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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5752.txt b/5752.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d81b21c --- /dev/null +++ b/5752.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7093 @@ +Project Gutenberg's St. George and St. Michael Vol. III, by George MacDonald +#14 in our series by George MacDonald + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: St. George and St. Michael Vol. III + +Author: George MacDonald + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5752] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 23, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. GEORGE AND ST. MICHAEL *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks +and the Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +ST. GEORGE AND ST. MICHAEL + +BY GEORGE MACDONALD + +IN THREE VOLUMES + +VOL. III. + +LONDON + +1876 + + + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. III. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. NEWBURY. + +CHAPTER XL. DOROTHY AND ROWLAND. + +CHAPTER XLI. GLAMORGAN. + +CHAPTER XLII. A NEW SOLDIER. + +CHAPTER XLIII. LADY AND BISHOP. + +CHAPTER XLIV. THE KING. + +CHAPTER XLV. THE SECRET INTERVIEW. + +CHAPTER XLVI. GIFTS OF HEALING. + +CHAPTER XLVII. THE POET-PHYSICIAN. + +CHAPTER XLVIII. HONOURABLE DISGRACE. + +CHAPTER XLIX. SIEGE. + +CHAPTER L. A SALLY. + +CHAPTER LI. UNDER THE MOAT. + +CHAPTER LII. THE UNTOOTHSOME PLUM. + +CHAPTER LIII. FAITHFUL FOES. + +CHAPTER LIV. DOMUS DISSOLVITUR. + +CHAPTER LV. R. I. P. + +CHAPTER LVI. RICHARD AND CASPER. + +CHAPTER LVII. THE SKELETON. + +CHAPTER LVIII. LOVE AND NO LEASING. + +CHAPTER LIX. AVE! VALE! SALVE! + + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +NEWBURY. + + + + + +Early the next morning, after Richard had left the cottage for +Raglan castle, mistress Rees was awaked by the sound of a heavy blow +against her door. When with difficulty she had opened it, Richard or +his dead body, she knew not which, fell across her threshold. Like +poor Marquis, he had come to her for help and healing. + +When he got out of the quarry, he made for the highroad, but missing +the way the dog had brought him, had some hard work in reaching it; +and long before he arrived--at the cottage, what with his wound, his +loss of blood, his double wetting, his sleeplessness after mistress +Watson's potion, want of food, disappointment and fatigue, he was in +a high fever. The last mile or two he had walked in delirium, but +happily with the one dominant idea of getting help from mother Rees. +The poor woman was greatly shocked to find that the teeth of the +trap had closed upon her favourite and mangled him so terribly. A +drop or two of one of her restoratives, however, soon brought him +round so far that he was able to crawl to the chair on which he had +sat the night before, now ages agone as it seemed, where he now sat +shivering and glowing alternately, until with trembling hands the +good woman had prepared her own bed for him. + +'Thou hast left thy doublet behind thee,' she said, 'and I warrant +me the cake I gave thee in the pouch thereof! Hadst thou eaten of +that, thou hadst not come to this pass.' + +But Richard scarcely heard her voice. His one mental consciousness +was the longing desire to lay his aching head on the pillow, and end +all effort. + +Finding his wound appeared very tolerably dressed, Mrs. Rees would +not disturb the bandages. She gave him a cooling draught, and +watched by him till he fell asleep. Then she tidied her house, +dressed herself, and got everything in order for nursing him. She +would have sent at once to Redware to let his father know where and +in what condition he was, but not a single person came near the +cottage the whole day, and she dared not leave him before the fever +had subsided. He raved a good deal, generally in the delusion that +he was talking to Dorothy--who sought to kill him, and to whom he +kept giving directions, at one time how to guide the knife to reach +his heart, at another how to mingle her poison so that it should act +with speed and certainty. + +At length one fine evening in early autumn, when the red sun shone +level through the window of the little room where he lay, and made a +red glory on the wall, he came to himself a little. + +'Is it blood?' he murmured. 'Did Dorothy do it?--How foolish I am! +It is but a blot the sun has left behind him!--Ah! I see! I am dead +and lying on the top of my tomb. I am only marble. This is Redware +church. Oh, mother Rees, is it you! I am very glad! Cover me over a +little. The pall there.' + +His eyes closed, and for a few hours he lay in a deep sleep, from +which he awoke very weak, but clear-headed. He remembered nothing, +however, since leaving the quarry, except what appeared a confused +dream of wandering through an interminable night of darkness, +weariness, and pain. His first words were,-- + +'I must get up, mother Rees: my father will be anxious about me. +Besides, I promised to set out for Gloucester to-day.' + +She sought to quiet him, but in vain, and was at last compelled to +inform him that his father, finding he did not return, had armed +himself, mounted Oliver, and himself led his little company to join +the earl of Essex--who was now on his way, at the head of an army +consisting chiefly of the trained bands of London, to raise the +siege of Gloucester. + +Richard started up, and would have leaped from the bed, but fell +back helpless and unconscious. When at length his nurse had +succeeded in restoring him, she had much ado to convince him that +the best thing in all respects was to lie still and submit to be +nursed--so to get well as soon as possible, and join his father. + +'Alas, mother, I have no horse,' said Richard, and hid his face on +the pillow. + +'The Lord will provide what thee wants, my son,' said the old woman +with emotion, neither asking nor caring whether the Lord was on the +side of the king or of the parliament, but as little doubting that +he must be on the side of Richard. + +He soon began to eat hopefully, and after a day or two she found +pretty nearly employment enough in cooking for him. + +At last, weak as he still was, he would be restrained no longer. To +Gloucester he must go, and relieve his father. Expostulation was +unavailing: go he must, he said, or his soul would tear itself out +of his body, and go without it. + +'Besides, mother, I shall be getting better all the way,' he +continued. '--I must go home at once and see whether there is +anything left to go upon.' + +He rose the same instant, and, regardless of the good woman's +entreaties, crawled out to go to Redware. She followed him at a +little distance, and, before he had walked a quarter of a mile, he +was ready to accept her offered arm to help him back. But his +recovery was now very rapid, and. after a few days he felt able for +the journey. + +At home he found a note from his father, telling him where to find +money, and informing him that he was ready to yield him Oliver the +moment he should appear to claim him. Richard put on his armour, and +went to the stable. The weather had been fine, and the harvest was +wearing gradually to a close; but the few horses that were left were +overworked, for the necessities of the war had been severe, and that +part of the country had responded liberally on both sides. Besides, +Mr. Heywood had scarce left an animal judged at all fit to carry a +man and keep up with the troop. + +When Richard reached the stable, there were in it but three, two of +which, having brought loads to the barn, were now having their +mid-day meal and rest. The first one was ancient in bones, with pits +profound above his eyes, and grey hairs all about a face which had +once been black. + +'Thou art but fit for old Father Time to lay his scythe across when +he is aweary,' said Richard, and turned to the next. + +She was a huge-bodied, short-legged punch, as fat as butter, with +lop ears and sleepy eyes. Having finished her corn, she was churning +away at a mangerful of grass. + +'Thou wouldst burst thy belly at the first charge,' said Richard, +and was approaching the third, one he did not recognise, when a +vicious, straight-out kick informed him that here was temper at +least, probably then spirit. But when he came near enough to see +into the stall, there stood the ugliest brute he thought that ever +ate barley. He was very long-bodied and rather short-legged, with +great tufts at his fetlocks, and the general look of a huge rat, in +part doubtless from having no hair on his long undocked tail. He was +biting vigorously at his manger, and Richard could see the white of +one eye glaring at him askance in the gloom. + +'Dunnot go nigh him, sir,' cried Jacob Fortune, who had come up +behind. 'Thou knows not his tricks. His name be his nature, and we +call him Beelzebub when master Stopchase be not by. I be right glad +to see your honour up again.' + +Jacob was too old to go to the wars, and too indifferent to regret +it; but he was faithful, and had authority over the few men left. + +'I thank you, Jacob,' said Richard. 'What brute is this? I know him +not.' + +'We all knows him too well, master Richard, though verily Stopchase +bought him but the day before he rode, thinking belike he might +carry an ear or two of wheat. If he be not very good he was not +parlous dear; he paid for him but an old song. He was warranted to +have work in him if a man but knew how to get it out.' + +'He is ugly.' + +'He is the ugliest horse, cart-horse, nag, or courser, on this +creation-side,' said the old man, '--ugly enough to fright to death +where he doth fail in his endeavour to kill. The men are all mortal +feared on him, for he do kick and he do bite like the living Satan. +He wonnot go in no cart, but there he do stand eating on his head +off as fast as he can. An' the brute were mine, I would slay him; I +would, in good sooth.' + +'An' I had but time to cure him of his evil kicking! I fear I must +ever ride the last in the troop,' said Richard. + +'Why for sure, master, thee never will ride such a devil-pig as he +to the wars! Will Farrier say he do believe he take his strain from +the swine the devils go into in the miracle. All the children would +make a mock of thee as thou did ride through the villages. Look at +his legs: they do be like stile-posts; and do but look at his tail!' + +'Lead him out, Jacob, and let me see his head.' + +'I dare not go nigh him, sir. I be not nimble enough to get out of +the way of his hoof. 'I be too old, master.' + +Richard pulled on his thick buff glove and went straight into his +stall. The brute made a grab at him with his teeth, met by a smart +blow from Richard's fist, which he did not like, and, rearing, would +have struck at him with his near fore-foot; but Richard caught it by +the pastern, and with his left hand again struck him on the side of +the mouth. The brute then submitted to be led out by the halter. And +verily he was ugly to behold. His neck stuck straight out, and so +did his tail, but the latter went off in a point, and the former in +a hideous knob. + +'Here is Jack!' cried the old man. 'He lets Jack ride him to the +water. Here, Jack! Get thee upon the hog-back of Beelzebub, and mind +the bristles do not flay thee, and let master Richard see what paces +he hath.' + +The animal tried to take the lad down with his hind foot as he +mounted, but scarcely was he seated when he set off at a swinging +trot, in which he plied his posts in manner astonishing. Spirit +indeed he must have had, and plenty, to wield such clubs in such a +fashion. His joints were so loose that the bones seemed to fly +about, yet they always came down right. + +'He is guilty of "hypocrisy against the devil,"' said Richard: 'he +is better than he looks. Anyhow, if he but carry me thither, he will +as well "fill a pit" as a handsomer horse. I'll take him. Have you +got a saddle for him?' + +'An' he had not brought a saddle with him, thou would not find one +in Gwent to fit him,' said the old man. + +Yet another day Richard found himself compelled to tarry--which he +spent in caparisoning Beelzebub to the best of his ability, with the +result of making him, if possible, appear still uglier than before. + +The eve of the day of his departure, Marquis paid mistress Rees a +second visit. He wanted no healing or help this time, seeming to +have come only to offer his respects. But the knowledge that here +was a messenger, dumb and discreet, ready to go between and make no +sign, set Richard longing to use him: what message he did send by +him I have already recorded. Although, however, the dog left them +that night, he did not reach Raglan till the second morning after, +and must have been roaming the country or paying other visits all +that night and the next day as well, with the letter about him, +which he had allowed no one to touch. + +At last Richard was on his way to Gloucester, mounted on Beelzebub, +and much stared at by the inhabitants of every village he passed +through. Apparently, however, there was something about the +centaur-compound which prevented their rudeness from going farther. +Beelzebub bore him well, and, though not a comfortable horse to +ride, threw the road behind him at a wonderful rate, as often and as +long as Richard was able to bear it. But he found himself stronger +after every rest, and by the time he began to draw nigh to +Gloucester, he was nearly as well as ever, and in excellent spirits; +one painful thought only haunting him--the fear that he might, +mounted on Beelzebub, have to encounter some one on his beloved +mare. He was consoled, however, to think that the brute was less +dangerous to one before than one behind him, heels being worse than +teeth. + +He soon became aware that something decisive had taken place: either +Gloucester had fallen, or Essex had raised the siege, for army there +was none, though the signs of a lately upbroken encampment were +visible on all sides. Presently, inquiring at the gate, he learned +that, on the near approach of Essex, the besieging army had retired, +and that, after a few days' rest, the general had turned again in +the direction of London. Richard, therefore, having fed Beelzebub +and eaten his own dinner, which in his present condition was more +necessary than usual to his being of service, mounted his hideous +charger once more, and pushed on to get up with the army. + +Essex had not taken the direct road to London, but kept to the +southward. That same day he followed him as far as Swindon, and +found he was coming up with him rapidly. Having rested a short +night, he reached Hungerford the next morning, which he found in +great commotion because of the intelligence that at Newbury, some +seven miles distant only, Essex had found his way stopped by the +king, and that a battle had been raging ever since the early +morning. + +Having given his horse a good feed of oats and a draught of ale, +Richard mounted again and rode hard for Newbury. Nor had he rode +long before he heard the straggling reports of carbines, looked to +the priming of his pistols, and loosened his sword in its sheath. +When he got under the wall of Craven park, the sounds of conflict +grew suddenly plainer. He could distinguish the noise of horses' +hoofs, and now and then the confused cries and shouts of +hand-to-hand conflict. At Spain he was all but in it, for there he +met wounded men, retiring slowly or carried by their comrades. These +were of his own part, but he did not stop to ask any questions. +Beelzebub snuffed at the fumes of the gunpowder, and seemed +therefrom to derive fresh vigour. + +The lanes and hedges between Spein and Newbury had been the scenes +of many a sanguinary tussle that morning, for nowhere had either +army found room to deploy. Some of them had been fought over more +than once or twice. But just before Richard came up, the tide had +ebbed from that part of the way, for Essex's men had had some +advantage, and had driven the king's men through the town and over +the bridge, so that he found the road clear, save of wounded men and +a few horses. As he reached Spinhamland, and turned sharp to the +right into the main street of Newbury, a bullet from the pistol of a +royalist officer who lay wounded struck Beelzebub on the crest--what +of a crest he had--and without injuring made him so furious that his +rider had much ado to keep him from mischief. For, at the very +moment, they were met by a rush of parliament pikemen, retreating, +as he could see, over their heads, from a few of the kings cavalry, +who came at a sharp trot down the main street. The pikemen had got +into disorder pursuing some of the enemy who had divided and gone to +the right and left up the two diverging streets, and when the +cavalry appeared at the top of the main street, both parts, seeing +themselves in danger of being surrounded, had retreated. They were +now putting the Kennet with its narrow bridge between them and the +long-feathered cavaliers, in the hope of gaining time and fit ground +for forming and presenting a bristled front. In the midst of this +confused mass of friends Richard found himself, the maddened +Beelzebub every moment lashing out behind him when not rearing or +biting. + +Before him the bridge rose steep to its crown, contracting as it +rose. At its foot, where it widened to the street, stood a single +horseman, shouting impatiently to the last of the pikemen, and +spurring his horse while holding him. As the last man cleared the +bridge, he gave him rein, and with a bound and a scramble reached +the apex, and stood--within half a neck of the foremost of the +cavalier troop. A fierce combat instantly began between them. The +bridge was wide enough for two to have fought side by side, but the +roundhead contrived so to work his antagonist, who was a younger but +less capable and less powerful man, that no comrade could get up +beside him for the to-and-fro shifting of his horse. + +Meantime Richard had been making his slow way through the swarm of +hurrying pikemen, doing what he could to keep them off Beelzebub. +The moment he was clear, he made a great bolt for the bridge, and +the same moment perceived who the brave man was. + +'Hold on, sir,' he shouted. 'Hold your own, father! Here I am! Here +is Richard!' + +And as he shouted he sent Beelzebub, like low-flying bolt from +cross-bow, up the steep crown of the bridge, and wedged him in +between Oliver and the parapet, just as a second cavalier made a +dart for the place. At his horse Beelzebub sprang like a fury, +rearing, biting, and striking out with his fore-feet in such manner +as quite to make up to his rider for the disadvantage of his low +stature. The cavalier's horse recoiled in terror, rearing also, but +snorting and backing and wavering, so that, in his endeavours to +avoid the fury of Beelzebub, which was frightful to see, for with +ears laid back and gleaming teeth he looked more like a beast of +prey, he would but for the crowd behind him have fallen backward +down the slope. A bullet from one of Richard's pistols sent his +rider over his tail, the horse fell sideways against that of Mr. +Heywood's antagonist, and the path was for a moment barricaded. + +'Well done, good Beelzebub!' cried Richard, as he reined him back on +to the crest of the bridge. + +'Boy!' said his father sternly, at the same instant dealing his +encumbered opponent a blow on the head-piece which tumbled him also +from his horse, 'is the sacred hour of victory a time to sully with +profane and foolish jests? I little thought to hear such words at my +side--not to say from the mouth of my own son!' + +'Pardon me, father; I praised my horse,' said Richard. 'I think not +he ever had praise before, but it cannot corrupt him, for he is such +an ill-conditioned brute that they that named him did name him +Beelzebub: Now that he hath once done well, who knoweth but it may +cease to fit him!' + +'I am glad thy foolish words were so harmless,' returned Mr. +Heywood, smiling. 'In my ears they sounded so evil that I could ill +accept their testimony.--Verily the animal is marvellous +ill-favoured, but, as thou sayest, he hath done well, and the first +return we make him shall be to give him another name. The less man +or horse hath to do with Satan the better, for what is he but the +arch-foe of the truth?' + +While they spoke, they kept a keen watch on the enemy--who could not +get near to attack them, save with a few pistol-bullets, mostly +wide-shot--for both horses were down, and their riders helpless if +not slain. + +'What shall we call him then, father?' asked Richard. + +'He is amazing like a huge rat!' said his father. 'Let us henceforth +call him Bishop.' + +'Wherefore Bishop and not Beelzebub, sir?' inquired Richard. + +Mr. Heywood laughed, but ere he could reply, a large troop of +horsemen appeared at the top of the street. Glancing then behind in +some anxiety, they saw to their relief that the pikemen had now +formed themselves into a hollow square at the foot of the bridge, +prepared to receive cavalry. They turned therefore, and, passing +through them, rode to find their regiment. + +From that day Bishop, notwithstanding his faults many and grievous, +was regarded with respect by both father and son, Richard vowing +never to mount another, let laugh who would, so long as the brute +lived and he had not recovered Lady. + +But they had to give him room for two on the march, and the place +behind him was always left vacant, which they said gave no more +space than he wanted, seeing he kicked out his leg to twice its +walking length. Before long, however, they had got so used to his +ways that they almost ceased to regard them as faults, and he began +to grow a favourite in the regiment. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +DOROTHY AND ROWLAND. + + + + + +Such was the force of law and custom in Raglan that as soon as any +commotion ceased things settled at once. It was so now. The minds of +the marquis and lord Charles being at rest both as regarded the gap +in the defences of the castle and the character of its inmates, the +very next day all was order again. The fate of Amanda was allowed +gradually to ooze out, but the greater portion both of domestics and +garrison continued firm in the belief that she had been carried off +by Satan. Young Delaware, indeed, who had been revelling late--I +mean in the chapel with the organ--and who was always the more +inclined to believe a thing the stranger it was, asserted that he +SAW devil fly away with her--a testimony which gained as much in one +way as it lost in another by the fact that he could not see at all. + +To Scudamore her absence, however caused, was only a relief. She had +ceased to interest him, while Dorothy had become to him like an +enchanted castle, the spell of which he flattered himself he was the +knight born to break. All his endeavours, however, to attract from +her a single look such as indicated intelligence, not to say +response, were disappointed. She seemed absolutely unsuspicious of +what he sought, neither, having so long pretermitted what claim he +might once have established to cousinly relations with her, could he +now initiate any intimacy on that ground. Had she become an inmate +of Raglan immediately after he first made her acquaintance, that +might have ripened to something more hopeful; but when she came she +was in sorrow, nor felt that there was any comfort in him, while he +was beginning to yield to the tightening bonds mistress Amanda had +flung around him. Nor since had he afforded her any ground for +altering her first impressions, or favourably modifying a feature of +the portrait lady Margaret had presented of him. + +Strange to say, however, poorly grounded as was the orignal interest +he had taken in her, and little as he was capable of understanding +her, he soon began, even while yet confident in his proved +advantages of person and mind and power persuasive, to be vaguely +wrought upon by the superiority of her nature. With this the +establishment of her innocence in the eyes of the household had +little to do; indeed, that threatened at first to destroy something +of her attraction; a passionate, yielding, even erring nature, had +of necessity for such as he far more enchantment than a nature that +ruled its own emotions, and would judge such as might be unveiled to +it. Neither was it that her cold courtesy and kind indifference +roused him to call to the front any of the more valuable endowments +of his being; something far better had commenced: unconsciously to +himself, the dim element of truth that flitted vaporous about in him +had begun to respond to the great pervading and enrounding orb of +her verity. He began to respect her, began to feel drawn as if by +another spiritual sense than that of which Amanda had laid hold. He +found in her an element of authority. The conscious influences to +whose triumph he had been so perniciously accustomed, had proved +powerless upon her, while those that in her resided unconscious were +subduing him. Her star was dominant over his. + +At length he began to be aware that this was no light preference, no +passing fancy, but something more serious than he had hitherto +known--that in fact he was really, though uncomfortably and +unsatisfactorily, in love with her. He felt she was not like any +other girl he had made his shabby love to, and would have tried to +make beter to her, but she kept him at a distance, and that he began +to find tormenting. One day, for example, meeting her in the court +as she was crossing towards the keep,-- + +'I would thou didst take apprentices, cousin,' he said, 'so I might +be one, and learn of thee the mysteries of thy trade.' + +'Wherefore, cousin?' + +'That I might spare thee something of thy labour.' + +'That were no kindness. I am not like thee; I find labour a thing to +be courted rather than spared; I am not overwrought.' + +Scudamore gazed into her grey eyes, but found there nothing to +contradict, nothing to supplement the indifference of her words. +There was no lurking sparkle of humour, no acknowledgment of +kindness. There was a something, but he could not understand it, for +his poor shapeless soul might not read the cosmic mystery embodied +in their depths. He stammered--who had never known himself stammer +before, broke the joints of an ill-fitted answer, swept the tiles +with the long feather in his hat, and found himself parted from her, +with the feeling that he had not of himself left her, but had been +borne away by some subtle force emanating from her. + +Lord Herbert had again left the castle. More soldiers and more must +still be raised for the king. Now he would be paying his majesty a +visit at Oxford, and inspecting the life-guards he had provided him, +now back in South Wales, enlisting men, and straining every power in +him to keep the district of which his father was governor in good +affection and loyal behaviour. + +Winter drew nigh, and stayed somewhat the rushx of events, clogged +the wheels of life as they ran towards death, brought a little sleep +to the world and coolness to men's hearts--led in another Christmas, +and looked on for a while. + +Nor did the many troubles heaped on England, the drained purses, the +swollen hearts, the anxious minds, the bereaved houses, the +ruptures, the sorrows, and the hatreds, yet reach to dull in any +large measure the merriment of the season at Raglan. Customs are +like carpets, for ever wearing out whether we mark it or no, but +Lord Worcester's patriarchal prejudices, cleaving to the old and +looking askance on the new, caused them to last longer in Raglan +than almost anywhere else: the old were the things of his fathers +which he had loved from his childhood; the new were the things of +his children which he had not proven. + +What a fire that was that blazed on the hall-hearth under the great +chimney, which, dividing in two, embraced a fine window, then again +becoming one, sent the hot blast rushing out far into the waste of +wintry air! No one could go within yards of it for the fierce heat +of the blazing logs, now and then augmented by huge lumps of coal. +And when, on the evenings of special merry-making, the candles were +lit, the musicians were playing, and a country dance was filling the +length of the great floor, in which the whole household, from the +marquis himself, if his gout permitted, to the grooms and kitchen- +maids, would take part, a finer outburst of homely splendour, in +which was more colour than gilding, more richness than shine, was +not to be seen in all the island. + +On such an occasion Rowland had more than once attempted nearer +approach to Dorothy, but had gained nothing. She neither repelled +nor encouraged him, but smiled at his better jokes, looked grave at +his silly ones, and altogether treated him like a boy, young--or +old--enough to be troublesome if encouraged. He grew desperate, and +so one night summoned up courage as they stood together waiting for +the next dance. + +'Why will you never talk to me, cousin Dorothy?' he said. + +'Is it so, Mr. Scudamore? I was not aware. If thou spoke and I +answered not, I am sorry.' + +'No, I mean not that,' returned Scudamore. 'But when I venture to +speak, you always make me feel as if I ought not to have spoken. +When I call you COUSIN DOROTHY, you reply with MR. SCUDAMORE.' + +'The relation is hardly near enough to justify a less measure of +observance.' + +'Our mothers loved each other.' + +'They found each other worthy.' + +'And you do not find me such?' sighed Scudamore, with a smile meant +to be both humble and bewitching. + +'N-n-o. Thou hast not made me desire to hold with thee much +converse.' + +'Tell me why, cousin, that I may reform that which offends thee.' + +'If a man see not his faults with his own eyes, how shall he see +them with the eyes of another?' + +'Wilt thou never love me, Dorothy?--not even a little?' + +'Wherefore should I love thee, Rowland?' + +'We are commanded to love even our enemies.' + +'Art thou then mine enemy, cousin?' + +'No, forsooth! I am the most loving friend thou hast.' + +'Then am I sorely to be pitied.' + +'For having my love?' + +'Nay; for having none better than thine. But thank God, it is not +so.' + +'Must I then be thine enemy indeed before thou wilt love me?' + +'No, cousin: cease to be thine own enemy and I will call thee my +friend.' + +'Marry! wherein then am I mine own enemy? I lead a sober life +enough--as thou seest, ever under the eye of my lord.' + +'But what wouldst thou an' thou wert from under the eye of thy lord? +I know thee better than thou thinkest, cousin. I have read thy +title-page, if not thy whole book.' + +'Tell me then how runneth my title-page, cousin.' + +'The art of being wilfully blind, or The way to see no farther than +one would.' + +'Fair preacher,--' began Rowland, but Dorothy interrupted him. + +'Nay then, an' thou betake thee to thy jibes, I have done,' she +said. + +'Be not angry with me; it is but my nature, which for thy sake I +will control. If thou canst not love me, wilt thou not then pity me +a little?' + +'That I may pity thee, answer me what good thing is there in thee +wherefore I should love thee.' + +'Wouldst thou have a man trumpet his own praises?' + +'I fear not that of thee who hast but the trumpet--I will tell thee +this much: I have never seen in thee that thou didst love save for +the pastime thereof. I doubt if thou lovest thy master for more than +thy place.' + +'Oh cousin!' + +'Be honest with thyself, Rowland. If thou would have me for thy +cousin, it must be on the ground of truth.' + +Rowland possessed at least goodnature: few young men would have +borne to be so severely handled. But then, while one's good opinion +of himself remains untroubled, confesses no touch, gives out no +hollow sound, shrinks not self-hurt with the doubt of its own +reality, hostile criticism will not go very deep, will not reach to +the quick. The thing that hurts is that which sets trembling the +ground of self-worship, lays bare the shrunk cracks and wormholes +under the golden plates of the idol, shows the ants running about in +it, and renders the foolish smile of the thing hateful. But he who +will then turn away from his imagined self, and refer his life to +the hidden ideal self, the angel that ever beholds the face of the +Father, shall therein be made whole and sound, alive and free. + +The dance called them, and their talk ceased. When it was over, +Dorothy left the hall and sought her chamber. But in the fountain +court her cousin overtook her, and had the temerity to resume the +conversation. The moth would still at any risk circle the candle. It +was a still night, and therefore not very cold, although icicles +hung from the mouth of the horse, and here and there from the eaves. +They stood by the marble basin, and the dim lights and scarce dimmer +shadows from many an upper window passed athwart them as they stood. +The chapel was faintly lighted, but the lantern-window on the top +of the hall shone like a yellow diamond in the air. + +'Thou dost me scant justice, cousin,' said Rowland, 'maintaining +that I love but myself or for mine own ends. I know that love thee +better than so.' + +'For thine own sake, I would, might I but believe it, be glad of the +assurance. But--' + +Amanda's behaviour to her having at last roused counter observation +and speculation on Dorothy's part, she had become suddenly aware +that there was an understanding between her and Rowland. It was +gradually, however, that the question rose in her mind: could these +two have been the nightly intruders on the forbidden ground of the +workshop, and afterwards the victims of the watershoot? But the +suspicion grew to all but a conviction. Latterly she had observed +that their behaviour to each other was changed, also that Amanda's +aversion to herself seemed to have gathered force. And one thing she +had found remarkable--that Rowland revealed no concern for Amanda's +misfortunes, or anxiety about her fate. With all these things +potentially present in her mind, she came all at once to the +resolution of attempting a bold stroke. + +'--But,' Dorothy went on, 'when I think how thou didst bear thee +with mistress Amanda--' + +'My precious Dorothy!' exclaimed Scudamore, filled with a sudden +gush of hope, 'thou wilt never be so unjust to thyself as to be +jealous of her! She is to me as nothing--as if she had never been; +nor care I forsooth if the devil hath indeed flown away with her +bodily, as they will have it in the hall and the guard-room.' + +'Thou didst seem to hold friendly enough converse with her while she +was yet one of us.' + +'Ye-e-s. But she had no heart like thee, Dorothy, as I soon +discovered. She had indeed a pretty wit of her own, but that was +all. And then she was spiteful. She hated thee, Dorothy.' + +He spoke of her as one dead. + +'How knewest thou that? Wast thou then so far in her confidence, and +art now able to talk of her thus? Where is thine own heart, Mr. +Scudamore?' + +'In thy bosom, lovely Dorothy.' + +'Thou mistakest. But mayhap thou dost imagine I picked it up that +night thou didst lay it at mistress Amanda's feet in my lord's +workshop in the keep?' + +Dorothy's hatred of humbug--which was not the less in existence then +that they had not the ugly word to express the uglier thing--enabled +her to fix her eyes on him as she spoke, and keep them fixed when +she had ended. He turned pale--visibly pale through the shadowy +night, nor attempted to conceal his confusion. It is strange how +self-conviction will wait upon foreign judgment, as if often only +the general conscience were powerful enough to wake the individual +one. + +'Or perhaps,' she continued, 'it was torn from thee by the waters +that swept thee from the bridge, as thou didst venture with her yet +again upon the forbidden ground.' + +He hung his head, and stood before her like a chidden child. + +'Think'st thou,' she went on, 'that my lord would easily pardon such +things?' + +'Thou knewest it, and didst not betray me! Oh Dorothy!' murmured +Scudamore. 'Thou art a very angel of light, Dorothy.' + +He seized her hand, and but for the possible eyes upon them, he +would have flung himself at her feet. + +Dorothy, however, would not yet lay aside the part she had assumed +as moral physician--surgeon rather. + +'But notwithstanding all this, cousin Rowland, when trouble came +upon the young lady, what comfort was there for her in thee? Never +hadst thou loved her, although I doubt not thou didst vow and swear +thereto an hundred times.' + +Rowland was silent. He began to fear her. + +'Or what love thou hadst was of such sort that thou didst encourage +in her that which was evil, and then let her go like a haggard hawk. +Thou marvellest, forsooth, that I should be so careless of thy +merits! Tell me, cousin, what is there in thee that I should love? +Can there be love for that which is nowise lovely? Thou wilt +doubtless say in thy heart, "She is but a girl, and how then should +she judge concerning men and their ways?" But I appeal to thine own +conscience, Rowland, when I ask thee--is this well? And if a maiden +truly loved thee, it were all one. Thou wouldst but carry thyself +the same to her--if not to-day, then to-morrow, or a year hence.' + +'Not if she were good, Dorothy, like thee,' he murmured. + +'Not if thou wert good, Rowland, like Him that made thee.' + +'Wilt thou not teach me then to be good like thee, Dorothy?' + +'Thou must teach thyself to be good like the Rowland thou knowest in +thy better heart, when it is soft and lowly.' + +'Wouldst thou then love me a little, Dorothy, if I vowed to be thy +scholar, and study to be good? Give me some hope to help me in the +hard task.' + +'He that is good is good for goodness' sake, Rowland. Yet who can +fail to love that which is good in king or knave?' + +'Ah! but do not mock me, Dorothy: such is not the love I would have +of thee.' + +'It is all thou ever canst have of me, and methinks it is not like +thou wilt ever have it, for verily thou art of nature so light that +any wind may blow thee into the Dead Sea.' + +From a saint it was enough to anger any sinner. + +'I see!' cried Scudamore. 'For all thy fine reproof, thou too canst +spurn a heart at thy feet. I will lay my life thou lovest the +round-head, and art but a traitress for all thy goodness.' + +'I am indeed traitress enough to love any roundhead gentleman better +than a royalist knave,' said Dorothy; and turning from him she +sought the grand staircase. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +GLAMORGAN. + + + + + +The winter passed, with much running to and fro, in foul weather and +fair; and still the sounds of war came no nearer to Raglan, which +lay like a great lion in a desert that the hunter dared not arouse. +The whole of Wales, except a castle or two, remained subject to the +king; and this he owed in great measure to the influence and +devotion of the Somersets, his obligation to whom he seemed more and +more bent on acknowledging. + +One day in early summer lady Margaret was sitting in her parlour, +busy with her embroidery, and Dorothy was by her side assisting her, +when lord Herbert, who had been absent for many days, walked in. + +'How does my lady Glamorgan?' he said gaily. + +'What mean you, my Herbert?' returned his wife, looking in his eyes +somewhat eagerly. + +'Thy Herbert am I no more; neither plume I myself any more in the +spare feathers of my father. Thou art, my dove, as thou deservest to +be, countess of Glamorgan, in the right of thine own husband, first +earl of the same; for such being the will of his majesty, I doubt +not thou wilt give thy consent thereto, and play the countess +graciously. Come, Dorothy, art not proud to be cousin to an earl?' + +'I am proud that you should call me cousin, my lord,' answered +Dorothy; 'but truly to me it is all one whether you be called +Herbert or Glamorgan. So thou remain thou, cousin, and my friend, +the king may call thee what he will, and if thou art pleased, so am +I.' + +It was the first time she had ever thou'd him, and she turned pale +at her own daring. + +'St. George! but thou hast well spoken, cousin!' cried the earl. +'Hath she not, wife?' + +'So well that if she often saith as well, I shall have much ado not +to hate her,' replied lady Glamorgan. 'When didst thou ever cry +"well spoken" to thy mad Irishwoman, Ned?' + +'All thou dost is well, my lady. Thou hast all the titles to my +praises already in thy pocket. Besides, cousin Dorothy is young and +meek, and requireth a little encouragement.' + +'Whereas thy wife is old and bold, and cares no more for thy good +word, my new lord of Glamorgan?' + +Dorothy looked so grave that they both fell a-laughing. + +'I would thou couldst teach her a merry jest or two, Margaret,' said +the earl. 'We are decent people enough in Raglan, but she is much +too sober for us. Cheer up, Dorothy! Good times are at hand: that +thou mayest not doubt it, listen--but this is only for thy ear, not +for thy tongue: the king hath made thy cousin, that is me, Edward +Somerset, the husband of this fair lady, generalissimo of his three +armies, and admiral of a fleet, and truly I know not what all, for I +have yet but run my eye over the patent. And, wife, I verily do +believe the king but bides his time to make my father duke of +Somerset, and then one day thou wilt be a duchess, Margaret. Think +on that!' + +Lady Glamorgan burst into tears. + +'I would I might have a kiss of my Molly!' she cried. + +She had never before in Dorothy's hearing uttered the name of her +child since her death. New dignity, strange as it may seem to some, +awoke suddenly the thought of the darling to whom titles were but +words, and the ice was broken. A pause followed. + +'Yes, Margaret, thou art right,' said Glamorgan at length; 'it is +all but folly; yet as the marks of a king's favour, such honours are +precious.' + +As to what a king's favour itself might be worth, that my lord of +Glamorgan lived to learn. + +'It is I who pay for them,' said his wife. + +'How so, my dove?' + +'Do they not cost me thee, Herbert--and cost me very dear? Art not +ever from my sight? Wish I not often as I lay awake in the dark, +that we were all in heaven and well over with the foolery of it? The +angels keep Molly in mind of us!' + +'Yes, my Peggy, it is hard on thee, and hard on me too,' said the +earl tenderly, 'yet not so hard as upon our liege lord, the king, +who selleth his plate and jewels.' + +'Pooh! what of that then, Herbert? An' he would leave me thee, he +might have all mine, and welcome; for thou knowest, Ned, I but hold +them for thee to sell when thou wilt.' + +'I know; and the time may come, though, thank God, it is not yet. +What wouldst thou say, countess, if with all thy honours thou did +yet come to poverty? Canst be poor and merry, think'st thou?' + +'So thou wert with me, Herbert--Glamorgan, I would say, but my lips +frame not themselves to the word. I like not the title greatly, but +when it means thee to me, then shall I love it.' + + 'Art thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers? + O sweet content!' + +--sang the earl in a mellow tenor voice. + +'My lord, an' I have leave to speak,' said Dorothy, 'did you not say +the diamond in that ring Richard Heywood sent me was of some worth?' + +'I did, cousin. It is a stone of the finest water, and of good +weight, though truly I weighed it not.' + +'Then would I cast it in the king's treasury, an' if your lordship +would condescend to be the bearer of such a small offering.' + +'No, child; the king robs not orphans.' + +'Did the King of Kings rob the poor widow that cast in her two +mites, then?' + +'No; but perhaps the priests did. Still, as I say, the hour may come +when all our mites may be wanted, and thine be accepted with the +rest, but my father and I have yet much to give, and shall have +given it before that hour come. Besides, as to thee, Dorothy, what +would that handsome roundhead of thine say, if instead of keeping +well the ring he gave thee, thou had turned it to the use he liked +the least?' + +'He will never ask me concerning it,' said Dorothy, with a faint +smile. + +'Be not over-sure of it, child. My lady asks me many things I never +thought to tell her before the priest made us one. Dorothy, I have +no right and no wish to spy into thy future, and fright thee with +what, if it come at all, will come peacefully as June weather. I +have not constructed thy horoscope to cast thy nativity, and +therefore I speak as one of the ignorant; but let me tell thee, for +I do say it confidently, that if these wars were once over, and the +king had his own again, there will be few men in his three kingdoms +so worthy of the hand and heart of Dorothy Vaughan as that same +roundhead fellow, Richard Heywood. I would to God he were as good a +catholic as he is a mistaken puritan! And now, my lady, may I not +send thy maiden from us, for I would talk with thee alone of certain +matters--not from distrust of Dorothy, but that they are not my own +to impart, therefore I pray her absence.' + +The parliament having secured the assistance of the Scots, and their +forces having, early in the year, entered England, the king on his +side was now meditating an attempt to secure the assistance of the +Irish catholics, to which the devotion of certain of the old +catholic houses at home encouraged him. But it was a game of +terrible danger, for if he lost it, he lost everything; and that it +should transpire before maturity would be to lose it absolutely; for +the Irish catholics had, truly or falsely, been charged with such +enormities during the rebellion, that they had become absolutely +hateful in the eyes of all English protestants, and any alliance +with them must cost him far more in protestants than he could gain +by it in catholics. It was necessary therefore that he should go +about it with the utmost caution; and indeed in his whole management +of it, the wariness far exceeded the dignity, and was practised at +the expense of his best friends. But the poor king was such a +believer in his father's pet doctrine of the divine right of his +inheritance, that not only would he himself sacrifice everything to +the dim shadow of royalty which usurped the throne of his +conscience, but would, without great difficulty or compunction, +though not always without remorse, accept any sacrifice which a +subject might have devotion enough to bring to the altar before +which Charles Stuart acted as flamen. + +In this my story of hearts rather than fortunes, it is not necessary +to follow the river of public events through many of its windings, +although every now and then my track will bring me to a ferry, where +the boat bearing my personages will be seized by the force of the +current, and carried down the stream while crossing to the other +bank. + +It must have been, I think, in view of his slowly-maturing intention +to employ lord Herbert in a secret mission to Ireland with the +object above mentioned, that the king had sought to bind him yet +more closely to himself by conferring on him the title of Glamorgan. +It was not, however, until the following year, when his affairs +seemed on the point of becoming desperate, that he proceeded, +possibly with some protestant compunctions, certainly with +considerable protestant apprehension, to carry out his design. +Towards this had pointed the relaxation of his measures against the +catholic rebels for some time previous, and may to some have +indicated hopes entertained of them. It must be remembered that +while these catholics united to defend the religion of their +country, they, like the Scots who had joined the parliament, +professed a sincere attachment to their monarch, and in the persons +of their own enemies had certainly taken up arms against many of +his. + +Meantime the Scots had invaded England, and the parliament had +largely increased their forces in the hope of a decisive engagement; +but the king refused battle and gained time. In the north prince +Rupert made some progress, and brought on the battle of Marston +Moor, where the victory was gained by Cromwell, after all had been +regarded as lost by the other parliamentary generals. On the other +hand, the king gained an important advantage in the west country +over Essex and his army. + +The trial and execution of Laud, who died in the beginning of the +following year, obeying the king rather than his rebellious lords, +was a terrible sign to the house of Raglan of what the presbyterian +party was capable of. But to Dorothy it would have given a yet +keener pain, had she not begun to learn that neither must the +excesses of individuals be attributed to their party, nor those of +his party taken as embodying the mind of every one who belongs to +it. At the same time the old insuperable difficulty returned; how +could Richard belong to such a party? + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A NEW SOLDIER. + + + + + +Moments had scarcely passed after Dorothy left him at the fountain, +ere Scudamore grievously repented of having spoken to her in such a +manner, and would gladly have offered apology and what amends he +might. + +But Dorothy, neither easily moved to wrath, nor yet given to the +nourishing of active resentment, was not therefore at all the +readier to forget the results of moral difference, or to permit any +nearer approach on the part of one such as her cousin had shown +himself. As long as he continued so self-serene and unashamed, what +satisfaction to her or what good to him could there be in it, even +were he to content himself with the cousinly friendship which, as +soon as he was capable of it, she was willing to afford him? As it +was now, she granted him only distant recognition in company, +neither seeking nor avoiding him; and as to all opportunity of +private speech, entirely shunning him. For some time, in the vanity +of his experience, he never doubted that these were only feminine +arts, or that when she judged him sufficiently punished, she would +relax the severity of her behaviour and begin to make him amends. +But this demeanour of hers endured so long, and continued so +uniform, that at length he began to doubt the universality of his +experience, and to dread lest the maiden should actually prove what +he had never found maiden before, inexorable. He did not reflect +that he had given her no ground whatever for altering her judgment +or feeling with regard to him. But in truth her thoughts rarely +turned to him at all, and while his were haunting her as one who was +taking pleasure in the idea that she was making him feel her +resentment, she was simply forgetting him, busy perhaps with some +self-offered question that demanded an answer, or perhaps brooding a +little over the past, in which the form of Richard now came and went +at its will. + +So long as Rowland imagined the existence of a quarrel, he imagined +therein a bond between them; when he became convinced that no +quarrel, only indifference, or perhaps despisal, separated them, he +began again to despair, and felt himself urged once more to speak. +Seizing therefore an opportunity in such manner that she could not +escape him without attracting very undesirable attention, he began a +talk upon the old basis. + +'Wilt thou then forgive me nevermore, Dorothy?', he said humbly. + +'For what, Mr. Scuclamore?' + +'I mean for offending thee with rude words.' + +'Truly I have forgotten them.' + +'Then shall we be friends?' + +'Nay, that follows not.' + +'What quarrel then hast thou with me?' + +'I have no quarrel with thee; yet is there one thing I cannot +forgive thee.' + +'And what is that, cousin? Believe me I know not. I need but to +know, and I will humble myself.' + +'That would serve nothing, for how should I forgive thee for being +unworthy? For such thing there is no forgiveness. Cease thou to be +unworthy, and then is there nothing to forgive. I were an unfriendly +friend, Rowland, did I befriend the man who befriendeth not +himself.' + +'I understand thee not, cousin.' + +'And I understand not thy not understanding. Therefore can there be +no communion between us.' + +So saying Dorothy left him to what consolation he could find in such +china-pastoral abuse as the gallants of the day would, with the aid +of poetic penny-trumpet, cast upon offending damsels--Daphnes and +Chloes, and, in the mood, heathen shepherdesses in general. But, +fortunately for himself, how great soever had been the freedom with +which he had lost and changed many a foolish liking, he found, let +his hopelessness or his offence be what it might, he had not the +power to shake himself free from the first worthy passion ever +roused in him. It had struck root below the sandy upper stratum of +his mind into a clay soil beneath, where at least it was able to +hold, and whence it could draw a little slow reluctant nourishment. + +During his poetic anger, he wrote no small amount of fair verse, +tried by the standard of Cowley, Carew, and Suckling, so like theirs +indeed that the best of it might have passed for some of their +worst, although there was not in it all a single phrase to remind +one of their best. But when the poetic spring began to run dry, he +fell once more into a sort of wilful despair, and disrelished +everything, except indeed his food and drink, so much so that his +master perceiving his altered cheer, one day addressed him to know +the cause. + +'What aileth thee, Rowland?' he said kindly. 'For this se'ennight +past, thou lookest like one that oweth the hangman his best suit.' + +'I rust, my lord,' said Rowland, with a tragic air of discontent. + +The notion had arisen in his foolish head that the way to soften the +heart of Dorothy would be to ride to the wars, and get himself +slain, or, rather severely but not mortally wounded. Then he would +be brought back to Raglan, and, thinking he was going to die, +Dorothy would nurse him, and then she would be sure to fall in love +with him. Yes--he would ride forth on the fellow Heywood's mare, +seek him in the field of battle, and slay him, but be himself thus +grievously wounded. + +'I rust, my lord,' he said briefly. + +'Ha! Thou wouldst to the wars! I like thee for that, boy. Truly the +king wanteth soldiers, and that more than ever. Thou art a good +cupbearer, but I will do my best to savour my claret without thee. +Thou shalt to the king, and what poor thing my word may do for thee +shall not be wanting.' + +Scudamore had expected opposition, and was a little nonplussed. He +had judged himself essential to his master's comfort, and had even +hoped he might set Dorothy to use her influence towards reconciling +him to remain at home. But although self-indulgent and lazy, +Scudamore was constitutionally no coward, and had never had any +experience to give him pause: he did not know what an ugly thing a +battle is after it is over, and the mind has leisure to attend to +the smarting of the wounds. + +'I thank your lordship with all my heart,' he said, putting on an +air of greater satisfaction than he felt, 'and with your lordship's +leave would prefer a further request.' + +'Say on, Rowland. I owe thee something for long and faithful +service. An' I can, I will.' + +'Give me the roundhead's mare that I may the better find her +master.' + +For Lady was still within the walls. The marquis could not restore +her, but neither could he bring himself to use her, cherishing the +hope of being one day free to give her back to a reconciled subject. +But alas! there were very few horses now in Raglan stalls. + +'No, Rowland,' he said, 'thou art the last who ought to get any good +of her. It were neither law nor justice to hand the stolen goods to +the thief.' + +He sat silent, and Rowland, not very eager, stood before him in +silence also, meaning it to be read as indicating that to the wars +except on that mare's back he would not ride. But the thought of the +marquis had now taken another turn. + +'Thou shalt have her, my boy. Thou shalt not rust at home for the +sake of a gouty old man and his claret. But ere thou go, I will +write out certain maxims for thy following both in the field and in +quarters. Ere thou ride, look well to thy girths, and as thou ridest +say thy prayers, for it pleaseth not God that every man on the right +side should live, and thou mayst find the presence in which thou +standest change suddenly from that of mortal man to that of living +God. I say nothing of orthodoxy, for truly I am not one to think +that because a man hath been born a heretic, which lay not in his +choice, and hath not been of his parents taught in the truth, that +therefore he must howl for ever. Not while blessed Mary is queen of +heaven, will all the priests in Christendom persuade me thereof. +Only be thou fully persuaded in thine own mind, Rowland; for if thou +cared not, that were an evil thing indeed. And of all things, my +lad, remember this, that a weak blow were ever better unstruck. Go +now to the armourer, and to him deliver my will that he fit thee out +as a cuirassier for his majesty's service. I can give thee no rank, +for I have no regiment in the making at present, but it may please +his majesty to take care of thee, and give thee a place in my lord +Glamorgan's regiment of body-guards.' + +The prospect thus suddenly opened to Scudamore of a wider life and +greater liberty, might have dazzled many a nobler nature than his. +Lord Worcester saw the light in his eyes, and as he left the room +gazed after him with pitiful countenance. + +'Poor lad! poor lad!' he said to himself; 'I hope I see not the last +of thee! God forbid! But here thou didst but rust, and it were a +vile thing in an old man to infect a youth with the disease of age.' + +Rowland soon found the master of the armoury, and with him crossed +to the keep, where it lay, above the workshop. At the foot of the +stair he talked loud, in the hope that Dorothy might be with the +fire-engine, which he thought he heard at work, and would hear him. +Having chosen such pieces as pleased his fancy, and needed but a +little of the armourer's art to render them suitable, he filled his +arms with them, and following the master down, contrived to fall a +little behind, so that he should leave the tower before him, when he +dropped them all with a huge clatter at the foot of the stair. The +noise was sufficient, for it brought out Dorothy. She gazed for a +moment as, pretending not to have seen her, he was picking them up +with his back towards her. + +'Do I see thee arming at length, cousin?' she said. 'I congratulate +thee.' + +She held out her hand to him. He took it and stared. The reception +of his noisy news was different from what he had been vain enough to +hope. So little had Dorothy's behaviour in the capture of Rowland +enlightened him as to her character! + +'Thou wouldst have me slain then to be rid of me, Dorothy?' he +gasped. + +'I would have any man slain where men fight,' returned Dorothy, +'rather than idling within stone walls!' + +'Thou art hard-hearted, Dorothy, and knowest not what love is, else +wouldst thou pity me a little.' + +'What! art afraid, cousin?' + +'Afraid! I fear nothing under heaven but thy cruelty, Dorothy.' + +'Then what wouldst thou have me pity thee for?' + +'I would, an' I had dared, have said--Because I must leave thee. +But thou wouldst mock at that, and therefore I say instead--Because +I shall never return; for I see well that thou never hast loved me +even a little.' + +Dorothy smiled. + +'An' I had loved thee, cousin,' she rejoined, 'I had never let thee +rest, or left soliciting thee, until thou hadst donned thy buff coat +and buckled on thy spurs, and departed to be a man among men, and no +more a boy among women.' + +So saying she returned to her engine, which all the time had been +pumping and forcing with fiery inspiration. + +Scudamore mounted and rode, followed by one of the grooms. He found +the king at Wallingford, presented the marquis's letter, proffered +his services, and was at once placed in attendance on his majesty's +person. + +In the eyes of most of his comrades the mare he rode seemed too +light for cavalry work, but she made up in spirit and quality of +muscle for lack of size, and there was not another about the king +to match in beauty the little black Lady. Sweet-tempered and gentle +although nervous and quick, and endowed with a rare docility and +a faith which supplied courage, it was clear, while nothing was +known of her pedigree, both from her form and her nature, that she +was of Arab descent. No feeling of unreality in his possession of +her intruding to disturb his satisfaction in her, Scudamore became +very fond of her. Having joined the army, however, only after the +second battle of Newbury, he had no chance till the following summer +of learning how she bore herself in the field. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +LADY AND BISHOP. + + + + + +In the meantime a succession of events had contributed to enhance +the influence of Cromwell in the parliament, and his position and +power in the army. He was now, therefore, more able to put in places +of trust such men as came nearest his own way of thinking, and +amongst the rest Roger Heywood, whom, once brought into the active +service for which modesty had made him doubt his own fitness, he +would not allow to leave it again, but made colonel of one of his +favourite regiments of horse, with his son as major. + +Richard continued to ride Bishop, which became at length famous for +courage, as he had become at once for ugliness. Fortunately they +found that he had developed friendly feelings towards one of the +mares of the troop, never lashing out when she happened to be behind +him; so they gave her that place, and were freed from much anxiety. +Still the rider on each side of him had to keep his eyes open, for +every now and then a sudden fury of biting would seize him, and +bring chaos in the regiment for a moment or two. When his master was +made an officer, the brute's temptations probably remained the same, +but his opportunities of yielding to them became considerably fewer. + +It was strange company in which Richard rode. Nearly all were of the +independent party in religious polity, all holding, or imagining +they held, the same or nearly the same tenets. The opinions of most +of them, however, were merely the opinions of the man to whose +influences they had been first and principally subjected: to say +what their belief was, would be to say what they were, which is +deeper judgment than a man can reach. In Roger Heywood and his son +dwelt a pure love of liberty; the ardent attachment to liberty which +most of the troopers professed, would have prevented few of them +indeed from putting a quaker in the stocks, or perhaps whipping him, +had such an obnoxious heretic as a quaker been at that time in +existence. In some was the devoutest sense of personal obligation, +and the strongest religious feeling; in others was nothing but talk, +less injurious than some sorts of pseudo-religious talk, in that it +was a jargon admitting of much freedom of utterance and reception, +mysterious symbols being used in commonest interchange. That they +all believed earnestly enough to fight for their convictions, will +not go very far in proof of their sincerity even, for to most of +them fighting came by nature, and was no doubt a great relief to the +much oppressed old Adam not yet by any means dead in them. + +At length the king led out his men for another campaign, and was +followed by Fairfax and Cromwell into the shires of Leicester and +Northampton. Then came the battle at the village of Naseby. + +Prince Rupert, whose folly so often lost what his courage had +gained, having defeated Ireton and his horse, followed them from the +field, while Cromwell with his superior numbers turned Sir Marmaduke +Langdale's flank, and thereby turned the scale of victory. + +But Sir Marmaduke and his men fought desperately, and while the +contest was yet undecided, the king saw that Rupert, returned from +the pursuit, was attacking the enemy's artillery, and dispatched +Rowland in hot haste to bring him to the aid of Sir Marmaduke. + +The straightest line to reach him lay across a large field to the +rear of Sir Marmaduke's men. As he went from behind them, Richard +caught sight of him and his object together, struck spurs into +Bishop's flanks, bored him through a bull-fence, was in the same +field with Rowland, and tore at full speed to head him off from the +prince. + +Rowland rode for some distance without perceiving that he was +followed; if Richard could but get within pistol-shot of him, for +alas, he seemed to be mounted on the fleeter animal! Heavens!-could +it be? Yes it was! it was his own lost Lady the cavalier rode! For a +moment his heart beat so fast that he felt as if he should fall from +his horse. + +Rowland became aware that he was pursued, but at the first glimpse +of the long, low, rat-like animal on which the roundhead came +floundering after him, burst into a laugh of derision, and jumping a +young hedge found himself in a clayish fallow, which his mare found +heavy. Soon Richard jumped the hedge also, and immediately Bishop +had the advantage. But now, beyond the tall hedge they were +approaching, they heard the sounds of the conflict near: there was +no time to lose. Richard breathed deep, and uttered a long, wild, +peculiar cry. Lady started, half-stopped, raised her head high, and +turned round her ears. Richard cried again. She wheeled, and despite +spur, and rein, though the powerful bit with which Rowland rode her +seemed to threaten breaking her jaw, bore him, at short deer-like +bounds, back towards his pursuer. + +Not until the mare refused obedience did Rowland begin to suspect +who had followed him. Then a vague recollection of something Richard +had said the night he carried him home to Raglan, crossed his mind, +and he grew furious. But in vain he struggled with the mare, and all +the time Richard kept ploughing on towards him. At length he saw +Rowland take a pistol from his holster. Instinctively Richard did +the same, and when he saw him raise the butt-end to strike her on +the head, firmed--and missed, but saved Lady the blow, and ere +Rowland recovered from the start it gave him to hear the bullet +whistle past his ear, uttered another equally peculiar but different +cry. Lady reared, plunged, threw her heels in the air, emptied her +saddle, and came flying to Richard. + +But now arose a fresh anxiety:-what if Bishop should, as was most +likely, attack the mare? At her master's word, however, she stood, a +few yards off, and with arched neck and forward-pricked ears, +waited, while Bishop, moved possibly with admiration of the manner +in which she had unseated her rider, scanned her with no malign +aspect. + +By this time Rowland had got upon his feet, and mindful of his duty, +hopeful also that Richard would be content with his prize, set off +as hard as he could run for a gap he spied in the hedge. But in a +moment Bishop, followed by Lady, had headed him. + +'Thou wert better cry quarter,' said Richard. + +The reply was a bullet, that struck Bishop below the ear. He stood +straight up, gave one yell, and tumbled over. Scudamore ran towards +the mare, hoping to catch her and be off ere the roundhead could +recover himself. But, although Bishop had fallen on his leg, Richard +was unhurt. He lay still and watched. Lady seemed bewildered, and +Rowland coming softly up, seized her bridle, and sprung into the +saddle. The same moment Richard gave his cry a second time, and +again up went Rowland in the air, and Lady came trotting daintily to +her master, scared, but obedient. Rowland fell on his back, and +before he came to himself, Richard had drawn his leg from under his +slain charger, and his sword from its sheath. And now first he +perceived who his antagonist was, and a pang went to his heart at +the remembrance of his father's words. + +'Mr. Scudamore,' he cried, 'I would thou hadst not stolen my mare, +so that I might fight with thee in a Christian fashion.' + +'Roundhead scoundrel!' gasped Scudamore, wild with wrath. 'Thy +unmannerly varlet tricks shall cost thee dear. Thou a soldier? +A juggler with a mountebank jade--a vile hackney which thou hast +taught to caper! A soldier indeed!' + +'A soldier and seatless!' returned Richard. 'A soldier and rail! A +soldier and steal my mare, then shoot my horse! Bah! an' the rest +were like thee, we might take the field with dog-whips.' + +Scudamore drew a pistol from his belt, and glanced towards the mare. + +'An' thou lift thine arm, I will kill thee,' cried Richard. 'What! +shall a man not teach his horse lest the thief should find him not +broke to his taste? Besides, did I not give thee warning while yet I +judged thee an honest man, and a thief but in jest? Go thy ways. I +shall do my country better service by following braver men than by +taking thee. Get thee back to thy master. An' I killed thee, I +should do him less hurt than I would. See yonder how thy master's +horse do knot and scatter!' + +He approached Lady to mount and ride away. + +But Rowland, who had now with the help of his anger recovered from +the effects of his fall, rushed at Richard with drawn sword. The +contest was brief. With one heavy blow that beat down his guard and +wounded him severely in the shoulder, dividing his collarbone, for +he was but lightly armed, Richard stretched his antagonist on the +ground; then seeing prince Rupert's men returning, and sir +Marmaduke's in flight and some of them coming his way, he feared +being surrounded, and leaping into the saddle, flew as if the wind +were under him back to his regiment, reaching it just as in the +first heat of pursuit. Cromwell called them back, and turned them +upon the rear of the royalist infantry. + +This decided the battle. Ere Rupert returned, the affair was so +hopeless that not even the entreaties of the king could induce his +cavalry to form again and charge. + +His majesty retreated to Leicester and Hereford. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE KING. + + + + + +Some months before the battle of Naseby, which was fought in June +early, that is, in the year 1645, the plans of the king having now +ripened, he gave a secret commission for Ireland to the earl of +Glamorgan, with immense powers, among the rest that of coining +money, in order that he might be in a position to make proposals +towards certain arrangements with the Irish catholics, which, in +view of the prejudices of the king's protestant council, it was of +vital importance to keep secret. Glamorgan therefore took a long +leave of his wife and family, and in the month of March set out for +Dublin. At Caernarvon, they got on board a small barque, laden with +corn, but, in rough weather that followed, were cast ashore on the +coast of Lancashire. A second attempt failed also, for, pursued by a +parliament vessel, they were again compelled to land on the same +coast. It was the middle of summer before they reached Dublin. + +During this period there was of course great anxiety in Raglan, the +chief part of which was lady Glamorgan's. At times she felt that but +for the sympathy of Dorothy, often silent but always ministrant, she +would have broken down quite under the burden of ignorance and its +attendant anxiety. + +In the prolonged absence of her husband, and the irregularity of +tidings, for they came at uncertain as well as wide intervals, her +yearnings after her vanished Molly, which had become more patient, +returned with all their early vehemence, and she began to brood on +the meeting beyond the grave of which her religion waked her hope. +Nor was this all: her religion itself grew more real; for although +there is nothing essentially religious in thinking of the future, +although there is more of the heart of religion in the taking of +strength from the love of God to do the commonest duty, than in all +the longing for a blessed hereafter of which the soul is capable, +yet the love of a little child is very close to the love of the +great Father; and the loss that sets any affection aching and +longing, heaves, as on a wave from the very heart of the human +ocean, the labouring spirit up towards the source of life and +restoration. In like manner, from their common love to the child, +and their common sense of loss in her death, the hearts of the two +women drew closer to each other, and protestant mistress Dorothy was +able to speak words of comfort to catholic lady Glamorgan, which the +hearer found would lie on the shelf of her creed none the less +quietly that the giver had lifted them from the shelf of hers. + +One evening, while yet lady Glamorgan had had no news of her +husband's arrival in Ireland, and the bright June weather continued +clouded with uncertainty and fear, lady Broughton came panting into +her parlour with the tidings that a courier had just arrived at the +main entrance, himself pale with fatigue, and his horse white with +foam. + +'Alas! alas!' cried lady Glamorgan, and fell back in her chair, +faint with apprehension, for what might not be the message he bore? +Ere Dorothy had succeeded in calming her, the marquis himself came +hobbling in, with the news that the king was coming. + +'Is that all?' said the countess, heaving a deep sigh, while the +tears ran down her cheeks. + +'Is that all?' repeated her father-in-law. 'How, my lady! Is there +then nobody in all the world but Glamorgan? Verily I believe thou +wouldst turn thy back on the angel Gabriel, if he dared appear +before thee without thy Ned under his arm. Bless the Irish heart! I +never gave thee MY Ned that thou shouldst fall down and worship the +fellow.' + +'Bear with me, sir,' she answered faintly. 'It is but the pain here. +Thou knowest I cannot tell but he lieth at the bottom of the Irish +Sea.' + +'If he do lie there, then lieth he in Abraham's bosom, daughter, +where I trust there is room for thee and me also. Thou rememberest +how thy Molly said once to thee, 'Madam, thy bosom is not so big as +my lord Abraham's. What a big bosom my lord Abraham must have!' + +Lady Glamorgan laughed. + +'Come then--"to our work alive!" which is now to receive his +majesty,' said the marquis. 'My wild Irishwoman--' + +'Alas, my lord! tame enough now,' sighed the countess. + +'Not too tame to understand that she must represent her husband +before the king's majesty,' said lord Worcester. + +Lady Glamorgan rose, kissed her father-in-law, wiped her eyes, and +said-- + +'Where, my lord, do you purpose lodging his majesty?' + +'In the great north room, over the buttery, and next the +picture-gallery, which will serve his majesty to walk in, and the +windows there have the finest prospect of all. I did think of the +great tower, but--Well--the chamber there is indeed statelier, but +it is gloomy as a dull twilight, while the one I intend him to lie +in is bright as a summer morning. The tower chamber makes me think +of all the lords and ladies that have died therein; the north room, +of all the babies that have been born there.' + +'Spoken like a man!' murmured lady Glamorgan. 'Have you given +directions, my lord?' + +'I have sent for sir Ralph. Come with me, Margaret: you and Mary +must keep your old father from blundering. Run, Dorothy, and tell +Mr. Delaware and Mr. Andrews that I desire their presence in my +closet. I miss the rogue Scudamore. They tell me he hath done well, +and is sorely wounded. He must feel the better for the one already, +and I hope he will soon be nothing the worse for the other.' + +As he thus talked, they left the room and took their way to the +study, where they found the steward waiting them. + +The whole castle was presently alive with preparations for the +king's visit. That he had been so sorely foiled of late, only roused +in all the greater desire to receive him with every possible honour. +Hope revived in lady Glamorgan's bosom: she would take the coming of +the king as a good omen for the return of her husband. + +Dorothy ran to do the marquis's pleasure. As she ran, it seemed as +if some new spring of life had burst forth in her heart. The king! +the king actually coming! The God-chosen monarch of England! The +head of the church! The type of omnipotence! The wronged, the +saintly, the wise! He who fought with bleeding heart for the rights, +that he might fulfil the duties to which he was born! She would see +him! she would breathe the same air with him! gaze on his gracious +countenance unseen until she had imprinted every feature of his +divine face upon her heart and memory! The thought was too +entrancing. She wept as she ran to find the master of the horse and +the master of the fish-ponds. + +At length, on the evening of the third of July, a pursuivant, +accompanied by an advanced guard of horsemen, announced the king, +and presently on the north road appeared the dust of his approach. +Nearer they came, all on horseback, a court of officers. +Travel-stained and weary, with foam-flecked horses, but flowing +plumes, flashing armour, and ringing chains, they arrived at the +brick gate, where lord Charles himself threw the two leaves open to +admit them, and bent the knee before his king. As they entered the +marble gate, they saw the marquis descending the great white stair +to meet them, leaning for his lameness on the arm of his brother sir +Thomas of Troy, and followed by all the ladies and gentlemen and +officers in the castle, who stood on the stair while he approached +the king's horse, bent his knee, kissed the royal hand, and, rising +with difficulty, for the gout had aged him beyond his years, said: + +'Domine, non sum dignus.' + +I would I had not to give this brief dialogue; but it stands on +record, and may suggest something worth thinking to him who can read +it aright. + +The king replied: + +'My lord, I may very well answer you again: I have not found so +great faith in Israel; for no man would trust me with so much money +as you have done.' + +'I hope your majesty will prove a defender of the faith,' returned +the marquis. + +The king then dismounted, ascended the marble steps with his host, +nearly as stiff as he from his long ride, crossed the moat on the +undulating drawbridge, passed the echoing gateway, and entered the +stone court. + +The marquis turned to the king, and presented the keys of the +castle. The king took them and returned them. + +'I pray your majesty keep them in so good a hand. I fear that ere it +be long I shall be forced to deliver them into the hands of who will +spoil the compliment', said the marquis. + +'Nay,' rejoined his majesty, 'but keep them till the King of kings +demand the account of your stewardship, my lord.' + +'I trust your majesty's name will then be seen where it stands +therein,' said the marquis, 'for so it will fare the better with the +steward.' + +In the court, the garrison, horse and foot, a goodly show, was drawn +up to receive him, with an open lane through, leading to the +north-western angle, where was the stair to the king's apartment. At +the draw-well, which lay right in the way, and around which the men +stood off in a circle, the king stopped, laid his hand on the wheel, +and said gaily: + +'My lord, is this your lordship's purse?' + +'For your majesty's sake, I would it were,' returned the marquis. + +At the foot of the stair, on plea of his gout, he delivered his +majesty to the care of lord Charles, sir Ralph Blackstone, and Mr. +Delaware, who conducted him to his chamber. + +The king supped alone, but after supper, lady Glamorgan and the +other ladies of the family, having requested permission to wait upon +him, were ushered into his presence. Each of them took with her one +of her ladies in attendance, and Dorothy, being the one chosen by +her mistress for that honour, not without the rousing of a strong +feeling of injustice in the bosoms of the elder ladies, entered +trembling behind her mistress, as if the room were a temple wherein +no simulacrum but the divinity himself dwelt in visible presence. + +His majesty received them courteously, said kind things to several +of them, but spoke and behaved at first with a certain long-faced +reserve rather than dignity, which, while it jarred a little with +Dorothy's ideal of the graciousness that should be mingled with +majesty in the perfect monarch, yet operated only to throw her +spirit back into that stage of devotion wherein, to use a figure of +the king's own, the awe overlays the love. + +A little later the marquis entered, walking slowly, leaning on the +arm of lord Charles, but carrying in his own hands a present of +apricots from his brother to the king. + +Meantime Dorothy's love had begun to rise again from beneath her +awe; but when the marquis came in, old and stately, reverend and +slow, with a silver dish in each hand and a basket on his arm, and +she saw him bow three times ere he presented his offering, himself +serving whom all served, himself humble whom all revered, then again +did awe nearly overcome her. When the king, however, having +graciously received the present, chose for each of the ladies one of +the apricots, and coming to Dorothy last, picked out and offered the +one he said was likest the bloom of her own fair cheek, gratitude +again restored the sway of love, and in the greatness of the honour +she almost let slip the compliment. She could not reply, but she +looked her thanks, and the king doubtless missed nothing. + +The next day his majesty rested, but on following days rode to +Monmouth, Chepstow, Usk, and other towns in the neighbourhood, whose +loyalty, thanks to the marquis, had as yet stood out. After dinner +he generally paid the marquis a visit in the oak parlour, then +perhaps had a walk in the grounds, or a game on the bowling-green. + +But although the marquis was devoted to the king's cause, he was not +therefore either blinded or indifferent to the king's faults, and as +an old man who had long been trying to grow better, he made up his +mind to risk a respectful word in the matter of kingly obligation. + +One day, therefore, when his majesty entered the oak parlour, he +found his host sitting by the table with his Gower lying open before +him, as if he had been reading, which doubtless was the case. + +'What book have you there, my lord?' asked the king--while some of +his courtiers stood near the door, and others gazed from the window +on the moat and the swelling, towering mass of the keep. 'I like to +know what books my friends read.' + +'Sir, it is old master John Gower's book of verses, entitled +Confessio Amantis,' answered his lordship. + +'It is a book I have never seen before,' said the king, glancing at +its pages. + +'Oh!' returned the marquis, 'it is a book of books, which if your +majesty had been well versed in, it would have made you a king of +kings.' + +'Why so, my lord?' asked the king. + +'Why,' said the marquis, 'here is set down how Aristotle brought up +and instructed Alexander the Great in all his rudiments, and the +principles belonging to a prince. Allow me, sir, to read you such a +passage as will show your majesty the truth of what I say.' + +He opened the book and read: + + 'Among the vertues one is chefe, + And that is trouthe, which is lefe (dear) + To God and eke to man also. + And for it hath ben ever so, + Taught Aristotle, as he well couth, (knew) + To Alisaundre, how in his youth + He shulde of trouthe thilke grace (that same) + With all his hole herte embrace, + So that his word be trewe and pleine + Toward the world, and so certeine, + That in him be no double speche. + For if men shulde trouthe seche, + And found it nought within a king, + It were an unfittende thing + The worde is token of that within; + There shall a worthy king begin + To kepe his tunge and to be trewe, + So shall his price ben ever newe.' + +'And here, sir, is what he saith as to the significance of the +kingly crown, if your majesty will allow me to read it.' + +'Read on, my lord; all is good and true,' said the king. + + 'The gold betokneth excellence, + That men shuld done him reverence, + As to her lege soveraine. (their liege) + The stones, as the bokes saine, + Commended ben in treble wise. + First, they ben hard, and thilke assise (that attribute) + Betokeneth in a king constaunce, + So that there shall be no variaunce + Be found in his condicion. + And also by description + The vertue, whiche is in the stones, + A verray signe is for the nones + Of that a king shall ben honest, + And holde trewely his behest (promise) + Of thing, which longeth to kinghede.' (belongeth) + +'And so on--for I were loath to weary your majesty--of the colour of +the stones, and the circular form of the crown.' + +'Read on, my lord,' said the king. + +Several passages, therefore, did the marquis pick out and +read--amongst which probably were certain concerning +flatterers--taking care still to speak of Alexander and Aristotle, +and by no means of king and marquis, until at length he had 'read +the king such a lesson,' as Dr. Bayly informs us, 'that the +bystanders were amazed at his boldness.' + +'My lord, have you got your lesson by heart, or speak you out of the +book?' asked the king, taking the volume. + +'Sir,' the marquis replied, 'if you could read my heart, it may be +you might find it there; or if your majesty please to get it by +heart, I will lend you my book.' + +'I would willingly borrow it,' said the king. + +'Nay,' said the marquis, 'I will lend it to you upon these +conditions: first, that you read it; and, second, that you make use +of it.' + +Here, glancing round, well knowing the nature of the soil upon which +his words fell, he saw 'some of the new-made lords displeased, +fretting and biting their thumbs,' and thus therefore resumed:-- + +'But, sir, I assure you that no man was so much for the absolute +power of the king as Aristotle. If your majesty will allow me the +book again, I will show you one remarkable passage to that purpose.' + +Having searched the volume for a moment, and found it, he read as +follows:-- + + 'Harpaghes first his tale tolde, + And said, how that the strength of kinges + Is mightiest of alle thinges. + For king hath power over man, + And man is he, which reson can, + As he, which is of his nature + The most noble creature + Of alle tho that God hath wrought. + And by that skill it seemeth nought, (for that reason) + He saith that any erthly thing + May be so mighty as a king. + A king may spille, a king may save, + A king may make of lorde a knave, + And of a knave a lord also; + The power of a king stant so + That he the lawes overpasseth. + What he will make lasse, he lasseth; + What he will make more, he moreth; + And as a gentil faucon soreth, + He fleeth, that no man him reclaimeth. + But he alone all other tameth, + And slant him self of lawe fre.' + +'There, my liege! So much for Aristotle and the kinghood! But think +not he taketh me with him all the way. By our Lady, I go not so +far.' + +Lifting his head again, he saw, to his wish, that 'divers new-made +lords' had 'slunk out of the room.' + +'My lord,' said the king, 'at this rate you will drive away all my +nobility.' + +'I protest unto your majesty,' the marquis replied, 'I am as new a +made lord as any of them all, but I was never called knave or rogue +so much in all my life as I have been since I received this last +honour: and why should they not bear their shares?' + +In high good-humour with his success, he told the story the same +evening to lady Glamorgan in Dorothy's presence. It gave her ground +for thought: she wondered that the marquis should think the king +required such lessoning. She had never dreamed that a man and his +office are not only metaphysically distinct, but may be morally +separate things; she had hitherto taken the office as the pledge for +the man, the show as the pledge for the reality; and now therefore +her notion of the king received a rude shock from his best friend. + +The arrival of his majesty had added to her labours, for now again +horse must spout every day,--with no Molly to see it and rejoice. +Every fountain rushed heavenwards, 'and all the air' was 'filled +with pleasant noise of waters.' This required the fire-engine to be +kept pretty constantly at work, and Dorothy had to run up and down +the stair of the great tower several times a-day. But she lingered +on the top as often and as long as she might. + +One glorious July afternoon, gazing from the top of the keep, she +saw his majesty, the marquis, some of the courtiers, and a Mr. +Prichard of the neighbourhood, on the bowling-green, having a game +together. It was like looking at a toy-representation of one, for, +so far below, everything was wondrously dwarfed and fore-shortened. +But certainly it was a pretty sight-the gay garments, the moving +figures, the bowls rolling like marbles over the green carpet, while +the sun, and the blue sky, and just an air of wind--enough to turn +every leaf into a languidly waved fan, enclosed it in loveliness and +filled it with life. It was like a picture from a CAMERA OBSCURA +dropped right at the foot of the keep, for the surrounding walk, +moat, and sunk walk beyond, were, seen from that height, but enough +to keep the bowling-green, which came to the edge of the sunk walk, +twelve feet below it, from appearing to cling to the foundations of +the tower. The circle of arches filled with shell-work and statues +of Roman emperors, which formed the face of the escarpment of the +sunk walk, looked like a curiously-cut fringe to the carpet. + +While Dorothy aloft was thus looking down and watching the game,-- + +'What a lovely prospect it is!' said his majesty below, addressing +Mr. Prichard, while the marquis bowled. + +Making answer, Mr. Prichard pointed out where his own house lay, +half hidden by a grove, and said--'May it please your majesty, I +have advised my lord to cut down those trees, so that when he wants +a good player at bowls, he may have but to beckon.' + +'Nay,' returned the king, 'he should plant more trees, that so he +might not see thy house at all.' + +The marquis, who had bowled, and was coming towards them, heard what +the king said, and fancying he aimed at the fault of the greedy +buying-up of land-- + +'If your majesty hath had enough of the game,' he said, 'and will +climb with me to the top of the tower, I will show you what may do +your mind some ease.' + +'I should be sorry to set your Lordship such an arduous task,' +replied the king. 'But I am very desirous of seeing your great +tower, and if you will permit me, I will climb the stair without +your attendance.' + +'Sir, it will pleasure me to think that the last time ever I +ascended those stairs, I conducted your majesty. For indeed it shall +be the last time. I grow old.' + +As the marquis spoke, he led towards the twin-arched bridge over the +castle-moat, then through the western gate, and along the side of +the court to the Gothic bridge, on their way despatching one of his +gentlemen to fetch the keys of the tower. + +'My lord,' said the king when the messenger had gone, 'there are +some men so unreasonable as to make me believe that your lordship +hath good store of gold yet left within the tower; but I, knowing +how I have exhausted you, could never have believed it, until now I +see you will not trust the keys with any but yourself.' + +'Sir,' answered the marquis, 'I was so far from giving your majesty +any such occasion of thought by this tender of my duty, that I +protest unto you that I was once resolved that your majesty should +have lain there, but that I was loath to commit your majesty to the +Tower.' + +'You are more considerate, my lord, than some of my subjects would +be if they had me as much in their keeping,' answered the king +sadly. 'But what are those pipes let into the wall up there?' he +asked, stopping in the middle of the bridge and looking up at the +keep. + +'Nay, sire, my son Edward must tell you that. He taketh strange +liberties with the mighty old hulk. But I will not injure his good +grace with your majesty by talking of that I understand not. I trust +that one day, when you shall no more require his absence, you will +yet again condescend to be my guest, when my son, by your majesty's +favour now my lord Glamorgan, will have things to show you that will +delight your eyes to behold.' + +'I have ere now seen something of his performance,' answered the +king; 'but these naughty times give room for nothing in that kind +but guns and swords.' + +Leaving the workshop unvisited, his lordship took the king up the +stair, and unlocking the entrance to the first floor, ushered him +into a lofty vaulted chamber, old in the midst of antiquity, dark, +vast, and stately. + +'This is where I did think to lodge your majesty,' he said, +'but--but--your majesty sees it is gloomy, for the windows are +narrow, and the walls are ten feet through.' + +'It maketh me very cold,' said the king, shuddering. 'Good sooth, +but I were loath to be a prisoner!' + +He turned and left the room hastily. The marquis rejoined him on the +stair, and led him, two stories higher, to the armoury, now empty +compared to its former condition, but still capable of affording +some supply. The next space above was filled with stores, and the +highest was now kept clear for defence, for the reservoir so fully +occupied the top that there was no room for engines of any sort; and +indeed it took up so much of the storey below with its depth that it +left only such room as between the decks of a man of war, rendering +it hardly fit for any other use. + +Reaching the summit at length, the king gazed with silent wonder at +the little tarn which lay there as on the crest of a mountain. But +the marquis conducted him to the western side, and, pointing with +his finger, said-- + +'Sir, you see that line of trees, stretching across a neck of arable +field, where to the right the brook catches the sun?' + +'I see it, my lord,' answered the king. + +'And behind it a house and garden, small but dainty?' + +'Yes, my lord.' + +'Then I trust your majesty will release me from suspicion of being +of those to whom the prophet Isaias saith, "Vae qui conjungitis +domum ad domum, et agrum agro copulatis usque ad terminum loci: +numquid habitabitis vos soli in medio terrae?" May it please your +majesty, I planted those trees to hoodwink mine eyes from such +temptations, hiding from them the vineyard of Naboth, lest they +should act the Jezebel and tempt me to play the Ahab thereto. If I +did thus when those trees and I were young, shall I do worse now +that I stand with one foot in the grave, and purgatory itself in the +other?' + +The king seemed to listen politely, but only listened half and did +not perceive his drift. He was looking at Dorothy where she stood at +the opposite side of the reservoir, unable, because of the temporary +obstruction occasioned by certain alterations and repairs about the +cocks now going on, to reach the stair without passing the king and +the marquis. The king asked who she was; and the marquis, telling +him a little about her, called her. She came, courtesied low to his +majesty, and stood with beating heart. + +'I desire,' said the marquis, 'thou shouldst explain to his majesty +that trick of thy cousin Glamorgan, the water-shoot, and let him see +it work.' + +'My lord,' answered Dorothy, trembling betwixt devotion and doubtful +duty, 'it was the great desire of my lord Glamorgan that none in the +castle should know the trick, as it pleases your lordship to call +it.' + +'What, cousin! cannot his majesty keep a secret? And doth not all +that Glamorgan hath belong to the king?' + +'God forbid I should doubt either, my lord,' answered Dorothy, +turning very pale, and ready to sink, 'but it cannot well be done in +the broad day without some one seeing. At night, indeed--' + +'Tut, tut! it is but a whim of Glamorgan's. Thou wilt not do a jot +of ill to show the game before his majesty in the sunlight.' + +'My lord, I promised.' + +'Here standeth who will absolve thee, child! His majesty is +paramount to Glamorgan.' + +'My lord! my lord!' said Dorothy almost weeping, 'I am bewildered, +and cannot well understand. But I am sure that if it be wrong, no +one can give me leave to do it, or absolve me beforehand. God +himself can but pardon after the thing is done, not give permission +to do it. Forgive me, sir, but so master Matthew Herbert hath taught +me.' + +'And very good doctrine, too,' said the marquis emphatically, 'let +who will propound it. Think you not so, sir?' + +But the king stood with dull imperturbable gaze fixed on the distant +horizon, and made no reply. An awkward silence followed. The king +requested his host to conduct him to his apartment. + +'I marvel, my lord,' said his majesty as they went down the stair, +seeing how lame his host was, 'that, as they tell me, your lordship +drinks claret. All physicians say it is naught for the gout.' + +'Sir,' returned the marquis, 'it shall never be said that I forsook +my friend to pleasure my enemy.' + +The king's face grew dark, for ever since the lecture for which he +had made Gower the textbook, he had been ready to see a double +meaning of rebuke in all the marquis said. He made no answer, +avoided his attendants who waited for him in the fountain court, +expecting him to go by the bell-tower, and, passing through the hall +and the stone court, ascended to his room alone, and went into the +picture-gallery, where he paced up and down till supper-time. + +The marquis rejoined the little company of his own friends who had +left the bowling-green after him, and were now in the oak parlour. A +little troubled at the king's carriage towards him, he entered with +a merrier bearing than usual. + +'Well, gentlemen, how goes the bias?' he said gayly. + +'We were but now presuming to say, my lord,' answered Mr. Prichard, +'that there are who would largely warrant that if you would you +might be duke of Somerset.' + +'When I was earl of Worcester,' returned the marquis, 'I was well to +do; since I was marquis, I am worse by a hundred thousand pounds; +and if I should be a duke, I should be an arrant beggar. Wherefore I +had rather go back to my earldom, than at this rate keep on my pace +to the dukedom of Somerset.' + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THE SECRET INTERVIEW. + + + + + +Between the third of July, when he first came, and the fifteenth of +September, when he last departed, the king went and came several +times. During his last visit a remarkable interview took place +between him and his host, the particulars of which are +circumstantially given by Dr. Bayly in the little book he calls +Certamen Religiosum: to me it falls to recount after him some of the +said particulars, because, although Dorothy was brought but one +little step within the sphere of the interview, certain results were +which bore a large influence upon her history. + +'Though money came from him,' that is, the marquis, 'like drops of +blood,' says Dr. Bayly, 'yet was he contented that every drop within +his body should be let out,' if only he might be the instrument of +bringing his majesty back to the bosom of the catholic church--a +bosom which no doubt the marquis found as soft as it was capacious, +but which the king regarded as a good deal resembling that of a +careless nurse rather than mother--frized with pins, and here and +there a cruel needle. Therefore, expecting every hour that the king +would apply to him for more money, the marquis had resolved that, at +such time as he should do so, he would make an attempt to lead the +stray sheep within the fold--for the marquis was not one of those +who regarded a protestant as necessarily a goat. + +But the king shrank from making the request in person, and having +learned that the marquis had been at one point in his history under +the deepest obligation to Dr. Bayly, who having then preserved both +his lordship's life and a large sum of money he carried with him, by +'concealing both for the space that the moon useth to be twice in +riding of her circuit,' had thereafter become a member of his family +and a sharer in his deepest confidence, greatly desired that the +doctor should take the office of mediator between him and the +marquis. + +The king's will having been already conveyed to the doctor, in the +king's presence colonel Lingen came up to him and said, + +'Dr. Bayly, the king, much wishing your aid in this matter, saith he +delights not to be a beggar, and yet is constrained thereunto.' + +'I am at his majesty's disposal,' returned the doctor, 'although I +confess myself somewhat loath to be the beetle-head that must drive +this wedge.' + +'Nay,' said the colonel, 'they tell me that no man can make a +divorce between the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold sooner +than thyself, good doctor.' + +The end was that he undertook the business, though with +reluctance--unwilling to be 'made an instrument to let the same +horse bleed whom the king himself had found so free'--and sought the +marquis in his study. + +'My lord,' he said, 'the thing that I feared is now fallen upon me. +I am made the unwelcome messenger of bad news: the king wants +money.' + +'Hold, sir! that's no news,' interrupted the marquis. 'Go on with +your business.' + +'My lord,' said the doctor, 'there is one comfort yet, that, as the +king is brought low, so are his demands, and, like his army, are +come down from thousands to hundreds, and from paying the soldiers +of his army to buying bread for himself and his followers. My lord, +it is the king's own expression, and his desire is but three hundred +pound.' + +Lord Worcester remained a long time silent, and Dr. Bayly waited, +'knowing by experience that in such cases it was best leaving him to +himself, and to let that nature that was so good work itself into an +act of the highest charity, like the diamond which is only polished +with its own dust.' + +'Come hither--come nearer, my good doctor,' said his lordship at +length: 'hath the king himself spoken unto thee concerning any such +business?' + +'The king himself hath not, my lord, but others did, in the king's +hearing.' + +'Might I but speak unto him--,' said the marquis. 'But I was never +thought worthy to be consulted with, though in matters merely +concerning the affairs of my own country!--I would supply his wants, +were they never so great, or whatsoever they were.' + +'If the king knew as much, my lord, you might quickly speak with +him,' remarked the doctor. + +'The way to have him know so much is to have somebody to tell him of +it,' said the marquis testily. + +'Will your lordship give me leave to be the informer?' asked the +doctor. + +'Truly I spake it to the purpose,' answered the marquis. + +Away ran the little doctor, ambling through the picture-gallery, +'half going and half running,' like some short-winged bird--his +heart trembling lest the marquis should change his mind and call him +back, and so his pride in his successful mediation be mortified--to +the king's chamber, where he told his majesty with diplomatic +reserve, and something of diplomatic cunning, enhancing the +difficulties, that he had perceived his lordship desired some +conference with him, and that he believed, if the king granted such +conference, he would find a more generous response to his +necessities than perhaps he expected. The king readily consenting, +the doctor went on to say that his lordship much wished the +interview that very night. The king asked how it could be managed, +and the doctor told him the marquis had contrived it before his +majesty came to the castle, having for that reason appointed the +place where they were for his bed-chamber, and not that in the great +tower, which the marquis himself liked the best in the castle. + +'I know my lord's drift well enough,' said the king, smiling: +'either he means to chide me, or else to convert me to his +religion.' + +'I doubt not, sire,' returned the doctor, 'but your majesty is +temptation-proof as well as correction-free, and will return the +same man you go, having made a profitable exchange of gold and +silver for words and sleep.' + +Upon Dr. Bayly's report of his success, the marquis sent him back to +tell the king that at eleven o'clock he would be waiting his majesty +in a certain room to which the doctor would conduct him. + +This was the room the marquis's father had occupied and in which he +died, called therefore 'my lord Privy-seal's chamber.' Since then +the marquis had never allowed any one to sleep in it, hardly any one +to go into it; whence it came that although all the rest of the +castle was crowded, this one room remained empty and fit for their +purpose. + +To understand the precautions taken to keep their interview a +secret, we must remember that, although he had not a better friend +in all England, such reason had the king to fear losing his +protestant friends from their jealousy of catholic influence, that +he had never invited the marquis of Worcester to sit with him in +council; and that the marquis on his part was afraid both of +injuring the cause of the king, and of being himself impeached for +treason. Should any of the king's attendant lords discover that they +were closeted together, he dreaded the suspicion and accusation of +another Gowry conspiracy even. His lordship therefore instructed Dr. +Bayly to go, as the time drew nigh, to the drawing-room, which was +next the marquis's chamber, and the dining parlour, through both of +which he must pass to reach the appointed place, and clear them of +the company which might be in them. The chaplain desiring to know +how he was to manage it, so that it should not look strange and +arouse suspicion, and what he should do if any were unwilling to +go,-- + +'I will tell you what you shall do,' said the marquis hastily, 'so +that you shall not need to fear any such thing. Go unto the yeoman +of the wine-cellar, and bid him leave the keys of the wine-cellar +with you, and all that you find in your way, invite them down into +the cellar, and show them the keys, and I warrant you, you shall +sweep the room of them, if there were a hundred. And when you have +done, leave them there.' + +But having thus arranged, the marquis grew anxious again. He +remembered that it was not unusual to pass to the hall from the +northern side of the fountain court, where were most of the rooms of +the ladies' gentlewomen, through the picture-gallery, entering it by +a passage and stair which connected the bell-tower with one of its +deep window recesses, and leaving it by a door in the middle of the +opposite side, admitting to a stair in the thickness of the +wall--which led downwards, opening to the minstrels' gallery on the +left hand, and a little further below, to the organ loft in the +chapel on the right hand. It was not the least likely that any of +the ladies or their attendants would be passing that way so late at +night, but there was a possibility, and that was enough, the marquis +being anxious and nervous, to render him more so. + +There was, however, another and more threatening possibility of +encounter. He remembered that Mr. Delaware, the master of his horse, +had lately removed to that part of the house: and the fear came upon +him lest his blind son, who frequently turned night into day in his +love for the organ, and was uncertain in his movements between +chapel and chamber, the direct way being that just described, should +by evil chance appear at the very moment of the king's passing, and +alarm him--for through the gallery Dr. Bayly must lead his majesty +to reach my lord Privy-seal's chamber. The marquis, therefore, +although reluctant to introduce another even to the externals of the +plot, felt that the assistance of a second confidant was more than +desirable, and turning the matter over, could think of no one whom +he could trust so well, and who at the same time would, if seen, be +so little liable to the sort of suspicion he dreaded, as Dorothy. He +therefore sent for her, told her as much as he thought proper, gave +her the key of his private passage to the gallery, leading across +the top of the hall-door, the only direct communication from the +southern side of the castle, and generally kept closed, and directed +her to be in the gallery ten minutes before eleven, to lock the door +at the top of the stair leading down into the hall, and take her +stand in the window at the foot of the stair from the bell-tower, +where the door was without a lock, and see that no one entered by +order of the marquis for the king's repose, enjoining upon her that, +whatever she saw or heard from any other quarter, she must keep +perfectly still, nor let any one discover that she was there. With +these instructions, his lordship, considerably relieved, dismissed +her, and went to lie down upon his bed, and have a nap if he could. +He had already given the chaplain the key of his chamber, the door +of which he always locked, that he might enter and wake him when the +appointed hour was at hand. + +As soon as he began to feel that eleven o'clock was drawing near, +Dr. Bayly proceeded to reconnoitre. The marquis's plan, although he +could think of none better, was not altogether satisfactory, and it +was to his relief that he found nobody in the dining-room. When he +entered the drawing-room, however, there, to his equal annoyance, he +saw in the light of one expiring candle the dim figure of a lady; he +could not offer HER the keys of the wine-cellar! What was he to do? +What could she be there for? He drew nearer, and, with a positive +pang of relief, discovered that it was Dorothy. A word was enough +between them. But the good doctor was just a little annoyed that a +second should share in the secret of the great ones. + +The next room was the antechamber to the marquis's bedroom: +timorously on tiptoe he stepped through it, fearful of waking the +two young gentlemen--for Scudamore's place had been easily +supplied--who waited upon his lordship. Opening the inner door as +softly as he could, he crept in, and found the marquis fast asleep. +So slowly, so gently did he wake him, that his lordship insisted he +had not slept at all; but when he told him that the time was come-- + +'What time?' he asked. + +'For meeting the king,' replied the doctor. + +'What king?' rejoined the marquis, in a kind of bewildered horror. + +The more he came to himself, the more distressed he seemed, and the +more unwilling to keep the appointment he had been so eager to make, +so that at length even Dr. Bayly was tempted to doubt something evil +in the 'design that carried with it such a conflict within the bosom +of the actor.' It soon became evident, however, that it was but the +dread of such possible consequences as I have already indicated that +thus moved him. + +'Fie, fie!' he said; 'I would to God I had let it alone.' + +'My lord,' said the doctor, 'you know your own heart best. If there +be nothing in your intentions but what is good and justifiable, you +need not fear; if otherwise, it is never too late to repent.' + +'Ah, doctor!' returned the marquis with troubled look, 'I thought I +had been sure of one friend, and that you would never have harboured +the least suspicion of me. God knows my heart: I have no other +intention towards his majesty than to make him a glorious man here, +and a glorified saint hereafter.' + +'Then, my lord,' said Dr. Bayly, 'shake off these fears together +with the drowsiness that begat them. Honi soit qui mal y pense.' + +'Oh, but I am not of that order!' said the marquis; 'but I thank God +I wear that motto about my heart, to as much purpose as they who +wear it about their arms.' + +'He then,' reports the doctor, 'began to be a little pleasant, and +took a pipe of tobacco, and a little glass full of aqua mirabilis, +and said, "Come now, let us go in the name of God," crossing +himself.' + +My love for the marquis has led me to recount this curious story +with greater minuteness than is necessary to the understanding of +Dorothy's part in what follows, but the worthy doctor's account is +so graphic that even for its own sake, had it been fitting, I would +gladly have copied it word for word from the Certamen Religiosum. + +It is indeed a strange story--king and marquis, attended by a doctor +of divinity, of the faith of the one, but the trusted friend of the +other, meeting--at midnight, although in the house of the +marquis--to discuss points of theology--both king and marquis in +mortal terror of discovery. + +Meantime Dorothy had done as she had been ordered, had felt her way +through the darkness to the picture-gallery, had locked the door at +the top of the one stair, and taken her stand in the recess at the +foot of the other--in pitch darkness, close to the king's +bedchamber, for the gallery was but thirteen feet in width, keeping +watch over him! The darkness felt like awe around her. + +The door of the chamber opened: it gave no sound, but the glimmer of +the night-light shone out. By that she saw a figure enter the +gallery. The door closed softly and slowly, and all was darkness +again. No sound of movement across the floor followed: but she heard +a deep sigh, as from a sorely burdened heart. Then, in an agonised +whisper, as if wrung by torture from the depths of the spirit, came +the words: 'Oh Stafford, thou art avenged! I left thee to thy fate, +and God hath left me to mine. Thou didst go for me to the scaffold, +but thou wilt not out of my chamber. O God, deliver me from +blood-guiltiness.' + +Dorothy stood in dismay, a mere vessel containing a tumult of +emotions. The king re-entered his chamber, and closed the door. The +same instant a light appeared at the further end of the gallery--a +long way off, and Dr. Bayly came, like a Will o' the wisp, gliding +from afar; till, softly walking up, he stopped within a yard or two +of the king's door, and there stood, with his candle in his hand. +His round face was pale that should have been red, and his small +keen eyes shone in the candle light with mingled importance and +anxiety. He saw Dorothy, but the only notice he took of her presence +was to turn from her with his face towards the king's door, so that +his shadow might shroud the recess where she stood. + +A minute or so passed, and the king's door re-opened. He came out, +said a few words in a whisper to his guide, and walked with him down +the gallery, whispering as he went. + +Dorothy hastened to her chamber, threw herself on the bed, and wept. +The king was cast from the throne of her conscience, but taken into +the hospital of her heart. + +What followed between the king and the marquis belongs not to my +tale. When, after a long talk, the chaplain had conducted the king +to his chamber and returned to lord Worcester, he found him in the +dark upon his knees. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +GIFTS OF HEALING. + + + + + +Soon after the king's departure, the marquis received from him a +letter containing another addressed 'To our Attorney or +Solicitor-General for the time being,' in which he commanded the +preparation of a bill for his majesty's signature, creating the +marquis of Worcester duke of Somerset. The enclosing letter +required, however, that it should--'be kept private, until I shall +esteem the time convenient.' In the next year we have causes enough +for the fact that the king's pleasure never reached any attorney or +solicitor-general for the time being. + +About a month after the battle of Naseby, and while yet the king was +going and coming as regards Raglan, the wounded Rowland, long before +he was fit to be moved from the farm-house where his servant had +found him shelter, was brought home to the castle. Shafto, faithful +as hare-brained, had come upon him almost accidentally, after long +search, and just in time to save his life. Mistress Watson received +him with tears, and had him carried to the same turret-chamber +whence Richard had escaped, in order that she might be nigh him. The +poor fellow was but a shadow of his former self, and looked more +likely to vanish than to die in the ordinary way. Hence he required +constant attention--which was so far from lacking that the danger, +both physical and spiritual, seemed rather to lie in over-service. +Hitherto, of the family, it had been the marquis chiefly that +spoiled him; but now that he was so sorely wounded for the king, and +lay at death's door, all the ladies of the castle were admiring, +pitiful, tender, ministrant, paying him such attentions as nobody +could be trusted to bear uninjured except a doll or a baby. One +might have been tempted to say that they sought his physical welfare +at the risk of his moral ruin. But there is that in sickness which +leads men back to a kind of babyhood, and while it lasts there is +comparatively little danger. It is with returning health that the +peril comes. Then self and self-fancied worth awake, and find +themselves again, and the risk is then great indeed that all the +ministrations of love be taken for homage at the altar of +importance. How often has not a mistress found that after nursing a +servant through an illness, perhaps an old servant even, she has had +to part with her for unendurable arrogance and insubordination? But +present sickness is a wonderful antidote to vanity, and nourisher of +the gentle primeval simplicities of human nature. So long as a man +feels himself a poor creature, not only physically unable, but +without the spirit to desire to act, kindness will move gratitude, +and not vanity. In Rowland's case happily it lasted until something +better was able to get up its head a little. But no one can predict +what the first result of suffering will be, not knowing what seeds +lie nearest the surface. Rowland's self-satisfaction had been a hard +pan beneath which lay thousands of germinal possibilities +invaluable; and now the result of its tearing up remained to be +seen. If in such case Truth's never-ceasing pull at the heart begins +to be felt, allowed, considered; if conscience begin, like a thing +weary with very sleep, to rouse itself in motions of pain from the +stiffness of its repose, then is there hope of the best. + +He had lost much blood, having lain a long time, as I say, in the +fallow-field before Shafto found him. Oft-recurring fever, extreme +depression, and intermittent and doubtful progress life-wards +followed. Through all the commotion of the king's visits, the coming +and going, the clang of hoofs and clanking of armour, the heaving of +hearts and clamour of tongues, he lay lapped in ignorance and +ministration, hidden from the world and deaf to the gnarring of its +wheels, prisoned in a twilight dungeon, to which Richard's sword had +been the key. The world went grinding on and on, much the same, +without him whom it had forgotten; but the over-world remembered +him, and now and then looked in at a window: all dungeons have one +window which no gaoler and no tyrant can build up. + +The marquis went often to see him, full of pity for the gay youth +thus brought low; but he would lie pale and listless, now and then +turning his eyes, worn large with the wasting of his face, upon him, +but looking as if he only half heard him. His master grew sad about +him. The next time his majesty came, he asked him if he remembered +the youth, telling him how he had lain wounded ever since the battle +at Naseby. The king remembered him well enough, but had never missed +him. The marquis then told him how anxious he was about him, for +that nothing woke him from the weary heartlessness into which he had +fallen. + +'I will pay him a visit,' said the king. + +'Sir, it is what I would have requested, had I not feared to pain +your majesty,' returned the marquis. + +'I will go at once,' said the king. + +When Rowland saw him his face flushed, the tears rose in his eyes, +he kissed the hand the king held out to him, and said feebly:-- + +'Pardon, sire: if I had rode better, the battle might have been +yours. I reached not the prince.' + +'It is the will of God,' said the king, remembering for the first +time that he had sent him to Rupert. 'Thou didst thy best, and man +can do no more.' + +'Nay, sire, but an' I had ridden honestly,' returned Rowland; '--I +mean had my mare been honestly come by, then had I done your +majesty's message.' + +'How is that?' asked the king. + +'Ha!' said the marquis; 'then it was Heywood met thee, and would +have his own again? Told I not thee so? Ah, that mare, Rowland! that +mare!' + +But Rowland had to summon all his strength to keep from fainting, +for the blood had fled again to his heart, and could not reply. + +'Thou didst thy duty like a brave knight and true, I doubt not,' +said the king, kindly wishful to comfort him; 'and that my word may +be a true one,' he added, drawing his sword and laying it across the +youth's chest, 'although I cannot tell thee to rise and walk, I tell +thee, when thou dost arise, to rise up sir Rowland Scudamore.' + +The blood rushed to sir Rowland's face, but fled again as fast. + +'I deserve no such honour, sire,' he murmured. + +But the marquis struck his hands together with pleasure, and cried, + +'There, my boy! There is a king to serve! Sir Rowland Scudamore! +There is for thee! And thy wife will be MY LADY! Think on that!' + +Rowland did think on it, but bitterly. He summoned strength to thank +his majesty, but failed to find anything courtier-like to add to the +bare thanks. When his visitors left him, he sighed sorely and said +to himself, + +'Honour without desert! But for the roundhead's taunts, I might have +run to Rupert and saved the day.' + +The next morning the marquis went again to see him. + +'How fares sir Rowland?' he said. + +'My lord,' returned Scudamore, in beseeching tone, 'break not my +heart with honour unmerited.' + +'How! Darest thou, boy, set thy judgment against the king's?' cried +the marquis. 'Sir Rowland thou art, and SIR ROWLAND will the +archangel cry when he calls thee from thy last sleep.' + +'To my endless disgrace,' added Scudamore. + +'What! hast not done thy duty?' + +'I tried, but I failed, my lord.' + +'The best as often fail as the worst,' rejoined his lordship. + +'I mean not merely that I failed of the end. That, alas! I did. But +I mean that it was by my own fault that I failed,' said Rowland. + +Then he told the marquis all the story of his encounter with +Richard, ending with the words, + +'And now, my lord, I care no more for life.' + +'Stuff and nonsense!' exclaimed the marquis. 'Thinkest though the +roundhead would have let thee run to Rupert? It was not to that end +he spared thy life. Thy only chance was to fight him.' + +'Does your lordship think so indeed?' asked Rowland, with a glimmer +of eagerness. + +'On my soul I do. Thou art weak-headed from thy sickness and +weariness.' + +'You comfort me, my lord--a little. But the stolen mare, my lord?--' + +'Ah! there indeed I can say nothing. That was not well done, and +evil came thereof. But comfort thyself that the evil is come and +gone; and think not that such chances are left to determine great +events. Naseby fight had been lost, spite of a hundred messages to +Rupert. Not care for life, boy! Leave that to old men like me. Thou +must care for it, for thou hast many years before thee.' + +'But nothing to fill them with, my lord.' + +'What meanest thou there, Rowland? The king's cause will yet +prosper, and--' + +'Pardon me, my lord; I spoke not of the king's majesty or his +affairs. Hardly do I care even for them. It is a nameless weight, or +rather emptiness, that oppresseth me. Wherefore is there such a +world? I ask, and why are men born thereinto? Why should I live on +and labour on therein? Is it not all vanity and vexation of spirit? +I would the roundhead had but struck a little deeper, and reached my +heart.' + +'I admire at thee, Rowland. Truly my gout causeth me so great grief +that I have much ado to keep my unruly member within bounds, but I +never yet was aweary of my life, and scarce know what I should say +to thee.' + +A pause followed. The marquis did not think what a huge difference +there is between having too much blood in the feet and too little in +the brain. + +'I pray, sir, can you tell me if mistress Dorothy knoweth it was +before Heywood I fell?' said Rowland at length. + +'I know not; but methinks had she known, I should sooner have heard +the thing myself. Who indeed should tell her, for Shafto knew it +not? And why should she conceal it?' + +'I cannot tell, my lord: she is not like other ladies.' + +'She is like all good ladies in this, that she speaketh the truth: +why then not ask her?' + +'I have had no opportunity, my lord. I have not seen her since I +left to join the army.' + +'Tut, tut!' said his lordship, and frowned a little. 'I thought not +the damsel had been over nice. She might well have favoured a +wounded knight with a visit.' + +'She is not to blame. It is my own fault,' sighed Rowland. + +The marquis looked at him for a moment pitifully, but made no +answer, and presently took his leave. + +He went straight to Dorothy, and expostulated with her. She answered +him no farther or otherwise than was simply duteous, but went at +once to see Scudamore. + +Mistress Watson was in the room when she entered, but left it +immediately: she had never been in spirit reconciled to Dorothy: +their relation had in it too much of latent rebuke for her. So +Dorothy found herself alone with her cousin. + +He was but the ghost of the gay, self-satisfied, good-natured, +jolly Rowland. Pale and thin, with drawn face and great eyes, he +held out a wasted hand to Dorothy, and looked at her, not pitifully, +but despairingly. He was one of those from whom take health and +animal spirits, and they feel to themselves as if they had nothing. +Nor have they in themselves anything. With those he could have borne +what are called hardships fairly well; those gone, his soul sat +aghast in an empty house. + +'My poor cousin!' said Dorothy, touched with profound compassion at +sight of his lost look. But he only gazed at her, and said nothing. +She took the hand he did not offer, and held it kindly in hers. He +burst into tears, and she gently laid it again on the coverlid. + +'I know you despise me, Dorothy,' he sobbed, 'and you are right: I +despise myself.' + +'You have been a good soldier to the king, Rowland,' said Dorothy, +'and he has acknowledged it fitly.' + +'I care nothing for king or kingdom, Dorothy. Nothing is worth +caring for. Do not mistake me. I am not going to talk +presumptuously. I love not thee now, Dorothy. I never did love thee, +and thou dost right to despise me, for I am unworthy. I would I were +dead. Even the king's majesty hath been no whit the better for me, +but rather the worse; for another man,--one, I mean, who was not +mounted on a stolen mare--would have performed his hest unhindered +of foregone fault.' + +'Thou didst not think thou wast doing wrong when thou stolest the +mare,' said Dorothy, seeking to comfort him. + +'How know'st thou that, Dorothy? There was a spot in my heart that +felt ashamed all the time.' + +'He that is sorry is already pardoned, I think, cousin. Then what +thou hast done evil is gone and forgotten.' + +'Nay, Dorothy. But if it were forgotten, yet would it BE. If I +forgot it myself, yet would I not cease to be the man who had done +it. And thou knowest, Dorothy, in how many things I have been false, +so false that I counted myself honourable all the time. Tell me +wherefore should I not kill myself, and rid the world of me; what +withholdeth?' + +'That thou art of consequence to him that made thee.' + +'How can that be, when I know myself worthless? Will he be mistaken +in me?' + +'No, truly. But he may have regard to that thou shalt yet be. For +surely he sent thee here to do some fitting work for him.' + +More talk followed, but Dorothy did not seem to herself to find the +right thing to say, and retired to the top of the Tower with a sense +of failure, and oppressed with helpless compassion for the poor +youth. + +The doctors of divinity and of medicine differed concerning the +cause of his sad condition. The doctor of medicine said it arose +entirely from a check in the circulation of the animal spirits; the +doctor of divinity thought, but did not say, only hinted, that it +came of a troubled conscience, and that he would have been well long +ago but for certain sins, known only to himself, that bore heavy +upon his life. This gave the marquis a good ground of argument for +confession, the weight of which argument was by the divine felt and +acknowledged. But both doctors were right, and both were wrong. +Could his health have been at once restored, a great reaction would +have ensued, his interest in life would have reawaked, and most +probably he would have become indifferent to that which now +oppressed him; but on the slightest weariness or disappointment, the +same overpowering sense of desolation would have returned, and +indeed at times amidst the warmest glow of health and keenest +consciousness of pleasure. On the other hand, if by any argument +addressed to his moral or religious nature his mind could have been +a little eased, his physical nature would most likely have at once +responded in improvement; but he had no individual actions of such +heavy guilt as the divine presumed to repent of, nor could any +amount or degree of sorrow for the past have sufficed to restore him +to peace and health. It was a poet of the time who wrote, + + 'The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, + Lets in new light, through chinks that time has made:' + +sickness had done the same thing as time with Rowland, and he saw +the misery of his hovel. The cure was a deeper and harder matter +than Dr. Bayly yet understood, or than probably Rowland himself +would for years attain to, while yet the least glimmer of its +approach would be enough to initiate physical recovery. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +THE POET-PHYSICIAN. + + + + + +Time passed, but with little change in the condition of the patient. +Winter began to draw on, and both doctors feared a more rapid +decline. + +Early in the month of November, Dorothy received a letter from Mr. +Herbert, informing her that her cousin, Henry Vaughan, one of his +late twin pupils, would, on his way from Oxford, be passing near +Raglan, and that he had desired him to call upon her. Willing enough +to see her relative, she thought little more of the matter, until at +length the day was at hand, when she found herself looking for his +arrival with some curiosity as to what sort of person he might prove +of whom she had heard so often from his master. + +When at length he was ushered into lady Glamorgan's parlour, where +her mistress had desired her to receive him, both her ladyship and +Dorothy were at once prejudiced in his favour. They saw a rather +tall young man of five or six and twenty, with a small head, a clear +grey eye, and a sober yet changeful countenance. His carriage was +dignified yet graceful--self-restraint and no other was evident +therein; a certain sadness brooded like a thin mist above his eyes, +but his smile now and then broke out like the sun through a grey +cloud. Dorothy did not know that he was just getting over the end of +a love-story, or that he had a book of verses just printed, and had +already begun to repent it. + +After the usual greetings, and when Dorothy had heard the last news +of Mr. Herbert,--for Mr. Vaughan had made several journeys of late +between Brecknock and Oxford, taking Llangattock Rectory in his way, +and could tell her much she did not know concerning her +friend,--lady Glamorgan, who was not sorry to see her interested in +a young man whose royalist predilections were plain and strong, +proposed that Dorothy should take him over the castle. + +She led him first to the top of the tower, show him the reservoir +and the prospect; but there they fell into such a talk as revealed +to Dorothy that here was a man who was her master in everything +towards which, especially since her mother's death and her following +troubles, she had most aspired, and a great hope arose in her heart +for her cousin Scudamore. For in this talk it had come out that Mr. +Vaughan had studied medicine, and was now on his way to settle for +practice at Brecknock. As soon as Dorothy learned this, she +entreated her cousin Vaughan to go and visit her cousin Scudamore. +He consented, and Dorothy, scarcely allowing him to pause even under +the admirable roof of the great hall as they passed through, led him +straight to the turret-chamber, where the sick man was. + +They found him sitting by the fire, folded in blankets, listless and +sad. + +When Dorothy had told him whom she had brought to see him, she would +have left them, but Rowland turned on her such beseeching eyes, that +she remained, by no means unwillingly, and seated herself to hear +what this wonderful young phyisican would say. + +'It is very irksome to be thus prisoned in your chamber, sir +Rowland,' he said. + +'No,' answered Scudamore, 'or yes: I care not.' + +'Have you no books about you?' asked Mr. Vaughan, glancing round the +room. + +'Books!' repeated Scudamore, with a wan contemptuous smile. + +'You do not then love books?' + +'Wherefore should I love books? What can books do for me? I love +nothing. I long only to die.' + +'And go----?' suggested, rather than asked, Mr. Vaughan. + +'I care not whither--anywhere away from here--if indeed I go +anywhere. But I care not.' + +'That is hardly what you mean, sir Rowland, I think. Will you allow +me to interpret you? Have you not the notion that if you were hence +you would leave behind you a certain troublesome attendant who is +scarce worth his wages?' + +Scudamore looked at him but did not reply; and Mr. Vaughan went on. + +'I know well what aileth you, for I am myself but now recovering +from a similar sickness, brought upon me by the haunting of the same +evil one who torments you.' + +'You think, then, that I am possessed?' said Rowland, with a faint +smile and a glance at Dorothy. + +'That verily thou art, and grievously tormented. Shall I tell thee +who hath possessed thee?--for the demon hath a name that is known +amongst men, though it frighteneth few, and draweth many, alas! His +name is Self, and he is the shadow of thy own self. First he made +thee love him, which was evil, and now he hath made thee hate him, +which is evil also. But if he be cast out and never more enter into +thy heart, but remain as a servant in thy hall, then wilt thou +recover from this sickness, and be whole and sound, and shall find +the varlet serviceable.' + +'Art thou not an exorciser, then, Mr. Vaughan, as well as a +discerner of spirits? I would thou couldst drive the said demon out +of me, for truly I love him not.' + +'Through all thy hate thou lovest him more than thou knowest. Thou +seest him vile, but instead of casting him out, thou mournest over +him with foolish tears. And yet thou dreamest that by dying thou +wouldst be rid of him. No, it is back to thy childhood thou must go +to be free.' + +'That were a strange way to go, sir. I know it not. There seems to +be a purpose in what you say, Mr. Vaughan, but you take me not with +you. How can I rid me of myself, so long as I am Rowland Scudamore?' + +'There is a way, sir Rowland--and but one way. Human words at least, +however it may be with some high heavenly language, can never say +the best things but by a kind of stumbling, wherein one +contradiction keepeth another from falling. No man, as thou sayest, +truly, can rid him of himself and live, for that involveth an +impossibility. But he can rid himself of that: haunting shadow of +his own self, which he hath pampered and fed upon shadowy lies, +until it is bloated and black with pride and folly. When that demon +king of shades is once cast out, and the man's house is possessed of +God instead, then first he findeth his true substantial self, which +is the servant, nay, the child of God. To rid thee of thyself thou +must offer it again to him that made it. Be thou empty that he may +fill thee. I never understood this until these latter days. Let me +impart to thee certain verses I found but yesterday, for they will +tell thee better what I mean. Thou knowest the sacred volume of the +blessed George Herbert?' + +'I never heard of him or it,' said Scudamore. + +'It is no matter as now: these verses are not of his. Prithee, +hearken: + + 'I carry with, me, Lord, a foolish fool, + That still his cap upon my head would place. + I dare not slay him, he will not to school, + And still he shakes his bauble in my face. + + 'I seize him, Lord, and bring him to thy door; + Bound on thine altar-threshold him I lay. + He weepeth; did I heed, he would implore; + And still he cries ALACK and WELL-A-DAY! + + 'If thou wouldst take him in and make him wise, + I think he might be taught to serve thee well; + If not, slay him, nor heed his foolish cries, + He's but a fool that mocks and rings a bell.' + +Something in the lines appeared to strike Scudamore. + +'I thank you, sir,' he said. 'Might I put you to the trouble, I +would request that you would write out the verses for me, that I may +study their meaning at my leisure.' + +Mr. Vaughan promised, and, after a little more conversation, took +his leave. + +Now, whether it was from anything he had said in particular, or that +Scudamore had felt the general influence of the man, Dorothy could +not tell, but from that visit she believed Rowland began to think +more and to brood less. By and by he began to start questions of +right and wrong, suppose cases, and ask Dorothy what she would do in +such and such circumstances. With many cloudy relapses there was a +suspicion of dawn, although a rainy one most likely, on his far +horizon. + +'Dost thou really believe, Dorothy,' he asked one day, 'that a man +ever did love his enemy? Didst thou ever know one who did?' + +'I cannot say I ever did,' returned Dorothy. 'I have however seen +few that were enemies. But I am sure that had it not been possible, +we should never have been commanded thereto.' + +'The last time Dr. Bayly came to see me he read those words, and I +thought within myself all the time of the only enemy I had, and +tried to forgive him, but could not.' + +'Had he then wronged thee so deeply?' + +'I know not, indeed, what women call wronged--least of all what +thou, who art not like other women, wouldst judge; but this thing +seems to me strange--that when I look on thee, Dorothy, one moment +it seems as if for thy sake I could forgive him anything--except +that he slew me not outright, and the next that never can I forgive +him even that wherein he never did me any wrong.' + +'What! hatest thou then him that struck thee down in fair fight? +Sure thou art of meaner soul than I judged thee. What man in +battle-field hates his enemy, or thinks it less than enough to do +his endeavour to slay him?' + +'Know'st thou whom thou wouldst have me forgive? He who struck me +down was thy friend, Richard Heywood.' + +'Then he hath his mare again?' cried Dorothy, eagerly. + +Rowland's face fell, and she knew that she had spoken +heartlessly--knew also that, for all his protestations, Rowland yet +cherished the love she had so plainly refused. But the same moment +she knew something more. + +For, by the side of Rowland, in her mind's eye, stood Henry Vaughan, +as wise as Rowland was foolish, as accomplished and learned as +Rowland was narrow and ignorant; but between them stood Richard, and +she knew a something in her which was neither tenderness nor +reverence, and yet included both. She rose in some confusion, and +left the chamber. + +This good came of it, that from that moment Scudamore was satisfied +she loved Heywood, and, with much mortification, tried to accept his +position. Slowly his health began to return, and slowly the deeper +life that was at length to become his began to inform him. + +Heartless and poverty-stricken as he had hitherto shown himself, the +good in him was not so deeply buried under refuse as in many a +better-seeming man. Sickness had awakened in him a sense of +requirement--of need also, and loneliness, and dissatisfaction. He +grew ashamed of himself and conscious of defilement. Something new +began to rise above and condemn the old. There are who would say +that the change was merely the mental condition resulting from and +corresponding to physical weakness; that repentance, and the vision +of the better which maketh shame, is but a mood, sickly as are the +brain and nerves which generate it; but he who undergoes the +experience believes he knows better, and denies neither the wild +beasts nor the stars, because they roar and shine through the dark. + +Mr. Vaughan came to see him again and again, and with the +concurrence of Dr. Spott, prescribed for him. As the spring +approached he grew able to leave his room. The ladies of the family +had him to their parlours to pet and feed, but he was not now so +easily to be injured by kindness as when he believed in his own +merits. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +HONOURABLE DISGRACE. + + + + + +January of 1646, according to the division of the year, arrived, and +with it the heaviest cloud that had yet overshadowed Raglan. + +One day, about the middle of the month. Dorothy, entering lady +Glamorgan's parlour, found it deserted. A moan came to her ears from +the adjoining chamber, and there she found her mistress on her face +on the bed. + +'Madam,' said Dorothy in terror, 'what is it? Let me be with you. +May I not know it?' + +'My lord is in prison,' gasped lady Glamorgan, and bursting into +fresh tears, she sobbed and moaned. + +'Has my lord been taken in the field, madam, or by cunning of his +enemies?' + +'Would to God it were either,' sighed lady Glamorgan. 'Then were it +a small thing to bear.' + +'What can it be, madam? You terrify me,' said Dorothy. + +No words of reply, only a fresh outburst of agonised--could it also +be angry?--weeping followed. + +'Since you will tell me nothing, madam, I must take comfort that of +myself I know one thing.' + +'Prithee, what knowest thou?' asked the countess, but as if careless +of being answered, so listless was her tone, so nearly inarticulate +her words. + +'That is but what bringeth him fresh honour, my lady,' answered +Dorothy. + +The countess started up, threw her arms about her, drew her down on +the bed, kissed her, and held her fast, sobbing worse than ever. + +'Madam! madam!' murmured Dorothy from her bosom. + +'I thank thee, Dorothy,' she sighed out at length: 'for thy words +and thy thoughts have ever been of a piece.' + +'Sure, my lady, no one did ever yet dare think otherwise of my +lord,' returned Dorothy, amazed. + +'But many will now, Dorothy. My God! they will have it that he is a +traitor. Wouldst thou believe it, child--he is a prisoner in the +castle of Dublin!' + +'But is not Dublin in the hands of the king, my lady?' + +'Ay! there lies the sting of it! What treacherous friends are these +heretics! But how should they be anything else? Having denied their +Saviour they may well malign their better brother! My lord marquis +of Ormond says frightful things of him.' + +'One thing more I know, my lady,' said Dorothy, '--that as long as +his wife believes him the true man he is, he will laugh to scorn all +that false lips may utter against him.' + +'Thou art a good girl, Dorothy, but thou knowest little of an evil +world. It is one thing to know thyself innocent, and another to +carry thy head high.' + +'But, madam, even the guilty do that; wherefore not the innocent +then?' + +'Because, my child, they ARE innocent, and innocence so hateth the +very shadow of guilt that it cannot brook the wearing it. My lord is +grievously abused, Dorothy--I say not by whom.' + +'By whom should it be but his enemies, madam?' + +'Not certainly by those who are to him friends, but yet, alas! by +those to whom he is the truest of friends.' + +'Is my lord of Ormond then false? Is he jealous of my lord +Glamorgan? Hath he falsely accused him? I would I understood all, +madam.' + +'I would I understood all myself, child. Certain papers have been +found bearing upon my lord's business in Ireland, all ears are +filled with rumours of forgery and treason, coupled with the name of +my lord, and he is a prisoner in Dublin castle.' + +She forced the sentence from her, as if repeating a hated lesson, +then gave a cry, almost a scream of agony. + +'Weep not, madam,' said Dorothy, in the very foolishness of +sympathetic expostulation. + +'What better cause could I have out of hell!' returned the countess, +angrily. + +'That it were no lie, madam.' + +'It is true, I tell thee.' + +'That my lord is a traitor, madam?' + +Lady Glamorgan dashed her from her, and glared at her like a +tigress. An evil word was on her lips, but her better angel spoke, +and ere Dorothy could recover herself, she had listened and +understood. + +'God forbid!' she said, struggling to be calm. 'But it is true that +he is in prison.' + +'Then give God thanks, madam, who hath forbidden the one and allowed +the other, said Dorothy; and finding her own composure on the point +of yielding, she courtesied and left the room. It was a breach of +etiquette without leave asked and given, but the face of the +countess was again on her pillow, and she did not heed. + +For some time things went on as in an evil dream. The marquis was in +angry mood, with no gout to lay it upon. The gloom spread over the +castle, and awoke all manner of conjecture and report. Soon, after a +fashion, the facts were known to everybody, and the gloom deepened. +No further enlightenment reached Dorothy. At length one evening, her +mistress having sent for her, she found her much excited, with a +letter in her hand. + +'Come here, Dorothy: see what I have!' she cried, holding out the +letter with a gesture of triumph, and weeping and laughing +alternately. + +'Madam, it must be something precious indeed,' said Dorothy, 'for I +have not heard your ladyship laugh for a weary while. May I not +rejoice with you, madam?' + +'You shall, my good girl: hearken: I will read:--'My dear +Heart,'--Who is it from, think'st thou, Dorothy? Canst guess?--'My +dear Heart, I hope these will prevent any news shall come unto you +of me since my commitment to the Castle of Dublin, to which I assure +thee I went as cheerfully and as willingly as they could wish, +whosoever they were by whose means it was procured; and should as +unwillingly go forth, were the gates both of the Castle and Town +open unto me, until I were cleared: as they are willing to make me +unserviceable to the king, and lay me aside, who have procured for +me this restraint; when I consider thee a Woman, as I think I know +you are, I fear lest you should be apprehensive. But when I reflect +that you are of the House of Thomond, and that you were once pleased +to say these words unto me, That I should never, in tenderness of +you, desist from doing what in honour I was obliged to do, I grow +confident, that in this you will now show your magnanimity, and by +it the greatest testimony of affection that you can possibly afford +me; and am also confident, that you know me so well, that I need not +tell you how clear I am, and void of fear, the only effect of a good +conscience; and that I am guilty of nothing that may testify one +thought of disloyalty to his Majesty, or of what may stain the +honour of the family I come of, or set a brand upon my future +posterity.' + +The countess paused, and looked a general illumination at Dorothy. + +'I told you so, madam,' returned Dorothy, rather stupidly perhaps. + +'Little fool!' rejoined the countess, half-angered: 'dost suppose +the wife of a man like my Ned needs to be told such things by a +green goose like thee? Thou wouldst have had me content that the man +was honest--me, who had forgotten the word in his tenfold more than +honesty! Bah, child! thou knowest not the love of a woman. I could +weep salt tears over a hair pulled from his noble head. And thou to +talk of TELLING ME SO, hussy! Marry, forsooth!' + +And taking Dorothy to her bosom, she wept like a relenting storm. + +One sentence more she read ere she hurried with the letter to her +father-in-law. The sentence was this: + +'So I pray let not any of my friends that's there, believe anything, +until ye have the perfect relation of it from myself.' + +The pleasure of receiving news from his son did but little, however, +to disperse the cloud that hung about the marquis. I do not know +whether, or how far, he had been advised of the provision made for +the king's clearness by the anticipated self-sacrifice of Glamorgan, +but I doubt if a full knowledge thereof gives any ground for +disagreement with the judgment of the marquis, which seems, pretty +plainly, to have been, that the king's behaviour in the matter was +neither that of a Christian nor a gentleman. As in the case of +Strafford, he had accepted the offered sacrifice, and, in view of +possible chances, had in Glamorgan's commission pretermitted the +usual authoritative formalities, thus keeping it in his power, with +Glamorgan's connivance, it must be confessed, but at Glamorgan's +expense, to repudiate his agency. This he had now done in a message +to the parliament, and this the marquis knew. + +His majesty had also written to lord Ormond as follows: 'And albeit +I have too just cause, for the clearing of my honour, to prosecute +Glamorgan in a legal way, yet I will have you suspend the +execution,' &c. At the same time his secretary wrote thus to Ormond +and the council: 'And since the warrant is not' 'sealed with the +signet,' &c., &c., 'your lordships cannot but judge it to be at +least surreptitiously gotten, if not worse; for his majesty saith he +remembers it not;' and thus again privately to Ormond: 'The king +hath commanded me to advertise your lordship that the patent for +making the said lord Herbert of Raglan earl of Glamorgan is not +passed the great seal here, so as he is no peer of this kingdom; +notwithstanding he styles himself, and hath treated with the rebels +in Ireland, by the name of earl of Glamorgan, which is as vainly +taken upon him as his pretended warrant (if any such be) was +surreptitiously gotten.' The title had, meanwhile, been used by the +king himself in many communications with the earl. + +These letters never came, I presume, to the marquis's knowledge, but +they go far to show that his feeling, even were it a little +embittered by the memory of their midnight conference and his hopes +therefrom, went no farther than the conduct of his majesty +justified. It was no wonder that the straightforward old man, +walking erect to ruin for his king, should fret and fume, yea, yield +to downright wrath and enforced contempt. + +Of the king's behaviour in the matter, Dorothy, however, knew +nothing yet. + +One day towards the end of February, a messenger from the king +arrived at Raglan, on his way to Ireland to lord Ormond. He had +found the roads so beset--for things were by this time, whether from +the successes of the parliament only, or from the negligence of +disappointment on the part of lord Worcester as well, much altered +in Wales and on its borders--that he had been compelled to leave +his despatches in hiding, and had reached the castle only with great +difficulty and after many adventures. His chief object in making his +way thither was to beg of lord Charles a convoy to secure his +despatches and protect him on his farther journey. But lord Charles +received him by no means cordially, for the whole heart of Raglan +was sore. He brought him, however, to his father, who, although +indisposed and confined to his chamber, consented to see him. When +Mr. Boteler was admitted, lady Glamorgan was in the chamber, and +there remained. + +Probably the respect to the king's messenger which had influenced +the marquis to receive him, would have gone further and modified the +expression of his feelings a little when he saw him, but that, like +many more men, his lordship, although fairly master of his +temper-horses when in health, was apt to let them run away with him +upon occasion of even slighter illness than would serve for an +excuse. + +'Hast thou in thy despatches any letters from his majesty to my son +Glamorgan, master Boteler?' he inquired, frowning unconsciously. + +'Not that I know of, my lord,' answered Mr. Boteler, 'but there may +be such with the lord marquis of Ormond's.' + +He then proceeded to give a friendly message from the king +concerning the earl. But at this the 'smouldering fire out-brake' +from the bosom of the injured father and subject. + +'It is the grief of my heart,' cried his lordship, wrath +predominating over the regret which was yet plainly enough to be +seen in his face and heard in his tone--'It is the grief of my heart +that I am enforced to say that the king is wavering and fickle. To +be the more his friend, it too plainly appeareth, is but to be the +more handled as his enemy.' + +'Say not so, my lord,' returned Mr. Boteler. 'His gracious majesty +looketh not for such unfriendly judgment from your lips. Have I not +brought your lordship a most gracious and comfortable message from +him concerning my lord Glamorgan, with his royal thanks for your +former loyal expressions?' + +'Mr. Boteler, thou knowest nought of the matter. That thou has +brought me a budget of fine words, I go not to deny. But words may +be but schismatics; deeds alone are certainly of the true faith. +Verily the king's majesty setteth his words in the forefront of the +battle, but his deeds lag in the rear, and let his words be taken +prisoners. When his majesty was last here, I lent him a book to read +in his chamber, the beginning of which I know he read, but if he had +ended, it would have showed him what it was to be a fickle prince.' + +'My lord! my lord! surely your lordship knoweth better of his +majesty.' + +'To know better may be to know worse, master Boteler. Was it not +enough to suffer my lord Glamorgan to be unjustly imprisoned by my +lord marquis of Ormond for what he had His majesty's authority for, +but that he must in print protest against his proceedings and his +own allowance, and not yet recall it? But I will pray for him, and +that he may be more constant to his friends, and as soon as my other +employments will give leave, you shall have a convoy to fetch +securely your despatches.' + +Herewith Mr. Boteler was dismissed, lord Charles accompanying him +from the room. + +'False as ice!' muttered the marquis to himself, left as he supposed +alone. 'My boy, thou hast built on a quicksand, and thy house goeth +down to the deep. I am wroth with myself that ever I dreamed of +moving such a bag of chaff to return to the bosom of his honourable +mother.' + +'My lord,' said lady Glamorgan from behind the bed-curtains, 'have +you forgotten that I and my long ears are here?' + +'Ha! art thou indeed there, my mad Irishwoman! I had verily +forgotten thee. But is not this king of ours as the Minotaur, +dwelling in the labyrinths of deceit, and devouring the noblest in +the land? There was his own Strafford, next his foolish Laud, and +now comes my son, worth a host of such!' + +'In his letter, my lord of Glamorgan complaineth not of his +majesty's usage,' said the countess. + +'My lord of Glamorgan is patient as Grisel. He would pass through +the pains of purgatory with never a grumble. But purgatory is for +none such as he. In good sooth I am made of different stuff. My soul +doth loath deceit, and worse in a king than a clown. What king is he +that will lie for a kingdom!' + +Day after day passed, and nothing was done to speed the messenger, +who grew more and more anxious to procure his despatches and be +gone; but lord Worcester, through the king's behaviour to his +honourable and self-forgetting son, with whom he had never had a +difference except on the point of his blind devotion to his +majesty's affairs, had so lost faith in the king himself that he had +no heart for his business. It seems also that for his son's sake he +wished to delay Mr. Boteler, in order that a messenger of his own +might reach Glamorgan before Ormond should receive the king's +despatches. For a whole fortnight therefore no further steps were +taken, and Boteler, wearied out, bethought him of applying to the +countess to see whether she would not use her influence in his +behalf. I am thus particular about Boteler's affair, because through +it Dorothy came to know what the king's behaviour had been, and what +the marquis thought of it; she was in the room when Mr. Boteler +waited on her mistress. + +'May it please your ladyship,' he said, 'I have sought speech of you +that I might beg your aid for the king's business, remembering you +of the hearty affection my master the king beareth towards your lord +and all his house.' + +'Indeed you do well to remember me of that, master Boteler, for it +goeth so hard with my memory in these troubled times that I had nigh +forgotten it,' said the countess dryly. + +'I most certainly know, my lady, that his majesty hath gracious +intentions towards your lord.' + +'Intention is but an addled egg,' said the countess. 'Give me deeds, +if I may choose.' + +'Alas! the king hath but little in his power, and the less that his +business is thus kept waiting.' + +'Your haste is more than your matter, master Boteler. Believe me, +whatsoever you consider of it, your going so hurriedly is of no +great account, for to my knowledge there are others gone already +with duplicates of the business.' + +'Madam, you astonish me.' + +'I speak not without book. My own cousin, William Winter, is one, +and he is my husband's friend, and hath no relation to my lord +marquis of Ormond,' said lady Glamorgan significantly. + +'My lord, madam, is your lord's very good friend, and I am very much +his servant; but if his majesty's business be done, I care not by +whose hand it is. But I thank your honour, for now I know wherefore +I am stayed here.' + +With these words Boteler withdrew--and withdraws from my story, for +his further proceedings are in respect of it of no consequence. + +When he was gone, lady Glamorgan, turning a flushed face, and +encountering Dorothy's pale one, gave a hard laugh, and said: + +'Why, child! thou lookest like a ghost! Was afeard of the man in my +presence?' + +'No, madam; but it seemed to me marvellous that his majesty's +messenger should receive such words from my mistress, and in my lord +of Worcester's house.' + +'I' faith, marvellous it is, Dorothy, that there should be such good +cause so to use him!' returned lady Glamorgan, tears of vexation +rising as she spoke. 'But an' thou think I used the man roughly, +thou shouldst have heard my father speak to him his mind of the king +his master.' + +'Hath the king then shown himself unkingly, madam?' said Dorothy +aghast. + +Whereupon lady Glamorgan told her all she knew, and all she could +remember of what she had heard the marquis say to Boteler. + +'Trust me, child,' she added, 'my lord Worcester, no less than I am, +is cut to the heart by this behaviour of the king's. That my +husband, silly angel, should say nothing, is but like him. He would +bear and bear till all was borne.' + +'But,' said Dorothy, 'the king is still the king.' + +'Let him be the king then,' returned her mistress. 'Let him look to +his kingdom. Why should I give him my husband to do it for him and +be disowned therein? I thank heaven I can do without a king, but I +can't do without my Ned, and there he lies in prison for him who +cons him no thanks! Not that I would overmuch heed the prison if the +king would but share the blame with him; but for the king to deny +him--to say that he did all of his own motion and without +authority!--why, child, I saw the commission with my own eyes, nor +count myself under any farther obligation to hold my peace +concerning it! I know my husband will bear all things, even disgrace +itself, undeserved, for the king's sake: he is the loveliest of +martyrs; but that is no reason why I should bear it. The king hath +no heart and no conscience. No, I will not say that; but I will say +that he hath little heart and less conscience. My good husband's +fair name is gone--blasted by the king, who raiseth the mist of +Glamorgan's dishonour that he may hide himself safe behind it. I +tell thee, Dorothy Vaughan, I should not have grudged his majesty my +lord's life, an' he had been but a right kingly king. I should have +wept enough and complained too much, in womanish fashion, doubtless; +but I tell thee earl Thomond's daughter would not have grudged it. +But my lord's truth and honour are dear to him, and the good report +of them is dear to me. I swear I can ill brook carrying the title he +hath given me. It is my husband's and not mine, else would I fling +it in his face who thus wrongs my Herbert.' + +This explosion from the heart of the wild Irishwoman sounded +dreadful in the ears of the king-worshipper. But he whom she thus +accused the king of wronging, had been scarcely less revered of her, +even while the idol with the feet of clay yet stood, and had +certainly been loved greatly more, than the king himself. Hence, +notwithstanding her struggle to keep her heart to its allegiance, +such a rapid change took place in her feelings, that ere long she +began to confess to herself that if the puritans could have known +what the king was, their conduct would not have been so +unintelligible--not that she thought they had an atom of right on +their side, or in the least feared she might ever be brought to +think in the matter as they did; she confessed only that she could +then have understood them. + +The whole aspect and atmosphere of Raglan continued changed. The +marquis was still very gloomy; lord Charles often frowned and bit +his lip; and the flush that so frequently overspread the face of +lady Glamorgan as she sat silent at her embroidery, showed that she +was thinking in anger of the wrong done to her husband. In this +feeling all in the castle shared, for the matter had now come to be +a little understood, and as they loved the earl more than the king, +they took the earl's part. + +Meantime he for whose sake the fortress was troubled, having been +released on large bail, was away, with free heart, to Kilkenny, busy +as ever on behalf of the king, full of projects, and eager in +action. Not a trace of resentment did he manifest--only regret that +his majesty's treatment of him, in destroying his credit with the +catholics as the king's commissioner, had put it out of his power to +be so useful as he might otherwise have been. His brain was ever +contriving how to remedy things, but parties were complicated, and +none quite trusted him now that he was disowned of his master. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +SIEGE. + + + + + +Things began to look threatening. Raglan's brooding disappointment +and apprehension was like the electric overcharge of the earth, +awaiting and drawing to it the hovering cloud: the lightning and +thunder of the war began at length to stoop upon the Yellow Tower of +Gwent. When the month of May arrived once more with its moonlight +and apple-blossoms, the cloud came with it. The doings of the earl +of Glamorgan in Ireland had probably hastened the vengeance of the +parliament. + +There was no longer any royal army. Most of the king's friends had +accepted the terms offered them; and only a few of his garrisons, +amongst the rest that of Raglan, held out--no longer, however, in +such trim for defence as at first. The walls, it is true, were +rather stronger than before, the quantity of provisions was large, +and the garrison was sufficient; but their horses were now +comparatively few, and, which was worse, the fodder in store was, in +prospect of a long siege, scanty. But the worst of all, indeed the +only weak and therefore miserable fact, was, that the spirit, I do +not mean the courage, of the castle was gone; its enthusiasm had +grown sere; its inhabitants no longer loved the king as they had +loved him, and even stern-faced general Duty cannot bring up his men +to a hand-to-hand conflict with the same elans as queen love. + +The rumour of approaching troops kept gathering, and at every fresh +report Scudamore's eyes shone. + +'Sir Rowland,' said the governor one day, 'hast not had enough of +fighting yet for all thy lame shoulder?' + +''Tis but my left shoulder, my lord,' answered Scudamore. + +'Thou lookest for the siege as an' it were but a tussle and over--a +flash and a roar. An' thou had to answer for the place like +me--well!' + +'Nay, my lord, I would fain show the roundheads what an honest house +can do to hold out rogues.' + +'Ay, but there's the rub!' returned lord Charles: 'will the house +hold out the rogues? Bethink thee, Rowland, there is never a spot in +it fit for defence except the keep and the kitchen.' + +'We can make sallies, my lord.' + +'To be driven in again by ten times our number, and kept in while +they knock our walls about our ears! However, we will hold out while +we can. Who knows what turn affairs may take?' + +It was towards the end of April when the news reached Raglan that +the king, desperate at length, had made his escape from beleaguered +Oxford, and in the disguise of a serving man, betaken himself to the +headquarters of the Scots army, to find himself no king, no guest +even, but a prisoner. He sought shelter and found captivity. The +marquis dropped his chin on his chest and murmured, 'All is over.' + +But the pang that shot to his heart awoke wounded loyalty: he had +been angry with his monarch, and justly, but he would fight for him +still. + +'See to the gates, Charles,' he cried, almost springing, spite of +his unwieldiness, from his chair. 'Tell Casper to keep the +powder-mill going night and day. Would to God my boy Ned were here! +His majesty hath wronged me, but throned or prisoned he is my king +still--the church must come down, Charles. The dead are for the +living, and will not cry out.' For in St. Cadocus' church lay the +tombs of his ancestors. + +On deliberation it was resolved, however, that only the tower, which +commanded some portions of the castle, should fall. To Dorothy it +was like taking down the standard of the Lord. She went with some of +the ladies to look a last look at the ancient structure, and saw +mass after mass fall silent from the top to clash hideous at the +foot amidst the broken tomb-stones. It was sad enough! but the +destruction of the cottages around it, that the enemy might not have +shelter there, was sadder still. The women wept and wailed; the men +growled, and said what was Raglan to them that their houses should +be pulled from over their heads. The marquis offered compensation +and shelter. All took the money, but few accepted the shelter, for +the prospect of a siege was not attractive to any but such as were +fond of fighting, of whom some would rather attack than defend. + +The next day they heard that sir Trevor Williams was at Usk with a +strong body of men. They knew colonel Birch was besieging Gutbridge +castle. Two days passed, and then colonel Kirk appeared to the +north, and approached within two miles. The ladies began to look +pale as often as they saw two persons talking together: there might +be fresh news. His father and his wife were not the only persons in +the castle who kept sighing for Glamorgan. Every soul in it felt as +if, not to say fancied that, his presence would have made it +impregnable. + +But a strange excitement seized upon Dorothy, which arose from a +sense of trust and delegation, outwardly unauthorised. She had not +the presumption to give it form in words, even to Caspar, but she +felt as if they two were the special servants of the absent power. +Ceaselessly therefore she kept open eyes, and saw and spoke and +reminded and remedied where she could, so noiselessly, so +unobtrusively, that none were offended, and all took heed of the +things she brought before them. Indeed what she said came at length +to be listened to almost as if it had been a message from Glamorgan. +But her chief business was still the fire-engine, whose machinery +she anxiously watched--for if anything should happen to Caspar and +then to the engine, what would become of them when driven into the +tower? + +Discipline, which of late had got very drowsy, was stirred up to +fresh life. Watch grew strict. The garrison was drilled more +regularly and carefully, and the guard and sentinels relieved to the +minute. The armoury was entirely overhauled, and every smith set to +work to get the poor remainder of its contents into good condition. + +One evening lord Charles came to his father with the news that some +score of fresh horses had arrived. + +'Have they brought provender with them, my lord?' asked the marquis. + +'Alas, no, my lord, only teeth,' answered the governor. + +'How stands the hay?' + +'At low ebb, my lord. There is plenty of oats, however.' + +'We hear to-day nothing of the round-heads: what say you to turning +them out and letting them have a last bellyful of sweet grass under +the walls?' + +'I say 'tis so good a plan, my lord, that I think we had better +extend it, and let a few of the rest have a parting nibble.' + +The marquis approved. + +There was a postern in the outermost wall of the castle on the +western side, seldom used, commanded by the guns of the tower, and +opening upon a large field of grass, with nothing between but a +ditch. It was just wide enough to let one horse through at a time, +and by this the governor resolved to turn them out, and as soon as +it was nearly dark, ordered a few thick oak planks to be laid across +the ditch, one above another, for a bridge. The field was +sufficiently fenced to keep them from straying, and with the first +signs of dawn they would take them in again. + +Dorothy, leaving the tower for the night, had reached the archway, +when to her surprise she saw the figure of a huge horse move across +the mouth of it, followed by another and another. Except Richard's +mare on that eventful night she had never seen horse-kind there +before. One after another, till she had counted some +five-and-twenty, she saw pass, then heard them cross the fountain +court with heavy foot upon the tiles. At length, dark as it was, she +recognised her own little Dick moving athwart the opening. She +sprang forward, seized him by the halter, and drew him in beside +her. On and on they came, till she had counted eighty, and then the +procession ceased. + +Presently she heard the voice of lord Charles, as he crossed the +hall and came out into the court, saying, + +'How many didst thou count, Shafto?' + +'Seventy-nine, my lord,' answered the groom, coming from the +direction of the gate. + +'I counted eighty at the hall-door as they went in.' + +'I am certain no more than seventy-nine went through the gate, my +lord.' + +'What can have become of the eightieth? He must have gone into the +chapel, or up the archway, or he may be still in the hall. Art sure +he is not grazing on the turf?' + +'Certain sure, my lord,' answered Shafto. + +'I am the thief, my lord,' said Dorothy, coming from the archway +behind him, leading her little horse. '--Good, my lord, let me keep +Dick. He is as useful as another--more useful than some.' + +'How, cousin!' cried lord Charles, 'didst imagine I was sending off +thy genet to save the hay? No, no! An' thou hadst looked well at the +other horses, thou wouldst have seen they are such as we want for +work--such as may indeed save the hay, but after another fashion. I +but mean to do thy Dick a kindness, and give him a bite of grass +with the rest.' + +'Then you are turning them out into the fields, my lord?' + +'Yes--at the little postern.' + +'Is it safe, my lord, with the enemy so near?' + +'It is my father's idea. I do not think there is any danger. There +will be no moon to-night.' + +'May not the scouts ride the closer for that,' my lord?' + +'Yes, but they will not see the better.' + +'I hope, my lord, you will not think me presumptuous, but--please +let me keep my Dick inside the walls.' + +'Do what thou wilt with thine own, cousin. I think thou art +over-fearful; but do as thou wilt, I say.' + +Dorothy led Dick back to his stable, a little distressed that lord +Charles seemed to dislike her caution. + +But she had a strong feeling of the risk of the thing, and after she +went to bed was so haunted by it that she could not sleep. After a +while, however, her thoughts took another direction:--Might not +Richard come to the siege? What if they should meet?--That his party +had triumphed, no whit altered the rights of the matter, and she was +sure it had not altered her feelings; yet her feelings were altered: +she was no longer so fiercely indignant against the puritans as +heretofore! Was she turning traitor? or losing the government of +herself? or was the right triumphing in her against her will? Was it +St. Michael for the truth conquering St. George for the old way of +England? Had the king been a tyrant indeed? and had the powers of +heaven declared against him, and were they now putting on their +instruments to cut down the harvest of wrong? Had not Richard been +very sure of being in the right? But what was that shaking--not of +the walls, but the foundations? What was that noise as of distant +thunder? She sprang from her bed, caught up her night-light, for now +she never slept in the dark as heretofore, and hurried to the +watch-tower. From its top she saw, by the faint light of the stars, +vague forms careering over the fields. There was no cry except an +occasional neigh, and the thunder was from the feet of many horses +on the turf. The enemy was lifting the castle horses! + +She flew to the chamber beneath, where, since the earl's departure, +in the stead of the cross-bow, a small minion gun had been placed by +lord Charles, with its muzzle in the round where the lines of the +loop-hole crossed. A piece of match lay beside it. She caught it up, +lighted it at her candle, and fired the gun. The tower shook with +its roar and recoil. She had fired the first gun of the siege: might +it be a good omen! + +In an instant the castle was alive. Warders came running from the +western gate. Dorothy had gone, and they could not tell who had +fired the gun, but there were no occasion to ask why it had been +fired--for where were the horses? They could hear, but no longer see +them. There was mounting in hot haste, and a hurried sally. Lord +Charles flung himself on little Dick's bare back, and flew to +reconnoitre. Fifty of the garrison were ready armed and mounted by +the time he came back, having discovered the route they were taking, +and off they went at full speed in pursuit. But, encumbered as they +were at first with the driven horses, the twenty men who had carried +them off had such a start of their pursuers that they reached the +high road where they could not stray, and drove them right before +them to sir Trevor Williams at Usk. + +'The fodder will last the longer,' said the marquis, with a sigh +sent after his eighty horses. + +'Mistress Dorothy,' said lord Charles the next day, 'methinks thou +art as Cassandra in Troy. I shall tremble after this to do aught +against thy judgment.' + +'My lord,' returned Dorothy, 'I have to ask your pardon for my +presumption, but it was borne in upon me, as Tom Fool says, that +there was danger in the thing. It was scarcely judgment on my +part--rather a womanish dread.' + +'Go thou on to speak thy mind like Cassandra, cousin Dorothy, and +let us men despise it at our peril. I am humbled before thee,' said +lord Charles, with the generosity of his family. + +'Truly, child,' said lady Glamorgan, 'the mantle of my husband hath +fallen upon thee!' + +The next day sir Trevor Williams and his men sat down before the +castle with a small battery, and the siege was fairly begun. +Dorothy, on the top of the keep, watching them, but not +understanding what they were about in particulars, heard the sudden +bellow of one of their cannon. Two of the battlements beside her +flew into one, and the stones of the parapet between them stormed +into the cistern. Had her presence been the attraction to that +thunderbolt? Often after this, while she watched the engine below in +the workshop, she would hear the dull thud of an iron ball against +the body of the tower; but although it knocked the parapet into +showers of stones, their artillery could not make the slightest +impression upon that. + +The same night a sally was prepared. Rowland ran to lord Charles, +begging leave to go. But his lordship would not hear of it, telling +him to get well, and he should have enough of sallying before the +siege was over. The enemy were surprised, and lost a few men, but +soon recovered themselves and drove the royalists home, following +them to the very gates, whence the guns of the castle sent them back +in their turn. + +Many such sallies and skirmishes followed. Once and again there was +but time for the guard to open the gate, admit their own, and close +it, ere the enemy came thundering up--to be received with a volley +and gallop off. At first there was great excitement within the walls +when a party was out. Eager and anxious eyes followed them from +every point of vision. But at length they got used to it, as to all +the ordinary occurrences of siege. + +By and by colonel Morgan appeared with additional forces, and made +his head-quarters to the south, at Llandenny. In two days more the +castle was surrounded, and they began to erect a larger battery on +the east of it, also to dig trenches and prepare for mining. The +chief point of attack was that side of the stone court which lay +between the towers of the kitchen and the library. Here then came +the hottest of the siege, and very soon that range of building gave +show of affording an easy passage by the time the outer works should +be taken. + +After the first ball, whose execution Dorothy had witnessed, there +came no more for some time. Sir Trevor waited until the second +battery should be begun and captain Hooper arrive, who was to be at +the head of the mining operations. Hence most of the inmates of the +castle began to imagine that a siege was not such an unpleasant +thing after all. They lacked nothing; the apple trees bloomed; the +moon shone; the white horse fed the fountain; the pigeons flew about +the courts, and the peacock strutted on the grass. But when they +began digging their approaches and mounting their guns on the east +side, sir Trevor opened his battery on the west, and the guns of the +tower replied. The guns also from the kitchen tower, and another +between it and the library tower, played upon the trenches, and the +noise was tremendous. At first the inhabitants were nearly deafened, +and frequently failed to hear what was said; but at length they grew +hardened--so much so that they were often unaware of the firing +altogether, and began again to think a siege no great matter. But +when the guns of the eastern battery opened fire, and at the first +discharge a round shot, bringing with it a barrowful of stones, came +down the kitchen chimney, knocking the lid through the bottom of the +cook's stewpan, and scattering all the fire about the place; when +the roof of one of the turrets went clashing over the stones of the +paved court; when a spent shot struck the bars of the Great Mogul's +cage, and sent him furious, making them think what might happen, and +wishing they were sure of the politics of the wild beasts; when the +stones and slates flew about like sudden showers of hail; when every +now and then a great rumble told of a falling wall, and that side of +the court was rapidly turning to a heap of ruins; then were cries +and screams, many more however of terror than of injury, to be heard +in the castle, and they began to understand that it was not +starvation, but something more peremptory still, to which they were +doomed to succumb. At times there would fall a lull, perhaps for a +few hours, perhaps but for a few moments, to end in a sudden fury of +firing on both sides, mingled with shouts, the rattling of bullets, +and the falling of stones, when the women would rush to and fro +screaming, and all would imagine the storm was in the breach. + +But the gloom of the marquis seemed to have vanished with the +breaking of the storm, as the outburst of the lightning takes the +weight off head and heart that has for days been gathering. True, +when his house began to fall, he would look for a moment grave at +each successive rumble, but the next he would smile and nod his +head, as if all was just as he had expected and would have it. One +day when sir Toby Mathews and Dr. Bayly happened both to be with him +in his study, an ancient stack of chimneys tumbled with tremendous +uproar into the stone court. The two clergymen started visibly, and +then looked at each other with pallid faces. But the marquis smiled, +kept the silence for an instant, and then, in slow solemn voice, +said: + +'Scimus enim quoniam si terrestris domus nomus nostra hujus +habitationis dissolvatur, quod aedificationem ex Deo habemus, domum +non manufactam, aeternam in coelis.' + +The clergymen grasped each other by the hand, then turning bowed +together to the marquis, but the conversation was not resumed. + +One evening in the drawing-room, after supper, the marquis, in good +spirits, and for him in good health, was talking more merrily than +usual. Lady Glamorgan stood near him in the window. The captain of +the garrison was giving a spirited description of a sally they had +made the night before upon colonel Morgan in his quarters at +Llandenny, and sir Rowland was vowing that come of it what might, +leave or no leave, he would ride the next time, when crash went +something in the room, the marquis put his hand to his head, and the +countess fled in terror, crying, 'O Lord! O Lord!' A bullet had come +through the window, knocked a little marble pillar belonging to it +in fragments on the floor, and glancing from it, struck the marquis +on the side of the head. The countess, finding herself unhurt, ran +no farther than the door. + +'I ask your pardon, my lord, for my rudeness,' she said, with +trembling voice, as she came slowly back. 'But indeed, ladies,' she +added, 'I thought the house was coming down.--You gentlemen, who +know not what fear is, I pray you to forgive me, for I was mortally +frightened.' + +'Daughter, you had reason to run away, when your father was knocked +on the head,' said the marquis. + +He put his finger on the flattened bullet where it had fallen on the +table, and turning it round and round, was silent for a moment +evidently framing aright something he wanted to say. Then with the +pretence that the bullet had been flattened upon his head, + +'Gentlemen,' he remarked, 'those who had a mind to flatter me were +wont to tell me that I had a good head in my younger days, but if I +don't flatter myself, I think I have a good head-piece in my old +age, or else it would not have been musket-proof.' + +But although he took the thing thus quietly and indeed merrily, it +revealed to him that their usual apartments were no longer fit for +the ladies, and he gave orders therefore that the great rooms in the +tower should be prepared for them and the children. + +Dorothy's capacity for work was not easily satisfied, but now for a +time she had plenty to do. In the midst of the roar from the +batteries, and the answering roar from towers and walls, the ladies +betook themselves to their stronger quarters: a thousand necessaries +had to be carried with them, and she, as a matter of course, it +seemed, had to superintend the removal. With many hands to make +light work she soon finished, however, and the family was lodged +where no hostile shot could reach them, although the frequent fall +of portions of its battlemented summit rendered even a peep beyond +its impenetrable shell hazardous. Dorothy would lie awake at night, +where she slept in her mistress's room, and listen--now to the +baffled bullet as it fell from the scarce indented wall, now to the +roar of the artillery, sounding dull and far away through the ten- +foot thickness; and ever and again the words of the ancient psalm +would return upon her memory: 'Thou hast been a shelter for me, and +a strong tower from the enemy.' + +She tended the fire-engine if possible yet more carefully than ever, +kept the cistern full, and the water lipping the edge of the moat, +but let no fountain flow except that from the mouth of the white +horse. Her great fear was lest a shot should fall into the reservoir +and injure its bottom, but its contriver had taken care that, even +without the protection of its watery armour, it should be +indestructible. + +The marquis would not leave his own rooms and the supervision they +gave him. The domestics were mostly lodged within the kitchen tower, +which, although in full exposure to the enemy's fire, had as yet +proved able to resist it. But all between that and the library tower +was rapidly becoming a chaos of stones and timber. Lord Glamorgan's +secret chamber was shot through and through; but Caspar, as soon as +the direction and force of the battery were known, had carried off +his books and instruments. + + + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +A SALLY. + + + + + +Meantime Mr. Heywood had returned home to look after his affairs, +and brought Richard with him. In the hope that peace was come they +had laid down their commissions. Hardly had they reached Redware +when they heard the news of the active operations at Raglan, and +Richard rode off to see how things were going--not a little anxious +concerning Dorothy, and full of eagerness to protect her, but +entirely without hope of favour either at her hand or her heart. He +had no inclination to take part in the siege, and had had enough of +fighting for any satisfaction it had brought him. It might be the +right thing to do, and so far the only path towards the sunrise, but +had he ground for hope that the day of freedom had in himself +advanced beyond the dawn? His confidence in Milton and Cromwell, +with his father's, continued unshaken, but what could man do to +satisfy the hunger for freedom which grew and gnawed within him? +Neither political nor religious liberty could content him. He might +himself be a slave in a universe of freedom. Still ready, even for +the sake of mere outward freedom of action and liberty of worship, +to draw the sword, he yet had begun to think he had fought enough. + +As he approached Raglan he missed something from the landscape, but +only upon reflection discovered that it was the church tower. +Entering the village, he found it all but deserted, for the +inhabitants had mostly gone, and it was too near the gates and too +much exposed to the sudden sallies of the besieged for the +occupation of the enemy. That day, however, a large reinforcement, +sent from Oxford by Fairfax to strengthen colonel Morgan, having +arrived at Llandenny, some of its officers, riding over to inspect +captain Hooper's operations, had halted at the White Horse, where +they were having a glass of ale when Richard rode up. He found them +old acquaintances, and sat down with them. Almost evening when he +arrived, it was quite dusk when they rose and called for their +horses. + +They had placed a man to keep watch towards Raglan, while the rest +of their attendants, who were but few, leaving their horses in the +yard, were drinking their ale in the kitchen; but seeing no signs of +peril, and growing weary of his own position and envious of that of +his neighbours, the fellow had ventured, discipline being neither +active nor severe, to rejoin his companions. + +The host, being a tenant of the marquis, had decided royalist +predilections, but whether what followed was of his contriving I +cannot tell; news reached the castle somehow that a few +parliamentary officers with their men were drinking at the White +Horse. + +Rowland was in the chapel, listening to the organ, having in his +illness grown fond of hearing Delaware play. The brisker the +cannonade, the blind youth always praised the louder, and had the +main stops now in full blast; but through it all, Scudamore heard +the sound of horses' feet on the stones, and running along the +minstrels' gallery and out on the top of the porch, saw over fifty +horsemen in the court, all but ready to start. He flew to his +chamber, caught up his sword and pistols, and without waiting to put +on any armour, hurried to the stables, laid hold of the first horse +he came to, which was fortunately saddled and bridled, and was in +time to follow the last man out of the court before the gate was +closed behind the issuing troop. + +The parliamentary officers were just mounting, when their sentinel, +who had run again into the road to listen, for it was now too dark +to see further than a few yards, came running back with the alarm +that he heard the feet of a considerable body of horse in the +direction of the castle. Richard, whose mare stood unfastened at the +door, was on her back in a moment. Being unarmed, save a brace of +pistols in his holsters, he thought he could best serve them by +galloping to captain Hooper and bringing help, for the castle party +would doubtless outnumber them. Scarcely was he gone, however, and +half the troopers were not yet in their saddles, when the place was +surrounded by three times their number. Those who were already +mounted, escaped and rode after Heywood, a few got into a field, +where they hid themselves in the tall corn, and the rest barricaded +the inn door and manned the windows. There they held out for some +time, frequent pistol-shots being interchanged without much injury +to either side. At length, however, the marquis's men had all but +succeeded in forcing the door, when they were attacked in the rear +by Richard with some thirty horse from the trenches, and the +runaways of colonel Morgan's men, who had met them and turned with +them. A smart combat ensued, lasting half an hour, in which the +parliament men had the advantage. Those who had lost their horses +recovered them, and a royalist was taken prisoner. From him Richard +took his sword, and rode after the retreating cavaliers. + +One of their number, a little in the rear, supposing Richard to be +one of themselves, allowed him to get ahead of him, and, facing +about, cut him off from his companions. It was the second time he +had headed Scudamore, and again he did not know him, this time +because it was dark. Rowland, however, recognised his voice as he +called him to surrender, and rushed fiercely at him. But scarcely +had they met, when the cavalier, whose little strength had ere this +all but given way to the unwonted fatigue, was suddenly overcome +with faintness, and dropped from his horse. Richard got down, lifted +him, laid him across Lady's shoulders, mounted, raised him into a +better position, and, leading the other horse, brought him back to +the inn. There first he discovered that he was his prisoner whom he +feared he had killed at Naseby. + +When Rowland came to himself, + +'Are you able to ride a few miles, Mr Scudamore?' asked Richard. + +At first Rowland was too much chagrined, finding in whose power he +was, to answer. + +'I am your prisoner,' he said at length. 'You are my evil genius, I +think. I have no choice. Thy star is in the ascendant, and mine has +been going down ever since first I met thee, Richard Heywood.' + +Richard attempted no reply, but got Rowland's horse, and assisted +him to mount. + +'I want to do you a good turn, Mr Scudamore,' he said, after they +had ridden a mile in silence. + +'I look for nothing good at thy hand,' said Scudamore. + +'When thou findest what it is, I trust thou wilt change thy thought +of me, Mr Scudamore.' + +'SIR ROWLAND, an' it please you,' said the prisoner, his boyish +vanity roused by misfortune, and passing itself upon him for +dignity. + +'Mere ignorance must be pardoned, sir Rowland,' returned Richard: 'I +was unaware of your dignity. But think you, sir Rowland, you do well +to ride on such rough errands, while yet not recovered, as is but +too plain to see, from former wounds?' + +'It seems not, Mr. Heywood, for I had not else been your prize, I +trust. The wound I caught at Naseby has cost the king a soldier, I +fear.' + +'I hope it will cost no more than is already paid. Men must fight, +it seems, but I for one would gladly repair, an' I might, what +injuries I had been compelled to cause.' + +'I cannot say the like on my part,' returned sir Rowland. 'I would I +had slain thee!' + +'So would not I concerning thee--in proof whereof do I now lead thee +to the best leech I know--one who brought me back from death's door, +when through thee, if not by thy hand, I was sore wounded. With her, +as my prisoner, I shall leave thee. Seek not to make thy escape, +lest, being a witch, as they saw of her, she chain thee up in +alabaster. When thou art restored, go thy way whither thou pleasest. +It is no longer as it was with the cause of liberty: a soldier of +hers may now afford to release an enemy for whom he has a +friendship.' + +'A friendship!' exclaimed sir Rowland. 'And wherefore, prithee, Mr +Heywood? On what ground?' + +But they had reached the cottage, and Richard made no reply. Having +helped his prisoner to dismount, led him through the garden, and +knocked at the door, + +'Here, mother!' he said as mistress Rees opened it, 'I have brought +thee a king's-man to cure this time.' + +'Praise God!' returned mistress Rees--not that a king's-man was +wounded, but that she had him to cure: she was an enthusiast in her +art. Just as she had devoted herself to the puritan, she now gave +all her care and ministration to the royalist. She got her bed ready +for him, asked him a few questions, looked at his shoulder, not even +yet quite healed, said it had not been well managed, and prepared a +poultice, which smelt so vilely that Rowland turned from it with +disgust. But the old woman had a singular power of persuasion, and +at length he yielded, and in a few moments was fast asleep. + +Calling the next morning, Richard found him very weak--partly from +the unwonted fatigue of the previous day, and partly from the old +woman's remedies, which were causing the wound to threaten +suppuration. But somehow he had become well satisfied that she knew +what she was about, and showed no inclination to rebel. + +For a week or so he did not seem to improve. Richard came often, sat +by his bedside, and talked with him; but the moment he grew angry, +called him names, or abused his party, would rise without a word, +mount his mare, and ride home--to return the next morning as if +nothing unpleasant had occurred. + +After about a week, the patient began to feel the benefit of the +wise woman's treatment. The suppuration carried so much of an old +ever-haunting pain with it, that he was now easier than he had ever +been since his return to Raglan. But his behaviour to Richard grew +very strange, and the roundhead failed to understand it. At one time +it was so friendly as to be almost affectionate; at another he +seemed bent on doing and saying everything he could to provoke a +duel. For another whole week, aware of the benefit he was deriving +from the witch, as he never scrupled to call her, nor in the least +offended her thereby, apparently also at times fascinated in some +sort by the visits of his enemy, as he persisted in calling Richard, +he showed no anxiety to be gone. + +'Heywood,' he said one morning suddenly, with quite a new +familiarity, 'dost thou consider I owe thee an apology for carrying +off thy mare? Tell me what look the thing beareth to thee.' + +'Put thy case, Scudamore,' returned Richard. + +And sir Rowland did put his case, starting from the rebel state of +the owner, advancing to the natural outlawry that resulted, going on +to the necessity of the king, &c., and ending thus: + +'Now I know thou regardest neither king nor right, therefore I ask +thee only to tell me how it seemeth to thee I ought on these grounds +to judge myself, since for thy judgment in thy own person and on thy +own grounds, or rather no grounds, I care not at all.' + +'Come, then, let it be but a question of casuistry. Yet I fear me it +will be difficult to argue without breaking bounds. Would my lord +marquis now walk forth of his castle at the king's command as +certainly as he will at the voice of the nation, that is, the +cannons of the parliament?' + +'The cannons of the cursed parliament are not the voice of the +nation? Our side is the nation, not yours.' + +'How provest thou that?' + +'We are the better born, to begin with.' + +'Ye have the more titles, I grant ye, but we have the older +families. Let it be, however, that I was or am a rebel--then I can +only say that in stealing--no, I will not say STEALING, for thou +didst it with a different mind--all I will say is this, sir Rowland, +that I should have scorned so to carry off thine or any man's +horse.' + +'Ah, but thou wouldst have no right, being but a rebel!' + +'Bethink thee, thou must judge on my grounds when thou judgest me.' + +'True; then am I driven to say thou wast made of the better +earth--curse thee! I am ashamed of having taken thy mare--only +because it was in a half-friendly passage with thee I learned her +worth. But, hang thee! it was not through thee I learned to know my +cousin, Dorothy Vaughan.' + +The recoiling blood stung Richard's heart like the blow of a whip, +but he manned himself to answer with coolness. + +'What then of her?' he said. 'Hast thou been wooing her favour, sir +Rowland? Thou owest me nothing there, I admit, even had she not sent +me from her. Besides, I am scarce one to be content with a mistress +whose favour depended on the not coming between of some certain +other, known or unknown. This I say not in pride, but because in +such case I were not the right man for her, neither she the woman +for me.' + +'Then thou bearest me no grudge in that I have sought the prize of +my cousin's heart?' + +'None,' answered Richard, but could not bring himself to ask how he +had sped. + +'Then will I own to thee that I have gained as little. I will madden +myself telling thee whom I hate, and to thy comfort, that she +despises me like any Virginia slave.' + +'Nay, that I am sure she doth not. She can despise nothing that is +honourable.' + +'Dost thou then count me honourable, Heywood?' said Scudamore, in a +voice of surprise, putting forth a thin white hand, and placing it +on Richard's where it lay huge and brown on the coverlid: 'Then +honourable I will be.' + +'And, in that resolve, art, sir Rowland.' + +'I will be honourable,' repeated Scudamore, angrily, with flushing +cheek, and hard yet flashing eye, 'because thou thinkest me such, +although my hate would, an' it might, damn thee to lowest hell.' + +'Nay, but thou wilt be honourable for honour's sake,' said Richard. +'Bethink thee, when first we met, we were but boys: now are we men, +and must put away boyish things.' + +'Dost call it a boyish thing to be madly in love with the fairest +and noblest and bravest mistress that ever trod the earth--though +she be half a puritan, alack?' + +'She half a puritan!' exclaimed Heywood. 'She hates the very wind of +the word.' + +'She may hate the word, but she is the thing. She hath read me such +lessons as none but a puritan could.' + +'Were they not then good lessons, that thou joinest with them a name +hateful to thee?' + +'Ay, truly--much too good for mortal like me--or thee either, +Heywood. They are but hypocrites that pretend otherwise.' + +'Callest thou thy cousin a hypocrite?' + +'No, by heaven! she is not. She is a woman, and it is easy for women +to say prayers.' + +'I never rode into a fight but I said my prayer,' returned Richard. + +'None the less art thou a hypocrite. I should scorn to be for ever +begging favours as thou. Dost think God heareth such prayers as +thine?' + +'Not if He be such as thou, sir Rowland, and not if he who prays be +such as thou thinkest him. Prithee, what sort of prayer thinkest +thou I pray ere I ride into the battle?' + +'How should I know? My lord marquis would have had me say my prayers +at such a time, but, good sooth! I always forgot. And if I had done +it, where would have been the benefit thereof, so long as thou, who +wast better used to the work, wast praying against me? I say it is a +cowardly thing to go praying into the battle, and not take thy fair +chance as other men do.' + +'Then will I tell thee to what purpose I pray. But, first of all, I +must confess to thee that I have had my doubts, not whether my side +were more in the right than thine, but whether it were worth while +to raise the sword even in such cause. Now, still when that doubt +cometh, ever it taketh from my arm the strength, and going down into +the very legs of my mare causeth that she goeth dull, although +willing, into the battle. Moreover, I am no saint, and therefore +cannot pray like a saint, but only like Richard Heywood, who hath +got to do his duty, and is something puzzled. Therefore pray I thus, +or to this effect: + +'"O God of battles! who, thyself dwelling in peace, beholdest the +strife, and workest thy will thereby, what that good and perfect +will of thine is I know not clearly, but thou hast sent us to be +doing, and thou hatest cowardice. Thou knowest I have sought to +choose the best, so far as goeth my poor ken, and to this battle I +am pledged. Give me grace to fight like a soldier of thine, without +wrath and without fear. Give me to do my duty, but give the victory +where thou pleasest. Let me live if so thou wilt; let me die if so +thou wilt--only let me die in honour with thee. Let the truth be +victorious, if not now, yet when it shall please thee; and oh! I +pray, let no deed of mine delay its coming. Let my work fail, if it +be unto evil, but save my soul in truth." + +'And in truth, sir Rowland, it seemeth to me then as if the God of +truth heard me. Then say I to my mare, "Come, Lady, all is well now. +Let us go. And good will come of it to thee also, for how should the +Father think of his sparrows and forget his mares? Doubtless there +are of thy kind in heaven, else how should the apostle have seen +them there? And if any, surely thou, my Lady!" So ride we to the +battle, merry and strong, and calm, as if we were but riding to the +rampart of the celestial city.' + +Rowland lay gazing at Richard for a few moments, then said: + +'By heaven, but it were a pity you should not come together! Surely +the same spirit dwelleth in you both! For me, I should show but as +the shadow cast from her brightness. But I tell thee, roundhead, I +love her better than ever roundhead could.' + +'I know not, Scudamore. Nor do I mean to judge thee when I say that +no man who loves not the truth can love a woman in the grand way a +woman ought to be loved.' + +'Tell me not I do not love her, or I will rise and kill thee. I love +her even to doing what my soul hateth for her sake. Damned +roundhead, she loves THEE.' + +The last words came from him almost in a shriek, and he fell back +panting. + +Richard sat silent for a few moments, his heart surging and sinking. +Then he said quietly:-- + +'It may be so, sir Rowland. We were boy and girl together--fed +rabbits, flew kites, planted weeds to make flowers of them, played +at marbles; she may love me a little, roundhead as I am.' + +'By heaven, I will try her once more! Who knows the heart of a +woman?' said Rowland through his teeth. + +'If thou should gain her, Scudamore, and afterward she should find +thee unworthy?' + +'She would love me still.' + +'And break her heart for thee, and leave thee young to marry +another--while I--' + +He laughed a low, strangely musical laugh, and ceased--then +resumed:-- + +'But what if, instead of dying, she should learn to despise thee, +finding thou hadst not only deceived her, but deceived thy better +self, and should turn from thee with loathing, while thou didst love +her still--as well as thy nature could?--what then, sir Rowland?' + +'Then I should kill her.' + +'And thou lovest her better than any roundhead could! I will find +thee man after man from amongst Ireton's or Cromwell's horse--I know +not the foot so well:--fanatic enough they are, God knows! and many +of them fools enough to boot!--but I will find thee man after man +who is fanatic or fool enough, which thou wilt, to love better than +thou, thou poor atom of solitary selfishness!' + +Rowland half flung himself from the bed, seized Richard by the +throat, and with all the strength he could summon did his best to +strangle him. For a time Richard allowed him to spend his rage, then +removed his grasp as gently as he could, and holding both his wrists +in his left hand, rose and stood over him. + +'Sir Rowland,' he said, 'I am not angry with thee that thou art weak +and passionate. But bethink thee--thou liest in God's hands a +thousandfold more helpless than now thou liest in mine, and like +Saul of Tarsus thou wilt find it hard to kick against the pricks. +For the maiden, do as thou wilt, for thou canst not do other than +the will of God. But I thank thee for what thou hast told me, though +I doubt it meaneth little better for me than for thee. Thou hast a +kind heart. I almost love thee, and will when I can.' + +He let go his hands, and walked from the room. + +'Canting hypocrite!' cried sir Rowland in the wrath of impotence, +but knew while he said the words that they were false. + +And with the words the bitterness of life seized his heart, and his +despair shrouded the world in the blackness of darkness. There was +nothing more to live for, and he turned his face to the wall. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +UNDER THE MOAT. + + + + + +It was some time ere they discovered that Scudamore was missing from +the castle, but there was the hope that he had been taken prisoner; +and things were growing so bad within the walls, that there was +little leisure for lamentation over individual misfortunes. Unless +some change as entire as unexpected--for there seemed no chance of +any except the king should win over the Scots to take his part +--should occur, it was evident that the enemy must speedily make the +assault, nor could there be a doubt of their carrying the place--an +anticipation which, as the inevitable drew nearer, became nothing +less than terrible to both household and garrison. True, their +conquerors would be of their own people, but battle and bloodshed +and victory, and, worst of all, party-spirit, the marquis knew, +destroy not nationality merely, but humanity as well, rousing into +full possession the feline beast which has his lair in every man--in +many, it is true, dwindled to the household cat, but in many others +a full-sized, only sleepy tiger. To what was he about to expose his +men, not to speak of his ladies and their children! + +On the other hand, ever since the balls had been flying about his +house, and the stones of it leaving their places to keep them +company, the loyalty of the marquis had been rising, and he had +thought of his prisoner-king ever with growing tenderness, of his +faults with more indulgence, and of the wrongs he had done his +family with more magnanimity and forgiveness, so that, for his own +part, he would have held out to the very last. + +'And truly were it not better to be well buried under the ruins,' he +would say to himself, looking down with a sigh at his great bulk, +which added so much to the dismalness of the prospect of being, in +his seventieth year, a prisoner or a wanderer--the latter a worse +fate even than the former. To be no longer the master of his own +great house, of many willing servants, of all ready appliances for +liberty and comfort, while the weight of his clumsy person must +still hang about him, and his unfitness to carry the same go on +increasing with the bulk to be carried--such a prospect required +something more than loyalty to meet it with equanimity. To the young +and strong, adventure ought always to be more attractive than ease, +but none save those who are themselves within sight of old age can +truly imagine what an utter horror the breach of old habits and loss +of old comforts is to the aged. + +But to the good marquis it was consolation enough to repeat to +himself the text from his precious Vulgate: Scimus enim; For we know +that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have +a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the +heavens. + +For the ladies, so long as their father-chief was with them, they +were at least not too anxious. Whatever was done must be the right +thing, and in the midst of tumult and threat they were content. If +only their Edward had been with them too! + +But surrender, even when the iron shot was driving his stately house +into showers of dirt, the marquis found it hard indeed to +contemplate. The eastern side of the stone court was now little +better than a heap of rubbish, and the hour of assault could not be +far off, although as yet there had been no second summons; but he +could not forget that, though the castle was his, it was not for +himself but for his king he held it garrisoned, and how could he +yield it without the approval of his sovereign? The governor shared +in the same chivalry with his father, and was equally anxious for a +word from the king. But that king was a prisoner in the hands of a +hostile nation, and how was he to receive message or return answer? +Nay, how were they to send message or receive answer, not even +knowing with certainty where his majesty was, and but presuming that +he was still at Newcastle? And not to mention difficulties at every +step of the way, their house itself was so beset that no one could +issue from its gates without risk of being stopped, searched, +detained until it should have fallen. For the besiegers knew well +enough that lord Glamorgan was still in Ireland, straining his +utmost on behalf of the king; and what more likely than that he +should, with the men he was still raising in Ireland, make some +desperate attempt to turn the scales of war, striking first, it +might well be, for the relief of his father's castle? + +These things were all pretty freely spoken of in the family, and +Dorothy understood the position of affairs as well as any one. And +now at length it seemed to her that the hour had arrived for +attempting some return for Raglan's hospitality. No service she had +hitherto stumbled upon had any magnitude in her eyes, but now--to be +the bearer of dispatches to the king! It would suffice at least, +even if it turned out a failure, to prove her not ungrateful. But +she too had her confidant, and in the absence of lord Glamorgan +would consult with Caspar. + +Meantime the marquis had made matters worse by sending a request to +Colonel Morgan that he would grant safe passage for a messenger to +the king, without whose command he was not at liberty to surrender +the place. The answer was to the effect that they acknowledged no +jurisdiction of the king in the business, and that the marquis might +keep his mind easy as far as his supposed duty to his majesty was +concerned, for they would so compel a surrender that there could be +no reflection upon him for making it. + +Caspar, fearful of the dangers she would have to encounter, sought +to dissuade Dorothy from her meditated proposal--but feebly, for +every one who had anything noble in his nature, and Caspar had more +than his share, was influenced by the magnanimity that ruled the +place. Indeed he told her one thing which served to clench her +resolution--that there was a secret way out of the castle, provided +by his master Glamorgan for communication during siege: more he was +not at liberty to disclose. Dorothy went straight to the marquis and +laid her plan before him, which was that she should make her escape +to Wyfern, and thence, attended by an old servant, set out to seek +the king. + +'There is no longer time, alas!' returned the marquis. 'I look for +the final summons every hour.' + +'Could you not raise the report, my lord, that you have undermined +the castle, and laid a huge quantity of gunpowder, with the +determination of blowing it up the moment they enter? That would +make them fall back upon blockade, and leave us a little time. Our +provisions are not nearly exhausted, and when fodder fails, we can +eat the horses first.' + +'Thou art a brave lady, cousin Dorothy,' said the marquis. 'But if +they caught and searched thee, and found papers upon thee, it would +go worse with us than before.' + +'Please your lordship, my lord Glamorgan once showed me such a comb +as a lady might carry in her pocket, but so contrived that the head +thereof was hollow and could contain despatches. Methinks Caspar +could lay his hand on the comb. If I were but at Wyfern! and thither +my little horse would carry me in less than hour, giving all needful +time for caution too, my lord.' + +'By George, thou speakest well, cousin!' said the marquis. 'But who +should attend thee?' + +'Let me have Tom Fool, my lord, for now have I thought of a +betterment of my plan: he will guide me to his mother's house by +byways, and thence can I cross the fields to my own--as easily as +the great hall, my lord.' + +'Tom Fool is a mighty coward,' objected the marquis. + +'So much the better, my lord. He will not get me into trouble +through displaying his manhood before me. He hath besides a a face +long enough for three roundheads, and a tongue that can utter glibly +enough what soundeth very like their jargon. Tom is the right fool +to attend me, my lord.' + +'He can't ride; he never backed a horse in his life, I believe. No, +no, Dorothy. Shafto is the man.' + +'Shafto is much too ready, my lord. He would ride over my hounds. I +want Tom no farther than his mother's, and there will be no need for +him to ride.' + +'Well, it is a brave offer, my child, and I will think thereupon,' +said his lordship. + +All the rest of the day the marquis and lord Charles, with two or +three of the principal officers of house and garrison, were in +conference, and letters were written both to his majesty and lord +Glamorgan. Before they were finally written out in cipher, Kaltoff +was sent for, the comb found, its contents gauged, and the paper cut +to suit. + +About an hour after midnight, Dorothy, lord Charles, and Caspar +stood together in the workshop, waiting for Tom Fool, who had gone +to fetch Dick from the stables. Dorothy had the comb in her pocket. +She looked pale, but her grey eyes shone with courage and +determination. She carried nothing but a whip. A keen little lamp +borne by Caspar was all their light. + +Presently they heard the sound of Dick's hoofs on the bridge. A +moment more and Tom led him in, both man and horse looking somewhat +scared at the strangeness of the midnight proceeding. But Tom was, +notwithstanding, glad of the office, and ready to risk a good deal +in order to get out of the castle, where he expected nothing milder +at last than a general massacre. + +Lord Charles himself lifted foot after foot of the little horse to +be satisfied that his shoes were sound, then made a sign to Caspar, +and gave his hand to Dorothy. Caspar took Dick by the bridle, and +led him up to the wall near the door. Lord Charles and Dorothy +followed. But Tom, observing that they placed themselves within a +chalk-drawn circle, hung back in terror; he fancied Caspar was going +to raise the devil. Yet he knew that within the circle was the only +safety; a word from Dorothy turned the scale, and he stood trembling +by her side. Nor was he greatly consoled to find that, as he now +thought, instead of the devil coming to them, they were going to +him, as, with the circle upon which they stood, they began to sink, +through a stone-faced shaft, slowly into the foundations of the +keep. Dick also was frightened, but happily his faith was stronger +than his imagination, and a word now and then from his mistress, and +an occasional pat from her well-known hand, sufficed to keep him +quiet. + +At the depth of about thirty feet they stopped, and found themselves +facing a ponderous door, studded and barred with iron. Caspar took +from his pocket a key about the size of a goose quill, felt about +for a moment, and then with a slight movement of finger and thumb +threw back a dozen ponderous bolts with a great echoing clang; the +door slowly opened, and they entered a narrow vaulted passage of +stone. Lord Charles took the lamp from Caspar, and led the way with +Dorothy; Tom Fool came next, and Caspar followed with Dick. The lamp +showed but a few feet of the walls and roof, and revealed nothing in +front until they had gone about a furlong, when it shone upon what +seemed the live rock ending their way. But again Caspar applied the +little key somewhere, and immediately a great mass of rock slowly +turned on a pivot, and permitted them to pass. + +When they were all on the other side of it, lord Charles turned and +held up the light. Dorothy turned also and looked: there was nothing +to indicate whence they had come. Before her was the rough rock, +seemingly solid, certainly slimy and green, and over its face was +flowing a tiny rivulet. + +'See there,' said lord Charles, pointing up; 'that little stream +comes the way thy dog Marquis and the roundhead Heywood came and +went. But I challenge anything larger than a rat to go now.' + +Dorothy made no answer, and they went on again for some distance in +a passage like the former, but soon arrived at the open quarry, +whence Tom knew the way across the fields to the high road as well, +he said, as the line of life on his own palm. Lord Charles lifted +Dorothy to the saddle, said good-luck and good-bye, and stood with +Caspar watching as she rode up the steep ascent, until for an +instant her form stood out dark against the sky, then vanished, when +they turned and re-entered the castle. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +THE UNTOOTHSOME PLUM. + + + + + +It was a starry night, with a threatening of moonrise, and Dorothy +was anxious to reach the cottage before it grew lighter. But they +must not get into the high road at any nearer point than the last +practicable, for then they would be more likely to meet soldiers, +and Dick's feet to betray their approach. Over field after field, +therefore, they kept on, as fast as Tom, now and then stopping to +peer anxiously over the next fence or into a boundary ditch, could +lead the way. At last they reached the place by the side of a +bridge, where Marquis led Richard off the road, and there they +scrambled up. + +'O Lord!' cried Tom, and waked a sentry dozing on the low parapet. + +'Who goes there?' he cried, starting up, and catching at his +carbine, which leaned against the wall. + +'Oh, master!' began Tom, in a voice of terrified appeal; but Dorothy +interrupted him. + +'I am an honest woman of the neighbourhood,' she said. 'An' thou +wilt come home with me, I will afford thee a better bed than thou +hast there, and also a better breakfast, I warrant thee, than thou +had a supper.' + +'That is, an' thou be one of the godly,' supplemented Tom. + +'I thank thee, mistress,' returned the sentinel, 'but not for the +indulgence of carnal appetite will I forsake my post. Who is he +goeth with thee?' + +'A fellow whose wit is greater than his courage, and yet he goeth +with many for a born fool. A parlous coward he is, else might he now +be fighting the Amalekites with the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. +Yet in good sooth he serveth me well for the nonce.' + +The sentry glanced at Tom, but could see little of him except a long +white oval, and Tom was now collected enough to put in exercise his +best wisdom, which consisted in holding his tongue. + +'Answer me then, mistress, how, being a godly woman, as I doubt not +from thy speech thou art, thee rides thus late with none but a fool +to keep thee company? Knowest thou not that the country is full of +soldiers, whereof some, though that they be all true-hearted and +right-minded men, would not mayhap carry themselves so civil to a +woman as corporal Bearbanner? And now, I bethink me, thou comest +from the direction of Raglan!' + +Here he drew himself up, summoned a voice from his chest a storey or +two deeper, and asked in magisterial tone: + +'Whence comest thou, woman? and on what business gaddest thou so +late?' + +'I am come from visiting at a friend's house, and am now almost on +my own farm,' answered Dorothy. + +The man turned to Tom, and Dorothy began to regret she had brought +him: he was trembling visibly, and his mouth was wide open with +terror. + +'See,' she said, 'how thy gruff voice terrifieth the innocent! If +now he should fall in a fit thou wert to blame.' + +As she spoke she put her hand in her pocket, and taking from it her +untoothsome plum, popped it into Tom's mouth. Instantly he began to +make such strange uncouth noises that the sentinel thought he had +indeed terrified him into a fit. + +'I must get him straightway home. Good-night, friend,' said +Dorothy, and giving Dick the rein, she was off like the wind, +heedless of the shouts of the sentinel or the feeble cries of +pursuing Tom, who, if he could not fight, could run. Following his +mistress at great speed, he was instantly lost in the darkness, and +the sentinel, who had picketed his horse in a neighbouring field, +sat down again on the parapet of the bridge, and began to examine +all that Dorothy had said with a wondrous inclination to discover +the strong points in it. + +Having galloped a little way, Dorothy drew bridle and halted for +Tom. As soon as he came up, she released him, and telling him to lay +hold of Dick's mane and run alongside, kept him at a fast trot all +the way to his mother's house. + +The moon had risen before they reached it, and Dorothy was therefore +glad, when she dismounted at the gate, to think she need ride no +further. But while Tom went in to rouse his mother, she let Dick +have a few bites of the grass before taking him into the +kitchen--lest the roundheads should find him. The next moment, +however, out came Tom in terror, saying there was a man in his +mother's closet, and he feared the roundheads were in possession. + +'Then take care of thyself, Tom,' said Dorothy; and mounting +instantly, she made Dick scramble up into the fields that lay +between the cottage and her own house, and set off at full speed +across the grass in the moonlight--an ethereal pleasure which not +even an anxious secret could blast. + +Through a gap in the hedge she had just popped into the second +field, when she heard the click of a flint-lock, and a voice she +thought she knew ordering her to stand: within a few yards of her +was again a roundhead soldier. If she rode away, he would fire at +her; that mode of escape therefore she would keep for a last chance. +The moon by this time was throwing an unclouded light from more than +half a disc upon the field. + +Keeping a sharp eye upon the man's movements, she allowed him to +come within a pace or two, but the moment he would have taken Dick +by the bridle she was three or four yards away. + +'Fright not my horse, friend,' she said.--'But how!' she added, +suddenly remembering him, 'is it possible? Master Upstill! Gently, +gently, little Dick! Master Upstill is an old friend. What! hast +thou too turned soldier? Left thy last and lapstone and turned +soldier, master Upstill?' + +'I have left all and followed him, mistress,' answered Castdown. + +'Art sure he called thee, master Upstill?' + +'I heard him with my own ears.' + +'Called thee to be a shedder of blood, master Upstill?' + +'Called me to be a fisher of men, and thee I catch, mistress--thus,' +returned the man, stepping quickly forward and making another grasp +at Dick's bridle. + +It was all Dorothy could do to keep herself from giving him a smart +blow across the face with her whip, and riding off. But she gave +Dick the cut instead, and sent him yards away. + +'Poor Dick! poor Dick!' she said, patting his neck; 'be quiet; +master Upstill will do thee no wrong. Be quiet, little man.' + +As she thus talked to her genet, Upstill again drew near, now more +surly than at first. + +'Say what manner of woman art thou?' he demanded with pompous anger. +'Whence comes thou, and whither does thee go?' + +'Home,' answered Dorothy. + +'What place calls thee home?' + +'Why! dost not know me, master Upstill? When I was a little one, +thou didst make my shoes for me.' + +'I trust it will be forgiven me, mistress. Truly I had ne'er made +shoe for thee an' I had foreseen what thee would come to! For I make +no farther doubt thou art a consorter with malignants, harlots, and +papists.' + +Again he clutched at her bridle, and this time, whether it was +Dorothy or Dick's fault, with success. Dorothy dropped the bridle, +put her hand in her pocket, struck Dick smartly with her whip, and +as he reared in consequence, drew it across Upstill's eyes, and so +found the chance of administering her bolus. + +It was thoroughly effective. The fellow left his hold of the bridle, +and began a series of efforts to remove it, which rapidly grew +wilder and wilder, until at last his gestures were those of a +maniac. + +'There!' she cried, as she bounded from him, 'take thy first lesson +in good manners. No one can rid thee of that mouthful, which is as +thy evil words returned to choke thee!--Thou hadst better keep me +in sight,' she added, as she gave Dick his head, 'for no one else +can free thee.' + +Upstill ceased his futile efforts, caught up his carbine, and +fired--not without risk to Dorothy, for he was far too wrathful to +take the aim that would have ensured her safety. But she rode on +unhurt, meditating how to secure Upstill when she got him to Wyfern, +whither she doubted not he would follow her. Her difficulties were +not yet past, however, for just as she reached her own ground, she +was once again met by the order to stand. + +This time it came in a voice which, notwithstanding the anxiety it +brought with it, was almost as welcome as well known, and yet made +her tremble for the first time that night: it was the voice of +Richard Heywood. Dick also seemed to know it, for he stood without a +hint from his mistress, while, through the last hedge that parted +her from the little yet remaining of the property of her fathers, +came the man she loved--an enemy between her and her own. + +The marquis's request to be allowed to communicate with the king had +been an unfortunate one. It increased suspicion of all kinds, +rendered the various reports of the landing of the Irish army under +lord Glamorgan more credible, roused the resolution to render all +communication impossible, and led to the drawing of a cordon around +the place that not a soul should pass unquestioned. The measure +would indeed have been unavailing had the garrison been as able as +formerly to make sallies; but ever since colonel Morgan received his +reinforcement, the issuing troopers had been invariably met at but a +few yards from home, and immediately driven in again by largely +superior numbers. Still the cordon required a good many more men +than the besieging party could well spare without too much weakening +their positions, and they had therefore sought the aid of all the +gentlemen of puritian politics in the vicinity, and of course that +of Mr. Heywood. With the men his father sent, Richard himself +offered his services, in the hope that, at the coming fall of the +stronghold, he might have a chance of being useful to Dorothy. They +had given the cordon a wide extension, in order that an issuing +messenger might not perceive his danger until he was too far from +the castle to regain it, and then by capturing him might acquire +information. Hence it came that posts could be assigned to Richard +and his men within such a distance of Redware as admitted of their +being with their own people when off duty. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +FAITHFUL FOES. + + + + + +Hearing Upstill's shot, and then Dick's hoofs on the sward, Richard +fortunately judged well and took the right direction. What was his +astonishment and delight when, passing hurriedly through the hedge +in the expectation of encountering a cavalier, he saw Dorothy +mounted on Dick! What form but hers had been filling soul and brain +when he was startled by the shot! And there she was before him! He +felt like one who knows the moon is weaving a dream in his brain. + +'Dorothy,' he murmured tremblingly, and his voice sounded to him +like that of some one speaking far away. He drew nearer, as one +might approach a beloved ghost, anxious not to scare her. He laid +his hand on Dick's neck, half fearful of finding him but a shadow. + +'Richard!' said Dorothy, looking down on him benignant as Diana upon +Endymion. + +Then suddenly, at her voice and the assurance of her bodily +presence, a great wave from the ocean of duty broke thunderous on +the shore of his consciousness. + +'Dorothy, I am bound to question thee,' he said: 'whence comest +thou? and whither art thou bound?' + +'If I should refuse to answer thee, Richard?' returned Dorothy with +a smile. + +'Then must I take thee to headquarters. And bethink thee, Dorothy, +how that would cut me to the heart.' + +The moon shone full upon his face, and Dorothy saw the end of a +great scar that came from under his hat down on to his forehead. + +'Then will I answer thee, Richard,' she said, with a strange +trembling in her voice. '--I come from Raglan.' + +'And whither art going, Dorothy?' + +'To Wyfern.' + +'On what business?' + +'Were it then so wonderful, Richard, if I should desire to be at +home, seeing Wyfern is now safer than Raglan? It was for safety I +went thither, thou knowest.' + +'It might not be wonderful in another, Dorothy, but in thee it were +truly wonderful; for now are they of Raglan thy friends, and thou +art a brave woman, and lovest thy friends. I would not believe it of +thee even from the mouth of thy mother. Confess--thou bearest about +thee that thou wouldst not willingly show me.' + +Dorothy, as if in embarrassment, drew from her pocket her +handkerchief, and with it a comb, which fell on the ground. + +'Prithee, Richard, pick me up my comb,' she said; then, answering +his question, continued, '--No, I have nothing about me I would not +show thee, Richard: wilt thou take my word for it?' + +When she had spoken, she held out her hand, and receiving from him +the comb, replaced it in her pocket. But a keen pang of remorse went +through her heart. + +'I am a man under authority,' said Richard, 'and my orders will not +allow me. Besides thou knowest, Dorothy, although it involves such +questions in casuistry as I cannot meet, men say thou art not bound +to tell the truth to thine enemy.' + +'An' thou be mine enemy, Richard, then must thou satisfy thyself,' +said Dorothy, trying to speak in a tone of offence. But while she +sat there looking at him, it seemed as if her heart were floating on +the top of a great wave out somewhere in the moonlight. Yet the +conscience-dog was awake in his kennel. + +Richard stood for a moment in silent perplexity. + +'Wilt thou swear to me, Dorothy,' he said at length, 'that thou hast +no papers about thee, neither art the bearer of news or request or +sign to any of the king's party?' + +'Richard,' returned Dorothy, 'thou hast thyself taken from my words +the credit: I say to thee again, satisfy thyself.' + +'Dorothy, what AM I to do?' he cried. + +'Thy duty, Richard,' she answered. + +'My duty is to search thee,' he said. + +Dorothy was silent. Her heart was beating terribly, but she would +see the end of the path she had taken ere she would think of +turning. And she WOULD trust Richard. Would she then have him fail +of his duty? Would she have the straight-going Richard swerve? Even +in the face of her maidenly fears, she would encounter anything +rather than Richard should for her sake be false. But Richard would +not turn aside. Neither would he shame her. He would find some way. + +'Do then thy duty, Richard,' she said, and sliding from her saddle, +she stood before him, one hand grasping Dick's mane. + +There was no defiance in her tone. She was but submitting, assured +of deliverance. + +What was Richard to do? Never man was more perplexed. He dared not +let her pass. He dared no more touch her than if she had been Luna +herself standing there. He would not had he dared, and yet he must. +She was silent, seemed to herself cruel, and began bitterly to +accuse herself. She saw his hazel eyes slowly darken, then began to +glitter--was it with gathering tears? The glitter grew and +overflowed. The man was weeping! The tenderness of their common +childhood rushed back upon her in a great wave out of the past, ran +into the rising billow of present passion, and swelled it up till it +towered and broke; she threw her arm round his neck and kissed him. +He stood in a dumb ecstasy. Then terror lest he should think she was +tempting him to brave his conscience overpowered her. + +'Richard, do thy duty. Regard not me,' she cried in anguish. + +Richard gave a strange laugh as he answered, + +'There was a time when I had doubted the sun in heaven as soon as +thy word, Dorothy. This is surely an evil time. Tell me, yea or nay, +hast thou missives to the king or any of his people? Palter not with +me.' + +But such an appeal was what Dorothy would least willingly encounter. +The necessity yet difficulty of escaping it stimulated the wits that +had been overclouded by feeling. A light appeared. She broke into a +real merry laugh. + +'What a pair of fools we are, Richard!' she said. 'Is there never an +honest woman of thy persuasion near--one who would show me no +favour? Let such an one search me, and tell thee the truth.' + +'Doubtless,' answered Richard, laughing very differently now at his +stupidity, yet immediately committing a blunder: 'there is mother +Rees!' + +'What a baby thou art, Richard!' rejoined Dorothy. 'She is as good a +friend of mine as of thine, and would doubtless favour the wiles of +a woman.' + +'True, true! Thou wast always the keener of wit, Dorothy--as +becometh a woman. What say'st thou then to dame Upstill? She is even +now at the farm there, whence she watches over her husband while he +watches over Raglan. Will she answer thy turn?' + +'She will,' replied Dorothy. 'And that she may show me no favour, +here comes her husband, who shall bear a witness against me shall +rouse in her all the malice of vengeance for her injured spouse, +whom for his evil language, as thou shalt see, I have so silenced as +neither thou nor any man can restore him to speech.' + +While she spoke, Upstill, who had followed his enemy as the sole +hope of deliverance, drew near, in such plight as the dignity of +narrative refuses to describe. + +'Upstill,' said Richard, 'what meaneth this? Wherefore hast thou +left thy post? And above all, wherefore hast thou permitted this +lady to pass unquestioned?' + +Sounds of gurgle and strangulation, with other cognate noises, was +all Upstill's response. + +'Indeed, Mr. Heywood,' said Dorothy, 'he was so far from neglecting +his duty and allowing me to pass unquestioned, that he insulted me +grievously, averring that I consorted with malignant rogues and +papists, and worse--the which drove me to punish him as thou seest.' + +'Cast-down Upstill, thou hast shamed thy regiment, carrying thyself +thus to a gentlewoman,' said Richard. + +'Then he fired his carbine after me,' said Dorothy. + +'That may have been but his duty,' returned Richard. + +'And worst of all,' continued Dorothy, 'he said that had he known +what I should grow to, he would never have made shoes for me when I +was an infant. Think on that, master Heywood!' + +'Ask the lady to pardon thee, Upstill. I can do nothing for thee,' +said Richard. + +Upstill would have knelt, in lack of other mode of petition strong +enough to express the fervour of his desires for release, but +Dorothy was content to see him punished, and would not see him +degraded. + +'Nay, master Upstill,' she said, 'I desire not that thou shouldst +take the measure of my foot to-night. Prithee, master Heywood, wilt +thou venture thy fingers in the godly man's mouth for me? Here is +the key of the toy, a sucket which will pass neither teeth nor +throat. I warrant thee it were no evil thing for many a married +woman to possess. I will give it thee when thou marriest, master +Heywood, though, good sooth, it were hardly fair to my kind!' + +So saying she took a ring from her finger, raised from it a key, and +directed Richard how to find its hole in the plum. + +'There! Follow us now to the farm, and find thy wife, for we need +her aid,' said Richard as he drew by the key the little steel +instrument from Upstill's mouth, and restored him to the general +body of the articulate. + +Thereupon he took Dick by the bridle, and Dorothy and he walked side +by side, as if they had been still boy and girl as of old--for of +old it already seemed. + +As they went, Richard washed both plum and ring in the dewy grass, +and restored them, putting the ring upon her finger. + +'With better light I will one day show thee how the thing worketh,' +she said, thanking him. 'Holding it thus by the ends, thou seest, it +will bear to be pressed; but remove thy finger and thumb, and +straight upon a touch it shooteth its stings in all directions. And +yet another day, when these troubles are over, and honest folk need +no longer fight each other, I will give it thee, Richard.' + +'Would that day were here, Dorothy! But what can honest people do, +while St. George and St. Michael are themselves at odds?' + +'Mayhap it but seemeth so, and they but dispute across the +Yule-log,' said Dorothy; 'and men down here, like the dogs about the +fire, take it up, and fall a-worrying each other. But the end will +crown all.' + +'Discrown some, I fear,' said Richard to himself. + +As they reached the farm-house, it was growing light. Upstill +fetched his dame from her bed in the hayloft, and Richard told her, +in formal and authoritative manner, what he required of her. + +'I will search her!' answered the dame from between her closed +teeth. + +'Mistress Vaughan,' said Richard, 'if she offer thee evil words, +give her the same lesson thou gavest her husband. If all tales be +true, she is not beyond the need of it.--Search her well, mistress +Upstill, but show her no rudeness, for she hath the power to avenge +it in a parlous manner, having gone to school to my lord Herbert of +Raglan. Not the less must thou search her well, else will I look +upon thee as no better than one of the malignants.' + +The woman cast a glance of something very like hate, but mingled +with fear, upon Dorothy. + +'I like not the business, captain Heywood,' she said. + +'Yet the business must be done, mistress Upstill. And hark'ee, for +every paper thou findest upon her, I will give thee its weight in +gold. I care not what it is. Bring it hither, and the dame's +butter-scales withal.' + +'I warrant thee, captain!' she returned. '--Come with me, mistress, +and show what thou hast about thee. But, good sooth, I would the sun +were up!' + +She led the way to the rick-yard, and round towards the sunrise. It +was the month of August, and several new ricks already stood facing +the east, yellow, and beginning to glow like a second dawn. Between +the two, mistress Upstill began her search, which she made more +thorough than agreeable. Dorothy submitted without complaint. + +At last, as she was giving up the quest in despair, her eyes or her +fingers discovered a little opening inside the prisoner bodice, and +there sure enough was a pocket, and in the pocket a slip of paper! +She drew it out in triumph. + +'That is nothing,' said Dorothy: 'give it me.' And with flushed face +she made a snatch at it. + +'Holy Mary!' cried dame Upstill, whose protestantism was of doubtful +date, and thrust the paper into her own bosom. + +'That paper hath nothing to do with state affairs, I protest,' +expostulated Dorothy. 'I will give thee ten times its weight in gold +for it.' + +But mistress Upstill had other passions besides avarice, and was not +greatly tempted by the offer. She took Dorothy by the arm, and said, + +'An' thou come not quickly, I will cry that all the parish shall +hear me.' + +'I tell thee, mistress Upstill, on the oath of a Christian woman, it +is but a private letter of mine own, and beareth nothing upon +affairs. Prithee read a word or two, and satisfy thyself.' + +'Nay, mistress, truly I will pry into no secrets that belong not to +me,' said the searcher, who could read no word of writing or print +either. 'This paper is no longer thine, and mine it never was. It +belongeth to the high court of parliament, and goeth straight to +captain Heywood--whom I will inform concerning the bribe wherewith +thou didst seek to corrupt the conscience of a godly woman.' + +Dorothy saw there was no help, and yielded to the grasp of the dame, +who led her like a culprit, with burning cheek, back to her judge. + +When Richard saw them his heart sank within him. + +'What hast thou found?' he asked gruffly. + +'I have found that which young mistress here would have had me cover +with a bribe of ten times that your honour promised me for it,' +answered the woman. 'She had it in her bosom, hid in a pocket little +bigger than a crown-piece, inside her bodice.' + +'Ha, mistress Dorothy! is this true?' asked Richard, turning on her +a face of distress. + +'It is true,' answered Dorothy, with downcast eyes--far more ashamed +however, of that which had not been discovered, and which might have +justified Richard's look, than of that which he now held in his +hand. 'Prithee,' she added, 'do not read it till I am gone.' + +'That may hardly be,' returned Richard, almost sullenly. 'Upon this +paper it may depend whether thou go at all.' + +'Believe me, Richard, it hath no importance,' she said, and her +blushes deepened. 'I would thou wouldst believe me.' + +But as she said it, her conscience smote her. + +Richard returned no answer, neither did he open the paper, but stood +with his eyes fixed on the ground. + +Dorothy meantime strove to quiet her conscience, saying to herself: +'It matters not; I must marry him one day--an' he will now have me. +Hath not the woman told him where the silly paper was hid? And when +I am married to him, then will I tell him all, and doubtless he will +forgive me--Nay, nay, I must tell him first, for he might not then +wish to have me. Lord! Lord! what a time of lying it is! Sure for +myself I am no better than one of the wicked!' + +But now Richard, slowly, reluctantly, with eyes averted, opened the +paper, stood for an instant motionless, then suddenly raised it, and +looked at it. His face changed at once from midnight to morning, and +the sunrise was red. He put the paper to his lips, and thrust it +inside his doublet. It was his own letter to her by Marquis! She had +not thought to remove it from the place where she had carried it +ever since receiving it. + +'And now, master Heywood, I may go where I will?' said Dorothy, +venturing a half-roguish, but wholly shamefaced glance at him. + +But Dame Upstill was looking on, and Richard therefore brought as +much of the midnight as would obey orders, back over his countenance +as he answered: + +'Nay, mistress. An' we had found aught upon thee of greater +consequence it might have made a question. But this hardly accounts +for thy mission. Doubtless thou bearest thy message in thy mind.' + +'What! thou wilt not let me go to Wyfern, to my own house, master +Heywood?' said Dorothy in a tone of disappointment, for her heart +now at length began to fail her. + +'Not until Raglan is ours,' answered Richard. 'Then shalt thou go +where thou wilt. And go where thou wilt, there will I follow thee, +Dorothy.' + +From the last clause of this speech he diverted mistress Upstill's +attention by throwing her a gold noble, an indignity which the woman +rightly resented--but stooped for the money! + +'Go tell thy husband that I wait him here,' he said. + +'Thou shalt follow me nowhither,' said Dorothy, angrily. 'Wherefore +should not I go to Wyfern and there abide? Thou canst there watch +her whom thou trustest not.' + +'Who can tell what manner of person might not creep to Wyfern, to +whom there might messages be given, or whom thou mightest send, +credenced by secret word or sign?' + +'Whither, then, am I to go?' asked Dorothy, with dignity. + +'Alas, Dorothy!' answered Richard, 'there is no help: I must take +thee to Raglan. But comfort thyself--soon shalt thou go where thou +wilt.' + +Dorothy marvelled at her own resignation the while she rode with +Richard back to the castle. Her scheme was a failure, but through no +fault, and she could bear anything with composure except blame. + +A word from Richard to colonel Morgan was sufficient. A messenger +with a flag of truce was sent instantly to the castle, and the +firing on both sides ceased. The messenger returned, the gate was +opened, and Dorothy re-entered, defeated, but bringing her secrets +back with her. + +'Tit for tat,' said the marquis when she had recounted her +adventures. 'Thou and the roundhead are well matched. There is no +avoiding of it, cousin! It is your fate, as clear as if your two +horoscopes had run into one. Mind thee, hearts are older than +crowns, and love outlives all but leasing.' + +'All but leasing!' repeated Dorothy to herself, and the BUT was +bitter. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +DOMUS DISSOLVITUR. + + + + + +Scudamore was now much better, partly from the influence of reviving +hopes with regard to Dorothy, for his disposition was such that he +deceived himself in the direction of what he counted advantage; not +like Heywood, who was ever ready to believe what in matters personal +told against him. Tom Fool had just been boasting of his exploit in +escaping from Raglan, and expressing his conviction that Dorothy, +whom he had valiantly protected, was safe at Wyfern, and Rowland was +in consequence dressing as fast as he could to pay her a visit, when +Tom caught sight of Richard riding towards the cottage, and jumping +up, ran into the chimney corner beyond his mother, who was busy with +Scudamore's breakfast. She looked from the window, and spied the +cause of his terror. + +'Silly Tom!' she said, for she still treated him like a child, +notwithstanding her boastful belief in his high position and merits, +'he will not harm thee. There never was hurt in a Heywood.' + +'Treason, flat treason, witch!' cried the voice of Scudamore from +the closet. + +'Thee of all men, sir Rowland, has no cause to say so,' returned +mistress Rees. 'But come and break thy fast while he talks to thee, +and save the precious time which runneth so fast away.' + +'I might as well be in my grave for any value it hath to me!' said +Rowland, who was for the moment in a bad mood. His hope and his +faith were ever ready to fall out, and a twinge in his shoulder was +enough to set them jarring. + +'Here comes master Hey wood, anyhow,' said the old woman, as +Richard, leaving Lady at the gate, came striding up the walk in his +great brown boots; 'and I pray you, sir Rowland, to let by-gones be +by-gones, for my sake if not for your own, lest thou bring the +vengeance of general Fairfax upon my poor house.' + +'Fairfax!' cried Scudamore; 'is that villain come hither?' + +'Sir Thomas Fairfax arrived two days agone, answered mistress Rees. +'Alas, it is but too sure a sign that for Raglan the end is near!' + +'Good morrow, mother Rees,' said Richard, looking in at the door, +radiant as an Apollo. The same moment out came Scudamore from the +closet, pale as a dying moon. + +'I want my horse, Heywood!' he cried, deigning no preliminaries. + +'Thy horse is at Redware, Scudamore; I carry him not in my pocket. I +saw him yesterday; his flesh hath swallowed a good many of his bones +since I looked on him last. What wouldst thou with him?' + +'What is that to thee? Let me have him.' + +'Softly, sir Rowland! It is true I promised thee thy liberty, but +liberty doth not necessarily include a horse.' + +'Thou wast never better than a shifting fanatic!' cried sir Rowland. + +'An' I served thee as befitted, thou shouldst never see thy horse +again,' returned Richard. 'Yet I promise thee that so soon as Raglan +hath fallen, he shall again be thine. Nay, I care not. Tell me +whither thou goest, and--Ha! art thou there?' he cried, +interrupting himself as he caught sight of Tom in the chimney +corner; and pausing, he stood silent for a moment. '--Wouldst like +to hear, thou rascal,' he resumed presently, 'that mistress Dorothy +Vaughan got safe to Wyfern this morning?' + +'God be praised!' said Tom Fool. + +'But thou shalt not hear it. I will tell thee better if less welcome +news--that I come from conducting her back to Raglan in safety, and +have seen its gates close upon her. Thou shalt have thy horse, sir +Rowland, an' thou can wait for him an hour; but for thy ride to +Wyfern, that, thou seest, would not avail thee. Thy cousin rode by +here this morning, it is true, but, as I say, she is now within +Raglan walls, whence she will not issue again until the soldiers of +the parliament enter. It is no treason to tell thee that general +Fairfax is about to send his final summons ere he storm the +rampart.' + +'Then mayst thou keep the horse, for I will back to Raglan on foot,' +said Scudamore. + +'Nay, that wilt thou not, for nought greatly larger than a mouse can +any more pass through the lines. Dost think because I sent back thy +cousin Dorothy, lest she should work mischief outside the walls, I +will therefore send thee back to work mischief within them?' + +'And thou art the man who professeth to love mistress Dorothy!' +cried Scudamore with contempt. + +'Hark thee, sir Rowland, and for thy good I will tell thee more. It +is but just that as I told thee my doubts, whence thou didst draw +hope, I should now tell thee my hopes, whence thou mayst do well to +draw a little doubt.' + +'Thou art a mean and treacherous villain!' cried Scudamore. + +'Thou art to blame in speaking that thou dost not believe, sir +Rowland. But wilt thou have thy horse or no?' + +'No; I will remain where I am until I hear the worst.' + +'Or come home with me, where thou wilt hear it yet sooner. Thou +shalt taste a roundhead's hospitality.' + +'I scorn thee and thy false friendship,' cried Rowland, and turning +again into the closet, he bolted the door. + +That same morning a great iron ball struck the marble horse on his +proud head, and flung it in fragments over the court. From his neck +the water bubbled up bright and clear, like the life-blood of the +wounded whiteness. + +'Poor Molly!' said the marquis, when he looked from his +study-window--then smiled at his pity. + +Lord Charles entered: a messenger had come from general Fairfax, +demanding a surrender in the name of the parliament. + +'If they had but gone on a little longer, Charles, they might have +saved us the trouble,' said his lordship, 'for there would have been +nothing left to surrender.--But I will consider the proposal,' he +added. 'Pray tell sir Thomas that whatever I do, I look first to +have it approved of the king.' + +But there was no longer the shadow of a question as to submission. +All that was left was but the arrangement of conditions. The marquis +was aware that captain Hooper's trenches were rapidly approaching +the rampart; that six great mortars for throwing shells had been got +into position; and that resistance would be the merest folly. + +Various meetings, therefore, of commissioners appointed on both +sides for the settling of the terms of submission took place; and at +last, on the fifteenth of August, they were finally arranged, and +the surrender fixed for the seventeenth. + +The interval was a sad time. All day long tears were flowing, the +ladies doing their best to conceal, the servants to display them. +Every one was busy gathering together what personal effects might be +carried away. It was especially a sad time for lord Glamorgan's +children, for they were old enough not merely to love the place, but +to know that they loved it; and the thought that the sacred things +of their home were about to pass into other hands, roused in them +wrath and indignation as well as grief; for the sense of property +is, in the minds of children who have been born and brought up in +the midst of family possessions, perhaps stronger than in the minds +of their elders. + +As the sun was going down on the evening of the sixteenth, Dorothy, +who had been helping now one and now another of the ladies all day +long, having, indeed, little of her own to demand her attention, +Dick and Marquis being almost her sole valuables, came from the +keep, and was crossing the fountain court to her old room on its +western side. Every one was busy indoors, and the place appeared +deserted. There was a stillness in the air that SOUNDED awful. For +so many weeks it had been shattered with roar upon roar, and now the +guns had ceased to bellow, leaving a sense of vacancy and doubt, an +oppression of silence. The hum that came from the lines outside +seemed but to enhance the stillness within. But the sunlight lived +on sweet and calm, as if all was well. It seemed to promise that +wrath and ruin would pass, and leave no lasting desolation behind +them. Yet she could not help heaving a great sigh, and the tears +came streaming down her cheeks. + +'Tut, tut, cousin! Wipe thine eyes. The dreary old house is not +worth such bright tears.' + +Dorothy turned, and saw the marquis seated on the edge of the marble +basin, under the headless horse, whose blood seemed still to well +from his truncated form. She saw also that, although his words were +cheerful, his lip quivered. It was some little time before she could +compose herself sufficiently to speak. + +'I marvel your lordship is so calm,' she said. + +'Come hither, Dorothy,' he returned kindly, 'and sit thee down by my +side. Thou wast right good to my little Molly. Thou hast been a +ministering angel to Raglan and its people. I did thee wrong, and +thou forgavest me with a whole heart. Thou hast returned me good for +evil tenfold, and for all this I love thee; and therefore will I now +tell thee what maketh me quiet at heart, for I am as thou seest me, +and my heart is as my countenance. I have lived my life, and have +now but to die my death. I am thankful to have lived, and I hope to +live hereafter. Goodness and mercy went before my birth, and +goodness and mercy will follow my death. For the ills of this life, +if there was no silence there would be no music. Ignorance is a spur +to knowledge. Darkness is a pavilion for the Almighty, a foil to the +painter to make his shadows. So are afflictions good for our +instruction, and adversities for our amendment. As for the article +of death, shall I shun to meet what she who lay in my bosom hath +passed through? And look you, fair damsel, thou whose body is sweet, +and comely to behold--wherefore should I not rejoice to depart? When +I see my house lying in ruins about me, I look down upon this ugly +overgrown body of mine, the very foundations whereof crumble from +beneath me, and I thank God it is but a tent, and no enduring house +even like this house of Raglan, which yet will ere long be a +dwelling of owls and foxes. Very soon will Death pull out the +tent-pins and let me fly, and therefore am I glad; for, fair damsel +Dorothy, although it may be hard for thee, beholding me as I am, to +comprehend it, I like to be old and ugly as little as wouldst thou, +and my heart, I verily think, is little, older than thine own. One +day, please God, I shall yet be clothed upon with a house that is +from heaven, nor shall I hobble with gouty feet over the golden +pavement--if so be that my sins overpass not mercy. Pray for me, +Dorothy, my daughter, for my end is nigh, that I find at length the +bosom of father Abraham.' + +As he ended, a slow flower of music bloomed out upon the silence +from under the fingers of the blind youth hid in the stony shell of +the chapel; and, doubtful at first, its fragrance filled at length +the whole sunset air. It was the music of a Nunc dimittis of +Palestrina. Dorothy knelt and kissed the old man's hand, then rose +and went weeping to her chamber, leaving him still seated by the +broken yet flowing fountain. + +Of all who prepared to depart, Caspar Kaltoff was the busiest. What +best things of his master's he could carry with him, he took, but a +multitude he left to a more convenient opportunity, in the hope of +which, alone and unaided, he sunk his precious cabinet, and a chest +besides, filled with curious inventions and favourite tools, in the +secret shaft. But the most valued of all, the fire-engine, he could +not take and would not leave. He stopped the fountain of the white +horse, once more set the water-commanding slave to work, and filled +the cistern until he heard it roar in the waste-pipe. Then he +extinguished the fire and let the furnace cool, and when Dorothy +entered the workshop for the last time to take her mournful leave of +the place, there lay the bones of the mighty creature scattered over +the floor--here a pipe, there a valve, here a piston and there a +cock. Nothing stood but the furnace and the great pipes that ran up +the grooves in the wall outside, between which there was scarce a +hint of connection to be perceived. + +'Mistress Dorothy,' he said, 'my master is the greatest man in +Christendom, but the world is stupid, and will forget him because it +never knew him.' + +Amongst her treasures, chief of them all, even before the gifts of +her husband, lady Glamorgan carried with her the last garments, from +sleeve-ribbons to dainty little shoes and rosettes, worn by her +Molly. + +Dr. Bayly carried a bag of papers and sermons, with his doctor's +gown and hood, and his best suit of clothes. + +The marquis with his own hand put up his Vulgate, and left his Gower +behind. Ever since the painful proofs of its failure with the king, +he had felt if not a dislike yet a painful repugnance to the volume, +and had never opened it. + +It was a troubled night, the last they spent in the castle. Not many +slept. But the lord of it had long understood that what could cease +to be his never had been his, and slept like a child. Dr. Bayly, who +in his loving anxiety had managed to get hold of his key, crept in +at midnight, and found him fast asleep; and again in the morning, +and found him not yet waked. + +When breakfast was over, proclamation was made that at nine o'clock +there would be prayers in the chapel for the last time, and that the +marquis desired all to be present. When the hour arrived, he entered +leaning on the arm of Dr. Bayly. Dorothy followed with the ladies of +the family. Young Delaware was in his place, and 'with organ voice +and voice of psalms,' praise and prayer arose for the last time from +the house of Raglan. All were in tears save the marquis. A smile +played about his lips, and he looked like a child giving away his +toy. Sir Toby Mathews tried hard to speak to his flock, but broke +down, and had to yield the attempt. When the services were over, the +marquis rose and said, + +'Master Delaware, once more play thy Nunc dimittis, and so meet me +every one in the hall.' + +Thither the marquis himself walked first, and on the dais seated +himself in his chair of state, with his family and friends around +him, and the officers of his household waiting. On one side of him +stood sir Ralph Blackstone, with a bag of gold, and on the other Mr. +George Wharton, the clerk of the accounts, with a larger bag of +silver. Then each of the servants, in turn according to position, +was called before him by name, and with his own hand the marquis, +dipping now into one bag, now into the other, gave to each a small +present in view of coming necessities: they had the day before +received their wages. To each he wished a kind farewell, to some +adding a word of advice or comfort. He then handed the bags to the +governor, and told him to distribute their contents according to his +judgment amongst the garrison. Last, he ordered every one to be +ready to follow him from the gates the moment the clock struck the +hour of noon, and went to his study. + +When lord Charles came to tell him that all were marshalled, and +everything ready for departure, he found him kneeling, but he rose +with more of agility than he had for a long time been able to show, +and followed his son. + +With slow pace he crossed, the courts and the hall, which were +silent as the grave, bending his steps to the main entrance. The +portcullises were up, the gates wide open, the drawbridge down--all +silent and deserted. The white stair was also vacant, and in solemn +silence the marquis descended, leaning on lord Charles. But beneath +was a gallant show, yet, for all its colour and shine, mournful +enough. At the foot of the stair stood four carriages, each with six +horses in glittering harness, and behind them all the officers of +the household and all the guests on horseback. Next came the +garrison-music of drums and trumpets, then the men-servants on foot, +and the women, some on foot and some in waggons with the children. +After them came the waggons loaded with such things as they were +permitted to carry with them. These were followed by the principal +officers of the garrison, colonels and captains, accompanied by +their troops, consisting mostly of squires and gentlemen, to the +number of about two hundred, on horseback. Last came the foot- +soldiers of the garrison and those who had lost their horses, in all +some five hundred, stretching far away, round towards the citadel, +beyond the sight. Colours were flying and weapons glittering, and +though all was silence except for the pawing of a horse here and +there, and the ringing of chain-bridles, everything looked like an +ordered march of triumph rather than a surrender and evacuation. +Still there was a something in the silence that seemed to tell the +true tale. + +In the front carriage were lady Glamorgan and the ladies Elizabeth, +Anne, and Mary. In the carriages behind came their gentlewomen and +their lady visitors, with their immediate attendants. Dorothy, +mounted on Dick, with Marquis's chain fastened to the pommel of her +saddle, followed the last carriage. Beside her rode young Delaware, +and his father, the master of the horse. + +'Open the white gate,' said the marquis from the stair as he +descended. + +The great clock of the castle struck, and with the last stroke of +the twelve came the blast of a trumpet from below. + +'Answer, trumpets,' cried the marquis. + +The governor repeated the order, and a tremendous blare followed, in +which the drums unbidden joined. + +This was the signal to the warders at the brick gate, and they flung +its two leaves wide apart. + +Another blast from below, and in marched on horseback general +Fairfax with his staff, followed by three hundred foot. The latter +drew up on each side of the brick gate, while the general and his +staff went on to the marble gate. + +As soon as they appeared within it, the marquis, who had halted in +the midst of his descent, came down to meet them. He bowed to the +general, and said:-- + +'I would it were as a guest I received you, sir Thomas, for then +might I honestly bid you welcome. But that I cannot do when you so +shake my poor nest that you shake the birds out of it. But though I +cannot bid you welcome, I will notwithstanding heartily bid you +farewell, sir Thomas, and I thank you for your courtesy to me and +mine. This nut of Raglan was, I believe, the last you had to crack. +Amen. God's will be done.' + +The general returned civil answer, and the marquis, again bowing +graciously, advanced to the foremost carriage, the door of which was +held for him by sir Ralph, the steward, while lord Charles stood by +to assist his father. The moment he had entered, the two gentlemen +mounted the horses held for them one on each side of the carriage, +lord Charles gave the word, the trumpets once more uttered a loud +cry, the marquis's moved, the rest followed, and in slow procession +lord Worcester and his people, passing through the gates, left for +ever the house of Raglan, and in his heart Henry Somerset bade the +world good-bye. + +General Fairfax and his company ascended the great white stair, +crossed the moat on the drawbridge, passed under the double +portcullis and through the gates, and so entered the deserted court. +All was frightfully still; the windows stared like dead eyes--the +very houses seemed dead; nothing alive was visible except one scared +cat: the cannonade had driven away all the pigeons, and a tile had +killed the patriarch of the peacocks. They entered the great hall +and admired its goodly proportions, while not a few expressions of +regret at the destruction of such a magnificent house escaped them; +then as soldiers they proceeded to examine the ruins, and +distinguish the results wrought by the different batteries. + +'Gentlemen,' said sir Thomas, 'had the walls been as strong as the +towers, we should have been still sitting in yonder field.' + +In the meantime the army commissioner, Thomas Herbert by name, was +busy securing with the help of his men the papers and valuables, and +making an inventory of such goods as he considered worth removing +for sale in London. + +Having satisfied his curiosity with a survey of the place, and left +a guard to receive orders from Mr. Herbert, the general mounted +again and rode to Chepstow, where there was a grand entertainment +that evening to celebrate the fall of Raglan, the last of the +strongholds of the king. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +R. I. P. + + + + + +As the sad, shining company of the marquis went from the gates, +running at full speed to overtake the rear ere it should have passed +through, came Caspar, and mounting a horse led for him, rode near +Dorothy. + +As they left the brick gate, a horseman joined the procession from +outside. Pale and worn, with bent head and sad face, sir Rowland +Scudamore fell into the ranks amongst his friends of the garrison, +and with them rode in silence. + +Many a look did Dorothy cast around her as she rode, but only once, +on the crest of a grassy hill that rose abrupt from the highway a +few miles from Raglan, did she catch sight of Richard mounted on +Lady. All her life after, as often as trouble came, that figure rose +against the sky of her inner world, and was to her a type of the +sleepless watch of the universe. + +Soon, from flank and rear, in this direction and that, each to some +haven or home, servants and soldiers began to drop away. Before they +reached the forest of Dean, the cortege had greatly dwindled, for +many belonged to villages, small towns, and farms on the way, and +their orders had been to go home and wait better times. When he +reached London, except the chief officers of his household, one of +his own pages, and some of his daughters' gentlewomen and menials, +the marquis had few attendants left beyond Caspar and Shafto. + +It was a long and weary journey for him, occupying a whole week. One +evening he was so tired and unwell that they were forced to put up +with what quarters they could find in a very poor little town. Early +in the morning, however, they were up and away. When they had gone +some ten miles--lord Charles was riding beside the coach and +chatting with his sisters--a remark was made not complimentary to +their accommodation of the previous night. + +'True,' said lord Charles; 'it was a very scurvy inn, but we must +not forget that the reckoning was cheap.' + +While he spoke, one of the household had approached the marquis, who +sat on the other side of the carriage, and said something in a low +voice. + +'Say'st thou so!' returned his lordship. '--Hear'st thou, my lord +Charles? Thou talkest of a cheap reckoning! I never paid so dear for +a lodging in my life. Here is master Wharton hath just told me that +they have left a thousand pound under a bench in the chamber we +broke our fast in. Truly they are overpaid for what we had!' + +'We have sent back after it, my lord,' said Mr. Wharton. + +'You will never see the money again,' said lord Charles. + +'Oh, peace!' said the marquis. 'If they will not be known of the +money, you shall see it in a brave inn in a short time.' + +Nothing more was said on the matter, and the marquis seemed to have +forgotten it. Late at night, at their next halting-place, the +messenger rejoined them, having met a drawer, mounted on a sorry +horse, riding after them with the bag, but little prospect of +overtaking them before they reached London. + +'I thought our hostess seemed an honest woman!' said lady Anne. + +'It is a poor town, indeed, lord Charles, but you see it is an +honest one nevertheless!' said Dr. Bayly. + +'It may be the town never saw so much money before,' said the +marquis, 'and knew not what to make of it.' + +'Your lordship is severe,' said the doctor. + +'Only with my tongue, good doctor, only with my tongue,' said the +marquis, laughing. + +When they reached London, lord Worcester found himself, to his +surprise, in custody of the Black Rod, who, as now for some three +years Worcester House in the Strand had been used for a state-paper +office, conducted him to a house in Covent Garden, where he lodged +him in tolerable comfort and mild imprisonment. Parliament was still +jealous of Glamorgan and his Irish doings--as indeed well they might +be. + +But his confinement was by no means so great a trial to him as his +indignant friends supposed; for, long willing to depart, he had at +length grown a little tired of life, feeling more and more the +oppression of growing years, of gout varied with asthma, and, worst +of all to the once active man, of his still increasing corpulence, +which last indeed, by his own confession, he found it hard to endure +with patience. The journey had been too much for him, and he began +to lead the life of an invalid. + +There being no sufficient accommodation in the house for his family, +they were forced to content themselves with lodging as near him as +they could, and in these circumstances Dorothy, notwithstanding lady +Glamorgan's entreaties, would have returned home. But the marquis +was very unwilling she should leave him, and for his sake she +concluded to remain. + +'I am not long for this world, Dorothy,' he said. 'Stay with me and +see the last of the old man. The wind of death has got inside my +tent, and will soon blow it out of sight.' + +Lady Glamorgan's intention from the first had been to go to Ireland +to her husband as soon as she could get leave. This however she did +not obtain until the first of October--five weeks after her arrival +in London. She would gladly have carried Dorothy with her, but she +would not leave the marquis, who was now failing visibly. As her +ladyship's pass included thirty of her servants, Dorothy felt at +ease about her personal comforts, and her husband would soon supply +all else. + +The ladies Elizabeth and Mary were in the same house with their +father; lady Anne and lord Charles were in the house of a relative +at no great distance, and visited him every day. Sir Toby Mathews +also, and Dr. Bayly, had found shelter in the neighbourhood, so that +his lordship never lacked company. But he was going to have other +company soon. + +Gently he sank towards the grave, and as he sank his soul seemed to +retire farther within, vanishing on the way to the deeper life. They +thought he lost interest in life: it was but that the brightness +drew him from the glimmer. Every now and then, however, he would +come forth from his inner chamber, and standing in his open door +look out upon his friends, and tell them what he had seen. + +The winter drew on. But first November came, with its 'saint +Martin's summer, halcyon days' and the old man revived a little. He +stood one morning and looked from his window on the garden behind +the house, all glittering with molten hoar-frost. A few leaves, +golden with death, hung here and there on a naked bough. A kind of +sigh was in the air. The very light had in it as much of resignation +as hope. He had forgotten that Dorothy was in the room. + +There was Celtic blood in the marquis, and at times his thoughts +took shapes that hardly belonged to the Teuton. + +'Cometh my youth hither again?' he murmured. 'As a stranger he +cometh whom yet I know so well! Or is it but the face of my old age +lighted with a parting smile? Either way, change cometh, and change +will be good. Domine, in manus tuas.' + +He turned and saw Dorothy. + +'Child!' he exclaimed, 'good sooth, I had forgotten thee. Yet I +spake no treason. Dorothy, I hold not with them who say that from +dust we came and to dust we return. Neither my blessed countess, +whom thou knewest not, nor my darling Molly, whom thou knewest so +well, were born of the dust. From some better where they came--for, +say, can dust beget love? Whither they have gone I follow, in the +hope that their prayers have smoothed for me the way. Lord, lay not +my sins to my charge. Mary, mother, hear my wife who prayeth for me. +Hear my little Molly: she was ever dainty and good.' + +Again he had forgotten Dorothy, and was with his dead. + +But St. Martin's summer is only the lightening of the year that +comes before its death; and November, although it brought not then +such evil fogs as it now afflicts London withal, yet brought with it +November weather--one of God's hounds, with which he hunts us out of +the hollows of our own moods, and teaches us to sit on the arch of +the cellar. But though the marquis fought hard and kept it out of +his mind, it got into his troubled body. The gout left his feet; he +coughed distressingly, breathed with difficulty, and at length +betook himself to bed. + +For some time his interest in politics, save in so much as affected +the king's person, had been gradually ceasing. + +'I trust I have done my part,' he said once to the two clergymen, as +they sat by his bedside. 'Yet I know not. I fear me I clove too fast +to my money. Yet would I have parted with all, even to my shirt, to +make my lord the king a good catholic. But it may be, sir Toby, we +make more of such matters down here than they do in the high +countries; and in that case, good doctor, ye are to blame who broke +away from your mother, even were she not perfect.' + +He crossed himself and murmured a prayer, in fear lest he had been +guilty of laxity of judgment. But neither clergyman said a word. + +'But tell me, gentlemen, ye who understand sacred things,' he +resumed, 'can a man be far out of the way so long as, with full +heart and no withholding, he saith, Fiat voluntas tua--and that +after no private interpretation, but Sicut in caelo?' + +'That, my lord, I also strive to say with all my heart,' said Dr. +Bayly. + +'Mayhap, doctor,' returned the marquis, 'when thou art as old as I, +and hast learned to see how good it is, how all-good, thou wilt be +able to say it without any striving. There was a time in my life +when I too had to strive, for the thought that he was a hard master +would come, and come again. But now that I have learned a little +more of what he meaneth with me, what he would have of me and do for +me, how he would make me pure of sin, clean from the very bottom of +my heart to the crest of my soul, from spur to plume a stainless +knight, verily I am no more content to SUBMIT to his will: I cry in +the night time, "Thy will be done: Lord, let it be done, I entreat +thee;" and in the daytime I cry, "Thy kingdom come: Lord, let it +come, I pray thee."' + +He lay silent. The clergymen left the room, and lord Charles came +in, and sat down by his bedside. The marquis looked at him, and said +kindly, + +'Ah, son Charles! art thou there?' + +'I came to tell you, my lord, the rumour goeth that the king hath +consented to establish the presbyterian heresy in the land,' said +lord Charles. + +'Believe it not, my lord. A man ought not to believe ill of another +so long as there is space enough for a doubt to perch. Yet, alas! +what shall be hoped of him who will yield nothing to prayers, and +everything to compulsion? Had his majesty been a true prince, he had +ere now set his foot on the neck of his enemies, or else ascended to +heaven a blessed martyr. "Protestant," say'st thou? In good sooth, I +force not. What is he now but a football for the sectaries to kick +to and fro! But I shall pray for him whither I go, if indeed the +prayers of such as I may be heard in that country. God be with his +majesty. I can do no more. There are other realms than England, and +I go to another king. Yet will I pray for England, for she is dear +to my heart. God grant the evil time may pass, arid Englishmen yet +again grow humble and obedient!' + +He closed his eyes, and his face grew so still that, notwithstanding +the labour of his breathing, he would have seemed asleep, but that +his lips moved a little now and then, giving a flutter of shape to +the eternal prayer within him. + +Again he opened his eyes, and saw sir Toby, who had re-entered +silent as a ghost, and said, feebly holding out his hand, 'I am +dying, sir Toby: where will this swollen hulk of mine be hid?' + +'That, my lord,' returned sir Toby, 'hath been already spoken of in +parliament, and it hath been wrung from them, heretics and fanatics +as they are, that your lordship's mortal remains shall lie in +Windsor castle, by the side of earl William, the first of the earls +of Worcester.' + +'God bless us all!' cried the marquis, almost merrily, for he was +pleased, and with the pleasure the old humour came back for a +moment: 'they will give me a better castle when I am dead than they +took from me when I was alive!' + +'Yet is it a small matter to him who inherits such a house as +awaiteth my lord--domum non manufactam, in caelis aeternam,' said +sir Toby. + +'I thank thee, sir Toby, for recalling me. Truly for a moment I was +uplifted somewhat. That I should still play the fool, and the old +fool, in the very face of Death! But, thank God, at thy word the +world hath again dwindled, and my heavenly house drawn the nearer. +Domine, nunc dimittis. Let me, so soon as you judge fit, sir Toby, +have the consolations of the dying.' + +When the last rites, wherein the church yields all hold save that of +prayer, had been administered, and his daughters with Dorothy and +lord Charles stood around his bed, + +'Now have I taken my staff to be gone,' he said cheerfully, 'like a +peasant who hath visited his friends, and will now return, and they +will see him as far upon the road as they may. I tremble a little, +but I bethink me of him that made me and died for me, and now +calleth me, and my heart revives within me.' + +Then he seemed to fall half asleep, and his soul went wandering in +dreams that were not all of sleep--just as it had been with little +Molly when her end drew near. + +'How sweet is the grass for me to lie in, and for thee to eat! Eat, +eat, old Ploughman.' + +It was a favourite horse of which he dreamed--one which in old days +he had named after Piers Ploughman, the Vision concerning whom, +notwithstanding its severity on catholic abuses, he had at one time +read much. + +After a pause he went on-- + +'Alack, they have shot off his head! What shall I do without my +Ploughman--my body groweth so large and heavy!--Hark, I hear Molly! +"Spout, horse," she crieth. See, it is his life-blood he spouteth! O +Lord, what shall I do, for I am heavy, and my body keepeth down my +soul. Hark! Who calleth me? It is Molly! No, no! it is the Master. +Lord, I cannot rise and come to thee. Here have I lain for ages, and +my spirit groaneth. Reach forth thy hand, Lord, and raise me. +Thanks, Lord, thanks!' + +And with the word he was neither old man nor marquis any more. + +The parliament, with wondrous liberality, voted five hundred pounds +for his funeral, and Dr. Bayly tells us that he laid him in his +grave with his own hands. But let us trust rather that Anne and +Molly received him into their arms, and soon made him forget all +about castles and chapels and dukedoms and ungrateful princes, in +the everlasting youth of the heavenly kingdom, whose life is the +presence of the Father, whose air to breathe is love, and whose corn +and wine are truth and graciousness. + +There surely, and nowhere else as surely, can the prayer be for a +man fulfilled: Requiescat in Pace. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +RICHARD AND CASPAR. + + + + + +I have now to recount a small adventure, to which it would scarcely +be worth while to afford a place, were it not for the important fact +that it opened to Richard a great window not only in Dorothy's +history while she lived at the castle, but, which was of far more +importance, into the character moulding that history--for character +has far more to do with determining history than history has to do +with determining character. Without the interview whose +circumstances I am about to narrate, Richard could not so soon at +least have done justice to a character which had been, if not +keeping parallel pace with his own, yet advancing rapidly in the +same direction. + +The decree of the parliament had gone forth that Raglan should be +destroyed. The same hour in which the sad news reached Caspar, he +set out to secure, if possible, the treasures he had concealed. He +had little fear of their being discovered, but great fear of their +being rendered inaccessible from the workshop. + +Having reached the neighbourhood, he hired a horse and cart from a +small farmer whom he knew, and, taking the precaution to put on the +dress of a countryman, got on it and drove to the castle. The huge +oaken leaves of the brick gate, bound and riveted with iron, lay +torn from their hinges, and he entered unquestioned. But instead of +the solitude of desertion, for which he had hoped, he found the +whole place swarming with country people, men and women, most of +them with baskets and sacks, while the space between the outer +defences and the moat of the castle itself was filled with country +vehicles of every description, from a wheelbarrow to a great waggon. + +When the most valuable of the effects found in the place had been +carried to London, a sale for the large remainder had been held on +the spot, at which not a few of the neighbouring families had been +purchasers. After all, however, a great many things were left unhid +for, which were not, from a money point of view--the sole one +taken--worth removing; and now the peasantry were, like jackals, +admitted to pick the bones of the huge carcase, ere the skeleton +itself should be torn asunder. Nor could the invading populace have +been disappointed of their expectations: they found numberless +things of immense value in their eyes, and great use in their meagre +economy. For years, I might say centuries after, pieces of furniture +and panels of carved oak, bits of tapestry, antique sconces and +candlesticks of brass, ancient horse-furniture, and a thousand +things besides of endless interest, were to be found scattered in +farm-houses and cottages all over Monmouth and neighbouring shires. +I should not wonder if, even now in the third century, and after the +rage for the collection of such things has so long prevailed, there +were some of them still to be discovered in places where no one has +thought of looking. + +When Caspar saw what was going on, he judged it prudent to turn and +drive his cart into the quarry, and having there secured it, went +back and entered the castle. There was a great divided torrent of +humanity rushing and lingering through the various lines of rooms, +here meeting in whirlpools, there parted into mere rivulets--man and +woman searching for whatever might look valuable in his or her eyes. +Things that nowadays would fetch their weight in silver, some of +them even in gold, were passed by as worthless, or popped into a bag +to be carried home for the amusement of cottage children. The noises +of hobnailed shoes on the oak floors, and of unrestrained clownish +and churlish voices everywhere, were tremendous. Here a fat cottager +might be seen standing on a lovely quilt of patchwork brocade, +pulling down, rough in her cupidity, curtains on which the new-born +and dying eyes of generations of nobles had rested, henceforth to +adorn a miserable cottage, while her husband was taking down the +bed, larger perhaps, than the room itself in which they would in +vain try to set it up, or cruelly forcing a lid, which, having a +spring lock, had closed again after the carved chest had been +already rifled by the commissioner or his men. The kitchen was full +of squabbling women, and the whole place in the agonies of +dissolution. But there was a small group of persons, fortuitously +met, but linked together by an old painful memory of the place +itself, strongly revived by their present meeting, to whom a +fanatical hatred of everything catholic, coupled with a profound +sense of personal injury, had prevailed over avarice, causing them +to leave the part of acquisition to their wives, and aspire to that +of pure destruction. It was the same company, almost to a man, whose +misadventures in their search of Raglan for arms, under the +misguidance of Tom Fool, I have related in an early chapter. In +their hearts they nursed a half-persuasion that Raglan had fallen +because of their wrongs within its walls, and the shame that there +had been heaped upon the godly. + +These men, happening to meet, as I say, in the midst of the +surrounding tumult, had fallen into a conversation chiefly occupied +with reminiscences of that awful experience, whose terrors now +looked like an evil dream, and, in a place thus crowded with men and +women, buzzing with voices, and resounding with feet, as little +likely to return as a vanished thundercloud. In the course of their +conversation, therefore, they grew valiant; grew conscious next of a +high calling, and resolved therewith to take to themselves the +honour of giving the first sweep of the besom of destruction to +Raglan Castle. Satisfying themselves first therefore that their +wives were doing their duty for their household,--mistress Upstill +was as good as two men at least at appropriation,--they set out, +Cast-down taking the lead, master Sycamore, John Croning, and the +rest following, armed with crowbars, for the top of the great tower, +ambitious to commence the overthrow by attacking the very summit, +the high places of wickedness, the crown of pride; and after some +devious wandering, at length found the way to the stair. + +When Caspar Kaltoff entered the castle, he made straight for the +keep, and to his delight found no one in the lower part. To make +certain however that he was alone in the place, ere he secured +himself from intrusion, he ran up the stair, gave a glance at the +doors as he ran, and reached the top just as Upstill in fierce +discrowning pride was heaving the first capstone from between two +battlements. Casper was close by the cocks; instantly he turned one, +and as the dislodged stone struck the water of the moat, a sudden +hollow roaring invaded their ears, and while they stood aghast at +the well-remembered sound, and ere yet the marrow had time to freeze +in their stupid bones, the very moat itself into which they had cast +the insulted stone, storming and spouting, seemed to come rushing up +to avenge it upon them were they stood. The moment he turned the +cock, Casper shot half-way down the stair, but as quietly as he +could, and into a little chamber in the wall, where stood two great +vessels through which the pipes of the fire-engine inside had +communicated with the pipes in the wall outside. There he waited +until the steps which, long before he reached his refuge, he heard +come thundering down the stairs after him, had passed in headlong +haste, when he sprang up again to save the water for another end, +and to attach the drawbridge to the sluice, so that it would raise +it to its full height. Then he hurried down to the water trap under +the bridge and set it, after which he could hardly help wasting a +little of his precious time, lurking in a convenient corner to watch +the result. + +He had not to wait long. The shrieks of the yokels as they ran, and +their looks of horror when they appeared, quickly gathered around +them a gaping crowd to hear their tale, the more foolhardy in which, +partly doubting their word, for the fountains no longer played, and +partly ambitious of showing their superior courage, rushed to the +Gothic bridge. Down came the drawbridge with a clang, and with it in +sheer descent a torrent of water fit to sweep a regiment away, which +shot along the stone bridge and dashed them from it bruised and +bleeding, and half drowned with the water which in their terror and +surprise found easy way into their bodies. Casper withdrew +satisfied, for he now felt sure of all the time he required to get +some other things he had thought of saving down into the shaft with +the cabinet and chest. + +Having effected this, and with much labour and difficulty, aided by +rollers, got all into the quarry and then into the cart, he did not +resist the temptation to go again amongst the crowd, and enjoy +listening to the various remarks and conjectures and terrors to +which doubtless his trick had given rise. He therefore got a great +armful of trampled corn from the field above, and laid it before his +patient horse, then ran round and re-entered the castle by the main +gate. + +He had not been in the crowd many minutes, however, when he saw +indications of suspicion ripening to conviction. What had given +ground for it he could not tell, but at some point he must have been +seen on the other side of the tower-moat. All this time Upstill and +his party had been recounting with various embellishment their +adventures both former and latter, and when Kaltoff was recognised, +or at least suspected in the crowd, the rumour presently arose and +spread that he was either the devil himself, or an accredited agent +of that potentate. + +'Be it then the old Satan himself?' Caspar heard a man say anxiously +to his neighbour, as he tried to get a look at his feet, which was +not easy in such a press. Caspar, highly amused, and thinking such +evil reputation would rather protect than injure him, showed some +anxiety about his feet, and made as if he would fain keep them out +of the field of observation. But thereupon he saw the faces and +gestures of the younger men begin to grow threatening; evidently +anger was succeeding to fear, and some of them, fired with the +ambition possibly of thrashing the devil, ventured to give him a +rough shove or two from behind. Neither outbreak of sulphurous +flashes nor even kick of cloven hoof following, they proceeded with +the game, and rapidly advanced to such extremities, expostulation in +Caspar's broken English, for such in excitement it always became, +seeming only to act as fresh incitement and justification, that at +length he was compelled in self-defence to draw a dagger. This +checked them a little, and ere audacity had had time to recover +itself, a young man came shoving through the crowd, pushing them all +right and left until he reached Caspar, and stood by his side. Now +there was that about Richard Heywood to give him influence with a +crowd: he was a strong man and a gentleman, and they drew back. + +'De fools dink I was de tuyfel!' said Caspar. + +Richard turned upon them with indignation. + +'You Englishmen!' he cried, 'and treat a foreigner thus!' + +But there was nothing about him to show that he was a roundhead, and +from behind rose the cry: 'A malignant! A royalist!' and the fellows +near began again to advance threateningly. + +'Mr. Heywood,' said Caspar hurriedly, for he recognised his helper +from the time he had seen him a prisoner, 'let us make for the hall. +I know the place and can bring us both off safe.' + +It was one of Richard's greatest virtues that he could place much +confidence. He gave one glance at his companion, and said, 'I will +do as thou sayest.' + +'Follow me then, sir,' said Caspar, and turning with brandished +dagger, he forced his way to the hall-door, Richard following with +fists, his sole weapons, defending their rear. + +There were but few in the hall, and although their enemies came +raging after them, they were impeded by the crowd, so that there was +time as they crossed it for Caspar to say: + +'Follow me over the bridge, but, for God's sake, put your feet +exactly where I put mine as we cross. You will see why in a moment +after.' + +'I will,' said Richard, and, delayed a little by needful care, +gained the other side just as the foremost of their pursuers rushed +on the bridge, and with a clang and a roar were swept from it by the +descending torrent. + +They lost no time in explanations. Caspar hurried Richard to the +workshop, down the shaft, through the passage, and into the quarry, +whence, taking no notice of his cart, he went with him to the White +Horse, where Lady was waiting him. + +And Richard was well rewarded for the kindness he had shown, for ere +they said good bye, the German, whose heart was full of Dorothy, and +understood, as indeed every one in the castle did, something of her +relation to Richard, had told him all he knew about her life in the +castle, and how she had been both before and during the siege a +guardian angel, as the marquis himself had said, to Raglan. Nor was +the story of her attempted visit to her old playfellow in the turret +chamber, or the sufferings she had to endure in consequence, +forgotten; and when Caspar and he parted, Richard rode home with +fresh strength and light and love in his heart, and Lady shared in +them all somehow, for she constantly reflected, or imaged rather, +the moods of her master. As much as ever he believed Dorothy +mistaken, and yet could have kneeled in reverence before her. He had +himself tried to do the truth, and no one but he who tries to do the +truth can perceive the grandeur of another who does the same. Alive +to his own shortcomings, such a one the better understands the +success of his brother or sister: there the truth takes to him +shape, and he worships at her shrine. He saw more clearly than +before what he had been learning ever since she had renounced him, +that it is not correctness of opinion--could he be SURE that his +own opinions were correct?--that constitutes rightness, but that +condition of soul which, as a matter of course, causes it to move +along the lines of truth and duty--the LIFE going forth in motion +according to the law of light: this alone places a nature in harmony +with the central Truth. It was in the doing of the will of his +Father that Jesus was the son of God--yea the eternal son of the +eternal Father. + +Nor was this to make little of the truth intellectually +considered--of the FACT of things. The greatest fact of all is that +we are bound to obey the truth, and that to the full extent of our +knowledge thereof, however LITTLE that may be. This obligation +acknowledged and OBEYED, the road is open to all truth--and the ONLY +road. The way to know is to do the known. + +Then why, thought Richard with himself, should he and Dorothy be +parted? Why should Dorothy imagine they should? All depended on +their common magnanimity, not the magnanimity that pardons faults, +but the magnanimity that recognises virtues. He who gladly kneels +with one who thinks largely wide from himself, in so doing draws +nearer to the Father of both than he who pours forth his soul in +sympathetic torrent only in the company of those who think like +himself. If a man be of the truth, then and only then is he of those +who gather with the Lord. + +In forms natural to the age and his individual thought, if not +altogether in such as I have here put down, Richard thus fashioned +his insights as he sauntered home upon Lady, his head above the +clouds, and his heart higher than his head--as it ought to be once +or twice a day at least. Poor indeed is any worldly success compared +to a moment's breathing in divine air, above the region where the +miserable word SUCCESS yet carries a meaning. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +THE SKELETON. + + + + + +The death of the marquis took place in December, long before which +time the second marquis of Worcester, ever busy in the king's +affairs, and unable to show himself with safety in England, or there +be useful, had gone from Ireland to Paris. + +As the country was now a good deal quieter, and there was nothing to +detain her in London, and much to draw her to Wyfern, Dorothy +resolved to go home, and there, if possible, remain. Indeed, there +was now nothing else she could well do, except visit Mr. Herbert at +Llangattock. But much as she revered and loved the old man, and +would have enjoyed his company, she felt now such a longing for +activity, that she must go and look after her affairs. What with the +words of the good marquis and her own late experiences and +conflicts, Dorothy had gained much enlightenment. She had learned +that well-being is a condition of inward calm, resting upon yet +deeper harmonies of being, and resulting in serene activity, the +prevention of which natural result reacts in perturbation and +confusion of thought and feeling. But for many sakes the thought of +home was in itself precious and enticing to her. It was full of +clear memories of her mother, and vague memories of her father, not +to mention memories of the childhood Richard and she had spent +together, from which the late mists had begun to rise, and reveal +them sparkling with dew and sunshine. As soon, therefore, as marquis +Henry had gone to countess Anne, Dorothy took her leave, with many +kind words between, of the ladies Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary, and set +out, attended by her old bailiff and some of the men of her small +tenantry, who having fought the king's battle in vain, had gone home +again to fight their own. + +At Wyfern she found everything in rigid order, almost cataleptic +repose. How was it ever to be home again? What new thing could +restore the homefulness where the revered over-life had vanished? +And how shall the world be warmed and brightened to him who knows no +greater or better man than himself therein--no more skilful workman, +no diviner thinker, no more godlike doer than himself? And what can +the universe have in it of home, of country, nay even of world, to +him who cannot believe in a soul of souls, a heart of hearts? I +should fall out with the very beating of the heart within my bosom, +did I not believe it the pulse of the infinite heart, for how else +should it be heart of MINE? I made it not, and any moment it may +SEEM to fail me, yet never, if it be what I think it, can it betray +me. It is no wonder then, that, with only memories of what had been +to render it lovely in her eyes, Dorothy should have soon begun to +feel the place lonely. + +The very next morning after her rather late arrival, she sent to +saddle Dick once more, called Marquis, and with no other attendant, +set out to see what they had done to dear old Raglan. Marquis had +been chained up almost all the time they were in London, and freedom +is blessed even to a dog: Dick was ever joyful under his mistress, +and now was merry with the keen invigorating air of a frosty +December morning, and frolicsome amidst the early snow, which lay +unusually thick on the ground, notwithstanding his hundred and +twenty miles' ride, for they had taken nearly a week to do it; so +that between them they soon raised Dorothy's spirits also, and she +turned to her hopes, and grew cheerful. + +This mood made her the less prepared to encounter the change that +awaited her. What a change it was! While she approached, what with +the trees left, and the towers, the rampart, and the outer shell of +the courts--little injured to the distant eye, she had not an idea +of the devastation within. But when she rode through one entrance +after another with the gates torn from their hinges, crossed the +moat by a mound of earth instead of the drawbridge, and rode through +the open gateway, where the portcullises were wedged up in their +grooves and their chains gone, into the paved court, she beheld a +desolation, at sight of which her heart seemed to stand still in her +bosom. The rugged horror of the heaps of ruins was indeed softly +covered with snow, but what this took from the desolation in +harshness, it added in coldness and desertion and hopelessness. She +felt like one who looks for the corpse of his friend, and finds but +his skeleton. + +The broken bones of the house projected gaunt and ragged. Its eyes +returned no shine--they did not even stare, for not a pane of glass +was left in a window: they were but eye-holes, black and blank with +shadow and no-ness. The roofs were gone--all but that of the great +hall, which they had not dared to touch. She climbed the grand +staircase, open to the wind and slippery with ice, and reached her +own room. Snow lay on the floor, which had swollen and burst upwards +with November rains. Through room after room she wandered with a +sense of loneliness and desolation and desertion such as never +before had she known, even in her worst dreams. Yet was there to +her, in the midst of her sorrow and loss, a strange fascination in +the scene. Such a hive of burning human life now cold and silent! +Even Marquis appeared aware of the change, for with tucked-in tail +he went about sadly sniffing, and gazing up and down. Once indeed, +and only once, he turned his face to the heavens, and gave a strange +protesting howl, which made Dorothy weep, and a little relieved her +oppressed heart. + +She would go and see the workshop. On the way, she would first visit +the turret chamber. But so strangely had destruction altered the +look of what it had spared, that it was with difficulty she +recognised the doors and ways of the house she had once known so +well. Here was a great hole to the shining snow where once had been +a dark corner; there a heap of stones where once had been a carpeted +corridor. All the human look of indwelling had past away. Where she +had been used to go about as if by instinct, she had now to fall +back upon memory, and call up again, with an effort sometimes +painful in its difficulty, that which had vanished altogether except +from the minds of its scattered household. + +She found the door of the turret chamber, but that was all she +found: the chamber was gone. Nothing was there but the blank gap in +the wall, and beyond it, far down, the nearly empty moat of the +tower. She turned, frightened and sick at heart, and made her way to +the bridge. That still stood, but the drawbridge above was gone. + +She crossed the moat and entered the workshop. A single glance took +in all that was left of the keep. Not a floor was between her and +the sky! The reservoir, great as a little mountain-tarn, had +vanished utterly! All was cleared out; and the white wintry clouds +were sailing over her head. Nearly a third part of the walls had +been brought within a few feet of the ground. The furnace was +gone--all but its mason-work. It was like the change of centuries +rather than months. The castle had half-melted away. Its idea was +blotted out, save from the human spirit. She turned from the +workshop, in positive pain of body at the sight, and wandered she +hardly knew whither, till she found herself in lady Glamorgan's +parlour. There was left a single broken chair: she sat down on it, +closed her eyes, and laid back her head. + +She opened them with a slight start: there stood Richard a yard or +two away. + +He had heard of her return, and gone at once to Wyfern. There +learning whither she had betaken herself, he had followed, and +tracking what of her footsteps he could discover, had at length +found her. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +LOVE AND NO LEASING. + + + + + +Their eyes met in the flashes of a double sunrise. Their hands met, +but the hand of each grasped the heart of the other. Two honester +purer souls never looked out of their windows with meeting gaze. Had +there been no bodies to divide them, they would have mingled in a +rapture of faith and high content. + +The desolation was gone; the desert bloomed and blossomed as the +rose. To Dorothy it was for a moment as if Raglan were rebuilt; the +ruin and the winter had vanished before the creative, therefore +prophetic throb of the heart of love; then her eyes fell, not +defeated by those of the youth, for Dorothy's faith gave her a +boldness that was lovely even against the foil of maidenly reserve, +but beaten down by conscience: the words of the marquis shot like an +arrow into her memory: 'Love outlives all but leasing,' and her eyes +fell before Richard's. + +But Richard imagined that something in his look had displeased her, +and was ashamed, for he had ever been, and ever would be, sensitive +as a child to rebuke. Even when it was mistaken or unjust he would +always find within him some ground whereon it MIGHT have alighted. + +'Forgive me, Dorothy,' he said, supposing she had found his look +presumptuous. + +'Nay, Richard,' returned Dorothy, with her eyes fast on the ground, +whence it seemed rosy mists came rising through her, 'I know no +cause wherefore thou shouldst ask me to forgive thee, but I do know, +although thou knowest not, good cause wherefore I should ask thee to +forgive me. Richard, I will tell thee the truth, and thou wilt tell +me again how I might have shunned doing amiss, and how far my lie +was an evil thing.' + +'Lie, Dorothy! Thou hast never lied!' + +'Hear me, Richard, first, and then judge. Thou rememberest I did +tell thee that night as we talked in the field, that I had about me +no missives: the word was true, but its purport was false. When I +said that, thou didst hold in thy hand my comb, wherein were +concealed certain papers in cipher.' + +'Oh thou cunning one!' cried Richard, half reproachfully, half +humorously, but the amusement overtopped the seriousness. + +'My heart did reproach me; but Richard, what WAS I to do?' + +'Wherefore did thy heart reproach thee, Dorothy?' + +'That I told a falsehood--that I told THEE a falsehood, Richard.' + +'Then had it been Upstill, thou wouldst not have minded?' + +'Upstill! I would never have told Upstill a falsehood. I would have +beaten him first.' + +'Then thou didst think it better to tell a falsehood to me than to +Upstill?' + +'I would rather sin against thee, an' it were a sin, Richard. Were +it wrong to think I would rather be in thy hands, sin or none, or +sin and all, than in those of a mean-spirited knave whom I despised? +Besides I might one day, somehow or other, make it up to thee--but I +could not to him. But was it sin, Richard?--tell me that. I have +thought and thought over the matter until my mind is maze. Thou +seest it was my lord marquis's business, not mine, and thou hadst no +right in the matter.' + +'Prithee, Dorothy, ask not me to judge.' + +'Art thou then so angry with me that thou will not help me to judge +myself aright?' + +'Not so, Dorothy, but there is one command in the New Testament for +the which I am often more thankful than for any other.' + +'What is that, Richard.' + +'JUDGE NOT. Prythee, between whom lieth the quarrel, Dorothy? +Bethink thee.' + +'Between thee and me, Richard.' + +'No, verily, Dorothy. I accuse thee not.' + +Dorothy was silent for a moment, thinking. + +'I see, Richard,' she said. 'It lieth between me and my own +conscience.' + +'Then who am I, Dorothy, that I should dare step betwixt thee and +thy conscience? God forbid. That were a presumption deserving indeed +the pains of hell.' + +'But if my conscience and I seek a daysman betwixt us?' + +'Mortal man can never be that daysman, Dorothy. Nay, an' thou need +an umpire, thou must seek to him who brought thee and thy conscience +together and told thee to agree. Let God, over all and in all, tell +thee whether or no thou wert wrong. For me, I dare not. Believe me, +Dorothy, it is sheer presumption for one man to intermeddle with the +things that belong to the spirit of another man.' + +'But these are only the things of a woman,' said Dorothy, in pure +childish humility born of love. + +'Sure, Dorothy, thou wouldst not jest in such sober matters.' + +'God forbid, Richard! I but spoke that which was in me. I see now it +was foolishness.' + +'All a man can do in this matter of judgment,' said Richard, 'is to +lead his fellow man, if so be he can, up to the judgment of God. He +must never dare judge him for himself. An' thou cannot tell whether +thou did well or ill in what thou didst, thou shouldst not vex thy +soul. God is thy refuge--even from the wrongs of thine own judgment. +Pray to him to let thee know the truth, that if needful thou mayst +repent. Be patient and not sorrowful until he show thee. Nor fear +that he will judge thee harshly because he must judge thee truly. +That were to wrong God. Trust in him even when thou fearest wrong in +thyself, for he will deliver thee therefrom.' + +'Ah! how good and kind art thou, Richard.' + +'How should I be other to thee, beloved Dorothy?' + +'Thou art not then angry with me that I did deceive thee?' + +'If thou didst right, wherefore should I be angry? If thou didst +wrong, I am well content to know that thou wilt be sorry therefor as +soon as thou seest it, and before that thou canst not, thou must +not, be sorry. I am sure that what thou knowest to be right that +thou will do, and it seemeth as if God himself were content with +that for the time. What the very right thing is, concerning which we +may now differ, we must come to see together one day--the same, and +not another, to both, and this doing of what we see, is to each of +us the path thither. Let God judge us, Dorothy, for his judgment is +light in the inward parts, showing the truth and enabling us to +judge ourselves. For me to judge thee and thee me, Dorothy, would +with it bear no light. Why, Dorothy, knowest thou not--yet how +shouldst thou know? that this is the very matter for the which we, +my father and his party, contend--that each man, namely, in matters +of conscience, shall be left to his God, and remain unjudged of his +brother? And if I fight for this on mine own part, unto whom should +I accord it if not to thee, Dorothy, who art the highest in soul and +purest in mind and bravest in heart of all women I have known? +Therefore I love thee with all the power of a heart that loves that +which is true before that which is beautiful, and that which is +honest before that which is of good report.' + +What followed I leave to the imagination of such of my readers as +are capable of understanding that the truer the nature the deeper +must be the passion, and of hoping that the human soul will yet +burst into grander blossoms of love than ever poet has dreamed, not +to say sung. I leave it also to the hearts of those who understand +that love is greater than knowledge. For those who have neither +heart nor imagination--only brains--to them I presume to leave +nothing, knowing what self-satisfying resources they possess of +their own. + +The pair wandered all over the ruins together, and Dorothy had a +hundred places to take Richard to, and tell him what they had been +and how they had looked in their wholeness and use--amongst the rest +her own chamber, whither Marquis had brought her the letter which +mistress Upstill had found so badly concealed. + +Then Richard's turn came, and he gave Dorothy a sadly vivid account +of what he had seen of the destruction of the place; how, as if with +whole republics of ants, it had swarmed all over with men paid to +destroy it; how in every direction the walls were falling at once; +how they dug and drained at fish-ponds and moat in the wild hope of +finding hidden treasure, and had found in the former nothing but mud +and a bunch of huge old keys, the last of some lost story of ancient +days,--and in the latter nothing but a pair of silver-gilt spurs, +which he had himself bought of the fellow who found them. He told +her what a terrible shell the Tower of towers had been to break--how +after throwing its battlemented crown into the moat, they had in +vain attacked the walls, might almost as well have sought with +pickaxes and crowbars to tear asunder the living rock, and at +last--but this was hearsay, he had not seen it--had undermined the +wall, propped it up with timber, set the timber on fire, and so +succeeded in bringing down a portion of the hard, tough massy +defence. + +'What became of the wild beasts in the base of the kitchen-tower, +dost know, Richard?' + +'I saw their cages,' answered Richard, 'but they were empty. I asked +what they were, and what had become of the animals, of which all the +country had heard, but no one could tell me. I asked them questions +until they began to puzzle themselves to answer them, and now I +believe all Gwent is divided between two opinions as to their +fate--one, that they are roaming the country, the other that lord +Herbert, as they still call him, has by his magic conveyed them away +to Ireland to assist him in a general massacre of the Protestants.' + +Mighty in mutual faith, neither politics, nor morals, nor even +theology was any more able to part those whose plain truth had +begotten absolute confidence. Strive they might, sin they could not, +against each other. They talked, wandering about, a long time, +forgetting, I am sorry to say, even their poor shivering horses, +which, after trying to console themselves with the renewal of a +friendship which a broad white line across Lady's face had for a +moment, on Dick's part, somewhat impeded, had become very restless. +At length an expostulatory whinny from Lady called Richard to his +duty, and with compunctions of heart the pair hurried to mount. They +rode home together in a bliss that would have been too deep almost +for conscious delight but that their animals were eager after +motion, and as now the surface of the fields had grown soft, they +turned into them, and a tremendous gallop soon brought their +gladness to the surface in great fountain throbs of joy. + + + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +AVE! VALE! SALVE! + + + + + +And now must I bury my dead out of my sight--bid farewell to the old +resplendent, stately, scarred, defiant Raglan, itself the grave of +many an old story, and the cradle of the new, and alas! in contrast +with the old, not merely the mechanical, but the unpoetic and +commonplace, yes vulgar era of our island's history. Little did lord +Herbert dream of the age he was initiating--of the irreverence and +pride and destruction that were about to follow in his footsteps, +wasting, defiling, scarring, obliterating, turning beauty into +ashes, and worse! That divine mechanics should thus, through +selfishness and avarice, be leagued with filth and squalor and +ugliness! When one looks upon Raglan, indignation rises--not at the +storm of iron which battered its walls to powder, hardly even at the +decree to level them with the dust, but at the later destroyer who +could desecrate the beauty yet left by wrath and fear, who with the +stones of my lady's chamber would build a kennel, or with the carved +stones of chapel or hall a barn or cowhouse! What would the inventor +of the water-commanding engine have said to the pollution of our +waters, the destruction of the very landmarks of our history, the +desecration of ruins that ought to be venerated for their loveliness +as well as their story! Would he not have broken it to pieces, that +the ruin it must occasion might not be laid to his charge? May all +such men as for the sake of money constitute themselves the creators +of ugliness, not to speak of far worse evils in the land, live--or +die, I care not which--to know in their own selves what a lovely +human Psyche lies hid even in the chrysalis of a railway-director, +and to loathe their past selves as an abomination--incredible but +that it had been. He who calls such a wish a curse, must undergo it +ere his being can be other than a blot. + +But this era too will pass, and truth come forth in forms new and +more lovely still. + +The living Raglan has gone from me, and before me rise the broken, +mouldering walls which are the monument of their own past. My heart +swells as I think of them, lonely in the deepening twilight, when +the ivy which has flung itself like a garment about the bareness of +their looped and windowed raggedness is but as darker streaks of the +all prevailing dusk, and the moon is gathering in the east. Fain +would the soul forsake the fettersome body for a season, to go +flitting hither and thither, alighting and flitting, like a bat or a +bird--now drawing itself slow along a moulding to taste its curve +and flow, now creeping into a cranny, and brooding and thinking back +till the fancy feels the tremble of an ancient kiss yet softly +rippling the air, or descries the dim stain which no tempest can +wash away. Ah, here is a stair! True there are but three steps, a +broken one and a fragment. What said I? See how the phantom-steps +continue it, winding up and up to the door of my lady's chamber! See +its polished floor, black as night, its walls rich with tapestry, +lovelily old, and harmoniously withered, for the ancient time had +its ancient times, and its things that had come down from solemn +antiquity--see the silver sconces, the tall mirrors, the part-open +window, long, low, carved latticed, and filled with lozenge panes of +the softest yellow green, in a multitude of shades! There stands my +lady herself, leaning from it, looking down into the court! Ah, +lovely lady! is not thy heart as the heart of my mother, my wife, my +daughters? Thou hast had thy troubles. I trust they are over now, +and that thou art satisfied with God for making thee! + +The vision fades, and the old walls rise like a broken cenotaph. But +the same sky, with its clouds never the same, hangs over them; the +same moon will fold them all night in a doubtful radiance, befitting +the things that dwell alone, and are all of other times, for she too +is but a ghost, a thing of the past, and her light is but the light +of memory; into the empty crannies blow the same winds that once +refreshed the souls of maiden and man-at-arms, only the yellow +flower that grew in its gardens now grows upon its walls. And +however the mind, or even the spirit of man may change, the heart +remains the same, and an effort to read the hearts of our +forefathers will help us to know the heart of our neighbour. + +Whoever cares to distinguish the bones of fact from the drapery of +invention in the foregone tale, will find them all in the late Mr. +Dirck's 'Life of the Marquis of Worcester,' and the 'Certamen +Religiosum' and 'Golden Apophthegms' of Dr. Bayly. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. George and St. Michael Vol. III +by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. GEORGE AND ST. MICHAEL *** + +This file should be named 5752.txt or 5752.zip + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks +and the Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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