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diff --git a/5313.txt b/5313.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2b8d3e --- /dev/null +++ b/5313.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5547 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Herd Boy and His Hermit, by Charlotte M. Yonge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Herd Boy and His Hermit + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + +Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5313] +Last Updated: August 15, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT *** + + + + +Produced by Sandra Laythorpe + + + + + + +THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT + +By Charlotte M. Yonge + + + + + Henry, thou of holy birth, + Thou, to whom thy Windsor gave + Nativity and name and grave + Heavily upon his head + Ancestral crimes were visited. + Meek in heart and undefiled, + Patiently his soul resigned, + Blessing, while he kissed the rod, + His Redeemer and his God. + SOUTHEY + + + + +LIST OF CONTENTS + + +I. IN THE MOSS + +II. THE SNOW-STORM + +III. OVER THE MOOR + +IV. A SPORTING PRIORESS + +V. MOTHER AND SON + +VI. A CAUTIOUS STEPFATHER + +VII. ON DERWENT BANKS + +VIII. THE HERMIT + +IX. HENRY OF WINDSOR + +X. THE SCHOLAR OF THE MOUNTAINS + +XI. THE RED ROSE + +XII. A PRUDENT RECEPTION + +XIII. FELLOW TRAVELLERS + +XIV. THE JOURNEY + +XV. BLETSO + +XVI. THE HERMIT IN THE TOWER + +XVII. A CAPTIVE KING + +XVIII. AT THE MINORESSES + +XIX. A STRANGE EASTER EVE + +XX. BARNET + +XXI. TEWKESBURY + +XXII. THE NUT BROWN MAID + +XXIII. BROUGHAM CASTLE + + + + + +THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT + + + + +CHAPTER I. -- IN THE MOSS + + + + I can conduct you, lady, to a low + But loyal cottage where you may be safe + Till further quest.--MILTON. + + +On a moorland slope where sheep and goats were dispersed among the +rocks, there lay a young lad on his back, in a stout canvas cassock +over his leathern coat, and stout leathern leggings over wooden shoes. +Twilight was fast coming on; only a gleam of purple light rested on the +top of the eastern hills, but was gradually fading away, though the sky +to the westward still preserved a little pale golden light by the help +of the descending crescent moon. + +'Go away, horned moon,' murmured the boy. 'I want to see my stars come +out before Hob comes to call me home, and the goats are getting up +already. Moon, moon, thou mayst go quicker. Thou wilt have longer time +to-morrow--and be higher in the sky, as well as bigger, and thou mightst +let me see my star to-night! Ah! there is one high in the sunset, pale +and fair, but not mine! That's the evening star--one of the wanderers. +Is it the same as comes in the morning betimes, when we do not have +it at night? Like that it shines with steady light and twinkles not. I +would that I knew! There! there's mine, my own star, far up, only paling +while the sun glaring blazes in the sky; mine own, he that from afar +drives the stars in Charles's Wain. There they come, the good old +twinkling team of three, and the four of the Wain! Old Billy Goat knows +them too! Up he gets, and all in his wake "Ha-ha-ha" he calls, and the +Nannies answer. Ay, and the sheep are rising up too! How white they look +in the moonshine! Piers--deaf as he is--waking at their music. Ba, they +call the lambs! Nay, that's no call of sheep or goat! 'Tis some child +crying, all astray! Ha! Hilloa, where beest thou? Tarry till I come! +Move not, or thou mayst be in the bogs and mosses! Come, Watch'--to a +great unwieldy collie puppy--'let us find her.' + +A feeble piteous sound answered him, and following the direction of the +reply, he strode along, between the rocks and thorn-bushes that guarded +the slope of the hill, to a valley covered with thick moss, veiling +treacherously marshy ground in which it was easy to sink. + +The cry came from the further side, where a mountain stream had force +enough to struggle through the swamp. There were stepping-stones across +the brook, which the boy knew, and he made his way from one to the +other, calling out cheerily to the little figure that he began to +discern in the fading light, and who answered him with tones evidently +girlish, 'O come, come, shepherd! Here I am! I am lost and lorn! They +will reward thee! Oh, come fast!' + +'All in good time, lassie! Haste is no good here! I must look to my +footing.' + +Presently he was by the side of the wanderer, and could see that it was +a maiden of ten or twelve years old, who somehow, even in the darkness, +had not the air of one of the few inhabitants of that wild mountain +district. + +'Lost art thou, maiden,' he said, as he stood beside her; 'where is +thine home?' + +'I am at Greystone Priory,' replied the girl. 'I went out hawking to-day +with the Mother Prioress and the rest. My pony fell with me when we were +riding after a heron. No one saw me or heard me, and my pony galloped +home. I saw none of them, and I have been wandering miles and miles! Oh +take me back, good lad; the Mother Prioress will give thee--' + +''Tis too far to take thee back to-night,' he said. 'Thou must come with +me to Hob Hogward, where Doll will give thee supper and bed, and we will +have thee home in the morning.' + +'I never lay in a hogward's house,' she said primly. + +'Belike, but there be worse spots to be harboured in. Here, I must carry +thee over the burn, it gets wider below! Nay, 'tis no use trying to leap +it in the dark, thou wouldst only sink in. There!' + +And as he raised her in his arms, the touch of her garment was delicate, +and she on her side felt that his speech, gestures and touch were not +those of a rustic shepherd boy; but nothing was said till he had waded +through the little narrow stream, and set her down on a fairly firm +clump of grass on the other side. Then she asked, 'What art thou, +lad?--Who art thou?' + +'They call me Hal,' was the answer; 'but this is no time for questions. +Look to thy feet, maid, or thou wilt be in a swamp-hole whence I may +hardly drag thee out.' + +He held her hand, for he could hardly carry her farther, since she +was almost as tall as himself, and more plump; and the rest of the +conversation for some little time consisted of, 'There!' 'Where?' 'Oh, +I was almost down!' 'Take heed; give me thy other hand! Thou must leap +this!' 'Oh! what a place! Is there much more of it?' 'Not much! Come +bravely on! There's a good maid.' 'Oh, I must get my breath.' 'Don't +stand still. That means sinking. Leap! Leap! That's right. No, not that +way, turn to the big stair.' 'Oh--h!' 'That's my brave wench! Not far +now.' 'I'm down, I'm down!' 'Up! Here, this is safe! On that white +stone! Now, here's sound ground! Hark!' Wherewith he emitted a strange +wild whoop, and added, 'That's Hob come out to call me!' He holloaed +again. 'We shall soon be at home now. There's Mother Doll's light! Her +light below, the star above,' he added to himself. + +By this time it was too dark for the two young people to see more than +dim shapes of one another, but the boy knew that the hand he still held +was a soft and delicate one, and the girl that those which had grasped +and lifted her were rough with country labours. She began to assert her +dignity and say again, 'Who art thou, lad? We will guerdon thee well for +aiding me. The Lord St. John is my father. And who art thou?' + +'I? Oh, I am Hob Hogward's lad,' he answered in an odd off-hand tone, +before whooping again his answer to the shouts of Hob, which were coming +nearer. + +'I am so hungry!' said the little lady, in a weak, famished tone. 'Hast +aught to eat?' + +'I have finished my wallet, more's the pity!' said the boy, 'but never +fear! Hold out but a few steps more, and Mother Doll will give thee bite +and sup and bed.' + +'Alack! Is it much further! My feet! they are so sore and weary--' + +'Poor maiden, let me bear thee on!' + +Hal took her up again, but they went more slowly, and were glad to see a +tall figure before them, and hear the cry, 'How now, Hal boy, where hast +been? What hast thou there?' + +'A sorely weary little lady, Daddy Hob, lost from the hawking folk from +the Priory,' responded Hal, panting a little as he set his burthen down, +and Hob's stronger arms received her. + +Hal next asked whether the flock had come back under charge of Piers, +and was answered that all were safely at home, and after 'telling the +tale' Hob had set out to find him. 'Thou shouldst not stray so far,' he +said. + +'I heard the maid cry, and went after her,' said Hal, 'all the way to +the Blackreed Moss, and the springs, and 'twas hard getting over the +swamp.' + +'Well indeed ye were not both swallowed in it,' said Hob; 'God be +praised for bringing you through! Poor wee bairn! Thou hast come far! +From whence didst say?' + +'From Greystone Priory,' wearily said the girl, who had her head down on +Hob's shoulder, and seemed ready to fall asleep there. + +'Her horse fell with her, and they were too bent on their sport to heed +her,' explained the boy, as he trudged along beside Hob and his charge, +'so she wandered on foot till by good hap I heard her moan.' + +'Ay, there will be a rare coil to-night for having missed her,' said +Hob; 'but I've heard tell, my Lady Prioress heeds her hawks more than +her nuns! But be she who she may, we'll have her home, and Mother Doll +shall see to her, for she needs it sure, poor bairn. She is asleep +already.' + +So she was, with her head nestled into the shepherd's neck, nor did she +waken when after a tramp of more than a mile the bleatings of the folded +sheep announced that they were nearly arrived, and in the low doorway +there shone a light, and in the light stood a motherly form, in a white +woollen hood and dark serge dress. Tired as he was, Hal ran on to her, +exclaiming 'All well, Mammy Doll?' + +'Ah well!' she answered, 'thank the good God! I was in fear for thee, my +boy! What's that Daddy hath? A strayed lamb?' + +'Nay, Mammy, but a strayed maiden! 'Twas that kept me so long. I had to +bear her through the burn at Blackreed, and drag her on as best I might, +and she is worn out and weary.' + +'Ay,' said Hob, as he came up. 'How now, my bit lassie?' as he put her +into the outstretched arms of his wife, who sat down on the settle to +receive her, still not half awake. + +'She is well-nigh clemmed,' said Hal. 'She has had no bite nor sup all +day, since her pony fell with her out a-hawking, and all were so hot on +the chase that none heeded her.' + +Mother Doll's exclamations of pity were profuse. There was a kettle of +broth on the peat fire, and after placing the girl in a corner of the +settle, she filled three wooden bowls, two of which she placed before +Hal and the shepherd, making signs to the heavy-browed Piers to wait; +and getting no reply from her worn-out guest, she took her in her arms, +and fed her from a wooden spoon. Though without clear waking, mouthfuls +were swallowed down, till the bowl was filled again and set before +Piers. + +'There, that will be enough this day!' said the good dame. 'Poor bairn! +'Twas scurvy treatment. Now will we put her to bed, and in the morn we +will see how to deal with her.' + +Hal insisted that the little lady should have his own bed--a +chaff-stuffed mattress, covered with a woollen rug, in the recess behind +the projecting hearth--a strange luxury for a farm boy; and Doll yielded +very unwillingly when he spoke in a tone that savoured of command. +The shaggy Piers had already curled himself up in a corner and gone to +sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER II. -- THE SNOW-STORM + + + + Yet stay, fair lady, rest awhile + Beneath the cottage wall; + See, through the hawthorns blows the cold wind, + And drizzling rain doth fall.--OLD BALLAD. + + +Though Hal had gone to sleep very tired the night before, and only on +a pile of hay, curled up with Watch, having yielded his own bed to the +strange guest, he was awake before the sun, for it was the decline of +the year, and the dawn was not early. + +He was not the first awake--Hob and Piers were already busy on the +outside, and Mother Doll had emerged from the box bed which made almost +a separate apartment, and was raking together the peat, so as to revive +the slumbering fire. The hovel, for it was hardly more, was built of +rough stone and thatched with reeds, with large stones to keep the +roof down in the high mountain blasts. There was only one room, earthen +floored, and with no furniture save a big chest, a rude table, a settle +and a few stools, besides the big kettle and a few crocks and wooden +bowls. Yet whereas all was clean, it had an air of comfort and +civilisation beyond any of the cabins in the neighbourhood, more +especially as there was even a rude chimney-piece projecting far into +the room, and in the niche behind this lay the little girl in her +clothes, fast asleep. + +Very young and childish she looked as she lay, her lips partly unclosed, +her dark hair straying beyond her hand, and her black lashes resting on +her delicate brunette cheeks, slightly flushed with sleep. Hal could +not help standing for a minute gazing at her in a sort of wondering +curiosity, till roused by the voice of Mother Doll. + +'Go thy ways, my bairn, to wash in the burn. Here's thy comb. I must +have the lassie up before the shepherd comes back, though 'tis amost +a pity to wake her! There, she is stirring! Best be off with thee, my +bonnie lad.' + +It was spoken more in the tone of nurse to nursling than of mother +to son, still less that of mistress to farm boy; but Hal obeyed, only +observing, 'Take care of her.' + +'Ay, my pretty, will not I,' murmured the old woman, as the child turned +round on her pillow, put up a hand, rubbed her eyes, and disclosed a +pair of sleepy brown orbs, gazed about, and demanded, 'What's this? +Who's this?' + +''Tis Hob Hogward's hut, my bonnie lamb, where you are full welcome! +Here, take a sup of warm milk.' + +'I mind me now,' said the girl, sitting up, and holding out her hands +for the bowl. 'They all left me, and the lad brought me--a great lubber +lout--' + +'Nay, nay, mistress, you'll scarce say so when you see him by day--a +well-grown youth as can bear himself with any.' + +'Where is he?' asked the girl, gazing round; 'I want him to take me +back. This place is not one for me. The Sisters will be seeking me! Oh, +what a coil they must be in!' + +'We will have you back, my bairn, so soon as my goodman can go with you, +but now I would have you up and dressed, ay, and washed, ere he and Hal +come in. Then after meat and prayer you will be ready to go.' + +'To Greystone Priory,' returned the girl. 'Yea, I would have thee to +know,' she added, with a little dignity that sat drolly on her bare feet +and disordered hair and cap as she rose out of bed, 'that the Sisters +are accountable for me. I am the Lady Anne St. John. My father is a lord +in Bedfordshire, but he is gone to the wars in Burgundy, and bestowed +me in a convent at York while he was abroad, but the Mother thought her +house would be safer if I were away at the cell at Greystone when Queen +Margaret and the Red Rose came north.' + +'And is that the way they keep you safe?' asked the hostess, who +meanwhile was attending to her in a way that, if the Lady Anne had known +it, was like the tendance of her own nurse at home, instead of that of a +rough peasant woman. + +'Oh, we all like the chase, and the Mother had a new cast of hawks that +she wanted to fly. There came out a heron, and she threw off the new +one, and it went careering up--and up--and we all rode after, and just +as the bird was about to pounce down, into a dyke went my pony, Imp, and +not one of them saw! Not Bertram Selby, the Sisters, nor the groom, nor +the rabble rout that had come out of Greystone; and before I could get +free they were off; and the pony, Imp of Evil that he is, has not learnt +to know me or my voice, and would not let me catch him, but cantered +off--either after the other horses or to the Priory. I knew not where I +was, and halloaed myself hoarse, but no one heard, and I went on and on, +and lost my way!' + +'I did hear tell that the Lady Prioress minded her hawks more than her +Hours,' said Mother Doll. + +'And that's sooth,' said the Lady Anne, beginning to prove herself a +chatterbox. 'The merlins have better hoods than the Sisters; and as +to the Hours, no one ever gets up in the night to say Nocturns or even +Matins but old Sister Scholastica, and she is as strict and cross as may +be.' + +Here the flow of confidence was interrupted by the return of Hal, who +gazed eagerly, though in a shamefaced way, at the guest as he set down a +bowl of ewe milk. She was a well-grown girl of ten, slender, and bearing +herself like one high bred and well trained in deportment; and her face +was delicately tinted on an olive skin, with fine marked eyebrows, and +dark bright eyes, and her little hunting dress of green, and the hood, +set on far back, became the dark locks that curled in rings beneath. + +She saw a slender lad, dark-haired and dark-eyed, ruddy and embrowned +by mountain sun and air; and the bow with which he bent before her had +something of the rustic lout, and there was a certain shyness over him +that hindered him from addressing her. + +'So, shepherd,' she said, 'when wilt thou take me back to Greystone?' + +'Father will fix that,' interposed the housewife; 'meanwhile, ye had +best eat your porridge. Here is Father, in good time with the cows' +milk.' + +The rugged broad-shouldered shepherd made his salutation duly to the +young lady, and uttered the information that there was a black cloud, +like snow, coming up over the fells to the south-west. + +'But I must fare back to Greystone!' said the damsel. 'They will be in a +mighty coil what has become of me.' + +'They would be in a worse coil if they found your bones under a snow +wreath.' + +Hal went to the door and spied out, as if the tidings were rather +pleasant to him than otherwise. The goodwife shivered, and reached out +to close the shutter, and there being no glass to the windows, all the +light that came in was through the chinks. + +'It would serve them right for not minding me better,' said the maiden +composedly. 'Nay, it is as merry here as at Greystone, with Sister +Margaret picking out one's broidery, and Father Cuthbert making one pore +over his crabbed parchments.' + +'Oh, does this Father teach Latin?' exclaimed Hal with eager interest. + +'Of course he doth! The Mother at York promised I should learn whatever +became a damsel of high degree,' said the girl, drawing herself up. + +'I would he would teach me!' sighed the boy. + +'Better break thy fast and mind thy sheep,' said the old woman, as if +she feared his getting on dangerous ground; and placing the bowl of +porridge on the rough table, she added, 'Say the Benedicite, lad, and +fall to.' Then, as he uttered the blessing, she asked the guest whether +she preferred ewes' milk or cows' milk, a luxury no one else was +allowed, all eating their porridge contentedly with a pinch of salt, Hob +showing scant courtesy, the less since his guest's rank had been made +known. + +By the time they had finished, snowflakes--an early autumn storm--were +drifting against the shutter, and a black cloud was lowering over the +hills. Hob foretold a heavy fall of snow, and called on Hal to help +him and Piers fold the flock more securely, sleepy Watch and his old +long-haired collie mother rising at the same call. Lady Anne sprang up +at the same time, insisting that she must go and help to feed the poor +sheep, but she was withheld, much against her will, by Mother Dolly, +though she persisted that snow was nothing to her, and it was a fine +jest to be out of the reach of the Sisters, who mewed her up in a +cell, like a messan dog. However, she was much amused by watching, +and thinking she assisted in, Mother Dolly's preparations for ewe milk +cheese-making; and by-and-by Hal came in, shaking the snow off the +sheepskin he had worn over his leathern coat. Hob had sent him in, as +the weather was too bad for him, and he and Anne crouched on opposite +sides of the wide hearth as he dried and warmed himself, and cosseted +the cat which Anne had tried to caress, but which showed a decided +preference for the older friend. + +'Our Baudrons at Greystone loves me better than that,' said Anne. 'She +will come to me sooner than even to Sister Scholastica!' + +'My Tib came with us when we came here. Ay, Tib! purr thy best!' as he +held his fingers over her, and she rubbed her smooth head against him. + +'Can she leap? Baudrons leaps like a horse in the tilt-yard.' + +'Cannot she! There, my lady pussy, show what thou canst do to please the +demoiselle,' and he held his arms forward with clasped hands, so that +the grey cat might spring over them, and Lady Anne cried out with +delight. + +Again and again the performance was repeated, and pussy was induced +to dance after a string dangled before her, to roll over and play in +apparent ecstasy with a flake of wool, as if it were a mouse, and Watch +joined in the game in full amity. Mother Dolly, busy with her distaff, +looked on, not displeased, except when she had to guard her spindle from +the kitten's pranks, but she was less happy when the children began to +talk. + +'You have seen a tilt-yard?' + +'Yea, indeed,' he answered dreamily. 'The poor squire was hurt--I did +not like it! It is gruesome.' + +'Oh, no! It is a noble sport! I loved our tilt-yard at Bletso. Two +knights could gallop at one another in the lists, as if they were out +hunting. Oh! to hear the lances ring against the shields made one's +heart leap up! Where was yours?' + +Here Dolly interrupted hastily, 'Hal, lad, gang out to the shed and +bring in some more sods of turf. The fire is getting low.' + +'Here's a store, mother--I need not go out,' said Hal, passing to a pile +in the corner. 'It is too dark for thee to see it.' + +'But where was your castle?' continued the girl. 'I am sure you have +lived in a castle.' + +Insensibly the two children had in addressing one another changed the +homely singular pronoun to the more polite, if less grammatical, second +person plural. The boy laughed, nodded his head, and said, 'You are a +little witch.' + +'No great witchcraft to hear that you speak as we do at home in +Bedfordshire, not like these northern boors, that might as well be +Scots!' + +'I am not from Bedfordshire,' said the lad, looking much amused at her +perplexity. + +'Who art thou then?' she cried peremptorily. + +'I? I am Hal the shepherd boy, as I told thee before.' + +'No shepherd boy are you! Come, tell me true.' + +Dolly thought it time to interfere. She heard an imaginary bleat, and +ordered Hal out to see what was the matter, hindering the girl by force +from running after him, for the snow was coming down in larger flakes +than ever. Nevertheless, when her husband was heard outside she threw a +cloak over her head and hurried out to speak with him. 'That maid will +make our lad betray himself ere another hour is over their heads!' + +'Doth she do it wittingly?' asked the shepherd gravely. + +'Nay, 'tis no guile, but each child sees that the other is of gentle +blood, and women's wits be sharp and prying, and the maid will never +rest till she has wormed out who he is.' + +'He promised me never to say, nor doth he know.' + +'Thee! Much do the hests of an old hogherd weigh against the wiles of a +young maid!' + +'Lord Hal is a lad of his word. Peace with thy lords and ladies, woman, +thou'lt have the archers after him at once.' + +'She makes no secret of being of gentle blood--a St. John of Bletso.' + +'A pestilent White Rose lot! We shall have them on the scent ere many +days are over our head! An unlucky chance this same snow, or I should +have had the wench off to Greystone ere they could exchange a word.' + +'Thou wouldst have been caught in the storm. Ill for the maid to have +fallen into a drift!' + +'Well for the lad if she never came out of it!' muttered the gruff +old shepherd. 'Then were her tongue stilled, and those of the clacking +wenches at York--Yorkists every one of them.' + +Mother Dolly's eyes grew round. 'Mind thee, Hob!' she said; 'I ken thy +bark is worse than thy bite, but I would have thee to know that if aught +befall the maid between this and Greystone, I shall hold thee--and so +will my Lady--guilty of a foul deed.' + +'No fouler than was done on the stripling's father,' muttered the +shepherd. 'Get thee in, wife! Who knows what folly those two may be +after while thou art away? Mind thee, if the maid gets an inkling of who +the boy is, it will be the worse for her.' + +'Oh!' murmured the goodwife, 'I moaned once that our Piers there should +be deaf and well-nigh dumb, but I thank God for it now! No fear of +perilous word going out through him, or I durst not have kept my poor +sister's son!' + +Mother Doll trusted that her husband would never have the heart to leave +the pretty dark-haired girl in the snow, but she was relieved to find +Hal marking down on the wide flat hearth-stone, with a bit of charcoal, +all the stars he had observed. 'Hob calls that the Plough--those seven!' +he said; 'I call it Charles's Wain!' + +'Methinks I have seen that!' she said, 'winter and summer both.' + +'Ay, he is a meuseful husbandman, that Charles! And see here! This +middle mare of the team has a little foal running beside her'--he made +a small spot beside the mark that stood for the central star of what we +call the Bear's Tail. + +'I never saw that!' + +'No, 'tis only to be seen on a clear bright night. I have seen it, but +Hob mocks at it. He thinks the only use of the Wain is to find the North +Star, up beyond there, pointing by the back of the Plough, and go by it +when you are lost.' + +'What good would finding the North Star do? It would not have helped me +home if you had not found me!' + +'Look here, Lady Anne! Which way does Greystone lie?' + +'How should I tell?' + +'Which way did the sun lie when you crossed the moor?' + +Anne could not remember at first, but by-and-by recollected that it +dazzled her eyes just as she was looking for the runaway pony; and Hal +declared that it proved that the convent must have been to the south of +the spot of her fall; but his astronomy, though eagerly demonstrated, +was not likely to have brought her back to Greystone. Still Doll +was thankful for the safe subject, as he went on to mark out what he +promised that she should see in the winter--the swarm of glow-worms, +as he called the Pleiades; and 'Our Lady's Rock,' namely, distaff, +the northern name for Orion; and then he talked of the stars that so +perplexed him, namely, the planets, that never stayed in their places. + +By-and-by, when Mother Dolly's work was over the kettle was on the fire, +and she was able to take out her own spinning, she essayed to fill up +the time by telling them lengthily the old stories and ballads handed +down from minstrel to minstrel, from nurse to nurse, and they sat +entranced, listening to the stories, more than even Hal knew she +possessed, and holding one another by the hand as they listened. + +Meantime the snow had ceased--it was but a scud of early autumn on +the mountains--the sun came out with bright slanting beams before his +setting, there was a soft south wind; and Hob, when he came in, growled +out that the thaw had set in, and he should be able to take the maid +back in the morning. He sat scowling and silent during supper, and +ordered Hal about with sharp sternness, sending him out to attend to the +litter of the cattle, before all had finished, and manifestly treated +him as the shepherd's boy, the drudge of the house, and threatening +him with a staff if he lingered, soon following himself. Mother Dolly +insisted on putting the little lady to bed before they should return, +and convent-bred Anne had sufficient respect for proprieties to see that +it was becoming. She heard no more that night. + + + + +CHAPTER III. -- OVER THE MOOR + + + + In humblest, simplest habit clad, + But these were all to me.--GOLDSMITH. + + +'Hal! What is your name?' + +She stood at the door of the hovel, the rising sun lighting up her +bright dark eyes, and smiling in the curly rings of her hair while Hal +stood by, and Watch bounded round them. + +'You have heard,' he said, half smiling, and half embarrassed. + +'Hal! That's no name.' + +'Harry, an it like you better.' + +'Harry what?' with a little stamp of her foot. + +'Harry Hogward, as you see, or Shepherd, so please you.' + +'You are no Hogward, nor shepherd! These folk be no kin to you, I can +see. Come, an you love me, tell me true! I told you true who I am, Red +Rose though I see you be! Why not trust me the same?' + +'Lady, I verily ken no name save Harry. I would trust you, verily I +would, but I know not myself.' + +'I guess! I guess!' she cried, clapping her hands, but at the moment +Dolly laid a hand on her shoulder. + +'Do not guess, maiden,' she said. 'If thou wouldst not bring evil on the +lad that found thee, and the roof that sheltered thee, guess not, yea, +and utter not a word save that thou hast lain in a shepherd's hut. +Forget all, as though thou hadst slept in the castle on the hill that +fades away with the day.' + +She ended hastily, for her husband was coming up with a rough pony's +halter in his hand. He was in haste to be off, lest a search for the +lost child might extend to his abode, and his gloomy displeasure and +ill-masked uneasiness reduced every-one to silence in his presence. + +'Up and away, lady wench!' he said. 'No time to lose if you are to be at +Greystone ere night! Thou Hal, thou lazy lubber, go with Piers and the +sheep--' + +'I shall go with you,' replied Hal, in a grave tone of resolution. 'I +will only go within view of the convent, but go with you I will.' + +He spoke with a decided tone of authority, and Hob Hogward muttered a +little to himself, but yielded. + +Hal assisted the young lady to mount, and they set off along the track +of the moss, driving the cows, sheep, and goats before them--not a very +considerable number--till they came to another hut, much smaller and +more rude than that where they had left Mother Doll. + +Piers was a wild, shaggy-haired lad, with a sheepskin over his +shoulders, and legs bare below the knee, and to him the charge of +the flock was committed, with signs which he evidently understood and +replied to with a gruff 'Ay, ay!' The three went on the way, over the +slope of a hill, partly clothed with heather, holly and birch trees, as +it rose above the moss. Hob led the pony, and there was something in his +grim air and manner that hindered any conversation between the two young +people. Only Hal from time to time gathered a flower for the young lady, +scabious and globe flowers, and once a very pink wild rose, mingled +with white ones. Lady Anne took them with a meaning smile, and a merry +gesture, as though she were going to brush Hal's face with the petals. +Hal laughed, and said, 'You will make them shed.' + +'Well and good, so the disputes be shed,' said Anne, with more meaning +than perhaps Hal understood. 'And the white overcomes the red.' + +'May be the red will have its way with spring--' + +But there Hob looked round on them, and growled out, 'Have done with +that folly! What has a herd boy like thee to do with roses and frippery? +Come away from the lady's rein. Thou art over-held to thrust thyself +upon her.' + +Nevertheless, as Hal fell back, the dark eyes shot a meaning glance +at him, and the party went on in silence, except that now and then +Hob launched at Hal an order that he endeavoured to render savagely +contemptuous and harsh, so that Lady Anne interfered to say, 'Nay, the +poor lad is doing no harm.' + +'Scathe enough,' answered Hob. 'He always will be doing ill if he can. +Heed him not, lady, it only makes him the more malapert.' + +'Malapert,' repeated Anne, not able to resist a little teasing of +the grim escort; 'that's scarce a word of the dales. 'Tis more like a +man-at-arms.' + +This Hob would not hear, and if he did, it produced a rough imprecation +on the pony, and a sharp cut with his switch. + +They had crossed another burn, travelled through the moss, and mounted +to the brow of another hill, when, far away against the sky, on the top +of yet another height, were to be seen moving figures, not cattle, but +Anne recognised them at once. 'Men-at-arms! archers! lances! A search +party for me! The Prioress must have sent to the Warden's tower.' + +'Off with thee, lad!' said Hob, at once turning round upon Hal. 'I'll +not have thee lingering to gape at the men-at-arms! Off I say, or--' + +He raised his stout staff as though to beat the boy, who looked up in +his face with a laugh, as if in very little alarm at his threat, +smiled up in the young lady's face, and as she held out her hand with +'Farewell, Hal; I'll keep your rose-leaves in my breviary,' he bent over +and kissed the fingers. + +'How now! This impudence passes! As if thou wert of the same blood as +the damsel!' exclaimed Hob in considerable anger, bringing down his +stick. 'Away with thee, ill-bred lubber! Back to thy sheep, thou lazy +loiterer! Get thee gone and thy whelp with thee!' + +Hal obeyed, though not without a parting grin at Anne, and had sped away +down the side of the hill, among the hollies and birches, which entirely +concealed him and the bounding puppy. + +Hob went on in a gruff tone: 'The insolence of these loutish lads! See +you, lady, he is a stripling that I took up off the roadside out of mere +charity, and for the love of Heaven--a mere foundling as you may say, +and this is the way he presumes!' + +'A foundling, sayest thou?' said Anne, unable to resist teasing him a +little, and trying to gratify her own curiosity. + +'Ay, you may say so! There's a whole sort of these orphans, after all +the bad luck to the land, to be picked up on every wayside.' + +'On Towton Moor, mayhap,' said Anne demurely, as she saw her surly guide +start. But he was equal to the occasion, and answered: + +'Ay, ay, Towton Moor; 'twas shame to see such bloody work; and there +were motherless and fatherless children, stray lambs, to be met with, +weeping their little hearts out, and starving all around unless some +good Christian took pity on them.' + +'Was Hal one of these?' asked Lady Anne. + +'I tell you, lady, I looked into a church that was full of weeping +and wailing folk, women and children in deadly fear of the cruel, +bloody-minded York folk, and the Lord of March that is himself King +Edward now, a murrain on him!' + +'Don't let those folk hear you say so!' laughed Lady Anne. 'They would +think nothing of hauling thee off for a black traitor, or hanging thee +up on the first tree stout enough to bear thee.' + +She said it half mischievously, but the only effect was a grunt, and a +stolid shrug of his shoulders, nor did he vouchsafe another word for the +rest of the way before they came through the valley, and through the low +brushwood on the bank, and were in sight of the search party, who set up +a joyful halloo of welcome on perceiving her. + +A young man, the best mounted and armed, evidently an esquire, rode +forward, exclaiming, 'Well met, fair Lady Anne! Great have been the +Mother Prioress's fears for you, and she has called up half the country +side, lest you should be fallen into the hands of Robin of Redesdale, or +some other Lancastrian rogue.' + +'Much she heeded me in comparison with hawk and heron!' responded Anne. +'Thanks for your heed, Master Bertram.' + +'I must part from thee and thy sturdy pony. Thanks for the use of it,' +added she, as the squire proceeded to take her from the pony. He would +have lifted her down, but she only touched his hand lightly and sprang +to the ground, then stood patting its neck. 'Thanks again, good pony. I +am much beholden to thee, Gaffer Hob! Stay a moment.' + +'Nay, lady, it would be well to mount you behind Archie. His beast is +best to carry a lady.' + +Archie was an elderly man, stout but active, attached to the service of +the convent. He had leapt down, and was putting on a belt, and arranging +a pad for the damsel, observing, 'Ill hap we lost you, damsel! I saw you +not fall.' + +'Ay,' returned Anne, 'your merlin charmed you far more. Master Bertram, +the loan of your purse. I would reward the honest man who housed me.' + +Bertram laughed and said, tossing up the little bag that hung to his +girdle, 'Do you think, fair damsel, that a poor Border squire carries +about largesse in gold and silver? Let your clown come with us to +Greystone, and thence have what meed the Prioress may bestow on him, for +a find that your poor servant would have given worlds to make.' + +'Hearest thou, Hob?' said Anne. 'Come with us to the convent, and thou +shalt have thy guerdon.' + +Hob, however, scratched his head, with a more boorish air than he had +before manifested, and muttered something about a cow that needed his +attention, and that he could not spare the time from his herd for all +that the Prioress was like to give him. + +'Take this, then,' said Anne, disengaging a gold clasp from her neck, +and giving it to him. 'Bear it to the goodwife and bid her recollect me +in her prayers.' + +'I shall come and redeem it from thee, sulky carle as thou art,' said +Bertram. 'Such jewels are not for greasy porridge-fed housewives. Hark +thee, have it ready for me! I shall be at thy hovel ere long'--as Anne +waved to Hob when she was lifted to her seat. + +But Hob had already turned away, and Anne, as she held on by Archie's +leathern belt, in her gay tone was beginning to defend him by declaring +that porridge and grease did not go together, so the nickname was not +rightly bestowed on the kindly goodwife. + +'Ay! Greasy from his lord's red deer,' said Bertram, 'or his tainted +mutton. Trust one of these herds, and a sheep is tainted whenever he +wants a good supper. Beshrew me but that stout fellow looks lusty and +hearty enough, as if he lived well.' + +'They were good and kind, and treated me well,' said Anne. 'I should be +dead if they had not succoured me.' + +'The marvel is you are not dead with the stench of their hovel, and the +foulness of their food.' + +'It was very good food--milk, meat, and oaten porridge,' replied Anne. + +'Marvellous, I say!' cried Bertram with a sudden thought. 'Was it not +said that there were some of those traitorous Lancastrian folk +lurking about the mountains and fells? That rogue had the bearing of +a man-at-arms, far more than of a mere herd. Deemedst thou not so, +Archie?' to the elderly man who rode before the young damsel. + +'Herdsmen here are good with the quarter-staff. They know how to stand +against the Scots, and do not get bowed like our Midland serfs,' put +in Anne, before Archie could answer, which he did with something of a +snarl, as Bertram laughed somewhat jeeringly, and declared that the Lady +Anne had become soft-hearted. She looked down at her roses, but in the +dismounting and mounting again the petals of the red rose had floated +away, and nothing was left of it save a slender pink bud enclosed within +a dark calyx. + +Archie, hard pressed, declared, 'There are poor fellows lurking about +here and there, but bad blood is over among us. No need to ferret about +for them.' + +'Eh! Not when there may be a lad among them for whose head the king and +his brothers would give the weight of it in gold nobles?' + +Anne shivered a little at this, but she cried out, 'Shame on you, Master +Bertram Selby, if you would take a price for the head of a brave foe! +You, to aspire to be a knight!' + +'Nay, lady, I was but pointing out to Archie and the other grooms here, +how they might fill their pouches if they would. I verily believe thou +knowst of some lurking-place, thou art so prompt to argue! Did I not +see another with thee, who made off when we came in view? Say! Was he +a blood-stained Clifford? I heard of the mother having married in these +parts.' + +'He was Hob Hogward's herd boy,' answered Anne, as composedly as she +could. 'He hied him back to mind his sheep.' + +Nor would Anne allow another word to be extracted from her ere the grey +walls of the Priory of Greystone rose before her, and the lay Sister at +the gate shrieked for joy at seeing her riding behind Archie. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. -- A SPORTING PRIORESS + + + + Yet nothing stern was she in cell, + And the nuns loved their abbess well.--SCOTT. + + +The days of the Wars of the Roses were evil times for the discipline of +convents, which, together with the entire Western Church, suffered from +the feuds of the Popes with the Italian princes. + +Small remote houses, used as daughters or auxiliaries to the large +convents, were especially apt to fall into a lax state, and in truth +the little priory of Greystone, with its half-dozen of Sisters, had been +placed under the care of the Lady Agnes Selby because she was too highly +connected to be dealt with sharply, and too turbulent and unmanageable +for the soberminded house at York. So there she was sent, with the +deeply devout and strict Sister Scholastica, to keep the establishment +in order, and deal with the younger nuns and lay Sisters. Being not +entirely out of reach of a raid from the Scottish border, it was +hardly a place for the timid, although the better sort of moss troopers +generally spared monastic houses. Anne St. John had been sent thither at +the time when Queen Margaret was making her attempt in the north, where +the city of York was Lancastrian, as the Mother Abbess feared that her +presence might bring vengeance upon the Sisterhood. + +There was no great harm in the Mother Agnes, only she was a maiden +whom nothing but family difficulties could have forced into a monastic +life--a lively, high-spirited, out-of-door creature, whom the close +conventionalities of castle life and even whipping could not tame, and +who had been the despair of her mother and of the discreet dames to whom +her first childhood had been committed, to say nothing of a Lady Abbess +or two. Indeed, from the Mother of Sopwell, Dame Julian Berners, she +had imbibed nothing but a vehement taste for hawk, horse, and hound. +The recluses of St. Mary, York, after being heartily scandalised by her +habits, were far from sorry to have a good excuse for despatching her to +their outlying cell, where, as they observed, she would know how to show +a good face in case the Armstrongs came over the Border. + +She came flying down on the first rumour of Lady Anne's return, her veil +turned back, her pace not at all accordant with the solemn gait of a +Prioress, her arms outstretched, her face, not young nor handsome, but +sunburnt, weather-beaten and healthy, and full of delight. 'My child, +my Nan, here thou art! I was just mounting to seek for thee to the west, +while Bertram sought again over the mosses where we sent yester morn. +Where hast thou been in the snow?' + +'A shepherd took me to his hut, Lady Mother,' answered Anne rather +coldly. + +'Little didst thou think of our woe and grief when thy palfrey was found +standing riderless at the stable door, and Sister Scholastica told us +that there he had been since nones! And she had none to send in quest +but Cuddie, the neatherd.' + +'My palfrey fell with me when you were in full chase of hawk and heron, +'and none ever turned a head towards me nor heard me call.' + +'Poor maid! But it was such a chase as never you did watch. On and on +went the heron, the falcon ever mounting higher and higher, till she was +but a speck in the clouds, and Tam Falconer shouting and galloping, mad +lest she should go down the wind. Methought she would have been back to +Norroway, the foul jade!' + +'Did you capture her, Mother?' asked Anne. + +'Ay, she pounced at last, and well-nigh staked herself on the heron's +beak! But we had a long ride, and were well-nigh at the Tyne before we +had caught her. Full of pranks, but a noble hawk, as I shall write to my +brother by the next messenger that comes our way. I call it a hawk worth +her meat that leads one such a gallop.' + +'What would you have done, reverend Mother, if she had crossed the +Border?' asked Bertram. + +'Ridden after her. No Scot would touch a Lady Prioress on the chase,' +responded Mother Agnes, looking not at all like a reverend Mother. 'Now, +poor Anne, thou must be hungered. Thou shalt eat with Master Bertram and +me in the refectory anon. Take her, Sister Joan, and make her ready to +break her fast with us.' + +Anne quickly went to her chamber. It was not quite a cell, the bare +stone walls being hung with faded woollen tapestry, the floor covered +with a deerskin, the small window filled with dark green glass, a chest +serving the double purpose of seat and wardrobe, and further, a bed hung +with thick curtains, in which she slept with the lay Sister, Joan, who +further fetched a wooden bowl of water from the fountain in the +court that she might wash her face and hands. She changed her soiled +riding-dress for a tight-fitting serge garment of dark green with long +hanging sleeves, assisted by Joan, who also arranged her dark hair in +two plaits, and put over it a white veil, fastened over a framework to +keep it from hanging too closely. + +All the time Joan talked, telling of the fright the Mother had been +in when the loss of the Lady Anne had been discovered, and how it was +feared that she had been seized by Scottish reivers, or lost in the snow +on the hills, or captured by the Lancastrians. + +'For there be many of the Red Rose rogues about on the mosses--comrades, +'tis said, of that noted thief Robin of Redesdale.' + +'I was with good folk, in a shepherd's sheiling,' replied Anne. + +'Ay, ay. Out on the north hill, methinks.' + +'Nay. Beyond Deadman's Pool,' said Anne. 'By Blackreed Moss. That was +where the pony fell.' + +'Blackreed Moss! That moor belongs to the De Vescis, the blackest +Lancaster fellow of all! His daughter is the widow of the red-handed +Clifford, who slew young Earl Edmund on Wakefield Bridge. They say her +young son is in hiding in some moss in his lands, for the King holds him +in deadly feud for his brother's death.' + +'He was a babe, and had nought to do with it,' said Anne. + +'He is of his father's blood,' returned Sister Joan, who in her convent +was still a true north country woman. 'Ay, Lady Anne, you from your +shires know nought of how deep goes the blood feud in us of the +Borderland! Ay, lady, was not mine own grandfather slain by the Musgrave +of Leit Hill, and did not my father have his revenge on his son by +Solway Firth? Yea, and now not a Graeme can meet a Musgrave but they +come to blows.' + +'Nay, but that is not what the good Fathers teach,' Anne interposed. + +'The Fathers have neither chick nor child to take up their quarrel. They +know nought about blood crying for blood! If King Edward caught that +brat of Clifford he would make him know what 'tis to be born of a bloody +house.' + +Anne tried to say something, but the lay Sister pushed her along. +'There, there, go you down--you know nothing about what honour requires +of you! You are but a south country maid, and have no notion of what is +due to them one came from.' + +Joan Graeme was only a lay Sister, her father a small farmer when not a +moss trooper; but all the Border, on both sides, had the strongest +ideas of persistent vendetta, such as happily had never been held in the +midland and southern counties, where there was less infusion of Celtic +blood. Anne was a good deal shocked at the doctrine propounded by the +attendant Sister, a mild, good-natured woman in daily life, but the +conversation confirmed her suspicions, and put her on her guard as she +remembered Hob's warning. She had liked the shepherd lad far too much, +and was far too grateful to him, to utter a word that might give him up +to the revengers of blood. + +At the foot of the stone stairs that led into the quadrangle she met the +black-robed, heavily hooded Sister Scholastica on her way to the chapel. +The old nun held out her arms. 'Safely returned, my child! God be +thanked! Art thou come to join thy thanksgiving with ours at this hour +of nones?' + +'Nay, I am bound to break my fast with the Mother and Master Bertram.' + +'Ah! thou must needs be hungered! It is well! But do but utter thy +thanks to Him Who kept thee safe from the storm and from foul doers.' + +Anne did not break away from the good Sister, but went as far as the +chapel porch, was touched with holy water, and bending her knee, uttered +in a low voice her 'Gratias ago,' then hastened across the court to the +refectory, where the Prioress received her with a laugh and, 'So Sister +Scholastica laid hands on thee; I thought I should have to come and +rescue thee ere the grouse grew cold.' + +Bertram, as a courteous squire of dames, came forward bowing low, and +the party were soon seated at the board--literally a board, supported +upon trestles, only large enough to receive the Prioress, the squire and +the recovered girl, but daintily veiled in delicate white napery. + +It was screened off from the rest of the refectory, where the few +Sisters had already had their morning's meal after Holy Communion; and +from it there was a slight barrier, on the other side of which Bertram +Selby ought to have been, but rules sat very lightly on the Prioress +Selby. Bertram was of kin to her, and she had no demur as to admitting +him to her private table. He was, in fact, a squire of the household +of the Marquess of Montagu, brother of the Kingmaker and had been +despatched with letters to the south. He had made a halt at his cousin's +priory, had been persuaded to join in flying the new hawks, and then had +first been detained by the snow-storm, and then joined in the quest for +the lost Lady Anne St. John. + +No doubt had then arisen that the Nevils were firm in their attachment +to Edward IV., and, as a consequence, in enmity to the House of +Clifford, and both these scions of Selby had been excited at a rumour +that the widow of the Baron who had slain young Edmund of York had +married Sir Lancelot Threlkeld of Threlkeld, and that her eldest son, +the heir of the line, might be hidden somewhere on the De Vesci estates. + +Bertram had already told the Prioress that his men had spied a lad +accompanying the shepherd who escorted the lady, and who, he thought, +had a certain twang of south country speech; and no sooner had he carved +for the ladies, according to the courtly duty of an esquire, than the +inquiry began as to who had found the maiden and where she had been +lodged. Prioress Agnes, who had already broken her fast, sat meantime +with the favourite hawk on her wrist and a large dog beside her, feeding +them alternately with the bones of the grouse. + +'Come, tell us all, sweet Nan! Where wast thou in that untimely +snow-storm? In a cave, starved with cold, eh?' + +'I was safe in a cabin with a kind old gammer.' + +'Eh! And how cam'st thou there? Wandering thither?' + +'Nay, the shepherd heard me call.' + +'The shepherd! What, the churl that came with thee?' + +'He carried me to the hut.' + +Anne was on her guard, though Bertram probed her well. Was there only +one shepherd? Was there not a boy with her on the hill-side where +Bertram met her? The shepherd lad in sooth! What became of him? The +shepherd sent him back, he had been too long away from his flock. What +was his name? What was the shepherd's name? Who was his master? Anne did +not know--she had heard no names save Hob and Hal, she had seen no arms, +she had heard nothing southland. The lad was a mere herd-boy, ordered +out to milk ewes and tend the sheep. She answered briefly, and with a +certain sullenness, and young Selby at last turned on her. 'Look thee +here, fair lady, there's a saying abroad that the heir of the red-handed +House of Clifford is lurking here, on the look-out to favour Queen +Margaret and her son. Couldst thou put us on the scent, King Edward +would favour thee and make thee a great dame, and have thee to his +Court--nay, maybe give thee what is left of the barony of Clifford.' + +'I know nothing of young lords,' sulkily growled Anne, who had been +hitherto busy with her pets, striking her hand on the table. + +'And I tell thee, Bertram Selby,' exclaimed the Prioress, 'that if thou +art ware of a poor fatherless lad lurking in hiding in these parts, it +is not the part of an honest man to seek him out for his destruction, +and still less to try to make the maid he rescued betray him. Well done, +little Anne, thou knowest how to hold thy tongue.' + +'Reverend Mother,' expostulated Bertram, 'if you knew what some would +give to be on the scent of the wolf-cub!' + +'I know not, nor do I wish to know, for what price a Selby would sell +his honour and his bowels of mercy,' said Mother Agnes. 'Come away, Nan; +thou hast done well.' + +Bertram muttered something about having thought her a better Yorkist, +women not understanding, and mischief that might be brewing; but +the Prioress, taking Anne by the hand, went her way, leaving Bertram +standing confused. + +'Oh, mother,' sighed Anne, 'do you think he will go after him? He will +think I was treacherous!' + +'I doubt me whether he will dare,' said the Prioress. 'Moreover, it is +too late in the day for a search, and another snow-shower seems coming +up again. I cannot turn the youth, my kinsman, from my door, and he is +safer here than on his quest, but he shall see no more of thee or me +to-night. I may hold that Edward of March has the right, but that does +not mean hunting down an orphan child.' + +'Mother, mother, you are good indeed!' cried Anne, almost weeping for +joy. + +Bertram, though hurt and offended, was obliged by advance of evening to +remain all night in the hospitium, with only the chaplain to bear him +company, and it was reported that though he rode past Blackpool, no +trace of shepherd or hovel was found. + + + + +CHAPTER V. -- MOTHER AND SON + + + + My own, my own, thy fellow-guest + I may not be, but rest thee, rest-- + The lowly shepherd's life is best. + --WORDSWORTH. + + +The Lady Threlkeld stood in the lower storey of her castle, a sort of +rough-built hall or crypt, with a stone stair leading upward to the +real castle hall above, while this served as a place where she met her +husband's retainers and the poor around, and administered to their wants +with her own hands, assisted by the maidens of her household. + +Among the various hungry and diseased there limped in a sturdy +beggar with a wallet on his back, and a broad shady hat, as though on +pilgrimage. He was evidently a stranger among the rest, and had his leg +and foot bound up, leaning heavily on a stout staff. + +'Italy pilgrim, what ails thee?' demanded the lady, as he approached +her. + +'Alack, noble dame! we poor pilgrims must ever be moving on, however +much it irks foot and limb, over these northern stones,' he answered, +and his accent and tone were such that a thrill seemed to pass over the +lady's whole person, but she controlled it, and only said, 'Tarry till +these have received their alms, then will I see to thee and thy maimed +foot. Give him a stool, Alice, while he waits.' + +The various patients who claimed the lady's assistance were attended +to, those who needed food were relieved, and in due time the hall was +cleared, excepting of the lady, an old female servant, and Hob, who +had sat all the time with his foot on a stool, and his back against +the wall, more than half asleep after the toils and long journey of the +night. + +Then the Lady Threlkeld came to him, and making him a sign not to rise, +said aloud, 'Good Gaffer, let me see what ails thy leg.' Then kneeling +down and busying herself with the bandages, she looked up piteously in +his face, with the partly breathed inquiry, 'My son?' + +'Well, my lady, and grown into a stalwart lad,' was Hob's answer, with +an eye on the door, and in a voice as low as his gruff tones would +permit. + +'And wherefore? What is it?' she asked anxiously. 'Be they on the track +of my poor boy?' + +'They may be,' answered Hob, 'wherefore I deemed it well to shift our +quarters. As hap would have it, the lad fell upon a little wench lost in +the mosses, and there was nothing for it but to bring her home for the +night. I would have had her away as soon as day dawned, and no questions +asked, but the witches, or the foul fiend himself, must needs bring up a +snow-storm, and there was nothing for it but to let her bide in the cot +all day, giving tongue as none but womenfolk can do; and behold she is +the child of the Lord St. John of Bletso.' + +'Nay, what should bring her north?' + +'She wonnes at Greystone with the wild Prioress Selby, who lost her out +hawking. Her father is a black Yorkist. I saw him up to his stirrups in +blood at St. Albans!' + +'But sure my boy did not make himself known to her?' exclaimed the lady. + +'I trow not. He has been well warned, and is a lad of his word; but the +two bairns, left to themselves, could scarce help finding out that each +was of gentle blood and breeding, and how much more my goodwife cannot +tell. I took the maid back so soon as it was safe yester morn, and sent +back my young lord, much against his will, half-way to Greystone. And +well was it I did so, for he was scarce over the ridge when a plump of +spears came in sight on the search for him, and led by the young squire +of Selby.' + +'Ah! and if the damsel does but talk, even if she knows nought, the foe +will draw their conclusions!' said the lady, clasping her hands. 'Oh, +would that I had sent him abroad with his little brothers!' + +'Nay, then might he have fallen into the hands of Bletso himself, and +they say Burgundy is all for the Yorkists now,' said Hob. 'This is what +I have done, gracious lady. I bade my good woman carry off all she could +from the homestead and burn the rest; and for him we wot on, I sent +him and his flock off westward, appointing each of them the same +trysting-place--on the slope beneath Derwent Hill, my lady--whence I +thought, if it were your will and the good knight Sir Lancelot's, we +might go nigher to the sea and the firth, where the Selby clan have no +call, being at deadly feud with the Ridleys. So if the maiden's tongue +goes fast, and the Prioress follows up the quest with young Selby, they +will find nought for their pains.' + +'Thou art a good guardian, Hob! Ah! where would my boy be save for thee? +And thou sayest he is even now at the very border of the forest ground! +Sure, there can be no cause that I should not go and see him. My heart +hungers for my children. Oh, let me go with thee!' + +'Sir Lancelot--' began Hob. + +'He is away at the Warden's summons. He will scarce be back for a week +or more. I will, I must go with thee, good Hob.' + +'Not in your own person, good madam,' stipulated Hob. 'As thou knowest, +there are those in Sir Lancelot's following who might be too apt to +report of secret visits, and that were as ill as the Priory folk.' + +It was then decided that the lady should put on the disguise of a +countrywoman bringing eggs and meat to sell at the castle, and meet Hob +near the postern, whence a path led to Penrith. + +Hob, having received a lump of oatcake and a draught of very small ale, +limped out of the court, and, so soon as he could find a convenient spot +behind the gorse bushes, divested himself of his bandages, and +changed the side of his shepherd's plaid to one much older and more +weather-beaten; also his pilgrim's hat for one in his pouch--a blue +bonnet, more like the national Scottish head-gear, hiding the hat in the +gorse. + +Then he lay down and waited, where he could see a window, whence a red +kerchief was to be fluttered to show when the lady would be ready for +him to attend her. He waited long, for she had first to disarm suspicion +by presiding at the general meal of the household, and showing no undue +haste. + +At last, though not till after he had more than once fallen asleep and +feared that he had missed the signal, or that his wife and 'Hal' might +be tempted to some imprudence while waiting, he beheld the kerchief +waving in the sunset light of the afternoon, and presently, shrouded in +such a black and white shepherd's maud as his own, and in a russet gown +with a basket on her arm, his lady came forth and joined him. + +His first thought was how would she return again, when the darkness was +begun, but her only answer was, 'Heed not that! My child, I must see.' + +Indeed, she was almost too breathless and eager with haste, as he guided +her over the rough and difficult path, or rather track, to answer his +inquiries as to what was to be done next. Her view, however, agreed with +his, that they must lurk in the borders of the woodland for a day or two +till Sir Lancelot's return, when he would direct them to a place where +he could put them under the protection of one of the tenants of his +manor. It was a long walk, longer than Hob had perhaps felt when he had +undertaken to conduct the lady through it, for ladies, though inured to +many dangers in those days, were unaccustomed to travelling on their own +feet; but the mother's heart seemed to heed no obstacle, though moments +came when she had to lean heavily on her companion, and he even had to +lift her over brooks or pools; but happily the sun had not set when they +made their way through the tangles of the wood, and at last saw before +them the fitful glow of a fire of dead leaves, branches and twigs, while +the bark of a dog greeted the rustling, they made. + +'Sweetheart, my faithful!' then shouted Hob, and in another moment there +was a cry, 'Ha! Halloa! Master Hob--beest there?' + +'His voice!--my son's!' gasped the lady, and sank for a moment of +overwhelming joy against the faithful retainer, while the shaggy dog +leapt upon them both. + +'Ay, lad, here--and some one else.' + +The boy crashed through the underwood, and stood on the path in a +moment's hesitation. Mother and son were face to face! + +The years that had passed had changed the lad from almost a babe into a +well-grown strong boy but the mother was little altered, and as she held +out her arms no word was wasted ere he sprang into them, and his face +was hidden on her neck as when he knew his way into her embrace of old! + +When the intense rapturous hold was loosed they were aware of Goodwife +Dolly looking on with clasped hands and streaming eyes, giving thanks +for the meeting of her dear lady and the charge whom she and her husband +had so faithfully kept. + +When the mother and son had leisure to look round, and there was a +pleased survey of the boy's height and strength, Goodwife Dolly came +forward to beg the lady to come to her fire, and rest under the gipsy +tent which she and nephew Piers--her _real_ herd-boy, a rough, shaggy, +almost dumb and imbecile lad--had raised with branches, skins and +canvas, to protect their few articles of property. There was a +smouldering fire, over which Doll had prepared a rabbit which the dog +had caught, and which she had intended for Hal's supper and that of her +husband if he came home in time. While the lady lavished thanks upon her +for all she had done for the boy she was intent on improving the rude +meal, so as to strengthen her mistress after her long walk, and for the +return. The lady, however, could see and think of nothing but her son, +while he returned her tearful gaze with open eyes, gathering up his old +recollections of her. + +'Mother!' he said--with a half-wondering tone, as the recollections of +six years old came back to him more fully, and then he nestled again in +her arms as if she were far more real to him than at first--'Mother!' +And then, as she sobbed over him, 'The little one?' + +'The babe is well, when last I heard of her, in a convent at York. Thou +rememberest her?' + +'Ay--my little sister! Ay,' he said, with a considering interrogative +sound, 'I mind her well, and old Bunce too, that taught me to ride.' + +But Hob interrupted the reminiscences by bringing up the pony on which +Anne had ridden, and insisting that the lady should not tarry longer. +'He,' indicating Hal, might walk beside her through the wood, and thus +prolong their interview, but, as she well knew, it was entirely unsafe +to remain any longer away from the castle. + +There were embraces and sobbing thanks exchanged between the lady and +her son's old nurse, and then Hal, at a growling hint from Hob, came +forward, and awkwardly helped her to her saddle. He walked by her side +through the wood, holding her rein, while Hob, going before, did his +best in the twilight to clear away the tangled branches and brambles +that fell across the path, and were near of striking the lady across the +face as she rode. + +On the way she talked to her son about his remembrances, anxious to +know how far his dim recollections went of the old paternal castle in +Bedfordshire, of his infant sister and brother, and his father. Of him +he had little recollection, only of being lifted in his arms, kissed +and blessed, and seeing him ride away with his troop, clanking in their +armour. After that he remembered nothing, save the being put into a +homelier dress, and travelling on Nurse Dolly's lap in a wain, up and +down, it seemed to him, for ever, till at last clearer recollections +awoke in him, and he knew himself as Hal the shepherd's boy, with the +sheep around him, and the blue starry sky above him. + +'Dost thou remember what thou wast called in those times?' asked his +mother. + +'I was always Hal. The little one was Meg,' he said. + +'Even so, my boy, my dear boy! But knowst thou no more than this?' + +'Methinks, methinks there were serving-men that called me the young +Lord. Ay, so! But nurse said I must forget all that. Mother dear, +when that maiden came and talked of tilts and lances, meseemed that I +recollected somewhat. Was then my father a knight?' + +'Alack! alack! my child, that thou shouldst not know!' + +'Memories came back with that maiden's voice and thine,' said Hal, in a +bewildered tone. 'My father! Was he then slain when he rode farther?' + +'Ah! I may tell thee now thou art old enough to guard thyself,' she +said. 'Thy father, whom our blessed Lord assoilzie, was the Lord +Clifford, slain by savage hands on Towton field for his faith to King +Harry! Thou, my poor boy, art the Baron of Clifford, though while this +cruel House of York be in power thou must keep in hiding from them in +this mean disguise. Woe worth the day!' + +'And am I then a baron--a lord?' said the boy. 'Great lords have books. +Were there not some big ones on the hall window seats? Did not Brother +Eldred begin to teach me my letters? I would that I could go on to learn +more!' + +'Oh, I would that thou couldst have all knightly training, and learn to +use sword and lance like thy gallant father!' + +'Nay, but I saw a poor man fall off his horse and lie hurt, I do not +want those hard, cruel ways. And my father was slain. Must a lord go to +battle?' + +'Boy, boy, thou wilt not belie thy Clifford blood,' cried the lady in +consternation, which was increased when he said, 'I have no mind to go +out and kill folks or be killed. I had rather mark the stars and tend my +sheep.' + +'Alack! alack! This comes of keeping company with the sheep. That my +son, and my lord's son, should be infected with their sheepish nature!' + +'Never fear, madam,' said Hob. 'When occasion comes, and strength is +grown, his blood will show itself.' + +'If I could only give him knightly breeding!' sighed the lady. 'Sir +Lancelot may find the way. I cannot see him grow up a mere shepherd +boy.' + +'Content you, madam,' said Hob. 'Never did I see a shepherd boy with the +wisdom and the thought there is in that curly pate!' + +'Wisdom! thought!' muttered the lady. 'Those did not save our good King, +only made him a saint. I had rather hear the boy talk of sword and lance +than prate of books and stars! And that wench, whom to our misfortune +thou didst find! What didst tell her?' + +'I told her nought, mother, for I had nought to tell.' + +'She scented mystery, though,' said Hob. 'She saw he was no herd boy.' + +'Nay? Though he holds himself like a lout untrained! Would that I could +have thee in hand, my son, to make thee meet to tread in thy brave +father's steps! But now, comrade of sheep thou art, and I fear me thou +wilt ever be! But that maid, I trust that she perceived nothing in thy +bearing or speech?' + +'She will not betray whatever she perceived,' said Hal stoutly. + +The wood was by this time nearly past, and the moment of parting had +come. The lady had decided on going on foot to the little grey stone +church whose low square tower could be seen rising like another rock. +Thither she could repair in her plaid, and by-and-by throw it off, and +return in her own character to the castle, as though she had gone forth +to worship there. When lifted off the shaggy pony she threw her arms +round Hal, kissed him passionately, and bade him never breathe a word +of it, but never to forget that a baron he was, and bound to be a good +brave knight, fit to avenge his father's death! + +Hal came to understand from Dolly's explanations that his recent +abode had been on the estate of his grandfather, Baron de Vesci, at +Londesborough, but his mother had since married Sir Lancelot Threlkeld, +and had intimated that her boy should be removed thither as soon as +might be expedient, and therefore the house on the Yorkshire moor had +been broken up. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. -- A CAUTIOUS STEPFATHER + + + + Thou tree of covert and of rest + For this young bird that was distrest. + --WORDSWORTH. + + +A baron--bound to be a good knight, and to avenge my father's death! +What does it all mean?' murmured Hal to himself as he lay on his back in +the morning sunshine, on the hill-side, the wood behind him, and before +him a distance of undulating ground, ending in the straight mysterious +blue-grey line that Hob Hogward had told him was the sea. + +'Baron! Lord Clifford, like my father! He was a man in steel armour; I +remember how it rang, and how his gorget--yes, that was the thing round +his throat--how it hurt me when he lifted me up to kiss me, and how they +blamed me for crying out. Ay, and he lived in a castle with dark, dull, +narrow chambers, all save the hall, where there was ever a tramping and +a clamouring, and smells of hot burning meat, and horses, and all sorts +of things, and they sat and sat over their meat and wine, and drank +health to King Harry and the Red Rose. I mind now how they shouted and +roared, and how I wanted to go and hide on the stairs, and my father +would have me shout with them, and drink confusion to York out of his +cup, and shook me and cuffed me when I cried. Oh! must one be like that +to be a knight? I had rather live on these free green hills with the +clear blue sky above me, and my good old ewe for my comrade'--and he +fell to caressing the face of an old sheep which had come up to him, +a white, mountain-bleached sheep with fine and delicate limbs. 'Yes, +I love thee, good, gentle, little ewe, and thee, faithful Watch,' as +a young collie pressed up to him, thrusting a long nose into his hand, +'far better than those great baying hounds, or the fierce-eyed hawks +that only want to kill. If I be a baron, must it be in that sort? +Avenge! avenge! what does that mean? Is it, as in Goodwife Dolly's +ballads, going forth to kill? Why should I? I had rather let them be! +Hark! Yea, Watch,' as the dog pricked his ears and raised his graceful +head, then sprang up and uttered a deep-mouthed bark. The sheep darted +away to her companions, and Hal rose to his feet, as the dog began to +wave his tail, and Hob came forward accompanied by a tall, grave-looking +gentleman. 'Here he be, sir. Hal, come thou and ask the blessing of thy +knightly stepfather.' + +Hal obeyed the summons, and coming forward put a knee to the ground, +while Sir Lancelot Threlkeld uttered the conventional blessing, +adding, 'Fair son, I am glad to see thee. Would that we might be better +acquainted, but I fear it is not safe for thee to come and be trained +for knighthood in my poor house. Thou art a well grown lad, I rejoice to +see, and strong and hearty I have no doubt.' + +'Ay, sir, he is strong enow, I wis; we have done our best for him,' +responded Hob, while Hal stood shy and shamefaced; but there was +something about his bearing that made Sir Lancelot observe, 'Ay, ay, he +shows what he comes of more than his mother made me fear. Only thou must +not slouch, my fair son. Raise thy head more. Put thy shoulders back. +So! so! Nay.' + +Poor Hal tried to obey, the colour mounting in his face, but he +only became more and more stiff when he tried to be upright, and his +expression was such that Sir Lancelot cried out, 'Put not on the visage +of one of thine own sheep! Ah! how shalt thou be trained to be a worthy +knight? I cannot take thee to mine house, for I have men there who might +inform King Edward that thy mother harboured thee. And unless I could +first make interest with Montagu or Salisbury, that would be thy death, +if not mine.' + +The boy had nothing to say to this, and stood shy by, while his +stepfather explained his designs to Hal. It was needful to remove the +young Baron as far as possible from the suspicion of the greater part +of Sir Lancelot Threlkeld's household, and the present resting-place, +within a walk of his castle, was therefore unsafe; besides that, +freebooters might be another danger, so near the outskirts of the wood, +since the northern districts of moor and wood were by no means clear of +the remnants of the contending armies, people who were generally of the +party opposite to that which they intended to rob. + +But on the banks of the Derwent, not far from its fall into the sea, Sir +Lancelot had granted a tenure to an old retainer of the De Vescis, +who had followed his mistress in her misfortunes; and on his lands Hob +Hogward might be established as a guardian of the herds with his family, +which would excite no suspicion. Moreover, he could train the young +Baron in martial exercises, the only other way of fitting him for his +station unless he could be sent to France or Burgundy like his brother; +but besides that the journey was a difficulty, it was always uncertain +whether there would be revengeful exiles of one or other side in the +service of their King, who might wreak the wrongs of their party on +Clifford's eldest son. There was reported to be a hermit on the coast, +who, if he was a scholar, might teach the young gentleman. To Sir +Lancelot's surprise, his stepson's face lighted up more at this +suggestion than at that of being trained in arms. + +Hob had done nothing in that way, not even begun to teach him the +quarterstaff, though he avouched that when there was cause the young +lord was no craven, no more than any Clifford ever was--witness when he +drove off the great hound, which some said was a wolf, when it fell upon +the flock, or when none could hold him from climbing down the Giant's +Cliff after the lamb that had fallen. No fear but he had heart enough to +make his hand keep his own or other folks' heads. + +'That is well,' said Sir Lancelot, looking at the lad, who stood +twisting his hands in the speechless silence induced by being the +subject of discussion; 'but it would be better, as my lady saith, if he +could only learn not to bear himself so like a clown.' + +However, there was no more time, for Simon Bunce, the old man-at-arms +whom Sir Lancelot had appointed to meet him there, came in sight through +the trees, riding an old grey war-horse, much resembling himself in the +battered and yet strong and effective air of both. Springing down, the +old man bent very low before the young Baron, raising his cap as he gave +thanks to Heaven for permitting him to see his master's son. Then, after +obeisance to his present master, he and Hob eagerly shook hands as old +comrades and fellow-soldiers who had thought never to meet again. + +Then turning again to the young noble, he poured out his love, devotion +and gratitude for being able to serve his beloved lord's noble son; +while poor Hal stood under the discomfort of being surrounded with +friends who knew exactly what to say and do to him, their superior, +while he himself was entirely at a loss how to show himself gracious or +grateful as he knew he ought to do. It was a relief when Sir Lancelot +said 'Enough, good Simon! Forget his nobility for the present while he +goes with thee to Derwentside as herd boy to Halbert Halstead here; only +thou must forget both their names, and know them only as Hal and Hob.' + +With a gesture of obedience, Simon listened to the further directions, +and how he was to explain that these south country folks had been sent +up in charge of an especial flock of my lady's which she wished to have +on the comparatively sheltered valley of the Derwent. Perhaps further +directions as to the training of the young Baron were added later, but +Hal did not hear them. He was glad to be dismissed to find Piers and +gather the sheep together in preparation for the journey to their new +quarters. Yet he did not fail to hear the sigh with which his stepfather +noted that his parting salutation was far too much in the character of +the herd boy. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. -- ON DERWENT BANKS + + + + When under cloud of fear he lay + A shepherd clad in homely grey. + --WORDSWORTH. + + +Simon Bunce came himself to conduct his new tenants to their abode. It +was a pleasant spot, a ravine, down which the clear stream rushed on +its course to mingle its waters with those of the ocean. The rocks and +brushwood veiled the approach to an open glade where stood a rude stone +hovel, rough enough, but possessing two rooms, a hearth and a chimney, +and thus superior to the hut that had been left on the moor. There were +sheds for the cattle around, and the grass was fresh and green so that +the sheep, the goat and the cow began eagerly feeding, as did the pony +which Hal and Piers were unloading. + +On one side stretched the open moor rising into the purple hills, just +touched with snow. On the other was the wooded valley of the Derwent, +growing wider ever before it debouched amid rocks into the sea. The +goodwife at once discovered that there had been recent habitation, and +asked what had become of the former dwellers there. + +'The woman fretted for company,' said Simon, 'and vowed she was in fear +of the Scots, so I even let her have her way and go down to the town.' + +The town in north country parlance only meant a small village, and Hob +asked where it lay. + +It was near the junction of the two streams, where Simon lived himself +in a slightly fortified farmhouse, just high up enough to be fairly safe +from flood tides. He did not advise his newly arrived tenants to be much +seen at this place, where there were people who might talk. They were +almost able to provide for their daily needs themselves, excepting for +meal and for ale, and he would himself see to this being supplied from +a more distant farm on the coast, which Hob and Piers might visit from +time to time with the pony. + +Goodwife Dolly inquired whether they might safely go to church, from +which she had been debarred all the time they had been on the move. 'So +ill for both us and the lad,' she said. + +Simon looked doubtful. 'If thou canst not save thy soul without,' he +said, 'thou mightst go on some feast day, when there is such a concourse +of folk that thou mightst not be noticed, and come away at once without +halting for idle clavers, as they call them here.' + +'That's what the women folk are keen for with their church-going,' said +Hob with a grin. + +'Now, husband, thou knowst,' said Dolly, injured, though she was more +than aware he spoke with intent to tease her. 'Have I not lived all this +while with none to speak to save thee and the blessed lads, and never +murmured.' + +'Though thy tongue be sore for want of speech!' laughed Hob, 'thou beest +a good wife, Dolly, and maybe thy faithfulness will tell as much in the +saving of thy soul as going to church.' + +'Nay, but,' said Hal with eagerness, 'is there not a priest?' + +'The priest comes of a White Rose house--I trust not him. Ay, goodwife, +beware of showing thyself to him. I give him my dues, that he may have +no occasion against me or Sir Lancelot, but I would not have him pry +into knowledge that concerns him not.' + +'Did not Sir Lancelot say somewhat of a scholarly hermit who might learn +me in what I ought to know?' asked the boy. + +'Never you fear, sir! Here are Hob Halstead and I, able to train any +young noble in what behoves him most to know.' + +'Yea, in arms and sports. They must be learnt I know, but a noble needs +booklore too,' said the boy. 'Cannot this same hermit help me? Sir +Lancelot--' + +Simon Bunce interrupted sharply. 'Sir Lancelot knows nought of the +hermit! He is--he is--a holy man.' + +'A priest,' broke in Dolly, 'a priest!' + +'No such thing, dame, no clerk at all, I tell thee. And ye lads had best +not molest him! He is for ever busy with his prayers, and wants none +near him.' + +Hal was disappointed, for his mind was far less set on the exercises of +a young knight than on the desire to acquire knowledge, that study which +seemed to be thrown away on the unwilling ears of Anne St. John. + +Hob had been awakened by contact with his lady and her husband, as well +as with the old comrade, Simon Bunce, to perceive that if there were any +chance of the young Lord Clifford's recovering his true position he +must not be allowed to lounge and slouch about like Piers, and he was +continually calling him to order, making him sit and stand upright, as +he had seen the young pages forced to do at the castle, learn how to +handle a sword, and use the long stick which was the substitute for a +lance, and to mount and sit on the old pony as a knight should do, till +poor Hal had no peace, and was glad to get away upon the moor with Piers +and the sheep, where there was no one to criticise him, or predict that +nothing would ever make him do honour to his name if he were proved ten +times a baron. + +It was still worse when Bunce came over, and brought a taller horse, and +such real weapons as he deemed that the young lord might be taught to +use, and there were doleful auguries and sharp reproofs, designed in +comically respectful phrases, till he was almost beside himself with +being thus tormented, and ready to wish never to hear of being a baron. + +His relief was to wander away upon the moors, watch the lights and +shadows on the wondrous mountains, or dream on the banks of the river, +by which he could make his way to the seashore, a place of endless +wonder and contemplation, as he marvelled why the waters flowed in and +retreated again, watched the white crests, and the glassy rolls of +the waves, felt his mind and aspiration stretched as by something +illimitable, even as when he looked up to the sky, and saw star beyond +star, differing from one another in brightness. There were those white +birds too, differing from all the night-jars and plovers he had seen on +the moor, floating now over the waves, now up aloft and away, as if they +were soaring into the very skies. Oh, would that he could follow them, +and rise with them to know what were those great grey or white clouds, +and what was above or below in those blue vastnesses! And whence came +all those strange things that the water spread at his feet the long, +brown, wet streamers, or the delicate red tracery that could be seen in +the clear pools, where were sometimes those lumps like raw flesh when +closed, but which opened into flowers? Or the things like the snails on +the heath, yet not snails, and all the strange creatures that hopped and +danced in the water? + +Why would no one explain such things to him? Nay, what a pity everyone +treated it as mere childish folly in him to be thus interested! They did +not quite dare to beat him for it--that was one use of being a baron. +Indeed, one day when Simon Bunce struck him sharply and hard over the +shoulders for dragging home a great piece of sea-weed with numerous +curious creatures upon it, Goodwife Dolly rushed out and made such an +outcry that the esquire was fain to excuse himself by declaring that it +was time that my lord should know how to bide a buffet, and answer it. +He was ready and glad to meet the stroke in return! 'Come on, sir!' + +And Hob put a stout headless lance in the boy's hand, while Simon stood +up straight before him. Hob adjusted the weapon in his inert hand, and +told him how and where to strike. But 'It is not in sooth. I don't want +to hurt Master Simon,' said the child, as they laughed, and yet with +displeasure as his blow fell weak and uncertain. + +'Is it a mouse's tail?' cried Simon in derision. + +'Come, sir, try again,' said Hob. 'Strike as you did when the black bull +came down. Why cannot you do the like now, when you are tingling from +Bunce's stroke?' + +'Ah! then I thought the bull would fall on Piers,' said Hal. + +'Come on, think so now, sir. One blow to do my heart good, and show you +have the arm of your forebears.' + +Thus incited, with Hob calling out to him to take heart of grace, while +Simon made a feint of trying to beat Mother Dolly, Hal started forward +and dealt a blow sufficient to make Simon cry out, 'Ha, well struck, +sir, if you had had a better grip of your lance! I even feel it through +my buff coat.' + +He spoke as though it had been a kiss; but oh! and alack! why were these +rough and dreary exercises all that these guardians--yea, and even Sir +Lancelot and his mother--thought worth his learning, when there was so +much more that awoke his delight and interest? Was it really childish to +heed these things? Yet even to his young, undeveloped brain it seemed +as if there must be mysteries in sky and sea, the unravelling of which +would make life more worth having than the giving and taking of blows, +which was all they heeded. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. -- THE HERMIT + + + + No hermit e'er so welcome crost + A child's lone path in woodland lost. + --KEBLE. + + +Hal had wandered farther than his wont, rather hoping to be out of call +if Simon arrived to give him a lesson in chivalrous sports. He found +himself on the slope of one of the gorges down which smaller streams +rushed in wet weather to join the Derwent. There was a sound of tinkling +water, and leaning forward, Hal saw that a tiny thread of water dropped +between the ferns and the stones. Therewith a low, soft chant in a manly +voice, mingling with the drip of the water. + +The words were strange to him&& + + + Lucis Creator optime, + Lucem dierum proferens&& + + +but they were very sweet, and in leaning forward to look between the +rowan branches and hear and see more, his foot slipped, and with Watch +barking round him, he rolled helplessly down the rock, and found himself +before a tall light-haired man, in a dark dress, who gave a hand to +raise him, asking kindly, 'Art hurt, my child?' + +'Oh, no, sir! Off, off, Watch!' as the dog was about to resent anyone's +touching his master. 'Holy sir, thanks, great thanks,' as a long fair +hand helped him to his feet, and brushed his soiled garment. + +'Unhurt, I see,' said that sweet voice. 'Hast thou lost thy way? Good +dog, thou lovest thy master! Art thou astray?' + +'No, sir, thank you, I know my way home.' + +'Thou art the boy who lives with the shepherd at Derwentside, on Bunce's +ground?' + +'Ay, Hob Hogward's herd boy,' said Hal. 'Oh, sir, are you the holy +hermit of the Derwent vale?' + +'A hermit for the nonce I am,' was the answer, with something of a smile +responsive to the eager face. + +'Oh, sir, if you be not too holy to look at me or speak to me! If +you would help me to some better knowledge--not only of sword and +single-stick!' + +'Better knowledge, my child! Of thy God?' said the hermit, a sweet look +of joy spreading over his face. + +'Goodwife Dolly has told me of Him, and taught me my Pater and Credo, +but we have lived far off, and she has not been able to go to church +for weeks and years. But what I long after is to tell me what means all +this--yonder sea, and all the stars up above. And they will call me a +simpleton for marking such as these, and only want me to heed how to +shoot an arrow, or give a stroke hard enough to hurt another. Do such +rude doings alone, fit for a bull or a ram as meseems, go to the making +of a knight, fair sir?' + +'They go to the knight's keeping of his own, for others whom he ought +to defend,' said the hermit sadly; 'I would have thee learn and practise +them. But for the rest, thou knowest, sure, who made the stars?' + +'Oh yes! Nurse Dolly told me. She saw it all in a mystery play long long +ago--when a Hand came out, and put in the stars and sun and moon.' + +'Knowest thou whose Hand was figured there, my child?' + +'The Hand of God,' said Hal, removing his cap. 'They be sparks to show +His glory! But why do some move about among the others--one big one +moves from the Bull's face one winter to half-way beyond it. And is the +morning star the evening one?' + +'Ah! thou shouldst know Ptolemy and the Almagest,' said the hermit +smiling, 'to understand the circuits of those wandering stars--Coeli +enarrant gloriam Dei.' + +'That is Latin,' said the boy, startled. 'Are you a priest, sir?' + +'No, not I--I am not worthy,' was the answer, 'but in some things I may +aid thee, and I shall be blessed in so doing. Canst say thy prayers?' + +'Oh, yes! nurse makes me say them when I lie down and when I get +up--Credo and Pater. She says the old parson used to teach them our own +tongue for them, but she has well-nigh forgot. Can you tell me, holy +man?' + +'That will I, with all my heart,' responded the hermit, laying his long +delicate hand on Hal's head. 'Blessed be He who has sent thee to me!' + +The boy sat at the hermit's feet, listening with the eagerness of one +whose soul and mind had alike been under starvation, and how time went +neither knew till there was a rustling and a step. Watch sprang up, +but in another moment Simon Bunce, cap in hand, stood before the hut, +beginning with 'How now, sir?' + +The hermit raised his hand, as if to make a sign, saying, 'Thou seest I +have a guest, good friend.' + +Bunce started back with 'Oh! the young Lord! Sworn to silence, I trust! +I bade him not meddle with you, sir.' + +'It was against his will, I trow,' said the hermit. 'He fell over the +rock by the waterfall, but since he is here, I will answer for him that +he does no hurt by word or deed!' + +'Never, holy sir!' eagerly exclaimed Hal. 'Hob Hogward knows that I can +keep my mouth shut. And may I come again?' + +Simon was shaking his head, but the hermit took on him to say, 'Gladly +will I welcome thee, my fair child, whensoever thou canst find thy way +to the weary old anchoret! Go thy way now! Or hast thou lost it?' + +'No, sir; I ken the woodland and can soon be at home,' replied Hal; +then, putting a knee to the ground, 'May I have your blessing, holy +man?' + +'Alack, I told thee I am no priest,' said the hermit; 'but for such as I +am, I bless thee with all my soul, thou fatherless lad,' and he laid +his hand on the young lad's wondering brow, then bade him begone, since +Simon and himself had much to say to one another. + +Hal summoned Watch, and turned to a path through the wood, leading +towards the coast, wondering as he walked how the hermit seemed to know +him--him whose presence had been so sedulously concealed. Could it be +that so very holy a man had something of the spirit of prophecy? + +He kept his promise of silence, and indeed his guardians were so much +accustomed to his long wanderings that he encountered no questions, only +one of Hob's growls that he should always steal away whenever there was +a chance of Master Bunce's coming to try to make a man of him. + +However, Bunce himself arrived shortly after, and informed Hob that +since young folks always pried where they were least wanted, and my lord +had stumbled incontinently on the anchoret's den, it was the holy man's +will that he might come there whenever he chose. A pity and shame +it was, but it would make him more than ever a mere priestling, ever +hankering after books and trash! + +'Were it not better to ask my lady and Sir Lancelot if they would have +it so? I could walk over to Threlkeld!' + +'No, no, no, on your life not,' exclaimed Simon, striking his staff on +the ground in his vehemence. 'Never a word to the Threlkeld or any of +his kin! Let well alone! I only wish the lad had never gone a-roaming +there! But holy men must not be gainsaid, even if it does make a poor +craven scholar out of his father's son.' + +And thus began a time of great contentment to the Lord Clifford. There +were few days on which he did not visit the hermitage. It was a small +log hut, but raised with some care, and made weatherproof with moss and +clay in the crevices, and there was an inner apartment, with a little +oil lamp burning before a rough wooden cross, where Hal, if the hermit +were not outside, was certain to find him saying his prayers. Food was +supplied by Simon himself, and, since Hal's admission, was often carried +by him, and the hermit seemed to spend his time either in prayer or in +a gentle dreamy state of meditation, though he always lighted up into +animation at the arrival of the boy whom he had made his friend. Hal had +thought him old at first, on the presumption that all hermits must be +aged, nor was it likely that age should be estimated by one living such +a life, but the light hair, untouched with grey, the smooth cheeks and +the graceful figure did not belong to more than a year or two above +forty. And he had no air of ill health, yet this calm solitary residence +in the wooded valley seemed to be infinite rest to him. + +Hal had no knowledge nor experience to make him wonder, and accepted the +great quiet and calm of the hermit as the token of his extreme holiness +and power of meditation. He himself was always made welcome with Watch +by his side, and encouraged to talk and ask questions, which the hermit +answered with what seemed to the boy the utmost wisdom, but older heads +would have seen not to be that of a clever man, but of one who had been +fairly educated for the time, had had experience of courts and camps, +and referred all the inquiries and wonderments which were far beyond him +direct to Almighty Power. + +The mind of the boy advanced much in this intercourse with the first +cultivated person he had encountered, and who made a point of actually +teaching and explaining to him all those mysteries of religion which +poor old Dolly only blindly accepted and imparted as blindly to her +nursling. Of actual instruction, nothing was attempted. A little +portuary, or abbreviated manual of the service, was all that the hermit +possessed, treasured with his small crucifix in his bosom, and of course +it was in Latin. The Hours of the Church he knew by heart, and never +failed to observe them, training his young pupil in the repetition and +English meaning of such as occurred during his visits. He also told much +of the history of the world, as he knew it, and of the Church and the +saints, to the eager mind that absorbed everything and reflected on it, +coming with fresh questions that would have been too deep and perplexing +for his friend if he had not always determined everything with 'Such is +the will of God.' + +Somewhat to the surprise of Simon Bunce and Hob Hogward, Hal improved +greatly, not only in speech but in bearing; he showed no such dislike +or backwardness in chivalrous exercises as previously; and when once Sir +Lancelot Threlkeld came over to see him, he was absolutely congratulated +on looking so much more like a young knight. + +'Ay,' said Bunce, taking all the merit to himself, 'there's nought like +having an old squire trained in the wars in France to show a stripling +how to hold a lance.' + +Hal had been too well tutored to utter a word of him to whom his +improvement was really due, not by actual training, but partly by +unconscious example in dignified grace and courtesy of demeanour, and +partly by the rather sad assurances that it was well that a man born to +his station, if he ever regained it, should be able to defend himself +and others, and not be a helpless burthen on their hands. Tales of +the Seven Champions of Christendom and of King Arthur and his Knights +likewise had their share in the moulding of the youthful Lord Clifford. + +His great desire was to learn to read, but it was not encouraged by the +hermit, nor was there any book available save the portuary, crookedly +and contractedly written on vellum, so as to be illegible to anyone +unfamiliar with writing, with Latin, or the service. However, the +anchoret yielded to his importunity so far as to let him learn the +alphabet, traced on the door in charcoal, and identify the more sacred +words in the book--which, indeed, were all in gold, red and blue. + +He did not advance more than this, for his teacher was apt to go off in +a musing dream of meditation, repeating over and over in low sweet tones +the holy phrases, and not always rousing himself when his pupil made +a remark or asked a question. Yet he was always concerned at his own +inattention when awakened, and would apologise in a tone of humility +that always made Hal feel grieved and ashamed of having been +importunate. For there was a dignity and gentleness about the hermit +that always made the boy feel the contrast with his own roughness and +uncouthness, and reverence him as something from a holier world. + +'Nurse, I do think he is a saint,' one day said Hal. + +'Nay, nay, my laddie, saints don't come down from heaven in these days +of evil.' + +'I would thou could see him when one comes upon him at his prayers. +His face is like the angel at the cross I saw so long ago in the castle +chapel.' + +'Dost thou remember that chapel? Thou wert a babe when we quitted it.' + +'I had well nigh forgotten it, but the good hermit's face brought all +back again, and the voice of the father when he said the Service.' + +'That thou shouldst mind so long! This hermit is no priest, thou sayst?' + +'No, he said he was not worthy; but sure all saints were not priests, +nurse.' + +'Nay, it is easy to be more worthy than the Jack Priests I have known. +Though I would they would let me go to church. But look thee here, +Hal, if he be such a saint as thou sayst, maybe thou couldst get him to +bestow a blessing on poor Piers, and give him his hearing and voice.' + +Hal was sure that his own special saint was holy enough for anything, +and accordingly asked permission of him to bring his silent companion +for blessing and healing. + +The mild blue eye lighted for a moment. 'Is the poor child then +afflicted with the King's Evil?' the hermit asked. + +'Nay, he is sound enough in skin and limb. It is that he can neither +hear nor speak, and if you, holy sir, would lay thine hand on him, and +sign him with the rood, and pray, mayhap your holiness--' + +'Peace, peace,' cried the hermit impetuously, lifting up his hand. 'Dost +not know that I am a sinner like unto the rest--nay, a greater sinner, +in that a burthen was laid on me that I had not the soul to rise to, so +that the sin and wickedness of thousands have been caused by my craven +faint heart for well nigh two score years? O miserere Domine.' + +He threw himself on the ground with clasped hands, and Hal, standing +by in awestruck amazement, heard no more save sobs, mingled with the +supplications of the fifty-first Psalm. + +He was obliged at last to go away without having been able to recall +the attention of his friend from his agony of prayer. With the reticence +that had grown upon him, he did not mention at home the full effect of +his request, but when he thought it over he was all the more convinced +that his friend was a great saint. Had he not always heard that saints +believed themselves great sinners, and went through many penances? And +why did he speak as if he could have cured the King's Evil? He asked +Dolly what it was, and she replied that it was the sickness that only +the King's touch could heal. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. -- HENRY OF WINDSOR + + + + My crown is in my heart, not on my head; + Not deck'd with diamonds, and Indian stones, + Nor to be seen. My crown is call'd Content. + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +Summer had faded, and an early frost had tinted the fern-leaves with +gold here and there, and made the hermit wrap himself close in a cloak +lined with thick brown fur. + +Simon, who was accustomed very respectfully to take the command of him, +insisted that he should have a fire always burning on a rock close to +his door, and that Piers, if not Hal, should always take care that it +never went out, smothering it with peat, as every shepherd boy knew how +to do, so as to keep it alight, or, in case of need, to conceal it with +turf. + +One afternoon, as Hal lay on the grass, whiling away the time by +alternately playing with Watch and trying to unravel the mysteries of a +flower of golden-rod, until the hermit should have finished his prayers +and be ready to attend to him, Piers came through the wood, evidently +sent on a message, and made him understand that he was immediately +wanted at home. + +Hal turned to take leave of his host, but the hermit's eyes were raised +in such rapt contemplation as to see nought, and, indeed, it might +be matter of doubt whether he had ever perceived the presence of his +visitor. + +Hal directed Piers to arrange the fire, and hurried away, becoming +conscious as he came in sight of the cottage that there were horses +standing before it, and guessing at once that it must be a visit from +Sir Lancelot Threlkeld. + +It was Simon Bunce, however, who, with demonstrations of looking for +him, came out to meet him as he emerged from the brushwood, and said +in a gruff whisper, clutching his shoulder hard, 'Not a word to give a +clue! Mum! More than your life hangs on it.' + +No more could pass, to explain the clue intended, whether to the +presence of the young Lord Clifford himself, which was his first +thought, or to the inhabitant of the hermitage. For Sir Lancelot's +cheerful voice was exclaiming, 'Here he is, my lady! Here's your son! +How now, my young lord? Thou hast learnt to hold up thy head! Ay, and to +bow in better sort,' as, bending with due grace, Hal paused for a second +ere hurrying forward to kneel before his mother, who raised him in her +arms and kissed him with fervent affection. 'My son! mine own dear +boy, how art thou grown! Thou hast well nigh a knightly bearing!' she +exclaimed. 'Master Bunce hath done well by thee.' + +'Good blood will out, my lady,' quoth Simon, well pleased at her praise. + +'He hath had no training but thine?' said Sir Lancelot, looking full at +Simon. + +'None, Sir Knight, unless it be honest Halstead's here.' + +'Methought I heard somewhat of the hermit in the glen,' put in the lady. + +'He is a saint!' declared two or three voices, as if this precluded his +being anything more. + +'A saint,' repeated the lady. 'Anchorets are always saints. What doth +he?' + +'Prayeth,' answered Simon. 'Never doth a man come in but he is at his +prayers. 'Tis always one hour or another!' + +'Ay?' said Sir Lancelot, interrogatively. 'Sayest thou so? Is he an old +man?' + +Simon put in his word before Hal could speak: 'Men get so knocked about +in these wars that there's no guessing their age. I myself should deem +that the poor rogue had had some clouts on the head that dazed him and +made him fit for nought save saying his prayers.' + +Here Sir Lancelot beckoned Simon aside, and walked him away, so as to +leave the mother and son alone together. + +Lady Threlkeld questioned closely as to the colour of the eyes and +hair, and the general appearance of the hermit, and Hal replied, without +suspicion, that the eyes were blue, the hair, he thought, of a light +colour, the frame tall and slight, graceful though stooping; he had +thought at first that the hermit must be old, very old, but had since +come to a different conclusion. His dress was a plain brown gown like +a countryman's. There was nobody like him, no one whom Hal so loved and +venerated, and he could not help, as he stood by his mother, pouring out +to her all his feeling for the hermit, and the wise patient words that +now and then dropped from him, such as 'Patience is the armour and +conquest of the godly;' or, 'Shall a man complain for the punishment of +his sins?' 'Yet,' said Hal, 'what sins could the anchoret have? Never +did I know that a man could be so holy here on earth. I deemed that was +only for the saints in heaven.' + +The lady kissed the boy and said, 'I trow thou hast enjoyed a great +honour, my child.' + +But she did not say what it was, and when her husband summoned her, +she joined him to repair to Penrith, where they were keeping an autumn +retirement at a monastery, and had contrived to leave their escort and +make this expedition on their way. + +Simon examined Hal closely on what he had said to his mother, sighed +heavily, and chided him for prating when he had been warned against it, +but that was what came of dealing with children and womenfolk. + +'What can be the hurt?' asked Hal. 'Sir Lancelot knows well who I am! No +lack of prudence in him would put men on my track.' + +'Hear him!' cried Simon; 'he thinks there is no nobler quarry in the +woods than his lordship!' + +'The hermit! Oh, Simon, who is he?' + +But Simon began to shout for Hob Hogward, and would not hear any further +questions before he rode away, as far as Hal could see, in the opposite +direction to the hermitage. But when he repaired thither the next day +he was startled by hearing voices and the stamp of horses, and as he +reconnoitred through the trees he saw half a dozen rough-looking men, +with bows and arrows, buff coats, and steel-guarded caps--outlaws and +robbers as he believed. + +His first thought was that they meant harm to the gentle hermit, and his +impulse was to start forward to his protection or assistance, but as +he sprang into sight one of the strangers cried out: 'How now! Here's +a shepherd thrusting himself in. Back, lad, or 'twill be the worse for +you.' + +'The hermit! the hermit! Do not meddle with him! He's a saint,' shouted +Hal. + +But even as he spoke he became aware of Simon, who called out: 'Hold, +sir; back, Giles; this is one well nigh in as much need of hiding as him +yonder. Well come, since you be come, my lord, for we cannot get _him_ +there away without a message to you, and 'tis well he should be off ere +the sleuth-hounds can get on the scent.' + +'What! Where! Who?' demanded the bewildered boy, breaking off, as at +that moment his friend appeared at the door of the hovel, no longer +in the brown anchoret's gown but in riding gear, partially defended +by slight armour, and with a cap on his head, which made him look much +younger than he had before done. + +'Child, art thou there? It is well; I could scarce have gone without +bidding thee farewell,' he said in his sweet voice; 'thou, the dear +companion of my loneliness.' + +'O sir, sir, and are you going away?' + +'Yea, so they will have it! These good fellows are come to guard me.' + +'Oh! may I not go with thee?' + +'Nay, my fair son. Thou art beneath thy mother's wing, while I am like +one who was hunted as a partridge on the mountains.' + +'Whither, oh whither?' gasped Hal. + +'That I know not! It is in the breasts of these good men, who are +charged by my brave wife to have me in their care.' + +'Oh! sir, sir, what shall I do without you? You that have helped me, and +taught me, and opened mine eyes to all I need to know.' + +'Hush, hush; it is a better master than I could ever be that thou +needest. But,' as tokens of impatience manifested themselves among the +rude escort, 'take thou this,' giving him the little service-book, as he +knelt to receive it, scarce knowing why. 'One day thou wilt be able to +read it. Poor child! whose lot it is to be fatherless and landless for +me and mine, I would I could do more for thee.' + +'Oh! you have done all,' sobbed Hal. + +'Nay, now, but this be our covenant, my boy! If thou, and if mine own +son both come to your own, thou wilt be a true and loyal man to him, +even as thy father was to me, and may God Almighty make it go better +with you both.' + +'I will, I will! I swear by all that is holy!' gasped Hal Clifford, with +a flash of perception, as he knelt. + +'Come, my liege, we have far to go ere night. No time for more parting +words and sighs.' + +Hal scarcely knew more except that the hands were laid on his head, and +the voice he had learnt to love so well said: 'The blessing of God +the Father be upon thee, thou fatherless boy, and may He reward thee +sevenfold for what thy father was, who died for his faithfulness to me, +a sinner! Fare thee well, my boy.' + +As the hand that Hal was fervently kissing was withdrawn from him he +sank upon his face, weeping as one heartbroken. He scarce heard the +sounds of mounting and the trampling of feet, and when he raised his +head he was alone, the woods and rocks were forsaken. + +He sprang up and ran along at his utmost speed on the trampled path, +but when he emerged from it he could only see a dark party, containing +a horseman or two, so far on the way that it was hopeless to overtake +them. + +He turned back slowly to the deserted hut, and again threw himself on +the ground, weeping bitterly. He knew now that his friend and master had +been none other than the fugitive King, Henry of Windsor. + + + + +CHAPTER X. -- THE SCHOLAR OF THE MOUNTAINS + + + Not in proud pomp nor courtly state; + Him his own thoughts did elevate, + Most happy in the shy recess. + --WORDSWORTH. + + +The departure of King Henry was the closing of the whole intellectual +and religious world that had been opened to the young Lord Clifford. To +the men of his own court, practical men of the world, there were times +when poor Henry seemed almost imbecile, and no doubt his attack of +melancholy insanity, the saddest of his ancestral inheritances, had +shattered his powers of decision and action; but he was one who 'saw far +on holy ground,' and he was a well-read man in human learning, besides +having the ordinary experience of having lived in the outer world, so +that in every way his companionship was delightful to a thoughtful boy, +wakening to the instincts of his race. + +To think of being left to the society of the sheep, of dumb Piers and +his peasant parents was dreariness in the extreme to one who had begun +to know something like conversation, and to have his countless questions +answered, or at any rate attended to. Add to this, he had a deep +personal love and reverence for his saint, long before the knowing him +as his persecuted King, and thus his sorrow might well be profound, +as well as rendered more acute by the terror lest his even unconscious +description to his mother might have been treason! + +He wept till he could weep no longer, and lay on the ground in his +despair till darkness was coming on, and Piers came and pulled him up, +indicating by gestures and uncouth sounds that he must go home. Goodwife +Dolly was anxiously looking out for him. + +'Laddie, there thou beest at last! I had begun to fear me whether the +robber gang had got a hold of thee. Only Hob said he saw Master Simon +with them. Have they mishandled thee, mine own lad nurse's darling? Thou +lookest quite distraught.' + +All Hal's answer was to hide his head in her lap and weep like a babe, +though she could, with all her caresses, elicit nothing from him but +that his hermit was gone. No, no, the outlaws had not hurt him, but they +had taken him away, and he would never come back. + +'Ay, ay, thou didst love him and he was a holy man, no doubt, but one of +these days thou shalt have a true knight, and that is better for a young +baron to look to than a saint fitter for Heaven than for earth! Come +now, stand up and eat thy supper. Don't let Hob come in and find thee +crying like a swaddled babe.' + +With which worldly consolations and exhortations Goodwife Dolly brought +him to rise and accept his bowl of pottage, though he could not swallow +much, and soon put it aside and sought his bed. + +It was not till late the next day that Simon Bunce was seen riding +his rough pony over the moor. Hal repaired to him at once, with the +breathless inquiry, 'Where is he?' + +'In safe hands! Never you fear, sir! But best know nought.' + +'O Simon, was I--? Did I do him any scathe?--I--I never knew--I only +told my lady mother it was a saint.' + +'Ay, ay, lad, more's the pity that he is more saint than king! If my +lady guessed aught, she would be loyal as became your father's wife, and +methinks she would not press you hard for fear she should be forced to +be aware of the truth.' + +'But Sir Lancelot?' + +'As far as I can gather,' explained Simon, 'Sir Lancelot is one that +hath kept well with both sides, and so is able to be a protector. But +down came orders from York and his crew that King Harry is reported to +be lurking in some of these moors, and the Countess Clifford being his +wife, he fell under suspicion of harbouring him. Nay, there was some +perilous talk in his own household, so that, as I understand the matter, +he saw the need of being able to show that he knew nothing; or, if he +found that the King was living within these lands, of sending him a +warning ere avowing that he had been there. So I read what was said to +me.' + +'He knew nothing from me! Neither he nor my lady mother,' eagerly said +Hal. 'When I mind me I am sure my mother cut me short when I described +the hermit too closely, lest no doubt she should guess who he was.' + +'Belike! It would be like my lady, who is a loyal Lancastrian at heart, +though much bent on not offending her husband lest his protection should +be withdrawn from you.' + +'Better--O, a thousand times better!--he gave me up than the King!' + +'Hush! What good would that do? A boy like you? Unless they took you +in hand to make you a traitor, and offered you your lands if you would +swear allegiance to King Edward, as he calls himself.' + +'Never, though I were cut into quarters!' averred Hal, with a fierce +gesture, clasping his staff. 'But the King? Where and what have they +done with him?' + +'Best not to know, my lord,' said Simon. 'In sooth, I myself do not know +whither he is gone, only that he is with friends.' + +'But who--what were they? They looked like outlaws!' + +'So they were; many a good fellow is of Robin of Redesdale's train. +There are scores of them haunting the fells and woods, all Red Rose men, +keeping a watch on the King,' replied Simon. 'We had made up our minds +that he had been long enough in one place, and that he must have taken +shelter the winter through, when I got notice of these notions of Sir +Lancelot, and forthwith sent word to them to have him away before worse +came of it.' + +'Oh! why did you not let me go with him? I would have saved him, waited +on him, fought for him.' + +'Fine fighting--when there's no getting you to handle a lance, except +as if you wanted to drive a puddock with a reed! Though you have been +better of late, little as your hermit seemed the man to teach you.' + +'He said it was right and became a man! Would I were with him! He, my +true King! Let me go to him when you know where, good Simon. I, that am +his true and loving liegeman, should be with him.' + +'Ay! when you are a man to keep his head and your own.' + +'But I could wait on him.' + +'Would you have us bested to take care of two instead of one, and my +lady, moreover, in a pother about her son, and Sir Lancelot stirred to +make a hue and cry all the more? No, no, sir, bide in peace in the safe +homestead where you are sheltered, and learn to be a man, minding your +exercises as well as may be till the time shall come.' + +'When I shall be a man and a knight, and do deeds of derring-do in his +cause,' cried Hal. + +And the stimulus drove him on to continual calls to Hob, in Simon's +default, to jousts with sword or spear, represented generally by staves; +and when these could not be had, he was making arrows and practising +with them, so as to become a terror to the wild ducks and other +neighbours on the wolds, the great geese and strange birds that came +in from the sea in the cold weather. When it was not possible to go far +afield in the frosts and snows, he conned King Henry's portuary, trying +to identify the written words with those he knew by heart, and sometimes +trying to trace the shapes of the letters on the snow with a stick; +visiting, too, the mountains and looking into the limpid grey waters of +the lakes, striving hard to guess why, when the sea rose in tides, they +were still. More than ever, too, did the starry skies fill him with +contemplation and wonder, as he dwelt on the scraps alike of astronomy, +astrology, and devotion which he had gathered from his oracle in the +hermitage, and longed more and more for the time to return when he +should again meet his teacher, his saint, and his King. + +Alas! that time was never to come. The outlawed partisans of the +Red Rose had secret communications which spread intelligence rapidly +throughout the country, and long before Sir Lancelot and his lady knew, +and thus it was that Simon Bunce learnt, through the outlaws, that poor +King Henry had been betrayed by treachery, and seized by John Talbot +at Waddington Hall in Lancashire. Deep were the curses that the outlaws +uttered, and fierce were the threats against the Talbot if ever he +should venture himself on the Cumbrian moors; and still hotter was their +wrath, more bitter the tears of the shepherd lord, when the further +tidings were received that the Earl of Warwick had brought the gentle, +harmless prince, to whom he had repeatedly sworn fealty, into London +with his feet tied to the stirrups of a sorry jade, and men crying +before him, 'Behold the traitor!' + +The very certainty that the meek and patient King would bear all with +rejoicing in the shame and reproach that led him in the steps of his +Master, only added to the misery of Hal as he heard the tale; and he lay +on the ground before his hut, grinding his teeth with rage and longing +to take revenge on Warwick, Edward, Talbot--he knew not whom--and +grasping at the rocks as if they were the stones of the Tower which he +longed to tear down and liberate his beloved saint. + +Nor, from that time, was there any slackness in acquiring or practising +all skill in chivalrous exercises. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. -- THE RED ROSE + + + + That Edward is escaped from your brother + And fled, as he hears since, to Burgundy. + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +Years passed on, and still Henry Clifford continued to be the shepherd. +Matters were still too unsettled, and there were too many Yorkists in +the north, keeping up the deadly hatred of the family against that of +Clifford, for it to be safe for him to show himself openly. He was a +tall, well-made, strong youth, and his stepfather spoke of his going to +learn war in Burgundy; but not only was his mother afraid to venture him +there, but he could not bear to leave England while there was a hope +of working in the cause of the captive King, though the Red Rose hung +withered on the branches. + +Reports of misunderstandings between King Edward and the Earl of Warwick +came from time to time, and that Queen Margaret and her son were busy +beyond seas, which kept up hope; and in the meantime Hal grew in the +knowledge of all country lore, of herd and wood, and added to it all his +own earnest love of the out-of-door world, of sun, moon, and stars, +sea and hills, beast and bird. The hermit King, who had been a +well-educated, well-read man in his earlier days, had given him the +framework of such natural science as had come down to the fifteenth +century, backed by the deepest faith in scriptural descriptions; and +these inferences and this philosophy were enough to lead a far acuter +and more able intellect, with greater opportunities of observation, much +further into the fields of the mystery of nature than ever the King had +gone. + +He said nothing, for never had he met one who understood a word he said +apart from fortune telling, excepting the royal teacher after whom +he longed; but he watched, he observed, and he dreamt, and came to +conclusions that his King's namesake cousin, Enrique of Portugal, the +discoverer, in his observatory at St. Vincent, might have profited by. +Brother Brian, a friar, for whose fidelity Simon Bunce's outlaw could +absolutely answer, and who was no Friar Tuck, in spite of his rough +life, gave Dolly much comfort religiously, carried on some of the +education for which Hal longed, and tried to teach him astrology. Some +of the yearnings of his young soul were thus gratified, but they were +the more extended as he grew nearer manhood, and many a day he stood +with eyes stretched over the sea to the dim line of the horizon, with +arms spread for a moment as if he would join the flight of the sea-gulls +floating far, far away, then clasped over his breast in a sort of +despair at being bound to one spot, then pressed the tighter in the +strong purpose of fighting for his imprisoned King when the time should +come. + +For this he diligently practised with bow and arrow when alone, or only +with Piers, and learnt all the feats of arms that Simon Runce or Giles +Spearman could teach him. Spearman was evidently an accomplished knight +or esquire; he had fought in France as well as in the home wars, and +knew all the refinements of warfare in an age when the extreme weight +of the armour rendered training and skill doubly necessary. Spearman +was evidently not his real name, and it was evident that he had some +knowledge of Hal's real rank, though he never hazarded mention of other +name or title. The great drawback was the want of horses. The little +mountain ponies did not adequately represent the warhorses trained +to charge under an enormous load, and the buff jerkins and steel +breast-plates of the outlaws were equally far from showing how to move +under 'mail and plates of Milan steel.' Nor would Sir Lancelot Threlkeld +lend or give what was needful. Indeed, he was more cautious than ever, +and seemed really alarmed as well as surprised to see how tall and manly +his step-son was growing, and how like his father. He would not hear +of a visit to Threlkeld under any disguise, though Lady Clifford was +in failing health, nor would he do anything to forward the young lord's +knightly training. In effect, he only wanted to keep as quiet and +unobserved as possible, for everything was in a most unsettled and +dangerous condition, and there was no knowing what course was the safest +for one by no means prepared to lose life or lands in any cause. + +The great Earl of Warwick, on whom the fate of England had hitherto +hinged, was reported to have never forgiven King Edward for his marriage +with Dame Elizabeth Grey, and to be meditating insurrection. Encouraged +by this there was a great rising in Yorkshire of the peasants under +Robin of Redesdale, and a message was brought to Giles Spearman and his +followers to join them, but he and Brother Brian demurred, and news soon +came that the Marquess of Montagu had defeated the rising and beheaded +Redesdale. + +Sir Lancelot congratulated his step-son on having been too late to take +up arms, and maintained that the only safe policy was to do nothing, a +plan which suited age much better than youth. + +He still lived with Hob and Piers, and slept at the hut, but he went +further and further afield among the hills and mosses, often with no +companion save Watch, so that he might without interruption watch the +clear streams and wonder what filled their fountains, and why the sea +was never full, or stand on the sea-shore studying the tides, and +trying to construct a theory about them. King Henry was satisfied with +'Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther,' but He who gave that decree +must have placed some cause or rule in nature thus to affect them. Could +it be the moon? The waves assuredly obeyed the changes of the moon, and +Hal was striving to keep a record in strokes marked by a stick on soft +earth or rows of pebbles, so as to establish a rule. 'Aye, aye,' quoth +Hob. 'Poor fellow, he is not much wiser than the hermit. See how he +plays with pebbles and stones. You'll make nought of him, fine grown lad +as he is. Why, he'll sit dazed and moonstruck half a day, and all the +night, staring up at the stars as if he would count them!' + +So spoke the stout shepherd to Simon Bunce, pointing to the young man, +who lay at his length upon the grass calculating the proportions of the +stones that marked the relations of hours of the flood tide and those +of the height of the moon. Above and beyond was a sundial cut out in the +turf, from his own observations after the hints that the hermit and the +friar had given him. + +'Ha now, my lord, I have rare news for you.' + +The unwonted title did not strike Hal's unaccustomed ears, and he +continued moving his lips, 'High noon, spring tide.' + +'There, d'ye see?' said Hob, 'he heeds nothing. 'That I and my goodwife +should have bred up a mooncalf! Here, Hal, don't you know Simon? Hear +his tidings!' + +'Tidings enow! King Henry is freed, King Edward is fled. My Lord +of Warwick has turned against him for good and all. King Henry is +proclaimed in all the market-places! I heard it with my own ears at +Penrith!' And throwing up his cap into the air, while the example +was followed by Hob, with 'God save King Henry, and you my Lord of +Clifford.' + +The sound was echoed by a burst of voices, and out of the brake suddenly +stood the whole band of outlaws, headed by Giles Spearman, but Hal still +stood like one dazed. 'King Harry, the hermit, free and on his throne,' +he murmured, as one in a dream. + +'Ay, all things be upset and reversed,' said Spearman, with a hand on +his shoulder. 'No herd boy now, but my Lord of Clifford.' + +'Come to his kingdom,' repeated Hal. 'My own King Harry the hermit! I +would fain go and see him.' + +'So you shall, my brave youth, and carry him your homage and mine,' +said Spearman. 'He will know me for poor Giles Musgrave, who upheld +his standard in many a bloody field. We will off to Sir Lancelot at +Threlkeld now! Spite of his policy of holes and corners, he will not now +refuse to own you for what you are, aye, and fit you out as becomes a +knight.' + +'God grant he may!' muttered Bunce, 'without his hum and ha, and swaying +this way and that, till he never moves at all! Betwixt his caution, +and this lad's moonstruck ways, you have a fair course before you, Sir +Giles! See, what's the lad doing now?' + +The lad was putting into his pouch the larger white pebbles that had +represented tens in his calculation, and murmuring the numbers they +stood for. 'He will understand,' he said almost to himself, but he +showed himself ready to go with the party to Threlkeld, merely pausing +at Hob's cottage to pick up a few needful equipments. In the skin of a +rabbit, carefully prepared, and next wrapped in a silken kerchief, +and kept under his chaff pillow, was the hermit's portuary, which was +carefully and silently transferred by Hal to his own bosom. Sir Giles +Musgrave objected to Watch, in city or camp, and Hal was obliged to +leave him to Goodwife Dolly and to Piers. + +With each it was a piteous parting, for Dolly had been as a mother to +him for almost all his boyhood, and had supplied the tenderness that +his mother's fears and Sir Lancelot's precautions had prevented his +receiving at Threlkeld. He was truly as a son to her, and she sobbed +over him, declaring that she never would see him again, even if he came +to his own, which she did not believe was possible, and who would see to +his clean shirts? + +'Never fear, goodwife,' said Giles Musgrave; 'he shall be looked to as +mine own son.' + +'And what's that to a gentle lad that has always been tended as becomes +him?' + +'Heed not, mother! Be comforted! I must have gone to the wars, anyway. +If so be I thrive, I'll send for thee to mine own castle, to reign there +as I remember of old. Here now! Comfort Piers as thou only canst do.' + +Piers, poor fellow, wept bitterly, only able to understand that +something had befallen his comrade of seven years, which would take him +away from field and moor. He clung to Hal, and both lads shed tears, +till Hob roughly snatched Piers away and threw him to his aunt, with +threats that drew indignant, though useless, interference from Hal, +though Simon Bunce was muttering, 'As lief take one lad as the other!' +while Dolly's angry defence of her nursling's wisdom broke the sadness +of the parting. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. -- A PRUDENT RECEPTION + + + + So doth my heart misgive me in these conflicts, + What may befall him to his harm and ours. + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +Through the woods the party went to the fortified house of Threlkeld, +where the gateway was evidently prepared to resist any passing attack, +by stout gates and a little watch-tower. + +Sir Giles blew a long blast on his bugle-horn, and had to repeat it +twice before a porter looked cautiously out at a wicket opening in the +heavy door, and demanded 'Who comes?' + +'Open, porter, open in the name of King Harry, to the Lords of Clifford +and of Peelholm.' + +The porter fell back, observing, 'Sir, pardon, while I have speech with +my master, Sir Lancelot Threlkeld.' + +Some delay and some sounds of conversation were heard, then, on a +renewed and impatient blast on Sir Giles's horn, Sir Lancelot Threlkeld +himself came to the wicket, and his thin anxious voice might be heard +demanding, 'What madness is this?' + +'The madness is past, soundness is come,' responded Sir Giles. 'King +Harry is on his throne, the traitors are fled, and your own fair son +comes forth in his proper person to uphold the lawful sovereign; but he +would fain first see his lady mother, and take her blessing with him.' + +'And by his impatience destroy himself, after all the burthen of care +and peril he hath been to me all these years,' lamented Sir Lancelot. +'But come in, fair lad. Open the gates, porter. I give you welcome, Lord +Musgrave of Peelholm. But who are these?' he added, looking at the troop +of buff-coated archers in the rear. + +'They are bold champions of the Red Rose, returned Sir Giles, 'who +have lived with me in the wolds, and now are on the way to maintain our +King's quarrel.'' + +Sir Lancelot, however, would not hear of admitting the outlaws. Young +Clifford and the Lord of Peelholm should be welcome, or more truly he +could not help receiving them, but the archers must stay outside, their +entertainment in beef and ale being committed to Bunce and the chief +warder, while the two noblemen were conducted to the castle hall. For +the first time in his life Clifford was received in his mother's home, +and accepted openly, as he knelt before her to ask her blessing. A fine, +active, handsome youth was he, with bright, keen eyes, close-curled +black locks and hardy complexion, telling of his out-of-door life, and +a free use of his limbs, and upright carriage, though still with more +of the grace of the free mountain than of the training of pagedom and +squiredom. + +Nor could he speak openly and freely to her, not knowing how much he +might say of his past intercourse with King Henry, and of her endeavour +to discover it; and he sat beside her, neither of them greatly at ease, +at the long table, which, by the array of silver cups, of glasses +and the tall salt cellar separating the nobility and their followers, +recalled to him dim recollections of the scenes of his youth. + +He asked for his sister--he knew his little brother had died in the +Netherlands--and he heard that she had been in the Priory of St. +Helen's, and was now in the household of my Lady of Hungerford, who +had promised to find a good match for her. There was but one son of the +union with the knight of Threlkeld, and him Hal had never seen; nor was +he at home, being a page in the household of the Earl of Westmoreland, +according to the prevailing fashion of the castles of the great feudal +nobles becoming schools of arms, courtesy and learning for the young +gentlemen around. Indeed, Lady Clifford surveyed her eldest son with +a sigh that such breeding was denied him, as she observed one or two +little deficiencies in what would be called his table manners--not very +important, but revealing that he had grown up in the byre instead of +the castle, where there was a very strict and punctilious code, which +figured in catechisms for the young. + +She longed to keep him, and train him for his station, but in the first +place, Sir Lancelot still held that it could not safely be permitted, +since he had little confidence in the adherence of the House of Nevil +to the Red Rose; and moreover Hal himself utterly refused to remain +concealed in Cumberland instead of carrying his service to the King he +loved. + +In fact, when he heard the proposal of leaving him in the north, he +stood up, and, with far more energy than had been expected from him, +said, 'Go I must, to my lawful King's banner, and my father's cause. To +King Harry I carry my homage and whatever my hand can do!' + +Such an expression of energy lighted his hitherto dreamy eyes, that all +beholders turned their glances on his face with a look of wonder. Sir +Lancelot again objected that he would be rushing to his ruin. + +'Be it so,' replied Hal. 'It is my duty.' + +'The time seems to me to be come,' added Musgrave, 'that my young lord +should put himself forward, though it may be only in a losing cause. Not +so much for the sake of success, as to make himself a man and a noble.' + +'But what can he do?' persisted Threlkeld; 'he has none of the training +of a knight. How can you tilt in plate armour, you who have never +bestridden a charger? These are not the days of Du Guesclin, when a lad +came in from the byre and bore down all foes before him.' + +The objection was of force, for the defensive armour of the fifteenth +century had reached a pitch of cumbrousness that required long practice +for a man to be capable of moving under it. + +'So please you, sir,' said Hal, 'I am not wholly unskilled. The good Sir +Giles and Simon Bunce have taught me enough to strike a blow with a good +will for a good cause.' + +'With horse and arms as befits him,' began Musgrave. + +'I know not that a horse is here that could be depended on,' began +Threlkeld. 'Armour too requires to be fitted and proved.' + +He spoke in a hesitating voice that showed his unwillingness, and Hal +exclaimed, 'My longbow is mine own, and so are my feet. Sir Giles, +will you own me as an archer in your troop, where I will strive not to +disgrace you or my name?' + +'Bravely spoken, young lord,' said Sir Giles heartily; 'right willingly +will I be your godfather in chivalry, since you find not one nigher +home.' + +'So may it best be,' observed his mother, 'since he is bent on going. +Thus his name and rank may be kept back till it be plain whether the +enmity of my Lords of Warwick and Montagu still remain against our poor +house.' + +There was no desire on either side to object when the Lord Musgrave +of Peelholm decided on departing early on the morrow. Their host was +evidently not sorry to speed them on their way, and his reluctant +hospitality made them anxious to cumber him no longer than needful; and +his mind was relieved when it was decided that the heir of the De Vescis +and Cliffords should be known as Harry of Derwentdale. + +Only, when all was preparation in the morning, and a hearty service had +been said in the chapel, the lady called her son aside, and looking up +into his dark eyes, said in a low voice, 'Be not angered with my lord +husband's prudence, my son. Remember it is only by caution that he has +saved thine head, or mine, or thy sister's!' + +'Ay, ay, mother, I know,' he said, more impatiently than perhaps he +knew. + +'It was by the same care that he preserved us all when Edgecotefield was +fought. Chafe not at him. Thou mayst be thankful even now, mayhap, to +find a shelter preserved, while that rogue and robber Nevil holds our +lands.' + +'I am more like to have to protect thee, lady mother, and bring thee to +thy true home again!' said Hal. + +'Meantime, my child, take this purse and equip thyself at York or +whenever thou canst. Nay, thou needst not shrug and refuse! How like thy +father the gesture, though I would it were more gracious and seemly. +But this is mine, mine own, none of my husband's, though he would be +willing. It comes from the De Vesci lands, and those will be thine after +me, and thine if thou winnest not back thy Clifford inheritance. And oh! +my son, crave of Sir Giles to teach thee how to demean thyself that they +may not say thou art but a churl.' + +'I trust to be no churl in heart, if I be in manners,' said Hal, looking +down on his small clinging mother. + +'Only be cautious, my son. Remember that you are the last of the name, +and it is your part to bring it to honour.' + +'Which I shall scarce do by being cautious,' he said, with something of +a smile. 'That was not my father's way.' + +'Ah me! You have his spirit in you, and how did it end?' + +'My Lord of Clifford,' said a voice from the court, 'you are waited +for!' + +'And remember,' cried his mother, with a last embrace, 'there will be +safety here whenever thou shalt need it.' + +'With God's grace, I am more like to protect you and your husband,' said +the lad, bending for another kiss and hurrying away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. -- FELLOW TRAVELLERS + + + + And sickerlie she was of great disport, + And full pleasant and amiable of port; + Of small hounds had she that she fed + With roasted flesh and milk and wastel bread. + --CHAUCER. + + +Sir Giles Musgrave of Peelholm was an old campaigner, and when Hal came +out beyond the gate of the Threlkeld fortalice, he found him reviewing +his troop; a very disorderly collection, as Sir Lancelot pronounced with +a sneer, looking out on them, and strongly advising his step-son not to +cast in his lot with them, but to wait and see what would befall, and +whether the Nevils were in earnest in their desertion of the House of +York. + +Hal restrained himself with difficulty enough to take a courteous leave +of his mother's husband, to whose prudence and forbearance he was really +much beholden; though, with his spirit newly raised and burning for his +King, it was hard to have patience with neutrality. + +He found Sir Giles employed in examining his followers, and rigidly +sending home all not properly equipped with bow, sheaf of arrows, strong +knife or pike, buff coat, head-piece and stout shoes; also a wallet of +provisions for three days, or a certain amount of coin. He would have +no marauding on the way, and refused to take any mere lawless camp +follower, thus disposing of a good many disreputable-looking fellows who +had flocked in his wake. Sir Lancelot's steward seconded him heartily +by hunting back his master's retainers; and there remained only about +five-and-twenty--mostly, in fact, yeomen or their sons--men who had +been in arms for Queen Margaret and had never made their submission, +but lived on unmolested in the hills, really outlawed, but not coming in +collision with the authorities enough to have their condition inquired +into. They had sometimes attacked Yorkist parties, sometimes resisted +Scottish raids, or even made a foray in return, and they were well used +to arms. These all had full equipments, and some more coin in their +pouches than they cared to avow. Three or four of them brought an ox, +calf or sheep, or a rough pony loaded with provisions, and driven by a +herd boy or a son eager to see life and 'the wars.' Simon Bunce, well +armed, was of this party. Hob Hogward, though he had come to see what +became of his young lord, was pronounced too stiff and aged to join the +band, which might now really be called a troop, not a mere lawless +crowd of rough lads. There were three trained men-at-arms, the regular +retainers of Sir Giles, who held a little peel tower on the borders +where nobody durst molest him, and these marshalled the little band in +fair order. + +It was no season for roses, but a feather was also the cognisance of +Henry VI., and every one's barret-cap mounted a feather, generally +borrowed from the goodwife's poultry yard at home, but sometimes picked +up on the moors, and showing the barred black and brown patterns of the +hawk's or the owl's plumage. It was a heron's feather that Hal assumed, +on the counsel of Sir Giles, who told him it was an old badge of the +Cliffords, and it became well his bright dark hair and brown face. + +On they went, a new and wonderful march to Hal, who had only looked with +infant eyes on anything beyond the fells, and had very rarely been into +a little moorland church, or seen enough people together for a market +day in Penrith. Sir Giles directed their course along the sides of the +hills till he should gain further intelligence, and know how they would +be received. For the most part the people were well inclined to King +Henry, though unwilling to stir on his behalf in fear of Edward's +cruelty. + +However, it was as they had come down from the hills intending to +obtain fresh provisions at one of the villages, and Hal was beginning +to recognise the moors he had known in earlier childhood, that they +perceived a party on the old Roman road before them, which the outlaws' +keen eyes at once discovered to be somewhat of their own imputed trade. +There seemed to be a waggon upset, persons bound, and a buzz of men, +like wasps around a honeycomb preying on it. Something like women's +veiled forms could be seen. 'Ha! Mere robbery. This must not be. Upon +them! Form! Charge!' were the brief commands of the leader, and the +compact body ran at a rapid but a regulated pace down the little slope +that gave them an advantage of ground with some concealment by a brake +of gorse. 'Halt! Pikes forward!' was the next order. The little band +were already close upon the robbers, in whom they began to recognise +some of those whom Sir Giles had dismissed as mere ruffians unequipped +a few days before. It was with a yell of indignation that the troop fell +on them, Sir Giles with a sharp blow severing the bridle of a horse that +a man was leading, but there was a cry back, 'We are for King Harry! +These be Yorkists!' + +'Nay! nay!' came back the voices of the overthrown. 'Help! help! for +King Harry and Queen Margaret! These be rank thieves who have set on us! +Holy women are here!' + +These exclamations came broken and in utter confusion, mingled with +cries for mercy and asseverations on the part of the thieves, and fierce +shouts from Sir Giles's men. All was hubbub, barking dogs, shouting +men, and Hal scarcely knew anything till he was aware of two or three +shrouded nuns, as it seemed, standing by their ponies, of merchantmen +or carters trying to quiet and harness frightened mules, of waggons +overturned, of a general confusion over which arose Lord Musgrave's +powerful authoritative voice. + +'Kit of Clumber! Why should I not hang you for thieving on yonder tree, +with your fellow thieves?' + +'Yorkists, sir! It was all in the good cause,' responded a sullen voice, +as a grim red and scarred face was seen on a ruffian held by two of the +archers. + +'No Yorkists we, sir!' began a stout figure, coming forward from the +waggon. 'We be peaceable merchants and this is a holy dame, the--' + +'The Prioress Selby of Greystone,' interrupted one of the nuns, coming +forward with a hawk on her wrist. 'Sir Giles of Musgrave, I am beholden +to you! I was on my way to take the young damsel of Bletso to her +father, the Lord St. John, with Earl Warwick in London. He sent us an +escort, but they being arrant cravens, as it seems, we thought it well +to join company with these same merchants, and thus we became a bait for +the outlaws of the Border.' + +'Lady, lady,' burst from one of the prisoners, 'I swear that we kenned +not holy dames to be of the company! Sir, my lord, we thought to serve +the cause of King Harry, and how any man is to guess which side is Earl +Warwick's is past an honest man.' + +'An honest man whose cause is his own pouch!' returned Sir Giles. +'Miscreants all! But I trow we are scarce yet out of the land of +misrule! So if the Lady Prioress will say a word for such a sort of +sorners, I'll e'en let you go on your way.' + +'They have had a warning, the poor rogues, and that will suffice for +this time! Nay, now, fellows, let my wimple alone! You'll not find +another lord to let you off so easy, nor another Prioress to stand your +friend. Get off, I say.' + +An archer enforced her words with a blow, and by some means, rough or +otherwise, a certain amount of order was restored, the ruffians slinking +off among the gorse bushes, their flight hastened by the pointing of +pikes and levelling of arrows at them. While the merchants, diving into +their packages, produced horns of ale which a younger man offered to +their defenders, the chief of the party, a portly fellow, interrupted +certain civilities between the Prioress and Sir Giles by praying them to +partake of a cup of malmsey, and adding an entreaty that they might be +allowed to join company with so brave an escort, explaining that he was +a poor merchant of London and the Hans towns who had been beguiled into +an expedition to Scotland to the young King James, who was said to have +a fair taste. He waved his hands as if his sufferings had been beyond +description. + +'Went for wool and came back shorn!' said the Prioress, laughing. 'Well, +my Lord Musgrave, what say you to letting us join company?--as I see +your band is afoot it will be no great delay, and the more the safer as +well as the merrier! Here, let me present to you my young maid, the Lady +Anne of Bletso, whom I in person am about to deliver to her father.' + +'And let me present privately to both ladies,' said Sir Giles, 'the +young squire Harry of Derwentdale, who hath been living as a shepherd in +the hills during the York rule.' + +'Ha! my lord, methinks this may not be the first meeting between Lady +Anne and you, though she would not know who the herd boy was who found +her, a stray lambkin on the moor.' + +The young people looked at each other with eyes of recognition, and as +Hal made his best bow, he said, 'Forsooth, lady, I did not know myself +till afterwards.' + +'Your shepherd and his wife gave me to understand that I should do hurt +by inquiring too much,' said the young lady smiling, and holding out her +hand, which Hal did not know whether to kiss or to shake. 'I hope the +kind old goodwife is well, who cosseted me so lovingly.' + +'She fares well, indeed, lady, only grieved at parting with me.' + +'There now,' said the Prioress, 'since we are quit of the robbers, +methinks we cannot do better than halt awhile for Master Lorimer's folk +to mend the tackling of their gear, while we make our noonday meal and +provide for our further journey. Allow me to be your hostess for the +nonce, my lords.' + +And between the lady's sumpter mules and the merchant's stores a far +more sumptuous meal was produced than would have otherwise been the +share of the Lancastrian party. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. -- THE JOURNEY + + + + 'Twas sweet to see these holy maids, + Like birds escaped to greenwood shades, + --SCOTT. + + +The Prioress Agnes Selby of Greystone was a person who would have made +a much fitter lady of a castle than head of a nunnery. She would have +worked for and with her lord, defended his lands for him, governed his +house and managed her sons with untiring zest and energy. But a vow +of her parents had consigned her to a monastic life at York, where she +could only work off her vigour by teasing the more devout and grave +sisters, and when honourably banished to the more remote Greystone, +in field sports, and in fortifying her convent against Scots or +Lancastrians who, somewhat to her disappointment, never did attack her. +No complaint or scandal had ever attached itself to her name, and she +let Mother Scholastica manage the nuns, and regulate the devotions, +while Greystone was known as a place where a thirsty warrior might be +refreshed, where tales and ballads of Border raids were welcome, and +where good hawk or hound was not despised. + +It had occurred to the Lord St. John of Bletso that the little daughter +whom he had left at York might be come to a marriageable age, and he had +listened to the proposal of one of the cousins of the house of Nevil +for a contract between her and his son, sending an escort northwards to +fetch her, properly accompanied. + +She had been all these years at Greystone, and the Prioress immediately +decided that this would be an excellent opportunity of seeing the +southern world, and going on a round of pilgrimages which would make the +expedition highly decorous. The ever restless spirit within her rose +in delight, and the Sisterhood of York were ready to acquiesce, having +faith in Mother Agnes' good sense to guide her and her pupil to his +castle in Bedfordshire by the help of Father Martin through any tangles +of the White and Red Roses that might await her, as well to her real +principle for avoiding actual evil, though she might startle monastic +proprieties. + +There was no doubt but that conversation, when she could have it, was as +great a joy to her as ever was galloping after a deer; and there she sat +with her beautiful hound by her side, and her hawk on a pole, exchanging +sentiments of speculation as to Warwick's change of front with Sir Giles +Musgrave, Father Martin, and Master Ralph Lorimer, while discussing +a pasty certainly very superior to anything that had come out of the +Penrith stores. + +Young Clifford and Lady Anne sat on the grass near, too shy for the +present to renew their acquaintance, but looking up at one another under +their eyelashes, and the first time their eyes met, the girl breaking +into a laugh, but it was not till towards the end of the refection that +they were startled into intercourse by a general growling and leaping +up of the great hound, and of the two big ungainly dogs chained to the +waggon, as wet, lean, bristling but ecstatic, Watch dashed in among +them, and fell on his master. + +For four days (unless he was tied up at first) the good dog must have +been tracking him. 'Off! off!' cried the Prioress, holding back her +deer-hound by main strength. 'Off, Florimond! he sets thee a pattern of +faithfulness! Be quiet and learn thy devoir!' + +'O sir, I cannot send him back!' entreated Hal, also embracing and +caressing the shaggy neck. + +'Send him back! Nay, indeed. As saith the Reverend Mother, it were well +if some earls and lords minded his example,' said Sir Giles. + +'Here! Watch, I mind thee well,' added Anne. 'Here's a slice of pasty +to reward thee. Oh! thou art very hungry,' as the big mouth bolted it +whole. + +'Nearly famished, poor rogue!' said Hal, administering a bone. 'How far +hast thou run, mine own lad! Art fain to come with thy master and see +the hermit?' + +'Thou must e'en go,' growled Simon Bunce, 'unless the lady's dog make an +end of thee! 'Tis ever the worthless that turn up.' + +'I would Florimond would show himself as true,' said the Prioress. +'Don't show thy teeth, sir! I can honour Watch, yet love thee.' + +''Tis jealousy as upsets faith,' said the merchant. 'The hound is a +knightly beast with his proud head, but he brooks not to see a Woodville +creep in.' + +'Nay, or a Beaufort!' suggested Sir Giles. + +'No treason, Lord Musgrave!' said the Prioress, laughing. + +'Ah, madam,' responded Sir Giles, 'what is treason?' + +'Whatever is against him that has the best of it,' observed Master +Lorimer. 'Well that it is not the business of a poor dealer in +horse-gear and leather-work. He asks not which way his bridles are to +turn! How now, Tray and Blackchaps? Never growl and gird. You have no +part in the fray!' + +For they were chained, and could only champ, bark and howl, while +Florimond and Watch turned one another over, and had to be pulled +forcibly back, by Hal on the one hand and on the other by the Mother +Agnes, who would let nobody touch Florimond except herself. After +this, the two dogs subsided into armed neutrality, and gradually became +devoted friends. + +The curiously composed cavalcade moved on their way southward. The +Prioress was mounted on the fine chestnut horse that Sir Giles had +rescued. She was attended by a nun, Sister Mabel, and a lay Sister, +both as hardy as herself, and riding sturdy mountain ponies; but her +chaplain, a thin delicate-looking man with a bad cough, only ventured +upon a sturdy ass; Anne St. John had a pretty little white palfrey and +two men-at-arms. There were two grooms, countrymen, who had run away on +the onset of the thieves, but came sneaking back again, to be soundly +rated by the Prioress, who threatened to send them home again or have +them well scourged, but finally laughed and forgave them. + +The merchant, Master Lorimer--who dealt primarily in all sorts of horse +furniture, but added thereto leather-work for knights and men-at-arms, +and all that did not too closely touch the armourer's trade--had +three sturdy attendants, having lost one in an attack by the Scottish +Borderers, and he had four huge Flemish horses, who sped along the +better for their loads having been lightened by sales in Edinburgh, +where he had hardly obtained skins enough to make up for the weight. +His headquarters, he said, were at Barnet, since tanning and +leather-dressing, necessary to his work, though a separate guild, +literally stank in the nostrils of the citizens of London. + +To these were added Sir Giles Musgrave's twenty archers, making a very +fair troop, wherewith to proceed, and the Prioress decided on not going +to York. She was not particularly anxious for an interview with the +Abbess of her Order, and it would have considerably lengthened the +journey, which both Musgrave and Lorimer were anxious to make as short +as possible. They preferred likewise to keep to the country, that was +still chiefly open and wild, with all its destiny in manufactories +yet to come, though there were occasionally such towns, villages and +convents on the way where provisions and lodging could be obtained. + +Every fresh scene of civilisation was a new wonder to Hal Clifford, +and scarcely less so to Anne St. John, though her life in the moorland +convent had begun when she was not quite so young as he had been when +taken to the hills of Londesborough. He had only been two or three times +in the church at Threlkeld, which was simple and bare, and the full +display of a monastic church was an absolute amazement, making him kneel +almost breathless with awe, recollecting what the royal hermit had told +him. He was too illiterate to follow the service, but the music and the +majestic flow of the chants overwhelmed him, and he listened with hands +clasped over his face, not daring to raise his eyes to the dazzling gold +of the altar, lighted by innumerable wax tapers. + +The Prioress was amused. 'Art dazed, my friend? This is but a poor +country cell; we will show you something much finer when we get to +Derby.' + +Hal drew a long breath. 'Is that meant to be like the saints in Heaven?' +he said. 'Is that the way they sing there?' + +'I should hope they pronounce their Latin better,' responded the +Prioress, who, it may be feared, was rather a light-minded woman. At any +rate there was a chill upon Hal which prevented him from directing any +of his remarks or questions to her for the future. The chaplain told him +something of what he wanted to know, but he met with the most sympathy +from the Lady Anne. + +'Which, think you, is the fittest temple and worship?' he said; as they +rode out together, after hearing an early morning service, gone through +in haste, and partaking of a hurried meal. The sun was rising over the +hills of Derbyshire, dyeing them of a red purple, standing out sharply +against a flaming sky, flecked here and there with rosy clouds, and +fading into blue that deepened as it rose higher. The elms and beeches +that bordered the monastic fields had begun to put on their autumn +livery, and yellow leaves here and there were like sparks caught from +the golden light. + +Hal drew off his cap as in homage to the glorious sight. + +'Ah, it is fine!' said Anne, 'it is like the sunrise upon our own moors, +when one breathes freely, and the clouds grow white instead of grey.' + +'Ah!' said Hal, 'I used to go out to the high ground and say the prayer +the hermit taught me--"Jam Lucis," it began. He said it was about the +morning light.' + +'I know that "Jam Lucis,"' said Anne; 'the Sisters sing it at prime, and +Sister Scholastica makes us think how it means about light coming and +our being kept from ill,' and she hummed the chant of the first verse. + +'I think this blue sky and royal sun, and the moon and stars at night, +are God's great hall of praise,' said Hal, still keeping his cap off, as +he had done through Anne's chant of praise. + +'Verily it is! It is the temple of God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and +earth, as the Credo says,' replied Anne, 'but, maybe, we come nearer +still to Him in God the Son when we are in church.' + +'I do not know. The dark vaulted roof and the dimness seem to crush me +down,' said the mountain lad, 'though the singing lifts me sometimes, +though at others it comes like a wailing gust, all mournful and sad! If +I could only understand! My royal hermit would tell me when I can come +to him.' + +'Do you think, now he is a king again, he will be able to take heed to +you?' + +'I know he cares for me,' said Hal with confidence. + +'Ah yea, but will the folk about him care to let him talk to you? I have +heard say that he was but a puppet in their hands. Yea, you are a great +lord, that is true, but will that great masterful Earl Warwick let you +to him, or say all these thoughts of his and yours are but fancies for +babes?' + +'Simon Bunce did mutter such things, and that one of us was as great an +innocent as the other,' said Hal, 'but I trust my hermit's love.' + +'Ay, you know you are going to someone you love, and who loves you,' +sighed Anne, 'but how will it be with me?' + +'Your father?' suggested Hal. + +'My father! What knows he of me or I of him? I tell thee, Harry +Clifford, he left me at York when I was not eight years old, and I have +never seen him since. He gave a charge on his lands to a goldsmith at +York to pay for my up-bringing, and I verily believe thought no more of +me than if I had been a messan dog. He wedded a lady in Flanders and +had a son or twain, but I have never seen them nor my stepdame; and now +Gilbert there, who brought the letter to the Mother Prioress, says +she is dead, and the little heir, whose birth makes me nobody, is at +a monastery school at Ghent. But my Lord of Redgrave must needs make +overtures to my father for me, whether for his son or himself Gilbert +cannot say. So my father sends to bring me back for a betrothal. The +good Prioress goes with me. She saith that if it be the old Lord, who is +a fierce old rogue with as ill a name as Tiptoft himself, the butcher, +she will make my Lord St. John know the reason why! But what will he +care?' + +'It would be hard not to hear my Lady Prioress!' said Hal, looking +back at the determined black figure, gesticulating as she talked to Sir +Giles. + +Anne laughed, half sadly, 'So you think! But you have never seen the +grim faces at Bletso! They will say she is but a woman and a nun, and +what are her words to alliance with a friend of the Lord of Warwick? Ah! +it is a heartless hope, when I come to that castle!' + +'Nay, Anne, if my King gives me my place then&& + +'Lady Anne! Lady Anne!' called Sir Giles Musgrave, 'the Mother Prioress +thinks it not safe for you to keep so much in the front. There might be +ill-doers in the thickets.' + +Anne perforce reined in, but Hal fed on the idea that had suddenly +flashed on him. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. -- BLETSO + + + + Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me. + --SHAKESPEARE, + + +The cavalcade journeyed on not very quickly, as the riders accommodated +themselves to those on foot. They avoided the towns when they came into +the more inhabited country, the Prioress preferring the smaller hostels +for pilgrims and travellers, and, it may be suspected, monasteries to +the nunneries, where she said the ladies had nothing to talk about but +wonder at her journey, and advice to stay in shelter till after the +winter weather. Meantime it was a fine autumn still, and with bright +colours on the woods, where deer, hare, rabbit, or partridge tempted the +hounds, not to say their mistress, but she kept them well in leash, and +her falcon with hood and jesses, she being too well nurtured not to +be well aware of the strict laws of the chase, except when some +good-natured monk gave her leave and accompanied her--generally +Augustinians, who were more of country squires than ecclesiastics. Watch +needed no leash--he kept close to his master, except when occasionally +tempted to a little amateur shepherding, from which Hal could easily +call him off. The great stag-hounds evidently despised him, and the curs +of the waggon hated him, and snarled whenever he came near them, but the +Prioress respected him, and could well believe that the hermit King had +loved him. 'He had just the virtues to suit the good King Harry,' she +said, 'dutifulness and harmlessness.' + +The Prioress was the life of the party, with her droll descriptions of +the ways of the nuns who received her, while the males of the party had +to be content with the hostel outside. Sir Giles and Master Lorimer, +riding on each side of her, might often be heard laughing with her. The +young people were much graver, especially as there were fewer and fewer +days' journeys to Bletso, and Anne's unknown future would begin with +separation from all she had ever known, unless the Mother Prioress +should be able to remain with her. + +And to Harry Clifford the loss of her presence grew more and more to +be dreaded as each day's companionship drew them nearer together in +sympathy, and he began to build fanciful hopes of the King's influence +upon the plans of Lord St. John, unless the contract of betrothal had +been actually made, and therewith came a certain zest in looking to his +probable dignity such as he had never felt before. + +The last day's journey had come. The escort who had acted as guides were +in familiar fields and lanes, and one, the leader, rode up to Lady Anne +and pointed to the grey outline among the trees of her home, while he +sent the other to hurry forward and announce her. + +Anne shivered a little, and Hal kept close to her. He had made the +journey on foot, because he had chosen to be reckoned among Musgrave's +archers till he had received full knightly training; and, besides, he +had more freedom to attach himself to Anne's bridle rein, and be at hand +to help through difficult passages. Now he came up close to her, and she +held out her hand. He pressed it warmly. + +'You will not forget?' + +'Never, never! That red rose in the snow--I have the leaf in my +breviary. And Goodwife Dolly, tell her I'll never forget how she +cosseted the wildered lamb.' + +'Poor Mother Dolly, when shall I see her?' + +'Oh! you will be able to have her to share your state, and Watch too! I +take none with me.' + +'If we are all in King Harry's cause, there will be hope of meeting, and +then if--' + +'Ah! I see a horseman coming! Is it my father?' + +It was a horseman who met them, taking off his cap of maintenance and +bowing low to the Prioress and the young lady, but it was the seneschal +of the castle, not the father whom Anne so dreaded, but an old +gentleman, Walter Wenlock, with whom there was a greeting as of an old +friend. My lord had gone with the Earl of Warwick to Queen Margaret in +France, and had sent a messenger with a letter to meet his daughter +at York, and tell her to go to the house of the Poor Clares in London +instead of coming home, 'and there await him.' + +The route that had been taken by the party accounted for their not +having met the messenger and it was plain that they must go on to +London. The evening was beginning to draw in, and a night's lodging was +necessary. Anne assumed a little dignity. + +'My good friends who have guarded me, I hope you will do me the honour +to rest for the night in my father's castle.' + +The seneschal bowed acquiescence, but the poor man was evidently sorely +perplexed by such an extensive invitation on the part of his young lady +on his peace establishment, though the Prioress did her best to assist +Anne to set him at ease. 'Here is Sir Giles Musgrave, the Lord of +Peelholm on the Borders, a staunch friend of King Harry, with a band of +stout archers, and this gentleman from the north is with him.' (It had +been agreed that the Clifford name should not be mentioned till the way +had been felt with Warwick, one of whose cousins had been granted the +lands of the Black Lord Clifford.) + +The seneschal bent before Musgrave courteously, saying he was happy +to welcome so good and brave a knight, and he prayed his followers to +excuse if their fare was scant and homely, being that he was unprovided +for the honour. + +'No matter, sir,' returned Musgrave; 'we are used to soldiers' fare.' + +'And,' proceeded Anne, 'Master Lorimer must lie here, and his wains.' + +'Master Lorimer,' said the Prioress, 'with whom belike--Lorimer of +Barnet--Sir Seneschal has had dealings,' and she put forward the +merchant, who had been falling back to his waggon. + +'Yea,' said Walter Wenlock frankly, holding out his hand. 'We have +bought your wares and made proof of them, good sir. I am glad to welcome +you, though I never saw you to the face before.' + +'Great thanks, good seneschal. All that I would ask would be licence for +my wains to stand in your court to-night while my fellows and I sup and +lodge at the hostel.' + +The hospitality of Bletso could not suffer this, and both Anne and the +seneschal were urgent that all should remain, Wenlock reflecting that if +the store for winter consumption were devoured, even to the hog waiting +to be killed, he could obtain fresh supplies from the tenants, so he +ushered all into the court, and summoned steward, cooks, and scullions +to do their best. It was not a castle, only a castellated house, which +would not have been capable of long resistance in time of danger, but +the court and stables gave ample accommodation for the animals and the +waggons, and the men were bestowed in the great open hall, reaching to +the top of the house, where all would presently sup. + +In the meantime the seneschal conducted the ladies and their two +attendants to a tiny chamber, where an enormous bed was being made ready +by the steward's wife and her son, and in which all four ladies would +sleep, the Prioress and Anne one way, the other two foot to foot with +them! They had done so before, so were not surprised, and the lack of +furniture was a matter of course. Their mails were brought up, a pitcher +of water and a bowl, and they made their preparations for supper. Anne +was in high spirits at the dreaded meeting, and still more dreaded +parting, having been deferred, and she skipped about the room, trying to +gather up her old recollections. 'Yes, I remember that bit of tapestry, +and the man that stands there among the sheep. Is it King David, think +you, Mother, about to throw his stone at the lion and the bear?' + +'Lion and bear, child! 'Tis the three goddesses and Paris choosing the +fairest to give the golden apple.' + +'Methought that was the lion's mane, but I see a face.' + +'What would the Lady Venus say to have her golden locks taken for a +lion's mane?' + +'I like black hair,' said Anne. + +'Better not fix thy mind on any hue! We poor women have no choice save +what fathers make for us.' + +'O good my mother, peace! They are all in France, and there's no need +to spoil this breathing time with thinking of what is coming! Good +old Wenlock! I used to ride on his shoulder! I'm right glad to see him +again! I must tell him in his ear to put Hal well above the salt! May +not I tell him in his ear who he is?' + +'Safer not, my maid, till we know what King Harry can do for him. Better +that his name should not get abroad till he can have his own.' + +A great bell brought all down, and Anne was pleased to see that her +seneschal made no question about placing Harry Clifford beside the +Prioress, who sat next to the Lord of Peelholm, who sat next to the +young daughter of the house in the seat of honour. + +The nuns, Master Lorimer, and one of the archers, who was a Border +squire, besides Master Wenlock, occupied the high table on the dais, and +the archers, grooms, and the rest of the household were below. + +The fare was not scanty nor unsubstantial, but evidently hastily +prepared, being chiefly broiled slices of beef, on which salting had +begun; but there was a lack of bread, even of barley, though there was +no want of drink. + +However, the Prioress was good-humoured, and forestalled all excuses by +jests about travellers' meals and surprises in the way of guests, and +both she and Sir Giles were anxious for Wenlock's news of the state of +things. + +He knew much more of the course of affairs than they in their northern +homes and on their journey. + +'The realm is divided,' he said. 'Those who hold to King Harry, as you +gentles do, are in high joy, but there be many, spoken with respect, who +cannot face about so fast, and hold still for York, though they mislike +the Queen's kindred. Of such are the merchantmen of London.' + +'Is it so?' asked Lorimer. 'If King Edward be as deep in debt to them +as to me for housings and bridle reins methinks he should not be in good +odour in their nostrils.' + +'Yea,' said Wenlock, 'but if he be gone a beggar to Burgundy what +becomes of their debt?' + +'I would not give much for it were he restored a score of times,' said +the Prioress. 'What would he do but plunge deeper?' + +'There would be hope, though, of getting an order on the royal demesne, +or the crown jewels, or the taxes,' said Lorimer. 'Nay, I hold one even +now that will be but waste if he come not back.' + +'And this poor King spendeth nothing save on priests and masses,' said +Wenlock. + +Hal started forward, eager to hear of his King, and Musgrave said, 'A +holy man is he.' + +'Too holy for a King,' said the seneschal. 'He looked like a woolsack +across a horse when my Lord of Warwick led him down Cheapside; and only +the rabble cried out "Long live King Harry!" but some scoffed and said +they saw a mere gross monk with a baby face where they had been wont to +see a comely prince full of manhood, with a sword instead of beads.' + +'His son will please them,' said Musgrave. 'He was a goodly child, full +of spirit, when last I saw him.' + +'If so be he have not too much of the Frenchwoman, his mother, in him,' +said Wenlock. 'A losing lot, as poor as any rats, and as proud as very +peacocks.' + +'She was gracious enough and won all hearts on the Border,' replied +Musgrave. + +'Come, come!' put in the Prioress, 'you may have the chance yet to break +a lance on her behalf. No fear but she is royal enough to shine down +King Edward's low-born love, the Widow Grey!' + +'Ay, there lay the cause of discontent,' said Lorimer; 'the upstart ways +of her kin were not to be borne. To hear Dick Woodville chaffer +about the blazoning of his horse-gear when he was wedding the +fourscore-year-old Duchess of Norfolk, one would have thought he was an +emperor at the very least.' + +'Widow Grey has done something for her husband's cause,' said the +seneschal, 'in bringing him at last a fair son, all in his exile, and +she in sanctuary at Westminster. The London citizens are ever touched +through all the fat about their hearts by whatever would sound well in +the mouth of a ballad-monger.' + +'My King, my King, what of him?' sighed Hal in the Prioress's ear, +and she made the inquiry for him: 'What said you of King Henry, Sir +Seneschal? How did he fare in his captivity?' + +'Not so ill, methinks,' said the seneschal. 'He had the range of the +Tower, and St. Peter's in the Fetters to pray in, which was what he +heeded most; also he had a messan dog, and a tame bird. Indeed, men said +he had laid on much flesh since he had been mewed up there; and my lord, +who went with my Lord of Warwick to fetch him, said his garments were +scarce so cleanly as befitted. 'Twas hard to make him understand. First +he clasped his hands, and bowed his head, crying out that he forgave +those who came to slay him, and when he found it was all the other way, +he stood like one dazed, let his hand be kissed, and they say is still +in the hands of my Lord Archbishop of York just as if he were the waxen +image of St. John in a procession.' + +'The Earl and the Queen will have to do the work,' said the Prioress, +'and they will no more hold together than a couple of wild hawks will +hunt in company. How long do you give them to tear out one another's +eyes?' + +'Son and daughter may keep them together,' said Musgrave, + +'Hatred of the Woodvilles is more like, a poor band though it be,' +said the Prioress. 'These are stirring times! I'll not go back to +my anchoress lodge in the north till I see what works out of them! +Meantime, to our beds, sweet Anne, since 'tis an early start tomorrow.' + +The Prioress, who had become warmly interested in Hal, and had divined +the feeling between him and Anne, thought that if she could obtain +access to the Archbishop of York, Warwick's brother George, she could +deal with him to procure Clifford's restitution in name and in blood, +and at least his De Vesci inheritance, if Dick Nevil, who had grasped +the Clifford lands, could not be induced to give them up. + +'I have seen George Nevil,' she said, 'when I was instituted to +Greystone. He is of kindlier mood than his brothers, and more a valiant +trencherman and hunter than aught else. If I had him on the moors and +could show him some sport with a red deer, I could turn him round my +finger.' + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. -- THE HERMIT IN THE TOWER + + + + Thy pity hath been balm to heal their wounds, + Thy mildness hath allayed their swelling griefs, + Thy mercy dried their ever flowing tears. + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +Early in the morning, while the wintry sun was struggling with mists, +and grass and leaves were dark with frost, the Prioress was in her +saddle. Perhaps the weather might have constrained a longer stay, but +that it was clear to her keen eyes that, however welcome Wenlock might +make his young lady, there was little provision and no welcome for +thorough-going Lancastrians like Sir Giles's troop, who had besides a +doubtful Robin Hood-like reputation; and as neither she nor Anne wished +to ride forward without them, they decided to go on all together as +before. + +And a very wet and slightly snowy journey they had, 'meeting in snow +and parting in snow,' as Hal said, as he marched by Anne's bridle-rein, +leading her pony, so as to leave her hands free to hold cloak and hood +close about her. + +She sighed, and put one hand on his, but a gust of wind took that +opportunity of getting under her cloak and sending it fluttering over +her back, so that he had to catch it and return it to her grasp. + +'Let us take that as a prophecy that storms shall not hinder our further +meeting! It may be! It may be! Who knows what my King may do for us?' + +'Only a storm can bring us together! But that may--' + +Her breath was blown away again before the sentence was finished, if +it was meant to be finished, and Master Lorimer came to insist on the +ladies taking shelter in his covered waggon, where the Prioress was +already installed. + +Through rain and sleet they reached Chipping Barnet in due time on the +third day's journey, and here they were to part from the merchant's +wains. He had sent forward, and ample cheer was provided at the handsome +timbered and gabled house at the porch of which stood his portly wife, +with son, daughter, and son-in-law, ready to welcome the party, bringing +them in to be warmed and dried before sitting down to the excellent +meal which it had been Mistress Lorimer's pride and pleasure to provide. +There was a small nunnery at Barnet, but not very near, and the Prioress +Agnes did not think herself bound to make her way thither in the dark +and snow, so she remained, most devoutly waited on by her hostess, and +discussed the very last tidings, which had been brought that morning +by the foreman whom Mistress Lorimer had sent to bring the news to her +husband. + +It was probable that the Lord of Bletso was with Warwick and the Queen, +as he had not been heard of at his home. The King was in the royal +apartments of the Tower, under the charge of the Chancellor. The Earl of +Oxford, a steady partisan of the Red Rose, was Constable of the Kingdom, +and was guarding the Tower. + +On hearing this, Musgrave decided to repair at once to the Earl, one of +the few men in whom there was confidence, since he had never changed +his allegiance, and to take his counsel as to the recognition of young +Clifford. On the way to the Tower they would leave the Prioress and her +suite at the Sister Minoresses', till news could be heard of the Baron +St. John. + +So for the last time the travellers rode forth in slightly improved +weather. Harry's heart beat high with the longing soon to be in the +presence of him who had opened so many doors of life to his young mind, +whom he so heartily loved, and who, it might be, could give him that +which he began to feel would be the joy of his life. + +The archers, who had been lodged in the warehouses, were drawn up in a +compact body, and Master Lorimer, who had a shop in Cheapside, decided +on accompanying them, partly to be at the scene of action and partly to +facilitate their entrance. + +So Hal walked by the side of Anne St. John's bridle-rein, with a very +full heart, swelling with sensations he did not understand, and which +kept him absolutely silent, untrained as he was in the conventionalities +which would have made speech easier to him. Nor had Anne much more +command of tongue, and all she did was to keep her hand upon the +shoulder of her squire; but there was much involuntary meaning in the +yearning grasp of those fingers, and both fed on the hopes the Prioress +had given them. + +Christmas was close at hand, and fatted cattle on their way to market +impeded the way, so that Hal's time was a good deal taken up in steering +the pony along, and in preventing Watch from getting into a battle with +the savage dogs that guarded them. Penrith market, where once he had +been, had never shown him anything like such a concourse, and he could +hear muttered exclamations from the archers, who walked by Sir Giles's +orders in a double line on each side the horses, their pikes keeping off +the blundering approach of bullocks or sheep. 'By the halidome, if +the Scots were among them, they might victual their whole kingdom till +Domesday!' + +The tall spire of old St. Paul's and the four turrets of the Tower began +to rise on them, and were pointed out by Master Lorimer, for even Sir +Giles had only once in his life visited the City, and no one else of the +whole band from the north had ever been there. The road was bordered by +the high walls of monasteries, overshadowed by trees, and at the deep +gateway of one of these Lorimer called a halt. It was the house of the +Minoresses or Poor Clares, where the ladies were to remain. The six +weeks' companionship would come to an end, and the Prioress was heartily +sorry for it. 'I shall scarce meet such good company at the Clares',' +she said, laughing, as she took leave of Lord Musgrave, 'Mayhap when +I go back to my hills I shall remember your goodwife's offer of +hospitality, Master Lorimer.' + +Master Lorimer bowed low, expressed his delight in the prospect, and +kissed the Prioress's hand, but the heavy door was already being opened, +and with an expressive look of drollery and resignation, the good lady +withdrew her hand, hastily brought her Benedictine hood and veil closely +over her face, and rode into the court, followed by her suite. Anne had +time to let her hand be kissed by Sir Giles and Hal, who felt as if a +world had closed on him as the heavy doors clanged together behind the +Sisters. But the previous affection of his young life lay before him as +Sir Giles rode on to the fortified Aldgate, and after a challenge from +the guard, answered by a watchword from Lorimer, and an inquiry for whom +the knight held, they were admitted, and went on through an increasing +crowd trailing boughs of holly and mistletoe, to the north gateway of +the Tower. Here they parted with Lorimer, with friendly greetings and +promises to come and see his stall at Cheapside. + +There was a man-at-arms with the star of the De Veres emblazoned on his +breast, and a red rosette on his steel cap, but he would not admit the +new-comers till Sir Giles had given his name, and it had been sent in by +another of the garrison to the Earl of Oxford. + +Presently, after some waiting in the rain, and looking up with awe at +the massive defences, two knights appeared with outstretched hands of +welcome. Down went the drawbridge, up went the portcullis, the horses +clattered over the moat, and the reception was hearty indeed. 'Well met, +my Lord of Musgrave! I knew you would soon be where Red Roses grew.' + +'Welcome, Sir Giles! Methought you had escaped after the fight at +Hexham.' + +'Glad indeed to meet you, brave Sir John, and you, good Lord of +Holmdale! Is all well with the King?' + +'As well as ever it will be. The Constable is nigh at hand! You have +brought us a stout band of archers, I see! We will find a use for them +if March chooses to show his presumptuous nose here again!' + +'And hither comes my Lord Constable! It rejoices his heart to hear of +such staunch following.' + +The Earl of Oxford, a stern, grave man of early middle age, was coming +across the court-yard, and received Sir Giles with the heartiness that +became the welcome of a proved and trustworthy ally. After a few words, +Musgrave turned and beckoned to Hal, who advanced, shy and colouring. + +'Ha! young Lord Clifford! I am glad to see you! I knew your father well, +rest his soul! The King spoke to me of the son of a loyal house living +among the moors.' + +'The King was very good to me,' faltered Hal, crimson with eagerness. + +'Ay, ay! I sent not after you, having enough to do here; and besides, +till we have the strong hand, and can do without that heady kinsman +of Warwick, it will be ill for you to disturb the rogue--what's his +name--to whom your lands have been granted, and who might turn against +the cause and maybe make a speedy end of you if he knew you present. +Be known for the present as Sir Giles counsels. Better not put his name +forward,' he added to Musgrave. + +'I care not for lands,' said Hal, 'only to see the King.' + +'See him you shall, my young lord, and if he be not in one of his +trances, he will be right glad to see you and remember you. But he is +scarce half a man,' added Oxford, turning to Musgrave. 'Cares for nought +but his prayers! Keeps his Hours like a monk! We can hardly bring him to +sit in the Council, and when he is there he sits scarce knowing what we +say. 'Tis my belief, when the Queen and Prince come, that we shall have +to make the Prince rule in his name, and let him alone to his prayers! +He will be in the church. 'Tis nones, or some hour as they call it, and +he makes one stretch out to another.' + +They entered the low archway of St. Peter ad Vincula, and there Hal +perceived a figure in a dark mantle just touched with gold, kneeling +near the chancel step, almost crouching. Did he not know the attitude, +though the back was broader than of old? He paused, as did his +companions; but there was one who did not pause, and would not be left +outside. Watch unseen had pattered up, and was rearing up, jumping and +fawning. There was a call of 'Watch! here sirrah!' but 'Watch! Watch! +Good dog! Is it thou indeed?' was exclaimed at the same moment, and with +Watch springing up, King Henry stood on his feet looking round with his +dazed glance. + +'My King! my hermit father! Forgive! Down, Watch!' cried Hal, falling +down at his feet, with one arm holding down Watch, who tried to lick his +face and the King's hand by turns. + +'Is it thou, my child, my shepherd?' said Henry, his hands on the lad's +head. 'Bless thee! Oh, bless thee, much loved child of my wanderings! I +have longed after thee, and prayed for thee, and now God hath given thee +to me at this shrine! Kneel and give the Lord thy best thanks, my +lad! Ah! how tall thou art! I should not have known thee, Hal, but for +Watch.' + +'It is well,' muttered Oxford to Musgrave. 'I have not seen him so well +nor so cheery all this day. The lad will waken him up and do him good.' + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. -- A CAPTIVE KING + + + + And we see far on holy ground, + If duly purged our mental view.--KEBLE. + + +The King held Harry Clifford by the hand as he left St. Peter's Church. +'My child, my shepherd boy,' he said, and he called Watch after him, and +interested himself in establishing a kind of suspicious peace between +the shaggy collie and his own 'Minion,' a small white curly-haired dog, +which belonged to a family that had been brought by Queen Margaret from +Provence. + +His attendant knight, Sir Nicolas Romford, told Sir Giles Musgrave +that he had really never seemed so happy since his deliverance, and Sir +Nicolas had waited on him ever since his capture, six years previously. +He led the youth along to the royal rooms, asking on the way after his +sheep and the goodwife who had sent him presents of eggs, then showing +him the bullfinch, that greeted his return with loving chirps, and when +released from its cage came and sat upon his shoulder and played with +his hair, 'A better pet than a fierce hawk, eh, Hal?' he said. + +He laughed when he found that Harry thought he had spent all this time +in a dark underground dungeon with fetters on his feet. + +'Oh no!' he said; 'they were kindly jailors. They dealt better with me +than with my Master.' + +'Sir, sir, that terrible ride through Cheapside!' said Harry. 'We heard +of it at Derwent-side, and we longed to have our pikes at the throats of +the villain traitors.' + +The King looked as if he hardly remembered that cruel procession, when +he was set upon a sorry jade with his feet tied to the stirrups, and +shouts of 'Behold the traitor!' around him. Then with a sweet smile of +sudden recollection, he said, 'Ah! I recall it, and how I rejoiced to +be led in the steps of my Lord, and how the cries sounded, "We will not +have this man to reign over us!" Gratias ago, unworthy me, who by my own +fault could not reign.' + +Harry was silenced, awe-struck, and by-and-by the King took him to see +his old chamber in the White Tower, up a winding stone stair. It was +not much inferior to the royal lodgings, except in the matter of dais, +canopy, and tapestry, and the window looked out into the country, so +that the King said he had loved it, and it had many a happy thought +connected with it. + +Hal followed him in a sort of silent wonder, if not awe, not daring +to answer him in monosyllables. This was not quite the hermit of +Derwentdale. It was a broader man--not with the breadth of full +strength, but of inactivity and advance of years, though the fiftieth +year was only lately completed--and the royal robe of crimson, touched +with gold, suited him far less than the brown serge of the anchoret. +The face was no longer thin, sunburnt, and worn, but pale, and his +checks slightly puffed, and the eyes and smile, with more of the strange +look of innocent happiness than of old, and of that which seemed to +bring back to his young visitor the sense of peace and well-being that +the saintly hermit had always given him. + +There was consultation that evening between Lord Oxford and Sir Giles +Musgrave. It was better, they agreed, to let young Clifford remain with +the King as much as possible, but without divulging his name. The +King knew it, and indeed had known it, when he received the boy at his +hermitage, but he seemed to have forgotten it, as he had much besides. +Oxford said that though he could be roused into actual fulfilment of +such forms as were required of him, and understood what was set before +him, his memory and other powers seemed to have been much impaired, and +it was held wiser not to call on him more than could be helped, till +the Queen and her son should come to supply the energy that was wanting. +They would make the gay and brilliant appearance that the Londoners had +admired in Edward of York, and which could not be obtained from poor +Henry. + +His memory for actual matters was much impaired. Never for two days +together could he recollect that his son and Warwick's daughter were +married, and it was always by an effort that he remembered that the +Prince of Wales was not the eight-years-old child whom he had last +seen. As to young Clifford, he sometimes seemed to think the tall +nineteen-years-old stripling was just where he had left the child of +twelve or thirteen, and if he perceived the age, was so far confused +that it was not quite certain that he might not mix him up with his own +son, though the knight in constant attendance was sure that he was clear +on that point, and only looked on 'Hal' as the child of his teaching and +prayers. + +But Harry Clifford could not persuade him to enter into that which more +and more lay near the youthful heart, the rescuing Anne St. John from +the suitor of whom little that was hopeful was heard; and the obtaining +her from his father. Of course this could not be unless Harry could win +his father's property, and no longer be under the attaint in blood, so +as to be able to lay claim to the lands of the De Vescis through his +mother; but though the King listened with kindly interest to the +story of the children's adventure on the Londesborough moor, and the +subsequent meeting in Westmorland, the rescue from the outlaws, and the +journey together, it was all like a romance to him--he would nod +his head and promise to do what he could, if he could, but he never +remembered it for two days together, and if Hal ventured on anything +like pressure, the only answer was, 'Patience, my son, patience must +have her work! It is the will of God, it will be right.' + +And when Hal began to despair and work himself up and seek to do more +with one so impracticable, Lord Oxford and Sir Giles warned him not to +force his real name and claims too much, for he did not need too many +enemies nor to have Lord St. John and the Nevil who held his lands both +anxious to sweep him from their path. + +Nor was anything heard from or of the Prioress of Greystone, and +whenever the name of George Nevil, the Chancellor and Archbishop of +York, was heard, Hal's heart burnt with anxiety, and fear that the lady +had forgotten him, though as Dick Nevil, who held the lands of Clifford, +was known to be in his suite, it was probable that she was acting out of +prudence. + +The turmoil of anxious impatience seemed to be quelled when Hal sat on +a stool before the King, with Watch leaning against his knee. The +instruction or meditation seemed to be taken up much where it had been +left six years before, with the same unanswerable questions, only the +youth had thought out a great deal more, and the hermit had advanced in +a wisdom which was not that of the rough, practical world. + +Part of Clifford's day was spent in the tilt-yard, where his two +friends, as well as himself, were anxious that he should acquire +proficiency and ease such as would become his station, when he recovered +it; and a martinet old squire of Oxford proved himself nearly as hard a +master as ever Simon Bunce had been. + +One very joyous day came to Henry in his regal capacity. Christmas Day +had been quietly spent. There was much noisy revelling in the city, +and the guards in the castle had their feastings, but Warwick was +daily expected to return from France, and neither his brother nor +the Archbishop thought that there was much policy in making a public +spectacle of a puppet King. + +But there was one ceremony from which Henry would not be debarred. He +would make the public offering on the Epiphany in Westminster Abbey. He +had done so ever since he was old enough to totter up to the altar and +hold the offerings; and his heart was set on doing so once more. So a +large and quiet cream-coloured Flemish horse was brought for him, he was +robed in purple and ermine, with a coronal around the cap that covered +his hair, fast becoming white. His train in full array followed him, and +the streets were thronged, but there was an ominous lack of applause, +and even a few audible jeers at the monk dressed up like the jackdaw +in peacock's plumes, and comparisons with Edward, in sooth a king worth +looking at. + +Henry seemed not to heed or hear. His blue eyes looked upward, his face +was set in peaceful contemplation, his lips were moving, and those who +were near enough caught murmurs of 'Vidimus enim stellam Ejus in Oriente +et venimus adorare Eum.' Truly the one might be a king to suit the +kingdoms of this world, the other had a soul near the Kingdom of Heaven. + +The Dean and choir received him at the west door, and with the same rapt +countenance he paced up to the sanctuary, and knelt before the chair +appropriated to him, while the grand Epiphany Celebration was gone +through, in all its glory and beauty of sound and sight, and with the +King kneeling with clasped hands, and a radiant look of happiness almost +transfiguring that worn face. + +When the offertory anthem was sung, he rose up, and advanced to the +altar. A salver of gold coins was presented to him, which he took and +solemnly laid on the altar, but paused for a moment, and removed his +crown with both hands, placing it likewise on the altar, and kneeling +for a moment ere he turned to take the vase whence breathed the fragrant +odour of frankincense; and presenting this, and afterwards kneeling and +bowing low with clasped hands, he again took the salver in which the +myrrh was laid. This again he placed on the altar, and remained kneeling +in intense devotion through the remainder of the service, only looking +up at the 'Sursum Corda,' when those near enough to see his countenance +said that they never knew before the full import of those words, nor how +the heart could be uplifted. + +It was the first time that Hal Clifford had ever joined in the full +ceremonial of the Church, or in such splendid accompaniment, for though +there had been the rightful ritual at St. Peter's in the Tower, the +space had been confined, and the clergy few, and the whole, even on +Christmas Day, had been more or less a training to him to enter into +what he now saw and heard. He had in these last weeks gathered much +of the meaning of all this from the King, who perhaps never fully +disentangled the full-grown youth from the boy he had taught at +Derwentdale, but who, perhaps for that very cause, really suited better +the strange mixture of ignorance, simplicity, observation and aspiration +of the shepherd lord. + +The King did not help more but less than he had done before in Hal's +researches and wonderings about natural objects; he had forgotten +the philosophies he had once read, and the supposed circuits of moon, +planets and stars only perplexed and worried his brain. It was much more +satisfactory to refer all to 'He hath made them fast for ever and ever, +He hath given them a law which shall not be broken,' and he could not +understand Hal's desire to find out what that law was, and far less his +calculations about the tides. He had scarcely ever seen the sea, and as +to its motions, 'Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther' was sufficient +explanation, and when Hal tried to show him the correspondence between +spring tides and full moons he either waved him away or fell asleep. + +But on the spiritual side of his mind there was no torpor. He loved to +explain the sense of the prayers to his willing pupil, and to tell +him the Gospel story, dwelling on whatever could waken or carry on the +Christian life; and between the tiltyard and the oratory Hal spent a +strange life. + +That question which had occurred to him on the journey Hal ventured to +lay before his King--'Was it really and truly better and more acceptable +worship that came to breathe through him when alone with God under the +open vault of Heaven, with endless stars above and beyond, or was the +best that which was beautified and guided by priests, with all that +man's devices could lavish upon its embellishment?' Such, though in more +broken and hesitating words, was the herd boy's difficulty, and Henry +put his head back, and after having once said, 'Adam had the one, God +directed the other,' he shut his eyes, and Hal feared he would put it +aside as he had with the moon and the tides, but after some delay, he +leant forward and said, 'My son, if man had always been innocent, that +worship as Adam and Eve had it might--nay, would--have sufficed them. +The more innocent man is, the better his heart rises. But sin came into +the world, and expiation was needed, not only here on earth, but before +the just God in Heaven above. Therefore doth He, who hath once offered +Himself in sacrifice for us, eternally present His offering in Heaven +before the Mercy-Seat, and we endeavour as much as our poor feeble +efforts can, to take part in what He does above, and bring it home to +our senses by all that can represent to us the glories of Heaven.' + +There was much in this that went beyond Hal, who knitted his brow, +and would have asked further, but the King fell into a state of +contemplation, and noticed nothing, until presently he broke out into +a thanksgiving: 'Blessed be my Lord, who hath granted me once more to +follow in the steps of the kings of the East, though but as in a dream, +and lay my crown and my prayer before Him. Once more I thank Thee, O my +true King of kings, and Lord of lords.' + +'Oh, do not say once more!' exclaimed Hal. 'Again and again, I trust, +sir. It is no dream. It is real.' + +The King smiled and shook his head. 'It is all a dream to me,' he said, +'the pageants and the whole. They will not last! Oh, no! It is all but +an empty show.' + +Hal looked up anxiously, and the King went on: 'Well do I remember the +day when, scarce able to walk, and weighed down by my robes, I tottered +up to the altar and was well pleased to make my offering, and how my +Lord of Warwick, who was then, took me in his arms, and showed me my +great father's figure on his grave, and told me I was bound to be such a +king as he! Alas! was it mine own error that I so failed?&& + + + Henry born at Monmouth shall short live and gain all, + Henry born at Windsor shall long live and lose all.' + + +'Oh, sir, sir, do not speak of that old saw!' + +Still the King smiled. 'It has come true, my child. All is lost, and +it may be well for my soul that thus it should be, and that I should +go into the presence of my God freed from the load of what was gained +unjustly. I know not whether, if my hand had been stronger, I should +have striven to have borne up the burthen of these two realms, but they +never ought to have been mine, and if the sins of the forefathers be +visited on the children to the third and fourth generation, no marvel +that my brain and mine arm could but sink under the weight. Would that +I had yielded at once, and spared the bloodshed and sacrilege! Miserere +mei! My son was a temptation. Oh, my poor boy! is he to be the heir to +all that has come on me? Have pity on him, good Lord!' + +'Nay, sir, your brave son will come home to comfort you, and help you +and make all well.' + +'I know not! I know not! I cannot believe that I shall see him again, +or that the visitation of these crimes is not still to come! My son, my +sweet son, I can only pray that he might give up his soul sackless and +freer of guilt than his father can be, when I remember all that I ought +to have hindered when I could think and use my will! Now, now all is but +confusion! God has taken away my judgment, even as He did with my French +grandsire, and I can only let others act as they will, and pray for them +and for myself.' + +He had never spoken at such length, nor so clearly, and whenever he was +required to come forward, he merely walked, rode, sat or signed rolls +as he was told to do, and continually made mistakes as to the persons +brought to him, generally calling them by their fathers' names, if +he recognised them at all, but still to his nearest attendants, and +especially to his beloved herd boy, he was the same gentle, affectionate +being, never so happy as at his prayers, and sometimes speaking of holy +things as one almost inspired. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. -- AT THE MINORESSES' + + + + The bird that hath been limed in a bush, + With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush. + --SHAKESPEARE. + + +One day, soon after that Twelfth Day, Hal accompanied Sir Giles Musgrave +to the shop or stall of Master Lorimer in Cheapside, a wide space, open +by day but closed by shutters at night, where all sorts of gilded and +emblazoned leather-works for man or horse were displayed, and young +'prentices called, 'What d'ye lack?' 'Saddle of the newest make?' 'Buff +coat fit to keep out the spear of Black Douglas himself?' + +''Tis Master Lorimer himself I lack,' said Musgrave with a good-humoured +smile, and the merchant appeared from a room in the rear, something +between a counting-house and a bedroom, where he welcomed his former +companions, and insisted on their tasting the good sherris sack that had +been sent with his last cargo of Spanish leather. + +'I would I could send a flask to our good Prioress,' he said, 'to cheer +her heart. I went to the Minoresses' as she bade me, to settle some +matters of account with her, and after some ado, Sister Mabel came down +to the parlour and told me the Prioress is very sick with a tertian +fever, and they misdoubt her recovering.' + +'And the young Lady of St. John.' + +'She is well enough, but sadly woeful as to the Mother Prioress, and +likewise as to what they hear of the Lord Redgrave. It is the old man, +not his son, a hard and stark old man, as I remember. He would have +bargained with me for the coats of the poor rogues slain at St. Albans, +and right evil was his face as he spoke thereof, he being then for Queen +Margaret; but then he went over to King Edward, and glutted himself with +slaughter at Towton, and here he calls himself Red Rose again. Ill-luck +to the poor young maid if she falls to him!' + +It was terrible news for Hal, and Musgrave could not but gratify him +by riding by the Minories to endeavour to hear further tidings of the +Prioress. + +It was a grand building in fine pointed architecture, for the Clares, +though once poor, in imitation of St. Clara and St. Francis, had been +dispensed collectively from their vow of poverty, and though singly +incapable of holding property, had a considerable accumulation en masse. +They were themselves a strict Order, but they often gave lodgings to +ladies either in retreat or for any cause detained near London. + +Sir Giles and Harry were only admitted to the outer court, whence the +portress went with their message of inquiry. They waited a long time, +and then the Greystone lay Sister who had been the companion of their +journey came back in company with the portress. + +'Benedicite, dear gentles,' she said; 'oh, you are a sight for sair +een.' + +'And how fares the good Mother Prioress?' asked the Lord of Peelholm. + +'Alack! she is woefully ill when the fever takes her, and she is wasted +away so that you would scarce know her; but this is one of the better +days, and if you, sir, will come into the parlour, she will see you. She +was arraying herself as I came down. She was neither to have nor to hold +when she heard you were there, and said a north country face would be +better to her than all the Sisters' potions!' + +They were accordingly conducted through a graceful cloister, overgrown +with trailing ivy, to a bare room, with mullioned windows, and frescoes +on the Walls with the history of St. Francis relieving beggars, +preaching to the birds, &c., and with a stout open work barrier cutting +off half the room. + +Presently the Prioress tottered in, leaning heavily on the arms of +Sister Mabel and of Anne St. John, while her own lay Sister and another +placed a seat for her; but before she would sit down, she would go up +to the opening, and turning back her veil, put out a hand to be grasped. +'Right glad am I to see you, good Sir Giles and young Harry. Are you +going back to the wholesome winds of our moors?' + +'Not yet, holy Mother. It grieves me to see you faring so ill.' + +'Ah! a breeze from the north would bring life back to my old bones. Aye, +Giles, this place has made an old woman of me.' And truly her bright +ruddy face was faded to a purple hue, and her cheeks hung haggard and +almost withered, but as her visitors expressed their grief and sympathy, +she went on in her own tone. 'And tell me somewhat of how things are +going. How doth Richard of Warwick comport himself to the King? Hath +your King zest enough to reign? Is my White Rose King still abroad in +Burgundy?' And as Sir Giles replied to each inquiry in turn, and told +all he could of political matters, she exclaimed: 'Ah! that is better +than the hearing whether the black hen hath laid an egg, or the skein of +yellow silk matches. I am weary, O! I am weary. Moreover, young Hal, I +know as matters are that could I see George Nevil face to face I could +do somewhat with him, and I laid my plans to obtain a meeting, but +therewith, what with vexation and weariness and lack of air, comes this +sickness, and I am laid aside and can do nought but pray, and lay my +plans to meet him some day in the fields, and show him what a hawk can +do, then shame him into listening to my tale. But I must be a sound +woman first! And maybe his brother Warwick, being a sturdy gentleman who +loves a brave man, will be better to deal with. I am a sinful woman, +and maybe my devotions here will help me to be more worthy to be heard. +Moreover, I hoped you had done somewhat in thine own cause with thy King +and Earl Oxford,' she proceeded. 'Thou hast an esquire's coat; hast thou +any hope of thy lands?' + +'I must strive to earn them by deeds,' said Hal. 'And--' + +'Well spoken, lad! 'Tis the manly way; but methought you hadst interest +with this King of thine, or hath he only a royal memory for services?' + +'He is good to me. Yea, most good,' began Harry. + +'Ay, he loves the boy,' said Sir Giles, 'no question about that; but his +memory for all that is about him hath failed, and there is nothing for +it save to wait for the Queen and the Prince, who will bear the boy's +father's services in mind.' + +'And wherefore tarries the French woman? This maid's father is to come +over with her. He is forming her English court, I trow; she can have few +beside from England.' + +'When he comes,' said Harry, with a look into Anne's eyes that made +them droop and her cheeks burn, 'then shall we put it to the touch. Then +shall I know whether I have mine own, and what is more than mine own.' + +'Thine own,' whispered Anne. 'Oh, better live in the sheepfolds with +thee than with this Baron! I shudder at the thought.' + +This, and a few more such words were an aside, while the Prioress +continued her conversation with Sir Giles, and went on to say that she +was sure she should never recover till she was out of these walls, and +away from London smoke and London smells, and she naughtily added in a +whisper the weary talk of these good nuns, who had never flown a hawk or +chased a deer in their lives, and thought Florimond a mere wolf, if +not the evil one himself, and kept the poor hound chained up like a +malefactor in gyves, till she was fain to send him away with Master +Lorimer to keep for her. + +She would not go back to her Priory till Anne's fate was settled, being +in hopes of doing something yet for the poor wench; but meantime she +should die if she stayed there much longer, and she meant to set forth +on pilgrimage in good time, before she had scandalised the good ladies +enough to make them gossip to the dames of St. Helen's, who would be +only too glad to have a story against the Benedictines. A ride over the +Kentish downs was the only cure for her or for Anne, who had been pining +ever since they had been mewed up here, though, looking across at the +girl, whose head was leaning against the bars, Sir Giles seemed to have +brought a remedy to judge by those cheeks. + +'Would that we could hope it would be an effectual and lasting remedy,' +sighed Sir Giles; 'but unless this poor King could be roused to insist, +or the Earl of Warwick fell out with his cousin, I do not see much +chance for the lad.' + +'Is it Warwick who is his chief foe or King Edward?' asked the Prioress. + +'King Edward, doubtless, for his father's slaughter of young Rutland at +Wakefield.' + +'That bodes ill,' said the lady. 'By all I gather, King Edward is a +tiger when once roused, but at other times is like that same tiger, +purring and slow to move. But there's a bell that warns us to vespers. +They are mightily more strict here than ever we are at Greystone. Ah! +you won't tell tales, Sir Giles! You'll soon hear of me at St. Thomas's +shrine at Canterbury.' + +The knight took his leave. It was impossible not to like and pity the +Prioress, though the life among devout nuns was clearly beyond her +powers. + +The dreamy peaceful days of the Tower of London were stirred by the +arrival of the great Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, as people already +called him. He took up his residence in his own mighty establishment at +Warwick House near St. Paul's; and the day after his arrival, he came +clanking over London Bridge with a great following of knights and +squires to pay his respects to King Henry. + +Henry Clifford was not disposed to meet him, and only watched from +a window when the drawbridge was lowered, and the sturdy man, with +grizzled hair and marked, determined features, rode into the gateway, +where he was received by the Earl of Oxford. + +The interview was long, and when it was finished, the two Earls made +the round of the defences, and Oxford drew up his garrison on the Tower +Green to be inspected. + +When Warwick had taken his leave, Hal was summoned to the Constable's +hall. 'We must be jogging, my young master,' he said. 'There are rumours +of King Edward making another attempt for his crown, and my Lord of +Warwick would have me go and watch the eastern seaboard. And you had +best go with me.' + +'The King--' began Hal. + +'You will come back to the King by-and-by if so be he misses you, but +he was more dazed than ever to-day, and perhaps it was well, for Warwick +brought with him Dick Nevil, who has got your lands of Clifford, and +might be tempted to put you out of the way in one of the dungeons that +lie so handy.' + +'No one save the King knows who I am,' said Hal, 'and he forgets from +day to day all save that I am the herd boy, and I think it cheers him to +have me with him. I will stay beside him even as a varlet.' + +'Nay, my lord, that may not be. 'Tis true he loves thee, but he will +forget anon, and I may not suffer the risk. Too many know or guess.' + +Harry Clifford repeated that he recked not of the risk when he could +serve and comfort his beloved King, and, indeed, his mind was made up +on the subject. He had taken measures for remaining as one of the +men-at-arms of the garrison; but King Henry himself surprised him by +saying, 'My young Lord of Clifford, fare thee well. Thou goest forth +to-morrow with the Constable of Oxford. Take my blessing with thee, my +child. Thou hast been granted to me to make life very sweet to me of +late, and I thank God for it, but the time is come that thou must part +from me.' + +'Oh, sir, never! None was ever so dear to me! For weal or woe I will +be with you! Suffer me to be your meanest varlet, and serve you as none +other can do.' + +Henry shook his head. 'It may not be, my child, let not thy blood also +be on my head! Go with Oxford and his men. Thou hast learnt to draw +sword and use lance. Thou wilt be serving me still if again there be, +which Heaven forefend, stricken fields in my cause or my son's.' + +'Sir, if I must fight, let no less holy hand than thine lay knighthood +on my shoulder,' sobbed Hal, kneeling. + +Henry smiled. 'I have well-nigh forgotten the fashion. But if it will +please thee, my son, give me thy sword, Oxford. In the name of God and +St. George of England I dub thee knight. For the Church, for the honour +of God, for a good cause, fight. Arise, Sir Henry Clifford!' + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. -- A STRANGE EASTER EVE + + + + And spare, O spare + The meek usurper's holy head. + --GRAY. + + +Once more, at the close of morning service, while it was still dark, did +Harry Clifford, the new-made knight, kneel before King Henry and feel +his hand in blessing on his head. Then he went forth to join Musgrave +and the troop that the Earl of Oxford was leading from the Tower to +raise the counties of East Anglia and watch the coast against a descent +of King Edward from the Low Countries. + +As they passed the walls enclosing the Minories Convent, and Hal gazed +at it wistfully, the wide gateway was opened and out came a party of +black-hooded nuns, mounted on ponies and mules, evidently waiting till +Oxford's band had gone by. Harry drew Sir Giles's attention, and they +lingered, as they became certain that they beheld the Prioress Selby of +Greystone, hawk, hound and all, riding forth, nearly smothered in her +hood, and not so upright as of old. + +'Ay, here I am!' she said, as he reined up and bowed his greeting. 'Here +I am on my pilgrimage! I got Father Ridley, the Benedictine head, to +order me forth. Methinks he was glad, being a north countryman, to send +me out before I either died on the Poor Clares' hands, or gave them a +fuller store of tales against us of St. Bennet's! Not but that they are +good women, too godly and devout for a poor wild north country Selby +like me, who cannot live without air. + + + O the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree, + They flourish best at home in the north countree. + + +Flori, Flori, whither away? Ah! thou hast found thine old friend. Birds +of a feather. Eh? the young folk have foregathered likewise. Watch! And +thou, sir knight, whither are you away?' + +'On our way to Norfolk in case the Duke of York should show himself on +the coast. And yours, reverend Mother?' + +'To Canterbury first by easy journeys. We sleep to-night at the Tabard, +where we shall meet other pilgrims.' + +'Here, alack! our way severs from yours. Farewell, holy Mother, may you +find health on your pilgrimage.' + +'Every breath I take in is health,' said the Mother, who had already +manoeuvred an opening in her veil, and gasped to throw it back as soon +as she should attain an unfrequented place. 'There are so many coming +and going here that all the air is used up by their greasy nostrils! +Well! good luck, and God's blessing go with you, and you, young Hal, I +may say so far, whichever side ye be, but still I hold that York has the +right, and yours may be a saint, but not a king.' + +Hal had meantime 'forgathered' as the Prioress said with Anne, marching, +in spite of his new honours, close to her stirrup, and venturing to +whisper to her that he was now her knight, and 'her colours,' which he +was to wear for her, were only a tiny scrap of ribbon from her glove, +which he cut off with his dagger, and kissed, saying he should wear it +next his heart, though he might not do so openly. + +Their love was more implied than ever it had been before, and she +repeated her confidence that the kind Prioress would never leave her +till she had done her utmost for them both. + +'But you, my good stripling, I am ashamed to see you. I have done +nothing for you. I sent a humble message to ask to see the Archbishop, +but had no answer, and by-and-by, when I stirred again, who should come +to sec me but young Bertram Selby, and "Kinswoman," said he, "you had +best keep quiet. The Archbishop hath asked me whether rumours were sooth +that yours was scarce a regular Priory." The squire stood up for me and +said, as became one of the family, that an outlying cell, where there +were ill neighbours of Scots, thieves, borderers, and the like, could +scarce look to be as trim as a city nunnery, and that none had ever +heard harm of Mother Agnes. But then one of his priests took on him to +whisper in his ear, and he demanded whether we had not gone so far as to +hide traitors from justice, to which Bertram returned a stout denial as +well he might, though he thought it well to give me warning, but for the +present there was no use in attempting anything more. The Archbishop was +exceedingly busy with the work of his office and the defence of London +in case of Edward's threatened return; but he had not yet come, and no +one thought there was a reasonable doubt that Warwick, the Kingmaker, +would not be victorious, and he had carried his son-in-law, the Duke of +Clarence, with him.' After the cause of the Red Rose was won, there was +no fear but that the services of Clifford would be remembered. So Harry +Clifford parted with Anne, promising himself and her that there should +be fresh Clifford services, winning a recognition of the De Vesci +inheritance if of no more. + +The ladies went on their way in the track which Chaucer has made +memorable, laying their count to meet Queen Margaret and her son, and +win their ears beforehand, and wondering that they came not. Kentish +breezes soon revived the Prioress, and she went through many strange +devotions at the shrine of Becket, which, it might be feared, did not +improve her spiritual, so much as her bodily, health, while Anne's +chiefly resolved themselves into prayers that Harry Clifford might +be guarded and restored, and that she herself might be saved from the +dreaded Lord Redgrave. + +They did not set out on the return to London till they had inhaled +plenty of sea breezes by visiting the shrine of St. Mildred in the isle +of Thanet, and St. Eanswith at Folkestone, till Lent had begun, and +the first fresh tidings that they met were that Edward had landed in +Yorkshire, but his fleet had been dispersed by storms, and the people +did not rise to join him, so that he was fain to proclaim that he only +came to assert his right to his father's inheritance of the Dukedom of +York. + +At the Minoresses' Convent they found that a messenger had arrived, +bidding Anne go to meet her father at his castle in Bedfordshire. He was +coming over with the Queen whenever she could obtain a convoy from King +Louis of France. Lord Redgrave was with him, and the marriage should +take place as soon as they arrived. + +'Never fear, child,' said the Prioress; 'many is the slip between the +cup and the lip.' + +Further tidings came that Edward had thrown off his first plea, that he +had passed Warwick's brother Montagu at Pontefract, and that men from +his own hereditary estates were flocking to his royal banner. Warwick +was calling up his men in all directions, and both armies were advancing +on London. Then it was known that 'false, fleeting, perjured Clarence' +had deserted his father-in-law, and returned to his brother; and +worthless as he individually was, it boded ill for Lancaster, though +still hope continued in the uniform success of the Kingmaker. Warwick +was about twenty miles in advance of Edward, till that King actually +passed him and reached the town of Warwick itself. Still the Earl wrote +to his brother that if he could only hold out London for forty-eight +hours all would be well. + +Once more poor King Henry was set on horseback and paraded through the +streets. Brother Martin went out with the chaplain of the Poor Clares to +gaze upon him, and they came back declaring that he was more than ever +like the image carried in a procession, seeming quite as helpless and +indifferent, except, said Brother Martin, when he passed a church, and +then a heavenly look came over his still features as he bowed his head; +but none of the crowd who came out to gaze cried 'Save King Harry!' or +'God bless him!' + +There were two or three thousand Yorkists in the various sanctuaries of +London, and they were preparing to rise in favour of their King Edward, +and only a few hundred were mustering in St. Paul's Churchyard for the +Red Rose. + +The Poor Clares were in much terror, though nunneries and religious +houses, and indeed non-combatants in general, were usually respected +by each side in these wars; but the Prioress of Greystone was not sorry +that the summons to her protegee called her party off on the way to +Bedfordshire, and they all set forward together, intending to make +Master Lorimer's household at Chipping Barnet their first stage, as they +had engaged to do. + +Their intention had been notified to Lorimer's people in his London +shop, who had sent on word to their master, and the good man came out +to meet them, full of surprise at the valour of the ladies in attempting +the journey. But they could not possibly go further. King Edward was at +St. Albans, and was on his way to London, and the Earl of Warwick was +coming up from Dunstable with the Earls of Somerset and Oxford. For +ladies, even of religious orders, to ride on between the two hosts was +manifestly impossible, and he and his wife were delighted to entertain +the Lady Prioress till the roads should be safe. + +The Prioress was nothing loth. She always enjoyed the freedom of a +secular household, and she was glad to remain within hearing of the last +news in this great crisis of York and Lancaster. + +'I marvel if there will be a battle,' she said. 'Never have I had the +good luck to see or hear one.' + +'Oh! Mother, are you not afraid?' cried Sister Mabel. + +'Afraid! What should I be afraid of, silly maid? Do you think the +men-at-arms are wolves to snap you up?' + +'And,' murmured Anne, 'we shall know how it goes with my Lord of +Oxford's people.' + +These were the last days of Lent, and were carefully kept in the matter +of food by the household, but the religious observances were much +disturbed by the tidings that poured in. King Henry and Archbishop Nevil +had taken refuge in the house of Bishop Kemp of London, Urswick the +Recorder, with the consent of the Aldermen, had opened the gates to +Edward, and the Good Friday Services at Barnet, the Psalms and prayers +in the church, were disturbed by men-at-arms galloping to and fro, and +reports coming in continually. + +There could be no going out to gather flowers to deck the Church the +next day, for King Edward was on the London side, and Warwick with +his army had reached the low hills of Hadley, and their tents, their +banners, and the glint of their armour might be seen over the heathy +slope between them and the lanes and fields, surrounded by hedges, that +fenced in the valley of Barnet. The little town itself, though lying +between the two armies, remained unoccupied by either party, and only +men-at-arms came down into it, not as plunderers, but to buy food. + +Warwick's cannon, however, thundered all night, a very awful sound to +such unaccustomed ears, but they were so directed that the charges flew +far away from Barnet, under a false impression as to the situation of +the Yorkist forces. + +Mistress Lorimer had heard them before, but accompanied every report +with a pious prayer; Sister Mabel screamed at each, then joined in; the +Prioress was greatly excited, and walked about with Master Lorimer, +now on the roof, trying to see, now at the gate, trying to hear. Anne +fancied it meant victory to Hal's party, but knelt, tried to pray while +she listened, and the dogs barked incessantly. And that Hal must be in +the army above the little town they guessed, for in the evening Watch +came floundering into the courtyard, hungry and muddy, but full of +affectionate recognition of his old friends and the quarters he had +learnt to know. Florimond, who happened to be loose, had a romp with +him in their old fashion, and to the vexation and alarm of his mistress, +they both ran off together, and must have gone hunting on the heath, for +there was no response to her silver whistle. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. -- BARNET + + + + A dead hush fell; but when the dolorous day + Grew drearier toward twilight falling, came + A bitter wind, clear from the North, and blew + The mist aside. + --TENNYSON. + + +And Sir Henry Clifford? Still he was Hal of Derwentdale, for the +perilous usurper, Sir Richard Nevil, was known to be continually with +Warwick, and Musgrave was convinced that the concealment was safest. + +The youth then remained with the Peelholm men, and became a good deal +more practised in warlike affairs, and accustomed to campaigning, during +the three months when Oxford was watching the eastern coast. On this +Easter night he lay down on the hill-side with Watch beside him, his +shepherd's plaid round him, his heart rising as he thought himself +near upon gaining fame and honour wherewith to win his early love, and +winning victory and safety for his beloved King, or rather his hermit. +For as his hermit did that mild unearthly face always come before him. +He could not think of it wearing that golden crown, which seemed alien +to it, but rather, as he lay on his back, after his old habit looking +up at the stars, either he saw and recognised the Northern Crown, or his +dazed and sleepy fancy wove a radiant coronet of stars above that meek +countenance that he knew and loved so well; and as at intervals the +cannon boomed and wakened him, he looked on at the bright Northern Cross +and dreamily linked together the cross and crown. + +Easter Sunday morning came dawning, but no one looked to see the sun +dance, even if the morning had not been dull and grey, a thick fog +covering everything; but through it came a dull and heavy sound, and +the clang of armour. Even by their own force the radiant star of the De +Veres could hardly be seen on the banner, as the Earl of Oxford rode up +and down, putting his men in battle array. Hal was on foot as an archer, +meaning to deserve the spurs that he had not yet worn. The hosts were +close to one another, and at first only the continual rain of arrows +darkened the air; but as the sun rose and the two armies saw one +another, Oxford's star was to be seen carried into the very midst of the +opposing force under Lord Hastings. On, on, with cries of victory, the +knights rode, the archers ran across the heath carrying all before them, +never doubting that the day was theirs, but not knowing where they were +till trumpets sounded, halt was called, and they were drawn up together, +as best they might, round their leading star. But as they advanced, +behold there was an unexpected shout of treason. Arrows came thickly +on them, men-at-arms bearing Warwick's ragged staff came thundering +headlong upon them. 'Treason, treason,' echoed on all sides, and with +that sound in his ears Harry Clifford was cut down, and fell under a +huge horse and man, and lay senseless under a gorse-bush. + +He knew no more but that horses and men seemed for ever trampling over +him and treading him down, and then all was lost to him--for how long he +knew not, but for one second he was roused so far as to hear a furious +growling and barking of Watch, but with dazed senses he thought it +was over the sheep, tried to raise himself, could not, thought himself +dying, and sank back again. + +The next thing he knew was 'Here, Master Lorimer, you know this gear +better than I; unfasten this buff coat. There, he can breathe. Drink +this, my lad.' + +It was the Prioress's voice! He felt a jolt as of a waggon, and opened +his eyes. It was dark, but he knew he was under the tilt of Lorimer's +waggon, which was moving on. The Prioress was kneeling over him on one +side, Lorimer on the other, and his head was on a soft lap--nay, a warm +tear dropped on his face, a sweet though stifled voice said, 'Is he +truly better?' + +Then came sounds of 'hushing,' yet of reassurance; and when there was a +halt, and clearer consciousness began to revive, while kind hands were +busy about him, and a cordial was poured down his throat, by the light +of a lantern cautiously shown, Hal found speech to say, as he felt a +long soft tongue on his face, 'Watch, Watch, is it thou, man?' + +'Ay, Watch it is,' said the Prioress. 'Well may you thank him! It is to +him you owe all, and to my good Florimond.' + +'But what--how--where am I?' asked Hal, trying to look round, but +feeling sharp thrills and shoots of pain at every motion. + +'Lie still till they bring their bandages, and I will tell you. Gently, +Nan, gently--thy sobs shake him!' But, as he managed to hold and press +Anne's hand, the Prioress went on, 'You are in good Lorimer's warehouse. +Safer thus, though it is too odorous, for the men of York do not respect +sanctuary in the hour of victory.' + +The word roused Hal further. 'The victory was ours!' he said. 'We had +driven Hastings' banner off the field! Say, was there a cry of treason?' + +'Even so, my son. So far as Master Lorimer understands, Lord Oxford's +banner of the beaming star was mistaken for the sun of York, and the men +of Warwick turned on you as you came back from the chase, but all was +utter confusion. No one knows who was staunch and who not, and the +fields and lanes are full of blood and slaughtered men; and Edward's +royal banner is set up on the market cross, and trumpets were sounding +round it. And here come Master Lorimer and the goodwife to bind these +wounds.' + +'But Sir Giles Musgrave?' still asked Hal. + +'Belike fled with Lord Oxford and his men, who all made off at the cry +of treason,' was the answer. + +Lorimer returned with his wife and various appliances, and likewise with +fresh tidings. There was no doubt that the brothers Warwick and Montagu +had been slain. They had been found--Warwick under a hedge impeded by +his heavy armour, and Montagu on the field itself. Each body had been +thrown over a horse, and shown at the market cross; and they would be +carried to London on the morrow. 'And so end,' said Lorimer, 'two brave +and open-handed gentlemen as ever lived, with whom I have had many +friendly dealings.' + +One thing more Hal longed to hear--namely, how he had been saved. He +remembered that Watch had come back to him with Florimond the evening +before. They had probably been hunting together, and the hound, who had +always been very fond of him on the journey, had accompanied Watch to +his side before going back to his chain in Barnet; but he had lost sight +of them in the morning, and regretted that he could not find Watch to +provide for his safety. He knew, he said, by the presence of Florimond, +who must be in Barnet. And he also had a dim recollection of being +licked by Watch's tongue as he lay, and likewise of hearing a furious +barking, yelling and growling, whether of one or both dogs he was not +sure. + +It seemed that towards the evening, when the battle-cries had grown +fainter, and the sun was going down, Florimond had burst in on his +mistress, panting and blood-stained--but not with his own blood, as was +soon ascertained--and made vehement demonstrations by which, as a true +dog-lover, the Prioress perceived that he wanted her to follow him. And +Anne, who thought she saw a piece of Hal's plaid caught in his collar, +was 'neither to have nor to hold,' as the Mother said, till Master +Lorimer was found, and entreated to follow the hound, ay, and to take +them with him. He demurred much as to their safety, but the Prioress +declared that it was the part of the religious to take care of the +wounded, and not inconsistent with her vow. See the Sisters of St. +Katharine's of the Tower! And though her interpretation was a broad one, +and would have shocked alike her own Abbess and her of the Minoresses, +he was fain to accept it in such a cause; but he commanded his waggoners +to bring the wain in the rear, both as an excuse, and a possible +protection for the ladies, and, it might be, a conveyance for the +wounded. + +Florimond, who had sprung about, barked, fawned and made entreating +sounds all this time (longer in narrative than in reality) led them, not +through the central field of slaughter, but somewhat to the left, among +the heath--where, in fact, Oxford had lost his way in the fog, and his +own allies had charged him, but had not followed far beyond the place +of Hal's fall, discovering the fatal error that spread confusion through +their ranks, where everyone distrusted his fellow leader. + +There, after a weary and perilous way, diversified by the horrid shouts +of plunderers of the slain, happily not near at hand, and when Lorimer, +but for the ladies, would have given up the quest as useless, they were +greeted by Watch's bark, and found him lying with his fine head alert +and ready over his senseless master. + +There was no doubt but that the two good creatures, both powerful and +formidable animals, must have saved him from the spoilers, and then been +sagacious enough to let the hound go down to fetch assistance while the +sheep-dog remained as his master's faithful guardian. How honoured and +caressed they were can hardly be described, but all will know. + +The joy and gratitude of knowing of Anne's devotion, and the pleasure of +his good dog's faithfulness, helped Hal through the painful process +of having his hurts dealt with. Surgeons, even barbers, were fully +occupied, and Lorimer did not wish to have it known that a Lancastrian +was in his house. His wife and her old nurse, as well as the Prioress, +had some knowledge of simple practical surgery; and Hal's disasters +proved to be a severe cut on the head, a slash on the shoulder, various +bruises, and a broken rib and thigh-bone, all which were within their +capabilities, with assistance from the master's stronger hand. No one +could tell whether the savage nature of the York brothers might not +slake their revenge in a general massacre of their antagonists; so +Lorimer caused Hal's bed to be made in the waggon in the warehouse, +where he was safe from detection until the victorious army should have +quitted Barnet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. -- TEWKESBURY + + + + The last shoot of that ancient tree + Was budding fair as fair might be; + Its buds they crop + Its branches lop + Then leave the sapless stem to die. + --SOPHOCLES (Anstice). + + +Harry Clifford lay fevered, and knowing little of what passed, for +several days, only murmuring sometimes of his flock at home, sometimes +of the royal hermit, and sometimes in distress of the men-at-arms with +whom he had been thrown, and whose habits and language had plainly been +a great shock to his innocent mind, trained by the company of the sheep, +and the hermit. He took the Prioress's hand for Good-wife Dolly's, but +he generally knew Anne, who could soothe him better than any other. + +Master Lorimer was fully occupied by combatants who came to have their +equipments renewed or repaired, and he spent the days in his shop in +London, but rode home in the long evenings with his budget of news. King +Henry was in the Tower again, as passive as ever, but on the very day of +the battle of Barnet Queen Margaret had landed at Weymouth with her son, +and the war would be renewed in Somersetshire. + +Search for prisoners being over at Barnet, Hal was removed to the guest +chamber of his hosts, where he lay in a huge square bed, and in the +better air began to recover, understand what was going on round him, +and be anxious for his friends, especially Sir Giles Musgrave and Simon +Bunce. The ladies still attended to him, as Lorimer pronounced the +journey to be absolutely unsafe, while so many soldiers disbanded, or on +their way to the Queen's army, were roaming about, and the Burgundians +brought by Edward might not be respectful to an English Prioress. It was +safer to wait for tidings from Lord St. John, which were certain to come +either from Bletso or the Minoresses'. + +So May had begun when Lorimer hurried home with the tidings that a +messenger had come in haste from King Edward from the battlefield of +Tewkesbury, with the tidings of a complete victory. Prince Edward, the +fair and spirited hope of Lancaster, was slain, Somerset and his friends +had taken sanctuary in the Abbey Church, Queen Margaret and the young +wife of the prince in a small convent, and beyond all had been flight +and slaughter. + +For a few days no more was known, but then came fuller and sadder +tidings. The young prince had been brutally slain by his cousins, +Edward, George, and Richard, excited as they were to tiger-like ferocity +by the late revolt. The nobles in the sanctuary, who had for one night +been protected by a cord drawn in front of them by a priest, had in the +morning been dragged out and beheaded. Among them was Anne's father, +Lord St. John of Bletso, and on the field the heralds had recognised the +corpse of her suitor, Lord Redgrave. To expect that Anne felt any acute +sorrow for a father whom she had never seen since she was six years old, +and who then had never seemed to care for her, was not possible. + +And what was to be her fate? Her young brother, the heir of Bletso, was +in Flanders with his foreign mother, and she knew not what might be +her own claims through her own mother, though the Prioress and Master +Lorimer knew that it could be ascertained through the seneschal at +Bletso, if he had not perished with his lord, or the agents at York +through whom Anne's pension had been paid. If she were an heiress, she +would become a ward of the Crown, a dreary prospect, for it meant to be +disposed of to some unknown minion of the Court. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. -- THE NUT-BROWN MAID + + + + All my wellfare to trouble and care + Should change if you were gone, + For in my mynde, of all mankind + I love but you alone. + --NUT-BROWN MAID. + + +Anne St. John, in her 'doul' or deep mourning, sat by Hal's couch or +daybed in tears, as he lay in the deep bay of the mullioned window, and +told him of the consultation that had been held. + +'Ah, dear lady!' he said, 'now am I grieved that I have not mine own to +endow you with! Well would I remain the landless shepherd were it not +for you.' + +'Nay,' she said, looking up through her tears, 'and wherefore should I +not share your shepherd's lot?' + +'You! Nan, sweet Nan, tenderly nurtured in the convent while I have ever +lived as a rough hardy shepherd!' + +'And I have ever been a moorland maid,' she answered, 'bred to no soft +ways. I know not how to be the lady of a castle--I shall be a much +better herdsman's wife, like your good old Dolly, whom I have always +loved and envied.' + +'You never saw us snowed up in winter with all things scarce, and hardly +able to milk a goat.' + +'Have not we been snowed up at Greystone for five weeks at a time?' + +'Ay, but with thick walls round and a stack of peat at hand,' said Hal, +his heart beating violently as more and more he felt that the maiden did +not speak in jest, but in full earnestness of love. + +'Verily one would deem you took me for a fine dainty dame, such as I saw +at the Minoresses', shivering at the least gust of fresh wind, and not +daring to wet their satin shoes if there had been a shower of rain +in the cloisters. Were we not all stifled within the walls, and never +breathed till we were out of them? Nay, Hal, there is none to come +between us now. Take me to your moors and hills! I will be your good +housewife and shepherdess, and make you such a home! And you will teach +me of the stars and of the flowers and all the holy lore of your good +royal hermit.' + +'Ah! my hermit, my master, how fares it with him? Would that I could go +and see!' + +'Which do you love best--me or the hermit?' asked Anne archly, lifting +up her head, which was lying on his shoulder. + +'I love you, mine own love and sweetheart, with all my heart,' he said, +regaining her hand, 'but my King and master with my soul; and oh! that +I had any strength to give him! I love him as my master in holy things, +and as my true prince, and what would I not give to know how it is with +him and how he bears these dreadful tidings!' + +He bent his head, choking with sobs as he spoke, and Anne wept with him, +her momentary jealousy subdued by the picture of the lonely prisoner, +his friends slain in his cause, and his only child cut off in early +prime; but she tried the comfort of hoping that his Queen would be with +him. Thus talking now of love, now of grief, now of the future, now of +the past, the Prioress found them, and as she was inclined to blame +Anne for letting her patient weep, the maiden looked up to her and said, +'Dear Mother, we are disputing--I want this same Hal to wed me so soon +as he can stand and walk. Then I would go home with him to Derwentside, +and take care of him.' + +The Prioress burst out laughing. 'Make porridge, milk the ewes and spin +their wool? Eh? Meet work for a baron's daughter!' + +'So I tell her,' said Harry. 'She knows not how hard the life is.' + +'Do I not?' said Anne. 'Have I not spent a night and day, the happiest +my childhood knew, in your hut? Has it not been a dream of joy ever +since?' + +'Ay, a summer's dream!' said Hal. 'Tell her the folly of it.' + +'I verily believe he does not want me. If he had not a lame leg, I trow +he would be trying to be mewed up with his King!' + +'It would be my duty,' murmured Hal, 'nor should I love thee the less.' + +''Tis a duty beyond your reach,' said the Prioress. 'Master Lorimer +hears that none have access to King Henry, God help him! and he sits as +in a trance, as though he understood and took heed of nothing--not even +of this last sore battle.' + +'God aid him! Aye, and his converse is with Him,' said Hal, with a gush +of tears. 'He minds nought of earth, not even earthly griefs.' + +'But we, we are of earth still, and have our years before us,' said +Anne, 'and I will not spend mine the dreary lady of a dull castle. +Either I will back and take my vows in your Priory, reverend Mother, if +Hal there disdains to have me.' + +'Nan, Nan! when you know that all I dread is to have you mewed behind +a wall of snow as thick as the walls of the Tower and freezing to the +bone!' + +'With you behind it telling all the tales. Mother, prithee prove to him +that I am not made of sugar like the Clares, but that I love a fresh +wind and the open moorlands.' + +The Prioress laughed and took her away, but in private the maiden +convinced her that the proposal, however wild, was in full earnest, and +not in utter ignorance of the way of life that was preferred. + +Afterwards the good lady discussed it with the Lorimers. 'For my part,' +she said, 'I see nought to gainsay the children having their way. They +are equal in birth and breeding, and love one another heartily, and the +times may turn about to bring them to their own proper station.' + +'But the hardness and the roughness of the life,' objected Mistress +Lorimer, 'for a dainty, convent-bred lady.' + +'My convent--God, forgive me!--is not like the Poor Clares. We knew +there what cold and hunger mean, as well as what free air and mountains +are. Moreover, though the maid thinks not of it, I do not believe the +life will be so bare and comfortless. The lad's mother hath not let him +want, and there is a heritage through the Vescis that must come to him, +even if he never can claim the lands of Clifford.' + +'And now that all Lancaster is gone, King Edward may be less vindictive +against the Red Rose,' said Lorimer. + +'There must be a dowry secured to the maid,' said the Prioress. 'Let +them only lie quiet for a time till the remains of the late tempest have +blown over, and all will be well with them. Ay, and Master Lorimer, the +Lady Threlkeld, as well as myself, will fully acquit ourselves of the +heavy charges you have been put to for your hospitality to us.' + +Master Lorimer disclaimed all save his delight in the honour paid to +his poor house, and appealed to his wife, who seconded him courteously, +though perhaps the expenses of a wounded knight, three nuns, a noble +damsel and their horses, were felt by her enough to make the promise +gratifying. + +While the elders talked, a horseman was heard in the court, asking +whether the young demoiselle of Bletso were lodged there. It was the +seneschal Wenlock, who had come with what might be called the official +report of his lord's death, and to consider of the disposal of the young +lady, being glad to find the Prioress of Greystone, to whom she had +originally been committed by her father. + +Before summoning her, he explained to the Prioress that a small estate +which had belonged to her mother devolved upon her. The proceeds of the +property were not large, but they had been sufficient to keep her at the +convent, on the moderate charges of the time. Anne was only eighteen, +and at no time of their lives were women, even widows, reckoned able to +dispose of themselves. She would naturally become a ward of the Crown, +and Lord Redgrave having been killed, the seneschal was about to go and +inform King Edward of the situation. + +'But,' said the Prioress, 'suppose you found her already betrothed to +a gentleman of equal birth, and with claims to an even greater +inheritance? Would you not be silent till the match was concluded, and +the King had no chance of breaking it?' + +'If it were well for the maid's honour and fortune,' said the seneschal. +'If you, reverend Mother, have found a fair marriage for her, it might +be better to let well alone.' + +Then the Prioress set forth the situation and claims of young Clifford, +and the certainty, that even if it were more prudent not to advance +them at present, yet the ruin of the house of Nevil removed one great +barrier, and at least the Vesci inheritance held by his mother must come +to him, and she was the more likely to make a portion over to him when +she found that he had married nobly. + +The seneschal acquiesced, even though the Prioress confessed that the +betrothal had not actually taken place. In fact he was relieved that the +maiden, whom he had known as a fair child, should be off his hands, and +secured from the greed of some Yorkist partisan needing a reward. + +When Anne, her dark eyes and hair shaded by her mourning veil, came +down, and had heard his greeting, with such details of her father's +death and the state of the family as he could give her, she rose and +said: 'Sir, there have been passages between Sir Harry Clifford and +myself, and I would wed none other than him.' + +Nor did the seneschal gainsay her. + +All that he desired was that what was decided upon should be done +quickly, before heralds or lawyers brought to the knowledge of the +Woodvilles that there was any sort of prize to be had in the damsel of +St. John, and he went off, early the next morning, back to Bletso, that +he might seem to know nothing of the matter. + +The Prioress laughed at men being so much more afraid than women. She +was willing to bear all the consequences, but then the Plantagenets were +not in the habit of treating ladies as traitors. However, all agreed +that it would be wiser to be out of reach of London as soon as possible, +and Master Lorimer, who had become deeply interested in this romance of +true love, arranged to send one of his wains to York, in which the bride +and bridegroom might travel unsuspected, until the latter should be able +to ride and all were out of reach of pursuit. The Prioress would go thus +far with them, 'And then! And then,' she said sighing, 'I shall have to +dree my penance for all my friskings!' + +'But, oh, what kindly friskings!' cried Anne, throwing herself into +those tender arms. + +'Little they will reck of kindness out of rule,' sighed the Prioress. +'If only they will send me back to Greystone, then shall I hear of thee, +and thou hadst better take Florimond, poor hound, or the Sisters at York +may put him to penance too!' + +Henry Clifford was able to walk again, though still lame, when, in the +early morning of Ascension Day, he and Anne St. John were married in the +hall of Master Lorimer's house by a trusty priest of Barnet, and in the +afternoon, when the thanksgiving worship at the church had been gone +through, they started in the waggon for the first stage of the journey, +to be overtaken at the halting-place by the Prioress and Master Lorimer, +who had had to ride into London to finish some business. + +And he brought tidings that rendered that wedding-day one of mournful, +if peaceful, remembrances. + +For he had seen, borne from the Tower, along Cheapside, the bier on +which lay the body of King Henry, his hands clasped on his breast, his +white face upturned with that heavenly expression which Hal knew so +well, enhanced into perfect peace, every toil, every grief at an end. + +Whether blood dropped as the procession moved along, Lorimer could not +certainly tell. Whether so it was, or whoever shed it, there was no +marring the absolute rest and joy that had crowned the 'meek usurper's +holy head,' after his dreary half-century of suffering under the +retribution of the ancestral sins of two lines of forefathers. All had +been undergone in a deep and holy trust and faith such as could render +even his hereditary insanity an actual shield from the poignancy of +grief. + +Tears were shed, not bitter nor vengeful. Such thoughts would have +seemed out of place with the memory of the gentle countenance of love, +good-will and peace, and as Harry and Anne joined in the service +that the Prioress had requested to have in the early daylight before +starting, Hal felt that to the hermit saint of his boyhood he verily +owed his own self. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. -- BROUGHAM CASTLE + + + + And now am I an Earlis son, + And not a banished man. + --NUT-BROWN MAID. + + +That journey northward in the long summer days was a honeymoon to the +young couple. The Prioress left them as much to themselves as possible, +trying to rejoice fully in their gladness, and not to think what might +have been hers but for that vow of her parents, keeping her hours +diligently in preparation for the stricter rule awaiting her. + +When they parted she sent Florimond with them, to be restored if she +were allowed to return to Greystone, and Anne parted with her with many +tears as the truest mother and friend she had ever known. + +By this time Harry was able to ride, and the two, with a couple of +men-at-arms hired as escort, made their way over the moors, Harry's +head throbbing with gladness, as, with a shout of joy, he hailed his own +mountain-heads, Helvellyn and Saddleback, in all their purple cloud-like +majesty. + +They agreed first to go to Dolly's homestead, drawn as much by affection +as by prudence. Delight it was to Hal to point out the rocks and bushes +of his home; but when he came in sight of Piers and the sheep, the dumb +boy broke out into a cry of terror, and rushed away headlong, nor did +he turn till he felt Watch's very substantial paws bounding on him in +ecstasy. + +Watch was indeed a forerunner, for Dolly and her husband could scarcely +be induced by his solid presence and caresses to come out and see for +themselves that the tall knight and lady were no ghostly shades, nor +bewildered travellers, but that this was their own nursling Hal, whom +Simon Bunce had reported to be lying dead under a gorse-bush at Barnet, +and further that the lovely brunette lady was the little lost child whom +Dolly had mothered for a night. + +While the happy goodwife was regaling them with the best she had to +offer, Hob set forth to announce their arrival at Threlkeld, being not +certain what the cautious Sir Lancelot would deem advisable, since the +Lancaster race had perished, and York was in the ascendant. + +There was a long time to wait, but finally Sir Lancelot himself came +riding through the wood, no longer afraid to welcome his stepson at the +castle, and the more willing since the bride newly arrived was no maiden +of low degree, but a damsel of equal birth and with unquestioned rights. + +So all was well, and the lady no longer had to embrace her son in fear +and trembling, but to see him a handsome and thoughtful young man, well +able to take his place in her halls. + +Since he had been actually in arms against King Edward it was not +thought safe to assert his claims to his father's domains, but the lady +gave up to him a portion of her own inheritance from the Vescis, where +he and Anne were able to live in Barden Tower in Yorkshire, not far from +Bolton Abbey. So Hal's shepherd days were over, though he still loved +country habits and ways. Hob came to be once more his attendant, Dolly +was Anne's bower-woman, and Simon Bunce Sir Harry's squire, though he +never ceased blaming himself for having left his master, dead as he +thought, when even a poor hound was more trusty. + +Florimond was restored to the Prioress, who was reinstated at Greystone, +a graver woman than before she had set forth, the better for having +watched deeper devotion at the Minoresses', and still more for the +terrible realities of the battle of Barnet. At Bolton Abbey Harry found +monks who encouraged his craving for information on natural science, +and could carry him on much farther in these researches than his hermit, +though he always maintained that the royal anchorite and prisoner saw +farther into heavenly things than any other whom he had known, and +that his soul and insight rose the higher with his outward troubles and +bodily decay. + +So peacefully went the world with them till Henry was one-and-thirty, +and then the tidings of Bosworth Field came north. The great tragedy of +Plantagenet was complete, and the ambitious and blood-stained house +of York, who had avenged the usurpation of Henry of Lancaster, had +perished, chiefly by the hands of each other, and the distantly related +descendant of John of Gaunt, Henry Tudor, triumphed. + +The Threlkelds were not slow to recollect that it was time for the +Cliffords to show their heads; moreover, that the St. Johns of Bletso +were related to the Tudors. Though now an aged woman, she descended +from her hills, called upon her son and his wife with their little +nine-year-old son to come with her, and pay homage to the new sovereign +in their own names, and rode with them to Westminster. + +There a very different monarch from the saint of Harry's memory received +and favoured him. The lands of Westmoreland were granted to him as his +right, and on their return, Master Lorimer coming by special invitation, +the family were welcomed at Brougham Castle, the cradle of their +race, where Harry Clifford, no longer an outlaw, began the career thus +described: + + + Love had he found in huts where poor men lie, + His daily teachers had been woods and rills, + The silence that is in the starry sky, + The sleep that is among the lonely hills. + + In him the savage virtue of the race, + Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts were dead, + Nor did he change, but kept in lofty place + The wisdom that adversity had bred. + + Glad were the vales, and every cottage hearth, + The Shepherd Lord was honoured more and more, + And ages after he was laid in earth + The Good Lord Clifford was the name he bore. + + + +FINIS + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Herd Boy and His Hermit, by Charlotte M. 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