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diff --git a/59873-0.txt b/59873-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b7e408 --- /dev/null +++ b/59873-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8500 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59873 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + THE SWORD OF + THE KING + + + BY + + RONALD MACDONALD + + + + NEW YORK + THE CENTURY CO. + 1900 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY + THE CENTURY CO. + + + + THE KNICKERBOCKER PRESS, NEW YORK + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +It is matter of no small difficulty and hesitation for a woman to +tell a story--in especial, her own story--from the beginning of it +even to the end, and to hold, as it were, a straight course +throughout. The perplexities, I say, are many, and among them not +the least is found in these same words, _beginning_ and _end_. For +where truly his story has its inception, and what will be its +ultimate word, might well puzzle the wisest man of this age, or any +other. It has been well said, indeed, that the history of a man is +the history of his troubles--but that fashion of considering will +bring us, by no devious road, to the latter days of the Garden of +Eden and the Fall of Man. Now either I have somewhere read, or my +own heart has privily told me, that the story of a woman is the story +of her love. And this I take to be truth, and do therefore resolve +that the first chapter of my story shall be the first of my heart. + +But, lest my book itself should lack apology, I will first tell how +it comes that I, the mere wife and daughter of country gentlemen, and +of learning, as will be seen, wholly insufficient to the undertaking, +should write a book at all. + +I write, it is true, but for my own people--for the family that I +pray may be long in the land. But in these days, fortunate indeed, +yet full of swift and dubious change--these days when every second +man, it would seem, must print a book--these days when all the +presses in London are not enough to set before us the tithe of what +is committed by ink to paper--in these days, I say, none can be +assured that what he now pens shall not by some chance hit of fortune +attain the resurrection of print. And if this thing befall my work +of love, and if the book then prove, not the cere-cloth of the +embalmer, but a second and perpetual life to the thoughts of a most +happy daughter, wife, and mother long departed and forgotten, I would +stand well with my reader. + +If any stranger, then, do read, let him believe that I have no taint +in me of that _scabies scribendi_, mentioned by Horace, and mightily +inveighed against last Sunday in the pulpit of Royston Church by our +good vicar. This itch must be spreading fast, I thought, if there be +danger of it here, where scarce a full score of the good man's +hearers can spell in a hornbook. And now, lo! I am in dread lest I +be thought infected--I, a woman, with all good things that come to +women, and one to whom the holding of the pen is soon a weariness. + +There hangs yet (and long may it so hang!) in our great hall at +Drayton a sword--not in its sheath, but naked, and broken some two +parts of its length from the hilt, but shining bright as on the day +it was first drawn by the great prince that once used it. Beneath +it, also against the wall above the hearth, is the scabbard. + +It was on a fine morning of the fall of last year, as I was tending +Ned's new Dutch garden, that I heard loud and childish altercation +proceeding through the open windows of the great hall above me. And +there in a window arose the fair gilded head of my seven-year Mary, +my first and best gift to Ned, and his best to me. + +"Pray, madam, come up to the hall," she cried, "for Will is ever +doing things of naught, and he will not be gainsaid by me." + +"Nay, child," I replied, loath to lose the sweet air of the morning +and my labor below. "Nay, child, but you must take means and learn +cunning to control him." + +"I cannot do so, madam," says poor Mary, well-nigh in tears; "and he +is even now about dismounting the broken sword from the wall. But if +you will come, madam, I will hold his legs while I may." + +And with that I ascended in great haste, yet but just in time to save +the relic from desecration and the heir of Royston and Drayton a +backward fall of great peril. For the noise of my entrance caused +his most unserene Highness to turn quick on his heel and to miss in +part the footing, already precarious, that he had attained upon the +mantel. In short, he fell into my arms and into tears with one and +the same movement; tears shed for no danger run--such is not his +habit--but of grief for the plaything that was but now within his +grasp; for, though but rising five, Master William Maurice Royston +would have the broken sword to fight battles with--against King +Lewis, forsooth, and the wicked Frenchmen, in the garden. + +"It is but a bwoken old sing, madam-muvver," he cried between his +sobs, "and of a fit length for me, lacking the pointed end, which I +did purpose leaving upon the wall." And so I must needs tell him how +dearly I do prize that shattered weapon, thinking the while of the +shame that was averted, in part by its means, from our houses--and of +the honor, too, that came thereby. + +Then Mistress Mary would have the tale of the sword, and Will, his +grief forgot, and joyously bent on touzing my hair to the image of +his own, made instant demand for the fullest narration--"Every word, +madam-muvver--from _onceuponatime_ to _happyeverafter_." Yet the +attempt to bring my tale to the measure of childish apprehension did +lead me into quagmires of question and answer so vexing to our +diverse ignorance, that dinner and Colonel Royston found us scarce +advanced beyond Will's _onceuponatime_. At meat the children +demanded and obtained permission to lay the matter before their +father--the promised history, and the obscurity of word and idea +found necessary by the historian at the very commencement. At last +Ned made as if he would speak, when "Madam," cries Mary, as one big +with a great thought, "madam, will you not write it all down, that we +may read when we have learned the long words?" + +"Wise maid!" said her father. "And indeed, Philippa, it is worth the +doing. But, Mistress Wisehead," he continued to the child, "when the +long words are spelt from thy mother's head upon the paper, they will +cry aloud to be spelt back into thine, if you will have the tale." + +Now these words did make my poor maid to blush hotly, who had little +love to her book. Yet she answered well, saying: "I know, sir, that +I have been a poor scholar, but, if madam will write the tale, I +purpose to be diligent to the end that I may read well and fitly +against the time it is written." + +"'T is plain, Phil," says Ned merrily, "that here is your one hope to +make a scholar of your daughter. And, indeed, sweetheart," he went +on, with more of gravity, "'t is a book I should like well to read +myself." + +"And that, sir," said I, "is a compliment you pay to few. For, +beyond M. Vauban's work on fortification, I vow I have not seen a +book in your hand since we were wed." + +So, what with a reluctant daughter to be tempted into the path of +letters, and a husband to please,--as I knew by his face his heart +was much set on this enterprise of little Mary's suggestion,--I found +myself committed to the task. Yet, though I have thought much and +uneasily of my promise, I know not indeed when I had begun the +fulfilling it had not Mary this very afternoon brought ink and paper, +while Will followed close with a new pen. + +"Write now, madam," quoth the maid. + +"Write now, madam-muvver," says Will in faithful echo. + +"If I begin now," said I, hard driven for yet a new plea to postpone +the first plunge, "William Maurice Royston will not be able to read +the book when it is done." + +"William Maurice Royston," said he, "does not purpose reading. Sis +says reading is irksome. But, when the tale is wrote, madam-muvver +is going to read it to him." + +And so it is that I begin. + + + + +THE SWORD OF THE KING + + + +CHAPTER I + +I was a child of five years when I first saw my lover, and a gallant +sight I thought he made, the more that he found me in sore trouble, +and drew me out of it, as is ever his way. Colonel Royston, indeed, +in these latter days, holds that what I call my memory in this matter +is but the light of his after instruction thrown backward on the dark +screen of childish oblivion. Whether or no (though I take much pride +in the memory, and still will so call it), between him and me the +reader shall not lose, but shall know that on that day my nurse, +weary and petulant with the great heat and our long ramble afield, +was leading me, Philippa Drayton, no less petulant and even more +weary, by the hand, or, rather, was hoisting me by the elbow, up the +great avenue of elms that leads to Drayton Hall. And, fain as I was +for home, her rough speed was too great for my little legs, and her +grip pained my arm, so that I cried out. And then I heard the thud +of hoofs upon the turf by the roadside, and I looked up to see the +little horse pulled well-nigh on his haunches by his rider, whom, +from his own mouth, I soon knew to be Master Edward Royston, of +Royston Chase. As he pulled up, Betty let go my arm, whereupon, for +the greater ease of my legs and the freer exercise of my voice in +weeping, I incontinently sat me down in the road. + +"For shame!" says Master Ned, looking down from his galloway upon +Betty, with a frown that had sat well on thrice his years. + +"Ay, shame indeed," says Betty, yet blushing to the color of a +well-boiled beet; for she well knew it was at herself his words were +aimed; "ay, 't is shame indeed for a great maid like little mistress +here to sit in the road and weep." + +Now Betty spoke in the broad fashion of our parts--the _Doric_, as +Mr. Telgrove calls it, that I have heard is well-nigh a foreign +language to many. For the not giving this outlandish speech to my +readers there are two reasons: the one, that, though I do well +understand it myself, as is but natural, and do love the sound of it +at times, and can even, at a pinch, shape my own mouth to it as well +as my ear, I yet have by no means the skill to set it down, knowing, +indeed, no combination of letters able to convey its sounds; and the +second reason is, that could I make shift so to write, none could +read what I had written--which perhaps, by the well-disposed at +least, might be held a blemish in my book. + +But Master Ned, brushing aside her endeavor to hand on her shame to +me, at once declared himself my champion. + +"You do not take me," he said, the dark cleft of his frown growing +deeper between his brows, so that it was a marvel to see so much +austerity on so smooth and young a face. "When little maids weep, my +lass, 't is most times the blame of the great ones." + +I know not indeed if Colonel Royston yet hold in this belief; but +from that point did I love Master Ned, if, indeed, I had not begun to +do so some seconds before. And I was glad that he sat upon his +horse, that raised his head some few inches above Betty's cap, for +she was indeed a great lass, and twice his age, and his reproof had +in great measure lost its force had he stood dwarfed beside her great +body. + +From Betty he turned to me, as I sat in the road, and--"Thou art +tired, little one," he cried, with a great tenderness in his young +countenance, that to me seemed so old. "If you will ride before me, +sweetheart," he said, patting the pommel of his saddle, which was new +and fine, as all about his person, "I and Noll will take most gentle +care of thee." + +At which kind words I rose to my sore feet, stretching out my arms, +and crying to him that I would go with him. And, while Betty stood +aghast, yet with never a thought her timid and sickly nursling would +venture such a deed, I had reached his down-reached hands, had +scrambled or was pulled into the saddle before my knight-errant, the +little horse had plunged beneath his double burden, and we were away. +As I swayed and bounced on the pommel in the first strides of that +gallop along the sward that lies between the elm trees and the road, +where the air rushed by so cool and green in the shade, he seized me +with his right arm, fetching me round against his body so that my +chin lay on the arm above the elbow. As my eyes, close shut in the +first shock of our flight, came wide in the great comfort of this +security, I was gazing back over the way we had sped, and I laughed +aloud to see the vain pursuit of Betty. For all but her great self +seemed streaming behind her in the wind of her going--cap, hair, and +petticoat, while the fatness of her trembled as she ran. + +For all this, long as it has been in the telling, happened, as it +were, in a single stroke of time, and we were yet little parted from +the pursuer. And, as I laughed, Master Royston, between his chidings +of his nag for so serving us, would know the reason of my mirth--so +"Do but see," I cried, "how Betty runs, and you will laugh too." But +he could not, till he had tamed and admonished little Noll to a +better pace for my ease. And when it was time for him to laugh at +the quaint figure Betty did cut, I had already begun to pity her. +But Master Royston would none of it. + +"She is very well served," he said, "for her rude manners to thee, +little one. I have a mind to give her some more of it. She is +weary, is she not?" + +"Ay, indeed, poor Bet!" I answered, "else had she not so handled me." + +Upon that he drew rein, saying we should wait till she drew near. +After a while, as Noll did crop the grass at his feet, Master Royston +asked me if I could sit astride. "It is no shame," he said, "thou +art so small a maid." And when I was so set, grasping a double +handful of the pony's mane, he said: "When she is close I shall run +to the house. Hold thou fast, little love, for Betty must run as +never before if she would catch us." And as I would have pleaded she +drew near, all spent and blowing, and I felt his knee move, and +little Noll did also feel it, and was gone. + +Oh, that I had a pen to tell of that ride! This time I was not +afraid. This time there was no starting aside, no uneasy casting of +my poor small person from side to side in grievous oscillation. And, +oh! I say again, for the pen of some poet (yet I cannot tell whose +to wish) in order to describe this my first taste of the joy there is +in a horse when he is between us and turf good and plenty! Many a +mile and many a beast have I ridden since that summer afternoon, and +I hope so to ride, by the goodness of God, many a year hence; and yet +that long, clean, resilient flight through an air that seemed of +liquid green, flecked with the gold of the sun dropping here and +there through the elms; the soft, fresh thud of hoof meeting turf but +to part anew with the impact--that meeting with the soil that gave so +lively assurance that Mother Earth was yet kindly and strong beneath; +the strong rushing of the wind cooling my face and lifting the +tangled curls back over the close cap; the new-born trust, moreover, +in the arm that held me--all these things are with me now, distilled +into one golden drop of life's very elixir, being, indeed, one of +those gems of memory whereof the sweetness can as little be set fast +by words as the stamp of them can be erased from the mind so sweetly +and strangely impressed. + +So much for my memory rather of a frame of being than of an ordered +consecution of events. The curtain of childish oblivion here +descends, as it is wont to fall, swift and dark, on these pregnant +spoils of recollection. I think my dear and honored father's arms +were those that lifted me from the saddle. I have since heard that +Betty was saved by my new friend from the rating Sir Michael had +ready for her, receiving privily from that youthful master of craft a +mint-new crown in earnest of future subsidies, did she prove +thenceforth tender to the little maid. And, indeed, I think she did +deserve whatever wage of kindness the future may have brought her. +For I have of her no further memory of harsh entreatment. + +For Philippa Drayton there now began a new life of the happiest. I +had found what all, at one time or another of life, will look for, +yet find most often, I truly believe, when they seek him not--I mean +a true friend. And there is none but his children and mine that can +tell what a friendship it was my friend did give me. He was my +playmate, yet of age and wit to control. He was at whiles my tutor, +for I would learn of him when none else had the art to keep my eyes +five minutes fast on the book. He was my master of equitation, and +did teach me in such manner not only to sit upon a horse's back, but +also to understand what the animal would be at, that I learned in +time to back many a beast that some could not mount with impunity. +Before the five years of our early comradeship were past I would ride +the colts round the paddock, often without bridle or saddle, and +seated astride, as in my first ride with Ned, which I have described +above. And he would blame me for a madcap, and yet, if none else +were by to see, would laugh at the frolic, and praise my sitting of +the nag, and my tricks of control. With his coming into my story, +which before was none at all, my old dread of animals, along with the +ill-health of my earlier days, had vanished, to be replaced by a pure +confidence in all that breathed, which in itself, maybe, was to the +full as childish, but, without controversy, far safer for the child. +Anon, Ned was himself my steed, to be guided by tuggings of the hair +and ears often, I doubt me, little merciful. And, if not the +swiftest, he was surely of all I have ridden the most willing. It +could not fail that, thus together, we should quarrel often. I mean, +it could not fail where such a child as I made one of the pair. But +Ned would bear my poutings, my bickerings, and every wayward mood +with a smile when he might, and without it when he must. But did +some act of mine wrong some other than himself, as when I would cuff +Betty, or strike dog or horse for the easing of my own passion rather +than the fit correction of the animal, then would he show the sterner +mettle that was in him. Then he would not forgive till confession of +wrong or pardon was asked. And, was I stubborn, he would stay away, +even days together, but I must submit. Once it was a week--seven +days, most long and dark for erring Mistress Philippa. For he said: +"You are my friend, little Phil, and some day I shall wed thee, and +it is not for my honor that you do thus, or so." + +Thus Master Edward Royston, aged some fourteen years. Yet was my Ned +no untimely saint, fitted but for the fatal love of the gods. +Passion and frolic were in him, laughter, and--no, not tears--only +twice have I seen them in his eyes, heard them mar the government of +his speech. Boyish escapades were plentiful enough with him to give +his mother and my father some knowledge of the unbending nicety in +the point of honor which was yet seen in his most boyish prank or his +strongest passion of anger. For the power also of anger was in him, +growing, indeed, in its outburst less frequent as he grew in stature, +but gaining rather than losing force with its rarer manifestation. I +touch on this note of his character designedly, inasmuch as it was +the cause of the great change that was soon, I mean at the end of +twelve years from our first meeting, to come into my life. But of +that in its place. + +Sir Michael Drayton, of Drayton Manor, in the southward part of the +county of Somerset, was already well on in years when I, the second +child of his second wife, was born. And that was in the eighth year +of the second Charles. For he, my father, first saw the light in the +year of grace 1609, and thus, at the time of my meeting with Ned, +which was in the summer of the year 1673, and in the sixth year of my +little life, he had fulfilled sixty-four years, of which number some +five and forty had brought him trouble sufficient, on moderate +computation, to furnish out a fair portion of strife and affliction +to six ordinary men. For, ardent and devoted Cavalier though he was, +'t was not the outburst of the great war of the Rebellion that marked +the worst point of his troubles. Often in his old age have I heard +my dear father tell how, after the tedious and ever embittering +doubts and hesitations of that civil strife that had endured in +England since the coming of the first Stuart, to him as to many +another the resort to arms came as a clearing of the vexed mind and +settlement of conscience perturbed. Of the momentous action of the +Long Parliament, in the year 1642, I have heard him say: "Then at +length our duty was plain. I, for one, slept better o' nights +thereafter than I had done since the meeting of the Short +Parliament." For Sir Michael had been elected of the shire for that +hapless assembly, as subsequently for its successor, the Long +Parliament; of his seat in the latter he was illegally deprived when +he withdrew from Westminster to join the King at Oxford, which he did +in the late spring of that same year (I mean 1642), in the excellent +company of my Lord Falkland and the late Lord Chancellor Clarendon, +then Sir Edward Hyde. And thenceforth his life was war, and raising +of money in order to its prosecution; in both which perilous and +comfortless means of assisting his sovereign and of hurting his foes +Sir Michael Drayton was ever forward, to the most lamentable +detriment of his own person and estate. He raised on his own land, +and maintained at his own expense, a troop of horse that were ever +with him throughout the first period of that long and evil war, I +mean until the fight at Naseby in Yorkshire. There he lost great +part of his following upon the field, and was himself grievously +hurt. Yet with that scent, as I may say, which led him in all those +years ever where the work was hottest, he was found again in the +Welsh rising three years later, whence, escaping after the fall of +Pembroke Castle, he joined himself with his little remnant of +troopers to the Scots, in bare time to share their overthrow at +Warrington by the late Protector (although he had not then that +title). + +Sore in mind, sick in body,--for he was never wholly healed of his +great wound in the right thigh which he took at Naseby,--he reached +home only to hear of his King's terrible end. 'T is perhaps strange +to tell that this awful deed of murder and sacrilege put a new heart +in that much-buffeted and enduring gentleman, my father. That +Martyrdom, I think, went far to atone, in Sir Michael's mind and +heart, for certain wrongs and fickle veerings of purpose, proceeding +as much from the complexion as the misfortunes of that pious Martyr +and unhappy King. No word did he ever utter to asperse the royal +memory; yet once in the passage of these more recent transactions of +state, which have brought into my life, as into that of the nation at +large, so much of betterment, did I hear him murmur (though but as +for his own ear alone), "Ay, ay--he served us best, when they served +him worst." Be that as it may, from that hour until the happy +restoration of King Charles the Second, all that he had--the remnant +of health, much of his land, the lives of his sons, the thoughts of +his mind, and the prayer of his heart, were given to forward that +happy end, which was achieved, as all men know and many remember, in +the year 1660--but, for the house of Drayton, at what a cost! + +But my father's story I must not make overlong, lest I never come at +my own. In brief, then, all his money and much of the Drayton +timber, with here and there a fair slice of his land, were gone while +the head of the royal Martyr was yet where God had set it. From that +fatal day, however, he set himself to the husbanding what God and the +rebels had left to him. Here again was disaster in wait for him; for +when, by dint of living as a peasant, and by help of his breeding of +horses (for which he was already famous in the west, and, in the +early years of the war, well known to the farriers of Prince Rupert's +Horse), he had begun to lay by the means of one day aiding the cause +to which his life was given, he was, through the lust and malice of a +certain Puritan neighbor, denounced as a Malignant, and most heavily +fined by the despotic rule of the late Lord Protector Cromwell. +Through Mr. Nathaniel Royston (of whom more in good time), he was +warned of this instant spoliation, and was so enabled privily to +convey his store of gold into France, and to lay it in the hands of +his exiled sovereign, to be spent, no doubt, in far other fashion +than the earning of it. And though he proved to the commissioners +sent down upon that proditorious information to be less worth the +plucking than had been supposed, yet his acts in the late troubles +being known, and somewhat, perhaps, of that sending of money into +France leaking out, the blow fell upon him even as his psalm-singing +but ungodly neighbor had designed. So, the gold in France, land must +be sold. And sold it was, but not as that godly brewer of Yeovil did +intend--to wit, into his own hand; for here again Mr. N. Royston did +us great service, buying of the land which adjoined his own a small +portion at so high a price that the great fine was paid with the loss +of a few fields. + +Yet none the less was the work all to begin again. So begun again it +was, and that most stubbornly. And it was well the land was fat, and +the breed of horses unmatched in the west country, for, when our +western discontent grew to a head in the year 1655, Rupert, his +youngest son by his first lady, was with Penruddock at Salisbury, +whither he carried and left, on his own undertaking, most of that +painful saving. Some few of his following drifted back to Drayton, +but Rupert had spent the gold and himself for his King, even as Sir +Michael had now spent all his family. For Henry and Maurice, the +elder sons, had fallen, the one at Worcester fight, the other in duel +with a Frenchman at The Hague, whither he had followed his sovereign, +his opponent, it was said, being a spy of Cardinal Mazarin, and +suspected by my brother of some ill intent to his exiled prince. +Over and above all these troubles, that same affair of Penruddock's, +so foolish and ill-devised, cost Sir Michael within the year the life +of his wife, after a union with her of six and twenty years of that +nature as to soften much the sting of his many afflictions, though it +could not keep her own heart from bursting with the loss of the last +child of their love. + +His thereafter speedy marriage with my own dear mother, whom I do but +faintly remember, had in it no token, whatever the show may have +been, of disrespect to the former Lady Drayton. But here again is a +story to excel, perhaps, in the right telling of it, the length of my +own. Yet I do not purpose a full relation of so much sorrow, holding +that the strong hand only of a master in letters should essay the +portraiture of such tragedy as was in those days often enacted in the +houses of many an old Royalist family. + +Mr. Denzil Holroyd's only surviving child, the lady who afterwards +became my mother, had passed a jejune childhood in a house +impoverished by her father's loyalty to the Stuart cause, and +persecuted in the latter days, even to bitterness, for its stanch +adherence to the faith of Rome. She had been the close and tender +friend of the first Lady Drayton. Following hard upon the death of +that lady came fresh ill-fortune upon the Holroyd family, of which +the death of Denzil, its head, was a part; and Mistress Alicia +Holroyd, left without a natural protector, and stripped by cruel laws +and wicked informers of her last acres, flung herself late of a +bitter winter's night against my father's door, begging shelter from +the inclemency of Nature, and protection from the baseness of her +Puritan cousin, who, not content with the filching her inheritance, +would have added her person to his plunder as the price of food and +lodging, hoping thus to make sure his title against future turns of +fate. Silas Holroyd pursuing, found her clinging as some frightened +child to my father. Silas soon returned the way he came, but after +what words with my father was never known, since he dared tell no man +what passed between them, and none dared question Sir Michael. Yet +Alicia could not dwell in the house where now was no mistress, so out +of this difficulty, as of so many another, my father must needs find +a way; which indeed he did, as the words he used in telling me of the +matter shall now inform any that has read so far in my narrative. "I +told your good mother, little daughter Phil," he said, "that I had +little power or credit in the land to help my friend. 'But,' said I, +that bitter night that she came to me, 'if you will wed an old man +and a broken, there is yet left in Drayton the strength to make some +show of cover for the mistress of his board and the partner of his +bed. 'T is a poor thing to offer, but it will serve to make a fool +of that knave Silas, when he shall try, as well I know he will, to +recover the custody of your person by a process of law, charging me +with your abduction. I will cherish you well, if you will have me +for husband.'" And if the poor lady let gratitude usurp the place of +love who shall blame her, being in such straits? Not I, her most +happy daughter. Were it but for the father she gave me, I will thank +her next in order only to her God and mine till I die, and after, I +do firmly trust. + +And so out of hand they were married, nor do I think either found +cause of regret. For the lady found peace, and license to practise, +as far as might be, the duties of her faith, with now and again the +comfort of its holiest offices at the hands of some wandering or +hunted priest. For my father's old and loud-spoken hatred of Rome, +now indeed much softened by the mellowing of his own temper and the +fellow-feeling of a common persecution, was yet so well fixed in the +memory of that countryside, that Mistress Alicia Holroyd was +generally held to have abjured the errors of Rome in committing the +error of becoming Lady Drayton. Certain it is, that none ever +discovered the secret chapel so cunningly hid among the wine vaults, +devised by Sir Michael, and painted and floored, dressed and +furnished by no hands save his and those of Simon Emmet. I have +heard that Simon would grumble as he worked, predicting ill to come +of this idolatry. For his own soul, he would say, he cared not so +greatly, in the pleasing of so sweet a lady--but, for Sir Michael's, +his same sweet lady's, and their children's to come, he would the +cursed job were not to do. But, if bidden then to lay down his +tools, "Nay," he would say, "you cannot do alone in the business. +And if it be sin, as I verily think it, I will not hand it on to +another." + +From the few and petty memories of my infancy, antecedent to my first +encounter with Ned, there stands out the vision of my mother's face, +as she would ascend the stair that led, as I understood then, and for +many a year thereafter, but from the cellars; the vision of a face +shedding upon all a shining calm, so tender, and withal so glorious, +as no cunning of the greatest painter's brush, I think, has ever +coaxed into the nimbus of his saint. It is how I recall her face in +my dreams, sleeping or waking. And when I learned at length the +secret of the chapel I understood many things that each must find for +himself. + +Her first child was my brother Philip, born in the year 1658. Ten +years later she gave my father his only girl and last child,--me, +Philippa, to wit,--and died herself in the first days of the year +1673, some five months before my rescue from Betty at the hands of +Master Royston, to which, in this opening chapter, as in my life, I +will yet be referring all things, as it were an Hegira. + +And all this time, though I am ever dinning this Master Royston, this +Ned, this time-worn but, I hope, sempiternal lover, in your ears, as +yet introduction of him into these pages does as much lack formal +ceremony as did the beginning of our friendship. + +Mr. Nathaniel Royston, of Cheapside, in the City of London, was of a +well-known and highly respected west-country parentage. Apprenticed +in London at an early age to a merchant of repute, he had soon +displayed considerable sagacity, not only in the intricacies of the +Turkey trade, but also in the more perilous and no less subtile +labyrinth of matters political. As in the first, after winning his +way to a large share in the undertakings of him who had been his +master, he had devoted himself to the patient amassing of a large +fortune, so in the second he had used his judgment and foresight to +the one end of retaining intact what he had so laboriously gathered. +I would not be understood to throw anything of blame on his conduct +of his life. Ned hath often told me that to his father all +governments were alike, for all, he would say, were equally at fault, +and that it became a man of his temper and estate to make in each +case the best of a bad business. The Turkey trade thriving, Mr. +Royston continued to increase by this means of regarding affairs of +state, in despite of King and Parliament, Army and Protector, +Presbyterian and Independent. And this in so great measure that, in +the year 1653, he acquired by honest purchase those lands of the +family whose scion he was, which lay in the county of Somerset. So +he came to live among us, but it was not until two years after the +Restoration that his son Edward was born, that being six years after +his marriage to the Lady Mary Harlowe. He was wont to say that it +was indeed strange that the sole precarious venture in the life of a +solid and cautious merchant should prove his most profitable, +referring in this to his marriage with a lady whose family had been +proscribed for its affection to the royal cause. In this +circumstance, indeed, there would appear to be some resemblance +between the fates of my mother and Ned's; with this difference, +however, that in Mr. Royston's case love impelled to the single +hazardous act of a lifetime, while in my dear father's, duty and the +very danger itself brought about a union ultimately rewarded with +affection. + +This Mr. Nathaniel Royston, after some twenty years spent mostly at +his estate of Royston Chase in our neighborhood, during which time he +had much endeared himself to my father by many acts of a thoughtful +and temperate goodness, which his wealth and general esteem well +enabled him to perform, died quietly in his bed in the same winter as +my dear mother. + +Of my own brother Philip, my early recollection is most slender. His +was, I believe, ever a studious and contemplative complexion of mind, +which had led him at an early age to adopt, against the earnest wish +of his father, the erroneous opinions in the matter of religion +pressed on him, I am sure, far more earnestly by his mother's +spiritual advisers than by herself. I have neither wish nor ability +to expatiate on this subject, and will only say, in justice to both +sides, that it was more on account of the sorrow I had seen deeply +graved upon my father's face when Philip's adhesion to the Church of +Rome was mentioned, than from any ecclesiastical predilection of my +own, that I found means to resist certain assaults by Philip and +others on my own acquiescence in the position and authority of the +Church of England as by law established. + +It fell shortly after the Restoration that the death of the childless +Silas Holroyd much simplified the process at law whereby the attempt +was making to recover my mother's property. The matter being brought +to a successful issue, the revenues of our family became so vastly +improved that in the year 1676, when I was eight years of age, and +Philip eighteen, he was sent travelling on the continent of Europe +with a governor. I heard my father murmur, as he returned to the +house after bidding his son farewell: "Pray God it drive some of the +folly out of him!" + +This, in my father's view of it, was far from the result of that +foreign tour. After a while he ceased to tell me of Philip and his +letters, reading them ever in a clouded silence; till at length I was +bidden not to speak of my brother, and I knew some bad thing had +befallen, but what, for many years, I did not learn. Nor did I see +him after that departure for a space of twelve years. And when at +length I did see him--but that I will tell in its place. + +I had thought clearly to lay, as it were, the groundwork of my +narrative in far fewer words than these that stretch already behind +me like a dusty and winding road at the traveller's back. + +Now, when as a child I would read a tale or history (after that Ned +had coaxed and driven both desire and skill of reading into my little +head), I did use to pass over the early pages in scorn, and "to come +to the part," I would tell the chiding Ned, "where things fall to +happening." Since many in graver years do keep lively this desire of +action and movement in what they read, I am now resolved to reach, as +quickly as may be, the place "where things begin happening." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +I have said above of this early friendship between a lad of eleven +and a maid not half that age, that it endured five years. For at the +end of that period the comradeship indeed was broken, and a term was +set to the habit of community in all things that was to me at least +so comfortable. The day that took my companion to reside in the town +of Sherborne, there to attend the King's School, brought on my small +mind its first remembered sorrow; wherefore I wept greatly, and would +not for many days be comforted. At the time I did not understand (as +how should I, being but ten years of age?) the reasons of this so +sudden change in his mother's intention. But I have since learned +that two causes, of which I myself, poor maid, was one, determined +the Lady Mary Royston to take her son from the hands of the learned +and pious governor who should have led him in the path of learning +and conduct even up to the gates of the University of Oxford. Thus +her late husband had intended, but, the tutor growing lazy and +overeasy perhaps, while Ned would ever more frequently take the bit +of control fast between the teeth of stubbornness, she was minded to +subject him to sterner authority. She was moved, moreover, like many +another parent of an only son, by some measure of jealousy, directed, +in her case, toward "the wild little maid of Drayton," as she would +call me; for, with all his duty to his mother, no words or wishes of +hers could shake that notable and constant affection that Ned did +then, as ever, spend upon me. Knowing, too, by her late husband, of +the papistical bias (as she would say) of the Drayton family more +than others of those parts had learned, she was ever in dread +(pursuing Mr. Nathaniel Royston's policy of caution) lest our +acquaintance should lead her or her son into some seeming of +complicity with traitors. For we were then in the year 1678 and the +full tide of the Popish Plot. But I have always believed that I was +far more in this matter of sending Ned to Sherborne than Dr. Titus +Gates or the whole College of Cardinals. + +By this and by that, certain it is that go to Sherborne he did, and +that my days had been from that hour very cheerless but for a notable +addition to our family, bringing some measure of solace to a mighty +sore little heart. + +When he heard that Ned was gone, and that the tutor knew not where to +turn himself for a living after his dismission by the Lady Mary, my +good father mounted his horse and rode over to Royston, leaving me +marvelling greatly at the courage and hardihood of a man that dared +encounter a woman so formidable as I then held Ned's mother to be. +For only twice had I been with him to Royston Chase, and the second +time even happier to be gone than the first. So it was that I deemed +my father a very St. George that could face cheerfully this dragon. + +He had along with him a mounted servant, leading a quiet pad-nag, +which returned after sundown sorely burdened with the great person of +the Rev. Joshua Telgrove. I stood on the steps for my father's +embrace (always my privilege on his return), and when the little +party was dismounted with no small difficulty to Mr. Telgrove and the +assistant groom, "Mistress Philippa," says Sir Michael, with +something of ceremony in his manner of speech, "this is Mr. Telgrove, +who hath taught your friend, Master Royston, these many years." + +"That I know well, sir," I replied, trembling; for I feared the old +man greatly, having seen him but thrice, and ascribing great +austerity to him that had ruled a being so great as my friend and +idol. + +"And now," he continued, with a little grim smile that was yet not +unkind, "Mr. Telgrove has a mind to teach my little half-broke filly" +(for so the dear and tender gentleman was wont to pun upon my name), +"and I have a mind he should at least make the endeavor." + +At this I trembled yet more, and was abashed to a stubborn silence, +resolving with a mighty vow in my heart that from none but Ned would +I learn. And I finding in the days that followed that my tutor was +the mildest of men, and in face of childish wilfulness the most +indolent, it was like to have gone mighty hard with my advancement in +learning had he not discovered a rod to rule me as by some charm of +magic. For coming very soon, with the keen insight of childhood, to +fear him not at all, I would in no manner give him rest nor ease, +neither by learning my task nor by sitting mumchance, which at first, +mayhap, had pleased him near as well, unless he would be talking of +Ned. Now Mr. Telgrove had a great and tender affection to his late +pupil, and perceiving that I even surpassed him in this, he came, I +think, to some measure of love for his new one. With that rose in +him the wish that I should do him credit, even as Ned had done; and +he made an ordinance that the name, so dear alike to master and +scholar, should not be breathed until the task of the day was not +only conned but fairly committed and recited. To this rule he did so +constantly, for a nature of his softness, adhere, that before six +months were past I was much advanced in wisdom, and grown to love my +lessons only next in order to their reward--those long colloquies, to +wit, in which he would tell me every adventure, escapade, and other +act, good or bad, of Ned's childhood. These stories, indeed, soon +grew old, but to me and my tutor never trite nor stale. Then from +time to time he would read aloud to me, in part or at length, the +letters received from Sherborne. But to me Ned did not write. + +Thus the months went by, and grew into years less heavily than I had +thought. Mr. Telgrove was well content, having found, as he would +say, a refuge for his old age. For the Act of Uniformity and the +Oath of Non-resistance being against his conscience, had deprived him +of his living, while the Five-Mile Act had well-nigh forbidden him to +find another. Mr. N. Royston, in the performance of one of his +politic acts of charity, his house of Royston Chase being neither +near Mr. Telgrove's former incumbency, nor within the proscribed +distance of a corporate town, had obtained a good teacher for his +son; but I think the good man's power of struggling with a +persecuting world was exhausted in his one act of renunciation, and +he was left with little desire for aught but a peaceful abode and the +leisure to study the great writers of antiquity in a cloud of smoke +from his tobacco pipe. His opinions in matters theological and +ecclesiastical had, with the passage of time, so softened, that Sir +Michael would playfully attack him for a Latitudinarian, an Arminian, +or what not, while I on winter evenings would search among my tutor's +books that I might plague him with accusation of strange heresies. + +But this was after Mr. Telgrove had resided with us some four years, +and young Mr. Royston had proceeded from Sherborne to Corpus Christi +College, in the University of Oxford, having in the meantime but once +visited Royston--one happy summer for me, in my fourteenth year, +during two months of which he would ride over to us, not indeed with +the frequency of the past, but often twice, and sometimes even three +times, in the seven days. Yet, though I say I was happy, it was not +as it had been. Something of the distance that had grown between him +and me would force itself upon the mind, now of one, now of the +other. Pondering the matter from the watch-tower of my present +content, I hold that the child in Mistress Phil was ever crying out +for the older terms of alliance, with their reckless mirth and +unchecked license of jollity, while the woman, unheeded, but waxing +ever stronger within, would as often clap stern hand upon the +clamorous lips of youth, and so produce that outward show of +petulance which is as baffling to the youth in his twentieth as it is +alluring to the man in his thirtieth year. Then, too, it was that I +first gave thought to the manner of my appearance in the eyes of +others, and would ask my glass, I knew not why, for evidence of grace +and beauty in person and countenance. And the mirror was a stern +arbiter, showing only gaunt length of limb and sunbrowned uncouthness +of feature, overhung by heavy brows, and supported, when mirth would +display them, by a regiment of very white teeth. + +"Dear Ned," I would say, "I would I were fair!" + +"Some day you will be so," he would answer. + +"But you have grown to the stature of a man, while I----" + +"Be content, sweetheart," he would answer. "You are like a yearling +colt--nay, 't is filly I mean. How dost spell that same word _filly_ +now, Mistress Scholar? With the 'P' and the 'h' it should be, in the +Grecian manner. But indeed you will overtake my growth soon enough. +When I did first know you, my age to yours was as two to one and +more. When I have done with Oxford, it will be but as four to three, +and thou older for a woman than I for a man." + +"Tell me, then," I said to him one day, after some such talk, "when, +last summer, you were at the Court with madam your mother, and I saw +you not at all, did you not see many fine ladies and women of great +beauty?" + +"Ay, many," quoth he, "but none such as you will be. Do but give the +colt time." + +And when he was gone I would marvel why I cared for the beauty I had +not. And since I found no clear answer to the question in my own +mind, and ventured to seek it from no other, it was well, maybe, that +Ned's long absence at Oxford and in London with the Lady Mary, +extending as it did over the better part of four years, put the +matter in time clean out of my head. Indeed, even in our quiet +corner, we had other matter to consider in those days than the vanity +of a half-grown maid. + +Now it is only in later times that I have come even to the most +partial understanding of the many twists and turns in the fate of our +perturbed island, that were then succeeding each other with so +bewildering rapidity. This is no public history, or my ignorance +would make of it a worse book yet than it promises, and I shall but +recall the memory of those unquiet events that affected at this time +our quiet life. + +That same year of Ned's coming again to Royston, between his leaving +Sherborne and going to Oxford, was the time of the late Duke of +Monmouth's progress through England, wherein he did take upon himself +so much of the state of his royal ancestry as to encourage greatly +the fond belief of the common people, particularly in the west +country, in that vain story of a certain Black Box, where should be +found (did one credit these mystery-mongers) proof indisputable of +the marriage of the Duke's mother, Mistress Lucy Walters, with his +acknowledged father, King Charles II., then upon the throne. Of the +merits of the matter I know nothing, but remember well how Sir +Michael would say the wish was father to the thought in the minds of +such as dreaded most the coming to the throne of the Papist Duke of +York. He had no patience, he said, with those that went after these +idle tales; yet he showed much in exhorting, threatening, and +persuading those of his own people that seemed most in peril of +misleading by these errors. In especial, I do recall something of a +disputation between him and Simon Emmet, our steward. This good man +was in a measure privileged in his intercourse with Sir Michael, +being an old trooper of the first force my father had raised and led +for King Charles the Martyr. He was, though Cavalier and Royalist to +the marrow, a Protestant of an earnestness well-nigh fanatical. + +Simon stood beneath the open window of my bedchamber, on the sward +that there sweeps up right to the walls of the house from the park, +so that I have often dropped bread to the deer grown bold in their +feeding. My father leaned from the window beneath me, smoking a pipe +of Virginia tobacco, while I sat gazing over the trees and busied, +till my ear was caught by their words, with thought of Oxford and the +Court at London. And this is what I heard: + +Said Sir Michael Drayton: "Ill will come of this madness, Simon. To +uphold the claim of a bastard to the throne you and I have fought for +is not the work of a wise man nor a good." + +"'T is not so sure the Duke is that," answered Emmet. "I, for one, +hold him as well born as the other Duke" (meaning the Duke of York), +"and, at any rate, my lord of Monmouth is no Papist." + +"I had not voted for the Exclusion Bill had I been at Westminster," +said my father, yet as if he had a doubt in the matter; "for I do +think a Catholic may be no bad king--if he will but uphold the law." + +"If--ay, if! I do not say a Papist must needs be a bad man nor a bad +king. Not but what they all are so--for the most part," said Simon +as in fear of overmuch concession. "But this is a Papist for sure, +and as surely a bad man. 'T is pretty work he has had the doing of +in Scotland, sir; and that not for his own superstition, but for a +faith he doth not hold. Give him power and the time to use it, and +what will he not attempt for the Scarlet Woman? Moreover, if the +Duke of Monmouth be the King's son, born in lawful wedlock, as this +same story of the Black Box would show----" + +"No more, Simon," interrupted my father angrily. "Say not another +word of that. It is rank blasphemy and treason, and I, being a +faithful subject of His Majesty, and on his commission of the peace, +and holding command in the train-bands, may not hear repeated what +His Majesty has denied. And most of all, Simon," he continued more +kindly, "I do fear this sort of wild talk will get thee into trouble. +Leave it to Republicans and Fifth Monarchy Men, old friend. I fear +you have been running after sectaries in your old age, Simon." He +knew it well, for the old steward, like the poor land that had asked +and taken many years and much blood of his youth, had passed through +many contrarious fits of thought and sentiment. In religion his +politic fear of Rome had well-nigh driven him out of the back door of +the Church into the arms of the Puritans. As he hovered between +respect of his ancient captain and present master, and the +enticements of controversy, "Go, Simon!" cried Sir Michael; "bid +Parson Greenlow pray with you, and read you a lecture on Passive +Obedience and the Duty of Non-resistance." + +"Humph!" muttered the old malcontent, as he walked toward the stable; +"the parsons will be mighty ready to eat their sermons when the +Duke's Scottish boot is on their leg. They 'll resist then, Sir +Michael, even as we resisted Old Noll." + +And so three further years went by, and Ned came not, but did spend +such time as he was not in Oxford with Madam Royston in his father's +noble house in Basinghall Street in the City of London. Twice did he +send me a letter in those days, with no word, indeed, of love in +them, but so breathing the constancy of our old terms of alliance, +and bringing me so much joy, that I cannot endure they should run the +risk of the cold monument of print, and so will not here set down +their words. + +And I grew in length and thickness, and, I hope, in other things +beside, and had almost forgot my mirror but for the kinder and more +pleasing glance it would now and again, toward the latter part of my +seventeenth year, begin to throw back upon me, as I would pin a +collar, or struggle to twist into some show of order the stubborn and +difficult blackness of my hair. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +And then, one Sunday morning of late winter, we heard from the pulpit +of Drayton Parish Church how the King was dead, when was read to the +congregation there assembled the speech to his Council of the new +King, James, in which he did fairly promise to uphold the laws, and +in especial to respect the rights of the Church of which he was the +head, though no member. And my father was cheered, and Emmet was +sombrely downcast, and the country people murmured of King Monmouth +under the breath. Later came the news of the late King's apostasy in +the very article of death. If these things were true of Charles, +whom in some sort they had contrived to love, what should be looked +for, said Emmet and those of his kidney, from him who, as Duke of +York, was but lately the most hated and hateful of all in the three +kingdoms? + +And then came the rumors of the late King's doing to death by his +brother now on the throne. The truth, grave as it was, would not +content our more turbulent and hot-headed spirits of the west, but +they must even mix falsehood, none being too scandalous, to +overseason a dish already too heavy for stomachs unused to high fare. +And so there followed an indigestion--I mean the mad and wicked +insurrection of the Duke of Monmouth. To this day I cannot think, +and much less write, of the summer and autumn that followed the death +of King Charles II. without some return upon my spirits of the horror +and gloom that the doings of those days engendered. So I will pass +over our share in these things as quickly as may be. + +When we heard of the Duke's landing at Lyme Regis, in the county of +Dorset, and not more than twenty good miles from our little village +of Drayton, it was already late on the eleventh day of June; yet that +very night did my father set himself to the task of getting at once +under arms his small company of the yellow-coated Somerset +train-bands. Receiving the next morning instructions from Sir +William Portman, the colonel of that force and a near friend of his +own, he was enabled to despatch them out of hand on their road to +join with the red-coated militia of Dorset at Bridport, saying that +thus the poor hinds might at least die cleanly, if die they must; +while staying at home they had, like enough, taken the rebel +infection and ended on a gallows. His old wound and other +infirmities, to my great joy, kept him with me at Drayton. But, not +content with what was already done, he made during the week that +followed a visitation of the neighborhood, exhorting all and sundry +to loyalty, and with so good result that our Drayton folk suffered +less in the cruel days so near at hand than any other village for +forty miles round. + +And these cruel days came upon us but too quickly. In the latter end +of June Simon Emmet did one day make off, and we had great fear that +he was gone to join the rebel mob that of its friends was flattered +with the name of army. On the seventh day of July came the news of +the battle fought at Sedgemoor, near the town of Bridgewater; and +then of the great slaughter on that field, to be followed day by day +with yet more grisly tales of the cruelty of the royal troops, in +especial those of wicked Colonel Kirke and his regiment of soldiers +from Tangier, as wicked and ruthless as himself. This bad man, whose +later service in a nobler cause I can never hold as atoning for his +acts at this time among us, began, after some days of butchery in the +town of Taunton, to send out small bodies of soldiers to spread his +horrid work in the smaller towns and villages in the southern parts +of the county. And then there came in a party of the militiamen on +their way home, having passed through Taunton, with word that some of +Kirke's Lambs would next day visit Drayton, having with them a batch +of prisoners belonging to our part, in order to hanging them, with +all customary foulness of detail, on their own village-green, the +better to encourage the loyalty of those on whom no faintest breath +of suspicion could be raised. + +It is said that when Will Blundell, the young gentleman that had in +my father's stead taken our company of the militia to Bridport, had +begged Colonel Kirke to give our village at least, as untainted in +its loyalty, the go-by, that coarse and evil-minded man had replied, +with many foul words and blasphemous oaths: "Are we then so loyal in +Drayton? God's blood! I will keep them so, if a few bleeding heads +and mouldering quarters may in Somerset do so hard a thing. And if +my lads hang a few beyond the number they take with them, why," he +said, "'t will but physic the land to a better habit." + +Now Simon Emmet had in the village a son, Peter, who was by trade a +blacksmith, and by custom a prudent fellow that kept to his anvil and +never vexed his head in these ill times to fever heat by opening too +wide his mouth. And this Peter had a daughter, Prudence, the +prettiest maid of the village, and afterward, as you are to hear, my +handmaid, and, indeed, my very dear friend. These two (for her +mother was dead) had all that day a sore time of it, fearing that +Simon was one of those who should be brought and put to death. Well, +the party of soldiers came in that night with their three prisoners, +but too late of a clouded evening, as the ensign in command did say, +with a most vile levity, "for the good and loyal folk of Drayton +fitly to enjoy the sight of six traitor legs performing a saraband +upon nothing." + +And so they quartered themselves upon the village, and their victims +in a barn, "until," said this same worthy follower of Kirke, "on the +morrow they should be quartered for good and all." Moreover, with a +more exquisite touch of that cruelty in which they were so skilled, +they had concealed the faces of these three poor fellows from the +public gaze, in the hope that anxiety for the morrow should be the +more widely spread over the sleepless pillows of the village. + +Now during that night, when few slept, but terror reigned more silent +than sleep, a strange thing happened. For many a year after, the +matter was known in full to few but myself, and to me not till little +Prudence Emmet had come to trust and confide in her new mistress. So +much narrative I have of my own to unwind, that I will waste little +space upon hers, telling but in brief that the third of these men, +taken in arms and condemned without judge or jury, was indeed her +grandfather; that she and her father had come to know it; that in the +dead of night she had contrived with liquor and flattery, and mayhap +by implicit proffer of kindness she purposed never to grant, to keep +the sentry busy, and even a little to draw him off, while her father, +after forced and secret entry at the hinder part of the barn, had +privily withdrawn that old hothead Simon (now like to pay so dear for +his besotted enthusiasm) from his prison, and had carried him upon +his great shoulders, an inglorious Anchises concealed in a sack, five +miles across country, and there fairly buried him alive in a secret +cave or hole in the hillside by well-nigh walling up the mouth +thereof, and bodily transplanting a young tree to conceal all signs +of his labors. Yet was he back in his cottage before the ensign and +his men had slept off the fumes of their wine. + +Thus it was not till near upon noon that they discovered their loss, +whereat the greatness of the ensign's fury passes any power of +description that is in my pen. He said the two remaining should hang +twice or thrice ere they died, to make of the spectacle as good +entertainment as he had promised to the folk of that most loyal +village of Drayton; but, proceeding to the execution of this cruelty, +and having, to the enhancement of his wrath, but a small band of +spectators, the most part keeping their houses in fear and sorrow, +before he had ordered the hapless men, already in the agony of death, +to be cut down the first time, his evil work was interrupted by the +coming of that soldier who had on the previous evening been so +cunningly cajoled by Mistress Prue and her cozening flatteries. This +man had been threatened with the anger of Colonel Kirke and the most +terrible military punishments unless he succeeded in discovering his +escaped prisoner. Failing in this, he had, on encountering Prudence +in a back passage leading to her father's forge, thought at least to +display his zeal in hauling her by the hair before his officer, there +to denounce her as his seducer from duty. In so doing he gave those +two poor rebels a quick and easy death of their first hanging, while +Prue shortly found, to the great altering of my after-life, a +champion with a strong hand--no other, indeed, than him of whom is my +book and my thought while I live. + +Two days before this time Mr. Edward Royston was about leaving Oxford +to visit Lady Mary at her house in London, when he was apprised of +the sufferings of our western folk subsequent to the battle of +Sedgemoor. Being now of a man's estate (for his entrance at the +College of Corpus Christi was at an age much beyond the common) and +of a nature graver than his years, he was impelled by his love for +his people of Royston, and his pity of the dangers their misleading +might bring upon them, without delay to set out for his home in +Somerset, resolved to do what he might to order things fitly. +Warning his mother by letter of his purpose, he took the road by +Reading and Salisbury, in which city, arrived late at night, he heard +what did but increase his desire to be at Royston, so that with +moonrise he was again in the saddle, riding all that night alone; for +his servant's horse had reached Salisbury clean foundered, and, nags +being mighty scarce from the needs of two armies lately in the field +at no great distance, he was forced to leave the man behind until he +could be mounted. Thus it was that he came riding through Drayton +village just in the last struggles of those two poor rebels, and amid +the lamentable cries of Prudence in the rough grasp of her outwitted +redcoat. + +Of what here immediately followed I have received no account of that +fulness which would enable me to give a narrative in detail. For +Prudence was so mortally in fear, she says, that she remembers little +but a quarrel and the noise of a great blow, from the moment of her +seizure until she found herself coming again to her wits from a fit +of fainting, in her father's arms and cottage. And Ned, when at +length the occasion for talking of the matter could be had, did show +a reluctance so great to speak of that which he has called the most +painful spot in his memory, that even for the purpose of this book I +forbear to question him with any particularity. But this much is +sure, that in the winking of an eye Mr. Royston was off his horse, +the frightened and brutal musketeer was stretched in the dust, and +Prudence freed from his clutch only to be seized, with a coarse jest, +into a lewd embrace by the officer of the party. There is little +reason to doubt that he would shortly, in his anger and with his +power at the moment so unbridled, have brought my life's joy to an +end by the shooting or hanging of the gallant lad for his resistance +to the military authority. But poor Ned's passion, so terrible, as I +have said, in certain moments of just anger, was in a moment out of +the cage where it had slumbered, and, before the vile words were well +cooled upon the wicked lips, the handle of a heavy riding-whip had +cut short the sentence with the life of the speaker. It must indeed +have been a blow of fearful force (for in those days Ned's strength +was growing great even beyond his own knowledge of it), and, falling +as it did on the right temple, no other was needed. It was more than +an hour before they had sure knowledge that the man was dead, and in +the meantime all was confusion; for Ned, seeing Prudence borne off in +the arms of her father, leapt upon his horse, and clattered down the +village street. Three harmless musket-shots were discharged after +him, of which indeed we heard the report up at the house, and then +followed a babel of questions and oaths. Some demanded horses, +others the name of the miscreant and rebel that had stricken their +officer. Now "young master of Royston," as they did use to call him, +was as well loved as known in Drayton village; yet on this day there +was found, of those that saw his deed, no man, woman, or child that +could put a name to him. Nay, I am wrong, for two indeed there were +did name him, but so diversely both from each other and from the +truth that little was gained, even when, for the better convincing +the sergeant, they came to blows over the difference. And on this +matter of the death of that poor young ensign, hot, as it were, from +his sins, I will say at once that you should have searched our west +country for ten years and never found a man to blame his slayer. I +am no Papist, nor do I know if this be sound in any theology, but +certain it is that in our eyes to this day the blood of one of +Kirke's Lambs upon his hands was held fit to wash many a sin from a +man's soul. + +Now, knowing his life not worth a hoof's paring if he fell into their +hands, and unwilling to lead those men of blood to Royston, Ned did +lie all that day in some deep woodland near Crewkerne, trusting his +knowledge of the roads should give him by night the greater advantage +over his pursuers, and hoping to obtain privily a fresh horse, when +the sun was well set, for his journey to the coast. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Now all this day I had been keeping the house, at my father's strict +command, he being most solicitous that for their safety none of his +household should meet with the gang of cutthroats he knew to be then +in the village. Being thus cut off from news, we had no knowledge of +what was toward, conjecturing, however, some wickedness from the +sound of those three musket-shots that I have mentioned. + +About nine o'clock of the evening, then, I went to my chamber, sad, +indeed, and anxious for the fate of the Drayton folk, and with many a +shudder of horror as the things I had heard tell of that regiment, +called at one time of Tangier, at another, Queen Catharine's, came +unwelcome to my mind. And I remember that, as I put off my clothes, +I marvelled how a woman high and gently born as that lady of Portugal +could take pleasure to have such men bear her name. But, with all my +perturbation, my mood was mild and peaceful to what it had been had I +known at whom those same shots had been fired. Yet was there on my +spirit a sense of unrest, and (as it seems to me now, perhaps in the +light of after knowledge) of foreboded evil that would in no manner +let me sleep. So it was that, about half an hour after I had bidden +good-night to my father and Mr. Telgrove, I extinguished my one +candle, and, it being a warm but clouded night, sat at the open +window in my night-robe, trying idly to bring my eyes to pierce the +darkness, and as idly considering when I was like again to see Ned. +Here I sat, but for how long a period of time I know not. Yet I do +remember that I heard all those sounds that indicate the closing in +of night and sleep over a great house. And last came the drawing of +bolts and setting of bars below, and the slow and halting step of my +father's ascent of the stairs, and, with the closing of his chamber +door, a stillness as of the grave was over all things. I thought it +was such a stillness as I had never known; and then there grew upon +my spirit (or, at least, it now seems to me that it was so) a +foreknowledge that something, I knew not what, but +something--something--something was coming out from this silence to +break it. And with a slowly growing horror I did then fall to +speculating upon the nature of this so certain interruption; would it +be some ghastly vision of another world, or a cry of wrath, or some +more horrible scream of terror? As one grown suddenly cold I arose +from my seat by the window, with a shudder at the creatures of my +imagination, gently drew to the casement, and got into my bed, as I +should have done an hour, perhaps, before. But I found there no +refuge from the silence that should be broke, but was not. And this +sense of loneliness brought me in mind of the forgotten duty of +prayer, so that I was quickly again out of my bed and on my knees by +its side, hoping, childlike, great solace to my oppression of spirit. +And then it came,--not the solace, but the breaking of the silence. +And, though it was not such as I had looked for, being but the slight +click of a pebble upon the glass of my window, yet did it send, as +they say, my heart into my throat, and my whole body was a-tremble, +as it had been a harpstring overstrained. It is a thing for which I +can never to the day of my death sufficiently thank the goodness of +God, that my terror took from me the voice in which I would have +cried aloud upon the house. And so I gasped for breath, and clutched +the clothes of the bed in a fear quite out of reason; and had I been +upon my feet instead of my knees, 't is sure I could not have kept +them. And then I heard the jingle of a bridle and the thud of an +impatient hoof falling soft upon the sod, so that even in my passion +of fear I knew it was under my window, or I had not heard it, for the +grass was soft with the rain that fell at sunset. Upon that strange +thoughts of our bugbear Kirke and of those devils that he ruled crept +in my mind; but surely, I thought, my father's good affections to the +throne should protect us; and, some movement of curiosity stirring in +my breast to combat its army of terrors, I made shift to creep with +knees and hands to the window, whence, with caution raising myself +and peering through the lower panes, I espied dimly the shape of a +man standing beside his horse. Thereupon, perchance having seen the +whiteness of face, hand, or sleeve at the window, though the light +was almost none, the man below uttered that whimsical little whistle +of three notes that was a signal and warning of childhood to me, and +I knew it was Ned. And my joy was so great that I forgot the hour, +the place, the strangeness in him to come to my chamber window, and +the unseemliness of my attire. Indeed I thought but of him as I +gently flung back the casement, and cried, but softly: "Ned, dear +Ned, is it indeed thou?" + +Whereupon he replied, in a voice, as I thought, strangely altered +from that I had known (but indeed it was but the day's anxiety and +alarms that had so changed its sound): "I indeed it is, dear Mistress +Phil. But, I pray you, speak low and secretly, for I do think they +will be even now upon me." + +"And who are 'they'?" I asked, lightly enough, having as yet no fear +that any would harm such as he. + +"Kirke's mercenaries, that, because they bear upon their flag the +Lamb that doth signify our blessed Redeemer, and because they do +never use to show mercy," he said bitterly, "they do call Lambs. 'T +is not likely they will show me the mercy of sword-thrust or +musket-ball if there be a rope handy where we meet. And hanging is a +death I have little love to, Phil." + +"But, Ned, O Ned!" I cried, leaning from the window the better to +speak low, "what hast done, dear, to be out with these men? Surely +you did not fight with the Duke." + +"Nay, mistress," says he, "but I have this day struck down, and maybe +worse, one that did fight against that same poor foolish man. He was +their officer, and I doubt he is not yet risen, for I struck him as I +never struck man before. All this day have I lain hid, and should +now be on my way to Bridport if my life be worth the saving. But I +thought, even now as I was starting on my way, sink or swim, live or +swing, I would see Phil once again--I would say, Mistress Philippa. +So I rode hither five miles from Crewkerne woods to bid you good-by. +And now I am sorry that I did so, for, as I leapt the hedge down +there from the lane into the hollow, I saw one on a horse that made +for the village, and I doubt he was some picket set to watch after +me. 'T is certain they have gotten horses enough by this, and I do +fear my rashness may bring them hot foot about this house." + +He now mounted his horse, pushed him close to the wall, and went on +speaking; "I wish I could come at you," he said. "Would you give a +kiss to take over the sea with me, Mistress Phil, an I could reach +your lips? I have not felt their touch of velvet since I was a lad." + +Now we were indeed very foolish there, with danger so instant upon +us, to pause for such a matter. But I, remembering how I had wept +because he had not taken, when last we met, what I was ashamed to +offer unasked, and being filled with joy at his words, did answer, +bold as brass: "That indeed would I, dear Ned, if you were three feet +taller than your six." And with that he must again urge his nag +close in to the wall, steady him with voice and rein, and then climb +to his feet upon the cantel of his saddle; and there, resting one +hand upon the ledge of the window, he did take what he had asked and +I was not minded to refuse. And whether there were more kisses than +one, or whether one did last much longer than the wonted time of +such, concerns but two persons in the world. + +But, on a sudden, passing athwart my new joy, a newer fear entered my +heart; for I heard the sound of many hoofs coming breakneck up the +avenue to the house. For the passing of one brief heart-beat that +yet seemed the time of an age I felt cold and sick of an awful dread, +when there sprang a picture on my brain of import so appalling, that +I was flung by recoil from that depth of despair into as excellent a +degree of courage. For as in a flash of light I saw a gallows, and +thought of a rope clinging yet closer where my arms now clung. And +as the courage thus sprang to life in me, and I whispered, "They +shall not have thee, Ned," the beat of hoofs drew near with that +pulse in the stroke of them that tells of the sharpness of the +rider's spur and the wrath in his heart. And that which next +followed was a plain effect of Ned's rashness, and of the folly of us +both at such a conjuncture to play with the moments that should have +been used to his escape. For the horse, on which he precariously +stood to reach me, hearing the quick and stirring approach of his +kind, did incontinently fling his heels in the air, and, with a +shrill nickering, started away across the park at a good round pace, +leaving his master hanging by his hands, and partly to a great stem +of the ivy that on this side covers the most part of the stonework of +the house. After a little struggle he did contrive some sort of +footing among the lower branching knots of the ivy, and with a +whispered adieu would have made his descent, very hazardous for a man +of weight, had I not clutched him hard. For I heard the voices of +some that were coming round the house, drawn, doubtless, by the +neighing of the faithless nag. + +"Come in, Ned, an you love me," I said. "If they see thee here all +is done." Now I can give no good account of how it was achieved, +remembering but confusedly that I did get my hands beneath his arms, +and thereby pulled at him with a strength raised, I do think, for +some few moments of time, by the mercy of God and my great fear, much +above what by nature was in me; and he, as he was able, helping me, I +did, in spite of the greatness of his shoulders, and the narrowness +of the casement, with great silence and speed haul his long person +head foremost into my chamber; and that was done but just as three of +his pursuers, mounted on the horses they had pressed for the service, +did gallop round the corner upon the grass. And I thanked God that I +was burning no light within, else had they spied the soles of his +great riding-boots, which yet rested upon the sill, while his head +was on the floor, and I crouched beside him to hide the whiteness of +my bedgown. To this day there is the mark of his spur upon the sill +of that casement--a sort of dotted line, made as he did twist himself +over on the floor the better to drag the long legs of him to the same +level. Of the three that rode by beneath, it was afterwards supposed +that they did further scatter the deer that Ned's horse had roused +from sleep, each pursuing in the darkness a quarry of his own, which +he took for the nag that was now well on his riderless way to Royston. + +Now my first motion was to laugh loud and long, which with some +wisdom I did check. Then I would have wept, but that desire too was +speedily overcome, as for the first time since the pebble struck my +window I remembered how I was clad, and again thanked God there was +not even a rushlight in the chamber to show me so unmaidenly. But we +were not quit of Kirke's men for the three that were so vainly and +unseasonably chasing our deer; for, as I turned to a closet to take +down a long cloak to throw over me, there arose a clamor of knocking +and shouting at the great door below. For all that has been told +since first we heard their horses was the happening of seconds fewer +than the minutes spent in reading it. + +"Where are you, mistress?" said Ned, now risen to his feet, and so +standing between me and the window that I could make out the +blackness of his shape against the thinner darkness without. + +"You must not speak, dear Ned," I answered, laying my hand on his arm +to show him where I stood. + +"I cannot see you even yet," said he, as he felt my hand. "But now +you were all white." + +With which I was speedily all red with shame, and whispered: "Hush, +Ned, hush! Even now you are in great peril." + +"'T is no matter for that," he said. "The peril is for you, +mistress. I did wrong to enter here, and must go, one way or the +other." + +And with that he looked warily from the window, but speedily drew +back, having seen in that brief moment, by a faint gleaming of the +moon through a thinness of the clouds, a sentry that moved to and fro +beneath, musket on shoulder. And when he had told me in the lowest +whisper what he had seen, he said: "So it must needs be by the door." +And as he spoke we heard the clatter of bar and chain below, telling +that the enemy was admitted among us. So he would have leapt from +the window to take his chance with the sentry, rather than he should +be so found closeted with me. But I would not, and ran between him +and the window, saying low and quick that I would call aloud if he +persisted. And since he knew me and the manner of voice I used to +threat the thing I would surely do (for my crying out in such case +had made things no worse for him, but only full of shame for me that +called), he yielded, asking me, What, then, should we do? Which +before I could answer, I heard them striking upon a door in the same +gallery where stood the room we were in, and the slumberous +expostulation of Mr. Telgrove, who there inhabited. There was but +one room between, and I felt our turn was near and that the +bitterness of death must soon take hold on me unless I could think of +a thing. And truly I think that never before, and but once since, +did my mind think so many thoughts in so short a space and to so much +purpose. + +Press, closet, and chimney--nay, even the space beneath the bed--were +swiftly tried in my mind, and discarded as harborage too little +secure to shelter what in all the world I did best love. But at last +the thought came, and with it I was no longer a maid shaking at +approach of danger, but a general with a device of strategy that +should repel the invader. + +"Ned," I said, low and sharp, "will you do what I bid?" + +"Ay, sweetheart--mistress, I would say," he replied, and in all my +passion of fear and purpose of action I marvelled, as I had done +since he came under my window, why he would ever style me _mistress_. + +Now, while we spoke beneath our breath, I had tied my handkerchief +over his head, and knotted it under his chin. Then I pushed him to +the side of the bed that was farther from the door, guiding him with +my hands, and bidding him lie down while I should pull the covers +over him. But, "Nay, that will I not," he said, with a perilous +raising of the voice. "Had rather swing than save my neck by these +means." And I, in despair, did clap my hand over his mouth, and said +with great fury of passion I scarce knew what, and beat him with my +fists, till he was sorry to see me so moved, and suffered me, of his +old gentle kindness, to force him down, and, trembling, to drag +blanket and quilt over him, which in the dark did so fall foul of +sword-hilt and spur, that I had laughed had I not been heart-sick +with the fear of his life. When he was covered I sat me upon his +chest, and, as best I might in the dark, twisted his long curls, +which, in the fashion of his father's youth, he would still wear in +place of peruke (and I think there is not a beau in London that has a +wig from Paris so fair as what grew on his dear head), into some sort +of womanish knot to thrust up beneath the handkerchief that must +serve for night-cap. The sitting on him was to keep him there till +they began to knock at the door, when I knew the desire to shield my +fame would keep him quiet to the end. + +Heavy steps now drawing near, I spoke my last word to him: "When they +come lie thus, with thy face from the door, and, prithee, Ned, +breathe hard and heavily, as you were Betty after a great supper." + +"Nay," said he, "I will not stay to play the fool like a mummer in a +play-house." + +"If you but so much as stir a finger," said I, "you will put me to +open shame before the servants of the house and those wicked +soldiers. I think you will not so use your old playmate, Ned." + +And then, to set my heart beating yet more horribly, so that it +seemed I should never be able to speak when the need came, the +searchers reached our door and knocked upon it, yet, from something +more of gentleness that was in this knocking than was used upon the +door of my tutor, I gathered a little hope. At once I threw off my +cloak and held my breath in eagerness of hearing all that passed +without. + +"I say my daughter lies in that chamber," said my father's voice, +growing more clear as he limped painfully up the gallery after his +unwelcome visitors. "She is sleeping, and it will serve no purpose +to arouse her." + +"That's my business," said a harsh voice in surly reply. "I will +rouse whom I please, since I am master here." + +Sir Michael's voice rose somewhat higher, while his utterance became +slower and more severe, as he answered this fellow. + +"You mistake," said he, "for none is master here save I alone. And I +will tell you, Master Sergeant, that, though I have admitted you to +my house in the hope to do His Majesty the King a service, I do not +purpose to endure in this house any show of ill manners such as your +regiment is commonly noised to show toward helpless yokels and +misguided rebels." + +The sergeant's voice was still surly, but had in it a degree more of +respect, as he replied that Sir Michael talked a deal of doing His +Majesty a service, but when they came hot on the track of a rebel who +had slain one that held His Majesty's commission, and was not yet +well cold, he fell at once to putting obstacles in the way; that he +was informed by his scouts that the man was seen not half an hour +back making for this house; that he did but wish to make thorough +search for the young murderer, with all fit observance of respect for +His Majesty's loyal subjects, and search every room in that house he +would before he left it. And inside the chamber, when he heard that +the man was indeed dead, poor Ned shuddered beneath the bedclothes, +and I, sitting on the other side, did lay my hand upon him for +comfort. At that time, when I knew nothing but the man was dead, I +thought no ill of my friend for the killing. If Ned Royston should +slay a man, why, to me, the man was better dead. Later, hearing the +whole tale, I was like to have been jealous of little Prudence Emmet, +for whom the man was killed. Yet I wondered not that he shuddered, +for I had heard my father say that it does take an old soldier long +years to forget the first shedding of blood. + +I heard one tearless and hard kind of sob from the dear lad, while my +heart was sore that I could not speak in consolation, and then gave +ear to my father's answer to the sergeant, which was very calmly +delivered: "That we shall see, Master Sergeant. I have held no mean +rank in the armies of his late Majesty, King Charles I., from wounds +received in whose cause I shall not be recovered this side the grave, +from which you are to understand what manner of bearing I am wont to +receive from inferiors in rank. Moreover, I am greatly at fault if I +have not still some credit at Whitehall--enough, at least, Master +Sergeant, to make me a safer friend than enemy. I shall thank you +for a sight of your search-warrant." + +To which the sergeant: "Indeed, Sir Michael, I have none. In these +ill times, with so much treason abroad, we do not think much of a +warrant. But I am under a great necessity in what I do. Our colonel +is no man to take soft words as atonement for the death of an officer +after his own heart. I must report in the town of Taunton at noon +to-morrow, and I dare not take thither this story of murder without +the murderer. You talk well of warrants, sir, but there is none of +us but fears Colonel Kirke worse than the law." + +And on the other side of the door I did most heartily agree with this +sergeant of Queen Catharine's Regiment of Foot. But my father +continued: "I perceive, sergeant, that you are a man of some parts +and education. Let us meet each other thus--I to summon my daughter, +and, after a space, you and I alone of all these to enter the +chamber." At which words my heart did sink to the place where the +shoes had been but for my resolve, at any cost to nicer feeling, of +showing unprepared. + +And, the sergeant heartily consenting, Sir Michael himself rapped +upon the door, and I still keeping silence (knowing I must open, yet +not thinking it to be wise too soon to hear him, when I had been deaf +to the sergeant), he next tried the latch, and, finding the door +fast, knocked louder, and very gently called my name. Whereat I +groaned, sighed, and cried, as one waking from sleep, "What is to do? +Who is it, and what is wanted?" + +And my father answered, "It is I, your father. Cloak yourself, +Philippa, and open to me." + +Whereupon I made my first mistake; for, to the end they might think I +had heard nothing but my father's summons, I left my cloak lying upon +the bed, and ran in my white gown, and barefoot, to the door, and +suddenly flung it wide, when the glare of the lights that several did +carry gave me the appearance of blinking with sleep the most +naturally in the world. Then, putting a hand before my eyes to keep +off the suddenness of the light, I said, with a little sharpness: +"Well, sir, why am I roused? Does the house burn, or are Kirke and +his Lambs at the door?" + +And my father replied, with the first note of trepidation in his +voice that I had ever heard, "Hush, child! All is well. There is no +fire." + +But I, resolved to show no dread, and now well launched in my comedy +of deceit (for which, indeed, I was little fit, being reared in the +utmost strictness of truth-telling), made answer I had rather the +fire than Kirke, who would be the harder to sate. Then, taking my +hand from my t eyes, and feigning now first to perceive the soldiers +and other company, cried out as one mightily abashed to be so looked +upon, and swiftly part-closed the door, and, in a voice whose shaking +was easy to compass, asked who were all these with him. And he told +me that I need not fear; that they were but some of the King's +soldiers in search of a murderer, and that none should enter my +chamber but himself and the sergeant of the party. So I left the +door, seeing that they must enter, and ran to the bed and lifted my +cloak, flung it over my shoulders, and turned again to face them; +when I perceived that the sergeant, on my leaving the door, had +thrust it wide to watch my movements. So I bade him and my father +come in, begging at the same time that they would have a care not to +arouse Betty, who was that night sharing my bed. + +"And why," asked Sir Michael, "is Betty here? You do use to lie +alone." + +Nor were the words out of his mouth before I saw that he regretted +them, and that he knew, whether from my face, or from the unwonted +presence of Betty in my chamber, or from another cause that I did not +then understand, that all was not well. He sat him down heavily upon +the little settle at the bed's foot, with a countenance full of +perplexity and astonishment. But the mischief was done, and I must +find a reason for the presence in my bed of her who was safely +snoring in her own above our heads. So I told him that I had been +loath to sleep alone this night for the fear I had of the things that +were afoot in Drayton village, and had begged Betty to keep me +company. And with that the sergeant, who had, while we spoke, been +peering about the dark corners of the room, turned and sharply +enquired of me why this Betty that lay there in the bed must not be +aroused. "Because," said I, taking refuge in the unreason of a +woman's anger (for indeed I knew not what to say, and all seemed to +go awry from what I had intended), "because I will not have it done. +Is it become a custom with officers of the King to invade by force, +and at dead of night, the sleeping chambers of ladies?" + +"Madam," he answered, somewhat abashed as I thought, "I am only a +poor sergeant that would do his duty to his officer. If you will +answer my questions, I will the sooner be gone." + +In this gentle manner of taking it I saw some hope, and answered him +thus: "Poor Betty was my nurse, sergeant, and I love her dearly; and +she hath all day been afflicted with a most violent toothache, and 't +is but a little while since I gave her a great draught of a most +sovereign remedy--an electuary of poppy-seed--by which she is eased +of her pain and now fallen asleep." And in the manner the most +imploring I could compass I did here raise pitiful eyes to his face. +"I do perceive, sir," I continued, "I had no need to be angry, but +oh! I do pray you will not waken the poor woman; for a sudden waking +from a slumber procured by that drug is very harmful. Search all the +place--the closets, presses, and beneath the bed; though, in good +sooth, I do not know how you should think to find here any murderer." + +The sergeant smiled with a certain grimness, and asked was it not +strange I should seek comfort for my fears in the company of one that +was sick of a toothache; whereon I replied that Betty sick was better +than many another whole. + +"And were you sleeping, madam, when we first called upon you to +open?" says the sergeant. + +"'T was my father's voice aroused me," I answered, wondering whither +he would lead me with his questioning. + +"And had you then slept long?" asked he. + +"Since ten o'clock, I do suppose," I replied. + +"Yet your cloak, that you now wear, lay, until we were about +entering, there upon the bed," said he, with a meaning glance of +which the significance was wholly hidden from me. + +"Well, what if it did?" said I. + +"It lay, madam," he replied, "above the turned-down bedcover." + +I now was near at an end of my strategy, but my dear father came at +once to the rescue, saying that the sergeant was a clever fellow, but +what in the devil's name did he argue from that? + +"That young Mistress Drayton has lately risen from her bed and +covered herself with that same cloak she now wears, but wore not when +she did now open to you, Sir Michael," said the man, with some +acuteness, indeed, but not before I had my answer ready for him, and +something over and above a mere answer. + +"Why, indeed, you speak truth, sergeant," I said; and I had hope so +great in what was next to come that I was enabled to laugh with much +naturalness as I spoke; "you are a witch for certain, sir; for though +I did forget the thing for a moment, having since slept, and being +with sleep yet not a little confused, it is true that I did rise once +before from my bed, when I fetched this cloak from the closet there, +and did look from the window----" + +"To what end did you do that, madam," said the sergeant, interrupting +me, "on so dark a night?" + +"That I cannot say," I answered, "for I was half in sleep when I +rose. But I think, sergeant, that I can tell you something of the +man you seek. For as I looked forth there came a man from the way of +the deer park, and in a little gleam of the moon that did then shine +out for a moment I saw him, and that he was mounted on a dapple-gray +horse. And as he came he stopped as if he heard a sound that he +feared. And then he turned his nag in such haste, and made off the +way he had come with such speed, that I had no time to mark his face; +but I saw that he did lose his hat in turning, nor stayed to recover +it. And not long after him came from the front of the house three +men, mounted, who followed after him. But as they passed the moon +was again clouded, and I can tell nothing of them nor their horses. +And after this I got to bed again, and I must suppose," I said, +looking doubtfully at the bed, "that I slept again, the night being +so warm, without drawing over me the covers whereon I had laid the +cloak." + +"Truly, 't is warm," said the sergeant. "But I ask your pardon, +madam, for thus discussing private matters. Your story is a plain +one, and may help to the fellow's capture." And then he took some +steps towards the door, and I thought the danger was over, and I had +much ado to keep my countenance from showing the sudden lightening of +my heart. But even as he was going some devil of raillery, or +cruelty, prompted him to turn and say that in his company he was +counted an excellent tooth-drawer, and that he would just have a look +at poor Betty's mouth. For a moment I could not speak, but turned to +the bed as if to protect my old nurse, perceiving, as I turned, a +movement as of a hand beneath the quilt; and I knew that Ned was +feeling for his sword-hilt, and waiting to be discovered. At that I +laid my hand upon his shoulder, and, finding again my voice, "Be +still, dear Betty," I cried, "there is no need of rising yet. And I +do pray you, Master Sergeant, that you will go now, when I have so +fully told you everything. Her poor tooth will again be raging if +she be disturbed." And this I said so pleadingly that the man was +quite subdued, saying, with more of kindness than he had yet used: +"Indeed, madam, I spoke but in jest, for which I ask your pardon." + +And so he left the room, closing the door behind him, and I turned to +regard my father. But before I could reach him to tell in his ear +the reason of it all, and who it was indeed that there lay in the +bed, he rose from the seat he had not left since his entering, and I +at once knew why he had sat so close. For he lifted from the settle, +crushed out of all shape by his sitting upon it, Ned's hat, which, +not finding to be on the floor, I had thought to be fallen upon the +grass below. + +Then did we look hard and long in each other's eyes, and my father +thrust out his thumb towards the bed with a gesture of questioning, +and I answered him with one word, so softly breathed that his eyes +must needs take the office of his ears. Then he raised the hat. + +"He must find it below," he said, and, stealing to the window, of +which the casement still stood open, he leaned out, and, seeing the +sentry at the far end of his beat, flung out the hat softly with a +skimming motion, so that it fell upon the grass at some distance from +the house, and almost without sound. And returning from the window +he found Ned standing upright, freed from the kerchief I had bound on +his head, bearing in his countenance the flush of a strong +indignation; for he felt, as he has explained to me, that the shame +of that ignominious concealment would never leave him. But the flush +died speedily away on my father's holding out his hand, in silence, +indeed, but with his old frank and kindly smile. They grasped each +the other's with a great clasp, and then Sir Michael whispered: "We +must get him out of this," and went out at the door. + +And as he closed it we knew, by the voices without, that he had +encountered the sergeant in the gallery. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Sir Michael carried with him the one candle he had brought into my +chamber, so we stood in the dark as if turned to stone by the sound +of the sergeant's voice without, most horribly dreading that he would +again enter, and all our work be undone. How long this lasted I do +not know, but at last we heard him and my father walk together down +the gallery to the stairhead, conversing in subdued tones. Sir +Michael told him, as I did afterwards learn, that I had been mightily +frightened and disturbed, and was now at his desire composing myself +again to sleep. And the man replied that, as far as my chamber was +concerned, he was satisfied, since he had discovered complete +warranty of the tale I had told in the hat he then held in his hand, +having found it where I had said it should lie. He added that he +well knew the stigma of cruelty lying upon his regiment, yet he, for +one, was vastly sorry that matters had so fallen as to discompose a +young gentlewoman that was, he believed, the most beautiful and +kind-hearted in the kingdom. And I have often thought of it as a +thing passing strange that the first tribute I received in my life to +the charms of my person did proceed from a man to whom I had most +shamelessly lied, he being one of a company famed in all the world +for wickedness and cruelty. And I have prayed to God that what good +there was in this man might not be utterly cast away. + +So, while we two, Ned and I, sat almost silent above-stairs in the +dark, striving to smother the sound of the passion of tears that had +seized upon me, my father descended the stair with the sergeant, +thinking soon to be rid of him and his men; but was speedily +disappointed in finding that the man had no intention to abandon his +search, although he showed his altered temper in putting himself at +my father's orders, whether to continue at once his visitation of the +house from garret to cellar, or to set strict guard upon all its +approaches till morning, then to complete his survey in the better +light. + +"For," said he, throwing poor Ned's damaged hat upon the table of the +great hall where they stood, "though we do know the rascal was +without, and that your worship does not willingly harbor him, we have +no testimony that he did not get in after he had lost his hat. Some +soft-hearted kitchen-maid might well----" + +"'T is enough said, sergeant," interrupted Sir Michael, resolving to +put a good face upon his choice of the lesser evil; "I commend the +acuteness of your judgment. It is indeed as much for my honor as +yours that suspicion of harboring this fellow should be removed from +my house as well as from myself and my daughter. Do you set at once +a sufficient guard without to watch every door and window, and while +you call into the hall here all that are not needed for that duty, I +will rouse some of the fellows that sleep above, and see that you +have good food and drink in place of the sleep you must lose. And I +doubt not," he added, turning at the door, "such of you as remember +Tangier will find my old Burgundy, that has been much praised by good +judges, a better substitute for the wines of Spain and Portugal than +our west-country ale." + +Whereupon the sergeant, pleased with prospect of good cheer, went out +to make disposition of his men, while my father again mounted the +stairs, turning swiftly in his mind the subterfuge by which he +purposed getting Ned Royston safely from the house. And indeed I +think he did devise a scheme as cunning as any of those happy strokes +of adroitness and dexterity for which in the old wars he was justly +famous. + +The soldiers being now below, and the few servants first roused sent +to fetch food for the sergeant and his men, my father found the +stairs and galleries deserted. Pausing at my door, he gently opened +it, and hearing the sound of my half-stifled weeping he bid me not +check it, saying that it fell well with his scheme. + +"Do but as I bid you, my children," said he, "and in less than an +hour the poor lad shall be on the road to Bridport; and with Skewbald +Meg between his legs 't is pity of the horse and man that would catch +him. I can give you no light, for the sentry that is below the +window, but you, my little Phil, must make shift to cut away from him +those unfashionable curls; and it is little matter for the dark, +since the more raggedly you play the barber the better for him; also +pull off his great boots, with the gay coat and the waistcoat, and +when I return with the real Betty to take his place in the bed, +where, I vow, I think she will sleep better than he, I will so clothe +him and so raddle his face that his mother would not know him again; +and if you must speak in the doing all this, let it be little and in +the veriest of whispers." And at this my dear and most wise old +father left us, saying aloud, as he shut the door, and with intent to +be heard if any were spying upon him: "Get thee to sleep, child. +There is no further cause of fear. None shall harm thee." + +Silent as mice midway between cat and cheese we fell to doing all +that he had bidden us. I was bitterly sorry for the curls, and for +the cruel fashion in which my small shears did lop them, but said no +word till all was done. And then we sat waiting in the dark, and Ned +found my hand and held it, and whispered after a while that he had +not yet seen my face; that he doubted it was greatly altered, even as +he perceived my body was increased in stature. And he asked me had I +grown beautiful as he was used to predict, and I could only answer +that I did not think I was fully so foul to look upon as I had been. +And he was about getting hot in reply, and even raising his voice a +little to vow that I was never that, nor thought he meant I was, and +he had for the moment quite forgot to _mistress_ me, as hitherto +since I had dragged him headlong through my window, when the door +again opened to admit my father, dragging by the arm poor +sleep-dazed, blanket-wrapped Betty, who was, I do suppose, from the +brief glimpse I caught of her figure as my father did set his candle +on the floor without the door, a strange and admirable spectacle. In +the darkened room she was mightily amazed, and we must needs thrust +her into the bed almost by force, and had well-nigh to gag her mouth +before we might check the wheezy thunder that she honored with the +delicate title of whispering. Indeed, all this part of our night's +adventure had been vastly comical and mirth-provoking had not a life, +tenderly dear alike to father and daughter, hung upon our secrecy and +despatch. Now Sir Michael had brought with him along with Betty the +cast-off clothes of one of the grooms that slept in the garret. And +there, still in darkness, we contrived among us to habit Ned in +them--foul old broken shoes, a mile too large, which I stuffed with +such rags as would keep him from walking out of them; rough woollen +stockings, none too clean; his own leathern breeches, which he said +were much worn and covered with the dust of all his ride from Oxford, +my father did let pass; but the fine long-cloth shirt he would in no +manner concede, making him take in its place a filthy clout it was +well we could not see as we pulled it over his shorn head. "For," +said my father, "there is nothing will so play the traitor to a +gentleman disguised as his own linen. The very fabric will still +tell tales when the fairness of it has disappeared under the dirt of +long use." And then all was done; Ned did take me for a little +moment in his arms, when Sir Michael bade him to thrust a hand up the +chimney to befoul it with soot, with which, he said, he would have +him bedaub face and neck when they had again such light that it might +be done in measure and fitness. + +"Good-by, Mistress Phil," said he, and "Good-by, dear Ned," said I. +My father here slipping quietly out to spy up and down the gallery, +and holding the door to behind him, in that last moment I seized +Ned's hand, not knowing it was the sooty one, and whispered in his +ear: "Why will you be ever throwing _mistress_ at me, dear? Am I not +your old friend Phil?" And he: "I did but think, Phil, that so +unceremoniously visiting your chamber at night-time, which you know +is a thing I never purposed, did call for terms of address more +formal than our usage of childhood." Which before I could answer, +Sir Michael, satisfied that he was not observed, had him swiftly out +in the gallery, my door was closed for the last time that night, and +I fell weeping on the bed as if the sun should never shine again. + +I slept none of that night, and much of it I wept. But, rising in +the sheer idleness of fatigue, when the dawn was well advanced, and +chancing to see my face in the mirror, I perceived that I had most +plentifully streaked and smeared a tear-wet countenance with the +blackness of the soot that had passed in our last moment together +from Ned's fingers to mine. Now my eyes and cheeks presented +doubtless a spectacle that had moved another to laughter. But from +the eyes that alone beheld the figure of ridicule that I was, the +thought of how I became so besmirched brought fresh tears, plentiful +enough, in all conscience, to have washed it clean of all the grime +that face ever carried. But I washed hands and face, and so back to +bed, where, worn out, and by this tolerably secure of Ned's evasion, +I fell asleep, nor awoke until I was roused somewhat past eight +o'clock of the morning. + +Meantime to the tale of that same evasion which was, as I supposed, +well accomplished. To tell it briefly, my father bade him play the +clown as best he could, and, after his face had been cunningly +smeared with that same soot, had led him by the back stair to the +kitchen; whence, after Sir Michael had joined the soldiers eating and +drinking in the great hall, he was sent by the cook, who was in the +secret, to bear a dish of some dainty to the company. This, as +before arranged, he let fall with a great clatter, bringing Sir +Michael down upon him in pretence of anger; who did there, with many +a curse on his clumsiness, so cuff him about head and ears, that it +set all the redcoats laughing. "Silly varlet!" quoth Sir Michael, +"is the cook underhanded that such as you must be fetched from garden +and stable to spoil our meat? I warrant men are hanged for less in +these days." + +To this the seeming yokel blubbered in reply that he did but wish a +sight of the soldier gentlemen at meat, which he said in that broad +and slurring speech of our country that he could ever from his +childhood put on with exact faithfulness to nature. And just here +one of the strangers' horses, neighing wearily without, where he was +tied to a tree, "Get out," said my father, "and see to those horses. +Put them in the stable, and, if there be not room for all, turn some +of your own cattle to graze in the park." And as he was going out +slowly dragging one loose shoe after the other, one of the soldiers +flung a bone at him, and threatened to flog the coat off his back, +and the skin to follow it, if he did not rub down and well feed and +water each of their borrowed nags. + +So to this task he went, with a hundred pounds in gold of my father's +in his one pocket that was sound. And five horses he did groom and +feed and lodge in that stable, turning three of Sir Michael's out of +their places into the park. But one of these, that is, Skewbald Meg, +a mare of great hardness of limb and lasting power of wind, though a +mean and ewe-necked thing to the eye, he tied, when out of hearing of +the sentry on that side of the house, to a tree that stood handy for +the direction he must take. He then returned to the stable, and +there contrived an appearance of business about the nags, while he +concealed upon him a bridle, with which about his waist he at last, +having left his lantern burning within, loitered down to Meg in the +hollow, where in a trice she was bridled and mounted by as good a +horseman and as ill-looking as ever bestrid her lean and mottled +ribs. And how he fared in that ride of near upon twenty-five miles +to Lyme, and how he was taken safely out of the country by sea, you +shall hear when I am come to the letter that came to me out of +Holland. + +And here this episode of my life may be counted at an end. For my +father, having pressed upon his guests both bottle and tankard, until +each man made a pillow where his head did strike in falling, and +having sent out copious flagons until the sentries lacked little of +being in the same case, did in the leisure thus obtained so drill and +instruct every waking soul in the house that it was a sure matter +that all, in case of need, would have the same story to tell: as, +that Sir Michael had no horses but what might now be seen upon the +place; that any who thought he had a skewbald mare was vastly +mistook; that the scullion that was so roundly cuffed and rated was a +half-witted thing from the stable that had now run off in terror of +the beating promised him the night before by one of the sergeant's +men; and so forth. All that night, as I have said, my father came +not near me, thinking there had been enough and to spare already done +in that part of the house, and not wishing to arouse any suspicion +that might, in the sergeant's muddled head, survive the fumes of the +wine. But between eight and nine of the clock Sir Michael knocked +loudly at my door, asking, so that all might hear if they would, how +I did, had I slept, and so forth. Then in a little voice he bade me +tell Betty to keep her bed, to remember she was yet very sick, and +that I should hide Ned's boots, sword, and clothes betwixt the +mattresses, where Betty's huge person should keep them safe. All +this, said he, merely as safeguard against another visit to my room. + +And very shortly thereafter arose a great cursing below, and a +swearing of many horrible oaths by the sergeant, with low grumbling +accompaniment of his men, as they rose from many a twisted posture of +swinish slumber. When with sousing, brushing, and breakfasting they +were again brought to some semblance of men, the futile search after +him that was by this well out of their reach was begun. Nor did it +cease till close on noon. Now, as the sergeant and his file of men +passed along the gallery, when there was left no further corner into +which they might thrust nose, eyes, or sword-point seeking for hidden +softness of human flesh, some spirit of bravado did seize upon me, +and I flung open the door of my chamber, where all morning I had kept +pretence of nursing poor Betty, sick only of an ill temper to be kept +a lig-a-bed against her will; and I called to the sergeant that he +had not searched here by daylight, and that all was at his service, +even poor Betty, being now awake; and he came to the door, and stood +upon the threshold, looking in upon us while Betty sat up in the bed +and glared upon him, fear and anger struggling for mastery in her +broad countenance, and rendering it grotesquely terrible. Now I was +clothed this time in fit manner, with gown and hair fresh and neat, +and, spite of my sorrow at losing Ned and the terrors of the night +just passed, I had a sense of triumph in my growing certainty of his +escape that I think I scarce tried to keep from appearing in my +countenance. For a moment he regarded me doubtfully, and then there +sprang into his eye a light as of days when he had been other than he +now seemed, and I thought he would have spoken gaily and kindly. +But, my father coming to the door, the sergeant checked his words, +and, his eye lighting upon Betty, a dark cloud of suspicion passed +over his face. This was succeeded by a look of resignation truly +humorous and comical, as he thanked me for the help I had already +given him, which was indeed, he said, more than he had deserved, +apologized for the disturbance he had caused, and so bowed himself +out. He straightway marched his detachment into Drayton, and, having +failed by violent means to avenge the death of his ensign, he now had +recourse to the law, summoning to him the coroner, and insisting upon +a speedy inquest, in hope to discover--the few witnesses of the deed +being put upon oath--the name of whom, if taken _flagrante delicto_, +he would have hanged before it could be told. + +To a wiser head than mine I must leave to be decided the point in +casuistry, whether it was to the honor or rather to the shame of our +village folk that among them could not be found two to give a similar +account of Ned's appearance, nor one that knew his name or had ever +set eyes upon him before; and this in spite of their oaths and their +long and kindly knowledge of him. It may be they did all grievously +sin in thus shielding him; for me, I can only say that, having myself +done much the same the night before, in intent at least, I am glad +they did what they did; and that I have always held those three men +and two women in a most tender regard who did esteem the danger to +his dear body of more account than the risk to their own souls. +While this inquest was holding, and before its verdict of +manslaughter by a person unknown had been delivered, there rode into +the village with a small body of dragoons no less a person than +Colonel Kirke himself, to whom our sergeant had sent a messenger +immediately upon the death of his officer. He came roaring and +ruffling into the room at the little inn where the coroner sat, and +'t is a hard thing to say what might not have happened to many +innocent persons had he not there met with my father. Sir Michael's +knowledge of men, and, perhaps, some secret information of Kirke's +character, taught him the true manner in which this hero, more deadly +with the rope than with the sword, must be handled. I need here say +no more of the matter, but that Colonel Kirke did that afternoon +march to Taunton, with all his Lambs and dragoons, the body of the +dead ensign, and a sum of two hundred pounds of my dear father's +savings as ransom for the village. + +Of Colonel Percy Kirke it was truly said that only one thing did he +love better than blood. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A little sidelong eddy, it seemed, from the great tide of public +events had washed up into our quiet backwater or creek of country +life, setting us all agog with the tragic issues of death and +dishonor. But the flutter and swirl of it had now drifted back into +the main stream, leaving us, not indeed the same as we had been, but +by contrast quieter than before. During some three years, for us at +Drayton it might be said, with a measure of truth, that nothing +happened. Yet of those things which I have recounted there were +several consequences, so notable in effect upon our hearts and minds, +that it were perhaps more true to say, in that same metaphor, that, +after the first commotion, the tide maintained a steady though hourly +imperceptible rise. + +When I knew that Kirke and all his men were safely on their way for +Taunton, I lost no time in riding across country in a bee-line to +Royston Chase, which I found shut up in charge of three old servants. +From these I learned that Ned's gray had that morning been discovered +cropping a breakfast from the grass about his own stable door, and, +while assuring them of their young master's safety, beyond, perhaps, +what I truly felt myself, I bade them keep quiet tongues both about +the horse and his master, who lay for safety, I said, in these +perilous times, at the city of Oxford. Nor did I in truth lie to +these good people, who from my manner of speaking did well perceive +this was but the tale they must tell, I knowing what it were best +they should not. Of the chief among them I had the promise that on +the expected arrival of the Lady Mary my father should at once be +advertised of it. And thence home, a little lighter in spirit to +know that his horse was safe, and found my father musing heavily in +his great chair in the hall, where the night before he had so feasted +our enemies. At first it was a hard matter to bring him to talk, but +at last, under stress of coaxing and such tricks of blandishment as I +have practised from a child to win him from this heaviness of spirit, +he broke silence. + +"The times are hard when a Drayton must in his old age take to lying, +little daughter Phil," he said. + +"And his daughter in the days of her youth," I answered merrily. +"But in truth 't is little I trouble myself for the falsehood. +Whose, sir, upon the Day of Judgment, will be the blame of those +untruths that were told to save from a death both cruel and contrary +to law so kind and Christian a gentleman as my Ned?" + +Sir Michael smiled and rallied me on that word of possession. + +"Ho, ho!" said he; "'my Ned,' indeed! He is by this in Holland, +little lass, and already, it is like enough, hath seen much that may +put an unbroke filly out of his mind." Then, growing grave, "'There +is something rotten,'" he said, quoting from Mr. Shakespeare's +tragedy of _Hamlet_ (for this play, and others of that writer, were +his chief reading), "'There is something rotten in the state of +Denmark,' when honest youths must needs kill soldiers of their +sovereign, and old men and young maids must trump up a pack of lying +tales to save a good lad from rope without jury. I would I had died +when the late King did come again to his own." + +"And what, then, of poor Philippa?" I piteously asked. + +"Why, then," said my father, smiling on me with a countenance of +great benignity, "poor Philippa had not been, and poor Michael had +missed his best gift of God. So let us leave it to Him, dear maid, +both for what is to be and for how much thy father shall see of it." +And it was long thereafter before he would again talk to me of public +matters; but I knew by his face, which to me was ever print of an +open character, that he thought much, and that a strife was in his +soul, waged between his life-long loyalty to the house of Stuart and +the new thoughts born of his pity for the land that he loved as they +had never loved but themselves. + +If my father had hated in his life any man, it was Oliver, the late +Protector. Yet thrice within the year that followed, when some +neighbor would speak of the low opinion into which we were come upon +the continent of Europe, or when the news-letter would drop some +covert hint of the subservience of St. James to Versailles, he said: +"It had not been thus, or so, if Old Noll were alive." And once to +Mr. Greenlow: "Say what you will, Parson, Cromwell was an Englishman, +and a brave one. I would he had been born of a queen." + +And if the circumstances of Ned's evasion brought some change to Sir +Michael's way of thinking, they caused no less an alteration in the +value set upon his daughter by one whose good opinion I had much +desired and was now at last to obtain. + +Three days after that vain inquest upon the body of the dead ensign +word came from Royston that my Lady Mary was arrived, and, thinking +there to have found her son, and finding neither him nor his news, +was fallen into great distress of mind. Sir Michael, being now +somewhat better of his indisposition, made shift to ride back with +the servant, and straightway gave her, I think, full account of all +that had been done by her son and for him. But, his tale ceasing +with Ned's departure upon Skewbald Meg, it can scarce be imagined he +brought much of comfort to that proud lady and doting mother. + +He returned the same afternoon, telling me in words less of his +converse with Lady Mary than his face had already betrayed ere his +feet were out of the stirrups. + +Now, about the hour of ten the next morning, I was idling on the +south terrace, feeding our doves and playing with the dogs, when my +eye was caught by a strange fellow most uncouthly dressed that led a +horse up the avenue. Nor did it take long gazing to see from the +large maculation of its sides that the horse was Skewbald Meg; the +man proving, on closer observation and his own rough introduction, to +be a petticoated seaman of Bridport. But to our enquiries after him +who had lately ridden the mare he would answer nothing. He knew, he +said, naught but that one who was no longer this side the water had +told him the horse was owned at Drayton, in Somerset, and he would +get twenty shillings for the bringing it home; that he had done his +best to con the craft from the poop, but found she would ever move +_starn_ foremost when he went on deck, and so had taken her in tow; +and he hoped the lady would, an the patchwork quilt of a beast were +indeed hers, not forget that he had walked all the way but two miles, +which two were indeed the sorest of the road; had forgot (on further +question) what town he was from, had forgot how far it was, but +thought he could find his road again; had forgot the gentleman's name +that sent him, and even, he thought, his own. And Sir Michael +laughed at the cunning of the fellow's folly, paid him well, and bade +him go home and find his memory. So, having drunk his ale, he +trudged off with a sea bow and a twinkle in his eye more knowing than +his words, but paused to twist his face over his shoulder and his +thumb significantly toward the mare, saying he thought her mane in +sore need of a good combing; and so off, leaving me sick at heart for +news, that, pulling through the knots of Meg's matted neck-hair, I +did speedily encounter in form of a letter securely tied beneath the +tangled mass. And, the string cut, seal broken, and paper unfolded, +this is what we read within: + + +"_To my very dear Friends and Saviors both, SIR MICHAEL DRAYTON and +MISTRESS PHILIPPA, his most sweet Daughter_. + +"I write within thirty hours of leaving you, having already found a +ship to set me beyond reach of harm. + +"Good Meg did carry me well, and is, I hope, little worse of the +twenty mile she ran in her never-changing stride, with never a false +step and scarce one sweat drop; and I do truly think she hath eyes of +a cat. 'T is not her fault if her back be first cousin to a handsaw, +nor mine that saddles grow not in the hedgerows hereabout. + +"It was two of the morning when I roused from his sleep old Jeremiah +Soames, that I have known since Lady Mary did bring me, a sickly +child, to Bridport for the sea-bathing. His boat is now about +sailing for the fishing, and in the meantime Meg has been well hid in +his curing-shed, and I in his little upper chamber. He would not, +for caution, advance his hour to drop out of harbor, but once he has +a fair offing will make a course for the French coast, or, if the +wind serve, up Channel through the Straits for a Dutch port--Flushing +perhaps, or Rotterdam. I have yet no clear purpose for the future, +but already some thought to obtain a commission to serve under the +great John Sobiesky against the Turk. It were some pleasure, in +these days when Christians will be ever cutting each the other's +throat for cause of heresy, to rise a little above the policy of +dog-eating dogs, and to stand with men of all opinions for Christ +against the Infidel. + +"To my mother I must not now run the danger of writing, for since I +know not surely where she is, whether in London or at Royston, the +letter might well fall into other hands. So I will ask you, my two +friends (the two best I do suppose that ever man had), by some means +to advise her of all that has happened, and to convey to her my great +love and duty. To her at Royston I will write so soon as I shall be +landed, and in certainty of what is best to be done. + +"To you, Philippa, my old comrade, the letter all for your private +perusal that is in my mind must remain unwritten. 'T is not fit I +should now ask more of you than the life I have received at your +hands in the moment when my own were stained with blood. For, though +I do piously trust it is rather the stain that a soldier must bear +than the murderer's, sinking through till the soul itself is spotted, +yet will I now say no word but what your kind father's eyes may read +in the same moment with your own. Yet, even with a price, 't is very +like, set on my head, let me be in thought your old comrade, that do +in exile most bitterly regret I saw not your face of late, guessing +from the mellow notes of your voice how fair it has become. + +"To you, Sir Michael, I would say, knowing not what report has run of +the deed I did, that I truly believe yourself had done no less, +placed as I was placed. I meant not indeed to kill the man, but, +when I remember, can scarce find it in my heart to be sorry that he +died. + +"To both of you I am grateful beyond any proof of words. If the +chance come you will know I speak truth, and am indeed the true +servant of you both till death and after. + +"E. ROYSTON." + + +At another time the approach of a thing so rare among us as a coach +had taken my mind off the most ingenious tale or history ever +printed. But the tale is not written, nor like to be, that could for +me vie in interest with this simple letter. Being then in my second +reading of it, while Sir Michael, content with one perusal over my +shoulder, had in kindness walked away along the terrace to the steps +of the great door, leaving me to squeeze a second cup of sweetness, +as it were, for my sole drinking, out of that letter, I neither knew +that a coach had come, nor that my father was leading from it in my +direction the Lady Mary Royston. And I, looking up in great joy of +the letter, encountered with my eyes, in which I doubt not the light +of my happiness was plain, her noble and austere countenance frowning +upon me in manifest displeasure. But I was not dashed in my spirits, +as perhaps she intended, by the gloom of her regard, partly because +in serious things my father had long ceased to use me as a child, and +partly because I guessed that, with his habit of kindness that was +ever mindful of the small matters that do please women, he had left +to me the pleasant task to tell of the letter. So I dropped my lady +the finest courtesy I was mistress of, very freely thereafter smiling +in her face, the letter whipt behind my back. + +"Mistress Drayton seems but little cast down with all these terrible +doings, Sir Michael," said her ladyship. + +My father smiled grimly, but left reply to me, who answered: "Nay, +dear madam, for we have but now received this news of Mr. Royston, +which I believe as much intended for your ladyship as for my father +and me." And, seeing by his face my father was willing, I handed her +the letter. + +With little courtesy she seized, and with great greediness perused, +the letter, and her face was the face of a woman that tears at food +after a great fasting; yet midway, at that passage, as I suppose, +wherein I was peculiarly addressed, she looked from the letter to me +in a manner to call to my mind those words which, in my eagerness to +give ease to the mother's anxiety, I had forgotten the son to have +used. With that memory, and under her gaze, the blood came hotly to +my face, and I was glad when her eyes speedily fell again to the +letter, which when she had finished, the heart of the woman within +broke down the iron gates of pride and jealousy that had shut in the +mother, even as they had so long shut out the friends of her son; for +she now opened her arms to me, taking me to her bosom, and weeping +over me tears of joy, while she blessed us, father and daughter, for +the saving of her boy's life, declaring herself to be a jealous and +wicked old woman, but, now she knew him safe, a very happy one, if +her friends and Ned's would but forgive her. + +When after a while she was soothed to a calmer temper of mind, Lady +Mary turned her regard to my person and countenance, saying to Sir +Michael that I had grown out of all knowledge, which I thought little +wonderful, since it was some eight years since she had set eyes upon +me. + +"So this young madam," she said, patting me on the shoulder kindly +enough, yet still with the grand air of the Court dame to a rustic +damsel, "this is the child I have all these years envied and feared! +I do trust, my dear, we shall be fast friends." Then after a little +pause she added, as if in fear she had said too much: "But I would +not have you think too gravely, Mistress Philippa, of what is said in +that letter." + +"That, madam, I could not do," I replied, leaving her in some doubt, +it seemed, of my meaning. For, after a moment's musing: + +"I will be plain with you, my child," she said. "I mean, although I +am much your debtor, and do desire your love, I would not have you +look to marry my son. He is yet but a lad, and I have a different +purpose for him." + +"Indeed, madam," I said with a little courtesy, "that must be, I +think, as he wills." + +"But you, my dear, who risked your good name of late to save his +life, must be, I believe, of the mettle to deny your own happiness, +were such denial plainly for his good," said her ladyship; and I was +glad that the last week had taught me in some measure to conceal my +thought. + +"Nay, dear madam," I answered, holding my anger close within my +heart, "I cannot believe that you think any woman will deny your son." + +Whereat my dear father laughed softly, and my lady looked upon me +searchingly, as wondering what animal this might be that looked so +tender, and yet was not wholly innocent of claws. Her good humor, +however, was speedily recovered, although it was long before she +spoke again on that delicate subject. + +But she kept her purpose of friendship, giving me constant and kindly +welcome when I would ride over to Royston, and coming herself once or +more in a month to us at Drayton. And in the two or three years that +followed her son's departure it was to her kind instruction and +wholesome advice that I owed what advance I made in manner, bearing, +and knowledge of a greater world than I had seen; she was, in short, +just such a friend as my father's daughter had need of; for there be +many things women learn only from each other; and, knowing by some +intuition of nature the need I was in, I was glad indeed, for all her +intermittent asperities, that it was Ned's mother that did take up +the task of leading me from the way of the hoyden into something of +the grace of womanhood. + +As a pupil, indeed, she found in me little food of complaint, but +would be out with me for weeks at a time if Sir Michael received a +letter from Ned out of his turn, as she counted, or one that covered +more paper than her last. But I fearing her not at all, and she +being a lady of high courage and loving fearlessness in another, by +degrees she came to love me, and to forego much of her privilege of +unreasoning displeasure. + +The manners in which she was bred were more akin to the severer model +of the reign of the first Charles than proper to this lighter age; +but she had never been wholly cut off from the great world, and, +knowing well what was doing and what changes making, she professed +inculcating a judicious modification of old and new, that should +leave a young woman open neither to the ridiculous charge of aping +her grandmother nor to the censure of shaping herself upon the frail +and beautiful women of a dissolute Court. My wardrobe, too, at my +father's desire, she took in hand. And I confess that this was my +favorite branch of study with my new teacher; and when I remember the +gowns that were made in Taunton and the two that were fetched all the +way from London, and the changing, turning, fitting, shaping, and +trying done at Royston by my lady, her woman, and myself, I am free +to admit that this matter of gowns was perhaps for more in bringing +about our lasting friendship than any other thing that passed between +us. For here my lady was not, as in the more serious domain of +manners, under a desire of reverting to the days of her own +upbringing, displaying rather the perennial youth that, behind the +deepening wrinkles of age, lurks ever fresh in the feminine heart. +She was in the choice of my attire all for the newest mode, holding, +she would say, each fashion as it arose right and seemly, if set out +upon the person of one that had the wit and discretion to fit new +forms to her own needs and the counsels of modesty. I wish I may +have done a little to lighten for Lady Mary the tedium of those days +while Ned was from home, since I am deeply her debtor, as a maid must +be to her who takes up, in how slight soever a manner, the office of +the mother she has lost. + +During the months of September and October of that same year we lived +in great horror and dread of my Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, whose +terrible circuit, I thank God, it does not fall to me even in part to +describe. For this storm passed us in Drayton and Royston safely by, +though we both saw and heard, as it were, the flash of its lightning +and roll of its thunder. The doings, however, of that wicked and +shameless man, so terribly disgracing his high office and that of him +from whom he derived it, seemed to hold a ghastly and irresistible +attraction for my father. Every report, printed, written, or spoken, +that he could come at he devoured. The concern he showed in all this +cruel travesty of justice began with the report that reached him in +September of the trial and execution in Winchester of the Lady Alice +Lisle--a case too well known to need my telling, except in so far as +it affected Sir Michael. + +John Lisle, a man high in the military service of the Protector +Cromwell, had once done great kindness to my father, who had come to +know both him and his wife, and to regard them with an affection +saddened only by the part the husband had adopted in the affairs of +the nation. The news of what he called her murder moved him +profoundly, and he pursued the Chief Justice in his mind, as it were, +throughout his Bloody Assize, as one who waits to see a bolt fall +from Heaven on a malefactor beyond the reach of justice merely human. +Of that martyred lady I heard him one day speak in accents of deep +sorrow to Madam Royston, who, though going with him heartily in +abhorrence of the crime done in the name of justice, took quick +exception to the title commonly bestowed on Mistress Lisle. + +"For I do marvel, dear Sir Michael," she said, "that you, being of +such principles as you are, should make use of a title bestowed by +Cromwell in blasphemous parody of that ennobling power which on earth +is granted to the Lord's Anointed alone." + +"If God ever sent a lady on this sinful earth," said the old man, +with a kind of holy exaltation in his countenance, "Alice Lisle was +she. And by this, Lady Mary, she bears higher title and brighter +crown than the highest of her murderers. And I pray that the fate of +Gomorrah may not fall on the land where such things are done." And +Lady Mary, perceiving well who was intended by that word _murderer_, +dared not reply, but marvelled much afterwards, as I knew by words +she would from time to time let fall, whither my father's musings +were leading him. Which was, indeed, but to the same goal to which +the tide of events was leading us all. + +Now ever since the hanging of those two men in Drayton village, +although Peter Emmet had continued to heat and hammer iron in the +usual way, nothing had been heard of Simon, his father, nor of +Prudence, his daughter. But one fine morning in mid-October, when my +Lord Chief Justice was well back in London, receiving much honor and +reward for the evil he had wrought and the grief he had left among +us, but no thanks from any man for the only good thing he ever did by +us in the west (I mean the leaving us), as I was going to the +kitchen, my father being not yet out of his chamber, I passed by that +little dark room we did use to call the steward's. But whether it +were butler's pantry, museum of weapons out of all date and fashion, +or the place where a steward should hold his audits, pay his wages, +and keep his books, a stranger had been hard put to it to tell. I +marked that the door stood partly open, a thing unusual since we had +none to use it, and, peering within, perceived old Simon poring over +a book of accounts the most naturally in the world. Indeed, had it +not been for some trembling of the hand that held the pen, and the +great emaciation of his countenance, I might almost have forgotten he +had been absent at all, so fit and proper was his presence there. +And the thought of this put in my head, I think, the best and kindest +manner of welcoming his return; for I just nodded my head to him, and +said: "Ah, Simon, 't is a fair morning, is it not? I trust the old +Naseby wound and the rheumatism are better." And the old man turned +to me a face full of gratitude, that showed a fresh-healed scar upon +the forehead and a shaking smile about the lips. + +"I am well recovered, pretty mistress," he said; then perceiving, +perhaps, that in both dress and manner I was grown deserving of a +more formal address, he added, "Madam Philippa, I would say." + +And so I left him in haste to persuade my father to accept this aged +prodigal's return even as I had done. And thus it came about that +Simon Emmet slipped back into his old place among us without question +asked; and I at least should never certainly have known he had been +with Monmouth, nor that he was the man that did escape that night +from the barn, if I had not, no long time after his return, taken his +granddaughter Prudence into the house to be my handmaid, and in some +sort, as it proved, my companion. For she came to me, having +returned to her father's house on the same day as Simon to us, and +begged me, in pretty rustic manner, and with tears in her pretty +eyes, that I would take her into my service, being determined, she +said, to serve, if she might, her who had saved the brave gentleman +that had so nearly given his life for her protection. And she proved +indeed a good servant, a merry companion, and afterwards, upon a +great occasion, as will be seen, a friend not to be despised. + +In the month of November there came to Sir Michael a long letter from +Mr. Edward Royston. It was dated from The Hague, and contained +matter of much interest to us all. I see that I have here written +his name in style more formal than I have hitherto generally used. +And I let it so stand, to serve as a sign of the reserve to which I +had by degrees found myself obliged, at least in speaking of him. +For to Lady Mary, as was but natural after those words of hers which +I have already given, I never mentioned him if it could in any way be +avoided, while of Prue I was too proud to seek sympathy, although I +loved best her prattle when it was of Ned. + +And I knew that Sir Michael had been hurt more than a little in his +pride by that same speech of Lady Mary, and sought to make me forego +all thought of her son by speaking of him only in the rare and +painful manner that some use of the dead. Yet when he saw my face, +eager, I doubt not, against my will, as he looked up from the last +words of this letter, he rose and left the room, the letter lying +there before me on the table, muttering reluctantly some words to the +effect that I should read it if I pleased, an the subject had +interest for me. So read it I very speedily and hungrily did, +learning that after his safe arrival in Holland (of which we had a +month before been advised through a letter to his mother) he had made +his way to The Hague; that there he had sought out a good old +merchant that had been a correspondent in business of the late Mr. +Nathaniel Royston, and remembered him, as did many another, with much +kindness, on account as much of his great sobriety of judgment and +honesty of dealing as of the many successful ventures they had +together undertaken. + +Now this Mynheer van Bierstenhagen belonged, in that country where +party spirit runs so high, to the faction that was the more +patriotically opposed to the influence and aggressions of His Majesty +King Lewis of France--to that party, I mean, which followed after the +Stadtholder, who was that Prince of Orange that had married, when I +was child of nine years, the Princess Mary, the eldest child of our +reigning King James. "And when it is remembered," wrote Mr. Royston, +"that the Prince is himself the grandson of King Charles I., 't is +little wonder that all the talk here among the exiled and malcontent +English and Scotch is of the Princess Mary and her husband, she being +next in succession to the throne and he so nearly allied." And the +letter went on to tell how he had secured, through the influence of +Mynheer van Bierstenhagen, a favorable introduction to the Prince, +had told him his story, and received from him a commission in one of +his regiments of horse. For this fat old Dutch merchant was held at +the Court of The Hague in high esteem for his wealth, his zeal for +the public good, and chiefly, no doubt, added Mr. Royston, for the +reason that a wealthy burgher on the Prince's side in politics was +not to be slighted, when most of his class were of French leanings, +the Stadtholder's chief support being among the common people. + +But in all this not one word, beyond a civil message of regard, for +poor Philippa, who spent some tears and much thought to come at an +answer to the question, whether her old comrade began to forget what +she must ever remember, or was but obstinately adhering to his +resolve to say no word of those feelings which he held forbidden by +the cause of his flight out of England. No answer could I get to +this for all my vexing of my mind with questions, till one day Prue +did find me in tears, and contrived, my pride being a little weakened +with a consciousness of swollen and blubbered cheeks, to get some +part of my woes from me. Whereupon she nodded sagely her little +head, and asked if he was one wont to change. + +"For sure, Mistress Phil," she said, "you have by all accounts known +him long enough to tell." + +In some indignation I answered he was not. + +"I thought he was not, indeed," says Prue; "and you may take my word +for it, madam, he but waits to become a great captain in this army of +the Dutch to come riding home and claim you, as great as a lord." + +At this I was at first much pleased, perceiving how likely a thing it +was that Ned should so act; and next I was angry with Prudence for +her wisdom. But when I petulantly would know how she came to read +him more justly than I, she said a little sadly that it was not her +own case she was judging, and saw the clearer for being but an +onlooker. For which I kissed her, and so an end. + +There is no need for me to tell ill what others have told well; the +history, I mean, of the three years before the coming of His Highness +of Orange. I suppose I had taken little note of the affairs of the +country had I not heard much talk of them between my dear father and +Mr. Telgrove. And as time went on it was curious to note how both +would make me a party to their discussion of public matters, the +reason being at first, I think, that their differences required an +arbiter, and an ignorant girl was better than none, having indeed +this advantage when fulfilling the office of judge, that there was no +need to abide by her decision; and later, when they had begun to +approach, if not an agreement, at least a temporary alliance, they +would still be drawing me in because it had become a thing of custom. +I learned then in this manner more of the state of the nation than if +I had read every word of the London _Gazette_ as it appeared in the +capital; and when, in the spring of the year 1687, the country was +deeply perturbed by the publication of the Declaration of Indulgence, +which my father and Mr. Telgrove abhorred in common, I was able to +bring the two old men at last to a position of sympathy--representing +to my tutor that my father could never wish him to forego such +liberties as the Indulgence offered; to my father that, in his heart, +Mr. Telgrove scarce grudged the same to those of my dear mother's +faith; and to both, that they were united to refuse a boon thus +illegally offered, lest a door should so be opened to greater evils +than the Indulgence pretended to cure. They said I was a little +stateswoman, kissed the one my face, and the other my hand, and +joined their own in the closest grip of friendship. Yet all this +time my father neither let drop nor allowed one word of changing the +head that wore the crown, while Mr. Telgrove was, I think, too wise +to press him in that direction. + +And so, from London and all parts of the country, we heard week after +week that things went from bad to worse; while at home I was riding +new horses, prinking myself out in new dresses, and reading new books +when I could get them, and the old when I must; till I began at last +to fancy, I suppose, that I was grown a woman, and a person of no +little importance and consideration. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Christopher Kidd was a tenant farmer upon the Drayton land. +Moreover, he was a suitor, earnest as bashful, for the hand of my +little abigail, Prudence Emmet. While, therefore, matter of business +might bring him four times in the year to the Manor House to speak +with Sir Michael, love was used to fetch him thrice in a week +dangling about the place for the chance of being well snubbed, +mightily put upon, and most truculently railed at by little Prue. +And she, for all her cruelty, was not to be thought altogether +indifferent to this stalwart yeoman (for he was of that stock, though +himself but a tenant). I at least could never think her intention to +him unkindly after being witness of her distress when Mr. Kidd rode +southwards on my father's behalf to seek news of the Prince of Orange +more certain than the bare rumor that had reached us of his landing +at Brixham. For no sooner was he departed than Prudence, although +saucy with him even in her last words, became much cast down in +spirit, fearing he would not return, and I know not what beside. + +Now all the world knows that it was upon the fifth day of November, +in the year 1688, that His Highness set foot on shore. And I +remember well that the fifth fell that year upon a Monday. For ever +since he had received by an unknown hand a printed copy of the +Prince's Declaration, in which was set forth not only His Highness's +purpose to come to the rescue of the liberties of England, but also +at great length the reasons of this design, my father had resolved to +throw in his lot with him; and, this resolve once made, he greatly +desired to be among the very first to offer support, saying a Drayton +should never be in the number of those that must wait to see how the +cat would jump. And so he was, through the last days of October and +the first week of November, in a great excitement of waiting ever for +news that did not come. And, the first rumor of His Highness's +coming reaching us on the morning after that landing in Torbay, Sir +Michael came to the still-room, hobbling with his stick (for his +wound was again troubling him) to find me, being in great hope that +the news would prove true that the Prince had made choice of our +coast, and not, as had been expected, that of Yorkshire. Now I was +busied with the brewing of our gooseberry wine, while Prudence and +two of the maids were mending the house-linen under my eyes for the +greater despatch and fineness of their work. And it was of a Tuesday +that this mending was always done, for Sir Michael had instilled much +of the old soldier's order and system into my manner of housekeeping. +But this day I do think the gooseberry wine had little thought or +care, for to me the coming of the Prince meant the coming of Mr. +Royston, that I had not encountered since I was a woman grown; it +being indeed three years and over since he went out of the country, +and near upon twice that space of time since we had so met that we +might fairly perceive, the one what manner of man, the other what +manner of woman, we were. And I laughed softly in myself to think at +what advantage I held him. For him I should surely know among a +thousand, while he--well, it would be as it should fall. For, +knowing as I knew him, I was sure that if at all he remembered me, he +had doubtless all those years been holding still in his inner eye the +picture of a little, ugly, and ill-kempt hoyden. And I laughed +again, and wondered why I laughed, finding my mind something of a +puzzle to itself. For, while I knew I was no longer ill to look +upon, I found my face grow hot at the thought of Ned's eyes on me, +which before I had never done. + +It was then upon the Tuesday that we heard the great news; upon the +Wednesday that Mr. Kidd, at the instance of Sir Michael, rode off +Exeter way to hear more. And so, in suspense little relieved by +further and growing rumor, we waited until the Saturday, when about +five in the afternoon Prudence, ever on the watch, was the first to +spy her lover as he rode up the avenue. His horse was caked over +with mud to the very girths, for the roads were foul with long and +heavy rains. Nor had the mud spared the rider; but the soil borne by +the two was as nothing to the weight of mystery and the burden of +importance that I marked in Farmer Kidd's bearing as he flung himself +from the saddle, and, brushing by little Prue with the briefest of +nods, strode big with news to the little parlor beyond the hall, +where Sir Michael did use to sit of an evening. And then, as I +looked from the window of the hall where I sat, I knew from her face +that Prudence would surely wed him some day, but first would make the +rude fellow most bitterly repent that slight of counting her next to +politics and warfare. + +For my part, since I was not Prue, I soon forgave the man, in return +for the great story he had to tell of the Prince's entry into the +city of Exeter. For he had beheld that great pageant, with news of +which all the west was soon to be ringing, and, indeed, in no great +space, the whole country. And, if it gained as much in many mouths +as I have since reason to suppose it gained in Farmer Kidd's, 't is +little wonder it was soon believed an army of giants and magicians +had crossed the sea in aid of the Protestant religion. The Earl of +Macclesfield, who had come out of Holland with the Prince, leading a +band of English gentlemen, two hundred strong, was with his following +an object of wondrous admiration to Mr. Kidd, who would never tire, I +thought, in telling of their great Flanders horses, their glittering +armor, and their negro slaves, one to each man, in white and +feathered turbans. And then it was the bridge of boats laid across +the Exe in the twinkling of an eye to give passage to the wagons; the +twenty pieces of ordnance--great brass cannon, only to be moved by +teams of sixteen horses to each; the stature of the men; the new sort +of muskets; the order of the discipline, so that none would so much +as steal a hen from a cottage garden, but all things were as +willingly paid for as supplied. Then Kidd must draw comparisons +between these military manners and those of Kirke's and Trelawney's +Regiments of Foot, as seen in the troubles of three years ago; and +all this time poor I waiting on his words but half interested, and +satisfied not at all, until I could lead him, too full of his own +great importance to perceive the guidance, to some description of the +Prince's Swedish Regiment of Horse. For it was to this body that Mr. +Royston had, it was now some months, been transferred, receiving at +the same time promotion to the rank of captain. + +So as long as our messenger, between the draughts of his ale fetched +him by Prudence with hands as willing as the pouting mouth would fain +have shown her reluctant, would descant of the black chargers, the +black armor, the great broadswords, and the furred cloaks of this +same Swedish cavalry, I listened as eagerly as my father had done to +it all. And as the man dwelt on the gallant show they did make I was +plotting to bring him to some mention of what I doubted not was among +them the gallantest figure of all, but was prevented by my father +asking if Mr. Kidd would ride the same road again, and carry a letter +to His Highness of Orange. "With the best meal we can make you on +short notice, Mr. Kidd, to comfort you within, and the best nag in +Drayton stables between your knees?" said Sir Michael, in conclusion +of his request. + +Christopher Kidd was ready enough not only to oblige Sir Michael, but +also, I believe, to return to the great sights and doings of which +his mouth was so full; so, he being despatched in care of Prudence to +be fed, I was left with my father. And when I had given him his +writing things he opened his mind a little to me. + +"I had gathered from Kidd, before you entered," he said, "that the +common people are ready to do all and risk all for the Prince, but +that since he landed no man of substance and gentry has joined his +army." And here for a moment he did bite the feather of his pen, and +looked in my face, so that I knew that the mind that was now long +made up still felt pain to tell its resolve. Then he went on thus: +"You that know me so well, little daughter Phil, have guessed, I do +not doubt, this many a day how my mind was going in these matters. +And seeing that it was decided, contrary to the use and belief of my +life, in favor of His Highness before ever he came, I cannot now in +honor hang back. It cannot be recruits for rank and file, raw +soldiers at the best, that he needs, with such an army at his back; +but I believe it is rather the countenance and support of the solid +men of the country he asks, to take from his presence the odious +seeming of invasion. And I am in great fear it may all miscarry, +even as Monmouth's wicked business, on account of the behavior of +those who, willing to bring, yet fear to welcome His Highness. You +have, I do think, partly seen what it has cost your old Cavalier +father to adopt a part against his old master's son. But it would +cost me more if my hand were not as good as my thought. Yet, if I so +make it, I risk all that is yours who but enter upon life,--little +for myself whose sands are at the last falling grains. Sedgemoor, +Kirke, Jeffreys, were summer-evening ripples on a mill-pond to the +storm that is coming, if His Highness meet defeat in the field or +abandon his undertaking, which last I take it he is like enough to +do, if forced to the appearance of a foreign enemy. I did purpose +now writing a letter to His Highness. The act will be mine, but the +danger, my daughter, will be yours. How shall it be?" + +I pushed the inkhorn to him over the table. + +"Write, dear sir," I said. "Your hand shall not fail your thought +for me. And I would mine," I added, putting a hand in his, "were as +strong for the cause my heart holds the better as yours has ever +been." + +He looked in my face as he took it, and the old gleam flashed a +moment in his age-saddened eyes. + +"My lass," he said, "there 's Drayton in you for two men," and began +to write forthwith; but soon paused, saying: "Wilt run, child, to the +stable, and choose for Mr. Kidd? We have here no better head for +horseflesh, and my old piece cannot keep these new nags well +distinguished." And as I reached the door he called after me that I +should not give him Skewbald Meg, whose appearance would do little +honor to his errand or His Highness of Orange. And I cried back that +poor Meg would break her heart with the weight of the man, and so to +the stable. For, since her midnight ride to Lyme, I was never +pleased that any but I should mount the mare. + +And when I returned to my father the letter was written, which he +would have me read. As I remember, it ran in this way: + + +"YOUR HIGHNESS,--I have within this hour in which I write received +the certain news of Your Highness's coming into England. Without +delay, then, I do myself the honor to inform Your Highness that I +have attached myself and my household to his party and interest. The +reasons that have led me to this are for the most part set out in +that noble declaration published by Your Highness before his coming +among us. Yet it is not without great pain that I, an old servant +and soldier of Your Highness's grandfather of blessed memory, King +Charles I., find myself inditing an epistle that sets me in a manner +at war with his son. It is written with a hand that now finds the +pen heavier than the sword was wont to be. I am too old and too +infirm to pay to Your Highness in person the respect I feel. And I +am too old a soldier to embarrass Your Highness's encampment with +even my small body of men; it is possible they are not needed. Yet +Your Highness is to know that they are to the number of a dozen, at +his command, living meantime at free quarters, and getting such drill +and practice in arms and evolutions, both men and beasts, as two +old-fashioned soldiers can give. May God use Your Highness as you +shall use this unhappy land. Your Highness's most respectful and +obedient servant, + +"M. DRAYTON." + + +And this letter, somewhat proud in its tones, as I thought (but not +one word of it would Sir Michael change), reached the hand of the +Prince by that of Christopher Kidd early upon the following morning, +which was Sunday. It seems, from what I afterwards heard, that being +deep in affairs His Highness did not break the seal until after the +great and solemn service in the cathedral that was that morning held. + +Now the bishop had fled to London before the gates of Exeter were +opened to the Prince. The dean had followed him, and from this +service the canons of the chapter carefully abstained themselves. +Even the prebendaries and the singers of the choir fled from their +stalls on the first words of Dr. Burnet's reading from the pulpit the +Prince's famous Declaration. So, for all the pomp and the noble +sermon of that great divine, it was in no mild or pleasant humor that +His Highness returned to his lodging at the Deanery. Here chancing +to open my father's letter, he took great pleasure in it, remarking +to Mr. Bentinck that there was, after all, hope that he had not come +in vain, when so stanch and famous a Cavalier as Sir Michael Drayton, +of whom he had often heard, did so address him. He sent at once for +Christopher Kidd, and very graciously bade him thank Sir Michael for +his promptitude, which, he said, had done much to console him in a +grievous hour; adding that he would send in good time for his little +band, and hoped himself to pass, within some days, so near to Drayton +that he might thank him in person. And with this message Christopher +returned. + +I have been thus particular because I would have it known that my +father was the first of that great and distinguished number of +gentlemen and noblemen that soon began to flock to the Prince's +standard. I know it has been said that Mr. Burrington, of Crediton, +was the first that came in, bringing with him a good company of +followers. Now it is well known that Mr. Burrington did not arrive +in Exeter till the Monday. But Sir Michael Drayton's adhesion to the +cause being conveyed by letter, and his men kept a-drilling at his +cost until they should be required, has put my dear father's name out +of the histories, where it should stand as that of the man who first +held out a hand to comfort a great Prince oppressed to despondency of +mind by a backwardness that seemed ingratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +At an early hour on Monday there were gathered on the level turf that +stretched beneath my chamber window some five and twenty men, with as +many horses, from whom Sir Michael, with old Emmet to help him, was +now to select that twelve he had promised to hold at the service of +the Prince. And I thought it a clear mark of my father's nature that +he did prefer furnishing a small number, but serviceable, when, had +he measured his own importance by the rule that many gentlemen at +that time did use, he might have sent a hungry and unruly band three +times as great. + +From my window the humors of the scene were strange and various, and +at first not a little laughable. Simon bustled to and fro, urging +and directing stable lads sweating under load after load of armor, +and weapons from the hall, the armory, and the steward's room. At +last, all being in some manner armed and mounted, they were gotten +into a semblance of order, and their instruction and weeding out +began. At first, I say, I laughed much at one man's hopeless +perplexity in handling together sword and reins, or at another, being +undersized and of even less strength than skill, to see him strive in +vain to control a fat and lusty charger, fresh from the plough, and +grown wanton to feel so little weight upon his back and none at his +tail. But, as one after another these were discarded and went their +ways, some in evident dudgeon and others in as plain relief of mind, +and as the dwindling number grew even more martial in mount, bearing, +and accoutrement, the sight did begin to make some corresponding +emotion in my heart; and I almost found myself wishing that I had +been born a man, the more that my dear father had that same morning +lamented there was none of Drayton blood to lead the little band. He +had let drop, too, some words, as bitter as few, of my brother +Philip, and had told me then, for the first time, how my mother's two +children did come to bear one name. + +"Your mother bore her first child, little Phil," he said, "in the +early days of the horse-breeding that has brought us so much wealth. +And I loved the beasts, spending once my last guineas and the price +of a farm besides to bring to my stud the Barbary sire you remember. +So when I knew it was a man child I called him Philip, saying he +should love horses as his father, and do great things for the breed, +and his name be famous in England. And as he grew 't was harder to +get him inside a stable than to keep most lads without it. To this +day I know not if he would distinguish your ugly Meg from the noblest +charger of His Highness of Orange. When ten years were gone, and +there was again hope for us, I said, if it prove a girl, we 'll e'en +try the name on her. And give it you I did, with a little tag or +handle to mark you woman. Poor child," he added kindly, yet +sorrowfully, "'t is not thy fault thou hast the wrong sex, and, Gad +'s my life! you have been a better son to me than Philip." + +"And I love horses, sir," I answered, "and, indeed, many other things +that my Lady Mary will ever say are not women's matters." Whereupon +we laughed at Lady Mary a little, and the matter dropped, as he went +to the muster. But I knew he felt in great need of a son that day, +or he had never come so near throwing reproach on me that he loved so +well for a fault that at another time he would not have had me change +for a man's best virtue. Yet, as I gazed from the window at this +threshing and winnowing of men, to make of them soldiers, the memory +of that reproach rankled a little in me, and a small plot began to +take form. + +At the time when I commenced housewife at home I had in a disused +chamber above found a closet filled with clothes once worn by my +half-brothers of the elder family that I had come into the world too +late to know. These were the only relics, I believe, of three good +and honest gentlemen that, in the strange and ghostly manner of a +child as I then was, I reverenced much, and even contrived to love a +little; I had therefore rescued many of these garments from the moth, +and, deciding in my mind by the varying fashions and much guess-work +to which brother the different pieces had belonged, bestowed them in +three ordered piles in a wide shelf of my great oak press. "So +these," I would say, as I brushed and folded them once a month, "were +Henry's; these Maurice used to wear." And I always held that the +morion and the back- and breast-pieces, which were all the armor +found with the clothes, had belonged to Rupert. For they were +wondrous small for a man, and I knew he had been the least of them +all in stature, and had scarce attained his full growth when he fell +at Salisbury. + +Now, in my excitement with the martial sounds without, and a good +part, I doubt not, in mischief that meant going no further than +gently avenging his slight of my sex upon my father, I suddenly +thought of this wardrobe so little proper to a young maid's chamber; +and at once began with trembling hands to choose from my store such +garments as I thought would best become the son my father wished me, +giving, I doubt not, an undue value to color and to that size which +nearest approached my own, and little to coherence of fashion. + +The troop were now reduced to eleven, for Christopher Kidd, making +the twelfth, and having leave of absence after his services to my +father in riding to Exeter, was expected to return from his farm but +for the afternoon's drill; lacking whom, the rest had been dismissed +for dinner at noon, which was the hour when I began so unmaidenly to +dress myself out in my dead brothers' clothes. It was a business +that occupied me longer than I had thought for, and when it came to +the boots and the armor I wished I had Prue's nimble fingers to help +me. But she, I knew, though she would never have confessed so much, +was somewhere watching for the return of Christopher. At last, +however, I made shift to fasten together about me the back- and +breast-pieces; for the boots, I stuffed the toes of each with an +handkerchief, and so made them sit passably well, the practising +which device called to my mind how in the dark I had done the same +for Ned to the filthy brogues he wore in leaving us. So, being +dressed at all points to my satisfaction, the next thing was to +contrive reaching the stables unobserved. For this my reasons were +two: I knew the men would soon reassemble, and wished, in my folly, +to take part in their evolutions in such manner that none could +forbid without openly chiding me before the yokels; which I knew +neither my father nor Emmet would do, whatever their censures might +be in private. But far stronger was the other reason for privacy. +Being now ready, I began to feel shame of what I was doing, and, +being too petulant and obstinate to give it up, I felt that a horse +beneath me and the necessity of handling him in unwonted movements +would do near as much to cover my shyness as the skirt I lacked. + +Whether this be clear to a masculine reader or no, confident I was of +a lessened sense of bareness, and so of greater boldness in the +saddle. Hearing, then, the bugle blown without, and seeing the men +canter up by ones and twos from the stable, the few old soldiers +among them roundly cursing the laggards, I opened my chamber door, +peeped up and down the gallery, and made a bold run for the head of +the great stair. That it was before I reached it my sword, catching +between my legs, did fling me prone, I must ever thank Providence. +Had it happened in my descent with the same force, I had broken my +neck at the foot of the stair. For, though I could handle the +small-sword, and even the heavier weapon of a soldier, "passably well +for a maid," as Mr. Royston did use to say in the days when he taught +me something of fence, yet never before, even in our games, had I +worn one hung from my side. I picked myself up more shamefaced than +hurt, and made my way sneakingly and gingerly, holding my sword in my +left hand, down the stair and into the great hall, making for its +further door which leads to the kitchens. I was already half-way +toward it, walking most cat-like in that shyness so little fitted to +my garb and action, when I heard the heaving of a great sigh. +Turning my head, I saw, at the further end of the hall, standing with +his back to me, and gazing from a window, a man dressed in +sad-colored clothes. More quickly, I suppose, than the stranger +could turn to observe me, I was through the door and in the flagged +gallery that leads to the kitchens and pantries. Cutting across this +gallery is a shorter one leading to a side door of entrance to the +house, and as I drew near this I heard voices at the outer door. At +once I knew the speakers for Prue and Christopher Kidd, and now more +than ever did I feel that the salvation of my plan was to get me +astride of a good horse; I would not, even to save changing my mind, +a thing always hateful to me, be seen walking thus dressed. So, +coming silently to a stand in hope that they would move away, I was +for some minutes an involuntary eavesdropper. The stables were +opposite this same door, with a paved yard between, and I could tell +by the sound of hoof on stone that Mr. Kidd was mounted and on his +way to the muster on the other side of the house. But I believe that +he had learned since his first return from Exeter that it was ill +policy to hide fresh news, good or bad, from little Prudence. Yet +did he make some show of resistance. The first words that I clearly +heard were his: + +"But where is Sir Michael? I have news." + +"News good or ill, Mr. Kidd?" says Prue. + +"That is for him to say," replied Kidd. "Are they at the exercises, +mistress?" + +"Nay, but Mr. Kidd--Christopher," said the little rogue, in tones +most winning and persuasive, "will you not dismount and stay a while +to pleasure me? Shall I fetch you a horn of ale?" Then there was +silence for a little space, and I could fancy her little red and +pouting mouth turned up to the man in such wise that it could scarce +be three heart-beats ere his spurs would ring on the flags. Nor was +it. And then she continued: "And the news, Mr. Kidd? Perhaps it +would not taint it if my lips should sip it first." And so a pause, +and a little soft sound of kissing, with a small scream of formal +hypocrisy. + +Then Christopher: "Faith, mistress, a kiss from you would win all +things from a man, even to his soul's health, let alone a trifle of +news." + +"I gave you no kiss," says Prue, saucily enough; "you did but take +it." + +"Then take my news," quoth Kidd, with a stride, I thought, towards +his horse. And then, I think, she did buy his news, and pay in +advance. For although I cannot say that this time I heard the ring +of the coin, yet Christopher's next words showed him proceeding to +delivery of the goods. "You know, mistress, that Sir Michael would +have me lead these men to the Prince when he shall call on them. So +I have been to the farm to settle things for a long absence. I +thought my nag here well recovered of his last week's ride to Exeter +and beyond, but find there is little spirit left in him, and was +ambling gently down the old road by the water-mill about an hour +back, and cursing both luck and horse to be late for the work a-doing +here, when there comes by a great coach, with much foul speech and +cracking of whips. And whose face dost think I saw looking from the +window, all drawn and wan?" + +"Oh, I know not," said Prue, in anger of impatience; "tell me, and +quickly." + +"Well, 't was Madam Royston," says Christopher. + +"Lady Mary!" says Prue, with a little gasp. "What did she there?" + +"'T is the very thing I would know, dear lass," replied Kidd. "The +fellows round her were ill-looking, and she was about calling to me +when she was dragged back within the coach." + +"Well, you are a man," cried Prue, raising her voice in excitement. +"What did you do?" + +"Little to purpose, sweetheart," answered Kidd; and, though I was as +eager now as little Prue to hear more, I could have laughed to note +how the man took advantage of her emotion to edge in these lover's +terms unchecked; "I spurred after them, but a fellow on a sorrel nag +turned and drew a great pistol and let fly at me. Do but see the +hole his ball made in my coat." And here I heard a very genuine cry +of fear from Prudence. And Kidd went on, with a slight note of +exultation in his voice, the result, I do not doubt, of her +perturbation. "It did me no hurt, though it wanted but little, as +you see, of sending me where I could never again see the prettiest +maid in three counties. Well, that shot angered me, and I made at +him. But he was the better mounted, and leapt his horse over the +hedge, and so away over the fields, while I pounded heavily after on +my tired beast. When I gave over, the coach was far and my nag +well-nigh foundered. But one thing I learned of him." + +"Ay," cried Prue eagerly, "and that was----" + +"That he was no true man, but a devilish priest of Rome." + +"O Mr. Kidd," says Prue, "how you will ever be frighting a poor girl! +How knew you that?" + +"As he leapt the hedge," said Kidd, "being a bad horseman, he was +near losing his seat. Arrived the other side, he saved himself by +clutching at the sorrel's mane, and in that had almost lost both hat +and his red wig but for clutching at those in turn. But as the wig +shifted I saw his own hair, dark and short, and a little round place +atop, bald and shaven. A priest he is, and Sir Michael loves not +such cattle on his land. So indeed, dear Mistress Prudence, I must +find and tell him what is doing. Will you not grant me but one more? +My news was worth it." + +Whatever it were he asked, I do suppose he shortly obtained it, for +very soon I heard upon the stones the hoofs of his departing horse. +Hoping that Prudence would follow him round the back of the house to +see him join the little troop at exercise, I thought this was the +moment for pressing on to the stables. So, wisely tucking my sword +again under my arm, I made a run for it, which took me round the +corner and fairly into the arms of Prudence, whom I clutched firm and +close in my own to save us both a fall. At first her fright to be so +suddenly seized in the arms, as she thought, of some ruffling gallant +was luckily too great to let a sound escape her; and when I loosed my +hold and clapped my hand upon her mouth, it began slowly to dawn upon +the terror-struck eyes raised to mine in mute appeal that 't was none +but I; whereupon, being released, she fell to laughing most +consumedly, pointing at me the while a most derisive finger, till I +could not but think all was not well with my unaccustomed attire, and +shrank together and cringed from her in fashion most unmanlike. + +And, when she could for laughing, "Oh, dear Mistress Phil!" she +cried, "whatever your plan in this pretty masquerade, none will take +you for a man if you do stand so." + +Which did but add anger to my desire of carrying through my plan; so +that, drawing my body most martially erect, and seizing her by the +shoulder with my left hand, I raised the other as if to cuff her, and +threatened as much if she did not hold her peace and immediately lend +me her aid. And this did mightily sober the girl, who, seeing me so +terrible, ran out at my bidding to the stable, returning quickly with +the news that there was not a man about the place, all being gone to +see the drilling. Very bravely I then swaggered across the yard and +in among the horses that were left. And there Prudence followed, +panting with excitement and, as soon appeared, not without admiration +of my assumption of manhood. + +"Oh, but indeed I ask your pardon, dear Mistress Phil," she cried, +"for so laughing at the figure you made. If you but carry it thus +none who does not know you for Mistress Philippa Drayton will know +you are not a man. Do but let me set your beautiful hair more in +fashion of the great wigs Mr. Kidd tells me are worn by the +gentlemen, even on horseback and in armor." And with a great coarse +stable comb she pulled and twisted till she had my hair, which for +the first time I was glad grew not so long as thick, to hang evenly +round the shoulders behind, and over them in front in two heavy +curling masses. + +"And now for a horse," I said, when this was done. It took no long +time to see that my choice lay between Meg, that I have already told +of, and Roan Charley, a gelding of no great size but great beauty of +proportion. He was grandson of that Barbary sire my father had +purchased so dear to enrich his stock. Roan Charley had to the full +the spirit and much of the fleetness of the Drayton barb, with more +bone and greater power in the hinder part; whence it came, I suppose, +that he was the best leaper I ever sat, while his grandsire would +not, or could not, clear so much as a fallen tree-trunk. He was +generally accounted difficult and contrary in handling, but he and I +were seldom long in coming at an understanding. + +Now for the work I had been watching all morning from my window I had +certainly preferred Old Meg, as we had come to call the mare, more +from her sure and trusty manners than her years. But, for the odd +and elfish look of her, my vanity bade me pass her by and clap my +father's best saddle on Charley. At first he gave me some trouble in +this, thinking, said Prue, some strange gallant was about stealing +him. When he fidgeted a little with his heels Prue screamed, and +would not come near to help. The saddle was heavy and the sword +mightily in my way, and each time I would have flung the first on +Roan Charley's back, round would go his hindquarters, and, as I +followed, the sword would again come between my legs and stop me, +while he eyed me with teeth gleaming and ears laid back. At last I +was fain to set down the saddle and caress him with voice and hand, +making love to him till he knew me again, and, indeed, well-nigh said +as much. After that, saddling and bridling were soon done, and +Charley led into the yard, where, Prue being with much difficulty and +in terror of her life persuaded to take him by the head, I was soon +upon his back. + +Now here, as once or twice before, I must tell of things that I did +not know till after they were done. For even though it seem somewhat +to break the thread of narrative to leave me running Roan Charley in +the park to use him to my handling and my knees to my father's +saddle, while I tell of events, some far, and others close at hand +but beyond my knowledge, yet I hold it ever more easy for the reader +to take his history, public or private, in order of occurrence, and +so to hold in his hand all the threads that must knot together at +that point for whose sake the story is told. For in life all is so +large and complicate as to seem, in the little eye of man, confused +and purposeless; and great part, I think, of our joy and interest in +living it is found in the unexpected nature of its events. But in +those pictures of life furnished us by drama, history, painting, or +romance our pleasure is altogether of another kind. Here the +artificer, choosing out of the multitudinous mesh threads such only +as lead to his particular nodule of the mighty tangle, concerns +himself and us with the convergence and final meeting of these; so +that, if he but tell and we read aright, we see step by step the +working of his little providence. And here our pleasure is not in +astonishment, but in truth and sequence reasonably set forth. "This +thing is coming," we say; or "That could have fallen no otherwise"; +and we read on, and sometimes, perhaps, perceive some glimmer of the +order lying in the greater skein. But all this Mr. Telgrove would +call plagiarizing; and it comes, indeed, in the first instance, from +his head. If he read it ever, he will confess me a better listener +than he is wont to think. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Captain Royston's troop was of that portion of the army which, after +the pomp of entry into Exeter, had been quartered at Honiton. There, +waiting at an equal distance from his own home and the city of +Exeter, and unable to get so much as an hour's leave of absence, he +fretted not a little at his situation, seeing that the further +advance might be undertaken at any moment, and he be carried on the +martial tide past both those havens his soul was longing after (but +it was one in especial, if what he now saith must be believed). Upon +the afternoon of that same Sunday whereon Dr. Burnet preached in the +cathedral Captain Royston was surprised by a summons to report +himself without delay before His Highness at headquarters. The order +was brought by M. de Rondiniacque, a young Huguenot gentleman who had +been transferred from a lieutenancy in Ginkel's Regiment to the +personal staff of the Prince, on account not only of the charm of his +manners and the quickness of his parts, but also, it seems, for the +esteem in which his family was held by the veteran Count Schomberg, +who, with hundreds of other French gentlemen of high birth and the +proscribed religion, had left his country and attached himself to His +Highness of Orange. M. de Rondiniacque and Captain Royston had long +been fast friends, and both were glad of the ride together, and of +such conversation as could be had in fifteen miles of wet and mud, +travelled with the hard riding M. de Rondiniacque's orders enjoined. +Arrived at the Deanery about seven o'clock of the evening, they were +summoned at once to His Highness's presence, where they found beside +the Prince none but Mr. William Bentinck. + +In regard to the conversation that here took place, I am the better +able to give some account of it that I have two narrations to draw +upon--Captain Royston's, namely, and M. de Rondiniacque's. + +As they entered the room, His Highness, seated at the table, was +uttering the last words of a conversation, apparently of some +earnestness, with Mr. Bentinck, of which, however, the only words +that reached their ears were these: "No, William, no! Where I must +trust so much I will trust all. The lad is true, and my interests +are his." + +These words, spoken in the French language, which the Prince used +always with greater fluency and a nearer approach to exactness than +the English, showed to Captain Royston with some clearness not only +that the talk had been of him, but also that Mr. Bentinck's words, +which he had not heard, had been in the nature of a warning. Knowing +well that this faithful friend and servant of His Highness had never +looked on him with the same favor shown him by the Prince, Captain +Royston was as little surprised by the slight he guessed as troubled +by the antipathy he knew. And he, being too proud of nature to seek +its reason, I was moved one day many months after, and in happier +times, to enquire it myself of Mr. Bentinck, who very freely and +kindly told me that they had been in Holland no little troubled with +an inroad of gallows-birds and broken men seeking asylum under the +cloak of persecution suffered for opinions political or religious. +Hearing some talk of a man slain in anger, he had rashly (as he said +to me he now perceived) classed Mr. Royston with these, and had on +two occasions declared himself opposed to his advancement; all which, +I can well see, had in it the makings of a very pretty quarrel but +for the haughty indifference of Captain Royston, leading him, as it +would often do, to contemn and eschew explanation in his own behalf. + +The Prince now turned sharply to Captain Royston, and at once +informed him that he was chosen for a service of great secrecy. "And +I believe, sir," said His Highness, "that I have chosen well. For I +know you, Captain Royston, to be a brave man, a bold horseman, and +acquainted with this countryside, and believe you a gentleman of +honor." + +His Highness here pausing as one that asks a question, Captain +Royston said very simply that the last head of His Highness's opinion +was as true as the two former, as he would know if he saw fit to use +him in a matter of delicacy. + +On which the Prince continued: "I do not doubt, Captain Royston, that +something at least of the difficulty of my position in this disturbed +country has been long clear to you. Victory in a pitched field over +a proud and unconquered people, to whom I come as a friend invited, +will hurt my cause no less than defeat. It is not every man that +will act as this old Sir Michael Drayton, who, his mind once +determined, is eager to take risk among the first." And here, +perceiving the pleasure in Captain Royston's countenance to hear his +old friend thus singled out for praise, His Highness enquired did he +know that gentleman, and, being answered eagerly that he did, cast +upon Mr. Bentinck a little glance of triumph, as a man looks who +says, "I told you so." Then, "You have friends of the best, +Captain," he continued. "And as it is not given to all to act with +the courage of your friend, while there is scarce one but wishes me +success in some measure, 't is a plain duty laid upon me to use all +means to draw them to me, and so secure a peaceful issue. I have +this night received a letter from one high in King James's favor, +ennobled by his master, and holding in his army high rank, while he +also exercises through his wife much influence upon our sister, the +Princess Anne; and so, indirectly, upon her uncles, my Lords +Clarendon and Rochester, her cousin-german, Viscount +Cornbury--and--and--is it possible," he added, with an odd smile, +"that I forget her husband, Prince George of Denmark? Now, in this +letter," said His Highness, tapping upon the table with a paper he +held folded in his hand, "in which there is much of his attachment to +the Protestant religion, but more between the lines, as I read it, of +the high price he would have for a firm continuance in that faith, +this noble officer proposes coming to terms with us. We shall +doubtless have him sooner or later, but sooner is my purpose, for the +sake of his following. He has left the royal army, now stationed at +Salisbury, and while his escort in two divisions, each of which +supposes my Lord C---- to be with the other, is on the way to the +capital, he himself with one companion has by this," said the Prince, +glancing at the clock, "with forced riding, reached the town of +Sherborne, where, under the style of 'Captain Jennings,' he will lie +this night at 'The King's Head.' How far, Captain Royston, is this +town of Sherborne from our present position?" + +For a little time Captain Royston pondered, and then replied that the +distance was something over fifty miles. + +"And how long," asked His Highness, "would it take you to ride to +Sherborne by night, Captain Royston?" + +"The roads are very bad, and heavy with the rain, Your Highness," +said Captain Royston; "but with a fresh horse from here, a remount +from the stables of my troop at Honiton, and a third that I shall +doubtless find at my own house of Royston, I will do it in ten hours. +If the clouds should break, the moon might help me to better it by an +hour." + +"And how far is this house of yours, Captain?" asked the Prince. + +"Royston Chase and the hamlet of Royston, Your Highness," he +answered, "lie midway between Chard and Crewkerne: as the crow flies, +some three and thirty miles from Exeter, and half as much, or +thereabout, from Sherborne." + +"Is it at present inhabited?" says His Highness. + +"By my mother and a few old servants," said Royston. + +"Is the lady of your mind in politics?" continued His Highness; and +being answered that she was, he then asked Captain Royston to do him +the honor to be his host on the following day. "I shall go to Chard +with Count Schomberg and a troop of cavalry," he said, "to inspect +the outposts that lie there, and ostensibly to take notice of the +country for purpose of strategy. About two hours after noon we shall +arrive and ask hospitality of madam your mother--it may be for the +night. Meantime you, Captain Royston, will have conducted Colonel my +Lord C----, with all secrecy and discretion, and by hidden paths and +byways when possible, to your house, where we can privily accomplish +that personal meeting he so much desires, and contrive, I doubt not, +to fix the price of his treachery. Mr. Bentinck, sir, considers that +I err to trust you so far with my secret purposes. But I intend +employing an English gentleman in a service as much to the advantage +of his country as of myself, and I would not have him think it is my +habit to deal with traitors. While, like yourself, Captain, I vastly +prefer the open field to the dark ways of intrigue, yet, in this +case, though I am, as the world knows, no Jesuit, I hold the great +end in view to justify the means we are to employ. And, when all is +said, the private motives of his lordship are no more concern of ours +than--than--" he said, pausing with a smile, "than his Protestantism. +He is a good soldier, and, if I am any judge, bids fair to be a great +one; so I would have him an instrument on the right side." + +His Highness then gave to Captain Royston a pass under his own seal, +very comprehensive in its terms, laying also before him a like paper +sent by Lord C----, bearing the signature, "James R." M. de +Rondiniacque has since told me of the lofty manner in which dear Ned +would have declined this last. But His Highness insisted with some +sharpness, saying: "You will take no escort, Captain, and these +scruples are petty. And," he added more kindly, "let us hope that +its use, if needed, will prove, after all, in the interest of His +Majesty, my uncle. It shall not be our fault, sir, if it do not." + +Now since the attempt of one Gerrard and others upon the life of the +Prince, Mr. Bentinck had endeavored with a subtlety of precaution +truly wonderful to protect his friend and master from such vile and +hidden enemies. For, however strongly the instigator might be +suspected, the instigation was never proved, and the instruments had +control of agencies to the full as cunning and secret as any that Mr. +Bentinck, with all his servants and correspondents, could bring to +bear. Before Captain Royston, therefore, had gotten himself to +horse, this gentleman took occasion to draw him apart, and, laying +aside for the moment his wonted ungraciousness of demeanor, warned +him privately and kindly that, many bad men being about, and the +neighborhood of so large a force offering much opportunity of +disguise and concealment to the evilly disposed, it was before all to +be desired that no word of His Highness's purposed visit to Royston +Chase should go abroad. Captain Royston very civilly thanked him, +saying that he was of a like opinion; that not even to that +distinguished gentleman to whom his mission was would he impart the +name of his destination; but only to madam his mother, should he have +the fortune to speak with her that night while changing his horse, +would he tell so much as should ensure His Highness a fitting +reception. + +I am not to give a particular narrative of that tedious, rapid, and +cautious ride, for the most part in the dark, from Exeter to +Sherborne, but only to touch upon such incidents therein as may serve +to throw a little light upon the events that ensued,--events of which +the result came so near the tragical that even now a shuddering will +accompany their memory. + +At the door of the Deanery a fresh and powerful horse awaited him. +He was as far as Honiton accompanied upon his road by M. de +Rondiniacque, who was entrusted with an order to the colonel of the +Swedish Cavalry. As they rode from the Close, his companion pointed +out to Captain Royston a fellow that stood at the corner with his +back to the wall. + +"'T is the same we saw at the ale-house, half-way from Honiton," said +M. de Rondiniacque. He then turned his horse and enquired of the +sentry that paced the Close a little higher up, did he know that +short, stout, and red-haired fellow, or anything of his business; to +which the soldier answered that he was something in the way of a +sutler, or perhaps a dealer on commission in supplies, to the various +messes. And, while M. de Rondiniacque was thus out of ear-shot +conferring with the musketeer, the man at the corner betrayed to the +eyes of Captain Royston some perturbation of countenance. As the +friends continued their road to the left from the mouth of the Close, +Captain Royston, turning in the saddle, perceived this loiterer, whom +he suspected for a spy, to be already making off swiftly in a +contrary direction. + +The tedium of the first ten miles was well beguiled by the gaiety of +M. de Rondiniacque, and marked by no incident but the sudden passing +at full speed of a fine horse mounted by a bold but, as appeared in +the brief glance, an ill-seated and inexperienced horseman. A sudden +gleam of the moon shining upon this figure as it disappeared round a +corner of the road a little in advance of the two officers, M. de +Rondiniacque observed that he believed 't was the same fellow with +the red head they had already twice that evening encountered. A +little later Captain Royston took note that, whoever the reckless +rider was, he had either checked his pace or much increased the +distance between them, since the sound of his flight was no longer +heard. And so for the time the matter passed out of their heads. + +The last five miles of the road to Honiton, being in fair condition, +were accomplished at a good pace, checked only by an accident of a +very trifling sort. Captain Royston, ever a man of great knowledge +and consideration in horseflesh, his beast having stumbled and partly +fallen among some loose stones in a dark part of the way, dismounted +to examine what injury the animal had taken. Waiting beside him, M. +de Rondiniacque continued, in tones audible enough, their +conversation, which had reference to the Prince's intended visit to +Royston, the words he used chancing to indicate both time and place. +Before remounting, Captain Royston observed that the disposition of +the stones of considerable size which had caused the mishap appeared +rather of design than accident, and as he bade his friend hold his +peace the ears of both could clearly distinguish a rustling among the +bushes that here divided the sunken road from the adjoining fields. + +I have been thus particular over the early portion of Captain +Royston's midnight ride because it afterwards appeared they had been +spied upon to some purpose. + +Arrived at Honiton, and learning that the badness of the road that +leads through the hamlet of Royston was through the long wetness of +the weather grown extreme, he resolved upon taking another, with the +chance of a remount at the house of a gentleman well known to him, +who lived at a point fitly dividing the remnant of his journey. So +he sat him down while his best charger was a-saddling to write a +brief letter to my Lady Mary, in which he did but cautiously inform +her that his "honored master" would visit her on the morrow with a +good company in attendance, and signed himself her "obedient E.R." +This letter entrusted for conveyance to Royston Chase by the first +light to a trooper of great fidelity, Captain Royston set out on his +way to Sherborne by a road somewhat longer, indeed, than he had +purposed using, but promising greater expedition and security at this +hour and season. Reaching "The King's Head" at Sherborne about six +of the morning (it being that same Monday upon which the exercising +of Sir Michael's little squadron of horse did begin), he was at once +introduced to "Captain Jennings" in his chamber, who, having dressed +and eaten, was soon mounted, so that, riding with the light, and +freshly horsed, but with some expense of time for caution and the +using of byways, they were safely housed at Royston Manor an hour +before noon. Nor is it wonderful that poor Ned, having ridden at +least eighty miles upon five horses, with no sleep in thirty hours, +and scarce a mouthful of food for fourteen, after noting with regret +that there was not one among the servants whose face he knew, did +fall asleep upon his bed in all his travel-fouled clothes. Awaking, +like a true soldier, an hour before His Highness and the escort +should arrive, and asking of the servants why he had not seen his +mother, he received from a very civil fellow, who seemed above the +rest, a letter written by my Lady Mary in characters much shaken with +some emotion, wherein it was set forth that, rather than compromise +her loyalty in receiving His Highness, she had left the house free to +her son, but herself, with the two old servants that were left of +those he knew, had fled to the King's camp at Salisbury. Although +vastly put about by this ill news, and, as he thought, great +discourtesy of his mother, he put the best face upon the matter, that +he might in no manner seem to belittle her in her dependents' eyes, +and set about preparation of hospitality. Lady Mary was ever a +notable housekeeper, and it was no long matter to load tables and +dress beds, the less that it seemed much had been already begun +before her unkind departure. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +With all this we have yet come no further than the noontime of the +Monday; but I have yet one more thread to gather up before I come +again to my proper part in this tale. + +That stranger, the sight of whose back so frighted me, foolishly clad +in boy's garments, that I dared not risk encounter with the gaze of +his eyes, was, though, alas! I knew it not, my brother Philip. When +I did pass through the great hall on my way to the stables, he had +just come to an end of some talk with Simon Emmet, who was then gone +to fetch Sir Michael. + +From his errand Simon hoped little good, fearing of the ills that +might arise from Philip's return at this conjuncture, most of all the +perturbation of spirit into which it was like to cast his master. So +much, indeed, he said, with such plainness as his old and unbroken +affection for my brother would allow. There is no little reason to +suppose that, even more than the lad's father, Simon Emmet had been +grieved by Philip's adoption of his mother's religion. For Philip, +upon his arrival and encounter with the old man, was no sooner +recognized than he was asked if it were indeed true that he was +become a priest: and when Simon was assured that so it was, he +counselled a speedy departure, since no good would come, Sir Michael +being minded as he was, of their meeting. Being told, with that +gentle severity which did use to sit very nobly upon my brother, that +he must inform his master with no more ado, he yet in going must turn +at the door to deliver a parting bolt through the man he loved at the +creed he abhorred. + +"Now, I bethink me, Master Philip," says Simon, "there is, when all +is said, some good come of your heresy." And when Philip said gently +that he hoped indeed it was so, but saw not how he meant it, Simon +gave answer that, old man and sick though he was, Sir Michael upon +that dire news had gotten a mind to live, and had lived ever since, +in the firm intent that, as long as he might prevent, a Papist should +never rule at Drayton. + +"But, Simon," says Philip, with a sadness political rather than +religious, "there was surely a time when my dear father had preferred +a Papist in his house to a Dutch Calvinist on the throne." + +"Ay, Master Phil," says Simon, with an old man's chuckle of much +cunning, "but that was before the throne had tried a Papist," and so +left him. + +And I do suppose it was while I listened unseen to little Prue's +willing news from her lover on the flags of the stable-yard that my +two nearest kin were threshing out, in the great hall behind me, a +question that can never be settled. There was no quarrel between +them, but little that was common to their two minds. And that day +the little seemed altogether naught. Yet in temper the two men were +as like as unlike in thought. + +Now Philip's change of faith had but strengthened, and in a manner +embittered, the old Cavalier devotion to the house of Stuart. Being +commissioned by that great religious society of which he was a +member, and whose power is as far-reaching as its means are often +hidden and subtile, to travel from London through the southern and +western parts of England, exhorting, persuading, and commanding the +Catholic gentry to remain constant in the royal cause, he had, at the +end of two months so spent, at last arrived among us. He now told +his father that he held it within the spirit of his commission, if +not of its letter, to use upon him, did he waver in that political +faith of which his life hitherto was so noble an exhibition, the same +arguments and modes of appeal he was daily employing upon those of +the true faith. + +"You lack, however, in dealing with me, my son, one weapon--and that +your strongest," said his father. + +"And that, sir?" said Philip. + +"The appeal to religious authority, my boy. And yet I scarce see by +what means you do bring it in use; for I hear that His Holiness is +ever at war of one kind or another with King Lewis, and favors rather +the cause of that alliance of the Empire with the Protestant Princes, +of which His young Highness of Orange is the soul and spirit. I +warrant, lad," said the old man, with some grimness of humor, "you +find the Pope but an unhandy weapon in your schemes and plots." + +"I obey orders, sir, but do not deal in plots," the son replied, with +a pride that matched the father's. + +"Art not a Jesuit?" asked Sir Michael. + +And Philip answering, proudly and yet with much humility, that he +was, Sir Michael would have known of him what he did when the bidding +of the Society of Jesus ran counter to His Holiness's policy, or +enjoined action inconvenient with the honor of a gentleman. But +Philip, avoiding the former question, was yet stung into reply on the +second, saying boldly that the spiritual descendants of Loyola were +much belied, and had no traffic in the plotting of underhand schemes. + +To this his father, with much warmth, but with a greater kindness +than had yet appeared in his address, replied: "Truly, I think they +do not--through such as thou, my son. Believe your old father, lad; +your superiors are men of a boundless statecraft and a subtile, and +well know their tools. Who that has knowledge uses an axe to do the +office of a file? But files they have, and augers even down to the +finest gimlet; and these also work among us." + +"Be that as it may, sir," answered Philip, "my mission is honest and +open. I come to conjure you to hold faith with the cause in which +you have so nobly spent your blood, your sons, your land, and your +gold." + +"There is nothing left me but my daughter and the ragged edge of +life, Philip," said the old man, with a great sadness. "And these, +too, would I spend, as I thought, God knows, to spend all that is +gone,--for the good, I mean, of England. But not as you would lay +them out, Philip; not on James, his harlots, priests, and bastards. +The King is the slave of priests as his brother was of women; and, +Gad 's my life! the late King was more English in 's tastes. Women +may harm the king, but your priest in power is death to the kingdom. +I have learned one thing, son Philip, in my nine and seventy years: +that a man's king is much, but his country more. But it is enough. +Let us leave the matter, or, God forgive me, I shall end by lauding +the man I have most hated--the one Englishman since I drew breath +that was feared and honored by Pope, Emperor, and Kings. And since? +We have been laughed to scorn of the Spaniard, spat upon by the +Hollander, and paid--God's blood! ay, paid by a filthy Frenchman!" + +"You have called a man traitor for less words than these, sir," said +his son, mightily amazed. + +"Traitor!" quoth Sir Michael, with a great bitterness. "We are all +traitors now. It is the curse of God upon a wicked and adulterous +generation. There is no man among us but some will say of him, +'There goeth a traitor,' whether to his king, his country, or his +God." + +Then Philip: "If I must choose, it shall be to all before my God." + +"Ay," said Sir Michael; "but in my plain English way of thought, Sir +Priest, no man betrays his country but is traitor to his God." + +And so they made an end, and Philip mounted his horse and rode away. +And all that day I knew not that my brother had stood in reach of my +arms. These things and the little more I have here to tell of Philip +I learned after from his own lips. Riding sad and thoughtful from +the house he did meet, at the turn of the avenue where it opens upon +the road, a short, fat man, with red hair that matched ill with his +dark and oily skin. His horse, though good, seemed but now painfully +to recover from hard running. The fellow's countenance being not +unknown to him, Philip was the less surprised to be addressed by name +as brother, and asked had he forgotten the speaker. And when he was +at length remembered for one Francis, that was in the time of +Philip's novitiate a lay brother in no good odor of repute, he told +with some boastfulness how he had received priest's orders and the +conduct of a great mission, concerning which he was loftily +mysterious, saying only it was a great work for the subduing the +heathen; to compel a blind and unquestioning assistance in which he +had powers granted him, he said, over any member of the Society he +should encounter. At present, he added, he was to be known and +addressed only as Mr. James Marston of the city of Oxford. He then +commanded Philip's attendance upon him, and, on his demurring, showed +him such writings as convinced my dear brother, rightly or wrongly, +that he had no choice but to obey. Which he did, riding with him +sadly enough, and wondering, as he has told me, whether he were not +soon about to give the lie to that proud speech wherein he told his +father that he, no more than the Society of Jesus, did deal in plots. +I will here say that grave doubt has since been cast upon the +authenticity of the alleged commission of Brother Francis. Philip +has ever held that he was deceived by the man; that the papers were +either forged, or used to ends far other than their purpose. + +Mr. William Bentinck, whose great knowledge of hidden affairs as well +as his lack of bias in favor of that Society entitles his opinion to +a greater value, thought it to be a case in which one had been +employed that might, in event of failure, throw the fault upon a body +of men as accustomed to be blamed as to do good. However it may be, +we shall never certainly know the truth of the matter, since the +destruction of the papers and other accidents have put it quite +beyond the power of any man to enquire further with hope of success. +One thing at least is certain: that Philip was as ignorant as +innocent of the purpose to which he was led. + +And so I find myself in the saddle, taming Roan Charley in the park, +where I have, in a manner of speaking, patiently awaited my reader +through the tedious course of two chapters. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +With my horse reduced to some show of order, but yet champing +fretfully at his bit and throwing back his head in such manner as but +for my quick avoidance had endangered the soundness of my own, I +cantered gaily to that part where the exercising was, with head erect +and a firm hold upon the great war-saddle that seemed no longer too +vast to grip between the knees. There I perceived that Simon Emmet +was at great pains to get the words of command and their significance +not only into the heads of his troopers but also into that of +Christopher Kidd, who there was sweating visibly in attempt at once +to control a fresh horse he had gotten, and to repeat after Simon +words of whose meaning he had less knowledge than the men that, for +lack of a better, he was to command. At once and without a word I +fell into line, and, after a few mistakes, very successfully put +myself and Roan Charley through the simple evolution in progress. At +first Simon did not mark me, being the more busied that the dulness +of Kidd was much increased by his amazement at the sight of me. But +when at length Simon saw the direction of his awkward pupil's regard, +he as quickly perceived his new recruit. + +Giving the command to halt in his great voice of an old sergeant of +horse, he walked up to me, saying, with a rough petulance: "How now, +young gentleman? What have you to do among these?" Then, at the +laugh with which I answered him, he drew near and understood. And +mightily put about he was, and would have me at once return to the +house. + +But, "Tush, Simon!" I said, smiling on him in the fashion I had used +from a child when I would have my way rather than his, "do I not do +it all fit and properly? You are not to know who I am, but a young +gentleman that would exercise with you." + +"You must leave the ranks," said Simon, gruff but wavering. + +"So I will indeed," I answered, "if Mr. Kidd will but take my place." + +And this Christopher, ever ready for Prue's sake to pleasure me, very +readily did, without more said; whereupon I took his place, and, +before Simon had well lowered his brows of amazement, I was giving +out in the greatest voice I could compass all the words of command I +had spent my morning in learning from my window. The troop, falling +in with the jest, acquitted themselves so well that Simon did not +interfere; and I had halted them at length with intent to coax old +Emmet to fetch my father, that he might see how good a man I was, +when from round the corner where lay the front of the house there +came a great and growing confusion of sound: the wheels of a coach, +the hoofs of many horses, and a mixed murmur of voices. And then the +great voice of my father rang out, at the sound of which all was +hushed; wheels stopped, horses stood, and men held their breath. +Bidding Simon keep his men as they were, I cantered round the +southeast corner of the house, and, checking my horse, stood for some +minutes unmarked in the confusion, to observe a scene not a little +curious. + +The coach was my Lady Mary's, easily recognized in our parts for the +newness of its fashion. By its side stood our friend and neighbor, +Sir Giles Blundell, that instant dismounted, and opening the door +that my lady might descend. Behind him were two young gentlemen, one +of whom held Sir Giles's horse by the bridle. My lady, of a pallor +very death-like, and stumbling as she stepped down from the coach so +that she was like to have fallen but for the ready support of his +hands, said a few words to Sir Giles, but all in a voice so low from +weakness of fatigue and the faintness of terror as no word of it to +reach my ears. His answer, however, was given clearly enough. And +as he spoke my father, till now delayed in his descent of the steps +by the lameness of his leg, drew near and stood beside my lady, +leaning upon his stick. + +"Indeed, dear madam," said Sir Giles, "I will do no such thing. I +and my friends here are vastly pleased we were in the way to rescue +you from such evil hands; 't was a small service we are proud to have +rendered to so good a friend and neighbor. But to ride further to +Royston Chase on the mere chance of some danger to His Highness of +Orange, that has an army to protect him, is but to mix ourselves with +a game we are well resolved to watch at a safe distance." + +"Ah, Giles," says Sir Michael, who had known him from a boy, "your +father had been of one part or the other. What, in God's name, is +coming to England, when Englishmen are found that cannot even take a +side?" Whereupon more words to little purpose ensued, Sir Giles and +the two other gentlemen at length departing as they had come, after +replying with much forbearance to some heated and scornful +animadversions of my father upon the lukewarmness of their conduct. + +Gratitude for what these gentlemen had done in her behalf and the +need of recovering her spirits from the great perturbation into which +they had been thrown by the events of the morning kept my lady silent +until their departure was accomplished, when she turned to Sir +Michael with a great beseeching in her countenance, saying: "Surely +you will help me, my old friend." On which he gave her assurance he +would do all he might, but told her he was yet ignorant what was her +trouble and need. And it is great wonder to me that all the time she +was telling and he hearing her story neither did observe me sitting +there on my horse, and but partly hidden from their eyes by the +branches of a tree. But her eagerness was well equalled by his +interest; and there was a great bustling of our hostlers and her two +servants about the coach. For one of the horses had fallen when +brought to a stand, and lay, it seemed, at the point of death, two +more being in a very bad case. + +In brief, the tale she told him, of which I heard near every word, +was this: that one had come at six o'clock of that morning with a +letter from her son, announcing a visit, as she interpreted its +terms, from His Highness of Orange; that by nine she was well +advanced with her preparation for his fit reception, when all was +thrown into confusion by the sudden arrival and enforced entry of a +strange and ill-assorted body of men, acting, with a silent obedience +truly wonderful to see in so unlikely a comradeship, under the orders +of a little fat man with a dark face and red hair. This fellow, +after he had compelled her with the threat of death and a pistol at +her head to write that letter to her son which I have already +mentioned, did force her, with her maid and one man-servant, into the +coach which the other was to drive, a ruffian of decent mien being +seated beside him with a loaded pistol to quicken his obedience and +despatch. One other, in like manner persuasive, was in the coach, +while Red-head and a fourth with a led horse rode beside. This +party, in the endeavor to reach Salisbury, but much delayed by the +devices of my lady's coachman, after escaping the pursuit of Farmer +Kidd, had fallen the more easily before the gallant assault of Sir +Giles Blundell and his friends that they were weakened by the absence +of their leader; he having, as I believe (though this came not in +Lady Mary's narrative), lost his way in drawing off Christopher's +attack, and, being minded from the first to return before the end to +Royston Chase, and falling in with my brother Philip, was glad enough +to enforce his attendance as a guide, if not also to vent an old +spleen by making of him an unwilling accomplice in his wicked purpose. + +Of the three villains left with the coach, one was slain in the +rescue and the other two escaped on their horses. + +My lady ended her tale by telling her fear that the life of His +Highness was aimed at, and imploring Sir Michael with tears that he +should at once send his men (for Simon had by this brought his troops +in very fair order round into the drive) for the warning and defence +of His Highness; adding most piteously that her fear was no less for +the honor of her son and his father's house than for the life of the +Prince. + +"Ay, madam," says my father; "but since there is none to lead them, +and they are like a flock of sheep lacking a shepherd, they must wait +the time of writing a letter." + +"Write! write!" cried her ladyship, wringing her hands, "write! +while even now it is perhaps too late!" + +"I would I had one left of them all," said Sir Michael, with a groan; +"or anybody with a head-piece on a sound body. You see what I am, +and Simon is well-nigh a cripple these three years." + +And with that I cantered up to them; and, bringing suddenly my horse +to a stand, and saluting very finely, _more militari_--"I will go, +sir," I cried. + +"Who 's here?" cries my father, and "Mercy on us!" says my lady, like +any milkmaid, in one breath with him. + +"Who but your son Philip?" I answered, laughing gaily, and, I think, +blushing a little, as well indeed I might. "And your son Philip is +the best horseman in the country; your son Philip bestrides the best +nag in three; and your son Philip knows the crow's-road to Royston, +while it is of common knowledge that he has a very pretty head-piece +on his shoulders." + +My father being past speaking for amazement, my lady breaks in with: +"Thou 'rt a brave girl, but why this masquerade, dear child?" + +"To convince Sir Michael Drayton," I pertly replied, "that there is +some use even in daughters, when they can hold a sword and sit in a +war-saddle of Prince Rupert's time." + +Sir Michael here made to seize my bridle, but Roan Charley had caught +excitement from my voice, and a little slacking of his rein with a +pressure of the knee at once put him at the distance of three great +bounds from any detaining hand. + +"Come back, Philippa!" cries my father. + +"Not so, dear sir," said I, turning in the saddle, "for I shall go, +an you will allow it." + +"The roads and fields are not safe for thee, child," said he, "with +so many bad men about, and an army close to hand, else were I willing +enough." + +"Then let these men follow me," I cried. "Simon will tell you, dear +sir, that I can give and take the word of command. Christopher has +no wit to handle them. Send the six best mounted, and let them come +up with me if they can, and I will give Roan Charley to him that +reaches Royston neck and neck with me." + +And if they answered me again I heard it not, for Charley was away, +taking in his stride the fence of the paddock that lies behind the +stable; and although that way did mean a leap-out at a point where +the fence was high, with the ground falling sharply on the other +side, we did the second jump as well as we had done the first, and so +gained three hundred yards on the pursuing troop, whom I already +heard pounding after me with many a hearty cry and much rattling of +harness. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Two years after it happened my husband and I did ride over the same +course of my crow's flight from Drayton Manor to Royston Chase. And +it was matter of some surprise to me, and of more to Ned, ambling in +cold blood over the fields and viewing the leaps that I and Roan +Charley did that day take in company, that I had not only the courage +for such feats but also the fortune to come through it all without +misadventure. + +I must indeed suppose that I did myself choose my path and guide in +it the gallant little horse; but, were I to trust merely to the +memory of feeling, I should believe that I sat in the saddle like one +in a dream, while Charley, with the inward knowledge of some homing +pigeon, galloped straight for the place where lay all my hopes and +fears. 'T was but twice that I had any sight of my escort--first, +turning in my seat as Charley reached the level of the meadow-land +below the hill that falls away from the home paddock, I beheld them, +close massed in a body, rounding the bend of the fence away to the +right above me, and just about commencing the descent; and once +again, after the roan had leaped into, and well-nigh miraculously +scrambled out of, an ugly and broken gully that lies near half-way +between Royston and my father's house. For as Charley heaved his +body with a tearing, scratching, and clinging most wondrous cat-like +upon the safe ground of the further bank, I looked back once more and +spied them bearing off to the left for lower ground and easier +passage; but by this they were a straggling rout covering much +ground, so hardly already had the pace and distance with the +differing weight of riders told upon the various mettle of the +horses. Indeed, the next two miles did tell not a little even upon +Charley, being a rising stretch of ploughed land in condition very +grievous for his smallness of hoof; but coming thereafter to grass, +he was mightily refreshed, and cleared two fences and a little bank +of earth with bushes atop in his old gay and light-hearted manner. + +And after this we were not long in coming to the road, which being in +good condition for the season and weather that it was we made the +remaining miles at a very pretty pace. + +Now the front of the house at Royston Chase stands but a little back +from the road, behind great gates of wrought iron, hung upon mighty +pillars of carved stone. These stood wide as I galloped up, but the +way was barred by two soldiers, of mien immovable as the brazen gates +of Gaza. By their black cloaks of fur I knew them to be of that +Swedish Regiment of Horse in which Captain Royston held His +Highness's commission. They were, however, dismounted for sentry +duty--an office for which I could but think them ill chosen when I +perceived that not one word of the English language did they +understand, and would neither let me pass through the archway into +the inner court of the house, nor, when I had come to the purpose of +moving further down the road and leaping both hedge and ditch into +the orchard, would they let me depart. For one of them did lay a +great hand on Charley's bridle, saying something to his fellow in a +manner easy of comprehension, though the words were to me without +meaning. And I truly believe that I was in that moment very near to +discovery of my sex. For answer to his jest I struck the fellow +across the face with my loose gauntlet, at the same time with great +quickness using both spur and rein, so that Roan Charley in a single +movement reared himself almost upright and swerved aside. This, +coming right upon the blow he had received, caused the trooper to +loose my rein; which before the other could seize we were away at the +best pace we could make. + +Now, some three hundred yards down the road seemed the lowest part of +the bank and hedge enclosing the little field that here divides the +beautiful orchard of Royston Chase from the highroad. But even at +this point, I thought, the leap was hard for a horse that had already +done so much; wherefore I had determined to pass on to that little +cross lane that leads from the road to the gate at the lower end of +the orchard. But even as I was so resolving I heard behind me the +cries and hoofs of mounted pursuers, and in front, coming from the +very lane I had purposed using, a patrol of three men of this same +Swedish regiment. And so jump we must, or altogether fail, it +seemed, in that for which we had ridden so far and so fast. Charley, +too, seemed to understand, and for a few strides we both steadied +ourselves, taking deep breaths of air and watching the hedge for a +thin spot. And I have always thought 't was Charley that found it--a +spot where the growth of bramble on the bank's top was so scarce as +to let the narrow edge of the earth mound be clearly seen. But +whether the will were mine or his, the doing of the matter was +Charley's alone, and very well, for a tired horse, was it done. +Knowing he could not with sureness clear both ditch and bank in a +single spring, and feeling that his mistress did leave the manner of +this last and most difficult passage of his hard run wholly to his +clever legs and wiser head, my little horse, as if he had been twice +the age he was, most soberly took his leap from the roadside, and +landed with his four hoofs bunched cat-like in a cluster on the +summit of the bank in that place where I have said the growth of +brush and bramble was thin. Here, for the space of two heart-beats, +he poised himself, in which time he judged so well both his own +flagging powers and the wider and unexpected ditch on the further +side, that he was able with a second leap to land us safely and +gently beyond it on the rain-softened earth of the ploughed field. + +Now, even in the brief moment when Charley swayed on the top of the +bank and gathered himself for that second spring, I had time (so +swiftly works the mind in the tension of danger to be forestalled) to +note two things: that my pursuers on their heavy chargers had balked +the leap; and that in the orchard, across the little ploughed field +and beyond the low fence, were many people, walking to and fro among +the fruit trees; and I knew from their carriage, from the sheen of +armor, and the gay colors of the various habits, that they were no +common soldiers; and as Charley foundered wearily but with great +courage through the heavy plough my heart was high with the thought +that fortune had brought me the straight road to my end. And then we +reached the fence, which proved higher than I had thought; yet did my +brave nag pass that too, very cleverly bursting with his knees the +highest rail, which he was too tired to overtop, and though he took +the grass among the trees beyond with a little stumble, it was his +first and last mistake, from which quickly recovering, and, as it +seemed, well aware that his work was done, he stood like an image of +stone, with forelegs stretched in front and nose near down to his +knees. + +And then I thought the whole world did heave and turn and swim before +my eyes, and all that I saw through the mist of its convulsion was +two long, shadowy arms reaching from opposite quarters for Roan +Charley's bridle; all I thought, that little was the need to hold a +horse that had turned to stone; all I heard, the sound of a voice far +off, that said: "The Prince of Orange; there is a plot; look to his +safety; search the house, the grounds, or they will slay him." And +then slowly the earth settled again to its place, the mist began to +clear, and I knew the voice for my own. And I saw, as one that wakes +from a dream, that he who held my bridle on the near side was Captain +Edward Royston, and straightway I was within a little of so +addressing him, but bethought me in time, and, looking round, asked +where was the master of the house. + +Upon which he replied: "I am Captain Royston; what is to do?" + +"Sir," I said, very solemnly (yet, for all the gravity of the case, I +was at pains to keep back a smile when I so addressed him, and saw +that he knew me not), "Sir, His Highness is in danger. Madam your +mother has been by force taken from home, but is now in safety; the +servants that you find in your house are evil men, and of the plot." + +Then he that held my horse on the off side, whom I afterwards knew +for that great person that for discretion I shall still call "Captain +Jennings," took his hand from the bridle. + +"The lad speaks truth," he said; "a word with you, Captain." With +that he drew Ned aside, and while they spoke together ("Captain +Jennings" telling, I think, how he feared unjust suspicion of his own +connivance if aught befell His Highness) I marked that six Swedish +troopers did approach, threading their way through the trees from the +gate in the lane that I have above mentioned. Also, between them and +me, but nearer by no little distance to where I still sat upon +Charley's back, I saw a man stand leaning against the wall of the +granary that stands in the orchard, and thus hidden from the +advancing soldiers that were still, as I supposed, in pursuit of poor +me. And this man, whether from description or from something high +and noble in the aquiline countenance of him, I knew at once for +William, Prince of Orange. Now, even as I gazed in idleness of +wonder on the man I held greatest in the world (for did not Edward +Royston serve him with reverence and ardor?), I saw that a little +door in the granary, on His Highness's left, was slowly, slowly +moving back upon its hinges, and a moment later I had one glimpse of +a fat face and a red head peering from the narrow slit of that +opening. I thought of Farmer Kidd's tale, and again of Madam +Royston's, and straightway drew my sword and clapped heels to my +horse. Roan Charley, for all his fatigue, responded very gallantly, +and in three of his long bounds we had been beside the Prince, but +for a fellow, long, lean, and black-coated, that drew a pistol from +under his breast, which he fired in my face in the same moment as he +leapt at Charley's head, whereby he undid himself, for, as the horse +reared in terror, I, in as much, struck spurs in his sides, and +Charley leaping forward, we rode clean over our assailant, whom I +struck at wildly with my sword as he fell. Charley must have found +foothold upon some part of his body, for I remember still with a +thrill of sickness the softness under foot. + +Hereafter my recollection of the _mêlée_ that ensued has little +clearness; all was noise and confusion, the band of conspirators +having burst out from their hiding in the granary in desperate effort +to achieve their wicked end even in that eleventh hour and very +moment of discovery. And even then they might have found success but +for Roan Charley and his rider, which is to me ever a joy to +remember; for, though I recall little and confusedly what befell +around me, I know that after the fall beneath Charley's hoofs of that +rascal (the same that Ned had supposed a very civil servant of his +mother), we reached at once the door in the wall of the granary; but +not in time to prevent the sortie of three men with sword and pistol +in hand (the rest, I believe, came forth by a door on the other +side). With two of these His Highness was very speedily and coolly +engaged, while the third was aiming a clean downward cut at his head +with a great sword whose gleam seems yet burned in upon my eyes as I +write and remember. And then, in some manner, Charley and I were +upon him, and my blade received the stroke meant for His Highness's +unprotected head. And after that I thought something did break (as +indeed it did, being the blade of my brother Rupert's sword). I +heard the shouts and the running feet of friends closing round, and +then all was darkness and nothing. + +The next I knew was a burning in mouth and throat, and awoke to find +myself swallowing some liquid, very foul and ill-savored, held to my +lips by a gentleman I did not know. I afterwards learned the liquor +was Dutch, and called _schnapps_, the man none other than the great +Count Schomberg, late Marshal of France, and once high in favor of +His Majesty King Lewis; but now chief in command under His Highness +of Orange, having abandoned the highest of military honors and the +favor of the greatest King upon earth for the cause of religion. + +So, opening my eyes and looking round, when I had done with coughing +over that vile liquor, I saw not only that a numerous company stood +around, but also that here and there upon the grass among the trees +lay several men, in strange and twisted attitudes such as I had never +before seen; and something told me that these were dead; and I knew +that I was upon a little field of battle, and straightway was like +again to have swooned, when one behind me said in the French language +and kindly tones, but in manner of speech more guttural than men of +that nation do mostly use: "Poor lad! 'T is like enough this is his +first sight of blood." + +Which words, calling to my mind how I was habited, and the whole +memory therewith of the part I played, did somehow stiffen my courage +and arouse my spirit, so that I said, with what of hardihood I could +bring into the words: "Indeed, I ask your pardon, gentlemen all. 'T +was the fatigue, I do suppose, of riding fifteen miles at such a +pace, and to the back of that my great fear for the life and welfare +of His Highness of Orange. I pray you, tell me," I continued, +looking round among the company, "whether His Highness be unhurt?" + +And then one came from behind me, and spoke to me in that same voice +that had but now pitied me in the French idiom for my first sight of +blood-shedding. And when I saw him I knew him for the great Prince I +had ridden to defend. This time, however, he spoke in English, using +that language certainly with little ease and frequent errors, which +yet I shall make no essay to reproduce in this my narrative, lest I +should thereby bring something of ridicule into an address ever +princely and dignified, and, on this occasion at least, full of grace +and courtesy. Much, I know, has been said and written of the +harshness of his manner, the bitterness of his tongue, and even of a +certain Dutch boorishness in behavior, of all which I saw nothing at +our first meeting. + +Three months later, when our troubles were well past, Mr. William +Bentinck did tell me one afternoon that we walked in St. James's +Park, how to this great but somewhat phlegmatic nature the excitement +of danger was a kind of stimulant necessary to the bringing forward +the lighter and most pleasing qualities of his character; that he had +never seen him gayer, more kindly, nor lighter of heart and +countenance than in the press of a losing fight, himself dismounted +and fighting hand to hand with an advancing enemy, merrily jesting +the while his left hand wielded with deadly effect the sword that his +right arm was too sore hurt to hold. And I do suppose it was to this +quality in him that I owed the sweet and noble charm of his first +reception of me. + +"Young gentleman," said His Highness, stretching out to me his hand, +"it seems that I owe my health and perhaps my life to your timely +presence and your sword." And I, here falling upon one knee to +receive and kiss his hand, perceived that in my right I still held +the hilt of Rupert's toledo, with the three inches of blade that +remained to it. "And I hope," continued His Highness, as I let it +fall upon the grass, "that the sword has taken all the hurt to +itself." + +"I thank Your Highness," I answered, as I rose, "I have taken indeed +no hurt at all, and should ask your pardon for so unsoldierly +swooning in your presence. But indeed 't is the first time I have +seen sword drawn in anger, and I had ridden near fifteen miles at +extreme speed to warn Your Highness of the plot that was toward." + +"And from this good fellow I hear not only of that great and rapid +riding, but that you come from my friend, Sir Michael Drayton," said +the Prince, indicating with his glance Christopher Kidd, who stood +by, loosing the girths of his steaming horse--the only one of my +company that had yet overtaken his leader. "Are you then Sir +Michael's son?--or, perhaps, his grandson?" + +"Neither the one nor the other, sir," I said, glad that he did so +form his question; "but I do use to live at Drayton Manor, and Sir +Michael is my nearest of kin that lives." And I was glad that +Captain Royston was beyond ear-shot, being busy among the prisoners +taken, whom very shortly he left in the hands of their guards, and +approached the Prince, saluting as he came. + +"There are five slain upon the ground, Your Highness," he said, "and +seven taken in the act, of whom six bore arms; one of these is even +now, I suppose, at the point of death, and one other, I think, has +made good his escape, he being the thirteenth, which makes, as far as +we are informed, the full tale." + +"See that no more slip through your fingers, Captain Royston," +replied His Highness, with something of severity; adding more freely +that he was indebted to them all for prompt and vigorous defence of +his person; then, perceiving that Captain Royston lingered with +further matter in his mind, he asked him what it was. + +"With Your Highness's permission I would speak briefly as Edward +Royston of Royston, rather than as one holding Your Highness's +commission," he said; and, the Prince nodding assent, he went on to +express in words very simple and well chosen, the dismay he had felt, +and the extreme regret and shame he had suffered, that so wicked an +attempt on His Highness's life had been made on his land and under +the very walls of his father's house. + +Now when the Prince had noted the honesty of his handsome and open +countenance, and perceived the simple candor of his address, his +heart--by no means the easiest, as I was soon to know, of such +access--was a little touched; for, with much benignity, laying a hand +on Ned's shoulder, he said very kindly that his satisfaction with the +officer was only equalled by his obligation to the host; in proof +whereof he then expressed his purpose to entrust to Captain Royston's +keeping for the coming night the persons of himself and the seven +prisoners. His conference with "Captain Jennings" being but +commenced, he purposed after dinner to continue in conversation with +that gentleman until a conclusion should be reached; to send him on +his way with two troopers as far as Sherborne that same evening; and +to return himself to Exeter the following morning, going somewhat out +of his way, did nothing intervene to forbid, in order to paying a +visit to the venerable Sir Michael Drayton, to whom, said His +Highness, he felt himself in much obligation. + +At this point he was interrupted by a very dreadful groan from the +wounded prisoner, and--"I fear, Captain," he said, "there is one of +our prisoners will soon be in stronger keeping than even your fine +house and great loyalty can give him. Let us see if anything may be +done to lighten his pain." Whereupon His Highness drew near the +dying man, who had been moved a little apart from his fellows. + +Captain Royston and Mr. William Bentinck, who, with displeasure +clearly marked upon his countenance, had followed the Prince's words +to his host, joined him by the side of the dying man, of whom my +view, as I stood modestly behind, was plainer than I could wish. +Indeed it was a dreadful sight that I take no pleasure to recall. +His Highness, bending down very tenderly, wiped the bloody foam from +the tortured lips; the wandering eyes fixed themselves upon the face +of the man they had watched to slay, and then: "The priest--the +priest!" said the dying man. + +"Poor fool!" muttered Count Schomberg in French; "he fondly hopes a +priest might yet bring him to heaven." + +"The priest--the priest!" repeated the sufferer, but more faintly. + +"A priest may at least smooth his passage from earth," said the +Prince, very pitifully, when one stepped out from among the +prisoners, saying: "I am a priest. If he needs the comfort of the +Church----" + +But the dying man interrupted his words. With a last effort he +raised himself a little, and said in a stronger voice, but broken +with gasping sobs: "It was the priest--it was he that brought me +here--brought me to this. God's curse upon him!" And so he died. + +But I marked that his eye had not fallen upon him that offered the +comforts of religion. This man was tall and dark, of a countenance +marked by great nobility, and expressive of a great sorrow, of which +I could not readily determine whether the cause were constant or +occasional, so suitable did it appear to the lines of a face at once +ascetic and severe. There was that in his eyes, dark and deep set, +moreover, that drew my gaze in a manner I could by no means account +for--which is indeed little wonderful, seeing the man was my mother's +son and my father's, and I knew it not. To myself I had just said +that the man was not wicked, and but suffered for his evil company, +when the Prince addressed him in tones very different from those I +had hitherto heard him use: "You keep ill company, Sir Priest," he +said. + +There was a little pause ere the priest replied, while the two men +gazed, each unyielding, in the other's eyes. Then: "That I am not of +the company you find me in," said the priest, "is less strange than +to find a Prince of Your Highness's descent and marriage alliance +consorting with rebels and traitors. In good sooth, I took less +pleasure in these misguided and hapless wretches," he went on, +speaking with a scornful kind of pity, "than it appears Your Highness +does make shift to find in his uncle's rebel subjects. But I will +tell Your Highness, more for the satisfaction of my carnal sense of +honor than in hope or wish to obtain credence of him, that I had no +part or lot in this attempt at wicked murder. Your friends," he +added, waving his hand in indication of the officers standing by, +"will doubtless tell you that I neither struck blow nor carried +weapon. For myself I will add that I knew not the purpose of their +gathering." + +"I do not believe you," said the Prince. + +"I do not expect belief," said the priest, unruffled in his calm. + +His Highness turned from him in a disgust I thought very +discourteous, and at once directed Captain Royston to see them all +under lock and key. And so the prisoners were hurried off to the +house, and I stood wondering had I ever before set eyes on this +naughty priest, when the Prince approached me, saying, as if nothing +had interrupted our conversation: "I am sorry you have broke your +sword, my pretty lad." And as he spoke there gathered around us some +half-dozen of the officers and gentlemen that were there--Count +Schomberg, to wit, and Mr. Bentinck, with him that we addressed as +"Captain Jennings," and one that I was soon to know as M. de +Rondiniacque, and some others. "But that loss," His Highness +continued, "is easier repaired than the cleaving asunder of my poor +brain-pan had been, which was like enough to come about, gentlemen, I +take it, but for the lad here and his horse and sword." + +"It is very true, Your Highness," said M. de Rondiniacque; then +addressing me, he observed, courteously enough, but with something of +raillery in his tone, that, if the guard I had used was not +altogether of the schools, it had yet saved His Highness's life as +surely as could the interference of a _maître d'escrime_. + +"You are a good Protestant, M. de Rondiniacque," said the Prince, +"and therefore, I make sure, read your Bible well and often." And at +this the little company laughed as at an excellent jest. "You will +no doubt have observed in the course of that reading that the pebble +and the sling of the son of Jesse were sufficient to the overthrow of +a most mighty man of war, even as this youth's sword came between my +person and death, while the _maître d'escrime_ was not in the way." + +His Highness here turned again to me, detaching at the same time his +own sword from his side. He then drew it from its sheath, and, +laying that upon the grass, wiped the blade very carefully with his +handkerchief. And I do think the significance of that action would +have made me well-nigh faint with sickness, with that poor fellow +that had died in cursing some priest lying so near and so still, had +not His Highness straightway handed me the hilt of the weapon that +slew him. + +"I prithee, good lad, take this in place of that which is broken," he +said. + +And then I forgot the dead man, and grew first hot and then cold for +the great kindness shown to me. I dropped upon my knee, and--"I +humbly thank you, sire," I said, "for so great an honor." + +He reached out his hand to raise me. + +"Kneel not to me, boy," he said; "nor call me sire. I am no king. +But I hope you will keep the sword. 'T is a good blade." + +"'T is the same," said Mr. Bentinck, "that His Highness did use at +the siege of Maestricht, the day he received the musket-ball in his +arm." + +"You speak truth, friend William," replied the Prince. "That was an +unlucky siege. I hope the sword will not bring you my ill-fortune, +young gentleman; for I am at times an unlucky soldier. But, indeed, +it is Count Schomberg here must bear the blame of Maestricht." + +"Did he run, sir?" I asked with simple curiosity, as I gazed in +wonder at the famous veteran. + +"Ay, that he did," said the Prince, with a smile of much amusement, +and also with something, I thought, of bitterness in the little lines +about his lips; "for he was on the other side and ran after me. King +Lewis has done me one good turn. His breach of faith with the +Huguenots has made us friends. Is it not so, Count?" With which +words he stretched a hand to the late Marshal of France; and then, +turning again to me, he raised and gave me the scabbard of the sword, +saying as he did so: "If you ever need good office of me, lad, bring +me that sword as pledge of the boon you would have, even as we read +in the romances was the custom of the princes of olden time. I have +said it is a good blade, and I will buy it back with anything that +lies in my power." + +"Your Highness makes too much of my poor service," I said, as I +thrust the sword in its sheath. "I did but what lay on me as a duty." + +"I could wish all men did so much," he answered. "Will you have a +commission in my army?" + +"Commission!" said Mr. William Bentinck, with a kind of grunting +laughter. "Commission! Why, 't is only a boy! + +"I am no boy, sir," I replied. "But, indeed I doubt I am not man +enough." + +"Ah, well," said His Highness, "there is time enough. Princes, my +good lad, are of all men the most exacting. Where we have +encountered one act of good service we have ever an eye to receive +more." + +But here an orderly officer approaching from the house cut short this +interview, no little to my satisfaction, although standing apart I +could not but hear his report, which he said he had been bidden by +Captain Royston to deliver to His Highness. It seems that, upon the +noise of the fighting in the orchard coming to the ears of the +troopers that were off duty and dining in the great kitchen of the +house, they had turned out helter-skelter and run to our assistance, +thus leaving for some minutes house and stable unprotected. When all +was over, and the men settled again to duty and leisure, it was found +that one horse was gone from the stable, another man's cloak, and the +helmet of a third; the conclusion being, in short, that the escaped +conspirator had passed that way, and was the thief. Which matters +did afterwards prove not only true, but of much import to the +fortunes of Drayton and Royston. + +And thereafter came Captain Royston himself from the house to bid His +Highness and following to dinner. To which His Highness bidding me +with the rest, we left the orchard, and through the gardens drew near +to the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +I was now soon to find that it may be easier to assume a part than to +throw it off. At His Highness's invitation I was no little dismayed, +having at the moment but one desire--to get me home, I mean, without +delay. At thought of the feminine armor of a petticoat I was filled +with a courage greater than any I had yet appeared to show. So +armed, I felt I could even, without overmuch blushing, confess the +sex of Sir Michael Drayton's messenger. But this greatness of heart +did at once forsake me, falling away into my great boots, as it +seemed, at first thought of standing up in them and their kindred +garments to say, before all these soldiers, or any one of them, "I am +a woman!" + +Seeking, then, for some means of evasion, I laid my hand, on our +being come near to the house, upon the arm of M. de Rondiniacque, +thinking his frank and laughing countenance to offer sure promise of +a kindly nature. On his then pausing to observe me, I did draw him a +little to one side, asking if it were possible and convenient to him +to make my excuse to His Highness, seeing I was much set on returning +immediately home. + +He clapped a hand upon my shoulder, and looking down upon me very +kindly, with yet a comical glitter of mirth in his eye,--"Why, my +brave boy," said he, "I would very willingly do you a service, +whether for your brave deed or your pretty manners. But, if you will +take an old soldier's counsel," and at this word he twirled his small +and very black mustachios mighty fiercely, "you will not risk +offending so great a man as William, Prince of Orange-Nassau, in so +strongly rising a tide of your fortune. _Mon Dieu!_" he cried, +laughing and looking in my face too close and keenly for my comfort, +"if the lad is not shy and timorous as any girl!" And with that he +thrust his arm through mine, and, "If you will ever bear that +commission His Highness named," he said, "you must learn to sit at +meat with soldiers without blushing. Come, let us go in and contrive +that we sit together. I doubt not that and a bumper or two will give +you courage!" + +After which I dared say no more, but, as he would have haled me by +force into the dining-hall, I begged him stay a moment while I spoke +with Christopher Kidd, to whom calling as he hung forlorn and +hesitating on our rear, I begged him to ride out and pick up as many +as might be of our straggling troop, and to send them one and all +back to Drayton with news that all was well. Some signs of mirth +appearing upon Christopher's face, which in that predicament of mine +I found very foolish and inconvenient, I continued in harder tones +and with words of command in place of forms of request: "Though you +are but a soldier of a day, Kidd, I believe you know very well under +whose command Sir Michael Drayton's small body of horse left home. +Find of them such as you may within the space of two hours, and see +that they carry out my orders. At the end of that time you will +report here to the officer of the guard, and await my further +pleasure to escort me on my return. I dine with His Highness." + +Though little used to command, I was not unaccustomed to be obeyed, +and Christopher, closing his mouth on his foolish grin with a jerk, +saluted and marched off to the orchard and his horse with promptitude +worthy of a veteran. + +"Well spoken, little soldier!" cried M. de Rondiniacque. "These raw +levies are the devil, and thrive on a diet of brimstone. 'T is true +they need curses for the most part, but, _mort de ma vie!_ we have +not all such eyes as you to flash lightning on our recruits." + +"He did begin his drill no earlier than this morning," said I, with +assumption of much carelessness; for the anger that had, I believe, +stayed Kidd from calling me madam, had left me so trembling that I +feared M. de Rondiniacque holding me by the arm should perceive it. +He but said, however, I should make an officer one day, whatever +became of Kidd, and hurried me into the dining-hall. As we entered, +the Prince was about taking his seat, and in the slight bustle of the +rest following his example, M. de Rondiniacque and I slipped into two +vacant seats at the lower end of the table. + +On His Highness's right was seated "Captain Jennings," on his left +Count Schomberg. Captain Royston also and Mr. Bentinck were at that +end of the table, while I found myself, to my great discomfort, +surrounded by junior officers of various nations, and, for the most +part, younger even than my friend, M. de Rondiniacque. With at first +great intent of courtesy, they hurried me from one embarrassment to +another. Now they would have me drink deep; then, by way, I do +suppose, of enlivening my spirits, they plied me with polyglottic +histories of amorous adventure, growing by steady degrees ever less +pleasing; till at length, finding me grow shorter in reply and +shrinking closer, as it were, into my shell, they abandoned the +attempt to include me in their talk, and chattered among themselves +as I wish, rather than believe, was not their custom. Much, I thank +Heaven, from the babel of the many tongues, I missed; yet did I +perforce hear more than enough. + +After sitting no great while at meat, His Highness, to my great +satisfaction, retired, requesting the attendance of "Captain +Jennings" alone, and making Captain Royston, as their host, occupy at +the head of the table the seat he was leaving. + +More than once before the Prince's withdrawing, I had found Ned's +eyes fixed upon me, with the gaze of one that in vain pursues a +memory intangible. Now, although it had mightily pleased me to +bewilder the man in baffling his pursuit had we been alone together, +I yet, in that company I was in, found his enquiring regard not a +little disconcerting; and, soon perceiving that his changed position +at the table increased the frequency of the attack, I made shift to +summon sufficient courage to ask his permission, on some plea of +fatigue and indisposition, to retire. Which request he very +courteously granted, begging, however, that I would not leave Royston +before he should find time and opportunity to speak with me. + +And so I found my way to the one chamber in the house that I knew; +madam's withdrawing-room, to wit, which I had twice entered when Ned +had taken me, a little maid, to see his mother; a large room, whose +casement, broad, low, and heavily mullioned, looked out with a very +noble aspect across copse and meadow, where the land fell away to the +southward beyond the stream whose rocky channel had been one of the +defences of the house in former days. And, as I stood idly gazing +from the window, and drumming upon the panes with idle fingers, and +wondering when Farmer Kidd would return, I remembered how in the old +days Ned had told me of some wondrous means of escape that there was +from that old house, which he would one day, if I should grow wise +enough, reveal to me. And I wished that I had learned it then, that +I might use it now, and so be quit at once of Prince, breeches, and a +false position. + +The landscape fading into the early darkness of late autumn, I +stretched myself, half sitting and half lying, on the settle near the +fire that burned fitfully on the great hearth of the chamber; and +here soon forgot the passing of time in a doze induced, as I suppose, +by the warmth of the fire, and the fatigue of my ride and the +subsequent excitements. From this slumber I was aroused, how long +after my falling into it I know not, by the entrance of a trooper, +doing duty as servant, and bearing two heavy and branched silver +candlesticks, filled with lighted candles. I was yet rubbing my eyes +to clear my head of sleep and dreams, and striving to sit upright, +when I caught my right spur on my left boot, and straightway +remembered who I was, and how little like it I appeared. And then, +close on the heels of the soldier with the candles, comes to me M. de +Rondiniacque. + +"Aha, my toy soldier!" he cried, as his eye lighted on me, "so 't is +here you have been hiding. And sleeping, I see. Well, you may sleep +on, if you will, for His Highness bids me bring you his most urgent +request that you will here stay the night, in order to accompany him +in the morning on his intended visit to your kinsman, Sir +Michael--something----" + +"Sir Michael Drayton," I replied. "I do suppose, sir," I went on, +"that the Prince's urgent request differs little from a command?" + +"Faith, you suppose well, young gentleman," said M. de Rondiniacque. +"And therefore I made bold to send your man, when he returned from +fulfilling your order, back to the place you named. Captain Royston +has already much ado to feed and bed us all." + +"And did Kidd obey your orders against mine?" I asked, rather that, +saying something, I might cover my dismay than in any anxiety of +discipline. + +"Having seen us together, I think he made little distinction, my +little bashaw," said M. de Rondiniacque, laughing. "I threatened +him, moreover, with your displeasure, if he delayed. And now I must +to His Highness." + +And with that he left me, thinking very sadly I had enough of being a +man. Had there been a woman in the house, I had gone to her, and +told her my story. But to none of all these men did I dare to +breathe my true name and state; unless, indeed, it had been to +Captain Royston. And I murmured over to myself that title, which did +ring so strange, and yet so proudly, in my ear. It went stiffly, +too, upon the tongue that was once used to say: "Hither, Ned; not so, +Ned; nay, Ned; but I _will_ have it so." Well, Ned, I thought, was +ever tender with me, and I might, indeed, at a pinch, make shift to +tell him my name and troubles; but--and then in my mind there lifted +up his head a little devil of mischief, and I vowed I would not so +tell him till I should be enforced; but, having taken a vagary to be +a man, I would hold fast to my purpose, that I might from behind this +mask see more of the man and to what he was grown from the boy that +had been my playmate and childhood's lover. I was fain not a little, +moreover, certainly, to discover with what complexion of memory he +retained the thought of little Philippa Drayton. And I thought it +was mightily in favor of my plan that, although on that great night +of his escape from Kirke's men, we had spoken together and our hands +had met, yet since I was a little maid he had never looked upon my +countenance. + +At last I heard his step in the gallery without, and, for all its +weight and its jingle of sabre and spur, I had known that footfall +among many, even had I not known him in the house. + +Captain Royston came into the chamber, followed by him that had but +now fetched candles, but bearing this time an armful of wood and a +blazing pine-knot. To draw my old friend's gaze, I heaved a great +sigh, and gazed sadly in the fire, and knew, though I scarce saw, his +eyes to turn on me. He crossed the room to the further corner, where +I could well mark him without any show of particular regard, and +threw wide a small door disclosing the foot of a narrow and winding +stair. + +"Go up," said he to the soldier, "to the room above; kindle a good +fire upon the hearth; light the candles, and when the fire is well +burning, return hither and stand sentry over this door till His +Highness come." + +And as the man ascended the stair, Captain Royston closed the door +behind him, and turned to me, who kept my gaze fast on the fire. + +"'T was a heavy sigh you heaved as I entered, young friend," he said, +in a most gentle voice. + +"Yes, faith," I answered, "it was heavy." And again I sighed. + +He then asked me what it was did make me sad, and I replied I did not +use to be from home, and was mighty lonesome. + +"Nay, lad," he cried cheerily, laying a hand of comfort on my +shoulder, "'t is but till the morrow. You have to-day borne yourself +like a man; be not now homesick like a very maid. There is company +enough. Why didst leave the table?" + +"I was near falling with fatigue, sir," I answered; "and--and--and, +in truth, I liked not the talk at the table where I sat." + +"Poor lad!" said he, gently patting the shoulder where his hand did +lie, and thereafter drawing the hand away; "poor lad! Would you grow +to be a man? Harden your ears--your ears, mark me, not your heart." +And I said nothing to him, but to myself that I feared both would +need it ere long. + +And then there came to us M. de Rondiniacque in search of Captain +Royston, crying jovially: "Aha! have I found you, truant Master Host? +His Highness did but now ask for you, and wonders somewhat, I think, +at your long absence." + +To which Royston replied: "I warrant His Highness knows that a host +without hostess or servants is no little put to it to house, feed, +and bed so many guests. I will go to him, and make my excuse." He +then turned to me, saying: "Prithee, gentle friend, be of better +comfort. It is not to His Highness alone that your great service has +been rendered, and I would not have you cheerless. Godemar, hold the +lad in talk a while. All this is strange to him, and he is overborne +with fatigue." He then took some steps toward the door, but again +turned to my side, and--"Speak your best English, Godemar," said he, +"and your modest jests, if you have them. None of your ribald +tales,--'t is a home-bred youth." Upon which, with a kindly nod to +me, and a slap on the shoulder of a weight more suited to my garments +than my sex, Captain Royston left the room. + +M. de Rondiniacque looked upon me with a merry twinkle in his eye. + +"_Ma foi!_" he said, "M. le Capitaine lays heavy commands upon me. +Must I even do as he says?" + +"It were best," I answered, with some severity, and never turning my +eyes from the fire. + +"I see not wherefore," said he; "I would gladly cheer you, lad, and +he would take all the merriment from our jesting." + +"Indeed," I replied, "I had rather never laugh again than hear more +such talk as did pass for wit around us at dinner." + +He flung himself with a movement of much petulance into a chair on +the other side of the hearth, and--"My faith!" he cried, "'t is even +as they did tell me: a sorry land and a sad! A country, _mort de ma +vie!_ where one must shift with beer for wine, mists for sunshine, +and hags and hoydens for women." + +"Alack!" I cried, being vastly amused; "have the women also +displeased your lordship?" + +"Gadso!" answered M. de Rondiniacque, "they have, and mightily. _Mon +Dieu!_ in all the days since we set foot ashore I have not seen one I +would stand to observe a second time. I begin to see it is easy to +be a Puritan in such a land." + +And when I did not answer him, he peered curiously across the +flickering twilight into my face. Anon he rose and came to me, with +one hand seizing me by the arm, and raising my chin, not over gently, +with the other--"_Ma foi_" he said, laughing, "with laces and +furbelows, and those great eyes, wouldst make a better thyself than +any lass of them all." + +So I began to tremble for my secret, and saw no way out but in anger; +knowing, indeed, so little of the ways of men, that I was ignorant of +running a greater danger in that attempt to avoid the less. + +I straightway sprang to my feet, flinging off his hands, crying to +him to let me be, or ill would follow, and laying hand upon and half +drawing my sword. + +"What, pepper-box!" cried M. de Rondiniacque, "what, will you quarrel +for nothing? Nay," he went on, with a great laugh, "do but see it +ruffle! Come, boy, take your hand from your sword, or I will take +the sword from you." + +By this, between his tone of contempt and my own fear that I made but +a sorry figure, I was trembling with anger no longer simulated; when, +on my making wholly to disengage my sword, the Frenchman did pounce +upon me with the swiftness of a hawk, catching my wrists, one in each +of his hands, in a grasp that seemed of iron. I would have wrenched +them free, but found each struggle to that end did bruise and pinch +my poor flesh worse than the last. Being very near the point of +tears, while yet in my heart raging with anger, I called aloud on +Captain Royston, who, to my good fortune, did enter the room even as +I called. + +"Heyday!" he cried, "what 's the matter? Do not hurt the boy, +Godemar," he went on, when drawing near he saw how I struggled to +free my hands. + +M. de Rondiniacque laughed again as he let me go. "The little fool +hurts himself with striving," he said. "Had I not held him, he had +run me through with the pretty sword the Prince did give him. _Mon +Dieu!_ he is anxious to flesh it." + +"How is this, Master----?" says Captain Royston, mighty sternly, till +checked for lack of a name to give me,--"on my life, I know not how +you are called." + +Now this was a question I had no wish to answer without some previous +consideration; so, knowing I could scarce keep out of my voice the +sound of tears, the pain of whose coming was now some minutes +clutching at my throat, I resolved to use them as cover to my +disregarding his enquiry. + +"He has hurt my hands," I said, with a little sob, rubbing my wrists +the while in the manner of a spoiled and petulant child. + +"What, baby!" he cried; "I give you a friend to cheer you with his +good heart and ready wit, and you must needs fall a-wrangling with +him; and then, because he would curb your childish passion, must you +weep like a very boy unbreeched?" + +"I do not weep," I said; yet could I not check the next sob and some +few tears that fell for the pain I had had. + +"No more, lad, no more, for shame!" he answered. "There was a bold +spirit in you not many hours ago. Be a man now, for the love of +Heaven." + +"With all my heart I would," said I, "if I did know the way of it; to +the end that I might make him smart," I added, wagging my head in the +direction of M. de Rondiniacque. + +"Learn to take a jest as 't is meant," said Captain Royston, "and you +may some day grow to it." + +"I am as God did make me," I replied pettishly. + +"It is rank heresy to cast the blame in that quarter," said M. de +Rondiniacque. + +At which Captain Royston laughed a little, but gently bade him hold +his peace, saying: "The boy is in my care, and we cannot make a man +of him before the morrow." + +And now the entry of the Prince most happily put an end to the +discussion of my shortcoming as a man. His Highness was attended by +"Captain Jennings," Count Schomberg, and Mr. Bentinck, with a few +other gentlemen. And as the doors were flung wide for them the +trooper that had been about preparing the chamber above descended the +little stair, closed the door behind him, and stood on guard +immovable before it, with drawn sword. + +The Prince appeared in the best of humors; of which the reason was +very soon made plain. + +"Captain Royston," said His Highness, coming over to the fire, "we +are come to a happy end of our conferring, and 'Captain Jennings,' +being pressed for time, must at once take himself again to the road. +His escort is provided, and he would bid you farewell. It should +indeed be to us all a melancholy parting, for 't is little to be +hoped any man here will again encounter _Captain Jennings_." + +When the laugh due to the jest of a prince had risen and died away, +"Captain Jennings" held out his hand to his host, and said: +"'Jennings' owes you much, Captain Royston, though you are like, as +His Highness well says, never to meet him again, yet in your ear will +I tell you that he has a kinsman that is his very double and his best +friend. I have reason for saying that this gentleman will in the +happier days to come pass by no occasion of furthering the interest +of so stanch a companion, and so generous a host, as Captain Edward +Royston." + +To which courteous speech honest Ned replied with some words of his +duty to His Highness of Orange; and I knew well by a certain +stiffness of his manner, which was still clearly marked as he wished +him a safe and pleasant journey, that the favor of "Captain Jennings" +was not such as he wished to earn. + +That gentleman, after some other farewells of much grace and +kindness, passed on to me where I stood apart, and with a very +gracious smile on his noble countenance thanked me for the service I +had done him. On my asking what that might be, he was at some pains +to explain, in a voice meant for me alone, that but for my timely +warning and protection to His Highness, that plot might well have had +a very different and terrible ending; in the blame of which fatal +conclusion he himself, from the peculiarity of his position, would +almost certainly have become implicated. "I hope, therefore," he +said, "that we shall meet again when I have thrown aside this _nom de +guerre_ to which I have only a sort of left-handed right by marriage +and necessity." And then first I guessed who he was. "But," he went +on, "if I do seem to need a fresh introduction, young gentleman, when +that day comes, I beg you will attribute my lack of memory to politic +reasons." + +By which, thinking him little likely to encounter and less to +recognize me, I was vastly amused. + +"I am ready to wager, my lord," I said, laughing a little, "that the +fault will be neither yours nor the nation's, should you pass me by." + +He looked at me for a moment with a glance so keen that I found it +hard to support; then, bidding me farewell, very shortly took leave +of the Prince and departed on his journey to Salisbury. + +As the door closed upon him, His Highness crossed the chamber and +tapped Captain Royston on the shoulder. + +"You act with little wisdom, Captain," he said, with a merry laugh, +"in the moment when the Protestant religion has triumphed over all +else, to receive with coldness an offer of favor from him that is one +day to be the first soldier in Europe." + +"I trust, Your Highness," said Royston, with something of pride in +his tone, "that I have not yet lost the favor of him that is." + +"I see we shall have a courtier in you yet, Captain," said His +Highness. "The day has been long, and I must needs ask my good host +the way to my chamber. Sleep is a fickle mistress to me, and she +must be wooed in season, or she will have none of me." + +"Since the terrible danger Your Highness has this day escaped in my +house but by the goodness of God and this young gentleman's courage," +said Captain Royston, "I am resolved to beg Your Highness's +acceptance rather of its most secure than its most luxurious chamber. +At the head of this stair," he went on, making the sentry stand aside +as he threw open the door, "is a room neither very large nor finely +furnished. If Your Highness will, however, deign to make use of it, +he will find the bed good and the chamber warm. It has no other +approach, and with Your Highness's consent I will myself watch here +during the night, while Lieutenant de Rondiniacque takes my place as +officer of the watch, which has been doubled, and commands every +approach." + +"I thank you for your care of my safety, Captain Royston," said the +Prince. "If the bed be as good as the supper, we will ask none +better between this and London. But I believe you are over-cautious." + +On Captain Royston's explaining that the honor of his house was +involved in His Highness's safety within it, all his dispositions +were very kindly and freely accepted. Not long after which His +Highness, with some kind words to me on the service I had done him, +and of his purposed visit on the morrow to Drayton, retired to the +chamber already mentioned, being lighted by Captain Royston, and +attended by Mr. Bentinck for some discussion of matters of state. + +Whereafter I very soon found myself again alone, the rest departing +in charge of M. de Rondiniacque, commissioned by our host to show +each gentleman where he should lie. I say I was alone; for the +sentry at the door of the stair to the Prince's chamber counted +little as company, which I was fain to seek in the dancing of the +flames upon the hearth and in my own thoughts. These were not +uneasy, for I knew that Ned must return as he had gone, and that a +word to him would be my protection if aught inconvenient should +arise; nor were they long, for he soon returned. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The high back of the settle where I sat being between us, Captain +Royston upon his return did not perceive me until, having dismissed +the sentry and set his candlestick upon a table, he drew near the +fire to warm himself; then, his eyes falling upon me--"Heyday, lad!" +he cried, "I did think you abed and asleep by this. I scarce know +how I came to forget you. Let me see--where should you lie to-night? +The house is mighty full, and I would not put you with----" + +"Let me share your watch here an hour, Captain," I said. "I am very +wakeful, and it will be company for us both." + +"Will you do so?" he asked with some eagerness, and once more +glancing at me with that same look, at once curious and shy, that I +had before noted. "Indeed I shall be glad of your company, were it +only to help me keep open eyes." And with that he flung himself +wearily into a seat over against me, hitching round his belt so that +his sword lay between the long legs that, to rest them the better, he +stretched full before him. "I was in the saddle all last night," he +went on, "and indeed it seems a week since I was in a bed. So here +let us sit, you and I, with the fate of England in our hands,"--at +which he pointed to the door of the Prince's stairway. "Hast +recovered of the spleen?" + +I answered him that I was recovered. + +"How came he to anger you?" he then asked me. + +"Why, sir," I replied, "he did give bad names to all things in +England; and then he fell foul of the women--and--and I do not like +him." + +"De Rondiniacque," said Captain Royston, "is a good comrade and a +brave soldier; and, faith, I did think all women were fair to him. +He will fall in love and again fall out thrice in a day. But no +woman is long fair in his eyes when his fortune has been ill. There +was a lass in Flanders--" and here he broke into a laugh, and I into +a yawn of subterfuge, in hope to put him off his tale. For I feared, +unjustly enough, more talk of that kind that I had comprehended but +sufficiently to dislike. Whereat he asked if he wearied me, and I +answered that he did not so, but that I would know if he were of a +like complexion with M. de Rondiniacque in matters of women and love. + +"Nay, indeed, lad," he answered, laughing again; "De Rondiniacque and +I are little akin in such matters. I have, as he would say, the +slower temper--perhaps the more constant." + +"Constant!" said I; and as I said the word I could feel the little +tremor in my laughter which I hoped his ear would not detect. +"Constant to what--to whom? Ah, there is doubtless some lady that +looks out over the endless canals and ugly windmills of flat Holland +for your return, Captain Royston." + +"Nay, nay," he answered, "there is no broad Dutch face wet with tears +of my causing." And then the mirth died out of his voice, as with a +very tender hesitancy he continued: "But there is, or there was, a +little maid--a child--but, plague on me! what do I babble of? And +what does so young a lad as you know of these things?" + +"H'm-m-m!" said I, as one that could, if he would but speak, lay +claim to knowledge enough and to spare. + +"What, what!" he cried, mocking me. "Is your heart even as tender as +your years? Does the baby think he knows what love is?" + +"On my conscience, yes," I answered; "but I may know and never feel +it, I do suppose." + +"What an outlandish boy it is!" said Ned, laughing; and, more +gravely, "when you love, lad, and would have your lady look upon you, +be as when you served us so well this day, and not the child that is +disordered by the chance word of a jolly soldier. I have heard tell +that women do love one that is a man, be his vows, even as De +Rondiniacque's, never so brittle." + +"Perhaps they do," I answered; and wondered, sickly a little in my +heart, how it would fare with me if his were so. "But," I continued, +"if men's vows are so light, what of that little maid?" + +And my gallant Captain seemed to retire, as it were, again into his +shell, saying he would speak of her no more, and that indeed he knew +not wherefore he had called her to mind. Whereto I said that maybe I +could tell him. + +"'T is little likely," said he, smiling as one that suffers the +gambols of a merry child, even to the peril of a wound but half +healed. + +"But tell you I can," I persisted; "you spoke of her, not because she +did come to your mind, but because she is never out of it. Is it not +so?" + +Again he looked at me with that glance of enquiry. + +"Indeed, I think it is so," he replied; "but how you should know it, +Master----, by my life, here have I had all manner of converse with +you, even to the telling things that have not passed my lips this +three years, and yet I know not your name. Prithee, tell it me." + +"My name is Drayton," I said. + +"Is it even so?" cried Ned. "It is strange. Where do you live?" + +"From here some five leagues on the great road, Salisbury way," I +answered. + +"At Drayton Manor, is it?" he asked with great eagerness. + +"At Drayton Manor," I replied. + +"But old Sir Michael," says Ned, "had no son of your youth." + +"Nay," said I, "I am no son of Sir Michael. But he is my nearest of +kin, and in his house do I live this many a day." + +"Ah, so! I have heard," said Royston musingly, "of other branches of +the family. But, if Drayton be your home, you can tell me of--of the +child, your cousin; of Mistress Philippa Drayton, I mean, Sir +Michael's daughter." + +"Aha! the little maid! At last we come at his little maid!" I cried, +clapping my hands together in a manner that suited but ill, as I +suppose, with my boots and spurs. + +But he, like the man he was, being much occupied in attempt to +conceal the secret he was about revealing, did not mark me, but +sternly stiffened his face and made straight his back, and replied: +"I said not it was she. But I would have her news. Is she well, and +is she now at Drayton?" + +"Gad 's my life!" I answered, feeling very blusterous and naughty as +I used my father's favorite oath, "it is so. She is well, and she is +at Drayton. I would she were not. She does keep her heart safe for +me, the baggage! Troth, I have little mind to her--a bouncing, +overgrown country wench, of ill manners, loud tongue, and shrewish +speech. Pah!" Whereat I twisted my mouth into a grimace very +disgustful, and I saw the light of anger come into his eye. + +"You shall not so speak of that lady," he said, in a tone that was +not loud, yet had in it that which made one part of me shake with +fear, while the rest of the woman was singing a little inward song of +thanksgiving. Whereof it is like enough he saw in my face some sign, +for he went on more gently to say he knew it was not so; that I but +railed at her in mischief; that I mocked at him because, with +something womanish that is in a half-grown boy, I had divined the +secret of his love. "My heart," he said, rising from his seat with +eyes that looked afar, as if none was by him, "has never left her +keeping since she did ride upon my shoulder, but her little hands +ever hold me fast, even as they did use to cling and grip me by the +hair." With that he passed his hand over his head, as if he still +did feel the clutching baby fingers. Then he came back to me. "You +see, sir, I let you know at what it is you mock. Yet if you own the +words were but spoken in jest, I will pass the matter by." + +And then I knew that I had been playing with fire, and made all haste +to quench it, owning with averted face that I had indeed but spoken +out of mischief to anger him, and saying that the girl was well +enough. It was, I suppose, from pride that he took no note of this +grudging opinion, yet it did not control his curiosity. + +"And does she keep me in mind?" he asked, as he sank again into his +seat. + +"'T is like enough," I answered, as if I cared little for the matter. +"I have heard her name you." + +"In what terms?" said he; "I pray you, tell me what she said." + +"Indeed, I do forget," I replied, mischief rising once more in my +heart. "And I will wager there have been times when you have forgot +the minx as readily as I would, if you would but let me, Captain." + +"A fig for your wager!" said Royston lightly. "Why, I have never, +since I was out of England, entered a new town but I have bought some +toy or jewel for her." And I saw his hand steal to the breast of his +coat, and, guessing that there was a pocket beneath, I began at once +to be mighty curious to know what was in it, and to think my +masquerade had lasted near long enough when it kept me from my rights. + +"Do you carry them?" I asked, striving to keep all eagerness out of +my manner. + +"Nay, nay," he answered; and, had he been another man, I had thought +his smile and the short and hesitating laugh that followed it +well-nigh foolish: "Nay, 't is but a pair of the new kid-leather +gloves that they do use in France." And here he drew a small packet +from the pocket I had divined, and added, with much tenderness: "They +did make me think of her pretty hands, and I could no more put them +away from me." + +And, as he regarded the packet and gently smoothed the wrapper, I +snatched it from his hand, and--"Let me see," I said, and proceeded +to unfold it. + +"Gently, gently!" cried Ned; "they must not be so handled." + +"Ay, they would fit me well," said I, measuring one against my left +hand. "And our hands are near of a size. Will you give them to me +in her stead, sir?" + +"That will I not, young Avarice," he answered, recovering the gloves +with a snatch that took me by surprise. "My lady's gloves, indeed! +what next, monkey? Do you think, because you have a small fist and +handle a glove like a great girl, that you will get all you ask?" + +"Well," said I, pouting and growing reckless in my delight of the +game I played, "well, I shall have them of her in the end." + +"No more, jackanapes," he answered angrily, and I scarce know how I +should have fared had not the door at the foot of the Prince's stair +at that moment opened to admit Mr. William Bentinck. + +"His Highness is retired, Captain Royston," he said. "He renews his +thanks to you." + +To which Captain Royston replied that he wished the fare deserved +them better, and enquired whether Mr. Bentinck knew the way to his +chamber. + +"I do," he replied. "I wish you a good-night, Captain Royston. It +were well," he added, with a dark and significant glance, "that no +further alarm befell--in your house, Captain." + +"I am so much of your mind, sir," said Royston, "that I have asked +and obtained His Highness's consent here to watch the night through +myself. I wish you good rest." Mr. Bentinck turned again as he +reached the door, saying that His Highness had enquired of him where +the prisoners had been lodged that were taken after the affair in the +orchard. + +"They lie under lock and guard in the strong-room above," said +Royston; "all but the priest, who is in the chamber that adjoins it +on the left, for greater safety. I did not think it well to leave +his clever head to work among them." And here M. de Rondiniacque, +looking into the room as he went his rounds, very readily undertook, +at Captain Royston's desire, to conduct Mr. Bentinck, that he might +with his own eyes, as Captain Royston said, see how these prisoners +were disposed. They being departed on this business, Captain Royston +stood gazing moodily into the fire. It seemed he had quite forgotten +me; and, since it did not fall with my wishes to be left out of his +thoughts, I plucked him timidly by the sleeve, and asked if I had +angered him with my freakishness. + +"No, lad, no," he answered, still gazing into the fire. "I know not +indeed why I told you as much, unless it be that the Drayton face of +you did bring to mind old days, and made me think my thoughts aloud. +I know my poor secret is safe with a Drayton." And then he turned +and looked hard in my face. + +And under his gaze I trembled, and had much ado not to throw my arms +about his neck and cry "Ned" to him. And yet I dared not, for shame +of my clothes, and so, to change the color of his thought, I said: +"That man does eye you with mistrust, Captain." + +"He is no friend to me," said Ned, "nor ever has been. But His +Highness has no more faithful servant and friend than William +Bentinck. He had of late warning from France that the Prince's life +was sought after, and that a certain priest should lead the +assassins. To-day the attack is made, a priest is taken, and all in +my house, and I one of the few that knew His Highness should come to +this place. I can scarce wonder if he look on me with suspicion, and +would see himself how we guard the dogs above there in the +strong-room." + +And then Mr. Bentinck and M. de Rondiniacque returned. The first was +pleased to approve all he had seen, but pointed out that the prison +of the priest was the chamber to the right of the strong-room, and +not on its left, as Captain Royston had said. M. de Rondiniacque +here explained that the prisoner had at his order been transferred +from the room to the other, on the report of the sentry that two bars +in the window of the priest's first lodging were rotten and might +easily be burst. + +"It will serve as well, nay, better," said Captain Royston, still +dreamily gazing into the fire. And Mr. Bentinck, expressing himself +satisfied that all was well, departed to his chamber in company of M. +de Rondiniacque. + +Now as these matters had for me little of interest, and as my fatigue +was great, I had been growing very weary and full of sleep; so it +came that when these gentlemen left us I signified my pleasure +thereat with a great yawn of weariness and a long sigh of +satisfaction. + +"Poor lad!" cried Ned, with such tenderness as he was wont to use to +the child that had so loved and hectored him, "poor lad, you are +faint for sleep. I will see where we may put you." + +"It is not sleep, Captain," I said, stifling a second yawn. "But I +take little interest in prisoners, and I am, oh! so thirsty." + +"'T is the long ride, and your dinner was naught," he answered. +"Keep your eyes open, and watch a while here in my place, and I will +bring you food and wine. I pray you, do not close your eyes." + +And as he neared the door, I saw him start as hit by a thought +forgotten, and--"The chamber on the right," he murmured. "How came I +to forget? But he will never find the panel, even though he were a +Jesuit." And so, with yet another warning that I should watch well +and not sleep, he went out into the gallery. And I sat by the fire, +wondering what those strange words should mean. Open indeed I did +keep my eyes, but I believe my mind was not very far from dreams at +the moment when a thing happened so like to a trick of sleeping fancy +that it awoke me quite. I thought that I saw, in that dim light (for +one great candlestick was above with His Highness of Orange, the +other below in the hand of Captain Royston), a great piece of the +stone wall that made the far side of the wide and lofty hearth slowly +to draw back and recede from my eyes, as a door that is opened +stealthily from behind. I sat erect and rubbed my eyes, and still +did it draw away from me, and made a noise of rusted grinding as it +went. And a nameless horror crept over my body till it reached and +seemed to stiffen the roots of my hair. I would have cried aloud as +I sat and expected something to come whence the door of stone had +gone; but before I could find voice there came from the gap in the +wall the darkly clad figure of a man, who stepped from the hearth, +and stood looking down upon me. His face I could not clearly +perceive, for the fire was behind him, but the sound of his voice I +thought I had once already heard. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"Hush!" he said gently, thinking me, I suppose, as indeed I was, at +the point of calling aloud on the guard. "I am unarmed, and would +not hurt you if I could. What is your name?" And his voice, for all +that it was young and sweet, sounded like my father's, for which +there was reason enough, as I was soon to know. + +"My name is Drayton," I answered simply. + +"And the other?" he asked. + +"Phil--Philip," I answered; and then I leapt to my feet as one waking +from a dream, saying, as I did so, "though, sooth, I know not why I +tell you." With my moving he so changed his position that the glow +of the fire fell upon his face, and I knew him for the priest that +had been taken in the orchard. + +"Nor I," he said sternly, "for it is false. I am Philip Drayton." + +"What, what!" I cried, in much amazement. "And is Sir Michael your +father?" + +"Sir Michael is my father," he replied. + +"And mine also," said I, very joyfully, with yet no thought of the +terrible meaning of his presence. "I took but little from my name. +Lay the falsehood on my clothes. Brother Philip, I am Philippa." + +He seemed less pleased with the encounter than dismayed by my attire. + +"My sister!" he said; "my sister in this guise!" + +"Nay, trust me," I said merrily, "none knows me for a maid." + +And then he seemed to remember something, and, laying both hands on +my shoulders, he held me off from him so that the light of the fire +fell upon my face. + +"My little sister!" said he. "I saw you, then, in the orchard. And +was it you that saved the life of the Stadtholder of Holland?" + +"So they say," I replied, doubtfully, wondering at the joy I saw upon +his countenance. + +"I am glad of it," he said, "right glad of it, indeed." And with +that he heaved a great sigh of relief. + +"Glad!" I cried. "Glad, you say! How can that be, when you yourself +were one of those that would have slain him?" + +"With them indeed I was," he said; "but I had no part in the planning +that foul plot, and took none in its attempted execution. Had I even +known the wickedness that was toward, I would not have obeyed what I +deemed of all earthly commands the most terrible. By the happiest +stroke of chance they did move my lodging to the chamber where is the +sliding panel that gives upon the stair by which I have now reached +you. Old Mr. Nathaniel Royston did show it me when I was but a +little lad and you unborn. But he brought me no further than this +chamber. I do remember," my brother continued, with a note in his +voice that seemed to mark the man's sadness to recall a merry +childhood, "I do remember that he said, with his kindly chuckle, he +must not show the rest of the secret to one that like enough would +some day prove a Jesuit in disguise. Though he spoke in jest, he was +a good prophet. And now, child," he said, with rapid change to a +manner more urgent, "you must show me what he would not." + +"If you mean the secret way from the house," said I, "I do not know +it; nor I would not show it if I did. I am here on guard duty till +Captain Royston return." + +"Sister," said Philip, speaking with voice and words so solemn that +heart and ear were enchained till he came to an end,--"Sister, King +James and his cause are dear to me. Holy Mother Church and her cause +are yet more dear. But dearest of all (God forgive me!), dearest of +all to me now, little sister Phil, is our dear father's honor and the +honor of his house. It is no shame to him or to the Drayton name +that I should work or fight for King James; none if I should spend my +life to bring the dear land back to the true faith. But what one of +us will hold up his head again if the name must be made foul, and +stink in the nostrils of men, for a base plot of treachery and +assassination? Therefore, child of my father, for the name's sake, +let me go." + +With that he made to pass me and reach the door into the gallery, but +I stepped between and took him by the arms. + +"Do not move," I said; "not one step, lest I call on the guard." And +he stood like a statue of stone, while for a few moments, stretched +by the gravity and tension of my thought into the seeming of hours, I +was silent, and then: "Philip," I said, "if you are innocent of this +wicked thing, why are you in England?" And in a few words he told me +of the mission on which he was come. Then said I: "Will you now give +it up--this mission--and return at once into France, if I let you +go?" And, seeing that he shook his head, "Come," I said; "be quick. +It is that or naught. Swear it, and you may go for me. The Captain +will be upon us soon, and then it will be too late." + +"Yes," he answered. + +"It is an oath--a Drayton's oath?" I asked. "It is," said Philip. + +"Then go, in God's name!" I cried. "Though, faith, I know not the +secret passage, and I do not see how otherwise you should pass all +the guards." + +"I can but try," he answered; and again would have moved to the door, +but in that moment I heard a footfall; and, being more sure from whom +it came than whence, I bade Philip keep still, and ran as light as my +heavy boots would allow to the door, drew it a little back, and +peered into the passage. Mightily eased in mind by what I saw, which +was little enough, being but the back of the sentry disappearing +round the corner of the gallery, I softly pushed-to the door, +whispering ere I turned: "Quick! quick! Go now. 'T is your one +chance. Thank God it was not Captain Royston; and the sentry is for +the moment out of hearing." + +And uttering the last words I turned to find myself face to face with +the man for whose absence I had just given thanks to God. He was +looking at me over the table where he had just set down his +candlestick beside the meat and wine he had fetched for me. And of +all the terrible things of that night, none, I think, did send to my +heart a pang so sharp as the sight of that flagon of wine and wooden +platter of cold venison; verily, for a moment I felt, with his +reproachful eye upon me, that I was indeed that base thing he could +not choose but think me. + +"Thank Him not too soon, thou devil's whelp!" he said. + +Philip yet stood where I had left him. To him I went quickly and +whispered: "Go, while you may. I will engage him. He will not hurt +me, for, if needs must, I will tell him who I am." Then, going over +to Captain Royston with strut and swagger much belying the trembling +that was within me: "Sir," I said, laying hand to my sword, "you give +me an ill name." + +"Less ill than your deeds," he answered with great bitterness. "I +went but to get you meat and drink, and, returning, thought of that +secret way from the room above. I stepped over the sleeping sentry, +unbolted the door and closed it softly behind me, only to find the +bird flown. As I drew back the panel he had closed behind him and +followed him down the stair, greatly fearing some mischance from his +evasion, naught I imagined was so bad as the finding you together +planning his escape. Was it for this I did cherish you, little +viper?" + +To all which, though his words did cut me to the heart, I but replied +that I was no reptile, and that therefore he lied, hoping by such +naughty words to provoke him to quarrel with me, while Philip was +about escaping, purposing thereafter to tell him the truth, when that +was accomplished for which I would not have him even in his own +conscience held responsible. Me they could not very heavily punish, +since from His Highness of Orange I took no pay, nor had sworn to him +any oath. Nor was I altogether hopeless of persuading Ned to conceal +his knowledge of what it would then be too late to prevent. + +"Let me pass, boy," he cried, "or I will whip you soundly with my +belt." But when he would have put me aside, as I stood between them, +I held him fast to the utmost of my strength. Finding I would still +cling to him, he put his hand to the buckle of his belt. + +"Whip, then," I said, "for the man shall go free." And, though my +flesh did most prophetically shudder beneath the imminent stripes, I +thought that here was no bad way of gaining time for Philip, when I +should come to weep, in Philippa's proper person, for the pain of +that whipping. But he flung me off, muttering a plague on the +Drayton countenance of me, and that the priest would make off if he +did not seize him. + +"He shall!" I cried, half drawing my sword. "What! Art afraid to +draw on a lesser than thy hulking self?" + +"False and ingrate though you are, I would not hurt you," he said; +"and I will not call upon the guard; but I will have him again secure +in his chamber, and so shield you, little devil, from all punishment +but what I will myself administer when all is done." + +And as he advanced upon me and would have seized me, I lifted my +cloak that was on the back of the settle and flung it over his head, +where, for a brief space, despite his struggles, I held it. And +while his eyes were thus blinded for a moment, Philip, swift and +silent, slipped past us and through the door of the stair to the +Prince's chamber. Royston, however, soon flung me off and tore the +cloak from his head. And I saw at length great anger in his face, +and with a last essay at strategy did leap to the door that gives +upon the gallery, as if indeed I defended Philip's retreat; and +there, with drawn sword and taunting words, I defied him. And then +he came, and our swords met. And finding, as well I had known I +should find, that he was too strong for me, I was, after a pass or +two, at the point of calling him by the old name and of telling mine, +when he did something that had formed no part of the teaching he had +given me with the foils, so that I found myself speedily at his +mercy, and felt the sharp, cold prick of steel low down upon my neck. +And then I thought my end was indeed come, and I tried to murmur: +"Spare me, dear Ned," but could not. + +Now all these things--from Ned's return to my foolish fainting at the +first blood--that have in the telling taken so long did happen so +quickly that perhaps seconds rather than minutes were their proper +measure. And my enemy has since told me that what I have called my +swooning seemed but the closing for a few moments of my eyes. But, +however that may be, I do think it endured sufficiently for his great +concern. For when I opened them I knew not at all where I should be +until the white solicitude of his face bending close over brought me +very soon to the consciousness of the strong and tender arms that +held me. So, seeing I was come to myself, he led me towards the +hearth, and set me in a chair. And then I began to feel a little +smarting and a warmth of trickling blood. Taking my handkerchief, I +thrust it beneath waistcoat and shirt, and pressed it upon the spot +that did so smart, whence withdrawing it and seeing the blood upon +it, I shuddered. + +"Nay, nay," said Ned, while the lines of anxiety upon his face belied +the little laugh he forced from his lips, "fret not for a little +blood. I thrust not hard. Wherefore did you anger me, monkey? +Come," he added, laying his hand to the breast of my shirt and +fingering the buttons with that awkwardness that a man has ever for +garments that are not his, "I will heal it." + +"No," I said, pulling away his hands, "you must not." + +"But I would see the hurt, lad," he said. "I know not why, but I am +sorry I have hurt you. God knows, I have killed men and thought +little of it, but this scratch to a child does mightily vex me." And +again he would have loosed the buttons. "Come, open your shirt," he +said. + +"I say I will not. I am not the lad you think me, sir." + +But even then he did not understand, but took my two hands in one of +his, so great and strong that mine might scarce writhe themselves +about within it, while he set himself to do what I would not for all +his asking. And so it was that I came to the last line of my +defences. "Let be, dear Ned," I murmured, in that tone of pleading I +had ever in the old days used when his will did offer to prove the +stronger. "Let be, dear; 't is--'t is thy little maid, Phil," I +said, and dropped my eyes before him, and let my prisoned hands lie +still. + +He stared upon me in an astonishment of wonder that discovered the +white all round his eyes, and at first he would not believe. + +"Nay, nay," he said, "it is not so!" And I lifted my eyes and so +looked into his that he could no longer doubt. + +"Verily, Ned, it is I. And I had told the sooner," I said, "but +that--but that--" and, my words then failing, I again dropped my gaze +before his. + +"Phil!" he cried. "Is it even my little friend Phil? 'But,' you +say--but what?" + +"But that I would not tell you--and could not--was ashamed, Ned, and +did mightily desire to know had you forgot me." And here, laying my +folded handkerchief to my wound inside my shirt, and fastening all +close above it, I did see his face so lose color at thought of the +hurt he had given me, that I laid my hand upon his, saying: "Be not +vexed, sweet Ned, 't is but a scratch." + +"I am right glad of it, Phil," he answered, "if it be so. But indeed +you should not run about in this guise. How came you to be so +dressed?" + +"That story must wait," I replied merrily. "But 't is the first +time, Ned, and shall be the last." + +"And if you must needs be a man," he went on, "but for a day, you +should cleave like a man to one side, and not be so greedy of strife +as to draw sword on both. There will be trouble over this priest +when he is taken, as he will be, by the guard without." + +"Listen, Ned," said I. "That priest is my brother." + +"What!" he cried. "Surely it is not Philip!" + +"Philip it is," said I, "and no other, though I did not know him +until he told me even now in this room. And also he did tell me, +Ned, that he had no part in the assault upon His Highness." + +"So much," said Ned, "is true. I marked him." + +"He told me, moreover," I continued, "that the business that brought +him to England was fair and honest, though it was for King James. +There was another priest did force or trick him into companying with +the murderers. Ned, dear Ned, I did mean letting him go for our +father's sake and our name." And here I found no power, and perhaps +little will, to restrain the catch of a sob in my throat. "Men must +not say 'spy,' 'plotmonger,' 'assassin,' when they say Drayton, Ned. +You do forgive me?" + +"Right gladly," he answered, and seemed to muse for a little. And +then, "'T is well," he said, "that I did not wake the sentry that lay +sleeping at his door." + +"Why did you not?" I asked. + +"Because," he replied, "though I thought all was safe, I would not +have it known that I had left my post." With that he went softly to +the door of the gallery and listened. "It is strange," he said, when +he was come again to my side, "that I hear no sound of his capture. +Yet he could not pass the sentry at the stair-head." + +"He did not go that way," said I. + +"But it was to defend that door," he retorted, "that you drew on me." + +"Ay, dear Ned," I answered, "but that was to deceive you." + +"But why, cunning one," he said, "did you not at once tell me all?" + +"I feared you would be mighty stern," I answered; "also, I was loath +to tell you who I was. Moreover, Ned, I did think it best for you to +have neither knowledge nor share in his escape, if I might procure it +without your aid. I was afraid for you." + +"And yet not afraid of your life?" he asked. + +"Nay, that too. But I thought," I replied ruefully, "that I had +enough cunning of fence to keep you off for a while; for I did often +use to hold my own with the foils against you. In extremity I was to +cry: ''T is I, Ned! kill me not!' But you were so fierce and +strong." Whereat he laughed a little, sheathing his own sword and +handing me mine. + +"These are not foils," he said. "But, if your brother went not by +the gallery, where then? Is he returned to the chamber above?" And +he pointed to the gaping mouth of the secret stair. + +And right upon his words Philip entered the chamber from the Prince's +stairway, and, closing the door behind him: "I am here, Royston," he +said. + +Royston heard, and, turning, grasped him by the hand. "Ah! so it was +there you did hide, old friend," he said. "Faith, they did spoil a +good man of his hands when they made you priest." And then I saw +Ned's eyes travel to the door just closed; and he dropped Philip's +hand, and his face blanched. "In the name of God!" he cried, "what +did you up there? Say that you were not in the Prince's chamber!" +And for the first time and the last I saw Edward Royston shaken by a +passion of fear. + +"It is from his chamber that I come," said Philip, speaking and +bearing himself with great serenity. + +Poor Ned caught his breath with a sound sharp and hissing. "Then, as +there is a God above us," he whispered, "if any harm has happened, I +will slay you and the maid your sister, though I do love her, only +before I kill myself." + +"Go," said the priest, pointing to the stair, "look on your Prince as +he sleeps." + +"Yes, I will go," replied Ned, flushing a little with hope born of +Philip's calm. "But I will not leave you free." + +I caught his great horseman's pistol from the table where Ned had +laid it after escorting His Highness to his chamber. + +"Go up, Ned," said I; and to Philip, as I pointed to a chair, "Sit +there, brother." And to Ned again: "If he but rise from his chair +before you return, I will shoot him, as surely as you shall kill me +after him. Is it primed?" I asked, for the pistol was of the pattern +then coming into use, discharged by means of a falling flint. And +he, taking it from my hand, and raising the dog, and peering into the +pan for the priming, I added: "But he will not move, for he has done +no wrong." + +He put the weapon in my hand. "You will not fail me?" he asked, with +a countenance very awful to see. For answer I looked once in his +face. He turned and went swiftly through the little door and up the +stair. + +Philip, as I think, knew it was no vain threat that I had made. But +I, believing his conscience clean, had little doubt of a willing +captive. + +The time passed unbroken with a word; hours it could not be, but +whether minutes or seconds I do not know. And somewhere in the heart +of my confidence there throbbed a little pricking pain of doubt. +For, brother as he was, to me the man was yet a stranger. What if he +were of those with whom all means are held lawful to the cherished +end? Had not I, but an ignorant girl, done for one end what I had +held base indeed for another? And for answer I clung to the stock of +my weapon, and swore he should die if His Highness had suffered. For +not only Drayton, but Royston honor also lay in the hollow of my +hand. But I swore, too, that I would not long survive him; and, if +Ned would do it, even death would not be wholly without sweetness. + +At last a step was on the stair, and my eyes went again to the little +door. And, when I saw his returning face, I laughed aloud. + +"You may well laugh, Mistress Philippa," he said, sheathing the sword +that had not, I suppose, left his hand since it had leapt from the +scabbard on his first doubt of Philip, "for I was indeed a fool to +doubt him." Then, turning to Philip: "I did you wrong, Drayton," he +said; "the blame must lie on the evil company we did find you in." + +"I should myself, I fear, doubt any man in such case," answered +Philip. + +With that they fell to considering what should be done. Philip was +at first for returning to his chamber above. But Ned had already +taken his resolution. Sir Michael, he said, should not, in the sweet +evening of a life of honor, see his house come to shame. "You +cannot, I do suppose," he continued, "bring proof or witness of your +innocence in the matter?" + +"He that alone could clear me," replied my brother, "is escaped. +Moreover, I do not think he bears me any good-will." + +"Then you must go," declared Royston, in accents very positive. + +And I could not find it in me, for all the risk to him, to say him +nay. So without more ado Ned went to the hearth, where, by means I +did not till long after understand, he very quickly closed the +opening in the wall whence Philip had entered. He next caused to +appear, on the opposite side of the fire, a passage that was the +counterpart of the first. He then returned to the table, and, +pouring out wine from the flagon he had brought for me: "Drink," he +said to Philip, "and listen. There is little time to spare, for the +officer of the watch will soon go again upon his round. You found +but half the secret. There," he said, pointing to the grim aperture +in the wall of the hearth, of which the dancing light of the flames +served but to mark the deeper gloom, "there is the other half. +Descend these stairs and follow the gallery. You cannot miss the +way. It will take you out among the rocks below the bridge. Thence +follow the stream until you are come to the old mill, whence you may +with ease reach the highroad." + +"From the mill," answered Philip, "I shall know my way. God bless +you, Royston! It is for the old man's sake." + +He grasped Ned's hand, laid his own upon my head as if in +benediction, and would have left us. + +"There is one word more to say," said Royston; and Philip turned on +the edge of the hearth to hear it. "I cannot let you go," continued +the man who would not take the smallest risk of harming his master +even in the moment when he was going open-eyed into the danger of +branding as a traitor, "I cannot let you go to do further hurt, how +honest and open soever, to the cause I serve." + +"As I gave it to my sister but now," answered Philip, "you have my +promise to do nothing for the King, nor against him of Orange, until +I have set foot in France." + +"It will serve," replied Ned. "But--" he added, and then paused, as +if with a hesitation of delicacy. + +"What? Another doubt?" cried Philip, with a laugh. + +"They say--with what truth I do not know," continued Ned,--"but said +it is, that those of your order have strange quirks and quibbles to +ease the conscience of oaths and other matters." + +"Ah!" said Philip. "On what, then, or by what, shall I swear to you?" + +"Swear me no oath," answered Royston. "Give me your hand and your +word as a gentleman of England to abide by the spirit of your +promise." + +So Philip gave him his hand and a straight look in the eyes. + +"You have it, lad," he said, in convincing accents of simple truth, +and so left us, disappearing into the dark chasm of the wall. + +Now Ned had but just closed behind his retreat the door of stone (by +that means which I now know, but will not here set down; for who can +tell if political trouble be even yet forever at an end in England?) +when there came a hand upon the door. Ned dropped into a seat, +muttering: "But just in time!" while I, feigning sleep, stretched +myself in my corner of the settle. + +"Is all well, Captain?" asked the cheery voice of M. de Rondiniacque, +as he entered from the gallery. + +"All is well, Lieutenant," replied Royston, with a very fine +assumption of carelessness. And then the officer of the watch drew +near, looking down upon me, as I suppose (for my eyes were fast +closed), with curiosity. + +"_Ma foi!_" he cried, "the peevish youth leaves you not, Captain. He +is mighty pale in the face for one that sleeps." + +"He is little used, I think, to fatigue," replied Ned. "Is all well +without, Lieutenant?" + +"_Mon capitaine_," said De Rondiniacque, "not a mouse stirs." And so +saluted and retired as he had come. + +When the sound of his feet had died away, + +"Thank Heaven!" I whispered, "the danger is past!" + +"For your brother, yes," Ned answered softly. "For us it is to come." + +"Nay, indeed, I hope not so," said I. "And for him, how shall I +thank you, Captain Royston?" + +"Dear child," he said, with a flash of eagerness lighting his eyes, +"do not call me captain. Were I not like ere long to be a man +disgraced, I could ask you for thanks, but----" + +And I, who had ever wholly trusted him and desired nothing so much as +that he should ask in payment what had long been his, made no parley +with modesty, but at once replied: "Nay, but ask, dear Ned; do but +ask. You will never in my eyes be disgraced." + +But when he began to reply that it was a great thing he would ask, of +which the granting would bear the balance well down on the other +side, Dame Fate played the careful _dueña_ to the poor maid that +thought herself in hands safe enough without any such protection. + +I mean that before Ned was well launched in that tale of what he +would have of me, the door at the winding stair's foot did again +open; and, of all the many times these divers doors had in the last +few hours moved upon their hinges, this was the worst opening; for, +wrapped in a great black cloak thrown hurriedly around him, there +came His Highness of Orange. And, but that I knew none other could +then come that road, I do not think I should have known him for the +man that had of late bid me so kindly good-night. For over his face +was a cloud of anger very awful to see. + +We sprang to our feet, and Captain Royston saluted. Passing this +military courtesy unacknowledged, the Prince at once addressed him in +a voice so harsh and with a manner so cruel (as it seemed to me) that +I fell into a great fear and assurance that he had by some means +discovered both too much and too little; and my heart seemed to melt +to water within me, so that I despaired of ever setting my lover +right in the eyes of his Prince. + +"You watch well over my slumbers, Captain," was indeed all he said; +but voice and countenance were more than words, and I felt as I have +said. + +"It has been my endeavor, Your Highness," answered Royston, with much +dignity, and a face the color of ashes. + +"A good watch: a mighty careful and anxious watch, Captain!" the +Prince continued. "I do not always sleep, Captain Royston, when my +eyes seem closed, and I truly believe your care lacked little of +prolonging my rest to the awful Day of Judgment." + +"I do not understand Your Highness's words," said Royston. + +The Prince crossed the room to the outer door, and, with his hand +upon it: "I shall presently explain them," he said, and so went out +into the gallery. + +"Ned," I cried, so soon as he was gone, "I will tell him all!" + +"That you shall not," he replied. + +"How much does he know?" I asked, trembling as I spoke. + +"I cannot tell," answered Ned. "But to tell him all in this mood +will but harm you and yours; perhaps lead to Philip's capture, and +yet do me no service. He will never pass over this one thing,--that +I did let your brother go. And he will know that soon enough, +telling or none." + +And here the door opening again, we were perforce silent. I could +hear His Highness's last few words to the sentry, spoken in a tongue +I took to be Dutch, because I did not understand it, but, among them +occurring the names Schomberg, Bentinck, De Rondiniacque, I guessed +he had summoned those gentlemen to attend him. Then His Highness +returned into the chamber, and for a while we stood silent, regarding +one another as the footsteps of the sentry died away down the gallery. + +At last Royston would have spoken. "Your Highness--" he began. + +But the Prince interrupted him. "Be silent," he said, "and wait." + +So in silence we waited, but how long I do not know. At length came +M. de Rondiniacque, to be soon followed by Count Schomberg and Mr. +Bentinck. These two had, it appeared, resumed their clothes in +haste, and concealed the disorder of their attire each in long +horse-cloaks, even as His Highness had done. And in these three +stern figures of Prince, soldier, and statesman, close wrapped to the +chin in dark and twisted folds of cloth, there was, I thought, an +awful likeness to the bench of judges that sat in Hades. + +When the last had entered, the Prince thus addressed the three: "It +seems, gentlemen, that in the master of this house I have an enemy." + +At which point Mr. Bentinck, without at all staying the flow of the +Prince's words, ejaculated a deep and guttural "Ah!" as one finding +but what he had looked for. + +"I therefore purpose, gentlemen, to question Captain Royston in your +presence, and thereafter to take your censures in the matter of +bringing him to fitting military trial for treason." + +"I am no traitor to Your Highness, nor to any man," cried Royston, +with blunt indignation. + +"That we shall soon see, I believe," said His Highness. "Did you not +appoint yourself this night, with my consent, the innermost guard of +my person?" + +"I did," answered Royston. + +"Then where is the prisoner; he that called himself priest?" asked +the Prince, turning on him a gaze that called to my mind tales I had +read of the Inquisitors of Spain, so piercing and ruthless was it. + +"He is escaped!" replied poor Ned. + +"By your aid?" asked the Inquisitor. + +"By my aid," replied the accused. + +"He was here in converse with you?" + +"He was." + +"By what means did he avoid the guard?" + +"That," said Royston, "I will not tell." And his eyes flashed, and +his head, never humbled, rose yet more erect; and I knew he was glad +he could now use boldness where he saw he was to expect no mercy. +And, of the three men that were listening to these questions and +answers, one said: "Oh!" another "Ah!" while the third drew in his +breath with a sound of hissing. + +"I see, gentlemen," said William, "that you mark him." Then, to +Royston: "To what end did you aid his flight? Will you at least tell +me that?" + +"Nor that neither," said he boldly, yet without insolence. + +"The priest," said His Highness, "did enter my chamber while he +thought I slept." + +"'T is like enough that he did," replied Royston. + +"And afterwards you also," said the Prince, "with naked sword." + +"I did," said Royston, "but to no end but to be assured of Your +Highness's safety." + +Now when Captain Royston had first declared the escape of the priest, +I had marked M. de Rondiniacque step for a moment into the gallery, +whence he soon returned. It appears that he had in that moment's +absence despatched one of the three soldiers that were on duty +without the door to the room on the floor above, whence that escape +had been effected. This man now rapping upon the door, M. de +Rondiniacque opened to him, heard his report, and returned to his +place beside Marshal Schomberg. His Highness observing these +movements, and enquiring what was to do, M. de Rondiniacque replied +that it was even as Captain Royston had said, the priest's door being +unfastened and his chamber empty. + +His Highness acknowledged the news with a brief gesture, and +continued: "Do I then, gentlemen, greatly err to suppose that this +house has been a snare to us? Do not the events of this night give a +dreadful significance to those of the afternoon?" + +"It is plainly so," said Count Schomberg. + +"Your Highness," growled Mr. Bentinck, "knows well my opinion, from +the warnings I have already given him." + +As it appeared now M. de Rondiniacque's turn to add his voice to this +concert of his superiors, while yet no sound came from him, the +Prince turned upon him a keen glance of enquiry. + +"I must agree, Monseigneur," he said, with a very lively distress +appearing in his countenance, "unless, indeed, there be some reason +behind it all, which Captain Royston may now disclose. I have always +found him a gentleman of the nicest honor," he continued, gathering +courage, "and I observe that there is against him no proof but what +his own word has afforded. None saw the unfastening of the door, +none saw the man's escape: it were more after the fashion of the +vulgar traitor to deny all, and to ascribe his appearance in Your +Highness's chamber--" and here the good Frenchman checked his speech. + +"To what, sir?" demanded the Prince, the gloom of anger growing, I +thought, yet deeper upon his face. + +"To the disordered fancy of an uneasy sleeper," replied De +Rondiniacque fearlessly. + +"Your advocacy carries you too far, Lieutenant," said His Highness, +in tones that I feared must at once silence our only friend. + +"Your Highness will pardon me if I point out that I make no defence +for Captain Royston," insisted De Rondiniacque, stepping a little +forward with a graceful ease and a frank glance in His Highness's +face that I think had taken by storm any woman's heart less strongly +garrisoned than the only one in reach. "I but point out the +traitor's refuge, of which he has made no use. If I err in saying as +much, I will beg Your Highness to remember that the accused gentleman +has been my friend and comrade." With which words he saluted and +retired to his former position. And I think that what he had said +and the way he bore himself were not wholly without effect upon the +Prince: for he turned to Captain Royston, and asked him, with some +slight approach to gentleness, had he any explanation to offer. + +"I can but assure Your Highness," said Captain Royston, "that +throughout I have done nothing adverse to Your Highness's great +cause, nor to his person, nor to the honor and faith I do hold them +in." + +"And is this all?" asked William. + +"Before these gentlemen, sir," he replied, "it is all. But I hold +the true fulness of the matter ever ready for your private ear." + +"My private ear, sir," answered the Prince, "is like to be much +abused if I give my closet for every traitor's subtile excuses." + +"I offer none," said Royston, with the rigid pride of despair. + +"And none," said His Highness, "save in this company, will I hear. +Keep your tale, sir, for to-morrow's court-martial. You are under +arrest. Your sword, Captain Royston. Lieutenant de Rondiniacque, +see to it that this one at least do not escape." And then, as poor +Ned slowly drew his sword, and tendered the hilt to the Prince, His +Highness, waving it aside, signified to M. de Rondiniacque by a +gesture that he should take it. + +"'T is not such," he said, "that I have need of." + +Which bitter speech came near to breaking down the restraint in which +the man had held himself. I saw the blood fly to his face, the +half-step forward, the hands clenched by his sides; I heard the one +dread word on his lips. "God--!" he gasped, and again curbed himself. + +"No words of heat, sir!" said the Prince. "I did once take you for +my friend. Is mine the fault that you prove an enemy? Weigh well +what defence you will make to-morrow; let me warn you that +courts-martial in time of war are swift in procedure and deadly in +sentence. Should such court hear from your lips no more than we have +now heard, make your peace with God." And with that he would have +left the room; but I, beside myself with terror, caught him by the +arm, and tried to speak. + +The Prince, however, shook me off, bidding me roughly not to court +his notice; saying that this was not a court of justice nor of favor, +but a camp; and that I was happy not to come within the purview of +its jurisdiction. + +But I found my tongue, and said: "Your Highness must in courtesy hear +me." + +On which, with little enough, he bade me speak. + +"I do solemnly swear," said I, "before the God that shall judge us +all----" + +"Beware, young man," interrupted His Highness, "lest you take that +awful name in vain." + +"The more awful, great, and holy," I replied, "the readier my will to +take it now. And even so I swear that Captain Royston is no traitor. +What he has done, I have done. I will tell Your Highness all." + +"Be silent," said Ned. "I do forbid it. You harm my case." + +"Nay, then," I replied, "I will not. But it is even as I say." + +The Prince looked in my face, and I thought that his did a little +soften. "I would I believed you, boy," he said, in gentler tones. +"But I do not believe." + +And with that a great hope sprang into my mind, and--"Some day you +must believe," I cried. "But now I will ask no more than Your +Highness has already granted." And I drew forth from its sheath the +sword His Highness had given me. + +"What is your meaning?" asked the Prince sternly, the frown coming +dark again across his face. + +"They say that I came between Your Highness and great danger," I +replied, with an inward prayer for the courage and the skill of words +that I so sorely needed, "in recompense of which you have given me +this sword. According to the word that was given with it, I now +render it again," and here I knelt before him, holding out the weapon +by the blade, the handle toward the Prince, "praying that my friend, +Edward Royston, Captain in Your Highness's Swedish Regiment of Horse, +may stand in rank, duties, and honor, as he stood before this matter +did arise. And I ask, moreover, that, when there shall be an end of +the present troubles, Your Highness will bring him to fitting +examination and judgment, to the end that his virtue may appear to +all men." + +"'T is a request of many heads and much length," said the Prince, +with a smile of much sarcasm. + +"Indeed, it has but one head," I replied. "I pray Your Highness to +suspend his case till the war be done. Is it granted?" + +"No," said the Prince; "it is not granted, and it shall not be." + +"And wherefore not?" I demanded, with a boldness that does at this +present vastly astonish me to think on. + +"I gave the sword, with its pledge," he replied, "to one I thought +loyal to my person and a friend to my cause, the liberties of +England. I am not, and may never be, a king; and I have not +learned," he said, with irony very cynical, "to grant favor to +traitors." + +"But you are a great Prince," I persisted; "a Prince, I have heard +tell, that never departs from his plighted word. This pledge I hold +until it be redeemed. Again I entreat Your Highness to return to +Captain Royston his sword." + +"Give me that in your hand," he said, after a moment's thought, which +had taken him, with a few pondering paces, to some distance from the +spot where I yet knelt. But as I rose to bring it to him, I believe +he read in my face the joy that I felt within, for, raising his hand +with a gesture that at once checked my advance--"Nay," he said, "I +will not give him back the sword he has dishonored. But, for my +word's sake, he has his life and liberty. Let him begone. And if he +cross my path again, to raise his hand by never so little against me +or mine; if he be found after this night ever within my lines, he +dies--as spies die, _Master_ Royston," he added, turning upon him a +glance of keen contempt. Then, after a little pause, he said, with +great solemnity, "May the life I give serve unto repentance." + +In that moment I think poor Ned's heart was very near breaking. In a +voice slow and measured from the restraint he used, he said that he +would not accept his life at such a price. His Highness, replying +that the choice did not lie with him, turned sharply to me and said: +"Give me the sword." + +And then the sight of the stricken man's white and ghastly +face--stricken for his faith to me and my people--inspired my heart +to the most audacious act of my life. I took the sword by the hilt, +and, pressing hard upon it with both hands, bent down the lower part +until a portion lay upon the floor. On this setting my foot with all +my body's weight to back it, I wrenched the hilt over toward the +point, so that the blade broke some seven inches from the end. M. de +Rondiniacque, stepping forward to arrest my purpose, was too late. I +waved him back with a gesture I took to be mighty full of +haughtiness, and, standing firm upon the fragment, I presented the +hilt to His Highness of Orange. On the snapping of the blade the +Prince had started in anger; as I handed him the truncated weapon, he +drew back and--"What is this?" he cried. + +"Your Highness grants no more than half my prayer," I replied. "I +render half the pledge." + +"The greater half," he said, and in despite of himself he smiled. + +Being by that smile much emboldened, I answered: "Then I am more +generous than William, Prince of Orange. For life," I said, lifting +from the floor the broken point of the sword, "is less than honor. +Yet, like His Highness, I keep the point that kills." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +When I try to write that part of my story that should here +immediately ensue, I find the attempt at first more destructive of +the feather than the nib of my pen. If I close my eyes and seek to +live again in memory the hour that followed upon what I have last +related, the result is always the same: I find myself awaking, as it +were, from a kind of inner dream to the outward consciousness of +heavily pouring rain, the rhythmic jingle of bridles, and the +discordant squeaking of wet saddle under wetter boots. + +For Ned and I are out in the foulest night of that foul November, and +Roan Charley beneath me makes brave use of his tired limbs to come +the sooner at his own stable. And then the sound of Ned's voice +speaking to his horse in some manner brings back to me a few +incidents of our passing from my Lady Mary's withdrawing-room to this +wet and pitiless night; things which at this time of writing I do not +clearly nor directly recall, but merely remember that I did then +recollect; how His Highness had turned his back upon us, and departed +in company of Mr. Bentinck and Count Schomberg; how Ned had sworn he +would not leave his own house, saying they should hang him in the +morning if they would; how M. de Rondiniacque and I had between us +well-nigh forced him from the house; and how, with the Frenchman's +help, I had gotten the two of us to horse; and how this good friend +had, ere we left, said many things; but not one word of his could I +recall. + +So, having gathered out of my stupor the remnants of the nearer past, +I was already again in my mind busily at work with divers plots and +plannings to bring out of this dismal present a glorious and golden +future. This change had been indeed brought to pass; nor was Dame +Fate's change of front tedious of accomplishment; but I feel it is +due to any that reads me to confess at once that the passage from +evil fortune to good was the work rather of the hand of God and the +goodness of men, than brought about by any skill or wit of the poor +maid that would gladly have foregone all merriment here and hereafter +to see once more a smile on the lips of the man she loved. + +I have said that the present was dismal; to my companion, indeed, it +could be no otherwise; yet to me the awful gloom of disfavor and +disgrace was somewhat lightened by a little throb of joy, trembling +and intermittent indeed, but growing in force, and of decreasing +interval, as the horses swung, splashing through rain and mud, and +their riders spoke never a word. I was a woman; and I was out alone +in the darkest night of our two lives with the man who to me was all +men since God gave me memory; I had him to myself, to cherish, to +comfort, and, if it might be, to serve; what else should I do, but, +woman-like, yearn over him with bowels of compassion, and rejoice +that I was the angler that should, if it pleased Heaven, fish his +soul from the dark and turbid waters of despair? + +At length--"Ned!" I cried, but had no answer; and again, "Ned! dear +Ned!" with no better luck. So I pushed my horse over against his +till our knees came together, and laid my hand on his arm. And then +somehow I knew, dark as pitch though it was, that he turned his head +to me. + +"Though you be unhappy," I said, letting of set purpose the catch of +a small sob come into my voice, "you do not need to flout your little +friend. 'T is very like you think it all my fault, but all I could, +since Philip left us, I have done,--all, I would say, that you would +let me do." + +"More!" he cried in answer; "you have done far more than I would have +had you do; for I believe you did save my life. If I thank you now," +he added, with great bitterness, "I do fear my words will lack the +ring of truth." + +"Nay," I said, as coldly as I might, in hope to engage his interest, +"there is but one owes thanks for that; and it is not you." + +"Who then?" he asked, but languidly, as having little care for an +answer. + +"Who but the person," I replied, "in whose sole interest it was +saved?" + +"You speak in riddles, lad," he said, and then at once burst into a +very hearty laugh at his own mistake; at which my heart danced within +me to a tune very sweet; for laughter was at least a step in the way +I would have him walk. "My wits have gone browsing like sheep," he +went on. "Life is sweet, I do suppose, and soon I shall thank you. +Even now I feel the savor of it coming back to me. Let us push on," +he said, and put spurs to his horse. + +When I was once again by his side--"Ah!" he cried, "one is a man +again with a horse between his knees." + +"I do not know," I replied. "Was it for that you called me lad, +Captain?" + +And so for a mile or more we talked. There was indeed but a poor +heart in what gaiety we used, but it served to lead at last to matter +more important. And then I found his purpose was but to escort me in +safety to my father's house, and himself pass on; whither, he would +not say, and at length confessed he did not know. And I vowed in my +heart he should go no further than Drayton, but bided my time. There +followed, in a bad part of the way, a little silence. And now the +rain, for some time slackening, ceased altogether, and a little pale +light from the moon struggling through the clouds, we drew together +again. This time it was Ned did break the silence, and his words +showed me he had begun to review that night's work. + +"That was bold juggling you did with His Highness and the sword, +mistress," he said. "Wherefore did you break it?" + +"Because I hold men should keep faith, even princes," I answered, +"and I will make him fulfil his word, up to the hilt--I would say +down to the point, which I keep until it is earned." And I felt for +the fragment of His Highness's sword in the place where I had it safe +hidden. And then I drew rein on Charley, catching at my comrade's +rein with the other hand. "O Ned!" I cried, "how am I to do all +this, if you will leave me? Take me and your story to my father, and +among us we shall find a way." + +In the pale moonlight I could see his pale face, and on it I read the +bitterness and sorrow of a conflict that he deemed finished. + +"Sweet mistress," he said, "you must not tempt me. This thing is the +fault of no man, but the hand of fate is heavy upon me. Since we +were children together, it is somewhere written that only in danger +and disgrace may I meet you. I do believe that in your heart you +know much that, but for what has happened this day to part us, I +would say to you. I will not say it, and because I will not, I must +leave you when I have brought you to your father. Do not urge me +again." + +"If all the world cried out upon Philippa," I replied, feeling in my +heart as those must feel who take their lives in their hands to carry +through some desperate enterprise, or to die in default of success, +"and would have her guilty of all the crimes a woman could guiltily +do, I would laugh them all to scorn while you held me innocent and +dear." + +"Comfort you might find in my faith," he said, "even as I find much +in yours. But you would not company with me, nor let your name go +with mine in men's mouths; and much less would you wed me before your +name was cleared. It is perhaps the last time we shall speak +together, little Phil, and my despair shall bring me one good thing: +because I have no hope, I will tell you now very fully and frankly +what has been in my mind to say since my weight on a horse's back was +less than is now your own. When I left Oxford to come into the west +in those days of Monmouth's trouble, my tongue was ready and my heart +hot to tell you my love, and, having told, to ask yours, and with it +the sweetest wife in all England. Now, I must tell and not ask. I +say, then, Philippa, that I love you, that I shall love you, and that +I have loved you, for how long it is hard to know, but truly I +believe my love began when you sat in the dust and looked to me for +comfort, stretching up your little arms, tremulous and appealing. +Ah!" he cried, "with what an urgent and tender clinging they held me +as we fled from pursuing Betty." + +"I did then think, Ned," I murmured, "that the little horse had +wings, and that we fled together from Betty and all troubles forever." + +"It was only Betty then," he answered, with a little laugh that hurt +me to hear. + +"And it is no worse than Betty now, dear," I cried, "if you will but +keep me with you. I have but just gotten you again. Three years is +very long and lonesome. Do not leave me." + +Our horses were standing, and the moon showed me his face and the +great struggle that there was in him between tenderness of love and +insistence of duty. And I saw the softness die out of his +countenance, and the features grow set in resolve. + +"I forget," he said, drawing the reins short through his fingers. +"Let us press on; 't is six good miles yet to Drayton." At which his +horse broke into a canter. + +But, when Charley would have followed, I drew rein, kicked feet from +stirrups, flung my right foot over his neck, and so slipped to +ground; let slip the reins, and so sat me down forlorn by the +roadside. So far I had acted of design, to the end that Ned should +return, and I have my way to the full as the one price of proceeding +further. But, when Roan Charley, having twice snuffed at my +crouching figure, set off whinnying in pursuit of his fellow, I burst +into tears wholly devoid of affectation, weeping for the loneliness +that was my own making, and the stubbornness of a man's will that I +could not break. And, the soft thud of hoofs on the wet and sandy +road now seeming to die away with growing distance, I did begin to +feel that the childish weapon I had taken in hand was indeed turned +against myself. To set the coping on my misery, there came a great +and sudden gust of wind, and with it, across the moon, a thick +storm-cloud, from which fell a driving slant of heavy rain, shutting +out at once all sight and sound, as it were with a thick blanket of +cold and turbid wetness; so that, drenched to the skin, I soon +shivered as much from cold as from the sobs that shook my overwrought +body. Now that he could no longer hear my voice, I found some dismal +comfort in leaping to my feet and crying aloud on Ned to come back; +and, even as I called, fell to running with weary and staggering +feet, in pursuit of him I believed far away, until I pitched +well-nigh headlong, not into his arms, for they were stretched wide, +holding a horse in either hand, but upon his broad breast, where I +soon laid my head; crying, as I clutched him by the shoulders, that +he had left me too long, and frightened me. + +"Why, Phil!" he answered, "I heard your nag following, and, even when +he drew abreast, it was not at once I knew you were not in the +saddle." And here I felt his right arm move behind his back, to pass +his horse's bridle to the left hand that already held Roan Charley's. +"But when he pushed close," he continued, "and his swinging +stirrup-iron struck my boot, I turned to find the voice and eyes I +dreaded were no longer near. And then, sweetheart, the rain was upon +us, and in the darkness it was little speed I could make returning, +but must needs dismount and go gingerly, for fear of riding over you. +How came he to throw you, Phil?" + +Perceiving that alarm had brought back all his tenderness, for here +his right arm came round my neck in an embrace most sweet and full of +protection, I cast to the winds my facile repentance for the trick I +had played him, and answered him thus, using what remnant of dignity +I could muster: "'T was not my good Charley that did cast me off, +Ned. But when I found you would not heed my prayers; when I found +that for some fancy of what the world should say of us you would +again leave me alone, with, this time, perhaps, no hope of a return; +when I thought how bitter three years of waiting have proved for a +half-fledged maid, and perceived how much worse a thing were waiting +without hope or limit for a woman grown, I dismounted and sat me down +by the roadside. For I said I would never return to Drayton to see +go out again into the night, alone and unhappy, the man that has +saved our honor, giving to us out of the abundance of his own." And +I waited for him, but even yet he would not speak. "What! will you +shame me, Ned?" I cried. "Must I even say more? Then I here +solemnly vow that unless you now say to me all--ask of me all that +you would were you now as famous as Marshal Schomberg, and as high in +favor as Mr. William Bentinck, I will not budge from this spot." +This, with voice and bearing no doubt vastly heroical, I said. But, +fearing it yet insufficient, I added shudderingly, in a manner I have +since thought most humorously bathetical: "And I almost die for cold." + +Now, scarce even for my children, can I set down very particularly +what followed. But there was much rain, and now two arms about me, +and my head lay where it is not yet tired of lying, while my lover +let flow in words the passion of his love that had so long been pent +and dammed up in his heart. And I remember that when he kissed me, +there came between his lips and mine a patch of mud, cast there +doubtless by the feet of his horse in his flight from me; and also +that we laughed together like children with no sorrow upon them, as +he did try in the dark to wipe it away with his handkerchief, and how +some of the soil did get in my mouth as I laughed. So strong in +memory is often a little matter of this nature that when, not two +days back from the time I sit here writing, being abroad with Colonel +Royston to see some sport with Sir Giles Blundell's hounds, I +received full in the teeth a hoof-shaped clod of earth, I was, for +all the pain and discomfort of it, translated at once from the free +air and pale, sweet winter sun back to that foul and bitter night and +its dear core of love, red and glowing with the fire that shall +comfort and illumine us both to the end of our days. + +Now, how long we stood there, how long we talked, and how long we +were silent I do not know. But Dame Nature the stepmother had become +Mother Nature our friend; and wind, cold, and wet were but the veil +she cast kindly to wrap our sacred hour in holier secrecy. And when +again a little light showed from the moon, of course it was the woman +that cried: "Why, Ned! where are the horses?" + +I will not dwell on the labor to pursue and catch our nags. The +charger, at length responding to a cry his master used, was caught, +mounted, and ridden in chase of Roan Charley. So I was again for a +while left solitary, but in a state of mind how different! Not now +did I sit forlorn with my feet in the ditch, but tramped cheerily +forward; for I had his promise not to leave me again, but to lay the +whole matter before Sir Michael, and to abide by his advice. For +Ned, notwithstanding the anguish of his disgrace, did in his modesty +set so low a price on the action which had procured it, that I think +it had not yet become clear to him how wholly my very just and most +noble-minded father must be engaged to counsel all things in the +interest of Philip's savior. + +It was not long before I encountered all three returning to meet me, +truant Charley grown reluctant and rebellious. And thence into +Drayton village the way seemed short indeed. Only twice did Ned +refer to his misfortune and the anger of His Highness of Orange; +once, in saying it was strange a single night should hold the +greatest joy and the greatest sorrow he had known; and again, when I +said many hard things of the Prince, he would not hear me, saying he +was not to blame; and then he asked me did I note the last words of +M. de Rondiniacque as he bade us farewell. 'T was that gentleman's +opinion, it appeared, that the Prince was in his heart not sorry to +find in my importunity good occasion to avoid the scandal that must +arise from a court-martial held upon an officer whose family was so +well known in the neighborhood at present occupied by his army. M. +de Rondiniacque had added, moreover, that he believed His Highness's +anger much exacerbated by a lurking doubt as to the substantial guilt +of one he had hitherto highly esteemed. All this I must have heard +as one in a dream, and the narration of it now furnished me with +material for the more sober thoughts that occupied the almost +unbroken silence of our passage from the village of Drayton to the +house. + +It was now more than an hour past midnight, so that it was with no +little surprise we beheld, through the ill-closed hangings of the +windows, the great hall bright with candles and fire. As he lifted +me, now well-nigh crippled with fatigue, from the saddle, I prayed +Ned to enter quickly and engage whom he should find for a moment in +talk, while I slipped quietly by to the refuge of my chamber. In the +morning I had trifled with the fancy that it were better to be born a +man; now I knew it was best of all to be a woman; and thus I had no +mind, while I could still by some sense of lingering contact mark the +places where my lover's kisses had fallen, to be seen in the garb I +wore by any man or woman whatsoever. And Ned, acting most +comfortably in accordance with my desire, I was soon fast in the +haven of my room, of whose door I did that night but once again draw +the bolt; and even then I do think it was rather from desire of the +food and the posset that she carried, than from any need of her +company, that I admitted Prudence; and of the torrent of questions +with which my ears were assailed as she tenderly waited on me, I +answered few and heeded none. I would have been alone to think of +Ned, and of the change of so strange a sweetness that I now began to +discover in myself. I was indeed in that temper of mind wherein a +maid will find even the object of her thought a hindrance to the +right management of her thinking; and so I got very quickly to bed, +feigning sleep to escape little Prue's chatter, the while I hugged to +my breast the memories of the journey homeward; cherishing the +sweetest fragments for a perpetual possession. + +But feigning passed very soon into reality, and the last I recall of +that night is my dreamy watching of Prudence, as she busied herself, +with a bearing of no little pique, in hanging out poor Rupert's +clothes before the great fire, and muttering dark sayings of the folk +that had secrets, and how, if that were the way of it, she could, +nay, would, keep her own to herself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +In telling how we came happily through this trouble of Captain +Royston's disgrace, I perceive that there is from this point a +greater number of those incidents in which, although they are +necessary to the proper understanding of my tale, I had myself no +personal share. While, however, my knowledge in such case is but +second-hand, it is hearsay of the best quality, drawn from divers +witnesses whose testimony I have found seldom divergent. I therefore +purpose in my remaining chapters (now happily few), for greater ease +to the reader, to make of what I know and what I believe a narrative +as plain and straightforward as I may, without further reference to +my sources of information, which would but encumber those efforts at +despatch that must, if my story cannot, earn me a reader's +approbation. Colonel Royston, coming fresh and crammed with law from +the justice-room (he being of late on their Majesties' Commission of +the Peace), tells me that hearsay is not evidence. To which I can +but reply that such as I give will be nearer the truth than much that +he hears on oath. + +When Ned, covering my retreat, presented himself before my father in +the dining-hall, he found Sir Michael seated in his great chair by +the hearth; on his one side at respectful distance stood Farmer Kidd, +while on the other, and close to his father, sat Philip. + +Now Kidd, much delayed by the foundering of his horse, had come in +about midnight, bringing the first clear news of my safety. He had +found Sir Michael in some disorder, between the pain in his leg, much +aggravated by his vigil, and anxiety for his daughter. Poor +Christopher was like to have suffered in consequence; for Sir +Michael, while filling him with food and drink, rated him soundly for +leaving me behind, and would have had him return at once to Royston. +Philip, whose name and face had gotten him a good mount upon the +road, arriving about half an hour later than Christopher, found him +dulled with fatigue and feeding, and halting half-way between slumber +and tears. My father's mind was soon at rest about his errant +daughter; for, when he learned that Ned Royston had me in charge, and +knew that I was Philippa, he merely said that I could not be in safer +hands, and thereafter addressed himself at once to the consideration +of Philip's story. + +"And so, dear sir," said my brother, when his tale was done, "give me +a horse and money, and I will make my way back to France, that I may +keep faith with Royston, and set myself again to serve those that +sent me into England." + +"Not so, Philip," answered his father, "for I will give you nothing +to become once more the active enemy of the Prince of Orange. If I +do clip thy claws, thou must stay with me till these troubles are +done. I like not your faith; Gad 's my life! I like not your cause, +for all it was once mine. But yourself I do love. For the sweet +sake of your mother, son of mine, stay with me whom all have left." + +"A Drayton, sir," replied Philip, "must do his part, on what side +soever it has pleased God to set him." + +"You are right, lad," the old man answered; "and therefore will I +give you neither horse nor money." + +Thus it was that upon his coming amongst them Captain Royston had but +to tell the dreadful sequel of Philip's escape. But, between his +very cordial greeting of Ned and the hearing his story, my father, +with a fine discretion, begged Kidd that he would attend to the +Captain's horse, the grooms being all abed. Which Christopher very +willingly hastened to do, preferring a stable and a bed of straw to +the dining-hall and Sir Michael's varied cheer. + +His story told, and they asking where was Philippa, Ned answered, +between draughts from a great tankard of spiced ale, that he believed +I was gone to my chamber. On this Sir Michael himself hobbled to the +room where lay my Lady Mary, whence he transferred Prudence from +attendance on her ladyship to the duty she vastly preferred, of +waiting upon me. Alone with Ned, Philip at once declared the purpose +of making his way to Exeter, and of laying before His Highness, in +the act of surrendering himself, the true state of the whole matter. +Sir Michael returning in the midst of Royston's objections to what he +called so useless a sacrifice, the matter was debated among the three +far into the morning, my lover concluding that ill was best let +alone, for fear of worse; my brother, that he had no choice in honor +but to give himself up; my father, that they were both fools, and +that he himself was the person to set the matter in its true light +before His Highness of Orange. And so they separated for the night, +which of them all being in most need of rest it would be hard to say. + +But my good father, before he slept, paid a secret visit to the +stable, there leaving orders with Kidd, the sleepy chief of a sleepy +band of agrestic warriors (for the squadron I had led out at noon was +at length painfully gathered in and billeted in the hay-loft), and +with the chief groom of his own establishment, that no man (adding +hastily, "nor no woman neither") should take horse from their door +without his own express command. For he feared that either Ned would +escape him, and so cut this knot of his own generous making; or that +Philip would effect an early start to throw himself, with little gain +to us all, into the hands of his enemies. And so, after threats of +the most terrible, which served at least, as the sequel shows, to +keep his commands from mixing with their dreams, Sir Michael got him +to his bed where, if the just indeed sleep well, he slumbered very +peacefully till the unwonted hour of nine in the morning. + +I do not think that poor Philip found much sleep. The choice between +divergent duties, with harm to his family involved in one decision, +to a brave and generous friend in the other, may well keep even the +just awake. The household being much belated, he was able between +six and seven of the morning to let himself out unobserved. On +coming to the stable, however, he found that he could on no terms but +Sir Michael's order be furnished with a horse; not even with that +which had brought him to the house the night before. After some +minutes of deep thought, he hastily penned a few lines on a leaf of +his tablets, which he then tore out and carefully folded, begging +Christopher, as he loved the honor of the house, to keep it unread +and undivulged until two o'clock of the afternoon, when he should +hand it to Sir Michael. But if, as he deemed by no means likely of +occurrence, His Highness of Orange should before that hour honor Sir +Michael with a visit, the letter must at once be delivered. With +which he left the yet sleep-ridden Christopher, willing, indeed, to +do his behest, but so mightily astonished at the mystery in which he +found himself involved, that he failed even to mark the road of +Philip's departure. + +The letter, which I hold to be a notable example of my brother's +forethought, I will give here rather than in its place of coming to +light, for the better understanding of Philip's motive and action. + + +"TO MY DEAR AND HONORED FATHER: Being resolved to do what I may to +repair the great evil I have brought upon Edward Royston, and fearing +hindrance at your hands or his, I have taken myself off while you are +yet sleeping. Finding, however, that you have laid a strict embargo +upon the stable, I go first afoot to the Grange, where old Simcox +will doubtless mount me with the best in his stable. + +"I call to mind some words of Royston's, however, of His Highness of +Orange intending a visit to Drayton. Now, although it is more than +likely he has foregone this purpose after what ensued upon my escape, +it is yet possible that some compunction of his own hastiness, or +return of gratitude to Philippa, may bring him to your door. From +the Grange, therefore, I purpose taking the road to Exeter that runs +by 'The Crow's Nest,' whence one may see the roofs of Drayton. I +shall be particular not to leave that point before the stroke of +noon. If, therefore, the improbable occur, and the Prince be come, +or announced to come, to Drayton before that hour, I beg of you, my +dear sir, to fly the old flag from the turret mast; which, if I see, +I will make the best of my way back to you, knowing that you will not +contrive from my plan a ruse to lure me home against my conscience. + +"If the Prince be gone to Exeter, and I there get audience of him, +remember that even the failure of my plea for Royston will not injure +your own subsequent representations, but will rather by corroboration +of evidence strengthen them. Your obedient son, + +"P.D." + + +Thus it ran. The Grange, I should say, is the old Holroyd house, and +Simcox, my father's bailiff for the estate. + +So much for two of those that sat so late in the hall. + +As for Ned, neither joy (if, as I suppose, some joy was in him) nor +grief, of which he thought never through life to be rid, was to +prevail against the oppression of sleep long denied. He slept as the +dead sleep, till long after my father was abroad. + +But for a soporific commend me to a decoction of new-found love and +great fatigue of body. It was from the pleasant action of this +sleeping-draught that I awoke to find my chamber bathed in the first +sunshine of many dreary days. And, as I lay with eyes half opened, I +felt in my bosom a gladness answering to the sunshine without. And +searching in my mind for the threads of memory that should join my +life with the day that was past, and tell me the reason why I was +glad, I found that the answer was Love. But a little cloud soon +driving across the sun had also its inward response in my +half-awakened spirit, and I asked myself was there then some evil +thing in this sweet world of mine? + +And so I stumbled heavily upon the memory that Ned's love had in its +fulness come to me in the very hour of disgrace. And then I awoke +from a maid floating blissfully upon the sweet sea of conscious +repose to the woman fain to pay the price of love in deeds for her +lover. + +Prudence was not far, and I was not long in dressing. Having, +however, more food for thought than use for my tongue, I by and by +perceived that my little handmaid was very ready to make cause of a +tiff out of my silence. This might have passed, for I thought with a +gentle word or two and a smile to turn aside the coming storm. + +Nor had I much doubt of success in this, when, after watching my face +a while in the mirror, she exclaimed: "Why, madam, how beautiful you +appear this morning! One would think some great good thing had +befallen you yesterday, rather than a great fatigue. You are vastly +changed, madam." + +"Nay, Prudence, be not so fanciful," I cried, marking, nevertheless, +in the mirror how the color rose in my face. "Pray, child, what +difference do you find?" + +"It is hard to name," she answered, "but 't is there. Your regard is +large and tender. Your eyes, madam--your eyes hold some secret of +joy." + +Here she paused a while, turning her gaze from the mirror to my face +itself. Then at length: "Why, madam, I have it," she cried; "you are +in one night grown to be a woman!" + +To hide my cheeks, that would soon, I knew, most furiously glow, I +turned to the wardrobe to take from it the gown I proposed wearing. +But when she saw that it was the finest in stuff, and latest in +fashion of all my slender stock, her curiosity broke out afresh. +Receiving no reply to her many questions, she watched me in dumb +displeasure, while I shaped a piece of black plaister, and applied it +to the little wound that Ned's sword had made on my bosom, for the +gown, being cut somewhat more freely open than I mostly used, would +have left the scratch uncovered from the air. All this was more than +Prue could bear. + +"I do perceive," she said, with pale cheeks and tilted chin, "that in +some manner I have offended madam, since she no longer gives me her +confidence; I fear it is no time to ask her advice in a matter that +gives much distress and anxiety to one that she was wont to hold her +very faithful servant." Whereupon she left the chamber very quickly, +giving me no space to appease her anger. + +Finishing my toilet alone, I began to wonder what was this mighty +secret with which she had now twice threatened me; and, doubtless, +nothing but my great preoccupation of thought saved Mistress +Prudence, privileged person although she was become, from a mighty +smart reprimand on our next encountering for her petulant conduct. + +That excellent dignity of bearing which I believed myself to have +endued, as well as my finest gown, was destined to be spent (if +indeed it were not altogether thrown away) upon old Emmet and a +single waiting-maid. From Simon I learned that it had been thought +well not to disturb the three gentlemen, whom he supposed still +sleeping. Lady Mary, he added, had been much shaken by her +adventures of the previous day, and found herself unable to leave her +bed. So I sat me down alone, and made a meal of most unblushing +amplitude. Since I was a child, I may say, I had never known myself +to lack good appetite, and I now found that so far from weakening my +desire and enjoyment of my victuals, as would seem most fitting in a +young woman of sentiment, the fatigues, emotions, and excitements of +the day before had but set a keener edge to my relish of these, as of +all other good things in what I could but think, despite all +drawbacks, was a very engaging and gladsome world. + +Now it was a custom with me to have Prudence wait upon me at +breakfast, arising, I suppose, from a certain loneliness I did use to +feel when my dear father's ailments would keep him for days together +in his chamber. She being this morning absent, and I asking where +she was, Simon soon made it plain that he was not pleased with his +granddaughter. + +"Faith, madam," he said, "I cannot tell where she is. The little +baggage grows past my holding. She is as full of mysteries as an egg +is full of meat." + +"Nay, Simon," I answered, "'t is no mystery. She spoke very boldly +to me but now, and fled to avoid correction. I make no doubt she is +gone for comfort to Christopher Kidd." + +"There 's more in it, madam, than Farmer Kidd," answered Simon, his +old head shaking with the ominous relish of him that justifies +suspicion of evil. "A loaf, a cheese, and a great piece of salted +beef are this morning missed from the larder, and, as I live," he +cried, peering into the great beer jack that stood upon the table, +"who but the hussy should have taken more than the half of the ale +that I drew for breakfast? She did pass through the hall on leaving +your chamber, madam; Christopher and all his men are well fed in the +kitchen, and have but to ask for what they lack." + +And here I was scarce able to hold back my laughter. The picture of +little Prudence, so dainty and modest, for all that something of +coquetry was part of her nature, so feeding a secret lover did +mightily tickle my fancy. + +"Do not fret for the ale, Simon," I said gaily. "Please Heaven, it +will find its way down a thirsty throat. If Prue be the thief +indeed, I shall know the drinker before sunset. She is a good maid, +and will not long keep a secret from a mistress that holds her in +much affection and esteem." These last words were as much for the +other serving-woman that was by as for Prue's censorious grandfather. + +Sending word to Lady Royston that I would gladly know when her +ladyship was willing I should wait upon her, I now retired to my +garden, finding more company in its few remaining flowers, and in the +fresh and sunny autumn air, than in a house but yet half awake. And +I had within me, whether carried from the house, or gathered from the +sweet odors drawn by the sun from the sodden earth, I know not, a +sense that some great thing was coming; that this was but the lull +before our wits and tongues should be again engaged in a conflict for +love, for honor, and perhaps for life. + +And I knelt on a little stone bench, warmed with the sun, and prayed +to Him who did make these three best things, that wit might be keen, +and tongue eloquent, to set them high above doubt and question +hereafter. + +To me, after it might be half an hour, came Prudence, bearing in a +very innocent countenance an expression of injury most Christianly +endured. Madam Royston, she said, would be vastly obliged by a visit +from me, but she was bidden by Captain Royston to say he had matter +for my ear that was of moment, to be delivered before I should speak +with madam his mother. + +"And where is Captain Royston to be found?" I asked. + +"He is now taking his breakfast in the hall," answered the little +minx, vastly demure. + +"And why was I not informed that he was risen?" I demanded. + +"If madam gave order to that effect," she replied, "it came not to my +ear." + +This petty vantage of feminine fence had not long remained hers, had +I not been more concerned to reach the great hall than to open a +general attack in the matter of the missing beef and beer. The +better part of the way to the house I ran rather than walked--that +part, I mean, that is not in sight of the hall windows. Within I +found Ned alone, eating his breakfast. A cloud of gloom was over his +face, and, though he rose with great courtesy and alacrity to meet +me, his greeting seemed rather a submission to my embrace than the +clasp of an ardent lover. + +It is not unlikely that in a happier hour I had taken this reception +ill, but, thinking I could read his thought, I let it pass, which I +was soon very glad to have done, when his words made it plain that I +had not read him amiss. For a while I pressed him with food, with +questions of what rest he had taken, of his mother's health, and with +other talk indifferent to the issue that yet, as I plainly saw, did +lie between us. But, do what I might, I could bring no smile to his +face; I could see the man held a tight rein upon himself, for all he +could not keep his eyes from taking full account of my person on this +his first seeing me after so many years in the full light of day, and +in my proper garb. And there was great holiday in my heart, for I +knew that I pleased him well; had I not the word both of mirror and +handmaid that I was not ill to look upon? Moreover, those eyes of +his, restrained though they were from all expressive admiration, +could not conceal something that I took to be a kind of hunger. + +At length, finding that his discomfort was in no way diminished, I +asked him, speaking mighty small and meek, what it was he wished to +say to me, before I should pay my respects to my Lady Mary. + +"I would pray you," he answered, "by no means at this present to make +mention to my mother of--of the matter--I mean, of my disgrace with +His Highness of Orange." + +It was only by an effort, it seemed, that the last words could be +uttered. I arose from the seat whence I had confronted him at the +table, dropped him a little courtesy, and walked toward the door. +But, passing behind his chair as I went, I felt my heart so filled +with pity and sorrow that I knew I must either fall into a passion of +tears or speak more fully and closely with him who now bore such +things for me and mine. So behind him I stayed, and, casting an arm +about his neck, "Ned," I whispered, "dear Ned, wilt in no manner be +comforted?'" + +His voice shook a little, in spite of that curbing rein, as he +answered me. "Where lies the comfort that I should take, sweet +Phil?" he said. + +"'T is unkind in you, dear, to make me speak unmaidenly," I replied. +"I know your woes, but is it, then, nothing that I also share them? +Am I perhaps of no account, for that my love is no new thing?" + +"Your love, Philippa," he said, in a voice that was now become very +tender and solemn, "is a pearl of price so great that but yesterday +it was all I asked of Heaven. But shall this jewel be set in a +filthy copper ring? I know, sweetheart," he went on, "that you have +found me churlish this morning. But since I awoke I have one only +thought in my mind, that I did wrong last night, with my honor thus +overshadowed, to tell you of my love." + +"Nay," I said, "there was no telling; and there needed none." + +"Did I not tell you--" he began. + +But from over his shoulder I gently clapped hand upon his mouth, +crying: "Hush, dear Ned! 'T was this way that it befell. Listen, +for all else is what you have dreamed." And I took here the tone and +manner of one that tells to a child the sweetest fairy-tale he knows. +"Two did ride in the night. The two had each a heart, and the heart +of one was sore hurt. Now of the other the heart was well and safely +lodged behind a little secret door. And this door was never opened, +though there was one did know the way to it, and at his knock it had +been wont of old to move somewhat ajar on the hinge. But in that +dark night the heart that was hurt did cry aloud, and--and that small +door did fly open, and now, Ned----" + +"Ay, sweetheart?" he said, as I paused; and he tried to look round at +me: but I would not let him. + +"And now, Ned," I continued, "the door is closed forever; but the +heart is abroad, and hath no home but here." And here I slipped to +my knees by his side, leaning with hands tight clasped in +supplication against his breast. "My lord," I said, "must even keep +his promise to his handmaid, who will gladly bear all that she may +share with him. But, without his presence and his love, the sun will +be darkened to her eyes all the days of her life." + +And so there was an end; for his arms came about me and ended all +strife between us even to this moment of writing. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +And thus my father surprised us, by which accident we were not a +little taken aback. My lover, however, rose bravely to the occasion, +and very plainly and without any mincing of the matter asked him for +my hand in marriage; saying in conclusion, however, that he was aware +his present state and condition might well justify Sir Michael's +refusing to grant his request: "Which, sir," said he, "I had not made +until cleared of all suspicion of treason to His Highness, but for +you knowing me innocent, and the recent avowal of my affection being +by surprise, as it were, wrung from me." + +"Indeed, sir," I broke in, hoping by a little boldness to cover my +confusion the better, "there was no surprise but this same gad-about +daughter of yours. It was through no fault of his, for none but I +did wring from Captain Royston that offer of alliance he now seems +minded to repent." + +"Be silent, child," said my father; "Captain Royston stands in need +of no champion with me." Whereat I was abashed to a blushing hotter +than before. "My lad," said Sir Michael, "I have twofold reason to +be glad. It would go hard with me to refuse the man who has done for +my name what you have done, even were he not the husband I have this +many a day desired for my child. And, if we cannot put you right +with the Prince, we must together endure. But I hope for better +things." And with these words my father drew me to him, and put my +hand in that of Captain Royston. + +There is no need to rehearse all that was said and felt on this +occasion of my betrothal. There was among us regard so reverent, +friendship so strong, and acquaintance so well tested of time, that +the dark shadow hanging over could not, even while it chastened, in +any way jar with nor distort the joy of the two who saw the future +each in the other's countenance; nor of him that saw in the faces of +us both a vision of the past that was ever green and poignant in the +young heart of the old man. + +And as I left them to visit Lady Mary, now too long neglected, my +father told me that I had gained a husband such as is not had every +day. + +So I went to my lady's door, and there, very proud in the thought +that out of all the world Captain Royston had chosen me, I loitered a +little; for I hoped that my cheeks would presently lose something of +the telltale color that still seemed to burn in them. And after I +entered her chamber the time for a while went so exceedingly heavily +that I think it but charity to take my reader elsewhere. + +Sir Michael and Captain Royston were now for a space engaged in +discussion of the future. But, as they neither knew that Philip, in +the obstinacy of his opinion, had escaped them, nor that events now +in preparation should very shortly change the complexion of the whole +matter, their animadversions and reflections upon this occasion are +become of little moment. + +Now my father, on his coming which did so mightily abash me, was +carrying under his arm in its sheath the sword which, in its day and +his, had been so terrible to many a man of the Parliament's forces. +It was indeed many years that he had not worn steel at his side; but +it was ever a custom with him, upon any occasion of state, danger, or +solemnity, to fetch with him in the morning this sword from his +chamber. More than once or twice, when I was a little maid with a +conscience not seldom ill at ease, has the sight of that honorable +blade, tucked slantwise beneath his arm as he painfully descended the +great stair of a morning, driven me to hasty repentance and +confession of yesterday's prank or peccadillo. + +My father, then proposing that they should take the air a little, +since the sun continued bravely to shine, remarked, as he laid this +sword upon his chair by the hearth, that his companion had but an +empty scabbard dangling at his sword-belt. To Sir Michael's civil +offer of his own good weapon to replace that so unhappily lost, Ned +replied that he thanked him, but would make shift for a while with +the scabbard, having a mind to fill it again with the only blade that +fitted it, if haply it might be done. And as he spoke his face was +suffused with a flush of deep crimson; the only blush, my father +said, that he had ever seen on the lad's goodly countenance. + +And so they walked a turn in the park, amongst the trees and the +deer, Sir Michael supported, until a pleasant bench was reached, by +an arm that is, I have found, very good and comfortable to lean upon; +where I, having from my lady's window seen them pass, made shift +after a little to join them. Ned rose to meet me, and I was glad to +see the shadow driven from his face by the smile of his welcome. + +"My lady is very instant and pressing that you should go to her," I +said, as I seized in both mine the hand he stretched to me. + +"What, what!" says my father merrily. "Was all this bird-like haste +of swooping down upon us but to drive the man again from your side? +'T is early days, little Phil--early days!" + +"Indeed, sir," I replied, panting a little yet for the speed I had +used, "I would not have the man leave me, and so ran to husband the +minutes with him. Nor I would not have him go to Madam Royston, who +will, without doubt, very quickly draw from him our morning's doings." + +"And wherefore should she not know them?" said Ned, smiling gently on +me the while he still clung to my hand, as finding comfort in the +touch of it. + +"Because," said I, "we have trouble enough, and she will surely make +more when she knows. 'T is now three years past that she told me I +must look for no such greatness as to be your--" and there my +boldness had an end. + +"Is it indeed as you say?" cried poor Ned; and his eyes went in +question from mine to Sir Michael's. + +And then that little devil of mischief was in me again. + +"I vow 't is very true," I said. "Nor I do not quarrel at that. But +in this same matter she had a promise of me, that--that----" + +"What promise was it?" he asked, in some distress. "I do hope it was +nothing foolish, nor hard to keep." + +"I had almost forgot it," I answered, lingering over my words, "but +now I do perceive I have to the letter kept it. Yet indeed, dear +Ned, it was for some hours hard to observe that pledge, for I did +promise her that I would wait until I was asked." And, if my jest +was of more boldness than wit, the laughter that greeted it, being +compounded of love, merriment, and confidence, lacked nothing of the +finest quality. + +Conversation more sober ensuing, it appeared that Ned, who already, +before he broke his fast, had visited her, was neither now willing to +leave me, nor, with the present load of care upon him, to submit +again so soon to the searching scrutiny of his mother's eyes a +countenance that was, he well knew, of a very treacherous honesty. +For, if he saw little need to conceal our betrothal from her, he had +no mind she should get wind of his disfavor with His Highness of +Orange. Whereupon my father, who seemed, indeed, to preside at the +feast of our joy with a tenderness almost feminine, undertook an +embassage to my Lady Mary, hoping, he said, by discovery of the +betrothal, to close her eyes for a while to all other troubles. + +He stoutly refused every offer of assistance to his walking, saying +it were best with all the pains of a penitent to approach so awful a +shrine; and so, cheerily waving one hand and leaning with the other +upon his stick, made his way limping to the house. + +It was not long after his leaving us that, although deep in +discussion of matters vastly entertaining at least to those engaged, +I heard the rapid approach of a horse, of which, with his rider, I +very soon had a glimpse as they passed the open space between the +last trees of the avenue and the southeastern corner of the house. + +Now, while Ned spoke many things most sweet to hear, and I, though +finding my power of words strangely contracted since my father's +leaving us, now and again made shift to answer him; and while he was +about opening that question, to this day not with conclusion to be +answered, of when first each did begin to love the other, some part +of me was all the time with secret clamor asking who this mounted +visitor should be. What if he were from the Prince? And so, though +I heard most of his words, and held them all dear, I was at length in +such a fever of desire to know more of what was toward within doors, +that I told Ned my presence was needed in the house, as much in his +own interest as of the visitor, and my father that must entertain +him. And I would not let him conduct me, for I wished (though to him +I said nothing of this), in case of news, ill or good, in the matter +of his standing with His Highness, to know it first myself; so begged +him where he was to await me a while, and left him, I doubt not, in +much amaze at the contradictions of the feminine nature. At least it +was so that I was fain to hope he explained a behavior that may well +have appeared whimsical in me; having not infrequently observed that +this is with some of our masters a means much favored to avoid the +pains of understanding our vagaries even the most reasonable. + +Sir Michael, being admitted to Lady Mary's presence, had come no +nearer his purpose than some prefatory compliments and good wishes, +when he was hastily called away to meet a gentleman that was come on +urgent business from His Highness of Orange. Repairing at once to +the great hall, he found before him M. de Rondiniacque, just +dismounted and entered, looking with a wryness of countenance +ill-concealed upon the tankard of ale held out to him by little Prue. + +Perceiving his host, the French officer politely waved aside the +refreshment, and bowed to Sir Michael with great reverence and all +the grace of the Paris manner. Now his name, as was but natural, +when it reached my father's ears, was become twisted out of all shape. + +"You are welcome," says Sir Michael, returning his obeisance. "I +address, I believe, M. le Lieutenant--" and there stuck. + +"Jean-Marie Godemar de Rondiniacque, at your service," replied that +gentleman. "My poor name, Sir Michael, has great terror for unwonted +tongues!" + +"'T is then a fit companion to your sword, M. de Rondiniacque," says +Sir Michael, in the older fashion of courtly compliment. + +M. de Rondiniacque bowed again. "It is well if they agree, sir," he +said, "for they are my whole estate." + +"I can wish you, M. de Rondiniacque, no better," replied my father. +"You come, I believe, from His Highness of Orange." + +And M. de Rondiniacque, saying that he had indeed that honor, +presented a letter from the Prince, in which it was set forth that +His Highness, being in the neighborhood, was fain to do himself the +pleasure of a visit, of necessity short, to so distinguished a +soldier and gentleman, and so stanch a supporter of that cause which +the Prince had made his own, as Sir Michael Drayton; and would not in +his coming lag far behind the bearer of the letter. + +Having read, Sir Michael was at once for calling out his little +company of armed men and putting himself at their head, in order to +meeting His Highness in the village, and escorting him to the house, +but M. de Rondiniacque very respectfully opposed this course, saying +that His Highness was particular in his instructions that Sir +Michael's age and infirmities should be disturbed by no pomp nor +ceremony of reception. + +"His Highness does me great honor," said Sir Michael. + +"His Highness is little likely to forget," replied M. de +Rondiniacque, "that, in an hour when he almost despaired of that help +and countenance he was led to look for on his coming into England +from gentlemen of condition, Sir Michael Drayton was the first to +come forward and set a noble pattern to the rest. There are, +moreover, other matters, I believe, in which the Prince holds himself +your debtor, sir. But of these, being most curiously entangled with +some of another sort, I am not to speak; being straitly enjoined to +leave them for your meeting with His Highness." + +Now these words did mightily please my father, filling him with hope +by his own influence and arguments of setting all things right +between Captain Royston and the Prince of Orange. So, most +courteously praying M. de Rondiniacque that until His Highness's +arrival he would consider the house his own, begging excuse of his +absence on the ground of fit preparation to be made for the Prince, +and bidding Prudence attend the gentleman's wants, he took himself +off to find Philip, and with him concert a plan of action. + +Alone with Prue, M. de Rondiniacque was not long in marking, +according to his habit, the dainty person and pretty face of her that +waited upon him. Now Prudence was never slow to observe when she had +made a conquest, however slight, and soon responded to his flattery +by bringing him in a flagon something better than the ale she had +observed him to look upon so sourly. + +"Perhaps, sir," says Prue, "being out of France, you will have more +thirst for good Burgundy than for our ale." + +"Pour it to me yourself, fair Hebe," cried De Rondiniacque; and as +she obeyed he smiled upon her freely, and twisted in very gallant +fashion the little black mustachios that adorned his lip. "Nay," he +continued: "but you must put those pretty lips to the cup before I +drink." + +"Oh! la, no, sir!" cries Prue; "indeed I could n't," and straightway +sipped, making, I doubt not, as she cried "I' fecks, 't is good!" a +little grimace of satisfaction, with lips pursed up, as I have seen +her often, like a bird uplifting his bill in dumb thanksgiving to the +clouds for water in a thirsty land. Indeed, M. de Rondiniacque has +told me, in these days of nearer acquaintance, that things had fallen +far otherwise than they did but for the pretty coquetry of Prudence +and his own too inflammable temper. + +If the wine was red, he remarked, her lips were no less rich in +color; which led him incontinently to swear the wine was but the +second refreshment for his tasting; and if her coyness persuaded him +to change the order of succession, a great draught of that generous +wine of Burgundy did by no means lessen his desire to taste the red +velvet of her now pouting lips. + +And so it was that I, nearing the door, was by a scream from my +handmaid drawn with such haste into the hall that I found her in the +arms of M. de Rondiniacque, whose mouth was pressed with much force +and no little enjoyment to the lips he had of late compared with the +wine. + +At once recognizing the gallant officer for my friend of yesterday, I +wished indeed that I had stayed with Ned; but in the brief time spent +by Prudence in freeing herself (for she had immediately seen me), and +by M. de Rondiniacque in perceiving me, and letting her free, I had +called to my assistance all that dignity and state of bearing which +is seldom far to seek by the woman, however young and unversed in the +world, who has faith in her gown and her cause. + +"Prudence!" I cried, standing half-way between them and the door, and +speaking with great severity, while she, red as fire, fumbled +piteously with her apron, and the gentleman sought to cover the +foolishness of his face with the hand that pulled at the hair upon +his upper lip; "Prudence, what means this noise and outcry? Who are +you, sir?" + +"A poor gentleman of France, mistress," he replied, "but now arrived +with word of the coming of His Highness of Orange." + +"And does that good news fetch cries for help from my serving-woman?" +I demanded, bending my brows in a frown that I would have had very +awful. + +"Nay, be not so moved, fair mistress," said M. de Rondiniacque, in a +voice very gentle and soothing. "The outcry was for another matter, +and, _foi de gentilhomme!_ the fault was mine alone. It was but +for--for a kiss that I did give the maid in jest." + +"Such jests, good sir, are fitter for the camp," I answered, a little +relaxing my sternness. Then, observing that he began with more +intentness to regard me, I sent Prudence at once from the hall. When +she was gone, I prayed him, with a courtesy very frigid, to let me +know, ere I left him, if there were aught in which I could serve him, +or provide for his comfort, ending, as I thought very artfully, with, +"M. de--de--" as if I knew not his name. + +"My name is De Rondiniacque," he said, smiling on me with an +expression of much cunning. "I do perceive that you are at least +aware of my claim to noble family. One thing, madam, there is, in +which you can oblige me,--to tell me, I mean, where I have before +encountered you." + +"I cry you mercy, sir," I said, "for I know not what you mean." For +somehow I had little mind to discuss with him the affair of last +night, and was abashed, moreover, at the thought of how I had then +appeared. So I spoke with a great haughtiness and disdain, and made +to leave him. + +But he came quickly between me and the door, and--"_Mon Dieu!_" he +cried, "'t is the pretty boy of yesterday!" + +"You grow in mystery, M. de Rondiniacque," I said. "Prithee, let me +pass!" + +"Nay, nay," he answered, "this loftiness shall not bugbear me, pretty +one. Thou dost know thy way to a camp and out again as well as +another. Faith, I did ponder wherefore those bright eyes did draw me +so." + +"If you continue these matters with me, sir, I must leave you," I +cried, and so made attempt to pass him. + +But he seized me gently by the arm. "You shall not so," he +exclaimed. "Nay, do not fear I will hurt you. I do not handle a +woman as I grasped that ruffling youth. How fare the pretty wrists?" + +My anger here prevailing over my prudence, I declared roundly that I +would take these injuries to those that should exact account of them. +Whereupon he seized me very firmly by the hand, so that I could not +withdraw it. + +"And tell them, too," he said, "of last night's masquerade. I will +not be denied. Your secret is safe with me. Do I not know? Have I +not many such in keeping? But none, I swear, for so lovely a partner +in guilt. But it must be a bargain between us." And as I struggled +to free my hand he wound his arm about my waist, holding me with a +wonderful gentleness of strength. "Nay, do not fret," he went on, "I +will not hurt you, and the bargain is soon struck. A tender glance +of your eye will pay for much, as I doubt not you have been told +before. Come, strife is folly with those that love us; and verily +you are so beautiful that I love you already. What! still stubborn?" + +"Loose me," I panted, now mad with rage and struggling. + +"I vow," said he, "I am beside myself with love of you. Oh, why so +easy but one day past, and now so proud?" + +"I will call," said I, drawing breath for a loud cry. + +"And not twice," said a harsh voice from the door, whither turning my +eyes I beheld Edward Royston. He had followed me as I my father, +and, even as I, was arrived in a moment for M. de Rondiniacque most +unhappy. To prove this, the mere sight of his countenance was +enough; I had often seen it stern, but never before so terrible. + +Now, upon my entrance some few minutes before, M. de Rondiniacque had +very promptly and civilly loosed his hold of little Prue; but, +whether because he considered he now held a nobler prey, or because +he would grant to the presence of a woman what he must refuse to the +dictation of a man, certain it is that this time intrusion brought no +release. With his eyes fixed upon my captor Captain Royston strode +slowly up the hall till close upon us; then, pointing with his finger +to M. de Rondiniacque's hand that was still about my waist: "You will +need that hand for your sword, Lieutenant de Rondiniacque," he said. +"Do you not take my meaning? This, at least, is as French as it is +English." And with that he struck him across the face with the glove +he carried in his hand. + +And then at length I was free, and quickly out of reach of my +persecutor. The Frenchman stepped back, and drew slowly and with +seeming reluctance; astonished no more by the blow than by this new +complexion put upon the matter. I marked, moreover, with a great +pain of compassion in me, how poor Ned's hand went also to his side, +to find but the scabbard; and to me that watched his face the while +it was plain the emptiness of that sheath did not a little exacerbate +the bitterness of his spirits; so that I fell into a great fear of +what he should do. + +Finding, then, that he had no sword, Ned went, still with the same +awful and deliberate calmness, to Sir Michael's great chair by the +hearth, and brought thence naked the sword my father had offered a +while since for his use. But, as the two men faced each other, M. de +Rondiniacque lowered his point to the floor. + +"Royston," he said with much gentleness, "I would not hurt you." + +"You had best try," replied his opponent, "for I shall kill you else." + +"I will explain the matter," said De Rondiniacque, still patient. + +"You may do so," Ned replied unmoved, "afterwards--in hell." + +"I do think, indeed, Ned," I here interrupted, "he did not know me +for what I am, but did mistake me for some runagate hussy." + +"Then for that I will kill him!" said Ned, never turning my way, nor +taking his baleful eye from the other's face. "If you would not see +it done, go, bid your father come to see it is no murder." + +And somehow I could not altogether disobey his word; yet I made my +passage to the door as slow as foot can go. + +"And now, sir," my champion continued, "I will show you how in +England we do serve him that affronts the daughter of his host." + +"Sir Michael's daughter!" exclaimed the poor man, so wholly careless +of covering himself that Ned's intended attack upon him was perforce +again delayed. "I knew her but for a pretty piece that did ride the +country as a lad, and that passed yesterday many hours among us. +Meeting her now in female attire, I did think----" + +"For that thought alone I will kill you!" said Ned, and their swords +crossed. + +And so I fled to find my father, having for my lover, indeed, no fear +at all, but much for the gentleman who was, when all was said, our +guest, and taken, as I thought, rather in a very luckless error than +in any wilful offence. + +Now, as I passed through the lobby of entrance, the great door stood +wide to the sweet noontide air of that shining autumn day; and I, +glancing forth to see if Sir Michael were abroad and within hail, +beheld coming up the avenue a great number of horsemen, their steel +harness gleaming in the sun beneath the leafless trees. So I knew +the Prince was come, and hastened the more to advise my father of all +that was toward. Him I found very soon (though my inquietude did +lend great length to the search) in the stable-yard. He was angry in +face and words, and vexed at soul, for he had just learned that +Philip was gone. He was come to the stable to know what horse had +borne his son from the house, and it was therefore upon Christopher +Kidd that his wrath now fell. The poor fellow had of this sort in +the past twenty hours received more than was by any means earned, and +turned upon me the eager countenance of one that looks for succor. + +"Dear sir," I cried to my father, "His Highness is arrived." + +"What!" cried he in answer. "Why, then, was I not advised?" + +"I come to tell you," I replied. "His Highness is not yet +dismounted, and with haste you may yet receive him at the door." + +Now, as we spoke, Christopher had been heavily searching for +something in the pocket of his breeches, which found, he hurried +after us, as my father with the help of my arm made painful haste to +the house. + +"If the Prince be indeed come, Sir Michael," said Kidd, intercepting +us at the side door of the house, "I keep my word to Master Philip, +and rid myself of the plaguy thing at once." And he thrust into Sir +Michael's hand a twisted and crumpled paper, and beat a rapid +retreat, vanishing in the stable before my father had deciphered the +last words of Philip's message. + +When this was done we read it again together, and my father, after a +few words of the great need there was like to be of Philip's presence +among us during His Highness's visit to Drayton, despatched me in hot +haste to see to the hoisting of the banner, which fluttering from the +turret should bring back in the nick of time, if it pleased God, him +that had, through little fault of his own, been the cause of all +these troubles. + +Meantime, in the hall, Ned's attack had been both skilful and bitter; +so fiercely indeed did he push his opponent that M. de Rondiniacque +has since taken, by his own account, no little credit to himself for +the swordmanship that enabled him for a while, at least, to resist +the onslaught, without, in his turn, attempting the injury of his +adversary. At length, what with the fury of the attack and some +carelessness on the Frenchman's part in shifting his ground, Ned had +him so hemmed in and penned up in that corner of the hall that is +opposite to the chief door of entrance that De Rondiniacque seemed +wholly at his mercy. But, even in that passion of anger with which +the despite of fortune had overwhelmed the habitual temper of his +spirit, it was quite foreign to Ned's nature to take his enemy thus +at an advantage. Almost in the act of delivering his point in a +manner that for one in De Rondiniacque's constrained and +circumscribed position would have been more than difficult to parry, +he checked himself, and, retreating to the middle of the floor, cried +to him to come out, for he would not willingly nail him like a stoat +or weasel to the wall. + +"Enough, Royston! 't is enough!" he cried, coming forward. "I did +never know you bloodthirsty." + +So saying, he raised his eyes and saw what Ned from his position +could not see, that within the doorway stood a small and silent +group, spectators of the duel. These were His Highness of Orange and +some four or five others. Dismounting, they had found no sign of +hospitality but the openness of the great door, and all hesitation to +enter unannounced was banished by the sound of the sword-play in the +hall. The Prince stepped at once into the lobby; he then stood a +moment listening to the ring of meeting blades, and to the tearing, +striding hiss of their parting. + +"This is no fencing bout," said he, and entered the hall. + +"Bloodthirsty, forsooth!" cried Ned, in answer to De Rondiniacque's +essay at peacemaking. "Bloodthirsty! I have borne enough of late to +make me so, in all conscience. Look to yourself, man, for I would +kill you, were you William and all his troops." And with that he +fell upon him again with much fury, so that the other was beginning +of necessity a more aggressive defence, when the Prince stepped +between them, striking up their swords with his riding-whip. + +"Since when, Mr. Royston," he said, "do you carry a sword? And for +whom?" + +But Royston, balked of his prey, and feeling the whole world in +league against him, was too full of anger to show either surprise or +reverence. "Captain Royston," he said, with great and bitter +emphasis on the military title, "has left his sword in miserly hands, +Your Highness." + +"How so?" demanded William, the frown growing deeper on his face. + +"Hands that grasp what they do not need," replied Ned boldly. "But +_Master_ Royston takes a sword where he finds it, uses it against +whom he pleases, and wields it for himself." + +"The fault, Monseigneur, of this broil is wholly mine," interposed M. +de Rondiniacque. + +"Lieutenant de Rondiniacque," replied the Prince, "I know your +generous nature, and for once mistrust it. What is the occasion of +the broil, as you name it?" + +With some hesitation M. de Rondiniacque answered that it was a +quarrel--about a woman. + +His Highness laughed drily. "I fear, Lieutenant," he said, "that to +protect a man that was once your friend, you play very nobly upon our +knowledge of your weakness." + +"Indeed, sire," said De Rondiniacque, "it is as I say. I did wrong a +lady, mistaking her for another kind." + +"And did 'William and all his army' likewise wrong this lady?" asked +the Prince. + +"Indeed, no, Your Highness," replied De Rondiniacque. + +"Then I must believe, Lieutenant," the Prince continued, "that it is +for no kiss to a pretty girl, but for holding my commission, that you +were even now in danger of your life. We have it from his own lips +that he had as lief kill me as you." Then, as the generous fellow +would again have spoken in endeavor to put the matter in a better +aspect, "No more, sir," said His Highness; "stand aside." He then +proceeded to address Captain Royston. + +"Sir," he said, "I spared your life of late. But I did warn you that +if found again in our neighborhood, or raising hand against us, were +it never so little, you were like to get such treatment as we give to +spies." And, turning to the officers and gentlemen that had entered +the hall in his company, he added: "How think you, gentlemen?" + +To this question Mr. Bentinck contented himself with replying that +His Highness had indeed promised as much, and that it was for him to +judge whether his conditions had been infringed; Count Schomberg, who +was still of the party, said, speaking in the French language, that +an example would not come amiss at this juncture, for he believed +these raw English levies were proving not a little turbulent and +likely to give trouble. The rest, much, I think, to their honor, +kept silence, having perhaps the greatest difficulty in believing the +matters alleged against Captain Royston, that his confession of the +night before came to them but at second-hand. + +There is little doubt in my mind that the silence of these two +younger gentlemen, taking sides, as it seemed to do, with the small +doubt or hesitation that still lurked in the Prince's mind, added for +the moment fuel to his anger. He bade the junior of them go to the +escort, and send in a file of men; this gentleman, as he went, +encountering Sir Michael in the doorway, after one glance in his +face, stood back, giving way to him with a natural and involuntary +respect. For M. de Rondiniacque has told me that my father entered +the hall with that pure and noble dignity of bearing to which age, +infirmity, and even lameness can but add distinction. + +"Your Highness is welcome," he said, at once singling out and +approaching his chief guest. "I regret my failure to welcome his +arrival, and could wish I had better entertainment to give." + +"I am wholly of your mind, Sir Michael Drayton," replied the Prince. +"I like it so little that I take my leave of you." And with that he +turned his back upon his host, addressing some words in a low voice +to Mr. Bentinck. + +The insult was plain, and, although he was in a measure prepared for +trouble by the few words he had heard before he entered the hall, +such an attack upon himself was wholly beyond Sir Michael's +expectation. He was, however, a man to resent discourtesy most +readily from the highest source. + +"I will ask Your Highness," said he, in a voice very clear and +steady, "how we have incurred his displeasure." Then the old man +drew himself to his full height, and his voice recovered for a space +some of the fuller and rounder tones of earlier days. "Ay, but it +is," he said very solemnly, "a matter very weighty. Since Your +Highness has so spoken, and within my walls, I may ask the reason of +it." + +The Prince turned upon him with a great suddenness. "Then know, +sir," he answered, almost fiercely, "that I was yesterday received +under pretence of loyalty and friendship into the house of an English +gentleman that has served me beyond the seas. But the house, sir, +was a trap, and I the rat for whom the bait was set." At this point +it was that two troopers, preceded by the young officer, entered the +hall. His Highness regarded them for a moment, and then continued to +Sir Michael his explanation, which rapidly unfolded itself as a +charge against more than Edward Royston. "Well, Sir Michael, I +spared that man's life, moved to clemency, I believe, in chief by the +persuasion of a young fellow that did bring me warning of my danger. +For this treacherous host, I dismissed him my service, and, if proof +that I then erred was lacking last night, it is not far to seek this +morning. For I now find the man here, with my messenger to you at +his sword's point, and threats against me and mine mingling with his +sword-play. How shall I know this is not yet another hotbed of false +friends? In truth, I do believe it such. Therefore, I say again, +sir, I do not like my entertainment." + +"Your Highness is much abused," said Sir Michael, mighty calmly. + +"Indeed," replied the Prince, with a harsh and unkindly laugh, "I do +believe I am." + +"For this is a matter," continued my father, loftily passing over the +twisting of his word, "of which I do know the rights." + +"'T is like enough, sir," said the Prince. "But I do not look to +hear them from you." Then, turning to the two troopers, he bade them +arrest Captain Royston, saying to them and the officer that he should +hold them responsible for the prisoner's person till Exeter was +reached. Now, Ned had stood all this while with my father's sword +still naked in his hand, the point resting upon the floor. + +"Take his sword," said His Highness. + +And poor Ned, by this caring little what he did, flung the borrowed +weapon on the ground. + +"The sword is mine!" said Sir Michael. + +"I ask your pardon, Sir Michael," cried Ned, and stooped to raise it, +saying, as he reverently presented the hilt to its owner: "I did use +it for your daughter, sir." + +For which Sir Michael thanked him very civilly, and then addressed +the future King of England in words that I think he has not to this +day forgot. + +"William, Prince of Orange," he said, "this sword had been raised +against King Charles the Martyr himself in defence of the friend +beneath my roof. But now my hand can barely fetch it from the +sheath. Yet is my tongue not rusted, and the old man's voice must be +heard." And then, as a silence fell heavy upon the room, he added, +"Ay, and heard it shall be." + +The Prince turned his aquiline gaze upon him, but the man who had met +and endured unflinching the eyes of the Lord Protector Cromwell was +no whit abashed. I have heard old men say that thirty years ago my +father's glance could be terrible as his sword; and even now there +were moments when from the dimmed azure of that deep-set eye the mist +of its many years was lifted, and the color grew cerulean round the +keen and glowing spark that lit up, it seemed, not only the orb, but +the whole countenance of the man, while it pierced the heart of the +wicked, and not seldom affected even the innocent with a great fear. +The Prince, like the brave man he ever was, met the old man's eye +with courage. + +"Be brief, sir," said he, "and I will hear you." And although it was +at this moment that without we heard the clamorous arrival of a +despatch-rider who shortly after entered, with bloody spurs and +bespattered to the eyes with mud, and presented a sealed packet to +Mr. Bentinck, yet, throughout the little commotion thus made, His +Highness never once turned his attention from Sir Michael. + +"I do here solemnly declare," said my father, "that Edward Royston +hath done no treason to you." + +"He has refused all account of his action," replied the Prince, very +coldly. + +"And so doing," retorted the old man, "he intended the sacrificing +his own honor to mine." + +"Said I not you were in league with him?" cried the Prince. + +"Indeed, I am so," answered Sir Michael; "but in no treason." + +"If the truth will clear his name," said His Highness, "the truth +must be said." + +"And shall be, if Your Highness grant us breathing time of one short +half-hour." And here Ned's valiant advocate paused a little, waiting +a reply that came not, for this concession of time he was determined +to win, if it were by any means to be gained; having no mind to tell +Philip's story without his son's knowledge of the telling, and his +presence to bear witness, if need were, to the truth of the tale. +And all this while, from the coming of the courier, Mr. Bentinck had +perused the papers he had taken from the packet placed in his hands. +He now raised his head, and eyed keenly the two speakers, as one that +had not missed a word of their talk. "How saith the great Prince," +my father continued, "that is come to set free a land enslaved? +Thirty little minutes on the dial's face? It is surely no great boon +to ask." + +And Mr. Bentinck stepped up to the Prince, saying privately, but not +so low as to be unheard of all: "Grant it. I have here news that do +affect the matter." + +And so it came about that the Prince, with a growth of courtesy +forced upon him by Sir Michael's bearing, did promise in half an +hour's time to hear his story in defence of the accused, asking very +civilly his host's permission to walk with his suite in the garden +that he spied from the windows until the time were past. So--the +Prince and his following walking abroad; my father despatching Simon +and others not only with refreshment for the gentlemen, but also +great tankards of ale and other good things to the soldiers of the +escort; Ned with his guard, moreover, being quartered for this +momentous half-hour in my father's little chamber on the ground +floor; and I, like Sister Anne in the tale of Bluebeard and his many +wives, being posted on the roof of the turret, and, beneath a flag +that would not at all, in the light breeze that there was, spread +itself to my liking, watching with an old spy-glass to my eye for the +horseman that should by his coming make us all happy again--there was +left in the hall none but the luckless cause of this present phase of +our troubles. M. de Rondiniacque at least thought himself alone; and +since he is of a nature very generous and candid, who so unhappy as +he? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +M. de Rondiniacque had little reason to hope for anything better than +a second rebuff if he pursued the Prince to plead Royston's cause in +the garden. He therefore sat him down in the hall where they had +left him, to ponder miserably enough the mischief he had done. But +scarce, being wont at times to speak to himself aloud, had he cried: +"_Mort de ma vie!_ but if poor Royston suffer for this, I will +forswear all and turn monk" (wholly forgetting, as he was at times +not a little used, the grave cause of his expatriation), when there +ran lightly out from the shelter formed by the hanging that was +before the door that leads to the kitchens, who but little Prue? + +Now, it was not far from this door that Mr. Bentinck had stood while +he read the letters brought by the courier, and it was at this point +that Prudence now paused, and stooping, raised from the floor a sheet +of thin paper, twice folded, which it soon appeared she had from her +cover observed that gentleman to let fall. Holding this behind her +back, she addressed M. de Rondiniacque. + +"'T is a mighty fine business, Master Foreigner," she said. "See how +you have embroiled everything with this love of kissing! It is like +enough you have by this means cost an honest man his life." + +"'T is all true that you say," replied he; "yet I cannot tell how you +should know it, if you have not wilfully listened since ever your +mistress sent you from this place." + +"I came between that door and its curtain," she replied, "in the same +moment that Sir Michael did ask the Prince the reason of his +churlishness. So it was not long before I heard good Mr. Royston +tell how he did use the sword for Sir Michael's daughter. And I were +a ninnyhammer indeed, if I could not from that tell the rest of the +tale. Therefore, I say again, that 't is all your fault, ill man +that you are!" + +"It is mine, indeed," said De Rondiniacque sadly. + +Then did Prudence pull a very long and solemn face. + +"Do you repent of your sins?" she asked. + +"Most heartily I do," he answered. + +"And would you atone?" she continued. + +"Most gladly--but how?" he asked. + +"Will you leave kissing forever," she demanded with great severity, +"if I do put you in the way to make amends?" + +"Ay, that, and more!" he cried, in reckless penitence, "do but show +me the way." + +"Nay, softly," she answered. "'T will take three at least, and one +of them a woman of a very pretty wit, even if I be not mistaken, to +undo the mischief one witless man can work with this same foolish +kissing." + +"Have done with your gibes!" said De Rondiniacque angrily. "I would +not kiss you again if you asked it." For which discourtesy Mistress +Prue deferred her revenge, thinking, as she has told me, that it was +but his sorrow and zeal of penitence made the gentleman speak so +unmannerly. + +"Hark then to me," she said. "As I stood there by the door, where I +could hear all and see not a little, after that the Prince had said +they would walk a turn in the garden, and while they were taking away +poor Mr. Royston a prisoner, the sour-faced man in black drew the +Prince aside so that they almost touched the curtain that hid me. +And there for a little space they stood, talking soft and low. What +is he--the surly one, I mean, that had the papers?" + +"That is Mr. Bentinck," replied De Rondiniacque, with some +impatience. "Well, what said they?" + +"The Prince was minded that Sir Michael spoke truth, but the man in +black that they must use all means to lay hands on the priest; he +said, too, that in his letter was a paper with every mark of this +priest's person, so as it might be his very portrait cunningly +painted; and he said that he cared not a groat for Sir Michael, nor +for poor Mr. Royston, so he might come at the priest. They are +mightily in love with this priest, Mr. Mar-all, and I do think----" + +"Did you hear his description?" interrupted De Rondiniacque. "Did +Bentinck read it to the Prince?" + +"They should do that in the air, said the Prince. And as they went I +saw how this Mr. _Benting_, as you call him, did search among the +papers in his hands as if he had lost one of them. And 't is little +wonder," added she, "that he could not find it, for His Highness's +great boot had it fast under heel the while they talked; and to that +heel it stuck for three good strides of their passage to the other +door. See the mark of his tread." And she showed him the paper she +had found, with its impress of a muddy heel. "And I do think," said +Prudence, "that it is, perhaps, by the grace of God, that same paper +that tells of this priest's person." + +"I see little good in it for us, even if it be so," said he; "but let +me read." And, leaning over her as she unfolded the paper, he put an +arm round her waist. But Prue twisted sinuously from his grasp. + +"Nay, Mr. Mar-all," she cried, "I will read it myself. I can read a +bold hand o' write near as well as print." And then, after peering +closely for a while at the crabbed, slanting, and unfamiliar +characters upon the paper, she said dolefully: "Alack-aday! 't is an +outlandish thing, and will not be read. I vow 't is French lingo!" + +M. de Rondiniacque snatched the paper from her hand. + +"I will read it for you, my pretty one," he said. + +"I am not that, thank Heaven!" says Prue, bridling, as he hastily +scanned the writing. + +"What! not pretty?" he asked, toying with her as it were by rote of +habit, while eyes and mind were both upon his reading. + +"That I hope I am," replied Prue, "but not yours. Your love is +unlucky." Then, as she saw that she was like to get little sport +while he still would read: "Can you read French, sir?" she asked. + +"What else?" he answered. "Do I not speak it since I was weaned?" + +"Ay, to speak it," said she; "that I can understand, being +natural-like to a poor thing hearing no better from a child. But to +read it--'t is wonderful indeed. Come, do it into English for me." +Then, hearing a footstep without, she cried: "Have you mastered it? +For I think he returns," and as M. de Rondiniacque looked up from +reading the last words, she snatched from him the paper and hid it in +her bosom. + +The next moment Mr. William Bentinck entered the hall, walking slowly +and casting his eyes from side to side in anxious search of the floor +for the very thing she had hidden. When he perceived that he was not +alone, he asked with some eagerness whether by chance Lieutenant de +Rondiniacque had seen him drop a paper. That gentleman replying that +he had seen no paper fall, and proceeding with great appearance of +innocent good nature to peer about in the same search, Mr. Bentinck +turned his regard upon Prudence, who was about leaving the room. + +She seemed, however, on a sudden to change her purpose, for, turning +again into the hall, she approached Mr. Bentinck, and, speaking with +a very fine assumption of timidity: "If it please your honor," she +said, "was it a very thin paper that you mislaid, and twice folded?" + +"Yes," replied Mr. Bentinck very sharply. "Where is it?" + +"La, now," cries Prue, "where did I lay it? I did think perhaps it +was of import, and know I did put it in safety." + +"Then find it," growled he so angrily that poor Prue appeared much +frightened. + +"Nay, sir," she pleaded very piteously, "do not so frown upon a poor +maid." + +She looked around a little, as in great puzzlement; then, feeling +daintily beneath her stomacher, she produced the paper, crying +triumphantly that she had said it was safe, and here it was. Mr. +Bentinck was at once upon the paper like a hungry hawk, asking, so +soon as it was safe in his hand, whether she had read what was there +written. At which Prudence opened wide her blue eyes in an amazement +vastly childlike. + +"And how does your honor think I should read French?" she asked. + +"And how know 't was French," retorted her inquisitor, with bitter +keenness, "if you did not read?" But Prue was too strong for the +great statesman. + +"Mercy on us, sir," she cried, clasping her hands most prayerfully, +"do not hang me! I' fecks I did try to read, and making nothing of +it, did know it for French." + +When Mr. Bentinck, for all reply, had tushed, pshawed, and growled a +few words wholly inaudible, he turned sharply upon his heel and left +them. + +And when he was well away M. de Rondiniacque, forgetful alike of +pious vow and petulant threat, seized Prudence in his arms and very +heartily embraced her. + +"By all my Huguenot ancestors!" he cried, kissing her vigorously to +punctuate his oath, "but I do love thee, good wench." And 't is +enough proof that she forgave him this breach of decorum that she +said never a word of threat nor promise broken. + +"Was it not purely done?" she said, pushing him away. "Now tell me +what was writ in the paper. Pray Heaven you did read enough." + +"All," replied M. de Rondiniacque. "But, though I put much faith in +you, I know not yet what is your scheme, nor for what reason, if it +be of use to us, you have returned to the Dutchman his lost paper." + +"'T is as needful he should know what there is written as we, if it +is as I guess," said Prue. "And that I cannot tell until you give me +its purport." + +"Somewhat in this way it ran, then," rejoined M. de Rondiniacque: + + +"'Father Francis, otherwise and at present known as "James Marston, +of the City of Oxford," fat, short, red periwig, his own hair +tonsured----'" + + +Prue's head had so far nodded to each particular, but at this she +checked her pretty chin in mid-air. "Tonsured!" she cried; "and what +is that?" + +"Shaven so," he replied, describing with his finger a ring upon the +top of his head. "There is much more in the paper, however." + +"You have told me enough," said Prue, much elated. "Come with me, +and I will show you the man." + +"But this is not the man that escaped our hands last night," said M. +de Rondiniacque, thoughtfully. + +"What matter, Mr. Mar-plot? Can you not see it is the man they would +have? Come." And she seized him by the hand and ran for the door, +almost dragging him after her. But at that turn of the gallery that +leads to the stable-yard she paused a moment. "But in truth," she +said, "it does hurt me to betray the poor man." + +"Betray!" cried M. de Rondiniacque. + +"To be sure," answered Prue; "it will be nothing else. Since last +evening have I hid him in the barn loft. He told me he was a poor +soldier of His Highness that was to be hanged for stealing an old +hen. Now 't is a wicked thing indeed to steal a hen, but since the +hen was, he says, very tough and bad eating, I think it a worse thing +to hang the poor man for it. Moreover, I did once save my +grandfather when Kirke's men would have hanged him, and the mere name +of a rope would make me pity a very Judas." + +"But what made you think him a soldier, and yet know him for a +priest?" asked M. de Rondiniacque, not a little puzzled. + +"He has a sword and other vile things for killing," replied the +tender-hearted little fool, "and also a great cloak like those of the +Prince's guard." + +"I begin to smoke the man," said the Lieutenant, remembering the +escape, after the affair in the orchard at Royston, of one of the +conspirators. + +"But this morning, when I privily took him food," continued Prudence, +"the thing of steel, which is for all the world like those of your +men, was no longer upon his head. For he lay sleeping, and before I +had him awake I had well marked the little round spot atop of his +head, which had not long since certainly been shaven, having now but +a very short and stubby growth of hair upon it. And he made me +think, too, of a bad man that Farmer Kidd did tell me of. So I +thought he was perhaps the priest your Mr. _Benting_ hunts." + +"'T is very like," said M. de Rondiniacque. "So lead me where he is, +child. In any case, he is a bad man." + +"You would not have me betray a man for no reason but his badness," +said the girl piteously. + +"I would have you spend your pity first upon the good and innocent," +replied M. de Rondiniacque, with some sternness; and then added: +"Moreover, the man is a Papist." + +"A Papist! Ah! I do forget," cried Prue. "He must even make way +for better men." And with that she led him at once the same road +that the ale and beef had taken. From which it is clear that M. de +Rondiniacque's dealings with her kind had at least taught him the +dexterous art of matching a bad reason with a worse upon the other +side. + +Such, then, was my little handmaid's great secret, which nothing, +perhaps, but her pique at her mistress's reticence could have induced +her so long to maintain. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Meantime, upon the turret roof I was enduring very tediously the +flight of these anxious minutes. The spot we used to call the Crow's +Nest is marked plain to the unaided eye by a gap in the woods that +cover the low ridge of hills along which runs the road Exeter way +from Holroyd Grange. This break in the line of trees did I watch, it +may be, for no more than ten minutes; but if it be remembered that I +knew not yet what was the end of the struggle in the hall, that a +thousand accidents suggested by the active mind to the unwilling +heart might delay or prevent Philip's keeping of his promise, and +that even if his coming availed to restore Ned to the favor of His +Highness, my brother must himself run great risk at his enemies' +hands, it will be found little surprising that those minutes were to +me tense, full, and slow-footed as so many hours. + +At length in the gap appeared something--a horse was it, or a cow? +Certainly there was no man upon its back. But it stopped in the open +space. For at least the fiftieth time I raised to my eye the old +spy-glass Ned had given so many years ago to his little friend, and +with its aid I could now see that it was indeed a horse, with a man +that led it by the bridle, and seemed, I thought, to be gazing toward +me. I laid down the glass, and in a passionate desire by some means +to signify to him the need there was that he should with haste cover +the three miles that lay between us of broken country, I seized the +cords that held the flag aloft, and, loosing that which passes +through the little pulley atop from the pin to which it was fast, I +pulled first on the one and then on the other cord in such wise that +I made the banner run down and up the mast again and again like a +flag gone mad. + +And then once more through the glass I saw the man leap upon the back +of his horse, wave his hat to my signal, and disappear behind the +trees the way he had come. + +And I knew then that he would not be long; for he had gone the way to +take the shortest track to Drayton, and Philip, though he had no love +of horses, could, like all his family, ride when he pleased both +fearlessly and well. I left the flag flying, and descended the +winding stair with heart much lightened, to meet at its foot my +father. + +"He is coming, sir," I cried. "Philip is coming! I have seen him." + +And then I learned from him all that had happened below; and, hearing +that Ned was arrested for his attack on M. de Rondiniacque, was for +going forthwith to find him and to give him what comfort I was able. +This, however, my father would not permit, but led me to his own +chamber, where from the window we watched for Philip's coming. And +although he made his return with a quickness truly wonderful, when +the nature not only of the country he traversed, but also of the +horse that carried him, come to be considered, so that we saw him +close at hand before the Prince's half-hour was expired, yet the time +seemed long indeed that he was coming, and the space left for +conference when he was come appeared all too short. Having seen us +waving signals to him as he forced his jaded nag up the grassy hill +behind the house, he came at once to my father's chamber, where a few +words told him how the matter stood. But when it was now time to +descend and meet His Highness in the hall, the half-hour being +expired, Sir Michael would by no means consent that his son should +accompany him, having perhaps but little hope that his surrender +might be avoided, yet keeping it, as it were, a last piece to move in +the game. But it was good to stand by and hear these two men, so +diverse in purpose, in honor so alike, and to feel in my heart so +sweet a glow of pride in my own people. For I, with most at stake, +could say no word to urge Philip's sacrificing himself. But they +were agreed that no claim nor duty must be counted so great as that +of shielding, and even, if it might be done, of restoring the man who +had held his own honor second to theirs. + +And so Sir Michael went to meet the enemy, telling me, as together we +descended the stair, that I was his second line of support, and that +Philip, waiting above, was his reserve, in case the struggle should +begin to go against him. + +In the hall we found awaiting us the Prince and Mr. Bentinck. In His +Highness's countenance I thought were signs of a humor more kindly +than my father would have had me to expect; for his aspect recalled +rather the man that gave me his sword than him that took from me the +broken blade. I had but one glance at him, however, for as Sir +Michael passed on to address the Prince, there came over me a very +hot and comfortless sense of shame, along with a wish--vastly +unreasonable--that they should not recognize my features. So I +turned aside from my father, and rested my arm upon the mantel, while +I gazed blankly upon the glowing logs that filled the hearth. And +behind me I heard my father tell, in phrases now judicial, now +eloquent, and at times even impassioned, the tale of those accidents +and troubles which had brought, as he said, his old friend, young +Royston, into this bog of His Highness's disfavor. + +But before it was all told a hand touched me upon the shoulder, and a +dry and guttural voice with the one word--"Mistress," made me turn +and confront Mr. Bentinck. His keen eyes seemed to search my +countenance for the answer to some doubt or question in his mind. +"Pray tell me," he said at length, "where is the latter part of His +Highness's sword?" + +"It is here, Mr. Bentinck," I answered, laying my hand where I had +concealed that pointed fragment of steel; "here; near the heart it +shall surely pierce if Edward Royston come to harm amongst you." + +"I did think," he said, "that you were that boy that braved us all. +And I believe, moreover, that you had great part in the escape of the +priest." + +"I had indeed the greatest part of all," I answered, being now +resolved to cast myself upon his mercy; "for without my share the man +had been still fast in your hands. But oh, Mr. Bentinck," I +continued, "why are you his enemy?" + +"Enemy! Whose enemy?" cried Mr. Bentinck. "Is it Captain Royston's +you mean?" + +"Ay, his," I answered. "Oh! he told me that you loved him not, but +withal has no ill word for you, declaring you always the most honest +of His Highness's servants." + +Mr. Bentinck here seemed to muse a little. And then--"I thank him," +he said. "If he be the same, I were sorry to be his enemy." + +"He is honest as the daylight!" I cried. "He has but wronged the +seeming of his honor for another--and that other without fault but in +appearance--as my father now makes plain to His Highness." + +"Indeed, Mistress Drayton," he replied, speaking with a gentleness +well-nigh tender, "I do hope he may." And with that he turned from +me as if to rejoin His Highness. But I summoned all my daring to +make a plea yet more fully feminine, being much emboldened thereto by +the softness of his last words. + +"Mr. Bentinck, Mr. Bentinck," I whispered eagerly, and he turned +again. "Captain Royston and I were to be wed, if--if--" said I, and +could say no more. + +"Ah," said he, "if what?" + +"If you--if His Highness destroy us not utterly," I replied. "Grant +us your aid, Mr. Bentinck." And into these words I put, I do +suppose, much prayerfulness of face, voice, and gesture. For he +looked a moment very kindly on the clasped hands and streaming eyes +that begged his help. + +"Do not weep, mistress," he said. "You shall have all I may give," +and so turned his back upon me. + +And here the Prince came a little toward me. "It is truly a tale of +romance, Sir Michael," he said. "Here was I vainly seeking the +serpent, and, lo! there is none but Eve." And then to me: "Come +hither, Mistress Eve," he said. So I went over to him, and made +before him a courtesy very deep and humble. "I do like you better +thus, child," he went on, "than booted and spurred. Is this a true +history that I hear?" + +"So please Your Highness," I answered, "'t is true as the Gospel." + +"How so?" he asked, smiling. "You have not heard it." + +"But it was my father," said I, "that told it." + +At which reply the Prince appeared much pleased, for, addressing +himself to Mr. Bentinck: "'T is indeed a pious family," he remarked, +"and such mutual faith can hardly go with treason. And, on my +conscience, William," he went on, "the tale has an appearance." +Then, to my father: "If all this be true, Sir Michael, you are much +abused." + +"How that, Your Highness?" asked the old man. + +"By a son," said the Prince, "departing from the faith of his +fathers." + +"It is between him and his Maker," replied Sir Michael, with a touch +of pride. + +"And by me," continued His Highness, "departing from the courtesy +incumbent upon princes. Does that stand in the same awful +arbitrament, Sir Michael?" + +"If Your Highness do me right," said my father, "'t is between us +two, and shall go no further." + +"That is kindly said, sir," answered the Prince. "So, if this be all +true--as it must be, if you have not all the art of deceiving the +most naturally in the world--I must needs fling pardon broadcast, eh?" + +"I do not see what other course is open to Your Highness," said my +father. + +But here the Prince's face grew vastly stern: "Except to this +priest," he said, "who, if he has not aimed at my life, is at least +my enemy, however honorable." + +"My son?" asked Sir Michael; and my heart was sore to see the pallor +of his cheek. + +"Ay, sir, your son--I must have your son. Captain Royston's deed may +become the man of heart, however ill it fits the office of the +soldier. But your son is my open enemy. Must I lose both culprits?" + +And so a shadow fell again upon us all, and with it a solemn silence, +which endured, I believe, all the time that I was absent from the +hall. Certain it is that when I returned in my brother's company not +one of the three looked as if he had spoken. + +When Philip stood before him, the Prince for a while eyed him with +great keenness, which rejoiced me to see; for surely no man had ever +words so eloquent to speak in his own defence as was my brother's +pure and noble countenance. + +"Do you come of your own will to see me?" His Highness at length +enquired. + +"I do," said my brother. + +"And wherefore?" demanded the Prince. + +"To take what blame I may from my friends," Philip answered. + +"I have heard your story, sir," said the Prince. "If you would +escape the fate that comes of ill company, describe to me now him +that constrained you in this matter." + +"I may not," replied Philip. + +"Tell me, then," said His Highness, "what power he held over you." + +"I must not," said Philip. + +This reply seemed not a little to vex the Prince. "Must not!" he +cried. + +"Nay, then," said the priest gently, "an Your Highness like it +better, I will not." + +"'May not, must not, will not,'" said William, bitterly quoting his +words; "by the rule of war, Sir Priest, I may hang you to that tree. +Deny me not, for may can wax greater in other mouths." + +"Hanging," says Philip very coolly, "is little likely to rob me of +the power to hold my tongue." + +Now during this strife, while I both trembled and admired, I had yet +eyes to remark that Mr. Bentinck's gaze did wander to and fro between +a paper he held in his hand and the countenance of this stanch +brother of mine. At the time I knew not what it meant, but have +since reason to believe it that same description of a priest that had +been trodden by the heel of a prince, hid in a maiden's bosom, and +feloniously perused by a gentleman of France. Finding in it little +likeness to the man before him, he proceeded to the execution of a +small but vastly cunning _ruse_, to discover if the man whose +description he held in his hand were indeed the plotter of the late +murderous attack upon His Highness. + +"Your Highness," said he sourly, "this subtile fellow does well know +that this Francis,"--and here Mr. Bentinck glanced with some +ostentation at the paper that was in his hand,--"or 'Marston,' as he +is here named, with his round body and red periwig, is already in our +hands. This aping of constancy is but a means to keep from himself +the blame of a complicity that the other confesses." + +"Nay, faith!" cried Philip, with an eagerness wholly innocent, "I +knew not that he was taken." + +At this His Highness laughed loud and right merrily. "Cunning +William!" he said, as he patted Mr. Bentinck upon the shoulder, "your +politic tricks are better than my threatenings." He then addressed +Philip in a voice much softened: "Mr. Drayton," he said, "I ask your +pardon for my rough soldier ways. We have taken no such person, but +you have most innocently told us what we much desired to know. +Wherefore did you scorn our hospitality last evening? Was that also +of compulsion?" + +"Nay," says Philip, "but to keep my father's name clear of a most +foul reproach. From the bottom of my heart I am Your Highness's +enemy. I never cease to pray that all your purpose may miscarry. +But you will not hang a Drayton and a cutthroat in one noose." + +"I vow," cried the Prince, "you are all of one mould, you Draytons." + +He seemed here to muse a while, and then begged Mr. Bentinck to give +order that Mr. Royston be brought before him. And my heart very +miserably sank in my bosom, for I remembered how, but a little while +back, he had, in speaking of poor Ned, used the military title, +saying "Captain," as if restoration to rank and honor were already in +sight. + +Mr. Bentinck soon returned, and not long after him came Ned with his +guard, which, in obedience to a sign from the Prince, halted at the +door, where they stood impassive with drawn swords. + +"Come hither, sir," said His Highness; and Ned approaching, I saw +that, although the passion was burnt out of him, and his face was +worn and haggard, he still met with an eye unsubdued the glance of +the man on whom his fate depended. + +"Mr. Royston," said the Prince, "I have heard all this midnight +mystery. 'T is a brave tale, which, in my thinking, clears all +therein involved of wicked design. But no tale, be it never so true, +clears you, Mr. Royston, from the great fault of aiding my enemy +there to escape. You know what in war-time is the law of military +discipline. Have you anything to say, Mr. Royston, before this +matter be ended?" + +And Ned looked him straight in the eyes, and answered him with a very +gentle fearlessness. + +"I have little to say, Your Highness," he said; "and nothing of +contention. One thing only I ask, if Your Highness mean to push the +matter to extremity. Since I have never shown fear, I would die, if +it please you, rather by bullet than the--the cord. Then, sire," he +went on,--and this was the sole occasion upon which I did hear +Captain Royston use to the Prince before his coronation the regal +form of address,--"then, sire, shall I take with me no grudging to +you." + +Here following a little silence, I had much ado, for all my growing +belief that the Prince did mean well by us all, to keep back the sobs +that rose in my throat and caught at my breathing. And then came my +lover's voice again. "I have failed in my duty. I had just drawn on +the seeming lad that was the companion of my watch, because he would +not let me follow the priest. He crossed swords with me, and I +struck him in the neck,"--and here, I thought, His Highness's eyes +lighted curiously upon me, and I grew warm with blushing as I thought +of the black patch of plaister upon my bosom,--"and then I learned +that it was no blood of man that I had drawn, but the drops fell from +the soft flesh of a woman. And more I found that fatal night--that +the woman was she that I did love well when she was but a little maid +no higher than my sword-hilt,"--and here the man's hand went to his +side, but found nothing,--"the sword, God's truth! that I must not +wear! And then I learned why she would have the popish fellow +escape. He was her brother, and she loved him, even as both did love +the great old name. And I? I loved the maid, even the more that I +had hurt her. And the man swore--not by his order, nor by his +heretic bishop of Rome, but on his honorable lineage as a gentleman +of England, to do you nor yours further hurt of any kind till his +foot was set once more in France. It was hard to see so pretty a +maid weep; harder, when the tears fell from eyes that had already +forgiven the wound. Moreover, Your Highness, I did put faith in the +man. Papist that he was, yet did he bear himself so as none could +doubt his worth. I do but ask that, before I bear my punishment, the +master I have ever served in a love hedged about with reverence and +awe will put faith in my word that I had no will to wrong him, or to +fail, as it seems fail I did, in the service that was due." + +"For that I do believe you, sir," said the Prince; "yet can it not +undo what is done." + +While Ned was speaking, His Highness had seemed to my jealously +watching eye not unmoved. He now laid his hand on Mr. Bentinck's +arm, and drew that gentleman apart into the window which is nearest +the door where Prue had played the eavesdropper. I had no intent to +do the like, and it was more His Highness's fault than mine if he did +not perceive that I stood so much nearer than the rest of the company +that some words of his discourse with Mr. Bentinck were plainly +audible to me. And, while their voices rose and fell in that +murmured conference, the curtain that hangs before that little door +was brushed aside, and M. de Rondiniacque, with his hat in his hand +and a smile upon his lips at once merry, mocking, and triumphant, +stood beside me. + +"This is no plot, William," said the Prince,--"but a matter of one +family." And there followed much that escaped my ear, until His +Highness's voice rose with the words, "How think you, William? If we +had this Francis--" and then dropped into the former murmuring. + +"Had we the fat one," says Mr. Bentinck; "for this priest"--and at +the word he twisted his head a little toward Philip, who stood by the +hearth with Ned and my father--"this priest is too spare to make a +meal of." + +"Ay," said the Prince, "if we could but find this 'Marston,' and if +it were made plain he had no ties here with these good people, we +might well treat these late adventures with the largeness that safety +can use." + +And then much more from Mr. Bentinck that I did not hear, until he +said that the good-will of such men as these was of much value, and +ended with some words of Captain Royston's difficult dilemma of the +past night. + +"Look on her but once, Your Highness," said he, "and weigh the +temptation." So I knew he had kept faith with me. + +But it was not to my ears alone that these last words were audible; +for no sooner were they uttered than M. de Rondiniacque stepped +forward some paces and, speaking in tones of much levity: "'T is very +true, Your Highness," said he, "as Mr. Bentinck has observed: the +women of these parts are the very devil for the seducing a man from +his duty." + +The Prince turned upon him very sharply. "Peace, Lieutenant!" he +said harshly; "such levity becomes neither my presence nor the +occasion." He then turned his back upon the interrupter, and +continued, addressing Mr. Bentinck: "But then--this Francis--we have +not taken him. What then?" + +Again the dauntless and merry Frenchman interrupted; he well knew, I +think, that the import of what he was to say would cover a measure of +insolence, and could not resist the inclination to practise his +raillery a little upon the ponderous gravity of Mr. Bentinck's +statecraft. "Nay, but, Your Highness," he said gaily, "we have taken +him. Had not Your Highness so sharply snubbed my ardor for his +service, I was even now to remark that these fair ones do also at +times render notable aid to his cause. Of late one did save Your +Highness's life, and now a rustic Eve has put in my hands a morsel of +Adam's flesh much coveted, if I mistake not, of Mr. William Bentinck +here." + +"What is he?" cried Bentinck. + +"Very fat, an it please you, Mr. Bentinck," says De Rondiniacque, +laughing. Then, pushing aside the curtain, he opened the door and +beckoned with his hand. His signal was answered by the entrance of a +company vastly comical to behold. For little Prue's prisoner was +very roughly thrust into the hall by Christopher Kidd, whose tall and +burly person towered above and behind the little, fat, evil-visaged +priest, the yeoman grasping in one of his huge hands both wrists of +his captive. They were followed by Prudence, beaming with smiles at +the thought of the importance brought upon her by her act of +compassion. And there came upon the bearing of Mr. Bentinck, at +sight of the prisoner, a wonderful change. For his face flushed and +his eye gleamed; he forgot the impertinences of M. de Rondiniacque, +he passed over the lack of ceremony evinced by this sudden intrusion, +and pounced, as it were, at once upon his prey. + +From his own lips I have since heard the cause of Mr. Bentinck's +emotion. He had for many months endeavored to instil into his prince +and master what he held to be a fitting and wholesome dread of the +secret assassin. He had indeed in those days and during many years +to come good reason enough for his own fears, yet none could he +contrive to arouse in that most fearless of men that is now our most +gracious sovereign; who, after some abortive attempt upon his person, +or upon the news of some fresh and subtile plot discovered and +prevented, would jest lightly of the matter, or turn aside from it +with a few sharp words. + +"As for assassins, William," he would say, "I hold it wholly beneath +me to speak of them, and much more to give them serious thought." + +Now, in this case, not only did Mr. Bentinck hope by means of this +fat rascal to come at the source and instigation of the attempted +crime, but also, through discoveries the captive should be compelled +to make, to arouse in His Highness's mind a more sensible conviction +of the dangers to which his careless magnanimity so frequently +exposed his person. Successful, however, as Mr. Bentinck ultimately +was in proving to his own satisfaction the guilt of greater persons +than the shaking wretch before him, I have never heard that His +Highness was prevailed upon by this or any other means to give one +serious thought to perils of this nature. + +"Bring him here," cried Mr. Bentinck very sharply to Kidd, who pushed +his helpless prisoner forward until the light from the window fell +upon his ill-favored countenance. "H'm---h'm--h'm!" grunted Mr. +Bentinck, as his eyes rose and fell between his paper of description +and the face of the fellow that trembled and sweated before him. +"H'm! But the red periwig is wanting." + +Whereupon Prue whips out that tangled wig from beneath her apron, +vowing she had found it in the straw where the fellow had slept. + +"'T is enough," says Mr. Bentinck: then in a voice very terrible and +sudden he cried to the culprit: "Your name is Francis." + +"'T is not," stammered the poor wretch, "nor no such name." And his +gaze went round the room very despairfully till it lighted upon +Philip. "For the love of God, Mr. Philip Drayton," he cried, "tell +them how I am called." + +Philip regarded him with a disgust that he tried in vain to conceal. + +"I have met you once," he said, "as James Marston, of Oxford." + +"Did I not tell you?" said Francis, his face lighting with hope. + +And Mr. Bentinck laughed. "Truly you did," he replied, "and more +than you purposed telling. These trappings," he continued, turning +to the Prince, "are the same that were stolen from Your Highness's +guard in the affair of the orchard. I think we have proof enough." + +His Highness approached at once the window and the prisoner. + +"Would Your Holiness hang from that elm?" he asked, pointing to the +great tree that stands over against the stable. "If not, a true +account of all these matters will save the tree so foul a fruit. I +hear it is thought you abuse your masters as much as ourselves, +forging written powers beyond their intent. You shall have some +hours to make choice between confession and the rope." And he bade +the guard that stood at the great door to take him away. "And look +to it," said His Highness to the young officer, as he was about +following after his men and their prisoner, "that no woman come near +him." He then laughed a little at his jest, which by the direction +of his glance I took to be aimed at myself, and, turning to M. de +Rondiniacque, asked how he came to lay hands upon the fellow. + +"I owe him to Mistress Prudence here, Your Highness," replied the +Frenchman. Whereupon the Prince would have Prudence to tell him of +the matter. + +Little Prue, as she did afterwards tell me, was "all of a twitter" +betwixt pride and bashfulness, and it was only with much blushing and +stammering that she at length found her voice. + +"I' fecks, Your High and Great Mightiness, sir," she said at last, "I +have been fatting him like a great pullet in the loft of our barn. I +did take him for a soldier you would have hanged for thieving." + +"How chanced it," said the Prince, "that you knew our need of him?" + +Now this was for Prue a very distressful question, and, since she +would not tell the truth, nor could readily think upon a fiction of +any appearance, she felt herself in sorry plight, which she made no +better by showing very plainly in her face the distress that she +felt. Her rescue came quickly from a source whence it was little +expected. For her piteous glance of appeal was cast in vain on M. de +Rondiniacque, who himself was not a little taken aback by the +Prince's question, and then in a very helpless fashion she passed it +on to me. And I, all in the dark as I was, strove blindly for the +means to come to her aid, when Mr. Bentinck, with a little laugh that +was very dry and yet vastly humorous, interfered. + +"It were best, Your Highness," he said, "to pass that point." + +The Prince looked upon him for a moment, and seemed to lay the matter +aside in his mind for future enlightening. + +"Well, my pretty maid," said he to Prudence, who now regarded Mr. +Bentinck as if she would willingly have kissed his feet, "we owe you +some return. How shall we render it?" + +"What I did, sir," says Prue, "was done for my dear mistress there. +If you will but add my debt to her prayers, sir, I shall be overpaid." + +"That is well said. Even the servants, William," said His Highness, +turning to Mr. Bentinck, "in this terrible family are at one with +their masters. 'T is a tribe we had best have on our side." And +then he went over to the knot of men that stood against the hearth. +"Mr. Royston," he said, "this matter shall rest as it stood +yesternight, when you left your house. You are free." And then to +Philip: "Mr. Drayton, you are an honest foe, from a camp whence I +have least reason to expect such. Will you give me a promise to add +to that which Mr. Royston holds of you?" + +"Most willingly, Your Highness," replied Philip, "if I may with +honor." + +"Then I ask you," said His Highness, "to abide six months from this +day with your good father. After, do what and go where you will. He +is worth the time that will be so spent, sir. To ease your +conscience on the Roman side, Sir Priest, I give you leave to effect +his conversion"--and here His Highness laughed very drily--"if you +prove able. Is it agreed?" + +"The punishment is not a hard one," answered Philip. "I will observe +your conditions. You have my word." + +"I shall always regard a Drayton's word," said His Highness, with a +very grave and sweet courtesy, "as _par excellence_ the oath of +honor. And you, Mistress Drayton," he continued, "must I go fight my +enemies with a sword that cannot thrust? I do perceive I did you +wrong, and now once more I thank you for that you did yesterday. But +my sword does lack its point." And the Prince drew from a scabbard +that was never made for it the shortened blade whose other part I +guarded so close. + +"Ay, it lacks yet its point," I answered, "even as Your Highness's +clemency does still lack its crowning grace. The sword's latter half +is not yet redeemed." + +"What, what! fair enemy?" cried the Prince, in tones of raillery. + +"More fair I do hope than enemy, Your Highness," I replied. + +"Well, pretty friend," he continued, seeming not ill pleased, +"wouldst have me thus armed? 'T is true--in your ear--I purpose +using English swords against such good English fellows as come not +over to our side. But what of these hordes of Irish kerns, with +Tyrconnel and Sarsfield at their head? Surely on these we poor +Dutchmen may flesh our blades; and when the time comes, is it with +this you would have me fight?" + +Now, while the Prince did tease me with the sight of his broken +blade, and while I felt for words to clothe the thought in me, I +marked that M. de Rondiniacque, as one taking time by the forelock +upon a signal long expected, went hurriedly out from the hall, a +circumstance that I had speedily forgot but for its sequel. Meantime +I had inwardly breathed a little prayer to God for the gift of a +prevailing tongue, and now drew from my bosom that seven inches of +pointed steel that I purposed selling at so great a price. + +"Your Highness," I said, "this kind of iron is sold mighty dear. Ah, +will a great Prince have a poor maid that is his true servant wed +with a man unhappy all his days? And yet a man so true, did Your +Highness know him as I have known him for many, many years? As he +and I rode hither in the smallest hours of this very day, it was a +broken man at my side--a man whose one half would rejoice for his +company, while the other part of him cried out for his Leader, his +Prince, his King. And, woman-like, I upbraided you sore, finding in +my passion of pity no word too bitter for you, sir. But from him +there fell no word of blame, for no hard thought of you did cross his +mind. Your Highness, he tried to serve two masters, indeed, but +himself was never one of them. If he did ill, it was for me--me that +he loved since his arms were my childhood's harbor of refuge, his +shoulder my horse that tired not. For that part of your sword that +you hold, you gave me his life. For this part that I have kept, +where I hope all the days of my life to keep his honor, give me his +old rank in your service--and ever, during his desert, his old favor +in those eyes that, when they will, can read so deep." + +The Prince gazed at me a while, and his face grew somehow to a +softness that is seldom, I think, observed upon it. And, as we +looked upon each other, there was a little bustle at the door, made, +I doubt not, by M. de Rondiniacque's return. + +"Give it me, child," said William, and I handed him, without further +doubt of his purpose, the remnant of his pledge. + +"Why so ready, mistress?" asked His Highness. "I have granted +naught." + +"Nay," I replied, "but love can read deep, even as the eyes of a +prince." + +"In this world, my child," he said, speaking still with that +gentleness I had marked in his face, "there is no going back. But, +if Mr. Bentinck will fill us out a major's brevet for Mr. Edward +Royston, will that serve to balance the uneven division of last +night, sir, or madam?" + +Upon which the joy in my heart was so near to seeking its relief in +tears that I had much ado to answer him. + +"I do thank Your Highness," I murmured, "beyond all telling." And +then, finding a better voice, I continued: "And, if it please Your +Highness, I will be always madam." + +"Then must you begin soon," he answered; "to which end I shall impose +a condition on this settlement." But here the Prince checked +himself, turning suddenly upon M. de Rondiniacque, by which action he +was able to detect that pleasant gentleman in the act of restoring to +Ned the sword taken from him the night before. + +To my ear he has since declared that he had some inward premonition +on his arising that morning that the matter of poor Royston's +disgrace was by no means concluded; and this feeling, whether +foresight or presentiment, had waxed in him so strong, that he had +brought with him that weapon, as well as his own, in spite of his +previous intent to leave it privily in its owner's house. + +As His Highness turned from me to observe him, De Rondiniacque +uttered these words: "Your sword, Major Royston," with so much of +kindly triumph in voice and countenance that even the visage turned +on him with enquiry so stern broke into a smile very responsive. + +"How now, Lieutenant," said His Highness, "what is this?" + +"When Mistress Drayton did begin to adjure Your Highness so +movingly," said the Frenchman, "holding in her hand that fragment of +Your Highness's sword, I made sure she would ask and obtain her +price; and so, Your Highness, I went straightway to fetch it. And, +knowing Your Highness has need not only of swords, but also of men +that wield them as few but Major Royston can, I do trust I have done +no wrong." + +"'T is well, sir," replied the Prince. "As it seems your nature to +take much upon yourself, let it always, as now, be the discharge of +my wishes." + +At which M. de Rondiniacque appeared not a little disconcerted; but, +since he has done His Highness many a notable service in these latter +days, it cannot be said that the mildness of the reproof was +ill-advised. + +"But what was that, sweet child," the Prince now continued, +addressing me anew, "of which I was to speak?" + +"I think, Your Highness," I replied, "that it was of some condition +to be set upon us in regard to--to----" + +"Faith, I do remember," said he. "It is that Major Royston do wed +you within the week, and thereafter join us at Salisbury. And +quarters shall be found for the pair of you," he continued, "for if +the steel be near the magnet it will not wander again." And so +saying he laid his hand very kindly upon Ned's shoulder. And Ned +Royston looked him in the face with that look that an hour agone I +had given my life to bring into his face. + +"My life is yours, sir," said he, with a blunt heartiness; and, +taking my hand very firmly and tenderly in his, he added: "and Your +Highness will now have from me two services in one." + +And here Simon Emmet, who, upon a word of his master, had been for +some minutes mighty full of a kind of bustling greatness, did give +into Sir Michael's hands that great silver drinking bowl that no lip +for over forty years had touched. And Sir Michael held the bowl +high, and gave it then into the hands of the Prince of Orange. + +"From this cup," said my father, "the last to drink was Your +Highness's grandfather, King Charles the Martyr." + +"Then in his name, and in the name of England, I drink first of a +loving-cup," cried the Prince; which when he had done he passed the +vessel to me, and from me it went the round of every living soul +there present, leaving, I suppose, in the bottom of the bowl but a +few drops of wine to wet the lips of Prudence, who, as luck would +have it, came last of all in the drinking; for, after she had tipped +it high to catch the last, she gazed beseechingly around, daintily +licking her lips the while, as if she would know whether she might +truly say she had drunk that toast. His Highness, marking with the +rest her pretty gesture, could not forbear smiling. + +"Ah, my pretty maid," he said, "it was you that did bring us that fat +rooster in the nick of time. Do you then ask no reward?" + +And Prue, as a woman can, asked of me in two movements of her eyes a +question. Once most indicatively they went to His Highness's belt +and sword, and once, with interrogation as plain, to my face, +catching thence the answer before one man in the room, I truly think, +had fully gathered the sense of the Prince's question. + +"There is a thing, if it please Your Mightiness," she said, "that I +would have." + +"What is it, then?" said His Highness. "For it seems I must spend +this day in giving." + +"The fragments, Your Honor," says Prue, "of that same blessed sword." + +And he gave her the broken pieces of the sword, which in triumph she +straightway brought to me; and I hung them then and there above the +hearth, standing upon the table most comfortably thrust into place by +many willing hands. + +And when it was done, I cried, facing them all in my joy before I +descended: "And there it shall stay: and hereafter they shall say +whose it was." + +"'They,' Mistress Drayton?" cried the Prince. "Who are 'they'? Thy +children?" + +And I wished heartily then for a more lowly station. But princes +will be answered, and, for all the shame I felt, I answered the +Prince of Orange. + +"Yes, Your Highness," I said. "The children of Royston and Drayton +shall say--shall say that it is-- + +"The sword of the Prince of Orange?" says His Highness, willing to +help me in my confusion. + +"Not so, I hope and pray to God," I answered. "May He grant that it +then be the sword of their King." + +And this is the story of the sword that was his that is the King. +For my own, it did not end there, nor is it ended yet. + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sword of the King, by Ronald Macdonald + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59873 *** |