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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/5753.txt b/5753.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..963c61d --- /dev/null +++ b/5753.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18131 @@ +Project Gutenberg's St. George and St. Michael, by George MacDonald + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. George and St. Michael + +Author: George MacDonald + +Posting Date: June 21, 2011 [EBook #5753] +Release Date: May, 2004 +[This file was first posted on August 23, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS 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 + +LONDON + +1876 + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. I. + + +CHAPTER I. DOROTHY AND RICHARD. + +CHAPTER II. RICHARD AND HIS FATHER. + +CHAPTER III. THE WITCH. + +CHAPTER IV. A CHAPTER OF FOOLS. + +CHAPTER V. ANIMADVERSIONS. + +CHAPTER VI. PREPARATIONS. + +CHAPTER VII. REFLECTIONS. + +CHAPTER VIII. AN ADVENTURE. + +CHAPTER IX. LOVE AND WAR. + +CHAPTER X. DOROTHY'S REFUGE. + +CHAPTER XI. RAGLAN CASTLE. + +CHAPTER XII. THE TWO MARQUISES. + +CHAPTER XIII. THE MAGICIAN'S VAULT. + +CHAPTER XIV. SEVERAL PEOPLE. + +CHAPTER XV. HUSBAND AND WIFE. + +CHAPTER XVI. DOROTHY'S INITIATION. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. II. + + +CHAPTER XVII. THE FIRE-ENGINE. + +CHAPTER XVIII. MOONLIGHT AND APPLE-BLOSSOMS. + +CHAPTER XIX. THE ENCHANTED CHAIR. + +CHAPTER XX. MOLLY AND THE WHITE HORSE. + +CHAPTER XXI. THE DAMSEL WHICH FELL SICK. + +CHAPTER XXII. THE CATARACT. + +CHAPTER XXIII. AMANDA--DOROTHY--LORD HERBERT. + +CHAPTER XXIV. THE GREAT MOGUL. + +CHAPTER XXV. RICHARD HEYWOOD. + +CHAPTER XXVI. THE WITCH'S COTTAGE. + +CHAPTER XXVII. THE MOAT OF THE KEEP. + +CHAPTER XXVIII. RAGLAN STABLES. + +CHAPTER XXIX. THE APPARITION. + +CHAPTER XXX. RICHARD AND THE MARQUIS. + +CHAPTER XXXI. THE SLEEPLESS. + +CHAPTER XXXII. THE TURRET CHAMBER. + +CHAPTER XXXIII. JUDGE GOUT. + +CHAPTER XXXIV. AN EVIL TIME. + +CHAPTER XXXV. THE DELIVERER. + +CHAPTER XXXVI. THE DISCOVERY. + +CHAPTER XXXVII. THE HOROSCOPE. + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE EXORCISM. + + + + +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 CASPAR. + +CHAPTER LVII. THE SKELETON. + +CHAPTER LVIII. LOVE AND NO LEASING. + +CHAPTER LIX. AVE! VALE! SALVE! + + + + +ST. GEORGE AND ST. MICHAEL. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +DOROTHY AND RICHARD. + + +It was the middle of autumn, and had rained all day. Through the +lozenge-panes of the wide oriel window the world appeared in the slowly +gathering dusk not a little dismal. The drops that clung trickling to +the dim glass added rain and gloom to the landscape beyond, whither the +eye passed, as if vaguely seeking that help in the distance, which the +dripping hollyhocks and sodden sunflowers bordering the little lawn, or +the honeysuckle covering the wide porch, from which the slow rain +dropped ceaselessly upon the pebble-paving below, could not give--steepy +slopes, hedge-divided into small fields, some green and dotted with red +cattle, others crowded with shocks of bedraggled and drooping corn, +which looked suffering and patient. + +The room to which the window having this prospect belonged was large and +low, with a dark floor of uncarpeted oak. It opened immediately upon the +porch, and although a good fire of logs blazed on the hearth, was chilly +to the sense of the old man, who, with his feet on the skin of a +fallow-deer, sat gazing sadly into the flames, which shone rosy through +the thin hands spread out before them. At the opposite corner of the +great low-arched chimney sat a lady past the prime of life, but still +beautiful, though the beauty was all but merged in the loveliness that +rises from the heart to the face of such as have taken the greatest step +in life--that is, as the old proverb says, the step out of doors. She +was plainly yet rather richly dressed, in garments of an old-fashioned +and well-preserved look. Her hair was cut short above her forehead, and +frizzed out in bunches of little curls on each side. On her head was a +covering of dark stuff, like a nun's veil, which fell behind and on her +shoulders. Close round her neck was a string of amber beads, that gave a +soft harmonious light to her complexion. Her dark eyes looked as if they +found repose there, so quietly did they rest on the face of the old man, +who was plainly a clergyman. It was a small, pale, thin, delicately and +symmetrically formed face, yet not the less a strong one, with endurance +on the somewhat sad brow, and force in the closed lips, while a good +conscience looked clear out of the grey eyes. + +They had been talking about the fast-gathering tide of opinion which, +driven on by the wind of words, had already begun to beat so furiously +against the moles and ramparts of Church and kingdom. The execution of +lord Strafford was news that had not yet begun to 'hiss the speaker.' + +'It is indeed an evil time,' said the old man. 'The world has seldom +seen its like.' + +'But tell me, master Herbert,' said the lady, 'why comes it in this our +day? For our sins or for the sins of our fathers?' + +'Be it far from me to presume to set forth the ways of Providence!' +returned her guest. 'I meddle not, like some that should be wiser, with +the calling of the prophet. It is enough for me to know that ever and +again the pride of man will gather to "a mighty and a fearful head," +and, like a swollen mill-pond overfed of rains, burst the banks that +confine it, whether they be the laws of the land or the ordinances of +the church, usurping on the fruitful meadows, the hope of life for man +and beast. Alas!' he went on, with a new suggestion from the image he +had been using, 'if the beginning of strife be as the letting out of +water, what shall be the end of that strife whose beginning is the +letting out of blood?' + +'Think you then, good sir, that thus it has always been? that such times +of fierce ungodly tempest must ever follow upon seasons of peace and +comfort?--even as your cousin of holy memory, in his verses concerning +the church militant, writes: + + "Thus also sin and darkness follow still + The church and sun, with all their power and skill."' + +'Truly it seems so. But I thank God the days of my pilgrimage are nearly +numbered. To judge by the tokens the wise man gives us, the mourners are +already going about my streets. The almond-tree flourisheth at least.' + +He smiled as he spoke, laying his hand on his grey head. + +'But think of those whom we must leave behind us, master Herbert. How +will it fare with them?' said the lady in troubled tone, and glancing in +the direction of the window. + +In the window sat a girl, gazing from it with the look of a child who +had uttered all her incantations, and could imagine no abatement in the +steady rain-pour. + +'We shall leave behind us strong hearts and sound heads too,' said Mr. +Herbert. 'And I bethink me there will be none stronger or sounder than +those of your young cousins, my late pupils, of whom I hear brave things +from Oxford, and in whose affection my spirit constantly rejoices.' + +'You will be glad to hear such good news of your relatives, Dorothy,' +said the lady, addressing her daughter. + +Even as she said the words, the setting sun broke through the mass of +grey cloud, and poured over the earth a level flood of radiance, in +which the red wheat glowed, and the drops that hung on every ear flashed +like diamonds. The girl's hair caught it as she turned her face to +answer her mother, and an aureole of brown-tinted gold gleamed for a +moment about her head. + +'I am glad that you are pleased, madam, but you know I have never seen +them--or heard of them, except from master Herbert, who has, indeed, +often spoke rare things of them.' + +'Mistress Dorothy will still know the reason why,' said the clergyman, +smiling, and the two resumed their conversation. But the girl rose, and, +turning again to the window, stood for a moment rapt in the +transfiguration passing upon the world. The vault of grey was utterly +shattered, but, gathering glory from ruin, was hurrying in rosy masses +away from under the loftier vault of blue. The ordered shocks upon +twenty fields sent their long purple shadows across the flush; and the +evening wind, like the sighing that follows departed tears, was shaking +the jewels from their feathery tops. The sunflowers and hollyhocks no +longer cowered under the tyranny of the rain, but bowed beneath the +weight of the gems that adorned them. A flame burned as upon an altar on +the top of every tree, and the very pools that lay on the distant road +had their message of light to give to the hopeless earth. As she gazed, +another hue than that of the sunset, yet rosy too, gradually flushed the +face of the maiden. She turned suddenly from the window, and left the +room, shaking a shower of diamonds from the honeysuckle as she passed +out through the porch upon the gravel walk. + +Possibly her elders found her departure a relief, for although they took +no notice of it, their talk became more confidential, and was soon +mingled with many names both of rank and note, with a familiarity which +to a stranger might have seemed out of keeping with the humbler +character of their surroundings. + +But when Dorothy Vaughan had passed a corner of the house to another +garden more ancient in aspect, and in some things quaint even to +grotesqueness, she was in front of a portion of the house which +indicated a far statelier past--closed and done with, like the rooms +within those shuttered windows. The inhabited wing she had left looked +like the dwelling of a yeoman farming his own land; nor did this +appearance greatly belie the present position of the family. For +generations it had been slowly descending in the scale of worldly +account, and the small portion of the house occupied by the widow and +daughter of sir Ringwood Vaughan was larger than their means could match +with correspondent outlay. Such, however, was the character of lady +Vaughan, that, although she mingled little with the great families in +the neighbourhood, she was so much respected, that she would have been a +welcome visitor to most of them. + +The reverend Mr. Matthew Herbert was a clergyman from the Welsh border, +a man of some note and influence, who had been the personal friend both +of his late relative George Herbert and of the famous Dr. Donne. +Strongly attached to the English church, and recoiling with disgust from +the practices of the puritans--as much, perhaps, from refinement of +taste as abhorrence of schism--he had never yet fallen into such a +passion for episcopacy as to feel any cordiality towards the schemes of +the archbishop. To those who knew him his silence concerning it was a +louder protest against the policy of Laud than the fiercest +denunciations of the puritans. Once only had he been heard to utter +himself unguardedly in respect of the primate, and that was amongst +friends, and after the second glass permitted of his cousin George. +'Tut! laud me no Laud,' he said. 'A skipping bishop is worse than a +skipping king.' Once also he had been overheard murmuring to himself by +way of consolement, 'Bishops pass; the church remains.' He had been a +great friend of the late sir Ringwood; and although the distance from +his parish was too great to be travelled often, he seldom let a year go +by without paying a visit to his friend's widow and daughter. + +Turning her back on the cenotaph of their former greatness, Dorothy +dived into a long pleached alley, careless of the drip from overhead, +and hurrying through it came to a circular patch of thin grass, rounded +by a lofty hedge of yew-trees, in the midst of which stood what had once +been a sun-dial. It mattered little, however, that only the stump of a +gnomon was left, seeing the hedge around it had grown to such a height +in relation to the diameter of the circle, that it was only for a very +brief hour or so in the middle of a summer's day, when, of all periods, +the passage of Time seems least to concern humanity, that it could have +served to measure his march. The spot had, indeed, a time-forsaken look, +as if it lay buried in the bosom of the past, and the present had +forgotten it. + +Before emerging from the alley, she slackened her pace, half-stopped, +and, stooping a little in her tucked-up skirt, threw a bird-like glance +around the opener space; then stepping into it, she looked up to the +little disc of sky, across which the clouds, their roses already +withered, sailed dim and grey once more, while behind them the stars +were beginning to recall their half-forgotten message from regions +unknown to men. A moment, and she went up to the dial, stood there for +another moment, and was on the point of turning to leave the spot, when, +as if with one great bound, a youth stood between her and the entrance +of the alley. + +'Ah ha, mistress Dorothy, you do not escape me so!' he cried, spreading +out his arms as if to turn back some runaway creature. + +But mistress Dorothy was startled, and mistress Dorothy did not choose +to be startled, and therefore mistress Dorothy was dignified, if not +angry. + +'I do not like such behaviour, Richard,' she said. 'It ill suits with +the time. Why did you hide behind the hedge, and then leap forth so +rudely?' + +'I thought you saw me,' answered the youth. 'Pardon my heedlessness, +Dorothy. I hope I have not startled you too much.' + +As he spoke he stooped over the hand he had caught, and would have +carried it to his lips, but the girl, half-pettishly, snatched it away, +and, with a strange mixture of dignity, sadness, and annoyance in her +tone, said-- + +'There has been something too much of this, Richard, and I begin to be +ashamed of it.' + +'Ashamed!' echoed the youth. 'Of what? There is nothing but me to be +ashamed of, and what can I have done since yesterday?' + +'No, Richard; I am not ashamed of you, but I am ashamed of--of--this way +of meeting--and--and----' + +'Surely that is strange, when we can no more remember the day in which +we have not met than that in which we met first! No, dear Dorothy----' + +'It is not our meeting, Richard; and if you would but think as honestly +as you speak, you would not require to lay upon me the burden of +explanation. It is this foolish way we have got into of late--kissing +hands--and--and--always meeting by the old sun-dial, or in some other +over-quiet spot. Why do you not come to the house? My mother would give +you the same welcome as any time these last--how many years, Richard?' + +'Are you quite sure of that, Dorothy?' + +'Well--I did fancy she spoke with something more of ceremony the last +time you met. But, consider, she has seen so much less of you of late. +Yet I am sure she has all but a mother's love in her heart towards you. +For your mother was dear to her as her own soul.' + +'I would it were so, Dorothy! For then, perhaps, your mother would not +shrink from being my mother too. When we are married, Dorothy--' + +'Married!' exclaimed the girl. 'What of marrying, indeed!' And she +turned sideways from him with an indignant motion. 'Richard,' she went +on, after a marked and yet but momentary pause, for the youth had not +had time to say a word, 'it has been very wrong in me to meet you after +this fashion. I know it now, for see what such things lead to! If you +knew it, you have done me wrong.' + +'Dearest Dorothy!' exclaimed the youth, taking her hand again, of which +this time she seemed hardly aware, 'did you not know from the very +vanished first that I loved you with all my heart, and that to tell you +so would have been to tell the sun that he shines warm at noon in +midsummer? And I did think you had a little--something for me, Dorothy, +your old playmate, that you did not give to every other acquaintance. +Think of the houses we have built and the caves we have dug together--of +our rabbits, and urchins, and pigeons, and peacocks!' + +'We are children no longer,' returned Dorothy. 'To behave as if we were +would be to keep our eyes shut after we are awake. I like you, Richard, +you know; but why this--where is the use of all this--new sort of thing? +Come up with me to the house, where master Herbert is now talking to my +mother in the large parlour. The good man will be glad to see you.' + +'I doubt it, Dorothy. He and my father, as I am given to understand, +think so differently in respect of affairs now pending betwixt the +parliament and the king, that--' + +'It were more becoming, Richard, if the door of your lips opened to the +king first, and let the parliament follow.' + +'Well said!' returned the youth with a smile. 'But let it be my excuse +that I speak as I am wont to hear.' + +The girl's hand had lain quiet in that of the youth, but now it started +from it like a scared bird. She stepped two paces back, and drew herself +up. + +'And you, Richard?' she said, interrogatively. + +'What would you ask, Dorothy?' returned the youth, taking a step nearer, +to which she responded by another backward ere she replied. + +'I would know whom you choose to serve--whether God or Satan; whether +you are of those who would set at nought the laws of the land----' + +'Insist on their fulfilment, they say, by king as well as people,' +interrupted Richard. + +'They would tear their mother in pieces----' + +'Their mother!' repeated Richard, bewildered. + +'Their mother, the church,' explained Dorothy. + +'Oh!' said Richard. 'Nay, they would but cast out of her the wolves in +sheep's clothing that devour the lambs.' + +The girl was silent. Anger glowed on her forehead and flashed from her +grey eyes. She stood one moment, then turned to leave him, but half +turned again to say scornfully-- + +'I must go at once to my mother! I knew not I had left her with such a +wolf as master Herbert is like to prove!' + +'Master Herbert is no bishop, Dorothy!' + +'The bishops, then, are the wolves, master Heywood?' said the girl, with +growing indignation. + +'Dear Dorothy, I am but repeating what I hear. For my own part, I know +little of these matters. And what are they to us if we love one +another?' + +'I tell you I am a child no longer,' flamed Dorothy. + +'You were seventeen last St. George's Day, and I shall be nineteen next +St. Michael's.' + +'St. George for merry England!' cried Dorothy. + +'St. Michael for the Truth!' cried Richard. + +'So be it. Good-bye, then,' said the girl, going. + +'What DO you mean, Dorothy?' said Richard; and she stood to hear, but +with her back towards him, and, as it were, hovering midway in a pace. +'Did not St. Michael also slay his dragon? Why should the knights part +company? Believe me, Dorothy, I care more for a smile from you than for +all the bishops in the church, or all the presbyters out of it.' + +'You take needless pains to prove yourself a foolish boy, Richard; and +if I go not to my mother at once, I fear I shall learn to despise +you--which I would not willingly.' + +'Despise me! Do you take me for a coward then, Dorothy?' + +'I say not that. I doubt not, for the matter of swords and pistols, you +are much like other male creatures; but I protest I could never love a +man who preferred my company to the service of his king.' + +She glided into the alley and sped along its vaulted twilight, her white +dress gleaming and clouding by fits as she went. + +The youth stood for a moment petrified, then started to overtake her, +but stood stock-still at the entrance of the alley, and followed her +only with his eyes as she went. + +When Dorothy reached the house, she did not run up to her room that she +might weep unseen. She was still too much annoyed with Richard to regret +having taken such leave of him. She only swallowed down a little +balloonful of sobs, and went straight into the parlour, where her mother +and Mr. Herbert still sat, and resumed her seat in the bay window. Her +heightened colour, an occasional toss of her head backwards, like that +with which a horse seeks ease from the bearing-rein, generally followed +by a renewal of the attempt to swallow something of upward tendency, +were the only signs of her discomposure, and none of them were observed +by her mother or her guest. Could she have known, however, what feelings +had already begun to rouse themselves in the mind of him whose +boyishness was an offence to her, she would have found it more difficult +to keep such composure. + +Dorothy's was a face whose forms were already so decided that, should no +softening influences from the central regions gain the ascendancy, +beyond a doubt age must render it hard and unlovely. In all the +roundness and freshness of girlhood, it was handsome rather than +beautiful, beautiful rather than lovely. And yet it was strongly +attractive, for it bore clear indication of a nature to be trusted. If +her grey eyes were a little cold, they were honest eyes, with a rare +look of steadfastness; and if her lips were a little too closely +pressed, it was clearly from any cause rather than bad temper. Neither +head, hands, nor feet were small, but they were fine in form and +movement; and for the rest of her person, tall and strong as Richard +was, Dorothy looked further advanced in the journey of life than he. + +She needed hardly, however, have treated his indifference to the +politics of the time with so much severity, seeing her own acquaintance +with and interest in them dated from that same afternoon, during which, +from lack of other employment, and the weariness of a long morning of +slow, dismal rain, she had been listening to Mr. Herbert as he dwelt +feelingly on the arrogance of puritan encroachment, and the grossness of +presbyterian insolence both to kingly prerogative and episcopal +authority, and drew a touching picture of the irritant thwartings and +pitiful insults to which the gentle monarch was exposed in his attempts +to support the dignity of his divine office, and to cast its protecting +skirt over the defenceless church; and if it was with less sympathy that +he spoke of the fears which haunted the captive metropolitan, Dorothy at +least could detect no hidden sarcasm in the tone in which he expressed +his hope that Laud's devotion to the beauty of holiness might not result +in the dignity of martyrdom, as might well be feared by those who were +assured that the whole guilt of Strafford lay in his return to his duty, +and his subsequent devotion to the interests of his royal master: to all +this the girl had listened, and her still sufficiently uncertain +knowledge of the affairs of the nation had, ere the talk was over, +blossomed in a vague sense of partizanship. It was chiefly her desire +after the communion of sympathy with Richard that had led her into the +mistake of such a hasty disclosure of her new feelings. + +But her following words had touched him--whether to fine issues or not +remained yet poised on the knife-edge of the balancing will. His first +emotion partook of anger. As soon as she was out of sight a spell seemed +broken, and words came. + +'A boy, indeed, mistress Dorothy!' he said. 'If ever it come to what +certain persons prophesy, you may wish me in truth, and that for the +sake of your precious bishops, the boy you call me now. Yes, you are +right, mistress, though I would it had been another who told me so! Boy +indeed I am--or have been--without a thought in my head but of her. The +sound of my father's voice has been but as the wind of the winnowing +fan. In me it has found but chaff. If you will have me take a side, +though, you will find me so far worthy of you that I shall take the side +that seems to me the right one, were all the fair Dorothies of the +universe on the other. In very truth I should be somewhat sorry to find +the king and the bishops in the right, lest my lady should flatter +herself and despise me that I had chosen after her showing, forsooth! +This is master Herbert's doing, for never before did I hear her speak +after such fashion.' + +While he thus spoke with himself, he stood, like the genius of the spot, +a still dusky figure on the edge of the night, into which his dress of +brown velvet, rich and sombre at once in the sunlight, all but merged. +Nearly for the first time in his life he was experiencing the difficulty +of making up his mind, not, however, upon any of the important +questions, his inattention to which had exposed him to such sudden and +unexpected severity, but merely as to whether he should seek her again +in the company of her mother and Mr. Herbert, or return home. The result +of his deliberation, springing partly, no doubt, from anger, but that of +no very virulent type, was, that he turned his back on the alley, passed +through a small opening in the yew hedge, crossed a neglected corner of +woodland, by ways better known to him than to any one else, and came out +upon the main road leading to the gates of his father's park. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +RICHARD AND HIS FATHER. + + +Richard Heywood, as to bodily fashion, was a tall and already powerful +youth. The clear brown of his complexion spoke of plentiful sunshine and +air. A merry sparkle in the depths of his hazel eyes relieved the +shadows of rather notably heavy lids, themselves heavily +overbrowed--with a suggestion of character which had not yet asserted +itself to those who knew him best. Correspondingly, his nose, although +of a Greek type, was more notable for substance than clearness of line +or modelling; while his lips had a boyish fulness along with a +definiteness of bow-like curve, which manly resolve had not yet begun to +compress and straighten out. His chin was at least large enough not to +contradict the promise of his face; his shoulders were square, and his +chest and limbs well developed: altogether it was at present a fair +tabernacle--of whatever sort the indwelling divinity might yet turn out, +fashioning it further after his own nature. + +His father and he were the only male descendants of an old Monmouthshire +family, of neither Welsh nor Norman, but as pure Saxon blood as might be +had within the clip of the ocean. Roger, the father, had once only or +twice in his lifetime been heard boast, in humorous fashion, that +although but a simple squire, he could, on this side the fog of +tradition, which nearer or further shrouds all origin, count a longer +descent than any of the titled families in the county, not excluding the +earl of Worcester himself. His character also would have gone far to +support any assertion he might have chosen to make as to the purity of +his strain. A notable immobility of nature--his friends called it +firmness, his enemies obstinacy; a seeming disregard of what others +might think of him; a certain sternness of manner--an unreadiness, as it +were, to open his door to the people about him; a searching regard with +which he was wont to peruse the face of anyone holding talk with him, +when he seemed always to give heed to the looks rather than the words of +him who spoke; these peculiarities had combined to produce a certain awe +of him in his inferiors, and a dislike, not unavowed, in his equals. +With his superiors he came seldom in contact, and to them his behaviour +was still more distant and unbending. But, although from these causes he +was far from being a favourite in the county, he was a man of such known +and acknowledged probity that, until of late, when party spirit ran high +and drew almost everybody, whether of consequence or not, to one side or +the other, there was nobody who would not have trusted Roger Heywood to +the uttermost. Even now, foes as well as friends acknowledged that he +was to be depended upon; while his own son looked up to him with a +reverence that in some measure overshadowed his affection. Such a +character as this had necessarily been slow in formation, and the +opinions which had been modified by it and had reacted upon it, had been +as unalterably as deliberately adopted. But affairs had approached a +crisis between king and parliament before one of his friends knew that +there were in his mind any opinions upon them in process of +formation--so reserved and monosyllabic had been his share in any +conversation upon topics which had for a long time been growing every +hour of more and more absorbing interest to all men either of +consequence, intelligence, property, or adventure. At last, however, it +had become clear, to the great annoyance of not a few amongst his +neighbours, that Heywood's leanings were to the parliament. But he had +never yet sought to influence his son in regard to the great questions +at issue. + +His house was one of those ancient dwellings which have grown under the +hands to fit the wants of successive generations, and look as if they +had never been other than old; two-storied at most, and many-gabled, +with marvellous accretions and projections, the haunts of yet more +wonderful shadows. There, in a room he called his study, shabby and +small, containing a library more notable for quality and selection than +size, Richard the next morning sought and found him. + +'Father!' he said, entering with some haste after the usual request for +admission. + +'I am here, my son,' answered Roger, without lifting his eyes from the +small folio in which he was reading. + +'I want to know, father, whether, when men differ, a man is bound to +take a side.' + +'Nay, Richard, but a man is bound NOT to take a side save upon reasons +well considered and found good.' + +'It may be, father, if you had seen fit to send me to Oxford, I should +have been better able to judge now.' + +'I had my reasons, son Richard. Readier, perhaps, you might have been, +but fitter--no. Tell me what points you have in question.' + +'That I can hardly say, sir. I only know there are points at issue +betwixt king and parliament which men appear to consider of mightiest +consequence. Will you tell me, father, why you have never instructed me +in these affairs of church and state? I trust it is not because you +count me unworthy of your confidence.' + +'Far from it, my son. My silence hath respect to thy hearing and to the +judgment yet unawakened in thee. Who would lay in the arms of a child +that which must crush him to the earth? Years did I take to meditate ere +I resolved, and I know not yet if thou hast in thee the power of +meditation.' + +'At least, father, I could try to understand, if you would unfold your +mind.' + +'When you know what the matters at issue are, my son,--that is, when you +are able to ask me questions worthy of answer, I shall be ready to +answer thee, so far as my judgment will reach.' + +'I thank you, father. In the meantime I am as one who knocks, and the +door is not opened unto him.' + +'Rather art thou as one who loiters on the door-step, and lifts up +neither ring nor voice.' + +'Surely, sir, I must first know the news.' + +'Thou hast ears; keep them open. But at least you know, my son, that on +the twelfth day of May last my lord of Strafford lost his head.' + +'Who took it from him, sir? King or parliament?' + +'Even that might be made a question; but I answer, the High Court of +Parliament, my son.' + +'Was the judgment a right one or a wrong, sir? Did he deserve the doom?' + +'Ah, there you put a question indeed! Many men say RIGHT, and many men +say WRONG. One man, I doubt me much, was wrong in the share HE bore +therein.' + +'Who was he, sir?' + +'Nay, nay, I will not forestall thine own judgment. But, in good sooth, +I might be more ready to speak my mind, were it not that I greatly doubt +some of those who cry loudest for liberty. I fear that had they once the +power, they would be the first to trample her under foot. Liberty with +some men means MY liberty to do, and THINE to suffer. But all in good +time, my son! The dawn is nigh.' + +'You will tell me at least, father, what is the bone of contention?' + +'My son, where there is contention, a bone shall not fail. It is but a +leg-bone now; it will be a rib to-morrow, and by and by doubtless it +will be the skull itself.' + +'If you care for none of these things, sir, will not master Flowerdew +have a hard name for you? I know not what it means, but it sounds of the +gallows,' said Richard, looking rather doubtful as to how his father +might take it. + +'Possibly, my son, I care more for the contention than the bone, for +while thieves quarrel honest men go their own ways. But what ignorance I +have kept thee in, and yet left thee to bear the reproach of a puritan!' +said the father, smiling grimly. 'Thou meanest master Flowerdew would +call me a Gallio, and thou takest the Roman proconsul for a +gallows-bird! Verily thou art not destined to prolong the renown of thy +race for letters. I marvel what thy cousin Thomas would say to the +darkness of thy ignorance.' + +'See what comes of not sending me to Oxford, sir: I know not who is my +cousin Thomas.' + +'A man both of learning and wisdom, my son, though I fear me his diet is +too strong for the stomach of this degenerate age, while the dressing of +his dishes is, on the other hand, too cunningly devised for their +liking. But it is no marvel thou shouldest be ignorant of him, being as +yet no reader of books. Neither is he a close kinsman, being of the +Lincolnshire branch of the Heywoods.' + +'Now I know whom you mean, sir; but I thought he was a writer of stage +plays, and such things as on all sides I hear called foolish, and +mummery.' + +'There be among those who call themselves the godly, who will endure no +mummery but of their own inventing. Cousin Thomas hath written a +multitude of plays, but that he studied at Cambridge, and to good +purpose, this book, which I was reading when you entered, bears good +witness.' + +'What is the book, father?' + +'Stay, I will read thee a portion. The greater part is of learning +rather than wisdom--the gathered opinions of the wise and good +concerning things both high and strange; but I will read thee some +verses bearing his own mind, which is indeed worthy to be set down with +theirs.' + +He read that wonderful poem ending the second Book of the Hierarchy, and +having finished it looked at his son. + +'I do not understand it, sir,' said Richard. + +'I did not expect you would,' returned his father. 'Here, take the book, +and read for thyself. If light should dawn upon the page, as thou +readest, perhaps thou wilt understand what I now say--that I care but +little for the bones concerning which king and parliament contend, but I +do care that men--thou and I, my son--should be free to walk in any path +whereon it may please God to draw us. Take the book, my son, and read +again. But read no farther save with caution, for it dealeth with many +things wherein old Thomas is too readily satisfied with hearsay for +testimony.' + +Richard took the small folio and carried it to his own chamber, where he +read and partly understood the poem. But he was not ripe enough either +in philosophy or religion for such meditations. Having executed his +task, for as such he regarded it, he turned to look through the strange +mixture of wisdom and credulity composing the volume. One tale after +another, of witch, and demon, and magician, firmly believed and honestly +recorded by his worthy relative, drew him on, until he sat forgetful of +everything but the world of marvels before him--to none of which, +however, did he accord a wider credence than sprung from the interest of +the moment. He was roused by a noise of quarrel in the farmyard, towards +which his window looked, and, laying aside reading, hastened out to +learn the cause. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE WITCH. + + +It was a bright Autumn morning. A dry wind had been blowing all night +through the shocks, and already some of the farmers had begun to carry +to their barns the sheaves which had stood hopelessly dripping the day +before. Ere Richard reached the yard, he saw, over the top of the wall, +the first load of wheat-sheaves from the harvest-field, standing at the +door of the barn, and high-uplifted thereon the figure of Faithful +Stopchase, one of the men, a well-known frequenter of puritan assemblies +all the country round, who was holding forth, and that with much +freedom, in tones that sounded very like vituperation, if not +malediction, against some one invisible. He soon found that the object +of his wrath was a certain Welshwoman, named Rees, by her neighbours +considered objectionable on the ground of witchcraft, against whom this +much could with truth be urged, that she was so far from thinking it +disreputable, that she took no pains to repudiate the imputation of it. +Her dress, had it been judged by eyes of our day, would have been +against her, but it was only old-fashioned, not even antiquated: common +in Queen Elizabeth's time, it lingered still in remote country places--a +gown of dark stuff, made with a long waist and short skirt over a huge +farthingale; a ruff which stuck up and out, high and far, from her +throat; and a conical Welsh hat invading the heavens. Stopchase, having +descried her in the yard, had taken the opportunity of breaking out upon +her in language as far removed from that of conventional politeness as +his puritanical principles would permit. Doubtless he considered it a +rebuking of Satan, but forgot that, although one of the godly, he could +hardly on that ground lay claim to larger privilege in the use of bad +language than the archangel Michael. For the old woman, although too +prudent to reply, she scorned to flee, and stood regarding him fixedly. +Richard sought to interfere and check the torrent of abuse, but it had +already gathered so much head, that the man seemed even unaware of his +attempt. Presently, however, he began to quail in the midst of his +storming. The green eyes of the old woman, fixed upon him, seemed to be +slowly fascinating him. At length, in the very midst of a volley of +scriptural epithets, he fell suddenly silent, turned from her, and, with +the fork on which he had been leaning, began to pitch the sheaves into +the barn. The moment he turned his back, Goody Rees turned hers, and +walked slowly away. + +She had scarcely reached the yard gate, however, before the cow-boy, a +delighted spectator and auditor of the affair, had loosed the fierce +watch-dog, which flew after her. Fortunately Richard saw what took +place, but the animal, which was generally chained up, did not heed his +recall, and the poor woman had already felt his teeth, when Richard got +him by the throat. She looked pale and frightened, but kept her +composure wonderfully, and when Richard, who was prejudiced in her +favour from having once heard Dorothy speak friendlily to her, expressed +his great annoyance that she should have been so insulted on his +father's premises, received his apologies with dignity and good faith. +He dragged the dog back, rechained him, and was in the act of +administering sound and righteous chastisement to the cow-boy, when +Stopchase staggered, tumbled off the cart, and falling upon his head, +lay motionless. Richard hurried to him, and finding his neck twisted and +his head bent to one side, concluded he was killed. The woman who had +accompanied him from the field stood for a moment uttering loud cries, +then, suddenly bethinking herself, sped after the witch. Richard was +soon satisfied he could do nothing for him. + +Presently the woman came running back, followed at a more leisurely pace +by Goody Rees, whose countenance was grave, and, even to the twitch +about her mouth, inscrutable. She walked up to where the man lay, looked +at him for a moment or two as if considering his case, then sat down on +the ground beside him, and requested Richard to move him so that his +head should lie on her lap. This done, she laid hold of it, with a hand +on each ear, and pulled at his neck, at the same time turning his head +in the right direction. There came a snap, and the neck was straight. +She then began to stroke it with gentle yet firm hand. In a few moments +he began to breathe. As soon as she saw his chest move, she called for a +wisp of hay, and having shaped it a little, drew herself from under his +head, substituting the hay. Then rising without a word she walked from +the yard. Stopchase lay for a while, gradually coming to himself, then +scrambled all at once to his feet, and staggered to his pitchfork, which +lay where it had fallen. 'It is of the mercy of the Lord that I fell not +upon the prongs of the pitchfork,' he said, as he slowly stooped and +lifted it. He had no notion that he had lain more than a few seconds; +and of the return of Goody Rees and her ministrations he knew nothing; +while such an awe of herself and her influences had she left behind her, +that neither the woman nor the cow-boy ventured to allude to her, and +even Richard, influenced partly, no doubt, by late reading, was more +inclined to think than speak about her. For the man himself, little +knowing how close death had come to him, but inwardly reproached because +of his passionate outbreak, he firmly believed that he had had a narrow +escape from the net of the great fowler, whose decoy the old woman was, +commissioned not only to cause his bodily death, but to work in him +first such a frame of mind as should render his soul the lawful prey of +the enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A CHAPTER OF FOOLS. + + +The same afternoon, as it happened, a little company of rustics, who had +just issued from the low hatch-door of the village inn, stood for a +moment under the sign of the Crown and Mitre, which swung huskily +creaking from the bough of an ancient thorn tree, then passed on to the +road, and took their way together. + +'Hope you then,' said one of them, as continuing their previous +conversation, 'that we shall escape unhurt? It is a parlous business. +Not as one of us is afeard as I knows on. But the old earl, he do have a +most unregenerate temper, and you had better look to 't, my masters.' + +'I tell thee, master Upstill, it's not the old earl as I'm afeard on, +but the young lord. For thou knows as well as ere a one it be not +without cause that men do call him a wizard, for a wizard he be, and +that of the worst sort.' + +'We shall be out again afore sundown, shannot we?' said another. 'That I +trust.' + +'Up to the which hour the High Court of Parliament assembled will have +power to protect its own--eh, John Croning?' + +'Nay, that I cannot tell. It be a parlous job, and for mine own part, +whether for the love I bear to the truth, or the hatred I cherish toward +the scarlet Antichrist, with her seven tails--' + +'Tush, tush, John! Seven heads, man, and ten horns. Those are the +numbers master Flowerdew read.' + +'Nay, I know not for your horns; but for the rest I say seven tails. Did +not honest master Flowerdew set forth unto us last meeting that the +scarlet woman sat upon seven hills--eh? Have with you there, master +Sycamore!' + +'Well, for the sake of sound argument, I grant you. But we ha' got to do +with no heads nor no tails, neither--save and except as you may say the +sting is in the tail; and then, or I greatly mistake, it's not seven +times seven as will serve to count the stings, come of the tails what +may.' + +'Very true,' said another; 'it be the stings and not the tails we want +news of. But think you his lordship will yield them up without +gainsaying to us the messengers of the High Parliament now assembled?' + +'For mine own part,' said John Croning, 'though I fear it come of the +old Adam yet left in me, I do count it a sorrowful thing that the earl +should be such a vile recusant. He never fails with a friendly word, or +it may be a jest--a foolish jest--but honest, for any one gentle or +simple he may meet. More than once has he boarded me in that fashion. +What do you think he said to me, now, one day as I was a mowin' of the +grass in the court, close by the white horse that spout up the water +high as a house from his nose-drills? Says he to me--for he come down +the grand staircase, and steps out and spies me at the work with my old +scythe, and come across to me, and says he, "Why, Thomas," says he, not +knowin' of my name, "Why, Thomas," says he, "you look like old Time +himself a mowing of us all down," says he. "For sure, my lord," says I, +"your lordship reads it aright, for all flesh is grass, and all the +glory of man is as the flower of the field." He look humble at that, +for, great man as he be, his earthly tabernacle, though more than +sizeable, is but a frail one, and that he do know. And says he, "Where +did you read that, Thomas?" "I am not a larned man, please your +lordship," says I, "and I cannot honestly say I read it nowheres, but I +heerd the words from a book your lordship have had news of: they do call +it the Holy Bible. But they tell me that they of your lordship's +persuasion like it not." "You are very much mistaken there, Thomas," +says he. "I read my Bible most days, only not the English Bible, which +is full of errors, but the Latin, which is all as God gave it," says he. +And thereby I had not where to answer withal.' + +'I fear you proved a poor champion of the truth, master Croning.' + +'Confess now, Cast-down Upstill, had he not both sun and wind of +me--standing, so to say, on his own hearth-stone? Had it not been so, I +could have called hard names with the best of you, though that is by +rights the gift of the preachers of the truth. See how the good master +Flowerdew excelleth therein, sprinkling them abroad from the +watering-pot of the gospel. Verily, when my mind is too feeble to grasp +his argument, my memory lays fast hold upon the hard names, and while I +hold by them, I have it all in a nutshell.' + +Fortified occasionally by a pottle of ale, and keeping their spirits +constantly stirred by much talking, they had been all day occupied in +searching the Catholic houses of the neighbourhood for arms. What +authority they had for it never came to be clearly understood. Plainly +they believed themselves possessed of all that was needful, or such men +would never have dared it. As it was, they prosecuted it with such a +bold front, that not until they were gone did it occur to some, who had +yielded what arms they possessed, to question whether they had done +wisely in acknowledging such fellows as parliamentary officials without +demanding their warrant. Their day's gleanings up to this point--of +swords and pikes, guns and pistols, they had left in charge of the host +of the inn whence they had just issued, and were now bent on crowning +their day's triumph with a supreme act of daring--the renown of which +they enlarged in their own imaginations, while undermining the courage +needful for its performance, by enhancing its terrors as they went. + +At length two lofty hexagonal towers appeared, and the consciousness +that the final test of their resolution drew nigh took immediate form in +a fluttering at the heart, which, however, gave no outward sign but that +of silence; and indeed they were still too full of the importance of +unaccustomed authority to fear any contempt for it on the part of +others. + +It happened that at this moment Raglan Castle was full of merry-making +upon occasion of the marriage of one of lady Herbert's +waiting-gentlewomen to an officer of the household; and in these +festivities the earl of Worcester and all his guests were taking a part. + +Among the numerous members of the household was one who, from being a +turnspit, had risen, chiefly in virtue of an immovably lugubrious +expression of countenance, to be the earl's fool. From this peculiarity +his fellow-servants had given him the nickname of The Hangman; but the +man himself had chosen the role of a puritan parson, as affording the +best ground-work for the display of a humour suitable to the expression +of countenance with which his mother had endowed him. That mother was +Goody Rees, concerning whom, as already hinted, strange things were +whispered. In the earlier part of his career the fool had not +unfrequently found his mother's reputation a sufficient shelter from +persecution; and indeed there might have been reason to suppose that it +was for her son's sake she encouraged her own evil repute, a distinction +involving considerable risk, seeing the time had not yet arrived when +the disbelief in such powers was sufficiently advanced for the safety of +those reported to possess them. In her turn, however, she ran a risk +somewhat less than ordinary from the fact that her boy was a domestic in +the family of one whose eldest son, the heir to the earldom, lay under a +similar suspicion; for not a few of the household were far from +satisfied that lord Herbert's known occupations in the Yellow Tower were +not principally ostensible, and that he and his man had nothing to do +with the black art, or some other of the many regions of occult science +in which the ambition after unlawful power may hopefully exercise +itself. + +Upon occasion of a family fete, merriment was in those days carried +further, on the part of both masters and servants, than in the greatly +altered relations and conditions of the present day would be desirable, +or, indeed, possible. In this instance, the fun broke out in the +arranging of a mock marriage between Thomas Rees, commonly called Tom +Fool, and a young girl who served under the cook. Half the jest lay in +the contrast between the long face of the bridegroom, both congenitally +and wilfully miserable, and that of the bride, broad as a harvest moon, +and rosy almost to purple. The bridegroom never smiled, and spoke with +his jaws rather than his lips; while the bride seldom uttered a syllable +without grinning from ear to ear, and displaying a marvellous +appointment of huge and brilliant teeth. Entering solemnly into the +joke, Tom expressed himself willing to marry the girl, but represented, +as an insurmountable difficulty, that he had no clothes for the +occasion. Thereupon the earl, drawing from his pocket his bunch of keys, +directed him to go and take what he liked from his wardrobe. Now the +earl was a man of large circumference, and the fool as lank in person as +in countenance. + +Tom took the keys and was some time gone, during which many conjectures +were hazarded as to the style in which he would choose to appear. When +he re-entered the great hall, where the company was assembled, the roar +of laughter which followed his appearance made the glass of its great +cupola ring again. For not merely was he dressed in the earl's beaver +hat and satin cloak, splendid with plush and gold and silver lace, but +he had indued a corresponding suit of his clothes as well, even to his +silk stockings, garters, and roses, and with the help of many pillows +and other such farcing, so filled the garments which otherwise had hung +upon him like a shawl from a peg, and made of himself such a 'sweet +creature of bombast' that, with ludicrous unlikeness of countenance, he +bore in figure no distant resemblance to the earl himself. + +Meantime lady Elizabeth had been busy with the scullery-maid, whom she +had attired in a splendid brocade of her grandmother's, with all +suitable belongings of ruff, high collar, and lace wings, such as Queen +Elizabeth is represented with in Oliver's portrait. Upon her appearance, +a few minutes after Tom's, the laughter broke out afresh, in redoubled +peals, and the merriment was at its height, when the warder of one of +the gates entered and whispered in his master's ear the arrival of the +bumpkins, and their mission announced, he informed his lordship, with +all the importance and dignity they knew how to assume. The earl burst +into a fresh laugh. But presently it quavered a little and ceased, while +over the amusement still beaming on his countenance gathered a slight +shade of anxiety, for who could tell what tempest such a mere whirling +of straws might not forerun? + +A few words of the warder's had reached Tom where he stood a little +aside, his solemn countenance radiating disapproval of the tumultuous +folly around him. He took three strides towards the earl. + +'Wherein lieth the new jest?' he asked, with dignity. + +'A set of country louts, my lord,' answered the earl, 'are at the gate, +affirming the right of search in this your lordship's house of Raglan.' + +'For what?' + +'Arms, my lord.' + +'And wherefore? On what ground?' + +'On the ground that your lordship is a vile recusant--a papist, and +therefore a traitor, no doubt, although they use not the word,' said the +earl. + +'I shall be round with them,' said Tom, embracing the assumed +proportions in front of him, and turning to the door. + +Ere the earl had time to conceive his intent, he had hurried from the +hall, followed by fresh shouts of laughter. For he had forgotten to +stuff himself behind, and, when the company caught sight of his back as +he strode out, the tenuity of the foundation for such a 'huge hill of +flesh' was absurd as Falstaff's ha'p'orth of bread to the 'intolerable +deal of sack.' + +But the next moment the earl had caught the intended joke, and although +a trifle concerned about the affair, was of too mirth-loving a nature to +interfere with Tom's project, the result of which would doubtless be +highly satisfactory--at least to those not primarily concerned. He +instantly called for silence, and explained to the assembly what he +believed to be Tom Fool's intent, and as there was nothing to be seen +from the hall, the windows of which were at a great height from the +floor, and Tom's scheme would be fatally imperilled by the visible +presence of spectators, from some at least of whom gravity of demeanour +could not be expected, gave hasty instructions to several of his sons +and daughters to disperse the company to upper windows having a view of +one or the other court, for no one could tell where the fool's humour +might find its principal arena. The next moment, in the plain dress of +rough brownish cloth, which he always wore except upon state occasions, +he followed the fool to the gate, where he found him talking through the +wicket-grating to the rustics, who, having passed drawbridge and +portcullises, of which neither the former had been raised nor the latter +lowered for many years, now stood on the other side of the gate +demanding admittance. In the parley, Tom Fool was imitating his master's +voice and every one of the peculiarities of his speech to perfection, +addressing them with extreme courtesy, as if he took them for gentlemen +of no ordinary consideration,--a point in his conception of his part +which he never forgot throughout the whole business. To the dismay of +his master he was even more than admitting, almost boasting, that there +was an enormous quantity of weapons in the castle--sufficient at least +to arm ten thousand horsemen!--a prodigious statement, for, at the +uttermost, there was not more than the tenth part of that amount--still +a somewhat larger provision no doubt than the intruders had expected to +find! The pseudo-earl went on to say that the armoury consisted of one +strong room only, the door of which was so cunningly concealed and +secured that no one but himself knew where it was, or if found could +open it. But such he said was his respect to the will of the most august +parliament, that he would himself conduct them to the said armoury, and +deliver over upon the spot into their safe custody the whole mass of +weapons to carry away with them. And thereupon he proceeded to open the +gate. + +By this time the door of the neighbouring guard-room was crowded with +the heads of eager listeners, but the presence of the earl kept them +quiet, and at a sign from him they drew back ere the men entered. The +earl himself took a position where he would be covered by the opening +wicket. + +Tom received them into bodily presence with the notification that, +having suspected their object, he had sent all his people out of the +way, in order to avoid the least danger of a broil. Bowing to them with +the utmost politeness as they entered, he requested them to step forward +into the court while he closed the wicket behind them, but took the +opportunity of whispering to one of the men just inside the door of the +guardhouse, who, the moment Tom had led the rustics away, approached the +earl, and told him what he had said. + +'What can the rascal mean?' said the earl to himself; but he told the +man to carry the fool's message exactly as he had received it, and +quietly followed Tom and his companions, some of whom, conceiving fresh +importance from the overstrained politeness with which they had been +received, were now attempting a transformation of their usual loundering +gait into a martial stride, with the result of a foolish strut, very +unlike the dignified progress of the sham earl, whose weak back roused +in them no suspicion, and who had taken care they should not see his +face. Across the paved court, and through the hall to the inner court, +Tom led them, and the earl followed. + +The twilight was falling. The hall was empty of life, and filled with a +sombre dusk, echoing to every step as they passed through it. They did +not see the flash of eyes and glimmer of smiles from the minstrel's +gallery, and the solitude, size, and gloom had, even on their dull +natures, a palpable influence. The whole castle seemed deserted as they +followed the false earl across the second court--with the true one +stealing after them like a knave--little imagining that bright eyes were +watching them from the curtains of every window like stars from the +clear spaces and cloudy edges of heaven. To the north-west corner of the +court he led them, and through a sculptured doorway up the straight wide +ascent of stone called the grand staircase. At the top he turned to the +right, along a dim corridor, from which he entered a suite of bedrooms +and dressing-rooms, over whose black floors he led the trampling +hob-nailed shoes without pity either for their polish or the labour of +the housemaids in restoring it. + +In this way he reached the stair in the bell-tower, ascending which he +brought them into a narrow dark passage ending again in a downward +stair, at the foot of which they found themselves in the long +picture-gallery, having entered it in the recess of one of its large +windows. At the other end of the gallery he crossed into the +dining-room, then through an ante-chamber entered the drawing-room, +where the ladies, apprised of their approach, kept still behind curtains +and high chairs, until they had passed through, on their way to cross +the archway of the main entrance, and through the library gain the +region of household economy and cookery. Thither I will not drag my +reader after them. Indeed the earl, who had been dogging them like a +Fate, ever emerging on their track but never beheld, had already began +to pay his part of the penalty of the joke in fatigue, for he was not +only unwieldy in person, but far from robust, being very subject to +gout. He owed his good spirits to a noble nature, and not to animal +well-being. When they crossed from the picture-gallery to the +dining-room, he went down the stair between, and into the oak-parlour +adjoining the great hall. There he threw himself into an easy chair +which always stood for him in the great bay window, looking over the +moat to the huge keep of the castle, and commanding through its western +light the stone bridge which crossed it. There he lay back at his ease, +and, instructed by the message Tom had committed to the serjeant of the +guard, waited the result. + +As for his double, he went stalking on in front of his victims, never +turning to show his face; he knew they would follow, were it but for the +fear of being left alone. Close behind him they kept, scarce daring to +whisper from growing awe of the vast place. The fumes of the beer had by +this time evaporated, and the heavy obscurity which pervaded the whole +building enhanced their growing apprehensions. On and on the fool led +them, up and down, going and returning, but ever in new tracks, for the +marvellous old place was interminably burrowed with connecting passages +and communications of every sort--some of them the merest ducts which +had to be all but crept through, and which would have certainly arrested +the progress of the earl had he followed so far: no one about the place +understood its "crenkles" so well as Tom. For the greater part of an +hour he led them thus, until, having been on their legs the whole day, +they were thoroughly wearied as well as awe-struck. At length, in a +gloomy chamber, where one could not see the face of another, the +pseudo-earl turned full upon them, and said in his most solemn tones:-- + +'Arrived thus far, my masters, it is borne in upon me with rebuke, that +before undertaking to guide you to the armoury, I should have acquainted +you with the strange fact that at times I am myself unable to find the +place of which we are in search; and I begin to fear it is so now, and +that we are at this moment the sport of a certain member of my family of +whom it may be your worships have heard things not more strange than +true. Against his machinations I am powerless. All that is left us is to +go to him and entreat him to unsay his spells.' + +A confused murmur of objections arose. + +'Then your worships will remain here while I go to the Yellow Tower, and +come to you again?' said the mock earl, making as if he would leave +them. + +But they crowded round him with earnest refusals to be abandoned; for in +their very souls they felt the fact that they were upon enchanted +ground--and in the dark. + +'Then follow me,' he said, and conducted them into the open air of the +inner court, almost opposite the archway in its buildings leading to the +stone bridge, whose gothic structure bestrid the moat of the keep. + +For Raglan Castle had this peculiarity, that its keep was surrounded by +a moat of its own, separating it from the rest of the castle, so that, +save by bridge, no one within any more than without the walls could +reach it. On to the bridge Tom led the way, followed by his dupes--now +full in the view of the earl where he sat in his parlour window. When +they had reached the centre of it, however, and glancing up at the awful +bulk of stone towering above them, its walls strangely dented and +furrowed, so as to such as they, might well suggest frightful means to +wicked ends, they stood stock-still, refusing to go a step further; +while their chief speaker, Upstill, emboldened by anger, fear, and the +meek behaviour of the supposed earl, broke out in a torrent of +arrogance, wherein his intention was to brandish the terrors of the High +Parliament over the heads of his lordship of Worcester and all +recusants. He had not got far, however, before a shrill whistle pierced +the air, and the next instant arose a chaos of horrible, appalling, and +harrowing noises, 'such a roaring,' in the words of their own report of +the matter to the reverend master Flowerdew, 'as if the mouth of hell +had been wide open, and all the devils conjured up'--doubtless they +meant by the arts of the wizard whose dwelling was that same tower of +fearful fame before which they now stood. The skin-contracting chill of +terror uplifted their hair. The mystery that enveloped the origin of the +sounds gave them an unearthliness which froze the very fountains of +their life, and rendered them incapable even of motion. They stared at +each other with a ghastly observance, which descried no comfort, only +like images of horror. 'Man's hand is not able to taste' how long they +might have thus stood, nor 'his tongue to conceive' what the +consequences might have been, had not a more healthy terror presently +supervened. Across the tumult of sounds, like a fiercer flash through +the flames of a furnace, shot a hideous, long-drawn yell, and the same +instant came a man running at full speed through the archway from the +court, casting terror-stricken glances behind him, and shouting with a +voice half-choked to a shriek-- + +'Look to yourselves, my masters; the lions are got loose!' + +All the world knew that ever since King James had set the fashion by +taking so much pleasure in the lions at the Tower, strange beasts had +been kept in the castle of Raglan. + +The new terror broke the spell of the old, and the parliamentary +commissioners fled. But which was the way from the castle? Which the +path to the lions' den? In an agony of horrible dread, they rushed +hither and thither about the court, where now the white horse, as steady +as marble, should be when first they crossed it, was, to their excited +vision, prancing wildly about the great basin from whose charmed circle +he could not break, foaming, at the mouth, and casting huge water-jets +from his nostrils into the perturbed air; while from the surface of the +moat a great column of water shot up nearly as high as the citadel, +whose return into the moat was like a tempest, and with all the +elemental tumult was mingled the howling of wild beasts. The doors of +the hall and the gates to the bowling green being shut, the poor +wretches could not find their way out of the court, but ran from door to +door like madmen, only to find all closed against them. From every +window around the court--from the apartments of the waiting gentlewomen, +from the picture-gallery, from the officers' rooms, eager and merry eyes +looked down on the spot, themselves unseen and unsuspected, for all +voices were hushed, and for anything the bumpkins heard or saw they +might have been in a place deserted of men, and possessed only by evil +spirits, whose pranks were now tormenting them. At last Upstill, who had +fallen on the bridge at his first start, and had ever since been rushing +about with a limp and a leap alternated, managed to open the door of the +hall, and its eastern door having been left open, shot across and into +the outer court, where he made for the gate, followed at varied distance +by the rest of the routed commissioners of search, as each had +discovered the way his forerunner fled. With trembling hands Upstill +raised the latch of the wicket, and to his delight found it unlocked. He +darted through, passed the twin portcullises, and was presently +thundering over the drawbridge, which, trembling under his heavy steps, +seemed on the point of rising to heave him back into the jaws of the +lion, or, worse still, the clutches of the enchanter. Not one looked +behind him, not even when, having passed through the white stone gate, +also purposely left open for their escape, and rattled down the +multitude of steps that told how deep was the moat they had just +crossed, where the last of them nearly broke his neck by rolling almost +from top to bottom, they reached the outermost, the brick gate, and so +left the awful region of enchantment and feline fury commingled. Not +until the castle was out of sight, and their leader had sunk senseless +on the turf by the roadside, did they dare a backward look. The moment +he came to himself they started again for home, at what poor speed they +could make, and reached the Crown and Mitre in sad plight, where, +however, they found some compensation in the pleasure of setting forth +their adventures--with the heroic manner in which, although vanquished +by the irresistible force of enchantment, they had yet brought off their +forces without the loss of a single man. Their story spread over the +country, enlarged and embellished at every fresh stage in its progress. + +When the tale reached mother Rees, it filled her with fresh awe of the +great magician, the renowned lord Herbert. She little thought the whole +affair was a jest of her own son's. Firmly believing in all kinds of +magic and witchcraft, but as innocent of conscious dealing with the +powers of ill as the whitest-winged angel betwixt earth's garret and +heaven's threshold, she owed her evil repute amongst her neighbours to a +rare therapeutic faculty, accompanied by a keen sympathetic instinct, +which greatly sharpened her powers of observation in the quest after +what was amiss; while her touch was so delicate, so informed with +present mind, and came therefore into such rapport with any living +organism, the secret of whose suffering it sought to discover, that +sprained muscles, dislocated joints, and broken bones seemed at its soft +approach to re-arrange their disturbed parts, and yield to the power of +her composing will as to a re-ordering harmony. Add to this, that she +understood more of the virtues of some herbs than any doctor in the +parish, which, in the condition of general practice at the time, is not +perhaps to say much, and that she firmly believed in the might of +certain charms, and occasionally used them--and I have given reason +enough why, while regarded by all with disapprobation--she should be by +many both courted and feared. For her own part she had a leaning to the +puritans, chiefly from respect to the memory of a good-hearted, weak, +but intellectually gifted, and, therefore, admired husband; but the +ridicule of her yet more gifted son had a good deal shaken this +predilection, so that she now spent what powers of discrimination and +choice she possessed solely upon persons, heedless of principles in +themselves, and regarding them only in their vital results. Hence, it +was a matter of absolute indifference to her which of the parties now +dividing the country was in the right, or which should lose, which win, +provided no personal evil befel the men or women for whom she cherished +a preference. Like many another, she was hardly aware of the +jurisdiction of conscience, save in respect of immediate personal +relations. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANIMADVERSIONS. + + +From the time when the conversation recorded had in some measure +dispelled the fog between them, Roger and Richard Heywood drew rapidly +nearer to each other. The father had been but waiting until his son +should begin to ask him questions, for watchfulness of himself and +others had taught him how useless information is to those who have not +first desired it, how poor in influence, how soon forgotten; and now +that the fitting condition had presented itself, he was ready: with less +of reserve than in the relation between them was common amongst the +puritans, he began to pour his very soul into that of his son. All his +influence went with that party which, holding that the natural flow of +the reformation of the church from popery had stagnated in episcopacy, +consisted chiefly of those who, in demanding the overthrow of that form +of church government, sought to substitute for it what they called +presbyterianism; but Mr. Heywood belonged to another division of it +which, although less influential at present, was destined to come by and +by to the front, in the strength of the conviction that to stop with +presbyterianism was merely to change the name of the swamp--a party +whose distinctive and animating spirit was the love of freedom, which +indeed, degenerating into a passion among its inferior members, broke +out, upon occasion, in the wildest vagaries of speech and doctrine, but +on the other hand justified itself in its leaders, chief amongst whom +were Milton and Cromwell, inasmuch as they accorded to the consciences +of others the freedom they demanded for their own--the love of liberty +with them not meaning merely the love of enjoying freedom, but that +respect for the thing itself which renders a man incapable of violating +it in another. + +Roger Heywood was, in fact, already a pupil of Milton, whose anonymous +pamphlet of 'Reformation touching Church Discipline' had already reached +him, and opened with him the way for all his following works. + +Richard, with whom my story has really to do, but for the understanding +of whom it is necessary that the character and mental position of his +father should in some measure be set forth, proved an apt pupil, and was +soon possessed with such a passion for justice and liberty, as embodied +in the political doctrines now presented for his acceptance, that it was +impossible for him to understand how any honest man could be of a +different mind. No youth, indeed, of simple and noble nature, as yet +unmarred by any dominant phase of selfishness, could have failed to +catch fire from the enthusiasm of such a father, an enthusiasm glowing +yet restrained, wherein party spirit had a less share than +principle--which, in relation to such a time, is to say much. Richard's +heart swelled within him at the vistas of grandeur opened by his +father's words, and swelled yet higher when he read to him passages from +the pamphlet to which I have referred. It seemed to him, as to most +young people under mental excitement, that he had but to tell the facts +of the case to draw all men to his side, enlisting them in the army +destined to sweep every form of tyranny, and especially spiritual +usurpation and arrogance, from the face of the earth. + +Being one who took everybody at the spoken word, Richard never thought +of seeking Dorothy again at their former place of meeting. Nor, in the +new enthusiasm born in him, did his thoughts for a good many days turn +to her so often, or dwell so much upon her, as to cause any keen sense +of their separation. The flood of new thoughts and feelings had +transported him beyond the ignorant present. In truth, also, he was a +little angry with Dorothy for showing a foolish preference for the +church party, so plainly in the wrong was it! And what could SHE know +about the question by his indifference to which she had been so +scandalised, but to which he had been indifferent only until rightly +informed thereon! If he had ever given her just cause to think him +childish, certainly she should never apply the word to him again! If he +could but see her, he would soon convince her--indeed he MUST see +her--for the truth was not his to keep, but to share! It was his duty to +acquaint her with the fact that the parliament was the army of God, +fighting the great red dragon, one of whose seven heads was prelacy, the +horn upon it the king, and Laud its crown. He wanted a stroll--he would +take the path through the woods and the shrubbery to the old sun-dial. +She would not be there, of course, but he would walk up the pleached +alley and call at the house. + +Reasoning thus within himself one day, he rose and went. But, as he +approached the wood, Dorothy's great mastiff, which she had reared from +a pup with her own hand, came leaping out to welcome him, and he was +prepared to find her not far off. + +When he entered the yew-circle, there she stood leaning on the dial, as +if, like old Time, she too had gone to sleep there, and was dreaming +ancient dreams over again. She did not move at the first sounds of his +approach; and when at length, as he stood silent by her side, she lifted +her head, but without looking at him, he saw the traces of tears on her +cheeks. The heart of the youth smote him. + +'Weeping, Dorothy?' he said. + +'Yes,' she answered simply. + +'I trust I am not the cause of your trouble, Dorothy?' + +'You!' returned the girl quickly, and the colour rushed to her pale +cheeks. 'No, indeed. How should you trouble me? My mother is ill.' + +Considering his age, Richard was not much given to vanity, and it was +something better that prevented him from feeling pleased at being thus +exonerated: she looked so sweet and sad that the love which new +interests had placed in abeyance returned in full tide. Even when a +child, he had scarcely ever seen her in tears; it was to him a new +aspect of her being. + +'Dear Dorothy!' he said, 'I am very much grieved to learn this of your +beautiful mother.' + +'She IS beautiful,' responded the girl, and her voice was softer than he +had ever heard it before; 'but she will die, and I shall be left alone.' + +'No, Dorothy! that you shall never be,' exclaimed Richard, with a +confidence bordering on presumption. + +'Master Herbert is with her now,' resumed Dorothy, heedless of his +words. + +'You do not mean her life is even now in danger?' said Richard, in a +tone of sudden awe. + +'I hope not, but, indeed, I cannot tell. I left master Herbert +comforting her with the assurance that she was taken away from the evil +to come. "And I trust, madam," the dear old man went on to say, "that my +departure will not long be delayed, for darkness will cover the earth, +and gross darkness the people." Those were his very words.' + +'Nay, nay!' said Richard, hastily; 'the good man is deceived; the people +that sit in darkness shall see a great light.' + +The girl looked at him with strange interrogation. + +'Do not be angry, sweet Dorothy,' Richard went on. 'Old men may mistake +as well as youths. As for the realm of England, the sun of righteousness +will speedily arise thereon, for the dawn draws nigh; and master Herbert +may be just as far deceived concerning your mother's condition, for she +has been but sickly for a long time, and yet has survived many winters.' + +Dorothy looked at him still, and was silent. At length she spoke, and +her words came slowly and with weight. + +'And what prophet's mantle, if I may make so bold, has fallen upon +Richard Heywood, that the word in his mouth should outweigh that of an +aged servant of the church? Can it be that the great light of which he +speaks is Richard Heywood himself?' + +'As master Herbert is a good man and a servant of God,' said Richard, +coldly, stung by her sarcasm, but not choosing to reply to it, 'his word +weighs mightily; but as a servant of the church his word is no weightier +than my father's, who is also a minister of the true tabernacle, that +wherein all who are kings over themselves are priests unto God--though +truly he pretends to no prophecy beyond the understanding of the signs +of the times.' + +Dorothy saw that a wonderful change, such as had been incredible upon +any but the witness of her own eyes and ears, had passed on her old +playmate. He was in truth a boy no longer. Their relative position was +no more what she had been of late accustomed to consider it. But with +the change a gulf had begun to yawn between them. + +'Alas, Richard!' she said, mistaking what he meant by the signs of the +times, 'those who arrogate the gift of the Holy Ghost, while their sole +inspiration is the presumption of their own hearts and an overweening +contempt of authority, may well mistake signs of their own causing for +signs from heaven. I but repeat the very words of good master Herbert.' + +'I thought such swelling words hardly sounded like your own, Dorothy. +But tell me, why should the persuasion of man or woman hang upon the +words of a fellow-mortal? Is not the gift of the Spirit free to each who +asks it? And are we not told that each must be fully persuaded in his +own mind?' + +'Nay, Richard, now I have thee! Hang you not by the word of your father, +who is one, and despise the authority of the true church, which is +many?' + +'The true church were indeed an authority, but where shall we find it? +Anyhow, the true church is one thing, and prelatical episcopacy another. +But I have yet to learn what authority even the true church could have +over a man's conscience.' + +'You need to be reminded, Richard, that the Lord of the church gave +power to his apostles to bind or loose.' + +'I do not need to be so reminded, Dorothy, but I do not need to be shown +first that that power was over men's consciences; and second, that it +was transmitted to others by the apostles waiving the question as to the +doubtful ordination of English prelates.' + +Fire flashed from Dorothy's eyes. + +'Richard Heywood,' she said, 'the demon of spiritual pride has already +entered into you, and blown you up with a self-sufficiency which I never +saw in you before, or I would never, never have companied with you, as I +am now ashamed to think I have done so long, even to the danger of my +soul's health.' + +'In that case I may comfort myself, mistress Dorothy Vaughan,' said +Richard, 'that you will no longer count me a boy! But do you then no +longer desire that I should take one part OR the other and show myself a +man? Am I man enough yet for the woman thou art, Dorothy?--But, +Dorothy,' he added, with sudden change of tone, for she had in anger +turned to leave him, 'I love you dearly, and I am truly sorry if I have +spoken so as to offend you. I came hither eager to share with you the +great things I have learned since you left me with just contempt a +fortnight ago.' + +'Then it is I whose foolish words have cast you into the seat of the +scorner! Alas! alas! my poor Richard! Never, never more, while you thus +rebel against authority and revile sacred things, will I hold counsel +with you.' + +And again she turned to go. + +'Dorothy!' cried the youth, turning pale with agony to find on the brink +of what an abyss of loss his zeal had set him, 'wilt thou, then, never +speak to me more, and I love thee as the daylight?' + +'Never more till thou repent and turn. I will but give thee one piece of +counsel, and then leave thee--if for ever, that rests with thee. There +has lately appeared, like the frog out of the mouth of the dragon, a +certain tractate or treatise, small in bulk, but large with the wind of +evil doctrine. Doubtless it will reach your father's house ere long, if +it be not, as is more likely, already there, for it is the vile work of +one they call a puritan, though where even the writer can vainly imagine +the purity of such work to lie, let the pamphlet itself raise the +question. Read the evil thing--or, I will not say read it, but glance +the eye over it. It is styled "Animadversions upon--." Truly, I cannot +recall the long-drawn title. It is filled, even as a toad with poison, +so full of evil and scurrilous sayings against good men, rating and +abusing them as the very off-scouring of the earth, that you cannot yet +be so far gone in evil as not to be reclaimed by seeing whither such men +and their inspiration would lead you. Farewell, Richard.' + +With the words, and without a look, Dorothy, who had been standing +sideways in act to go, swept up the pleached alley, her step so stately +and her head so high that Richard, slowly as she walked away, dared not +follow her, but stood 'like one forbid.' When she had vanished, and the +light shone in full at the far end, he gave a great sigh and turned +away, and the old dial was forsaken. + +The scrap of title Dorothy had given was enough to enable Richard to +recognise the pamphlet as one a copy of which his father had received +only a few days before, and over the reading of which they had again and +again laughed unrestrainedly. As he walked home he sought in vain to +recall anything in it deserving of such reprobation as Dorothy had +branded it withal. Had it been written on the other side no search would +have been necessary, for party spirit (from which how could such a youth +be free, when the greatest men of his time were deeply tainted?), while +it blinds the eyes in one direction, makes them doubly keen in another. +As it was, the abuse in the pamphlet referred to, appeared to him only +warrantable indignation; and, the arrogance of an imperfect love leading +him to utter desertion of his newly-adopted principles, he scorned as +presumptuous that exercise of her own judgment on the part of Dorothy +which had led to their separation, bitterly resenting the change in his +playmate, who, now an angry woman, had decreed his degradation from the +commonest privileges of friendship, until such time as he should abjure +his convictions, become a renegade to the truth, and abandon the hope of +resulting freedom which the strife of parties held out--an act of +tyranny the reflection upon which raised such a swelling in his throat +as he had never felt but once before, when a favourite foal got staked +in trying to clear a fence. Having neither friend nor sister to whom to +confess that he was in trouble--have confided it he could not in any +case, seeing it involved blame of the woman his love for whom now first, +when on the point of losing her for ever, threatened to overmaster +him--he wandered to the stables, which he found empty of men and nearly +so of horses, half-involuntarily sought the stall of the mare his father +had given him on his last birthday, laid his head on the neck bent round +to greet him, and sighed a sore response to her soft, low, tremulous +whinny. + +As he stood thus, overcome by the bitter sense of wrong from the one he +loved best in the world, something darkened the stable-door, and a voice +he knew reached his ear. Mistaking the head she saw across an empty +stall for that of one of the farm-servants, Goody Rees was calling aloud +to know if he wanted a charm for the toothache. + +Richard looked up. + +'And what may your charm be, mistress Rees?' he asked. + +'Aha! is it thou, young master?' returned the woman. 'Thou wilt marvel +to see me about the place so soon again, but verily desired to know how +that godly man, Faithful Stopchase, found himself after his fall.' + +'Nay, mistress Rees, make no apology for coming amongst thy friends. I +warrant thee against further rudeness of man or beast. I have taken them +to task, and truly I will break his head who wags tongue against thee. +As for Stopchase, he does well enough in all except owing thee thanks +which he declines to pay. But for thy charm, good mistress Rees, what is +it--tell me?' + +She took a step inside the door, sent her small eyes peering first into +every corner her sight could reach, and then said: + +'Are we alone--we two, master Richard?' + +'There's a cat in the next stall, mistress: if she can hear, she can't +speak.' + +'Don't be too sure of that, master Richard. Be there no one else?' + +'Not a body; soul there may be--who knows?' + +'I know there is none. I will tell thee my charm, or what else I may +that thou would wish to know; for he is a true gentleman who will help a +woman because she is a woman, be she as old and ugly as Goody Rees +herself. Hearken, my pretty sir: it is the tooth of a corpse, drawn +after he hath lain a se'en-night in the mould: wilt buy, my master? Or +did not I see thee now asking comfort from thy horse for the--' + +She paused a moment, peered narrowly at him from under lowered eyebrows, +and went on: + +'--heartache, eh, master Richard? Old eyes can see through velvet +doublets.' + +'All the world knows yours can see farther than other people's,' +returned Richard. 'Heaven knows whence they have their sharpness. But +suppose it were a heartache now, have you got e'er a charm to cure +that?' + +'The best of all charms, my young master, is a kiss from the maiden; and +what would thou give me for the spell that should set her by thy side at +the old dial, under a warm harvest moon, all the long hours 'twixt +midnight and the crowing of the black cock--eh, my master? What wilt +thou give me?' + +'Not a brass farthing, if she came not of her own good will,' murmured +Richard, turning towards his mare. 'But come, mistress Rees, you know +you couldn't do it, even if you were the black witch the neighbours +would have you--though I, for my part, will not hear a word against +you--never since you set my poor old dog upon his legs again--though to +be sure he will die one of these days, and that no one can help--dogs +have such short lives, poor fools!' + +'Thou knows not what old mother Rees can do. Tell me, young master, did +she ever say and not do--eh, now?' + +'You said you would cure my dog, and you did,' answered Richard. + +'And I say now, if thou will, I will set thee and her together by the +old dial to-morrow night, and it shall be a warm and moonlit night on +purpose for ye, an ye will.' + +'It were to no good purpose, mistress Rees, for we parted this day--and +that for ever, I much fear me,' said Richard with a deep sigh, but +getting some little comfort even out of a witch's sympathy. + +'Tut, tut, tut! Lovers' quarrels! Who knows not what they mean? Crying +and kissing--crying and kissing--that's what they mean. Come now--what +did thou and she quarrel about?' + +The old woman, if not a witch, at least looked very like one, with her +two hands resting on the wide round ledge of her farthingale, her head +thrown back, and from under her peaked hat that pointed away behind, her +two greenish eyes peering with a half-coaxing, yet sharp and probing +gaze into those of the youth. + +But how could he make a confidante of one like her? What could she +understand of such questions as had raised the wall of partition betwixt +him and Dorothy? Unwilling to offend her, however, he hesitated to give +her offer a plain refusal, and turning away in silence, affected to have +caught sight of something suspicious about his mare's near hock. + +'I see, I see!' said the old woman grimly, but not ill-naturedly, and +nodded her head, so that her hat described great arcs across the sky; +'thou art ashamed to confess that thou lovest thy father's whims more +than thy lady's favours. Well, well! Such lovers are hardly for my +trouble!' + +But here came the voice of Mr. Heywood, calling his groom. She started, +glanced around her as if seeking a covert, then peered from the door, +and glided noiselessly out. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PREPARATIONS. + + +Great was the merriment in Raglan Castle over the discomfiture of the +bumpkins, and many were the compliments Tom received in parlour, +nursery, kitchen, guard-room, everywhere, on the success of his +hastily-formed scheme for the chastisement of their presumption. The +household had looked for a merry time on the occasion of the wedding, +but had not expected such a full cup of delight as had been pressed out +for them betwixt the self-importance of the overweening yokels and the +inventive faculties of Tom Fool. All the evening, one standing in any +open spot of the castle might have heard, now on the one, now on the +other side, renewed bursts of merriment ripple the air; but as the still +autumn night crept on, the intervals between grew longer and longer, +until at length all sounds ceased, and silence took up her ancient +reign, broken only by the occasional stamp of a horse or howl of a +watch-dog. + +But the earl, who, from simplicity of nature and peace of conscience +combined, was perhaps better fitted for the enjoyment of the joke, in a +time when such ludifications were not yet considered unsuitable to the +dignity of the highest position, than any other member of his household, +had, through it all, showed a countenance in which, although eyes, lips, +and voice shared in the laughter, there yet lurked a thoughtful doubt +concerning the result. For he knew that, in some shape or other, and +that certainly not the true one, the affair would be spread over the +country, where now prejudice against the Catholics was strong and +dangerous in proportion to the unreason of those who cherished it. Now, +also, it was becoming pretty plain that except the king yielded every +prerogative, and became the puppet which the mingled pride and +apprehension of the Parliament would have him, their differences must +ere long be referred to the arbitration of the sword, in which case +there was no shadow of doubt in the mind of the earl as to the part +befitting a peer of the realm. The king was a protestant, but no less +the king; and not this man, but his parents, had sinned in forsaking the +church--of which sin their offspring had now to bear the penalty, +reaping the whirlwind sprung from the stormy seeds by them sown. For +what were the puritans but the lawfully-begotten children of the so +called reformation, whose spirit they inherited, and in whose footsteps +they so closely followed? In the midst of such reflections, dawned +slowly in the mind of the devout old man the enchanting hope that +perhaps he might be made the messenger of God to lead back to the true +fold the wandering feet of his king. But, fail or speed in any result, +so long as his castle held together, it should stand for the king. +Faithful catholic as he was, the brave old man was English to the +backbone. + +And there was no time to lose. This visit of search, let it have +originated how it might, and be as despicable in itself as it was +ludicrous in its result, showed but too clearly how strong the current +of popular feeling was setting against all the mounds of social +distinction, and not kingly prerogative alone. What preparations might +be needful, must be prudent. + +That same night, then, long after the rest of the household had retired, +three men took advantage of a fine half-moon to make a circuit of the +castle, first along the counterscarp of the moat, and next along all +accessible portions of the walls and battlements. They halted often, +and, with much observation of the defences, held earnest talk together, +sometimes eagerly contending rather than disputing, but far more often +mutually suggesting and agreeing. At length one of them, whom the others +called Caspar, retired, and the earl was left with his son Edward, lord +Herbert, the only person in the castle who had gone to neither window +nor door to delight himself with the discomfiture of the parliamentary +commissioners. + +They entered the long picture gallery, faintly lighted from its large +windows to the court, but chiefly from the oriel which formed the +northern end of it, where they now sat down, the earl being, for the +second time that night, weary. Behind them was a long dim line of +portraits, broken only by the great chimney-piece supported by human +figures, all of carved stone, and before them, nearly as dim, was the +moon-massed landscape--a lovely view of the woodland, pasture, and red +tilth to the northward of the castle. + +They sat silent for a while, and the younger said: + +'I fear you are fatigued, my lord. It is late for you to be out of bed; +nature is mortal.' + +'Thou sayest well; nature is mortal, my son. But therein lies the +comfort--it cannot last. It were hard to say whether of the two houses +stands the more in need of the hand of the maker.' + +'Were it not for villanous saltpetre, my lord, the castle would hold out +well enough.' + +'And were it not for villanous gout, which is a traitor within it, I see +not why this other should not hold out as long. Be sure, Herbert, I +shall not render the keep for the taking of the outworks.' + +'I fear,' said his son, wishing to change the subject, 'this part where +we now are is the most liable to hurt from artillery.' + +'Yes, but the ground in front is not such as they would readiest plant +it upon,' said the earl. 'Do not let us forecast evil, only prepare for +it.' + +'We shall do our best, my lord--with your lordship's good counsel to +guide us.' + +'You shall lack nothing, Herbert, that either counsel or purse of mine +may reach unto.' + +'I thank your lordship, for much depends upon both. And so I fear will +his majesty find--if it comes to the worst.' + +A brief pause followed. + +'Thinkest thou not, Herbert,' said the earl, slowly and thoughtfully, +'it ill suits that a subject should have and to spare, and his liege go +begging?' + +'My father is pleased to say so.' + +'I am but evil pleased to say so. Bethink thee, son--what man can be +pleased to part with his money? And while my king is poor, I must be +rich for him. Thou wilt not accuse me, Herbert, after I am gone to the +rest, that I wasted thy substance, lad?' + +'So long as you still keep wherewithal to give, I shall be content, my +lord.' + +'Well, time will show. I but tell thee what runneth in my mind, for thou +and I, Herbert, have bosomed no secrets. I will to bed. We must go the +round again to-morrow--with the sun to hold as a candle.' + +The next day the same party made a similar circuit three times--in the +morning, at noon, and in the evening--that the full light might uncover +what the shadows had hid, and that the shadows might show what a +perpendicular light could not reveal. There is all the difference as to +discovery whether a thing is lying under the shadow of another, or +casting one of its own. + +After this came a review of the outer fortifications--if, indeed, they +were worthy of the name--enclosing the gardens, the old tilting yard, +now used as a bowling-green, the home-farmyard, and other such outlying +portions under the stewardship of sir Ralph Blackstone and the +governorship of Charles Somerset, the earl's youngest son. It was here +that the most was wanted; and the next few days were chiefly spent in +surveying these works, and drawing plans for their extension, +strengthening, and connection--especially about the stables, armourer's +shop, and smithy, where the building of new defences was almost +immediately set on foot. + +A thorough examination of the machinery of the various portcullises and +drawbridges followed; next an overhauling of the bolts, chains, and +other defences of the gates. Then came an inspection of the ordnance, +from cannons down to drakes, through a gradation of names as uncouth to +our ears, and as unknown to the artillery descended from them, as many +of the Christian names of the puritans are to their descendants of the +present day. At length, to conclude the inspection, lord Herbert and the +master of the armoury held consultation with the head armourer, and the +mighty accumulation of weapons of all sorts was passed under the most +rigid scrutiny; many of them were sent to the forge, and others carried +to the ground-floor of the keep. + +Presently, things began to look busy in a quiet way about the place. Men +were at work blasting the rocks in a quarry not far off, whence laden +carts went creeping to the castle; but this was oftener in the night. +Some of them drove into the paved court, for here and there a buttress +was wanted inside, and of the battlements not a few were weather-beaten +and out of repair. These the earl would have let alone, on the ground +that they were no longer more than ornamental, and therefore had better +be repaired AFTER the siege, if such should befall, for the big guns +would knock them about like cards; but Caspar reminded him that every +time the ball from a cannon, culvering, or saker missed the parapet, it +remained a sufficient bar to the bullet that might equally avail to +carry off the defenceless gunner. The earl, however, although he +yielded, maintained that the flying of the wall when struck was a more +than counterbalancing danger. + +The stock of provisions began to increase. The dry larder, which lay +under the court, between the kitchen and buttery, was by degrees filled +with gammons and flitches of bacon, well dried and smoked. Wheat, +barley, oats, and pease were stored in the granary, and potatoes in a +pit dug in the orchard. + +Strange faces in the guard-room caused wonderings and questions amongst +the women. The stables began to fill with horses, and 'more man' to go +about the farmyard and outhouses. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +REFLECTIONS. + + +Left alone with Lady, his mare, Richard could not help brooding--rather +than pondering--over what the old woman had said. Not that for a moment +he contemplated as a possibility the acceptance of the witch's offer. To +come himself into any such close relations with her as that would imply, +was in repulsiveness second only to the idea of subjecting Dorothy to +her influences. For something to occupy his hands, that his mind might +be restless at will, he gave his mare a careful currying, then an extra +feed of oats, and then a gallop; after which it was time to go to bed. + +I doubt if anything but the consciousness of crime will keep healthy +youth awake, and as such consciousness is generally far from it, youth +seldom counts the watches of the night. Richard soon fell fast asleep, +and dreamed that his patron saint--alas for his protestantism!--appeared +to him, handed him a lance headed with a single flashing diamond, and +told him to go and therewith kill the dragon. But just as he was asking +the way to the dragon's den, that he might perform his behest, the saint +vanished, and feeling the lance melting away in his grasp, he gradually +woke to find it gone. + +After a long talk with his father in the study, he was left to his own +resources for the remainder of the day; and as it passed and the night +drew on, the offer of the witch kept growing upon his imagination, and +his longing to see Dorothy became stronger and stronger, until at last +it was almost too intense to be borne. He had never before known such a +possession, and was more than half inclined to attribute it to the arts +of mother Rees. + +His father was busy in his study below, writing letters--an employment +which now occupied much of his time; and Richard sat alone in a chamber +in the upper part of one of the many gables of the house, which he had +occupied longer than he could remember. Its one small projecting +lozenge-paned window looked towards Dorothy's home. Some years ago he +had been able to see her window, from it through a gap in the trees, by +favour of which, indeed, they had indulged in a system of communications +by means of coloured flags--so satisfactory that Dorothy not only +pressed into the service all the old frocks she could find, but got into +trouble by cutting up one almost new for the enlargement of the somewhat +limited scope of their telegraphy. In this window he now sat, sending +his soul through the darkness, milky with the clouded light of half an +old moon, towards the ancient sun-dial, where Time stood so still that +sometimes Richard had known an hour there pass in a moment. + +Never until now had he felt enmity in space: it had been hitherto rather +as a bridge to bear him to Dorothy than a gulf to divide him from her +presence; but now, through the interpenetrative power of feeling, their +alienation had affected all around as well as within him, and space +appeared as a solid enemy, and darkness as an unfriendly enchantress, +each doing what it could to separate betwixt him and the being to whom +his soul was drawn as--no, there was no AS for such drawing. No +opposition of mere circumstances could have created the feeling; it was +the sense of an inward separation taking form outwardly. For Richard was +now but too well convinced that he had no power of persuasion equal to +the task of making Dorothy see things as he saw them. The dividing +influence of imperfect opposing goods is potent as that of warring good +and evil, with this important difference, that the former is but for a +season, and will one day bind as strongly as it parted, while the latter +is essential, absolute, impassible, eternal. + +To Dorothy, Richard seemed guilty of overweening arrogance and its +attendant, presumption; she could not see the form ethereal to which he +bowed. To Richard, Dorothy appeared the dupe of superstition; he could +not see the god that dwelt within the idol. To Dorothy, Richard seemed +to be one who gave the holy name of truth to nothing but the offspring +of his own vain fancy. To Richard, Dorothy appeared one who so little +loved the truth that she was ready to accept anything presented to her +as such, by those who themselves loved the word more than the spirit, +and the chrysalis of safety better than the wings of power. But it is +only for a time that any good can to the good appear evil, and at this +very moment, Nature, who in her blindness is stronger to bind than the +farthest-seeing intellect to loose, was urging him into her presence; +and the heart of Dorothy, notwithstanding her initiative in the +separation, was leaning as lovingly, as sadly after the youth she had +left alone with the defaced sun-dial, the symbol of Time's weariness. +Had they, however, been permitted to meet as they would, the natural +result of ever-renewed dissension would have been a thorough separation +in heart, no heavenly twilights of loneliness giving time for the love +which grows like the grass to recover from the scorching heat of +intellectual jar and friction. + +The waning moon at length peered warily from behind a bank of cloud, and +her dim light melting through the darkness filled the night with a dream +of the day. Richard was no more of a poet or dreamer of dreams than is +any honest youth so long as love holds the bandage of custom away from +his eyes. The poets are they who all their life long contrive to see +over or through the bandage; but they would, I doubt, have but few +readers, had not nature decreed that all youths and maidens shall, for a +period, be it long or short, become aware that they too are of the race +of the singers--shall, in the journey of their life, at least pass +through the zone of song: some of them recognise it as the region of +truth, and continue to believe in it still when it seems to have +vanished from around them; others scoff as it disappears, and curse +themselves for dupes. Through this zone Richard was now passing. Hence +the moon wore to him a sorrowful face, and he felt a vague sympathy in +her regard, that of one who was herself in trouble, half the light of +her lord's countenance withdrawn. For science had not for him interfered +with the shows of things by a partial revelation of their realities. He +had not learned that the face of the moon is the face of a corpse-world; +that the sadness upon it is the sadness of utter loss; that her light +has in it no dissolved smile, is but the reflex from a lifeless mirror; +that of all the orbs we know best she can have least to do with lovers' +longings and losses, she alone having no love left in her--the cold +cinder of a quenched world. Not an out-burnt cinder, though! she needs +but to be cast again into the furnace of the sun. + +As it was, Richard had gazed at her hardly for a minute when he found +the tears running down his face, and starting up, ashamed of the unmanly +weakness, hardly knew what he was doing before he found himself in the +open air. From the hall clock came the first stroke of twelve as he +closed the door behind him. It was the hour at which mother Rees had +offered him a meeting with Dorothy; but it was assuredly with no +expectation of seeing her that he turned his steps towards her dwelling. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AN ADVENTURE. + + +When he reached the spot at which he usually turned off by a gap in the +hedge to NEEDLE his way through the unpathed wood, he yielded to the +impulses of memory and habit, and sought the yew-circle, where for some +moments he stood by the dumb, disfeatured stone, which seemed to slumber +in the moonlight, a monument slowly vanishing from above a vanished +grave. Indeed it might well have been the grave of buried Time, for what +fitter monument could he have than a mutilated sun-dial, what better +enclosure than such a hedge of yews, and more suitable light than that +of the dying moon? Or was it but that the heart of the youth, receiving +these things as into a concave mirror, reprojected them into space, all +shadowy with its own ghostliness and gloom? Close by the dial, like the +dark way into regions where time is not, yawned the mouth of the +pleached alley. Beyond that was her window, on which the moon must now +be shining. He entered the alley, and walked softly towards the house. +Suddenly, down the dark tunnel came rushing upon him Dorothy's mastiff, +with a noise as of twenty soft feet, and a growl as if his throat had +been full of teeth--changing to a boisterous welcome when he discovered +who the stranger was. Fearful of disturbing the household, Richard soon +quieted the dog, which was in the habit of obeying him almost as readily +as his mistress, and, fearful of disturbing sleepers or watchers, +approached the house like a thief. To gain a sight of Dorothy's window +he had to pass that of the parlour, and then the porch, which he did on +the grass, that his steps might be noiseless. But here the dog started +from his heel, and bounded into the porch, leading after him the eyes of +Richard, who thereupon saw what would have else remained +undiscovered--two figures, namely, standing in its deep shadow. Judging +it his part, as a friend of the family, to see who, at so late an hour, +and so near the house, seemed thus to avoid discovery, Richard drew +nearer, and the next moment saw that the door was open behind them, and +that they were Dorothy and a young man. + +'The gates will be shut,' said Dorothy. + +'It is no matter; old Eccles will open to me at any hour,' was the +answer. + +'Still it were well you went without delay,' said Dorothy; and her voice +trembled a little, for she had caught sight of Richard. + +Now not only are anger and stupidity near of kin, but when a man whose +mental movements are naturally deliberate, is suddenly spurred, he is in +great danger of acting like a fool, and Richard did act like a fool. He +strode up to the entrance of the porch, and said, + +'Do you not hear the lady, sir? She tells you to go.' + +A voice as cool and self-possessed as the other was hasty and perturbed, +replied, + +'I am much in the wrong, sir, if the lady do not turn the command upon +yourself. Until you have obeyed it, she may perhaps see reason for +withdrawing it in respect of me.' + +Richard stepped into the porch, but Dorothy glided between them, and +gently pushed him out. + +'Richard Heywood!' she said. + +'Whew!' interjected the stranger, softly. + +'You can claim no right,' she went on, 'to be here at this hour. Pray +go; you will disturb my mother.' + +'Who is this man, then, whose right seems acknowledged?' asked Richard, +in ill-suppressed fury. + +'When you address me like a gentleman, such as I used to believe you--' + +'May I presume to ask when you ceased to regard me as a gentleman, +mistress Dorothy?' + +'As soon as I found that you had learned to despise law and religion,' +answered the girl. 'Such a one will hardly succeed in acting the part of +a gentleman, even had he the blood of the Somersets in his veins.' + +'I thank you, mistress Dorothy,' said the stranger, 'and will profit by +the plain hint. Once more tell me to go, and I will obey.' + +'He must go first,' returned Dorothy. + +Richard had been standing as if stunned, but now with an effort +recovered himself. + +'I will wait for you,' he said, and turned away. + +'For whom, sir?' asked Dorothy, indignantly. + +'You have refused me the gentleman's name,' answered Richard: 'perhaps I +may have the good fortune to persuade himself to be more obliging.' + +'I shall not keep you waiting long,' said the young man significantly, +as Richard walked away. + +To do Richard justice, and greatly he needs it, I must make the remark +that such had been the intimacy betwixt him and Dorothy, that he might +well imagine himself acquainted with all the friends of her house. But +the intimacy had been confined to the children; the heads of the two +houses, although good neighbours, had not been drawn towards each other, +and their mutual respect had not ripened into friendship. Hence many of +the family and social relations of each were unknown to the other; and +indeed both families led such a retired life that the children knew +little of their own relatives even, and seldom spoke of any. + +Lady Scudamore, the mother of the stranger, was first cousin to lady +Vaughan. They had been very intimate as girls, but had not met for +years--hardly since the former married sir John, the son of one of King +James's carpet-knights. Hearing of her cousin's illness, she had come to +visit her at last, under the escort of her son. Taken with his new +cousin, the youth had lingered and lingered; and in fact Dorothy had +been unable to get rid of him before an hour strange for leave-taking in +such a quiet and yet hospitable neighbourhood. + +Richard took his stand on the side of the public road opposite the gate; +but just ere Scudamore came, which was hardly a minute after, a cloud +crept over the moon, and, as he happened to stand in a line with the +bole of a tree, Scudamore did not catch sight of him. When he turned to +walk along the road, Richard thought he avoided him, and, making a great +stride or two after him, called aloud-- + +'Stop, sir, stop. You forget your appointments over easily, I think.' + +'Oh, you ARE there!' said the youth, turning. + +'I am glad you acknowledge my presence,' said Richard, not the better +pleased with his new acquaintance that his speech and behaviour had an +easy tone of superiority, which, if indefinably felt by the home-bred +lad, was not therefore to be willingly accorded. His easy carriage, his +light step, his still shoulders and lithe spine, indicated both birth +and training. + +'Just the night for a serenade,' he went on, heedless of Richard's +remark, '--bright, but not too bright; cloudy, but not too cloudy.' + +'Sir!' said Richard, amazed at his coolness. + +'Oh, you want to quarrel with me!' returned the youth. 'But it takes two +to fight as well as to kiss, and I will not make one to-night. I know +who you are well enough, and have no quarrel with you, except indeed it +be true--as indeed it must, for Dorothy tells me so--that you have +turned roundhead as well as your father.' + +'What right have you to speak so familiarly of mistress Dorothy?' said +Richard. + +'It occurs to me,' replied Scudamore, airily, 'that I had better ask you +by what right you haunt her house at midnight. But I would not willingly +cross you in cold blood. I wish you good a night, and better luck next +time you go courting.' + +The moon swam from behind a cloud, and her over ripe and fading light +seemed to the eyes of Richard to gather upon the figure before him and +there revive. The youth had on a doublet of some reddish colour, ill +brought out by the moonlight, but its silver lace and the rapier hilt +inlaid with silver shone the keener against it. A short cloak hung from +his left shoulder, trimmed also with silver lace, and a little cataract +of silver fringe fell from the edges of his short trousers into the wide +tops of his boots, which were adorned with ruffles. He wore a large +collar of lace, and cuffs of the same were folded back from his bare +hands. A broad-brimmed beaver hat, its silver band fastened with a jewel +holding a plume of willowy feathers, completed his attire, which he wore +with just the slightest of a jaunty air. It was hardly the dress for a +walk at midnight, but he had come in his mother's carriage, and had to +go home without it. + +Alas now for Richard's share in the freedom to which he had of late +imagined himself devoted! No sooner had the words last spoken entered +his ears than he was but a driven slave ready to rush into any quarrel +with the man who spoke them. Ere he had gone three paces he had stepped +in front of him. + +'Whatever rights mistress Dorothy may have given you,' he said, 'she had +none to transfer in respect of my father. What do you mean by calling +him a roundhead?' + +'Why, is he not one?' asked the youth, simply, keeping his ground, in +spite of the unpleasant proximity of Richard's person. 'I am sorry to +have wronged him, but I mistook him for a ringleader of the same name. I +heartily beg your pardon.' + +'You did not mistake,' said Richard stupidly. + +'Then I did him no wrong,' rejoined the youth, and once more would have +gone his way. + +But Richard, angrier than ever at finding he had given him such an easy +advantage, moved with his movement, and kept rudely in front of him, +provoking a quarrel--in clownish fashion, it must be confessed. + +'By heaven,' said Scudamore, 'if Dorothy had not begged me not to fight +with you--,' and as he spoke he slipped suddenly past his antagonist, +and walked swiftly away. Richard plunged after him, and seized him +roughly by the shoulder. Instantaneously he wheeled on the very foot +whence he was taking the next stride, and as he turned his rapier +gleamed in the moonlight. The same moment it left his hand, he scarce +knew how, and flew across the hedge. Richard, who was unarmed, had +seized the blade, and, almost by one and the same movement of his wrist, +wrenched the hilt from the grasp of his adversary, and flung the thing +from him. Then closing with the cavalier, slighter and less skilled in +such encounters, the roundhead almost instantly threw him upon the turf +that bordered the road. + +'Take that for drawing on an unarmed man,' he said. + +No reply came. The youth lay stunned. + +Then compassion woke in the heart of the angry Richard, and he hastened +to his help. Ere he reached him, however, he made an attempt to rise, +but only to stagger and fall again. + +'Curse you for a roundhead!' he cried; 'you've twisted some of my +tackle. I can't stand.' + +'I'm sorry,' returned Richard, 'but why did you bare bilbo on a naked +man? A right malignant you are!' + +'Did I?' returned Scudamore. 'You laid hands on me so suddenly! I ask +your pardon.' + +Accepting the offered aid of Richard, he rose; but his right knee was so +much hurt that he could not walk a step without great pain. Full of +regret for the suffering he had caused, Richard lifted him in his arms, +and seated him on a low wall of earth, which was all that here inclosed +lady Vaughan's shrubbery; then, breaking through the hedge on the +opposite side of the way, presently returned with the rapier, and handed +it to him. Scudamore accepted it courteously, with difficulty replaced +it in its sheath, rose, and once more attempted to walk, but gave a +groan, and would have fallen had not Richard caught him. + +'The devil is in it!' he cried, with more annoyance than anger. 'If I am +not in my place at my lord's breakfast to-morrow, there will be +questioning. That I had leave to accompany my mother makes the mischief. +If I had stole away, it would be another matter. It will be hard to bear +rebuke, and no frolic.' + +'Come home with me,' said Richard. 'My father will do his best to atone +for the wrong done by his son.' + +'Set foot across the threshold of a roundhead fanatic! In the way of +hospitality! Not if the choice lay betwixt that and my coffin!' cried +the cavalier. + +'Then let me carry you back to lady Vaughan's,' said Richard, with a +torturing pang of jealousy, which only his sense of right, now +thoroughly roused, enabled him to defy. + +'I dare not. I should terrify my mother, and perhaps kill my cousin.' + +'Your mother! your cousin!' cried Richard. + +'Yes,' returned Scudamore; 'my mother is there, on a visit to her cousin +lady Vaughan.' + +'Alas, I am more to blame than I knew!' said Richard. + +'No,' Scudamore went on, heedless of Richard's lamentation. 'I must +crawl back to Raglan as I may. If I get there before the morning, I +shall be able to show reason why I should not wait upon my lord at his +breakfast.' + +'You belong to the earl's household, then?' said Richard. + +'Yes; and I fear I shall be grey-headed before I belong to anything +else. He makes much of the ancient customs of the country: I would he +would follow them. In the good old times I should have been a squire at +least by now, if, indeed, I had not earned my spurs; but his lordship +will never be content without me to hand him his buttered egg at +breakfast, and fill his cup at dinner with his favourite claret. And so +I am neither more nor less than a page, which rhymes with my age better +than suits it. But the earl has a will of his own. He is a master worth +serving though. And there is my lady Elizabeth and my lady Mary--not to +mention my lord Herbert!--But,' he concluded, rubbing his injured knee +with both hands, 'why do I prate of them to a roundhead?' + +'Why indeed?' returned Richard. 'Are they not, the earl and all his +people, traitors, and that of the worst? Are they not the enemies of the +truth--worshippers of idols, bowing the knee to a woman, and kissing the +very toes of an old man so in love with ignorance, that he tortures the +philosopher who tells him the truth about the world and its motions?' + +'Go on, master Roundhead! I can chastise you, and that you know. This +cursed knee--' + +'I will stand unarmed within your thrust, and never budge a foot,' said +Richard. 'But no,' he added, 'I dare not, lest I should further injure +one I have wronged already. Let there be a truce between us.' + +'I am no papist,' returned Scudamore. 'I speak only as one of the earl's +household--true men all. For them I cast the word in your teeth, you +roundhead traitor! For myself I am of the English church.' + +'It is but the wolf and the wolf's cub,' said. Richard. 'Prelatical +episcopacy is but the old harlot veiled, or rather, forsooth, her bloody +scarlet blackened in the sulphur fumes of her coming desolation.' + +'Curse on, roundhead,' sighed the youth; 'I must crawl home.' + +Once more he rose and made an effort to walk. But it was of no use: walk +he could not. + +'I must wait till the morning,' he said, 'when some Christian waggoner +may be passing. Leave me in peace.' + +'Nay, I am no such boor!' said Richard. 'Do you think you could ride?' + +'I could try.' + +'I will bring you the best mare in Gwent. But tell me your name, that I +may know with whom I have the honour of a feud.' + +'My name is Rowland Scudamore,' answered the youth. 'Yours I know +already, and roundhead as you are, you have some smatch of honour in +you.' + +With an air of condescension he held out his hand, which his adversary, +oppressed with a sense of the injury he had done him, did not refuse. + +Richard hurried home, and to the stable, where he saddled his mare. But +his father, who was still in his study, heard the sound of her hoofs in +the paved yard, and met him as he led her out on the road, with an +inquiry as to his destination at such an hour. Richard told him that he +had had a quarrel with a certain young fellow of the name of Scudamore, +a page of the earl of Worcester, whom he had met at lady Vaughan's: and +recounted the result. + +'Was your quarrel a just one, my son?' + +'No sir. I was in the wrong.' + +'Then you are so far in the right now. And you are going to help him +home?' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Have you confessed yourself in the wrong?' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Then go, my son, but beware of private quarrel in such a season of +strife. This youth and thyself may meet some day in mortal conflict on +the battle-field; and for my part--I know not how it may be with +another--in such a case I would rather slay my friend than my enemy.' + +Enlightened by the inward experience of the moment, Richard was able to +understand and respond to the feeling. How different a sudden action +flashed off the surface of a man's nature may be from that which, had +time been given, would have unfolded itself from its depths! + +Bare-headed, Roger Heywood walked beside his son as he led the mare to +the spot where Scudamore perforce awaited his return. They found him +stretched on the roadside, plucking handfuls of grass, and digging up +the turf with his fingers, thus, and thus alone, betraying that he +suffered. Mr. Heywood at first refrained from any offer of hospitality, +believing he would be more inclined to accept it after he had proved the +difficulty of riding, in which case a previous refusal might stand in +the way. But although a slight groan escaped as they lifted him to the +saddle, he gathered up the reins at once, and sat erect while they +shortened the stirrup-leathers. Lady seemed to know what was required of +her, and stood as still as a vaulting horse until Richard took the +bridle to lead her away. + +'I see!' said Scudamore; 'you can't trust me with your horse!' + +'Not so, sir,' answered Mr. Heywood. 'We cannot trust the horse with +you. It is quite impossible for you to ride so far alone. If you will +go, you must submit to the attendance of my son, on which I am sorry to +think you have so good a claim. But will you not yet change your mind +and be our guest--for the night at least? We will send a messenger to +the castle at earliest dawn.' + +Scudamore declined the invitation, but with perfect courtesy, for there +was that about Roger Heywood which rendered it impossible for any man +who was himself a gentleman, whatever his judgment of him might be, to +show him disrespect. And the moment the mare began to move, he felt no +further inclination to object to Richard's company at her head, for he +perceived that, should she prove in the least troublesome, it would be +impossible for him to keep his seat. He did not suffer so much, however, +as to lose all his good spirits, or fail in his part of a conversation +composed chiefly of what we now call chaff, both of them for a time +avoiding all such topics as might lead to dispute, the one from a sense +of wrong already done, the other from a vague feeling that he was under +the protection of the foregone injury. + +'Have you known my cousin Dorothy long?' asked Scudamore. + +'Longer than I can remember,' answered Richard. + +'Then you must be more like brother and sister than lovers.' + +'That, I fear, is her feeling,' replied Richard, honestly. + +'You need not think of me as a rival,' said Scudamore. 'I never saw the +young woman in my life before, and although anything of yours, being a +roundhead's, is fair game--' + +'Your humble servant, sir Cavalier!' interjected Richard. 'Pray use your +pleasure.' + +'I tell you plainly,' Scudamore went on, without heeding the +interruption, 'though I admire my cousin, as I do any young woman, if +she be but a shade beyond the passable--' + +'The ape! The coxcomb!' said Richard to himself. + +'I am not, therefore, dying for her love; and I give you this one honest +warning that, though I would rather see mistress Dorothy in her +winding-sheet than dame to a roundhead, I should be--yes, I MAY be a +more dangerous rival in respect of your mare, than of any lady YOU are +likely to set eyes upon.' + +'What do you mean?' said Richard gruffly. + +'I mean that, the king having at length resolved to be more of a monarch +and less of a saint--' + +'A saint!' echoed Richard, but the echo was rather a loud one, for it +startled his mare and shook her rider. + +'Don't shout like that!' cried the cavalier, with an oath. 'Saint or +sinner, I care not. He is my king, and I am his soldier. But with this +knee you have given me, I shall be fitter for garrison than +field-duty--damn it.' + +'You do not mean that his majesty has declared open war against the +parliament?' exclaimed Richard. + +'Faithless puritan, I do,' answered Scudamore. 'His majesty has at +length--with reluctance, I am sorry to hear--taken up arms against his +rebellious subjects. Land will be cheap by-and-by.' + +'Many such rumours have reached us,' returned Richard, quietly. 'The +king spares no threats; but for blows--well!' + +'Insolent fanatic!' shouted Vaughan, 'I tell you his majesty is on his +way from Scotland with an army of savages; and London has declared for +the king.' + +Richard and his mare simultaneously quickened their pace. + +'Then it is time you were in bed, Mr Scudamore, for my mare and I will +be wanted,' he cried. 'God be praised! I thank you for the good news. It +makes me young again to hear it.' + +'What the devil do you mean by jerking this cursed knee of mine so?' +shouted Scudamore. 'Faith, you were young enough in all conscience +already, you fool! You want to keep me in bed, as well as send me there! +Well out of the way, you think! But I give you honest warning to look +after your mare, for I vow I have fallen in love with her. She's worth +three, at least, of your mistress Dorothies.' + +'You talk like a Dutch boor,' said Richard. + +'Saith an English lout,' retorted Scudamore. 'But, all things being +lawful in love and war, not to mention hate and rebellion, this mare, if +I am blessed with a chance, shall be--well, shall be translated.' + +'You mean from Redware to Raglan.' + +'Where she shall be entertained in a manner worthy of her, which is +saying no little, if all her paces and points be equal to her walk and +her crest.' + +'I trust you will be more pitiful to my poor Lady,' said Richard, +quietly. 'If all they say be true, Raglan stables are no place for a +mare of her breeding.' + +'What do you mean, roundhead?' + +'Folk say your stables at Raglan are like other some Raglan matters--of +the infernal sort.' + +Scudamore was silent for a moment. + +'Whether the stables be under the pavement or over the leads,' he +returned at last, 'there are not a few in them as good as she--of which +I hope to satisfy my Lady some day,' he added, patting the mare's neck. + +'Wert thou not hurt already, I would pitch thee out of the saddle,' said +Richard. + +'Were I not hurt in the knee, thou couldst not,' said Scudamore. + +'I need not lay hand upon thee. Wert thou as sound in limb as thou art +in wind, thou wouldst feel thyself on the road ere thou knewest thou +hadst taken leave of the saddle--did I but give the mare the sign she +knows.' + +'By God's grace,' said the cavalier, 'she shall be mine, and teach me +the trick of it.' + +Richard answered only with a grim laugh, and again, but more gently this +time, quickened the mare's pace. Little more had passed between them +when the six-sided towers of Raglan rose on their view. + +Richard had, from childhood, been familiar with their aspect, especially +that of the huge one called the Yellow Tower, but he had never yet been +within the walls that encircled them. At any time during his life, +almost up to the present hour, he might have entered without question, +for the gates were seldom closed and never locked, the portcullises, +sheathed in the wall above, hung moveless in their rusty chains, and the +drawbridges spanned the moat from scarp to counterscarp, as if from the +first their beams had rested there in solid masonry. And still, during +the day, there was little sign of change, beyond an indefinable presence +of busier life, even in the hush of the hot autumnal noon. But at night +the drawbridges rose and the portcullises descended--each with its own +peculiar creak, and jar, and scrape, setting the young rooks cawing in +reply from every pinnacle and tree-top--never later than the last moment +when the warder could see anything larger than a cat on the brow of the +road this side the village. For who could tell when, or with what force +at their command, the parliament might claim possession? And now another +of the frequent reports had arrived, that the king had at length +resorted to arms. It was altogether necessary for such as occupied a +stronghold, unless willing to yield it to the first who demanded +entrance, to keep watch and ward. + +Admitted at the great brick gate, the outermost of all, and turning +aside from the steps leading up to the white stone gate and main +entrance beyond, with its drawbridge and double portcullis, Richard, by +his companion's directions, led his mare to the left, and, rounding the +moat of the citadel, sought the western gate of the castle, which seemed +to shelter itself under the great bulk of the Yellow Tower, the cannon +upon more than one of whose bastions closely commanded it, and made up +for its inferiority in defence of its own. + +Scudamore had scarcely called, ere the warder, who had been waked by the +sound of the horse's feet, began to set the machinery of the portcullis +in motion. + +'What! wounded already, master Scudamore!' he cried, as they rode under +the archway. + +'Yes, Eccles,' answered Scudamore, '--wounded and taken prisoner, and +brought home for ransom!' + +As they spoke, Richard made use of his eyes, with a vague notion that +some knowledge of the place might one day or other be of service, but it +was little he could see. The moon was almost down, and her low light, +prolific of shadows, shone straight in through the lifted portcullis, +but in the gateway where they stood, there was nothing for her to show +but the groined vault, the massy walls, and the huge iron-studded gate +beyond. + +'Curse you for a roundhead!' cried Scudamore, in the wrath engendered of +a fierce twinge, as Heywood sought to help his lamed leg over the +saddle. + +'Dismount on this side then,' said Richard, regardless of the insult. + +But the warder had caught the word. + +'Roundhead!' he exclaimed. + +Scudamore did not answer until he found himself safe on his feet, and by +that time he had recovered his good manners. + +'This is young Mr. Heywood of Redware,' he said, and moved towards the +wicket, leaning on Richard's arm. + +But the old warder stepped in front, and stood between them and the +gate. + +'Not a damned roundhead of the pack shall set foot across this +door-sill, so long as I hold the gate,' he cried, with a fierce gesture +of the right arm. And therewith he set his back to the wicket. + +'Tut, tut, Eccles!' returned Scudamore impatiently. 'Good words are +worth much, and cost little.' + +'If the old dog bark, he gives counsel,' rejoined Eccles, immovable. + +Heywood was amused, and stood silent, waiting the result. He had no +particular wish to enter, and yet would have liked to see what could be +seen of the court. + +'Where the doorkeeper is a churl, what will folk say of the master of +the house?' said Scudamore. + +'They may say as they list; it will neither hurt him nor me,' said +Eccles. + +'Make haste, my good fellow, and let us through,' pleaded Scudamore. 'By +Saint George! but my leg is in great pain. I fear the knee-cap is +broken, in which case I shall not trouble thee much for a week of +months.' + +As he spoke, he stood leaning on Richard's arm, and behind them stood +Lady, still as a horse of bronze. + +'I will but drop the portcullis,' said the warder, 'and then I will +carry thee to thy room in my arms. But not a cursed roundhead shall +enter here, I swear.' + +'Let us through at once,' said Scudamore, trying the imperative. + +'Not if the earl himself gave the order,' persisted the man. + +'Ho! ho! what is that you say? Let the gentlemen through,' cried a voice +from somewhere. + +The warder opened the wicket immediately, stepped inside, and held it +open while they entered, nor uttered another word. But as soon as +Richard had got Scudamore clear of the threshold, to which he lent not a +helping finger, he stepped quietly out again, closed the wicket behind +him, and taking Lady by the bridle, led her back over the bridge towards +the bowling-green. + +Scudamore had just time to whisper to Heywood, 'It is my master, the +earl himself,' when the voice came again. + +'What! wounded, Rowland? How is this? And who have you there?' + +But that moment Richard heard the sound of his mare's hoofs on the +bridge, and leaving Scudamore to answer for them both, bounded back to +the wicket, darted through, and called her by name. Instantly she stood +stock still, notwithstanding a vicious kick in the ribs from Eccles, not +unseen of Heywood. Enraged at the fellow's insolence, he dealt him a +sudden blow that stretched him at the mare's feet, vaulted into the +saddle, and had reached the outer gate before he had recovered himself. +The sleepy porter had just let him through, when the warder's signal to +let no one out reached him. Richard turned with a laugh. + +'When next you catch a roundhead,' he said, 'keep him;' and giving Lady +the rein, galloped off, leaving the porter staring after him through the +bars like a half-roused wild beast. + +Not doubting the rumour of open hostilities, the warder's design had +been to secure the mare, and pretend she had run away, for a good horse +was now more precious than ever. + +The earl's study was over the gate, and as he suffered much from gout +and slept ill, he not unfrequently sought refuge in the night-watches +with his friends Chaucer, Gower, and Shakspere. + +Richard drew rein at the last point whence the castle would have been +visible in the daytime. All he saw was a moving light. The walls whence +it shone were one day to be as the shell around the kernel of his +destiny. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LOVE AND WAR. + + +When Richard reached home and recounted the escape he had had, an +imprecation, the first he had ever heard him utter, broke from his +father's lips. With the indiscrimination of party spirit, he looked upon +the warder's insolence and attempted robbery as the spirit and behaviour +of his master, the earl being in fact as little capable of such conduct +as Mr. Heywood himself. + +Immediately after their early breakfast the next morning, he led his son +to a chamber in the roof, of the very existence of which he had been +ignorant, and there discovered to him good store of such armour of both +kinds as was then in use, which for some years past he had been quietly +collecting in view of the time--which, in the light of the last rumour, +seemed to have at length arrived--when strength would have to decide the +antagonism of opposed claims. Probably also it was in view of this time, +seen from afar in silent approach, that, from the very moment when he +took his education into his own hands, he had paid thorough attention to +Richard's bodily as well as mental accomplishment, encouraging him in +all manly sports, such as wrestling, boxing, and riding to hounds, with +the more martial training of sword-exercises, with and without the +target, and shooting with the carbine and the new-fashioned flint-lock +pistols. + +The rest of the morning Richard spent in choosing a headpiece, and mail +plates for breast, back, neck, shoulders, arms, and thighs. The next +thing was to set the village tailor at work upon a coat of that thick +strong leather, dressed soft and pliant, which they called buff, to wear +under his armour. After that came the proper equipment of Lady, and that +of the twenty men whom his father expected to provide from amongst his +own tenants, and for whom he had already a full provision of clothing +and armour; they had to be determined on, conferred with, and fitted, +one by one, so as to avoid drawing attention to the proceeding. Hence +both Mr. Heywood and Richard had enough to do, and the more that +Faithful Stopchase, on whom was their chief dependence, had not yet +recovered sufficiently from the effects of his fall to be equal to the +same exertion as formerly--of which he was the more impatient that he +firmly believed he had been a special object of Satanic assault, because +of the present value of his counsels, and the coming weight of his deeds +on the side of the well-affected. Thus occupied, the weeks passed into +months. + +During this time Richard called again and again upon Dorothy, ostensibly +to inquire after her mother. Only once, however, did she appear, when +she gave him to understand she was so fully occupied, that, although +obliged by his attention, he must not expect to see her again. + +'But I will be honest, Richard,' she added, 'and let you know plainly +that, were it otherwise in respect of my mother, I yet should not see +you, for you and I have parted company, and are already so far asunder +on different roads that I must bid you farewell at once while yet we can +hear each other speak.' + +There was no anger, only a cold sadness in her tone and manner, while +her bearing was stately as towards one with whom she had never had +intimacy. Even her sadness seemed to Richard to have respect to the +hopeless condition of her mother's health, and not at all to the changed +relation between him and her. + +'I trust, at least, mistress Dorothy,' he said, with some bitterness, +'you will grant me the justice that what I do, I do with a good +conscience. After all that has been betwixt us I ask for no more.' + +'What more could the best of men ask for?' + +'I, who am far from making any claim to rank with such--' + +'I am glad to know it,' interjected Dorothy. + +'--am yet capable of hoping that an eye at once keener and kinder than +yours may see conscience at the very root of the actions which you, +Dorothy, will doubtless most condemn.' + +Was this the boy she had despised for indifference? + +'Was it conscience drove you to sprain my cousin Rowland's knee?' she +asked. + +Richard was silent for a moment. The sting was too cruel. + +'Pray hesitate not to say so, if such be your conviction,' added +Dorothy. + +'No,' replied Richard, recovering himself. 'I trust it is not such a +serious matter as you say; but any how it was not conscience but +jealousy and anger that drove me to that wrong.' + +'Did you see the action such at the time?' + +'No, surely; else I would not have been guilty of that for which I am +truly sorry now.' + +'Then, perhaps, the day will come when, looking back on what you do now, +you will regard it with the like disapprobation.--God grant it may!' she +added, with a deep sigh. + +'That can hardly be, mistress Dorothy. I am, in the matters to which you +refer, under the influence of no passion, no jealousy, no self-seeking, +no--' + +'Perhaps a deeper search might discover in you each and all of the +bosom-sins you so stoutly abjure,' interrupted Dorothy. 'But it is +needless for you to defend yourself to me; I am not your judge.' + +'So much the better for me!' returned Richard; 'I should else have an +unjust as well as severe one. I, on my part, hope the day may come when +you will find something to repent of in such harshness towards an old +friend whom you choose to think in the wrong.' + +'Richard Heywood, God is my witness it is no choice of mine. I have no +choice: what else is there to think? I know well enough what you and +your father are about. But there is nothing save my own conscience and +my mother's love I would not part with to be able to believe you +honourably right in your own eyes--not in mine--God forbid! That can +never be--not until fair is foul and foul is fair.' + +So saying, she held out her hand. + +'God be between thee and me, Dorothy!' said Richard, with solemnity, as +he took it in his. + +He spoke with a voice that seemed to him far away and not his own. Until +now he had never realized the idea of a final separation between him and +Dorothy; and even now, he could hardly believe she was in earnest, but +felt, rather, like a child whose nurse threatens to forsake him on the +dark road, and who begins to weep only from the pitiful imagination of +the thing, and not any actual fear of her carrying the threat into +execution. The idea of retaining her love by ceasing to act on his +convictions--the very possibility of it--had never crossed the horizon +of his thoughts. Had it come to him as the merest intellectual notion, +he would have perceived at once, of such a loyal stock did he come, and +so loyal had he himself been to truth all his days, that to act upon her +convictions instead of his own would have been to widen a gulf at least +measurable, to one infinite and impassable. + +She withdrew the hand which had solemnly pressed his, and left the room. +For a moment he stood gazing after her. Even in that moment, the vague +fear that she would not come again grew to a plain conviction, and +forcibly repressing the misery that rose in bodily presence from his +heart to his throat, he left the house, hurried down the pleached alley +to the old sun-dial, threw himself on the grass under the yews, and wept +and longed for war. + +But war was not to be just yet. Autumn withered and sank into winter. +The rain came down on the stubble, and the red cattle waded through red +mire to and from their pasture; the skies grew pale above, and the earth +grew bare beneath; the winds grew sharp and seemed unfriendly; the +brooks ran foaming to the rivers, and the rivers ran roaring to the +ocean. Then the earth dried a little, and the frost came, and swelled +and hardened it; the snow fell and lay, vanished and came again. But +even out of the depth of winter, quivered airs and hints of spring, +until at last the mighty weakling was born. And all this time rumour +beat the alarum of war, and men were growing harder and more determined +on both sides--some from self-opinion, some from party spirit, some from +prejudice, antipathy, animosity, some from sense of duty, mingled more +and less with the alloys of impulse and advantage. But he who was most +earnest on the one side was least aware that he who was most earnest on +the other was honest as himself. To confess uprightness in one of the +opposite party, seemed to most men to involve treachery to their own; or +if they were driven to the confession, it was too often followed with an +attempt at discrediting the noblest of human qualities. + +The hearts of the two young people fared very much as the earth under +the altered skies of winter, and behaved much as the divided nation. A +sense of wrong endured kept both from feeling at first the full sorrow +of their separation; and by the time that the tide of memory had flowed +back and covered the rock of offence, they had got a little used to the +dulness of a day from which its brightest hour had been blotted. Dorothy +learned very soon to think of Richard as a prodigal brother beyond seas, +and when they chanced to meet, which was but seldom, he was to her as a +sad ghost in a dream. To Richard, on the other hand, she looked a lovely +but scarce worshipful celestial, with merely might enough to hold his +heart, swelling with a sense of wrong, in her hand, and squeeze it very +hard. His consolation was that he suffered for the truth's sake, for to +decline action upon such insight as he had had, was a thing as +impossible as to alter the relations between the parts of a sphere. +Dorothy longed for peace, and the return of the wandering chickens of +the church to the shelter of her wings, to be led by her about the paled +yard of obedience, picking up the barley of righteousness; Richard +longed for the trumpet-blast of Liberty to call her sons together--to a +war whose battles should never cease until men were free to worship God +after the light he had lighted within them, and the dragon of priestly +authority should breathe out his last fiery breath, no more to drive the +feebler brethren to seek refuge in the house of hypocrisy. + +At home Dorothy was under few influences except those of her mother, +and, through his letters, of Mr. Matthew Herbert. Upon the former a +lovely spiritual repose had long since descended. Her anxieties were +only for her daughter, her hopes only for the world beyond the grave. +The latter was a man of peace, who, having found in the ordinances of +his church everything to aid and nothing to retard his spiritual +development, had no conception of the nature of the puritanical +opposition to its government and rites. Through neither could Dorothy +come to any true idea of the questions which agitated the politics of +both church and state. To her, the king was a kind of demigod, and every +priest a fountain of truth. Her religion was the sedate and dutiful +acceptance of obedient innocence, a thing of small account indeed where +it is rooted only in sentiment and customary preference, but of +inestimable value in such cases as hers, where action followed upon +acceptance. + +Richard, again, was under the quickening masterdom of a well-stored, +active mind, a strong will, a judgment that sought to keep its balance +even, and whose descended scale never rebounded, a conscience which, +through all the mists of human judgment, eyed ever the blotted glimmer +of some light beyond; and all these elements of power were gathered in +his own father, in whom the customary sternness of the puritan parent +had at length blossomed in confidence, a phase of love which, to such a +mind as Richard's, was even more enchanting than tenderness. To be +trusted by such a father, to feel his mind and soul present with him, +acknowledging him a fit associate in great hopes and noble aims, was +surely and ought to be, whatever the sentimentalist may say, some +comfort for any sorrow a youth is capable of, such being in general only +too lightly remediable. I wonder if any mere youth ever suffered, from a +disappointment in love, half the sense of cureless pain which, with one +protracted pang, gnaws at the heart of the avaricious old man who has +dropt a sovereign into his draw-well. + +But the relation of Dorothy and Richard, although ordinary in outward +appearance, was of no common kind; and while these two thus fell apart +from each other in their outer life, each judging the other insensible +to the call of highest rectitude, neither of them knew how much his or +her heart was confident of the other's integrity. In respect of them, +the lovely simile, in Christabel, of the parted cliffs, may be carried a +little farther, for, under the dreary sea flowing between them, the rock +was one still. Such a faith may sometimes, perhaps often does, lie in +the heart like a seed buried beyond the reach of the sun, thoroughly +alive though giving no sign: to grow too soon might be to die. Things +had indeed gone farther with Dorothy and Richard, but the lobes of their +loves had never been fairly exposed to the sun and wind ere the swollen +clods of winter again covered them. + +Once, in the cold noon of a lovely day of frost, when the lightest step +crackled with the breaking of multitudinous crystals, when the trees +were fringed with furry white, and the old spider-webs glimmered like +filigrane of fairy silver, they met on a lonely country-road. The sun +shone red through depths of half-frozen vapour, and tinged the whiteness +of death with a faint warmth of feeling and hope. Along the rough lane +Richard walked reading what looked like a letter, but was a copy his +father had procured of a poem still only in manuscript--the Lycidas of +Milton. In the glow to which the alternating hot and cold winds of +enthusiasm and bereavement had fanned the fiery particle within him, +Richard was not only able to understand and enjoy the thought of which +the poem was built, but was borne aloft on its sad yet hopeful melodies +as upon wings of an upsoaring seraph. The flow of his feeling suddenly +broken by an almost fierce desire to share with Dorothy the tenderness +of the magic music of the stately monody, and then, ere the answering +waves of her emotion had subsided, to whisper to her that the marvellous +spell came from the heart of the same wonderful man from whose brain had +issued, like Pallas from Jove's,--what?--Animadversions upon the +Remonstrants Defence against Smectymnus, the pamphlet which had so +roused all the abhorrence her nature was capable of--he lifted his head +and saw her but a few paces from him. Dorothy caught a glimpse of a +countenance radiant with feeling, and eyes flashing through a watery +film of delight; her own eyes fell; she said, 'Good morning, Richard!' +and passed him without deflecting an inch. The bird of song folded its +wings and called in its shining; the sun lost half his red beams; the +sprinkled seed pearls vanished, and ashes covered the earth; he folded +the paper, laid it in the breast of his doublet, and walked home through +the glittering meadows with a fresh hurt in his heart. + +Dorothy's time and thoughts were all but occupied with the nursing of +her mother, who, contrary to the expectation of her friends, outlived +the winter, and revived as the spring drew on. She read much to her. +Some of the best books had drifted into the house and settled there, +but, although English printing was now nearly two centuries old, they +were not many. We must not therefore imagine, however, that the two +ladies were ill supplied with spiritual pabulum. There are few houses of +the present day in which, though there be ten times as many books, there +is so much strong food; if there was any lack, it was rather of +diluents. Amongst those she read were Queen Elizabeth's Homilies, +Hooker's Politie, Donne's Sermons, and George Herbert's Temple, to the +dying lady only less dear than her New Testament. + +But even with this last, it was only through sympathy with her mother +that Dorothy could come into any contact. The gems of the mind, which +alone could catch and reflect such light, lay as yet under the soil, and +much ploughing and breaking of the clods was needful ere they could come +largely to the surface. But happily for Dorothy, there were amongst the +books a few of those precious little quartos of Shakspere, the first +three books of the Faerie Queene, and the Countess of Pembroke's +Arcadia, then much read, if we may judge from the fact that, although it +was not published till after the death of Sidney, the eighth edition of +it had now been nearly ten years in lady Vaughan's possession. + +Then there was in the drawing-room an old spinnet, sadly out of tune, on +which she would yet, in spite of the occasional jar and shudder of +respondent nerves, now and then play at a sitting all the little music +she had learned, and with whose help she had sometimes even tried to +find out an air for words that had taken her fancy. + +Also, she had the house to look after, the live stock to see to, her dog +to play with and teach, a few sad thoughts and memories to discipline, a +call now and then from a neighbour, or a longer visit from some old +friend of her mother's to receive, and the few cottagers on all that was +left of the estate of Wyfern to care for; so that her time was tolerably +filled up, and she felt little need of anything more to occupy at least +her hours and days. + +Meanwhile, through all nature's changes, through calm and tempest, rain +and snow, through dull refusing winter, and the first passing visits of +open-handed spring, the hearts of men were awaiting the outburst of the +thunder, the blue peaks of whose cloud-built cells had long been visible +on the horizon of the future. Every now and then they would start and +listen, and ask each other was it the first growl of the storm, or but +the rumbling of the wheels of the government. To the dwellers in Raglan +Castle it seemed at least a stormy sign--of which the news reached them +in the dull November weather--that the parliament had set a guard upon +Worcester House in the Strand, and searched it for persons suspected of +high treason--lord Herbert, doubtless, first of all, the direction and +strength of whose political drift, suspicious from the first because of +his religious persuasion, could hardly be any longer doubtful to the +most liberal of its members. + +The news of the terrible insurrection of the catholics in Ireland +followed. + +Richard kept his armour bright, his mare in good fettle, himself and his +men in thorough exercise, read and talked with his father, and waited, +sometimes with patience, sometimes without. + +At length, in the early spring, the king withdrew to York, and a +body-guard of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood gathered around him. +Richard renewed the flints of his carbine and pistols. + +In April, the king, refused entrance into the town of Hull, proclaimed +the governor a traitor. The parliament declared the proclamation a +breach of its privileges. Richard got new girths. + +The summer passed in various disputes. Towards its close the governor of +Portsmouth declined to act upon a commission to organize the new levies +of the parliament, and administered instead thereof an oath of +allegiance to the garrison and inhabitants. Thereupon the place was +besieged by Essex; the king proclaimed him a traitor, and the parliament +retorted by declaring the royal proclamation a libel. Richard had his +mare new-shod. + +On a certain day in August, the royal standard, with the motto, 'Give to +Caesar his due,' was set up at Nottingham. Richard mounted his mare, and +taking leave of his father, led Stopchase and nineteen men more, all +fairly mounted, to offer his services to the parliament, as represented +by the earl of Essex. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +DOROTHY'S REFUGE. + + +With the decay of summer, lady Vaughan began again to sink, and became +at length so weak that Dorothy rarely left her room. The departure of +Richard Heywood to join the rebels affected her deeply. The report of +the utter rout of the parliamentary forces at Edgehill, lighted up her +face for the last time with a glimmer of earthly gladness, which the +very different news that followed speedily extinguished; and after that +she declined more rapidly. Mrs. Rees told Dorothy that she would yield +to the first frost. But she lingered many weeks. One morning she signed +to her daughter to come nearer that she might speak to her. + +'Dorothy,' she whispered, 'I wish much to see good Mr. Herbert. Prithee +send for him. I know it is an evil time for him to travel, being an old +man and feeble, but he will do his endeavour to come to me, I know, if +but for my husband's sake, whom he loved like a brother. I cannot die in +peace without first taking counsel with him how best to provide for the +safety of my little ewe-lamb until these storms are overblown. Alas! +alas! I did look to Richard Heywood--' + +She could say no more. + +'Do not take thought about the morrow for me any more than you would for +yourself, madam,' said Dorothy. 'You know master Herbert says the one is +as the other.' + +She kissed her mother's hand as she spoke, then hastened from the room, +and despatched a messenger to Llangattock. + +Before the worthy man arrived, lady Vaughan was speechless. By signs and +looks, definite enough, and more eloquent than words, she committed +Dorothy to his protection, and died. + +Dorothy behaved with much calmness. She would not, in her mother's +absence, act so as would have grieved her presence. Little passed +between her and Mr. Herbert until the funeral was over. Then they talked +of the future. Her guardian wished much to leave everything in charge of +the old bailiff, and take her with him to Llangattock; but he hesitated +a little because of the bad state of the roads in winter, much because +of their danger in the troubled condition of affairs, and most of all +because of the uncertain, indeed perilous position of the Episcopalian +clergy, who might soon find themselves without a roof to shelter them. +Fearing nothing for himself, he must yet, in arranging for Dorothy, +contemplate the worst of threatening possibilities; and one thing was +pretty certain, that matters must grow far worse before they could even +begin to mend. + +But they had more time for deliberation given them than they would +willingly have taken. Mr. Herbert had caught cold while reading the +funeral service, and was compelled to delay his return. The cold settled +into a sort of low fever, and for many weeks he lay helpless. During +this time the sudden affair at Brentford took place, after which the +king, having lost by it far more than he had gained, withdrew to Oxford, +anxious to re-open the treaty which the battle had closed. + +The country was now in a sad state. Whichever party was uppermost in any +district, sought to ruin all of the opposite faction. Robbery and +plunder became common, and that not only on the track of armies or the +route of smaller bodies of soldiers, for bands of mere marauders, taking +up the cry of the faction that happened in any neighbourhood to have the +ascendancy, plundered houses, robbed travellers, and were guilty of all +sorts of violence. Hence it had become as perilous to stay at home in an +unfortified house as to travel; and many were the terrors which during +the winter tried the courage of the girl, and checked the recovery of +the old man. At length one morning, after a midnight alarm, Mr. Herbert +thus addressed Dorothy, as she waited upon him with his breakfast: + +'It fears me much, my dear Dorothy, that the time will be long ere any +but fortified places will be safe abodes. It is a question in my mind +whether it would not be better to seek refuge for you--. But stay; let +me suggest my proposal, rather than startle you with it in sudden form +complete. You are related to the Somersets, are you not?' + +'Yes--distantly.' + +'Is the relationship recognized by them?' + +'I cannot tell, sir. I do not even distinctly know what the relationship +is. And assuredly, sir, you mean not to propose that I should seek +safety from bodily peril with a household which is, to say the least, so +unfriendly to the doctrines you and my blessed mother have always taught +me! You cannot, or indeed, must you not have forgotten that they are +papists?' + +Dorothy had been educated in such a fear of the catholics, and such a +profound disapproval of those of their doctrines rejected by the +reformers of the church of England, as was only surpassed in intensity +by her absolute abhorrence of the assumptions and negations of the +puritans. These indeed roused in her a certain sense of disgust which +she had never felt in respect of what were considered by her teachers +the most erroneous doctrines of the catholics. But Mr. Herbert, although +his prejudices were nearly as strong, and his opinions, if not more +indigenous at least far better acclimatised than hers, had yet reaped +this advantage of a longer life, that he was better able to atone his +dislike of certain opinions with personal regard for those who held +them, and therefore did not, like Dorothy, recoil from the idea of +obligation to one of a different creed--provided always that creed was +catholicism and not puritanism. For to the church of England, the +catholics, in the presence of her more rampant foes, appeared harmless +enough now. + +He believed that the honourable feelings of lord Worcester and his +family would be hostile to any attempt to proselytize his ward. But as +far as she was herself concerned, he trusted more to the strength of her +prejudices than the rectitude of her convictions, honest as the girl +was, to prevent her from being over-influenced by the change of +spiritual atmosphere; for in proportion to the simplicity of her +goodness must be her capacity for recognizing the goodness of others, +catholics or not, and for being wrought upon by the virtue that went out +from them. His hope was, that England would have again become the abode +of peace, long ere any risk to her spiritual well-being should have been +incurred by this mode of securing her bodily safety and comfort. + +But there was another fact, in the absence of which he would have had +far more hesitation in seeking for his ewe-lamb the protection of sheep, +the guardians of whose spiritual fold had but too often proved wolves in +sheep-dogs' clothing: within the last few days the news had reached him +that an old friend named Bayly, a true man, a priest of the English +church and a doctor of divinity, had taken up his abode in Raglan castle +as one of the household--chaplain indeed, as report would have it, +though that was hard of belief, save indeed it were for the sake of the +protestants within its walls. However that might be, there was a true +shepherd to whose care to entrust his lamb; and it was mainly on the +strength of this consideration that he had concluded to make his +proposal to Dorothy--namely, that she should seek shelter within the +walls of Raglan castle until the storm should be so far over-blown, as +to admit either of her going to Llangattock or returning to her own +home. He now discussed the matter with her in full, and, notwithstanding +her very natural repugnance to the scheme, such was Dorothy's confidence +in her friend that she was easily persuaded of its wisdom. What the more +inclined her to yield was, that Mr. Heywood had written her a letter, +hardly the less unwelcome for the kindness of its tone, in which he +offered her the shelter and hospitality of Redware 'until better days.' + +'Better days!' exclaimed Dorothy with contempt. 'If such days as he +would count better should ever arrive, his house is the last place where +I would have them find me!' + +She wrote a polite but cold refusal, and rejoiced in the hope that he +would soon hear of her having sought and found refuge in Raglan with the +friends of the king. + +Meanwhile Mr. Herbert had opened communication with Dr. Bayly, had +satisfied himself that he was still a true son of the church, and had +solicited his friendly mediation towards the receiving of mistress +Dorothy Vaughan into the family of the marquis of Worcester, to the +dignity of which title the earl had now been raised--the parliament, to +be sure, declining to acknowledge the patent conferred by his majesty, +but that was of no consequence in the estimation of those chiefly +concerned. + +On a certain spring morning, then, the snow still lying in the hollows +of the hills, Thomas Bayly came to Wyfern to see his old friend Matthew +Herbert. He was a courteous little man, with a courtesy librating on a +knife-edge of deflection towards obsequiousness on the one hand and +condescension on the other, for neither of which, however, was his +friend Herbert an object. His eye was keen, and his forehead good, but +his carriage inclined to the pompous, and his speech to the formal, +ornate, and prolix. The shape of his mouth was honest, but the closure +of the lips indicated self-importance. The greeting between them was +simple and genuine, and ere they parted, Bayly had promised to do his +best in representing the matter to the marquis, his daughter-in-law, +lady Margaret, the wife of lord Herbert, and his daughter, lady Anne, +who, although the most rigid catholic in the house, was already the +doctor's special friend. + +It would have been greatly unlike the marquis or any of his family to +refuse such a prayer. Had not their house been for centuries the abode +of hospitality, the embodiment of shelter? On the mere representation of +Dr. Bayly, and the fact of the relationship, which, although distant, +was well enough known, within two days mistress Dorothy Vaughan received +an invitation to enter the family of the marquis, as one of the +gentlewomen of lady Margaret's suite. It was of course gratefully +accepted, and as soon as Mr. Herbert thought himself sufficiently +recovered to encounter the fatigues of travelling, he urged on the +somewhat laggard preparations of Dorothy, that he might himself see her +safely housed on his way to Llangattock, whither he was most anxious to +return. + +It was a lovely spring morning when they set out together on horseback +for Raglan. The sun looked down like a young father upon his +earth-mothered children, peeping out of their beds to greet him after +the long winter night. The rooks were too busy to caw, dibbling deep in +the soft red earth with their great beaks. The red cattle, flaked with +white, spotted the clear fresh green of the meadows. The bare trees had +a kind of glory about them, like old men waiting for their youth, which +might come suddenly. A few slow clouds were drifting across the pale +sky. A gentle wind was blowing over the wet fields, but when a cloud +swept before the sun, it blew cold. The roads were bad, but their horses +were used to such, and picked their way with the easy carefulness of +experience. The winter might yet return for a season, but this day was +of the spring and its promises. Earth and air, field and sky were full +of peace. But the heart of England was troubled--troubled with passions +both good and evil--with righteous indignation and unholy scorn, with +the love of liberty and the joy of license, with ambition and +aspiration. + +No honest heart could yield long to the comforting of the fair world, +knowing that some of her fairest fields would soon be crimsoned afresh +with the blood of her children. But Dorothy's sadness was not all for +her country in general. Had she put the question honestly to her heart, +she must have confessed that even the loss of her mother had less to do +with a certain weight upon it, which the loveliness of the spring day +seemed to render heavier, than the rarely absent feeling rather than +thought, that the playmate of her childhood, and the offered lover of +her youth, had thrown himself with all the energy of dawning manhood +into the quarrel of the lawless and self-glorifying. Nor was she +altogether free from a sense of blame in the matter. Had she been less +imperative in her mood and bearing, more ready to give than to require +sympathy,--but ah! she could not change the past, and the present was +calling upon her. + +At length the towers of Raglan appeared, and a pang of apprehension shot +through her bosom. She was approaching the unknown. Like one on the +verge of a second-sight, her history seemed for a moment about to reveal +itself--where it lay, like a bird in its egg, within those massive +walls, warded by those huge ascending towers. Brought up in a retirement +that some would have counted loneliness, and although used to all gentle +and refined ways, yet familiar with homeliness and simplicity of mode +and ministration, she could not help feeling awed at the prospect of +entering such a zone of rank and stateliness and observance as the +household of the marquis, who lived like a prince in expenditure, +attendance, and ceremony. She knew little of the fashions of the day, +and, like many modest young people, was afraid she might be guilty of +some solecism which would make her appear ill-bred, or at least awkward. +Since her mother left her, she had become aware of a timidity to which +she had hitherto been a stranger. 'Ah!' she said to herself, 'if only my +mother were with me!' + +At length they reached the brick gate, were admitted within the outer +wall, and following the course taken by Scudamore and Heywood, skirted +the moat which enringed the huge blind citadel or keep, and arrived at +the western gate. The portcullis rose to admit them, and they rode into +the echoes of the vaulted gateway. Turning to congratulate Dorothy on +their safe arrival, Mr. Herbert saw that she was pale and agitated. + +'What ails my child?' he said in a low voice, for the warder was near. + +'I feel as if entering a prison,' she replied, with a shiver. + +'Is thy God the God of the grange and not of the castle?' returned the +old man. + +'But, sir,' said Dorothy, 'I have been accustomed to a liberty such as +few have enjoyed, and these walls and towers--' + +'Heed not the look of things,' interrupted her guardian. 'Believe in the +Will that with a thought can turn the shadow of death into the morning, +give gladness for weeping, and the garment of praise for the spirit of +heaviness.' + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +RAGLAN CASTLE. + + +While he yet spoke, their horses, of their own accord, passed through +the gate which Eccles had thrown wide to admit them, and carried them +into the Fountain court. Here, indeed, was a change of aspect! All that +Dorothy had hitherto contemplated was the side of the fortress which +faced the world--frowning and defiant, although here and there on the +point of breaking into a half smile, for the grim, suspicious, +altogether repellent look of the old feudal castle had been gradually +vanishing in the additions and alterations of more civilised times. But +now they were in the heart of the building, and saw the face which the +house of strength turned upon its own people. The spring sunshine filled +half the court; over the rest lay the shadow of the huge keep, towering +massive above the three-storied line of building which formed the side +next it. Here was the true face of the Janus-building, full of eyes and +mouths; for many bright windows looked down into the court, in some of +which shone the smiling faces of children and ladies peeping out to see +the visitors, whose arrival had been announced by the creaking chains of +the portcullis; and by the doors issued and entered, here a lady in rich +attire, there a gentlemen half in armour, and here again a serving man +or maid. Nearly in the centre of the quadrangle, just outside the shadow +of the keep, stood the giant horse, rearing in white marble, almost +dazzling in the sunshine, from whose nostrils spouted the jets of water +which gave its name to the court. Opposite the gate by which they +entered was the little chapel, with its triple lancet windows, over +which lay the picture-gallery with its large oriel lights. Far above +their roof, ascended from behind that of the great hall, with its fine +lantern window seated on the ridge. From the other court beyond the +hall, that upon which the main entrance opened, came the sounds of heavy +feet in intermittent but measured tread, the clanking of arms, and a +returning voice of loud command: the troops of the garrison were being +exercised on the slabs of the pitched court. + +From each of the many doors opening into the court they had entered, a +path, paved with coloured tiles, led straight through the finest of turf +to the marble fountain in the centre, into whose shadowed basin the +falling water seemed to carry captive as into a prison the sunlight it +caught above. Its music as it fell made a lovely but strange and sad +contrast with the martial sounds from beyond. + +It was but a moment they had to note these things; eyes and ears +gathered them all at once. Two of the warder's men already held their +horses, while two other men, responsive to the warder's whistle, came +running from the hall and helped them to dismount. Hardly had they +reached the ground ere a man-servant came, who led the way to the left +towards a porch of carved stone on the same side of the court. The door +stood open, revealing a flight of stairs, rather steep, but wide and +stately, going right up between two straight walls. At the top stood +lady Margaret's gentleman usher, Mr. Harcourt by name, who received them +with much courtesy, and conducting them to a small room on the left of +the landing, went to announce their arrival to lady Margaret, to whose +private parlour this was the antechamber. Returning in a moment, he led +them into her presence. + +She received them with a frankness which almost belied the stateliness +of her demeanour. Through the haze of that reserve which a consciousness +of dignity, whether true or false, so often generates, the genial +courtesy of her Irish nature, for she was an O'Brien, daughter of the +earl of Thomond, shone clear, and justified her Celtic origin. + +'Welcome, cousin!' she said, holding out her hand while yet distant half +the length of the room, across which, upborne on slow firm foot, she +advanced with even, stately motion, 'And you also, reverend sir,' she +went on, turning to Mr. Herbert. 'I am told we are indebted to you for +this welcome addition to our family--how welcome none can tell but +ladies shut up like ourselves.' + +Dorothy was already almost at her ease, and the old clergyman soon found +lady Margaret so sensible and as well as courteous--prejudiced yet +further in her favour, it must be confessed, by the pleasant pretence +she made of claiming cousinship on the ground of the identity of her +husband's title with his surname--that, ere he left the castle, liberal +as he had believed himself, he was nevertheless astonished to find how +much of friendship had in that brief space been engendered in his bosom +towards a catholic lady whom he had never before seen. + +Since the time of Elizabeth, when the fear and repugnance of the nation +had been so greatly and justly excited by the apparent probability of a +marriage betwixt their queen and the detested Philip of Spain, a +considerable alteration had been gradually wrought in the feelings of a +large portion of it in respect of their catholic countrymen--a fact +which gave strength to the position of the puritans in asserting the +essential identity of episcopalian with catholic politics. Almost forty +years had elapsed since the Gunpowder Plot; the queen was a catholic; +the episcopalian party was itself at length endangered by the extension +and development of the very principles on which they had themselves +broken away from the church of Rome; and the catholics were friendly to +the government of the king, under which their condition was one of +comfort if not influence, while under that of the parliament they had +every reason to anticipate a revival of persecution. Not a few of them +doubtless cherished the hope that this revelation of the true spirit of +dissent would result in driving the king and his party back into the +bosom of the church. + +The king, on the other hand, while only too glad to receive what aid he +might from the loyal families of the old religion, yet saw that much +caution was necessary lest he should alienate the most earnest of his +protestant friends by giving ground for the suspicion that he was +inclined to purchase their co-operation by a return to the creed of his +Scottish grandmother, Mary Stuart, and his English +great-great-grand-mother, Margaret Tudor. + +On the part of the clergy there had been for some time a considerable +tendency, chiefly from the influence of Laud, to cultivate the same +spirit which actuated the larger portion of the catholic priesthood; and +although this had never led to retrograde movement in regard to their +politics, the fact that both were accounted by a third party, and that +far the most dangerous to either of the other two, as in spirit and +object one and the same, naturally tended to produce a more indulgent +regard of each other than had hitherto prevailed. And hence, in part, it +was that it had become possible for episcopalian Dr. Bayly to be an +inmate of Raglan Castle, and for good, protestant Matthew Herbert to +seek refuge for his ward with good catholic lady Margaret. + +Eager to return to the duties of his parish, through his illness so long +neglected, Mr. Herbert declined her ladyship's invitation to dinner, +which, she assured him, consulting a watch that she wore in a ring on +her little finger, must be all but ready, seeing it was now a quarter to +eleven, and took his leave, accompanied by Dorothy's servant to bring +back the horse--if indeed they should be fortunate enough to escape the +requisition of both horses by one party or the other. At present, +however, the king's affairs continued rather on the ascendant, and the +name of the marquis in that country was as yet a tower of strength. +Dorothy's horse was included in the hospitality shown his mistress, and +taken to the stables--under the mid-day shadow of the Library Tower. + +As soon as the parson was gone, lady Margaret touched a small silver +bell which hung in a stand on the table beside her. + +'Conduct mistress Dorothy Vaughan to her room, wait upon her there, and +then attend her hither,' she said to the maid who answered it. 'I would +request a little not unneedful haste, cousin,' she went on, 'for my lord +of Worcester is very precise in all matters of household order, and +likes ill to see any one enter the dining-room after he is seated. It is +his desire that you should dine at his table to-day. After this I must +place you with the rest of my ladies, who dine in the housekeeper's +room.' + +'As you think proper, madam,' returned Dorothy, a little disappointed, +but a little relieved also. + +'The bell will ring presently,' said lady Margaret, 'and a quarter of an +hour thereafter we shall all be seated.' + +She was herself already dressed--in a pale-blue satin, with full skirt +and close-fitting, long-peaked boddice, fastened in front by several +double clasps set with rubies; her shoulders were bare, and her sleeves +looped up with large round star-like studs, set with diamonds, so that +her arms also were bare to the elbows. Round her neck was a short string +of large pearls. + +'You take no long time to attire yourself, cousin,' said her ladyship, +kindly, when Dorothy returned. + +'Little time was needed, madam,' answered Dorothy; 'for me there is but +one colour. I fear I shall show but a dull bird amidst the gay plumage +of Raglan. But I could have better adorned myself had not I heard the +bell ere I had begun, and feared to lose your ladyship's company, and in +very deed make my first appearance before my lord as a transgressor of +the laws of his household.' + +'You did well, cousin Dorothy; for everything goes by law and order +here. All is reason and rhyme too in this house. My lord's father, +although one of the best and kindest of men, is, as I said, somewhat +precise, and will, as he says himself, be king in his own +kingdom--thinking doubtless of one who is not such. I should not talk +thus with you, cousin, were you like some young ladies I know; but there +is that about you which pleases me greatly, and which I take to indicate +discretion. When first I came to the house, not having been accustomed +to so severe a punctuality, I gave my lord no little annoyance; for, +oftener than once or twice, I walked into his dining-room not only after +grace had been said, but after the first course had been sent down to +the hall-tables. My lord took his revenge in calling me the wild +Irishwoman.' + +Here she laughed very sweetly. + +'The only one,' she resumed, 'who does here as he will, is my husband. +Even lord Charles, who is governor of the castle, must be in his place +to the moment; but for my husband--.' + +The bell rang a second time. Lady Margaret rose, and taking Dorothy's +arm, led her from the room into a long dim-lighted corridor. Arrived at +the end of it, where a second passage met it at right angles, she +stopped at a door facing them. + +'I think we shall find my lord of Worcester here,' she said in a +whisper, as she knocked and waited a response. 'He is not here,' she +said. 'He expects me to call on him as I pass. We must make haste.' + +The second passage, in which were several curves and sharp turns, led +them to a large room, nearly square, in which were two tables covered +for about thirty. By the door and along the sides of the room were a +good many gentlemen, some of them very plainly dressed, and others in +gayer attire, amongst whom Dorothy, as they passed through, recognised +her cousin Scudamore. Whether he saw and knew her she could not tell. +Crossing a small antechamber they entered the drawing-room, where stood +and sat talking a number of ladies and gentlemen, to some of whom lady +Margaret spoke and presented her cousin, greeting others with a familiar +nod or smile, and yet others with a stately courtesy. Then she said, + +'Ladies, I will lead the way to the dining-room. My lord marquis would +the less willingly have us late that something detains himself.' + +Those who dined in the marquis's room followed her. Scarcely had she +reached the upper end of the table when the marquis entered, followed by +all his gentlemen, some of whom withdrew, their service over for the +time, while others proceeded to wait upon him and his family, with any +of the nobility who happened to be his guests at the first table. + +'I am the laggard to-day, my lady,' he said, cheerily, as he bore his +heavy person up the room towards her. 'Ah!' he went on, as lady Margaret +stepped forward to meet him, leading Dorothy by the hand, 'who is this +sober young damsel under my wild Irishwoman's wing? Our young cousin +Vaughan, doubtless, whose praises my worthy Dr. Bayly has been sounding +in my ears?' + +He held out his hand to Dorothy, and bade her welcome to Raglan. + +The marquis was a man of noble countenance, of the type we are ready to +imagine peculiar to the great men of the time of queen Elizabeth. To +this his unwieldy person did not correspond, although his movements were +still far from being despoiled of that charm which naturally belonged to +all that was his. Nor did his presence owe anything to his dress, which +was of that long-haired coarse woollen stuff they called frieze, worn, +probably, by not another nobleman in the country, and regarded as fitter +for a yeoman. His eyes, though he was yet but sixty-five or so, were +already hazy, and his voice was husky and a little broken--results of +the constantly poor health and frequent suffering he had had for many +years; but he carried it all 'with'--to quote the prince of courtesy, +sir Philip Sydney--'with a right old man's grace, that will seem +livelier than his age will afford him.' + +The moment he entered, the sewer in the antechamber at the other end of +the room had given a signal to one waiting at the head of the stair +leading down to the hall, and his lordship was hardly seated, +ere--although the kitchen was at the corner of the pitched court +diagonally opposite--he bore the first dish into the room, followed by +his assistants, laden each with another. + +Lady Margaret made Dorothy sit down by her. A place on her other side +was vacant. + +'Where is this truant husband of thine, my lady?' asked the marquis, as +soon as Dr. Bayly had said grace. 'Know you whether he eats at all, or +when, or where? It is now three days since he has filled his place at +thy side, yet is he in the castle. Thou knowest, my lady, I deal not +with him, who is so soon to sit in this chair, as with another, but I +like it not. Know you what occupies him to day?' + +'I do not, my lord,' answered lady Margaret. 'I have had but one glimpse +of him since the morning, and if he looks now as he looked then, I fear +your lordship would be minded rather to drive him from your table than +welcome him to a seat beside you.' + +As she spoke, lady Margaret caught a glimpse of a peculiar expression on +Scudamore's face, where he stood behind his master's chair. + +'Your page, my lord,' she said, 'seems to know something of him: if it +pleased you to put him to the question--' + +'Hey, Scudamore!' said the marquis without turning his head; 'what have +you seen of my lord Herbert?' + +'As much as could be seen of him, my lord,' answered Scudamore. 'He was +new from the powder-mill, and his face and hands were as he had been +blown three times up the hall chimney.' + +'I would thou didst pay more heed to what is fitting, thou monkey, and +knewest either place or time for thy foolish jests! It will be long ere +thou soil one of thy white fingers for king or country,' said the +marquis, neither angrily nor merrily. 'Get another flask of claret,' he +added, 'and keep thy wit for thy mates, boy.' + +Dorothy cast one involuntary glance at her cousin. His face was red as +fire, but, as it seemed to her, more with suppressed amusement than +shame. She had not been much longer in the castle before she learned +that, in the opinion of the household, the marquis did his best, or +worst rather, to ruin young Scudamore by indulgence. The judgment, +however, was partly the product of jealousy, although doubtless the +marquis had in his case a little too much relaxed the bonds of +discipline. The youth was bright and ready, and had as yet been found +trustworthy; his wit was tolerable, and a certain gay naivete of speech +and manner set off to the best advantage what there was of it; but his +laughter was sometimes mischievous, and on the present occasion Dorothy +could not rid herself of the suspicion that he was laughing in his +sleeve at his master, which caused her to redden in her turn. Scudamore +saw it, and had his own fancies concerning the phenomenon. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE TWO MARQUISES. + + +Dinner over, lady Margaret led Dorothy back to her parlour, and there +proceeded to discover what accomplishments and capabilities she might +possess. Finding she could embroider, play a little on the spinnet, sing +a song, and read aloud both intelligibly and pleasantly, she came to the +conclusion that the country-bred girl was an acquisition destined to +grow greatly in value, should the day ever arrive--which heaven +forbid!--when they would have to settle down to the monotony of a +protracted siege. Remarking, at length, that she looked weary, she sent +her away to be mistress of her time till supper, at half-past five. + +Weary in truth with her journey, but still more weary from the multitude +and variety of objects, the talk, and the constant demand of the general +strangeness upon her attention and one form or other of suitable +response, Dorothy sought her chamber. But she scarcely remembered how to +reach it. She knew it lay a floor higher, and easily found the stair up +which she had followed her attendant, for it rose from the landing of +the straight ascent by which she had entered the house. She could hardly +go wrong either as to the passage at the top of it, leading back over +the room she had just left below, but she could not tell which was her +own door. Fearing to open the wrong one, she passed it and went on to +the end of the corridor, which was very dimly lighted. There she came to +an open door, through which she saw a small chamber, evidently not meant +for habitation. She entered. A little light came in through a crossed +loophole, sufficient to show her the bare walls, with the plaster +sticking out between the stones, the huge beams above, and in the middle +of the floor, opposite the loop-hole, a great arblast or cross-bow, with +its strange machinery. She had never seen one before, but she knew +enough to guess at once what it was. Through the loophole came a sweet +breath of spring air, and she saw trees bending in the wind, heard their +faint far-off rustle, and saw the green fields shining in the sun. + +Partly from having been so much with Richard, her only playmate, who was +of an ingenious and practical turn, a certain degree of interest in +mechanical forms and modes had been developed in Dorothy, sufficient at +least to render her unable to encounter such an implement without +feeling a strong impulse to satisfy herself concerning its mechanism, +its motion, and its action. Approaching it cautiously and curiously, as +if it were a live thing, which might start up and fly from, or perhaps +at her, for what she knew, she gazed at it for a few moments with eyes +full of unuttered questions, then ventured to lay gentle hold upon what +looked like a handle. To her dismay, a wheezy bang followed, which +seemed to shake the tower. Whether she had discharged an arrow, or an +iron bolt, or a stone, or indeed anything at all, she could not tell, +for she had not got so far in her observations as to perceive even that +the bow was bent. Her heart gave a scared flutter, and she started back, +not merely terrified, but ashamed also that she should initiate her life +in the castle with meddling and mischief, when a low gentle laugh behind +her startled her yet more, and looking round with her heart in her +throat, she perceived in the half-light of the place a man by the wall +behind the arblast watching her. Her first impulse was to run, and the +door was open; but she thought she owed an apology ere she retreated. +What sort of person he was she could not tell, for there was not light +enough to show a feature of his face. + +'I ask your pardon,' she said; 'I fear I have done mischief.' + +'Not the least,' returned the man, in a gentle voice, with a tone of +amusement in it. + +'I had never seen a great cross-bow,' Dorothy went on, anxious to excuse +her meddling. 'I thought this must be one, but I was so stupid as not to +perceive it was bent, and that that was the--the handle--or do you call +it the trigger?--by which you let it go.' + +The man, who had at first taken her for one of the maids, had by this +time discovered from her tone and speech that she was a lady. + +'It is a clumsy old-fashioned thing,' he returned, 'but I shall not +remove it until I can put something better in its place; and it would be +a troublesome affair to get even a demiculverin up here, not to mention +the bad neighbour it would be to the ladies'chambers. I was just making +a small experiment with it on the force of springs. I believe I shall +yet prove that much may be done with springs--more perhaps, and +certainly at far less expense, than with gunpowder, which costs greatly, +is very troublesome to make, occupies much space, and is always like an +unstable, half-treacherous friend within the gates--to say nothing of +the expense of cannon--ten times that of an engine of timber and +springs. See what a strong chain your shot has broken! Shall I show you +how the thing works?' + +He spoke in a gentle, even rapid voice, a little hesitating now and +then, more, through the greater part of this long utterance, as if he +were thinking to himself than addressing another. Neither his tone nor +manner were those of an underling, but Dorothy's startled nerves had +communicated their tremor to her modesty, and with a gentle 'No, sir, I +thank you; I must be gone,' she hurried away. + +Daring now a little more for fear of worse, the first door she tried +proved that of her own room, and it was with a considerable sense of +relief, as well as with weariness and tremor, that she nestled herself +into the high window-seat, and looked out into the quadrangle. The +shadow of the citadel had gone to pay its afternoon visit to the other +court, and that of the gateway was thrown upon the chapel, partly +shrouding the white horse, whose watery music was now silent, but +allowing one red ray, which entered by the iron grating above the solid +gates, to fall on his head, and warm its cold whiteness with a tinge of +delicate pink. The court was more still and silent than in the morning; +only now and then would a figure pass from one door to another, along +the side of the buildings, or by one of the tiled paths dividing the +turf. A large peacock was slowly crossing the shadowed grass with a +stately strut and rhythmic thrust of his green neck. The moment he came +out into the sunlight, he spread his wheeled fan aloft, and slowly +pirouetting, if the word can be allowed where two legs are needful, in +the very acme of vanity, turned on all sides the quivering splendour of +its hundred eyes, where blue and green burst in the ecstasy of their +union into a vapour of gold, that the circle of the universe might see. +And truly the bird's vanity had not misled his judgment: it was a sight +to make the hearts of the angels throb out a dainty phrase or two more +in the song of their thanksgiving. Some pigeons, white, and blue-grey, +with a lovely mingling and interplay of metallic lustres on their +feathery throats, but with none of that almost grotesque obtrusion of +over-driven individuality of kind, in which the graciousness of common +beauty is now sacrificed to the whim of the fashion the vulgar fancier +initiates, picked up the crumbs under the windows of lady Margaret's +nursery, or flew hither and thither among the roofs with wapping and +whiffling wing. + +But still from the next court came many and various mingling noises. The +sounds of drill had long ceased, but those of clanking hammers were +heard the more clearly, now one, now two, now several together. The +smaller, clearer one was that of the armourer, the others those of the +great smithy, where the horse-shoes were made, the horses shod, the +smaller pieces of ordnance repaired, locks and chains mended, bolts +forged, and, in brief, every piece of metal about the castle, from the +cook's skillet to the winches and chains of the drawbridges, set right, +renewed, or replaced. The forges were far from where she sat, outside +the farthest of the two courts, across which, and the great hall +dividing them, the clink, clink, the clank, and the ringing clang, +softened by distance and interposition, came musical to her ear. The +armourer's hammer was the keener, the quicker, the less intermittent, +and yet had the most variations of time and note, as he shifted the +piece on his anvil, or changed breastplate for gorget, or greave for +pauldron--or it might be sword for pike-head or halbert. Mingled with it +came now and then the creak and squeak of the wooden wheel at the +draw-well near the hall-door in the farther court, and the muffled +splash of the bucket as it struck the water deep in the shaft. She even +thought she could hear the drops dripping back from it as it slowly +ascended, but that was fancy. Everywhere arose the auricular vapour, as +it were, of action, undefined and indefinable, the hum of the human +hive, compounded of all confluent noises--the chatter of the servants' +hall and the nursery, the stamping of horses, the ringing of harness, +the ripping of the chains of kenneled dogs, the hollow stamping of heavy +boots, the lowing of cattle, with sounds besides so strange to the ears +of Dorothy that they set her puzzling in vain to account for them; not +to mention the chaff of the guard-rooms by the gates, and the scolding +and clatter of the kitchen. This last, indeed, was audible only when the +doors were open, for the walls of the kitchen, whether it was that the +builders of it counted cookery second only to life, or that this had +been judged, from the nature of the ground outside, the corner of all +the enclosure most likely to be attacked, were far thicker than those of +any of the other towers, with the one exception of the keep itself. + +As she sat listening to these multitudinous exhalations of life around +her, yet with a feeling of loneliness and a dim sense of captivity, from +the consciousness that huge surrounding walls rose between her and the +green fields, of which, from earliest memory, she had been as free as +the birds and beetles, a white rabbit, escaped from the arms of its +owner, little Mary Somerset, lady Margaret's only child, a merry but +delicate girl not yet three years old, suddenly darted like a flash of +snow across the shadowy green, followed in hot haste a moment after by a +fine-looking boy of thirteen and two younger girls, after whom toddled +tiny Mary. Dorothy sat watching the pursuit, accompanied with sweet +outcry and frolic laughter, when in a moment the sounds of their +merriment changed to shrieks of terror, and she saw a huge mastiff come +bounding she knew not whence, and rush straight at the rabbit, fierce +and fast. When the little creature saw him, struck with terror it +stopped dead, cowered on the sward, and was stock still. But Henry +Somerset, who was but a few paces from it, reached it before the dog, +and caught it up in his arms. The rush of the dog threw him down, and +they rolled over and over, Henry holding fast the poor rabbit. + +By this time Dorothy was half-way down the stair: the moment she caught +sight of the dog she had flown to the rescue. When she issued from the +porch at the foot of the grand staircase, Henry was up again, and +running for the house with the rabbit yet safe in his arms, pursued by +the mastiff. Evidently the dog had not harmed him--but he might get +angry. The next moment she saw, to her joy and dismay both at once, that +it was her own dog. + +'Marquis! Marquis!' she cried, calling him by his name. + +He abandoned the pursuit at once, and went bounding to her. She took him +by the back of the neck, and the displeasure manifest upon the +countenance of his mistress made him cower at her feet, and wince from +the open hand that threatened him. The same instant a lattice window +over the gateway was flung open, and a voice said-- + +'Here I am. Who called me?' + +Dorothy looked up. The children had vanished with their rescued darling. +There was not a creature in the court but herself, and there was the +marquis, leaning half out of the window, and looking about. + +'Who called me?' he repeated--angrily, Dorothy thought. + +All at once the meaning of it flashed upon her, and she was +confounded--ready to sink with annoyance. But she was not one to +hesitate when a thing HAD to be done. Keeping her hold of the dog's +neck, for his collar was gone, she dragged him half-way towards the +gate, then turning up to the marquis a face like a peony, replied-- + +'I am the culprit, my lord.' + +'By St. George! you are a brave damsel, and there is no culpa that I +know of, except on the part of that intruding cur.' + +'And the cur's mistress, my lord. But, indeed, he is no cur, but a true +mastiff.' + +'What! is the animal thy property, fair cousin? He is more than I +bargained for.' + +'He is mine, my lord, but I left him chained when I set out from Wyfern +this morning. That he got loose I confess I am not astonished, neither +that he tracked me hither, for he has the eyes of a gaze-hound, and the +nose of a bloodhound; but it amazes me to find him in the castle.' + +'That must be inquired into,' said the marquis. + +'I am very sorry he has carried himself so ill, my lord. He has put me +to great shame. But he hath more in him than mere brute, and understands +when I beg you to pardon him. He misbehaved himself on purpose to be +taken to me, for at home no one ever dares punish him but myself.' + +The marquis laughed. + +'If you are so completely his mistress then, why did you call on me for +help?' + +'Pardon me, my lord; I did not so.' + +'Why, I heard thee call me two or three times!' + +'Alas, my lord! I called him Marquis when he was a pup. Everybody about +Redware knows Marquis.' + +The animal cocked his ears and started each time his name was uttered, +and yet seemed to understand well enough that ALL the talk was about him +and his misdeeds. + +'Ah! ha!' said his lordship, with a twinkle in his eye, 'that begets +complications. Two marquises in Raglan? Two kings in England! The thing +cannot be. What is to be done?' + +'I must take him back, my lord! I cannot send him, for he would not go. +I dread they will not be able to hold him chained; in which evil case I +fear me I shall have to go, my lord, and take the perils of the time as +they come.' + +'Not of necessity so, cousin, while you can choose between us;--although +I freely grant that a marquis with four legs is to be preferred before a +marquis with only two.--But what if you changed his name?' + +'I fear it could not be done, my lord. He has been Marquis all his +life.' + +'And I have been marquis only six months! Clearly he hath the better +right--. But there would be constant mistakes between us, for I cannot +bring myself to lay aside the honour his majesty hath conferred upon me, +"which would be worn now in its newest gloss, not cast aside so soon," +as master Shakspere says. Besides, it would be a slight to his majesty, +and that must not be thought of--not for all the dogs in parliament or +out of it. No--it would breed factions in the castle too. No; one of us +two must die.' + +'Then, indeed, I must go,' said Dorothy, her voice trembling as she +spoke; for although the words of the marquis were merry, she yet feared +for her friend. + +'Tut! tut! let the older marquis die: he has enjoyed the title; I have +not. Give him to Tom Fool: he will drown him in the moat. He shall be +buried with honour--under his rival's favourite apple-tree in the +orchard. What more could dog desire?' + +'No, my lord,' answered Dorothy. 'Will you allow me to take my leave? If +I only knew where to find my horse!' + +'What! would you saddle him yourself, cousin Vaughan?' + +'As well as e'er a knave in your lordship's stables. I am very sorry to +displease you, but to my dog's death I cannot and will not consent. +Pardon me, my lord.' + +The last words brought with them a stifled sob, for she scarcely doubted +any more that he was in earnest. + +'It is assuredly not gratifying to a marquis of the king's making to +have one of a damsel's dubbing take the precedence of him. I fear you +are a roundhead and hold by the parliament. But no--that cannot be, for +you are willing to forsake your new cousin for your old dog. Nay, alas! +it is your old cousin for your young dog. Puritan! puritan! Well, it +cannot be helped. But what! you would ride home alone! Evil men are +swarming, child. This sultry weather brings them out like flies.' + +'I shall not be alone, my lord. Marquis will take good care of me.' + +'Indeed, my lord marquis will pledge himself to nothing outside his own +walls.' + +'I meant the dog, my lord.' + +'Ah! you see how awkward it is. However, as you will not choose between +us--and to tell the truth, I am not yet quite prepared to die--we must +needs encounter what is inevitable. I will send for one of the keepers +to take him to the smithy, and get him a proper collar--one he can't +slip like that he left at home--and a chain.' + +'I must go with him myself, my lord. They will never manage him else.' + +'What a demon you have brought into my peaceable house! Go with him, by +all means. And mind you choose him a kennel yourself.--You do not desire +him in your chamber, do you, mistress?' + +Dorothy secretly thought it would be the best place for him, but she was +only too glad to have his life spared. + +'No, my lord, I thank you,' she said. '--I thank your lordship with all +my heart.' + +The marquis disappeared from the window. Presently young Scudamore came +into the court from the staircase by the gate, and crossed to the +hall--in a few minutes returning with the keeper. The man would have +taken the dog by the neck to lead him away, but a certain form of canine +curse, not loud but deep, and a warning word from Dorothy, made him +withdraw his hand. + +'Take care, Mr. Keeper,' she said, 'he is dangerous. I will go with him +myself, if thou wilt show me whither.' + +'As it please you, mistress,' answered the keeper, and led the way +across the court. + +'Have you not a word to throw at a poor cousin, mistress Dorothy?' said +Rowland, when the man was a pace or two in advance. + +'No, Mr. Scudamore,' answered Dorothy; 'not until we have first spoken +in my lord Worcester's or my lady Margaret's presence.' + +Scudamore fell behind, followed her a little way, and somewhere +vanished. + +Dorothy followed the keeper across the hall, the size of which, its +height especially, and the splendour of its windows of stained glass, +almost awed her; then across the next court to the foot of the Library +Tower forming the south-east corner of it, near the two towers flanking +the main entrance. Here a stair led down, through the wall, to a lower +level outside, where were the carpenters' and all other workshops, the +forges, the stables, and the farmyard buildings. + +As it happened, when Dorothy entered the smithy, there was her own +little horse being shod, and Marquis and he interchanged a whine and a +whinny of salutation, while the men stared at the bright apparition of a +young lady in their dingy regions. Having heard her business, the +head-smith abandoned everything else to alter an iron collar, of which +there were several lying about, to fit the mastiff, the presence of +whose mistress proved entirely necessary. Dorothy had indeed to put it +on him with her own hands, for at the sound of the chain attached to it +he began to grow furious, growling fiercely. When the chain had been +made fast with a staple driven into a strong kennel-post, and his +mistress proceeded to take her leave of him, his growling changed to the +most piteous whining; but when she actually left him there, he flew into +a rage of indignant affection. After trying the strength of his chain, +however, by three or four bounds, each so furious as to lay him +sprawling on his back, he yielded to the inevitable, and sullenly crept +into his kennel, while Dorothy walked back to the room which had already +begun to seem to her a cell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE MAGICIAN'S VAULT. + + +Dorothy went straight to lady Margaret's parlour, and made her humble +apology for the trouble and alarm her dog had occasioned. Lady Margaret +assured her that the children were nothing the worse, not having been +even much terrified, for the dog had not gone a hair's-breadth beyond +rough play. Poor bunny was the only one concerned who had not yet +recovered his equanimity. He did not seem positively hurt, she said, but +as he would not eat the lovely clover under his nose where he lay in +Molly's crib, it was clear that the circulation of his animal spirits +had been too rudely checked. Thereupon Dorothy begged to be taken to the +nursery, for, being familiar with all sorts of tame animals, she knew +rabbits well. As she stood with the little creature in her arms, gently +stroking its soft whiteness, the children gathered round her, and she +bent herself to initiate a friendship with them, while doing her best to +comfort and restore their favourite. Success in the latter object she +found the readiest way to the former. Under the sweet galvanism of her +stroking hand the rabbit was presently so much better that when she +offered him a blade of the neglected clover, the equilateral triangle of +his queer mouth was immediately set in motion, the trefoil vanished, and +when he was once more placed in the crib he went on with his meal as if +nothing had happened. The children were in ecstasies, and cousin Dorothy +was from that moment popular and on the way to be something better. + +When supper time came, lady Margaret took her again to the dining-room, +where there was much laughter over the story of the two marquises, lord +Worcester driving the joke in twenty different directions, but so kindly +that Dorothy, instead of being disconcerted or even discomposed thereby, +found herself emboldened to take a share in the merriment. When the +company rose, lady Margaret once more led her to her own room, where, +working at her embroidery frame, she chatted with her pleasantly for +some time. Dorothy would have been glad if she had set her work also, +for she could ill brook doing nothing. Notwithstanding her quietness of +demeanour, amounting at times to an appearance of immobility, her nature +was really an active one, and it was hard for her to sit with her hands +in her lap. Lady Margaret at length perceived her discomfort. + +'I fear, my child, I am wearying you,' she said. + +'It is only that I want something to do, madam,' said Dorothy. + +'I have nothing at hand for you to-night,' returned lady Margaret. +'Suppose we go and find my lord;--I mean my own lord Herbert. I have not +seen him since we broke fast together, and you have not seen him at all. +I am afraid he must think of leaving home again soon, he seems so +anxious to get something or other finished.' + +As she spoke, she pushed aside her frame, and telling Dorothy to go and +fetch herself a cloak, went into the next room, whence she presently +returned, wrapped in a hooded mantle. As soon as Dorothy came, she led +her along the corridor to a small lobby whence a stair descended to the +court, issuing close by the gate. + +'I shall never learn my way about,' said Dorothy. 'If it were only the +staircases, they are more than my memory will hold.' + +Lady Margaret gave a merry little laugh. + +'Harry set himself to count them the other day,' she said. 'I do not +remember how many he made out altogether, but I know he said there were +at least thirty stone ones.' + +Dorothy's answer was an exclamation. + +But she was not in the mood to dwell upon the mere arithmetic of +vastness. Invaded by the vision of the mighty structure, its aspect +rendered yet more imposing by the time which now suited with it, she +forgot lady Margaret's presence, and stood still to gaze. + +The twilight had deepened half-way into night. There was no moon, and in +the dusk the huge masses of building rose full of mystery and awe. Above +the rest, the great towers on all sides seemed by indwelling might to +soar into the regions of air. The pile stood there, the epitome of the +story of an ancient race, the precipitate from its vanished life--a hard +core that had gathered in the vaporous mass of history--the all of solid +that remained to witness of the past. + +She came again to herself with a start. Lady Margaret had stood quietly +waiting for her mood to change. Dorothy apologised, but her mistress +only smiled and said, + +'I am in no haste, child. I like to see another impressed as I was when +first I stood just where you stand now. Come, then, I will show you +something different.' + +She led the way along the southern side of the court until they came to +the end of the chapel, opposite which an archway pierced the line of +building, and revealed the mighty bulk of the citadel, the only portion +of the castle, except the kitchen-tower, continuing impregnable to +enlarged means of assault: gunpowder itself, as yet far from perfect in +composition and make, and conditioned by clumsy, uncertain, and +ill-adjustable artillery, was nearly powerless against walls more than +ten feet in thickness. + +I have already mentioned that one peculiarity of Raglan was a distinct +moat surrounding its keep. Immediately from the outer end of the +archway, a Gothic bridge of stone led across this thirty-foot moat to a +narrow walk which encompassed the tower. The walk was itself encompassed +and divided from the moat by a wall with six turrets at equal distances, +surmounted by battlements. At one time the sole entrance to the tower +had been by a drawbridge dropping across the walk to the end of the +stone bridge, from an arched door in the wall, whose threshold was some +ten or twelve feet from the ground; but another entrance had since been +made on the level of the walk, and by it the two ladies now entered. +Passing the foot of a great stone staircase, they came to the door of +what had, before the opening of the lower entrance, been a vaulted +cellar, probably at one time a dungeon, at a later period a place of +storage, but now put to a very different use, and wearing a stranger +aspect than it could ever have borne at any past period of its story--a +look indeed of mystery inexplicable. + +When Dorothy entered she found herself in a large place, the form of +which she could ill distinguish in the dull light proceeding from the +chinks about the closed doors of a huge furnace. The air was filled with +gurglings and strange low groanings, as of some creature in dire pain. +Dorothy had as good nerves as ever woman, yet she could not help some +fright as she stood alone by the door and stared into the gloomy +twilight into which her companion had advanced. As her eyes became used +to the ruddy dusk, she could see better, but everywhere they lighted on +shapes inexplicable, whose forms to the first questioning thought +suggested instruments of torture; but cruel as some of them looked, they +were almost too strange, contorted, fantastical for such. Still, the +wood-cuts in a certain book she had been familiar with in childhood, +commonly called Fox's Book of Martyrs, kept haunting her mind's eye--and +were they not Papists into whose hands she had fallen? she said to +herself, amused at the vagaries of her own involuntary suggestions. + +Among the rest, one thing specially caught her attention, both from its +size and its complicated strangeness. It was a huge wheel standing near +the wall, supported between two strong uprights--some twelve or fifteen +feet in diameter, with about fifty spokes, from every one of which hung +a large weight. Its grotesque and threatful character was greatly +increased by the mingling of its one substance with its many shadows on +the wall behind it. So intent was she upon it that she started when lady +Margaret spoke. + +'Why, mistress Dorothy!' she said, 'you look as if you had wandered into +St. Anthony's cave! Here is my lord Herbert to welcome his cousin.' + +Beside her stood a man rather under the middle stature, but as his back +was to the furnace this was about all Dorothy could discover of his +appearance, save that he was in the garb of a workman, with bare head +and arms, and held in his hand a long iron rod ending in a hook. + +'Welcome, indeed, cousin Vaughan!' he said heartily, but without +offering his hand, which in truth, although an honest, skilful, and +well-fashioned hand, was at the present moment far from fit for a lady's +touch. + +There was something in his voice not altogether strange to Dorothy, but +she could not tell of whom or what it reminded her. + +'Are you come to take another lesson on the cross-bow?' he asked with a +smile. + +Then she knew he was the same she had met in the looped chamber beside +the arblast. An occasional slight halt, not impediment, in his speech, +was what had remained on her memory. Did he always dwell only in the +dusky borders of the light? + +Dorothy uttered a little 'Oh!' of surprise, but immediately recovering +herself, said, + +'I am sorry I did not know it was you, my lord. I might by this time +have been capable of discharging bolt or arrow with good aim in defence +of the castle.' + +'It is not yet too late, I hope,' returned the workman-lord. 'I confess +I was disappointed to find your curiosity went no further. I hoped I had +at last found a lady capable of some interest in pursuits like mine. For +my lady Margaret here, she cares not a straw for anything I do, and +would rather have me keep my hands clean than discover the mechanism of +the primum mobile! + +'Yes, in truth, Ned,' said his wife, 'I would rather have thee with fair +hands in my sweet parlour, than toiling and moiling in this dirty +dungeon, with no companion but that horrible fire-engine of thine, +grunting and roaring all night long.' + +'Why, what do you make of Caspar Kaltoff, my lady?' + +'I make not much of him.' + +'You misjudge his goodfellowship then.' + +'Truly, I think not well of him: he always hath secrets with thee, and I +like it not.' + +'That they are secrets is thine own fault, Peggy. How can I teach thee +my secrets if thou wilt not open thine ears to hear them?' + +'I would your lordship would teach me!' said Dorothy. 'I might not be an +apt pupil, but I should be both an eager and a humble one.' + +'By St. Patrick! mistress Dorothy, but you go straight to steal my +husband's heart from me. "Humble," forsooth! and "eager" too! Nay! nay! +If I have no part in his brain, I can the less yield his heart.' + +'What would be gladly learned would be gladly taught, cousin,' said lord +Herbert. + +'There! there!' exclaimed lady Margaret; 'I knew it would be so. You +discharge your poor dull apprentice the moment you find a clever one!' + +'And why not? I never was able to teach thee anything.' + +'Ah, Ned, there you are unkind indeed!' said lady Margaret, with +something in her voice that suggested the water-springs were swelling. + +'My shamrock of four!' said her husband in the tenderest tone, 'I but +jested with thee. How shouldst thou be my pupil in anything I can teach? +I am yours in all that is noble and good. I did not mean to vex you, +sweet heart.' + +''Tis gone again, Ned,' she answered, smiling. 'Give cousin Dorothy her +first lesson.' + +'It shall be that, then, to which I sought in vain to make thee listen +this very morning--a certain great saying of my lord of Verulam, +mistress Dorothy. I had learnt it by heart that I might repeat it word +for word to my lady, but she would none of it.' + +'May I not hear it, madam?' said Dorothy. + +'We will both hear it, Herbert, if you will pardon your foolish wife and +admit her to grace.' And as she spoke she laid her hand on his sooty +arm. + +He answered her only with a smile, but such a one as sufficed. + +'Listen then, ladies both,' he said. 'My lord of Verulam, having quoted +the words of Solomon, "The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the +glory of the king is to find it out," adds thus, of his own thought +concerning them,--"as if," says my lord, "according to the innocent play +of children, the divine majesty took delight to hide his works, to the +end to have them found out, and as if kings could not obtain a greater +honour than to be God's playfellows in that game, considering the great +commandment of wits and means, whereby nothing needeth to be hidden from +them."' + +'That was very well for my lord of--what did'st thou call him, Ned?' + +'Francis Bacon, lord Verulam,' returned Herbert, with a queer smile. + +'Very well for my lord of Veryflam!' resumed lady Margaret, with a mock, +yet bewitching affectation of innocence and ignorance; 'but tell me had +he?--nay, I am sure he had not a wild Irishwoman sitting breaking her +heart in her bower all day long for his company. He could never else +have had the heart to say it.--Mistress Dorothy,' she went on, 'take the +counsel of a forsaken wife, and lay it to thy heart: never marry a man +who loves lathes and pipes and wheels and water and fire, and I know not +what. But do come in ere bed-time, Herbert, and I will sing thee the +sweetest of English ditties, and make thee such a sack-posset as never +could be made out of old Ireland any more than the song.' + +But her husband that moment sprang from her side, and shouting 'Caspar! +Caspar!' bounded to the furnace, reached up with his iron rod into the +darkness over his head, caught something with the hooked end of it, and +pulled hard. A man who from somewhere in the gloomy place had responded +like a greyhound to his master's call, did the like on the other side. +Instantly followed a fierce, protracted, sustained hiss, and in a moment +the place was filled with a white cloud, whence issued still the hideous +hiss, changing at length to a roar. Lady Margaret turned in terror, ran +out of the keep, and fled across the bridge and through the archway +before she slackened her pace. Dorothy followed, but more composedly, +led by duty, not driven by terror, and indeed reluctantly forsaking a +spot where was so much she did not understand. + +They had fled from the infant roar of the 'first stock-father' of +steam-engines, whose cradle was that feudal keep, eight centuries old. + +That night Dorothy lay down weary enough. It seemed a month since she +had been in her own bed at Wyfern, so many new and strange things had +crowded into her house, hitherto so still. Every now and then the +darkness heaved and rippled with some noise of the night. The stamping +of horses, and the ringing of their halter chains, seemed very near her. +She thought she heard the howl of Marquis from afar, and said to +herself, 'The poor fellow cannot sleep! I must get my lord to let me +have him in my chamber.' Then she listened a while to the sweet flow of +the water from the mouth of the white horse, which in general went on +all night long. Suddenly came an awful sound--like a howl also, but such +as never left the throat of dog. Again and again at intervals it came, +with others like it but not the same, torturing the dark with a dismal +fear. Dorothy had never heard the cry of a wild beast, but the +suggestion that these might be such cries, and the recollection that she +had heard such beasts were in Raglan Castle, came together to her mind. +She was so weary, however, that worse noises than these could hardly +have kept her awake; not even her weariness could prevent them from +following her into her dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SEVERAL PEOPLE + + +Lord Worcester had taken such a liking to Dorothy, partly at first +because of the good store of merriment with which she and her mastiff +had provided him, that he was disappointed when he found her place was +not to be at his table but the housekeeper's. As he said himself, +however, he did not meddle with women's matters, and indeed it would not +do for lady Margaret to show her so much favour above her other women, +of whom at least one was her superior in rank, and all were relatives as +well as herself. + +Dorothy did not much relish their society, but she had not much of it +except at meals, when, however, they always treated her as an +interloper. Every day she saw more or less of lady Margaret, and found +in her such sweetness, if not quite evenness of temper, as well as +gaiety of disposition, that she learned to admire as well as love her. +Sometimes she had her to read to her, sometimes to work with her, and +almost every day she made her practise a little on the harpsichord. +Hence she not only improved rapidly in performance, but grew capable of +receiving more and more delight from music. There was a fine little +organ in the chapel, on which blind young Delaware, the son of the +marquis's master of the horse, used to play delightfully; and although +she never entered the place, she would stand outside listening to his +music for an hour at a time in the twilight, or sometimes even after +dark. For as yet she indulged without question all the habits of her +hitherto free life, as far as was possible within the castle walls, and +the outermost of these were of great circuit, enclosing lawns, +shrubberies, wildernesses, flower and kitchen gardens, orchards, great +fish-ponds, little lakes with fountains, islands, and summer-houses--not +to mention the farmyard, and indeed a little park, in which were some of +the finest trees upon the estate. + +The gentlewomen with whom Dorothy was, by her position in the household, +associated, were three in number. One was a rather elderly, rather +plain, rather pious lady, who did not insist on her pretensions to +either of the epithets. The second was a short, plump, round-faced, +good-natured, smiling woman of sixty,--excelling in fasts and +mortifications, which somehow seemed to agree with her body as well as +her soul. The third was only two or three years older than Dorothy, and +was pretty, except when she began to speak, and then for a moment there +was a strange discord in her features. She took a dislike to Dorothy, as +she said herself, the instant she cast her eyes upon her. She could not +bear that prim, set face, she said. The country-bred heifer evidently +thought herself superior to every one in the castle. She was persuaded +the minx was a sly one, and would carry tales. So judged mistress Amanda +Serafina Fuller, after her kind. Nor was it wonderful that, being such +as she was, she should recoil with antipathy from one whose nature had a +tendency to ripen over soon, and stunt its slow orbicular expansion to +the premature and false completeness of a narrow and self-sufficing +conscientiousness. + +Doubtless if Dorothy had shown any marked acknowledgment of the +precedency of their rights--any eagerness to conciliate the aborigines +of the circle, the ladies would have been more friendly inclined; but +while capable of endless love and veneration, there was little of the +conciliatory in her nature. Hence Mrs. Doughty looked upon her with a +rather stately, indifference, my lady Broughton with a mild wish to save +her poor, proud, protestant soul, and mistress Amanda Serafina said she +hated her; but then ever since the Fall there has been a disproportion +betwixt the feelings of young ladies and the language in which they +represent them. Mrs. Doughty neglected her, and Dorothy did not know it; +lady Broughton said solemn things to her, and she never saw the point of +them; but when mistress Amanda half closed her eyes and looked at her in +snake-Geraldine fashion, she met her with a full, wide-orbed, +questioning gaze, before which Amanda's eyes dropped, and she sank full +fathom five towards the abyss of real hatred. + +During the dinner hour, the three generally talked together in an +impregnable manner--not that they were by any means bosom-friends, for +two of them had never before united in anything except despising good, +soft lady Broughton. When they were altogether in their mistress's +presence, they behaved to Dorothy and to each other with studious +politeness. + +The ladies Elizabeth and Anne, had their gentlewomen also, in all only +three, however, who also ate at the housekeeper's table, but kept +somewhat apart from the rest--yet were, in a distant way, friendly to +Dorothy. + +But hers, as we have seen, was a nature far more capable of attaching +itself to a few than of pleasing many; and her heart went out to lady +Margaret, whom she would have come ere long to regard as a mother, had +she not behaved to her more like an elder sister. Lady Margaret's own +genuine behaviour had indeed little of the matronly in it; when her +husband came into the room, she seemed to grow instantly younger, and +her manner changed almost to that of a playful girl. It is true, Dorothy +had been struck with the dignity of her manner amid all the frankness of +her reception, but she soon found that, although her nature was full of +all real dignities, that which belonged to her carriage never appeared +in the society of those she loved, and was assumed only, like the thin +shelter of a veil, in the presence of those whom she either knew or +trusted less. Before her ladies, she never appeared without some +restraint--manifest in a certain measuredness of movement, slowness of +speech, and choice of phrase; but before a month was over, Dorothy was +delighted to find that the reserve instantly vanished when she happened +to be left alone with her. + +She took an early opportunity of informing her mistress of the +relationship between herself and Scudamore, stating that she knew little +or nothing of him, having seen him only once before she came to the +castle. The youth on his part took the first fitting opportunity of +addressing her in lady Margaret's presence, and soon they were known to +be cousins all over the castle. + +With lady Margaret's help, Dorothy came to a tolerable understanding of +Scudamore. Indeed her ladyship's judgment seemed but a development of +her own feeling concerning him. + +'Rowland is not a bad fellow,' she said, 'but I cannot fully understand +whence he comes in such grace with my lord Worcester. If it were my +husband now, I should not marvel: he is so much occupied with things and +engines, that he has as little time as natural inclination to doubt any +one who will only speak largely enough to satisfy his idea. But my lord +of Worcester knows well enough that seldom are two things more unlike +than men and their words. Yet that is not what I mean to say of your +cousin: he is no hypocrite--means not to be false, but has no rule of +right in him so far as I can find. He is pleasant company; his gaiety, +his quips, his readiness of retort, his courtesy and what not, make him +a favourite; and my lord hath in a manner reared him, which goes to +explain much. He is quick yet indolent, good-natured but selfish, +generous but counting enjoyment the first thing,--though, to speak truth +of him, I have never known him do a dishonourable action. But, in a +word, the star of duty has not yet appeared above his horizon. Pardon +me, Dorothy, if I am severe upon him. More or less I may misjudge him, +but this is how I read him; and if you wonder that I should be able so +to divide him, I have but to tell you that I should be unapt indeed if I +had not yet learned of my husband to look into the heart of both men and +things.' + +'But, madam,' Dorothy ventured to say, 'have you not even now told me +that from very goodness my lord is easily betrayed?' + +'Well replied, my child! It is true, but only while he has had no reason +to mistrust. Let him once perceive ground for dissatisfaction or +suspicion, and his eye is keen as light itself to penetrate and +unravel.' + +Such good qualities as lady Margaret accorded her cousin were of a sort +more fitted to please a less sedate and sober-minded damsel than +Dorothy, who was fashioned rather after the model of a puritan than a +royalist maiden. Pleased with his address and his behaviour to herself +as she could hardly fail to be, she yet felt a lingering mistrust of +him, which sprang quite as much from the immediate impression as from +her mistress's judgment of him, for it always gave her a sense of not +coming near the real man in him. There is one thing a hypocrite even can +never do, and that is, hide the natural signs of his hypocrisy; and +Rowland, who was no hypocrite, only a man not half so honourable as he +chose to take himself for, could not conceal his unreality from the eyes +of his simple country cousin. Little, however, did Dorothy herself +suspect whence she had the idea,--that it was her girlhood's converse +with real, sturdy, honest, straight-forward, simple manhood, in the +person of the youth of fiery temper, and obstinate, opinionated, +sometimes even rude behaviour, whom she had chastised with terms of +contemptuous rebuke, which had rendered her so soon capable of +distinguishing between a profound and a shallow, a genuine and an unreal +nature, even when the latter comprehended a certain power of +fascination, active enough to be recognisable by most of the women in +the castle. + +Concerning this matter, it will suffice to say that lord Worcester--who +ruled his household with such authoritative wisdom that honest Dr. Bayly +avers he never saw a better-ordered family--never saw a man drunk or +heard an oath amongst his servants, all the time he was chaplain in the +castle,--would have been scandalized to know the freedoms his favourite +indulged himself in, and regarded as privileged familiarities. + +There was much coming and going of visitors--more now upon state +business than matters of friendship or ceremony; and occasional solemn +conferences were held in the marquis's private room, at which sometimes +lord John, who was a personal friend of the king's, and sometimes lord +Charles, the governor of the castle, with perhaps this or that officer +of dignity in the household, would be present; but whoever was or was +not present, lord Herbert when at home was always there, sometimes alone +with his father and commissioners from the king. His absences, however, +had grown frequent now that his majesty had appointed him general of +South Wales, and he had considerable forces under his command--mostly +raised by himself, and maintained at his own and his father's expense. + +It was some time after Dorothy had twice in one day met him darkling, +before she saw him in the light, and was able to peruse his countenance, +which she did carefully, with the mingled instinct and insight of +curious and thoughtful girlhood. He had come home from a journey, +changed his clothes, and had some food; and now he appeared in his +wife's parlour--to sun himself a little, he said. When he entered, +Dorothy, who was seated at her mistress's embroidery frame, while she +was herself busy mending some Flanders lace, rose to leave the room. But +he prayed her to be seated, saying gayly, + +'I would have you see, cousin, that I am no beast of prey that loves the +darkness. I can endure the daylight. Come, my lady, have you nothing to +amuse your soldier with? No good news to tell him? How is my little +Molly?' + +During the conjugal talk that followed, his cousin had good opportunity +of making her observations. First she saw a fair, well-proportioned +forehead, with eyes whose remarkable clearness looked as if it owed +itself to the mingling of manly confidence with feminine trustfulness. +They were dark, not very large, but rather prominent, and full of light. +His nose was a little aquiline, and perfectly formed. A soft obedient +moustache, brushed thoroughly aside, revealed right generous lips, about +which hovered a certain sweetness ever ready to break into the blossom +of a smile. That and a small tuft below was all the hair he wore upon +his face. Rare conjunction, the whole of the countenance was remarkable +both for symmetry and expression--the latter mainly a bright +intelligence; and if, strangely enough, the predominant sweetness and +delicacy at first suggested genius unsupported by practical faculty, +there was a plentifulness and strength in the chin which helped to +correct the suggestion, and with the brightness and prominence of the +eyes and the radiance of the whole, to give a brave, almost bold look to +a face which could hardly fail to remind those who knew them of the +lovely verses of Matthew Raydon, describing that of sir Philip Sidney: + + A sweet attractive kinde of grace, + A full assurance given by lookes, + Continuall comfort in a face, + The lineaments of Gospell-bookes; + I trowe that countenance cannot lie + Whose thoughts are legible in the eie. + +Notwithstanding the disadvantages of the fashion, in the mechanical +pursuits to which he had hitherto devoted his life, he wore, like +Milton's Adam, his wavy hair down to his shoulders. In his youth, it had +been thick and curling; now it was thinner and straighter, yet curled +where it lay. His hands were small, with the taper fingers that indicate +the artist, while his thumb was that of the artizan, square at the tip, +with the first joint curved a good deal back. That they were hard and +something discoloured was not for Dorothy to wonder at, when she +remembered what she had both heard and seen of his occupations. + +I may here mention that what aided Dorothy much in the interpretation of +lord Herbert's countenance and the understanding of his character--for +it was not on this first observation of him that she could discover all +I have now set down--and tended largely to the development of the +immense reverence she conceived for him, was what she saw of his +behaviour to his father one evening not long after, when, having been +invited to the marquis's table, she sat nearly opposite him at supper. +With a willing ear and ready smile for every one who addressed him, +notably courteous where all were courteous, he gave chief observance, +amounting to an almost tender homage, to his father. His thoughts seemed +to wait upon him with a fearless devotion. He listened intently to all +his jokes, and laughed at them heartily, evidently enjoying them even +when they were not very good; spoke to him with profound though easy +respect; made haste to hand him whatever he seemed to want, preventing +Scudamore; and indeed conducted himself like a dutiful youth, rather +than a man over forty. Their confident behaviour, wherein the authority +of the one and the submission of the other were acknowledged with +co-relative love, was beautiful to behold. + +When husband and wife had conferred for a while, the former stretched on +a settee embroidered by the skilful hands of the latest-vanished +countess, his mother, and the latter seated near him on a narrow +tall-backed chair, mending her lace, there came a pause in their +low-toned conversation, and his lordship looking up seemed anew to +become aware of the presence of Dorothy. + +'Well, cousin,' he said, 'how have you fared since we half-saw each +other a fortnight ago?' + +'I have fared well indeed, my lord, I thank you,' said Dorothy, 'as your +lordship may judge, knowing whom I serve. In two short weeks my lady +loads me with kindness enough to requite the loyalty of a life.' + +'Look you, cousin, that I should believe such laudation of any less than +an angel?' said his lordship with mock gravity. + +'No, my lord,' answered Dorothy. + +There was a moment's pause; then lord Herbert laughed aloud. + +'Excellent well, mistress Dorothy!' he cried. 'Thank your cousin, my +lady, for a compliment worthy of an Irishwoman.' + +'I thank you, Dorothy,' said her mistress; 'although, Irishwoman as I +am, my lord hath put me out of love with compliments.' + +'When they are true and come unbidden, my lady,' said Dorothy. + +'What! are there such compliments, cousin?' said lord Herbert. + +'There are birds of Paradise, my lord, though rarely encountered.' + +'Birds of Paradise indeed! they alight not in this world. Birds of +Paradise have no legs, they say. + +'They need them not, my lord. Once alighted, they fly no more.' + +'How is it then they alight so seldom?' + +'Because men shoo them away. One flew now from my heart to seek my +lady's, but your lordship frighted it.' + +'And so it flew back to Paradise--eh, mistress Dorothy?' said lord +Herbert, smiling archly. + +The supper bell rang, and instead of replying, Dorothy looked up for her +dismissal. + +'Go to supper, my lady,' said lord Herbert. 'I have but just dined, and +will see what Caspar is about.' + +'I want no supper but my Herbert,' returned lady Margaret. 'Thou wilt +not go to that hateful workshop?' + +'I have so little time at home now--' + +'That you must spend it from your lady?--Go to supper, Dorothy.' + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HUSBAND AND WIFE + + +'What an old-fashioned damsel it is!' said lord Herbert when Dorothy had +left the room. + +'She has led a lonely life,' answered lady Margaret, 'and has read a +many old-fashioned books.' + +'She seems a right companion for thee, Peggy, and I am glad of it, for I +shall be much from thee--more and more, I fear, till this bitter weather +be gone by.' + +'Alas, Ned! hast thou not been more than much from me already? Thou wilt +certainly be killed, though thou hast not yet a scratch on thy blessed +body. I would it were over and all well!' + +'So would I--and heartily, dear heart! In very truth I love fighting as +little as thou. But it is a thing that hath to be done, though small +honour will ever be mine therefrom, I greatly fear me. It is one of +those affairs in which liking goes farther than goodwill, and as I say, +I love it not, only to do my duty. Hence doubtless it comes that no luck +attends me. God knows I fear nothing a man ought not to fear--he is my +witness--but what good service of arms have I yet rendered my king? It +is but thy face, Peggy, that draws the smile from me. My heart is heavy. +See how my rascally Welsh yielded before Gloucester, when the rogue +Waller stole a march upon them--and I must be from thence! Had I but +been there instead of at Oxford, thinkest thou they would have laid down +their arms nor struck a single blow? I like not killing, but I can kill, +and I can be killed. Thou knowest, sweet wife, thy Ned would not run.' + +'Holy mother!' exclaimed lady Margaret. + +'But I have no good luck at fighting,' he went on. 'And how again at +Monmouth, the hare-hearts with which I had thought to garrison the place +fled at the bare advent of that same parliament beagle, Waller! By St. +George! it were easier to make an engine that should mow down a thousand +brave men with one sweep of a scythe--and I could make it--than to put +courage into the heart of one runaway rascal. It makes me mad to think +how they have disgraced me!' + +'But Monmouth is thine own again, Herbert!' + +'Yes--thanks to the love they bear my father, not to my generalship! Thy +husband is a poor soldier, Peggy: he cannot make soldiers.' + +'Then why not leave the field to others, and labour at thy engines, +love? If thou wilt, I tell thee what--I will doff my gown, and in +wrapper and petticoat help thee, sweet. I will to it with bare arms like +thine own.' + +'Thou wouldst like Una make a sunshine in the shady place, Margaret. But +no. Poor soldier as I am, I will do my best, even where good fortune +fails me, and glory awaits not my coming. Thou knowest that at fourteen +days' warning I brought four thousand foot and eight hundred horse again +to the siege of Gloucester. It would ill befit my father's son to spare +what he can when he is pouring out his wealth like water at the feet of +his king. No, wife; the king shall not find me wanting, for in serving +my king, I serve my God; and if I should fail, it may hold that an +honest failure comes nigh enough a victory to be set down in the +chronicles of the high countries. But in truth it presses on me sorely, +and I am troubled at heart that I should be so given over to failure.' + +'Never heed it, my lord. The sun comes out clear at last maugre all the +region fogs.' + +'Thanks, sweet heart! Things do look up a little in the main, and if the +king had but a dozen more such friends as my lord marquis, they would +soon be well. Why, my dove of comfort, wouldst thou believe it?--I did +this day, as I rode home to seek thy fair face, I did count up what sums +he hath already spent for his liege; and indeed I could not recollect +them all, but I summed up, of pounds already spent by him on his +majesty's behalf, well towards a hundred and fifty thousand! And thou +knowest the good man, that while he giveth generously like the great +Giver, he giveth not carelessly, but hath respect to what he spendeth.' + +'Thy father, Ned, is loyalty and generosity incarnate. If thou be but +half so good a husband as thy father is a subject, I am a happy woman.' + +'What! know'st thou not yet thy husband, Peggy?' + +'In good soberness, though, Ned, surely the saints in heaven will never +let such devotion fail of its end.' + +'My father is but one, and the king's foes are many. So are his +friends--but they are lukewarm compared to my father--the rich ones of +them, I mean. Would to God I had not lost those seven great troop-horses +that the pudding-fisted clothiers of Gloucester did rob me of! I need +them sorely now. I bought them with mine own--or rather with thine, +sweet heart. I had been saving up the money for a carcanet for thy fair +neck.' + +'So my neck be fair in thine eyes, my lord, it may go bare and be well +clad. I should, in sad earnest, be jealous of the pretty stones didst +thou give my neck one look the more for their presence. Here! thou +may'st sell these the next time thou goest London-wards.' + +As she spoke, she put up her hand to unclasp her necklace of large +pearls, but he laid his hand upon it, saying, + +'Nay, Margaret, there is no need. My father is like the father in the +parable: he hath enough and to spare. I did mean to have the money of +him again, only as the vaunted horses never came, but were swallowed up +of Gloucester, as Jonah of the whale, and have not yet been cast up +again, I could not bring my tongue to ask him for it; and so thy neck is +bare of emeralds, my dove.' + + 'Back and sides go bare, go bare,' + +sang lady Margaret with a merry laugh; + + 'Both foot and hand go cold;' + +here she paused for a moment, and looked down with a shining +thoughtfulness; then sang out clear and loud, with bold alteration of +bishop Stills' drinking song, + + 'But, heart, God send thee love enough, + Of the new that will never be old.' + +'Amen, my dove!'said lord Herbert. + +'Thou art in doleful dumps, Ned. If we had but a masque for thee, or a +play, or even some jugglers with their balls!' + +'Puh, Peggy! thou art masque and play both in one; and for thy jugglers, +I trust I can juggle better at my own hand than any troop of them from +furthest India. Sing me a song, sweet heart.' + +'I will, my love,' answered lady Margaret. + +Rising, she went to the harpsichord, and sang, in sweet unaffected +style, one of the songs of her native country, a merry ditty, with a +breathing of sadness in the refrain of it, like a twilight wind in a bed +of bulrushes. + +'Thanks, my love,' said lord Herbert, when she had finished. 'But I +would I could tell its hidden purport; for I am one of those who think +music none the worse for carrying with it an air of such sound as speaks +to the brain as well as the heart.' + +Lady Margaret gave a playful sigh. + +'Thou hast one fault, my Edward--thou art a stranger to the tongue in +which, through my old nurse's tales, I learned the language of love. I +cannot call it my mother-tongue, but it is my love-tongue. Why, when +thou art from me, I am loving thee in Irish all day long, and thou never +knowest what my heart says to thee! It is a sad lack in thy +all-completeness, dear heart. But, I bethink me, thy new cousin did sing +a fair song in thy own tongue the other day, the which if thou canst +understand one straw better than my Irish, I will learn it for thy sake, +though truly it is Greek to me. I will send for her. Shall I?' + +As she spoke she rose and rang the bell on the table, and a little page, +in waiting in the antechamber, appeared, whom she sent to desire the +attendance of mistress Dorothy Vaughan. + +'Come, child,' said her mistress as she entered, 'I would have thee sing +to my lord the song that wandering harper taught thee.' + +'Madam, I have learned of no wandering harper: your ladyship means +mistress Amanda's Welsh song! shall I call her?' said Dorothy, +disappointed. + +'I mean thee, and thy song, thou green linnet!' rejoined lady Margaret. +'What song was it of which I said to thee that the singer deserved, for +his very song's sake, that whereof he made his moan? Whence thou hadst +it, from harper or bagpiper, I care not.' + +'Excuse me, madam, but why should I sing that you love not to hear?' + +'It is not I would hear it, child, but I would have my lord hear it. I +would fain prove to him that there are songs in plain English, as he +calls it, that have as little import, even to an English ear, as the +plain truth-speaking Irish ditties which he will not understand. I say +"WILL not," because our bards tell us that Irish was the language of +Adam and Eve while yet in Paradise, and therefore he could by instinct +understand it an' he would, even as the chickens understand their +mother-tongue.' + +'I will sing it at your desire, madam; but I fear the worse fault will +lie in the singing.' + +She seated herself at the harpsichord, and sang the following song with +much feeling and simplicity. The refrain of the song, if it may be so +called, instead of closing each stanza, preluded it. + + O fair, O sweet, when I do look on thee, + In whom all joys so well agree, + Heart and soul do sing in me. + This you hear is not my tongue, + Which once said what I conceived, + For it was of use bereaved, + With a cruel answer stung. + No, though tongue to roof be cleaved, + Fearing lest he chastis'd be, + Heart and soul do sing in me. + + O fair, O sweet, &c. + Just accord all music makes: + In thee just accord excelleth, + Where each part in such peace dwelleth, + One of other beauty takes. + Since then truth to all minds telleth + That in thee lives harmony, + Heart and soul do sing in me. + + O fair, O sweet, &c. + They that heaven have known, do say + That whoso that grace obtaineth + To see what fair sight there reigneth, + Forced is to sing alway; + So then, since that heaven remaineth + In thy face, I plainly see, + Heart and soul do sing in me. + + O fair, O sweet, &c. + Sweet, think not I am at ease, + For because my chief part singeth; + This song from death's sorrow springeth, + As to Swan in last disease; + For no dumbness nor death bringeth + Stay to true love's melody: + Heart and soul do sing in me. + +'There!' cried lady Margaret, with a merry laugh. 'What says the English +song to my English husband?' + +'It says much, Margaret,' returned lord Herbert, who had been listening +intently; 'it tells me to love you for ever.--What poet is he who wrote +the song, mistress Dorothy? He is not of our day--that I can tell but +too plainly. It is a good song, and saith much.' + +'I found it near the end of the book called "The Countess of Pembroke's +Arcadia,"' replied Dorothy. + +'And I knew it not! Methought I had read all that man of men ever +wrote,' said lord Herbert. 'But I may have read it, and let it slip. But +now that, by the help of the music and thy singing, cousin Dorothy, I am +come to understand it, truly I shall forget it no more. Where got'st +thou the music, pray?' + +'It says in the book it was fitted to a certain Spanish tune, the name +of which I knew not, and yet know not how to pronounce; but I had the +look of the words in my head, and when I came upon some Spanish songs in +an old chest at home, and, turning them over, saw those words, I knew I +had found the tune to sir Philip's verses.' + +'Tell me then, my lord, why you are pleased with the song,' said lady +Margaret, very quietly. + +'Come, mistress Dorothy,' said lord Herbert, 'repeat the song to my +lady, slowly, line by line, and she will want no exposition thereon.' + +When Dorothy had done as he requested, lady Margaret put her arm round +her husband's neck, laid her cheek to his, and said, + +'I am a goose, Ned. It is a fair and sweet song. I thank you, Dorothy. +You shall sing it to me another time when my lord is away, and I shall +love to think my lord was ill content with me when I called it a foolish +thing. But my Irish was a good song too, my lord.' + +'Thy singing of it proves it, sweet heart.--But come, my fair minstrel, +thou hast earned a good guerdon: what shall I give thee in return for +thy song?' + +'A boon, a boon, my lord!' cried Dorothy. + +'It is thine ere thou ask it,' returned his lordship, merrily following +up the old-fashioned phrase with like formality. + +'I must then tell my lord what hath been in my foolish mind ever since +my lady took me to the keep, and I saw his marvellous array of engines. +I would glady understand them, my lord. Who can fail to delight in such +inventions as bring about that which before seemed impossible?' + +Here came a little sigh with the thought of her old companion Richard, +and the things they had together contrived. Already, on the mist of +gathering time, a halo had begun to glimmer about his head, puritan, +fanatic, blasphemer even, as she had called him. + +Lord Herbert marked the soundless sigh. + +'You shall not sigh in vain, mistress Dorothy,' he said, 'for anything I +can give you. To one who loves inventions it is easy to explain them. I +hoped you had a hankering that way when I saw you look so curiously at +the cross-bow ere you discharged it.' + +'Was it then charged, my lord?' + +'Indeed, as it happened, it was. A great steel-headed arrow lay in the +groove. I ought to have taken that away when I bent it. Some passing +horseman may have carried it with him in the body of his plunging +steed.' + +'Oh, my lord!' cried Dorothy, aghast. + +'Pray, do not be alarmed, cousin: I but jested. Had anything happened, +we should have heard of it. It was not in the least likely. You will not +be long in this house before you learn that we do not speak by the card +here. We jest not a little. But in truth I was disappointed when I found +your curiosity so easily allayed.' + +'Indeed, my lord, it was not allayed, and is still unsatisfied. But I +had no thought who it was offered me the knowledge I craved. Had I +known, I should never have refused the lesson so courteously offered. +But I was a stranger in the castle, and I thought--I feared I' + +'You did even as prudence required, cousin Dorothy. A young maiden +cannot be too chary of unbuckling her enchanted armour so long as the +country is unknown to her. But it would be hard if she were to suffer +for her modesty. You shall be welcome to my cave. I trust you will not +find it as the cave of Trophonius to you. If I am not there--and it is +not now as it has been, when you might have found me in it every day, +and almost every hour of the day; but if I be not there, do not fear +Caspar Kaltoff, who is a worthy man, and as my right hand to do the +things my brain deviseth. I will speak to him of thee. He is full of +trust and worthiness, and, although not of gentle blood, is sprung from +a long race of artificers, the cloak of whose gathered skill seems to +have fallen on him. He hath been in my service now for many years, but +you will be the first lady, gentle cousin, who has ever in all that time +wished us good speed in our endeavours. How few know,' he went on +thoughtfully, after a pause, 'what a joy lies in making things obey +thoughts! in calling out of the mind, as from the vasty-deep, and +setting in visible presence before the bodily eye, that which till then +had neither local habitation nor name! Some such marvels I have to +show--for marvels I must call them, although it is my voice they have +obeyed to come; and I never lose sight of the marvel even while amusing +myself with the merest toy of my own invention.' + +He paused, and Dorothy ventured to speak. + +'I thank you, my lord, with all my heart. When have I leave to visit +those marvels?' + +'When you please. If I am not there, Caspar will be. If Caspar is not +there, you will find the door open, for to enter that chamber without +permission would be a breach of law such as not a soul in Raglan would +dare be guilty of. And were it not so, there are few indeed in the place +who would venture to set foot in it if I were absent, for it is not +outside the castle walls only that I am looked upon as a magician. The +armourer firmly believes that with a word uttered in my den there, I +could make the weakest wall of the castle impregnable, but that it would +be at too great a cost. If you come to-morrow morning you will find me +almost certainly. But in case you should find neither of us--do not +touch anything; be content with looking--for fear of mischance. Engines +are as tickle to meddle with as incantations themselves.' + +'If I know myself, you may trust me, my lord,' said Dorothy, to which he +replied with a smile of confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +DOROTHY'S INITIATION. + + +There was much about the castle itself to interest Dorothy. She had +already begun the attempt to gather a clear notion of its many parts and +their relations, but the knowledge of the building could not well +advance more rapidly than her acquaintance with its inmates, for little +was to be done from the outside alone, and she could not bear to be met +in strange places by strange people. So that part of her education--I +use the word advisedly, for to know all about the parts of an old +building may do more for the education of minds of a certain stamp than +the severest course of logic--must wait upon time and opportunity. + +Every day, often twice, sometimes thrice, she would visit the +stable-yard, and have an interview first with the chained Marquis, and +then with her little horse. After that she would seldom miss looking in +at the armourer's shop, and spending a few minutes in watching him at +his work, so that she was soon familiar with all sorts of armour +favoured in the castle. The blacksmiths' and the carpenters' shops were +also an attraction to her, and it was not long before she knew all the +artisans about the place. There were the farm and poultry yards too, +with which kinds of place she was familiar--especially with their +animals and all their ways. The very wild beasts in their dens in the +solid basement of the kitchen tower--a panther, two leopards, an ounce, +and a toothless old lion had already begun to know her a little, for she +never went near their cages without carrying them something to eat. For +all these visits there was plenty of room, lady Margaret never requiring +much of her time in the early part of the day, and finding the reports +she brought of what was going on always amusing. And now the orchards +and gardens would soon be inviting, for the heart of the world was +already sending up its blood to dye the apple blossoms. + +But all the opportunities she yet had were less than was needful for the +development of such a mind as Dorothy's, which, powerful in itself, +needed to be roused, and was slow in its movements except when excited +by a quick succession of objects, or the contact of a kindred but busier +nature. It was lacking not only in generative, but in self-moving +energy. Of self-sustaining force she had abundance. + +There was a really fine library in the castle, to which she had free +access, and whence, now and then, lady Margaret would make her bring a +book from which to read aloud, while she and her other ladies were at +work; but books were not enough to rouse Dorothy, and when inclined to +read she would return too exclusively to what she already knew, making +little effort to extend her gleaning-ground. + +From this fragment of analysis it will be seen that the new resource +thus opened to her might prove of more consequence than, great as were +her expectations from it, she was yet able to anticipate. But infinitely +greater good than any knowledge of his mechanical triumphs could bring +her, was on its way to Dorothy along the path of growing acquaintance +with the noble-minded inventor himself. + +The next morning, then, she was up before the sun, and, sitting at her +window, awaited his arrival. The moment he shone upon the gilded cock of +the bell tower, she rose and hastened out, eager to taste of the sweets +promised her; stood a moment to gaze on the limpid stream ever flowing +from the mouth of the white horse, and wonder whence that and the +whale-spouts he so frequently sent aloft from his nostrils came; then +passing through the archway and over the bridge, found herself at the +magician's door. For a moment she hesitated: from within came such a +tumult of hammering, that plainly it was of no use to knock, and she +could not at once bring herself to enter unannounced and uninvited. But +confidence in lord Herbert soon aroused her courage, and gently she +opened the door and peeped in. There he stood, in a linen frock that +reached from his neck to his knees, already hard at work at a small +anvil on a bench, while Caspar was still harder at work at a huge anvil +on the ground in front of a forge. This, with the mighty bellows +attached to it, occupied one of the six sides of the room, and the great +roaring, hissing thing that had so frightened lady Margaret, now silent +and cold, occupied another. Neither of the men saw her. So she entered, +closed the door, and approached lord Herbert, but he continued unaware +of her presence until she spoke. Then he ceased his hammering, turned, +and greeted her with his usual smile of sincerity absolute. + +'Are you always as true to your appointments, cousin?' he said, and +resumed his hammering. + +'It was hardly an appointment, my lord, and yet here I am,' said +Dorothy. + +'And you mean to infer that----?' + +'An appointment is no slight matter, my lord, or one that admits of +breaking.' + +'Right,' returned his lordship, still hammering at the thin plate of +whitish metal growing thinner and thinner under his blows. Dorothy +glanced around her for a moment. + +'I would not be troublesome, my lord,' she said; 'but would you tell me +in a few words what it is you make here?' + +'Had I three tongues, and thou three ears,' answered lord Herbert, 'I +could not. But look round thee, cousin, and when thou spiest the thing +that draws thine eye more than another, ask me concerning that, and I +will tell thee.' + +Hardly had Dorothy, in obedience, cast her eyes about the place, ere +they lighted on the same huge wheel which had before chiefly attracted +her notice. + +'What is that great wheel for, with such a number of weights hung to +it?' she asked. + +'For a memorial,' replied lord Herbert, 'of the folly of the man who +placeth his hopes in man. That wonderful engine; it is now nearly three +years since I showed it to his blessed majesty in the Tower of London, +also with him to the dukes of Richmond and Hamilton, and two +extraordinary ambassadors besides, but of them all no man hath ever +sought to look upon it again. It is a form of the Proteus-like perpetuum +mobile--a most incredible thing if not seen.' + +He then proceeded to show her how, as every spoke passed the highest +point, the weight attached to it immediately hung a foot farther from +the centre of the wheel, and as every spoke passed the lowest point, its +weight returned a foot nearer to the centre, thus causing the leverage +to be greater always on one and the same side of the wheel. Few of my +readers will regret so much as myself that I am unable to give them the +constructive explanation his lordship gave Dorothy as to the shifting of +the weights. Whether she understood it or not, I cannot tell either, but +that is of less consequence. Before she left the workshop that morning, +she had learned that a thousand knowledges are needed to build up the +pyramid on whose top alone will the bird of knowledge lay her new egg. + +When he had finished his explanation, lord Herbert returned to his work, +leaving Dorothy again to her own observations. And now she would gladly +have questioned him about the huge mass of brick and iron, which, now +standing silent, cold, and motionless as death, had that night seemed +alive with the fierce energy of flame, and yet sorely driven, sighing, +and groaning, and furiously hissing; but as it was not now at work, she +thought it would be better to wait an opportunity when it should be in +the agony of its wrestle with whatever unseen enemy it coped withal. She +did not know that, the first of its race, it was not quite equal to the +task the magician had imposed upon it, but that its descendants would at +length become capable of doing a thousand times as much, with the +swinging joy of conscious might, with the pant of the giant, not the +groan of the overtasked stripling urging his last effort. + +She was standing by a chest, examining the strangely elaborate and +mysterious-looking scutcheon of its lock, when his lordship's hammering +ceased, and presently she found that he was by her side. + +'That escutcheon is the best thing of the kind I have yet made,' he +said. 'A humour I have, never to be contented to produce any invention +the second time, without appearing refined. The lock and key of this are +in themselves a marvel, for the little triangle screwed key weighs no +more than a shilling, and yet it bolts and unbolts an hundred bolts +through fifty staples round about the chest, and as many more from both +sides and ends, and at the self-same time shall fasten it to a place +beyond a man's natural strength to take it away. But the best thing is +the escutcheon; for the owner of it, though a woman, may with her own +delicate hand vary the ways of coming to open the lock ten millions of +times, beyond the knowledge of the smith that made it, or of me who +invented it. If a stranger open it, it setteth an alarm agoing, which +the stranger cannot stop from running out; and besides, though none +should be within hearing, yet it catcheth his hand, as a trap doth a +fox; and though far from maiming him, yet it leaveth such a mark behind +it, as will discover him if suspected; the escutcheon or lock plainly +showing what moneys he hath taken out of the box to a farthing, and how +many times opened since the owner hath been at it.' + +He then showed her how to set it, left the chest open, and gave her the +key off his bunch that she might use it more easily. Ere she returned +it, she had made herself mistress of the escutcheon as far as the mere +working of it was concerned, as she proved to the satisfaction of the +inventor. + +Her docility and quickness greatly pleased him. He opened a cabinet, and +after a search in its drawers, took from it a little thing, in form and +colour like a plum, which he gave her, telling her to eat it. She saw +from his smile that there was something at the back of the playful +request, and for a moment hesitated, but reading in his countenance that +he wished her at least to make the attempt, she put it in her mouth. + +She was gagged. She could neither open nor shut her mouth a hair's +breadth, could neither laugh, cry out, nor make any noise beyond an ugly +one she would not make twice. The tears came into her eyes, for her +position was ludicrous, and she imagined that his lordship was making +game of her. A girl less serious or more merry would have been moved +only to laughter. + +But lord Herbert hastened to relieve her. On the application of a tiny +key, fixed with a joint in a finger-ring, the little steel bolts it had +thrown out in every direction returned within the plum, and he drew it +from her mouth. + +'You little fool!' he said, with indescribable sweetness, for he saw the +tears in her eyes; 'did you think I would hurt you?' + +'No, my lord; but I did fear you were going to make game of me. I could +not have borne Caspar to see me so.' + +'Alas, my poor child!' he rejoined, 'you have come to the wrong house if +you cannot put up with a little chafing. There!' he added, putting the +plum in her hand, 'it is an untoothsome thing, but the moment may come +when you will find it useful enough to repay you for the annoyance of a +smile that had in it ten times more friendship than merriment.' + +'I ask your pardon, my lord,' said Dorothy, by this time blushing deep +with shame of her mistrust and over-sensitiveness, and on the point of +crying downright. But his lordship smiled so kindly that she took heart +and smiled again. + +He then showed her how to raise the key hid in the ring, and how to +unlock the plum. + +'Do not try it on yourself,' he said, as he put the ring on her finger; +'you might find that awkward.' + +'Be sure I shall avoid it, my lord,' returned Dorothy. + +'And do not let any one know you have such a thing,' he said, 'or that +there is a key in your ring.' + +'I will try not, my lord.' + +The breakfast bell rang. + +'If you will come again after supper,' he said, as he pulled off his +linen frock, 'I will show you my fire-engine at work, and tell you all +that is needful to the understanding thereof;--only you must not publish +it to the world,' he added, 'for I mean to make much gain by my +invention.' + +Dorothy promised, and they parted--lord Herbert for the marquis's +parlour, Dorothy for the housekeeper's room, and Caspar for the third +table in the great hall. + +After breakfast Dorothy practised with her plum until she could manage +it with as much readiness as ease. She found that it was made of steel, +and that the bolts it threw out upon the slightest pressure were so +rounded and polished that they could not hurt, while nothing but the key +would reduce them again within their former sheath. + +END OF VOLUME I. + + + + +START OF VOLUME II + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE FIRE-ENGINE. + + +As soon as supper was over in the housekeeper's room, Dorothy sped to +the keep, where she found Caspar at work. + +'My lord is not yet from supper, mistress,' he said. 'Will it please you +wait while he comes?' + +Had it been till midnight, so long as there was a chance of his +appearing, Dorothy would have waited. Caspar did his best to amuse her, +and succeeded,--showing her one curious thing after another,--amongst +the rest a watch that seemed to want no winding after being once set +agoing, but was in fact wound up a little by every opening of the case +to see the dial. All the while the fire-engine was at work on its +mysterious task, with but now and then a moment's attention from Caspar, +a billet of wood or a shovelful of sea-coal on the fire, a pull at a +cord, or a hint from the hooked rod. The time went rapidly. + +Twilight was over, Caspar had lighted his lamp, and the moon had risen, +before lord Herbert came. + +'I am glad to find you have patience as well as punctuality in the +catalogue of your virtues, mistress Dorothy,' he said as he entered. 'I +too am punctual, and am therefore sorry to have failed now, but it is +not my fault: I had to attend my father. For his sake pardon me.' + +'It were but a small matter, my lord, even had it been uncompelled, to +keep an idle girl waiting.' + +'I think not so,' returned lord Herbert. 'But come now, I will explain +to you my wonderful fire-engine.' + +As he spoke, he took her by the hand, and led her towards it. The +creature blazed, groaned, and puffed, but there was no motion to be seen +about it save that of the flames through the cracks in the door of the +furnace, neither was there any clanking noise of metal. A great rushing +sound somewhere in the distance, that seemed to belong to it, yet +appeared too far off to have any connection with it. + +'It is a noisy thing,' he said, as they stood before it, 'but when I +make another, it shall do its work that thou wouldst not hear it outside +the door. Now listen to me for a moment, cousin. Should it come to a +siege and I not at Raglan--the wise man will always provide for the +worst--Caspar will be wanted everywhere. Now this engine is essential to +the health and comfort, if not to the absolute life of the castle, and +there is no one at present capable of managing it save us two. A very +little instruction, however, would enable any one to do so: will you +undertake it, cousin, in case of need?' + +'Make me assured that I can, and I will, my lord,' answered Dorothy. + +'A good and sufficing answer,' returned his lordship, with a smile of +satisfaction. 'First then,' he went on, 'I will show you wherein lies +its necessity to the good of the castle. Come with me, cousin Dorothy.' + +He led the way from the room, and began to ascend the stair which rose +just outside it. Dorothy followed, winding up through the thickness of +the wall. And now she could not hear the engine. As she went up, +however, certain sounds of it came again, and grew louder till they +seemed close to her ears, then gradually died away and once more ceased. +But ever, as they ascended, the rushing sound which had seemed connected +with it, although so distant, drew nearer and nearer, until, having +surmounted three of the five lofty stories of the building, they could +scarcely hear each other speak for the roar of water, falling in +intermittent jets. At last they came out on the top of the wall, with +nothing between them and the moat below but the battlemented parapet, +and behold! the mighty tower was roofed with water: a little tarn filled +all the space within the surrounding walk. It undulated in the moonlight +like a subsiding storm, and beat the encircling banks. For into its +depths shot rather than poured a great volume of water from a huge +orifice in the wall, and the roar and the rush were tremendous. It was +like the birth of a river, bounding at once from its mountain rock, and +the sound of its fall indicated the great depth of the water into which +it plunged. Solid indeed must be the walls that sustained the outpush of +such a weight of water! + +'You see now, cousin, what yon fire-souled slave below is labouring at,' +said his lordship. 'His task is to fill this cistern, and that he can in +a few hours; and yet, such a slave is he, a child who understands his +fetters and the joints of his bones can guide him at will.' + +'But, my lord,' questioned Dorothy, 'is there not water here to supply +the castle for months? And there is the draw-well in the pitched court +besides.' + +'Enough, I grant you,' he replied, 'for the mere necessities of life. +But what would come of its pleasures? Would not the beleaguered ladies +miss the bounty of the marble horse? Whence comes the water he gives so +freely that he needeth not to drink himself? He would thirst indeed but +for my water-commanding fiend below. Or how would the birds fare, were +the fountains on the islands dry in the hot summer? And what would the +children say if he ceased to spout? And how would my lord's tables fare, +with the armed men besetting every gate, the fish-ponds dry, and the +fish rotting in the sun? See you, mistress Dorothy? And for the +draw-well, know you not wherein lies the good of a tower stronger than +all the rest? Is it not built for final retreat, the rest of the castle +being at length in the hands of the enemy? Where then is your +draw-well?' + +'But this tower, large as it is, could not receive those now within the +walls of the castle,' said Dorothy. + +'They will be fewer ere its shelter is needful.' + +It was his tone quite as much as the words that drove a sudden sickness +to the heart of the girl: for one moment she knew what siege and battle +meant. But she recovered herself with a strong effort, and escaped from +the thought by another question. + +'And whence comes all this water, my lord?' she said, for she was one +who would ask until she knew all that concerned her. + +'Have you not chanced to observe a well in my workshop below, on the +left-hand side of the door, not far from the great chest?' + +'I have observed it, my lord.' + +'That is a very deep well, with a powerful spring. Large pipes lead from +all but the very bottom of that to my fire-engine. The fuller the well, +the more rapid the flow into the cistern, for the shallower the water, +the more labour falls to my giant. He is finding it harder work now. But +you see the cistern is nearly full.' + +'Forgive me, my lord, if I am troubling you,' said Dorothy, about to ask +another question. + +'I delight in the questions of the docile,' said his lordship. 'They are +the little children of wisdom. There! that might be out of the book of +Ecclesiasticus,' he added, with a merry laugh. 'I might pass that off on +Dr. Bayly for my father's: he hath already begun to gather my father's +sayings into a book, as I have discovered. But, prithee, cousin, let not +my father know of it.' + +'Fear not me, my lord,' returned Dorothy. 'Having no secrets of my own +to house, it were evil indeed to turn my friends' out of doors.' + +'Why, that also would do for Dr. Bayly! Well said, Dorothy! Now for thy +next question.' + +'It is this, my lord: having such a well in your foundations, whence the +need of such a cistern on your roof? I mean now as regards the provision +of the keep itself in case of ultimate resort.' + +'In coming to deal with a place of such strength as this,' replied his +lordship, '--I mean the keep whereon we now stand, not the castle, +which, alas! hath many weak points--the enemy would assuredly change the +siege into a blockade; that is, he would try to starve instead of fire +us out; and, procuring information sufficiently to the point, would be +like enough to dig deep and cut the water-veins which supply that well; +and thereafter all would depend on the cistern. From the moment +therefore when the first signs of siege appear, it will be wisdom and +duty on the part of the person in charge to keep it constantly +full--full as a cup to the health of the king. I trust however that such +will be the good success of his majesty's arms that the worst will only +have to be provided against, not encountered.--But there is more in it +yet. Come hither, cousin. Look down through this battlement upon the +moat. You see the moon in it? No? That is because it is covered so thick +with weeds. When you go down, mark how low it is. There is little +defence in the moat that a boy might wade through. I have allowed it to +get shallow in order to try upon its sides a new cement I have lately +discovered; but weeks and weeks have passed, and I have never found the +leisure, and now I am sure I never shall until this rebellion is +crushed. It is time I filled it. Pray look down upon it, cousin. In +summer it will be full of the loveliest white water-lilies, though now +you can see nothing but green weeds.' + +He had left her side and gone a few paces away, but kept on speaking. + +'One strange thing I can tell you about them, cousin--the roots of that +whitest of flowers make a fine black dye! What apophthegm founded upon +that, thinkest thou, my father would drop for Dr Bayly?' + +'You perplex me much, my lord,' said Dorothy. 'I cannot at all perceive +your lordship's drift.' + +'Lay a hand on each side of the battlement where you now stand; lean +through it and look down. Hold fast and fear nothing.' Dorothy did as +she was desired, and thus supported gazed upon the moat below, where it +lay a mere ditch at the foot of the lofty wall. + +'My lord, I see nothing,' she said, turning to him, as she thought; but +he had vanished. + +Again she looked at the moat, and then her eyes wandered away over the +castle. The two courts and their many roofs, even those of all the +towers, except only the lofty watch-tower on the western side, lay bare +beneath her, in bright moonlight, flecked and blotted with shadows, all +wondrous in shape and black as Erebus. + +Suddenly, she knew not whence, arose a frightful roaring, a hollow +bellowing, a pent-up rumbling. Seized by a vague terror, she clung to +the parapet and trembled. But even the great wall beneath her, solid as +the earth itself, seemed to tremble under her feet, as with some inward +commotion or dismay. The next moment the water in the moat appeared to +rush swiftly upwards, in wild uproar, fiercely confused, and covered +with foam and spray. To her bewildered eyes, it seemed to heap itself +up, wave upon furious wave, to reach the spot where she stood, greedy to +engulf her. For an instant she fancied the storming billows pouring over +the edge of the battlement, and started back in such momentary agony as +we suffer in dreams. Then, by a sudden rectification of her vision, she +perceived that what she saw was in reality a multitude of fountain jets +rushing high towards their parent-cistern, but far-failing ere they +reached it. The roar of their onset was mingled with the despairing +tumult of their defeat, and both with the deep tumble and wallowing +splash of the water from the fire-engine, which grew louder and louder +as the surface of the water in the reservoir sank. The uproar ceased as +suddenly as it had commenced, but the moat mirrored a thousand moons in +the agitated waters which had overwhelmed its mantle of weeds. + +'You see now,' said lord Herbert, rejoining her while still she gazed, +'how necessary the cistern is to the keep? Without it, the few poor +springs in the moat would but sustain it as you saw it. From here I can +fill it to the brim.' + +'I see,' answered Dorothy. 'But would not a simple overflow serve, +carried from the well through the wall?' + +'It would, were there no other advantages with which this mode +harmonised. I must mention one thing more--which I was almost +forgetting, and which I cannot well show you to-night--namely, that I +can use this water not only as a means of defence in the moat, but as an +engine of offence also against any one setting unlawful or hostile foot +upon the stone bridge over it. I can, when I please, turn that bridge, +the same by which you cross to come here, into a rushing aqueduct, and +with a torrent of water sweep from it a whole company of invaders.' + +'But would they not have only to wait until the cistern was empty?' + +'As soon and so long as the bridge is clear, the outflow ceases. One +sweep, and my water-broom would stop, and the rubbish lie sprawling +under the arch, or half-way over the court. And more still,' he added +with emphasis: 'I COULD make it boiling!' + +'But your lordship would not?' faltered Dorothy. + +'That might depend,' he answered with a smile. Then changing his tone in +absolute and impressive seriousness, 'But this is all nothing but +child's play,' he said, 'compared with what is involved in the matter of +this reservoir. The real origin of it was its needfulness to the +perfecting of my fire-engine.' + +'Pardon me, my lord, but it seems to me that without the cistern there +would be no need for the engine. How should you want or how could you +use the unhandsome thing? Then how should the cistern be necessary to +the engine?' + +'Handsome is that handsome does,' returned his lordship. 'Truly, cousin +Dorothy, you speak well, but you must learn to hear better. I did not +say that the cistern existed for the sake of the engine, but for the +sake of the perfecting of the engine. Cousin Dorothy, I will give you +the largest possible proof of my confidence in you, by not only +explaining to you the working of my fire-engine, but acquainting +you--only you must not betray me!' + +'I, in my turn,' said Dorothy, 'will give your lordship, if not the +strongest, yet a very strong proof of my confidence: I promise to keep +your secret before knowing what it is.' + +'Thanks, cousin. Listen then: That engine is a mingling of discovery and +invention such as hath never had its equal since first the mechanical +powers were brought to the light. For this shall be as a soul to animate +those, all and each--lever, screw, pulley, wheel, and axle--what you +will. No engine of mightiest force ever for defence or assault invented, +let it be by Archimedes himself, but could by my fire-engine be rendered +tenfold more mighty for safety or for destruction, although as yet I +have applied it only to the blissful operation of lifting water, thus +removing the curse of it where it is a curse, and carrying it where the +parched soil cries for its help to unfold the treasures of its thirsty +bosom. My fire-engine shall yet uplift the nation of England above the +heads of all richest and most powerful nations on the face of the whole +earth. For when the troubles of this rebellion are over, which press so +heavily on his majesty and all loyal subjects, compelling even a +peaceful man like myself to forsake invention for war, and the workman's +frock which I love, for the armour which I love not, when peace shall +smile again on the country, and I shall have time to perfect the work of +my hands, I shall present it to my royal master, a magical supremacy of +power, which shall for ever raise him and his royal progeny above all +use or need of subsidies, ship-money, benevolences, or taxes of whatever +sort or name, to rule his kingdom as independent of his subjects in +reality as he is in right; for this water-commanding engine, which God +hath given me to make, shall be the source of such wealth as no +accountant can calculate. For herewith may marsh-land be thoroughly +drained, or dry land perfectly watered; great cities kept sweet and +wholesome; mines rid of the water gathering from springs therein, so as +he may enrich himself withal; houses be served plentifully on every +stage; and gardens in the dryest summer beautified and comforted with +fountains. Which engine when I found that it was in the power of my +hands to do, as well as of my heart to conceive that it might be done, I +did kneel down and give humble thanks from the bottom of my heart to the +omnipotent God whose mercies are fathomless, for his vouchsafing me an +insight into so great a secret of nature and so beneficial to all +mankind as this my engine.' + +With all her devotion to the king, and all her hatred and contempt of +the parliament and the puritans, Dorothy could not help a doubt whether +such independence might be altogether good either for the king himself +or the people thus subjected to his will. But the farther doubt did not +occur to her whether a pre-eminence gained chiefly by wealth was one to +be on any grounds desired for the nation, or, setting that aside, was +one which carried a single element favourable to perpetuity. + +All this time they had been standing on the top of the keep, with the +moonlight around them, and in their ears the noise of the water flowing +from the dungeon well into the sky-roofed cistern. But now it came in +diminished flow. + +'It is the earth that fails in giving, not my engine in taking,' said +lord Herbert as he turned to lead the way down the winding stair. Ever +as they went, the noise of the water grew fainter and the noise of the +engine grew louder, but just as they stepped from the stair, it gave a +failing stroke or two, and ceased. A dense white cloud met them as they +entered the vault. + +'Stopped for the night, Caspar?' said his lordship. + +'Yes, my lord; the well is nearly out.' + +'Let it sleep,' returned his master; 'like a man's heart it will fill in +the night. Thank God for the night and darkness and sleep, in which good +things draw nigh like God's thieves, and steal themselves in--water into +wells, and peace and hope and courage into the minds of men. Is it not +so, my cousin?' + +Dorothy did not answer in words, but she looked up in his face with a +reverence in her eyes that showed she understood him. And this was one +of the idolatrous catholics! It was neither the first nor the last of +many lessons she had to receive, in order to learn that a man may be +right although the creed for which he is and ought to be ready to die, +may contain much that is wrong. Alas! that so few, even of such men, +ever reflect, that it is the element common to all the creeds which +gives its central value to each. + +'I cannot show you the working of the engine to-night,' said lord +Herbert. 'Caspar has decreed otherwise.' + +'I can soon set her agoing again, my lord,' said Caspar. + +'No, no. We must to the powder-mill, Caspar. Mistress Dorothy will come +again to-morrow, and you must yourself explain to her the working and +management of it, for I shall be away. And do not fear to trust my +cousin, Caspar, although she be a soft-handed lady. Let her have the +brute's halter in her own hold.' + +Filled with gratitude for the trust he reposed in her, Dorothy took her +leave, and the two workmen immediately abandoned their shop for the +night, leaving the door wide open behind them to let out the vapours of +the fire-engine, in the confidence that no unlicensed foot would dare to +cross the threshold, and betook themselves to the powder-mill, where +they continued at work the greater part of the night. + +His lordship was unfavourable to the storing of powder because of the +danger, seeing they could, on his calculation, from the materials lying +ready for mixing, in one week prepare enough to keep all the ordnance on +the castle walls busy for two. But indeed he had not such a high opinion +of gunpowder but that he believed engines for projection, more powerful +as well as less expensive, could be constructed, after the fashion of +ballista or catapult, by the use of a mode he had discovered of +immeasurably increasing the strength of springs, so that stones of a +hundredweight might be thrown into a city from a quarter of a mile's +distance without any noise audible to those within. It was this device +he was brooding over when Dorothy came upon him by the arblast. Nor did +the conviction arise from any prejudice against fire-arms, for he had, +among many other wonderful things of the sort, in cannons, sakers, +harquebusses, muskets, musquetoons, and all kinds, invented a pistol to +discharge a dozen times with one loading, and without so much as new +priming being once requisite, or the possessor having to change it out +of one hand into the other, or stop his horse. + +One who had happened to see lord Herbert as he went about within his +father's walls, busy yet unhasting, earnest yet cheerful, rapid in all +his movements yet perfectly composed, would hardly have imagined that a +day at a time, or perhaps two, was all he was now able to spend there, +days which were to him as breathing-holes in the ice to the wintered +fishes. For not merely did he give himself to the enlisting of large +numbers of men, but commanded both horse and foot, meeting all expenses +from his own pocket, or with the assistance of his father. A few months +before the period at which my story has arrived, he had in eight days +raised six regiments, fortified Monmouth and Chepstow, and garrisoned +half-a-dozen smaller but yet important places. About a hundred noblemen +and gentlemen whom he had enrolled as a troop of life-guards, he +furnished with the horses and arms which they were unable to provide +with sufficient haste for themselves. So prominent indeed were his +services on behalf of the king, that his father was uneasy because of +the jealousy and hate it would certainly rouse in the minds of some of +his majesty's well-wishers--a just presentiment, as his son had too good +reason to acknowledge after he had spent a million of money, besides the +labour and thought and dangerous endeavour of years, in the king's +service. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MOONLIGHT AND APPLE-BLOSSOMS. + + +The next morning, immediately after breakfast, lord Herbert set out for +Chepstow first and then Monmouth, both which places belonged to his +father, and were principal sources of his great wealth. + +Still, amid the rush of the changeful tides of war around them, and the +rumour of battle filling the air, all was peaceful within the defences +of Raglan, and its towers looked abroad over a quiet country, where the +cattle fed and the green wheat grew. On the far outskirts of vision, +indeed, a smoke might be seen at times from the watch-tower, and across +the air would come the dull boom of a great gun from one of the +fortresses, at which lady Margaret's cheek would turn pale; but, +although every day something was done to strengthen the castle, although +masons were at work here and there about the walls like bees, and Caspar +Kaltoff was busy in all directions, now mounting fresh guns, now +repairing steel cross-bows, now getting out of the armoury the queerest +oldest-fashioned engines to place wherever available points could be +found, there was no hurry and no confusion, and indeed so little +appearance of unusual activity, that an unmilitary stranger might have +passed a week in the castle without discovering that preparations for +defence were actively going on. All around them the buds were creeping +out, uncurling, spreading abroad, straightening themselves, smoothing +out the creases of their unfolding, and breathing the air of heaven--in +some way very pleasant to creatures with roots as well as to creatures +with legs. The apple-blossoms came out, and the orchard was lovely as +with an upward-driven storm of roseate snow. Ladies were oftener seen +passing through the gates and walking in the gardens--where the +fountains had begun to play, and the swans and ducks on the lakes felt +the return of spring in every fibre of their webby feet and cold scaly +legs. + +And Dorothy sat as it were at the spring-head of the waters, for, +through her dominion over the fire-engine, she had become the naiad of +Raglan. The same hour in which lord Herbert departed she went to +Kaltoff, and was by him instructed in its mysteries. On the third day +after, so entirely was the Dutchman satisfied with her understanding and +management of it, that he gave up to her the whole water-business. And +now, as I say, she sat at the source of all the streams and fountains of +the place, and governed them all. The horse of marble spouted and ceased +at her will, but in general she let the stream from his mouth flow all +day long. Every water-cock on the great tower was subject to her. From +the urn of her pleasure the cistern was daily filled, and from the +summit of defence her flood went pouring into the moat around its feet, +until it mantled to the brim, turning the weeds into a cold shadowy +pavement of green for a foil to its pellucid depth. She understood all +the secrets of the aqueous catapult, at which its contriver had little +more than hinted on that memorable night when he disclosed so much, and +believed she could arrange it for action without assistance. At the same +time her new responsibilities required but a portion of her leisure, and +lady Margaret was not the less pleased with the wise-headed girl, whose +manners and mental ways were such a contrast to her own, that her +husband considered her fit to be put in charge of his darling invention. +But Dorothy kept silence concerning the trust to all but her mistress, +who, on her part, was prudent enough to avoid any allusion which might +raise yet higher the jealousy of her associates, by whom she was already +regarded as supplanting them in the favour of their mistress. + +One lovely evening in May, the moon at the full, the air warm yet fresh, +the apple-blossoms at their largest, with as yet no spot upon their fair +skin, and the nightingales singing out of their very bones, the season, +the hour, the blossoms, and the moon had invaded every chamber in the +castle, seized every heart of both man and beast, and turned all into +one congregation of which the nightingales were the priests. The cocks +were crowing as if it had been the dawn itself instead of its ghost they +saw; the dogs were howling, but whether that was from love or hate of +the moon, I cannot tell; the pigeons were cooing; the peacock had turned +his train into a paralune, understanding well that the carnival could +not be complete without him and his; and the wild beasts were restless, +uttering a short yell now and then, at least aware that something was +going on. All the inhabitants of the castle were out of doors, the +ladies and gentlemen in groups here and there about the gardens and +lawns and islands, and the domestics, and such of the garrison as were +not on duty, wandering hither and thither where they pleased, careful +only not to intrude on their superiors. + +Lady Margaret was walking with her step-son Henry on a lawn under the +northern window of the picture-gallery, and there the ladies Elizabeth +and Anne joined them--the former a cheerful woman, endowed with a large +share of her father's genial temperament; joke or jest would moult no +feather in lady Elizabeth's keeping; the latter quiet, sincere, and +reverent. The marquis himself, notwithstanding a slight attack of the +gout, had hobbled on his stick to a chair set for him on the same lawn. +Beside him sat lady Mary, younger than the other two, and specially +devoted to her father. + +Their gentlewomen were also out, flitting in groups that now and then +mingled and changed. Rowland Scudamore joined lady Margaret's people, +and in a moment lady Broughton was laughing merrily. But mistress +Doughty walked on with straight neck, as if there were nobody but +herself in heaven or on the earth, although mortals were merry by her +side, and nightingales singing themselves to death over her head. Behind +them came Amanda Serafina, with her eyes on her feet, and the corners of +her pretty mouth drawn down in contempt of nobody in particular. Now and +then Scudamore, when satisfied with his own pretty wit, would throw a +glance behind him, and she, somehow or other, would, without change of +muscle, let him know that she had heard him. This group sauntered into +the orchard. + +After them came Dorothy with Dr Bayly, talking of their common friend +Mr. Matthew Herbert, and following them into the orchard, wandered about +among the trees, under the curdled moonlight of the apple-blossoms, amid +the challenges and responses of five or six nightingales, that sang as +if their bodies had dwindled under the sublimating influences of music, +until, with more than cherubic denudation, their sum of being was +reduced to a soul and a throat. + +Moonlight, apple-blossoms, nightingales, with the souls of men and women +for mirrors and reflectors! The picture is for the musician not the +painter, either him of words or him of colours. It was like a lovely +show in the land of dreams, even to the living souls that moved in and +made part of it. The earth is older now, colder at the heart, a little +nearer to the fate of cold-hearted things, which is to be slaves and +serve without love; but she has still the same moonlight, the same +apple-blossoms, the same nightingales, and we have the same hearts, and +so can understand it. But, alas! how differently should we come in +amongst the accessories of such a picture! For we men at least are all +but given over to ugliness, and, artistically considered, even +vulgarity, in the matter of dress, wherein they, of all generations of +English men and women, were too easily supreme both as to form and +colour. Hence, while they are an admiration to us, we shall be but a +laughter to those that come behind us, and that whether their fashions +be better than ours or no, for nothing is so ridiculous as ugliness out +of date. The glimmer of gold and silver, the glitter of polished steel, +the flashing of jewels, and the flowing of plumes, went well. But, so +canopied with loveliness, so besung with winged passion, so clothed that +even with the heavenly delicacies enrounding them they blended +harmoniously, their moonlit orchard was an island beat by the waves of +war, its air would quiver and throb by fits, shaken with the roar of +cannon, and might soon gleam around them with the whirring sweep of the +troopers' broad blades; while all throughout the land, the hateful demon +of party spirit tore wide into gashes the wounds first made by +conscience in the best, and by prejudice in the good. + +The elder ladies had floated away together between the mossy stems, +under the canopies of blossoms; Rowland had fallen behind and joined the +waiting Amanda, and the two were now flitting about like moths in the +moonshine; Dorothy and Dr. Bayly had halted in an open spot, like a +moonlight impluvium, the divine talking eagerly to the maiden, and the +maiden looking up at the moon, and heeding the nightingales more than +the divine. + +'CAN they be English nightingales?' said Dorothy thoughtfully. + +The doctor was bewildered for a moment. He had been talking about +himself, not the nightingales, but he recovered himself like a +gentleman. + +'Assuredly, mistress Dorothy,' he replied; 'this is the land of their +birth. Hither they come again when the winter is over.' + +'Yes; they take no part in our troubles. They will not sing to comfort +our hearts in the cold; but give them warmth enough, and they sing as +careless of battle-fields and dead men as if they were but moonlight and +apple-blossoms.' + +'Is it not better so?' returned the divine after a moment's thought. +'How would it be if everything in nature but re-echoed our moan?' + +Dorothy looked at the little man, and was in her turn a moment silent. + +'Then,' she said, 'we must see in these birds and blossoms, and that +great blossom in the sky, so many prophets of a peaceful time and a +better country, sent to remind us that we pass away and go to them.' + +'Nay, my dear mistress Dorothy!' returned the all but obsequious doctor; +'such thoughts do not well befit your age, or rather, I would say, your +youth. Life is before you, and life is good. These evil times will go +by, the king shall have his own again, the fanatics will be scourged as +they deserve, and the church will rise like the phoenix from the ashes +of her purification.' + +'But how many will lie out in the fields all the year long, yet never +see blossoms or hear nightingales more!' said Dorothy. + +'Such will have died martyrs,' rejoined the doctor. + +'On both sides?' suggested Dorothy. + +Again for a moment the good man stood checked. He had not even thought +of the dead on the other side. + +'That cannot be,' he said. And Dorothy looked up again at the moon. + +But she listened no more to the songs of the nightingales, and they left +the orchard together in silence. + +'Come, Rowland, we must not be found here alone,' said Amanda, who saw +them go. 'But tell me one thing first: is mistress Dorothy Vaughan +indeed your cousin?' + +'She is indeed. Her mother and mine were cousins german--sisters' +children.' + +'I thought it could not be a near cousinship. You are not alike at all. +Hear me, Rowland, but let it die in your ear--I love not mistress +Dorothy.' + +'And the reason, lovely hater? "Is not the maiden fair to see?" as the +old song says. I do not mean that she is fair as some are fair, but she +will pass; she offends not.' + +'She is fair enough--not beautiful, not even pleasing; but, to be just, +the demure look she puts on may bear the fault of that. Rowland, I would +not speak evil of any one, but your cousin is a hypocrite. She is false +at heart, and she hates me. Trust me, she but bides her time to let me +know it--and you too, my Rowland.' + +'I am sure you mistake her, Amanda,' said Scudamore. 'Her looks are but +modest, and her words but shy, for she came hither from a lonely house. +I believe she is honest and good.' + +'Seest thou not then how that she makes friends with none but her +betters? Already hath she wound herself around my lady's heart, +forsooth! and now she pays her court to the puffing chaplain! Hast thou +never observed, my Rowland, how oft she crosses the bridge to the yellow +tower? What seeks she there? Old Kaltoff, the Dutchman, it can hardly +be. I know she thinks to curry with my lord by pretending to love locks +and screws and pistols and such like. "But why should she haunt the +place when my lord is not there?" you will ask. Her pretence will hold +the better for it, no doubt, and Caspar will report concerning her. And +if she pleases my lord well, who knows but he may give her a pair of +watches to hang at her ears, or a box that Paracelsus himself could not +open without the secret as well as the key? I have heard of both such. +They say my lord hath twenty cartloads of quite as wonderful things in +that vault he calls his workshop. Hast thou never marked the huge +cabinet of black inlaid with silver, that stands by the wall--fitter +indeed for my lady's chamber than such a foul place?' + +'I have seen it,' answered Scudamore. + +'I warrant me it hath store of gewgaws fit for a duchess.' + +'Like enough,' assented Rowland. + +'If mistress Dorothy were to find the way through my lord's favour into +that cabinet--truly it were nothing to thee or me, Rowland.' + +'Assuredly not. It would be my lord's own business.' + +'Once upon a time I was sent to carry my young lady Raven thither--to +see my lord earn his bread, as said my lady: and what should my lord but +give her no less than a ball of silver which, thrown into a vessel of +water at any moment would plainly tell by how much it rose above the +top, the very hour and minute of the day or night, as well and truly as +the castle-clock itself. Tell me not, Rowland, that the damsel hath no +design in it. Her looks betoken a better wisdom. Doth she not, I ask +your honesty, far more resemble a nose-pinched puritan than a loyal +maiden?' + +Thus amongst the apple-blossoms talked Amanda Serafina. + +'Prithee, be not too severe with my cousin, Amanda,' pleaded Scudamore. +'She is much too sober to please my fancy, but wherefore should I for +that hate her? And if she hath something the look of a long-faced +fanatic, thou must think, she hath but now, as it were, lost her +mother.' + +'But now! And I never knew mine! Ah, Rowland, how lonely is the world!' + +'Lovely Amanda!' said Rowland. + +So they passed from the orchard and parted, fearful of being missed. + +How should such a pair do, but after its kind? Life was dull without +love-making, so they made it. And the more they made, the more they +wanted to make, until casual encounters would no longer serve their +turn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE ENCHANTED CHAIR. + + +In the castle things went on much the same, nor did the gathering tumult +without wake more than an echo within. Yet a cloud slowly deepened upon +the brow of the marquis, and a look of disquiet, to be explained neither +by the more frequent returns of his gout, nor by the more lengthened +absences of his favourite son. In his judgment the king was losing +ground, not only in England but in the deeper England of its men. Lady +Margaret also, for all her natural good spirits and light-heartedness, +showed a more continuous anxiety than was to be accounted for by her +lord's absences and the dangers he had to encounter: little Molly, the +treasure of her heart next to her lord, had never been other than a +delicate child, but now had begun to show signs of worse than weakness +of constitution, and the heart of the mother was perpetually brooding +over the ever-present idea of her sickly darling. + +But she always did her endeavour to clear the sky of her countenance +before sitting down with her father-in-law at the dinner-table, where +still the marquis had his jest almost as regularly as his claret, +although varying more in quality and quantity both--now teasing his son +Charles about the holes in his pasteboard, as he styled the castle +walls; now his daughter Anne about a design, he and no one else +attributed to her, of turning protestant and marrying Dr. Bayly; now Dr. +Bayly about his having been discovered blowing the organ in the chapel +at high mass, as he said; for when no new joke was at hand he was fain +to content himself with falling back upon old ones. The first of these +mentioned was founded on the fact, as undeniable as deplorable, of the +weakness of many portions of the defences, to remedy which, as far as +might be, was for the present lord Charles's chief endeavour, wherein he +had the best possible adviser, engineer, superintendent, and workman, +all in the person of Caspar Kaltoff. The second jest of the marquis was +a pure invention upon the liking of lady Anne for the company and +conversation of the worthy chaplain. The last mentioned was but an +exaggeration of the following fact. + +One evening the doctor came upon young Delaware, loitering about the +door of the chapel, with as disconsolate a look as his lovely sightless +face was ever seen to wear, and, inquiring what was amiss with him, +learned that he could find no one to blow the organ bellows for him. The +youth had for years, boy as he still was, found the main solace of his +blindness in the chapel-organ, upon which he would have played from +morning to night could he have got any one to blow as long. The doctor, +then, finding the poor boy panting for music like the hart for the +water-brooks, but with no Jacob to roll the stone from the well's mouth +that he might water the flocks of his thirsty thoughts, made willing +proffer of his own exertions to blow the bellows of the organ, so long +as the somewhat wheezy bellows of his body would submit to the task. + +By degrees however the good doctor had become so absorbed in the sounds +that rushed, now wailing, now jubilant, now tender as a twilight wind, +now imperious as the voice of the war-tempest, from the fingers of the +raptured boy, that the reading of the first vesper-psalm had commenced +while he was yet watching the slow rising index, in the expectation that +the organist was about to resume. The voice of his Irish +brother-chaplain, Sir Toby Mathews, roused him from his reverie of +delight, and as one ashamed he stole away through the door that led from +the little organ loft into the minstrel's gallery in the great hall, and +so escaped the catholic service, but not the marquis's roasting. Whether +the music had any share in the fact that the good man died a good +catholic at last, I leave to the speculation of who list. + +Lady Margaret continued unchangingly kind to Dorothy; and the tireless +efforts of the girl to amuse and please poor little Molly, whom the +growing warmth of the season seemed to have no power to revive, awoke +the deep gratitude of a mother. This, as well as her husband's absences, +may have had something to do with the interest she began to take in the +engine of which Dorothy had assumed the charge, for which she had always +hitherto expressed a special dislike, professing to regard it as her +rival in the affections of her husband, but after which she would now +inquire as Dorothy's baby, and even listen with patience to her +expositions of its wonderful construction and capabilities. Ere long +Dorothy had a tale to tell her in connection with the engine, which, +although simple and uneventful enough, she yet found considerably more +interesting, as involving a good deal of at least mental adventure on +the part of her young cousin. + +One evening, after playing with little Molly for an hour, then putting +her to bed and standing by her crib until she fell asleep, Dorothy ran +to see to her other baby; for the cistern had fallen rather lower than +she thought well, and she was going to fill it. She found Caspar had +lighted the furnace as she had requested; she set the engine going, and +it soon warmed to its work. + +The place was hot, and Dorothy was tired. But where in that wide and not +over-clean place should she find anything fitter than a grindstone to +sit upon? Never yet, through all her acquaintance with the workshop, had +she once seated herself in it. Looking about, however, she soon espied, +almost hidden in the corner of a recess behind the furnace, what seemed +an ordinary chair, such as stood in the great hall for the use of the +family when anything special was going on there. With some trouble she +got it out, dusted it, and set it as far from the furnace as might be, +consistently with watching the motions of the engine. But the moment she +sat down in it, she was caught and pinned so fast that she could +scarcely stir hand or foot, and could no more leave it again than if she +had been paralyzed in every limb. One scream she uttered of mingled +indignation and terror, fancying herself seized by human arms; but when +she found herself only in the power of one of her cousin's curiosities, +she speedily quieted herself and rested in peace, for Caspar always paid +a visit to the workshop the last thing before going to bed. The pressure +of the springs that had closed the trap did not hurt her in the +least--she was indeed hardly sensible of it; but when she made the least +attempt to stir, the thing showed itself immovably locked, and she had +too much confidence in the workmanship of her cousin and Caspar to dream +of attempting to open it: that she knew must be impossible. The worst +that threatened her was that the engine might require some attention +before the hour, or perhaps two, which must elapse ere Caspar came would +be over, and she did not know what the consequences might be. + +As it happened, however, something either in the powder-mill or about +the defences detained Caspar far beyond his usual hour for retiring, and +the sultriness of the weather having caused him a headache, he +represented to himself that, with mistress Dorothy tending the engine, +who knew where and would be sure to find him upon the least occasion, +there could be no harm in his going to bed without paying his usual +precautionary visit to the keep. + +So Dorothy sat, and waited in vain. The last drops of the day trickled +down the side of the world, the night filled the crystal globe from its +bottom of rock to its cover of blue aether, and the red glow of the +furnace was all that lighted the place. She waited and waited in her +mind; but Caspar did not come. She began to feel miserable. The furnace +fire sank, and the rush of the water grew slower and slower, and ceased. +Caspar did not come. The fire sank lower and lower, its red eye dimmed, +darkened, went out. Still Caspar did not come. Faint fears began to +gather about poor Dorothy's heart. It was clear at last that there she +must be all the night long, and who could tell how far into the morning? +It was good the night was warm, but it would be very dreary. And then to +be fixed in one position for so long! The thought of it grew in misery +faster than the thing itself. The greater torment lies always in the +foreboding. She felt almost as if she were buried alive. Having their +hands tied even, is enough to drive strong men almost crazy. Nor, firm +of heart as she was, did no evils of a more undefined and less +resistible character claim a share in her fast-rising apprehensions; she +began to discover that she too was assailable by the terror of the +night, although she had not hitherto been aware of it, no one knowing +what may lie unhatched in his mind, waiting the concurrence of vital +conditions. + +But Dorothy was better able to bear up under such assaults than +thousands who believe nothing of many a hideous marvel commonly accepted +in her day; and anyhow the unavoidable must be encountered, if not with +indifference, yet with what courage may be found responsive to the call +of the will. So, with all her energy, a larger store than she knew, she +braced herself to endure. As to any attempt to make herself heard, she +knew from the first that was of doubtful result, and now must certainly +be of no avail when all but the warders were asleep. But to spend the +night thus was a far less evil than to be discovered by the staring +domestics, and exposed to the open merriment of her friends, and the +hidden mockery of her enemies. As to Caspar, she was certain of his +silence. So she sat on, like the lady in Comus, 'in stony fetters fixed +and motionless;' only, as she said to herself, there was no attendant +spirit to summon Caspar, who alone could take the part of Sabrina, and +'unlock the clasping charm.' Little did Dorothy think, as in her dreary +imprisonment she recalled that marvellous embodiment of unified strength +and tenderness, as yet unacknowledged of its author, that it was the +work of the same detestable fanatic who wrote those appalling +'Animadversions, &c.' + +She grew chilly and cramped. The night passed very slowly. She dozed and +woke, and dozed again. At last, from very weariness of both soul and +body, she fell into a troubled sleep, from which she woke suddenly with +the sound in her ears of voices whispering. The confidence of lord +Herbert, both in the evil renown of his wizard cave and the character of +his father's household, seemed mistaken. Still the subdued manner of +their conversation appeared to indicate it was not without some awe that +the speakers, whoever they were, had ventured within the forbidden +precincts; their whispers, indeed, were so low that she could not say of +either voice whether it belonged to man or woman. Her first idea was to +deliver herself from the unpleasantness of her enforced espial by the +utterance of some frightful cry such as would at the same time punish +with the pains of terror their fool-hardy intrusion. But the spur of the +moment was seldom indeed so sharp with Dorothy as to drive her to act +without reflection, and a moment showed her that such persons being in +the marquis's household as would meet in the middle of the night, and on +prohibited ground, apparently for the sake of avoiding discovery, and +even then talked in whispers, he had a right to know who they were: to +act from her own feelings merely would be to fail in loyalty to the head +of the house. Who could tell what might not be involved in it? For was +it not thus that conspiracy and treason walked? And any alarm given them +now might destroy every chance of their discovery. She compelled herself +therefore to absolute stillness, immeasurably wretched, with but one +comfort--no small one, however, although negative--that their words +continued inaudible, a fact which doubtless saved much dispute betwixt +her propriety and her loyalty. + +Long time their talk lasted. Every now and then they would start and +listen--so Dorothy interpreted sudden silence and broken renewals. The +genius of the place, although braved, had yet his terrors. At length she +heard something like a half-conquered yawn, and soon after the voices +ceased. + +Again a weary time, and once more she fell asleep. She woke in the grey +of the morning, and after yet two long hours, but of more hopeful +waiting, she heard Caspar's welcome footsteps, and summoned all her +strength to avoid breaking down on his entrance. His first look of +amazement she tried to answer with a smile, but at the expression of +pitiful dismay which followed when another glance had revealed the cause +of her presence, she burst into tears. The honest man was full of +compunctious distress at the sight of the suffering his breach of custom +had so cruelly prolonged. + +'And I haf bin slap in mine bed!' he exclaimed with horror at the +contrast. + +Had she been his daughter and his mistress both in one, he could not +have treated her with greater respect or tenderness. Of course he set +about relieving her at once, but this was by no means such an easy +matter as Dorothy had expected. For the key of the chair was in the +black cabinet; the black cabinet was secured with one of lord Herbert's +marvellous locks; the key of that lock was in lord Herbert's pocket, and +lord Herbert was either in bed at Chepstow or Monmouth or Usk or +Caerlyon, or on horseback somewhere else, nobody in Raglan knew where. +But Caspar lost no time in unavailing moan. He proceeded at once to +light a fire on his forge hearth, and in the course of a few minutes had +fashioned a pick-lock, by means of which, after several trials and +alterations, at length came the welcome sound of the yielding bolts, and +Dorothy rose from the terrible chair. But so benumbed were all her limbs +that she escaped being relocked in it only by the quick interposition of +Caspar's arms. He led her about like a child, until at length she found +them sufficiently restored to adventure the journey to her chamber, and +thither she slowly crept. Few of the household were yet astir, and she +met no one. When she was covered up in bed, then first she knew how cold +she was, and felt as if she should never be warm again. + +At last she fell asleep, and slept long and soundly. Her maid went to +call her, but finding it difficult to wake her, left her asleep, and did +not return until breakfast was over. Then finding her still asleep she +became a little anxious, and meeting mistress Amanda, told her she was +afraid mistress Dorothy was ill. But mistress Amanda was herself sleepy +and cross, and gave her a sharp answer, whereupon the girl went to lady +Broughton. She, however, being on her way to morning mass, for it was +Sunday, told her to let mistress Dorothy have her sleep out. + +The noise of horses' hoofs upon the paving of the stone court roused +her, and then in came the sounds of the organ from the chapel. She rose +confounded, and hurrying to the window drew back the curtain. The same +moment lord Herbert walked from the hall into the fountain-court in +riding dress, followed by some forty or fifty officers, the noise of +whose armour and feet and voices dispelled at once the dim Sabbath +feeling that hung vapour-like about the place. They gathered around the +white horse, leaning or sitting on the marble basin, some talking in +eager groups, others folding their arms in silence, listening, or lost +heedless in their own thoughts, while their leader entered the staircase +door at the right-hand corner of the western gate, the nearest way to +his wife's apartment of the building. + +Now Dorothy had gone to sleep in perplexity, and all through her dreams +had been trying to answer the question what course she should take with +regard to the nocturnal intrusion. If she told lady Margaret she could +but go with it to the marquis, and he was but just recovering from an +attack of the gout, and ought not to be troubled except it were +absolutely necessary. Was it, or was it not, necessary? Or was there no +one else to whom she might with propriety betake herself in her +doubt--lord Charles or Dr. Bayly? But here now was lord Herbert come +back, and doubt there was none any more. She dressed herself in +tremulous haste, and hurried to lady Margaret's room, where she hoped to +see him. No one was there, and she tried the nursery, but finding only +Molly and her attendant, returned to the parlour, and there seated +herself to wait, supposing lady Margaret and he had gone together to +morning service. + +They had really gone to the oak parlour, whither the marquis generally +made his first move after an attack that had confined him to his room; +for in the large window of that parlour, occupying nearly the whole side +of it towards the moat, he generally sat when well enough to be about +and take cognizance of what was going on; and there they now found him. + +'Welcome home, Herbert!' he said, kindly, holding out his hand. 'And how +does my wild Irishwoman this morning? Crying her eyes out because her +husband is come back, eh?--But, Herbert, lad, whence is all that noise +of spurs and scabbards--and in the fountain court, too? I heard them go +clanking and clattering through the hall like a torrent of steel! Here I +sit, a poor gouty old man, deserted of my children and servants--all +gone to church--to serve a better Master--not a page or a maid left me +to send out to see and bring me word what is the occasion thereof! I was +on the point of hobbling to the door myself when you came.' + +'Being on my way to the forest of Dean, my lord, and coming round by +Raglan to inquire after you and my lady, I did bring with me some of my +officers to dine and drink your lordship's health on our way.' + +'You shall all be welcome, though I fear I shall not make one,' said the +marquis, with a grimace, for just then he had a twinge of the gout. + +'I am sorry to see you suffer, sir,' said his son. + +'Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward,' returned the +marquis, giving a kick with the leg which contained his inheritance; and +then came a pause, during which lady Margaret left the room. + +'My lord,' said Herbert at length, with embarrassment, and forcing +himself to speak, 'I am sorry to trouble you again, after all the money, +enough to build this castle from the foundations--' + +'Ah! ha!' interjected the marquis, but lord Herbert went on-- + +'which you have already spent on behalf of the king, my master, but--' + +'YOUR master, Herbert!' said the marquis, testily. 'Well?' + +'I must have some more money for his pressing necessities.' In his +self-compulsion he had stumbled upon the wrong word. + +'MUST you?' cried the marquis angrily. 'Pray take it.' + +And drawing the keys of his treasury from the pocket of his frieze coat, +he threw them down on the table before him. Lord Herbert reddened like a +girl, and looked as much abashed as if he had been caught in something +of which he was ashamed. One moment he stood thus, then said, + +'Sir, the word was out before I was aware. I do not intend to put it +into force. I pray will you put up your key again?' + +'Truly, son,' replied the marquis, still testily, but in a milder tone, +'I shall think my keys not safe in my pocket whilst you have so many +swords by your side; nor that I have the command of my house whilst you +have so many officers in it; nor that I am at my own disposal, whilst +you have so many commanders.' + +'My lord,' replied Herbert, 'I do not intend that they shall stay in the +castle; I mean they shall be gone.' + +'I pray, let them. And have care that MUST do not stay behind,' said the +marquis. 'But let them have their dinner first, lad.' + +Lord Herbert bowed, and left the room. Thereupon, in the presence of +lady Margaret, who just then re-entered, good Dr. Bayly, who, +unperceived by lord Herbert in his pre-occupation, had been present +during the interview, stepped up to the marquis and said: + +'My good lord, the honourable confidence your lordship has reposed in me +boldens me to do my duty as, in part at least, your lordship's humble +spiritual adviser.' + +'Thou shouldst want no boldening to do thy duty, doctor,' said the +marquis, making a wry face. + +'May I then beg of your lordship to consider whether you have not been +more severe with your noble son than the occasion demanded, seeing not +only was the word uttered by a lapse of the tongue, but yourself heard +my lord express much sorrow for the overslip?' + +'What!' said lady Herbert, something merrily, but looking in the face of +her father-in-law with a little anxious questioning in her eyes, 'has my +lord been falling out with my Ned?' + +'Hark ye, daughter!' answered the marquis, his face beaming with +restored good-humour, for the twinge in his toe had abated, 'and you +too, my good chaplain!--if my son be dejected, I can raise him when I +please; but it is a question, if he should once take a head, whether I +could bring him lower when I list. Ned was not wont to use such +courtship to me, and I believe he intended a better word for his father; +but MUST was for the king.' + +Returning to her own room, lady Margaret found Dorothy waiting for her. + +'Well, my little lig-a-bed!' she said sweetly, 'what is amiss with thee? +Thou lookest but soberly.' + +'I am well, madam; and that I look soberly,' said Dorothy, 'you will not +wonder when I tell you wherefore. But first, if it please you, I would +pray for my lord's presence, that he too may know all.' + +'Holy mother! what is the matter, child?' cried lady Margaret, of late +easily fluttered. 'Is it my lord Herbert you mean, or my lord of +Worcester?' + +'My lord Herbert, my lady. I dread lest he should be gone ere I have +found a time to tell him.' + +'He rides again after dinner,' said lady Margaret. + +'Then, dear my lady, if you would keep me from great doubt and disquiet, +let me have the ear of my lord for a few moments.' + +Lady Margaret rang for her page, and sent him to find his master and +request his presence in her parlour. + +Within five minutes lord Herbert was with them, and within five more, +Dorothy had ended her tale of the night, uninterrupted save by lady +Margaret's exclamations of sympathy. + +'And now, my lord, what am I to do?' she asked in conclusion. + +Lord Herbert made no answer for a few moments, but walked up and down +the room. Dorothy thought he looked angry as well as troubled. He burst +at length into a laugh, however, and said merrily, + +'I have it, ladies! I see how we may save my father much annoyance +without concealment, for nothing must be concealed from him that in any +way concerns the house. But the annoyance arising from any direct +attempt at discovering the wrongdoers would be endless, and its failure +almost certain. But now, as I would plan it, instead of trouble my +father shall have laughter, and instead of annoyance such a jest as may +make him good amends for the wrong done him by the breach of his +household laws. Caspar has explained to you all concerning the +water-works, I believe, cousin?' + +'All, my lord. I may without presumption affirm that I can, so long as +there arises no mishap, with my own hand govern them all. Caspar has for +many weeks left everything to me, save indeed the lighting of the +furnace-fire.' + +'That is as I would have it, cousin. So soon then as it is dark this +evening, you will together, you and Caspar, set the springs which lie +under the first stone of the paving of the bridge. Thereafter, as you +know, the first foot set upon it will drop the drawbridge to the stone +bridge, and the same instant convert the two into an aqueduct, filled +with a rushing torrent from the reservoir, which will sweep the +intruders away. Before they shall have either gathered their discomfited +wits or raised their prostrate bones, my father will be out upon them, +nor shall they find shelter for their shame ere every soul in the castle +has witnessed their disgrace.' + +'I had thought of the plan, my lord; but I dreaded the punishment might +be too severe, not knowing what the water might do upon them.' + +'There will be no danger to life, and little to limb,' said his +lordship. 'The torrent will cease flowing the moment they are swept from +the bridge. But they shall be both bruised and shamed; and,' added his +lordship, with an oath such as seldom crossed his lips, 'in such times +as these, they will well deserve what shall befall them. Intruding +hounds!--But you must take heed, cousin Dorothy, that you forget not +that you have yourself done. Should you have occasion to go on the +bridge after setting your vermin-trap, you must not omit to place your +feet precisely where Caspar will show you, else you will have to ride a +watery horse half-way, mayhap to the marble one--except indeed he throw +you from his back against the chapel-door.' + +When her husband talked in long sentences, as he was not unfrequently +given to do, lady Margaret, even when their sequences were not very +clear, seldom interrupted him: she had learned that she gained more by +letting him talk on; for however circuitous the route he might take, he +never forgot where he was going. He might obscure his object, but there +it always was. He was now again walking up and down the room, and, +perceiving that he had not yet arranged all to his satisfaction, she +watched him with merriment in her Irish eyes, and waited. + +'I have it!' he cried again. 'It shall be so, and my father shall thus +have immediate notice. The nights are weekly growing warmer, and he will +not therein be tempted to his hurt. Our trusty and well-beloved cousin +Dorothy, we herewith, in presence of our liege and lovely lady, appoint +thee our deputy during our absence. No one but thyself hath a right to +cross the bridge after dark, save Caspar and the governor, whom with my +father I shall inform and warn concerning what is to be done. But I will +myself adjust the escape, so that the torrent shall not fall too +powerful; Caspar must connect it with the drawbridge, whose fall will +then open it. And pray remind him to see first that all the hinges and +joints concerned be well greased, that it may fall instantly.' + +So saying, he left the room, and sought out Caspar, with whom he +contrived the ringing of a bell in the marquis's chamber by the +drawbridge in its fall, the arrangement for which Caspar was to carry +out that same evening after dark. He next sought his father, and told +him and his brother Charles the whole story; nor did he find himself +wrong in his expectation that the prospect of so good a jest would go +far to console the marquis for the annoyance of finding that his +household was not quite such a pattern one as he had supposed. That +there was anything of conspiracy or treachery involved, he did not for a +moment believe. + +After dinner, while the horses were brought out, lord Herbert went again +to his wife's room. There was little Molly waiting to bid him good-bye, +and she sat upon his knee until it was time for him to go. The child's +looks made his heart sad, and his wife could not restrain her tears when +she saw him gaze upon her so mournfully. It was with a heavy heart that, +when the moment of departure came, he rose, gave her into her mother's +arms, clasped them both in one embrace, and hurried from the room. He +ought to be a noble king for whom such men and women make such +sacrifices. + +To witness such devotion on the part of personages to whom she looked up +with such respect and confidence, would have been in itself more than +sufficient to secure for its object the unquestioning partisanship of +Dorothy; partisan already, it raised her prejudice to a degree of +worship which greatly narrowed what she took for one of the widest gulfs +separating her from the creed of her friends. The favourite dogma of the +school-master-king, the offspring of his pride and weakness, had found +fitting soil in Dorothy. When, in the natural growth of the confidence +reposed in her by her protectors, she came to have some idea of the +immensity of the sums spent by them on behalf of his son, had, indeed, +ere the close of another year read the king's own handwriting and +signature in acknowledgment of a debt of a quarter of a million, she +took it only as an additional sign--for additional proof there was no +room--of their ever admirable devotion to his divine right. That the +marquis and his son were catholics served but to glorify the right to +which a hostile faith yielded such practical homage. + +Immediately after nightfall she repaired to Caspar, and between them +everything was speedily arranged for the carrying out of lord Herbert's +counter-plot. + +But night after night passed, and the bell in the marquis's room +remained voiceless. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +MOLLY AND THE WHITE HORSE. + + +Meantime lord Herbert came and went. There was fighting here and +fighting there, castles taken, defended, re-taken, here a little success +and there a worse loss, now on this side and now on that; but still, to +say the best, the king's affairs made little progress; and for Mary +Somerset, her body and soul made progress in opposite directions. + +There was a strange pleasant mixture of sweet fretfulness and trusting +appeal in her. Children suffer less because they feel that all is right +when father or mother is with them; grown people from whom this faith +has vanished ere it has led them to its original fact, may well be +miserable in their sicknesses. + +She lay moaning one night in her crib, when suddenly she opened her eyes +and saw her mother's hand pressed to her forehead. She was imitative, +like most children, and had some very old-fashioned ways of speech. + +'Have you got a headache, madam?' she asked. + +'Yes, my Molly,' answered her mother. + +'Then you will go to mother Mary. She will take you on her knee, madam. +Mothers is for headaches. Oh me! my headache, madam!' + +The poor mother turned away. It was more than she could bear alone. +Dorothy entered the room, and she rose and left it, that she might go to +mother Mary as the child had said. + +Dorothy's cares were divided between the duties of naiad and nursemaid, +for the child clung to her as to no one else except her mother. The +thing that pleased her best was to see the two whale-like spouts rise +suddenly from the nostrils of the great white horse, curve away from +each other aloft in the air, and fall back into the basin on each side +of him. 'See horse spout,' she would say moanfully; and that instant, if +Dorothy was not present, a messenger would be despatched to her. On a +bright day this would happen repeatedly. For the sake of renewing her +delight, the instant she turned from it, satisfied for the moment, the +fountain ceased to play, and the horse remained spoutless, awaiting the +revival of the darling's desire; for she was not content to see him +spouting: she must see him spout. Then again she would be carried forth +to the verge of the marble basin, and gazing up at the rearing animal +would say, in a tone daintily wavering betwixt entreaty and command, +'Spout, horse, spout,' and Dorothy, looking down from the far-off summit +of the tower, and distinguishing by the attitude of the child the moment +when she uttered her desire, would instantly, with one turn of her hand, +send the captive water shooting down its dark channel to reascend in +sunny freedom. + +If little Mary Somerset was counted a strange child, the wisdom with +which she was wise is no more unnatural because few possess it, than the +death of such is premature because they are yet children. They are small +fruits whose ripening has outstripped their growth. Of such there are +some who, by the hot-house assiduities of their friends, heating them +with sulphurous stoves, and watering them with subacid solutions, ripen +into insufferable prigs. For them and for their families it is well that +Death the gardener should speedily remove them into the open air. But +there are others who, ripening from natural, that is divine causes and +influences, are the daintiest little men and women, gentle in the utmost +peevishness of their lassitude, generous to share the gifts they most +prize, and divinely childlike in their repentances. Their falling from +the stalk is but the passing from the arms of their mothers into those +of--God knows whom--which is more than enough. + +The chief part of little Molly's religious lessons, I do not mean +training, consisted in a prayer or two in rhyme, and a few verses of the +kind then in use among catholics. Here is a prayer which her nurse +taught her, as old, I take it, as Chaucer's time at least:-- + + Hail be thou, Mary, that high sittest in throne! + I beseech thee, sweet lady, grant me my boon-- + Jesus to love and dread, and my life to amend soon, + And bring me to that bliss that never shall be done. + +And here are some verses quite as old, which her mother taught her. I +give them believing that in understanding and coming nearer to our +fathers and mothers who are dead, we understand and come nearer to our +brothers and sisters who are alive. I change nothing but the spelling, +and a few of the forms of the words. + + Jesu, Lord, that madest me, + And with thy blessed blood hast bought, + Forgive that I have grieved thee + With word, with will, and eke with thought. + + Jesu, for thy wounds' smart, + On feet and on thine hands two, + Make me meek and low of heart, + And thee to love as I should do. + + Jesu, grant me mine asking, + Perfect patience in my disease, + And never may I do that thing + That should thee in any wise displease. + + Jesu, most comfort for to see + Of thy saints every one, + Comfort them that careful be, + And help them that be woe-begone. + + Jesu, keep them that be good, + And amend them that have grieved thee, + And send them fruits of early food, + As each man needeth in his degree. + + Jesu, that art, without lies, + Almighty God in trinity, + Cease these wars, and send us peace + With lasting love and charity. + + Jesu, that art the ghostly stone + Of all holy church in middle-earth, + Bring thy folds and flocks in one, + And rule them rightly with one herd. + + Jesu, for thy blissful blood, + Bring, if thou wilt, those souls to bliss + From whom I have had any good, + And spare that they have done amiss. + +This old-fashioned hymn lady Margaret had learned from her grandmother, +who was an Englishwoman of the pale. She also had learned it from her +grandmother. + +One day, by some accident, Dorothy had not reached her post of naiad +before Molly arrived in presence of her idol, the white horse, her usual +application to which was thence for the moment in vain. Having waited +about three seconds in perfect patience, she turned her head slowly +round, and gazed in her nurse's countenance with large questioning eyes, +but said nothing. Then she turned again to the horse. Presently a smile +broke over her face, and she cried in the tone of one who had made a +great discovery, + +'Horse has ears of stone: he cannot hear, Molly.' + +Instantly thereupon she turned her face up to the sky, and said, + +'Dear holy Mary, tell horse to spout.' + +That moment up into the sun shot the two jets. Molly clapped her little +hands with delight and cried, + +'Thanks, dear holy Mary! I knowed thou would do it for Molly. Thanks, +madam!' + +The nurse told the story to her mistress, and she to Dorothy. It set +both of them feeling, and Dorothy thinking besides. + +'It cannot be,' she thought, 'but that a child's prayer will reach its +goal, even should she turn her face to the west or the north instead of +up to the heavens! A prayer somewhat differs from a bolt or a bullet.' + +'How you protestants CAN live without a woman to pray to!' said lady +Margaret. + +'Her son Jesus never refused to hear a woman, and I see not wherefore I +should go to his mother, madam,' said Dorothy, bravely. + +'Thou and I will not quarrel, Dorothy,' returned lady Margaret sweetly; +'for sure am I that would please neither the one nor the other of them.' + +Dorothy kissed her hand, and the subject dropped. + +After that, Molly never asked the horse to spout, or if she happened to +do so, would correct herself instantly, and turn her request to the +mother Mary. Nor did the horse ever fail to spout, notwithstanding an +evil thought which arose in the protestant part of Dorothy's mind--the +temptation, namely, to try the effect upon Molly of a second failure. +All the rest of her being on the instant turned so violently protestant +against the suggestion, that no parley with it was possible, and the +conscience of her intellect cowered before the conscience of her heart. + +It was from this fancy of the child's for the spouting of the horse that +it came to be known in the castle that mistress Dorothy was ruler of +Raglan waters. In lord Herbert's absence not a person in the place but +she and Caspar understood their management, and except lady Margaret, +the marquis, and lord Charles, no one besides even knew of the existence +of such a contrivance as the water-shoot or artificial cataract. + +Every night Dorothy and Caspar together set the springs of it, and every +morning Caspar detached the lever connecting the stone with the +drawbridge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE DAMSEL WHICH FELL SICK. + + +From within the great fortress, like the rough husk whence the green +lobe of a living tree was about to break forth, a lovely child-soul, +that knew neither of war nor ambition, knew indeed almost nothing save +love and pain, was gently rising as from the tomb. The bonds of the +earthly life that had for ever conferred upon it the rights and +privileges of humanity were giving way, and little, white-faced, +big-eyed Molly was leaving father and mother and grandfather and +spouting horse and all, to find--what?--To find what she wanted, and +wait a little for what she loved. + +One sultry evening in the second week of June, the weather had again got +inside the inhabitants of the castle, forming different combinations +according to the local atmosphere it found in each. Clouds had been +slowly steaming up all day from several sides of the horizon, and as the +sun went down, they met in the zenith. Not a wing seemed to be abroad +under heaven, so still was the region of storms. The air was hot and +heavy and hard to breathe--whether from lack of life, or too much of it, +oppressing the narrow and weak recipients thereof, as the sun oppresses +and extinguishes earthly fires, I at least cannot say. It was weather +that made SOME dogs bite their masters, made most of the maids +quarrelsome, and all the men but one or two more or less sullen, made +Dorothy sad, Molly long after she knew not what, her mother weep, her +grandfather feel himself growing old, and the hearts of all the lovers, +within and without the castle, throb for the comfort of each other's +lonely society. The fish lay still in the ponds, the pigeons sat +motionless on the roof-ridges, and the fountains did not play; for +Dorothy's heart was so heavy about Molly, that she had forgotten them. + +The marquis, fond of all his grandchildren, had never taken special +notice of Molly beyond what she naturally claimed as youngest. But when +it appeared that she was one of the spring-flowers of the human family, +so soon withdrawing thither whence they come, he found that she began to +pull at his heart, not merely with the attraction betwixt childhood and +age, in which there is more than the poets have yet sung, but with the +dearness which the growing shadow of death gives to all upon whom it +gathers. The eyes of the child seemed to nestle into his bosom. Every +morning he paid her a visit, and every morning it was clear that little +Molly's big heart had been waiting for him. The young as well as the old +recognize that they belong to each other, despite the unwelcome +intervention of wrinkles and baldness and toothlessness. Molly's eyes +brightened when she heard his steps at the door, and ere he had come +within her sight, where she lay half-dressed on her mother's bed, tented +in its tall carved posts and curtains of embroidered silk, the figures +on which gave her so much trouble all the half-delirious night long, her +arms would be stretched out to him, and the words would be trembling on +her lips, 'Prithee, tell me a tale, sir.' + +'Which tale wouldst thou have, my Molly?' the grandsire would say: it +was the regular form of each day's fresh salutation; and the little one +would answer, 'Of the good Jesu,' generally adding, 'and of the damsel +which fell sick and died.' + +Torn as the country was, all the good grandparents, catholic and +protestant, royalist and puritan, told their children the same tales +about the same man; and I suspect there was more then than there is now +of that kind of oral teaching, for which any amount of books written for +children is a sadly poor substitute. + +Although Molly asked oftenest for the tale of the damsel who came alive +again at the word of the man who knew all about death, she did not limit +her desires to the repetition of what she knew already; and in order to +keep his treasure supplied with things new as well as old, the marquis +went the oftener to his Latin bible to refresh his memory for Molly's +use, and was in both ways, in receiving and in giving, a gainer. When +the old man came thus to pour out his wealth to the child, lady Margaret +then first became aware what a depth both of religious knowledge and +feeling there was in her father-in-law. Neither sir Toby Mathews, nor +Dr. Bayly, who also visited her at times, ever, with the torch of their +talk, lighted the lamps behind those great eyes, whose glass was growing +dull with the vapours from the grave; but her grandfather's voice, the +moment he began to speak to her of the good Jesu, brought her soul to +its windows. + +This sultry evening Molly was restless. 'Madam! madam!' she kept calling +to her mother--for, like so many of such children, her manners and modes +of speech resembled those of grown people, 'What wouldst thou, chicken?' +her mother would ask. 'Madam, I know not,' the child would answer. +Twenty times in an hour, as the evening went on, almost the same words +would pass between them. At length, once more, 'Madam! madam!' cried the +child. 'What would my heart's treasure?' said the mother; and Molly +answered, 'Madam, I would see the white horse spout.' + +With a glance and sign to her mistress. Dorothy rose and crept from the +room, crossed the court and the moat, and dragged her heavy heart up the +long stair to the top of the keep. Arrived there, she looked down +through a battlement, and fixed her eyes on a certain window, whence +presently she caught the wave of a signal-handkerchief. + +At the open window stood lady Margaret with Molly in her arms. The night +was so warm that the child could take no hurt; and indeed what could +hurt her, with the nameless fever-moth within, fretting a passage for +the new winged body which, in the pains of a second birth, struggled to +break from its dying chrysalis. + +'Now, Molly, tell the horse to spout,' said lady Margaret, with such +well-simulated cheerfulness as only mothers can put on with hearts ready +to break. + +'Mother Mary, tell the horse to spout,' said Molly; and up went the +watery parabolas. + +The old flame of delight flushed the child's cheek, like the flush in +the heart of a white rose. But it died almost instantly, and murmuring, +'Thanks, good madam!' whether to mother Mary or mother Margaret little +mattered, Molly turned towards the bed, and her mother knew at her heart +that the child sought her last sleep--as we call it, God forgive us our +little faith! 'Madam!' panted the child, as she laid her down. +'Darling?' said the mother. 'Madam, I would see my lord marquis.' 'I +will send and ask him to come.' 'Let Robert say that Molly is +going--going--where is Molly going, madam?' 'Going to mother Mary, +child,' answered lady Margaret, choking back the sobs that would have +kept the tears company. 'And the good Jesu?' 'Yes.'--'And the good God +over all?' 'Yes, yes.' 'I want to tell my lord marquis. Pray, madam, let +him come, and quickly.' + +His lordship entered, pale and panting. He knew the end was approaching. +Molly stretched out to him one hand instead of two, as if her hold upon +earth were half yielded. He sat down by the bedside, and wiped his +forehead with a sigh. + +'Thee tired too, marquis?' asked the odd little love-bird. + +'Yes, I am tired, my Molly. Thou seest I am so fat.' + +'Shall I ask the good mother, when I go to her, to make thee spare like +Molly?' + +'No, Molly, thou need'st not trouble her about that. Ask her to make me +good.' + +'Would it then be easier to make thee good than to make thee spare, +marquis?' + +'No, child--much harder, alas!' + +'Then why--?' began Molly; but the marquis perceiving her thought, made +haste to prevent it, for her breath was coming quick and weak. + +'But it is so much better worth doing, you see. If she makes me good, +she will have another in heaven to be good to.' + +'Then I know she will. But I will ask her. Mother Mary has so many to +mind, she might be forgetting.' + +After this she lay very quiet with her hand in his. All the windows of +the room were open, and from the chapel came the mellow sounds of the +organ. Delaware had captured Tom Fool and got him to blow the bellows, +and through the heavy air the music surged in. Molly was dozing a +little, and she spoke as one that speaks in a dream. + +'The white horse is spouting music,' she said. 'Look! See how it goes up +to mother Mary. She twists it round her distaff and spins it with her +spindle. See, marquis, see! Spout, horse, spout.' + +She lay silent again for a long time. The old man sat holding her hand; +her mother sat on the farther side of the bed, leaning against one of +the foot-posts, and watching the white face of her darling with eyes in +which love ruled distraction. Dorothy sat in one of the window-seats, +and listened to the music, which still came surging in, for still the +fool blew the bellows, and the blind youth struck the keys. And still +the clouds gathered overhead and sunk towards the earth; and still the +horse, which Dorothy had left spouting, threw up his twin-fountain, +whose musical plash in the basin as it fell mingled with the sounds of +the organ. + +'What is it?' said Molly, waking up. 'My head doth not ache, and my +heart doth not beat, and I am not affrighted. What is it? I am not +tired. Marquis, are you no longer tired? Ah, now I know! He cometh! He +is here!--Marquis, the good Jesu wants Molly's hand. Let him have it, +marquis. He is lifting me up. I am quite well--quite--' + +The sentence remained broken. The hand which the marquis had yielded, +with the awe of one in bodily presence of the Holy, and which he saw +raised as if in the grasp of one invisible, fell back on the bed, and +little Molly was quite well. + +But she left sick hearts behind. The mother threw herself on the bed, +and wailed aloud. The marquis burst into tears, left the room, and +sought his study. Mechanically he took his Confessio Amantis, and sat +down, but never opened it; rose again and took his Shakespere, opened +it, but could not read; rose once more, took his Vulgate, and read: + +'Quid turbamini, et ploratis? puella non est mortua, sed dormit.' + +He laid that book also down, fell on his knees, and prayed for her who +was not dead but sleeping. + +Dorothy, filled with awe, rather from the presence of the mother of the +dead than death itself, and feeling that the mother would rather be +alone with her dead, also left the room, and sought her chamber, where +she threw herself upon the bed. All was still save the plashing of the +fountain, for the music from the chapel had ceased. + +The storm burst in a glare and a peal. The rain fell in straight lines +and huge drops, which came faster and faster, drowning the noise of the +fountain, till the sound of it on the many roofs of the place was like +the trampling of an army of horsemen, and every spout was gurgling +musically with full throat. The one court was filled with a clashing +upon its pavement, and the other with a soft singing upon its grass, +with which mingled a sound as of little castanets from the broad leaves +of the water-lilies in the moat. Ever and anon came the lightning, and +the great bass of the thunder to fill up the psalm. + +At the first thunderclap lady Margaret fell on her knees and prayed in +an agony for the little soul that had gone forth into the midst of the +storm. Like many women she had a horror of lightning and thunder, and it +never came into her mind that she who had so loved to see the horse +spout was far more likely to be revelling in the elemental tumult, with +all the added ecstasy of new-born freedom and health, than to be +trembling like her mortal mother below. + +Dorothy was not afraid, but she was heavy and weary; the thunder seemed +to stun her and the lightning to take the power of motion from the shut +eyelids through which it shone. She lay without moving, and at length +fell fast asleep. + +To the marquis alone of the mourners the storm came as a relief to his +overcharged spirit. He had again opened his New Testament, and tried to +read; but if the truths which alone can comfort are not at such a time +present to the spirit, the words that embody them will seldom be of much +avail. When the thunder burst he closed the book and went to the window, +flung it wide, and looked out into the court. Like a tide from the +plains of innocent heaven through the sultry passionate air of the +world, came the coolness to his brow and heart. Oxygen, ozone, nitrogen, +water, carbonic acid, is it? Doubtless--and other things, perhaps, which +chemistry cannot detect. Nevertheless, give its parts what names you +will, its whole is yet the wind of the living God to the bodies of men, +his spirit to their spirits, his breath to their hearts. When I learn +that there is no primal intent--only chance--in the unspeakable joy that +it gives, I shall cease to believe in poetry, in music, in woman, in +God. Nay, I must have already ceased to believe in God ere I could +believe that the wind that bloweth where it listeth is free because God +hath forgotten it, and that it bears from him no message to me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE CATARACT. + + +In the midst of a great psalm, on the geyser column of which his spirit +was borne heavenward, young Delaware all of a sudden found the keys dumb +beneath his helpless fingers: the bellows was empty, the singing thing +dead. He called aloud, and his voice echoed through the empty chapel, +but no living response came back. Tom Fool had grown weary and forsaken +him. Disappointed and baffled, he rose and left the chapel, not +immediately from the organ loft, by a door and a few upward steps +through the wall to the minstrels' gallery, as he had entered, but by +the south door into the court, his readiest way to reach the rooms he +occupied with his father, near the marquis's study. Hardly another door +in either court was ever made fast except this one, which, merely in +self-administered flattery of his own consequence, the conceited +sacristan who assumed charge of the key, always locked at night. But +there was no reason why Delaware should pay any respect to this, or +hesitate to remove the bar securing one-half of the door, without which +the lock retained no hold. + +Although Tom had indeed deserted his post, the organist was mistaken as +to the cause and mode of his desertion: oppressed like every one else +with the sultriness of the night, he had fallen fast asleep, leaning +against the organ. The thunder only waked him sufficiently to render him +capable of slipping from the stool on which he had lazily seated himself +as he worked the lever of the bellows, and stretching himself at full +length upon the floor; while the coolness that by degrees filled the air +as the rain kept pouring, made his sleep sweeter and deeper. He lay and +snored till midnight. + +A bell rang in the marquis's chamber. + +It was one of his lordship's smaller economic maxims that in every +house, and the larger the house the more necessary its observance, the +master thereof should have his private rooms as far apart from each +other as might, with due respect to general fitness, be arranged for, in +order that, to use his own figure, he might spread his skirts the wider +over the place, and chiefly the part occupied by his own family and +immediate attendants--thereby to give himself, without paying more +attention to such matters than he could afford, a better chance of +coming upon the trace of anything that happened to be going amiss. +'For,' he said, 'let a man have ever so many responsible persons about +him, the final responsibility of his affairs yet returns upon himself.' +Hence, while his bedroom was close to the main entrance, that is the +gate to the stone court, the room he chose for retirement and study was +over the western gate, that of the fountain-court, nearly a whole side +of the double quadrangle away from his bedroom, and still farther from +the library, which was on the other side of the main entrance--whence, +notwithstanding, he would himself, gout permitting, always fetch any +book he wanted. It was, therefore, no wonder that, being now in his +study, the marquis, although it rang loud, never heard the bell which +Caspar had hung in his bedchamber. He was, however, at the moment, +looking from a window which commanded the very spot--namely, the mouth +of the archway--towards which the bell would have drawn his attention. + +The night was still, the rain was over, and although the moon was +clouded, there was light enough to recognise a known figure in any part +of the court, except the shadowed recess where the door of the chapel +and the archway faced each other, and the door of the hall stood at +right angles to both. + +Came a great clang that echoed loud through the court, followed by the +roar of water. It sounded as if a captive river had broken loose, and +grown suddenly frantic with freedom. The marquis could not help starting +violently, for his nerves were a good deal shaken. The same instant, ere +there was time for a single conjecture, a torrent, visible by the light +of its foam, shot from the archway, hurled itself against the chapel +door, and vanished. Sad and startled as he was, lord Worcester, +requiring no explanation of the phenomenon now that it was completed, +laughed aloud and hurried from the room. + +When he had screwed his unwieldy form to the bottom of the stair, and +came out into the court, there was Tom Fool flying across the turf in +mortal terror, his face white as another moon, and his hair standing on +end--visibly in the dull moonshine. + +His terror had either deafened him, or paralysed the nerves of his +obedience, for the first call of his master was insufficient to stop +him. At the second, however, he halted, turned mechanically, went to him +trembling, and stood before him speechless. But when the marquis, to +satisfy himself that he was really as dry as he seemed, laid his hand on +his arm, the touch brought him to himself, and, assisted by his master's +questions, he was able to tell how he had fallen asleep in the chapel, +had waked but a minute ago, had left it by the minstrels' gallery, had +reached the floor of the hall, and was approaching the western door, +which was open, in order to cross the court to his lodging near the +watch-tower, when a hellish explosion, followed by the most frightful +roaring, mingled with shrieks and demoniacal laughter, arrested him; and +the same instant, through the open door, he saw, as plainly as he now +saw his noble master, a torrent rush from the archway, full of dim +figures, wallowing and shouting. The same moment they all vanished, and +the flood poured into the hall, wetting him to the knees, and almost +carrying him off his legs. + +Here the marquis professed profound astonishment, remarking that the +water must indeed have been thickened with devils to be able to lay hold +of Tom's legs. + +'Then,' pursued Tom, reviving a little, 'I summoned up all my courage--' + +'No great feat,' said the marquis. + +But Tom went on unabashed. + +'I summoned up the whole of my courage,' he repeated, 'stepped out of +the hall, carefully examined the ground, looked through the archway, saw +nothing, and was walking slowly across the court to my lodging, +pondering with myself whether to call my lord governor or sir Toby +Mathews, when I heard your lordship call me.' + +'Tom! Tom! thou liest,' said the marquis. 'Thou wast running as if all +the devils in hell had been at thy heels.' + +Tom turned deadly pale, a fresh access of terror overcoming his new-born +hardihood. + +'Who were they, thinkest thou, whom thou sawest in the water, Tom?' +resumed his master. 'For what didst thou take them?' + +Tom shook his head with an awful significance, looked behind him, and +said nothing. + +Perceiving there was no more to be got out of him, the marquis sent him +to bed. He went off shivering and shaking. Three times ere he reached +the watch-tower his face gleamed white over his shoulder as he went. The +next day he did not appear. He thought himself he was doomed, but his +illness was only the prostration following upon terror. + +In the version of the story which he gave his fellow-servants, he +doubtless mingled the after visions of his bed with what he had when +half-awake seen and heard through the mists of his startled imagination. +His tale was this--that he saw the moat swell and rise, boil over in a +mass, and tumble into the court as full of devils as it could hold, +swimming in it, floating on it, riding it aloft as if it had been a +horse; that in a moment they had all vanished again, and that he had not +a doubt the castle was now swarming with them--in fact, he had heard +them all the night long. + +The marquis walked up to the archway, saw nothing save the grim wall of +the keep, impassive as granite crag, and the ground wet a long way +towards the white horse; and never doubting he had lost his chance by +taking Tom for the culprit, contented himself with the reflection that, +whoever the night-walkers were, they had received both a fright and a +ducking, and betook himself to bed, where, falling asleep at length, he +saw little Molly in the arms of mother Mary, who, presently changing to +his own lady Anne that left him about a year before little Molly came, +held out a hand to him to help him up beside them, whereupon the bubble +sleep, unable to hold the swelling of his gladness, burst, and he woke +just as the first rays of the sun smote the gilded cock on the +bell-tower. + +The noise of the falling drawbridge and the out-rushing water had roused +Dorothy also, with most of the lighter sleepers in the castle; but when +she and all the rest whose windows were to the fountain court, ran to +them and looked out, they saw nothing but the flight of Tom Fool across +the turf, its arrest by his master, and their following conference. The +moon had broken through the clouds, and there was no mistaking either of +their persons. + +Meantime, inside the chapel door stood Amanda and Rowland, both +dripping, and one of them crying as well. Thither, as into a safe +harbour, the sudden flood had cast them; and it indicated no small +amount of ready faculty in Scudamore that, half-stunned as he was, he +yet had the sense, almost ere he knew where he was, to put up the long +bar that secured the door. + +All the time that the marquis was drawing his story from Tom, they stood +trembling, in great bewilderment yet very sensible misery, bruised, +drenched, and horribly frightened, more even at what might be than by +what had been. There was only one question, but that was hard to answer: +what were they to do next? Amanda could contribute nothing towards its +solution, for tears and reproaches resolve no enigmas. There were many +ways of issue, whereof Rowland knew several; but their watery trail, if +soon enough followed, would be their ruin as certainly as +Hop-o'-my-Thumb's pebbles were safety to himself and his brothers. He +stood therefore the very bond slave of perplexity, 'and, like a neutral +to his will and matter, did nothing.' + +Presently they heard the approaching step of the marquis, which every +one in the castle knew. It stopped within a few feet of them, and +through the thick door they could hear his short asthmatic breathing. + +They kept as still as their trembling, and the mad beating of their +hearts, would permit. Amanda was nearly out of her senses, and thought +her heart was beating against the door, and not against her own ribs. +But the marquis never thought of the chapel, having at once concluded +that they had fled through the open hall. Had he not, however, been so +weary and sad and listless, he would probably have found them, for he +would at least have crossed the hall to look into the next court, and, +the moon now shining brightly, the absence of all track on the floor +where the traces of the brief inundation ceased, would have surely +indicated the direction in which they had sought refuge. + +The acme of terror happily endured but a moment. The sound of his +departing footsteps took the ghoul from their hearts; they began to +breathe, and to hope that the danger was gone. But they waited long ere +at last they ventured, like wild animals overtaken by the daylight, to +creep out of their shelter and steal back like shadows--but separately, +Amanda first, and Scudamore some slow minutes after--to their different +quarters. The tracks they could not help leaving in-doors were dried up +before the morning. + +Rowland had greater reason to fear discovery than any one else in the +castle, save one, would in like circumstances have had, and that one was +his bedfellow in the ante-chamber to his master's bedroom. Through this +room his lordship had to pass to reach his own; but so far was he from +suspecting Rowland, or indeed any gentleman of his retinue, that he +never glanced in the direction of his bed, and so could not discover +that he was absent from it. Had Rowland but caught a glimpse of his own +figure as he sneaked into that room five minutes after the marquis had +passed through it, believing his master was still in his study, where he +had left his candles burning, he could hardly for some time have had his +usual success in regarding himself as a fine gentleman. + +Amanda Serafina did not show herself for several days. A bad cold in her +head luckily afforded sufficient pretext for the concealment of a bad +bruise upon her cheek. Other bruises she had also, but they, although +more severe, were of less consequence. + +For a whole fortnight the lovers never dared exchange a word. + +In the morning the marquis was in no mood to set any inquiry on foot. +His little lamb had vanished from his fold, and he was sad and lonely. +Had it been otherwise, possibly the shabby doublet in which Scudamore +stood behind his chair the next morning, might have set him thinking; +but as it was, it fell in so well with the gloom in which his own spirit +shrouded everything, that he never even marked the change, and ere long +Rowland began to feel himself safe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +AMANDA--DOROTHY--LORD HERBERT. + + +So also did Amanda; but not the less did she cherish feelings of revenge +against her whom she more than suspected of having been the contriver of +her harmful discomfiture. She felt certain that Dorothy had laid the +snare into which they had fallen, with the hope if not the certainty of +catching just themselves two in it, and she read in her, therefore, +jealousy and cruelty as well as coldness and treachery. Rowland on the +other hand was inclined to attribute the mishap to the displeasure of +lord Herbert, whose supernatural acquirements, he thought, had enabled +him both to discover and punish their intrusion. Amanda, nevertheless, +kept her own opinion, and made herself henceforth all eyes and ears for +Dorothy, hoping ever to find a chance of retaliating, if not in kind yet +in plentiful measure of vengeance. Dorothy's odd ways, lawless +movements, and what the rest of the ladies counted her vulgar tastes, +had for some time been the subject of remark to the gossiping portion of +the castle community; and it seemed to Amanda that in watching and +discovering what she was about when she supposed herself safe from the +eyes of her equals and superiors, lay her best chance of finding a mode +of requital. Nor was she satisfied with observation, but kept her mind +busy on the trail, now of one, now of another vague-bodied revenge. + +The charge of low tastes was founded upon the fact that there was not an +artisan about the castle, from Caspar downwards, whom Dorothy did not +know and address by his name; but her detractors, in drawing their +conclusions from it, never thought of finding any related significance +in another fact, namely, that there was not a single animal either, of +consequence enough to have a name, which did not know by it. There were +very few of the animals indeed which did not know her in return, if not +by her name, yet by her voice or her presence--some of them even by her +foot or her hand. She would wander about the farmyard and stables for an +hour at a time, visiting all that were there, and specially her little +horse, which she had long, oh, so long ago! named Dick, nor had taken +his name from him any more than from Marquis. + +The charge of lawlessness in her movements was founded on another fact +as well, namely, that she was often seen in the court after dusk, and +that not merely in running across to the keep, as she would be doing at +all hours, but loitering about, in full view of the windows. It was not +denied that this took place only when the organ was playing--but then +who played the organ? Was not the poor afflicted boy, barring the blank +of his eyes, beautiful as an angel? And was not mistress Dorothy too +deep to be fathomed? And so the tattling streams flowed on, and the ears +of mistress Amanda willingly listened to their music, nor did she +disdain herself to contribute to the reservoir in which those of the +castle whose souls thirsted after the minutiae of live biography, +accumulated their stores of fact and fiction, conjecture and falsehood. + +Lord Herbert came home to bury his little one, and all that was left +behind of her was borne to the church of St. Cadocus, the parish church +of Raglan, and there laid beside the marquis's father and mother. He +remained with them a fortnight, and his presence was much needed to +lighten the heavy gloom that had settled over both his wife and his +father. + +As if it were not enough to bury the bodies of the departed, there are +many, and the marquis and his daughter-in-law were of the number, who in +a sense seek to bury their souls as well, making a graveyard of their +own spirits, and laying the stone of silence over the memory of the +dead. Such never speak of them but when compelled, and then almost as if +to utter their names were an act of impiety. Not In Memoriam but In +Oblivionem should be the inscription upon the tombs they raise. The +memory that forsakes the sunlight, like the fishes in the underground +river, loses its eyes; the cloud of its grief carries no rainbow; behind +the veil of its twin-future burns no lamp fringing its edges with the +light of hope. I can better, however, understand the hopelessness of the +hopeless than their calmness along with it. Surely they must be upheld +by the presence within them of that very immortality, against whose +aurora they shut to their doors, then mourn as if there were no such +thing. + +Radiant as she was by nature, lady Margaret, when sorrow came, could do +little towards her own support. The marquis said to himself, 'I am +growing old, and cannot smile at grief so well as once on a day. Sorrow +is a hawk more fell than I had thought.' The name of little Molly was +never mentioned between them. But sudden floods of tears were the signs +of the mother's remembrance; and the outbreak of ambushed sighs, which +he would make haste to attribute to the gout, the signs of the +grandfather's. + +Dorothy, too, belonged in tendency to the class of the unspeaking. Her +nature was not a bright one. Her spirit's day was evenly, softly lucent, +like one of those clouded calm grey mornings of summer, which seem more +likely to end in rain than sunshine. + +Lord Herbert was of a very different temperament. He had hope enough in +his one single nature to serve the whole castle, if only it could have +been shared. The veil between him and the future glowed as if on fire +with mere radiance, and about to vanish in flame. It was not that he +more than one of the rest imagined he could see through it. For him it +was enough that beyond it lay the luminous. His eyes, to those that +looked on him, were lighted with its reflex. + +Such as he, are, by those who love them not, misjudged as shallow. Depth +to some is indicated by gloom, and affection by a persistent +brooding--as if there were no homage to the past of love save sighs and +tears. When they meet a man whose eyes shine, whose step is light, on +whose lips hovers a smile, they shake their heads and say, 'There goes +one who has never loved, and who therefore knows not sorrow.' And the +man is one of those over whom death has no power; whom time nor space +can part from those he loves; who lives in the future more than in the +past! Has not his being ever been for the sake of that which was yet to +come? Is not his being now for the sake of that which it shall be? Has +he not infinitely more to do with the great future than the little past? +The Past has descended into hell, is even now ascending glorified, and +will, in returning cycle, ever and again greet our faith as the more and +yet more radiant Future. + +But even lord Herbert had his moments of sad longing after his dainty +Molly. Such moments, however, came to him, not when he was at home with +his wife, but when he rode alone by his troops on a night march, or +when, upon the eve of an expected battle, he sought sleep that he might +fight the better on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE GREAT MOGUL. + + +One evening, Tom Fool, and a groom, his particular friend, were taking +their pastime after a somewhat selfish fashion, by no means newly +discovered in the castle--that of teasing the wild beasts. There was one +in particular, a panther, which, in a special dislike to grimaces, had +discovered a special capacity for being teased. Betwixt two of the bars +of his cage, therefore, Tom was busy presenting him with one hideous +puritanical face after another, in full expectation of a satisfactory +outburst of feline rancour. But to their disappointment, the panther on +this occasion seemed to have resolved upon a dignified resistance to +temptation, and had withdrawn in sultry displeasure to the back of his +cage, where he lay sideways, deigning to turn neither his back nor his +face towards the inferior animal, at whom to cast but one glance, he +knew, would be to ruin his grand Oriental sulks, and fly at the hideous +ape-visage insulting him in his prison. It was tiresome of the brute. +Tom Fool grew more daring and threw little stones at him, but the +panther seemed only to grow the more imperturbable, and to heed his +missiles as little as his grimaces. + +At length, proceeding from bad to worse, as is always the way with +fools, born or made, Tom betook himself to stronger measures. + +The cages of the wild beasts were in the basement of the kitchen tower, +with a little semicircular yard of their own before them. They were +solid stone vaults, with open fronts grated with huge iron bars--our +ancestors, whatever were their faults, did not err in the direction of +flimsiness. Between two of these bars, then, Tom, having procured a long +pole, proceeded to poke at the beast; but he soon found that the pole +thickened too rapidly towards the end he held, to pass through the bars +far enough to reach him. Thereupon, in utter fool-hardiness, backed by +the groom, he undid the door a little way, and, his companion +undertaking to prevent it from opening too far, pushed in the pole till +it went right in the creature's face. One hideous yell--and neither of +them knew what was occurring till they saw the tail of the panther +disappearing over the six-foot wall that separated the cages from the +stableyard. Tom fled at once for the stair leading up to the +stone-court, while the groom, whose training had given him a better +courage, now supplemented by the horror of possible consequences, ran to +warn the stablemen and get help to recapture the animal. + +The uproariest tumult of maddest barking which immediately arose from +the chained dogs, entered the ears of all in the castle, at least every +one possessed of dog-sympathies, and penetrated even those of the rather +deaf host of the White Horse in Raglan village. Dorothy, sitting in her +room, of course, heard it, and hearing it, equally of course, hurried to +see what was the matter. The marquis heard it where he sat in his study, +but was in no such young haste as Dorothy: it was only after a little, +when he found the noise increase, and certain other sounds mingle with +it, that he rose in some anxiety and went to discover the cause. + +Halfway across the stone court, Dorothy met Tom running, and the moment +she saw his face, knew that something serious had happened. + +'Get indoors, mistress,' he said, almost rudely, 'the devil is to pay +down in the yard.' and ran on. 'Shut your door, master cook,' she heard +him cry as he ran. 'The Great Mogul is out.' + +And as she ran too, she heard the door of the kitchen close with a great +bang. + +But Dorothy was not running after the fool, or making for any door but +that at the bottom of the library tower; for the first terror that +crossed her mind was the possible fate of Dick, and the first comfort +that followed, the thought of Marquis; so she was running straight for +the stable-yard, where the dogs, to judge by the way they tore their +throats with barking, seemed frantic with rage. + +No doubt the panther, when he cleared the wall, hoped exultant to find +himself in the savage forest, instead of which he came down on the top +of a pump, fell on the stones, and the same instant was caught in a +hurricane of canine hate. A little hurt and a good deal frightened, for +he had not endured such long captivity without debasement, he glared +around him with sneaking enquiry. But the walls were lofty and he saw no +gate, and feeling unequal at the moment to the necessary spring, he +crept almost like a snake under what covert seemed readiest, and +disappeared--just as the groom entering by a door in one of the walls +began to look about for him in a style wherein caution predominated. +Seeing no trace of him, and concluding that, as he had expected, the +clamour of the dogs had driven him further, he went on, crossing the +yard to find the men, whose voices he heard on the green at the back of +the rick-yard, when suddenly he found that his arm was both broken and +torn. The sight of the blood completed the mischief, and he fell down in +a swoon. + +Meantime Dorothy had reached the same door in the wall of the +stableyard, and peeping in saw nothing but the dogs raging and RUGGING +at their chains as if they would drag the earth itself after them to +reach the enemy. She was one of those on whose wits, usually sedate in +their motions, all sorts of excitement, danger amongst the rest, operate +favourably. When she specially noticed the fury of Marquis, the same +moment she perceived the danger in which he, that was, all the dogs, +would be, if the panther should attack them one by one on the chain; not +one of them had a chance. With the thought, she sped across the space +between her and Marquis, who--I really cannot say WHICH concerning such +a dog--was fortunately not very far from the door. Feeling him a little +safer now that she stood by his side, she resumed her ocular search for +the panther, or any further sign of his proximity, but with one hand on +the dog's collar, ready in an instant to seize it with both, and unclasp +it. + +Nor had she to look long, for all the dogs were straining their chains +in one direction, and all their lines converged upon a little dark shed, +where stood a cart: under the cart, between its lower shafts, she caught +a doubtful luminousness, as if the dark while yet dark had begun to +throb with coming light. This presently seemed to resolve itself, and +she saw, vaguely but with conviction, two huge lamping cat-eyes. I will +not say she felt no fear, but she was not terrified, for she had great +confidence in Marquis. One moment she stood bethinking herself, and one +glance she threw at the spot where her mastiff's chain was attached to +his collar: she would fain have had him keep the latter to defend his +neck and throat: but alas! it was as she knew well enough before--the +one was riveted to the other, and the two must go together. + +And now first, as she raised her head from the momentary inspection, she +saw the groom lying on the ground within a few yards of the shed. Her +first thought was that the panther had killed him, but ere a second had +time to rise in her mind, she saw the terrible animal creeping out from +under the cart, with his chin on the ground, like the great cat he was, +and making for the man. + +The brute had got the better of his fall, and finding he was not +pursued, the barking of the dogs, to which in moderation he was +sufficiently accustomed, had ceased to confuse him, he had recovered his +awful self, and was now scenting prey. Had the man made a single +movement he would have been upon him like lightning; but the few moments +he took in creeping towards him, gave Dorothy all the time she needed. +With resolute, though trembling hands, she undid Marquis's collar. + +The instant he was free, the fine animal went at the panther straight +and fast like a bolt from a cross-bow. But Dorothy loved him too well to +lose a moment in sending even a glance after him. Leaving him to his +work, she flew to hers, which lay at the next kennel, that of an Irish +wolf-hound, whose curling lip showed his long teeth to the very root, +and whose fury had redoubled at the sight of his rival shooting past him +free for the fight. So wildly did he strain upon his collar, that she +found it took all her strength to unclasp it. In a much shorter time, +however, than she fancied, O'Brien too was on the panther, and the +sounds of cano-feline battle seemed to fill every cranny of her brain. + +But now she heard the welcome cries of men and clatter of weapons. Some, +alarmed by Tom Fool, came rushing from the guard-rooms down the stair, +and others, chiefly farm-servants and grooms, who had heard the +frightful news from two that were in the yard when the panther bounded +over the wall, were approaching from the opposite side, armed with +scythes and pitchforks, the former more dangerous to their bearers than +to the beast. + +Dorothy, into whom, girl as she was, either Bellona or Diana, or both, +had entered, was now thoroughly excited by the conflict she ruled, +although she had not wasted a moment in watching it. Having just undone +the collar of the fourth dog, she was hounding him on with a cry, little +needed, as she flew to let go the fifth, a small bull-terrier, mad with +rage and jealousy, when the crowd swept between her and her game. The +beast was captured, and the dogs taken off him, ere the terrier had had +a taste or Dorothy a glimpse of the battle. + +As the men with cart-ropes dragged the panther away, terribly torn by +the teeth of the dogs, and Tom Fool was following them, with his hands +in his pockets, looking sheepish because of the share he had had in +letting him loose, and the share he had not had in securing him again, +Dorothy was looking about for her friend Marquis. All at once he came +bounding up to her, and, exultant in the sense of accomplished duty, +leaped up against her, at once turning her into a sanguineous object +frightful to behold; for his wounds were bad, although none of them were +serious except one in his throat. This upon examination she found so +severe that to replace his collar was out of the question. Telling him +therefore to follow her, in the confidence that she might now ask for +him what she would, she left the yard, went up the stair, and was +crossing the stone court with the trusty fellow behind her, making a red +track all the way, when out of the hall came the marquis, looking a +little frightened. He started when he saw her, and turned pale, but +perceiving instantly from her look that, notwithstanding the condition +of her garments, she was unhurt, he cast a glance at her now rather +disreputable-looking attendant, and said, + +'I told you so, mistress Dorothy! Now I understand! It is that precious +mastiff of yours, and no panther of mine, that has been making this +uproar in my quiet house! Nay, but he looks evil enough for any devil's +work! Prithee keep him off me.' + +He drew back, for the dog, not liking the tone in which he addressed his +mistress, had taken a step nearer to him. + +'My lord,' said Dorothy, as she laid hold of the animal, for the first +and only time in her life a little inclined to be angry with her +benefactor, 'you do my poor Marquis wrong. At the risk of his own life +he has just saved your lordship's groom, Shafto, from being torn in +pieces by the Great Mogul.' + +While she spoke, some of those of the garrison who had been engaged in +securing the animal came up into the court, and attracted the marquis's +attraction by their approach, which, in the relaxation of discipline +consequent on excitement, was rather tumultuous. At their head was lord +Charles, who had led them to the capture, and without whose ruling +presence the enemy would not have been re-caged in twice the time. As +they drew near, and saw Dorothy stand in battle-plight, with her dog +beside her, even in their lord's presence they could not resist the +impulse to cheer her. Annoyed at their breach of manners, the marquis +had not however committed himself to displeasure ere he spied a joke: + +'I told you so, mistress Dorothy!' he said again. 'That rival of mine +has, as I feared, already made a party against me. You see how my own +knaves, before my very face, cheer my enemy! I presume, my lord,' he +went on, turning to the mastiff, and removing his hat, 'it will be my +wisdom to resign castle and title at once, and so forestall deposition.' + +Marquis replied with a growl, and amidst subdued yet merry laughter, +lord Charles hastened to enlighten his father. + +'My lord,' he said, 'the dog has done nobly as ever dog, and deserves +reward, not mockery, which it is plain he understands, and likes not. +But it was not the mastiff, it was his fair mistress I and my men +presumed on saluting in your lordship's presence. No dog ever yet shook +off collar of Cranford's forging; nor is Marquis the only dog that +merits your lordship's acknowledgment: O'Brien and Tom Fool--the +lurcher, I mean--seconded him bravely, and perhaps Strafford did best of +all.' + +'Prithee, now, take me with thee,' said the marquis. 'Was, or was not +the Great Mogul forth of his cage?' + +'Indeed he was, my lord, and might be now in the fields but for cousin +Vaughan there by your side.' + +The marquis turned and looked at her, but in his astonishment said +nothing, and lord Charles went on. + +'When we got into the yard, there was the Great Mogul with three dogs +upon him, and mistress Dorothy uncollaring Tom Fool and hounding him at +the devilish brute; while poor Shafto, just waking up, lay on the +stones, about three yards off the combat. It was the finest thing I ever +saw, my lord.' + +The marquis turned again to Dorothy, and stared without speech or +motion. + +'Mean you--?' he said at length, addressing lord Charles, but still +staring at Dorothy; 'Mean you--?' he said again, half stammering, and +still staring. + +'I mean, my lord,' answered his son, 'that mistress Dorothy, with +self-shown courage, and equal judgment as to time and order of attack, +when Tom Fool had fled, and poor Shafto, already evil torn, had swooned +from loss of blood, came to the rescue, stood her ground, and loosed dog +after dog, her own first, upon the animal. And, by heaven! it is all +owing to her that he is already secured and carried back to his cage, +nor any great harm done save to the groom and the dogs, of which poor +Strafford hath a hind leg crushed by the jaws of the beast, and must be +killed.' + +'He shall live,' cried the marquis, 'as long as he hath legs enough to +eat and sleep with. Mistress Dorothy,' he went on, turning to her once +more, 'what is thy request? It shall be performed even to the half +of--of my marquisate.' + +'My lord,' returned Dorothy, 'it is a small deed I have strewn to gather +such weighty thanks.' + +'Be honest as well as brave, mistress. Mock me no modesty.' said the +marquis a little roughly. + +'Indeed, my lord, I but spoke as I deemed. The thing HAD to be done, and +I did but do it. Had there been room to doubt, and I had yet done well, +then truly I might have earned your lordship's thanks. But good my lord, +do not therefore recall the word spoken,' she added hurriedly, 'but +grant me my boon. Your lordship sees my poor dog can endure no collar: +let him therefore be my chamber-fellow until his throat be healed, when +I shall again submit him to your lordship's mandate.' + +'What you will, cousin. He is a noble fellow, and hath a right noble +mistress.' + +'Will you then, my lord Charles, order a bucket of water to be drawn for +me, that I may wash his wounds ere I take him to my chamber?' + +Ten men at the word flew to the draw-well, but lord Charles ordered them +all back to the guard-room, except two whom he sent to fetch a tub. With +his own hands he then drew three bucketfuls of water, which he poured +into the tub, and by the side of the well, in the open paved court, +Dorothy washed her four-legged hero, and then retired with him, to do a +like office for herself. + +The marquis stood for some time in the gathering dusk, looking on, and +smiling to see how the sullen animal allowed his mistress to handle even +his wounds without a whine, not to say a growl, at the pain she must +have caused him. + +'I see, I see!' he said at length, 'I have no chance with a rival like +that!' and turning away he walked slowly into the oak parlour, threw +himself down in his great chair, and sat there, gazing at the eyeless +face of the keep, but thinking all the time of the courage and patience +of his rival, the mastiff. + +'God made us both,' he said at length, 'and he can grant me patience as +well as him;' and so saying he went to bed. + +His washing over, the dog showed himself much exhausted, and it was with +hanging head he followed his mistress up the grand staircase and the +second spiral one that led yet higher to her chamber. Thither presently +came lady Elizabeth, carrying a cushion and a deerskin for him to lie +upon, and it was with much apparent satisfaction that the wounded and +wearied animal, having followed his tail but one turn, dropped like a +log on his well-earned couch. + +The night was hot, and Dorothy fell asleep with her door wide open. + +In the morning Marquis was nowhere to be found. Dorothy searched for him +everywhere, but in vain. + +'It is because you mocked him, my lord,' said the governor to his father +at breakfast. 'I doubt not he said to himself, "If I AM a dog, my lord +need not have mocked me, for I could not help it, and I did my duty."' + +'I would make him an apology,' returned the marquis, 'an' I had but the +opportunity. Truly it were evil minded knowingly to offer insult to any +being capable of so regarding it. But, Charles, I bethink me: didst ever +learn how our friend got into the castle? It was assuredly thy part to +discover that secret.' + +'No, my lord. It hath never been found out in so far as I know.' + +'That is an unworthy answer, lord Charles. As governor of the castle, +you ought to have had the matter thoroughly searched into.' + +'I will see to it now, my lord,' said the governor, rising. + +'Do, my lad,' returned his father. + +And lord Charles did inquire; but not a ray of light did he succeed in +letting in upon the mystery. The inquiry might, however, have lasted +longer and been more successful, had not lord Herbert just then come +home, with the welcome news of the death of Hampden, from a wound +received in attacking prince Rupert at Chalgrove. He brought news also +of prince Maurice's brave fight at Bath, and lord Wilmot's victory over +sir William Waller at Devizes--which latter, lord Herbert confessed, +yielded him some personal satisfaction, seeing he owed Waller more +grudges than as a Christian he had well known how to manage: now he was +able to bear him a less bitter animosity. The queen, too, had reached +Oxford, bringing large reinforcement to her husband, and prince Rupert +had taken Bristol, castle and all. Things were looking mighty hopeful, +lord Herbert was radiant, and lady Margaret, for the first time since +Molly's death, was merry. The castle was illuminated, and Marquis +forgotten by all but Dorothy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +RICHARD HEYWOOD. + + +So things looked ill for the puritans in general, and Richard Heywood +had his full portion in the distribution of the evils allotted them. +Following lord Fairfax, he had shared his defeat by the marquis of +Newcastle on Atherton moor, where of his score of men he lost five, and +was, along with his mare, pretty severely wounded. Hence it had become +absolutely necessary for both of them, if they were to render good +service at any near future, that they should have rest and tending. +Towards the middle of July, therefore, Richard, followed by Stopchase, +and several others of his men who had also been wounded and were in need +of nursing, rode up to his father's door. Lady was taken off to her own +stall, and Richard was led into the house by his father--without a word +of tenderness, but with eyes and hands that waited and tended like those +of a mother. + +Roger Heywood was troubled in heart at the aspect of affairs. There was +now a strong peace-party in the parliament, and to him peace and ruin +seemed the same thing. If the parliament should now listen to overtures +of accommodation, all for which he and those with whom he chiefly +sympathised had striven, was in the greatest peril, and might be, if not +irrecoverably lost, at least lost sight of, perhaps for a century. The +thing that mainly comforted him in his anxiety was that his son had +showed himself worthy, not merely in the matter of personal courage, +which he took as a thing of course in a Heywood, but in his +understanding of and spiritual relation to the questions really at +issue,--not those only which filled the mouths of men. For the best men +and the weightiest questions are never seen in the forefront of the +battle of their time, save by "larger other eyes than ours." + +But now, from his wounds, as he thought, and the depression belonging to +the haunting sense of defeat, a doubt had come to life in Richard's +mind, which, because it was born IN weakness, he very pardonably looked +upon as born OF weakness, and therefore regarded as itself weak and +cowardly, whereas his mood had been but the condition that favoured its +development. It came and came again, maugre all his self-recrimination +because of it: what was all this fighting for? It was well indeed that +nor king nor bishop should interfere with a man's rights, either in +matters of taxation or worship, but the war could set nothing right +either betwixt him and his neighbour, or betwixt him and his God. + +There was in the mind of Richard, innate, but more rapidly developed +since his breach with Dorothy, a strong tendency towards the +supernatural--I mean by the word that which neither any one of the +senses nor all of them together, can reveal. He was one of those young +men, few, yet to be found in all ages of the world's history, who, in +health and good earthly hope, and without any marked poetic or +metaphysical tendency, yet know in their nature the need of conscious +communion with the source of that nature--truly the veriest absurdity if +there be no God, but as certainly the most absolute necessity of +conscious existence if there be a first life from whom our life is born. + +'Am I not free now?' he said to himself, as he lay on his bed in his own +gable of the many-nooked house; 'Am I not free to worship God as I +please? Who will interfere with me? Who can prevent me? As to form and +ceremony, what are they, or what is the absence of them, to the worship +in which my soul seeks to go forth? What the better shall I be when all +this is over, even if the best of our party carry the day? Will Cromwell +rend for me the heavy curtain, which, ever as I lift up my heart, seems +to come rolling down between me and him whom I call my God? If I could +pass within that curtain, what would Charles, or Laud, or Newcastle, or +the mighty Cromwell himself and all his Ironsides be to me? Am I not on +the wrong road for the high peak?' + +But then he thought of others--of the oppressed and the superstitious, +of injustice done and not endured--not wrapt in the pearly antidote of +patience, but rankling in the soul; of priests who, knowing not God, +substituted ceremonies for prayer, and led the seeking heart afar from +its goal--and said that his arm could at least fight for the truth in +others, if only his heart could fight for the truth in himself. No; he +would go on as he had begun; for, might it not be the part of him who +could take the form of an angel of light when he would deceive, to make +use of inward truths, which might well be the strength of his own soul, +to withdraw him from the duties he owed to others, and cause the heart +of devotion to paralyze the arm of battle? Besides, was he not now in a +low physical condition, and therefore the less likely to judge truly +with regard to affairs of active outer life? His business plainly was to +gain strength of body, that the fumes of weakness might no longer cloud +his brain, and that, if he had to die for the truth, whether in others +or in himself, he might die in power, like the blast of an exploding +mine, and not like the flame of an expiring lamp. And certainly, as his +body grew stronger, and the impulses to action, so powerful in all +healthy youth, returned, his doubts grew weaker, and he became more and +more satisfied that he had been in the right path. + +Lady outstripped her master in the race for health, and after a few days +had oats and barley in a profusion which, although far from careless, +might well have seemed to her unlimited. Twice every day, sometimes +oftener, Richard went to see her, and envied the rapidity of her +recovery from the weakness which scanty rations, loss of blood, and the +inflammation of her wounds had caused. Had there been any immediate call +for his services, however, that would have brought his strength with it. +Had the struggle been still going on upon the fields of battle instead +of in the houses of words, he would have been well in half the time. But +Waller and Essex were almost without an army between them, and were at +bitter strife with each other, while the peace-party seemed likely to +carry everything before them, women themselves presenting a petition for +peace, and some of them using threats to support it. + +At length, chiefly through the exertions of the presbyterian preachers +and the common council of the city of London, the peace-party was +defeated, and a vigorous levying and pressing of troops began anew. So +the hour had come for Richard to mount. His men were all in health and +spirits, and their vacancies had been filled up. Lady was frolicsome, +and Richard was perfectly well. + +The day before they were to start he took the mare out for a gallop +across the fields. Never had he known her so full of life. She rushed at +hedge and ditch as if they had been squares of royalist infantry. Her +madness woke the fervour of battle in Richard's own veins, and as they +swept along together, it grew until he felt like one of the Arabs of +old, flashing to the harvest field of God, where the corn to be reaped +was the lives of infidels, and the ears to be gleaned were the heads of +the fallen. That night he scarcely slept for eagerness to be gone. + +Waking early from what little sleep he had had, he dressed and armed +himself hurriedly, and ran to the stables, where already his men were +bustling about getting their horses ready for departure. + +Lady had a loose box for herself, and thither straight her master went, +wondering as he opened the door of it that he did not hear usual morning +welcome. The place was empty. He called Stopchase. + +'Where is my mare?' he said. 'Surely no one has been fool enough to take +her to the water just as we are going to start.' + +Stopchase stood and stared without reply, then turned and left the +stable, but came back almost immediately, looking horribly scared. Lady +was nowhere to be seen or heard. Richard rushed hither and thither, +storming. Not a man about the place could give him a word of +enlightenment. All knew she was in that box the night before; none knew +when she left it or where she was now. + +He ran to his father, but all his father could see or say was no more +than was plain to every one: the mare had been carried off in the night, +and that with a skill worthy of a professional horse-thief. + +What now was the poor fellow to do? If I were to tell the truth--namely, +that he wept--so courageous are the very cowards of this century that +they would sneer at him; but I do tell it notwithstanding, for I have +little regard to the opinion of any man who sneers. Whatever he may or +may not have been as a man, Richard felt but half a soldier without his +mare, and, his country calling him, oppressed humanity crying aloud for +his sword and arm, his men waiting for him, and Lady gone, what was he +to do? + +'Never heed, Dick, my boy,' said his father.--It was the first time +since he had put on man's attire that he had called him Dick,--'Thou +shalt have my Oliver. He is a horse of good courage, as thou knowest, +and twice the weight of thy little mare.' + +'Ah, father! you do not know Lady so well as I. Not Cromwell's best +horse could comfort me for her. I MUST find her. Give me leave, sir; I +must go and think. I cannot mount and ride, and leave her I know not +where. Go I will, if it be on a broomstick, but this morning I ride not. +Let the men put up their horses, Stopchase, and break their fast.' + +'It is a wile of the enemy,' said Stopchase. 'Truly, it were no marvel +to me were the good mare at this moment eating her oats in the very +stall where we have even but now in vain sought her. I will go and +search for her with my hands.' + +'Verily,' said Mr. Heywood with a smile, 'to fear the devil is not to +run from him!--How much of her hay hath she eaten, Stopchase?' he added, +as the man returned with disconsolate look. + +'About a bottle, sir,' answered Stopchase, rather indefinitely; but the +conclusion drawn was, that she had been taken very soon after the house +was quiet. + +The fact was, that since the return of their soldiers, poor watch had +been kept by the people of Redware. Increase of confidence had led to +carelessness. Mr. Heywood afterwards made inquiry, and had small reason +to be satisfied with what he discovered. + +'The thief must have been one who knew the place,' said Faithful. + +'Why dost thou think so?' asked his master. + +'How swooped he else so quietly upon the best animal, sir?' returned the +man. + +'She was in the place of honour,' answered Mr. Heywood. + +'Scudamore!' said Richard to himself. It might be no light--only a flash +in his brain. But that even was precious in the utter darkness. + +'Sir,' he said, turning to his father, 'I would I had a plan of Raglan +stables.' + +'What wouldst thou an' thou hadst, my son?' asked Mr. Heywood. + +'Nay, sir, that wants thinking. But I believe my poor mare is at this +moment in one of those vaults they tell us of.' + +'It may be, my son. It is reported that the earl hath of late been +generous in giving of horses. Poor soldiers the king will find them that +fight for horses, or titles either. Such will never stand before them +that fight for the truth--in the love thereof! Eh, Richard?' + +'Truly, sir, I know not,' answered his son, disconsolately. 'I hope I +love the truth, and I think so doth Stopchase, after his kind; and yet +were we of those that fled from Atherton moor.' + +'Thou didst not flee until thou couldst no more, my son. It asketh +greater courage of some men to flee when the hour of flight hath come, +for they would rather fight on to the death than allow, if but to their +own souls, that they are foiled. But a man may flee in faith as well as +fight in faith, my son, and each is good in its season. There is a time +for all things under the sun. In the end, when the end cometh, we shall +see how it hath all gone. When, then, wilt thou ride?' + +'To-morrow, an' it please you, sir. I should fight but evil with the +knowledge that I had left my best battle-friend in the hands of the +Philistines, nor sent even a cry after her.' + +'What boots it, Richard? If she be within Raglan walls, they yield her +not again. Bide thy time; and when thou meetest thy foe on thy friend's +back, woe betide him!' + +'Amen, sir!' said Richard. 'But with your leave I will not go to-day. I +give you my promise I will go to-morrow.' + +'Be it so, then. Stopchase, let the men be ready at this hour on the +morrow. The rest of the day is their own.' + +So saying, Roger Heywood turned away, in no small distress, although he +concealed it, both at the loss of the mare and his son's grief over it. +Betaking himself to his study, he plunged himself straightway deep in +the comfort of the last born and longest named of Milton's tracts. + +The moment he was gone, Richard, who had now made up his mind as to his +first procedure, sent Stopchase away, saddled Oliver, rode slowly out of +the yard, and struck across the fields. After a half-hour's ride he +stopped at a lonely cottage at the foot of a rock on the banks of the +Usk. There he dismounted, and having fastened his horse to the little +gate in front, entered a small garden full of sweet-smelling herbs +mingled with a few flowers, and going up to the door, knocked, and then +lifted the latch. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE WITCH'S COTTAGE. + + +Richard was met on the threshold by mistress Rees, in the same +old-fashioned dress, all but the hat, which I have already described. On +her head she wore a widow's cap, with large crown, thick frill, and +black ribbon encircling it between them. She welcomed him with the +kindness almost of an old nurse, and led the way to the one chair in the +room--beside the hearth, where a fire of peat was smouldering rather +than burning beneath the griddle, on which she was cooking oat-cake. The +cottage was clean and tidy. From the smoky rafters hung many bunches of +dried herbs, which she used partly for medicines, partly for charms. + +To herself, the line dividing these uses was not very clearly +discernible. + +'I am in trouble, mistress Rees,' said Richard, as he seated himself. + +'Most men do be in trouble most times, master Heywood,' returned the old +woman. 'Dost find thou hast taken the wrong part, eh?--There be no need +to tell what aileth thee. 'Tis a bit easier to cast off a maiden than to +forget her--eh?' + +'No, mistress Rees. I came not to trouble thee concerning what is past +and gone,' said Richard with a sigh. 'It is a taste of thy knowledge I +want rather than of thy skill.' + +'What skill I have is honest,' said the old woman. + +'Far be it from thee to say otherwise, mother Rees. But I need it not +now. Tell me, hast thou not been once and again within the great gates +of Raglan castle?' + +'Yes, my son--oftener than I can tell thee,' answered the old woman. 'It +is but a se'night agone that I sat a talking with my son Thomas Rees in +the chimney corner of Raglan kitchen, after the supper was served and +the cook at rest. It was there my lad was turnspit once upon a time, for +as great a man as he is now with my lord and all the household. Those +were hard times after my good man left me, master Heywood. But the cream +will to the top, and there is my son now--who but he in kitchen and +hall? Well, of all places in the mortal world, that Raglan passes!' + +'They tell strange things of the stables there, mistress Rees: know you +aught of them?' + +'Strange things, master? They tell nought but good of the stables that +tell the truth. As to the armoury, now--well it is not for such as +mother Rees to tell tales out of school.' + +'What I heard, and wanted to ask thee about, mother, was that they are +under ground. Thinkest thou horses can fare well under ground? Thou +knowest a horse as well as a dog, mother.' + +Ere she replied, the old woman took her cake from the griddle, and laid +it on a wooden platter, then caught up a three-legged stool, set it down +by Richard, seated herself at his knee, and assumed the look of mystery +wherewith she was in the habit of garnishing every bit of knowledge, +real or fancied, which it pleased her to communicate. + +'Hear me, and hold thy peace, master Richard Heywood,' she said. 'As +good horses as ever stamped in Redware stables go down into Raglan +vaults; but yet they eat their oats and their barley, and when they lift +their heads they look out to the ends of the world. Whether it be by the +skill of the mason or of such as the hidden art of my lord Herbert knows +best how to compel, let them say that list to make foes where it were +safer to have friends. But this I am free to tell thee--that in the +pitched court, betwixt the antechamber to my lord's parlour that hath +its windows to the moat, and the great bay window of the hall that looks +into that court, there goeth a descent, as it seemeth of stairs only; +but to him that knoweth how to pull a certain tricker, as of an +harquebus or musquetoon, the whole thing turneth around, and straightway +from a stair passeth into an easy matter of a sloping way by the which +horses go up and down. And Thomas he telleth me also that at the further +end of the vaults to which it leads, the which vaults pass under the +marquis's oak parlour, and under all the breadth of the fountain court, +as they do call the other court of the castle, thou wilt come to a great +iron door in the foundations of one of the towers, in which my lord hath +contrived stabling for a hundred and more horses, and that, mark my +words, my son, not in any vault or underground dungeon, but in the +uppermost chamber of all.' + +'And how do they get up there, mother?' asked Richard, who listened with +all his ears. + +'Why, they go round and round, and ever the rounder the higher, as a fly +might crawl up a corkscrew. And there is a stair also in the same screw, +as it were, my Thomas do tell me, by which the people of the house do go +up and down, and know nothing of the way for the horses within, neither +of the stalls at the top of the tower, where they stand and see the +country. Yet do they often marvel at the sounds of their hoofs, and +their harness, and their cries, and their chumping of their corn. And +that is how Raglan can send forth so many horseman for the use of the +king. But alack, master Heywood! is it for a wise woman like myself to +forget that thou art of the other part, and that these are secrets of +state which scarce another in the castle but my son Thomas knoweth aught +concerning! What will become of me that I have told them to a Heywood, +being, as is well known, myself no more of a royalist than another?' + +And she regarded him a little anxiously. + +'What should it signify, mother,'' said Richard, 'so long as neither you +nor I believe a word of it? Horses go up a tower to bed forsooth! Yet +for the matter of that, I will engage to ride my mare up any corkscrew +wide enough to turn her forelock and tail in--ay, and down again too, +which is another business with most horses. But come now, mother Rees, +confess this all a fable of thine own contriving to make a mock of a +farm-bred lad like me.' + +'In good sooth, master Heywood,' answered the old woman, 'I tell the +tale as 'twas told to me. I avouch it not for certain, knowing that my +son Thomas hath a seething brain and loveth a joke passing well, nor +heedeth greatly upon whom he putteth it, whether his master or his +mother; but for the stair by the great hall window, that stair have I +seen with mine own eyes, though for the horses to come and go thereby, +that truly have I not seen. And for the rest I only say it may well be, +for there is nothing of it all which the wise man, my lord Herbert, +could not with a word--and that a light one for him to speak, though +truly another might be torn to pieces in saying it.' + +'I would I might see the place!' murmured Richard. + +'An' it were not thou art such a--! But it boots not talking, master +Heywood. Thou art too well known for a puritan--roundhead they call +thee; and thou hast given them and theirs too many hard knocks, my son, +to look they should be willing to let thee gaze on the wonders of their +great house. Else, being that I am a friend to thee and thine, I would +gladly--. But, as I say, it boots nothing--although I have a son, who +being more of the king's part than I am--.' + +'Hast thou not then art enough, mother, to set me within Raglan walls +for an hour or two after midnight? I ask no more,' said Richard, who, +although he was but leading the way to quite another proposal, nor +desired aid of art black or white, yet could not help a little tremor at +making the bare suggestion of the unhallowed idea. + +'An' I had, I dared not use it,' answered the old woman; 'for is not my +lord Herbert there? Were it not for him--well--. But I dare not, as I +say, for his art is stronger than mine, and from his knowledge I could +hide nothing. And I dare not for thy sake either, my young master. Once +inside those walls of stone, those gates of oak, and those portcullises +of iron, and thou comes not out alive again, I warrant thee.' + +'I should like to try once, though,' said Richard. 'Couldst thou not +disguise me, mother Rees, and send me with a message to thy son?' + +'I tell thee, young master, I dare not,' answered the old woman, with +utmost solemnity. 'And if I did, thy speech would presently bewray +thee.' + +'I would then I knew that part of the wall a man might scramble over in +the dark,' said Richard. + +'Thinks thou my lord marquis hath been fortifying his castle for two +years that a young Heywood, even if he be one of the godly, and have +long legs to boot, should make a vaulting horse of it? I know but one +knows the way over Raglan walls, and thou wilt hardly persuade him to +tell thee,' said mother Rees, with a grim chuckle. + +As she spoke she rose, and went towards her sleeping chamber. Then first +Richard became aware that for some time he had been hearing a scratching +and whining. She opened the door, and out ran a wretched-looking dog, +huge and gaunt, with the red marks of recent wounds all over his body, +and his neck swathed in a discoloured bandage. He went straight to +Richard, and began fawning upon him and licking his hands. Miserable and +most disreputable as he looked, he recognised in him Dorothy's mastiff. + +'My poor Marquis!' he said, 'what evil hath then befallen thee? What +would thy mistress say to see thee thus?' + +Marquis whined and wagged his tail as if he understood every word he +said, and Richard was stung to the heart at the sight of his apparently +forlorn condition. + +'Hath thy mistress then forsaken thee too, Marquis?' he said, and from +fellow-feeling could have taken the dog in his arms. + +'I think not so,' said mistress Rees. 'He hath been with her in the +castle ever since she went there.' + +'Poor fellow, how thou art torn!' said Richard. 'What animal of thine +own size could have brought thee into such a plight? Or can it be that +thou hast found a bigger? But that thou hast beaten him I am well +assured.' + +Marquis wagged an affirmative. + +'Fangs of biggest dog in Gwent never tore him like that, master Heywood. +Heark'ee now. He cannot tell his tale, so I must tell thee all I know of +the matter. I was over to Raglan village three nights agone, to get me a +bottle of strong waters from mine host of the White Horse, for the +distilling of certain of my herbs good for inward disorders, when he +told me that about an hour before there had come from the way of the +castle all of a sudden the most terrible noise that ever human ears were +pierced withal, as if every devil in hell of dog or cat kind had broken +loose, and fierce battle was waging between them in the Yellow Tower. I +said little, but had my own fears for my lord Herbert, and came home sad +and slow and went to bed. Now what should wake me the next morning, just +as daylight broke the neck of the darkness, but a pitiful whining and +obstinate scratching at my door! And who should it be but that same +lovely little lapdog of my young mistress now standing by thy knee! But +had thou seen him then, master Richard! It was the devil's hackles he +had been through! Such a torn dishclout of a dog thou never did see! I +understood it all in a moment. He had made one in the fight, and whether +he had had the better or the worse of it, like a wise dog as he always +was, he knew where to find what would serve his turn, and so when the +house was quiet, off he came to old mother Rees to be plaistered and +physicked. But what perplexes my old brain is, how, at that hour of the +night, for to reach my door when he did, and him hardly able to stand +when I let him in, it must have been dead night when he left--it do +perplex me, I say, to think how at that time of the night he got out of +that prison, watched as it is both night and day by them that sleep +not.' + +'He couldn't have come over the wall?' suggested Richard. + +'Had thou seen him--thou would not make that the question.' + +'Then he must have come through or under it; there are but three ways,' +said Richard to himself. 'He's a big dog,' he added aloud, regarding him +thoughtfully as he patted his sullen affectionate head. 'He's a big +dog,' he repeated. + +'I think a'most he be the biggest dog _I_ ever saw,' assented mistress +Rees. + +'I would I were less about the shoulders,' said Richard. + +'Who ever heard a man worth his mess of pottage wish him such a wish as +that, master Heywood! What would mistress Dorothy say to hear thee? I +warrant me she findeth no fault with the breadth of thy shoulders.' + +'I am less in the compass than I was before the last fight,' he went on, +without heeding his hostess, and as if he talked to the dog, who stood +with his chin on his knee, looking up in his face. 'Where thou, Marquis, +canst walk, I doubt not to creep; but if thou must creep, what then is +left for me? Yet how couldst thou creep with such wounds in thy throat +and belly, my poor Marquis?' + +The dog whined, and moved all his feet, one after the other, but without +taking his chin off Richard's knee. + +'Hast seen thy mistress, little Dick, Marquis?' asked Richard. + +Again the dog whined, moved his feet, and turned his head towards the +door. But whether it was that he understood the question, or only that +he recognised the name of his friend, who could tell? + +'Will thou take me to Dick, Marquis?' + +The dog turned and walked to the door, then stood and looked back, as if +waiting for Richard to open it and follow him. + +'No, Marquis, we must not go before night,' said Richard. + +The dog returned slowly to his knee, and again laid his chin upon it. + +'What will the dog do next, thinkest thou, mother--when he finds himself +well again, I mean? Will he run from thee?' said Richard. + +'He would be like neither dog nor man I ever knew, did he not,' returned +the old woman. 'He will for sure go back where he got his hurts--to +revenge them if he may, for that is the custom also with both dogs and +men.' + +'Couldst thou make sure of him that he run not away till I come again at +night, mother?' + +'Certain I can, my son. I will shut him up whence he will not break so +long as he hears me nigh him.' + +'Do so then an' thou lovest me, mother Rees, and I will be here with the +first of the darkness.' + +'An' I love thee, master Richard? Nay, but I do love thy good face and +thy true words, be thou puritan or roundhead, or fanatic, or what evil +name soever the wicked fashion of the times granteth to men to call +thee.' + +'Hark in thine ear then, mother: I will call no names; but they of +Raglan have, as I truly believe, stolen from me my Lady.' + +'Nay, nay, master Richard,' interrupted mistress Rees; 'did I not tell +thee with my own mouth that she went of her own free will, and in the +company of the reverend sir Matthew Herbert?' + +'Alas! thou goest not with me, mother Rees. I meant not mistress +Dorothy. She is lost to me indeed; but so also is my poor mare, which +was stolen last night from Redware stables as the watchers slept.' + +'Alack-a-day!' cried goody Rees, holding up her hands in sore trouble +for her friend. 'But what then dreams thou of doing? Not surely, before +all the saints in heaven, will thou adventure thy body within Raglan +walls? But I speak like a fool. Thou canst not.' + +'This good dog,' said Richard, stroking Marquis, 'must, as thou thyself +plainly seest, have found some way of leaving Raglan without the +knowledge or will of its warders. Where he gat him forth, will he not +get him in again? And where dog can go, man may at least endeavour to +follow.--Mayhap he hath for himself scratched a way, as many dogs will.' + +'But, for the love of God, master Heywood, what would thou do inside +that stone cage? Thy mare, be she, as thou hast often vaunted her to me, +the first for courage and wisdom and strength and fleetness of all mares +created--be her fore feet like a man's hands and her heart like a +woman's heart, as thou sayest, yet cannot she overleap Raglan walls; and +thinks thou they will raise portcullis and open gate and drop drawbridge +to let thee and her ride forth in peace? It were a fool's errand, my +young master, and nowise befitting thy young wisdom.' + +'What I shall do, when I am length within the walls, I cannot tell thee, +mother. Nor have I ever yet known much good in forecasting. To have to +think, when the hour is come, of what thou didst before resolve, instead +of setting thyself to understand what is around thee, and perchance the +whole matter different from what thou had imagined, is to stand like +Lazarus bound hand and foot in thine own graveclothes. It will be given +me to meet what comes; or if not, who will bar me from meeting what +follows?' + +'Master Heywood,' cried goody Rees, drawing herself with rebuke, 'for a +man that is born of a woman to talk so wisely and so foolishly both in a +breath!--But,' she added, with a change of tone, 'I know better than bar +the path to a Heywood. An' he will, he will. And thou hast been vilely +used, my young master. I will do what I can to help thee to thine +own--and no more--no more than thine own. Hark in thine ear now. But +first swear to me by the holy cross, puritan as thou art, that thou wilt +make no other use of what I tell thee but to free thy stolen mare. I +know thou may be trusted even with the secret that would slay thine +enemy. But I must have thy oath notwithstanding thereto.' + +'I will not swear by the cross, which was never holy, for thereby was +the Holy slain. I will not swear at all, mother Rees. I will pledge thee +the word of a man who fears God, that I will in no way dishonourable +make use of that which thou tellest me. An' that suffice not, I will go +without thy help, trusting in God, who never made that mare to carry the +enemy of the truth into the battle.' + +'But what an' thou should take the staff of strife to measure thy doings +withal? That may then seem honourable, done to an enemy, which thou +would scorn to do to one of thine own part, even if he wronged thee.' + +'Nay, mother; but I will do nothing THOU wouldst think +dishonourable--that I promise thee. I will use what thou tellest me for +no manner of hurt to my lord of Worcester or aught that is his. But Lady +is not his, and her will I carry, if I may, from Raglan stables back to +Redware.' + +'I am content. Hearken then, my son. Raglan watchword for the rest of +the month is--ST. GEORGE AND ST. PATRICK! May it stand thee in good +stead.' + +'I thank thee, mother, with all my heart,' said Richard, rising +jubilant. 'Now shut up the dog, and let me go. One day it may lie in my +power to requite thee.' + +'Thou hast requited me beforehand, master Heywood. Old mother Rees never +forgets. I would have done well by thee with the maiden, an' thou would +but have hearkened to my words. But the day may yet come. Go now, and +return with the last of the twilight. Come hither, Marquis.' + +The dog obeyed, and she shut him again in her chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE MOAT OF THE KEEP. + + +Richard left the cottage, and mounted Oliver. To pass the time and +indulge a mournful memory, he rode round by Wyfern. When he reached +home, he found that his father had gone to pay a visit some miles off. +He went to his own room, cast himself on his bed, and tried to think. +But his birds would not come at his call, or coming would but perch for +a moment, and again fly. As he lay thus, his eyes fell on his cousin, +old Thomas Heywood's little folio, lying on the window seat where he had +left it two years ago, and straightway his fluttering birds alighting +there, he thought how the book had been lying unopened all the months, +while he had been passing through so many changes and commotions. How +still had the room been around it, how silent the sunshine and the snow, +while he had inhabited tumult--tumult in his heart, tumult in his ears, +tumult of sorrows, of vain longings, of tongues and of swords! Where was +the gain to him? Was he nearer to that centre of peace, which the book, +as it lay there so still, seemed to his eyes to typify? The maiden loved +from childhood had left him for a foolish king and a phantom-church: had +he been himself pursuing anything better? He had been fighting for the +truth: had he then gained her? where was she? what was she if not a +living thing in the heart? Would the wielding of the sword in its name +ever embody an abstraction, call it from the vasty deep of metaphysics +up into self-conscious existence in the essence of a man's own vitality? +Was not the question still, how, of all loves, to grasp the thing his +soul thirsted after? + +To many a sermon, cleric and lay, had he listened since he left that +volume there--in church, in barn, in the open field--but the religion +which seemed to fill all the horizon of these preachers' vision, was to +him little better than another tumult of words; while, far beyond all +the tumults, hung still, in the vast of thought unarrived, unembodied, +that something without a shape, yet bearing a name around which hovered +a vague light as of something dimly understood, after which, in every +moment of inbreaking silence, his soul straightway began to thirst. And +if the Truth was not to be found in his own heart, could he think that +the blows by which he had not gained her had yet given her?--that +through means of the tumult he had helped to arouse in her name and for +her sake, but in which he had never caught a sight of her beauteous +form, she now sat radiantly smiling in any one human soul where she sat +not before? + +Or should he say it was Freedom for which he had fought? Was he then one +whit more free in the reality of his being than he had been before? Or +had ever a battle wherein he had perilled his own life, striking for +liberty, conveyed that liberty into a single human heart? Was there one +soul the freer within, from the nearer presence of that freedom which +would have a man endure the heaviest wrong, rather than inflict the +lightest? He could not tell, but he greatly doubted. + +His thought went wandering away, and vision after vision, now of war and +now of love, now of earthly victory and now of what seemed unattainable +felicity, arose and passed before him, filling its place. At length it +came back: he would glance again into his cousin Thomas's book. He had +but to stretch out his hand to take it, for his bed was close by the +window. Opening it at random, he came upon this passage: + + And as the Mill, that circumgyreth fast, + Refuseth nothing that therein is cast, + But whatsoever is to it assign'd + Gladly receives and willing is to grynd, + But if the violence be with nothing fed, + It wasts itselfe: e'en so the heart mis-led, + Still turning round, unstable as the Ocean, + Never at rest, but in continuall Motion, + Sleepe or awake, is still in agitation + Of some presentment in th' imagination. + + If to the Mill-stone you shall cast in Sand, + It troubles them, and makes them at a stand; + If Pitch, it chokes them; or if Chaffe let fall, + They are employ'd, but to no use at all. + So, bitter thoughts molest, uncleane thoughts staine + And spot the Heart; while those idle and vaine + Weare it, and to no purpose. For when 'tis + Drowsie and carelesse of the future blisse, + And to implore Heav'n's aid, it doth imply + How far is it remote from the most High. + For whilst our Hearts on Terrhen things we place, + There cannot be least hope of Divine grace. + +'Just such a mill is my mind,' he said to himself. 'But can I suppose +that to sit down and read all day like a monk, would bring me nearer to +the thing I want?' + +He turned over the volume half thinking, half brooding. + +'I will look again,' he thought, 'at the verses which that day my father +gave me to read. Truly I did not well understand them.' + +Once more he read the poem through. It closed with these lines: + + So far this LIGHT the Raies extends, + As that no place IT comprehends. + So deepe this SOUND, that though it speake, + It cannot by a Sence so weake + Be entertain'd. A REDOLENT GRACE + The Aire blowes not from place to place. + A pleasant TASTE, of that delight + It doth confound all appetite. + A strict EMBRACE, not felt, yet leaves + That vertue, where it takes it cleaves. + This LIGHT, this SOUND, this SAVOURING GRACE, + This TASTEFULL SWEET, this STRICT EMBRACE, + No PLACE containes, no EYE can see, + My GOD is; and there's none but Hee. + +'I HAVE gained something,' he crie aloud. 'I understand it now--at least +I think I do. What if, in fighting for the truth as men say, the doors +of a man's own heart should at length fly open for her entrance! What if +the understanding of that which is uttered concerning her, be a sign +that she herself draweth nigh! Then I will go on.--And that I may go on, +I must recover my mare.' + +Honestly, however, he could not quite justify the scheme. All the +efforts of his imagination, as he rode home, to bring his judgment to +the same side with itself, had failed, and he had been driven to confess +the project a foolhardy one. But, on the other hand, had he not had a +leading thitherward? Whence else the sudden conviction that Scudamore +had taken her, and the burning desire to seek her in Raglan stables? And +had he not heard mighty arguments from the lips of the most favoured +preachers in the army for an unquestioning compliance with leadings? +Nay, had he not had more than a leading? Was it not a sign to encourage +him, even a pledge of happy result, that, within an hour of it, and in +consequence of his first step in partial compliance with it, he had come +upon the only creature capable of conducting him into the robber's hold? +And had he not at the same time learned the Raglan password?--He WOULD +go. + +He rose, and descending the little creaking stair of black oak that led +from his room to the next storey, sought his father's study, where he +wrote a letter informing him of his intended attempt, and the means to +its accomplishment that had been already vouchsafed him. The rest of his +time, after eating his dinner, he spent in making overshoes for his mare +out of an old buff jerkin. As soon as the twilight began to fall, he set +out on foot for the witch's cottage. + +When he arrived, he found her expecting him, but prepared with no hearty +welcome. + +'I had liefer by much thee had not come so pat upon thy promise, master +Heywood. Then I might have looked to move thee from thy purpose, for +truly I like it not. But thou will never bring an old woman into +trouble, master Richard?' + +'Or a young one either, if I can help it Mother Rees,' answered Richard. +'But come now, thou must trust me, and tell me all I want to know.' + +He drew from his pocket paper and pencil, and began to put to her +question after question as to the courts and the various buildings +forming them, with their chief doors and windows, and ever as she gave +him an answer, he added its purport to the rough plan he was drawing of +the place. + +'Listen to me, Master Heywood,' said the old woman at length after a +long, silence, during which he had been pondering over his paper. 'An' +thou get once into the fountain court thou will know where thee is by +the marble horse that stands in the middle of it. Turn then thy back to +the horse, with the yellow tower above thee upon thy right hand, and +thee will be facing the great hall. On the other side of the hall is the +pitched court with its great gate and double portcullis and drawbridge. +Nearly at thy back, but to thy right hand, will lie the gate to the +bowling-green. At which of these gates does thee think to lead out thy +mare?' + +'An' I pass at all, mother, it will be on her back, not at her head.' + +'Thou wilt not pass, my son. Be counselled. To thy mare, thou wilt but +lose thyself.' + +Richard heard her as though he heard her not. + +'At what hour doth the moon rise, mistress Rees?' he asked. + +'What would thou with the moon?" she returned. "Is not she the enemy of +him who roves for plunder? Shines she not that the thief may be shaken +out of the earth?' + +'I am not thief enough to steal in the dark, mother. How shall I tell +without her help where I am or whither I go?' + +'She will be half way to the top of her hill by midnight.' + +'An' thou speak by the card, then is it time that Marquis and I were +going.' + +'Here, take thee some fern-seed in thy pouch, that thou may walk +invisible,' said the old woman. 'If thee chance to be an hungred, then +eat thereof,' she added, as she transferred something from her pocket to +his. + +She called the dog and opened the chamber door. Out came Marquis, walked +to Richard, and stood looking up in his face as if he knew perfectly +that his business was to accompany him. Richard bade the old woman good +night, and stepped from the cottage. + +No sooner was he in the darkness with the dog, than, fearing he might +lose sight of him, he tied his handkerchief round the dog's neck, and +fastened to it the thong of his riding whip--the sole weapon he had +brought with him--and so they walked together, Marquis pulling Richard +on. Ere long the moon rose, and the country dawned into the dim creation +of the light. + +On and on they trudged, Marquis pulling at his leash as if he had been a +blind man's dog, and on and on beside them crept their shadows, +flattened out into strange distortion upon the road. But when they had +come within about two miles of Raglan, whether it was that the sense of +proximity to his mistress grew strong in him, or that he scented the +Great Mogul, as the horse the battle from afar, Marquis began to grow +restless, and to sniff about on one side of the way. When at length they +had by a narrow bridge crossed a brook, the dog insisted on leaving the +road and going down into the meadow to the left. Richard made small +resistance, and that only for experiment upon the animal's +determination. Across field after field his guide led him, until, but +for the great keep towering dimly up into the moonlit sky, he could +hardly have even conjectured where he was. But he was well satisfied, +for, ever as they came out of copse or hollow, there was the huge thing +in the sky, nearer than before. + +At last he was able to descry a short stretch of the castle rampart, +past which, away to the westward, the dog was pulling, along a rough +cart-track through a field. This he presently found to be a quarry road, +and straight into the quarry the dog went, pulling eagerly; but Richard +was compelled to follow with caution, for the ground was rough and +broken, and the moon cast black misleading shadows. Towards the blackest +of these the dog led, and entered a hollow way. Richard went straight +after him, guarding his head with his arm, lest he might meet a sudden +descent of the roof, and lengthening his leash to the utmost, that he +might have timely warning of any descent of the floor. + +It was a very rough tunnel, the intent of which will afterwards appear, +forming part of one of lord Herbert's later contrivances for the safety +of the castle; but so well had Mr. Salisbury, the surveyor, managed, +that not one of the men employed upon it had an idea that they were +doing more than working the quarry for the repair of the fortifications. + +From the darkness, and the cautious rate at which he had to proceed, +holding back the dog who tugged hard at the whip, Richard could not even +hazard a conjecture as to the distance they had advanced, when he heard +the noise of a small runnel of water, which seemed from the sound to +make abrupt descent from some little height. He had gone but a few paces +further when the handle of the whip received a great upward pull and was +left loose in his grasp: the dog was away, leaving his handkerchief at +the end of the thong. So now he had to guide himself, and began to feel +about him. He seemed at first to have come to the end of the passage, +for he could touch both sides of it by stretching out his arms, and in +front a tiny stream of water came down the face of the rough rock; but +what then had become of Marquis? The answer seemed plain: the water must +come from somewhere, and doubtless its channel had spare room enough for +the dog to pass thither. He felt up the rock, and found that, at about +the height of his head, the water came over an obtuse angle. Climbing a +foot or two, he discovered that the opening whence it issued was large +enough for him to enter. + +Only one who has at some time passed where lengthened creeping was +necessary, will know how Richard felt, with water under him, +pitch-darkness about him, and the rock within an inch or two of his body +all round. By and by the slope became steeper and the ascent more +difficult. The air grew very close, and he began to fear he should be +stifled. Then came a hot breath, and a pair of eyes gleamed a foot or +two from his face. Had he then followed into the den of the animal by +which poor Marquis had been so frightfully torn? But no: it was Marquis +himself waiting for him! + +'Go on, Marquis,' he said, with a sigh of relief. + +The dog obeyed, and in another moment a waft of cool air came in. +Presently a glimmer of light appeared. The opening through which it +entered was a little higher than his horizontally posed head, and looked +alarmingly narrow. + +But as he crept nearer it grew wider, and when he came under it he found +it large enough to let him through. When cautiously he poked up his +head, there was the huge mass of the keep towering blank above him! On a +level with his eyes, the broad, lilied waters of the moat lay betwixt +him and the citadel. + +Marquis had brought him to the one neglected, therefore forgotten, and +thence undefended spot of the whole building. Before the well was sunk +in the keep, the supply of water to the moat had been far more +bountiful, and provision for a free overflow was necessary. For some +reason, probably for the mere sake of facility in the construction, the +passage for the superfluous water had been made larger than needful at +the end next the moat. About midway to its outlet, however--a mere +drain-mouth in a swampy hollow in the middle of a field--it had narrowed +to a third of the compass. But the quarriers had cut across it above the +point of contraction; and no danger of access occurring to lord Herbert +or Mr. Salisbury, while they found a certain service in the tiny +waterfall, they had left it as it was. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +RAGLAN STABLES. + + +The passage for the overflow of the water of the moat was under the sunk +walk which, reaching from the gate of the stone court round to the gate +of the fountain court, enclosed the keep and its moat, looping them on +as it were to the side of the double quadrangle of the castle. The only +way out of this passage, at whose entrance Richard now found himself, +was into the moat. As quietly therefore as he could, he got through the +opening and into the water, amongst the lilies, where, much impeded by +their tangling roots, which caused him many a submergence, but with a +moon in her second quarter over his head to light him, he swam gently +along. As he looked up from the water, however, to the huge crag-like +tower over his head, the soft moonlight smoothing the rigour but +bringing out all the wasteness of the grim blank, it seemed a hopeless +attempt he had undertaken. Not the less did he keep his eye on the +tower-side of the moat, and had not swum far before he caught sight of +the little stair, which, enclosed in one of the six small round bastions +encircling it, led up from the moat to the walk immediately around the +citadel. The foot of this stair was, strangely enough, one of the only +two points in the defence of the moat not absolutely commanded from +either one or the other of the two gates of the castle. The top of the +stair, however, was visible from one extreme point over the western +gate, and the moment Richard, finding the small thick iron-studded door +open, put his head out of the bastion, he caught sight of a warder far +away, against the moonlit sky. All of the castle except the spot where +that man stood, was hidden by the near bulk of the keep. He drew back, +and sat down on the top of the stair--to think and let the water run +from his clothes. When he issued, it was again on all-fours. He had, +however, only to creep an inch or two to the right to be covered by one +of the angles of the tower. + +But this shelter was merely momentary, for he must go round the tower in +search of some way to reach the courts beyond; and no sooner had he +passed the next angle than he found himself within sight of one of the +towers of the main entrance. Dropping once more on his hands and knees +he crept slowly along, as close as he could squeeze to the root of the +wall, and when he rounded the next angle, was in the shadow of the keep, +while he had but to cross the walk to be covered by the parapet on the +edge of the moat. This he did, and having crept round the curve of the +next bastion, was just beginning to fear lest he should find only a +lifted drawbridge, and have to take to the water again, when he came to +the stone bridge. + +It was well for him that Dorothy and Caspar had now omitted the setting +of their water-trap, otherwise he would have entered the fountain court +in a manner unfavourable to his project. As it was, he got over in +safety, never ceasing his slow crawl until he found himself in the +archway. Here he stood up, straightened his limbs, went through a few +gymnastics, as silent as energetic, to send the blood through his +chilled veins, and the next moment was again on the move. + +Peering from the mouth of the archway, he saw to his left the fountain +court, with the gleaming head of the great horse rising out of the sea +of shadow into the moonlight, and knew where he was. Next he discovered +close to him on his right an open door into a dim space, and knew that +he was looking into the great hall. Opposite the door glimmered the +large bay window of which Mrs. Rees had spoken. + +There was now a point to be ascertained ere he could determine at which +of the two gates he should attempt his exit--a question which, up to the +said point, he had thoroughly considered on his way. + +The stables opened upon the pitched court, and in that court was the +main entrance: naturally that was the one to be used. But in front of it +was a great flight of steps, the whole depth of the ditch, with the +marble gate at the foot of them; and not knowing the carriageway, he +feared both suspicion and loss of time, where a single moment might be +all that divided failure from success. Also at this gate were a double +portcullis and drawbridge, the working of whose machinery took time, and +of all things a quick execution was essential, seeing that at any moment +sleeping suspicion might awake, and find enough to keep her so. At the +other gate there was but one portcullis and no drawbridge, while from it +he perfectly knew the way to the brick gate. Clearly this was the +preferable for his attempt. There was but one point to cast in the other +scale--namely, that, if old Eccles were still the warder of it, there +would be danger of his recognition in respect both of himself and his +mare. But, on the other hand, he thought he could turn to account his +knowledge of the fact that the marquis's room was over it. So here the +scale had settled to rebound no more--except indeed he should now +discover any difficulty in passing from the stone court in which lay the +MOUTH of the stables, to the fountain court in which stood the +preferable gate. This question he must now settle, for once on horseback +there must be no deliberation. + +One way at least there must be--through the hall: the hall must be +accessible from both courts. He pulled off his shoes, and stepped softly +in. Through the high window immediately over the huge fireplace, a +little moonlight fell on the northern gable-wall, turning the minstrels' +gallery into an aerial bridge to some strange region of loveliness, and +in the shadow under it he found at once the door he sought, standing +open but dark under a deep porch. + +Issuing and gliding along by the side of the hall and round the great +bay window, he came to the stair indicated by Mrs. Rees, and descending +a little way, stood and listened: plainly enough to his practised ear, +what the old woman had represented as the underground passage to the +airiest of stables, was itself full of horses. To go down amongst these +in the dark, and in ignorance of the construction of the stable, was +somewhat perilous; but he had not come there to avoid risk. Step by step +he stole softly down, and, arrived at the bottom, seated himself on the +last--to wait until his eyes should get so far accustomed to the +darkness as to distinguish the poor difference between the faint dusk +sinking down the stair and the absolute murk. A little further on, he +could descry two or three grated openings into the fountain court, but +by them nothing could enter beyond the faintest reflection of moonlight +from the windows between the grand staircase and the bell tower. + +As soon as his eyes had grown capable of using what light there was, +which however was scarcely sufficient to render him the smallest +service, Richard began to whistle, very softly, a certain tune well +known to Lady, one he always whistled when he fed or curried her +himself. He had not got more than half through it, when a low drowsy +whinny made reply from the depths of the darkness before him, and the +heart of Richard leaped in his bosom for joy. He ceased a moment, then +whistled again. Again came the response, but this time, although still +soft and low, free from all the woolliness of sleep. Once more he +whistled, and once more came the answer. Certain at length of the +direction, he dropped on his hands and knees, and crawled carefully +along for a few yards, then stopped, whistled again, and listened. After +a few more calls and responses, he found himself at Lady's heels, which +had begun to move restlessly. He crept into the stall beside her, spoke +to her in a whisper, got upon his feet, caressed her, told her to be +quiet, and, pulling her buff shoes from his pockets, drew them over her +hoofs, and tied them securely about her pasterns. Then with one stroke +of his knife he cut her halter, hitched the end round her neck, and +telling her to follow him, walked softly through the stable and up the +stair. She followed like a cat, though not without some noise, to whose +echoes Richard's bosom seemed the beaten drum. The moment her back was +level, he flung himself upon it, and rode straight through the porch and +into the hall. + +But here at length he was overtaken by the consequences of having an +ally unequal to the emergency. Marquis, who had doubtless been occupied +with his friends in the stable yard, came bounding up into the court +just as Richard threw himself on the back of his mare. At the sight of +Lady, whom he knew so well, with her master on her back, a vision of +older and happier times, the poor animal forgot himself utterly, rushed +through the hall like a whirlwind, and burst into a tempest of barking +in the middle of the fountain court--whether to rouse his mistress, or +but to relieve his own heart, matters little to my tale. There was not a +moment to lose, and Richard rode out of the hall and made for the gate. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE APPARITION. + + +The voice of her lost Marquis, which even in her dreams she could +attribute to none but him, roused Dorothy at once. She sprang from her +bed, flew to the window, and flung it wide. That same moment, from the +shadows about the hall-door, came forth a man on horseback, and rode +along the tiled path to the fountain, where never had hoof of horse +before trod. Stranger still, the tramp sounded far away, and woke no +echo in the echo-haunted place. A phantom surely--horse and man! As they +drew nearer where she stared with wide eyes, the head of the rider rose +out of the shadow into the moonlight, and she recognised the face of +Richard--very white and still, though not, as she supposed, with the +whiteness and stillness of a spectre, but with the concentration of +eagerness and watchful resolution. The same moment she recognised Lady. +She trembled from head to foot. What could it mean but that beyond a +doubt they were both dead, slain in battle, and that Richard had come to +pay her a last visit ere he left the world. On they came. Her heart +swelled up into her throat, and the effort to queen it over herself, and +neither shriek nor drop on the floor, was like struggling to support a +falling wall. When the spectre reached the marble fountain, he gave a +little start, drew bridle, and seemed to become aware that he had taken +a wrong path, looked keenly around him, and instead of continuing his +advance towards her window, turned in the direction of the gate. One +thing was clear, that whether ghostly or mortal, whether already dead or +only on the way to death, the apparition was regardless of her presence. +A pang of disappointment shot through her bosom, and for the moment +quenched her sense of relief from terror. With it sank the typhoon of +her emotion, and she became able to note how draggled and soiled his +garments were, how his hair clung about his temples, and that for all +accoutrement his mare had but a halter. Yet Richard sat erect and proud, +and Lady stepped like a mare full of life and vigour. And there was +Marquis, not cowering or howling as dogs do in spectral presence, but +madly bounding and barking as if in uncontrollable jubilation! + +The acme of her bewilderment was reached when the phantom came under the +marquis's study-window, and she heard it call aloud, in a voice which +undoubtedly came from corporeal throat, and that throat Richard's, +ringing of the morning and the sunrise and the wind that shakes the +wheat--anything rather than of the tomb: + +'Ho, master Eccles!' it cried; 'when? when? Must my lord's business cool +while thou rubbest thy sleepy eyes awake? What, I say! When?--Yes, my +lord, I will punctually attend to your lordship's orders. Expect me back +within the hour.' + +The last words were uttered in a much lower tone, with the respect due +to him he seemed addressing, but quite loud enough to be distinctly +heard by Eccles or any one else in the court. + +Dorothy leaned from her window, and looked sideways to the gate, +expecting to see the marquis bending over his window-sill, and talking +to Richard. But his window was close shut, nor was there any light +behind it. + +A minute or two passed, during which she heard the combined discords of +the rising portcullis. Then out came Eccles, slow and sleepy. + +'By St. George and St. Patrick!' cried Richard, 'why keep'st thou six +legs here standing idle? Is thy master's business nothing to thee?' + +Eccles looked up at him. He was coming to his senses. + +'Thou rides in strange graith on my lord's business,' he said, as he put +the key in the lock. + +'What is that to thee? Open the gate. And make haste. If it please my +lord that I ride thus to escape eyes that else might see further than +thine, keen as they are, master Eccles, it is nothing to thee.' + +The lock clanged, the gate swung open, and Richard rode through. + +By this time a process of doubt and reasoning, rapid as only thought can +be, had produced in the mind of Dorothy the conviction that there was +something wrong. By what authority was Richard riding from Raglan with +muffled hoofs between midnight and morning? His speech to the marquis +was plainly a pretence, and doubtless that to Eccles was equally false. +To allow him to pass unchallenged would be treason against both her host +and her king. + +'Eccles! Eccles!' she cried, her voice ringing clear through the court, +'let not that man pass.' + +'He gave the word, mistress,' said Eccles, in dull response. + +'Stop him, I say,' cried Dorothy again, with energy almost frantic, as +she heard the gate swing to heavily. 'Thou shalt be held to account.' + +'He gave the word.' + +'He's a true man, mistress,' returned Eccles, in tone of +self-justification. 'Heard you not my lord marquis give him his last +orders from his window?' + +'There was no marquis at the window. Stop him, I say.' + +'He's gone,' said Eccles quietly, but with waking uneasiness. + +'Run after him,' Dorothy almost screamed. + +'Stop him at the gate. It is young Heywood of Redware, one of the +busiest of the roundheads.' + +Eccles was already running and shouting and whistling. She heard his +feet resounding from the bridge. With trembling hands she flung a cloak +about her, and sped bare-footed down the grand staircase and along the +north side of the court to the bell-tower, where she seized the rope of +the alarm-bell, and pulled with all her strength. A horrid clangour tore +the stillness of the night, re-echoed with yelping response from the +multitudinous buildings around. Window after window flew open, head +after head was popped out--amongst the first that of the marquis, +shouting to know what was amiss. But the question found no answer. The +courts began to fill. Some said the castle was on fire; others, that the +wild beasts were all out; others, that Waller and Cromwell had scaled +the rampart, and were now storming the gates; others, that Eccles had +turned traitor and admitted the enemy. In a few moments all was outcry +and confusion. Both courts and the great hall were swarming with men and +women and children, in every possible stage of attire. The main entrance +was crowded with a tumult of soldiery, and scouts were rushing to +different stations of outlook, when the cry reached them that the +western gate was open, the portcullis up, and the guard gone. + +The moment Richard was clear of the portcullis, he set off at a sharp +trot for the brick gate, and had almost reached it when he became aware +that he was pursued. He had heard the voice of Dorothy as he rode out, +and knew to whom he owed it. But yet there was a chance. Rousing the +porter with such a noisy reveillee as drowned in his sleepy ears the +cries of the warder and those that followed him, he gave the watchword, +and the huge key was just turning in the wards when the clang of the +alarm-bell suddenly racked the air. The porter stayed his hand, and +stood listening. + +'Open the gate,' said Richard in authoritative tone. + +'I will know first, master,--' began the man. + +'Dost not hear the bell?' cried Richard. 'How long wilt thou endanger +the castle by thy dulness?' + +'I shall know first,' repeated the man deliberately, 'what that bell--' + +Ere he could finish the sentence, the butt of Richard's whip had laid +him along the threshold of the gate. Richard flung himself from his +horse, and turned the key. But his enemies were now close at +hand--Eccles and the men of his guard. If the porter had but fallen the +other way! Ere he could drag aside his senseless body and open the gate, +they were upon him with blows and curses. But the puritan's blood was +up, and with the heavy handle of his whip he had felled one and wounded +another ere he was himself stretched on the ground with a sword-cut in +the head. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +RICHARD AND THE MARQUIS. + + +A very few strokes of the brazen-tongued clamourer had been enough to +wake the whole castle. Dorothy flew back to her chamber, and hurrying on +her clothes, descended again to the court. It was already in full +commotion. The western gate stood open, with the portcullis beyond it +high in the wall, and there she took her stand, waiting the return of +Eccles and his men. + +Presently lord Charles came through the hall from the stone court, and +seeing the gate open, called aloud in anger to know what it meant. +Receiving no reply, he ran with an oath to drop the portcullis. + +'Is there a mutiny amongst the rascals?' he cried. + +'There is no cause for dread, my lord,' said Dorothy from the shadow of +the gateway. + +'How know you that, fair mistress?' returned lord Charles, who knew her +voice. 'You must not inspire us with too much of your spare courage. +That would be to make us fool-hardy.' + +'Indeed, there is nothing to fear, my lord,' persisted Dorothy. 'The +warder and his men have but this moment rushed out after one on +horseback, whom they had let pass with too little question. They are ten +to one,' added Dorothy with a shudder, as the sounds of the fray came up +from below. + +'If there is then no cause of fear, cousin, why look you so pale?' asked +lord Charles, for the gleam of a torch had fallen on Dorothy's face. + +'I think I hear them returning, doubtless with a prisoner,' said +Dorothy, and stood with her face turned aside, looking anxiously through +the gateway and along the bridge. She had obeyed her conscience, and had +now to fight her heart, which unreasonable member of the community would +insist on hoping that her efforts had been foiled. But in a minute more +came the gathering noise of returning footsteps, and presently Lady's +head appeared over the crown of the bridge; then rose Eccles, leading +her in grim silence; and next came Richard, pale and bleeding, betwixt +two men, each holding him by an arm; the rest of the guard crowded +behind. As they entered the court, Richard caught sight of Dorothy, and +his face shone into a wan smile, to which her rebellious heart responded +with a terrible pang. + +The voice of lord Charles reached them from the other side of the court. + +'Bring the prisoner to the hall,' it cried. + +Eccles led the mare away, and the rest took Richard to the hall, which +now began to be lighted up, and was soon in a blaze of candles all about +the dais. When Dorothy entered, it was crowded with household and +garrison, but the marquis, who was tardy at dressing, had not yet +appeared. Presently, however, he walked slowly in from the door at the +back of the dais, breathing hard, and seated himself heavily in the +great chair. Dorothy placed herself near the door, where she could see +the prisoner. + +Lady Mary entered and seated herself beside her father. + +'What meaneth all this tumult?' the marquis began. 'Who rang the +alarum-bell?' + +'I did, my lord,' answered Dorothy in a trembling voice. + +'Thou, mistress Dorothy!' exclaimed the marquis. 'Then I doubt not thou +hadst good reason for so doing. Prithee what was the reason? Verily it +seems thou wast sent hither to be the guardian of my house!' + +'It was not I, my lord, gave the first alarm, but--' She hesitated, then +added, 'my poor Marquis.' + +'Not so poor for a marquis, cousin Dorothy, as to be called the poor +Marquis. Why dost thou call me poor?' + +'My lord, I mean my dog.' + +'The truth will still lie--between me and thy dog,' said the marquis. +'But come now, instruct me. Who is this prisoner, and how comes he +here?' + +'He be young Mr. Heywood of Redware, my lord, and a pestilent +roundhead,' answered one of his captors. + +'Who knows him?' + +A moment's silence followed. Then came Dorothy's voice again. + +'I do, my lord.' + +'Tell me, then, all thou knowest from the beginning, cousin,' said the +marquis. + +'I was roused by the barking of my dog,' Dorothy began. + +'How came HE hither again?' + +'My lord, I know not.' + +''Tis passing strange. See to it, lord Charles. Go on, mistress +Dorothy.' + +'I heard my dog bark in the court, my lord, and looking from my window +saw Mr. Heywood riding through on horseback. Ere I could recover from my +astonishment, he had passed the gate, and then I rang the alarm-bell,' +said Dorothy briefly. + +'Who opened the gate for him?' + +'I did, my lord,' said Eccles. 'He made me believe he was talking to +your lordship at the study window.' + +'Ha! a cunning fox!' said the marquis. 'And then?' + +'And then mistress Dorothy fell out upon me--' + +'Let thy tongue wag civilly, Eccles.' + +'He speaks true, my lord,' said Dorothy. 'I did fall out upon him, for +he was but half awake, and I knew not what mischief might be at hand.' + +'Eccles is obliged to you, cousin. And so the lady brought you to your +senses in time to catch him?' + +'Yes, my lord.' + +'How comes he wounded? He was but one to a score.' + +'My lord, he would else have killed us all.' + +'He was armed then?' + +Eccles was silent. + +'Was he armed?' repeated the marquis. + +'He had a heavy whip, my lord.' + +'H'm!' said the marquis, and turned to the prisoner. + +'Is thy name Heywood, sirrah?' he asked. + +'My lord, if you treat me as a clown, you shall have but clown's manners +of me; I will not answer.' + +''Fore heaven!' exclaimed the marquis, 'our squires would rule the +roast.' + +'He that doth right, marquis or squire, will one day rule, my lord,' +said Richard. + +''Tis well said,' returned the marquis. 'I ask your pardon, Mr. Heywood. +In times like these a man must be excused for occasionally dropping his +manners.' + +'Assuredly, my lord, when he stoops to recover them so gracefully as +doth the marquis of Worcester.' + +'What, then, would'st thou in my house at midnight, Mr. Heywood?' asked +the marquis courteously. + +'Nothing save mine own, my lord. I came but to look for a stolen mare.' + +'What! thou takest Raglan for a den of thieves?' + +'I found the mare in your lordship's stable.' + +'How then came the mare in my stable?' + +'That is not a question for me to answer, my lord.' + +'Doubtless thou didst lose her in battle against thy sovereign.' + +'She was in Redware stable last night, my lord.' + +'Which of you, knaves, stole the gentleman's mare?' cried the +marquis.--'But, Mr. Heywood, there can be no theft upon a rebel. He is +by nature an outlaw, and his life and goods forfeit to the king.' + +'He will hardly yield the point, my lord. So long as Might, the sword, +is in the hand of Right, the--' + +'Of Right, the roundhead, I suppose you mean,' interrupted the marquis. +'Who carried off Mr. Heywood's mare?' he repeated, rising, and looking +abroad on the crowd. + +'Tom Fool,' answered a voice from the obscure distance. + +A buzz of suppressed laughter followed, which as instantly ceased, for +the marquis looked angrily around. + +'Stand forth, Tom Fool,' he said. + +Through the crowd came Tom, and stood before the dais, looking +frightened and sheepish. + +'Sure I am, Tom, thou didst never go to steal a mare of thine own +notion: who went with thee?' said the marquis. + +'Mr. Scudamore, my lord,' answered Tom. + +'Ha, Rowland! Art thou there?' cried his lordship. + +'I gave him fair warning two years ago, my lord, and the king wants +horses,' said Scudamore cunningly. + +'Rowland, I like not such warfare. Yet can the roundheads say nought +against it, who would filch kingdom from king and church from bishops,' +said the marquis, turning again to Heywood. + +'As they from the pope, my lord,' rejoined Richard. + +'True,' answered the marquis; 'but the bishops are the fairer thieves, +and may one day be brought to reason and restitution.' + +'As I trust your lordship will in respect of my mare.' + +'Nay, that can hardly be. She shall to Gloucester to the king. I would +not have sent to Redware to fetch her, but finding thee and her in my +house at midnight, it would be plain treason to set such enemies at +liberty. What! hast thou fought against his majesty? Thou art scored +like an old buckler!' + +Richard had started on his adventure very thinly clad, for he had +expected to find all possible freedom of muscle necessary, and indeed +could not in his buff coat have entered the castle. In the scuffle at +the gate, his garment had been torn open, and the eye of the marquis had +fallen on the scar of a great wound on his chest, barely healed. + +'What age art thou?' he went on, finding Richard made no answer. + +'One and twenty, my lord--almost.' + +'And what wilt thou be by the time thou art one and thirty, an' I'll let +thee go,' said the marquis thoughtfully. + +'Dust and ashes, my lord, most likely. Faith, I care not.' + +As he spoke he glanced at Dorothy, but she was looking on the ground. + +'Nay, nay!' said the marquis feelingly. 'These are, but wild and hurling +words for a fine young fellow like thee. Long ere thou be a man, the +king will have his own again, and all will be well. Come, promise me +thou wilt never more bear arms against his majesty, and I will set thee +and thy mare at liberty the moment thou shalt have eaten thy breakfast.' + +'Not to save ten lives, my lord, would I give such a promise.' + +'Roundhead hypocrite!' cried the marquis, frowning to hide the gleam of +satisfaction he felt breaking from his eyes. 'What will thy father say +when he hears thou liest deep in Raglan dungeon?' + +'He will thank heaven that I lie there a free man instead of walking +abroad a slave,' answered Richard. + +''Fore heaven!' said the marquis, and was silent for a moment. 'Owest +thou then thy king NOTHING, boy?' he resumed. + +'I owe the truth everything,' answered Richard. + +'The truth!' echoed the marquis. + +'Now speaks my lord Worcester like my lord Pilate,' said Richard. + +'Hold thy peace, boy,' returned the marquis sternly. 'Thy godly parents +have ill taught thee thy manners. How knowest thou what was in my +thought when I did but repeat after thee the sacred word thou didst +misuse?' + +'My lord, I was wrong, and I beg your lordship's pardon. But an' your +lordship were standing here with your head half beaten in, and your +clothes--' + +Here Richard bethought himself, and was silent. + +'Tell me then how gat'st thou in, lunatic,' said the marquis, not +unkindly, 'and thou shalt straight to bed.' + +'My lord,' returned Richard, 'you have taken my mare, and taken my +liberty, but the devil is in it if you take my secret.' + +'I would thy mare had been poisoned ere she drew thee hither on such a +fool's errand! I want neither thee nor thy mare, and yet I may not let +you go!' + +'A moment more, and it had been an exploit, and no fool's errand, my +lord.' + +'Then the fool's cap would have been thine, Eccles. How camest thou to +let him out? Thou a warder, and ope gate and up portcullis 'twixt waking +and sleeping!' + +'Had he wanted in, my lord, it would have been different,' said Eccles. +'But he only wanted out, and gave the watchword.' + +'Where got'st thou the watchword, Mr. Heywood?' + +'I will tell thee what I gave for it, my lord. More I will not.' + +'What gavest thou then?' + +'My word that I would work neither thee nor thine any hurt withal, my +lord.' + +'Then there are traitors within my gates!' cried the marquis. + +'Truly, that I know not, my lord,' answered Richard. + +'Prithee tell me how them gat thee into my house, Mr. Heywood? It were +but neighbourly.' + +'It were but neighbourly, my lord, to hang young Scudamore and Tom Fool +for thieves.' + +'Tell me how thou gat hold of the watchword, good boy, and I will set +thee free, and give thee thy mare again.' + +'I will not, my lord.' + +'Then the devil take thee!' said the marquis, rising. + +The same moment Richard reeled, and but for the men about him, would +have fallen heavily. + +Dorothy darted forward, but could not come near him for the crowd. + +'My lord Charles,' cried the marquis, 'see the poor fellow taken care +of. Let him sleep, and perchance on the morrow he will listen to reason. +Mistress Watson will see to his hurts. I would to God he were on our +side! I like him well.' + +The men took him up and followed lord Charles to the housekeeper's +apartment, where they laid him on a bed in a little turret, and left +him, still insensible, to her care, with injunctions to turn the key in +the lock if she went from the chamber but for a moment. 'For who can +tell,' thought lord Charles, greatly perplexed, 'but as he came he may +go?' + +Some of the household had followed them, and several of the women would +gladly have stayed, but Mrs. Watson sent all away. Gradually the crowd +dispersed. The tumult ceased; the household retired. The castle grew +still, and most of its inhabitants fell asleep again. + +'A damned hot-livered roundhead coxcomb!' said lord Worcester to +himself, pacing his room. 'These pelting cockerel squires and yeomen +nowadays go strutting and crowing as if all the yard were theirs! We +shall see how far this heat will carry the rogue! I doubt not the boy +would tell everything than see his mare whipped. He's a fine fellow, and +it were a thousand pities he turned coward and gave in. But the affair +is not mine; it is the king's majesty's. Would to God the rascal were of +our side! He's the right old English breed. A few such were very +welcome, if only to show some of our dainty young lordlings of yesterday +what breed can do. But an ass-foal it is! To run his neck into a halter, +and set honest people in mortal doubt whether to pull the end or no! + +How on earth did he ever dream of carrying off a horse out of the very +courts of Raglan castle! And yet, by saint George! he would have done it +too, but for that brave wench of a Vaughan! What a couple the two would +make! They'd give us a race of Arthurs and Orlandos between them. God be +praised there are such left in England! And yet the rogue is but a +pestilent roundhead--the more's the pity! Those coward rascals need +never have mauled him like that. Yet had the blow gone a little deeper +it had been a mighty gain to our side. Out he shall not go till the war +be over! It would be downright treason.' + +So ran the thoughts of the marquis as he paced his chamber. But at +length he lay down once more, and sought refuge in sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE SLEEPLESS. + + +There were more than the marquis left awake and thinking; amongst the +rest one who ought to have been asleep, for the thoughts that kept her +awake were evil thoughts. + +Amanda Serafina Fuller was a twig or leaf upon one of many decaying +branches, which yet drew what life they had from an ancient genealogical +tree. Property gone, but the sense of high birth swollen to a vice, the +one thought in her mother's mind, ever since she grew capable of looking +upon the social world in its relation to herself, had been how, with +stinted resources, to make the false impression of plentiful ease. For +one of the most disappointing things in high descent is, that the +descent is occasionally into depths of meanness. Some who are proudest +of their lineage, instead of finding therein a spur to nobility of +thought and action, find in it only a necessity for prostrating +themselves with the more abject humiliation at the footstool of Mammon, +to be admitted into the penetralia of which foul god's favours, they +will hasten to mingle the blood of their pure descent with that of the +very kennels, yellow with the gold to which a noble man, if poor as +Jesus himself, would loathe to be indebted for a meal. In 'the high +countries' there will be a finding of levels more appalling than +strange. + +Hence Amanda had been born and brought up in falsehood, had been all her +life witness to a straining after the untrue so energetic, as to assume +the appearance of conscience; while such was the tenor and spirit of the +remarks she was constantly hearing, that she grew up with the ingrained +undisputed idea that she and her mother, whom she had only known as a +widow, had been wronged, spoiled indeed of their lawful rights, by a +combination of their rich relatives; whereas in truth they had been the +objects of very considerable generosity, which they resented the more +that it had been chiefly exercised by such of the family as could least +easily afford it, yet accepted in their hearts, if not in their words, +as their natural right. The intercession through which Amanda had been +received into lady Margaret's household, was the contribution towards +their maintenance of one of their richer connections: the marquis +himself, although distantly related, not having previously been aware of +their existence. + +But Amanda felt degraded by her position, and was unaware that to +herself alone she owed the degradation: she had not yet learned that the +only service which can degrade is that which is unwillingly rendered. To +be paid for such, is degradation in its very essence. Every one who +grumbles at his position as degrading, yet accepts the wages thereof, +brands himself a slave. + +The evil tendencies which she had inherited, had then been nourished in +her from her very birth--chief of these envy, and a strong tendency to +dislike. Mean herself, she was full of suspicions with regard to others, +and found much pleasure in penetrating what she took to be disguise, and +laying bare the despicable motives which her own character enabled her +either to discover or imagine, and which, in other people, she hated. +Moderately good people have no idea of the vileness of which their own +nature is capable, or which has been developed in not a few who pass as +respectable persons, and have not yet been accused either of theft or +poisoning. Such as St. Paul alone can fully understand the abyss of +moral misery from which the in-dwelling spirit of God has raised them. + +The one redeeming element in Amanda was her love to her mother, but +inasmuch as it was isolated and self-reflected, their mutual attachment +partook of the nature of a cultivated selfishness, and had lost much of +its primal grace. The remaining chance for such a woman, so to speak, +seems--that she should either fall in love with a worthy man, if that be +still possible to her, or, by her own conduct, be brought into dismal +and incontrovertible disgrace. + +She had stood in the hall within a few yards of Dorothy, and had +intently watched her face all the time Richard was before the marquis. +But not because she watched the field of their play was Amanda able to +read the heart whence ascended those strangely alternating lights and +shadows. She had, by her own confession, conceived a strong dislike to +Dorothy the moment she saw her, and without love there can be no +understanding. Hate will sharpen observation to the point of microscopic +vision, affording opportunity for many a shrewd guess, and revealing +facts for the construction of the cleverest and falsest theories, but +will leave the observer as blind as any bat to the scope of the whole, +or the meaning of the parts which can be understood only from the whole; +for love alone can interpret. + +As she gazed on the signs of conflicting emotion in Dorothy's changes of +colour and expression, Amanda came quickly enough to the conclusion that +nothing would account for them but the assumption that the sly +puritanical minx was in love with the handsome young roundhead. How else +could the deathly pallor of her countenance while she fixed her eyes +wide and unmoving upon his face, and the flush that ever and anon swept +its red shadow over the pallor as she cast them on the ground at some +brave word from the lips of the canting psalm-singer, be in the least +intelligible? Then came the difficulty: how in that case was her share +in his capture to be explained? But here Amanda felt herself in her own +province, and before the marquis rose, had constructed a very clever +theory, in which exercise of ingenuity, however, unluckily for its +truth, she had taken for granted that Dorothy's nature corresponded to +her own, and reasoned freely from the character of the one to the +conduct of the other. This was her theory: Dorothy had expected Richard, +and contrived his admission. His presence betrayed by the mastiff, and +his departure challenged by the warder, she had flown instantly to the +alarm-bell, to screen herself in any case, and to secure the chance, if +he should be taken, of liberating him without suspicion under cover of +the credit of his capture. The theory was a bold one, but then it +accounted for all the points--amongst the rest, how he had got the +password and why he would not tell--and was indeed in the fineness of +its invention equally worthy of both the heart and the intellect of the +theorist. + +Nor were mistress Fuller's resolves behind her conclusions in merit: of +all times since first she had learned to mistrust her, this night must +Dorothy be watched; and it was with a gush of exultation over her own +acuteness that she saw her follow the men who bore Richard from the +hall. + +If Dorothy knew more of her own feelings than she who watched her, she +was far less confident that she understood them. Indeed she found them +strangely complicated, and as difficult to control as to understand, +while she stood gazing on the youth who through her found himself +helpless and wounded in the hands of his enemies. He was all in the +wrong, no doubt--a rebel against his king, and an apostate from the +church of his country; but he was the same Richard with whom she had +played all her childhood, whom her mother had loved, and between whom +and herself had never fallen shadow before that cast by the sudden +outblaze of the star of childish preference into the sun of youthful +love. And was it not when the very mother of shadows, the blackness of +darkness itself, swept between them and separated them for ever, that +first she knew how much she had loved him? What if not with the love +that could listen entranced to its own echo!--love of child or love of +maiden, Dorothy never asked herself which it had been, or which it was +now. She was not given to self-dissection. The cruel fingers of analysis +had never pulled her flower to pieces, had never rubbed the bloom from +the sun-dyed glow of her feelings. But now she could not help the +vaporous rise of a question: all was over, for Richard had taken the +path of presumption, rebellion, and violence--how then came it that her +heart beat with such a strange delight at every answer he made to the +expostulations or enticements of the marquis? How was it that his +approval of the intruder, not the less evident that it was unspoken, +made her heart swell with pride and satisfaction, causing her to forget +the rude rebellion housed within the form whose youth alone prevented it +from looking grand in her eyes? + +For the moment her heart had the better of--her conscience, shall I say? +Yes, of that part of her conscience, I will allow, which had grown weak +by the wandering of its roots into the poor soil of opinion. In the +delight which the manliness of the young fanatic awoke in her, she even +forgot the dull pain which had been gnawing at her heart ever since +first she saw the blood streaming down his face as he passed her in the +gateway. But when at length he fell fainting in the arms of his captors, +and the fear that she had slain him writhed sickening through her heart, +it was with a grim struggle indeed that she kept silent and conscious. +The voice of the marquis, committing him to the care of mistress Watson +instead of the rough ministrations of the guard, came with the power of +a welcome restorative, and she hastened after his bearers to satisfy +herself that the housekeeper was made understand that he was carried to +her at the marquis's behest. She then retired to her own chamber, +passing in the corridor Amanda, whose room was in the same quarter, with +a salute careless from weariness and pre-occupation. + +The moment her head was on her pillow the great fight began--on that +only battle-field of which all others are but outer types and pictures, +upon which the thoughts of the same spirit are the combatants, accusing +and excusing one another. + +She had done her duty, but what a remorseless thing that duty was! She +did not, she could not, repent that she had done it, but her heart WOULD +complain that she had had it to do. To her, as to Hamlet, it was a +cursed spite. She had not yet learned the mystery of her relation to the +Eternal, whose nature in his children it is that first shows itself in +the feeling of duty. Her religion had not as yet been shaken, to test +whether it was of the things that remain or of those that pass. It is +easy for a simple nature to hold by what it has been taught, so long as +out of that faith springs no demand of bitter obedience; but when the +very hiding place of life begins to be laid bare under the scalpel of +the law, when the heart must forego its love, when conscience seems at +war with kindness, and duty at strife with reason, then most good +people, let their devotion to what they call their religion be what it +may, prove themselves, although generally without recognising the fact, +very much of pagans after all. And good reason why! For are they not +devoted to their church or their religion tenfold more than to the +living Love, the father of their spirits? and what else is that, be the +church or religion what it will, but paganism? Gentle and strong at once +as Dorothy was, she was not yet capable of knowing that, however like it +may look to a hardship, no duty can be other than a privilege. Nor was +it any wonder if she did not perceive that she was already rewarded for +the doing of the painful task, at the memory of which her heart ached +and rebelled, by the fresh outburst in that same troubled heart of the +half-choked spring of her love to the playmate of her childhood. Had it +fallen, as she would have judged so much fairer, to some one else of the +many in the populous place to defeat Richard's intent and secure his +person, she would have both suffered and loved less. The love, I repeat, +was the reward of the duty done. + +For a long time she tossed sleepless, for what she had just passed +through had so thorougly possessed her imagination that, ever as her +wearied brain was sinking under the waves of sleep, up rose the face of +Richard from its depths, deathlike, with matted curls and bloodstained +brow, and drove her again ashore on the rocks of wakefulness. By and by +the form of her suffering changed, and then instead of the face of +Richard it was his voice, ever as she reached the point of oblivion, +calling aloud for help in a tone of mingled entreaty and reproach, until +at last she could no longer resist the impression that she was warned to +go and save him from some impending evil. This once admitted, not for a +moment would she delay response. She rose, threw on a dressing-gown, and +set out in the dim light of the breaking day to find again the room into +which she had seen him carried. + +There was yet another in the house who could not sleep, and that was Tom +Fool. He had a strong suspicion that Richard had learned the watchword +from his mother, who, like most people desirous of a reputation for +superior knowledge, was always looking out for scraps and orts of +peculiar information. In such persons an imagination after its kind has +considerable play, and when mother Rees had succeeded, without much +difficulty on her own, or sense of risk on her son's part, in drawing +from him the watchword of the week, she was aware in herself of a huge +accession of importance; she felt as if she had been intrusted with the +keys of the main entrance, and trod her clay floor as if the fate of +Raglan was hid in her bosom, and the great pile rested in safety under +the shadow of her wings. But her imagined gain was likely to prove her +son's loss; for, as he reasoned with himself, would Mr. Heywood, now +that he knew him for the thief of his mare, persist, upon reflection, in +refusing to betray his mother? If not, then the fault would at once be +traced to him, with the result at the very least, of disgraceful +expulsion from the marquis's service. Almost any other risk would be +preferable. + +But he had yet another ground for uneasiness. He knew well his mother's +attachment to young Mr. Heywood, and had taken care she should have no +suspicion of the way he was going after leaving her the night he told +her the watchword; for such was his belief in her possession of +supernatural powers, that he feared the punishment she would certainly +inflict for the wrong done to Richard, should it come to her knowledge, +even more than the wrath of the marquis. For both of these weighty +reasons therefore he must try what could be done to strengthen Richard +in his silence, and was prepared with an offer, or promise at least, of +assistance in making his escape. + +As soon as the house was once more quiet, he got up, and, thoroughly +acquainted with the "crenkles" of it, took his way through dusk and +dark, through narrow passage and wide chamber, without encountering the +slightest risk of being heard or seen, until at last he stood, +breathless with anxiety and terror, at the door of the turret-chamber, +and laid his ear against it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE TURRET CHAMBER. + + +When mistress Watson had, as gently as if she had been his mother, bound +up Richard's wounded head, she gave him a composing draught, and sat +down by his bedside. But as soon as she saw it begin to take effect, she +withdrew, in the certainty that he would not move for some hours at +least. Although he did fall asleep, however, Richard's mind was too +restless and anxious to yield itself to the natural influence of the +potion. He had given his word to his father that he would ride on the +morrow; the morrow had come, and here he was! Hence the condition which +the drug superinduced was rather that of dreaming than sleep, the more +valuable element, repose, having little place in the result. + +The key was in the lock, and Tom Fool as he listened softly turned it, +then lifted the latch, peeped in, and entered. Richard started to his +elbow, and stared wildly about him. Tom made him an anxious sign, and, +fevered as he was and but half awake, Richard, whether he understood it +or not, anyhow kept silence, while Tom Fool approached the bed, and +began to talk rapidly in a low voice, trembling with apprehension. It +was some time, however, before Richard began to comprehend even a +fragment here and there of what he was saying. When at length he had +gathered this much, that his visitor was running no small risk in coming +to him, and was in mortal dread of discovery, he needed but the +disclosure of who he was, which presently followed, to spring upon him +and seize him by the throat with a gripe that rendered it impossible for +him to cry out, had he been so minded. + +'Master, master!' he gurgled, 'let me go. I will swear any oath you +please--' + +'And break it any moment YOU please,' returned Richard through his set +teeth, and caught with his other hand the coverlid, dragged it from the +bed, and, twisting it first round his face, flung the remainder about +his body; then, threatening to knock his brains out if he made the least +noise, proceeded to tie him up in it with his garters and its own +corners. No sound escaped poor Tom beyond a continuous mumbled entreaty +through its folds. Richard laid him on the floor, pulled all the bedding +upon the top of him, and gliding out, closed the door, but, to Tom's +unspeakable relief, as his ears, agonizedly listening, assured him, did +not lock it behind him. + +Tom's sole anxiety was now to get back to his garret unseen, and nothing +was farther from his thoughts than giving the alarm. The moment Richard +was out of hearing--out of sight he had been for some stifling +minutes--he devoted his energies to getting clear of his entanglement, +which he did not find very difficult; then stepping softly from the +chamber, he crept with a heavy heart back as he had come through a +labyrinth of by-ways. + +About half an hour after, Dorothy came gliding through the house, making +a long circuit of corridors. Gladly would she have avoided passing +Amanda's door, and involuntarily held her breath as she approached it, +stepping as lightly as a thief. But alas! nothing save incorporeity +could have availed her. The moment she had passed, out peeped Amanda and +crept after her barefooted, saw her to her joy enter the chamber and +close the door behind her, then 'like a tiger of the wood,' made one +noiseless bound, turned the key, and sped back to her own chamber--with +the feeling of Mark Antony when he said, 'Now let it work!' + +Dorothy was startled by a slight click, but concluded at once that it +was nothing but a further fall of the latch, and was glad it was no +louder. The same moment she saw, by the dim rushlight, the signs of +struggle which the room presented, and discovered that Richard was gone. +Her first emotion was an undefined agony: they had murdered him, or +carried him off to a dungeon! There were the bedclothes in a tumbled +heap upon the floor! And--yes--it was blood with which they were marked! +Sickening at the thought, and forgetting all about her own situation, +she sank on the chair by the bedside. + +Knowing the castle as she did, a very little reflection convinced her +that if he had met with violence it must have been in attempting to +escape; and if he had made the attempt, might he not have succeeded? +There had certainly been no fresh alarm given. But upon this consoling +supposition followed instantly the pang of the question: what was now +required of her? The same hard thing as before? Ought she not again to +give the alarm, that the poor wounded boy might be recaptured? Alas! had +not evil enough already befallen him at her hand? And if she +did--horrible thought!--what account could she give this time of her +discovery? What indeed but the truth? And to what vile comments would +not the confession of her secret visit in the first grey of the dawn to +the chamber of the prisoner expose her? Would it not naturally rouse +such suspicion as any modest woman must shudder to face, if but for the +one moment between utterance and refutation. And what refutation could +there be for her, so long as the fact remained? If he had escaped, the +alarm would serve no good end, and her shame could be spared; but he +might be hiding somewhere about the castle, and she must choose between +treachery to the marquis--was it?--on the one hand, and renewed hurt, +wrong, perhaps, to Richard, coupled with the bitterest disgrace to +herself, on the other. To weigh such a question impartially was +impossible; for in the one alternative no hurt would befall the marquis, +while from the other her very soul recoiled sickening. Thus tortured, +she sat motionless in the very den of the dragon, the one moment vainly +endeavouring to rouse up her courage and look her duty in the face that +she might know with certainty what it was; the next, feeling her whole +nature rise rebellious against the fate that demanded such a sacrifice. +Ought she to be thus punished for an intent of the purest humanity? + +There came a lull, and with the lull a sense of her position: she sat in +the very, jaws of slander! Any moment mistress Watson or another might +enter and find her there, and what then more natural or irrefutable than +the accusation of having liberated him? She sprang to her feet, and +darted to the door. It was locked! + +Her first thought was relief: she had no longer to decide; her second, +that she was a prisoner--till, horror of horrors! the soldiers of the +guard came to seek Richard and found her, or stern mistress Watson +appeared, grim as one of the Fates; or, perhaps, if Richard had been +carried away, until she was compelled by hunger and misery to call aloud +for release. But no! she would rather die. Now in this case, now in +that, her thoughts pursued the horrible possibilities, one or other of +which was inevitable, through all the windings of the torture of +anticipation, until for a time she must have lost consciousness, for she +had no recollection of falling where she found herself--on the heap in +the middle of the floor. The gray heartless dawn had begun to peer in +through the dull green glass that closed the one loophole. It grew and +grew, and its growth was the approach of the grinning demon of shame. +The nearer a man can arrive to the knowledge of such feelings as hers is +the conviction that he never can comprehend them. The cruel light seemed +gathering its strength to publish her shame to the universe. Blameless +as she was, she would have gladly accepted death in escape from the +misery that every moment grew nearer. Now and then a faint glimmer of +comfort reached her in the thought that at least the escape of Richard, +if he had escaped, was thus ensured, and that without any blame to her. +And perhaps mistress Watson would be merciful--only she too had her +obligations, and as housekeeper was severely responsible. And even if +she should prove pitiful, there was the locking of the door! It followed +so quickly, that some one must have seen her enter, and wittingly snared +her, believing most likely that she was not alone in the chamber. + +The terrible bolt at length slid back in the lock, gently, yet with +tearing sound; mistress Watson entered, stood, stared. Before her sat +Dorothy by the side of the bedstead, in her dressing-gown, her hair +about her neck, her face like the moon at sunrise, and her eyelids red +and swollen with weeping. She stood speechless, staring first at the +disconsolate maiden, and then at the disorder of the room. The prisoner +was nowhere. What her thoughts were, I must only imagine. That she +should stare and be bewildered, finding Dorothy where she had left +Richard, was at least natural. + +The moment Dorothy found herself face to face with her doom, her +presence of mind returned. The blood rushed from her heart to her brain. +She rose, and ere the astonished matron, who stood before her erect, +high-nosed, and open-mouthed like Michael Angelo's Clotho, could find +utterance, said, + +'Mistress Watson, I swear to you by the soul of my mother, that although +all seeming is against me, W--' + +'Where is the young rebel?' interrupted mistress Watson sternly. + +'I know not,' answered Dorothy. 'When first I entered the chamber, he +had already gone.' + +'And what then hadst thou to do entering it?' asked the housekeeper, in +a tone that did Dorothy good by angering her. + +Mistress Watson was a kind soul in reality, but few natures can resist +the debasing influence of a sudden sense of superiority. Besides, was +not the young gentlewoman in great wrong, and therefore before her must +she not personify an awful Purity? + +'That I will tell to none but my lord marquis,' answered Dorothy, with +sudden resolve. + +'Oh, by all means, mistress! but an' thou think to lead him by the nose +while I be in Raglan,--' + +'Shall I inform his lordship in what high opinion his housekeeper holds +him?' said Dorothy. 'It seems to me he will hardly savour it.' + +'It would be an ill turn to do me, but my lord marquis did never heed a +tale-bearer.' + +'Then will he not heed the tale thou wouldst yield him concerning me.' + +'What tale should I yield him but that I find--thee here and the +prisoner gone?' + +'The tale I read in thy face and thy voice. Thou lookest and talkest as +if I were a false woman.' + +'Verily to my eyes the thing looketh ill.' + +'It would look ill to any eyes, and therefore I need kind eyes to read, +and just ears to hear my tale. I tell thee this is a matter for my lord, +and if thou spread any report in the castle ere his lordship hear it, +whatever evil springs therefrom it will lie at thy door.' + +'My life! what dost take me for, mistress Dorothy? My age and holding +deserves some consideration at thy hands! Am I one to go tattling about +the courts forsooth?' + +'Pardon me, madam, but a maiden's good name may be as precious to +Dorothy Vaughan as a matron's respectability to mistress Watson. An' you +had left me with that look on your face, and had but spoken my name to +it, some one would have guessed ten times more than you know--or I +either for that gear.' + +'I must tell the truth,' said mistress Watson, relenting a little. + +'Thou must, or I will tell it for thee--but to the marquis. Thou shalt +be there to hear, and if, after that, thou tell it to another, then hast +thou no mother's heart in thee.' + +Dorothy gave way at last and burst into tears. Mistress Watson was +touched. + +'Nay, child, I would do thee no wrong,' she rejoined. 'Get thee to bed. +I must rouse the guard to go look for the prisoner, but I will say +nothing of thee to any but my lord marquis. When he is dressed and in +his study, I will come for thee myself.' + +Dorothy thanked her warmly, and betook herself to her chamber, +considerably relieved. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +JUDGE GOUT. + + +Dorothy had hardly reached her room when the castle was once more astir. +The rush of the guard across the stone court, the clang of opening +lattices, and the voices that called from out-shot heads, again filled +her ears, but she never once peeped from her window. A moment, and the +news was all over the castle that the prisoner had escaped. + +Lord Charles went at once to his father's room. The old man woke +instantly. He had but just laid his hand on his mane, not mounted the +shadowy steed, and was ill pleased to be already, and the second time, +startled back to conscious weariness. When he heard the bad tidings he +was silent for a few moments. + +'I would Herbert were at home, Charles, to stop this rat-hole for me,' +he said at length. 'Let the roundhead go--I care not. I had but half a +right to hold him, and he deserves his freedom. But what a governor art +thou, my lord? Prithee, dost know the rents in thine own hose, who +knowest not when thy gingerbread bulwarks gape? Find me out this +rat-hole, I say, or I will depose thee and send for thy brother John, +whom the king can ill spare.' + +'Have patience with me, father,' said lord Charles gently. 'I am more +ashamed than thou art angry.' + +'Thou know'st I did but jest, my son. But in truth an' thou find it not +I will send for lord Herbert. If he find what thou canst not, that will +be no disgrace to thee. But find it we must.' + +'Think you not, my lord, it were best set mistress Dorothy on the +search? She hath a wondrous gift of discovery.' + +'A good thought, Charles! I will even do as thou sayest. But search the +castle first, from vane to dungeon, that we may be assured the roundhead +hath indeed vanished.' + +As he spoke the marquis turned him round, to search the wide gray fields +again for the shadowy horse that roamed them tetherless. But the steed +would not come to his call; he grew chilly and asthmatic, tossed to and +fro, and began to dread an attack of the gout. + +The sun rose higher; the hive of men and women was astir once more; the +clatter of the day's work and the buzz of the day's talk began, and +nothing was in anybody's mouth but the escape of the prisoner. His +capture and trial were already of the past, forgotten for the time in +the nearer astonishment. Lord Charles went searching, questioning, +peering about everywhere, but could find neither prisoner nor the +traitorous hole. + +Meantime mistress Watson was not a little anxious until she should have +revealed what she knew to the marquis, for the prisoner was in her +charge when he disappeared. In the course of the morning lord Charles +came to her apartment to question her, but she begged to be excused, +because of a certain disclosure she was not at liberty to make to any +but his father. Lord Charles, whom she had known from his boyhood, +readily yielded, and mistress Watson, five minutes after he had left his +room, followed the marquis to his study, whither it was his custom +always to repair before breakfast. He was looking pale from the trouble +of the night, which had resulted in unmistakeable symptoms of the gout, +listened to all she had to tell him without comment, looked grave, and +told her to fetch mistress Dorothy. As soon as she was gone, he called +Scudamore from the antechamber, and sent him to request lord Charles's +presence. He came at once, and was there when Dorothy entered. + +She was very white and worn, and her eyes were heavily downcast. Her +face wore that expression so much resembling guilt, which indicates the +misery the most innocent feel the most under the consciousness of +suspicion. At the sight of lord Charles, she crimsoned: it was one thing +to confess to the marquis, and quite another to do so in the presence of +his son. + +The marquis sat with one leg on a stool, already in the gradually +contracting gripe of his ghoulish enemy. Before Dorothy could recover +from the annoyance of finding lord Charles present, or open her mouth to +beg for a more private interview, he addressed her abruptly. + +'Our young rebel friend hath escaped, it seems, mistress Dorothy!' he +said, gently but coldly, looking her full in the eyes, with searching +gaze and hard expression. + +'I am glad to hear it, my lord,' returned Dorothy, with a sudden influx +of courage, coming, as the wind blows, she knew not whence. + +'Ha!' said the marquis, quickly; 'then is it news to thee, mistress +Dorothy?' + +His lip, as it seemed to Dorothy, curled into a mocking smile; but the +gout might have been in it. + +'Indeed it is news, my lord. I hoped it might be so, I confess, but I +knew not that so it was.' + +'What, mistress Dorothy! knewest thou not that the young thief was +gone?' + +'I knew that Richard Heywood was gone from his chamber--whether from the +castle I knew not. He was no thief, my lord. Your lordship's page and +fool were the thieves.' + +'Cousin, I hardly know myself in the change I find in thee! Truly, a +marvellous change! In the dark night thou takest a roundhead prisoner; +in the gray of the morning thou settest him free again! Hath one visit +to his chamber so wrought upon thee? To an old man it seemeth less than +maidenly.' + +Again a burning blush overspread poor Dorothy's countenance. But she +governed herself, and spoke bravely, although she could not keep her +voice from trembling. + +'My lord,' she said, 'Richard Heywood was my playmate. We were as +brother and sister, for our fathers' lands bordered each other.' + +'Thou didst say nothing of these things last night?' + +'My lord! Before the whole hall? Besides, what mattered it? All was over +long ago, and I had done my part against him.' + +'Fell you out together then?' + +'What need is there for your lordship to ask? Thou seest him of the one +part, and me of the other.' + +'And from loving thou didst fall to hating?' + +'God forbid, my lord! I but do my part against him.' + +'For the which thou hadst a noble opportunity unsought, raising the hue +and cry upon him within his enemy's walls!' + +'I would to God, my lord, it had not fallen to me.' + +'Thinking better of it, therefore, and repenting of thy harshness, thou +didst seek his chamber in the night to tell him so? I would fain know +how a maiden reasoneth with herself when she doth such things.' + +'Not so, my lord. I will tell you all. I could not sleep for thinking of +my wounded playmate. And as to what he had done, after it became clear +that he sought but his own, and meant no hair's-breadth of harm to your +lordship, I confess the matter looked not the same.' + +'Therefore you would make him amends and undo what you had done? You had +caught the bird, and had therefore a right to free the bird when you +would? All well, mistress Dorothy, had he been indeed a bird! But being +a man, and in thy friend's house, I doubt thy logic. The thing had +passed from thy hands into mine, young mistress,' said the marquis, into +the ball of whose foot the gout that moment ran its unicorn-horn. + +'I did not set him free, my lord. When I entered the prison-chamber, he +was already gone.' + +'Thou hadst the will and didst it not! Is there yet another in my house +who had the will and did it?' cried the marquis, who, although more than +annoyed that she should have so committed herself, yet was willing to +give such scope to a lover, that if she had but confessed she had +liberated him, he would have pardoned her heartily. He did not yet know +how incapable Dorothy was of a lie. + +'But, my lord, I had not the will to set him free,' she said. + +'Wherefore then didst go to him?' + +'My lord, he was sorely wounded, and I had seen him fall fainting,' said +Dorothy, repressing her tears with much ado. + +'And thou didst go to comfort him?' + +Dorothy was silent. + +'How camest thou locked into his room? Tell me that, mistress.' + +'Your lordship knows as much of that as I do. Indeed, I have been sorely +punished for a little fault.' + +'Thou dost confess the fault then?' + +'If it WAS a fault to visit him who was sick and in prison, my lord.' + +The marquis was silent for a whole minute. + +'And thou canst not tell how he gat him forth of the walls? Must I +believe him to be forth of them, my lord?' he said, turning to his son. + +'I cannot imagine him within them, my lord, after such search as we have +made.' + +'Still,' returned the marquis, the acuteness of whose wits had not been +swallowed up by that of the gout, 'so long as thou canst not tell how he +gat forth, I may doubt whether he be forth. If the manner of his exit be +acknowledged hidden, wherefore not the place of his refuge? Mistress +Dorothy,' he continued, altogether averse to the supposition of +treachery amongst his people, 'thou art bound by all obligations of +loyalty and shelter and truth, to tell what thou knowest. An' thou do +not, thou art a traitor to the house, yea to thy king, for when the +worst comes, and this his castle is besieged, much harm may be wrought +by that secret passage, yea, it may be taken thereby.' + +'You say true, my lord: I should indeed be so bound, an' I knew what my +lord would have me disclose.' + +'One may be bound and remain bound,' said the marquis, spying +prevarication. 'Now the thing is over, and the youth safe, all I ask of +thee, and surely it is not much, is but to bar the door against his +return--except indeed thou didst from the first contrive so to meet thy +roundhead lover in my loyal house. Then indeed it were too much to +require of thee! Ah ha! mistress Dorothy, the little blind god is a +rascally deceiver. He is but blind nor' nor' west. He playeth hoodman, +and peepeth over his bandage.' + +'My lord, you wrong me much,' said Dorothy, and burst into tears, while +once more the red lava of the human centre rushed over her neck and +brow. 'I did think that I had done enough both for my lord of Worcester +and against Richard Heywood, and I did hope that he had escaped: there +lies the worst I can lay to my charge even in thought, my lord, and I +trust it is no more than may be found pardonable.' + +'It sets an ill example to my quiet house if the ladies therein go +anights to the gentlemen's chambers.' + +'My lord, you are cruel,' said Dorothy. + +'Not a soul in the house knows it but myself, my lord,' said mistress +Watson. + +'Hold there, my good woman! Whose hand was it turned the key upon her? +More than thou must know thereof. Hear me, mistress Dorothy: I would be +heart-loath to quarrel with thee, and in all honesty I am glad thy +lover--' + +'He is no lover of mine, my lord! At least--' + +'Be he what he may, he is a fine fellow, and I am glad he hath escaped. +Do thou but find out for my lord Charles here the cursed rat-hole by +which he goes and comes, and I will gladly forgive thee all the trouble +thou hast brought into my sober house. For truly never hath been in my +day such confusion and uproar therein as since thou camest hither, and +thy dog and thy lover and thy lover's mare followed thee.' + +'Alas, my lord! if I were fortunate enough to find it, what would you +but say I found it where I knew well to look for it?' + +'Find it, and I promise thee I will never say word on the matter again. +Thou art a good girl, and thou do venture a hair too far for a lover. +The still ones are always the worst, mistress Watson.' + +'My lord! my lord!' cried Dorothy, but ended not, for his lordship gave +a louder cry. His face was contorted with anguish, and he writhed under +the tiger fangs of the gout. + +'Go away,' he shouted, 'or I shall disgrace my manhood before women, God +help me!' + +'I trust thee will bear me no malice,' said the housekeeper, as they +walked in the direction of Dorothy's chamber. + +'You did but your duty,' said Dorothy quietly. + +'I will do all I can for thee,' continued mistress Watson, mounted +again, if not on her high horse then on her palfrey, by her master's +behaviour to the poor girl--'if thou but confess to me how thou didst +contrive the young gentleman's escape, and wherefore he locked the door +upon thee.' + +At the moment they were close to Dorothy's room; her answer to the +impertinence was to walk in and shut the door; and mistress Watson was +thenceforward entirely satisfied of her guilt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +AN EVIL TIME. + + +And now was an evil time for Dorothy. She retired to her chamber more +than disheartened by lord Worcester's behaviour to her, vexed with +herself for doing what she would have been more vexed with herself for +having left undone, feeling wronged, lonely, and disgraced, conscious of +honesty, yet ashamed to show herself--and all for the sake of a +presumptuous boy, whose opinions were a disgust to her and his actions a +horror! Yet not only did she not repent of what she had done, but, fact +as strange as natural, began, with mingled pleasure and annoyance, to +feel her heart drawn towards the fanatic as the only one left her in the +world capable of doing her justice, that was, of understanding her. She +thus unknowingly made a step towards the discovery that it is infinitely +better to think wrong and to act right upon that wrong thinking, than it +is to think right and not to do as that thinking requires of us. In the +former case the man's house, if not built upon the rock, at least has +the rock beneath it; in the latter, it is founded on nothing but sand. +The former man may be a Saul of Tarsus, the latter a Judas Iscariot. He +who acts right will soon think right; he who acts wrong will soon think +wrong. Any two persons acting faithfully upon opposite convictions, are +divided but by a bowing wall; any two, in belief most harmonious, who do +not act upon it, are divided by infinite gulfs of the blackness of +darkness, across which neither ever beholds the real self of the other. + +Dorothy ought to have gone at once to lady Margaret and told her all; +but she naturally and rightly shrank from what might seem an appeal to +the daughter against the judgment of her father; neither could she dare +hope that, if she did, her judgment would not be against her also. Her +feelings were now in danger of being turned back upon herself, and +growing bitter; for a lasting sense of injury is, of the human moods, +one of the least favourable to sweetness and growth. There was no one to +whom she could turn. Had good Dr. Bayly been at home--but he was away on +some important mission from his lordship to the king: and indeed she +could scarcely have looked for refuge from such misery as hers in the +judgment of the rather priggish old-bachelor ecclesiastic. Gladly would +she have forsaken the castle, and returned to all the dangers and fears +of her lonely home; but that would be to yield to a lie, to flee from +the devil instead of facing him, and with her own hand to fix the +imputed smirch upon her forehead, exposing herself besides to the +suspicion of having fled to join her lover, and cast in her lot with his +amongst the traitors. Besides, she had been left by lord Herbert in +charge of his fire-engine and the water of the castle, which trust she +could not abandon. Whatever might be yet to come of it, she must stay +and encounter it, and would in the meantime set herself to discover, if +she might, the secret pathway by which dog and man came and went at +their pleasure. This she owed her friends, even at the risk, in case of +success, of confirming the marquis's worst suspicions. + +She was not altogether wrong in her unconscious judgment of lady +Margaret. Her nature was such as, its nobility tinctured with romance, +rendered her perfectly capable of understanding either of the two halves +of Dorothy's behaviour, but was not sufficient to the reception and +understanding of the two parts together. That is, she could have +understood the heroic capture of her former lover, or she could have +understood her going to visit him in his trouble, and even, what Dorothy +was incapable of, his release; but she was not yet equal to +understanding how she should set herself so against a man, even to his +wounding and capture, whom she loved so much as, immediately thereupon, +to dare the loss of her good name by going to his chamber, so placing +herself in the power of a man she had injured, as well as running a +great risk of discovery on the part of her friends. Hence she was quite +prepared to accept the solution of her strange conduct, which by and by, +it was hard to say how, came to be offered and received all over the +castle--that Dorothy first admitted, then captured, and finally released +the handsome young roundhead. + +Her first impressions of the affair, lady Margaret received from lord +Charles, who was certainly prejudiced against Dorothy, and no doubt +jealous of the relation of the fine young rebel to a loyal maiden of +Raglan; while the suspicion, almost belief, that she knew and would not +reveal the flaw in his castle, the idea of which had begun to haunt him +like some spot in his own body of which pain made him unnaturally +conscious, annoyed him more and more. To do him justice, I must not omit +to mention that he never made a communication on the matter to any but +his sister-in-law, who would however have certainly had a more kindly as +well as exculpatory feeling towards Dorothy, had she first heard the +truth from her own lips. + +For some little time, not perceiving the difficulties in her way, and +perhaps from unlikeness not understanding the disinclination of such a +girl to self-defence, lady Margaret continued to expect a visit from +her, with excuse at least, if not confession and apology upon her lips, +and was hurt by her silence as much as offended by her behaviour. She +was yet more annoyed, when they first met, that, notwithstanding her +evident suffering, she wore such an air of reticence, and thence she +both regarded and addressed her coldly; so that Dorothy was confirmed in +her disinclination to confide in her. Besides, as she said to herself, +she had nothing to tell but what she had already told; everything +depended on the interpretation accorded to the facts, and the right +interpretation was just the one thing she had found herself unable to +convey. If her friends did not, she could not justify herself. + +She tried hard to behave as she ought, for, conscious how much +appearances were against her, she felt it would be unjust to allow her +affection towards her mistress to be in the least shaken by her +treatment of her, and was if possible more submissive and eager in her +service than before. But in this she was every now and then rudely +checked by the fear that lady Margaret would take it as the endeavour of +guilt to win favour; and, do what she would, instead of getting closer +to her, she felt every time they met, that the hedge of separation which +had sprung up between them had in the interval grown thicker. By degrees +the mistress had assumed towards the poor girl that impervious manner of +self-contained dignity, which, according to her who wears it, is the +carriage either of a wing-bound angel, the gait of a stork, or the +hobble of a crab. + +Of a different kind was the change which now began to take place towards +her on the part of another member of the household. + +While she had been intent upon Richard as he stood before the marquis, +not Amanda only but another as well had been intent upon her. Poor +creature as Scudamore yet was, he possessed, besides no small generosity +of nature, a good deal of surface sympathy, and a ready interest in the +shows of humanity. Hence as he stood regarding now the face of the +prisoner and now that of Dorothy, whom he knew for old friends, he could +not help noticing that every phase of the prisoner, so to speak, might +be read on Dorothy. He was too shallow to attribute this to anything +more than the interest she must feel in the results of the exploit she +had performed. The mere suggestion of what had afforded such wide ground +for speculation on the part of Amanda, was to Scudamore rendered +impossible by the meeting of two things--the fact that the only time he +had seen them together, Richard was very plainly out of favour, and now +the all-important share Dorothy had had in his capture. But the longer +he looked, the more he found himself attracted by the rich changefulness +of expression on a countenance usually very still. He surmised little of +the conflict of emotions that sent it to the surface, had to construct +no theory to calm the restlessness of intellectual curiosity, discovered +no secret feeding of the flame from behind. Yet the flame itself drew +him as the candle draws the moth. Emotion in the face of a woman was +enough to attract Scudamore; the prettier the face, the stronger the +attraction, but the source or character of the emotion mattered nothing +to him: he asked no questions any more than the moth, but circled the +flame. In a word, Dorothy had now all at once become to him interesting. + +As soon as she found a safe opportunity, Amanda told him of Dorothy's +being found in the turret chamber, a fact she pretended to have heard in +confidence from mistress Watson, concealing her own part in it. But as +Amanda spoke, Dorothy became to Rowland twice as interesting as ever +Amanda had been. There was a real romance about the girl, he thought. +And then she LOOKED so quiet! He never thought of defending her or +playing the true part of a cousin. Amanda might think of her as she +pleased: Rowland was content. Had he cared ever so much more for her +judgment than he did, it would have been all the same. How far Dorothy +had been right or wrong in visiting Heywood, he did not even conjecture, +not to say consider. It was enough that she who had been to him like the +blank in the centre of the African map, was now a region of marvels and +possibilities, vague but not the less interesting, or the less worthy of +beholding the interest she had awaked. As to her loving the roundhead +fellow, that would not stand long in the way. + +In this period then of gloom and wretchedness, Dorothy became aware of a +certain increase of attention on the part of her cousin. This she +attributed to kindness generated of pity. But to accept it, and so +confess that she needed it, would have been to place herself too much on +a level with one whom she did not respect, while at the same time it +would confirm him in whatever probably mistaken grounds he had for +offering it. She therefore met his advances kindly but coldly, a +treatment under which his feelings towards her began to ripen into +something a little deeper and more genuine. + +During the next ten days or so, Dorothy could not help feeling that she +was regarded by almost every one in the castle as in disgrace, and that +deservedly. The most unpleasant proof she had of this was the behaviour +of the female servants, some of them assuming airs of injured innocence, +others of offensive familiarity in her presence, while only one, a +kitchen-maid she seldom saw, Tom Fool's bride in the marriage-jest, +showed her the same respect as formerly. This girl came to her one night +in her room, and with tears in her eyes besought permission to carry her +meals thither, that she might be spared eating with the rude ladies, as +in her indignation she called them. But Dorothy saw that to forsake +mistress Watson's table would be to fly the field, and therefore, +hateful as it was to meet the looks of those around it, she did so with +unvailed lids and an enforced dignity which made itself felt. But the +effort was as exhausting as painful, and the reflex of shame, felt as +shame in spite of innocence, was eating into her heart. In vain she said +to herself that she was guiltless; in vain she folded herself round in +the cloak of her former composure; the consciousness that, to say the +least of it, she was regarded as a young woman of questionable +refinement, weighed down her very eyelids as she crossed the court. + +But she was not left utterly forsaken; she had still one refuge--the +workshop, where Caspar Kaltoff wrought like an 'artificial god;' for the +worthy German altered his manner to her not a whit, but continued to +behave with the mingled kindness of a father and devotion of a servant. +His respect and trustful sympathy showed, without word said, that he, if +no other, believed nothing to her disadvantage, but was as much her +humble friend as ever; and to the hitherto self-reliant damsel, the +blessedness of human sympathy, embodied in the looks and tones of the +hard-handed mechanic, brought such healing and such schooling together, +that for a long time she never said her prayers by her bedside without +thanking God for Caspar Kaltoff. + +Ere long her worn look, thin cheek, and weary eye began to work on the +heart of lady Margaret, and she relented in spirit towards the favourite +of her husband, whose anticipated disappointment in her had sharpened +the arrows of her resentment. But to the watery dawn of favour which +followed, the poor girl could not throw wide her windows, knowing it +arose from no change in lady Margaret's judgment concerning her: she +could not as a culprit accept what had been as a culprit withdrawn from +her. The conviction burned in her heart like cold fire, that, but for +compassion upon the desolate state of an orphan, she would have been at +once dismissed from the castle. Sometimes she ventured to think that if +lord Herbert had been at home, all this would not have happened; but now +what could she expect other than that on his return he would regard her +and treat her in the same way as his wife and father and brother? + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE DELIVERER. + + +But she found some relief in applying her mind to the task which lord +Worcester had set her; and many a night as she tossed sleepless on her +bed, would she turn from the thoughts that tortured her, to brood upon +the castle, and invent if she might some new possible way, however +difficult, of getting out of it unseen: and many a morning after the +night thus spent, would she hasten, ere the household was astir, to +examine some spot which had occurred to her as perhaps containing the +secret she sought. One time it was a chimney that might have door and +stair concealed within it; another, the stables, where she examined +every stall in the hope of finding a trap to an underground way. Had any +one else been in question but Richard, the traitor, the roundhead, she +might have imagined an associate within the walls, in which case farther +solution would not have been for her; but somehow, she did not make it +clear to herself how, she could not entertain the idea in connection +with Richard. Besides, in brooding over everything, it had grown plain +to her that both Richard and Marquis had that night been through the +moat. + +Some who caught sight of her in the early dawn, wandering about and +peering here and there, thought that she was losing her senses; others +more ingenious in the thinking of evil, imagined she sought to impress +the household with a notion of her innocence by pretending a search for +the concealed flaw in the defences. + +Ever since she had been put in charge of the water-works, she had been +in the habit of lingering a little on the roof of the keep as often as +occasion took her thither, for she delighted in the far outlook on the +open country which it afforded; and perhaps it was a proof of the +general healthiness of her nature that now in her misery, instead of +shutting herself up in her own chamber, she oftener sought the walk +around the reservoir, looking abroad in shadowy hope of some lurking +deliverance, like captive lady in the stronghold of evil knight. On one +of these occasions, in the first of the twilight, she was leaning over +one of the battlements looking down upon the moat and its white and +yellow blossoms and great green leaves, and feeling very desolate. Her +young life seemed to have crumbled down upon her and crushed her heart, +and all for one gentle imprudence. + +'Oh my mother!' she murmured,--'an' thou couldst hear me, thou wouldst +help me an' thou couldst. Thy poor Dorothy is sorely sad and forsaken, +and she knows no way of escape. Oh my mother, hear me!' + +As she spoke, she looked away from the moat to the sky, and spread out +her arms in the pain of her petition. + +There was a step behind her. + +'What! what! My little protestant praying to the naughty saints! That +will never do.' + +Dorothy had turned with a great start, and stood speechless and +trembling before lord Herbert. + +'My poor child!' he said, holding out both his hands, and taking those +which Dorothy did not offer--'did I startle thee then so much? I am +truly sorry. I heard but thy last words; be not afraid of thy secret. +But what hath come to thee? Thou art white and thin, there are tears on +thy face, and it seems as thou wert not so glad to see me as I thought +thou wouldst have been. What is amiss? I hope thou art not sick--but +plainly thou art ill at ease! Go not yet after my Molly, cousin, for +truly we need thee here yet a while.' + +'Would I might go to Molly, my lord!' said Dorothy. 'Molly would believe +me.' + +'Thou need'st not go to Molly for that, cousin. I will believe thee. +Only tell me what thou wouldst have me believe, and I will believe it. +What! think'st thou I am not magician enough to know whom to believe and +whom not? Fye, fye, mistress! Thou, on thy part, wilt not put faith in +thy cousin Herbert!' + +His kind words were to her as the voice of him that calleth for the +waters of the sea that he may pour them out on the face of the earth. +The poor girl burst into a passion of weeping, fell on her knees before +him, and holding up her clasped hands, cried out in a voice of +sob-choked agony--for she was not used to tears, and it was to her a +rending of the heart to weep-- + +'Save me, save me, my lord! I have no friend in the world who can help +me but thee.' + +'No friend! What meanest thou, Dorothy?' said lord Herbert, taking her +two clasped hands between his. 'There is my Margaret and my father!' + +'Alas, my lord! they mean well by me, but they do not believe me; and if +your lordship believe me no more than they, I must go from Raglan. Yet +believing me, I know not how you could any more help me.' + +'Dorothy, my child, I can do nothing till thou take me with thee. I +cannot even comfort thee.' + +'Your lordship is weary,' said Dorothy, rising and wiping her eyes. 'You +cannot yet have eaten since you came. Go, my lord, and hear my tale +first from them that believe me not. They will assure you of nothing +that is not true, only they understand it not, and wrong me in their +conjectures. Let my lady Margaret tell it you, my lord, and then if you +have yet faith enough in me to send for me, I will come and answer all +you ask. If you send not for me, I will ride from Raglan to-morrow.' + +'It shall be as thou sayest, Dorothy. An' it be not fit for the judge to +hear both sides of the tale, or an' it boots the innocent which side he +first heareth, then were he no better judge than good king James, of +blessed memory, when he was so sore astonished to find both sides in the +right.' + +'A king, my lord, and judge foolishly!' + +'A king, my damsel, and judged merrily. But fear me not; I trust in God +to judge fairly even betwixt friend and foe, and I doubt not it will be +now to the lightening of thy trouble, my poor storm-beaten dove.' + +It startled Dorothy with a gladness that stung like pain, to hear the +word he never used but to his wife thus flit from his lips in the +tenderness of his pity, and alight like the dove itself upon her head. +She thanked him with her whole soul, and was silent. + +'I will send hither to thee, my child, when I require thy presence; and +when I send come straight to my lady's parlour.' + +Dorothy bowed her head, but could not speak, and lord Herbert walked +quickly from her. She heard him run down the stair almost with the +headlong speed of his boy Henry. + +Half an hour passed slowly--then lady Margaret's page came lightly up +the steps, bearing the request that she would favour his mistress with +her presence. She rose from the battlement where she had seated herself +to watch the moon, already far up in the heavens, as she brightened +through the gathering dusk, and followed him with beating heart. + +When she entered the parlour, where as yet no candles had been lighted, +she saw and knew nothing till she found herself clasped to a bosom +heaving with emotion. + +'Forgive me, Dorothy,' sobbed lady Margaret. 'I have done thee wrong. +But thou wilt love me yet again--wilt thou not, Dorothy?' + +'Madam! madam!' was all Dorothy could answer, kissing her hands. + +Lady Margaret led her to her husband, who kissed her on the forehead, +and seated her betwixt himself and his wife; and for a space there was +silence. Then at last said Dorothy: + +'Tell me, madam, how is it that I find myself once more in the garden of +your favour? How know you that I am not all unworthy thereof?' + +'My lord tells me so,' returned lady Margaret simply. + +'And whence doth my lord know it?' asked Dorothy, turning to lord +Herbert. + +''An' thou be not satisfied of thine own innocence, Dorothy, I will ask +thee a few questions. Listen to thine answers, and judge. How came the +young puritan into the castle that night? But stay: we must have +candles, for how can I, the judge, or my lady, the jury, see into the +heart of the prisoner save through the window of her face?' + +Dorothy laughed--her first laugh since the evil fog had ascended and +swathed her. Lady Margaret rang the bell on her table. Candles were +brought from where they stood ready in the ante-chamber, and as soon as +they began to burn clear, lord Herbert repeated his question. + +'My lord,' answered Dorothy, 'I look to you to tell me so much, for +before God I know not.' + +'Nay, child! thou need'st not buttress thy words with an oath,' said his +lordship. 'Thy fair eyes are worth a thousand oaths. But to the +question: tell me wherefore didst thou not let the young man go when +first thou spied him? Wherefore didst ring the alarm-bell? Thou sawest +he was upon his own mare, for thou knewest her--didst thou not?' + +'I did, my lord; but he had no business there, and I was of my lord +Worcester's household. Here I am not Dorothy Vaughan, but my lady's +gentlewoman.' + +'Then why didst thou go to his room thereafter? Didst thou not know it +for the most perilous adventure maiden could undergo?' + +'Perilous it hath indeed proved, my lord.' + +'And might have proved worse than perilous.' + +'No, my lord. Other danger was none where Richard was,' returned Dorothy +with vehemence. + +'It beareth a look as if mayhap thou dost or mightst one day love the +young man!' said lord Herbert in slow pondering tone. + +'My spirit hath of late been driven to hold him company, my lord. It +seemed that, save Caspar, I had no friend left but him. God help me! it +were a fearful thing to love a fanatic! But I will resist the devil.' + +'Truly we are in lack of a few such devils on what we count the honest +side, Dorothy!' said lord Herbert, laughing. 'Not every man that thinks +the other way is a rogue or a fool. But thou hast not told me why thou +didst run the heavy risk of seeking him in the night.' + +'I could not rest for thinking of him, my lord, with that terrible wound +in the head I had as good as given him, and from whose effects I had +last seen him lie as one dead. He was my playmate, and my mother loved +him.' + +Here poor Dorothy broke down and wept, but recovered herself with an +effort, and proceeded. + +'I kept starting awake, seeing him thus at one time, and at another +hearing him utter my name as if entreating me to go to him, until at +last I believed that I was called.' + +'Called by whom, Dorothy?' + +'I thought--I thought, my lord, it might be the same that called Samuel, +who had opened my ears to hear Richard's voice.' + +'And it was indeed therefore thou didst go?' + +'I think so, my lord. I am sure, at least, but for that I would not have +gone. Yet surely I mistook, for see what hath come of it,' she added, +turning to lady Margaret. + +'We must not judge from one consequence where there are a thousand yet +to follow,' said his lordship. '--And thou sayest, when thou didst enter +the room thou didst find no one there?' + +'I say so, my lord, and it is true.' + +'That I know as well as thou. What then didst thou think of the matter?' + +'I was filled with fear, my lord, when I saw the bedclothes all in a +heap on the floor, but upon reflection I hoped that he had had the +better in the struggle, and had escaped; for now at least he could do no +harm in Raglan, I thought. But when I found the door was locked,--I dare +hardly think of that, my lord; it makes me tremble yet.' + +'Now, who thinkest thou in thy heart did lock the door upon thee?' + +'Might it not have been Satan himself, my lord?' + +'Nay, I cannot tell what might or might not be where such a one is so +plainly concerned. But I believe he was only acting in his usual +fashion, which, as a matter of course, must be his worst--I mean through +the heart and hands of some one in the house who would bring thee into +trouble.' + +'I would it were the other way, my lord.' + +'So would I heartily. In his own person I fear him not a whit. But hast +thou no suspicion of any one owing thee a grudge, who might be glad on +such opportunity to pay it thee with interest?' + +'I must confess I have, my lord; but I beg of your lordship not to +question me on the matter further, for it reaches only to suspicion. I +know nothing, and might, if I uttered a word, be guilty of grievous +wrong. Pardon me, my lord.' + +Lord Herbert looked hard at his wife. Lady Margaret dropped her head. + +'Thou art right, indeed, my good cousin!' he said, turning again to +Dorothy; 'for that would be to do by another as thou sufferest so sorely +from others doing by thee. I must send my brains about and make a +discovery or two for myself. It is well I have a few days to spend at +home. And now to the first part of the business in hand. Hast thou any +special way of calling thy dog? It is a moonlit night, I believe.' + +He rose and went to the window, over which hung a heavy curtain of +Flemish tapestry. + +'It is a three-quarter old moon, my lord,' said Dorothy, 'and very +bright. I did use to call my dog with a whistle my mother gave me when I +was a child.' + +'Canst thou lay thy hand upon it? Hast thou it with thee in Raglan?' + +'I have it in my hand now, my lord.' + +'What then with the moon and thy whistle, I think we shall not fail.' + +'Hast lost thy wits, Ned?' said his wife. 'Or what fiend wouldst thou +raise to-night?' + +'I would lay one rather,' returned lord Herbert. 'But first I would +discover this same perilous fault in the armour of my house. Is thy +genet still in thy control, Dorothy?' + +'I have no reason to think otherwise, my lord. The frolicker he, the +merrier ever was I.' + +'Darest thou ride him alone in the moonlight--outside the walls.' + +'I dare anything on Dick's back--that Dick can do, my lord.' + +'Doth thy dog know Caspar--in friendly fashion, I mean?' + +'Caspar is the only one in the castle he is quite friendly with, my +lord.' + +'Then is all as I would have it. And now I will tell thee what I would +not have: I would not have a soul in the place but my lady here know +that I am searching with thee after this dog-and-man hole. Therefore I +will saddle thy little horse for thee myself, and--' + +'No, no, my lord!' interrupted Dorothy. 'That _I_ can do.' + +'So much the better for thee. But I am no boor, fair damsel. Then shalt +thou mount and ride him forth, and Marquis thy mastiff shall see thee go +from the yard. Then will I mount the keep, and from that point of +vantage look down upon the two courts, while Caspar goes to stand by thy +dog. Thou shalt ride slowly along for a minute or two, until these +preparations shall have been made; then shalt thou blow thy whistle, and +set off at a gallop to round the castle, still ever and anon blowing thy +whistle; by which means, if I should fail to see thy Marquis leave the +castle, thou mayest perchance discover at least from which side of the +castle he comes to thee.' + +Dorothy sprang to her feet. + +'I am ready, my lord,' she said. + +'And so am I, my maiden,' returned lord Herbert, rising. 'Wilt go to the +top of the keep, wife, and grant me the light of eyes in aid of the +moonshine? I will come thither presently.' + +'Thou shalt find me there, Ned, I promise thee. Mother Mary speed thy +quest?' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE DISCOVERY. + + +All was done as had been arranged. Lord Herbert saddled Dick, not +unaided of Dorothy, lifted her to his back, and led her to the gate, in +full vision of Marquis, who went wild at the sight, and threatened to +pull down kennel and all in his endeavours to follow them. Lord Herbert +himself opened the yard gate, for the horses had already been suppered, +and the men were in bed. He then walked by her side down to the brick +gate. A moment there, and she was free and alone, with the wide green +fields and the yellow moonlight all about her. + +She had some difficulty in making Dick go slowly--quietly she could +not--for the first minute or two, as lord Herbert had directed. He had +had but little exercise of late, and moved as if his four legs felt like +wings. Dorothy had ridden him very little since she came to the castle, +but being very handy, lord Charles had used him, and one of the grooms +had always taken him to ride messages. He had notwithstanding had but +little of the pleasure of speed for a long time, and when Dorothy at +length gave him the rein, he flew as if every member of his body from +tail to ears and eyelids had been an engine of propulsion. But Dorothy +had more wings than Dick. Her whole being was full of wings. It was a +small thing that she had not had a right gallop since she left Wyfern; +the strength she had been putting forth to bear the Atlas burden that +night lifted from her soul, was now left free to upbear her, and she +seemed in spirit to soar aloft into the regions of aether. With her +horse under her, the moon over her, "the wind of their own speed" around +them, and her heart beating with a joy such as she had never known, she +could hardly help doubting sometimes for a moment whether she was not +out in one of those delightful dreams of liberty and motion which had so +frequently visited her sleep since she came to Raglan. Three shrill +whistles she had blown, about a hundred yards from the gate, had heard +the eager crowded bark of her dog in answer, and then Dick went flying +over the fields like a water-bird over the lake, that scratches its +smooth surface with its feet as it flies. Around the rampart they went. +The still night was jubilant around them as they flew. The stars shone +as if they knew all about her joy, that the shadow of guilt had been +lifted from her, and that to her the world again was fair. She felt as +the freed Psyche must feel when she drops the clay, and lo! the whole +chrysalid world, which had hitherto hung as a clog at her foot, fast by +the inexorable chain our blindness calls gravitation, has dropped from +her with the clay, and the universe is her own. + +At intervals she blew her whistle, and ever kept her keen eyes and ears +awake, looking and listening before and behind, in the hope of hearing +her dog, or seeing him come bounding through the moonlight. + +Meantime lord Herbert and his wife had taken their stand on the top of +the great tower, and were looking down--the lady into the stone court, +and her husband into the grass one. Dorothy's shrill whistle came once, +twice--and just as it began to sound a third time, + +'Here he comes!' cried lady Margaret. + +A black shadow went from the foot of the library tower, tearing across +the moonlight to the hall door, where it vanished. But in vain lord +Herbert kept his eyes on the fountain court, in the hope of its +reappearance there. Presently they heard a heavy plunge in the water on +the other side of the keep, and running round, saw plainly, the moat +there lying broad in the moonlight, a little black object making its way +across it. Through the obstructing floats of water-lily-leaves, it held +steadily over to the other side. There for a moment they saw the whole +body of the animal, as he scrambled out of the water up against the +steep side of the moat--when suddenly, and most unaccountably to lady +Margaret, he disappeared. + +'I have it!' cried lord Herbert. 'What an ass I was not to think of it +before! Come down with me, my dove, and I will show thee. Dorothy's +Marquis hath got into the drain of the moat! He is a large dog, and +beyond a doubt that is where the young roundhead entered. Who could have +dreamed of such a thing! I had no thought it was such a size.' + +Dorothy, having made the circuit, and arrived again at the brick gate, +found lord Herbert waiting there, and pulled up. + +'I have seen nothing of him, my lord,' she said, as he came to her side. +'Shall I ride round once more?' + +'Do, prithee, for I see thou dost enjoy it. But we have already learned +all we want to know, so far as goeth to the security of the castle. +There is but one marquis in Raglan, and he is, I believe, in the oak +parlour.' + +'You saw my Marquis make his exit then, my lord?' + +'My lady and I both saw him.' + +'What then can have become of him?--We went very fast, and I suppose he +gave up the chase in despair.' + +'Thou wilt find him the second round. But stay--I will get a horse and +go with thee.' + +Dorothy went within the gate, and lord Herbert ran back to the stables. +In a few minutes he was by her side again, and together they rode around +the huge nest. The moon was glorious, with a few large white clouds +around her, like great mirrors hung up to catch and reflect her light. +The stars were few, and doubtful near the moon, but shone like diamonds +in the dark spaces between the clouds. The rugged fortress lay swathed +in the softness of the creamy light. No noise broke the stillness, save +the dull drum-beat of their horses' hoofs on the turf, or their +cymbal-clatter where they crossed a road, and the occasional shrill call +from Dorothy's whistle. + +On all sides the green fields, cow-cropped, divided by hedge-rows, and +spotted with trees, single and in clumps, came close to the castle +walls, except in one or two places where the corner of a red ploughed +field came wedging in. All was so quiet and so soft that the gaunt old +walls looked as if, having at first with harsh intrusion forced their +way up into the sweet realm of air from the stony regions of the earth +beneath, by slow degrees, yet long since, they had suffered an air +change, and been charmed and gentled into harmony with soft winds and +odours and moonlight. To Dorothy it seemed as if peace itself had taken +form in the feathery weight that filled the flaky air; and as her horse +galloped along, flying like a bird over ditch and mound, her own heart +so light that her body seemed to float above the saddle rather than rest +upon it, she felt like a soul which, having been dragged to hell by a +lurking fiend, a good and strong angel was bearing aloft into bliss. Few +delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly. + +No mastiff came to Dorothy's whistle, and having finished their round, +they rode back to the stables, put up their horses, and rejoined lady +Margaret, where she was still pacing the sunk walk around the moat. +There lord Herbert showed Dorothy where her dog vanished, comforting her +with the assurance that nothing should be altered before the faithful +animal returned, as doubtless he would the moment he despaired of +finding her in the open country. + +Lord Herbert said nothing to his father that night lest he should spoil +his rest, for he was yet far from well, but finding him a good deal +better the next morning, he laid open the whole matter to him according +to his convictions concerning Dorothy and her behaviour, ending with the +words: 'That maiden, my lord, hath truth enough in her heart to serve +the whole castle, an' if it might be but shared. To doubt her is to +wrong the very light. I fear there are not many maidens in England who +would have the courage and honesty, necessary both, to act as she hath +done.' + +The marquis listened attentively, and when lord Herbert had ended, sat a +few moments in silence; then, for all answer, said, + +'Go and fetch her, my lad.' + +When Dorothy entered,-- + +'Come hither, maiden,' he said from his chair. 'Wilt thou kiss an old +man who hath wronged thee--for so my son hath taught me?' + +Dorothy stooped, and he kissed her on both cheeks, with the tears in his +eyes. + +'Thou shalt dine at my table,' he said, 'an' thy mistress will permit +thee, as I doubt not she will when I ask her, until--thou art weary of +our dull company. Hear me, cousin Dorothy: an' thou wilt go with us to +mass next Sunday, thou shalt sit on one side of me and thy mistress on +the other, and all the castle shall see thee there, and shall know that +thou art our dear cousin, mistress Dorothy Vaughan, and shall do thee +honour.' + +'I thank you, my lord, with all my heart,' said Dorothy, with troubled +look, 'but--may I then speak without offence to your lordship, where my +heart knoweth nought but honour, love, and obedience?' + +'Speak what thou wilt, so it be what thou would'st,' answered the +marquis. + +'Then pardon me, my lord, that which would have made my mother sad, and +would make my good master Herbert sorry that he brought me hither. He +would fear I had forsaken the church of my fathers.' + +'And returned to the church of thy grandfathers--eh, mistress Dorothy? +And wherefore, then, should that weigh so much with thee, so long as +thou wert no traitor to our blessed Lord?' + +'But should I be no traitor, sir, an' I served him not with my best?' + +'Thou hast nothing better than thy heart to give him, and nothing worse +will serve his turn; and that we two have offered where I would have +thee offer thine--and I trust, Herbert, the offering hath not lain +unaccepted.' + +'I trust not, my lord,' responded Herbert. + +'But, my lord,' said Dorothy, with hot cheek and trembling voice, 'if I +brought it him upon a dish which I believed to be of brass, when I had +one of silver in the house, would it avail with him that your lordship +knew the dish to be no brass, but the finest of gold? I should be +unworthy of your lordship's favour, if, to be replaced in the honour of +men, I did that which needed the pardon of God.' + +'I told thee so, sir!' cried lord Herbert, who had been listening with +radiant countenance. + +'Thou art a good girl, Dorothy,' said the marquis. 'Verily I spoke but +to try thee, and I thank God thou hast stood the trial, and answered +aright. Now am I sure of thee; and I will no more doubt thee--not if I +wake in the night and find thee standing over me with a drawn dagger +like Judith. An' my worthy Bayly had been at home, perchance this had +not happened; but forgive me, Dorothy, for the gout is the sting of the +devil's own tail, and driveth men mad. Verily, it seemeth now as if I +could never have behaved to thee as I have done. Why, one might say the +foolish fat old man was jealous of the handsome young puritan! The wheel +will come round, Dorothy. One day thou wilt marry him.' + +'Never, my lord,' exclaimed Dorothy with vehemence. + +'And when thou dost,' the marquis went on, 'all I beg of thee is, that +on thy wedding day thou whisper thy bridegroom: "My lord of Worcester +told me so;" and therewith thou shalt have my blessing, whether I be +down here in Raglan, or up the great stair with little Molly.' + +Dorothy was silent. The marquis held out his hand. She kissed it, left +the room, and flew to the top of the keep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE HOROSCOPE. + + +Ere the next day was over, it was understood throughout the castle that +lord Herbert was constructing a horoscope--not that there were many in +the place who understood what a horoscope really was, or had any +knowledge of the modes of that astrology in whose results they firmly +believed; yet Kaltoff having been seen carrying several +mysterious-looking instruments to the top of the library tower, the word +was presently in everybody's mouth. Nor were the lovers of marvel likely +to be disappointed, for no sooner was the sun down than there was lord +Herbert, his head in an outlandish Persian hat, visible over the parapet +from the stone-court, while from some of the higher windows in the +grass-court might be seen through a battlement his long flowing gown of +a golden tint, wrought with hieroglyphics in blue. Now he would stand +for a while gazing up into the heavens, now would be shifting and +adjusting this or that instrument, then peering along or through it, and +then re-arranging it, or kneeling and drawing lines, now circular, now +straight, upon a sheet of paper spread flat on the roof of the tower. +There he still was when the household retired to rest, and there, in the +grey dawn, his wife, waking up and peeping from her window, saw him +still, against the cold sky, pacing the roof with bent head and +thoughtful demeanour. In the morning he was gone, and no one but lady +Margaret saw him during the whole of the following day. Nor indeed could +any but herself or Caspar have found him, for the tale Tom Fool told the +rustics of a magically concealed armoury had been suggested by a rumour +current in the house, believed by all without any proof, and yet not the +less a fact, that lord Herbert had a chamber of which none of the +domestics knew door or window, or even the locality. That recourse +should have been had to spells and incantations for its concealment, +however, as was also commonly accepted, would have seemed trouble +unnecessary to any one who knew the mechanical means his lordship had +employed for the purpose. The touch of a pin on a certain spot in one of +the bookcases in the library, admitted him to a wooden stair which, with +the aid of Caspar, he had constructed in an ancient disused chimney, and +which led down to a small chamber in the roof of a sort of porch built +over the stair from the stone-court to the stables. There was no other +access to it, and the place had never been used, nor had any window but +one which they had constructed in the roof so cunningly as to attract no +notice. All the household supposed the hidden chamber, whose existence +was unquestioned, to be in the great tower, somewhere near the workshop. + +In this place he kept his books of alchemy and magic, and some of his +stranger instruments. It would have been hard for himself even to say +what he did or did not believe of such things. In certain moods, +especially when under the influence of some fact he had just discovered +without being able to account for it, he was ready to believe +everything; in others, especially when he had just succeeded, right or +wrong, in explaining anything to his own satisfaction, he doubted them +all considerably. His imagination leaned lovingly towards them; his +intellect required proofs which he had not yet found. + +Hither then he had retired--to work out the sequences of the horoscopes +he had that night constructed. He was far less doubtful of astrology +than of magic. It would have been difficult, I suspect, to find at that +time a man who did not more or less believe in the former, and the +influence of his mechanical pursuits upon lord Herbert's mind had not in +any way interfered with his capacity for such belief. In the present +case, however, he trusted for success rather to his knowledge of human +nature than to his questioning of the stars. + +Before this, the second day, was over, it was everywhere whispered that +he was occupied in discovering the hidden way by which entrance and exit +had been found through the defences of the castle; and the next day it +was known by everybody that he had been successful--as who could doubt +he must, with such powers at his command? + +For a time curiosity got the better of fear, and there was not a soul in +the place, except one bedridden old woman, who did not that day accept +lord Herbert's general invitation, and pass over the Gothic bridge to +see the opening from the opposite side of the moat. To seal the +conviction that the discovery had indeed been made, permission was given +to any one who chose to apply to it the test of his own person, but of +this only Shafto the groom availed himself. It was enough, however: he +disappeared, and while the group which saw him enter the opening was yet +anxiously waiting his return by the way he had gone, having re-entered +by the western gate he came upon them from behind, to the no small +consternation of those of weaker nerves, and so settled the matter for +ever. + +As soon as curiosity was satisfied, lord Herbert gave orders which, in +the course of a few days, rendered the drain as impassable to manor dog +as the walls of the keep itself. + +In the middle of the previous night, Marquis had returned, and announced +himself by scratching and whining for admittance at the door of +Dorothy's room. She let him in, but not until the morning discovered +that he had a handkerchief tied round his neck, and in it a letter +addressed to herself. Curious, perhaps something more than curious, to +open it, she yet carried it straight to lord Herbert. + +'Canst not break the seal, Dorothy, that thou bringest it to me? I will +not read it first, lest thou repent,' said his lordship. + +'Will you open it then, madam?' she said, turning to lady Margaret. + +'What my lord will not, why should I?' rejoined her mistress. + +Dorothy opened the letter without more ado, crimsoned, read it to the +end, and handed it again to lord Herbert. + +'Pray read, my lord,' she said. + +He took it, and read. It ran thus-- + + 'Mistress Dorothy, I think, and yet I know not, but I think thou + wilt be pleased to learn that my Wound hath not proved mortal, + though it hath brought me low, yea, very nigh to Death's Door. + Think not I feared to enter. But it grieveth me to the Heart to + ride another than my own Mare to the Wars, and it will pleasure + thee to know that without my Lady I shall be but Half the Man I + was. But do thou the Like again when thou mayest, for thou but + didst thy Duty according to thy Lights; and according to what else + should any one do? Mistaken as thou art, I love thee as mine own + Soul. As to the Ring I left for thee, with a safe Messenger, + concerning whom I say Nothing, for thou wilt con her no Thanks for + the doing of aught to pleasure me, I restored it not because it was + thine, for thy mother gave it me, but because, if for Lack of my + Mare I should fall in some Battle of those that are to follow, then + would the Ring pass to a Hand whose Heart knew nought of her who + gave it me. I am what thou knowest not, yet thine old Play-fellow + Richard.--When thou hearest of me in the Wars, as perchance thou + mayest, then curse me not, but sigh an thou wilt, and say, he also + would in his Blindness do the Thing that lay at his Door. God be + with thee, mistress Dorothy. Beat not thy Dog for bringing thee + this. + + 'RICHARD HEYWOOD.' + +Lord Herbert gave the letter to his wife, and paced up and down the room +while she read. Dorothy stood silent, with glowing face and downcast +eyes. When lady Margaret had finished it she handed it to her, and +turned to her husband with the words,-- + +'What sayest thou, Ned? Is it not a brave epistle?' + +'There is matter for thought therein,' he answered. 'Wilt show me the +ring whereof he writes, cousin?' + +'I never had it, my lord.' + +'Whom thinkest thou then he calleth his safe messenger? Not thy +dog--plainly, for the ring had been sent thee before.' + +'My lord, I cannot even conjecture,' answered Dorothy. + +'There is matter herein that asketh attention. My lady, and cousin +Dorothy, not a word of all this until I shall have considered what it +may import!--Beat not thy dog, Dorothy: that were other than he +deserveth at thy hand. But he is a dangerous go-between, so prithee let +him be at once chained up.' + +'I will not beat him, my lord, and I will chain him up,' answered +Dorothy, laughing. + +Having then announced the discovery of the hidden passage, and given +orders concerning it, lord Herbert retired yet again to his secret +chamber, and that night was once more seen of many consulting the stars +from the top of the library tower. + +The following morning another rumour was abroad--to the effect that his +lordship was now occupied in questioning the stars as to who in the +castle had aided the young roundhead in making his escape. + +In the evening, soon after supper, there came a gentle tap to the door +of lady Margaret's parlour. At that time she was understood to be +disengaged, and willing to see any of the household. Harry happened to +be with her, and she sent him to the door to see who it was. + +'It is Tom Fool,' he said, returning. 'He begs speech of you, +madam--with a face as long as the baker's shovel, and a mouth as wide as +an oven-door.' + +With their Irish stepmother the children took far greater freedoms than +would have been permitted them by the jealous care of their own mother +over their manners. + +Lady Margaret smiled: this was probably the first fruit of her husband's +astrological investigations. + +'Tell him he may enter, and do thou leave him alone with me, Harry,' she +said. + +Allowing for exaggeration, Harry had truly reported Tom's appearance. He +was trembling from head to foot, and very white. + +'What aileth thee, Tom, that thou lookest as thou had seen a hobgoblin?' +said lady Margaret. + +'Please you, my lady,' answered Tom, 'I am in mortal terror of my lord +Herbert.' + +'Then hast thou been doing amiss, Tom? for no well-doer ever yet was +afeard of my lord. Comest thou because thou wouldst confess the truth?' + +'Ah, my lady,' faltered Tom. + +'Come, then; I will lead thee to my lord.' + +'No, no, an't please you, my lady!' cried Tom, trembling yet more. 'I +will confess to you, my lady, and then do you confess to my lord, so +that he may forgive me.' + +'Well, I will venture so far for thee, Tom,' returned her ladyship; +'that is, if thou be honest, and tell me all.' + +Thus encouraged, Tom cleansed his stuffed bosom, telling all the part he +had borne in Richard's escape, even to the disclosure of the watchword +to his mother. + +Is there not this peculiarity about the fear of the supernatural, even +let it be of the lowest and most slavish kind, that under it men speak +the truth, believing that alone can shelter them? + +Lady Margaret dismissed him with hopes of forgiveness, and going +straight to her husband in his secret chamber, amused him largely with +her vivid representation, amounting indeed to no sparing mimicry of +Tom's looks and words as he made his confession. + +Here was much gained, but Tom had cast no ray of light upon the matter +of Dorothy's imprisonment. The next day lord Herbert sent for him to his +workshop, where he was then alone. He appeared in a state of abject +terror. + +'Now, Tom,' said his lordship, 'hast thou made a clean breast of it?' + +'Yes, my lord,' answered Tom; 'there is but one thing more.' + +'What is that? Out with it.' + +'As I went back to my chamber, at the top of the stair leading down from +my lord's dining parlour to the hall, commonly called my lord's stair,' +said Tom, who delighted in the pseudo-circumstantial, 'I stopped to +recover my breath, of the which I was sorely bereft, and kneeling on the +seat of the little window that commands the archway to the keep, I saw +the prisoner--' + +'How knewest thou the prisoner ere it was yet daybreak, and that in the +darkest corner of all the court?' + +'I knew him by the way my bones shook at the white sleeves of his shirt, +my lord,' said Tom, who was too far gone in fear to make the joke of +pretending courage. + +'Hardly evidence, Tom. But go on.' + +'And with him I saw mistress Dorothy--' + +'Hold there, Tom!' cried lord Herbert. 'Wherefore didst not impart this +last night to my lady?' + +'Because my lady loveth mistress Dorothy, and I dreaded she would +therefore refuse to believe me.' + +'What a heap of cunning goes to the making of a downright fool!' said +lord Herbert to himself, but so as Tom could not fail to hear him. 'And +what saw'st thou pass between them?' he asked. + +'Only a whispering with their heads together,' answered Tom. + +'And what heard'st thou?' + +'Nothing, my lord.' + +'And what followed?' + +'The roundhead left her, and went through the archway. She stood a +moment and then followed him. But I, fearful of her coming up the stair +and finding me, gat me quickly to my own place.' + +'Oh, Tom, Tom! I am ashamed of thee. What! Afraid of a woman? Verily, +thy heart is of wax.' + +'That can hardly be, my lord, for I find it still on the wane.' + +'An' thy wit were no better than thy courage, thou hadst never had +enough to play the fool with.' + +'No, my lord; I should have had to turn philosopher.' + +'A fair hit, Tom! But tell me, why wast thou afeard of mistress +Dorothy?' + +'It might have come to a quarrel in some sort, my lord; and there is one +thing I have remarked in my wanderings through this valley of Baca,' +said Tom, speaking through his nose, and lengthening his face beyond +even its own nature, 'namely, that he who quarrels with a woman goes +ever to the wall.' + +'One thing perplexes me, Tom: if thou sawest mistress Dorothy in the +court with the roundhead, how came she thereafter, thinkest thou, locked +up in his chamber?' + +'It behoves that she went into it again, my lord.' + +'How knowest thou she had been there before?' + +'Nay, I know not, my lord. I know nothing of the matter.' + +'Why say'st it then? Take heed to thy words, Tom. Who then, thinkest +thou, did lock the door upon her?' + +'I know not, my lord, and dare hardly say what I think. But let your +lordship's wisdom determine whether it might not be one of those demons +whereof the house hath been full ever since that night when I saw them +rise from the water of the moat--that even now surrounds us, my +lord!--and rush into the fountain court.' + +'Meddle thou not, even in thy thoughts, with things that are beyond +thee,' said lord Herbert. 'By what signs knewest thou mistress Dorothy +in the dark as she stood talking to the roundhead?' + +'There was light enough to know woman from man, my lord.' + +'And were there then that night no women in the castle but mistress +Dorothy?' + +'Why, who else could it have been, my lord?' + +'Why not thine own mother, Tom--rode thither on her broomstick to +deliver her darling?' + +Tom gaped with fresh terror at the awful suggestion. + +'Now, hear me, Thomas Rees,' his lordship went on. + +'Yes, my lord,' answered Tom. + +'An' ever it come to my knowledge that thou say thou then saw mistress +Dorothy, when all thou sawest was, as thou knowest, a woman who might +have been thine own mother talking to the roundhead, as thou callest a +man who might indeed have been Caspar Kaltoff in his shirt sleeves, I +will set every devil at my command upon thy back and thy belly, thy +sides and thy soles. Be warned, and not only speak the truth, as thou +hast for a whole half-hour been trying hard to do, but learn to +distinguish between thy fancies and God's facts; for verily thou art a +greater fool than I took thee for, and that was no small one. Get thee +gone, and send me hither mistress Watson.' + +Tom crawled away, and presently mistress Watson appeared, looking +offended, possibly at being called to the workshop, and a little +frightened. + +'I cannot but think thee somewhat remiss in thy ministrations to a sick +man, mistress Watson,' he said, 'to leave him so long to himself. Had he +been a king's officer now, wouldst thou not have shown him more favour?' + +'That indeed may be, my lord,' returned mistress Watson with dignity. +'But an' the young fellow had been very sick, he had not made his +escape.' + +'And left the blame thereof with thee. Besides, that he did for his +escape he may have done in the strength of the fever that followeth on +such a wound.' + +'My lord, I gave him a potion, wherefrom he should have slept until I +sought him again.' + +'Was he or thou to blame that he did not feel the obligation? When a man +instead of sleeping runneth away, the potion was ill mingled, I doubt, +mistress Watson--drove him crazy perchance.' + +'She who waked him when he ought to have slept hath to bear the blame, +not I, my lord.' + +'Thou shouldst, I say, have kept better watch. But tell me whom meanest +thou by that same SHE?' + +'She who was found in his chamber, my lord,' said mistress Watson, +compressing her lips, as if, come what might, she would stand on the +foundation of the truth. + +'Ah?--By the way, I would gladly understand how it came to be known +throughout the castle that thou didst find her there? I have the +assurance of my lady, my lord marquis, and my lord Charles, that never +did one of them utter word so to slander an orphan as thou hast now done +in my hearing. Who then can it be but her who is at the head of the +meinie of this house, who hath misdemeaned herself thus to the spreading +amongst those under her of evil reports and surmises affecting her +lord's cousin, mistress Dorothy Vaughan?' + +'You wrong me grievously, my lord,' cried mistress Watson, red with the +wrath of injury and undeserved reproof. + +'Thou hast thyself to thank for it then, for thou hast this night said +in mine own ears that mistress Dorothy waked thy prisoner, importing +that she thereafter set him free, when thou knowest that she denies the +same, and is therein believed by my lord marquis and all his house.' + +'Therein I believe her not, my lord; but I swear by all the saints and +angels, that to none but your lordship have I ever said the word; +neither have I ever opened my lips against her, lest I should take from +her the chance of betterment.' + +'I will be more just to thee than thou hast been to my cousin, mistress +Watson, for I will believe thee that thou didst only harbour evil in thy +heart, not send it from the doors of thy lips to enter into other +bosoms. Was it thou then that did lock the door upon her?' + +'God forbid, my lord!' + +'Thinkest thou it was the roundhead?' + +'No, surely, my lord, for where would be the need?' + +'Lest she should issue and give the alarm.' + +Mistress Watson smiled an acid smile. + +'Then the doer of that evil deed,' pursued lord Herbert, 'must be now in +the castle, and from this moment every power I possess in earth, air, or +sea, shall be taxed to the uttermost for the discovery of that evil +person. Let this vow of mine be known, mistress Watson, as a thing thou +hast heard me say, not commission thee to report. Prithee take heed to +what I desire of thee, for I am not altogether powerless to enforce that +I would.' + +Mistress Watson left the workshop in humbled mood. To her spiritual +benefit lord Herbert had succeeded in punishing her for her cruelty to +Dorothy; and she was not the less willing to mind his injunction as to +the mode of mentioning his intent, that it would serve to the quenching +of any suspicion that she had come under his disapproval. + +And now lord Herbert, depending more upon his wits than his learning, +found himself a good deal in the dark. Confident that neither Richard, +Tom Fool, nor mistress Watson had locked the door of the turret chamber +after Dorothy's entrance, he gave one moment to the examination of the +lock, and was satisfied that an enemy had done it. He then started his +thoughts on another track, tending towards the same point: how was it +that the roundhead, who had been carried insensible to the +turret-chamber, had been able, ere yet more than a film of grey thinned +the darkness, without alarming a single sleeper, to find his way from a +part of the house where there were no stairs near, and many rooms, all +occupied? Clearly by the help of her, whoever she was, whom Tom Fool had +seen with him by the hall door. She had guided him down my lord's stair, +and thus avoided the risk of crossing the paved court to the hall door +within sight of the warders of the main entrance. To her indubitably the +young roundhead had committed the ring for Dorothy. Here then was one +secret agent in the affair: was it likely there had been two? If not, +this woman was one and the same with the person who turned the key upon +Dorothy. She probably had been approaching the snare while the traitress +talked with the prisoner. What did her presence so soon again in the +vicinity of the turret-chamber indicate? Possibly that her own chamber +was near it. The next step then was to learn from the housekeeper who +slept in the neighbourhood of the turret-chamber, and then to narrow the +ground of search by inquiring which, if any of them, slept alone. + +He found there were two who occupied each a chamber by herself; one of +them was Amanda, the other mistress Watson. + +Now therefore he knew distinctly in what direction first he must point +his tentatives. Before he went farther, however, he drew from Dorothy an +accurate description of the ring to which Richard's letter alluded, and +immediately set about making one after it, from stage to stage of its +progress bringing it to her for examination and criticism, until, before +the day was over, he had completed a model sufficiently like to pass for +the same. + +The greater portion of the next day he spent in getting into perfect +condition a certain mechanical toy which he had constructed many years +before, and familiarising himself with its working. This done, he found +himself ready for his final venture, to give greater solemnity to which +he ordered the alarum-bell to be rung, and the herald of the castle to +call aloud, first from the bell-tower in the grass-court, next from the +roof of the hall-porch in the stone-court, communicating with the +minstrels' gallery, that on the following day, after dinner, so soon as +they should hear the sound of the alarum-bell, every soul in the castle, +to the infant in arms, all of whatever condition, save old mother +Prescot, who was bed-ridden, should appear in the great hall, that lord +Herbert might perceive which amongst them had insulted the lord and the +rule of the house by the locking of one of its doors to the imprisonment +and wrong of his lordship's cousin, mistress Dorothy Vaughan. Three +strokes of the great bell opened and closed the announcement, and a +great hush of expectancy, not unmingled with fear, fell upon the place. + +There was one in the household, however, who at first objected to the +whole proceeding. That was sir Toby Mathews, the catholic chaplain. He +went to the marquis and represented that, if there was to be any +exercise whatever of unlawful power, the obligations of the sacred +office with which he was invested would not permit him to be present or +connive thereat. The marquis merrily insisted that it was a case of +exorcism; that the devil was in the castle, and out he must go; that if +Satan assisted in the detection of the guilty and the purging of the +innocent, then was he divided against himself, and what could be better +for the church or the world? But for his own part he had no hand in it, +and if sir Toby had anything to say against it, he must go to his son. +This he did at once; but lord Herbert speedily satisfied him, pledging +himself that there should be nothing done by aid from beneath, and +making solemn assertion that if ever he had employed any of the evil +powers to work out his designs, it had been as their master and not +their accomplice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE EXORCISM. + + +It was the custom in Raglan to close the gates at eleven o'clock every +morning, and then begin to lay the tables for dinner; nor were they +opened again until the meal was over, and all had dispersed to their +various duties. Upon this occasion directions were given that the gates +should remain closed until the issue of further orders. + +There was little talk in the hall during dinner that day, and not much +in the marquis's dining-room. + +In the midst of the meal at the housekeeper's table, mistress Amanda was +taken suddenly ill, and nearly fell from her chair. A spoonful of one of +mistress Watson's strong waters revived her, but she was compelled to +leave the room. + +When the remains of the dinner had been cleared away, the tables lifted +from the trestles, and all removed, solemn preparations began to be made +in the hall. The dais was covered with crimson cloth, and chairs were +arranged on each side against the wall for the lords and ladies of the +family, while in the wide space between was set the marquis's chair of +state. Immediately below the dais, chairs were placed by the walls for +the ladies and officers of the household. The minstrels' gallery was +hung with crimson; long ladders were brought, and the windows, the great +bay window and all save the painted one, were hung with thick cloth of +the same colour, so that a dull red light filled the huge place. The +floor was then strewn with fresh rushes, and candles were placed and +lighted in sconces on the walls, and in two large candlesticks, one on +each side of the marquis's chair. So numerous were the hands employed in +these preparations, that about one o'clock the alarum-bell gave three +great tolls, and then silence fell. + +Almost noiselessly, and with faces more than grave, the people of the +castle in their Sunday clothes began at once to come trooping +in,--amongst the rest Tom Fool, the very picture of dismay. Mrs. Prescot +had refused to be left behind, partly from terror, partly from +curiosity, and supine on a hand-barrow was borne in, and laid upon two +of the table-trestles. Order and what arrangement was needful were +enforced amongst them by Mr. Cook, one of the ushers. In came the +garrison also, with clank and clang, and took their places with +countenances expressive neither of hardihood nor merriment, but a grave +expectancy. + +Mostly by the other door came the ladies and officers, amongst them +Dorothy, and seated themselves below the dais. When it seemed at length +that all were present, the two doors were closed, and silence reigned. + +A few minutes more and the ladies and gentlemen of the family, in full +dress, entered by the door at the back of the dais, and were shown to +their places by Mr. Moyle, the first usher. Next came the marquis, +leaning on lord Charles, and walking worse than usual. He too was, +wonderful to tell, in full dress, and, notwithstanding his corpulency +and lameness, looked every inch a marquis and the head of the house. He +placed himself in the great chair, and sat upright, looking serenely +around on the multitude of pale expectant faces, while lord Charles took +his station erect at his left hand. A moment yet, and by the same door, +last of all, entered lord Herbert, alone, in his garb of astrologer. He +came before his father, bowed to him profoundly, and taking his place by +his right hand, a little in front of the chair, cast a keen eye around +the assembly. His look was grave, even troubled, and indeed somewhat +anxious. + +'Are all present?' he asked, and was answered only by silence. He then +waved his right hand three times towards heaven, each time throwing open +his palm outwards and upwards. At the close of the third wafture, a roar +as of thunder broke and rolled about the place, making the huge hall +tremble, and the windows rattle and shake fearfully. Some thought it was +thunder, others thought it more like the consecutive discharge of great +guns. It grew darker, and through the dim stained window many saw a +dense black smoke rising from the stone-court, at sight of which they +trembled yet more, for what could it be but the chariot upon which Modo, +or Mahu, or whatever the demon might be called, rode up from the +infernal lake? Again lord Herbert waved his arm three times, and again +the thunder broke and rolled vibrating about the place. A third time he +gave the sign, and once more, but now close over their heads, the +thunder broke, and in the midst of its echoes, high in the oak roof +appeared a little cloud of smoke. It seemed to catch the eye of lord +Herbert. He made one step forward, and held out his hand towards it, +with the gesture of a falconer presenting his wrist to a bird. + +'Ha! art thou here?' he said. + +And to the eyes of all, a creature like a bat was plainly visible, +perched upon his forefinger, and waving up and down its filmy wings. He +looked at it for a moment, bent his head to it, seemed to whisper, and +then addressed it aloud. + +'Go,' he said, 'alight upon the head of him or of her who hath wrought +the evil thou knowest in this house. For it was of thine own kind, and +would have smirched a fair brow.' + +As he spoke he cast the creature aloft. A smothered cry came from some +of the women, and Tom Fool gave a great sob and held his breath tight. +Once round the wide space the bat flew, midway between floor and roof, +and returning perched again upon lord Herbert's hand. + +'Ha!' said his lordship, stooping his head over it, 'what meanest thou? +Is not the evil-doer in presence? What?--Nay, but it cannot be? Not +within the walls?--Ha! "Not in the HALL" thou sayest!' + +He lifted his head, turned to his father, and said, + +'Your lordship's commands have been disregarded. One of your people is +absent.' + +The marquis turned to lord Charles. + +'Call me the ushers of the hall, my lord,' he said. + +In a moment the two officers were before him. + +'Search and see, and bring me word who is absent,' said the marquis. + +The two gentlemen went down into the crowd, one from each side of the +dais. + +A minute or two passed, and then Mr. Cook came back and said,-- + +'My lord, I cannot find Caspar Kaltoff.' + +'Caspar! Art not there, Caspar?' cried lord Herbert. + +'Here I am, my lord,' answered the voice of Caspar from somewhere in the +hall. + +'I beg your lordship's pardon,' said Mr. Cook. 'I failed to find him.' + +'It matters not, master usher. Look again,' said lord Herbert. + +At the moment, Caspar, the sole attendant spirit, that day at least, +upon his lord's commands, stood in one of the deep windows behind the +crimson cloth, more than twenty feet above the heads of the assembly. +The windows were connected by a narrow gallery in the thickness of the +wall, communicating also with the minstrels' gallery, by means of which, +and a ladder against the porch, Caspar could come and go unseen. + +As lord Herbert spoke, Mr. Moyle came up on the dais, and brought his +report that mistress Amanda Fuller was not with the rest of the ladies. + +Lord Herbert turned to his wife. + +'My lady,' he said, 'mistress Amanda is of your people: knowest thou +wherefore she cometh not?' + +'I know not, my lord, but I will send and see,' replied lady +Margaret.--'My lady Broughton, wilt thou go and inquire wherefore the +damsel disregardeth my lord of Worcester's commands?' + +She had chosen the gentlest-hearted of her women to go on the message. + +Lady Broughton came back pale and trembling--indeed there was much +pallor and trembling that day in Raglan--with the report that she could +not find her. A shudder ran through the whole body of the hall. Plainly +the impression was that she had been FETCHED. The thunder and the smoke +had not been for nothing: the devil had claimed and carried off his own! +On the dais the impression was somewhat different; but all were one in +this, that every eye was fixed on lord Herbert, every thought hanging on +his pleasure. + +For a whole minute he stood, apparently lost in meditation. The bat +still rested on his hand, but his wings were still. + +He had intended causing it to settle on Amanda's head, but now he must +alter his plan. Nor was he sorry to do so, for it had involved no small +risk of failure, the toy requiring most delicate adjustment, and its +management a circumspection and nicety that occasioned him no little +anxiety. It had indeed been arranged that Amanda should sit right under +the window next the dais, so that he might have the assistance of Caspar +from above; but if by any chance the mechanical bat should alight upon +the head of another, mistress Doughty or lady Broughton instead of +Amanda--what then? He was not sorry to find himself rescued from this +jeopardy, and scarcely more than a minute had elapsed ere he had devised +a plan by which to turn the check to the advantage of all--even that of +Amanda herself, towards whom, while he felt bound to bring her to shame +should she prove guilty, he was yet willing to remember mercy; while, +should she be innocent, no harm would now result from his mistaken +suspicion. He turned and whispered to his father. + +'I will back thee, lad. Do as thou wilt,' returned the marquis, gravely +nodding his head. + +'Ushers of the hall,' cried lord Herbert, 'close and lock both its +doors. Lock also the door to the minstrels' gallery, and, with my lord's +leave, that to my lord's stair. My lord Charles, go thou prithee, and +with chalk draw me a pentacle upon the threshold of each of the four; +and do thou, sir Toby Mathews, make the holy sign thereabove upon the +lintel and the doorposts. For the door to the pitched court, however, +leave that until I am gone forth and it is closed behind me, and then do +thereunto the same as to the others, after which let all sit in silence. +Move not, neither speak, for any sound of fear or smell of horror. For +the gift that is in him from his mother, Thomas Rees shall accompany me. +Go to the door, and wait until I come.' + +Having thus spoken he raised the bat towards his face, and, approaching +his lips, seemed once more to be talking to it in whispers. The menials +and the garrison had no doubt but he talked to his familiar spirit. Of +their superiors, mistress Watson at least was of the same conviction. +Then he bent his ear towards it as if he were listening, and it began to +flutter its wings, at which sir Toby's faith in him began to waver. A +moment more and he cast the creature from him. It flew aloft, traversed +the whole length of the roof, and vanished. + +It had in fact, as its master willed, alighted in the farthest corner of +the roof, a little dark recess. Then, bowing low to his father, the +magician stepped down from the dais, and walked through a lane of +awe-struck domestics and soldiery to the door, where Tom stood waiting +his approach. The fool was in a strange flutter of feelings, a conflict +of pride and terror, the latter of which would, but for the former, have +unnerved him quite; for not only was he doubtful of the magician's +intent with regard to himself, but the hall seemed now the only place of +security, and all outside it given over to goblins or worse. + +The moment they crossed the threshold, the door was closed behind them, +the holy sign was signed over the one, and the pentacle drawn upon the +other. + +All eyes were turned upon the marquis. He sat motionless. Motionless, +too, as if they had been carved in stone like the leopard and wyvern +over their heads, sat all the lords and ladies, embodying in themselves +the words of the motto there graven, Mulaxe Vel Timere Sperno. +Motionless sat the ladies beneath the dais, but their faces were +troubled and pale, for Amanda was one of them, and their imaginations +were busy with what might now be befalling her. Dorothy sat in much +distress, for although she could lay no evil intent to her own charge, +she was yet the cause of the whole fearful business. As for Scudamore, +though he too was white of blee, he said to himself, and honestly, that +the devil might fly away with her and welcome for what he cared. One +woman in the crowd fainted and fell, but uttered never a moan. The very +children were hushed by the dread that pervaded the air, and the smell +of sulphur, which from a suspicion grew to a plain presence, increased +not a little the high-wrought awe. + +After about half an hour, during which expectation of something +frightful had been growing with every moment, three great knocks came to +the porch door. Mr. Moyle opened it, and in walked lord Herbert as he +had issued, with Tom Fool, in whom the importance had now at length +banished almost every sign of dread, at his heels. He reascended the +dais, bowed once more to his father, spoke a few words to him in a tone +too low to be overheard, and then turning to the assembly, said with +solemn voice and stern countenance: + +'The air is clear. The sin of Raglan is purged. Every one to his place.' + +Had not Tom Fool, who had remained by the door, led the way from the +hall, it might have been doubtful when any one would venture to stir; +but, with many a deep-drawn breath and sigh of relief, they trooped +slowly out after him, until the body of the hall was empty. In their +hearts keen curiosity and vague terror contended like fire and water. + +From that hour, while Raglan stood, the face of Amanda Serafina was no +more seen within its walls. At midnight shrieks and loud wailings were +heard, but if they came from Amanda, they were her last signs. + +I shall not, however, hide the proceedings of lord Herbert without the +hall any more than he did himself when he reached the oak parlour with +the members of his own family, in which Dorothy seemed now included. He +had taken Tom Fool both because he knew the castle so well, and might +therefore be useful in searching for Amanda, and because he believed he +might depend, if not on his discretion, yet on his dread, for secrecy. +They had scarcely left the hall before they were joined by Caspar, who, +while his master and the fool went in one direction, set off in another, +and after a long search in vain, at length found her in an empty stall +in the subterranean stable, as if, in the agony of her terror at the +awful noises and the impending discovery, she had sought refuge in the +companionship of the innocent animals. She was crouching, the very image +of fear, under the manger, gave no cry when he entered, but seemed to +gather a little courage when she found that the approaching steps were +those of a human being. + +'Mistress Amanda Fuller,' said his lordship with awful severity, 'thou +hast in thy possession a jewel which is not thine own.' + +'A jewel, my lord?' faltered Amanda, betaking herself by the force of +inborn propensity and habit, even when hopeless of success in +concealment, to the falsehood she carried with her like an atmosphere; +'I know not what your lordship means. Of what sort is the jewel?' + +'One very like this,' returned lord Herbert, producing the false ring. + +'Why, there you have it, my lord!' + +'Traitress to thy king and thy lord, out of thine own mouth have I +convicted thee. This is not the ring. See!' + +As he spoke he squeezed it betwixt his finger and thumb to a shapeless +mass, and threw it from him--then continued: + +'Thou art she who did show the rebel his way from the prison into which +her lord had cast him.' + +'He took me by the throat, my lord,' gasped Amanda, 'and put me in +mortal terror.' + +'Thou slanderest him,' returned lord Herbert. 'The roundhead is a +gentleman, and would not, to save his life, have harmed thee, even had +he known what a worthless thing thou art. I will grant that he put thee +in fear. But wherefore gavest thou no alarm when he was gone?' + +'He made me swear that I would not betray him.' + +'Let it be so. Why didst thou not reveal the way he took?' + +'I knew it not.' + +'Yet thou wentest after him when he left thee. And wherefore didst thou +not deliver the ring he gave thee for mistress Dorothy?' + +'I feared she would betray me, that I had held talk with the prisoner.' + +'Let that too pass as less wicked than cowardly. But wherefore didst +thou lock the door upon her when thou sawest her go into the roundhead's +prison? Thou knewest that therefrom she must bear the blame of having +set him free, with other blame, and worse for a maiden to endure?' + +'It was a sudden temptation, my lord, which I knew not how to resist, +and was carried away thereby. Have pity upon me, dear my lord,' moaned +Amanda. + +'I will believe thee there also, for I fear me thou hast had so little +practice in the art of resisting temptation, that thou mightst well +yield to one that urged thee towards such mere essential evil. But how +was it that, after thou hadst had leisure to reflect, thou didst spread +abroad the report that she was found there, and that to the hurt not +only of her loyal fame, but of her maidenly honour, understanding well +that no one was there but herself, and that he alone who could bear +testimony to her innocence and thy guilt was parted from her by +everything that could divide them except hatred? Was the temptation to +that also too sudden for thy resistance?' + +At length Amanda was speechless. She hung her head, for the first time +in her life ashamed of herself. + +'Go before to thy chamber. I follow thee.' + +She rose to obey, but she could scarcely walk, and he ordered the men to +assist her. Arrived in her room she delivered up the ring, and at lord +Herbert's command proceeded to gather together her few possessions. That +done, they led her away to the rude chamber in the watch tower, where +stood the arblast, and there, seated on her chest, they left her with +the assurance that if she cried out or gave any alarm, it would be to +the publishing of her own shame. + +At the dead of night Caspar and Tom, with four picked men from the +guard, came to lead her away. Worn out by that time, and with nothing to +sustain her from within, she fancied they were going to kill her, and +giving way utterly, cried and shrieked aloud. Obdurate however, as +gentle, they gave no ear to her petitions, but bore her through the +western gate, and so to the brick gate in the rampart, placed her in a +carriage behind six horses, and set out with her for Caerleon, where her +mother lived in obscurity. At her door they set her down, and leaving +the carriage at Usk, returned to Raglan one by one in the night, mounted +on the horses. By the warders who admitted them they were supposed to be +returned from distinct missions on the king's business. + +Many were the speculations in the castle as to the fate of mistress +Amanda Serafina Fuller, but the common belief continued to be that she +had been carried off by Satan, body and soul. + +END OF VOLUME II. + + + + +START OF VOLUME III + + + +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 original 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 better +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 rush 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 good nature: 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 water-shoot? 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 roundhead, +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. Scudamore?' + +'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'en-night 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 to 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 physician 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 straight-forward 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 Caspar 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 roundheads: 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 by-ways, 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 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 Cast-down. + +'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's 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 Heywood, 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, and 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. Caspar 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, Caspar 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. Caspar 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 Project Gutenberg's St. George and St. Michael, by George MacDonald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. GEORGE AND ST. 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