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In a few days, sir,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville. &quot;I think before a
+week be out.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary Markham's cheek turned a little pale, and the old knight
+meditated for a moment or two; after which he asked his nephew when he
+intended to quit London? Richard replied, that he went on the
+following morning; and Sir Philip, who had found a sad vacancy in the
+hall since Richard had left them for a time, and poor Catherine for
+ever, required that he should stay and keep them company for the rest
+of the day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Heaven knows, my poor Mary,&quot; he said, &quot;how long we may have to remain
+in this place; and we shall soon find it dull enough. The people whom
+I expected to meet, have not yet appeared, and no tidings of them have
+come; so we may as well keep this idle boy to make us merry; and if he
+must go buy arms or lace jerkins for the court of Burgundy, why we
+will go with him to Gutherun's Lane and the Jury; and you shall ride
+your white palfrey for once along Cheape, with your gay side-saddle
+quilted with gold; though in my young days--before King Richard
+married Anne of Bohemia--never a lady in the land saw so foolish a
+contrivance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It may well be supposed that neither Mary Markham nor Richard of
+Woodville was very much averse to such a proposal; and the rest of the
+day passed in that April-morn happiness which all must have felt, ere
+parting with those we love; when the cloudy thought of the dreary
+morrow comes hourly sweeping over the sunshine of the present, yet
+making the light seem more bright for the passing shadow. More than
+once, too, the lovers were left for awhile alone; and every moment
+added to their sweet store of vows and promises. Much was also told
+that they had not had time to tell before, though it was still spoken
+in rambling and unconnected form--the one predominant feeling always
+intruding, and calling their thoughts and words back to what was
+passing in their own hearts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">How many bitter moments pay for our sweet ones in this life! and yet
+how willing are we all to make the purchase, whatever be the price!
+The ambitious spirit of enjoyment is upon us, and we must still
+enlarge the sphere of our delight, though--as when a conqueror
+stretches the bounds of his empire, and thereby only exposes a wider
+frontier to attack--each new hope, each new pleasure, each new
+possession, but lays us open to loss, regret, and disappointment. It
+is a sad view of human life; but Richard of Woodville and Mary Markham
+found its truth when they came to feel how much more bitter was their
+parting, for the few sweet hours of happiness they had enjoyed.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">THE WRONG.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The sun, scarce a hand's breadth above the sky, was nevertheless
+shining with beams as bright and warm as in the summer, when Richard
+of Woodville mounted his horse in the court-yard of the inn at Charing,
+and, followed by his two yeomen and his page, rode out, after
+receiving the valedictory speeches of the host and hostess, who,
+with a little crowd, composed of drawers and maidens, and some of
+their other guests, watched his departure, and commented upon his
+strong yet graceful limbs, and his easy management of his charger,
+prognosticating that he would prove stout in battlefield, and
+fortunate in hall and bower. Near the fine chaste cross at
+Charing--which stood hard by the spot where the grand libel upon
+British taste, called Trafalgar Square, now stands--Woodville paused
+for a moment, and letting his eye run past its grey fretwork, gazed
+down in the direction of the palace and the Abbey, hesitating whether
+he should take the shorter road by the convent of St. James, or, once
+more passing through Westminster, ride under the windows of fair Mary
+Markham, for the chance of one parting glance. I need not tell the
+reader how the question was decided; but as he turned his horse's head
+towards the palace, he saw a female figure standing upon the lower
+step of the cross, with the hood, then usually worn by women when out,
+drawn far over the face. The beautiful form, however, the small foot
+and ankle appearing from beneath the short kirtle, and the wild
+peculiar grace of the attitude, taken together, showed him at once
+that it was poor Ella Brune; and he was riding forward to speak with
+her, when she herself advanced and laid her hand upon his horse's
+neck.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have been watching for you, noble sir,&quot; she said, &quot;to bid you adieu
+before you part, and to give you thanks from a poor but true heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, you should not have waited here, Ella,&quot; he replied; &quot;why did you
+not come to the inn?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I did, yesterday at vespers,&quot; answered the girl; &quot;but you were
+abroad; and the people laughed, as if I had done a folly. Your men
+told me, however, you were going this morning at daybreak, and so I
+waited here; for I would fain ask you one boon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what is that, Ella?&quot; inquired Woodville; &quot;if it be possible to
+grant, it shall not be refused; for I have so little to give, that I
+must be no niggard of what I have.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You can grant it,&quot; replied the girl, with a bright smile; &quot;and you
+will be a niggard indeed if you do not; for it is what can do you no
+harm, and may stead me much in case of need. It is but to tell me
+whither you go, and when, and how.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is easily said, my fair maiden,&quot; answered Woodville. &quot;I go first
+to my own place at Meon; then to the Court of Burgundy, at the end of
+six days; and, as I would not cross through France, I go by sea from
+Dover to a town called Nieuport, on the coast of Flanders. But say, is
+there aught I can do for you before I send the man I told you of, to
+give you what little assistance I can?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Send him not, send him not,&quot; cried the girl; &quot;I am now rich--almost
+too rich, thanks to your generous interference with our good King. He
+sent me a large sum, by the hands of the bad knight, who killed the
+poor old man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay!&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;and did you see this Sir Simeon of
+Roydon, my poor Ella? Beware of him; for he is not one to understand
+you rightly, I fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am aware of him,&quot; answered the minstrel's girl; &quot;and I abhor him.
+He is a dark fearful man--but no more of that; I shall never see him
+more, I trust, for his eyes chill my blood. He looked at me as I love
+not men should look--not as you do, kindly and pitifully; but I know
+not how--it can be felt, not told.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I understand you, Ella,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;and his acts
+are like his looks. He has made more than one unhappy heart in many a
+cottage that once was blithe. I grieve the King sent him to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, 'twill do no harm,&quot; cried the girl. &quot;I shall not long be here;
+and I know him well. Would that I were not a woman!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What! would you avenge the wrong he did on that sad evening?&quot; asked
+Woodville, with a smile, to think how feeble that small hand would
+prove in strife.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, not for that,&quot; she replied; &quot;for I would try to forgive; but if I
+were not what I am you would take me with you in your train, and then
+I should be safe and happy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I trust you may be so still, even as a woman, poor girl,&quot; answered
+Richard of Woodville; and, after a few more words of kindness and
+comfort, he bade her adieu. Ella Brune's bright eyes glistened; and,
+perhaps, she found it difficult to speak the parting words, for she
+said no more, but, catching her young protector's hand, she pressed
+her lips upon it, and drew back to let him pass.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was impossible for Richard of Woodville not to feel touched and
+interested; but he was not one to mistake her. He knew--not indeed by
+the hard teaching of experience, but by the intuitive perception of a
+feeling heart--how the unfortunate cling to those who show them
+kindness, and could distinguish between the love of gratitude and that
+of passion. He had purposely spoken gently and tenderly to her; and,
+in proportion as he could do little to afford her substantial aid, had
+tried to make his words and manner consoling and strengthening; and he
+thought, &quot;If any one had acted so to me, I should feel towards him as
+this poor girl now feels in my case. Heaven guard her, poor thing, for
+hers is a sad fate!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In such meditations he rode on; but we will not at present follow him
+on his way, turning rather to poor Ella Brune, who stood by the cross
+gazing after him, till his horse taking a road to the right, about two
+hundred yards before it reached the palace gate, was soon hidden by
+the trees, just at the entrance of the town of Westminster.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a deep sigh, she then bent her steps along the road leading by
+the bank of the river towards the gate of the Temple, which was still
+in a somewhat ruinous state from the attack made upon it in 1381. As
+she went she looked not at the houses and gardens on either side--she
+marked not the procession which came forth, with cross and banner,
+from the convent on the right, nor the gay train that issued out of
+the gates of a large embattled house on the left; but separating
+herself from the people, who turned to gaze or hastened to follow, she
+made her way on, seeking the little inn where she dwelt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There were two other persons, however, who followed the same
+course--men with swords by their side, and bucklers on their shoulder,
+and a snake embroidered on the mourning habits that they wore. But
+Ella saw them not--she was too deeply occupied with her own dark
+thoughts. She seemed alone in the wide world--more alone than ever,
+since Richard of Woodville had left the capital; and to be so is both
+sad and perilous. How strange, how lamentable it is, that society,
+that great wonderful confused institution, springing from man's
+necessity for mutual aid and support, provides no prop, no stay for
+those who are left alone in the midst of it; none to counsel, none to
+help, none to defend against the worst of all evils--temptation to
+vice. Of the body it takes some care; we must not cut, we must not
+strike the flesh; we must not enthral it; we must not kill. But we may
+wound, injure, destroy the spirit if we can, even at our pleasure. For
+substantial things, we multiply regulations, safe-guards, penalties;
+for the mind, on which all the rest so much depends, we provide none.
+The philosophy of legislation has yet a great step to advance--a step,
+perhaps, that may never--perhaps that can never--be taken; though of
+one thing we may be sure--that, till the great Eutopian dream is
+realized, and either by education, or some other means, a safeguard is
+provided for the minds of men as well as their bodies and their
+property, all the iron laws that can be enacted, will prove
+insufficient for the protection of those more tangible things which we
+think most easily defended. To regulate and guard the mind, especially
+in youth, is to turn the river near its source, and to ensure that it
+shall flow on in peace and bounty to the end; but to leave it
+unguided, and yet by law to strive to restrain man's actions, is to
+put weak floodgates against a torrent that we have suffered to
+accumulate. But no more of this. Perhaps what has been already said is
+too much, and out of place.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yet, to return. It is strange and sad that society does afford no
+stay, no support, to those who are left alone in the wide world; nay,
+more, that to be so left, seems in a great degree to sever the bond
+between us and society. &quot;He must have some friends. Let him apply to
+them,&quot; we are apt to say, whenever one of these solitary ones comes
+before us, and whether it is advice, assistance, or defence, that is
+needed. &quot;He must have some friends!&quot;--It is a phrase in constant use;
+and, in our own hearts, we go on to say, &quot;if he have not, he must have
+lost them by his own fault;&quot; and yet how many events may deprive man,
+and much more frequently woman, of the only friends possessed!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Poor Ella Brune felt that she was indeed alone; that there was no one
+to whom she could apply for anything that the heart and spirit of the
+bereaved and desolate might need. She knew, that had she been a leper,
+or halt, or blind, or fevered, she could have found those who would
+have tended, cured, supported her; but there was no comfort, no aid,
+for her loneliness; and scorn, or coldness, or selfish passion, or
+greedy knavery, would have met her, had she asked any one, in the wide
+crowd through which she passed, &quot;Which way shall I turn my footsteps?
+how shall I bend my course through life?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She felt it deeply, bitterly, and, as I have said, walked on full of
+her own sad thoughts, while the numbers round her grew less and less.
+At length, in the sort of irregular street that, even then, began to
+stretch out from the edge of Farringdon, without the walls, into the
+country towards Charing, she was left with none near her but the two
+men of whom we have spoken, and an old woman, walking slowly on
+before. The men seemed to notice no one, and conversed with each other
+in an under tone, till, in the midst of the highway, a little beyond
+St. Clement's well, one or two small wooden houses appeared built in
+the middle of the high road, with the end of a narrow lane leading up
+to the Old Temple in Oldbourne, and the house of the Bishop of
+Lincoln. There, however, one of them advanced a step, and spoke a word
+to Ella Brune, over her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Whither away, pretty maiden?&quot; he said. &quot;Are you not going to see the
+batch of country nobles who have come up to do homage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am going home,&quot; answered Ella Brune, gravely; &quot;and want no
+company;&quot; and she hurried her pace to get rid of him. The next instant
+the other man was by her side, and taking her arm roughly, he said,
+&quot;You must come with us first, our lord wishes to speak with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune struggled to disengage herself, saying, &quot;Let me go, sir; if
+your lord wishes to speak with me, it must be at some other time. I
+have people expecting me hard by. Let me go, I say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, we know all about it,&quot; rejoined the man, still keeping his hold,
+and drawing her towards the mouth of the lane. &quot;You live at the
+Falcon, pretty mistress; but you must go with us first.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sounds behind her had caused the old woman to turn round the
+moment before, and, seeing Ella struggling to free herself from the
+man who held her, she turned to remonstrate, exclaiming, &quot;What are you
+about, sirs? Let the young woman go!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Get you gone, old beldame!&quot; cried the other man, thrusting her back.
+&quot;What is it to you?&quot; and at the same time he seized Ella by the other
+arm, and hurried her on, in spite of her resistance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Beldame, indeed!&quot; exclaimed the old woman, gazing after them. &quot;Marry,
+thou art not civil. If thou callest me so, I will call thee Davy.<a name="div4Ref_02" href="#div4_02"><sup>[2]</sup></a> I
+will see whither they go, however;&quot; and thus saying, at the utmost
+speed she could master, she followed the men who were dragging poor
+Ella Brune along, calling in vain for help--for the houses in that
+part of the suburb were few, and principally consisted either of the
+large gothic mansions of the nobility, shut in within their own gates
+and surrounded by gardens, or the inns of prelates, isolated in the
+same manner. Whither they were dragging her, the old woman could not
+divine: for she thought it unlikely that any of the persons who dwelt
+in that neighbourhood would sanction such a violent act. Ella herself,
+however, knew right well, for she had taken the same road the day
+before, on her brief visit to Sir Simeon of Roydon. Peril and
+wandering, and sad chances of various kinds, such as seldom are the
+lot of one so young, had taught her to remark every particular that
+passed before her eyes with a precision which fixed things in her
+memory that might have escaped the sight of others; and she had seen
+the snake embroidered on the breast and back of the knight's servants,
+and recognised the badge instantly on those who held her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As she expected, the men stopped at the gates of the house, which were
+open, and dragged her into the court; but her cries and her resistance
+ceased the moment she had reached that place, for she knew that they
+were both in vain, and made up her mind from that moment to the course
+which she had to pursue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha, ha! pretty maiden,&quot; said the man who had first spoken to her.
+&quot;You are now willing to go, are you? Our lord is not lightly to be
+refused a visit from any fair dame. Come, come, I can manage her now,
+Pilcher; you stay at the foot of the stairs. Will you come willingly,
+girl, or must we carry you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will come,&quot; answered Ella Brune; &quot;not willingly, but because I
+must;&quot; and, with the man still holding her by the arm, she mounted one
+of the flights of stairs which led straight from the court-yard to the
+rooms above. Following a long corridor, or gallery, lighted by a large
+window at the end, the man led her from the top of the stairs towards
+the back part of the house, and, opening a door on the right, bade her
+go in. After one hasty glance around, which showed her that it was
+vacant, she entered the small cabinet which was before her, and the
+door was immediately shut and locked. She now found herself in a dark
+and gloomy chamber, which probably had been originally intended either
+for secret conferences, or for a place of meditation and prayer, where
+the eye could not distract the mind by catching any of the objects
+without; for the only window which it possessed was so high up in the
+wall, that the sill was above the eyes of any person of ordinary
+height. There was but one door, too--that by which she had entered;
+and the whole of the walls of the room was covered with black oak, of
+which also the beams overhead were formed. A few chairs and a small
+table composed the only furniture which it contained; and Ella paused
+in the midst, leaning upon the table in deep thought. Her mind,
+indeed, was bent only on one point. What were the purposes of Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, she did not even ask herself; for she knew right
+well that they were evil. Nor did she consider what she should answer,
+or how she should act; for a strong and resolute mind judges and
+decides with a rapidity marvellous in the eyes of the slow and
+hesitating; and her determination was already formed. Her only inquiry
+was, what were the means of escape from the chamber in which she had
+been placed, what was its position in regard to the apartments which
+she had visited on the previous day, and which had appeared to be
+those usually occupied by Roydon himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After thinking for some moments, and retracing with the aid of memory
+every step she had taken in the house, both on that morning and the
+day before, she judged, and judged rightly, that the chamber in which
+she had seen the knight must join that in which she now stood, though
+she had reached it by another entrance. The sound of voices, which she
+soon after heard speaking in a different direction from the gallery,
+confirmed her in that belief; for, though she could not distinguish
+any of the words, she felt convinced that the tones were those of Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, and of the man who had brought her thither.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At length the speakers ceased, a door opened and shut, and then the
+key was turned in the lock of that which gave entrance to the room
+where she was confined. As she expected, the next moment Simeon of
+Roydon stood before her, bearing a sort of laughing triumph in his
+face, which only increased her abhorrence. He was advancing quickly,
+as if to take her hand, but she drew back, with her eyes fixed upon
+him, saying, &quot;Come not too near, sir. I am somewhat dangerous at
+times, when I am offended.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, what folly is this, my sweet Ella!&quot; said the knight; &quot;my people
+tell me that you have resisted like a young wolf.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You may find me more of a wolf than you suppose,&quot; replied Ella Brune,
+coldly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; answered Sir Simeon, &quot;we have ways of taming wolves--but I seek
+nothing but your good and happiness, foolish girl. Is it not much
+better for you to live in comfort and luxury, with rich garments, and
+dainty food, and glowing wine, to lie soft, and have no task, but to
+sing and play and please yourself, than to wander about over the wide
+world, the sport of 'prentices, or the companion of ruffians?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There are ruffians in all stations.&quot; rejoined Ella Brune; &quot;else had I
+not been here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The cheek of the knight glowed with an angry spot; but then again he
+laughed the moment after, in a tone more of mockery than of merriment,
+saying, &quot;We will tame thee, pretty wolf, we will tame thee. Thou
+showest thy white teeth; but thou wilt not bite.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Be not sure of that,&quot; answered Ella Brune. &quot;I know well how to defend
+myself, should need be, and have done so before now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, we will see,&quot; replied Sir Simeon; &quot;it takes some time to break
+a horse or hound, or train a hawk; and you shall have space allowed
+you. All soft and kindly entertainment shall you have. With me shall
+you eat and drink, and talk and sing, if you will. You shall have
+courtship, like a lady of the land, to try whether gentle means will
+do. But mark me, pretty Ella, if they will not, we must try others. I
+am resolved that you shall be mine by force, if not by kindness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You dare not use it,&quot; answered Ella Brune.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And why not?&quot; demanded the knight, with a haughty smile; &quot;I have done
+more daring things than vanquish a coy maiden.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know you have,&quot; said Ella Brune, in a grave and fearless tone; &quot;but
+I will tell you why not. First, because, whatever be your care, it
+would come to the King's ears, and you would pay for it with your
+head. Next, because I carry about me wherewithal to defend myself;&quot;
+and, putting her hand into her bosom, she drew forth a small short
+broad-bladed knife, in a silver case. &quot;This is my only friend left me
+here,&quot; she continued; &quot;and you may think, perchance, most gallant
+knight, and warrior upon women, that this, in so weak a hand as mine,
+is no very frightful weapon. But, let me tell you, that it was
+tempered in distant lands--ay, and anointed too; and you had better
+far give your heart to the bite of the most poisonous snake that
+crawls the valley of Egypt, than receive the lightest scratch from
+this. The hilt is always at hand--so, beware!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, we have antidotes,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;antidotes for everything
+but love, sweet maid--and I swear, by your own bright eyes, that you
+shall be mine--so 'tis vain to resist. You shall have three days of
+tenderness; and then I may take a different tone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, some one knocked for the second time--the first had been
+unheeded. The knight turned to the door, and opened it, demanding
+impatiently, &quot;What is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The Lord Combe and Sir Harry Alsover are in the court, desiring to
+speak with you,&quot; replied the servant who appeared.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, take them up to the other chamber,&quot; answered the knight; and,
+without saying more to his fair captive, he quitted the room, and once
+more locked the door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The moment he was in the corridor, however, he stopped, saying, in a
+meditative tone, &quot;Stay, Easton.&quot; He hesitated for an instant, asking
+himself whether it were worth his while to pursue this course any
+farther, for a low minstrel girl, against such unexpected resistance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The hand of Heaven almost always, in its great mercy, casts obstacles
+in the way of the gratification of our baser passions, which give us
+time for thought and for repentance; so that, in almost every case, if
+we commit sin or crime, it is with the perverse determination of
+conquering both impediments and conviction. Conscience is seldom, if
+ever, left unaided by circumstances. But the wicked find, in those
+very circumstances which oppose their course, motives for pursuing it
+more fiercely.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No!&quot; said Sir Simeon of Roydon, to himself--&quot;By--! she shall not
+conquer me!--Tell the King!--She shall never have the means; for I
+will either tame her, till she be but my bird, to sing what note I
+please, or I will silence her tongue effectually. To be conquered by a
+woman!--No, no! She is very lovely; and her very lion look is worth
+all the soft simpering smiles on earth. Hark ye, Easton: there is a
+druggist, down by the Vintry, with whom I have had some dealings in
+days of yore. This girl has a poisoned dagger about her, which must be
+got from her. 'Tis a marvel she used it not on you, as you brought her
+along, for she drew it forth on me but now. The man's name is Tyler;
+and he would sell his soul for gold. Tell him that I have need of some
+cunning drug to make men sleep--to sleep, I say--understand me, not to
+die: to sleep so sound, however, that a light touch, or a low tone,
+would not awaken them. It must have as little taste as may be, that we
+may put it in her drink, or in her food; and then, while she sleeps,
+we'll draw the lion's teeth. He will give you anything for a noble;&quot;
+and, after these innocent directions, the knight betook himself to the
+chamber whither he had directed his friends to be brought, and was
+soon in full tide of laughter and merriment at all the idle stories of
+the Court.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">THE REMEDY.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Nearly opposite to the old, half ruined gate of the Temple, there
+commenced, in the days I speak of, a very narrow lane, which wound up
+northward, till it joined the place now called Holborn, passing, in
+its course, under the walls of the inn, or house, of the Bishop of
+Lincoln, round his garden wall, and through the grounds of the Old
+Temple house, inhabited by the Knights Templars, before they built a
+dwelling for themselves, by the banks of the Thames. This Temple
+house, still called the Old Temple in the reign of Henry V., had been
+abandoned by the brethren in the year 1184, or thereabout. For some
+time it was used to lodge any of the fraternity who might visit
+England from foreign countries, when the new building was too full to
+afford them accommodation; but gradually this custom ceased, even
+before the suppression of the Order, and at its dissolution the Old
+Temple fell into sore decay. When the lands of the Templars were
+afterwards granted to the Knights of St. John, certain portions of the
+building, and several of the out-buildings, were granted by them to
+various artisans, who found it more convenient to carry on their
+several pursuits beyond the actual precincts of the city of London.
+One large antique gate, of heavy architecture, with immense walls, and
+with rooms in either of the two towers which flanked the lane I have
+mentioned, was tenanted by an armourer, who had erected his stithy
+behind, and who stored his various completed arms in the chamber on
+the right of the gate, where the porter had formerly lodged. Over the
+window of this room was suspended, under a rude penthouse of straw, to
+keep it from the rain, a huge casque, indicative of the tenant's
+profession; and, at about eight o'clock of the same morning on which
+Richard of Woodville quitted London, a little cavalcade, consisting of
+a tall gaunt old man on a strong black horse, a young lady on a white
+genet, and three stout yeomen, rode slowly up to the gate-house, and
+drew their bridles there, pausing to gaze for a moment or two through
+the deep arch at the forge beyond, where the flame glowed and the
+anvil rang, throwing a red glare into the shadowy doorway, and
+drowning the sound of the horses' feet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halloo! Launcelot Plasse!&quot; cried old Sir Philip Beauchamp, in as loud
+a tone as he thought needful to call the attention of the person he
+wanted--&quot;halloo!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the cyclops within went on with their hammering; and, after
+another ineffectual effort to make them hear, the good knight called
+up his men to hold the horses, and lifting Mary Markham as lightly to
+the ground as if she had been but the weight of a feather, he said,
+&quot;We must go in and bellow in this deaf man's ear, till we outdo his
+own noise. Stay here, Mary, I will rouse him;&quot; and, advancing through
+the open gate, he seized the bare arm of the armourer, exclaiming,
+&quot;What, Launcelot! wouldst thou brain me?--Why, how now, man! has the
+roaring of thine own forge deafened thee?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The elderly white-headed man to whom he spoke turned round and gazed
+at him, leaning his strong muscular arm upon his hammer, and wiping
+the drops from his brow. &quot;By St. Jude!&quot; he cried, after a moment's
+consideration, &quot;I think it is Sir Philip Beauchamp. Yet your head is
+as white as the ashes, and when I knew him it was a grizzled black,
+like pauldrons traced with silver lines; and you are mighty thin and
+bony for stout Sir Philip, whose right hand would have knocked down an
+ox!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fifteen years, Launcelot! fifteen years!&quot; answered the knight; &quot;they
+bend a stout frame, as thou beatest out a bit of iron; and, if my head
+be white, thy black hairs are more easy to be counted than found. Yet
+both our arms might do some service in their own way yet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, I am glad to see you again, noble knight,&quot; replied the
+armourer; &quot;though I thought that it would be no more, before you and I
+went our ways to dust. But, what lack you? There must be some wars
+toward, to bring an old knight to the stithy; for well I wot, you are
+not going to buy a tilting suit, or do battle for a fair lady. God
+send us some good wholesome wars right soon! We have had nothing
+lately, but the emprise of the Duke of Clarence. King Harry the Fourth
+got tired of his armour; pray Heaven, his son love the weight better,
+or I must let the forge cool, and that were a shame.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, 'tis not for myself,&quot; replied Sir Philip. &quot;I have more arms,
+Launcelot, than ever I shall don in life again. My next suit--unless
+the King make haste--will be in the chancel of the church at Abbot's
+Ann. What I want is for my nephew, Dickon of Woodville; he is going to
+foreign lands, in search of renown; and I would fain choose him a suit
+myself, for you know I am somewhat of a judge in steel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You were always accounted so, noble sir,&quot; replied the armourer, with
+a grave and important face; &quot;and, if you had not been a knight, might
+have taken my trade out of my hands. But whither does Childe Richard
+go? We must know that, for every land has its own arms; and it would
+not do to give him for Italy what is good for France, nor for
+Palestine what would suit Italy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old knight informed him that his nephew was first to visit
+Burgundy; and the armourer exclaimed, with a well satisfied air, &quot;Then
+I can provide him to a point; for I have Burgundian arms all ready,
+even to flaming swords, if he must have them; but 'tis a foolish and
+fanciful weapon, far less serviceable than the good straight edge and
+point. But come, Sir Philip, let us go into the armoury. 'Tis well
+nigh crammed full, for gentlemen buy little; and yet I go on hammering
+with my men, till I have put all the money that I got in the wars,
+into arms.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he covered himself with the leathern jerkin, which he had
+cast off while at work, and returned with his old acquaintance to the
+room in which the various pieces of armour, that he kept ready, were
+preserved. Sir Philip called Mary Markham to assist in the choice; but
+it soon became evident to both, that no selection could be made in
+good Launcelot Plasse's armoury--for not only was the room, to their
+eyes, as dark as the pit of Acheron, but the armour was piled up in
+such confused heaps, that it was hardly possible to take a step
+therein without stumbling over breast-plate or bascinet, pauldrons or
+brassières.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fie, Launcelot, fie!&quot; cried Sir Philip; &quot;this is a sad deranged show.
+Why, a stout man-at-arms always keeps his armour in array.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;When he has room and time, Sir Philip,&quot; answered the man; &quot;but here I
+have neither. However, you and the fair lady go forth under the arch,
+and I will bring you out what is wanted. Here, knave Martin,&quot; he
+continued, calling one of his men from the forge, &quot;bring out the great
+bench, and set it under the gate, quick!--What is your nephew's
+height, Sir Philip?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What my own used to be,&quot; replied the old knight; &quot;six feet and half
+an inch--and there is his measure round the waist.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bench was soon brought forward, being nothing else than a large
+solid table of some six inches thick; and by it Sir Philip Beauchamp
+and fair Mary Markham took their station, while Launcelot Plasse, with
+the aid of one of his men, dug out from the piles within, various
+pieces of armour which he thought might suit the taste of his old
+customer, laying them down at the door, to be brought forward as
+required. The first article, however, that he carried to the bench,
+was a cuirass of one piece, evidently old--for not only was it
+somewhat rusty about the angles, but in the centre there was a large
+rough-edged hole.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, what is this?&quot; exclaimed Sir Philip; &quot;this will never do--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, it has done, and left undone enough,&quot; replied the armourer. &quot;I
+brought it but to show you. In that placcate was killed Harry Hotspur.
+I do not say that was the hole that let death in; for men aver that it
+was a stab in the throat with a coustel, when he was down, that slew
+him; but the blow that made <i>that</i> bore him to the ground, other wise
+Shrewsbury field might have gone differently. Now I will fetch the
+rest. You see, fairest lady, what gentlemen undergo for the love of
+praise, and your bright eyes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he took back the breast-plate, and brought forward,
+supported on his arm, one of the bascinets or casques worn in the
+field, which were lighter and considerably smaller than the jousting
+helmets. It was of a round or globular shape, with a small elevation
+at the top, in which to fix the feathers then usually displayed; and
+on the forehead was a plate, or band of white enamel, inscribed with
+the words, &quot;Ave Maria.&quot; Sir Philip Beauchamp made some objections to
+the form; but Mary Markham, after she had read the inscription,
+pronounced in favour of the bascinet; and the armourer himself had so
+much to say of its defensive qualities, of the excellent invention of
+making the ventaille rise by plates from below, and of the temper of
+the steel, that Sir Philip, after having examined it minutely, waived
+his objections. The price being fixed, the body armour to match was
+brought forward, piece by piece, and laid upon the bench. It was of
+complete plate, as was now the custom of the day, but yet many pieces
+of the old chain hauberk were retained to cover the joinings of the
+different parts. Thus beneath the gorget, or camail, which covered the
+throat, was a sort of tippet formed of interlaced rings of steel, to
+hang down over the cuirass and afford additional protection; while, at
+the same time, from the tassets which terminated the cuirass, hung a
+broad edge of the same, to complete their junction with the cuissards,
+or thigh pieces.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This arrangement pleased the old knight very much; for it was a
+remnant of the customs of ancient times, when he himself was young,
+and which totally disappeared before many years were over; but with
+the cuirass he quarrelled very much, exclaiming, &quot;What, will men never
+have done with their idle fancies? 'Tis bad enough to divide the
+breast-plate into two, and hang the lower part to the upper by that
+red strap and buckle; but what is the use of sticking out the breast,
+like that of a fat-cropped pigeon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It gives greater use to the arms, noble sir,&quot; replied Launcelot
+Plasse, &quot;and turns a lance much easier, from being quite round.
+Besides, it is the fashion of the court of Burgundy: and no noble
+gentleman could appear there well without. The palettes, too, you see,
+are shaped like a fan, and gilt with quaint figures at the corners. It
+cost me nine days to make these palettes alone, and the genouillières,
+which have the same work upon them. Then the pauldrons--see how they
+are artfully turned over at the top of the shoulder with a gilt
+bordure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And pray, what may that be for?&quot; demanded the old knight; &quot;we had no
+such tricks in my days to make a man look like a cray-fish.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is to give the arm fuller sweep and sway, either with axe or
+sword,&quot; answered the armourer. &quot;You can thus raise your hand quite up
+to your very crest, which you could never do before, since pauldrons
+were invented.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We used to give good stout strokes in the year eighty,&quot; rejoined Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, &quot;as you well know, Master Launcelot. But boys must
+have boys' things--so let it pass; but, what between one piece and
+another, it will take a man an hour to get into his harness, with all
+these buckles and straps. But I will tell you what, Master Launcelot,
+I will have no tuilles over the cuissards; they were a barbarous and
+unnatural custom, and very inconvenient too. I was once nearly thrown
+to the ground in Gascony, by the point catching the saddle as I
+mounted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! they are quite gone out of use,&quot; replied the armourer; &quot;and we
+now either make the tassets long, or add a guipon of mail, coming down
+to the thighs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The jambes or steel boots, the sollerets or coverings for the feet,
+the brassards, gauntlets, and vambraces were then discussed and
+purchased, not without some chaffering on the part of the old knight,
+who was a connoisseur in the price as well as in the fashion of
+armour; but Launcelot Plasse had so much to say in favour of his
+commodities, that he obtained very nearly the sum he demanded.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He then proceeded to prove to Sir Philip Beauchamp, that the suit
+would not be complete without the testière, the chanfron, and the
+manefaire and poitral of, the horse to correspond; and, though his
+customer was not inclined to spend anymore money, yet a soft word or
+two from Mary Markham won the day for the armourer, and he was
+directed to bring forth the horse armour for inspection.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While he and his men were busy fulfilling this command, the old knight
+turned, hearing some one speaking eagerly, and apparently imploringly,
+to his attendants; and, seeing an old woman poorly dressed conversing
+with them, he inquired, &quot;What does the woman want, Hugh?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah! noble sir,&quot; replied the old dame, &quot;if you would but interfere, it
+might save sin and wrong. I have just seen a poor girl dragged away by
+two men up to a house in the lane, called Burwash-house, where they
+have taken her in against her will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha!&quot; cried Sir Philip Beauchamp; &quot;why, he is an old and reverend man,
+my good Lord of Burwash, and will not suffer such things in his
+mansion. I will send up one of the men to tell him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The noble lord is not there, fair sir,&quot; replied the woman; &quot;but he
+has lent his house to some gay knight, whose men do what they please
+with the poor people. 'Tis but yesterday my own child was struck by
+one of them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If there be wrong done, you must go to the officers of the duchy,
+good woman,&quot; answered the knight, whose blood was cold with age, and
+who could be prudent till he was chafed. &quot;I will send one of the
+yeomen with you, to get you a hearing. These things should be amended;
+but when Kings' sons will beat the citizens, and brawl in Cheape,
+there is no great hope.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith, Sir Philip!&quot; cried the armourer, who had just come forth,
+bearing the manefaire upon his arm, &quot;if it be the Duke of Clarence you
+speak of, and his brother John, 'twas they got beaten, and did not
+beat. We Londoners are sturdy knaves, and take not drubbings
+patiently, whether from lord or prince.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And you are right, too,&quot; replied the old knight; &quot;men are not made to
+be the sport of other men. But what's to be done about this girl,
+Launcelot? You know the customs here better than I do. The good woman
+says they have carried a girl off against her will to Burwash-house
+here, hard by.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, that's the back of it,&quot; cried Launcelot Plasse. &quot;The old lord is
+not there, but in his stead one Sir Simeon of Roydon, who, if I
+mistake not, will never win much renown by stroke of lance. Wait a
+minute, my good woman, till I have sold my goods, and then I and my
+men will go up with you, and set the girl free, or it shall go hard,
+if you are certain she was taken against her will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She shrieked loud enough to make you all hear,&quot; replied the old
+woman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I thought there was a noise when we were hammering at the back
+piece,&quot; observed one of the men.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I heard nothing,&quot; said Launcelot Plasse.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, go at once, go at once,&quot; cried Mary Markham; &quot;you know not how
+she may be treated. We can wait till you return. Send the men with
+them, dear Sir Philip.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will go myself, Mary,&quot; replied the knight. &quot;Come along, my men,
+leave one with the horses, and the rest follow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am with you, Sir Philip,&quot; cried the armourer. &quot;Bring your hammers,
+lads, we will make short work of oaken doors.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But ere Sir Philip Beauchamp had taken two steps up the lane, the
+casement of a large window in the house which had been pointed out,
+was thrown suddenly open, and a woman's head appeared. The sill of the
+window was some twelve or fourteen feet from the ground; but, to the
+surprise of all, without seeming to pause for a moment, the girl whom
+they beheld set her foot upon it, caught the iron bar which ran down
+the middle of the casement, seemed to twist something round it, and
+then suffered herself to drop, hanging by her hands, first from the
+bar, and then from a scarf.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She was still some five or six feet from the ground, however; and Mary
+Markham, who had been watching eagerly, clasped her hands, and turned
+away her head. Sir Philip Beauchamp, and the men who accompanied him
+paused, and they could hear a voice from within exclaim, &quot;Follow her
+like light, by the back door! She will to the King, and that were
+ruin. What fear you, fool? She has broken the dagger in the lock, do
+you not see?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, the girl, after a momentary hesitation, during which she
+hung suspended by the hands, wavering with the motion which she had
+given herself in dropping from above, let go her hold, and sank to the
+ground. Fortunately the lane was soft and sandy; and she fell light,
+coming down, indeed, upon one knee, but instantly starting up again
+unhurt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She then gazed wildly round her for an instant, and put her hand to
+her head, as if asking herself whither she should fly; but the sight
+of the old knight and his companions, and the sound of an opening door
+on the other side, brought her indecision quickly to an end, and
+running rapidly forward, she cast herself at Sir Philip Beauchamp's
+feet, embracing his knee, and crying, &quot;Save me!--save me, noble sir!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the moment she reached the good old man, two stout fellows, who had
+rushed from a door in the wall, and followed her at full speed, were
+within two paces of her; and one of them caught her by the arm, even
+at the knight's feet, as he was in the act of commanding him to keep
+aloof.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stand back, fellow!&quot; thundered Sir Philip Beauchamp, with the blood
+coming up into his withered cheek; and the next moment, in the midst
+of an insolent reply, he struck the knave in the face with his
+clenched fist, knocking him backwards all bloody on the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The other man, who had more than once accompanied Sir Simeon of Roydon
+to Dunbury, and recognised its lord, slunk back to the house, stopped
+some others who were following, and then hastened in, to tell his
+master in whom Ella Brune had found a protector.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man who had been knocked down, rose, gazed fiercely at the knight,
+and then looked behind him for support; but seeing his companions
+retreating, he too retrod his steps, not without muttering some
+threats of vengeance; while the old armourer cried after him, &quot;Never
+show your faces again in the lane, knaves, or we will hide you back
+like hounds, or pound you like strayed swine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the meanwhile, Sir Philip had raised up the poor girl; and Mary
+Markham was soothing her tenderly, as Ella, finding herself safe, gave
+way to the tears which her strong resolution had repressed in the
+actual moment of difficulty and danger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come, come, do not weep, poor thing,&quot; said the knight, laying his
+large, bony hand upon her shoulder. &quot;We will take care of you. Who is
+it that has done this?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A bad man, called Simeon of Roydon,&quot; replied Ella Brune, wiping away
+the tears.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We know him,&quot; said Mary Markham, in a kindly tone; &quot;and do not love
+him, my poor girl.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And I have cause to love him less, noble lady,&quot; replied Ella Brune,
+waving her head mournfully. &quot;'Tis but two nights ago he killed the
+last friend I had; and now he would have wronged me shamefully.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Killed him!&quot; exclaimed Mary; &quot;what! murdered him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Twas the same as murder,&quot; replied the girl; &quot;he rode him down in a
+mad frolic--a poor blind man. He is not yet in his grave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come, come--be comforted,&quot; said Sir Philip. &quot;Let us hear how all this
+chanced.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We will be your friends, poor girl,&quot; added Mary Markham; and then,
+turning to the old knight, she asked, in a low tone, &quot;can we not take
+her home with us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Philip gazed at the minstrel's girl from head to foot, and then
+shrugged his shoulders slightly, with a significant look, as he
+remarked her somewhat singular dress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay,&quot; said Mary Markham, in the same low tone; &quot;do not let that
+stop you, noble friend. There may be some good amongst even them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, be it as you will, Mary,&quot; answered the old knight; &quot;she must be
+better than she looks, to do as she has done. Come, poor thing--you
+shall go home with us, and there tell us more. Wait till I have
+finished the purchase of this harness, and we will go along back to
+Westminster; though how to take you through the streets in that guise,
+I do not well know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Get a boat, sir, at a landing by the Temple,&quot; said Launcelot Plasse,
+&quot;and send the horses by land.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A good thought,&quot; replied the knight; and thus it was arranged, the
+whole party returning to the armourer's shop, and thence, after the
+bargain was made, and all directions were given, proceeding to the
+water-side, where a boat was soon procured, which bore them speedily
+to the landing-place at Westminster.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_15" href="#div1Ref_15">THE PILGRIM.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">One morning, while the events which I have lately detailed were
+passing in the city of London, a man in a long brown gown, with a
+staff in his hand, a cross upon his shoulder, and a cockle-shell in
+his hat, walked slowly, and apparently wearily, into the little
+village of Abbot's Ann, and sat himself down on a stone bench before
+the reeve's door.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Recognising the pilgrim from some far distant land as she looked out
+of her casement window, the good dame, with the charitable spirit of
+the age, took him forth some broken victuals and a cup of ale, and
+inquired what news he brought from over sea. The wanderer, however,
+seemed more inclined to ask than answer questions, and was apparently
+full of wonder and amazement at the tragic story--which he had just
+heard, he said--of the death of the Lady Catherine Beauchamp. He
+prayed the good woman, for love and for charity's sake, to tell him
+all about it; and she, very willing to gratify him--for every country
+gossip gains dignity while telling a horrible tale--began at the
+beginning of the affair, as far as she knew it; and related how, just
+on the night after the last Glutton mass, as Childe Richard of
+Woodville, their lord's nephew, was riding down the road with a
+friend, he heard a shriek, and, on hurrying to the water, found the
+body of the poor young lady floating down the stream; how the two
+gentlemen bore her to the chanter's cottage; and how marks were found
+upon her person, which seemed to prove that she had come to her death
+by unfair means.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And has the murderer been discovered, sister?&quot; inquired the old
+pilgrim.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Alas, no!&quot; replied the reeve's wife; &quot;there have been whispers about,
+but nothing certain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, murder will out, sooner or later,&quot; answered the pilgrim. &quot;And
+whom did the whispers point at?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; replied Dame Julian, &quot;I know not that I ought to say; but, to a
+reverend man like you, who have visited the shrine of St. James, there
+can be no harm in speaking of these things, especially as we all know
+that the whispers are false. Well, then--but you must tell nobody what
+I say--the lady's own lover--husband, indeed, I might call him, for
+they were betrothed by holy church--has been accused of having done
+the deed; but every one who knows Sir Harry Dacre is right sure that
+he would have sooner cut off both his hands; and, besides, the miller
+of Clatford Mill told me--'twas but yesterday morning--that, half an
+hour before sunset, on that very day when all this happened, he saw
+Sir Harry at his own place, and opened the gate for him to go through.
+He remembered it, he said, because the knight had torn his hand with a
+nail in the gate, by trying to open it without dismounting; and as
+soon as he was through, he rode on towards Wey Hill, which is quite
+away from here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Might he not have come back again by some other road?&quot; asked the
+pilgrim.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No,&quot; answered Dame Julian, &quot;not without going four miles round; and,
+besides, the miller told me that his man Job saw the knight, half an
+hour after, at the top of Wey Hill, halting his horse, and gazing at
+the sun setting. Now that's a good way off, and this deed was done
+just after close of day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then that clears him,&quot; replied the pilgrim; &quot;but is there no one else
+suspected?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The good woman shook her head, and he added--&quot;Was nobody seen about
+here who might have had cause to wish the lady ill?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;None,&quot; said Dame Julian, with a low laugh, &quot;but one who might perhaps
+wish her dead; for he got all her wealth, which was prodigious, they
+say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, was he seen about, then?&quot; demanded the pilgrim; &quot;there might be
+suspicion there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why,&quot; said the reeve's wife, &quot;he was staying up at the Hall, and
+passed homeward about three. It might be a little later, but not much.
+What became of him afterwards I do not know; and yet, now I think of
+it, he must have remained in the place some time, for he was seen an
+hour after, or more, by a girl, who asked me who he was.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Tis a wonder she did not know him,&quot; said the pilgrim, &quot;if she lives
+in this place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But that she does not,&quot; answered Dame Julian. &quot;She dwells a good way
+off, and was here by chance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, 'tis a sad tale, indeed,&quot; rejoined her companion; &quot;but I must go,
+good dame. Gramercy for your bounty. But tell me,--I saw an abbey as I
+came along; have they any famous relics there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, that they have,&quot; rejoined the reeve's wife, with a look of pride.
+&quot;Our abbey is as rich in relics as any other in England;&quot; and she
+began an enumeration of all the valuable things that it contained;
+amongst which, the objects that she seemed to set the greatest store
+by, was a finger of St. Luke the Evangelist, the veil of the blessed
+Virgin, and one of the ribs of St. Ursula.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The pilgrim declared that he must positively go and visit them, as he
+never passed any holy relics without sanctifying himself by their
+touch.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He accordingly took his way towards the abbey direct, and visited and
+prayed at the several shrines which the church contained, having
+secured the company and guidance of one of the monks, who were always
+extremely civil and kind to pilgrims and palmers, when they did not
+come exactly in the guise of beggars. The present pilgrim was of a
+very different quality; and he completely won the good graces and
+admiration of the attendant monk, not so much, indeed, by the devotion
+with which he told his beads and repeated his prayers, as by his
+generosity in laying down a large piece of silver before the rib of
+St. Ursula, another at the shrine of St. Luke, and a small piece of
+gold opposite to the veil of the blessed Virgin.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Having thus prepared the way, the stranger proceeded to open a
+conversation with the monk, somewhat similar to that which he had held
+with Dame Julian, the reeve's wife; and now a torrent of information
+flowed in upon him; for his companion had been one of the brethren who
+accompanied the abbot to the cottage whither the body of Catherine
+Beauchamp had been carried. The tale, however, though told with much
+loquacity, furnished but few particulars beyond those which the
+pilgrim had already gained; for the monk appeared a meek, good man,
+who took everything as he found it, and deduced but little from
+anything that he heard. All that he knew, indeed, he was ready to
+tell; but he had neither readiness nor penetration sufficient to
+gather much information, or to sift the corn from the chaff.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The pilgrim seemed somewhat disappointed, for he was certainly anxious
+to hear more; and he was on the eve of leaving the church unsatisfied,
+when he beheld another monk pacing the opposite aisle, with a grave,
+and even dull air. He was an old man, with a short, thin, white beard,
+and heavy features, which, till one examined closely, gave an
+expression of stupidity to his whole countenance, only relieved by the
+small, elephant-like eye, which sparkled brightly under its shaggy
+eyebrow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What brother is that?&quot; demanded the pilgrim, looking across the
+church.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, that is brother Martin,&quot; replied the monk; &quot;a dull and silent
+man, from whom you will get nothing. He is skilled in drugs and
+medicines, it is true. His cell is like an alchymist's shop; but we
+all think he must have committed some great sin in days of old, for
+half his time is spent in prayers and penances, and the other half in
+distilling liquors, or roasting lumps of clay and other stuffs in
+crucibles and furnaces. 'Tis rather hard, the lord abbot favours him
+so much, and has granted him two cells, the best in the whole
+monastery, to follow these vain studies, which, in my mind, come near
+to magic and sorcery. I saw him once, with my own eyes, make a piece
+of paper, cut in the shape of a man, dance upright, as if it had
+life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will speak to him,&quot; said the pilgrim, &quot;and will soon let you know
+if there be anything forbidden in his studies; for I have been in
+lands full of witches and sorcerers, and have learnt to discover them
+in an instant.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis a marvel if he answers you at all,&quot; replied the monk; &quot;for he's
+as silent as a frog; but, I pray you, let me hear what you think of
+him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, that I will,&quot; rejoined the stranger; &quot;but you must keep away
+while we talk together, lest the presence of another might close his
+lips. I will seek you out afterwards, brother; I think your name is
+Clement? so the porter told me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The same, the same,&quot; replied the monk. &quot;I will go to the refectory.&quot;
+But, before he went, he paused for a minute or two, and watched the
+pilgrim crossing the nave, and addressing brother Martin. At first, he
+seemed to receive no answer but a monosyllable. The next instant,
+however, much to his surprise, Clement saw the silent brother turn
+round, gaze intently upon the pilgrim's face, and then enter into an
+eager conversation with him. What was the subject of which they spoke
+he could not divine, or, rather, what was the secret by which the
+pilgrim had contrived to break the charmed taciturnity of silent
+brother Martin; and his curiosity was so much excited, that he thought
+fit to cross over also, though with a slow and solemn step, in order
+to benefit by this rare accident. The small, clear, grey eye of
+brother Martin, however, caught Clement's movements in a moment, and
+laying his hand upon the sleeve of the pilgrim's gown, he led him,
+with a quick step, through a small side door that opened into the
+cloister, and thence to his own cell, leaving the inquisitive monk,
+who did not choose to discompose his dignity, or shake his fat sides
+by rapid motion, behind them in the church.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What turn their communications took, and whether the pilgrim
+discovered or not that brother Martin was addicted to the black art,
+Clement never learned--for the faithless visitor of the abbey totally
+forgot to fulfil his promise; and when, at the end of about two hours,
+he took his departure, it was by the back door leading from the
+cloister over the fields. The high road was at no great distance, and
+along it he trudged with a much more light and active step than that
+which had borne him into the village on his first appearance; so that,
+had good Dame Julian, the reeve's wife, seen him as he went back, she
+might have been inclined to think that brother Martin had employed
+upon him some magical device, to change age into youth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">About half a mile from Andover, the pilgrim turned a little from the
+road, and, sitting down in a neighbouring field, took out of his
+wallet a large kerchief, and an ordinary hood,--then stripped off his
+brown gown and hat, laying them deliberately in the kerchief, and next
+divested himself of a quantity of white hair, which left him with a
+shock head of a lightish brown hue, a short tabard of blue cloth, a
+stout pair of riding boots, and a dagger at his girdle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So ends my pilgrimage!&quot; said Ned Dyram, as he packed up his disguise
+in the napkin; &quot;and, by my faith, I have brought home my wallet well
+stored. Out upon it!--am I to labour thus always for others? No, by my
+faith! I will at least keep some of the crusts I have got for myself;
+and if others want them they must pay for them. Let me see;--we will
+divide them fairly. Dame Julian and brother Clement in one lot;
+brother Martin in the other. That will do; and if aught be said about
+it hereafter, I will speak the truth, and avow that, had I been paid,
+I would have spoken. Alchemy is a great thing;--without its aid I
+could never have transmuted brother Martin's leaden silence into such
+golden loquacity. Why, I have taught the old man more in an hour than
+he has learned in his life before; and he has given wheat for rye; so
+that we are even.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With these sage reflections, Ned Dyram put his packet under his arm
+and walked on to Andover--where, at a little hostelry by the side of
+the river, he paused and called for his horse, which was soon brought.
+A cup of ale sufficed him for refreshment, and after he had drained it
+to the dregs, he trotted off upon the road to London, still meditating
+over all that he had learned at Abbot's Ann and Dunbury Abbey, and
+somewhat hesitating as to the course which he had to pursue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It would afford little either of instruction or amusement, were I to
+trace all the reflections of a cunning but wayward mind--for such was
+that of Edward Dyram. Naturally possessed of considerable abilities,
+quick in acquirements, retentive in memory, keen, observing,
+dexterous, he might have risen to wealth, and perhaps distinction; for
+his were not talents of that kind which led some of the best scholars
+of that day to beg from door to door, with a certificate of their
+profound science from the chancellors of their universities, but of a
+much more serviceable and worthy kind. A certain degree of waywardness
+of mind and inconstancy of disposition--often approaching that touch
+of insanity, which affected, or was affected by, those wise men the
+court fools of almost all epochs--and an unscrupulousness in matters
+of principle, which left his conduct often in very doubtful balance
+between honesty and knavery, had barred his advancement in all the
+many walks he had tried. He had strong, and even ungovernable animal
+impulses also, which had more than once led him into situations of
+difficulty, and between which and his natural ambition, there was the
+same struggle that frequently took place between his good sense and
+his folly. He laboured hard, not perhaps to govern his passions, but
+rather to keep their gratification within safe limits; and he felt a
+sort of ill-will towards himself when they overcame him, which
+generated a cynical bitterness towards others. That bitterness was
+also increased by a consciousness of not having succeeded in any
+course as much as the talents he knew himself to possess might have
+ensured; but it must not be supposed for one moment that Ned Dyram
+ever attributed the failure of his efforts for advancement to himself.
+The injustice or folly of others, he thought, or the concurrence of
+untoward circumstances, had alone kept him in an inferior situation.
+Though the King, on his accession to the throne, had extended to him
+greater favour than to any other of those who had participated in the
+wild exploits of his youth, simply because Ned Dyram had never
+prompted or led in any unjustifiable act, and had not withheld the
+bitterness of his tongue even from the youthful follies of the Prince,
+yet he felt a rankling disappointment at not having been promoted and
+honoured, without ever suspecting that Henry might have seen in him
+faults or failings that would have rendered him a more dangerous
+servant to a sovereign than to a private individual. Yet such was the
+case; for that great prince's eyes were clear-sighted and keen; and
+though he had not troubled himself to study all the intricacies of the
+man's character, he had perceived many qualities which he believed
+might be amended by mingling with the world in an inferior station,
+but which unfitted the possessor at the time for close attendance upon
+a monarch.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ned Dyram, however, though affecting that bluntness which is so often
+mistaken for sincerity, was not without sufficient pliancy to conceal
+his mortification, and to perform eagerly whatever task the King
+imposed upon him. I do not say, indeed, that he proposed to perform it
+well, unless it suited his own views and wishes. He did the monarch's
+bidding with alacrity, because on that he thought his future fortune
+might depend; but he did not make up his mind to ensure success by
+diligence, activity, and zeal--satisfying himself by saying, that &quot;the
+result must ever depend upon circumstances;&quot; and one of those
+circumstances was always, in this case, Ned Dyram's own good will.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had some hesitation, however, and some fear; for there was but one
+man in England whose displeasure he dreaded, and that man was the
+King. But yet I would not imply that it was his power he feared alone:
+he feared offending the man rather than the monarch, for Henry had
+acquired over him that influence which can be obtained only by a great
+and superior mind over one less large and comprehensive. It was the
+majesty of that great prince's intellect of which he stood in awe, not
+the splendour of his throne; and perhaps he might have yielded to the
+impression in the present instance, and done all that he ought to have
+done, had he not perceived too clearly the feelings which prompted him
+to do so; for as soon as he was conscious that dread of the King was
+operating to drive him in a certain direction, the dogged perversity
+of his nature rose up and dragged him to the contrary side. He called
+himself &quot;a cowed hound;&quot; and, with all the obstinate vanity of a
+wrong-headed man, he resolved to prove to himself that he had no fear,
+by acting in direct opposition to the dread of which he was conscious.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the best way of conquering all scruples, he treated them lightly
+from that moment; quickened his horse's pace, stopped to sup and sleep
+about fifteen miles from London, and presented himself at the gates of
+the palace at an early hour next morning. There he was kept waiting
+for some time, as the King was at council; but at length he was
+admitted to the monarch's presence, and, in answer to questions, which
+evidently showed that he had been sent into Hampshire to collect
+information of a more definite character than had previously reached
+Henry's ears, in regard to the death of Catherine Beauchamp, he gave
+his sovereign at full all the tidings he had gained from Dame Julian,
+the reeve's wife, from brother Clement, and from two or three other
+persons, whom he had seen before he met with those I have mentioned.
+Of brother Martin, however, he said not a word; and Henry mused for
+several minutes without observation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well,&quot; he said at length, &quot;refresh yourself and your horse, Ned; and
+then go back and join your new lord. Here is largess for your service,
+though I am sorry you have been able to gain no more clear
+intelligence;&quot; and at the same moment he poured the contents of a
+small leathern purse, which had been lying on the table, into his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The amount was far larger than Ned Dyram had expected;--for Henry was
+one of the most open-handed men on earth--and he paused, looked from
+the gold to the monarch, and seemed about to speak. At that moment,
+however, the door of the room opened, and a young gentleman entered in
+haste. By the stern and somewhat contracted, but high forehead--by the
+quick, keen eye, and by the compressed lips, Ned Dyram instantly
+recognised Prince John of Lancaster; and, at a sign from the King, he
+bowed low and quitted the presence.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_16" href="#div1Ref_16">THE NEW FRIENDS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune sat on a stool at the feet of Mary Markham, on the day
+after Richard of Woodville's departure from London, and certainly a
+more beautiful contrast was seldom seen than between the fair lady and
+the minstrel girl, as the one told and the other listened to, the tale
+of the old man's death, and all that had since occurred. The eyes of
+both were full of tears, which did not run over, indeed, but hung
+trembling on the eyelid, like drops of summer dew in the cup of a
+flower; and Mary Markham, with the kind, familiar impulse of sympathy,
+stretched forth her fair hand twice, and pressed that of her less
+fortunate companion, as she told the tale of her sorrows, and her
+sufferings. The poor girl's heart yearned towards her gentle friend,
+as she remarked her sympathy for all she felt,--her grief at the death
+of the poor old man, her pleasure at the conduct of Ella's generous
+protector, her indignation at the persecution she had suffered from a
+man whom she herself scorned and despised. But one thing is to be
+remarked. The name of Sir Simeon of Roydon, Ella spoke plainly, and
+repeated often, during her narrative; but that of Richard of
+Woodville, from some latent feeling in her own heart, she shrunk from
+pronouncing. It might be, that the meaning looks and smiles of the
+people of the inn where she had visited him, made her believe that
+others would entertain the suspicions or fancies which she imagined
+that those looks implied. It might be that she doubted her own heart,
+or that she knew there really were therein sensations which she
+dreaded to acknowledge to herself, and still more to expose to the
+eyes of others. Thus she gave him any other designation than his own
+name. She called him &quot;the noble gentleman who had befriended her,&quot;
+&quot;her protector,&quot; &quot;her benefactor,&quot;--everything, in short, but Richard
+of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary Markham observed this reserve; and, as woman's heart, even in the
+most simple and single-minded, is always learned in woman's secrets,
+Mary judged, and judged rightly, that gratitude was growing up in
+Ella's bosom into love. She could very well understand that it should
+be so; she thought it natural--so natural, that it could scarce be
+otherwise; and what she felt within herself would have made her very
+lenient to passion in others, even had she been more harsh and severe
+than she was. She took a deep interest in the poor girl and her whole
+history, and not less in her grateful love than in any other part
+thereof; so that she was anxious to learn who and what this unnamed
+benefactor was, in order that she might judge whether there was the
+least hope or chance of Ella's tenderness meeting due return.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He was a generous and noble-hearted knight, indeed,&quot; she said; &quot;more
+like the ancient chivalry, my poor girl, than the heartless nobility
+of the present day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is not a knight,&quot; answered Ella, timidly; &quot;but I am sure he soon
+will be, for he well deserves his spurs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And he is young and handsome, of course, Ella?&quot; said Mary Markham,
+with a smile.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The minstrel girl coloured, but answered nothing; and Mary went on,
+saying, &quot;But you must tell me his name, Ella; I would fain know who is
+this noble gentleman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus plainly asked, Ella Brune could not refuse to answer; and,
+bending down her bright eyes upon the ground, she said, &quot;His name is
+Richard of Woodville, lady.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She spoke in a tone so low, that the words might have been inaudible
+to any other ear than that of Mary Markham. The well-known sound,
+however, was instantly caught by her, producing emotions in her heart
+such as she had never felt before. Her very breath seemed stopped; her
+bosom fluttered, as if there had been a caged bird within; her cheek
+turned very pale, and then flushed warm again with the blood spreading
+in a brighter glow over her fair forehead and her blue-veined temples.
+Hers was not indeed a jealous disposition; her nature was too generous
+and frank to be suspicious or distrustful; but it is difficult for any
+woman's ear to hear that he to whom her whole affections are given is
+loved by another, and her heart not beat with emotions far from
+pleasurable.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yet Mary schooled herself for what she felt--for the slight touch of
+doubt towards Woodville, and of anger towards Ella, which crossed her
+bosom for a moment. &quot;It is not his fault,&quot; she thought, &quot;if the girl
+loves him; nor hers either to love him for acts of generous kindness.
+She is no more to blame for such feelings than myself; the same high
+qualities that won my regard might well gain hers. He is too noble,
+too--too true and faithful to trifle with her, or to forget me. Yet,
+would this had not happened! It is strange, too, that he did not
+mention all this to me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But then she remembered how every hour he had spent with her had
+passed, how little time they had found to say all that two warm and
+tender hearts could prompt; how often they had been interrupted in the
+half-finished tale of love; how constantly it had been renewed
+whenever they were alone; and then she thought it not extraordinary at
+all that he had spoken of nothing else.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such thoughts, however, kept her mute, with her eyes gazing on the
+tapestry at the other side of the room; and she saw not that Ella,
+surprised at her silence, had now raised her look, and was reading in
+the countenance--with the skill which peril and misfortune soon
+acquire in this hard world--all that was passing in the heart beneath.
+The poor girl's face was very pale, for she had her emotions too; but
+yet she was calmer than Mary Markham, for one of the chief sources of
+agitation was wanting in her bosom. She was without hope. She might
+love, but it was love with no expectation. The future, which to Mary's
+eyes was like the garden of the Hesperides, all hanging with golden
+fruit, was a desert to poor Ella Brune. She had no fear, because she
+had no hope. She had no doubts, because she had no trust. She was
+externally calm, for though there were painful sensations, there was
+no internal contention. She, therefore, it was who spoke first.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You know him, lady,&quot; she said, in a sweet, gentle, humble tone; &quot;and
+if you know him, you love him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do know him,&quot; answered Mary Markham, with a trembling voice and
+glowing cheek--&quot;I have known him well for years.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She paused there; but the moment after, she thought, with that
+generous confidence so often misplaced, but which was not so in this
+instance, &quot;It were better to tell her all, for her sake and for mine.
+If she be good and virtuous, as I think, it cannot but lead to good to
+let her know the whole truth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, Ella,&quot; she continued aloud, &quot;and you are right. I do love him,
+and he loves me. We have plighted our faith to each other, and wait
+but the consent of others to be more happy than we are.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A tear trembled in the eye of Ella Brune; but what were the thoughts
+that flashed like lightning through her mind? &quot;The lady loves him,
+and she sees I love him too. Jealousy is a strange thing, and a sad
+pang!--She may doubt him, even with such a friendless being as I am--I
+will sweep that doubt away;&quot; and with a resigned, but gentle smile,
+looking in Mary's face, she said--&quot;I was sure of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Of what, Ella?&quot; asked Mary Markham, with some surprise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That he loved some one, and was beloved again,&quot; replied the poor
+girl; and she repeated &quot;I was sure of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What could make you sure?&quot; asked the lady, gazing at her with a less
+embarrassed look. &quot;He did not tell you, did he?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no,&quot; answered Ella Brune. &quot;All he told me was, that he was going
+afar to Burgundy, and that as he could not give me any further
+protection himself, he would send one of his men to inquire after me,
+that he might hear I was safe, and as happy as fate would let me be,
+but--&quot; and she paused, as if she doubted whether to proceed or not.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But what, Ella?&quot; demanded Mary.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, I was foolish, lady,&quot; said the girl; &quot;and perhaps you may think
+me wrong too, and bold. But when I heard that he was going to
+Burgundy, I cried, 'Oh, that I were going with you!' And I told him
+that I had kinsfolk both in Liege and in Peronne; and then I knew by
+his look, and what he said, that there was some lady whom he loved,
+and who loved him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;How did that enlighten you?&quot; inquired Mary Markham. &quot;Did he refuse
+you?--That were not courteous, I think.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, he did not actually refuse,&quot; answered Ella Brune, &quot;but he said,
+that it might hardly be; and I saw, he thought that his lady might be
+jealous--might suspect--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary Markham put her hand on Ella's, with a warm smile, and said, &quot;I
+will neither suspect him, nor be jealous of you, Ella--though perhaps
+I might have been,&quot; she added; &quot;yes, perhaps I might, if I had heard
+you were with him, and I had not known why. Yet I should have been
+very wrong. Out upon such doubts I say, if they can prevent a
+true-hearted gentleman from doing an act of kindness to a poor girl in
+her need, lest a jealous heart should suspect him. But I will write to
+him, Ella: and yet it is now in vain; for he has left Westminster.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella gazed at her, smiling. &quot;We know not our own hearts,&quot; she said;
+&quot;and, perhaps, dear lady, you might be jealous yet.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no!&quot; cried Mary, with one of her own joyous laughs again. &quot;Never,
+now. I am of a confiding nature, my poor girl; and I soon conquer
+those bitter enemies of peace, called doubts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune gazed round the room. &quot;If I had some instrument, I could
+sing to you on that theme,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, you can sing without, Ella,&quot; replied the lady. &quot;I have none
+here, alas!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, I will sing it, then,&quot; answered Ella Brune; &quot;'tis an old ditty,
+and a simple one;&quot; and, leaning her hand on Mary Markham's knee, she
+sang:--</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+
+<p class="t7"><b>SONG.</b></p>
+<br>
+
+<p class="i8">
+&quot;Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!</p>
+<p class="t2">'Tis a shield of seven-fold steel.</p>
+<p class="t0">Cares and sorrows come they must;</p>
+<p class="t2">But sharper far is doubt to feel.</p>
+<p class="t4">Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i8">&quot;If deceit must vex the heart--</p>
+<p class="t2">Who can pass through life without?--</p>
+<p class="t0">Better far to bear the smart</p>
+<p class="t2">Than to grind the soul with doubt.</p>
+<p class="t4">Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i8">&quot;Trust the lover, trust the friend;</p>
+<p class="t2">Heed not what old rhymers tell.</p>
+<p class="t0">Trust to God: and in the end</p>
+<p class="t2">Doubt not all will still be well.</p>
+<p class="t4">Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i8">&quot;Love's best guide, and friendship's stay--</p>
+<p class="t2">Trust, to innocence was given;</p>
+<p class="t0">'Tis doubt that paves the downward way,</p>
+<p class="t2">But trust unlocks the gates of heaven.</p>
+<p class="t4">Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And so I will, Ella,&quot; cried the lady; &quot;so have I ever done, and will
+do still; but methinks you have made the song to suit my ear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, in truth, dear lady, it is an ancient one,&quot; replied Ella Brune;
+but ere she could add more, old Sir Philip Beauchamp strode into the
+room, with an air hurried, yet not dissatisfied.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have seen the King, Mary,&quot; he said; &quot;and, on my life, he is a noble
+youth--right kingly in his port and in his words. His brother John,
+who won his spurs under my pennon when but a boy, soon got me speech
+of him; and you are to go with me at once to his presence, pretty
+maid. Nay, do not look downcast; he is no frightful tyrant, but a man
+that lady's eyes may look upon well pleased; and 'tis needful for your
+safety you should go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Must she go alone, dear knight?&quot; asked Mary Markham, with kind
+consideration for the girl's fears.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Alone! no. I am to go with her, to be sure,&quot; answered Sir Philip.
+&quot;How, my fair Mary, you would fain go visit Henry, too! What would
+Richard of Woodville say?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He would trust,&quot; answered Mary Markham, giving a gay look to Ella.
+&quot;However, I seek not to go, noble sir; but it would be better for this
+poor girl to have my maid, Maude, with her--for decency's sake,&quot; she
+continued, in a laughing tone; &quot;you old knights are sometimes too
+light and gallant; and I must protect her from your courteous speeches
+by the way. Come with me, Ella. I have a cloak in my chamber that will
+suit well with your hood, and cover you all, so that nothing will be
+seen but the edge of your wimple. Then will you and Sir Philip escape
+scandal, if you both walk softly, and look demure, while Maude trips
+along beside you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Though Mary Markham said no word of the minstrel girl's attire, and
+did not even glance her eye to the gold fringe upon her gown, yet Ella
+understood, and was thankful for, her kind care, and mentally promised
+herself, that, before that day was but, she would provide herself with
+plainer weeds. In less than five minutes she and the maid were ready
+to depart; and, accompanied by Sir Philip, they soon crossed the open
+ground before the Abbey and the Sanctuary, and entered the gates of
+the palace yard. At the private door of the royal residence they
+received immediate admission; for a page was waiting Sir Philip's
+return; but he led them, not to the small chamber where Henry had
+received Ned Dyram in the morning, and Sir Philip shortly after.
+Following, on the contrary, the larger staircase, the boy conducted
+the little party to a hall, then used as an audience chamber; and when
+they entered they at once perceived the King at the farther end,
+surrounded by a gay and glittering throng, and listening, apparently
+with deep attention, to an old man, dressed as a prelate of the
+Church, who, with slow and measured accents, was delivering what
+seemed a somewhat long oration. Whatever was the subject on which he
+spoke, it seemed to be one of much interest; for, ever and anon, the
+King bowed his head with a grave, approving motion, and a murmur of
+satisfaction rose from those around.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Slowly and quietly the old knight and his companions drew near, and
+then found that the good Bishop was arguing the King's title, not
+alone to the Duchies of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Anjou, which
+undoubtedly belonged of right to the English Crown, but also to the
+whole of France, which as certainly belonged to another. Sir Philip
+Beauchamp marked well the monarch's countenance as he listened, and
+perceived that, when the subject was the recovery of those territories
+which had descended to the race of Plantagenet from William the
+Conqueror, Fulke of Anjou, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of those
+grave inclinations of the head which marked his approbation followed;
+but that, when the claim of all France was considered, Henry paused,
+and seemed to meditate more on thoughts suggested by his own mind than
+on the mere words that struck his ear. The surrounding nobles,
+however, applauded all; and bright and beaming eyes were turned upon
+the prelate when he concluded his oration with the words--strange
+ones, indeed, in the mouth of a Christian bishop: &quot;Wherefore, Oh my
+Lord, the King! advance your banner, fight for your right, conquer
+your inheritance; spare not sword, blood, or fire; for your war is
+just, your cause is good, your claim is true!&quot;<a name="div4Ref_03" href="#div4_03"><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Many thanks, my good lord,&quot; replied the King; &quot;we will with our
+council consider duly what you have advanced; and we beseech you to
+pray God on our behalf, that we be advised wisely. Pity it were,
+indeed, to shed Christian blood without due cause; and, therefore, we
+shall first fairly and courteously require of our cousin the
+restitution of those territories undeniably appertaining to our crown;
+with the which we may content ourselves, if granted frankly; but if
+they be refused, a greater claim may perchance grow out of the denial
+of the smaller one; and, at all events, we shall know how, with the
+sword, to do ourselves right when driven to draw it. We will then
+beseech farther communion with you on these weighty matters, and, for
+the present, thank you much.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Bishop retired from the spot immediately facing the King; and
+Henry's eye lighting on Sir Philip Beauchamp, he bowed his head to
+him, saying, &quot;Advance, my noble friend. Ha! you have brought the girl
+with you, as I said;&quot; and his look fixed upon the countenance of poor
+Ella Brune, with a calm and scrutinizing gaze, not altogether free
+from wonder and admiration, to see such delicate beauty in one of her
+degree, but without a touch of that coarse and gloating expression
+which had offended her in the stare of Sir Simeon Roydon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is the knight I sent for, here?&quot; demanded the King, turning towards
+the page.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not yet, Sire,&quot; answered the boy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then,&quot; said Henry, &quot;though it is but fair that a man accused
+should hear the charge against him, we must proceed; and you lords
+will witness what this young woman says, that it may be repeated to
+him hereafter. Now, maiden, what is this which the worthy knight, Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, has reported concerning you and Sir Simeon of
+Roydon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To say that Ella Brune was not somewhat abashed would be false; for
+she did feel that she was in the presence of the most powerful King,
+and the most chivalrous court in Europe; she did feel that all eyes
+were turned upon her, every ear bent to catch her words. But there
+were truth and innocence at her heart, the strongest of all supports.
+There was the sense of having been wronged also; and, perhaps, some
+feeling of scorn rather than shame was roused by the light smiles and
+busy whisper that ran round the lordly circle before which she stood;
+for there is nothing so contemptible in the eyes, even of the humble,
+if they be wise and firm of heart, as the light and causeless, but
+oppressive sneer of pride--whether that pride be based in station,
+fortune, courtliness, or aught else on earth; for the true nobility of
+mind, which sometimes impresses even pride with a faint mark of its
+own dignity, never treads upon the humble.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry, however, heard the buzz, and felt offended at the light looks
+he saw. &quot;My lords!&quot; he said, in a tone of surprise and displeasure; &quot;I
+beseech you, my good uncle of Exeter, warn those gentlemen of that
+which the King would not speak harshly. This is no jesting matter.
+Wrong has been done--I may say almost in our presence, so near has it
+been to our palace gates; and, by the Queen of Heaven, such things
+shall not escape punishment, while I wear the crown or bear the sword.
+When I am powerless to defend the meanest of my subjects, may death
+give my sceptre to more mighty hands; when I am unwilling to do
+justice to any in the land, may my enemies take from me the power I
+have borne unworthily. Go on with your tale, maiden.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune obeyed the King's order, with a voice that faltered at
+first, but the rich sweet tone of which soon called the attention of
+all to what she said; and, taking up her story from the beginning, she
+related the death of her old companion, the interview which she had
+first had with Sir Simeon of Roydon, and the violent manner in which
+she had been carried off, as she was returning to the hostelry where
+she lodged. As she spoke she gained confidence; and though, ere she
+had proceeded far, the base knight himself entered the presence, and
+placed himself exactly opposite to her, glaring at her with fierce and
+menacing eyes, her tongue faltered no more; and she went on to speak
+of her second interview with him, telling how she had forced back the
+lock of the door with her dagger--how the servants of the knight had
+not ventured to seize her, under the belief that the weapon was
+poisoned--and how she had dropped from the great window at the end of
+the corridor into the lane below.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As soon as she had done, Roydon stepped forward, as if to reply; but
+old Sir Philip Beauchamp, who stood by Ella's side to give her
+support, waved his hand, saying, &quot;Silence, boy! till all be said
+against you--then speak if you list. As far as the carrying off of
+this poor little maid is concerned, a good woman of the neighbourhood
+saw the deed done, and can bear witness respecting it, if farther
+testimony is required. I saw the manner of her escape as she has told
+it, and knocked down one of this knight's knaves just as he clutched
+her. So far her story is confirmed. What passed between him and her in
+private, they only know; but I would take her word against his in any
+town; for I know him to be a wondrous liar.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A laugh ran round the royal circle; and Sir Simeon of Roydon put his
+hand to his dagger; but the King turned towards him, saying, &quot;Now,
+sir, have you aught to answer?--Is this story true or false?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Somewhat mixed, Sire;&quot; answered Simeon of Roydon, with a sneer upon
+his lip. &quot;The young woman is rather fanciful. I will own, that because
+she has a pretty face, as you may see, and bright eyes, and a small
+foot, and rounded ankle, she pleased my fancy; and, although of
+somewhat low degree for such an honour, I thought to make her my
+paramour for a time, as many another man might do. Minstrel girls and
+tomblesteres are not generally famed for chastity; and, by my faith! I
+thought I showed her favour when I told my servants to find her out
+and bring her to my lodging. If they used any violence, 'twas not my
+fault, for I bade them treat her gently; and, as to her confinement at
+my house, that is pure fancy--she might have gone whenever she chose.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis strange, then,&quot; said the King, with a scornful smile, &quot;that she
+should take such means of going. People do not usually leap out of a
+window, when they can walk through a door.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What made you bellow after her, like a wild bull?&quot; demanded Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, turning to the culprit: &quot;I heard you with my ears,
+and so did many more, shout to your knaves to follow her, lest she
+should to the King. I know your voice right well, sir knight, and will
+vouch for its sweet sounds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Doting fool!&quot; murmured Simeon of Roydon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Doting!&quot; cried the old knight; &quot;take care you don't feel my gauntlet
+in your face, lest I send you home as toothless as I sent your
+serviceable man. You will find that there is strength enough left to
+crush such a worm as you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Silence, Sir Philip!&quot; said the King. &quot;Sir Simeon of Roydon, according
+to your own account, you have committed an offence for which, if it
+had been done within the gates of our good city of London, the sober
+citizens would, methinks, have set you on a horse's back, with your
+face to the tail, and marched you in no pleasant procession. But, I
+must add, I do not believe your account; it seems to me to bear no
+character of truth about it. Yet, that you may not stand upon my
+judgment alone, if there be one of these good lords here present, who
+will say they do, upon their honour, believe that this poor maiden
+speaks falsely, and you tell the simple truth, you shall go free. What
+say you, lords--is the girl true, or he?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The girl!--the girl!&quot; cried all the voices round.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;However men may love leaping,&quot; said John of Lancaster, &quot;they seek not
+to break their necks by springing from a window, when they can help
+it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then,&quot; continued Henry, &quot;you must carry your amorous violence
+to other lands, Sir Simeon of Roydon. You have committed a
+discourteous and unknightly act, and must give us time to forget it.
+We will not touch you in person or in purse, in goods or lands; but we
+banish you for two years from the realm of England. Bestow yourself
+where you will, but be not found within these shores after one month
+from this day, which space we give you to prepare. Is this a just
+award, my lords?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The gentlemen round bowed their heads; and Henry, turning to the good
+old knight, added, with a gracious smile, &quot;I thank you much, Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, for bringing this matter to my knowledge. These are
+deeds that I am resolved to check, with all the power that God
+entrusts to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Heaven bless your Grace, and ever send us such a King!&quot; replied the
+old knight; and, taking Ella by the hand, with a lowly reverence to
+the monarch, he led her from the hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry, it would seem, dismissed his court at once; for before the
+minstrel girl and her companion had reached the bottom of the stairs,
+they were surrounded by several of the younger nobles, who were all
+somewhat eager to say soft and flattering things to the fair object of
+the day's interest, notwithstanding some rough reproof from good Sir
+Philip Beauchamp. But as he and his young charge were passing out with
+Mary Markham's maiden, a low deep voice whispered in Ella's ear, &quot;I
+swear, by Christ's sepulchre, I will have revenge!&quot;--and the next
+moment Sir Simeon of Roydon passed them, mounted his horse in the
+palace-yard, and rode furiously away.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_17" href="#div1Ref_17">THE PREPARATION.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">It was late in the evening of the same day of which we have just been
+speaking, when Ella Brune returned to her hostelry. She had gone back
+to thank fair Mary Markham for her kindness, intending only to stay
+for a few moments; but her new friend detained her till the sun was
+near his setting, and then only let her depart under the escort of
+Hugh of Clatford and another yeoman, after extracting a promise from
+her that she would return on the following morning, after the sad
+ceremony of her grandsire's funeral was over. And now Ella sat in her
+lonely little chamber, with the tears filling her bright eyes, which
+seemed fixed upon a spot of sunshine on the opposite wall of the
+court, but, in reality, saw nothing, or, at least, conveyed no
+impression to the mind. Why was it Ella wept? To say truth, Ella
+herself could not, or would not tell. It was, perhaps, the crowding
+upon her of many sad sensations, the torrent swelled by many smaller
+rills, which caused those tears; and yet there was one predominant
+feeling--one that she wished not to acknowledge even to her own heart.
+What can I call it? How shall I explain it? It was not disappointment;
+for, as I have said before, she did not, she had never hoped. No, the
+best term for it is, love without hope; and oh! what a bitter thing
+that is!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">During the whole of that morning she had had no time to dwell upon it;
+she had been occupied while she remained with Mary Markham in
+struggling against her own sensations--not examining them. But now she
+paused and pondered: in solitude and in silence, she gave way to
+bitter thought; but it was not with the weak and wavering irresolution
+of a feeble mind. On the contrary, though the anguish would have its
+tear, she regarded her present fate and future conduct with the firm
+and energetic purposes of a heart inured to suffer and to decide. Her
+mind rested upon Richard of Woodville, upon his kindness, his
+generosity, his chivalrous protection of her who had never met with
+such protection before; and the first strong determination of her mind
+expressed itself, in the words she murmured to herself, &quot;I will repay
+it!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, again, she asked herself, &quot;Why should I feel shame, or fear, or
+hesitation now, at the thought of following him through the world--of
+watching for the hour, for the moment, when God may grant me the grace
+to serve him? He loves another, and is loved by another! He can never
+be anything to me, but the friend who stood forward to help me in the
+hour of need. What has sex, or station, to do with it? Why should I
+care more than if I were a man? and how often do the meanest, by
+watchful love, find an opportunity to deliver or to support the
+highest and the mightiest! Why should I think of what men may say or
+believe? True in my own heart, and conscious of my truth, I may well
+laugh at suspicion, which follows such as I am, whatever course they
+take. How often have I been thought a ribald and a losel, when I have
+guarded my words, and looks, and actions, most carefully! and now I
+will dare to do boldly what my heart tells me, knowing that it is
+right. Yet, poor thing,&quot; she added, after a moment, &quot;thou art beggar
+enough, I fear! thou must husband thy little store well. Let me see; I
+will count my treasure. There are the fifty half nobles sent me by the
+King, and those my dear protector gave me. Now for the little store of
+the poor old man;&quot; and, drawing a key from her bosom, she crossed the
+room to where, upon a window-seat, there stood a small oaken coffer,
+containing her apparel and that of the poor old minstrel. After
+opening the box, and taking out one or two instruments of music which
+lay at the top, she thrust her hand further down, and brought forth a
+small leathern pouch, fastened by a thong bound round it several
+times. It cost her some trouble to unloose it; but at length she
+spread out the mouth, and poured the contents upon the top of the
+clothes in the coffer. She had expected to see nothing but silver and
+copper; but amongst the rest were several pieces of gold; and besides
+these, was a piece of parchment, tied up, with some writing upon it,
+and a gold ring, set with a large precious stone. The former she
+examined closely, and read the words with some difficulty; for they
+were written by no very practised hand, in rough and scattered
+characters. She made it out at length, however, to be merely &quot;My
+Ella's dowry;&quot; and a tear fell upon it as she read. She thought that
+the handwriting was her father's.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She then looked at the ring, and saw by its lustre that it must be of
+some value; but a strip of leather which was sewn round the gold
+caught her eye, and she found it, too, traced with some rude
+characters. They only expressed a date, however, which was 21 July,
+1403, and what it meant she knew not. Opening the parchment packet,
+she then proceeded to examine of what her little dowry consisted; and,
+to her surprise and joy, she found forty broad pieces of gold. &quot;Nay,&quot;
+she exclaimed, &quot;this is, indeed, wealth; why, I am endowed like a
+knight's daughter.&quot; And well might she say so; for when we remember
+the difference between the value of gold in that day and at present,
+the amount she now possessed,--what with the sum she had just found,
+and the penalty imposed by the King on Simeon of Roydon,--was equal to
+some six or seven hundred pounds.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I shall have enough to follow him for ten years,&quot; said Ella Brune,
+gazing on the gold, &quot;without being a charge to any one; and then there
+may still remain sufficient to gain me admission to a nunnery. But I
+will lay it by carefully:&quot; and placing all the gold she had, except
+the few pieces that had been loose in the pouch, into the parchment
+which had contained her dowry, she tied it up again carefully, and
+restored it to its place.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yet I will be avaricious,&quot; she said. &quot;I will disencumber myself of
+everything I do not want, and change it into coin.--Shall I sell this
+ring? No; it may mean something I do not know. 'Tis easily carried,
+and might create suspicion if I disposed of it here. Perhaps my cousin
+at Peronne can tell me more about it. How shall I sell the other
+things? Nay, I will ask the hostess to do it for me. She will think of
+her own payment, and will do it well!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After carefully putting back the ring and the money, she opened the
+door of the room, and called down the stairs, &quot;Hostess, hostess!
+Mistress Trenchard!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Coming, coming, little maid,&quot; said the good dame, from below. &quot;Do not
+be in haste; I am with you in a minute;&quot; and, after keeping Ella
+waiting for a short time, more to make herself of importance than
+because she had anything else to do, she came panting up the stairs,
+closed the door, and seated herself on the side of the low bed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, my poor Ella,&quot; she said, &quot;what want you with me? Yours is a sad
+case, indeed, poor thing. My husband and I both said, when you and
+poor old Murdock Brune went away to foreign lands, leaving your own
+good country behind you, that harm would come of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And yet he died in England,&quot; replied Ella, with a sigh; &quot;but what you
+say is very true, hostess; no good has come of it; and we returned
+poorer than we went--I have wherewithal to pay my score,&quot; she added,
+seeing a slight cloud come over good Mistress Trenchard's face; &quot;but
+yet I shall want more for my necessity; and I would fain ask you a
+great favour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What is that?&quot; asked the hostess, somewhat drily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is simply, that you would sell for me a good many of these things
+that I do not want,&quot; answered Ella. &quot;Here are several instruments of
+music, which I know cost much, and must produce something.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, that I will, right willingly!&quot; replied the hostess; &quot;and 'tis but
+right and fitting that you should trust such matters to one who is
+accustomed to buy and sell, than to do it yourself, who know nothing
+of trade, God wot. I will have them to Westcheape, where there are
+plenty of fripperies; or carry them to the Lombards, who, perhaps,
+know more about such matters.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I should think that the Lombards would purchase them best,&quot; answered
+Ella; &quot;for one of these instruments, the viol, was purchased out of
+Italy, when my grandfather was chief minstrel to the great Earl of
+Northumberland.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, I remember the time well,&quot; said Mistress Trenchard. &quot;Murdock
+Brune was a great man in those days, and rode upon a grey horse, fit
+for a knight. He used to pinch my cheek, and call me pretty Dolly
+Trenchard, till my husband was somewhat crusty;--and so the viol is
+valuable, you think?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, and the ribible, too,&quot; answered Ella Brune; &quot;for they were cut
+by a great maker in Italy, and such are not to be found in England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will take care, I will take care,&quot; rejoined the hostess. &quot;Gather
+them all together, and I will send up Tom, the drawer, for them,
+presently. To-morrow I will take them to the Lombards; for it is
+somewhat late this evening.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, but I have other favours to ask of you, dame,&quot; said Ella Brune.
+&quot;To-morrow they bury the poor old man, and I must have a black gown of
+serge, and a white wimple; and I would fain that you went with me to
+the burial, if you could steal away for an hour; for it will be a sad
+day for me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That will I do, poor maiden,&quot; replied the hostess, readily; not alone
+because she took a sincere interest in her fair guest, but because in
+those days, as in almost all others, people of inferior minds found a
+strange pleasure in bearing part in any impressive ceremony, however
+melancholy. As so much of her spare time was likely to be occupied on
+the morrow, she agreed to run up to Cheape that very night, before the
+watch was set, and to purchase for Ella Brune the mourning garments
+which she required. The latter commission she performed fully to the
+poor girl's satisfaction, returning with a loose gown of fine black
+serge, ready made, and a wimple and hood of clear lawn, little
+differing from that of a nun.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella gazed on the dress with some emotion, murmuring to
+herself,--&quot;Ay, the cloister; it must end there, at last!--Well, prayer
+and peace!--'tis the calmest fate, after all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the sale of the instruments of music, and several other small
+articles, was not executed quite as well. Men were rogues in those
+times, as at present, though, perhaps, in the improvement of all
+things, roguery has not been neglected, and the good Lombards took
+care not to give more than half the value of the goods they purchased.
+Neither Ella nor good Mistress Trenchard herself knew any better,
+however; so that the latter thought she had made a very good bargain,
+and the former was content. Her store was by this means considerably
+increased; and, a short time before the appointed hour, Ella, with the
+hostess, set out towards the hospital of St. James, for the sad task
+that was to be performed that day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I will not pause upon the hours that followed. Dark and sorrowful such
+hours must ever be; for the dim eyes of mortality see the lamp of
+faith but faintly, and there is nought else to light our gaze through
+the obscure vault of death to the bright world of re-union. Put the
+holy promises to our heart as eagerly, as fondly as we will, how
+difficult is it to obtain a warm and living image of life beyond this
+life! How the clay clings to the clay! How the spirit cleaveth to the
+dust with which it hath borne companionship so long! Strange, too, to
+say, that we can better realize in our own case the idea of renewed
+existence, than in the case of those we love. It is comparatively easy
+to fancy that we who have lived to-day, shall live to-morrow;--that
+we, who lie down to rest ourselves in sleep and to rise refreshed,
+shall sleep in death, and wake again renewed. There is in every man's
+own heart a sentiment of his immortality, which nothing can blot out,
+but the vain pride of human intellect--the bitterest ashes of the
+forbidden fruit. But when we see the dearly loved, the bright, the
+beautiful, the wise, the good, fall, like a withered leaf, into the
+dark corruption of the tomb--the light go out like an extinguished
+lamp--and all that is left, all that has been familiar to our living
+senses, drop into dust and mingle with its earth again, the Saduceean
+demon seizes on us; and it requires a mighty struggle of the spirit,
+prayer, patience, resignation, hope, and faith, to win our belief from
+the dark actuality before us, and fix it on the distant splendour of a
+promised world to come.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They were sad hours for poor Ella Brune; and when they were over, the
+chambers of the heart felt too dark and lonely for her to admit any
+thoughts but those of the dead. She sent, therefore, to Mary Markham,
+to tell her that she was too wobegone to come that day; and, returning
+to her little chamber at the inn, she sat down to weep, and pass the
+evening with her memories.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the following morning early, she once more set out for Westminster,
+and passed quietly along the road till she reached Charing; but near
+the hermitage and chapel of St. Catherine, just opposite the cross,
+she perceived a man standing gazing up the Strand, with the serpent
+embroidered on the black ground, which distinguished the followers of
+Sir Simeon of Roydon. Her fears might have betrayed her; for she
+forgot for a moment the complete change of her dress, and fancied that
+she must be instantly recognised; but the instant after, recovering
+her presence of mind, she drew the hood far over her face, and passed
+the man boldly, without his even turning to look at her. She then made
+her way on towards Tote-hill, and soon came to the gates of the house
+in which Sir Philip Beauchamp had taken up his temporary abode.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Few but the higher nobility, or persons immediately attached to the
+Court, indulged in those days in the luxury of a dwelling in London or
+the neighbouring city; and when business or pleasure called inferior
+personages to the capital, they either took up their dwelling at a
+hostel, or found lodging in the mansions of some of the great families
+to whom they were attached by friendship or relationship. Nor was such
+hospitality ever refused, so long as the house could contain more
+guests; for each man's consequence, and sometimes his safety, depended
+upon the number of those whom he entertained; and even when the lord
+was absent from his own dwelling, the doors were always open to those
+who were known to be connected with him. Thus Sir Philip Beauchamp had
+found ready lodging in the house of one of the numerous family of that
+name, the head of which was then the Earl of Warwick, though, ere many
+years had passed, an only daughter bore that glorious title into the
+house of Neville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Ella reached the mansion, the porter, distinguished by the
+cognizance of the bear, was standing before the gates, talking with a
+young man, who seemed to have just dismounted from a tired horse, and
+held the bridle-rein cast over his arm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In answer to Ella's inquiry for the Lady Mary Markham, the old servant
+laughed, saying, &quot;Here is another!--if it goes on thus all day, there
+will be nothing else but the opening of gates for a pretty lady who is
+not here. She departed last night with Sir Philip, fair maid. They
+went in great haste, good sooth I know not why; for 'twas but two
+hours before, the sturdy old knight told me he should stay three days;
+but they had letters by a messenger from the country, so perchance his
+daughter is ill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The blessed Virgin give her deliverance!&quot; said Ella, turning away
+with a disappointed look; and, bending her steps back towards the city
+of London, she walked slowly on along the dusty road, absorbed in no
+very cheerful thoughts, and marking little of what passed around her.
+But few people were yet abroad between the two towns--the Strand was
+almost solitary; and she had nearly reached the wall of the garden of
+Durham House, which ran along to the Temple, when she heard a voice
+behind her exclaim, in a sharp tone, &quot;Why do you follow her, master
+knave?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What is that to you, blue tabard!&quot; replied another tongue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will let you know right soon, if you do not desist,&quot; answered the
+first.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Whom do you serve?&quot; asked the second.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The King!&quot; was the reply; &quot;so away with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella looked round, and beheld the man whom she had found speaking with
+the porter a moment before, bending his brows sternly upon the servant
+of Sir Simeon Roydon, whom she had seen watching near the hermitage of
+St. Catherine, as she passed up the Strand. The latter, however,
+seemed to be animated by no very pugnacious spirit, for he merely
+replied, &quot;Methinks one man has a right to walk the high road to London
+as well as another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But he did not proceed to enforce this right by following the course
+he had been pursuing; and, crossing over from the south to the north
+side of the way, he was soon lost amongst the low shops and small
+houses which there occupied the middle of the road.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will ride along beside you, fair maiden,&quot; said Ned Dyram, for he it
+was who had come up, &quot;though I should not wonder, from what the porter
+told me just now, if you were the person I am looking for.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He spoke civilly and gravely; and Ella replied, with a bright smile,
+&quot;Ha! perhaps it is so; for he said he would send. Whom do you come
+from?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I come from Richard of Woodville,&quot; answered the man; &quot;and I am sent
+to a maiden named Ella Brune, living not far up the new street
+somewhat beyond the Old Temple, in an hostelry called the Falcon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis I--'tis I!&quot; cried Ella. &quot;Oh! I am glad to see you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her bright eyes lighted up, and her fair face glowed with an
+expression of joy and satisfaction, which added in no small degree to
+its loveliness; for, though we hear much of beauty in distress being
+heightened by tears, yet there is an inherent harmony between man's
+heart and joy, which makes the expression thereof always more pleasant
+to the eye than that of any other emotion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ned Dyram gazed at her with admiration, but withdrew his eyes the
+moment after, and resumed a more sober look. &quot;I will give you all his
+messages by and by,&quot; he said, &quot;for I shall lodge at the Falcon
+to-night, and have much to say. But yet I may as well tell you a part
+as we go along,&quot; he continued, dismounting from his horse, and taking
+the bridle on his arm. &quot;First, fair maiden, I was to ask how you
+fared, and what you intended to do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have fared ill and well,&quot; answered Ella Brune; &quot;but that is a long
+story, and I will relate it to you afterwards; for that I can talk of,
+though the people of the house should be present; but what I am to do
+is a deeper question, and I know not well how to answer it. I have
+friends at the court of Burgundy--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What, then, are you of noble race, lady?&quot; asked Ned Dyram, in an
+altered tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no!&quot; replied Ella Brune, with a faint smile. &quot;The cousin of whom
+I speak is but a goldsmith to the Count of Charolois; but, 'tis a long
+journey for a woman to take alone, through foreign lands, and amongst
+a people somewhat unruly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why not come with us?&quot; inquired Ned Dyram; &quot;we sail from Dover in
+three days, and our company will be your protection. Did not Childe
+Richard tell you he was going?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; answered Ella Brune, casting down her eyes, &quot;but he did not
+seem to like the thought of having a woman in his company.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith! that is courteous of the good youth,&quot; cried Ned Dyram, with a
+low sharp laugh. &quot;He may win his spurs, but will not merit them, if he
+refuses protection to a lady.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That, I am sure, he would not do,&quot; replied Ella, gravely. &quot;He has
+given me the noblest protection at my need; but he may not think it
+right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no; you have mistaken him,&quot; said Ned Dyram. &quot;He is courteous and
+kind, without a doubt. He might think it better for yourself to go to
+York, as he bade me tell you, and to see your friends there, and to
+claim your rights; but if you judge fit to turn your steps to Burgundy
+instead, depend upon it he will freely give you aid and comfort on the
+way. If he did doubt,&quot; added the man, &quot;'twas but that he thought his
+lady-love might be jealous, if she heard that he had so fair a maiden
+in his company--for you know he is a lover!&quot;--and he fixed his eyes
+inquiringly on Ella's face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know he is,&quot; she answered, calmly, and without a change of feature.
+&quot;I know the lady, too; but she is not unwilling that I should go; and
+I dread much to show myself in York.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why so?&quot; demanded Ned Dyram. But Ella Brune was not sufficiently won
+by his countenance or manner to grant him the same confidence that she
+had reposed in Richard of Woodville; and she replied, &quot;For many
+reasons; but the first and strongest is, that there are persons there
+who have seized on that which should be mine. They are powerful; I am
+weak; and 'tis likely, as in such case often happens, that they would
+be willing to add wrong to wrong.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not only often, but always,&quot; replied Ned Dyram; &quot;therefore I say,
+fair maiden, you had better come with us. Here's one arm will strike a
+stroke for you, should need be; and there are plenty more amongst us
+who will do the like.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella answered him with a bright smile; but at that moment they were
+turning up the lane opposite the gate of the Temple, and she paused in
+her reply, willing to think farther and see more of her companion
+before she decided.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stay, fair maiden!&quot; continued Ned Dyram, who well knew where the
+hostelry of the Falcon was situate--&quot;It may be as well to keep our
+counsel, whatever it be, from host and hostess. Gossip is a part of
+their trade; and it is wise to avoid giving them occasion. I will give
+you, when we are within, a letter from my young lord, and read it to
+you, too, as perchance you cannot do that yourself; but it will let
+the people see that I am not without authority to hold converse with
+you, which may be needful.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; answered Ella, &quot;I can read it myself; for I have not been
+without such training.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, I forgot,&quot; rejoined Ned Dyram, with one of his light sneers;
+&quot;had you been a princess, you would not have been able to read. Such
+clerk-craft is only fit for citizens and monks. I wonder how Childe
+Richard learned to read and write. I fear it will spoil him for a
+soldier.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The satire was not altogether just; for, though it did not
+unfrequently happen that high nobles and celebrated warriors and
+statesmen were as illiterate as the merest boors, and in some
+instances (especially after the wars of the Roses had deluged the land
+with blood, and interrupted all the peaceful arts of life) the barons
+affected to treat with sovereign contempt the cultivation of the mind,
+yet such was not by any means so generally the case, as the pride of
+modern civilization has been eager to show. We have proofs
+incontestable, that, in the reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., and
+Henry V., men were by no means so generally ignorant as has been
+supposed. The House of Lancaster was proud of its patronage of
+literature; and, though more than one valiant nobleman could not sign
+his own name, or could do so with difficulty, there is much reason to
+believe that the exceptions have been pointed out as the rule; for we
+know that many a citizen of London could not only maintain, without
+the aid of another hand, long and intricate correspondence with
+foreign merchants, but also took delight in the reading during
+winter's nights of Chaucer and Gower, if not in studying secretly the
+writings of Wickliffe and his disciples.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune replied not, but walked on into the house, calling the good
+hostess, who, in that day as in others, often supplied the place of
+both master and mistress in a house of public entertainment. Ned Dyram
+followed her with his eyes into the house, scrutinizing with keen and
+wondering glance the beauties of form which even the long loose robe
+of serge could not fully conceal. He marvelled at the grace he beheld,
+even more rare at that day amongst the sons and daughters of toil than
+at present; and, although the pride of rank and station could not, in
+his case, suggest the bold disregard of all law and decency in seeking
+the gratification of passion, his feelings towards Ella Brune were not
+very far different from those of Sir Simeon of Roydon. He might have
+more respect for the opinion of the world, by which he hoped to rise;
+he might even have more respect for, and more belief in, virtue, for
+he was a wiser man; he might seek to obtain his ends by other means;
+he was even not incapable of love,--strong, passionate, overpowering
+love; but the moving power was the same. It was all animal; for,
+strange to say, though his intellect was far superior to that of most
+men of his day; though he had far more mind than was needful, or even
+advantageous, in his commerce with the world of that age, his impulses
+were all animal towards others. That which he cared for little in
+himself, he admired, he almost worshipped, in woman. It was beauty of
+form and feature only that attracted him. Mind he cared not for--he
+thought not of; nay, up to that moment, he perhaps either doubted
+whether it existed in the other sex, or thought it a disadvantage if
+it did. Even more, the heart itself he valued little; or, rather, that
+strange and complex tissue of emotions, springing from what source we
+know not, entwined with our mortal nature--by what delicate threads
+who can say?--which we are accustomed to ascribe to the heart, he
+regarded but as an almost worthless adjunct. His was the eager
+love--forgive me, if I profane what should be a holy name, rather than
+use a coarser term--of the wild beast; the appetite of the tiger, only
+tempered by the shrewdness of the fox. I mean not to say it always
+remained so; for, under the power of passion and circumstances, the
+human heart is tutored as a child. Neither would I say that aught like
+love had yet touched his bosom for Ella Brune. I speak but of his
+ordinary feeling towards woman; but feelings of that sort are sooner
+roused than those of a higher nature. He saw that she was very
+beautiful--more beautiful, he thought, than any woman of his own
+station that ever he had beheld; and that was enough to make him
+determine upon counteracting his master's wishes and counsel, and
+persuading Ella to turn her steps in the same course in which his
+own were directed. He knew not how willing she was to be persuaded;
+he knew not that she was at heart already resolved: but he
+managed skilfully, he watched shrewdly, through the whole of his
+after-communications with her during the day. He discovered much--he
+discovered all, indeed, but one deep secret, which might have been
+penetrated by a woman's eyes, but which was hid from his, with all
+their keenness--the motive, the feeling, that led her so strongly in
+the very path he wished. He saw, indeed, that she was so inclined; he
+saw that there was a voice always seconding him in her heart, and he
+took especial care to furnish that voice with arguments which seemed
+irresistible. He contrived, too, to win upon her much; for there was
+in his conversation that mingling of frankness and flattering
+courtesy, of apparent carelessness of pleasing, with all the arts of
+giving pleasure, and that range of desultory knowledge and tone of
+superior mind, with apparent simplicity of manner, and contempt for
+assumption, which of all things are the most calculated to dazzle and
+impress for a time. 'Tis the lighter qualities that catch, the deeper
+ones that bind; and though, had there been a comparison drawn between
+him, who was her companion for a great part of that evening, and
+Richard of Woodville, Ella Brune would have laughed in scorn; yet she
+listened, well pleased, to the varied conversation with which he
+whiled away the hours, when she could wean her thoughts from dearer,
+though more painful themes; yielded to his arguments when they
+seconded the purposes of her own heart, and readily accepted his
+offered service to aid her in executing the plan she adopted.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_18" href="#div1Ref_18">THE JOURNEY AND THE VOYAGE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The sun rose behind some light grey clouds, and the blue sky was
+veiled; but the birds made the welkin ring from amongst the young
+leaves of the April trees, and told of the coming brightness of the
+day. Why, or wherefore, let men of science say; but one thing is
+certain, the seasons at that time were different from those at
+present; they were earlier; they were more distinct; spring was
+spring, and summer was summer; and winter, content with holding his
+own right stiffly, did not attempt to invade the rights of his
+brethren. Far in the north of England we had vines growing and bearing
+fruit in the open air. At Hexham there was a vineyard; and wine was
+made in more than one English county--not very good, it is to be
+supposed, but still good enough to be drunk, and to prove the longer
+and more genial reign of summer in our island. Thus, though the
+morning was grey, as I have said, and April had not yet come to an
+end, the air was as warm as it is often now in June, and every bank
+was already covered with flowers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There were horses before the gate of Richard of Woodville's house, and
+men busily preparing them for a journey. There was the heavy charger,
+or battle horse, with tall and bony limbs, well fitted to bear up
+under the weight of a steel-covered rider; and the lighter, but still
+powerful palfrey, somewhat of the size and make of a hunter of the
+present day, to carry the master along the road. Besides these,
+appeared many another beast; horses for the yeomen and servants, and
+horses and mules for the baggage: the load of armour for himself and
+for his men which the young adventurer carried with him, requiring not
+a few of those serviceable brutes who bow their heads to man's will,
+in order to carry it to the sea-shore. At length all was prepared; the
+packs were put upon the beasts, the drivers were at their heads, the
+yeomen by their saddles; and with ten stout men and two boys, fourteen
+horses, three mules, a plentiful store of arms, and all the money he
+could raise, in his wallet, Richard of Woodville issued forth, gave
+his last commands to the old man and woman whom he left behind in the
+hall, and, springing into the saddle, began his journey towards Dover.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was not without a sigh that he set out; for he was leaving the land
+in which Mary Markham dwelt; but yet he thought he was going to win
+honour for her sake--perchance to win her herself; and all the bright
+hopes and expectations of youth soon gathered on his way, more vivid
+and more glowing in his case, than they could be in that of any youth
+of the present day, taking his departure for foreign lands. If at
+present each country knows but very little in reality of its
+neighbour, if England entertains false views and wild imaginations
+regarding France and her people, and France has not the slightest
+particle of knowledge in regard to the feelings, character, and habits
+of thought, of the English, how much more must such have been the case
+in an age when communication was rare, and then only or chiefly by
+word of mouth! It is true that the state of geographical knowledge was
+not so low as has been generally supposed, for we are very apt to look
+upon ourselves as wonderful people, and to imagine that nobody knew
+anything before ourselves; and the difference between former ages and
+the present is more in the general diffusion of knowledge than in its
+amount. In the very age of which we speak, the famous Henry of Vasco
+was pursuing his great project for reaching India by passing round
+Africa, attempting to establish Portuguese stations on the coast of
+that continent, and to communicate with the natives; &quot;e poi aver con
+essi loro comercio per l'onore e utiltà del Regno.&quot;<a name="div4Ref_04" href="#div4_04"><sup>[4]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="normal">The highways of Europe were well known; for mercantile transactions
+between country and country were carried on upon a system so totally
+different from that existing at present, that multitudes of the
+citizens of every commercial state were constantly wandering over the
+face of Europe, and bringing home anecdotes, if not much solid
+information, regarding the distant lands they had visited. The
+merchant frequently accompanied his goods; and the smaller traders,
+especially from the cities of Italy, travelled every season from fair
+to fair, and mart to mart, throughout the whole of the civilized
+world. Besides the communications which thus took place, and the
+information thus diffused, intelligence of a different sort was
+carried by another class, who may have been said to have represented
+in that day the tourists of the present. Chivalry, indeed, had greatly
+declined since the days of Richard I., and even since the time of the
+Black Prince; but still it was a constant practice for young knights
+and nobles of every country to visit the courts of foreign princes, in
+order either to acquire the warlike arts then practised, or to gain
+distinction by feats of arms. Few books of travels were written, it is
+true, and fewer read; for the art of printing had not yet, by the easy
+multiplication of copies, placed the stores of learning within the
+reach of the many; and one of the sources from which vast information
+might have been derived was cut off, by the general abhorrence with
+which the ever-wandering tribes of Israel were regarded, and the
+habitual taciturnity which had thus been produced in a people
+naturally loquacious.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Still a great deal of desultory and vague information concerning
+distant lands was floating about society. Strange tales were told, it
+is true, and truth deformed by fiction; but imagination had plenty of
+materials out of which to form splendid structures; and bright
+pictures of the far and the future, certainly did present themselves
+to the glowing fancy of Richard of Woodville, as he rode on upon his
+way. Knowing his own courage, his own skill, and his own strength;
+energetic in character, resolute, and persevering; animated by love,
+and encouraged by hope, he might well look forward to the world as a
+harvest-field of glory, into which he was about to put the sickle.
+Then came all the vague and misty representations that imagination
+could call up of distant courts and foreign princes, tilt and
+tournament, and high emprize; and the adventurous spirit of the times
+of old made his bosom thrill with dim visions of strange scenes and
+unknown places, accidents, difficulties, dangers, enterprises,--the
+hard rough ore from which the gold of praise and renown was still to
+be extracted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Movement and exertion are the life-blood of youth; and as he rode on,
+the spirits of Richard of Woodville rose higher and higher;
+expectation expanded; the regrets were left behind; and &quot;Onward,
+onward!&quot; was the cry of his heart, as the grey cloud broke into
+mottled flakes upon the sky, and gradually disappeared, as if absorbed
+by the blue heaven which it had previously covered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Through the rich wooded land of England he took his way for four days,
+contriving generally to make his resting-place for the night at some
+town which possessed the advantage of an inn, or at the house of some
+old friend of his family, where he was sure of kind reception. In the
+daytime, however, many of his meals were eaten in the open field, or
+under the broad shade of the trees; and, as he sat, after partaking
+lightly of the food which had been brought with him, while the horses
+were finishing their provender, the birds singing in the trees above
+often brought back to his mind the words of the minstrel's girl's
+lay:--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i8">&quot;The lark shall sing on high,
+<p class="t2">Whatever shore thou rovest;
+<p class="t0">The nightingale shall try
+<p class="t2">To call up her thou lovest.
+<p class="t0">For the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find;</p>
+<p class="t4">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">It seemed like the song of hope, and rang in his ear, mingling with
+the notes of the blackbird, the thrush, and the wood-lark, and
+promising success and happiness. The words, too, called up the image
+of Mary Markham, as she herself would have wished, the end and object
+of all his hopes and wishes, the crowning reward of every deed he
+thought to do. It is true that, with her, still appeared to the eye of
+memory the form of poor Ella Brune; but it was with very different
+sensations. He felt grateful to her for that cheering song; and,
+indeed, how often is it in life, that a few words of hope and
+encouragement are more valuable to us, are of more real and solid
+benefit, than a gift of gold and gems! for moral support to the heart
+of man, in the hour of difficulty, is worth all that the careless hand
+of wealth and power can bestow. But he felt no love--he might admire
+her, he might think her beautiful; but it was with the cold admiration
+of taste, not with passion. Her loveliness to him was as that of a
+picture or statue, and the only warmer sensations that he felt when he
+thought of her, were pity for her misfortunes, and interest in her
+fate. Nor did this arise either in coldness of nature, or the haughty
+pride of noble birth; but love was with him, as it was with many in
+days somewhat previous to his own, very different from the transitory
+and mutable passion which so generally bears that name. It was the
+absorbing principle of his whole nature, the ruling power of his
+heart, concentrated all in one--indivisible--unchangeable--a spirit in
+his spirit, a devotion, almost a worship. I say not, that in former
+times, before he had felt that passion, he might not have lived as
+others lived,--that he might not have trifled with the fair and bright
+wherever he found them,--that the fiery eagerness of youthful blood
+might not have carried him to folly, and to wrong; but from the moment
+he had learned to love Mary Markham, his heart had been for her alone,
+and the gate of his affections was closed against all others. Thus,
+could she have seen his inmost thoughts, she would have found how
+fully justified was her confidence, and might, perhaps, have blushed
+to recollect that one doubt had ever crossed her bosom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was about three o'clock on the evening of the fourth day, that
+Richard of Woodville--passing along by the priory, and leaving the
+church of St. Mary to the left, with the towers of the old castle
+frowning from the steep above, on one side, and the round chapel of
+the ancient temple house peeping over the hill upon the other--entered
+the small town of Dover, and approached the sea-shore, which, in those
+days, unencumbered by the immense masses of shingle that have since
+been rolled along the coast, extended but a short distance from the
+base of the primeval cliffs. Thus the town was then thrust into the
+narrow valley at the foot of the two hills; and the moment that the
+houses were passed, the wide scene of the sea, with a number of small
+vessels lying almost close to the shore, broke upon the eye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The associations of the people naturally gave to the principal
+hostelry of the place a similar name to that which it has ever since
+borne. Though very differently situated and maintained, the chief
+place of public reception in the town of Dover was then called the
+Bark, as it is now called the Ship; and although that port was not the
+principal place through which the communication between England and
+France took place, yet, ever since Calais had been an English
+possession, a great traffic had been carried on by Dover, so that the
+hostelry of the Bark was one of the most comfortable and best
+appointed in the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As every man of wealth and consequence who landed at, or embarked
+from, that port, brought his horses with him, numerous ostlers and
+stable boys were always ready to take charge of the guests' steeds;
+and as soon as a gentleman's train was seen coming down the street,
+loud shouts from the host called forth a crowd of expectant faces, and
+ready hands to give assistance to the arriving guests.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The first amongst those who appeared was Ned Dyram, in his blue
+tabard; and, although he did not condescend to hold his master's
+stirrup, but left that task to others, yet he advanced to the young
+gentleman's side, with some pride in the numbers and gallant
+appearance of the train, and informed him as he dismounted, that he
+had performed his errand in London; and also the charge which he had
+received for Dover, having engaged a large bark, named the Lucy
+Neville, to carry his master, with horses and attendants, to the small
+town of Nieuport, on the Flemish coast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The tide will serve at five o'clock, sir,&quot; he said. &quot;There is time to
+embark the horses and baggage, if you will, while you and the men sup.
+We have plenty of hands here to help; and I will see it all done
+safely. If not, we must stop till to-morrow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The host put in his word, however, observing, &quot;that the young lord
+might be tired with a long journey, that it were better to wait and
+part with the morning tide, and that it was Friday--an inauspicious
+day to put to sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the surface of the water was calm; the sky was bright and clear;
+and it was the last day of the period which Woodville had fixed, in
+his communication with the King, for his stay in England. He therefore
+determined to follow the opinion of Ned Dyram, instead of that of the
+host, which there was no absolute impossibility to prevent him from
+supposing interested; and, ordering his horses and luggage to be
+embarked, with manifold charges to his skilful attendant to look well
+to the safety of the chargers, he sat down to the ample supper which
+was soon after on the board, proposing to be down on the beach before
+his orders regarding the horses were put in execution.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The master and the man, in those more simple days, sat at the same
+board in the inn, and often at the castle: and as he knew that his own
+rising would be a signal for the rest to cease their meal, Richard of
+Woodville remained for several minutes, to allow the more slow and
+deliberate to accomplish the great function of the mindless. At
+length, however, he rose, discharged his score, added largess to
+payment, and then, with the &quot;fair voyage, noble sir,&quot; of the host, and
+the good wishes of drawers and ostlers, proceeded to the shore, where
+he fully expected to find Ned Dyram busily engaged in shipping his
+baggage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No one was there, however, but two or three of the horse-boys of the
+hotel, who saluted him with the tidings that all was on board. As he
+cast his eyes seaward, he saw a large boat returning from a ship at
+some small distance from the shore, with Ned Dyram in the stern; and
+in a few minutes after, the active superintendent of the embarkation
+jumped ashore, with a laugh, saying, &quot;Ah, sir! so you could not trust
+me! But all is safe, no hide rubbed off, no knees broken, no shoulder
+shaken; and if they do not kick themselves to pieces before we reach
+Nieuport, you will have as stout chargers to ride as any in Burgundy.
+But you are not going to embark yet? The tide will not serve for half
+an hour; and I have left my saddle-bags at the hostel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, run quick and get them,&quot; replied his master. &quot;I would fain see
+how all is stowed before we sail.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And know little about it when you do see,&quot; answered Ned Dyram, with
+his usual rude bluntness, or that which appeared to be such.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville might feel a little angry at his saucy tone; but
+it was only a passing emotion, easily extinguished. &quot;I certainly know
+little of stowing ships, my good friend,&quot; he answered, &quot;seeing that I
+never was in one in my life; but common sense is a great thing, Master
+Dyram; and I am not likely to be mistaken as to whether the horses are
+so placed as to run the least chance of hurting themselves or each
+other. Back to the hostel, then, as I ordered, with all speed; and do
+not let me have to wait for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The last words were spoken in a tone of command, which did not much
+please the hearer; but there were certain feelings in his breast that
+rendered him unwilling to offend a master on whom he had no tie of old
+services; and he therefore hurried his pace away, as long as he was
+within sight. He contrived to keep Woodville waiting, however, for at
+least twenty minutes; and as the young gentleman gazed towards the
+ship, he saw the large and cumbersome sails slowly unfurled, and
+preparations of various kinds made for putting to sea. His patience
+was well nigh exhausted, and he had already taken his place in the
+boat, intending to bid the men pull away, when Ned Dyram appeared,
+coming down from the inn, and carrying his saddle bags over his arm,
+while a man followed bearing a heavy coffre.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville smiled, saying to his yeoman of the stirrup, &quot;I
+knew not our friend Ned had such mass of baggage, or I would have
+given him further time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He has got his tools there, I doubt,&quot; observed the old armourer; &quot;for
+he is a famous workman, both in steel and gilding, though somewhat
+new-fangled in his notions.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The minute after Ned Dyram was seated in the boat, the men gave way,
+and over the calm waters of a sea just rippled by a soft but
+favourable breeze, she flew towards the ship. All on board were in the
+bustle of departure; and, before Richard of Woodville had examined the
+horses, and satisfied himself that everything had been carefully and
+thoughtfully arranged for their safety, the bark was under weigh. He
+looked round for Ned Dyram, willing to make up, by some praise of his
+attention and judgment, for any sharpness of speech on the shore; but
+the yeomen told him that their comrade had gone below, saying that he
+was always sick at sea; and the young gentleman, escaping from the
+crowd and confusion which existed amongst horses and men in the fore
+part of the vessel, retired to the stern, and took up his position
+near the steersman, while the cliffs of England, and the tall towers
+of the castle, with the churches and houses below, slowly diminished,
+as moving heavily through the water the bark laid her course for the
+town of Nieuport.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bustle soon ceased upon the deck; some of the yeomen laid
+themselves down to sleep, if sleep they might; the rest were down
+below; the mariners who remained on deck proceeded with their ordinary
+tasks in silence; the wind wafted them gently along with a soft and
+easy motion; and the sun, declining in the sky, shone along the bosom
+of the sea as if laying down a golden path, midway between France and
+England.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The feeling of parting from home was renewed in the bosom of Richard
+of Woodville, as he gazed back at the slowly waning shores of his
+native land, leaning his arms, folded on his chest, upon the bulwark
+of the stern. He felt no inclination to converse; and the man at the
+huge tiller seemed little disposed to speak. All was silent, except an
+occasional snatch of a rude song, with which one of the seamen cheered
+his idleness from time to time; till at length a sweeter voice was
+heard, singing in low and almost plaintive tones; and, turning
+suddenly round, Woodville beheld a female figure, clothed in black,
+leaning upon the opposite side of the vessel, and gazing, like
+himself, upon the receding cliffs of England. He listened as she sang;
+but the first stanza of her lay was done before he could catch the
+words.</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+
+
+<p class="t10"><b>SONG.</b></p>
+<br>
+<p class="t11">I.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">Oh, leave longing! dream no more</p>
+<p class="t2">Of sunny hours to come;</p>
+<p class="t0">Dreams that fade like that loved shore,</p>
+<p class="t2">Where once we made our home.</p>
+<p class="t3">Farewell; and sing lullabie<br>
+To all the joys that pass us by.</p>
+<p class="t4">They go to sleep,<br>
+Though we may weep,</p>
+<p class="t3">And never come again.--Nennie.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t11">II.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">Oh, leave sighing! thought is vain</p>
+<p class="t2">Of all the treasures past;</p>
+<p class="t0">Hope and fear, delight and pain,</p>
+<p class="t2">Are clay, and cannot last.</p>
+<p class="t3">Farewell; and sing lullabie<br>
+To all the things that pass us by.</p>
+<p class="t4">They go to sleep,<br>
+Though we may weep,</p>
+<p class="t3">And never come again.--Nennie.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t11">III.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">Oh, leave looking--on the wave</p>
+<p class="t2">That dances in the ray;</p>
+<p class="t0">See! now it curls its crest so brave,</p>
+<p class="t2">And now it melts away.</p>
+<p class="t3">Farewell; and sing lullabie<br>
+To all the things that pass us by.</p>
+<p class="t4">They go to sleep,<br>
+Though we may weep,</p>
+<p class="t3">And never come again.--Nennie.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">The voice was so sweet, the music was so plaintive, that, without
+knowing it, and though she sang in a low and subdued tone, the singer
+had every ear turned to listen. Richard of Woodville did not require
+to see her face, to recognise Ella Brune, though the change in her
+dress might have proved an effectual means of concealment, had she
+been disposed to hide herself from him. The peculiarly mellow and
+musical tone of her voice was enough; and, as soon as the lay ceased,
+Woodville crossed over and spoke to her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But she showed no surprise at seeing him, greeting him with a smile,
+and answering gaily to his inquiry, if she knew that he was in the
+same ship,--&quot;Certainly; that was the reason that I came. I am going to
+be headstrong, noble sir, for the rest of my life. I would not go to
+York, as you see; for I fancied that when people have got hold of that
+which does not belong to them, they may strike at any hand which
+strives to take it away, especially if it be that of a woman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are right, Ella,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;I had not
+thought of that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then I am going to Peronne, or it may be to Dijon,&quot; continued Ella,
+in a tone still light, notwithstanding the somewhat melancholy
+character of her song; &quot;because I think I can be of service, perhaps,
+to some who have been kind to me; and then, too, I intend to amass
+great store of money, and marry a scrivener.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are gay, Ella,&quot; replied Woodville, somewhat gravely, sitting down
+beside her, as she still leaned over the side of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Do you see those waves?&quot; she said; &quot;and how they dance and sparkle?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; replied her companion; &quot;what then?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There are depths beneath!&quot; answered Ella. &quot;Henceforth I will be
+gay--on the surface, at least, like the sunny sea; but it is because I
+have more profound thoughts within me, than when I seemed most sad.
+Keep my secret, noble sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That I will, Ella,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;but tell me--Did my servant
+find you out?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, and did me good service,&quot; answered the girl; &quot;for he brought me
+here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And the poor fool was afraid I should be offended,&quot; said Woodville;
+&quot;for he has avoided mentioning your name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps so,&quot; rejoined Ella; &quot;for he knew, I believe, that you did not
+wish to have me in your company. 'Tis a charge, noble sir; and a poor
+minstrel girl is not fit for a high gentleman's train.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, you do me wrong, Ella,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;right
+willingly, my poor girl, now as heretofore, in this as in other
+things, will I give you protection. I thought, indeed, that it might
+be better for yourself to remain; and there were reasons, moreover,
+that you do not know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, but I do know, sir,&quot; replied Ella, interrupting him; &quot;I know it
+all. I have made acquaintance with your lady-love, and sat at her knee
+and sung to her; and she has befriended the poor lonely girl, as you
+did before her; and she told me, she would neither doubt you nor me,
+though you took me on your journey, and protected me by the way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Dear, frank Mary!&quot; exclaimed Richard of Woodville; &quot;there spoke her
+own true heart. But tell me more about this, Ella. How did you see
+her?--when?--where?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune did as he bade her, and related to him all that had
+occurred to her since he had left London. As she spoke, her eye was
+generally averted; but sometimes it glanced to his countenance,
+especially when she either referred to Sir Simeon of Roydon, or to
+Mary Markham; and she saw with pleasure the flush upon her young
+protector's cheek, the knitted brow, and flashing eye, when she told
+the outrage she had endured, and the look of generous satisfaction
+which lighted up each feature, when she spoke of the protection she
+had received from good Sir Philip Beauchamp and the King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah! my noble uncle!&quot; he said; &quot;he is, indeed, somewhat harsh and rash
+when the warm blood stirs within him, as all these old knights are,
+Ella; but there never was a man more ready to draw the sword, or open
+the purse, for those who are in need of either, than himself. And so
+the King befriended you, too? He is well worthy of his royal name, and
+has done but justice on this arch knave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not half justice,&quot; answered Ella Brune, with a sudden change of tone;
+&quot;but no matter for that, the hand of vengeance will reach him one of
+these days. He cannot hide his deeds from God!--But you speak not of
+your sweet lady:--was she not kind to the poor minstrel girl?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She is always kind,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville. &quot;God's blessing
+on her blithe heart! She would fain give the same sunshine that is
+within her own soft bosom, to every one around her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That cannot be,&quot; answered Ella Brune; &quot;there are some made to be
+happy, some unhappy, in this world. Fortune has but a certain store,
+and she parts it unequally, though, perhaps, not blindly, as men say.
+But there's a place where all is made equal;&quot; and, resuming quickly
+her lighter tone, she went on, dwelling long upon every word that Mary
+Markham had said to her, seeming to take a pleasure in that, which had
+in reality no small portion of pain mingled with it. Such is not
+infrequently the case, indeed, with almost all men; for it is
+wonderful how the bee of the human heart will contrive to extract
+sweets from the bitter things of life; but, perhaps, there might be a
+little art in it--innocent art, indeed--most innocent; for its only
+object was to hide from the eyes of Richard of Woodville that there
+was any feeling in her bosom towards him but deep gratitude and
+perfect confidence. She dwelt then upon her he loved, as if the
+subject were as pleasing to her as to himself; and, though she spoke
+gaily--sometimes almost in a jesting tone--yet there were touches of
+deep feeling mingled every now and then with all she said, which made
+him perceive that, as she herself had told him, the lightness was in
+manner alone, and not in the mind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At all events, her conduct had one effect which she could have
+desired: it removed all doubt and hesitation from the mind of Richard
+of Woodville, if any such remained, in regard to his behaviour towards
+her;--it did away all scruple as to guarding and protecting her on the
+way, as far as their roads lay together.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One point, indeed, in her account puzzled him, and excited his
+curiosity--which was the sudden departure of his uncle and Mary from
+Westminster. &quot;Well,&quot; he thought, &quot;I never loved the task of
+discovering mysteries, and have ever been willing to leave Time to
+solve them, else I should have troubled my brain somewhat more about
+my sweet Mary's fate and history than I have done;&quot; and, after
+pondering for a few moments more, he turned again to other subjects
+with Ella Brune. Pleased and entertained by her conversation, he
+scarcely turned his eyes back towards the coast of England, till the
+cliffs had become faint and grey, like a cloud upon the edge of the
+sky; while the sun setting over the waters seemed to change them into
+liquid fire. In the meantime, wafted on by the light breeze, the ship
+continued her slow way; and, as the orb of day sank below the horizon,
+the moon, which had been up for some little time, poured her silver
+light upon the water--no longer outshone by the brighter beams. The
+sky remained pure and blue; the stars appeared faint amidst the lustre
+shed by the queen of night; and the water, dashing from the stern,
+looked like waves of molten silver as they flowed away. Nothing could
+be more calm, more grand, more beautiful, than the scene, with the
+wide expanse of heaven, and the wide expanse of sea, and the pure
+lights above and the glistening ripple below, and the curtain of
+darkness hanging round the verge of all things, like the deep veil of
+a past and future eternity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Neither Ella Brune nor Richard of Woodville could help feeling the
+influence of the hour, for the grand things of nature raise and
+elevate the human heart, whether man will or not. They lived in a rude
+age, it is true; but the spirit of each was high and fine; and their
+conversation gradually took its tone from the scene that met their
+eyes on all sides. They might not know that those stars were
+unnumbered suns, or wandering planets, like their own; they might not
+know that the bright broad orb that spread her light upon the waves
+was an attendant world, wheeling through space around that in which
+they lived; they had no skill to people the immensity with miracles of
+creative power; but they knew that all they beheld was the handiwork
+of God, and they felt that it was very beautiful and very good. Their
+souls were naturally led up to the contemplation of things above the
+earth; and while Richard of Woodville learned hope and confidence in
+Him who had spread the heaven with stars and clothed the earth in
+loveliness, Ella Brune took to her heart, from the same source, the
+lesson of firmness and resignation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They gazed, they wondered, they adored; and each spoke to the other
+some of the feelings which were in their hearts; but some only, for
+there were many that they could not speak.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I remember,&quot; said Ella, at length, in a low voice, &quot;when I was at a
+town called Innsbruck, in the midst of beautiful mountains, hearing
+the nuns chant a hymn, which I caught up by ear; and the poor old man
+and I turned it, as best we might, into English, and used often in our
+wanderings to console ourselves with singing it, when little else had
+we to console us. It comes into my mind to-night more than ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let me hear it, then, Ella,&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;I love all
+music.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will sing it,&quot; replied Ella; &quot;but you must not hear it only. You
+must join in heart, if not in voice.&quot;</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+
+
+
+<p class="t14"><b>HYMN.</b></p>
+<br>
+
+<p class="t0">Oh glorious! oh mighty! Lord God of salvation!</p>
+<p class="t1">Thy name let us praise from the depth of the heart;</p>
+<p class="t0">Let tongue sing to tongue, and nation to nation,</p>
+<p class="t1">And in the glad hymn, all thy works bear a part.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">The tops of the mountains with praises are ringing,</p>
+<p class="t1">The depths of the valleys re-echo the cry;</p>
+<p class="t0">The waves of the ocean Thy glories are singing,</p>
+<p class="t1">The clouds and the winds find a voice as they fly;</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">The weakest, the strongest, the lowly, the glorious,</p>
+<p class="t1">The living on earth, and the dead in the grave!</p>
+<p class="t0">For the arm of thy Son over death is victorious,</p>
+<p class="t1">With power to redeem, and with mercy to save.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="t0">Oh glorious! oh mighty! Lord God of salvation!</p>
+<p class="t1">To Thee let us sing from the depth of the heart;</p>
+<p class="t0">Let tongue tell to tongue, and nation to nation,</p>
+<p class="t1">How bountiful, gracious, and holy Thou art.</p>
+</div>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_19" href="#div1Ref_19">THE FOREIGN LAND.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The night had fallen nearly an hour ere Richard of Woodville, Ella
+Brune, and the young Englishman's attendants, were seated for the
+first time round the table of a small Flemish inn, on the day after
+they had left the shores of their native land. Strange as it may seem,
+that with a wind not unfavourable, somewhat more than twenty-four
+hours should be occupied by a voyage of less than sixty miles; yet
+such had been the case between Dover and Nieuport; for it was more
+than five hours past noon, on the evening following that on which they
+set sail, when the bark that bore Richard of Woodville entered the
+mouth of the little river on which that port is situated. But the art
+of navigation was little known in those times; and the wind, which,
+though directly fair at first, was never strong enough to give the
+ship much way through the water, veered round soon after midnight, not
+to a point exactly contrary, but to one which favoured the course of
+the voyagers very little; so that if it had not again changed before
+night, another twelve hours might have been passed upon the sea. At
+length, however, the land, which had been for some time in sight, grew
+clear and more strongly marked; the towers of village churches were
+seen, distinct; and, anchoring as near the town as possible, the
+disembarkation was commenced without delay, in order to accomplish the
+task before nightfall. Nevertheless, ere horses and baggage were all
+safely on the shore, the day had well nigh come to an end; so that, as
+I have said, it was dark before the young Englishman, Ella Brune, and
+his attendants, were seated round the table of the poor hostel, which
+was the only place of entertainment that the town afforded.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here first the services of the poor minstrel girl became really
+valuable to her protector; for notwithstanding the proximity of the
+English coast, not a soul in the hostel could speak aught else but the
+Flemish tongue. There were evidently numerous other guests, all
+requiring entertainment; though with a strange exclusiveness, hardly
+known in those days, they kept themselves closely shut up in the rooms
+which had been retained for their own accommodation; and as neither
+Woodville nor any of his train, not even excepting the learned Ned
+Dyram, knew one word of the language, the whole party would have fared
+ill, had not Ella, in tones which rendered even that harsh jargon
+sweet, given, in the quality of interpreter, the necessary orders for
+all that was required.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The greatest difficulty seemed to be in obtaining chambers, in which
+the somewhat numerous party of the young cavalier could find repose.
+The stable and the adjoining barn were full already of horses and
+mules, even to overflowing, otherwise they might have afforded
+accommodation to men who were accustomed in their own country to lie
+hard, and yet sleep lightly; and only one room of any size was vacant,
+with a small closet hard by, containing a low pallet. The latter,
+Richard of Woodville at once assigned to Ella Brune; the former he
+reserved for himself and three of his men, of whom Ned Dyram was one;
+and it was finally arranged that the rest should be provided with dry
+hay, mown from the neighbouring sandy ground, in the hall where they
+supped.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As soon as the meal was over, the board was cleared, the hay brought
+in, Ella retired to her pallet, Richard of Woodville to his; straw was
+laid down across his door for the three men; and the whole party were
+soon in the arms of slumber. Richard of Woodville dreamed, however,
+with visions coming thick and fast, and changing as they came, like
+the figures in a phantasmagoria. Now he was in the King's court,
+defying Simeon of Roydon to battle; now at the old hall at Dunbury,
+with Isabel, and Dacre, and Mary, and poor Catherine Beauchamp
+herself. Then suddenly the scene changed, and he was by the moonlight
+stream near Abbot's Ann, with Hal of Hadnock. He heard a voice call to
+him from the water: &quot;Richard! Richard!&quot; it seemed to cry, &quot;Save me!
+Revenge me!--Richard, Richard of Woodville!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He started suddenly up; but the voice still rang in his ears: &quot;Richard
+of Woodville,&quot; it said, or seemed to say.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I hear,&quot; he exclaims. &quot;Who calls?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What maiden is this thou hast with thee?&quot; asked the voice. &quot;Beware!
+Beware! Love will not be lightlied.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Who is it that speaks?&quot; demanded Richard of Woodville, rubbing his
+eyes in surprise and bewilderment. But no one answered, and all was
+silence. &quot;Surely, some one spoke,&quot; said the young gentleman; &quot;if so,
+let them speak again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was no reply; and Woodville was inclined to believe that his
+dream had been prolonged after he had fancied himself awake; but, as
+he sat up and listened, he heard the movement of some one amongst the
+straw at the end of the room; and, well aware that, if any of the men
+were watchful, it must be he who had the most mind, he exclaimed, &quot;Ned
+Dyram! are you asleep?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, sir,&quot; replied the man; &quot;I have been awake these ten minutes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Did you hear any one speak just now?&quot; demanded Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To be sure I did,&quot; answered Dyram. &quot;Some one called you by your name:
+it was that which roused me. They asked about the maiden, Ella, and
+bade you beware. Foul fall them! we have witches near.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville instantly sprang from his bed, and advanced
+towards the casement. The moon was still shining; but when the young
+gentleman gazed forth, all without was in the still quiet of midnight.
+He could see the court of the hostel, and the angle of the building,
+formed by a sort of wing which projected from the rest, close to where
+he stood; but all was calm; and not a creature seemed stirring. He
+looked up to the windows in the wing, but there was no light in any.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Whence did the sound seem to come, Ned?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It seemed in the room,&quot; replied the man. &quot;Shall I strike a light? I
+have always wherewithal about me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville bade him do so; and a lamp was soon lighted. But
+Ned Dyram and his master searched the room in vain; and the other two
+inhabitants of the chamber slept soundly through all. At length,
+puzzled and disappointed, Woodville retired to bed again, and the
+light was extinguished; but the young gentleman did not sleep for some
+hours, listening eagerly for any sound. None made itself heard through
+the rest of the night, but the hard breathing of the sleeping yeomen;
+and, after watching till near morning, slumber once more fell upon
+Woodville's eyes, and he did not wake till the sun had been up an
+hour. The yeomen had already quitted the room without his having
+perceived it; and, dressing himself in haste, he proceeded to inquire
+of the host what strangers had lodged in his house during the
+preceding night, besides himself and his own attendants?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;None, but a party of monks and nuns,&quot; the man replied, through the
+interpretation of Ella Brune, whom Woodville had called to his aid.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ask him, Ella, of what country they were,&quot; said Richard of Woodville.
+But the man replied to Ella's question, that they were all
+Hainaulters, except two who came from Friesland; and that they were
+going on a pilgrimage to Rome.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville was more puzzled than ever. For a moment he
+suspected that Ned Dyram might have played some trick upon him; for,
+notwithstanding the bluntness of that worthy personage, a doubt of his
+being really as honest and straightforward as the King believed him,
+had entered into Woodville's mind, he knew not well why. Reflecting,
+however, on the fact of Ned Dyram having encouraged Ella Brune to
+accompany them to the Continent, notwithstanding the opposite advice
+given by his master, the young gentleman soon rejected that suspicion,
+and remained as much troubled to account for what had occurred as
+before.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No farther information was to be obtained; and, as soon as his men and
+horses were prepared, Richard of Woodville commenced his journey
+towards Ghent; directing his steps in the first instance to Ghistel,
+through a country which presented, at that period, nothing but wide
+uncultivated plains and salt marshes, with here and there a village
+raised on any little eminence, or a feudal castle near the shore, from
+which, even in those days, and still more in the times preceding,
+numerous bands of pirates were sent forth, sweeping the sea, and
+occasionally entering the mouths of the English rivers. The
+inhabitants of the whole tract, from Ostend to the Aa, were notorious
+for their savage and blood-thirsty character; so much so, indeed, as
+to have obtained the name of the Scythians of the North; and Ella
+Brune, as she rode beside Richard of Woodville, on one of the mules
+which he had brought with him, and which had been freed from its share
+of the baggage to bear her lighter weight, warned her companion to be
+upon his guard, as the passage through that part of the country was
+still considered unsafe, notwithstanding some improvement in the
+manners of the people.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At first Woodville only smiled, replying, that he thought a party of
+eleven stout Englishmen were sufficient to deal with any troop of rude
+Flemings who might come against them. But she went on to give him many
+anecdotes of brutal outrages that had been committed within a very few
+years, which somewhat changed his opinion; and the appearance of a
+body of five or six horsemen, seemingly watching the advance of his
+little force, induced him to take some precautions. Halting within
+sight of the church of Lombards Heyde, he caused his archers to put on
+the cuirasses and salades with which they were provided for active
+service, and ordered them to have their bows ready for action at a
+moment's notice. He also partly armed himself, and directed the two
+pages to follow him close by with his casque, shield, and lance; and
+thus, keeping a firm array, the party moved forward to Ghistel,
+watched all the way along the road by the party they had at first
+observed, but without any attack being made. Their military display,
+indeed, proved in some degree detrimental to them; for that small town
+had been surrounded by ramparts some sixty or seventy years before,
+and the party of strangers was refused admission at the gates. On the
+offer of payment, however, some of the inhabitants readily enough
+brought forth corn and water for the horses, and food and hydromel for
+the men. One or two of them could speak French also; and from them
+Richard of Woodville obtained clear directions for pursuing his way
+towards Ghent. He now found that he had already somewhat deviated from
+the right track in coming to Ghistel at all; but as he was there, the
+men said that the best course for him to follow was to cross the
+country direct by Erneghem, and thence march through the forest of
+Winendale, along the high raised causeway which commenced at the gates
+of Ghistel.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As no likelihood of obtaining any nearer place of repose presented
+itself, the young Englishman proceeded to follow these directions, and
+towards three o'clock of the same day reached the village of Erneghem.
+Much to his disappointment, however, he found no place of
+entertainment there. The inhabitants were mostly in the fields, and
+but little food was to be obtained for man or horse. On his own
+account, Richard of Woodville cared little; nor did he much heed his
+men being broken in to privations, which he well knew must often befal
+them; but for Ella Brune he was more anxious, and expressed to her
+kindly his fears lest she should suffer from hunger and fatigue. But
+Ella laughed lightly, replying, &quot;I am more accustomed to it than any
+of you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Onward from that place, the march of the travellers was through the
+deep green wood, which, at that time, extended from a few miles to the
+south of Thorout, almost to the gates of Bruges. The soil was marshy,
+the road heavy, and full of sand; but the weather was still
+beautifully clear, the sun shone bright and warm, a thousand wild
+flowers grew up under the shade, and the leafy branches of the forest
+offered no unpleasant canopy, even at that early period of the year.
+Neither village, nor house, nor woodman's hut, nor castle tower,
+presented itself for several miles; and as they approached a spot
+where the road divided into two, with no friendly indication to the
+weary traveller of the place to which either tended, Richard of
+Woodville turned towards Ella, asking--&quot;Which, think you, I ought to
+follow, my fair maid? or had I better, like the knight-errant of old,
+give the choice up to my horse, and see what his sagacity will do,
+where my own entirely fails me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What little I have,&quot; replied Ella, &quot;would be of no good here; but I
+think the best road to choose would be the most beaten one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Often the safest, Ella,&quot; replied Richard, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yet not always the most pleasant,&quot; answered Ella Brune. But, as she
+spoke, a human figure came in sight, the first that they had seen
+since they had left Erneghem. It was that of a stout monk, in a grey
+gown, with a large straw hat upon his head, tied with a riband under
+his beard. He was mounted upon a tall powerful ass, which was ambling
+along with him at a good pace; and though he pulled up when he saw the
+large party of strangers pausing at the separation of the two roads,
+he came forward at a slower pace the next moment, and, after a careful
+inspection of the young leader's person, saluted him courteously in
+the French tongue.--&quot;Give you good day, and benedicite, my son,&quot; he
+said, bowing his head. &quot;You seem embarrassed about your way. Can I
+help you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Infinitely, good father,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, &quot;if you can
+direct me on the road. I am going to Ghent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, you can never reach Ghent to-night, my son,&quot; exclaimed the monk;
+&quot;and you will find but poor lodging till you get to Thielt, which you
+will not reach till midnight, unless you ride hard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We shall want both food and lodging long ere that, good father,&quot; said
+Richard of Woodville. &quot;Whither does this road you have just come up
+lead?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To Aertrick,&quot; replied the monk: &quot;but you will get neither food nor
+beds there, my son, for so large a troop. 'Tis a poor place, and the
+priest is a poor man, who would lodge a single traveller willingly
+enough, but has no room for more, nor bread to give them; but your
+best plan will be to come with me to Thorout. 'Tis a little out of
+your way to Ghent; but yet you can reach that city to-morrow, if you
+will, though 'tis a long day's journey--well nigh ten leagues.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is there a hostel in Thorout, good father?&quot; asked Richard of
+Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;One of the most miserable in Flanders, Hainault, or Brabant,&quot;
+answered the monk, laughing; &quot;but we have a priory there, where we are
+always willing to lodge strangers, and let them taste of our
+refectory. We are a poor order,&quot; he continued, with a sly smile, &quot;but
+yet we live in a rich country, and the people are benevolent to us, so
+that our board is not ill supplied; and strangers who visit us always
+remember our poverty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That we will do most willingly,&quot; said Richard of Woodville, &quot;to the
+best of our ability, good father. But you see we have a lady with us.
+Now I have heard, that in some orders--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, ay,&quot; replied the monk, laughing, &quot;where the brotherhood are in
+sad doubt of their own virtue; but we are all grave and sober men, and
+fear not to see a fair sister amongst us--as a visitor, as a visitor,
+of course. It would be a want of Christian charity to send a fair lady
+from the gate, when she was in need of food and lodging. But come on,
+sir, if you will come; for we have still near a league to go, and 'tis
+well nigh the hour of supper, which this pious beast of mine knows
+right well. I had to drub him all the way to Aertrick, because he
+thought I had ought to be at vespers in the convent; and now he ambles
+me well nigh three leagues to the hour, because he knows that I ought
+to be back again. Oh, he has as much care of my conscience as a lady's
+father-director has of hers. Come, my son, if you be coming;&quot; and
+therewith he put his ass once more into a quick pace, and took the
+road to the right.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In little more than half an hour the whole party stood before the
+gates of a large heavy building, inclosed within high walls, situated
+at a short distance from the town of Thorout; and the good monk,
+leaving his new friends without, went in to speak with the prior in
+regard to their reception. No great difficulty seemed to be made; and
+the prior himself, a white bearded, fresh complexioned old man, with a
+watery blue eye, well set in fat, came out to the door to welcome
+them. His air was benevolent; and his look, though somewhat more
+joyous than was perhaps quite in harmony with his vows, was by no
+means so unusual in his class as to call for any particular
+observation on the part of the young Englishman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Far from displaying any scruples in regard to receiving Ella within
+those holy walls, he was the first to show himself busy, perhaps
+somewhat more than needful, in assisting her to dismount. It was
+evident that he was a great admirer of beauty in the other sex; but
+there were other objects for which he had an extreme regard; and one
+of those, in the form of the supper of the monastery, was already
+being placed upon the table of the refectory; so that there was no
+other course for him to pursue than to hasten the whole party in, to
+partake of the meal, only pausing to ask Richard of Woodville, with a
+glance at the black robe of serge and the white wimple of Ella Brune,
+whether she was a sister of some English order?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville simply replied that she was not, but merely a young maiden
+who was placed under his charge, to escort safely to Peronne, or
+perhaps Dijon, if she did not find her relations, who were attached to
+the Court of Burgundy, at the former place.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The good prior was satisfied for the time, and led the way on to the
+refectory, where about twenty brethren were assembled, waiting with as
+eager looks for the commencement of the meal as if they had been
+fasting for at least four-and-twenty hours. To judge, however, from
+the viands to which they soon sat down, no such abstinence was usually
+practised; and capons, and roe-deer, and wild-boar pork, were in as
+great plenty on the table of the refectory as in the hall of a high
+English baron. Some distinction of rank, too, was here observed;<a name="div4Ref_05" href="#div4_05"><sup>[5]</sup></a>
+and the attendants of Richard of Woodville were left to sup with the
+servants of the convent, somewhat to their surprise and displeasure.
+The monks in general seemed a cheerful and well-contented race, fond
+of good cheer and rich wine; and all but one or two seemed to vie with
+each other in showing very courteous attention to poor Ella Brune, in
+which course the prior himself, and the brother questor, who had been
+Woodville's guide thither, particularly distinguished themselves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was one saturnine man, indeed, seated somewhat far down the
+table, with his head bent over his platter, who seemed to take little
+share in the hilarity of the others. From time to time he gave a
+side-long look towards Ella; but it was evidently not one of love or
+admiration; and Richard of Woodville was easily led to imagine that
+the good brother was somewhat scandalized at the presence of a woman
+in the convent. He asked the questor, who sat next to him, however, in
+a low voice, who that silent brother was; and it needed no farther
+explanation to make the monk understand whom he meant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is a Kill-joy,&quot; replied the questor, with a significant look; &quot;but
+he is none of our own people, though one of the order, from the abbey
+at Liege. He departs soon, God be praised; for he has done nothing but
+censure us since he came hither. His abbot sent him away upon a
+visitation--to get rid of him, I believe; for he was unruly there,
+too, and declared that widgeons could not be eaten on even an ordinary
+fast-day without sin, though we all know the contrary.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is not orthodox in that, at least,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville,
+with a smile. &quot;Doubtless he thinks it highly improper for a lady to
+have shelter here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For that very reason,&quot; said the questor, in the same low tone in
+which their conversation had been hitherto carried on, &quot;the prior will
+have to lodge you in the visitor's lodging, which you saw just by the
+gate; for he fears the reports of brother Paul. Otherwise he would
+have put you in the sub-prior's rooms, he being absent. But see, now
+he has done himself, how brother Paul watches every mouthful that goes
+down the throats of others!&quot; The questor sank his voice to a whisper,
+adding, in a solemn tone, &quot;He drinks no wine--nothing but water wets
+his lips! Is not that a sin?--a disparaging of the gifts of God?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is, certainly, not using them discreetly,&quot; answered Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;and, methinks, in these low lands, a cup of generous wine,
+such as this is, must be even more necessary to a reverend monk, who
+spends half his time in prayer, than to a busy creature of the world,
+who has plenty of exercise to keep his blood flowing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To be sure it is!&quot; replied the questor, who approved the doctrine
+highly; and thereupon he filled Woodville's can again, with a
+&quot;Benedicite, noble sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the meal was over, the young Englishman remarked, that this grim
+brother Paul, of whom they had been speaking, took advantage of the
+little interval which usually succeeds the pleasant occupation of
+eating, to draw the prior aside, and whisper to him for several
+minutes. The face of the latter betrayed impatience and displeasure,
+and he turned from him, with a somewhat mocking air, saying aloud,
+&quot;You are mistaken, my brother, and not charitable, as you will soon
+see. Hark! there is the bell for complines. Do you attend the service,
+sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The last words were addressed to Richard of Woodville, who bowed his
+head, and answered, &quot;Gladly I will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, yes!&quot; cried Ella, with a joyful look; &quot;I shall be so pleased, if
+I may find a place in the chapel. I have not had the opportunity of
+hearing any service since I left London.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Assuredly, my daughter!&quot; said the prior, with a gracious look; &quot;the
+chapel is open to all. We have our own place; but every day we have
+the villagers and townsfolk to hear our chanting, which we are
+somewhat vain of. You shall be shown how to reach it with your
+friends.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The monks took their way to the chapel by a private door from the
+refectory; and Richard of Woodville, with Ella, was led by a lay
+brother of the monastery through the court. Two or three women and one
+old man were in the chapel, and the short evening service began and
+ended, the sweet voice of Ella Brune mingling sounds with the choir,
+which, well I wot, the place had not often heard before. At the close,
+Richard of Woodville moved towards the door; but Ella besought him to
+stay one moment, and, advancing to the shrine of Our Lady, knelt down
+and prayed devoutly, with her beads in her hand. Perhaps she might ask
+for a prosperous journey, and for deliverance from danger; or she
+might entreat support and guidance in an undertaking that occupied the
+dearest thoughts of an enthusiastic heart; nor will there be many
+found to blame her, even if the higher aspirations, the holier and
+purer impulses that separate the spirit from the earth and lead the
+soul to Heaven, were mingled with the mortal affections that cling
+around us to the end, so long as we are bondsmen of the clay.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While she yet prayed, and while the monks were wending away through
+their own particular entrance, the old prior advanced to Woodville,
+who was standing near the door, and remarked, &quot;Our fair sister seems
+of a devout and Catholic spirit. These are bad days, and there are
+many that swerve from the true faith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At these words a conviction, very near the truth, broke upon
+Woodville's mind, as he recollected what Ella had told him of the
+opinions of old Murdock Brune and of his relations in Liege, and
+combined her account with the whispering of brother Paul, a monk from
+that very city. It was a sudden flash of perception, rather than the
+light of cold consideration; and he replied, without a moment's pause,
+&quot;She is, indeed, a sincere and pious child of the Holy Roman Catholic
+Church; and she has been much tried, as you would soon perceive,
+reverend sir, if you knew all; for she has relations who have long
+since abandoned the faith of their fathers, and would fain have
+persuaded her to adopt their own vain and heretical opinions; but she
+has been firm and constant, even to her own injury in their esteem,
+poor maiden!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, I thought so, I thought so!&quot; replied the fat prior, rubbing his
+fat white hands. &quot;See how she prays to the Blessed Virgin; and the
+Queen of Heaven will hear her prayers. She always has especial grace
+for those who kneel at that altar. Good night, brother;--good night!
+The questor and the refectioner will show you your lodging, and give
+you the sleeping cup. To-morrow I will see you ere you depart. God's
+blessing upon you, daughter,&quot; he added, as Ella approached. &quot;I must
+away, for that father Paul has us all up to matins.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, the old monk retired; and in the court Woodville found
+his friend the questor and another brother, who led him and his
+attendants to what was called the visitor's lodging, where, with a
+more comfortable bed than the night before, he slept soundly, only
+waking for a few moments as the matin bell rang, and then dropping
+asleep again, to waken shortly after daylight and prepare for his
+journey onward.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he came to depart, however, there was one drawback to the
+remembrance of the pleasant evening he had passed in the monastery. A
+stout mule was saddled in the court, and the prior besought him, in
+courteous terms, to give the advantage of his escort to father Paul,
+who was about to set out likewise for Ghent. Richard of Woodville
+could not well refuse, though not particularly pleased, and placing a
+liberal return for his entertainment in the box of the convent, he
+began his journey, resolved to make the best of a companionship which
+he could not avoid.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_20" href="#div1Ref_20">THE NEW ACQUAINTANCES.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">All was bustle in the good old town of Ghent, as Richard of Woodville
+and his train rode in. It was at all times a gay and busy place; and
+even now, when much of its commerce has passed away from it, what a
+cheerful and lively scene does its market-place present on a summer's
+day, with the tall houses rising round, and breaking the line of the
+sunshine into fantastic forms, and the innumerable groups of men
+and women standing to gossip or to traffic, or moving about in
+many-coloured raiment! On that day, however, military display was
+added to the usual gaiety of the scene, and to the ordinary municipal
+pageants of the time. Horsemen in arms were riding through the
+streets, lances were seen here and there, and pennons fluttered on the
+wind, while every now and then attendants in gay dresses, with the
+arms of Burgundy embroidered upon breast and back, passed along with
+busy looks and an important air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Englishman took his way under the direction of brother
+Paul--who had shown himself upon the journey more courteous and
+conversable than had been expected--towards the principal hostelry of
+the place; and Ghent at that time possessed many; but he was twice
+forced to stop in his advance by the crowds, who seemed to take little
+notice of him and his train, so fully occupied were they with some
+other event of the day. The first interruption was caused by a long
+train of priests and monks going to some church, with all the splendid
+array of the Roman Catholic clergy, followed by an immense multitude
+of idle gazers; and hardly had they passed, when the procession of the
+trades, walking on foot, with banners displayed, and guards in armour,
+and ensigns of the different companies, crossed the path of the
+travellers, causing them to halt for a full quarter of an hour, while
+the long line moved slowly on.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is this any day of peculiar festival, brother Paul?&quot; demanded Richard
+of Woodville; &quot;the good citizens of Ghent seem in holiday.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;None that I know of,&quot; replied the monk; &quot;but I will ask;&quot; and,
+pushing on his mule to the side of one of the more respectable
+artisans, he inquired the cause of the procession of the trades.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They are going to compliment the Count de Charolois,&quot; answered the
+man, &quot;and to ask his recognition of their charters and privileges. He
+arrived only this morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is fortunate, Ella,&quot; said Woodville, as soon as he was informed
+of this reply; &quot;both for you and for me. Your father's cousin will,
+most likely, be with him; and I seek the Count myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Brother Paul seemed to listen attentively to what his companions said;
+but he made no remark; and as soon as the procession had passed, they
+rode on, and were soon housed comfortably for the night. The monk left
+them at the inn door, thanking the young English gentleman for his
+escort, and retired to the abbey of St. Bavon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The hour of the day was somewhat late for Richard of Woodville to
+present himself before the Count de Charolois, and he also judged that
+it might be more prudent to visit in the first place the agent of the
+King of England--the well-known diplomatist of that day, Sir Philip
+Morgan, or de Morgan--if it should chance that he had accompanied the
+Count to Ghent. That he had done so, indeed, seemed by no means
+improbable, as Woodville had learned since his arrival in Flanders,
+that the Duke of Burgundy himself was absent in the French capital,
+and that the chief rule of his Flemish territory was entrusted to his
+son. The host of the inn, however, could tell him nothing about the
+matter; all he knew was, that the Count had arrived that morning
+unexpectedly, accompanied by a large train, and that instead of taking
+up his abode in the Cour des Princes, which had of late years become
+the residence of the Counts of Flanders, he had gone to what was
+called the Vieux Bourg, or old castle, of the Flemish princes. He
+offered to send a man to inquire if a person bearing the hard name
+which his English guest had pronounced, was with the Count's company;
+and Richard of Woodville had just got through the arrangements of a
+first arrival, and was taking a hasty meal, when the messenger
+returned, saying that Sir Philip de Morgan was with the Count, and was
+lodged in the left gate tower entering from the court.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will go to him at once, Ella,&quot; he said; &quot;and before my return you
+had better bethink you of what course you will pursue, in case your
+kinsman should not be with the Count. I will leave you for the present
+under the charge of Ned Dyram here, who will see that no harm happens
+to you in this strange town.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! it is not strange to me,&quot; replied Ella Brune. &quot;We once staid here
+for a month, noble sir; and, as to bethinking me of what I shall do, I
+have bethought me already, but will not stay you to speak about it
+now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, she suffered him to depart, without giving him any charge
+to inquire after her kinsman, being somewhat more than indifferent, to
+say the truth, as to whether Richard of Woodville found him or not.
+When the young gentleman had departed, and the meal was concluded, Ned
+Dyram, though he had taken care to show no great pleasure at the task
+which his master had given him to execute, besought his fair companion
+to walk forth with him into the town, and urged her still,
+notwithstanding the plea of weariness which she offered for retiring
+to her own chamber.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I wish to purchase some goods,&quot; he said; &quot;and shall never make myself
+understood, fair Ella, unless I have you with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! every one in this town speaks French,&quot; replied Ella Brune; &quot;for
+since the country fell to one of the royal family of France, that
+tongue has become the fashion amongst the nobles; and the traders are
+obliged to learn it, to speak with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But I must not go out and leave you,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, &quot;after the
+charge my young lord has laid upon me;&quot; and as he still pressed her to
+accompany him, Ella, who felt that she owed him some gratitude for
+having forwarded her schemes so far, at length consented; and they
+issued forth together into the streets of Ghent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As soon as they were free from the presence of the other attendants of
+Richard of Woodville, the manner of her companion towards Ella became
+very different. There was a tenderness in his tones, and in his words,
+an expression of admiration in his countenance, which he had carefully
+avoided displaying before others; and the poor girl felt somewhat
+grieved and annoyed, although, as there was nothing coarse or familiar
+in his demeanour, she felt that she had no right to be displeased.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The lowliest may love the highest,&quot; she thought; &quot;and in station he
+is better than I am. Why, then, should I feel angry?--And yet I wish
+this had not been; it may mar all my plans. How can I check it? and if
+I do, may he not divine all the rest, and, in his anger, do what he
+can to thwart me?--I will treat it lightly. Heaven pardon me, if I
+dissemble!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What are you thinking of so deeply, fair maiden?&quot; asked Ned Dyram,
+marking the reverie into which she had fallen. &quot;You do not seem to
+listen to what I say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As much as it is worth, Master Dyram,&quot; replied Ella, in a gay tone;
+&quot;but I must check you; you are too rapid in your sweet speeches. Do
+you not know, that he who would become a true servant to a lady, must
+have long patience, and go discreetly to work? Oh! I am not to be won
+more easily than my betters! Poor as I am, I am as proud as any lady
+of high degree, and will have slow courtship and humble suit before I
+am won.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You shall have all that you wish, fair Ella,&quot; answered Ned Dyram, &quot;if
+you will but smile upon my suit!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Smile!&quot; exclaimed Ella, with the same light manner. &quot;Did ever man
+dream of such a thing so soon! Why, you may think yourself highly
+favoured, if you get a smile within three months. The first moon is
+all sighing--the next is all beseeching--the next, hoping and fearing;
+and then, perchance, a smile may come, to give hope encouragement. A
+kind word may follow at the end of the fourth month, and so on. But
+the lady who could be wholly won before three years, is unworthy of
+regard. However, Master Dyram,&quot; she continued in a graver tone, &quot;you
+must make haste to purchase what you want, for I am over-weary to walk
+further over these rough stones.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Just as she spoke, brother Paul passed them, in company with a secular
+priest; and, although he took no notice of his fellow travellers,
+walking on as if he did not see them, the quick eye of Ned Dyram
+perceived with a glance that the priest and the monk had stopped, and
+were gazing back, talking earnestly together.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That dull shaveling loves us not, fair Ella,&quot; said Ned Dyram. &quot;He is
+one of your haters of all men, I should think.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have seen his face somewhere before,&quot; answered Ella Brune; &quot;but I
+know not well where. 'Tis not a pleasant picture to look upon,
+certainly, but he may be a good man for all that. Come, Master Dyram,
+what is it you want to buy? Here are stalls enough around us now; and
+if you do not choose speedily, I must turn back to the inn, and leave
+you to find your way through Ghent alone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then, first,&quot; said Ned Dyram, &quot;I would buy a clasp to fasten the hood
+round your fair face.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What!&quot; exclaimed Ella, in a tone of merry anger; &quot;accept a present
+within a week of having seen you first! Nay, nay, servant of mine,
+that is a grace you must not expect for months to come. No, if that be
+all you want, I shall turn back,&quot; and she did so accordingly; but Ned
+Dyram had accomplished as much of his object as he had hoped or
+expected, for that day at least. He had spoken of love with Ella
+Brune; and, although what a great seer of the human heart has said,
+that &quot;talking of love is not making it,&quot; may be true, yet it is
+undoubtedly a very great step to that pleasant consummation. But Ned
+Dyram had done more; he had overstepped the first great barrier; and
+Ella now knew that he loved her. He trusted to time and opportunity
+for the rest; and he was not one to doubt his skill in deriving the
+greatest advantage from both.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The foolish and obtuse are often deceived by others; the shrewd and
+quick are often deceived by themselves. Without that best of all
+qualities of the mind, strong common sense, there is little to choose
+between the two: for if the dull man has in the world to contend with
+a thousand knaves, the quick one has in his own heart to contend with
+a thousand passions; and, perhaps, the domestic cheats are the most
+dangerous after all. There is not so great a fool on the earth as a
+clever man, when he is one; and Ned Dyram was one of that class, so
+frequently to be found in all ages, whose abilities are sometimes
+serviceable to others, but are rarely, if ever, found serviceable to
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella had used but little art towards him, but that which all women
+use, or would use, under such circumstances. Her first great thought
+was to conceal the love she felt; and where--when it becomes necessary
+to do so--is there a woman who will not find a thousand disguises to
+hide it from all eyes? But to him especially she was anxious to suffer
+no feeling of her bosom to appear; for she had speedily discovered, by
+a sort of intuition rather than observation--or, perhaps by a
+quickness in the perception of small traits which often seems like
+intuition--that he was keen and cunning beyond his seeming; and now
+she had a double motive for burying every secret deep in her own
+heart. She laid out no plan, indeed, for her future conduct towards
+him; she thought not what she would say, or what she would do; and if,
+in her after course, she employed aught like wile against his wiles,
+it was done on the impulse of the moment, and not on any predetermined
+scheme.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ned Dyram had remarked his master's conduct well since Ella had been
+their companion; he had seen that Woodville had been sincere in the
+opinion he had expressed, that it would be better for her to remain in
+England; and the very calm indifference which he had displayed on
+finding her in the ship with himself, had proved to him, both that
+there had never been any love passages between them ere he knew
+either, as he had imagined when first he was sent to London, and thus
+there was no chance of the young gentleman's kindly sympathy for the
+fair girl he protected growing into a warmer feeling. He read the
+unaffected conduct of his master aright; but to that of Ella Brune he
+had been more blind, partly because he was deceived by his own
+passions, partly because, in this instance, he had a much deeper and
+less legible book to read--a woman's heart; and, though naturally of a
+clear-sighted and even suspicious mind, he saw not, in the slightest
+degree, the real impulses on which she acted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Contented, therefore, with the progress he had made, he purchased some
+articles of small value at one of the stalls which they passed, and
+returned to the inn with his fair companion, who at once sought her
+chamber, and retired to rest, without waiting for Richard of
+Woodville's return. Then sitting down in a dark corner of the hall, in
+which several of his companions were playing at tables, and two or
+three other guests listening to a tale in broad Flemish, delivered by
+the host, Dyram turned in his mind all that had passed between him and
+Ella, and, with vanity to aid him, easily persuaded himself that his
+suit would find favour in her eyes. He saw, indeed, that the rash and
+licentious thoughts which he had at one time entertained in regard to
+her when he found her poor, solitary, and unprotected, at a hostel in
+the liberties of the city, were injurious to her; but as his character
+was one of those too ordinary and debased ones, which value all things
+by the difficulty of attainment, he felt the more eagerly inclined to
+seek her, and to take any means to make her his, because he found her
+less easy to be obtained than he had at first imagined.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_21" href="#div1Ref_21">THE EXILE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">At one side of a small square or open space, in the town of Ghent,
+rose a large pile of very ancient architecture, called the
+Graevensteen, for many centuries the residence of the Counts of
+Flanders. Covering a wide extent of ground with its walls and towers,
+the building ran back almost to the banks of the Liève, over which a
+bridge was thrown, communicating with the castle on one side, and the
+suburbs on the other. In front, towards the square, and projecting far
+before the rest of the pile, was a massive castellated gate of stone,
+flanked by high towers, rising to a considerable height. The aspect
+of the whole was gloomy and stern; but the gay scene before the
+gates--the guards, the attendants, the pages in the bright-coloured
+and splendid costumes, particularly affected by the house of
+Burgundy--relieved the forbidding aspect of the dark portal,
+contrasting brilliantly, though strangely, with its sombre and
+prison-like air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At a small light wicket, in a sort of balustrade, or screen, of richly
+sculptured stone, which separated the palace from the rest of the
+square, stood two or three persons, some of them in arms, others
+dressed in the garb of peace; and Richard of Woodville, with his
+guide, approaching one who seemed to be the porter, inquired if Sir
+Philip de Morgan could be spoken with?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Pass in,&quot; was the brief reply:--&quot;the door in the court, on the left
+of the gate;&quot; and walking on, they took their way under the deep arch,
+and found in one of the towers a small low door of massive oak,
+studded with huge bosses of iron. No one was in attendance; and this
+door being partially open, was pushed back by Richard of Woodville,
+who bade the guide wait below, while he mounted the narrow stairs, the
+foot of which was seen before him. At the first story another open
+door presented itself, displaying a little anteroom, with two or three
+servants seated round a table, playing at cross and pile, a game
+which, by this time, had descended from kings to lacqueys. Entering at
+once, the young gentleman, using the French tongue, demanded to speak
+with Sir Philip de Morgan; but the servants continued their game with
+that sort of cold indifference which Englishmen of an inferior class
+have, in all ages, been accustomed to show towards foreigners: one of
+them replying, in very bad French, and hardly lifting his head from
+the game, &quot;He can't be spoken with--he is busy!&quot; adding in English to
+his fellow, &quot;Play on, Wilfred.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;How now, knave!&quot; exclaimed Richard of Woodville in his own tongue;
+&quot;Methinks you are saucy! Rise this moment, and inform your master that
+a gentleman from the King of England desires to speak with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man instantly started up, replying, &quot;I beg your pardon, sir. I did
+not know you. I thought it was some of those Flemish hogs, come to
+speak about the vellum.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Learn to be civil to all men, sir,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville;
+&quot;and that a serving man is as much below an honest trader as the
+trader is below his lord. Go and do as I have told you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The lacquey retired by a door opposite, leaving a smile upon the faces
+of his fellows at the lecture he had received; and after being absent
+not more than a minute, he re-opened the door, saying, &quot;Follow me,
+noble sir; Sir Philip will see you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Passing through another small chamber, in which a pale thin man
+in a black robe, with a shaven crown, was sitting, busily copying
+some papers, Richard of Woodville was ushered into a larger room,
+poorly furnished. At a table in the midst, was seated a corpulent,
+middle-aged personage, with a countenance which at first sight seemed
+dull and heavy. The nose, the cheeks, the lips, were fat and
+protruding; and the thick shaggy eyebrows hung so far over the eyes,
+as almost to conceal them. The forehead, however, was large and fine,
+somewhat prominent just about the brow, and over the nose; and when
+the eye could be seen, though small and grey, there was a bright and
+piercing light in it, which frequently accompanies high intellect. He
+was dressed in the plainest manner, and in dark colours, with a furred
+gown over his shoulders, and a small black velvet cap upon his head;
+nor would it have been easy for any one unacquainted with his real
+character to divine that in that coarse and somewhat repulsive form
+was to be found one of the greatest diplomatists of his age.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Philip de Morgan rose as soon as Richard of Woodville entered,
+bowing his head with a courtly inclination, and desiring his visitor
+to be seated. As soon as the servant had closed the door, he began the
+conversation himself, saying, &quot;My knave tells me, sir, you come from
+the King. It might have been more prudent not to say so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, good faith, Sir Philip,&quot; replied Woodville, &quot;without saying so,
+there was but little chance of seeing you; for you have some saucy
+vermin here, who thought fit to pay but little attention to my first
+words; and moreover, as I have letters from the King for the Count de
+Charolois, which must be publicly delivered, concealment was of little
+use, and could last but a short time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That alters the case,&quot; answered Sir Philip de Morgan. &quot;As to my
+knaves, they must be taught to use their eyes, though a little
+insolence is not altogether objectionable; but you mentioned letters
+for the Count--I presume you have some for me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville, putting his hand into the
+gibecière, or pouch, which was slung over his right shoulder and under
+his left arm, by an embroidered band. &quot;This, from the King, sir;&quot; and
+he placed Henry's letter in the envoy's hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Philip de Morgan took it, cut the silk with his dagger, and drew
+forth the two sheets which it contained. The first which he looked at
+was brief; and the second, which was folded and sealed, with two words
+written in the corner, he did not open, but laid aside.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So, Master Woodville,&quot; he said, after this examination, &quot;I find you
+have come to win your golden spurs in Burgundy. What lies in me to
+help you, I will do. To-morrow I will make you known to the Count de
+Charolois. I was well acquainted with your good father, and your lady
+mother, too. She was the sister, if I recollect, of the good knight of
+Dunbury, a very noble gentleman;&quot; and then, turning from the subject,
+he proceeded, with quiet and seemingly unimportant questions, to gain
+all the knowledge that he could from Richard of Woodville regarding
+the court of England, and the character, conduct, and popularity of
+the young King. But his visitor, as the reader may have seen in
+earlier parts of this true history, though frank and free in his own
+case, and where no deep interests were concerned, was cautious and on
+his guard in matters of greater moment. He was not sent thither to
+babble of the King's affairs; and though he truly represented his
+Sovereign as highly popular with all classes, and deservedly so, Sir
+Philip de Morgan gained little farther information from him on any of
+the many points, in regard to which the diplomatist would fain have
+penetrated the monarch's designs before he thought fit to communicate
+them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The high terms in which Henry had been pleased to speak of the
+gentleman who bore his letter, naturally induced the envoy to set down
+his silence to discretion, rather than to want of knowledge; and he
+observed, after his inquiries had been parried more than once, &quot;You
+are, I see, prudent and reserved in your intelligence, Master
+Woodville.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is easy to be so, fair sir,&quot; answered his visitor, &quot;when one has
+nothing to communicate. Doubtless the King has told you all, without
+leaving any part of his will for me to expound. At least, if he did,
+he informed me not of it; and I have nothing more to relate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What! not one word of France?&quot; asked the knight, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not one!&quot; replied Woodville, calmly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The envoy smiled again. &quot;Well,&quot; he said, &quot;then tomorrow, at noon, I
+will go with you to the Count, if you will be here. Doubtless we shall
+hear more of your errand, from the letters you bear to that noble
+prince.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do not know,&quot; replied Woodville, rising; &quot;but at the same time, I
+would ask you to send some one with me to find out the dwelling of one
+Sir John Grey, if he be now in Ghent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sir John Grey!&quot; said de Morgan, musing, as if he had never heard the
+name before. &quot;I really cannot tell you where to find such a person:
+there is none of that name here. Is he a friend of your own?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No!&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;I never saw him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then you have letters for him, I presume,&quot; rejoined the other. &quot;What
+says the superscription? Does it not give you more clearly his place
+of abode? This town contains many a street and lane. I have only been
+here these eight hours since several years; and he may well be in the
+place and I not know it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville drew forth the King's letter, and gazed at the writing on
+the back; while Sir Philip de Morgan, who had risen likewise, took a
+silent step round, and glanced over his arm. &quot;Ha! the King's own
+writing,&quot; he said. &quot;Sir John Grey! I remember; there is, I believe, an
+old countryman of ours, living near what is called the Sas de Gand, of
+the name of Mortimer. He has been here some years; and if there be a
+man in Ghent who can tell you where to find this Sir John Grey, 'tis
+he. Nay, I think you may well trust the letter in his hands to
+deliver. Stay, I will send one of my knaves with you, who knows the
+language and the manners of this people well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I thank you, noble sir,&quot; replied his visitor; &quot;but I have a man
+waiting for me, who will conduct me, if you will but repeat the
+direction that you gave--near the Sas de Gand, I think you said?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Just so,&quot; replied Sir Philip de Morgan, drily; &quot;but not quite so far.
+It is a house called the house of Waeerschoot;--but it is growing
+late; in less than an hour it will be dark. You had better delay your
+visit till to-morrow, when you will be more sure of admission; for he
+is of a moody and somewhat strange fantasy, and not always to be
+seen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will try, at all events, to-night,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville.
+&quot;I can but go back tomorrow, if I fail. Farewell, Sir Philip, I will
+be with you at noon;&quot;--and, after all the somewhat formal courtesies
+and leave-takings of the day, he retired from the chamber of the
+King's envoy, and sought the guide who had conducted him thither.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man was soon found, talking to one of the inferior attendants of
+the Count of Charolois; and, calling him away, Richard of Woodville
+directed him to lead to the house which Sir Philip de Morgan had
+indicated. The guide replied, in a somewhat dissatisfied tone, that it
+was a long way off; but a word about his reward soon quickened his
+movements; and issuing through the gates of the city, they followed a
+lane through the suburbs on the northern side of the Lys.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A number of fine houses were built at that time beyond the actual
+walls of Ghent; for the frequent commotions which took place in the
+town, and the little ceremony with which the citizens were accustomed
+to take the life of any one against whom popular wrath had been
+excited, rendered it expedient in the eyes of many of the nobles of
+Flanders to lodge beyond the dangerous fortifications, which were as
+often used to keep in an enemy as to keep one out. Many of these were
+modern buildings; but others were of a far more ancient date; and at
+length, as it was growing dusk, the young Englishman's guide stopped
+at the gate of one of the oldest houses they had yet seen, and struck
+two or three hard blows upon the large heavy door. For some time
+nothing but a hollow sound made answer; and looking up, Richard of
+Woodville examined the mansion, which seemed going fast into a state
+of decay. It had once been one of the strong battlemented dwellings of
+some feudal lord; and heavy towers, and numberless turrets, seemed to
+show that the date of its first erection went back to a time when the
+city of Ghent, confined to its own walls, had left the houses which
+were built beyond them surrounded only by the uncultivated fields and
+pastures, watered by the Scheld, the Lys, and the Liève. The walls
+still remained solid, though the sharp cutting of the round arches had
+mouldered away in the damp atmosphere; and the casements above--for
+externally there were none on the lower story--were, in many
+instances, destitute of even the small lozenges of glass, which, in
+those days, were all that even princely mansions could boast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After waiting more than a reasonable time, the guide knocked loud
+again, and, looking round for a bell, at length found a rope hanging
+under the arch, which he pulled violently. While it was still in his
+hand, a stout Flemish wench appeared, and demanded what they wanted,
+that they made so much noise? Her words, indeed, were unintelligible
+to the young Englishman; but, guessing their import, he directed the
+guide to inquire if an Englishman, of the name of Mortimer, lived
+there? A nod of the head, which accompanied her reply, showed him that
+it was in the affirmative; and he then, by the same intervention, told
+her to let her master know, that a gentleman from England wished to
+see him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The girl laughed, and shook her head, saying something which, when it
+came to be translated, proved to be, that she knew he would not see
+any one of the kind; but, though it was of no use, she would go and
+inquire; and away she consequently ran with good-humoured speed,
+showing, as she went, a pair of fat, white legs, with no other
+covering than that with which nature had furnished them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She returned in a minute, with a look of surprise; and bade the
+strangers follow her, which they did, into the court. There, however,
+Woodville again directed his guide to wait, and, under the pilotage of
+the Flemish maid, entered upon a sea of passages, till at length,
+catching him familiarly by the hand to guide him in the darkness that
+reigned within, she led him to a flight of stairs, and opened a door
+at the top. Before him lay a small room, ornamented with richly carved
+oak, the lines and angles of which caught faintly the light proceeding
+from a lamp upon the table; and, standing in the midst of the room,
+with a look of eager impatience, was a man, somewhat advanced in life,
+though younger than Woodville had expected to see. His hair, it is
+true, was white, and his beard, which he wore long, was nearly so
+likewise; but he was upright, and seemingly firm in limb and
+muscle.<a name="div4Ref_06" href="#div4_06"><sup>[6]</sup></a> His face had furrows on it, too; but they seemed more those
+of care and thought than age; and his eye was clear, undimmed, and
+flashing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, sir! well!&quot; he said in English, as soon as Richard of Woodville
+entered; &quot;What news?--Why has she not come herself?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are, I fear, under a mistake,&quot; replied the young Englishman. &quot;I
+came to you for information--not to give any.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The other cast himself back into his seat, and covered his eyes with
+his hands, as Woodville spoke. The next moment he withdrew his hands,
+and the whole expression of his countenance was altered. Nothing
+appeared but a look of dull and thoughtful reserve, with a slight
+touch of disappointment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke not, Richard of Woodville went on to say, &quot;Sir Philip de
+Morgan directed me, sir--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay!--he has his eye ever upon me,&quot; exclaimed the other, interrupting
+him. &quot;What does he seek--what is there now to blame?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nothing, that I am aware of,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;it is on my own
+business he directed me here; not on yours or his.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed!&quot; said the other, with a softened look. &quot;And what is there for
+your pleasure, sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He informed me,&quot; replied his visitor, &quot;that if there be a man in
+Ghent, it is yourself, who can tell me where to find one Sir John
+Grey, an English knight, supposed to be resident here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And may I ask your business with him?&quot; inquired Mortimer, coldly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;that will be communicated to himself. I
+cannot see how it would stead you, to know aught concerning it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No!&quot; replied Mortimer; &quot;but it might stead him. A good friend, sir,
+to a man in danger, may stand like a barbican, as it were, before a
+fortress, encountering the first attack of the enemy. I say not that I
+know where Sir John Grey is to be found; but I do say, and at once,
+that I would not tell, if I did, till I had heard the motive of him
+who seeks him. He has been a wronged and persecuted man, sir; and it
+is fit that no indiscretion should lay him open to further injury.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville fixed his eyes intently upon his companion's countenance;
+and, after a moment's pause, he said, in an assured tone, &quot;I speak to
+Sir John Grey even now. Concealment is vain, sir, and needless; for I
+do but bring you a letter from the young King of England, which I
+promised to deliver with all speed; and if things be as I think, it
+will not prove so ungrateful to you as you may expect. Am I not
+right?--for I must have your own admission ere I give the letter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The letter!&quot; repeated the other; and again a look of eagerness came
+over his countenance. &quot;You bear a letter, then? You are keen, young
+man,&quot; he added; &quot;but yet you look honest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do assure you, sir,&quot; replied Woodville, &quot;that I have no end or
+object on earth, but to give the letter with which I am charged to Sir
+John Grey himself. I am anxious, moreover, to do it speedily, for so I
+was directed; and I have therefore come to-night, without waiting for
+repose. If you be he, as I do believe, you may tell me so in safety,
+and rest upon the honour of an English gentleman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Honour!&quot; said his companion, with a sad and bitter shake of the head.
+&quot;I have no cause to trust in honour: it has become but a mere name,
+the meaning of which has been lost long ago, and each man interprets
+it as he likes best. In former times, honour was a thing as immutable
+as the diamond, which nought could change to any other form. 'Twas
+truth,--'twas right,--'twas the pure gold of the high heart. Now,
+alas! men have devised alloy; and the metal, be it as base as copper,
+passes current for the value that is stamped upon it by society.
+Honour is no longer independent of man's will; 'tis that which people
+call it, and no more. The liar, who, with a smooth face, wrongs his
+friend in the most tender point, is still a man of honour with the
+world: the traitor, who betrays his country or his king, so that it be
+for passion, and not gold, is still a man of honour, and will cut your
+throat if you deny it: the calumniator, who blasts another's
+reputation with a sneer, is still a man of honour if he's brave.
+Honour's a name that changes colour, like the Indian beast, according
+to the light it is viewed in. Now it is courage; now it is rank; now
+it is riches; now it is fine raiment, or a swaggering air. Once it was
+Truth, young sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And is ever so, in reality,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;the rest
+are all counterfeits, which only pass with men who know no better. It
+is of this honour that I speak, sir. However, as you know me not, I
+cannot expect you to attribute to me qualities that are indeed now
+rare; yet, holding myself bound by that very honour which we speak of,
+to deliver the letter that I bear to no one but him for whom it was
+destined, unless you tell me you are indeed that person, I must carry
+it back with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stay!--what is your name?&quot; demanded the other--&quot;that may give me
+light.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My name is Richard of Woodville,&quot; answered his visitor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha! Richard of Woodville!&quot; cried the stranger, with a look of joy,
+grasping his hand warmly. &quot;Give it me--give it me--quick! I am Sir
+John Grey. How fares she?--where is she?--why did she not come?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not of whom you speak,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;this letter is
+from the King;&quot; and, drawing it forth, he put it into his companion's
+hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;From the King!&quot; exclaimed Sir John Grey--&quot;from the King!--a letter to
+me!&quot;--and he held the packet to the lamp, and gazed on the
+superscription attentively. &quot;True, indeed?&quot; he said at length, cutting
+the silk. &quot;'Our trusty and well-beloved!'--a style I have not heard
+for years;&quot; and bending his head over it, he perused the contents,
+which were somewhat long.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville gazed at his face while he read, and marked the light and
+shade of many varied emotions come across it. Now, the eye strained
+eagerly at the first lines, and the brow knit; now, a proud smile
+curled the lip; and now, the eyelids showed a tear. But presently, as
+he proceeded, all haughtiness passed away from his look--he raised his
+eyes to heaven, as if in thankfulness; and at the end let fall the
+paper on the table, and clasped his hands together, exclaiming,
+&quot;Praise to thy name, Most Merciful! The dark hour has come to an end!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then stretching forth his open arms to Richard of Woodville, he said,
+&quot;Let me take you to my heart, messenger of joy!--you have brought me
+life!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am overjoyed to be that messenger, Sir John,&quot; replied Woodville;
+&quot;but, in truth, I was ignorant of what I carried. I did but guess,
+indeed, from my knowledge of the King's great soul, that he would not
+be so eager that this should reach you soon, if the tidings it
+contained were evil.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They are home to the exile,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;wealth to the
+beggar; grace and station to the disgraced and fallen; the reversal of
+all his father's bitter acts; the generous outpouring of a true royal
+heart! Noble, noble prince! God requite me with misery eternal, if I
+do not devote every moment that remains of this short life to do you
+signal service. And you, too, my friend,&quot; he continued, taking his
+visitor's hand--&quot;so you are the man who, choosing by the heart alone,
+setting rank, and wealth, and name aside, looking but to loveliness
+and worth, sought the hand of a poor and portionless girl--the
+daughter of a proscribed and banished fugitive?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith, Sir John!&quot; replied the young gentleman, gazing upon him
+with a look of no small surprise and pleasure, &quot;I begin to see light;
+but I have been so long in darkness that my eyes are dazzled. Can it
+be that I see my fair Mary's father--the father of Mary Markham--in
+Sir John Grey?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But the knight's attention had been turned back to the letter, with
+that abrupt transition which the mind is subject to, when suddenly
+moved by joy so unexpected as almost to be rendered doubtful by its
+very intensity. &quot;I cannot believe it,&quot; he said; &quot;yet, who should
+deceive me? It is royal, too, in every word.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is the King's own hand that wrote it,&quot; replied Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;and if there be aught that is high and generous
+therein--aught that speaks a soul above the ordinary crowd--aught that
+is marked as fitting for a King, who values royalty but for extended
+power to do good and redress wrong--set it down with full assurance as
+a proof that it is Henry's own! But you have not answered me as to
+that dear lady.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She is my child, Richard,&quot; said Sir John Grey; &quot;and if you are
+worthy, as I believe you, she shall be your wife. You chose her in
+lowliness and poverty; she shall be yours in wealth and honour. But
+tell me more about her. When did you see her? Why has she not come?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The last question I cannot answer,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville;
+&quot;for, though I heard her father had sent for her, I knew not who that
+father was, or where; but----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So, then, she never told you?&quot; asked the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Never,&quot; answered Woodville, &quot;nor my good uncle either; but I saw her
+some eight or nine days since in Westminster, well and happy. I have
+heard since, however, by a servant whom I sent up, that she and Sir
+Philip had returned in haste to Dunbury, upon some sudden news.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay!--so then they have missed the men I sent,&quot; replied Sir John Grey.
+&quot;I despatched a servant--the only one I had--three weeks since,
+together with some merchants, who were going to trade in London, and
+who promised on their return, which was to be without delay, to bring
+her with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stay!&quot; exclaimed Woodville. &quot;Had they not a freight of velvets and
+stuffs of gold?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The same,&quot; answered the knight. &quot;What of them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They were taken by pirates in the mouth of the Thames,&quot; replied
+Richard of Woodville. &quot;I heard the news in Winchester, when I was
+purchasing housings for my horses. But be not alarmed for your dear
+child. She is safe. I saw her afterwards; and good Sir Philip seemed
+to marvel much, why some persons whom he expected had not yet arrived.
+Had he told me more, I could have given him tidings of them; put your
+mind at ease on her account, for she is still with Sir Philip.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But that poor fellow, the servant!&quot; answered the knight, sadly; &quot;my
+heart is ill at rest for him. Misfortune teaches us to value things
+more justly than prosperity. A true and faithful friend, whatever be
+his station, is a treasure indeed, not to be lost without a bitter
+pang. I must thank God that my dear child is safe; yet I cannot forget
+him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They will put him to ransom with the rest,&quot; replied Richard of
+Woodville. &quot;I heard they had carried the merchants and their vessel to
+some port in the north, and doubtless you will soon hear of him. I did
+not learn that there was any violence committed; for, though they are
+usually hard and cruel men, they are even more avaricious than
+bloodthirsty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;God send it!&quot; exclaimed Sir John Grey. &quot;I wonder that your noble
+kinsman, when he heard that you were about to cross the sea, did not
+charge you with Mary's guidance hither. It would have been more safe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But you forget,&quot; replied Woodville, &quot;that I was ignorant of all
+concerning her. I thought she was an orphan till within the last ten
+days--or, perhaps, not so well placed as that. Besides, my uncle would
+not countenance our love; and, indeed, that was his reason; for I
+remember he said, that he wished we had not been such fools as to be
+caught by one another's eyes; that it would have saved him much
+embarrassment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey smiled, saying--&quot;That is so much the man I left. He had
+even then outlived the memory of his own young days, when lady's love
+was all his thought but arms, and looked upon everything, but that
+lofty and more shadowy devotion to the fair, which was the soul of
+olden chivalry, as little better than youthful idleness. He kept you,
+then, even to the last, without knowledge of her fate and history? He
+did well, too, for so I wished it; but I will now tell you all; and
+there is not, indeed, much to say. I raised my lance, with the rest,
+for my sovereign, King Richard; was taken and pardoned; but swore no
+allegiance to one whom I could not but hold as an usurper. When
+occasion served again, I was not slack to do the same once more, and,
+with my friends, fought the lost battle of Shrewsbury. My life was
+saved by a poor faithful fellow of our army, who gave his own, I fear,
+for mine; and flying, more fortunately than others, I escaped to this
+land. Here I soon heard that I was proclaimed a traitor, my estate
+seized, my name attainted, and my child sought for to make her a ward
+of the crown, and to give her and the fortune which her mother
+inherited, to some minion of the court. She was then a mere child,
+and, by your uncle's kindly care, was taken first to Wales, and thence
+brought to his own house, where he has ever treated her as a daughter.
+I lingered on in this and other lands from year to year; and many an
+effort was made to entrap or drive me back into the net. The King of
+France was instigated to expel me from his dominions; the Duke of
+Burgundy was moved to follow his example, but would not so debase
+himself to any king on earth. But why should I tell all that I have
+suffered? Every art was used, and every means of persecution tried,
+till at length, taking refuge in this town of Ghent, under a false
+name, I have known a short period of tranquillity. Then came the
+thought of my child upon me: it grew like a thirst, till I could bear
+no more, and I sent for her. I knew not then that the late King was
+dead, or I might have waited to see the result; for often, when this
+Prince was but a child, I have had him on my knee; and I too taught
+him to handle the bow when he was seven years old; for, till his
+father stretched a hand towards the crown, he was my friend; and Harry
+of Hereford and John Grey were sworn brothers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The more the friendship once, the more the hate,&quot; replied Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;so says an old song, noble knight; but now, that enmity is
+over, I trust, for ever. The Earl of March, the only well-founded
+obstacle in the way of Henry's rights, acknowledges them fully.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And if he did not,&quot; answered Sir John Grey, with a stern brow, &quot;I
+would never draw my sword for him. The Earl of March--I mean the old
+Earl--by tame acquiescence in the deeds of Henry of Bolinbroke, set
+aside his title. He held out no hand to help his falling kinsman
+Richard; and if the crown was to be given away, it was the Peers and
+Commons of England had the right to give it; and they rightly gave it
+to the brave and wise, rather than to the feeble and the timid. It was
+Richard Plantagenet was my King, and not the Earl of March. To the one
+I swore allegiance, and owed much; to the other I had no duty, and
+owed nothing. I did not wrangle which son of a king should succeed,
+but I upheld the monarch who was upon the throne. Neither did I ever,
+my young friend, regard the Duke of Lancaster with private enmity, as
+you seem to think. He was ambitious; he usurped his cousin's throne;
+and I drew the sword against him because he did so; but I will
+acknowledge that, if there was one man in England fitted to fill that
+throne with dignity, he was the man. He, on the contrary, hated me,
+because his own conduct had changed a friend into an enemy; and so it
+is ever in this world. But who is it rings the bell so fiercely? Hark!
+perhaps it is my child!&quot;--and, opening the door, he turned his head
+eagerly to listen to the sounds that rose from below.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville also gave ear, for a word is sufficient to make
+hopes, however improbable, rise up like young plants in a spring
+shower--at least, in our early days. But the next moment, the steps of
+two persons sounded in the passage, and one of the servants, whom
+Woodville had seen in the ante-chamber of Sir Philip de Morgan,
+appeared, guided by the Flemish maid.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My master greets you well, sir,&quot; he said, addressing Sir John Grey,
+&quot;and has sent you, by the King's order, some of the money belonging to
+you, for your present need;&quot; and thus saying, he laid a heavy bag of
+what appeared to be coin upon the table. &quot;He bids me say,&quot; continued
+the man, &quot;that the rest of the money will arrive soon, and that you
+had better appear at the Court of my Lord Count, as early as may be,
+that all the world may know you have the King's protection.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey gazed at the bag of money with a mournful smile. &quot;How
+ready men are,&quot; he said, &quot;when fortune favours! How far and how long
+might I have sought this, when I was in distress!&quot;--and untying the
+bag, he took out a large piece of silver, saying to the servant,
+&quot;There, my friend, is largess. Tell your master I will follow counsel.
+He has heard of this, Richard;--you bore him letters, I suppose;&quot; he
+added, as the man quitted the room, with thanks for his bounty. &quot;Well,
+'tis no use to expect of men more than they judge their duty; yet this
+knight was the instrument who willingly urged the Duke of Burgundy to
+drive me forth from Dijon.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_22" href="#div1Ref_22">THE COUNT OF CHAROLOIS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Clothed in the most splendid array with which he had been able to
+provide himself, his tight-fitting hose displaying to the highest
+advantage his graceful yet powerful limbs, with the coat of black
+silk, spotted with flowers of gold, cut wide, but gathered into
+numerous pleats or folds round the collar and the waist, and confined
+by a rich girdle to the form, while the sleeves, fashioned to the
+shape of the arm, and fastened at the wrist, showed the strong contour
+of the swelling muscles, Richard of Woodville stood before the door of
+the inn, as handsome and princely a man in his appearance as ever
+graced a royal court. Over his shoulders he wore a short mantle of
+embroidered cloth, trimmed with costly fur, the sleeves of which,
+according to the custom of the day, were slashed down the inner side
+so as to suffer the arm to be thrust out from them, while they, more
+for ornament than use, hung down to the bend of the knee. On his feet
+he wore the riding boots of the time, thrust down to the ankle;
+and--in accordance with a custom then new in the courts of France and
+Burgundy, but which ere long found its way to England--his heavy sword
+had been laid aside, and his only arm was a rich hilted dagger,
+suspended by a gold ring from the clasp of his girdle. His head was
+covered with a small bonnet, or velvet cap, ornamented by a single
+long white feather, showing that he had not yet reached knightly rank;
+and round it curled in large masses his glossy dark-brown hair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Likewise, arrayed with all the splendour that the young gentleman's
+purse had permitted him to procure, six of his servants stood ready by
+their horses' sides to accompany him to the dwelling of the Count of
+Charolois; and a glittering train they formed, well fitted to do
+honour to Old England in the eyes of a foreign court. It was evident
+enough that they were all well pleased with themselves; but their
+self-satisfaction was of the cool and haughty kind, so common to our
+countrymen, partaking more of pride than vanity. They looked down
+upon others more than they admired themselves; and, unlike the French
+or the Burgundians, seemed to care little what others thought of
+them,--quite contented with feeling that their garb became them, and
+that, should need be, they could give a stroke or bide a buffet with
+the best.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The horse of Richard of Woodville--not the one which had borne him
+from the coast, but a finer and more powerful animal--was brought
+round; and turning for a moment to Ella Brune, who stood with a number
+of other gazers at the door of the inn, the young Englishman said, &quot;I
+will not be so careless and forgetful to-day, Ella; but will bring you
+back tidings of your kinsman, without farther fault.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then springing on his charger's back he rode lightly away, while the
+poor girl gazed after him, with a deep sigh struggling at her heart,
+and suppressed with pain, as she thought of the many eyes around her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the gate of the Graevensteen, orders had been already given to
+admit the young Englishman into the inner court; and, riding on,
+Richard of Woodville dismounted near the door which led to the
+apartments of Sir Philip de Morgan. A man who was waiting at the foot
+of the stairs, ran up them as soon as he saw the train, and before
+Woodville could follow, the envoy of the King of England came down,
+followed by a page. He greeted his young countryman with even marked
+courtesy, suffered his eye to rest with evident pleasure upon his
+goodly train, and then turning with a smile to Woodville, he
+inquired,--&quot;Do men now in England gild the bits and chains of their
+horses?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is a new custom, I believe,&quot; replied the young gentleman. &quot;I gave
+little heed to it, but told the people to give me those things that
+would not discredit my race and country at the Court of Burgundy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, let us go thither,&quot; replied Sir Philip; &quot;or, at least, to such
+part of it as is here in Ghent. I have already advised the Count that
+you are coming, and he is willing to show you all favour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The envoy accordingly led the way across the wide court which
+separated the old gate, with its gloomy towers, from the stern and
+still more forbidding fortress of the ancient Counts of Flanders; and
+passing first through a narrow chamber, in which were sitting some
+half dozen armed guards, and then through a wide hall, where a greater
+number of gentlemen were assembled in their garb of peace, the two
+Englishmen approached a flight of steps at the farther end. There a
+middle-aged man, with a gold chain round his neck, advanced, and
+addressing Sir Philip de Morgan, inquired if the Count was aware of
+their visit?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The diplomatist replied that they were expected at that hour; and the
+other, pushing open the door at the top of the steps, called loudly to
+an attendant within, to usher the visitors to his Lord's presence.
+After a few more ceremonies of the same kind, Woodville and his
+companion were introduced into the small cabinet in which the Count of
+Charolois was seated. He was not alone, for two personages, having the
+appearance of men of some rank, but booted and spurred as if for a
+journey, were standing before him, in the act of taking their leave;
+and Richard of Woodville had an opportunity of examining briefly the
+countenance of the Prince, known afterwards as Philip the Good.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He was then in the brightness of early youth; and seldom has there
+been seen a face more indebted to expression for the beauty which all
+men agreed to admire. Taken separately, perhaps none of the features
+were actually fine, except the eyes; but there was a look of generous
+kindness, a softness brightened by a quick and intelligent glance, a
+benignity rather heightened than diminished by certain firmness of
+character, in the mouth and jaw, which was inexpressibly pleasing to
+the eye. There were lines of deep thought, too, about the brow, which
+contrasted strangely with the smooth soft skin of youth, and with the
+rounded cheeks without a furrow or hollow, and the eyelids as
+unwrinkled and full as those of careless infancy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count had evidently been speaking on matters of grave moment; for
+there was a seriousness even in his smile, as, rising for an instant,
+while the others bowed and retired, he wished them a prosperous
+journey. He was above the middle height, but not very tall; and,
+though in after years he became somewhat corpulent, he was now very
+slight in form, and graceful in his movements, which all displayed,
+even at the early age of seventeen, that dignity, never lost, even
+after the symmetry of youth was gone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the two gentlemen who took their leave were quitting the room, the
+Count turned to Sir Philip de Morgan, bowing rather stiffly, and
+noticing Woodville with a slight inclination of the head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This is, I suppose, the gentleman you mentioned, Sir Philip,&quot; he
+said, &quot;who has brought me letters from my royal cousin of England?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The same, fair sir,&quot; replied the envoy. &quot;Allow me to make known to
+you Master Richard of Woodville, allied to the noble family of
+Beauchamp, one of the first in our poor island.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is welcome to Ghent,&quot; replied the Count. But Woodville remarked
+that he did not demand the letters which he bore; and he was
+hesitating whether he should present the one addressed to him, when
+the Prince inquired in an easy tone, whether he had had a prosperous
+journey; following up the question with so many others of small
+importance, that the young Englishman judged there was something
+assumed in his eager but insignificant interrogatory.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He knew not, indeed, what was the motive; but his companion, too well
+accustomed to the ways of courts not to translate correctly a hint of
+the kind, whether he chose to apply it or not, took occasion, at the
+very first pause, to say, &quot;Having now had the honour of introducing
+this young gentleman, I will leave him with you, my Lord Count, as I
+have important letters to write on the subject of our conversation
+this morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Do so, sir knight,&quot; replied the Prince; and he took a step towards
+the door, as if to honour his departing visitor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, Master Richard of Woodville,&quot; he continued, as soon as the other
+was gone, &quot;let us speak of your journey hither; but first, if you
+please, let me see the letter which you bring, and which may, perhaps,
+render farther explanation unnecessary.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville immediately presented the King's epistle to the
+Count of Charolois, who read the contents with attention, and then
+gazed at the bearer with an earnest glance. &quot;I have heard of you
+before, sir,&quot; he said, with a gracious smile, &quot;and am most willing to
+retain you on the part of Burgundy. Such a letter as this from my
+royal cousin could not be written in favour of one who did not merit
+high honour; and, unhappily, in these days, there are but too many
+occasions of gaining renown in arms. May I ask what payment you
+require for the services of yourself and your men?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;None, noble Prince,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville: &quot;I come but to
+seek honour. If my services be good, you or your father will
+recompence them as you think meet. In the meantime, all that I require
+is entertainment for myself and followers at the Court of Burgundy,
+wherever it may be, and the discharge of my actual expenses in time of
+war, or when I am employed in any enterprise you may think fit to
+intrust to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I see, sir, that you are of the olden chivalry,&quot; said the Count,
+giving him his hand. &quot;You are from this moment a retainer of our
+house; and I am glad,&quot; he continued, &quot;that I have spoken with you
+alone; for good Sir Philip de Morgan loves none to bring letters from
+his King but himself. I may have cause to call upon you soon. Even
+now, indeed,----; but of that hereafter. How many have you with you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ten stout archers,&quot; answered the young Englishman, &quot;who will do their
+duty in whatever field they may be called to, and myself. That is my
+only force, but it may go far; for we are well horsed and armed, and
+most of us have seen blood drawn in our own land. You said, my Lord
+Count, that even now an occasion might offer--at least, so I
+understood you. Now, I am somewhat impatient of fortune's tardiness,
+and would not miss her favours, as soon as her hand is open.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count mused for a moment, and then looked up, laughing. &quot;Well,&quot; he
+said, &quot;perhaps my mother may call me a rash boy, in trusting to such
+new acquaintance; but yet I will confide in you to justify me. There
+may be an occasion very soon; and if there be, I will let you have
+your part. I, alas! must not go; but, at all events, have everything
+ready to set out at a moment's notice; and you may chance to ride far
+before many days be over. Now let us speak of other things:&quot; and he
+proceeded to ask his visitor numerous questions regarding the English
+court--its habits, customs, and the characters of the principal nobles
+that distinguished it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville answered his inquiries more frankly than he had
+done those of Sir Philip de Morgan, and the Count seemed well pleased
+with all he heard. Gradually their conversation lost the stiffness of
+first acquaintance; and the young Prince, throwing off the restraint
+of ceremony, gave way to the candid spirit of youth, spoke of his own
+father, and of his dangerous position at the Court of France,
+expressed his longing desire to take an active part in the busy deeds
+that were doing, touched with some bitterness upon the conduct of the
+Dauphin towards his sister, and added, with a flushed cheek, &quot;Would my
+father suffer it, I would force him, lance to lance, if not to cast
+away his painted paramour, at least to do justice to his neglected
+wife. She is more fair and bright than any French harlot; and it must
+be a studied purpose to insult her race, that makes him treat her
+thus.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps not, noble Count,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville: &quot;there is
+nothing so capricious on this earth as the pampered heart of
+greatness. Do we not daily see men of all ranks cast away from them
+things of real value to please the moment with some empty trifle? and
+the spoilt children of fortune--I mean Princes and Kings--may well be
+supposed to do the same. God, when he puts a crown upon their heads,
+leaves them to enrich it with jewels, if they will; but, alas! too
+often they content themselves with meaner things, and think the crown
+enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Prince smiled, with a thoughtful look, and gazed for a moment in
+Woodville's face, ere he replied. &quot;You speak not the same language as
+Sir Philip de Morgan,&quot; he said at length: &quot;his talk is ever of insult
+and injury to the House of Burgundy. He can find no excuse for the
+House of Valois.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He speaks as a politician, my Lord Count,&quot; replied Woodville: &quot;would
+that I might say, I speak as a friend, though a bold one. I know not
+what are his views and purposes; but when you mention aught to me, I
+must answer frankly, if I answer at all; and in this case I can easily
+believe that the Dauphin, in the wild heat of youth, perhaps nurtured
+in vice and licentiousness, and, at all events, taught early to think
+that his will must have no control, may neglect a sweet lady for a
+trumpery leman, without meaning any insult to your noble race. Bad as
+such conduct is, it were needless to aggravate it by imaginary
+wrongs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count looked down in thought, and then, raising his head with a
+warm smile, he answered, &quot;You speak nobly, sir, and you may say you
+are my friend; for the man who would temper a Prince's passion,
+without any private motive, is well worthy of the character here
+written;&quot; and he laid his hand upon Henry's letter, which he had
+placed on the table.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I trust, my Lord Count,&quot; replied Woodville, &quot;that you will never have
+cause to say, in any case where my allegiance to my own Sovereign is
+not concerned, that I do not espouse your real interests, as warmly as
+I would oppose any passion, even of your own, which I thought contrary
+to them. I am not a courtier, fair sir, and may express myself
+somewhat rudely; but I will trust to your own discernment to judge, in
+all instances, of the motive rather than the manner.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I shall remember more of what you have said than you perhaps
+imagine,&quot; answered the young Count. &quot;You gave me a lesson, my noble
+friend--and henceforth I will call you by that name--in regard to
+those spoilt children of fortune, as you term them, Princes; and I
+will try not to let a high station pamper me into deeds like those
+which I myself condemn. But there are many persons here, in the good
+town of Ghent, to whom I must make you known, as they will be your
+companions for the future; and, before night, such arrangements shall
+be made for your lodging and accommodation as will permit of your
+taking up your abode in the old castle here. There is but one warning
+I will give you,&quot; he continued: &quot;Sir Philip de Morgan is a shrewd and
+clever man--very zealous in the cause of his King, but somewhat
+jealous of all other influence. My father esteems him highly, though
+he is not always ready to follow whither he would lead. You had better
+be his friend than his enemy; and yet, when there is anything to be
+done, communicate with me direct, and not through him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will follow your advice, sir, as far as may be,&quot; replied Woodville;
+&quot;but I do not think there is any great chance of Sir Philip de Morgan
+and myself interfering with each other. I am a soldier; he is a
+statesman. I will not meddle with his trade, and I think he is not
+likely to envy me mine. He was a good man at arms, I hear, in his
+early days; but I fancy he will not easily inclose himself in plate
+again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith,&quot; exclaimed the young Count, laughing, &quot;his cuirass would
+need be shaped like a bow, and have as much iron about it as the great
+bombard of Oudenarde, which our good folks of Ghent call Mad Meg.<a name="div4Ref_07" href="#div4_07"><sup>[7]</sup></a>
+No, no! I do not think that he will ever couch a lance again. But
+come, my friend, let us to the hall, where we shall find some of the
+nobles of Burgundy and Flanders waiting for us. Then we will ride to
+my mother's, where I will make you known to her fair ladies. I have no
+further business for the day; but yet I must not be absent from my
+post, as every hour I expect tidings which may require a sudden
+resolution.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Prince then led the way into the large hall, through which Richard
+of Woodville had passed about half an hour before; and there, was
+instantly surrounded by a number of gentlemen, to whom he introduced
+his new retainer. Many a noble name, which the young Englishman had
+often heard of, was mentioned;--Croys, Van Heydes, St. Paul's and
+Royes, Lalains, and Lignes; and from all, as might be expected, under
+the circumstances in which he was introduced to them, he received a
+courteous reception. It must not be denied, however, that although
+chivalrous customs required a friendly welcome to every adventurous
+gentleman seeking service at a foreign court, human nature, the same
+in all ages, left room for jealousy of any one who might aspire to
+share the favour which each desired to monopolize. Thus, though every
+one was, as I have said, courteous in demeanour to Richard of
+Woodville, it was all cold and formal; and many a whispered
+observation on his appearance and manners, on the accent in which he
+spoke the language, and on the slight difference of his dress from
+that of the Burgundian court, marked a willingness to find fault
+wherever it was possible. For his part, he took little notice of these
+things, well knowing what he had to expect; and aware that friendship
+could not be gained at once, he treated all with perfect good humour
+and civility, in the hope that those who were worthy of any farther
+consideration would learn in time to esteem him, and to cast away any
+needless jealousy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After passing about half an hour in the hall, the young Count selected
+some five or six of the gentlemen present to accompany him on his
+visit to his mother, who was lodged in the new palace, called the Cour
+des Princes; and, as soon as his horses were brought round, he
+descended, with the young Englishman and the rest, into the court of
+the castle. He paused for a moment, where, ranged in a line by their
+horses' sides, he saw the stout yeomen who had accompanied Richard of
+Woodville thither; and as, with an eye not unskilful even then in
+judging of thewes and sinews, he marked their light, yet powerful
+limbs, with an approving smile, he turned to his new friend, saying,
+in a low voice, &quot;Serviceable stuff there, in the day of need, I doubt
+not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have every hope they will prove so, my good lord,&quot; replied
+Woodville; and, giving them a sign, each man sprang at once into the
+saddle, except the one who had led forward his young master's horse,
+and held the stirrup while he mounted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the gay party rode along through the streets of Ghent, the
+inconstant people, so often in open rebellion against their
+sovereigns, shouted loud acclamations on the path of the young and
+graceful Prince, who, in return, bowed low his head, or nodded
+familiarly to those he knew in the crowd. The distance was but short;
+but the Count took the opportunity of passing through some of the
+principal streets of the town, to show the splendour of the greatest
+manufacturing city at that time in the world, to the young Englishman;
+and frequently he turned and asked his opinion of this or that as they
+passed, or pointed out to him the magnificent shops and vast fabrics
+which lined their road on either side.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was certainly much to admire; and Richard of Woodville, not
+insensible of the high importance of the arts, praised, with perhaps a
+better judgment than most of the haughty nobility of the day would
+have displayed, the indications of that high commercial prosperity
+which the courtiers affected to hold in contempt. He would not miss
+the opportunity, however, of learning something of the kinsman of Ella
+Brune; and, after answering one of the observations of the Prince, he
+added--&quot;But as I came from my hostel this morning, sir, I perceive
+that you have other arts carried to a notable height in the good city
+of Ghent, besides that of the weavers. I passed by many a fair stall
+of goldsmiths' work, which seemed to me to display several pieces of
+fine and curious workmanship.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! that we have, amongst the best in the world,&quot; replied the Count;
+&quot;though, to say sooth, when we gave you a number of our weavers, to
+teach you Englishmen that art, we borrowed from you in return much of
+our skill in working the precious metals. Many of our best goldsmiths,
+even now, are either Englishmen, or the descendants of those who first
+came over. I had one right dexterous artificer, who used to dwell with
+my household, and who is still my servant; but my mother's confessor
+suspected him of a leaning towards heresy, and exacted that he should
+be sent forth out of the castle. 'Twas but for a jest at our good
+father the Pope; but poor Brune made it worse by saying, when
+questioned, that as there are three Popes, all living, the confessor
+might place it on the shoulders of him he liked. Many a grave man, I
+have remarked, will bear anything rather than a jest; and father
+Claude, from that moment, would not be satisfied till Nicholas Brune
+was gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Poor fellow! And what became of him?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville; &quot;I
+have known some of his family in England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, he is in a shop at the corner of the market, close to the castle
+gate,&quot; replied the Prince, &quot;and drives a thriving trade; so that he
+has gained by the exchange--I hope, both in pocket and in prudence. I
+have not heard any charge against him lately; and I do believe it was
+but a silly jest, which none but an Englishman would have ventured.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville smiled, but made no reply; and in a few minutes
+after, they reached the gates of the palace, from which he followed
+the Count of Charolois straight to the presence of Margaret of
+Bavaria, Duchess of Burgundy, whom they found in an inner chamber,
+surrounded by a small party of young dames and elderly knights,
+devising, as the term was in those days, upon some motto which had
+been laid before them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Amongst faint traces of what had once been great beauty, the
+countenance of the Princess displayed deep lines of thought and
+anxiety. She smiled kindly upon the young stranger, and seemed to him
+to examine his face with more attention than was ordinary, or,
+perhaps, altogether pleasant. She made no remark, however, but spoke
+of the Court of England with better information than her son had
+displayed, and, somewhat to the surprise of the young Englishman,
+evinced some knowledge of his own family and history; for, although
+the Court of Burgundy at this time held the place which that of the
+Count of Foix had formerly filled, and was the centre of all the news,
+and, we may say, of all the gossip in Europe--though its heralds and
+its minstrels made it their business, day and night, to collect all
+the tales, anecdotes, and rumours of every eminent person throughout
+the chivalrous world, Richard of Woodville was not aware of ever
+having done anything to merit such sort of notice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The conversation was soon turned to other subjects, and the Duchess
+was in the act of giving her son an account, in a jesting tone, of
+some visits which she had made that morning to several of the
+religious institutions of the town, when a page entered hastily,
+bearing a packet in his hand. Approaching direct to the Count of
+Charolois, he presented it on his knee, saying, &quot;From my lord the
+Duke. The messenger sought you at the castle, sir, in haste, and then
+came hither.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Prince took it with an eager and anxious look, tore off the silk
+and seal without stopping to cut the cord that bound it, and then read
+the contents, with a countenance which expressed rather preconceived
+apprehension, perhaps, than emotion caused by the intelligence which
+the despatch contained. The Duchess of Burgundy remained seated, but
+gazed upon her son's face with a look more sad than alarmed; and it
+seemed to Richard of Woodville that, internally, she was meditating on
+the future course of that fair and noble youth, amidst all the many
+perils, cares, and griefs, which surrounded, in those days, the paths
+of princes, rather than even on the present dangers which might affect
+her husband.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There is a tender timidity in the love of woman for her offspring,
+which is generated by none of the other relations of life. The
+husband, or the brother, or the father, is her stay and support--he is
+there to protect and to defend; and though she may tremble at his
+danger, or weep for his misfortune, there may be, and often is,
+some shade of selfish feeling in the dread and in the sorrow. Such
+is not the case with the child: it is for him she fears, not for
+herself,--for him entirely, with emotions unmixed, with devotion
+unalloyed. To save any other dear one, she might readily sacrifice
+life--from duty, from enthusiasm, from love. But it would still be a
+sacrifice, in any other case than that of her child: to save him, it
+would be an impulse.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duchess gazed upon the young Count's face then with calm but sad
+consideration; and perhaps her own memories supplied somewhat too
+abundantly the materials for fancy to raise up, without aid, a sad
+model of the future. She knew that honour, or goodness, or even
+courage, cannot bring security; that innocence cannot escape malice;
+that virtue cannot insure peace; that wealth, and power, and a high
+name, are but as butts whereon to hang the targets at which the arrows
+of the world are aimed; and she feared for her son, seeing, with
+prophetic eye, the life of turmoil and contention and peril that lay
+before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As soon as he had read the letter, the Count suffered his hand to drop
+by his side, and gazed upward for a moment or two in thought;--then,
+turning gracefully to his mother, he took her hand with a smile, from
+which was banished every trace or indication of the thoughts that he
+did not choose to communicate to those around, and saying, &quot;Dear lady
+mother, we must take counsel,&quot; he led her away through a door which
+those who were acquainted with the palace knew must conduct them to
+the private cabinet of the Duchess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The party which remained behind was soon separated into different
+groups, some of the young nobles who had accompanied the Count taking
+advantage of the absence of the persons to whom they owed most
+reverence, for the purpose of saying sweet, whispered things to the
+fair dames of the Court; some gathering together to inquire of each
+other, and conjecture amongst themselves, what might be the nature of
+the tidings received; and two or three others, of either kinder or
+more pliant dispositions than the rest, seizing the opportunity of
+cultivating the friendship of the young Englishman. No great time was
+spent on these occupations, however; for before the Duchess and her
+son had been gone more than five minutes, the Count returned, and,
+looking round the circle, said, &quot;Bad tidings scatter good company, my
+lords. I must ride this very night towards Lille. We will not strip
+our mother's court here of all her gallant knights and gentlemen,
+especially in this wise but somewhat turbulent city of Ghent. You,
+therefore, my lords of Croy, Joigny, St. George, Thyan, and Vergier,
+with what men are most ready of your trains, I beseech you to give me
+your fair company ere four of the clock; and you, Master Richard of
+Woodville, my good friend, if you be so minded, hasten your
+preparation, and join me at the castle by that hour. You may have
+occasion,&quot; he continued, in a low tone, taking the young Englishman
+by the arm, &quot;to win the golden spurs, of which we have heard you
+were disappointed, by no fault of your own, at the battle of
+Bramham Moor. We shall be back in Ghent before the week be out--so
+you can leave your baggage here, if you so please. Away then, noble
+lords!--away!--for we have a long march before us, and, perhaps, a
+busy day to-morrow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All was in a moment the bustle and confusion of departure. The young
+Count turned and went back to the cabinet of his mother, as soon as he
+had spoken; the ladies of the Duchess rose; and, though some of them
+paused for an instant, to speak a word in private to those who were
+about to leave them, retired one by one. The old knights, and those
+who were to remain in Ghent, walked out to see their friends and
+comrades mount; and in less than five minutes the hall was cleared,
+and the court-yard nearly vacant.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_23" href="#div1Ref_23">THE DEPARTURE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We must to horse without delay, Ned,&quot; said Richard of Woodville, as
+he entered the inn.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, you have been to horse already, master of mine,&quot; replied Ned
+Dyram, in a somewhat sullen tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And must mount again, ere two hours be over,&quot; rejoined Woodville;
+&quot;but where and how can I leave the baggage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, who can tell that?&quot; said the other. &quot;See what it is to march
+loaded like a carrier's pack-horse, with more things than you can
+carry!--You are coming back soon, then, to Ghent?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ere the week be out,&quot; answered his lord; &quot;so the Count tells me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Pray, sir, never mind what Counts tell you,&quot; exclaimed Ned Dyram.
+&quot;Mind what your own senses tell you. If you know where you are going,
+you can judge as well as a King when you may be back.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But that I do not know,&quot; replied Woodville, somewhat impatiently. &quot;No
+more words, Master Dyram; but gather everything together into one
+chamber, and I will speak to the host as to its security.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Little security for a traveller's baggage in a foreign hotel,&quot;
+rejoined Ned Dyram, &quot;unless some one stays to take charge of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then, by my honour, you shall be the man to do so,&quot; cried his master,
+thinking by leaving him behind when activity and enterprise were
+before him, to punish him sufficiently for his saucy tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Ned Dyram seemed not at all disappointed, and replied with an
+indifferent air, &quot;I am very willing to stay. I am one who does not
+love journeys I know not whither, and expeditions I know not for
+what.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, you remain,&quot; answered his master. &quot;Gather the things
+together, as I have said, and you shall be left like a trader's
+drudge, to look after the goods. Where is Ella Brune?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In her own chamber, I fancy,&quot; replied Ned Dyram. &quot;She has shut
+herself up there, ever since you were gone, like a nun.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Call her down hither to the eating-room,&quot; was his lord's reply; and
+Ned Dyram hastened away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The fair girl did not make her young protector wait long; and ere he
+had finished his directions to his train, to prepare all things for
+immediate departure, she was by his side. Taking her hand kindly, he
+led her into the common hall of the inn, and told her what he had
+discovered regarding her kinsman, adding, that as he was about to set
+out in a few hours with the young Count de Charolois, he would at once
+accompany her to the house of Nicholas Brune, in order to ascertain if
+she could have shelter and protection there.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not, my poor Ella,&quot; he said, &quot;whether that dwelling may be one
+where you can safely and happily stop long; for this good man has been
+somewhat rash in his words, and is under suspicion of leaning to those
+heretical notions that are so rife; but I shall be back in a week, or
+less; and then you can tell me all that you think of the matter. You
+would not wish, I know, to remain with people who would seek to
+pervert you from the true Catholic faith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And you are sure to return in a week?&quot; asked the poor girl, her
+cheek, which had turned somewhat pale before, resuming its warm hue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So the Count assures me,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;and I doubt it not,
+Ella; but, at all events, I will care for you, be assured, poor
+thing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You tell me to put all the baggage in one room,&quot; said Ned Dyram,
+thrusting in his head; &quot;and the men tell me that they are to have each
+his harness, and you yours. Two contrary orders, master of mine! Which
+is to be obeyed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your wit is strangely halting just now, Ned,&quot; answered his master.
+&quot;Put all, but what I have ordered to be taken, into the room, and see
+that it be arranged rightly, and quickly too. Now, Ella, cast
+something over your head, and come with me to your kinsman's shop.
+What wait you for, sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To know which suit you are pleased to have,&quot; replied Ned Dyram; while
+Ella passed him to seek the wimple which she had cast off in the
+house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have given orders on that score to others,&quot; answered his master;
+and as the man retired, he murmured to himself, &quot;I shall have to send
+that fellow back to the King. He does not please me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a rapid step Richard of Woodville led the way, as soon as Ella
+joined him, to the wide open space which then, as since, was used as a
+market, before the old castle of the Counts of Flanders; and, as none
+of the shops or stalls bore their masters' names inscribed, he entered
+the first they came to, and inquired which was the house of Nicholas
+Brune?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;His house,&quot; replied the man to whom he had addressed himself in
+French, &quot;is at the other end of the town; but his shop is yonder,&quot; and
+he pointed with his hand from the door to one of the projecting cases,
+covered with a network of iron wire, under which the goldsmiths of
+Ghent at that period exposed some of their larger goods for sale. &quot;The
+last stall but one,&quot; added the trader; and Woodville and his fair
+companion sped on towards the spot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the unglazed window, behind this booth, stood a man of middle age,
+grey headed, but with a fresh and cheerful countenance, who, as soon
+as he saw the two approach, demanded, in the common terms of the day,
+what they sought in his trade. The next instant, however, his eye
+rested upon Ella's face, which wore a faint smile, and he exclaimed in
+his native tongue,--&quot;Mesaunter! if there be not my cousin Ella! How
+art thou, lass? Welcome to Ghent! What news of the good old man? My
+dame will be right glad to see you both again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She will never see him more,&quot; replied Ella Brune, in a sad tone; &quot;but
+of that I will tell you hereafter, kinsman; for I must not stay this
+noble gentleman, who has befriended me on the way. What I seek to know
+is, if you can give me shelter at your dwelling for a week, till I can
+look around me? I will pay for my abiding, Nicholas,&quot; she added,
+perhaps knowing that her cousin, dealing in gold, had somewhat too
+great a fondness for the pure metal.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Nicholas Brune was in a generous mood; and he replied, &quot;Shelter
+shalt thou have, fair Ella, and meat and drink, with right good will,
+for a week and a day, without cost or payment. If thou stayest with us
+longer, which God send, we will talk about purveyance. In the meantime
+I will thank this gentleman for his goodness to you. Why, by my tongs,
+I think I saw him riding this morning with my noble lord, the Count.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You did, most likely,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, &quot;for we passed
+by your door: but I have farther to ride to-night, Master Nicholas;
+and now, having seen this fair maiden safe under your protection, I
+will leave her there. But you had better send up some of your lads
+with speed to my hostel for the coffer that we brought, as, perchance,
+Ned Dyram would not let you have it, Ella, when I am gone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune smiled, with an effort to keep up the light cheerfulness
+which she had lately assumed, and replied, &quot;I think, noble sir, that
+Master Dyram is not a carl to refuse me aught I ask him; but yet if my
+kinsman can spare a boy, he had better go at once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will soon find one,&quot; answered the stout goldsmith; and, turning to
+a furnace-room, which lay behind his shop, he called one of his men
+forth, and bade him follow the gentleman back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The parting then came between Ella Brune and Richard of Woodville; and
+bitter was the moment to the poor minstrel girl. She had learned a
+world of new sensations since she first saw him;--that clinging
+attachment, which made her long never to be absent from his side for a
+whole day; that tender regard which made her dread to see him depart,
+lest evil should befal him by the way; that love which is full of
+fears for the beloved that we never feel for ourselves. But no one
+could have told that there were any emotions in her bosom but respect
+and gratitude, unless the transitory look of deep grief that crossed
+her face, as she bent down her head to kiss the hand he gave her,
+could have been seen. It was gone as soon as she raised her eyes
+again; and her countenance was bright and cheerful, when he said--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i8">
+&quot;Again my will although I wende,</p>
+<p class="t2">I may not alway dwellen here,</p>
+<p class="t0">For everything shall have an ende,</p>
+<p class="t2">And frendes are not ay ifere:&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">and, skilled in all the lore of old ballads, almost as much as
+himself, she answered at once, from that beautiful song of the days of
+the Black Prince--</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i8">
+&quot;For frendship and for giftès goode,</p>
+<p class="t2">For mete and drink so grete plentie,</p>
+<p class="t0">That lord that raught was on the roode,</p>
+<p class="t2">He kepe the comeli companie.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i8">&quot;On sea or lande where that ye be,</p>
+<p class="t2">He governe you withouten greve;</p>
+<p class="t0">So good disport ye han made me,</p>
+<p class="t2">Again my will, I take my leve.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">And, after again kissing his hand, she let him depart, keeping down by
+a great effort the tears that struggled to rise up into her eyes. But
+she would not for the world have suffered one weak emotion to appear
+before her kinsman, whose character she knew right well, and over whom
+she proposed at once to assume an influence, which could only be
+gained by the display of a firm and superior mind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And who may that young lord be, pretty Ella?&quot; asked Nicholas Brune:
+&quot;he seems to take great heed of you, dear kinswoman, and is evidently
+too high a bird to mate with one of our feather.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Mate with me!&quot; answered Ella, in a scornful tone. &quot;Oh, no! cousin
+mine. He will mate, ere long, with one of the sweetest ladies within
+the shores of merry England, who has been most kind to me too. He is a
+friend of the King; and when poor old Murdock Brune, my grandsire, and
+your uncle, was killed, by a fiend of a courtier trampling him under
+his horse's feet, that gentleman, who saw the deed, threw the monster
+back from his horse, and afterwards represented my case to the King,
+who punished the man-slayer, and sent me fifty half-nobles.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nicholas Brune was affected in two very opposite ways by Ella's words.
+&quot;My uncle killed by a courtier!&quot; he exclaimed at first, with his eyes
+flashing fire. &quot;What was his name, maiden--what was his name?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sir Simeon of Roydon,&quot; answered Ella Brune; and seeking a scrap of
+parchment and a reed pen, the goldsmith wrote down the name, as if to
+prevent it from escaping his memory. But the moment after his mind
+reverted to another part of Ella's speech. &quot;Fifty half nobles!&quot; he
+exclaimed, taking a piece of gold out of a drawer, and looking at it.
+&quot;That was a princely gift, indeed, Ella; and you owe the young
+gentleman much gratitude for getting it for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I owe him and his fair lady-love more than I can ever repay, for many
+an act beside,&quot; answered Ella Brune; &quot;but I am resolved, my good
+kinsman, that I will discharge part of the debt of gratitude, if not
+the whole. I have a plan in my head, cousin--I have a plan, which I
+know not whether I will tell you or not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Take counsel!--always take counsel!&quot; answered the goldsmith.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I want none, fair kinsman,&quot; replied Ella; &quot;I need neither counsel nor
+help. My own wit shall be my counsellor; and as I am rich now, I can
+always get aid when I want it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Rich!&quot; said Nicholas;--&quot;what, with fifty half-nobles, pretty maid? It
+is a heavy sum, truly, but soon spent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Were that all,&quot; rejoined Ella, &quot;I should not count myself very rich;
+but I have more than that, cousin--enough to dower me to as gay a
+citizen as any in Ghent. But here seem a number of gallants gathering
+round the gate of the Graevensteen. I will back into the far part of
+the shop, and we will talk more hereafter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While this conversation had been going on between Nicholas and Ella
+Brune, Richard of Woodville, followed by the goldsmith's man, had
+hurried back to the inn, and directed Ned Dyram to deliver over the
+coffer belonging to the minstrel girl, which had been brought, not
+without some inconvenience, on the back of one of the mules that
+carried his own baggage. The young gentleman did not remark that, in
+executing this order, Ned Dyram questioned the lad cunningly; and
+busy, to say sooth, in paying his score to the host, and making his
+final preparations for departure, he forgot for the time his fair
+companion of the way, quite satisfied that she was safe and
+comfortable under the roof of her kinsman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Some time before the hour appointed, Woodville was in the court of the
+old castle, with his men armed and mounted, in very different guise
+from their peaceful habiliments of the morning. He contented himself
+with sending in a page to inform the Count that he was ready, and
+remained standing by his horse's side; while several of those who had
+been chosen by the young Burgundian Prince as his companions, entered
+through the old gate, and paused to admire, with open eyes, the
+splendid array of the English band, each man armed in plate of the
+newest and most approved form, according to his degree, and each
+bearing, slung over his shoulder, the green quiver, filled with the
+fatal English arrows, which turned so often the tide of battle in the
+olden time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After having waited for about ten minutes, the page whom Woodville had
+sent came back, and conducted him into the castle, where, in a suite
+of rooms occupying the basement story of one of the towers, he found
+the young Count, armed and ready to mount. &quot;Here is your lodging after
+our return,&quot; said the Prince, rapidly. &quot;I wished to show it to you ere
+we set out: these four chambers, and one above. Your horses must be
+quartered out. And now, <i>my friend</i>, let us to the saddle: the rest
+have come, I think.&quot; And, speeding through the passages to the
+court-yard, he welcomed gracefully the gentlemen assembled, sprang upon
+his horse's back, and, followed by his train, rode out over the private
+bridge belonging to the castle, bending his steps upon the road to the
+French frontier.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count himself, and the small body that accompanied him, amounting
+in all to about a hundred men, were all armed after the heavy and
+cumbersome fashion of those days; and each of the several parties of
+which the troop was composed, had with them one or two led horses or
+mules, loaded with spare arms and clothing. Considering weight and
+incumbrances, they moved forward at a very rapid rate--certainly not
+less than seven miles an hour; and pausing nowhere but to give water
+to the horses, they had advanced nearly eight leagues on their way ere
+nightfall. A few minutes after, through the faint twilight which
+remained in the sky, Richard of Woodville perceived some spires and
+towers rising at a short distance over the flat country before them;
+and, on his asking one of the gentlemen, with whom he had held a good
+deal of conversation during their journey, what town it was that they
+were approaching, the reply was, &quot;Courtray.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here the Count of Charolois stopped for about an hour; but, while the
+horses and most of his attendants contrived to obtain some very
+tolerable food, the young Prince neither ate nor drank; but, with a
+mind evidently anxious and disturbed, walked up and down the hall,
+occasionally talking to Richard of Woodville, the only one who
+exercised the same abstinence, but never mentioning either the end or
+object of their journey.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A little after eight o'clock the whole party were in the saddle once
+more, and, judging from the direction which they took as they issued
+forth from the gates of Courtray, the gentleman who had been the young
+Englishman's principal companion on the road informed him that they
+must be going to Lille. In about two hours and a half more, that city
+was seen by the light of the moon; and, after causing the gates to be
+opened, the Count took his way through the streets, but did not direct
+his course to the château usually inhabited by the Flemish Counts.
+Alighting at the principal hostelry of the place, he turned to the
+gentlemen who followed, saying, &quot;Here we must wait for the first news
+that to-morrow may bring. Make yourselves at ease, noble lords. I am
+tired, and will to bed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Without farther explanation, he retired at once with his personal
+attendants; and his followers proceeded to amuse themselves as best
+they might. Richard of Woodville remained with his comrades of the
+road for about an hour, and, during that time, much of the rough
+asperity of fresh acquaintance was brushed away. He then followed the
+example of the young Count, in order to rise refreshed the next
+morning.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_24" href="#div1Ref_24">THOSE WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The morning after the departure of Richard of Woodville dawned clear
+and bright upon the city of Ghent; and the hour of seven found a small
+party assembled in a neat wooden house, not many yards within the
+Brabant gate, at the cheerful meal of breakfast. With dagger in hand
+and hearty good will, Nicholas Brune was hewing away at a huge capon,
+which, with a pickled boar's head, formed the staple of the meal,
+helping his good buxom dame and Ella Brune to what he considered
+choice pieces, and praising the fare with more exuberance than
+modesty, considering that he was the lord of the feast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Madame Brune, as we should call her in the present day, but known in
+Ghent by a more homely appellation, which may be translated &quot;Wife
+Brune,&quot; was a native of the good city; and, by his marriage with her,
+Nicholas had not only obtained a considerable sum of money, but also
+various advantages, which placed him nearly, if not altogether, on a
+footing with the born citizens;--so that, for his fair better half, he
+had great respect and devotion, as in duty bound. For Ella his
+reverence had been greatly increased, by finding that she was endowed
+with a quality very engaging in his opinion--namely, wealth; for the
+sum which she possessed, though but a trifle in our eyes, was in those
+days no inconsiderable fortune, as I have already taken the liberty of
+hinting.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I must not, however, do the worthy goldsmith injustice, and suffer the
+reader to believe that, had Ella appeared poor and friendless, as he
+had last seen her, Nicholas Brune would have shown her aught but
+kindness; for he was a good-hearted and right-minded man; but it is
+not attributing too much to the influence of the precious metals in
+which he worked, to admit that, certainly, he always took them into
+account in computing the degree of respect which he was bound to pay
+to others. He would not have done any dishonest or evil act to obtain
+a whole Peruvian mine, if such a thing had been within the sphere of
+his imagination; but still, the possession of such a mine would have
+greatly enhanced, in the eyes of Nicholas Brune, the qualities of any
+one who might chance to be its proprietor. The only thing, indeed,
+which puzzled him in the present instance was, how his old uncle could
+assume the garb of a wandering, and not generally respected race, when
+he had by him a sum which set him above all chance of want. At first
+he fancied that the old man's love of music--which was to him, who did
+not know one note from another, a separate marvel--might have been the
+motive: the ruling passion strong in death. But then he thought that
+good old Murdock might have made sweet melody just as well in his own
+house, as in wandering from court to court, and fair to fair; but
+immediately after, remembering the old man's peculiar religious
+notions, with which he was well acquainted, he concluded that zeal, in
+which he could fully sympathize, must have been the cause of conduct
+that seemed so strange. This was an inducement he could understand;
+for, though on no other points was he of an enthusiastic and vehement
+character, yet he was so in matters of faith; and if he could have
+made up his mind to any sort of death, it would have been that of a
+martyr; but, to say truth, he could not bring himself to prefer any
+way of leaving the world, and thought one as disagreeable as another.
+Thus he arrived at the conclusion, that his uncle was quite right in
+using any means to conceal both his wealth and his religion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">However, as I have said, he viewed Ella with a very placable
+countenance,--invited her to eat and drink; and, as his mind reverted
+to what she had said, in regard to paying for her food and lodging, he
+treated it with a mixture of jest and argument, which showed her that
+he would receive something, though not too much.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, my fair cousin,&quot; he said, when she recurred to the subject, &quot;in
+this good town of Ghent, all is at so base a price that men live for
+nothing, and are expected to sell their goods for nothing, I can tell
+you. Now, look at that capon; a fatter one never carried its long legs
+about a stack of corn, and yet it cost but six liards. You would pay a
+sterling, or may be two, for such a one in London; and here you might
+get a priest as fat to sing a mass for the same money. God help the
+mummers!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella, however, replied, that she would settle her share with his dame
+for so long as she stayed, and was proceeding to let her good-humoured
+cousin into some of her views and intentions, foreseeing that she
+might need his countenance and assistance, when the outer door opened,
+and, after a knock at that of the room in which they sat, Ned Dyram
+entered, to inquire after his fair companion of the way. Ella knew not
+whether to be pleased or sorry to see him; but surprised she certainly
+was; for she had thought he was far away from Ghent with his lord. The
+cause of these contrary emotions was simply, that she felt little
+pleasure in the man's society, and less in the love that he professed
+towards her, and yet, having made up her mind to take advantage of the
+passion he experienced or affected, to work out her own purposes, she
+saw that his remaining in Ghent might greatly facilitate her views.
+But the game she had to play was a delicate one, for she had resolved,
+for no object whatsoever, to give encouragement to his suit; but
+rather, to leave him to divine her wishes, and promote them if he
+would, than ask aught at his hands.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Though carried on by that eager and enthusiastic spirit which lingers
+longer in the breast of woman than in that of man: from which, indeed,
+everything in life tends to expel it--his own wearing passions, his
+habits of indulgence, the hard lessons of experience, and the checks
+of repeated disappointment--yet she felt somewhat alarmed at the new
+course before her. Perhaps she was not quite sure, though the end
+ever in view was high and noble, self-devoted, and generous, that the
+means were right. To have followed Richard of Woodville through the
+world--to have watched over him as a guardian spirit--to have
+sacrificed for his sake, and for his happiness, all, anything, peace,
+security, comfort, and even her own fame--I do not say her own
+honour--she would not have scrupled; but she might ask herself at that
+moment, whether it was right and just to sport with the love of
+another--to use it for her purpose--even to suffer it, when she knew
+that it could never be returned. And yet woman's eye is very keen; and
+that selfishness, which frequently bears such a large share in man's
+love, was so apparent to her view in all Dyram's actions, that she
+could not but feel less compunction for suffering him to pamper
+himself with hopes, than if he had been of a nobler and a higher
+nature.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Whatever were the ideas that crossed her mind, and kept her silent for
+a moment, they rapidly passed away; and when her cousin, after gazing
+at the intruder for an instant, asked who he was and what he wanted,
+she answered for him, in a gay tone, affecting the coquettish airs
+then very common in a higher class, &quot;Oh! he is a servant of mine,
+Nicholas--vowed to the tip of my finger. I do not intend ever to have
+him; but if the poor creature is resolved to sigh at my feet, I must
+e'en let him. Pray you, give him welcome. What news, servant? How is
+it that you have not followed your lord?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, &quot;I loved best to stay with my lady.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; answered Ella Brune, &quot;call me not <i>your</i> lady. You are my
+servant, but I am yours not at all, either as lady or servant. You
+have not yet merited such grace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In this light and jesting tone she continued to treat him; and though
+perhaps such conduct might have repelled a more sensitive and delicate
+lover, with Ned Dyram it but added fuel to the fire. Each day he came
+to visit--each day returned with stronger passion in his heart. Jest,
+indeed, which was far from natural to her character or to her feelings
+at the time, Ella could not always keep up: though great and stern
+resolution is often the source of a certain bitter mirth at minor
+things. But in every graver moment she spoke to Dyram of Richard of
+Woodville and of Mary Markham--for as yet she knew her by no other
+name. She did so studiously, and yet so calmly and easily, that not
+the slightest suspicion of the real feelings in her heart ever crossed
+the mind of her hearer. Of Mary, she told him far more than he had
+hitherto gathered from his companions in Woodville's train, and dwelt
+long upon her beauty, her gentleness, her kindness. Following closely
+her object, she even found means to hint, one day, a regret that she
+had not been permitted to follow the young Englishman on his
+expedition.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What would I have given,&quot; she said, &quot;to have had your chance of going
+with him; and yet you chose to remain behind!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed, fair Ella!&quot; he exclaimed; &quot;what made you so anxious to go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; answered the girl, with a mysterious look, &quot;do you expect me to
+tell you my secrets, bold man? I would give a chain of gold, however,
+to be able to follow your master about the world for just twelve
+months, if it could be done without risking my own fair fame. Oh! for
+one of those fairy girdles that made the wearer invisible!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Methinks you love him, Mistress Ella,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, more from
+pique than suspicion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Ella answered, boldly and at once, though he had touched the wound
+somewhat roughly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, I do love him well!&quot; she answered; &quot;and I have cause, servant of
+mine. But it is not for that. I have a vow; I have a purpose; and
+though they must be executed, I know not well how to do so. I ought
+not to have left him, even now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I dare say he would have taken you, if you had asked him!&quot; replied
+the man.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what would men have said?&quot; demanded Ella. &quot;What would you have
+thought yourself--what might your young lord have thought--though he
+is not so foolish as yourself? Most likely you would all have done me
+wrong in your fancies. No, no!--if I go, it must be secretly. But
+there, get you gone; I will tell you no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, tell on, sweet Ella!&quot; exclaimed Ned Dyram; &quot;and perhaps I may
+aid you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Get you gone, I say!&quot; replied Ella Brune. &quot;I will tell you no more,
+at least for the present. You help me!--Why, were I to trust to you
+for help in such a matter as this, should I not put myself entirely in
+your power?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But I would never misuse it, Ella,&quot; answered Ned Dyram.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no!&quot; she exclaimed; &quot;I will never put myself in any man's power,
+unless I suffer him to put a ring upon my finger; and then, of course,
+I am as much his slave as if he had a ring round my neck. There, leave
+me! leave me! You may come again to-morrow, and see if I am in a
+better mood. I feel cross to-day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ned Dyram retired; but he was destined to return before the day was
+over, and to bring her tidings, which, however unpleasant in
+themselves, rendered his coming welcome. As he took his way back
+towards the inn, just at the corner of the Vendredi market-place, he
+met a party of travellers, and heard the English tongue; but he took
+little heed, for his thoughts were full of Ella Brune; and he had
+passed half across the square, when one of the horsemen rode after
+him, and said his lord desired to speak with him. Ned Dyram looked up,
+and at once remembered the man's face. For reasons of his own,
+however, he suffered not the slightest trace of recognition to appear
+on his own countenance. As the horseman spoke in English, he replied
+in the same tongue, asking who was his master, and what he wanted?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is an English knight,&quot; replied the servant; &quot;and what he wants he
+will tell you himself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But I am not fond of trusting myself in English knights' hands,&quot;
+answered Ned Dyram; &quot;they sometimes use one badly: so tell me his
+name, or I do not go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;His name is Sir Simeon of Roydon,&quot; replied the man: &quot;a very good
+name, isn't it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, yes! I will go to him,&quot; replied Ned Dyram. &quot;He used to be about
+the Court, when I was a greater man than I am now;&quot; and he walked
+straight up to the spot where Sir Simeon of Roydon had halted his
+horse, and lowly doffed his bonnet as he approached.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My knave tells me,&quot; said the knight, &quot;that you are a servant of the
+King's. Is it so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was so once, sir,&quot; replied Ned Dyram; and then added, looking
+round to the servant who had followed him, &quot;So, it was he who told
+you: I do not remember him!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps not,&quot; answered the knight; &quot;but you came up with him once,
+when he was following a young woman in whom I take some interest. Do
+you know where she is now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It may be so,&quot; replied Ned Dyram; &quot;but I talk not of such things in
+the street, good sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Simeon of Roydon paused and mused, gazing in the man's face the while.
+&quot;Whom do you serve now?&quot; he demanded, at length.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, I am employed by no one, at present,&quot; said Ned Dyram; not
+exactly telling a falsehood, but implying one.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, come to me to-night, some time after sunset,&quot; rejoined
+Sir Simeon, &quot;and we will speak more. You know the convent of the
+Dominicans; I am to lodge there, for the prior is my cousin. Ask for
+Sir Simeon of Roydon, or the English knight, and the porter will show
+you my lodging.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;At the Dominicans!&quot; cried Ned Dyram; &quot;why, you are not going thither
+now--at least, that is not the way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is it not?&quot; exclaimed the knight. &quot;Why this fellow agreed to guide
+me;&quot; and he pointed to a man in the dress of a peasant, who
+accompanied them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then he is guiding you wrong,&quot; replied Ned Dyram. &quot;Go straight up
+that street, follow the course of the river to the left, and, when you
+have passed the second bridge, turn up to the right, cross the Lys,
+and you will see the Dominicans right before you. He was taking you to
+the Carmelites.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, don't fail to come,&quot; rejoined Sir Simeon of Roydon; and he then
+rode on, pouring no very measured abuse upon the head of his guide.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The moment he was gone, Dyram hurried back to Ella Brune; and a long
+and eager conversation ensued between them, of a very different tone
+and character from any which had taken place before. Ella was obliged
+to trust and to confide in him, to tell her reasons for abhorring and
+shrinking from the sight of one whom her evil fortune seemed
+continually to bring across her path, and to consult with him on the
+means to be employed for the purpose of concealing her presence in
+Ghent from Roydon's eyes, and of discovering what chance had brought
+him to the same city so soon after herself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nothing, perhaps, could have given Dyram more satisfaction than this
+result. The new relations which it established between Ella and
+himself--the opportunities which it promised of serving, assisting
+her, and laying her under obligations--the constant excuse which it
+afforded for seeing her, and consulting with her on subjects of deep
+interest to herself--were all points which afforded him much
+gratification. But that was not all: he fancied that he saw the means
+of obtaining a power over her--a command as well as an influence.
+Vague schemes presented themselves to his mind of entangling her in a
+chain that she could not break--of binding her to himself by ties that
+she could not shake off--and of using the haughty and vicious knight,
+whose character he easily estimated, from the information now given
+him by Ella, as a tool for the accomplishment of his own purposes. I
+have said that these schemes were vague; and perhaps they might never
+have taken any more definite a form, had not other events occurred
+which led him to carry them out almost against his own will. Man, in
+the midst of circumstances, is like one in a Dædalian labyrinth, where
+a thousand paths are ready to confound him, a thousand turnings to
+lead him to the same end, and that end disappointment; while but one,
+of all the many ways, can reach the issue of success.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That night, soon after sunset, Dyram stood before the gate of the
+Dominican monastery, and, ringing the bell, asked the porter for the
+lodging of Sir Simeon of Roydon. It was evident to him that orders had
+been given for his admission, for, without any inquiry, he was
+immediately shown to a small chamber, where he found the knight alone.
+A curious contest of the wits then ensued, for the knight was shrewd,
+and had determined, if it were within the scope of possibility, to
+gain from Ned Dyram all the information he could afford; and Dyram, on
+the contrary, had resolved to give none but that which suited his
+purpose. Both were keen and cunning men; neither very scrupulous; each
+selfish in a high degree, though in a somewhat different line; and
+both eager and fiery in pursuit of their objects.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The first question of the knight to Ned Dyram was, what had brought
+him to Ghent?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I came hither,&quot; he replied, at once, &quot;with Master Richard of
+Woodville.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight's brow was covered by a sudden cloud, and he demanded, in a
+sharp tone, &quot;Is he here now?--Are you his servant, then?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is not here now,&quot; answered the man; &quot;he has gone on with the Count
+de Charolois, and did not think fit to take me with him any further.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then you are out of employment?&quot; asked the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For the present, I am,&quot; said Ned Dyram; &quot;but I shall soon find as
+much as I want. I am never at a loss, sir knight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is lucky for yourself,&quot; replied Simeon of Roydon; and then
+abruptly added, &quot;Will you take service with me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No!&quot; answered Dyram, bluntly. &quot;I will take service with no one any
+more. I was not meant for a varlet. I can do better things than be the
+serving-man of any knight or noble.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What can you do?&quot; demanded Roydon, with a somewhat sarcastic smile.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What can I not?&quot; exclaimed Dyram. &quot;I can read better than a
+priest--write better than a clerk. I can speak languages that would
+make your ears tingle, without understanding what you heard. I can
+compound all essences and drugs; I can work in gold, silver, or iron;
+and I know some secrets that would well nigh raise the dead.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed!&quot; said the knight. &quot;Then you must be a monk, or a doctor of
+Oxford.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Neither,&quot; replied the man; &quot;but I see you disbelieve me. Shall I give
+you a proof of what I can do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; answered Sir Simeon; &quot;I should like to see some spice of your
+skill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In what way shall it be,&quot; asked Ned Dyram. &quot;If you will order up some
+charcoal, with this little instrument and these pinchers I will make
+you a chain to go round your wrist out of a gold noble; or, if there
+be a Greek book in the monastery, I will read you a page therefrom,
+and expound it, in the presence of whom you will, as a judge; for well
+I wot you yourself know nothing about it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nor wish to know,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;but I will have neither of
+these experiments; the one would be too long, the other too tedious.
+You said that you had secrets that would well nigh raise the dead. I
+have heard of such things, and I should like to see them tried.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Would you not be afraid?&quot; asked Ned Dyram.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No!--Why?&quot; answered Sir Simeon of Roydon. &quot;The dead cannot hurt me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Assuredly,&quot; said Ned Dyram; &quot;but yet, when we call for those who are
+in their graves, we can never surely tell who may come. It is not
+always the spirit we wish that answers to our voice; and that man's
+heart must be singularly free, who, in the days of fiery youth, has
+done no deed towards the silent and the cold, that might make him
+shrink to see them rise from their dull bed of earth, and look him in
+the face again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am not afraid,&quot; said Roydon, after a moment's thought. &quot;Do it if
+you can.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I said I had secrets that would <i>well nigh</i> raise the dead,&quot;
+answered Ned Dyram. &quot;I neither told you that they would, nor that I
+was willing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha! it seems to me you are a boaster, my good friend,&quot; exclaimed the
+knight, with a sneer. &quot;Can you do anything in this sort, or can you
+not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am no boaster, proud knight,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, in an angry tone,
+&quot;and I only say what I am able to perform. 'Tis you that make it more
+than I ever did say; but if you would know what I can do, I tell you I
+can raise the dead for my own eye, though not for yours. That last
+great secret I have not yet obtained; but I trust ere long to do so;
+and as you are incredulous, like all other ignorant men, I will give
+you proof this very night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But how shall I know, if I do not see the shapes myself?&quot; demanded
+Sir Simeon of Roydon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will tell you what I behold,&quot; rejoined the man, &quot;and you must judge
+for yourself. Those whom I call up shall all have some reference to
+you. Have you a mirror there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; replied the knight; and while he rose to search for one, Dyram
+strewed some small round balls upon the table, jet black in colour,
+and apparently soft. The knight brought forward one of the small,
+round, polished mirrors of the day, which generally formed part of the
+travelling apparatus of both sexes in the higher class; and, setting
+it upright, Dyram brought each of the little balls for a single
+instant to the flame of the lamp, and laid them down before the
+mirror. A thin white smoke, of a faint, but delicate odour, instantly
+rose up and spread through the room, producing a feeling of languor in
+those who breathed the perfume, and giving a ghastly likeness to all
+things round; and, kneeling down before the table, Ned Dyram gazed
+into the glass, pronouncing several words in a strange tongue,
+unintelligible to the knight. The moment after his eyes opened wide,
+and seemed almost starting from his head; and the knight exclaimed
+eagerly, &quot;What is it you see?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I see,&quot; replied the man, &quot;a gentleman in a black robe seated at a
+table; and he looks very sad. He is young and handsome, too, with
+coal-black hair curling round his brow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Has he no mark by which I can distinguish him?&quot; asked the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; answered Dyram; &quot;but it matters not for him, as I see he is
+amongst the living. It is the absent who generally come first, and
+then the dead. However, here's a scar upon his right cheek, as if from
+an old wound.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sir Henry Dacre!&quot; murmured Roydon. &quot;Try again, man--try again; and
+let it be the dead this time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dyram pronounced some more words, apparently in the same language; and
+then a smile came upon his countenance. &quot;A sweet and beautiful lady!&quot;
+he said. &quot;How proudly she walks, as if earth were not good enough to
+bear her! Ha! how is that?&quot;--and, as he spoke, his face assumed a look
+of terror: his lip quivered, his eye stared; and the countenance of
+Sir Simeon of Roydon turned deadly pale.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What do you see?&quot; demanded the knight, in a voice scarcely audible.
+&quot;What do you see?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She walks by a stream!&quot; cried Dyram, in a terrible tone, &quot;and the sun
+is just below the sky. Some one meets her, and they talk. He seizes
+her by the throat!--she struggles--he holds fast--he casts her into
+the river! Hark, how she shrieks! She sinks--she rises--she shrieks
+again! Oh God! some one help her!--she is gone!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All was silent in the room for a minute: and Ned Dyram, wiping his
+brow, as if recovering from some great excitement, gazed round him by
+the light of the lamp. Simeon of Roydon had sunk into a seat; and his
+face was so ashy pale, the lids of his eyes so tightly closed, that
+for a moment his companion thought he had fainted. The instant after,
+however, he murmured, &quot;Ah! necromancer!&quot; and then starting up,
+exclaimed, &quot;What horrible vision is this? Who is it thou hast seen?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I know not,&quot; answered Ned Dyram. &quot;How can I tell? They spoke
+not;--'twas but a sight. But one thing is certain, that either the man
+or the woman is closely allied to you in some way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What was he like?&quot; demanded the knight, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was so dark when he came that I could not see him well,&quot; replied
+Dyram. &quot;He was a tall, fair man; but that was all I saw. The lady was
+more clearly visible; for when she came, there was a soft evening
+light in the sky.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, fool, it has been dark these two hours,&quot; cried the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not in that glass,&quot; answered the other. &quot;When she appeared first, it
+was a calm sunset, and I saw her well; but it speedily grew dark, and
+then I could descry nothing but her form, first struggling with her
+murderer, and then with the deep waters.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Her murderer!&quot; repeated Simeon of Roydon--&quot;her murderer! What was she
+like?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A vain and haughty beauty, I should say,&quot; replied the man; &quot;with dark
+hair, and seemingly dark eyes, a proud and curling lip, and----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Enough, enough!&quot; answered Simeon of Roydon, with resumed composure.
+&quot;I know her by your description, and by the facts; but in the man you
+are mistaken--he was a dark man who did the deed, or suspicion belies
+him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Twas a fair man, that I saw,&quot; rejoined Dyram, in a decided tone; &quot;of
+that, at least, I am sure, though the shadows were too deep to let me
+view his face distinctly. Shall I look again, to see any more, sir
+knight?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no--it is sufficient!&quot; cried Simeon of Roydon, somewhat sharply.
+&quot;I see you have not overstated what you can do. Hearken to me; I will
+give you employment in your own way--much or little, as you like. I
+would fain hear more of this girl, Ella Brune--of where she is, what
+she is doing. I would fain find her--speak with her; but I am
+discomposed to-night. This lady that you saw but now was very dear to
+me; her sad fate affects me deeply even now. See, how I am shaken by
+these memories!&quot; And in truth his hand, which he stretched forth to
+lay the mirror flat upon the table, trembled so, that he nearly let it
+fall. &quot;But of this girl, Ella Brune,&quot; he continued: &quot;have you known
+her long?--know you where she now is?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I was but sent to bear her a letter from Richard of Woodville,
+and to counsel her from him, to go to York,&quot; replied Dyram. &quot;Then, as
+to where she is, I cannot say exactly--not to a point, that is to say;
+but I can soon learn, if I am well entreated and well paid!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That you shall be,&quot; rejoined the knight. &quot;Come to me to-morrow early,
+and we will talk more. To-night I am unfit. Here is some gold for you
+for what you have done. Good night, good night!&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_25" href="#div1Ref_25">THE ENTERPRISE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Count of Charolois stood in the court-yard of the inn, about
+nine o'clock on the morning that followed his arrival in Lille, with a
+letter in his hand, and a countenance not altogether well pleased.
+There was a gentleman beside him, somewhat advanced in years, bearing
+knightly spurs upon his heels, and armed at all points but the head,
+the grey hair of which was partly covered with a small velvet cap, and
+to him the Prince spoke eagerly; while the various persons who had
+attended him from Ghent stood at a respectful distance, waiting his
+commands as to their future proceedings. Richard of Woodville had not
+remarked the old knight with the band before; and turning to one of
+the young nobles with whom he had formed some acquaintance, he asked
+who he was.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, do you not know?&quot; exclaimed his companion. &quot;That is Sir Walter,
+Lord of Roucq, one of our most renowned leaders. He has just arrived
+from Douay, they say; but the Count seems angry with that letter the
+courier brought him from Paris. Things are going ill there, I doubt,
+and we shall soon have a levy of arms. That Court is full of faitours
+and treachers--a crop of bad corn, which wants Burgundian hands to
+thin it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I trust that you will permit a poor Englishman to put in a sickle,&quot;
+said Woodville, laughing; &quot;or at least to have the gleanings of the
+field.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! willingly, willingly!&quot; replied the young lord, with better wit
+than might have been expected. &quot;I cannot but think your good
+sovereigns in England have but been hesitating till other arms have
+begun the harvest, in order to take full gleanings of that poor
+land--but see, the Count is looking round to us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hearken, my lords,&quot; said the Count. &quot;It is my father's will that I
+should remain in Lille, while this noble knight rides on an expedition
+of some peril to the side of Tournay. He says the Lord of Roucq has
+men enough for what is wanted, and that some of you must abide with me
+here; but still I will permit any gentlemen to go who may choose to do
+so, provided a certain number stay with me; so make your election.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young nobles of Burgundy were rarely unwilling to take the field;
+but in the present instance, there were two or three motives which
+operated to make them in general decide in favour of staying with the
+Count of Charolois. In the first place, they knew of no enterprise
+that could be achieved on the side of Tournay which offered either
+glory or profit. There were a few bands of revolted peasantry and
+brigands in that quarter, whom the Count had threatened to suppress;
+but such a task was somewhat distasteful to them. In the second place,
+they were not insensible to the fact, that by choosing to stay with
+the Prince, they offered him an indirect compliment, which was
+especially desirable at a moment when he seemed angry at not being
+permitted to lead them himself; and, in the third place, the Lord of
+Roucq was inferior in rank to most of them, though superior in
+military reputation; and he was, moreover, known to be a somewhat
+strict disciplinarian, a quality by no means agreeable either to the
+French or Burgundian gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I came to serve under you, my lord the Count,&quot; said the young Ingram
+de Croy; &quot;and if you do not go, and I am permitted to choose, where
+you stay I will remain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old Lord of Roucq gazed at him coldly, but made no observation;
+and the same feeling was found general, till the Count turned with a
+smile to Richard of Woodville, asking his choice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, my noble lord,&quot; replied the young Englishman, &quot;if I could serve
+you here, I should be willing enough to stay; but, as that is not the
+case, I had better serve you elsewhere; and wherever this good knight
+goes, doubtless there will be some honour to be gained under his
+pennon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Walter of Roucq still remained silent, but he did not forget the
+willingness of the foreign gentleman; and one very young noble of
+Burgundy, whose fortune and fame were yet to make, taking courage at
+Woodville's words, proposed to go also.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have but few men with me, my lord the Count,&quot; he said, with the
+modesty which was affected, if not felt, by all young men in
+chivalrous times; &quot;and, as you know, I have but small experience;
+wishing to gain which, I will, by your good leave, serve under the
+Lord of Woodville here, who, I think you said, had been already in
+several stricken fields, and was a comrade of the noble King of
+England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;King Henry calls him his friend, Monsieur de Lens, in his letter to
+me,&quot; replied the Count; &quot;and I know he has gained <i>los</i> in several
+battles, though I have been told that he was disappointed of his spurs
+at Bramham Moor (he did not pronounce the word very accurately);
+because such was the trust placed in his discretion, that he was sent
+to the late King just before the fight, when no one else could be
+trusted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Again Richard of Woodville marvelled to find his whole history so well
+known; but the Count went on immediately to add to the young
+Englishman's troop ten of his own men-at-arms. &quot;You, Monsieur de Lens,
+brought seven, I think,&quot; he said; &quot;so that will be some small
+reinforcement to your <i>menée</i>, my Lord of Roucq;&quot; and drawing that
+gentleman aside, the Prince whispered to him for some moments.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Willingly, willingly, fair sir,&quot; replied the old knight, to whatever
+it was he said. &quot;God forbid I should stay any noble gentleman anxious
+to do doughty deeds. He shall have the cream of it, and it shall go
+hard if I give him not the means to win the spurs. Monsieur de
+Woodville, I set out in half an hour. I will but have some bread and a
+cup of wine, and then am ready for your good company.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But little preparation was needed, for all had been kept ready to set
+out at a moment's notice. Nevertheless, in the little arrangements
+which took place ere they departed, there sprang up between Richard of
+Woodville and the Lord of Lens what may be called the intimacy of
+circumstances. The young Burgundian, though brave, and well practised
+in the use of arms, was diffident, from inexperience, of more active
+and perilous scenes than the tilt-yard of his father's castle, or the
+jousting-lists in the neighbouring town; and he was well satisfied to
+place himself under the immediate direction of one who, like Richard
+of Woodville, had fought in general engagements, and served in regular
+armies. He had also some dread of the Lord of Roucq; but by fusing his
+party into the English gentleman's band, he placed another between
+himself and the severe old soldier, so that he trusted to escape the
+harsh words which their commander was not unaccustomed to use. To
+Woodville, then, he applied for information regarding every particular
+of his conduct; how he was to place his men, where he was to ride
+himself, and a thousand other particulars, making his companion smile
+sometimes at the timidity which he had personally never known, from
+having been accustomed, even in boyhood, to the troublous times and
+continual dangers which followed the usurpation of the throne by the
+first of the Lancasterian House.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While they were conversing over these matters, one of the pages of the
+Count of Charolois joined them from the inn, and bade the English
+gentleman follow him to the Prince. The Count was alone in a small
+bed-room up stairs, and the temporary vexation which his countenance
+had expressed some time before, had now quite passed away. He met
+Richard with a laughing countenance, and, holding out his hand to him,
+exclaimed, addressing him by the name he had given him ever since
+their first interview, &quot;God speed you, my friend. These rash nobles of
+ours have taken themselves in; and though stern old De Roucq does not
+wish it mentioned that he is going on such an errand, I would have you
+know it, that you may take advantage of opportunity. I love you better
+for going with him than staying with me, as you may well judge, when I
+tell you that his object is to meet my father, and guard him from
+Paris to Lille, if the Duke can effect his escape from the French
+court. My father would not have me come, for he is likely to be
+pursued, it seems; and he says in his letter, that should mischance
+befall him, while I remain in Lille there will still be a Duke of
+Burgundy to crush this swarm of Armagnac bees, even should they sting
+him to death. However, you must not tell De Roucq that I have given
+you such tidings; for if he knew it, he would scold me like a Nieuport
+fishwoman, with as little reverence as he would a horse-boy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will be careful, my good lord,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but
+if such be the case, had we better not have more men with us? Six or
+seven and twenty make but a small band against all the chivalry of
+France.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh! he has got two hundred iron-handed fellows beyond the gates,&quot;
+replied the Prince. &quot;But, hark! there is his voice. Quick! quick! you
+must not stay!&quot; and hurrying down into the little square before the
+hostel, the young Englishman found the men drawn up, and the Lord of
+Roucq, with a page holding his horse, and his foot in the stirrup.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah! you are long, sir,&quot; said the old knight, swinging himself slowly
+up into the saddle. Nevertheless, Richard of Woodville was on
+horseback before him; for, laying his hand upon his charger's
+shoulder, he vaulted at once, armed at all points as he was, into the
+seat, and in another instant was at the head of his men.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A boy's trick!&quot; said the old soldier, with a smile. &quot;Never think,
+young gentleman, that you can make up for present delay by after
+activity: it is a dangerous fancy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know it, my good lord,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but I had to
+speak with my lord the Count before I departed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, sir, well,&quot; answered the Lord of Roucq; and, wheeling round his
+horse, he gazed over the little band, marking especially the fine
+military appearance, sturdy limbs, and powerful horses of the English
+archers, with evident satisfaction. &quot;Ah!&quot; he said, &quot;good stuff, good
+stuff! Have they seen service?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Most of them,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They shall see more, I trust, before I have done with them,&quot; rejoined
+the old knight. &quot;Come, let us go. March!&quot;--and, leading the way
+through the streets of Lille, a little in advance of the rest of the
+party, while Richard of Woodville and the young Lord of Lens followed
+side by side at the head of their men, he soon reached the gates of
+the city, without exchanging a word with any one by the way.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, this is strange,&quot; said the Lord of Lens to his companion, in a
+low voice, as they turned up towards the side of Douay, instead of
+taking the road to Tournay. &quot;This is not the march that the Count said
+was laid out for us. The old man knows his road, I suppose?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No fear of that,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;our business,
+comrade, is to follow, and to ask no questions. Perhaps there is
+better luck for us than we expected. Commanders do not always tell
+their soldiers what they are leading them to;&quot; and turning his head as
+they came forth into the broad open road which extended to Peronne,
+through the numerous strong towns at that time comprised in the
+Flemish possessions of the House of Burgundy, he gave orders, in
+French and English, for his men to form in a different order--nine
+abreast. Some little embarrassment was displayed in executing this
+man&#339;uvre; and he had to explain and direct several times before it
+was performed to his satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Lord of Roucq looked round and watched the whole proceeding, but
+made no observation; and, after proceeding for about two miles farther
+on the way, Woodville again changed the order of his men, when the old
+commander suddenly demanded, &quot;What are you playing such tricks for?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For a good reason, sir,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;I have men
+under me who have never been accustomed to act together--my own
+people, those of this young lord, and the men-at-arms of my lord the
+Count. I know not how soon you may call upon us for service, or what
+that service may be; and it is needful they should have some practice,
+that they may be alert at their work. I have learnt that, in time of
+need, it does not do to lose even a minute in forming line.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, you Englishmen,&quot; replied the old lord, &quot;were always better aware
+of that fact than we are. There would never have been a Cressy, if
+Frenchmen would have submitted to discipline. They will fight like
+devils; but each man has such an opinion of himself, that he will
+fight in his own way, forgetting that one well-trained man, who obeys
+orders promptly, is better than a hundred who do nothing but what they
+like themselves. Ride up and talk with me, young men; I do not see why
+we should not be friends together, though those satin jackets at Lille
+did not choose to march with old Walter de Roucq.&quot; After speaking with
+some bitterness of the turbulent spirit and insubordination which
+existed in all continental armies, the Lord of Roucq led the
+conversation to the military condition of England, and inquired
+particularly into the method, not only of training the soldiers of
+that country, but of educating the youths throughout the land to the
+early use of arms, which he had heard was customary there.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, there is the difference between you and us,&quot; he said, when
+Woodville had explained the facts to him;--&quot;you are all soldiers; and
+your yeomen, as you call them, are as serviceable as your knights and
+gentlemen. With us, who would ever think of taking a boor from the
+plough, to make a man-at-arms of him? No one dares to put a steel cap
+on his head, unless he has some gentle blood in his veins, though it
+be but half a drop, and then he is as conceited of it as if he were
+descended from Charlemagne. I have charge to give you, sir, the best
+occasions,&quot; he continued, still addressing Woodville, &quot;and I will not
+fail; for I see you know what you are about, and will do me no
+discredit.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I beseech you, my good lord, to let me share them with him,&quot; said
+Monsieur de Lens; &quot;I am as eager for renown as any man can be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You will share them, of course, as one of his band,&quot; replied the old
+soldier, &quot;and I doubt not, young gentleman, will do very well. I will
+refuse honour to no one who wins it;&quot; and thus conversing, they rode
+on as far as Pont a Marq, where they found a large body of men-at-arms
+waiting for the old Lord of Roucq.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville remarked that they were most of them middle-aged
+men, with hard and weather-beaten countenances, who had evidently seen
+a good deal of service; but he observed also that--probably, from the
+unwillingness of the Burgundian nobility to submit to anything like
+strict discipline--there seemed to be few persons of distinction in
+the corps, and not one knight but the old Lord himself. Without any
+pause, the whole party marched on to Douay, the young Englishman
+losing no opportunity of exercising his men in such evolutions as the
+nature of the ground permitted, and many of the old soldiers of De
+Roucq watching his proceedings in silence, but with an attentive and
+inquiring eye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At Douay they halted for an hour and a half, to feed their horses and
+to take some refreshment; and then marching on, they did not draw a
+rein again till Cambray appeared in sight. Here all the party expected
+to remain the night; for Cambray, as the reader well knows, is a good
+day's march from Lille, especially for men covered with heavy armour,
+and for horses who had to carry not only the weight of their masters
+and their masters' harness, but steel manefaires, testières, and
+chanfrons of their own. The orders of the commander, however, showed
+them, before they entered the gates, that such repose was not to fall
+to their lot, for he directed them to seek no hostel, but to quarter
+themselves, without dividing, in the market-place, and there to feed
+their beasts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis a fine evening,&quot; he said, &quot;and you shall have plenty of food and
+wine; but we must march on, for an hour or two, at night, that we may
+be in time to-morrow. If we have more space than enough in the
+morning, why the destriers will be all the fresher.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No one ventured to make any reply, though the men-at-arms of the Count
+of Charolois felt somewhat weary with their unwonted exertion, and
+would fain have persuaded themselves that their beasts could go no
+farther that night. Their leader, or vingtner, who held the rank of a
+sergeant of the present day, and usually commanded twenty men, went so
+far as to hint his opinion on this subject to Richard of Woodville;
+but the young Englishman stopped him in an instant, replying coldly,
+&quot;If your horses break down we must find you others. We have nothing to
+do but to obey.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Englishman took care, however, that the chargers of his
+whole party should have everything that could refresh them, and he
+spared not his own purse to procure for them a different sort of food
+from that which was provided for the rest. The crumb of bread soaked
+in water was a favourite expedient with the English of that day, as it
+is now with the Germans, for restoring the vigour of a wearied horse;
+and he made bold to dip the bread in wine, which, on those beasts that
+would take it, seemed to produce a very great effect.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After halting for two hours, the march was renewed; and wending slowly
+onward, they reached the small town--for it was then a town--of
+Gonlieu, having accomplished a distance of nearly eighteen leagues. It
+was within half an hour of midnight when they arrived, and the good
+people of the place had to be roused from their beds to provide them
+with lodgings; but a party of two hundred men-at-arms was not in that
+day to be refused anything they might think fit to require; and, in
+the different houses and stables of the town, they were all at length
+comfortably housed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville was not one of those men who require long sleep
+to refresh them after any ordinary fatigue; and though, with the care
+and attention of an Arab, he spent a full hour in inspecting the
+treatment of his horses before he lay down to rest, yet, after a quiet
+repose of about four hours and a half, he awoke, and instantly sprang
+from the pallet which had been provided for him. He then immediately
+roused the young Lord of Lens, who, with five or six others, slept in
+the same chamber; but the poor youth gazed wildly round him, at first
+seeming to have forgotten where he was; and it required a hint from
+his English friend, that the old Lord of Roucq was a man likely to be
+up early in the day, ere he could make up his mind to rise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville and his companion had been in the stable about five minutes,
+and were just setting the half-awakened horse-boys to their work, when
+a voice was heard at the open door, saying, &quot;This is well!--this is as
+it should be!&quot; and, turning round, they saw the figure of the old
+knight moving slowly away to the quarters of another party.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In an hour more, they were again upon the road; but their march was
+this day less fatiguing; and Woodville remarked that their veteran
+leader seemed to expect some intelligence from the country into which
+they were advancing; for at each halting place he caused inquiries to
+be made for messengers seeking him, and more than once stopped the
+peasantry on the road, questioning them strictly, though no one
+clearly seemed to understand his drift. He seemed, too, to be somewhat
+undecided as to his course, and talked of going on to Orvillers, or at
+least to Conchy; but he halted for the night, however, at Tilloloy,
+and quartered his men in that village and St. Nicaise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville and his party were lodged in the latter, where also the old
+commander slept; but about three in the morning the young Englishman
+was roused by voices speaking, followed by some one knocking at a
+neighbouring door; and half-raised upon his arm, he was listening to
+ascertain, if possible, what was the cause of this interruption of
+their repose, when the door of the room was opened, as far as the body
+of one of the English yeomen, who slept across it, would permit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Halloo! Master Woodville,&quot; said the voice of the Lord of Roucq. &quot;Up,
+and to horse--your beasts are not broken down, I trust?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They have had time to rest since six last night,&quot; replied Woodville,
+&quot;and will be found as fresh as ever, for they feed well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Like all true Englishmen,&quot; answered the old soldier. &quot;Join me below
+in a minute; I have something to say to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dressing himself, and giving hasty orders for the horses to be fed and
+led out, the young Englishman went down to the ground-floor, where
+everything was already in bustle, and perhaps in some confusion. The
+Lord of Roucq was surrounded by several of his own officers, and was
+giving them orders in the sharp tones of impatience and hurry.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha! Sir Englishman,&quot; he exclaimed, as ho saw Woodville, &quot;how long
+will it take you to be in the saddle?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Half an hour,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And these men want two hours!&quot; cried the old leader. &quot;Well, hark
+ye!&quot;--and leading Woodville aside, he whispered, &quot;'Tis as well as it
+is: there will be no jealousy. Get your horses out with all speed, and
+you shall have the cream of the affair, as I promised the young Count.
+You must know I am bound to meet our good Duke at Pont St. Maxence. He
+makes his escape from Paris this morning; and as he brings but four
+men with him, I fear there may be those who will try to stop him. His
+plan is, to go out to hunt with the King in the forest of Hallate, and
+there to be met by some one bringing him letters, as if from Flanders,
+requiring his hasty return. Then he will decently bid the King adieu,
+and ride away. I was in hopes to have had time enough to be near at
+hand with my whole force, to give him aid if they pursue or stay him,
+though he tells me in the packet just received, to meet him at Pont
+St. Maxence. However, it is as well that some should proceed farther;
+and if you can get the start of us, you can take the occasion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will not miss it,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;but two things may be
+needful--one, a letter to the Duke; and another, some one who knows
+the road and the forest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What sort of letter?&quot; demanded De Roucq, sharply. &quot;What is the letter
+for?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To call the Duke back to Flanders,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville. &quot;I
+will be the person to deliver it, should need be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, that were as well,&quot; answered the old knight; &quot;though doubtless he
+has arranged already for some one to meet him; yet no harm of two. It
+shall be written as if others had been sent before. I will call my
+clerk, for of writing I know nought.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In the meanwhile I will see for a guide,&quot; answered Woodville; and
+going forth, he inquired, amongst the attendants of the young Lord of
+Lens and the men-at-arms of the Count of Charolois, for some one who
+was acquainted with the forest of Hallate. One of the latter had been
+there in former days, and remembered something of the roads, with
+which amount of information Richard of Woodville was forced to content
+himself, trusting to meet with some peasant on the spot who might
+guide him better. He then gave orders for bringing out the horses
+without farther delay, and for charging each saddle with two feeds of
+corn; and returning to the Lord of Roucq, he found him dictating a
+letter, by the light of a lamp, to a man with a shaven crown. Before
+it was finished, for the style of the good knight was not fluent, the
+jingle of arms and the tramp of horses' feet were heard before the
+inn; and looking round, with a well-satisfied smile, the old soldier
+exclaimed, &quot;Ha! this is well!--This is the way to win <i>los</i>. There,
+that will do, Master Peter; fold and seal it. Then for the
+superscription, as you know how.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Some five minutes, however, were spent upon heating the wax, tying up
+the packet, and writing the address, during which time Richard of
+Woodville looked on with no small impatience, fearing that he might be
+forestalled by others in executing a task which promised some
+distinction. At length all was complete; and, taking the letter
+eagerly, he hurried out and sprang into the saddle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Lord of Roucq added various cautions and directions, walking by
+the young Englishman's horse for some way through the village; but at
+length he left him; and putting his troop to a quicker pace, Woodville
+rode on towards Pont St. Maxence.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_26" href="#div1Ref_26">THE ACHIEVEMENT.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The forest of Hallate--of which the great forest of Chantilly, as it
+is called, is in fact but an insignificant remnant,--was, in the days
+of Philip of Valois, one of the most magnificent woods at that time in
+Europe, giving its name to a whole district, in the midst of which was
+situated the fine old palace and abbey of St. Christopher, or St.
+Christofle en Hallate, the scene of many of the most important
+transactions in French history. I do not find that the palace was much
+used in the reign of Charles VI.; and it was very possibly going to
+decay, though the abbey attached to it still remained tenanted by its
+monks, and the forest still afforded the sport of the chase to the
+French monarchs and their court, being filled with wolves, stags,
+boars, and even bears (if we may believe the accounts of the time),
+which were preserved with more care, from all but princely hands, than
+even the subjects of the Sovereign.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The great variety of the ground--the hills, the dales, the fountains,
+the cliffs, that the district presented--the rivers that intersected
+it, the deep glades and wild savannahs of the forest itself--the
+villages, the towns, the chapels, the monasteries, which nestled
+themselves, as it were, into its bosom--the profound solitude of some
+parts, the busy cultivation of others, the desert-like desolation of
+certain spots, and the soft, calm monotony of seemingly interminable
+trees which was to be found in different tracts--rendered the forest
+of Hallate one of the most interesting and changeful scenes through
+which the wandering foot of man could rove. Whether he sought the city
+or the hermitage, whether the grave or the gay, whether the sun or the
+shade, here he might suit his taste; and the mutations of the sky, in
+winter, in summer, in morning, in evening, in sunshine, or in clouds,
+added new changes to each individual spot, and varied still farther a
+scene which in itself seemed endless in its variety.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">About three o'clock on the afternoon of a day in early May, with a
+cool wind stirring the air, and some light vapours floating across the
+heaven, a gentleman, completely armed except the head, with a lance on
+his shoulder, and a page carrying his casque behind him, rode slowly
+into one of the wide savannahs, following a peasant with a staff in
+his hand, who seemed to be showing him the way. His horse bore evident
+signs of having been ridden far that day, without much time for grooms
+to do their office in smoothing down his dark brown coat; but
+nevertheless, though somewhat rough and dusty, the stout beast seemed
+no way tired; and, to judge by his quick and glancing eye, his bending
+crest, and the eager rounding of his knee, as if eager to put forth
+his speed, one would have supposed that he had rested since his
+journey, and tasted his share of corn.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, there is a piqueur of the hunt,&quot; said the gentleman, marking with
+a glance a man, clothed in green and brown, who stood holding a brace
+of tall dogs at the angle of one of the roads leading into the heart
+of the forest. &quot;You have led us right, good fellow. There is your
+guerdon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The peasant took the money; and, as it was somewhat more than had been
+promised, made a low rude bow and stumped away; and the gentleman,
+turning to his page, beckoned him up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Think you, Will, that you have French enough,&quot; he asked, in English,
+when the boy was close to him, &quot;to tell them where we are, and what to
+do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, I will make them understand,&quot; replied the page, with all the
+confidence of youth. &quot;I picked up a few words in Ghent, and a few more
+as we came along; and what tongue wont do, hand and head must.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, give me the casque,&quot; said his master, &quot;and you take my barret;&quot;
+and receiving the <i>chapel de fer</i> from the boy's hands, he placed it
+on his head, raised the visor till it rested against the crest, and
+rode slowly on towards the attendant of the chase, who, with all a
+sportsman's eagerness, was watching down the avenue attentively.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good morning, my friend,&quot; said the gentleman in French.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good afternoon, sir,&quot; answered the piqueur; for the vulgar are always
+very careful to be exact in their time of day. He did not look round,
+however, and the stranger went on to inquire if the King were not
+hunting in the forest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man now turned and eyed the questioner. His splendid arms showed
+he was a gentleman; and he was alone, so that no treason could be
+intended. &quot;Yes, sir,&quot; replied the piqueur; &quot;I expect him this way
+every minute. Do you want to see him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, not exactly,&quot; said the stranger. &quot;Some of the people told me the
+good Duke of Burgundy was with him; and, as it is he with whom I want
+to speak, if their report be true, it may save me a ride to Paris.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The good Duke is with the King,&quot; rejoined the man; &quot;but s'life I know
+not whether he will be so long: for fortune alters favour, they say,
+and times have changed of late--though it is no business of mine, and
+so I say nothing; but the Duke was ever a friend to the Commons, and
+to the citizens of Paris more than all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have they had good sport to-day?&quot; demanded Richard of Woodville; for
+doubtless the reader has already discovered one of the interlocutors
+in this dialogue. &quot;'Tis somewhat late in the year, is it not,
+piqueur?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay that it is, for sundry kinds of game,&quot; replied the man; &quot;but there
+are some not out, and others just coming in; and we are obliged to
+suit ourselves to the poor old King's health. He is free just now from
+his black sickness, and would have had a glorious day of it, had not
+Achille, the subveneur, who is always wrong, and always knows better
+than any one else, mistaken which way the <i>piste</i> lay. But hark! they
+are blowing the death: the beast has been killed, and not past this
+way, foul fall him. My dogs have not had breath to-day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then they will not come hither, I suppose?&quot; said Richard of
+Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, yes! 'tis a thousand chances to one they will,&quot; answered the man.
+&quot;If they force another beast, they must quit that ground, and cross
+the road to Senlis; and if they return with what they have got, they
+must take the Paris avenue, so that in either case they will come
+here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While he spoke, there was a vast howling of dogs, and blowing of horns
+at some distance; and Woodville, trusting to the piqueur's sagacity
+for the direction the Court would take, waited patiently till the
+sounds accompanying the <i>curée</i> were over, and then gazed down the
+avenue. In about ten minutes some horsemen began to appear in the
+road; and then a splendid party issued forth from one of the side
+alleys, followed by a confused crowd of men, horses, and dogs. They
+came forward at an easy pace, and Richard of Woodville inquired of his
+companion, which was the Duke of Burgundy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What, do you not know him?&quot; said the man, in some surprise. &quot;Well,
+keep back, and I will tell you when they are near.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Englishman, without reply, reined back his horse for a step
+or two, so as to take up a position beyond the projecting corner of
+the wood; and, while the piqueur continued gazing down the avenue,
+still holding his dogs in the leash, Woodville turned a hasty glance
+behind him, to see if he could discover anything of his page. The boy
+was nearer than he thought, but was wisely coming round the back of
+the savannah, where the turf was soft and somewhat moist, so that his
+approach escaped both the eyes and ears of the royal attendant, till,
+approaching his master's side, he said something which, though spoken
+in a low tone, made the man turn round. At the same moment, however,
+the first two horsemen passed out of the road into the open space; and
+immediately after, the principal party appeared.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At its head, a step before any of the rest, came a man, seemingly past
+the middle age, with grey hair and a noble presence, but with cheeks
+channelled and withered, more by sickness and care than years. His eye
+was peculiarly clear and fine, and not a trace was to be seen therein
+of that fatal malady which devoured more than one-half of his days.
+His aspect, indeed, was that of a person of high intellect; and though
+his shoulders were somewhat bowed, and his seat upon his horse not
+very firm, there were remains of the great beauty of form and dignity
+of carriage, which had distinguished the unhappy Charles in earlier
+days.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Close behind the King came a youth of eighteen or nineteen years of
+age, with a fine, but somewhat fierce and haughty countenance, a cheek
+colourless and bare, and a bright but haggard eye; and near him rode a
+somewhat younger lad, of a fresher and more healthy complexion, round
+whose lip there played ever and anon a gay and wanton smile. Almost on
+a line with these, were three or four gentlemen, one far advanced in
+years, and one very young; while the personage nearest the spot where
+Richard of Woodville sat, seemed still in the lusty prime of manhood,
+stout but not fat, broad in the shoulders, long in the limbs, though
+not much above the middle height. He was dressed in high boots, and
+long striped hose of blue and red, with a close-fitting pourpoint of
+blue, and a long mantle, with furred sleeves, hanging down to his
+stirrups. On his head he bore a cap of fine cloth, shaped somewhat
+like an Indian turban, with a large and splendid ruby in the front,
+and a feather drooping over his left ear. His carriage was princely
+and frank, his eye clear and steadfast, and about his lip there was a
+firm and resolute expression, which well suited the countenance of one
+who had acquired the name of John the Bold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If that be not the Duke of Burgundy,&quot; said Richard of Woodville, to
+the piqueur, in a low tone, as the party advanced, &quot;I am much
+mistaken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, yes,&quot; replied the man, nodding his head, &quot;that is he, God bless
+him!--and that is the Duke of Aquitaine, the King's son, just before
+him. Then there is the Duke of Bavaria on the other side----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young Englishman did not wait to hear enumerated the names of
+all the personages of the royal train, but, as soon as the King
+himself had passed, rode up at once to the Duke of Burgundy, who
+turned round and gazed at him with some surprise, while the young pale
+Duke of Aquitaine bent his brow, frowning upon him with an inquiring
+yet ill-satisfied look.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My lord the Duke,&quot; said Woodville, tendering the letter he had
+received from De Roucq, &quot;I bear you this from Flanders.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duke took it, and, without checking his horse, but merely throwing
+the bridle over his arm, opened the letter, and looked at the
+contents. &quot;Ha!&quot; he exclaimed, as he read--&quot;Ha! I thank you, sir;&quot; and,
+making a sign for Richard and his page to follow, he spurred on, and
+passed the two young Princes to the side of the King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This gentleman, Sire,&quot; he said, displaying the letter, &quot;brings me
+troublous tidings from my poor county of Flanders, which call for my
+immediate presence; and, therefore, though unwilling to leave you,
+royal sir, at a time when my enemies are strong in your capital and
+court, I must even take my leave in haste; but I will return with all
+convenient speed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The King had drawn his bridle, and, turning round, gazed from the Duke
+to Richard of Woodville, with a look of hesitation; but, after a
+moment's pause, he answered, with a cold and constrained air, &quot;Well,
+Duke of Burgundy, if it must be so, go. A fair journey to you,
+cousin;&quot; and without farther adieu, he gave a glance to his sons, and
+rode on.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duke of Burgundy bowed low, and held in his horse while the royal
+party passed on, exchanging no very placable looks with the young Duke
+of Aquitaine, his son-in-law, and giving a sign to four or five
+gentlemen who were following in the rear, but immediately fell out of
+the train, and ranged themselves around him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Who are you, sir?&quot; demanded the Prince, turning to Woodville, while
+the King and his court proceeded slowly towards a distant part of the
+savannah, and, by the movements of different gentlemen round the Duke
+of Aquitaine, there seemed to be some hurried consultation going on.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;An English gentleman, my lord, attached to the Count, your son,&quot;
+replied Woodville, without farther explanation; but seeing that a
+number of men completely armed, who followed the principal body of
+courtiers, had been beckoned up, he added, &quot;Methinks, fair sir, there
+is not much time to lose. Yonder is the way--I am not alone.&quot; Without
+reply, the Duke gave one quick glance towards the royal party, set
+spurs to his horse, and rode quickly along the road to which Woodville
+pointed. He had hardly quitted the savannah, and entered the long
+broad avenue, however, when the sound of a horse's feet at the full
+gallop came behind, and a voice exclaimed, &quot;My lord, my lord the Duke!
+the King has some words for your ear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a single cavalier who approached; but the quick ear of Richard
+of Woodville caught the sound of other horse following, though the
+angle of the wood cut off the view of the royal train.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith,&quot; answered the Duke, turning his head towards the
+messenger, but without stopping, &quot;they must be kept for another
+moment. My business will have no delay.&quot; But, even as he spoke, he
+caught sight of a number of men-at-arms following the first, and just
+entering the alley in a confused and scattered line.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But you must, my lord!&quot; exclaimed the gentleman who had just come up.
+&quot;I have orders to use force.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duke and his attendants laid their hands upon their swords; but
+Woodville raised his lance high above his head, and shook it in the
+air, shouting, &quot;Ho, there!--Ho! Ride on, my lord, ride on! I will stay
+them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, gold spurs for a good lance!&quot; cried the Duke of Burgundy; &quot;but I
+will not let you fight alone, my friend;&quot; and, wheeling his horse, he
+formed his little troop across the road.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ho, there! Ho!&quot; shouted Woodville again; and instantly he heard a
+horn answering from the wood. &quot;The first man is mine, my lord,&quot; he
+cried, setting his lance in the rest and drawing down his visor. &quot;Fall
+back upon our friends behind: you are unarmed!&quot; and, spurring on his
+charger at full speed, he passed the King's messenger, (who was only
+habited in the garments of the chase,) towards a man-at-arms, who was
+coming at full speed some fifty yards in advance of the party sent to
+arrest the Duke. His adversary instantly charged his lance likewise;
+no explanation was needed; and the two cavaliers met in full shock
+between the parties. The spear of the Frenchman struck right on
+Woodville's cuirass, and broke it into splinters; but the lance-head
+of the young Englishman caught his opponent on the gorget, and,
+without wavering in his seat, he bore him back over the croup to the
+ground. Then, wheeling rapidly, he galloped back to the Duke's side;
+while, at a brisk pace, but in perfect order, his band came up under
+the young Lord of Lens; and the English archers, springing to the
+ground, put their arrows to the strings and drew the bows to the ear,
+waiting for the signal to let fly the unerring shaft.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hold! hold!&quot; cried the Duke. &quot;Gallantly done, noble sir!--you have
+saved me; but let us not shed blood unnecessarily;&quot; and, casting his
+eye over Woodville's troop, he added, &quot;We outnumber them far; they
+will never dare attack us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, the men-at-arms of France paused in their advance, and
+some of the foremost, dismounting from their horses, raised the
+overthrown cavalier from the ground, and were seen unlacing his
+casque. At the same time, the gentleman who had first followed the
+Duke of Burgundy began quietly retreating towards his friends, and
+though the Duke called to him aloud to stop, showed no disposition to
+comply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Shall I bring him back, noble Duke?&quot; exclaimed the young Lord of
+Lens, eager to win some renown.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, ride after him, young sir,&quot; said John the Bold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Remember, he is unarmed,&quot; cried Richard of Woodville, seeing the
+youth couch his lance, and fearing that he might forget, in his
+enthusiasm, the usages of war.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are of a right chivalrous spirit, sir,&quot; said the Duke, turning to
+the young Englishman. &quot;Do you know, my Lord of Viefville, who is that
+gentleman, whom he unhorsed just now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The Count de Vaudemont, I think,&quot; replied the nobleman to whom he
+spoke. &quot;I saw him at the head of the men-at-arms in the forest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, yes, it is he,&quot; rejoined another. &quot;Did you not see the cross
+crosslets on his housings?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A good knight and stout cavalier as ever couched a lance,&quot; observed
+the Duke of Burgundy. &quot;The young kestrel has caught the hawk,&quot; he
+continued, as the Lord of Lens, riding up to him of whom he had been
+in pursuit, brought him back apparently unwillingly towards the
+Burgundian party.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah! my good Lord of Vertus,&quot; exclaimed John the Bold, &quot;you have gone
+back with half your message. Fie! never look white, man! We will not
+hurt you, though we have strong hands amongst us, as you have just
+seen. Offer my humble duty to the King, and tell him that I should at
+once have obeyed his royal mandate to return, but that my affairs are
+very urgent, and that I knew not how long I might be detained to hear
+his royal will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what am I to say to our lord?&quot; asked the Count de Vertus, &quot;for
+Monsieur de Vaudemont, his son's bosom friend, overthrown by your
+people, and well-nigh killed, I fear?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My daughter ought to be his son's bosom friend,&quot; replied the Duke,
+sharply, &quot;but she is not, it seems; and as to Monsieur de Vaudemont,
+perhaps you had better tell the King that he was riding too fast and
+had a fall: it will be more to his credit than if you say, that he met
+a squire of Burgundy in fair and even course, and was unhorsed like a
+clumsy page; and now, my Lord of Vertus, I give you the good time of
+day. You said something about force just now; but methinks you will
+forget it; and so will I.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, the Duke turned his horse and rode away down the avenue;
+the English archers sprang upon their steeds again; and Richard of
+Woodville, beckoning the young Lord of Lens to halt, caused his whole
+troop to file off before him, and then with his companion brought up
+the extreme rear. A number of the French men-at-arms followed at a
+respectful distance, till the party entered the village of Fleurines,
+in the forest; but there, having satisfied themselves that there was
+no greater body of the men of Burgundy in the neighbourhood--which
+might have rendered the King's journey back to Paris somewhat
+dangerous--they halted and retired.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duke had turned round to watch their proceedings more than once;
+nor did he take any farther notice of Richard of Woodville till the
+French party were gone. When they were no longer in sight, however, he
+called him to his side, and questioned him regarding himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do not remember you about my son, fair sir,&quot; he said, &quot;and I am not
+one to forget men who act as you have done to-day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have been in your territories, my Lord Duke, but a short time,&quot;
+replied Richard of Woodville. &quot;As I came seeking occasions of honour
+to the most chivalrous court in Europe, and as I was furnished with
+letters from my Sovereign to yourself, and to your son, vouching
+graciously for my faith, the Count was kindly pleased to give me a
+share in anything that was to be done to-day. Happening to be in the
+saddle this morning somewhat before the rest of the Lord of Roucq's
+troop, and my horses being somewhat fresher, the good old knight sent
+me on, thinking you might need aid before you reached the rendezvous
+you had given him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, he judged right,&quot; replied the Duke; &quot;and had I known as much,
+when I wrote to him, as I learned yesterday, I would have had him at
+the gates of Paris; for my escape at all has been a miracle. They only
+put off arresting me or stabbing me in my hotel till the King returned
+from this hunting, in order to guard against a rising of the citizens.
+Have you this letter from King Henry about you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My page has it in his wallet, noble Duke,&quot; replied the young
+Englishman. &quot;Will you please to see it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">John nodded his head, and, calling up the boy, Richard of Woodville
+took the letter from him, and placed it in the Prince's hands. The
+Duke opened and read it with a smile; then, turning to Woodville, he
+said, &quot;You justify the praises of your King, and his request shall be
+attended to by me, as in duty bound. Men look to him, sir, with eyes
+of expectation, and have a foresight of great deeds to come. His
+friendship is dear to me; and every one he is pleased to send shall
+have honour at my hands for his sake. Ah! there is Pont St. Maxence,
+and the bright Oise. De Roucq is, probably, there by this time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I doubt it not, my lord,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;he could
+not be far behind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Who is that youth,&quot; demanded the Duke, &quot;who seems your second in the
+band?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;One of your own vassals, noble sir,&quot; replied the English gentleman,
+&quot;full of honour and zeal for your service, who will some day make an
+excellent soldier. He is the young Lord of Lens.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah!&quot; said the Duke in a sorrowful tone, &quot;I have bad news for him. His
+uncle Charles is a prisoner in Paris, taken out of my very house
+before my eyes; and I doubt much they will do him to death. Break it
+to him calmly this evening, sir. But see! here are several of good old
+De Roucq's party looking out for us. Methinks he would not have heard
+bad tidings of his Duke without riding to rescue him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying he spurred on, meeting, ere he reached Pont St. Maxence,
+one or two small bodies of men-at-arms, who saluted him as he passed,
+shouting &quot;Burgundy! Burgundy!&quot; and fell in behind the band of Richard
+of Woodville. The single street of the small town was crowded with
+people; and before the doors of the two inns which the place then
+possessed was seen the company of the Lord of Roucq, with the men
+dismounted, feeding their horses, but all armed, and prepared to
+spring into the saddle at a moment's notice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The approach of the Duke was greeted by a loud shout of welcome--not
+alone from his own soldiers, but also from the people of the town; for
+in the northern and eastern provinces of France, as well as in the
+capital, John the Bold was the most popular prince of the time. De
+Roucq immediately advanced on foot to hold his stirrup, but his Lord
+grasped him by the hand and wrung it hard, saying, &quot;I am safe, you
+see, old friend--thanks to your care, and this young gentleman's
+conduct.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, I thought he would do well,&quot; replied the old soldier, &quot;for he is
+up in the morning early.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He has done well,&quot; said the Duke, dismounting; and, turning to
+Woodville, who had sprung from his horse, he said, &quot;You rightly
+deserve some honour at my hands. Though we have no spurs ready, I will
+dub you now; and we will arm you afterwards at Lille. Kneel down.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville bent his knee to the ground before the crowd that
+had gathered round; and, drawing his sword, the Duke of Burgundy
+addressed to him, as usual, a short speech on the duties of chivalry,
+concluding with the words--&quot;thus remember, that this honour is not
+alone a reward for deeds past, but an encouragement to deeds in
+future. It is a bond as well as a distinction, by which you are held
+to right the wronged--to defend the oppressed--to govern yourself
+discreetly--to serve your Sovereign Lord--and to be the friend and
+protector of women, children, and the weak and powerless. Let your
+lance be the first in the fight; let your purse be open to the poor
+and needy; let your shield be the shelter of the widow and orphan; and
+let your sword be ever drawn in the cause of your King, your country
+and your religion. In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George, I
+dub you knight. Be loyal, true, and valiant.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At each of the last words he struck him a light stroke with the blade
+of his sword upon the neck; and the crowd around, well pleased with
+every piece of representation, uttered a loud acclamation as the young
+knight rose; and the Duke took him in his arms, and embraced him
+warmly. Old De Roucq, and the noblemen who had accompanied John the
+Bold from the forest, grasped the young Englishman's hand one by one;
+and the Duke, turning to the Lord of Lens, added, with a gracious
+smile, &quot;I trust to do the same for you, young sir, ere long. In the
+meanwhile, that you may have occasion to win your chivalry, I name you
+one of my squires; and, by God's grace, you will not be long without
+something to do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The youth kissed his hand joyfully; and the Duke retired to the inn.
+Richard of Woodville paused for a moment to distribute some handfulls
+of money amongst the crowd, who were crying &quot;Largesse&quot; around, and
+then followed the old Lord of Roucq, to give him information of all
+that had taken place in the forest of Hallate, before they proceeded
+together to receive the farther orders of the Duke of Burgundy.<a name="div4Ref_08" href="#div4_08"><sup>[8]</sup></a></p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_27" href="#div1Ref_27">A SUMMARY.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">All was bustle and activity throughout Flanders and Burgundy after the
+return of John the Bold from Paris. Night and day messengers were
+crossing the country from one town to another, and every castle in the
+land saw gatherings of men-at-arms and archers; while, across the
+frontier from France, came multitudes of the discontented vassals of
+Charles VI., pouring in to offer either service or council to the
+great feudatory, who was now almost in open warfare, if not against
+his Sovereign, at least against the faction into whose hands that
+Sovereign (once more relapsed into imbecility) had fallen. If,
+however, the country in general was agitated, much more so was the
+city of Lille, where the Duke prolonged his residence for some weeks.
+There, day after day, councils were held in the castle; and day after
+day, not only from every part of the Duke's vast territories, but also
+from neighbouring states, came crowds of his friends and allies. The
+people of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres sent their deputies; the Duke of
+Brabant, the Bishop of Liege, the Count of Cleves, appeared in person;
+and even the Constable of France, Waleran, Count of St. Paul, took his
+seat at the table of the Duke of Burgundy, and refused boldly to give
+up his staff to the envoys sent from Paris to demand it. The cloud of
+war was evidently gathering thick and black; and foreign princes
+looked eagerly on to see how and when the struggle would commence; but
+the eyes of both contending parties were turned anxiously to one of
+the neighbouring sovereigns, who was destined to take a great part, as
+all foresaw, in the domestic feuds of France. To Henry of England both
+addressed themselves, and each strove hard not only to propitiate the
+monarch, but to gain the good will of the nation. All Englishmen,
+either in France or Burgundy, were courted and favoured by those high
+in place; and Richard of Woodville was now especially marked out for
+honour by both the Duke of Burgundy and the young Count of Charolois.
+The latter opened his frank and generous heart towards one, with whose
+whole demeanour he had been struck and pleased from the first; and
+that intimacy which grows up so rapidly in troublous times, easily
+ripened into friendship in the daily intercourse which took place
+between them. They were constant companions; and more than once, after
+nightfall, Richard was brought by the prince to his father's private
+cabinet, where consultations were held between them, not only on
+matters of war and military discipline--for which the young English
+knight had acquired a high reputation, on the report of the old Lord
+of Roucq--but also on subjects connected with the policy of the
+English Court, regarding which the Duke strove to gain some better
+information from the frank and sincere character of Woodville than he
+could obtain elsewhere. But, as we have shown, Richard of Woodville
+could be cautious as well as candid; and he replied guardedly to all
+open questions, that he knew naught of the views or intentions of his
+Sovereign; but that he was well aware Henry of England held in high
+esteem and love his princely cousin of Burgundy, and would never be
+found wanting, when required, to show him acts of friendship. Farther,
+he said, the Duke must apply to good Sir Philip de Morgan, a man well
+instructed, he believed, in all the King's purposes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Both the Count of Charolois and his father smiled at this answer, and
+turned a meaning look upon each other.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have shown me, Sir Richard,&quot; said the Duke, &quot;that you really do
+not know the King's mind on such subjects. Sir Philip de Morgan was
+his father's most trusted envoy; but is his own envoy not the most
+trusted? It is strange, your monarch's conduct in some things. He has
+added to his agents at our poor Court, a noble and wise man whom his
+father hated.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because, my most redoubted lord,&quot; replied the young knight, &quot;he
+judges differently, and is differently situated from his father. Henry
+IV. snatched the crown, as all men know, from a weak and vicious king,
+but found that those, who once had been his peers, were not willing to
+be his subjects. Though a mighty, wise, and politic prince, his life
+was a struggle, in which he might win victories indeed, and subdue
+enemies in the field, but he raised up new traitors in his own heart,
+new enemies within himself--I mean, my lord, jealousies and
+animosities. Our present King comes to the throne by succession; and
+his father has left him a crown divested of half its thorns. His
+nurture has been different too: never having suffered oppression, he
+has nothing to retaliate; never having struggled with foes, he has no
+fear of enmity. People say in my land, that one man builds a house and
+another dwells in it. So is it with every one who wins a throne; he
+has to raise and strengthen the fabric of his power, only to leave the
+perfect structure to another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duke leaned his head upon his hand, and thought profoundly.
+Ambitious visions, often roused by the very name of Henry IV., were
+reproved by the moral of his life; and though John the Bold might not
+part with them, he turned his thoughts to other channels, and strove
+to learn from Richard of Woodville the character and disposition of
+the English sovereign, if not his intentions and designs. On those
+points, the young knight was more open and unreserved. He painted the
+monarch as he really was, laughed when the Prince spoke of his
+youthful wildness, and said, &quot;It was but a masking face, noble Duke,
+put on for sport, and, like a mummer's vizard, laid aside the moment
+it suited him to resume himself again. Those who judge the King from
+such traits as these will find themselves wofully deceived;&quot; and he
+went on to paint Henry's energies of mind in terms which--though the
+Duke might attribute part of the praise to young enthusiasm--still
+left a very altered impression on the hearer's mind in regard to the
+real character of the English King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I have said that these interviews took place more than once, and also
+that they generally took place in private; for the Duke did not wish
+to excite any jealousy in his Burgundian subjects; but, on more than
+one occasion, several of the foreign noblemen who had flocked to the
+Court of Lille were present, and between the Count of St. Paul and
+Woodville some intimacy speedily sprung up. The Count, irritated by
+what he thought injustice, revolved many schemes of daring resistance
+to the Court of France. He thought of raising men, and, as the ally of
+Burgundy, opposing in arms the Armagnac faction and the Dauphin; he
+thought of visiting England, and treating on his own part with Henry
+V.; and from the young English knight he strove to gain both
+information and assistance. There was in that distinguished nobleman
+many qualities which commanded esteem, and Woodville willingly gave
+him what advice he could; and yet he tried to dissuade him from being
+the first to raise the standard of revolt, pointing out that, although
+the state of mind of the King of France, and the absence of all legal
+authority in those who ruled, might justify a Prince so nearly allied
+to the royal family as the Duke of Burgundy, in struggling for a share
+of that power which he saw misused, especially as he was a sovereign
+Prince, though feudatory for some of his territories to the crown of
+France, yet an inferior person could hardly take arms on his own
+account without incurring a charge of treason, which might fall
+heavily on his head if the Duke found cause ultimately to abstain from
+war.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count listened to his reasons, and seemed to ponder upon them; and
+though no one loves to be persuaded from the course to which passion
+prompts, he was sufficiently experienced to think well of one who
+would give such advice, however unpalatable at the moment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus passed nearly a month from the day on which the young Englishman
+quitted Ghent; and so changeful and uncertain were the events of the
+time, that he would not venture to absent himself from the Court of
+Burgundy even for an hour, lest he should miss the opportunity of
+winning advancement and renown. In that time, however, he had gained
+much. He was no longer a stranger. The ways and habits of the Court
+were familiar to him; he was the companion of all, and the friend of
+many, who, on his first appearance, had looked upon him with an evil
+eye; and many an occurrence, trifling compared with the great
+interests that were moving round, but important to himself, had taken
+place in the young knight's history. The ceremony of being armed a
+knight was duly performed, the Duke fulfilling his promise on the
+first occasion, and completing that which had been but begun at Pont
+St. Maxence. Yet this very act, gratifying as it was to one eager of
+honour, was not without producing some anxiety in the mind of the
+young Englishman. Such events were accompanied with much pageantry,
+and followed by considerable expense. Hitherto, all his charges had
+been borne by himself, and he saw his stock of wealth decreasing far
+more rapidly than he had expected. Though apartments had been assigned
+to him in the Graevensteen at Ghent, none had been furnished him in
+the castle of Lille; and no mention was made of reimbursing him for
+anything he had paid.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One day, however, early in June, he was called to the presence of the
+Duke, and found him just coming from a conference with the deputies of
+the good towns of Flanders. The Prince's face was gay and smiling; and
+as he passed along the gallery towards his private apartments, he
+exclaimed, turning towards some of his counsellors, &quot;Let no one say I
+have not good and generous subjects. Ha! Sir Richard,&quot; he continued,
+as his eye fell upon the young Englishman, &quot;go to the chamber of my
+son--he has something to tell you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville hastened to obey; but the Count de Charolois was
+not in his apartment when he arrived, and some minutes elapsed before
+the young Prince appeared. When he came at length, however, he was
+followed by three or four of his men bearing some large bags,
+apparently of money, which were laid down upon the table in the
+anteroom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Get you gone, boys,&quot; said the Count, turning to his pages; &quot;and you,
+Godfrey, see that all be ready by the hour of noon. Now, my friend,&quot;
+he continued, as soon as the room was clear, &quot;I have news for you,
+and, I trust, pleasant news too. First, I am for Ghent, and you may
+accompany me, if you will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Right gladly, my lord the Count,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;for,
+to say truth, almost all my baggage is still there, and I have
+scarcely any clothing in which to appear decently at your father's
+court. I have other matters, too, that I would fain see to in Ghent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Some fair lady, now, I will warrant,&quot; replied the Count, laughing; &quot;I
+have marked the ruby ring in your basinet; but, faith, we have more
+serious matters in hand than either fine clothes or fair ladies. I go
+to raise men, sir knight, and you have a commission to do so likewise.
+My father would fain have you swell your company to fifty archers,
+taught and disciplined by your own men. The more Englishmen you can
+get the better, for it seems that you are famous for the bow in your
+land; but our worthy citizens of Bruges are not unskilful either.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith, my lord,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, &quot;I know not well
+how to obey the noble Duke's behest; for my riches are but scanty, and
+'tis as much as I can do to maintain my band as it is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha! are you there, my friend?&quot; said the young Prince, with a smile.
+&quot;Well, you have borne long and patiently with our poverty; but the
+good towns have come to our assistance now, and we will acquit our
+debt. One of these bags is for you, and you will find it contains
+wherewithal to pay you what you have spent, to reward your archers
+according to the rate of England, which is, I believe, six sterlings
+a day, for the month past--to pay them for three months to come, and
+to raise your band, as I have said, to fifty men. You will find
+therein one thousand <i>fleurs-de-lys</i> of gold, or, as we call them,
+<i>franc-à-pieds</i>, each of which is worth about forty of your
+sterlings.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then there is much more than is needful, my good lord,&quot; replied the
+young knight. &quot;One-half of that sum would suffice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Exactly,&quot; replied the Count; &quot;but no one serves well the House of
+Burgundy without guerdon, my good friend. My father knighted you
+because you had done well in arms, both in England and in his
+presence; but knighthood is too high and sacred a thing to be made a
+reward for any personal benefit rendered to a prince. My father would
+think that he degraded that high order, if he conferred it even for
+saving him from death or captivity, as you were enabled to do. For
+that good deed therefore he gives you the rest; and I do trust that
+ere long you will have the means of winning more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville expressed his thanks, though, with the ordinary
+chivalrous affectation of the day, he denied all merit in what he had
+done, and made as little of it as possible. There was one difficulty
+in regard to increasing his band, however, which he had to explain to
+the young Count, and which arose from the promise he had given his own
+Sovereign, of holding himself ready to join him at the first summons.
+But that was speedily obviated, it being agreed that in case of his
+services being demanded by King Henry, he should be at liberty to
+retire with the yeomen who then accompanied him, and that the rest of
+the troop about to be raised, should, in that case, be placed under
+the command of any officer the Duke might appoint.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As was then customary, a clerk was called in, and an indenture drawn
+up, specifying the terms on which the young knight was to serve in the
+Burgundian force, the number of the men-at-arms and archers which he
+was to bring into the field, the pay they were to receive, the arms
+and horses with which they were to appear, and even the Burgundian
+cloaks, or huques, which they were to wear. A copy was taken and
+signed by each party; and fortunate it was for Richard of Woodville,
+that the young Count suggested this precaution. The usual clauses
+regarding prisoners were added, reserving the persons of kings and
+princes of the blood from those whom the young knight might put to
+ransom as his lawful captives; but the Count specifically renounced
+his right to the third of the winnings of the war, which was not
+unusually reserved to the great leader with whom any knight or squire
+took service.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All these points being settled, Richard of Woodville hurried back to
+the inn, called the Shield of Burgundy, where he and his men were
+lodged, and prepared to accompany the Count to Ghent. When he returned
+to the castle, with his men mounted and armed, he found the court-yard
+full of knights, nobles, and soldiery, all ready to set out at the
+appointed hour; and for a time he fancied that the young Prince might
+be going to Ghent with a larger force than the good citizens, jealous
+of their privileges, would be very willing to receive; but, as soon as
+the trumpet sounded, and the whole force marched out over the
+drawbridge into the streets of Lille, the seven or eight hundred men,
+of which the party consisted, separated into different bands, and each
+took its own road. One pursued its way towards Amiens, another towards
+Tournay, another towards Cassel, another towards Bethune, another
+towards Douay; and the Count and his train, reduced to about a hundred
+men, rode on in the direction of Ghent, which city they reached about
+four o'clock upon the following day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Except the Lord of Croy, between whom and the young Englishman a good
+deal of intimacy had arisen, the Count de Charolois was accompanied by
+no other gentleman of knightly rank but Richard of Woodville; and, as
+that high military station placed him who filled it on a rank with
+princes, those two gentlemen were the young Count's principal
+companions on the road to Ghent, and received from him a fuller
+intimation of his father's designs and purposes than had been
+communicated to them before they quitted Lille. All seemed smiling on
+the fortunes of Richard of Woodville; the path to wealth and renown
+was open before him, and he might be pardoned for giving way to all
+the bright visions and glowing expectations of youth.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_28" href="#div1Ref_28">THE FRIEND ESTRANGED.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Trumpet and timbrel were sounding in the streets of Ghent; the people,
+in holiday costume, were thronging bridge and market-place; the
+procession of the trades was once more afoot, with banners displayed;
+the clergy were hurrying here and there with cross and staff, and all
+the ensigns of the Romish Church. It was a high holiday; for the young
+Count had given notice, immediately on his arrival, that he would be
+ready an hour before compline, which may be considered about six
+o'clock in the evening, to receive the honourable corps of the good
+town, in order to return them thanks, in the name of his father, for
+the liberal aid they had granted him in a time of need; and flushed
+with loyalty to their Prince--well, I wot, a somewhat unusual
+occurrence--and with a full sense of their own meritorious sacrifices,
+each man pressed eagerly to be one of the deputies who were to wait
+upon the Count; and, if that might not be, to go, at least, as far as
+the palace gates with those who were to be admitted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All the nobles who had accompanied the Count from Lille were present
+in the great hall of the Cours des Princes, where the reception was to
+take place, except, indeed, Richard of Woodville. He, soon after he
+had arrived, had begged the Count's excuse for absenting himself from
+his train; and, hurrying to the inn where he had left Ned Dyram, with
+his horses and baggage, he dismounted from his charger, and cast off
+his armour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To his inquiries for his servant, the host replied, that he had not
+been there since the morning, and, indeed, seldom appeared there all
+day; but Woodville seemed to pay little attention to this answer; and,
+merely washing the dust from his face and neck, set out at a hurried
+pace on foot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He thought that he knew the way to the place which he intended to
+visit well, though he had only followed it once; and passing on, he
+was soon out of the stream of people that was still flowing on towards
+the palace. But he found himself mistaken in regard to his powers of
+memory; long tortuous streets, totally deserted for the time, lay
+around him; tall houses, principally built of wood, rose on every
+side, throwing fantastic shadows across the broad sunshine afforded by
+the sinking sun; and when he at length stopped a workman to ask his
+way, the man spoke nothing but Flemish, and all that Woodville had
+acquired of that tongue was insufficient to make the artisan
+comprehend what was meant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Leaving him, the young knight walked on, guided by what he remembered
+of the direction in which the house of Sir John Grey lay; for it is
+hardly needful to tell the reader that thither his steps were bent,
+when suddenly a cavalcade of some five or six horsemen appeared,
+coming at a slow pace up the street; and the tall graceful figure of a
+man somewhat past the middle age, but evidently of distinguished rank,
+was seen at their head. The garb was changed; the whole look and
+demeanour was different; but even before he could see the features,
+Richard of Woodville recognised the very man he was seeking, and,
+hurrying on to meet him, he advanced to his horse's side.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey gazed on him coldly, however, as if he had never seen
+him before; and Woodville felt somewhat surprised and mortified, not
+well knowing whether the old knight's memory were really so much
+shorter than his own, or whether fortune, with Mary's father, had
+possessed the power it has over so many, to change the aspect of the
+things around, and blot out the love and gratitude of former days, as
+things unworthy of remembrance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Do you not know me, Sir John Grey?&quot; he asked: &quot;if so, let me recal to
+your good remembrance Richard of Woodville, who brought you tidings
+from the King, and also some news of your sweet daughter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know you well, sir,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;would I knew less. I hear
+you have acquired honour and renown in arms. God give you grace to
+merit more. I must ride on, I fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His manner was cold and distant, his brow grave and stern; but
+Woodville was not one to bear such a change altogether calmly, though,
+for his sweet Mary's sake, he laid a strong constraint upon himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not, Sir John Grey,&quot; he said, &quot;what has produced so strange a
+change in one, whom I had thought steadfast and firm: whether calmer
+thought and higher fortunes than those in which I first found you, may
+have engendered loftier views, or re-awakened slumbering ambition, so
+that you regret some words you spoke in the first liberal joy of
+renewed prosperity; but----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Cease, sir, cease!&quot; exclaimed the old knight. &quot;I should indeed
+regret those words, could they be binding in a case like this.
+Steadfast and firm I am, and you will find me so; but not loftier
+views or re-awakened ambition has made the change, but better
+knowledge of a man I trusted on a fair seeming. But these things are
+not to be discussed here in the open street, before servants and
+horseboys. You know your own heart--you know your own actions; and if
+they do not make you shrink from discussing what may be between you
+and me--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Shrink!&quot; cried Richard of Woodville, vehemently; &quot;Why should I
+shrink? shrink from discussing aught that I have done. No, by my
+knighthood! not before all the world, varlets or horseboys, princes or
+peers: I care not who hears my every action blazoned to the day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But I do, sir,&quot; replied Sir John Grey; &quot;for the sake of those dear to
+us both--for your good uncle's sake, and for my child's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are compassionate, Sir John!&quot; said Woodville, bitterly; but then
+he added, &quot;yet, no; you are deceived. I know not how, or by whom, but
+there is some error, that is very clear. This I must crave leave to
+say, that I am fearless of the judgment of mortal man on aught that I
+have done. Sins have we all to God; but I defy the world to say that I
+have failed in honour to one man on earth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;According to that worldly code of honour we once spoke of, perhaps
+not,&quot; replied Sir John Grey.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;According to what fastidious code you will,&quot; said the young knight.
+&quot;I stand here willing, Sir John Grey, to have each word or deed sifted
+like wheat before a cottage door. I know not your charge, or who it is
+that brings it; but I will disprove it, whatever it be, when it is
+clearly stated, and will cram his falsehood down his throat whenever I
+know his name who makes it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha, sir! Is it of me you speak?&quot; demanded the knight, somewhat
+sharply.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, Sir John,&quot; replied Woodville, &quot;you are to be the judge; for
+you,&quot; he added, with a sorrowful smile, &quot;hold the high prize. But it
+is of him who has foully calumniated me to you; for that some one has
+done so I can clearly see; and I would know the charge and the
+accuser--here, now, on this spot--for I am not one to rest under
+suspicion, even for an hour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You speak boldly, Sir Richard of Woodville,&quot; answered Sir John Grey,
+&quot;and, doubtless, think that you are right, though I may not; for I am
+one who have long lived in solitude, pondering men's deeds, and
+weighing them in a nicer balance than the world is wont to use.
+However, as I said before, this is no place to discuss such things;
+but as it is right and just that each man should have occasion to
+defend himself, I will meet you where you will, and when, to tell you
+what men lay to your charge. If you can then deny it, and disprove it,
+well. I will not speak more here. See! some one seeks your attention.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Whatever it is that any man on earth accuses me of,&quot; replied the
+young knight, without attending to Sir John Grey's last words, &quot;I am
+ready ever to meet boldly, for my heart is free. As you will not give
+me this relief I ask even now, it cannot be too soon. I will either go
+with you at once to your own house--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, that must not be,&quot; cried the other, hastily.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Or else,&quot; continued Woodville, &quot;I will meet you two hours hence, in
+the hostel called the Garland, on the market place. What would you,
+knave?&quot; he added, turning suddenly upon some one who had more than
+once pulled his sleeve from behind, and beholding Ned Dyram.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I would speak with you instantly, sir knight,&quot; replied Dyram, &quot;on a
+matter of life and death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Shall it be so, sir?&quot; Richard of Woodville continued, looking again
+to Sir John Grey, who repeated, thoughtfully, &quot;In two hours--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sir, will you listen to me?&quot; exclaimed Dyram, in great agitation.
+&quot;Indeed you must. There is not a moment to lose. I tell you it will
+bear no delay. If you would save her life, you must come at once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Her life!&quot; cried Woodville, in great surprise. &quot;Whose life? Of whom
+do you speak, man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Of whom? of Ella Brune, to be sure,&quot; replied Dyram. &quot;If you stay
+talking longer, you leave her to death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey, with a bitter smile, shook his bridle, and, striking
+his heel against his horse's flank, rode on.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_29" href="#div1Ref_29">THE BETRAYER.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The writer must retread his steps for a while, to show the events
+which had taken place in the city of Ghent since Ned Dyram and Sir
+Simeon of Roydon were last seen upon the stage. Whether the reader may
+think fit to do so or not must depend upon himself. All that the
+author can promise is, that he will be brief, and merely sketch the
+conduct of the personages left behind till he brings them up with the
+rest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The arrival of Sir Simeon of Roydon in Ghent spread the same terror
+through the heart of poor Ella Brune that the appearance of a hawk
+produces in one of the feathered songsters of the bush or clouds. Had
+Richard of Woodville been there, she would have felt no apprehension;
+for to him she had accustomed herself to look for protection and
+support, with that relying confidence, that trust in his power, his
+wisdom, and his goodness, which perhaps ought never to be placed in
+man, and which is never so placed but by a heart where love is
+present. Had she been even in London, her terror would have been less;
+for even in those days--although they were dark and barbarous,
+although tumult and riot, civil strife and contention, injustice
+and wrong would, as we all know, take place in every different
+country--the peculiar character of the English people, the homely
+sense of justice and of right, which has been their chief
+characteristic in all ages, was sufficiently strong to render this
+island comparatively a land of security. Though there might be persons
+to oppress and injure, yet there were generally found some kind hearts
+and generous spirits to support and protect; and in short, there were
+more defences for those who needed defence than in any state in
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Very different, however, was the case in Ghent, especially for a
+stranger; and Ella Brune well knew that it was so. She was aware that
+deeds could be done there boldly and openly, which in England would
+require cunning concealment and artful device, even for a chance of
+success; and the consequence was, that she kept herself immured within
+the walls of her cousin's dwelling, never venturing forth, even to
+breathe the air, but at night, and striving to make her companionship
+during the day prove as pleasant as possible to the worthy dame of
+Nicholas Brune. To her and to him she communicated the cause of her
+apprehensions; and it is but justice to the good folks to say, that
+they entered warmly into her feelings, and did all that they could to
+mitigate her alarm and give her encouragement. But Ella Brune, in
+answer to all assurances of safety, constantly replied, that she
+should never feel secure till Richard of Woodville had returned; and,
+as it was already beyond the period at which he had promised to be
+back, she looked for his appearance every day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From such subjects sprang many a discussion between her and her good
+cousin, as to her future conduct. &quot;Why, you know, my pretty Ella,&quot; he
+would say, &quot;you could not go wandering after this gay young gentleman,
+over all the world; mischief would come of it, be you sure. Men are
+not to be trusted, nor pretty maidens either. We have all our weak
+moments; and if no harm happen to you, your fair fame would suffer.
+Men would call you his leman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, that is what I fear,&quot; answered Ella Brune, &quot;and that only; for
+though most men are not to be trusted, he is. But at all events,&quot; she
+continued, willing gently to remove all objections to the plan she was
+determined to pursue, &quot;he might carry me safely with him to Burgundy,
+or to Liege, as he brought me here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nicholas Brune shook his head; and Ella said no more at that time; but
+gradually she put forward the notion of obviating all difficulties and
+objections, by assuming some disguise; and on that her good cousin
+pondered, thinking it a more feasible plan than any other, yet seeing
+many difficulties.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As what could you go?&quot; he said. &quot;If at all, it must be in male guise;
+and though you would make a pretty boy enough, I doubt me they would
+find you out, fair Ella.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why not as a novice of the Black Friars?&quot; demanded Madam Brune, who
+entered into the maiden's schemes more warmly and enthusiastically
+than her prudent husband; &quot;then she would have robes longer than her
+own, to cover her little hands and feet, and a hood to shade her head.
+There is no punishment either for taking the gown of a novice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then, as this man Dyram must be in the secret,&quot; added Ella Brune, &quot;he
+could give me help and protection in case of need.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, ha! are you there?&quot; cried Nicholas, laughing. But Ella shook her
+head, no way abashed, replying, &quot;you are mistaken, cousin of mine; but
+perhaps you have so much respect for these holy men, the monks, that
+you would object to a profane girl, like me, taking their garb upon
+her?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Out upon them, the lazy drones,&quot; cried Nicholas Brune; &quot;you may make
+what sport of them you like for that. I would put them all to hard
+labour on the dykes, if I had my will;&quot; and he burst forth into a long
+vituperation of all the monastic orders, in terms somewhat too gross
+for modern ears, not even sparing the Holy Roman Catholic Church; but
+ending with another wise shake of the head, and an expression of his
+firm belief, that the scheme would not do.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nevertheless, Ella Brune and his good dame were now perfectly agreed
+upon the subject, and worked together zealously, preparing all that
+was needful for Ella's disguise, while Ned Dyram brought them daily
+information of the proceedings of Sir Simeon of Roydon, and made them
+smile to hear how he had deceived the knight into the belief that Ella
+was far away from Ghent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But if he should discover the truth,&quot; said Ella Brune, really anxious
+that no one should suffer on her account, &quot;may he not revenge himself
+on you, if you give him the opportunity by going every day and working
+in gold and silver under his eyes? I beseech you, Master Dyram, run no
+risk on my account. I would rather endure insult or injury myself,
+than that you should incur danger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ned Dyram's heart beat quick, though Ella said no more to him than she
+would have said to any one in the same circumstances; but he shook his
+head with a triumphant air, replying, &quot;He dare not wag his finger
+against me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He added no more, but turned to the subject of Ella's disguise, having
+before this been made acquainted with her project, and being,
+moreover, eager to second it; for the prospect of having to leave her
+behind in Ghent, if his young master should be called upon some more
+distant expedition, had often crossed his mind, producing very
+unpleasant sensations. Day after day, however, he visited Simeon of
+Roydon, and generally found him alone. Plenty of work was provided for
+him; and the payment was prompt and large. Now it was an ornamented
+bridle that he had to produce, encrusted all over with fanciful work
+of silver--now a testière or a poitral arabesqued with lines of gold.
+Sometimes he compounded perfumes or essences, sometimes he illuminated
+a book of canticles, which the knight intended to present to the
+monastery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One morning, however, going somewhat earlier than was his wont, he met
+the monk, brother Paul, coming down the stairs from the knight's
+apartments. The cenobite gave him a grim smile, but merely added his
+benedicite and passed on. Ned Dyram paused and mused before he
+entered. More than once he had asked himself, what it was that
+detained Sir Simeon of Roydon so long in Ghent. The Court was
+absent--there was little to see, and less to gain; and the visit of
+father Paul gave him fresh matter for reflection. But Ned Dyram was
+one who, judging by slight indications, always prepared himself
+against probable results; and he now divined that the discovery of the
+truth in regard to Ella might not be far off.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He found no change in Simeon of Roydon when he entered, and the
+morning passed away as usual; but on the following day the knight
+received him with a smile so mixed in its expression that Dyram felt
+the hilt of his anelace, and returned him his look with one as
+doubtful.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Shut the door, Master Dyram,&quot; said Sir Simeon of Roydon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man obeyed without the least hesitation; and the knight proceeded,
+&quot;Think you, fellow, that it is wise and worthy to cheat and to
+deceive?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;On proper occasions, and with proper men,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, calmly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, you do?&quot; cried the knight, with his brow bent; &quot;Then let me tell
+you that you will deceive me no more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That depends upon circumstances and opportunity,&quot; answered Ned Dyram,
+with the same imperturbable effrontery as before. &quot;I dare say you will
+not give me the means, if you can help it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What, if I take from you the opportunity of cheating any one again?&quot;
+exclaimed Sir Simeon of Roydon. &quot;What if, as you well deserve, I call
+up my men, and bid them dispose of you as they know how?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You will not do that,&quot; replied Dyram, without a shade of emotion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why should I not?&quot; demanded the knight, fiercely. &quot;What should stop
+me? Out of these walls no secrets are likely to pass. Why should I
+not, I say?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because,&quot; said Dyram, in a cool conversation tone, &quot;there is a
+certain bridge in this city, over the river Lys, where you may have
+seen, as you pass along, a foolish figure cast in bronze, of two men,
+one going to cut off the other's head apparently. They represent a son
+who offered to execute his father, when, as old legends say--but I do
+not believe them--the sword flew to splinters in the parricide's hand.
+However, that has not much to do with the matter, as I see you
+perceive; but the fact is, that bridge is called the Bridge of the
+Decapitation--not, as many men fancy, on account of those two statues,
+but because it is there the citizens of this good town have a pious
+custom of putting to death knights and nobles, who have had the
+misfortune to become murderers. Now you must not suppose me so slow
+witted a man as to come to visit Sir Simeon of Roydon under such
+peculiar circumstances, without letting those persons know where I am,
+who may inquire after me if I do not reappear. I am always ready for
+such cases, noble knight, and to say truth, care little when I go out
+of the world, so that I have a companion by the way; and that, in this
+instance, at least, I have secured. 'Tis therefore, I say, you will
+abandon such vain thoughts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Simeon of Roydon gazed at him for a moment, with the expression of
+a fiend; but suddenly his countenance changed, and he fell into deep
+thought.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What strifes there are in that eternal battle-field, the human heart!
+What strifes have there not been therein, since the first fell passion
+entered into man's breast with the words of the serpent tempter--ay,
+with the words of the tempter; for man had fallen before he ate! But
+perhaps there is none more frequent, than the struggle between passion
+and policy in the bosom of the vehement and wily,--none more terrible
+either; for whichever gains the ascendancy, ruins the country round.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was something in Dyram's demeanour that suited well with the
+character of him to whom he spoke. Opposed to him, it first excited
+wrath; but yet a voice whispered that such a man might be made most
+useful to his purposes, if he could but be won; and as the knight's
+anger abated, the question became, how could he be gained? In regard
+to Ella Brune, Roydon was aware of much that had taken place, but not
+of all; otherwise his course would have been soon decided. By this
+time he had learned that Ella had journeyed from England in the train
+of Richard of Woodville; he knew that Dyram had stayed behind--not
+dismissed by his master as the man had insinuated, but left in charge
+of his baggage; and Simeon of Roydon suspected, judging of others by
+himself, that he had been left in charge of Ella, also, by her
+paramour. But of Dyram's love for her he had no hint, though there
+might have arisen in his mind a vague surmise that such attachment did
+exist, from the fact which brother Paul had discovered and
+communicated, that Dyram visited her once at least each day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That surmise, however, was enough to guide him some way, and after
+pausing and pondering, till silence became unpleasant, he said,
+&quot;Perhaps, my good friend, you may be mistaken in what you fancy. No
+fears of the results you speak of would stay me, were I so minded.
+Those who have good friends dread no foes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is what I say, sir,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, in the same tone; &quot;I
+have no apprehensions, because I know there are those who will take
+care of me, or avenge me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You need have none,&quot; answered Sir Simeon of Roydon; &quot;but not for that
+cause. There are other regards that would restrain me. You have
+deceived me, it is true; but you can deceive me no more; and now that
+I know your motives and your conduct, I think that our ends may not be
+quite so different as you imagine, and as I too imagined at first.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed!&quot; said Ned Dyram, with a sarcastic smile. &quot;I know not what
+your ends are, or what you think you know. Knowledge is a strange
+thing, noble knight, and those who fancy they know much, often know
+little.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;True, learned master,&quot; answered Simeon of Roydon; &quot;but you shall hear
+what I know--I wish not to conceal it. Your young lord brought this
+fair girl to Ghent; then, being called to serve the Duke of Burgundy,
+left his sweet leman--&quot; he paused upon the word, and saw his
+companion's visage glow; but Dyram said nothing, and the knight went
+on; &quot;--left his sweet leman, with his other baggage, under your
+careful guard. She lives now in the house of one Nicholas Brune; and
+you see her daily. You love her; and, fancying that I seek her par
+amours, would fain hide from me where she is. That you see is vain;
+and I will show you, too, that what you suppose of me is false. I care
+not for the girl; though perchance I may have thought, in former days,
+to trifle with her for an hour. But I will tell you more, Dyram: I
+love not your lord, and I believe that you have no great kindness for
+him either. Is it not so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;All wrong together, puissant knight,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, with a
+laugh. &quot;She is no leman of Richard of Woodville--Sir Richard, by the
+mass! for I have heard to-day he has been made a knight. Nay, more; he
+cares no farther for her, than as a boy, who has saved a bird from
+hawk or raven, loves to nourish and fondle it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That may be,&quot; answered Sir Simeon, who had now regained all his
+coolness; &quot;you know more than myself of his doings; but of one thing
+we are both certain, she loves him; and it would need but his humour
+to make her his. Of that I have had proof enough before I crossed the
+sea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ned Dyram winced; but he replied boldly, &quot;Because she looked coldly
+upon you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, not so,&quot; said the knight; &quot;but on account of signs and tokens
+not to be mistaken. However, if as you think he loves her not, my
+scheme falls to the ground.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And what was that, if I may dare to ask?&quot; demanded Ned Dyram.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I heed not who knows it,&quot; replied Roydon, at once. &quot;I seek revenge,
+and thought to accomplish it by taking this girl from him. As to what
+is to follow, I care not. I never seek to see her more; would wed her
+to a hind, or any one. But if you judge rightly, and he loves her not,
+I am frustrated in this, and must seek other means.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was a pause of several minutes; and both thought, or seemed to
+think, deeply. With Dyram it was really so; though the more shrewd and
+wise of the two, he had suffered the words of Roydon to fall upon the
+dangerous weaknesses of his bosom, like a spark into some inflammable
+mass; and doubt, suspicion, jealousy, were all in a blaze within. Yet
+he had sufficient power over himself to hide his feelings skilfully,
+and sought, neither admitting nor denying aught farther, to lead on
+the knight to speak of his purposes more plainly. But Simeon of Roydon
+saw there was a struggle, and that was sufficient for his purpose
+without discovering clearly what it was. He did speak more plainly
+then, and by many an artful suggestion, and many a promise, sought to
+lure Dyram on to aid in separating Ella Brune from him who could
+protect her; concealing carefully that it was on her his thirst of
+revenge longed to sate itself, though Richard of Woodville was not
+forgotten either; and before they parted, he thought that he had
+nearly won him to his wishes. The man did, indeed, hesitate; but the
+sparks of better feeling, which I have before said he possessed,
+burned up ere their conversation ended; and a doubt which, even in the
+midst of passion will rise up in the minds of the cunning and
+deceitful, that there may ever be a knavish purpose in others, made
+him desire to see his way more clearly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All that the knight could gain was a promise that he would consider of
+his hints; and Dyram left him, with the resolution to draw from Ella
+Brune, by any means, a knowledge of her true feelings towards his
+master, and to watch every movement of Simeon of Roydon with a care
+that should let not the veriest trifle escape.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the first object he was frustrated, as before; for the cold despair
+of Ella's love, its utter unselfishness, its high and lofty nature,
+was a veil to her heart which the eyes of one so full of human passion
+as himself could by no art penetrate. But, in his second, he was more
+successful--with the cunning of a serpent, with the perseverance of a
+ferret, he examined, he watched, he pursued his purpose. He had
+already wound himself into the confidence of several of the knight's
+servants; and he now took every means to gain some hold upon them,
+which was not indeed difficult, from the character of the men whom
+Roydon had chosen. Neither did he altogether cease his visits to their
+master, but, for many days, kept him negotiating as to the price of
+his services; and, although he could not exactly divine the end that
+the other proposed to himself, he learned enough to show him that
+Roydon was sincere, when he assured him that no love for Ella
+influenced him in seeking to remove her from the protection of Richard
+of Woodville. He then admitted that he loved her himself, in order to
+see what the knight would propose; and was not a little surprised to
+find how eagerly Roydon grasped at the fact, as a means to his own
+ends.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then she may be yours at a word,&quot; exclaimed Roydon, grasping his
+hand as if he had been an equal; &quot;but aid me boldly and skilfully in
+what I seek, and she shall be placed entirely in your hands--at your
+mercy--to do with her as you will. Then, if you use not your advantage
+like a wise and resolute man, it is your own fault.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dyram mused: the prospect tempted him: the strong passions of his
+nature rose up, and urged him on; he could not resist them; but still,
+cunning and cautious, he resolved to make his own position sure, and
+he replied, &quot;I must first know your motive, noble knight. Men are not
+so eager without some object. What is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Revenge!&quot; replied Sir Simeon of Roydon, vehemently, and he said
+truly; but then he added more calmly the next moment, &quot;I am still
+unconvinced by what you have said, in regard to the feelings of your
+master. Though he may seek a higher lady as his wife--and, indeed, I
+know he does--yet he loves this girl, and will seek her par amours as
+soon as he has made sufficient way with her; for I persist not in
+saying that she is his leman. I have been acquainted with him longer
+than you have--since his boyhood; and he cannot hide himself from me
+as from others. At all events, that is my affair: I seek revenge, I
+tell you; and if I think I shall inflict a heavy blow on him, by
+making this girl your paramour, and am mistaken, the error will fall
+on myself. You will gain your ends, if I gain not mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My paramour!&quot; said Ned Dyram, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay--or your wife, if you will,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;but, perchance,
+she will not, till forced, readily consent to be your wife--you
+understand me. I will give you every surety you may demand, that she
+shall remain wholly in your power. The course you follow afterwards
+must be of your own choosing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The great tempter himself could not have chosen better words to work
+his purpose. It seemed, as if by instinct, that the one base man
+addressed himself to all that was weak in the other's nature; and
+there is a kind of divination between men of similar characters, which
+leads them to foresee, with almost unerring certainty, the effect of
+particular inducements upon their fellows.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Gradually, Dyram yielded more and more, resolving firmly all the while
+to do nothing, to aid in nothing, without insuring that his own
+objects also were attained; but, in the execution of such schemes,
+there are always small oversights. Passion so frequently interferes
+with prudence--the stream grows so much stronger as we are hurried on,
+that it is scarcely possible to stop when we would; and, when once the
+knave or the fool puts power into the hands of another, his own course
+is as much beyond his direction as that of a charioteer who would
+guide wild horses with packthread. How strange it is--perhaps the most
+wonderful of all moral phenomena--that any man should trust another in
+the commission of a bad action!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The question between Sir Simeon of Roydon and his lowlier companion
+speedily reduced itself to how Ella Brune was to be separated from
+those who could afford her protection; but the knight soon pointed out
+a means, instructed as he was by another, who kept himself in the
+dark.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;These people,&quot; he said, &quot;with whom she resides, are known to be the
+followers of a new sect of heretics, which has sprung up in a distant
+part of Germany, and is similar to our own Lollards, only their
+apostle is named Huss, instead of Wickliffe. The girl herself is more
+than suspected of favouring these false doctrines. Such things are
+matters of no moment in your eyes or mine; but the zealous priesthood,
+fearful for their shaken power, are resolute to put such blasphemous
+notions down; and, if you can but discover when these Brunes go to one
+of their assemblies, which are kept profoundly secret, we can ensure
+that they shall be arrested. The girl, then left alone, shall be
+placed at your disposal. If she will fly with you from Ghent, for fear
+of being implicated, well. If not, on your bringing me the
+information, you shall have a sufficient sum of money to hire
+unscrupulous friends, and carry her whithersoever you will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But if she should accompany them to their assembly,&quot; said Ned Dyram
+at once, &quot;how shall I ensure that she is not thrown into prison,
+tortured, perhaps burnt at the stake? No, no--that will never do!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;All those ifs can be met right easily,&quot; answered Simeon of Roydon.
+&quot;Ere you give any information, you can exact a promise from brother
+Paul--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A promise from brother Paul!&quot; exclaimed Dyram, with a mocking laugh;
+&quot;what! trust the promise of a monk! You are jesting, sir knight. Was
+there ever promise so sacred, sworn at the altar on the body of our
+Lord, that they have not found excuse for breaking or means of
+evading? Do you judge me a fool, Sir Simeon of Roydon?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not so,&quot; rejoined the knight, &quot;the danger did not strike me; but I
+see it now. It must be obviated, or I cannot expect you to go along
+with me. Yet--let me consider--methinks it were easily guarded
+against. Perchance she may not go; but, if she do, you can go with the
+party, take what number of men with you you like, and, in the
+confusion that must ensue, rescue your fair maiden. The gates, at this
+time of night, are not shut till ten; horses may be ready; and there
+is a castle, some five leagues off, on the road to Bruges, which I saw
+and cheapened three days since, as a place of residence during my
+exile. It is vacant now: you can bear her thither. To-morrow you can
+speak with father Paul yourself, and make your own terms as to leading
+him to the place of their meeting, if you discover it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, &quot;no! I will not go with him. I will be at
+their meeting with men I can trust; so can I be sure that I shall be
+near at hand to guard her. I will have it under his hand, too, that I
+am authorized by him to go; or, perchance, they may burn me likewise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are too suspicious, my good friend,&quot; cried the knight, with a
+laugh that rang not quite so merrily as it might have done.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A monk! a monk!&quot; answered Dyram; &quot;one can never doubt a monk too
+much. I will gain the intelligence wanted, sir knight; but I leave you
+to prepare this brother Paul to grant me all the security I ask, or he
+hears not a word from me; and so, good night!--you shall have news of
+me soon:&quot; and, thus saying, he left him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Simeon of Roydon bent down his head, and thought for several minutes;
+but at length he exclaimed, biting his lip, &quot;He will shear down my
+revenge to a half--and yet, perhaps, that may be as bitter as death.
+To be the minion of a varlet!--'Twill be a fiercer, though a slower
+fire, than that of fagot and stake.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_30" href="#div1Ref_30">THE HUSSITES.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">In a large old house, built almost entirely of wood, and situated in
+one of the suburbs of Ghent, far removed from all the noise and bustle
+of the more frequented parts of that busy town, there was a large old
+hall, in former years employed as a place of meeting by the linen
+weavers; but which, at the time I speak of, had been long disused for
+that purpose, when, the trade becoming more flourishing, its followers
+had built themselves a more splendid structure in the heart of the
+city.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In this hall were assembled, at a late hour of the day, about fifty
+personages of both sexes, and apparently of various grades and
+professions. Some were dressed in rather gay habiliments, some in
+staid and sober costume, but fine and costly withal, and some in
+the garb of the common artizans. The greater number, however, seemed
+of a wealthy class; but all appeared to know each other; and the
+rich citizen spoke in brotherly fellowship to the poor mechanic, the
+well-dressed burgher's wife nodded with friendly looks to the daughter
+of her husband's workman. There was one part of the hall, indeed, in
+which, for a moment, there was a momentary bustle caused by a
+beautiful girl in a mourning garb, of somewhat foreign fashion,
+expressing apparently a wish to quit the hall; but it was soon
+quieted; and a minute or two after, a tall, elderly man, with white
+hair, stood up at the end of a long table, having some books laid upon
+it, while the rest of the assembly sat on benches round, at some
+little distance, leaving a vacant space in the midst.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After pausing for a minute or two till all was silent, the old man
+began to speak, addressing his companions in a fine, mellow tone, and
+with a mild, persuasive air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My brethren!&quot; he said, in the Flemish tongue, &quot;although I be an
+ignorant man and not meet to deal with such high matters, you have
+permitted me to expound to you the opinions of wiser men than myself,
+and especially of the venerable John Huss, upon things that nearly
+touch the salvation of all; and on former occasions, I have shown you
+cause to see that very many corruptions and abominations have, by the
+wickedness of men, been brought into the Church of Christ. Amongst
+other points on which we have all agreed, there are these principal
+ones; that the word of God, first preached by the lowly and the humble
+to the poor and ignorant, should be laid open to all men, and
+committed to their own keeping, not being made to be put under a bed
+or hidden in a bushel, but to be a light shining in darkness, and
+leading every one in the way of salvation: that the Bible is no more
+the book of the priests than the book of the people, but is the
+property of all for the security of their souls. Secondly, we have
+agreed that there is but one mediator with God the Father, Jesus
+Christ our Lord; and that to worship, or invoke, or kneel down to even
+good and holy men departed, whom we are wont to call saints, is a
+gross idolatry, as well as the worship of statues, figures, or cross
+pieces of wood and stone; there being nothing that can save us, but
+faith in our Redeemer, and no intercession available but his; for,
+surely, it is a folly to suppose that men, who were sinners like
+ourselves, have power to help or save others when they have need of
+the one atonement for their own salvation. Thirdly, we have held, that
+in the mass there is no sacrifice, Christ having entered in once for
+all; and that to suppose that any man, by the imposition of a bishop's
+hands, receives power to change mere bread and wine into the substance
+of our Lord's body and blood, is a fond and foolish imagination
+devised by wicked priests for their own purposes. These were the
+points touched upon when last we met; and now, before we proceed
+farther, let us pray for grace to help us in our examination.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he knelt down at the end of the table--and all the rest,
+but one, followed his example, turning, and bending the knee by the
+benches around. The Hussite teacher raised his eyes and hands to
+heaven, and then, in a loud tone, uttered a somewhat long prayer,
+followed by the voices of his little congregation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was by this time growing somewhat dusk, for the sun must have been
+half way below the horizon; and the windows of the hall were narrow
+and far up; but nevertheless, when the kneelers raised themselves
+again at the conclusion of the prayer, and turned round towards the
+teacher, the eyes of all were fixed on one spot at the end of the
+table, and a universal cry burst from every lip. With some it seemed
+to be the sound of terror, with others that of rage and surprise; and
+well, indeed, might they feel astonished, for there, exactly opposite
+the old man who had led them in prayer, stood a figure frightful to
+behold, covered with long black shaggy hair, with two large horns upon
+its head, a pair of wings on its shoulders, swarthy and ribbed like
+those of a bat, and with the face, apparently, of a negro.<a name="div4Ref_09" href="#div4_09"><sup>[9]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hardly had they time to recover from their surprise, and to ask
+themselves what was the meaning of the apparition they beheld, when
+the doors of the hall burst open, and a mixed multitude rushed in,
+consisting of monks and priests, and the whole train of varlets and
+serving men which, in that day, were attached to monasteries,
+chapters, and other religious institutions in great towns. Staves and
+swords were plenty amongst them; and, with loud shouts of &quot;Ah, the
+heretics! Ah, the blasphemers! Ah, the worshippers of Satan!&quot; they
+rushed on the unhappy Hussites, overpowering them by numbers. No
+resistance was made; in consternation and alarm, the unhappy seekers
+of a purer faith rushed towards the doors, and even the windows, in
+the hope of making their escape. But the attempt was vain; one after
+another they were caught by their furious enemies, while cries of
+triumph and savage satisfaction rose up from different parts of the
+hall, as captive after captive was seized and pinioned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We have caught you in the fact,&quot; cried one.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You shall blaspheme no more!&quot; shouted another.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I saw the arch enemy in the midst of them!&quot; added a third.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They were in the act of worshipping the devil!&quot; said brother Paul.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To the stake with them, to the stake with them!&quot; roared a barefooted
+friar.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You see what you have done,&quot; said Ella Brune to her cousin, who stood
+near with his arms tied. &quot;This was very wrong of you, Nicholas.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was,&quot; answered Nicholas Brune, in a sorrowful tone; &quot;but they can
+do no harm to you; for I and others can testify that you came,
+unknowing whither, and would have left us, if we had allowed you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Will they believe your testimony?&quot; asked Ella, in a tone of deep
+despondency.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Before he could answer, brother Paul approached, and gazing at the
+fair unhappy girl with a malicious smile, he said, &quot;Ah, ah, fair
+maiden, I knew your hypocrisy would be detected at length. I did not
+forget having seen you with the heretics at Liege.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Even as he spoke, however, there was a bustle at the door; and to the
+surprise of all the hall contained, a number of men completely armed
+appeared, having at their head a gentleman in the ordinary riding
+dress of the day, with the knightly spurs over his boots, and two long
+feathers in his cap.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stand there,&quot; he said in a loud voice, turning to the men who
+followed, &quot;and let no one forth&quot;. Then striding through the hall with
+the multitude of priests and monks scattering before him, he advanced,
+gazing from right to left, till he reached the spot where Ella Brune
+was standing. A low murmur of joy burst from the poor girl's lips as
+Richard of Woodville approached; and she would fain have held out her
+hands towards him, but that her delicate wrists were tied with a hard
+cord.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville gazed from her to father Paul, who stood beside
+her, with a stern brow; and then, in a low, but menacing voice,
+exclaimed, &quot;Untie that cord, foul monk!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will not,&quot; answered Father Paul, sullenly. &quot;Who are you, that you
+should interrupt the course of justice, and rescue a blasphemous
+heretic from the stake?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thou liest, knave!&quot; answered Richard of Woodville. &quot;She is a better
+Catholic than thou art, with all thy hypocritical grimaces;&quot; and
+unsheathing his dagger, he cut the cord from Ella's wrist, and set her
+free.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, he draws his knife upon us!&quot; cried father Paul. &quot;Upon him! Cleave
+him down. Are there no brave men here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A rush was instantly made towards Richard of Woodville; and one man,
+with a guisarme, thrust himself right in his way; but laughing loud,
+the young knight bared his long, heavy sword, and waved it over his
+head, grasping Ella by the hand, and exclaiming in English, &quot;On, my
+men! on! open a way, there!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All but the most resolute of his opponents scattered from his path;
+and his stout followers forced their way forward into the hall,
+showing some reverence for the priests and monks, it is true; but
+striking the varlets and serving-men sundry heavy blows with the
+pommels of the swords, not easily to be forgotten. A scene of
+indescribable confusion ensued; the darkness of the hall was becoming
+every moment more profound--a number of the Hussites made their
+escape, and untied others; while still, through the midst of the
+crowd, Richard of Woodville slowly advanced towards the door, and
+knocking the guisarme out of the hand of one of the men who seemed
+most strongly bent on opposing his passage, he brought the point of
+his sword to his throat, exclaiming, &quot;Back, or die!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sturdy varlet laid his hand upon his dagger; but, at the same
+moment, one of the English archers who had reached his side, struck
+him on the jaws with his steel glove, and knocked him reeling back
+amongst the crowd. Quickening his pace, Richard of Woodville hurried
+on, still holding Ella by the hand, and soon reached the top of the
+narrow stairs. There pausing at the door, he counted the number of his
+men, who had closed in behind him, to see that none were left, and
+then hastened down with his fair charge into the street, several other
+fugitive Hussites passing him as they fled with all the speed of
+terror.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As soon as they had reached the open road, the young Englishman turned
+to his followers, and ordered three of them to remain a step or two
+behind, to ensure that they were not taken by surprise, and to give
+notice if they were pursued. But the party of fanatic priests within
+were busy enough, in the wild riotous scene presented by the hall, now
+in almost total darkness, and often mistook one man for another in
+endeavouring to secure the prisoners that still remained in their
+hands. Thus Woodville and his companions were suffered to proceed on
+their way unfollowed, through numerous long and narrow streets, till
+they reached the inn where they had first alighted on their arrival in
+Ghent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Quick,&quot; cried Richard of Woodville to one of his attendants. &quot;Saddle
+four horses and the mule; and you with Peter and Alfred be ready to
+set out. You must leave Ghent with all speed, my poor Ella,&quot; he
+continued, leading her into the inn. &quot;I cannot go with you myself, but
+you shall hear from me soon, and the men will take care of you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I must go first to my cousin's house,&quot; said Ella, eagerly. &quot;'Twill
+not take long to run thither and return. There are many things that I
+must take with me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You can pass round there as you go,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;less time
+will be lost, and there is none to spare. Here, host,&quot; he cried.
+&quot;Host, I say!&quot; But the host was not to be found; and one of the
+chamberlains, running up as the young knight and his followers stood
+under the arch, demanded, &quot;What's your will, sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;At what time are the city gates closed?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville.
+&quot;I have to levy men at Bruges for the service of the Duke, and must
+send some of my people on tonight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They do not shut till ten, sir, in this time of peace,&quot; replied the
+chamberlain; &quot;so you have more than an hour; but even after that, an
+order from the cyndic will open them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That will do,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;they must set out at
+once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A moment after, the horses were brought round, with the mule which
+Ella Brune had ridden from Nieuport, and placing her carefully
+thereon, the young knight gave some orders to his men in a low tone,
+added some money for their expenses, and with a kindly adieu to Ella,
+saw them depart. He then directed two of his archers to superintend
+the immediate removal of his baggage to the apartments which had been
+assigned him in the Graevensteen, to see to the care of the horses,
+and to rejoin him without loss of time. After which, followed by the
+rest of his attendants, he took his way back to the old castle of the
+counts of Flanders, and sought the chamber in the basement of one of
+the towers, which had been pointed out for his own by the Count of
+Charolois.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the door stood a stout man-at-arms, whom Woodville had placed there
+that night after his meeting with Sir John Grey; for it may be
+necessary to mention here, what we did not pause to notice before,
+that the young knight had returned with Dyram to the Graevensteen to
+seek for his men, as soon as he heard of the danger which menaced poor
+Ella Brune.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Opening the door of the chamber, Richard of Woodville went in, and
+found Dyram seated at the table with his head leaning on his arms. He
+moved but slightly when his master entered, and Woodville, casting
+himself into a seat opposite, gazed at him for a moment with a stern
+and angry brow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Lookup, sir,&quot; he said at length; &quot;in your terror and haste to remedy
+the evil you have caused, you have spoken too much not to speak more.
+You once boasted of telling truth. Tell it now, as the only means of
+escaping punishment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is she saved?&quot; asked Ned Dyram, raising his head, and gazing in his
+young master's face with a look of eager anxiety. &quot;Is she saved? I
+care for nought else.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, she is saved,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but with peril to
+her, and peril to me. I found her with her hands tied; and what may be
+the result, no one yet can tell. And so you love her!&quot; he continued,
+gazing upon him thoughtfully. &quot;A glorious means, indeed, to prove your
+love!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have been deceived,&quot; said Dyram; &quot;the villain cheated me. He
+promised that she should be mine; and when I told him of the day and
+hour when the assembly was to take place, thinking that I kept the
+power in my own hands, so long as I did not mention where they were to
+meet, they laughed me to scorn, and told me they wanted to know no
+more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They!&quot; exclaimed Richard of Woodville. &quot;They! whom do you mean?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Brother Paul,&quot; replied Dyram, hesitating--&quot;brother Paul and--Well, it
+matters not, if you learn not from me, you will learn from others; so
+I will say it first myself--brother Paul and Simeon of Roydon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Simeon of Roydon!&quot; exclaimed the young knight, starting up, and
+lifting his hand as if to strike him; &quot;and have you been villain and
+traitor enough to betray this poor girl into the hands of that base
+and pitiful knave? By the Lord that lives, I have a mind to have you
+scourged through the streets of Ghent, as a warning to all treacherous
+varlets.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dyram bent his brows upon him with a bold scowl, answering in a low
+muttering tone, &quot;You dare not!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The words had scarcely quitted his lips, when, with a blow on the side
+of the head, Richard of Woodville dashed him to the ground. The man
+started up, and drew his dagger half out of the sheath; but his
+master, who had recovered from his anger the instant the blow was
+given, so far at least as to be sorry that it had been struck at all,
+looked at him with a smile of cold contempt, and raising his voice,
+exclaimed, &quot;Without, there!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The archer instantly appeared at the door; and, pointing to Dyram, the
+young knight said, &quot;Take away that knave, and put him forth from the
+castle, and from the band. He is not one of my own people, and unfit
+to be with them. He is a base and dishonest traitor, who betrays his
+trust. Away with him!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dyram glared upon him for a moment without moving, then thrust his
+dagger back into the sheath, raised his hand with the right finger
+extended, and shook it at Richard of Woodville, with his teeth hard
+set together, and a significant frown upon his brow. Then turning to
+the door, he passed the archer, saying, in a menacing tone, &quot;Touch me
+not,&quot; and quitted the room.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_31" href="#div1Ref_31">THE RESULT.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps I have been too harsh,&quot; thought Richard of Woodville, when
+the man Dyram was gone, and he sat alone in his chamber. &quot;Surely that
+knave's conscience must be punishment enough. What must it be to think
+that we have betrayed a friend, violated a trust, injured one who has
+confided in us! Can Hell itself afford an infliction more terrible
+than such a memory? Methinks it were torment enough for the worst of
+men, to render remembrance eternal!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And he was right--surely he was right. In this world we weave the
+fabric of our punishment with our sins.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the young knight proceeded to reflect, however, his mind turned
+from Dyram to Sir Simeon of Roydon; and suddenly a light broke in upon
+him.--&quot;It must be so!&quot; he cried: &quot;'tis this man has poisoned the mind
+of Sir John Grey against me. But that will be easily remedied.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The next instant he suddenly recollected the half-made appointment
+with Mary's father, which in all the bustle and excitement of the
+scenes he had lately gone through, had escaped his memory till
+that moment; and he started up, exclaiming, &quot;This is unfortunate,
+indeed!--There may yet be time--I will go!&quot; But as he turned towards
+the door, the clock of the castle struck. Nearly an hour had elapsed
+since the appointed period, for the stealthy foot of Time ever runs
+fastest when we could wish his stay. Nevertheless, Richard of
+Woodville went forth, received the password of the guard, and hurried
+to the inn to inquire whether or not the old knight had come during
+his absence. He was in some hope that such might not be the case; for
+Mary's father had ridden away abruptly without saying whether he
+accepted the appointment or not. But when Woodville reached the hostel
+he found, to his mortification, that Sir John Grey had not only been
+there, but had waited some time for his return, and had gone away, the
+host informed him, with a gloomy brow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sad and desponding, with all the bright hopes which had accompanied
+him into Ghent darkened, he strode back to the Graevensteen, and
+passed through the court to his apartments, remarking that there
+seemed a number of persons waiting, and a good deal of confusion,
+unusual at so late an hour; but his thoughts were busy with his own
+situation; and he walked on in the darkness to his chamber, without
+inquiry. There, leaning his head upon his hand beneath the light of
+the lamp, he gave himself up to bitter reflections, thinking how sad
+it is, that a man's happiness, his name, fame, purposes, abilities,
+virtues, should be so completely in the power of circumstances--the
+stones with which fate builds up the prison walls of many a lofty
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While he was thus meditating, there was a knock at his chamber door,
+and bidding the applicant come in, the next moment he saw the young
+Lord of Lens enter. The youth's countenance betokened haste and
+agitation, and, closing the door carefully, he said, &quot;The Count has
+just whispered me, to come and warn you, good knight, not to quit your
+apartments till he comes to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;How so?&quot; asked Woodville, partly divining the cause of this
+injunction. &quot;Do you mean, my young friend, that I am a prisoner?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh no!&quot; answered the other, &quot;'tis for your own safety. There are
+enemies of yours in the castle; and perhaps if they were to see you,
+they might seize you even here. You know not the daring of these men
+of Ghent, and how, when passion moves them, they set at nought all
+authority. They would arrest you in the very presence of the Prince,
+if they thought fit; and they are even now pouring their complaints
+into the Count's ear. Luckily, however, they know not that you are in
+the Graevensteen; and, with a show of loyal obedience, of which they
+have very little in their hearts, they are affecting to ask
+permission, as you are one of his knights, to have you sought for in
+the town to-morrow and apprehended, for something rather rash that you
+have done this evening.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have done nothing rash, my friend,&quot; replied Woodville, gravely,
+&quot;but only what I would do again to-morrow, if the case required
+it--only, in fact, what my knightly oath required: I have but rescued
+a defenceless woman from wrong and oppression. I can justify myself
+easily to the Count or any other gentleman of honour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, wait till he comes,&quot; answered the young nobleman; &quot;for though
+you might be able to set yourself right at last, yet you would ill
+brook imprisonment, I wot; and perhaps even the Count might not be
+able to save you from these people's hands, if you were found just
+now. They are a furious and unruly set; and the priests have got
+syndics and magistrates of all kinds on their side.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have heard tales of their doings,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville;
+&quot;but I cannot bring myself to fear them. However, I will, of course,
+obey the Count's commands, and wait here till he is pleased to send
+for me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will bear you company,&quot; replied the young Lord of Lens, &quot;for I love
+not the presence of these foul citizens; and heaven knows how long
+they may stay with their orations, as lengthy and as flat as one of
+their own pieces of cloth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To say the truth, Richard of Woodville would have preferred to be
+alone; but he did not choose to mortify the good-humoured young lord
+by suffering him to perceive that his presence was a restraint; and,
+sometimes in grave conversation, sometimes in light, they passed
+nearly an hour; till at length numerous sounds from the court-yard
+gave notice that the deputation of the good citizens was taking its
+departure. For half an hour more they waited, in the expectation of
+soon receiving some messenger from the Count de Charolois, but none
+appeared; and at length Richard of Woodville besought his companion to
+seek some intelligence. The young nobleman readily undertook the task,
+and opened the door to go out; but, on the very threshold, was met by
+the Count himself, followed by the Lord of Croy. The expression of the
+Prince's countenance was grave and troubled; and, seating himself, he
+made a sign to the rest to do so likewise; and then, looking at
+Woodville with an anxious and careful smile, he said, &quot;This is an
+awkward business, my friend.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If told truly, it is a very simple one, my lord the Count,&quot; replied
+the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It may be simple, yet have very dangerous results,&quot; said the young
+Prince, gravely. &quot;These men of Ghent are not to be meddled with
+lightly; and, though their insolence must some day be checked--and
+shall--yet this is not the time to do it. It seems, by their account,
+that you brought a pretty light-o'-love maiden with you hither from
+England; and that she having been found, with a number of other
+heretics, worshipping, they assert, the devil himself, who was seen in
+proper form amongst them&quot; (Woodville smiled); &quot;you delivered her with
+the strong hand from the people sent to seize the whole party. What
+makes you laugh, Sir Richard?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because, my good lord,&quot; replied the young knight, &quot;you, here in
+Flanders, do not seem to understand monks and priests so well as we do
+in England. They have made a fair story of it, which is almost all
+false. I am as good a catholic as any of them, though I have not had
+my head shaved. I believe all that the Church tells me, for I doubt
+not that the Church knows best; but I can't help seeing that she has
+got a great number of knaves amongst her ministers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But what is the truth of the story, sir knight?&quot; said the Lord of
+Croy. &quot;I told the Count that I was sure they had made a mountain of a
+molehill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Thanks, my good lord,&quot; answered Woodville. &quot;The truth is simply this:
+the poor girl is a good and sincere catholic, and has been bitterly
+tried; for many of her relations are what we call Lollards, a sort of
+heretics like your Hussites, and she has steadfastly resisted all
+their false notions. She was persecuted and ill-treated in England, by
+a base and unworthy man--a knight, heaven save the mark!--one Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, now banished from the English court for his
+ill-treatment of her. She, having relations in this land--amongst
+others Nicholas Brune, your goldsmith, sir--quitted London to join
+them. I found her in the same ship which brought me over; and, in
+Christian charity and common courtesy, gave her protection on the way.
+She is no light-o'-love, my lord, but a good and honest maiden; and I
+would be the last to sully her purity by word or deed. As soon as I
+reached Ghent, and found out where her cousin dwelt, I placed her
+safely under his roof, and thought of her no more, accompanying you to
+Lille. A servant, however, whom I left with my baggage and some spare
+horses here in Ghent--a clever knave, but a great rogue--was smitten,
+it seems, by her beauty on the way, and went often to see her. On my
+return, while I was speaking with Sir John Grey in the street, this
+man came up importunately, and told me, if I did not save her, she was
+lost. Hurrying along with him to gather my men together, I found that
+a certain monk or friar, named Brother Paul, had combined with others,
+of whom I have since discovered this Simeon of Roydon was one, to
+seize upon the poor girl, with the whole party of her friends, at a
+heretic meeting in the old Linen-weavers' Hall. On their promise to
+give her up to him, this scoundrel servant of mine, Dyram, had
+betrayed to the cunning monks at what hour the assembly was to be
+held; but, when he asked for the securities they had promised, that
+she should be placed in his hands, they laughed him to scorn. He is a
+persevering knave, however, and, by one means or another, gained a
+knowledge of all their proceedings and intentions, and found that they
+had dressed up one of their varlets as the arch-enemy, covering him
+with the skin of a black cow, and setting the horns upon his head.
+This mummer was to be placed under the table in the hall--as doubtless
+he was, for I saw something of the figure when I went in--and as soon
+as it grew dusk, he was to rise up amongst the heretics, giving a sign
+for the others to rush in. Knowing the girl to be a catholic, as I
+have said, and free from all taint of this heresy--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then why went she thither?&quot; demanded the Count de Charolois.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She told me afterwards, my lord,&quot; replied the young Englishman, &quot;that
+her cousin Nicholas and his wife had deceived her, and, anxious to
+convert or pervert her to their own notions, had taken her to this
+place, without letting her know whither she was going. She says they
+will acknowledge it themselves, if they are questioned, and also that
+she strove to go away when she found where she was, but was prevented
+by them. However, knowing her to be a good catholic, and certain that
+the whole matter was contrived out of some malice towards her, I had
+no hesitation in hastening to her deliverance. I used no farther
+violence than was needful to set her free, took no part in delivering
+the others, of whose religious notions I knew nothing, and--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The greater part of them escaped, it seems,&quot; said the Lord of Croy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;With that I had nothing to do,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville. &quot;I
+contented myself with cutting the cords they had tied round the poor
+girl's wrists; and making my way with her out of the hall, leaving the
+monks and their menée to settle the matter with the others as they
+thought fit.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And where is the maiden now, my friend?&quot; asked the Count de
+Charolois.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I instantly sent her out of the town with three of my men,&quot; replied
+Richard of Woodville. &quot;I thought it the surest course.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count looked at the Lord of Croy, as if for him to speak; and the
+young English knight, somewhat hastily concluding that they
+entertained doubts of his word, exclaimed, after a moment's pause, &quot;I
+trust that you do not disbelieve me, sir? You cannot suppose that an
+English gentleman, of no ill repute, would tell you a falsehood in a
+matter such as this?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no, my friend, no, no,&quot; replied the Count, &quot;I do not doubt you
+for a moment. I only look to our good comrade here, to speak what is
+very unpleasant for me to say. Indeed, I do not know how to explain it
+to you; for you will naturally think that my father's power ought to
+be sufficient to protect one of his own knights against his own
+people.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The truth is, Sir Richard,&quot; said the Lord of Croy, &quot;that the citizens
+of Ghent are an unruly race; and if they once get you in their hands,
+they may treat you ill. If my lord the Count were to resist them,
+there is no knowing what they might do. I would not answer for it, in
+such a case, that we should not see them in arms before the castle
+gate, ere noon to-morrow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That shall never be on my account, noble prince,&quot; replied the knight,
+turning to the Count; &quot;but, under these circumstances, it were wise in
+me to quit the town of Ghent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is exactly what I wish to say,&quot; answered the Prince; &quot;but, in
+truth, it seems most ungrateful of me to propose such a thing to you,
+my friend. Undoubtedly, if you are not pleased to go, I will defend
+you here to the best of my power; and my father would soon give us
+aid, in case of necessity; but I need not tell you, that to have Ghent
+again in revolt, just on the eve of a new war with the Armagnacs in
+France, might be ruinous to all his schemes, and fatal to his policy.
+Moreover, if they were to accuse him of countenancing heresy here, it
+would do him a bitter injury; for the people in Paris have just
+pronounced that the sermon preached by one of his doctors, Jean Petit,
+is heretical.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville, &quot;I can go to Bruges, my lord,
+where you said I should find good archers, and can be carrying on my
+levies there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count shook his head, saying, &quot;That will be no place of safety.
+These good folks of Ghent, and those of Bruges, so often at deadliest
+enmity, are now sworn friends; and the Brugeois would give you up
+without a thought. No, what I have to propose is this, that you should
+go an hour or two before daylight to my cousin Waleran de St. Paul,
+who is now raising troops upon the Meuse. I shall have to pass thither
+also; for my father sends me into Burgundy, and I cannot go through
+France. If you will wait for me between Chimay and Dinant, I will join
+you within ten days, and we will go on to the west, and raise what men
+we can at Besançon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So be it, my noble lord,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but where
+shall I find the Count?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You will find him at Chimay,&quot; replied the young prince. &quot;He has a
+castle two leagues thence, on the road to Dinant. From me you shall
+hear before I come. I will meet you somewhere in the Ardennes. Make
+all your preparations quickly; and, in the meanwhile, I will write
+letters to my uncles of Brabant and Liege, that you may have favour
+and protection as you pass.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville thanked him for his kindness in due terms, and,
+as soon as the young Count, with the Lords of Croy and Lens, had left
+him, called his servants, and gave orders to prepare once more for
+their immediate departure. Fortunately, it so happened that he had
+ordered all his baggage to be brought from the inn, so that no great
+time was lost; and in about an hour all was ready to set out. The
+letters of the young Count, however, had not arrived, and Richard of
+Woodville waited, pondering somewhat anxiously upon the only
+difficulty which presented itself to his mind, namely, how he was to
+recal the men whom he had sent with Ella Brune upon the side of
+Bruges, without depriving her of aid and protection at the moment when
+she most needed it. It was true, he thought, she had no actual claim
+upon him; it was true that he had done more for her already than might
+have been expected at his hands, without any motive but that of
+compassion; but yet he felt that it would be cruel, most cruel, to
+leave her in an hour of peril, undefended and alone. &quot;We take a
+withering stick and plant it in the ground,&quot; says Sterne; &quot;and then we
+water it, because we have planted it;&quot; and Richard of Woodville was
+one who felt that the kindness he had shown did give her a title to
+expect more.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At first he thought of bidding the men rejoin him, and bring her with
+them; but then the glance which Sir John Grey had cast upon him as her
+name was mentioned, came back to his mind, and he said, &quot;No, that must
+not be. For her sake and my own, she must go no farther with me. Men
+might well think, if she did, that there were other ties between us
+than there are. I will bid them take her to England, or place her
+anywhere in safety, and then come. To Sir John Grey I must write--and
+to my sweet Mary also. I may well trust her, I hope, to plead my
+cause, and repel the charges which this base villain has brought. Yet,
+'tis most unfortunate that this event should have occurred at such a
+moment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He was still thinking deeply over these matters, when the door opened,
+and the young Count of Charolois appeared alone. &quot;Here are the
+letters, my friend,&quot; he said. &quot;I have ordered some of my people to go
+with you for a mile or two beyond the gates, in order to secure you a
+safe passage. Is there aught I can do for you while you are absent?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;One thing, my noble lord,&quot; replied the young knight, a sudden thought
+striking him--&quot;if you will kindly undertake to be my advocate with one
+whose good opinion is to me a matter of no light moment. You must know
+that Sir John Grey--so long an exile in your father's dominions, but
+now empowered by King Henry to treat, in conjunction with Sir Philip
+de Morgan, at the Court of Burgundy--has one daughter, plighted to me
+by long love, by her own promises, and by her father's also; but some
+scoundrel--the same, I do verily believe, who has made all this
+mischief--I mean Sir Simeon of Roydon--has brought charges against me
+to that good knight, which have altered his countenance towards me.
+Called suddenly away, I have no means of explanation; and I leave my
+name blighted in his opinion. The accusation, I believe, refers to
+this poor girl, Ella Brune; but you may tell Sir John, and I pledge
+you my knightly word you will tell him true, that there is nought
+between her and me but kindness rendered on my part to a woman in
+distress, and gratitude on hers to one who has protected her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will not fail,&quot; replied the young prince, giving him his hand, &quot;nor
+will I lose any time before I explain all as far as I know it.&quot; Thus
+saying, he walked out with Woodville into the court, where the horses
+stood prepared; and, in a few minutes, the young wanderer was once
+more upon his way.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_32" href="#div1Ref_32">TRUE LOVE'S DEFENCE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">In one of the best houses in the best part of Ghent, and in a chamber
+hung with splendid tapestry, and ornamented with rich carvings of dark
+oak, sat a fair lady, with a bright and happy face--the rounded chin,
+with its small dimple, resting on a hand as white as marble and as
+soft as satin. The dark brown eyes, full of cheerful light, were
+raised towards the gilt roses on the ceiling, as if counting them; but
+the thoughts of Mary Markham, or, as we must henceforth call her, Mary
+Grey, were full of other things; and if she was counting anything, it
+was the minutes, till her father should return from the Cours des
+Princes, and tell her, who had come back to Ghent with the young
+Count of Charolois. She was, as the reader knows, of a hopeful
+disposition--that most bright and blessed of all frames of mind--that
+lightener of the labours of the world--that smoother of the rough ways
+of life; and Mary had already hoped that, perchance, when the door
+opened, and her father's form appeared, another, well loved too, might
+be beside him; for, on her first arrival, Sir John Grey had spoken to
+her much of Richard of Woodville, had praised him, as she was proud to
+hear him praised, and had smiled to see the colour come into her
+cheek, as if he meant to say, &quot;Fear not, you shall be his.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">True, for the last two days he had not mentioned his name; but that,
+she thought, might be accidental; and now her father did not come so
+soon as he had promised; but, then, she fancied that this court
+ceremony might have been long and tedious, or that other business
+might have detained him after the reception was over.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Minute upon minute passed, however--one hour went by after
+another--day fled, and night came on--and, after gazing some time upon
+the flickering fire on the wide hearth, for the evening was somewhat
+cold, though spring had well nigh made way for summer, Mary rang the
+little silver bell before her, and bade the servant bring her light to
+work.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man obeyed; and when the sconce, protruding through the tapestry
+by a long gilded arm, was lighted, she said, &quot;Is not my father long?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He has been back, lady,&quot; replied the man, &quot;but did not dismount, only
+giving some orders to Hugh, and saying, that if Sir Philip de Morgan
+came, to tell him he would be here in about two hours.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;How long was that ago?&quot; demanded Mary Grey. The man replied, &quot;More
+than an hour.&quot; And with this intelligence she was forced to rest
+satisfied. Not long after she heard a step, and her heart beat; but,
+listening eagerly, she perceived that the sound gave no hope that
+there were two persons approaching; and with a sigh she plied the busy
+needle. The next instant her father came in; and, though he kissed her
+tenderly, with long denied affection, she could see that his face was
+clouded and somewhat stern.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have kept you late from supper, my sweet child,&quot; he said; &quot;but I
+had business which took me away after my visit to the prince.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not pleasant business, I fear, noble father,&quot; replied Mary, hanging
+on his arm, &quot;for you look sad.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey gazed on her for a moment or two, with a look of
+melancholy interest and affection. She had never seen such an
+expression on his countenance before, but when he had taken leave of
+her to quit his native land as an exile; and it seemed prophetic of
+misfortune. &quot;What has happened, my dear father?&quot; she exclaimed; &quot;has
+any new misfortune befallen you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No,&quot; answered Sir John Grey; &quot;and yet I must say yes, too; for that
+which is sad for you, must be sad for me, Mary.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is dead! he is killed!&quot; cried Mary Grey, her sunny cheek growing
+deadly pale; but her father hastened to relieve her on that score.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, Mary,&quot; he said, gravely, &quot;he is not dead; but he is unworthy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The blood rushed up again into her face, as if some one had accused
+her of a crime; but the next moment she laughed, gaily answering, &quot;No,
+my father, no! Some one has deceived you. That is impossible. Richard
+of Woodville cannot be unworthy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Alas! my sweet child, 'tis you deceive yourself,&quot; replied the knight;
+&quot;the confidence of love speaks out before you know the facts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know one fact, my father,&quot; answered Mary, &quot;which none can
+contradict; and which is my answer to all that can be said. For many a
+long year I have known him. In youth and manhood I have watched him
+well: and there is not a truer heart on earth. If any one say that his
+courage has failed in the hour of peril, it is false, my father. If
+any one say that he has betrayed his friend, it is false. If any one
+say, that he has deceived, even by word, man or woman, high or low, it
+is false. If any one say, that he has forgotten his duty, broke his
+plighted word, wronged his king, his country, you, or me, believe it
+not, for it is false, my father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;These are the words of love, my Mary,&quot; replied Sir John Grey; &quot;but
+though I would fain shield that dear bosom through life from every
+shaft of sorrow, pain, and disappointment, yet, my sweet child, I
+would rather see you suffer, bitterly though it might be, than regard
+what I have to tell you of this youth with that light indifference
+which some might show. He left his native land, Mary, plighted and
+pledged to you; telling you he went to seek honour for your sake; and
+yet he brought hither with him a fair leman, to sooth his idle hours
+with songs and dalliance. Was this worthy, Mary? Nay, doubt it not;
+for I have it from three several sources; and his own conduct to
+myself confirms the tale.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He thought to see tears, or at least thoughtful looks; but Mary once
+more laughed gaily; and holding her father's arm with her fair hand,
+gazed merrily in his face. &quot;Alas!&quot; she said, &quot;how men are fond of
+mischief! and what chance can a poor defenceless woman have to escape
+scandal, when you powerful lords of earth so slander one another?
+Forgive me, my dear father; but I needs must laugh, to think that any
+one here, in a foreign land, should take the pains, from pure
+malignity to my poor knight, to try thus sillily to trouble the peace
+of Mary Grey, by poisoning her parent's mind against her lover. Poor
+Ella Brune! little did she think, or little did I think when I bade
+her go, what evil to her kind and generous benefactor might be done,
+by her coming with him. I have an antidote to the poison, my dear
+father; and thanks to that generous candour which made you condescend
+to tell your child all the plain truth, I can apply it. I know this
+girl, my father--I know the whole history. I am even art and part in
+the offence; or rather it is mine, not his. She is my paramour, not
+Richard's;&quot; and Mary blushed brightly, while even in her laughing eyes
+a dewy drop of emotion rose up and sparkled, as she defended him she
+loved.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your words are strange, dear one,&quot; said the knight; &quot;but let me hear
+more. Tell me the whole, my child.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That I will do,&quot; replied Mary. &quot;I will tell you the whole tale after
+supper, and hers is a very sad one. But first, to set your mind fully
+at ease, let me say, that the only evil thing Richard has done in all
+this affair, was showing some want of courtesy to the poor girl
+herself; for when, after having received from him kind and generous
+protection in her hour of sorrow and of danger, she thought to journey
+to join her friends in Burgundy, under the safeguard of his little
+band--Richard, fearing too much what men might say, or perchance,
+fancying that Mary might be jealous, unkindly refused to take her; and
+it was I who bade her go, and promised her that, with a free heart, I
+would let all idle fancies pass me by as evening winds.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your love is very confiding, my sweet child,&quot; replied the knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And it will never be wronged,&quot; said Mary, warmly. &quot;I would not have
+given it, father, to one unworthy of such trust; and when the
+confidence ends, the love will end with it. But that will never be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yet, my dear child,&quot; answered the knight, gravely, &quot;as I told you I
+had, in the very first instance, an intimation of this fact from some
+unknown hand, and then--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Some idle mischief-maker,&quot; cried Mary, &quot;who chanced to see them on
+the road, and in his own fancy made the evil he would ascribe to
+Richard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But then comes another, lately arrived from England,&quot; continued Sir
+John Grey; &quot;a gentleman of good repute, who tells the same story with
+strange exactness, if it be false; and then, when questioned by me,
+Sir Philip de Morgan says, with a worldly laugh at young men's
+follies, that he has heard something of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But who was this man from England?&quot; asked Mary, eagerly, &quot;this
+gentleman of good repute?--I doubt, my father! I doubt!--Methinks I
+could name him at once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Do so, then,&quot; replied her father; &quot;I will tell you if you are right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Simeon of Roydon,&quot; said his daughter; and the knight nodded his
+assent. &quot;A gentleman of good repute!&quot; cried Mary; &quot;a false and
+perjured knave, my father! One who has already foully slandered poor
+Harry Dacre, yet, with a craven cautiousness, has kept himself free
+from the lance's point; one who dare not, before Richard of
+Woodville's face, say aught but, that he has heard such reports--that
+he vouches not for them--that he mentioned them in thoughtlessness.
+Out upon the base, ungenerous hound! Why, this very man, for his
+shameless persecution of this poor girl, and on the bold accusation of
+good Sir Philip Beauchamp, my second father, is banished from England
+for two years, and vowed revenge on her and all of us. Had it not been
+for the King's presence, I believe noble Sir Philip would have crushed
+him as an earwig or a wasp.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And is it so?&quot; exclaimed Sir John Grey. &quot;This makes a great change,
+indeed, my child; for if the teller of a tale be a villain, we may
+well judge that his story will have some scoundrel object. Nor can I
+doubt,&quot; he continued, with a smile, &quot;that this poor girl, of whom so
+much has been said, is not what they call her; for, though your eyes
+might be blinded by love, dear girl, my noble friend Sir Philip is not
+likely to be affected by any tender self-deceit.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary laughed gaily. &quot;That he is not,&quot; she said. &quot;Nay, love is with
+him, my father, but another name for folly. Did I not tell you right,
+that whoever has assailed the name of Richard of Woodville is a false
+knave?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I trust it may be so,&quot; replied her father; &quot;but yet, dear Mary, we
+must not forget that, long ere this Sir Simeon of Roydon uttered a
+word, some one unknown wrote to me the self-same tale.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was himself, or some one like him,&quot; answered Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It could not be himself,&quot; rejoined the knight; &quot;for he was not yet in
+Flanders when the letter came.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is there but one slanderer in the world, dear father?&quot; replied the
+fair girl, raising her eyes almost reproachfully to her parent's
+countenance; &quot;and should we even doubt the conduct of one whom for
+many a long year we have seen walk in truth and honour, because some
+nameless calumniator breathes a tale against him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We should not,&quot; replied Sir John Grey, firmly; &quot;yet such is the
+world's justice, my child, and such is, I fear, the heart of
+man--ready to doubt, prone to suspect, and instructed by its own
+weakness in the weakness of others. However, you have well pleaded
+your lover's cause, my Mary; and he shall have full and patient
+hearing to explain whatever yet remains obscure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is there aught obscure?&quot; asked Mary Grey. &quot;To me his whole conduct
+seems, as it ever has been, light as day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; answered the knight; &quot;but yet, Mary, even while I spoke with
+him to-night--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What, is he here?&quot; cried Mary Grey, interrupting him, and clasping
+her hands with eager joy; &quot;and have you seen him--spoke with him?--How
+did he look, my father?--Well, but not too happy when he was away from
+me, I dare to say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, he certainly seemed,&quot; replied her father, with a smile; &quot;and
+anything but happy, my dear child; but, as I was going to add--even
+while I spoke with him upon these most serious charges, a man came up
+and plucked him by the sleeve, beseeching him to come to Ella Brune.
+His whole countenance changed at the name; and, though he had fixed to
+meet me within two hours, he failed in his appointment. I waited for
+him as long as he could decently expect, and then came hither,
+doubting no longer that the tale was true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mary paused thoughtfully, and cast down her eyes; but then a moment
+after she raised them again with a look of relief, as if she had
+settled the whole in her own mind. &quot;I will be warrant,&quot; she said,
+&quot;that some great peril has beset our poor Ella, and that he has gone
+to deliver her: most likely the hateful persecution of this same base
+man. Nothing else--nothing, I know, would have kept Richard of
+Woodville away from Mary Grey--if, indeed, he knew that I was here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I must do him justice,&quot; answered the knight; &quot;he did not know
+it, Mary; and perhaps what you suppose is the case, for the man did
+mention something of danger, and besought him to save her. We will
+look upon it in as fair a light as may be, and I will send to him
+early in the morning to bid him come hither and explain. He will then
+have two advocates instead of one, my child; and I am very ready to be
+convinced, for I love him for his love to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Can you not send to-night?&quot; whispered Mary Grey, resting her hands
+upon her father's arm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay,&quot; replied the knight, smiling kindly on her. &quot;It is late
+to-night, dear girl. To-morrow will do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Does to-morrow ever do? But seldom; for the hour that is, we can only
+call our own. All that is to come is in the hands of that dark
+mysterious fate, which, ruling silent and unseen the acts and wills of
+men, reserves to itself, in its own dim council-chamber, each purpose
+unfulfilled, each resolution made and not performed; sporting with
+chances and with hopes, trampling into dust expectations and designs,
+and leaving to man but the past for his instruction, and the present
+for his energies. The word to-morrow should be blotted out from the
+catalogue. It is what never exists in the form we think to find it;
+and thus it was with Sir John Grey. When the morning came he wrote
+briefly to Richard of Woodville, requesting him to come to him, and
+making the tone of his epistle more kindly than his words the night
+before; but it was returned unopened from the Graevensteen, with the
+tidings that the young knight and all his band had set out on some
+expedition a few hours after midnight. As she heard the answer, the
+gay and happy eyes of Mary Grey filled with tears; and her father,
+gazing on her, reproached himself for having lost the moment that was
+theirs.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_33" href="#div1Ref_33">THE RESCUE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a sultry summer morning, in the midst of July, and there was a
+dull oppressive weight in the air, although neither mist nor cloud
+hung upon the lazy wings of a south wind, when an armed party rode
+through the deep forest of Auvillers, a part of the ancient Ardennes.
+Road, properly so called, there was none; but yet the way, though
+somewhat difficult to find for those not accustomed to all the
+intricacies of the wood, was not difficult to travel; for no care had
+been taken to plant new trees where old ones had fallen by the stroke
+of Time or the axe; all had been left to nature; and thus amidst the
+thick copses and the tall groves of old trees, wide open spaces and
+long uncovered tracts had spread here and there, over which the soft
+turf afforded pleasant footing for man or beast. True, the whole
+district was rocky and mountainous, and without a guide, the wanderer
+might have found it a wearisome journey in a sultry day, having to
+climb a high hill in one place, or wind in and out to avoid the long
+projecting cliffs of slaty stone in another. But for one directed by
+any persons well acquainted with the track, the journey was far more
+easy; and by choosing the proper breaks in the forest, and the long
+spaces which lay midway up the hills, he might ride along for many
+miles, without having to ascend any mountain, or deviate very greatly
+from a straight course, on account either of the wood or of the rocks.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such was the course followed by the party of which I speak, under the
+direction of a tall powerful man, clothed from head to heel in steel;
+for those were not times, nor was that a part of the country in which
+men of rank and station could travel in safety without being armed in
+proof. Waleran de St. Paul, indeed, might better have risked his life
+with scanty arms and few attendants, than any other noble of the day,
+in that district, for he was well known and generally beloved by the
+lesser lords around; and his redoubted name rendered it a somewhat
+fearful task to strive with him, even if taken unprepared; but it
+would still have been a hazardous experiment, for in those remote and
+uncultivated tracts, bordering upon several great states, and very
+uncertain in their attachment to any, numerous bands of wild and
+lawless men took refuge, and, secure from the arm of justice, lived a
+life of plunder and oppression, only varied by the mimic warfare of
+the chase. None of the great nobles in the vicinity--generally engaged
+in the civil strifes and incessant broils of their own countries--had
+time to suppress them, even if they had the inclination. But it may
+well be doubted whether they felt at all disposed to put down, with
+the strong hand, the troops of roving plunderers which at that time
+infested the great forests that stretched along the banks of the Meuse
+and the Moselle; for in those very bands they frequently found a sort
+of dépôt for brave and determined followers, from which their forces
+might at any moment be recruited for a short space of time. It is,
+moreover, whispered that in many instances, the more civilized and
+polite of the powerful barons round were accustomed to exact a certain
+share of the plunder from their marauding neighbours, as the price of
+toleration; and the inferior lords sometimes shared the peril as well
+as the spoil; and received as welcome guests into their strong castles
+the leaders of the freebooters, when any accidental reverse of fortune
+rendered the green wood no longer a secure abode.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such was the state of the land through which now rode the Lord of St.
+Paul, still holding the sword, if not the office of Constable of
+France, with Richard of Woodville by his side, and a train of about
+forty men-at-arms behind them; so that all peril from their somewhat
+covetous neighbours of the Ardennes was unthought of by either; and
+the beauty of the scene, the heat of the day, their approaching
+meeting with the young Count of Charolois, the state of France, and
+the probability of speedy deeds of arms, were the subjects of the
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The landscapes, indeed, were most lovely as they proceeded. Beneath,
+upon the left, sloped down the hill side, here and there covered with
+green wood, here and there broken with wild and rugged rocks; but
+everywhere so much below them, that the eye could generally catch the
+shining course of the Meuse, wandering on with a thousand sinuosities,
+and could then roam at large over the wide and varied country on the
+other side, sometimes reaching distant towns and cities many leagues
+away, sometimes checked by a bold mountain near at hand. Above rose
+the hills with their woody garmenture, from which would often start
+out a high grey cliff of cold slaty stone, sheer up and perpendicular
+as a wall; or at other times would rise a conical peak, smooth at the
+sides, or broken into points; and, through many of the gorges that
+they passed, perched upon isolated hills that seemed inaccessible,
+were seen the towers and walls of some stern feudal fortress, frowning
+down the valley, as if prognosticating woe to the traveller who
+ventured there alone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of each of these castles the Lord of St. Paul had some tale or
+anecdote; and he kindly strove to amuse the mind of his young
+companion by the way; but though Woodville listened with all due
+courtesy, ay, and admired the beauty of the land, and answered with a
+calm and ready mind, yet it was evident his cheerful gaiety was gone,
+at least for the time, and that his thoughts were pre-occupied by
+sadder themes, which only spared his attention for a moment, to reply
+to the words addressed to him, and then recalled it immediately to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You seem sad, sir knight,&quot; said the Lord of St. Paul, at length; &quot;I
+trust that with the letters from the noble Count, which seemed to me
+full of all joyance, you received no evil tidings?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Tidings most strange, my redoubted lord,&quot;<a name="div4Ref_10" href="#div4_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> replied Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;for while the Count speaks cheerfully of having removed
+all cause of difference between myself and a noble gentleman, Sir John
+Grey, on whom my best hopes depend, letters from that knight himself
+are filled with reproaches undeserved by me, and refuse all
+explanation or argument.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is strange, indeed,&quot; said the Count; &quot;what are the dates? One
+may have been written earlier than the other.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The dates are the same,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville, &quot;and the
+letters of Sir John Grey, coming by the same messenger as those of the
+Count, might easily have been stopped, had the explanation been given
+after they were written. It is a dark and misty life we lead in this
+world; and still, when we think all is clear and bright, as I did when
+I returned from Lille to Ghent, some thick vapour spreads over the
+whole, concealing it from our eyes, like the cloud now rolling round
+the brow of the castle on that high rocky steep.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We shall have rain,&quot; remarked the Lord of St. Paul, &quot;and when it does
+begin, it will prove a torrent. Here, old Carloman,&quot; he continued,
+turning to one of his men-at-arms, &quot;what does that cloud mean? and
+where can we best wait for the noble prince, the Count of Charolois,
+who is to meet us at the Mill Bridge?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The cloud means a heavy storm, my lord,&quot; replied the old man, riding
+forward. &quot;Do you not see how the earth gapes for it? But it will not
+be able to swallow all that will come down, I think. We have not had a
+drop of rain these two months, and very little dew, so that everything
+is as parched as pulse. Then, as to waiting for the prince, the
+meadows by the river would be the best place, if it were not for that
+cloud.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, we mind not a little rain,&quot; answered the Count of St. Paul;
+&quot;'twill but make the armourers' fingers ache to take off the rust
+to-night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, 'tis not the rain I am thinking of,&quot; said the old man; &quot;but the
+meadows are no safe resting-place, when there are storms above there.
+The water gathers in the gulleys, and comes down into the Sormonne,
+till the old fool can hold no more, and then the whole valley is
+covered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, but if that be the case, we can easily gallop up higher,&quot; replied
+the Count. &quot;There is no shame in running away from a torrent, old
+Carloman. 'Tis not like turning one's back on the foe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith that is a foe that gallops quicker than you can,&quot; answered the
+man-at-arms. &quot;The meadow is so narrow, and the bank so high, that you
+cannot cut across; so you had better stop above, in what we call the
+Rock Castle, where you can see the country below, and the Mill Bridge
+and all, without getting in the way of the water. The old Sormonne is
+a lion, I can tell you, when he is angry; and nothing makes him so
+fierce as a storm in the hills.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, be it so,&quot; answered his lord; &quot;you shall be our governor, good
+Carloman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then keep up higher, dread sir,&quot; replied the man-at-arms. &quot;See,&quot; he
+added, as they passed a little brook that was running down a narrow
+ravine, all troubled and red, &quot;it has begun farther to the east
+already; and it is coming against the wind. That is a sign that it
+will be furious, though not long-lived.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count and his party rode on, somewhat quickening their pace; and
+though they heard occasionally a distant roar, showing that there was
+thunder somewhere, no lightning was seen, and the wind still continued
+blowing faintly from the south-west. The clouds, however, crept over
+the sky, approaching the sun with their hard leaden edges, and to the
+north and east, covering the whole expanse with a deep black wall,
+broken and rugged at its summit, as if higher hills and rocks of slate
+and marble were rising from the bosom of the mountain scene into the
+heavens above. Over the deep curtain of vapour, indeed, here and there
+floated detached, some small paler clouds; and others seemed hurrying
+up from the south, where all had been hitherto clear, as if drawn
+by some irresistible power towards the adamant-like mass in the
+north-east. From one of these as they passed over-head, a few heavy
+drops fell, but then ceased; and still the sun shone out, as if in
+scorn of the black enemy that rose towering towards him. A deep
+stillness, however, fell upon the scene. There is generally in the
+risen day an unmarked but all pervading sound of busy life, composed
+of many different noises mingled in the air. According to the season
+of the year and hour, it varies of course. Sometimes it is full of the
+song of birds, the voices of the cattle, the hum of insects, the rush
+of streams, the whispering of the wind, the rustle of the trees, and a
+thousand other undistinguished sounds to which the ear pays no heed.
+But when they all or most of them cease, it is strange how we miss the
+murmur of creation--what a want, what a vacancy there seems! So was it
+now; and, turning to Richard of Woodville, the Lord of St. Paul
+remarked, &quot;How silent everything has become!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is generally so before a thunderstorm,&quot; answered the young knight.
+&quot;In my country, we judge whether it will be merely rain or something
+more by the conduct of the cattle. If after a drought we are going to
+have refreshing showers, the sheep and oxen seem to hail it with their
+voices; but if there be lightning coming, everything is silent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Almost immediately after he had spoken, there was a bright flash, not
+very near, but dazzling; and some drops fell, while the thunder
+followed at a long interval. Spurring on, they rode forward for about
+two miles farther; and as they went, every little gorge and hollow way
+had its minor torrent coming down thick and turbulent, though the
+rain, where the Count and his party were, had not become violent,
+pattering slowly upon their arms and housings, and spotting the sleek
+coats of the horses with marks like damascene work. The river, which
+they were now approaching nearer, might be seen swelling and foaming
+in its bed, its crowded waters curling in miniature whirlpools along
+the edge, and rising higher and higher up the bank, as the innumerable
+tributaries from the mountains poured down continual accessions to the
+flood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At length the old man-at-arms exclaimed, &quot;To the right, my lord,&quot; and
+passing through a narrow opening between the great belt of wood, and a
+small detached portion that ran farther down the hill, they entered a
+sort of natural amphitheatre crowned with old pines, and carpeted at
+the bottom of the crags with soft green turf spread over the rugged
+and undulating surface of ground. Numerous immense masses of rock,
+however, detached from the hills above, and rolled down in times long
+passed, started out from the greensward bare and grey; and here and
+there would rise up a group of old oaks or beeches, while on the stony
+fragments themselves was often perched an ash or a fir, like a plume
+in the helmet of a knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In front of this amphitheatre the trees sloped away both to the right
+and left, leaving a wide open space gradually descending the hill, so
+that from most parts of the Castle of Rocks, as it was called, a
+considerable portion of the course of the Sormonne might be seen, the
+nearest point being somewhat less distant than a quarter of a mile.
+Directly in front was a double wooden bridge spanning over the stream,
+which was there divided by a low island of very small extent, which
+served but as a resting-place for the piles of the two bridges, and
+for a mill, which gave the name to that particular spot. Beyond, on
+the opposite side of the water, was an undulating plain of several
+miles in extent, bounded by hills all round, but open to the eye of
+St. Paul and his party as they stood in the midst of the amphitheatre.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is not this the best place now, my lord?&quot; asked old Carloman. &quot;You
+can not only see here, but you can find shelter, and need not get your
+arms rusted, or your horses wet, unless you like. There, under the
+cliff where it hangs over, you can post two-thirds of the men; and as
+the storm comes the other way, not a drop will reach them. Then, as
+for the rest, they can get under this rock in front, where they will
+be quite dry, if they keep close.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will stay here,&quot; replied the Count of St. Paul. &quot;You lodge the
+others, Carloman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will keep you company, my lord,&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;and if
+we dismount, we shall be better able to shelter the horses.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such was the plan followed; and all the troop, men and horses, were
+under shelter before the storm became violent. Nor, indeed, did the
+thunder ever reach that grand and terrible height which it frequently
+does attain in wood-covered mountains: the rain seemed to drown it;
+but the deluge which soon fell from the sky was tremendous. In long
+lines of black and grey it poured straight down, mingled with hail and
+every now and then crossed by the faint glare of the lightning. The
+distant country was hidden by the misty veil, and even the nearer
+scene of the bridge and the mill, the only dwelling in the
+neighbourhood, grew indistinct.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Lord of St. Paul and Richard of Woodville endeavoured in vain to
+descry the plain on the opposite side of the river, in expectation of
+seeing the train of the Count of Charolois coming from the side of
+Avesnes. Nothing could they distinguish beyond a hundred yards from
+the opposite bank; and they mutually expressed a hope that the prince
+might have been delayed in the more cultivated country to the west,
+where he would find shelter from the storm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He cannot surely be already in the mill?&quot; said the Count: &quot;there seem
+a great many people at that casement looking up the stream. How many
+men did he say he would bring, Sir Richard?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Two hundred horse,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;he cannot be
+there, my good lord; yet there seems a number of heads too. Good
+heaven! how the stream is rising! 'Tis nearly up to the road-way of
+the bridge.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It will be higher than that before it is done, sir knight,&quot; observed
+one of the men-at-arms. &quot;I have seen the bridge carried away twice
+since I was a boy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here comes a boat down the stream,&quot; said Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, we passed one a little way further up,&quot; replied the same man who
+had spoken before; &quot;it has broken away, I dare say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is not a boat,&quot; exclaimed the Lord of St. Paul, after gazing for
+a moment; &quot;it is the thatch of a cottage. Heaven have mercy upon the
+poor people!&quot; and lifting the cross of his sword to his lips, he
+kissed it, and muttered a prayer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the same moment a number of men, some evidently of inferior rank,
+and some in garbs which betokened higher station, ran out of the mill;
+and Woodville could then perceive that, almost close to the door,
+between the building and the bridge, the water had risen over the low
+shore of the islet, so as to be up to the knees of those who came
+forth. He fancied at first that they were about to make their escape
+over the bridge; but he saw that several of them were armed with long
+poles; and turning to the man-at arms, who seemed well acquainted with
+the country, he inquired what they were about to do.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To draw the broken cottage-roof to the shore, sir knight, I suppose,&quot;
+replied the other, &quot;lest it should damage the bridge.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;See, there comes down a bull!&quot; cried the Count; &quot;how furiously he
+struggles with the stream.--Ha! they have caught the roof with their
+hooks. They have got it--no!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They had indeed obtained for a moment some hold upon the heavy mass of
+timber and straw that came rushing down, and were dragging it towards
+the little island; but the stream was increasing so rapidly, and
+pouring such a body of water upon the land where they stood, that one
+of the men slipped, and let go his pole, glad enough to be dragged out
+of the eddy by those behind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The roof at the same moment swang round and disengaged itself. The
+bull, still struggling with the torrent, was dashed against the bridge
+and recoiled. The heavy mass of thatch and wood-work was borne forward
+upon him with the full force of the stream, and crushed him between
+itself and the piers. A shrill and horrible cry--something between a
+roar and a scream, burst from amidst the fierce rushing sound of the
+overwhelming waters; the whole mass of the floating roof was cast
+furiously upon the weaker part of the bridge in the centre, already
+shaken by the torrent; and with an awful crash the whole structure
+gave way, and was borne in fragments down the stream.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The flood has reached the mill,&quot; said the Count of St. Paul, turning
+to the man-at-arms; &quot;is there no danger of its being carried away,
+too?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The miller would tell you, none, my dreaded lord,&quot; replied the
+soldier; &quot;but every day is not like to-day; and what has happened once
+may happen again. He always says there is no danger, since he put up
+an image of the blessed Virgin over the door; but I recollect when I
+was a little boy, and lived at Givet, that island was six feet under
+water, and where there was a mill in the morning, you could row over
+in a boat at night. They were all drowned, this man's uncle and all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why are you stripping off your casque and camail, Sir Richard?&quot; asked
+the Count.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Because I imagine they may soon want help, my good lord,&quot; replied the
+young knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Madness!&quot; cried the Lord of St. Paul; &quot;no man could swim such a
+torrent as that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do not know that, noble sir,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;we
+are great swimmers in my country, and accustomed to buffet with the
+waves. But there is a boat higher up. I will first try that, and if
+that sinks, swimming must serve me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will not suffer it!&quot; exclaimed the Count; &quot;neither boat nor man
+could live in such a rushing torrent as that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Indeed, my good lord, you must,&quot; replied the young knight, gravely.
+&quot;My life is of no great value to myself, or any one, now; and, though
+I know not who these good folks are, they shall not be lost before my
+eyes, without an effort on my part to deliver them. See, see!&quot; he
+cried, &quot;some one waves to us from the window!&quot; and, casting off his
+corslet, and all his heavy armour, he was hurrying down. But the Count
+caught him by the arm with a glowing cheek, saying, &quot;Stay, stay, yet a
+little. They are in no danger yet. The stream may not rise higher.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But if it does, they are lost,&quot; answered Woodville, gently
+disengaging his arm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then I will go with you,&quot; said the Count.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no, my lord!&quot; replied the young knight; &quot;you would but fill the
+boat, which is small enough. One man is better than a thousand there.
+If I die, divide my goods amongst my men--send my ring to my sweet
+lady; and farewell.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he sped on to the very brink of the water, which, instead
+of decreasing, was still rising rapidly. There, he tried to make the
+people of the mill hear him, and they shouted from the casement in
+reply, but the roaring of the torrent drowned their words; and
+hurrying up to the spot where he had seen the boat moored, he found
+it, now far out from the actual brink of the stream, swaying backwards
+and forwards with the eddies. The top of the post, to which it was
+attached by a chain, and which, an hour before, had been some yards on
+shore, was now just visible above the rushing waters; but, wading in,
+the young knight caught the chain, and drew the boat to him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was luckily flat, and somewhat heavy in its build; so that he
+managed to get in without upsetting it, but not without difficulty.
+The only implements, however, which he found to guide its course, were
+one paddle and a large pole with an iron hook, such as he had seen in
+the hands of the people of the mill. But he had no hesitation,--no
+fear; and, throwing loose the chain, he guided the boat into the
+middle of the stream, where, though the current was stronger, the
+eddies were less frequent. There it was borne forward with terrible
+rapidity towards what had been the island, but was no longer to be
+distinguished from the rest of the stream but by the foaming ripple on
+either side, and the mill rising in the midst.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bank of the river, on the eastern side, was crowded by his own
+attendants and the followers of the Count of St. Paul; the windows of
+the mill, and a little railed platform above the wheel, showed a
+multitude of anxious faces. No one spoke--no one moved, however, but
+two stout Englishmen, who were seen upon the shore, stripping off
+their arms and clothing; while the timbers of the mill, and the posts
+and stanchions of the platform, quivered and shook with the roaring
+tide as it whirled, red and furious, past them, lingering in a curling
+vortex round, as if unwilling to dash on without carrying every
+obstacle along with it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville raised not his eyes to look at those who hung
+between death and life; he turned not to gaze at his companions on the
+shore: he knew that every energy, every thought was wanted to
+accomplish the great object; and, if he suffered his mind to stray,
+for even a single instant to other things, it was but to think, &quot;I
+will show those who have belied me that I can risk life, even for
+beings I do not know!&quot; His eyes were fixed upon one spot, where the
+boiling of the tide evinced that the ground came near the surface; and
+there, he determined first to check the furious speed at which he was
+hurried down the stream. A little farther on, were the strong
+standards and braces of a mill of those days; and he thought that, if
+he could break the first rush of the boat at the shallow, he should be
+able more easily to bring her up under the casements and the platform.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now guiding with the paddle, now starting up to hold the boat-pike, he
+came headlong towards the shoal; but, fending off till the speed of
+the boat was checked, and she swung round with the torrent and drifted
+more slowly on, he caught at the thick uprights of the mill with the
+hook--missed the first--grappled the second; and, though almost thrown
+over with the shock, held fast till the boat swung heavily round, and
+struck with her broadside against the building. A rope was instantly
+thrown from above; and, tying it fast through a ring, which was to be
+found in the bow of all boats in those days, he relaxed his hold of
+the woodwork, and the skiff floated farther round.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then first he looked up; and then first a feeling of deadly terror
+took possession of him. His cheek grew pale; his lips turned white;
+and, stretching out his arms, he exclaimed, &quot;Oh, Mary!--oh, my
+beloved! is it you on whom such peril has fallen?--Quick, quick!&quot; he
+continued, &quot;lose not a moment. The stream is coming down more and more
+strong--the building cannot stand. Bear her down quick, Sir John.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Poo! the building will stand well enough,&quot; said a man, in a rude
+jargon of the French tongue. &quot;'Tis but that people are afraid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fool!&quot; cried Richard of Woodville, who saw the timbers quivering as
+if shaken by mortal agony: &quot;if you would save your life, come down
+with the rest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not I,&quot; answered the miller, with a laugh; &quot;I have seen as bad floods
+before now. Here, lady, here--set a foot upon the wheel; it is made
+fast, and cannot move. Catch her, young gentleman:--nay, not so far,
+or you will upset the boat--that will do,--there she is;&quot; and Richard
+of Woodville, receiving Mary Grey in his arms, seated her in the stern
+of the boat, and again advanced to aid her women and the old knight in
+descending. Two fair young girls, a young clerk in a black gown, and
+three armed servants formed the train, and they were the first to take
+refuge in the boat, leaving their horses behind them. There were three
+other men remained above, and laughed lightly at the thought of
+danger; but one young lad, of fifteen years of age, though he too said
+he would stay, bore a white cheek and a wandering eye.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Send down the boy, at least,&quot; cried Richard of Woodville to the
+miller; &quot;though you may be fool-hardy, there is no need to sacrifice
+his life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Go, go, Edmé,&quot; said the miller; &quot;you are as well there as here. You
+can do us no good.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The boy hesitated; but the increasing force of water made the mill
+tremble more violently than ever; and, hurrying on, he sprang into the
+boat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Every one down and motionless!&quot; cried Richard of Woodville, without
+exchanging even a word with those who were most dear; and, casting off
+the rope, he steered as well as the paddle would permit towards the
+bank. But, hurried rapidly forward down the stream, with scarcely any
+power of direction, he saw that the frail bark must pass the ruined
+bridge. It was a moment of terrible anxiety, for the eddies showed
+that the foundations of the piers were left beneath the waters. By
+impulse, the instinct of great peril, he guided the boat over the most
+violent gush of the stream, between two of the half-checked
+whirlpools; and she shot clear down, falling into another vortex
+below, which carried her completely round twice; and then, broken by
+the blade of the paddle, let her float away into the stream.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The whole band of the Count of St. Paul were running down by the side
+of the river; and, as the course of the skiff became more steady,
+Richard of Woodville turned his eyes towards them. They had got what
+seemed a rope in their hands; and, ever and anon, one of his own
+archers held it up, and made signs, as if he would have thrown it, had
+they been nearer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Some one be ready to catch the rope!&quot; cried Woodville, &quot;I cannot quit
+the steering;&quot; and he guided the boat gently and gradually towards the
+shore. The young clerk sprang at once into the bow; the women sat
+still in breathless expectation. Sir John Grey advanced slowly and
+steadily to aid the youth; and when, at the distance of a few yards, a
+band, formed of the sword-belts of the troop tightly tied together,
+was thrown on board, the young man and the old knight caught it, but
+were pulled down by the shock. Some of the others aided to hold it
+fast; but, in spite of all Woodville's efforts, the boat swung round,
+struck the rocky shore violently, and began to fill.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There were now many to aid, however: one after another was supported
+to the land; and Richard of Woodville springing out the last, caught
+his sweet Mary to his heart, and blessed the God of all mercies for
+her preservation in that hour of peril.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he did so, a faint and distant cry, and a rushing sound,
+different--very different, either from the roar of the stream or the
+growling of the thunder, caught the ear. All turned round towards the
+mill, and gazed. It was gone!--a black mass floated on the tide,
+struck against the sunken piers of the fallen bridge, obstructed for a
+moment the torrent which instantly poured over it in a white cataract,
+and then, broken into innumerable fragments, rushed past, darkening
+the red waters. Woodville ran to the brink, and gazed; but no trace of
+the rash men who had chosen to remain appeared, and their bodies were
+not found for many days, when they floated to the shore far down the
+then subsided stream.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_34" href="#div1Ref_34">THE RECOMPENCE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Oh, what a moment it was when, after seeing the wreck of the mill
+drift by, Richard of Woodville again held Mary Grey to his heart! He
+cared not who witnessed his emotions, he thought not of the crowd
+around, he thought not of her father's presence, or of the letter he
+had received on the preceding night. All he remembered, all he felt,
+was, that she was saved; and the knowledge of the dreadful death that
+had just overtaken those who had perished by their own obstinacy,
+added to the joy of that overpowering feeling, notwithstanding the
+horror of their fate.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Bearing her rather than leading her, her lover brought Mary to the
+shelter of the trees; for though the storm had somewhat abated, the
+rain was still coming down heavily; and there, while the tears poured
+fast from her beautiful eyes, one or two of the stout English archers,
+who had known her well at Dunbury, came quietly up and kissed her
+hand. The Count of St. Paul and his men stood looking on; Sir John
+Grey gazed upon the lover and the lady with a silent smile; and they
+themselves spoke not for many minutes, so intense were the emotions of
+their hearts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At length, however, after a few low words of explanation with the
+Count of St. Paul, the old knight advanced to Woodville's side and
+took his hand, saying, &quot;What, not a word to me, Richard?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight put his hand to his brow, and gazed at Mary's father
+in surprise, so different seemed his tone from that of the letter he
+had received.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The surprise of seeing you here, noble knight,&quot; he answered, in a
+confused manner; &quot;the joy of having been brought, as it were, by
+Heaven's own hand to save this dear lady, when I least expected to
+meet with her--all confounds me and takes away my words.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Surprise at seeing us!&quot; repeated Sir John Grey, in a tone of
+astonishment. &quot;When you least expected to meet with her!--Have you not
+received my letter by the post of the Count of Charolois?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;One letter, sir knight, I did receive,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;but it
+gave me no thought that I should see you here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight gazed at him for an instant, with a look that seemed
+expressive of doubt as well as wonder. &quot;Here is some mistake,&quot; he
+said. &quot;I trust, my young friend, this catastrophe has not shaken your
+brain. But one letter have I written, and therein I besought you to
+meet us at Givet or at Dinant.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville replied not, but beckoned to his page; and when
+the boy hurried up, took from him the gibecière which hung over his
+shoulder. With a hand hasty and agitated, he unfastened the three
+buttons and loops which closed it, and drew forth a paper, which in
+silence he placed in the hands of Sir John Grey.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight took it, gazed on the superscription, examined the seal,
+and then turned to the contents; but instantly exclaimed, as he read,
+&quot;This is not mine! This is a fraud! I never wrote these words. The
+outside is from my hand; the seal, too, is seemingly my own; but not
+one of these harsh terms did I indite.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then I thank God!&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, grasping his hand
+eagerly. &quot;Nay, more, I thank the man who wrote it, though it may seem
+strange, noble knight. But perchance, had it not been for this and the
+despair it brought with it, I might have listened to the kind friends
+who would fain have persuaded me not to risk my life, or, as they
+thought, to lose it, for men who were strangers to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What, then,&quot; cried Mary, rising from the ground on which she had been
+seated, &quot;did you not recognise us?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I knew not when I left the shore,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville,
+&quot;that there was one being on that miserable islet, whom I had ever
+beheld before. I merit no guerdon, dear one, for saving you, for I
+knew not what I did.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A thousand and a thousand thanks, Richard,&quot; she answered, laying her
+fair hand upon his arm; &quot;and far more thanks do I give you, than if
+you had perilled more to save me knowingly; for by such a deed, done
+for a mere stranger, you show my father that his child has not spoken
+of you falsely.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, dear Mary, I doubt it not,&quot; replied Sir John Grey; &quot;by calumny
+and malice, all men may be for a time misled; but henceforth, my
+child, no one shall do him better justice than myself. You judged from
+acts that you had often seen and known; I had none such to judge by.
+But should he need defence hereafter, let him appeal to me. This must
+seem strange to you, my good lord,&quot; he continued, turning to the Count
+of St. Paul; &quot;but we will explain it all hereafter. All, at least,
+that we can explain--for here is something that we must inquire into
+as best we may. This letter has been forged for some base end; but by
+whom, or for what, remains a mystery, though perhaps we may all
+suspect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Everything else seems clear enough,&quot; said the Count, with a smile;
+&quot;though I understand but half you have said, yet I guess well, here
+has been love, and, as so often happens with love, love's traverses;
+and, in the end, the happy meed which attends due knightly service to
+a fair lady. As soon as my noble cousin appears, though by my faith he
+is somewhat long in coming--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I see his train, my lord, or I am blind,&quot; said the old man-at-arms,
+called Carloman. &quot;Do you not perceive a long black line winding on
+there down from the hills, near a league distant, like a lean
+serpent?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No very sweet comparison for a Prince's train,&quot; exclaimed the Count
+of St. Paul, laughing; &quot;but faith, I see it not. Ah--yes--I catch it
+now. 'Tis he, 'tis doubtless he. Then when he comes, sir knight, we
+will on to Charleville, where, having dried our dripping clothes, we
+will tell the tale of this day's adventure over a pleasant meal: and
+will inquire how this deceit has taken place. Has yon young novice
+nought to do with it?&quot; he continued, dropping his voice; &quot;he holds
+aloof; and though he seems to murmur something to his rosary from time
+to time, yet, good faith, I put but small trust in the honesty of
+mumbling friars.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no,&quot; replied Mary Grey, with a smile, &quot;I will answer for him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, ha!&quot; cried the Count, laughing loud, with the rude jocularity of
+the day, &quot;look to your lady, Sir Richard, or you may lose her yet. She
+answers for the honesty of a monk! By my fay, sweet lady, I would
+rather beard John the Bold in his house at Dijon, than do so rash a
+thing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But I can answer for him, too,&quot; replied Sir John Grey, gravely; &quot;for,
+though he be now my clerk, he was not with me there, and so had no
+occasion to deceive me, even had he been disposed. But yonder,
+assuredly, comes the Count. I can see banners and pennons through the
+dim shower; but how we are to journey on with you to Charleville I
+hardly know, my good lord: for all but what we have brought in our
+pouches--horses and clothes and arms, and many a trinket, have gone
+down in that poor mill.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I saw no horses in the stream,&quot; said Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They were in the court on the other side,&quot; replied one of Sir John
+Grey's men; &quot;and it had a stone wall. The water was up to the girths
+when we got into the second story, and I saw my poor beast, with
+bended head and open nostrils, snuffing the tide as it rose whirling
+round him. He soon drowned, I fear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis but a league to Charleville, or not much more,&quot; said the Count,
+answering the English knight; &quot;we will dismount some of our men, and
+make a litter for the lady and her maidens. Hark ye, Peterkin, ride
+back like light to the castle. In the Florence chamber you will find
+store of your lady's gear. My good wife is not here, sir knight; but
+she has left much of her apparel behind, which, though she be somewhat
+fatter than this fair dame, God wot, will serve to clothe her for the
+nonce. Ride away fast, boy; bring it to Charleville, and lose no time.
+Now to build a litter. Lances may serve for more purposes than one;
+and green boughs be curtains as well as canopies. Quick, my men,
+quick; let us see if ye be dexterous at such trades.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In about half an hour an advanced party of the Count of Charolois'
+band approached the bank of the river; but it was still so swollen,
+that though the Count of St. Paul and the two English knights went
+down as far as they could, and the rain by this time had well nigh
+ceased, the distance across, and the roaring of the stream, prevented
+their voices from being heard at the other side. While they were still
+striving to make the men comprehend that the bridge had been carried
+away, and that they must ride farther down the river, the young Count
+himself and the Lord of Croy, with a number of other knights and
+noblemen, appeared; and by signs, as words were vain, the Lord of St.
+Paul explained his meaning to them. He himself with his own party
+waited for about a quarter of an hour longer, till the hasty litter
+was prepared for Mary Grey; and then, with some on foot, and some on
+horseback, they moved on towards the point of rendezvous at
+Charleville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a happy evening that which they passed in Charleville, for
+there is nought which so heightens the zest of pleasure as remembered
+pain; nought that so brightens the sense of security as danger past.
+All was bustle and confusion in the little town, which was not then
+fortified; every inn was full, every house was occupied; but it was
+willing bustle and gay confusion. From one hostel to another, parties
+were going every moment, and the door of that at which the young Count
+of Charolois had taken up his quarters, was besieged both by the
+townspeople and his own friends and followers. The tale of the swollen
+torrent, and the mill swept away, was told to the noble Prince by the
+Lord of St. Paul and Sir John Grey; and when Richard of Woodville, who
+had lingered a little with Mary Grey, appeared, the Count grasped his
+hand with a generous warmth, which was very winning in one so high,
+calling him frequently his friend; and then turning to Sir John Grey,
+he demanded, &quot;Said I not, noble knight, of what stuff he was made?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You did him but justice, my good lord,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;and I do
+him full justice now. Well has he won his lady's hand, and he shall
+have it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come!&quot; cried the Prince, starting up; &quot;I will go offer her my homage,
+too. But why should we not see the wedding ere we part, Sir John?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay, my lord,&quot; answered the English knight; &quot;I have grown proud
+with restored prosperity; and my child must go to the altar in my own
+land, and with my own old followers round me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oh, slow age, how tardy is it to yield to the eager haste of youth!
+But Sir John Grey added words still less pleasant to the ear of
+Richard of Woodville. &quot;When I return from the Court of the Emperor, my
+noble Prince,&quot; he continued, &quot;I speed back at once to Westminster. I
+trust that your expedition will then be over; and Sir Richard here may
+follow me with all speed. Once there, I will not make him wait.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such was the first intimation Woodville had received of the course
+that lay before him and Sir John Grey; for the previous moments had
+passed in words of tenderness with her he loved, and in long, but not
+uninteresting, explanations with her father. He had hoped that their
+paths would lie together; and, without inquiring what motive should
+carry Sir John Grey with the Count of Charolois into the Duchy of
+Burgundy, he had arrived at the conclusion, that the knight's steps
+were bent thither as well as his own. It was a bitter disappointment,
+for imagination in such cases is ever the handmaid of hope; and
+Richard of Woodville had fancied that, in the course of the long
+expedition before them, many an opportunity must occur for urging upon
+Sir John Grey his petition for Mary's hand. Now, however, they were
+again about to be separated, with wide lands between them, and with
+the certainty of months, perhaps years, elapsing ere they met again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It is strange, it is very strange, and scarcely to be accounted for,
+that people advanced in life, and experienced in the uncertainty of
+all life's things, seem to have a confidence in the future which the
+young do not possess. They delay, they put off without fear or
+apprehension; they calculate as if with certainty upon the time to
+come; while eager youth, on the contrary, at the very name of
+procrastination conjures up every difficulty and obstacle, every
+change and chance, not alone within the range of probability, but
+within the reach of fate. Perhaps it is, that the old have acquired a
+juster appreciation of all mortal joy; perhaps it is, that the keen
+edge of anticipation being dulled in themselves, they cannot
+comprehend the impatience of others: that, knowing how little any
+earthly gratification is really worth, they think it but a small
+matter, not meriting much thought, whether the hand of the future
+snatches the desired object from us or not, whether the butterfly,
+enjoyment, be caught by the boy that chases it, or escape.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So it is, however: Sir John Grey seemed not even to understand or to
+perceive the pain he was inflicting upon the lover; and, as Woodville
+knew that it would be of no use to argue, he made up his mind to enjoy
+the present as much as might be, and then with Mary's love for his
+guidance and encouragement, to seek honour and advancement in the
+fields before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After a few more words he accompanied the Count of Charolois, with the
+principal nobles of his train and Sir John Grey, to the hostel where
+the English knight had taken up his abode; but, as they entered, the
+eyes of Richard of Woodville fell upon the figure of a poor
+disconsolate looking boy, who stood near, with his arms folded on his
+chest, and his eyes bent down upon the ground, without being once
+lifted to the gay and glittering group that was passing in; and
+pointing him out to the Lord of St. Paul, the young knight said, &quot;He
+was one of those saved from the mill, my lord; and, if I mistake not,
+he is of kin to some of the men who perished.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Come hither, boy,&quot; said the Constable; &quot;who art thou?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am Edmé Mark, my lord,&quot; replied the boy, looking up with tearful
+eyes; &quot;and all my friends are dead.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then are you the miller's son?&quot; inquired the Lord of St. Paul.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, sir, his nephew,&quot; the boy answered, in the jargon of his country.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Faith, then, we must do something for you,&quot; rejoined the nobleman.
+&quot;Will you ride with me and be my <i>coustelier</i>, or with that knight?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I would rather go with him,&quot; cried the boy, pointing to the young
+Englishman, &quot;for he saved my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, then, take him with you, Sir Richard,&quot; said the Lord of St.
+Paul. &quot;You want to swell your band.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Good faith, I have need, my lord,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville;
+&quot;for the three men I left behind me when I came from Ghent, have never
+rejoined me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I saw some Englishmen with the Count's train in the court of his
+hostel,&quot; replied the Lord of St. Paul. &quot;I knew them by their flat
+cuirasses, and their long arrows.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, I marked them not,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;but I will go
+and see.--Come hither with me, boy,&quot; he continued; and, followed by
+the lad, he retrod his steps in haste to the inn where he had found
+the Count. In the court he saw nothing but Flemings and Burgundians;
+but in the stables, tending their horses, he found the three men whom
+he sought, and who now informed him, in the brief and scanty words of
+the English peasant, that they had escorted Ella Brune to Bruges, and
+there had left her, she having assured them that she was safe, and
+required their protection no farther. They had then immediately
+returned to Ghent; for they had never received the written order which
+their leader had sent to them; and, having obtained speech of the
+Count of Charolois, had accompanied him on his expedition, according
+to his commands. Richard of Woodville mused over this intelligence for
+some minutes; and then, after placing the boy Edmé in their hands,
+with orders to take care of him, he hurried back to her he loved.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For three or four days Sir John Grey took advantage of the escort of
+the Count of Charolois, on his journey towards the Imperial Court,
+purchasing horses and clothing where he could find them, to supply the
+place of those lost in the torrent. During that time, as may be
+supposed, Richard of Woodville was constantly by Mary's side, and it
+passed happily to both: nor did any incident occur worthy of record
+here, till they reached the town of Bar, where they were destined to
+part. The last conversation that took place between them ere they
+separated, was in regard to Ella Brune, led on by a half jesting
+question addressed to Mary by her lover, if she had really never felt
+jealousy or doubt when so many suspected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Neither, Richard,&quot; she answered. &quot;I could not suspect you; and
+besides, I had myself told that poor girl, that I would never doubt or
+be jealous; and I blamed you to her, Richard, for not taking her, when
+first she sought to go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She seems to have the gift of winning confidence, my Mary,&quot; replied
+the young knight; &quot;and a blessed gift it is.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis only gained by deserving it, Richard, and not always then,&quot;
+answered Mary Markham: &quot;but one cannot well doubt her, either. When
+one sees a clear stream flowing on abundantly, we judge that the
+source is pure; and all her thoughts gush so limpid from the heart, we
+cannot doubt that heart to be unpolluted too.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Would that we knew where she is, my Mary,&quot; said Richard of Woodville,
+thoughtfully. &quot;I fear for her much, left in the same land with that
+base villain, who has so persecuted her, and of whose dark wiles there
+seems no end.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She is safe, she is safe,&quot; exclaimed the lady; &quot;I have heard of her
+since she departed. She is safe, and with friends able and willing to
+protect her, I know; but I fear, indeed, that what you say is true in
+regard to that traitor, Simeon of Roydon. Do you doubt, Richard, that
+this forged letter from my father was some contrivance of his?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And yet,&quot; answered Woodville, &quot;we can by no means trace it to him.
+The messenger declares he brought the packet as he received it. The
+Count says he placed your father's and his own together, and gave them
+to his page, who, in turn, vows he carried them straight to the
+messenger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is strange, indeed,&quot; said Mary; &quot;but as to poor Ella, she is safe;
+and wherever I am, I will do my best to befriend her, Richard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">They were alone; and he pressed her to his heart with feelings far
+brighter, far tenderer than mere passion; for beauty is but the
+expression of excellence; and when we find the substance, oh, how much
+more deeply we love it than the picture! The fairest features that
+ever were chiselled by the hand of nature, the sweetest form that ever
+woke wild emotions in the breast, could never have produced in the
+heart of Richard of Woodville, the sensations that he then felt
+towards Mary Grey.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ere long they parted; and while she with her father wended on towards
+the Court of the Emperor--Sir John Grey, acting as a sort of precursor
+to the more splendid embassy soon after sent by Henry V.--the young
+knight followed the Count of Charolois to Dijon and Besançon, and
+aided to raise that force with which John the Bold soon after took the
+field against the rival faction of Armagnac, then all-powerful in the
+Court of France.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_35" href="#div1Ref_35">THE DISAPPOINTMENT.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Months had passed. The clang of trumpets and timbrels had sounded
+beneath the walls of Paris, from morning till well nigh vespers; and
+the clear blue country sky was glowing with the last rays of the sun
+before he set. But, still the redoubted chivalry of Burgundy, with
+glittering arms and royal pageantry, stood upon the frosty ground
+before the gates, the towers of which were crowded with armed men who
+dared not issue forth to meet their enemies in the field, less because
+they doubted their own strength--for they were treble at least in
+number--than because they knew that, within that city, the popular
+heart beat high to take part with the bold Duke John, &quot;the people's
+friend.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Faults he had many; crimes of a dark dye he had committed; the blood
+of the Duke of Orleans was fresh upon his hand; but his princely
+generosity, his daring courage, and more than all, his love of the
+Commons, a body grown everywhere already into terrible importance,
+wiped out all stains in the eyes of the citizens of Paris; and they
+longed to build up once more the fabric of his power on the ruin of
+those proud nobles, who, still in their attachment to pure feudal
+institutions, looked upon the craftsman and the merchant as little
+better than half emancipated serfs.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Long ere this period, the power of the middle classes had grown into
+an engine which might be guided, but could not be resisted without
+danger. In England, its influence had first been recognised by the
+great De Montford, who had wisely attempted to direct its young
+energies in a just and beneficial course; for which the land we live
+in--nay, perhaps the world--owes him still a deep debt of gratitude.
+Influenced by the character of the nation, its progress in this
+country was marked by slow but steady increase of strength; and it
+went on gaining fresh vigour, more from the natural result of contests
+between the various institutions which it was destined to supersede,
+than from its own efforts to extend its sphere. Rebellious nobles
+looked to it for aid; kings courted its support; usurpers submitted
+more or less their claims to its approval; and from each and all it
+obtained concessions. Seldom meeting any severe check--till in long
+after years, a fatal effort was made to raise an embankment against
+it, when it burst in a deluge over every obstacle--during the early
+period of our history it diffused itself calmly, more like the quiet
+overflowing of the fertilizing rill, than the rush and destructive
+outbreak of a pent-up torrent. But in France such was not the case,
+and for ages the struggle to resist it went on; while, partaking of
+the fierce but desultory and ungoverned activity of the people, it
+sometimes burst forth, sometimes was driven back, till at length its
+hour came, and it swept all before it, washing away the seeds of good
+and evil alike, and leaving behind a new soil for the plough,
+difficult to labour, and fertile of thorns as well as verdure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In these middle ages of which I write, few were wise enough to see the
+existence, and comprehend the inevitable course, of the great latent
+principle which was destined to take the place of every other. The
+fact--the truth--that all power is from the people, and that wisdom is
+the helm which must guide it, was a discovery of after times; and was,
+moreover, so repugnant to the spirit of the feudal system--that
+strange, but great ideal--that in the land where feudal institutions
+were most perfect, the men who owed them all, never dreamed that they
+could be swept away by the seemingly weak and homely influences which
+they were accustomed to use at their will: even as our ancestors, not
+many years ago, little imagined that the vapour which rose from the
+simmering kettle of the peasant or the mechanic, would one day waft
+navies through the ocean, and reduce space to nothing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">If there were any in that land of France who, without a foresight of
+what was to be, merely owned the existence of a great popular power,
+it was but to use it for their own purposes, ever prepared to check it
+the moment it had served their object. Some, indeed, in habits of mind
+and disposition, were of a character to win its aid by demeanour and
+conduct, and such was pre-eminently John the Bold. Strange too, to
+say, that very chivalrous spirit which characterized so many of his
+actions, won to his side a great body of the nobles without alienating
+the middle and the lower classes; but it was, that he was more the
+knight than the feudal baron--more the sovereign than the great lord.
+It must never be forgotten, in viewing the history of those times,
+that the original object of the institution of chivalry, was to
+correct the evils of the feudal system; to strike the rod from the
+hand of the oppressor, to defend the defenceless, and to right the
+wronged; and had chivalry remained in its purity, it might have
+averted long the downfall of the system with which it was linked. The
+people loved the true knight as much as they hated the feudal lord;
+and long after the decay of the order, even the affectation of its
+higher qualities both won regard from the lower classes, and excited
+the admiration of all those above them, who retained any sparks of the
+spirit which once animated it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus, the Duke of Burgundy, though surrounded by many of the highest
+in the land, and possessed of their affection in an extraordinary
+degree, was popular with the trader in his shop, and the peasant in
+his cot. Town after town had opened its gates to him as he advanced;
+and now he stood before the gates of Paris, trusting to the citizens
+to rise and give him admission. But the love with which he was
+regarded by the people was as well known to others as to himself, and
+all chance of a demonstration in his favour had been guarded against
+with the most scrupulous care. The Dauphin Duke of Aquitaine, whether
+willingly or unwillingly it is difficult to say, marched through the
+streets of the capital surrounded by the family of Orleans, and the
+partizans of Armagnac, and followed by no less than eleven thousand
+men-at-arms, exhorting the populace in every quarter, by the voice of
+a herald, to remain tranquil, and resist the suggestions of the agents
+of the Burgundian faction: &quot;and thus,&quot; says one of the historians of
+the day, &quot;they provided so well for the guard of the town, that no
+inconvenience occurred.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The walls and gates were covered with soldiery; the heralds and
+messengers of the Duke were not suffered to approach, though their
+words were peaceful; and some of the Burgundian nobles who ventured
+too near, in order to speak with those whom they thought personally
+friendly, were driven back by arrows and quarrels. Even the kings of
+arms were threatened with death if they approached within bow-shot;
+and, though one was found bold enough to fix the letters of which he
+was the bearer, on a lance before the gate of St. Anthony, and others
+contrived to obtain secret admission into the town, to distribute the
+Duke's proclamation amongst the people, and even affix copies to the
+gates of the churches and palaces, so strict was watch kept upon the
+citizens, that a rising was impossible.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Disappointed and angry, but with apparent scorn, the Duke, who had not
+sufficient forces to render an attack upon the wall successful, even
+if it had been politic to make it, withdrew to St. Denis at nightfall;
+and the menacing array disappeared from before Paris, like a pageant
+that had passed away. The leaders of the troops of Burgundy, separated
+from those of Flanders and Artois, took up their abode where they had
+been quartered in the morning, at the hostel called &quot;the Lance,&quot;
+nearly opposite to the abbey; and, while the Duke remained for several
+hours closeted with some of his oldest councillors, the Lord of Croy
+drew Richard of Woodville apart from the rest, and whispered that he
+wished to speak with him alone in his chamber.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight followed him at once; for the intimacy which had
+arisen between them at Lille, and on the road to Ghent, had ripened
+into friendship during their long expedition into Burgundy; and
+without preface, the noble Burgundian exclaimed, as soon as the door
+was closed, &quot;This will not go forward, Woodville. The Duke, bold as he
+is, will not strike a stroke against the King's capital, with the King
+therein. I see it well; and, with this enterprise, passes away my hope
+of delivering my poor boy John, who lies, as you know, a prisoner at
+Montl'herry, unless I can take some counsel for his aid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, my good lord,&quot; replied Richard, with a smile; &quot;doubtless you
+have taken counsel already, and all I can say is, that if I can aid
+you, my hand is ready. Can you not march to Montl'herry, and deliver
+him? The country is clear of men, for every one capable of bearing
+arms for the enemy, has been gathered into Paris.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have thought of it, Woodville,&quot; replied the Lord of Croy; &quot;but a
+large body moving across the country would soon call the foe forth in
+great numbers; and, moreover, my lord the Duke could ill spare so many
+men as your band and mine would carry off. But I would give my land of
+Nuranville to any one who would lead a small party to Montl'herry, and
+set free the boy, as I have planned it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ah, my lord, I thought your scheme was fixed,&quot; said the young knight,
+laughing at the circuitous manner in which his friend had announced
+his wishes. &quot;Let me know what it is, and as I said before, if I can
+succour your son, I am ready.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To say truth, it is the boy's own device,&quot; replied the Burgundian;
+&quot;he has made a friend of the chaplain in the castle, where they hold
+him; and by this good man's hands I receive letters from him. He tells
+me that, if a small body of resolute gentlemen, not well known to be
+of our party, could enter the town and keep themselves quiet therein
+for one day, he could find means to go forth to mass and escape under
+their escort. I have chosen out twenty of my surest men; but, as it
+was needful that they should pass for followers of the Duke of
+Orleans, I could not send any one to command them who had gained much
+renown in France, lest he should be known. Thus they want a leader;
+and where can I find one of sufficient experience, and yet not likely
+to be recognised, if you refuse me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That will I not, my lord,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;but I must
+have the Duke's leave. Who are the men to go with me? I know most of
+those under your banner.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Lamont de Launoy,&quot; replied the Burgundian, &quot;Villemont de Montebard,
+whom you know well; and Jean Roussel are amongst them. Then, as for
+the Duke's leave, that is already gained; for I spoke to him as we
+marched back tonight; and he himself suggested that you should lead
+the party, because you speak the French tongue well, and yet your face
+is unknown in France.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A work of honour and of friendship shall never find me behind, my
+lord,&quot; replied the young knight; &quot;and I will be ready to mount an hour
+before daylight; but I must have full command, my lord. Some of your
+men are turbulent; so school them well to obey; and, in the mean time,
+I will despatch a letter or two, for good and evil news have reached
+me here together.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The good from your fair lady, I can guess,&quot; said the Lord of Croy,
+&quot;for I have heard to-day of her father's journey back through Ghent
+towards England. The evil is not without remedy, I trust?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, I trust not,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;it comes from a dear friend of
+mine, Sir Henry Dacre, who writes word that some one has done me harm
+in the King's opinion, and speaks of letters sent from his Highness
+long ago, requiring my return, surely delivered, and yet unnoticed and
+unanswered. Now, no such letters ever reached my hand; nor can I dream
+who could have power to wrong me with King Henry; for the only one
+inclined to do so is a banished man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Three times have I remarked a stranger amongst your people, since we
+were at Charleville,&quot; answered the Lord of Croy; &quot;once it was at
+Besançon, once at Toul, and the other day again at Compiegne. His face
+is unknown to me, and yet he was talking gaily with your band, as if
+he were one of them; but he stayed not long; for this last time, I saw
+him as I passed through the court of the inn, and he was gone when I
+returned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It shall be inquired into,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville. &quot;But now I
+must to these letters, my good lord; and tomorrow, an hour ere
+daybreak, I will be in the saddle. Pray God give us success, and that
+I may restore your son to your arms.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Lord of Croy thanked him as such prompt kindness might well merit,
+and took his leave; but as soon as he was gone, Richard of Woodville
+leaned his head upon his hand in thought, and with a somewhat dark and
+gloomy brow remained in meditation for several minutes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What is it makes me so sad?&quot; he asked himself; &quot;it cannot be this
+empty piece of malice, from some unworthy fool, whose calumnies I can
+sweep away in a moment, and whose contrivances I can frustrate by a
+word of plain truth. The King does not believe that I would contemn
+his commands--in his heart he does not, I am sure! Yet I feel as if
+some great misfortune hung upon the wings of the coming hours!
+Perchance I may fall in this very enterprise. Who can tell? Many a man
+finds his fate in some petty skirmish who has passed through stricken
+fields unwounded. The lion-hearted Richard himself brought his life
+safe from Palestine, and a thousand glorious fields--from dangers of
+all kinds, sufferings, and imprisonment, to lose it before the walls
+of a pitiful castle scarce bigger than a cottage. Well, what is to be,
+will be; but I must provide against any event;&quot; and, calling some of
+his men to speak with him, he told them that he was about to be absent
+for three days, taking no one with him but his page. He then gave them
+directions, in case of any mischance befalling him, either to find
+their way back to England, or to continue to serve with the band of
+the Lord of Croy; but, at all events, unless specially summoned by the
+King of England, not to quit the Duke as long as he remained in the
+field. This done, he turned to his letters, and remained writing till
+a late hour of the night.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_36" href="#div1Ref_36">THE DISASTER.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">In the square of the pretty town of Montl'herry, nearly opposite the
+church, and under the domineering walls of the château, were two
+hostels, or inns, the one called the Wheatsheaf, and the other the
+Bunch of Grapes; for, in those days, as in the present time, the
+houses of public reception were not only more numerous in France than
+in any country in the world, but were ornamented with signs taken from
+almost every object under the sun, and from a great many that the sun
+never shone upon. As every one knows, the little town of Montl'herry
+is situated on a high isolated and picturesque hill; and down one of
+the streets running from the <i>Place</i> or square, could at that time be
+seen the rich plain stretching out by Longpont to Plessis-Saint Père,
+with the numerous roads which cross it in different directions towards
+Epinay, Ville-aux-bois, and other small towns, as well as the highway
+towards Paris.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Before these two inns on the morning of a cold but clear day, towards
+the end of February, were collected some twenty men-at-arms, who had
+been lodging there from the night before, and who seemed now preparing
+to ride away upon their farther journey, after the morning meal, then
+called dinner, should have been discussed. In the meantime, they were
+undergoing a sort of inspection from their leader, a young man of a
+tall and powerful frame, and a handsome and engaging countenance,
+bronzed with the sun and marked with a scar upon his brow. Though he
+moved easily and gracefully under the weight, he was covered with
+complete armour from the neck to the heels, which displayed the spurs
+of knighthood. His casque lay upon the bench at the door of the
+Wheatsheaf, and leaning negligently against the wall of the inn
+appeared the lances of the men-at-arms, who each stood beside his
+horse, while the knight passed from one to another, making some
+observation to each, sometimes in a tone of reproof, sometimes in
+words of praise. The host of one of the inns stood before his door
+observing their proceedings, and some half-a-dozen little boys were
+spending their idleness in gazing at the glittering soldiery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Towering above appeared the ancient castle held by the partizans of
+the Orleans or Armagnac faction; and when it is remembered that these
+below were soldiers of the House of Burgundy, and that the young
+knight at their head was Richard of Woodville, it must be acknowledged
+that this was a somewhat bold stratagem thus to parade a body of
+hostile troops in the midst of an enemy's town. The young leader,
+however, well knew that nothing but the assumption of perfect ease and
+security could escape suspicion, and confirm the tale which had been
+told of his band being a party of the men of Orleans.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The gate of the castle he could not see; but from time to time as he
+passed from one man to another, he looked round to the door of the
+church, and presently, as the clock struck, he held up his fingers,
+saying, &quot;What hour is that?&quot; and then as he counted, he turned
+somewhat sharply to the host, exclaiming, &quot;By the Lord, you have kept
+us so late for our dinner, that we shall have time to take none. Bring
+the men out some wine. Quick, my men, quick. On with your bacinets!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The host assured him that the meal would be served in a minute; but
+the knight replied, &quot;A minute! Did you not tell me so half an hour
+ago? Quick, bring out the wine, or we shall be obliged to go without
+that. What do you think our lord will say, if we wait for your
+minutes?&quot; and while the host retired to bring the wine, the men
+assumed their casques, and Richard of Woodville whispered to one who
+seemed superior to the rest--&quot;He is in the church. I saw him go in
+with the priest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So did I,&quot; replied the other; &quot;but he has got a guard with him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We must not mind that,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;we shall have some start
+of them; for they will all be at dinner in the castle--no horses
+saddled, no armour buckled on. Mount, my men, mount. You can drink in
+the stirrups. Now, boy, give me my casque.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The page ran and brought the bacinet; the host returned with the wine;
+and each man drank a deep draught and handed the cup and tankard to
+his neighbour. Richard of Woodville then sprang into his saddle, his
+page mounted, and taking the bridle of a spare horse, which was then
+very generally led after the commander of a party, followed his lord,
+as, with his lance in his hand, he headed his little troop, and took
+his way across the Place, saying aloud, as he rode slowly forward,
+&quot;One prayer to our Lady, and I am with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The host gazed after them to the door of the church, but thought it
+nothing extraordinary that a young knight should follow so common and
+laudable a custom as beginning a journey with a petition for
+protection. When, therefore, Richard of Woodville dismounted with two
+of his men, and entered the sacred building, he turned himself into
+his own house again, and applied himself to other affairs. In the
+meanwhile, the knight strode up the nave, looking around him as he
+went, while his two companions followed close behind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Some half dozen women, principally of the lower orders, were the only
+persons at first visible; but in one of the small chapels, from which
+the sound of a voice singing mass was heard, they soon after perceived
+a young gentleman, habited in the garb of peace, kneeling at a little
+distance from the altar, before which stood a priest in robes,
+performing the functions of his office.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is he,&quot; whispered one of the Burgundians to Richard of
+Woodville, and advancing straight to the young Lord of Croy, the
+knight took him by the arm, saying, in a low tone, &quot;You are wanted,
+John of Croy. Where is the guard who was with you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Somewhere in the church, speaking with a woman who was to meet him
+here,&quot; said the young lord, rising. &quot;Perhaps we may get out without
+his seeing us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Never mind if he do,&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;we shall be far on
+the way before they are in the saddle;&quot; and hurrying on with the young
+Lord of Croy, he reached the door of the church without interruption.
+The priest could not but see the whole of their proceedings, but he
+took no notice, going on with the service devoutly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The clang of the step of armed men, however, had caught another ear;
+and just as the young Lord of Croy was passing out, a voice was heard
+exclaiming, &quot;Whither are you going, young sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville turned his head and replied, &quot;Home!&quot; and then
+issuing forth, closed the door, and thrust his dagger through the
+staple that confined the large heavy latch. The horse led by the page
+was close at hand; and John of Croy, with his deliverers, sprang into
+the saddle, and rode out of Montl'herry at full speed.<a name="div4Ref_11" href="#div4_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="normal">The precaution of the English knight in fastening the door proved less
+serviceable than he had hoped, however; for as they passed down the
+street, he turned and saw the man who had been sent to guard the
+prisoner--having found exit by some other means--running as fast as he
+could go towards the castle; and when they reached the foot of the
+hill, the sound of a trumpet came, borne upon the breeze from above.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On, on, the little party hurried, however; and they had already gained
+so much ground, that every prospect of escape seemed before them. But
+unfortunately, no one was well acquainted with the road: Richard of
+Woodville and his company had found their way thither as best they
+could; and the young Lord of Croy, who was at the head of the band,
+while Woodville brought up the rear, turned into a wrong path in the
+wood near Longpont, so that some time was lost ere they got right
+again. They were just issuing forth on a road which leads to the left
+of Lonjumeau, when the sound of pursuit caught the ear; and at the
+same moment the horse of the page stumbled and fell.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Up, up, boy!&quot; cried Richard of Woodville, drawing in his rein, as he
+had nearly trodden the poor youth under his horse's feet; and then
+adding to those before, &quot;Ride on! ride on!&quot; he stooped and held out
+his hand to the lad, who staggered up, confused and half stunned with
+the fall. Before the horse could be raised, and the youth mount,
+coming round the angle of the wood, by a shorter cut, appeared the
+pursuers from Montl'herry. The Burgundians had followed the order to
+ride on, which, had they been the young knight's own band, they might,
+under the circumstances, have perchance disobeyed. Woodville gazed
+after them, turned his eyes towards the enemy--the foremost of whom
+was not more than a hundred yards distant--took one moment for
+consideration; and then, setting his lance in the rest, he spurred on
+towards the enemy. The man met him in full career; but, not prepared
+for such a sudden encounter, was unhorsed in a moment, and the two or
+three who followed, pulled in the rein. The young knight's object was
+gained; their pursuit was checked; and the advantage of even a few
+minutes was everything for the young Lord of Croy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Surrender, knight, surrender!&quot; cried the voice of one of the opposite
+party; but Woodville, though he well knew that such must be the result
+at last, resolved to struggle for a farther delay; and exclaiming,
+&quot;What! to half-a-dozen squires? Never! never!&quot; he reined back his
+horse, as if to take ground for a fresh career, and again charged his
+lance which had remained unsplintered, while his page rode up behind,
+asking, &quot;May I fight too, noble sir?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, boy, no! Keep back!&quot; cried the knight; and at the same moment a
+more numerous party appeared to the support of the Armagnacs, led by a
+baron's banner. They bore down straight towards him, some one still
+calling upon him to surrender; and, seeing that farther resistance was
+vain, Woodville raised his lance and took off his gauntlet as a sign
+that he yielded.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;After them, like lightning!&quot; cried the voice of a gentleman in a suit
+of richly ornamented steel. &quot;A knight is a good exchange for a squire;
+but we must not let the other escape.--Now, fair sir, do you yield,
+rescue or no rescue?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do,&quot; answered the young knight; &quot;there is my glove, and I give you
+my faith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Pray let us see your face,&quot; continued the nobleman, raising his own
+vizor, while the greater part of his troop rode on after the young
+Lord of Croy. Richard of Woodville followed his example; but neither
+was known to the other, though as it afterwards proved they had once
+met before.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;May I ask your name, fair sir?&quot; demanded the captor, in the courteous
+tone then used between adversaries.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Richard of Woodville,&quot; replied the young knight; and a smile
+instantly came upon the countenance of the other, who replied, &quot;A
+follower of Burgundy, or I mistake. I regret I was not up sooner, good
+knight; for if the heralds gave me the name truly, I owe you a fall.
+When last we met, I was neither horsed nor armed for combat properly.
+The chance might have been different this time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps it might, my Lord the Count,&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;fortune is
+one man's to-day, another's to-morrow. Mine is the turn of ill luck,
+else had I not been here a prisoner.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I bear no malice, sir,&quot; rejoined the Lord of Vaudemont; &quot;but if you
+please, we will ride back to Montl'herry;&quot; and following the
+invitation, which was now a command, the young knight accompanied his
+captor, saying to himself, &quot;I felt that this enterprise would end ill,
+for me at least.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He knew not how far the evil was to extend.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_37" href="#div1Ref_37">THE CAPTIVITY.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Oh, the long and tedious hours of imprisonment! how they weigh down
+the stoutest heart! How soul and mind seem fettered as well as body;
+and how the chain grows heavier every hour we wear it! Days and weeks
+passed by; weeks and months flew away; and, strictly confined to one
+small chamber in the castle of Montl'herry, Richard of Woodville
+remained a prisoner.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count of Vaudemont, courteous in words, showed himself aught but
+courteous in deeds. Every tone had been knightly and generous while he
+stayed in the château; but no results had followed. He would never fix
+the ransom of his captive; he would never hold out any prospect of
+liberty; and ere long he departed for Paris, leaving Woodville in the
+hands of the Châtelain of the place, who, severely blamed for the
+escape of the young Lord of Croy, revenged himself upon him, by whose
+aid it had been accomplished. To that one little room, high up in the
+château, was Woodville restricted; no exercise was permitted to him,
+but the pacing up and down of its narrow limits: no relaxation but to
+sing snatches of the old ballads of which he was so fond, or to gaze
+from under the pointed arch of the window over the changing scene
+below. No one was permitted to see him but his own page, who had been
+captured with him, and one of the soldiers of the castle; no book
+existed within the walls; and materials for writing, purchased with
+difficulty in the town, were only granted him in order to write to the
+Lord of Vaudemont concerning his ransom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At first he remonstrated mildly; but when no other answer arrived, but
+that the Count would think of it, he took another tone, reproached him
+for his want of courtesy, and reminded him, that though he had
+surrendered rescue or no rescue, the refusal of reasonable ransom,
+justified him in making his escape whenever the opportunity might
+occur.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Count's reply consisted of but four words, &quot;Escape if you can,&quot;
+and from that hour the guard kept upon him became more strict than
+before. The weary hours dragged heavily on. Summer succeeded to
+spring, and autumn to summer, without anything occurring to cheer the
+lonely vacancy of his captivity, but an occasional rumour, brought by
+the page or the soldier who acted as jailer, either of the great
+events which were then agitating Europe, or of efforts made for his
+own liberation. The reports, however, were all vague and uncertain. He
+heard of war between France and Burgundy, but could with difficulty
+obtain any means of judging which party had gained the ascendancy.
+Then he heard of a new peace, as hollow as those which had preceded
+it; and with that intelligence came the tidings, which the page gained
+from the soldiers of the garrison, that a large ransom had been
+offered for him; but whether by the Duke of Burgundy himself, or the
+Lord of Croy, he could not correctly ascertain. Next came a rumour of
+dissensions between France and England, and of a probable war; but
+none of the particulars could be learnt, except that the demands of
+Henry V. were in the opinion of the Frenchmen extravagant, and that
+the greater part of the nation looked forward with delight to an
+opportunity of wiping away the disgrace of Cressy and Poitiers, and
+blotting out for ever the treaty of Bretigny.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oh, what would he have given for his liberty then! All his aspirations
+for glory and renown, all his hopes of winning praise and advancement,
+all the dreams of young ambition, all the bright imaginations of love,
+rose up before him as memories of the dead. Those prison walls were
+their cold sepulchre, that solitary chamber the tomb of all the
+energies within him. He had well nigh become frantic with
+disappointment; but he struggled successfully with the despair of his
+own thoughts, as every man of a really powerful mind will do. No one
+can obtain full mastery of the minds of others, without having full
+mastery of his own. He would not suffer his fancy to dwell upon sad
+things; he strove to create for himself objects of interest; and from
+the arched window he made himself acquainted as a friend with every
+object in the wide-spread scene beneath his eyes. Every church spire,
+every castle tower, every belt of wood, every stream and every road,
+every hamlet and every house, for miles around, were described and
+marked as if he had been mapping the country in his own mind. But it
+was only that he was seeking for objects of interest; and he found
+them; and variety too, he found; for every hour and every season
+brought its change. The varying shadows as day rose or declined; the
+different hues of summer and of winter, of autumn and of spring; the
+changeful aspect of the April day; the frowning sublimity of the
+thunder storm; the cold, stern, desolate gloom of the wintry air, all
+gave food to nourish fancy with, and from which he extracted thought
+and occupation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had withal, one grand support and consolation: the best after the
+voice of religion, a conscience clear of offence. He could look back
+upon the past and say, I have done well. There was no reproach within
+him for opportunities missed, advantages wasted, or ill deeds done;
+and often and often, he thought of the first song that poor Ella Brune
+had sung him, and of that stanza in which she said,</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i8">
+&quot;In hours of pain and grief,</p>
+<p class="t2">If such thou must endure,</p>
+<p class="t0">Thy breast shall know relief</p>
+<p class="t2">In honour tried and pure;</p>
+<p class="t0">For the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find;</p>
+<p class="t4">Shall win praise,<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">In the meanwhile his treatment varied greatly at different times.
+Sometimes the Châtelain was harsh and severe, refusing him almost
+everything that was necessary to his comfort; at others, with the
+caprice which is so common amongst rude and uncivilized people, he
+would seem joyous and good-humoured: would visit his prisoner, talk
+with him, and send him dishes from his own table, permitting many a
+little alleviation of his grief, which on former occasions he denied.
+In one of these happier moods he allowed the page to buy his master a
+cithern, which proved one of the prisoner's greatest comforts and
+resources; and not long after, in the summer of 1415, a still greater
+change of conduct took place towards him. His table became supplied
+with princely liberality; rich wines and dainty meats were daily set
+before him; and the page was suffered to go at large about the town to
+procure anything his master might require.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One day the boy returned very much heated with exercise, and moved
+with what seemed pleasurable feelings; and looking round the room
+eagerly, he closed the door with care.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have tidings, Will,&quot; said the young knight, &quot;and joyful tidings,
+too, or I am mistaken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have better than tidings,&quot; replied the boy. &quot;I have a letter. Read
+it quick, and then hide it. I will go out into the passage, and watch,
+lest Joachim come up. He was lolling at the foot of the stairs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville took the letter from the boy eagerly, and read
+what was written in the outer cover. The words were few, and in a hand
+he did not know. &quot;Nothing has been left undone,&quot; the writer said, &quot;to
+set you free. A baron's ransom has been offered for you and refused.
+The Duke of Burgundy required your liberation as one of the terms of
+peace, but could not obtain it. The Lord of Croy offered two prisoners
+of equal rank, and a ransom besides, but did not succeed. But fear
+not; friends are gathering round you. Be prepared to depart at a
+moment's notice, and you shall be set free as others have been. The
+moment you are free, hasten to England; for you have been belied.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Within this was a short letter from Mary Grey, full of tenderness and
+affection, with words and avowals which she might have scrupled to
+utter for any other purpose but the generous one of consoling and
+supporting him she loved, in sorrow and adversity. Beneath her name
+were written a few words from her father, expressive of more kindness,
+confidence, and regard, than he had ever previously shown; but he,
+too, spoke of the young knight's return to England, as absolutely
+necessary for his own defence; and he too alluded to the rumours
+against him, without stating what those rumours were.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">If there was much to cheer, there was much to distress and grieve; and
+Woodville paused for several minutes to think over the contents of
+these letters, and to consider what could be the nature of the
+calumnies referred to, believing that he had fully refuted the charge
+of having neglected to obey the King's command to return to England,
+before he set out on the expedition which had been attended by such an
+unfortunate result. At length the page looked in, to see if he had
+done; and Woodville, bidding him shut the door, inquired from whom he
+had received the letters.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was from the young clerk, noble sir,&quot; replied the boy, &quot;who was
+with Sir John Grey at Charleville. I saw a youth in a black gown
+wandering about the castle gates some days since; and as I stood alone
+upon the drawbridge, about half an hour ago, he passed me again, and
+seeing that there was no one there, made me a sign to follow. I walked
+after him into the church, and then he gave me the letter for you; but
+bade me tell you to be upon your guard, for that there are enemies
+near as well as friends. To make sure that you were not deceived, he
+said, you were to put trust in no one who did not give you the word,
+'Mary Markham.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hark!&quot; cried Woodville, rising and going to the window. &quot;There are
+trumpets sounding!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I heard the Lord of Vaudemont was expected to-day,&quot; replied the boy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And there he is,&quot; said Richard of Woodville, watching a body of horse
+coming up the hill. &quot;On my honour, if I have speech with him, he shall
+hear my full thoughts on his discourteous conduct. But now, hie thee
+away, Will. Seek out this young clerk in the town, and ask if he can
+convey my answer back to the letters which he brought. I will find
+means to write if he can.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, I can find him,&quot; replied the boy, &quot;for he told me where he
+lodged: in the house of a widow woman, named Chatain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Away, then!&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;let them not find you here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he looked forth from the window again, the young knight could no
+longer perceive the body of horse he had seen advancing; but the
+noises which rose up from the court of the castle below, the clang of
+arms, the gay tones of voices laughing and talking, the word of
+command, and the shout of the warder, showed him that the party had
+already arrived. About an hour passed without his hearing more; but
+then came the sound of steps in the passage; the door opened, and
+three gentlemen entered, of whom the first was the Count of Vaudemont.
+The next was a man several years younger; and the third, a stout
+ill-favoured personage, of nearly fifty years of age. None of them
+were armed, except with a dagger, usually worn hanging from the waist;
+and all were dressed in the extravagant style of the French court in
+that day, with every merely ornamental part of dress exaggerated till
+it became a monstrosity. Every colour, too, was the brightest that
+could be found; each contrasted with the other in the most vivid and
+inharmonious assortment, green and red, amber and blue, pink and
+yellow, so that each man looked like some gaudy eastern bird new
+feathered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Lord of Vaudemont was evidently in a light and merry mood, or, at
+least, affected it; for he entered laughing, and at once held out his
+hand to his prisoner, as if a familiar friend.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville, however, drew back, saying, &quot;Your pardon, my
+good lord. I am a captive, for whom ransom has been refused.--You
+forget!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I remember it well, sir knight,&quot; replied the Count, laughing
+again; &quot;and that you intend to escape. You have not succeeded yet, I
+see. However, let me set myself right with you on that head. 'Tis not
+I who refuse your ransom. 'Tis my lord, the Duke of Aquitaine, who
+will not have you set free just yet, so that I risk my angels if you
+have wit enough to find your way out. His commands, however, are
+express, and I must obey. My lord the Duke of Orleans, here present,
+will witness for me, as well as my lord of Armagnac, that I would far
+rather have your gold in my purse, where it is much needed, than your
+person in Montl'herry, where it could be well spared.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight regarded the famous nobles, of whom he had heard so
+much, with no slight interest; and the Duke of Orleans, drawing a
+settle to the table, leaned his head upon his arm in a thoughtful
+attitude, saying, &quot;It is quite true, sir; but perhaps that may be
+remedied ere long. If you be willing to renounce the cause of
+Burgundy, and agree to serve no more against the crown of France, the
+difficulty may be removed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have no purpose, sir, to ride for that good lord, the Duke, any
+more,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;I did but seek his Court to win
+honour and renown; but now I am called to England by many motives, so
+that I may well promise not to serve with him again; but if your
+proposal goes farther, and you would have me give my knightly word,
+not to fight for my Sovereign against any power on earth where he may
+need my arm, I must at once say no. I am his vassal, and will do my
+duty according to my oath, whenever he shall call upon me. He is my
+liege lord; and--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There are some Englishmen, and not a few,&quot; said the Count of
+Armagnac, in a harsh and grating tone of voice, &quot;who do not hold him
+to be such, but rather an usurper. Edmund, Earl of March, is your
+liege lord, young knight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He has never claimed that title, noble sir,&quot; answered Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;and indeed, has renounced it, by swearing allegiance
+himself to his great cousin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Compulsion, all compulsion,&quot; said the Duke of Orleans; &quot;we shall yet
+see him on the throne of England.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I trust not, my lord the Duke,&quot; answered the English knight; &quot;but if
+the plea of compulsion can, in your eyes, justify the breach of an
+oath, how could you expect me to keep a promise made, not to serve
+against this crown of France, here in a prison?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But why say you, that you trust not to see him on the throne?&quot; asked
+the Count of Armagnac, evading the part of Woodville's reply which he
+would have found difficult to answer. &quot;He is surely a noble and
+courteous gentleman, full of high virtues.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Far inferior in all to his royal cousin,&quot; answered the knight; &quot;but
+it is not on that account alone I say so, but for many reasons. We
+Englishmen believe that our crown is held by somewhat different rights
+from yours of France. At the coronations of our kings, we by our free
+voices confirm them on their throne. The people of England have a say
+in the question of a monarch's title; and without that recognition
+they are not kings of England. To our present sovereign, the nobles of
+the land offered their homage ere the crown was placed upon his brow;
+but he, as wise in this as in all else, would receive none till he was
+proclaimed King, not by a herald's trumpet, but by the tongues of
+Englishmen. Besides, I say, I trust I shall never see the Earl of
+March wearing the English crown, because I hope never to see an
+honourable nobleman forget his oath, nor a perjured monarch on the
+throne.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And yet your fourth Harry forgot his,&quot; said the Duke of Orleans.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not till intolerable wrongs and base injustice drove him to it,&quot;
+answered the knight; &quot;not till the monarch so far forgot his compact
+with the subject, as to free him from remembrance of his part of the
+obligation. Besides, I was then a boy; I found a sovereign reigning by
+the voice of the people; to him I pledged my first oath of fealty. I
+have since pledged it to his son; and I will keep it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two Counts and the Duke looked at each other with a significant
+glance; and after a moment's consideration, the Count of Vaudemont
+changed the subject, saying, &quot;Well, good knight, such are your
+thoughts. We may judge differently. But say, how have you fared
+lately? I heard that our worthy Châtelain here had been somewhat harsh
+with you, resolving that you should not play him such a trick as the
+boy of Croy; and I ordered that such treatment should be amended. Has
+it been done? I would not have you used unworthily.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It has been done in some points, my lord,&quot; replied Richard of
+Woodville, &quot;but not in all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, good faith, with warning from your own lips that you sought to
+escape,&quot; answered the Count, &quot;he was right not to relax on all
+points.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But some he might have relaxed, yet held me safe,&quot; rejoined the young
+knight. &quot;I have been cut off from all means of holding any communion
+with my friends, though it was most needful that I should urge them to
+offer what terms might find favour for my liberation. I have been kept
+more like some felon subject of this land, than a fair prisoner of
+war.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, that must be changed,&quot; said the Duke of Orleans; &quot;such was not
+your intention, I am sure, De Vaudemont?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;By no means, noble Duke,&quot; answered the Count. &quot;I will take order that
+it be so no more. You shall have liberty to write to whom you will,
+sir knight; and, indeed, having a courier going soon to England, you
+will have the means right soon, if you will, of sending letters. I
+have heard,&quot; he added with a laugh, &quot;that there is a certain noble
+gentleman of the name of Grey, with whom you have some dear
+relations--much in King Henry's confidence, if I mistake not.
+Perchance, were he to use his influence with that Prince, something
+might be done to mitigate the Dauphin's sternness. We are still
+negotiating with England, though, by my faith, these preparations at
+Southampton, and this purchase of vessels from the Hollanders, looks
+more warlike than one might have wished.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If my liberation, noble Count, depends on Sir John Grey's using his
+influence for ought but his Sovereign's interests,&quot; replied Richard of
+Woodville, &quot;I fear I shall be long a captive. However, to him will be,
+perchance, my only letter; for he can communicate with other friends.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Do as you will, noble lords,&quot; cried the Count of Armagnac, who had
+been sitting silent for some time, gnawing his nail in gloomy
+meditation; &quot;but were I you I would suffer no such letters to pass.
+They will but tend to counteract all that you desire. Here you have in
+your hands one of the hearty enemies of France: that is clear from
+every word,--one who, at all risks, would urge his sovereign to deeds
+of hostility against us, when we are already wrung by internal
+discord. Why should you suffer him to pour such poison into the hearts
+of his countrymen?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, nay,&quot; replied the Count of Vaudemont; &quot;my word is given, and I
+cannot retract it. We are less harsh than you, my lord, and doubt not
+that this noble knight will say nothing against the cause of those who
+grant him this permission.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;On no such subjects will I treat, sirs,&quot; answered Richard of
+Woodville; &quot;the matter of my letter will be simple enough, my own
+liberation being all the object.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You must be quick, however,&quot; said the Lord of Vaudemont; &quot;for, at
+morning song, to-morrow, the messenger departs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight replied that his letters would be ready in an hour,
+and the three noblemen withdrew for a moment; but he could hear that
+they continued speaking together in the passage; and the next instant,
+the Duke of Orleans and the Count of Armagnac returned. &quot;We cannot
+suffer long letters, sir knight,&quot; said the latter, as soon as he
+entered; &quot;if all you wish is to treat for your ransom, and to induce
+your friends to exert themselves for your liberation, you can send
+messages by word of mouth, which we can hear and judge of.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But how will my friends know that such messages really come from me?&quot;
+demanded Woodville, with deep mortification.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why,&quot; replied the Count, after a moment's thought, &quot;you may send a
+few words in the French tongue, in our presence--for we have heard of
+inks and inventions which escape the eye of all but the persons for
+whom they are intended--you may send a few words, I say, merely
+telling the gentlemen to whom you write, to give credit to what the
+bearer shall speak.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville paused and meditated; but then, having formed his
+resolution, he replied, &quot;Well, my good lord, if better may not be, so
+will I do. Send me the messenger when you will, and I will give him
+the credentials required.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Call him now, my fair Lord of Armagnac,&quot; said the Duke of Orleans,
+with a significant look. &quot;He is below.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The count soon reappeared with a stout, plain-looking man, habited as
+a soldier; and Woodville, after inquiring if he had ever been in
+England before, and finding that such was not the case, gave him
+directions for seeking out Sir John Grey in Winchester, from which
+town the letters that had been conveyed to him were dated. He then
+gave him messages to Mary's father; and, pointing out that it would be
+better to lose any amount of money, rather than remain longer in
+prison, he besought the knight to borrow a sum for him, to the value
+of one-half of his estates, and offer it to the Lord of Vaudemont as
+his ransom, adding, somewhat bitterly, &quot;Tell the good knight that I
+find, in France, the fine old spirit of chivalry is at an end, which
+led each noble gentleman to fix at once a reasonable ransom for an
+honourable prisoner, and that nothing but an excessive sum will gain a
+captive's liberty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duke of Orleans frowned, but made no observation in reply, merely
+speaking a few words in a low tone to the Count of Armagnac, who went
+to the door and called aloud for a strip of parchment and some ink.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What he required was soon brought; and he laid before the young knight
+a narrow slip, not large enough to contain more than a sentence or
+two, saying, &quot;There, fair sir, you can write in the usual form, as
+follows,&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville took the pen and addressed the letter at the top
+to Sir John Grey: the Duke of Orleans coming round and looking over
+his shoulder, while the Count of Armagnac stood on the opposite side
+of the table, and dictated what he was to write.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You can say,&quot; he proceeded, &quot;'These are to beg of you, by your love
+and regard for me, to hear and believe what the bearer will tell you
+on my part;' and then put your name.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville wrote as he directed, word for word, till he came
+to the conclusion, but then, he added rapidly, &quot;touching my ransom,&quot;
+and affixed his signature so close, that nothing could be
+interpolated.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What, have you written more?&quot; cried the Count, whose eye was fixed
+upon his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Touching my ransom,&quot; said the Duke of Orleans, gazing across. The
+Count snatched up the parchment, and read it with a frowning brow, as
+if angry that his dictation had not been exactly followed; and then,
+beckoning to the Duke of Orleans and the messenger, he hurried
+abruptly out of the room. The door was not yet shut by the inferior
+person, who went out last, when the young prisoner heard the Count of
+Armagnac say to the Duke, in a low growling tone, &quot;This will not do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let me see,&quot; said the voice of the Lord of Vaudemont, who had
+apparently been waiting behind the door. A blasphemous oath followed;
+and Richard of Woodville heard no more; but a smile crossed his
+countenance, for they had evidently sought to use him for some secret
+purpose of their own, and had been frustrated.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_38" href="#div1Ref_38">THE FLIGHT.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">A month had passed, and Richard of Woodville sat alone in his solitary
+chamber, on a dark and stormy night, towards the end of September,
+reading by the glimmering lamp-light, a book which had been procured
+for him in the town by his page. The rain blew, the wind whistled, the
+small panes of glass in the casement rattled and shook, and the
+howling of the breeze, as it swept round the old tower, seemed full of
+melancholy thoughts. His own imaginations were heavy and desponding
+enough--and he eagerly strove to withdraw his attention, both from the
+voice of the storm without, and from the dark images that rose up in
+his own heart. But he could not govern his mind as he desired; and
+still from the pages of the book, he would lift his eyes, and gazing
+into vacancy revolve every point in his fate, gaining, alas! nothing
+but fresh matter for sad reflection. He had seen no more of the Count
+de Vaudemont, the Duke of Orleans, or the Count of Armagnac, and had
+learned that they had quitted Montl'herry early on the day following
+that during which he had received their visit. He little heeded their
+departure, indeed, or desired to see them; for he felt convinced that
+their only object had been to make a tool of him for secret purposes
+of their own; and that, disappointed therein, they were in no degree
+disposed to show him favour, or even to listen to just remonstrance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What grieved and depressed him more, was the unaccountable
+disappearance of the young clerk who had brought him the letters from
+Sir John Grey, but who had been no more seen by the page, after the
+arrival of the Count de Vaudemont in the town. The boy inquired at the
+widow's where the clerk had lodged, and was told he had left the
+place: and no farther trace could be discovered of the course he had
+pursued, or whither he had turned his steps. The distracted state of
+the country, indeed, the young knight thought, might have scared the
+novice away; for the page brought him daily reports of strange events
+taking place around, of factions, strife, and bloodshed, in almost
+every province of France, and of rumours that daily grew in strength
+and consistency, of foreign wars being speedily added to the miseries
+of the land. Large bodies of armed men passed through the town at
+different times; the garrison of the castle was diminished to swell
+the forces preparing for some unexplained enterprise; and the
+Châtelain himself was called to lead them to the field.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But a stricter guard was kept upon the prisoner than ever. Of the
+scanty band that remained in the castle, one always remained in arms
+at his door; and another was stationed at the foot of the stairs.
+Night and day he was closely watched; and the page himself was not
+permitted to go in and out, except at certain hours. All chance of
+escape seemed removed; and bitterly did Richard of Woodville ponder
+upon the prospect of long captivity, at the very time when, under
+other circumstances, opportunity must have occurred for the exertion
+of all those energies by which he had fondly hoped to win glory,
+station, and renown.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He struggled hard against such thoughts, and all the bitterness they
+brought with them; and, after indulging them for a few minutes, turned
+ever to the page of the book he was reading, and laboured through the
+crabbed lines of the ill-written manuscript; finding perhaps as much
+interest in making out the words as in their sense. It was after one
+of the fits of meditation we have spoken of, that he thus again
+applied himself to read, and turned over several pages carelessly, to
+see what would come next in the dull old romaunt, when, suddenly he
+saw a fresher page than any of the others, and found upon it, written
+in English, and in a different hand from the rest, but in lines of
+equal length, so as to deceive a careless eye, and lead to a belief
+that the words were but a continuation of the poem, the following
+warning and intelligence:</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Be prepared. Lie not down to rest. Take not off your clothes. King
+Henry is in France. The Earl of Cambridge, the Lord Scrope, and Sir
+Thomas Grey, have been executed for treason. Harfleur has been taken;
+and the King is marching on through the land.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There ended the lines, and the young knight, closing the book, started
+up and clasped his hands with agitation and surprise. &quot;Harfleur taken,
+and I not there!&quot; he cried. &quot;This is bitter, indeed! I shall go mad if
+they do not free me soon--Sir Thomas Grey! surely it cannot be written
+by mistake. I remember one Sir Thomas Grey, a powerful knight of
+Northumberland. The Lord Scrope, too; why, he was the King's
+chamberlain! What can all this mean? Prepared--I will be prepared,
+indeed. Hark, they are changing the guard at the door. I must not let
+them see me thus agitated, if they look in;&quot; and seating himself
+again, he opened the book and seemed to read.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No one came near, however, for another hour, and Richard of Woodville
+gathered together all that might be needful in case his escape should
+be more near than he ventured to hope--the little stock of money that
+remained, a few jewels, and trinkets of gold and silver, and a dagger
+which he had kept concealed since his capture; for the rest of his
+arms and his armour had been taken from him as fair spoil. After this
+was done, he sat and watched; but all was silent in the château,
+except when the guard at his door rose and paced up and down the
+passage, or hummed a verse or two of some idle song to while away the
+hours.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At length, however, after a long, dead pause, he heard a whisper; and
+then the bolt of the door was undrawn without, and rising quietly, he
+gazed towards it as it opened. The only figure that presented itself
+was that of the guard, whom he had often seen before, and noticed as
+apparently a gay, good-humoured man, who treated him civilly, and
+asked after health in a kindly tone whenever he had occasion to visit
+him. The man's face was now grave, and Woodville thought a little
+anxious, and besides his own arms, he bore in his hand a sheathed
+sword with its baldric, and a large coil of rope upon his arm. Without
+uttering a word, he crossed the chamber, came close up to the young
+knight, and put the sword in his hands. Then advancing to the window,
+he opened it, fastened one end of the rope tight to the iron bar which
+ran up the centre of the casement, and suffered the other to drop
+gently down on the outside. Richard of Woodville gazed with some
+interest at this proceeding, as may be supposed. In the state of his
+mind at that moment, no means of escape could seem too desperate for
+him to adopt; and although he doubted that the rope, though strong,
+would bear his weight, he resolved to make the attempt,
+notwithstanding the tremendous height of the window from the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Approaching the man, he whispered, &quot;Would it not be better for you to
+turn the rope round the bar and let me down? My hands have been so
+long in prison, that I doubt their holding their grasp very tightly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man merely waved his finger and shook his head, without reply,
+finished what he was about, and, taking from the table one of the
+gloves which the young knight had worn under his gauntlets, much to
+the spectator's surprise, dropped it out of the window.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now come with me,&quot; he whispered; &quot;it is needful for us who stay
+behind, to have it thought for a day or two that you have made your
+escape without help. The demoiselle has paid us half the money, as she
+promised; and we will keep our word with her. There shall no danger
+attend you. We have better means of getting you out than breaking your
+neck by a fall from the casement.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But you were to give me a word,&quot; said Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay,&quot; answered the man, &quot;I recollect: it was Mary Markham--Follow me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Without hesitation, the prisoner accompanied him; but paused for an
+instant in some surprise on finding two armed men at the back of the
+door, one holding a lamp in his hand. The guard who was with him,
+however, took no notice; but, receiving the lamp from the other, led
+the way in a different direction from the staircase up which Woodville
+had been brought, when first he was conducted to his chamber of
+captivity. Then opening a door on the right, he entered a room, in the
+wall of which appeared a low archway, exposing to the eye, as the
+light flashed forward, the top of a steep, small staircase.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will go down first with the lamp,&quot; whispered the man, &quot;that you may
+see where you are going. Give a heed to your footing, too, for it is
+mighty slippery, especially on such a damp night as this.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he led the way; and Richard of Woodville followed down
+the winding steps, cut apparently in the thickness of the wall. Green
+mould and clammy slime hung upon all the stones as they descended,
+except where, every here and there, a loophole admitted the free air
+of heaven and chased the damp away. The steps seemed interminable, one
+after another, one after another, till Woodville became sure that they
+were descending to a greater depth than the mere base of the castle;
+and, looking round, as the lamplight gleamed upon the walls, he beheld
+no more the hewn stone work which had appeared above, but the rough
+excavation of the solid rock. At length the steps ceased, as passing
+along a vault of masonry, perhaps forty or fifty feet long, the man
+unbolted and unbarred a small but solid door covered with iron plates;
+and in a moment the lamp was extinguished by the blast from without.
+All seemed dark and impenetrable to the eye; the wind roared through
+the vault; the rain dashed in the faces of Woodville and his
+companion; but, giving the lamp an oath, as if it had been to blame
+for what the storm had done, the man set it down behind the door, and
+then walked on, saying, &quot;Keep close to me, for it is steep here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Following down a little path as the man led, the young knight's eyes
+became more accustomed to the gloom, and he thought he descried, at a
+short distance, a group of men and horses standing under a light
+feathery tree. Hurrying on, with eager hope, he demanded of his guide
+who the persons were whom he saw before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your saucy page is one,&quot; said the guard; &quot;but who the others are I do
+not know. The young clerk, I suppose, is one, and his servant the
+other; for I dare say the demoiselle would not come out on such a
+night as this, and faith, I cannot well see whether they be men or
+women in this light;&quot; and he shaded his eyes with his hands, with very
+needless precaution, where scarcely a ray pierced the welkin.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At that moment, however, one of the figures moved towards him, asking,
+&quot;Is all right?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;All, all,&quot; answered the guard; &quot;have you brought the rest of the
+money, master clerk? Here stands the prisoner free; so my part of the
+bargain is done.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And there is the rest of the gold, good fellow,&quot; replied the other
+speaker; &quot;all right money, and well counted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, I must take it on your word,&quot; said the man who had brought
+Woodville thither, &quot;my lamp has been blown out; but I may well trust
+you; for the other half was full tale and a piece over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That was for chaffage,&quot; replied the youth; &quot;and if this noble knight
+gets safe to the King's camp, you shall have a hundred pieces more; so
+go, and keep his escape, and the way he has taken, as secret as
+possible.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That I will, for mine own sake,&quot; answered the soldier; &quot;or I should
+soon know gibbet and cord. Good night, good night!&quot; and waving his
+hand, he turned away, while the young clerk addressed Woodville,
+saying, &quot;You must put yourself under my guidance, noble sir, for a few
+hours, and then we shall be safe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have much to thank you for, young gentleman,&quot; answered Woodville,
+following, as the other hurried on to the horses; and in a few minutes
+the knight, his page, the clerk, and the clerk's servant were on
+their way. But to Woodville's surprise, instead of taking any of the
+by-roads that led on through the country to remote villages and
+hamlets, they followed the direct high road towards Paris, which he
+had gazed upon for many a day from his solitary chamber in the tower.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After proceeding some way in silence, without hearing any sounds which
+could lead them to believe that the knight's escape had been
+discovered, and that they were pursued, Woodville endeavoured to gain
+some information from the clerk of Sir John Grey, as to the means
+which had been taken to effect his liberation, and more particularly,
+as to the lady who had been mentioned by the guard.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the latter point the youth replied not; and on the former he merely
+said, &quot;The means were very simple, noble knight, and you yourself saw
+some of them employed. Money, which unlocks all doors, was the key of
+your prison. The man who refuses ransom to a captive, had better see
+that he guard him sure; for that which is a small sum to him, may be a
+great one to a gaoler, and one quarter of the amount offered for your
+redemption, served to set you free. But I think, sir,&quot; he added, &quot;we
+had better speak as little as possible upon any head, till we have
+passed the capital, for the tongue of an escaped prisoner, like the
+track of gore to the bloodhound, often brings him within the fangs of
+his pursuers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville judged the caution too wise not to be followed;
+and on they rode in silence at a brisk pace, with the wind blowing,
+and the rain dashing against them, through the darkness of the night,
+for somewhat more than two hours, following the broad and open road
+all the way, till the young knight thought they must be approaching
+Paris. More than once, indeed, he fancied that he caught a glimpse of
+some large dark mass before him; and imagination shaped towers and
+pinnacles in the black obscurity of night; but at length the clerk's
+man, who seemed to act as guide, pronounced the words, &quot;To the left!&quot;
+and striking into a narrower, though still well beaten path, they soon
+came upon a river, flowing on dull and heavy, but with a glistening
+light, in the midst of its dark banks, which they followed for some
+way, till a bridge presented itself, which they crossed, and then,
+turning a little to the right again, continued their course without
+drawing a rein, till the faint grey streaks of morning began to appear
+in the east.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Shortly after, a bell was heard ringing slowly, apparently at no great
+distance; and the young clerk said aloud, with a sigh of relief,
+&quot;Thank God!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are fatigued, young gentleman, with this long stormy ride, I
+fear?&quot; said Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A little,&quot; was the only reply; and in a few minutes they stopped at
+the gate of a small walled building, bearing the aspect of some
+inferior priory of a religious house. The bell was still ringing when
+they approached; but the door was closed; and the clerk and his
+attendant dismounted and knocked for admission. A board was almost
+immediately withdrawn from behind a grating of iron, about a palm in
+breadth and twice as much in length, and a voice demanded, &quot;Who are
+you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Bourgogne,&quot; replied the clerk; and instantly the door was opened
+without further inquiry. The arrival of the party seemed to have been
+expected; for two men, not dressed in monastic habits, took the horses
+without further inquiry; a monk addressed himself to Woodville, and
+bade him follow; and, before he could ask any questions, he and his
+companions were led in different directions, the one to one part of
+the building, and the others to another.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With the same celerity and taciturnity, his guide introduced him to a
+small but comfortable chamber, provided him with all that he could
+require, and bidding him strip off his wet clothes, and lie down to
+rest in peace, returned with a cup of warm spiced wine, &quot;to chase the
+damp out of his marrow,&quot; as he termed it. The young knight drained it
+willingly, and then would fain have asked the old man some questions;
+but the only information he could gain imported, that he was at Triel,
+the old man always replying, &quot;To bed, to bed, and sleep. You can talk
+when you have had rest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville finding he could obtain no other answer, followed his
+counsel: and, wearied with such a journey after a long period of
+inactivity, but with a heart lightened by the feeling that he was
+free, he had hardly laid his limbs on the pallet before he was asleep.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_39" href="#div1Ref_39">THE PRISONER FREE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The only true calm and happy sleep that man can ever obtain, is given
+by the heart at ease. Slumber, deep, profound, and heavy, may be
+obtained by fatigue of body or of mind; but even those great and
+tranquil spirited men, of whom it is recorded that, at any time, they
+could lie down, banish thought and care, and obtain repose in the most
+trying circumstances, must have gained the power, from that
+consciousness of having done all to ensure success in the course
+before them that human wisdom can achieve, or by that confidence in
+the resources within, which are the chief lighteners of the load of
+life.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville slept soundly, but it was heavily. It was the
+sleep of weariness, not of peace. His mind was agitated even during
+slumber, with many of the subjects which might well press for
+attention in the circumstances in which he was placed; and unbridled
+fancy hurried him through innumerable dreams. Now he saw her he loved
+standing at the altar with another; and when the figure turned its
+face towards him, he beheld Simeon of Roydon. Then he stood in the
+presence of the King; and Henry, with a frowning brow, turned to an
+executioner, with the countenance of Sir Henry Dacre, but gigantic
+limbs, and ordered him to strike off the prisoner's head. Then came
+Isabel Beauchamp to plead for his life; and suddenly, as the King was
+turning away, a pale shadowy form, through which he could see the
+figures on the arras behind, appeared before the monarch, and he
+recognised the spirit of the murdered Catherine. Old times were
+strangely mingled with the thoughts of the present; and sometimes he
+was a boy again; sometimes still a prisoner in the castle of
+Montl'herry: sometimes in the court of a strange prince, receiving
+high rewards for some imaginary service. He heard voices, too, as well
+as saw sights; and the words rang in his ears,</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+<p class="t0">
+For the true heart and kind,<br>
+Its recompence shall find;</p>
+<p class="t4">Shall win praise.<br>
+And golden days,</p>
+<p class="t0">And live in many a tale.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">At length when he had slept long, he suddenly started and raised
+himself upon his arm, for some one touched him; and looking round he
+saw the clerk with his black hood still drawn far over his head, and
+the page who had been his fellow captive, standing by the side of the
+pallet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You must be up and away, sir knight,&quot; said the young clerk, in the
+sweet musical tones of youth. &quot;In an hour, a party of the Canonesses
+of Cambray, who arrived at noon under the escort of a body of my Lord
+of Charolois' men-at-arms,<a name="div4Ref_12" href="#div4_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> are to depart for Amiens, and you and
+your page can ride forward with them. I must here leave your fair
+company; for I have other matters to attend to for my good lord.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But I shall see you again, young sir, I trust?&quot; said Woodville; &quot;I
+owe you guerdon, as well as thanks and deep gratitude.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have only done my duty, noble knight,&quot; replied the clerk; &quot;but we
+shall soon meet again; for I suppose your first task will be to seek
+Sir John Grey, who is with the King; and I shall not be long absent
+from him,--so fare you well, sir.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But where am I to find him?&quot; demanded Woodville; &quot;remember I am in
+utter ignorance of all that has happened.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nor do I know much,&quot; answered the clerk. &quot;Rumour is my only source of
+information; for I have been cut off from all direct communication for
+many weeks. The only certainty is, that King Henry and his friends are
+now in France; that Harfleur surrendered a few weeks ago, and that he
+is marching through the land with banners displayed. You will hear of
+him as you go; and as soon as you know which way his steps are bent,
+you can hasten to join him. But ere you discover yourself to any one
+else, seek out Sir John Grey, and take counsel with him, for false
+reports have been spread concerning you, and no one can tell how the
+King's mind may be affected.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But tell me, at least, before you go,&quot; said Richard of Woodville,
+&quot;who was the lady spoken of by the man who aided my escape at
+Montl'herry; and also, who it is that has generously paid the high
+sums which were doubtless demanded for my deliverance?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In truth, noble sir,&quot; replied the clerk, &quot;I must not stay to answer
+you; for the people with whom I go are waiting for me; and I must
+depart immediately. You will know all hereafter in good time. It was
+the Lord of Croy who furnished the money needful. Now, fare you well,
+and Heaven give you guidance!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he departed, without waiting for farther question; and
+Richard of Woodville rising, dressed himself in haste in the same
+clothes which he had worn the day before, but which he now found
+carefully dried and ready for his use.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I must have slept sound, boy,&quot; he said, speaking to the page, who
+remained beside him; &quot;for I do not think that at any other time my
+clothes could have been taken away from my bed side, and I not know
+it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You did sleep sound, sir knight,&quot; replied the page, laughing; &quot;and
+talked in your sleep, moreover, while we were looking at you. But I
+can tell you who the lady was at Montl'herry, if you must needs know,
+as well as the clerk, for I saw her once speaking with the guard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Say, say!&quot; cried Richard of Woodville, impatiently. &quot;I would fain
+know, for she must be in peril, if left behind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, it was the fair demoiselle,&quot; answered the page, &quot;who went with
+us from Nieuport to Ghent. I caught but a glimpse of her, indeed; but
+that bright face is not easily forgotten when once it has been seen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And yet I never thought of her!&quot; murmured Richard of Woodville to
+himself: &quot;poor girl, her deep gratitude would have merited better
+remembrance. Why smile you, boy? Every honourable man is bound to
+recollect all who trust him, and all who serve him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, sir,&quot; replied the page, resuming a grave look, &quot;I did but smile
+to think how often ladies remember knights and gentlemen, when they
+are themselves forgot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A sad comment on the baseness of man's nature,&quot; answered Woodville;
+&quot;let it never be so with you, boy. Now, see for the old monk; my purse
+is very empty, but I would not that he should call me niggard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Some minutes passed before the page returned; but when he appeared he
+came not alone, nor empty handed, for the old man was with him who had
+conducted the fugitive to his chamber the night before; and the one
+carried a large bottle and a tin cup, while the other was loaded with
+a pasty and a loaf of brown bread. Such refreshment was very
+acceptable to the young knight; but the good monk hurried him at his
+meal, telling him that his party were waiting for him; and, finishing
+the repast as soon as possible, Woodville rose and put a piece of gold
+into his good purveyor's hand, saying, &quot;That for your house, father.
+Now I am ready.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On going out into the little court between the priory and the abbey,
+he found some twelve or fourteen men mounted; and at the call of the
+monk who accompanied him, a party of six Canonesses and two novices,
+all closely veiled, came forth from the little lodge by the gate. They
+were soon upon the mules which stood ready for them; but the good
+ladies eyed with an inquiring glance the young stranger who was about
+to join their party; and one of them, as she marked the knightly spurs
+he wore, turned to her companions, and made some observation which
+created a light-hearted laugh amongst those around. The moment after,
+they issued forth from the gates, and rode on at a quick pace in the
+direction of Gisors.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The day was evidently far advanced, but the sun, though somewhat past
+his meridian, was still very powerful, so that the horses were
+distressed with the heat. The commander of the men-at-arms, however,
+would permit no relaxation of their speed, much to the annoyance of
+the fair Canonesses, who had every inclination to amuse the tedious
+moments of the journey by chattering with the young knight, and the
+other persons who escorted them. In reply to their remonstrances, the
+leader told them that if they did not make haste, they would get
+entangled between the two armies, and then worse might come of it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Besides,&quot; he said, &quot;we have strict orders from our lord the Duke to
+take part with neither French nor English; and it would be a hard
+matter to fall in with either, and not strike one stroke for the
+honour of our arms.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Judging from his reply that he must have some knowledge of the
+relative position of the two hosts, Richard of Woodville endeavoured
+to gain intelligence from him, as to both the events which had lately
+taken place in France, and those which were likely to follow; but the
+man seemed sullen, and unwilling to communicate with his companion of
+the way, replying to all questions merely by a monosyllable, or by the
+assertion that he did not know.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus passed by hour after hour, during their first and second day's
+journey, which brought them to the small town of Breteuil. They had
+hitherto paused either for the purpose of seeking repose, or of taking
+refreshment, at religious houses only; but at Breteuil they took up
+their lodging for the night at the inn of the place, which they found
+vacant of all guests. The town, too, as they entered it, seemed
+melancholy and nearly deserted; but the tongue of the good host made
+up for the stillness which reigned around; and from him Richard of
+Woodville discovered that the apparent abandonment of the place by its
+inhabitants was caused partly by the dread which some of the more
+wealthy townsmen had felt on the near approach of several large
+detachments of English troops, and partly by the zeal of the younger
+portion of the population, which had led them to proceed in arms to
+join the royal standard raised against the invaders. From him, too,
+the young knight found that the King of England, at the head of his
+army, was marching rapidly up the Somme, in order to force the passage
+of that river, but that, as all the fords were strictly guarded, and
+French troops in immense multitudes were gathering on the opposite
+bank, it was scarcely possible that many days could pass without a
+battle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Twas but yesterday at this hour,&quot; said the host, &quot;that news reached
+the town that a fight had taken place at Fremont; and then, this
+morning we heard it was all false, and that the English King has not
+yet passed the river.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Where was he when last you heard of him?&quot; demanded Richard of
+Woodville, taking care to use the French tongue, which he spoke with
+less accent, perhaps, than most of the inhabitants of distant
+provinces.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, he was at Bauvillers,&quot; answered the landlord of the hostel, &quot;and
+he wont get much farther without fighting, I fancy; for he has got St.
+Quentin on his right, and our people before him. Heaven send that he
+may not march back again; for then, he would come right through
+Breteuil; and we are poor enough without being pillaged by those
+vagabond English. I wonder your Duke does not come to the King's help,
+with all his gallant men-at-arms, for then these proud islanders would
+be caught in a net, and could not get out.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is a wonder,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville. &quot;But, hark! and, as
+he listened, he heard two sweet voices talking in the hall, in a
+tongue that sounded like English to his ear.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am sure of it,&quot; said the one, &quot;and if it be so, I beseech you own
+it. My heart beat so, I can scarcely speak; but, I say again, I am
+sure of it; and that if you will, you have the power not alone to
+punish the guilty, for that, perhaps, you may not desire--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes I do,&quot; replied the other, in a somewhat sharper tone; &quot;and in my
+own good time, I will do it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To punish the guilty, the time is your own,&quot; replied the first voice;
+&quot;but, to save the innocent from utter destruction, there is no time
+but the present.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha! you must tell me more,&quot; said the second, in a tone of surprise;
+&quot;from utter destruction, did you say? Let us to our chamber. There we
+can speak at ease.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville heard no more; but what he did hear cast him into
+deep thought; and when the next morning they again set out upon their
+journey, he gazed with an inquiring eye at the Canonesses and their
+companions--and, mingling in their conversation, endeavoured to
+discover if the voices which he had heard were to be distinguished
+amongst them. They all laughed and talked gaily with him, however, in
+the French tongue; and he came to the conclusion, that though the host
+had assured him the inn was vacant when he and his party arrived, some
+other guests must have passed the night within its walls.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On their way during this day, he remarked that the leader of the
+men-at-arms inquired often and anxiously, in every town and village,
+for news of the two armies. Little information did he gain, except
+from vague reports; but some of these, it would appear, induced him to
+alter his course towards Amiens, and strike off to the right, in the
+direction of Peronne. The young knight had not been inattentive to
+everything that was said, and he heard that the King of France, and
+all his nobility, were certainly gathered together in the direction of
+Bapaume, while the rumour grew stronger and more strong, that the
+English army had effected the passage of the Somme at some unguarded
+ford, in the neighbourhood of St. Quentin, and was boldly marching on
+towards Calais.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such tidings, as the reader may well suppose, caused not a little
+agitation in the mind of the young soldier. Apprehension, lest a
+battle should be fought and he be absent, was certainly the
+predominant sensation; but, still he had to ask himself, even if he
+arrived in time, where arms were to be procured, and a horse fit to
+bear him through such a strife as that which was likely to take place?
+The beast he rode, though swift and enduring, was far too lightly
+formed to carry a knight equipped according to the fashion of that
+day; and no weapons of any kind did he possess, but the dagger which
+he had retained when captured.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It seemed clear to him, also, that the leader of the Burgundian
+men-at-arms, had, in common with most of his countrymen, a strong
+inclination to take part with the French, who were naturally
+considered as kinsmen and allies, against the English, who were looked
+upon as strangers and enemies; and he felt convinced that the
+soldier's course had been altered in the hope, that, by falling in
+with the troops of the King of France, he might find a fair excuse for
+disobeying the more politic orders of his Prince, and take a share in
+the approaching combat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Such thoughts brought with them some doubts of his own safety; and
+assuredly the dull, taciturn, and repulsive demeanour of the commander
+of the troop, was not calculated to win confidence. It was evident,
+however, that orders--which he trusted would meet with some
+respect--had been laid upon his sullen companion, to treat him with
+deference, and attend to his comfort and convenience; for, at every
+place where they stopped by the way, the best chamber, after their
+fair charge had been attended to, was assigned to himself; and it was
+not without permission that the men-at-arms sat down to the same table
+with him, affecting much to reverence his knightly rank.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At length, after a long and hard day's ride, the party reached
+Peronne, on the evening of the second day after quitting Breteuil; and
+as they approached the gates, the young knight's confidence was
+somewhat restored, by the leader of the men-at-arms riding up to his
+side, and saying, in a low tone, &quot;I pray you, sir knight, be careful
+here, and give no hint of your being an Englishman; for we are coming
+on dangerous ground.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will be careful, my good friend,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville;
+&quot;and to say the truth, if we can discover where the King of England
+is, it may be as well for me to quit your party soon, as I may bring
+danger upon you for no purpose.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We shall soon near more,&quot; replied the soldier, &quot;but you had better be
+beyond the walls of Peronne, before you part from us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The scantiness of the band, and the title of Burgundian soldiers, soon
+obtained admission for the little party; but all was found in a state
+of bustle and activity within the town; and every tongue was full of
+the late passage of the King of England, at a short distance from the
+place. Great was the bravado of the inhabitants, who universally
+declared, that they wished he had sat down before their walls, to
+afford them an opportunity of showing what glorious deeds they would
+have performed; and all spoke of the condition of the English troops
+as lamentable, and their fate sealed. The approaching battle was
+looked forward to as a certain triumph for the arms of France, and
+rather as a great slaughter of a flying enemy, than a conflict with a
+powerful force. The very monks of the monastery where the men-at-arms
+received entertainment, while the Canonesses were lodged in the
+adjoining nunnery, were full of the same martial spirit; and a few
+years earlier, it is probable, their superior would have put himself
+in armour to aid in the destruction of the foe. Frequently was Richard
+of Woodville appealed to as a knight, to pronounce upon the likelihood
+of King Henry surrendering at discretion; and some difficulty had he
+so to shape his answers as to escape suspicion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From the conversation which took place, however, he learned that his
+own sovereign was in the neighbourhood of a small town at no great
+distance; and he resolved, as soon as he was free from the walls of
+Peronne, to hurry thither without any farther delay. He ventured,
+during the evening, to issue forth for a short time into the city, in
+the hope of being able to purchase arms: but scarcely any were to be
+found in the town: and such had been the demand for good armour, that
+the price had risen far beyond his scanty means. All that he could
+afford to buy was a strong, well-tempered sword of a somewhat antique
+form, which he found in the shop of an armourer; and even for that the
+price demanded was enormous.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Returning to the monastery, he soon escaped from a sort of
+conversation that was by no means pleasant to his ear, by retiring to
+rest; and though for some time he did not sleep, yet when slumber did
+visit his eyelids, she came soft and balmy. The troubled thoughts died
+away--the anxious questioning of the unsatisfied mind ceased--the wild
+throbbing of the eager heart for the coming of the undeveloped hours,
+found repose; and he woke calm and refreshed with the first dawn of
+day, to meet whatever might be in store, with a spirit prepared and
+ready, and a body reinvigorated by the alternation of exertion and
+rest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The monastery was one of those, not at all uncommon in those days, in
+which the vow of seclusion did not by any means exclude contrivances
+for enjoying at least some communion with the world. It was not
+surrounded by stern walls, and a large wing of the building rested
+upon the street, with windows small and high up indeed, and only
+lighting the chambers appropriated to the use of visitors, but which
+often afforded the monks themselves an excellent view of what was
+passing in the town without. In dressing himself with as much care as
+circumstances would permit, Richard of Woodville approached one of
+these narrow casements, and gazed out upon the gay scene that was
+enacted below; and, though so early, multitudes of people were to be
+seen passing along. While some stood for a moment gossiping with their
+neighbours, some were hurrying forward to their busy day, and others
+pausing to watch a considerable body of men-at-arms, who, in somewhat
+bad array, and without the display of much soldier-like order, came
+down from a house farther up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he saw them at a distance, the young knight's first thought was,
+&quot;If all the French troops are like these, it will be no very difficult
+task to win a field of them.&quot; But as the troop came on, and the three
+leaders riding in front, passed under the window, he was struck by the
+arms of one of them who appeared in the middle. He could have sworn
+that the armour in which the knight was habited was familiar to his
+eye; and it must be recollected that the ornaments which covered the
+harness of a man-at-arms in those days were rarely the same, so that
+means of identification were always at hand, such as we do not possess
+in the present times. But there, before his eyes, if he could believe
+their testimony, was the identical suit which had been sent to him by
+good Sir Philip Beauchamp, shortly before he left the shores of
+England. There were the fan-shaped palettes, with the quaint gilt
+figures in the corners, and the upturned pauldrons with the edge of
+gold, and the bacinet shaped like a globe, with the enamelled plate on
+the forehead bearing &quot;Ave, Maria!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There could be no doubt that it was the same; and Woodville's brow
+knit for a moment, and his teeth closed tight. But the next instant he
+smiled again, asking half aloud, &quot;How could a prisoner of near two
+years escape pillage? If I meet you in the field, my friend, I will
+have that harness back again for Mary's sake, or I will lie low.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he resumed his toilet, and the troop passed on. A moment
+after, he heard a voice singing, and turning to the window again he
+looked out. The sounds did not come from below; but there was a large
+projecting mass of building, with loopholes on the three sides, which
+protruded into the street on his right; and it seemed to him that the
+sounds came thence. He listened, and caught some of the words; but
+every now and then they died away in the cadence of a wild French air
+of the period, but those he could distinguish seemed so well suited to
+his situation at the time, that he strove eagerly to hear more:--</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+<p class="i8">
+&quot;Away, away, to the field of fame,</p>
+<p class="t2">Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie away,&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">were the first sounds he could make out; but the next stanza was more
+distinct, and went on thus, in the French tongue:--</p>
+<div class="poem2">
+<p class="i8">
+&quot;Think of thy lady at home in her bower,</p>
+<p class="t2">On her knees, for her lord to pray,</p>
+<p class="t0">Think of her terror and hope in the hour</p>
+<p class="t2">When your banner floats proud in array,</p>
+<p class="t0" style="text-indent:20%">Well aday!</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i8">&quot;Away, away, to the field of fame,</p>
+<p class="t2">Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie away!</p>
+<p class="t0">For King, for country, and deathless name</p>
+<p class="t2">Is each stroke that is stricken to-day,</p>
+<p class="t10">Trara la, trara la, trara lay!</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i8">&quot;The hopes of years and the fame of life</p>
+<p class="t2">Are lost or won ere evening's ray.</p>
+<p class="t0">Thy father's spirit looks down on the strife,</p>
+<p class="t2">And bids thee to battle away,</p>
+<p class="t0" style="text-indent:20%">Well aday!</p>
+<br>
+<p class="i8">&quot;Away, away, to the field of fame,</p>
+<p class="t2">Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie way!</p>
+<p class="t0">For king, for country, and deathless name</p>
+<p class="t2">Is each stroke that is stricken to-day,</p>
+<p class="t10">Trara la, trara la, trara lay!&quot;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="normal">As he was listening for more, a knock was heard at the door of his
+chamber, and bidding the applicant come in, Richard of Woodville was
+somewhat surprised to see the personage whom we have designated as the
+clerk's man, enter in some haste.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I thought you were still sleeping, sir knight,&quot; he said; &quot;but I
+ventured to wake you, as, by Heaven's good will, it seems there will
+be a battle shortly, and methought you would like to hear such
+tidings, and be present at such a deed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have heard that such is likely to be the case,&quot; answered Woodville,
+&quot;and am eager enough to set out, my friend. But how came you here? and
+where have you left your master?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, I have followed you close,&quot; the man replied; &quot;I only waited to
+see that the enemy's hounds had not got scent of the deer; but the
+slot has been crossed by so many other herds, that they soon lost the
+track. I have wakened master Isambert, who leads the Duke's party, and
+he will be in the saddle in half an hour. As to my master, he has gone
+by the other road, and I dare to say has joined Sir John at
+Brettenville, or Beauvillers, or where they passed the Somme.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Is this Isambert very faithful, think you?&quot; asked the young knight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not too much so,&quot; replied the man, calmly; &quot;but in your case he dare
+as soon give his throat to the knife, as do you wrong; for the Duke,
+and the Count, and the Lord of Croy, would all have bloody vengeance,
+if aught of evil befel you ere you are with your own people. However,
+it will not be amiss to quit him soon; for I find a body of his own
+folks have just marched out under Robinet de Bournonville--as wild a
+marauder as ever a wild land brought forth; and it is well to get out
+of such company when they are too many; for what one man dare not do,
+a number think nothing of.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then,&quot; said the young knight, &quot;this good Isambert's arrival at Triel
+was not a matter of chance, as I thought it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no!&quot; replied the other; &quot;he came thither on purpose to give you
+aid. He might have saved fifteen leagues by another road; but the
+Duke's commands were not to be disobeyed. However, noble knight, you
+had better get some breakfast; for Heaven only knows when we shall
+have an opportunity of putting anything into our mouths again. You
+might as well follow a flight of locusts, they tell me, as our army.
+The refectioner is serving out meat to the men, and mead, too, for we
+have quitted the land of wine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight bade him go and provide for himself; and, soon
+following, he took a hasty meal before he mounted with the rest. The
+whole party were speedily in the saddle; the streets of the town were
+soon passed, and the gates of Peronne closed behind them.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XL.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_40" href="#div1Ref_40">THE MYSTERY.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">It is quite right and proper to suppose that the reader is thoroughly
+acquainted with the position, situation, and peculiarities of every
+town, to which we may be pleased to lead him; and, therefore, it may
+be unnecessary to remind him, that Peronne is surrounded by marshy
+ground, which soon gives way to a hilly country, which, at the time I
+speak of, was of a very wild and desolate character. The party of
+Burgundian horse, with Richard of Woodville and the fair Canonesses,
+rode on through this track towards Arras, at the same quick pace as
+during the preceding part of their journey; and even the ladies
+themselves were glad to keep their mules at a rapid amble; for the
+weather had undergone a sudden change, and a foul north-easterly wind
+was blowing sharp, cutting them to the marrow. The troop was now
+increased by the presence of the clerk's servant; and with him, as
+they went, the young English gentleman held more than one
+consultation, which resulted in Woodville adopting the resolution of
+quitting the escort, shortly after passing the Abbey of Arrouaise,
+where it was proposed that they should stop to dine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The whole party, however, were destined to be disappointed of their
+comfortable meal; for when, after passing Feuillancourt, Rancourt, and
+Sailly, they approached the gates of the monastery, and rang the great
+bell, no one responded to the summons for some time. As they sat upon
+their horses waiting for admission, the sight of a neighbouring barn
+burnt to the ground, and still smoking, showed them that some party of
+pillagers had passed that morning; and they began to think that the
+monastery was deserted, which was certainly the case with the little
+village itself. The sound of voices within, however, at length induced
+them to make another application to the bell; and, after a short
+pause, a monk's head appeared at the window over the gate, exclaiming,
+&quot;Get you gone, brothers, get you gone. You cannot enter here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The leader of the troop remonstrated, and announced his name as
+Isambert of Agincourt; but the reply was still the same, the monk
+adding, by way of explanation, &quot;We have suffered too much from you all
+already this morning. We will open our gates to none, and we have
+cross-bow men within, who will shoot if you do not retire. Do you not
+see the barns burning?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But that was done by the savage Englishmen,&quot; replied Isambert; &quot;we
+are friends. We are men of Burgundy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So were these,&quot; answered the monk; &quot;but the Duke and the English
+understand each other; for that sacrilegious villain, Robinet de
+Bournonville, had Englishmen with him. Get you gone, I will hear no
+more; and if you do not go, the men shall shoot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sight of several men upon the wall, with cross-bows in their
+hands, gave effect to the old man's words; and Isambert withdrew
+slowly, muttering curses at his friend, Robinet de Bournonville, for
+depriving him of his dinner. When he reached the bottom of the next
+slope, he halted to consult his companions and Richard of Woodville,
+as to what was to be done to procure food for themselves and for their
+horses; and he finally determined to return to Sailly, where a good
+hostel had been observed as they passed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Richard of Woodville took this opportunity of separating himself
+from the rest of the party, and announced his intention to Isambert of
+Agincourt, who seemed by no means sorry to get rid of him. The clerk's
+man and his own page were the only companions whom the young gentleman
+expected to go with him; and he was not a little surprised when the
+two novices drew aside from the ladies of Cambray, and the taller of
+the two begged that he would have the kindness to give them the
+benefit of his escort as far as Hesdin, saying, &quot;We were on our way to
+Amiens, and thence to Montreuil, and not to Arras, whither, it seems
+now, this noble gentleman is bending his steps.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One of the Canonesses interposed a remonstrance, representing the
+danger of falling in with some party of English troops; but she did
+not venture to use a tone of authority, as the novices belonged to
+another Order; and the young lady who had already spoken, replied
+briefly, in a resolute and somewhat haughty tone, &quot;that she had no
+fear, and, knowing what it was her duty to do, should do it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, settle the matter as you please, fair ladies,&quot; cried Isambert
+of Agincourt; &quot;only be quick, for I have no time to lose;&quot; and no
+farther opposition being made, Richard of Woodville undertook to
+protect, as far as he could, the two novices on the way, only warning
+them in general terms, that as soon as he discovered the exact
+position of the armies, he must join them; promising, however, to send
+on his page and the man with them to Hesdin. This being understood, he
+took leave of the commander of the men-at-arms; and choosing the first
+road to the left, under the direction of the clerk's man, who seemed
+thoroughly acquainted with the whole country, he proceeded for some
+way at a quick pace, till they reached a village, which seemed to have
+escaped the predatory propensities of the soldiery on both parts, and
+there paused to feed his horses, and to procure some refreshment for
+himself and his companions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Though he had tried to entertain the two young ladies to the best of
+his power as they rode along, either their notions of propriety, or
+some anxiety in regard to their situation, rendered them cold and
+taciturn in their communications; and, unlike the gay Canonesses from
+whom they had just parted, they neither seemed inclined to converse
+with the knight or with each other, nor ever raised their veils to
+take a coquettish look at the country through which they passed. They
+now refused refreshment, also, saying, &quot;It is not our habit to eat
+with men;&quot; and as the house, at which they had bought some bread and
+mead, had but one public room, Richard of Woodville, with his two male
+companions, retired to the door while the horses fed, and left the shy
+novices to partake of what was set upon the table if they thought fit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While there, the young knight entered into conversation with the good
+peasant who supplied them, and, though the jargon which the man spoke
+was scarcely intelligible, made out, that the English army had marched
+from Acheux on the preceding day, and had encamped the night before
+amongst the villages near the source of the Canche. Of the movements
+of the French army he could learn nothing, however, which led him to a
+false belief, that he was likely to meet with no interruption from the
+enemy in following the march of his own sovereign.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the young knight rode on, and came into the country through which
+the English army had passed, the sad and terrible effects of that
+barbarous system of warfare, which was universal in those times, made
+themselves visible at every step. Houses and villages burnt, cattle
+slaughtered and left half consumed by the wayside, and fruit trees cut
+down for the purpose of lighting fires, presented themselves all along
+the road; and the painful feelings which such a scene could not but
+produce were aggravated by the lamentations of the villagers, who felt
+no terror at the appearance of a party consisting of women and of men
+without any arms except those usually worn in time of peace, and who
+poured forth their complaints to Woodville's ear, pointing to their
+ruined dwellings, and their little property destroyed, and cursing the
+ambition of kings, and the ferocity of their soldiery.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight felt grieved and sorrowful; but he was surprised to
+find that the bitterness of the peasantry was less excited against the
+English themselves, than he had expected; and, on guiding the
+conversation with one of these poor men in a direction which he
+thought would lead to some explanation of the fact, the villager
+replied vehemently, &quot;The English are not so bad as our own people.
+They are enemies, and we might expect worse at their hands; but,
+wherever the King or his brothers were, they destroyed little or
+nothing, and only took what they wanted. But, since they have passed,
+we have had two bands of Frenchmen, who have destroyed everything that
+the English left, on the pretence that we favoured them, though they
+knew that we could not resist. The Duke of York took my meat and my
+flour; but he left my house standing, and injured no one in the place.
+That cursed Robinet de Bournonville, and his companion the captain
+Vodeville, burnt down my house and carried off my daughter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight consoled the poor man as well as he could, and gave
+him a piece of silver, thinking it somewhat strange, indeed, that one
+of Bournonville's companions should have a name so nearly resembling
+his own. He and his companions rode on, however, still finding that
+the band, which he had seen issue forth from Peronne in the morning,
+had gone on before them, till they reached the town of Acheux, which
+was well nigh deserted. Most of the houses were closed and the doors
+nailed up; but they had evidently been broken into by the windows, and
+had been rifled of all their contents. In the mere hovels, indeed,
+some cottagers were seen; and on inquiring of one of these where they
+could find any place of rest, as night was coming on, the man led them
+to a large, ancient, embattled mansion in the centre of the town,
+which, though stripped of everything easily portable, still contained
+some beds and pallets. An old woman was found in the house, which
+she said belonged to the Lord of Acheux, and for a small piece of
+silver she agreed to make the strangers as comfortable as she could,
+seeming--perhaps, from old experience of such things--perhaps, from
+the obtuseness of age--to feel the horrors of war less keenly than any
+one they had yet met with. Money, however, made all her faculties
+alive, and declaring that she knew, notwithstanding the pillage which
+the place had undergone, where to procure corn for the cattle, and
+bread, eggs, and even wine, for the party, she set out upon her
+search, while Woodville and his two male companions led the horses and
+mules to the vacant stable, and the two novices remained in one of the
+desolate chambers up the great flight of stairs.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the beasts had been tied to the manger, the young knight returned
+with the man and the boy to their fair companions; but the old woman
+had not yet returned; and as night was falling fast, he lighted a
+small lamp which he found in the kitchen, and returned with it to the
+chamber above. A few minutes after, while he was expressing his sorrow
+to the two maidens that he could find no better lodging for them, the
+sound of a small party of horse was heard below, and a voice exclaimed
+in English, &quot;Ah! there is a light--I will lodge here, Matthew. Take my
+casque. This cursed cuirass pinches me on the shoulder: unbuckle this
+strap. Keep a watch for Ned, or any one he may send.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The voice was not unfamiliar to Richard of Woodville; and a heavy
+frown gathered upon his brow. His first impulse was to lay his hand
+upon his sword, and take a step towards the door; but then,
+remembering what fearful odds there might be against him, he turned to
+the window and looked out. He could distinguish little but that there
+were ten or twelve men below; and as he gazed, a step was heard upon
+the stairs. The young gentleman turned hastily to close and bolt the
+door; but to his surprise he beheld the taller of the two novices with
+the lamp in her hand, walking rapidly towards the entrance; and
+turning towards him, she said in a stern and solemn tone, &quot;Leave him
+to me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The next instant she had passed the door; and when Richard of
+Woodville reached it and looked out into the gloomy corridor, he could
+see her, by the lamp that she held in her hand, meet Simeon of Roydon,
+upon whose face the full light fell, as he was just reaching the top
+of the stairs. Her back was towards the young knight, but he perceived
+that she suddenly raised her veil, and he heard her say, in English,
+and in a deep and solemn tone, &quot;Ha! Have you come at length?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Whatever might have been the import of those words on the ear of him
+to whom they were addressed, he staggered, fell back, and would have
+been precipitated from the top to the bottom of the stairs, had he not
+by a convulsive effort grasped the rope that ran along the wall The
+light was instantly extinguished, and the moment after Richard felt
+the novice's hand laid upon his arm, drawing him back into the room.
+They all listened, and steps were heard rapidly descending the stairs,
+followed by the voice of Simeon of Roydon exclaiming, &quot;No, no, I
+cannot lodge here--I will not lodge here! Mount, and away. We will go
+on.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But, noble knight,&quot; said another voice,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Away, away!&quot; cried Simeon of Roydon again. &quot;Mount! or by Heaven--&quot;
+and immediately there came the sound of armed men springing on their
+horses, the tramp of the chargers as they rode away, and the fainter
+noise of their departing feet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;In the name of Heaven, who are you?&quot; demanded Richard of Woodville,
+addressing her who had produced such a strange effect.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;One whom he bitterly injured in former days,&quot; replied the novice;
+&quot;and whom he dares not face even now. Ask no more: that is enough!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It were well to quit this place,&quot; said the other girl, in a low
+voice. And the clerk's man urged the same course, adding, &quot;He may take
+heart and return,--besides, he spoke of some one coming.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville remained in silence, meditating deeply for
+several minutes, with his arms folded on his chest, and his eyes bent
+down. The faint outline of his figure was all that could be seen in
+the dim semi-darkness that pervaded the room; but the novice who had
+proposed to go, approached him gently, and laying her hand upon his
+arm, again urged it, saying, &quot;Had we not better go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well,&quot; said the young knight, starting from his reverie as if
+suddenly awakened from a dream, &quot;let us go. But yet a cold night ride,
+with no place of shelter for two young and tender things like you, is
+no slight matter. Run down, boy, and light the lamp again--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no, no!&quot; cried one of the two ladies, eagerly. &quot;Light it not! let
+us go at once.--Hark! there is some one below.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The old woman's step,&quot; cried the page; &quot;I will run down and see what
+she has got.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He returned in a moment with the good dame, bearing more than she had
+promised. She easily understood the reason why the light which she
+offered was refused; and after taking some wine and bread, the whole
+party descended to the stable, whence the horses were brought forth;
+and Richard of Woodville, paying her well for her trouble and her
+provisions, bade the page take the remainder of the bread to feed the
+poor beasts, when they could venture to pause. In less than a quarter
+of an hour the young knight and his companions were once more on their
+way, under the direction of the clerk's man, who proposed that they
+should bear a little towards Doulens, which would lead them out of the
+immediate track that the English army had followed.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XLI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_41" href="#div1Ref_41">THE CAMP.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">September days are short and bright, like the few hours of happiness
+in the autumn of man's career. September nights are long and dull,
+like the wearing cares and infirmities of life's decline; but often
+the calm grand moon will shed her cold splendour over the scene,
+solemn and serene, like the light of those consolations which Cicero
+suggested to his friend, for the privation of the warmer joys and more
+vivid hopes that pass away with the spring and summer of existence,
+and with the departure of the brighter star.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The wind was sinking away, when Richard of Woodville rode out with his
+companions from the ruined village of Acheux, and soon fell into a
+calm soft breeze; the moon rose up in her beauty, and cleared away the
+dull white haze that had spread over the sky, during the whole day;
+and, as the travellers wended on in silence, the features of the scene
+around were clearly marked out by the rays, every bold mass standing
+forth in strong relief, every deep valley seeming an abyss, where
+darkness took refuge from the eye of light. For about eight miles
+farther they pursued their way almost in total silence; but at the end
+of that distance, the hanging heads and feeble pace of the horses and
+mules showed, that they would soon be able to go no farther: and the
+young knight looked anxiously for some place of repose.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That part of the country, as the reader is aware, is famous for its
+rocks and caverns. There is a very remarkable cave at a place called
+Albert, but that was at a considerable distance behind them, and on
+their left. In passing along, however, by the side of a steep cliff,
+which ran at the distance of a few hundred yards from the road, with a
+green sward between, the moon shone full upon the rocky face of the
+hill, and the eye of Richard of Woodville soon perceived the mouth of
+a cavern, like a black spot upon the surface of the mountain. After
+some consultation with his companions, and some suggestions regarding
+wolves and bears, Woodville determined to try whether shelter could
+not be found in this &quot;antre vast,&quot; for a few hours; and, riding up as
+far as the footing was safe towards the entrance, the whole party
+dismounted, and the young knight entering first, explored it by the
+feel to the very farther end, which, indeed, was at no great distance,
+as it luckily happened, for in some cases, such an undertaking might
+have been attended with considerable peril.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was perfectly vacant, however, and Woodville brought the two
+novices within the brow of the rude arch, assuring them that they
+might rest on a large stone near the mouth in safety. He then led his
+own horse up, the others following, and taking the bits out of their
+mouths, the men distributed amongst them the bread they had brought
+from the village, which the poor beasts ate slowly, but with apparent
+gladness, and then fell to the green grass on the mountain side with
+still greater relish.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All the party were silent, for all were very weary; and while the
+clerk's man laid himself down on the sandy bottom of the cave, and the
+page sat nodding at the entrance, Richard of Woodville remained
+standing just within the shadow, with his arms folded on his chest;
+and the two novices remained seated on the stone where they had first
+placed themselves, with their arms twined together. The young knight
+thought that they would soon fall asleep; but such was not the case;
+and when, after the moon had travelled some way to the south, the
+sound of a horse's feet made itself heard through the stillness of the
+night, trotting on towards Acheux, the slighter and the shorter of the
+two girls rose suddenly, and coming forward gazed towards the road, on
+which, at this time, the rays were falling strong. A moment after a
+single horseman rode by at a quick pace, but turned not his head in
+the direction of the cavern, and seemed little to think that he was
+watched; for the figure of the slumbering page might well have passed
+for some stone of a quaint form, in that dim light, and the horses had
+been gathered together under the shadow of a rock.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She strained her eyes upon the passing traveller; and then, as he rode
+on, she returned to her companion and whispered something to her. The
+other replied in the same low tone, and, after a brief conversation,
+they relapsed into silence; and the young knight stripping off his
+cloak, gave it to them to wrap themselves in, and counselled them to
+seek some repose against the fatigues of the coming day. They would
+fain have excused themselves from taking the mantle; but he insisted,
+saying that he felt the air sultry; and then seating himself at a
+distance, he closed his eyes, strove to banish thought, and after
+several efforts dozed lightly, waking every five or ten minutes and
+looking out to the sky, till at length a faint grey streak in the east
+told him that morning was at hand. Then rousing his companions, he
+called them to repeat their matin prayers, and after they were
+concluded, hastened to prepare the horses and mules for their onward
+journey.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Day had not fully dawned ere they were once more on the way; but a
+considerable distance still lay between them and Hesdin; and the few
+and scanty villages that were then to be found in that part of the
+country, were in general deserted, so that but little food was to be
+found for man or beast. At one farmhouse, indeed, the two weary girls
+found an hour's repose on the bed of the good farmer's wife. Some
+bread and meat, and, also, one feed of corn was procured for the
+horses and mules; but that was all that could be obtained during the
+whole day, till at length about Fremicourt, they met with a man from
+whom they learned the exact position of the two armies, which were now
+drawing nearer and nearer to each other, the head quarters of the one
+having been established at St. Pol, and those of the English at
+Blangy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Shortly after, the clerk's man pointed out a narrow road to the left,
+saying, that leads to Hesdin; and Woodville, drawing in his rein,
+turned to his fair companions, saying, &quot;Here, then, we must part; for
+I must on to Blangy with all speed. The man and the boy shall
+accompany you; and God guard you on your way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Farewell, then, for the present, sir knight,&quot; replied the taller of
+the two girls. &quot;We shall meet again, I think, when I may thank you
+better than I can now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But take your page with you, at least, sir,&quot; said the other; &quot;we
+shall be quite safe, I doubt not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville would not consent, however; and giving the boy
+some directions, he waved his hand, and rode away. Once--just as he
+was going--he turned his head, hearing voices speaking, and thinking
+some one called him by name; but the younger novice, as she seemed,
+was talking with apparent eagerness to the clerk's man, and he caught
+the sounds--&quot;As soon as he is gone.&quot;--&quot;Take plenty with you--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight perceived that the words were not addressed to him,
+and spurred forward. Evening was coming on apace; and Blangy was still
+ten or twelve miles distant; but his horse was exhausted with long
+travelling and little food, and nothing would urge him into speed. At
+a slow walk he pursued his way, till at length, just as the sun
+touched the edge of the western sky, the animal stopped altogether,
+with his limbs trembling and evidently unable to proceed. Richard of
+Woodville dismounted; and taking the bit out of the horse's mouth, he
+relieved him from the saddle, and led him a little way from the road,
+saying, &quot;There, poor beast, find food and rest if you can.&quot; He then
+left him, and walked on a-foot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The red evening light at first glowed brightly in the sky; but soon it
+grew grey, and faint twilight was all that remained, when the road
+wound in to a deep forest, covering the sides of a high hill.
+Woodville had heard that Blangy was situated in the midst of
+woodlands, and his heart felt relieved as he approached; but the
+darkness increased as he went on, and at length the stars shone out
+above. Soon after a hum as of a distant multitude met his ear; but it
+was lost again as the road wound round the ascent amidst the tall
+trees; and all was silent and solemn. About a quarter of a mile
+onward, where the hill was steep, the path rose above the scrubby
+brushwood on his left, and he could see over the forest to a spot
+where a reddish glare rose up from the bottom of the valley. But
+somewhat farther in the forest itself, on a spot where the taller
+trees had fallen before the axe, and nothing but thin underwood
+remained, he caught a sight of three or four fires, the light of which
+shone upon some half dozen tents; and the figures of men moving about
+across the blaze were apparent, notwithstanding the darkness of the
+night.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The distance might be three or four hundred yards; and Richard of
+Woodville, wearied and exhausted, resolved to make his way thither,
+rather than take the longer and more tedious course of following the
+road to the bottom of the hill. Plunging in, then, sometimes through
+low copse, sometimes amongst tall trees, he hurried on, feeling faint
+and heavyhearted again; for the first joy of rejoining his countrymen
+had passed away, and from the rumours he had heard, he not a little
+doubted of his reception. He knew, indeed, that he had nothing to
+reproach himself with, and felt sure that he should easily prove the
+falsehood of any charge against him: but it was painful to think that,
+after long imprisonment, and the loss of many a bright day and fond
+hope, he should be met with coldness and frowns upon his first return.
+The body, too, weighed upon the spirit as it always does in every
+moment of lassitude and exhaustion, so that all things seemed darker
+to his eye than they would have done at another moment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On he walked, however, his feet catching in the long briers, or
+striking against the stumps of felled trees, till at length a man
+started up before him, and exclaimed, &quot;Who goes there?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A friend!&quot; answered the young knight, in the same English tongue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What friend?&quot; demanded the soldier, advancing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My name is Woodville. Lead me to your lord, whoever he is,&quot; replied
+Richard.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here, Mark!&quot; cried the man to another, who was a little farther down,
+&quot;take him to Sir Henry's tent;&quot; and suffering the knight to pass on,
+he laid himself down again amongst the leaves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The second soldier gazed at the young knight steadily for a moment by
+the blaze of the burning wood, and then told him to follow, murmuring
+something to himself as he led the way. They passed the two fires
+without any notice from the men who were congregated round, and
+approached the tents, while from the valley below, rose up some wild
+strains of instrumental music, the flourish of trumpets and clarions,
+mixed with the sound of many human voices, talking, laughing, and
+shouting.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have you seen the enemy yet?&quot; asked Richard of Woodville.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, sir,&quot; replied his guide; &quot;but we shall see him tomorrow, they
+say. Here is the knight's tent. <i>You</i> may go in, I know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man laid a strong emphasis on the word &quot;you,&quot; and turning to look
+at him, as held back the hangings of the tent, the young knight
+thought he recognised an old familiar face. The next instant he was
+within the canvass, and beheld before him a man of about his own age,
+seated at a board raised upon two trestles, with a lamp burning, and a
+book spread out under his eyes. His head was bent upon his hand, and
+the curls of his thick short hair were black, mingled here and there
+with a silvery thread. He was deep in study, and heard not the rustle
+of the tent as the stranger entered, nor his footfall within; and
+Richard paused for an instant and gazed upon him. As he did so, his
+eye grew moist; and he said in a low voice, &quot;Dacre!--Harry!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Henry Dacre started, and raised his worn and care-wrought
+countenance; and springing forward, he clasped Woodville in his arms,
+exclaiming, &quot;Oh, Richard--can it be you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then looking with an apprehensive eye round the tent, he said, &quot;Thank
+God, there is no one here!--Did they know you?--Did any one see you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville; &quot;two of your men saw me, Dacre.
+But what means all this?--Why should Richard of Woodville fear to be
+seen by mortal man?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, there are strange and false reports about, Richard,&quot; replied
+Dacre, with a sorrowful look;--&quot;false, most false, I know them to be.
+I am too well aware how men can lie and calumniate. But you will find
+all men, except some few true friends, against you here; for day by
+day, and hour by hour, these rumours have been increasing, and every
+one, even to the peasantry of the land, seem to be leagued against
+you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Give me but some food, Dacre, and a cup of wine,&quot; answered Richard of
+Woodville, &quot;and I will meet them this minute face to face. Why, Dacre,
+I have nought to fear. I have had neither time nor opportunity to do
+one base act, if I had been so willed. I am but a few short days out
+of bonds,--and my first act will be to seek the King, and dare any man
+on earth to bring a charge against me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not to-night, not to-night,&quot; cried Sir Harry Dacre; &quot;let there be
+some preparation first--Hear all that has been said.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not an hour will I lie under a stain, Harry,&quot; replied his friend. &quot;I
+am weary, faint, and exhausted for want of food. Give me some wine and
+bread--throw open the door of your tent; and let all your men see me.
+Let them rejoice that I have come back to do myself right. I fear not
+to show my face to any one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dacre, with a slow step and thoughtful brow, went to the entrance of
+the tent and called to those without, to bring food and wine; and the
+board was soon spread with such provisions as the camp could afford.
+Seating himself on a coffer of arms, Woodville ate sparingly, and
+drank a cup of wine, asking from time to time, &quot;Where is Sir John
+Grey?--Where is my good uncle?--He will not be absent from an
+enterprise like this, I am right sure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here, here; both here,&quot; answered Sir Henry Dacre; &quot;and Mary and
+Isabel are even now at Calais,--but be advised, my friend. Do not show
+yourself to-night. The whole court is crowding round the King in the
+village down below. Let the battle be first over. You will do good
+service, I am sure. You can fight in armour not your own, and then--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Armour, Harry!&quot; cried the young knight, &quot;I have no armour; but the
+armour of a true heart; and that is proof against the shafts of
+calumny. It never shall be said that Richard of Woodville paused when
+the straightforward course of honour was before him. Thought,
+preparation, care, would be a slander on my own good name--I need no
+meditated defence. I have done nought on earth that an English knight
+should blush to do; and he who says so lies--. Now I am ready for the
+task--Ha, Hugh of Clatford, is that you?&quot; he continued, as some one
+entered the tent. &quot;You have just come in time to be my messenger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Full glad I am to see you, noble sir,&quot; answered the stout yeoman; &quot;we
+have a world of liars amongst us, which is the only thing that makes
+me fancy these Frenchmen may win the day. But, now you are come, you
+will put them to silence, I am sure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Right, Hugh, right!&quot; replied Woodville. &quot;But you have some word for
+Sir Harry. Speak your message; and then I will give mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis no great matter, sir,&quot; said Hugh of Clatford. &quot;Sir Philip begs
+you would send him two loads of arrows, Sir Henry, if you have any to
+spare; that is all,&quot; he continued, addressing Dacre; and when the
+knight had answered, Woodville resumed eagerly, &quot;If you are a true
+friend, Hugh, you will go do down for me to the King's quarters, and
+say to the first high officer that you can speak to, that Sir Richard
+of Woodville, just escaped from a French prison, is here in camp, and
+beseeches his Grace to grant him audience, as he hears that false and
+calumnious reports, to which he gives the lie, have been spread
+concerning him, while he has been suffering captivity.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will call out our old knight himself,&quot; replied Hugh; &quot;he is now
+with the King at the castle, and will do the errand boldly, I am
+sure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Away then, quick, good Hugh, for I am all impatience,&quot; said
+Woodville; and the yeoman retired.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he was gone, Sir Harry Dacre would fain have spoken with his
+friend regarding all the reports that had been circulated of him
+during his absence; but Woodville would not hear; and, taking another
+cup of wine, he said, &quot;I shall learn the falsehoods soon enough,
+Harry.--Now tell me of yourself and Isabel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Dacre waved his hand. &quot;I cannot talk of that,&quot; he said, &quot;'tis the
+same as ever. She knows how I love her, and her father too; but the
+phantom of a doubt still crosses her--even her; that I can see, and
+good Sir Philip answers bluffly as is his wont, that he knows it is
+false; but yet--but yet! Oh, that accursed 'but yet,' Richard. The
+plague spot is upon me still. That is enough. The breath of one foul
+vapour can obscure the sun, and the tongue of one false villain can
+tarnish the honour of a life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Poo, nonsense, Harry,&quot; answered his companion; &quot;I will show you ere
+many hours be over, how lightly I can shake falsehood off. 'Tis still
+your own heart that swells the load. I had not thought my uncle was so
+foolish--so unkind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He whiled him on to speak farther; but the same cloud was still upon
+Sir Henry Dacre's mind. It was unchanged and dark as ever. Study, to
+which he had given himself up, had done nought to clear it away;
+reflection had not chased it thence; time itself had not lightened it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Half an hour passed, and then there came a tramp as of armed men.
+Dacre looked anxiously on his friend's face; but Woodville heard it
+calmly; and when the hangings were drawn back and a royal officer
+entered, followed by a party of archers, no change came upon his
+countenance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What is your pleasure, Sir William Porter?&quot; asked Dacre, looking at
+him earnestly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am sorry, sir, to have this duty,&quot; replied the officer; &quot;but I am
+sent to arrest Sir Richard of Woodville, charged with high treason.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville smiled; &quot;Are your orders, sir, to bring me before the King?&quot;
+he demanded.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, sir knight,&quot; answered Sir William Porter, &quot;I am to hold you a
+prisoner till his Grace's pleasure is known.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then I must ask a boon,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;which is simply this,
+that you will keep me here in ward, till one of your men convey this
+to the King. He gave it me long ago, and bade me in a strait like
+this, make use of it. Let your messenger say, that I claim his royal
+promise to be heard when I ask it.&quot; At the same time, he took a ring
+from his finger; but then, recollecting himself, he said, &quot;But stay, I
+will write--so he commanded.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You must write quickly, sir knight,&quot; replied Sir William Porter; &quot;for
+the King retires early, and I must not wait long.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My words shall be very few,&quot; answered Woodville; and Sir Harry Dacre,
+with hasty hands, produced paper and ink. The young knight's words
+were, indeed, few. &quot;My Liege,&quot; he wrote, &quot;I have returned from long
+captivity, and find that I have been charged with crimes while my
+tongue was silent in prison. I know not what men lay to my account;
+but I know that I have done no wrong. Your Grace once promised, that
+if I needed aught at your royal hands, and sealed my letter with the
+ring you then gave me, you would read the contents yourself, and at
+once. I do so now; but I have no boon to ask of you, my Liege, but to
+be admitted to your presence, to hear the charges made against me, and
+to give the lie to those who made them. Love to your royal person,
+zeal for your service, honour to your crown, I own I have ever felt;
+but if these be not crimes, I have committed none other against you,
+and am ready to be sifted like chaff, sure that my honesty will
+appear. God grant you, royal Sir, his great protection, victory over
+all your enemies, and subjects as faithful as</p>
+
+<p class="right">&quot;<span class="sc">Richard of Woodville</span>.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">He folded, sealed it, and delivered it to the royal officer, saying,
+&quot;Let the King be besought to look at the seal. His royal promise is
+given that he will read it with his own eyes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir William Porter examined the impression with a thoughtful look, and
+then replied abruptly, &quot;I will take it myself.--Guard the tent,&quot; he
+continued, turning to his men, and withdrew.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With more speed than Woodville or Dacre had thought possible, he
+returned, and entering, bade the prisoner follow. &quot;The King will see
+you, sir knight,&quot; he said; &quot;your letter has had its effect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As all true words ever will have on his noble heart,&quot; replied
+Woodville, rising.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will go with you, Richard,&quot; exclaimed Sir Harry Dacre. &quot;Who is with
+the King, Sir William?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;His uncle, noble sir, his brothers, the Earl of Warwick, Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, Sir John Grey, Philip the Treasurer, and some others. But
+we must speed, for it is late;&quot; and, leading the way from the tent, he
+walked on towards the small town of Blangy, with Woodville and his
+friend, followed by the archers, and one or two of Dacre's servants.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XLII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_42" href="#div1Ref_42">THE CHARGES.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We shall see, my good lord, we shall see,&quot; said Henry V. to the Earl
+of Stafford as he stood surrounded by his court in the hall of the old
+castle of Blangy. &quot;I have, it is true, learned sad lessons, that those
+we most trust are often the least worthy.--Nay, let me not say
+'often,' but rather, sometimes; and yet,&quot; he added, after a pause,
+&quot;perhaps I am wrong there, too; for it has not happened to me in life,
+that one, of whom I have had no misgivings, has proved false.--May it
+never happen. Those, indeed, of whom I would not believe the strange
+and instinctive doubts which sometimes, from a mere look or tone,
+creep into the heart--those whom I have trusted against my spirit, may
+have, indeed, betrayed me; but there is something in plain
+straightforward honesty that may not always suit a monarch's humour,
+but which cannot well be suspected--and besides--but it matters not.
+We shall see.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was evident to all, that his thoughts turned to that dark
+conspiracy against his throne and life, which had been detected and
+punished at Southampton; and as every one knew it was a painful and a
+dangerous subject with the King--the only one, indeed, that ever moved
+him to a hasty burst of passion, all were silent; and while the King
+still bent his eyes to the ground in meditation, Sir William Porter,
+afterwards raised to the then high office of grand carver, entered and
+approached his Sovereign.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The prisoner is without, royal Sir,&quot; he said.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let him come in,&quot; answered Henry; and raising his face towards the
+door, he regarded Woodville as he walked forward, followed by Sir
+Henry Dacre, with that fixed unwavering glance that was peculiar to
+him. His eyelids did not wink, not the slightest movement of the lips
+or nostril could be observed by those nearest him; but the light of
+his eye fell calm and grave upon the young knight, like the beams of a
+wintry sun.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The demeanour of Woodville was not less like himself. With a rapid
+step, firm and free, with his broad chest expanded, his brow serene
+but thoughtful, and with his eyes raised to the monarch without
+looking to the right or left, he advanced till he was within two steps
+of Henry, and then bowed his head with an air of calm respect. He was
+quite silent, however, till the King spoke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have asked to be admitted to our presence, Sir Richard of
+Woodville,&quot; said the King; &quot;and, according to the tenour of a promise
+once made, we have granted your request. What have you to say to the
+charges made against you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not what they are, my Liege,&quot; replied Woodville; &quot;but,
+whatever they may be, if they lay to my account aught of disloyalty to
+you, I say that they are false.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And have you heard nothing?&quot; asked the King, in a tone of surprise;
+&quot;has no one told you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He would not hear me, Sire,&quot; said Dacre, stepping forward. &quot;He said
+he would meet them unprepared in your own presence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is well,&quot; rejoined Henry; &quot;then you shall hear them from my lips,
+sir knight; and God grant you clear yourself; for none wishes it more
+than I do.--Did I not command you, sir, now well nigh twenty months
+ago, to retire from the forces of our cousin of Burgundy and return to
+your native land, for our especial service?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Such commands may have been sent, my Liege, but they never reached
+me,&quot; replied the young knight; &quot;and when a mere rumour found its way
+to me, I was on the eve of setting out on that fatal enterprise in
+which I lost my liberty. I can appeal to the noble Lord of Croy when
+the tidings came, to speak how much pain they gave me, and how ready I
+was to abandon all and follow your commands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Be it so,&quot; answered Henry; &quot;that point shall be inquired into. You
+say you have been a prisoner. How long is it since you were set at
+liberty?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But five days, Sire,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;no longer than was needful
+to journey from Montl'herry hither.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And did you come alone?&quot; demanded the King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, Sire,&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;from the abbey at Arrouaise, I
+was accompanied by my page, a man who aided in my escape from prison,
+and two young novices journeying to Montreuil. I sent the two ladies
+from Fremicourt on to Hesdin, under the escort of the man and the
+page, and rode on hitherward myself, till my horse would go no
+farther. The rest of the way I walked on foot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;But before you reached Arrouaise, were you alone?&quot; inquired the King.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, Sire; as far as Triel, I had but the man, the boy, and a clerk of
+Sir John Grey's with me, who effected my liberation between them; but
+after that I was accompanied by a small body of Burgundian horse, who
+were escorting some Canonesses and these two novices on the way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Add, and burning monasteries, plundering villages, and cutting off
+the stragglers of your Sovereign's army, sir knight,&quot; rejoined the
+King, sternly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville gazed in his face for an instant in surprise, and
+then broke into a gay laugh, saying,</p>
+<div class="poem3">
+<p class="i12">
+&quot;'I avow to God, quoth Harry,</p>
+<p class="t2">I shall not lefe behynde,</p>
+<p class="t0">May I mete with Bernard</p>
+<p class="t2">Or Bayard the blynde.'</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="continue">Now I understand your Grace, for I have come upon the track of these
+men, and somewhat wondered to hear in the mouth of hinds and peasants,
+the name of Woodville, or Vodeville as they called it, coupled with
+curses. Nay, more, my Liege, I saw in the good town of Peronne,
+through which I passed, a man in my own armour, at the head of a large
+troop of men-at-arms.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I saw him, too, Dickon;&quot; cried the voice of old Sir Philip Beauchamp,
+&quot;as he followed our rear at Pont St. Remie; and would have sworn that
+it was thyself, had I not known thy true heart from a boy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A strange tale, sir knight,&quot; said the King, without relaxing his
+grave frown; &quot;and the more strange, when coupled with the facts of
+your having never received my commands to return, sent long ago, and
+my messenger having brought me word, as if from your mouth, that you
+could not obey, as you had taken service with the Duke of Burgundy for
+two years and a day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is a false knave, my Liege,&quot; replied the knight; &quot;and, as to my
+ever having forgotten your Grace's commands even for a day, not to
+engage myself for long, that I can prove, for thank God my contract
+with the good Duke John I have always kept about me. Here it is; and
+if you look, royal Sir, you will see I have not been unmindful of my
+duty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry took the paper, which Woodville produced, from the young
+knight's hand, and read it over attentively, pausing at one clause and
+pronouncing the words aloud, &quot;And it is, moreover, agreed between the
+said high and mighty Prince Philip, Count of Charolois, and the said
+knight, that should the King of England, Henry the Fifth of that name,
+require the aid and service of the said Sir Richard of Woodville, he
+shall be at liberty to retire at any time without let or hindrance
+from the forces of the said Count of Charolois or of his father and
+redoubted Lord, the Duke of Burgundy, together with all such men as
+have accompanied the said knight from England; and, moreover, that he
+shall receive all the passes, safe-conducts, and letters of protection
+which may be needful for him to return to his own land in safety, and
+that, without delay or hesitation, but even at a moment's notice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The King when he had read these words gave a momentary glance around;
+but then, turning to the young knight again, after examining the date
+of the paper and the signature, &quot;You were at this time assuredly in
+your devoir,&quot; he said; &quot;and this was but a month before my messenger
+set out; but we have heard from Sir Philip de Morgan some strange
+tales of adventures in the town of Ghent, which may have changed your
+purposes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My Lord, I do beseech your Grace,&quot; answered Woodville, gravely, &quot;to
+give ear to no strange tales till they be fully proved. I have already
+suffered from such stories, and have disproved them to one here
+present much interested to know the truth;&quot; and he turned his eyes
+towards Sir John Grey, who stood beside the Earl of Warwick. &quot;For one
+so long a prisoner, not knowing where to find a single person who was
+with him at a remote period, it is not easy in a moment to show the
+real state of every fact alleged; but if your royal time may serve, I
+am ready to tell the simple tale of the last two years; and if I
+afterwards prove not to your own clear conviction, that every word I
+speak is truth, send my head to the block when you will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You shall have full time, sir knight,&quot; replied the King; &quot;at present,
+it is late; and though we must sleep but little, yet some repose every
+man must have. Your tale cannot be heard to-night. However, you now
+know that you are charged first with refusing to serve your King in
+arms against his enemies, which may, perhaps, be false. This paper
+affords some presumption against the accusation--Secondly, you are
+charged with following our royal host with men of Burgundy, and in
+arms levying war against your Sovereign. You have, we are told, been
+seen by many, so traitorously employed, and your name, you yourself
+allow, is in the mouths of all the peasantry.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry paused a moment, as if expecting assent; but Woodville only
+replied by a question, &quot;May I ask, Sire,&quot; he said, &quot;if a certain Sir
+Simeon of Roydon is in your host?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha!&quot; cried the King, his face lighting up, &quot;what would you say on
+that score?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Simply that I have suspicions, mighty Prince,&quot; replied the young
+knight; &quot;but <i>I</i> will charge no man without proof. These two charges
+are false, and I will make it manifest they are so; first by
+testimony; then by my arm. Is there aught else against me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Alas, there is,&quot; answered the King; &quot;and the most grave of all. Have
+you brought that letter which I sent for, my lord?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, Sire,&quot; replied the Earl of Arundel, stepping forward and placing
+a paper in the King's hands. &quot;That is the one your Grace meant, I
+believe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The same,&quot; answered Henry, gazing upon it with a countenance both
+stern and sad. &quot;Come forward, Sir Richard of Woodville. Is this your
+hand-writing?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville looked at it, and recognised at once the letter which he had
+written to Sir John Grey whilst in prison. &quot;It is, my Liege,&quot; he
+replied boldly, looking in the King's face with surprise. &quot;I wrote
+that letter; but I know not how it can affect me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That will be proved hereafter, sir,&quot; answered the King, in a stern
+tone; &quot;but remember, I have doomed my own blood to death for the acts
+which this letter prompted; and, by my honour and my life, I will not
+spare the man that wrote it. According to the right of every
+Englishman, you shall be tried and judged by your peers; but when the
+axe struck the neck of Cambridge, it crushed out the name of mercy
+from my heart. In me you find no grace.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My Lord, I need none,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville, in a tone firm,
+yet respectful, &quot;for I have done no wrong. I never yet did hear that
+there was any crime in a captive writing to a friend for ransom. This
+letter prompted nothing; and I am in much surprise to hear your royal
+words announce therein a matter of complaint against me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The man to whom it was written, sir,&quot; said the King, &quot;proved himself
+a traitor, and took the gold of France to sell his sovereign's life,
+and his country's welfare to the enemy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville gazed in surprise and bewilderment from the King
+to Sir John Grey, and from Sir John Grey to the King, while the father
+of her he loved looked not less astonished than himself. But Henry
+after a short pause added aloud, &quot;Remove him, Sir William Porter. If
+God give us good success in the coming fight, he shall have fair trial
+and due judgment. If the will of heaven fight against us, though
+perchance he may escape to live, I do believe, from what I have known
+of him in former days, that he will find bitter punishment in his own
+heart for this dark deed;&quot; and he struck his fingers sharply upon the
+paper, which he still held in his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Some way--I know not what--you are deceived, my Liege,&quot; said Richard
+of Woodville, with perfect calmness. &quot;However, I have but one favour
+to ask, and that is, that you will not let a false and lying
+accusation so weigh against me as to deprive me of my right and
+glory--that of fighting for my King, I would say; and I pledge you my
+honour and my soul that, if the day be lost, which God forfend, I will
+not survive the battle; if it be won, I will bring my head to your
+Grace's feet, to do with as seems meet to you; for I am no traitor, so
+help me heaven! and on that score I fear neither the judgment of man
+nor that of God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know that you are brave right well, Sir Richard,&quot; answered the
+King; &quot;but we will have no traitors fight upon our side.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight cast his eyes bitterly towards the ground; and Henry
+could see the fingers of his hand clenched tight into the palm; but
+Sir Henry Dacre stepped forward, and said, &quot;I will be his bail, my
+Liege.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And I too, royal sir,&quot; cried old Sir Philip Beauchamp; &quot;I will plight
+land and liberty, life and honour, that he is as true as my good
+sword. Have I not known him from a babe?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are his uncle, sir,&quot; answered the King; &quot;and, in this case,
+cannot judge.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am in no way akin to him, my gracious Sovereign,&quot; said Sir John
+Grey, advancing from the side of the Earl of Warwick; &quot;but I fear not
+also to be his bail. My life for his, if he be not true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Richard of Woodville crossed his arms upon his chest; and, raising his
+head as his friends spoke, looked proudly round, saying, &quot;There is
+something to live for, after all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the same moment, Henry turned to the Duke of York, and spoke a word
+or two with him and the Duke of Clarence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your request cannot be granted,&quot; he said, in a milder tone; &quot;but yet,
+we will deal with you in all lenity, Sir Richard; and, therefore, we
+will commit you to the ward of Sir John Grey, with strict orders,
+however, that he hold you as a close prisoner till after your trial.
+And now, I can hear no more; for the night is well spent, and we must
+march at dawn. Take him, Sir John; you have a guard, and answer to me
+for him with your life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will, my Liege,&quot; replied Sir John Grey, advancing, and taking the
+young knight's arm. &quot;Come, Richard, you shall be my guest. I have no
+doubts;&quot; and, bowing to the King, he retired from the presence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Philip Beauchamp and Sir Harry Dacre followed quickly, and
+overtook them on the stairs; and the old knight shook his nephew
+playfully by the shoulders, exclaiming, &quot;We will confound the knaves
+yet, Dickon. But what is this letter?'</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Merely one I wrote to Sir John Grey,&quot; replied Richard of Woodville;
+&quot;beseeching him to communicate with the bearer touching my ransom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I never received it,&quot; replied Sir John Grey. &quot;It did not reach my
+hands; but, please God, I will see it ere I sleep.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I must fight at this battle,&quot; said Richard of Woodville,
+thoughtfully; &quot;I must fight at this battle, my noble friends.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey replied not, but shook his head gravely, and led the way
+to the house where he was lodged.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_43" href="#div1Ref_43">THE FOX IN THE SNARE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Spread out in a long line over the face of the country, the English
+army occupied a number of villages, keeping a good watch lest the
+enemy, large bodies of whom had been apparent during the morning,
+should take them by surprise and overwhelm them by numbers. Small
+parties of the freshest men were lodged in tents between the different
+villages, so that a constant communication might be kept up, and
+support be ready for any point attacked; and, throughout the whole
+host, reigned that stern and resolute spirit, the peculiar
+characteristic of the English soldiery, and which has assured them the
+victory in so many fields, against more impetuous, but less
+determined, adversaries. Yet none, however resolute and brave in
+Henry's army, could help feeling that a great and perilous day was
+before them, when it was known, that at least a hundred and
+twenty-five thousand men, comprising the most renowned chivalry of
+Europe, were collected to oppose a force of less than twenty-five
+thousand, worn with a long and difficult march, and weakened by
+sickness and want of provisions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nevertheless, during the whole night of Thursday, the 24th of October,
+from hamlet and village, from priory and castle, from tent and field,
+wherever the English were quartered, rose up wild bursts of martial
+music floating on the air to the French camp, as, round the
+innumerable watch-fires which lighted the whole sky with their lurid
+glare, sat the myriads the enemy in their wide extended position at
+Roussauville and Agincourt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In one of the small villages near the head-quarters of the King, was
+stationed Sir John Grey, who now having recovered all the great
+possessions of his family, appeared in the field at the head of a
+large body of men, whose services under his banner procured for him,
+at an after period, as the reader is probably aware, the earldom of
+Tankerville. The house which he inhabited during that night, was the
+dwelling of a farmer; and in one of the small rooms thereof sat
+Richard of Woodville, at about eleven o'clock at night, conversing
+with Mary's father, with a somewhat gloomy and anxious air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have seen it myself, Richard,&quot; said Sir John Grey; &quot;the
+superscription is clear and distinct--'To Sir Thomas Grey,
+Knight,'--and not one word is mentioned therein of anything like
+ransom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then it has been falsified!&quot; cried Richard of Woodville; &quot;for my
+letter was to you. Why should I write to Sir Thomas Grey, a man I know
+nought of? I never saw him--hardly ever heard of him. Even now I am
+scarcely aware of who he was, or what he did.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He was an arch villain, Richard,&quot; replied the knight. &quot;The only one,
+of all the three, who took the gold of France. Cambridge and Scroop
+has other views, which they nobly hid within their own bosoms, lest
+they should injure others; but this man was a traitor indeed, and he,
+ere his death, gave this letter, it seems, into the King's own hands,
+as that which began his communication with the enemy. He even laid
+his death at your door, for having written to him by the French
+suborner.--But here is Sir Henry Dacre.--What is it you seek, good
+knight? You seem eager about something.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There are people without requiring to speak with you, Sir John,&quot;
+answered Woodville's friend. &quot;They have got a man in their hands, who,
+they say, is a knave, sent to you by one you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I want no knaves,&quot; replied Sir John Grey; &quot;but I will see who it is;&quot;
+and he went out.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, what speed, my friend?&quot; continued Dacre, grasping Woodville's
+hand; &quot;what says Sir John?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That it must not be,&quot; said Richard of Woodville. &quot;That his duty to
+the King would not suffer it, even were I his son.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then we must try other means,&quot; answered Dacre hastily. &quot;You shall
+fight to-morrow, Woodville. God forbid that you should lose a field
+like this. You shall take my armour, and I will ride in a different
+suit. Only be ready, at a moment's notice,&quot; he added; &quot;for as soon as
+Sir John is in the field, I will bear you off from the men he leaves
+on guard.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Woodville smiled gladly; for certain of his own honour and of his own
+conduct, he scrupled not to take advantage of any means to free
+himself from the restraint under which he was held. He had no
+opportunity, however, of communicating farther with his friend; for
+the next moment Sir John Grey returned, followed by several
+men-at-arms and archers, with a slight, but long-armed man in their
+hands, habited in a suit of demi-armour, such as was worn by the
+inferior soldiery, but with a vizored casque, which concealed his
+face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Take off his bacinet,&quot; said Sir John Grey; and the helmet being
+removed, displayed to the eyes of Richard of Woodville the countenance
+of his former servant Dyram. The man gazed sullenly upon the ground;
+and Sir John Grey, after eyeing him for a moment, seated himself by
+Woodville, saying, &quot;I have seen this man before, methinks.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And so have I, too often,&quot; rejoined the young knight; &quot;he was once a
+servant of mine, and shamefully betrayed his trust. Keep him safe, Sir
+John, I beseech you; for on him may greatly depend my exculpation with
+the King.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man turned round suddenly towards him, and exclaimed, &quot;Ay, and so
+it does. On me, and me alone, depends your exculpation. Your fate is
+in my hands.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Less than you think, perchance, knave!&quot; answered Sir John Grey; &quot;for
+I hold here strange lights to clear up some dark mysteries. Yet speak,
+if you be so inclined; you may merit mercy by a frank avowal.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Send these men hence,&quot; said Dyram, looking to the soldiers; &quot;I will
+say nought before them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Go, Edmond,&quot; replied the elder knight, speaking to the chief of those
+who had brought the prisoner in; &quot;yet, first tell me where you found
+him, and how?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Guided by Jim of Retford,&quot; said the soldier, &quot;we caught him about a
+mile on this side of a place called Acheux, I think, some twenty miles
+hence or more. We found that letter upon him, noble sir, and that,&quot; he
+continued, laying down on the table two pieces of paper. &quot;We might not
+have searched him, indeed, but he tried to eat that last one. You may
+see the marks of his teeth in it; and Jim of Retford forced his mouth
+open with his anelace to take it out. He says 'tis treason; but I know
+not, for I am no clerk.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey held the paper to the light and read. &quot;Treason it
+certainly is,&quot; he said, when he had done. &quot;One fourth of the booty
+secured to Edward Dyram, if the scheme succeeds!--Ay, who are
+these?--Isambert of Agincourt, Robinet de Bournonville, and S. R.? Who
+may he be, fellow?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Dyram was silent; and Sir Harry Dacre cried eagerly, &quot;Let me see
+it, sir; let me see it!--Ay, I know it well.--Woodville your
+suspicions are true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Go, Edmond, and guard the passage,&quot; said Sir John Grey; &quot;I will call
+when you are wanted.--Now, sir, will you speak?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay,&quot; answered Dyram, as he saw the man depart, and the door close; &quot;I
+will, sir knight. First, I will speak to you, Richard of Woodville,
+and will tell you that I have the power to sweep away every cloud that
+has fallen upon you, or to make them darker still.--I know all: you
+need tell me nothing;--how you refused to serve your own monarch, they
+say; how you wrote to aid in bribing Sir Thomas Grey; how you have
+followed the English camp like a raven smelling the carrion of
+war--all, all--I know all!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then clear up all!&quot; answered Woodville; &quot;and you shall have pardon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Pardon!&quot; cried Dyram, with a mocking laugh; and then suddenly turning
+to Sir Harry Dacre, he went on. &quot;Next, to you I will speak, sir
+doleful knight, and tell you, that from your fair fame, too, I can
+clear away the stain that hangs upon it--black and indelible as you
+think it. I can take out the mark of Cain, and give you back to peace
+and happiness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Harry Dacre gazed upon him for a moment in stern silence, and then
+replied, &quot;I doubt it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Doubt not,&quot; replied Ned Dyram. &quot;I can do it, I will; but upon my own
+conditions.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What may they be?&quot; asked Sir John Grey. &quot;If they be reasonable, such
+information as you may proffer may be worth its price. But, remember,
+before you speak, that your neck is in a halter, and that this paper
+conveys you to the provost, and the provost to the next tree, if your
+demands be insolent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am not sure of that,&quot; replied Ned Dyram, boldly. &quot;Sir John Grey is
+not King in the camp. What say you, Sir Richard of Woodville, will you
+grant my conditions, provided that I save you from your peril, and
+give you the means of proving your innocence within an hour?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I must hear them first, knave,&quot; replied the young knight; &quot;I will
+bind myself to nothing, till they are spoken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, they are easily said,&quot; answered Ned Dyram. &quot;First, I will have
+twenty miles free space between me and the camp--So much for security.
+Then I will have your knightly word, that a fair maiden whom you know,
+named Ella Brune, shall be mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Where is she?&quot; demanded Richard of Woodville. &quot;I know not where she
+is; I have not seen her for months, nay years.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, she is not far off when Richard of Woodville is here,&quot; said the
+man, with a sneer. &quot;I know all about it;--ay, Sir John Grey, the
+smooth-faced clerk, the corrupter of the men of Montl'herry. Can you
+not produce her?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps I can ere long,&quot; replied Sir John Grey. &quot;But what if I do?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, then,&quot; answered Dyram, in the same saucy tone, &quot;before I speak a
+word, I will have her promise to be mine. She will soon give it, when
+she knows that on it hangs Richard of Woodville's life. She has taught
+me herself, how to wring her hard heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;She shall give no such promise for me,&quot; replied Woodville, sternly.
+&quot;I tell thee, pitiful scoundrel, that I would rather, with my bosom
+free of aught like guilt, lay my head upon the block, than force a
+grateful and high-hearted girl to wed herself to such a vile slave as
+thou art. If your insinuations should be true, and she has done for me
+all that you say, full well and generously has she repaid the little I
+ever did to serve her. She shall do no more, and least of all make her
+own misery to save my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Then die, sir knight,&quot; rejoined Ned Dyram; &quot;for you will find, with
+all your wit, you cannot struggle through the toils in which you are
+caught.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It may be so,&quot; said Sir John Grey; &quot;but by my life, bold villain, you
+shall die too.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps so,&quot; answered Dyram, with sneering indifference; &quot;but I can
+die in silence like a wolf.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As you have lived,&quot; added Richard of Woodville; &quot;so be it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stay,&quot; said Sir Harry Dacre; &quot;are these the only conditions you have
+to propose? Will nought else serve your purpose as well? Gold as much
+as you will.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nought, nought,&quot; replied Dyram. &quot;You know the terms, and can take or
+reject them as you think fit. If you like them well, sir knight, and
+would have your innocence of the crime laid to you proved beyond all
+doubt--if you would save your friend too, you have nought to do but
+seek out this fair maiden. She is not far, I am right sure--and if you
+but bring her in your hand to me, I will condescend to accept her as
+my wife, and set you free of all calumny. You struck me once, Richard
+of Woodville. You cannot expect that I should forget that bitter jest,
+without a bitter atonement.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Send him away, Sir John, I do beseech you,&quot; cried Woodville, warmly.
+&quot;My temper will not long hold out; and I shall strike him again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ho, without there!&quot; cried Sir John Grey. &quot;Take this man away, Edmond,
+and put gyves upon him. Have him watched night and day; for I now know
+who he is; and a more dangerous knave there does not live. He will
+escape if Satan's own cunning can effect it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, you know the terms,&quot; said Ned Dyram, turning his head as two of
+the soldiers drew him away by the arms. &quot;Think better of it, noble
+knights. Ha, ha, ha! What a story to tell, that the fair fame of Sir
+Harry Dacre, and the life of Sir Richard of Woodville, both mighty men
+of war, should depend upon one word of poor Ned Dyram!&quot; and with this
+scoff he was led away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dacre paused in silence, leaning his brow thoughtfully upon his hand;
+and Richard of Woodville for several moments conversed with Sir John
+Grey in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, you may well think it strange, Richard,&quot; said the elder knight
+aloud, &quot;that I, who at one time was taught to fancy this girl your
+paramour, should suddenly place such trust in her, as to let her
+follow her will in all things, and put means at her disposal to effect
+whatever she thought fit. But do you see that ring?&quot; and he pointed to
+a circle of gold set with a large sapphire on his finger; &quot;it is a
+record, Richard, of a quality, which in her race, though it be a
+humble one, is hereditary. I mean gratitude. I once rescued from
+injury the wife of a good soldier, named Brune, the son of one of
+Northumberland's minstrels. 'Twas but a trifling service which any
+knight would have rendered to a woman in distress; but that good man,
+her husband, in gratitude for this simple act, sacrificed his own life
+to save mine. It was on Shrewsbury field twelve long years ago; and
+when I left him with the enemy on every side, I gave him that ring, in
+the hope that he might still escape; but he was already sorely wounded
+in defending me; and ere he died he sent it as a last gift to his
+daughter. When I saw it by mere accident, and heard that daughter tell
+her feelings towards you, I recognised the spirit of her race; and had
+it cost me half the lands I had just recovered, she should not have
+wanted means to carry out her plan for serving you. What now?&quot; he
+continued, turning to one of his attendants, who entered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The King, sir knight, desires your presence instantly, to consult
+with Sir Thomas of Erpingham for the ordering of tomorrow's battle.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I come,&quot; replied Sir John Grey; and then turning to Richard of
+Woodville, he added, &quot;This is fortunate; perchance what I have to tell
+him this night, may make him somewhat soften the strictness of his
+orders.&quot; Thus speaking, he withdrew, leaving Richard of Woodville
+alone with Sir Harry Dacre.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_44" href="#div1Ref_44">THE ORDERING OF THE BATTLE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">We must follow, for a short space, the steps of Sir John Grey, who
+hurried after the messenger, to the quarters of the King, which lay at
+about half a mile's distance from his own. As I have shown, he
+intended to speak with the monarch upon the intelligence regarding the
+young knight, which he had received that night; but an opportunity for
+so doing was not so easily found as he had expected.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The moon was shining bright and unclouded; not a vapour was in the
+sky; and, as he approached the guards, which were stationed round
+Henry's temporary residence, he could hear the sound of voices, and
+see distinctly a small party walking slowly up the road. One was half
+a step in advance of the rest; and there was something in the air and
+tread which told the knight at once that there was the King. Hurrying
+after, he soon overtook the group, and joined in their conversation in
+a low voice: but far more weighty thoughts than the fate of any
+individual, now occupied all. Their speech was of the morrow's battle,
+their minds fixed upon that which was to decide the destiny of thrones
+and empires,--which was to deal life and death to thousands; and
+Richard of Woodville seemed forgotten by all but Sir John Grey
+himself.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The King, too, walked on before in silence, with his eyes bent upon
+the ground, and his look grave and thoughtful; and it was not till,
+passing out of the village, he came upon the brow of a small
+acclivity, from which the whole of the enemy's line of watch-fires
+could be descried, that he paused or spoke. The moment that he
+stopped, the distinguished soldiers who followed him gathered round;
+and, turning towards them with a countenance now all smiles, the
+monarch said, &quot;Somewhere near this spot must be the place--I marked it
+this afternoon. Ha! Sir John Grey, I hardly thought you would have
+time to come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A little more in advance, Sire,&quot; replied Sir Thomas of Erpingham,
+answering the former part of the King's speech. &quot;If you take your
+stand here, the Frenchmen will have space to spread out their men
+beyond the edge of the two woods; but, if you plant your van within a
+half-bowshot of the edge of those trees, they must coop themselves up
+in the narrow space, where their numbers will be little good.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are right, renowned knight,&quot; said the King, laying his hand
+familiarly upon Erpingham's shoulder. &quot;I did not mean just here. The
+standard shall be pitched where yon low tree rises; the vanward a
+hundred paces farther down, the rearward where we now stand.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Does your Grace mark that meadow there, upon the right?&quot; asked Sir
+John Grey; &quot;close upon the edge of the wood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do, good friend,&quot; answered Henry; &quot;and will use it as I know you
+would have. But, go down first, and see how it is defended; for we
+must not expose our foot-men to the French horse.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey and the Earl of Suffolk hurried on, while Henry examined
+the rest of the field; but they soon returned with information that
+the meadow was defended by a deep and broad ditch, impassable for
+heavy horses; and Henry replied, &quot;Well, then, we will secure it for
+ourselves by our good bowmen. Though we be so few, we can spare two
+hundred archers to gall the Frenchmen's flank as they come up.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay! would to Heaven,&quot; cried one of the gentlemen present, &quot;that all
+the brave men, who are now idle in England, could know that such a
+field as this lies before their King, and they had time to join us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha! what is that?&quot; cried Henry. &quot;No, by my life! I would not have one
+man more. If we lose the day, which God forbid we should, we are too
+many already; and if we win this battle, as I trust in Heaven we
+shall, I would not share the glory of the field with any more than
+needful. Come, my good lords and noble knights, let us go on and view
+the ground farther, and when all is decided we will place guards and
+light fires to insure that the enemy be not beforehand with us.&quot; Thus
+saying, he walked on, conversing principally with Sir Thomas of
+Erpingham upon the array of his men; while the other gentlemen
+followed talking together, or listening to the consultation between
+the King and his old and experienced knight. As they went on, various
+broken sentences were thus overheard--as, &quot;Ay, that copse of brushwood
+will guard our left right well--and the hedges and ditches on the
+right, will secure us from the charge of men-at-arms. Their bowmen we
+need not fear, my Liege.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have bethought me, my old friend, of a defence, too, for our
+archers in the front. We have all heard how at Bannockburn, in the
+time of good King Edward, pitfalls were dug to break the charging
+horse. We have no time for that; but I think, if we should plant
+before our archers, long stakes pointed with iron, a little leaning
+forward towards the foe, the British bows would be secure against the
+chivalry of France; or, if they were assailed and the enemy did break
+through, 'twould be in wild disorder and rash disarray, as was the
+case at Cressy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A marvellous good thought, my Liege; but every battle has a change.
+Those who were once attacked, become the attackers, and should such be
+our case, how will you clear the way for our own men from the stakes
+that were planted against the enemy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That must be provided against, Sir Thomas. Each man must pull up the
+stake near him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, my Liege,&quot; said Sir John Grey, joining in. &quot;Let a hundred
+billmen be ranged with the second line of archers; and, at a word
+given, pass through and root up the stakes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Right, right, Sir John,&quot; answered the King. &quot;Then the fury of our
+charge, when charge we may, will not be checked by our own defences.
+Our van must be all archers, with the exception of the brown
+bills--and I think to give the command----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I do beseech you, my lord the King,&quot; said the Duke of York, advancing
+from behind, &quot;to let me have that post, and lead the van of your
+battle. Words have been spoken, and rumours have been spread, which
+make me eager for a place of danger. You must not refuse me, royal
+prince.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nor will I, cousin,&quot; answered Henry. &quot;On your honour and good faith,
+I have as much reliance, as on your skill and courage, which no man
+dares to doubt. Are you not a Plantagenet?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Duke caught his hand and kissed it; and if he had taken any share,
+as some suspected, in the conspiracy of Southampton, he expiated his
+fault on the succeeding day, by glorious actions and a hero's death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now,&quot; said the King, after some further examination of the field,
+&quot;you understand our disposition, noble knights; and to you I entrust
+it to secure the ground during the night, and to make the arrangements
+for to-morrow. Cousin of York, you lead the van. I myself, with my
+young brother, Humphrey of Gloucester, will command the main battle.
+Oxford and Suffolk, you and the Lord Marshal shall give us counsel. My
+uncle of Exeter shall lead our rearward line, and this good knight of
+Erpingham shall be our marshal of the field. Let all men in the centre
+fight on foot: and let the cavalry be ranged on either wing to improve
+the victory I hope to win. When all is ready, back to your beds and
+sleep, first praying God for good success to-morrow. Then, in the
+morning early, feed your men. Let them consume whatever meat is left;
+for if we gain the day, they shall find plenty on before; and if we
+lose it, few methinks will want provisions.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, the King turned and walked back towards the village; and
+Sir John Grey choosing that moment, advanced and addressed him in a
+low tone in regard to Richard of Woodville. Henry soon stopped him,
+however--&quot;We cannot speak on that to-night, my noble friend,&quot; he said.
+&quot;It grieves me much, I own, to debar a gallant gentleman from sharing
+in a field like this. I know that it will grieve him more than death;
+but yet--Nay, no more. We will not speak of this. Set watch upon
+him;--but not too strict. You understand me; and you who taught my
+infant hands first to draw a bow, shall fight by my side to-morrow.
+Now, good night--I will tell you my belief; it is, that this youth is
+guiltless. I do not often rashly judge men's characters; and I formed
+my estimate of his, long, long ago. Farewell, and God shield us all
+to-morrow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir John Grey hurried home, and found, that, during his long absence,
+all in the house where he was quartered, except one or two of his own
+personal attendants and the necessary guard, had retired to rest. Ere
+he sought his pillow also, however, he sat down and wrote some hurried
+lines, which he signed and sealed; and then, with a silent step
+seeking the chamber where Richard of Woodville slept, with two or
+three yeomen across the door, he went in, and gazed for a moment at
+the young knight, as he lay upon his little pallet, with his arm under
+his head, and a well-pleased smile upon his slumbering face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is not the sleep of guilt,&quot; said Sir John in a low murmur to
+himself. &quot;There, that gives him my Mary, if I fall to-morrow;&quot; and
+thus saying, he laid the paper he had written upon Woodville's bosom,
+and retired to his own chamber.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XLV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_45" href="#div1Ref_45">THE BATTLE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The morning of the twenty-fifth of October, St. Crispin's day, dawned
+bright, but not altogether clear. There was a slight hazy mist in the
+air, sufficient to soften the distant objects; but neither to prevent
+the eye from ranging to a great distance, nor the sun, which was
+shining warm above, from pouring his beams through the air, and
+tinging the whole vapour with a golden hue. Early in the morning, both
+armies were on foot; but more bustle and eagerness were observable in
+the French camp, than amongst the English, who showed a calmer and
+less excited spirit, weighing well the hazards of the day, and though
+little doubting of victory, still feeling that no light and joyful
+task lay before them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The French, however, were all bustle and activity. Men-at-arms were
+seen hurrying from place to place, gathering around their innumerable
+banners, ranging themselves under their various leaders, or kneeling
+and taking vows to do this or that, of which inexorable fate forbade,
+in most cases, the accomplishment. Nothing was heard on any side but
+accents of triumph and satisfaction, prognostications of a speedy and
+almost bloodless victory over an enemy, to whom they were superior by
+at least six times the number of the whole English host,--and bloody
+resolutions of avenging the invasion of France, and the capture of
+Harfleur, by putting to death all prisoners except the King and other
+princes, from whom large ransoms might be expected; for a vain people
+is almost always a sanguinary one. A proud nation can better afford to
+forgive. Nothing was heard, I have said, but such foolish boastings,
+and idle resolutions: but I ought to have excepted some less jocund
+observations, which were made here and there in a low tone, amongst
+the older, but not wiser of the French nobility, prompted by the
+superstitious spirit of the times, which was apt to draw auguries from
+very trifling indications.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Heard you how the music of these islanders made the whole air ring
+throughout the night?&quot; said one.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And ours was quite silent,&quot; said another.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We have no instruments,&quot; rejoined a third. &quot;This King of theirs is
+fond of such toys, and plays himself like a minstrel, I am told: but I
+remarked a thing which is more serious; their horses neighed all
+night, as if eager for a course, and ours uttered not a sound.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That looks bad, indeed,&quot; observed one of the others.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Perhaps their horses, as well as their men, are frightened,&quot; answered
+another.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have seen no sign of fear,&quot; replied one of the first speakers, with
+a shake of the head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why the rumour goes,&quot; said the first, &quot;that Henry of England sent on
+Wednesday, to announce that he would give up Harfleur, and pay for all
+the damage he has done, if we would but grant him a free passage to
+his town of Calais.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is false,&quot; replied the first speaker. &quot;I asked the Constable last
+night myself, and he said that there is not a word of truth in the
+whole tale, and that Henry will fight like a boar at bay: so every
+Frenchman must do his devoir; for if, with six times his numbers, we
+let the Englishmen win the day, it must be by our folly or our own
+fault.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, the Constable D'Albret, followed by a gallant train of
+knights and noblemen, rode past on a splendid charger, horse and man
+completely armed; and, turning his head as he passed each group, he
+snouted, &quot;To the standard, to the standard, gentlemen! Under your
+banners, men of France! You will want shade, for the sun shines, and
+we have a hot day before us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus saying, he rode on, and the French lines were speedily formed in
+three divisions, like the English. The first, or vanguard, comprised
+eight thousand men-at-arms, all knights or squires, four thousand
+archers, and fifteen hundred crossbowmen, and was led by the
+Constable, the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, with some twenty other
+high lords of France, while upon either wing appeared a large body of
+chosen cavalry. The whole line was glittering with gilded armour, and
+gay with a thousand banners of embroidered arms; and, as the sun shone
+upon it, no courtly pageant was ever more bright and beautiful to see.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The main body consisted of a still larger force, under the Dukes of
+Bar and Alençon, with six counts, each a great vassal of the crown of
+France. The rear guard was more numerous still; but in it were
+comprised the light armed and irregular troops, and a mixed multitude
+upon whom little dependence could be placed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When all were arranged in order, on the side of the hill, the
+Constable addressed the troops, in words of high and manly courage,
+tinged perhaps with a little bombast; and when he had done, the whole
+of that vast force remained gazing towards the opposite slope, and
+expecting every moment to see the English army appear, and endeavour
+to force its way onward towards Calais. As yet, but a few scattered
+bodies of the invaders were apparent upon the ground, and some time
+passed, ere the heads of the different corps were descried issuing
+forth in perfect order to the sound of martial music, and taking up
+their position on the field, marked out by Henry during the night
+before. Their appearance, as compared with that of the French host,
+was poor and insignificant in the extreme. Traces of travel and of
+strife were evident in their arms and in their banners; and their
+numbers seemed but as a handful opposed to the long line which covered
+the hill before them. Yet there was something in the firm array, the
+calm and measured step, the triumphant sound of their trumpets and
+their clarions, the regular lines of their archers and of their
+cavalry, the want of all haste, confusion, or agitation, apparent
+through the whole of that small host, which was not without its effect
+upon their enemies, who began to feel that there would be indeed a
+battle, fierce, bloody, and determined, before the day, so fondly
+counted theirs, was really won.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Prompt and well-disciplined, with their bows on their shoulders, their
+quivers and their swords at their sides, and their heavy axes in their
+hands, the English archers at once took up the position assigned to
+them, with as much precision as if at some pageant or muster. Each
+instantly planted in the earth a heavy iron-shod stake, which he
+carried in his left hand, and drove it in with blows from the back of
+his axe; and then each strung his bow, and drew an arrow from the
+quiver. Behind, at a short distance, came the battle of the King,
+consisting of heavy armed infantry, principally billmen, with a strong
+force of cavalry on either hand. The rearward, under the Duke of
+Exeter, appeared shortly after on the hill above; and each of the two
+last divisions occupied its appointed ground with the same regularity
+and tranquil order which had been displayed by the van.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The preparations which they perceived, the pitching of the stakes, the
+marshalling of the English forces, and the position which they had
+taken up, showed the French commanders that the King of England was
+determined his battle should be a defensive one; and the appearance of
+some bodies of the enemy in the neighbourhood of the village of
+Agincourt, with the burning of a mill and house upon the same side,
+led them to believe that some stratagem was meditated, which must be
+met by prompt action with the principal corps of Henry's army.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That there were difficulties in attacking a veteran force in such a
+position, the Constable D'Albret clearly saw, but he was naturally of
+a bold and rash disposition; his enemies of the Burgundian party had
+more than once accused him of his irresolution and incapacity; and he
+resolved that no obstacle should daunt, or induce him to avoid a
+battle, with such an overpowering force at his command. He gave the
+order then to move forward at a slow pace, and probably did not
+perceive the full perils of his undertaking, till his troops had
+advanced too far, between the two woods, to retreat with either honour
+or safety. When he discovered this, it would seem an order was given
+to halt, and for some minutes the two armies paused, observing each
+other, the English determined not to quit their ground, the French
+hesitating to attack.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A solemn silence pervaded the whole field; but then Henry himself
+appeared, armed from head to foot in gilded armour, a royal crown
+encircling his helmet, covered with precious stones, and his beaver
+up, displaying his countenance to his own troops. Mounted on a
+magnificent white horse, he rode along the line of archers in the van,
+within half a bow shot of the enemy, exhorting the brave yeomen, in
+loud tones, and with a cheerful face, to do their duty to their
+country and their King. Every motive was held out that could induce
+his soldiery to do gallant deeds; and he ended by exclaiming, &quot;For my
+part, I swear that England shall never pay ransom for my person, nor
+France triumph over me in life; for this day shall either be famous
+for my death, or in it I will win honour and obtain renown.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Along the second and third line he likewise rode, followed close by
+Sir Thomas of Erpingham, with his bald head bare, and the white hair
+upon his temples streaming in the wind; and to each division the King
+addressed nearly the same words. The only answer that was made by the
+soldiers was, &quot;On, on! let us forward!&quot; and the only communication
+which took place between the King and his marshal of the host occurred
+when at length Henry resumed his position in the centre of the main
+battle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They are near enough, my Liege,&quot; said the old knight. &quot;Is your Grace
+ready?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Quite,&quot; replied Henry. &quot;Have you left a guard over the baggage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As many as could be spared, Sire,&quot; replied the Marshal. &quot;Shall we
+begin?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry bowed his head; and the old knight, setting spurs to his horse,
+galloped along the face of the three lines, waving his truncheon in
+his hand, and exclaiming, &quot;Ready, ready! Now, men of England, now!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then, in the very centre of the van, he stopped by the side of the
+Duke of York, dismounted from his horse, put on his casque, which a
+page held ready; and then, hurling his leading staff high into the
+air, as he glanced over the archers with a look of fire untamed by
+age, he cried aloud, &quot;Now strike!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Each English yeoman suddenly bent down upon his knee and kissed the
+ground. Then starting up, they gave one loud, universal cheer, at
+which, to use the terms of the French historian, &quot;the Frenchmen were
+greatly astounded.&quot; Each archer took a step forward, drew his
+bow-string to his ear; and, as the van of the enemy began to move on,
+a cloud of arrows fell amongst them, not only from the front, but from
+the meadow on their flank, piercing through armour, driving the horses
+mad with pain, and spreading confusion and disarray amidst the immense
+multitude which, crowded into that narrow field, could only advance in
+lines thirty deep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Forward, forward!&quot; shouted the French knights.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;On, for your country and your King!&quot; cried the Constable D'Albret;
+but his archers and cross-bowmen would not move; and, plunging their
+horses through them, the French men-at-arms spurred on in terrible
+disarray, while still amongst them fell that terrible shower of
+arrows, seeming to seek out with unerring aim every weak point of
+their armour, piercing their visors, entering between the gorget and
+the breast-plate, transfixing the hand to the lance. Of eight hundred
+chosen men-at-arms, if we may believe the accounts of the French
+themselves, not more than a hundred and forty could reach the stakes
+by which the archers stood. This new impediment produced still more
+confusion: many of the heavy-armed horses of the French goring
+themselves upon the iron pikes, and one of the leaders, who cast
+himself gallantly forward before the rest, being instantly pulled from
+his horse, and slain by the axes of the English infantry; whilst still
+against those that were following were aimed the deadly shafts, till,
+seized with terror, they drew the bridle and fled, tearing their way
+through the mingled mass behind them, and increasing the consternation
+and confusion which already reigned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the same moment, the arrows of the English archers being expended,
+the stakes were drawn up; and encouraged by the evident discomfiture
+of the French van, the first line of the English host rushed upon the
+struggling crowd before them, sword in hand, rendering the disarray
+and panic irremediable, slaughtering immense numbers with their swords
+and axes, and changing terror into precipitate flight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Up to this period, Henry, surrounded by some of his principal knights,
+stood immoveable upon the slope of the hill, but seeing his archers
+engaged hand to hand with the enemy, he pointed out with his truncheon
+a knight in black armour with lines of gold, about a hundred yards
+distant upon his left, saying, &quot;Tell Sir Henry Dacre to move down with
+his company to support the van. The enemy may rally yet.&quot; A squire
+galloped off to bear the order; and instantly the band to which he
+addressed himself swept down in firm array, while the King, with the
+whole of the main body, moved slowly on to insure the victory.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No further resistance, indeed, was made by the advanced guard of the
+French. Happy was the man who could save himself by flight; the
+archers and the cross-bowmen, separating from each other, plunged into
+the wood; many of the men-at-arms dismounting from their horses, and
+casting off their heavy armour, followed their example; and others,
+flying in small parties, rallied upon the immense body led by the
+Dukes of Bar and Alençon, which was now advancing, in the hope of
+retrieving the day. It was known that the Duke of Alençon had sworn to
+take the King of England, alive or dead, and the contest now became
+more fierce and more regular. Pouring on in thunder upon the English
+line, the French men-at-arms seemed to bear all before them; but
+though shaken by the charge, the English cavalry gallantly maintained
+their ground; and, as calm as if sitting at the council-table, the
+English King, from the midst of the battle, even where it was fiercest
+around him, issued his commands, rallied his men, and marked with an
+approving eye, and often with words of high commendation, the conduct
+of the foremost in the fight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Wheel your men, Sir John Grey,&quot; he cried, &quot;and take that party in the
+green upon the flank. Bravely done, upon my life; Sir Harry Dacre
+seems resolved to outdo us all. Give him support, my Lord of
+Hungerford. See you not that he is surrounded by a score of lances! By
+the holy rood, he has cleared the way. Aid him, aid him, and they are
+routed there!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That is not Sir Harry Dacre, my Lord the King,&quot; said a gentleman
+near. &quot;He is in plain steel armour. I spoke with him but a minute
+ago.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;On, on,&quot; cried Henry, little heeding him. &quot;Restore the array on the
+right, Sir Hugh Basset. They have bent back a little. On your guard,
+on your guard, knights and gentlemen! Down with your lances. Here they
+come!&quot; and at the same moment, a large body of French, at the full
+gallop, dashed towards the spot where the King stood. In an instant,
+the Duke of Gloucester, but a few yards from the monarch, was
+encountered by a knight of great height and strength, and cast
+headlong to the ground. Henry spurred up to his brother's defence, and
+covering him with his shield, rained a thousand blows, with his large,
+heavy sword, upon the armour of his adversary, while two of the Duke's
+squires drew the young Prince from beneath his horse.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Beware, beware, my Lord the King!&quot; cried a voice upon his left; and
+turning round, Henry beheld the knight in the black armour, pointing
+with his mace to the right, where the Duke of Alençon, some fifty
+yards before a large party of the French chivalry, was galloping
+forward, with his battle-axe in his hand, direct towards the King.
+Henry turned to meet him; but that movement had nearly proved fatal to
+the English monarch; for as he wheeled his horse, he saw the black
+knight cover him with his shield, receive upon it a tremendous blow
+from the gigantic adversary who had overthrown the Duke of Gloucester,
+and, swinging high his mace, strike the other on the crest a stroke
+that brought his head to his horse's neck. A second dashed him to the
+ground; but Henry had time to remark no more, for Alençon was already
+upon him, and he had now to fight hand to hand for life. Few men,
+however, could stand before the English monarch's arm; and in an
+instant, the Duke was rolling in the dust. A dozen of the foot
+soldiers were upon him at once.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Spare him, spare him!&quot; cried the King; but, ere his voice could be
+heard, a dagger was in the unhappy prince's throat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Henry looked round, the main body of the French were flying in
+confusion, the rear guard had already fled; and all that remained upon
+the field of Agincourt of the magnificent host of France, were the
+prisoners, the dying, or the dead, except where here and there,
+scattered over the ground, were seen small parties of twenty or
+thirty, separated from the rest, and fighting with the courage of
+despair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let all men be taken to mercy,&quot; cried the King, &quot;who are willing to
+surrender. Quick, send messengers, uncle of Exeter, to command them to
+give quarter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My Lord the King! my Lord the King!&quot; cried the voice of a man,
+galloping up in haste, &quot;the rear-guard of the enemy have rallied, and
+are already in your camp, pillaging and slaying wherever they come.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha, then, we will fight them too,&quot; cried the monarch. &quot;Keep the
+field, my Lord Duke, and prevent those fugitives from collecting
+together;&quot; and gathering a small force of cavalry, Henry himself rode
+back at speed towards the village of Maisoncelles. But when he reached
+the part of the camp where his baggage had been left, the King found
+that the report of the French rear-guard having rallied, was false.
+Tents had been overthrown, it is true, houses had been burnt, wagons
+had been pillaged; and the work of plunder was still going on. But the
+only force in presence consisted of some six or seven hundred armed
+peasantry, headed by about six score men-at-arms, with three or four
+gentlemen apparently of knightly rank. The cavaliers, who had
+dismounted, instantly sprang on their horses and fled when the English
+horse appeared; and Henry, fearing to endanger his victory, shouted
+loudly not to pursue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I beseech you, my Liege, let me bring you back one of them,&quot; cried
+the knight in the black armour, who was on the King's left; and ere
+Henry could reply, digging his spurs deep into his horse's sides, he
+was half a bow-shot away after the fugitives. They fled fast, but not
+so fast as he followed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We must give him aid, or he is lost,&quot; cried the King, riding after;
+but ere he could come up, the knight had nearly reached the three
+hindmost horsemen, shouting loudly to them to turn and fight.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Two did so; but hand to hand he met them both, stunned the horse of
+one by a blow upon the head, and then turning upon the other,
+exclaimed, &quot;We have met at length, craven and scoundrel! We have met
+at length!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The other replied not, but by a thrust of his sword at the good
+knight's visor. It was well aimed; and the point passed through the
+bars and entered his cheek. At the same moment, however, the black
+knight's heavy mace descended upon his foeman's head, the crest was
+crushed, the thick steel gave way, and down his enemy rolled--hung for
+a moment in the stirrup--and then fell headlong on the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Light as air, the victor sprang from his saddle, and setting his foot
+upon his adversary's neck, gazed fiercely upon him as he lay. There
+were some few words enamelled above the visor; and crying aloud, &quot;Ave,
+Maria!&quot; the black knight shook his mace high in the air, then dropped
+it by the thong without striking, and, unclasping his own helmet, as
+the King came up, exposed the head of Richard of Woodville. Such was
+the last deed of the battle of Agincourt.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_46" href="#div1Ref_46">THE CONCLUSION.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">In the same large and magnificent hall of the royal castle at Calais,
+in which Edward III. entertained his prisoners after his chivalrous,
+though imprudent combat with the French forces under the walls of that
+town, was assembled the Court of England on the arrival of his great
+descendant, Henry V., some days subsequent to the battle of Agincourt.
+The scene was a splendid one; for, though the monarch and many of his
+nobility had to mourn the loss of near and dear relatives in that
+glorious field, no time had yet been given to prepare the external
+signs of grief; and the habiliments of all were, either the gay robes
+of peace and rejoicing, or the still more splendid panoply of war. As
+may be naturally supposed, the greater number of those present were
+men; but, nevertheless, the circle round the King's person contained
+several of the other sex; for, besides the wife and daughters of the
+Governor of Calais, and the ladies of several of the principal
+officers and citizens of the town, a number of the female relations of
+the conquerors of Agincourt, who had come over to the English city, on
+the first news of the army's march from Harfleur, were likewise in the
+hall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No pageant or revel, however, was going forward; and, although Henry
+could not but feel the vast importance of the deed that he had
+achieved, and the great results which might be expected to ensue, both
+in strengthening his power at home, and extending it abroad, yet his
+countenance was far more grave and thoughtful than it had been before
+the battle; and rejoicing, as was natural, at such vast success, he
+rejoiced with moderation, and repressed every expression of triumph.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After speaking for some time with the persons round him, he turned to
+Sir John Grey, who stood at a short distance on his left hand; and
+noticing with a kindly smile the knight's fair daughter, he said,
+&quot;Now, my noble friend, you besought me this morning to hear what you
+had to bring before me, concerning Sir Richard of Woodville. Ere I
+listen to a word, however, let me at once say, that the good service
+rendered by that knight upon the field of Agincourt wipes out whatever
+offence he may have before committed; and without prayer or
+solicitation, I free him from all bonds, and pardon everything that
+may be passed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he spoke, Richard of Woodville advanced from behind, and standing
+before the King, exclaimed, &quot;I beseech you, Sire, to withdraw that
+pardon, and to judge me as if I had never drawn sword or couched lance
+in your service. If I am guilty, my guilt is but increased by having
+dared to break ward, and fight amidst honest Englishmen; and I claim
+no merit for what little I have done, except in having brought to your
+Majesty's feet the traitor scoundrel, Simeon of Roydon, who doubtless,
+with his own lips, will now confess his treason towards you, his
+falsehood towards me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If he do not,&quot; said Sir John Grey, boldly, &quot;I have, thank God, ample
+means to prove it. Let him be called, my Liege, and with him a certain
+knave, a prisoner likewise in my hands, named Edward Dyram.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha!&quot; cried the King, with a smile--&quot;has our old friend Ned Dyram,
+too, a share in this affair? I had thought the warning I once gave
+might have taught him to mend his manners.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They are past mending, my Liege,&quot; answered Sir John Grey. &quot;The
+villain will doubtless deny all, for he is a hardened knave as ever
+lived; but we can convict him notwithstanding.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well, call them in,&quot; answered Henry, &quot;and have all things ready.&quot; And
+while Sir John Grey and Sir William Philip, the King's treasurer,
+quitted the circle for a moment, Henry turned to Mary Grey, and
+addressed her in a low tone, with a smiling countenance. The crowd
+drew back to let the King speak at ease; and the only words that made
+themselves heard were, &quot;Methinks, fair lady, you have some interest in
+this affair?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Deep, my Liege,&quot; replied Mary Grey, with a glowing cheek.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What the King answered was not distinct to those around; but the lady
+raised her bright eyes to his face, replying eagerly, &quot;More for his
+honour than for his life, Sire.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No time was lost, for Sir John Grey, expecting a speedy hearing, had
+prepared all; and in less than five minutes he re-entered the hall,
+followed by a number of persons, some of whom accompanied him to the
+end of the chamber where the King was placed, and ranged themselves
+behind the circle, while the rest, consisting of prisoners and those
+who guarded them, remained near the door by which they entered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry fixed his eyes upon the group there standing, and seemed to
+examine them attentively for a moment in silence, then raising his
+voice, he exclaimed, &quot;Bring forward Simeon of Roydon, and Edward
+Dyram.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The two whom he called immediately advanced, with a man-at-arms on
+either side. The knight held down his head and gazed upon the ground;
+but the servant looked carelessly around, showing neither fear nor
+doubt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sir Simeon of Roydon,&quot; said the King, in a stern tone, as soon as the
+culprit stood within a few yards of his person, &quot;You have been taken
+in arms against your country, and it were wise in you to make free
+confession of your acts. I exhort you so to do, not promising you
+aught, but for the relief of your own soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The knight paused for an instant, looked to Dyram, and then to Richard
+of Woodville, and replied, &quot;I have nought to confess, Sire. Unjustly
+banished from my country, I had no right to regard myself as an
+Englishman; but it was not against you, my Liege, that I bore arms. It
+was against my enemy, who stands there. Him I sought, knowing him to
+be in your camp.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A poor excuse,&quot; replied the King; &quot;and you must have had speedy
+intelligence, since he arrived there but the night before; and you,
+fellow,&quot; continued Henry, turning to Dyram, &quot;What know you of this
+knight, and his proceedings?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Very little, may it please your Grace,&quot; replied Ned Dyram; &quot;I have
+seen him before, I think; but where it was, I cannot justly say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;May I ask one question of the guard, my Liege?&quot; demanded Sir John
+Grey. Henry inclined his head; and the knight proceeded--&quot;Have these
+two men held any communication together in the anteroom?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They spoke together for a few moments in a strange tongue,&quot; answered
+the man-at-arms whom he addressed; &quot;and when we parted them, they
+still talked from time to time across the room.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Well,&quot; replied the old knight, &quot;it will serve them but little. Have
+you the papers, Sir William Philip?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They are here,&quot; said the treasurer; and he placed a roll in the
+King's hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry looked at the first paper casually, saying, &quot;This I know;&quot; but
+regarded the second more attentively, and, after reading it through,
+turned to Sir John Grey, and inquired, &quot;What is this? I see it refers
+to the man before us. But how was it obtained?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is referred to, my Liege, in the question, number four, which your
+Grace permitted me to draw up. You will find them further on. The two
+following letters I need not explain. The only question is, as to
+their authenticity, which can be proved.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The King read them all through with care; and then taking a paper from
+the bottom of the roll, which appeared to contain a long list of
+interrogatories, numbered separately, and written in a good clerkly
+hand, he perused it from the beginning to the end. After having read
+it, he turned to Sir Simeon of Roydon, saying, &quot;You are here charged
+with grave offences, sir, besides the crime in which you were taken.
+It is stated here, that you purchased the arms of Sir Richard of
+Woodville, when they were sold in Ghent, on his men leaving the
+service of Burgundy to return to England; and that you took his name
+while following our army up the Somme, and attacking our straggling
+parties with a leader of free companions, named Robinet de
+Bournonville. Is it so, or is it not so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This can be proved, my Liege,&quot; said Richard of Woodville; &quot;for Sir
+Philip Beauchamp here present, saw the arms in which this caitiff was
+taken; and he can swear that they were a gift from himself to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I acknowledge, Sire, that I did purchase them,&quot; replied Simeon of
+Roydon; &quot;and what my companions may have called me, I know not; but if
+perchance they called me Woodville, it was in jest; but no man can say
+that I was seen following your army from Harfleur hither.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is enough, it is enough,&quot; said the King. &quot;Of this charge, Richard,
+you are free,&quot; he continued, turning to Woodville; and then resuming
+his interrogatories, he went on to ask, &quot;Did you, or did you not, Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, intercept a letter from me to this good knight, and
+counterfeiting his signature, write a reply, refusing to obey my
+commands?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sir Simeon of Roydon started, and turned a fierce look upon Ned Dyram,
+as if he suspected that he had been betrayed; but the surprise which
+he saw in the man's face, notwithstanding a strong effort to repress
+it, convinced him that Henry had other sources of information; but
+resolute in his course to the last, he replied in a bold tone, &quot;It is
+false. Who is my accuser?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The King looked round; and a sweet musical voice replied, &quot;I am!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Stand forward, stand forward,&quot; said the King. &quot;Ha! who are you? I
+have seen that fair face before.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Once, my Liege,&quot; said Ella Brune, advancing, dressed in the garments
+she had worn immediately after her grandsire's death, &quot;and then your
+Grace did as you always do, rendered justice both to the offender and
+the offended. I accuse this man of having done the deed that you have
+mentioned, and many another blacker still. I accuse him of having made
+use of him who stands beside him, Edward Dyram--pretending to be a
+servant of Sir Richard of Woodville, long after he had been driven in
+disgrace from his train--to obtain from the messenger of the Count of
+Charolois the letter which your Grace had sent. Speak,&quot; she continued,
+turning to Dyram, &quot;Is it not true?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man hesitated, and turned red and white, but was silent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Speak,&quot; reiterated Ella Brune, &quot;it is your last chance. Then read
+this letter, my Liege,&quot; she continued, &quot;from the noble Count of
+Charolois, wherein he states, that he has traced out this foul and
+wicked plot, and----&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will confess I <i>did</i>,&quot; exclaimed Dyram; &quot;I did get the letter. I
+did aid to forge the answer; but he, he--Richard of Woodville--struck
+me, and I vowed revenge.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What more?&quot; demanded the King, sternly. &quot;If you hope for life speak
+truth. <i>You</i> have not defiled knightly rank; <i>you</i> have not degraded
+noble birth; <i>you</i> have not violated all that should keep men honest
+and true. There is some hope for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha, knave!&quot; exclaimed Simeon of Roydon, gazing at him fiercely; but
+Dyram hesitated and paused without reply; and Ella Brune proceeded,
+pointing with her fair hand to the papers which the King held open
+before him, and demanding, while her dark eyes fixed stern on Dyram's
+face, &quot;And the letter from the prisoner of Montl'herry, to Sir John
+Grey, did you not erase the words with which it ended--they were, if I
+remember right, 'touching my ransom,'--and change the Christian name
+in the superscription?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no,&quot; cried the man vehemently, knowing that the charge might well
+affect his life. &quot;No, I did not--nobody saw me do it; I say I did not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Fool!&quot; cried Ella Brune, after giving him a moment to consider; &quot;Your
+hate has been dangerous to others, your love has been dangerous to
+yourself--Give me that cup! My Lord the King, may I crave to see the
+letter I have named?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry took it from the rest, and placed it in her hand; and, dipping
+her finger in a cup containing a clear white fluid, which the page of
+Sir John Grey brought forward, she ran it over the line immediately
+preceding Richard of Woodville's signature. The King gazed earnestly
+on the parchment as she did so, and, to his surprise, he beheld the
+words she had mentioned reappear--somewhat faint and indistinct, it is
+true, but legible enough to show that the meaning of the whole paper
+had been falsified by their erasure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That wretched man,&quot; said Ella Brune, pointing to Dyram, &quot;in a foolish
+fit of tenderness towards my poor self, taught me the art of restoring
+writings long effaced; and now, by his own skill, I show you his own
+knavery.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Henry turned round with a generous smile of sincere pleasure towards
+Richard of Woodville, saying, &quot;I was sure I was not mistaken,
+Richard;&quot; and he held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young knight took it, and pressed his lips upon it, replying, &quot;You
+seldom are, Sire; but there is more to come, or I am mistaken.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, with him I have done,&quot; said Ella Brune, looking at Dyram:
+&quot;unless he thinks, by free confession of the whole, and telling how a
+greater knave than himself led him on from fault to fault, to merit
+forgiveness, the matter affecting him is closed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is vain to conceal it,&quot; cried Dyram; &quot;not that I hope for grace,
+for that is past; but there will be some satisfaction in punishing him
+who was never grateful for any service rendered him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It was yourself you served, villain, and your own passions--not me!&quot;
+cried Simeon of Roydon, with his eyes flashing fire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And how did you treat me?&quot; cried Dyram. &quot;It is true, my Liege, to
+gain this girl--devil incarnate as she seems to be!--I would have
+sacrificed aught on earth; and when, after laying a plot with this man
+to win her--which, by his knavery, had well nigh ended in her ruin--I
+confessed my fault to yonder knight, and he spurned me like a dog, I
+would have done as much to take vengeance upon him. I found a ready
+aid in good Sir Simeon of Roydon, who loved him as dearly as I did. In
+turns we planned and executed. He devised the letter touching the
+ransom; he prompted the Duke of Orleans and the Count of Armagnac: I
+erased the writing, and changed the superscription. Then, again, I
+hinted that in the armour he had bought, and under the name of its
+first owner, he might follow your camp, and clench the suspicion of
+Sir Richard's treason, by proofs that would seem indubitable; never
+doubting, indeed, that our enemy would be kept long in Montl'herry,
+but little caring whether the sword fell on the one knight or the
+other. To make all sure, however, I was sent to Montl'herry; but I
+arrived too late to prevent the prisoner's escape; and only discovered
+by whose assistance it was effected--by that fair maiden there, now
+clerk and now demoiselle. My story is told, and I have nought to
+plead. We are both guilty alike; we both loved, and we both hated: but
+I would not have willingly injured her, who has now destroyed me. In
+that, and that only, am I better than this noble knight.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Have you aught more to say, fair maiden, concerning Sir Simeon of
+Roydon?&quot; asked Henry; &quot;if not, I will at once deal with both of them
+as they merit.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I beseech you, Sire,&quot; exclaimed Richard of Woodville, &quot;before
+you act in any way, listen to me for one moment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Speak--speak, my good friend,&quot; replied Henry; &quot;I am always willing to
+hear anything in reason--what would you say?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I know not whether your Grace would wish it spoken aloud,&quot; said
+Woodville; &quot;it refers to a time before your accession to the throne.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh yes! speak, speak!&quot; cried Henry; &quot;I have not forgotten Hal of
+Hadnock. What of those days?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, Sire, you may remember,&quot; answered Woodville, &quot;that, as that
+noble gentleman you have just named and I rode by the stream near
+Dunbury, one night in the spring of the year, we found the body of my
+poor cousin Kate drowned in the water. The man before you thought fit
+to cast foul doubts on as true and gallant a gentleman as ever lived,
+Sir Henry Dacre. He now lies at the point of death from wounds
+received near Agincourt, and if aught on earth can save him, it will
+be to know that his good name is cleared from all suspicion. If this
+man could but be brought to speak, and to acknowledge that the charges
+he insinuated were false, it would be balm to a bruised heart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay,&quot; cried the King, &quot;his falsehood is so evident, his knavery so
+great, that charges from his mouth are now but empty air. Yet I have
+heard how Sir Harry Dacre has suffered the bare doubt to prey like a
+canker upon his peace. Speak, Simeon of Roydon; and, if it be your
+last word, speak truth. Know you aught of Catherine Beauchamp's
+death?--and, if you do, whose was the hand that did that horrid deed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sir Harry Dacre's,&quot; answered Roydon, with a malignant smile; for he
+thought to triumph even in death. &quot;No one doubts it, I believe. Does
+your Grace?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, that I do,&quot; answered Henry; &quot;and I have good cause to doubt it.
+That man was sent by me to make inquiries,&quot; and he pointed to Dyram;
+&quot;and everything that he discovered, I pray you mark, gentlemen all,
+tended to show that it was impossible Sir Henry Dacre could have done
+the deed. I have often fancied, indeed, that the knave had learned
+more than he divulged to me. Is it so, sir? I remember your ways in
+times of old, that you would tell part, and keep back part. Did you
+learn aught else?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, no, Sire,&quot; replied Dyram, with a laugh, glancing his keen eyes
+towards Richard of Woodville; &quot;I know nought; but I suppose that Sir
+Henry Dacre did it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My Lord the King,&quot; said Ella Brune, who had remained silent, with her
+dark eyes cast down, while this conversation took place, &quot;I can give
+your Grace the information that you seek to have.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ha!--you!&quot; cried Roydon, gazing at her with glaring eyes. &quot;This is
+all pure hate. Mark, if she do not say I did it!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You did!&quot; answered Ella, fixing her eyes upon him. &quot;Do you remember
+the night after the Glutton mass?--I was there! Do you remember hiding
+beneath the willows on the abbey side of the stream?--I was there! Do
+you remember the lady coming and asking for the information you had
+promised to give, and your assailing her with words of love, and
+seeking to win her from her promised husband?--I was there!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;False! false! all false!&quot; cried Sir Simeon of Roydon; but his face as
+he spoke was deadly pale.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If you saw all, fair maiden,&quot; said the King, &quot;why did you not at once
+denounce the murderer?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I saw all but the last act, my Liege,&quot; replied Ella Brune. &quot;Having
+wandered from Southampton with the poor old man, whom that knight
+afterwards slew, we found kindly entertainment for our music in a
+cottage at Abbot's Ann. Wearied with the noise and merriment, I went
+out and sat beneath the trees; I witnessed what I have said; but then,
+not to be an eavesdropper, I stole away. When I heard of the murder,
+however, I well knew who had done it--for the lady answered him
+scornfully--and I should have told the tale at once, but the old man
+forbade me, showing that we were poor wandering minstrels, and that my
+story against the noble and the great would not be credited; yet I am
+certain that his hand did it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Out upon it!&quot; cried Roydon; &quot;will a King of England listen to such an
+idle tale? will he not drive from his presence, with contempt, a
+mountebank singer who, without one witness, brings such a charge in
+pure hate?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not without one witness,&quot; answered Ella Brune. &quot;I have one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Call him!&quot; said Henry; &quot;if this man can clear himself from the
+accusation, he shall have pardon for all the rest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune raised her hand and beckoned to some one standing behind
+the circle, which had drawn somewhat closer round the spot where this
+scene was going on. Immediately--while Sir John Grey made way--a lady
+dressed in the habit of a novice, with her face closely covered,
+advanced between the King and Simeon of Roydon.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;This is my witness,&quot; said Ella Brune; and as she spoke, the other
+withdrew her veil.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Simeon of Roydon started back with a face pale as death, exclaiming,
+&quot;Catherine!--She is living! she is living!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, but not by your will,&quot; answered Catherine Beauchamp; &quot;for you
+have long thought me dead--dead by the act of your own hand. My Lord
+the King,&quot; she continued, &quot;all that this excellent girl has said is
+true. On a night you well remember, eager to learn from this man who
+you really were, I sought him by the banks of the stream, where he had
+promised to wait and tell me that and other matters, as he said,
+nearly affecting me. It was wrong of me to do so; but I had done much
+that was wrong ere then, and I had no scruples. He told me who you
+were; and then, seeing that no great love existed between myself and
+poor Harry Dacre, he sought to win my wealth, by inducing me to
+violate the contract with my promised husband and wed him: what put
+such a vain notion in his mind, I know not; but I laughed and taunted
+him with bitter scorn; and he then told me that I should be his or
+die. At first I feared not: but when I found him lift his hand and
+grasp me by the throat, I screamed aloud for help, and struggled hard.
+He mastered me, however, in an instant, and plunged me in the stream.
+As I fell, I vowed that, if Heaven would send me help, I would make a
+pilgrimage to St. James of Galicia. The waters, however, soon closed
+above my head, and in the one dreadful moment which I had for
+thought--as if the past had been cleared up and illumined by a flash
+of lightning--all the faults and follies of my former life stood out
+before me distinct and bright, stripped of the vain imaginations with
+which I had covered them. I rose again for a moment to the air; and
+then I vowed that, if God spared me, I would pledge myself to the
+altar, and renouncing all that ensnared me, live out the rest of time
+in penitence and prayer. I soon lost all recollection, however, and
+when first I woke as from sleep, in great feebleness and agony, I
+found myself in a litter, borne on towards the abbey. Consciousness
+was speedily gone again: and when next I roused myself from that dull
+slumber, my good uncle Richard, the abbot, and an old monk of his
+convent, were the only persons near. As soon as I could speak, I told
+them of my vows, and engaged them to keep my recovery a profound
+secret, till I had taken the veil. The deeds that have been done,
+however, compel me to come forward now, and tell the truth. I have
+told it simply and without disguise; but yet I would fain plead for
+this man's life. To him, as well as to others, I have had great
+faults, and towards none more than poor Sir Harry Dacre. In a month,
+however, my vows will be taken, and he will be free; but I would fain
+not cloud the peace with which I renounce the world, by bringing death
+on my bad cousin's head; and you, Sire, after such a mighty victory,
+can well afford to pardon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Henry waved his hand: &quot;Not a word for him!&quot; he said; &quot;loaded with
+so many crimes, I give him up to trial; and by the sentence of his
+judges will I abide. Remove the prisoners, and keep them under safe
+ward; one word more, fair lady,&quot; he continued, as the men-at-arms led
+Simeon of Roydon and Ned Dyram from the presence, &quot;how has it so
+fortunately chanced that you are here to-day?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have travelled far, my Liege,&quot; replied Catherine Beauchamp, in a
+gayer tone; &quot;have made my pilgrimage, and passed part of my noviciate
+in a cell of the order I have chosen near Dijon. Coming back I met
+with some Canonesses, who were travelling under the escort of some
+troops of Burgundy, and with them journeyed to Peronne, whence, under
+the escort of Sir Richard of Woodville, and accompanied by this good
+maiden, I came hither. I will not waste your time, my Liege, by
+telling all the adventures that befel me by the way; but I have to ask
+pardon of my noble cousin Richard, here, for teasing him somewhat in
+Westminster and Nieuport, and doing him a still worse turn in Ghent by
+a letter to Sir John Grey. But, good faith, to say the truth, I
+thought he was a lighter lover than he has proved himself, and now
+that I know all, I crave his forgiveness heartily.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have it, sweet Kate,&quot; answered Richard of Woodville; &quot;but you
+have several things to hear yet,&quot; he continued, in his blunt way, &quot;and
+some perhaps that may not be very palatable to you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nay, I have heard all,&quot; answered Catherine Beauchamp; &quot;but I stand no
+more in the way of that love, which I had long seen turning to
+another, when I spurned it from me myself. My vows at the altar will
+remove all obstacles; and I trust that Dacre will see me as a sister
+and a friend, though it be but to bid me adieu for ever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And I, Woodville,&quot; said the King, turning to the young knight, &quot;I,
+too, would ask you pardon, if I had ever truly suspected you. Such,
+however, is not the case; and there are many here who can testify,
+that though I was willing that you should be made to prove your
+innocence, I never doubted that you could do so. For services
+rendered, however, and high deeds done, as well as in compensation for
+much that you have suffered, I give you one half of the forfeited
+estates of the traitor Sir Thomas Grey, to hold for ever of us and of
+our heirs, on presentation of a mace, such as that which beat down the
+adversary of my brother Humphrey upon the day of Agincourt. Sir John
+Grey, my good old friend, I think you, too, have a gift to give. Come,
+let me see it given;&quot; and leading forward Richard of Woodville, he
+brought him to the side of Mary Grey. The old knight placed her hand
+in his, and the King said &quot;Benedicite.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Ella Brune turned away her head. Her cheek glowed; but there were no
+tears in her eyes; and, ere many months were gone, she was a
+cloistered nun in the same convent with Catherine Beauchamp.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_01" href="#div4Ref_01">Footnote 1</a>: The beard was, at this time, usually shaved off by the
+English nobles; but many of the older barons still retained it, and I
+find the mustachio very frequently in contemporaneous representations
+of younger knights.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_02" href="#div4Ref_02">Footnote 2</a>: A common expression of the lower classes of Londoners in
+old times.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_03" href="#div4Ref_03">Footnote 3</a>: The recorded words of Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of
+Canterbury.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_04" href="#div4Ref_04">Footnote 4</a>: Barros, Dec. i. lib. i. cap. 6.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_05" href="#div4Ref_05">Footnote 5</a>: In many countries, the distinction of station, if not of
+birth, was very strictly enforced, especially at meals; and I think it
+is Meyrick who mentions the ordonnance of some foreign prince, by
+which no one was permitted, under the grade of chivalry, to sit at the
+table with a knight, unless he were a cross-bowman, the son of a
+knight.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_06" href="#div4Ref_06">Footnote 6</a>: His after advancement to the Earldom of Tankerville was
+won by deeds of arms, which shows that he must have been still hale
+and robust at this time.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_07" href="#div4Ref_07">Footnote 7</a>: Dulle Grite.--This great cannon, or bombard, was forged
+for the siege of Oudenarde, in 1382, and is nearly twenty feet long,
+and about eleven in circumference.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_08" href="#div4Ref_08">Footnote 8</a>: Some authors, and especially Monstrelet, represent the
+Duke of Burgundy as effecting his escape from the forest of Villeneuve
+St. George; but the reader of course cannot entertain the slightest
+doubt that the author of the present veracious history is, like all
+other modern historians and critics, better acquainted with the events
+of distant times than the poor ignorant people who lived in them.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_09" href="#div4Ref_09">Footnote 9</a>: It may be necessary to remark that the incident here
+mentioned is not imaginary, but a recorded historical fact, most
+disgraceful to those who played the treacherous juggle.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_10" href="#div4Ref_10">Footnote 10</a>: This term was greatly affected at the period we speak
+of, not only by kings, but by all powerful nobles.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_11" href="#div4Ref_11">Footnote 11</a>: It is a strange omission on the part of the historians
+of the day, that in relating the escape of John of Croy, they have not
+mentioned the name of Richard of Woodville.</p>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1"><a name="div4_12" href="#div4Ref_12">Footnote 12</a>: The actual removal of the Canonesses of Cambray took
+place a few months later.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Agincourt, by 
+G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AGINCOURT ***
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+</pre>
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+</body>
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+
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Agincourt, by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Agincourt
+       The Works of G. P. R. James, Volume XX
+
+Author: G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
+Release Date: April 23, 2012 [EBook #39519]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AGINCOURT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by
+Google Books (Harvard University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   1. Page scan source:
+      http://books.google.com/books?id=jvMtAAAAYAAJ
+     (Harvard University)
+
+   2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Agincourt]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE WORKS
+
+                                  OF
+
+                         G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
+
+
+
+                 REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+                    WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.
+
+
+"D'autres auteurs l'ont encore plus avili, (le roman,) en y melant les
+tableaux degoutant du vice; et tandis que le premier avantage des
+fictions est de rassembler autour de l'homme tout ce qui, dans la
+nature, peut lui servir de lecon ou de modele, on a imagine qu'on
+tirerait une utilite quelconque des peintures odieuses de mauvaises
+m[oe]urs; comme si elles pouvaient jamais laisser le c[oe]ur qui les
+repousse, dans une situation aussi pure que le c[oe]ur qui les aurait
+toujours ignorees. Mais un roman tel qu'on peut le concevoir, tel que
+nous en avons quelques modeles, est une des plus belles productions de
+l'esprit humain, une des plus influentes sur la morale des individus,
+qui doit former ensuite les m[oe]urs publiques."--Madame De Stael.
+_Essai sur les Fictions_.
+
+             "Poca favilla gran flamma seconda:
+              Forse diretro a me, con miglior voci
+              Si preghera, perche Cirra risponda."
+                                 Dante. _Paradiso_, Canto I.
+
+
+
+
+                               VOL. XX.
+
+                              AGINCOURT.
+
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                      SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.
+                       STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
+                              MDCCCXLIX.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                              AGINCOURT.
+
+
+
+
+                              A Romance.
+
+
+
+
+
+                                  BY
+
+                         G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
+
+
+
+                          *   *   *   *   *
+
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                      SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.
+                       STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
+                              MDCCCXLIX.
+
+
+
+
+                              AGINCOURT.
+
+                              *   *   *
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                           THE NIGHT RIDE.
+
+
+The night was as black as ink; not a solitary twinkling star looked
+out through that wide expanse of shadow, which our great Poet has
+called the "blanket of the dark;" clouds covered the heaven; the moon
+had not risen to tinge them even with grey, and the sun had too long
+set to leave one faint streak of purple upon the edge of the western
+sky. Trees, houses, villages, fields, and gardens, all lay in one
+profound obscurity, and even the course of the high-road itself
+required eyes well-accustomed to night-travelling to be able to
+distinguish it, as it wandered on through a rich part of Hampshire,
+amidst alternate woods and meadows. Yet at that murky hour, a
+traveller on horseback rode forward upon his way, at an easy pace, and
+with a light heart, if one might judge by the snatches of homely
+ballads that broke from his lips as he trotted on. These might,
+indeed, afford a fallacious indication of what was going on within the
+breast, and in his case they did so; for habit is more our master than
+we know, and often rules our external demeanour, whenever the spirit
+is called to take council in the deep chambers within, showing upon
+the surface, without any effort on our part to hide our thoughts, a
+very different aspect from that of the mind's business at the moment.
+
+Thus, then, the traveller who there rode along, saluting the ear of
+night with scraps of old songs, sung in a low, but melodious voice,
+was as thoughtful, if not as sad, as it was in his nature to be; but
+yet, as that nature was a cheerful one and all his habits were gay, no
+sooner were the eyes of the spirit called to the consideration of
+deeper things, than custom exercised her sway over the animal part,
+and he gave voice, as we have said, to the old ballads which had
+cheered his boyhood and his youth.
+
+Whatever were his contemplations, they were interrupted, just as he
+came to a small stream which crossed the road and then wandered along
+at its side, by first hearing the quick foot-falls of a horse
+approaching, and then a loud, but fine voice, exclaiming, "Who goes
+there?"
+
+"A friend to all true men," replied the traveller; "a foe to all false
+knaves. 'Merry sings the throstle under the thorn.' Which be you,
+friend of the highway?"
+
+"Faith, I hardly know," replied the stranger; "every man is a bit of
+both, I believe. But if you can tell me my way to Winchester, I will
+give you thanks."
+
+"I want nothing more," answered the first traveller, drawing in his
+rein. "But Winchester!--Good faith, that is a long way off; and you
+are going from it, master:" and he endeavoured, as far as the darkness
+would permit, to gain some knowledge of the stranger's appearance. It
+seemed that of a young man of good proportions, tall and slim, but
+with broad shoulders and long arms. He wore no cloak, and his dress
+fitting tight to his body, as was the fashion of the day, allowed his
+interlocutor to perceive the unencumbered outline of his figure.
+
+"A long way off!" said the second traveller, as his new acquaintance
+gazed at him; "that is very unlucky; but all my stars are under that
+black cloud. What is to be done now, I wonder?"
+
+"What do you want to do?" inquired the first traveller. "Winchester is
+distant five and twenty miles or more."
+
+"Odds life! I want to find somewhere to lodge me and my horse for a
+night," replied the other, "at a less distance than twenty-five miles,
+and yet not quite upon this very spot."
+
+"Why not Andover?" asked his companion; "'tis but six miles, and I am
+going thither."
+
+"Humph!" said the stranger, in a tone not quite satisfied; "it must be
+so, if better cannot be found; and yet, my friend, I would fain find
+some other lodging. Is there no inn hard by, where carriers bait their
+beasts and fill their bellies, and country-folks carouse on nights of
+merry-making? or some old hall or goodly castle, where a truckle bed,
+or one of straw, a nunchion of bread and cheese, and a draught of ale,
+is not likely to be refused to a traveller with a good coat on his
+back and long-toed shoes?"
+
+"Oh, ay!" rejoined the first; "of the latter there are many round,
+but, on my life, it will be difficult to direct you to them. The men
+of this part have a fondness for crooked ways, and, unless you were
+the Daedalus who made them, or had some fair dame to guide you by the
+clue, you might wander about for as many hours as would take you to
+Winchester."
+
+"Then Andover it must be, I suppose," answered the other; "though, to
+say sooth, I may there have to pay for a frolic, the score of which
+might better be reckoned with other men than myself."
+
+"A frolic!" said his companion; "nothing more, my friend?"
+
+"No, on my life!" replied the other; "a scurvy frolic, such as only a
+fool would commit; but when a man has nothing else to do, he is sure
+to fall into folly, and I am idle perforce."
+
+"Well, I'll believe you," answered the first, after a moment's
+thought; "I have, thank Heaven, the gift of credulity, and believe all
+that men tell me. Come, I will turn back with you, and guide you to a
+place of rest, though I shall be well laughed at for my pains."
+
+"Not for an act of generous courtesy, surely," said the stranger,
+quitting the half-jesting tone in which he had hitherto spoken. "If
+they laugh at you for that, I care not to lodge with them, and will
+not put your kindness to the test, for I should look for a cold
+reception."
+
+"Nay, nay, 'tis not for that, they will laugh," rejoined the other,
+"and perhaps it may jump with my humour to go back, too. If you have
+committed a folly in a frolic to-night, I have committed one in anger.
+Come with me, therefore, and, as we go, give me some name by which to
+call you when we arrive, that I may not have to throw you into my
+uncle's hall as a keeper with a dead deer; and, moreover, before we
+go, give me your word that we have no frolics here, for I would not,
+for much, that any one I brought, should move the old knight's heart
+with aught but pleasure."
+
+"There is my hand, good youth," replied the stranger, following, as
+the other turned his horse; "and I never break my word, whatever men
+say of me, though they tell strange tales. As for my name, people call
+me Hal of Hadnock; it will do as well as another."
+
+"For the nonce," added his companion, understanding well that it was
+assumed; "but it matters not. Let us ride on, and the gate shall soon
+be opened to you; for I do think they will be glad to see me back
+again, though I may not perchance stay long.
+
+
+             'The porter rose anon certaine
+              As soon as he heard John call.'"
+
+
+"You seem learned for a countryman," said the traveller, riding on by
+his side; "but, perchance, I am speaking to a clerk?"
+
+"Good faith, no," replied the first wayfarer; "more soldier than
+clerk, Hal of Hadnock; as old Robert of Langland says, 'I cannot
+perfectly my Paternoster, as the priest it singeth, but I can rhyme of
+Robin Hode and Randof Earl of Chester.' I have cheered my boyhood with
+many a song and my youth with many a ballad. When lying in the field
+upon the marches of Wales, I have wiled away many a cold night with
+the--
+
+
+                   'Quens Mountfort, sa dure mort,'
+
+
+or,
+
+
+             'Richard of Alemaigne, while he was king,'
+
+
+and then in the cold blasts of March, I ever found comfort in--
+
+
+             'Summer is icumen in,
+              Lhude sing cuccu,
+              Groweth sede and bloweth mode,
+              And springeth the wode nu.'"
+
+
+"And good reason, too," said Hal of Hadnock; "I do the same, i'faith;
+and when wintry winds are blowing, I think ever, that a warmer day may
+come and all be bright again. Were it not for that, indeed, I might
+well be cold-hearted."
+
+"Fie, never flinch!" cried his gay companion; "there is but one thing
+on earth should make a bold man coldhearted."
+
+"And what may that be?" asked the other; "to lose his dinner?"
+
+"No, good life!" exclaimed the first,--"to lose his lady's love."
+
+"Ay, is it there the saddle galls?" said Hal of Hadnock.
+
+"Faith, not a whit," answered his fellow-traveller; "if it did, I
+should leave off singing. You are wrong in your guess, Master Hal. I
+may lose my lady, but not my lady's love, or I am much mistaken; and
+while that stays with me I will both sing and hope."
+
+"'Tis the best comfort," replied Hal of Hadnock, "and generally brings
+success. But what am I to call you, fair sir? for it mars one's speech
+to have no name for a companion."
+
+"Now, were not my uncle's house within three miles," said the other,
+"I would pay you in your own coin, and bid you call me Dick of
+Andover; for I am fond of secrets, and keep them faithfully, except
+when they are likely to be found out; but such being the case now, you
+must call me Richard of Woodville, if you would have my friends know
+you mean a poor squire who has ever sought the places where hard blows
+are plenty; but who missed his spurs at Bramham Moor by being sent by
+his good friend Sir Thomas Rokeby to bear tidings of Northumberland's
+incursion to the King. I would fain have staid and carried news of the
+victory; but, good sooth, Sir Thomas said he could trust me to tell
+the truth clearly as well as fight, and that, though he could trust
+the others to fight, he could not find one who would not make the
+matter either more or less to the King, than it really was. See what
+bad luck it is to be a plain-spoken fellow."
+
+"Good luck as well as bad," replied Hal of Hadnock; and in such
+conversation they pursued their way, riding not quite so fast as
+either had been doing when first they met, and slackening their pace
+to a walk, when, about half a mile farther forward, they quitted the
+high road and took to the narrow lanes of the country, which, as the
+reader may easily conceive, were not quite as good for travelling in
+those days, as even at present, when in truth they are often bad
+enough. They soon issued forth, however, upon a more open track, where
+the river again ran along by the roadside, sheltered here and there by
+copses which occasionally rose from the very brink; and, just as they
+regained it, the moon appearing over the low banks that fell crossing
+each other over its course, poured, from beneath the fringe of heavy
+clouds that canopied the sky above, her full pale light upon the whole
+extent of the stream. There was something fine but melancholy in the
+sight, grave and even grand; and though there were none of those large
+objects which seem generally necessary to produce the sublime, there
+was a feeling of vastness given by the broad expanse of shadow
+overhead, and the long line of glistening brightness below, broken by
+the thick black masses of brushwood that here and there bent over the
+flat surface of the water.
+
+"This is fine," said Hal of Hadnock; "I love such night scenes with
+the solitary moon and the deep woods and the gleaming river--ay, even
+the dark clouds themselves. They are to me like a king's fate, where
+so many heavy things brood over him, so many black and impenetrable
+things surround him, and where yet often a clear yet cold effulgence
+pours upon his way, grander and calmer than the warmer and gayer beams
+that fall upon the course of ordinary men."
+
+His companion turned and gazed at him for a moment by the moonlight,
+but made no observation, till the other continued, pointing with his
+hand, "What is that drifting on the water? Surely 'tis a man's head!"
+
+"An otter with a trout in his mouth, speeding to his hole," replied
+Richard of Woodville; "he will not be long in sight.--See! he is gone.
+All things fly from man. We have established our character for
+butchery with the brute creation; and they wisely avoid the
+slaughter-house of our presence."
+
+"I thought it was something human, living or dead," replied Hal of
+Hadnock. "Methinks it were a likely spot for a man to rid himself of
+his enemy, and give the carrion to the waters; or for a love-lorn
+damsel to bury griefs and memories beneath the sleepy shining of the
+moonlight stream. The Leucadian promontory was an awful leap, and bold
+as well as sad must have been the heart to take it; but here, timid
+despair might creep quietly into the soft closing wave, and find a
+more peaceful death-bed than the slow decay of a broken-heart."
+
+"Sad thoughts, sir, sad thoughts," replied Richard of Woodville; "and
+yet you seemed merry enough just now."
+
+"Ay, the fit comes upon me as it will, comrade," replied the other;
+"and, good faith, I strive not to prevent it. I amuse myself with my
+own humours, standing, as it were, without myself, and looking inward
+like a spectator at a tournay--now laughing at all I see, now ready to
+weep; and yet for the world I would not stop the scene, were it in my
+power to cast down my warder at the keenest point of strife, and say,
+'Pause! no more!' Sometimes there lives not a merrier heart on this
+side the sea, and sometimes not a sadder within the waters. At one
+time I could laugh like a clown at a fair, and at others would make
+ballads to the little stars, full of sad homilies."
+
+"Not so, I," rejoined Richard of Woodville. "I strive for an equal
+mind. I would fain be always light-hearted; and though, when I am
+crossed, I may be hot and hasty, ready to strive with others or
+myself, yet, in good truth, I soon learn to bear with all things, and
+to endure the ills that fall to my portion, as lightly as may be.
+Man's a beast of burden, and must carry his pack-saddle; so it is
+better to do it quietly than to kick under the load. Out upon those
+who go seeking for sorrows, a sort of commodity they may find at their
+own door! One whines over man's ingratitude; another takes to heart
+the scorn of the great; another broods over his merit neglected, and
+his good deeds forgotten; but, were they wise, and did good without
+thought of thanks--were they high of heart, and knew themselves as
+great in their inmost soul as the greatest in the land--were they
+bright in mind, and found pleasure in the mind's exercise--they would
+both merit more and repine less, ay, and be surer of their due in the
+end."
+
+"By my life, you said you were no clerk, Richard of Woodville," cried
+his companion, "and here you have preached me a sermon, fit to banish
+moon-sick melancholy from the land. But say, good youth, is yonder
+light looking out of your uncle's hall window--there, far on the other
+side of the stream?"
+
+"No, no," answered Woodville; "ride after it, and see how far it will
+lead you. You will soon find yourself neck deep in the swamp. 'Tis a
+Will-o'-the-wisp. My uncle's house lies on before, beyond the village
+of Abbot's Ann, just a quarter of a mile from the Abbey; so, as the
+one brother owns the hall, and the other rules the monastery, they can
+aid and countenance each other, whether it be at a merrymaking or a
+broil. Then, too, as the good Abbot is as meek as an ewe in a May
+morning, and Sir Philip is as fiery as the sun in June, the one can
+tame the other's wrath, or work up his courage, as the case may
+be--but here we see the first houses, and lights in the window, too.
+Why, how now! Dame Julien has not gone to bed--but, I forgot, there is
+a glutton mass to-morrow, and, as the reeve's wife, she must be
+cooking capons, truly. But, hark! there is a sound of a cithern, and
+some one singing. Good faith, they are making merry by their fireside,
+though curfew has tolled long since. Well, Heaven send all good men a
+cheerful evening, and a happy hearth! Perhaps they have some poor
+minstrel within, and are keeping up his heart with kindness; for
+Julien is a bountiful dame, and the reeve, though somewhat hard upon
+the young knaves, is no way pinched when there is a sad face at his
+door. Well, fair sir, we shall soon be home. A pleasant place is home;
+ay, it is a pleasant place, and, when far away, we think of it always.
+God help the man who has no home! and let all good Christians befriend
+him, for he has need."
+
+Although Hal of Hadnock made no farther observations upon his
+companion's mood and character, there was something therein that
+struck and pleased him greatly; and he was no mean judge of his
+fellow-men, for he had mingled with many of every class and degree.
+Quick and ready in discovering, by small traits, the secrets of that
+complicated mystery, the human heart, he saw, even in the love of
+music and poetry, in a man habituated to camps and fields of battle, a
+higher and finer mind than the common society of the day afforded; for
+it must not be thought, that either in the knight or the knight's son,
+of our old friend Chaucer, the poet gave an accurate picture of the
+gentry of the age. That there were such is not to be doubted--but they
+were few; and the generality of the nobles and gentlemen of those
+times were sadly illiterate and rude. The occasional words Richard of
+Woodville let drop, too, regarding his own scheme of home philosophy,
+showed, his companion thought, a strength and rigour of character
+which might be serviceable to others as well as himself, in any good
+and honourable cause; and Hal of Hadnock, as they rode on, said to
+himself, "I will see more of this man."
+
+After passing through the little village, and issuing out again into
+the open country, they saw, by the light of the moon, now rising
+higher, and dispersing the clouds as she advanced, a high isolated
+hill standing out, detached from all the woods and scattered
+hedge-rows round. At a little distance from its base, upon the left,
+appeared the tall pinnacles and tower of an abbey and a church,
+cutting dark against the lustrous sky behind; and, partly hidden by
+the trees on the right, partly rising above them, were seen the bold
+lines of another building, in a sterner style of architecture.
+
+"That is your uncle's dwelling, I suppose?" said Hal of Hadnock,
+pointing on with his hand. "Shall we find any one up? It is hard upon
+ten o'clock."
+
+"Oh, no fear," replied Richard of Woodville. "Good Sir Philip
+Beauchamp sits late in the hall. He will not take his white head to
+the pillow for an hour or two; and the ladies like well to keep him
+company. Here, to the left, is a shorter way through the wood; but
+look to your horse's footing, for the woodmen were busy this morning,
+and may have left branches about."
+
+In less than five minutes more they were before the embattled gates of
+one of those old English dwellings, half castle, half house, which
+denoted the owner to be a man of station and consideration--just a
+step below, in fortune or rank, those mighty barons who sheltered
+themselves from the storms of a factious and lawless epoch, in
+fortresses filled with an army of retainers and dependants. As they
+approached, Richard of Woodville raised his voice and called aloud,
+
+"Tim Morris! Tim Morris!" He waited a moment, singing to himself the
+two verses he had repeated before--
+
+
+            "'The porter rose again certaine
+              As soon as he heard John call;'"
+
+
+and then added, "But it will be different now, I fancy; for honest Tim
+is as deaf as a miller, and his boy is sound asleep, I suspect. Tim
+Morris, I say!--He will keep us here all night:--Tim Morris!--How now,
+old sluggard!" he continued, as the ancient porter rolled back the
+gate; "were you snoring in your wicker-chair, that you make us dance
+attendance, as you do the country folk of a Monday morning?"
+
+"'Tis fit they should learn to dance the Morris dance, as they call
+it, Master Dick," answered the porter, laughing, and holding up his
+lantern. "God yield ye, sir! I thought you were gone for the night,
+and I was stripping off my jerkin."
+
+"Is Simeon of Roydon gone, then?" asked Woodville.
+
+"Nay, sir, he stays all night," answered the porter. "Here, boy! here,
+knave! turn thee out, and run across the court to take the horses."
+
+A sleepy boy, with senses yet but half awake, crept out from the door,
+and followed Richard of Woodville and his companion, as they rode
+across the small space that separated the gate from the Hall itself.
+There, at a flight of steps, leading to a portal which might well
+have served a church, they dismounted; and, advancing before his
+fellow-traveller, Richard of Woodville raised the heavy bar of
+hammered iron, which served for a latch, and entered the hall, singing
+aloud--
+
+
+                   "'As I rode on a Monday,
+                     Between Wettenden and Wall,
+                     All along the broad way,
+                     I met a little man withal.'"
+
+
+As he spoke he pushed back the door for Hal of Hadnock to enter, and a
+scene was presented to his companion's sight which deserves rather to
+begin than end a chapter.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER II.
+
+                      THE HALL AND ITS DENIZENS.
+
+
+The hall of the old house at Dunbury--long swept away by the two great
+destroyers of man's works, Time and Change--was a spacious vaulted
+chamber, of about sixty feet in its entire length, by from thirty-five
+to forty in width; but, at the end next the court, a part of the
+pavement, of about nine feet broad, and some eighteen or twenty inches
+lower than the rest, was separated from the hall by two broad steps
+running all the way across. This inferior space presented three doors;
+the great one communicating at once with the court, and two others in
+the angles, at the right side and the left, leading to chambers in the
+rest of the building. At the further end of the hall, on the left, was
+another small door, opposite to which there appeared the first four
+steps of a staircase, which wound away with a turn to apartments
+above. There was a high window over the principal entrance, from which
+the room received, in the daytime, its only light; and about half way
+up the chamber, on the left hand, was the wide chimney and hearth,
+with seats on either side, and two vast bars of iron between them for
+burning wood. In the midst of the pavement stood a long table, with
+some benches, one or two stools and a great chair, in which the master
+of the mansion seated himself at the time of meals; but the hall
+presented no other ornament whatever, except a number of lances, bows,
+cross-bows, axes, maces, and other offensive arms, which were ranged
+with some taste against the walls. The armoury was in another part of
+the house, and these weapons seemed only admitted here to be ready in
+case of immediate need; for those were times in which men did not
+always know how soon the hand might be called upon to defend the head.
+
+When Richard of Woodville and his companion entered, some six or seven
+large logs, I might almost call them trees, were blazing on the
+hearth; and, in addition to the glare they afforded, a sconce of seven
+burners above the chimney shed a full light upon the party assembled
+round the fire. That party was very numerous, for several maids and
+retainers, of whom it may not be necessary to speak more particularly,
+were scattered round the principal personages, busy with such
+occupations for the evening as were common in a rude age, when
+intellectual pursuits were very little cultivated.
+
+The group in front, however, deserves more attention, consisting of
+seven persons, most of whom we shall have to speak of more than once
+in the course of these pages. In the seat within the chimney, just
+opposite the door, sat the master of the mansion, a tall powerful old
+man, who had seen many a battle-field in his day, during that and the
+preceding reign, and had borne away the marks of hard blows upon his
+face. He was spare and large boned in form, with his hair and beard[1]
+very nearly white; but he was hale and florid withal, and his
+countenance, though strongly marked, had an expression of kindness and
+good humour, not at all incompatible with the indications of a quick
+and fiery temper, which were to be discovered in the sparkle of his
+undimmed blue eye, and the sudden contraction of his brow when
+anything surprised him. The seat on the other side of the fire was not
+visible from the door by which the two wayfarers entered; but beyond
+the angle of the chimney, protruded into the light, the arm, shoulder,
+and part of the head of another tall old man, apparently clothed in
+the grey gown of some monastic order.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 1: The beard was, at this time, usually shaved off by the
+English nobles; but many of the older barons still retained it, and I
+find the mustachio very frequently in contemporaneous representations
+of younger knights.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+On the left of Sir Philip Beauchamp was seated a young lady, perhaps
+eighteen or nineteen years of age, with her arm resting on his knee,
+and her head and figure bent gracefully towards him. Her hair was as
+black as jet, her skin soft and clear, and her complexion somewhat
+pale, though a slight tinge of the rose might be seen upon her cheek.
+Her eyes, like her father's, were of a deep clear blue, though the
+long black fringes that bordered her eyelids in a long sweeping line,
+made them, at a distance, look as dark as her hair. She seemed neither
+above nor below the ordinary height of woman; and her whole figure,
+though by no means thin, was slim and delicate. The small exquisite
+foot and rounded ancle inclining gracefully towards the fire, were
+displayed by the posture in which she had placed herself; and the hand
+that rested on her father's knee, with long fingers tapering to the
+point, showed in every line the high Norman blood of her race.
+
+Next to Isabel Beauchamp, the only daughter of the old knight, was
+another lady, perhaps a year younger. She was in several respects
+strikingly contrasted to her fair companion, though hardly less
+beautiful. Her hair was of a light glossy brown, catching a warm gleam
+wherever the light fell upon it, as fine as silk new spun from the
+cone, yet curling in large bunches wherever it could escape from the
+bands that confined it. Her complexion was fair and glowing; her cheek
+warm with health, and her skin as soft and smooth as that of a child.
+To look upon her at a little distance, one would have expected to find
+the merry grey or blue eye, so often seen in the pretty village maid;
+but hers was dark brown, large, and full, and soft, yet with a
+laughing light therein, that seemed to speak a buoyant and a happy
+heart. In form she was somewhat taller than the other; but though her
+waist looked as if it would have required no giant's hand to span it
+round, yet there was that sort of full and graceful sweep in all the
+lines, which painters and statuaries, I believe, call _contour_.
+Nought but the tip of one foot was seen from beneath the long and
+flowing petticoat then in fashion; but even from that, one might judge
+that nothing much more neat and small ever beat the turf, except
+amongst the elves of fairy land. Her hand rested upon a frame of
+embroidery, at which she had been working, and her head was slightly
+bent forward, as if to hear something said by the good Abbot of the
+convent, who sat opposite to his brother, in the seat within the
+chimney. But between her and him was another group, consisting of
+three persons, which somewhat detached itself from the rest. Two were
+seated, a lady and a gentleman, and the third was standing with his
+arms folded on his chest a little behind the others.
+
+The backs of these three were turned towards the door by which
+Woodville and his companions entered; and they were somewhat in the
+shade, being placed between the lower end of the hall and the light
+both of the fire and the sconce; but as we are now looking at the
+picture of the whole, we may as well examine the details before we
+proceed.
+
+The lady bore a striking resemblance in features, complexion, and
+form, to Isabel Beauchamp, whom we have already described; and the
+Lady Catherine might well be taken, as was often the case, for her
+cousin's sister. She was taller, indeed, though not much; but the
+chief difference was in the expression of the two countenances.
+Catherine's wanted all the gentleness, the tenderness, the
+thoughtfulness, of Isabel's. It could assume a look of playful
+coquetry, it could seem grave, it could seem joyous; but with each
+expression there mingled a touch of pride, perhaps, too, of vanity;
+and a scornful turn of the lip and well-chiseled nostril, as well as a
+quick flash of the eye, spoke the rash and haughty spirit which too
+certainly dwelt within her breast.
+
+We are the slaves of circumstances from our cradle; and the mother and
+the nurse form as much part of our fate as any of the other events
+which mould our character, guide our course, and lead us to high
+station, retain us in mediocrity, or plunge us into misfortune.
+Catherine Beauchamp, like her cousin, was an only child, and an
+heiress; but her mother had brought large possessions to her father,
+and with those large possessions an inexhaustible store of pride. She
+had looked upon herself, indeed, as her husband's benefactor, for he
+was a younger brother, of small estate; and, after his death, she and
+a foolish servant had rivalled each other in instilling into her
+daughter's mind high notions of her own importance. In this, as in
+many another thing, the mother had proved herself weak; and the spoilt
+child had early shown her the result of her own folly. She did not
+live long enough to correct her error, even if she had possessed sense
+enough to make the effort; and when Catherine came to the house of her
+uncle, as his ward, her character was too far fixed to render any
+lessons effectual, but the severe ones of the world. There, then, she
+sat, beautiful, rich, vain, and haughty, claiming all admiration as
+her due, and believing that even her faults ought to be admired for
+her loveliness and her wealth.
+
+Beside her was placed her mother's nearest relation, a distant cousin,
+named Simeon of Roydon. He was a tall, robust, well-proportioned man,
+of two or three and thirty years of age, with a quantity of light hair
+close cut in front, and left long upon the back of the head and over
+the temples. His features were in general good; and what with youth
+and health, a florid complexion, fair skin, bright keen eyes, an
+aquiline nose, somewhat too much depressed, and an air of calm
+self-importance and courtly ease, he was the sort of man so often
+called handsome by those who little consider or know in what
+beauty really consists. Nothing, indeed, that dress could do, was
+left undone, according to the fashions of the day, to set off his
+person to the best of advantage. His long limbs were clothed in the
+light-coloured breeches and hose, without division from the waist to
+the foot, which were then generally worn by men of the higher class;
+but so tightly did they fit, that scarce a muscle of the leg might not
+be traced beneath; and his coat was also cut so close to his shape,
+that except on the chest, where, perhaps, some padding added to the
+appearance of breadth, the garment seemed to be but an outer skin. His
+shoes exhibited points of at least six inches in length beyond the
+toe; and the sleeves of his mantle, which he continued to wear even in
+the hall, hung down till they swept the floor. He wore a dagger in his
+girdle with a jewelled hilt, and a clasp upon his coat with a ruby set
+in gold; while on his thumb appeared a large signet-ring of a very
+peculiar fashion and device.
+
+Notwithstanding dress, however, and good features, and a countenance
+under perfect command, there were certain minute, but very distinct
+signs, to be perceived by an eye practised in the study of the human
+character, which betrayed the fact, that his smooth exterior was but a
+shell containing a less pleasant core. There was a wandering of the
+eyes, which did not always seem to move in the same orbits; there was
+an occasional quiver of the lower lip, as if words which might be
+dangerous were restrained with difficulty; there was a look of keen,
+eager, almost fierce, inquiry, when anything was said, the meaning of
+which he did not at once comprehend; and then a sudden return to a
+bland and sweet expression almost of insipidity, which spoke of
+something false and hollow. He was talking to Catherine Beauchamp,
+when Richard of Woodville and Hal of Hadnock entered, in gay tones,
+often mingling a low laugh with his conversation, and eying his own
+foot and leg as it was stretched out towards the fire, with an air of
+great self-admiration and satisfaction.
+
+The figure of the third person, who stood close behind the lady--as if
+he had come round thither and left vacant a stool which appeared on
+the other side, to take part in her conversation with Sir Simeon of
+Roydon--was as tall and finer in all its proportions than that of the
+knight who sat by her side. His chest was broader; his arms more
+muscular; the turn of his head, and the fall of his shoulders, more
+graceful and symmetrical. His dark hair curled short round his
+forehead, and on his neck; his straight-cut features, of a grave and
+somewhat stern cast, wore their least pleasing look when in repose;
+for they wanted but the fire of expression to light them up in a
+moment, and render them all bright and glowing. His eye, however, the
+feature which soonest receives that light, had in it a fixed
+melancholy, which scarcely even left it when he smiled; and now,
+though he had come round thither to interchange a few words with
+Catherine, his betrothed wife, and her gay kinsman, Sir Henry Dacre
+had fallen into thought again, and remained standing with his arms
+folded on his chest, and his look fixed upon Isabel Beauchamp, as she
+leaned upon her father's knee. His gaze was intense, thoughtful--I
+might call it inquiring; but yet it was not rude, for he knew not that
+his eyes were so firmly fixed upon her. He was buried in his own
+thoughts; and perhaps the peculiar investigating expression of that
+look might be accounted for by supposing that he was asking questions,
+difficult to solve, of his own heart.
+
+Isabel herself did not remark that he was gazing at her, for she was
+listening to some anecdote of other days which her father was telling.
+But the old knight did observe the glance of his young friend, and he
+observed it with pain, yet "more in sorrow than in anger;" for there
+were some things for which he bitterly grieved, but which could not be
+amended. He broke off his story for a moment to mutter to himself,
+"Poor fellow!" and just at that instant his eye lighted upon Richard
+of Woodville, as the young traveller opened the great door of the
+hall. His brow contracted while perhaps one might count ten, but was
+speedily clear again, and he exclaimed, laughing aloud--"Ha! here is
+Dickon again! I thought he would not go far."
+
+Every one turned round suddenly; and all laughed gaily, except one.
+But the fair girl with the rich brown hair, sitting next to Isabel
+Beauchamp, gazed down the hall, with a smile indeed, but with a kindly
+look gleaming forth through her half-closed, merry eyes.
+
+"Ah, run-away!" cried Isabel Beauchamp, still laughing; "so you have
+come back?"
+
+"Yes, sweet cousin," replied Richard of Woodville, advancing up the
+hall with his companion; "but I have a cause--I should have been half
+way to Winchester else.--Here is a gentleman, sir," he continued,
+addressing his uncle, "whom I have met seeking the right way, and
+finding the wrong; and I failed not in promising him your hospitality
+for the night."
+
+"Right, Richard--you did right!" replied the old knight, raising his
+tall form from the seat by the fire. "Sir, you are most welcome.
+Quick, Hugh of Clatford, leave cutting that bow, and speed to the
+buttery and the kitchen. Bid them bring wine and meat. I pray you,
+sir, take the seat by the fire."
+
+"Nay, not so, noble sir," replied Hal of Hadnock, in a courteous tone.
+"I am not one to take the place of venerable years and high renown.
+Thanks for your welcome, and good fortune to your roof-tree. I beseech
+you, let me make no confusion. I will place me here;" and he drew a
+stool from the table somewhat nearer to the fire, and seated himself,
+while all eyes were fixed upon him.
+
+Richard of Woodville, too, took a better view of his companion than he
+had hitherto obtained, and that view satisfied him that he had not
+introduced to his uncle's hall a guest, who, in point of rank and
+station, at least, was not well deserving of a place therein.
+
+The stranger was, as I have already said, a tall and somewhat slim
+young man, perhaps four or five and twenty years of age, with black
+hair and close-shaved beard, keen dark eyes, long and sinewy limbs,
+and a chest of great width and depth. His features were remarkably
+fine, his brow wide and expansive, his forehead high, and the whole
+expression of his countenance noble and commanding. His dress was rich
+and costly, without being gaudy. His coat of deep brown, covering the
+hips, like that of a crossbowman, was of the finest cloth, and
+ornamented with small lines of gold, in a quaint but not ungraceful
+pattern. Instead of the hood then commonly worn, his head was covered
+with a small cap of velvet, and one long pennache, or feather, clasped
+with a large jewel; his dagger and the hilt of his sword were both
+studded with rubies, and though his riding-boots of untanned leather
+were cut square off at the toe, instead of being encumbered with the
+long points still in fashion, over them were buckled, with a broad
+strap and flap, a pair of gilt spurs, showing that he had seen service
+in arms, and had won knightly rank. His tight-fitting hose were of a
+light philimot, or brownish yellow colour, and round the leg, below
+the knee, was a mark, as if the impression of a thong, seeming to
+prove that when not in riding attire, he was accustomed to wear shoes
+so long, that the horns points were obliged to be fastened up by a
+gilt chain, as was then not unusual. His manner was highly courteous;
+but it was remarked, that at first he committed what has, in most
+ages, been considered an act of rudeness, remaining with his head
+covered some minutes after he entered the hall. But, at length,
+seeming suddenly to remember that such was the case, he took off his
+cap, and laid it on the table.
+
+Sir Philip Beauchamp, without asking any question of his guest,
+proceeded at once to name to him the different persons assembled round
+the fire; but as we have already heard who they were, it is needless
+to give a recapitulation here. Richard of Woodville, however, marked
+or fancied, that as the old knight pronounced the name of Sir Simeon
+of Roydon, a brief glance of recognition passed between that personage
+and his companion of the road; but neither claimed the other as an
+acquaintance, and Woodville said nothing to call attention to what he
+had observed.
+
+"It will seem scarcely courteous, sir," said the guest, as Sir Philip
+ended, "not to give you my own name, though you in your hospitality
+will not ask it; but yet, for the present, I will beg you to call me
+simply Hal of Hadnock; and ere I go, Sir Philip, to your own ear I
+will tell more. And now, pray let me not kill mirth, or break off a
+pleasant tale, or stop a sweet lay; for doubtless you pass the long
+eves of March as did the knights and dames in our old friend Chaucer's
+dreams--
+
+
+             'Some to rede old romances,
+              Them occupied for ther pleasances,
+              Some to make verelaies and laies,
+              And some to other diverse plaies.'"
+
+
+"Nay, sir," answered the old knight, who had glanced with a smile at
+his guest's gilded spurs, as he gave himself the name of Hal of
+Hadnock, "we were but talking of some old deeds of arms, which,
+doubtless, you in your career have often heard of. As to lays, when my
+nephew Richard is away, we have but little poesy in the house, except
+when this sweet ward of mine, Mary Markham, will sing us a gay ditty."
+
+"Not to-night--not to-night!" cried the lady on Isabel Beauchamp's
+left; "I am not in tune to-night."
+
+Isabel bent her head to her fair companion, and whispered a word which
+made the blood come warm into Mary Markham's cheek; but Catherine,
+with a gay toss of her head, and a glance of her blue eye at the
+handsome stranger, exclaimed--"I love neither lay nor ballad; they are
+but plain English twisted out of form, and set to a dull tune."
+
+"Indeed, lady!" said the stranger, gazing upon her with an incredulous
+smile. "I have ever thought that music and verse made sweet things
+sweeter; and, methinks, even now, were it some tender lay addressed to
+your bright looks, you would not find the sounds so rude."
+
+A smile passed round the little circle, but did not visit the lip of
+Sir Henry Dacre; and though Catherine Beauchamp laughed with a
+scornful smile, it seemed as if she knew not well whether to look upon
+the stranger's words as kind or uncourteous.
+
+"Ha, Kate! he touched you there," said the old knight. "What think
+you, Abbot? has not our guest judged our niece aright?"
+
+"I believe it is so with all ladies," answered the Abbot, gravely;
+"they find the words of praise sweet, and the words of blame bitter,
+whether it be in song or saying. You men of the world nurture them in
+such folly. You flatter them too much; so that, like the tongue of a
+wine-bibber, they can taste nothing but what is high-seasoned."
+
+"Faith, not a whit, reverend lord," cried Hal of Hadnock, gaily;
+"craving your forgiveness, we deal with them as heaven intended. Fair
+and delicate in mind and frame, we shelter their persons from all
+rough winds and storms, as far as may be, and their ears from all
+harsh sounds. They were not made to cope with the rough things of
+life; and if they find wholesome exercise for body and soul, good
+father, in the chase and in the confessional, it is as much as is
+needed. The Church has the staple trade for truth, especially with
+ladies; and for any laymen to make it their merchandise would be
+against the laws of Cupid's realm."
+
+"I fear you speak lightly, my son," said the Abbot, with a
+good-humoured smile; "but here comes your meal, and I will give it my
+blessing."
+
+By such words as these, the ice of new acquaintance was soon broken,
+and, as the guest sat down at the side of the long table, to partake
+of such viands as his entertainer's hospitality provided for him, the
+party round the fire separated into various groups. The good master of
+the mansion approached to do the honours of his board, and press the
+stranger to his food. Catherine seemed smitten with a sudden fit of
+affection for her uncle, and placed herself near him, where, with no
+small spice of coquetry, she sought to engage the attention of the
+visitor to herself. Sir Henry Dacre remained talking by the fire with
+Isabel Beauchamp; and, whatever was the subject of their discourse,
+the faces of both remained grave, almost sad; while, at a little
+distance, Richard of Woodville conversed in low tones with fair Mary
+Markham, and their faces presented the aspect of an April sky, with
+its clouds and its sunshine, being sometimes overshadowed by a look of
+care and anxiety, sometimes smiling gaily, as if the inextinguishable
+hopes of youth blazed suddenly up into a flame, after burning low and
+dimly for a while, under some cold blast from the outward world.
+
+The Abbot had resumed his seat by the fire, and Sir Simeon of Roydon
+had not quitted his; but the latter, though the good monk spoke to him
+from time to time, seemed buried in his own thoughts, answered
+briefly, and often vaguely, and then fell into a reverie again,
+turning occasionally his eyes upon his fair kinswoman and the stranger
+with an expression of no great pleasure.
+
+With the old knight and Catherine Beauchamp, in the meanwhile, Hal of
+Hadnock kept up the conversation gaily, seeming to find a pleasure in
+so mingling sweet and bitter things together, in his language to the
+lady, as sometimes to flatter, sometimes to pique her; and thus,
+without her knowing it, he contrived to put her through all her paces,
+like a managed horse, till every little weakness and fault in her
+character was displayed, one after another.
+
+At first, Sir Philip Beauchamp was amused, and laughed at the
+stranger's merry jests, thinking, "It will do Kate good to hear some
+wholesome truth from an impartial tongue;" but as he saw that, whether
+intentionally or not, the words of Hal of Hadnock had the effect of
+bringing out all the evil points in her disposition to the eyes of his
+guest, he grew uneasy for his brother's child, and felt all her faults
+more keenly from seeing her thus expose them, in mere vanity, to the
+acquaintance of an hour. He saw, then, with satisfaction, his guest's
+meal draw towards a close, and, as soon as it was done, proposed that
+they should all retire to rest.
+
+There was some consideration required as to what chamber should be
+assigned to Hal of Hadnock,--for small pieces of ceremony were, in
+those days, matters of importance,--but Sir Philip Beauchamp decided
+the matter, by telling Richard of Woodville to lead the visitor to the
+rose-tapestry room, and to place a good yeoman to sleep across his
+door. It was one of the principal guest-chambers of the house;
+and its selection showed that the good knight judged his nephew's
+fellow-traveller to be of higher rank than he assumed.
+
+Lighted by a page, Richard of Woodville led the way, and entered with
+his companion, when they reached the apartment to which they had been
+directed. Although it was now late, he remained there more than an
+hour, in conversation deeply interesting to himself, at least.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+                         THE FOREGONE EVENTS.
+
+
+"Come, Richard of Woodville," said his companion, as soon as they
+entered the chamber of the rose-tapestry, "let us be friends. You have
+served me at my need; and I would fain serve you; but I must first
+know how."
+
+"Faith, sir, that is not easy," answered Woodville, "for I do not know
+how myself."
+
+"Well, then, I must think for you, Richard," rejoined Hal of Hadnock;
+"what stays your marriage?"
+
+Woodville gazed at him with some surprise, and then smiled. "My
+marriage!--with whom?" he asked.
+
+"Nay, nay," answered his new friend, "waste not time with idle
+concealments. I am a man who uses his eyes; and I can tell you,
+methinks, all about every one in the hall we have just left."
+
+"Well, stay yet a moment, till we can be alone," replied Woodville;
+"they will soon bring you a livery of wine and manchet bread."
+
+"In pity stop them," cried Hal of Hadnock; "I have supped so late that
+I can take no more." But, as he was speaking, a servant entered with a
+cup of hot wine, and a small roll of fine bread upon a silver plate.
+As bound in courtesy, the guest broke off a piece of the manchet, and
+put the cup to his lips; but it was a mere ceremony, for he did not
+drink; and the man, taking away the rest of the wine and bread,
+quitted the room.
+
+"Now, Richard, you shall see if I be right," continued Hal of Hadnock.
+"There is one pretty maid, called Mary Markham, or I heard not your
+uncle right, whose cheek sometimes changes from the soft hue of the
+rose's outer leaves, to the deep crimson of its blushing breast, when
+a certain Richard of Woodville is near; and there is one good youth,
+called Richard of Woodville, who can whisper sweet words in Mary
+Markham's ear, while his uncle holds converse with a new guest at a
+distance."
+
+Woodville laughed, and made no answer; and his companion went on.
+
+"Well, then, there is a fair Lady Catherine, beautiful and witty, but
+somewhat shrewish withal, and holding her own merits as most rare
+jewels, too good to be bestowed on ordinary men; who would have a
+lover, like a bird in a cage, piping all day to her perfections, and
+would think him well paid if she gave him but one of the smiles or
+looks whereof she is bountiful to those who love her not: and,
+moreover, there is one Sir Harry Dacre, a noble knight and true--for I
+have heard his name ere now--whom I should fancy to be her husband,
+were it not that----"
+
+"Why should you think them so nearly allied?" asked Woodville.
+
+"Because she gave him neither word nor look," replied Hal of Hadnock.
+"Is not that proof enough with such a dame?"
+
+"You have read them but too rightly," rejoined Richard of Woodville,
+with a sigh. "He is not, indeed, her husband, but as near it as may
+be--betrothed in infancy; a curse upon such doings, that bind together
+in the bud two flowers that but destroy each other's blossoms as they
+grow. They are to be wedded fully when she sees twenty years; and poor
+Dacre, as noble and as true a heart as e'er was known, looks sternly
+forward to that day, as a prisoner does to the hour of execution; for
+she has taught him too early, and too well, all those secrets of her
+bosom which a wiser woman would have hidden."
+
+"He does not love her, that is clear," answered his companion, in a
+graver tone than he had hitherto used. "Did he never love her?"
+
+"No, not with manly love," replied Richard of Woodville. "I remember
+well, when we were both boys together, and she as lovely a girl as
+ever was seen, he used to be proud then of her beauty, and call her
+his fair young wife. But even then she began the lessons, of which she
+has given him such a course, that never pale student at Oxford was
+better indoctrinated in Aristotle, than he is in her heart. Even in
+those early days she would jeer and scoff at him, and if he showed her
+any little tenderness, would straightway strive to make him angry;
+would pretend great fondness for some other--for me--for any one who
+happened to be near; would give his gifts away; admire whatever was
+not like him. Oh, then fair hair was her delight, blue eyes were
+beautiful. She hated him, I do believe, because she was tied to him,
+and that was the only bond upon her own capricious will; so that she
+resolved to use him as a boy does a poor bird tied to him by a string,
+pulling it hither and thither till its little heart beats unto
+bursting with such cruel tyranny! Had she begun less early, indeed,
+her power of grieving him would have been greater, for he was well
+inclined to let affection take duty's hand, and love her if he could.
+But she herself soon ended that source of torture. She may now play
+the charmer with whom she will, she cannot wring his heart with
+jealousy."
+
+"He does not love her, that is clear," repeated Hal of Hadnock, in a
+still graver tone, "but he may love another."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Woodville; "whom think you, sir?"
+
+"Nay," replied his companion, after a pause, "it is not for me, my
+good friend, to sow suspicious doubts or fears, where I find them not.
+I do believe Sir Harry Dacre will do all that is right and noble; and
+I did but mean to say, that his poor heart may know greater tortures
+than you dream of, if, tied as he is by the act of others, to a woman
+who will not suffer him to love her, he has met, or should hereafter
+meet, with one on whom all his best affections can be placed. I say
+not that he has,--I only say, such a thing may be."
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed down upon the rushes on the floor for
+several moments with a thoughtful look. "I know of whom you would
+speak," he said at length; "but I think, in this, you have deceived
+yourself, sharp as your observation has been. Isabel has been the
+companion of both from youth; and to her, in early days, Dacre would
+go for consolation and kindness, when worn out by this cold, vain
+lady's caprice and perverseness. She pitied him, and soothed; and
+often have I heard her try to soften Catherine's conduct, making it
+seem youthful folly and high spirits; and trying to take the venom
+from the wound. He looks upon Isabel as a sister--nothing more--I
+think."
+
+Hal of Hadnock shook his head; and then suddenly turned to another
+subject. "Well," he said, "you will not deny that I am right in some
+things, and, therefore, as I am in your secret, whether you will or
+not, now answer me my question--What stays your marriage?"
+
+"Good sooth, I cannot tell," replied Richard of Woodville; "the truth
+is, this dear lovely girl came here some years gone, none knew from
+whence; but it was my uncle brought her, and ever since he has treated
+her as a daughter. All have loved her, and I more than all; but day
+after day went by in sports and pleasures; and, in a full career of
+happiness, I did not think till yesterday of risking the present by
+striving to brighten the future. Last evening, however, I said some
+plainer words than usual. What she replied matters not; but I saw
+that, afterwards, she was not so gay as usual; and to-day I took a
+moment, when I thought good Sir Philip was in a yielding mood, and
+asked the hand of his dear ward--or daughter; for I must not hide from
+you that men have suspicions, there is blood of the Beauchamps in this
+same lady's veins. He gave me a rough answer, however; told me not to
+think of her, and would assign no reason why. I will not say we
+quarrelled, for I love him too much, and reverence him too much for
+that; but I said in haste, that if I were not to think of her, I would
+stay no longer where suing only bred regret; and that I would seek
+honour, if I could not find a bride. He answered it was the best thing
+I could do; and so, without more thought than to feed my horse, and
+bid them all farewell, I put foot in stirrup for my own place hard by
+West Meon, with the intent of seeking service in some foreign land, as
+the wars here have come to an end. My good uncle only laughed at me,
+and told them, as I mounted in the court, that Dickon was out of
+humour, but would soon find his good spirits again. I did not do so
+for a long way, however; but, as I went well sure of my lady's grace,
+I began to take heart after a-while, and resolved that she should hear
+of me from other shores, till I could claim her, and no one say me
+nay."
+
+"It was a good resolve," answered his companion; "for in such a case I
+know not what else could be done. But whither did you intend to bend
+your steps--to France?"
+
+"Nay, not to France," said Woodville; "I love not the Frenchmen. If
+our good king, indeed, were again to draw the sword for the recovery
+of all that sluggish men and evil times have lost of our rightful
+lands since the Black Prince's death, right willingly would I follow
+thither to fight against the French, but not serve with them."
+
+"But his royal thoughts are turned to other things," replied Hal of
+Hadnock; "he still holds the mind, I hear, to take the cross, and
+couch a lance for the sepulchre."
+
+"That is gone by, I am told," answered Richard of Woodville; "this
+frequent sickness that attacks him has made him think of other things,
+men say; but, doubtless, you know better than I do?"
+
+"Nay, I know nought about it," said his fellow traveller; "but it is
+predicted that he shall die at Jerusalem."
+
+"Heaven send it," exclaimed Woodville; "for if he live till then, his
+will be a long reign, methinks."
+
+"Amen!" rejoined the other; "but whither thought you, then, to go?"
+
+"Perchance to the court of Burgundy," replied Richard; "or to some of
+those Italian states, where there are ever hard blows to be found, and
+honour to be gained by doughty deeds."
+
+"That famous land of Italy is somewhat far from our poor northern
+isle," answered Hal of Hadnock; "especially for a lover. Methinks
+Burgundy were best; but, doubtless, since you have come back again,
+your resolution has been left on the road behind us."
+
+"No, not a whit," cried Woodville; "what I judged best in haste some
+hours ago, I now judge best at leisure. I have told Mary that I go for
+her sweet sake, to make me a high name, and with Heaven's blessing I
+will do it."
+
+"Well, then," answered his new friend, "if such be your determination,
+I know some noble gentlemen in the court of that same Duke of
+Burgundy, who may aid your advancement for Hal of Hadnock's sake."
+
+Richard of Woodville smiled, replying, "Doubtless, you do, fair sir;
+but may I tell them you sent me to them?"
+
+"If you will but wait a day or two," said the other, "I will write
+them a letter, which you shall take yourself; and you will find that I
+have bespoke you kind entertainment."
+
+"Thanks, noble sir--many hearty thanks," rejoined the old knight's
+nephew; "wait for a time I must, for I will not go solitary and
+unprepared. I must have horses, and men, and arms of the new fashion.
+I must also sell some acres of new copse, and some tons of old wine,
+to equip me for my own journey."
+
+"Well, then, ere you go, you shall hear more from me," replied Hal of
+Hadnock; "and now, good Richard, let us talk more of the folks in the
+hall. I would fain hear farther. This Sir Harry Dacre, his face
+pleases me; there is thought and a high heart therein, or I read not
+nature's book aright. Methinks, if he were wise, he too would seek
+renown in arms, instead of dangling at a lady's side that loves him
+not. Perchance, if he were to seem to cast her by as worthless, and
+fix on honour for a mistress, her love--for who can tell all the wild
+whimsies of a capricious woman's heart?--would follow him."
+
+"He might think that worse than the other," said Woodville; "I do not
+think he seeks her love."
+
+"There he is wrong," answered his companion; "for it is against all
+rule of philosophy, when we are bound by a chain we cannot break, to
+let it rust and canker in our flesh. It is as well to polish it with
+any soft thing we can find; and, granted that she has lost his love,
+'twere well he should have hers, if she is to be his wife."
+
+"Perhaps he may long to break the chain," replied Richard, drily;
+"were both to seek it, such contracts have been annulled by law, and
+by the Church, ere now; and the Pope, or at least his cardinals, are
+not always stubborn against gold and reason. But I doubt she will
+consent," he added; "she loves a captive, and if she sees he seeks his
+freedom, she will resist of course."
+
+"A most sweet temper," observed Hal of Hadnock; "yet it is to be
+thought of; and if I can help him, I will. Tomorrow early, indeed, I
+thought to speed me back to Westminster; but I will stay an hour or
+two, and see if I cannot play with a capricious lady, with art equal
+to her own. At all events, I shall learn more of what are her
+designs."
+
+"Designs! she has none!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville, "but to reign
+and triumph for the hour. Here has been Simeon of Roydon, doing her
+homage for these three days, as if she were the Queen of Love; and she
+has smiled upon him, for she still fancies she can so give Dacre pain;
+but no sooner did you come, than she turned all the archery of her
+eyes on you."
+
+"Yet left a blank target," replied Hal of Hadnock. "But of this Sir
+Simeon of Roydon I would have honest men beware, my good friend. I
+know something of him."
+
+"And he of you," answered Woodville.
+
+"Ay?" asked his companion, "what makes you fancy so?"
+
+"Why I too am one of those who use their eyes, fair sir," said
+Woodville.
+
+"And not their tongues, good friend," rejoined the other. "Well, you
+are wise. But tell me, did not Sir Harry Dacre go with the Duke of
+Clarence into France?"
+
+"Yes, it was there he gained his spurs last year," answered Richard;
+"he fought well, too, at Bramham Moor; and earlier still, when a mere
+boy, against the Scots, when they last broke in:--
+
+
+             'Muche hath Scotland forlore,
+              What at last, what before,
+              And little pries wonne.'"
+
+
+"I thought I had heard of him," replied Hal of Hadnock. "However, if
+you hold your mind to go to-morrow, we will ride together, and can
+talk further of these matters by the way; so, for the present, good
+night, and fair dreams attend you."
+
+"I must go and bid one of the men sleep across your door," said
+Richard of Woodville: "though this house is safe enough, yet it is as
+well always to be careful."
+
+"It matters not, it matters not," answered his companion. "I have
+never found a man, against whom my own hand could not keep my head or
+my heart."
+
+"As for your heart, sir," rejoined Woodville, laughing; "you may yet
+find a woman who will teach you better."
+
+"I know not," replied Hal of Hadnock, laughing; "I am strong there,
+too; but no one can tell what is written in the stars," and thus they
+parted.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+                          THE GLUTTON MASS.
+
+
+Breakfast was over, and yet, between the lower edge of the sun and the
+gentle sweeping line of the hills above which he was rising, not more
+than two hand-breadths of golden sky could be seen; for our ancestors
+were still, at that period, a matutinal people, rising generally
+before the peep of day, and hearing the birds' first song. On a large,
+smooth green, at the back of the Hall, yet within the limits of the
+park by which it was surrounded, with Dunbury Hill and the lines of
+the ancient invaders' camp at the top, rising still grey and cold
+before their eyes, the group which we have described in the second
+chapter, with the exception of the Abbot, was assembled to practise or
+to witness some of the sports of the day. The ladies, having their
+heads now covered with the strange and somewhat cumbrous coifs then
+worn, stood upon a stone-paved path, watching the proceedings of their
+male companions; and with them appeared good Sir Philip Beauchamp, in
+a long furred gown, with Hal of Hadnock, talking gaily to Catherine,
+on his right hand.
+
+"Well pitched, Hugh of Clatford," cried the old knight; "well pitched;
+a toise beyond Sir Simeon."
+
+"I will beat him by two," exclaimed Richard of Woodville, taking the
+heavy iron bar which they were engaged in casting. "Here goes!" and,
+after balancing it for a moment in his hand, he tossed it high in the
+air, sending it several yards beyond any one who had yet played their
+part.
+
+"Will you not try your arm, noble sir?" asked Sir Philip, turning to
+Hal of Hadnock.
+
+"Willingly, willingly," replied the guest; "but Sir Henry Dacre has
+not yet shown his skill."
+
+"He will not do much," said Catherine Beauchamp, in a low tone.
+
+"Fie, Kate," cried Isabel, who overheard her; "that is untrue, as well
+as unkind."
+
+As she spoke, Dacre took the bar, which had been brought back by one
+of the pages, and, without pausing to poise it carefully, as the rest
+had done, cast it within a foot or two of the spot which it had
+reached when sent from the hand of Woodville.
+
+Hal of Hadnock then advanced, looking round with a gay laugh to the
+ladies, and saying, "I am upon my mettle before such bright eyes.
+Here, boy, give me the bar."
+
+The page placed it in his hand; and, setting his right foot upon the
+mark where the others had stood, he swung himself gracefully backward
+and forward on one leg, for a moment, and then tossed the bar in air.
+So light, so easy, was his whole movement, that no one expected to see
+the iron go half the distance it had done before; but, to the surprise
+of all, it flew from his hand as if expelled from some of the military
+engines of the day, and, striking the ground full twenty paces farther
+than it had yet done, bounded up off the sward and rolled on beyond.
+
+"Well delivered! well delivered!" exclaimed Sir Philip Beauchamp; and
+the men and boys around clapped their bands and cried "Hurrah!"
+
+"I will send it farther or break my arm," cried Richard of Woodville.
+
+"If you do, I will beat you by a toise," replied Hal of Hadnock,
+laughing. But they all strove in vain; no one could toss the bar
+within several yards of the stranger's mark.
+
+"And now for a leaping bar," cried Hal of Hadnock. "Oh! there stands
+one I see by the trees. Away, Woodville! place it how high you will."
+
+"I will beat you at that, noble sir," said young Hugh of Clatford, who
+was reported the best jumper and runner in the country.
+
+"And should you do so, I will give you a quiver of arrows with
+peacocks' feathers," rejoined the gentleman. "Now, take it in turns, I
+will leap last."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon declined the sport, however, and Sir Harry Dacre
+stood back; but Clatford, and others of the old knight's retainers,
+took their stations, as well as Richard of Woodville; and the bar
+having been placed high in the notches, each took a run and leapt;
+some touching it with their feet, some clearing it clean.
+
+Hal of Hadnock then gave a gay smile to his fair companions, with whom
+he had for the time resumed his place; and advancing at a walk, as if
+to put the pole up higher, he quickened his pace, at the distance of
+three or four steps, and cleared it by several inches.
+
+"You try him higher, Hugh," cried Richard of Woodville, laughing; "I
+have done my best, good faith."
+
+"Where will you put it?" asked the traveller, turning to the young
+retainer of the house.
+
+"Oh, at the highest notch," answered Hugh of Clatford, lifting up the
+bar; "can you do that, sir?"
+
+"I will see," replied Hal of Hadnock; "stand back a bit," and, taking
+a better start, he ran, and went over, with an inch to spare.
+
+Poor Hugh was less fortunate, however, for though he nearly
+accomplished the leap, he tipped the bar with his heel, cast it down,
+and overthrowing his own balance, fell upon his face, amidst the
+laughter of his comrades. He rose somewhat abashed, with bloody marks
+of his contact with the ground; but Hal of Hadnock laid his hand
+kindly on his arm, saying,
+
+"Thou art a nimble fellow, on my life. I did not know there was a man
+in England could go so near me, as thou hast done. Here, my friend,
+thy sheaf of arrows is well won," and he poured some pieces of gold
+into his hand.
+
+The words were more gratifying to the good yeoman than the money; and
+bowing low, he answered, "I was sure you were no ordinary leaper, sir,
+for few can go higher than I can."
+
+"Oh, I am called Deersfoot," replied Hal of Hadnock, laughing; "get in
+and wash your face; for you have done well, and need not be ashamed to
+show it."
+
+Some other sports succeeded; but the stranger took no further part
+therein, resuming his place by Catherine's side, apparently greatly
+smitten with her charms. The weak, vain girl, flattered by his
+attention, gave way to all the coquetry of her nature, made her fine
+eyes use their whole artillery of glances, whispered, and smiled,
+spoke soft, and sometimes sighed; till the good old knight, Sir
+Philip, not the best pleased with his niece's demeanour, broke off the
+amusements of the morning, exclaiming, "To the mass! to the mass,
+sirs! It is high time that we were on our way."
+
+The sports, then, immediately ceased; and passing through the great
+hall, the court-yard, and the gates, the whole party, arranged two and
+two, walked on amidst the neighbouring wood towards the parish church.
+Hal of Hadnock kept his place by Catherine's side, and Sir Harry Dacre
+followed with Isabel; but, somewhat to Richard of Woodville's
+annoyance, Sir Philip Beauchamp retained Mary Markham to himself,
+while his nephew and Sir Simeon of Roydon came after, neither,
+perhaps, in the best of humours.
+
+The noble party found the church crowded with the villagers, every
+woman having her basket with her, covered with a clean white napkin,
+but apparently crammed as full as it well could be; and Hal of Hadnock
+remembered that, as his companion had said the night before, this was
+one of the days appointed for those festivals which were then called,
+Glutton masses.
+
+When the service was over, old Sir Philip advanced to leave the
+building with his household, not approving the disgraceful scene that
+was about to take place; but Hal of Hadnock whispered to his companion
+of the road,--
+
+"Let us stay and see. I have never witnessed one of these feats of
+gormandizing."
+
+"Well, we shall save the credit of the family," replied Richard of
+Woodville, in a low tone; "for the good priest looks upon my uncle as
+half a Lollard, because he will not stay in the church and eat till he
+bursts, in honour of the Blessed Virgin."
+
+Hal of Hadnock and his new friend accordingly lingered behind; and
+hardly had the old knight passed through the doors, when a scene of
+confusion took place quite indescribable. Every one brought forward
+his basket. Some who had lost their store, hunted for it among the
+rest. Some hurried forward to present, what they considered, very
+choice viands to the priest. Many a pannier was overturned; and
+chickens, capons, huge lumps of meat, and leathern bottles of wine,
+mead, and ale, rolled upon the pavement. One or two of the latter got
+uncorked, and the contents streamed about amongst the napkins, which
+several of the women were spreading forth upon the ground. Knives were
+brandished; thumbs and fingers were cut; one man nearly poked out the
+eye of his better half in giving her assistance, and was heartily
+cuffed for his pains; and a fat chorister slipped in consequence of
+putting his foot upon a fine trout dressed in jelly, and fell
+prostrate on his back in the midst. The people roared, the priest
+himself chuckled, and was a long time ere he could get his flock, or
+his countenance, into due order.
+
+A song to the Virgin was then sung by way of grace; and every one fell
+to, with an intention of outdoing his neighbour. To Richard of
+Woodville and his companion were assigned the places of honour near
+the clergy; and the priest, looking well pleased down the long aisle,
+literally encumbered with the preparations for excess, whispered to
+the old knight's nephew, with an air of triumph,--
+
+"Well, I think we shall outdo Wallop this time, at least."
+
+"Undoubtedly," replied Richard of Woodville, gravely; "but I fear you
+will think my friend and me no better than heathens, having brought
+nothing with us either to eat or drink."
+
+"Poo! there is plenty--there is plenty," replied the good man, "and to
+spare. Eat as hard as we can, we shall be scarcely able to get through
+it; and it is fitting, too, that something be left for the poor. We
+will all do our best, however, and thank you for your help."
+
+The onslaught was tremendous. One would have thought that the
+congregation had fasted for a month, so eagerly, so rapidly did they
+devour the provisions before them; and then they took to their bottles
+and drinking-horns, and when they had assuaged their thirst,
+recommenced the attack upon the meat with renewed vigour.
+
+Richard of Woodville, and Hal of Hadnock, had soon seen enough of the
+Glutton mass; and, at a hint from his companion, the former took an
+opportunity of whispering to the priest,--
+
+"We must go, I fear; lest my uncle be angry at our absence."
+
+"Well, well," said the worthy clerk, "if it must be so, we cannot help
+it; but 'tis a sad pity, Master Richard, that so good a man as the
+Knight of Dunbury, should be such a discourager of pious ordinances."
+
+"It is, indeed," answered Woodville, in a solemn tone; "but all men
+have their prejudices; and you know, father, he loves the Church."
+
+"Ay, that he does, that he does," replied the other, heartily; "he
+sent me two fat bucks last summer."
+
+"Oh, yes, he loves the Church, he loves the Church!" rejoined
+Woodville, and gliding quietly down the side aisle, so that he might
+not disturb any of the congregation in their devout exercise of the
+jaws, he left the building, accompanied by Hal of Hadnock.
+
+Both laughed as soon as they were out of the church; but the guest of
+Sir Philip Beauchamp soon fell into deep thought; and after walking
+forward for a little distance, he observed, "It is strange, how men
+are inclined to make religion subservient to all their appetites. What
+are such things as these? what are many of our solemn customs, but the
+self-same idolatrous rites practised by the ancient pagans, who
+deified their passions and their follies, and then took the simplest
+means of worshipping them?--What can be the cause of such perversity?"
+
+"The devil! the devil!" answered Richard of Woodville; "he who leads
+every one on from one wickedness to another; who first teaches man to
+infringe God's commandment, in order to gratify some desire, and then,
+as that desire grows fat and strong upon indulgence, first persuades
+us that its gratification is pleasing to God, and in the end makes us
+worship it, as a god."
+
+"But yet these same good folks fast and mortify themselves at certain
+times," said Hal of Hadnock; "and then carouse and revel, as if they
+had won a right to excess."
+
+"To make up for lost time," said Woodville; "but the truth is, it is
+like a man playing at cross and pile, who, when he has lost one stake,
+tries to clear off the score against him by doubling the next. We have
+all sins enough to atone for; and we play the penance against the
+indulgence, and the indulgence against the penance. Give me the man
+who always mortifies himself in all that is wrong; who fasts from
+anger, malice, backbiting, lying, and uncharitableness; who denies
+himself, at all times, excess in anything, and holds a festival every
+day, with gratitude to God for that which he, in his bounty, is
+pleased to give him. But, after all, it is very natural that these
+corruptions should take place, even in a faith like ours. Depend upon
+it, the purer a religion is the more strong will be the efforts of
+Sathanus to pervert it; so that men may walk along his broad
+high-road, while they think they are taking the way to everlasting
+salvation."
+
+"There is truth in that, good Richard," replied his companion; "but I
+fear me, you have caught some of the doctrines of the Lollards, of
+whom you were speaking."
+
+"Not a whit," answered Woodville; "I am a good catholic Christian; but
+I may see the evils which men have brought into the Church, without
+thinking ill of the Church itself; just as when looking at the Abbey
+down yonder, I see that a foolish architect from France has changed
+two of the fine old round arches, which were built in King Stephen's
+time, to smart pointed windows, all bedizened with I don't know what,
+without thinking the Abbey anything but a very fine building,
+notwithstanding."
+
+Although Richard of Woodville would not admit that any impression had
+been made upon him by the preaching of the Lollards, certain it is,
+that the teaching of Wicliff and his disciples had led men generally
+to look somewhat narrowly into the superstitious practices of the day,
+and that the minds of many were imbued with the spirit of their
+doctrines, who, either from prejudice, timidity, or conviction, would
+not adopt the doctrines themselves. Nor was the effect transitory; for
+it lasted till, and prepared the way for, the Reformation.
+
+In a thoughtful mood, both the young gentlemen proceeded on their way
+through the wood; and, on their arrival at the hall, found Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, and the rest of his family and guests, already seated at
+the early dinner of those days. The old knight received their excuses
+in good part, laughed at Hal of Hadnock's curiosity to see a Glutton
+mass, and insisted he should sit down and finish his meal with him.
+"Had you been at Andover yesterday," he said, "you might have seen
+another strange sight: the Mayor sit in the stocks, and a justice on
+either side of him."
+
+"Indeed!" cried Hal of Hadnock, seriously; "that were a strange sight
+to see. Pray, on whose authority was it done? and what was the crime
+these magistrates committed?"
+
+"Good truth, I know not," answered Sir Philip. "A party of wild young
+men, they say, did it; and, as for the crime, it is not specified:
+but, on my life, it was justice, though of a rash kind; for Master
+Havering, the Mayor, has worked well for such a punishment; though,
+belike, the hands that put him in were not the best fitted for the
+office."
+
+"I should think not, certainly," replied Hal of Hadnock, in the same
+grave tone, and with an immovable countenance; though Richard of
+Woodville, who had contrived to seat himself next to Mary Markham, on
+the other side of the board, gave him a merry glance of the eye, as if
+he suspected more than he chose to say.
+
+When the meal was over, which was not speedily, Hal of Hadnock
+proposed to take his departure; but Sir Philip, with all courtesy,
+besought him, at least, to stay till the afternoon meal, or supper
+(then usually served at four o'clock), with the hospitable intent of
+urging him afterwards to spend another night under his roof; and, in
+the meantime, he promised to show him his armoury, his horses, and his
+library; though, to say the truth, the suits of rich armour were more
+numerous than the books, and the horses more in number than the people
+who frequented the library. Hal of Hadnock, for reasons of his own,
+accepted the invitation; and Richard of Woodville, though his
+approaching departure was already announced, agreed to stay, in order
+to bear him company when he went.
+
+I will not lead the patient reader through all the rooms of the hall,
+or detain him with a description of the armoury and its contents, or
+carry him to the stable, and show him all the horses of the good old
+knight, Sir Philip, from the battle-horse, which had borne him through
+many a stricken field in former days, to the ambling palfrey of his
+daughter Isabel. Hal of Hadnock, indeed, submitted to all this with a
+good grace; for he was a kind-hearted and considerate person, and
+little doubted that his friend Richard of Woodville was employing the
+precious moments to the best advantage with fair Mary Markham. To all
+these sights, with the discussion of sundry knotty points, regarding
+shields, and pallets, and unibers, the properties of horses, and the
+form and extent of the manifaire, were given well nigh two hours; and,
+when Hal of Hadnock and his noble host returned to the great hall,
+they found it tenanted alone by Catherine Beauchamp and Sir Simeon of
+Roydon.
+
+Richard and Dacre, Isabel and Mary, the lady said, were gone to walk
+together in the park; but she had waited, she added, with a coquettish
+air, thinking it but courtesy to give her uncle's honoured guest a
+companion, if he chose to join them.
+
+So direct an invitation was, of course, not to be refused by Hal of
+Hadnock; and he thanked her with high-coloured gallantry for her
+consideration.
+
+"Do you go too, Sir Simeon?" inquired Sir Philip Beauchamp; but the
+courtly knight replied that he had only waited to take his leave; as
+he had business to transact in the neighbourhood, and must be home ere
+night. Before Catherine and her companion set out, however, Sir Simeon
+drew her aside, as the relationship in which she stood towards him
+seemed to justify, and spoke to her for a moment eagerly. A few of his
+words caught the quick ear of Hal of Hadnock, as he stood talking to
+the old knight, who took care to impress him with the knowledge, that
+his fair niece was fully betrothed to Sir Harry Dacre; and though
+those words were, apparently, of small import, Hal of Hadnock
+remembered them long after.
+
+"I will tell you all, if you come," replied Sir Simeon, to some
+question the lady had asked; "but mind, I warn you.--Will you come?"
+
+"I do not know," answered Catherine, with a toss of the head; "it is
+your business to wait and see."
+
+"Wait I cannot," rejoined the knight; "see I will;" and the lady,
+turning to her uncle and his companion, accompanied the latter through
+a long passage at the back of the hall, to the door which led to the
+ground where the sports of the morning had taken place.
+
+The park of Dunbury was very like that described by old Chaucer:--
+
+
+             '----A parke enclosed with a wall
+              la compace rounde, and by a gate small,
+              Who so that would he frelie mighten gone
+              Into this parke, ywalled with grene stone.
+
+                          *   *   *   *   *
+
+              The soile was plain, and smoth, and wondir soft,
+              All overspread with tapettes that Nature
+              Had made herself, covirid eke aloft
+              With bowis grene, the flouris for to cure,
+              That in ther beautie thei mai long endure.'--
+
+
+The walks around were numerous and somewhat intricate; and whether
+fair Catherine Beauchamp knew or not the direction that her friends
+had taken, she certainly did not follow the path most likely to lead
+to where they really were; but, as she and Hal of Hadnock walked
+along, she employed the time to the best advantage in carrying on the
+siege of his heart. He, for his part, humoured her to the full, having
+a firm conviction that it would be far better, both for Sir Henry
+Dacre and herself, that the imperfect marriage between them should be
+annulled at their mutual desire, than remain a chain upon them, only
+increasing in weight. It must not, indeed, be supposed that he took
+any very deep interest in the matter; but, as it fell in his way, he
+was willing enough to forward what he believed to be a noble-minded
+man's desire for emancipation from a very bitter sort of thraldom; and
+it is seldom an unpleasant or laborious task for a lighthearted man to
+sport with a capricious girl. Thus went he on, then, with that mixture
+of romantic gallantry and teasing jest, which is of all things the
+most exciting to the mind of a coquette, with sufficient admiration to
+soothe her vanity, but with not sufficient devotion ever to allow her
+to imagine that her triumph is complete. Neither did he let her gain
+any advantage; for, though it was evident that she clearly perceived
+the name he had assumed was not his own, he gave her no information,
+playing with her curiosity without gratifying it.
+
+"But what makes you think," he asked, "that I am other than I seem?
+Why should I not be plain Hal of Hadnock, a poor gentleman from the
+Welsh marshes?"
+
+"No, no, no," she said, "it is not so. A thousand things prove it:
+first, manners, appearance, dress. Why, are you not as fine as my good
+cousin a dozen times removed, Sir Simeon of Roydon, the pink of court
+gallants?"
+
+"And yet I have heard that he is not as rich as an abbot," replied Hal
+of Hadnock.
+
+"No, in truth," answered Catherine; "he is as poor as a verger; and,
+like the curlew, carries all his fortune on his back, I believe."
+
+"I suspect not his own fortune only," rejoined her companion, "but a
+part of other men's."
+
+"But then your knightly spurs, good sir," continued Kate, returning to
+the point; "you must be Sir Hal of Hadnock at the least. Now I never
+heard of that name amongst our chivalry; and I am deep read in the
+rolls of knighthood."
+
+"Oh, I am newly dubbed," replied the gentleman, laughing; "but you
+shall know all some day, lady fair."
+
+"I shall know very soon," answered Catherine; "for Simeon of Roydon
+will tell me."
+
+"More, perhaps, than he knows himself," said Hal of Hadnock.
+
+"Oh, he knows well enough," exclaimed Catherine Beauchamp. "He has
+already told me, that you are a man of noble birth and high estate,
+and promised to speak the name; but I would rather owe it to your
+courtesy than his."
+
+"Nay, what would I not do for the love of your bright eyes?" asked Hal
+of Hadnock, in a tone half tender, half jesting; "methinks the light
+in them, even now, looks like the morning sun reflected from a dewdrop
+in a violet. But why should I tell you aught? I have been warned that
+you are another's. Out upon such cold contracts, that bind unwilling
+hearts together! It is clear, there is no great love in your heart for
+this Sir Harry Dacre."
+
+"Not too much to lie comfortably in a hazel nut," answered Catherine.
+
+"Then why do you not ask to have the marriage annulled?" demanded her
+companion. "There never yet was bond in which the keen eyes of the
+court of Rome could not find a flaw."
+
+"Why, it would grieve his proud heart sadly," replied the lady; "yet I
+have often thought of it."
+
+"If he be proud--and so he is," rejoined Hal of Hadnock, "he would
+never refuse to consent, however much it might vex him. Well, well,
+set yourself free from him, and then you shall know who I am. As for
+this fellow Roydon, he knows nothing, and will but lead you wrong; but
+were I you, I would be a free woman ere a year were over; and then,
+this fair hand were a prize well worth the winning to higher hearts
+than a Dacre or a Roydon."
+
+With such conversation they wandered on for some time, without
+overtaking the party they had come out to seek. They saw them once at
+some distance, indeed, through the overhanging boughs of an opposite
+alley just fringed with early leaves; but they did not hurry their
+pace, and only met them at length at the door of the hall, as they
+were all returning. Sir Henry Dacre was then walking by Isabel's side,
+with his arms crossed upon his chest, and his brow sad and stern. As
+soon as he saw Catherine and her companion, he fixed his eyes
+inquiringly upon her, and seemed to mark her heightened colour, and
+somewhat excited look--then fell into thought again; and then laid his
+hand upon her arm, saying, "I would speak with you for a moment,
+Kate."
+
+"It must not be long," she replied, coldly; "for I have dipped my feet
+in the dew, and would fain dry them."
+
+"It shall not be long," answered Sir Henry Dacre; and he remained with
+her behind, while the rest entered slowly. Ere they had passed the
+door, the anxious ear of Isabel heard high tones without; and, in a
+few minutes, as they paused for a moment in the hall, where the
+servants were already spreading the board for supper, Sir Henry
+entered, with a hasty step.
+
+"My horse to the gate!" he said, addressing one of the attendants.
+
+"At what hour, Sir Knight?" asked the servant.
+
+"Directly!" answered Dacre. "The men can follow. Farewell, dear
+Isabel," he continued, turning to Catherine's cousin; "I can stay no
+longer.--Farewell, Mary!" He grasped Richard of Woodville's hand, but
+said nothing; and with a low and formal bow to Hal of Hadnock, turned
+towards the door leading to the court.
+
+Isabel Beauchamp followed him quietly, laid her hand upon his arm, and
+spoke eagerly, but in a low tone.
+
+"I cannot, I cannot, Isabel," he replied, aloud. "Dear girl, do not
+urge me. I shall forget myself--I shall go mad. Excuse me to your
+noble father--farewell!" and opening the large door, he issued forth,
+and closed it behind him.
+
+Isabel Beauchamp turned with her eyes full of tears; but passing the
+rest silently, as if afraid to speak, she hurried to her own chamber,
+wept for a few minutes, and then sought her father.
+
+The supper that day was a grave and silent meal. There was a stern
+cloud on old Sir Philip Beauchamp's brow when he came down to the
+hall; and, as he took his seat he asked, looking round, "Where is
+Catherine?"
+
+"I know not," answered Mary Markham; "but she went to her own chamber
+when she came in."
+
+"Shall I seek the lady, sir?" asked one of the retainers of the house,
+from the lower part of the table.
+
+"No! let her be," replied the old knight; and then he murmured,
+"Perhaps she has still some shame--and if so, it is well."
+
+To Hal of Hadnock his demeanour was courteous, though so grave, that
+his guest could not but feel that some share in the disagreeable
+event, which had evidently taken place, was attributed to him; and
+though he knew that his intention was good, yet, like many another
+man, he had reason to feel sorry that he had meddled in other men's
+affairs at all. Supper was nearly over, the light was beginning to
+wane in the sky, and the stranger was thinking it was time to depart,
+when the porter's boy came into the hall, and, approaching Richard of
+Woodville, whispered something in his ear.
+
+The young gentleman instantly rose, and went out into the court, but
+returned a moment after, and spoke a word to Hal of Hadnock, who
+started up, and followed him. In the court they found a man booted and
+spurred, and dusty from the road, holding by the bridle a horse, with
+one leg bent, and the head bowed down, as if exhausted by long
+exercise.
+
+The man instantly uncovered his head, when he saw the gentlemen
+appear, and throwing down the bridle, advanced a step, while Hadnock
+gave him a quick sign, which he seemed to comprehend.
+
+"Your presence is required immediately, sir," he said, without adding
+any name; "your father is ill--very ill--and I have lost some hours in
+seeking you. I heard of you, however, at Andover, then at the Abbey,
+then at the priest's house in the village, and ventured on here, as
+'tis matter of life and death."
+
+"You did right," said Hal of Hadnock, briefly, but with deep anxiety
+on his face. "Ill, say you? very ill? and I away!--Why, I left him
+better!"
+
+"One of those fits again, sir," answered the man. "For an hour he was
+thought dead, but had regained his speech when I set out; yet the
+leeches much fear----"
+
+"I come! I come!" answered Hal of Hadnock. "Speed on before; I will be
+in London ere day-break. Change your horse often, and lose no time.
+Buy a stout horse wherever you can find one, and have him ready for me
+on Murrel Green. Away, good fellow! Say that I am coming!--Richard, I
+must go at once."
+
+"Well, I will with you, sir," replied Richard of Woodville; "you go to
+bid my good uncle adieu. I will order out the horses."
+
+"So be it," answered Hal of Hadnock; "you shall be my guide, for I
+must not miss my way;"--and, after giving the messenger some money, he
+turned, and re-entered the hall.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                          THE ASSASSINATION.
+
+
+Clouds had again come over the heavens as day declined, and the light
+had nearly faded from the sky; but yet the horses of Hal of Hadnock
+and Richard of Woodville had not appeared in the court-yard, and the
+former showed great anxiety to proceed at once. His gaiety was gone;
+and he stood, either playing, in deep thought, with the hilt of his
+dagger, the sheath of which hung from a ring in the centre of his
+belt, or listening for the horses, with his ear turned towards the
+door of the hall.
+
+"I fear, sir, the news you have received are bad," said old Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, who, with the rest of the party, had by this time risen
+from table.
+
+"A father's perilous sickness, noble Sir Philip," answered Hal of
+Hadnock; "one who might have been kinder, indeed; but still the
+tidings must ever be sad ones to a son's heart. I wonder that the
+horses be not ready."
+
+"Go, Hugh, and see," replied Richard of Woodville; but a serving man,
+who had entered the moment before, stopped the messenger, saying--
+
+"They will be here in a minute, sir. A shoe was found loose on the
+gentleman's steed, and John the smith has had to fasten it."
+
+"Well, Dick, thou goest in good earnest at last," said the old knight,
+turning to his nephew; "and on my life I think it is the best thing
+thou canst do. Thou art a good soldier, and wilt raise thyself to
+renown. I need not tell thee what thy duties are; but thou must take a
+horse and arms of thine old uncle, whom thou mayest never see again,
+perchance. Choose them for thyself, boy. Thou wilt find wherewithal in
+that purse," and he placed a full one in his nephew's hand. "As my
+good brother, the Abbot, is not here, thou must content thyself with
+my benison. Be it upon thee, Richard! Love thy king, thy country, and
+thine honour. But, above all things, love God, fear his anger, hope in
+his mercy, trust in his promises, and submit thine own reason in all
+things to his word. So shalt thou prosper in this world; so shalt thou
+be meet for another."
+
+The young man caught his uncle's hand and kissed it; and the old
+knight pressed him for a moment in his arms.
+
+"Here, Richard, take this gift of me," said Isabel: "'tis but a jewel
+for your baldrick."
+
+Mary Markham did not speak; but after he had pressed his lips on
+Isabel's cheek, she offered hers silently, placing a ring in his hand.
+
+"I will bear it to honour, and win you yet, Mary," said Woodville, in
+a low voice, as he took his parting kiss; and he felt that her cheek
+was wet with tears.
+
+"Hark! there are the horses, noble sir," exclaimed Hal of Hadnock,
+turning to Sir Philip. "Once more, farewell! Your nephew shall give
+you further news of me; and may one day clear me in your eyes for
+somewhat you have thought amiss."
+
+Then bidding the ladies adieu, he turned to the hall door, and
+mounted, with a princely largesse to the servants of the house.
+Richard of Woodville followed, sprang on his horse's back, and, giving
+one look back, rode through the gates after his companion.
+
+The wood was dark and sombre, as they proceeded amidst its thick
+coverts; but when they issued forth, a faint glimmer of twilight
+served to guide them on the way, and they quickened their pace. There
+were lights in the windows of the cottages, too, as they passed
+through the village; and when they reached the other side, they caught
+a pale line of yellow light, peeping out from beneath the dark clouds
+upon the edge of the western sky, and gilding the water of the stream.
+Riding on quickly, they had not left the last house behind them five
+minutes, when Hal of Hadnock pulled up his horse short, exclaiming,
+"Hark! there is a scream!"
+
+"'Tis but a screech-owl," answered Richard of Woodville; "they come
+forth in spring."
+
+But as he spoke, there was another shriek, apparently before them; and
+each struck his horse with the spur, and dashed on. No other sound met
+their ear, however, except what seemed the distant galloping of a
+horse, which might be but the echo of their own beasts' feet. When
+they reached the spot where, on the preceding night, they had seen the
+wild fire over the moor, Hal of Hadnock again drew in his rein,
+saying, "It came from somewhere here."
+
+"It seemed to me near where we then were," replied Richard of
+Woodville. "Perchance 'twas but some villagers got drunk at that
+Glutton mass. See, there is the otter again!"
+
+"It was a shriek of pain or terror," answered his companion.
+"Otter!--that is no otter! Here, hold my horse," and springing from
+the saddle in a moment, he dashed down the bank, and plunged into the
+river. Though shallow in most places, it there formed a deep pool; but
+Hal of Hadnock, expert in all exercises alike, struck out at once, and
+caught the object he had seen, just as it was sinking. A feeling of
+horror and alarm seized him, as his hand grasped the long hair of a
+woman; but raising her head above the water again, he held it gently
+on his left arm, and with his right swam in towards the shore.
+
+"Here, help, Richard," he cried, "set the horses free, and take her.
+'Tis a woman!"
+
+Woodville was down the bank in a moment, exclaiming, "Who is it?--who
+is it?"
+
+"I know not," answered Hal of Hadnock, raising her so far above the
+water, that his companion could grasp her in his arms and lift her
+out; but as he himself followed, placing one knee on the shore, with a
+sad heart, he heard his companion exclaim, in the accents of deep
+grief--
+
+"Good Heaven! it is Catherine!"
+
+"Quick! bear her to the nearest house!" cried Hal of Hadnock; "the
+spark of life may be still there. I will follow with the horses."
+
+"Up the short path to the right, lies the chanter's," cried Richard,
+raising the unhappy girl in his stout arms, and running along the
+road.
+
+The horses were easily caught, and mounting one, and leading the
+other, Hal of Hadnock followed, obtaining a glance of his companion
+just as he turned from the highway, towards a spot where the thatch of
+a small house peeped up above some trees. He was at the door as soon
+as Woodville; and, lifting the latch, they both went in.
+
+An old man and woman were sitting before the fire; but the sudden
+entrance of two men roused them in fear; and, when they saw who it
+was, and what they bore, all was eager hurry and lamentation. The
+inanimate body of Catherine Beauchamp, however, was speedily laid in
+the old chanter's bed, in the neighbouring chamber; and such simple
+means as first suggested themselves were employed to ascertain if life
+were still within that fair and silent frame. But she lay calm and
+still as if asleep, with her features full of a sweet placidity, such
+as they had seldom worn in life.
+
+"It is past!" said Richard of Woodville; "it is past'. Poor girl! how
+has this happened? Ha! there is the mark of a grasp upon her throat!"
+
+"See there, too!" cried Hal of Hadnock; and he pointed with his hand
+to where, upon the fine lawn that covered her bosom, was a faint red
+stain, half washed out by the water of the stream, as if blood had
+been spilt. No wound, however, was to be discovered; and while the two
+gentlemen stood and gazed, the old chanter's sister continued,
+ineffectually, to employ every effort to reawaken the inanimate frame,
+and the old man himself ran off to the Abbey to procure farther aid.
+
+"Go into the other room, sirs--go into the other room," said the good
+dame, at length; "I will take off her wet clothes. 'Tis that keeps her
+from coming to."
+
+Hal of Hadnock shook his head; for he could not see that pale
+countenance, those immovable lips, those sightless eyes, without
+feeling sure--too sure--that life had departed for ever. He would not
+say anything, however, to discourage the zeal of the poor woman; and
+he accordingly accompanied Richard of Woodville into the chamber which
+they had first entered, and stood with him in silent thought before
+the fire. Neither spoke; for the mind of each was busy with sad and
+dark inquiries, regarding the event which had just taken place; yet
+neither could arrive at anything like a conclusion. Was it her own
+act? was it accident? was it the deed of another? and if so, of whom?
+Such were the questions which both asked themselves. Both, too,
+entertained suspicions; but yet they did not like even to admit those
+suspicions to their own hearts, for how often does the first
+conclusion of guilt do injustice to the innocent! but while they were
+still in thought, the voice of the chanter's sister was heard
+exclaiming--
+
+"Come hither, Master Richard!--come hither! See here!" and as they
+entered, she pointed to the poor girl's arm, which now lay uncovered
+on the bed-clothes, adding, "there is the grasp of a hand, clear
+enough! Look, all the fingers and the thumb!"
+
+"Stay," said Hal of Hadnock; "that might be mine, Richard, or yours in
+raising her out of the stream."
+
+"I took her by the other arm," answered Richard of Woodville.
+
+"And I do not remember having touched her arm at all," said Hal of
+Hadnock, after thinking for a moment.
+
+"Oh, no, sirs," cried the old woman; "that hand must have grasped her
+in life, else it would not have brought the blood to the skin. Hark!
+there are the people coming," and, in another minute, the good old
+Abbot, and four or five of his monks, ran in breathless and scared.
+
+"Alas! alas! Richard, what is this?" cried the Abbot.
+
+"A sad and dark affair, father," replied Richard of Woodville, while
+one of the monks, famed for his skill in leechcraft, advanced to the
+bed-side, and put his hand upon the heart; "I fear life is extinct."
+
+The Abbot gazed at the monk as he knelt; but the good brother slowly
+waved his head, with a melancholy look, saying, "Yet leave me and the
+old woman alone with her."
+
+"I will stay and aid," replied the Abbot. "I am her uncle."
+
+All the rest withdrew; and many were the eager questions of the monks,
+as to how the accident had happened. Richard of Woodville told the
+tale simply as it was--the two shrieks that they had heard, the
+discovery of the body in the water, and its recovery from the stream.
+
+"Ay, she screamed when she fell in, and when she first rose," said one
+of the monks; "drowning people always do."
+
+Woodville made no reply; for he would not give his own suspicions to
+others; but Hal of Hadnock asked him, in a low voice, "Did you not
+hear the galloping of a horse, on the other side, as we came near?"
+
+"I did," answered Richard, in the same tone; "I did, too plainly."
+
+In about a quarter of an hour, the Abbot came forth, and all made way
+for him.
+
+"What hope?" asked Woodville, looking into his uncle's face for
+speedier information.
+
+"None!" replied the Abbot. "How has this chanced, my son? there are
+marks of violence."
+
+The same tale was told over again; but this time Richard of Woodville
+added the fact of a horse's feet having been heard; and the Abbot
+mused profoundly.
+
+"I will have the body carried down to the Abbey," he said, at length.
+"You, Richard, speed to my brother, and break the tidings there. Come
+down with him to the Abbey, and we will consult. Bring Dacre, too.
+
+"Dacre has been gone more than two hours," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "but I will seek my uncle Philip," and he turned towards
+the door.
+
+Hal of Hadnock stayed him for a moment, however, saying, "I must ride
+on, Richard. You know that my call hence admits of no delay. But let
+every one remark and remember, for this matter must be inquired into,
+that I heard and saw all that this good friend of mine did; the
+shrieks, the galloping of a horse, the body in the water. You shall
+have means of finding me, too, should it be needful; and now, my Lord
+Abbot, a sad good night. Farewell, Richard; you shall hear from me
+soon." Thus saying, he quitted the cottage, mounted his horse, and
+rode away at a quick pace.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VI.
+
+                           THE SUSPICIONS.
+
+
+Upon the borders of Hampshire and Sussex, but still within the former
+county, lies, as the reader probably knows, a large tract of land but
+little cultivated even now, and which, in the days whereof I speak,
+was covered either with scattered trees and copses or wild heath,
+having various paths and roads winding through it, which led now to a
+solitary village, with a patch of cultivated land round about it, now
+to a church or chapel in the wild, now travelled on through the hills,
+which are high and bare, to Winchester or Basingstoke. Deep sand
+occupies a great portion of the ground, through which it is well nigh
+impossible to construct a firm road; and the whole country is broken
+with wild and rapid undulations, of no great height or depth, but
+every variety of form, the resort of all those rare birds, which
+afforded so much interest and amusement to gentle White of Selbourne.
+
+Through this rude and uncultivated tract, a little before the close of
+day, in the beginning of April 1413, two gentlemen clothed in deep
+mourning of the fashion of that day, rode slowly on. Both were very
+grave and silent; and, if the complexion of their thoughts was sad and
+solemn, the aspect of the scene at that hour was not calculated to
+lighten the heart, though it might arouse feelings of admiration. The
+sun hung upon the edge of the sky; broad masses of cloud floated over
+the wide expanse of azure which stretched out above the wild heath;
+and their shadows, as they crossed the slanting rays, swept over the
+varied surface below, casting long lines of country into deep blue
+shade, while the rest shone in the cool pale evening sunshine of the
+yet unconfirmed spring. Each dell and pit, too, at that hour, was
+filled with the same sort of purple shadow: the braes and banks looked
+wilder and more strongly marked from the position of the sun; the
+occasional clumps of fir trees cut sharp and black upon the western
+sky; and everything was stern and grand and solemn.
+
+Rising over one slope and descending another, by paths cut imperfectly
+through the heath and gorse, the travellers had ridden on for half an
+hour without speaking, when at length, at the bottom of a deep valley,
+where the sun could no longer be seen, and the shades of evening
+seemed already to have fallen, they stopped to let their horses drink
+in a large piece of water, sheltered by a thick copse, and gazed upon
+the reflection of the blue sky above and the clouds floating over it.
+As they moved on again, a large white bird started up from the reeds,
+and flew heavily away, with its snowy plumage strangely contrasting
+with the dark background of the wood and hill.
+
+"'Tis like a spirit winging its way from earth," said Sir Henry Dacre,
+following the bird with his eyes. "Poor Catherine! Would that aught
+else had set thee free from the chain that bound thee to me, but
+death."
+
+"Luckless girl, indeed!" replied Richard of Woodville; "from her
+infancy unfortunate! And yet men thought that the hand of Heaven had
+showered upon her its choicest gifts: beauty, wealth, kind friends,
+and a noble heart to love her, if she would but have welcomed it. But,
+alas! Harry, the crowning gift of all was wanting: a spirit that could
+use God's blessings aright."
+
+"It was more the fault of others than her own," said Sir Harry Dacre,
+"that I do believe. Her mother made her what she was! 'Tis sad! 'tis
+very sad, Richard, that, at the period when we have no power to form
+ourselves, each weak fool who approaches us can give us some bad gift
+which we never can cast off."
+
+"Like the evil fairies at a child's birth," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "and certainly her mother was a bad demon to her; but
+still, though I would not speak ill of those who are gone, yet poor
+Kate received the gifts willingly enough, destructive as they were.
+Would to Heaven it had been otherwise; but others encouraged her in
+all that was wrong, as well as her mother. This man, Roydon, was no
+good counsellor for a lady's ear."
+
+The brow of Sir Henry Dacre grew dark as night. "He is a scoundrel,"
+he cried; "he is a scoundrel; and if ever he gives me the chance of
+having him at my lance's point, he or I shall go to that place where
+all men's actions are made clear.--Oh! that I knew the truth, Richard!
+Oh! that I knew the truth!"
+
+"There is One who knows it," answered Richard of Woodville, "who never
+suffers foul deeds to rest in darkness. Trust to Him: and if this
+knave does but support his charge, perhaps your lance may be the
+avenging instrument of Heaven."
+
+"May it be so," replied the knight; "but I doubt it, Richard. True, he
+has not shown himself a coward in the field; and yet I cannot but
+think that he is craven at heart. Saw you not how carefully his letter
+to Sir Philip was worded? how he insinuated more than he dared say?
+and, then, why did he not come?--A sickness, forsooth! The excuse of
+an idle schoolboy. He would not face me,--that is the truth. He fears
+me, Richard, and will not dare the test of battle."
+
+"Well, that we shall soon see," answered his companion; "your
+messenger must be at my house, by this time, with his reply."
+
+"I trust so," said Dacre, thoughtfully; "yet he will take time to
+write carefully, believe me. His will be no rash epistle, written in
+fiery anger at his cousin's death. No, no; it will be done as if a
+scrivener had dictated every word, and in a courtly hand. But whatever
+he does, mark me, he will leave the poison behind, and so calculate as
+to cast suspicion over me for life."
+
+"But who suspects you, Dacre?" asked Richard of Woodville, with a
+smile; "not one honest man on earth. You are too well known, for
+doubts to light upon you. Does not Sir Philip, her own uncle, love you
+as a son? and can you let the idle words of a knave, like this,
+disturb your peace?"
+
+"My peace, Richard!" said Sir Henry Dacre, sadly; "can a high and
+honest heart ever feel peace, so long as one doubt, one unrefuted
+charge, casts a cloud upon it? I would rather die a thousand deaths
+than have men point at me, and say, 'he was suspected of a foul crime
+against an innocent lady;' and, besides, even those that I love best,
+those who hold me dearest, may often ask themselves, 'could it be
+true?'"
+
+"Not a whit!" replied Woodville: "no one will ever ask such a thing.
+Like a wounded man, you think that every one will touch the spot, and
+feel the pain in fancy. Cast off such imaginations, Dacre; secure in
+your own honour, laugh suspicion to scorn, and trust to the noble and
+the true to do justice to those who are like themselves."
+
+"Would I could do so, Richard," said the knight; "and it would be
+easy, too, did we not know that the wide world is so full of arrant
+knaves, and that amongst the knaves there are such hypocrites, that
+honesty has no touchstone whereby true metal can be really known from
+false; and men rightly doubt the value of each coin they take, so
+cunning are the counterfeits. Hypocrisy is a greater curse to mankind
+than wickedness; for it makes all virtue doubted, and fills the bosoms
+of the good with suspicion, from a knowledge of the feigning of the
+bad. Besides, amongst those who hold a middle course, neither plunging
+deep in the stream of vice and wrong, nor staying firmly on the shore
+of honour, how gladly every one attributes acts to others that may
+outdo the darkness of his own! No, no; suspicion never yet lighted on
+a name that ever was wholly pure again. All I ask is, to give me that
+man before me, let me cram the falsehood down his throat, at the
+sword's point, and wring the truth from his dying lips, or let me die
+myself."
+
+"Well, we shall see what he replies," answered Richard of Woodville,
+finding it useless to argue farther with him; "and if, as you suspect,
+he evades the question, what think you then to do?"
+
+"To go with you to Burgundy," answered Dacre; "for I shall be, then,
+one fitted well to take a part in civil broils--a right serviceable
+man, where danger is rifest, ever ready to lead the way in peril,
+having nor wife, nor relative, nor friend, nor hope, nor home, to make
+him feel the stroke that takes his life, more than the scratch of a
+sharp thorn that tears him as he passes through the wood."
+
+"But you will surely first return," said Woodville, "to say farewell
+to my good uncle, and sweet Isabel?"
+
+"I do not know," replied Dacre. "Dear Isabel, she tried to cheer me;
+and I know would not for worlds suffer doubts of me to rest for an
+hour in her heart; and yet they will come and go, Richard, whether she
+will or not. Each time I take her hand she'll think of Catherine; and
+though she'll answer boldly, 'it is false,' as often as suspicions
+rise, yet they will be remembered, and rest for ever as a shadow over
+our friendship."
+
+"You do her wrong, Harry," answered his companion. "Your mind is
+sickly; and, as a man in a sore disease, you see all things through
+one pale mist. Isabel may often think of her who is no more, may
+grieve for her, and regret that she did not make life happier to
+herself and others, and that she met so early and so sad a death; but
+she will ever call her back to mind as one who wronged you, not as one
+wronged by you: and you may be happy yet."
+
+He spoke gravely, and Sir Henry Dacre turned and gazed at him, as if
+for explanation of his words; but Richard said no more; and, riding on
+in silence, they soon after came to a point where the road began to
+rise, winding in slowly between two wooded hills, with a small
+streamlet flowing on by its side. The sun was sinking below the
+horizon, as they passed through a village, with the bright
+blacksmith's forge jutting out beyond the other buildings; and when at
+length they drew the rein before the gate of a tall house bosomed in
+trees, it was well nigh dark.
+
+Several servants came instantly into the court; and, giving their
+horses to be taken to the stable, the two gentlemen entered the outer
+hall, and thence proceeded onwards to a room beyond, where they were
+immediately joined by a stout man, habited as a courier, who placed a
+letter in the hand of Sir Harry Dacre, without speaking.
+
+"So thou art back, Martin," said the knight, while Richard of
+Woodville called for lights.
+
+"Yes, noble sir," answered the servant; "but I have had to ride hard,
+for he kept me a long time; but that I don't wonder at."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Sir Henry; "why should he keep you long?"
+
+"Because he wrote a long letter, sir," replied the man; "he might have
+waited till doomsday, if he had been in my place, and I in his."
+
+"Did he look ill?" inquired the knight.
+
+"Not he, sir," answered the servant; "he was out gosshawking after
+larks when I arrived."
+
+"The liar!" muttered Sir Henry Dacre; but at the same moment lights
+were brought in, and making the messenger a sign to retire, the knight
+opened the letter and read. Richard of Woodville stood by and watched
+him, while his fine features, as he gazed intently upon the paper,
+assumed first a look of scorn, and then of anger; and at length he
+exclaimed, "As I thought, Richard!--as I thought! On my life, I must
+be an astrologer, and not know it, to have read this man's conduct to
+the letter, beforehand. Mark what he says: 'Sir Simeon of Roydon
+brings no charge against Sir Henry Dacre, and never has brought any;
+but holds him as good knight and true. He has, therefore, no cause of
+quarrel with the said knight, but, far from it, wishes him all
+prosperity; the which Sir Henry would have clearly seen, if he had
+read carefully the letter which Sir Simeon wrote to the good knight of
+Dunbury, and had not looked at it rashly. Therein Sir Simeon thought
+to do Sir Henry Dacre an act of love and courtesy, by pointing out--he
+himself nought doubting--what might breed doubts in the hearts of
+other men, regarding the manner of the death of the Lady Catherine
+Beauchamp, in order that the good knight might make such inquiries as
+would remove all suspicion. For this cause he marked what he had only
+learned by hear-say, that Sir Henry Dacre had, as unhappily often
+happened, a fierce quarrel with the Lady Catherine, about a gentleman,
+it would seem, calling himself Hal of Hadnock----' Curses upon him!"
+cried Dacre, breaking off.
+
+"Nay, nay, you do him wrong," answered Richard of Woodville; "he
+sought but to serve you, as I will tell you anon, Harry. But read on.
+What says he more?"
+
+"'That Sir Harry quitted the hall in bitter anger,'" continued
+Dacre, reading, "'and swearing he should go mad with the lady's
+conduct----' Did I say so?"
+
+Woodville nodded his head, and his friend proceeded: "'That the said
+Sir Henry, though his house is distant but seven miles, did not reach
+his own door till the hour of nine, and that the lady came by her
+death between seven and eight, or thereabout; that Sir Henry's hand
+was torn when he reached his house; and that there was a stain of
+blood upon the lady's throat; that there were marks of horses' feet on
+the opposite side of the river, and across the moor towards Sir
+Henry's dwelling; and that he himself was seen of many persons
+wandering about near Abbot's Ann and Dunbury, till dark that night;
+all of which points Sir Simeon of Roydon doubted not, in any way,
+could be easily explained by Sir Henry Dacre, if true--but which,
+perchance, were untrue he, Sir Simeon, having heard them merely from
+vague report and common fame!' Some true, some false," cried Dacre. "I
+did tear my hand, opening the gate by Clatford mill. I did wander
+about, with a heart on fire, and a brain all whirling, at being made
+wretched by another's fault; but I was far from the village, far from
+Abbey and Hall, before the sun went down; for I saw him set from
+Weyhill.--Ah! poisonous snake! He stings and glides away from the heel
+that would crush him. Hear how he ends: 'For his own part, Sir Simeon
+of Roydon is right well convinced that Sir Henry Dacre is pure and
+free of all share in the lady's death; otherwise that knight might be
+full sure he would be the first to call him to the lists, in vengeance
+of his cousin's death.' The scoundrel coward! But how is this,
+Richard? He must have spies in our houses--at our hearths. How else
+did he gain such tidings? Who told him of the quarrel between that
+hapless girl and me? He was gone long before, I think?"
+
+"Ay, but his servants stayed," replied Woodville; "and there was one
+in the hall when you returned; that black-looking, silent man. Yet he
+must have some other means of information, too; else how did he know
+your hand was torn?"
+
+"I cannot say," answered Dacre, thoughtfully. "By heaven! he will
+plant suspicion in my heart, too, and make me doubt the long-tried,
+faithful fellows I have with me." And he cast himself gloomily on a
+seat, and pondered in silence.
+
+The moment after, there was a sound of horses' feet passing along
+before the house, and Richard of Woodville turned and listened,
+saying, "Here is some new messenger. Were it any of my own people,
+they would come to the other gate."
+
+After some talking in the hall without, an attendant opened the door,
+and informed his young master that there was a person without who
+desired to see him. "He comes from Westminster," added the man, "and
+will give neither message nor letters to any but yourself, sir."
+
+"Let him come in!" answered Richard of Woodville; and a personage was
+called forward, habited somewhat differently from any of those whom we
+have already had occasion to describe. He was dressed in what is
+called a tabard; but it must not be supposed, from that circumstance,
+that he bore the office of either herald or pursuivant, for many other
+classes retained that part of the ancient dress, and it was officially
+worn by the squires, and many of the inferior attendants of kings and
+sovereign princes, sometimes over armour, sometimes without. In
+particular cases, the tabard was embroidered either with the arms of
+the lord whom the bearer served, or with his own, as a sort of coat of
+arms; but was frequently, especially with persons of somewhat low
+degree, perfectly unornamented, and formed of a fine cloth of a
+uniform colour. Such was the case with the man who now appeared--his
+loose, short gown, with wide sleeves, being of a bright pink hue. The
+linen collar of his shirt fell over it; and the part of his dress left
+exposed below the knee, showed nothing but the riding boots of
+untanned leather, drawn up to their full extent. In person, he was a
+short, thin young man, with a shrewd and merry countenance. His hair
+was cut short round the whole head, but left thick, notwithstanding,
+so as to resemble a fur cap, and his long arms reached his knees.
+Without uttering a word, he advanced towards Richard of Woodville, who
+had taken a step forward to receive him, and drawing a packet from the
+bosom of his tabard, he placed it in the gentleman's hand.
+
+"From Hal of Hadnock, I suspect?" said Woodville, looking at him
+closely.
+
+"Nay, I know not," replied the messenger; "from Hal, certainly; yet no
+more Hal of Hadnock, than of Monmouth, or Westminster, or any other
+town of England or Wales. Read, and you will see."
+
+Richard of Woodville tore open the outer cover, and took forth several
+broad letters, tied and sealed. The first he opened, and drawing near
+the light, perused its contents attentively.
+
+"Hal of Hadnock," so it ran, "to Richard of Woodville, greeting. Good
+service requires good service, and honour, honour. Thus you shall
+find, my comrade of the way, that I have not forgotten you, though
+matters of much moment and some grief have delayed a promise, not put
+it out of mind. You, too, have doubtless had much cause for thought
+and sorrow, and may, perchance, have yet affairs to keep you in the
+realms of England; which being the case, I do not require that you
+should lay aside things of weight, to bear the enclosed to the noble
+Duke of Burgundy, or his son, and to the faithful servant of this
+crown, Sir Philip Morgan, now at the court of Burgundy; but the letter
+addressed to Sir John Grey, at Ghent, is of some importance to
+himself, and should find his hands as speedily as may be. If,
+therefore, by any chance, you be minded to stay in England more than
+fourteen days from the receipt of these, return that packet by the
+bearer, one Edward Dyram. But, if you be ready to cross the seas ere
+then, keep the messenger with you in your company, as I believe him to
+be faithful and true, and skilled in many things; and he knoweth my
+mind towards you, which is good. Neither be offended at speech or jest
+of his, for he hath a licence not easily bridled; but so long as he
+useth his tongue for his own conceit, so long will he use his
+knowledge for a friend or master. I give him to you; treat him well
+till you return him to me again; and if there be aught else that can
+serve you or do you grace, seek me at Westminster, where you will find
+a friend in          Henry."
+
+
+Richard of Woodville pondered, but testified no surprise; and, after a
+moment's thought, put the letter in the hand of Sir Henry Dacre, who
+read it through, with more apparent wonder than his friend had
+expressed. "And who is this?" he asked, when he had done. "He signs
+himself, Henry. Can it be the Prince?"
+
+"The Prince that was, the King that is," replied Woodville, giving him
+a sign to say no more before the messenger. "And so, my friend, you
+are to be my companion over sea?" he added, turning to the latter.
+
+"That is as you will, not as I will," replied the man; "if you are
+fool enough to quit England in a fortnight, when you can stay a month,
+I am to go with you; if you are wise enough to stay, I am wise enough
+to go alone."
+
+"Ten days, I hope, at farthest, shall see my foot on other shores,"
+answered Woodville; "and pray, Master Edward Dyram, what may be your
+capacity, quality, or degree? for 'tis fit that I should know who it
+is goes with me."
+
+"Ned Dyram, fair sir, by your leave," replied the messenger; "'tis so
+long since I lost the last half of my first name, that I know it not
+when I meet it; and I should as much expect my mother's ass to answer
+me, if I called him Edward, as I should answer to it myself. Then, as
+to my capacity, it is large enough to hold any man's secrets without
+spilling them by the way, or to contain the knowledge of a knight, a
+baron, and squire, besides a clerk's and my own, without running over.
+My chief quality is to tell truth when I like it, and other men do
+not; and my degree has never been taken yet, though I lived long
+enough with a doctor of Oxford to have caught that sickness, had it
+been infectious."
+
+"I fear me, Ned Dyram," said Richard of Woodville, smiling, "I shall
+lose much time with you, in getting crooked answers to plain
+questions; but if you have puzzled your own brains with logic, puzzle
+not mine."
+
+"Well, well, sir," answered the other, "I will be brief, for I am
+hungry, and you are tired. I am the son of a Franklin, who broke his
+heart to make me a clerk. I had, however, no gift for singing, and
+turned my wits to other things. I can do what men can generally do,
+and sometimes better than they can. I have broken a man's head one
+day, and healed it the next; for I have handled a quarter-staff and
+served a leech. I can cast nativities, and draw a horoscope; I can
+make a horse-shoe, and sharpen a sword; I can write court hand, and
+speak more tongues than my own; I can cook my own dinner, when need
+be, and bake or brew, if the sutler or the tapster should fail me."
+
+"A goodly list of qualities, indeed," said Richard of Woodville; "and
+though my household is not the most princely, we will find you an
+office, Ned Dyram, which you must exercise with discretion; and now,
+as you are hungry, get you gone to my people, who will stop that evil.
+We have supped."
+
+The messenger withdrew; and Sir Henry Dacre returned the letter, which
+he still held in his hand, to Woodville, saying, "So this was the
+Prince? the more cruel in him to sport with the peace of his father's
+subjects."
+
+"Not so, Dacre," replied his friend. "I told you I could explain his
+conduct; and it is but justice to him to do so; for he intended to be
+kind, not cruel."
+
+Dacre shook his head gloomily.
+
+"Well, you shall hear," continued Woodville. "When I first brought him
+to my uncle's gate, I knew not who he was; but he had scarcely entered
+the hall, when I remembered him. I kept my own counsel, however, and
+said nothing; but when he sought his room, I went with him as you saw,
+and there for a whole hour we spoke of those we had left below. I told
+him nothing, Harry; for his quick eye had gleaned the truth wherever
+it turned; and I had only to set him right on some things regarding
+the past. He knew you by name, and took interest in your fate as well
+as mine. I would fain tell you all; but in the mood in which you are,
+I fear that I may pain you."
+
+"Speak, Dick, speak," answered the knight; "have we not been as
+brothers since our boyhood, that you may not give me all your thoughts
+freely? Say all you have to say. Keep nought behind, if you love me;
+for I have grown as suspicious as the rest, and shall doubt if I see
+you hesitate."
+
+"Well, at all risks," said Richard of Woodville, "it is better to give
+you some pain, perhaps, than to leave you with your present thoughts.
+We talked, then, first of myself and Mary Markham, and then of you and
+Catherine. He saw you loved her not."
+
+"'Twas her own fault," cried Dacre: "she crushed out love that might
+once have been deep and true."
+
+"I told him so," replied Woodville; "and he asked, why, as you both
+clearly wished the bond that bound you to each other loosed, you did
+not apply to the Church and the law to break it? I said, what perhaps
+had better not been said, but yet what I believed, that, if you
+proposed it, she would not consent, for that she loved to keep you as
+a captive, if not by love's chains, by any other. He fancied, Harry,
+that, if that incomplete union were dissolved, you might be happy with
+another--ay, with Isabel."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Dacre; "ha! Have I been so careless of my looks that a
+mere stranger should--" and he bent down his brow upon his hands, and
+remained for a moment silent. Then looking up, he added, "Well,
+Richard, I have been a fool; but was it possible to stand between a
+desert and a paradise, and not regret that I could never pass the
+boundary; to look into a scene of joy and peace, and not long to rest
+the weary heart, and cool the aching brow in the calm groves, and
+pleasant glades before me? Who would compare those two beings, and not
+choose between them, in spite of fate? But what said he more?"
+
+"He thought you might be happy," answered Woodville, "and that the
+only barrier was one that he might prompt Catherine to remove herself.
+For that object he humoured her caprice, and played with her light
+vanity. He told me that he would; and I saw that he did so; for his
+was no heart to be suddenly made captive by one such as Catherine
+Beauchamp. Besides, it was clear, his words, half sweet, half sour,
+were all aimed at that end; for ever and anon, when his tone was full
+of courteous gallantry, some sharp jest would break through, as if he
+could not keep down the somewhat scornful thoughts with which her idle
+vanity moved him."
+
+"Then I did him wrong," answered Dacre; "for had he succeeded, and led
+her to propose of her own will that our betrothing should be annulled,
+no boon on all the earth could have been equal to that blessing. It
+has turned out sadly; yet I will not blame him; for who can tell when
+he draws a bowstring in the dark where the shaft may fall? But say,
+Richard, was he aware you knew his station?"
+
+"I never told him," replied his friend; "but I think that he divined.
+You see, in his letter, that he gives no explanation. But listen,
+Harry; will it not be better--now that we have spoken freely on this
+theme--will it not be better, I say, for you to return home, let the
+first memory of these dark days pass away, and seek for happiness with
+one who may well make up for all that you have suffered in the past."
+
+"What!" cried Dacre, "with this stain upon my name? Oh, no! that dream
+of joy is gone. No, no, my only course is to forget that there is such
+a thing as love on earth, or to think with your friend Chaucer's lay,
+that--
+
+
+             '--Love ne is in yonge folke but rage,
+              And is in olde folke a grete dotage,
+              Who most it usith, he most shal enpaire
+              For thereof cometh disese and hevinesse
+              So sorrow and care, and many a grete sicknesse,
+              Despite, debate, and angre, and envie,
+              Depraving shame, untrust, and jelousie,
+              Pride, mischefe, povertie, and wodeness.'"
+
+
+"'Tis the song of the cuckoo," Harry replied Woodville; "but this sad
+humour, built upon a baseless dream, will pass away when you find that
+the suspicions which you now fancy in every one's heart, live but in
+your own imagination; and then you will answer with the nightingale--
+
+
+             'That evirmore Love his servauntes amendeth,
+              And from all evil tachis them defendeth;'
+
+
+but Time must do his own work; and till then, argument is of no avail.
+Yet I would fain not have you lose bright days with me in foreign
+lands. Happy were I if I could stay like you in hope, and lead the
+pleasant summer life, beneath the lightsome looks of her whom I love
+best. Think of it, Harry, think of it; and do not rashly judge that
+you see clear till you have wiped the dust out of your eyes."
+
+Dacre shook his head, and answered, "I will to rest, Richard, such as
+I can find; for now that I have got this craven's reply, I have no
+further business here till I join you again upon our pilgrimage. I
+will away to-morrow, to prepare; but we shall meet before I go. I know
+my way."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+                           THE CORONATION.
+
+
+Five days after the events related in the last chapter, Richard of
+Woodville, leaving armourers and tailors busy in his house at Meon,
+rode away for London, accompanied by two yeomen, a page, and Ned
+Dyram, whose talents had not been long in displaying themselves in the
+service of his new master. He had instructed the tailors; he had
+assisted the armourers; he had aided to choose the horses; he had
+drawn figures for fresh pallettes and pauldrons; and he had with his
+own hand manufactured a superb bridle and bit, ornamented with gilt
+steel plates; jesting, laughing, talking, all the while, and
+overcoming the obstinacy and the vanity of the old artificers, who
+would fain have equipped the young gentleman who employed them, in the
+fashions of the early part of the last reign, all new inventions in
+those days travelling slowly from the capital to the country. Ned
+Dyram, however, had been in many lands, and had accumulated, in a head
+which possessed extraordinary powers both of observation and memory,
+an enormous quantity of patterns and designs of everything new or
+strange, which he had seen; and sometimes with a laugh, sometimes with
+an argument, he drove those who were inclined to resist all
+innovation, to adopt his proposed improvements greatly against their
+will. But though his tongue occasionally ran fast, and he seemed to
+take a pleasure occasionally in confounding his slower opponents with
+a torrent of words, yet on all subjects but those immediately before
+him, he kept his own counsel, and not one of the servants of the
+house, when he set out with Woodville for London, was aware of who or
+what he was, whence he came, or where he had gained so much knowledge.
+
+The first day's journey was a long one, and Richard of Woodville and
+his train were not many miles from London, when they again set forth
+early on the following morning, so that it was not yet noon, on the
+ninth of April, when they approached the city of Westminster, along
+the banks of the Thames.
+
+Winding in and out, through fields and hedge-rows, where now are
+houses, manufactories, and prisons, with the soft air of Spring
+breathing upon them, and the scent of the early cowslips, for which
+that neighbourhood was once famous, rising up and filling the whole
+air, they came on, now catching, now losing, the view of the large
+heavy abbey church of Westminster, and its yet unfinished towers of
+the same height as the main building, while rising tall above it,
+appeared the belfry of St. Stephen's chapel, with its peaked roof,
+open at the sides, displaying part of the three enormous bells, one of
+which was said (falsely) to weigh thirty thousand pounds. The top of
+two other towers might also be seen, from time to time, over the
+trees, and also part of the buildings of the monastery adjoining the
+Abbey; but these were soon lost, as the lane which the travellers were
+following wound round under the west side of Tote Hill, a gentle
+elevation covered with greensward, and ornamented with clumps of oak,
+and beech, and fir, amidst which might be discovered, here and there,
+some large stone houses, richly ornamented with sculpture, and
+surrounded with their own gardens. The lanes, the paths, the fields,
+were filled with groups of people in their holiday costume, all
+flocking towards Westminster; and what with the warm sunshine, the
+greenness of the grass, the tender verdure of the young foliage, and
+the gay dresses of the people, the whole scene was as bright and
+lively as it is possible to conceive. At the same time, the loud bells
+of St. Stephen's began to ring with the merriest tones they could
+produce, and a distant "Hurrah!" came upon the wind.
+
+"Now, Ned, which is the way?" asked Richard of Woodville, calling up
+his new attendant to his side, as they came to a spot where the lane
+divided into two branches, one taking the right hand side of the hill,
+and one the left. "This seems the nearest," he continued, pointing
+down the former; "but I know nought of the city."
+
+"The nearest may prove the farthest," replied Ned Dyram, riding up,
+"as it often does, my master. That is the shortest, good sooth! but
+they call the shortest often the fool's way; and we might be made to
+look like fools, if we took it--for though it leads round to the end
+of St. Stephen's Lane, methinks that to-day none will be admitted to
+the palace-court by that gate, as it is the King's coronation
+morning."
+
+"Indeed!" said Woodville; "I knew not that it was so."
+
+"Nor I, either," answered Ned; "but I know it now."
+
+"And how, pray?" asked his new master.
+
+"By every sight and sound," replied Ned Dyram. "By that girl's pink
+coats--by that good man's blue cloak--by the bells ringing--by the
+people running--by the hurrah we heard just now. I ever put all I hear
+and see together--for a man who only sees one thing at once, will
+never know what time he is living in."
+
+"Then we had better turn to the left," said Woodville, not caring to
+hear more of his homily. "Of course, if this be the coronation day, I
+shall not get speech of the King till to-morrow; but we may as well
+see what is going on."
+
+"To the left will lead you right," replied his quibbling companion;
+"that is to say, to the great gate before the palace court; and then
+we shall discover whether the King will speak with you or not. Each
+Prince has his own manners, and ours has changed so boldly in one day,
+that no one can judge from that which the lad did, what the man will
+do."
+
+"Has he changed much, then?" asked Woodville, riding on; "it must have
+been sudden, indeed, if you had time to see it ere you left him."
+
+"Ay, has he!" answered Dyram; "the very day of his father's death he
+put on, not the robes of royalty, but the heart; and those who were
+his comrades before, gave place to other men. They who counted much
+upon his love, found a cold face; and they who looked for hate, met
+with nought but grace."
+
+"Then, perhaps, my reception may not be very warm," said Woodville,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"You may judge yourself, better than I can, master mine," replied Ned
+Dyram. "Did you ever sit with him in the tavern, drinking quarts of
+wine?"
+
+"No," answered Richard of Woodville, smiling.
+
+"Then you shall be free of his table," said Ned. "Did you ever shoot
+deer with him, by moonlight?"
+
+"Never," was his master's reply.
+
+"Then you may chance to taste his venison," rejoined the man. "Did you
+ever brawl, swear, and break heads for him, or with him?"
+
+"No, truly," said the young gentleman; "I fought under him with the
+army in Wales, when he and I were both but boys; and I led him on his
+way one dark night, two days before his father died; but that is all I
+know of him."
+
+"Then, perchance, you may enter into his council," answered Dyram;
+"for, now that he is royal, he thinks royally, and he judges man for
+himself, not with the eyes of others."
+
+"As all kings should," said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"And few kings do," rejoined Ned. "I was not so lucky; but many a mad
+prank have I seen during the last year; and though he knows, and
+Heaven knows, I never prompted what others did, yet I was one of the
+old garments he cast off, as soon as he put on the new ones. I fared
+better than the rest, indeed, because I sometimes had told him a rough
+truth; and trust I shall fare better still, if I do his bidding."
+
+"And what may be his bidding?" asked Richard of Woodville--"for,
+doubtless, he gave you one, when he sent you to me."
+
+"He bade me live well, and forget former days, as he had forgotten
+them," replied Ned Dyram; "and he bade me serve you well, master, if
+you took me with you; so you have no cause to think ill of the counsel
+that he gave me in your case. But here we are, master mine; and a
+goodly sight it is to see."
+
+As he spoke, they turned into the wide street, or rather road, which
+led from the village of Charing to the gates of the palace at
+Westminster; and a gay and beautiful scene it certainly presented,
+whichever side the eye turned. To the north was seen the old gothic
+building (destroyed in the reign of Edward VI.) where the royal
+falcons were kept, and called from that circumstance the Mew; while, a
+little in advance, upon a spot slightly elevated, stood the beautiful
+stone cross, one of the monuments of undying regard, erected in the
+village of Charing, by King Edward the First; to the left appeared the
+buttery and lodge, and other offices of the hospital and convent of
+St. James's, forming together a large pile of buildings, with gates
+and arches cutting each other in somewhat strange confusion--while the
+higher stories, supported by corbels, overhung the lower. The effect
+of the whole, however, massed together by the distance, was grand and
+striking; while the trees of the fields, then belonging to the
+nunnery, and afterwards formed into a park, broke the harsher lines,
+and marked the distances down the course of the wide road.
+
+A little nearer, but on the opposite side of the way, with gardens and
+stairs extending to the river, was the palace, or lodging of the Kings
+of Scotland. The edifice has been destroyed--but the ground has still
+retained the name which it then bore; and many years had not elapsed,
+at the time I speak of, since that mansion had been inhabited by the
+monarchs of the northern part of this island, when they came to take
+their seats in Parliament, in right of their English feofs. Gardens
+succeeded, till appeared, somewhat projecting beyond the line of road,
+the old stern building which had once been the property of Hubert de
+Burg, Earl of Kent, more like a fortress than a dwelling, though its
+gloomy aspect was relieved by a light and beautiful chapel, lately
+built on the side nearest to Westminster, by one of the Archbishops of
+York.
+
+Several smaller edifices, sometimes constructed of brick, sometimes of
+grey stone, were seen on the right and left, all in that peculiar
+style of architecture so much better fitted to the climate of northern
+Europe, and the character of her people, than the light and graceful
+buildings of the Greeks, which we imitate in the present day,
+generally with such heavy impotence; and still between all appeared
+the green branches of oaks, and beeches, and fields, and gardens,
+blending the city and the country together.
+
+Up the long vista, thus presented, were visible thousands of groups,
+on horseback and on foot, decked out in gay and glittering colours:
+and as brilliant a scene displayed itself to the south, in the wide
+court before the palace, surrounding which appeared the venerable
+Abbey, the vast Hall, the long line of the royal dwelling, the
+monastery, the chapel of St. Stephen, with its tall belfry, and many
+another tower and lofty archway, and the old church of St. Margaret,
+built about a century and a half before, together with the lofty yet
+heavy buildings of the Woolstaple, and the row of arches underneath.
+Banners and pennons fluttering in the wind; long gowns of monks and
+secular clergymen; tabards and mantles of every hue under the sun; the
+robes and headdresses of the ladies and their women, and the gorgeous
+trappings of the horses, catching the light as they moved hither and
+thither, rendered the line from the Eleanor cross to the palace one
+living rainbow; while the river, flowing gently on upon the east, was
+covered with boats, all tricked out with streamers and fluttering
+ribbons. Even the grave, the old, and those dedicated to seclusion and
+serious thought, seemed to have come forth for this one day; and,
+amongst the crowd, might be distinguished more than one of the long,
+grey, black, or white gowns, with the coif and veil which marked the
+nun. All seemed gay, however; and nothing was heard but laughter,
+merriment, gay jests, the ringing of the bells, the sounding of
+clarions, and, every now and then, the deep tone of the organ, through
+the open windows of the Abbey, or a wild burst of martial music from
+the lesser court of the palace.
+
+Habited in black, as mourning for his unhappy cousin, Richard of
+Woodville felt himself hardly fitted for so gay a scene; but his good
+mien and courteous carriage gained him many a civil word as he moved
+along, or perchance some shrewd jest, as the frank simplicity of those
+days allowed.
+
+"Where is the black man going?" cried a pert London apprentice; "he
+must be chief mourner for the dead king."
+
+"Nay, he is fair enough to look upon, Tom," replied a pretty girl by
+his side. "You would give much to be as fair."
+
+"Take care of my toes, master," exclaimed a stout citizen; "your horse
+is mettlesome."
+
+"He shall not hurt you, good sir," replied Woodville.
+
+"Let me hold by your leg, sir squire," said a woman near, "so shall I
+have a stout prop."
+
+"Blessings on his fair, good-natured face!" cried an old woman; "he
+has lost his lady, I will wager my life."
+
+"You have not much there to lose, good mother," answered a man behind
+her.
+
+"Well, he will soon find another lady," rejoined a buxom dame, who
+seemed of the same party, "if he takes those eyes to court."
+
+"Out on it, master!" exclaimed a man who had been amusing the people
+round him by bad jokes; "is your horse a cut-purse? He had his nose in
+my pouch."
+
+"Where he found nothing, I dare say," answered Woodville; and in the
+midst of the peal of laughter which followed from the easily moved
+multitude, he made his way forward to the gates, where he was stopped
+by a wooden barrier drawn across and guarded by a large posse of the
+royal attendants, habited in their coats of ceremony.
+
+"What now?--what now?" asked one of the jacks of office, with a large
+mace in his hand, as Woodville rode up; "you can have no entrance
+here, sir squire, if you be not of the King's house, or have not an
+order from one of his lords. The court is crowded already. The King
+will not have room to pass back."
+
+Before his master could answer, however, Ned Dyram pushed forward his
+horse, and addressed the porter, saying, in a tone of authority, "Up
+with the barrier, Master Robert Nesenham. 'Tis a friend of the King's,
+for whom he sent me--Master Richard of Woodville--you know the name."
+
+"That's another affair, Ned," replied the other; "but let me see, are
+not you on the list of those who must not come to court?"
+
+"Not I," replied Ned Dyram; "or if I be, you have put me on yourself,
+Robin; 'tis but the other day I left his Grace upon this errand."
+
+"Well, come in, if it be so, varlet," replied the porter, lifting the
+barrier; "but if you come forbidden, the pillory and your ears will be
+acquainted. How many men of you are there?--Stand back, fellows, or I
+will break your pates. See, Tim, there is a fellow slipping through!
+Drive him back--give him a throw--cast him over--break his neck--five
+of you, that is all?--stand back, fellows, or you shall into limbo."
+
+While the good man strove with the crowd without, who all struggled
+manfully to push through the barrier when it was open, Richard of
+Woodville and his followers made their way on into the court; and,
+dismounting from his horse in the more open space which it afforded,
+he advanced towards the passage which was kept clear by the royal
+officers, between the door of the great Hall and the Abbey. At first
+he was placed near a stout man, dressed as a wealthy citizen; and he
+inquired of him how long the King had been in the church.
+
+"Three parts of an hour," replied the other; "did you not hear the
+shout and the bells begin to ring? Oh, it was a grand sight! There
+was----" but the rest of what he said was drowned by the noise around,
+aided by a loud flourish of trumpets from the Hall.
+
+The crowd, however, was constantly changing, and swaying to and fro;
+and Woodville soon found himself separated from the man to whom he had
+spoken, by two or three of the secular clergy of the city, and a
+somewhat coquettish-looking nun, who wore over her grey gown a blue
+ribbon and a silver cross.
+
+She turned round and looked at him with her veil up, showing a very
+pretty face, and a pair of bright blue eyes. A fat monk was behind,
+and a man dressed as a scrivener; but all were intent upon watching
+the door of the Abbey, as if they expected the royal procession soon
+to re-appear; and Woodville turned his eyes thither also. The next
+moment he heard a voice pronounce his own name, and then add, "Beware
+of Simeon of Roydon; and let not Henry Dacre fight with him."
+
+Richard turned sharply round, and gazed at those behind him; but he
+saw no face that he knew, but those of Ned Dyram and one of his own
+men. The rest of the group in his immediate neighbourhood was composed
+of two monks, another nun, a doctor of divinity in his cope, a tall
+man in a surcoat of arms, and two elderly ladies with portentous
+headdresses, a full half yard broad and two feet high.
+
+It was a woman's voice, however, that he had heard, and he inquired at
+once of the nearest woman, "Did you speak, lady?"
+
+"To be sure I did," answered the good dame, in a sharp tone; "I asked
+my brother what the hour is. No offence in that, sir, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh, none, assuredly," replied Richard of Woodville; "but I thought
+you mentioned my name."
+
+"I do not know it, young sir," replied the lady; "come away, brother,
+the squire is saucy;" and she and her party moved on, making a
+complete change in the disposition of the group.
+
+In vain Richard of Woodville looked beyond the little circle in which
+they stood; he could see no face that he knew; and at length, turning
+to Ned Dyram, he inquired if he had heard any one mention his name.
+
+"That good dame, or some one near her certainly did," replied the man;
+"but I could not see exactly who it was. It might be the other woman."
+
+"Was she old, too?" demanded Woodville.
+
+"Too old for your wife, and too young for your mother," answered
+Ned--"somewhat on the touch of forty years."
+
+As he spoke, there was a loud "hurrah!" from the ground adjacent to
+the Abbey door; a true, hearty, English shout, such as no other nation
+on the earth can give; and the royal procession was seen returning.
+All pressed as near as they could; and Richard of Woodville gained a
+place in front, where he waited calmly, uncovered, for the passing of
+the King.
+
+On came the train, bishops and abbots, priests and nobles, the pages,
+the knights, the bearers of the royal emblems; but all eyes were
+turned to one person, as--with a step, not haughty, but calm and firm,
+such as might well accord with a heart fixed and confident to keep the
+solemn vows so lately made, in scrupulous fidelity; with a brow
+elevated by high and noble purposes, more than by the splendour of the
+crown it bore; and with an eye lightening with genius and soul--Henry
+of Monmouth returned towards his palace, amidst the gratulating
+acclamations of his people.
+
+Richard of Woodville saw Hal of Hadnock in the whole bearing of the
+monarch, as he had seen the Prince in the bearing of Hal of Hadnock,
+and he murmured to himself, "He is the same. 'Tis but the dress is
+altered, either in mind or body. Excluded from the tasks of royalty,
+he assumed a less noble guise; but still the man was the same."
+
+As he thus thought, the King passed before him, looking to right and
+left upon the long lines of people that bordered his way, though,
+marching in his state, he distinguished no one by word or gesture. His
+eyes, indeed, fixed firmly for an instant upon Richard of Woodville,
+and a slight smile passed over his lip; but he went on without farther
+notice; and the young gentleman turned, as soon as he had gone by,
+thinking, "I will seek some inn, and come to the palace tomorrow.
+To-day, it is in vain."
+
+The pressure of the multitude, however, prevented him from moving for
+some time, and he was forced to remain till the whole of the
+procession had gone by. He then made his way out of the crowd, which
+gradually became less compact, though few retired altogether, the
+greater number waiting either to discuss the events of the day, or to
+see if any other amusements would be afforded to the people; but it
+was some time before the young gentleman could find his horses, for
+the movements of the people had forced them from the place where they
+had been left. Just as he was, at length, putting his foot in the
+stirrup, Ned Dyram pulled his sleeve, saying, "There is a King's page,
+my master, looking for some one in the crowd. Always give yourself a
+chance. It may be you he seeks."
+
+"I think not," replied Richard of Woodville; "but you can join him,
+and inquire, if you will."
+
+The man instantly ran off at full speed; and, though soon forced to
+slacken his pace amongst the people, he in the end reached the page,
+and asked for whom he was looking.
+
+"A gentleman in black," replied the boy, "named Richard of Woodville."
+
+"Then there he is," answered Ned, pointing with his hand to where his
+master stood; and, followed by the page, he walked quickly to the
+spot.
+
+"If your name be Richard of Woodville, sir," said the boy, "the King
+will see you now, while he is putting off his heavy robes and taking
+some repose."
+
+"I follow, young sir," replied Woodville; and, accompanying the page,
+he turned towards the palace, while Ned Dyram, after a moment's
+hesitation, pursued the same course as his master, "in order," as he
+said mentally, "always to give himself a chance."
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                         THE DAY OF FESTIVAL.
+
+
+Crossing through the great Hall of the palace of Westminster, where so
+many a varied scene has been enacted in the course of English history,
+where joy and sorrow, mirth, merriment, pageantry, fear, despair, and
+the words of death, have passed for well nigh a thousand years, and do
+pass still, Richard of Woodville followed the page amidst tables and
+benches, serving-men, servers, guards, and ushers, till they reached a
+small door at the left angle, which, when opened, displayed the first
+steps of a small stone staircase. Up these they took their way, and
+then, through a corridor thronged with attendants, past the open door
+of a large room on the right, in which mitres and robes, crosses and
+swords of state, met the young gentleman's eye, to a door at the end,
+which the page opened. Within was a small antechamber containing
+several squires and pages in their tabards, waiting either in silence,
+or at most talking to each other in whispers. They made way for their
+comrade, and the gentleman he brought with him, to pass, and,
+approaching an opposite door, the boy knocked. No one answered; but
+the door was immediately opened; and Richard of Woodville was ushered
+into a bedchamber, where, seated in a large chair, he found the King,
+attended by two men dressed in their habits of state. One of these had
+just given the visitor admission; but the other was engaged in pulling
+off the boots in which the monarch had walked to and from the Abbey,
+and in placing a pair of embroidered shoes upon his feet instead.
+
+"Welcome, Richard of Woodville," said Henry, as soon as he beheld him;
+"so you have come to see Hal of Hadnock before you depart?"
+
+"I have come to see my gracious Sovereign, Sire," replied Woodville,
+advancing, and bending the knee to kiss his hand, "and to wish him
+health and long life to wear his crown, for his own honour and the
+happiness of his people."
+
+"Nay, rise, Richard, rise," said Henry, smiling kindly; "no court
+ceremonies here. And I will tell you, my good friend, that I do really
+believe, there is not one of all those who have shouted on my path
+to-day, or sworn to support my throne, who more sincerely wishes my
+prosperity than yourself. But say, did you guess, that Hal of Hadnock
+was the Prince of Wales?"
+
+"I knew it, Sire," replied Woodville, "from the first moment you
+entered my uncle's hall. I had served under your Grace's command in
+Wales."
+
+"I suspected as much," replied the monarch, "from some words you let
+fall."
+
+"I do beseech you, Sire, to pardon me," continued Richard, "if I
+judged my duty wrongly; but I thought that so long as it was not your
+pleasure to give yourself your own state, it was my part, to know you
+only as you seemed."
+
+"And you did right, my friend," replied the King; "but were you not
+tempted to breathe the secret to any one--not even to Mary Markham?"
+
+"To no one, Sire," answered Woodville, boldly; "not for my right hand,
+would I have said one word to the best friend I had."
+
+"You are wise and faithful, Richard of Woodville," said Henry,
+gravely; "God send me many such."
+
+"Here is the other mantle, Sire," said the attendant who was dressing
+him, "will you permit me to unclasp that?"
+
+Henry rose, and the man disengaged the royal mantle from his
+shoulders, replacing it with one less heavy, while the King continued
+his conversation with Woodville, after a momentary interruption,
+repeating, "God send me many such; for if I judge rightly, I shall
+have need of strong arms, and wise heads, and noble hearts about me.
+Nor shall I fail to call for yours when I have need, my friend."
+
+"Ah, Sire," answered Woodville, with a smile, "as far as a true heart
+and a strong arm may go, I can, perhaps, serve you; but for wise
+heads, I fear you must look elsewhere. I am but a singer of songs, you
+know, and a lover of old ballads."
+
+"Like myself, Richard," replied Henry; "but none the worse for that. I
+know not why, but I always doubt the man that is not fond of music
+'Tis, perhaps, that I love it so well myself, that I cannot but think
+he who does not has some discordant principle in his heart that jars
+with sweet sounds. 'Tis to me a great refreshment also; and when I
+have been sad or tired with all this world's business, when my
+thoughts have grown misty, or my brain turned giddy, I have sat me
+down to the organ and played for a few moments till all has become
+clear again; and I have risen as a man does from a calm sleep. As for
+poesy, indeed, I love it well enough, but I am no poet:--and yet I
+think that a truly great poet is more powerful, and has a wider
+empire, than a king. We monarchs rule men's bodies while we live; but
+their minds are beyond that sceptre, and death ends all our power. The
+poet rules their hearts, moulds their minds to his will, and stretches
+his arm over the wide future. He arrays the thoughts of countless
+multitudes for battle on the grand field of the world, and extends his
+empire to the end of time. Look at Homer,--has not the song of the
+blind Greek its influence yet? and so shall the verse of Chaucer be
+heard in years to come, long after the brow they have this day crowned
+shall have mouldered in the grave."
+
+The thoughts which he had himself called up, seemed to take entire
+possession of the King, and he remained gazing in deep meditation for
+a few minutes upon the glittering emblems of royalty which lay upon
+the table before him, while Richard of Woodville stood silent by his
+side, not venturing to interrupt his reverie.
+
+"Well, Richard," continued the King, at length rousing himself, "so
+you go to Burgundy? but hold yourself ready to join me when I have
+need."
+
+"I am always ready, now or henceforward, Sire," answered the young
+gentleman, "to serve you with the best of my poor ability; and the day
+will be a happy one that calls me to you. I only go to seek honour in
+another land, because I had so resolved before I met your Highness,
+and because you yourself pronounced it best for me."
+
+"And so I think it still," replied Henry. "I would myself advance you,
+Woodville, but for two reasons; first, I find every office near my
+person filled with old and faithful servants of the crown; and, as
+they fall vacant, I would place in them men who have themselves won
+renown. Next, I think it better that your own arm and your own
+judgment should be your prop, rather than a King's favour; and, as
+yet, there is here no opportunity. Besides, there are many other
+reasons why you will do well to go, in which I have not forgotten your
+own best interests. But keep yourself clear of long engagement to a
+foreign Prince, lest your own should need you."
+
+"That I most assuredly w ill, Sire," answered Richard of Woodville. "I
+go but to take service as a volunteer, holding myself free to quit it
+when I see meet. I ask no pay from any one; and if I gain honour or
+reward, it shall be for what I have done, not for what I am to do."
+
+"You are right, you are right," said Henry; "but have you anything to
+ask of me?"
+
+"Nothing, Sire," replied the young gentleman. "I did but wish to pay
+reverence to your state, and thank you for the gracious letters you
+have given me, before I went;" and he took a step back as if to
+retire. But Henry made a sign, saying--
+
+"Stop! yet a moment; I have something to ask you.--Lay the gloves down
+there, Surtis. Tighten this point a little, and then retire with
+Baynard."
+
+The attendants did as they were bid; and Henry then inquired, "What of
+Sir Henry Dacre, and of that dark evening's work at which we were
+present?"
+
+"Dacre goes with me, Sire," replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed the King; "then were we wrong in thinking he loved the
+other?"
+
+"Not so," answered Woodville; "'tis a sad tale, Sire. He does love
+Isabel, I am sure--has long loved her, though struggling hard against
+such thoughts. But, as if to mar his whole happiness, that scoundrel,
+Roydon, whom you saw, when informed of poor Kate's death, wrote,
+though he did not come, raising doubts as to whether her fate had been
+accidental."
+
+"Doubts!" cried the King. "Do you entertain no doubts, Richard?"
+
+"Many, Sire," answered the young gentleman; "but I never mention
+doubts that I cannot justify by proof, and will not support with my
+arm. But he did more; he pointed suspicion at one he knew too well to
+be innocent. He called up some accidental circumstances affecting
+Dacre--not as charges, indeed, but as matters of inquiry; made the
+wound and left the venom, but shrunk from the result."
+
+"And what did Dacre?" asked the King.
+
+"Gave him the lie, Sire," replied Woodville; "called upon him to come
+boldly forward, make his accusation, and support it in the lists."
+
+"He avoided that, I'll warrant," replied Henry; "I know him, Richard."
+
+"He did so, Sire," answered the young gentleman; "he declared he had
+no accusation to bring--held Dacre to be good knight and true; but
+still kept his vague insinuations forward in view, as things that he
+mentions solely because it would be satisfactory to the knight himself
+to clear up whatever is obscure."
+
+"And does the Lady Isabel give any credence, then, to these cowardly
+charges?" inquired the King.
+
+"Oh! no, Sire," replied Woodville, warmly. "She has known Harry Dacre
+from her infancy; and those who have, are well aware that, though
+quick in temper, he is as kind as the May wind--as true and pure as
+light. But Dacre is miserable. He thinks, that, henceforth, the finger
+of suspicion will be pointed at him for ever; he sees imaginary doubts
+and dreads in every one's heart towards him; he feels the mere
+insinuation, as the first stain upon a high and noble name. It weighs
+upon him like a captive's chain; he cannot break it or get free--it
+binds his very heart and soul; and, casting all hope and happiness
+behind him, he is resolved to go and peril life itself in any rash
+enterprise that fortune may present."
+
+"Poor man!" exclaimed Henry, "I can well understand his feelings:
+but God will bring all things to light. Yet, tell me, Richard
+of Woodville, do your own suspicions point in no particular
+direction?--have you no doubts of any one?"
+
+"Perhaps I have, Sire," answered Woodville; "but I will beseech your
+Highness to grant me one of two things--either, to appoint a day and
+hour where, in fit lists and with arms at outrance, I may sustain my
+words to the death; or do not ask me to make a charge which I can
+support with no other proof than my right hand."
+
+"I understand you, Richard," said the King, "and I will ask no
+farther. Your course is a just one; but I trust, and am sure, that
+heaven will not witness such deeds as have been done, without sending
+punishment. We both think of the same person, I know; and my eye is
+upon him. Tell me, however, one thing,--does not Sir Simeon of Roydon
+inherit the estates of this poor Lady Catherine?"
+
+"He does, Sire, and is already in possession," replied Woodville.
+
+"He is here at the court," rejoined the King, "and I shall show him
+favour for her sake."
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed at the monarch in surprise, but a slight
+smile curled Henry's lip; and, although he gave no explanation of the
+words which he had spoken in a grave tone, his young companion was
+satisfied.
+
+"I always love to get at the heart of a mystery," continued the King,
+seeing that Richard remained silent; "and I should much like to know,
+if you can tell me, what was the cause of that furious quarrel which
+took place between Sir Henry Dacre and this unhappy lady, just before
+he went? I fear I had some share in it."
+
+"You were but the drop, Sire, that overflowed the cup," replied
+Woodville; "it had been near the brim for several days before; but
+what was said I know not. Remonstrance upon his part, and cutting
+sneers on hers, as usual, I suppose; but he has never told me."
+
+Henry mused for a moment at this reply; and then, changing the
+subject, he inquired, "Is good Ned Dyram with you here in
+Westminster?"
+
+"He is in the Hall below, Sire," answered Woodville; "and a most
+useful gift has he been to me already."
+
+"A loan, Richard, a loan!" cried the King; "I shall claim him back one
+of these days, after he has served you in Burgundy. You will find he
+has faults as well as virtues; so have an eye to correct them. But
+even now, as the country folk say, I have a mind to borrow my own
+horse. I want his services for three days, if you will lend him to
+me--You are not yet ready to set out?"
+
+"Not yet, Sire," replied Woodville; "but, in one week more, I hope to
+be on the sea."
+
+"Well, then, send the man up to me, and he shall rejoin you in four
+days," answered Henry; "but let me see you tomorrow, my good friend,
+before you go home, for I would fain talk farther with you. It is
+seldom that a King can meet one with whom he can speak his thoughts
+plainly; and I find already a difference that makes me sad. Command
+and obedience, arguments of state and policy, flattering acquiescence
+in my opinion, whether right or wrong, praise, broad and coarse, or
+neat and half concealed,--of these I can have plenty, and to surfeit;
+but a friend, into whose bosom one can pour forth one's ideas without
+restraint, whether they be sad or gay, is a rare thing in a court. So,
+for the present, fare-you-well, Richard. You will stay here for the
+banquet in the Hall, of course; and let me see you to-morrow morning,
+towards the hour of eight."
+
+Richard of Woodville, as he well might, felt deeply gratified at the
+confidence which the King's words implied, and he answered, "I will
+not fail, Sire, to attend you at that hour, with more gratitude for
+your good opinion than any other favour. At the banquet, I will try to
+find a place, and will send Ned Dyram to you. Will you receive him
+now?"
+
+"Yes, at once," replied the King; "for, good faith! these lords and
+bishops who are waiting for me, will think me long. I will order you a
+place below; but, mark me, Richard--if you meet Simeon of Roydon, seek
+no quarrel with him; and lay my commands upon Sir Henry Dacre, that he
+do not, on any pretence, again call him to the lists, without my
+knowledge and consent. As to Ned Dyram, he shall rejoin you soon.
+There is no way in which he may not be useful to you; for there is
+scarce an earthly chance for which his ready wit is not prepared. I
+met him first, studying alchemy with a poor wretch who, in pursuit of
+science, had blown all his wealth up the chimney of his furnace, and
+could no longer keep this boy. I found him next in an armourer's shop,
+hammering at hard iron, and thence I took him. He has a thousand
+qualities, some bad, some good. I think him honest; but his tongue is
+somewhat too free; and that which the wild Prince might laugh at,
+might not chime with the dignity of the crown. He will learn better in
+your train; but at the present I have an errand for him--so send him
+to me quickly."
+
+Richard of Woodville bowed and withdrew; and, finding his way down to
+the Hall, he called Ned Dyram,--who was in full activity, aiding the
+royal officers to set out the tables,--and told him to go directly to
+the King. The man laughed, and ran off to fulfil the command: and
+about three quarters of an hour elapsed before the monarch appeared in
+the hall, which by that time was nearly filled with guests, invited to
+the banquet. He was followed by the train of high nobles and
+churchmen, whom Woodville had seen waiting in a chamber above; and the
+numerous tables, which were as many as that vast building could
+contain, were soon crowded.
+
+It would be dull to the reader, were I to give any account of a mere
+ordinary event, such as a royal feast of those days--were I to tell
+the number of oxen and sheep that were consumed--the capons, ducks,
+geese, swans, and peacocks, that appeared upon the board. Suffice it,
+that one of the royal servants placed Richard of Woodville according
+to his rank; that the banquet, with all its ceremonies, was somewhat
+long in passing, but that the young gentleman's comfort was not
+disturbed by the sight of Simeon of Roydon, who, if he were in the
+Hall, kept himself from Richard's eyes. The lower part of the chamber
+was filled with minstrels, musicians, and attendants; and music, as
+usual, accompanied the feast; but ever and anon, from the court before
+the palace and the neighbouring streets, were heard loud shouts, and
+laughter, and bursts of song, showing that the merriment and revelry
+of the multitude were still kept up, while the King and his nobles
+were feasting within.
+
+Thus, when the banquet was over, the monarch gone from the Hall, and
+Richard of Woodville, with the rest of the guests, issued forth into
+the court, he was not surprised to find a gay and joyous scene
+without, the whole streets and roads filled with people, and every one
+giving himself up to joy and diversion. The gates of the court were
+thrown open, the populace admitted to the very doors of the palace,
+and a crowd of several hundred persons assembled round a spot in the
+centre, where a huge pile of dry wood had been lighted for the august
+ceremony of roasting an ox whole, which was duly superintended by half
+a dozen white-capped cooks, with a whole army of scullions and
+turnspits. Butts of strong beer stood in various corners; and a
+fountain, of four streams, flowed with wine at the side next to the
+Abbey. In one spot, people were jostling and pushing each other to get
+at the ale or wine; in another, they were dancing gaily to the sound
+of a viol; and further on was a tumbler, twisting himself into every
+sort of strange attitude for the amusement of the spectators. Loud
+shouts and exclamations, peals of laughter, the sounds of a thousand
+different musical instruments playing as many different tunes, with
+voices singing, and others crying wares of several sorts, prepared for
+the celebration of the day, made a strange and not very melodious din;
+but there was an air of festivity and rejoicing, of fun and good
+humour, in the whole, that compensated for the noise and the crowd.
+
+Richard of Woodville had given orders for his horses to be taken to an
+inn at Charing, while waiting in the Hall before the banquet; and he
+now proceeded on foot, through the crowd in the palace courts, towards
+the gates. It was a matter of some difficulty to obtain egress; for
+twilight was now coming on, and the multitude were flocking from the
+sights which had been displayed in the more open road to Charing
+during the last two or three hours, to witness the roasting of the ox,
+and to obtain some of the slices which were to be distributed about
+the hour of nine.
+
+At length, however, he found himself in freer air; but still, every
+four or five yards, he came upon a gay group, either standing and
+talking to each other, or gathered round a show, or some singer or
+musician. It was one constant succession of faces; some young, some
+old, some pretty, some ugly, but all of them strange to Richard of
+Woodville. Nevertheless, more than once he met the same merry
+salutations which he had been treated to when on horseback; and, as he
+paused here and there, gazing at this or that gay party, he was twice
+asked to join in the dance, and still more frequently required to
+contribute to the payment of a poor minstrel with his pipe or cithern.
+
+The minstrels were not, indeed, in those days at least, a very
+elevated race of beings; their poetical powers, if they ever in this
+country possessed any, had entirely merged in the musical; and, though
+they occasionally did sing to their own instruments, or to those of
+others, the verses were generally either old ballads, or pieces of
+poetry composed by persons of a higher education than themselves.
+
+Nearly opposite the old dwelling of the kings of Scotland, Woodville's
+ear caught the tones of a very sweet voice singing; and, approaching
+the group of people that had gathered round, he saw an old man
+playing on an instrument somewhat like, but greatly inferior to a
+modern guitar, while a girl by his side, with fine features, and
+apparently--for the light was faint--a beautiful complexion, dressed
+in somewhat strange costume, was pouring forth her lay to the
+delighted ears of youths and maidens. She had nearly finished the
+song, when the young gentleman approached; and, in a moment or two
+after, she went round with a cap in her hand, asking the donations of
+the listeners.
+
+Woodville had been pleased, and he threw in some small silver coin,
+more than equal to all that the rest had given; and, resuming her
+place by the old man's side, she whispered a word in his ear, upon
+which he immediately struck his instrument again, and she began
+another ditty in honour, it would appear, of her generous auditor:--
+
+
+                                SONG.
+
+              The bark is at the shore,
+                The wind is in the sail,
+              Fear not the tempest's roar,
+                There's fortune in the gale;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              Oh, go'st thou far or nigh,
+                To Palestine or France,
+              For thee soft hearts shall sigh,
+                And glory wreath thy lance;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And five in many a tale.
+
+              The courtly hall or field,
+                Still luck shall thee afford;
+              Thy heart shall be thy shield,
+                And love shall edge thy sword;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              The lark shall sing on high.
+                Whatever shores thou rov'st;
+              The nightingale shall try,
+                To call up her thou lov'st;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              In hours of pain and grief,
+                If such thou must endure.
+              Thy breast shall know relief,
+                In honour tried and pure;
+              For the true heart and Kind,
+              Its recompence shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+              And Fortune soon or late,
+                Shall give the jewell'd prize;
+              For deeds, in spite of fate,
+                Gain smiles from ladies' eyes;
+              And the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompense shall find,
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+
+The song was full of hope and cheerfulness; and though the melody was
+simple, as all music was in those days, it went happily with the
+words. Richard of Woodville well understood, that though certainly not
+an improvisation, the verse was intended for him; and feeling grateful
+to the girl for her promises of success, he drew forth his purse, and
+held out to her another piece of money. She stepped gracefully forward
+to receive it, and this time extended a fair, small hand, instead of
+the cap which she had before borne round the crowd; but just at that
+moment, a party of horsemen came up at full gallop, and, as if for
+sport--probably under the influence of wine--rode fiercely through the
+little circle assembled to hear the song.
+
+The listeners, young and active, easily got out of the way; but not so
+the old minstrel, who stood still, as if bewildered, and was knocked
+down and trampled by one of the horsemen. The girl, his companion,
+with a shriek, and Richard of Woodville, with a cry of indignation,
+started forward together; and the latter, catching the horse which had
+done file mischief by the bridle, with his powerful arm forced it back
+upon its haunches, throwing the rider to the ground with a heavy fall.
+As the man went down, his hood was cast back, and Woodville beheld the
+face of Simeon of Roydon. But he paused not to notice him farther,
+instantly turning to raise the old man, and endeavouring to support
+him. The poor minstrel's limbs had no strength, however, and fearing
+that he was much hurt, the young gentleman exclaimed, "Good heaven!
+why did you not get out of their way?"
+
+The old man made no answer; but the girl replied, wringing her
+hands--"Alas! he is blind!"
+
+"Let us bear him quick to some hospital!" said Richard; "he is
+stunned. Who will aid to carry him?"
+
+"I will, sir!--I will!" answered half-a-dozen voices from the crowd;
+and the old minstrel was immediately raised in the arms of three or
+four stout young men, and carried towards the neighbouring nunnery and
+hospital of St. James's, accompanied by his fair companion.
+
+Woodville was about to follow, but Sir Simeon of Roydon, who had by
+this time regained his saddle, thrust himself in the way, saying, in a
+fierce and bitter tone--"Richard of Woodville, I shall remember this!"
+
+"And I shall not forget it, Simeon of Roydon," replied the other,
+hardly able to refrain from punishing him on the spot. "Get thee
+hence! Thou hast done mischief enough!"
+
+The knight was about to reply; but a shout of execration burst from
+the people, and, at the same moment, a stone, flung from an unseen
+hand, struck him on the face, cutting his cheek severely, and shaking
+him in the saddle. His companions, alarmed at what they had done, had
+already ridden on; and, seeing that he was likely to fare ill in the
+hands of the crowd, Roydon put spurs to his horse, and galloped after
+them, muttering curses as he went.
+
+Richard of Woodville soon overtook the little party which was hurrying
+on with the injured man to the lodge of the monastery, and found the
+poor girl weeping bitterly.
+
+"Alas! noble sir!" she said, as soon as she saw him, "he is dead! He
+does not speak!--his head falls back!"
+
+"I trust not--I trust not!" answered Woodville. "He is but stunned,
+probably, by the blow, and will soon recover."
+
+She shook her head mournfully; and the next moment, one of the young
+men, who had taken up the old man's cithern, stepped forward before
+the rest, and rang the bell at the gate of the nunnery. It was opened
+instantly, and Woodville briefly explained to the porter what was the
+matter.
+
+"Bring him in here," said the old man; "we will get help. The good
+prioress is skilful at such things, and brother Martin still more so;
+and he is nearest, for the monk's lodging is only just below there.
+Let one of the men run down and ask for brother Martin."
+
+In the meantime, the old minstrel was brought in, and laid upon the
+pallet in the porter's room; and the news of the accident having
+spread, the lodge was speedily filled with nuns, having their veils
+down, all eagerly inquiring what had happened.
+
+The prioress and brother Martin appeared at the same moment; and, in
+answer to their questions, Woodville explained the facts of the case;
+for the poor girl, overwhelmed with grief, was kneeling by her old
+companion's side, and holding a small ebony cross which she wore round
+her neck to his motionless lips.
+
+"Give us room, my child--give us room!" said brother Martin, putting
+his hand kindly on her shoulder; and, having obtained access to the
+pallet, he and the prioress proceeded to examine what injuries the
+poor old man had received. Their search was short, however; for, after
+feeling the back of the head with his hand, and then putting his
+fingers on the pulse, the good monk turned round, with a grave
+countenance, saying, "God have mercy on his soul; for to Him has it
+gone."
+
+The poor singer covered her eyes with her hands, and sobbed bitterly.
+All the rest were silent for a moment; and then Richard of Woodville,
+turning to the prioress, said, in a low voice, "I will beseech you,
+lady, to see, in all charity, to this poor man's interment; and that
+masses be said in your chapel for his soul. Also, if you would, like a
+good Christian, take some heed of this poor girl, who is his daughter,
+I suppose, I should be glad, for it may better become you than me; but
+whatever expense the convent may be at, I will repay, though, Heaven
+knows, I am not over rich. My name is Richard of Woodville; and
+to-morrow, if you will send a messenger to me, I shall be found at the
+Acorn, just beyond the Bishop of Durham's lodging. You must send
+before eight, however, or after ten; for at eight I am to be with the
+King."
+
+The prioress bowed her head, saying simply, "I will," and Woodville
+turned to depart; but the poor girl, who had heard his words, started
+up, and catching his hand, pressed her lips upon it, then knelt by the
+pallet again, and seemed to pray.
+
+Without farther words, Woodville quitted the lodge; the porter hurried
+on to open the gates, and the young gentleman went out with the people
+who had borne or accompanied the poor old minstrel thither. Just as he
+had reached the road, however, he heard a voice say, "Richard of
+Woodville, farewell; and remember!"
+
+He started and turned round; but though it was a female voice that
+spoke, there were none but men around him; and at the same moment the
+gate rolled heavily to.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IX.
+
+                            THE SICK MIND.
+
+
+We must return, dear reader, for a short time, to the scenes in which
+our tale first began, and to the old hall of the good knight of
+Dunbury. Richard of Woodville and Sir Henry Dacre had been absent for
+two days upon their journey to another part of Hampshire, where we
+have shown somewhat of their course; and Sir Philip Beauchamp sat by
+the fire meditating, while his daughter Isabel, and fair Mary Markham,
+were seated near, plying busily the needle through the embroidery
+frame, and not venturing to disturb his reverie even by whispered
+conversation. From time to time, the old man muttered a few sentences
+to himself, of which the two ladies could only catch detached
+fragments, such as, "They must know by this time,--Dacre could not but
+do so,--I am sure 'tis for that--," and several similar expressions,
+showing that his mind was running upon the expedition of his nephew
+and his friend, in regard to the object of which, neither Isabel nor
+Mary had received any information.
+
+It must not be said, however, that they did not suspect anything; for
+the insinuations of Sir Simeon of Roydon had been told them; and,
+though neither weak nor given to fear--a knight's daughter, in a
+chivalrous age--Isabel could not help looking forward with feelings of
+awe, and an undefinable sinking of the heart, to the events which were
+likely to follow. She fully believed that she experienced, and had
+ever experienced, towards Sir Henry Dacre, but one class of
+sensations--regard for his high character and noble heart, and pity
+for the incessant grief and anxiety which her cousin's conduct had
+brought upon him from his early youth. But such feelings are very
+treacherous guides, and lead us far beyond the point at which they
+tell us they will stop. With her, too, they had had every opportunity
+of so doing, for she trusted to them in full confidence. Hers had been
+the task, also, of soothing and consoling him under all he had
+suffered--a dangerous task, indeed, for one young, kind, gentle, and
+enthusiastic, to undertake towards a man whom she admired and
+respected. But then, they had known each other from infancy, she
+thought; they had grown up together like brother and sister, and the
+tie between them had only been brought nearer by the betrothing of
+Dacre to her cousin.
+
+Had a doubt ever entered into Isabel's mind, since Catherine's death,
+it may be asked, in regard to her own feelings towards Dacre? Perhaps
+it might; but, if so, it had been banished instantly; and she looked
+upon the very thought as a wrong to her own motives. She would never
+suffer such a thing, she fancied, to trouble her again. "Dacre had
+loved Catherine--surely he had loved her; and yet--" but fresh doubts
+arose; and Isabel, willing to be blind, still turned to other
+meditations.
+
+Mary Markham, on the other hand, with less cause for anxiety, and no
+motive for shutting her eyes, saw more clearly, and judged more
+accurately. She knew that Isabel Beauchamp loved Harry Dacre, and
+believed she had loved him long; though she did her full justice, and
+was confident that her fair companion was as ignorant of what was in
+her own bosom, as of the treasures beneath the waves. But Mary felt
+certain that such was not the case with Dacre in regard to his own
+sensations. She had marked his eye when it turned upon Isabel, had
+seen the faint smile that came upon his lip when he spoke to her, and
+had observed the struggle which often took place, when inclination led
+him to seek her society, and the thought of danger and of wrong held
+him back--a struggle in which love had been too often victorious. She
+doubted not, that he was gone to call upon Simeon of Roydon to come
+forward with proof of his charges, or to sustain them with the lance;
+and, though she entertained little doubt of the issue of such a
+combat, if it took place, she felt grieved and anxious both for Isabel
+and Dacre.
+
+There are some men whose native character, notwithstanding every
+artifice to conceal it, will penetrate through all disguises, and
+produce sensations which seem unreasonable, even to those who feel
+them without being able to trace them to their source. Such a one was
+Sir Simeon of Roydon. He had never been seen by any of Sir Philip
+Beauchamp's family to commit any base or dishonest act; and yet
+there was not one in all that household, from the old knight to the
+horse-boy, who did not internally believe him to be capable of every
+crafty knavery. His insinuations, therefore, in regard to Sir Henry
+Dacre, passed by as empty air, at least for the time; but all had,
+nevertheless, a strong conviction on their minds, that the doubts he
+had attempted to raise would rankle deep in the heart of their unhappy
+object, and poison the whole course of his existence, unless some
+fortunate event were to bring to light the real circumstances of poor
+Catherine Beauchamp's death.
+
+The whole party, then, were in a sad and gloomy mood; and even the
+gay, young spirit of Mary Markham was clouded, as they sat round the
+fire in the great hall, on one of those April evenings when, after a
+day of summer sunshine, chilly winter returns with his fit companion,
+night.
+
+As they were thus seated, however, each busy with his own thoughts,
+the sound of horses' feet in the court was heard, and, in a minute
+after, Dacre himself entered. He mounted the steps at the end of the
+pavement with a slow pace, and every eye was turned to his countenance
+to gather some indication from his look of the state of mind in which
+he returned. The old knight rose and grasped his hand, asking, in a
+low voice, "What news, Harry? Nay, boy, you need not strive to conceal
+it from me--I know what you went for. Will the slanderer do battle?"
+
+"No, my noble friend," replied Dacre; "he is coward, too, as well as
+scoundrel. There is his craven answer; you may read it aloud. The
+matter is now over, and that hope is gone."
+
+"You should not have done this, Harry, without consulting me," said
+Sir Philip; "I have some experience in such things. At the very last
+that was fought between any two gentlemen of rank and station, I was
+judge of the field, and know right well what appertains to knightly
+combat."
+
+"Of that I was full sure," answered Dacre, pressing his hand; "and to
+you I should have applied for counsel and aid, as soon as I had
+brought him to the point; but I thought it best to be silent till that
+was done. I was vain, perhaps, Sir Philip, to think that these dear
+ladies might take some interest in such a matter--might feel anxious
+even for me; and though I knew that they would have seen me go forth,
+with satisfaction, in defence of my honour, and would have bade God
+speed me on my course, yet it was needless to speak of what was to
+come, till it did come--and you will see, that it is to be never."
+
+"Read it, Hal--read it," said the knight; "my eyes are old."
+
+Sir Henry Dacre read the letter, the contents of which we have already
+seen, and Sir Philip Beauchamp and Mary Markham commented freely
+thereon, marking well its baseness and its craft; but Isabel remained
+silent; and, looking down at her embroidery, her bright eyes let fall
+a tear. Many emotions mingled to produce that drop; she felt to her
+heart's core how bitter it must be to live with such a doubt hanging
+over us for ever, like a dark cloud; and the repeated mention of
+Catherine's name called back to her mind, in all its freshness, the
+memory of her cousin's sad fate; and she was led on to think, too, how
+happy the wayward girl might have been, if she had but known the
+advantages which Heaven had granted her.
+
+Dacre saw the tear, and marked the silence, and read neither quite
+aright; for, with a wounded spot in the heart, the lightest touch will
+give torture. He sat down with the rest, however; he strove to cast
+off some of his gloom; he told of his journey with Richard of
+Woodville; and informed the old knight that his late guest, Hal of
+Hadnock, was now King of England; but, while Sir Philip laughed
+heartily, and called his sovereign "a mad-headed boy," his young
+friend relapsed into deep meditation, and the black thought, that he
+must be for ever a doubted and suspected man, again took possession of
+his mind.
+
+The next morning, when he rose, he was more cheerful. Sleep, which had
+visited his eyelids only by short glimpses for the last week, had,
+this night, stayed with him undisturbed; and, what seemed to him more
+extraordinary still, sweet dreams had come with slumber, giving him
+back the happiness of former days. He had seemed a boy again, and had
+wandered with Isabel Beauchamp through the woods and fields around;
+had heard the birds sing on the spray, and watched the fish darting
+through the stream. Summer and sunshine had been round their path, and
+that misty splendour, which only is seen in the visions of the night,
+as if poured forth from some secret source in the heart of man when
+the pressure of all external things is taken away--a slight
+indication, perhaps, of the adaptation of his spirit to the enjoyments
+of a brighter world than this. He slept longer than usual; and, when
+he rose, he found the old knight and his daughter in the hall.
+
+"I am going down, Harry," said Sir Philip, "to settle a difference
+between some of the monks and Roger Dayley, of Little Ann, about his
+field. I shall find you when I come back."
+
+"Nay, I will go with you, noble friend," answered Dacre; "I wish to
+see my good Lord Abbot."
+
+"That you cannot do, unless you ride to London," replied the old
+knight; "he went yesterday morning early to attend the King's
+coronation. Stay with Isabel and Mary. I will be back soon."
+
+It was too tempting a proposal to be refused; and while Sir Philip,
+with a page carrying his heavy sword, walked down to the Abbey, Dacre
+remained with Isabel alone in the hall. They watched her father from
+the door till he entered the wood, and then turning, walked up and
+down the rush-covered pavement for several minutes without speaking.
+Dacre's heart was full of anxious thoughts; and though he much wished
+to fathom the feelings of Isabel's heart, and discover some ground for
+future hope, yet he dreaded to find all his fears verified; and the
+words trembled at the gate of speech without obtaining utterance.
+Isabel, however, was more confident in herself, and less conscious of
+her own sensations; she saw and grieved at the state of Dacre's mind,
+and longed to give him comfort and consolation as in days of yore.
+Finding, then, that he did not begin upon the subject of his cares and
+sorrows, she resolved to do so herself; and after a pause, during
+which she felt agitated, and hesitated she knew not why, she said, "I
+am glad to speak with you alone, Harry; for I see you are very, very
+sad, and I would fain persuade you to take comfort."
+
+"Oh, many things make me thus sad, dear Isabel," replied the knight,
+with a faint smile; "but I will try to do better with time."
+
+"Nay, Harry," she answered; "you cannot conceal the cause of your
+sadness from me. I have known you from my childhood, too well not to
+understand it all. You were ever jealous too much of your fame; and
+now I know, because this false, bad man has insinuated things that
+never entered your thoughts, you fancy people will suspect you."
+
+"And will they not, Isabel?" asked Dacre. "I should not say, perhaps,
+_suspect_ me; for suspicion is a more fixed and tangible thing than
+that which I fear; but will there not be doubts, coming in men's mind
+against their will, and against their reason? Will they not, from time
+to time, when they think of Henry Dacre, and this sad history, and
+these dark scandals--will they not ask themselves, What, if it were
+really so?"
+
+"Oh! no, no! Harry," replied his fair companion, warmly; "none will
+think so who know you--none will think so at all, but the base and
+bad, who are capable of such acts themselves."
+
+"Indeed, Isabel!" said Dacre. "And is such really your belief? You
+know not how suspicion clings, dear lady. If you stain a silken
+garment, can you ever make it clear and glossy, as once it was? and
+the fame of man or woman is of a still finer and frailer texture.
+There, one spot, one touch, lasts for ever."
+
+With kind and tender words, and every argument that her own small
+experience could afford, Isabel Beauchamp tried to reassure him; and
+she succeeded at least in one thing--in convincing him so far of her
+full confidence in his honour, that he was on the eve of putting it to
+the strongest test. The acknowledgment of his love hung upon his lips,
+and, if then spoken, might perchance, in her eagerness to prove her
+conviction of his innocence, have been met with that warm return,
+which would have brought the best balm to his heart, although the
+first effect upon her might have been agitation and alarm. But ere he
+could utter the words on which his fate depended, Mary Markham joined
+them, and he waited for another opportunity. Dacre returned to his own
+house at night; but every day he went over to the hall, his mood
+varying like a changeful morning, sometimes sunny with hope and
+temporary forgetfulness, sometimes all cloud and gloom, when memory
+recalled the suspicions that had been pointed at him. Those
+suspicions, too, were frequently recalled to his mind even by his own
+acts, for he eagerly strove to discover by whose instrumentality his
+whole course, on the unfortunate night of poor Catherine Beauchamp's
+death, had been conveyed to Sir Simeon of Roydon. But by so doing, he
+only fretted his own spirit, and gained no information; whoever was
+the spy, he remained concealed.
+
+Three or four days were thus passed before he obtained any second
+opportunity of speaking with Isabel alone; but, on his arrival at the
+dwelling of Sir Philip Beauchamp, on the morning of the 9th of April,
+he was told by a servant whom he found in the hall, that the family
+had gone forth into the park; and, following immediately, he found
+Isabel sitting under the trees, without companions. She seemed to have
+been weeping, and it was a pleasant task for Dacre to strive to
+console her who had so often been his own comforter.
+
+"There are tears in your eyes, dear Isabel," he said, as she rose
+gracefully to meet him. "What has grieved you?"
+
+"Have you not seen my father?" asked the lady. "Do you not know that
+our dear Mary is going to leave us? She goes to London to-day, and he
+goes with her so far."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed the knight; "that is very sudden."
+
+"And very sad," answered Isabel; "the hall will be melancholy enough
+without her now--I cannot but weep, and shall never cease to regret
+her going."
+
+"Nay, nay; time will bring balm, dear Isabel," answered Dacre. "You
+have often told me so."
+
+"And have you believed me, Harry?" answered the lady, with a faint and
+almost reproachful smile; "even last night, you were more sad and
+grave than ever."
+
+"Ay, but this is a different case," replied Dacre; "one can lose a
+friend--ay, even by death; one can lose anything more easily than
+honour and renown."
+
+"But the loss of yours is only in your own fancy, Dacre," she
+answered. "Who believes this charge, that Simeon of Roydon dares to
+hint, but not to avow? Whom has it affected? In whom do you see a
+change? Surely not in my father; surely not in me."
+
+"No, assuredly, Isabel," he said, after thinking for a while; "but as
+yet I have had no occasion to make the trial. Hearken, and I will put
+a case. Suppose, dear Isabel, that I were to love; suppose the lady
+that I loved had heard this tale; suppose that she had loved me well
+before, and at her knee I were now to crave the blessing of her hand;
+would not a doubt, would not a hesitation cross her mind? Would she
+not ask herself--"
+
+"Oh, no!" cried Isabel; but Dacre went on, not suffering her to
+conclude.
+
+"You put it not fully to your own heart, dear Isabel," he said.
+"Suppose you were that lady--suppose that all Harry Dacre's hopes and
+happiness for life were staked on your reply; suppose that to you, who
+have so often consoled him in affliction, calmed him in anger, soothed
+him in anxiety, he were to say, 'Isabel, will you be my comforter
+through life, the star of my existence, the recompence for all I have
+suffered?' would not one thought--"
+
+Isabel trembled violently, and her cheek turned ashy pale.
+
+"It is enough," said Dacre, with a quivering lip; "I am answered! That
+memory could never be banished from your heart. It is enough!"
+
+"Oh, no, no!" cried Isabel; but, as will almost always happen when a
+word may make all clear, an interruption came; before she could go on,
+good old Sir Philip Beauchamp was seen upon the steps of the house,
+waving them to come back, with a loud "Halloo!"
+
+They both turned, and walked towards the hall in silence. Isabel would
+fain have spoken, but agitation overpowered her. She wished that
+Dacre, by a single word, would give her an opportunity of reply; but
+his over-sensitive heart was convinced of her feelings--reading them
+all wrong; and he would not force her to speak what he thought must be
+painful for her to utter, and for him to hear. Twice she made up her
+mind to explain, but twice her heart failed her at the moment of
+execution; and it was not till they were within a few steps of the
+place where her father stood, that she could say, in a low voice, "You
+are mistaken, Harry; indeed you are mistaken!"
+
+He shook his head with a bitter smile, and walked on in silence.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER X.
+
+                         THE MINSTREL'S GIRL.
+
+
+At the hour appointed by the King, Richard of Woodville arrived at the
+palace, and was at once introduced to Henry's presence. The monarch
+was now quite alone, and seemed in a more cheerful, a less meditative
+mood, than the day before. "Well, Richard," he said, "how sped you
+last night? you found room in hall, and a place at board, I trust?"
+
+"I did, Sire," replied Woodville; "and so long as I was here 'twas
+well; but as I returned homeward to my hostel, I saw that done which
+grieved me, and would grieve your Highness, too, were it told."
+
+"Speak it, speak it," said the King; "I am now in that station where
+every day I must hear that which offends my ear, if I would perform
+the first duty of a king, and render justice to my people. What is
+this you saw?"
+
+Briefly and accurately Richard of Woodville, as he had previously
+determined, related to the monarch the facts attending the death of
+the old minstrel, by the brutal act of Sir Simeon of Roydon, and his
+companions; and he could see Henry's brow gather into a heavy frown,
+and his cheek flush. When he had done, the King rose from his chair,
+before he spoke, and walked twice across the small chamber in which
+the young gentleman had found him.
+
+"This is bad," he said at length; "this is bad; but I must not
+interfere with the course of law. The matter will be inquired into, of
+course. If the law should not punish the offence, I might myself
+inflict some chastisement, and, by banishing this man from my court
+and presence, mark my indignation at his rash contempt of human life
+and suffering, to call it nothing worse. But I have other views,
+Richard; and if I must strike, I would have it effectually."
+
+"I do not understand you, Sire," replied Woodville, seeing that the
+King paused.
+
+"No, perhaps not," said Henry; and then falling into a fit of musing
+again, he remained for more than a minute with his eyes fixed upon the
+ground. "Call me a page," he continued, at length; "I will see this
+Sir Simeon of Roydon."
+
+Richard of Woodville obeyed; and when the boy appeared, Henry directed
+him in the clear brief words, with which even trivial orders are given
+by men of powerful and accurate minds, to inquire of the sergeant of
+the gates where Sir Simeon of Roydon was to be found, and then to
+summon him immediately to his presence.
+
+"He shall make some compensation to the old man's daughter, or whoever
+she is, whatever the law may say," the King continued, turning to his
+companion, after having spoken to the page: "but tell me, Richard, was
+this the only adventure you met with yesterday? Ned Dyram told me,
+that some one had spoken to you by name in the crowd, bidding you not
+to let poor Dacre do battle with Simeon of Roydon,--she anticipated my
+commands, it would seem."
+
+"She did so, truly, Sire," replied Woodville; "but I could never
+discover who it was, though she again spoke to me at the gates of the
+convent as I came out."
+
+"It is very strange," said the King; "did you not know the voice?"
+
+"It seemed somewhat disguised," answered the young gentleman; "but
+still it was clearly a woman's voice; and there were tones in it not
+unfamiliar to my ear, yet not sufficiently strong on recollection to
+enable me in any way to judge who spoke."
+
+"Have we got fairies amongst us, even in Westminster?" asked the
+monarch, laughing. "Well, my good friend, you have nothing to do but
+obey your fair monitor."
+
+"In that I shall not fail, Sire," replied Richard; "for I shall have
+no cause to prevent or encourage Dacre--Simeon of Roydon will take
+good heed to that. But I trust neither the lady nor your Highness will
+forbid my chastising this man myself, if need should be; for, as I
+have told you, Sire, I cast him from his horse last night, before his
+comrades; and he will seek revenge in some shape, I am sure."
+
+"To defend himself is every man's right," replied the King; "but I
+must insist, that no arranged encounter takes place between you and
+Sir Simeon of Roydon, without your sovereign's consent." The King
+spoke sternly, almost harshly; but he added a moment after, in a mild
+and familiar tone, "The truth is, Richard, that I have resolved, as
+much as possible, to put a stop, both to the trial by battle and
+combats at outrance between my subjects. The blood of Englishmen is
+too precious to their King and their country to be shed so frequently
+as it has hitherto been in private quarrels. The evil is increasing;
+and if it be not stayed, a time will come when every idle jest will be
+the subject of a combat, and the man of mere brute courage will
+venture upon any wrong he chooses to do another, because he values his
+life less than his neighbour. Such a state shall never grow up under
+me. The day may not be far distant when, in defence of the rights of
+this crown, I shall give every English gentleman an opportunity of
+displaying his valour and his skill; but, till then, I will hold a
+strong hand over quarrelsome folks. As a last resource for honour
+really wounded, or, under the sanction of the law, for the judgment of
+God in dark cases which human wisdom cannot decide, I may consent that
+an appeal be made to the lance; but not till every other means has
+been tried. Such is my resolution. Let that suffice you. I know you
+will obey; and in the court of Burgundy, if I hear right, you will
+have plenty of occasions, should you be too full of blood, to shed it
+freely. I have wished to give you some gift, my friend," he continued,
+in a tone of kindly condescension; "but for the present, I can think
+of nothing better than this."
+
+He took a ring from his finger, and held it out to the young gentleman
+who stood beside him, adding, "Take it, Richard; wear it always; and
+when you look upon it, think of Hal of Hadnock. But should you at any
+time seek aught of the King of England, seal your letter with that
+ring, and I will open and read the contents myself, and immediately.
+It shall go hard, but I will grant you your boon, if it be such as the
+Richard of Woodville whom I know, is likely to request. So, farewell,
+and God speed you, and lead you to honour."
+
+Richard of Woodville knelt, and kissed the gracious Prince's hand; and
+then, retiring from his presence, sped back to his inn without
+adventure.
+
+All traces of the last day's festival had disappeared; the citizens
+had resumed their usual occupations; the artisan had gone to his work,
+the merchant to his warehouse, the tradesman to his stall, the monk to
+his cloister, the priest to his chapel or his church. The streets,
+though there was many a passenger hurrying to and fro, seemed almost
+empty, by comparison; and a scene that was in itself gay, looked dull
+from the want of all the glitter and pageantry of the preceding
+afternoon.
+
+The inn, called the Acorn, at which Richard of Woodville had taken up
+his abode, was a low building, in what we still term the Strand,
+between the Cross at Charing and a very small monastery, which was
+soon after attached to the abbey of Roncesvalles in Navarre, and
+acquired the name of Roncevaux. The entrance to the Acorn was a tall
+dark arch, and as soon as Richard of Woodville rode in, followed by
+his two attendants--for Ned Dyram he had not seen since the day
+before--the host presented himself, saying, with a low reverence and a
+smile, "There has been a fair maid seeking you, noble sir. There have
+been tears in her eyes, too, full lately. I hope you are not a
+faithless squire, to make the pretty maiden weep."
+
+"Poor thing, she has good cause," answered Woodville, gravely. "She is
+the poor old man's daughter, I suppose, who was killed by the horses
+last night. When did she say she would return?"
+
+"She is here now! she is here now!" cried the host's wife, from
+within. "How can you be such a fool, Jenkyn! I took her in till the
+noble gentleman returned. I knew she was no light o' love, but only
+came from foreign lands."
+
+"I never said she was, good wife," replied her husband. "Shall I bring
+her up, sir, to your chamber?"
+
+"No," answered Richard; "it wants an hour of dinner yet; let her come
+with me to the hall, if it be vacant."
+
+"That it is, discreet sir," replied the host. "Now, I warrant you," he
+continued, murmuring to himself, as he walked away to call the poor
+girl to her kind benefactor, "he has got some lady love himself, and
+fears it should come to her ears, were he to entertain a pretty maiden
+in his own chamber."
+
+Perhaps some such thought might pass through Richard of Woodville's
+mind; but certainly it would never have entered therein, had it not
+been for the host's first suspicion; and he would have received the
+poor girl in his own room without hesitation, though the minstrels of
+that day and their followers were generally a somewhat dissolute and
+licentious race. It has happened strangely, indeed, in all ages, that
+those who follow, as their profession, the sweetest of arts, music,
+which would seem intended to elevate and purify the mind and heart,
+should be so frequently obnoxious to the charge of immoral life; but
+so it has been, alas, though difficult to account for.
+
+Finding his way through one or two long ill-lighted passages, Richard
+of Woodville opened the door of the room appropriated to the daily
+meals of the guests and their host, and had not long to wait for the
+object of his compassion. She was not dressed in the same manner as
+the night before, but still, her garb was singular. A bright red
+scarf, which had been twined through her black hair, was no longer
+there; and the rich, luxuriant tresses, were bound plainly round her
+head, which was partially covered also by a hood of simple gray cloth.
+The rest of her apparel was white, except at the edge of the
+petticoat, which came not much below the knee, and was bordered by two
+bands of gold lace. Her small, delicate ankles, as fair as alabaster,
+were, nevertheless, without covering; and her feet were clothed in
+small slippers of untanned leather, trimmed and tied with gold.
+
+Bending down her beautiful head as she entered, she said, "I have come
+to thank you, noble sir."
+
+"Nay, no thanks, my fair maiden," answered Woodville, placing a stool
+for her to sit, as the host retired. "I did but what any Christian and
+gentleman ought to do; so, say not a word of that. But I am glad you
+have come, for I wish much to hear more of you, and to know what will
+become of you now."
+
+"Ah! what, indeed?" said the girl, casting down her eyes, which had
+before been fixed upon the young gentleman's countenance.
+
+"Have you no friends, no home, to which you can go?" asked Woodville.
+
+"In this country, no friends that would receive me--no home that would
+be open to me," replied the girl, the tears rolling over the long
+black lashes, and trickling down her cheek. "I am not given to yield
+to sorrow thus," she added; "had I been, it would have crushed me long
+ago. But this last blow has been heavy; and, like a reed beaten down
+by the storm, I shall not raise my head till the sun shines again."
+
+"But you are of English birth?" inquired Richard of Woodville; "if
+not, you speak our tongue rarely."
+
+"Oh, yes! I am English," she cried, eagerly; "English in heart, and
+spirit, and birth; but yet, my mother was from a distant land."
+
+"And was that poor old man your father?" demanded her companion;
+"come, let me hear something of your former life, that I may think
+what can be done for the future."
+
+The girl evidently hesitated; she coloured, and then turned pale; and
+Richard of Woodville began to fear that, in the interest he had taken
+in her, he had been made the fool of imagination. "She is probably
+like the rest," he thought; "and yet, her very shame to speak it,
+shows that she has some good feelings left."
+
+But, while he was still pondering, the girl exclaimed, clasping
+her hands, "Oh, yes! I am sure I may tell you. You are not one
+who--whatever might be his errors--would deprive a poor old man of
+blessed ground to rest in, or the prayers of good men for his soul."
+
+"Not I, indeed," replied the young gentleman; "methinks, we have no
+right to carry justice or punishment beyond the grave. When the spirit
+is called to its Creator, let him be judge--not man. But speak; I do
+not understand you clearly."
+
+"I will make my tale short," she answered. "That old man was my
+father's father; a minstrel once in the house of the great Earl of
+Northumberland--I can just remember the Earl--and a gay and happy
+household it was. He was well paid and lodged, much loved by the good
+lord, and wealthy by his bounty. My father was stout and tall, a brave
+man, and skilful in arms; and he was the Percy's henchman. Once, when
+one of the Earl's kinsmen went to the court of the Emperor, my father
+was sent with him, I have heard; and he returned with my mother, a
+native of a town called Innsbruck in the mountains. I know not whether
+you have heard of it; but it is a fair city, in good truth."
+
+"You have seen it, then?" asked Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Not a year since," answered the girl; "but, to my tale. When I was
+still young, my father fought and fell with Hotspur; and, not long
+after, the Duke's household was dispersed, and he himself obliged to
+fly to Wales, or Scotland, I know not which. My mother pined and died,
+for the people there loved not a stranger amongst them; and, after my
+father's death, called her nought but _the foreigner_. They laughed,
+too, at her language, for she could speak but poor English; and, what
+between their gibes and her own grief, she withered away daily, till
+her eyes closed. She taught me her own language, however; and I have
+not forgot it. She taught me her own faith, too; and I have not
+abandoned it."
+
+"And that was--" exclaimed Richard.
+
+"The holy Catholic faith!" replied the girl, crossing herself; "and
+nothing has ever been able to turn me from it. But still, I could not
+let it break all bonds--could I, noble sir?"
+
+"Perhaps not," replied Richard of Woodville; "but let me hear
+farther."
+
+"When the Earl fled, and my mother died," continued the girl, "my
+grandfather took me with him to the town of York; and, as he was
+wealthy, as I have said, his kinsfolk, who were many in the place,
+were glad to see him. He was very kind to me--oh, how kind! and taught
+me to sing, and play on many instruments. But there came a disciple of
+Wicliffe into the town, where there were already many Lollards in
+secret; and the poor old man listened to them, and became one of them.
+I would not hear them; for I ever thought of my mother, and what she
+had taught me; and this caused the first unkind words my grandfather
+ever gave me. He mourned for them afterwards, when he found I was not
+undutiful, as he had called me. But, in the mean time, he went on with
+the Lollards; till, one night, as they were coming from a place where
+they had met, a crowd of rabble and loose people set upon them with
+sticks and stones, and beat them terribly; and the poor old man was
+brought home, with his face and eyes sadly cut. Some of the Lollards
+were taken, and two were tried, and burnt as heretics. But my
+grandfather escaped that fate; for, by this time, his eyes had become
+red and fiery, and he kept close to his own house. The redness at
+length went away--but light went too; and he was in daily fear of
+persecution. One night, when he was very sad, I asked him why he
+stayed in York, where there were so many perils; but he shook his
+head, and answered, 'Because I am sightless, my child; and I have none
+to guide me.' Then I asked him again, if he had not me; and if he
+thought I would not go with him to the world's end; and I found, by
+what he said, that he had long thought of going to foreign lands, but
+did not speak of it, because he thought that, as I would not hear his
+people, I would refuse to go. When he found I was ready, however, his
+mind was soon made up, and we went first to a town called Liege, where
+he had a brother, and there we lived happily enough for some time; for
+that, brother, and all his family, thought on many matters with him.
+But he heard of a man named Huss, who is a great leader of that sect
+in a country called Bohemia, and he resolved to go thither, as he was
+threatened with persecution in Liege. We then wandered far and wide
+through strange lands. But why should I make my tale long? We suffered
+many things--were plundered, wronged, persecuted, beaten; and the
+money that he had began to melt away, with no resource behind; for we
+had heard that our own relations and friends in York had pillaged his
+house; and one had taken possession of it as his own. I then proposed
+to him that I should sing at festivals and tournaments, that he might
+keep the little he still had against an evil day. Thus we came through
+Germany, and Burgundy, and part of France and Brabant; and, at length,
+he determined that he would come back to his own country, which he
+did, only to be murdered last night, for we have not been a month in
+England."
+
+"Alas! my poor girl," said Richard of Woodville, "yours is, indeed, a
+sad history; and, in truth, I know not what counsel to give you for
+the future. Alone, as you are, in the world, you need some one much to
+protect you."
+
+"I do indeed," replied the girl, "but I have none; and yet," she
+added, after a moment, "these are foolish thoughts, brought upon me
+but by grief. I can protect myself. Many have a worse fate than I
+have; for how often are those who have been softly nurtured cast
+suddenly into misfortune and distress! I have been inured to it by
+degrees--taught step by step to struggle and resist. Mine is not a
+heart to yield to evil chances. The little that I want in life, I
+trust, I can honestly obtain; and, if not honestly, why, I can die.
+There is still a home for the wanderer--there is still a place of
+repose for the weary." But, as she spoke, the tears that rolled over
+her cheeks belied the fortitude which she assumed.
+
+Richard of Woodville paused and meditated, ere he replied. "Stay," he
+said, at length, as the girl rose, and covered her head again with her
+hood, which she had cast back, as if she were about to depart. "Stay!
+a thought has struck me. Perchance I can call the King's bounty to
+you. I myself am now about to depart for distant lands. I am going to
+the court of Burgundy in a few days, and shall not see our sovereign
+again before I set out; but I have a servant, who was once the King's,
+and he will have the means of telling your sad tale."
+
+"To the court of Burgundy!" exclaimed the girl, eagerly; "Oh! that I
+were going thither with you!"
+
+"That may hardly be," replied Woodville, with a smile, as she gazed
+with her large dark eyes upon his face.
+
+"I know it," she answered, sighing, and cast her eyes down to the
+ground again, with the blood mounting into her cheek; "yet, why not in
+the same ship?--I have kinsfolk both in Liege and in Peronne--you
+would not see wrong done to me?"
+
+"Assuredly not," said the young gentleman; "but if the King can be
+engaged to show you kindness, it will be better. What little I can
+spare, my poor girl, shall be yours; and I will send this man of whom
+I spoke, to see you and tell you more. First, however, you must let me
+know where you are lodged, and for whom he must ask, as it may be
+three or four days before he returns from the errand he is now gone to
+perform."
+
+"My name is Ella Brune," replied the girl; and she went on to describe
+to Richard of Woodville the situation of the house in which she and
+her grandfather had taken up their abode, on their arrival in London a
+few days before. He found from her account that it was a small hostel
+just within the walls of the city, which the old man had known and
+frequented in former years; that the host and his good dame were kind
+and homely people; and that, though the poor girl had remained out
+watching the corpse at the lodge of the convent, she had returned that
+morning to explain the cause of her absence, and had been received
+with sympathy and consolation. Knowing well, however, that there is a
+limit to the tenderness of most innkeepers, and that that limit is
+seldom, if ever, extended beyond the length of their guest's purse,
+the young gentleman took three half nobles, which, to say truth, was
+as much as he could spare, and offered them to his fair companion,
+saying, "Trouble yourself not in regard to expenses of the funeral,
+Ella, or of the masses. The porter of the convent has been here this
+morning before I went out, and I have arranged all that with him."
+
+The girl looked at the money in his hand, with a tearful eye and a
+burning cheek; but, after gazing for a moment, she put his hand gently
+away, saying, "No, no, I cannot take it--from you I cannot take it."
+
+"And why not from me?" asked Richard of Woodville in some surprise.
+
+She hesitated for an instant, and then replied, "Because you have been
+so good and kind already. Were it from a stranger, I might--but you
+have already given me much, paid much; and you shall not hurt yourself
+for me. I have enough."
+
+"Nay, nay, Ella," said Richard, with a smile. "If I have been kind,
+that is a reason why you must not grieve me by refusing the little I
+can give; and as to what I have paid, I will say to you with Little
+John, whom you have heard of--
+
+
+             "I have done thee a good turn for an
+              Quit me when thou may."
+
+
+"And what did Robin answer?" said the girl, a light coming up into her
+eyes as she forgot, for an instant, her loss and her desolate
+situation, in the struggle of generosity which she kept up against her
+young benefactor--
+
+
+             "Nay by my troth, said Robin,
+              So shall it never be."
+
+
+"It must be, if you would not pain me," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"you must not be left in this wide place, my poor girl, without friend
+or money."
+
+"Nay, but I have enough," she answered; "if I were tempted to take it,
+'twould only be with the thought of crossing the sea, which costs much
+money, I know."
+
+"Then take it for that chance, my poor Ella," replied Woodville,
+forcing the money into her hand; "and tell me what store you have got,
+in order that, if I have ought more to spare, when I have received
+what my copse-wood brings, I may send it to you by the servant I spoke
+of."
+
+"Indeed, I know not," said Ella Brune; "there is a small leathern bag
+at the inn, in which we used to put all that we gathered; but I
+thought not to look what it contained. My heart was too heavy when I
+went back, to reckon money. But there is enough to pay all that we
+owe, I know; and as for the time to come," she added, with a
+melancholy smile, "I eat little, and drink less; so that my diet is
+soon paid."
+
+Her words and manner had that harmony in them, which can rarely be
+attained when both do not spring from the heart; and Richard of
+Woodville became more and more interested in the fair object of his
+kindness every moment. He detained her some time longer to ask farther
+questions; but, at length, the host opened the door, and told him,
+there was a young man without who sought to speak with him. This
+interruption terminated his conversation with Ella Brune; for, drawing
+her hood farther still over her face, she again rose, took his hand
+and pressed her lips upon it.
+
+"The blessing of the queen of heaven be upon you, noble sir," she
+said; and then passed through the door, at which the landlord still
+stood, wondering a little at the deep gratitude which she seemed to
+feel towards his young guest.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XI.
+
+                            THE DECEIVER.
+
+
+The King of England remained seated for many minutes exactly where
+Richard of Woodville had left him. His right hand rested on the arm of
+his chair; his left upon the hilt of his dagger; and his eyes remained
+fixed apparently upon the heavy building of the Abbey, such as it then
+appeared, before a far successor of his added to it a structure, rich,
+and perhaps beautiful in itself, but sadly out of keeping with the
+rest of the pile. But Henry saw not the long straight lines of the
+solemn mass of masonry; he heard not the bells chiming from the belfry
+hard by: his mind was absent from the scene in which his body dwelt;
+and his thoughts busy with things very different from those that
+surrounded him.
+
+On what did they rest? Over what did the spirit of the great English
+monarch ponder, the very day after he had solemnly assumed the crown
+and sceptre?--Who can say?
+
+He might, perhaps, remember other days with some regret; for we can
+never lose aught that we have possessed, without some mournful
+feelings of deprivation returning upon us from time to time, however
+great and overpowering be the compensation that we obtain; we can
+never change from one state and station in our mortal course to
+another without sometimes thinking of former joys, and gone-by
+happiness, even though we have acquired grander blessings, and a more
+expansive sphere: and oh! how great is the change, even from the
+position of a prince, to that of a monarch! so great, indeed, that
+none who have not known it can even divine.
+
+He might already, perhaps, feel what a burden a crown may sometimes
+become; how heavy are occasionally the gorgeous robes of state; he
+might look back to the free buoyancy of his early life, and long to
+roam the wide plains and fields of his kingdom alone, and at his ease.
+Or he might think of friendship--and there was none more capable of
+knowing and valuing it aright--and might wonder whether a monarch
+could indeed have a friend; one into whose bosom he could pour his
+secret thoughts, or with whose wit he could try his own, in free, but
+not undignified encounter; one in whom he could trust, and with whom
+he might relax, certain that the condescension of the sovereign would
+not be mistaken, nor the confidence of the friend betrayed.
+
+Again, he might ponder upon all the difficulties and pains of a royal
+station: he might think, "Each of my subjects is burdened with his own
+cares and anxieties, but I with the care and anxiety of the whole:" or
+his mind might turn to the especial troubles and discomforts of a
+monarch, and remember how many he must have to disappoint; how often
+he must have to punish; how much he must have to refuse; how seldom he
+might be permitted to forgive; what great works he must necessarily
+leave undone; what good deeds be might be obliged to neglect; what
+faults he must be called upon to overlook; what pain and grief, even
+to the good and wise, a stern necessity might compel him to inflict.
+
+He might, perhaps, think of any or all of these things, for they were
+all within the grasp of his character, as Henry was peculiarly a
+thoughtful monarch. We are, indeed, only accustomed to look upon him
+either as a wild youth, suddenly and somewhat strangely reformed, or
+as a great conqueror and skilful general, a prudent and ambitious
+prince. But those who will inquire into his private life, who will
+mark the recorded words that occasionally broke from his lips, trace
+the causes and course of his actions, examine his conduct to his
+friends, and even to his enemies, who will, in short, strip off the
+monarch's robes and look upon the man, will find a meditative spirit,
+though a quick one; a warm heart, though a firm one; a rich and lively
+imagination, though a clear and vigorous judgment. He was not one to
+take upon him the cares of government without feeling all their
+weight; to regard a throne as a seat of ease and pleasure; or to
+assume the grand responsibilities of sovereign power, without
+examining them stedfastly and sternly, seeing all that is bright and
+all that is dark therein, and feeling keenly every sacrifice for which
+they call.
+
+To love and to be beloved by a whole nation, to give and to receive
+happiness by a wise government of a great people, is assuredly a
+mighty recompence for all the pains of royal station; but yet those
+pains will be felt hourly while the reward is afar; and the monarch's
+conversation with Richard of Woodville had awakened him to some of
+those evils which the wisest rule cannot entirely remedy. Almost under
+the windows of his palace, on the very day of his coronation, in the
+midst of rejoicing and festivity, one of his subjects, an innocent
+inoffensive old man, had been brutally deprived of life by a party of
+those who had been feasting at his own table; and, when he remembered
+all the scenes with which the course of his early life had made him
+acquainted throughout this wide land, he saw what a task it would be
+to restrain the wild licence of a host of turbulent nobles, and to
+bind them to submission to the laws, and to reverence for the rights
+and happiness of others.
+
+The monarch was still deep in thought when the page whom he had sent
+for Sir Simeon of Roydon, returned, announcing that he was in waiting
+without; and Henry at once ordered him to be admitted. The knight
+advanced with courtly bows, and more than due reverence; for he was
+one of those who, overbearing and haughty to their inferiors, are
+always cringing and fawning towards those above them, at least until
+they are detected.
+
+But Henry came to the point at once, saying, with a stern brow, "I
+hear matters regarding you, Sir Simeon of Roydon, that please me not;
+and I would fain hear from your own lips, what explanation you can
+give. Know, sir, that the subjects of this crown are not to be
+murdered with impunity, and that sooner or later blood will find a
+tongue to accuse those that spill it."
+
+The knight turned somewhat pale under the keen eye of the King; but he
+answered at once, in smooth and fluent tones, "I was not aware, Sire,
+that I had done aught that should bring upon me the greatest
+punishment that I could receive--that of falling under the displeasure
+of your Highness; for any other infliction which might follow that
+severe misfortune, would seem nothing in comparison, or light, indeed,
+if by any bodily suffering I could remove the heavy weight of your
+anger. May I humbly inquire what is my fault? It must be great, I am
+sure, though I know it not, to make so clement a King regard his
+servant so harshly."
+
+"It is great, sir," replied Henry, who could not be deluded with fair
+words. "Did you not, last night, after quitting the Hall below, cause
+the death of an old man by a most brutal outrage?"
+
+"Nay, Heaven forbid!" cried Roydon, with well-feigned surprise and
+grief. "Your Highness does not, I trust, mean to say that the poor old
+man is dead?"
+
+"He was killed upon the spot, sir," answered Henry; "and I am told you
+did not even stop to inquire what had been the result of your own
+act."
+
+"I will go home and have him slaughtered without delay," exclaimed
+Roydon, as if speaking to himself in a paroxysm of regret.
+
+"Have whom slaughtered?" asked the King, gazing upon him coldly; for
+he began to divine the course his defence was to take.
+
+"The brute that did it, Sire," replied the knight; "three times has
+that horse nearly deprived me of life, which I heeded not much, for it
+is a fine though unruly animal; but now that he has taken the life of
+another, his own shall be forfeit. Scarcely had I mounted when, with
+the bit between his teeth, he set off at full speed; some of my
+companions galloped after to stop him, if possible, but were unable,
+till a gentleman on foot, I know not who, caught the bridle in the
+crowd; and I, not seeing what had befallen, rode on, keeping him in
+with difficulty."
+
+A slight smile curled the lip of the King, showing to Sir Simeon
+Roydon that he was not fully believed; and a dark feeling of
+anger--the rage of detected meanness--gathered itself in the inmost
+recesses of his heart, with only the more bitter intensity because he
+dared not suffer it to peep forth. There is nothing that we hate so
+much as one whom, however much he may offend us, we cannot injure.
+Vengeance is the drink by which the dire thirst of hate is often
+assuaged; but if that cannot by any possibility be obtained, the
+burning of the heart goes on increasing till it becomes the
+unquenchable drought of fever.
+
+The monarch answered calmly, however, and without further reproach.
+"Your tale, Sir Simeon," he said, "is somewhat different from that
+which previously reached my ears. I trust it can be substantiated in
+all its parts; for this matter must be investigated fully. The crown
+officer will, of course, do his duty by inquest upon the body. It will
+be well for you to be present; and the law will then take its due
+effect. Retire for a time, sir, into another chamber, and I will cause
+inquiry to be made, as to when a jury will be ready to investigate the
+case."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon bowed with a sad and respectful countenance, and
+turned towards the door; but when he reached it, the expression of his
+face, now averted from the King, was very different from that which it
+had been a moment before. A mocking smile sat upon his lip--the
+sneering, bitter expression of a bad spirit, which has gained some
+advantage over a nobler one; but it was gone again the moment he
+opened the door and stood in presence of two or three attendants, who
+were waiting in the ante-room. At the same instant, the voice of Henry
+called the page, and Sir Simeon, pausing and seating himself, could
+hear the King give orders for making the inquiries which he had
+mentioned. In less than twenty minutes, the page returned and entered
+the monarch's closet, after which the knight was recalled.
+
+"I find, sir," said Henry, when he appeared again before him, "that
+uncommonly quick proceedings have been taken in this case. The inquest
+has sat already; and the good men have pronounced the death
+accidental. So far the finding is satisfactory; but as it is clear
+that the accident occurred by your furious riding of a horse which you
+yourself acknowledge to be vicious and dangerous, I have to require
+that you make the only compensation that can be made to the person who
+I am told is this old man's grandchild. You will, therefore, go at
+once to the hospital of St. James, and there, or elsewhere, when
+you have found her, will pay to this poor girl the sum of fifty
+half nobles, expressing your sorrow--which, doubtless, you feel
+sincerely--for the evil you have occasioned."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon bowed, with every appearance of respect; but
+there was a scowl upon his brow; and he could not refrain from asking,
+"May I inquire, Sire, whether this fine is imposed by the inquest, or
+whether it be the award of your Highness; for if--"
+
+Henry's cheek flushed, and the impetuous spirit which had made him in
+early years strike the judge upon the bench, roused itself for a
+moment in his heart. It was conquered speedily, however; and he
+murmured to himself, "No, I will not act the tyrant. Sir Simeon," he
+continued, aloud, waving his hand, "the award is mine, as you say. It
+is my desire that this should be done. You will do it or not, as you
+think fit, for I will not strain the laws; but if it be not done,
+never present yourself before me again. That at the least I may
+require, sir, though the verdict of the jury can but affect the horse
+you rode."
+
+"Your Highness did not hear me out," replied Roydon, who had now
+recovered the mastery of himself; "I did but presume to ask; because
+if such a fine had been imposed by the jury, I should have resisted
+it, as contrary to law; but at the command of your Highness, I pay it,
+not only with submission but with pleasure, as the only means I have
+of showing both my regret at what has taken place, and my eager desire
+to conform myself in all things to your will. Not an hour shall pass
+before you are certified that I have not only obeyed, but gone beyond
+your orders; and so I humbly take my leave."
+
+The words were well and gracefully spoken; and Henry found no occasion
+to complain of the knight's demeanour; but still he was not satisfied
+that his obedience was the submission of the heart; for he knew right
+well that fair words, ay, and fair actions, too, are often but the
+cloaks of sly and subtle knavery; and the character of Sir Simeon of
+Roydon was not new to him. He replied merely, "So you shall do well,
+sir;" and bowed his head as a signal that he might depart.
+
+The knight quitted his presence in no happy mood, perceiving right
+well that the monarch's favour, on which he had counted much, had been
+lost and not regained. He hated him for the clear sighted penetration
+which had seen through his art; and he only doubted whether there was
+or was not a chance of still deceiving his sovereign, and recovering
+his good graces, by an appearance of zeal and devotion in obeying his
+commands.
+
+"It is worth the trial," he thought; "and it shall be tried; but I
+shall soon find whether he continues to nourish such ill-will towards
+me; and if he do, my course must be shaped accordingly. Curses upon
+these beggarly vagrants! Who ever heard of King before who troubled
+his nobility about minstrels and tomblesteres? This smacks of the
+early tastes of our magnanimous monarch, whose sole delight, within
+these two months, was in pot-house tipplers, and losel gamesters. He
+may assume a royal port and solemn manner, if he will; but the habit
+of years is not so easily conquered; and if he trip now, he is lost.
+Men were tired enough of his usurping father. A new prince carries the
+ever-changing multitude at his heels; but time will bring weariness,
+and weariness is soon changed into disgust. We shall see; we shall
+see; and the day of vengeance may come. In the meantime, of one, at
+least, I have had retribution; and this other shall not long escape--a
+rude, ballad-singing peasant, only fit for the brute sports of the
+bull-baiting, or the fair--a very franklin in spirit, and a yeoman in
+heart."
+
+With thoughts,--which, as the reader may have perceived, had deviated
+from the King to Richard of Woodville,--with thoughts wavering with a
+strong inclination to bold evil, but chained down to mere knavery, for
+the time, by some remaining chances of success--for strange as it may
+seem, as many men are rendered cowards by hope as by fear--Sir Simeon
+of Roydon pursued his way to the hospital of St. James, on foot,
+having hastened to the presence of the King without waiting for his
+horses. As, still in deep and angry thought, he approached the gate
+and the old lodge, he raised his eyes somewhat suddenly at an
+advancing step, and beheld the form of a young girl, with her long
+dark eyelashes bent down till they rested on her cheek. He caught but
+a momentary glance as she hurried by; but Simeon of Roydon was quick
+and eager in his examination of all that is beautiful in mere form;
+and that glance was sufficient to rouse no very holy feelings. The
+rounded limbs, the small and delicate foot and ankle, the fine
+chiseled features, the graceful easy movements, the exquisite neck and
+bosom half hidden by the folds of the grey hood, were all marked in an
+instant; and as she seemed alone, without defence or protection, he
+hesitated for a moment whether to stop and speak to her; but while he
+paused, she was gone with a quick step; the gate of the convent was
+near, and, resisting the passing temptation, he walked on and rang the
+bell.
+
+The porter slowly opened the gate; and, with the tone of careless and
+haughty indifference which has always marked the inferior personages
+of a court--I mean the inferior in mind, more than the inferior in
+rank or station--the knight said, "There was an old man killed near
+this spot last night, I think?"
+
+"There was, noble sir," answered the porter, with a low reverence to
+his air of superiority; "the body has been moved to the chapel."
+
+"I care nought about the body," rejoined Roydon. "He had a daughter or
+grand-daughter or something with him; where is she?"
+
+"She has just gone forth, noble sir," replied the porter; "you must
+have passed her at the gate."
+
+"Ha! what! a girl with a grey hood and a white coat, with some gold at
+the edge?" asked the knight.
+
+"The same, noble sir," said the old man; "poor thing, she is sadly
+afflicted."
+
+"Send her to me when she comes back, and I will comfort her," answered
+the visitor in a light tone.
+
+"Nay, sir, she is none of those, I'll warrant," replied the porter,
+very little edified; "and I give no such messages here."
+
+"Thou art a fool, old man," said Sir Simeon of Roydon. "Will she come
+back hither?"
+
+"Doubtless she will," answered the other, "for better comfort than you
+can give."
+
+"Pshaw! art thou a preacher?", demanded the knight, with a sneer. "The
+comfort that I have to give is gold, by the King's command. So tell
+her to come to Burwash House, close by the Temple gate, up the lane to
+the left, and ask for Simeon of Roydon. If I be not within, I will
+leave the money with a servant; but bid her come quickly, for I must
+tell the King as soon as his bounty is bestowed. When will she be
+here?"
+
+"That I know not," answered the old man; "the prioress bade me give
+her admission to the parlour whenever she came, for the ladies the
+sisters have taken her case much to heart. But the young woman did not
+say when she would return. Perhaps it would be better for you to leave
+the money with the lady prioress herself, who would render it to her
+when she sees her."
+
+"Give advice to those who ask it, my friend," replied Roydon. "I know
+best what are the King's commands and my duty; so tell her what I say
+on the part of his Highness, and let her come as speedily as may be."
+
+The knight then turned, and, with a haughty step, took his way back to
+Burwash House, the London mansion of a distant kinsman, who, in
+reverence of his newly acquired wealth, permitted the heir of poor
+Catherine Beauchamp to inhabit it during his own absence from the
+capital.
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon was now enjoying to the full that which he had
+long earnestly desired--the prosperity of riches, which he had never
+before known; for his own estate had originally been small, and had
+soon been encumbered, under the influence of expensive tastes and vain
+ostentation. Unchastened by adversity, unreclaimed by experience, he
+was now living as much beyond his present, as he had previously lived
+beyond his former, fortune; and grooms and attendants of all kinds
+waited him at his dwelling, chosen from the scum of a great city,
+which always affords a multitude of serviceable knaves, ready to aid
+an heir to spend his inheritance, and, by obsequious compliance with
+all rash or vicious desires, to secure themselves a participation in
+the plunder, during the term of its existence. To some of these
+worthies, whom he found in the court, he gave orders for the immediate
+admission of poor Ella Brune as soon as she appeared; and then,
+betaking himself to a chamber on the first floor, he occupied himself
+for somewhat more than an hour in thinking over future plans, no
+inconsiderable portion of which referred to the gratification of many
+of the pleasant little passions, that, like strong drink, by turns
+stimulate and allay the thirst of a depraved mind. Revenge--or,
+rather, the gratification of hate, for revenge presupposes injury--was
+predominant, though ambition had a goodly share also.
+
+To become that for which he thought himself well fitted, but towards
+which he had never hitherto been able to take one step--a great and
+prominent man--was one principal object:--to take a share in the
+mightier deeds of life, to rule and influence others, to command, to
+be looked up to, to receive authority and wield it at will. Oh, how
+often does that desire _to become a great man_ render one a little
+man!--how often is it the source of littleness in those who might
+otherwise be great indeed! When the greatest philosopher that modern
+ages has produced declared, that "to rise to dignities we must submit
+to indignities," how powerful, to debase the mightiest mind, did that
+longing _to become a great man_ show itself! How constantly, through
+his whole career, do we see it producing all that made him other than
+great! It was, and is ever, the result of the one grand fundamental
+error, the misappreciation of real greatness. And thus we desire to
+become great in the eyes of other men, not in our own--to win the
+applause of worms, not merit the approbation of God.
+
+Such pitiful elevation was the only greatness coveted by him of whom
+we speak; but that was not the only desire which moved him--he longed
+for indulgence of every kind, from which straitened circumstances had
+long debarred him--he thought of pleasures with the eagerness of a
+Tantalus, who had for years beheld them close to his lip, without the
+power of bringing them within his taste; and, like a famished beast,
+he was ready to fall upon the food of appetite wherever it could be
+found. But still cunning--both natural and that acquired from the
+ready teacher of all evil to inferior minds, poverty--was at hand to
+bring certain restraints, which wisdom and virtue were not there to
+enforce. There was a consciousness in his breast, that too great
+eagerness often disappoints its own desires, and that he was too
+eager; and, therefore, he resolved that he would be cautious too. But
+such resolutions usually fail somewhere; for cautiousness is a
+guardian who does not always watch, when she is without the
+companionship of rectitude.
+
+Such reflections were still busily occupying his mind; and he had
+arrived at sincere regret for the rash and brutal act which he had
+committed the night before--not because it was evil, but because it
+was imprudent--when a page opened the door, and ushered Ella Brune
+into the room.
+
+The poor girl knew not whom she was coming to see--she had taken no
+note of the face or form of him whose cruel carelessness had deprived
+her of the only support she had--she had not listened to the words
+that passed between him and Richard of Woodville--she stood before him
+unconscious that he was the slayer of her old companion. Let the
+reader mark that fact well. Nevertheless, as soon as she saw him she
+turned deadly pale, and her limbs trembled.
+
+But Sir Simeon of Roydon took a smooth and pleasant tone; and as soon
+as the page was gone, and had closed the door, he asked, "They gave
+you my message, then, pretty maid?" At the same time he placed a stool
+for her, and motioned her to be seated.
+
+"They told me, sir," she answered in a low tone, "that you had
+commands for me from the King."
+
+"And so I have, fair maiden," replied Simeon of Roydon; "but, I pray
+you, sit. This has been a sad event--I grieve for it much. I was not
+aware, till this morning, that my runaway charger had done such
+damage."
+
+"And were you the man?" demanded Ella Brune, suddenly raising her eyes
+to his face. As she did so, she found him gazing at her from head to
+foot, taking in all the beauties of her face and form, as an
+experienced judge remarks the points of a fine horse; and she drew her
+hood farther over her brow, not well satisfied with the eager and
+passionate look of admiration which his countenance displayed.
+
+"I was unfortunate enough to be so," answered Roydon, perceiving her
+gesture, and thinking it as well to put some little restraint upon
+himself, though he never dreamed that a poor minstrel's girl could
+seriously resist the solicitation of a man of wealth and station. "I
+regret it deeply," he continued, "but the brute overpowered me. By the
+King's commands, I bear you fifty half-nobles; here they are. And, for
+my own satisfaction, I will give you the same."
+
+As he spoke, he held out a purse to her, but Ella Brune drew back.
+"The King's bounty," she said, "I will receive with gratitude; but,
+from you, I will take nothing."
+
+"And, pray, why not, sweet girl?" asked Simeon of Roydon; "the King
+cannot grieve for what has happened half as much as I do, or be half
+as eager to comfort and console you. Nay, sit down, and speak to me;"
+and, taking her hand, he led her back to the stool much against her
+will. "I would fain hear what can be done for you," he added; "I fear
+you may be friendless and unprotected; and I long to make up to you,
+as far as possible, for the loss you have sustained."
+
+"I am, indeed, alone in the world," replied the fair girl; "but not
+friendless, and unprotected, while I trust in God."
+
+"Yes, but God uses human means," answered Roydon, who was every moment
+growing more eager in the pursuit, which at first had been but as the
+chase of a butterfly; "and you must let me be his instrument, as I
+have caused, unwillingly, this evil to befal you. I have a beautiful
+small cottage on my lands, where the trees fall round and shade it in
+the winter from the wind--in the summer from the sun. The woodbine and
+rose gather round the door, and a sparkling stream dances within
+sight. There, if you will accept such a refuge, you can live in peace
+and tranquillity, protected from all the harm and wrong that might
+happen to you in great cities; for you are too young and too lovely to
+escape wiles, and perhaps violence, if you are left without good ward,
+in such resorts of men as these."
+
+A smile came upon the lip of Ella Brune, but it was of a very mingled
+and changeful expression. Perhaps the wakening of some old remembered
+dream of happy days might render it at first soft and gentle; and, the
+next instant, the recollection of how that dream had faded might
+sadden; and then again, the transparency of his baseness mixed a touch
+of scorn with it, and she answered, "That can never be, sir. I seek no
+protection but that I have, and cannot accept of yours. I am able, as
+I am accustomed, to guard myself, and will do so still. I think you
+have mistaken me--but it matters not. I seek neither gold nor favour
+from you; and, if you would make atonement for bad deeds, it must be
+to God, not me."
+
+As she spoke, she rose, and turned to quit the room; and Simeon of
+Roydon hesitated for a moment whether he should not detain her by
+force--for those were days of violence; and her very coldness had
+rendered the passion he began to feel towards her but the more
+impetuous. He remembered, however, that there might be those who
+expected her return; that the place whither she had gone was known at
+the monastery; and that the King's eye might be upon his conduct
+towards her. These calculations passed like lightning through his
+mind, and he chose his course in an instant.
+
+"Stay!" he cried, "stay one minute more, sweet girl. I have not
+mistaken you at all. I would not even force my protection on you: but,
+at least, receive this; for I must tell the King that it is paid."
+
+"His bounty," replied Ella, "I will not refuse, as I before said, and
+offer him my deepest thanks; but, from you, I will receive nothing."
+
+"Well, then, take these fifty pieces," said her companion; "they are
+given by the King's command. We shall meet again, fair maid; and then,
+perhaps, you will know me better."
+
+"I seek to know no more," she answered, taking the gold he gave: "I
+have known enough," and, turning to the door, she left him, murmuring
+to herself, "Would that the King had sent it by other hands."
+
+Simeon of Roydon followed her to the gates, beckoning up two
+of his servants as he went. "Quick," he whispered; "you see that
+girl?--follow her wherever she goes: find out her name--her
+dwelling--every particular you can gather, and bring me your tidings
+with all speed."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XII.
+
+                          THE HOURS OF JOY.
+
+
+Probably there is a period in the life of every one--if it be not cut
+short in very early years, when the blossom is still upon the trees of
+existence--in which the heart is so depressed by a reiteration of
+those misfortunes which generally come in groups, that the unexpected
+announcement of an unnamed visitor causes us to look up with a feeling
+of dread, as if some new sorrow were about to be added to the list of
+those endured. But such was not yet the case with Richard of
+Woodville, for though many of the events which had lately passed,
+had tended to make him somewhat more grave and thoughtful than in
+younger days, yet neither griefs, nor anxieties, nor disappointments
+had been heavy enough to weigh down a spirit naturally buoyant. His
+heart might be called light and free; for, though burdened with some
+cares, and tied by the silver chain of love, yet hope, bright,
+vigorous, rarely-tiring hope, helped him to carry his load; and the
+bond between him and sweet Mary Markham was not one to fetter the
+energies of his mind, or to dim the brightness of expectation. But
+above all things his bosom was perfectly free from guile; and in a
+house so cleanly kept, there is always light, unless every window be
+closed by the hands of death or of despair.
+
+He looked, therefore, to see who the stranger could be that asked for
+him, with some curiosity perhaps, but no alarm, and was surprised but
+well pleased, when the figure of honest Hugh of Clatford darkened the
+door.
+
+"Ah, Hugh!" he exclaimed, "is that you? What has brought you to
+Westminster? Are you also going to seek service in foreign lands?"
+
+"Faith, sir, I know not what I am going to do," replied the good
+yeoman; "I came up here with my lord, and wait his pleasure."
+
+"With your lord!" exclaimed Woodville, in astonishment; "and what, in
+the name of fortune and all her freaks, has brought my uncle to
+Westminster?--Was he summoned to the coronation?"
+
+"Good truth, noble sir, I know not," answered Hugh of Clatford. "He
+has not told me why he came; but I chanced to meet your man Hob, and
+asked him where you were to be found, but to come and see you and how
+you fared."
+
+"Thanks, Hugh, thanks!" replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+
+      "'True friend findeth true friend wherever they follow,
+       And summer's no summer that wanteth the swallow;'
+
+
+But whom has my uncle with him?"
+
+He would have fain asked if Mary Markham was near; but the question
+would not be spoken, and Hugh of Clatford saved him the trouble of
+farther inquiry. "He has brought no one but myself," he said, "and
+Roger Vale, and Martin the henchman, and one or two lads with the
+horses, and a page, and the Lady Mary--"
+
+"Ah! and is that sweet lady here?" asked Woodville, in as calm and
+grave a tone as a very joyous heart could use. "But has he not brought
+my cousin Isabel?"
+
+"No, good sooth," rejoined the yeoman; "he and the Lady Mary came off
+in haste on the arrival of a messenger from London."
+
+"That is strange," said Richard of Woodville;--but then he thought
+that, perchance his friend Harry Dacre had sped well in his suit to
+Isabel, and that the old knight might have left her to cheer him at
+the hall. Nor was such a course unlikely in that age; for there were
+then fewer observances and stiff considerations of propriety than in
+later days, since rules and regulations more powerful, though but of
+air, than the locks and eunuchs of an Eastern harem, have tied down
+the most innocent intercourse of those who love, and every lady in the
+land is watched with the dragon's eyes of parental prudence. Love was
+then looked upon with reverence, and regarded as a safeguard rather
+than a peril. There was more confidence in virtue, more trust in
+honour.
+
+After a short pause, Richard of Woodville inquired where his uncle was
+lodged; and to the great disappointment of his host, who, while he was
+still speaking with Hugh of Clatford, entered to set out the tables
+for the approaching meal, the young gentleman accompanied the good
+yeoman, fasting as he was, to visit good Sir Philip Beauchamp--as he
+said; but, in truth, to sun himself in Mary's eyes.
+
+Fortune, though she be a spiteful jade, will occasionally favour true
+lovers; and she certainly showed herself particularly benign to
+Richard of Woodville in the present instance. Hurrying on with Hugh of
+Clatford, he made his way through the crowded streets of Westminster,
+till, at the outskirts of the town, near where now stands George
+Street, he reached the gates of a large house in a garden, where Sir
+Philip Beauchamp had taken up his abode. With all due reverence he
+asked for his uncle; but he must not be looked upon as a very
+undutiful nephew, if we admit that he was not a little rejoiced to
+find that the good old knight had gone forth, leaving fair Mary
+Markham behind.
+
+Guided by Hugh of Clatford, who very well understood all that was
+passing in the young gentleman's heart, Richard was soon in his fair
+lady's bower; and certainly Mary's bright face expressed quite as much
+pleasure to see him as he could have desired. It expressed surprise
+also, however; and after chiding him, not very harshly, for a sweet
+liberty he took with her arched lips, she exclaimed, "But how are you
+here, Richard? I thought you were firm at Meon, polishing armour and
+trying horses."
+
+Now Richard of Woodville, as soon as he heard that Mary was in the
+same city with himself, had formed his own conclusions in regard to
+various matters that had puzzled him the day before; and he answered,
+gaily, "What, deceiver! Do you think I do not know your arts? You
+would have me believe you were ignorant that I was here, and must
+tease your poor lover twice in the course of yesterday, by letting him
+hear your voice, yet hiding the face that he loves best, from his
+sight?"
+
+"Nay, dear Richard," replied Mary, with a look of still greater
+surprise than before; "you are speaking riddles to me. You could not
+hear my voice yesterday, at least in Westminster--unless, indeed, it
+were late at night; and then it must have been in sad, dolorous tones,
+for I was very tired. We did not reach this place till three hours
+after dark. But what is it you mean, by daring to call Mary a
+deceiver, when you know right well I could not cheat you into thinking
+that I did not love you, though I tried hard to look as demure as a
+cat in the sunshine?"
+
+"Are you sincere now, Mary?--are you telling me the truth?" asked
+Richard, still half inclined to doubt; but the moment after, he added,
+"Yet I know you are, my Mary, without guile. Truth gives you half your
+beauty, Mary; it lights your eyes, it smiles upon your lips. Yet this
+is very strange; and I thought that I had discovered the key to a
+mystery which must puzzle me still. But hear what has happened, and
+you shall judge;" and he proceeded to relate the injunctions which had
+been twice laid upon him the day before, by some unseen acquaintance
+in the crowd.
+
+Mary Markham was not less surprised and puzzled than himself,
+especially as he persisted in asserting the words had been spoken by a
+female voice. But they soon abandoned that topic, to turn to others of
+deeper interest to their own two hearts--the cause of Sir Philip
+Beauchamp's journey to the capital, and the future fate of his fair
+companion.
+
+"In truth, Richard," said Mary, in answer to some of his questions, "I
+am well nigh as ignorant as yourself of what is about to happen. All I
+know is, that Sir Philip told me I should probably soon see my father
+again."
+
+"And who is your father, my sweet Mary?" asked Woodville, with a
+smile.
+
+Mary gazed at him for an instant, with a look of touched and gratified
+affection, and then asked, "And did Richard of Woodville really seek
+poor Mary Markham's hand, then, without knowing aught of her state and
+station?--was he willing to take her dowerless, friendless,
+stationless, almost nameless?"
+
+"Good faith, dear Mary," answered Woodville, "I should be right glad
+to take you any way I could get you; and if dower, or station, or
+friends, or aught else stand in the way, even down to this pretty robe
+whose hem I kiss, I pray you, Mary, cast it off! I shall be right glad
+to have you in your kirtle, if it be but of hodden grey."
+
+Mary Markham smiled and blushed; and her bright, merry eyes acquired a
+softer and more glistening light from the dew of happy emotion that
+spangled her long eyelashes. "Well, Richard," she said, "I do not love
+you the less for that. 'Tis a bold speech, perhaps, and one that I
+should not make; but once having owned what I feel, why should I hide
+it now?"
+
+"Fie on those who would blame you, dearest lady," answered Woodville:
+"who should feel shame for love? The brightest and the best of human
+feelings, surely, is no cause of shame; but we may all say, with the
+great poet--
+
+
+      "'O sunn'is life! O Jov'is daughter dear,
+       Pleasaunce of love! O godely debonaire
+       In gentle hearts aye ready to repaire,
+       O very cause of health and of gladnesse,
+       Iheried be thy might and godenesse.'"
+
+
+"I cannot answer why, Richard," replied Mary, "but I know it is so,
+that all women feel some shame to own they love; and many affect more
+shame than they really feel. But I will not do so, dear Richard; for I
+think it is dishonesty to feign aught. I know I did feel shame, when
+one day, as we sat beside the river under the green trees, you won me
+to say more than I ever thought I could; and all that night, when I
+thought upon it, my cheek burned. But yet, in the moment of trial, I
+felt bold; and when your uncle asked me, I told him all. Nor do I see
+why I should conceal it now, even if I could, when you are about to go
+far, and that may be your only consolation in danger and in
+difficulty."
+
+"It will be my strength and my support, dear Mary," answered
+Woodville; "and I do think that if I could but win a promise from you
+to be mine, it would so nerve my heart and arm in the hour of strife,
+that all men should own I had won you well--Say, will you promise, my
+sweet lady?"
+
+"I will promise that I will, if I may," replied Mary; "but alas!
+Richard, the entire fulfilment of that promise must depend upon
+another. We poor women have but little power, even over our own fate
+and persons; but I will love none but you, Richard, wherever I go; and
+you will not doubt that love, though it be spoken so freely?"
+
+"Nay, Heaven forbid!" said Richard of Woodville; "and were it not that
+you are my uncle's ward, I would put that love, dear Mary, to the
+proof, by asking you to fly with me and seek out some friendly priest
+who would bind our fate so fast together, that it would take greater
+power than any one in the land can boast, to sever it again. But I
+would not be ungrateful to one who has been a father to me."
+
+"Nor must I be ungrateful, either to him or to my own father,
+Richard," replied Mary Markham; "you would not love me long if I could
+be so."
+
+"I know you cannot, Mary," answered her lover; "but tell me who he is,
+Mary, that I may try to win him to hear my suit. I knew not that your
+father was alive--unless, indeed, the idle gossip--but no more of
+that. Whoever he be, I will trust to merit his esteem, and surely his
+daughter's love will be no bad commendation to him. I have hopes, too,
+of advancement, if ambition be his passion, such, indeed, as I have
+never had before. The King--he who was with us not a month ago as Hal
+of Hadnock--"
+
+"Ay, Dacre told us who he was," cried Mary Markham.
+
+"The King, he shows me great favour," continued Woodville, "and has
+given me letters to many at the court of Burgundy, promising to send
+for me, too, as soon as he has service for me here. With a true heart,
+and no unpractised hand, I do not fear that I shall fail of winning
+honour; and though I be but a poor gentleman, yet, as I do know that
+riches or poverty would make no difference in Mary Markham to me, so I
+cannot believe that it will change me in her eyes."
+
+"Oh no!" she answered, but then added, with a sigh, "but my father,
+Richard! It is long since I have seen him, yet he was kind and noble,
+just and true, if I remember right. I recollect him well, with his
+grey hair, changed more by sorrow than time. I thought you knew the
+whole, for Isabel does; but I promised faithfully not to speak of my
+fate or his to any one, for reasons that he judged sufficient, when he
+gave me into good Sir Philip's charge; and I must not break my word
+even for you, Richard."
+
+"Well, it matters not," answered Woodville; "certainly I would fain
+know who he is, for then I might court him as a lover does his bride,
+for Mary's sake: but yet you must keep your promise to him, and to me
+too; and whenever you are free to speak, you must give me tidings,
+dear girl; for in all the thousand chances of this world, I might mar
+my own hopes, even while seeking to fulfil them."
+
+"I will, I will," replied Mary Markham; "but hark! I hear your uncle's
+step, Richard. I will but add one word more to cheer you. Perhaps, if
+I judge right, we may not be so long ere we meet again, as you
+suppose--and now, God prosper you, my own true squire."
+
+As she spoke, the good old knight, Sir Philip Beauchamp, entered the
+room, with a grave and somewhat perplexed air. It soon became evident,
+however, that whatever annoyed or embarrassed him, it was not the
+presence of his nephew; for he greeted him kindly, holding out his
+hand to him, saying, "Ay, you here, foolish boy!--still the moth and
+the candle! But if you needs must love, why, let it lead you to honour
+and renown. What brought you to London? To buy arms?"
+
+"No, sir; to see the King," replied his nephew. "He sent me a
+messenger, bearing letters for me to the court of Burgundy, and gave
+me to understand that I might come to visit him, if I would."
+
+The old knight, in his meditative mood, seemed to catch some of
+Woodville's words, and miss the others. "Letters to the court of
+Burgundy," he said. "Well! from Harry of England, they should smooth
+thy path, boy. Would to Heaven, you two were not lovers!--Not that I
+would speak ill of love; 'tis the duty of every gentleman to vow his
+service to some fair lady. At least, as it was so in my young day; but
+we have sorely declined since then--sorely, sorely, nephew of mine;
+and love was then quite a different affair from now--when it must
+needs end in marriage, or worse. It was a high and ennobling passion
+in those times, leading knights and gentlemen to seek praise, and do
+high deeds; not for their own sakes, but for the honour of the ladies
+whom they served, nor requiring reward even from them, but for pure
+and high affection, and the pleasure of exalting them. Thus, many a
+man loved a lady--either placed far above him, or removed from his
+reach by being wedded to another--without sin, or shame, or
+presumption; for love, as I have said, was a high and ennobling
+feeling in those days, which taught men to do what is right, not what
+is wrong."
+
+"Well, my noble uncle," replied Richard of Woodville, "and so it may
+be now; and it will have the same effect with me. But one thing I do
+know, that I would rather do high deeds to exalt my own wife, than
+another man's: I would rather serve a lady that I may win, than a lady
+I have no right to seek. Methinks it is both more honest and more
+safe; and, by God's blessing, I will win her, too, if I live long
+enough, and have fair play."
+
+The old knight smiled. "Thou art a jesting coystrel, Dickon," he said;
+"and yet not a bad man at arms either. But times are changed, I tell
+thee, and not for the better. Thou thinkest according to the day, and
+cannot understand the past. When goest thou over seas, boy?"
+
+"In a few days, sir," answered Richard of Woodville. "I think before a
+week be out."
+
+Mary Markham's cheek turned a little pale, and the old knight
+meditated for a moment or two; after which he asked his nephew when he
+intended to quit London? Richard replied, that he went on the
+following morning; and Sir Philip, who had found a sad vacancy in the
+hall since Richard had left them for a time, and poor Catherine for
+ever, required that he should stay and keep them company for the rest
+of the day.
+
+"Heaven knows, my poor Mary," he said, "how long we may have to remain
+in this place; and we shall soon find it dull enough. The people whom
+I expected to meet, have not yet appeared, and no tidings of them have
+come; so we may as well keep this idle boy to make us merry; and if he
+must go buy arms or lace jerkins for the court of Burgundy, why we
+will go with him to Gutherun's Lane and the Jury; and you shall ride
+your white palfrey for once along Cheape, with your gay side-saddle
+quilted with gold; though in my young days--before King Richard
+married Anne of Bohemia--never a lady in the land saw so foolish a
+contrivance."
+
+It may well be supposed that neither Mary Markham nor Richard of
+Woodville was very much averse to such a proposal; and the rest of the
+day passed in that April-morn happiness which all must have felt, ere
+parting with those we love; when the cloudy thought of the dreary
+morrow comes hourly sweeping over the sunshine of the present, yet
+making the light seem more bright for the passing shadow. More than
+once, too, the lovers were left for awhile alone; and every moment
+added to their sweet store of vows and promises. Much was also told
+that they had not had time to tell before, though it was still spoken
+in rambling and unconnected form--the one predominant feeling always
+intruding, and calling their thoughts and words back to what was
+passing in their own hearts.
+
+How many bitter moments pay for our sweet ones in this life! and yet
+how willing are we all to make the purchase, whatever be the price!
+The ambitious spirit of enjoyment is upon us, and we must still
+enlarge the sphere of our delight, though--as when a conqueror
+stretches the bounds of his empire, and thereby only exposes a wider
+frontier to attack--each new hope, each new pleasure, each new
+possession, but lays us open to loss, regret, and disappointment. It
+is a sad view of human life; but Richard of Woodville and Mary Markham
+found its truth when they came to feel how much more bitter was their
+parting, for the few sweet hours of happiness they had enjoyed.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                              THE WRONG.
+
+
+The sun, scarce a hand's breadth above the sky, was nevertheless
+shining with beams as bright and warm as in the summer, when Richard
+of Woodville mounted his horse in the court-yard of the inn at Charing,
+and, followed by his two yeomen and his page, rode out, after
+receiving the valedictory speeches of the host and hostess, who,
+with a little crowd, composed of drawers and maidens, and some of
+their other guests, watched his departure, and commented upon his
+strong yet graceful limbs, and his easy management of his charger,
+prognosticating that he would prove stout in battlefield, and
+fortunate in hall and bower. Near the fine chaste cross at
+Charing--which stood hard by the spot where the grand libel upon
+British taste, called Trafalgar Square, now stands--Woodville paused
+for a moment, and letting his eye run past its grey fretwork, gazed
+down in the direction of the palace and the Abbey, hesitating whether
+he should take the shorter road by the convent of St. James, or, once
+more passing through Westminster, ride under the windows of fair Mary
+Markham, for the chance of one parting glance. I need not tell the
+reader how the question was decided; but as he turned his horse's head
+towards the palace, he saw a female figure standing upon the lower
+step of the cross, with the hood, then usually worn by women when out,
+drawn far over the face. The beautiful form, however, the small foot
+and ankle appearing from beneath the short kirtle, and the wild
+peculiar grace of the attitude, taken together, showed him at once
+that it was poor Ella Brune; and he was riding forward to speak with
+her, when she herself advanced and laid her hand upon his horse's
+neck.
+
+"I have been watching for you, noble sir," she said, "to bid you adieu
+before you part, and to give you thanks from a poor but true heart."
+
+"Nay, you should not have waited here, Ella," he replied; "why did you
+not come to the inn?"
+
+"I did, yesterday at vespers," answered the girl; "but you were
+abroad; and the people laughed, as if I had done a folly. Your men
+told me, however, you were going this morning at daybreak, and so I
+waited here; for I would fain ask you one boon."
+
+"And what is that, Ella?" inquired Woodville; "if it be possible to
+grant, it shall not be refused; for I have so little to give, that I
+must be no niggard of what I have."
+
+"You can grant it," replied the girl, with a bright smile; "and you
+will be a niggard indeed if you do not; for it is what can do you no
+harm, and may stead me much in case of need. It is but to tell me
+whither you go, and when, and how."
+
+"That is easily said, my fair maiden," answered Woodville. "I go first
+to my own place at Meon; then to the Court of Burgundy, at the end of
+six days; and, as I would not cross through France, I go by sea from
+Dover to a town called Nieuport, on the coast of Flanders. But say, is
+there aught I can do for you before I send the man I told you of, to
+give you what little assistance I can?"
+
+"Send him not, send him not," cried the girl; "I am now rich--almost
+too rich, thanks to your generous interference with our good King. He
+sent me a large sum, by the hands of the bad knight, who killed the
+poor old man."
+
+"Ay!" said Richard of Woodville; "and did you see this Sir Simeon of
+Roydon, my poor Ella? Beware of him; for he is not one to understand
+you rightly, I fear."
+
+"I am aware of him," answered the minstrel's girl; "and I abhor him.
+He is a dark fearful man--but no more of that; I shall never see him
+more, I trust, for his eyes chill my blood. He looked at me as I love
+not men should look--not as you do, kindly and pitifully; but I know
+not how--it can be felt, not told."
+
+"I understand you, Ella," replied Richard of Woodville; "and his acts
+are like his looks. He has made more than one unhappy heart in many a
+cottage that once was blithe. I grieve the King sent him to you."
+
+"Oh, 'twill do no harm," cried the girl. "I shall not long be here;
+and I know him well. Would that I were not a woman!"
+
+"What! would you avenge the wrong he did on that sad evening?" asked
+Woodville, with a smile, to think how feeble that small hand would
+prove in strife.
+
+"No, not for that," she replied; "for I would try to forgive; but if I
+were not what I am you would take me with you in your train, and then
+I should be safe and happy."
+
+"I trust you may be so still, even as a woman, poor girl," answered
+Richard of Woodville; and, after a few more words of kindness and
+comfort, he bade her adieu. Ella Brune's bright eyes glistened; and,
+perhaps, she found it difficult to speak the parting words, for she
+said no more, but, catching her young protector's hand, she pressed
+her lips upon it, and drew back to let him pass.
+
+It was impossible for Richard of Woodville not to feel touched and
+interested; but he was not one to mistake her. He knew--not indeed by
+the hard teaching of experience, but by the intuitive perception of a
+feeling heart--how the unfortunate cling to those who show them
+kindness, and could distinguish between the love of gratitude and that
+of passion. He had purposely spoken gently and tenderly to her; and,
+in proportion as he could do little to afford her substantial aid, had
+tried to make his words and manner consoling and strengthening; and he
+thought, "If any one had acted so to me, I should feel towards him as
+this poor girl now feels in my case. Heaven guard her, poor thing, for
+hers is a sad fate!"
+
+In such meditations he rode on; but we will not at present follow him
+on his way, turning rather to poor Ella Brune, who stood by the cross
+gazing after him, till his horse taking a road to the right, about two
+hundred yards before it reached the palace gate, was soon hidden by
+the trees, just at the entrance of the town of Westminster.
+
+With a deep sigh, she then bent her steps along the road leading by
+the bank of the river towards the gate of the Temple, which was still
+in a somewhat ruinous state from the attack made upon it in 1381. As
+she went she looked not at the houses and gardens on either side--she
+marked not the procession which came forth, with cross and banner,
+from the convent on the right, nor the gay train that issued out of
+the gates of a large embattled house on the left; but separating
+herself from the people, who turned to gaze or hastened to follow, she
+made her way on, seeking the little inn where she dwelt.
+
+There were two other persons, however, who followed the same
+course--men with swords by their side, and bucklers on their shoulder,
+and a snake embroidered on the mourning habits that they wore. But
+Ella saw them not--she was too deeply occupied with her own dark
+thoughts. She seemed alone in the wide world--more alone than ever,
+since Richard of Woodville had left the capital; and to be so is both
+sad and perilous. How strange, how lamentable it is, that society,
+that great wonderful confused institution, springing from man's
+necessity for mutual aid and support, provides no prop, no stay for
+those who are left alone in the midst of it; none to counsel, none to
+help, none to defend against the worst of all evils--temptation to
+vice. Of the body it takes some care; we must not cut, we must not
+strike the flesh; we must not enthral it; we must not kill. But we may
+wound, injure, destroy the spirit if we can, even at our pleasure. For
+substantial things, we multiply regulations, safe-guards, penalties;
+for the mind, on which all the rest so much depends, we provide none.
+The philosophy of legislation has yet a great step to advance--a step,
+perhaps, that may never--perhaps that can never--be taken; though of
+one thing we may be sure--that, till the great Eutopian dream is
+realized, and either by education, or some other means, a safeguard is
+provided for the minds of men as well as their bodies and their
+property, all the iron laws that can be enacted, will prove
+insufficient for the protection of those more tangible things which we
+think most easily defended. To regulate and guard the mind, especially
+in youth, is to turn the river near its source, and to ensure that it
+shall flow on in peace and bounty to the end; but to leave it
+unguided, and yet by law to strive to restrain man's actions, is to
+put weak floodgates against a torrent that we have suffered to
+accumulate. But no more of this. Perhaps what has been already said is
+too much, and out of place.
+
+Yet, to return. It is strange and sad that society does afford no
+stay, no support, to those who are left alone in the wide world; nay,
+more, that to be so left, seems in a great degree to sever the bond
+between us and society. "He must have some friends. Let him apply to
+them," we are apt to say, whenever one of these solitary ones comes
+before us, and whether it is advice, assistance, or defence, that is
+needed. "He must have some friends!"--It is a phrase in constant use;
+and, in our own hearts, we go on to say, "if he have not, he must have
+lost them by his own fault;" and yet how many events may deprive man,
+and much more frequently woman, of the only friends possessed!
+
+Poor Ella Brune felt that she was indeed alone; that there was no one
+to whom she could apply for anything that the heart and spirit of the
+bereaved and desolate might need. She knew, that had she been a leper,
+or halt, or blind, or fevered, she could have found those who would
+have tended, cured, supported her; but there was no comfort, no aid,
+for her loneliness; and scorn, or coldness, or selfish passion, or
+greedy knavery, would have met her, had she asked any one, in the wide
+crowd through which she passed, "Which way shall I turn my footsteps?
+how shall I bend my course through life?"
+
+She felt it deeply, bitterly, and, as I have said, walked on full of
+her own sad thoughts, while the numbers round her grew less and less.
+At length, in the sort of irregular street that, even then, began to
+stretch out from the edge of Farringdon, without the walls, into the
+country towards Charing, she was left with none near her but the two
+men of whom we have spoken, and an old woman, walking slowly on
+before. The men seemed to notice no one, and conversed with each other
+in an under tone, till, in the midst of the highway, a little beyond
+St. Clement's well, one or two small wooden houses appeared built in
+the middle of the high road, with the end of a narrow lane leading up
+to the Old Temple in Oldbourne, and the house of the Bishop of
+Lincoln. There, however, one of them advanced a step, and spoke a word
+to Ella Brune, over her shoulder.
+
+"Whither away, pretty maiden?" he said. "Are you not going to see the
+batch of country nobles who have come up to do homage?"
+
+"I am going home," answered Ella Brune, gravely; "and want no
+company;" and she hurried her pace to get rid of him. The next instant
+the other man was by her side, and taking her arm roughly, he said,
+"You must come with us first, our lord wishes to speak with you."
+
+Ella Brune struggled to disengage herself, saying, "Let me go, sir; if
+your lord wishes to speak with me, it must be at some other time. I
+have people expecting me hard by. Let me go, I say."
+
+"Ay, we know all about it," rejoined the man, still keeping his hold,
+and drawing her towards the mouth of the lane. "You live at the
+Falcon, pretty mistress; but you must go with us first."
+
+The sounds behind her had caused the old woman to turn round the
+moment before, and, seeing Ella struggling to free herself from the
+man who held her, she turned to remonstrate, exclaiming, "What are you
+about, sirs? Let the young woman go!"
+
+"Get you gone, old beldame!" cried the other man, thrusting her back.
+"What is it to you?" and at the same time he seized Ella by the other
+arm, and hurried her on, in spite of her resistance.
+
+"Beldame, indeed!" exclaimed the old woman, gazing after them. "Marry,
+thou art not civil. If thou callest me so, I will call thee Davy.[2] I
+will see whither they go, however;" and thus saying, at the utmost
+speed she could master, she followed the men who were dragging poor
+Ella Brune along, calling in vain for help--for the houses in that
+part of the suburb were few, and principally consisted either of the
+large gothic mansions of the nobility, shut in within their own gates
+and surrounded by gardens, or the inns of prelates, isolated in the
+same manner. Whither they were dragging her, the old woman could not
+divine: for she thought it unlikely that any of the persons who dwelt
+in that neighbourhood would sanction such a violent act. Ella herself,
+however, knew right well, for she had taken the same road the day
+before, on her brief visit to Sir Simeon of Roydon. Peril and
+wandering, and sad chances of various kinds, such as seldom are the
+lot of one so young, had taught her to remark every particular that
+passed before her eyes with a precision which fixed things in her
+memory that might have escaped the sight of others; and she had seen
+the snake embroidered on the breast and back of the knight's servants,
+and recognised the badge instantly on those who held her.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 2: A common expression of the lower classes of Londoners in
+old times.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+As she expected, the men stopped at the gates of the house, which were
+open, and dragged her into the court; but her cries and her resistance
+ceased the moment she had reached that place, for she knew that they
+were both in vain, and made up her mind from that moment to the course
+which she had to pursue.
+
+"Ha, ha! pretty maiden," said the man who had first spoken to her.
+"You are now willing to go, are you? Our lord is not lightly to be
+refused a visit from any fair dame. Come, come, I can manage her now,
+Pilcher; you stay at the foot of the stairs. Will you come willingly,
+girl, or must we carry you?"
+
+"I will come," answered Ella Brune; "not willingly, but because I
+must;" and, with the man still holding her by the arm, she mounted one
+of the flights of stairs which led straight from the court-yard to the
+rooms above. Following a long corridor, or gallery, lighted by a large
+window at the end, the man led her from the top of the stairs towards
+the back part of the house, and, opening a door on the right, bade her
+go in. After one hasty glance around, which showed her that it was
+vacant, she entered the small cabinet which was before her, and the
+door was immediately shut and locked. She now found herself in a dark
+and gloomy chamber, which probably had been originally intended either
+for secret conferences, or for a place of meditation and prayer, where
+the eye could not distract the mind by catching any of the objects
+without; for the only window which it possessed was so high up in the
+wall, that the sill was above the eyes of any person of ordinary
+height. There was but one door, too--that by which she had entered;
+and the whole of the walls of the room was covered with black oak, of
+which also the beams overhead were formed. A few chairs and a small
+table composed the only furniture which it contained; and Ella paused
+in the midst, leaning upon the table in deep thought. Her mind,
+indeed, was bent only on one point. What were the purposes of Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, she did not even ask herself; for she knew right
+well that they were evil. Nor did she consider what she should answer,
+or how she should act; for a strong and resolute mind judges and
+decides with a rapidity marvellous in the eyes of the slow and
+hesitating; and her determination was already formed. Her only inquiry
+was, what were the means of escape from the chamber in which she had
+been placed, what was its position in regard to the apartments which
+she had visited on the previous day, and which had appeared to be
+those usually occupied by Roydon himself.
+
+After thinking for some moments, and retracing with the aid of memory
+every step she had taken in the house, both on that morning and the
+day before, she judged, and judged rightly, that the chamber in which
+she had seen the knight must join that in which she now stood, though
+she had reached it by another entrance. The sound of voices, which she
+soon after heard speaking in a different direction from the gallery,
+confirmed her in that belief; for, though she could not distinguish
+any of the words, she felt convinced that the tones were those of Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, and of the man who had brought her thither.
+
+At length the speakers ceased, a door opened and shut, and then the
+key was turned in the lock of that which gave entrance to the room
+where she was confined. As she expected, the next moment Simeon of
+Roydon stood before her, bearing a sort of laughing triumph in his
+face, which only increased her abhorrence. He was advancing quickly,
+as if to take her hand, but she drew back, with her eyes fixed upon
+him, saying, "Come not too near, sir. I am somewhat dangerous at
+times, when I am offended."
+
+"Why, what folly is this, my sweet Ella!" said the knight; "my people
+tell me that you have resisted like a young wolf."
+
+"You may find me more of a wolf than you suppose," replied Ella Brune,
+coldly.
+
+"Nay," answered Sir Simeon, "we have ways of taming wolves--but I seek
+nothing but your good and happiness, foolish girl. Is it not much
+better for you to live in comfort and luxury, with rich garments, and
+dainty food, and glowing wine, to lie soft, and have no task, but to
+sing and play and please yourself, than to wander about over the wide
+world, the sport of 'prentices, or the companion of ruffians?"
+
+"There are ruffians in all stations." rejoined Ella Brune; "else had I
+not been here."
+
+The cheek of the knight glowed with an angry spot; but then again he
+laughed the moment after, in a tone more of mockery than of merriment,
+saying, "We will tame thee, pretty wolf, we will tame thee. Thou
+showest thy white teeth; but thou wilt not bite."
+
+"Be not sure of that," answered Ella Brune. "I know well how to defend
+myself, should need be, and have done so before now."
+
+"Well, we will see," replied Sir Simeon; "it takes some time to break
+a horse or hound, or train a hawk; and you shall have space allowed
+you. All soft and kindly entertainment shall you have. With me shall
+you eat and drink, and talk and sing, if you will. You shall have
+courtship, like a lady of the land, to try whether gentle means will
+do. But mark me, pretty Ella, if they will not, we must try others. I
+am resolved that you shall be mine by force, if not by kindness."
+
+"You dare not use it," answered Ella Brune.
+
+"And why not?" demanded the knight, with a haughty smile; "I have done
+more daring things than vanquish a coy maiden."
+
+"I know you have," said Ella Brune, in a grave and fearless tone; "but
+I will tell you why not. First, because, whatever be your care, it
+would come to the King's ears, and you would pay for it with your
+head. Next, because I carry about me wherewithal to defend myself;"
+and, putting her hand into her bosom, she drew forth a small short
+broad-bladed knife, in a silver case. "This is my only friend left me
+here," she continued; "and you may think, perchance, most gallant
+knight, and warrior upon women, that this, in so weak a hand as mine,
+is no very frightful weapon. But, let me tell you, that it was
+tempered in distant lands--ay, and anointed too; and you had better
+far give your heart to the bite of the most poisonous snake that
+crawls the valley of Egypt, than receive the lightest scratch from
+this. The hilt is always at hand--so, beware!"
+
+"Oh, we have antidotes," replied the knight; "antidotes for everything
+but love, sweet maid--and I swear, by your own bright eyes, that you
+shall be mine--so 'tis vain to resist. You shall have three days of
+tenderness; and then I may take a different tone."
+
+As he spoke, some one knocked for the second time--the first had been
+unheeded. The knight turned to the door, and opened it, demanding
+impatiently, "What is it?"
+
+"The Lord Combe and Sir Harry Alsover are in the court, desiring to
+speak with you," replied the servant who appeared.
+
+"Well, take them up to the other chamber," answered the knight; and,
+without saying more to his fair captive, he quitted the room, and once
+more locked the door.
+
+The moment he was in the corridor, however, he stopped, saying, in a
+meditative tone, "Stay, Easton." He hesitated for an instant, asking
+himself whether it were worth his while to pursue this course any
+farther, for a low minstrel girl, against such unexpected resistance.
+
+The hand of Heaven almost always, in its great mercy, casts obstacles
+in the way of the gratification of our baser passions, which give us
+time for thought and for repentance; so that, in almost every case, if
+we commit sin or crime, it is with the perverse determination of
+conquering both impediments and conviction. Conscience is seldom, if
+ever, left unaided by circumstances. But the wicked find, in those
+very circumstances which oppose their course, motives for pursuing it
+more fiercely.
+
+"No!" said Sir Simeon of Roydon, to himself--"By--! she shall not
+conquer me!--Tell the King!--She shall never have the means; for I
+will either tame her, till she be but my bird, to sing what note I
+please, or I will silence her tongue effectually. To be conquered by a
+woman!--No, no! She is very lovely; and her very lion look is worth
+all the soft simpering smiles on earth. Hark ye, Easton: there is a
+druggist, down by the Vintry, with whom I have had some dealings in
+days of yore. This girl has a poisoned dagger about her, which must be
+got from her. 'Tis a marvel she used it not on you, as you brought her
+along, for she drew it forth on me but now. The man's name is Tyler;
+and he would sell his soul for gold. Tell him that I have need of some
+cunning drug to make men sleep--to sleep, I say--understand me, not to
+die: to sleep so sound, however, that a light touch, or a low tone,
+would not awaken them. It must have as little taste as may be, that we
+may put it in her drink, or in her food; and then, while she sleeps,
+we'll draw the lion's teeth. He will give you anything for a noble;"
+and, after these innocent directions, the knight betook himself to the
+chamber whither he had directed his friends to be brought, and was
+soon in full tide of laughter and merriment at all the idle stories of
+the Court.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                             THE REMEDY.
+
+
+Nearly opposite to the old, half ruined gate of the Temple, there
+commenced, in the days I speak of, a very narrow lane, which wound up
+northward, till it joined the place now called Holborn, passing, in
+its course, under the walls of the inn, or house, of the Bishop of
+Lincoln, round his garden wall, and through the grounds of the Old
+Temple house, inhabited by the Knights Templars, before they built a
+dwelling for themselves, by the banks of the Thames. This Temple
+house, still called the Old Temple in the reign of Henry V., had been
+abandoned by the brethren in the year 1184, or thereabout. For some
+time it was used to lodge any of the fraternity who might visit
+England from foreign countries, when the new building was too full to
+afford them accommodation; but gradually this custom ceased, even
+before the suppression of the Order, and at its dissolution the Old
+Temple fell into sore decay. When the lands of the Templars were
+afterwards granted to the Knights of St. John, certain portions of the
+building, and several of the out-buildings, were granted by them to
+various artisans, who found it more convenient to carry on their
+several pursuits beyond the actual precincts of the city of London.
+One large antique gate, of heavy architecture, with immense walls, and
+with rooms in either of the two towers which flanked the lane I have
+mentioned, was tenanted by an armourer, who had erected his stithy
+behind, and who stored his various completed arms in the chamber on
+the right of the gate, where the porter had formerly lodged. Over the
+window of this room was suspended, under a rude penthouse of straw, to
+keep it from the rain, a huge casque, indicative of the tenant's
+profession; and, at about eight o'clock of the same morning on which
+Richard of Woodville quitted London, a little cavalcade, consisting of
+a tall gaunt old man on a strong black horse, a young lady on a white
+genet, and three stout yeomen, rode slowly up to the gate-house, and
+drew their bridles there, pausing to gaze for a moment or two through
+the deep arch at the forge beyond, where the flame glowed and the
+anvil rang, throwing a red glare into the shadowy doorway, and
+drowning the sound of the horses' feet.
+
+"Halloo! Launcelot Plasse!" cried old Sir Philip Beauchamp, in as loud
+a tone as he thought needful to call the attention of the person he
+wanted--"halloo!"
+
+But the cyclops within went on with their hammering; and, after
+another ineffectual effort to make them hear, the good knight called
+up his men to hold the horses, and lifting Mary Markham as lightly to
+the ground as if she had been but the weight of a feather, he said,
+"We must go in and bellow in this deaf man's ear, till we outdo his
+own noise. Stay here, Mary, I will rouse him;" and, advancing through
+the open gate, he seized the bare arm of the armourer, exclaiming,
+"What, Launcelot! wouldst thou brain me?--Why, how now, man! has the
+roaring of thine own forge deafened thee?"
+
+The elderly white-headed man to whom he spoke turned round and gazed
+at him, leaning his strong muscular arm upon his hammer, and wiping
+the drops from his brow. "By St. Jude!" he cried, after a moment's
+consideration, "I think it is Sir Philip Beauchamp. Yet your head is
+as white as the ashes, and when I knew him it was a grizzled black,
+like pauldrons traced with silver lines; and you are mighty thin and
+bony for stout Sir Philip, whose right hand would have knocked down an
+ox!"
+
+"Fifteen years, Launcelot! fifteen years!" answered the knight; "they
+bend a stout frame, as thou beatest out a bit of iron; and, if my head
+be white, thy black hairs are more easy to be counted than found. Yet
+both our arms might do some service in their own way yet."
+
+"Well, I am glad to see you again, noble knight," replied the
+armourer; "though I thought that it would be no more, before you and I
+went our ways to dust. But, what lack you? There must be some wars
+toward, to bring an old knight to the stithy; for well I wot, you are
+not going to buy a tilting suit, or do battle for a fair lady. God
+send us some good wholesome wars right soon! We have had nothing
+lately, but the emprise of the Duke of Clarence. King Harry the Fourth
+got tired of his armour; pray Heaven, his son love the weight better,
+or I must let the forge cool, and that were a shame."
+
+"Nay, 'tis not for myself," replied Sir Philip. "I have more arms,
+Launcelot, than ever I shall don in life again. My next suit--unless
+the King make haste--will be in the chancel of the church at Abbot's
+Ann. What I want is for my nephew, Dickon of Woodville; he is going to
+foreign lands, in search of renown; and I would fain choose him a suit
+myself, for you know I am somewhat of a judge in steel."
+
+"You were always accounted so, noble sir," replied the armourer, with
+a grave and important face; "and, if you had not been a knight, might
+have taken my trade out of my hands. But whither does Childe Richard
+go? We must know that, for every land has its own arms; and it would
+not do to give him for Italy what is good for France, nor for
+Palestine what would suit Italy."
+
+The old knight informed him that his nephew was first to visit
+Burgundy; and the armourer exclaimed, with a well satisfied air, "Then
+I can provide him to a point; for I have Burgundian arms all ready,
+even to flaming swords, if he must have them; but 'tis a foolish and
+fanciful weapon, far less serviceable than the good straight edge and
+point. But come, Sir Philip, let us go into the armoury. 'Tis well
+nigh crammed full, for gentlemen buy little; and yet I go on hammering
+with my men, till I have put all the money that I got in the wars,
+into arms."
+
+Thus saying, he covered himself with the leathern jerkin, which he had
+cast off while at work, and returned with his old acquaintance to the
+room in which the various pieces of armour, that he kept ready, were
+preserved. Sir Philip called Mary Markham to assist in the choice; but
+it soon became evident to both, that no selection could be made in
+good Launcelot Plasse's armoury--for not only was the room, to their
+eyes, as dark as the pit of Acheron, but the armour was piled up in
+such confused heaps, that it was hardly possible to take a step
+therein without stumbling over breast-plate or bascinet, pauldrons or
+brassieres.
+
+"Fie, Launcelot, fie!" cried Sir Philip; "this is a sad deranged show.
+Why, a stout man-at-arms always keeps his armour in array."
+
+"When he has room and time, Sir Philip," answered the man; "but here I
+have neither. However, you and the fair lady go forth under the arch,
+and I will bring you out what is wanted. Here, knave Martin," he
+continued, calling one of his men from the forge, "bring out the great
+bench, and set it under the gate, quick!--What is your nephew's
+height, Sir Philip?"
+
+"What my own used to be," replied the old knight; "six feet and half
+an inch--and there is his measure round the waist."
+
+The bench was soon brought forward, being nothing else than a large
+solid table of some six inches thick; and by it Sir Philip Beauchamp
+and fair Mary Markham took their station, while Launcelot Plasse, with
+the aid of one of his men, dug out from the piles within, various
+pieces of armour which he thought might suit the taste of his old
+customer, laying them down at the door, to be brought forward as
+required. The first article, however, that he carried to the bench,
+was a cuirass of one piece, evidently old--for not only was it
+somewhat rusty about the angles, but in the centre there was a large
+rough-edged hole.
+
+"Why, what is this?" exclaimed Sir Philip; "this will never do--"
+
+"Nay, it has done, and left undone enough," replied the armourer. "I
+brought it but to show you. In that placcate was killed Harry Hotspur.
+I do not say that was the hole that let death in; for men aver that it
+was a stab in the throat with a coustel, when he was down, that slew
+him; but the blow that made _that_ bore him to the ground, other wise
+Shrewsbury field might have gone differently. Now I will fetch the
+rest. You see, fairest lady, what gentlemen undergo for the love of
+praise, and your bright eyes."
+
+Thus saying, he took back the breast-plate, and brought forward,
+supported on his arm, one of the bascinets or casques worn in the
+field, which were lighter and considerably smaller than the jousting
+helmets. It was of a round or globular shape, with a small elevation
+at the top, in which to fix the feathers then usually displayed; and
+on the forehead was a plate, or band of white enamel, inscribed with
+the words, "Ave Maria." Sir Philip Beauchamp made some objections to
+the form; but Mary Markham, after she had read the inscription,
+pronounced in favour of the bascinet; and the armourer himself had so
+much to say of its defensive qualities, of the excellent invention of
+making the ventaille rise by plates from below, and of the temper of
+the steel, that Sir Philip, after having examined it minutely, waived
+his objections. The price being fixed, the body armour to match was
+brought forward, piece by piece, and laid upon the bench. It was of
+complete plate, as was now the custom of the day, but yet many pieces
+of the old chain hauberk were retained to cover the joinings of the
+different parts. Thus beneath the gorget, or camail, which covered the
+throat, was a sort of tippet formed of interlaced rings of steel, to
+hang down over the cuirass and afford additional protection; while, at
+the same time, from the tassets which terminated the cuirass, hung a
+broad edge of the same, to complete their junction with the cuissards,
+or thigh pieces.
+
+This arrangement pleased the old knight very much; for it was a
+remnant of the customs of ancient times, when he himself was young,
+and which totally disappeared before many years were over; but with
+the cuirass he quarrelled very much, exclaiming, "What, will men never
+have done with their idle fancies? 'Tis bad enough to divide the
+breast-plate into two, and hang the lower part to the upper by that
+red strap and buckle; but what is the use of sticking out the breast,
+like that of a fat-cropped pigeon?"
+
+"It gives greater use to the arms, noble sir," replied Launcelot
+Plasse, "and turns a lance much easier, from being quite round.
+Besides, it is the fashion of the court of Burgundy: and no noble
+gentleman could appear there well without. The palettes, too, you see,
+are shaped like a fan, and gilt with quaint figures at the corners. It
+cost me nine days to make these palettes alone, and the genouillieres,
+which have the same work upon them. Then the pauldrons--see how they
+are artfully turned over at the top of the shoulder with a gilt
+bordure."
+
+"And pray, what may that be for?" demanded the old knight; "we had no
+such tricks in my days to make a man look like a cray-fish."
+
+"That is to give the arm fuller sweep and sway, either with axe or
+sword," answered the armourer. "You can thus raise your hand quite up
+to your very crest, which you could never do before, since pauldrons
+were invented."
+
+"We used to give good stout strokes in the year eighty," rejoined Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, "as you well know, Master Launcelot. But boys must
+have boys' things--so let it pass; but, what between one piece and
+another, it will take a man an hour to get into his harness, with all
+these buckles and straps. But I will tell you what, Master Launcelot,
+I will have no tuilles over the cuissards; they were a barbarous and
+unnatural custom, and very inconvenient too. I was once nearly thrown
+to the ground in Gascony, by the point catching the saddle as I
+mounted."
+
+"Oh! they are quite gone out of use," replied the armourer; "and we
+now either make the tassets long, or add a guipon of mail, coming down
+to the thighs."
+
+The jambes or steel boots, the sollerets or coverings for the feet,
+the brassards, gauntlets, and vambraces were then discussed and
+purchased, not without some chaffering on the part of the old knight,
+who was a connoisseur in the price as well as in the fashion of
+armour; but Launcelot Plasse had so much to say in favour of his
+commodities, that he obtained very nearly the sum he demanded.
+
+He then proceeded to prove to Sir Philip Beauchamp, that the suit
+would not be complete without the testiere, the chanfron, and the
+manefaire and poitral of, the horse to correspond; and, though his
+customer was not inclined to spend anymore money, yet a soft word or
+two from Mary Markham won the day for the armourer, and he was
+directed to bring forth the horse armour for inspection.
+
+While he and his men were busy fulfilling this command, the old knight
+turned, hearing some one speaking eagerly, and apparently imploringly,
+to his attendants; and, seeing an old woman poorly dressed conversing
+with them, he inquired, "What does the woman want, Hugh?"
+
+"Ah! noble sir," replied the old dame, "if you would but interfere, it
+might save sin and wrong. I have just seen a poor girl dragged away by
+two men up to a house in the lane, called Burwash-house, where they
+have taken her in against her will."
+
+"Ha!" cried Sir Philip Beauchamp; "why, he is an old and reverend man,
+my good Lord of Burwash, and will not suffer such things in his
+mansion. I will send up one of the men to tell him."
+
+"The noble lord is not there, fair sir," replied the woman; "but he
+has lent his house to some gay knight, whose men do what they please
+with the poor people. 'Tis but yesterday my own child was struck by
+one of them."
+
+"If there be wrong done, you must go to the officers of the duchy,
+good woman," answered the knight, whose blood was cold with age, and
+who could be prudent till he was chafed. "I will send one of the
+yeomen with you, to get you a hearing. These things should be amended;
+but when Kings' sons will beat the citizens, and brawl in Cheape,
+there is no great hope."
+
+"Good faith, Sir Philip!" cried the armourer, who had just come forth,
+bearing the manefaire upon his arm, "if it be the Duke of Clarence you
+speak of, and his brother John, 'twas they got beaten, and did not
+beat. We Londoners are sturdy knaves, and take not drubbings
+patiently, whether from lord or prince."
+
+"And you are right, too," replied the old knight; "men are not made to
+be the sport of other men. But what's to be done about this girl,
+Launcelot? You know the customs here better than I do. The good woman
+says they have carried a girl off against her will to Burwash-house
+here, hard by."
+
+"Why, that's the back of it," cried Launcelot Plasse. "The old lord is
+not there, but in his stead one Sir Simeon of Roydon, who, if I
+mistake not, will never win much renown by stroke of lance. Wait a
+minute, my good woman, till I have sold my goods, and then I and my
+men will go up with you, and set the girl free, or it shall go hard,
+if you are certain she was taken against her will."
+
+"She shrieked loud enough to make you all hear," replied the old
+woman.
+
+"I thought there was a noise when we were hammering at the back
+piece," observed one of the men.
+
+"I heard nothing," said Launcelot Plasse.
+
+"Oh, go at once, go at once," cried Mary Markham; "you know not how
+she may be treated. We can wait till you return. Send the men with
+them, dear Sir Philip."
+
+"I will go myself, Mary," replied the knight. "Come along, my men,
+leave one with the horses, and the rest follow."
+
+"I am with you, Sir Philip," cried the armourer. "Bring your hammers,
+lads, we will make short work of oaken doors."
+
+But ere Sir Philip Beauchamp had taken two steps up the lane, the
+casement of a large window in the house which had been pointed out,
+was thrown suddenly open, and a woman's head appeared. The sill of the
+window was some twelve or fourteen feet from the ground; but, to the
+surprise of all, without seeming to pause for a moment, the girl whom
+they beheld set her foot upon it, caught the iron bar which ran down
+the middle of the casement, seemed to twist something round it, and
+then suffered herself to drop, hanging by her hands, first from the
+bar, and then from a scarf.
+
+She was still some five or six feet from the ground, however; and Mary
+Markham, who had been watching eagerly, clasped her hands, and turned
+away her head. Sir Philip Beauchamp, and the men who accompanied him
+paused, and they could hear a voice from within exclaim, "Follow her
+like light, by the back door! She will to the King, and that were
+ruin. What fear you, fool? She has broken the dagger in the lock, do
+you not see?"
+
+As he spoke, the girl, after a momentary hesitation, during which she
+hung suspended by the hands, wavering with the motion which she had
+given herself in dropping from above, let go her hold, and sank to the
+ground. Fortunately the lane was soft and sandy; and she fell light,
+coming down, indeed, upon one knee, but instantly starting up again
+unhurt.
+
+She then gazed wildly round her for an instant, and put her hand to
+her head, as if asking herself whither she should fly; but the sight
+of the old knight and his companions, and the sound of an opening door
+on the other side, brought her indecision quickly to an end, and
+running rapidly forward, she cast herself at Sir Philip Beauchamp's
+feet, embracing his knee, and crying, "Save me!--save me, noble sir!"
+
+At the moment she reached the good old man, two stout fellows, who had
+rushed from a door in the wall, and followed her at full speed, were
+within two paces of her; and one of them caught her by the arm, even
+at the knight's feet, as he was in the act of commanding him to keep
+aloof.
+
+"Stand back, fellow!" thundered Sir Philip Beauchamp, with the blood
+coming up into his withered cheek; and the next moment, in the midst
+of an insolent reply, he struck the knave in the face with his
+clenched fist, knocking him backwards all bloody on the ground.
+
+The other man, who had more than once accompanied Sir Simeon of Roydon
+to Dunbury, and recognised its lord, slunk back to the house, stopped
+some others who were following, and then hastened in, to tell his
+master in whom Ella Brune had found a protector.
+
+The man who had been knocked down, rose, gazed fiercely at the knight,
+and then looked behind him for support; but seeing his companions
+retreating, he too retrod his steps, not without muttering some
+threats of vengeance; while the old armourer cried after him, "Never
+show your faces again in the lane, knaves, or we will hide you back
+like hounds, or pound you like strayed swine."
+
+In the meanwhile, Sir Philip had raised up the poor girl; and Mary
+Markham was soothing her tenderly, as Ella, finding herself safe, gave
+way to the tears which her strong resolution had repressed in the
+actual moment of difficulty and danger.
+
+"Come, come, do not weep, poor thing," said the knight, laying his
+large, bony hand upon her shoulder. "We will take care of you. Who is
+it that has done this?"
+
+"A bad man, called Simeon of Roydon," replied Ella Brune, wiping away
+the tears.
+
+"We know him," said Mary Markham, in a kindly tone; "and do not love
+him, my poor girl."
+
+"And I have cause to love him less, noble lady," replied Ella Brune,
+waving her head mournfully. "'Tis but two nights ago he killed the
+last friend I had; and now he would have wronged me shamefully."
+
+"Killed him!" exclaimed Mary; "what! murdered him?"
+
+"'Twas the same as murder," replied the girl; "he rode him down in a
+mad frolic--a poor blind man. He is not yet in his grave."
+
+"Come, come--be comforted," said Sir Philip. "Let us hear how all this
+chanced."
+
+"We will be your friends, poor girl," added Mary Markham; and then,
+turning to the old knight, she asked, in a low tone, "can we not take
+her home with us?"
+
+Sir Philip gazed at the minstrel's girl from head to foot, and then
+shrugged his shoulders slightly, with a significant look, as he
+remarked her somewhat singular dress.
+
+"Nay, nay," said Mary Markham, in the same low tone; "do not let that
+stop you, noble friend. There may be some good amongst even them."
+
+"Well, be it as you will, Mary," answered the old knight; "she must be
+better than she looks, to do as she has done. Come, poor thing--you
+shall go home with us, and there tell us more. Wait till I have
+finished the purchase of this harness, and we will go along back to
+Westminster; though how to take you through the streets in that guise,
+I do not well know."
+
+"Get a boat, sir, at a landing by the Temple," said Launcelot Plasse,
+"and send the horses by land."
+
+"A good thought," replied the knight; and thus it was arranged, the
+whole party returning to the armourer's shop, and thence, after the
+bargain was made, and all directions were given, proceeding to the
+water-side, where a boat was soon procured, which bore them speedily
+to the landing-place at Westminster.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XV.
+
+                             THE PILGRIM.
+
+
+One morning, while the events which I have lately detailed were
+passing in the city of London, a man in a long brown gown, with a
+staff in his hand, a cross upon his shoulder, and a cockle-shell in
+his hat, walked slowly, and apparently wearily, into the little
+village of Abbot's Ann, and sat himself down on a stone bench before
+the reeve's door.
+
+Recognising the pilgrim from some far distant land as she looked out
+of her casement window, the good dame, with the charitable spirit of
+the age, took him forth some broken victuals and a cup of ale, and
+inquired what news he brought from over sea. The wanderer, however,
+seemed more inclined to ask than answer questions, and was apparently
+full of wonder and amazement at the tragic story--which he had just
+heard, he said--of the death of the Lady Catherine Beauchamp. He
+prayed the good woman, for love and for charity's sake, to tell him
+all about it; and she, very willing to gratify him--for every country
+gossip gains dignity while telling a horrible tale--began at the
+beginning of the affair, as far as she knew it; and related how, just
+on the night after the last Glutton mass, as Childe Richard of
+Woodville, their lord's nephew, was riding down the road with a
+friend, he heard a shriek, and, on hurrying to the water, found the
+body of the poor young lady floating down the stream; how the two
+gentlemen bore her to the chanter's cottage; and how marks were found
+upon her person, which seemed to prove that she had come to her death
+by unfair means.
+
+"And has the murderer been discovered, sister?" inquired the old
+pilgrim.
+
+"Alas, no!" replied the reeve's wife; "there have been whispers about,
+but nothing certain."
+
+"Ay, murder will out, sooner or later," answered the pilgrim. "And
+whom did the whispers point at?"
+
+"Nay," replied Dame Julian, "I know not that I ought to say; but, to a
+reverend man like you, who have visited the shrine of St. James, there
+can be no harm in speaking of these things, especially as we all know
+that the whispers are false. Well, then--but you must tell nobody what
+I say--the lady's own lover--husband, indeed, I might call him, for
+they were betrothed by holy church--has been accused of having done
+the deed; but every one who knows Sir Harry Dacre is right sure that
+he would have sooner cut off both his hands; and, besides, the miller
+of Clatford Mill told me--'twas but yesterday morning--that, half an
+hour before sunset, on that very day when all this happened, he saw
+Sir Harry at his own place, and opened the gate for him to go through.
+He remembered it, he said, because the knight had torn his hand with a
+nail in the gate, by trying to open it without dismounting; and as
+soon as he was through, he rode on towards Wey Hill, which is quite
+away from here."
+
+"Might he not have come back again by some other road?" asked the
+pilgrim.
+
+"No," answered Dame Julian, "not without going four miles round; and,
+besides, the miller told me that his man Job saw the knight, half an
+hour after, at the top of Wey Hill, halting his horse, and gazing at
+the sun setting. Now that's a good way off, and this deed was done
+just after close of day."
+
+"Then that clears him," replied the pilgrim; "but is there no one else
+suspected?"
+
+The good woman shook her head, and he added--"Was nobody seen about
+here who might have had cause to wish the lady ill?"
+
+"None," said Dame Julian, with a low laugh, "but one who might perhaps
+wish her dead; for he got all her wealth, which was prodigious, they
+say."
+
+"Ay, was he seen about, then?" demanded the pilgrim; "there might be
+suspicion there."
+
+"Why," said the reeve's wife, "he was staying up at the Hall, and
+passed homeward about three. It might be a little later, but not much.
+What became of him afterwards I do not know; and yet, now I think of
+it, he must have remained in the place some time, for he was seen an
+hour after, or more, by a girl, who asked me who he was."
+
+"Tis a wonder she did not know him," said the pilgrim, "if she lives
+in this place."
+
+"But that she does not," answered Dame Julian. "She dwells a good way
+off, and was here by chance."
+
+"Ay, 'tis a sad tale, indeed," rejoined her companion; "but I must go,
+good dame. Gramercy for your bounty. But tell me,--I saw an abbey as I
+came along; have they any famous relics there?"
+
+"Ay, that they have," rejoined the reeve's wife, with a look of pride.
+"Our abbey is as rich in relics as any other in England;" and she
+began an enumeration of all the valuable things that it contained;
+amongst which, the objects that she seemed to set the greatest store
+by, was a finger of St. Luke the Evangelist, the veil of the blessed
+Virgin, and one of the ribs of St. Ursula.
+
+The pilgrim declared that he must positively go and visit them, as he
+never passed any holy relics without sanctifying himself by their
+touch.
+
+He accordingly took his way towards the abbey direct, and visited and
+prayed at the several shrines which the church contained, having
+secured the company and guidance of one of the monks, who were always
+extremely civil and kind to pilgrims and palmers, when they did not
+come exactly in the guise of beggars. The present pilgrim was of a
+very different quality; and he completely won the good graces and
+admiration of the attendant monk, not so much, indeed, by the devotion
+with which he told his beads and repeated his prayers, as by his
+generosity in laying down a large piece of silver before the rib of
+St. Ursula, another at the shrine of St. Luke, and a small piece of
+gold opposite to the veil of the blessed Virgin.
+
+Having thus prepared the way, the stranger proceeded to open a
+conversation with the monk, somewhat similar to that which he had held
+with Dame Julian, the reeve's wife; and now a torrent of information
+flowed in upon him; for his companion had been one of the brethren who
+accompanied the abbot to the cottage whither the body of Catherine
+Beauchamp had been carried. The tale, however, though told with much
+loquacity, furnished but few particulars beyond those which the
+pilgrim had already gained; for the monk appeared a meek, good man,
+who took everything as he found it, and deduced but little from
+anything that he heard. All that he knew, indeed, he was ready to
+tell; but he had neither readiness nor penetration sufficient to
+gather much information, or to sift the corn from the chaff.
+
+The pilgrim seemed somewhat disappointed, for he was certainly anxious
+to hear more; and he was on the eve of leaving the church unsatisfied,
+when he beheld another monk pacing the opposite aisle, with a grave,
+and even dull air. He was an old man, with a short, thin, white beard,
+and heavy features, which, till one examined closely, gave an
+expression of stupidity to his whole countenance, only relieved by the
+small, elephant-like eye, which sparkled brightly under its shaggy
+eyebrow.
+
+"What brother is that?" demanded the pilgrim, looking across the
+church.
+
+"Oh, that is brother Martin," replied the monk; "a dull and silent
+man, from whom you will get nothing. He is skilled in drugs and
+medicines, it is true. His cell is like an alchymist's shop; but we
+all think he must have committed some great sin in days of old, for
+half his time is spent in prayers and penances, and the other half in
+distilling liquors, or roasting lumps of clay and other stuffs in
+crucibles and furnaces. 'Tis rather hard, the lord abbot favours him
+so much, and has granted him two cells, the best in the whole
+monastery, to follow these vain studies, which, in my mind, come near
+to magic and sorcery. I saw him once, with my own eyes, make a piece
+of paper, cut in the shape of a man, dance upright, as if it had
+life."
+
+"I will speak to him," said the pilgrim, "and will soon let you know
+if there be anything forbidden in his studies; for I have been in
+lands full of witches and sorcerers, and have learnt to discover them
+in an instant."
+
+"'Tis a marvel if he answers you at all," replied the monk; "for he's
+as silent as a frog; but, I pray you, let me hear what you think of
+him."
+
+"Ay, that I will," rejoined the stranger; "but you must keep away
+while we talk together, lest the presence of another might close his
+lips. I will seek you out afterwards, brother; I think your name is
+Clement? so the porter told me."
+
+"The same, the same," replied the monk. "I will go to the refectory."
+But, before he went, he paused for a minute or two, and watched the
+pilgrim crossing the nave, and addressing brother Martin. At first, he
+seemed to receive no answer but a monosyllable. The next instant,
+however, much to his surprise, Clement saw the silent brother turn
+round, gaze intently upon the pilgrim's face, and then enter into an
+eager conversation with him. What was the subject of which they spoke
+he could not divine, or, rather, what was the secret by which the
+pilgrim had contrived to break the charmed taciturnity of silent
+brother Martin; and his curiosity was so much excited, that he thought
+fit to cross over also, though with a slow and solemn step, in order
+to benefit by this rare accident. The small, clear, grey eye of
+brother Martin, however, caught Clement's movements in a moment, and
+laying his hand upon the sleeve of the pilgrim's gown, he led him,
+with a quick step, through a small side door that opened into the
+cloister, and thence to his own cell, leaving the inquisitive monk,
+who did not choose to discompose his dignity, or shake his fat sides
+by rapid motion, behind them in the church.
+
+What turn their communications took, and whether the pilgrim
+discovered or not that brother Martin was addicted to the black art,
+Clement never learned--for the faithless visitor of the abbey totally
+forgot to fulfil his promise; and when, at the end of about two hours,
+he took his departure, it was by the back door leading from the
+cloister over the fields. The high road was at no great distance, and
+along it he trudged with a much more light and active step than that
+which had borne him into the village on his first appearance; so that,
+had good Dame Julian, the reeve's wife, seen him as he went back, she
+might have been inclined to think that brother Martin had employed
+upon him some magical device, to change age into youth.
+
+About half a mile from Andover, the pilgrim turned a little from the
+road, and, sitting down in a neighbouring field, took out of his
+wallet a large kerchief, and an ordinary hood,--then stripped off his
+brown gown and hat, laying them deliberately in the kerchief, and next
+divested himself of a quantity of white hair, which left him with a
+shock head of a lightish brown hue, a short tabard of blue cloth, a
+stout pair of riding boots, and a dagger at his girdle.
+
+"So ends my pilgrimage!" said Ned Dyram, as he packed up his disguise
+in the napkin; "and, by my faith, I have brought home my wallet well
+stored. Out upon it!--am I to labour thus always for others? No, by my
+faith! I will at least keep some of the crusts I have got for myself;
+and if others want them they must pay for them. Let me see;--we will
+divide them fairly. Dame Julian and brother Clement in one lot;
+brother Martin in the other. That will do; and if aught be said about
+it hereafter, I will speak the truth, and avow that, had I been paid,
+I would have spoken. Alchemy is a great thing;--without its aid I
+could never have transmuted brother Martin's leaden silence into such
+golden loquacity. Why, I have taught the old man more in an hour than
+he has learned in his life before; and he has given wheat for rye; so
+that we are even."
+
+With these sage reflections, Ned Dyram put his packet under his arm
+and walked on to Andover--where, at a little hostelry by the side of
+the river, he paused and called for his horse, which was soon brought.
+A cup of ale sufficed him for refreshment, and after he had drained it
+to the dregs, he trotted off upon the road to London, still meditating
+over all that he had learned at Abbot's Ann and Dunbury Abbey, and
+somewhat hesitating as to the course which he had to pursue.
+
+It would afford little either of instruction or amusement, were I to
+trace all the reflections of a cunning but wayward mind--for such was
+that of Edward Dyram. Naturally possessed of considerable abilities,
+quick in acquirements, retentive in memory, keen, observing,
+dexterous, he might have risen to wealth, and perhaps distinction; for
+his were not talents of that kind which led some of the best scholars
+of that day to beg from door to door, with a certificate of their
+profound science from the chancellors of their universities, but of a
+much more serviceable and worthy kind. A certain degree of waywardness
+of mind and inconstancy of disposition--often approaching that touch
+of insanity, which affected, or was affected by, those wise men the
+court fools of almost all epochs--and an unscrupulousness in matters
+of principle, which left his conduct often in very doubtful balance
+between honesty and knavery, had barred his advancement in all the
+many walks he had tried. He had strong, and even ungovernable animal
+impulses also, which had more than once led him into situations of
+difficulty, and between which and his natural ambition, there was the
+same struggle that frequently took place between his good sense and
+his folly. He laboured hard, not perhaps to govern his passions, but
+rather to keep their gratification within safe limits; and he felt a
+sort of ill-will towards himself when they overcame him, which
+generated a cynical bitterness towards others. That bitterness was
+also increased by a consciousness of not having succeeded in any
+course as much as the talents he knew himself to possess might have
+ensured; but it must not be supposed for one moment that Ned Dyram
+ever attributed the failure of his efforts for advancement to himself.
+The injustice or folly of others, he thought, or the concurrence of
+untoward circumstances, had alone kept him in an inferior situation.
+Though the King, on his accession to the throne, had extended to him
+greater favour than to any other of those who had participated in the
+wild exploits of his youth, simply because Ned Dyram had never
+prompted or led in any unjustifiable act, and had not withheld the
+bitterness of his tongue even from the youthful follies of the Prince,
+yet he felt a rankling disappointment at not having been promoted and
+honoured, without ever suspecting that Henry might have seen in him
+faults or failings that would have rendered him a more dangerous
+servant to a sovereign than to a private individual. Yet such was the
+case; for that great prince's eyes were clear-sighted and keen; and
+though he had not troubled himself to study all the intricacies of the
+man's character, he had perceived many qualities which he believed
+might be amended by mingling with the world in an inferior station,
+but which unfitted the possessor at the time for close attendance upon
+a monarch.
+
+Ned Dyram, however, though affecting that bluntness which is so often
+mistaken for sincerity, was not without sufficient pliancy to conceal
+his mortification, and to perform eagerly whatever task the King
+imposed upon him. I do not say, indeed, that he proposed to perform it
+well, unless it suited his own views and wishes. He did the monarch's
+bidding with alacrity, because on that he thought his future fortune
+might depend; but he did not make up his mind to ensure success by
+diligence, activity, and zeal--satisfying himself by saying, that "the
+result must ever depend upon circumstances;" and one of those
+circumstances was always, in this case, Ned Dyram's own good will.
+
+He had some hesitation, however, and some fear; for there was but one
+man in England whose displeasure he dreaded, and that man was the
+King. But yet I would not imply that it was his power he feared alone:
+he feared offending the man rather than the monarch, for Henry had
+acquired over him that influence which can be obtained only by a great
+and superior mind over one less large and comprehensive. It was the
+majesty of that great prince's intellect of which he stood in awe, not
+the splendour of his throne; and perhaps he might have yielded to the
+impression in the present instance, and done all that he ought to have
+done, had he not perceived too clearly the feelings which prompted him
+to do so; for as soon as he was conscious that dread of the King was
+operating to drive him in a certain direction, the dogged perversity
+of his nature rose up and dragged him to the contrary side. He called
+himself "a cowed hound;" and, with all the obstinate vanity of a
+wrong-headed man, he resolved to prove to himself that he had no fear,
+by acting in direct opposition to the dread of which he was conscious.
+
+As the best way of conquering all scruples, he treated them lightly
+from that moment; quickened his horse's pace, stopped to sup and sleep
+about fifteen miles from London, and presented himself at the gates of
+the palace at an early hour next morning. There he was kept waiting
+for some time, as the King was at council; but at length he was
+admitted to the monarch's presence, and, in answer to questions, which
+evidently showed that he had been sent into Hampshire to collect
+information of a more definite character than had previously reached
+Henry's ears, in regard to the death of Catherine Beauchamp, he gave
+his sovereign at full all the tidings he had gained from Dame Julian,
+the reeve's wife, from brother Clement, and from two or three other
+persons, whom he had seen before he met with those I have mentioned.
+Of brother Martin, however, he said not a word; and Henry mused for
+several minutes without observation.
+
+"Well," he said at length, "refresh yourself and your horse, Ned; and
+then go back and join your new lord. Here is largess for your service,
+though I am sorry you have been able to gain no more clear
+intelligence;" and at the same moment he poured the contents of a
+small leathern purse, which had been lying on the table, into his
+hand.
+
+The amount was far larger than Ned Dyram had expected;--for Henry was
+one of the most open-handed men on earth--and he paused, looked from
+the gold to the monarch, and seemed about to speak. At that moment,
+however, the door of the room opened, and a young gentleman entered in
+haste. By the stern and somewhat contracted, but high forehead--by the
+quick, keen eye, and by the compressed lips, Ned Dyram instantly
+recognised Prince John of Lancaster; and, at a sign from the King, he
+bowed low and quitted the presence.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVI.
+
+                           THE NEW FRIENDS.
+
+
+Ella Brune sat on a stool at the feet of Mary Markham, on the day
+after Richard of Woodville's departure from London, and certainly a
+more beautiful contrast was seldom seen than between the fair lady and
+the minstrel girl, as the one told and the other listened to, the tale
+of the old man's death, and all that had since occurred. The eyes of
+both were full of tears, which did not run over, indeed, but hung
+trembling on the eyelid, like drops of summer dew in the cup of a
+flower; and Mary Markham, with the kind, familiar impulse of sympathy,
+stretched forth her fair hand twice, and pressed that of her less
+fortunate companion, as she told the tale of her sorrows, and her
+sufferings. The poor girl's heart yearned towards her gentle friend,
+as she remarked her sympathy for all she felt,--her grief at the death
+of the poor old man, her pleasure at the conduct of Ella's generous
+protector, her indignation at the persecution she had suffered from a
+man whom she herself scorned and despised. But one thing is to be
+remarked. The name of Sir Simeon of Roydon, Ella spoke plainly, and
+repeated often, during her narrative; but that of Richard of
+Woodville, from some latent feeling in her own heart, she shrunk from
+pronouncing. It might be, that the meaning looks and smiles of the
+people of the inn where she had visited him, made her believe that
+others would entertain the suspicions or fancies which she imagined
+that those looks implied. It might be that she doubted her own heart,
+or that she knew there really were therein sensations which she
+dreaded to acknowledge to herself, and still more to expose to the
+eyes of others. Thus she gave him any other designation than his own
+name. She called him "the noble gentleman who had befriended her,"
+"her protector," "her benefactor,"--everything, in short, but Richard
+of Woodville.
+
+Mary Markham observed this reserve; and, as woman's heart, even in the
+most simple and single-minded, is always learned in woman's secrets,
+Mary judged, and judged rightly, that gratitude was growing up in
+Ella's bosom into love. She could very well understand that it should
+be so; she thought it natural--so natural, that it could scarce be
+otherwise; and what she felt within herself would have made her very
+lenient to passion in others, even had she been more harsh and severe
+than she was. She took a deep interest in the poor girl and her whole
+history, and not less in her grateful love than in any other part
+thereof; so that she was anxious to learn who and what this unnamed
+benefactor was, in order that she might judge whether there was the
+least hope or chance of Ella's tenderness meeting due return.
+
+"He was a generous and noble-hearted knight, indeed," she said; "more
+like the ancient chivalry, my poor girl, than the heartless nobility
+of the present day."
+
+"He is not a knight," answered Ella, timidly; "but I am sure he soon
+will be, for he well deserves his spurs."
+
+"And he is young and handsome, of course, Ella?" said Mary Markham,
+with a smile.
+
+The minstrel girl coloured, but answered nothing; and Mary went on,
+saying, "But you must tell me his name, Ella; I would fain know who is
+this noble gentleman."
+
+Thus plainly asked, Ella Brune could not refuse to answer; and,
+bending down her bright eyes upon the ground, she said, "His name is
+Richard of Woodville, lady."
+
+She spoke in a tone so low, that the words might have been inaudible
+to any other ear than that of Mary Markham. The well-known sound,
+however, was instantly caught by her, producing emotions in her heart
+such as she had never felt before. Her very breath seemed stopped; her
+bosom fluttered, as if there had been a caged bird within; her cheek
+turned very pale, and then flushed warm again with the blood spreading
+in a brighter glow over her fair forehead and her blue-veined temples.
+Hers was not indeed a jealous disposition; her nature was too generous
+and frank to be suspicious or distrustful; but it is difficult for any
+woman's ear to hear that he to whom her whole affections are given is
+loved by another, and her heart not beat with emotions far from
+pleasurable.
+
+Yet Mary schooled herself for what she felt--for the slight touch of
+doubt towards Woodville, and of anger towards Ella, which crossed her
+bosom for a moment. "It is not his fault," she thought, "if the girl
+loves him; nor hers either to love him for acts of generous kindness.
+She is no more to blame for such feelings than myself; the same high
+qualities that won my regard might well gain hers. He is too noble,
+too--too true and faithful to trifle with her, or to forget me. Yet,
+would this had not happened! It is strange, too, that he did not
+mention all this to me!"
+
+But then she remembered how every hour he had spent with her had
+passed, how little time they had found to say all that two warm and
+tender hearts could prompt; how often they had been interrupted in the
+half-finished tale of love; how constantly it had been renewed
+whenever they were alone; and then she thought it not extraordinary at
+all that he had spoken of nothing else.
+
+Such thoughts, however, kept her mute, with her eyes gazing on the
+tapestry at the other side of the room; and she saw not that Ella,
+surprised at her silence, had now raised her look, and was reading in
+the countenance--with the skill which peril and misfortune soon
+acquire in this hard world--all that was passing in the heart beneath.
+The poor girl's face was very pale, for she had her emotions too; but
+yet she was calmer than Mary Markham, for one of the chief sources of
+agitation was wanting in her bosom. She was without hope. She might
+love, but it was love with no expectation. The future, which to Mary's
+eyes was like the garden of the Hesperides, all hanging with golden
+fruit, was a desert to poor Ella Brune. She had no fear, because she
+had no hope. She had no doubts, because she had no trust. She was
+externally calm, for though there were painful sensations, there was
+no internal contention. She, therefore, it was who spoke first.
+
+"You know him, lady," she said, in a sweet, gentle, humble tone; "and
+if you know him, you love him."
+
+"I do know him," answered Mary Markham, with a trembling voice and
+glowing cheek--"I have known him well for years."
+
+She paused there; but the moment after, she thought, with that
+generous confidence so often misplaced, but which was not so in this
+instance, "It were better to tell her all, for her sake and for mine.
+If she be good and virtuous, as I think, it cannot but lead to good to
+let her know the whole truth."
+
+"Ay, Ella," she continued aloud, "and you are right. I do love him,
+and he loves me. We have plighted our faith to each other, and wait
+but the consent of others to be more happy than we are."
+
+A tear trembled in the eye of Ella Brune; but what were the thoughts
+that flashed like lightning through her mind? "The lady loves him,
+and she sees I love him too. Jealousy is a strange thing, and a sad
+pang!--She may doubt him, even with such a friendless being as I am--I
+will sweep that doubt away;" and with a resigned, but gentle smile,
+looking in Mary's face, she said--"I was sure of it."
+
+"Of what, Ella?" asked Mary Markham, with some surprise.
+
+"That he loved some one, and was beloved again," replied the poor
+girl; and she repeated "I was sure of it."
+
+"What could make you sure?" asked the lady, gazing at her with a less
+embarrassed look. "He did not tell you, did he?"
+
+"Oh, no," answered Ella Brune. "All he told me was, that he was going
+afar to Burgundy, and that as he could not give me any further
+protection himself, he would send one of his men to inquire after me,
+that he might hear I was safe, and as happy as fate would let me be,
+but--" and she paused, as if she doubted whether to proceed or not.
+
+"But what, Ella?" demanded Mary.
+
+"Why, I was foolish, lady," said the girl; "and perhaps you may think
+me wrong too, and bold. But when I heard that he was going to
+Burgundy, I cried, 'Oh, that I were going with you!' And I told him
+that I had kinsfolk both in Liege and in Peronne; and then I knew by
+his look, and what he said, that there was some lady whom he loved,
+and who loved him."
+
+"How did that enlighten you?" inquired Mary Markham. "Did he refuse
+you?--That were not courteous, I think."
+
+"No, he did not actually refuse," answered Ella Brune, "but he said,
+that it might hardly be; and I saw, he thought that his lady might be
+jealous--might suspect--"
+
+Mary Markham put her hand on Ella's, with a warm smile, and said, "I
+will neither suspect him, nor be jealous of you, Ella--though perhaps
+I might have been," she added; "yes, perhaps I might, if I had heard
+you were with him, and I had not known why. Yet I should have been
+very wrong. Out upon such doubts I say, if they can prevent a
+true-hearted gentleman from doing an act of kindness to a poor girl in
+her need, lest a jealous heart should suspect him. But I will write to
+him, Ella: and yet it is now in vain; for he has left Westminster."
+
+Ella gazed at her, smiling. "We know not our own hearts," she said;
+"and, perhaps, dear lady, you might be jealous yet."
+
+"No, no!" cried Mary, with one of her own joyous laughs again. "Never,
+now. I am of a confiding nature, my poor girl; and I soon conquer
+those bitter enemies of peace, called doubts."
+
+Ella Brune gazed round the room. "If I had some instrument, I could
+sing to you on that theme," she said.
+
+"Nay, you can sing without, Ella," replied the lady. "I have none
+here, alas!"
+
+"Well, I will sing it, then," answered Ella Brune; "'tis an old ditty,
+and a simple one;" and, leaning her hand on Mary Markham's knee, she
+sang:--
+
+
+                                SONG.
+
+             "Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+                'Tis a shield of seven-fold steel.
+              Cares and sorrows come they must;
+                But sharper far is doubt to feel.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+
+             "If deceit must vex the heart--
+                Who can pass through life without?--
+              Better far to bear the smart
+                Than to grind the soul with doubt.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+
+             "Trust the lover, trust the friend;
+                Heed not what old rhymers tell.
+              Trust to God: and in the end
+                Doubt not all will still be well.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!
+
+             "Love's best guide, and friendship's stay--
+                Trust, to innocence was given;
+              'Tis doubt that paves the downward way,
+                But trust unlocks the gates of heaven.
+                  Trust! trust! sweet lady, trust!"
+
+
+"And so I will, Ella," cried the lady; "so have I ever done, and will
+do still; but methinks you have made the song to suit my ear."
+
+"Nay, in truth, dear lady, it is an ancient one," replied Ella Brune;
+but ere she could add more, old Sir Philip Beauchamp strode into the
+room, with an air hurried, yet not dissatisfied.
+
+"I have seen the King, Mary," he said; "and, on my life, he is a noble
+youth--right kingly in his port and in his words. His brother John,
+who won his spurs under my pennon when but a boy, soon got me speech
+of him; and you are to go with me at once to his presence, pretty
+maid. Nay, do not look downcast; he is no frightful tyrant, but a man
+that lady's eyes may look upon well pleased; and 'tis needful for your
+safety you should go."
+
+"Must she go alone, dear knight?" asked Mary Markham, with kind
+consideration for the girl's fears.
+
+"Alone! no. I am to go with her, to be sure," answered Sir Philip.
+"How, my fair Mary, you would fain go visit Henry, too! What would
+Richard of Woodville say?"
+
+"He would trust," answered Mary Markham, giving a gay look to Ella.
+"However, I seek not to go, noble sir; but it would be better for this
+poor girl to have my maid, Maude, with her--for decency's sake," she
+continued, in a laughing tone; "you old knights are sometimes too
+light and gallant; and I must protect her from your courteous speeches
+by the way. Come with me, Ella. I have a cloak in my chamber that will
+suit well with your hood, and cover you all, so that nothing will be
+seen but the edge of your wimple. Then will you and Sir Philip escape
+scandal, if you both walk softly, and look demure, while Maude trips
+along beside you."
+
+Though Mary Markham said no word of the minstrel girl's attire, and
+did not even glance her eye to the gold fringe upon her gown, yet Ella
+understood, and was thankful for, her kind care, and mentally promised
+herself, that, before that day was but, she would provide herself with
+plainer weeds. In less than five minutes she and the maid were ready
+to depart; and, accompanied by Sir Philip, they soon crossed the open
+ground before the Abbey and the Sanctuary, and entered the gates of
+the palace yard. At the private door of the royal residence they
+received immediate admission; for a page was waiting Sir Philip's
+return; but he led them, not to the small chamber where Henry had
+received Ned Dyram in the morning, and Sir Philip shortly after.
+Following, on the contrary, the larger staircase, the boy conducted
+the little party to a hall, then used as an audience chamber; and when
+they entered they at once perceived the King at the farther end,
+surrounded by a gay and glittering throng, and listening, apparently
+with deep attention, to an old man, dressed as a prelate of the
+Church, who, with slow and measured accents, was delivering what
+seemed a somewhat long oration. Whatever was the subject on which he
+spoke, it seemed to be one of much interest; for, ever and anon, the
+King bowed his head with a grave, approving motion, and a murmur of
+satisfaction rose from those around.
+
+Slowly and quietly the old knight and his companions drew near, and
+then found that the good Bishop was arguing the King's title, not
+alone to the Duchies of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Anjou, which
+undoubtedly belonged of right to the English Crown, but also to the
+whole of France, which as certainly belonged to another. Sir Philip
+Beauchamp marked well the monarch's countenance as he listened, and
+perceived that, when the subject was the recovery of those territories
+which had descended to the race of Plantagenet from William the
+Conqueror, Fulke of Anjou, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of those
+grave inclinations of the head which marked his approbation followed;
+but that, when the claim of all France was considered, Henry paused,
+and seemed to meditate more on thoughts suggested by his own mind than
+on the mere words that struck his ear. The surrounding nobles,
+however, applauded all; and bright and beaming eyes were turned upon
+the prelate when he concluded his oration with the words--strange
+ones, indeed, in the mouth of a Christian bishop: "Wherefore, Oh my
+Lord, the King! advance your banner, fight for your right, conquer
+your inheritance; spare not sword, blood, or fire; for your war is
+just, your cause is good, your claim is true!"[3]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 3: The recorded words of Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of
+Canterbury.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"Many thanks, my good lord," replied the King; "we will with our
+council consider duly what you have advanced; and we beseech you to
+pray God on our behalf, that we be advised wisely. Pity it were,
+indeed, to shed Christian blood without due cause; and, therefore, we
+shall first fairly and courteously require of our cousin the
+restitution of those territories undeniably appertaining to our crown;
+with the which we may content ourselves, if granted frankly; but if
+they be refused, a greater claim may perchance grow out of the denial
+of the smaller one; and, at all events, we shall know how, with the
+sword, to do ourselves right when driven to draw it. We will then
+beseech farther communion with you on these weighty matters, and, for
+the present, thank you much."
+
+The Bishop retired from the spot immediately facing the King; and
+Henry's eye lighting on Sir Philip Beauchamp, he bowed his head to
+him, saying, "Advance, my noble friend. Ha! you have brought the girl
+with you, as I said;" and his look fixed upon the countenance of poor
+Ella Brune, with a calm and scrutinizing gaze, not altogether free
+from wonder and admiration, to see such delicate beauty in one of her
+degree, but without a touch of that coarse and gloating expression
+which had offended her in the stare of Sir Simeon Roydon.
+
+"Is the knight I sent for, here?" demanded the King, turning towards
+the page.
+
+"Not yet, Sire," answered the boy.
+
+"Well, then," said Henry, "though it is but fair that a man accused
+should hear the charge against him, we must proceed; and you lords
+will witness what this young woman says, that it may be repeated to
+him hereafter. Now, maiden, what is this which the worthy knight, Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, has reported concerning you and Sir Simeon of
+Roydon?"
+
+To say that Ella Brune was not somewhat abashed would be false; for
+she did feel that she was in the presence of the most powerful King,
+and the most chivalrous court in Europe; she did feel that all eyes
+were turned upon her, every ear bent to catch her words. But there
+were truth and innocence at her heart, the strongest of all supports.
+There was the sense of having been wronged also; and, perhaps, some
+feeling of scorn rather than shame was roused by the light smiles and
+busy whisper that ran round the lordly circle before which she stood;
+for there is nothing so contemptible in the eyes, even of the humble,
+if they be wise and firm of heart, as the light and causeless, but
+oppressive sneer of pride--whether that pride be based in station,
+fortune, courtliness, or aught else on earth; for the true nobility of
+mind, which sometimes impresses even pride with a faint mark of its
+own dignity, never treads upon the humble.
+
+Henry, however, heard the buzz, and felt offended at the light looks
+he saw. "My lords!" he said, in a tone of surprise and displeasure; "I
+beseech you, my good uncle of Exeter, warn those gentlemen of that
+which the King would not speak harshly. This is no jesting matter.
+Wrong has been done--I may say almost in our presence, so near has it
+been to our palace gates; and, by the Queen of Heaven, such things
+shall not escape punishment, while I wear the crown or bear the sword.
+When I am powerless to defend the meanest of my subjects, may death
+give my sceptre to more mighty hands; when I am unwilling to do
+justice to any in the land, may my enemies take from me the power I
+have borne unworthily. Go on with your tale, maiden."
+
+Ella Brune obeyed the King's order, with a voice that faltered at
+first, but the rich sweet tone of which soon called the attention of
+all to what she said; and, taking up her story from the beginning, she
+related the death of her old companion, the interview which she had
+first had with Sir Simeon of Roydon, and the violent manner in which
+she had been carried off, as she was returning to the hostelry where
+she lodged. As she spoke she gained confidence; and though, ere she
+had proceeded far, the base knight himself entered the presence, and
+placed himself exactly opposite to her, glaring at her with fierce and
+menacing eyes, her tongue faltered no more; and she went on to speak
+of her second interview with him, telling how she had forced back the
+lock of the door with her dagger--how the servants of the knight had
+not ventured to seize her, under the belief that the weapon was
+poisoned--and how she had dropped from the great window at the end of
+the corridor into the lane below.
+
+As soon as she had done, Roydon stepped forward, as if to reply; but
+old Sir Philip Beauchamp, who stood by Ella's side to give her
+support, waved his hand, saying, "Silence, boy! till all be said
+against you--then speak if you list. As far as the carrying off of
+this poor little maid is concerned, a good woman of the neighbourhood
+saw the deed done, and can bear witness respecting it, if farther
+testimony is required. I saw the manner of her escape as she has told
+it, and knocked down one of this knight's knaves just as he clutched
+her. So far her story is confirmed. What passed between him and her in
+private, they only know; but I would take her word against his in any
+town; for I know him to be a wondrous liar."
+
+A laugh ran round the royal circle; and Sir Simeon of Roydon put his
+hand to his dagger; but the King turned towards him, saying, "Now,
+sir, have you aught to answer?--Is this story true or false?"
+
+"Somewhat mixed, Sire;" answered Simeon of Roydon, with a sneer upon
+his lip. "The young woman is rather fanciful. I will own, that because
+she has a pretty face, as you may see, and bright eyes, and a small
+foot, and rounded ankle, she pleased my fancy; and, although of
+somewhat low degree for such an honour, I thought to make her my
+paramour for a time, as many another man might do. Minstrel girls and
+tomblesteres are not generally famed for chastity; and, by my faith! I
+thought I showed her favour when I told my servants to find her out
+and bring her to my lodging. If they used any violence, 'twas not my
+fault, for I bade them treat her gently; and, as to her confinement at
+my house, that is pure fancy--she might have gone whenever she chose."
+
+"'Tis strange, then," said the King, with a scornful smile, "that she
+should take such means of going. People do not usually leap out of a
+window, when they can walk through a door."
+
+"What made you bellow after her, like a wild bull?" demanded Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, turning to the culprit: "I heard you with my ears,
+and so did many more, shout to your knaves to follow her, lest she
+should to the King. I know your voice right well, sir knight, and will
+vouch for its sweet sounds."
+
+"Doting fool!" murmured Simeon of Roydon.
+
+"Doting!" cried the old knight; "take care you don't feel my gauntlet
+in your face, lest I send you home as toothless as I sent your
+serviceable man. You will find that there is strength enough left to
+crush such a worm as you."
+
+"Silence, Sir Philip!" said the King. "Sir Simeon of Roydon, according
+to your own account, you have committed an offence for which, if it
+had been done within the gates of our good city of London, the sober
+citizens would, methinks, have set you on a horse's back, with your
+face to the tail, and marched you in no pleasant procession. But, I
+must add, I do not believe your account; it seems to me to bear no
+character of truth about it. Yet, that you may not stand upon my
+judgment alone, if there be one of these good lords here present, who
+will say they do, upon their honour, believe that this poor maiden
+speaks falsely, and you tell the simple truth, you shall go free. What
+say you, lords--is the girl true, or he?"
+
+"The girl!--the girl!" cried all the voices round.
+
+"However men may love leaping," said John of Lancaster, "they seek not
+to break their necks by springing from a window, when they can help
+it."
+
+"Well, then," continued Henry, "you must carry your amorous violence
+to other lands, Sir Simeon of Roydon. You have committed a
+discourteous and unknightly act, and must give us time to forget it.
+We will not touch you in person or in purse, in goods or lands; but we
+banish you for two years from the realm of England. Bestow yourself
+where you will, but be not found within these shores after one month
+from this day, which space we give you to prepare. Is this a just
+award, my lords?"
+
+The gentlemen round bowed their heads; and Henry, turning to the good
+old knight, added, with a gracious smile, "I thank you much, Sir
+Philip Beauchamp, for bringing this matter to my knowledge. These are
+deeds that I am resolved to check, with all the power that God
+entrusts to me."
+
+"Heaven bless your Grace, and ever send us such a King!" replied the
+old knight; and, taking Ella by the hand, with a lowly reverence to
+the monarch, he led her from the hall.
+
+Henry, it would seem, dismissed his court at once; for before the
+minstrel girl and her companion had reached the bottom of the stairs,
+they were surrounded by several of the younger nobles, who were all
+somewhat eager to say soft and flattering things to the fair object of
+the day's interest, notwithstanding some rough reproof from good Sir
+Philip Beauchamp. But as he and his young charge were passing out with
+Mary Markham's maiden, a low deep voice whispered in Ella's ear, "I
+swear, by Christ's sepulchre, I will have revenge!"--and the next
+moment Sir Simeon of Roydon passed them, mounted his horse in the
+palace-yard, and rode furiously away.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XVII.
+
+                           THE PREPARATION.
+
+
+It was late in the evening of the same day of which we have just been
+speaking, when Ella Brune returned to her hostelry. She had gone back
+to thank fair Mary Markham for her kindness, intending only to stay
+for a few moments; but her new friend detained her till the sun was
+near his setting, and then only let her depart under the escort of
+Hugh of Clatford and another yeoman, after extracting a promise from
+her that she would return on the following morning, after the sad
+ceremony of her grandsire's funeral was over. And now Ella sat in her
+lonely little chamber, with the tears filling her bright eyes, which
+seemed fixed upon a spot of sunshine on the opposite wall of the
+court, but, in reality, saw nothing, or, at least, conveyed no
+impression to the mind. Why was it Ella wept? To say truth, Ella
+herself could not, or would not tell. It was, perhaps, the crowding
+upon her of many sad sensations, the torrent swelled by many smaller
+rills, which caused those tears; and yet there was one predominant
+feeling--one that she wished not to acknowledge even to her own heart.
+What can I call it? How shall I explain it? It was not disappointment;
+for, as I have said before, she did not, she had never hoped. No, the
+best term for it is, love without hope; and oh! what a bitter thing
+that is!
+
+During the whole of that morning she had had no time to dwell upon it;
+she had been occupied while she remained with Mary Markham in
+struggling against her own sensations--not examining them. But now she
+paused and pondered: in solitude and in silence, she gave way to
+bitter thought; but it was not with the weak and wavering irresolution
+of a feeble mind. On the contrary, though the anguish would have its
+tear, she regarded her present fate and future conduct with the firm
+and energetic purposes of a heart inured to suffer and to decide. Her
+mind rested upon Richard of Woodville, upon his kindness, his
+generosity, his chivalrous protection of her who had never met with
+such protection before; and the first strong determination of her mind
+expressed itself, in the words she murmured to herself, "I will repay
+it!"
+
+Then, again, she asked herself, "Why should I feel shame, or fear, or
+hesitation now, at the thought of following him through the world--of
+watching for the hour, for the moment, when God may grant me the grace
+to serve him? He loves another, and is loved by another! He can never
+be anything to me, but the friend who stood forward to help me in the
+hour of need. What has sex, or station, to do with it? Why should I
+care more than if I were a man? and how often do the meanest, by
+watchful love, find an opportunity to deliver or to support the
+highest and the mightiest! Why should I think of what men may say or
+believe? True in my own heart, and conscious of my truth, I may well
+laugh at suspicion, which follows such as I am, whatever course they
+take. How often have I been thought a ribald and a losel, when I have
+guarded my words, and looks, and actions, most carefully! and now I
+will dare to do boldly what my heart tells me, knowing that it is
+right. Yet, poor thing," she added, after a moment, "thou art beggar
+enough, I fear! thou must husband thy little store well. Let me see; I
+will count my treasure. There are the fifty half nobles sent me by the
+King, and those my dear protector gave me. Now for the little store of
+the poor old man;" and, drawing a key from her bosom, she crossed the
+room to where, upon a window-seat, there stood a small oaken coffer,
+containing her apparel and that of the poor old minstrel. After
+opening the box, and taking out one or two instruments of music which
+lay at the top, she thrust her hand further down, and brought forth a
+small leathern pouch, fastened by a thong bound round it several
+times. It cost her some trouble to unloose it; but at length she
+spread out the mouth, and poured the contents upon the top of the
+clothes in the coffer. She had expected to see nothing but silver and
+copper; but amongst the rest were several pieces of gold; and besides
+these, was a piece of parchment, tied up, with some writing upon it,
+and a gold ring, set with a large precious stone. The former she
+examined closely, and read the words with some difficulty; for they
+were written by no very practised hand, in rough and scattered
+characters. She made it out at length, however, to be merely "My
+Ella's dowry;" and a tear fell upon it as she read. She thought that
+the handwriting was her father's.
+
+She then looked at the ring, and saw by its lustre that it must be of
+some value; but a strip of leather which was sewn round the gold
+caught her eye, and she found it, too, traced with some rude
+characters. They only expressed a date, however, which was 21 July,
+1403, and what it meant she knew not. Opening the parchment packet,
+she then proceeded to examine of what her little dowry consisted; and,
+to her surprise and joy, she found forty broad pieces of gold. "Nay,"
+she exclaimed, "this is, indeed, wealth; why, I am endowed like a
+knight's daughter." And well might she say so; for when we remember
+the difference between the value of gold in that day and at present,
+the amount she now possessed,--what with the sum she had just found,
+and the penalty imposed by the King on Simeon of Roydon,--was equal to
+some six or seven hundred pounds.
+
+"I shall have enough to follow him for ten years," said Ella Brune,
+gazing on the gold, "without being a charge to any one; and then there
+may still remain sufficient to gain me admission to a nunnery. But I
+will lay it by carefully:" and placing all the gold she had, except
+the few pieces that had been loose in the pouch, into the parchment
+which had contained her dowry, she tied it up again carefully, and
+restored it to its place.
+
+"Yet I will be avaricious," she said. "I will disencumber myself of
+everything I do not want, and change it into coin.--Shall I sell this
+ring? No; it may mean something I do not know. 'Tis easily carried,
+and might create suspicion if I disposed of it here. Perhaps my cousin
+at Peronne can tell me more about it. How shall I sell the other
+things? Nay, I will ask the hostess to do it for me. She will think of
+her own payment, and will do it well!"
+
+After carefully putting back the ring and the money, she opened the
+door of the room, and called down the stairs, "Hostess, hostess!
+Mistress Trenchard!"
+
+"Coming, coming, little maid," said the good dame, from below. "Do not
+be in haste; I am with you in a minute;" and, after keeping Ella
+waiting for a short time, more to make herself of importance than
+because she had anything else to do, she came panting up the stairs,
+closed the door, and seated herself on the side of the low bed.
+
+"Well, my poor Ella," she said, "what want you with me? Yours is a sad
+case, indeed, poor thing. My husband and I both said, when you and
+poor old Murdock Brune went away to foreign lands, leaving your own
+good country behind you, that harm would come of it."
+
+"And yet he died in England," replied Ella, with a sigh; "but what you
+say is very true, hostess; no good has come of it; and we returned
+poorer than we went--I have wherewithal to pay my score," she added,
+seeing a slight cloud come over good Mistress Trenchard's face; "but
+yet I shall want more for my necessity; and I would fain ask you a
+great favour."
+
+"What is that?" asked the hostess, somewhat drily.
+
+"It is simply, that you would sell for me a good many of these things
+that I do not want," answered Ella. "Here are several instruments of
+music, which I know cost much, and must produce something."
+
+"Oh, that I will, right willingly!" replied the hostess; "and 'tis but
+right and fitting that you should trust such matters to one who is
+accustomed to buy and sell, than to do it yourself, who know nothing
+of trade, God wot. I will have them to Westcheape, where there are
+plenty of fripperies; or carry them to the Lombards, who, perhaps,
+know more about such matters."
+
+"I should think that the Lombards would purchase them best," answered
+Ella; "for one of these instruments, the viol, was purchased out of
+Italy, when my grandfather was chief minstrel to the great Earl of
+Northumberland."
+
+"Ay, I remember the time well," said Mistress Trenchard. "Murdock
+Brune was a great man in those days, and rode upon a grey horse, fit
+for a knight. He used to pinch my cheek, and call me pretty Dolly
+Trenchard, till my husband was somewhat crusty;--and so the viol is
+valuable, you think?"
+
+"Yes, and the ribible, too," answered Ella Brune; "for they were cut
+by a great maker in Italy, and such are not to be found in England."
+
+"I will take care, I will take care," rejoined the hostess. "Gather
+them all together, and I will send up Tom, the drawer, for them,
+presently. To-morrow I will take them to the Lombards; for it is
+somewhat late this evening."
+
+"Nay, but I have other favours to ask of you, dame," said Ella Brune.
+"To-morrow they bury the poor old man, and I must have a black gown of
+serge, and a white wimple; and I would fain that you went with me to
+the burial, if you could steal away for an hour; for it will be a sad
+day for me."
+
+"That will I do, poor maiden," replied the hostess, readily; not alone
+because she took a sincere interest in her fair guest, but because in
+those days, as in almost all others, people of inferior minds found a
+strange pleasure in bearing part in any impressive ceremony, however
+melancholy. As so much of her spare time was likely to be occupied on
+the morrow, she agreed to run up to Cheape that very night, before the
+watch was set, and to purchase for Ella Brune the mourning garments
+which she required. The latter commission she performed fully to the
+poor girl's satisfaction, returning with a loose gown of fine black
+serge, ready made, and a wimple and hood of clear lawn, little
+differing from that of a nun.
+
+Ella gazed on the dress with some emotion, murmuring to
+herself,--"Ay, the cloister; it must end there, at last!--Well, prayer
+and peace!--'tis the calmest fate, after all."
+
+But the sale of the instruments of music, and several other small
+articles, was not executed quite as well. Men were rogues in those
+times, as at present, though, perhaps, in the improvement of all
+things, roguery has not been neglected, and the good Lombards took
+care not to give more than half the value of the goods they purchased.
+Neither Ella nor good Mistress Trenchard herself knew any better,
+however; so that the latter thought she had made a very good bargain,
+and the former was content. Her store was by this means considerably
+increased; and, a short time before the appointed hour, Ella, with the
+hostess, set out towards the hospital of St. James, for the sad task
+that was to be performed that day.
+
+I will not pause upon the hours that followed. Dark and sorrowful such
+hours must ever be; for the dim eyes of mortality see the lamp of
+faith but faintly, and there is nought else to light our gaze through
+the obscure vault of death to the bright world of re-union. Put the
+holy promises to our heart as eagerly, as fondly as we will, how
+difficult is it to obtain a warm and living image of life beyond this
+life! How the clay clings to the clay! How the spirit cleaveth to the
+dust with which it hath borne companionship so long! Strange, too, to
+say, that we can better realize in our own case the idea of renewed
+existence, than in the case of those we love. It is comparatively easy
+to fancy that we who have lived to-day, shall live to-morrow;--that
+we, who lie down to rest ourselves in sleep and to rise refreshed,
+shall sleep in death, and wake again renewed. There is in every man's
+own heart a sentiment of his immortality, which nothing can blot out,
+but the vain pride of human intellect--the bitterest ashes of the
+forbidden fruit. But when we see the dearly loved, the bright, the
+beautiful, the wise, the good, fall, like a withered leaf, into the
+dark corruption of the tomb--the light go out like an extinguished
+lamp--and all that is left, all that has been familiar to our living
+senses, drop into dust and mingle with its earth again, the Saduceean
+demon seizes on us; and it requires a mighty struggle of the spirit,
+prayer, patience, resignation, hope, and faith, to win our belief from
+the dark actuality before us, and fix it on the distant splendour of a
+promised world to come.
+
+They were sad hours for poor Ella Brune; and when they were over, the
+chambers of the heart felt too dark and lonely for her to admit any
+thoughts but those of the dead. She sent, therefore, to Mary Markham,
+to tell her that she was too wobegone to come that day; and, returning
+to her little chamber at the inn, she sat down to weep, and pass the
+evening with her memories.
+
+On the following morning early, she once more set out for Westminster,
+and passed quietly along the road till she reached Charing; but near
+the hermitage and chapel of St. Catherine, just opposite the cross,
+she perceived a man standing gazing up the Strand, with the serpent
+embroidered on the black ground, which distinguished the followers of
+Sir Simeon of Roydon. Her fears might have betrayed her; for she
+forgot for a moment the complete change of her dress, and fancied that
+she must be instantly recognised; but the instant after, recovering
+her presence of mind, she drew the hood far over her face, and passed
+the man boldly, without his even turning to look at her. She then made
+her way on towards Tote-hill, and soon came to the gates of the house
+in which Sir Philip Beauchamp had taken up his temporary abode.
+
+Few but the higher nobility, or persons immediately attached to the
+Court, indulged in those days in the luxury of a dwelling in London or
+the neighbouring city; and when business or pleasure called inferior
+personages to the capital, they either took up their dwelling at a
+hostel, or found lodging in the mansions of some of the great families
+to whom they were attached by friendship or relationship. Nor was such
+hospitality ever refused, so long as the house could contain more
+guests; for each man's consequence, and sometimes his safety, depended
+upon the number of those whom he entertained; and even when the lord
+was absent from his own dwelling, the doors were always open to those
+who were known to be connected with him. Thus Sir Philip Beauchamp had
+found ready lodging in the house of one of the numerous family of that
+name, the head of which was then the Earl of Warwick, though, ere many
+years had passed, an only daughter bore that glorious title into the
+house of Neville.
+
+When Ella reached the mansion, the porter, distinguished by the
+cognizance of the bear, was standing before the gates, talking with a
+young man, who seemed to have just dismounted from a tired horse, and
+held the bridle-rein cast over his arm.
+
+In answer to Ella's inquiry for the Lady Mary Markham, the old servant
+laughed, saying, "Here is another!--if it goes on thus all day, there
+will be nothing else but the opening of gates for a pretty lady who is
+not here. She departed last night with Sir Philip, fair maid. They
+went in great haste, good sooth I know not why; for 'twas but two
+hours before, the sturdy old knight told me he should stay three days;
+but they had letters by a messenger from the country, so perchance his
+daughter is ill."
+
+"The blessed Virgin give her deliverance!" said Ella, turning away
+with a disappointed look; and, bending her steps back towards the city
+of London, she walked slowly on along the dusty road, absorbed in no
+very cheerful thoughts, and marking little of what passed around her.
+But few people were yet abroad between the two towns--the Strand was
+almost solitary; and she had nearly reached the wall of the garden of
+Durham House, which ran along to the Temple, when she heard a voice
+behind her exclaim, in a sharp tone, "Why do you follow her, master
+knave?"
+
+"What is that to you, blue tabard!" replied another tongue.
+
+"I will let you know right soon, if you do not desist," answered the
+first.
+
+"Whom do you serve?" asked the second.
+
+"The King!" was the reply; "so away with you."
+
+Ella looked round, and beheld the man whom she had found speaking with
+the porter a moment before, bending his brows sternly upon the servant
+of Sir Simeon Roydon, whom she had seen watching near the hermitage of
+St. Catherine, as she passed up the Strand. The latter, however,
+seemed to be animated by no very pugnacious spirit, for he merely
+replied, "Methinks one man has a right to walk the high road to London
+as well as another."
+
+But he did not proceed to enforce this right by following the course
+he had been pursuing; and, crossing over from the south to the north
+side of the way, he was soon lost amongst the low shops and small
+houses which there occupied the middle of the road.
+
+"I will ride along beside you, fair maiden," said Ned Dyram, for he it
+was who had come up, "though I should not wonder, from what the porter
+told me just now, if you were the person I am looking for."
+
+He spoke civilly and gravely; and Ella replied, with a bright smile,
+"Ha! perhaps it is so; for he said he would send. Whom do you come
+from?"
+
+"I come from Richard of Woodville," answered the man; "and I am sent
+to a maiden named Ella Brune, living not far up the new street
+somewhat beyond the Old Temple, in an hostelry called the Falcon."
+
+"'Tis I--'tis I!" cried Ella. "Oh! I am glad to see you."
+
+Her bright eyes lighted up, and her fair face glowed with an
+expression of joy and satisfaction, which added in no small degree to
+its loveliness; for, though we hear much of beauty in distress being
+heightened by tears, yet there is an inherent harmony between man's
+heart and joy, which makes the expression thereof always more pleasant
+to the eye than that of any other emotion.
+
+Ned Dyram gazed at her with admiration, but withdrew his eyes the
+moment after, and resumed a more sober look. "I will give you all his
+messages by and by," he said, "for I shall lodge at the Falcon
+to-night, and have much to say. But yet I may as well tell you a part
+as we go along," he continued, dismounting from his horse, and taking
+the bridle on his arm. "First, fair maiden, I was to ask how you
+fared, and what you intended to do?"
+
+"I have fared ill and well," answered Ella Brune; "but that is a long
+story, and I will relate it to you afterwards; for that I can talk of,
+though the people of the house should be present; but what I am to do
+is a deeper question, and I know not well how to answer it. I have
+friends at the court of Burgundy--"
+
+"What, then, are you of noble race, lady?" asked Ned Dyram, in an
+altered tone.
+
+"Oh, no!" replied Ella Brune, with a faint smile. "The cousin of whom
+I speak is but a goldsmith to the Count of Charolois; but, 'tis a long
+journey for a woman to take alone, through foreign lands, and amongst
+a people somewhat unruly."
+
+"Why not come with us?" inquired Ned Dyram; "we sail from Dover in
+three days, and our company will be your protection. Did not Childe
+Richard tell you he was going?"
+
+"Yes," answered Ella Brune, casting down her eyes, "but he did not
+seem to like the thought of having a woman in his company."
+
+"Faith! that is courteous of the good youth," cried Ned Dyram, with a
+low sharp laugh. "He may win his spurs, but will not merit them, if he
+refuses protection to a lady."
+
+"That, I am sure, he would not do," replied Ella, gravely. "He has
+given me the noblest protection at my need; but he may not think it
+right."
+
+"No, no; you have mistaken him," said Ned Dyram. "He is courteous and
+kind, without a doubt. He might think it better for yourself to go to
+York, as he bade me tell you, and to see your friends there, and to
+claim your rights; but if you judge fit to turn your steps to Burgundy
+instead, depend upon it he will freely give you aid and comfort on the
+way. If he did doubt," added the man, "'twas but that he thought his
+lady-love might be jealous, if she heard that he had so fair a maiden
+in his company--for you know he is a lover!"--and he fixed his eyes
+inquiringly on Ella's face.
+
+"I know he is," she answered, calmly, and without a change of feature.
+"I know the lady, too; but she is not unwilling that I should go; and
+I dread much to show myself in York."
+
+"Why so?" demanded Ned Dyram. But Ella Brune was not sufficiently won
+by his countenance or manner to grant him the same confidence that she
+had reposed in Richard of Woodville; and she replied, "For many
+reasons; but the first and strongest is, that there are persons there
+who have seized on that which should be mine. They are powerful; I am
+weak; and 'tis likely, as in such case often happens, that they would
+be willing to add wrong to wrong."
+
+"Not only often, but always," replied Ned Dyram; "therefore I say,
+fair maiden, you had better come with us. Here's one arm will strike a
+stroke for you, should need be; and there are plenty more amongst us
+who will do the like."
+
+Ella answered him with a bright smile; but at that moment they were
+turning up the lane opposite the gate of the Temple, and she paused in
+her reply, willing to think farther and see more of her companion
+before she decided.
+
+"Stay, fair maiden!" continued Ned Dyram, who well knew where the
+hostelry of the Falcon was situate--"It may be as well to keep our
+counsel, whatever it be, from host and hostess. Gossip is a part of
+their trade; and it is wise to avoid giving them occasion. I will give
+you, when we are within, a letter from my young lord, and read it to
+you, too, as perchance you cannot do that yourself; but it will let
+the people see that I am not without authority to hold converse with
+you, which may be needful."
+
+"Nay," answered Ella, "I can read it myself; for I have not been
+without such training."
+
+"Ay, I forgot," rejoined Ned Dyram, with one of his light sneers;
+"had you been a princess, you would not have been able to read. Such
+clerk-craft is only fit for citizens and monks. I wonder how Childe
+Richard learned to read and write. I fear it will spoil him for a
+soldier."
+
+The satire was not altogether just; for, though it did not
+unfrequently happen that high nobles and celebrated warriors and
+statesmen were as illiterate as the merest boors, and in some
+instances (especially after the wars of the Roses had deluged the land
+with blood, and interrupted all the peaceful arts of life) the barons
+affected to treat with sovereign contempt the cultivation of the mind,
+yet such was not by any means so generally the case, as the pride of
+modern civilization has been eager to show. We have proofs
+incontestable, that, in the reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., and
+Henry V., men were by no means so generally ignorant as has been
+supposed. The House of Lancaster was proud of its patronage of
+literature; and, though more than one valiant nobleman could not sign
+his own name, or could do so with difficulty, there is much reason to
+believe that the exceptions have been pointed out as the rule; for we
+know that many a citizen of London could not only maintain, without
+the aid of another hand, long and intricate correspondence with
+foreign merchants, but also took delight in the reading during
+winter's nights of Chaucer and Gower, if not in studying secretly the
+writings of Wickliffe and his disciples.
+
+Ella Brune replied not, but walked on into the house, calling the good
+hostess, who, in that day as in others, often supplied the place of
+both master and mistress in a house of public entertainment. Ned Dyram
+followed her with his eyes into the house, scrutinizing with keen and
+wondering glance the beauties of form which even the long loose robe
+of serge could not fully conceal. He marvelled at the grace he beheld,
+even more rare at that day amongst the sons and daughters of toil than
+at present; and, although the pride of rank and station could not, in
+his case, suggest the bold disregard of all law and decency in seeking
+the gratification of passion, his feelings towards Ella Brune were not
+very far different from those of Sir Simeon of Roydon. He might have
+more respect for the opinion of the world, by which he hoped to rise;
+he might even have more respect for, and more belief in, virtue, for
+he was a wiser man; he might seek to obtain his ends by other means;
+he was even not incapable of love,--strong, passionate, overpowering
+love; but the moving power was the same. It was all animal; for,
+strange to say, though his intellect was far superior to that of most
+men of his day; though he had far more mind than was needful, or even
+advantageous, in his commerce with the world of that age, his impulses
+were all animal towards others. That which he cared for little in
+himself, he admired, he almost worshipped, in woman. It was beauty of
+form and feature only that attracted him. Mind he cared not for--he
+thought not of; nay, up to that moment, he perhaps either doubted
+whether it existed in the other sex, or thought it a disadvantage if
+it did. Even more, the heart itself he valued little; or, rather, that
+strange and complex tissue of emotions, springing from what source we
+know not, entwined with our mortal nature--by what delicate threads
+who can say?--which we are accustomed to ascribe to the heart, he
+regarded but as an almost worthless adjunct. His was the eager
+love--forgive me, if I profane what should be a holy name, rather than
+use a coarser term--of the wild beast; the appetite of the tiger, only
+tempered by the shrewdness of the fox. I mean not to say it always
+remained so; for, under the power of passion and circumstances, the
+human heart is tutored as a child. Neither would I say that aught like
+love had yet touched his bosom for Ella Brune. I speak but of his
+ordinary feeling towards woman; but feelings of that sort are sooner
+roused than those of a higher nature. He saw that she was very
+beautiful--more beautiful, he thought, than any woman of his own
+station that ever he had beheld; and that was enough to make him
+determine upon counteracting his master's wishes and counsel, and
+persuading Ella to turn her steps in the same course in which his
+own were directed. He knew not how willing she was to be persuaded;
+he knew not that she was at heart already resolved: but he
+managed skilfully, he watched shrewdly, through the whole of his
+after-communications with her during the day. He discovered much--he
+discovered all, indeed, but one deep secret, which might have been
+penetrated by a woman's eyes, but which was hid from his, with all
+their keenness--the motive, the feeling, that led her so strongly in
+the very path he wished. He saw, indeed, that she was so inclined; he
+saw that there was a voice always seconding him in her heart, and he
+took especial care to furnish that voice with arguments which seemed
+irresistible. He contrived, too, to win upon her much; for there was
+in his conversation that mingling of frankness and flattering
+courtesy, of apparent carelessness of pleasing, with all the arts of
+giving pleasure, and that range of desultory knowledge and tone of
+superior mind, with apparent simplicity of manner, and contempt for
+assumption, which of all things are the most calculated to dazzle and
+impress for a time. 'Tis the lighter qualities that catch, the deeper
+ones that bind; and though, had there been a comparison drawn between
+him, who was her companion for a great part of that evening, and
+Richard of Woodville, Ella Brune would have laughed in scorn; yet she
+listened, well pleased, to the varied conversation with which he
+whiled away the hours, when she could wean her thoughts from dearer,
+though more painful themes; yielded to his arguments when they
+seconded the purposes of her own heart, and readily accepted his
+offered service to aid her in executing the plan she adopted.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+                     THE JOURNEY AND THE VOYAGE.
+
+
+The sun rose behind some light grey clouds, and the blue sky was
+veiled; but the birds made the welkin ring from amongst the young
+leaves of the April trees, and told of the coming brightness of the
+day. Why, or wherefore, let men of science say; but one thing is
+certain, the seasons at that time were different from those at
+present; they were earlier; they were more distinct; spring was
+spring, and summer was summer; and winter, content with holding his
+own right stiffly, did not attempt to invade the rights of his
+brethren. Far in the north of England we had vines growing and bearing
+fruit in the open air. At Hexham there was a vineyard; and wine was
+made in more than one English county--not very good, it is to be
+supposed, but still good enough to be drunk, and to prove the longer
+and more genial reign of summer in our island. Thus, though the
+morning was grey, as I have said, and April had not yet come to an
+end, the air was as warm as it is often now in June, and every bank
+was already covered with flowers.
+
+There were horses before the gate of Richard of Woodville's house, and
+men busily preparing them for a journey. There was the heavy charger,
+or battle horse, with tall and bony limbs, well fitted to bear up
+under the weight of a steel-covered rider; and the lighter, but still
+powerful palfrey, somewhat of the size and make of a hunter of the
+present day, to carry the master along the road. Besides these,
+appeared many another beast; horses for the yeomen and servants, and
+horses and mules for the baggage: the load of armour for himself and
+for his men which the young adventurer carried with him, requiring not
+a few of those serviceable brutes who bow their heads to man's will,
+in order to carry it to the sea-shore. At length all was prepared; the
+packs were put upon the beasts, the drivers were at their heads, the
+yeomen by their saddles; and with ten stout men and two boys, fourteen
+horses, three mules, a plentiful store of arms, and all the money he
+could raise, in his wallet, Richard of Woodville issued forth, gave
+his last commands to the old man and woman whom he left behind in the
+hall, and, springing into the saddle, began his journey towards Dover.
+
+It was not without a sigh that he set out; for he was leaving the land
+in which Mary Markham dwelt; but yet he thought he was going to win
+honour for her sake--perchance to win her herself; and all the bright
+hopes and expectations of youth soon gathered on his way, more vivid
+and more glowing in his case, than they could be in that of any youth
+of the present day, taking his departure for foreign lands. If at
+present each country knows but very little in reality of its
+neighbour, if England entertains false views and wild imaginations
+regarding France and her people, and France has not the slightest
+particle of knowledge in regard to the feelings, character, and habits
+of thought, of the English, how much more must such have been the case
+in an age when communication was rare, and then only or chiefly by
+word of mouth! It is true that the state of geographical knowledge was
+not so low as has been generally supposed, for we are very apt to look
+upon ourselves as wonderful people, and to imagine that nobody knew
+anything before ourselves; and the difference between former ages and
+the present is more in the general diffusion of knowledge than in its
+amount. In the very age of which we speak, the famous Henry of Vasco
+was pursuing his great project for reaching India by passing round
+Africa, attempting to establish Portuguese stations on the coast of
+that continent, and to communicate with the natives; "e poi aver con
+essi loro comercio per l'onore e utilta del Regno."[4]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 4: Barros, Dec. i. lib. i. cap. 6.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+The highways of Europe were well known; for mercantile transactions
+between country and country were carried on upon a system so totally
+different from that existing at present, that multitudes of the
+citizens of every commercial state were constantly wandering over the
+face of Europe, and bringing home anecdotes, if not much solid
+information, regarding the distant lands they had visited. The
+merchant frequently accompanied his goods; and the smaller traders,
+especially from the cities of Italy, travelled every season from fair
+to fair, and mart to mart, throughout the whole of the civilized
+world. Besides the communications which thus took place, and the
+information thus diffused, intelligence of a different sort was
+carried by another class, who may have been said to have represented
+in that day the tourists of the present. Chivalry, indeed, had greatly
+declined since the days of Richard I., and even since the time of the
+Black Prince; but still it was a constant practice for young knights
+and nobles of every country to visit the courts of foreign princes, in
+order either to acquire the warlike arts then practised, or to gain
+distinction by feats of arms. Few books of travels were written, it is
+true, and fewer read; for the art of printing had not yet, by the easy
+multiplication of copies, placed the stores of learning within the
+reach of the many; and one of the sources from which vast information
+might have been derived was cut off, by the general abhorrence with
+which the ever-wandering tribes of Israel were regarded, and the
+habitual taciturnity which had thus been produced in a people
+naturally loquacious.
+
+Still a great deal of desultory and vague information concerning
+distant lands was floating about society. Strange tales were told, it
+is true, and truth deformed by fiction; but imagination had plenty of
+materials out of which to form splendid structures; and bright
+pictures of the far and the future, certainly did present themselves
+to the glowing fancy of Richard of Woodville, as he rode on upon his
+way. Knowing his own courage, his own skill, and his own strength;
+energetic in character, resolute, and persevering; animated by love,
+and encouraged by hope, he might well look forward to the world as a
+harvest-field of glory, into which he was about to put the sickle.
+Then came all the vague and misty representations that imagination
+could call up of distant courts and foreign princes, tilt and
+tournament, and high emprize; and the adventurous spirit of the times
+of old made his bosom thrill with dim visions of strange scenes and
+unknown places, accidents, difficulties, dangers, enterprises,--the
+hard rough ore from which the gold of praise and renown was still to
+be extracted.
+
+Movement and exertion are the life-blood of youth; and as he rode on,
+the spirits of Richard of Woodville rose higher and higher;
+expectation expanded; the regrets were left behind; and "Onward,
+onward!" was the cry of his heart, as the grey cloud broke into
+mottled flakes upon the sky, and gradually disappeared, as if absorbed
+by the blue heaven which it had previously covered.
+
+Through the rich wooded land of England he took his way for four days,
+contriving generally to make his resting-place for the night at some
+town which possessed the advantage of an inn, or at the house of some
+old friend of his family, where he was sure of kind reception. In the
+daytime, however, many of his meals were eaten in the open field, or
+under the broad shade of the trees; and, as he sat, after partaking
+lightly of the food which had been brought with him, while the horses
+were finishing their provender, the birds singing in the trees above
+often brought back to his mind the words of the minstrel's girl's
+lay:--
+
+
+             "The lark shall sing on high,
+                Whatever shore thou rovest;
+              The nightingale shall try
+                To call up her thou lovest.
+              For the true heart and kind,
+                Its recompence shall find;
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale."
+
+
+It seemed like the song of hope, and rang in his ear, mingling with
+the notes of the blackbird, the thrush, and the wood-lark, and
+promising success and happiness. The words, too, called up the image
+of Mary Markham, as she herself would have wished, the end and object
+of all his hopes and wishes, the crowning reward of every deed he
+thought to do. It is true that, with her, still appeared to the eye of
+memory the form of poor Ella Brune; but it was with very different
+sensations. He felt grateful to her for that cheering song; and,
+indeed, how often is it in life, that a few words of hope and
+encouragement are more valuable to us, are of more real and solid
+benefit, than a gift of gold and gems! for moral support to the heart
+of man, in the hour of difficulty, is worth all that the careless hand
+of wealth and power can bestow. But he felt no love--he might admire
+her, he might think her beautiful; but it was with the cold admiration
+of taste, not with passion. Her loveliness to him was as that of a
+picture or statue, and the only warmer sensations that he felt when he
+thought of her, were pity for her misfortunes, and interest in her
+fate. Nor did this arise either in coldness of nature, or the haughty
+pride of noble birth; but love was with him, as it was with many in
+days somewhat previous to his own, very different from the transitory
+and mutable passion which so generally bears that name. It was the
+absorbing principle of his whole nature, the ruling power of his
+heart, concentrated all in one--indivisible--unchangeable--a spirit in
+his spirit, a devotion, almost a worship. I say not, that in former
+times, before he had felt that passion, he might not have lived as
+others lived,--that he might not have trifled with the fair and bright
+wherever he found them,--that the fiery eagerness of youthful blood
+might not have carried him to folly, and to wrong; but from the moment
+he had learned to love Mary Markham, his heart had been for her alone,
+and the gate of his affections was closed against all others. Thus,
+could she have seen his inmost thoughts, she would have found how
+fully justified was her confidence, and might, perhaps, have blushed
+to recollect that one doubt had ever crossed her bosom.
+
+It was about three o'clock on the evening of the fourth day, that
+Richard of Woodville--passing along by the priory, and leaving the
+church of St. Mary to the left, with the towers of the old castle
+frowning from the steep above, on one side, and the round chapel of
+the ancient temple house peeping over the hill upon the other--entered
+the small town of Dover, and approached the sea-shore, which, in those
+days, unencumbered by the immense masses of shingle that have since
+been rolled along the coast, extended but a short distance from the
+base of the primeval cliffs. Thus the town was then thrust into the
+narrow valley at the foot of the two hills; and the moment that the
+houses were passed, the wide scene of the sea, with a number of small
+vessels lying almost close to the shore, broke upon the eye.
+
+The associations of the people naturally gave to the principal
+hostelry of the place a similar name to that which it has ever since
+borne. Though very differently situated and maintained, the chief
+place of public reception in the town of Dover was then called the
+Bark, as it is now called the Ship; and although that port was not the
+principal place through which the communication between England and
+France took place, yet, ever since Calais had been an English
+possession, a great traffic had been carried on by Dover, so that the
+hostelry of the Bark was one of the most comfortable and best
+appointed in the kingdom.
+
+As every man of wealth and consequence who landed at, or embarked
+from, that port, brought his horses with him, numerous ostlers and
+stable boys were always ready to take charge of the guests' steeds;
+and as soon as a gentleman's train was seen coming down the street,
+loud shouts from the host called forth a crowd of expectant faces, and
+ready hands to give assistance to the arriving guests.
+
+The first amongst those who appeared was Ned Dyram, in his blue
+tabard; and, although he did not condescend to hold his master's
+stirrup, but left that task to others, yet he advanced to the young
+gentleman's side, with some pride in the numbers and gallant
+appearance of the train, and informed him as he dismounted, that he
+had performed his errand in London; and also the charge which he had
+received for Dover, having engaged a large bark, named the Lucy
+Neville, to carry his master, with horses and attendants, to the small
+town of Nieuport, on the Flemish coast.
+
+"The tide will serve at five o'clock, sir," he said. "There is time to
+embark the horses and baggage, if you will, while you and the men sup.
+We have plenty of hands here to help; and I will see it all done
+safely. If not, we must stop till to-morrow."
+
+The host put in his word, however, observing, "that the young lord
+might be tired with a long journey, that it were better to wait and
+part with the morning tide, and that it was Friday--an inauspicious
+day to put to sea."
+
+But the surface of the water was calm; the sky was bright and clear;
+and it was the last day of the period which Woodville had fixed, in
+his communication with the King, for his stay in England. He therefore
+determined to follow the opinion of Ned Dyram, instead of that of the
+host, which there was no absolute impossibility to prevent him from
+supposing interested; and, ordering his horses and luggage to be
+embarked, with manifold charges to his skilful attendant to look well
+to the safety of the chargers, he sat down to the ample supper which
+was soon after on the board, proposing to be down on the beach before
+his orders regarding the horses were put in execution.
+
+The master and the man, in those more simple days, sat at the same
+board in the inn, and often at the castle: and as he knew that his own
+rising would be a signal for the rest to cease their meal, Richard of
+Woodville remained for several minutes, to allow the more slow and
+deliberate to accomplish the great function of the mindless. At
+length, however, he rose, discharged his score, added largess to
+payment, and then, with the "fair voyage, noble sir," of the host, and
+the good wishes of drawers and ostlers, proceeded to the shore, where
+he fully expected to find Ned Dyram busily engaged in shipping his
+baggage.
+
+No one was there, however, but two or three of the horse-boys of the
+hotel, who saluted him with the tidings that all was on board. As he
+cast his eyes seaward, he saw a large boat returning from a ship at
+some small distance from the shore, with Ned Dyram in the stern; and
+in a few minutes after, the active superintendent of the embarkation
+jumped ashore, with a laugh, saying, "Ah, sir! so you could not trust
+me! But all is safe, no hide rubbed off, no knees broken, no shoulder
+shaken; and if they do not kick themselves to pieces before we reach
+Nieuport, you will have as stout chargers to ride as any in Burgundy.
+But you are not going to embark yet? The tide will not serve for half
+an hour; and I have left my saddle-bags at the hostel."
+
+"Well, run quick and get them," replied his master. "I would fain see
+how all is stowed before we sail."
+
+"And know little about it when you do see," answered Ned Dyram, with
+his usual rude bluntness, or that which appeared to be such.
+
+Richard of Woodville might feel a little angry at his saucy tone; but
+it was only a passing emotion, easily extinguished. "I certainly know
+little of stowing ships, my good friend," he answered, "seeing that I
+never was in one in my life; but common sense is a great thing, Master
+Dyram; and I am not likely to be mistaken as to whether the horses are
+so placed as to run the least chance of hurting themselves or each
+other. Back to the hostel, then, as I ordered, with all speed; and do
+not let me have to wait for you."
+
+The last words were spoken in a tone of command, which did not much
+please the hearer; but there were certain feelings in his breast that
+rendered him unwilling to offend a master on whom he had no tie of old
+services; and he therefore hurried his pace away, as long as he was
+within sight. He contrived to keep Woodville waiting, however, for at
+least twenty minutes; and as the young gentleman gazed towards the
+ship, he saw the large and cumbersome sails slowly unfurled, and
+preparations of various kinds made for putting to sea. His patience
+was well nigh exhausted, and he had already taken his place in the
+boat, intending to bid the men pull away, when Ned Dyram appeared,
+coming down from the inn, and carrying his saddle bags over his arm,
+while a man followed bearing a heavy coffre.
+
+Richard of Woodville smiled, saying to his yeoman of the stirrup, "I
+knew not our friend Ned had such mass of baggage, or I would have
+given him further time."
+
+"He has got his tools there, I doubt," observed the old armourer; "for
+he is a famous workman, both in steel and gilding, though somewhat
+new-fangled in his notions."
+
+The minute after Ned Dyram was seated in the boat, the men gave way,
+and over the calm waters of a sea just rippled by a soft but
+favourable breeze, she flew towards the ship. All on board were in the
+bustle of departure; and, before Richard of Woodville had examined the
+horses, and satisfied himself that everything had been carefully and
+thoughtfully arranged for their safety, the bark was under weigh. He
+looked round for Ned Dyram, willing to make up, by some praise of his
+attention and judgment, for any sharpness of speech on the shore; but
+the yeomen told him that their comrade had gone below, saying that he
+was always sick at sea; and the young gentleman, escaping from the
+crowd and confusion which existed amongst horses and men in the fore
+part of the vessel, retired to the stern, and took up his position
+near the steersman, while the cliffs of England, and the tall towers
+of the castle, with the churches and houses below, slowly diminished,
+as moving heavily through the water the bark laid her course for the
+town of Nieuport.
+
+The bustle soon ceased upon the deck; some of the yeomen laid
+themselves down to sleep, if sleep they might; the rest were down
+below; the mariners who remained on deck proceeded with their ordinary
+tasks in silence; the wind wafted them gently along with a soft and
+easy motion; and the sun, declining in the sky, shone along the bosom
+of the sea as if laying down a golden path, midway between France and
+England.
+
+The feeling of parting from home was renewed in the bosom of Richard
+of Woodville, as he gazed back at the slowly waning shores of his
+native land, leaning his arms, folded on his chest, upon the bulwark
+of the stern. He felt no inclination to converse; and the man at the
+huge tiller seemed little disposed to speak. All was silent, except an
+occasional snatch of a rude song, with which one of the seamen cheered
+his idleness from time to time; till at length a sweeter voice was
+heard, singing in low and almost plaintive tones; and, turning
+suddenly round, Woodville beheld a female figure, clothed in black,
+leaning upon the opposite side of the vessel, and gazing, like
+himself, upon the receding cliffs of England. He listened as she sang;
+but the first stanza of her lay was done before he could catch the
+words.
+
+
+                                SONG.
+
+                                  I.
+
+       Oh, leave longing! dream no more
+         Of sunny hours to come;
+       Dreams that fade like that loved shore,
+         Where once we made our home.
+          Farewell; and sing lullabie
+          To all the joys that pass us by.
+           They go to sleep,
+           Though we may weep,
+          And never come again.--Nennie.
+
+                                 II.
+
+       Oh, leave sighing! thought is vain
+         Of all the treasures past;
+       Hope and fear, delight and pain,
+         Are clay, and cannot last.
+          Farewell; and sing lullabie
+          To all the things that pass us by.
+           They go to sleep,
+           Though we may weep,
+          And never come again.--Nennie.
+
+                                 III.
+
+       Oh, leave looking--on the wave
+         That dances in the ray;
+       See! now it curls its crest so brave,
+         And now it melts away.
+          Farewell; and sing lullabie
+          To all the things that pass us by.
+           They go to sleep,
+           Though we may weep,
+          And never come again.--Nennie.
+
+
+The voice was so sweet, the music was so plaintive, that, without
+knowing it, and though she sang in a low and subdued tone, the singer
+had every ear turned to listen. Richard of Woodville did not require
+to see her face, to recognise Ella Brune, though the change in her
+dress might have proved an effectual means of concealment, had she
+been disposed to hide herself from him. The peculiarly mellow and
+musical tone of her voice was enough; and, as soon as the lay ceased,
+Woodville crossed over and spoke to her.
+
+But she showed no surprise at seeing him, greeting him with a smile,
+and answering gaily to his inquiry, if she knew that he was in the
+same ship,--"Certainly; that was the reason that I came. I am going to
+be headstrong, noble sir, for the rest of my life. I would not go to
+York, as you see; for I fancied that when people have got hold of that
+which does not belong to them, they may strike at any hand which
+strives to take it away, especially if it be that of a woman."
+
+"You are right, Ella," answered Richard of Woodville; "I had not
+thought of that."
+
+"Then I am going to Peronne, or it may be to Dijon," continued Ella,
+in a tone still light, notwithstanding the somewhat melancholy
+character of her song; "because I think I can be of service, perhaps,
+to some who have been kind to me; and then, too, I intend to amass
+great store of money, and marry a scrivener."
+
+"You are gay, Ella," replied Woodville, somewhat gravely, sitting down
+beside her, as she still leaned over the side of the vessel.
+
+"Do you see those waves?" she said; "and how they dance and sparkle?"
+
+"Yes," replied her companion; "what then?"
+
+"There are depths beneath!" answered Ella. "Henceforth I will be
+gay--on the surface, at least, like the sunny sea; but it is because I
+have more profound thoughts within me, than when I seemed most sad.
+Keep my secret, noble sir."
+
+"That I will, Ella," replied Woodville; "but tell me--Did my servant
+find you out?"
+
+"Yes, and did me good service," answered the girl; "for he brought me
+here."
+
+"And the poor fool was afraid I should be offended," said Woodville;
+"for he has avoided mentioning your name."
+
+"Perhaps so," rejoined Ella; "for he knew, I believe, that you did not
+wish to have me in your company. 'Tis a charge, noble sir; and a poor
+minstrel girl is not fit for a high gentleman's train."
+
+"Nay, you do me wrong, Ella," answered Richard of Woodville; "right
+willingly, my poor girl, now as heretofore, in this as in other
+things, will I give you protection. I thought, indeed, that it might
+be better for yourself to remain; and there were reasons, moreover,
+that you do not know."
+
+"Nay, but I do know, sir," replied Ella, interrupting him; "I know it
+all. I have made acquaintance with your lady-love, and sat at her knee
+and sung to her; and she has befriended the poor lonely girl, as you
+did before her; and she told me, she would neither doubt you nor me,
+though you took me on your journey, and protected me by the way."
+
+"Dear, frank Mary!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville; "there spoke her
+own true heart. But tell me more about this, Ella. How did you see
+her?--when?--where?"
+
+Ella Brune did as he bade her, and related to him all that had
+occurred to her since he had left London. As she spoke, her eye was
+generally averted; but sometimes it glanced to his countenance,
+especially when she either referred to Sir Simeon of Roydon, or to
+Mary Markham; and she saw with pleasure the flush upon her young
+protector's cheek, the knitted brow, and flashing eye, when she told
+the outrage she had endured, and the look of generous satisfaction
+which lighted up each feature, when she spoke of the protection she
+had received from good Sir Philip Beauchamp and the King.
+
+"Ah! my noble uncle!" he said; "he is, indeed, somewhat harsh and rash
+when the warm blood stirs within him, as all these old knights are,
+Ella; but there never was a man more ready to draw the sword, or open
+the purse, for those who are in need of either, than himself. And so
+the King befriended you, too? He is well worthy of his royal name, and
+has done but justice on this arch knave."
+
+"Not half justice," answered Ella Brune, with a sudden change of tone;
+"but no matter for that, the hand of vengeance will reach him one of
+these days. He cannot hide his deeds from God!--But you speak not of
+your sweet lady:--was she not kind to the poor minstrel girl?"
+
+"She is always kind," answered Richard of Woodville. "God's blessing
+on her blithe heart! She would fain give the same sunshine that is
+within her own soft bosom, to every one around her."
+
+"That cannot be," answered Ella Brune; "there are some made to be
+happy, some unhappy, in this world. Fortune has but a certain store,
+and she parts it unequally, though, perhaps, not blindly, as men say.
+But there's a place where all is made equal;" and, resuming quickly
+her lighter tone, she went on, dwelling long upon every word that Mary
+Markham had said to her, seeming to take a pleasure in that, which had
+in reality no small portion of pain mingled with it. Such is not
+infrequently the case, indeed, with almost all men; for it is
+wonderful how the bee of the human heart will contrive to extract
+sweets from the bitter things of life; but, perhaps, there might be a
+little art in it--innocent art, indeed--most innocent; for its only
+object was to hide from the eyes of Richard of Woodville that there
+was any feeling in her bosom towards him but deep gratitude and
+perfect confidence. She dwelt then upon her he loved, as if the
+subject were as pleasing to her as to himself; and, though she spoke
+gaily--sometimes almost in a jesting tone--yet there were touches of
+deep feeling mingled every now and then with all she said, which made
+him perceive that, as she herself had told him, the lightness was in
+manner alone, and not in the mind.
+
+At all events, her conduct had one effect which she could have
+desired: it removed all doubt and hesitation from the mind of Richard
+of Woodville, if any such remained, in regard to his behaviour towards
+her;--it did away all scruple as to guarding and protecting her on the
+way, as far as their roads lay together.
+
+One point, indeed, in her account puzzled him, and excited his
+curiosity--which was the sudden departure of his uncle and Mary from
+Westminster. "Well," he thought, "I never loved the task of
+discovering mysteries, and have ever been willing to leave Time to
+solve them, else I should have troubled my brain somewhat more about
+my sweet Mary's fate and history than I have done;" and, after
+pondering for a few moments more, he turned again to other subjects
+with Ella Brune. Pleased and entertained by her conversation, he
+scarcely turned his eyes back towards the coast of England, till the
+cliffs had become faint and grey, like a cloud upon the edge of the
+sky; while the sun setting over the waters seemed to change them into
+liquid fire. In the meantime, wafted on by the light breeze, the ship
+continued her slow way; and, as the orb of day sank below the horizon,
+the moon, which had been up for some little time, poured her silver
+light upon the water--no longer outshone by the brighter beams. The
+sky remained pure and blue; the stars appeared faint amidst the lustre
+shed by the queen of night; and the water, dashing from the stern,
+looked like waves of molten silver as they flowed away. Nothing could
+be more calm, more grand, more beautiful, than the scene, with the
+wide expanse of heaven, and the wide expanse of sea, and the pure
+lights above and the glistening ripple below, and the curtain of
+darkness hanging round the verge of all things, like the deep veil of
+a past and future eternity.
+
+Neither Ella Brune nor Richard of Woodville could help feeling the
+influence of the hour, for the grand things of nature raise and
+elevate the human heart, whether man will or not. They lived in a rude
+age, it is true; but the spirit of each was high and fine; and their
+conversation gradually took its tone from the scene that met their
+eyes on all sides. They might not know that those stars were
+unnumbered suns, or wandering planets, like their own; they might not
+know that the bright broad orb that spread her light upon the waves
+was an attendant world, wheeling through space around that in which
+they lived; they had no skill to people the immensity with miracles of
+creative power; but they knew that all they beheld was the handiwork
+of God, and they felt that it was very beautiful and very good. Their
+souls were naturally led up to the contemplation of things above the
+earth; and while Richard of Woodville learned hope and confidence in
+Him who had spread the heaven with stars and clothed the earth in
+loveliness, Ella Brune took to her heart, from the same source, the
+lesson of firmness and resignation.
+
+They gazed, they wondered, they adored; and each spoke to the other
+some of the feelings which were in their hearts; but some only, for
+there were many that they could not speak.
+
+"I remember," said Ella, at length, in a low voice, "when I was at a
+town called Innsbruck, in the midst of beautiful mountains, hearing
+the nuns chant a hymn, which I caught up by ear; and the poor old man
+and I turned it, as best we might, into English, and used often in our
+wanderings to console ourselves with singing it, when little else had
+we to console us. It comes into my mind to-night more than ever."
+
+"Let me hear it, then, Ella," said Richard of Woodville; "I love all
+music."
+
+"I will sing it," replied Ella; "but you must not hear it only. You
+must join in heart, if not in voice."
+
+
+                                HYMN.
+
+       Oh glorious! oh mighty! Lord God of salvation!
+        Thy name let us praise from the depth of the heart;
+       Let tongue sing to tongue, and nation to nation,
+        And in the glad hymn, all thy works bear a part.
+
+       The tops of the mountains with praises are ringing,
+        The depths of the valleys re-echo the cry;
+       The waves of the ocean Thy glories are singing,
+        The clouds and the winds find a voice as they fly;
+
+       The weakest, the strongest, the lowly, the glorious,
+        The living on earth, and the dead in the grave!
+       For the arm of thy Son over death is victorious,
+        With power to redeem, and with mercy to save.
+
+       Oh glorious! oh mighty! Lord God of salvation!
+        To Thee let us sing from the depth of the heart;
+       Let tongue tell to tongue, and nation to nation,
+        How bountiful, gracious, and holy Thou art.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIX.
+
+                          THE FOREIGN LAND.
+
+
+The night had fallen nearly an hour ere Richard of Woodville, Ella
+Brune, and the young Englishman's attendants, were seated for the
+first time round the table of a small Flemish inn, on the day after
+they had left the shores of their native land. Strange as it may seem,
+that with a wind not unfavourable, somewhat more than twenty-four
+hours should be occupied by a voyage of less than sixty miles; yet
+such had been the case between Dover and Nieuport; for it was more
+than five hours past noon, on the evening following that on which they
+set sail, when the bark that bore Richard of Woodville entered the
+mouth of the little river on which that port is situated. But the art
+of navigation was little known in those times; and the wind, which,
+though directly fair at first, was never strong enough to give the
+ship much way through the water, veered round soon after midnight, not
+to a point exactly contrary, but to one which favoured the course of
+the voyagers very little; so that if it had not again changed before
+night, another twelve hours might have been passed upon the sea. At
+length, however, the land, which had been for some time in sight, grew
+clear and more strongly marked; the towers of village churches were
+seen, distinct; and, anchoring as near the town as possible, the
+disembarkation was commenced without delay, in order to accomplish the
+task before nightfall. Nevertheless, ere horses and baggage were all
+safely on the shore, the day had well nigh come to an end; so that, as
+I have said, it was dark before the young Englishman, Ella Brune, and
+his attendants, were seated round the table of the poor hostel, which
+was the only place of entertainment that the town afforded.
+
+Here first the services of the poor minstrel girl became really
+valuable to her protector; for notwithstanding the proximity of the
+English coast, not a soul in the hostel could speak aught else but the
+Flemish tongue. There were evidently numerous other guests, all
+requiring entertainment; though with a strange exclusiveness, hardly
+known in those days, they kept themselves closely shut up in the rooms
+which had been retained for their own accommodation; and as neither
+Woodville nor any of his train, not even excepting the learned Ned
+Dyram, knew one word of the language, the whole party would have fared
+ill, had not Ella, in tones which rendered even that harsh jargon
+sweet, given, in the quality of interpreter, the necessary orders for
+all that was required.
+
+The greatest difficulty seemed to be in obtaining chambers, in which
+the somewhat numerous party of the young cavalier could find repose.
+The stable and the adjoining barn were full already of horses and
+mules, even to overflowing, otherwise they might have afforded
+accommodation to men who were accustomed in their own country to lie
+hard, and yet sleep lightly; and only one room of any size was vacant,
+with a small closet hard by, containing a low pallet. The latter,
+Richard of Woodville at once assigned to Ella Brune; the former he
+reserved for himself and three of his men, of whom Ned Dyram was one;
+and it was finally arranged that the rest should be provided with dry
+hay, mown from the neighbouring sandy ground, in the hall where they
+supped.
+
+As soon as the meal was over, the board was cleared, the hay brought
+in, Ella retired to her pallet, Richard of Woodville to his; straw was
+laid down across his door for the three men; and the whole party were
+soon in the arms of slumber. Richard of Woodville dreamed, however,
+with visions coming thick and fast, and changing as they came, like
+the figures in a phantasmagoria. Now he was in the King's court,
+defying Simeon of Roydon to battle; now at the old hall at Dunbury,
+with Isabel, and Dacre, and Mary, and poor Catherine Beauchamp
+herself. Then suddenly the scene changed, and he was by the moonlight
+stream near Abbot's Ann, with Hal of Hadnock. He heard a voice call to
+him from the water: "Richard! Richard!" it seemed to cry, "Save me!
+Revenge me!--Richard, Richard of Woodville!"
+
+He started suddenly up; but the voice still rang in his ears: "Richard
+of Woodville," it said, or seemed to say.
+
+"I hear," he exclaims. "Who calls?"
+
+"What maiden is this thou hast with thee?" asked the voice. "Beware!
+Beware! Love will not be lightlied."
+
+"Who is it that speaks?" demanded Richard of Woodville, rubbing his
+eyes in surprise and bewilderment. But no one answered, and all was
+silence. "Surely, some one spoke," said the young gentleman; "if so,
+let them speak again."
+
+There was no reply; and Woodville was inclined to believe that his
+dream had been prolonged after he had fancied himself awake; but, as
+he sat up and listened, he heard the movement of some one amongst the
+straw at the end of the room; and, well aware that, if any of the men
+were watchful, it must be he who had the most mind, he exclaimed, "Ned
+Dyram! are you asleep?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the man; "I have been awake these ten minutes."
+
+"Did you hear any one speak just now?" demanded Woodville.
+
+"To be sure I did," answered Dyram. "Some one called you by your name:
+it was that which roused me. They asked about the maiden, Ella, and
+bade you beware. Foul fall them! we have witches near."
+
+Richard of Woodville instantly sprang from his bed, and advanced
+towards the casement. The moon was still shining; but when the young
+gentleman gazed forth, all without was in the still quiet of midnight.
+He could see the court of the hostel, and the angle of the building,
+formed by a sort of wing which projected from the rest, close to where
+he stood; but all was calm; and not a creature seemed stirring. He
+looked up to the windows in the wing, but there was no light in any.
+
+"Whence did the sound seem to come, Ned?" he asked.
+
+"It seemed in the room," replied the man. "Shall I strike a light? I
+have always wherewithal about me."
+
+Richard of Woodville bade him do so; and a lamp was soon lighted. But
+Ned Dyram and his master searched the room in vain; and the other two
+inhabitants of the chamber slept soundly through all. At length,
+puzzled and disappointed, Woodville retired to bed again, and the
+light was extinguished; but the young gentleman did not sleep for some
+hours, listening eagerly for any sound. None made itself heard through
+the rest of the night, but the hard breathing of the sleeping yeomen;
+and, after watching till near morning, slumber once more fell upon
+Woodville's eyes, and he did not wake till the sun had been up an
+hour. The yeomen had already quitted the room without his having
+perceived it; and, dressing himself in haste, he proceeded to inquire
+of the host what strangers had lodged in his house during the
+preceding night, besides himself and his own attendants?
+
+"None, but a party of monks and nuns," the man replied, through the
+interpretation of Ella Brune, whom Woodville had called to his aid.
+
+"Ask him, Ella, of what country they were," said Richard of Woodville.
+But the man replied to Ella's question, that they were all
+Hainaulters, except two who came from Friesland; and that they were
+going on a pilgrimage to Rome.
+
+Richard of Woodville was more puzzled than ever. For a moment he
+suspected that Ned Dyram might have played some trick upon him; for,
+notwithstanding the bluntness of that worthy personage, a doubt of his
+being really as honest and straightforward as the King believed him,
+had entered into Woodville's mind, he knew not well why. Reflecting,
+however, on the fact of Ned Dyram having encouraged Ella Brune to
+accompany them to the Continent, notwithstanding the opposite advice
+given by his master, the young gentleman soon rejected that suspicion,
+and remained as much troubled to account for what had occurred as
+before.
+
+No farther information was to be obtained; and, as soon as his men and
+horses were prepared, Richard of Woodville commenced his journey
+towards Ghent; directing his steps in the first instance to Ghistel,
+through a country which presented, at that period, nothing but wide
+uncultivated plains and salt marshes, with here and there a village
+raised on any little eminence, or a feudal castle near the shore, from
+which, even in those days, and still more in the times preceding,
+numerous bands of pirates were sent forth, sweeping the sea, and
+occasionally entering the mouths of the English rivers. The
+inhabitants of the whole tract, from Ostend to the Aa, were notorious
+for their savage and blood-thirsty character; so much so, indeed, as
+to have obtained the name of the Scythians of the North; and Ella
+Brune, as she rode beside Richard of Woodville, on one of the mules
+which he had brought with him, and which had been freed from its share
+of the baggage to bear her lighter weight, warned her companion to be
+upon his guard, as the passage through that part of the country was
+still considered unsafe, notwithstanding some improvement in the
+manners of the people.
+
+At first Woodville only smiled, replying, that he thought a party of
+eleven stout Englishmen were sufficient to deal with any troop of rude
+Flemings who might come against them. But she went on to give him many
+anecdotes of brutal outrages that had been committed within a very few
+years, which somewhat changed his opinion; and the appearance of a
+body of five or six horsemen, seemingly watching the advance of his
+little force, induced him to take some precautions. Halting within
+sight of the church of Lombards Heyde, he caused his archers to put on
+the cuirasses and salades with which they were provided for active
+service, and ordered them to have their bows ready for action at a
+moment's notice. He also partly armed himself, and directed the two
+pages to follow him close by with his casque, shield, and lance; and
+thus, keeping a firm array, the party moved forward to Ghistel,
+watched all the way along the road by the party they had at first
+observed, but without any attack being made. Their military display,
+indeed, proved in some degree detrimental to them; for that small town
+had been surrounded by ramparts some sixty or seventy years before,
+and the party of strangers was refused admission at the gates. On the
+offer of payment, however, some of the inhabitants readily enough
+brought forth corn and water for the horses, and food and hydromel for
+the men. One or two of them could speak French also; and from them
+Richard of Woodville obtained clear directions for pursuing his way
+towards Ghent. He now found that he had already somewhat deviated from
+the right track in coming to Ghistel at all; but as he was there, the
+men said that the best course for him to follow was to cross the
+country direct by Erneghem, and thence march through the forest of
+Winendale, along the high raised causeway which commenced at the gates
+of Ghistel.
+
+As no likelihood of obtaining any nearer place of repose presented
+itself, the young Englishman proceeded to follow these directions, and
+towards three o'clock of the same day reached the village of Erneghem.
+Much to his disappointment, however, he found no place of
+entertainment there. The inhabitants were mostly in the fields, and
+but little food was to be obtained for man or horse. On his own
+account, Richard of Woodville cared little; nor did he much heed his
+men being broken in to privations, which he well knew must often befal
+them; but for Ella Brune he was more anxious, and expressed to her
+kindly his fears lest she should suffer from hunger and fatigue. But
+Ella laughed lightly, replying, "I am more accustomed to it than any
+of you."
+
+Onward from that place, the march of the travellers was through the
+deep green wood, which, at that time, extended from a few miles to the
+south of Thorout, almost to the gates of Bruges. The soil was marshy,
+the road heavy, and full of sand; but the weather was still
+beautifully clear, the sun shone bright and warm, a thousand wild
+flowers grew up under the shade, and the leafy branches of the forest
+offered no unpleasant canopy, even at that early period of the year.
+Neither village, nor house, nor woodman's hut, nor castle tower,
+presented itself for several miles; and as they approached a spot
+where the road divided into two, with no friendly indication to the
+weary traveller of the place to which either tended, Richard of
+Woodville turned towards Ella, asking--"Which, think you, I ought to
+follow, my fair maid? or had I better, like the knight-errant of old,
+give the choice up to my horse, and see what his sagacity will do,
+where my own entirely fails me?"
+
+"What little I have," replied Ella, "would be of no good here; but I
+think the best road to choose would be the most beaten one."
+
+"Often the safest, Ella," replied Richard, with a smile.
+
+"Yet not always the most pleasant," answered Ella Brune. But, as she
+spoke, a human figure came in sight, the first that they had seen
+since they had left Erneghem. It was that of a stout monk, in a grey
+gown, with a large straw hat upon his head, tied with a riband under
+his beard. He was mounted upon a tall powerful ass, which was ambling
+along with him at a good pace; and though he pulled up when he saw the
+large party of strangers pausing at the separation of the two roads,
+he came forward at a slower pace the next moment, and, after a careful
+inspection of the young leader's person, saluted him courteously in
+the French tongue.--"Give you good day, and benedicite, my son," he
+said, bowing his head. "You seem embarrassed about your way. Can I
+help you?"
+
+"Infinitely, good father," replied Richard of Woodville, "if you can
+direct me on the road. I am going to Ghent."
+
+"Why, you can never reach Ghent to-night, my son," exclaimed the monk;
+"and you will find but poor lodging till you get to Thielt, which you
+will not reach till midnight, unless you ride hard."
+
+"We shall want both food and lodging long ere that, good father," said
+Richard of Woodville. "Whither does this road you have just come up
+lead?"
+
+"To Aertrick," replied the monk: "but you will get neither food nor
+beds there, my son, for so large a troop. 'Tis a poor place, and the
+priest is a poor man, who would lodge a single traveller willingly
+enough, but has no room for more, nor bread to give them; but your
+best plan will be to come with me to Thorout. 'Tis a little out of
+your way to Ghent; but yet you can reach that city to-morrow, if you
+will, though 'tis a long day's journey--well nigh ten leagues."
+
+"Is there a hostel in Thorout, good father?" asked Richard of
+Woodville.
+
+"One of the most miserable in Flanders, Hainault, or Brabant,"
+answered the monk, laughing; "but we have a priory there, where we are
+always willing to lodge strangers, and let them taste of our
+refectory. We are a poor order," he continued, with a sly smile, "but
+yet we live in a rich country, and the people are benevolent to us, so
+that our board is not ill supplied; and strangers who visit us always
+remember our poverty."
+
+"That we will do most willingly," said Richard of Woodville, "to the
+best of our ability, good father. But you see we have a lady with us.
+Now I have heard, that in some orders--"
+
+"Ay, ay," replied the monk, laughing, "where the brotherhood are in
+sad doubt of their own virtue; but we are all grave and sober men, and
+fear not to see a fair sister amongst us--as a visitor, as a visitor,
+of course. It would be a want of Christian charity to send a fair lady
+from the gate, when she was in need of food and lodging. But come on,
+sir, if you will come; for we have still near a league to go, and 'tis
+well nigh the hour of supper, which this pious beast of mine knows
+right well. I had to drub him all the way to Aertrick, because he
+thought I had ought to be at vespers in the convent; and now he ambles
+me well nigh three leagues to the hour, because he knows that I ought
+to be back again. Oh, he has as much care of my conscience as a lady's
+father-director has of hers. Come, my son, if you be coming;" and
+therewith he put his ass once more into a quick pace, and took the
+road to the right.
+
+In little more than half an hour the whole party stood before the
+gates of a large heavy building, inclosed within high walls, situated
+at a short distance from the town of Thorout; and the good monk,
+leaving his new friends without, went in to speak with the prior in
+regard to their reception. No great difficulty seemed to be made; and
+the prior himself, a white bearded, fresh complexioned old man, with a
+watery blue eye, well set in fat, came out to the door to welcome
+them. His air was benevolent; and his look, though somewhat more
+joyous than was perhaps quite in harmony with his vows, was by no
+means so unusual in his class as to call for any particular
+observation on the part of the young Englishman.
+
+Far from displaying any scruples in regard to receiving Ella within
+those holy walls, he was the first to show himself busy, perhaps
+somewhat more than needful, in assisting her to dismount. It was
+evident that he was a great admirer of beauty in the other sex; but
+there were other objects for which he had an extreme regard; and one
+of those, in the form of the supper of the monastery, was already
+being placed upon the table of the refectory; so that there was no
+other course for him to pursue than to hasten the whole party in, to
+partake of the meal, only pausing to ask Richard of Woodville, with a
+glance at the black robe of serge and the white wimple of Ella Brune,
+whether she was a sister of some English order?
+
+Woodville simply replied that she was not, but merely a young maiden
+who was placed under his charge, to escort safely to Peronne, or
+perhaps Dijon, if she did not find her relations, who were attached to
+the Court of Burgundy, at the former place.
+
+The good prior was satisfied for the time, and led the way on to the
+refectory, where about twenty brethren were assembled, waiting with as
+eager looks for the commencement of the meal as if they had been
+fasting for at least four-and-twenty hours. To judge, however, from
+the viands to which they soon sat down, no such abstinence was usually
+practised; and capons, and roe-deer, and wild-boar pork, were in as
+great plenty on the table of the refectory as in the hall of a high
+English baron. Some distinction of rank, too, was here observed;[5]
+and the attendants of Richard of Woodville were left to sup with the
+servants of the convent, somewhat to their surprise and displeasure.
+The monks in general seemed a cheerful and well-contented race, fond
+of good cheer and rich wine; and all but one or two seemed to vie with
+each other in showing very courteous attention to poor Ella Brune, in
+which course the prior himself, and the brother questor, who had been
+Woodville's guide thither, particularly distinguished themselves.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 5: In many countries, the distinction of station, if not of
+birth, was very strictly enforced, especially at meals; and I think it
+is Meyrick who mentions the ordonnance of some foreign prince, by
+which no one was permitted, under the grade of chivalry, to sit at the
+table with a knight, unless he were a cross-bowman, the son of a
+knight.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+There was one saturnine man, indeed, seated somewhat far down the
+table, with his head bent over his platter, who seemed to take little
+share in the hilarity of the others. From time to time he gave a
+side-long look towards Ella; but it was evidently not one of love or
+admiration; and Richard of Woodville was easily led to imagine that
+the good brother was somewhat scandalized at the presence of a woman
+in the convent. He asked the questor, who sat next to him, however, in
+a low voice, who that silent brother was; and it needed no farther
+explanation to make the monk understand whom he meant.
+
+"He is a Kill-joy," replied the questor, with a significant look; "but
+he is none of our own people, though one of the order, from the abbey
+at Liege. He departs soon, God be praised; for he has done nothing but
+censure us since he came hither. His abbot sent him away upon a
+visitation--to get rid of him, I believe; for he was unruly there,
+too, and declared that widgeons could not be eaten on even an ordinary
+fast-day without sin, though we all know the contrary."
+
+"He is not orthodox in that, at least," answered Richard of Woodville,
+with a smile. "Doubtless he thinks it highly improper for a lady to
+have shelter here."
+
+"For that very reason," said the questor, in the same low tone in
+which their conversation had been hitherto carried on, "the prior will
+have to lodge you in the visitor's lodging, which you saw just by the
+gate; for he fears the reports of brother Paul. Otherwise he would
+have put you in the sub-prior's rooms, he being absent. But see, now
+he has done himself, how brother Paul watches every mouthful that goes
+down the throats of others!" The questor sank his voice to a whisper,
+adding, in a solemn tone, "He drinks no wine--nothing but water wets
+his lips! Is not that a sin?--a disparaging of the gifts of God?"
+
+"It is, certainly, not using them discreetly," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "and, methinks, in these low lands, a cup of generous wine,
+such as this is, must be even more necessary to a reverend monk, who
+spends half his time in prayer, than to a busy creature of the world,
+who has plenty of exercise to keep his blood flowing."
+
+"To be sure it is!" replied the questor, who approved the doctrine
+highly; and thereupon he filled Woodville's can again, with a
+"Benedicite, noble sir."
+
+When the meal was over, the young Englishman remarked, that this grim
+brother Paul, of whom they had been speaking, took advantage of the
+little interval which usually succeeds the pleasant occupation of
+eating, to draw the prior aside, and whisper to him for several
+minutes. The face of the latter betrayed impatience and displeasure,
+and he turned from him, with a somewhat mocking air, saying aloud,
+"You are mistaken, my brother, and not charitable, as you will soon
+see. Hark! there is the bell for complines. Do you attend the service,
+sir?"
+
+The last words were addressed to Richard of Woodville, who bowed his
+head, and answered, "Gladly I will."
+
+"Oh, yes!" cried Ella, with a joyful look; "I shall be so pleased, if
+I may find a place in the chapel. I have not had the opportunity of
+hearing any service since I left London."
+
+"Assuredly, my daughter!" said the prior, with a gracious look; "the
+chapel is open to all. We have our own place; but every day we have
+the villagers and townsfolk to hear our chanting, which we are
+somewhat vain of. You shall be shown how to reach it with your
+friends."
+
+The monks took their way to the chapel by a private door from the
+refectory; and Richard of Woodville, with Ella, was led by a lay
+brother of the monastery through the court. Two or three women and one
+old man were in the chapel, and the short evening service began and
+ended, the sweet voice of Ella Brune mingling sounds with the choir,
+which, well I wot, the place had not often heard before. At the close,
+Richard of Woodville moved towards the door; but Ella besought him to
+stay one moment, and, advancing to the shrine of Our Lady, knelt down
+and prayed devoutly, with her beads in her hand. Perhaps she might ask
+for a prosperous journey, and for deliverance from danger; or she
+might entreat support and guidance in an undertaking that occupied the
+dearest thoughts of an enthusiastic heart; nor will there be many
+found to blame her, even if the higher aspirations, the holier and
+purer impulses that separate the spirit from the earth and lead the
+soul to Heaven, were mingled with the mortal affections that cling
+around us to the end, so long as we are bondsmen of the clay.
+
+While she yet prayed, and while the monks were wending away through
+their own particular entrance, the old prior advanced to Woodville,
+who was standing near the door, and remarked, "Our fair sister seems
+of a devout and Catholic spirit. These are bad days, and there are
+many that swerve from the true faith."
+
+At these words a conviction, very near the truth, broke upon
+Woodville's mind, as he recollected what Ella had told him of the
+opinions of old Murdock Brune and of his relations in Liege, and
+combined her account with the whispering of brother Paul, a monk from
+that very city. It was a sudden flash of perception, rather than the
+light of cold consideration; and he replied, without a moment's pause,
+"She is, indeed, a sincere and pious child of the Holy Roman Catholic
+Church; and she has been much tried, as you would soon perceive,
+reverend sir, if you knew all; for she has relations who have long
+since abandoned the faith of their fathers, and would fain have
+persuaded her to adopt their own vain and heretical opinions; but she
+has been firm and constant, even to her own injury in their esteem,
+poor maiden!"
+
+"Ay, I thought so, I thought so!" replied the fat prior, rubbing his
+fat white hands. "See how she prays to the Blessed Virgin; and the
+Queen of Heaven will hear her prayers. She always has especial grace
+for those who kneel at that altar. Good night, brother;--good night!
+The questor and the refectioner will show you your lodging, and give
+you the sleeping cup. To-morrow I will see you ere you depart. God's
+blessing upon you, daughter," he added, as Ella approached. "I must
+away, for that father Paul has us all up to matins."
+
+Thus saying, the old monk retired; and in the court Woodville found
+his friend the questor and another brother, who led him and his
+attendants to what was called the visitor's lodging, where, with a
+more comfortable bed than the night before, he slept soundly, only
+waking for a few moments as the matin bell rang, and then dropping
+asleep again, to waken shortly after daylight and prepare for his
+journey onward.
+
+When he came to depart, however, there was one drawback to the
+remembrance of the pleasant evening he had passed in the monastery. A
+stout mule was saddled in the court, and the prior besought him, in
+courteous terms, to give the advantage of his escort to father Paul,
+who was about to set out likewise for Ghent. Richard of Woodville
+could not well refuse, though not particularly pleased, and placing a
+liberal return for his entertainment in the box of the convent, he
+began his journey, resolved to make the best of a companionship which
+he could not avoid.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XX.
+
+                        THE NEW ACQUAINTANCES.
+
+
+All was bustle in the good old town of Ghent, as Richard of Woodville
+and his train rode in. It was at all times a gay and busy place; and
+even now, when much of its commerce has passed away from it, what a
+cheerful and lively scene does its market-place present on a summer's
+day, with the tall houses rising round, and breaking the line of the
+sunshine into fantastic forms, and the innumerable groups of men
+and women standing to gossip or to traffic, or moving about in
+many-coloured raiment! On that day, however, military display was
+added to the usual gaiety of the scene, and to the ordinary municipal
+pageants of the time. Horsemen in arms were riding through the
+streets, lances were seen here and there, and pennons fluttered on the
+wind, while every now and then attendants in gay dresses, with the
+arms of Burgundy embroidered upon breast and back, passed along with
+busy looks and an important air.
+
+The young Englishman took his way under the direction of brother
+Paul--who had shown himself upon the journey more courteous and
+conversable than had been expected--towards the principal hostelry of
+the place; and Ghent at that time possessed many; but he was twice
+forced to stop in his advance by the crowds, who seemed to take little
+notice of him and his train, so fully occupied were they with some
+other event of the day. The first interruption was caused by a long
+train of priests and monks going to some church, with all the splendid
+array of the Roman Catholic clergy, followed by an immense multitude
+of idle gazers; and hardly had they passed, when the procession of the
+trades, walking on foot, with banners displayed, and guards in armour,
+and ensigns of the different companies, crossed the path of the
+travellers, causing them to halt for a full quarter of an hour, while
+the long line moved slowly on.
+
+"Is this any day of peculiar festival, brother Paul?" demanded Richard
+of Woodville; "the good citizens of Ghent seem in holiday."
+
+"None that I know of," replied the monk; "but I will ask;" and,
+pushing on his mule to the side of one of the more respectable
+artisans, he inquired the cause of the procession of the trades.
+
+"They are going to compliment the Count de Charolois," answered the
+man, "and to ask his recognition of their charters and privileges. He
+arrived only this morning."
+
+"That is fortunate, Ella," said Woodville, as soon as he was informed
+of this reply; "both for you and for me. Your father's cousin will,
+most likely, be with him; and I seek the Count myself."
+
+Brother Paul seemed to listen attentively to what his companions said;
+but he made no remark; and as soon as the procession had passed, they
+rode on, and were soon housed comfortably for the night. The monk left
+them at the inn door, thanking the young English gentleman for his
+escort, and retired to the abbey of St. Bavon.
+
+The hour of the day was somewhat late for Richard of Woodville to
+present himself before the Count de Charolois, and he also judged that
+it might be more prudent to visit in the first place the agent of the
+King of England--the well-known diplomatist of that day, Sir Philip
+Morgan, or de Morgan--if it should chance that he had accompanied the
+Count to Ghent. That he had done so, indeed, seemed by no means
+improbable, as Woodville had learned since his arrival in Flanders,
+that the Duke of Burgundy himself was absent in the French capital,
+and that the chief rule of his Flemish territory was entrusted to his
+son. The host of the inn, however, could tell him nothing about the
+matter; all he knew was, that the Count had arrived that morning
+unexpectedly, accompanied by a large train, and that instead of taking
+up his abode in the Cour des Princes, which had of late years become
+the residence of the Counts of Flanders, he had gone to what was
+called the Vieux Bourg, or old castle, of the Flemish princes. He
+offered to send a man to inquire if a person bearing the hard name
+which his English guest had pronounced, was with the Count's company;
+and Richard of Woodville had just got through the arrangements of a
+first arrival, and was taking a hasty meal, when the messenger
+returned, saying that Sir Philip de Morgan was with the Count, and was
+lodged in the left gate tower entering from the court.
+
+"I will go to him at once, Ella," he said; "and before my return you
+had better bethink you of what course you will pursue, in case your
+kinsman should not be with the Count. I will leave you for the present
+under the charge of Ned Dyram here, who will see that no harm happens
+to you in this strange town."
+
+"Oh! it is not strange to me," replied Ella Brune. "We once staid here
+for a month, noble sir; and, as to bethinking me of what I shall do, I
+have bethought me already, but will not stay you to speak about it
+now."
+
+Thus saying, she suffered him to depart, without giving him any charge
+to inquire after her kinsman, being somewhat more than indifferent, to
+say the truth, as to whether Richard of Woodville found him or not.
+When the young gentleman had departed, and the meal was concluded, Ned
+Dyram, though he had taken care to show no great pleasure at the task
+which his master had given him to execute, besought his fair companion
+to walk forth with him into the town, and urged her still,
+notwithstanding the plea of weariness which she offered for retiring
+to her own chamber.
+
+"I wish to purchase some goods," he said; "and shall never make myself
+understood, fair Ella, unless I have you with me."
+
+"Oh! every one in this town speaks French," replied Ella Brune; "for
+since the country fell to one of the royal family of France, that
+tongue has become the fashion amongst the nobles; and the traders are
+obliged to learn it, to speak with them."
+
+"But I must not go out and leave you," replied Ned Dyram, "after the
+charge my young lord has laid upon me;" and as he still pressed her to
+accompany him, Ella, who felt that she owed him some gratitude for
+having forwarded her schemes so far, at length consented; and they
+issued forth together into the streets of Ghent.
+
+As soon as they were free from the presence of the other attendants of
+Richard of Woodville, the manner of her companion towards Ella became
+very different. There was a tenderness in his tones, and in his words,
+an expression of admiration in his countenance, which he had carefully
+avoided displaying before others; and the poor girl felt somewhat
+grieved and annoyed, although, as there was nothing coarse or familiar
+in his demeanour, she felt that she had no right to be displeased.
+
+"The lowliest may love the highest," she thought; "and in station he
+is better than I am. Why, then, should I feel angry?--And yet I wish
+this had not been; it may mar all my plans. How can I check it? and if
+I do, may he not divine all the rest, and, in his anger, do what he
+can to thwart me?--I will treat it lightly. Heaven pardon me, if I
+dissemble!"
+
+"What are you thinking of so deeply, fair maiden?" asked Ned Dyram,
+marking the reverie into which she had fallen. "You do not seem to
+listen to what I say."
+
+"As much as it is worth, Master Dyram," replied Ella, in a gay tone;
+"but I must check you; you are too rapid in your sweet speeches. Do
+you not know, that he who would become a true servant to a lady, must
+have long patience, and go discreetly to work? Oh! I am not to be won
+more easily than my betters! Poor as I am, I am as proud as any lady
+of high degree, and will have slow courtship and humble suit before I
+am won."
+
+"You shall have all that you wish, fair Ella," answered Ned Dyram, "if
+you will but smile upon my suit!"
+
+"Smile!" exclaimed Ella, with the same light manner. "Did ever man
+dream of such a thing so soon! Why, you may think yourself highly
+favoured, if you get a smile within three months. The first moon is
+all sighing--the next is all beseeching--the next, hoping and fearing;
+and then, perchance, a smile may come, to give hope encouragement. A
+kind word may follow at the end of the fourth month, and so on. But
+the lady who could be wholly won before three years, is unworthy of
+regard. However, Master Dyram," she continued in a graver tone, "you
+must make haste to purchase what you want, for I am over-weary to walk
+further over these rough stones."
+
+Just as she spoke, brother Paul passed them, in company with a secular
+priest; and, although he took no notice of his fellow travellers,
+walking on as if he did not see them, the quick eye of Ned Dyram
+perceived with a glance that the priest and the monk had stopped, and
+were gazing back, talking earnestly together.
+
+"That dull shaveling loves us not, fair Ella," said Ned Dyram. "He is
+one of your haters of all men, I should think."
+
+"I have seen his face somewhere before," answered Ella Brune; "but I
+know not well where. 'Tis not a pleasant picture to look upon,
+certainly, but he may be a good man for all that. Come, Master Dyram,
+what is it you want to buy? Here are stalls enough around us now; and
+if you do not choose speedily, I must turn back to the inn, and leave
+you to find your way through Ghent alone."
+
+"Then, first," said Ned Dyram, "I would buy a clasp to fasten the hood
+round your fair face."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Ella, in a tone of merry anger; "accept a present
+within a week of having seen you first! Nay, nay, servant of mine,
+that is a grace you must not expect for months to come. No, if that be
+all you want, I shall turn back," and she did so accordingly; but Ned
+Dyram had accomplished as much of his object as he had hoped or
+expected, for that day at least. He had spoken of love with Ella
+Brune; and, although what a great seer of the human heart has said,
+that "talking of love is not making it," may be true, yet it is
+undoubtedly a very great step to that pleasant consummation. But Ned
+Dyram had done more; he had overstepped the first great barrier; and
+Ella now knew that he loved her. He trusted to time and opportunity
+for the rest; and he was not one to doubt his skill in deriving the
+greatest advantage from both.
+
+The foolish and obtuse are often deceived by others; the shrewd and
+quick are often deceived by themselves. Without that best of all
+qualities of the mind, strong common sense, there is little to choose
+between the two: for if the dull man has in the world to contend with
+a thousand knaves, the quick one has in his own heart to contend with
+a thousand passions; and, perhaps, the domestic cheats are the most
+dangerous after all. There is not so great a fool on the earth as a
+clever man, when he is one; and Ned Dyram was one of that class, so
+frequently to be found in all ages, whose abilities are sometimes
+serviceable to others, but are rarely, if ever, found serviceable to
+themselves.
+
+Ella had used but little art towards him, but that which all women
+use, or would use, under such circumstances. Her first great thought
+was to conceal the love she felt; and where--when it becomes necessary
+to do so--is there a woman who will not find a thousand disguises to
+hide it from all eyes? But to him especially she was anxious to suffer
+no feeling of her bosom to appear; for she had speedily discovered, by
+a sort of intuition rather than observation--or, perhaps by a
+quickness in the perception of small traits which often seems like
+intuition--that he was keen and cunning beyond his seeming; and now
+she had a double motive for burying every secret deep in her own
+heart. She laid out no plan, indeed, for her future conduct towards
+him; she thought not what she would say, or what she would do; and if,
+in her after course, she employed aught like wile against his wiles,
+it was done on the impulse of the moment, and not on any predetermined
+scheme.
+
+Ned Dyram had remarked his master's conduct well since Ella had been
+their companion; he had seen that Woodville had been sincere in the
+opinion he had expressed, that it would be better for her to remain in
+England; and the very calm indifference which he had displayed on
+finding her in the ship with himself, had proved to him, both that
+there had never been any love passages between them ere he knew
+either, as he had imagined when first he was sent to London, and thus
+there was no chance of the young gentleman's kindly sympathy for the
+fair girl he protected growing into a warmer feeling. He read the
+unaffected conduct of his master aright; but to that of Ella Brune he
+had been more blind, partly because he was deceived by his own
+passions, partly because, in this instance, he had a much deeper and
+less legible book to read--a woman's heart; and, though naturally of a
+clear-sighted and even suspicious mind, he saw not, in the slightest
+degree, the real impulses on which she acted.
+
+Contented, therefore, with the progress he had made, he purchased some
+articles of small value at one of the stalls which they passed, and
+returned to the inn with his fair companion, who at once sought her
+chamber, and retired to rest, without waiting for Richard of
+Woodville's return. Then sitting down in a dark corner of the hall, in
+which several of his companions were playing at tables, and two or
+three other guests listening to a tale in broad Flemish, delivered by
+the host, Dyram turned in his mind all that had passed between him and
+Ella, and, with vanity to aid him, easily persuaded himself that his
+suit would find favour in her eyes. He saw, indeed, that the rash and
+licentious thoughts which he had at one time entertained in regard to
+her when he found her poor, solitary, and unprotected, at a hostel in
+the liberties of the city, were injurious to her; but as his character
+was one of those too ordinary and debased ones, which value all things
+by the difficulty of attainment, he felt the more eagerly inclined to
+seek her, and to take any means to make her his, because he found her
+less easy to be obtained than he had at first imagined.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXI.
+
+                              THE EXILE.
+
+
+At one side of a small square or open space, in the town of Ghent,
+rose a large pile of very ancient architecture, called the
+Graevensteen, for many centuries the residence of the Counts of
+Flanders. Covering a wide extent of ground with its walls and towers,
+the building ran back almost to the banks of the Lieve, over which a
+bridge was thrown, communicating with the castle on one side, and the
+suburbs on the other. In front, towards the square, and projecting far
+before the rest of the pile, was a massive castellated gate of stone,
+flanked by high towers, rising to a considerable height. The aspect
+of the whole was gloomy and stern; but the gay scene before the
+gates--the guards, the attendants, the pages in the bright-coloured
+and splendid costumes, particularly affected by the house of
+Burgundy--relieved the forbidding aspect of the dark portal,
+contrasting brilliantly, though strangely, with its sombre and
+prison-like air.
+
+At a small light wicket, in a sort of balustrade, or screen, of richly
+sculptured stone, which separated the palace from the rest of the
+square, stood two or three persons, some of them in arms, others
+dressed in the garb of peace; and Richard of Woodville, with his
+guide, approaching one who seemed to be the porter, inquired if Sir
+Philip de Morgan could be spoken with?
+
+"Pass in," was the brief reply:--"the door in the court, on the left
+of the gate;" and walking on, they took their way under the deep arch,
+and found in one of the towers a small low door of massive oak,
+studded with huge bosses of iron. No one was in attendance; and this
+door being partially open, was pushed back by Richard of Woodville,
+who bade the guide wait below, while he mounted the narrow stairs, the
+foot of which was seen before him. At the first story another open
+door presented itself, displaying a little anteroom, with two or three
+servants seated round a table, playing at cross and pile, a game
+which, by this time, had descended from kings to lacqueys. Entering at
+once, the young gentleman, using the French tongue, demanded to speak
+with Sir Philip de Morgan; but the servants continued their game with
+that sort of cold indifference which Englishmen of an inferior class
+have, in all ages, been accustomed to show towards foreigners: one of
+them replying, in very bad French, and hardly lifting his head from
+the game, "He can't be spoken with--he is busy!" adding in English to
+his fellow, "Play on, Wilfred."
+
+"How now, knave!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville in his own tongue;
+"Methinks you are saucy! Rise this moment, and inform your master that
+a gentleman from the King of England desires to speak with him."
+
+The man instantly started up, replying, "I beg your pardon, sir. I did
+not know you. I thought it was some of those Flemish hogs, come to
+speak about the vellum."
+
+"Learn to be civil to all men, sir," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"and that a serving man is as much below an honest trader as the
+trader is below his lord. Go and do as I have told you."
+
+The lacquey retired by a door opposite, leaving a smile upon the faces
+of his fellows at the lecture he had received; and after being absent
+not more than a minute, he re-opened the door, saying, "Follow me,
+noble sir; Sir Philip will see you."
+
+Passing through another small chamber, in which a pale thin man
+in a black robe, with a shaven crown, was sitting, busily copying
+some papers, Richard of Woodville was ushered into a larger room,
+poorly furnished. At a table in the midst, was seated a corpulent,
+middle-aged personage, with a countenance which at first sight seemed
+dull and heavy. The nose, the cheeks, the lips, were fat and
+protruding; and the thick shaggy eyebrows hung so far over the eyes,
+as almost to conceal them. The forehead, however, was large and fine,
+somewhat prominent just about the brow, and over the nose; and when
+the eye could be seen, though small and grey, there was a bright and
+piercing light in it, which frequently accompanies high intellect. He
+was dressed in the plainest manner, and in dark colours, with a furred
+gown over his shoulders, and a small black velvet cap upon his head;
+nor would it have been easy for any one unacquainted with his real
+character to divine that in that coarse and somewhat repulsive form
+was to be found one of the greatest diplomatists of his age.
+
+Sir Philip de Morgan rose as soon as Richard of Woodville entered,
+bowing his head with a courtly inclination, and desiring his visitor
+to be seated. As soon as the servant had closed the door, he began the
+conversation himself, saying, "My knave tells me, sir, you come from
+the King. It might have been more prudent not to say so."
+
+"Why, good faith, Sir Philip," replied Woodville, "without saying so,
+there was but little chance of seeing you; for you have some saucy
+vermin here, who thought fit to pay but little attention to my first
+words; and moreover, as I have letters from the King for the Count de
+Charolois, which must be publicly delivered, concealment was of little
+use, and could last but a short time."
+
+"That alters the case," answered Sir Philip de Morgan. "As to my
+knaves, they must be taught to use their eyes, though a little
+insolence is not altogether objectionable; but you mentioned letters
+for the Count--I presume you have some for me?"
+
+"I have," answered Richard of Woodville, putting his hand into the
+gibeciere, or pouch, which was slung over his right shoulder and under
+his left arm, by an embroidered band. "This, from the King, sir;" and
+he placed Henry's letter in the envoy's hand.
+
+Sir Philip de Morgan took it, cut the silk with his dagger, and drew
+forth the two sheets which it contained. The first which he looked at
+was brief; and the second, which was folded and sealed, with two words
+written in the corner, he did not open, but laid aside.
+
+"So, Master Woodville," he said, after this examination, "I find you
+have come to win your golden spurs in Burgundy. What lies in me to
+help you, I will do. To-morrow I will make you known to the Count de
+Charolois. I was well acquainted with your good father, and your lady
+mother, too. She was the sister, if I recollect, of the good knight of
+Dunbury, a very noble gentleman;" and then, turning from the subject,
+he proceeded, with quiet and seemingly unimportant questions, to gain
+all the knowledge that he could from Richard of Woodville regarding
+the court of England, and the character, conduct, and popularity of
+the young King. But his visitor, as the reader may have seen in
+earlier parts of this true history, though frank and free in his own
+case, and where no deep interests were concerned, was cautious and on
+his guard in matters of greater moment. He was not sent thither to
+babble of the King's affairs; and though he truly represented his
+Sovereign as highly popular with all classes, and deservedly so, Sir
+Philip de Morgan gained little farther information from him on any of
+the many points, in regard to which the diplomatist would fain have
+penetrated the monarch's designs before he thought fit to communicate
+them.
+
+The high terms in which Henry had been pleased to speak of the
+gentleman who bore his letter, naturally induced the envoy to set down
+his silence to discretion, rather than to want of knowledge; and he
+observed, after his inquiries had been parried more than once, "You
+are, I see, prudent and reserved in your intelligence, Master
+Woodville."
+
+"It is easy to be so, fair sir," answered his visitor, "when one has
+nothing to communicate. Doubtless the King has told you all, without
+leaving any part of his will for me to expound. At least, if he did,
+he informed me not of it; and I have nothing more to relate."
+
+"What! not one word of France?" asked the knight, with a smile.
+
+"Not one!" replied Woodville, calmly.
+
+The envoy smiled again. "Well," he said, "then tomorrow, at noon, I
+will go with you to the Count, if you will be here. Doubtless we shall
+hear more of your errand, from the letters you bear to that noble
+prince."
+
+"I do not know," replied Woodville, rising; "but at the same time, I
+would ask you to send some one with me to find out the dwelling of one
+Sir John Grey, if he be now in Ghent."
+
+"Sir John Grey!" said de Morgan, musing, as if he had never heard the
+name before. "I really cannot tell you where to find such a person:
+there is none of that name here. Is he a friend of your own?"
+
+"No!" answered Richard of Woodville; "I never saw him."
+
+"Then you have letters for him, I presume," rejoined the other. "What
+says the superscription? Does it not give you more clearly his place
+of abode? This town contains many a street and lane. I have only been
+here these eight hours since several years; and he may well be in the
+place and I not know it."
+
+Woodville drew forth the King's letter, and gazed at the writing on
+the back; while Sir Philip de Morgan, who had risen likewise, took a
+silent step round, and glanced over his arm. "Ha! the King's own
+writing," he said. "Sir John Grey! I remember; there is, I believe, an
+old countryman of ours, living near what is called the Sas de Gand, of
+the name of Mortimer. He has been here some years; and if there be a
+man in Ghent who can tell you where to find this Sir John Grey, 'tis
+he. Nay, I think you may well trust the letter in his hands to
+deliver. Stay, I will send one of my knaves with you, who knows the
+language and the manners of this people well."
+
+"I thank you, noble sir," replied his visitor; "but I have a man
+waiting for me, who will conduct me, if you will but repeat the
+direction that you gave--near the Sas de Gand, I think you said?"
+
+"Just so," replied Sir Philip de Morgan, drily; "but not quite so far.
+It is a house called the house of Waeerschoot;--but it is growing
+late; in less than an hour it will be dark. You had better delay your
+visit till to-morrow, when you will be more sure of admission; for he
+is of a moody and somewhat strange fantasy, and not always to be
+seen."
+
+"I will try, at all events, to-night," replied Richard of Woodville.
+"I can but go back tomorrow, if I fail. Farewell, Sir Philip, I will
+be with you at noon;"--and, after all the somewhat formal courtesies
+and leave-takings of the day, he retired from the chamber of the
+King's envoy, and sought the guide who had conducted him thither.
+
+The man was soon found, talking to one of the inferior attendants of
+the Count of Charolois; and, calling him away, Richard of Woodville
+directed him to lead to the house which Sir Philip de Morgan had
+indicated. The guide replied, in a somewhat dissatisfied tone, that it
+was a long way off; but a word about his reward soon quickened his
+movements; and issuing through the gates of the city, they followed a
+lane through the suburbs on the northern side of the Lys.
+
+A number of fine houses were built at that time beyond the actual
+walls of Ghent; for the frequent commotions which took place in the
+town, and the little ceremony with which the citizens were accustomed
+to take the life of any one against whom popular wrath had been
+excited, rendered it expedient in the eyes of many of the nobles of
+Flanders to lodge beyond the dangerous fortifications, which were as
+often used to keep in an enemy as to keep one out. Many of these were
+modern buildings; but others were of a far more ancient date; and at
+length, as it was growing dusk, the young Englishman's guide stopped
+at the gate of one of the oldest houses they had yet seen, and struck
+two or three hard blows upon the large heavy door. For some time
+nothing but a hollow sound made answer; and looking up, Richard of
+Woodville examined the mansion, which seemed going fast into a state
+of decay. It had once been one of the strong battlemented dwellings of
+some feudal lord; and heavy towers, and numberless turrets, seemed to
+show that the date of its first erection went back to a time when the
+city of Ghent, confined to its own walls, had left the houses which
+were built beyond them surrounded only by the uncultivated fields and
+pastures, watered by the Scheld, the Lys, and the Lieve. The walls
+still remained solid, though the sharp cutting of the round arches had
+mouldered away in the damp atmosphere; and the casements above--for
+externally there were none on the lower story--were, in many
+instances, destitute of even the small lozenges of glass, which, in
+those days, were all that even princely mansions could boast.
+
+After waiting more than a reasonable time, the guide knocked loud
+again, and, looking round for a bell, at length found a rope hanging
+under the arch, which he pulled violently. While it was still in his
+hand, a stout Flemish wench appeared, and demanded what they wanted,
+that they made so much noise? Her words, indeed, were unintelligible
+to the young Englishman; but, guessing their import, he directed the
+guide to inquire if an Englishman, of the name of Mortimer, lived
+there? A nod of the head, which accompanied her reply, showed him that
+it was in the affirmative; and he then, by the same intervention, told
+her to let her master know, that a gentleman from England wished to
+see him.
+
+The girl laughed, and shook her head, saying something which, when it
+came to be translated, proved to be, that she knew he would not see
+any one of the kind; but, though it was of no use, she would go and
+inquire; and away she consequently ran with good-humoured speed,
+showing, as she went, a pair of fat, white legs, with no other
+covering than that with which nature had furnished them.
+
+She returned in a minute, with a look of surprise; and bade the
+strangers follow her, which they did, into the court. There, however,
+Woodville again directed his guide to wait, and, under the pilotage of
+the Flemish maid, entered upon a sea of passages, till at length,
+catching him familiarly by the hand to guide him in the darkness that
+reigned within, she led him to a flight of stairs, and opened a door
+at the top. Before him lay a small room, ornamented with richly carved
+oak, the lines and angles of which caught faintly the light proceeding
+from a lamp upon the table; and, standing in the midst of the room,
+with a look of eager impatience, was a man, somewhat advanced in life,
+though younger than Woodville had expected to see. His hair, it is
+true, was white, and his beard, which he wore long, was nearly so
+likewise; but he was upright, and seemingly firm in limb and
+muscle.[6] His face had furrows on it, too; but they seemed more those
+of care and thought than age; and his eye was clear, undimmed, and
+flashing.
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 6: His after advancement to the Earldom of Tankerville was
+won by deeds of arms, which shows that he must have been still hale
+and robust at this time.]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"Well, sir! well!" he said in English, as soon as Richard of Woodville
+entered; "What news?--Why has she not come herself?"
+
+"You are, I fear, under a mistake," replied the young Englishman. "I
+came to you for information--not to give any."
+
+The other cast himself back into his seat, and covered his eyes with
+his hands, as Woodville spoke. The next moment he withdrew his hands,
+and the whole expression of his countenance was altered. Nothing
+appeared but a look of dull and thoughtful reserve, with a slight
+touch of disappointment.
+
+As he spoke not, Richard of Woodville went on to say, "Sir Philip de
+Morgan directed me, sir--"
+
+"Ay!--he has his eye ever upon me," exclaimed the other, interrupting
+him. "What does he seek--what is there now to blame?"
+
+"Nothing, that I am aware of," answered Woodville; "it is on my own
+business he directed me here; not on yours or his."
+
+"Indeed!" said the other, with a softened look. "And what is there for
+your pleasure, sir?"
+
+"He informed me," replied his visitor, "that if there be a man in
+Ghent, it is yourself, who can tell me where to find one Sir John
+Grey, an English knight, supposed to be resident here."
+
+"And may I ask your business with him?" inquired Mortimer, coldly.
+
+"Nay," answered Woodville; "that will be communicated to himself. I
+cannot see how it would stead you, to know aught concerning it."
+
+"No!" replied Mortimer; "but it might stead him. A good friend, sir,
+to a man in danger, may stand like a barbican, as it were, before a
+fortress, encountering the first attack of the enemy. I say not that I
+know where Sir John Grey is to be found; but I do say, and at once,
+that I would not tell, if I did, till I had heard the motive of him
+who seeks him. He has been a wronged and persecuted man, sir; and it
+is fit that no indiscretion should lay him open to further injury."
+
+Woodville fixed his eyes intently upon his companion's countenance;
+and, after a moment's pause, he said, in an assured tone, "I speak to
+Sir John Grey even now. Concealment is vain, sir, and needless; for I
+do but bring you a letter from the young King of England, which I
+promised to deliver with all speed; and if things be as I think, it
+will not prove so ungrateful to you as you may expect. Am I not
+right?--for I must have your own admission ere I give the letter."
+
+"The letter!" repeated the other; and again a look of eagerness came
+over his countenance. "You bear a letter, then? You are keen, young
+man," he added; "but yet you look honest."
+
+"I do assure you, sir," replied Woodville, "that I have no end or
+object on earth, but to give the letter with which I am charged to Sir
+John Grey himself. I am anxious, moreover, to do it speedily, for so I
+was directed; and I have therefore come to-night, without waiting for
+repose. If you be he, as I do believe, you may tell me so in safety,
+and rest upon the honour of an English gentleman."
+
+"Honour!" said his companion, with a sad and bitter shake of the head.
+"I have no cause to trust in honour: it has become but a mere name,
+the meaning of which has been lost long ago, and each man interprets
+it as he likes best. In former times, honour was a thing as immutable
+as the diamond, which nought could change to any other form. 'Twas
+truth,--'twas right,--'twas the pure gold of the high heart. Now,
+alas! men have devised alloy; and the metal, be it as base as copper,
+passes current for the value that is stamped upon it by society.
+Honour is no longer independent of man's will; 'tis that which people
+call it, and no more. The liar, who, with a smooth face, wrongs his
+friend in the most tender point, is still a man of honour with the
+world: the traitor, who betrays his country or his king, so that it be
+for passion, and not gold, is still a man of honour, and will cut your
+throat if you deny it: the calumniator, who blasts another's
+reputation with a sneer, is still a man of honour if he's brave.
+Honour's a name that changes colour, like the Indian beast, according
+to the light it is viewed in. Now it is courage; now it is rank; now
+it is riches; now it is fine raiment, or a swaggering air. Once it was
+Truth, young sir."
+
+"And is ever so, in reality," replied Richard of Woodville; "the rest
+are all counterfeits, which only pass with men who know no better. It
+is of this honour that I speak, sir. However, as you know me not, I
+cannot expect you to attribute to me qualities that are indeed now
+rare; yet, holding myself bound by that very honour which we speak of,
+to deliver the letter that I bear to no one but him for whom it was
+destined, unless you tell me you are indeed that person, I must carry
+it back with me."
+
+"Stay!--what is your name?" demanded the other--"that may give me
+light."
+
+"My name is Richard of Woodville," answered his visitor.
+
+"Ha! Richard of Woodville!" cried the stranger, with a look of joy,
+grasping his hand warmly. "Give it me--give it me--quick! I am Sir
+John Grey. How fares she?--where is she?--why did she not come?"
+
+"I know not of whom you speak," replied Woodville; "this letter is
+from the King;" and, drawing it forth, he put it into his companion's
+hand.
+
+"From the King!" exclaimed Sir John Grey--"from the King!--a letter to
+me!"--and he held the packet to the lamp, and gazed on the
+superscription attentively. "True, indeed?" he said at length, cutting
+the silk. "'Our trusty and well-beloved!'--a style I have not heard
+for years;" and bending his head over it, he perused the contents,
+which were somewhat long.
+
+Woodville gazed at his face while he read, and marked the light and
+shade of many varied emotions come across it. Now, the eye strained
+eagerly at the first lines, and the brow knit; now, a proud smile
+curled the lip; and now, the eyelids showed a tear. But presently, as
+he proceeded, all haughtiness passed away from his look--he raised his
+eyes to heaven, as if in thankfulness; and at the end let fall the
+paper on the table, and clasped his hands together, exclaiming,
+"Praise to thy name, Most Merciful! The dark hour has come to an end!"
+
+Then stretching forth his open arms to Richard of Woodville, he said,
+"Let me take you to my heart, messenger of joy!--you have brought me
+life!"
+
+"I am overjoyed to be that messenger, Sir John," replied Woodville;
+"but, in truth, I was ignorant of what I carried. I did but guess,
+indeed, from my knowledge of the King's great soul, that he would not
+be so eager that this should reach you soon, if the tidings it
+contained were evil."
+
+"They are home to the exile," replied the knight; "wealth to the
+beggar; grace and station to the disgraced and fallen; the reversal of
+all his father's bitter acts; the generous outpouring of a true royal
+heart! Noble, noble prince! God requite me with misery eternal, if I
+do not devote every moment that remains of this short life to do you
+signal service. And you, too, my friend," he continued, taking his
+visitor's hand--"so you are the man who, choosing by the heart alone,
+setting rank, and wealth, and name aside, looking but to loveliness
+and worth, sought the hand of a poor and portionless girl--the
+daughter of a proscribed and banished fugitive?"
+
+"Good faith, Sir John!" replied the young gentleman, gazing upon him
+with a look of no small surprise and pleasure, "I begin to see light;
+but I have been so long in darkness that my eyes are dazzled. Can it
+be that I see my fair Mary's father--the father of Mary Markham--in
+Sir John Grey?"
+
+But the knight's attention had been turned back to the letter, with
+that abrupt transition which the mind is subject to, when suddenly
+moved by joy so unexpected as almost to be rendered doubtful by its
+very intensity. "I cannot believe it," he said; "yet, who should
+deceive me? It is royal, too, in every word."
+
+"It is the King's own hand that wrote it," replied Richard of
+Woodville; "and if there be aught that is high and generous
+therein--aught that speaks a soul above the ordinary crowd--aught that
+is marked as fitting for a King, who values royalty but for extended
+power to do good and redress wrong--set it down with full assurance as
+a proof that it is Henry's own! But you have not answered me as to
+that dear lady."
+
+"She is my child, Richard," said Sir John Grey; "and if you are
+worthy, as I believe you, she shall be your wife. You chose her in
+lowliness and poverty; she shall be yours in wealth and honour. But
+tell me more about her. When did you see her? Why has she not come?"
+
+"The last question I cannot answer," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"for, though I heard her father had sent for her, I knew not who that
+father was, or where; but----"
+
+"So, then, she never told you?" asked the knight.
+
+"Never," answered Woodville, "nor my good uncle either; but I saw her
+some eight or nine days since in Westminster, well and happy. I have
+heard since, however, by a servant whom I sent up, that she and Sir
+Philip had returned in haste to Dunbury, upon some sudden news."
+
+"Ay!--so then they have missed the men I sent," replied Sir John Grey.
+"I despatched a servant--the only one I had--three weeks since,
+together with some merchants, who were going to trade in London, and
+who promised on their return, which was to be without delay, to bring
+her with them."
+
+"Stay!" exclaimed Woodville. "Had they not a freight of velvets and
+stuffs of gold?"
+
+"The same," answered the knight. "What of them?"
+
+"They were taken by pirates in the mouth of the Thames," replied
+Richard of Woodville. "I heard the news in Winchester, when I was
+purchasing housings for my horses. But be not alarmed for your dear
+child. She is safe. I saw her afterwards; and good Sir Philip seemed
+to marvel much, why some persons whom he expected had not yet arrived.
+Had he told me more, I could have given him tidings of them; put your
+mind at ease on her account, for she is still with Sir Philip."
+
+"But that poor fellow, the servant!" answered the knight, sadly; "my
+heart is ill at rest for him. Misfortune teaches us to value things
+more justly than prosperity. A true and faithful friend, whatever be
+his station, is a treasure indeed, not to be lost without a bitter
+pang. I must thank God that my dear child is safe; yet I cannot forget
+him."
+
+"They will put him to ransom with the rest," replied Richard of
+Woodville. "I heard they had carried the merchants and their vessel to
+some port in the north, and doubtless you will soon hear of him. I did
+not learn that there was any violence committed; for, though they are
+usually hard and cruel men, they are even more avaricious than
+bloodthirsty."
+
+"God send it!" exclaimed Sir John Grey. "I wonder that your noble
+kinsman, when he heard that you were about to cross the sea, did not
+charge you with Mary's guidance hither. It would have been more safe."
+
+"But you forget," replied Woodville, "that I was ignorant of all
+concerning her. I thought she was an orphan till within the last ten
+days--or, perhaps, not so well placed as that. Besides, my uncle would
+not countenance our love; and, indeed, that was his reason; for I
+remember he said, that he wished we had not been such fools as to be
+caught by one another's eyes; that it would have saved him much
+embarrassment."
+
+Sir John Grey smiled, saying--"That is so much the man I left. He had
+even then outlived the memory of his own young days, when lady's love
+was all his thought but arms, and looked upon everything, but that
+lofty and more shadowy devotion to the fair, which was the soul of
+olden chivalry, as little better than youthful idleness. He kept you,
+then, even to the last, without knowledge of her fate and history? He
+did well, too, for so I wished it; but I will now tell you all; and
+there is not, indeed, much to say. I raised my lance, with the rest,
+for my sovereign, King Richard; was taken and pardoned; but swore no
+allegiance to one whom I could not but hold as an usurper. When
+occasion served again, I was not slack to do the same once more, and,
+with my friends, fought the lost battle of Shrewsbury. My life was
+saved by a poor faithful fellow of our army, who gave his own, I fear,
+for mine; and flying, more fortunately than others, I escaped to this
+land. Here I soon heard that I was proclaimed a traitor, my estate
+seized, my name attainted, and my child sought for to make her a ward
+of the crown, and to give her and the fortune which her mother
+inherited, to some minion of the court. She was then a mere child,
+and, by your uncle's kindly care, was taken first to Wales, and thence
+brought to his own house, where he has ever treated her as a daughter.
+I lingered on in this and other lands from year to year; and many an
+effort was made to entrap or drive me back into the net. The King of
+France was instigated to expel me from his dominions; the Duke of
+Burgundy was moved to follow his example, but would not so debase
+himself to any king on earth. But why should I tell all that I have
+suffered? Every art was used, and every means of persecution tried,
+till at length, taking refuge in this town of Ghent, under a false
+name, I have known a short period of tranquillity. Then came the
+thought of my child upon me: it grew like a thirst, till I could bear
+no more, and I sent for her. I knew not then that the late King was
+dead, or I might have waited to see the result; for often, when this
+Prince was but a child, I have had him on my knee; and I too taught
+him to handle the bow when he was seven years old; for, till his
+father stretched a hand towards the crown, he was my friend; and Harry
+of Hereford and John Grey were sworn brothers."
+
+"The more the friendship once, the more the hate," replied Richard of
+Woodville; "so says an old song, noble knight; but now, that enmity is
+over, I trust, for ever. The Earl of March, the only well-founded
+obstacle in the way of Henry's rights, acknowledges them fully."
+
+"And if he did not," answered Sir John Grey, with a stern brow, "I
+would never draw my sword for him. The Earl of March--I mean the old
+Earl--by tame acquiescence in the deeds of Henry of Bolinbroke, set
+aside his title. He held out no hand to help his falling kinsman
+Richard; and if the crown was to be given away, it was the Peers and
+Commons of England had the right to give it; and they rightly gave it
+to the brave and wise, rather than to the feeble and the timid. It was
+Richard Plantagenet was my King, and not the Earl of March. To the one
+I swore allegiance, and owed much; to the other I had no duty, and
+owed nothing. I did not wrangle which son of a king should succeed,
+but I upheld the monarch who was upon the throne. Neither did I ever,
+my young friend, regard the Duke of Lancaster with private enmity, as
+you seem to think. He was ambitious; he usurped his cousin's throne;
+and I drew the sword against him because he did so; but I will
+acknowledge that, if there was one man in England fitted to fill that
+throne with dignity, he was the man. He, on the contrary, hated me,
+because his own conduct had changed a friend into an enemy; and so it
+is ever in this world. But who is it rings the bell so fiercely? Hark!
+perhaps it is my child!"--and, opening the door, he turned his head
+eagerly to listen to the sounds that rose from below.
+
+Richard of Woodville also gave ear, for a word is sufficient to make
+hopes, however improbable, rise up like young plants in a spring
+shower--at least, in our early days. But the next moment, the steps of
+two persons sounded in the passage, and one of the servants, whom
+Woodville had seen in the ante-chamber of Sir Philip de Morgan,
+appeared, guided by the Flemish maid.
+
+"My master greets you well, sir," he said, addressing Sir John Grey,
+"and has sent you, by the King's order, some of the money belonging to
+you, for your present need;" and thus saying, he laid a heavy bag of
+what appeared to be coin upon the table. "He bids me say," continued
+the man, "that the rest of the money will arrive soon, and that you
+had better appear at the Court of my Lord Count, as early as may be,
+that all the world may know you have the King's protection."
+
+Sir John Grey gazed at the bag of money with a mournful smile. "How
+ready men are," he said, "when fortune favours! How far and how long
+might I have sought this, when I was in distress!"--and untying the
+bag, he took out a large piece of silver, saying to the servant,
+"There, my friend, is largess. Tell your master I will follow counsel.
+He has heard of this, Richard;--you bore him letters, I suppose;" he
+added, as the man quitted the room, with thanks for his bounty. "Well,
+'tis no use to expect of men more than they judge their duty; yet this
+knight was the instrument who willingly urged the Duke of Burgundy to
+drive me forth from Dijon."
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXII.
+
+                       THE COUNT OF CHAROLOIS.
+
+
+Clothed in the most splendid array with which he had been able to
+provide himself, his tight-fitting hose displaying to the highest
+advantage his graceful yet powerful limbs, with the coat of black
+silk, spotted with flowers of gold, cut wide, but gathered into
+numerous pleats or folds round the collar and the waist, and confined
+by a rich girdle to the form, while the sleeves, fashioned to the
+shape of the arm, and fastened at the wrist, showed the strong contour
+of the swelling muscles, Richard of Woodville stood before the door of
+the inn, as handsome and princely a man in his appearance as ever
+graced a royal court. Over his shoulders he wore a short mantle of
+embroidered cloth, trimmed with costly fur, the sleeves of which,
+according to the custom of the day, were slashed down the inner side
+so as to suffer the arm to be thrust out from them, while they, more
+for ornament than use, hung down to the bend of the knee. On his feet
+he wore the riding boots of the time, thrust down to the ankle;
+and--in accordance with a custom then new in the courts of France and
+Burgundy, but which ere long found its way to England--his heavy sword
+had been laid aside, and his only arm was a rich hilted dagger,
+suspended by a gold ring from the clasp of his girdle. His head was
+covered with a small bonnet, or velvet cap, ornamented by a single
+long white feather, showing that he had not yet reached knightly rank;
+and round it curled in large masses his glossy dark-brown hair.
+
+Likewise, arrayed with all the splendour that the young gentleman's
+purse had permitted him to procure, six of his servants stood ready by
+their horses' sides to accompany him to the dwelling of the Count of
+Charolois; and a glittering train they formed, well fitted to do
+honour to Old England in the eyes of a foreign court. It was evident
+enough that they were all well pleased with themselves; but their
+self-satisfaction was of the cool and haughty kind, so common to our
+countrymen, partaking more of pride than vanity. They looked down
+upon others more than they admired themselves; and, unlike the French
+or the Burgundians, seemed to care little what others thought of
+them,--quite contented with feeling that their garb became them, and
+that, should need be, they could give a stroke or bide a buffet with
+the best.
+
+The horse of Richard of Woodville--not the one which had borne him
+from the coast, but a finer and more powerful animal--was brought
+round; and turning for a moment to Ella Brune, who stood with a number
+of other gazers at the door of the inn, the young Englishman said, "I
+will not be so careless and forgetful to-day, Ella; but will bring you
+back tidings of your kinsman, without farther fault."
+
+Then springing on his charger's back he rode lightly away, while the
+poor girl gazed after him, with a deep sigh struggling at her heart,
+and suppressed with pain, as she thought of the many eyes around her.
+
+At the gate of the Graevensteen, orders had been already given to
+admit the young Englishman into the inner court; and, riding on,
+Richard of Woodville dismounted near the door which led to the
+apartments of Sir Philip de Morgan. A man who was waiting at the foot
+of the stairs, ran up them as soon as he saw the train, and before
+Woodville could follow, the envoy of the King of England came down,
+followed by a page. He greeted his young countryman with even marked
+courtesy, suffered his eye to rest with evident pleasure upon his
+goodly train, and then turning with a smile to Woodville, he
+inquired,--"Do men now in England gild the bits and chains of their
+horses?"
+
+"It is a new custom, I believe," replied the young gentleman. "I gave
+little heed to it, but told the people to give me those things that
+would not discredit my race and country at the Court of Burgundy."
+
+"Well, let us go thither," replied Sir Philip; "or, at least, to such
+part of it as is here in Ghent. I have already advised the Count that
+you are coming, and he is willing to show you all favour."
+
+The envoy accordingly led the way across the wide court which
+separated the old gate, with its gloomy towers, from the stern and
+still more forbidding fortress of the ancient Counts of Flanders; and
+passing first through a narrow chamber, in which were sitting some
+half dozen armed guards, and then through a wide hall, where a greater
+number of gentlemen were assembled in their garb of peace, the two
+Englishmen approached a flight of steps at the farther end. There a
+middle-aged man, with a gold chain round his neck, advanced, and
+addressing Sir Philip de Morgan, inquired if the Count was aware of
+their visit?
+
+The diplomatist replied that they were expected at that hour; and the
+other, pushing open the door at the top of the steps, called loudly to
+an attendant within, to usher the visitors to his Lord's presence.
+After a few more ceremonies of the same kind, Woodville and his
+companion were introduced into the small cabinet in which the Count of
+Charolois was seated. He was not alone, for two personages, having the
+appearance of men of some rank, but booted and spurred as if for a
+journey, were standing before him, in the act of taking their leave;
+and Richard of Woodville had an opportunity of examining briefly the
+countenance of the Prince, known afterwards as Philip the Good.
+
+He was then in the brightness of early youth; and seldom has there
+been seen a face more indebted to expression for the beauty which all
+men agreed to admire. Taken separately, perhaps none of the features
+were actually fine, except the eyes; but there was a look of generous
+kindness, a softness brightened by a quick and intelligent glance, a
+benignity rather heightened than diminished by certain firmness of
+character, in the mouth and jaw, which was inexpressibly pleasing to
+the eye. There were lines of deep thought, too, about the brow, which
+contrasted strangely with the smooth soft skin of youth, and with the
+rounded cheeks without a furrow or hollow, and the eyelids as
+unwrinkled and full as those of careless infancy.
+
+The Count had evidently been speaking on matters of grave moment; for
+there was a seriousness even in his smile, as, rising for an instant,
+while the others bowed and retired, he wished them a prosperous
+journey. He was above the middle height, but not very tall; and,
+though in after years he became somewhat corpulent, he was now very
+slight in form, and graceful in his movements, which all displayed,
+even at the early age of seventeen, that dignity, never lost, even
+after the symmetry of youth was gone.
+
+As the two gentlemen who took their leave were quitting the room, the
+Count turned to Sir Philip de Morgan, bowing rather stiffly, and
+noticing Woodville with a slight inclination of the head.
+
+"This is, I suppose, the gentleman you mentioned, Sir Philip," he
+said, "who has brought me letters from my royal cousin of England?"
+
+"The same, fair sir," replied the envoy. "Allow me to make known to
+you Master Richard of Woodville, allied to the noble family of
+Beauchamp, one of the first in our poor island."
+
+"He is welcome to Ghent," replied the Count. But Woodville remarked
+that he did not demand the letters which he bore; and he was
+hesitating whether he should present the one addressed to him, when
+the Prince inquired in an easy tone, whether he had had a prosperous
+journey; following up the question with so many others of small
+importance, that the young Englishman judged there was something
+assumed in his eager but insignificant interrogatory.
+
+He knew not, indeed, what was the motive; but his companion, too well
+accustomed to the ways of courts not to translate correctly a hint of
+the kind, whether he chose to apply it or not, took occasion, at the
+very first pause, to say, "Having now had the honour of introducing
+this young gentleman, I will leave him with you, my Lord Count, as I
+have important letters to write on the subject of our conversation
+this morning."
+
+"Do so, sir knight," replied the Prince; and he took a step towards
+the door, as if to honour his departing visitor.
+
+"Now, Master Richard of Woodville," he continued, as soon as the other
+was gone, "let us speak of your journey hither; but first, if you
+please, let me see the letter which you bring, and which may, perhaps,
+render farther explanation unnecessary."
+
+Richard of Woodville immediately presented the King's epistle to the
+Count of Charolois, who read the contents with attention, and then
+gazed at the bearer with an earnest glance. "I have heard of you
+before, sir," he said, with a gracious smile, "and am most willing to
+retain you on the part of Burgundy. Such a letter as this from my
+royal cousin could not be written in favour of one who did not merit
+high honour; and, unhappily, in these days, there are but too many
+occasions of gaining renown in arms. May I ask what payment you
+require for the services of yourself and your men?"
+
+"None, noble Prince," replied Richard of Woodville: "I come but to
+seek honour. If my services be good, you or your father will
+recompence them as you think meet. In the meantime, all that I require
+is entertainment for myself and followers at the Court of Burgundy,
+wherever it may be, and the discharge of my actual expenses in time of
+war, or when I am employed in any enterprise you may think fit to
+intrust to me."
+
+"I see, sir, that you are of the olden chivalry," said the Count,
+giving him his hand. "You are from this moment a retainer of our
+house; and I am glad," he continued, "that I have spoken with you
+alone; for good Sir Philip de Morgan loves none to bring letters from
+his King but himself. I may have cause to call upon you soon. Even
+now, indeed,----; but of that hereafter. How many have you with you?"
+
+"Ten stout archers," answered the young Englishman, "who will do their
+duty in whatever field they may be called to, and myself. That is my
+only force, but it may go far; for we are well horsed and armed, and
+most of us have seen blood drawn in our own land. You said, my Lord
+Count, that even now an occasion might offer--at least, so I
+understood you. Now, I am somewhat impatient of fortune's tardiness,
+and would not miss her favours, as soon as her hand is open."
+
+The Count mused for a moment, and then looked up, laughing. "Well," he
+said, "perhaps my mother may call me a rash boy, in trusting to such
+new acquaintance; but yet I will confide in you to justify me. There
+may be an occasion very soon; and if there be, I will let you have
+your part. I, alas! must not go; but, at all events, have everything
+ready to set out at a moment's notice; and you may chance to ride far
+before many days be over. Now let us speak of other things:" and he
+proceeded to ask his visitor numerous questions regarding the English
+court--its habits, customs, and the characters of the principal nobles
+that distinguished it.
+
+Richard of Woodville answered his inquiries more frankly than he had
+done those of Sir Philip de Morgan, and the Count seemed well pleased
+with all he heard. Gradually their conversation lost the stiffness of
+first acquaintance; and the young Prince, throwing off the restraint
+of ceremony, gave way to the candid spirit of youth, spoke of his own
+father, and of his dangerous position at the Court of France,
+expressed his longing desire to take an active part in the busy deeds
+that were doing, touched with some bitterness upon the conduct of the
+Dauphin towards his sister, and added, with a flushed cheek, "Would my
+father suffer it, I would force him, lance to lance, if not to cast
+away his painted paramour, at least to do justice to his neglected
+wife. She is more fair and bright than any French harlot; and it must
+be a studied purpose to insult her race, that makes him treat her
+thus."
+
+"Perhaps not, noble Count," replied Richard of Woodville: "there is
+nothing so capricious on this earth as the pampered heart of
+greatness. Do we not daily see men of all ranks cast away from them
+things of real value to please the moment with some empty trifle? and
+the spoilt children of fortune--I mean Princes and Kings--may well be
+supposed to do the same. God, when he puts a crown upon their heads,
+leaves them to enrich it with jewels, if they will; but, alas! too
+often they content themselves with meaner things, and think the crown
+enough."
+
+The Prince smiled, with a thoughtful look, and gazed for a moment in
+Woodville's face, ere he replied. "You speak not the same language as
+Sir Philip de Morgan," he said at length: "his talk is ever of insult
+and injury to the House of Burgundy. He can find no excuse for the
+House of Valois."
+
+"He speaks as a politician, my Lord Count," replied Woodville: "would
+that I might say, I speak as a friend, though a bold one. I know not
+what are his views and purposes; but when you mention aught to me, I
+must answer frankly, if I answer at all; and in this case I can easily
+believe that the Dauphin, in the wild heat of youth, perhaps nurtured
+in vice and licentiousness, and, at all events, taught early to think
+that his will must have no control, may neglect a sweet lady for a
+trumpery leman, without meaning any insult to your noble race. Bad as
+such conduct is, it were needless to aggravate it by imaginary
+wrongs."
+
+The Count looked down in thought, and then, raising his head with a
+warm smile, he answered, "You speak nobly, sir, and you may say you
+are my friend; for the man who would temper a Prince's passion,
+without any private motive, is well worthy of the character here
+written;" and he laid his hand upon Henry's letter, which he had
+placed on the table.
+
+"I trust, my Lord Count," replied Woodville, "that you will never have
+cause to say, in any case where my allegiance to my own Sovereign is
+not concerned, that I do not espouse your real interests, as warmly as
+I would oppose any passion, even of your own, which I thought contrary
+to them. I am not a courtier, fair sir, and may express myself
+somewhat rudely; but I will trust to your own discernment to judge, in
+all instances, of the motive rather than the manner."
+
+"I shall remember more of what you have said than you perhaps
+imagine," answered the young Count. "You gave me a lesson, my noble
+friend--and henceforth I will call you by that name--in regard to
+those spoilt children of fortune, as you term them, Princes; and I
+will try not to let a high station pamper me into deeds like those
+which I myself condemn. But there are many persons here, in the good
+town of Ghent, to whom I must make you known, as they will be your
+companions for the future; and, before night, such arrangements shall
+be made for your lodging and accommodation as will permit of your
+taking up your abode in the old castle here. There is but one warning
+I will give you," he continued: "Sir Philip de Morgan is a shrewd and
+clever man--very zealous in the cause of his King, but somewhat
+jealous of all other influence. My father esteems him highly, though
+he is not always ready to follow whither he would lead. You had better
+be his friend than his enemy; and yet, when there is anything to be
+done, communicate with me direct, and not through him."
+
+"I will follow your advice, sir, as far as may be," replied Woodville;
+"but I do not think there is any great chance of Sir Philip de Morgan
+and myself interfering with each other. I am a soldier; he is a
+statesman. I will not meddle with his trade, and I think he is not
+likely to envy me mine. He was a good man at arms, I hear, in his
+early days; but I fancy he will not easily inclose himself in plate
+again."
+
+"Good faith," exclaimed the young Count, laughing, "his cuirass would
+need be shaped like a bow, and have as much iron about it as the great
+bombard of Oudenarde, which our good folks of Ghent call Mad Meg.[7]
+No, no! I do not think that he will ever couch a lance again. But
+come, my friend, let us to the hall, where we shall find some of the
+nobles of Burgundy and Flanders waiting for us. Then we will ride to
+my mother's, where I will make you known to her fair ladies. I have no
+further business for the day; but yet I must not be absent from my
+post, as every hour I expect tidings which may require a sudden
+resolution."
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 7: Dulle Grite.--This great cannon, or bombard, was forged
+for the siege of Oudenarde, in 1382, and is nearly twenty feet long,
+and about eleven in circumference.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+The Prince then led the way into the large hall, through which Richard
+of Woodville had passed about half an hour before; and there, was
+instantly surrounded by a number of gentlemen, to whom he introduced
+his new retainer. Many a noble name, which the young Englishman had
+often heard of, was mentioned;--Croys, Van Heydes, St. Paul's and
+Royes, Lalains, and Lignes; and from all, as might be expected, under
+the circumstances in which he was introduced to them, he received a
+courteous reception. It must not be denied, however, that although
+chivalrous customs required a friendly welcome to every adventurous
+gentleman seeking service at a foreign court, human nature, the same
+in all ages, left room for jealousy of any one who might aspire to
+share the favour which each desired to monopolize. Thus, though every
+one was, as I have said, courteous in demeanour to Richard of
+Woodville, it was all cold and formal; and many a whispered
+observation on his appearance and manners, on the accent in which he
+spoke the language, and on the slight difference of his dress from
+that of the Burgundian court, marked a willingness to find fault
+wherever it was possible. For his part, he took little notice of these
+things, well knowing what he had to expect; and aware that friendship
+could not be gained at once, he treated all with perfect good humour
+and civility, in the hope that those who were worthy of any farther
+consideration would learn in time to esteem him, and to cast away any
+needless jealousy.
+
+After passing about half an hour in the hall, the young Count selected
+some five or six of the gentlemen present to accompany him on his
+visit to his mother, who was lodged in the new palace, called the Cour
+des Princes; and, as soon as his horses were brought round, he
+descended, with the young Englishman and the rest, into the court of
+the castle. He paused for a moment, where, ranged in a line by their
+horses' sides, he saw the stout yeomen who had accompanied Richard of
+Woodville thither; and as, with an eye not unskilful even then in
+judging of thewes and sinews, he marked their light, yet powerful
+limbs, with an approving smile, he turned to his new friend, saying,
+in a low voice, "Serviceable stuff there, in the day of need, I doubt
+not."
+
+"I have every hope they will prove so, my good lord," replied
+Woodville; and, giving them a sign, each man sprang at once into the
+saddle, except the one who had led forward his young master's horse,
+and held the stirrup while he mounted.
+
+As the gay party rode along through the streets of Ghent, the
+inconstant people, so often in open rebellion against their
+sovereigns, shouted loud acclamations on the path of the young and
+graceful Prince, who, in return, bowed low his head, or nodded
+familiarly to those he knew in the crowd. The distance was but short;
+but the Count took the opportunity of passing through some of the
+principal streets of the town, to show the splendour of the greatest
+manufacturing city at that time in the world, to the young Englishman;
+and frequently he turned and asked his opinion of this or that as they
+passed, or pointed out to him the magnificent shops and vast fabrics
+which lined their road on either side.
+
+There was certainly much to admire; and Richard of Woodville, not
+insensible of the high importance of the arts, praised, with perhaps a
+better judgment than most of the haughty nobility of the day would
+have displayed, the indications of that high commercial prosperity
+which the courtiers affected to hold in contempt. He would not miss
+the opportunity, however, of learning something of the kinsman of Ella
+Brune; and, after answering one of the observations of the Prince, he
+added--"But as I came from my hostel this morning, sir, I perceive
+that you have other arts carried to a notable height in the good city
+of Ghent, besides that of the weavers. I passed by many a fair stall
+of goldsmiths' work, which seemed to me to display several pieces of
+fine and curious workmanship."
+
+"Oh! that we have, amongst the best in the world," replied the Count;
+"though, to say sooth, when we gave you a number of our weavers, to
+teach you Englishmen that art, we borrowed from you in return much of
+our skill in working the precious metals. Many of our best goldsmiths,
+even now, are either Englishmen, or the descendants of those who first
+came over. I had one right dexterous artificer, who used to dwell with
+my household, and who is still my servant; but my mother's confessor
+suspected him of a leaning towards heresy, and exacted that he should
+be sent forth out of the castle. 'Twas but for a jest at our good
+father the Pope; but poor Brune made it worse by saying, when
+questioned, that as there are three Popes, all living, the confessor
+might place it on the shoulders of him he liked. Many a grave man, I
+have remarked, will bear anything rather than a jest; and father
+Claude, from that moment, would not be satisfied till Nicholas Brune
+was gone."
+
+"Poor fellow! And what became of him?" asked Richard of Woodville; "I
+have known some of his family in England."
+
+"Oh, he is in a shop at the corner of the market, close to the castle
+gate," replied the Prince, "and drives a thriving trade; so that he
+has gained by the exchange--I hope, both in pocket and in prudence. I
+have not heard any charge against him lately; and I do believe it was
+but a silly jest, which none but an Englishman would have ventured."
+
+Richard of Woodville smiled, but made no reply; and in a few minutes
+after, they reached the gates of the palace, from which he followed
+the Count of Charolois straight to the presence of Margaret of
+Bavaria, Duchess of Burgundy, whom they found in an inner chamber,
+surrounded by a small party of young dames and elderly knights,
+devising, as the term was in those days, upon some motto which had
+been laid before them.
+
+Amongst faint traces of what had once been great beauty, the
+countenance of the Princess displayed deep lines of thought and
+anxiety. She smiled kindly upon the young stranger, and seemed to him
+to examine his face with more attention than was ordinary, or,
+perhaps, altogether pleasant. She made no remark, however, but spoke
+of the Court of England with better information than her son had
+displayed, and, somewhat to the surprise of the young Englishman,
+evinced some knowledge of his own family and history; for, although
+the Court of Burgundy at this time held the place which that of the
+Count of Foix had formerly filled, and was the centre of all the news,
+and, we may say, of all the gossip in Europe--though its heralds and
+its minstrels made it their business, day and night, to collect all
+the tales, anecdotes, and rumours of every eminent person throughout
+the chivalrous world, Richard of Woodville was not aware of ever
+having done anything to merit such sort of notice.
+
+The conversation was soon turned to other subjects, and the Duchess
+was in the act of giving her son an account, in a jesting tone, of
+some visits which she had made that morning to several of the
+religious institutions of the town, when a page entered hastily,
+bearing a packet in his hand. Approaching direct to the Count of
+Charolois, he presented it on his knee, saying, "From my lord the
+Duke. The messenger sought you at the castle, sir, in haste, and then
+came hither."
+
+The Prince took it with an eager and anxious look, tore off the silk
+and seal without stopping to cut the cord that bound it, and then read
+the contents, with a countenance which expressed rather preconceived
+apprehension, perhaps, than emotion caused by the intelligence which
+the despatch contained. The Duchess of Burgundy remained seated, but
+gazed upon her son's face with a look more sad than alarmed; and it
+seemed to Richard of Woodville that, internally, she was meditating on
+the future course of that fair and noble youth, amidst all the many
+perils, cares, and griefs, which surrounded, in those days, the paths
+of princes, rather than even on the present dangers which might affect
+her husband.
+
+There is a tender timidity in the love of woman for her offspring,
+which is generated by none of the other relations of life. The
+husband, or the brother, or the father, is her stay and support--he is
+there to protect and to defend; and though she may tremble at his
+danger, or weep for his misfortune, there may be, and often is,
+some shade of selfish feeling in the dread and in the sorrow. Such
+is not the case with the child: it is for him she fears, not for
+herself,--for him entirely, with emotions unmixed, with devotion
+unalloyed. To save any other dear one, she might readily sacrifice
+life--from duty, from enthusiasm, from love. But it would still be a
+sacrifice, in any other case than that of her child: to save him, it
+would be an impulse.
+
+The Duchess gazed upon the young Count's face then with calm but sad
+consideration; and perhaps her own memories supplied somewhat too
+abundantly the materials for fancy to raise up, without aid, a sad
+model of the future. She knew that honour, or goodness, or even
+courage, cannot bring security; that innocence cannot escape malice;
+that virtue cannot insure peace; that wealth, and power, and a high
+name, are but as butts whereon to hang the targets at which the arrows
+of the world are aimed; and she feared for her son, seeing, with
+prophetic eye, the life of turmoil and contention and peril that lay
+before him.
+
+As soon as he had read the letter, the Count suffered his hand to drop
+by his side, and gazed upward for a moment or two in thought;--then,
+turning gracefully to his mother, he took her hand with a smile, from
+which was banished every trace or indication of the thoughts that he
+did not choose to communicate to those around, and saying, "Dear lady
+mother, we must take counsel," he led her away through a door which
+those who were acquainted with the palace knew must conduct them to
+the private cabinet of the Duchess.
+
+The party which remained behind was soon separated into different
+groups, some of the young nobles who had accompanied the Count taking
+advantage of the absence of the persons to whom they owed most
+reverence, for the purpose of saying sweet, whispered things to the
+fair dames of the Court; some gathering together to inquire of each
+other, and conjecture amongst themselves, what might be the nature of
+the tidings received; and two or three others, of either kinder or
+more pliant dispositions than the rest, seizing the opportunity of
+cultivating the friendship of the young Englishman. No great time was
+spent on these occupations, however; for before the Duchess and her
+son had been gone more than five minutes, the Count returned, and,
+looking round the circle, said, "Bad tidings scatter good company, my
+lords. I must ride this very night towards Lille. We will not strip
+our mother's court here of all her gallant knights and gentlemen,
+especially in this wise but somewhat turbulent city of Ghent. You,
+therefore, my lords of Croy, Joigny, St. George, Thyan, and Vergier,
+with what men are most ready of your trains, I beseech you to give me
+your fair company ere four of the clock; and you, Master Richard of
+Woodville, my good friend, if you be so minded, hasten your
+preparation, and join me at the castle by that hour. You may have
+occasion," he continued, in a low tone, taking the young Englishman
+by the arm, "to win the golden spurs, of which we have heard you
+were disappointed, by no fault of your own, at the battle of
+Bramham Moor. We shall be back in Ghent before the week be out--so
+you can leave your baggage here, if you so please. Away then, noble
+lords!--away!--for we have a long march before us, and, perhaps, a
+busy day to-morrow."
+
+All was in a moment the bustle and confusion of departure. The young
+Count turned and went back to the cabinet of his mother, as soon as he
+had spoken; the ladies of the Duchess rose; and, though some of them
+paused for an instant, to speak a word in private to those who were
+about to leave them, retired one by one. The old knights, and those
+who were to remain in Ghent, walked out to see their friends and
+comrades mount; and in less than five minutes the hall was cleared,
+and the court-yard nearly vacant.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+                            THE DEPARTURE.
+
+
+"We must to horse without delay, Ned," said Richard of Woodville, as
+he entered the inn.
+
+"Why, you have been to horse already, master of mine," replied Ned
+Dyram, in a somewhat sullen tone.
+
+"And must mount again, ere two hours be over," rejoined Woodville;
+"but where and how can I leave the baggage?"
+
+"Ay, who can tell that?" said the other. "See what it is to march
+loaded like a carrier's pack-horse, with more things than you can
+carry!--You are coming back soon, then, to Ghent?"
+
+"Ere the week be out," answered his lord; "so the Count tells me."
+
+"Pray, sir, never mind what Counts tell you," exclaimed Ned Dyram.
+"Mind what your own senses tell you. If you know where you are going,
+you can judge as well as a King when you may be back."
+
+"But that I do not know," replied Woodville, somewhat impatiently. "No
+more words, Master Dyram; but gather everything together into one
+chamber, and I will speak to the host as to its security."
+
+"Little security for a traveller's baggage in a foreign hotel,"
+rejoined Ned Dyram, "unless some one stays to take charge of it."
+
+"Then, by my honour, you shall be the man to do so," cried his master,
+thinking by leaving him behind when activity and enterprise were
+before him, to punish him sufficiently for his saucy tone.
+
+But Ned Dyram seemed not at all disappointed, and replied with an
+indifferent air, "I am very willing to stay. I am one who does not
+love journeys I know not whither, and expeditions I know not for
+what."
+
+"Well, then, you remain," answered his master. "Gather the things
+together, as I have said, and you shall be left like a trader's
+drudge, to look after the goods. Where is Ella Brune?"
+
+"In her own chamber, I fancy," replied Ned Dyram. "She has shut
+herself up there, ever since you were gone, like a nun."
+
+"Call her down hither to the eating-room," was his lord's reply; and
+Ned Dyram hastened away.
+
+The fair girl did not make her young protector wait long; and ere he
+had finished his directions to his train, to prepare all things for
+immediate departure, she was by his side. Taking her hand kindly, he
+led her into the common hall of the inn, and told her what he had
+discovered regarding her kinsman, adding, that as he was about to set
+out in a few hours with the young Count de Charolois, he would at once
+accompany her to the house of Nicholas Brune, in order to ascertain if
+she could have shelter and protection there.
+
+"I know not, my poor Ella," he said, "whether that dwelling may be one
+where you can safely and happily stop long; for this good man has been
+somewhat rash in his words, and is under suspicion of leaning to those
+heretical notions that are so rife; but I shall be back in a week, or
+less; and then you can tell me all that you think of the matter. You
+would not wish, I know, to remain with people who would seek to
+pervert you from the true Catholic faith."
+
+"And you are sure to return in a week?" asked the poor girl, her
+cheek, which had turned somewhat pale before, resuming its warm hue.
+
+"So the Count assures me," answered Woodville; "and I doubt it not,
+Ella; but, at all events, I will care for you, be assured, poor
+thing."
+
+"You tell me to put all the baggage in one room," said Ned Dyram,
+thrusting in his head; "and the men tell me that they are to have each
+his harness, and you yours. Two contrary orders, master of mine! Which
+is to be obeyed?"
+
+"Your wit is strangely halting just now, Ned," answered his master.
+"Put all, but what I have ordered to be taken, into the room, and see
+that it be arranged rightly, and quickly too. Now, Ella, cast
+something over your head, and come with me to your kinsman's shop.
+What wait you for, sir?"
+
+"To know which suit you are pleased to have," replied Ned Dyram; while
+Ella passed him to seek the wimple which she had cast off in the
+house.
+
+"I have given orders on that score to others," answered his master;
+and as the man retired, he murmured to himself, "I shall have to send
+that fellow back to the King. He does not please me."
+
+With a rapid step Richard of Woodville led the way, as soon as Ella
+joined him, to the wide open space which then, as since, was used as a
+market, before the old castle of the Counts of Flanders; and, as none
+of the shops or stalls bore their masters' names inscribed, he entered
+the first they came to, and inquired which was the house of Nicholas
+Brune?
+
+"His house," replied the man to whom he had addressed himself in
+French, "is at the other end of the town; but his shop is yonder," and
+he pointed with his hand from the door to one of the projecting cases,
+covered with a network of iron wire, under which the goldsmiths of
+Ghent at that period exposed some of their larger goods for sale. "The
+last stall but one," added the trader; and Woodville and his fair
+companion sped on towards the spot.
+
+At the unglazed window, behind this booth, stood a man of middle age,
+grey headed, but with a fresh and cheerful countenance, who, as soon
+as he saw the two approach, demanded, in the common terms of the day,
+what they sought in his trade. The next instant, however, his eye
+rested upon Ella's face, which wore a faint smile, and he exclaimed in
+his native tongue,--"Mesaunter! if there be not my cousin Ella! How
+art thou, lass? Welcome to Ghent! What news of the good old man? My
+dame will be right glad to see you both again."
+
+"She will never see him more," replied Ella Brune, in a sad tone; "but
+of that I will tell you hereafter, kinsman; for I must not stay this
+noble gentleman, who has befriended me on the way. What I seek to know
+is, if you can give me shelter at your dwelling for a week, till I can
+look around me? I will pay for my abiding, Nicholas," she added,
+perhaps knowing that her cousin, dealing in gold, had somewhat too
+great a fondness for the pure metal.
+
+But Nicholas Brune was in a generous mood; and he replied, "Shelter
+shalt thou have, fair Ella, and meat and drink, with right good will,
+for a week and a day, without cost or payment. If thou stayest with us
+longer, which God send, we will talk about purveyance. In the meantime
+I will thank this gentleman for his goodness to you. Why, by my tongs,
+I think I saw him riding this morning with my noble lord, the Count."
+
+"You did, most likely," replied Richard of Woodville, "for we passed
+by your door: but I have farther to ride to-night, Master Nicholas;
+and now, having seen this fair maiden safe under your protection, I
+will leave her there. But you had better send up some of your lads
+with speed to my hostel for the coffer that we brought, as, perchance,
+Ned Dyram would not let you have it, Ella, when I am gone."
+
+Ella Brune smiled, with an effort to keep up the light cheerfulness
+which she had lately assumed, and replied, "I think, noble sir, that
+Master Dyram is not a carl to refuse me aught I ask him; but yet if my
+kinsman can spare a boy, he had better go at once."
+
+"I will soon find one," answered the stout goldsmith; and, turning to
+a furnace-room, which lay behind his shop, he called one of his men
+forth, and bade him follow the gentleman back.
+
+The parting then came between Ella Brune and Richard of Woodville; and
+bitter was the moment to the poor minstrel girl. She had learned a
+world of new sensations since she first saw him;--that clinging
+attachment, which made her long never to be absent from his side for a
+whole day; that tender regard which made her dread to see him depart,
+lest evil should befal him by the way; that love which is full of
+fears for the beloved that we never feel for ourselves. But no one
+could have told that there were any emotions in her bosom but respect
+and gratitude, unless the transitory look of deep grief that crossed
+her face, as she bent down her head to kiss the hand he gave her,
+could have been seen. It was gone as soon as she raised her eyes
+again; and her countenance was bright and cheerful, when he said--
+
+
+             "Again my will although I wende,
+                I may not alway dwellen here,
+              For everything shall have an ende,
+                And frendes are not ay ifere:"
+
+
+and, skilled in all the lore of old ballads, almost as much as
+himself, she answered at once, from that beautiful song of the days of
+the Black Prince--
+
+
+             "For frendship and for giftes goode,
+                For mete and drink so grete plentie,
+              That lord that raught was on the roode,
+                He kepe the comeli companie.
+
+             "On sea or lande where that ye be,
+                He governe you withouten greve;
+              So good disport ye han made me,
+                Again my will, I take my leve."
+
+
+And, after again kissing his hand, she let him depart, keeping down by
+a great effort the tears that struggled to rise up into her eyes. But
+she would not for the world have suffered one weak emotion to appear
+before her kinsman, whose character she knew right well, and over whom
+she proposed at once to assume an influence, which could only be
+gained by the display of a firm and superior mind.
+
+"And who may that young lord be, pretty Ella?" asked Nicholas Brune:
+"he seems to take great heed of you, dear kinswoman, and is evidently
+too high a bird to mate with one of our feather."
+
+"Mate with me!" answered Ella, in a scornful tone. "Oh, no! cousin
+mine. He will mate, ere long, with one of the sweetest ladies within
+the shores of merry England, who has been most kind to me too. He is a
+friend of the King; and when poor old Murdock Brune, my grandsire, and
+your uncle, was killed, by a fiend of a courtier trampling him under
+his horse's feet, that gentleman, who saw the deed, threw the monster
+back from his horse, and afterwards represented my case to the King,
+who punished the man-slayer, and sent me fifty half-nobles."
+
+Nicholas Brune was affected in two very opposite ways by Ella's words.
+"My uncle killed by a courtier!" he exclaimed at first, with his eyes
+flashing fire. "What was his name, maiden--what was his name?"
+
+"Sir Simeon of Roydon," answered Ella Brune; and seeking a scrap of
+parchment and a reed pen, the goldsmith wrote down the name, as if to
+prevent it from escaping his memory. But the moment after his mind
+reverted to another part of Ella's speech. "Fifty half nobles!" he
+exclaimed, taking a piece of gold out of a drawer, and looking at it.
+"That was a princely gift, indeed, Ella; and you owe the young
+gentleman much gratitude for getting it for you."
+
+"I owe him and his fair lady-love more than I can ever repay, for many
+an act beside," answered Ella Brune; "but I am resolved, my good
+kinsman, that I will discharge part of the debt of gratitude, if not
+the whole. I have a plan in my head, cousin--I have a plan, which I
+know not whether I will tell you or not."
+
+"Take counsel!--always take counsel!" answered the goldsmith.
+
+"I want none, fair kinsman," replied Ella; "I need neither counsel nor
+help. My own wit shall be my counsellor; and as I am rich now, I can
+always get aid when I want it."
+
+"Rich!" said Nicholas;--"what, with fifty half-nobles, pretty maid? It
+is a heavy sum, truly, but soon spent."
+
+"Were that all," rejoined Ella, "I should not count myself very rich;
+but I have more than that, cousin--enough to dower me to as gay a
+citizen as any in Ghent. But here seem a number of gallants gathering
+round the gate of the Graevensteen. I will back into the far part of
+the shop, and we will talk more hereafter."
+
+While this conversation had been going on between Nicholas and Ella
+Brune, Richard of Woodville, followed by the goldsmith's man, had
+hurried back to the inn, and directed Ned Dyram to deliver over the
+coffer belonging to the minstrel girl, which had been brought, not
+without some inconvenience, on the back of one of the mules that
+carried his own baggage. The young gentleman did not remark that, in
+executing this order, Ned Dyram questioned the lad cunningly; and
+busy, to say sooth, in paying his score to the host, and making his
+final preparations for departure, he forgot for the time his fair
+companion of the way, quite satisfied that she was safe and
+comfortable under the roof of her kinsman.
+
+Some time before the hour appointed, Woodville was in the court of the
+old castle, with his men armed and mounted, in very different guise
+from their peaceful habiliments of the morning. He contented himself
+with sending in a page to inform the Count that he was ready, and
+remained standing by his horse's side; while several of those who had
+been chosen by the young Burgundian Prince as his companions, entered
+through the old gate, and paused to admire, with open eyes, the
+splendid array of the English band, each man armed in plate of the
+newest and most approved form, according to his degree, and each
+bearing, slung over his shoulder, the green quiver, filled with the
+fatal English arrows, which turned so often the tide of battle in the
+olden time.
+
+After having waited for about ten minutes, the page whom Woodville had
+sent came back, and conducted him into the castle, where, in a suite
+of rooms occupying the basement story of one of the towers, he found
+the young Count, armed and ready to mount. "Here is your lodging after
+our return," said the Prince, rapidly. "I wished to show it to you ere
+we set out: these four chambers, and one above. Your horses must be
+quartered out. And now, _my friend_, let us to the saddle: the rest
+have come, I think." And, speeding through the passages to the
+court-yard, he welcomed gracefully the gentlemen assembled, sprang upon
+his horse's back, and, followed by his train, rode out over the private
+bridge belonging to the castle, bending his steps upon the road to the
+French frontier.
+
+The Count himself, and the small body that accompanied him, amounting
+in all to about a hundred men, were all armed after the heavy and
+cumbersome fashion of those days; and each of the several parties of
+which the troop was composed, had with them one or two led horses or
+mules, loaded with spare arms and clothing. Considering weight and
+incumbrances, they moved forward at a very rapid rate--certainly not
+less than seven miles an hour; and pausing nowhere but to give water
+to the horses, they had advanced nearly eight leagues on their way ere
+nightfall. A few minutes after, through the faint twilight which
+remained in the sky, Richard of Woodville perceived some spires and
+towers rising at a short distance over the flat country before them;
+and, on his asking one of the gentlemen, with whom he had held a good
+deal of conversation during their journey, what town it was that they
+were approaching, the reply was, "Courtray."
+
+Here the Count of Charolois stopped for about an hour; but, while the
+horses and most of his attendants contrived to obtain some very
+tolerable food, the young Prince neither ate nor drank; but, with a
+mind evidently anxious and disturbed, walked up and down the hall,
+occasionally talking to Richard of Woodville, the only one who
+exercised the same abstinence, but never mentioning either the end or
+object of their journey.
+
+A little after eight o'clock the whole party were in the saddle once
+more, and, judging from the direction which they took as they issued
+forth from the gates of Courtray, the gentleman who had been the young
+Englishman's principal companion on the road informed him that they
+must be going to Lille. In about two hours and a half more, that city
+was seen by the light of the moon; and, after causing the gates to be
+opened, the Count took his way through the streets, but did not direct
+his course to the chateau usually inhabited by the Flemish Counts.
+Alighting at the principal hostelry of the place, he turned to the
+gentlemen who followed, saying, "Here we must wait for the first news
+that to-morrow may bring. Make yourselves at ease, noble lords. I am
+tired, and will to bed."
+
+Without farther explanation, he retired at once with his personal
+attendants; and his followers proceeded to amuse themselves as best
+they might. Richard of Woodville remained with his comrades of the
+road for about an hour, and, during that time, much of the rough
+asperity of fresh acquaintance was brushed away. He then followed the
+example of the young Count, in order to rise refreshed the next
+morning.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+                     THOSE WHO WERE LEFT BEHIND.
+
+
+The morning after the departure of Richard of Woodville dawned clear
+and bright upon the city of Ghent; and the hour of seven found a small
+party assembled in a neat wooden house, not many yards within the
+Brabant gate, at the cheerful meal of breakfast. With dagger in hand
+and hearty good will, Nicholas Brune was hewing away at a huge capon,
+which, with a pickled boar's head, formed the staple of the meal,
+helping his good buxom dame and Ella Brune to what he considered
+choice pieces, and praising the fare with more exuberance than
+modesty, considering that he was the lord of the feast.
+
+Madame Brune, as we should call her in the present day, but known in
+Ghent by a more homely appellation, which may be translated "Wife
+Brune," was a native of the good city; and, by his marriage with her,
+Nicholas had not only obtained a considerable sum of money, but also
+various advantages, which placed him nearly, if not altogether, on a
+footing with the born citizens;--so that, for his fair better half, he
+had great respect and devotion, as in duty bound. For Ella his
+reverence had been greatly increased, by finding that she was endowed
+with a quality very engaging in his opinion--namely, wealth; for the
+sum which she possessed, though but a trifle in our eyes, was in those
+days no inconsiderable fortune, as I have already taken the liberty of
+hinting.
+
+I must not, however, do the worthy goldsmith injustice, and suffer the
+reader to believe that, had Ella appeared poor and friendless, as he
+had last seen her, Nicholas Brune would have shown her aught but
+kindness; for he was a good-hearted and right-minded man; but it is
+not attributing too much to the influence of the precious metals in
+which he worked, to admit that, certainly, he always took them into
+account in computing the degree of respect which he was bound to pay
+to others. He would not have done any dishonest or evil act to obtain
+a whole Peruvian mine, if such a thing had been within the sphere of
+his imagination; but still, the possession of such a mine would have
+greatly enhanced, in the eyes of Nicholas Brune, the qualities of any
+one who might chance to be its proprietor. The only thing, indeed,
+which puzzled him in the present instance was, how his old uncle could
+assume the garb of a wandering, and not generally respected race, when
+he had by him a sum which set him above all chance of want. At first
+he fancied that the old man's love of music--which was to him, who did
+not know one note from another, a separate marvel--might have been the
+motive: the ruling passion strong in death. But then he thought that
+good old Murdock might have made sweet melody just as well in his own
+house, as in wandering from court to court, and fair to fair; but
+immediately after, remembering the old man's peculiar religious
+notions, with which he was well acquainted, he concluded that zeal, in
+which he could fully sympathize, must have been the cause of conduct
+that seemed so strange. This was an inducement he could understand;
+for, though on no other points was he of an enthusiastic and vehement
+character, yet he was so in matters of faith; and if he could have
+made up his mind to any sort of death, it would have been that of a
+martyr; but, to say truth, he could not bring himself to prefer any
+way of leaving the world, and thought one as disagreeable as another.
+Thus he arrived at the conclusion, that his uncle was quite right in
+using any means to conceal both his wealth and his religion.
+
+However, as I have said, he viewed Ella with a very placable
+countenance,--invited her to eat and drink; and, as his mind reverted
+to what she had said, in regard to paying for her food and lodging, he
+treated it with a mixture of jest and argument, which showed her that
+he would receive something, though not too much.
+
+"Why, my fair cousin," he said, when she recurred to the subject, "in
+this good town of Ghent, all is at so base a price that men live for
+nothing, and are expected to sell their goods for nothing, I can tell
+you. Now, look at that capon; a fatter one never carried its long legs
+about a stack of corn, and yet it cost but six liards. You would pay a
+sterling, or may be two, for such a one in London; and here you might
+get a priest as fat to sing a mass for the same money. God help the
+mummers!"
+
+Ella, however, replied, that she would settle her share with his dame
+for so long as she stayed, and was proceeding to let her good-humoured
+cousin into some of her views and intentions, foreseeing that she
+might need his countenance and assistance, when the outer door opened,
+and, after a knock at that of the room in which they sat, Ned Dyram
+entered, to inquire after his fair companion of the way. Ella knew not
+whether to be pleased or sorry to see him; but surprised she certainly
+was; for she had thought he was far away from Ghent with his lord. The
+cause of these contrary emotions was simply, that she felt little
+pleasure in the man's society, and less in the love that he professed
+towards her, and yet, having made up her mind to take advantage of the
+passion he experienced or affected, to work out her own purposes, she
+saw that his remaining in Ghent might greatly facilitate her views.
+But the game she had to play was a delicate one, for she had resolved,
+for no object whatsoever, to give encouragement to his suit; but
+rather, to leave him to divine her wishes, and promote them if he
+would, than ask aught at his hands.
+
+Though carried on by that eager and enthusiastic spirit which lingers
+longer in the breast of woman than in that of man: from which, indeed,
+everything in life tends to expel it--his own wearing passions, his
+habits of indulgence, the hard lessons of experience, and the checks
+of repeated disappointment--yet she felt somewhat alarmed at the new
+course before her. Perhaps she was not quite sure, though the end
+ever in view was high and noble, self-devoted, and generous, that the
+means were right. To have followed Richard of Woodville through the
+world--to have watched over him as a guardian spirit--to have
+sacrificed for his sake, and for his happiness, all, anything, peace,
+security, comfort, and even her own fame--I do not say her own
+honour--she would not have scrupled; but she might ask herself at that
+moment, whether it was right and just to sport with the love of
+another--to use it for her purpose--even to suffer it, when she knew
+that it could never be returned. And yet woman's eye is very keen; and
+that selfishness, which frequently bears such a large share in man's
+love, was so apparent to her view in all Dyram's actions, that she
+could not but feel less compunction for suffering him to pamper
+himself with hopes, than if he had been of a nobler and a higher
+nature.
+
+Whatever were the ideas that crossed her mind, and kept her silent for
+a moment, they rapidly passed away; and when her cousin, after gazing
+at the intruder for an instant, asked who he was and what he wanted,
+she answered for him, in a gay tone, affecting the coquettish airs
+then very common in a higher class, "Oh! he is a servant of mine,
+Nicholas--vowed to the tip of my finger. I do not intend ever to have
+him; but if the poor creature is resolved to sigh at my feet, I must
+e'en let him. Pray you, give him welcome. What news, servant? How is
+it that you have not followed your lord?"
+
+"Because," replied Ned Dyram, "I loved best to stay with my lady."
+
+"Nay," answered Ella Brune, "call me not _your_ lady. You are my
+servant, but I am yours not at all, either as lady or servant. You
+have not yet merited such grace."
+
+In this light and jesting tone she continued to treat him; and though
+perhaps such conduct might have repelled a more sensitive and delicate
+lover, with Ned Dyram it but added fuel to the fire. Each day he came
+to visit--each day returned with stronger passion in his heart. Jest,
+indeed, which was far from natural to her character or to her feelings
+at the time, Ella could not always keep up: though great and stern
+resolution is often the source of a certain bitter mirth at minor
+things. But in every graver moment she spoke to Dyram of Richard of
+Woodville and of Mary Markham--for as yet she knew her by no other
+name. She did so studiously, and yet so calmly and easily, that not
+the slightest suspicion of the real feelings in her heart ever crossed
+the mind of her hearer. Of Mary, she told him far more than he had
+hitherto gathered from his companions in Woodville's train, and dwelt
+long upon her beauty, her gentleness, her kindness. Following closely
+her object, she even found means to hint, one day, a regret that she
+had not been permitted to follow the young Englishman on his
+expedition.
+
+"What would I have given," she said, "to have had your chance of going
+with him; and yet you chose to remain behind!"
+
+"Indeed, fair Ella!" he exclaimed; "what made you so anxious to go?"
+
+"Nay," answered the girl, with a mysterious look, "do you expect me to
+tell you my secrets, bold man? I would give a chain of gold, however,
+to be able to follow your master about the world for just twelve
+months, if it could be done without risking my own fair fame. Oh! for
+one of those fairy girdles that made the wearer invisible!"
+
+"Methinks you love him, Mistress Ella," replied Ned Dyram, more from
+pique than suspicion.
+
+But Ella answered, boldly and at once, though he had touched the wound
+somewhat roughly.
+
+"Yes, I do love him well!" she answered; "and I have cause, servant of
+mine. But it is not for that. I have a vow; I have a purpose; and
+though they must be executed, I know not well how to do so. I ought
+not to have left him, even now."
+
+"I dare say he would have taken you, if you had asked him!" replied
+the man.
+
+"And what would men have said?" demanded Ella. "What would you have
+thought yourself--what might your young lord have thought--though he
+is not so foolish as yourself? Most likely you would all have done me
+wrong in your fancies. No, no!--if I go, it must be secretly. But
+there, get you gone; I will tell you no more."
+
+"Nay, tell on, sweet Ella!" exclaimed Ned Dyram; "and perhaps I may
+aid you."
+
+"Get you gone, I say!" replied Ella Brune. "I will tell you no more,
+at least for the present. You help me!--Why, were I to trust to you
+for help in such a matter as this, should I not put myself entirely in
+your power?"
+
+"But I would never misuse it, Ella," answered Ned Dyram.
+
+"No, no!" she exclaimed; "I will never put myself in any man's power,
+unless I suffer him to put a ring upon my finger; and then, of course,
+I am as much his slave as if he had a ring round my neck. There, leave
+me! leave me! You may come again to-morrow, and see if I am in a
+better mood. I feel cross to-day."
+
+Ned Dyram retired; but he was destined to return before the day was
+over, and to bring her tidings, which, however unpleasant in
+themselves, rendered his coming welcome. As he took his way back
+towards the inn, just at the corner of the Vendredi market-place, he
+met a party of travellers, and heard the English tongue; but he took
+little heed, for his thoughts were full of Ella Brune; and he had
+passed half across the square, when one of the horsemen rode after
+him, and said his lord desired to speak with him. Ned Dyram looked up,
+and at once remembered the man's face. For reasons of his own,
+however, he suffered not the slightest trace of recognition to appear
+on his own countenance. As the horseman spoke in English, he replied
+in the same tongue, asking who was his master, and what he wanted?
+
+"He is an English knight," replied the servant; "and what he wants he
+will tell you himself."
+
+"But I am not fond of trusting myself in English knights' hands,"
+answered Ned Dyram; "they sometimes use one badly: so tell me his
+name, or I do not go."
+
+"His name is Sir Simeon of Roydon," replied the man: "a very good
+name, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I will go to him," replied Ned Dyram. "He used to be about
+the Court, when I was a greater man than I am now;" and he walked
+straight up to the spot where Sir Simeon of Roydon had halted his
+horse, and lowly doffed his bonnet as he approached.
+
+"My knave tells me," said the knight, "that you are a servant of the
+King's. Is it so?"
+
+"It was so once, sir," replied Ned Dyram; and then added, looking
+round to the servant who had followed him, "So, it was he who told
+you: I do not remember him!"
+
+"Perhaps not," answered the knight; "but you came up with him once,
+when he was following a young woman in whom I take some interest. Do
+you know where she is now?"
+
+"It may be so," replied Ned Dyram; "but I talk not of such things in
+the street, good sir."
+
+Simeon of Roydon paused and mused, gazing in the man's face the while.
+"Whom do you serve now?" he demanded, at length.
+
+"Why, I am employed by no one, at present," said Ned Dyram; not
+exactly telling a falsehood, but implying one.
+
+"Well, then, come to me to-night, some time after sunset," rejoined
+Sir Simeon, "and we will speak more. You know the convent of the
+Dominicans; I am to lodge there, for the prior is my cousin. Ask for
+Sir Simeon of Roydon, or the English knight, and the porter will show
+you my lodging."
+
+"At the Dominicans!" cried Ned Dyram; "why, you are not going thither
+now--at least, that is not the way."
+
+"Is it not?" exclaimed the knight. "Why this fellow agreed to guide
+me;" and he pointed to a man in the dress of a peasant, who
+accompanied them.
+
+"Then he is guiding you wrong," replied Ned Dyram. "Go straight up
+that street, follow the course of the river to the left, and, when you
+have passed the second bridge, turn up to the right, cross the Lys,
+and you will see the Dominicans right before you. He was taking you to
+the Carmelites."
+
+"Well, don't fail to come," rejoined Sir Simeon of Roydon; and he then
+rode on, pouring no very measured abuse upon the head of his guide.
+
+The moment he was gone, Dyram hurried back to Ella Brune; and a long
+and eager conversation ensued between them, of a very different tone
+and character from any which had taken place before. Ella was obliged
+to trust and to confide in him, to tell her reasons for abhorring and
+shrinking from the sight of one whom her evil fortune seemed
+continually to bring across her path, and to consult with him on the
+means to be employed for the purpose of concealing her presence in
+Ghent from Roydon's eyes, and of discovering what chance had brought
+him to the same city so soon after herself.
+
+Nothing, perhaps, could have given Dyram more satisfaction than this
+result. The new relations which it established between Ella and
+himself--the opportunities which it promised of serving, assisting
+her, and laying her under obligations--the constant excuse which it
+afforded for seeing her, and consulting with her on subjects of deep
+interest to herself--were all points which afforded him much
+gratification. But that was not all: he fancied that he saw the means
+of obtaining a power over her--a command as well as an influence.
+Vague schemes presented themselves to his mind of entangling her in a
+chain that she could not break--of binding her to himself by ties that
+she could not shake off--and of using the haughty and vicious knight,
+whose character he easily estimated, from the information now given
+him by Ella, as a tool for the accomplishment of his own purposes. I
+have said that these schemes were vague; and perhaps they might never
+have taken any more definite a form, had not other events occurred
+which led him to carry them out almost against his own will. Man, in
+the midst of circumstances, is like one in a Daedalian labyrinth, where
+a thousand paths are ready to confound him, a thousand turnings to
+lead him to the same end, and that end disappointment; while but one,
+of all the many ways, can reach the issue of success.
+
+That night, soon after sunset, Dyram stood before the gate of the
+Dominican monastery, and, ringing the bell, asked the porter for the
+lodging of Sir Simeon of Roydon. It was evident to him that orders had
+been given for his admission, for, without any inquiry, he was
+immediately shown to a small chamber, where he found the knight alone.
+A curious contest of the wits then ensued, for the knight was shrewd,
+and had determined, if it were within the scope of possibility, to
+gain from Ned Dyram all the information he could afford; and Dyram, on
+the contrary, had resolved to give none but that which suited his
+purpose. Both were keen and cunning men; neither very scrupulous; each
+selfish in a high degree, though in a somewhat different line; and
+both eager and fiery in pursuit of their objects.
+
+The first question of the knight to Ned Dyram was, what had brought
+him to Ghent?
+
+"I came hither," he replied, at once, "with Master Richard of
+Woodville."
+
+The knight's brow was covered by a sudden cloud, and he demanded, in a
+sharp tone, "Is he here now?--Are you his servant, then?"
+
+"He is not here now," answered the man; "he has gone on with the Count
+de Charolois, and did not think fit to take me with him any further."
+
+"Then you are out of employment?" asked the knight.
+
+"For the present, I am," said Ned Dyram; "but I shall soon find as
+much as I want. I am never at a loss, sir knight."
+
+"That is lucky for yourself," replied Simeon of Roydon; and then
+abruptly added, "Will you take service with me?"
+
+"No!" answered Dyram, bluntly. "I will take service with no one any
+more. I was not meant for a varlet. I can do better things than be the
+serving-man of any knight or noble."
+
+"What can you do?" demanded Roydon, with a somewhat sarcastic smile.
+
+"What can I not?" exclaimed Dyram. "I can read better than a
+priest--write better than a clerk. I can speak languages that would
+make your ears tingle, without understanding what you heard. I can
+compound all essences and drugs; I can work in gold, silver, or iron;
+and I know some secrets that would well nigh raise the dead."
+
+"Indeed!" said the knight. "Then you must be a monk, or a doctor of
+Oxford."
+
+"Neither," replied the man; "but I see you disbelieve me. Shall I give
+you a proof of what I can do?"
+
+"Yes," answered Sir Simeon; "I should like to see some spice of your
+skill."
+
+"In what way shall it be," asked Ned Dyram. "If you will order up some
+charcoal, with this little instrument and these pinchers I will make
+you a chain to go round your wrist out of a gold noble; or, if there
+be a Greek book in the monastery, I will read you a page therefrom,
+and expound it, in the presence of whom you will, as a judge; for well
+I wot you yourself know nothing about it."
+
+"Nor wish to know," replied the knight; "but I will have neither of
+these experiments; the one would be too long, the other too tedious.
+You said that you had secrets that would well nigh raise the dead. I
+have heard of such things, and I should like to see them tried."
+
+"Would you not be afraid?" asked Ned Dyram.
+
+"No!--Why?" answered Sir Simeon of Roydon. "The dead cannot hurt me."
+
+"Assuredly," said Ned Dyram; "but yet, when we call for those who are
+in their graves, we can never surely tell who may come. It is not
+always the spirit we wish that answers to our voice; and that man's
+heart must be singularly free, who, in the days of fiery youth, has
+done no deed towards the silent and the cold, that might make him
+shrink to see them rise from their dull bed of earth, and look him in
+the face again."
+
+"I am not afraid," said Roydon, after a moment's thought. "Do it if
+you can."
+
+"Nay, I said I had secrets that would _well nigh_ raise the dead,"
+answered Ned Dyram. "I neither told you that they would, nor that I
+was willing."
+
+"Ha! it seems to me you are a boaster, my good friend," exclaimed the
+knight, with a sneer. "Can you do anything in this sort, or can you
+not?"
+
+"I am no boaster, proud knight," replied Ned Dyram, in an angry tone,
+"and I only say what I am able to perform. 'Tis you that make it more
+than I ever did say; but if you would know what I can do, I tell you I
+can raise the dead for my own eye, though not for yours. That last
+great secret I have not yet obtained; but I trust ere long to do so;
+and as you are incredulous, like all other ignorant men, I will give
+you proof this very night."
+
+"But how shall I know, if I do not see the shapes myself?" demanded
+Sir Simeon of Roydon.
+
+"I will tell you what I behold," rejoined the man, "and you must judge
+for yourself. Those whom I call up shall all have some reference to
+you. Have you a mirror there?"
+
+"Yes," replied the knight; and while he rose to search for one, Dyram
+strewed some small round balls upon the table, jet black in colour,
+and apparently soft. The knight brought forward one of the small,
+round, polished mirrors of the day, which generally formed part of the
+travelling apparatus of both sexes in the higher class; and, setting
+it upright, Dyram brought each of the little balls for a single
+instant to the flame of the lamp, and laid them down before the
+mirror. A thin white smoke, of a faint, but delicate odour, instantly
+rose up and spread through the room, producing a feeling of languor in
+those who breathed the perfume, and giving a ghastly likeness to all
+things round; and, kneeling down before the table, Ned Dyram gazed
+into the glass, pronouncing several words in a strange tongue,
+unintelligible to the knight. The moment after his eyes opened wide,
+and seemed almost starting from his head; and the knight exclaimed
+eagerly, "What is it you see?"
+
+"I see," replied the man, "a gentleman in a black robe seated at a
+table; and he looks very sad. He is young and handsome, too, with
+coal-black hair curling round his brow."
+
+"Has he no mark by which I can distinguish him?" asked the knight.
+
+"Yes," answered Dyram; "but it matters not for him, as I see he is
+amongst the living. It is the absent who generally come first, and
+then the dead. However, here's a scar upon his right cheek, as if from
+an old wound."
+
+"Sir Henry Dacre!" murmured Roydon. "Try again, man--try again; and
+let it be the dead this time."
+
+Dyram pronounced some more words, apparently in the same language; and
+then a smile came upon his countenance. "A sweet and beautiful lady!"
+he said. "How proudly she walks, as if earth were not good enough to
+bear her! Ha! how is that?"--and, as he spoke, his face assumed a look
+of terror: his lip quivered, his eye stared; and the countenance of
+Sir Simeon of Roydon turned deadly pale.
+
+"What do you see?" demanded the knight, in a voice scarcely audible.
+"What do you see?"
+
+"She walks by a stream!" cried Dyram, in a terrible tone, "and the sun
+is just below the sky. Some one meets her, and they talk. He seizes
+her by the throat!--she struggles--he holds fast--he casts her into
+the river! Hark, how she shrieks! She sinks--she rises--she shrieks
+again! Oh God! some one help her!--she is gone!"
+
+All was silent in the room for a minute: and Ned Dyram, wiping his
+brow, as if recovering from some great excitement, gazed round him by
+the light of the lamp. Simeon of Roydon had sunk into a seat; and his
+face was so ashy pale, the lids of his eyes so tightly closed, that
+for a moment his companion thought he had fainted. The instant after,
+however, he murmured, "Ah! necromancer!" and then starting up,
+exclaimed, "What horrible vision is this? Who is it thou hast seen?"
+
+"Nay, I know not," answered Ned Dyram. "How can I tell? They spoke
+not;--'twas but a sight. But one thing is certain, that either the man
+or the woman is closely allied to you in some way."
+
+"What was he like?" demanded the knight, abruptly.
+
+"It was so dark when he came that I could not see him well," replied
+Dyram. "He was a tall, fair man; but that was all I saw. The lady was
+more clearly visible; for when she came, there was a soft evening
+light in the sky."
+
+"Why, fool, it has been dark these two hours," cried the knight.
+
+"Not in that glass," answered the other. "When she appeared first, it
+was a calm sunset, and I saw her well; but it speedily grew dark, and
+then I could descry nothing but her form, first struggling with her
+murderer, and then with the deep waters."
+
+"Her murderer!" repeated Simeon of Roydon--"her murderer! What was she
+like?"
+
+"A vain and haughty beauty, I should say," replied the man; "with dark
+hair, and seemingly dark eyes, a proud and curling lip, and----"
+
+"Enough, enough!" answered Simeon of Roydon, with resumed composure.
+"I know her by your description, and by the facts; but in the man you
+are mistaken--he was a dark man who did the deed, or suspicion belies
+him."
+
+"'Twas a fair man, that I saw," rejoined Dyram, in a decided tone; "of
+that, at least, I am sure, though the shadows were too deep to let me
+view his face distinctly. Shall I look again, to see any more, sir
+knight?"
+
+"No, no--it is sufficient!" cried Simeon of Roydon, somewhat sharply.
+"I see you have not overstated what you can do. Hearken to me; I will
+give you employment in your own way--much or little, as you like. I
+would fain hear more of this girl, Ella Brune--of where she is, what
+she is doing. I would fain find her--speak with her; but I am
+discomposed to-night. This lady that you saw but now was very dear to
+me; her sad fate affects me deeply even now. See, how I am shaken by
+these memories!" And in truth his hand, which he stretched forth to
+lay the mirror flat upon the table, trembled so, that he nearly let it
+fall. "But of this girl, Ella Brune," he continued: "have you known
+her long?--know you where she now is?"
+
+"Nay, I was but sent to bear her a letter from Richard of Woodville,
+and to counsel her from him, to go to York," replied Dyram. "Then, as
+to where she is, I cannot say exactly--not to a point, that is to say;
+but I can soon learn, if I am well entreated and well paid!"
+
+"That you shall be," rejoined the knight. "Come to me to-morrow early,
+and we will talk more. To-night I am unfit. Here is some gold for you
+for what you have done. Good night, good night!"
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXV.
+
+                           THE ENTERPRISE.
+
+
+The young Count of Charolois stood in the court-yard of the inn, about
+nine o'clock on the morning that followed his arrival in Lille, with a
+letter in his hand, and a countenance not altogether well pleased.
+There was a gentleman beside him, somewhat advanced in years, bearing
+knightly spurs upon his heels, and armed at all points but the head,
+the grey hair of which was partly covered with a small velvet cap, and
+to him the Prince spoke eagerly; while the various persons who had
+attended him from Ghent stood at a respectful distance, waiting his
+commands as to their future proceedings. Richard of Woodville had not
+remarked the old knight with the band before; and turning to one of
+the young nobles with whom he had formed some acquaintance, he asked
+who he was.
+
+"Why, do you not know?" exclaimed his companion. "That is Sir Walter,
+Lord of Roucq, one of our most renowned leaders. He has just arrived
+from Douay, they say; but the Count seems angry with that letter the
+courier brought him from Paris. Things are going ill there, I doubt,
+and we shall soon have a levy of arms. That Court is full of faitours
+and treachers--a crop of bad corn, which wants Burgundian hands to
+thin it."
+
+"I trust that you will permit a poor Englishman to put in a sickle,"
+said Woodville, laughing; "or at least to have the gleanings of the
+field."
+
+"Oh! willingly, willingly!" replied the young lord, with better wit
+than might have been expected. "I cannot but think your good
+sovereigns in England have but been hesitating till other arms have
+begun the harvest, in order to take full gleanings of that poor
+land--but see, the Count is looking round to us."
+
+"Hearken, my lords," said the Count. "It is my father's will that I
+should remain in Lille, while this noble knight rides on an expedition
+of some peril to the side of Tournay. He says the Lord of Roucq has
+men enough for what is wanted, and that some of you must abide with me
+here; but still I will permit any gentlemen to go who may choose to do
+so, provided a certain number stay with me; so make your election."
+
+The young nobles of Burgundy were rarely unwilling to take the field;
+but in the present instance, there were two or three motives which
+operated to make them in general decide in favour of staying with the
+Count of Charolois. In the first place, they knew of no enterprise
+that could be achieved on the side of Tournay which offered either
+glory or profit. There were a few bands of revolted peasantry and
+brigands in that quarter, whom the Count had threatened to suppress;
+but such a task was somewhat distasteful to them. In the second place,
+they were not insensible to the fact, that by choosing to stay with
+the Prince, they offered him an indirect compliment, which was
+especially desirable at a moment when he seemed angry at not being
+permitted to lead them himself; and, in the third place, the Lord of
+Roucq was inferior in rank to most of them, though superior in
+military reputation; and he was, moreover, known to be a somewhat
+strict disciplinarian, a quality by no means agreeable either to the
+French or Burgundian gentlemen.
+
+"I came to serve under you, my lord the Count," said the young Ingram
+de Croy; "and if you do not go, and I am permitted to choose, where
+you stay I will remain."
+
+The old Lord of Roucq gazed at him coldly, but made no observation;
+and the same feeling was found general, till the Count turned with a
+smile to Richard of Woodville, asking his choice.
+
+"Why, my noble lord," replied the young Englishman, "if I could serve
+you here, I should be willing enough to stay; but, as that is not the
+case, I had better serve you elsewhere; and wherever this good knight
+goes, doubtless there will be some honour to be gained under his
+pennon."
+
+Walter of Roucq still remained silent, but he did not forget the
+willingness of the foreign gentleman; and one very young noble of
+Burgundy, whose fortune and fame were yet to make, taking courage at
+Woodville's words, proposed to go also.
+
+"I have but few men with me, my lord the Count," he said, with the
+modesty which was affected, if not felt, by all young men in
+chivalrous times; "and, as you know, I have but small experience;
+wishing to gain which, I will, by your good leave, serve under the
+Lord of Woodville here, who, I think you said, had been already in
+several stricken fields, and was a comrade of the noble King of
+England."
+
+"King Henry calls him his friend, Monsieur de Lens, in his letter to
+me," replied the Count; "and I know he has gained _los_ in several
+battles, though I have been told that he was disappointed of his spurs
+at Bramham Moor (he did not pronounce the word very accurately);
+because such was the trust placed in his discretion, that he was sent
+to the late King just before the fight, when no one else could be
+trusted."
+
+Again Richard of Woodville marvelled to find his whole history so well
+known; but the Count went on immediately to add to the young
+Englishman's troop ten of his own men-at-arms. "You, Monsieur de Lens,
+brought seven, I think," he said; "so that will be some small
+reinforcement to your _menee_, my Lord of Roucq;" and drawing that
+gentleman aside, the Prince whispered to him for some moments.
+
+"Willingly, willingly, fair sir," replied the old knight, to whatever
+it was he said. "God forbid I should stay any noble gentleman anxious
+to do doughty deeds. He shall have the cream of it, and it shall go
+hard if I give him not the means to win the spurs. Monsieur de
+Woodville, I set out in half an hour. I will but have some bread and a
+cup of wine, and then am ready for your good company."
+
+But little preparation was needed, for all had been kept ready to set
+out at a moment's notice. Nevertheless, in the little arrangements
+which took place ere they departed, there sprang up between Richard of
+Woodville and the Lord of Lens what may be called the intimacy of
+circumstances. The young Burgundian, though brave, and well practised
+in the use of arms, was diffident, from inexperience, of more active
+and perilous scenes than the tilt-yard of his father's castle, or the
+jousting-lists in the neighbouring town; and he was well satisfied to
+place himself under the immediate direction of one who, like Richard
+of Woodville, had fought in general engagements, and served in regular
+armies. He had also some dread of the Lord of Roucq; but by fusing his
+party into the English gentleman's band, he placed another between
+himself and the severe old soldier, so that he trusted to escape the
+harsh words which their commander was not unaccustomed to use. To
+Woodville, then, he applied for information regarding every particular
+of his conduct; how he was to place his men, where he was to ride
+himself, and a thousand other particulars, making his companion smile
+sometimes at the timidity which he had personally never known, from
+having been accustomed, even in boyhood, to the troublous times and
+continual dangers which followed the usurpation of the throne by the
+first of the Lancasterian House.
+
+While they were conversing over these matters, one of the pages of the
+Count of Charolois joined them from the inn, and bade the English
+gentleman follow him to the Prince. The Count was alone in a small
+bed-room up stairs, and the temporary vexation which his countenance
+had expressed some time before, had now quite passed away. He met
+Richard with a laughing countenance, and, holding out his hand to him,
+exclaimed, addressing him by the name he had given him ever since
+their first interview, "God speed you, my friend. These rash nobles of
+ours have taken themselves in; and though stern old De Roucq does not
+wish it mentioned that he is going on such an errand, I would have you
+know it, that you may take advantage of opportunity. I love you better
+for going with him than staying with me, as you may well judge, when I
+tell you that his object is to meet my father, and guard him from
+Paris to Lille, if the Duke can effect his escape from the French
+court. My father would not have me come, for he is likely to be
+pursued, it seems; and he says in his letter, that should mischance
+befall him, while I remain in Lille there will still be a Duke of
+Burgundy to crush this swarm of Armagnac bees, even should they sting
+him to death. However, you must not tell De Roucq that I have given
+you such tidings; for if he knew it, he would scold me like a Nieuport
+fishwoman, with as little reverence as he would a horse-boy."
+
+"I will be careful, my good lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but
+if such be the case, had we better not have more men with us? Six or
+seven and twenty make but a small band against all the chivalry of
+France."
+
+"Oh! he has got two hundred iron-handed fellows beyond the gates,"
+replied the Prince. "But, hark! there is his voice. Quick! quick! you
+must not stay!" and hurrying down into the little square before the
+hostel, the young Englishman found the men drawn up, and the Lord of
+Roucq, with a page holding his horse, and his foot in the stirrup.
+
+"Ah! you are long, sir," said the old knight, swinging himself slowly
+up into the saddle. Nevertheless, Richard of Woodville was on
+horseback before him; for, laying his hand upon his charger's
+shoulder, he vaulted at once, armed at all points as he was, into the
+seat, and in another instant was at the head of his men.
+
+"A boy's trick!" said the old soldier, with a smile. "Never think,
+young gentleman, that you can make up for present delay by after
+activity: it is a dangerous fancy."
+
+"I know it, my good lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but I had to
+speak with my lord the Count before I departed."
+
+"Well, sir, well," answered the Lord of Roucq; and, wheeling round his
+horse, he gazed over the little band, marking especially the fine
+military appearance, sturdy limbs, and powerful horses of the English
+archers, with evident satisfaction. "Ah!" he said, "good stuff, good
+stuff! Have they seen service?"
+
+"Most of them," replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+"They shall see more, I trust, before I have done with them," rejoined
+the old knight. "Come, let us go. March!"--and, leading the way
+through the streets of Lille, a little in advance of the rest of the
+party, while Richard of Woodville and the young Lord of Lens followed
+side by side at the head of their men, he soon reached the gates of
+the city, without exchanging a word with any one by the way.
+
+"Why, this is strange," said the Lord of Lens to his companion, in a
+low voice, as they turned up towards the side of Douay, instead of
+taking the road to Tournay. "This is not the march that the Count said
+was laid out for us. The old man knows his road, I suppose?"
+
+"No fear of that," replied Richard of Woodville; "our business,
+comrade, is to follow, and to ask no questions. Perhaps there is
+better luck for us than we expected. Commanders do not always tell
+their soldiers what they are leading them to;" and turning his head as
+they came forth into the broad open road which extended to Peronne,
+through the numerous strong towns at that time comprised in the
+Flemish possessions of the House of Burgundy, he gave orders, in
+French and English, for his men to form in a different order--nine
+abreast. Some little embarrassment was displayed in executing this
+man[oe]uvre; and he had to explain and direct several times before it
+was performed to his satisfaction.
+
+The Lord of Roucq looked round and watched the whole proceeding, but
+made no observation; and, after proceeding for about two miles farther
+on the way, Woodville again changed the order of his men, when the old
+commander suddenly demanded, "What are you playing such tricks for?"
+
+"For a good reason, sir," replied Richard of Woodville; "I have men
+under me who have never been accustomed to act together--my own
+people, those of this young lord, and the men-at-arms of my lord the
+Count. I know not how soon you may call upon us for service, or what
+that service may be; and it is needful they should have some practice,
+that they may be alert at their work. I have learnt that, in time of
+need, it does not do to lose even a minute in forming line."
+
+"Ay, you Englishmen," replied the old lord, "were always better aware
+of that fact than we are. There would never have been a Cressy, if
+Frenchmen would have submitted to discipline. They will fight like
+devils; but each man has such an opinion of himself, that he will
+fight in his own way, forgetting that one well-trained man, who obeys
+orders promptly, is better than a hundred who do nothing but what they
+like themselves. Ride up and talk with me, young men; I do not see why
+we should not be friends together, though those satin jackets at Lille
+did not choose to march with old Walter de Roucq." After speaking with
+some bitterness of the turbulent spirit and insubordination which
+existed in all continental armies, the Lord of Roucq led the
+conversation to the military condition of England, and inquired
+particularly into the method, not only of training the soldiers of
+that country, but of educating the youths throughout the land to the
+early use of arms, which he had heard was customary there.
+
+"Ay, there is the difference between you and us," he said, when
+Woodville had explained the facts to him;--"you are all soldiers; and
+your yeomen, as you call them, are as serviceable as your knights and
+gentlemen. With us, who would ever think of taking a boor from the
+plough, to make a man-at-arms of him? No one dares to put a steel cap
+on his head, unless he has some gentle blood in his veins, though it
+be but half a drop, and then he is as conceited of it as if he were
+descended from Charlemagne. I have charge to give you, sir, the best
+occasions," he continued, still addressing Woodville, "and I will not
+fail; for I see you know what you are about, and will do me no
+discredit."
+
+"I beseech you, my good lord, to let me share them with him," said
+Monsieur de Lens; "I am as eager for renown as any man can be."
+
+"You will share them, of course, as one of his band," replied the old
+soldier, "and I doubt not, young gentleman, will do very well. I will
+refuse honour to no one who wins it;" and thus conversing, they rode
+on as far as Pont a Marq, where they found a large body of men-at-arms
+waiting for the old Lord of Roucq.
+
+Richard of Woodville remarked that they were most of them middle-aged
+men, with hard and weather-beaten countenances, who had evidently seen
+a good deal of service; but he observed also that--probably, from the
+unwillingness of the Burgundian nobility to submit to anything like
+strict discipline--there seemed to be few persons of distinction in
+the corps, and not one knight but the old Lord himself. Without any
+pause, the whole party marched on to Douay, the young Englishman
+losing no opportunity of exercising his men in such evolutions as the
+nature of the ground permitted, and many of the old soldiers of De
+Roucq watching his proceedings in silence, but with an attentive and
+inquiring eye.
+
+At Douay they halted for an hour and a half, to feed their horses and
+to take some refreshment; and then marching on, they did not draw a
+rein again till Cambray appeared in sight. Here all the party expected
+to remain the night; for Cambray, as the reader well knows, is a good
+day's march from Lille, especially for men covered with heavy armour,
+and for horses who had to carry not only the weight of their masters
+and their masters' harness, but steel manefaires, testieres, and
+chanfrons of their own. The orders of the commander, however, showed
+them, before they entered the gates, that such repose was not to fall
+to their lot, for he directed them to seek no hostel, but to quarter
+themselves, without dividing, in the market-place, and there to feed
+their beasts.
+
+"'Tis a fine evening," he said, "and you shall have plenty of food and
+wine; but we must march on, for an hour or two, at night, that we may
+be in time to-morrow. If we have more space than enough in the
+morning, why the destriers will be all the fresher."
+
+No one ventured to make any reply, though the men-at-arms of the Count
+of Charolois felt somewhat weary with their unwonted exertion, and
+would fain have persuaded themselves that their beasts could go no
+farther that night. Their leader, or vingtner, who held the rank of a
+sergeant of the present day, and usually commanded twenty men, went so
+far as to hint his opinion on this subject to Richard of Woodville;
+but the young Englishman stopped him in an instant, replying coldly,
+"If your horses break down we must find you others. We have nothing to
+do but to obey."
+
+The young Englishman took care, however, that the chargers of his
+whole party should have everything that could refresh them, and he
+spared not his own purse to procure for them a different sort of food
+from that which was provided for the rest. The crumb of bread soaked
+in water was a favourite expedient with the English of that day, as it
+is now with the Germans, for restoring the vigour of a wearied horse;
+and he made bold to dip the bread in wine, which, on those beasts that
+would take it, seemed to produce a very great effect.
+
+After halting for two hours, the march was renewed; and wending slowly
+onward, they reached the small town--for it was then a town--of
+Gonlieu, having accomplished a distance of nearly eighteen leagues. It
+was within half an hour of midnight when they arrived, and the good
+people of the place had to be roused from their beds to provide them
+with lodgings; but a party of two hundred men-at-arms was not in that
+day to be refused anything they might think fit to require; and, in
+the different houses and stables of the town, they were all at length
+comfortably housed.
+
+Richard of Woodville was not one of those men who require long sleep
+to refresh them after any ordinary fatigue; and though, with the care
+and attention of an Arab, he spent a full hour in inspecting the
+treatment of his horses before he lay down to rest, yet, after a quiet
+repose of about four hours and a half, he awoke, and instantly sprang
+from the pallet which had been provided for him. He then immediately
+roused the young Lord of Lens, who, with five or six others, slept in
+the same chamber; but the poor youth gazed wildly round him, at first
+seeming to have forgotten where he was; and it required a hint from
+his English friend, that the old Lord of Roucq was a man likely to be
+up early in the day, ere he could make up his mind to rise.
+
+Woodville and his companion had been in the stable about five minutes,
+and were just setting the half-awakened horse-boys to their work, when
+a voice was heard at the open door, saying, "This is well!--this is as
+it should be!" and, turning round, they saw the figure of the old
+knight moving slowly away to the quarters of another party.
+
+In an hour more, they were again upon the road; but their march was
+this day less fatiguing; and Woodville remarked that their veteran
+leader seemed to expect some intelligence from the country into which
+they were advancing; for at each halting place he caused inquiries to
+be made for messengers seeking him, and more than once stopped the
+peasantry on the road, questioning them strictly, though no one
+clearly seemed to understand his drift. He seemed, too, to be somewhat
+undecided as to his course, and talked of going on to Orvillers, or at
+least to Conchy; but he halted for the night, however, at Tilloloy,
+and quartered his men in that village and St. Nicaise.
+
+Woodville and his party were lodged in the latter, where also the old
+commander slept; but about three in the morning the young Englishman
+was roused by voices speaking, followed by some one knocking at a
+neighbouring door; and half-raised upon his arm, he was listening to
+ascertain, if possible, what was the cause of this interruption of
+their repose, when the door of the room was opened, as far as the body
+of one of the English yeomen, who slept across it, would permit.
+
+"Halloo! Master Woodville," said the voice of the Lord of Roucq. "Up,
+and to horse--your beasts are not broken down, I trust?"
+
+"They have had time to rest since six last night," replied Woodville,
+"and will be found as fresh as ever, for they feed well."
+
+"Like all true Englishmen," answered the old soldier. "Join me below
+in a minute; I have something to say to you."
+
+Dressing himself, and giving hasty orders for the horses to be fed and
+led out, the young Englishman went down to the ground-floor, where
+everything was already in bustle, and perhaps in some confusion. The
+Lord of Roucq was surrounded by several of his own officers, and was
+giving them orders in the sharp tones of impatience and hurry.
+
+"Ha! Sir Englishman," he exclaimed, as ho saw Woodville, "how long
+will it take you to be in the saddle?"
+
+"Half an hour," replied Richard of Woodville.
+
+"And these men want two hours!" cried the old leader. "Well, hark
+ye!"--and leading Woodville aside, he whispered, "'Tis as well as it
+is: there will be no jealousy. Get your horses out with all speed, and
+you shall have the cream of the affair, as I promised the young Count.
+You must know I am bound to meet our good Duke at Pont St. Maxence. He
+makes his escape from Paris this morning; and as he brings but four
+men with him, I fear there may be those who will try to stop him. His
+plan is, to go out to hunt with the King in the forest of Hallate, and
+there to be met by some one bringing him letters, as if from Flanders,
+requiring his hasty return. Then he will decently bid the King adieu,
+and ride away. I was in hopes to have had time enough to be near at
+hand with my whole force, to give him aid if they pursue or stay him,
+though he tells me in the packet just received, to meet him at Pont
+St. Maxence. However, it is as well that some should proceed farther;
+and if you can get the start of us, you can take the occasion."
+
+"I will not miss it," replied Woodville; "but two things may be
+needful--one, a letter to the Duke; and another, some one who knows
+the road and the forest."
+
+"What sort of letter?" demanded De Roucq, sharply. "What is the letter
+for?"
+
+"To call the Duke back to Flanders," replied Richard of Woodville. "I
+will be the person to deliver it, should need be."
+
+"Ay, that were as well," answered the old knight; "though doubtless he
+has arranged already for some one to meet him; yet no harm of two. It
+shall be written as if others had been sent before. I will call my
+clerk, for of writing I know nought."
+
+"In the meanwhile I will see for a guide," answered Woodville; and
+going forth, he inquired, amongst the attendants of the young Lord of
+Lens and the men-at-arms of the Count of Charolois, for some one who
+was acquainted with the forest of Hallate. One of the latter had been
+there in former days, and remembered something of the roads, with
+which amount of information Richard of Woodville was forced to content
+himself, trusting to meet with some peasant on the spot who might
+guide him better. He then gave orders for bringing out the horses
+without farther delay, and for charging each saddle with two feeds of
+corn; and returning to the Lord of Roucq, he found him dictating a
+letter, by the light of a lamp, to a man with a shaven crown. Before
+it was finished, for the style of the good knight was not fluent, the
+jingle of arms and the tramp of horses' feet were heard before the
+inn; and looking round, with a well-satisfied smile, the old soldier
+exclaimed, "Ha! this is well!--This is the way to win _los_. There,
+that will do, Master Peter; fold and seal it. Then for the
+superscription, as you know how."
+
+Some five minutes, however, were spent upon heating the wax, tying up
+the packet, and writing the address, during which time Richard of
+Woodville looked on with no small impatience, fearing that he might be
+forestalled by others in executing a task which promised some
+distinction. At length all was complete; and, taking the letter
+eagerly, he hurried out and sprang into the saddle.
+
+The Lord of Roucq added various cautions and directions, walking by
+the young Englishman's horse for some way through the village; but at
+length he left him; and putting his troop to a quicker pace, Woodville
+rode on towards Pont St. Maxence.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+                           THE ACHIEVEMENT.
+
+
+The forest of Hallate--of which the great forest of Chantilly, as it
+is called, is in fact but an insignificant remnant,--was, in the days
+of Philip of Valois, one of the most magnificent woods at that time in
+Europe, giving its name to a whole district, in the midst of which was
+situated the fine old palace and abbey of St. Christopher, or St.
+Christofle en Hallate, the scene of many of the most important
+transactions in French history. I do not find that the palace was much
+used in the reign of Charles VI.; and it was very possibly going to
+decay, though the abbey attached to it still remained tenanted by its
+monks, and the forest still afforded the sport of the chase to the
+French monarchs and their court, being filled with wolves, stags,
+boars, and even bears (if we may believe the accounts of the time),
+which were preserved with more care, from all but princely hands, than
+even the subjects of the Sovereign.
+
+The great variety of the ground--the hills, the dales, the fountains,
+the cliffs, that the district presented--the rivers that intersected
+it, the deep glades and wild savannahs of the forest itself--the
+villages, the towns, the chapels, the monasteries, which nestled
+themselves, as it were, into its bosom--the profound solitude of some
+parts, the busy cultivation of others, the desert-like desolation of
+certain spots, and the soft, calm monotony of seemingly interminable
+trees which was to be found in different tracts--rendered the forest
+of Hallate one of the most interesting and changeful scenes through
+which the wandering foot of man could rove. Whether he sought the city
+or the hermitage, whether the grave or the gay, whether the sun or the
+shade, here he might suit his taste; and the mutations of the sky, in
+winter, in summer, in morning, in evening, in sunshine, or in clouds,
+added new changes to each individual spot, and varied still farther a
+scene which in itself seemed endless in its variety.
+
+About three o'clock on the afternoon of a day in early May, with a
+cool wind stirring the air, and some light vapours floating across the
+heaven, a gentleman, completely armed except the head, with a lance on
+his shoulder, and a page carrying his casque behind him, rode slowly
+into one of the wide savannahs, following a peasant with a staff in
+his hand, who seemed to be showing him the way. His horse bore evident
+signs of having been ridden far that day, without much time for grooms
+to do their office in smoothing down his dark brown coat; but
+nevertheless, though somewhat rough and dusty, the stout beast seemed
+no way tired; and, to judge by his quick and glancing eye, his bending
+crest, and the eager rounding of his knee, as if eager to put forth
+his speed, one would have supposed that he had rested since his
+journey, and tasted his share of corn.
+
+"Ay, there is a piqueur of the hunt," said the gentleman, marking with
+a glance a man, clothed in green and brown, who stood holding a brace
+of tall dogs at the angle of one of the roads leading into the heart
+of the forest. "You have led us right, good fellow. There is your
+guerdon."
+
+The peasant took the money; and, as it was somewhat more than had been
+promised, made a low rude bow and stumped away; and the gentleman,
+turning to his page, beckoned him up.
+
+"Think you, Will, that you have French enough," he asked, in English,
+when the boy was close to him, "to tell them where we are, and what to
+do?"
+
+"Oh, I will make them understand," replied the page, with all the
+confidence of youth. "I picked up a few words in Ghent, and a few more
+as we came along; and what tongue wont do, hand and head must."
+
+"Well, give me the casque," said his master, "and you take my barret;"
+and receiving the _chapel de fer_ from the boy's hands, he placed it
+on his head, raised the visor till it rested against the crest, and
+rode slowly on towards the attendant of the chase, who, with all a
+sportsman's eagerness, was watching down the avenue attentively.
+
+"Good morning, my friend," said the gentleman in French.
+
+"Good afternoon, sir," answered the piqueur; for the vulgar are always
+very careful to be exact in their time of day. He did not look round,
+however, and the stranger went on to inquire if the King were not
+hunting in the forest.
+
+The man now turned and eyed the questioner. His splendid arms showed
+he was a gentleman; and he was alone, so that no treason could be
+intended. "Yes, sir," replied the piqueur; "I expect him this way
+every minute. Do you want to see him?"
+
+"Why, not exactly," said the stranger. "Some of the people told me the
+good Duke of Burgundy was with him; and, as it is he with whom I want
+to speak, if their report be true, it may save me a ride to Paris."
+
+"The good Duke is with the King," rejoined the man; "but s'life I know
+not whether he will be so long: for fortune alters favour, they say,
+and times have changed of late--though it is no business of mine, and
+so I say nothing; but the Duke was ever a friend to the Commons, and
+to the citizens of Paris more than all."
+
+"Have they had good sport to-day?" demanded Richard of Woodville; for
+doubtless the reader has already discovered one of the interlocutors
+in this dialogue. "'Tis somewhat late in the year, is it not,
+piqueur?"
+
+"Ay that it is, for sundry kinds of game," replied the man; "but there
+are some not out, and others just coming in; and we are obliged to
+suit ourselves to the poor old King's health. He is free just now from
+his black sickness, and would have had a glorious day of it, had not
+Achille, the subveneur, who is always wrong, and always knows better
+than any one else, mistaken which way the _piste_ lay. But hark! they
+are blowing the death: the beast has been killed, and not past this
+way, foul fall him. My dogs have not had breath to-day."
+
+"Then they will not come hither, I suppose?" said Richard of
+Woodville.
+
+"Oh, yes! 'tis a thousand chances to one they will," answered the man.
+"If they force another beast, they must quit that ground, and cross
+the road to Senlis; and if they return with what they have got, they
+must take the Paris avenue, so that in either case they will come
+here."
+
+While he spoke, there was a vast howling of dogs, and blowing of horns
+at some distance; and Woodville, trusting to the piqueur's sagacity
+for the direction the Court would take, waited patiently till the
+sounds accompanying the _curee_ were over, and then gazed down the
+avenue. In about ten minutes some horsemen began to appear in the
+road; and then a splendid party issued forth from one of the side
+alleys, followed by a confused crowd of men, horses, and dogs. They
+came forward at an easy pace, and Richard of Woodville inquired of his
+companion, which was the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+"What, do you not know him?" said the man, in some surprise. "Well,
+keep back, and I will tell you when they are near."
+
+The young Englishman, without reply, reined back his horse for a step
+or two, so as to take up a position beyond the projecting corner of
+the wood; and, while the piqueur continued gazing down the avenue,
+still holding his dogs in the leash, Woodville turned a hasty glance
+behind him, to see if he could discover anything of his page. The boy
+was nearer than he thought, but was wisely coming round the back of
+the savannah, where the turf was soft and somewhat moist, so that his
+approach escaped both the eyes and ears of the royal attendant, till,
+approaching his master's side, he said something which, though spoken
+in a low tone, made the man turn round. At the same moment, however,
+the first two horsemen passed out of the road into the open space; and
+immediately after, the principal party appeared.
+
+At its head, a step before any of the rest, came a man, seemingly past
+the middle age, with grey hair and a noble presence, but with cheeks
+channelled and withered, more by sickness and care than years. His eye
+was peculiarly clear and fine, and not a trace was to be seen therein
+of that fatal malady which devoured more than one-half of his days.
+His aspect, indeed, was that of a person of high intellect; and though
+his shoulders were somewhat bowed, and his seat upon his horse not
+very firm, there were remains of the great beauty of form and dignity
+of carriage, which had distinguished the unhappy Charles in earlier
+days.
+
+Close behind the King came a youth of eighteen or nineteen years of
+age, with a fine, but somewhat fierce and haughty countenance, a cheek
+colourless and bare, and a bright but haggard eye; and near him rode a
+somewhat younger lad, of a fresher and more healthy complexion, round
+whose lip there played ever and anon a gay and wanton smile. Almost on
+a line with these, were three or four gentlemen, one far advanced in
+years, and one very young; while the personage nearest the spot where
+Richard of Woodville sat, seemed still in the lusty prime of manhood,
+stout but not fat, broad in the shoulders, long in the limbs, though
+not much above the middle height. He was dressed in high boots, and
+long striped hose of blue and red, with a close-fitting pourpoint of
+blue, and a long mantle, with furred sleeves, hanging down to his
+stirrups. On his head he bore a cap of fine cloth, shaped somewhat
+like an Indian turban, with a large and splendid ruby in the front,
+and a feather drooping over his left ear. His carriage was princely
+and frank, his eye clear and steadfast, and about his lip there was a
+firm and resolute expression, which well suited the countenance of one
+who had acquired the name of John the Bold.
+
+"If that be not the Duke of Burgundy," said Richard of Woodville, to
+the piqueur, in a low tone, as the party advanced, "I am much
+mistaken."
+
+"Yes, yes," replied the man, nodding his head, "that is he, God bless
+him!--and that is the Duke of Aquitaine, the King's son, just before
+him. Then there is the Duke of Bavaria on the other side----"
+
+The young Englishman did not wait to hear enumerated the names of
+all the personages of the royal train, but, as soon as the King
+himself had passed, rode up at once to the Duke of Burgundy, who
+turned round and gazed at him with some surprise, while the young pale
+Duke of Aquitaine bent his brow, frowning upon him with an inquiring
+yet ill-satisfied look.
+
+"My lord the Duke," said Woodville, tendering the letter he had
+received from De Roucq, "I bear you this from Flanders."
+
+The Duke took it, and, without checking his horse, but merely throwing
+the bridle over his arm, opened the letter, and looked at the
+contents. "Ha!" he exclaimed, as he read--"Ha! I thank you, sir;" and,
+making a sign for Richard and his page to follow, he spurred on, and
+passed the two young Princes to the side of the King.
+
+"This gentleman, Sire," he said, displaying the letter, "brings me
+troublous tidings from my poor county of Flanders, which call for my
+immediate presence; and, therefore, though unwilling to leave you,
+royal sir, at a time when my enemies are strong in your capital and
+court, I must even take my leave in haste; but I will return with all
+convenient speed."
+
+The King had drawn his bridle, and, turning round, gazed from the Duke
+to Richard of Woodville, with a look of hesitation; but, after a
+moment's pause, he answered, with a cold and constrained air, "Well,
+Duke of Burgundy, if it must be so, go. A fair journey to you,
+cousin;" and without farther adieu, he gave a glance to his sons, and
+rode on.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy bowed low, and held in his horse while the royal
+party passed on, exchanging no very placable looks with the young Duke
+of Aquitaine, his son-in-law, and giving a sign to four or five
+gentlemen who were following in the rear, but immediately fell out of
+the train, and ranged themselves around him.
+
+"Who are you, sir?" demanded the Prince, turning to Woodville, while
+the King and his court proceeded slowly towards a distant part of the
+savannah, and, by the movements of different gentlemen round the Duke
+of Aquitaine, there seemed to be some hurried consultation going on.
+
+"An English gentleman, my lord, attached to the Count, your son,"
+replied Woodville, without farther explanation; but seeing that a
+number of men completely armed, who followed the principal body of
+courtiers, had been beckoned up, he added, "Methinks, fair sir, there
+is not much time to lose. Yonder is the way--I am not alone." Without
+reply, the Duke gave one quick glance towards the royal party, set
+spurs to his horse, and rode quickly along the road to which Woodville
+pointed. He had hardly quitted the savannah, and entered the long
+broad avenue, however, when the sound of a horse's feet at the full
+gallop came behind, and a voice exclaimed, "My lord, my lord the Duke!
+the King has some words for your ear."
+
+It was a single cavalier who approached; but the quick ear of Richard
+of Woodville caught the sound of other horse following, though the
+angle of the wood cut off the view of the royal train.
+
+"Good faith," answered the Duke, turning his head towards the
+messenger, but without stopping, "they must be kept for another
+moment. My business will have no delay." But, even as he spoke, he
+caught sight of a number of men-at-arms following the first, and just
+entering the alley in a confused and scattered line.
+
+"But you must, my lord!" exclaimed the gentleman who had just come up.
+"I have orders to use force."
+
+The Duke and his attendants laid their hands upon their swords; but
+Woodville raised his lance high above his head, and shook it in the
+air, shouting, "Ho, there!--Ho! Ride on, my lord, ride on! I will stay
+them."
+
+"Now, gold spurs for a good lance!" cried the Duke of Burgundy; "but I
+will not let you fight alone, my friend;" and, wheeling his horse, he
+formed his little troop across the road.
+
+"Ho, there! Ho!" shouted Woodville again; and instantly he heard a
+horn answering from the wood. "The first man is mine, my lord," he
+cried, setting his lance in the rest and drawing down his visor. "Fall
+back upon our friends behind: you are unarmed!" and, spurring on his
+charger at full speed, he passed the King's messenger, (who was only
+habited in the garments of the chase,) towards a man-at-arms, who was
+coming at full speed some fifty yards in advance of the party sent to
+arrest the Duke. His adversary instantly charged his lance likewise;
+no explanation was needed; and the two cavaliers met in full shock
+between the parties. The spear of the Frenchman struck right on
+Woodville's cuirass, and broke it into splinters; but the lance-head
+of the young Englishman caught his opponent on the gorget, and,
+without wavering in his seat, he bore him back over the croup to the
+ground. Then, wheeling rapidly, he galloped back to the Duke's side;
+while, at a brisk pace, but in perfect order, his band came up under
+the young Lord of Lens; and the English archers, springing to the
+ground, put their arrows to the strings and drew the bows to the ear,
+waiting for the signal to let fly the unerring shaft.
+
+"Hold! hold!" cried the Duke. "Gallantly done, noble sir!--you have
+saved me; but let us not shed blood unnecessarily;" and, casting his
+eye over Woodville's troop, he added, "We outnumber them far; they
+will never dare attack us."
+
+As he spoke, the men-at-arms of France paused in their advance, and
+some of the foremost, dismounting from their horses, raised the
+overthrown cavalier from the ground, and were seen unlacing his
+casque. At the same time, the gentleman who had first followed the
+Duke of Burgundy began quietly retreating towards his friends, and
+though the Duke called to him aloud to stop, showed no disposition to
+comply.
+
+"Shall I bring him back, noble Duke?" exclaimed the young Lord of
+Lens, eager to win some renown.
+
+"Yes, ride after him, young sir," said John the Bold.
+
+"Remember, he is unarmed," cried Richard of Woodville, seeing the
+youth couch his lance, and fearing that he might forget, in his
+enthusiasm, the usages of war.
+
+"You are of a right chivalrous spirit, sir," said the Duke, turning to
+the young Englishman. "Do you know, my Lord of Viefville, who is that
+gentleman, whom he unhorsed just now?"
+
+"The Count de Vaudemont, I think," replied the nobleman to whom he
+spoke. "I saw him at the head of the men-at-arms in the forest."
+
+"Oh, yes, it is he," rejoined another. "Did you not see the cross
+crosslets on his housings?"
+
+"A good knight and stout cavalier as ever couched a lance," observed
+the Duke of Burgundy. "The young kestrel has caught the hawk," he
+continued, as the Lord of Lens, riding up to him of whom he had been
+in pursuit, brought him back apparently unwillingly towards the
+Burgundian party.
+
+"Ah! my good Lord of Vertus," exclaimed John the Bold, "you have gone
+back with half your message. Fie! never look white, man! We will not
+hurt you, though we have strong hands amongst us, as you have just
+seen. Offer my humble duty to the King, and tell him that I should at
+once have obeyed his royal mandate to return, but that my affairs are
+very urgent, and that I knew not how long I might be detained to hear
+his royal will."
+
+"And what am I to say to our lord?" asked the Count de Vertus, "for
+Monsieur de Vaudemont, his son's bosom friend, overthrown by your
+people, and well-nigh killed, I fear?"
+
+"My daughter ought to be his son's bosom friend," replied the Duke,
+sharply, "but she is not, it seems; and as to Monsieur de Vaudemont,
+perhaps you had better tell the King that he was riding too fast and
+had a fall: it will be more to his credit than if you say, that he met
+a squire of Burgundy in fair and even course, and was unhorsed like a
+clumsy page; and now, my Lord of Vertus, I give you the good time of
+day. You said something about force just now; but methinks you will
+forget it; and so will I."
+
+Thus saying, the Duke turned his horse and rode away down the avenue;
+the English archers sprang upon their steeds again; and Richard of
+Woodville, beckoning the young Lord of Lens to halt, caused his whole
+troop to file off before him, and then with his companion brought up
+the extreme rear. A number of the French men-at-arms followed at a
+respectful distance, till the party entered the village of Fleurines,
+in the forest; but there, having satisfied themselves that there was
+no greater body of the men of Burgundy in the neighbourhood--which
+might have rendered the King's journey back to Paris somewhat
+dangerous--they halted and retired.
+
+The Duke had turned round to watch their proceedings more than once;
+nor did he take any farther notice of Richard of Woodville till the
+French party were gone. When they were no longer in sight, however, he
+called him to his side, and questioned him regarding himself.
+
+"I do not remember you about my son, fair sir," he said, "and I am not
+one to forget men who act as you have done to-day."
+
+"I have been in your territories, my Lord Duke, but a short time,"
+replied Richard of Woodville. "As I came seeking occasions of honour
+to the most chivalrous court in Europe, and as I was furnished with
+letters from my Sovereign to yourself, and to your son, vouching
+graciously for my faith, the Count was kindly pleased to give me a
+share in anything that was to be done to-day. Happening to be in the
+saddle this morning somewhat before the rest of the Lord of Roucq's
+troop, and my horses being somewhat fresher, the good old knight sent
+me on, thinking you might need aid before you reached the rendezvous
+you had given him."
+
+"Ay, he judged right," replied the Duke; "and had I known as much,
+when I wrote to him, as I learned yesterday, I would have had him at
+the gates of Paris; for my escape at all has been a miracle. They only
+put off arresting me or stabbing me in my hotel till the King returned
+from this hunting, in order to guard against a rising of the citizens.
+Have you this letter from King Henry about you?"
+
+"My page has it in his wallet, noble Duke," replied the young
+Englishman. "Will you please to see it?"
+
+John nodded his head, and, calling up the boy, Richard of Woodville
+took the letter from him, and placed it in the Prince's hands. The
+Duke opened and read it with a smile; then, turning to Woodville, he
+said, "You justify the praises of your King, and his request shall be
+attended to by me, as in duty bound. Men look to him, sir, with eyes
+of expectation, and have a foresight of great deeds to come. His
+friendship is dear to me; and every one he is pleased to send shall
+have honour at my hands for his sake. Ah! there is Pont St. Maxence,
+and the bright Oise. De Roucq is, probably, there by this time."
+
+"I doubt it not, my lord," answered Richard of Woodville; "he could
+not be far behind."
+
+"Who is that youth," demanded the Duke, "who seems your second in the
+band?"
+
+"One of your own vassals, noble sir," replied the English gentleman,
+"full of honour and zeal for your service, who will some day make an
+excellent soldier. He is the young Lord of Lens."
+
+"Ah!" said the Duke in a sorrowful tone, "I have bad news for him. His
+uncle Charles is a prisoner in Paris, taken out of my very house
+before my eyes; and I doubt much they will do him to death. Break it
+to him calmly this evening, sir. But see! here are several of good old
+De Roucq's party looking out for us. Methinks he would not have heard
+bad tidings of his Duke without riding to rescue him."
+
+Thus saying he spurred on, meeting, ere he reached Pont St. Maxence,
+one or two small bodies of men-at-arms, who saluted him as he passed,
+shouting "Burgundy! Burgundy!" and fell in behind the band of Richard
+of Woodville. The single street of the small town was crowded with
+people; and before the doors of the two inns which the place then
+possessed was seen the company of the Lord of Roucq, with the men
+dismounted, feeding their horses, but all armed, and prepared to
+spring into the saddle at a moment's notice.
+
+The approach of the Duke was greeted by a loud shout of welcome--not
+alone from his own soldiers, but also from the people of the town; for
+in the northern and eastern provinces of France, as well as in the
+capital, John the Bold was the most popular prince of the time. De
+Roucq immediately advanced on foot to hold his stirrup, but his Lord
+grasped him by the hand and wrung it hard, saying, "I am safe, you
+see, old friend--thanks to your care, and this young gentleman's
+conduct."
+
+"Ay, I thought he would do well," replied the old soldier, "for he is
+up in the morning early."
+
+"He has done well," said the Duke, dismounting; and, turning to
+Woodville, who had sprung from his horse, he said, "You rightly
+deserve some honour at my hands. Though we have no spurs ready, I will
+dub you now; and we will arm you afterwards at Lille. Kneel down."
+
+Richard of Woodville bent his knee to the ground before the crowd that
+had gathered round; and, drawing his sword, the Duke of Burgundy
+addressed to him, as usual, a short speech on the duties of chivalry,
+concluding with the words--"thus remember, that this honour is not
+alone a reward for deeds past, but an encouragement to deeds in
+future. It is a bond as well as a distinction, by which you are held
+to right the wronged--to defend the oppressed--to govern yourself
+discreetly--to serve your Sovereign Lord--and to be the friend and
+protector of women, children, and the weak and powerless. Let your
+lance be the first in the fight; let your purse be open to the poor
+and needy; let your shield be the shelter of the widow and orphan; and
+let your sword be ever drawn in the cause of your King, your country
+and your religion. In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George, I
+dub you knight. Be loyal, true, and valiant."
+
+At each of the last words he struck him a light stroke with the blade
+of his sword upon the neck; and the crowd around, well pleased with
+every piece of representation, uttered a loud acclamation as the young
+knight rose; and the Duke took him in his arms, and embraced him
+warmly. Old De Roucq, and the noblemen who had accompanied John the
+Bold from the forest, grasped the young Englishman's hand one by one;
+and the Duke, turning to the Lord of Lens, added, with a gracious
+smile, "I trust to do the same for you, young sir, ere long. In the
+meanwhile, that you may have occasion to win your chivalry, I name you
+one of my squires; and, by God's grace, you will not be long without
+something to do."
+
+The youth kissed his hand joyfully; and the Duke retired to the inn.
+Richard of Woodville paused for a moment to distribute some handfulls
+of money amongst the crowd, who were crying "Largesse" around, and
+then followed the old Lord of Roucq, to give him information of all
+that had taken place in the forest of Hallate, before they proceeded
+together to receive the farther orders of the Duke of Burgundy.[8]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 8: Some authors, and especially Monstrelet, represent the
+Duke of Burgundy as effecting his escape from the forest of Villeneuve
+St. George; but the reader of course cannot entertain the slightest
+doubt that the author of the present veracious history is, like all
+other modern historians and critics, better acquainted with the events
+of distant times than the poor ignorant people who lived in them.]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+                              A SUMMARY.
+
+
+All was bustle and activity throughout Flanders and Burgundy after the
+return of John the Bold from Paris. Night and day messengers were
+crossing the country from one town to another, and every castle in the
+land saw gatherings of men-at-arms and archers; while, across the
+frontier from France, came multitudes of the discontented vassals of
+Charles VI., pouring in to offer either service or council to the
+great feudatory, who was now almost in open warfare, if not against
+his Sovereign, at least against the faction into whose hands that
+Sovereign (once more relapsed into imbecility) had fallen. If,
+however, the country in general was agitated, much more so was the
+city of Lille, where the Duke prolonged his residence for some weeks.
+There, day after day, councils were held in the castle; and day after
+day, not only from every part of the Duke's vast territories, but also
+from neighbouring states, came crowds of his friends and allies. The
+people of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres sent their deputies; the Duke of
+Brabant, the Bishop of Liege, the Count of Cleves, appeared in person;
+and even the Constable of France, Waleran, Count of St. Paul, took his
+seat at the table of the Duke of Burgundy, and refused boldly to give
+up his staff to the envoys sent from Paris to demand it. The cloud of
+war was evidently gathering thick and black; and foreign princes
+looked eagerly on to see how and when the struggle would commence; but
+the eyes of both contending parties were turned anxiously to one of
+the neighbouring sovereigns, who was destined to take a great part, as
+all foresaw, in the domestic feuds of France. To Henry of England both
+addressed themselves, and each strove hard not only to propitiate the
+monarch, but to gain the good will of the nation. All Englishmen,
+either in France or Burgundy, were courted and favoured by those high
+in place; and Richard of Woodville was now especially marked out for
+honour by both the Duke of Burgundy and the young Count of Charolois.
+The latter opened his frank and generous heart towards one, with whose
+whole demeanour he had been struck and pleased from the first; and
+that intimacy which grows up so rapidly in troublous times, easily
+ripened into friendship in the daily intercourse which took place
+between them. They were constant companions; and more than once, after
+nightfall, Richard was brought by the prince to his father's private
+cabinet, where consultations were held between them, not only on
+matters of war and military discipline--for which the young English
+knight had acquired a high reputation, on the report of the old Lord
+of Roucq--but also on subjects connected with the policy of the
+English Court, regarding which the Duke strove to gain some better
+information from the frank and sincere character of Woodville than he
+could obtain elsewhere. But, as we have shown, Richard of Woodville
+could be cautious as well as candid; and he replied guardedly to all
+open questions, that he knew naught of the views or intentions of his
+Sovereign; but that he was well aware Henry of England held in high
+esteem and love his princely cousin of Burgundy, and would never be
+found wanting, when required, to show him acts of friendship. Farther,
+he said, the Duke must apply to good Sir Philip de Morgan, a man well
+instructed, he believed, in all the King's purposes.
+
+Both the Count of Charolois and his father smiled at this answer, and
+turned a meaning look upon each other.
+
+"You have shown me, Sir Richard," said the Duke, "that you really do
+not know the King's mind on such subjects. Sir Philip de Morgan was
+his father's most trusted envoy; but is his own envoy not the most
+trusted? It is strange, your monarch's conduct in some things. He has
+added to his agents at our poor Court, a noble and wise man whom his
+father hated."
+
+"Because, my most redoubted lord," replied the young knight, "he
+judges differently, and is differently situated from his father. Henry
+IV. snatched the crown, as all men know, from a weak and vicious king,
+but found that those, who once had been his peers, were not willing to
+be his subjects. Though a mighty, wise, and politic prince, his life
+was a struggle, in which he might win victories indeed, and subdue
+enemies in the field, but he raised up new traitors in his own heart,
+new enemies within himself--I mean, my lord, jealousies and
+animosities. Our present King comes to the throne by succession; and
+his father has left him a crown divested of half its thorns. His
+nurture has been different too: never having suffered oppression, he
+has nothing to retaliate; never having struggled with foes, he has no
+fear of enmity. People say in my land, that one man builds a house and
+another dwells in it. So is it with every one who wins a throne; he
+has to raise and strengthen the fabric of his power, only to leave the
+perfect structure to another."
+
+The Duke leaned his head upon his hand, and thought profoundly.
+Ambitious visions, often roused by the very name of Henry IV., were
+reproved by the moral of his life; and though John the Bold might not
+part with them, he turned his thoughts to other channels, and strove
+to learn from Richard of Woodville the character and disposition of
+the English sovereign, if not his intentions and designs. On those
+points, the young knight was more open and unreserved. He painted the
+monarch as he really was, laughed when the Prince spoke of his
+youthful wildness, and said, "It was but a masking face, noble Duke,
+put on for sport, and, like a mummer's vizard, laid aside the moment
+it suited him to resume himself again. Those who judge the King from
+such traits as these will find themselves wofully deceived;" and he
+went on to paint Henry's energies of mind in terms which--though the
+Duke might attribute part of the praise to young enthusiasm--still
+left a very altered impression on the hearer's mind in regard to the
+real character of the English King.
+
+I have said that these interviews took place more than once, and also
+that they generally took place in private; for the Duke did not wish
+to excite any jealousy in his Burgundian subjects; but, on more than
+one occasion, several of the foreign noblemen who had flocked to the
+Court of Lille were present, and between the Count of St. Paul and
+Woodville some intimacy speedily sprung up. The Count, irritated by
+what he thought injustice, revolved many schemes of daring resistance
+to the Court of France. He thought of raising men, and, as the ally of
+Burgundy, opposing in arms the Armagnac faction and the Dauphin; he
+thought of visiting England, and treating on his own part with Henry
+V.; and from the young English knight he strove to gain both
+information and assistance. There was in that distinguished nobleman
+many qualities which commanded esteem, and Woodville willingly gave
+him what advice he could; and yet he tried to dissuade him from being
+the first to raise the standard of revolt, pointing out that, although
+the state of mind of the King of France, and the absence of all legal
+authority in those who ruled, might justify a Prince so nearly allied
+to the royal family as the Duke of Burgundy, in struggling for a share
+of that power which he saw misused, especially as he was a sovereign
+Prince, though feudatory for some of his territories to the crown of
+France, yet an inferior person could hardly take arms on his own
+account without incurring a charge of treason, which might fall
+heavily on his head if the Duke found cause ultimately to abstain from
+war.
+
+The Count listened to his reasons, and seemed to ponder upon them; and
+though no one loves to be persuaded from the course to which passion
+prompts, he was sufficiently experienced to think well of one who
+would give such advice, however unpalatable at the moment.
+
+Thus passed nearly a month from the day on which the young Englishman
+quitted Ghent; and so changeful and uncertain were the events of the
+time, that he would not venture to absent himself from the Court of
+Burgundy even for an hour, lest he should miss the opportunity of
+winning advancement and renown. In that time, however, he had gained
+much. He was no longer a stranger. The ways and habits of the Court
+were familiar to him; he was the companion of all, and the friend of
+many, who, on his first appearance, had looked upon him with an evil
+eye; and many an occurrence, trifling compared with the great
+interests that were moving round, but important to himself, had taken
+place in the young knight's history. The ceremony of being armed a
+knight was duly performed, the Duke fulfilling his promise on the
+first occasion, and completing that which had been but begun at Pont
+St. Maxence. Yet this very act, gratifying as it was to one eager of
+honour, was not without producing some anxiety in the mind of the
+young Englishman. Such events were accompanied with much pageantry,
+and followed by considerable expense. Hitherto, all his charges had
+been borne by himself, and he saw his stock of wealth decreasing far
+more rapidly than he had expected. Though apartments had been assigned
+to him in the Graevensteen at Ghent, none had been furnished him in
+the castle of Lille; and no mention was made of reimbursing him for
+anything he had paid.
+
+One day, however, early in June, he was called to the presence of the
+Duke, and found him just coming from a conference with the deputies of
+the good towns of Flanders. The Prince's face was gay and smiling; and
+as he passed along the gallery towards his private apartments, he
+exclaimed, turning towards some of his counsellors, "Let no one say I
+have not good and generous subjects. Ha! Sir Richard," he continued,
+as his eye fell upon the young Englishman, "go to the chamber of my
+son--he has something to tell you."
+
+Richard of Woodville hastened to obey; but the Count de Charolois was
+not in his apartment when he arrived, and some minutes elapsed before
+the young Prince appeared. When he came at length, however, he was
+followed by three or four of his men bearing some large bags,
+apparently of money, which were laid down upon the table in the
+anteroom.
+
+"Get you gone, boys," said the Count, turning to his pages; "and you,
+Godfrey, see that all be ready by the hour of noon. Now, my friend,"
+he continued, as soon as the room was clear, "I have news for you,
+and, I trust, pleasant news too. First, I am for Ghent, and you may
+accompany me, if you will."
+
+"Right gladly, my lord the Count," replied Richard of Woodville; "for,
+to say truth, almost all my baggage is still there, and I have
+scarcely any clothing in which to appear decently at your father's
+court. I have other matters, too, that I would fain see to in Ghent."
+
+"Some fair lady, now, I will warrant," replied the Count, laughing; "I
+have marked the ruby ring in your basinet; but, faith, we have more
+serious matters in hand than either fine clothes or fair ladies. I go
+to raise men, sir knight, and you have a commission to do so likewise.
+My father would fain have you swell your company to fifty archers,
+taught and disciplined by your own men. The more Englishmen you can
+get the better, for it seems that you are famous for the bow in your
+land; but our worthy citizens of Bruges are not unskilful either."
+
+"Good faith, my lord," replied Richard of Woodville, "I know not well
+how to obey the noble Duke's behest; for my riches are but scanty, and
+'tis as much as I can do to maintain my band as it is."
+
+"Ha! are you there, my friend?" said the young Prince, with a smile.
+"Well, you have borne long and patiently with our poverty; but the
+good towns have come to our assistance now, and we will acquit our
+debt. One of these bags is for you, and you will find it contains
+wherewithal to pay you what you have spent, to reward your archers
+according to the rate of England, which is, I believe, six sterlings
+a day, for the month past--to pay them for three months to come, and
+to raise your band, as I have said, to fifty men. You will find
+therein one thousand _fleurs-de-lys_ of gold, or, as we call them,
+_franc-a-pieds_, each of which is worth about forty of your
+sterlings."
+
+"Then there is much more than is needful, my good lord," replied the
+young knight. "One-half of that sum would suffice."
+
+"Exactly," replied the Count; "but no one serves well the House of
+Burgundy without guerdon, my good friend. My father knighted you
+because you had done well in arms, both in England and in his
+presence; but knighthood is too high and sacred a thing to be made a
+reward for any personal benefit rendered to a prince. My father would
+think that he degraded that high order, if he conferred it even for
+saving him from death or captivity, as you were enabled to do. For
+that good deed therefore he gives you the rest; and I do trust that
+ere long you will have the means of winning more."
+
+Richard of Woodville expressed his thanks, though, with the ordinary
+chivalrous affectation of the day, he denied all merit in what he had
+done, and made as little of it as possible. There was one difficulty
+in regard to increasing his band, however, which he had to explain to
+the young Count, and which arose from the promise he had given his own
+Sovereign, of holding himself ready to join him at the first summons.
+But that was speedily obviated, it being agreed that in case of his
+services being demanded by King Henry, he should be at liberty to
+retire with the yeomen who then accompanied him, and that the rest of
+the troop about to be raised, should, in that case, be placed under
+the command of any officer the Duke might appoint.
+
+As was then customary, a clerk was called in, and an indenture drawn
+up, specifying the terms on which the young knight was to serve in the
+Burgundian force, the number of the men-at-arms and archers which he
+was to bring into the field, the pay they were to receive, the arms
+and horses with which they were to appear, and even the Burgundian
+cloaks, or huques, which they were to wear. A copy was taken and
+signed by each party; and fortunate it was for Richard of Woodville,
+that the young Count suggested this precaution. The usual clauses
+regarding prisoners were added, reserving the persons of kings and
+princes of the blood from those whom the young knight might put to
+ransom as his lawful captives; but the Count specifically renounced
+his right to the third of the winnings of the war, which was not
+unusually reserved to the great leader with whom any knight or squire
+took service.
+
+All these points being settled, Richard of Woodville hurried back to
+the inn, called the Shield of Burgundy, where he and his men were
+lodged, and prepared to accompany the Count to Ghent. When he returned
+to the castle, with his men mounted and armed, he found the court-yard
+full of knights, nobles, and soldiery, all ready to set out at the
+appointed hour; and for a time he fancied that the young Prince might
+be going to Ghent with a larger force than the good citizens, jealous
+of their privileges, would be very willing to receive; but, as soon as
+the trumpet sounded, and the whole force marched out over the
+drawbridge into the streets of Lille, the seven or eight hundred men,
+of which the party consisted, separated into different bands, and each
+took its own road. One pursued its way towards Amiens, another towards
+Tournay, another towards Cassel, another towards Bethune, another
+towards Douay; and the Count and his train, reduced to about a hundred
+men, rode on in the direction of Ghent, which city they reached about
+four o'clock upon the following day.
+
+Except the Lord of Croy, between whom and the young Englishman a good
+deal of intimacy had arisen, the Count de Charolois was accompanied by
+no other gentleman of knightly rank but Richard of Woodville; and, as
+that high military station placed him who filled it on a rank with
+princes, those two gentlemen were the young Count's principal
+companions on the road to Ghent, and received from him a fuller
+intimation of his father's designs and purposes than had been
+communicated to them before they quitted Lille. All seemed smiling on
+the fortunes of Richard of Woodville; the path to wealth and renown
+was open before him, and he might be pardoned for giving way to all
+the bright visions and glowing expectations of youth.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+                        THE FRIEND ESTRANGED.
+
+
+Trumpet and timbrel were sounding in the streets of Ghent; the people,
+in holiday costume, were thronging bridge and market-place; the
+procession of the trades was once more afoot, with banners displayed;
+the clergy were hurrying here and there with cross and staff, and all
+the ensigns of the Romish Church. It was a high holiday; for the young
+Count had given notice, immediately on his arrival, that he would be
+ready an hour before compline, which may be considered about six
+o'clock in the evening, to receive the honourable corps of the good
+town, in order to return them thanks, in the name of his father, for
+the liberal aid they had granted him in a time of need; and flushed
+with loyalty to their Prince--well, I wot, a somewhat unusual
+occurrence--and with a full sense of their own meritorious sacrifices,
+each man pressed eagerly to be one of the deputies who were to wait
+upon the Count; and, if that might not be, to go, at least, as far as
+the palace gates with those who were to be admitted.
+
+All the nobles who had accompanied the Count from Lille were present
+in the great hall of the Cours des Princes, where the reception was to
+take place, except, indeed, Richard of Woodville. He, soon after he
+had arrived, had begged the Count's excuse for absenting himself from
+his train; and, hurrying to the inn where he had left Ned Dyram, with
+his horses and baggage, he dismounted from his charger, and cast off
+his armour.
+
+To his inquiries for his servant, the host replied, that he had not
+been there since the morning, and, indeed, seldom appeared there all
+day; but Woodville seemed to pay little attention to this answer; and,
+merely washing the dust from his face and neck, set out at a hurried
+pace on foot.
+
+He thought that he knew the way to the place which he intended to
+visit well, though he had only followed it once; and passing on, he
+was soon out of the stream of people that was still flowing on towards
+the palace. But he found himself mistaken in regard to his powers of
+memory; long tortuous streets, totally deserted for the time, lay
+around him; tall houses, principally built of wood, rose on every
+side, throwing fantastic shadows across the broad sunshine afforded by
+the sinking sun; and when he at length stopped a workman to ask his
+way, the man spoke nothing but Flemish, and all that Woodville had
+acquired of that tongue was insufficient to make the artisan
+comprehend what was meant.
+
+Leaving him, the young knight walked on, guided by what he remembered
+of the direction in which the house of Sir John Grey lay; for it is
+hardly needful to tell the reader that thither his steps were bent,
+when suddenly a cavalcade of some five or six horsemen appeared,
+coming at a slow pace up the street; and the tall graceful figure of a
+man somewhat past the middle age, but evidently of distinguished rank,
+was seen at their head. The garb was changed; the whole look and
+demeanour was different; but even before he could see the features,
+Richard of Woodville recognised the very man he was seeking, and,
+hurrying on to meet him, he advanced to his horse's side.
+
+Sir John Grey gazed on him coldly, however, as if he had never seen
+him before; and Woodville felt somewhat surprised and mortified, not
+well knowing whether the old knight's memory were really so much
+shorter than his own, or whether fortune, with Mary's father, had
+possessed the power it has over so many, to change the aspect of the
+things around, and blot out the love and gratitude of former days, as
+things unworthy of remembrance.
+
+"Do you not know me, Sir John Grey?" he asked: "if so, let me recal to
+your good remembrance Richard of Woodville, who brought you tidings
+from the King, and also some news of your sweet daughter."
+
+"I know you well, sir," replied the knight; "would I knew less. I hear
+you have acquired honour and renown in arms. God give you grace to
+merit more. I must ride on, I fear."
+
+His manner was cold and distant, his brow grave and stern; but
+Woodville was not one to bear such a change altogether calmly, though,
+for his sweet Mary's sake, he laid a strong constraint upon himself.
+
+"I know not, Sir John Grey," he said, "what has produced so strange a
+change in one, whom I had thought steadfast and firm: whether calmer
+thought and higher fortunes than those in which I first found you, may
+have engendered loftier views, or re-awakened slumbering ambition, so
+that you regret some words you spoke in the first liberal joy of
+renewed prosperity; but----"
+
+"Cease, sir, cease!" exclaimed the old knight. "I should indeed
+regret those words, could they be binding in a case like this.
+Steadfast and firm I am, and you will find me so; but not loftier
+views or re-awakened ambition has made the change, but better
+knowledge of a man I trusted on a fair seeming. But these things are
+not to be discussed here in the open street, before servants and
+horseboys. You know your own heart--you know your own actions; and if
+they do not make you shrink from discussing what may be between you
+and me--"
+
+"Shrink!" cried Richard of Woodville, vehemently; "Why should I
+shrink? shrink from discussing aught that I have done. No, by my
+knighthood! not before all the world, varlets or horseboys, princes or
+peers: I care not who hears my every action blazoned to the day."
+
+"But I do, sir," replied Sir John Grey; "for the sake of those dear to
+us both--for your good uncle's sake, and for my child's."
+
+"You are compassionate, Sir John!" said Woodville, bitterly; but then
+he added, "yet, no; you are deceived. I know not how, or by whom, but
+there is some error, that is very clear. This I must crave leave to
+say, that I am fearless of the judgment of mortal man on aught that I
+have done. Sins have we all to God; but I defy the world to say that I
+have failed in honour to one man on earth."
+
+"According to that worldly code of honour we once spoke of, perhaps
+not," replied Sir John Grey.
+
+"According to what fastidious code you will," said the young knight.
+"I stand here willing, Sir John Grey, to have each word or deed sifted
+like wheat before a cottage door. I know not your charge, or who it is
+that brings it; but I will disprove it, whatever it be, when it is
+clearly stated, and will cram his falsehood down his throat whenever I
+know his name who makes it."
+
+"Ha, sir! Is it of me you speak?" demanded the knight, somewhat
+sharply.
+
+"No, Sir John," replied Woodville, "you are to be the judge; for
+you," he added, with a sorrowful smile, "hold the high prize. But it
+is of him who has foully calumniated me to you; for that some one has
+done so I can clearly see; and I would know the charge and the
+accuser--here, now, on this spot--for I am not one to rest under
+suspicion, even for an hour."
+
+"You speak boldly, Sir Richard of Woodville," answered Sir John Grey,
+"and, doubtless, think that you are right, though I may not; for I am
+one who have long lived in solitude, pondering men's deeds, and
+weighing them in a nicer balance than the world is wont to use.
+However, as I said before, this is no place to discuss such things;
+but as it is right and just that each man should have occasion to
+defend himself, I will meet you where you will, and when, to tell you
+what men lay to your charge. If you can then deny it, and disprove it,
+well. I will not speak more here. See! some one seeks your attention."
+
+"Whatever it is that any man on earth accuses me of," replied the
+young knight, without attending to Sir John Grey's last words, "I am
+ready ever to meet boldly, for my heart is free. As you will not give
+me this relief I ask even now, it cannot be too soon. I will either go
+with you at once to your own house--"
+
+"No, that must not be," cried the other, hastily.
+
+"Or else," continued Woodville, "I will meet you two hours hence, in
+the hostel called the Garland, on the market place. What would you,
+knave?" he added, turning suddenly upon some one who had more than
+once pulled his sleeve from behind, and beholding Ned Dyram.
+
+"I would speak with you instantly, sir knight," replied Dyram, "on a
+matter of life and death."
+
+"Shall it be so, sir?" Richard of Woodville continued, looking again
+to Sir John Grey, who repeated, thoughtfully, "In two hours--"
+
+"Sir, will you listen to me?" exclaimed Dyram, in great agitation.
+"Indeed you must. There is not a moment to lose. I tell you it will
+bear no delay. If you would save her life, you must come at once."
+
+"Her life!" cried Woodville, in great surprise. "Whose life? Of whom
+do you speak, man?"
+
+"Of whom? of Ella Brune, to be sure," replied Dyram. "If you stay
+talking longer, you leave her to death."
+
+Sir John Grey, with a bitter smile, shook his bridle, and, striking
+his heel against his horse's flank, rode on.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+                            THE BETRAYER.
+
+
+The writer must retread his steps for a while, to show the events
+which had taken place in the city of Ghent since Ned Dyram and Sir
+Simeon of Roydon were last seen upon the stage. Whether the reader may
+think fit to do so or not must depend upon himself. All that the
+author can promise is, that he will be brief, and merely sketch the
+conduct of the personages left behind till he brings them up with the
+rest.
+
+The arrival of Sir Simeon of Roydon in Ghent spread the same terror
+through the heart of poor Ella Brune that the appearance of a hawk
+produces in one of the feathered songsters of the bush or clouds. Had
+Richard of Woodville been there, she would have felt no apprehension;
+for to him she had accustomed herself to look for protection and
+support, with that relying confidence, that trust in his power, his
+wisdom, and his goodness, which perhaps ought never to be placed in
+man, and which is never so placed but by a heart where love is
+present. Had she been even in London, her terror would have been less;
+for even in those days--although they were dark and barbarous,
+although tumult and riot, civil strife and contention, injustice
+and wrong would, as we all know, take place in every different
+country--the peculiar character of the English people, the homely
+sense of justice and of right, which has been their chief
+characteristic in all ages, was sufficiently strong to render this
+island comparatively a land of security. Though there might be persons
+to oppress and injure, yet there were generally found some kind hearts
+and generous spirits to support and protect; and in short, there were
+more defences for those who needed defence than in any state in
+Europe.
+
+Very different, however, was the case in Ghent, especially for a
+stranger; and Ella Brune well knew that it was so. She was aware that
+deeds could be done there boldly and openly, which in England would
+require cunning concealment and artful device, even for a chance of
+success; and the consequence was, that she kept herself immured within
+the walls of her cousin's dwelling, never venturing forth, even to
+breathe the air, but at night, and striving to make her companionship
+during the day prove as pleasant as possible to the worthy dame of
+Nicholas Brune. To her and to him she communicated the cause of her
+apprehensions; and it is but justice to the good folks to say, that
+they entered warmly into her feelings, and did all that they could to
+mitigate her alarm and give her encouragement. But Ella Brune, in
+answer to all assurances of safety, constantly replied, that she
+should never feel secure till Richard of Woodville had returned; and,
+as it was already beyond the period at which he had promised to be
+back, she looked for his appearance every day.
+
+From such subjects sprang many a discussion between her and her good
+cousin, as to her future conduct. "Why, you know, my pretty Ella," he
+would say, "you could not go wandering after this gay young gentleman,
+over all the world; mischief would come of it, be you sure. Men are
+not to be trusted, nor pretty maidens either. We have all our weak
+moments; and if no harm happen to you, your fair fame would suffer.
+Men would call you his leman."
+
+"Ay, that is what I fear," answered Ella Brune, "and that only; for
+though most men are not to be trusted, he is. But at all events," she
+continued, willing gently to remove all objections to the plan she was
+determined to pursue, "he might carry me safely with him to Burgundy,
+or to Liege, as he brought me here."
+
+Nicholas Brune shook his head; and Ella said no more at that time; but
+gradually she put forward the notion of obviating all difficulties and
+objections, by assuming some disguise; and on that her good cousin
+pondered, thinking it a more feasible plan than any other, yet seeing
+many difficulties.
+
+"As what could you go?" he said. "If at all, it must be in male guise;
+and though you would make a pretty boy enough, I doubt me they would
+find you out, fair Ella."
+
+"Why not as a novice of the Black Friars?" demanded Madam Brune, who
+entered into the maiden's schemes more warmly and enthusiastically
+than her prudent husband; "then she would have robes longer than her
+own, to cover her little hands and feet, and a hood to shade her head.
+There is no punishment either for taking the gown of a novice."
+
+"Then, as this man Dyram must be in the secret," added Ella Brune, "he
+could give me help and protection in case of need."
+
+"Ah, ha! are you there?" cried Nicholas, laughing. But Ella shook her
+head, no way abashed, replying, "you are mistaken, cousin of mine; but
+perhaps you have so much respect for these holy men, the monks, that
+you would object to a profane girl, like me, taking their garb upon
+her?"
+
+"Out upon them, the lazy drones," cried Nicholas Brune; "you may make
+what sport of them you like for that. I would put them all to hard
+labour on the dykes, if I had my will;" and he burst forth into a long
+vituperation of all the monastic orders, in terms somewhat too gross
+for modern ears, not even sparing the Holy Roman Catholic Church; but
+ending with another wise shake of the head, and an expression of his
+firm belief, that the scheme would not do.
+
+Nevertheless, Ella Brune and his good dame were now perfectly agreed
+upon the subject, and worked together zealously, preparing all that
+was needful for Ella's disguise, while Ned Dyram brought them daily
+information of the proceedings of Sir Simeon of Roydon, and made them
+smile to hear how he had deceived the knight into the belief that Ella
+was far away from Ghent.
+
+"But if he should discover the truth," said Ella Brune, really anxious
+that no one should suffer on her account, "may he not revenge himself
+on you, if you give him the opportunity by going every day and working
+in gold and silver under his eyes? I beseech you, Master Dyram, run no
+risk on my account. I would rather endure insult or injury myself,
+than that you should incur danger."
+
+Ned Dyram's heart beat quick, though Ella said no more to him than she
+would have said to any one in the same circumstances; but he shook his
+head with a triumphant air, replying, "He dare not wag his finger
+against me."
+
+He added no more, but turned to the subject of Ella's disguise, having
+before this been made acquainted with her project, and being,
+moreover, eager to second it; for the prospect of having to leave her
+behind in Ghent, if his young master should be called upon some more
+distant expedition, had often crossed his mind, producing very
+unpleasant sensations. Day after day, however, he visited Simeon of
+Roydon, and generally found him alone. Plenty of work was provided for
+him; and the payment was prompt and large. Now it was an ornamented
+bridle that he had to produce, encrusted all over with fanciful work
+of silver--now a testiere or a poitral arabesqued with lines of gold.
+Sometimes he compounded perfumes or essences, sometimes he illuminated
+a book of canticles, which the knight intended to present to the
+monastery.
+
+One morning, however, going somewhat earlier than was his wont, he met
+the monk, brother Paul, coming down the stairs from the knight's
+apartments. The cenobite gave him a grim smile, but merely added his
+benedicite and passed on. Ned Dyram paused and mused before he
+entered. More than once he had asked himself, what it was that
+detained Sir Simeon of Roydon so long in Ghent. The Court was
+absent--there was little to see, and less to gain; and the visit of
+father Paul gave him fresh matter for reflection. But Ned Dyram was
+one who, judging by slight indications, always prepared himself
+against probable results; and he now divined that the discovery of the
+truth in regard to Ella might not be far off.
+
+He found no change in Simeon of Roydon when he entered, and the
+morning passed away as usual; but on the following day the knight
+received him with a smile so mixed in its expression that Dyram felt
+the hilt of his anelace, and returned him his look with one as
+doubtful.
+
+"Shut the door, Master Dyram," said Sir Simeon of Roydon.
+
+The man obeyed without the least hesitation; and the knight proceeded,
+"Think you, fellow, that it is wise and worthy to cheat and to
+deceive?"
+
+"On proper occasions, and with proper men," replied Ned Dyram, calmly.
+
+"Ah, you do?" cried the knight, with his brow bent; "Then let me tell
+you that you will deceive me no more."
+
+"That depends upon circumstances and opportunity," answered Ned Dyram,
+with the same imperturbable effrontery as before. "I dare say you will
+not give me the means, if you can help it."
+
+"What, if I take from you the opportunity of cheating any one again?"
+exclaimed Sir Simeon of Roydon. "What if, as you well deserve, I call
+up my men, and bid them dispose of you as they know how?"
+
+"You will not do that," replied Dyram, without a shade of emotion.
+
+"Why should I not?" demanded the knight, fiercely. "What should stop
+me? Out of these walls no secrets are likely to pass. Why should I
+not, I say?"
+
+"Because," said Dyram, in a cool conversation tone, "there is a
+certain bridge in this city, over the river Lys, where you may have
+seen, as you pass along, a foolish figure cast in bronze, of two men,
+one going to cut off the other's head apparently. They represent a son
+who offered to execute his father, when, as old legends say--but I do
+not believe them--the sword flew to splinters in the parricide's hand.
+However, that has not much to do with the matter, as I see you
+perceive; but the fact is, that bridge is called the Bridge of the
+Decapitation--not, as many men fancy, on account of those two statues,
+but because it is there the citizens of this good town have a pious
+custom of putting to death knights and nobles, who have had the
+misfortune to become murderers. Now you must not suppose me so slow
+witted a man as to come to visit Sir Simeon of Roydon under such
+peculiar circumstances, without letting those persons know where I am,
+who may inquire after me if I do not reappear. I am always ready for
+such cases, noble knight, and to say truth, care little when I go out
+of the world, so that I have a companion by the way; and that, in this
+instance, at least, I have secured. 'Tis therefore, I say, you will
+abandon such vain thoughts."
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon gazed at him for a moment, with the expression of
+a fiend; but suddenly his countenance changed, and he fell into deep
+thought.
+
+What strifes there are in that eternal battle-field, the human heart!
+What strifes have there not been therein, since the first fell passion
+entered into man's breast with the words of the serpent tempter--ay,
+with the words of the tempter; for man had fallen before he ate! But
+perhaps there is none more frequent, than the struggle between passion
+and policy in the bosom of the vehement and wily,--none more terrible
+either; for whichever gains the ascendancy, ruins the country round.
+
+There was something in Dyram's demeanour that suited well with the
+character of him to whom he spoke. Opposed to him, it first excited
+wrath; but yet a voice whispered that such a man might be made most
+useful to his purposes, if he could but be won; and as the knight's
+anger abated, the question became, how could he be gained? In regard
+to Ella Brune, Roydon was aware of much that had taken place, but not
+of all; otherwise his course would have been soon decided. By this
+time he had learned that Ella had journeyed from England in the train
+of Richard of Woodville; he knew that Dyram had stayed behind--not
+dismissed by his master as the man had insinuated, but left in charge
+of his baggage; and Simeon of Roydon suspected, judging of others by
+himself, that he had been left in charge of Ella, also, by her
+paramour. But of Dyram's love for her he had no hint, though there
+might have arisen in his mind a vague surmise that such attachment did
+exist, from the fact which brother Paul had discovered and
+communicated, that Dyram visited her once at least each day.
+
+That surmise, however, was enough to guide him some way, and after
+pausing and pondering, till silence became unpleasant, he said,
+"Perhaps, my good friend, you may be mistaken in what you fancy. No
+fears of the results you speak of would stay me, were I so minded.
+Those who have good friends dread no foes."
+
+"That is what I say, sir," replied Ned Dyram, in the same tone; "I
+have no apprehensions, because I know there are those who will take
+care of me, or avenge me."
+
+"You need have none," answered Sir Simeon of Roydon; "but not for that
+cause. There are other regards that would restrain me. You have
+deceived me, it is true; but you can deceive me no more; and now that
+I know your motives and your conduct, I think that our ends may not be
+quite so different as you imagine, and as I too imagined at first."
+
+"Indeed!" said Ned Dyram, with a sarcastic smile. "I know not what
+your ends are, or what you think you know. Knowledge is a strange
+thing, noble knight, and those who fancy they know much, often know
+little."
+
+"True, learned master," answered Simeon of Roydon; "but you shall hear
+what I know--I wish not to conceal it. Your young lord brought this
+fair girl to Ghent; then, being called to serve the Duke of Burgundy,
+left his sweet leman--" he paused upon the word, and saw his
+companion's visage glow; but Dyram said nothing, and the knight went
+on; "--left his sweet leman, with his other baggage, under your
+careful guard. She lives now in the house of one Nicholas Brune; and
+you see her daily. You love her; and, fancying that I seek her par
+amours, would fain hide from me where she is. That you see is vain;
+and I will show you, too, that what you suppose of me is false. I care
+not for the girl; though perchance I may have thought, in former days,
+to trifle with her for an hour. But I will tell you more, Dyram: I
+love not your lord, and I believe that you have no great kindness for
+him either. Is it not so?"
+
+"All wrong together, puissant knight," replied Ned Dyram, with a
+laugh. "She is no leman of Richard of Woodville--Sir Richard, by the
+mass! for I have heard to-day he has been made a knight. Nay, more; he
+cares no farther for her, than as a boy, who has saved a bird from
+hawk or raven, loves to nourish and fondle it."
+
+"That may be," answered Sir Simeon, who had now regained all his
+coolness; "you know more than myself of his doings; but of one thing
+we are both certain, she loves him; and it would need but his humour
+to make her his. Of that I have had proof enough before I crossed the
+sea."
+
+Ned Dyram winced; but he replied boldly, "Because she looked coldly
+upon you."
+
+"Nay, not so," said the knight; "but on account of signs and tokens
+not to be mistaken. However, if as you think he loves her not, my
+scheme falls to the ground."
+
+"And what was that, if I may dare to ask?" demanded Ned Dyram.
+
+"I heed not who knows it," replied Roydon, at once. "I seek revenge,
+and thought to accomplish it by taking this girl from him. As to what
+is to follow, I care not. I never seek to see her more; would wed her
+to a hind, or any one. But if you judge rightly, and he loves her not,
+I am frustrated in this, and must seek other means."
+
+There was a pause of several minutes; and both thought, or seemed to
+think, deeply. With Dyram it was really so; though the more shrewd and
+wise of the two, he had suffered the words of Roydon to fall upon the
+dangerous weaknesses of his bosom, like a spark into some inflammable
+mass; and doubt, suspicion, jealousy, were all in a blaze within. Yet
+he had sufficient power over himself to hide his feelings skilfully,
+and sought, neither admitting nor denying aught farther, to lead on
+the knight to speak of his purposes more plainly. But Simeon of Roydon
+saw there was a struggle, and that was sufficient for his purpose
+without discovering clearly what it was. He did speak more plainly
+then, and by many an artful suggestion, and many a promise, sought to
+lure Dyram on to aid in separating Ella Brune from him who could
+protect her; concealing carefully that it was on her his thirst of
+revenge longed to sate itself, though Richard of Woodville was not
+forgotten either; and before they parted, he thought that he had
+nearly won him to his wishes. The man did, indeed, hesitate; but the
+sparks of better feeling, which I have before said he possessed,
+burned up ere their conversation ended; and a doubt which, even in the
+midst of passion will rise up in the minds of the cunning and
+deceitful, that there may ever be a knavish purpose in others, made
+him desire to see his way more clearly.
+
+All that the knight could gain was a promise that he would consider of
+his hints; and Dyram left him, with the resolution to draw from Ella
+Brune, by any means, a knowledge of her true feelings towards his
+master, and to watch every movement of Simeon of Roydon with a care
+that should let not the veriest trifle escape.
+
+In the first object he was frustrated, as before; for the cold despair
+of Ella's love, its utter unselfishness, its high and lofty nature,
+was a veil to her heart which the eyes of one so full of human passion
+as himself could by no art penetrate. But, in his second, he was more
+successful--with the cunning of a serpent, with the perseverance of a
+ferret, he examined, he watched, he pursued his purpose. He had
+already wound himself into the confidence of several of the knight's
+servants; and he now took every means to gain some hold upon them,
+which was not indeed difficult, from the character of the men whom
+Roydon had chosen. Neither did he altogether cease his visits to their
+master, but, for many days, kept him negotiating as to the price of
+his services; and, although he could not exactly divine the end that
+the other proposed to himself, he learned enough to show him that
+Roydon was sincere, when he assured him that no love for Ella
+influenced him in seeking to remove her from the protection of Richard
+of Woodville. He then admitted that he loved her himself, in order to
+see what the knight would propose; and was not a little surprised to
+find how eagerly Roydon grasped at the fact, as a means to his own
+ends.
+
+"Then she may be yours at a word," exclaimed Roydon, grasping his
+hand as if he had been an equal; "but aid me boldly and skilfully in
+what I seek, and she shall be placed entirely in your hands--at your
+mercy--to do with her as you will. Then, if you use not your advantage
+like a wise and resolute man, it is your own fault."
+
+Dyram mused: the prospect tempted him: the strong passions of his
+nature rose up, and urged him on; he could not resist them; but still,
+cunning and cautious, he resolved to make his own position sure, and
+he replied, "I must first know your motive, noble knight. Men are not
+so eager without some object. What is it?"
+
+"Revenge!" replied Sir Simeon of Roydon, vehemently, and he said
+truly; but then he added more calmly the next moment, "I am still
+unconvinced by what you have said, in regard to the feelings of your
+master. Though he may seek a higher lady as his wife--and, indeed, I
+know he does--yet he loves this girl, and will seek her par amours as
+soon as he has made sufficient way with her; for I persist not in
+saying that she is his leman. I have been acquainted with him longer
+than you have--since his boyhood; and he cannot hide himself from me
+as from others. At all events, that is my affair: I seek revenge, I
+tell you; and if I think I shall inflict a heavy blow on him, by
+making this girl your paramour, and am mistaken, the error will fall
+on myself. You will gain your ends, if I gain not mine."
+
+"My paramour!" said Ned Dyram, thoughtfully.
+
+"Ay--or your wife, if you will," replied the knight; "but, perchance,
+she will not, till forced, readily consent to be your wife--you
+understand me. I will give you every surety you may demand, that she
+shall remain wholly in your power. The course you follow afterwards
+must be of your own choosing."
+
+The great tempter himself could not have chosen better words to work
+his purpose. It seemed, as if by instinct, that the one base man
+addressed himself to all that was weak in the other's nature; and
+there is a kind of divination between men of similar characters, which
+leads them to foresee, with almost unerring certainty, the effect of
+particular inducements upon their fellows.
+
+Gradually, Dyram yielded more and more, resolving firmly all the while
+to do nothing, to aid in nothing, without insuring that his own
+objects also were attained; but, in the execution of such schemes,
+there are always small oversights. Passion so frequently interferes
+with prudence--the stream grows so much stronger as we are hurried on,
+that it is scarcely possible to stop when we would; and, when once the
+knave or the fool puts power into the hands of another, his own course
+is as much beyond his direction as that of a charioteer who would
+guide wild horses with packthread. How strange it is--perhaps the most
+wonderful of all moral phenomena--that any man should trust another in
+the commission of a bad action!
+
+The question between Sir Simeon of Roydon and his lowlier companion
+speedily reduced itself to how Ella Brune was to be separated from
+those who could afford her protection; but the knight soon pointed out
+a means, instructed as he was by another, who kept himself in the
+dark.
+
+"These people," he said, "with whom she resides, are known to be the
+followers of a new sect of heretics, which has sprung up in a distant
+part of Germany, and is similar to our own Lollards, only their
+apostle is named Huss, instead of Wickliffe. The girl herself is more
+than suspected of favouring these false doctrines. Such things are
+matters of no moment in your eyes or mine; but the zealous priesthood,
+fearful for their shaken power, are resolute to put such blasphemous
+notions down; and, if you can but discover when these Brunes go to one
+of their assemblies, which are kept profoundly secret, we can ensure
+that they shall be arrested. The girl, then left alone, shall be
+placed at your disposal. If she will fly with you from Ghent, for fear
+of being implicated, well. If not, on your bringing me the
+information, you shall have a sufficient sum of money to hire
+unscrupulous friends, and carry her whithersoever you will."
+
+"But if she should accompany them to their assembly," said Ned Dyram
+at once, "how shall I ensure that she is not thrown into prison,
+tortured, perhaps burnt at the stake? No, no--that will never do!"
+
+"All those ifs can be met right easily," answered Simeon of Roydon.
+"Ere you give any information, you can exact a promise from brother
+Paul--"
+
+"A promise from brother Paul!" exclaimed Dyram, with a mocking laugh;
+"what! trust the promise of a monk! You are jesting, sir knight. Was
+there ever promise so sacred, sworn at the altar on the body of our
+Lord, that they have not found excuse for breaking or means of
+evading? Do you judge me a fool, Sir Simeon of Roydon?"
+
+"Not so," rejoined the knight, "the danger did not strike me; but I
+see it now. It must be obviated, or I cannot expect you to go along
+with me. Yet--let me consider--methinks it were easily guarded
+against. Perchance she may not go; but, if she do, you can go with the
+party, take what number of men with you you like, and, in the
+confusion that must ensue, rescue your fair maiden. The gates, at this
+time of night, are not shut till ten; horses may be ready; and there
+is a castle, some five leagues off, on the road to Bruges, which I saw
+and cheapened three days since, as a place of residence during my
+exile. It is vacant now: you can bear her thither. To-morrow you can
+speak with father Paul yourself, and make your own terms as to leading
+him to the place of their meeting, if you discover it."
+
+"No," replied Ned Dyram, "no! I will not go with him. I will be at
+their meeting with men I can trust; so can I be sure that I shall be
+near at hand to guard her. I will have it under his hand, too, that I
+am authorized by him to go; or, perchance, they may burn me likewise."
+
+"You are too suspicious, my good friend," cried the knight, with a
+laugh that rang not quite so merrily as it might have done.
+
+"A monk! a monk!" answered Dyram; "one can never doubt a monk too
+much. I will gain the intelligence wanted, sir knight; but I leave you
+to prepare this brother Paul to grant me all the security I ask, or he
+hears not a word from me; and so, good night!--you shall have news of
+me soon:" and, thus saying, he left him.
+
+Simeon of Roydon bent down his head, and thought for several minutes;
+but at length he exclaimed, biting his lip, "He will shear down my
+revenge to a half--and yet, perhaps, that may be as bitter as death.
+To be the minion of a varlet!--'Twill be a fiercer, though a slower
+fire, than that of fagot and stake."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XXX.
+
+                            THE HUSSITES.
+
+
+In a large old house, built almost entirely of wood, and situated in
+one of the suburbs of Ghent, far removed from all the noise and bustle
+of the more frequented parts of that busy town, there was a large old
+hall, in former years employed as a place of meeting by the linen
+weavers; but which, at the time I speak of, had been long disused for
+that purpose, when, the trade becoming more flourishing, its followers
+had built themselves a more splendid structure in the heart of the
+city.
+
+In this hall were assembled, at a late hour of the day, about fifty
+personages of both sexes, and apparently of various grades and
+professions. Some were dressed in rather gay habiliments, some in
+staid and sober costume, but fine and costly withal, and some in
+the garb of the common artizans. The greater number, however, seemed
+of a wealthy class; but all appeared to know each other; and the
+rich citizen spoke in brotherly fellowship to the poor mechanic, the
+well-dressed burgher's wife nodded with friendly looks to the daughter
+of her husband's workman. There was one part of the hall, indeed, in
+which, for a moment, there was a momentary bustle caused by a
+beautiful girl in a mourning garb, of somewhat foreign fashion,
+expressing apparently a wish to quit the hall; but it was soon
+quieted; and a minute or two after, a tall, elderly man, with white
+hair, stood up at the end of a long table, having some books laid upon
+it, while the rest of the assembly sat on benches round, at some
+little distance, leaving a vacant space in the midst.
+
+After pausing for a minute or two till all was silent, the old man
+began to speak, addressing his companions in a fine, mellow tone, and
+with a mild, persuasive air.
+
+"My brethren!" he said, in the Flemish tongue, "although I be an
+ignorant man and not meet to deal with such high matters, you have
+permitted me to expound to you the opinions of wiser men than myself,
+and especially of the venerable John Huss, upon things that nearly
+touch the salvation of all; and on former occasions, I have shown you
+cause to see that very many corruptions and abominations have, by the
+wickedness of men, been brought into the Church of Christ. Amongst
+other points on which we have all agreed, there are these principal
+ones; that the word of God, first preached by the lowly and the humble
+to the poor and ignorant, should be laid open to all men, and
+committed to their own keeping, not being made to be put under a bed
+or hidden in a bushel, but to be a light shining in darkness, and
+leading every one in the way of salvation: that the Bible is no more
+the book of the priests than the book of the people, but is the
+property of all for the security of their souls. Secondly, we have
+agreed that there is but one mediator with God the Father, Jesus
+Christ our Lord; and that to worship, or invoke, or kneel down to even
+good and holy men departed, whom we are wont to call saints, is a
+gross idolatry, as well as the worship of statues, figures, or cross
+pieces of wood and stone; there being nothing that can save us, but
+faith in our Redeemer, and no intercession available but his; for,
+surely, it is a folly to suppose that men, who were sinners like
+ourselves, have power to help or save others when they have need of
+the one atonement for their own salvation. Thirdly, we have held, that
+in the mass there is no sacrifice, Christ having entered in once for
+all; and that to suppose that any man, by the imposition of a bishop's
+hands, receives power to change mere bread and wine into the substance
+of our Lord's body and blood, is a fond and foolish imagination
+devised by wicked priests for their own purposes. These were the
+points touched upon when last we met; and now, before we proceed
+farther, let us pray for grace to help us in our examination."
+
+Thus saying, he knelt down at the end of the table--and all the rest,
+but one, followed his example, turning, and bending the knee by the
+benches around. The Hussite teacher raised his eyes and hands to
+heaven, and then, in a loud tone, uttered a somewhat long prayer,
+followed by the voices of his little congregation.
+
+It was by this time growing somewhat dusk, for the sun must have been
+half way below the horizon; and the windows of the hall were narrow
+and far up; but nevertheless, when the kneelers raised themselves
+again at the conclusion of the prayer, and turned round towards the
+teacher, the eyes of all were fixed on one spot at the end of the
+table, and a universal cry burst from every lip. With some it seemed
+to be the sound of terror, with others that of rage and surprise; and
+well, indeed, might they feel astonished, for there, exactly opposite
+the old man who had led them in prayer, stood a figure frightful to
+behold, covered with long black shaggy hair, with two large horns upon
+its head, a pair of wings on its shoulders, swarthy and ribbed like
+those of a bat, and with the face, apparently, of a negro.[9]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 9: It may be necessary to remark that the incident here
+mentioned is not imaginary, but a recorded historical fact, most
+disgraceful to those who played the treacherous juggle.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+Hardly had they time to recover from their surprise, and to ask
+themselves what was the meaning of the apparition they beheld, when
+the doors of the hall burst open, and a mixed multitude rushed in,
+consisting of monks and priests, and the whole train of varlets and
+serving men which, in that day, were attached to monasteries,
+chapters, and other religious institutions in great towns. Staves and
+swords were plenty amongst them; and, with loud shouts of "Ah, the
+heretics! Ah, the blasphemers! Ah, the worshippers of Satan!" they
+rushed on the unhappy Hussites, overpowering them by numbers. No
+resistance was made; in consternation and alarm, the unhappy seekers
+of a purer faith rushed towards the doors, and even the windows, in
+the hope of making their escape. But the attempt was vain; one after
+another they were caught by their furious enemies, while cries of
+triumph and savage satisfaction rose up from different parts of the
+hall, as captive after captive was seized and pinioned.
+
+"We have caught you in the fact," cried one.
+
+"You shall blaspheme no more!" shouted another.
+
+"I saw the arch enemy in the midst of them!" added a third.
+
+"They were in the act of worshipping the devil!" said brother Paul.
+
+"To the stake with them, to the stake with them!" roared a barefooted
+friar.
+
+"You see what you have done," said Ella Brune to her cousin, who stood
+near with his arms tied. "This was very wrong of you, Nicholas."
+
+"It was," answered Nicholas Brune, in a sorrowful tone; "but they can
+do no harm to you; for I and others can testify that you came,
+unknowing whither, and would have left us, if we had allowed you."
+
+"Will they believe your testimony?" asked Ella, in a tone of deep
+despondency.
+
+Before he could answer, brother Paul approached, and gazing at the
+fair unhappy girl with a malicious smile, he said, "Ah, ah, fair
+maiden, I knew your hypocrisy would be detected at length. I did not
+forget having seen you with the heretics at Liege."
+
+Even as he spoke, however, there was a bustle at the door; and to the
+surprise of all the hall contained, a number of men completely armed
+appeared, having at their head a gentleman in the ordinary riding
+dress of the day, with the knightly spurs over his boots, and two long
+feathers in his cap.
+
+"Stand there," he said in a loud voice, turning to the men who
+followed, "and let no one forth". Then striding through the hall with
+the multitude of priests and monks scattering before him, he advanced,
+gazing from right to left, till he reached the spot where Ella Brune
+was standing. A low murmur of joy burst from the poor girl's lips as
+Richard of Woodville approached; and she would fain have held out her
+hands towards him, but that her delicate wrists were tied with a hard
+cord.
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed from her to father Paul, who stood beside
+her, with a stern brow; and then, in a low, but menacing voice,
+exclaimed, "Untie that cord, foul monk!"
+
+"I will not," answered Father Paul, sullenly. "Who are you, that you
+should interrupt the course of justice, and rescue a blasphemous
+heretic from the stake?"
+
+"Thou liest, knave!" answered Richard of Woodville. "She is a better
+Catholic than thou art, with all thy hypocritical grimaces;" and
+unsheathing his dagger, he cut the cord from Ella's wrist, and set her
+free.
+
+"Ah, he draws his knife upon us!" cried father Paul. "Upon him! Cleave
+him down. Are there no brave men here?"
+
+A rush was instantly made towards Richard of Woodville; and one man,
+with a guisarme, thrust himself right in his way; but laughing loud,
+the young knight bared his long, heavy sword, and waved it over his
+head, grasping Ella by the hand, and exclaiming in English, "On, my
+men! on! open a way, there!"
+
+All but the most resolute of his opponents scattered from his path;
+and his stout followers forced their way forward into the hall,
+showing some reverence for the priests and monks, it is true; but
+striking the varlets and serving-men sundry heavy blows with the
+pommels of the swords, not easily to be forgotten. A scene of
+indescribable confusion ensued; the darkness of the hall was becoming
+every moment more profound--a number of the Hussites made their
+escape, and untied others; while still, through the midst of the
+crowd, Richard of Woodville slowly advanced towards the door, and
+knocking the guisarme out of the hand of one of the men who seemed
+most strongly bent on opposing his passage, he brought the point of
+his sword to his throat, exclaiming, "Back, or die!"
+
+The sturdy varlet laid his hand upon his dagger; but, at the same
+moment, one of the English archers who had reached his side, struck
+him on the jaws with his steel glove, and knocked him reeling back
+amongst the crowd. Quickening his pace, Richard of Woodville hurried
+on, still holding Ella by the hand, and soon reached the top of the
+narrow stairs. There pausing at the door, he counted the number of his
+men, who had closed in behind him, to see that none were left, and
+then hastened down with his fair charge into the street, several other
+fugitive Hussites passing him as they fled with all the speed of
+terror.
+
+As soon as they had reached the open road, the young Englishman turned
+to his followers, and ordered three of them to remain a step or two
+behind, to ensure that they were not taken by surprise, and to give
+notice if they were pursued. But the party of fanatic priests within
+were busy enough, in the wild riotous scene presented by the hall, now
+in almost total darkness, and often mistook one man for another in
+endeavouring to secure the prisoners that still remained in their
+hands. Thus Woodville and his companions were suffered to proceed on
+their way unfollowed, through numerous long and narrow streets, till
+they reached the inn where they had first alighted on their arrival in
+Ghent.
+
+"Quick," cried Richard of Woodville to one of his attendants. "Saddle
+four horses and the mule; and you with Peter and Alfred be ready to
+set out. You must leave Ghent with all speed, my poor Ella," he
+continued, leading her into the inn. "I cannot go with you myself, but
+you shall hear from me soon, and the men will take care of you."
+
+"I must go first to my cousin's house," said Ella, eagerly. "'Twill
+not take long to run thither and return. There are many things that I
+must take with me."
+
+"You can pass round there as you go," replied Woodville; "less time
+will be lost, and there is none to spare. Here, host," he cried.
+"Host, I say!" But the host was not to be found; and one of the
+chamberlains, running up as the young knight and his followers stood
+under the arch, demanded, "What's your will, sir?"
+
+"At what time are the city gates closed?" asked Richard of Woodville.
+"I have to levy men at Bruges for the service of the Duke, and must
+send some of my people on tonight."
+
+"They do not shut till ten, sir, in this time of peace," replied the
+chamberlain; "so you have more than an hour; but even after that, an
+order from the cyndic will open them."
+
+"That will do," replied Richard of Woodville; "they must set out at
+once."
+
+A moment after, the horses were brought round, with the mule which
+Ella Brune had ridden from Nieuport, and placing her carefully
+thereon, the young knight gave some orders to his men in a low tone,
+added some money for their expenses, and with a kindly adieu to Ella,
+saw them depart. He then directed two of his archers to superintend
+the immediate removal of his baggage to the apartments which had been
+assigned him in the Graevensteen, to see to the care of the horses,
+and to rejoin him without loss of time. After which, followed by the
+rest of his attendants, he took his way back to the old castle of the
+counts of Flanders, and sought the chamber in the basement of one of
+the towers, which had been pointed out for his own by the Count of
+Charolois.
+
+At the door stood a stout man-at-arms, whom Woodville had placed there
+that night after his meeting with Sir John Grey; for it may be
+necessary to mention here, what we did not pause to notice before,
+that the young knight had returned with Dyram to the Graevensteen to
+seek for his men, as soon as he heard of the danger which menaced poor
+Ella Brune.
+
+Opening the door of the chamber, Richard of Woodville went in, and
+found Dyram seated at the table with his head leaning on his arms. He
+moved but slightly when his master entered, and Woodville, casting
+himself into a seat opposite, gazed at him for a moment with a stern
+and angry brow.
+
+"Lookup, sir," he said at length; "in your terror and haste to remedy
+the evil you have caused, you have spoken too much not to speak more.
+You once boasted of telling truth. Tell it now, as the only means of
+escaping punishment."
+
+"Is she saved?" asked Ned Dyram, raising his head, and gazing in his
+young master's face with a look of eager anxiety. "Is she saved? I
+care for nought else."
+
+"Yes, she is saved," replied Richard of Woodville; "but with peril to
+her, and peril to me. I found her with her hands tied; and what may be
+the result, no one yet can tell. And so you love her!" he continued,
+gazing upon him thoughtfully. "A glorious means, indeed, to prove your
+love!"
+
+"I have been deceived," said Dyram; "the villain cheated me. He
+promised that she should be mine; and when I told him of the day and
+hour when the assembly was to take place, thinking that I kept the
+power in my own hands, so long as I did not mention where they were to
+meet, they laughed me to scorn, and told me they wanted to know no
+more."
+
+"They!" exclaimed Richard of Woodville. "They! whom do you mean?"
+
+"Brother Paul," replied Dyram, hesitating--"brother Paul and--Well, it
+matters not, if you learn not from me, you will learn from others; so
+I will say it first myself--brother Paul and Simeon of Roydon."
+
+"Simeon of Roydon!" exclaimed the young knight, starting up, and
+lifting his hand as if to strike him; "and have you been villain and
+traitor enough to betray this poor girl into the hands of that base
+and pitiful knave? By the Lord that lives, I have a mind to have you
+scourged through the streets of Ghent, as a warning to all treacherous
+varlets."
+
+Dyram bent his brows upon him with a bold scowl, answering in a low
+muttering tone, "You dare not!"
+
+The words had scarcely quitted his lips, when, with a blow on the side
+of the head, Richard of Woodville dashed him to the ground. The man
+started up, and drew his dagger half out of the sheath; but his
+master, who had recovered from his anger the instant the blow was
+given, so far at least as to be sorry that it had been struck at all,
+looked at him with a smile of cold contempt, and raising his voice,
+exclaimed, "Without, there!"
+
+The archer instantly appeared at the door; and, pointing to Dyram, the
+young knight said, "Take away that knave, and put him forth from the
+castle, and from the band. He is not one of my own people, and unfit
+to be with them. He is a base and dishonest traitor, who betrays his
+trust. Away with him!"
+
+Dyram glared upon him for a moment without moving, then thrust his
+dagger back into the sheath, raised his hand with the right finger
+extended, and shook it at Richard of Woodville, with his teeth hard
+set together, and a significant frown upon his brow. Then turning to
+the door, he passed the archer, saying, in a menacing tone, "Touch me
+not," and quitted the room.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+                             THE RESULT.
+
+
+"Perhaps I have been too harsh," thought Richard of Woodville, when
+the man Dyram was gone, and he sat alone in his chamber. "Surely that
+knave's conscience must be punishment enough. What must it be to think
+that we have betrayed a friend, violated a trust, injured one who has
+confided in us! Can Hell itself afford an infliction more terrible
+than such a memory? Methinks it were torment enough for the worst of
+men, to render remembrance eternal!"
+
+And he was right--surely he was right. In this world we weave the
+fabric of our punishment with our sins.
+
+As the young knight proceeded to reflect, however, his mind turned
+from Dyram to Sir Simeon of Roydon; and suddenly a light broke in upon
+him.--"It must be so!" he cried: "'tis this man has poisoned the mind
+of Sir John Grey against me. But that will be easily remedied."
+
+The next instant he suddenly recollected the half-made appointment
+with Mary's father, which in all the bustle and excitement of the
+scenes he had lately gone through, had escaped his memory till
+that moment; and he started up, exclaiming, "This is unfortunate,
+indeed!--There may yet be time--I will go!" But as he turned towards
+the door, the clock of the castle struck. Nearly an hour had elapsed
+since the appointed period, for the stealthy foot of Time ever runs
+fastest when we could wish his stay. Nevertheless, Richard of
+Woodville went forth, received the password of the guard, and hurried
+to the inn to inquire whether or not the old knight had come during
+his absence. He was in some hope that such might not be the case; for
+Mary's father had ridden away abruptly without saying whether he
+accepted the appointment or not. But when Woodville reached the hostel
+he found, to his mortification, that Sir John Grey had not only been
+there, but had waited some time for his return, and had gone away, the
+host informed him, with a gloomy brow.
+
+Sad and desponding, with all the bright hopes which had accompanied
+him into Ghent darkened, he strode back to the Graevensteen, and
+passed through the court to his apartments, remarking that there
+seemed a number of persons waiting, and a good deal of confusion,
+unusual at so late an hour; but his thoughts were busy with his own
+situation; and he walked on in the darkness to his chamber, without
+inquiry. There, leaning his head upon his hand beneath the light of
+the lamp, he gave himself up to bitter reflections, thinking how sad
+it is, that a man's happiness, his name, fame, purposes, abilities,
+virtues, should be so completely in the power of circumstances--the
+stones with which fate builds up the prison walls of many a lofty
+spirit.
+
+While he was thus meditating, there was a knock at his chamber door,
+and bidding the applicant come in, the next moment he saw the young
+Lord of Lens enter. The youth's countenance betokened haste and
+agitation, and, closing the door carefully, he said, "The Count has
+just whispered me, to come and warn you, good knight, not to quit your
+apartments till he comes to you."
+
+"How so?" asked Woodville, partly divining the cause of this
+injunction. "Do you mean, my young friend, that I am a prisoner?"
+
+"Oh no!" answered the other, "'tis for your own safety. There are
+enemies of yours in the castle; and perhaps if they were to see you,
+they might seize you even here. You know not the daring of these men
+of Ghent, and how, when passion moves them, they set at nought all
+authority. They would arrest you in the very presence of the Prince,
+if they thought fit; and they are even now pouring their complaints
+into the Count's ear. Luckily, however, they know not that you are in
+the Graevensteen; and, with a show of loyal obedience, of which they
+have very little in their hearts, they are affecting to ask
+permission, as you are one of his knights, to have you sought for in
+the town to-morrow and apprehended, for something rather rash that you
+have done this evening."
+
+"I have done nothing rash, my friend," replied Woodville, gravely,
+"but only what I would do again to-morrow, if the case required
+it--only, in fact, what my knightly oath required: I have but rescued
+a defenceless woman from wrong and oppression. I can justify myself
+easily to the Count or any other gentleman of honour."
+
+"Well, wait till he comes," answered the young nobleman; "for though
+you might be able to set yourself right at last, yet you would ill
+brook imprisonment, I wot; and perhaps even the Count might not be
+able to save you from these people's hands, if you were found just
+now. They are a furious and unruly set; and the priests have got
+syndics and magistrates of all kinds on their side."
+
+"I have heard tales of their doings," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"but I cannot bring myself to fear them. However, I will, of course,
+obey the Count's commands, and wait here till he is pleased to send
+for me."
+
+"I will bear you company," replied the young Lord of Lens, "for I love
+not the presence of these foul citizens; and heaven knows how long
+they may stay with their orations, as lengthy and as flat as one of
+their own pieces of cloth."
+
+To say the truth, Richard of Woodville would have preferred to be
+alone; but he did not choose to mortify the good-humoured young lord
+by suffering him to perceive that his presence was a restraint; and,
+sometimes in grave conversation, sometimes in light, they passed
+nearly an hour; till at length numerous sounds from the court-yard
+gave notice that the deputation of the good citizens was taking its
+departure. For half an hour more they waited, in the expectation of
+soon receiving some messenger from the Count de Charolois, but none
+appeared; and at length Richard of Woodville besought his companion to
+seek some intelligence. The young nobleman readily undertook the task,
+and opened the door to go out; but, on the very threshold, was met by
+the Count himself, followed by the Lord of Croy. The expression of the
+Prince's countenance was grave and troubled; and, seating himself, he
+made a sign to the rest to do so likewise; and then, looking at
+Woodville with an anxious and careful smile, he said, "This is an
+awkward business, my friend."
+
+"If told truly, it is a very simple one, my lord the Count," replied
+the knight.
+
+"It may be simple, yet have very dangerous results," said the young
+Prince, gravely. "These men of Ghent are not to be meddled with
+lightly; and, though their insolence must some day be checked--and
+shall--yet this is not the time to do it. It seems, by their account,
+that you brought a pretty light-o'-love maiden with you hither from
+England; and that she having been found, with a number of other
+heretics, worshipping, they assert, the devil himself, who was seen in
+proper form amongst them" (Woodville smiled); "you delivered her with
+the strong hand from the people sent to seize the whole party. What
+makes you laugh, Sir Richard?"
+
+"Because, my good lord," replied the young knight, "you, here in
+Flanders, do not seem to understand monks and priests so well as we do
+in England. They have made a fair story of it, which is almost all
+false. I am as good a catholic as any of them, though I have not had
+my head shaved. I believe all that the Church tells me, for I doubt
+not that the Church knows best; but I can't help seeing that she has
+got a great number of knaves amongst her ministers."
+
+"But what is the truth of the story, sir knight?" said the Lord of
+Croy. "I told the Count that I was sure they had made a mountain of a
+molehill."
+
+"Thanks, my good lord," answered Woodville. "The truth is simply this:
+the poor girl is a good and sincere catholic, and has been bitterly
+tried; for many of her relations are what we call Lollards, a sort of
+heretics like your Hussites, and she has steadfastly resisted all
+their false notions. She was persecuted and ill-treated in England, by
+a base and unworthy man--a knight, heaven save the mark!--one Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, now banished from the English court for his
+ill-treatment of her. She, having relations in this land--amongst
+others Nicholas Brune, your goldsmith, sir--quitted London to join
+them. I found her in the same ship which brought me over; and, in
+Christian charity and common courtesy, gave her protection on the way.
+She is no light-o'-love, my lord, but a good and honest maiden; and I
+would be the last to sully her purity by word or deed. As soon as I
+reached Ghent, and found out where her cousin dwelt, I placed her
+safely under his roof, and thought of her no more, accompanying you to
+Lille. A servant, however, whom I left with my baggage and some spare
+horses here in Ghent--a clever knave, but a great rogue--was smitten,
+it seems, by her beauty on the way, and went often to see her. On my
+return, while I was speaking with Sir John Grey in the street, this
+man came up importunately, and told me, if I did not save her, she was
+lost. Hurrying along with him to gather my men together, I found that
+a certain monk or friar, named Brother Paul, had combined with others,
+of whom I have since discovered this Simeon of Roydon was one, to
+seize upon the poor girl, with the whole party of her friends, at a
+heretic meeting in the old Linen-weavers' Hall. On their promise to
+give her up to him, this scoundrel servant of mine, Dyram, had
+betrayed to the cunning monks at what hour the assembly was to be
+held; but, when he asked for the securities they had promised, that
+she should be placed in his hands, they laughed him to scorn. He is a
+persevering knave, however, and, by one means or another, gained a
+knowledge of all their proceedings and intentions, and found that they
+had dressed up one of their varlets as the arch-enemy, covering him
+with the skin of a black cow, and setting the horns upon his head.
+This mummer was to be placed under the table in the hall--as doubtless
+he was, for I saw something of the figure when I went in--and as soon
+as it grew dusk, he was to rise up amongst the heretics, giving a sign
+for the others to rush in. Knowing the girl to be a catholic, as I
+have said, and free from all taint of this heresy--"
+
+"Then why went she thither?" demanded the Count de Charolois.
+
+"She told me afterwards, my lord," replied the young Englishman, "that
+her cousin Nicholas and his wife had deceived her, and, anxious to
+convert or pervert her to their own notions, had taken her to this
+place, without letting her know whither she was going. She says they
+will acknowledge it themselves, if they are questioned, and also that
+she strove to go away when she found where she was, but was prevented
+by them. However, knowing her to be a good catholic, and certain that
+the whole matter was contrived out of some malice towards her, I had
+no hesitation in hastening to her deliverance. I used no farther
+violence than was needful to set her free, took no part in delivering
+the others, of whose religious notions I knew nothing, and--"
+
+"The greater part of them escaped, it seems," said the Lord of Croy.
+
+"With that I had nothing to do," replied Richard of Woodville. "I
+contented myself with cutting the cords they had tied round the poor
+girl's wrists; and making my way with her out of the hall, leaving the
+monks and their menee to settle the matter with the others as they
+thought fit."
+
+"And where is the maiden now, my friend?" asked the Count de
+Charolois.
+
+"I instantly sent her out of the town with three of my men," replied
+Richard of Woodville. "I thought it the surest course."
+
+The Count looked at the Lord of Croy, as if for him to speak; and the
+young English knight, somewhat hastily concluding that they
+entertained doubts of his word, exclaimed, after a moment's pause, "I
+trust that you do not disbelieve me, sir? You cannot suppose that an
+English gentleman, of no ill repute, would tell you a falsehood in a
+matter such as this?"
+
+"No, no, my friend, no, no," replied the Count, "I do not doubt you
+for a moment. I only look to our good comrade here, to speak what is
+very unpleasant for me to say. Indeed, I do not know how to explain it
+to you; for you will naturally think that my father's power ought to
+be sufficient to protect one of his own knights against his own
+people."
+
+"The truth is, Sir Richard," said the Lord of Croy, "that the citizens
+of Ghent are an unruly race; and if they once get you in their hands,
+they may treat you ill. If my lord the Count were to resist them,
+there is no knowing what they might do. I would not answer for it, in
+such a case, that we should not see them in arms before the castle
+gate, ere noon to-morrow."
+
+"That shall never be on my account, noble prince," replied the knight,
+turning to the Count; "but, under these circumstances, it were wise in
+me to quit the town of Ghent."
+
+"That is exactly what I wish to say," answered the Prince; "but, in
+truth, it seems most ungrateful of me to propose such a thing to you,
+my friend. Undoubtedly, if you are not pleased to go, I will defend
+you here to the best of my power; and my father would soon give us
+aid, in case of necessity; but I need not tell you, that to have Ghent
+again in revolt, just on the eve of a new war with the Armagnacs in
+France, might be ruinous to all his schemes, and fatal to his policy.
+Moreover, if they were to accuse him of countenancing heresy here, it
+would do him a bitter injury; for the people in Paris have just
+pronounced that the sermon preached by one of his doctors, Jean Petit,
+is heretical."
+
+"Well," answered Richard of Woodville, "I can go to Bruges, my lord,
+where you said I should find good archers, and can be carrying on my
+levies there."
+
+The Count shook his head, saying, "That will be no place of safety.
+These good folks of Ghent, and those of Bruges, so often at deadliest
+enmity, are now sworn friends; and the Brugeois would give you up
+without a thought. No, what I have to propose is this, that you should
+go an hour or two before daylight to my cousin Waleran de St. Paul,
+who is now raising troops upon the Meuse. I shall have to pass thither
+also; for my father sends me into Burgundy, and I cannot go through
+France. If you will wait for me between Chimay and Dinant, I will join
+you within ten days, and we will go on to the west, and raise what men
+we can at Besancon."
+
+"So be it, my noble lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but where
+shall I find the Count?"
+
+"You will find him at Chimay," replied the young prince. "He has a
+castle two leagues thence, on the road to Dinant. From me you shall
+hear before I come. I will meet you somewhere in the Ardennes. Make
+all your preparations quickly; and, in the meanwhile, I will write
+letters to my uncles of Brabant and Liege, that you may have favour
+and protection as you pass."
+
+Richard of Woodville thanked him for his kindness in due terms, and,
+as soon as the young Count, with the Lords of Croy and Lens, had left
+him, called his servants, and gave orders to prepare once more for
+their immediate departure. Fortunately, it so happened that he had
+ordered all his baggage to be brought from the inn, so that no great
+time was lost; and in about an hour all was ready to set out. The
+letters of the young Count, however, had not arrived, and Richard of
+Woodville waited, pondering somewhat anxiously upon the only
+difficulty which presented itself to his mind, namely, how he was to
+recal the men whom he had sent with Ella Brune upon the side of
+Bruges, without depriving her of aid and protection at the moment when
+she most needed it. It was true, he thought, she had no actual claim
+upon him; it was true that he had done more for her already than might
+have been expected at his hands, without any motive but that of
+compassion; but yet he felt that it would be cruel, most cruel, to
+leave her in an hour of peril, undefended and alone. "We take a
+withering stick and plant it in the ground," says Sterne; "and then we
+water it, because we have planted it;" and Richard of Woodville was
+one who felt that the kindness he had shown did give her a title to
+expect more.
+
+At first he thought of bidding the men rejoin him, and bring her with
+them; but then the glance which Sir John Grey had cast upon him as her
+name was mentioned, came back to his mind, and he said, "No, that must
+not be. For her sake and my own, she must go no farther with me. Men
+might well think, if she did, that there were other ties between us
+than there are. I will bid them take her to England, or place her
+anywhere in safety, and then come. To Sir John Grey I must write--and
+to my sweet Mary also. I may well trust her, I hope, to plead my
+cause, and repel the charges which this base villain has brought. Yet,
+'tis most unfortunate that this event should have occurred at such a
+moment."
+
+He was still thinking deeply over these matters, when the door opened,
+and the young Count of Charolois appeared alone. "Here are the
+letters, my friend," he said. "I have ordered some of my people to go
+with you for a mile or two beyond the gates, in order to secure you a
+safe passage. Is there aught I can do for you while you are absent?"
+
+"One thing, my noble lord," replied the young knight, a sudden thought
+striking him--"if you will kindly undertake to be my advocate with one
+whose good opinion is to me a matter of no light moment. You must know
+that Sir John Grey--so long an exile in your father's dominions, but
+now empowered by King Henry to treat, in conjunction with Sir Philip
+de Morgan, at the Court of Burgundy--has one daughter, plighted to me
+by long love, by her own promises, and by her father's also; but some
+scoundrel--the same, I do verily believe, who has made all this
+mischief--I mean Sir Simeon of Roydon--has brought charges against me
+to that good knight, which have altered his countenance towards me.
+Called suddenly away, I have no means of explanation; and I leave my
+name blighted in his opinion. The accusation, I believe, refers to
+this poor girl, Ella Brune; but you may tell Sir John, and I pledge
+you my knightly word you will tell him true, that there is nought
+between her and me but kindness rendered on my part to a woman in
+distress, and gratitude on hers to one who has protected her."
+
+"I will not fail," replied the young prince, giving him his hand, "nor
+will I lose any time before I explain all as far as I know it." Thus
+saying, he walked out with Woodville into the court, where the horses
+stood prepared; and, in a few minutes, the young wanderer was once
+more upon his way.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+                         TRUE LOVE'S DEFENCE.
+
+
+In one of the best houses in the best part of Ghent, and in a chamber
+hung with splendid tapestry, and ornamented with rich carvings of dark
+oak, sat a fair lady, with a bright and happy face--the rounded chin,
+with its small dimple, resting on a hand as white as marble and as
+soft as satin. The dark brown eyes, full of cheerful light, were
+raised towards the gilt roses on the ceiling, as if counting them; but
+the thoughts of Mary Markham, or, as we must henceforth call her, Mary
+Grey, were full of other things; and if she was counting anything, it
+was the minutes, till her father should return from the Cours des
+Princes, and tell her, who had come back to Ghent with the young
+Count of Charolois. She was, as the reader knows, of a hopeful
+disposition--that most bright and blessed of all frames of mind--that
+lightener of the labours of the world--that smoother of the rough ways
+of life; and Mary had already hoped that, perchance, when the door
+opened, and her father's form appeared, another, well loved too, might
+be beside him; for, on her first arrival, Sir John Grey had spoken to
+her much of Richard of Woodville, had praised him, as she was proud to
+hear him praised, and had smiled to see the colour come into her
+cheek, as if he meant to say, "Fear not, you shall be his."
+
+True, for the last two days he had not mentioned his name; but that,
+she thought, might be accidental; and now her father did not come so
+soon as he had promised; but, then, she fancied that this court
+ceremony might have been long and tedious, or that other business
+might have detained him after the reception was over.
+
+Minute upon minute passed, however--one hour went by after
+another--day fled, and night came on--and, after gazing some time upon
+the flickering fire on the wide hearth, for the evening was somewhat
+cold, though spring had well nigh made way for summer, Mary rang the
+little silver bell before her, and bade the servant bring her light to
+work.
+
+The man obeyed; and when the sconce, protruding through the tapestry
+by a long gilded arm, was lighted, she said, "Is not my father long?"
+
+"He has been back, lady," replied the man, "but did not dismount, only
+giving some orders to Hugh, and saying, that if Sir Philip de Morgan
+came, to tell him he would be here in about two hours."
+
+"How long was that ago?" demanded Mary Grey. The man replied, "More
+than an hour." And with this intelligence she was forced to rest
+satisfied. Not long after she heard a step, and her heart beat; but,
+listening eagerly, she perceived that the sound gave no hope that
+there were two persons approaching; and with a sigh she plied the busy
+needle. The next instant her father came in; and, though he kissed her
+tenderly, with long denied affection, she could see that his face was
+clouded and somewhat stern.
+
+"I have kept you late from supper, my sweet child," he said; "but I
+had business which took me away after my visit to the prince."
+
+"Not pleasant business, I fear, noble father," replied Mary, hanging
+on his arm, "for you look sad."
+
+Sir John Grey gazed on her for a moment or two, with a look of
+melancholy interest and affection. She had never seen such an
+expression on his countenance before, but when he had taken leave of
+her to quit his native land as an exile; and it seemed prophetic of
+misfortune. "What has happened, my dear father?" she exclaimed; "has
+any new misfortune befallen you?"
+
+"No," answered Sir John Grey; "and yet I must say yes, too; for that
+which is sad for you, must be sad for me, Mary."
+
+"He is dead! he is killed!" cried Mary Grey, her sunny cheek growing
+deadly pale; but her father hastened to relieve her on that score.
+
+"No, Mary," he said, gravely, "he is not dead; but he is unworthy."
+
+The blood rushed up again into her face, as if some one had accused
+her of a crime; but the next moment she laughed, gaily answering, "No,
+my father, no! Some one has deceived you. That is impossible. Richard
+of Woodville cannot be unworthy."
+
+"Alas! my sweet child, 'tis you deceive yourself," replied the knight;
+"the confidence of love speaks out before you know the facts."
+
+"I know one fact, my father," answered Mary, "which none can
+contradict; and which is my answer to all that can be said. For many a
+long year I have known him. In youth and manhood I have watched him
+well: and there is not a truer heart on earth. If any one say that his
+courage has failed in the hour of peril, it is false, my father. If
+any one say that he has betrayed his friend, it is false. If any one
+say, that he has deceived, even by word, man or woman, high or low, it
+is false. If any one say, that he has forgotten his duty, broke his
+plighted word, wronged his king, his country, you, or me, believe it
+not, for it is false, my father."
+
+"These are the words of love, my Mary," replied Sir John Grey; "but
+though I would fain shield that dear bosom through life from every
+shaft of sorrow, pain, and disappointment, yet, my sweet child, I
+would rather see you suffer, bitterly though it might be, than regard
+what I have to tell you of this youth with that light indifference
+which some might show. He left his native land, Mary, plighted and
+pledged to you; telling you he went to seek honour for your sake; and
+yet he brought hither with him a fair leman, to sooth his idle hours
+with songs and dalliance. Was this worthy, Mary? Nay, doubt it not;
+for I have it from three several sources; and his own conduct to
+myself confirms the tale."
+
+He thought to see tears, or at least thoughtful looks; but Mary once
+more laughed gaily; and holding her father's arm with her fair hand,
+gazed merrily in his face. "Alas!" she said, "how men are fond of
+mischief! and what chance can a poor defenceless woman have to escape
+scandal, when you powerful lords of earth so slander one another?
+Forgive me, my dear father; but I needs must laugh, to think that any
+one here, in a foreign land, should take the pains, from pure
+malignity to my poor knight, to try thus sillily to trouble the peace
+of Mary Grey, by poisoning her parent's mind against her lover. Poor
+Ella Brune! little did she think, or little did I think when I bade
+her go, what evil to her kind and generous benefactor might be done,
+by her coming with him. I have an antidote to the poison, my dear
+father; and thanks to that generous candour which made you condescend
+to tell your child all the plain truth, I can apply it. I know this
+girl, my father--I know the whole history. I am even art and part in
+the offence; or rather it is mine, not his. She is my paramour, not
+Richard's;" and Mary blushed brightly, while even in her laughing eyes
+a dewy drop of emotion rose up and sparkled, as she defended him she
+loved.
+
+"Your words are strange, dear one," said the knight; "but let me hear
+more. Tell me the whole, my child."
+
+"That I will do," replied Mary. "I will tell you the whole tale after
+supper, and hers is a very sad one. But first, to set your mind fully
+at ease, let me say, that the only evil thing Richard has done in all
+this affair, was showing some want of courtesy to the poor girl
+herself; for when, after having received from him kind and generous
+protection in her hour of sorrow and of danger, she thought to journey
+to join her friends in Burgundy, under the safeguard of his little
+band--Richard, fearing too much what men might say, or perchance,
+fancying that Mary might be jealous, unkindly refused to take her; and
+it was I who bade her go, and promised her that, with a free heart, I
+would let all idle fancies pass me by as evening winds."
+
+"Your love is very confiding, my sweet child," replied the knight.
+
+"And it will never be wronged," said Mary, warmly. "I would not have
+given it, father, to one unworthy of such trust; and when the
+confidence ends, the love will end with it. But that will never be."
+
+"Yet, my dear child," answered the knight, gravely, "as I told you I
+had, in the very first instance, an intimation of this fact from some
+unknown hand, and then--"
+
+"Some idle mischief-maker," cried Mary, "who chanced to see them on
+the road, and in his own fancy made the evil he would ascribe to
+Richard."
+
+"But then comes another, lately arrived from England," continued Sir
+John Grey; "a gentleman of good repute, who tells the same story with
+strange exactness, if it be false; and then, when questioned by me,
+Sir Philip de Morgan says, with a worldly laugh at young men's
+follies, that he has heard something of it."
+
+"But who was this man from England?" asked Mary, eagerly, "this
+gentleman of good repute?--I doubt, my father! I doubt!--Methinks I
+could name him at once."
+
+"Do so, then," replied her father; "I will tell you if you are right."
+
+"Simeon of Roydon," said his daughter; and the knight nodded his
+assent. "A gentleman of good repute!" cried Mary; "a false and
+perjured knave, my father! One who has already foully slandered poor
+Harry Dacre, yet, with a craven cautiousness, has kept himself free
+from the lance's point; one who dare not, before Richard of
+Woodville's face, say aught but, that he has heard such reports--that
+he vouches not for them--that he mentioned them in thoughtlessness.
+Out upon the base, ungenerous hound! Why, this very man, for his
+shameless persecution of this poor girl, and on the bold accusation of
+good Sir Philip Beauchamp, my second father, is banished from England
+for two years, and vowed revenge on her and all of us. Had it not been
+for the King's presence, I believe noble Sir Philip would have crushed
+him as an earwig or a wasp."
+
+"And is it so?" exclaimed Sir John Grey. "This makes a great change,
+indeed, my child; for if the teller of a tale be a villain, we may
+well judge that his story will have some scoundrel object. Nor can I
+doubt," he continued, with a smile, "that this poor girl, of whom so
+much has been said, is not what they call her; for, though your eyes
+might be blinded by love, dear girl, my noble friend Sir Philip is not
+likely to be affected by any tender self-deceit."
+
+Mary laughed gaily. "That he is not," she said. "Nay, love is with
+him, my father, but another name for folly. Did I not tell you right,
+that whoever has assailed the name of Richard of Woodville is a false
+knave?"
+
+"I trust it may be so," replied her father; "but yet, dear Mary, we
+must not forget that, long ere this Sir Simeon of Roydon uttered a
+word, some one unknown wrote to me the self-same tale."
+
+"It was himself, or some one like him," answered Mary Grey.
+
+"It could not be himself," rejoined the knight; "for he was not yet in
+Flanders when the letter came."
+
+"Is there but one slanderer in the world, dear father?" replied the
+fair girl, raising her eyes almost reproachfully to her parent's
+countenance; "and should we even doubt the conduct of one whom for
+many a long year we have seen walk in truth and honour, because some
+nameless calumniator breathes a tale against him?"
+
+"We should not," replied Sir John Grey, firmly; "yet such is the
+world's justice, my child, and such is, I fear, the heart of
+man--ready to doubt, prone to suspect, and instructed by its own
+weakness in the weakness of others. However, you have well pleaded
+your lover's cause, my Mary; and he shall have full and patient
+hearing to explain whatever yet remains obscure."
+
+"Is there aught obscure?" asked Mary Grey. "To me his whole conduct
+seems, as it ever has been, light as day."
+
+"Yes," answered the knight; "but yet, Mary, even while I spoke with
+him to-night--"
+
+"What, is he here?" cried Mary Grey, interrupting him, and clasping
+her hands with eager joy; "and have you seen him--spoke with him?--How
+did he look, my father?--Well, but not too happy when he was away from
+me, I dare to say."
+
+"Well, he certainly seemed," replied her father, with a smile; "and
+anything but happy, my dear child; but, as I was going to add--even
+while I spoke with him upon these most serious charges, a man came up
+and plucked him by the sleeve, beseeching him to come to Ella Brune.
+His whole countenance changed at the name; and, though he had fixed to
+meet me within two hours, he failed in his appointment. I waited for
+him as long as he could decently expect, and then came hither,
+doubting no longer that the tale was true."
+
+Mary paused thoughtfully, and cast down her eyes; but then a moment
+after she raised them again with a look of relief, as if she had
+settled the whole in her own mind. "I will be warrant," she said,
+"that some great peril has beset our poor Ella, and that he has gone
+to deliver her: most likely the hateful persecution of this same base
+man. Nothing else--nothing, I know, would have kept Richard of
+Woodville away from Mary Grey--if, indeed, he knew that I was here."
+
+"Nay, I must do him justice," answered the knight; "he did not know
+it, Mary; and perhaps what you suppose is the case, for the man did
+mention something of danger, and besought him to save her. We will
+look upon it in as fair a light as may be, and I will send to him
+early in the morning to bid him come hither and explain. He will then
+have two advocates instead of one, my child; and I am very ready to be
+convinced, for I love him for his love to you."
+
+"Can you not send to-night?" whispered Mary Grey, resting her hands
+upon her father's arm.
+
+"Nay, nay," replied the knight, smiling kindly on her. "It is late
+to-night, dear girl. To-morrow will do."
+
+Does to-morrow ever do? But seldom; for the hour that is, we can only
+call our own. All that is to come is in the hands of that dark
+mysterious fate, which, ruling silent and unseen the acts and wills of
+men, reserves to itself, in its own dim council-chamber, each purpose
+unfulfilled, each resolution made and not performed; sporting with
+chances and with hopes, trampling into dust expectations and designs,
+and leaving to man but the past for his instruction, and the present
+for his energies. The word to-morrow should be blotted out from the
+catalogue. It is what never exists in the form we think to find it;
+and thus it was with Sir John Grey. When the morning came he wrote
+briefly to Richard of Woodville, requesting him to come to him, and
+making the tone of his epistle more kindly than his words the night
+before; but it was returned unopened from the Graevensteen, with the
+tidings that the young knight and all his band had set out on some
+expedition a few hours after midnight. As she heard the answer, the
+gay and happy eyes of Mary Grey filled with tears; and her father,
+gazing on her, reproached himself for having lost the moment that was
+theirs.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+                             THE RESCUE.
+
+
+It was a sultry summer morning, in the midst of July, and there was a
+dull oppressive weight in the air, although neither mist nor cloud
+hung upon the lazy wings of a south wind, when an armed party rode
+through the deep forest of Auvillers, a part of the ancient Ardennes.
+Road, properly so called, there was none; but yet the way, though
+somewhat difficult to find for those not accustomed to all the
+intricacies of the wood, was not difficult to travel; for no care had
+been taken to plant new trees where old ones had fallen by the stroke
+of Time or the axe; all had been left to nature; and thus amidst the
+thick copses and the tall groves of old trees, wide open spaces and
+long uncovered tracts had spread here and there, over which the soft
+turf afforded pleasant footing for man or beast. True, the whole
+district was rocky and mountainous, and without a guide, the wanderer
+might have found it a wearisome journey in a sultry day, having to
+climb a high hill in one place, or wind in and out to avoid the long
+projecting cliffs of slaty stone in another. But for one directed by
+any persons well acquainted with the track, the journey was far more
+easy; and by choosing the proper breaks in the forest, and the long
+spaces which lay midway up the hills, he might ride along for many
+miles, without having to ascend any mountain, or deviate very greatly
+from a straight course, on account either of the wood or of the rocks.
+
+Such was the course followed by the party of which I speak, under the
+direction of a tall powerful man, clothed from head to heel in steel;
+for those were not times, nor was that a part of the country in which
+men of rank and station could travel in safety without being armed in
+proof. Waleran de St. Paul, indeed, might better have risked his life
+with scanty arms and few attendants, than any other noble of the day,
+in that district, for he was well known and generally beloved by the
+lesser lords around; and his redoubted name rendered it a somewhat
+fearful task to strive with him, even if taken unprepared; but it
+would still have been a hazardous experiment, for in those remote and
+uncultivated tracts, bordering upon several great states, and very
+uncertain in their attachment to any, numerous bands of wild and
+lawless men took refuge, and, secure from the arm of justice, lived a
+life of plunder and oppression, only varied by the mimic warfare of
+the chase. None of the great nobles in the vicinity--generally engaged
+in the civil strifes and incessant broils of their own countries--had
+time to suppress them, even if they had the inclination. But it may
+well be doubted whether they felt at all disposed to put down, with
+the strong hand, the troops of roving plunderers which at that time
+infested the great forests that stretched along the banks of the Meuse
+and the Moselle; for in those very bands they frequently found a sort
+of depot for brave and determined followers, from which their forces
+might at any moment be recruited for a short space of time. It is,
+moreover, whispered that in many instances, the more civilized and
+polite of the powerful barons round were accustomed to exact a certain
+share of the plunder from their marauding neighbours, as the price of
+toleration; and the inferior lords sometimes shared the peril as well
+as the spoil; and received as welcome guests into their strong castles
+the leaders of the freebooters, when any accidental reverse of fortune
+rendered the green wood no longer a secure abode.
+
+Such was the state of the land through which now rode the Lord of St.
+Paul, still holding the sword, if not the office of Constable of
+France, with Richard of Woodville by his side, and a train of about
+forty men-at-arms behind them; so that all peril from their somewhat
+covetous neighbours of the Ardennes was unthought of by either; and
+the beauty of the scene, the heat of the day, their approaching
+meeting with the young Count of Charolois, the state of France, and
+the probability of speedy deeds of arms, were the subjects of the
+conversation.
+
+The landscapes, indeed, were most lovely as they proceeded. Beneath,
+upon the left, sloped down the hill side, here and there covered with
+green wood, here and there broken with wild and rugged rocks; but
+everywhere so much below them, that the eye could generally catch the
+shining course of the Meuse, wandering on with a thousand sinuosities,
+and could then roam at large over the wide and varied country on the
+other side, sometimes reaching distant towns and cities many leagues
+away, sometimes checked by a bold mountain near at hand. Above rose
+the hills with their woody garmenture, from which would often start
+out a high grey cliff of cold slaty stone, sheer up and perpendicular
+as a wall; or at other times would rise a conical peak, smooth at the
+sides, or broken into points; and, through many of the gorges that
+they passed, perched upon isolated hills that seemed inaccessible,
+were seen the towers and walls of some stern feudal fortress, frowning
+down the valley, as if prognosticating woe to the traveller who
+ventured there alone.
+
+Of each of these castles the Lord of St. Paul had some tale or
+anecdote; and he kindly strove to amuse the mind of his young
+companion by the way; but though Woodville listened with all due
+courtesy, ay, and admired the beauty of the land, and answered with a
+calm and ready mind, yet it was evident his cheerful gaiety was gone,
+at least for the time, and that his thoughts were pre-occupied by
+sadder themes, which only spared his attention for a moment, to reply
+to the words addressed to him, and then recalled it immediately to
+himself.
+
+"You seem sad, sir knight," said the Lord of St. Paul, at length; "I
+trust that with the letters from the noble Count, which seemed to me
+full of all joyance, you received no evil tidings?"
+
+"Tidings most strange, my redoubted lord,"[10] replied Richard of
+Woodville; "for while the Count speaks cheerfully of having removed
+all cause of difference between myself and a noble gentleman, Sir John
+Grey, on whom my best hopes depend, letters from that knight himself
+are filled with reproaches undeserved by me, and refuse all
+explanation or argument."
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 10: This term was greatly affected at the period we speak
+of, not only by kings, but by all powerful nobles.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"That is strange, indeed," said the Count; "what are the dates? One
+may have been written earlier than the other."
+
+"The dates are the same," answered Richard of Woodville, "and the
+letters of Sir John Grey, coming by the same messenger as those of the
+Count, might easily have been stopped, had the explanation been given
+after they were written. It is a dark and misty life we lead in this
+world; and still, when we think all is clear and bright, as I did when
+I returned from Lille to Ghent, some thick vapour spreads over the
+whole, concealing it from our eyes, like the cloud now rolling round
+the brow of the castle on that high rocky steep."
+
+"We shall have rain," remarked the Lord of St. Paul, "and when it does
+begin, it will prove a torrent. Here, old Carloman," he continued,
+turning to one of his men-at-arms, "what does that cloud mean? and
+where can we best wait for the noble prince, the Count of Charolois,
+who is to meet us at the Mill Bridge?"
+
+"The cloud means a heavy storm, my lord," replied the old man, riding
+forward. "Do you not see how the earth gapes for it? But it will not
+be able to swallow all that will come down, I think. We have not had a
+drop of rain these two months, and very little dew, so that everything
+is as parched as pulse. Then, as to waiting for the prince, the
+meadows by the river would be the best place, if it were not for that
+cloud."
+
+"Oh, we mind not a little rain," answered the Count of St. Paul;
+"'twill but make the armourers' fingers ache to take off the rust
+to-night."
+
+"Ay, 'tis not the rain I am thinking of," said the old man; "but the
+meadows are no safe resting-place, when there are storms above there.
+The water gathers in the gulleys, and comes down into the Sormonne,
+till the old fool can hold no more, and then the whole valley is
+covered."
+
+"Oh, but if that be the case, we can easily gallop up higher," replied
+the Count. "There is no shame in running away from a torrent, old
+Carloman. 'Tis not like turning one's back on the foe."
+
+"Faith that is a foe that gallops quicker than you can," answered the
+man-at-arms. "The meadow is so narrow, and the bank so high, that you
+cannot cut across; so you had better stop above, in what we call the
+Rock Castle, where you can see the country below, and the Mill Bridge
+and all, without getting in the way of the water. The old Sormonne is
+a lion, I can tell you, when he is angry; and nothing makes him so
+fierce as a storm in the hills."
+
+"Well, be it so," answered his lord; "you shall be our governor, good
+Carloman."
+
+"Then keep up higher, dread sir," replied the man-at-arms. "See," he
+added, as they passed a little brook that was running down a narrow
+ravine, all troubled and red, "it has begun farther to the east
+already; and it is coming against the wind. That is a sign that it
+will be furious, though not long-lived."
+
+The Count and his party rode on, somewhat quickening their pace; and
+though they heard occasionally a distant roar, showing that there was
+thunder somewhere, no lightning was seen, and the wind still continued
+blowing faintly from the south-west. The clouds, however, crept over
+the sky, approaching the sun with their hard leaden edges, and to the
+north and east, covering the whole expanse with a deep black wall,
+broken and rugged at its summit, as if higher hills and rocks of slate
+and marble were rising from the bosom of the mountain scene into the
+heavens above. Over the deep curtain of vapour, indeed, here and there
+floated detached, some small paler clouds; and others seemed hurrying
+up from the south, where all had been hitherto clear, as if drawn
+by some irresistible power towards the adamant-like mass in the
+north-east. From one of these as they passed over-head, a few heavy
+drops fell, but then ceased; and still the sun shone out, as if in
+scorn of the black enemy that rose towering towards him. A deep
+stillness, however, fell upon the scene. There is generally in the
+risen day an unmarked but all pervading sound of busy life, composed
+of many different noises mingled in the air. According to the season
+of the year and hour, it varies of course. Sometimes it is full of the
+song of birds, the voices of the cattle, the hum of insects, the rush
+of streams, the whispering of the wind, the rustle of the trees, and a
+thousand other undistinguished sounds to which the ear pays no heed.
+But when they all or most of them cease, it is strange how we miss the
+murmur of creation--what a want, what a vacancy there seems! So was it
+now; and, turning to Richard of Woodville, the Lord of St. Paul
+remarked, "How silent everything has become!"
+
+"It is generally so before a thunderstorm," answered the young knight.
+"In my country, we judge whether it will be merely rain or something
+more by the conduct of the cattle. If after a drought we are going to
+have refreshing showers, the sheep and oxen seem to hail it with their
+voices; but if there be lightning coming, everything is silent."
+
+Almost immediately after he had spoken, there was a bright flash, not
+very near, but dazzling; and some drops fell, while the thunder
+followed at a long interval. Spurring on, they rode forward for about
+two miles farther; and as they went, every little gorge and hollow way
+had its minor torrent coming down thick and turbulent, though the
+rain, where the Count and his party were, had not become violent,
+pattering slowly upon their arms and housings, and spotting the sleek
+coats of the horses with marks like damascene work. The river, which
+they were now approaching nearer, might be seen swelling and foaming
+in its bed, its crowded waters curling in miniature whirlpools along
+the edge, and rising higher and higher up the bank, as the innumerable
+tributaries from the mountains poured down continual accessions to the
+flood.
+
+At length the old man-at-arms exclaimed, "To the right, my lord," and
+passing through a narrow opening between the great belt of wood, and a
+small detached portion that ran farther down the hill, they entered a
+sort of natural amphitheatre crowned with old pines, and carpeted at
+the bottom of the crags with soft green turf spread over the rugged
+and undulating surface of ground. Numerous immense masses of rock,
+however, detached from the hills above, and rolled down in times long
+passed, started out from the greensward bare and grey; and here and
+there would rise up a group of old oaks or beeches, while on the stony
+fragments themselves was often perched an ash or a fir, like a plume
+in the helmet of a knight.
+
+In front of this amphitheatre the trees sloped away both to the right
+and left, leaving a wide open space gradually descending the hill, so
+that from most parts of the Castle of Rocks, as it was called, a
+considerable portion of the course of the Sormonne might be seen, the
+nearest point being somewhat less distant than a quarter of a mile.
+Directly in front was a double wooden bridge spanning over the stream,
+which was there divided by a low island of very small extent, which
+served but as a resting-place for the piles of the two bridges, and
+for a mill, which gave the name to that particular spot. Beyond, on
+the opposite side of the water, was an undulating plain of several
+miles in extent, bounded by hills all round, but open to the eye of
+St. Paul and his party as they stood in the midst of the amphitheatre.
+
+"Is not this the best place now, my lord?" asked old Carloman. "You
+can not only see here, but you can find shelter, and need not get your
+arms rusted, or your horses wet, unless you like. There, under the
+cliff where it hangs over, you can post two-thirds of the men; and as
+the storm comes the other way, not a drop will reach them. Then, as
+for the rest, they can get under this rock in front, where they will
+be quite dry, if they keep close."
+
+"I will stay here," replied the Count of St. Paul. "You lodge the
+others, Carloman."
+
+"I will keep you company, my lord," said Richard of Woodville; "and if
+we dismount, we shall be better able to shelter the horses."
+
+Such was the plan followed; and all the troop, men and horses, were
+under shelter before the storm became violent. Nor, indeed, did the
+thunder ever reach that grand and terrible height which it frequently
+does attain in wood-covered mountains: the rain seemed to drown it;
+but the deluge which soon fell from the sky was tremendous. In long
+lines of black and grey it poured straight down, mingled with hail and
+every now and then crossed by the faint glare of the lightning. The
+distant country was hidden by the misty veil, and even the nearer
+scene of the bridge and the mill, the only dwelling in the
+neighbourhood, grew indistinct.
+
+The Lord of St. Paul and Richard of Woodville endeavoured in vain to
+descry the plain on the opposite side of the river, in expectation of
+seeing the train of the Count of Charolois coming from the side of
+Avesnes. Nothing could they distinguish beyond a hundred yards from
+the opposite bank; and they mutually expressed a hope that the prince
+might have been delayed in the more cultivated country to the west,
+where he would find shelter from the storm.
+
+"He cannot surely be already in the mill?" said the Count: "there seem
+a great many people at that casement looking up the stream. How many
+men did he say he would bring, Sir Richard?"
+
+"Two hundred horse," replied Richard of Woodville; "he cannot be
+there, my good lord; yet there seems a number of heads too. Good
+heaven! how the stream is rising! 'Tis nearly up to the road-way of
+the bridge."
+
+"It will be higher than that before it is done, sir knight," observed
+one of the men-at-arms. "I have seen the bridge carried away twice
+since I was a boy."
+
+"Here comes a boat down the stream," said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Ay, we passed one a little way further up," replied the same man who
+had spoken before; "it has broken away, I dare say."
+
+"That is not a boat," exclaimed the Lord of St. Paul, after gazing for
+a moment; "it is the thatch of a cottage. Heaven have mercy upon the
+poor people!" and lifting the cross of his sword to his lips, he
+kissed it, and muttered a prayer.
+
+At the same moment a number of men, some evidently of inferior rank,
+and some in garbs which betokened higher station, ran out of the mill;
+and Woodville could then perceive that, almost close to the door,
+between the building and the bridge, the water had risen over the low
+shore of the islet, so as to be up to the knees of those who came
+forth. He fancied at first that they were about to make their escape
+over the bridge; but he saw that several of them were armed with long
+poles; and turning to the man-at arms, who seemed well acquainted with
+the country, he inquired what they were about to do.
+
+"To draw the broken cottage-roof to the shore, sir knight, I suppose,"
+replied the other, "lest it should damage the bridge."
+
+"See, there comes down a bull!" cried the Count; "how furiously he
+struggles with the stream.--Ha! they have caught the roof with their
+hooks. They have got it--no!"
+
+They had indeed obtained for a moment some hold upon the heavy mass of
+timber and straw that came rushing down, and were dragging it towards
+the little island; but the stream was increasing so rapidly, and
+pouring such a body of water upon the land where they stood, that one
+of the men slipped, and let go his pole, glad enough to be dragged out
+of the eddy by those behind.
+
+The roof at the same moment swang round and disengaged itself. The
+bull, still struggling with the torrent, was dashed against the bridge
+and recoiled. The heavy mass of thatch and wood-work was borne forward
+upon him with the full force of the stream, and crushed him between
+itself and the piers. A shrill and horrible cry--something between a
+roar and a scream, burst from amidst the fierce rushing sound of the
+overwhelming waters; the whole mass of the floating roof was cast
+furiously upon the weaker part of the bridge in the centre, already
+shaken by the torrent; and with an awful crash the whole structure
+gave way, and was borne in fragments down the stream.
+
+"The flood has reached the mill," said the Count of St. Paul, turning
+to the man-at-arms; "is there no danger of its being carried away,
+too?"
+
+"The miller would tell you, none, my dreaded lord," replied the
+soldier; "but every day is not like to-day; and what has happened once
+may happen again. He always says there is no danger, since he put up
+an image of the blessed Virgin over the door; but I recollect when I
+was a little boy, and lived at Givet, that island was six feet under
+water, and where there was a mill in the morning, you could row over
+in a boat at night. They were all drowned, this man's uncle and all."
+
+"Why are you stripping off your casque and camail, Sir Richard?" asked
+the Count.
+
+"Because I imagine they may soon want help, my good lord," replied the
+young knight.
+
+"Madness!" cried the Lord of St. Paul; "no man could swim such a
+torrent as that."
+
+"I do not know that, noble sir," answered Richard of Woodville; "we
+are great swimmers in my country, and accustomed to buffet with the
+waves. But there is a boat higher up. I will first try that, and if
+that sinks, swimming must serve me."
+
+"I will not suffer it!" exclaimed the Count; "neither boat nor man
+could live in such a rushing torrent as that."
+
+"Indeed, my good lord, you must," replied the young knight, gravely.
+"My life is of no great value to myself, or any one, now; and, though
+I know not who these good folks are, they shall not be lost before my
+eyes, without an effort on my part to deliver them. See, see!" he
+cried, "some one waves to us from the window!" and, casting off his
+corslet, and all his heavy armour, he was hurrying down. But the Count
+caught him by the arm with a glowing cheek, saying, "Stay, stay, yet a
+little. They are in no danger yet. The stream may not rise higher."
+
+"But if it does, they are lost," answered Woodville, gently
+disengaging his arm.
+
+"Then I will go with you," said the Count.
+
+"No, no, my lord!" replied the young knight; "you would but fill the
+boat, which is small enough. One man is better than a thousand there.
+If I die, divide my goods amongst my men--send my ring to my sweet
+lady; and farewell."
+
+Thus saying, he sped on to the very brink of the water, which, instead
+of decreasing, was still rising rapidly. There, he tried to make the
+people of the mill hear him, and they shouted from the casement in
+reply, but the roaring of the torrent drowned their words; and
+hurrying up to the spot where he had seen the boat moored, he found
+it, now far out from the actual brink of the stream, swaying backwards
+and forwards with the eddies. The top of the post, to which it was
+attached by a chain, and which, an hour before, had been some yards on
+shore, was now just visible above the rushing waters; but, wading in,
+the young knight caught the chain, and drew the boat to him.
+
+It was luckily flat, and somewhat heavy in its build; so that he
+managed to get in without upsetting it, but not without difficulty.
+The only implements, however, which he found to guide its course, were
+one paddle and a large pole with an iron hook, such as he had seen in
+the hands of the people of the mill. But he had no hesitation,--no
+fear; and, throwing loose the chain, he guided the boat into the
+middle of the stream, where, though the current was stronger, the
+eddies were less frequent. There it was borne forward with terrible
+rapidity towards what had been the island, but was no longer to be
+distinguished from the rest of the stream but by the foaming ripple on
+either side, and the mill rising in the midst.
+
+The bank of the river, on the eastern side, was crowded by his own
+attendants and the followers of the Count of St. Paul; the windows of
+the mill, and a little railed platform above the wheel, showed a
+multitude of anxious faces. No one spoke--no one moved, however, but
+two stout Englishmen, who were seen upon the shore, stripping off
+their arms and clothing; while the timbers of the mill, and the posts
+and stanchions of the platform, quivered and shook with the roaring
+tide as it whirled, red and furious, past them, lingering in a curling
+vortex round, as if unwilling to dash on without carrying every
+obstacle along with it.
+
+Richard of Woodville raised not his eyes to look at those who hung
+between death and life; he turned not to gaze at his companions on the
+shore: he knew that every energy, every thought was wanted to
+accomplish the great object; and, if he suffered his mind to stray,
+for even a single instant to other things, it was but to think, "I
+will show those who have belied me that I can risk life, even for
+beings I do not know!" His eyes were fixed upon one spot, where the
+boiling of the tide evinced that the ground came near the surface; and
+there, he determined first to check the furious speed at which he was
+hurried down the stream. A little farther on, were the strong
+standards and braces of a mill of those days; and he thought that, if
+he could break the first rush of the boat at the shallow, he should be
+able more easily to bring her up under the casements and the platform.
+
+Now guiding with the paddle, now starting up to hold the boat-pike, he
+came headlong towards the shoal; but, fending off till the speed of
+the boat was checked, and she swung round with the torrent and drifted
+more slowly on, he caught at the thick uprights of the mill with the
+hook--missed the first--grappled the second; and, though almost thrown
+over with the shock, held fast till the boat swung heavily round, and
+struck with her broadside against the building. A rope was instantly
+thrown from above; and, tying it fast through a ring, which was to be
+found in the bow of all boats in those days, he relaxed his hold of
+the woodwork, and the skiff floated farther round.
+
+Then first he looked up; and then first a feeling of deadly terror
+took possession of him. His cheek grew pale; his lips turned white;
+and, stretching out his arms, he exclaimed, "Oh, Mary!--oh, my
+beloved! is it you on whom such peril has fallen?--Quick, quick!" he
+continued, "lose not a moment. The stream is coming down more and more
+strong--the building cannot stand. Bear her down quick, Sir John."
+
+"Poo! the building will stand well enough," said a man, in a rude
+jargon of the French tongue. "'Tis but that people are afraid."
+
+"Fool!" cried Richard of Woodville, who saw the timbers quivering as
+if shaken by mortal agony: "if you would save your life, come down
+with the rest."
+
+"Not I," answered the miller, with a laugh; "I have seen as bad floods
+before now. Here, lady, here--set a foot upon the wheel; it is made
+fast, and cannot move. Catch her, young gentleman:--nay, not so far,
+or you will upset the boat--that will do,--there she is;" and Richard
+of Woodville, receiving Mary Grey in his arms, seated her in the stern
+of the boat, and again advanced to aid her women and the old knight in
+descending. Two fair young girls, a young clerk in a black gown, and
+three armed servants formed the train, and they were the first to take
+refuge in the boat, leaving their horses behind them. There were three
+other men remained above, and laughed lightly at the thought of
+danger; but one young lad, of fifteen years of age, though he too said
+he would stay, bore a white cheek and a wandering eye.
+
+"Send down the boy, at least," cried Richard of Woodville to the
+miller; "though you may be fool-hardy, there is no need to sacrifice
+his life."
+
+"Go, go, Edme," said the miller; "you are as well there as here. You
+can do us no good."
+
+The boy hesitated; but the increasing force of water made the mill
+tremble more violently than ever; and, hurrying on, he sprang into the
+boat.
+
+"Every one down and motionless!" cried Richard of Woodville, without
+exchanging even a word with those who were most dear; and, casting off
+the rope, he steered as well as the paddle would permit towards the
+bank. But, hurried rapidly forward down the stream, with scarcely any
+power of direction, he saw that the frail bark must pass the ruined
+bridge. It was a moment of terrible anxiety, for the eddies showed
+that the foundations of the piers were left beneath the waters. By
+impulse, the instinct of great peril, he guided the boat over the most
+violent gush of the stream, between two of the half-checked
+whirlpools; and she shot clear down, falling into another vortex
+below, which carried her completely round twice; and then, broken by
+the blade of the paddle, let her float away into the stream.
+
+The whole band of the Count of St. Paul were running down by the side
+of the river; and, as the course of the skiff became more steady,
+Richard of Woodville turned his eyes towards them. They had got what
+seemed a rope in their hands; and, ever and anon, one of his own
+archers held it up, and made signs, as if he would have thrown it, had
+they been nearer.
+
+"Some one be ready to catch the rope!" cried Woodville, "I cannot quit
+the steering;" and he guided the boat gently and gradually towards the
+shore. The young clerk sprang at once into the bow; the women sat
+still in breathless expectation. Sir John Grey advanced slowly and
+steadily to aid the youth; and when, at the distance of a few yards, a
+band, formed of the sword-belts of the troop tightly tied together,
+was thrown on board, the young man and the old knight caught it, but
+were pulled down by the shock. Some of the others aided to hold it
+fast; but, in spite of all Woodville's efforts, the boat swung round,
+struck the rocky shore violently, and began to fill.
+
+There were now many to aid, however: one after another was supported
+to the land; and Richard of Woodville springing out the last, caught
+his sweet Mary to his heart, and blessed the God of all mercies for
+her preservation in that hour of peril.
+
+As he did so, a faint and distant cry, and a rushing sound,
+different--very different, either from the roar of the stream or the
+growling of the thunder, caught the ear. All turned round towards the
+mill, and gazed. It was gone!--a black mass floated on the tide,
+struck against the sunken piers of the fallen bridge, obstructed for a
+moment the torrent which instantly poured over it in a white cataract,
+and then, broken into innumerable fragments, rushed past, darkening
+the red waters. Woodville ran to the brink, and gazed; but no trace of
+the rash men who had chosen to remain appeared, and their bodies were
+not found for many days, when they floated to the shore far down the
+then subsided stream.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+                           THE RECOMPENCE.
+
+
+Oh, what a moment it was when, after seeing the wreck of the mill
+drift by, Richard of Woodville again held Mary Grey to his heart! He
+cared not who witnessed his emotions, he thought not of the crowd
+around, he thought not of her father's presence, or of the letter he
+had received on the preceding night. All he remembered, all he felt,
+was, that she was saved; and the knowledge of the dreadful death that
+had just overtaken those who had perished by their own obstinacy,
+added to the joy of that overpowering feeling, notwithstanding the
+horror of their fate.
+
+Bearing her rather than leading her, her lover brought Mary to the
+shelter of the trees; for though the storm had somewhat abated, the
+rain was still coming down heavily; and there, while the tears poured
+fast from her beautiful eyes, one or two of the stout English archers,
+who had known her well at Dunbury, came quietly up and kissed her
+hand. The Count of St. Paul and his men stood looking on; Sir John
+Grey gazed upon the lover and the lady with a silent smile; and they
+themselves spoke not for many minutes, so intense were the emotions of
+their hearts.
+
+At length, however, after a few low words of explanation with the
+Count of St. Paul, the old knight advanced to Woodville's side and
+took his hand, saying, "What, not a word to me, Richard?"
+
+The young knight put his hand to his brow, and gazed at Mary's father
+in surprise, so different seemed his tone from that of the letter he
+had received.
+
+"The surprise of seeing you here, noble knight," he answered, in a
+confused manner; "the joy of having been brought, as it were, by
+Heaven's own hand to save this dear lady, when I least expected to
+meet with her--all confounds me and takes away my words."
+
+"Surprise at seeing us!" repeated Sir John Grey, in a tone of
+astonishment. "When you least expected to meet with her!--Have you not
+received my letter by the post of the Count of Charolois?"
+
+"One letter, sir knight, I did receive," replied Woodville; "but it
+gave me no thought that I should see you here."
+
+The knight gazed at him for an instant, with a look that seemed
+expressive of doubt as well as wonder. "Here is some mistake," he
+said. "I trust, my young friend, this catastrophe has not shaken your
+brain. But one letter have I written, and therein I besought you to
+meet us at Givet or at Dinant."
+
+Richard of Woodville replied not, but beckoned to his page; and when
+the boy hurried up, took from him the gibeciere which hung over his
+shoulder. With a hand hasty and agitated, he unfastened the three
+buttons and loops which closed it, and drew forth a paper, which in
+silence he placed in the hands of Sir John Grey.
+
+The knight took it, gazed on the superscription, examined the seal,
+and then turned to the contents; but instantly exclaimed, as he read,
+"This is not mine! This is a fraud! I never wrote these words. The
+outside is from my hand; the seal, too, is seemingly my own; but not
+one of these harsh terms did I indite."
+
+"Then I thank God!" replied Richard of Woodville, grasping his hand
+eagerly. "Nay, more, I thank the man who wrote it, though it may seem
+strange, noble knight. But perchance, had it not been for this and the
+despair it brought with it, I might have listened to the kind friends
+who would fain have persuaded me not to risk my life, or, as they
+thought, to lose it, for men who were strangers to me."
+
+"What, then," cried Mary, rising from the ground on which she had been
+seated, "did you not recognise us?"
+
+"I knew not when I left the shore," replied Richard of Woodville,
+"that there was one being on that miserable islet, whom I had ever
+beheld before. I merit no guerdon, dear one, for saving you, for I
+knew not what I did."
+
+"A thousand and a thousand thanks, Richard," she answered, laying her
+fair hand upon his arm; "and far more thanks do I give you, than if
+you had perilled more to save me knowingly; for by such a deed, done
+for a mere stranger, you show my father that his child has not spoken
+of you falsely."
+
+"Nay, dear Mary, I doubt it not," replied Sir John Grey; "by calumny
+and malice, all men may be for a time misled; but henceforth, my
+child, no one shall do him better justice than myself. You judged from
+acts that you had often seen and known; I had none such to judge by.
+But should he need defence hereafter, let him appeal to me. This must
+seem strange to you, my good lord," he continued, turning to the Count
+of St. Paul; "but we will explain it all hereafter. All, at least,
+that we can explain--for here is something that we must inquire into
+as best we may. This letter has been forged for some base end; but by
+whom, or for what, remains a mystery, though perhaps we may all
+suspect."
+
+"Everything else seems clear enough," said the Count, with a smile;
+"though I understand but half you have said, yet I guess well, here
+has been love, and, as so often happens with love, love's traverses;
+and, in the end, the happy meed which attends due knightly service to
+a fair lady. As soon as my noble cousin appears, though by my faith he
+is somewhat long in coming--"
+
+"I see his train, my lord, or I am blind," said the old man-at-arms,
+called Carloman. "Do you not perceive a long black line winding on
+there down from the hills, near a league distant, like a lean
+serpent?"
+
+"No very sweet comparison for a Prince's train," exclaimed the Count
+of St. Paul, laughing; "but faith, I see it not. Ah--yes--I catch it
+now. 'Tis he, 'tis doubtless he. Then when he comes, sir knight, we
+will on to Charleville, where, having dried our dripping clothes, we
+will tell the tale of this day's adventure over a pleasant meal: and
+will inquire how this deceit has taken place. Has yon young novice
+nought to do with it?" he continued, dropping his voice; "he holds
+aloof; and though he seems to murmur something to his rosary from time
+to time, yet, good faith, I put but small trust in the honesty of
+mumbling friars."
+
+"No, no," replied Mary Grey, with a smile, "I will answer for him."
+
+"Ah, ha!" cried the Count, laughing loud, with the rude jocularity of
+the day, "look to your lady, Sir Richard, or you may lose her yet. She
+answers for the honesty of a monk! By my fay, sweet lady, I would
+rather beard John the Bold in his house at Dijon, than do so rash a
+thing."
+
+"But I can answer for him, too," replied Sir John Grey, gravely; "for,
+though he be now my clerk, he was not with me there, and so had no
+occasion to deceive me, even had he been disposed. But yonder,
+assuredly, comes the Count. I can see banners and pennons through the
+dim shower; but how we are to journey on with you to Charleville I
+hardly know, my good lord: for all but what we have brought in our
+pouches--horses and clothes and arms, and many a trinket, have gone
+down in that poor mill."
+
+"I saw no horses in the stream," said Woodville.
+
+"They were in the court on the other side," replied one of Sir John
+Grey's men; "and it had a stone wall. The water was up to the girths
+when we got into the second story, and I saw my poor beast, with
+bended head and open nostrils, snuffing the tide as it rose whirling
+round him. He soon drowned, I fear."
+
+"'Tis but a league to Charleville, or not much more," said the Count,
+answering the English knight; "we will dismount some of our men, and
+make a litter for the lady and her maidens. Hark ye, Peterkin, ride
+back like light to the castle. In the Florence chamber you will find
+store of your lady's gear. My good wife is not here, sir knight; but
+she has left much of her apparel behind, which, though she be somewhat
+fatter than this fair dame, God wot, will serve to clothe her for the
+nonce. Ride away fast, boy; bring it to Charleville, and lose no time.
+Now to build a litter. Lances may serve for more purposes than one;
+and green boughs be curtains as well as canopies. Quick, my men,
+quick; let us see if ye be dexterous at such trades."
+
+In about half an hour an advanced party of the Count of Charolois'
+band approached the bank of the river; but it was still so swollen,
+that though the Count of St. Paul and the two English knights went
+down as far as they could, and the rain by this time had well nigh
+ceased, the distance across, and the roaring of the stream, prevented
+their voices from being heard at the other side. While they were still
+striving to make the men comprehend that the bridge had been carried
+away, and that they must ride farther down the river, the young Count
+himself and the Lord of Croy, with a number of other knights and
+noblemen, appeared; and by signs, as words were vain, the Lord of St.
+Paul explained his meaning to them. He himself with his own party
+waited for about a quarter of an hour longer, till the hasty litter
+was prepared for Mary Grey; and then, with some on foot, and some on
+horseback, they moved on towards the point of rendezvous at
+Charleville.
+
+It was a happy evening that which they passed in Charleville, for
+there is nought which so heightens the zest of pleasure as remembered
+pain; nought that so brightens the sense of security as danger past.
+All was bustle and confusion in the little town, which was not then
+fortified; every inn was full, every house was occupied; but it was
+willing bustle and gay confusion. From one hostel to another, parties
+were going every moment, and the door of that at which the young Count
+of Charolois had taken up his quarters, was besieged both by the
+townspeople and his own friends and followers. The tale of the swollen
+torrent, and the mill swept away, was told to the noble Prince by the
+Lord of St. Paul and Sir John Grey; and when Richard of Woodville, who
+had lingered a little with Mary Grey, appeared, the Count grasped his
+hand with a generous warmth, which was very winning in one so high,
+calling him frequently his friend; and then turning to Sir John Grey,
+he demanded, "Said I not, noble knight, of what stuff he was made?"
+
+"You did him but justice, my good lord," replied the knight; "and I do
+him full justice now. Well has he won his lady's hand, and he shall
+have it."
+
+"Come!" cried the Prince, starting up; "I will go offer her my homage,
+too. But why should we not see the wedding ere we part, Sir John?"
+
+"Nay, nay, my lord," answered the English knight; "I have grown proud
+with restored prosperity; and my child must go to the altar in my own
+land, and with my own old followers round me."
+
+Oh, slow age, how tardy is it to yield to the eager haste of youth!
+But Sir John Grey added words still less pleasant to the ear of
+Richard of Woodville. "When I return from the Court of the Emperor, my
+noble Prince," he continued, "I speed back at once to Westminster. I
+trust that your expedition will then be over; and Sir Richard here may
+follow me with all speed. Once there, I will not make him wait."
+
+Such was the first intimation Woodville had received of the course
+that lay before him and Sir John Grey; for the previous moments had
+passed in words of tenderness with her he loved, and in long, but not
+uninteresting, explanations with her father. He had hoped that their
+paths would lie together; and, without inquiring what motive should
+carry Sir John Grey with the Count of Charolois into the Duchy of
+Burgundy, he had arrived at the conclusion, that the knight's steps
+were bent thither as well as his own. It was a bitter disappointment,
+for imagination in such cases is ever the handmaid of hope; and
+Richard of Woodville had fancied that, in the course of the long
+expedition before them, many an opportunity must occur for urging upon
+Sir John Grey his petition for Mary's hand. Now, however, they were
+again about to be separated, with wide lands between them, and with
+the certainty of months, perhaps years, elapsing ere they met again.
+
+It is strange, it is very strange, and scarcely to be accounted for,
+that people advanced in life, and experienced in the uncertainty of
+all life's things, seem to have a confidence in the future which the
+young do not possess. They delay, they put off without fear or
+apprehension; they calculate as if with certainty upon the time to
+come; while eager youth, on the contrary, at the very name of
+procrastination conjures up every difficulty and obstacle, every
+change and chance, not alone within the range of probability, but
+within the reach of fate. Perhaps it is, that the old have acquired a
+juster appreciation of all mortal joy; perhaps it is, that the keen
+edge of anticipation being dulled in themselves, they cannot
+comprehend the impatience of others: that, knowing how little any
+earthly gratification is really worth, they think it but a small
+matter, not meriting much thought, whether the hand of the future
+snatches the desired object from us or not, whether the butterfly,
+enjoyment, be caught by the boy that chases it, or escape.
+
+So it is, however: Sir John Grey seemed not even to understand or to
+perceive the pain he was inflicting upon the lover; and, as Woodville
+knew that it would be of no use to argue, he made up his mind to enjoy
+the present as much as might be, and then with Mary's love for his
+guidance and encouragement, to seek honour and advancement in the
+fields before him.
+
+After a few more words he accompanied the Count of Charolois, with the
+principal nobles of his train and Sir John Grey, to the hostel where
+the English knight had taken up his abode; but, as they entered, the
+eyes of Richard of Woodville fell upon the figure of a poor
+disconsolate looking boy, who stood near, with his arms folded on his
+chest, and his eyes bent down upon the ground, without being once
+lifted to the gay and glittering group that was passing in; and
+pointing him out to the Lord of St. Paul, the young knight said, "He
+was one of those saved from the mill, my lord; and, if I mistake not,
+he is of kin to some of the men who perished."
+
+"Come hither, boy," said the Constable; "who art thou?"
+
+"I am Edme Mark, my lord," replied the boy, looking up with tearful
+eyes; "and all my friends are dead."
+
+"Then are you the miller's son?" inquired the Lord of St. Paul.
+
+"No, sir, his nephew," the boy answered, in the jargon of his country.
+
+"Faith, then, we must do something for you," rejoined the nobleman.
+"Will you ride with me and be my _coustelier_, or with that knight?"
+
+"I would rather go with him," cried the boy, pointing to the young
+Englishman, "for he saved my life."
+
+"Well, then, take him with you, Sir Richard," said the Lord of St.
+Paul. "You want to swell your band."
+
+"Good faith, I have need, my lord," answered Richard of Woodville;
+"for the three men I left behind me when I came from Ghent, have never
+rejoined me."
+
+"I saw some Englishmen with the Count's train in the court of his
+hostel," replied the Lord of St. Paul. "I knew them by their flat
+cuirasses, and their long arrows."
+
+"Ah, I marked them not," answered Richard of Woodville; "but I will go
+and see.--Come hither with me, boy," he continued; and, followed by
+the lad, he retrod his steps in haste to the inn where he had found
+the Count. In the court he saw nothing but Flemings and Burgundians;
+but in the stables, tending their horses, he found the three men whom
+he sought, and who now informed him, in the brief and scanty words of
+the English peasant, that they had escorted Ella Brune to Bruges, and
+there had left her, she having assured them that she was safe, and
+required their protection no farther. They had then immediately
+returned to Ghent; for they had never received the written order which
+their leader had sent to them; and, having obtained speech of the
+Count of Charolois, had accompanied him on his expedition, according
+to his commands. Richard of Woodville mused over this intelligence for
+some minutes; and then, after placing the boy Edme in their hands,
+with orders to take care of him, he hurried back to her he loved.
+
+For three or four days Sir John Grey took advantage of the escort of
+the Count of Charolois, on his journey towards the Imperial Court,
+purchasing horses and clothing where he could find them, to supply the
+place of those lost in the torrent. During that time, as may be
+supposed, Richard of Woodville was constantly by Mary's side, and it
+passed happily to both: nor did any incident occur worthy of record
+here, till they reached the town of Bar, where they were destined to
+part. The last conversation that took place between them ere they
+separated, was in regard to Ella Brune, led on by a half jesting
+question addressed to Mary by her lover, if she had really never felt
+jealousy or doubt when so many suspected.
+
+"Neither, Richard," she answered. "I could not suspect you; and
+besides, I had myself told that poor girl, that I would never doubt or
+be jealous; and I blamed you to her, Richard, for not taking her, when
+first she sought to go."
+
+"She seems to have the gift of winning confidence, my Mary," replied
+the young knight; "and a blessed gift it is."
+
+"'Tis only gained by deserving it, Richard, and not always then,"
+answered Mary Markham: "but one cannot well doubt her, either. When
+one sees a clear stream flowing on abundantly, we judge that the
+source is pure; and all her thoughts gush so limpid from the heart, we
+cannot doubt that heart to be unpolluted too."
+
+"Would that we knew where she is, my Mary," said Richard of Woodville,
+thoughtfully. "I fear for her much, left in the same land with that
+base villain, who has so persecuted her, and of whose dark wiles there
+seems no end."
+
+"She is safe, she is safe," exclaimed the lady; "I have heard of her
+since she departed. She is safe, and with friends able and willing to
+protect her, I know; but I fear, indeed, that what you say is true in
+regard to that traitor, Simeon of Roydon. Do you doubt, Richard, that
+this forged letter from my father was some contrivance of his?"
+
+"And yet," answered Woodville, "we can by no means trace it to him.
+The messenger declares he brought the packet as he received it. The
+Count says he placed your father's and his own together, and gave them
+to his page, who, in turn, vows he carried them straight to the
+messenger."
+
+"It is strange, indeed," said Mary; "but as to poor Ella, she is safe;
+and wherever I am, I will do my best to befriend her, Richard."
+
+They were alone; and he pressed her to his heart with feelings far
+brighter, far tenderer than mere passion; for beauty is but the
+expression of excellence; and when we find the substance, oh, how much
+more deeply we love it than the picture! The fairest features that
+ever were chiselled by the hand of nature, the sweetest form that ever
+woke wild emotions in the breast, could never have produced in the
+heart of Richard of Woodville, the sensations that he then felt
+towards Mary Grey.
+
+Ere long they parted; and while she with her father wended on towards
+the Court of the Emperor--Sir John Grey, acting as a sort of precursor
+to the more splendid embassy soon after sent by Henry V.--the young
+knight followed the Count of Charolois to Dijon and Besancon, and
+aided to raise that force with which John the Bold soon after took the
+field against the rival faction of Armagnac, then all-powerful in the
+Court of France.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+                         THE DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+Months had passed. The clang of trumpets and timbrels had sounded
+beneath the walls of Paris, from morning till well nigh vespers; and
+the clear blue country sky was glowing with the last rays of the sun
+before he set. But, still the redoubted chivalry of Burgundy, with
+glittering arms and royal pageantry, stood upon the frosty ground
+before the gates, the towers of which were crowded with armed men who
+dared not issue forth to meet their enemies in the field, less because
+they doubted their own strength--for they were treble at least in
+number--than because they knew that, within that city, the popular
+heart beat high to take part with the bold Duke John, "the people's
+friend."
+
+Faults he had many; crimes of a dark dye he had committed; the blood
+of the Duke of Orleans was fresh upon his hand; but his princely
+generosity, his daring courage, and more than all, his love of the
+Commons, a body grown everywhere already into terrible importance,
+wiped out all stains in the eyes of the citizens of Paris; and they
+longed to build up once more the fabric of his power on the ruin of
+those proud nobles, who, still in their attachment to pure feudal
+institutions, looked upon the craftsman and the merchant as little
+better than half emancipated serfs.
+
+Long ere this period, the power of the middle classes had grown into
+an engine which might be guided, but could not be resisted without
+danger. In England, its influence had first been recognised by the
+great De Montford, who had wisely attempted to direct its young
+energies in a just and beneficial course; for which the land we live
+in--nay, perhaps the world--owes him still a deep debt of gratitude.
+Influenced by the character of the nation, its progress in this
+country was marked by slow but steady increase of strength; and it
+went on gaining fresh vigour, more from the natural result of contests
+between the various institutions which it was destined to supersede,
+than from its own efforts to extend its sphere. Rebellious nobles
+looked to it for aid; kings courted its support; usurpers submitted
+more or less their claims to its approval; and from each and all it
+obtained concessions. Seldom meeting any severe check--till in long
+after years, a fatal effort was made to raise an embankment against
+it, when it burst in a deluge over every obstacle--during the early
+period of our history it diffused itself calmly, more like the quiet
+overflowing of the fertilizing rill, than the rush and destructive
+outbreak of a pent-up torrent. But in France such was not the case,
+and for ages the struggle to resist it went on; while, partaking of
+the fierce but desultory and ungoverned activity of the people, it
+sometimes burst forth, sometimes was driven back, till at length its
+hour came, and it swept all before it, washing away the seeds of good
+and evil alike, and leaving behind a new soil for the plough,
+difficult to labour, and fertile of thorns as well as verdure.
+
+In these middle ages of which I write, few were wise enough to see the
+existence, and comprehend the inevitable course, of the great latent
+principle which was destined to take the place of every other. The
+fact--the truth--that all power is from the people, and that wisdom is
+the helm which must guide it, was a discovery of after times; and was,
+moreover, so repugnant to the spirit of the feudal system--that
+strange, but great ideal--that in the land where feudal institutions
+were most perfect, the men who owed them all, never dreamed that they
+could be swept away by the seemingly weak and homely influences which
+they were accustomed to use at their will: even as our ancestors, not
+many years ago, little imagined that the vapour which rose from the
+simmering kettle of the peasant or the mechanic, would one day waft
+navies through the ocean, and reduce space to nothing.
+
+If there were any in that land of France who, without a foresight of
+what was to be, merely owned the existence of a great popular power,
+it was but to use it for their own purposes, ever prepared to check it
+the moment it had served their object. Some, indeed, in habits of mind
+and disposition, were of a character to win its aid by demeanour and
+conduct, and such was pre-eminently John the Bold. Strange too, to
+say, that very chivalrous spirit which characterized so many of his
+actions, won to his side a great body of the nobles without alienating
+the middle and the lower classes; but it was, that he was more the
+knight than the feudal baron--more the sovereign than the great lord.
+It must never be forgotten, in viewing the history of those times,
+that the original object of the institution of chivalry, was to
+correct the evils of the feudal system; to strike the rod from the
+hand of the oppressor, to defend the defenceless, and to right the
+wronged; and had chivalry remained in its purity, it might have
+averted long the downfall of the system with which it was linked. The
+people loved the true knight as much as they hated the feudal lord;
+and long after the decay of the order, even the affectation of its
+higher qualities both won regard from the lower classes, and excited
+the admiration of all those above them, who retained any sparks of the
+spirit which once animated it.
+
+Thus, the Duke of Burgundy, though surrounded by many of the highest
+in the land, and possessed of their affection in an extraordinary
+degree, was popular with the trader in his shop, and the peasant in
+his cot. Town after town had opened its gates to him as he advanced;
+and now he stood before the gates of Paris, trusting to the citizens
+to rise and give him admission. But the love with which he was
+regarded by the people was as well known to others as to himself, and
+all chance of a demonstration in his favour had been guarded against
+with the most scrupulous care. The Dauphin Duke of Aquitaine, whether
+willingly or unwillingly it is difficult to say, marched through the
+streets of the capital surrounded by the family of Orleans, and the
+partizans of Armagnac, and followed by no less than eleven thousand
+men-at-arms, exhorting the populace in every quarter, by the voice of
+a herald, to remain tranquil, and resist the suggestions of the agents
+of the Burgundian faction: "and thus," says one of the historians of
+the day, "they provided so well for the guard of the town, that no
+inconvenience occurred."
+
+The walls and gates were covered with soldiery; the heralds and
+messengers of the Duke were not suffered to approach, though their
+words were peaceful; and some of the Burgundian nobles who ventured
+too near, in order to speak with those whom they thought personally
+friendly, were driven back by arrows and quarrels. Even the kings of
+arms were threatened with death if they approached within bow-shot;
+and, though one was found bold enough to fix the letters of which he
+was the bearer, on a lance before the gate of St. Anthony, and others
+contrived to obtain secret admission into the town, to distribute the
+Duke's proclamation amongst the people, and even affix copies to the
+gates of the churches and palaces, so strict was watch kept upon the
+citizens, that a rising was impossible.
+
+Disappointed and angry, but with apparent scorn, the Duke, who had not
+sufficient forces to render an attack upon the wall successful, even
+if it had been politic to make it, withdrew to St. Denis at nightfall;
+and the menacing array disappeared from before Paris, like a pageant
+that had passed away. The leaders of the troops of Burgundy, separated
+from those of Flanders and Artois, took up their abode where they had
+been quartered in the morning, at the hostel called "the Lance,"
+nearly opposite to the abbey; and, while the Duke remained for several
+hours closeted with some of his oldest councillors, the Lord of Croy
+drew Richard of Woodville apart from the rest, and whispered that he
+wished to speak with him alone in his chamber.
+
+The young knight followed him at once; for the intimacy which had
+arisen between them at Lille, and on the road to Ghent, had ripened
+into friendship during their long expedition into Burgundy; and
+without preface, the noble Burgundian exclaimed, as soon as the door
+was closed, "This will not go forward, Woodville. The Duke, bold as he
+is, will not strike a stroke against the King's capital, with the King
+therein. I see it well; and, with this enterprise, passes away my hope
+of delivering my poor boy John, who lies, as you know, a prisoner at
+Montl'herry, unless I can take some counsel for his aid."
+
+"Nay, my good lord," replied Richard, with a smile; "doubtless you
+have taken counsel already, and all I can say is, that if I can aid
+you, my hand is ready. Can you not march to Montl'herry, and deliver
+him? The country is clear of men, for every one capable of bearing
+arms for the enemy, has been gathered into Paris."
+
+"I have thought of it, Woodville," replied the Lord of Croy; "but a
+large body moving across the country would soon call the foe forth in
+great numbers; and, moreover, my lord the Duke could ill spare so many
+men as your band and mine would carry off. But I would give my land of
+Nuranville to any one who would lead a small party to Montl'herry, and
+set free the boy, as I have planned it."
+
+"Ah, my lord, I thought your scheme was fixed," said the young knight,
+laughing at the circuitous manner in which his friend had announced
+his wishes. "Let me know what it is, and as I said before, if I can
+succour your son, I am ready."
+
+"To say truth, it is the boy's own device," replied the Burgundian;
+"he has made a friend of the chaplain in the castle, where they hold
+him; and by this good man's hands I receive letters from him. He tells
+me that, if a small body of resolute gentlemen, not well known to be
+of our party, could enter the town and keep themselves quiet therein
+for one day, he could find means to go forth to mass and escape under
+their escort. I have chosen out twenty of my surest men; but, as it
+was needful that they should pass for followers of the Duke of
+Orleans, I could not send any one to command them who had gained much
+renown in France, lest he should be known. Thus they want a leader;
+and where can I find one of sufficient experience, and yet not likely
+to be recognised, if you refuse me?"
+
+"That will I not, my lord," replied Richard of Woodville; "but I must
+have the Duke's leave. Who are the men to go with me? I know most of
+those under your banner."
+
+"Lamont de Launoy," replied the Burgundian, "Villemont de Montebard,
+whom you know well; and Jean Roussel are amongst them. Then, as for
+the Duke's leave, that is already gained; for I spoke to him as we
+marched back tonight; and he himself suggested that you should lead
+the party, because you speak the French tongue well, and yet your face
+is unknown in France."
+
+"A work of honour and of friendship shall never find me behind, my
+lord," replied the young knight; "and I will be ready to mount an hour
+before daylight; but I must have full command, my lord. Some of your
+men are turbulent; so school them well to obey; and, in the mean time,
+I will despatch a letter or two, for good and evil news have reached
+me here together."
+
+"The good from your fair lady, I can guess," said the Lord of Croy,
+"for I have heard to-day of her father's journey back through Ghent
+towards England. The evil is not without remedy, I trust?"
+
+"No, I trust not," replied Woodville; "it comes from a dear friend of
+mine, Sir Henry Dacre, who writes word that some one has done me harm
+in the King's opinion, and speaks of letters sent from his Highness
+long ago, requiring my return, surely delivered, and yet unnoticed and
+unanswered. Now, no such letters ever reached my hand; nor can I dream
+who could have power to wrong me with King Henry; for the only one
+inclined to do so is a banished man."
+
+"Three times have I remarked a stranger amongst your people, since we
+were at Charleville," answered the Lord of Croy; "once it was at
+Besancon, once at Toul, and the other day again at Compiegne. His face
+is unknown to me, and yet he was talking gaily with your band, as if
+he were one of them; but he stayed not long; for this last time, I saw
+him as I passed through the court of the inn, and he was gone when I
+returned."
+
+"It shall be inquired into," replied Richard of Woodville. "But now I
+must to these letters, my good lord; and tomorrow, an hour ere
+daybreak, I will be in the saddle. Pray God give us success, and that
+I may restore your son to your arms."
+
+The Lord of Croy thanked him as such prompt kindness might well merit,
+and took his leave; but as soon as he was gone, Richard of Woodville
+leaned his head upon his hand in thought, and with a somewhat dark and
+gloomy brow remained in meditation for several minutes.
+
+"What is it makes me so sad?" he asked himself; "it cannot be this
+empty piece of malice, from some unworthy fool, whose calumnies I can
+sweep away in a moment, and whose contrivances I can frustrate by a
+word of plain truth. The King does not believe that I would contemn
+his commands--in his heart he does not, I am sure! Yet I feel as if
+some great misfortune hung upon the wings of the coming hours!
+Perchance I may fall in this very enterprise. Who can tell? Many a man
+finds his fate in some petty skirmish who has passed through stricken
+fields unwounded. The lion-hearted Richard himself brought his life
+safe from Palestine, and a thousand glorious fields--from dangers of
+all kinds, sufferings, and imprisonment, to lose it before the walls
+of a pitiful castle scarce bigger than a cottage. Well, what is to be,
+will be; but I must provide against any event;" and, calling some of
+his men to speak with him, he told them that he was about to be absent
+for three days, taking no one with him but his page. He then gave them
+directions, in case of any mischance befalling him, either to find
+their way back to England, or to continue to serve with the band of
+the Lord of Croy; but, at all events, unless specially summoned by the
+King of England, not to quit the Duke as long as he remained in the
+field. This done, he turned to his letters, and remained writing till
+a late hour of the night.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+                            THE DISASTER.
+
+
+In the square of the pretty town of Montl'herry, nearly opposite the
+church, and under the domineering walls of the chateau, were two
+hostels, or inns, the one called the Wheatsheaf, and the other the
+Bunch of Grapes; for, in those days, as in the present time, the
+houses of public reception were not only more numerous in France than
+in any country in the world, but were ornamented with signs taken from
+almost every object under the sun, and from a great many that the sun
+never shone upon. As every one knows, the little town of Montl'herry
+is situated on a high isolated and picturesque hill; and down one of
+the streets running from the _Place_ or square, could at that time be
+seen the rich plain stretching out by Longpont to Plessis-Saint Pere,
+with the numerous roads which cross it in different directions towards
+Epinay, Ville-aux-bois, and other small towns, as well as the highway
+towards Paris.
+
+Before these two inns on the morning of a cold but clear day, towards
+the end of February, were collected some twenty men-at-arms, who had
+been lodging there from the night before, and who seemed now preparing
+to ride away upon their farther journey, after the morning meal, then
+called dinner, should have been discussed. In the meantime, they were
+undergoing a sort of inspection from their leader, a young man of a
+tall and powerful frame, and a handsome and engaging countenance,
+bronzed with the sun and marked with a scar upon his brow. Though he
+moved easily and gracefully under the weight, he was covered with
+complete armour from the neck to the heels, which displayed the spurs
+of knighthood. His casque lay upon the bench at the door of the
+Wheatsheaf, and leaning negligently against the wall of the inn
+appeared the lances of the men-at-arms, who each stood beside his
+horse, while the knight passed from one to another, making some
+observation to each, sometimes in a tone of reproof, sometimes in
+words of praise. The host of one of the inns stood before his door
+observing their proceedings, and some half-a-dozen little boys were
+spending their idleness in gazing at the glittering soldiery.
+
+Towering above appeared the ancient castle held by the partizans of
+the Orleans or Armagnac faction; and when it is remembered that these
+below were soldiers of the House of Burgundy, and that the young
+knight at their head was Richard of Woodville, it must be acknowledged
+that this was a somewhat bold stratagem thus to parade a body of
+hostile troops in the midst of an enemy's town. The young leader,
+however, well knew that nothing but the assumption of perfect ease and
+security could escape suspicion, and confirm the tale which had been
+told of his band being a party of the men of Orleans.
+
+The gate of the castle he could not see; but from time to time as he
+passed from one man to another, he looked round to the door of the
+church, and presently, as the clock struck, he held up his fingers,
+saying, "What hour is that?" and then as he counted, he turned
+somewhat sharply to the host, exclaiming, "By the Lord, you have kept
+us so late for our dinner, that we shall have time to take none. Bring
+the men out some wine. Quick, my men, quick. On with your bacinets!"
+
+The host assured him that the meal would be served in a minute; but
+the knight replied, "A minute! Did you not tell me so half an hour
+ago? Quick, bring out the wine, or we shall be obliged to go without
+that. What do you think our lord will say, if we wait for your
+minutes?" and while the host retired to bring the wine, the men
+assumed their casques, and Richard of Woodville whispered to one who
+seemed superior to the rest--"He is in the church. I saw him go in
+with the priest."
+
+"So did I," replied the other; "but he has got a guard with him."
+
+"We must not mind that," replied Woodville; "we shall have some start
+of them; for they will all be at dinner in the castle--no horses
+saddled, no armour buckled on. Mount, my men, mount. You can drink in
+the stirrups. Now, boy, give me my casque."
+
+The page ran and brought the bacinet; the host returned with the wine;
+and each man drank a deep draught and handed the cup and tankard to
+his neighbour. Richard of Woodville then sprang into his saddle, his
+page mounted, and taking the bridle of a spare horse, which was then
+very generally led after the commander of a party, followed his lord,
+as, with his lance in his hand, he headed his little troop, and took
+his way across the Place, saying aloud, as he rode slowly forward,
+"One prayer to our Lady, and I am with you."
+
+The host gazed after them to the door of the church, but thought it
+nothing extraordinary that a young knight should follow so common and
+laudable a custom as beginning a journey with a petition for
+protection. When, therefore, Richard of Woodville dismounted with two
+of his men, and entered the sacred building, he turned himself into
+his own house again, and applied himself to other affairs. In the
+meanwhile, the knight strode up the nave, looking around him as he
+went, while his two companions followed close behind.
+
+Some half dozen women, principally of the lower orders, were the only
+persons at first visible; but in one of the small chapels, from which
+the sound of a voice singing mass was heard, they soon after perceived
+a young gentleman, habited in the garb of peace, kneeling at a little
+distance from the altar, before which stood a priest in robes,
+performing the functions of his office.
+
+"That is he," whispered one of the Burgundians to Richard of
+Woodville, and advancing straight to the young Lord of Croy, the
+knight took him by the arm, saying, in a low tone, "You are wanted,
+John of Croy. Where is the guard who was with you?"
+
+"Somewhere in the church, speaking with a woman who was to meet him
+here," said the young lord, rising. "Perhaps we may get out without
+his seeing us."
+
+"Never mind if he do," said Richard of Woodville; "we shall be far on
+the way before they are in the saddle;" and hurrying on with the young
+Lord of Croy, he reached the door of the church without interruption.
+The priest could not but see the whole of their proceedings, but he
+took no notice, going on with the service devoutly.
+
+The clang of the step of armed men, however, had caught another ear;
+and just as the young Lord of Croy was passing out, a voice was heard
+exclaiming, "Whither are you going, young sir?"
+
+Richard of Woodville turned his head and replied, "Home!" and then
+issuing forth, closed the door, and thrust his dagger through the
+staple that confined the large heavy latch. The horse led by the page
+was close at hand; and John of Croy, with his deliverers, sprang into
+the saddle, and rode out of Montl'herry at full speed.[11]
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 11: It is a strange omission on the part of the historians
+of the day, that in relating the escape of John of Croy, they have not
+mentioned the name of Richard of Woodville.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+The precaution of the English knight in fastening the door proved less
+serviceable than he had hoped, however; for as they passed down the
+street, he turned and saw the man who had been sent to guard the
+prisoner--having found exit by some other means--running as fast as he
+could go towards the castle; and when they reached the foot of the
+hill, the sound of a trumpet came, borne upon the breeze from above.
+
+On, on, the little party hurried, however; and they had already gained
+so much ground, that every prospect of escape seemed before them. But
+unfortunately, no one was well acquainted with the road: Richard of
+Woodville and his company had found their way thither as best they
+could; and the young Lord of Croy, who was at the head of the band,
+while Woodville brought up the rear, turned into a wrong path in the
+wood near Longpont, so that some time was lost ere they got right
+again. They were just issuing forth on a road which leads to the left
+of Lonjumeau, when the sound of pursuit caught the ear; and at the
+same moment the horse of the page stumbled and fell.
+
+"Up, up, boy!" cried Richard of Woodville, drawing in his rein, as he
+had nearly trodden the poor youth under his horse's feet; and then
+adding to those before, "Ride on! ride on!" he stooped and held out
+his hand to the lad, who staggered up, confused and half stunned with
+the fall. Before the horse could be raised, and the youth mount,
+coming round the angle of the wood, by a shorter cut, appeared the
+pursuers from Montl'herry. The Burgundians had followed the order to
+ride on, which, had they been the young knight's own band, they might,
+under the circumstances, have perchance disobeyed. Woodville gazed
+after them, turned his eyes towards the enemy--the foremost of whom
+was not more than a hundred yards distant--took one moment for
+consideration; and then, setting his lance in the rest, he spurred on
+towards the enemy. The man met him in full career; but, not prepared
+for such a sudden encounter, was unhorsed in a moment, and the two or
+three who followed, pulled in the rein. The young knight's object was
+gained; their pursuit was checked; and the advantage of even a few
+minutes was everything for the young Lord of Croy.
+
+"Surrender, knight, surrender!" cried the voice of one of the opposite
+party; but Woodville, though he well knew that such must be the result
+at last, resolved to struggle for a farther delay; and exclaiming,
+"What! to half-a-dozen squires? Never! never!" he reined back his
+horse, as if to take ground for a fresh career, and again charged his
+lance which had remained unsplintered, while his page rode up behind,
+asking, "May I fight too, noble sir?"
+
+"No, boy, no! Keep back!" cried the knight; and at the same moment a
+more numerous party appeared to the support of the Armagnacs, led by a
+baron's banner. They bore down straight towards him, some one still
+calling upon him to surrender; and, seeing that farther resistance was
+vain, Woodville raised his lance and took off his gauntlet as a sign
+that he yielded.
+
+"After them, like lightning!" cried the voice of a gentleman in a suit
+of richly ornamented steel. "A knight is a good exchange for a squire;
+but we must not let the other escape.--Now, fair sir, do you yield,
+rescue or no rescue?"
+
+"I do," answered the young knight; "there is my glove, and I give you
+my faith."
+
+"Pray let us see your face," continued the nobleman, raising his own
+vizor, while the greater part of his troop rode on after the young
+Lord of Croy. Richard of Woodville followed his example; but neither
+was known to the other, though as it afterwards proved they had once
+met before.
+
+"May I ask your name, fair sir?" demanded the captor, in the courteous
+tone then used between adversaries.
+
+"Richard of Woodville," replied the young knight; and a smile
+instantly came upon the countenance of the other, who replied, "A
+follower of Burgundy, or I mistake. I regret I was not up sooner, good
+knight; for if the heralds gave me the name truly, I owe you a fall.
+When last we met, I was neither horsed nor armed for combat properly.
+The chance might have been different this time."
+
+"Perhaps it might, my Lord the Count," answered Woodville; "fortune is
+one man's to-day, another's to-morrow. Mine is the turn of ill luck,
+else had I not been here a prisoner."
+
+"I bear no malice, sir," rejoined the Lord of Vaudemont; "but if you
+please, we will ride back to Montl'herry;" and following the
+invitation, which was now a command, the young knight accompanied his
+captor, saying to himself, "I felt that this enterprise would end ill,
+for me at least."
+
+He knew not how far the evil was to extend.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+                            THE CAPTIVITY.
+
+
+Oh, the long and tedious hours of imprisonment! how they weigh down
+the stoutest heart! How soul and mind seem fettered as well as body;
+and how the chain grows heavier every hour we wear it! Days and weeks
+passed by; weeks and months flew away; and, strictly confined to one
+small chamber in the castle of Montl'herry, Richard of Woodville
+remained a prisoner.
+
+The Count of Vaudemont, courteous in words, showed himself aught but
+courteous in deeds. Every tone had been knightly and generous while he
+stayed in the chateau; but no results had followed. He would never fix
+the ransom of his captive; he would never hold out any prospect of
+liberty; and ere long he departed for Paris, leaving Woodville in the
+hands of the Chatelain of the place, who, severely blamed for the
+escape of the young Lord of Croy, revenged himself upon him, by whose
+aid it had been accomplished. To that one little room, high up in the
+chateau, was Woodville restricted; no exercise was permitted to him,
+but the pacing up and down of its narrow limits: no relaxation but to
+sing snatches of the old ballads of which he was so fond, or to gaze
+from under the pointed arch of the window over the changing scene
+below. No one was permitted to see him but his own page, who had been
+captured with him, and one of the soldiers of the castle; no book
+existed within the walls; and materials for writing, purchased with
+difficulty in the town, were only granted him in order to write to the
+Lord of Vaudemont concerning his ransom.
+
+At first he remonstrated mildly; but when no other answer arrived, but
+that the Count would think of it, he took another tone, reproached him
+for his want of courtesy, and reminded him, that though he had
+surrendered rescue or no rescue, the refusal of reasonable ransom,
+justified him in making his escape whenever the opportunity might
+occur.
+
+The Count's reply consisted of but four words, "Escape if you can,"
+and from that hour the guard kept upon him became more strict than
+before. The weary hours dragged heavily on. Summer succeeded to
+spring, and autumn to summer, without anything occurring to cheer the
+lonely vacancy of his captivity, but an occasional rumour, brought by
+the page or the soldier who acted as jailer, either of the great
+events which were then agitating Europe, or of efforts made for his
+own liberation. The reports, however, were all vague and uncertain. He
+heard of war between France and Burgundy, but could with difficulty
+obtain any means of judging which party had gained the ascendancy.
+Then he heard of a new peace, as hollow as those which had preceded
+it; and with that intelligence came the tidings, which the page gained
+from the soldiers of the garrison, that a large ransom had been
+offered for him; but whether by the Duke of Burgundy himself, or the
+Lord of Croy, he could not correctly ascertain. Next came a rumour of
+dissensions between France and England, and of a probable war; but
+none of the particulars could be learnt, except that the demands of
+Henry V. were in the opinion of the Frenchmen extravagant, and that
+the greater part of the nation looked forward with delight to an
+opportunity of wiping away the disgrace of Cressy and Poitiers, and
+blotting out for ever the treaty of Bretigny.
+
+Oh, what would he have given for his liberty then! All his aspirations
+for glory and renown, all his hopes of winning praise and advancement,
+all the dreams of young ambition, all the bright imaginations of love,
+rose up before him as memories of the dead. Those prison walls were
+their cold sepulchre, that solitary chamber the tomb of all the
+energies within him. He had well nigh become frantic with
+disappointment; but he struggled successfully with the despair of his
+own thoughts, as every man of a really powerful mind will do. No one
+can obtain full mastery of the minds of others, without having full
+mastery of his own. He would not suffer his fancy to dwell upon sad
+things; he strove to create for himself objects of interest; and from
+the arched window he made himself acquainted as a friend with every
+object in the wide-spread scene beneath his eyes. Every church spire,
+every castle tower, every belt of wood, every stream and every road,
+every hamlet and every house, for miles around, were described and
+marked as if he had been mapping the country in his own mind. But it
+was only that he was seeking for objects of interest; and he found
+them; and variety too, he found; for every hour and every season
+brought its change. The varying shadows as day rose or declined; the
+different hues of summer and of winter, of autumn and of spring; the
+changeful aspect of the April day; the frowning sublimity of the
+thunder storm; the cold, stern, desolate gloom of the wintry air, all
+gave food to nourish fancy with, and from which he extracted thought
+and occupation.
+
+He had withal, one grand support and consolation: the best after the
+voice of religion, a conscience clear of offence. He could look back
+upon the past and say, I have done well. There was no reproach within
+him for opportunities missed, advantages wasted, or ill deeds done;
+and often and often, he thought of the first song that poor Ella Brune
+had sung him, and of that stanza in which she said,
+
+
+             "In hours of pain and grief,
+                If such thou must endure,
+              Thy breast shall know relief
+                In honour tried and pure;
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find;
+                  Shall win praise,
+                  And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale."
+
+
+In the meanwhile his treatment varied greatly at different times.
+Sometimes the Chatelain was harsh and severe, refusing him almost
+everything that was necessary to his comfort; at others, with the
+caprice which is so common amongst rude and uncivilized people, he
+would seem joyous and good-humoured: would visit his prisoner, talk
+with him, and send him dishes from his own table, permitting many a
+little alleviation of his grief, which on former occasions he denied.
+In one of these happier moods he allowed the page to buy his master a
+cithern, which proved one of the prisoner's greatest comforts and
+resources; and not long after, in the summer of 1415, a still greater
+change of conduct took place towards him. His table became supplied
+with princely liberality; rich wines and dainty meats were daily set
+before him; and the page was suffered to go at large about the town to
+procure anything his master might require.
+
+One day the boy returned very much heated with exercise, and moved
+with what seemed pleasurable feelings; and looking round the room
+eagerly, he closed the door with care.
+
+"You have tidings, Will," said the young knight, "and joyful tidings,
+too, or I am mistaken."
+
+"I have better than tidings," replied the boy. "I have a letter. Read
+it quick, and then hide it. I will go out into the passage, and watch,
+lest Joachim come up. He was lolling at the foot of the stairs."
+
+Richard of Woodville took the letter from the boy eagerly, and read
+what was written in the outer cover. The words were few, and in a hand
+he did not know. "Nothing has been left undone," the writer said, "to
+set you free. A baron's ransom has been offered for you and refused.
+The Duke of Burgundy required your liberation as one of the terms of
+peace, but could not obtain it. The Lord of Croy offered two prisoners
+of equal rank, and a ransom besides, but did not succeed. But fear
+not; friends are gathering round you. Be prepared to depart at a
+moment's notice, and you shall be set free as others have been. The
+moment you are free, hasten to England; for you have been belied."
+
+Within this was a short letter from Mary Grey, full of tenderness and
+affection, with words and avowals which she might have scrupled to
+utter for any other purpose but the generous one of consoling and
+supporting him she loved, in sorrow and adversity. Beneath her name
+were written a few words from her father, expressive of more kindness,
+confidence, and regard, than he had ever previously shown; but he,
+too, spoke of the young knight's return to England, as absolutely
+necessary for his own defence; and he too alluded to the rumours
+against him, without stating what those rumours were.
+
+If there was much to cheer, there was much to distress and grieve; and
+Woodville paused for several minutes to think over the contents of
+these letters, and to consider what could be the nature of the
+calumnies referred to, believing that he had fully refuted the charge
+of having neglected to obey the King's command to return to England,
+before he set out on the expedition which had been attended by such an
+unfortunate result. At length the page looked in, to see if he had
+done; and Woodville, bidding him shut the door, inquired from whom he
+had received the letters.
+
+"It was from the young clerk, noble sir," replied the boy, "who was
+with Sir John Grey at Charleville. I saw a youth in a black gown
+wandering about the castle gates some days since; and as I stood alone
+upon the drawbridge, about half an hour ago, he passed me again, and
+seeing that there was no one there, made me a sign to follow. I walked
+after him into the church, and then he gave me the letter for you; but
+bade me tell you to be upon your guard, for that there are enemies
+near as well as friends. To make sure that you were not deceived, he
+said, you were to put trust in no one who did not give you the word,
+'Mary Markham.'"
+
+"Hark!" cried Woodville, rising and going to the window. "There are
+trumpets sounding!"
+
+"I heard the Lord of Vaudemont was expected to-day," replied the boy.
+
+"And there he is," said Richard of Woodville, watching a body of horse
+coming up the hill. "On my honour, if I have speech with him, he shall
+hear my full thoughts on his discourteous conduct. But now, hie thee
+away, Will. Seek out this young clerk in the town, and ask if he can
+convey my answer back to the letters which he brought. I will find
+means to write if he can."
+
+"Oh, I can find him," replied the boy, "for he told me where he
+lodged: in the house of a widow woman, named Chatain."
+
+"Away, then!" answered Woodville; "let them not find you here."
+
+When he looked forth from the window again, the young knight could no
+longer perceive the body of horse he had seen advancing; but the
+noises which rose up from the court of the castle below, the clang of
+arms, the gay tones of voices laughing and talking, the word of
+command, and the shout of the warder, showed him that the party had
+already arrived. About an hour passed without his hearing more; but
+then came the sound of steps in the passage; the door opened, and
+three gentlemen entered, of whom the first was the Count of Vaudemont.
+The next was a man several years younger; and the third, a stout
+ill-favoured personage, of nearly fifty years of age. None of them
+were armed, except with a dagger, usually worn hanging from the waist;
+and all were dressed in the extravagant style of the French court in
+that day, with every merely ornamental part of dress exaggerated till
+it became a monstrosity. Every colour, too, was the brightest that
+could be found; each contrasted with the other in the most vivid and
+inharmonious assortment, green and red, amber and blue, pink and
+yellow, so that each man looked like some gaudy eastern bird new
+feathered.
+
+The Lord of Vaudemont was evidently in a light and merry mood, or, at
+least, affected it; for he entered laughing, and at once held out his
+hand to his prisoner, as if a familiar friend.
+
+Richard of Woodville, however, drew back, saying, "Your pardon, my
+good lord. I am a captive, for whom ransom has been refused.--You
+forget!"
+
+"Nay, I remember it well, sir knight," replied the Count, laughing
+again; "and that you intend to escape. You have not succeeded yet, I
+see. However, let me set myself right with you on that head. 'Tis not
+I who refuse your ransom. 'Tis my lord, the Duke of Aquitaine, who
+will not have you set free just yet, so that I risk my angels if you
+have wit enough to find your way out. His commands, however, are
+express, and I must obey. My lord the Duke of Orleans, here present,
+will witness for me, as well as my lord of Armagnac, that I would far
+rather have your gold in my purse, where it is much needed, than your
+person in Montl'herry, where it could be well spared."
+
+The young knight regarded the famous nobles, of whom he had heard so
+much, with no slight interest; and the Duke of Orleans, drawing a
+settle to the table, leaned his head upon his arm in a thoughtful
+attitude, saying, "It is quite true, sir; but perhaps that may be
+remedied ere long. If you be willing to renounce the cause of
+Burgundy, and agree to serve no more against the crown of France, the
+difficulty may be removed."
+
+"I have no purpose, sir, to ride for that good lord, the Duke, any
+more," answered Richard of Woodville; "I did but seek his Court to win
+honour and renown; but now I am called to England by many motives, so
+that I may well promise not to serve with him again; but if your
+proposal goes farther, and you would have me give my knightly word,
+not to fight for my Sovereign against any power on earth where he may
+need my arm, I must at once say no. I am his vassal, and will do my
+duty according to my oath, whenever he shall call upon me. He is my
+liege lord; and--"
+
+"There are some Englishmen, and not a few," said the Count of
+Armagnac, in a harsh and grating tone of voice, "who do not hold him
+to be such, but rather an usurper. Edmund, Earl of March, is your
+liege lord, young knight."
+
+"He has never claimed that title, noble sir," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "and indeed, has renounced it, by swearing allegiance
+himself to his great cousin."
+
+"Compulsion, all compulsion," said the Duke of Orleans; "we shall yet
+see him on the throne of England."
+
+"I trust not, my lord the Duke," answered the English knight; "but if
+the plea of compulsion can, in your eyes, justify the breach of an
+oath, how could you expect me to keep a promise made, not to serve
+against this crown of France, here in a prison?"
+
+"But why say you, that you trust not to see him on the throne?" asked
+the Count of Armagnac, evading the part of Woodville's reply which he
+would have found difficult to answer. "He is surely a noble and
+courteous gentleman, full of high virtues."
+
+"Far inferior in all to his royal cousin," answered the knight; "but
+it is not on that account alone I say so, but for many reasons. We
+Englishmen believe that our crown is held by somewhat different rights
+from yours of France. At the coronations of our kings, we by our free
+voices confirm them on their throne. The people of England have a say
+in the question of a monarch's title; and without that recognition
+they are not kings of England. To our present sovereign, the nobles of
+the land offered their homage ere the crown was placed upon his brow;
+but he, as wise in this as in all else, would receive none till he was
+proclaimed King, not by a herald's trumpet, but by the tongues of
+Englishmen. Besides, I say, I trust I shall never see the Earl of
+March wearing the English crown, because I hope never to see an
+honourable nobleman forget his oath, nor a perjured monarch on the
+throne."
+
+"And yet your fourth Harry forgot his," said the Duke of Orleans.
+
+"Not till intolerable wrongs and base injustice drove him to it,"
+answered the knight; "not till the monarch so far forgot his compact
+with the subject, as to free him from remembrance of his part of the
+obligation. Besides, I was then a boy; I found a sovereign reigning by
+the voice of the people; to him I pledged my first oath of fealty. I
+have since pledged it to his son; and I will keep it."
+
+The two Counts and the Duke looked at each other with a significant
+glance; and after a moment's consideration, the Count of Vaudemont
+changed the subject, saying, "Well, good knight, such are your
+thoughts. We may judge differently. But say, how have you fared
+lately? I heard that our worthy Chatelain here had been somewhat harsh
+with you, resolving that you should not play him such a trick as the
+boy of Croy; and I ordered that such treatment should be amended. Has
+it been done? I would not have you used unworthily."
+
+"It has been done in some points, my lord," replied Richard of
+Woodville, "but not in all."
+
+"Nay, good faith, with warning from your own lips that you sought to
+escape," answered the Count, "he was right not to relax on all
+points."
+
+"But some he might have relaxed, yet held me safe," rejoined the young
+knight. "I have been cut off from all means of holding any communion
+with my friends, though it was most needful that I should urge them to
+offer what terms might find favour for my liberation. I have been kept
+more like some felon subject of this land, than a fair prisoner of
+war."
+
+"Nay, that must be changed," said the Duke of Orleans; "such was not
+your intention, I am sure, De Vaudemont?"
+
+"By no means, noble Duke," answered the Count. "I will take order that
+it be so no more. You shall have liberty to write to whom you will,
+sir knight; and, indeed, having a courier going soon to England, you
+will have the means right soon, if you will, of sending letters. I
+have heard," he added with a laugh, "that there is a certain noble
+gentleman of the name of Grey, with whom you have some dear
+relations--much in King Henry's confidence, if I mistake not.
+Perchance, were he to use his influence with that Prince, something
+might be done to mitigate the Dauphin's sternness. We are still
+negotiating with England, though, by my faith, these preparations at
+Southampton, and this purchase of vessels from the Hollanders, looks
+more warlike than one might have wished."
+
+"If my liberation, noble Count, depends on Sir John Grey's using his
+influence for ought but his Sovereign's interests," replied Richard of
+Woodville, "I fear I shall be long a captive. However, to him will be,
+perchance, my only letter; for he can communicate with other friends."
+
+"Do as you will, noble lords," cried the Count of Armagnac, who had
+been sitting silent for some time, gnawing his nail in gloomy
+meditation; "but were I you I would suffer no such letters to pass.
+They will but tend to counteract all that you desire. Here you have in
+your hands one of the hearty enemies of France: that is clear from
+every word,--one who, at all risks, would urge his sovereign to deeds
+of hostility against us, when we are already wrung by internal
+discord. Why should you suffer him to pour such poison into the hearts
+of his countrymen?"
+
+"Nay, nay," replied the Count of Vaudemont; "my word is given, and I
+cannot retract it. We are less harsh than you, my lord, and doubt not
+that this noble knight will say nothing against the cause of those who
+grant him this permission."
+
+"On no such subjects will I treat, sirs," answered Richard of
+Woodville; "the matter of my letter will be simple enough, my own
+liberation being all the object."
+
+"You must be quick, however," said the Lord of Vaudemont; "for, at
+morning song, to-morrow, the messenger departs."
+
+The young knight replied that his letters would be ready in an hour,
+and the three noblemen withdrew for a moment; but he could hear that
+they continued speaking together in the passage; and the next instant,
+the Duke of Orleans and the Count of Armagnac returned. "We cannot
+suffer long letters, sir knight," said the latter, as soon as he
+entered; "if all you wish is to treat for your ransom, and to induce
+your friends to exert themselves for your liberation, you can send
+messages by word of mouth, which we can hear and judge of."
+
+"But how will my friends know that such messages really come from me?"
+demanded Woodville, with deep mortification.
+
+"Why," replied the Count, after a moment's thought, "you may send a
+few words in the French tongue, in our presence--for we have heard of
+inks and inventions which escape the eye of all but the persons for
+whom they are intended--you may send a few words, I say, merely
+telling the gentlemen to whom you write, to give credit to what the
+bearer shall speak."
+
+Woodville paused and meditated; but then, having formed his
+resolution, he replied, "Well, my good lord, if better may not be, so
+will I do. Send me the messenger when you will, and I will give him
+the credentials required."
+
+"Call him now, my fair Lord of Armagnac," said the Duke of Orleans,
+with a significant look. "He is below."
+
+The count soon reappeared with a stout, plain-looking man, habited as
+a soldier; and Woodville, after inquiring if he had ever been in
+England before, and finding that such was not the case, gave him
+directions for seeking out Sir John Grey in Winchester, from which
+town the letters that had been conveyed to him were dated. He then
+gave him messages to Mary's father; and, pointing out that it would be
+better to lose any amount of money, rather than remain longer in
+prison, he besought the knight to borrow a sum for him, to the value
+of one-half of his estates, and offer it to the Lord of Vaudemont as
+his ransom, adding, somewhat bitterly, "Tell the good knight that I
+find, in France, the fine old spirit of chivalry is at an end, which
+led each noble gentleman to fix at once a reasonable ransom for an
+honourable prisoner, and that nothing but an excessive sum will gain a
+captive's liberty."
+
+The Duke of Orleans frowned, but made no observation in reply, merely
+speaking a few words in a low tone to the Count of Armagnac, who went
+to the door and called aloud for a strip of parchment and some ink.
+
+What he required was soon brought; and he laid before the young knight
+a narrow slip, not large enough to contain more than a sentence or
+two, saying, "There, fair sir, you can write in the usual form, as
+follows,"
+
+Richard of Woodville took the pen and addressed the letter at the top
+to Sir John Grey: the Duke of Orleans coming round and looking over
+his shoulder, while the Count of Armagnac stood on the opposite side
+of the table, and dictated what he was to write.
+
+"You can say," he proceeded, "'These are to beg of you, by your love
+and regard for me, to hear and believe what the bearer will tell you
+on my part;' and then put your name."
+
+Richard of Woodville wrote as he directed, word for word, till he came
+to the conclusion, but then, he added rapidly, "touching my ransom,"
+and affixed his signature so close, that nothing could be
+interpolated.
+
+"What, have you written more?" cried the Count, whose eye was fixed
+upon his hand.
+
+"Touching my ransom," said the Duke of Orleans, gazing across. The
+Count snatched up the parchment, and read it with a frowning brow, as
+if angry that his dictation had not been exactly followed; and then,
+beckoning to the Duke of Orleans and the messenger, he hurried
+abruptly out of the room. The door was not yet shut by the inferior
+person, who went out last, when the young prisoner heard the Count of
+Armagnac say to the Duke, in a low growling tone, "This will not do."
+
+"Let me see," said the voice of the Lord of Vaudemont, who had
+apparently been waiting behind the door. A blasphemous oath followed;
+and Richard of Woodville heard no more; but a smile crossed his
+countenance, for they had evidently sought to use him for some secret
+purpose of their own, and had been frustrated.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+                             THE FLIGHT.
+
+
+A month had passed, and Richard of Woodville sat alone in his solitary
+chamber, on a dark and stormy night, towards the end of September,
+reading by the glimmering lamp-light, a book which had been procured
+for him in the town by his page. The rain blew, the wind whistled, the
+small panes of glass in the casement rattled and shook, and the
+howling of the breeze, as it swept round the old tower, seemed full of
+melancholy thoughts. His own imaginations were heavy and desponding
+enough--and he eagerly strove to withdraw his attention, both from the
+voice of the storm without, and from the dark images that rose up in
+his own heart. But he could not govern his mind as he desired; and
+still from the pages of the book, he would lift his eyes, and gazing
+into vacancy revolve every point in his fate, gaining, alas! nothing
+but fresh matter for sad reflection. He had seen no more of the Count
+de Vaudemont, the Duke of Orleans, or the Count of Armagnac, and had
+learned that they had quitted Montl'herry early on the day following
+that during which he had received their visit. He little heeded their
+departure, indeed, or desired to see them; for he felt convinced that
+their only object had been to make a tool of him for secret purposes
+of their own; and that, disappointed therein, they were in no degree
+disposed to show him favour, or even to listen to just remonstrance.
+
+What grieved and depressed him more, was the unaccountable
+disappearance of the young clerk who had brought him the letters from
+Sir John Grey, but who had been no more seen by the page, after the
+arrival of the Count de Vaudemont in the town. The boy inquired at the
+widow's where the clerk had lodged, and was told he had left the
+place: and no farther trace could be discovered of the course he had
+pursued, or whither he had turned his steps. The distracted state of
+the country, indeed, the young knight thought, might have scared the
+novice away; for the page brought him daily reports of strange events
+taking place around, of factions, strife, and bloodshed, in almost
+every province of France, and of rumours that daily grew in strength
+and consistency, of foreign wars being speedily added to the miseries
+of the land. Large bodies of armed men passed through the town at
+different times; the garrison of the castle was diminished to swell
+the forces preparing for some unexplained enterprise; and the
+Chatelain himself was called to lead them to the field.
+
+But a stricter guard was kept upon the prisoner than ever. Of the
+scanty band that remained in the castle, one always remained in arms
+at his door; and another was stationed at the foot of the stairs.
+Night and day he was closely watched; and the page himself was not
+permitted to go in and out, except at certain hours. All chance of
+escape seemed removed; and bitterly did Richard of Woodville ponder
+upon the prospect of long captivity, at the very time when, under
+other circumstances, opportunity must have occurred for the exertion
+of all those energies by which he had fondly hoped to win glory,
+station, and renown.
+
+He struggled hard against such thoughts, and all the bitterness they
+brought with them; and, after indulging them for a few minutes, turned
+ever to the page of the book he was reading, and laboured through the
+crabbed lines of the ill-written manuscript; finding perhaps as much
+interest in making out the words as in their sense. It was after one
+of the fits of meditation we have spoken of, that he thus again
+applied himself to read, and turned over several pages carelessly, to
+see what would come next in the dull old romaunt, when, suddenly he
+saw a fresher page than any of the others, and found upon it, written
+in English, and in a different hand from the rest, but in lines of
+equal length, so as to deceive a careless eye, and lead to a belief
+that the words were but a continuation of the poem, the following
+warning and intelligence:
+
+"Be prepared. Lie not down to rest. Take not off your clothes. King
+Henry is in France. The Earl of Cambridge, the Lord Scrope, and Sir
+Thomas Grey, have been executed for treason. Harfleur has been taken;
+and the King is marching on through the land."
+
+There ended the lines, and the young knight, closing the book, started
+up and clasped his hands with agitation and surprise. "Harfleur taken,
+and I not there!" he cried. "This is bitter, indeed! I shall go mad if
+they do not free me soon--Sir Thomas Grey! surely it cannot be written
+by mistake. I remember one Sir Thomas Grey, a powerful knight of
+Northumberland. The Lord Scrope, too; why, he was the King's
+chamberlain! What can all this mean? Prepared--I will be prepared,
+indeed. Hark, they are changing the guard at the door. I must not let
+them see me thus agitated, if they look in;" and seating himself
+again, he opened the book and seemed to read.
+
+No one came near, however, for another hour, and Richard of Woodville
+gathered together all that might be needful in case his escape should
+be more near than he ventured to hope--the little stock of money that
+remained, a few jewels, and trinkets of gold and silver, and a dagger
+which he had kept concealed since his capture; for the rest of his
+arms and his armour had been taken from him as fair spoil. After this
+was done, he sat and watched; but all was silent in the chateau,
+except when the guard at his door rose and paced up and down the
+passage, or hummed a verse or two of some idle song to while away the
+hours.
+
+At length, however, after a long, dead pause, he heard a whisper; and
+then the bolt of the door was undrawn without, and rising quietly, he
+gazed towards it as it opened. The only figure that presented itself
+was that of the guard, whom he had often seen before, and noticed as
+apparently a gay, good-humoured man, who treated him civilly, and
+asked after health in a kindly tone whenever he had occasion to visit
+him. The man's face was now grave, and Woodville thought a little
+anxious, and besides his own arms, he bore in his hand a sheathed
+sword with its baldric, and a large coil of rope upon his arm. Without
+uttering a word, he crossed the chamber, came close up to the young
+knight, and put the sword in his hands. Then advancing to the window,
+he opened it, fastened one end of the rope tight to the iron bar which
+ran up the centre of the casement, and suffered the other to drop
+gently down on the outside. Richard of Woodville gazed with some
+interest at this proceeding, as may be supposed. In the state of his
+mind at that moment, no means of escape could seem too desperate for
+him to adopt; and although he doubted that the rope, though strong,
+would bear his weight, he resolved to make the attempt,
+notwithstanding the tremendous height of the window from the ground.
+
+Approaching the man, he whispered, "Would it not be better for you to
+turn the rope round the bar and let me down? My hands have been so
+long in prison, that I doubt their holding their grasp very tightly."
+
+The man merely waved his finger and shook his head, without reply,
+finished what he was about, and, taking from the table one of the
+gloves which the young knight had worn under his gauntlets, much to
+the spectator's surprise, dropped it out of the window.
+
+"Now come with me," he whispered; "it is needful for us who stay
+behind, to have it thought for a day or two that you have made your
+escape without help. The demoiselle has paid us half the money, as she
+promised; and we will keep our word with her. There shall no danger
+attend you. We have better means of getting you out than breaking your
+neck by a fall from the casement."
+
+"But you were to give me a word," said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"Ay," answered the man, "I recollect: it was Mary Markham--Follow me."
+
+Without hesitation, the prisoner accompanied him; but paused for an
+instant in some surprise on finding two armed men at the back of the
+door, one holding a lamp in his hand. The guard who was with him,
+however, took no notice; but, receiving the lamp from the other, led
+the way in a different direction from the staircase up which Woodville
+had been brought, when first he was conducted to his chamber of
+captivity. Then opening a door on the right, he entered a room, in the
+wall of which appeared a low archway, exposing to the eye, as the
+light flashed forward, the top of a steep, small staircase.
+
+"I will go down first with the lamp," whispered the man, "that you may
+see where you are going. Give a heed to your footing, too, for it is
+mighty slippery, especially on such a damp night as this."
+
+Thus saying, he led the way; and Richard of Woodville followed down
+the winding steps, cut apparently in the thickness of the wall. Green
+mould and clammy slime hung upon all the stones as they descended,
+except where, every here and there, a loophole admitted the free air
+of heaven and chased the damp away. The steps seemed interminable, one
+after another, one after another, till Woodville became sure that they
+were descending to a greater depth than the mere base of the castle;
+and, looking round, as the lamplight gleamed upon the walls, he beheld
+no more the hewn stone work which had appeared above, but the rough
+excavation of the solid rock. At length the steps ceased, as passing
+along a vault of masonry, perhaps forty or fifty feet long, the man
+unbolted and unbarred a small but solid door covered with iron plates;
+and in a moment the lamp was extinguished by the blast from without.
+All seemed dark and impenetrable to the eye; the wind roared through
+the vault; the rain dashed in the faces of Woodville and his
+companion; but, giving the lamp an oath, as if it had been to blame
+for what the storm had done, the man set it down behind the door, and
+then walked on, saying, "Keep close to me, for it is steep here."
+
+Following down a little path as the man led, the young knight's eyes
+became more accustomed to the gloom, and he thought he descried, at a
+short distance, a group of men and horses standing under a light
+feathery tree. Hurrying on, with eager hope, he demanded of his guide
+who the persons were whom he saw before him.
+
+"Your saucy page is one," said the guard; "but who the others are I do
+not know. The young clerk, I suppose, is one, and his servant the
+other; for I dare say the demoiselle would not come out on such a
+night as this, and faith, I cannot well see whether they be men or
+women in this light;" and he shaded his eyes with his hands, with very
+needless precaution, where scarcely a ray pierced the welkin.
+
+At that moment, however, one of the figures moved towards him, asking,
+"Is all right?"
+
+"All, all," answered the guard; "have you brought the rest of the
+money, master clerk? Here stands the prisoner free; so my part of the
+bargain is done."
+
+"And there is the rest of the gold, good fellow," replied the other
+speaker; "all right money, and well counted."
+
+"Ay, I must take it on your word," said the man who had brought
+Woodville thither, "my lamp has been blown out; but I may well trust
+you; for the other half was full tale and a piece over."
+
+"That was for chaffage," replied the youth; "and if this noble knight
+gets safe to the King's camp, you shall have a hundred pieces more; so
+go, and keep his escape, and the way he has taken, as secret as
+possible."
+
+"That I will, for mine own sake," answered the soldier; "or I should
+soon know gibbet and cord. Good night, good night!" and waving his
+hand, he turned away, while the young clerk addressed Woodville,
+saying, "You must put yourself under my guidance, noble sir, for a few
+hours, and then we shall be safe."
+
+"I have much to thank you for, young gentleman," answered Woodville,
+following, as the other hurried on to the horses; and in a few minutes
+the knight, his page, the clerk, and the clerk's servant were on
+their way. But to Woodville's surprise, instead of taking any of the
+by-roads that led on through the country to remote villages and
+hamlets, they followed the direct high road towards Paris, which he
+had gazed upon for many a day from his solitary chamber in the tower.
+
+After proceeding some way in silence, without hearing any sounds which
+could lead them to believe that the knight's escape had been
+discovered, and that they were pursued, Woodville endeavoured to gain
+some information from the clerk of Sir John Grey, as to the means
+which had been taken to effect his liberation, and more particularly,
+as to the lady who had been mentioned by the guard.
+
+On the latter point the youth replied not; and on the former he merely
+said, "The means were very simple, noble knight, and you yourself saw
+some of them employed. Money, which unlocks all doors, was the key of
+your prison. The man who refuses ransom to a captive, had better see
+that he guard him sure; for that which is a small sum to him, may be a
+great one to a gaoler, and one quarter of the amount offered for your
+redemption, served to set you free. But I think, sir," he added, "we
+had better speak as little as possible upon any head, till we have
+passed the capital, for the tongue of an escaped prisoner, like the
+track of gore to the bloodhound, often brings him within the fangs of
+his pursuers."
+
+Richard of Woodville judged the caution too wise not to be followed;
+and on they rode in silence at a brisk pace, with the wind blowing,
+and the rain dashing against them, through the darkness of the night,
+for somewhat more than two hours, following the broad and open road
+all the way, till the young knight thought they must be approaching
+Paris. More than once, indeed, he fancied that he caught a glimpse of
+some large dark mass before him; and imagination shaped towers and
+pinnacles in the black obscurity of night; but at length the clerk's
+man, who seemed to act as guide, pronounced the words, "To the left!"
+and striking into a narrower, though still well beaten path, they soon
+came upon a river, flowing on dull and heavy, but with a glistening
+light, in the midst of its dark banks, which they followed for some
+way, till a bridge presented itself, which they crossed, and then,
+turning a little to the right again, continued their course without
+drawing a rein, till the faint grey streaks of morning began to appear
+in the east.
+
+Shortly after, a bell was heard ringing slowly, apparently at no great
+distance; and the young clerk said aloud, with a sigh of relief,
+"Thank God!"
+
+"You are fatigued, young gentleman, with this long stormy ride, I
+fear?" said Richard of Woodville.
+
+"A little," was the only reply; and in a few minutes they stopped at
+the gate of a small walled building, bearing the aspect of some
+inferior priory of a religious house. The bell was still ringing when
+they approached; but the door was closed; and the clerk and his
+attendant dismounted and knocked for admission. A board was almost
+immediately withdrawn from behind a grating of iron, about a palm in
+breadth and twice as much in length, and a voice demanded, "Who are
+you?"
+
+"Bourgogne," replied the clerk; and instantly the door was opened
+without further inquiry. The arrival of the party seemed to have been
+expected; for two men, not dressed in monastic habits, took the horses
+without further inquiry; a monk addressed himself to Woodville, and
+bade him follow; and, before he could ask any questions, he and his
+companions were led in different directions, the one to one part of
+the building, and the others to another.
+
+With the same celerity and taciturnity, his guide introduced him to a
+small but comfortable chamber, provided him with all that he could
+require, and bidding him strip off his wet clothes, and lie down to
+rest in peace, returned with a cup of warm spiced wine, "to chase the
+damp out of his marrow," as he termed it. The young knight drained it
+willingly, and then would fain have asked the old man some questions;
+but the only information he could gain imported, that he was at Triel,
+the old man always replying, "To bed, to bed, and sleep. You can talk
+when you have had rest."
+
+Woodville finding he could obtain no other answer, followed his
+counsel: and, wearied with such a journey after a long period of
+inactivity, but with a heart lightened by the feeling that he was
+free, he had hardly laid his limbs on the pallet before he was asleep.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+                          THE PRISONER FREE.
+
+
+The only true calm and happy sleep that man can ever obtain, is given
+by the heart at ease. Slumber, deep, profound, and heavy, may be
+obtained by fatigue of body or of mind; but even those great and
+tranquil spirited men, of whom it is recorded that, at any time, they
+could lie down, banish thought and care, and obtain repose in the most
+trying circumstances, must have gained the power, from that
+consciousness of having done all to ensure success in the course
+before them that human wisdom can achieve, or by that confidence in
+the resources within, which are the chief lighteners of the load of
+life.
+
+Richard of Woodville slept soundly, but it was heavily. It was the
+sleep of weariness, not of peace. His mind was agitated even during
+slumber, with many of the subjects which might well press for
+attention in the circumstances in which he was placed; and unbridled
+fancy hurried him through innumerable dreams. Now he saw her he loved
+standing at the altar with another; and when the figure turned its
+face towards him, he beheld Simeon of Roydon. Then he stood in the
+presence of the King; and Henry, with a frowning brow, turned to an
+executioner, with the countenance of Sir Henry Dacre, but gigantic
+limbs, and ordered him to strike off the prisoner's head. Then came
+Isabel Beauchamp to plead for his life; and suddenly, as the King was
+turning away, a pale shadowy form, through which he could see the
+figures on the arras behind, appeared before the monarch, and he
+recognised the spirit of the murdered Catherine. Old times were
+strangely mingled with the thoughts of the present; and sometimes he
+was a boy again; sometimes still a prisoner in the castle of
+Montl'herry: sometimes in the court of a strange prince, receiving
+high rewards for some imaginary service. He heard voices, too, as well
+as saw sights; and the words rang in his ears,
+
+
+              For the true heart and kind,
+              Its recompence shall find;
+                   Shall win praise.
+                   And golden days,
+              And live in many a tale.
+
+
+At length when he had slept long, he suddenly started and raised
+himself upon his arm, for some one touched him; and looking round he
+saw the clerk with his black hood still drawn far over his head, and
+the page who had been his fellow captive, standing by the side of the
+pallet.
+
+"You must be up and away, sir knight," said the young clerk, in the
+sweet musical tones of youth. "In an hour, a party of the Canonesses
+of Cambray, who arrived at noon under the escort of a body of my Lord
+of Charolois' men-at-arms,[12] are to depart for Amiens, and you and
+your page can ride forward with them. I must here leave your fair
+company; for I have other matters to attend to for my good lord."
+
+
+---------------------
+
+[Footnote 12: The actual removal of the Canonesses of Cambray took
+place a few months later.]
+
+---------------------
+
+
+"But I shall see you again, young sir, I trust?" said Woodville; "I
+owe you guerdon, as well as thanks and deep gratitude."
+
+"I have only done my duty, noble knight," replied the clerk; "but we
+shall soon meet again; for I suppose your first task will be to seek
+Sir John Grey, who is with the King; and I shall not be long absent
+from him,--so fare you well, sir."
+
+"But where am I to find him?" demanded Woodville; "remember I am in
+utter ignorance of all that has happened."
+
+"Nor do I know much," answered the clerk. "Rumour is my only source of
+information; for I have been cut off from all direct communication for
+many weeks. The only certainty is, that King Henry and his friends are
+now in France; that Harfleur surrendered a few weeks ago, and that he
+is marching through the land with banners displayed. You will hear of
+him as you go; and as soon as you know which way his steps are bent,
+you can hasten to join him. But ere you discover yourself to any one
+else, seek out Sir John Grey, and take counsel with him, for false
+reports have been spread concerning you, and no one can tell how the
+King's mind may be affected."
+
+"But tell me, at least, before you go," said Richard of Woodville,
+"who was the lady spoken of by the man who aided my escape at
+Montl'herry; and also, who it is that has generously paid the high
+sums which were doubtless demanded for my deliverance?"
+
+"In truth, noble sir," replied the clerk, "I must not stay to answer
+you; for the people with whom I go are waiting for me; and I must
+depart immediately. You will know all hereafter in good time. It was
+the Lord of Croy who furnished the money needful. Now, fare you well,
+and Heaven give you guidance!"
+
+Thus saying, he departed, without waiting for farther question; and
+Richard of Woodville rising, dressed himself in haste in the same
+clothes which he had worn the day before, but which he now found
+carefully dried and ready for his use.
+
+"I must have slept sound, boy," he said, speaking to the page, who
+remained beside him; "for I do not think that at any other time my
+clothes could have been taken away from my bed side, and I not know
+it."
+
+"You did sleep sound, sir knight," replied the page, laughing; "and
+talked in your sleep, moreover, while we were looking at you. But I
+can tell you who the lady was at Montl'herry, if you must needs know,
+as well as the clerk, for I saw her once speaking with the guard."
+
+"Say, say!" cried Richard of Woodville, impatiently. "I would fain
+know, for she must be in peril, if left behind."
+
+"Why, it was the fair demoiselle," answered the page, "who went with
+us from Nieuport to Ghent. I caught but a glimpse of her, indeed; but
+that bright face is not easily forgotten when once it has been seen."
+
+"And yet I never thought of her!" murmured Richard of Woodville to
+himself: "poor girl, her deep gratitude would have merited better
+remembrance. Why smile you, boy? Every honourable man is bound to
+recollect all who trust him, and all who serve him."
+
+"Nay, sir," replied the page, resuming a grave look, "I did but smile
+to think how often ladies remember knights and gentlemen, when they
+are themselves forgot."
+
+"A sad comment on the baseness of man's nature," answered Woodville;
+"let it never be so with you, boy. Now, see for the old monk; my purse
+is very empty, but I would not that he should call me niggard."
+
+Some minutes passed before the page returned; but when he appeared he
+came not alone, nor empty handed, for the old man was with him who had
+conducted the fugitive to his chamber the night before; and the one
+carried a large bottle and a tin cup, while the other was loaded with
+a pasty and a loaf of brown bread. Such refreshment was very
+acceptable to the young knight; but the good monk hurried him at his
+meal, telling him that his party were waiting for him; and, finishing
+the repast as soon as possible, Woodville rose and put a piece of gold
+into his good purveyor's hand, saying, "That for your house, father.
+Now I am ready."
+
+On going out into the little court between the priory and the abbey,
+he found some twelve or fourteen men mounted; and at the call of the
+monk who accompanied him, a party of six Canonesses and two novices,
+all closely veiled, came forth from the little lodge by the gate. They
+were soon upon the mules which stood ready for them; but the good
+ladies eyed with an inquiring glance the young stranger who was about
+to join their party; and one of them, as she marked the knightly spurs
+he wore, turned to her companions, and made some observation which
+created a light-hearted laugh amongst those around. The moment after,
+they issued forth from the gates, and rode on at a quick pace in the
+direction of Gisors.
+
+The day was evidently far advanced, but the sun, though somewhat past
+his meridian, was still very powerful, so that the horses were
+distressed with the heat. The commander of the men-at-arms, however,
+would permit no relaxation of their speed, much to the annoyance of
+the fair Canonesses, who had every inclination to amuse the tedious
+moments of the journey by chattering with the young knight, and the
+other persons who escorted them. In reply to their remonstrances, the
+leader told them that if they did not make haste, they would get
+entangled between the two armies, and then worse might come of it.
+
+"Besides," he said, "we have strict orders from our lord the Duke to
+take part with neither French nor English; and it would be a hard
+matter to fall in with either, and not strike one stroke for the
+honour of our arms."
+
+Judging from his reply that he must have some knowledge of the
+relative position of the two hosts, Richard of Woodville endeavoured
+to gain intelligence from him, as to both the events which had lately
+taken place in France, and those which were likely to follow; but the
+man seemed sullen, and unwilling to communicate with his companion of
+the way, replying to all questions merely by a monosyllable, or by the
+assertion that he did not know.
+
+Thus passed by hour after hour, during their first and second day's
+journey, which brought them to the small town of Breteuil. They had
+hitherto paused either for the purpose of seeking repose, or of taking
+refreshment, at religious houses only; but at Breteuil they took up
+their lodging for the night at the inn of the place, which they found
+vacant of all guests. The town, too, as they entered it, seemed
+melancholy and nearly deserted; but the tongue of the good host made
+up for the stillness which reigned around; and from him Richard of
+Woodville discovered that the apparent abandonment of the place by its
+inhabitants was caused partly by the dread which some of the more
+wealthy townsmen had felt on the near approach of several large
+detachments of English troops, and partly by the zeal of the younger
+portion of the population, which had led them to proceed in arms to
+join the royal standard raised against the invaders. From him, too,
+the young knight found that the King of England, at the head of his
+army, was marching rapidly up the Somme, in order to force the passage
+of that river, but that, as all the fords were strictly guarded, and
+French troops in immense multitudes were gathering on the opposite
+bank, it was scarcely possible that many days could pass without a
+battle.
+
+"'Twas but yesterday at this hour," said the host, "that news reached
+the town that a fight had taken place at Fremont; and then, this
+morning we heard it was all false, and that the English King has not
+yet passed the river."
+
+"Where was he when last you heard of him?" demanded Richard of
+Woodville, taking care to use the French tongue, which he spoke with
+less accent, perhaps, than most of the inhabitants of distant
+provinces.
+
+"Oh, he was at Bauvillers," answered the landlord of the hostel, "and
+he wont get much farther without fighting, I fancy; for he has got St.
+Quentin on his right, and our people before him. Heaven send that he
+may not march back again; for then, he would come right through
+Breteuil; and we are poor enough without being pillaged by those
+vagabond English. I wonder your Duke does not come to the King's help,
+with all his gallant men-at-arms, for then these proud islanders would
+be caught in a net, and could not get out."
+
+"It is a wonder," answered Richard of Woodville. "But, hark! and, as
+he listened, he heard two sweet voices talking in the hall, in a
+tongue that sounded like English to his ear.
+
+"I am sure of it," said the one, "and if it be so, I beseech you own
+it. My heart beat so, I can scarcely speak; but, I say again, I am
+sure of it; and that if you will, you have the power not alone to
+punish the guilty, for that, perhaps, you may not desire--"
+
+"Yes I do," replied the other, in a somewhat sharper tone; "and in my
+own good time, I will do it."
+
+"To punish the guilty, the time is your own," replied the first voice;
+"but, to save the innocent from utter destruction, there is no time
+but the present."
+
+"Ha! you must tell me more," said the second, in a tone of surprise;
+"from utter destruction, did you say? Let us to our chamber. There we
+can speak at ease."
+
+Richard of Woodville heard no more; but what he did hear cast him into
+deep thought; and when the next morning they again set out upon their
+journey, he gazed with an inquiring eye at the Canonesses and their
+companions--and, mingling in their conversation, endeavoured to
+discover if the voices which he had heard were to be distinguished
+amongst them. They all laughed and talked gaily with him, however, in
+the French tongue; and he came to the conclusion, that though the host
+had assured him the inn was vacant when he and his party arrived, some
+other guests must have passed the night within its walls.
+
+On their way during this day, he remarked that the leader of the
+men-at-arms inquired often and anxiously, in every town and village,
+for news of the two armies. Little information did he gain, except
+from vague reports; but some of these, it would appear, induced him to
+alter his course towards Amiens, and strike off to the right, in the
+direction of Peronne. The young knight had not been inattentive to
+everything that was said, and he heard that the King of France, and
+all his nobility, were certainly gathered together in the direction of
+Bapaume, while the rumour grew stronger and more strong, that the
+English army had effected the passage of the Somme at some unguarded
+ford, in the neighbourhood of St. Quentin, and was boldly marching on
+towards Calais.
+
+Such tidings, as the reader may well suppose, caused not a little
+agitation in the mind of the young soldier. Apprehension, lest a
+battle should be fought and he be absent, was certainly the
+predominant sensation; but, still he had to ask himself, even if he
+arrived in time, where arms were to be procured, and a horse fit to
+bear him through such a strife as that which was likely to take place?
+The beast he rode, though swift and enduring, was far too lightly
+formed to carry a knight equipped according to the fashion of that
+day; and no weapons of any kind did he possess, but the dagger which
+he had retained when captured.
+
+It seemed clear to him, also, that the leader of the Burgundian
+men-at-arms, had, in common with most of his countrymen, a strong
+inclination to take part with the French, who were naturally
+considered as kinsmen and allies, against the English, who were looked
+upon as strangers and enemies; and he felt convinced that the
+soldier's course had been altered in the hope, that, by falling in
+with the troops of the King of France, he might find a fair excuse for
+disobeying the more politic orders of his Prince, and take a share in
+the approaching combat.
+
+Such thoughts brought with them some doubts of his own safety; and
+assuredly the dull, taciturn, and repulsive demeanour of the commander
+of the troop, was not calculated to win confidence. It was evident,
+however, that orders--which he trusted would meet with some
+respect--had been laid upon his sullen companion, to treat him with
+deference, and attend to his comfort and convenience; for, at every
+place where they stopped by the way, the best chamber, after their
+fair charge had been attended to, was assigned to himself; and it was
+not without permission that the men-at-arms sat down to the same table
+with him, affecting much to reverence his knightly rank.
+
+At length, after a long and hard day's ride, the party reached
+Peronne, on the evening of the second day after quitting Breteuil; and
+as they approached the gates, the young knight's confidence was
+somewhat restored, by the leader of the men-at-arms riding up to his
+side, and saying, in a low tone, "I pray you, sir knight, be careful
+here, and give no hint of your being an Englishman; for we are coming
+on dangerous ground."
+
+"I will be careful, my good friend," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"and to say the truth, if we can discover where the King of England
+is, it may be as well for me to quit your party soon, as I may bring
+danger upon you for no purpose."
+
+"We shall soon near more," replied the soldier, "but you had better be
+beyond the walls of Peronne, before you part from us."
+
+The scantiness of the band, and the title of Burgundian soldiers, soon
+obtained admission for the little party; but all was found in a state
+of bustle and activity within the town; and every tongue was full of
+the late passage of the King of England, at a short distance from the
+place. Great was the bravado of the inhabitants, who universally
+declared, that they wished he had sat down before their walls, to
+afford them an opportunity of showing what glorious deeds they would
+have performed; and all spoke of the condition of the English troops
+as lamentable, and their fate sealed. The approaching battle was
+looked forward to as a certain triumph for the arms of France, and
+rather as a great slaughter of a flying enemy, than a conflict with a
+powerful force. The very monks of the monastery where the men-at-arms
+received entertainment, while the Canonesses were lodged in the
+adjoining nunnery, were full of the same martial spirit; and a few
+years earlier, it is probable, their superior would have put himself
+in armour to aid in the destruction of the foe. Frequently was Richard
+of Woodville appealed to as a knight, to pronounce upon the likelihood
+of King Henry surrendering at discretion; and some difficulty had he
+so to shape his answers as to escape suspicion.
+
+From the conversation which took place, however, he learned that his
+own sovereign was in the neighbourhood of a small town at no great
+distance; and he resolved, as soon as he was free from the walls of
+Peronne, to hurry thither without any farther delay. He ventured,
+during the evening, to issue forth for a short time into the city, in
+the hope of being able to purchase arms: but scarcely any were to be
+found in the town: and such had been the demand for good armour, that
+the price had risen far beyond his scanty means. All that he could
+afford to buy was a strong, well-tempered sword of a somewhat antique
+form, which he found in the shop of an armourer; and even for that the
+price demanded was enormous.
+
+Returning to the monastery, he soon escaped from a sort of
+conversation that was by no means pleasant to his ear, by retiring to
+rest; and though for some time he did not sleep, yet when slumber did
+visit his eyelids, she came soft and balmy. The troubled thoughts died
+away--the anxious questioning of the unsatisfied mind ceased--the wild
+throbbing of the eager heart for the coming of the undeveloped hours,
+found repose; and he woke calm and refreshed with the first dawn of
+day, to meet whatever might be in store, with a spirit prepared and
+ready, and a body reinvigorated by the alternation of exertion and
+rest.
+
+The monastery was one of those, not at all uncommon in those days, in
+which the vow of seclusion did not by any means exclude contrivances
+for enjoying at least some communion with the world. It was not
+surrounded by stern walls, and a large wing of the building rested
+upon the street, with windows small and high up indeed, and only
+lighting the chambers appropriated to the use of visitors, but which
+often afforded the monks themselves an excellent view of what was
+passing in the town without. In dressing himself with as much care as
+circumstances would permit, Richard of Woodville approached one of
+these narrow casements, and gazed out upon the gay scene that was
+enacted below; and, though so early, multitudes of people were to be
+seen passing along. While some stood for a moment gossiping with their
+neighbours, some were hurrying forward to their busy day, and others
+pausing to watch a considerable body of men-at-arms, who, in somewhat
+bad array, and without the display of much soldier-like order, came
+down from a house farther up.
+
+When he saw them at a distance, the young knight's first thought was,
+"If all the French troops are like these, it will be no very difficult
+task to win a field of them." But as the troop came on, and the three
+leaders riding in front, passed under the window, he was struck by the
+arms of one of them who appeared in the middle. He could have sworn
+that the armour in which the knight was habited was familiar to his
+eye; and it must be recollected that the ornaments which covered the
+harness of a man-at-arms in those days were rarely the same, so that
+means of identification were always at hand, such as we do not possess
+in the present times. But there, before his eyes, if he could believe
+their testimony, was the identical suit which had been sent to him by
+good Sir Philip Beauchamp, shortly before he left the shores of
+England. There were the fan-shaped palettes, with the quaint gilt
+figures in the corners, and the upturned pauldrons with the edge of
+gold, and the bacinet shaped like a globe, with the enamelled plate on
+the forehead bearing "Ave, Maria!"
+
+There could be no doubt that it was the same; and Woodville's brow
+knit for a moment, and his teeth closed tight. But the next instant he
+smiled again, asking half aloud, "How could a prisoner of near two
+years escape pillage? If I meet you in the field, my friend, I will
+have that harness back again for Mary's sake, or I will lie low."
+
+Thus saying, he resumed his toilet, and the troop passed on. A moment
+after, he heard a voice singing, and turning to the window again he
+looked out. The sounds did not come from below; but there was a large
+projecting mass of building, with loopholes on the three sides, which
+protruded into the street on his right; and it seemed to him that the
+sounds came thence. He listened, and caught some of the words; but
+every now and then they died away in the cadence of a wild French air
+of the period, but those he could distinguish seemed so well suited to
+his situation at the time, that he strove eagerly to hear more:--
+
+
+             "Away, away, to the field of fame,
+                Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie away,"
+
+
+were the first sounds he could make out; but the next stanza was more
+distinct, and went on thus, in the French tongue:--
+
+
+             "Think of thy lady at home in her bower,
+                On her knees, for her lord to pray,
+              Think of her terror and hope in the hour
+                When your banner floats proud in array,
+                                          Well aday!
+
+             "Away, away, to the field of fame,
+                Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie away!
+              For King, for country, and deathless name
+                Is each stroke that is stricken to-day,
+                            Trara la, trara la, trara lay!
+
+             "The hopes of years and the fame of life
+                Are lost or won ere evening's ray.
+              Thy father's spirit looks down on the strife,
+                And bids thee to battle away,
+                                          Well aday!
+
+             "Away, away, to the field of fame,
+                Gallant knight, gallant knight, hie way!
+              For king, for country, and deathless name
+                Is each stroke that is stricken to-day,
+                            Trara la, trara la, trara lay!"
+
+
+As he was listening for more, a knock was heard at the door of his
+chamber, and bidding the applicant come in, Richard of Woodville was
+somewhat surprised to see the personage whom we have designated as the
+clerk's man, enter in some haste.
+
+"I thought you were still sleeping, sir knight," he said; "but I
+ventured to wake you, as, by Heaven's good will, it seems there will
+be a battle shortly, and methought you would like to hear such
+tidings, and be present at such a deed."
+
+"I have heard that such is likely to be the case," answered Woodville,
+"and am eager enough to set out, my friend. But how came you here? and
+where have you left your master?"
+
+"Oh, I have followed you close," the man replied; "I only waited to
+see that the enemy's hounds had not got scent of the deer; but the
+slot has been crossed by so many other herds, that they soon lost the
+track. I have wakened master Isambert, who leads the Duke's party, and
+he will be in the saddle in half an hour. As to my master, he has gone
+by the other road, and I dare to say has joined Sir John at
+Brettenville, or Beauvillers, or where they passed the Somme."
+
+"Is this Isambert very faithful, think you?" asked the young knight.
+
+"Not too much so," replied the man, calmly; "but in your case he dare
+as soon give his throat to the knife, as do you wrong; for the Duke,
+and the Count, and the Lord of Croy, would all have bloody vengeance,
+if aught of evil befel you ere you are with your own people. However,
+it will not be amiss to quit him soon; for I find a body of his own
+folks have just marched out under Robinet de Bournonville--as wild a
+marauder as ever a wild land brought forth; and it is well to get out
+of such company when they are too many; for what one man dare not do,
+a number think nothing of."
+
+"Then," said the young knight, "this good Isambert's arrival at Triel
+was not a matter of chance, as I thought it?"
+
+"Oh, no!" replied the other; "he came thither on purpose to give you
+aid. He might have saved fifteen leagues by another road; but the
+Duke's commands were not to be disobeyed. However, noble knight, you
+had better get some breakfast; for Heaven only knows when we shall
+have an opportunity of putting anything into our mouths again. You
+might as well follow a flight of locusts, they tell me, as our army.
+The refectioner is serving out meat to the men, and mead, too, for we
+have quitted the land of wine."
+
+The young knight bade him go and provide for himself; and, soon
+following, he took a hasty meal before he mounted with the rest. The
+whole party were speedily in the saddle; the streets of the town were
+soon passed, and the gates of Peronne closed behind them.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XL.
+
+                             THE MYSTERY.
+
+
+It is quite right and proper to suppose that the reader is thoroughly
+acquainted with the position, situation, and peculiarities of every
+town, to which we may be pleased to lead him; and, therefore, it may
+be unnecessary to remind him, that Peronne is surrounded by marshy
+ground, which soon gives way to a hilly country, which, at the time I
+speak of, was of a very wild and desolate character. The party of
+Burgundian horse, with Richard of Woodville and the fair Canonesses,
+rode on through this track towards Arras, at the same quick pace as
+during the preceding part of their journey; and even the ladies
+themselves were glad to keep their mules at a rapid amble; for the
+weather had undergone a sudden change, and a foul north-easterly wind
+was blowing sharp, cutting them to the marrow. The troop was now
+increased by the presence of the clerk's servant; and with him, as
+they went, the young English gentleman held more than one
+consultation, which resulted in Woodville adopting the resolution of
+quitting the escort, shortly after passing the Abbey of Arrouaise,
+where it was proposed that they should stop to dine.
+
+The whole party, however, were destined to be disappointed of their
+comfortable meal; for when, after passing Feuillancourt, Rancourt, and
+Sailly, they approached the gates of the monastery, and rang the great
+bell, no one responded to the summons for some time. As they sat upon
+their horses waiting for admission, the sight of a neighbouring barn
+burnt to the ground, and still smoking, showed them that some party of
+pillagers had passed that morning; and they began to think that the
+monastery was deserted, which was certainly the case with the little
+village itself. The sound of voices within, however, at length induced
+them to make another application to the bell; and, after a short
+pause, a monk's head appeared at the window over the gate, exclaiming,
+"Get you gone, brothers, get you gone. You cannot enter here."
+
+The leader of the troop remonstrated, and announced his name as
+Isambert of Agincourt; but the reply was still the same, the monk
+adding, by way of explanation, "We have suffered too much from you all
+already this morning. We will open our gates to none, and we have
+cross-bow men within, who will shoot if you do not retire. Do you not
+see the barns burning?"
+
+"But that was done by the savage Englishmen," replied Isambert; "we
+are friends. We are men of Burgundy."
+
+"So were these," answered the monk; "but the Duke and the English
+understand each other; for that sacrilegious villain, Robinet de
+Bournonville, had Englishmen with him. Get you gone, I will hear no
+more; and if you do not go, the men shall shoot."
+
+The sight of several men upon the wall, with cross-bows in their
+hands, gave effect to the old man's words; and Isambert withdrew
+slowly, muttering curses at his friend, Robinet de Bournonville, for
+depriving him of his dinner. When he reached the bottom of the next
+slope, he halted to consult his companions and Richard of Woodville,
+as to what was to be done to procure food for themselves and for their
+horses; and he finally determined to return to Sailly, where a good
+hostel had been observed as they passed.
+
+But Richard of Woodville took this opportunity of separating himself
+from the rest of the party, and announced his intention to Isambert of
+Agincourt, who seemed by no means sorry to get rid of him. The clerk's
+man and his own page were the only companions whom the young gentleman
+expected to go with him; and he was not a little surprised when the
+two novices drew aside from the ladies of Cambray, and the taller of
+the two begged that he would have the kindness to give them the
+benefit of his escort as far as Hesdin, saying, "We were on our way to
+Amiens, and thence to Montreuil, and not to Arras, whither, it seems
+now, this noble gentleman is bending his steps."
+
+One of the Canonesses interposed a remonstrance, representing the
+danger of falling in with some party of English troops; but she did
+not venture to use a tone of authority, as the novices belonged to
+another Order; and the young lady who had already spoken, replied
+briefly, in a resolute and somewhat haughty tone, "that she had no
+fear, and, knowing what it was her duty to do, should do it."
+
+"Well, settle the matter as you please, fair ladies," cried Isambert
+of Agincourt; "only be quick, for I have no time to lose;" and no
+farther opposition being made, Richard of Woodville undertook to
+protect, as far as he could, the two novices on the way, only warning
+them in general terms, that as soon as he discovered the exact
+position of the armies, he must join them; promising, however, to send
+on his page and the man with them to Hesdin. This being understood, he
+took leave of the commander of the men-at-arms; and choosing the first
+road to the left, under the direction of the clerk's man, who seemed
+thoroughly acquainted with the whole country, he proceeded for some
+way at a quick pace, till they reached a village, which seemed to have
+escaped the predatory propensities of the soldiery on both parts, and
+there paused to feed his horses, and to procure some refreshment for
+himself and his companions.
+
+Though he had tried to entertain the two young ladies to the best of
+his power as they rode along, either their notions of propriety, or
+some anxiety in regard to their situation, rendered them cold and
+taciturn in their communications; and, unlike the gay Canonesses from
+whom they had just parted, they neither seemed inclined to converse
+with the knight or with each other, nor ever raised their veils to
+take a coquettish look at the country through which they passed. They
+now refused refreshment, also, saying, "It is not our habit to eat
+with men;" and as the house, at which they had bought some bread and
+mead, had but one public room, Richard of Woodville, with his two male
+companions, retired to the door while the horses fed, and left the shy
+novices to partake of what was set upon the table if they thought fit.
+
+While there, the young knight entered into conversation with the good
+peasant who supplied them, and, though the jargon which the man spoke
+was scarcely intelligible, made out, that the English army had marched
+from Acheux on the preceding day, and had encamped the night before
+amongst the villages near the source of the Canche. Of the movements
+of the French army he could learn nothing, however, which led him to a
+false belief, that he was likely to meet with no interruption from the
+enemy in following the march of his own sovereign.
+
+As the young knight rode on, and came into the country through which
+the English army had passed, the sad and terrible effects of that
+barbarous system of warfare, which was universal in those times, made
+themselves visible at every step. Houses and villages burnt, cattle
+slaughtered and left half consumed by the wayside, and fruit trees cut
+down for the purpose of lighting fires, presented themselves all along
+the road; and the painful feelings which such a scene could not but
+produce were aggravated by the lamentations of the villagers, who felt
+no terror at the appearance of a party consisting of women and of men
+without any arms except those usually worn in time of peace, and who
+poured forth their complaints to Woodville's ear, pointing to their
+ruined dwellings, and their little property destroyed, and cursing the
+ambition of kings, and the ferocity of their soldiery.
+
+The young knight felt grieved and sorrowful; but he was surprised to
+find that the bitterness of the peasantry was less excited against the
+English themselves, than he had expected; and, on guiding the
+conversation with one of these poor men in a direction which he
+thought would lead to some explanation of the fact, the villager
+replied vehemently, "The English are not so bad as our own people.
+They are enemies, and we might expect worse at their hands; but,
+wherever the King or his brothers were, they destroyed little or
+nothing, and only took what they wanted. But, since they have passed,
+we have had two bands of Frenchmen, who have destroyed everything that
+the English left, on the pretence that we favoured them, though they
+knew that we could not resist. The Duke of York took my meat and my
+flour; but he left my house standing, and injured no one in the place.
+That cursed Robinet de Bournonville, and his companion the captain
+Vodeville, burnt down my house and carried off my daughter."
+
+The young knight consoled the poor man as well as he could, and gave
+him a piece of silver, thinking it somewhat strange, indeed, that one
+of Bournonville's companions should have a name so nearly resembling
+his own. He and his companions rode on, however, still finding that
+the band, which he had seen issue forth from Peronne in the morning,
+had gone on before them, till they reached the town of Acheux, which
+was well nigh deserted. Most of the houses were closed and the doors
+nailed up; but they had evidently been broken into by the windows, and
+had been rifled of all their contents. In the mere hovels, indeed,
+some cottagers were seen; and on inquiring of one of these where they
+could find any place of rest, as night was coming on, the man led them
+to a large, ancient, embattled mansion in the centre of the town,
+which, though stripped of everything easily portable, still contained
+some beds and pallets. An old woman was found in the house, which
+she said belonged to the Lord of Acheux, and for a small piece of
+silver she agreed to make the strangers as comfortable as she could,
+seeming--perhaps, from old experience of such things--perhaps, from
+the obtuseness of age--to feel the horrors of war less keenly than any
+one they had yet met with. Money, however, made all her faculties
+alive, and declaring that she knew, notwithstanding the pillage which
+the place had undergone, where to procure corn for the cattle, and
+bread, eggs, and even wine, for the party, she set out upon her
+search, while Woodville and his two male companions led the horses and
+mules to the vacant stable, and the two novices remained in one of the
+desolate chambers up the great flight of stairs.
+
+When the beasts had been tied to the manger, the young knight returned
+with the man and the boy to their fair companions; but the old woman
+had not yet returned; and as night was falling fast, he lighted a
+small lamp which he found in the kitchen, and returned with it to the
+chamber above. A few minutes after, while he was expressing his sorrow
+to the two maidens that he could find no better lodging for them, the
+sound of a small party of horse was heard below, and a voice exclaimed
+in English, "Ah! there is a light--I will lodge here, Matthew. Take my
+casque. This cursed cuirass pinches me on the shoulder: unbuckle this
+strap. Keep a watch for Ned, or any one he may send."
+
+The voice was not unfamiliar to Richard of Woodville; and a heavy
+frown gathered upon his brow. His first impulse was to lay his hand
+upon his sword, and take a step towards the door; but then,
+remembering what fearful odds there might be against him, he turned to
+the window and looked out. He could distinguish little but that there
+were ten or twelve men below; and as he gazed, a step was heard upon
+the stairs. The young gentleman turned hastily to close and bolt the
+door; but to his surprise he beheld the taller of the two novices with
+the lamp in her hand, walking rapidly towards the entrance; and
+turning towards him, she said in a stern and solemn tone, "Leave him
+to me!"
+
+The next instant she had passed the door; and when Richard of
+Woodville reached it and looked out into the gloomy corridor, he could
+see her, by the lamp that she held in her hand, meet Simeon of Roydon,
+upon whose face the full light fell, as he was just reaching the top
+of the stairs. Her back was towards the young knight, but he perceived
+that she suddenly raised her veil, and he heard her say, in English,
+and in a deep and solemn tone, "Ha! Have you come at length?"
+
+Whatever might have been the import of those words on the ear of him
+to whom they were addressed, he staggered, fell back, and would have
+been precipitated from the top to the bottom of the stairs, had he not
+by a convulsive effort grasped the rope that ran along the wall The
+light was instantly extinguished, and the moment after Richard felt
+the novice's hand laid upon his arm, drawing him back into the room.
+They all listened, and steps were heard rapidly descending the stairs,
+followed by the voice of Simeon of Roydon exclaiming, "No, no, I
+cannot lodge here--I will not lodge here! Mount, and away. We will go
+on."
+
+"But, noble knight," said another voice,--
+
+"Away, away!" cried Simeon of Roydon again. "Mount! or by Heaven--"
+and immediately there came the sound of armed men springing on their
+horses, the tramp of the chargers as they rode away, and the fainter
+noise of their departing feet.
+
+"In the name of Heaven, who are you?" demanded Richard of Woodville,
+addressing her who had produced such a strange effect.
+
+"One whom he bitterly injured in former days," replied the novice;
+"and whom he dares not face even now. Ask no more: that is enough!"
+
+"It were well to quit this place," said the other girl, in a low
+voice. And the clerk's man urged the same course, adding, "He may take
+heart and return,--besides, he spoke of some one coming."
+
+Richard of Woodville remained in silence, meditating deeply for
+several minutes, with his arms folded on his chest, and his eyes bent
+down. The faint outline of his figure was all that could be seen in
+the dim semi-darkness that pervaded the room; but the novice who had
+proposed to go, approached him gently, and laying her hand upon his
+arm, again urged it, saying, "Had we not better go?"
+
+"Well," said the young knight, starting from his reverie as if
+suddenly awakened from a dream, "let us go. But yet a cold night ride,
+with no place of shelter for two young and tender things like you, is
+no slight matter. Run down, boy, and light the lamp again--"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried one of the two ladies, eagerly. "Light it not! let
+us go at once.--Hark! there is some one below."
+
+"The old woman's step," cried the page; "I will run down and see what
+she has got."
+
+He returned in a moment with the good dame, bearing more than she had
+promised. She easily understood the reason why the light which she
+offered was refused; and after taking some wine and bread, the whole
+party descended to the stable, whence the horses were brought forth;
+and Richard of Woodville, paying her well for her trouble and her
+provisions, bade the page take the remainder of the bread to feed the
+poor beasts, when they could venture to pause. In less than a quarter
+of an hour the young knight and his companions were once more on their
+way, under the direction of the clerk's man, who proposed that they
+should bear a little towards Doulens, which would lead them out of the
+immediate track that the English army had followed.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XLI.
+
+                              THE CAMP.
+
+
+September days are short and bright, like the few hours of happiness
+in the autumn of man's career. September nights are long and dull,
+like the wearing cares and infirmities of life's decline; but often
+the calm grand moon will shed her cold splendour over the scene,
+solemn and serene, like the light of those consolations which Cicero
+suggested to his friend, for the privation of the warmer joys and more
+vivid hopes that pass away with the spring and summer of existence,
+and with the departure of the brighter star.
+
+The wind was sinking away, when Richard of Woodville rode out with his
+companions from the ruined village of Acheux, and soon fell into a
+calm soft breeze; the moon rose up in her beauty, and cleared away the
+dull white haze that had spread over the sky, during the whole day;
+and, as the travellers wended on in silence, the features of the scene
+around were clearly marked out by the rays, every bold mass standing
+forth in strong relief, every deep valley seeming an abyss, where
+darkness took refuge from the eye of light. For about eight miles
+farther they pursued their way almost in total silence; but at the end
+of that distance, the hanging heads and feeble pace of the horses and
+mules showed, that they would soon be able to go no farther: and the
+young knight looked anxiously for some place of repose.
+
+That part of the country, as the reader is aware, is famous for its
+rocks and caverns. There is a very remarkable cave at a place called
+Albert, but that was at a considerable distance behind them, and on
+their left. In passing along, however, by the side of a steep cliff,
+which ran at the distance of a few hundred yards from the road, with a
+green sward between, the moon shone full upon the rocky face of the
+hill, and the eye of Richard of Woodville soon perceived the mouth of
+a cavern, like a black spot upon the surface of the mountain. After
+some consultation with his companions, and some suggestions regarding
+wolves and bears, Woodville determined to try whether shelter could
+not be found in this "antre vast," for a few hours; and, riding up as
+far as the footing was safe towards the entrance, the whole party
+dismounted, and the young knight entering first, explored it by the
+feel to the very farther end, which, indeed, was at no great distance,
+as it luckily happened, for in some cases, such an undertaking might
+have been attended with considerable peril.
+
+It was perfectly vacant, however, and Woodville brought the two
+novices within the brow of the rude arch, assuring them that they
+might rest on a large stone near the mouth in safety. He then led his
+own horse up, the others following, and taking the bits out of their
+mouths, the men distributed amongst them the bread they had brought
+from the village, which the poor beasts ate slowly, but with apparent
+gladness, and then fell to the green grass on the mountain side with
+still greater relish.
+
+All the party were silent, for all were very weary; and while the
+clerk's man laid himself down on the sandy bottom of the cave, and the
+page sat nodding at the entrance, Richard of Woodville remained
+standing just within the shadow, with his arms folded on his chest;
+and the two novices remained seated on the stone where they had first
+placed themselves, with their arms twined together. The young knight
+thought that they would soon fall asleep; but such was not the case;
+and when, after the moon had travelled some way to the south, the
+sound of a horse's feet made itself heard through the stillness of the
+night, trotting on towards Acheux, the slighter and the shorter of the
+two girls rose suddenly, and coming forward gazed towards the road, on
+which, at this time, the rays were falling strong. A moment after a
+single horseman rode by at a quick pace, but turned not his head in
+the direction of the cavern, and seemed little to think that he was
+watched; for the figure of the slumbering page might well have passed
+for some stone of a quaint form, in that dim light, and the horses had
+been gathered together under the shadow of a rock.
+
+She strained her eyes upon the passing traveller; and then, as he rode
+on, she returned to her companion and whispered something to her. The
+other replied in the same low tone, and, after a brief conversation,
+they relapsed into silence; and the young knight stripping off his
+cloak, gave it to them to wrap themselves in, and counselled them to
+seek some repose against the fatigues of the coming day. They would
+fain have excused themselves from taking the mantle; but he insisted,
+saying that he felt the air sultry; and then seating himself at a
+distance, he closed his eyes, strove to banish thought, and after
+several efforts dozed lightly, waking every five or ten minutes and
+looking out to the sky, till at length a faint grey streak in the east
+told him that morning was at hand. Then rousing his companions, he
+called them to repeat their matin prayers, and after they were
+concluded, hastened to prepare the horses and mules for their onward
+journey.
+
+Day had not fully dawned ere they were once more on the way; but a
+considerable distance still lay between them and Hesdin; and the few
+and scanty villages that were then to be found in that part of the
+country, were in general deserted, so that but little food was to be
+found for man or beast. At one farmhouse, indeed, the two weary girls
+found an hour's repose on the bed of the good farmer's wife. Some
+bread and meat, and, also, one feed of corn was procured for the
+horses and mules; but that was all that could be obtained during the
+whole day, till at length about Fremicourt, they met with a man from
+whom they learned the exact position of the two armies, which were now
+drawing nearer and nearer to each other, the head quarters of the one
+having been established at St. Pol, and those of the English at
+Blangy.
+
+Shortly after, the clerk's man pointed out a narrow road to the left,
+saying, that leads to Hesdin; and Woodville, drawing in his rein,
+turned to his fair companions, saying, "Here, then, we must part; for
+I must on to Blangy with all speed. The man and the boy shall
+accompany you; and God guard you on your way."
+
+"Farewell, then, for the present, sir knight," replied the taller of
+the two girls. "We shall meet again, I think, when I may thank you
+better than I can now."
+
+"But take your page with you, at least, sir," said the other; "we
+shall be quite safe, I doubt not."
+
+Richard of Woodville would not consent, however; and giving the boy
+some directions, he waved his hand, and rode away. Once--just as he
+was going--he turned his head, hearing voices speaking, and thinking
+some one called him by name; but the younger novice, as she seemed,
+was talking with apparent eagerness to the clerk's man, and he caught
+the sounds--"As soon as he is gone."--"Take plenty with you--"
+
+The young knight perceived that the words were not addressed to him,
+and spurred forward. Evening was coming on apace; and Blangy was still
+ten or twelve miles distant; but his horse was exhausted with long
+travelling and little food, and nothing would urge him into speed. At
+a slow walk he pursued his way, till at length, just as the sun
+touched the edge of the western sky, the animal stopped altogether,
+with his limbs trembling and evidently unable to proceed. Richard of
+Woodville dismounted; and taking the bit out of the horse's mouth, he
+relieved him from the saddle, and led him a little way from the road,
+saying, "There, poor beast, find food and rest if you can." He then
+left him, and walked on a-foot.
+
+The red evening light at first glowed brightly in the sky; but soon it
+grew grey, and faint twilight was all that remained, when the road
+wound in to a deep forest, covering the sides of a high hill.
+Woodville had heard that Blangy was situated in the midst of
+woodlands, and his heart felt relieved as he approached; but the
+darkness increased as he went on, and at length the stars shone out
+above. Soon after a hum as of a distant multitude met his ear; but it
+was lost again as the road wound round the ascent amidst the tall
+trees; and all was silent and solemn. About a quarter of a mile
+onward, where the hill was steep, the path rose above the scrubby
+brushwood on his left, and he could see over the forest to a spot
+where a reddish glare rose up from the bottom of the valley. But
+somewhat farther in the forest itself, on a spot where the taller
+trees had fallen before the axe, and nothing but thin underwood
+remained, he caught a sight of three or four fires, the light of which
+shone upon some half dozen tents; and the figures of men moving about
+across the blaze were apparent, notwithstanding the darkness of the
+night.
+
+The distance might be three or four hundred yards; and Richard of
+Woodville, wearied and exhausted, resolved to make his way thither,
+rather than take the longer and more tedious course of following the
+road to the bottom of the hill. Plunging in, then, sometimes through
+low copse, sometimes amongst tall trees, he hurried on, feeling faint
+and heavyhearted again; for the first joy of rejoining his countrymen
+had passed away, and from the rumours he had heard, he not a little
+doubted of his reception. He knew, indeed, that he had nothing to
+reproach himself with, and felt sure that he should easily prove the
+falsehood of any charge against him: but it was painful to think that,
+after long imprisonment, and the loss of many a bright day and fond
+hope, he should be met with coldness and frowns upon his first return.
+The body, too, weighed upon the spirit as it always does in every
+moment of lassitude and exhaustion, so that all things seemed darker
+to his eye than they would have done at another moment.
+
+On he walked, however, his feet catching in the long briers, or
+striking against the stumps of felled trees, till at length a man
+started up before him, and exclaimed, "Who goes there?"
+
+"A friend!" answered the young knight, in the same English tongue.
+
+"What friend?" demanded the soldier, advancing.
+
+"My name is Woodville. Lead me to your lord, whoever he is," replied
+Richard.
+
+"Here, Mark!" cried the man to another, who was a little farther down,
+"take him to Sir Henry's tent;" and suffering the knight to pass on,
+he laid himself down again amongst the leaves.
+
+The second soldier gazed at the young knight steadily for a moment by
+the blaze of the burning wood, and then told him to follow, murmuring
+something to himself as he led the way. They passed the two fires
+without any notice from the men who were congregated round, and
+approached the tents, while from the valley below, rose up some wild
+strains of instrumental music, the flourish of trumpets and clarions,
+mixed with the sound of many human voices, talking, laughing, and
+shouting.
+
+"Have you seen the enemy yet?" asked Richard of Woodville.
+
+"No, sir," replied his guide; "but we shall see him tomorrow, they
+say. Here is the knight's tent. _You_ may go in, I know."
+
+The man laid a strong emphasis on the word "you," and turning to look
+at him, as held back the hangings of the tent, the young knight
+thought he recognised an old familiar face. The next instant he was
+within the canvass, and beheld before him a man of about his own age,
+seated at a board raised upon two trestles, with a lamp burning, and a
+book spread out under his eyes. His head was bent upon his hand, and
+the curls of his thick short hair were black, mingled here and there
+with a silvery thread. He was deep in study, and heard not the rustle
+of the tent as the stranger entered, nor his footfall within; and
+Richard paused for an instant and gazed upon him. As he did so, his
+eye grew moist; and he said in a low voice, "Dacre!--Harry!"
+
+Sir Henry Dacre started, and raised his worn and care-wrought
+countenance; and springing forward, he clasped Woodville in his arms,
+exclaiming, "Oh, Richard--can it be you?"
+
+Then looking with an apprehensive eye round the tent, he said, "Thank
+God, there is no one here!--Did they know you?--Did any one see you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Richard of Woodville; "two of your men saw me, Dacre.
+But what means all this?--Why should Richard of Woodville fear to be
+seen by mortal man?"
+
+"Oh, there are strange and false reports about, Richard," replied
+Dacre, with a sorrowful look;--"false, most false, I know them to be.
+I am too well aware how men can lie and calumniate. But you will find
+all men, except some few true friends, against you here; for day by
+day, and hour by hour, these rumours have been increasing, and every
+one, even to the peasantry of the land, seem to be leagued against
+you."
+
+"Give me but some food, Dacre, and a cup of wine," answered Richard of
+Woodville, "and I will meet them this minute face to face. Why, Dacre,
+I have nought to fear. I have had neither time nor opportunity to do
+one base act, if I had been so willed. I am but a few short days out
+of bonds,--and my first act will be to seek the King, and dare any man
+on earth to bring a charge against me."
+
+"Not to-night, not to-night," cried Sir Harry Dacre; "let there be
+some preparation first--Hear all that has been said."
+
+"Not an hour will I lie under a stain, Harry," replied his friend. "I
+am weary, faint, and exhausted for want of food. Give me some wine and
+bread--throw open the door of your tent; and let all your men see me.
+Let them rejoice that I have come back to do myself right. I fear not
+to show my face to any one."
+
+Dacre, with a slow step and thoughtful brow, went to the entrance of
+the tent and called to those without, to bring food and wine; and the
+board was soon spread with such provisions as the camp could afford.
+Seating himself on a coffer of arms, Woodville ate sparingly, and
+drank a cup of wine, asking from time to time, "Where is Sir John
+Grey?--Where is my good uncle?--He will not be absent from an
+enterprise like this, I am right sure."
+
+"Here, here; both here," answered Sir Henry Dacre; "and Mary and
+Isabel are even now at Calais,--but be advised, my friend. Do not show
+yourself to-night. The whole court is crowding round the King in the
+village down below. Let the battle be first over. You will do good
+service, I am sure. You can fight in armour not your own, and then--"
+
+"Armour, Harry!" cried the young knight, "I have no armour; but the
+armour of a true heart; and that is proof against the shafts of
+calumny. It never shall be said that Richard of Woodville paused when
+the straightforward course of honour was before him. Thought,
+preparation, care, would be a slander on my own good name--I need no
+meditated defence. I have done nought on earth that an English knight
+should blush to do; and he who says so lies--. Now I am ready for the
+task--Ha, Hugh of Clatford, is that you?" he continued, as some one
+entered the tent. "You have just come in time to be my messenger."
+
+"Full glad I am to see you, noble sir," answered the stout yeoman; "we
+have a world of liars amongst us, which is the only thing that makes
+me fancy these Frenchmen may win the day. But, now you are come, you
+will put them to silence, I am sure."
+
+"Right, Hugh, right!" replied Woodville. "But you have some word for
+Sir Harry. Speak your message; and then I will give mine."
+
+"'Tis no great matter, sir," said Hugh of Clatford. "Sir Philip begs
+you would send him two loads of arrows, Sir Henry, if you have any to
+spare; that is all," he continued, addressing Dacre; and when the
+knight had answered, Woodville resumed eagerly, "If you are a true
+friend, Hugh, you will go do down for me to the King's quarters, and
+say to the first high officer that you can speak to, that Sir Richard
+of Woodville, just escaped from a French prison, is here in camp, and
+beseeches his Grace to grant him audience, as he hears that false and
+calumnious reports, to which he gives the lie, have been spread
+concerning him, while he has been suffering captivity."
+
+"I will call out our old knight himself," replied Hugh; "he is now
+with the King at the castle, and will do the errand boldly, I am
+sure."
+
+"Away then, quick, good Hugh, for I am all impatience," said
+Woodville; and the yeoman retired.
+
+When he was gone, Sir Harry Dacre would fain have spoken with his
+friend regarding all the reports that had been circulated of him
+during his absence; but Woodville would not hear; and, taking another
+cup of wine, he said, "I shall learn the falsehoods soon enough,
+Harry.--Now tell me of yourself and Isabel."
+
+But Dacre waved his hand. "I cannot talk of that," he said, "'tis the
+same as ever. She knows how I love her, and her father too; but the
+phantom of a doubt still crosses her--even her; that I can see, and
+good Sir Philip answers bluffly as is his wont, that he knows it is
+false; but yet--but yet! Oh, that accursed 'but yet,' Richard. The
+plague spot is upon me still. That is enough. The breath of one foul
+vapour can obscure the sun, and the tongue of one false villain can
+tarnish the honour of a life."
+
+"Poo, nonsense, Harry," answered his companion; "I will show you ere
+many hours be over, how lightly I can shake falsehood off. 'Tis still
+your own heart that swells the load. I had not thought my uncle was so
+foolish--so unkind."
+
+He whiled him on to speak farther; but the same cloud was still upon
+Sir Henry Dacre's mind. It was unchanged and dark as ever. Study, to
+which he had given himself up, had done nought to clear it away;
+reflection had not chased it thence; time itself had not lightened it.
+
+Half an hour passed, and then there came a tramp as of armed men.
+Dacre looked anxiously on his friend's face; but Woodville heard it
+calmly; and when the hangings were drawn back and a royal officer
+entered, followed by a party of archers, no change came upon his
+countenance.
+
+"What is your pleasure, Sir William Porter?" asked Dacre, looking at
+him earnestly.
+
+"I am sorry, sir, to have this duty," replied the officer; "but I am
+sent to arrest Sir Richard of Woodville, charged with high treason."
+
+Woodville smiled; "Are your orders, sir, to bring me before the King?"
+he demanded.
+
+"No, sir knight," answered Sir William Porter, "I am to hold you a
+prisoner till his Grace's pleasure is known."
+
+"Then I must ask a boon," replied Woodville; "which is simply this,
+that you will keep me here in ward, till one of your men convey this
+to the King. He gave it me long ago, and bade me in a strait like
+this, make use of it. Let your messenger say, that I claim his royal
+promise to be heard when I ask it." At the same time, he took a ring
+from his finger; but then, recollecting himself, he said, "But stay, I
+will write--so he commanded."
+
+"You must write quickly, sir knight," replied Sir William Porter; "for
+the King retires early, and I must not wait long."
+
+"My words shall be very few," answered Woodville; and Sir Harry Dacre,
+with hasty hands, produced paper and ink. The young knight's words
+were, indeed, few. "My Liege," he wrote, "I have returned from long
+captivity, and find that I have been charged with crimes while my
+tongue was silent in prison. I know not what men lay to my account;
+but I know that I have done no wrong. Your Grace once promised, that
+if I needed aught at your royal hands, and sealed my letter with the
+ring you then gave me, you would read the contents yourself, and at
+once. I do so now; but I have no boon to ask of you, my Liege, but to
+be admitted to your presence, to hear the charges made against me, and
+to give the lie to those who made them. Love to your royal person,
+zeal for your service, honour to your crown, I own I have ever felt;
+but if these be not crimes, I have committed none other against you,
+and am ready to be sifted like chaff, sure that my honesty will
+appear. God grant you, royal Sir, his great protection, victory over
+all your enemies, and subjects as faithful as
+
+                                  "Richard of Woodville."
+
+
+He folded, sealed it, and delivered it to the royal officer, saying,
+"Let the King be besought to look at the seal. His royal promise is
+given that he will read it with his own eyes."
+
+Sir William Porter examined the impression with a thoughtful look, and
+then replied abruptly, "I will take it myself.--Guard the tent," he
+continued, turning to his men, and withdrew.
+
+With more speed than Woodville or Dacre had thought possible, he
+returned, and entering, bade the prisoner follow. "The King will see
+you, sir knight," he said; "your letter has had its effect."
+
+"As all true words ever will have on his noble heart," replied
+Woodville, rising.
+
+"I will go with you, Richard," exclaimed Sir Harry Dacre. "Who is with
+the King, Sir William?"
+
+"His uncle, noble sir, his brothers, the Earl of Warwick, Sir Philip
+Beauchamp, Sir John Grey, Philip the Treasurer, and some others. But
+we must speed, for it is late;" and, leading the way from the tent, he
+walked on towards the small town of Blangy, with Woodville and his
+friend, followed by the archers, and one or two of Dacre's servants.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLII.
+
+                             THE CHARGES.
+
+
+"We shall see, my good lord, we shall see," said Henry V. to the Earl
+of Stafford as he stood surrounded by his court in the hall of the old
+castle of Blangy. "I have, it is true, learned sad lessons, that those
+we most trust are often the least worthy.--Nay, let me not say
+'often,' but rather, sometimes; and yet," he added, after a pause,
+"perhaps I am wrong there, too; for it has not happened to me in life,
+that one, of whom I have had no misgivings, has proved false.--May it
+never happen. Those, indeed, of whom I would not believe the strange
+and instinctive doubts which sometimes, from a mere look or tone,
+creep into the heart--those whom I have trusted against my spirit, may
+have, indeed, betrayed me; but there is something in plain
+straightforward honesty that may not always suit a monarch's humour,
+but which cannot well be suspected--and besides--but it matters not.
+We shall see."
+
+It was evident to all, that his thoughts turned to that dark
+conspiracy against his throne and life, which had been detected and
+punished at Southampton; and as every one knew it was a painful and a
+dangerous subject with the King--the only one, indeed, that ever moved
+him to a hasty burst of passion, all were silent; and while the King
+still bent his eyes to the ground in meditation, Sir William Porter,
+afterwards raised to the then high office of grand carver, entered and
+approached his Sovereign.
+
+"The prisoner is without, royal Sir," he said.
+
+"Let him come in," answered Henry; and raising his face towards the
+door, he regarded Woodville as he walked forward, followed by Sir
+Henry Dacre, with that fixed unwavering glance that was peculiar to
+him. His eyelids did not wink, not the slightest movement of the lips
+or nostril could be observed by those nearest him; but the light of
+his eye fell calm and grave upon the young knight, like the beams of a
+wintry sun.
+
+The demeanour of Woodville was not less like himself. With a rapid
+step, firm and free, with his broad chest expanded, his brow serene
+but thoughtful, and with his eyes raised to the monarch without
+looking to the right or left, he advanced till he was within two steps
+of Henry, and then bowed his head with an air of calm respect. He was
+quite silent, however, till the King spoke.
+
+"You have asked to be admitted to our presence, Sir Richard of
+Woodville," said the King; "and, according to the tenour of a promise
+once made, we have granted your request. What have you to say to the
+charges made against you?"
+
+"I know not what they are, my Liege," replied Woodville; "but,
+whatever they may be, if they lay to my account aught of disloyalty to
+you, I say that they are false."
+
+"And have you heard nothing?" asked the King, in a tone of surprise;
+"has no one told you?"
+
+"He would not hear me, Sire," said Dacre, stepping forward. "He said
+he would meet them unprepared in your own presence."
+
+"It is well," rejoined Henry; "then you shall hear them from my lips,
+sir knight; and God grant you clear yourself; for none wishes it more
+than I do.--Did I not command you, sir, now well nigh twenty months
+ago, to retire from the forces of our cousin of Burgundy and return to
+your native land, for our especial service?"
+
+"Such commands may have been sent, my Liege, but they never reached
+me," replied the young knight; "and when a mere rumour found its way
+to me, I was on the eve of setting out on that fatal enterprise in
+which I lost my liberty. I can appeal to the noble Lord of Croy when
+the tidings came, to speak how much pain they gave me, and how ready I
+was to abandon all and follow your commands."
+
+"Be it so," answered Henry; "that point shall be inquired into. You
+say you have been a prisoner. How long is it since you were set at
+liberty?"
+
+"But five days, Sire," replied the knight; "no longer than was needful
+to journey from Montl'herry hither."
+
+"And did you come alone?" demanded the King.
+
+"No, Sire," said Richard of Woodville; "from the abbey at Arrouaise, I
+was accompanied by my page, a man who aided in my escape from prison,
+and two young novices journeying to Montreuil. I sent the two ladies
+from Fremicourt on to Hesdin, under the escort of the man and the
+page, and rode on hitherward myself, till my horse would go no
+farther. The rest of the way I walked on foot."
+
+"But before you reached Arrouaise, were you alone?" inquired the King.
+
+"No, Sire; as far as Triel, I had but the man, the boy, and a clerk of
+Sir John Grey's with me, who effected my liberation between them; but
+after that I was accompanied by a small body of Burgundian horse, who
+were escorting some Canonesses and these two novices on the way."
+
+"Add, and burning monasteries, plundering villages, and cutting off
+the stragglers of your Sovereign's army, sir knight," rejoined the
+King, sternly.
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed in his face for an instant in surprise, and
+then broke into a gay laugh, saying,
+
+
+             "'I avow to God, quoth Harry,
+                I shall not lefe behynde,
+              May I mete with Bernard
+                Or Bayard the blynde.'
+
+
+Now I understand your Grace, for I have come upon the track of these
+men, and somewhat wondered to hear in the mouth of hinds and peasants,
+the name of Woodville, or Vodeville as they called it, coupled with
+curses. Nay, more, my Liege, I saw in the good town of Peronne,
+through which I passed, a man in my own armour, at the head of a large
+troop of men-at-arms."
+
+"I saw him, too, Dickon;" cried the voice of old Sir Philip Beauchamp,
+"as he followed our rear at Pont St. Remie; and would have sworn that
+it was thyself, had I not known thy true heart from a boy."
+
+"A strange tale, sir knight," said the King, without relaxing his
+grave frown; "and the more strange, when coupled with the facts of
+your having never received my commands to return, sent long ago, and
+my messenger having brought me word, as if from your mouth, that you
+could not obey, as you had taken service with the Duke of Burgundy for
+two years and a day."
+
+"He is a false knave, my Liege," replied the knight; "and, as to my
+ever having forgotten your Grace's commands even for a day, not to
+engage myself for long, that I can prove, for thank God my contract
+with the good Duke John I have always kept about me. Here it is; and
+if you look, royal Sir, you will see I have not been unmindful of my
+duty."
+
+Henry took the paper, which Woodville produced, from the young
+knight's hand, and read it over attentively, pausing at one clause and
+pronouncing the words aloud, "And it is, moreover, agreed between the
+said high and mighty Prince Philip, Count of Charolois, and the said
+knight, that should the King of England, Henry the Fifth of that name,
+require the aid and service of the said Sir Richard of Woodville, he
+shall be at liberty to retire at any time without let or hindrance
+from the forces of the said Count of Charolois or of his father and
+redoubted Lord, the Duke of Burgundy, together with all such men as
+have accompanied the said knight from England; and, moreover, that he
+shall receive all the passes, safe-conducts, and letters of protection
+which may be needful for him to return to his own land in safety, and
+that, without delay or hesitation, but even at a moment's notice."
+
+The King when he had read these words gave a momentary glance around;
+but then, turning to the young knight again, after examining the date
+of the paper and the signature, "You were at this time assuredly in
+your devoir," he said; "and this was but a month before my messenger
+set out; but we have heard from Sir Philip de Morgan some strange
+tales of adventures in the town of Ghent, which may have changed your
+purposes."
+
+"My Lord, I do beseech your Grace," answered Woodville, gravely, "to
+give ear to no strange tales till they be fully proved. I have already
+suffered from such stories, and have disproved them to one here
+present much interested to know the truth;" and he turned his eyes
+towards Sir John Grey, who stood beside the Earl of Warwick. "For one
+so long a prisoner, not knowing where to find a single person who was
+with him at a remote period, it is not easy in a moment to show the
+real state of every fact alleged; but if your royal time may serve, I
+am ready to tell the simple tale of the last two years; and if I
+afterwards prove not to your own clear conviction, that every word I
+speak is truth, send my head to the block when you will."
+
+"You shall have full time, sir knight," replied the King; "at present,
+it is late; and though we must sleep but little, yet some repose every
+man must have. Your tale cannot be heard to-night. However, you now
+know that you are charged first with refusing to serve your King in
+arms against his enemies, which may, perhaps, be false. This paper
+affords some presumption against the accusation--Secondly, you are
+charged with following our royal host with men of Burgundy, and in
+arms levying war against your Sovereign. You have, we are told, been
+seen by many, so traitorously employed, and your name, you yourself
+allow, is in the mouths of all the peasantry."
+
+Henry paused a moment, as if expecting assent; but Woodville only
+replied by a question, "May I ask, Sire," he said, "if a certain Sir
+Simeon of Roydon is in your host?"
+
+"Ha!" cried the King, his face lighting up, "what would you say on
+that score?"
+
+"Simply that I have suspicions, mighty Prince," replied the young
+knight; "but _I_ will charge no man without proof. These two charges
+are false, and I will make it manifest they are so; first by
+testimony; then by my arm. Is there aught else against me?"
+
+"Alas, there is," answered the King; "and the most grave of all. Have
+you brought that letter which I sent for, my lord?"
+
+"Yes, Sire," replied the Earl of Arundel, stepping forward and placing
+a paper in the King's hands. "That is the one your Grace meant, I
+believe."
+
+"The same," answered Henry, gazing upon it with a countenance both
+stern and sad. "Come forward, Sir Richard of Woodville. Is this your
+hand-writing?"
+
+Woodville looked at it, and recognised at once the letter which he had
+written to Sir John Grey whilst in prison. "It is, my Liege," he
+replied boldly, looking in the King's face with surprise. "I wrote
+that letter; but I know not how it can affect me."
+
+"That will be proved hereafter, sir," answered the King, in a stern
+tone; "but remember, I have doomed my own blood to death for the acts
+which this letter prompted; and, by my honour and my life, I will not
+spare the man that wrote it. According to the right of every
+Englishman, you shall be tried and judged by your peers; but when the
+axe struck the neck of Cambridge, it crushed out the name of mercy
+from my heart. In me you find no grace."
+
+"My Lord, I need none," replied Richard of Woodville, in a tone firm,
+yet respectful, "for I have done no wrong. I never yet did hear that
+there was any crime in a captive writing to a friend for ransom. This
+letter prompted nothing; and I am in much surprise to hear your royal
+words announce therein a matter of complaint against me."
+
+"The man to whom it was written, sir," said the King, "proved himself
+a traitor, and took the gold of France to sell his sovereign's life,
+and his country's welfare to the enemy."
+
+Richard of Woodville gazed in surprise and bewilderment from the King
+to Sir John Grey, and from Sir John Grey to the King, while the father
+of her he loved looked not less astonished than himself. But Henry
+after a short pause added aloud, "Remove him, Sir William Porter. If
+God give us good success in the coming fight, he shall have fair trial
+and due judgment. If the will of heaven fight against us, though
+perchance he may escape to live, I do believe, from what I have known
+of him in former days, that he will find bitter punishment in his own
+heart for this dark deed;" and he struck his fingers sharply upon the
+paper, which he still held in his hand.
+
+"Some way--I know not what--you are deceived, my Liege," said Richard
+of Woodville, with perfect calmness. "However, I have but one favour
+to ask, and that is, that you will not let a false and lying
+accusation so weigh against me as to deprive me of my right and
+glory--that of fighting for my King, I would say; and I pledge you my
+honour and my soul that, if the day be lost, which God forfend, I will
+not survive the battle; if it be won, I will bring my head to your
+Grace's feet, to do with as seems meet to you; for I am no traitor, so
+help me heaven! and on that score I fear neither the judgment of man
+nor that of God."
+
+"I know that you are brave right well, Sir Richard," answered the
+King; "but we will have no traitors fight upon our side."
+
+The young knight cast his eyes bitterly towards the ground; and Henry
+could see the fingers of his hand clenched tight into the palm; but
+Sir Henry Dacre stepped forward, and said, "I will be his bail, my
+Liege."
+
+"And I too, royal sir," cried old Sir Philip Beauchamp; "I will plight
+land and liberty, life and honour, that he is as true as my good
+sword. Have I not known him from a babe?"
+
+"You are his uncle, sir," answered the King; "and, in this case,
+cannot judge."
+
+"I am in no way akin to him, my gracious Sovereign," said Sir John
+Grey, advancing from the side of the Earl of Warwick; "but I fear not
+also to be his bail. My life for his, if he be not true."
+
+Richard of Woodville crossed his arms upon his chest; and, raising his
+head as his friends spoke, looked proudly round, saying, "There is
+something to live for, after all."
+
+At the same moment, Henry turned to the Duke of York, and spoke a word
+or two with him and the Duke of Clarence.
+
+"Your request cannot be granted," he said, in a milder tone; "but yet,
+we will deal with you in all lenity, Sir Richard; and, therefore, we
+will commit you to the ward of Sir John Grey, with strict orders,
+however, that he hold you as a close prisoner till after your trial.
+And now, I can hear no more; for the night is well spent, and we must
+march at dawn. Take him, Sir John; you have a guard, and answer to me
+for him with your life."
+
+"I will, my Liege," replied Sir John Grey, advancing, and taking the
+young knight's arm. "Come, Richard, you shall be my guest. I have no
+doubts;" and, bowing to the King, he retired from the presence.
+
+Sir Philip Beauchamp and Sir Harry Dacre followed quickly, and
+overtook them on the stairs; and the old knight shook his nephew
+playfully by the shoulders, exclaiming, "We will confound the knaves
+yet, Dickon. But what is this letter?'
+
+"Merely one I wrote to Sir John Grey," replied Richard of Woodville;
+"beseeching him to communicate with the bearer touching my ransom."
+
+"I never received it," replied Sir John Grey. "It did not reach my
+hands; but, please God, I will see it ere I sleep."
+
+"I must fight at this battle," said Richard of Woodville,
+thoughtfully; "I must fight at this battle, my noble friends."
+
+Sir John Grey replied not, but shook his head gravely, and led the way
+to the house where he was lodged.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+                        THE FOX IN THE SNARE.
+
+
+Spread out in a long line over the face of the country, the English
+army occupied a number of villages, keeping a good watch lest the
+enemy, large bodies of whom had been apparent during the morning,
+should take them by surprise and overwhelm them by numbers. Small
+parties of the freshest men were lodged in tents between the different
+villages, so that a constant communication might be kept up, and
+support be ready for any point attacked; and, throughout the whole
+host, reigned that stern and resolute spirit, the peculiar
+characteristic of the English soldiery, and which has assured them the
+victory in so many fields, against more impetuous, but less
+determined, adversaries. Yet none, however resolute and brave in
+Henry's army, could help feeling that a great and perilous day was
+before them, when it was known, that at least a hundred and
+twenty-five thousand men, comprising the most renowned chivalry of
+Europe, were collected to oppose a force of less than twenty-five
+thousand, worn with a long and difficult march, and weakened by
+sickness and want of provisions.
+
+Nevertheless, during the whole night of Thursday, the 24th of October,
+from hamlet and village, from priory and castle, from tent and field,
+wherever the English were quartered, rose up wild bursts of martial
+music floating on the air to the French camp, as, round the
+innumerable watch-fires which lighted the whole sky with their lurid
+glare, sat the myriads the enemy in their wide extended position at
+Roussauville and Agincourt.
+
+In one of the small villages near the head-quarters of the King, was
+stationed Sir John Grey, who now having recovered all the great
+possessions of his family, appeared in the field at the head of a
+large body of men, whose services under his banner procured for him,
+at an after period, as the reader is probably aware, the earldom of
+Tankerville. The house which he inhabited during that night, was the
+dwelling of a farmer; and in one of the small rooms thereof sat
+Richard of Woodville, at about eleven o'clock at night, conversing
+with Mary's father, with a somewhat gloomy and anxious air.
+
+"I have seen it myself, Richard," said Sir John Grey; "the
+superscription is clear and distinct--'To Sir Thomas Grey,
+Knight,'--and not one word is mentioned therein of anything like
+ransom."
+
+"Then it has been falsified!" cried Richard of Woodville; "for my
+letter was to you. Why should I write to Sir Thomas Grey, a man I know
+nought of? I never saw him--hardly ever heard of him. Even now I am
+scarcely aware of who he was, or what he did."
+
+"He was an arch villain, Richard," replied the knight. "The only one,
+of all the three, who took the gold of France. Cambridge and Scroop
+has other views, which they nobly hid within their own bosoms, lest
+they should injure others; but this man was a traitor indeed, and he,
+ere his death, gave this letter, it seems, into the King's own hands,
+as that which began his communication with the enemy. He even laid
+his death at your door, for having written to him by the French
+suborner.--But here is Sir Henry Dacre.--What is it you seek, good
+knight? You seem eager about something."
+
+"There are people without requiring to speak with you, Sir John,"
+answered Woodville's friend. "They have got a man in their hands, who,
+they say, is a knave, sent to you by one you know."
+
+"I want no knaves," replied Sir John Grey; "but I will see who it is;"
+and he went out.
+
+"Now, what speed, my friend?" continued Dacre, grasping Woodville's
+hand; "what says Sir John?"
+
+"That it must not be," said Richard of Woodville. "That his duty to
+the King would not suffer it, even were I his son."
+
+"Then we must try other means," answered Dacre hastily. "You shall
+fight to-morrow, Woodville. God forbid that you should lose a field
+like this. You shall take my armour, and I will ride in a different
+suit. Only be ready, at a moment's notice," he added; "for as soon as
+Sir John is in the field, I will bear you off from the men he leaves
+on guard."
+
+Woodville smiled gladly; for certain of his own honour and of his own
+conduct, he scrupled not to take advantage of any means to free
+himself from the restraint under which he was held. He had no
+opportunity, however, of communicating farther with his friend; for
+the next moment Sir John Grey returned, followed by several
+men-at-arms and archers, with a slight, but long-armed man in their
+hands, habited in a suit of demi-armour, such as was worn by the
+inferior soldiery, but with a vizored casque, which concealed his
+face.
+
+"Take off his bacinet," said Sir John Grey; and the helmet being
+removed, displayed to the eyes of Richard of Woodville the countenance
+of his former servant Dyram. The man gazed sullenly upon the ground;
+and Sir John Grey, after eyeing him for a moment, seated himself by
+Woodville, saying, "I have seen this man before, methinks."
+
+"And so have I, too often," rejoined the young knight; "he was once a
+servant of mine, and shamefully betrayed his trust. Keep him safe, Sir
+John, I beseech you; for on him may greatly depend my exculpation with
+the King."
+
+The man turned round suddenly towards him, and exclaimed, "Ay, and so
+it does. On me, and me alone, depends your exculpation. Your fate is
+in my hands."
+
+"Less than you think, perchance, knave!" answered Sir John Grey; "for
+I hold here strange lights to clear up some dark mysteries. Yet speak,
+if you be so inclined; you may merit mercy by a frank avowal."
+
+"Send these men hence," said Dyram, looking to the soldiers; "I will
+say nought before them."
+
+"Go, Edmond," replied the elder knight, speaking to the chief of those
+who had brought the prisoner in; "yet, first tell me where you found
+him, and how?"
+
+"Guided by Jim of Retford," said the soldier, "we caught him about a
+mile on this side of a place called Acheux, I think, some twenty miles
+hence or more. We found that letter upon him, noble sir, and that," he
+continued, laying down on the table two pieces of paper. "We might not
+have searched him, indeed, but he tried to eat that last one. You may
+see the marks of his teeth in it; and Jim of Retford forced his mouth
+open with his anelace to take it out. He says 'tis treason; but I know
+not, for I am no clerk."
+
+Sir John Grey held the paper to the light and read. "Treason it
+certainly is," he said, when he had done. "One fourth of the booty
+secured to Edward Dyram, if the scheme succeeds!--Ay, who are
+these?--Isambert of Agincourt, Robinet de Bournonville, and S. R.? Who
+may he be, fellow?"
+
+But Dyram was silent; and Sir Harry Dacre cried eagerly, "Let me see
+it, sir; let me see it!--Ay, I know it well.--Woodville your
+suspicions are true."
+
+"Go, Edmond, and guard the passage," said Sir John Grey; "I will call
+when you are wanted.--Now, sir, will you speak?"
+
+"Ay," answered Dyram, as he saw the man depart, and the door close; "I
+will, sir knight. First, I will speak to you, Richard of Woodville,
+and will tell you that I have the power to sweep away every cloud that
+has fallen upon you, or to make them darker still.--I know all: you
+need tell me nothing;--how you refused to serve your own monarch, they
+say; how you wrote to aid in bribing Sir Thomas Grey; how you have
+followed the English camp like a raven smelling the carrion of
+war--all, all--I know all!"
+
+"Then clear up all!" answered Woodville; "and you shall have pardon."
+
+"Pardon!" cried Dyram, with a mocking laugh; and then suddenly turning
+to Sir Harry Dacre, he went on. "Next, to you I will speak, sir
+doleful knight, and tell you, that from your fair fame, too, I can
+clear away the stain that hangs upon it--black and indelible as you
+think it. I can take out the mark of Cain, and give you back to peace
+and happiness."
+
+Sir Harry Dacre gazed upon him for a moment in stern silence, and then
+replied, "I doubt it."
+
+"Doubt not," replied Ned Dyram. "I can do it, I will; but upon my own
+conditions."
+
+"What may they be?" asked Sir John Grey. "If they be reasonable, such
+information as you may proffer may be worth its price. But, remember,
+before you speak, that your neck is in a halter, and that this paper
+conveys you to the provost, and the provost to the next tree, if your
+demands be insolent."
+
+"I am not sure of that," replied Ned Dyram, boldly. "Sir John Grey is
+not King in the camp. What say you, Sir Richard of Woodville, will you
+grant my conditions, provided that I save you from your peril, and
+give you the means of proving your innocence within an hour?"
+
+"I must hear them first, knave," replied the young knight; "I will
+bind myself to nothing, till they are spoken."
+
+"Oh, they are easily said," answered Ned Dyram. "First, I will have
+twenty miles free space between me and the camp--So much for security.
+Then I will have your knightly word, that a fair maiden whom you know,
+named Ella Brune, shall be mine."
+
+"Where is she?" demanded Richard of Woodville. "I know not where she
+is; I have not seen her for months, nay years."
+
+"Oh, she is not far off when Richard of Woodville is here," said the
+man, with a sneer. "I know all about it;--ay, Sir John Grey, the
+smooth-faced clerk, the corrupter of the men of Montl'herry. Can you
+not produce her?"
+
+"Perhaps I can ere long," replied Sir John Grey. "But what if I do?"
+
+"Why, then," answered Dyram, in the same saucy tone, "before I speak a
+word, I will have her promise to be mine. She will soon give it, when
+she knows that on it hangs Richard of Woodville's life. She has taught
+me herself, how to wring her hard heart."
+
+"She shall give no such promise for me," replied Woodville, sternly.
+"I tell thee, pitiful scoundrel, that I would rather, with my bosom
+free of aught like guilt, lay my head upon the block, than force a
+grateful and high-hearted girl to wed herself to such a vile slave as
+thou art. If your insinuations should be true, and she has done for me
+all that you say, full well and generously has she repaid the little I
+ever did to serve her. She shall do no more, and least of all make her
+own misery to save my life."
+
+"Then die, sir knight," rejoined Ned Dyram; "for you will find, with
+all your wit, you cannot struggle through the toils in which you are
+caught."
+
+"It may be so," said Sir John Grey; "but by my life, bold villain, you
+shall die too."
+
+"Perhaps so," answered Dyram, with sneering indifference; "but I can
+die in silence like a wolf."
+
+"As you have lived," added Richard of Woodville; "so be it."
+
+"Stay," said Sir Harry Dacre; "are these the only conditions you have
+to propose? Will nought else serve your purpose as well? Gold as much
+as you will."
+
+"Nought, nought," replied Dyram. "You know the terms, and can take or
+reject them as you think fit. If you like them well, sir knight, and
+would have your innocence of the crime laid to you proved beyond all
+doubt--if you would save your friend too, you have nought to do but
+seek out this fair maiden. She is not far, I am right sure--and if you
+but bring her in your hand to me, I will condescend to accept her as
+my wife, and set you free of all calumny. You struck me once, Richard
+of Woodville. You cannot expect that I should forget that bitter jest,
+without a bitter atonement."
+
+"Send him away, Sir John, I do beseech you," cried Woodville, warmly.
+"My temper will not long hold out; and I shall strike him again."
+
+"Ho, without there!" cried Sir John Grey. "Take this man away, Edmond,
+and put gyves upon him. Have him watched night and day; for I now know
+who he is; and a more dangerous knave there does not live. He will
+escape if Satan's own cunning can effect it."
+
+"Well, you know the terms," said Ned Dyram, turning his head as two of
+the soldiers drew him away by the arms. "Think better of it, noble
+knights. Ha, ha, ha! What a story to tell, that the fair fame of Sir
+Harry Dacre, and the life of Sir Richard of Woodville, both mighty men
+of war, should depend upon one word of poor Ned Dyram!" and with this
+scoff he was led away.
+
+Dacre paused in silence, leaning his brow thoughtfully upon his hand;
+and Richard of Woodville for several moments conversed with Sir John
+Grey in a low tone.
+
+"Ay, you may well think it strange, Richard," said the elder knight
+aloud, "that I, who at one time was taught to fancy this girl your
+paramour, should suddenly place such trust in her, as to let her
+follow her will in all things, and put means at her disposal to effect
+whatever she thought fit. But do you see that ring?" and he pointed to
+a circle of gold set with a large sapphire on his finger; "it is a
+record, Richard, of a quality, which in her race, though it be a
+humble one, is hereditary. I mean gratitude. I once rescued from
+injury the wife of a good soldier, named Brune, the son of one of
+Northumberland's minstrels. 'Twas but a trifling service which any
+knight would have rendered to a woman in distress; but that good man,
+her husband, in gratitude for this simple act, sacrificed his own life
+to save mine. It was on Shrewsbury field twelve long years ago; and
+when I left him with the enemy on every side, I gave him that ring, in
+the hope that he might still escape; but he was already sorely wounded
+in defending me; and ere he died he sent it as a last gift to his
+daughter. When I saw it by mere accident, and heard that daughter tell
+her feelings towards you, I recognised the spirit of her race; and had
+it cost me half the lands I had just recovered, she should not have
+wanted means to carry out her plan for serving you. What now?" he
+continued, turning to one of his attendants, who entered.
+
+"The King, sir knight, desires your presence instantly, to consult
+with Sir Thomas of Erpingham for the ordering of tomorrow's battle."
+
+"I come," replied Sir John Grey; and then turning to Richard of
+Woodville, he added, "This is fortunate; perchance what I have to tell
+him this night, may make him somewhat soften the strictness of his
+orders." Thus speaking, he withdrew, leaving Richard of Woodville
+alone with Sir Harry Dacre.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+                     THE ORDERING OF THE BATTLE.
+
+
+We must follow, for a short space, the steps of Sir John Grey, who
+hurried after the messenger, to the quarters of the King, which lay at
+about half a mile's distance from his own. As I have shown, he
+intended to speak with the monarch upon the intelligence regarding the
+young knight, which he had received that night; but an opportunity for
+so doing was not so easily found as he had expected.
+
+The moon was shining bright and unclouded; not a vapour was in the
+sky; and, as he approached the guards, which were stationed round
+Henry's temporary residence, he could hear the sound of voices, and
+see distinctly a small party walking slowly up the road. One was half
+a step in advance of the rest; and there was something in the air and
+tread which told the knight at once that there was the King. Hurrying
+after, he soon overtook the group, and joined in their conversation in
+a low voice: but far more weighty thoughts than the fate of any
+individual, now occupied all. Their speech was of the morrow's battle,
+their minds fixed upon that which was to decide the destiny of thrones
+and empires,--which was to deal life and death to thousands; and
+Richard of Woodville seemed forgotten by all but Sir John Grey
+himself.
+
+The King, too, walked on before in silence, with his eyes bent upon
+the ground, and his look grave and thoughtful; and it was not till,
+passing out of the village, he came upon the brow of a small
+acclivity, from which the whole of the enemy's line of watch-fires
+could be descried, that he paused or spoke. The moment that he
+stopped, the distinguished soldiers who followed him gathered round;
+and, turning towards them with a countenance now all smiles, the
+monarch said, "Somewhere near this spot must be the place--I marked it
+this afternoon. Ha! Sir John Grey, I hardly thought you would have
+time to come."
+
+"A little more in advance, Sire," replied Sir Thomas of Erpingham,
+answering the former part of the King's speech. "If you take your
+stand here, the Frenchmen will have space to spread out their men
+beyond the edge of the two woods; but, if you plant your van within a
+half-bowshot of the edge of those trees, they must coop themselves up
+in the narrow space, where their numbers will be little good."
+
+"You are right, renowned knight," said the King, laying his hand
+familiarly upon Erpingham's shoulder. "I did not mean just here. The
+standard shall be pitched where yon low tree rises; the vanward a
+hundred paces farther down, the rearward where we now stand."
+
+"Does your Grace mark that meadow there, upon the right?" asked Sir
+John Grey; "close upon the edge of the wood."
+
+"I do, good friend," answered Henry; "and will use it as I know you
+would have. But, go down first, and see how it is defended; for we
+must not expose our foot-men to the French horse."
+
+Sir John Grey and the Earl of Suffolk hurried on, while Henry examined
+the rest of the field; but they soon returned with information that
+the meadow was defended by a deep and broad ditch, impassable for
+heavy horses; and Henry replied, "Well, then, we will secure it for
+ourselves by our good bowmen. Though we be so few, we can spare two
+hundred archers to gall the Frenchmen's flank as they come up."
+
+"Ay! would to Heaven," cried one of the gentlemen present, "that all
+the brave men, who are now idle in England, could know that such a
+field as this lies before their King, and they had time to join us."
+
+"Ha! what is that?" cried Henry. "No, by my life! I would not have one
+man more. If we lose the day, which God forbid we should, we are too
+many already; and if we win this battle, as I trust in Heaven we
+shall, I would not share the glory of the field with any more than
+needful. Come, my good lords and noble knights, let us go on and view
+the ground farther, and when all is decided we will place guards and
+light fires to insure that the enemy be not beforehand with us." Thus
+saying, he walked on, conversing principally with Sir Thomas of
+Erpingham upon the array of his men; while the other gentlemen
+followed talking together, or listening to the consultation between
+the King and his old and experienced knight. As they went on, various
+broken sentences were thus overheard--as, "Ay, that copse of brushwood
+will guard our left right well--and the hedges and ditches on the
+right, will secure us from the charge of men-at-arms. Their bowmen we
+need not fear, my Liege."
+
+"I have bethought me, my old friend, of a defence, too, for our
+archers in the front. We have all heard how at Bannockburn, in the
+time of good King Edward, pitfalls were dug to break the charging
+horse. We have no time for that; but I think, if we should plant
+before our archers, long stakes pointed with iron, a little leaning
+forward towards the foe, the British bows would be secure against the
+chivalry of France; or, if they were assailed and the enemy did break
+through, 'twould be in wild disorder and rash disarray, as was the
+case at Cressy."
+
+"A marvellous good thought, my Liege; but every battle has a change.
+Those who were once attacked, become the attackers, and should such be
+our case, how will you clear the way for our own men from the stakes
+that were planted against the enemy?"
+
+"That must be provided against, Sir Thomas. Each man must pull up the
+stake near him."
+
+"Nay, my Liege," said Sir John Grey, joining in. "Let a hundred
+billmen be ranged with the second line of archers; and, at a word
+given, pass through and root up the stakes."
+
+"Right, right, Sir John," answered the King. "Then the fury of our
+charge, when charge we may, will not be checked by our own defences.
+Our van must be all archers, with the exception of the brown
+bills--and I think to give the command----"
+
+"I do beseech you, my lord the King," said the Duke of York, advancing
+from behind, "to let me have that post, and lead the van of your
+battle. Words have been spoken, and rumours have been spread, which
+make me eager for a place of danger. You must not refuse me, royal
+prince."
+
+"Nor will I, cousin," answered Henry. "On your honour and good faith,
+I have as much reliance, as on your skill and courage, which no man
+dares to doubt. Are you not a Plantagenet?"
+
+The Duke caught his hand and kissed it; and if he had taken any share,
+as some suspected, in the conspiracy of Southampton, he expiated his
+fault on the succeeding day, by glorious actions and a hero's death.
+
+"Now," said the King, after some further examination of the field,
+"you understand our disposition, noble knights; and to you I entrust
+it to secure the ground during the night, and to make the arrangements
+for to-morrow. Cousin of York, you lead the van. I myself, with my
+young brother, Humphrey of Gloucester, will command the main battle.
+Oxford and Suffolk, you and the Lord Marshal shall give us counsel. My
+uncle of Exeter shall lead our rearward line, and this good knight of
+Erpingham shall be our marshal of the field. Let all men in the centre
+fight on foot: and let the cavalry be ranged on either wing to improve
+the victory I hope to win. When all is ready, back to your beds and
+sleep, first praying God for good success to-morrow. Then, in the
+morning early, feed your men. Let them consume whatever meat is left;
+for if we gain the day, they shall find plenty on before; and if we
+lose it, few methinks will want provisions."
+
+Thus saying, the King turned and walked back towards the village; and
+Sir John Grey choosing that moment, advanced and addressed him in a
+low tone in regard to Richard of Woodville. Henry soon stopped him,
+however--"We cannot speak on that to-night, my noble friend," he said.
+"It grieves me much, I own, to debar a gallant gentleman from sharing
+in a field like this. I know that it will grieve him more than death;
+but yet--Nay, no more. We will not speak of this. Set watch upon
+him;--but not too strict. You understand me; and you who taught my
+infant hands first to draw a bow, shall fight by my side to-morrow.
+Now, good night--I will tell you my belief; it is, that this youth is
+guiltless. I do not often rashly judge men's characters; and I formed
+my estimate of his, long, long ago. Farewell, and God shield us all
+to-morrow."
+
+Sir John Grey hurried home, and found, that, during his long absence,
+all in the house where he was quartered, except one or two of his own
+personal attendants and the necessary guard, had retired to rest. Ere
+he sought his pillow also, however, he sat down and wrote some hurried
+lines, which he signed and sealed; and then, with a silent step
+seeking the chamber where Richard of Woodville slept, with two or
+three yeomen across the door, he went in, and gazed for a moment at
+the young knight, as he lay upon his little pallet, with his arm under
+his head, and a well-pleased smile upon his slumbering face.
+
+"That is not the sleep of guilt," said Sir John in a low murmur to
+himself. "There, that gives him my Mary, if I fall to-morrow;" and
+thus saying, he laid the paper he had written upon Woodville's bosom,
+and retired to his own chamber.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XLV.
+
+                             THE BATTLE.
+
+
+The morning of the twenty-fifth of October, St. Crispin's day, dawned
+bright, but not altogether clear. There was a slight hazy mist in the
+air, sufficient to soften the distant objects; but neither to prevent
+the eye from ranging to a great distance, nor the sun, which was
+shining warm above, from pouring his beams through the air, and
+tinging the whole vapour with a golden hue. Early in the morning, both
+armies were on foot; but more bustle and eagerness were observable in
+the French camp, than amongst the English, who showed a calmer and
+less excited spirit, weighing well the hazards of the day, and though
+little doubting of victory, still feeling that no light and joyful
+task lay before them.
+
+The French, however, were all bustle and activity. Men-at-arms were
+seen hurrying from place to place, gathering around their innumerable
+banners, ranging themselves under their various leaders, or kneeling
+and taking vows to do this or that, of which inexorable fate forbade,
+in most cases, the accomplishment. Nothing was heard on any side but
+accents of triumph and satisfaction, prognostications of a speedy and
+almost bloodless victory over an enemy, to whom they were superior by
+at least six times the number of the whole English host,--and bloody
+resolutions of avenging the invasion of France, and the capture of
+Harfleur, by putting to death all prisoners except the King and other
+princes, from whom large ransoms might be expected; for a vain people
+is almost always a sanguinary one. A proud nation can better afford to
+forgive. Nothing was heard, I have said, but such foolish boastings,
+and idle resolutions: but I ought to have excepted some less jocund
+observations, which were made here and there in a low tone, amongst
+the older, but not wiser of the French nobility, prompted by the
+superstitious spirit of the times, which was apt to draw auguries from
+very trifling indications.
+
+"Heard you how the music of these islanders made the whole air ring
+throughout the night?" said one.
+
+"And ours was quite silent," said another.
+
+"We have no instruments," rejoined a third. "This King of theirs is
+fond of such toys, and plays himself like a minstrel, I am told: but I
+remarked a thing which is more serious; their horses neighed all
+night, as if eager for a course, and ours uttered not a sound."
+
+"That looks bad, indeed," observed one of the others.
+
+"Perhaps their horses, as well as their men, are frightened," answered
+another.
+
+"I have seen no sign of fear," replied one of the first speakers, with
+a shake of the head.
+
+"Why the rumour goes," said the first, "that Henry of England sent on
+Wednesday, to announce that he would give up Harfleur, and pay for all
+the damage he has done, if we would but grant him a free passage to
+his town of Calais."
+
+"It is false," replied the first speaker. "I asked the Constable last
+night myself, and he said that there is not a word of truth in the
+whole tale, and that Henry will fight like a boar at bay: so every
+Frenchman must do his devoir; for if, with six times his numbers, we
+let the Englishmen win the day, it must be by our folly or our own
+fault."
+
+As he spoke, the Constable D'Albret, followed by a gallant train of
+knights and noblemen, rode past on a splendid charger, horse and man
+completely armed; and, turning his head as he passed each group, he
+snouted, "To the standard, to the standard, gentlemen! Under your
+banners, men of France! You will want shade, for the sun shines, and
+we have a hot day before us."
+
+Thus saying, he rode on, and the French lines were speedily formed in
+three divisions, like the English. The first, or vanguard, comprised
+eight thousand men-at-arms, all knights or squires, four thousand
+archers, and fifteen hundred crossbowmen, and was led by the
+Constable, the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, with some twenty other
+high lords of France, while upon either wing appeared a large body of
+chosen cavalry. The whole line was glittering with gilded armour, and
+gay with a thousand banners of embroidered arms; and, as the sun shone
+upon it, no courtly pageant was ever more bright and beautiful to see.
+
+The main body consisted of a still larger force, under the Dukes of
+Bar and Alencon, with six counts, each a great vassal of the crown of
+France. The rear guard was more numerous still; but in it were
+comprised the light armed and irregular troops, and a mixed multitude
+upon whom little dependence could be placed.
+
+When all were arranged in order, on the side of the hill, the
+Constable addressed the troops, in words of high and manly courage,
+tinged perhaps with a little bombast; and when he had done, the whole
+of that vast force remained gazing towards the opposite slope, and
+expecting every moment to see the English army appear, and endeavour
+to force its way onward towards Calais. As yet, but a few scattered
+bodies of the invaders were apparent upon the ground, and some time
+passed, ere the heads of the different corps were descried issuing
+forth in perfect order to the sound of martial music, and taking up
+their position on the field, marked out by Henry during the night
+before. Their appearance, as compared with that of the French host,
+was poor and insignificant in the extreme. Traces of travel and of
+strife were evident in their arms and in their banners; and their
+numbers seemed but as a handful opposed to the long line which covered
+the hill before them. Yet there was something in the firm array, the
+calm and measured step, the triumphant sound of their trumpets and
+their clarions, the regular lines of their archers and of their
+cavalry, the want of all haste, confusion, or agitation, apparent
+through the whole of that small host, which was not without its effect
+upon their enemies, who began to feel that there would be indeed a
+battle, fierce, bloody, and determined, before the day, so fondly
+counted theirs, was really won.
+
+Prompt and well-disciplined, with their bows on their shoulders, their
+quivers and their swords at their sides, and their heavy axes in their
+hands, the English archers at once took up the position assigned to
+them, with as much precision as if at some pageant or muster. Each
+instantly planted in the earth a heavy iron-shod stake, which he
+carried in his left hand, and drove it in with blows from the back of
+his axe; and then each strung his bow, and drew an arrow from the
+quiver. Behind, at a short distance, came the battle of the King,
+consisting of heavy armed infantry, principally billmen, with a strong
+force of cavalry on either hand. The rearward, under the Duke of
+Exeter, appeared shortly after on the hill above; and each of the two
+last divisions occupied its appointed ground with the same regularity
+and tranquil order which had been displayed by the van.
+
+The preparations which they perceived, the pitching of the stakes, the
+marshalling of the English forces, and the position which they had
+taken up, showed the French commanders that the King of England was
+determined his battle should be a defensive one; and the appearance of
+some bodies of the enemy in the neighbourhood of the village of
+Agincourt, with the burning of a mill and house upon the same side,
+led them to believe that some stratagem was meditated, which must be
+met by prompt action with the principal corps of Henry's army.
+
+That there were difficulties in attacking a veteran force in such a
+position, the Constable D'Albret clearly saw, but he was naturally of
+a bold and rash disposition; his enemies of the Burgundian party had
+more than once accused him of his irresolution and incapacity; and he
+resolved that no obstacle should daunt, or induce him to avoid a
+battle, with such an overpowering force at his command. He gave the
+order then to move forward at a slow pace, and probably did not
+perceive the full perils of his undertaking, till his troops had
+advanced too far, between the two woods, to retreat with either honour
+or safety. When he discovered this, it would seem an order was given
+to halt, and for some minutes the two armies paused, observing each
+other, the English determined not to quit their ground, the French
+hesitating to attack.
+
+A solemn silence pervaded the whole field; but then Henry himself
+appeared, armed from head to foot in gilded armour, a royal crown
+encircling his helmet, covered with precious stones, and his beaver
+up, displaying his countenance to his own troops. Mounted on a
+magnificent white horse, he rode along the line of archers in the van,
+within half a bow shot of the enemy, exhorting the brave yeomen, in
+loud tones, and with a cheerful face, to do their duty to their
+country and their King. Every motive was held out that could induce
+his soldiery to do gallant deeds; and he ended by exclaiming, "For my
+part, I swear that England shall never pay ransom for my person, nor
+France triumph over me in life; for this day shall either be famous
+for my death, or in it I will win honour and obtain renown."
+
+Along the second and third line he likewise rode, followed close by
+Sir Thomas of Erpingham, with his bald head bare, and the white hair
+upon his temples streaming in the wind; and to each division the King
+addressed nearly the same words. The only answer that was made by the
+soldiers was, "On, on! let us forward!" and the only communication
+which took place between the King and his marshal of the host occurred
+when at length Henry resumed his position in the centre of the main
+battle.
+
+"They are near enough, my Liege," said the old knight. "Is your Grace
+ready?"
+
+"Quite," replied Henry. "Have you left a guard over the baggage?"
+
+"As many as could be spared, Sire," replied the Marshal. "Shall we
+begin?"
+
+Henry bowed his head; and the old knight, setting spurs to his horse,
+galloped along the face of the three lines, waving his truncheon in
+his hand, and exclaiming, "Ready, ready! Now, men of England, now!"
+
+Then, in the very centre of the van, he stopped by the side of the
+Duke of York, dismounted from his horse, put on his casque, which a
+page held ready; and then, hurling his leading staff high into the
+air, as he glanced over the archers with a look of fire untamed by
+age, he cried aloud, "Now strike!"
+
+Each English yeoman suddenly bent down upon his knee and kissed the
+ground. Then starting up, they gave one loud, universal cheer, at
+which, to use the terms of the French historian, "the Frenchmen were
+greatly astounded." Each archer took a step forward, drew his
+bow-string to his ear; and, as the van of the enemy began to move on,
+a cloud of arrows fell amongst them, not only from the front, but from
+the meadow on their flank, piercing through armour, driving the horses
+mad with pain, and spreading confusion and disarray amidst the immense
+multitude which, crowded into that narrow field, could only advance in
+lines thirty deep.
+
+"Forward, forward!" shouted the French knights.
+
+"On, for your country and your King!" cried the Constable D'Albret;
+but his archers and cross-bowmen would not move; and, plunging their
+horses through them, the French men-at-arms spurred on in terrible
+disarray, while still amongst them fell that terrible shower of
+arrows, seeming to seek out with unerring aim every weak point of
+their armour, piercing their visors, entering between the gorget and
+the breast-plate, transfixing the hand to the lance. Of eight hundred
+chosen men-at-arms, if we may believe the accounts of the French
+themselves, not more than a hundred and forty could reach the stakes
+by which the archers stood. This new impediment produced still more
+confusion: many of the heavy-armed horses of the French goring
+themselves upon the iron pikes, and one of the leaders, who cast
+himself gallantly forward before the rest, being instantly pulled from
+his horse, and slain by the axes of the English infantry; whilst still
+against those that were following were aimed the deadly shafts, till,
+seized with terror, they drew the bridle and fled, tearing their way
+through the mingled mass behind them, and increasing the consternation
+and confusion which already reigned.
+
+At the same moment, the arrows of the English archers being expended,
+the stakes were drawn up; and encouraged by the evident discomfiture
+of the French van, the first line of the English host rushed upon the
+struggling crowd before them, sword in hand, rendering the disarray
+and panic irremediable, slaughtering immense numbers with their swords
+and axes, and changing terror into precipitate flight.
+
+Up to this period, Henry, surrounded by some of his principal knights,
+stood immoveable upon the slope of the hill, but seeing his archers
+engaged hand to hand with the enemy, he pointed out with his truncheon
+a knight in black armour with lines of gold, about a hundred yards
+distant upon his left, saying, "Tell Sir Henry Dacre to move down with
+his company to support the van. The enemy may rally yet." A squire
+galloped off to bear the order; and instantly the band to which he
+addressed himself swept down in firm array, while the King, with the
+whole of the main body, moved slowly on to insure the victory.
+
+No further resistance, indeed, was made by the advanced guard of the
+French. Happy was the man who could save himself by flight; the
+archers and the cross-bowmen, separating from each other, plunged into
+the wood; many of the men-at-arms dismounting from their horses, and
+casting off their heavy armour, followed their example; and others,
+flying in small parties, rallied upon the immense body led by the
+Dukes of Bar and Alencon, which was now advancing, in the hope of
+retrieving the day. It was known that the Duke of Alencon had sworn to
+take the King of England, alive or dead, and the contest now became
+more fierce and more regular. Pouring on in thunder upon the English
+line, the French men-at-arms seemed to bear all before them; but
+though shaken by the charge, the English cavalry gallantly maintained
+their ground; and, as calm as if sitting at the council-table, the
+English King, from the midst of the battle, even where it was fiercest
+around him, issued his commands, rallied his men, and marked with an
+approving eye, and often with words of high commendation, the conduct
+of the foremost in the fight.
+
+"Wheel your men, Sir John Grey," he cried, "and take that party in the
+green upon the flank. Bravely done, upon my life; Sir Harry Dacre
+seems resolved to outdo us all. Give him support, my Lord of
+Hungerford. See you not that he is surrounded by a score of lances! By
+the holy rood, he has cleared the way. Aid him, aid him, and they are
+routed there!"
+
+"That is not Sir Harry Dacre, my Lord the King," said a gentleman
+near. "He is in plain steel armour. I spoke with him but a minute
+ago."
+
+"On, on," cried Henry, little heeding him. "Restore the array on the
+right, Sir Hugh Basset. They have bent back a little. On your guard,
+on your guard, knights and gentlemen! Down with your lances. Here they
+come!" and at the same moment, a large body of French, at the full
+gallop, dashed towards the spot where the King stood. In an instant,
+the Duke of Gloucester, but a few yards from the monarch, was
+encountered by a knight of great height and strength, and cast
+headlong to the ground. Henry spurred up to his brother's defence, and
+covering him with his shield, rained a thousand blows, with his large,
+heavy sword, upon the armour of his adversary, while two of the Duke's
+squires drew the young Prince from beneath his horse.
+
+"Beware, beware, my Lord the King!" cried a voice upon his left; and
+turning round, Henry beheld the knight in the black armour, pointing
+with his mace to the right, where the Duke of Alencon, some fifty
+yards before a large party of the French chivalry, was galloping
+forward, with his battle-axe in his hand, direct towards the King.
+Henry turned to meet him; but that movement had nearly proved fatal to
+the English monarch; for as he wheeled his horse, he saw the black
+knight cover him with his shield, receive upon it a tremendous blow
+from the gigantic adversary who had overthrown the Duke of Gloucester,
+and, swinging high his mace, strike the other on the crest a stroke
+that brought his head to his horse's neck. A second dashed him to the
+ground; but Henry had time to remark no more, for Alencon was already
+upon him, and he had now to fight hand to hand for life. Few men,
+however, could stand before the English monarch's arm; and in an
+instant, the Duke was rolling in the dust. A dozen of the foot
+soldiers were upon him at once.
+
+"Spare him, spare him!" cried the King; but, ere his voice could be
+heard, a dagger was in the unhappy prince's throat.
+
+When Henry looked round, the main body of the French were flying in
+confusion, the rear guard had already fled; and all that remained upon
+the field of Agincourt of the magnificent host of France, were the
+prisoners, the dying, or the dead, except where here and there,
+scattered over the ground, were seen small parties of twenty or
+thirty, separated from the rest, and fighting with the courage of
+despair.
+
+"Let all men be taken to mercy," cried the King, "who are willing to
+surrender. Quick, send messengers, uncle of Exeter, to command them to
+give quarter."
+
+"My Lord the King! my Lord the King!" cried the voice of a man,
+galloping up in haste, "the rear-guard of the enemy have rallied, and
+are already in your camp, pillaging and slaying wherever they come."
+
+"Ha, then, we will fight them too," cried the monarch. "Keep the
+field, my Lord Duke, and prevent those fugitives from collecting
+together;" and gathering a small force of cavalry, Henry himself rode
+back at speed towards the village of Maisoncelles. But when he reached
+the part of the camp where his baggage had been left, the King found
+that the report of the French rear-guard having rallied, was false.
+Tents had been overthrown, it is true, houses had been burnt, wagons
+had been pillaged; and the work of plunder was still going on. But the
+only force in presence consisted of some six or seven hundred armed
+peasantry, headed by about six score men-at-arms, with three or four
+gentlemen apparently of knightly rank. The cavaliers, who had
+dismounted, instantly sprang on their horses and fled when the English
+horse appeared; and Henry, fearing to endanger his victory, shouted
+loudly not to pursue.
+
+"I beseech you, my Liege, let me bring you back one of them," cried
+the knight in the black armour, who was on the King's left; and ere
+Henry could reply, digging his spurs deep into his horse's sides, he
+was half a bow-shot away after the fugitives. They fled fast, but not
+so fast as he followed.
+
+"We must give him aid, or he is lost," cried the King, riding after;
+but ere he could come up, the knight had nearly reached the three
+hindmost horsemen, shouting loudly to them to turn and fight.
+
+Two did so; but hand to hand he met them both, stunned the horse of
+one by a blow upon the head, and then turning upon the other,
+exclaimed, "We have met at length, craven and scoundrel! We have met
+at length!"
+
+The other replied not, but by a thrust of his sword at the good
+knight's visor. It was well aimed; and the point passed through the
+bars and entered his cheek. At the same moment, however, the black
+knight's heavy mace descended upon his foeman's head, the crest was
+crushed, the thick steel gave way, and down his enemy rolled--hung for
+a moment in the stirrup--and then fell headlong on the ground.
+
+Light as air, the victor sprang from his saddle, and setting his foot
+upon his adversary's neck, gazed fiercely upon him as he lay. There
+were some few words enamelled above the visor; and crying aloud, "Ave,
+Maria!" the black knight shook his mace high in the air, then dropped
+it by the thong without striking, and, unclasping his own helmet, as
+the King came up, exposed the head of Richard of Woodville. Such was
+the last deed of the battle of Agincourt.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+                           THE CONCLUSION.
+
+
+In the same large and magnificent hall of the royal castle at Calais,
+in which Edward III. entertained his prisoners after his chivalrous,
+though imprudent combat with the French forces under the walls of that
+town, was assembled the Court of England on the arrival of his great
+descendant, Henry V., some days subsequent to the battle of Agincourt.
+The scene was a splendid one; for, though the monarch and many of his
+nobility had to mourn the loss of near and dear relatives in that
+glorious field, no time had yet been given to prepare the external
+signs of grief; and the habiliments of all were, either the gay robes
+of peace and rejoicing, or the still more splendid panoply of war. As
+may be naturally supposed, the greater number of those present were
+men; but, nevertheless, the circle round the King's person contained
+several of the other sex; for, besides the wife and daughters of the
+Governor of Calais, and the ladies of several of the principal
+officers and citizens of the town, a number of the female relations of
+the conquerors of Agincourt, who had come over to the English city, on
+the first news of the army's march from Harfleur, were likewise in the
+hall.
+
+No pageant or revel, however, was going forward; and, although Henry
+could not but feel the vast importance of the deed that he had
+achieved, and the great results which might be expected to ensue, both
+in strengthening his power at home, and extending it abroad, yet his
+countenance was far more grave and thoughtful than it had been before
+the battle; and rejoicing, as was natural, at such vast success, he
+rejoiced with moderation, and repressed every expression of triumph.
+
+After speaking for some time with the persons round him, he turned to
+Sir John Grey, who stood at a short distance on his left hand; and
+noticing with a kindly smile the knight's fair daughter, he said,
+"Now, my noble friend, you besought me this morning to hear what you
+had to bring before me, concerning Sir Richard of Woodville. Ere I
+listen to a word, however, let me at once say, that the good service
+rendered by that knight upon the field of Agincourt wipes out whatever
+offence he may have before committed; and without prayer or
+solicitation, I free him from all bonds, and pardon everything that
+may be passed."
+
+As he spoke, Richard of Woodville advanced from behind, and standing
+before the King, exclaimed, "I beseech you, Sire, to withdraw that
+pardon, and to judge me as if I had never drawn sword or couched lance
+in your service. If I am guilty, my guilt is but increased by having
+dared to break ward, and fight amidst honest Englishmen; and I claim
+no merit for what little I have done, except in having brought to your
+Majesty's feet the traitor scoundrel, Simeon of Roydon, who doubtless,
+with his own lips, will now confess his treason towards you, his
+falsehood towards me."
+
+"If he do not," said Sir John Grey, boldly, "I have, thank God, ample
+means to prove it. Let him be called, my Liege, and with him a certain
+knave, a prisoner likewise in my hands, named Edward Dyram."
+
+"Ha!" cried the King, with a smile--"has our old friend Ned Dyram,
+too, a share in this affair? I had thought the warning I once gave
+might have taught him to mend his manners."
+
+"They are past mending, my Liege," answered Sir John Grey. "The
+villain will doubtless deny all, for he is a hardened knave as ever
+lived; but we can convict him notwithstanding."
+
+"Well, call them in," answered Henry, "and have all things ready." And
+while Sir John Grey and Sir William Philip, the King's treasurer,
+quitted the circle for a moment, Henry turned to Mary Grey, and
+addressed her in a low tone, with a smiling countenance. The crowd
+drew back to let the King speak at ease; and the only words that made
+themselves heard were, "Methinks, fair lady, you have some interest in
+this affair?"
+
+"Deep, my Liege," replied Mary Grey, with a glowing cheek.
+
+What the King answered was not distinct to those around; but the lady
+raised her bright eyes to his face, replying eagerly, "More for his
+honour than for his life, Sire."
+
+No time was lost, for Sir John Grey, expecting a speedy hearing, had
+prepared all; and in less than five minutes he re-entered the hall,
+followed by a number of persons, some of whom accompanied him to the
+end of the chamber where the King was placed, and ranged themselves
+behind the circle, while the rest, consisting of prisoners and those
+who guarded them, remained near the door by which they entered.
+
+Henry fixed his eyes upon the group there standing, and seemed to
+examine them attentively for a moment in silence, then raising his
+voice, he exclaimed, "Bring forward Simeon of Roydon, and Edward
+Dyram."
+
+The two whom he called immediately advanced, with a man-at-arms on
+either side. The knight held down his head and gazed upon the ground;
+but the servant looked carelessly around, showing neither fear nor
+doubt.
+
+"Sir Simeon of Roydon," said the King, in a stern tone, as soon as the
+culprit stood within a few yards of his person, "You have been taken
+in arms against your country, and it were wise in you to make free
+confession of your acts. I exhort you so to do, not promising you
+aught, but for the relief of your own soul."
+
+The knight paused for an instant, looked to Dyram, and then to Richard
+of Woodville, and replied, "I have nought to confess, Sire. Unjustly
+banished from my country, I had no right to regard myself as an
+Englishman; but it was not against you, my Liege, that I bore arms. It
+was against my enemy, who stands there. Him I sought, knowing him to
+be in your camp."
+
+"A poor excuse," replied the King; "and you must have had speedy
+intelligence, since he arrived there but the night before; and you,
+fellow," continued Henry, turning to Dyram, "What know you of this
+knight, and his proceedings?"
+
+"Very little, may it please your Grace," replied Ned Dyram; "I have
+seen him before, I think; but where it was, I cannot justly say."
+
+"May I ask one question of the guard, my Liege?" demanded Sir John
+Grey. Henry inclined his head; and the knight proceeded--"Have these
+two men held any communication together in the anteroom?"
+
+"They spoke together for a few moments in a strange tongue," answered
+the man-at-arms whom he addressed; "and when we parted them, they
+still talked from time to time across the room."
+
+"Well," replied the old knight, "it will serve them but little. Have
+you the papers, Sir William Philip?"
+
+"They are here," said the treasurer; and he placed a roll in the
+King's hand.
+
+Henry looked at the first paper casually, saying, "This I know;" but
+regarded the second more attentively, and, after reading it through,
+turned to Sir John Grey, and inquired, "What is this? I see it refers
+to the man before us. But how was it obtained?"
+
+"It is referred to, my Liege, in the question, number four, which your
+Grace permitted me to draw up. You will find them further on. The two
+following letters I need not explain. The only question is, as to
+their authenticity, which can be proved."
+
+The King read them all through with care; and then taking a paper from
+the bottom of the roll, which appeared to contain a long list of
+interrogatories, numbered separately, and written in a good clerkly
+hand, he perused it from the beginning to the end. After having read
+it, he turned to Sir Simeon of Roydon, saying, "You are here charged
+with grave offences, sir, besides the crime in which you were taken.
+It is stated here, that you purchased the arms of Sir Richard of
+Woodville, when they were sold in Ghent, on his men leaving the
+service of Burgundy to return to England; and that you took his name
+while following our army up the Somme, and attacking our straggling
+parties with a leader of free companions, named Robinet de
+Bournonville. Is it so, or is it not so?"
+
+"This can be proved, my Liege," said Richard of Woodville; "for Sir
+Philip Beauchamp here present, saw the arms in which this caitiff was
+taken; and he can swear that they were a gift from himself to me."
+
+"I acknowledge, Sire, that I did purchase them," replied Simeon of
+Roydon; "and what my companions may have called me, I know not; but if
+perchance they called me Woodville, it was in jest; but no man can say
+that I was seen following your army from Harfleur hither."
+
+"It is enough, it is enough," said the King. "Of this charge, Richard,
+you are free," he continued, turning to Woodville; and then resuming
+his interrogatories, he went on to ask, "Did you, or did you not, Sir
+Simeon of Roydon, intercept a letter from me to this good knight, and
+counterfeiting his signature, write a reply, refusing to obey my
+commands?"
+
+Sir Simeon of Roydon started, and turned a fierce look upon Ned Dyram,
+as if he suspected that he had been betrayed; but the surprise which
+he saw in the man's face, notwithstanding a strong effort to repress
+it, convinced him that Henry had other sources of information; but
+resolute in his course to the last, he replied in a bold tone, "It is
+false. Who is my accuser?"
+
+The King looked round; and a sweet musical voice replied, "I am!"
+
+"Stand forward, stand forward," said the King. "Ha! who are you? I
+have seen that fair face before."
+
+"Once, my Liege," said Ella Brune, advancing, dressed in the garments
+she had worn immediately after her grandsire's death, "and then your
+Grace did as you always do, rendered justice both to the offender and
+the offended. I accuse this man of having done the deed that you have
+mentioned, and many another blacker still. I accuse him of having made
+use of him who stands beside him, Edward Dyram--pretending to be a
+servant of Sir Richard of Woodville, long after he had been driven in
+disgrace from his train--to obtain from the messenger of the Count of
+Charolois the letter which your Grace had sent. Speak," she continued,
+turning to Dyram, "Is it not true?"
+
+The man hesitated, and turned red and white, but was silent.
+
+"Speak," reiterated Ella Brune, "it is your last chance. Then read
+this letter, my Liege," she continued, "from the noble Count of
+Charolois, wherein he states, that he has traced out this foul and
+wicked plot, and----"
+
+"I will confess I _did_," exclaimed Dyram; "I did get the letter. I
+did aid to forge the answer; but he, he--Richard of Woodville--struck
+me, and I vowed revenge."
+
+"What more?" demanded the King, sternly. "If you hope for life speak
+truth. _You_ have not defiled knightly rank; _you_ have not degraded
+noble birth; _you_ have not violated all that should keep men honest
+and true. There is some hope for you."
+
+"Ha, knave!" exclaimed Simeon of Roydon, gazing at him fiercely; but
+Dyram hesitated and paused without reply; and Ella Brune proceeded,
+pointing with her fair hand to the papers which the King held open
+before him, and demanding, while her dark eyes fixed stern on Dyram's
+face, "And the letter from the prisoner of Montl'herry, to Sir John
+Grey, did you not erase the words with which it ended--they were, if I
+remember right, 'touching my ransom,'--and change the Christian name
+in the superscription?"
+
+"No, no," cried the man vehemently, knowing that the charge might well
+affect his life. "No, I did not--nobody saw me do it; I say I did not."
+
+"Fool!" cried Ella Brune, after giving him a moment to consider; "Your
+hate has been dangerous to others, your love has been dangerous to
+yourself--Give me that cup! My Lord the King, may I crave to see the
+letter I have named?"
+
+Henry took it from the rest, and placed it in her hand; and, dipping
+her finger in a cup containing a clear white fluid, which the page of
+Sir John Grey brought forward, she ran it over the line immediately
+preceding Richard of Woodville's signature. The King gazed earnestly
+on the parchment as she did so, and, to his surprise, he beheld the
+words she had mentioned reappear--somewhat faint and indistinct, it is
+true, but legible enough to show that the meaning of the whole paper
+had been falsified by their erasure.
+
+"That wretched man," said Ella Brune, pointing to Dyram, "in a foolish
+fit of tenderness towards my poor self, taught me the art of restoring
+writings long effaced; and now, by his own skill, I show you his own
+knavery."
+
+Henry turned round with a generous smile of sincere pleasure towards
+Richard of Woodville, saying, "I was sure I was not mistaken,
+Richard;" and he held out his hand.
+
+The young knight took it, and pressed his lips upon it, replying, "You
+seldom are, Sire; but there is more to come, or I am mistaken."
+
+"Nay, with him I have done," said Ella Brune, looking at Dyram:
+"unless he thinks, by free confession of the whole, and telling how a
+greater knave than himself led him on from fault to fault, to merit
+forgiveness, the matter affecting him is closed."
+
+"It is vain to conceal it," cried Dyram; "not that I hope for grace,
+for that is past; but there will be some satisfaction in punishing him
+who was never grateful for any service rendered him."
+
+"It was yourself you served, villain, and your own passions--not me!"
+cried Simeon of Roydon, with his eyes flashing fire.
+
+"And how did you treat me?" cried Dyram. "It is true, my Liege, to
+gain this girl--devil incarnate as she seems to be!--I would have
+sacrificed aught on earth; and when, after laying a plot with this man
+to win her--which, by his knavery, had well nigh ended in her ruin--I
+confessed my fault to yonder knight, and he spurned me like a dog, I
+would have done as much to take vengeance upon him. I found a ready
+aid in good Sir Simeon of Roydon, who loved him as dearly as I did. In
+turns we planned and executed. He devised the letter touching the
+ransom; he prompted the Duke of Orleans and the Count of Armagnac: I
+erased the writing, and changed the superscription. Then, again, I
+hinted that in the armour he had bought, and under the name of its
+first owner, he might follow your camp, and clench the suspicion of
+Sir Richard's treason, by proofs that would seem indubitable; never
+doubting, indeed, that our enemy would be kept long in Montl'herry,
+but little caring whether the sword fell on the one knight or the
+other. To make all sure, however, I was sent to Montl'herry; but I
+arrived too late to prevent the prisoner's escape; and only discovered
+by whose assistance it was effected--by that fair maiden there, now
+clerk and now demoiselle. My story is told, and I have nought to
+plead. We are both guilty alike; we both loved, and we both hated: but
+I would not have willingly injured her, who has now destroyed me. In
+that, and that only, am I better than this noble knight."
+
+"Have you aught more to say, fair maiden, concerning Sir Simeon of
+Roydon?" asked Henry; "if not, I will at once deal with both of them
+as they merit."
+
+"Nay, I beseech you, Sire," exclaimed Richard of Woodville, "before
+you act in any way, listen to me for one moment."
+
+"Speak--speak, my good friend," replied Henry; "I am always willing to
+hear anything in reason--what would you say?"
+
+"I know not whether your Grace would wish it spoken aloud," said
+Woodville; "it refers to a time before your accession to the throne."
+
+"Oh yes! speak, speak!" cried Henry; "I have not forgotten Hal of
+Hadnock. What of those days?"
+
+"Why, Sire, you may remember," answered Woodville, "that, as that
+noble gentleman you have just named and I rode by the stream near
+Dunbury, one night in the spring of the year, we found the body of my
+poor cousin Kate drowned in the water. The man before you thought fit
+to cast foul doubts on as true and gallant a gentleman as ever lived,
+Sir Henry Dacre. He now lies at the point of death from wounds
+received near Agincourt, and if aught on earth can save him, it will
+be to know that his good name is cleared from all suspicion. If this
+man could but be brought to speak, and to acknowledge that the charges
+he insinuated were false, it would be balm to a bruised heart."
+
+"Nay," cried the King, "his falsehood is so evident, his knavery so
+great, that charges from his mouth are now but empty air. Yet I have
+heard how Sir Harry Dacre has suffered the bare doubt to prey like a
+canker upon his peace. Speak, Simeon of Roydon; and, if it be your
+last word, speak truth. Know you aught of Catherine Beauchamp's
+death?--and, if you do, whose was the hand that did that horrid deed?"
+
+"Sir Harry Dacre's," answered Roydon, with a malignant smile; for he
+thought to triumph even in death. "No one doubts it, I believe. Does
+your Grace?"
+
+"Ay, that I do," answered Henry; "and I have good cause to doubt it.
+That man was sent by me to make inquiries," and he pointed to Dyram;
+"and everything that he discovered, I pray you mark, gentlemen all,
+tended to show that it was impossible Sir Henry Dacre could have done
+the deed. I have often fancied, indeed, that the knave had learned
+more than he divulged to me. Is it so, sir? I remember your ways in
+times of old, that you would tell part, and keep back part. Did you
+learn aught else?"
+
+"Oh, no, Sire," replied Dyram, with a laugh, glancing his keen eyes
+towards Richard of Woodville; "I know nought; but I suppose that Sir
+Henry Dacre did it."
+
+"My Lord the King," said Ella Brune, who had remained silent, with her
+dark eyes cast down, while this conversation took place, "I can give
+your Grace the information that you seek to have."
+
+"Ha!--you!" cried Roydon, gazing at her with glaring eyes. "This is
+all pure hate. Mark, if she do not say I did it!"
+
+"You did!" answered Ella, fixing her eyes upon him. "Do you remember
+the night after the Glutton mass?--I was there! Do you remember hiding
+beneath the willows on the abbey side of the stream?--I was there! Do
+you remember the lady coming and asking for the information you had
+promised to give, and your assailing her with words of love, and
+seeking to win her from her promised husband?--I was there!"
+
+"False! false! all false!" cried Sir Simeon of Roydon; but his face as
+he spoke was deadly pale.
+
+"If you saw all, fair maiden," said the King, "why did you not at once
+denounce the murderer?"
+
+"I saw all but the last act, my Liege," replied Ella Brune. "Having
+wandered from Southampton with the poor old man, whom that knight
+afterwards slew, we found kindly entertainment for our music in a
+cottage at Abbot's Ann. Wearied with the noise and merriment, I went
+out and sat beneath the trees; I witnessed what I have said; but then,
+not to be an eavesdropper, I stole away. When I heard of the murder,
+however, I well knew who had done it--for the lady answered him
+scornfully--and I should have told the tale at once, but the old man
+forbade me, showing that we were poor wandering minstrels, and that my
+story against the noble and the great would not be credited; yet I am
+certain that his hand did it."
+
+"Out upon it!" cried Roydon; "will a King of England listen to such an
+idle tale? will he not drive from his presence, with contempt, a
+mountebank singer who, without one witness, brings such a charge in
+pure hate?"
+
+"Not without one witness," answered Ella Brune. "I have one."
+
+"Call him!" said Henry; "if this man can clear himself from the
+accusation, he shall have pardon for all the rest."
+
+Ella Brune raised her hand and beckoned to some one standing behind
+the circle, which had drawn somewhat closer round the spot where this
+scene was going on. Immediately--while Sir John Grey made way--a lady
+dressed in the habit of a novice, with her face closely covered,
+advanced between the King and Simeon of Roydon.
+
+"This is my witness," said Ella Brune; and as she spoke, the other
+withdrew her veil.
+
+Simeon of Roydon started back with a face pale as death, exclaiming,
+"Catherine!--She is living! she is living!"
+
+"Ay, but not by your will," answered Catherine Beauchamp; "for you
+have long thought me dead--dead by the act of your own hand. My Lord
+the King," she continued, "all that this excellent girl has said is
+true. On a night you well remember, eager to learn from this man who
+you really were, I sought him by the banks of the stream, where he had
+promised to wait and tell me that and other matters, as he said,
+nearly affecting me. It was wrong of me to do so; but I had done much
+that was wrong ere then, and I had no scruples. He told me who you
+were; and then, seeing that no great love existed between myself and
+poor Harry Dacre, he sought to win my wealth, by inducing me to
+violate the contract with my promised husband and wed him: what put
+such a vain notion in his mind, I know not; but I laughed and taunted
+him with bitter scorn; and he then told me that I should be his or
+die. At first I feared not: but when I found him lift his hand and
+grasp me by the throat, I screamed aloud for help, and struggled hard.
+He mastered me, however, in an instant, and plunged me in the stream.
+As I fell, I vowed that, if Heaven would send me help, I would make a
+pilgrimage to St. James of Galicia. The waters, however, soon closed
+above my head, and in the one dreadful moment which I had for
+thought--as if the past had been cleared up and illumined by a flash
+of lightning--all the faults and follies of my former life stood out
+before me distinct and bright, stripped of the vain imaginations with
+which I had covered them. I rose again for a moment to the air; and
+then I vowed that, if God spared me, I would pledge myself to the
+altar, and renouncing all that ensnared me, live out the rest of time
+in penitence and prayer. I soon lost all recollection, however, and
+when first I woke as from sleep, in great feebleness and agony, I
+found myself in a litter, borne on towards the abbey. Consciousness
+was speedily gone again: and when next I roused myself from that dull
+slumber, my good uncle Richard, the abbot, and an old monk of his
+convent, were the only persons near. As soon as I could speak, I told
+them of my vows, and engaged them to keep my recovery a profound
+secret, till I had taken the veil. The deeds that have been done,
+however, compel me to come forward now, and tell the truth. I have
+told it simply and without disguise; but yet I would fain plead for
+this man's life. To him, as well as to others, I have had great
+faults, and towards none more than poor Sir Harry Dacre. In a month,
+however, my vows will be taken, and he will be free; but I would fain
+not cloud the peace with which I renounce the world, by bringing death
+on my bad cousin's head; and you, Sire, after such a mighty victory,
+can well afford to pardon."
+
+But Henry waved his hand: "Not a word for him!" he said; "loaded with
+so many crimes, I give him up to trial; and by the sentence of his
+judges will I abide. Remove the prisoners, and keep them under safe
+ward; one word more, fair lady," he continued, as the men-at-arms led
+Simeon of Roydon and Ned Dyram from the presence, "how has it so
+fortunately chanced that you are here to-day?"
+
+"I have travelled far, my Liege," replied Catherine Beauchamp, in a
+gayer tone; "have made my pilgrimage, and passed part of my noviciate
+in a cell of the order I have chosen near Dijon. Coming back I met
+with some Canonesses, who were travelling under the escort of some
+troops of Burgundy, and with them journeyed to Peronne, whence, under
+the escort of Sir Richard of Woodville, and accompanied by this good
+maiden, I came hither. I will not waste your time, my Liege, by
+telling all the adventures that befel me by the way; but I have to ask
+pardon of my noble cousin Richard, here, for teasing him somewhat in
+Westminster and Nieuport, and doing him a still worse turn in Ghent by
+a letter to Sir John Grey. But, good faith, to say the truth, I
+thought he was a lighter lover than he has proved himself, and now
+that I know all, I crave his forgiveness heartily."
+
+"You have it, sweet Kate," answered Richard of Woodville; "but you
+have several things to hear yet," he continued, in his blunt way, "and
+some perhaps that may not be very palatable to you."
+
+"Nay, I have heard all," answered Catherine Beauchamp; "but I stand no
+more in the way of that love, which I had long seen turning to
+another, when I spurned it from me myself. My vows at the altar will
+remove all obstacles; and I trust that Dacre will see me as a sister
+and a friend, though it be but to bid me adieu for ever."
+
+"And I, Woodville," said the King, turning to the young knight, "I,
+too, would ask you pardon, if I had ever truly suspected you. Such,
+however, is not the case; and there are many here who can testify,
+that though I was willing that you should be made to prove your
+innocence, I never doubted that you could do so. For services
+rendered, however, and high deeds done, as well as in compensation for
+much that you have suffered, I give you one half of the forfeited
+estates of the traitor Sir Thomas Grey, to hold for ever of us and of
+our heirs, on presentation of a mace, such as that which beat down the
+adversary of my brother Humphrey upon the day of Agincourt. Sir John
+Grey, my good old friend, I think you, too, have a gift to give. Come,
+let me see it given;" and leading forward Richard of Woodville, he
+brought him to the side of Mary Grey. The old knight placed her hand
+in his, and the King said "Benedicite."
+
+Ella Brune turned away her head. Her cheek glowed; but there were no
+tears in her eyes; and, ere many months were gone, she was a
+cloistered nun in the same convent with Catherine Beauchamp.
+
+
+
+
+                               THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Agincourt, by
+G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
+
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