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+Project Gutenberg's The Herd Boy and His Hermit, by Charlotte M. Yonge
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+Title: The Herd Boy and His Hermit
+
+Author: Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5313]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 29, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT ***
+
+
+
+
+This Project Gutenberg Etext of The Herdboy and His Hermit was prepared
+by Sandra Laythorpe, laythorpe@tiscali.co.uk. 
+A web page for Charlotte M Yonge may be found at www.menorot.com/cmyonge.htm
+
+
+
+
+
+
+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
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+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 thaft 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. Yonge
+
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+Title: The Herd Boy and His Hermit
+
+Author: Charlotte M. Yonge
+
+Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5313]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 29, 2002]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT ***
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+by Sandra Laythorpe, laythorpe@tiscali.co.uk. 
+A web page for Charlotte M Yonge may be found at www.menorot.com/cmyonge.htm
+
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+</pre>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h3>CHARLOTTE M. YONGE</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>Henry, thou of holy birth,<br>
+Thou, to whom thy Windsor gave<br>
+Nativity and name and grave<br>
+Heavily upon his head<br>
+Ancestral crimes were visited.<br>
+Meek in heart and undefiled,<br>
+Patiently his soul resigned,<br>
+Blessing, while he kissed the rod,<br>
+His Redeemer and his God.</p>
+
+<p>SOUTHEY</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER</h3>
+
+<p><b>I. IN THE MOSS</b></p>
+
+<p><b>II. THE SNOW-STORM</b></p>
+
+<p><b>III. OVER THE MOOR</b></p>
+
+<p><b>IV. A SPORTING PRIORESS</b></p>
+
+<p><b>V. MOTHER AND SON</b></p>
+
+<p><b>VI. A CAUTIOUS STEPFATHER</b></p>
+
+<p><b>VII. ON DERWENT BANKS</b></p>
+
+<p><b>VIII. THE HERMIT</b></p>
+
+<p><b>IX. HENRY OF WINDSOR</b></p>
+
+<p><b>X. THE SCHOLAR OF THE MOUNTAINS</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XI. THE RED ROSE</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XII. A PRUDENT RECEPTION</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XIII. FELLOW TRAVELLERS</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XIV. THE JOURNEY</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XV. BLETSO</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XVI. THE HERMIT IN THE TOWER</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XVII. A CAPTIVE KING</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XVIII. AT THE MINORESSES</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XIX. A STRANGE EASTER EVE</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XX. BARNET</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XXI. TEWKESBURY</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XXII. THE NUT BROWN MAID</b></p>
+
+<p><b>XXIII. BROUGHAM CASTLE</b></p>
+
+<h2>THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT</h2>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I. IN THE MOSS</h3>
+
+<p>I can conduct you, lady, to a low<br>
+But loyal cottage where you may be safe<br>
+Till further quest.--MILTON.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'All in good time, lassie! Haste is no good here! I must look to
+my footing.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Lost art thou, maiden,' he said, as he stood beside her; 'where
+is thine home?'</p>
+
+<p>'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--'</p>
+
+<p>''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.'</p>
+
+<p>'I never lay in a hogward's house,' she said primly.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'I am so hungry!' said the little lady, in a weak, famished
+tone. 'Hast aught to eat?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Alack! Is it much further! My feet! they are so sore and
+weary--'</p>
+
+<p>'Poor maiden, let me bear thee on!'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'From Greystone Priory,' wearily said the girl, who had her head
+down on Hob's shoulder, and seemed ready to fall asleep there.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah well!' she answered, 'thank the good God! I was in fear for
+thee, my boy! What's that Daddy hath? A strayed lamb?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II. THE SNOW-STORM</h3>
+
+<p>Yet stay, fair lady, rest awhile<br>
+Beneath the cottage wall;<br>
+See, through the hawthorns blows the cold wind,<br>
+And drizzling rain doth fall.--OLD BALLAD.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>''Tis Hob Hogward's hut, my bonnie lamb, where you are full
+welcome! Here, take a sup of warm milk.'</p>
+
+<p>'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--'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, nay, mistress, you'll scarce say so when you see him by
+day--a well-grown youth as can bear himself with any.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'I did hear tell that the Lady Prioress minded her hawks more
+than her Hours,' said Mother Doll.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'So, shepherd,' she said, 'when wilt thou take me back to
+Greystone?'</p>
+
+<p>'Father will fix that,' interposed the housewife; 'meanwhile, ye
+had best eat your porridge. Here is Father, in good time with the
+cows' milk.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'But I must fare back to Greystone!' said the damsel. 'They will
+be in a mighty coil what has become of me.'</p>
+
+<p>'They would be in a worse coil if they found your bones under a
+snow wreath.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, does this Father teach Latin?' exclaimed Hal with eager
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'I would he would teach me!' sighed the boy.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Our Baudrons at Greystone loves me better than that,' said
+Anne. 'She will come to me sooner than even to Sister
+Scholastica!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'Can she leap? Baudrons leaps like a horse in the
+tilt-yard.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'You have seen a tilt-yard?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yea, indeed,' he answered dreamily. 'The poor squire was
+hurt--I did not like it! It is gruesome.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>Here Dolly interrupted hastily, 'Hal, lad, gang out to the shed
+and bring in some more sods of turf. The fire is getting low.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'But where was your castle?' continued the girl. 'I am sure you
+have lived in a castle.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'I am not from Bedfordshire,' said the lad, looking much amused
+at her perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>'Who art thou then?' she cried peremptorily.</p>
+
+<p>'I? I am Hal the shepherd boy, as I told thee before.'</p>
+
+<p>'No shepherd boy are you! Come, tell me true.'</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Doth she do it wittingly?' asked the shepherd gravely.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'He promised me never to say, nor doth he know.'</p>
+
+<p>'Thee! Much do the hests of an old hogherd weigh against the
+wiles of a young maid!'</p>
+
+<p>'Lord Hal is a lad of his word. Peace with thy lords and ladies,
+woman, thou'lt have the archers after him at once.'</p>
+
+<p>'She makes no secret of being of gentle blood--a St. John of
+Bletso.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Thou wouldst have been caught in the storm. Ill for the maid to
+have fallen into a drift!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Methinks I have seen that!' she said, 'winter and summer
+both.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'I never saw that!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'What good would finding the North Star do? It would not have
+helped me home if you had not found me!'</p>
+
+<p>'Look here, Lady Anne! Which way does Greystone lie?'</p>
+
+<p>'How should I tell?'</p>
+
+<p>'Which way did the sun lie when you crossed the moor?'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III. OVER THE MOOR</h3>
+
+<p>In humblest, simplest habit clad,<br>
+But these were all to me.--GOLDSMITH.</p>
+
+<p>'Hal! What is your name?'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'You have heard,' he said, half smiling, and half
+embarrassed.</p>
+
+<p>'Hal! That's no name.'</p>
+
+<p>'Harry, an it like you better.'</p>
+
+<p>'Harry what?' with a little stamp of her foot.</p>
+
+<p>'Harry Hogward, as you see, or Shepherd, so please you.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Lady, I verily ken no name save Harry. I would trust you,
+verily I would, but I know not myself.'</p>
+
+<p>'I guess! I guess!' she cried, clapping her hands, but at the
+moment Dolly laid a hand on her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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--'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>He spoke with a decided tone of authority, and Hob Hogward
+muttered a little to himself, but yielded.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Well and good, so the disputes be shed,' said Anne, with more
+meaning than perhaps Hal understood. 'And the white overcomes the
+red.'</p>
+
+<p>'May be the red will have its way with spring--'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Scathe enough,' answered Hob. 'He always will be doing ill if
+he can. Heed him not, lady, it only makes him the more
+malapert.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>This Hob would not hear, and if he did, it produced a rough
+imprecation on the pony, and a sharp cut with his switch.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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--'</p>
+
+<p>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</p>
+
+<p>'Farewell, Hal; I'll keep your rose-leaves in my breviary,' he
+bent over and kissed the fingers.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'A foundling, sayest thou?' said Anne, unable to resist teasing
+him a little, and trying to gratify her own curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'On Towton Moor, mayhap,' said Anne demurely, as she saw her
+surly guide start. But he was equal to the occasion, and
+answered:</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Was Hal one of these?' asked Lady Anne.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Much she heeded me in comparison with hawk and heron!'
+responded Anne. 'Thanks for your heed, Master Bertram.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, lady, it would be well to mount you behind Archie. His
+beast is best to carry a lady.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Hearest thou, Hob?' said Anne. 'Come with us to the convent,
+and thou shalt have thy guerdon.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'They were good and kind, and treated me well,' said Anne. 'I
+should be dead if they had not succoured me.'</p>
+
+<p>'The marvel is you are not dead with the stench of their hovel,
+and the foulness of their food.'</p>
+
+<p>'It was very good food--milk, meat, and oaten porridge,' replied
+Anne.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'He was Hob Hogward's herd boy,' answered Anne, as composedly as
+she could. 'He hied him back to mind his sheep.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV. A SPORTING PRIORESS</h3>
+
+<p>Yet nothing stern was she in cell,<br>
+And the nuns loved their abbess well.--SCOTT.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'A shepherd took me to his hut, Lady Mother,' answered Anne
+rather coldly.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Did you capture her, Mother?' asked Anne.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'What would you have done, reverend Mother, if she had crossed
+the Border?' asked Bertram.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'For there be many of the Red Rose rogues about on the
+mosses--comrades, 'tis said, of that noted thief Robin of
+Redesdale.'</p>
+
+<p>'I was with good folk, in a shepherd's sheiling,' replied
+Anne.</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, ay. Out on the north hill, methinks.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay. Beyond Deadman's Pool,' said Anne. 'By Blackreed Moss.
+That was where the pony fell.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'He was a babe, and had nought to do with it,' said Anne.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, but that is not what the good Fathers teach,' Anne
+interposed.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, I am bound to break my fast with the Mother and Master
+Bertram.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Come, tell us all, sweet Nan! Where wast thou in that untimely
+snow-storm? In a cave, starved with cold, eh?'</p>
+
+<p>'I was safe in a cabin with a kind old gammer.'</p>
+
+<p>'Eh! And how cam'st thou there? Wandering thither?'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, the shepherd heard me call.'</p>
+
+<p>'The shepherd! What, the churl that came with thee?'</p>
+
+<p>'He carried me to the hut.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'I know nothing of young lords,' sulkily growled Anne, who had
+been hitherto busy with her pets, striking her hand on the
+table.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Reverend Mother,' expostulated Bertram, 'if you knew what some
+would give to be on the scent of the wolf-cub!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, mother,' sighed Anne, 'do you think he will go after him?
+He will think I was treacherous!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Mother, mother, you are good indeed!' cried Anne, almost
+weeping for joy.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V. MOTHER AND SON</h3>
+
+<p>My own, my own, thy fellow-guest<br>
+I may not be, but rest thee, rest--<br>
+The lowly shepherd's life is best.--WORDSWORTH.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Italy pilgrim, what ails thee?' demanded the lady, as he
+approached her.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'And wherefore? What is it?' she asked anxiously. 'Be they on
+the track of my poor boy?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, what should bring her north?'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'But sure my boy did not make himself known to her?' exclaimed
+the lady.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Sir Lancelot--' began Hob.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Sweetheart, my faithful!' then shouted Hob, and in another
+moment there was a cry, 'Ha! Halloa! Master Hob--beest there?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, lad, here--and some one else.'</p>
+
+<p>The boy crashed through the underwood, and stood on the path in
+a moment's hesitation. Mother and son were face to face!</p>
+
+<p>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!</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'The babe is well, when last I heard of her, in a convent at
+York. Thou rememberest her?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Dost thou remember what thou wast called in those times?' asked
+his mother.</p>
+
+<p>'I was always Hal. The little one was Meg,' he said.</p>
+
+<p>'Even so, my boy, my dear boy! But knowst thou no more than
+this?'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Alack! alack! my child, that thou shouldst not know!'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, I would that thou couldst have all knightly training, and
+learn to use sword and lance like thy gallant father!'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Never fear, madam,' said Hob. 'When occasion comes, and
+strength is grown, his blood will show itself.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Content you, madam,' said Hob. 'Never did I see a shepherd boy
+with the wisdom and the thought there is in that curly pate!'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'I told her nought, mother, for I had nought to tell.'</p>
+
+<p>'She scented mystery, though,' said Hob. 'She saw he was no herd
+boy.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'She will not betray whatever she perceived,' said Hal
+stoutly.</p>
+
+<p>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!</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI. A CAUTIOUS STEPFATHER</h3>
+
+<p>Thou tree of covert and of rest<br>
+For this young bird that was distrest.-- WORDSWORTH.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII. ON DERWENT BANKS</h3>
+
+<p>When under cloud of fear he lay<br>
+A shepherd clad in homely grey.--WORDSWORTH.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>The town in north country parlance only meant a small village,
+and Hob asked where it lay.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'That's what the women folk are keen for with their
+church-going,' said Hob with a grin.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, but,' said Hal with eagerness, 'is there not a
+priest?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Did not Sir Lancelot say somewhat of a scholarly hermit who
+might learn me in what I ought to know?' asked the boy.</p>
+
+<p>'Never you fear, sir! Here are Hob Halstead and I, able to train
+any young noble in what behoves him most to know.'</p>
+
+<p>'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--'</p>
+
+<p>Simon Bunce interrupted sharply. 'Sir Lancelot knows nought of
+the hermit! He is--he is--a holy man.'</p>
+
+<p>'A priest,' broke in Dolly, 'a priest!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Is it a mouse's tail?' cried Simon in derision.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah! then I thought the bull would fall on Piers,' said Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'Come on, think so now, sir. One blow to do my heart good, and
+show you have the arm of your forebears.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII. THE HERMIT</h3>
+
+<p>No hermit e'er so welcome crost<br>
+A child's lone path in woodland lost.--KEBLE.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The words were strange to him--</p>
+
+<center>Lucis Creator optime,<br>
+Lucem dierum proferens--</center>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'Unhurt, I see,' said that sweet voice. 'Hast thou lost thy way?
+Good dog, thou lovest thy master! Art thou astray?'</p>
+
+<p>'No, sir, thank you, I know my way home.'</p>
+
+<p>'Thou art the boy who lives with the shepherd at Derwentside, on
+Bunce's ground?'</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, Hob Hogward's herd boy,' said Hal. Oh, sir, are you the
+holy hermit of the Derwent vale?'</p>
+
+<p>'A hermit for the nonce I am,' was the answer, with something of
+a smile responsive to the eager face.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Better knowledge, my child! Of thy God?' said the hermit, a
+sweet look of joy spreading over his face.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Knowest thou whose Hand was figured there, my child?'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah! thou shouldst know Ptolemy and the Almagest,' said the
+hermit smiling, 'to understand the circuits of those wandering
+stars--Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei.'</p>
+
+<p>'That is Latin,' said the boy, startled. 'Are you a priest,
+sir?'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>The hermit raised his hand, as if to make a sign, saying, 'Thou
+seest I have a guest, good friend.'</p>
+
+<p>Bunce started back with 'Oh! the young Lord! Sworn to silence, I
+trust! I bade him not meddle with you, sir.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Never, holy sir!' eagerly exclaimed Hal. 'Hob Hogward knows
+that I can keep my mouth shut. And may I come again?'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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?</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!</p>
+
+<p>'Were it not better to ask my lady and Sir Lancelot if they
+would have it so? I could walk over to Threlkeld!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Nurse, I do think he is a saint,' one day said Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, nay, my laddie, saints don't come down from heaven in
+these days of evil.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Dost thou remember that chapel? Thou wert a babe when we
+quitted it.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'That thou shouldst mind so long! This hermit is no priest, thou
+sayst?'</p>
+
+<p>'No, he said he was not worthy; but sure all saints were not
+priests, nurse.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>The mild blue eye lighted for a moment. 'Is the poor child then
+afflicted with the King's Evil?' the hermit asked.</p>
+
+<p>'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--'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX. HENRY OF WINDSOR</h3>
+
+<p>My crown is in my heart, not on my head;<br>
+Not deck'd with diamonds, and Indian stones,<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Nor to be seen. My crown is call'd Content.--SHAKESPEARE.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Good blood will out, my lady,' quoth Simon, well pleased at her
+praise.</p>
+
+<p>'He hath had no training but thine?' said Sir Lancelot, looking
+full at Simon.</p>
+
+<p>'None, Sir Knight, unless it be honest Halstead's here.'</p>
+
+<p>'Methought I heard somewhat of the hermit in the glen,' put in
+the lady.</p>
+
+<p>'He is a saint!' declared two or three voices, as if this
+precluded his being anything more.</p>
+
+<p>'A saint,' repeated the lady. 'Anchorets are always saints. What
+doth he?'</p>
+
+<p>'Prayeth,' answered Simon. 'Never doth a man come in but he is
+at his prayers. 'Tis always one hour or another!'</p>
+
+<p>'Ay?' said Sir Lancelot, interrogatively. 'Sayest thou so? Is he
+an old man?'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>Here Sir Lancelot beckoned Simon aside, and walked him away, so
+as to leave the mother and son alone together.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>The lady kissed the boy and said, 'I trow thou hast enjoyed a
+great honour, my child.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Hear him!' cried Simon; 'he thinks there is no nobler quarry in
+the woods than his lordship!'</p>
+
+<p>'The hermit! Oh, Simon, who is he?'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'The hermit! the hermit! Do not meddle with him! He's a saint,'
+shouted Hal.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'O sir, sir, and are you going away?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yea, so they will have it! These good fellows are come to guard
+me.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh! may I not go with thee?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Whither, oh whither?' gasped Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh! you have done all,' sobbed Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'I will, I will! I swear by all that is holy!' gasped Hal
+Clifford, with a flash of perception, as he knelt.</p>
+
+<p>'Come, my liege, we have far to go ere night. No time for more
+parting words and sighs.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X. THE SCHOLAR OF THE MOUNTAINS</h3>
+
+<p>Not in proud pomp nor courtly state;<br>
+Him his own thoughts did elevate,<br>
+Most happy in the shy recess.--WORDSWORTH.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'In safe hands! Never you fear, sir! But best know nought.'</p>
+
+<p>'O Simon, was I--? Did I do him any scathe?--I--I never knew--I
+only told my lady mother it was a saint.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'But Sir Lancelot?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Better--O, a thousand times better!--he gave me up than the
+King!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'But who--what were they? They looked like outlaws!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh! why did you not let me go with him? I would have saved him,
+waited on him, fought for him.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ay! when you are a man to keep his head and your own.'</p>
+
+<p>'But I could wait on him.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'When I shall be a man and a knight, and do deeds of derring-do
+in his cause,' cried Hal.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>Nor, from that time, was there any slackness in acquiring or
+practising all skill in chivalrous exercises.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI. THE RED ROSE</h3>
+
+<p>That Edward is escaped from your brother<br>
+And fled, as he hears since, to Burgundy.--SHAKESPEARE.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Ha now, my lord, I have rare news for you.'</p>
+
+<p>The unwonted title did not strike Hal's unaccustomed ears, and
+he continued moving his lips, 'High noon, spring tide.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, all things be upset and reversed,' said Spearman, with a
+hand on his shoulder. 'No herd boy now, but my Lord of
+Clifford.'</p>
+
+<p>'Come to his kingdom,' repeated Hal. 'My own King Harry the
+hermit! I would fain go and see him.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?</p>
+
+<p>'Never fear, goodwife,' said Giles Musgrave; 'he shall be looked
+to as mine own son.'</p>
+
+<p>'And what's that to a gentle lad that has always been tended as
+becomes him?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII. A PRUDENT RECEPTION</h3>
+
+<p>So doth my heart misgive me in these conflicts,<br>
+What may befall him to his harm and ours.--SHAKESPEARE.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Open, porter, open in the name of King Harry, to the Lords of
+Clifford and of Peelholm.'</p>
+
+<p>The porter fell back, observing, 'Sir, pardon, while I have
+speech with my master, Sir Lancelot Threlkeld.'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Be it so,' replied Hal. 'It is my duty.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'With horse and arms as befits him,' began Musgrave.</p>
+
+<p>'I know not that a horse is here that could be depended on,'
+began Threlkeld. 'Armour too requires to be fitted and proved.'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Bravely spoken, young lord,' said Sir Giles heartily; 'right
+willingly will I be your godfather in chivalry, since you find not
+one nigher home.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, ay, mother, I know,' he said, more impatiently than perhaps
+he knew.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'I am more like to have to protect thee, lady mother, and bring
+thee to thy true home again!' said Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'I trust to be no churl in heart, if I be in manners,' said Hal,
+looking down on his small clinging mother.</p>
+
+<p>'Only be cautious, my son. Remember that you are the last of the
+name, and it is your part to bring it to honour.'</p>
+
+<p>'Which I shall scarce do by being cautious,' he said, with
+something of a smile. That was not my father's way.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah me! You have his spirit in you, and how did it end?'</p>
+
+<p>'My Lord of Clifford,' said a voice from the court, 'you are
+waited for!'</p>
+
+<p>'And remember,' cried his mother, with a last embrace, 'there
+will be safety here whenever thou shalt need it.'</p>
+
+<p>'With God's grace, I am more like to protect you and your
+husband,' said the lad, bending for another kiss and hurrying
+away.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII. FELLOW TRAVELLERS</h3>
+
+<p>And sickerlie she was of great disport,<br>
+And full pleasant and amiable of port;<br>
+Of small hounds had she that she fed<br>
+With roasted flesh and milk and wastel bread.--CHAUCER.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Kit of Clumber! Why should I not hang you for thieving on
+yonder tree, with your fellow thieves?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'No Yorkists we, sir!' began a stout figure, coming forward from
+the waggon. 'We be peaceable merchants and this is a holy dame,
+the--'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'She fares well, indeed, lady, only grieved at parting with
+me.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV. THE JOURNEY</h3>
+
+<p>'Twas sweet to see these holy maids,<br>
+Like birds escaped to greenwood shades,--SCOTT.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'O sir, I cannot send him back!' entreated Hal, also embracing
+and caressing the shaggy neck.</p>
+
+<p>'Send him back! Nay, indeed. As saith the Reverend Mother, it
+were well if some earls and lords minded his example,' said Sir
+Giles.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'I would Florimond would show himself as true,' said the
+Prioress. 'Don't show thy teeth, sir! I can honour Watch, yet love
+thee.'</p>
+
+<p>''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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, or a Beaufort!' suggested Sir Giles.</p>
+
+<p>'No treason, Lord Musgrave!' said the Prioress, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, madam,' responded Sir Giles, 'what is treason?'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>Hal drew a long breath. 'Is that meant to be like the saints in
+Heaven?' he said. 'Is that the way they sing there?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>Hal drew off his cap as in homage to the glorious sight.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Do you think, now he is a king again, he will be able to take
+heed to you?'</p>
+
+<p>'I know he cares for me,' said Hal with confidence.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, you know you are going to someone you love, and who loves
+you,' sighed Anne, 'but how will it be with me?'</p>
+
+<p>'Your father?' suggested Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, Anne, if my King gives me my place then--</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>Anne perforce reined in, but Hal fed on the idea that had
+suddenly flashed on him.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV. BLETSO</h3>
+
+<p>Matter of marriage was the charge he gave me.--SHAKESPEARE,</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'You will not forget?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Poor Mother Dolly, when shall I see her?'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh! you will be able to have her to share your state, and Watch
+too! I take none with me.'</p>
+
+<p>'If we are all in King Harry's cause, there will be hope of
+meeting, and then if--'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah! I see a horseman coming! Is it my father?'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.)</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'No matter, sir,' returned Musgrave; 'we are used to soldiers'
+fare.'</p>
+
+<p>'And,' proceeded Anne, 'Master Lorimer must lie here, and his
+wains.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Lion and bear, child! 'Tis the three goddesses and Paris
+choosing the fairest to give the golden apple.'</p>
+
+<p>'Methought that was the lion's mane, but I see a face.'</p>
+
+<p>'What would the Lady Venus say to have her golden locks taken
+for a lion's mane?'</p>
+
+<p>'I like black hair,' said Anne.</p>
+
+<p>'Better not fix thy mind on any hue! We poor women have no
+choice save what fathers make for us.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>He knew much more of the course of affairs than they in their
+northern homes and on their journey.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yea,' said Wenlock, 'but if he be gone a beggar to Burgundy
+what becomes of their debt?'</p>
+
+<p>'I would not give much for it were he restored a score of
+times,' said the Prioress. 'What would he do but plunge
+deeper?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'And this poor King spendeth nothing save on priests and
+masses,' said Wenlock.</p>
+
+<p>Hal started forward, eager to hear of his King, and Musgrave
+said, 'A holy man is he.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'His son will please them,' said Musgrave. 'He was a goodly
+child, full of spirit, when last I saw him.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'She was gracious enough and won all hearts on the Border,'
+replied Musgrave.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Son and daughter may keep them together,' said Musgrave,</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI. THE HERMIT IN THE TOWER</h3>
+
+<p>Thy pity hath been balm to heal their wounds,<br>
+Thy mildness hath allayed their swelling griefs,<br>
+Thy mercy dried their ever flowing tears.--SHAKESPEARE.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Only a storm can bring us together! But that may--'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Welcome, Sir Giles! Methought you had escaped after the fight
+at Hexham.'</p>
+
+<p>'Glad indeed to meet you, brave Sir John, and you, good Lord of
+Holmdale! Is all well with the King?'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'And hither comes my Lord Constable! It rejoices his heart to
+hear of such staunch following.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'The King was very good to me,' faltered Hal, crimson with
+eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'I care not for lands,' said Hal, 'only to see the King.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII. A CAPTIVE KING</h3>
+
+<p>And we see far on holy ground,<br>
+If duly purged our mental view.--KEBLE.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>He laughed when he found that Harry thought he had spent all
+this time in a dark underground dungeon with fetters on his
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh no!' he said; 'they were kindly jailors. They dealt better
+with me than with my Master.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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 thaft 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, do not say once more!' exclaimed Hal. 'Again and again, I
+trust, sir. It is no dream. It is real.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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?--</p>
+
+<center>Henry born at Monmouth shall short live and gain all,<br>
+Henry born at Windsor shall long live and lose all.'</center>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ 
+
+<p>'Oh, sir, sir, do not speak of that old saw!'</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay, sir, your brave son will come home to comfort you, and
+help you and make all well.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII. AT THE MINORESSES'</h3>
+
+<p>The bird that hath been limed in a bush,<br>
+With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush.--SHAKESPEARE.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>''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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'And the young Lady of St. John.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Benedicite, dear gentles,' she said; 'oh, you are a sight for
+sair een.'</p>
+
+<p>'And how fares the good Mother Prioress?' asked the Lord of
+Peelholm.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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, &amp;c., and with a
+stout open work barrier cutting off half the room.</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Not yet, holy Mother. It grieves me to see you faring so
+ill.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'I must strive to earn them by deeds,' said Hal. 'And--'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'He is good to me. Yea, most good,' began Harry.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Thine own,' whispered Anne. 'Oh, better live in the sheepfolds
+with thee than with this Baron! I shudder at the thought.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Is it Warwick who is his chief foe or King Edward?' asked the
+Prioress.</p>
+
+<p>'King Edward, doubtless, for his father's slaughter of young
+Rutland at Wakefield.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'The King--' began Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Sir, if I must fight, let no less holy hand than thine lay
+knighthood on my shoulder,' sobbed Hal, kneeling.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX. A STRANGE EASTER EVE</h3>
+
+<p>And spare, O spare<br>
+The meek usurper's holy head.--GRAY.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<center>O the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree,<br>
+They flourish best at home in the north countree.</center>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ 
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'On our way to Norfolk in case the Duke of York should show
+himself on the coast. And yours, reverend Mother?'</p>
+
+<p>'To Canterbury first by easy journeys. We sleep to-night at the
+Tabard, where we shall meet other pilgrims.'</p>
+
+<p>'Here, alack! our way severs from yours. Farewell, holy Mother,
+may you find health on your pilgrimage.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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 see 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'Never fear, child,' said the Prioress; 'many is the slip
+between the cup and the lip.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'I marvel if there will be a battle,' she said. 'Never have I
+had the good luck to see or hear one.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh! Mother, are you not afraid?' cried Sister Mabel.</p>
+
+<p>'Afraid! What should I be afraid of, silly maid? Do you think
+the men-at-arms are wolves to snap you up?'</p>
+
+<p>'And,' murmured Anne, 'we shall know how it goes with my Lord of
+Oxford's people.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX. BARNET</h3>
+
+<p>A dead hush fell; but when the dolorous day<br>
+Grew drearier toward twilight falling, came<br>
+A bitter wind, clear from the North, and blew<br>
+The mist aside.--TENNYSON.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, Watch it is,' said the Prioress. 'Well may you thank him!
+It is to him you owe all, and to my good Florimond.'</p>
+
+<p>'But what--how--where am I?' asked Hal, trying to look round,
+but feeling sharp thrills and shoots of pain at every motion.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'But Sir Giles Musgrave?' still asked Hal.</p>
+
+<p>'Belike fled with Lord Oxford and his men, who all made off at
+the cry of treason,' was the answer.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI. TEWKESBURY</h3>
+
+<p>The last shoot of that ancient tree<br>
+Was budding fair as fair might be;<br>
+Its buds they crop<br>
+Its branches lop<br>
+Then leave the sapless stem to die.--SOPHOCLES (Anstice).</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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'.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII. THE NUT-BROWN MAID</h3>
+
+<p>All my wellfare to trouble and care<br>
+Should change if you were gone,<br>
+For in my mynde, of all mankind<br>
+I love but you alone.--NUT-BROWN MAID.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nay,' she said, looking up through her tears, 'and wherefore
+should I not share your shepherd's lot?'</p>
+
+<p>'You! Nan, sweet Nan, tenderly nurtured in the convent while I
+have ever lived as a rough hardy shepherd!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'You never saw us snowed up in winter with all things scarce,
+and hardly able to milk a goat.'</p>
+
+<p>'Have not we been snowed up at Greystone for five weeks at a
+time?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah! my hermit, my master, how fares it with him? Would that I
+could go and see!'</p>
+
+<p>'Which do you love best--me or the hermit?' asked Anne archly,
+lifting up her head, which was lying on his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>The Prioress burst out laughing. 'Make porridge, milk the ewes
+and spin their wool? Eh? Meet work for a baron's daughter!'</p>
+
+<p>'So I tell her,' said Harry. 'She knows not how hard the life
+is.'</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'Ay, a summer's dream!' said Hal. 'Tell her the folly of
+it.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'It would be my duty,' murmured Hal, 'nor should I love thee the
+less.'</p>
+
+<p>''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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>'But the hardness and the roughness of the life,' objected
+Mistress Lorimer, 'for a dainty, convent-bred lady.'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>'And now that all Lancaster is gone, King Edward may be less
+vindictive against the Red Rose,' said Lorimer.</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>'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?'</p>
+
+<p>'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.'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.'</p>
+
+<p>Nor did the seneschal gainsay her.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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!'</p>
+
+<p>'But, oh, what kindly friskings!' cried Anne, throwing herself
+into those tender arms.</p>
+
+<p>'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!'</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>And he brought tidings that rendered that wedding-day one of
+mournful, if peaceful, remembrances.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIII. BROUGHAM CASTLE</h3>
+
+<p>And now am I an Earlis son,<br>
+And not a banished man.--NUT-BROWN MAID.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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:</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<center>Love had he found in huts where poor men lie,<br>
+His daily teachers had been woods and rills,<br>
+The silence that is in the starry sky,<br>
+The sleep that is among the lonely hills.<br>
+<br>
+ 
+
+<p>In him the savage virtue of the race,<br>
+Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts were dead,<br>
+Nor did he change, but kept in lofty place<br>
+The wisdom that adversity had bred.</p>
+
+<p>Glad were the vales, and every cottage hearth,<br>
+The Shepherd Lord was honoured more and more,<br>
+And ages after he was laid in earth<br>
+The Good Lord Clifford was the name he bore.</p>
+
+<h3>FINIS</h3>
+</center>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>The End of this Project Gutenberg Ebook of The Herd Boy and His
+Hermit by Charlotte M Yonge.</p>
+
+<pre>
+
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